QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 153 B 



number of fish floated up dead, and with them a large whale of the 

 malevolent kind above described. This had a great wound in its side, 

 from which much blood flowed. The medicine-man of the village said 

 afterwards that he knew — or saw — that the whale so killed was the 

 chief among these creatures, and that the Indian who had killed him 

 had now become chief in his stead. 



A remarkable hill, called Tow, stands on the shore between Eose Story of the 



' ' hill loir. 



Point and Masset. One side is a steep cliff', while the other slopes 

 more gradually. On the upper part of the inlet above Masset, is 

 another hill about the same size and also precipitous on one side, called 

 Tow-us-tas-in, or ' Tow's Brother.' The story is that the two hills 

 were formerly together where Tow's brother still stands, but that on 

 one occasion Tow's brother devoured the whole of a lot of dog-fish 

 which was in dispute between them, and that Tow being much angered 

 went away to the open coast, where he now is. 



It is also related that the summit of the hill called Tow was formerly 

 inhabited by a very great spider, which, when a man passed, would 

 swing itself down by its rope, catch him up, and devour him. After a 

 time a Haida killed this spider with a spear. 



Nai-lcoon or Rose Point (the Haida name meaning long nose) is a Terrors of Hose 

 place full of real or imagined terrors to the Haidas. It is a dangerous 

 and treacherous point to round at any time but in very fine weather, 

 and many Indians have been drowned there on different occaions. They 

 say that strange (micaim} 1 -) marine creatures inhabit its neighbourhood, 

 and believe that if a man laugh never so little in rounding the spit, 

 the are sure to work him evil. The father of my informant, with other 

 Haidas in a canoe, saw one of these creatures. It was like a man, but 

 very large, with hair hanging down to its shoulders. It raised itself 

 out of the water to its middle, and frightened the Indians very much, 

 but caused them no harm. Two vessels belonging to the Hudson Bay 

 Company have been wrecked on this spit, and one of the Haida medi- 

 cine-men says that the souls of these haunt the place yet. About 

 thirty years ago a great many Indians going in canoes to profit by a 

 dead whale that had been cast up on the spit, were drowned between 

 Masset and that place. 



There is also told in connection with Rose Point a story of a gigantic Gigantic 

 beaver. This animal, it is said, inhabits its vicinit}^, and when it wishes beaver - 

 to come to the surface produces a dense fog, the water at the same 

 time becoming very calm. The fog ma}'-, perhaps, clear away enough 

 to allow some one watching in a retired nook to see the great beaver; 

 but should the animal catch sight of any human being it instantly 

 strikes the water with its tail and disappears. To laugh at the beaver, 

 or make light of him in any w r ay, is certain to bring bad luck ; and 



