The Origins of Sq’éwlets Skyborn and Sturgeon People Sxwōxwiyám

As told by Patrick Joe and Chief Casimir to Charles Hill-Tout:

The old-time Scowlitz were divided into three septs, each of which was believed to have had a different and distinct origin. Two of these were tel sweyil “sky born”; the third was descended from the Sturgeon of the old days. Pat Joe, one of my Scowlitz informants and, as far as I could learn, the only old man now left among them, claims to be descended from the first Scowlitz man, who was called Sumqeameltq. He came down from the sky, bringing with him in his arms two animal-like beings called Skaiaq and Cwometsel, Mink and Otter. He also brought down with him a curious kind of magic plaything or toy called celmoqtcis, which had the appearance of a “feathered ring”. When this individual came down he held a kind of red parachute over his head; this kept him from falling too quickly. He landed on a rocky point at the mouth of the Harrison River, on the side opposite to that on which the Scowlitz afterwards settled. Here he constructed a landing stage or raft, and tied it to the point by a cedar-branch rope...By means of this raft which this rope secured to the rocky point, Sumqeameltq, the first man, caught salmon in a kmastel “dip-net”. It was from him that his descendant learnt to catch salmon in this way. The day following his descent to earth he took the celmoqtcis “feathered ring”, and rolled it down to the water, and the Otter and the Mink ran down after it and brought it back in their mouths to him. In the myth, a brief version of which I have given in the native text below, he is called the “father” of these two creatures. After this he procures from some source not mentioned te sqoiaqe [sxwaixwe] “the mystery mask”, which he puts on and then performs a dance. When this over, the Mink and Otter are transformed into two children, a boy and girl, who are called kelaktel “brother and sister”. Later these two marry, and from this union spring keq qolmoq “many people”. At the time of their union the pair are very poor and destitute, and have no clothes of any kind. The youth learns to make bows and arrows and goes out to hunt. He kills many animals, and from their skins and furs his wife makes clothes and blankets. The names of this brother and sister were respectively Humsela and Humatsea.

When the Mink and Otter were transformed into a boy and girl they cast aside their skin coats; these were religiously preserved and have been handed down from father to son for generations. They are mystic and sacred objects, and are regarded as the embodiment, in visible form, of the spirits of that first Mink and Otter which Sumqeameltq brought down from the sky-world with him – that is to say, they were regarded by Pat Joe and his ancestors as the emblems of the family tutelary spirits or totems. Those who were under their protection were very successful in trapping Mink and Otter.

Sometime after the descent of Sumqeameltq, another pair arrived on the spot where the present village stands. This pair came up from the river where they had lived as sturgeon. They were however, not like the sturgeon of today; they were “mystery beings” like the ancestors of the mountain septs among the Chehalis, and could change their forms from man to fish at will. They lived on an existence similar to that ascribed to the salmon in the “Salmon Isles”, and were sometimes fish and sometimes people. Casimir, the present chief of the Scowlitz band, related to me the following myth concerning them. He is a descendant of this Sturgeon people, and has both a sqoiaqi and sturgeon sakwaiam (crest), though he has never used them, he says, as he has been brought up a Christian and leads the daily services in the church in the absence of the priest. He inherited both totems from his ancestors, the sturgeon totem from his first ancestor and the sqoiaqi from a later one. The sturgeon myth is as follows.

A long time ago three men came into the Harrison River in their canoe. As they rounded the point they saw some children (te staaqetl) playing in the water with something that looked like a ball. When the men perceived the children they backed their canoe out of the river and went home and told the people of their village of the strange sight they had seen. A great crowd of them now got into their canoes and came down to the Harrison River to see the children playing in the water with their strange toy. When they got near to the children one of them paddles forward and siezes the plaything. When he has secured it he cries out, “I have your toy, my younger brothers.” One of the children now rushed off to tell their parents. The elders come down to the water to see who has taken their children’s toy. When they see the strangers, the Elderman bids them come ashore, and promises to explain and show them how the toy works. So the visitors come ashore, and all go up to the house. When they get inside the man took the toy and put it on the ground, and behold it moved and walked of itself. Then said he, “Watch and see how I do it, and then do it in the like manner yourselves.” He then showed them how the toy was worked, and afterwards presented it to them, saying, “Take it; it is yours.” The strangers stayed with the sturgeon people some days and were fed royally on sturgeon meat every day.

Now every morning the visitors saw that the young people of the house went down to the river to bathe and that one of their number was always missing when they returned, and that immediately after someone went down to the water and cut up a sturgeon. They wonder where this sturgeon comes form, as nobody goes out fishing. When several days had passed and they had observed the same thing happen every day, they began to suspect that there was some connection between the disappearance of the missing boy and the presence of the sturgeon, the more so as they had always been told when eating the sturgeon to be careful of the bones and set them aside, and someone had afterwards gathered them up and thrown them in to the river; and one of them determined to find out what this connection was. So next day when they were eating the sturgeon, he secreted a bone from the head of the fish and kept it back when the other bones were collected. Soon after a youth came up form the river with his face disfigured and bleeding. When the Elderman saw him he inquired of his visitors if any of them had kept back a bone of the sturgeon they had been eating. The man who had hidden the bone now brought it forward, and the Elderman took it and cast it into the river. The young man with the disfigured and bleeding face then went into the water, and presently returned with his face whole and nothing the matter with him.

Casimir gave me the following name as those of his sturgeon ancestors: Stasilaloq “water people”. This is apparently the generic collective term applied to them after they had settled down as men and women. The names of the first human pair are Keltemeltq, the man, and Skulasetl, thewoman.

The second of the Scowlitz septs was of sky-born origin. The ancestors of this family came down as a man and a woman from the clouds and likewise had a red parachute when they descended. The names of this pair, who are spoken of as brother and sister, are respectively Skwemetluk and Skwemetlat. When I pointed out to them that their custom did not permit of brothers and sisters marrying, they explained that though this couple were called brother and sister in the stories they were not regarded as being of the same blood.

From: The Salish People The Local Contribution of Charles Hill-Tout
Volume III: The Mainland Halkomelem. Edited by R. Maud, 1978.