THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 91 



and to be armed at each end with powerful claws with which to grasp any unhappy 

 person who may come within their reach. 



Of time they keep but little record. They have names for the different months 

 or moons, twelve of which constitute with them two periods, the warm and cold. 

 They can remember and speak of a few days or a few months, but of years, 

 according to our computation, they know nothing. Their &quot; year&quot; consists of six 

 months or moons, and is termed tsark-wark it-chie. The first of these periods 

 commences in December, when the days begin to lengthen, and continues until 

 June. Then, as the sun recedes and the days shorten, another commences and lasts 

 till the shortest days. It is owing to the fact of these periods being only six months 

 in duration, that it is so difficult for them to tell their ages according to our esti 

 mate, for as their knowledge of counting is very limited, they cannot be made to 

 understand our reckoning. I have never known them to remember the proper 

 age of a child of over two years. Sometimes they give the age of an individual 

 by connecting his birth with some remarkable event, as, for instance, the year of 

 the smallpox, or when a white man came to reside among them, or that when a 

 vessel was wrecked. 



The seasons are recognized by them as they are by ourselves, namely, spring, 

 by the name of klairk-shiltl ; summer, by that of kla-pairtch ; autumn, by kwi-atch ; 

 and winter, by wake-puett. 



The names of the months are as follows: 



December is called sc-hwow-as-put hl, or the moon in which the sc-whow, or chet- 

 a-pook, the California gray whale, makes its appearance. 



January is a-a-kwis-put hl, or the moon in which the whale has its young. 



February, kluk-lo-chis-to-put hl, or the moon when the weather begins to grow 

 better and the days are longer, and when the women begin to venture out in canoes 

 after firewood without the men. 



March is named o-o-lukh-put hl, or the moon when the finback whales arrive. 



April, ko-kosc-kar-dis-put hl. The moon of sprouts and buds. 



May, kar-kwush-put hl. Moon of the strawberry and &quot;salmon berry.&quot; 



June, hay-sairk-toke-put hl. The moon of the red huckleberry. 



July is kar-ke-sup-hc-put hl, or the moon of the wild currants, gooseberry, and 

 sallal, Gaultheria. 



August is wee-kookh, or season of rest ; no fish taken or berries picked, except 

 occasionally by the children or idle persons ; but it is considered by the tribe as a 

 season of repose. 



September is kars-put hl, when all kinds of work commence, particularly cutting 

 wood, splitting out boards, and making canoes. 



October, or kwar-tc-put hl, is the moon for catching the tsa-tar-wha, a variety of 

 rockfish, which is done by means of a trolling line With a bladder buoy at each 

 end, and a number of hooks attached. 



November is called cha-kairsh-put hl, or the season of winds and screaming birds. 



The terminal put lil seems to be equivalent to our word &quot; season,&quot;for although 

 the words to which it is added signify but one moon, yet when speaking of a 

 month s duration the word dah-kah is used, as tsark-wark dah-kah, one month. 



