Note 88 — MYTHS RECORDED IN ENGLISH AT WRANGELL (continued 2)

“Eagle feathers are often referred to nowadays in speeches. Thus people will say to one who is mourning, ‘You have been cold. Therefore I bring you these feathers that have been handed down from generation to generation.’ When peace is about to be made one man is selected called the ‘deer’ (Qōwakāˊn) because the deer is a very gentle animal. When a man is so taken he is supposed to be like the deer, and he has to be very careful what he says. Eagle feathers are put upon his head because they are highly valued. The songs he starts while dancing are those sung when the people were preserved from some danger, or at the time of the flood. He does not sing anything composed in time of war. They also called the ‘deer’ the ‘sun deer’ (g̣ᴀgāˊn qōwakāˊn), because the sun is very pleasant to see and never does anybody any harm. Some called him ‘fort deer’ (Nu qōwakāˊn), because people are safe in a fort. For this office a high-caste person was always selected.” (From the writer’s informant.) Cf. Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 451.