The Behavior Of All, Even The Little Ones Circled Around The
Fire, Was Very Good.
There was no laughter when the strange singing
commenced.
They only gazed like curious, intelligent animals. A
little daughter of the chief with the glow of the firelight on her
eyes made an interesting picture, head held aslant. Another in the
group, with upturned eyes, seeming to half understand the strange
words about God, might have passed for one of Raphael's angels.
The chief's house was about forty feet square, of the ordinary fort
kind, but better built and cleaner than usual. The side-room doors
were neatly paneled, though all the lumber had been nibbled into
shape with a small narrow Indian adze. We had our tent pitched on a
grassy spot near the beach, being afraid of wee beasties; which
greatly offended Kadachan and old Toyatte, who said, "If this is the
way you are to do up at Chilcat, we will be ashamed of you." We
promised them to eat Indian food and in every way behave like good
Chilcats.
We set out direct for Chilcat in the morning against a brisk head
wind. By keeping close inshore and working hard, we made about ten
miles by two or three o'clock, when, the tide having turned against
us, we could make scarce any headway, and therefore landed in a
sheltered cove a few miles up the west side of Lynn Canal. Here I
discovered a fine growth of yellow cedar, but none of the trees were
very large, the tallest only seventy-five to one hundred feet high.
The flat, drooping, plume-like branchlets hang edgewise, giving the
trees a thin, open, airy look.
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