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 CULTURAL EXCHANGE- First Russians told by Charlie White
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My age is 88. On August 15th that will be my age. That's how long I have lived. Situk is where my father raised me. My father had his house there in Situk. That's where I was born. It's where I grew up. My father raised me there. Yes, and from there we moved to this place called Laaxayik from Situk. And that is where we lived. Yes, we are called L'uknax.ádi In the world there aren't many of us. Yes, L'uknax.ádi were traders. They traveled a lot also to that side, the mouth of Copper River, trading. Yes, now these boats arrived at Yakutat, ten boats trading for furs. Yes, as they were voyaging back now the tides turned to rapids on them. What is it? I forget the name of it. Yes, Lituya Bay. Now this is where the L'uknax.ádi capsized, then boats, no more there wasn't a single one left. Two men floated over to a back eddy. Two were straddling the overturned bottom. One was called X'atts'ák'u and Xixchi'I Shaan. They were straddling the bottom of the overturned boat that floated into a back eddy. They were sitting facing each other. As it was getting dark on them, the one named Xixh'I Shaan was imitating a Frog. Gwá-gwá-gwá-gwá. But the one facing him was cawing like a Raven. He made the sound gáa-gáa-gáa-gáa-gáa.. It was getting dark on them, just like it is now. They were straddling the bottom of the overturned boat. No more! No one knew what happened to them. Darkness now covered them. The men with them were now gone. They all died. Daylight came without them straddling the bottom of the overturned boat. Yes, through this the furs that they bought- in a halibut skin bag, like what we have today, it must have been like rubber bags, they didn't leak, they're called halibut skin bags, this is what they had these furs in- sea otter, fox, everything-marten, marten furs, land otter, mink, everything- all this the tide swept to Russia. Through this, when they discovered it, the Russians went searching so they could find the mainland. Through this the Russians sailed into Lituya Bay. Through this they arrived at the mainland, the furs that the L'uknax.adi capsized with, that were swept to their land. Through this the Russians came upon this land. So! I have finished telling the story. Note: This story appears in a book by Richard and Nora Dauenhauer, two people who have devoted their professional lives since the 1970s to recording Tlingit elders. Nora is herself Tlingit, an Eagle of the Lukaxaadi clan. Her husband Richard has a Ph.D. in comparative literature. Together they have published a number of books of Tlingit oral tradition. This is an exact transcription of the interview Charlie White gave in 1962 to George Ramos -- with one change: his original interview was in the Tlingit language. This is an English translation made by Fred White. To get the best feel for the way the story sounds, read it aloud. Mr. White says he was born in Situk, which is near Yakutat, Alaska, close to the site where LaPérouse first encountered Tlingits. Mr. White mentions his clan name, L'uknax.ádi. This is one of dozens of Tlingit clans, each one passed from mother to child. Mr. White tells the story of how the Russians discovered the treasure of furs that his ancestors had just gotten in trade from the Copper River area. Mr. White says that it was this halibut bag full of furs that clued the Russians - or, in this case, the French, LaPérouse - onto the fact that this was a place worth stopping.
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Copyright © 2001 New Trade Winds |