Hearing Order OH-001-2014
Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC (Trans Mountain) Application for Trans Mountain Expansion Project (Project) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity and related approvals under the National Energy Board Act.
WRITTEN EVIDENCE of the Intervenor, THE STÓ:LŌ COLLECTIVE
Appendix 6 - Sxwōxwiyá:m – Oral History Relating to Stó:lō
Jean Teillet, IPC Pape Salter Teillet LLP 460-220 Cambie Street Vancouver, BC, V6B 2M9 Phone: 604 681-3002 ext 1152 Fax: 604 681-3050 Email: [email protected] Submitted by legal counsel for the Stó:lō Collective
Appendix 6: Table of Contents Sxwōxwiyá:m – Oral History Relating to Stó:lō ...... 3 Xa:ls, Transformation, and Stó:lō Territory ...... 3 Xa:ls Travels ...... 3 Site Specific Stone Transformations ...... 4 Unspecified or Unknown Locations ...... 7 Body Transformations ...... 8 Into Plants and Animals ...... 8 Into the Sky ...... 10 From the Sky ...... 10 Origin ...... 10 Direction of Travel ...... 10 Geographical Extent of Travel ...... 10 Teachings ...... 11 Representations ...... 11 Miscellaneous ...... 11 T'ixwelátsa ...... 11 The Origin of T'ixwelátsa ...... 11 The Transformation of T'ixwelátsa: ...... 12 The transformation of T'ixwelátsa by Xexa:ls among the Chilliwack ...... 13 Excerpt from Stone T’xwelátse Repatriation Report (Schaepe 2005:19) ...... 13 Transformer Tales ...... 14 As told by Mrs. Louis George ...... 14 Franz Boas 1895 ...... 16 As told by Old Pierre of Katzie ...... 16 The Sxwóy:xwey Mask ...... 17 The Abandoned Boy ...... 19 Animal Stories ...... 21 The Origin of Salmon ...... 21 Beaver Story ...... 21 The Bear ...... 22 The Deer ...... 23 Sturgeon ...... 23 Creation of the Sturgeon ...... 23 The Skwówech “Sturgeon” ...... 24 Leq’á:mel Sturgeon Story ...... 24 Vegetation ...... 25 Xepá:y “Western Red Cedar” Origin ...... 25 Cultural Artifacts ...... 25 The Origin of the Sts’iyáq (Siyak) ...... 25 Places - Mountains ...... 25 Coqualeetza Legacy ...... 25 Coqualeetza - The "Cleansing Place" ...... 26 Women Changing the Men ...... 26 Legend of Mount Cheam ...... 29 Lhílheqey ...... 29 Elements ...... 31 Matq, or the Fire Myth ...... 31 From Wilson Duff Field Notes ...... 32 Flood Story ...... 33 The True Story of the Big Flood: ...... 34 Stalo River story ...... 36
2 Appendix 6 - Sxwōxwiyá:m – Oral History Relating to Stó:lō
Sxwōxwiyá:m is the true history of Stó:lō that applies to the review of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project and its impacts to Stó:lō culture, heritage, language, and traditional land use.
The Sxwōxwiyá:m are oral histories describing the distant past “when the world was not quite right.” This is a time when animals and humans could speak to one another and assume one another’s form.
The following Sxwōxwiyá:m have been provided as evidence of the direct connection Stó:lō people have to the land, waters, vegetation, animals, and mountains that are within S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō Territory), as well as the kinship and ties with other Stó:lō communities. These Sxwōxwiyá:m give the range of relations to vegetation, animals, waterways, mountains and view sheds, land, and the ancestors and relations, but do not show all relations or connections therein.
This is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of Sxwōxwiyá:m that relates Stó:lō to their environment or to one another within the Coast Salish Territory.
Xa:ls, Transformation, and Stó:lō Territory
Xa:ls Travels By Sonny McHalsie
The origins and the travels of Xa:ls as told in our many sxwōxwiyá:m forms the foundation of the Stó:lō world view and provides us with many important teachings of our relationship to our land and resources. Our Transformer sites are monuments to our long history on this land. The origin stories of many of our resources obligates us to take care of our land and resources. Our Transformer sites must be protected and in order to do so they must be mapped and documented.
This report is to accompany maps and an index to document the location of all “transformer” sites within Stó:lō territory. Currently this data base may provide some context to the extent of the “transformer” sites, and contribute to the question dealing with boundaries. What is the direction the transformers are traveling? To what extent do Stó:lō stories overlap into neighboring First Nations? Ethnographies, including Wilson Duff, Franz Boas, Charles Hill-Tout, Norman Lerman, Oliver Wells, and the many transcriptions of oral histories in the Stó:lō Archives will be used
Each site will be given a number, the direct transcript from the source, and key words for an index. The brackets will be mine in order to help reference the location based on other sources, especially if the cited reference does not explicitly cite the location of the transformer site.
WD = Wilson Duff fieldnotes / PC = Patrick Charlie Book / page / RJ =Robert Joe / EL = Edmond Lorenzetto / AJ = August Jim
3 / HJ = Harry Joseph
FB = Franz Boas / George Stsee’lis and his wife
Site Specific Stone Transformations 1. WD/PC 1/1 “On way...hunter...deer...dog...at low water.” WD/PC 2/1 “”About one mile west of Yale, ...hunter...dog...the deer’ s head.” WD/RJ 3/29 “He left there...hunter...dog...elk...how it got on that side.” FB/30 “3) In K ‘oa’lets...boy...for more food...never satisfied...ate it by himself...man finally asked the father...much ashamed...found out...son begged daily...abandon him... loaded canoes...grandmother took pity on him...chewed fern roots...glowing ember...in a shell...he had been abandoned...cried...lit a fire...bow and arrow...shot birds...roasted meat...made himself a cape...Sun saw him...stepped down...shape of a man...my cape...dip...into the river...fill...her- ring...I am the sun; Moon is my brother and the bright star often seen close to the moon is his wife”...made the exchange...caught ,many...built a house... remembered his grandmother...astonished...sent her these herring...young man...marveled...many provisions...all come back...except for my father and mother...Raven...two daughters...marry them...at last...allowed his parents to return...gave them nothing...very poor...he...was made chief...hunt for moose...Qals... transformed... man...dog into rocks...moose...into the sky...four brightest stars of the Big Dipper. (This is just below Hills Bar) 2. WD/PC 1/1 “Then he went up here a mile...marks on stone.”
WD/PC 2/2 “A little farther up...sat down...facing across the river...scratched the rocks...but this is different.”
WD/RJ 3/27 “Scratches -...with fingernail...while waiting...restless...see marks... where his feet were.”
WD/EL 5/52 “cxli’s- ...scratches...”making faces”...Xels...sitting...to do to that guy across at X2tEt...near him.”
WD/EL 5/52 “scratches-ac. from X2tEt”
WD/EL 5/70 “O2’xlis on point...scratches...”making faces”...teeth...showing.”
(This is the rock point adjacent to Lady Franklin Rock. Scratchmarks.)
3. WD/PC 1/1 “Before you come to here...left his cane...before he crossed river.” WD/PC 2/1 “(About 1/4 mile...cane...20’ high...highway...showing teeth.” (This is in the bay directly downriver of Lady Franklin, between 2 CPR tunnels.) 4. WD/PC 1/1 “Crossed river from...stone...seat...and stone is still there.” WD/PC 2/3 “Directly across...stone...seat...7’ x 3 or 4 ft.” (This is at Kuthlalth IR3, opposite Lady Franklin Rock)
4 5. WD/PC 2/3 “On his way back...two woman sitting on a rock...to stone...faces on the rock...stone bluff...It is a...remember them. ( This is at the upper end of previously IR 17.) 6. WD/PC 2/3 “Up about 3 miles...woman...grass...pubic region.” (This is approximately at Bell Crossing) 7. WD/PC 2/4 “Then his boy...from Cowichan...near Victoria...his placenta...place...Thompsons also have stories of this magician.” (Somewhere near Victoria) 8. WD/RJ 2/44 “Just above (Iyem)...head of whale...skemels like (Iyem) (Possibly around Saddle Rock) 9. WD/RJ 2/46 “At head of Strawberry Is., was turned...big snake...red berries...same size. WD/RJ 3/29 “He left there...head of Strawberry Island...doctor there…power was the serpent...into stone...little tree...has teeth and jaws...stays green.” (Large rock upriver of Strawberry Island) 10. WD/RJ 2/50 “(SkayEm?)...doctor..18” high..Emory Creek...little shower.” (Probably downriver of Emory Creek) 11. WD/RJ 2/50 “30 mi. up Harrison Lake...waist up, but 5’ high.” WD/RJ 3/33 “He came down...Harrison River...Lake...(skayE’m) a doctor...destroy you...answered...I’ll destroy you...pulls out his penis...piss right up that mtn...couldn’t quite reach the top...X pissed over top of mountain...help...people...traveling...bring enough wind...feed you...throw food...curse you or make fun of you..hard wind...tear you limb from limb...nose...on Harrison River...(me’qsel)...arms off, threw them away...then legs, ears...sit there...rest of your time...abdomen up...Douglas Indians...decorate him...white travellers...tug and scow...great wind...blew scow...back in place...something overboard.” FB/31 “Qals arrived at Sk’tsas...lived Sha’i...powerful man...looked along any path, it became very long...clothes from bear skins...Qals camped not too far...sister remained... went to fight...who can piss the farthest...tried...the summit... unable...Sha’i… pissed over the top...river...from Silver..to Spuzzum...Qals tried...some other way...no canoe...lend us yours...came to fetch it...persuaded Shai to come...Qals called... wind... capsized...hoped that Shai would drown...Shai...safely...He took... diatoaceous earth...blew it into the air...started to snow looked along the path...stretched out very far...Qals almost frozen... dropped with exhaustion...sister warmed them...hot sockeye oil...Shai had beaten them again...Qals wanted to kill Shai...asked his sister...menstrual blood...put it...his pipe... tobacco on it...went to Shai...smoke some too?...persuaded him...fell down dead... Qals ripped out his tongue...became a rock...his stomach, tore off his arms, legs and head,..transformed them into stones. (Doctor’s Point) 12. WD/RJ 2/52 “Twin brothers...Hunter andJones Creek...bathed in Hunter Creek...clear tomorrow.” WD/RJ 2/53 “Restmore caves: the playground of the oldest brother.”
