SWANTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 231 



by shamans, and, as he put them in, he whistled four times Hke the 

 spirit, "Whu, whu, whu, whii." But they, too, floated up. Now 

 he tried all kinds of wood — hemlock, red cedar, etc. Finally he tried 

 pieces of yellow cedar, which swam right away in the form of large 

 killer whales. They swam out for a long distance, and, when they 

 came back, again turned into wood. Then he made holes in theu' 

 dorsal fins, seized one of them with each hand and had the killer 

 whales take liini out to sea. He said, "You see my brothers-in-law 

 traveling about in canoes. You are to upset them." After he had 

 gone out for some tlistance between the whales they returned to land 

 and l)ecame wood once more. He took them up and put them in a 

 certain place. 



The next time lie saw his brothers-in-law coming along in their 

 canoes he put his spirits into the water again, and they smashed the 

 canoes and killed those in them. Then NatsilAne' said to his killer 

 whales, "You are not to injure human beings any more. You must 

 be kind to them." After that they were the canoes of spirits, and, 

 if shamans are lucky, they get these spirit canoes. It is through this 

 story that the DAqL!awe'di claim the killer whale. This clan was 

 scattered everywhere in Alaska, as well as among the Athapascans, 

 Haida, and Tsimshian. 



72. STORY OF THE NANYAA'Yl CRESTS 



At the time of the. flood the Nanyaa'yi were climbing a mountain 

 on the Stikine river, called Seku'qle-ca, and a grizzly bear and a moun- 

 tain goat went along with them. Whenever the people stopped, these 

 two animals stopped also, and whenever they moved on the animals 

 moved on. Finally they killed the bear and preserved its skin with 

 the claws, teeth, and so forth, intact. They kept it for years after 

 the flood, ?Jid, as soon as it went to pieces, they replaced it with 

 another, and that wdth still another up to the present time. This is 

 why they claim the grizzly bear. During the times when this bear 

 skin has been shown thousands of dollars worth of slaves and furs 

 have been given away. Shakes (Ceks), head cliiefs of this clan, would 

 go up to a row of slaves and slap each one, upon which the slave would 

 either have to be killed or sent home. This is why they gave great 

 names to their children. They were very proud of owning this bear 

 and did all kinds of things toward it. That is why all Alaska speaks 

 of the Nanyaa'yi as the chief ones owning the grizzly bear. Very 

 many songs were composed concerning it, with words such as these, 

 "Come here, you bear, the highest bear of all bears." 



They also have the head of the mountain goat, but they do not 

 value it as highly. * 



