The Coming of White Men
told by Nettie
July, 1902
Hoopa Valley, California
Transcribed by Pliny Earle Goddard
Source: Hupa Texts (UCPAAE vol. 1, no. 2), p. 200
- hay
- The
- ch'idung'
- first time
- tehł'a:ch'*
- pack-train came
- miky'a:-ch'ing'
- away from them
- tsiyuntehsdilde:tł'
- we went.
When they first came along with a pack-train we ran away and hid.
*The root of this word, -atc, indicates the undulating motion of a pack-train.
- me'dilding
- Medilding
- yiduq
- east
- nił'a:ch'
- they came.
- haya:ł
- And
- na[:]k'isde:tł'
- they came around.
They came up on to the flat east of Medilding and went around among the houses of the village.
- diniwh
- Manzanita
- miwidwa:de'
- its flour
- yo:xeh-xowinse'n
- they all began to buy
- łitsowi-ch
- blue beads
- [-ji] mił*
- with.
They began to buy Manzanita flour with small blue beads.
*The first syllable of these words is not a significant part of them. The aged narrator carried the last sound of the preceding words over and joined them to the initial sounds thus creating the syllable.
- mije'e:din
- Babies
- 'e:ng'
- it was
- je:lo'
- storage basket
- yehch'iwime:tł'
- they put in.
The babies were hid in the storage baskets.
- hayahujit
- And then
- yinuqi
- south
- tehł'a:ch'
- they went.
- hayah
- There
- yinuqi-yima:n-ch'ing'
- south across the river
- xwe:ya:lwe:tł'
- they spent the night.
They went across the river south of Medilding and camped for the night.
- hayah-mił
- And
- xo'ch*
- real
- [-ji] łing'**
- dogs
- yo:xeh-na:na:k'isde:tł'
- to buy they came back.
- mił-ch'ohłwul-ch
- Little axes
- [-ji] mił**
- with
- ch'o:ya[']te:xe:t
- they began to buy.
- haya:ł
- And
- ya:ywingya'n
- they ate them.
They came back the next day and traded hatchets for the native dogs which they ate.
*The word xo:tc is used to indicate that the Indian thing is meant before names which have been transferred to things introduced by white men.
**The first syllable of these words is not a significant part of them. The aged narrator carried the last sound of the preceding words over and joined them to the initial sounds thus creating the syllable.
- ła'
- One
- wha:ne:
- only
- yide:ya:lwe:tł'
- they spent a night
- mił
- then
- hun'
- the river
- yinuq
- up
- tehł'a:ch'-e:
- they went with pack-train.
After remaining only one night they went up the river with their train.