5 WD/RJ 3/31 “From there...Hunter Creek...oldest brother...destroyed...no trace...if... weather bad...call...for help...bring fine weather...nobody will see you...only thing...is the caves.” (Probably rock at mouth of Hunter Creek. Or ravine?) 13. WD/RJ 2/52 “Twin brothers...Hunter and Jones Creek...above falls...rain.” WD/RJ 3/32 “Down...younger brother...(Xwa’txwatcelem?)...bathing...sign...of bad weather...above the falls...loud noise...going to be rain.” (In Jones Creek, above falls) 14 WD/RJ 2/53 “The mink...called (sxa’a’xa)...rock point...penis...destruction.” WD/RJ 3/32 “From there...down...(X’a’xa’)...below Squatatch...doctor...Jones Hill...power...penis...stay there...7” diam. 8-10 ft. long...heard of again.” (Probably east side of Jones Hill) 15. WD/RJ 2/55 “(Lhilheqey)...Cheam peak...3 sisters...Mt. Baker...mountain” (Mt. Cheam, two peaks in front and little mountain with Anderson Creek Falls.) 16. WD/RJ 2/55 “Just below ...large pot...in rock.chamber pot...15’...drink.” (CHECK? Cheam Lake, lime? Probably between Cheam Lake and Creek.) 17. WD/RJ 3/27 “Transformer: (˜e™á:ls)...Spuzzum Creek...big bowls...catch Beaver...trying to hide from (˜e™á:ls) FB/41 “) Beaver…Chief of the Spuzzum…dug an underground passage. (Probably just up Spuzzum Creek) 18. WD/RJ 3/27 “He came...across from scratches...man...just like a mink... whistling... calm day...see a ring...whistling breath...to other people. This weakened ...on his face...into rock...canoe...on its edge...moss...his back...canoe...rain...clouds...” (Must be somewhere on Kuthlalth) 19. WD/RJ 3/28 “While waiting, saw woman...man’s wife...had power...over there rest of your time...travel over you...lose their lives...middle of river.” “She is lying face down...hair is weeds...middle of river)” (probably Xeylxelamos sister between gravel bar and Kuthlalth) 20. WD/RJ 3/30 “He left...down...opposite American Bar...Four...woman swimming... cheeky...rocks...face down...shoulders and buttocks...on all four...in a line.” (Sisters Rocks near American Bar) 21. WD/RJ 3/30 “Just below that...Two sisters...below American Bar...in between them.” (Probably Iwowes and Wowes, names for places of two sisters turned to stone) 22. WD/RJ 3/31 “From there...to Haig..woman doctor...little lake...seen...again.” (Devils Lake) 23. WD/RJ 3/31 “Come down again, ...a mile...large strong woman...den...above Peter Pete’s...disappeared...her cave...ever be seen.” (Just above east end Chawathil IR 4)
6 24. WD/EL 5/53 “h2m2O2x - taking oil...fishheads...people around big bowl...near Yale...across the river...this side...Emory Creek...in highwater.” (Hemhemetheqw at Hill’s Bar) 25. WD/EL 5/68 “I’y2m lucky place...includes kw2’l2s “whale”(...XEls ...along.)” (Near Bell Crossing) 26. FB/35 16) “In Stsee’lis [Chehalis], Qals met a man...Pa’lahil [Oneleg]...catching salmon...Qals wanted...harpoon head...changed into a salmon...swam towards the spot...latter hit him...swam away with the harpoon head...swam back to ... brothers...all went...Pa’lahil...gone to bed...very sad...gave it back... “I want to make you happy... Here...always be many salmon where you are.”...he transformed him into stone..gave him power...can cause wind.” Second Version - Qals saw Oneleg catching salmon...asked...permission to land near his house...refused...brothers and sister camped...Qoa’k otlk otl changed into a salmon... stole...harpoon...wife said, “Why don’t you go down...lake...they went...Oneleg sprang back...two bounds...wife caused ground to stretch...unable to return...nearly froze...sister then begged...her brother might return...granted her wish...who could catch the most salmon...Qoa’k otlk otl...pipe in his mouth...pulled his net...filled...gave him his pipe...one puff...changed into stone.” (Paléxel, Chehalis R. canyon north of bridge on Morris Valley Rd.) 27. FB/36 “17) When Qals went up the Harrison River, ...lived an old woman... Leqyiles... vagina...with teeth...bit off the penis of any man who wanted to sleep with her...Qals camped...dark, Mink sneaked down...groped about...his hand into her vagina...bit it off...ran back to Qals...footprints can still be seen...He was ashamed...fire by himself away...right arm hidden...steering...canoe...veered...at night...Qals noticed...Transformed Leqyiles into a rock...water is sprinkled...start raining immediately.” (Lexwyélés and Sxéyeltels te sqoyéxiya directly opposite the mouth of Morris Creek on Harrison R.) 28. FB/36 “18) Qals wandered on...an old man...harpooning seals...seal surfaced...man held his harpoon in readiness...Qals came...the old one, the canoe...the seal...changed immediately into stone.” (upriver of the mouth of Morris Creek on Harrison River) 29. FB/40 “11) The Siyita… a bear transformed into a man…daughter…dog…boy…sturgeon…bones…ancestor…Autlten…I sleep like this…on his back, legs up high and hands pulled to chin…into rock…in Squhamen (Agassiz) (Somewhere in Agassiz) 30. FB/44 Kaia’m(wolverine) into stone. (somewhere at Silver River)
Unspecified or Unknown Locations 1. FB/38 “6) The Chilliwack…soowahlie Chief…beautiful daughter…mink…baby T’equlatca…into stone. (Location unknown)
7 2. FB/39 “8) The Scowlitz…ancestor…K’ulte’meltq…his dau…found Sxwóy:xwey. He was changed to stone. (Location unknown) 3. FB/39 “9) The Pilalt…woman called Clem (Crane)…lived in Tcatcohil…One Assumed the form of a man and the name Qa’latca (becomes invisible)…into a rock…hammer and axe still be seen. (Location unknown) 4. FB/35 “15) Qoa’k otl otl’s brothers wanted...whether he was powerful...up the river...they pitched camp..teased their brother...pulled his hair...didn’t pay any attention...lay down...river started to rise...his brothers and sister had to flee up the mountain...he remained...everything...covered by the water...around his fire remained dry.” (Story similar to Nl’akapmxw story a few miles south of Spences Bridge)
Body Transformations 1. FB/34 “12) He wandered on and met a woman...genitals on her chest...Qals said, “This is no good; genitals shouldn’t be close to the mouth...won’t be able to give birth...chest is all bones...not flexible enough...closed her chest up... eldest brother took birch bark...form new genitals...wasn’t flexible enough... Qoa’k otlk otl took sinews...neck of the deer...made...sexual organs...very flexible and stretch during birth.” (Womans sexual organs)
2. FB/34 “13) They wandered on...found a man and woman...sexual organs...on their foreheads...pushed them down...If he hadn’t...people would still...genitals on...chest or forehead.” (Men and Womans sexual organs)
Into Plants and Animals 1. FB/29 “2) First...arrived at Ma’le...(Musqueam)...met chief...roasting shellfish...burning wood into Qoa’k otlk otl’s face...get a little water...his creek...subjects, the octopus people...pulled him in...the eldest brother...same fate...youngest...not fare any better... girl...give me back my brothers...granted her wish...they transformed Pa’pk eltel...into iris (?cattail?)...many irises near Ma’le.” FB/36 “1) The Qme’ckoyim (Musqueam). Their ancestor Pa’pk eltel...the legend of Qals.” (Irises or Cattail, Ancestor of the Musqweam) 2. FB/32 “6) Farther upriver...lived...Swan...wife, Crane...canoe passed by with a man, Swallow...wife died...going into the forest...in reality...wife...meeting with her lover...Swallow...taken revenge...tied her...to top of tree...debarked it...Swan heard a voice...Swallow’s wife...she sang...the stick penetrates...blood flowed...Swan went...to search for the voice...succeeded...bringing...to the ground...”When I am dead, you shall drink my blood, and if it rains, please talk about me.”...she died...transformed into blackberries...Swan...angry with Swallow... “When you come back with the east wind, I will avoid you and move downstream”...Qals passed by... “you shall become birds. You, swallow, shall fly about in the forest in the summer, searching for your sife. Now paint your face...painted himself black and white...long feathers on his back...flies about... looking for his wife with the cry el, el, el.”
8 (Blackberries, Swan, Swallow [Magpie?]) 3. FB/33 “7) Qals wandered on upriver...a house...old man...small mouth...fat belly...name Spepa’ltsep...Qals...asked... “mouth is so small?”...not good for you...prefer...to hunt?... No...rather stay here...like people...to find me here...“Alright, you shall always stay her.” ...transformed him into a fish...Spa’ ltsep” (Mountain whitefish) 4. FB/33 “8) Qals walked on ...a house...old man with a red face and with red hair...name PethEl...he hid...when Qals journeyed on...he changed into a small snake...red belly...Qals pitched camp...eldest brother sat down...crawled into his anus... “Ha!” cried Qals, “Are you playing such tricks? Then remain a snake and always do this.”...always follows people...crawls into their anuses.” (Red Salamander) 5. FB/34 “9) And Qals came to a house...an old man, Rattlesnake...hiding something behind his back...Qals...asked...what have you...did not answer...said only...”I’ve already defeated Marten with it.” Qals asked once more...no reply saw...he was hiding a rattle...Qals stuck it to his back...alwayus carry the rattle...transformed him into a rattlesnake...a shaman...still poison people today.” (Rattlesnake, possibly out of Stó:lô territory) 6. FB/34 “10) He went on...old man...small head, named K e’wuq...asked him...“Do you always stay near your home?”... “I don’t care for travelling about.”...Qals transformed him into a river salmon...stays in fresh water.” (Steelhead, possibly out of Stó:lô territory) 7. FB/34 “11) Qals wandered on...met Salamander...old man...white hair and long nails... “what do you eat?”... “...I have nothing...”...why...kill people...your excrement in their mouths?...people shall use your excrement as poison...transformed him into a salamander.” (Salamander, could No. 4 be Stó:lô version and this be Nlakapamux) 8. FB/34 “14) He went on and met prairie wolf...no wife...a knothole..used it...Qoa’k otlk otl asked...where is your wife... “Here”...saw the knothole...your wife, grandfather? Shall I make you happy? Give me ...cedar bark...make you a wife...Prairie wolf said, “Here grandson, take this cedar bark and make me happy.” Qals transformed it...a woman... Prairie wolf then married.” (Coyote’s wife, similar to Nlakapamux story) 9. FB/36 “2) The K oa’antel [Kwantlen]. K ale’tsemes, the first chief, had a daughter who didn’t want to marry...one night...man crept into her bed...she allowed him...father’s hammer...human form...morning...left her again...back into a hammer...following night a man...slept with her...father’s dog who had...assumed human shape...gave birth… puppies...father...ashamed...abandoned her...built herself a small hut...she and her children lived...down at the beach…hear singing…Oh! Mother thinks we are dogs and leaves us daily…grabbed the skins…flung them on the fire…had to stayhuman… ancestors of K’oantel...transformed K’aletsemes into a badger. 10. FB/37 “4) The Matsqui…ancestor Skeleyitl…had a son d ressed in beaver..like himself…Qals came, they fought…Qals defeated him…Sk’ele’yitl jumped into Water…he and his son were transformed into beavers.
9 11. FB/37 “5) The Nicomen…Ialepk’elem…into a sturgeon. 12. FB/40 “10) The Popkum…ancestor was Aiuwa’luq…transformed into a mtn. goat 13. FB/40 “11) The Siyita…a bear transformed into a man…name Autlten…married had a daughter…heard a man…daughters bed…black dog…sturgeon…pregnant…birth to a boy… into a small sturgeon…killed him, cut him up…bones…into the water…came to life…became the ancestor of Siyita. 14. FB/43 old woman a root ts’u’koa (spring wood fern)
Into the Sky 1. FB/31 “He took the moose and flung it into the sky; there it was transformed into the four stars of the Big Dipper.” (The Big Dipper)
2. FB/31 “4) Qals went on...group of children...weeping...parents had left them...into the sky...became the Pleiades.” (The Pleiades)
From the Sky 1. FB/37 “3) The Katzie…ancestor was sent from the sky…great noise up above…name Was Tsata’selten
2. FB/39 “7) The Chehalis…Ts’a’tsemiltq…sent down from the sky…lived together.
Origin WD/EL 4/18 “XE’ls - the transformer...man and wife at Xetet...she..old and sick...put in gravebox...meeting young man...heard a baby cry...baby grew into powerful man(XEls)...Mrs L. thinks the one...was the devil...XEls is son of devil. Told...Patterson that.
FB/29 “Above Sk’tsas, ...lived...woodpecker...Black bear and grizzly bear...his wives...three sons one daughter with Black...Grizzly...no children...middle son...Qoa’k otlk otl...move down to the lake...Grizzly...quarreling...husband...killed him...four children left...along the Fraser River towards the sunrise...at sunrise...walked into the sky...towards the sunset...turned back...east once more...name Qals...transformed everyone...into stones...Mink accompanied...travels. ”
Direction of Travel WD/RJ 2/46 “Transformer came down river, not up.”
WD/RJ 3/33 “From there on(Jones Hill), he didn’t seem to have any trouble. He came down turned up Harrison River, up on Harrison Lake, over 3/4 of way up the lake.”
WD/RJ 3/35 “From there (Doctors Point), we don’t know which way (xaxayls) went.”
Geographical Extent of Travel WD/PC 3/85 “(skeyE’m)...a magician, went up the river Went down again, but they didn’t see him go down-only heard of him when he got down near Victoria. Many stories about him. Started to dance on a spot, formed a puddle, dances, danced. it grew bigger, became one of lakes. This is where Indian doctors get power.”
10
WD/PC 3/88 “Thompsons have stories of (lecayx’el) skeyem went up there, danced, formed a lake-so he must have been up there to.”
WD/AJ 4/49 “Yale people saw lots...transformers stories...2 men who turned them into stone.”
WD/EL 5/52 “XE’ls “turning things into anything he wanted...Thompsons have stories...Chilliwacks...Cowichans...Never heard about C 2’cayxy2l “one leg”...know hunter, deer story.
Teachings WD/RJ 2/44 “Transformer...(˜e™á:ls)...something great or holy...into stone...taught people...make net, spear salmon, use hook.”
WD/RJ 3/27 “Down across just above Yale. Where that man was sitting. At that time, water lilies where river is. They couldn’t explain where river was then. They claim that he came down to teach people how to catch fish, salmon: how to make hemp rope, bark rope; showed them how to knit it into nets. These were people of good character. How to make spears, hooks, how and when to use them.”
