208 BUREAU OK AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 29 



"^ She is the edible butt of a certain fern. 



''That is, he had come out from his wfi^sj^.o skin (hiring the night, thus winning 

 by trickery. 



'■"•See story of Raven traveling, note 21. 



'-''Tliis is how String-of-the-days or String-of-heaven (Sins da'gil) was put in place 

 fi'om top to bottom of the pole which extends from the breast of Sacred-one-standing- 

 and-moving to the firmament above. 



'■'^ This is on the eastern end of Maude island, in Skidegate inlet, and became known 

 to the wliites as New Gold Harbor because the Haida from the neighboHiood of Gold 

 harbor, on the west coast of Moresby island, estaV)lished a town here before moving 

 into Skidegate. 



^■^ At or near Cape St. James, with the exception of the Isles Kerouart, the extreme 

 southern point of the Queen Charlotte islands. 



'■^* Ninstints people of the best classes, used in addressing one another expressions 

 which elsewhere were only employed by or to the lower orders of people. SkA^mdal 

 was one of these. Others are given in note 47. 



-''The word for "help," used here and in many other places, means help given in 

 a way entirely beyond the control of the person helped. It is usually applied to the 

 help given by supernatural beings. 



^® A creek on Louise island flowing into Cumshewa inlet from the south. Anciently 

 a town stood there, and one of the Haida families took its name from the place. 



-' This stood on the shores of Moresby island, opposite the later town of Ninstints. 

 It is said to have been owned by the Skida^-i la^nas, a branch of the G. A^nxet 

 gitina^-i. 



^^ Q!a^g.awa-i was the name of an islet near Ninstints and of the supernatural being 

 who lived under it. He went about in the form of a killer whale with five fins. 



■■'''Though not specifically stated, there are {probably a number of stones here into 

 which these people were supposed to be turned. 



•^° Intended as a polite request for help. 



^'TcIa^aJ, or Old Gold Harbor, as it is sometimes called, was the most important 

 town on the west coast of the Queen Charlotte islands, and stood on the northern 

 side of a southern entrance to Skidegate channel. This southern entrance is the 

 Tcla'al inlet referred to. 



^^ The canoe passage through Spit point. 



^^A name given to the sculpin (q!al) on account of its spines. This episode 

 accounts for the shallows on the north side of Cumshewa inlet. 



^''My interpreter said he had always heard this episode treated differently — in the 

 way in which it is told in the second version of the story. 



^^ Skedans is one of the few towns prominent in Haida story that have been occu- 

 pied in recent times. It stood on a tongue of land at the northeastern end of Louise 

 island. The name is a white corruption of the chief's name. By the people them- 

 selves it was called Q!6'na, or Grizzly-bear town. Seaward from the site are several 

 islands and reefs, of which Island-that-wheels-around-with-the-current (Dalga^-il- 

 galgin) is the closest in and Farthest-one-out (Ga-ig.oq!iV-idjusg.as) the outermost. 



^* See introduction to notes. 



^' The exact meaning of the archaic words used here (xa^u-fi li'ngingwan) has been 

 forgotten, but this is the idea involved. 



^'^ See story of A-slender-one-who-was-given-away, note 12. 



^* Spoken sarcastically. See story of A-slender-one-who-was-given-away, note 19. 



*" Canes half blue and half red were often carried by the supernatural beings. 

 Compare story of The one abandoned for eating the flipper of a hair seal, page 181. 



*^See story of Raven traveling, note 40. 



^^ Haida K!i'watc!as, a trail which runs up the inlet from Skedans. 



*-^ Half a mile from the town. 



