8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 192 



Teqwedi from southeastern Alaska were marrying into the Yakutat 

 Ravens. Shortly after 1805, the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi were nearly 

 exterminated by Thngit parties from Akwe River, and the survivors 

 were apparently absorbed by the true Teqwedi. Another group, now 

 extinct, were the Euxedi, also an Eagle sib, possibly a branch of the 

 Tlaxayik-Teqwedi. Their name refers to the muddy water of the 

 Situk River, which at that time drained the ice-dammed lake at 

 what is now the head of Russell Fiord. 



Meanwhile the Thngit had been moving up from southeastern 

 Alaska and were established in the Dry Bay area. This is reflected in 

 the story of the man from the Hoonah district who taught Thngit 

 arts to the Dry Bay Athabaskans and who became rich by trading 

 with them (see Swanton, 1909, Tales 32 and 104) . The sibs that moved 

 in at this time seem to have been the Kagwantan, Tl'uknaxAdi, and 

 Teqwedi, although some of the Bear House hneage of the last sib 

 were already hving near Yakutat. The CAnkuqedi were presumably 

 estabhshed by that time at Dry Bay through intermarriage with the 

 local inhabitants. The Drmn House branch of the Teqwedi pur- 

 chased the Ahrnklin-Itaho district from the StaxAdi, a branch of the 

 Hmyedi, and the Bear House lineage of the Teqwedi acquired the 

 Situk-Lost River area by preemption. The latter were probably not 

 secure in their holdings until the Tl'uknaxAdi from Dry Bay, eager to 

 get the Russian loot held by the Tlaxayik-Teqwedi, made war on the 

 latter and nearly exterminated them. 



The Tl'uknaxAdi apparently did not enjoy their wealth for very 

 long because they became embroiled in a war with one of the Chilkat 

 Raven sibs. One of their war parties was lost when a number of 

 their canoes capsized in Lituya Bay under mysterious circumstances. 

 This occurred about 1850, and the disheartened relatives at Akwe 

 River abandoned their town. Some moved to Hoonah and Sitka, 

 and others came eventually to Yakutat. 



More important than the many wars and intrasib quarrels as 

 causes for the abandonment of settlements were the various epidemics, 

 of which the smallpox epidemic of 1836-39 was the most disastrous. 

 The establishment of a trading post, of the mission, and of the cannery 

 concentrated the scattered population at the modern town of Yakutat 

 early in the present century. 



One of the most important legendary figures in the native history 

 of Yakutat was Xatgawet, a Thngit Teqwedi of the Bear House 

 hneage. He is said to have been born on the Akwe River and to have 

 traveled all over, even as far west as Katalla, marrying the daughters 

 of local chiefs and acquiring great wealth from the gifts customarily 

 bestowed upon brothers- and sons-in-law. This is, of course, a device 

 used by the Thngit to estabhsh profitable "trade" with the Atha- 