Representations WD/RJ 3/37 “Stone bowls...decorated...form of frog...(Xexayls) turned a fine young woman into a frog. Frog means a woman.”
Miscellaneous WD/HJ 4/102 “a’lia-prophet man...man...who fought Xexals was one.”
WD/EL 5/53 “Xels didn’t turn everybody into rock...ones thats proud, and got power. ”
FB/41 “12) The Kuthlalth…were all river monsters…Qals…fainted…revived him.
FB/41 “13) sk’elao bro of qelqelemas of the Speyim dug an underground passage.
T'ixwelátsa
The Origin of T'ixwelátsa From Stone T'ixwelátsa Repatriation Report, By Dave Schaepe: Excerpt from Franz Boas's 'Legends from the Lower Fraser River' (1895; see Kennedy and Bouchard 2002:103-104); T'ixwelátsa (spelled by Boas as T’ē′qulä′tca).
"The Ch’elxweyéqw (Tc’ileQuē′uk). In Th’ewálí(Ts’uwä′lē), on the lower Chilliwack River54, there lived a chief who had a very beautiful daughter. Sqáyex, Sqáyéxiya(K·ā′iq), Mink, wished to have her for himself. So he assumed the form of a handsome young man and walked upriver on the shore opposite the village. He carried a harpoon in his hand and fish on his back so that it appeared as if he had just caught them. At just this moment an old man had sent all the young girls to bathe, among them the chief’s daughter. The girls saw the
11 young man, who kept calling “Ps! Ps!” and when they noticed the fish that he was carrying, they asked him to throw one over to them. He fulfilled their wish; the fish fell into the water, swam into the chief’s daughter and made her ill. Her father searched for a shaman to heal her. So Mink assumed the shape of a shaman. In the evening he went to the village and when he was seen by an old woman, she said, “Surely he will be able to heal the girl.” They called him into the house and he promised to heal her. First, he sent all the people out of the house, leaving only an old woman sitting outside the door to accompany his song with the rhythmic beats of the dancing stick. To begin with, he sang, but then he slept with the girl and she gave birth to a child right away. So Mink leaped at once out of the house. The old woman heard the child’s crying and called the people back. They became very angry, took the child and threw him out of the house. But Mink was standing outside with his mountain goat cape spread wide; he caught the child in it and went away with him. After a while the girl’s father became sad that he lost his grandson. So he sent to Sqáyex (K·ā′iq) and begged him to send him back. Mink granted his wish and sent the boy back. He was named T'ixwelátsa (T’ē′qulä′tca) (from the lower reaches of the river)55. He became the ancestor of the Ch’elxweyéqw (Tc’ileQuē′uk).
Later Xa:ls [an alternate reference to Xexa:ls] (Qäls) met T'ixwelátsa (T’ē′qulä′tca). They fought and tried to transform each other. Xa:ls (Qäls) first changed him into a root.57 But this transformation was not entirely successful. Then he tried to transform him successively into a salmon and a mink, but wasn’t any more successful. The mink wore eagle feathers on its head. So finally he changed him into a stone."
The Transformation of T'ixwelátsa: Excerpt from Interview (2003) with T'ixwelátsa (Herb Joe)
The Stone T'ixwelátsa is a creation of, a transformation of one of the T'ixwelátsa(s). The story goes that Xa:ls [an alternate reference to Xexa:ls] the great transformer that was sent to our territory to make things right came upon a man and a woman by a river side. This man and woman were arguing with each other. Xa:ls being given the mandate or the responsibility for making things right as he traveled through our lands asked this man and woman if they would consider not arguing and that there was better ways of resolving conflict and resolving problems. As a result of his interference or intervention there ends up being a bit of conflict between the man, who's name happened to be T'ixwelátsa, and Xa:ls. And because of our history, our people had the devised other ways of resolving conflict other than violence, other than fighting each other. And one of the ways that they resolve conflict was through contests. Xa:ls being the great transformer and created by our God, Chichelh Siya:m, to make things right in our land. And T'ixwelátsa, who was a medicine man, a shaman, they decided to have a contest and they tried to transform each other into various things salmon, mink, a twig, or tree. Finally, Xa:ls was successful into transforming T'ixwelátsa into a stone statue.
12 The transformation of T'ixwelátsa by Xexa:ls among the Chilliwack Excerpt from Charles Hill-Tout's Ethnological Studies of the Mainland Halkomelem: A Division of the Salish of British Columbia (1903:367). T'ixwelátsa (spelled by Hill-Tout as T’ēqulätca): Xexa:ls (spelled by Hill-Tout as Qeqä'ls): Chilliwack (spelled by Hill-Tout as Tcil'qē'uk).
"The great transformer and wonder-monger of the Ch’elxweyéqw (Tcil'qē'uk) was called by them Xexa:ls (Qeqä'ls). This is apparently the collective form of the commoner Xa:ls (Qäls) of the other tribes. I was not able to gather much concerning his doings among them. They apparently invoked him in prayer at times. The Ch’elxweyéqw (Tcil'qē'uk) formerly possessed a large stone statue of a human being. It was owned by a certain family, and was taken to the neighboring Sumas tribe by a woman who married into that tribe. The statue weighed over a ton, it is said….This statue was said to be the work of Xexa:ls (Qeqä'ls), who one day passing that way was a man and his wife, who in some way displeased him, and were in consequence transformed into stone statues."
The late Bob Joe, Chilliwack community member and traditional historian, told of T’ixwelátsa, the ancestral warrior and leader referred to by T’ixwelatsa (Herb Joe), in his narration of the ‘Story of the Chilliwack People’ told to folklorist Norman Lehrman circa 1950-51: “… The twin brother [Wilíléq the Sixth] and sister [Lumlamelut] moved down there and took charge over governing this tribe. The sister never married but Wilíléq the Sixth had children. When the twins died they buried then just below their house. When the leader died it was the uncle who took over. That was the first time there was a change. The other leader’s name was T’ixwelátsa. It didn’t last long because he was a great warrior. When he died the tribe started to divide. The family was large, in the hundreds and all over the place.” Dr. Keith Carlson (Historian, University of Saskatchewan) places the time of Wilileq the Sixth at about 1830 AD (see Carlson 2003:160) creating a timeframe in the mid-1800s when T’ixwelátsa, the warrior, became leader of the Chilliwack Tribe. T’ixwelátsa likely died in the mid-late1800s, after having killed the famed Sem:ath (Sumas) warrior Xeyteluq. This significant act - maintained in Stó:lō sqwelqwel (oral history of true facts; personal histories) and ethnographically documented (Oliver Wells, Interview with Albert Louie, July 28, 1965, p. 1, 43, 82) - motivated the making of amends between the two tribes through the arrangement of a marriage between Sumas and Chilliwack nobles. The Stone T’ixwelátsa moved with the newly wed Chilliwack spouse in this arrangement as she re-settled in her husband’s village in the Sumas Prairie. The Stone T’ixwelátsa was found there in 1892.
Excerpt from Stone T’xwelátse Repatriation Report (Schaepe 2005:19) DS: You mentioned Xa:ls in the story of T'ixwelátsa being transformed to stone, can you just briefly tell me who or what is Xa:ls?
T : Xa:ls according to our Stó:lō legends was created by our God to walk through the lands and make things right. The story, the creation story of our peoples was that we were created last, all of the other living beings were created before us. And because we were created last we were transformed from other living beings, some of those that fly, some of those that crawl, some of those walk on four, some of those that swim. Human beings
13 were transformed from these other living beings and because we were transformed last we were always called "Us poor weak human beings." And we had our frailties, we had weaknesses, and our role in life, purpose in life was to learn and to struggle on to keep on learning so that we could carry the knowledge back home to us in the other world where our ancestors lived. So that's in essence what the statue was for. It was used as a way of reminding our people that we did need to learn to live together in a good way.
DS: When you talk about people, could you tell me of the maximum extent which people would understand T'ixwelátsa with that type of meaning?
T : Our family would have been situated and located and lived in all parts of the Stó:lō territory, upper Fraser Valley territory, and probably beyond that as well. I have knowledge about our family having members, or members of the family living in Yale, the tribe up there, and had fishing rights and that kind of thing through intermarriage. We have connections with the St'atliyum people, the people up at the other end of Harrison Lake, the northern end of Harrison Lake. We have blood relations through Sts'eylis or 'Chehalis'. We have blood relations right down through Matsqui, Kwantlen, Katzie, Tsawwassen, Lummi, Nooksack, Sumas, and then back up to Chilliwack. We have family connections, direct blood connections, direct lineage to T'ixwelátsa… living in all of these areas. All of these members of our extended family would have of course known the importance and the significance of the Stone T'ixwelátsa.
DS: As T'ixwelátsa in the origin of the Stone T'ixwelátsa is associated with the travels and transformation of Xexá:ls, do the Stó:lō as a whole recognize the cultural importance of that object?
T : Yes, we certainly do today there are sacred sites all throughout our Stó:lō territory and beyond that were created by the transformations of Xexá:ls and all of the peoples in those areas are very much aware of the significance of the sacredness of these sites, these transformation. And of course these transformations sites begin at the most northern and eastern part of our territory and go right through to the southern and western part of our territory.
Transformer Tales
As told by Mrs. Louis George From An Analysis Of Folktales of Lower Fraser Indians, British Columbia by Norman Hart Lerman. Page 87
Xels was a spirit who changed the people. (This is a long story.) When he began to change things, he started at the Fraser River. (I’ll just start it at Spuzzum.) Xels came to Spuzzum. He had many friends there. Kwiyutkl dug under the ground until he came up at Yale, while Xels was on his way. As soon as kwiyutkl got to Yale, Xels walked underground to Spuzzum. When Xels got there, he changed every person there into rock. He took Kwiyutkl’s sister, sank her in the river and let her stay there. Kwiyutkl was waiting in hiding for Xels at Yale. Xels knew he was
14 hiding at Yale, so he came down to meet him. As soon as Xels went back to Yale, Kwiyutkl returned to Spuzzum and found his mother and father had been turned to rock, and his sister was in the water. Xels went back to Spuzzum again because he wanted to see Kwiyutkl to find out why he was dodging him. As soon as Kwiyutkl found out Xels was coming he went to Yale again. They kept on dodging that way. Kwiyutkl waited for Xels because he wanted to beat him because he saw that his mother and father were gone. Kwiyutkl thought he was smart, so he waited until Xels got to Yale. Xels said, “you must be smart because you’re dodging me. I knew you were coming. I know your every move.” Kwiyutkl replied, “If I had a partner, I could dodge you. I want to be a real person, but I’m all alone. That’s why I’m waiting for you. I saw my sister and the way you put her in the water. That’s why I went away. I don’t want to be all alone.” Xels put him the water and said, “When the next person comes by, then you and your sister will come out of the water. If he’s smart, he’ll swim with you and beat you. Then he’ll get your power. He’ll be strong, like and Indian Doctor. If he doesn’t beat you, you’ll all die.” The old devil, Xels, said all this.
When Xels was through with him, he left and came down the river, changing the people. He came down below yale and met some hunters there. The hunters had already killed an elk. He saw the old people waiting to get a piece of the elk from the man who had killed it. The old people were sitting down when Xels turned them and the elk into rock. After that Xels moved downstream again.
He came to sandy ground and he saw some little boys and a man swimming in the river. As soon as this man saw Xels he dove down to hide and thought that Xels hadn’t seen him. Xels went down and this man’s head was down and his behind end was showing. Xels lined up all the children so they faced upstream, then he changed them and the man into rock.
When he was through with that, he kept on going and changed people, and never asked anyone any questions. He just changed them into rocks. He kept going until he reached Point Robert, where there was an old man and his son. When the old man got up in the morning, he went out and killed some flounder in the salt water. The little boy got some sticks, danced, and went away with his grandfather in the canoe. In the canoe the boy took the two sticks and pushed them into the mouth of the flounder. It was ready to bake on the fire. After he had pushed the sticks into the flounder, the boy danced back to the fire which was ready. The boy pushed the two sticks with the fish into the ground near the fire. When it was cooked, he and his grandfather ate it.
