72 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. .-'.9 



29. THE FIRST WAR IN THE WORLD « 



A man named Xaku'tc! was very fond of hunting and hunted ahiiost 

 every day with his brother-in-Law, bringing home seal and all sorts of 

 game which he had speared. There was no money in those days. 



It was winter. One morning when he went out he speared a por- 

 poise near the place where a devilfish lived, and began to skin it 

 there, letting its blood spread out over the water. He told his 

 steersman to keep a sharp lookout for the devilfish. 



While they were moving along slowly skinning it, they saw the color 

 of the devilfish coming toward them from under the water. It had 

 its arms extended upward ready for action. 



Xaku'tc! had a big spear ready by his side, while his brother-in- 

 law began to sharpen his knife and thought to do great things with 

 it. When the devilfish came up out of the water he jumped into 

 the midst of its arms along with his knife and was swallowed so 

 quickly that he was able to do nothing; so his brother-in-law had to 

 fight by himself. After he had fought with it for a long time he 

 killed it, and it began to sink with him. The canoe stood up on one 

 end before it went under, and he climbed up on the thwarts as high 

 as he could go. At last the devilfish went right under with them, 

 and finally floated up again at a place called Narrow point (Kulisa'o 

 q!a). 



Some one must have witnessed this fight, for they cut the devil- 

 fish open to see if the hunter were there, and f(Hind him stowed 

 away snugly inside of it. That was the man that pe()]:)le often talk 

 about in these davs as Xaku'tc!.'' He it was who killed the devil- 

 fish. 



Afterward his spirit came to one of his friends. People now try 

 to get strength from him because he killed this devilfish. In oltlen 

 times, when one killetl a great creature, his strength always came to 

 another person. Then his strength came to a certain person, impel- 

 ling him to go to war. 



They used to ]>ut a light, thin-skinned coat on this person's back 

 to try his strength by endeavoring to ])ull it off, but they were not 

 able to do so. They would ]iu\\ this coat as far back as his shoulders, 

 but, try as hard as they might, they could not get it farther. Then 

 [the spirit in this shaman] told his name. He said, "I am Xaku'tc!. 

 I have been swallowed by a devilfish, and I come to you as a spirit 

 (yek)." Many people came to see the shaman when he was pos 

 sessed and to try him with the coat which no one could pull offi 

 What do you think it was that held it on his back? 



a Of. the first part of this story with story 11 and story 31, pp. 150-151. 



b Said to mean " shaggy," referring to the thick, lumpy hair of the grizzly bear. The man was prob- 

 ably one of the lvri'g\vAnt.an. 



