Vol. VII] REAGAN— ARCHMOLOGICAL NOTES 23 



show that the Clallams migrated from there to the main- 

 land. The Clallam traditions that they came from the north 

 bear out this conclusion. 



Besides the above archaeological remains, great quantities 

 of human bones are washed up on the Port Townsend spit 

 by the coming and receding tides. The great number of 

 bones washed up precludes the possibility of the spit having 

 been a former graveyard site. Furthermore, the way the 

 bones have been promiscuously piled, seems to indicate a 

 massacre.* 



The writer inquired both of the Clallams and the Quillayutes about this washing 

 up of human bones on this spit and each had a story about it, both relating it to the 

 same incident. 



The Clallams state that before they had moved to the mainland, and while they 

 were yet on Whidby Island, their braves, by a surprise, fell upon the Quillayute- 

 Chemakum Indians at a time of a Devil's dance on the spit and massacred the whole 

 population attending the ceremony, but the victim to be sacrified, a woman, whom 

 they saved and who afterwards became the wife of their chief. This defeat of the 

 Quillayute-Chemakums gave the Clallams a lodgment on the mainland, which they 

 still maintain. 



In reference to this same incident, the Quillayutes give the following tradition: 



"In the long ago we had a bad medicine woman among us. Everywhere she went 

 a pestilence broke out and the people would die by hundreds. She went from here 

 to Hoh and from there to Chemakum (Port Townsend). It was the same there as 

 at Hoh and here. Soon there was disease and death there. The dead people 

 were buried. At the close of the funeral rites, the shamans rose as one man and 

 denounced this witch. A great assembly of the tribe was called to meet at the village 

 of Chemakum. The bad "tomanawis" woman was dragged before the council. A 

 unanimous vote decreed her to be burned as a black "tomanawis" witch, as an evil- 

 spirit doctor. Immediately she was fettered and tied to a tree. Then all slunk from 

 her to make the final preparations for the tragic act. All day following this trial every- 

 one was busy. Some of the women went to the clam beds and gathered clams. Others 

 went far into the woods and gathered berries. Others prepared soups and other eat- 

 ables and collected whale meat, oil and dried fish for the great occasion. Some of 

 the men dragged the canoes of every sort to the place of destruction. Others col- 

 lected all the robes and all the household goods at hand and piled them in a great 

 heap. Other men went to the woods and dragged to the place of meeting a huge pile 

 of wood. Then as the sun began to go down toward his western home all again 

 slunk into the dense woods and all became silent as the dead, all but the moaning of 

 the poor, helpless woman, who knew that for her the last sun had set. 



"It was in the full moon time. Near the tenth hour, as you palefaces now reckon 

 time, an owl hooted in the thicket adjacent to the death enclosure. A wolf yelp 

 answered. Quickly following these signals, the cleared space around the witch woman 

 was filled with shouting, hallooing, shrieking people. The devil dance was on. Near 

 the victim, where the intense heat would scorch her, they kindled an immense fire. 

 Then around it and the helpless woman they danced in circular order from right to 

 left. Vigorously they stamped from the first. Louder and louder grew the hideous 

 chant. More and more frenzied the actors became. The sacrifice was great. They 

 had to kill the witch and at the same time appease the wrath of the gods for their 

 having let her live so long and also to obliterate her evil influence. The highest pitch 

 of frenzy was reached. With a terrifying, hideous, horrible howl, the whole scene 

 instantly changed. Each dancer lunged forward from his position in the dancing circje 

 and seized whatever Indian property he could seize from the collection that lay in 

 heaps along the outer circle of the cleared dancing space, be it canoe, robes, or what- 

 not. This he proceeded to destroy, making the most possible noise by voice and by 

 any other means he could devise, as he did so. The air was full of flying debris. The 

 horrifying din was sickening. Again the scene changed. Two half-grown hears were 

 thrown into the midst of the maniac-acting throng. Instantly they were seized by the 

 teeth of the human demon-actors and literally torn to pieces. Then to a man the 

 dialjolically acting performers rushed forward upon the helpless woman and tore her 

 to pieces with their teeth likewise, as she called upon the gods of the woods, the 

 Mother Earth, the thunder-bird and the mountains to avenge her death. And they 



"While they had been dancing, a storm arose and the thunder-bird at this juncture 

 began to flap his wings and open and shut his eyes in the heavens, as the lightning 

 snake sallied forth beneath that warring bird's breast. The woods suddenly, also, 

 became alive with demons. Shouts and shrieks came from every quarter. Onward 

 with a blood-curdling yell came the evil spirits. Refore them there was no mercy. 

 All of the assembled Quillayute-Chemakum tribe then and there perished, and the 

 demons (the Clallam Indians) held the land." 