The next day when xels came, the old man was already out killing flounder. Xels went to the boy’s home and said to him, “Oh, you’re home. Is that your father?” The boy answered, “No, that’s my grandfather.” Xels asked, “Where did he go.” The boy replied, “He went to get some flounder.” Xels said, “Well, what do you do when your grandfather comes back?” The boy answered, “Oh, I get these sticks and put them in the flounder he brings back.” The boy showed Xels how he fixed the flounder. Pretty soon Xels fooled around with the kid himself. Xels thought he’s fool the old man so he got the sticks and danced. The old man was suspicious because it was all done differently. Xels tried to get the fish on the sticks the same way that the little boy did, but he missed. The old man asked him, “Whats the matter? Who are you? Xels replied, I’m
15 your grandson.” The old man grabbed the sticks and showed Xels how to do it, then gave the fish to him. Xels started dancing towards the fire, and when he got near the fire he tried to put the sticks in the ground, but they wouldn’t stand up. They just fell down because he didn’t know how to do it.
The old man said, “This is a different boy. You’re not my boy. I guess you’re the one who’s going to change the people.” The old man saw the rock that had been his boy, and said to Xels, “How did you do that?” There’s nothing but rock around there. The old man took the fish stuck it in the ground and when it was cooked, he and Xels ate it. While Xels was eating, he swallowed a fish bone which became stuck in his throat. Xels was choking and didn’t know what to do. The old man looked at him and xels thought, “I guess this old man thinks he’s going to follow his grandson.” The old man took the bone out of xels throat and xels then turned into himself. Xels asked the old man, “What do you want to be?” The old man replied, “I think I’d like to be a rock like my grandson.” Xels turned him into a rock and went away to another country.
Franz Boas 1895 From Indian Myths & Legends from the North Pacific Coast of America
Above Xoxtsa, right in the mountains, lived red Headed Woodpecker. His wives were Black Bear and Grizzly Bear. He had three sons and one daughter with Black Bear. Grizzly Bear had no children. The middle son was called Qoā’k-otlk-otl. The youngest son was always crying, and because he couldn’t be calmed down, his mother asked him why he was crying. So he answered “I would like us to move down to the lake.” The deity had inspired this wish in him. Bear told her husband the child’s wish and they moved down to Xoxtsa. When they arrived there, Woodpecker built a house. Then Grizzly Bear began quarreling with her husband and finally killed him. Qoā’k-otlk-otl made himself a cap from beaver fur and the four children left their mother and together wandered up along the Fraser River towards the sunrise. When they arrived at the sunrise, they walked into the sky and wandered towards the sunset. From there they turned back and wandered east once more. They had received the name Xá:ls and transformed everyone they met into stones or other things. Sqoyexiya, Mink accompanied them on their travels.
As told by Old Pierre of Katzie From The Faith of a Coast Salish Indian by Diamond Jenness in 1936.
From Boundary Bay, Xá:ls (Khaals) and his party proceeded to Tsawassen, which was then an island fastened to the mainland with by a stout rope of twisted cedar. Among the Indians on this island was a greedy woman names sqemathiya who was never willing to share her clams with her fellow villagers. When Xá:ls (Khaals) suddenly appeared and asked her what she was doing, she answered sharply “I am cooking clams for myself.”
Then you shall dwell among the clam-beds forever,” he decreed, and, raising his right hand he transformed her to stone.
16 “(Many Indians since that day have seen her in some shell-heap-a stone image about 1 ½ feet high. Invariably they ran home for a goat’s wool blanket in which to wrap her, for she is sacred, but she had always vanished when they returned. Not many years ago, however, an Indian whom a white farmer had employed to dig in a shell-heap at Tsawassen unearthed a stone image which could have been Sqemathiya. He carried it home and sold it to a white man for $25, but within a few months he and all his family died.)
“Feelin thirsty, Xá:ls (Khaals) now turned to the other Indians at Tsawassen and asked “Have you any fresh water?”
“Yes,” they answered. “In that pool yonder. You must stoop down to drink.”
“Xá:ls (Khaals) stooped down, but the guardian of the pond, a giant octopus, caught his head and almost pulled him into the water. His two brothers dragged him to his feet with the monster still clinging to him. Xá:ls (Khaals) carried it down to the sea, where he and his brothers cut it to pieces and threw the severed parts in various directions. The head they threw into the sea near Samish, and one large piece near Mayne Island; hence in both those places giant octopuses abound today. Toward Sechelt, however, they threw just the tip of one leg, hence the Sechelt octopuses are very tiny.
“An Indian who was watching them said to Xá:ls (Khaals): “why do you bestow octopuses on all those other places and leave none for us at Tsawwassen?”
“Xá:ls (Khaals) was annoyed at the question and, raising his hand, changed the man into some animal: but just what animal it was I do not remember. He then anchored the island of Tsawassen to the bottom of the sea and said “In the years to come this island shall grow in size and join the mainland.”
“What he said came true. Long afterwards, when the great flood that covered the land subsided, Tsawassen became joined to the mainland.
The Sxwóy:xwey Mask There once lived a young man who was afflicted with skom (leprosy). He was very ill, and cried all the time. So burdensome was existence to him that he determined to end his life. So he went to the lake, which was inhabited by slalkum (a kind of water spirit), with the intention of drowning himself. Two creeks led out of this lake. Up one of these he went, and as he did so he perceived a kokuac (sockeye salmon). Thereupon he cut a stick, and having pointed it speared the salmon with it. He then made a fire, with the intention of eating it. When cooked he laid it on some leaves and sat contemplating it for some moments. Presently his attention was drawn away from the salmon, and when he looked again, in place of the fish he perceived a pipaham (frog). He turned away in disgust and proceeded up the creek to the lake. When he arrived there he undressed himself on a projecting rock and jumped into the lake. He sank down and lost consciousness. After a while he came to himself again, and was greatly surprised to find that he was lying on the rock from which he had a little time before plunged into the water. “Why cannot I die?” he cried, and shed many more tears again. Presently he determined to cast himself in again. He took the plunge, and felt himself sinking down into the depth of the lake without losing
17 consciousness. Down deeper and deeper he went, and presently he found himself lying on the roof of a house. This was the habitation of the lake people, who were startled by his fall on their roof, and sent one of their members up to see what was there. He perceived the young man and reported that a slalakum was there. He was then brought down and treated with great hospitality.
The siam gave him his daughter to wife. She and other among them were sick. This sickness had been caused by himself. He had spat in the lake, and his tears had also fallen into the water. This had caused the sickness to fall upon some of the lake people. It was thus. If any of the earth people spat in the water it caused sickness among those who lived below. He wiped off the spittle from the girl and she was straightway cured. In the meantime his parents and the rest of his family had gone up the river towards Yale to catch and dry salmon. In this lake of the slalakum lived the Kokuac (Salmon) and the Skelau (Beaver), who wanted to get out into the Fraser. So they dug and dug, till at last they came up through a hole near Yale. The youth, who had watched and followed them, also came up at the same place and floated about on the water. It was death to any person now to look upon him unless healed by himself. Not far from where he was, his parents and sister were fishing. The latter presently came by, saw him, and straightway fell sick. He then left the water and went to her and healed her. They then went home together. When his parents saw him they too fell sick, but he also healed them also. And so it was with all who came into contact with him. All fell sick because he was a slalkum: for whoever looked upon a being of this kind became sick unto death. He healed them all so that no one died because of him. Shortly after, he sent his sister to the lake to fish, and bade her use feathers for bait, and not to be frightened at anything she heard or saw. She did as he bade her and threw in her line, and presently felt that the bait had been seized. She drew in the line, and the water people come up to the surface wearing the sqoiaqi and using the rattle. They danced awhile and then presented her with the sqoiaqi and cilmuqtcis. After this they descended again, and she went home with her gifts. Her mother then made a skoam (big basket) in which the girl put away her presents. At her marriage she was given the sqoiqa and rattle. This incident is said to have happened at the village of Tliceltalitc, a little above Hope. It is noteworthy, however, that somewhat different origins are given by other tribes to the sqoiaqi and cilmugtcis. One of her daughters married an Indian of Musqueam and a decedent married a Cowichan Indian. This is why the masked dance has established itself in these places.
The strange and distinctive Sxwaixwe mask with its protruding peglike eyes, surmounting plumes, feather costume, and rattle has been discussed more or less in passing by several writers. Wingert found that ‘in the quality of its technique and the vigor of its style, “it”compares favorably with the finest masks form the Northwest Coast region. (1949). And yet, strangely enough, the mask seems to have originated not among a tribe with a tradition of such carvings, but among the comparatively drab Coast Salish, and to have been the only mask which originated with this group. According to the traditions of its origin, the centre of dispersion of the mask to the Gulf of Georgia Salish was Musqueam, at the mouth of the Fraser River. This dispersion occurred with fairly recent times, recent enough that it has not been completely overlaid and obliterated by myth. Sxwaixwe masks were owned by families of most, if not all of the Stalo, by Squamish, Cowichan, Nanaimo, Saanich, Lummi, Comox, Slaiamun, Klahuse, Hamalco, Alberni Nootka, and southern Kwakiutl. A Few of these groups have myths of a local
18 origin of the mask. The Comox, Cowichan and Saanich, for example, had origin myths involving their mythical human ancestors or “first men”. Most groups, however, recognized an outside origin for the mask. The Kwakiutl and Nootka recognized its Salish origin. Slaiamun, Klahuse, and Homalco acknowledge a Nanaimo –Cowichan source. At least some Cowichan and Nanaimo recognized Musqueam as its place of origin. According to the story recorded by Mrs. Cryer, the mask was taken from Musqueam to Penelekut (Kuper Island) by her (aged) informant’s a historical fact that the sxwaixwe mas spread from Musqueam to other Coast Salish tribes within the last five generations. Some groups, however have already obscured this historical fact with an overlay of myth.
Where did the Musqueam obtain the Mask? Despite the fact that they have myths claiming a local origin, there is evidence that they obtained it from up-river. A Musqueam informant with whom I briefly discussed the matter knew of two origin legends. According to the other, a man had caught the sxwaixwe on his fishing –line in Barrard Inlet. The informant knew also that other near –by tribes had traditions of the sxwaixwe being caught on a fishing –line. Jenness’ Katzie informant said that the sxwaixwe was given to Tsimlaynuk, the first man at Musqueam, by the Lord Above. The evidence for the up-river origin of the mask is also traditional. The accounts I was able to obtain are similar to those which have already been published (see Codere 1947), but are more detailed and give more historical perspective. The most detailed account of the origin and early diffusion of the mask was given by Mrs. R.J., whose family owns the right to use it. Assuming Mrs R.J.’s account to be genealogically accurate, the mask was first obtained five generations before her own, roughly about 1780. Combining all accounts, the first owner’ sister took it to Hope, his brother’s daughter to Sumas (and her daughter to Sardis). From Hope or from Sardis it spread by marriage or plagiary to Musqueam. It is interesting to note that csimele’lux, who by Mrs.R.J’s account, took the mask to Musqueam, bore the same name as the “first man” at Musqueam (Tsimlaynuk). Whatever the method, the mask probably reached Musqueam shortly after 1800. As the mask diffused, so did its origin myth, but both were changed to accord with the artistic and mythological setting provided by the receiving group. As nearby as Agassiz the myth changed.
The Abandoned Boy Qäls
From Indian Myths & Legends From the North Pacific Coast of America: A Translation of Franz Boas’ 1895 Edition of Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Küste Amerikas, edited and annotated by Randy Bouchard & Dorothy Kennedy, Talonbooks, 2002, Section III Lower Fraser River, page 93
3) In K.’oä’lEts (below Yale) there lived a boy who constantly tormented his mother for more food, and although she gave him plenty, still he was never satisfied. He went to everyone and said that his mother had told him to ask for food. But instead of taking it home , he hid it in the forest and ate it by himself. Since this happened day after day, one man finally asked the father, “Say, do you people actually send your son over to us every day to ask for food?” The father was astonished and very much ashamed. He went to all the people and asked them
19 whether his son had come begging to them. When he found out that his son begged daily in all the houses he decided to abandon him. He asked everyone to move away with him and take along all their food as well as the wall planks of their houses. Then he took his son into the forest on the pretext that he was going to teach him the use magic substances. He took along a second boy as a companion. While his son was purifying himself, the father and the other boy ran away. In the meantime, the people had loaded their canoes and extinguished the fires. They set out as soon as the man and boy returned from the forest. Only the abandoned boy’s old and blind grandmother took pity on him. She took some chewed fern roots, wrapped a glowing ember in them and put them in a shell, which she hid under a board. Then she said to her dog, “You stay here. When my grandson returns, scratch this board so he will find the fire.” Then she, too went into the canoe and they all set out.
