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The Stetalht are a
strange people, who can make themselves invisible. They are almost like
Spirits, and only appear at night. Their signs are scarcely known, but
their whistling is heard all over the forest. They are supposed to live
in caves. When the Indians hear these whistlings they take their guns
and shoot at where the sounds come from. One evening the chief,
Stellowalth, was going down to the river by himself, and he met a
strange man. On asking who he was that dared to come so near his
village, the stranger answered:
“I am one who belongs to the Stetalht, and I am now come to punish you,
oh, Stellowalth, for shooting at my people.”
Thereupon he commanded Stellowalth to sit down. The chief had to obey.
He then stripped him of his feathers and furs, and stuck the chief’s
body full of sharp arrows.
Two other wild people came up. “Don’t kill him,” said they; “you have
done enough to him; let him go now.”
So they ordered the chief to stand, and then to dance, and at last they
let him go. Chief Stellowalth had been hypnotized by these people.
Though he could hear them talk, he could not move unless they ordered
him to. Then he had to promise that never again would he allow his
people to shoot into the woods when they heard the whistlings.
Two Indians who had gone down to see if their salmon net was full, began
to pull it into their canoe. Ho fish came, but at the bottom of the net
lay a beautiful wild woman, dressed in fine furs, and over her face she
held a large piece of white moss. They were so alarmed at seeing her
that they almost dropped the net. She made signs not to be afraid. Then
they took her out, and, in spite of being in the water, her clothes were
not wet. Then they took her to the village. How they crowded round her
and examined her. She smiled at them, and made signs that she was hungry
and would like to eat. So they brought her fish and meat. When she had
satisfied her hunger, she signed that she wished to remain with them. So
they consented, and as long as she stayed in the village there was
always plenty, for her people every night brought deer and game and
placed it at her lodge door. By and by she learned to speak their
language, and after a year’s service said that she must leave them, and
she begged them to give her a hatchet, knife and matches. She thanked
them for their kindness to her, and during the night she slipped away,
and they saw her no more.
In the village of Snohqualmith, after the big fishing had been done,
everybody was pleased and ready to sing and dance. The chief sent word
that he was going to give a big feast and dance, so the people came in
numbers with their families. Such rejoicing while all this feasting and
dancing was going on. A very old man—too old to enjoy such feasting, lay
in his bed in his lodge. While looking up at the smoke-hole he saw a
hand and arm come through and seize a dried salmon. What could it mean?
Without waiting for more fish to be taken, the old man took a long
fishing pole, with hook attached, and just waited for the thief.
Presently the hand and arm came down again. With a dexterous handling of
the fishing pole, the arm was hooked, and down fell one of the wild
people. The old man tied him securely, in spite of his signs and
struggles, and took him away to the lodge where they were dancing. Now
the dancing had been going on for three days and nights, and the air was
anything but sweet. The poor Stetalth almost died at the smell, and
covered his face with moss so that he might not die.
The dance stopped and the chief came forward and was told about the
capture. He asked the captive what he could do; so the wild man raised
his hand and caused the chief to stand with his mouth open and perfectly
powerless, and then did the same with the people, and took what he
wished and left.
These Stetalth are supposed to steal children, and the Indians are very
much afraid of them. |
