LEGENDS OF VANCOUVER

in the extreme; some are impressive; some
even profound; but of all the stories of the
Deluge that I have been able to collect I know
of not a single one that can even begin to
equal in beauty of conception, let alone rival
in possible reality and truth, the Squamish
legend of “The Deep Waters.”

I here quote the legend of “mine own
people,” the Iroquois tribes of Ontario, re-
garding the Deluge. I do this to paint the
color of contrast in richer shades, for I am
bound to admit that we who pride ourselves
on ancient intellectuality have but a childish
tale of the Flood when compared with the
jealously preserved annals of the Squamish,
which savour more of history than tradition.
With “mine own people,” animals always play
a much more important part and are endowed
with a finer intelligence than humans. I do
not find amid my notes a single tradition of
the Iroquois wherein animals do not figure,
and our story of the Deluge rests entirely with
the intelligence of "sea-going and river-going
creatures. With us, animals in olden times
were greater than man; but it is not so with
the Coast Indians, except in rare instances.

When a Coast Indian consents to tell you a
legend he will, without variation, begin it
with, “It was before the white people came.”

4°