After some time the boy came back from the forest and realized he had been abandoned. He sat down and cried. He was without clothing or food. Soon he noticed the dog scratching the board, and when he looked, he discovered the fire left behind for him by his grandmother. So he lit a fire and fashioned a bow and some arrows for himself. He made the bow string from willow bark. He shot birds for himself, skinned them and roasted their flesh. From the skins he made himself a cape with a beautiful pattern. One day, when he was lain down to sleep, Sun saw him and stepped down from the sky in the shape of a man. Sun told him “I liked your cape. Lets swap: I will give you my cape of mountain goat wool in return. If you dip one corner of my cape into the river, it will fill at once with schools of herring. I am the Sun, Moon is my brother and the bright star often seen close to the moon is his wife. They made the exchange and the boy at once tried the new capes power. He dipped it in the river, which immediately began to fill with schools of herring. He caught many, dried them and then built a house which he was able to fill with food. Then he remembered his grandmother. He beckoned to Crow and gave him some herring to swallow. Then he told him to fly to his father’s village and, should he see an old woman weeping there, give the herring to her. Crow flew off and found the boy’s grandmother. So he called out, “Mā’o, mā’o”, and spat our a herring. Grandmother was astonished, and Crow told her that her grandson was still alive and that he had sent her the herring.
About this time, a young man travelled back to the old village to find out what had happened to the boy. How he marvelled when he saw the boy’s large house and many provisions! The boy invited him to come ashore and told him, “Tell all the people that I am rich now. They may all come back here, except for my father and mother.” The young man went back and delivered the message. When the people heard how well off the abandoned boy was, they set out to return to K.’oä’lEts. Raven had two daughters. He told them to comb their hair well and to paint their faces. He wished that the abandoned boy would marry them. Everyone wanted to have him as their son-in-law. At last the boy allowed his parents to return. But while he gave rich presents to all the people, he gave them nothing and they became very poor. He himself was made chief.
Once he went to hunt for elk. He led his dog by a rope and went upriver. When he spied an elk, he let loose the dog, who pursued it along the edge of the water. Just then Qäls passed by and transformed the young man and the dog into rocks. He took the elk and flung it into the sky, whereupon it was transformed into four brightest stars of the Big Dipper.
20 Animal Stories
The Origin of Salmon From Indian Myths & legends from the North pacific Coast of America by Franz Boas. p. 128
In the beginning there was no salmon and no fire. So the animals held a large meeting to discuss how to obtain fire. It was finally resolved to send out Beaver and Woodpecker to obtain both. Fire was in the possession of the chief of the “Sockeye salmon,” who lived in the extreme west. Beaver and Woodpecker traveled there, the first one swimming, the latter flying. When they got close to the houses, which were standing beside a river, beaver made Woodpecker fly ahead in order to spy. He returned shortly and reported that there were two houses which were situated on opposite sides of a pond from which the people were in a habit of getting their drinking water. So the two of them made a plan and at once set about to execute it. Beaver dug a tunnel for himself from the pond to the Chiefs house and then lay down, pretending that he was dead, near the spot where the people use to get their water. Soon the daughter of the chief of the Salmon came out of the house and when she saw the dead beaver, ran back immediately to call the men. They arrived and deliberated among themselves. Dog Salmon said while turning him over, “ Beaver is known to be very clever. I don’t believe that he is dead. Surely he wants something from us.” “Coho Salmon” said, his hands and feet are very clever. With them he closes all the creeks and rivers to us so that we are unable to pass by. When I try to jump across I fall into his traps. Surely he wants something from us.” Then Spring Salmon said, “don’t you see that he is dead?” But Coho didn’t believe it and said. Lets tickle him, then we’ll find out if he is alive or dead. So they poked his side so that he almost burst out laughing. Since he didn’t move they carried him into the house and were about to skin him.
At this moment, Woodpecker appeared outside and sat down beside the pond. As soon as the people saw him they wanted to catch him. Then Beaver opened his eyes just a little and when he saw that he was by himself, he sprang up, grabbed Fire and the Chiefs younger daughter, who was lying in her cradle, and fled through the tunnel which he had previously dug for himself. At the same time the bird flew away. When they arrived in Semiyó:me they took some inner cedar bark from the cradle and threw it into the river. That is why there are many salmon here. They threw some inner cedar bark into the water at Pitt River, too, and thus created many salmon. When they got to Yale, they threw the cradle, together with the child, into the river. That is why large numbers of salmon gather there, below the rapids.
Beaver Story Told by Mrs. Harry Uslick, Upper Fraser Indian Folktales, by Norman Lerman, 1950-51
Beaver went to propose marriage to Frog. When he asked her if she could marry him, she “No, I wouldn’t have you. You’ve got short legs and a big stomach.” (I don’t know what else she called him, but she wouldn’t have him.) Beaver got sore and started to kind of whistle – half whistling, half talking. He called for a big rain and said, “Fine rain first, fine rain first, then the big drops of rain.” The water gradually became higher. When beaver asked water to come, it came
21 and flooded frog. She had no place to go because the place was all covered with water. She drifted and she called Beaver’s name, saying I’ll marry you.” Do you know what he said to Frog? He said, “You just turn up your own canoe and ride on it.” (I don’t want to tell you the meaning, but he was swearing anyway.) That was the last of Frog. She drifted down.
The Bear From An Interview with Albert Louie at his home at Yakweakwioose, Sardis B.C. 28 July, 1965. Interviewer Oliver Wells. Page 33.
Well, they used to live right there, where George Wealick’s house---they were born and their dad died you see. And they used to swim all the time, go there into the river. Every night they’d go to swim before they’d go home. Well they, he hunted there for years and he just couldn’t kill anything. Goes right down Bailey Road, right up this way, you know—Ryder Lake, down this way, but couldn’t kill anything. And one day he was out hunting and he see two womans sitting down. One of them had a red hair and one of them had a black hair, you see. And he kind of got ashamed to have his bow. He wasn’t hunting for no woman, he was hunting for animals. That’s before he killed a bear, you see. And he come along. He sees them sitting down. They went and asked him, “Who are you hunting for?” And he says “I’m hunting and I want to kill a bear.” He says, “I wasn’t looking for a woman. I got kind of ashamed to see people.” “No,” one of them says, “you’re looking for us.”
They were bears you see, but they were turned into womans. “You know whats wrong with you?” she says. “When you walk you scratch your head like this. You pull out a something, a flea or louse. You throw those down. And your stomach around here is full of slime, full of that stuff you swallow. Come here.” She comes up to him , and this bear slaps him like that(makes a slapping noise). He fainted. When he woke up he started to puke what he’d taken down. Puked everything, got cleaned out, you see. He went home. She says, “Tomorrow, if you come hunt, you’ll get us. When you are walking on the mountain.,” she says, “where you see kind of a little smoke comes out—there and there—we’re there. You know where to find us.” This is a bear. This is a brown bear, this is a black bear, but they were womans when they were sitting on a log, you see.
The next day he went hunting. He went there. He was walking along there. There was a little fire. You could see that smoke. Well now, that’s a bear. So the bear’s killed. He killed the bear, you know. He butchered it up and he called some of his friends that lived right there. They went and got the bear and bring it down out of there for him. From there he started to kill the bear, then he seen what that bear done with him.
Then he was a good hunter then for years. For years he was hunting. And he saved something, you know, what he killed off a bear. I don’t know if it’s a gall or whatever it is. He butchers it, you know, and shoves it on a stick like that. Saves it and dries it that—He told his mother, he told his brother, and he told his mother and sister, “Don’t touch it, do not touch it.” When it gets dry, he puts it in a little bag, a little seal bag he uses for hunting, you know. And he puts it away, every bear that he killed.
22 For years, and then I guess, a little girl started to play with that. He wasn’t home. That’s what made him crazy. After he was a good hunter for years, he got sort of crazy, and he told his—he went to sleep, and he hadn’t eaten no meal. And he got up in the morning and told his mother, “You folks must be touching that—what I put away. You’re not suppose to touch it. That’s what’s making me crazy. But when I’m hunting you have my brother come along.” I guess he was beginning to turn different, you know. And he went hunting the same way, around the places there, and well—when his brother tells the history of when his brother became a bear, he slapped the tree(makes a slapping noise) every time like that. Every tree he goes like that. He must have followed his brother for miles and miles away. And he told him, “I’m going to leave you.” He says, “I’m going to turn into a bear,” and he slapped a tree. Slapped a tree like that, and he climbed and goes up aways. And he looks down like that and he seen his brother. And he could still talk and he told his brother to take the bow home, and the arrow. “And tell your mother, and tell your sister that I have turned into a bear. But,” he said, “You’re not going to kill bears until after two years. When you kill your first he-bear,” he says, “this will be your song that you’ll sing. When that bear dies, you’ll sing. Just about the time you get done dancing and singing, that bear’s going to die.”
When the brother got home, you know, he told his mother, “He’s turned into a bear. He went and climbed a tree. He’s not going to see me no more. He told me not to stay with him.”
So when they tell that story, the Chilliwack Tribe, they used to cry over that, you know.
The Deer From Coast Salish Mythology: Collected by Diamond Jenness 1934-35, p. 9
While Xe.ls was wandering on earth a certain man took a deer bone and went down to the beach to sharpen it. While he was thus engaged Xe.ls appeared before him in the shape of a man and asked “What are you going to do with that?” The man answered “I have heard that Xe.ls is coming around changing everything, so I am going to shoot him with this bone when he comes here.” Xe.ls said “Let me see your hand?” The man held out his hand. Xe.ls placed the bone on his wrist, slapped it, and drove it in. Then he picked up the mussel shell in which the man had been scraping the dust from the bone, clapped the two valves on the sides of his head as ears, shook the dust over him and told him to run. The man began to run away like a deer. Xe.ls called him back and said “This is how you will act throughout all time. You will flee from people, then run back towards them.”
Sturgeon
Creation of the Sturgeon From Anthropology in British Columbia Memoir No. 3 – 1955, The Faith of a Coast Salish Indian By Diamond Jenness Wilson Duff, Editor. British Columbia Provincial Museum Department of Education – Victoria B.C. Chapter II, Page 10 to 34, The Katzie Book of Genesis, page 12
These children never ate any food, but, in spite of their father’s admonitions, passed all their days in the water and slept at night on the shore. At last, grieved by their conduct, he called
23 together his people and proclaimed: “my friends, you know that my daughter spends all her days in the water. I have decided that she shall remain there forever, for the benefit of the generations to come.” “he then led her to the water’s edge and said: “My daughter, you are enamoured of the water. For the benefit of the generations to come I shall now change you into a sturgeon.” “Thus the sturgeon was created in Pitt Lake, the first fish that ever ruffled its waters. Because it is Ɵε’łǝctǝn’s daughter transformed, it never dies, even when it spawns, unless man kills it. Subsequently it spread to other places, but nowhere does it possess so fine a flavour as in its original home, Pitt Lake.
The Skwówech “Sturgeon” The Salish People: from The Local Contribution of Charles Hill-Tout, Volume III: The Mainland Halkomelem: page 151, The Skaulits (Scowlitz)
A long time ago three men came into the Harrison River in their canoe. As they rounded the point they saw some children (te staaqetl) playing in the water with something that looked like a ball. When the men perceived the children they backed their canoe out of the river and went home and told the people of their village of the strange sight they had seen. A great crowd of them now got into their canoes and came down to the Harrison River to see the children playing in the water with their strange toy. When they got near to the children one of them paddles forward and seizes the plaything. When he has secured it he cries out, “I have your toy, my younger brothers.” One of the children now rushed off to tell their parents. The elders come down to the water to see who has taken their children’s toy. When they see the strangers, the Elderman bids them come ashore, and promises to explain and show them how the toy works. So the visitors come ashore, and all go up to the house. When they get inside the man took the toy and put it on the ground, and behold it moved and walked of itself. Then said he, “Watch and see how I do it, and then do it in the like manner yourselves.” He then showed them how the toy was worked, and afterwards presented it to them, saying, “Take it; it is yours.” The strangers stayed with the sturgeon people some days and were fed royally on sturgeon meat every day. Now every morning the visitors saw that the young people of the house went down to the river to bathe and that one of their number was always missing when they returned, and that immediately after someone went down to the water and cut up a sturgeon. They wonder where this sturgeon comes form, as nobody goes out fishing. When several days had passed and they had observed the same thing happen every day, they began to suspect that there was some connection between the disappearance of the missing boy and the presence of the sturgeon, the more so as they had always been told when eating the sturgeon to be careful of the bones and set them aside, and someone had afterwards gathered them up and thrown them in to the river; and one of them determined to find out what this connection was. So next day when they were eating the sturgeon, he secreted a bone from the head of the fish and kept it back when the other bones were collected. Soon after a youth came up form the river with his face disfigured and bleeding. When the Elderman saw him he inquired of his visitors if any of them had kept back a bone of the sturgeon they had been eating. The man who had hidden the bone now brought it forward, and the Elderman took it and cast it into the river. The young man with the disfigured and bleeding face then went into the water, and presently returned with his face whole and nothing the matter with him.
