SWAXTON] HISTORICAL DKVKLOl'MKNT 411 



river. It is possible that the second account is the truer one, but on 

 the other liaiid it may have been made up to conceal their extraneous 

 origin, "Stick Indians" as the Athapascans are calU'd, liaving been 

 very nuich looked down upon in olden times. Their name is said to be 

 derived from a creek on Admiralty i^hiiid caUed (^atc 



Tlie NesA'di (Salt-water })eopk') also are said to iiave ((imc down tlie 

 Stikine from among the Athapascans. Their name is explained by tlie 

 story that they were caiTied up that liver at the time of the flood and 

 chased down again by the interior tribes. 



"A man coming from a certain creek was so lousy that he died, 

 and ever since his people have been called Lousv-creek people 

 (Waslhl'nedi)." 



Most important of all the southern groups of Tlingit were the Sti- 

 kine. They claim tliat they formerly owned, besides the Stikine \alley, 

 parts of Kupreanof and Prince of Wales islands and the coast southward 

 as far as Loring. The last-named district, however, appears anciently 

 to have Vieen the special property of the Foam people (Xel (joan). who 

 have moved to W'rangell only in recent years. The Stikine also had 

 exclusive rights of trade with the interior Indians, who were valued for 

 what could be gotten out of them but otherwise looked down upon as 

 a lower race. Formerly the principal Stikine town was QaltcAL!-an, 

 now called Old Wrangell, some distance south of the present town 

 of Wrangell, and it is claimed that the first carved poles in Alaska 

 were there set up. The Indian town at modern Wrangell was built 

 around a little bay near the northern end of Wrangell island and on 

 several small islets in the bay. From the inclosed appearance of 

 this bay and the outline of the mountain behind it the town was called 

 QatcxA'na-ak !" (Human-hip lake). 



All of the Wolf families in this place, except the Foam people above 

 referred to, appear to belong to one group, and among them the most 

 important, as well of Wrangell as of this phi'atry, were the Nanyaa'yT. 

 Although all these clans are said formerly to have come from the 

 Tsimshian coast," the more immediate migration was southward from 

 Taku. During this migration part stopped at a place called SII'nAx 

 and were afterwards known as SiTknaxA'di. The Xd(|Ie'di reciMve their 

 name from a place a short distance south of Old ^\'l•angell called Xoq!, 

 and the Foam people were thought to be related to them, but this may 

 mean nothing more than association together in the f(>asts. Accord- 

 ing to one informant the Kaya'ckidetan were part of the Xoqie'di; 

 according to others, of the Nanyaa'yi. 



The Kaven clans at Wrangidl ha\-e already been spoken of, except the 

 Kas(ilague'di and Tfdqoe'di, which arc said to have had a similar ori- 

 gin. According to their present chief, the former were originally 

 Haida from the StA'stas clan of Masset. More immediatelj' they are 



o Lieut. G. T. Emmons informs the writer, however, that tlie Nanyaii'yi were an inland jieople 

 and did not come up from tlie soutli. 



