a person and a place—the place of the dead discomforted, and the ruler of that land, a boneless form with a long grey beard. The exploits of Quawteaht in the beginning of things were something between those of Zeus and of Prometheus. "He is the general framer—I do not say creator of all things, though some special things are excepted."[1] Quawteaht, in the legend of the loon (who was once an injured Indian, and still wails his wrongs), is represented as conscious of the conduct of men, and as prone to avenge misdeeds.[2] In person, Quawteaht was of short stature, with very strong hairy arms and legs.[3] There is a touch of unconscious Darwinism in this description of "the first Indian." In Quawteaht mingle the rough draughts of a god and of an Adam, a creator and a first man. This mixture is familiar in the Zulu Unkulunkulu. Unlike Prometheus, Quawteaht did not steal the seed of fire. It was stolen by the cuttlefish, and in some legends Quawteaht was the original proprietor. Like most gods, he could assume the form of the beasts, and it was in the shape of a great whale that he discomfited his opponent Tootooch.[4] It does not appear that Tootooch receives any worship or adoration, such as is ofiered to the sun and moon.
Leaving the Ahts for the Thlinkeets, we find Yehl, the god or hero of the introduction of the arts, who, like the Christ of the Finnish epic or Maui in New Zealand, was born by a miraculous birth. His mother was a Thlinkeet woman, whose boys had all been slain. As
- ↑ Sproat, Savage Life, London, 1868, p. 210.
- ↑ Op. cit., p. 182.
- ↑ Op. cit., p. 179.
- ↑ Op. cit., p. 177.
