Ten'a texts and tales from Anvik, Alaska / by John W. Chapman, with vocabulary by Pliny Earle Goddard.

  • Chapman, John W. (John Wight), 1858-1939
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Ten'a texts and tales from Anvik, Alaska / by John W. Chapman, with vocabulary by Pliny Earle Goddard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    good • and beside it was a bowl of food siudi as she used to love, — mashed blueberries mixed with seal-oil, with the best kind of dried whitehsh laid on top. She caught u]) the water and drank it all, and ate some of the food ; and when the \’oun!^ men came in, she asked them if they would not eat with her. Fhey would not look at the fresh food, however, but turned to their own filthy food and ate it. by this means her life was preserved until she was able to move around. At intervals for half a vear or more she found food and water bv her side. She did not know where they came from, but in reality they were her parents’ offerings made in her behalf, be- cause they supposed her to be dead. After a while the people with whom she was living told her that they were going to some place where she could not follow them. They said that they would come to a hill where thev would have to leave her, for she could not go beyond it. The other women told her this in a jealous mood; the mother of the two young men, how- ever, said that it was true that she would not be able to go over the hill with them, but she would tell her what to do. She was to make as many bags of clothing as she could, such as they used to make up the river, — moose-skin mittens and boots and coats, and such things, — and to keep them concealed from the two young men. So she made I know not how many bags of clothing, and at last the time came for the people to make their annual journey. The whole village started off; but this girl and the two voung men and their mother were late in starting, and were left a little behind. They travelled on and on, all the people being ahead of them; and finally they came to the foot of a range of hills, and to a pre- cipice which barred their progress. The rest of the ]jeo})le had gone up this place without any difficulty whatever;
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