The Great Flood

A wise man [possibly Beaver] of the people said, “Something is going to happen, maybe a great flood will come;” but the people would not believe him. Now the animals became very tame and came into people’s houses. They seemed to have a foreboding of something. Then the people said to one another, “Something is going to happen. See how tame the animals are!” Many people laughed. They said, “Let the flood come! We shall save ourselves on rafts.” Others said, “We shall climb the trees. We shall climb the mountains.” Yet others said, “We shall subdue the flood with our magic. We shall escape by our magical powers.”

At last a heavy rain set in, and it rained for many days and nights. The creeks and rivers overflowed their banks, and the ocean rose and flooded the land. At the same time the earth tipped, and the water ran to that place where the people dwelt. Now there was a great flood, and the waters rose so rapidly that people were surrounded in many places and could not escape. Some climbed trees and rocks and hills and mountains; but the water overtook them, and they were drowned. For ten days it rose continually and rapidly. The rain and flood were accompanied by storms, high winds, and darkness. The sun, moon, and Dipper stars were lost. The whole earth was covered by water excepting the highest peaks. Only two peaks in the Tahltan country were not covered by the deluge, — Takitstsi’tla [Chesley or Shesley Mountain] — on the west side of Chesley River; and Tse’toxtle [Cone Mountain], on the south side of the Stikine River. Some people tried to save themselves on rafts, large and small. In the darkness the wind and sea drove them hither and thither. They all became separated and lost. They did not know where they were. Some saw mountain-peaks exposed above the water, and tried to reach them. Some succeeded, and others did not. Some rafts were driven off a very long way; others went to pieces, and the people on them died or were washed off. Rats and mice got aboard some of the large rafts, and gnawed the withes binding the logs together; so that they came apart, and the people were drowned.

Some people reached the two mountains in the Tahltan country, and went ashore. Some others went ashore on the high peaks which were not submerged in other countries. However, only a few were saved, and they were at widely-separated points. They became the ancestors of all the people in the world at the present day. Very few of the wicked semi-animal people survived, and only a few giants. Some animals escaped by taking refuge on the high unsubmerged peaks in various countries, but most of them were drowned. Some kinds of animals became extinct. The surviving animals spread afterwards from the high peaks into neighboring parts of the country, and multiplied. They are the animals now known to us.

After ten days the flood subsided; the rain, storms, and darkness lessened; and in another ten days the waters had receded completely. The survivors came down from the mountains, but everything was soaking wet. They could find no dry fire-wood, and could make no fires. They tried many different kinds of wood and bark, but they would not light. At last they tried the inside bark of the balsam poplar. This was the only dry thing. Water cannot penetrate it. They made fire with it.

The people were very poor. They had lost almost everything. They had very few tools and clothes, and game was now very scarce. They came down into the lowlands to live by fishing. Being but remnants of the people, much of their former knowledge and magic had been lost. The few surviving bad people (semi-animals and giants, cannibals, and others) settled down and preyed on the good people. All were later transformed or killed by Raven, or their powers for evil were taken away by him. Raven also located and brought back the sun, moon, and Dipper, which had been lost. The people who survived the Flood increased in number at the several points where they had located, and gradually spread over the country. In time some of them migrated here and there into other districts in search of better living-conditions; others did likewise when they became too many in one place.

After a long time, some people came into contact with others at certain points, and thus they learned that there were people in the world besides themselves. When they met, they found that they spoke different languages and had difficulty in understanding one another. This came about by their being separated and living isolated for a long period of time. That all the people were one originally, is evidenced by many customs, beliefs, and traditions which are common to all. [The narrator instanced several beliefs regarding bear and salmon held in common by all the neighboring tribes.] These customs survived the Flood. The people who landed on Cone Mountain went down to the coast, and became the ancestors of the Tlingit of the neighboring part of the coast. Those who landed on Chesley Mountain went down the Taku River, and became the ancestors of the Taku Tlingit. Probably the Tahltan country was not inhabited for a long time after this, when the women from Nass and Tagish met at Tahltan; and since then other people from east and west have come into the country. Some people say that the Flood came to destroy all the bad people that were on the earth long ago.

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