NEW YORK AND LONDON: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. [ v ] [ vii ]...

O n the shores of the ocean which washes our northwest coast live many tribes of a hardy, seafaring people. Their houses stand along the beach just above high-water mark, and behind them the wooded mountains rise sharply. The waters at their feet yield them the chief share of their living. The salmon that each year come to the rivers to spawn, the great shoals of little herrings that visit the beach, the halibut that lie at the bottom far at sea, the seals, the sea-lions, the porpoises, and the

[ 1 ] [ 3 ] A t Sea Side lived many people—a big village. Their houses were on the bank, and, below, the wide beach sloped down to the salt water. Under the bank the canoes rested on the beach above high-water mark. Beyond was the sea. One day the Chief of the village died. He had one son, a big boy just growing up to be a man. It was winter, and the people had hardly anything to eat. They looked along the beach for food cast up by the sea, but they could find nothing. They were hungry, and did

That night the boy said, “To-morrow I am going with you”; and Bluejay said to him: “What are you going to do? You may drift away. You may be overwhelmed by the waves.” The boy said, “I will go with you.” On the third morning they rose early and went to the beach, and the boy also went to the beach, and took hold of the side of the canoe to get in. Bluejay said: “What are you doing here? Go to the houses.” The boy cried, but [ 7 ] he went back. Then Bluejay said to the others, “Quick, paddle; we

The Magpie said, “Bluejay can do only one [ 22 ] thing.” He took the kettle and threw the stones out of it. Then he heated more stones, put a dry salmon egg in the water, put in the hot stones, and covered the kettle, and soon the water began to boil. Presently he took the cover off the kettle, and it was full of boiled salmon eggs. Then the Magpie went down to the beach and put his canoe in the water and paddled away to his home. After several nights Bluejay and his sister were hungry. Bluejay

“THERE WAS NO BOY THERE, ONLY A PILE OF BONES” Now they began to fish, Bluejay using the dip-net, while the boy held the canoe. Soon Bluejay felt something in his net and raised it, but only two dead branches were in it. He threw them out, and again put his net into the water. Again he felt something in it and raised it, and it was full of leaves. He threw them out, but a part of the leaves fell in the canoe, [ 39 ] and the boy gathered them up. Again he caught a branch and threw it out into the

The girl answered him: “Grandfather, here is plenty of meat. This house is full of it. Take what you want. Take the fattest pieces. Take it to your children. Let them eat.” The Coyote began to cry. He said: “Yes, my relations laughed at me when I said I was going to visit you and ask you for something to eat. They said you would not give me anything. I do not want any dried meat—I want some fresh meat to take to my children. Have pity on me, and let me put you in the swing, so as to bring the Bu

The Father said: “Tie these sacks to your shield, and do not lose them. When you get back to your people give each one some of the seeds and tell him to put them in the ground; then they will make more. These things are good to eat, but the first year do not let the people eat them; let them put the yield away, and the next year again put it in the ground. After that they can eat a part of what grows, but they must always save some for seed. So the people will always have something to eat with t

When the woman fell the boy crawled out from under her. He stayed there by his mother three days. Every now and then he would start to go off somewhere, and would go a little way, and then would come back to his mother and try to rouse her; but she was dead. The fourth day he started to go off a long way, and as he was going along he came to a patch of corn and squashes, and he walked among the corn and pulled some ears and ate them. Near by this field was a poor little lodge, in which lived an

The she-bear said: “Oh, I wish I could do something to save you, but I cannot. He is one of those bad bears—a grizzly—medicine. I can do nothing for you, but I will try. As soon as you hear any noise outside—any one coming—pick up that cub, the littlest one, and hold it in your arms. When he comes in he will tell you to put it down, but do not do so. Hold it tight; he loves that one best of all.” All at once the boy heard outside the cave the noise of a bear snorting and grunting. The she-bear s

When he opened his eyes, he was far up in the blue sky, in another world. It was all a wide prairie. There were no mountains, no trees. There were only rivers, with a few bushes upon their banks. He could now see the person who had spoken to him. He was a young man about his own age, but he was very handsome. [ 120 ] He wore a shirt, leggings, and robe of some strange animal’s fur, and his moccasins were embroidered in strange and beautiful colors and patterns. The young man said to Scarface: “M

For several days the little family travelled eastward along the valley of the evergrowing stream, but found no buffalo. Then they turned northeast, and after four nights on the wide prairie saw before them another valley. Buffalo were all around them now, and Low Wolf said that if they could find plenty of timber and water he would be content to stay in this place until spring. There was a large river flowing through the valley, and along its banks grew groves of large cotton-woods and willows.

He opened the medicine bag and took from it a long pipe stem painted red and black, to which was tied a small buckskin sack, ornamented with the feathers of certain small birds, and curious claws and teeth. No one but he knew what was inside the little sack; it was his secret helper. “ Hai-yu ,” he cried to it, entreatingly. “ Hai-yu , you certain thing of the earth. Help me now; help me to drive away the ghosts from this sufferer’s eyes. As you long ago told me in my dreams to do, favored one o

It was early summer. The grass had started. The snow was melting on the mountains. Already the streams were high. It was time to go to war. From their camp on the plains a party of Piegans set out on the war-path to cross the mountains and take horses from their enemies on the other side—Snakes, Flat Heads, or Nez Percés. On foot they made their way along the lower hills, climbed up through the narrow pass, and at length stood on the top of the mountain range, from which they could look [ 162 ]

For two days they travelled, and on the third day, as they were going along, the boy saw sitting in a tree-top a bird that was white as snow, and different from any bird that he had seen before. He took an arrow from his quiver and shot the bird, and as it fell, it caught among the branches and lodged there. He threw sticks at it, but could not knock it down, so he made up his mind that he would climb the tree and get the bird and his arrow. When he had tightened his belt and was just about to c

When Shield Quiver found that the Snakes had only just moved from there, he said to his wife: “Here, let us get back in the brush. These people are not far from here. They may see us. We must hide ourselves.” They went back into the brush and hid. While they were waiting in the brush a dark cloud came up in the west, and it looked as if they were going to have a storm. Shield Quiver said to his wife: “While we have to wait, I will fix up a little shelter of brush here, so that we may keep dry; b

“Well,” replied the other, “I pity the poor young man, and, if my father would allow me, I would marry him and make a man of him. All he needs to change his ways is kindness and teaching.” In the evening New Robe met this girl, Mas-tah ki—Raven Woman—as she was coming from the river with a skin of water. Already he had combed out his hair and washed himself, and she stared at him in surprise. “Ah,” he said, stopping her in the path. “To-day I heard your kind words, and have taken them to my hear

Front Wolf and his friends had drawn the covers from their guns, prepared to fight and to sell their lives dearly, but when Front Wolf heard this, and saw that the strangers made no motions to shoot, he lowered his rifle and said: “They intend to make peace with us; I guess they are tired of being at war with our people. Do not be afraid; they will not harm us.” The chief came up first, and shook hands with Front Wolf and the rest, saying: “I am glad to meet you. Our camp is near. Come over to m

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