TACOMA AND THE INDIAN LEGEND OF HAMITCHOU 



found the long-haired prairies where elk feed luxuri- 

 ously ; and there, from behind palisade fir-trees, he 

 had launched the fatal arrow. Sometimes, also, he 

 lay beside a pool of sweetest water, revealed to him 

 by gemmy reflections of sunshine gleaming through 

 the woods, until at noon the elk came down, to find 

 death awaiting him as he stooped and drank. Or 

 beside the same fountain the old man watched at night, 

 drowsily starting at every crackling branch, until, 

 when the moon was high, and her illumination declared 

 the pearly water, elk dashed forth incautious into the 

 glade, and met their midnight destiny. 



"Elk-meat, too, he sold to his tribe. This brought 

 him pelf, but, alas for his greed, the pelf came slowly. 

 Waters and woods were rich in game. All the Squally- 

 amish were hunters and fishers, though none so skilled 

 as he. They were rarely in absolute want, and, when 

 they came to him for supplies, they were far too poor 

 in hiaqua. 



"So the old man thought deeply, and communed 

 with his wisdom, and, while he waited for fish or beast, 

 he took advice within himself from his demon, 

 he talked with Tamanoiis. And always the question 

 was, ' How may I put hiaqua in my purse ? ' 



"Tamanoiis never revealed to him that far to the 

 north, beyond the waters of Whulge, are tribes with 

 their under lip pierced with a fishbone, among whom 

 hiaqua is plenty as salmonberries are in the woods 

 what time in mid-summer salmon fin it along the 

 reaches of Whulge. 



"But the more Tamanoiis did not reveal to him 

 these mysteries of nature, the more he kept dreamily 

 prying into his own mind, endeavoring to devise some 

 scheme by which he might discover a treasure-trove 

 of the beloved shell. His life seemed wasted in the 

 patient, frugal industry, which only brought slow, 

 meagre gains. He wanted the splendid elation of 

 vast wealth and the excitement of sudden wealth. 



43 



