Fights between the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał-gîtî′ns and the Middle-gîtî′ns

[Told by Richard of the Middle-gîtî′ns]

On the day after that they sent for Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a, and on that day they twice called us in. After several families had called us in the Earth-eaters invited us. They had been giving us food for a while, when a noise arose in the direction of a canoe that they had given us. As soon as some one said that the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people had broken it up the Earth-eaters went thither. They told us then that we had better not go out. We all had guns. They told us not to go out. But still we stood together among them.

Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people stood in lines around the edges of the canoe, holding their guns ready. After they had quarreled for a while Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a came out, and a boy of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people shot at him. I, too, at once shot one. They then shot into the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people. The dead bodies lay far apart on the ground. Some sat up. Some tried to squirm up from their buttocks [having been shot in the legs]. Four dead bodies belonged to the Earth-eaters. Two others they wounded.

They at once began again to shoot each other. Many more of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were killed. After they had given us food for a while they took us over to Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a’s house. When they got us in the sound of fighting ceased.

After that they also shot into our house. The house had three stockades. Not a single bullet reached the house. They shot at us from around the house while we ate. Early in the next day Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a called four families. And while they ate in the house the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people again began to shoot at the house. And after they had done this for a while we went down with our guns into a trench extending toward the beach. And, while the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were shooting into the house from near by, we in turn shot at them. We killed two. And afterward we ran in through the doorway, one after another. We told of those we had killed. Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people went away.

And when they were done eating, he gave them all coats and good clothing. Early in the next day he called the Earth-eaters. Then they again shot at the house. They did not reach the inside. These also went away.

After that we sang a song. After we had sung four times we went out to fight. We then began shooting at the four houses of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people while the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people drew up around us from the woods. And, after we had shot at each other for a while, my gun became hot, and I put it into the water.

Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a stood on the top of his house all of this time. He held a large horn in his hand through which he talked to us. We then waved something white that he could see. He knew by that that not one of us had been killed.

After we had fought for a while, and when the sun was almost set, the Middle-town people and the Earth-eaters came to fight. They broke through the many Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people who were around us. They told us then to go home, and we went home. But they fought in our places.

When I came in they said that my breeches were bloody. I then felt there. The back part of my thigh was torn. I at once became faint.

Early in the next day they shot at us again. And, after they had shot at us for five nights, Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a told us to begin fighting again. When we first fought many of the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people were killed. There were also many wounded. And, after we had fought for a while, and evening was come, the Middle-town people and the Earth-eaters came and helped us. They let us go home. But they had a pitched battle in our places. Some time after dark they stopped shooting.

They shot intermittently at our house for more than a month afterward. They began shooting at our house just before daylight. One day we did not hear a gun go off. Then someone knocked at the door. “Open the door for me.” That was Djig̣ē′g̣as. “The Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people are gone.” They went away very early.

On the day following Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a gave property to the Earth-eaters. He gave them eight slaves, as blood payment for the four persons that had been killed, and three hundred and twenty blankets. Because Qołgî′t was very sorry on account of his canoe he gave him a young slave. He was very glad to have him. And he also had his canoe repaired. The day after he called them [to a feast].

After that they again came to fight with us. Then the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people shot at us for two nights. After they had acted toward us in this way for three months a ship of the Iron people came. Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a then told the Iron people about himself. Then they left us all kinds of ammunition.

After fifteen nights were passed they came after Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a. And then, too, the Town-of-Tcꜝā′ał people came to fight with us. After they had shot at us for two nights they went away again. They (the Iron people) then took Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a with them. His heart was not strong enough to go without me. So they took me as well.

They began at once to buy furs. All sorts of people brought furs there to sell to them. During the whole time what was dropped upon the ground from the tobacco that they sold I put up into a sack. When my father came from Masset I gave it to him. And Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a gave him many blankets from the trading house. My father gave him a canoe. In it they went to the head of Nass inlet with property to trade. At the end of ten nights the 10-fathom canoe was full of furs.

At that time Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a threw chips into the water and shot at them. One youth then wanted the gun very much. And he asked how much it cost. They told him then that they would let him have it if he piled up furs to the muzzle as it stood on end. They then stood the gun on end, and they piled up beaver skins alongside it. And, when they reached the muzzle of the gun, they pressed them down. And when [the pile] got lower they piled on more. By and by, when it got even with the end, they stopped. And he also bought a longer one. And he gave six land-otter skins for the ammunition. He also gave six land-otter skins for a bag of bullets.

They then went away. After five nights were passed they returned. After they had lived there three years it was found to be too cold, and they removed to Port Simpson. There also I lived with them seven years. Nᴀñ-gut-tcî′ng̣a lived at the house of the Iron people. After that he lived there all the time.

Here is all of this.

This story gives us an idea of what intestine conflicts were like among people on this part of the Northwest coast. Strife having arisen between the Tcꜝā′ał-lā′nas and Ya′ku-qe′ig̣awa-i, or Ya′ku-gitina′-i, to which latter family my informant himself belonged. The Raven families among the Kaigani joined the weaker, and apparently the aggrieved, party. The feud was not ended, however, until the chief of the Ya′ku-qe′ig̣awa-i went away to live with the white people.

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