Page:Myths and Legends of British North America.djvu/159

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BRITISH NORTH AMERICA

ORIGIN OF CARVED HOUSE POSTS

Haida

MANY people lived upon the north shore of Masset Island. The east wind blew so strongly that they did not care to live there. Therefore they came to Delkatla, a few miles above Masset.

There was no salt water there. It was all covered with grass. Then they dug the town-chief's house hole. They finished his first. But afterward they built houses on either side of him. Then they began to live in their own.

One autumn after that they went to Rose Spit in two big canoes. Very many people went. They went for berries.

Then one woman who was not paddling looked into the water. It was very calm, and it was bright sunshine. Then the one who looked into the sea saw something carved at the bottom. It was carved with figures of human beings. The lower part was carved with a killer whale, and the human being stood upon the whale.

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