Stuk's Village

Stuk's Village

I am the youngest in my family. Our house is built of willow poles and rush grasses.All my family lives there: my mother and father, my older brothers and their wives, and my two unmarried sisters.I like my fine round house. It is roomy on the inside.All the beds are made from rushes and woven mats.Our pillows and blankets are made from fur and animal skins. Lots of light comes in.

We have many family houses in my village.We have some houses for everyone to use, such as the storehouse.Also, there is the village sweathouse. There the men can relax and get clean.We play games on the playing field, and we hold special meetings on the sacred ground.

My family's house is one of the largest in Shisholop.It is near the house of the wot, our village leader.My father ranks high in our village.He and my brothers belong to the Brotherhood of the Canoe.These are the men who build and use the canoes we call tomols.Men go out to the deep sea to fish in these canoes.They make long voyages to trade with other villages along the coast.

When my father and brothers build a canoe, they are not in a hurry.First, they collect the trees that have fallen in storms and have washed up on the shore.They split the wood and shape it into planks.Then they smooth the planks with rough sharkskin.Sometimes, they let me make holes in the planks with a stone drill.Then they sew the planks together with strong cords.Some people in my village make these cords from milkweed fiber.

Next, my father and brothers mix tar and pine pitch.They use it to seal up the holes and cracks along the edges of the planks.Finally, they let me help paint the tomol a bright red color.

They let me watch and help because one day I will be a canoe maker.No one stands around just to see how the canoe is made. Everybody helps.

Then my father and brothers push the canoe into the surf and set off across the water.No matter how carefully the holes and cracks are filled with tar, water will leak into the tomol.It is my job to bail the water from the bottom of the boat and pour it back into the sea.Since the time I was a small boy, I have been allowed to go with them to help.

A fishing trip takes many days. Sometimes we drag wide nets behind our canoe.Then we catch big flounder or bass.Sometimes we dip small nets into the water to catch sardines.Some days we take along spears and harpoons for catching tuna and swordfish.

My family's special skill is making cords to sew the canoe planks together.Others in my village are good at making the nets.Still others are expert at carving spears and harpoons.There are also families who make beautiful baskets; needles from bones; strong rope from animal sinew, or tissue.Some make drills from a hard rock called chert.

Trading is important in our village.When we have more useful things than we need in our own village,we trade them for other things that we do not have.

Sometimes my father goes north in his tomol to trade with villages up the coast.He often goes as far as Syuxtun, where a thousand villagers live.Sometimes we travel in our canoe to the islands that lie out beyond the horizon.The most distant voyage of all is to the small island of Xalashat.This journey takes many days.

To make this long trip, we launch our tomol before the sun appears over the eastern mountains.The sun is halfway up by the time we pass the first island, called Anacapa.My father and brothers pull their paddles strongly through the water.They raise and lower their blades, first on the right side, then on the left, always together.

......
未登录用户只显示文件一半，登录后可以查看全文，并且可以听外教原声朗读。