Leq’á:mel Sturgeon Story Boas 1891
24 The Leq'á:mel - "Their ancestor, Ialepke'lem (EE-AY-lep-kelem), lived with his mother. People in those days didn't yet have fire and were living as if in a dream. When Sun saw this, he took pity on them and descended from the sky in the form of a man. He gave fire to EE-AY-lep- kelem. Then he awoke from his dreamlike existence to real life. Sun taught him and his people all the skills. Later Qals (Xals) passed by and fought EE-AY-lep-kelem. They stood opposite each other and tried to transform one another. EE-AY-lep-kelem picked up some white wood ashes, and, sprinking them over himself, boasted to have become powerful and wise through Sun's help. He was jumping high into the air. So Qals called out, "In the future, do the same in the water," and transformed him into a sturgeon."
Vegetation
Xepá:y “Western Red Cedar” Origin
As told by the late Bertha Peters (nee George)
Long ago before there were cedar trees. There was a real good man who was always helping others. Whenever they needed, he gave. Whenever they wanted, he gave them food and clothing. When the Great Spirit saw this, He said, “That man has done his work. When he dies and where he is buried a Cedar Tree will grow and be useful to the people – it will give them the roots for baskets the bark for clothing the wood for shelter. Cultural Artifacts
The Origin of the Sts’iyáq (Siyak) From The Salish People: Volume III: The Mainland Halkomelem by Charles Hill-Tout, p. 56
In salmon fishing the Ts’elxweyéqw (Chilliwack) mostly used the sts’iyáq (siyak), or salmon weir. They believe their syewál (ancestors) were taught how to construct this by T’ámiya (Tamia) the wren. He instructed them on this wise. He bade the limbs of the súsekw’ (young cedars) twist themselves into withes, and stout branches to sharpen one of their ends to a point and place themselves firmly in the bed of the stream in the form of a tripod, fastened at the top by the withes, two feet being downstream and one up. He then called upon other boughs to wattle themselves in the lower legs of these tripods, till the weir or dam thus formed spanned the whole stream, at the foot of which the sth’óqwi (salmon) soon congregated in great numbers. He bade the people make their salmon weirs thereafter in like manner.
Places - Mountains
Coqualeetza Legacy Coqualeetza Sxwōxwiyá:m as told by Bob Joe and Dan Milo.
During a famine, greedy men traveled to fish at Coqualeetza and caught salmon. Instead of sharing it with the women, they chose to eat the fish themselves. A boy broke away from the men and returned to the village to inform the women. Enraged, the women set off in a raft to confront the men. Along the way, they beat their husband’s blankets, which contained residual
25 features of the men’s spirit power, and called on Xexá:ls to transform the men. For protection, one of the men painted them others as different birds, but Xexá:ls saw through the disguise and transformed them into actual birds. Beaver then gave the salmon the men had caught earlier to the women and, in this way, the men and women reconciled.
Coqualeetza - The "Cleansing Place" A local history of the Coqualeetza Indian Tuberculosis Hospital describes Coqualeetza as the “cleansing place”:
Like most old stories, this one begins "Long, long ago." How long ago no one knows, but certainly it was before the white man came to the Fraser Valley that the Indians knew Coqualeetza as the place of cleansing". Dark haired babies swung in cradles tied to the trees, which grew on the site of the present hospital. The smoke from many campfires curled above the tepees while on the banks of the Luk-a-Kuk Indian women washed the blankets of the men who had gone away hunting or fighting, never to return.
This washing of blankets was more than mere cleansing - it was symbolic of discarding the old and beginning anew. Once the blankets had been cleansed an Indian woman was free to form a new partnership. The idea of exchanging old ideas for new has been developed throughout the story of Coqualeetza. When the white man came, bringing with him, we must admit, much that was bad, but also more that was good, gradually old superstitions were replaced by education.
Complicated concepts of Stó:lō morality and the beautiful origin stories of the salmon and various birds are not only lost in this version - but also replaced by colonial romanticism and morality. Indeed, so effective were residential school and hospital administrators in transmitting this version of the Coqualeetza Story, which advocates discarding 'old' Stó:lō ways for 'new' Euro-Canadian ways, that it has become the only version that many Stó:lō people know. For instance in an interview with Oliver Wells, Elder Dan Milo told the story like this:
The Coqualeetza . . . was a spring. It run out from the schoolhouse across here. And that's where the Indians used to come and cleanse their washing. And that word *kw'eqwalith'a; they used to clout it with a stick, you know, to dry them They have their blanket or something hanging, and they start to hit it with a stick, you know, to dry, drain the water out of it, you know.
Women Changing the Men As told by Mr. Bob Joe (Norman Lerman, A Collection of Folktales of the Lower Fraser Indians, 1950/51)
(All this happened five or six hundred years ago.) Luxuxut was crossing where you crossed on a slippery log, and went you fell you straddled the log. That's how it got it's name. Many years ago the Chilliwack River moved it's course many times. It went by Chinatown (Cottonwood Corners, just outside of Chilliwack town, to the west - N.L.). Most of the people lived at the Vedder Crossing (that's where the highway bridge crosses the Vedder River). Right at a point behind where the bridge is now there used to be a watchtower. They were expecting war canoes from other tribes up north, and they watched for them at this tower.
Men came down here to fish with sack nets and fish weirs and left the women at home at Cultus Lake. There were so many fish weirs that Beaver didn't have anywhere to fish, so he dug a
26 canal. He dug the canal so he could have a place for his weir, and do his fishing. (The canal he dug is there now, just on the other side of Chinatown, near Chilliwack.) He dug up all dead water for nearly a quarter of a mile because there were no headwaters at all. The only fish that Beaver caught in this canal were bullheads.
When the men got down to Chinatown they forgot about the women. The men were catching the salmon and the women were at home, starving, without any meat of fish. With these menfolk there was a little boy between twelve or fourteen years of age. He became homesick and thought about his mother. The father told the little boy, "Whatever you do, don't go home," but the little boy was trying to go back home to his mother. One day, early in the morning, the boy got ready to return. There was no paper or anything to carry things in. He took three or four Salmon roes from the steelhead and tied some of them on each leg, using dried bulrushes for a string. He sneaked away from where they were camping and ran home.
He was quite a long way from this watchtower when the women saw the little boy running. When he got closer to home, they thought his legs were all full of blood, because the roe looked red from a distance. When he got closer, they found out what he had on him. It was the salmon roe. He got back and the women asked him " How are the men doing down there?" The boy told his mother, "My father's down there and they're catching a lot of salmon. They have it on dry rocks down there." "Why don't they send us up some food?" the women asked. The boy replied, "they didn't bring up any food. They didn't want me to bring any, but I ran away." It seems that the women had a certain amount of will power. (The will power that they used at that time was what they called siwil - it's a power that will do one person a certain amount of good, or it can kill. It was practiced by some people and was very strong. It could cause you to hang yourself, or down yourself, or kill yourself, but it was used for good.)
The women were vexed at the men for starving them out, and said, "We'll go down there and raid the men." But they had no canoes since the men had taken them all to the fish camp, so they made rafts. They started down from some of the women-folk said, "We'll fix those men." When they started out, there was a great big rock about as high as this shack of mine (about seven feet - N.L.). It's still there yet. Well, the women set a curse on that rock. When that curse was used by anyone who knew it, the result was that those in the coming generation would have hatred and prejudice against one another when they saw it. The curse was a swarm of bull flies. When that curse was given to someone, you could see those flies coming out of the rock. The companions of the person who had been given the curse wouldn't be affected, just this certain party would suffer. The curse would either kill that party, or they would become a dancer for social purposes. When they left downstream, the women took the pillows, or clothing of some kind, that belonged to the men who were camping. As soon as they started out they began to sing the power song and beat the pillows with sticks. As they went down they found that the raft was too big for some parts of the river.
At this point a woman exclaimed, "What is this dog doing on the raft." She threw it overboard and said, "you stay there and become a rock." So this dog became a rock. Anyone who sees it in later generations will become sick or crazy or something. This dog was thrown off where the water was boiling. No one was allowed to go swimming or bathing near that rock. When that rock was seen in later years, it had small little dogs crawling all over it.
The women came further down the river. The women took powder made of burnt clay which was almost white, and some red paint. As they came closer to the men they kept on singing and beating on the clothes of the men. One of the men said, "Say, there's something wrong with me. Do you feel the effects of anything?" The women were beating on the blankets about that time,
27 and it was taking effect on these men. The other fellow replied, "Yes, there's something wrong with my head, I just don't feel right." The women came on the men which they least expected it. When they got down there, the men said, "Well, we'll have to run for our lives." The women took the white powder and mixed it with feathers and did the same with the red powder and the black powder made out of charcoal. The women sprayed these powders and feathers into the air, and when they go to the men they changed into a bird or animal of some kind. Whoever was sprayed with this white powder turned into a white bird, the seagull. Those who got the red powder became woodpeckers, and those who got the black powder were ravens. Beaver was a foxy old guy, and when his wife was getting close to him, he thought he'd escape. He started digging a hole in the ground with his paddle. One of the women saw his and said, "You shall become your name and paddle shall become your tail." After that Beaver became a beaver.
As time went on, there were all kinds of salmon running on theses rivers, all except the sockeye baby." The home of the sockeye is towards the north, so they went down there. There was always a maid looking after the infant in the cradle. The cradle was a basket which hung outside on a spring pole. They watched that baby pretty close. When they got down to this village they had it planned out just what they were going to do. They sent Rat to spy and look the ground over. Rat went over there and spied around and came back and told his boss, Beaver. Old Beaver said to Rat, "Your will go back and gnaw holes in the bottom of every canoe except one, and when you have gnawed the holes in the canoe, you come back and tell me." They gnawed even the paddles almost all the way through. Now the work was done, and they came back and told the boss, "Everything is all ready." Old Beaver told the red woodpecker and the other woodpecker, "You get out and play around on the beach. Just frolic around until they see you. (Woodpeckers make a pretty loud noise when they sing.) When the people hear the noise they will be curious, and want to see who is making the noise. While you're doing that I'll be out there, too." Everything was all ready.
Old Beaver was lying on his back in the salt water, right up against the bank. (This comes before the people chase the two birds.) Coho is supposed to be a man, and he happened to be near the beach when he came to this thing plopping around the beach. Dog Salmon hollered, "I've found something here. I've never seen anything like it. It has a pretty red and green coat." He called Coho over and said, "Come here. Do you know what that is?" Coho went down there, looked at it and said, "Why yes, I know what that is. Why, when I get up on a small stream I always meet up with him. It's really Beaver laying on his back in the water. He's a smart old bird, and very foxy. He's down here for no good. I'll show you his mind. He's a man full of laugh, and it doesn't take much to make him laugh. Here's one of his minds." Coho jabbed his finger into Beaver's stomach, and every time Coho would show where one of his minds was, Beaver would almost laugh. They called over akw,a small fish with a very sharp spur on each side, and said, "Give us your knives. We'll cut this thing right up and see what makes him tick." Coho had the knives and was just going to cut old Beaver open to see what was on his mind, when they heard a strange noise.
They looked, and here were these two woodpeckers making this loud noise. The people started to chase them away from the cradle. They'd just about catch the birds when they'd fly away. All the people were chasing the birds, and old Beaver looked around and there was nobody there. He could hear the people quite a distance away, so he got up, ran up to this crib, and picked up the basket cradle with the sockeye baby in it. He ran towards the canoe that didn't have any holes in it. When he got down there he put the baby, basket and all, in the canoe, and started to pull away from shore. While he was pulling, instead of using his paddle flatways, he was using it on its edge, and his canoe was hardly moving at all. The two birds saw the canoe going out into the wide ocean and started to fly to where the canoe was. Coho said, "Oh, there he goes now. I
28 told you Beaver was up here for no good. Is the baby still in the cradle?" The maid who looked after the baby ran up there, and there was no baby. The people said, "Up and at 'em, go and catch them and bring back the baby." The people got into the canoes and got the paddles. As soon as they got in the canoes they saw where the holes had been gnawed by Rat and Mice, and that their paddles were almost broken from being chewed through. But there was a canoe that didn't have holes in it that was beached quite a says from the others. Coho was one of the persons in this good canoe. They had just about caught up with Beaver when Coho hollered at him, "Use your paddle right, use it flatways, not on its edge." Beaver turned his paddle right, and they couldn't catch him.
