QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 149 B 



from the rock of Slate Chuck Creek are generally good representations 

 of the ke%en. (Several of these are figured by J. G-. Swan in the pub- 

 lication already referred to.) Plates, flutes, and other carvings made 

 from the same stone, though evincing in their manufacture some skill 

 and ingenuity, have been produced merely by the demand for such 

 things as curiosities by whites. 



The use of copper, and to some extent the method of manufacturing Copper, 

 it into various articles by hammering, has been known from time im- 

 memorial to most of the Indians of this part of the west coast. The 

 metal has probably been for the most part obtained in trade from the 

 Indians of the Atna or Copper Eiver in latitude 60° 17'. it is proba- 

 bly this familiarity with copper that has enabled the Haidas, with 

 other tribes of the coast, so soon to acquire a proficiency in the art of 

 working silver and iron in a rough way. 



Traditions and Folk-lore. 



Of stories connected with localities, or accounting for various cir- 

 cumstances, there are no doubt very many among the Haidas. Of 

 these, such as I have heard are given. The fundamental narrative of 

 the origin of man, and the beginning of the present state of affairs is 

 the most important of their myths. In all its minor details I believe 

 it to be correct ; that is to say, unaltered from its original traditional 

 form. Minor shades of meaning may in some instances be indefinite, 

 as it was obtained through the medium of the Chinook, aided by what 

 little English my informant was master of. This, as related to me, is 

 as follows. — 



Yery long ago there was a great flood by which all men and animals Creation myth, 

 were destroyed, with the exception of a single raven. This creature 

 was not, however, exactly an ordinary bird, but — as with all animals 

 in the old Indian stories — possessed the attributes of a human being to 

 a great extent. His coat of feathers, for instance, could be put on or 

 taken off at will, like a garment. It is even related in one version of 

 the story that he was born of a woman who had no husband, and that 

 she made bows and arrows for him. When old enough, with these he 

 killed birds, and of their skins she sewed a cape or blanket. The birds 

 were the little snow-bird with black head and neck, the large black and 

 red, and the Mexican woodpeckers. The name of this being was 

 Ne-kil-stlas. 



When the flood had gone down Ne-kil-stlas looked about, but could Flood, 

 find neither companions nor a mate, and became very lonely. At last 

 he took a cockle (Cardium Nuttalli) from the beach, and marrying it, 

 he constantly continued to brood and think earnestly of his wish for 

 a companion. By and bye in the shell he heard a very faint cry, like 



