swANTON] HAIDA TEXTS AND MYTHS 413 



A FIGHT BETWEEN THE Xa'oT-TOWX PEOPLE AND SaND-TOWN PEOPLE 



[Told liy Abraham of Those-born-at-QIfi'dAsgo] 



At the town of Xfi'oi ^ a Avoiuaii of tlie Slaves ' went outside before 

 she went to bed. She did not return. But instead of saying- an}- 

 thing they kept the matter in their minds. They did not know from 

 what town people had come to get her. 



Some time afterward they discovered that she had been taken by a 

 man from the town of G.a'-idi'* who had been in love with her. It 

 was a man of the Sand-town people. They went then in a large canoe 

 to demand the propert}' which was given when a woman deserted her 

 husband. And they came there at low water. 



When the tide was well up he (the seducer) went out and played 

 with his wife between the houses. He who had formerh' had her as 

 his wife was the bow man. And, when he paddled shoreward, he said: 

 "•Shoreward! Future people shall always remember me."' He then 

 took a bow and two arrows and jumped off with them. And he ran 

 up and shot his wife. Afterward he shot the man. At that time he 

 escaped into the canoe. They went away and landed. The man's 

 mind was happ3\ 



And Wada' * thought his town was too great to have a woman taken 

 out of it. Then she (his wife) said to her husband: ''Make it all 

 right with propei-ty."" He would not agree. He said they thought 

 his town was common. By and by she told her husband to go ahead: 

 " Make a stir about it. My children are clear of it." 



And the people of Chief-discovered's town^ said the same things to 

 him that A\'ada's wife had said. They could not stop him. He also 

 thought that his town was too great. B}^ and by they announced a 

 tight. They cleaned their spears. They agreed upon a da}^ on which 

 to tight. 



When the day at last arrived they came around Sqas point.'' One 

 in the town shouted: " It is becoming- dry [with the number of canoes]." 

 They landed at once at the end of the town. Then they went to the 

 town of Xa'gi. The people of Wada's town stood in lines on the 

 beach awaiting them. 



When they came together all the women went into the woods. 

 After the lines had approached each other for a while they got within a 

 spear cast, and one from Wada's side shouted: '' Bring on the spear- 

 whetstones.' One on the other side from among Chief -disco vered's 

 people also said: '' Ho, ho, you are not the only ones to have them." 

 They thought that they had called spears spear-whetstones when tliev 



