262 WHALING. Knologv 



ALxacf^E'luwaqL'ax. A'lta aLgiXEmo'ckapamx e'kole. A'lta nakct 



They leave hiiu behind. Now he arrives too late at the whale. Now not 



e'xaue iLa'kole. Aqio'tctXiimx, tcx*i aLo'yamx. Gua'nEsum 



much his whale. It is finished, then he arrives. Always 



uLa'kima kja uLa'qeweqxe; cx-Ela'wat uLa'kima k;a uLa'qeweqxe 



their strap and their knife; they are tied their strap and their knife 



together 



kja La'ckuic La'kjelak. Ka'nauwetikc e'ka. 



and their mat the Clatsop. All thus. 



Translatio7i. 



When the people of Sealand find a whale they tell a youth to go to 

 the town and to inform the people. A person who has to observe taboos 

 is asked to go up and down [in his canoe] below the whale. Then he 

 goes up and down below the whale. Thus also a person who cohabited 

 the preceding night goes up and down below the whale. If no person 

 who has to observe taboos would go up and down, it would drift away. 

 Those who found the whale do not cut it ; they wait for the chief. All 

 the people reach the whale. Then the chief takes a stick and measures 

 the whale from the head to the tail. Then he tells the people : "You 

 will cut here; you will cut there." It is distributed among those peo- 

 ple. The common people cut from the tail end. When it is all cut, it 

 is carried to the town into the houses. When the whale is measured, 

 the chief tells the people to make the [measuring] sticks two spans 

 and one hand width long, if the whale is large [ ; two spans wide if the 

 whale is smaller]. The people are told: "You cut here," and they cut 

 the whale. Everything is done this way. A cut two spans and one 

 hand width large is exchanged for one blanket, or for a string of den- 

 talia five shells longer than a fathom. When a cut two spans large 

 is sold it is exchanged for a ground-hog blanket. 



When travelers from Chehalis find a whale it is taken back from 

 them. If it is found at Oysterville, it belongs to the people of Sea- 

 land; when it is found north of Oysterville, it belongs to the Willapa. 

 When the people of Sealand find a whale north of Oysterville, it is 

 claimed by the Willapa. If the Willapa find one south of Oysterville, 

 it is claimed by the people of Sealand. 



When a i)erson who has taboos sees a whale nearly drifting ashore, 

 it will drift out to sea again. This happens with one who has cohab- 

 ited the preceding night, with a menstrnating woman, with a girl who 

 is tmenstruant for the first time, and with a murderer. People who 

 have taboos do not go to the beach. When they go often to the beach, 

 no whale will be found and the people get hungry. 



When a whale is found in Chehalis all the Nisal and Willapa go to 

 buy whale meat. When a whale is found in Sealand, all the Chehalis 

 go to buy its meat. 



When the i^eople are starving, a person who has a supernatural 

 helper of the sea sings to bring a whale. No woman who has her regu- 

 lar menses enters, no young man; else a person might see the singing 



