St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-17
A MYTHICAL BIRD.
The Thunder Bird of the Hydahs
Is Turned to Financial Gain.

Fort Townsend (Wash.) Special New
York Sun.
One of the curious features of this
place is the presence occasionally of a
Rydah Indian from the Charlotte ISL
ands selling carved images. OF the
thunder bird. The thunder bird is not
known &c any system Of ornithoiogy
found in the books, but it has a very
real existence to the hyda.h Indian, and
his faith in the bird not only helps him
to solve a majestic electrical problem,
but it enables him to turn many a MIN
bic two-bit piece among lovers of Gu
rios. According to the Hydah there
exists in the mountains a being in hu-
man form Of supernatural powers and
enormous size, who at irregular inter-
walls goes forth TO search for food.
When ready for the start he clothes
himself with dark feathers, so that his
arms and legs become enormous wings,
which are spread out as he flies until
they cover the whole sky. The vibra-
tons of the wings are heard from afar
as he rises up from the horizon, heard
in the sound of what the white men
call thunder. Moreover this being car
ries living fish, with forked fiery ser
pent tongues, concealed among his
feathers. AS he sails along and spies
anything that would serve him for
food, he takes one Of them, and, sweep
ing with increased vibrations of the
wings toward the object, hurls the fish
down upon it The fish projects its
tongues of fire and thereby tears the
prey to pieces. The number of flashes
of lightning seen during a storm indi-
Gates the condition of the thunder
birds appetite.
L, I,s-
Hydah makes images of the thunder
bird of a size convenient TO carry in
the gripsack Of the tourist. A slate
rock found on the islands where the
Hydahs live is of such quality thai
it may be, when first Quarried, easily
carved. An image Of a bird is cut from.
this, the usual form showing a very
crude representation of a bird. There
is a head with an enormous rounded
beak of which the upper mandible is
very thick and the lower one very
slender. A narrow neck joins this tc
an oval body in such shape that the
side of the head and the breast OF the
body are toward the spectator. On
each side the thin fat wings extend
with marks to indicate feathers, ana
below them two short legs, with four
claws, are found. Last OF all Is a
rounded fan-shaped tail. The whole
must be seen breast to the front If
the fact that it is q bird is to be
recognized, the back being commonly
a blank, fat surface the stone tnun>
der bird therefore serves very well fof,
a paper weight
However, the Hydah sculptor does
more than carve the stone into shape.
The stone by natural process hardens
on exposure to the air, but the Hydah
hastens the natural hardening process
and gives the surface really heauu-
full polish by rubbing 1t with oil.
It is a curious fact that the thunder
bird image is usually found tattooed on
the arm of the vender. Tattoolng Is 4
religious ceremony among the Hydahs,
and a variety Of fish. birds. mammals,
and batrachians are delineated by their
artists, every being so represented nav
ing reference to some OF their myths,
or traditions. The images go tattooec
also indicate the name of the in
dividuaI. his family and clan. The
most popular of all these pictures IS
the thunder bird Possibly because OF
al desire to let everybody know to what
clan or family he belongs the Hydah
tattooes his distinctive symbols on his
fingers and forearmS. White people
here become so familiar with the de-
vices that they readily tell about
Kydah's clan and family by g glance
at the hands and arms, though the in
dividual be an entire stranger. The
chiefs are known, too, for the reason
that they carry the distinctive de-
signs of all the families under them
as we'll as their own. So every CHER
not only shows a thunder bird on his
person. but q variety of birds, man.
mails, frogs and fishes as well.
Everything His Own Way.