Beaver travelled for days until they came to the mouth of the Fraser River. They came up to Coquitlam and took one of the diapers of this baby and chucked it overboard. They came up a little further to Pitt River, and from there they went to Ruskin. They came up to the mouth of the Sumas-Chilliwack River. They took another diaper of cedar bark back and chucked it in the river. They took the diapers that were nearest to the body of the baby and were wet, and threw that in the river. It was Beaver who was doing this work. They went up the Fraser River to just above Yale, and they took the young baby and threw it into the water. When the baby hit the water you could see it's tail come up as it turned into a fish, a sockeye. Before that happened there never used to be any sockeye come up the Fraser River. In each place that Beaver threw the clothing off is the place where you can catch the first sockeye when it's the season for them to come up. If there was a sore on any part of your body, or you were consumptive, or you weren't feeling just right, or something like that, it would become worse if you ate the first sockeye at Harrison Lake. Harrison Lake is where they threw in this young baby.
Legend of Mount Cheam From page 51 of The Chilliwacks And Their Neighbors by Oliver N.Wells, Talonbooks, 1987
Mrs. Cooper: Well, Mount Cheam is a lady, and Mt. Baker is a man. (This is an old legend.) So Mount Baker, he comes over and he looks for a wife, and he finds a nice looking girl. So he takes her over to the state of Washington. They live there and they have three boys, Mt. Hood, Mount Rainier-I can’t tell you what the other one is. And they have three girls, but the boys are the oldest ones. After the boys grew up and she had three little girls, she says, “I had better go back home.” she says, “to my people, to the Fraser River.” So she comes back, and she says: “I’ll stand guard,” she says, “I’ll stand and guard the Fraser River, that no harm comes to my people, and no harm comes to the fish that comes up to feed them.” That’s the legend. And then she takes her three children, and she stands up there. And coming down from up the road, there’s three little points, and those three little points are her children. They say she holds the smallest one in her hand. And behind her, towards this way, is the dog head of the dog that followed her, and she told the dog to go back home, and it stood there, and stayed there. So I guess right now there, if the snow isn’t all off, you could see that dog head plain.
Lhílheqey As transcribed from Sonny McHalsie place names tour (2008)
“Lhílheqey is often referred to as the mother mountain. The late Dan Milo from Skowkale shared a story with Oliver Wells if any of you are familiar with the book Chilliwack and Their Neighbors it tells a story in there. He says that Lhílheqey at one time was a woman originally
29 from that area, she married a man, who moved down south with her husband she wanted to come back home so she left her husband down there. He was transformed into Mt Baker. She left her three sons down there because she had 3 sons and 3 daughters and the three sons were transformed to Mt Shasta, and Mt Hood and Mt Rainier, some elders say Mt Shuksan. And then she took her three daughters and her dog up here with her. But when she got up here she was transformed into this mountain and given the responsibility to watch over the river, to watch over the people, and to watch over the salmon.
So her two older daughters Séyewòt and Óyewot were transformed into small mountain peaks right in front of her just below her, and then the youngest daughter Xomó:th’iya was transformed into a small mountain just off to her side. And Xomó:th’iya in our language means “the crying one” if you are familiar with our language the word for cry is xam and so the beginning part of her name is Xomó:th’iya the crying one. The reasons she’s crying is that her two older sisters Séyewòt and Óyewot have a good view of the river and they can see everything because they’re right they’re up high that they have a good vantage point and she’s down low and she can’t see that well so she’s crying. In fact there’s the waterfall that comes down there, and it’s not Bridal Falls right away everybody thinks it’s Bridal Falls because that seems to be a more prominent falls, but it’s actually Anderson Creek Falls. And that little mountain Anderson Creek Waterfalls is located on, when you are far enough away from the mountain, you can actually see it is a little mountain that just comes off of the side of Lhílheqey… the waterfall is actually cut, cut quite deep into the mountain. But that’s the crying daughter Xomó:th’iya.
And of course I mentioned the dog. The dog was travelling along with them and then so when they were transformed the dog was also transformed into that little mountain right behind them. Another important part of that mountain is, well let’s go back to the names Lhílheqey, Lhílheqey means to re-soak something. So I approached a couple of elders I approached the late Edna Douglas and the late Henry Douglas, who is also known as Sqelá:w and they both agreed that the name came from the fact that on the north east slopes, so just around the corner from this mountain that you can see here there’s a lake, there’s some lakes up there where one lake and berry picking grounds. And when they used to go up there to pick berries they would stop at the lake and put some of their smoked salmon or some of their dried salmon into the water to let it soak. And at the end of the day it would be just a matter of heating up their salmon and it would be ready for their dinner. So, they thought that that’s why that name Lhílheqey was there to talk about them re-soaking their salmon in the water there. But a well known historian some of you might have heard of him, Bob Joe from Tzeachten, back in the 60’s he was also interviewed by Oliver Wells and the story that he told is that on the backside of this mountain there’s a place where our ancestors used to go up there and obtain brown salt prior to the Europeans arriving with their iodized salt. Our ancestors used brown salt to salt their salmon and some of you are probably quite familiar with the use or when you are using salted salmon, you have to soak it. Some people soak it over night and some people soak it during the whole day before they prepare to eat so that word Lhílheqey meaning to re soak something has to do, it’s associated with the significance that has to do with the use of salt.”
30 Elements
Matq, or the Fire Myth From The Salish People: The Local Contribution of Charles Hill-Tout, Volume I: The Thompson and the Okanaga, n Edited with an introduction by Ralph Maud
Long, long ago the Indians on Fraser River had no knowledge of fire. Beaver, who traveled about a good deal in the night prospecting the rivers, learnt from some source that away in the far north there lived a tribe who knew how to make fire. He determined to seek out his tribe and steal some of their fire and bring it back to the Stalo (i.e.Lower fraser River) Indians. He told his brother Eagle to wait for him at a certain point on the Fraser while he went down the river to the coast to tell the people of the settlements along its banks that he was going to steal the fire for them in the far north. When he reached the coast he met a large tribe there. He begged from them the gift of a pair of clam shells in which to stow away the fire he should steal. They gave him the shells and he then returned to his brother, and the two set out together for the far north. “You go through the air,” said Beaver to Eagle, “and I will travel by water.” They continued their journey in this way for many days and nights, Beaver traveling by the Fraser. When they arrived near the village of the people who possessed the fire, Beaver called his brother to him and told him his plan of action. “Tonight, said he, “I will build a dam across the water, and then burrow from the dam along under the ground until I come up under the house where the fire is kept. They will spear me sooner or later, and take me to the village, but although they will spear me they will not be able to kill me. In the meantime I shall build myself a house on the river, and when they see it they will come out and spear me. When they have speared me they will take me to the house where the fire is kept to skin me. I shall put the clam shells inside my skin, and when the knife is nearly through to the shell beneath I shall open my eye and you will see a great flash of light in the sky. You must be close by, and when you see the flash you must fly over the house and attract their attention. They will leave me for a moment and run out to try and shoot you. When they are gone I shall seize the opportunity and open my clam shell and fill it with fire. I shall then clear away the soil from above the passage I have made from the river to the house, rush down it and come out in the deep water of the river above the dam.”
Eagle approved of the plan, and promised to do his share according to his brother’s instructions. All that night Beaver worked at his dam and the passage. By morning all was ready. When one of the women went down to the stream to fetch her water next morning she to her surprise a large lake where before was only a small stream. She dropped her pail and ran home, and told the people that a beaver was in the stream. Everybody rushed for his spear, and all made for the stream. Someone suggested breaking the dam and catching him in that way. This they did: and when the water was getting low Beaver came out of his house and swam about as if trying to get away. He played with them for a little while before he would permit them to spear him. Finally they speared them and carried him with great rejoicings to the house. Everybody now wanted his teeth, or his tail, or his claws. They presently set about skinning him, but as the point of the knife touched the shell hidden beneath the skin of his breast Beaver opened one eye. Now, the boy who was holding his leg saw the action, and told the others, who only laughed at him. Just at that moment Eagle, who had seen the signal, came soaring over the
31 house, making a great noise, which diverted everybody’s attention from Beaver. “An eagle! an eagle! Shoot it! Kill it! Shouted everybody, and all ran for their bows and arrows except the boy who was holding Beaver’s leg.
This was the moment Beaver had planned for. Shaking himself free from the boy’s hold he took out his clam shells, quickly filled them with fire, and before the boy had recovered from his astonishment plunged head foremost down the passage hole and made for the river. The boy’s cries speedily brought the people to him, and he told them what had happened. They now tried to dig out the hole down which Beaver had disappeared, but they no sooner tried than the water rushed up and stopped them. Beaver reached the stream safely, and from thence made his way to the Fraser, where he was joined by his brother Eagle. As they returned down the river Beaver threw fire on all the trees they passed, but mostly on the cottonwood trees, and thus it was that the wood from these trees was the best for making fire with from that time onward. He continued to do this till he had reached the coast again and all his fire was gone.
After this he assumed a human form and taught the Indians how to make fire by means of the drill worked between the hands. He also taught them how to preserve the fire when once secured in the following manner. He procured a quantity of the inner bark of the cedar tree and made it into a long rope. This he then covered with the bark of some other trees which burnt less readily. When one end of this rope was lighted it would continue to smoulder for several days, according to the length of the rope. When the Indians were traveling and likely to be away from camp several days they always carried one of these fire-ropes, called by themselves patlakan, coiled around their shoulders. After this great gift to them the Indians though very highly of Beaver, and he was usually called by them “our head brother” because of his wisdom and goodness.
From Wilson Duff Field Notes -From there, came down to Hunter Creek. The 2 brothers (names he forgot). He didn't have any use for his people. One's causing trouble were turned into stone. Hunter Creek fellow, the oldest brother, was destroyed with no trace. Only thing. If the weather is bad and your children, the people call you for help, you shall bring fine weather. For the rest of your days, nobody will see you any more. Today the only thing you can see of where he lived is the caves.
-Down at the younger brother
Xwqtxwatchilem, he happened to be bathing in that swift water. His curse was you shall stay right where you are, you'll be a sign of bad weather. Now, he's just a little above the falls. The water seems to rise at times and makes a loud noise, and you can be pretty sure there's going to be rain.
-Twin brothers, Hunter and Jones Creek (doesn't remember names) At Hunter if cloudy stormy, hear strong wind in ravine, it will clear tomorrow. Jones Cr. Xutxutcilem the younger brother. When transformer came down, older bro. Bathed in Hunter Creek. Younger swam in Jones Creek. Transformer turned Xutxutcilem into a rock, just above falls. Stone making noise by water running over it - will rain.
32 -Up at Jones Lake. Paul Webster and Jimmy Church were hunting on NE side, early morning just got up, saw boat coming, rowing boat, with sailors in it. Came around to camp then disappeared. Next time they saw it, it looked like a river boat, exhaust, smokestack, couldn't see men on it. It went around point just across from camp, It disappeared. Truthful men.
Flood Story Story of Harry Joseph of the Chehalis Tribe, B.C.(Matsqui) Told by Mr. Cornelius Kelleher. Page 245 of Lower Fraser Indian Folktales, Collected by Norman Lerman 1950-51, Typescript.
Long ago, my grandfather told this story of how, long ago, his great grandfather told him years before this time his people were nearly wiped out by a big, big water which flooded all this country. It rained a big rain, but my people didn’t mind because they had seen big rains before. But, this time, the rivers and creeks could not take it away, so the water rose steadily and came up to our houses. We took our dried salmon and other food and moved up the mountain, but still the water kept following us up. We climbed higher and higher, and still the water kept coming after us. The Big Chief called a council of his braves and his temanwas men to a big council that was near the top of our highest hill, behind our village. The medicine men said that the Cheachilth Seam was mad with his Indians. But game was plentiful for a time. Everything kept drifting towards the high mountains, even the great cedar planks that they built the walls of their large smokehouses with. So, they decided that if the water kept coming as it had, the high mountains won’t be dry very long. So, the Chief ordered his young men to swim out and gather all the cedar planks so that they could make themselves a large raft and put on it all their provisions of dried salmon and meat. They worked hard and made a large raft of their house boards.
