INDIAN LEGENDS OF VANCOUVER ISLAND

TEXT BY ALFRED CARMICHAEL

ILLUSTRATED BY J. SEMEYN

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION

The unsophisticated aboriginal of British Columbia is almost a memoryof the past. He leaves no permanent monument, no ruins of formergreatness. His original habitation has long given place to the framehouse of sawn timber, and with the exception of the carvings in blackslate made by the Hydah Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands, andthe stone hammers, spear and arrow points, fashioned in the daysbefore the coming of the white man, the mementos of his sojourn inBritish Columbia are only relics in wood, bark or reeds.

In the Alberni District of Vancouver Island there are two tribesof Indians, the Seshaht and the Opitchesaht. During the winterseason the Seshahts live in a village which occupies a beautifuland commanding site on the west bank of the Somass River.

Some thirty years ago when I first knew the Seshahts, they stillcelebrated the great Lokwana dance or wolf ritual on the occasionof an important potlatch, and I remember well the din made by theblowing of horns, the shaking of rattles, and the beating of stickson the roof boards of Big Tom's great potlatch house, when theIndians sighted the suppositional wolves on the river bank oppositethe Village.

In those days we were permitted to attend the potlatches and witnessthe animal and other dances, among which were the "Panther," "RedHeaded Woodpecker," "Wild Swan" and the "Sawbill Duck." Generallywe were welcome at the festivals, provided we did not laugh orshow sign of any feeling save that of grave interest. Among myIndian acquaintances of those days was Ka-coop-et, better known inthe district as Mr. Bill. Bill is a fine type of Seshaht, quiteintelligent and with a fund of humour. Having made friends, he toldme in a mixture of broken English and Chinook some of the old folklore of his tribe. Of these stories I have selected for publication"How Shewish Became a Great Whale Hunter" and "The Finding of theTsomass." This latter story as I present it, is a composite of threeversions of the same tale, as received, by Gilbert Malcolm Sproatabout the year 1862; by myself from "Bill" in 1896, and by Charles A.Cox, Indian Agent, resident at Alberni, from an old Indian calledKa-kay-un, in September 1921. Ka-kay-un credits his great greatgrandfather with being the father of the two young Indians who withthe slave See-na-ulth discovered the valley now known as Alberni,while "Bill" gave the credit to the sons of "Wick-in-in-ish."

The framework for "The Legend of Eut-le-ten," was related to me byRev. M. Swartout in the year 1897. Mr. Swartout was a missionary tothe West Coast Indian tribes. He spoke the language of the nativesfluently, and took great pains to get the story with as much accuracyas possible. A few years later, Mr. Swartout was drowned during aheavy storm while crossing in an open boat from the islands inBarkley Sound to Ucluelet.

In the making of the stories into English, I have worked in whatknowledge I have of the customs and habits of the West Coast Indiansof Vancouver Island. In a few instances, due to a lack of refinementof thought in the original stories, I have taken some license intheir transcription. The legends indicate the poetry that lies hiddenin the folk lore of the British Columbia Coast Indian tribes. Forplace names and other valuable information I am indebted to the

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