TACOMA AND THE INDIAN LEGEND OF HAMITCHOU 



ing thought of his future proud grandeur among the 

 dwellers by Whulge. He plunged his arm deep as 

 he could go ; there was still nothing but the precious 

 shells. He smiled to himself in triumph ; he had 

 wrung the secret from Tamanoiis. Then, as he with- 

 drew his arm, the rattle of the hiaqua recalled him to 

 the present. He saw that noon was long past, and 

 he must proceed to reduce his property to possession. 



"The hiaqua was strung upon long, stout sinews 

 of elk, in bunches of fifty shells on each side. Four 

 of these he wound about his waist ; three he hung 

 across each shoulder ; five he took in each hand ; - 

 twenty strings of pure white hiaqua, every shell large, 

 smooth, unbroken, beautiful. He could carry no 

 more ; hardly even with this could he stagger along. 

 He put down his burden for a moment, while he cov- 

 ered up the seemingly untouched wealth of the deposit 

 carefully with the scale stones, and brushed snow over 

 the whole. 



"The miser never dreamed of gratitude, never 

 thought to hang a string from the buried treasure 

 about the salmon and kamas tamanous stones, and 

 two strings around the elk's head ; no, all must be 

 his own, all he could carry now, and the rest for the 

 future. 



"He turned, and began his climb toward the crater's 

 edge. At once the otters, with a mighty puff in concert, 

 took up their line of procession, and, plunging into the 

 black lake, began to beat the water with their tails. 



"The miser could hear the sound of splashing water 

 as he struggled upward through the snow, now melted 

 and yielding. It was a long hour of harsh toil and 

 much backsliding before he reached the rim, and turned 

 to take one more view of this valley of good fortune. 



"As he looked, a thick mist began to rise from the 

 lake centre, where the otters were splashing. Under 

 the mist grew a cylinder of black cloud, utterly hiding 

 the water. 



51 



