Tlingit

A MAN named Natsayane, belonging to the Seal People, made the killer whales. He first tried to carve them out of red cedar, then out of the hemlock, and then out of all other kinds of woods. He took each set of figures to the beach and tried to make them swim; but they only floated on the surface. Last of all he tried yellow cedar. Then the killer whales swam.

Natsayane on one marked white lines from the corners of its mouth back to its head. He said, “This is going to be the white-mouthed killer whale.”

When Natsayane put them into the water, he said, “Go up into the inlets. Go up into the head of the bays. Hunt for seal, for halibut, and for things under the sea. Do not hurt human beings.” Before this people did not know what a killer whale was.

When the Killer whale tribe start north, the Seal People say, “Here comes another battle. Here come the warriors.” They say this because the killer whales are always after seals. The killer whale which always swims ahead is the red killer whale, called the “killer whale spear” because it is long and slender.