Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/330

272 shattered earth, striking the canoes underneath. A few canoe-loads gained a high mountain and were saved. On the dry ground afforded by the mountain they lived until the waters left, when they returned to their former homes; these they never found, owing to the change.

After wandering about a long while, they at length settled down on the best place they could find. Being few in number and downhearted for the loss of their relations, Yale came and said, " Don't be downhearted, you shall soon have plenty of company, pick up stones every one of you, and throw them backward over your heads." This they did, and as soon as they struck the ground they jumped up men and women; consequently, they soon had plenty of companions. In this legend there is a remarkable resemblance to the story of Deucalion in Greek mythology.

The Indians of the Sunnich tribe near Victoria, B. C, have a legend of a flood different from all others, as follows:

Long ago a great flood covered the whole country, excepting one high mountain, whose top alone was dry. To this high mountain the people fled in their canoes. After a while their provisions ran short, and all of them were beginning to feel bad, when one of them remembered he had tied his canoe with a very long rope, near his house in which were plenty of provisions; so this man and several others went to look for the canoe, which they found, floating at the end of the line. Having found the house, they sent down the sea otter to find the provisions and bring them up, which he did. By these means, they were able to live till the waters left.

I shall now briefly give a few stories of the crests, or clans.

CREST OR CLAN STORIES.

Among these peoples, society was divided into crests, first represented by two great divisions or phratries,—the raven and the eagle. In some villages the raven was highest; in others, the eagle. The raven phratry had the wolf, bear, scannah, and a number of others; while the eagle had the eagle, frog, beaver, shark, and several others.

If a person belonged to the raven phratry he was, or she was, allowed to have the birds or animals belonging to that