When it was complete they all got on. The water still kept coming, over the top of the place where they were, on the highest peak, behind their village. So they drifted around. Then came a big wind and their raft broke up. They lost nearly all their food, but they still could get some of the animals that were still swimming around. Animals would make for their raft. But they made two rafts. There were some in each raft, but the rafts separated. The Chief’s raft drifted around and went up the Harrison Lake. He spotted a peak still out of the water, so the wind still was blowing him straight to that peak. So, they did land on that peak. It’s the highest peak on the Harrison Lake Range’s east side.
Harry Joseph says that the cedar planking can still be seen there, if you care to climb up there. He says that some of the Indians who go goat hunting on that mountain say that they ran across the planking just as it landed years and years ago. So I asked him how they got back. Well, he says that they had a hard time getting down, and nearly starved. They ate the skins that they wore and what little fish they could get in the small pools. And when they got back to Chehalis there was nothing left of their homes. Even their winter Kequily houses had all tumbled down. Everything was mud, and no sign of life. Even the other raft was never heard of again. Everything was changed. Some of the creeks that were there were no more. But there were new lakes and creeks in different places. Just a few of our people were saved by the Cheachilth Seam. Meaning Almighty God was good to the saved. He sent a lot of salmon up the Chehalis River that saved us. He says that the people got pretty weak before the salmon
33 came; that’s why the Indian likes to protect the salmon. He only takes just what he eats, and cures for winter use only.
The True Story of the Big Flood: Told by Amy Cooper to Brent Galloway November 30, 1971 and December 12, 1971, as told to her by Dennis Peters. Transcribed by Brent Galloway.
Wel The ít Sqwélqwels te Híkw Temqoqó
Tl’ osésu ó:test e lólets’e te mestíyexw. Ó:test e mestíyexw welámes má:ytem thíyt te hí:kw q’exwōwelh, sq’ém:el qas te sxwōqw’tel. Esu xét’estexwes te mestíyexw kwses hí:kwthetcha te qó: welís stl’ís kw’es áyelexw yutl’ólem qetl’osu máytemet tútl’o. Hí:kw te q’exwōwelhs.
Esu lám yelí:kw, tl’esu mó:ylhtel qesésu lhémexw kwses welh hó:y te sléxwelhs. Esu ó:test e siyá:yes we’ó:lhes. “Mechxw I kwelát kw’e s’álhtel. Ōwéta slhéq’elexw wetemtámescha kw’es álhtelchet qelát westámescha kw’es álhteltset.” Esu mōkw’ ó:lh yutl’ólem. Esésu me híkwthet te qó: Su théxw te témexw. Esu tés te theqát. Tl’osesu me híkwthet. Skw’á:y kw’es kw’étslexw te theqát. Esésu me híkwthet te qó:. Tl’osu á:y él sp’ep’ákw. Ōwelh éxel, sp’ep’ákw él. Qetl’osésu qwá:yxthet te sléxwelhs slat qas té swáyel. Esésu kw’étslexwes te sqweqwá lí te smált, Mómet’es. Qesu tes stetís kw’e Fort Yale. Esu qw’í:m yutl’ó:lem. Esu elólhstexwes te pí:kwel. Qetl’osésu kwó:lexwes te sthóqwi lhís me p’ékw lí te qó:. Tl’osu tés te smá;lt qesu la kwetxwí:lem yutl’ólem (te kwelqéylém). Tsel málqles lís kw’í:l swáyel kwses skwetáxw li tethá yutl’ólem. Tl’osesu le th’ám te qó:. Ōwelh le thét yutl’ólem wetl’ó:s te qw’ótl’qwe kwses me híkwthet te qó:. Ōwelh le thét welóyes te slhéméxw. Esésu le th’á:m (kwses th’á:m) qetl’osésu ó:lh mōkw’ yutl’ólem. Tl’esésu le th’ám te qó:. Tl’esu le tés kw’e Semáth te q’exōwelh. Esu thíytes te lólets’e kw’e stámés. Kwú:test e siyólh qetl’os’ésu thíytes te chí:tmexw. Esu xét’e “Skw’áycha kw’es í:kw’s wewátes kw’e me sōwq’t te sléxwelh. Skw’áycha kw’es í:kw’es.” Ōwéta kw’elhwát tél:exw welís alétsa te sléxwelh. Lám te xwélmexw las ehá:we te tl’alqtéle lí te thá. Skw’áy kw’es thexláxwes te sléxwelh wetemtámescha wewátescha kw’e kw’étslexw. Esésu stl’ís te lólets’e xwélmexw kws tél:exwes westámes kw’e lí skwetáxw lí te thá (lí te kwelqéylém), westámes kw’e wetl’ós te xwéylem, te shxwelítemelh sxetá “rope”. Le kwú:tes tl’osesu le tl’epí:l kw’iléstwe yutl’ólem. “Skw’áy kw’els la tés. Welís thet ta sqwálewel kw’els la kw’íy , skw’áy kw’els la kw’íy.” Tlosesu tl’ó sqwélqwels yutl’ólem swóweles kwses kw’iylómet qa skw’ay kw’es kw’íys welolets’á:s él kw’e thekw’ét. Qéx syó:ys yutl’ólem. Timéthet syó:ys qayalhs’es le xwe’í: kw’the í:lh la tl’epí:l, lám te thá. Qesu thexláxwes te xweylem qas te pí”kwel, qa le me píxwem kwses téslexwes.
One person called the people. He called the people if they would go and help him make a big low-bow canoe (largest type), paddles and canoe poles. He told the people when the water gets big if they want to live that he must be helped. Their low-bow canoe (largest type) is big. And so a few people went and pitched in to help, and it rained when their canoe was already finished. Then he called his friends to get aboard. “Come (here) and bring some food. Nobody knows when it will be that we eat again (or) whatever it will be that we eat.” And everyone got aboard. Then the water started to get big and the land disappeared. Then it reached the trees. And it got bigger (higher). They couldn’t see the trees. And the water became bigger. And they
34 just went along, floating. They didn’t paddle just floating. And their canoe was bobbing (shaking) night and day. Then he saw the hole in the mountain Mómet’es. And they approached near Fort Yale. Then they got out of the canoe. They had put aboard barbecue sticks. So they got fish when they came to surface on the water. And so they reached the mountain and went inside (the cave). I’ve forgotten how many days they were inside there. Then the water subsided. They didn’t say if it was salt water. When the water began to get big. They didn’t say it was only the rain. So it subsided and they all got aboard. And the water went down (further). Then the big low-bow canoe reached Sumas Lake. One man made something. He got wood and he made a horned owl. So he said “It can’t be lost by whoever comes to look for the canoe. It will never get lost. Nobody knows where the canoe is. The Indian goes hunting deer there. They can’t find the canoe, (no matter) whenever it will be, whoever it will be that sees it. One person, an Indian, wanted to find out whatever it was that was inside there in the cave, if it was rope the same thing as the white man’s rope. He got it (some rope) and an unstated number of young men descended. That’s their true story. “I’m not going to be able to reach it, if you think that I’m going to climb (it), I’m not going to be able to climb (it). That’s what the young men said when they managed to climb up, and he couldn’t climb (down) if there was just one person to pull him (back up). They had lots of work. It was hard work before the one that went down there arrived (at the cave). And he found rope and barbecue sticks but they became dust when he touched them.
Generations went by, and the Indians increased in numbers. Families settled on the mountains, on the plains, and on the sea-shore, where ever they could find food, for the land was overcrowded. At the eulachon season in spring, and again in summer during the sockeye salmon run, when they all gathered at the Fraser River to fish, the smoke from their morning fires covered the country with a pall of smoke.
The Lord Above looked down and saw how they crowed upon the land, and one summer, after the Indians had dried their salmon, He sent the rain. It rained and rained without ceasing until the rivers overflowed their banks, the plains were flooded, and the people fled for shelter to the mountains, where they anchored their canoes to the summits with long ropes of twisted cedar boughs. Still it rained until every mountain top covered except Mount Golden-Ears, on which the Indians from the lower Fraser had taken refuge, and even on this mountain many Indians drowned when their canoes crashed into one another and upset. Higher up the Fraser River, Mount Cheam also rose above the flood and sheltered many Indians on its summit, while on Vancouver Island Mount Tzuhalem, near Cowichan, floated upward on the rising waters.
The Lower Fraser Indians riding the flood on Golden Ears lived on their stores of dried salmon until the water subsided. Several canoes, however, broke away and were carried by the swiftly flowing current far to the southward. The Kwikwitlam Indians in the State of Washington are descendants of Coquitlam Indians who drifted away from Mount Golden Ears, the Nooksack are descendants of Squamish Indians, and the Cowlitz of some Cowichan Natives who were swept away from Mount Cowichan. Other survivors of the flood returned to their old homes when the water subsided and built new homes of cedar by splitting the tree trunks with elk horn wedges and stone hammers.
35 Slowly the Indians multiplied again after the great flood, and the Lord Above who was watching them saw that once more they were too numerous in the land. Even the Indians themselves became fearful, remembering the great flood, and they stored away carefully all the food they could gather. Then in the third month(October) of a certain year snow began to fall, and it continued falling for an untold number of days until it buried every house. The inmates propped up the roofs with heavy poles, melted the snow for drinking water, and sustained themselves on the stores of food they had accumulated; but three months passed by before they could dig their way out, nine months before the snow melted completely from the house tops. In the mean time half the Indians died of starvation. The famished survivors devoured dead birds and dead animals tht they found on the ground until the eulachon reappeared in the Fraser River and gave them fresh food in abundance.
After many generations, the people again multiplied until for the third time the smoke of their fires floated over the valley like dense fog. Then news reached them from the east that a great sickness was travelling over the land, a sickness that no medicine could cure, and no person escape. Terrified, they held council with one another and decided to sent their wives, with half the children, to their parents homes, so that every adult might die in the place where he or she was raised. Then the wind carried the smallpox sickness among them. Some crawled away into the woods to die; many died in their homes. Altogether about three quarters of the Indians perished.
My great grandfather happened to be roaming in the mountains at this period, for his wife had recently given birth to twins, and, according to custom, both parents and children had to remain in isolation for several months. The children were just beginning to walk when he returned to his village at the entrance to Pitt Lake, knowing nothing of the calamity that had overtaken its inhabitants. All his kinsmen and relatives lay dead inside their homes; only in one house did there survive a baby boy, who was vainly sucking at its dead mothers breast. They rescued the child, burned all the houses, together with the corpses that lay inside them, and built new home for themselves several miles away.
If you dig today on the site of any of the old villages you will uncover countless bones, the remains of the Indians who perished during this epidemic of smallpox. Not may years later Europeans appeared on the Fraser, and their coming ushered in a new era.
Stalo River story As transcribed from Marion Smith Field Notes
Way back generations ago - no civilization at all, 2 bears one brown, one black this story is true this brown + black bear lived in same place - brown had one cub black got 2 cubs…the brown bear stronger more savage bear than black bear _ brown bear was grizzly bear - most savage of bear tribes, animals. The black bear can climb a tree but a grizzly bear can’t. They go dig that SæK everyday out in the open prairies. Each put his away.
36 Young cubs got bigger - then Brown bear went off one day + didn’t get back at nite. Brown bear came almost morning. Where you been? I was held up wanted to dig more SæK. So black bear went off Grizzly bear wanted to kill one of black bear’s cubs bears cub to roast him
She told her own little cub that she was going to kill the Black bears cub.
Black bear scared of grizzly bear. Grizzly bear did kill one of the bear. the she cub The little he cub told his mother that it had happened. The little cub showed the mother where the roasted cub was - said Brown bear would come back + eat cub. The little fellow was, told his mother. The Black bear + little son left - packed up all they could carry to eat.
They gone + gone, walk over mts. come to kind of rally great big fire.
Bear asked what kind of roots you got - flat roots - no good - you not tree I want next tree “ Well, sísila (granny) what when talking to person (sila - one person how your roots spread
I am hemlock tree my main root goes straight down. Oh all night sila I’m going to climb you - if grizzly bear come here get your roots tight so she can’t dig you down. little cub climbed first then old bear - little one stays at end of limb lays down goes to sleep.
Grizzly bear found out that the others left - scouted back + with little bear followed night + day til he came to place where they were. Went around tree can’t find no place. before that busted up fir bark to powder wrapped it in cedar bark
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