Bill Seward: Reading The Weather

Reading the Weather

(Hul’q’umi’num’ starts at 1:22)

kw’unus hwun’ hunum’ulh ’u kw’u’i tuyt, seine boat,
When I was going fishing up north on a seiner,

wulh nem’ tst yu shahwuqwul’, nem’ ’utl’ Haida.
and we were crossing over, going to Haida.

’i’ ’uy’ilum, ’uy’ skweyul ’i’ xut’ustam’shus tunu qequnuts,
It was a calm beautiful day and our skipper told us,

“q’ep’ut tuw’ mukw’ stem, thuthi’[stuhw].”
“You’d best tie everything down.”

nus ’uw’ yuthust “’e’ut q’u ’uy’ilum ’uwu ’iis xetl’, ’uy’.”
And I told him, “It’s a beautiful day, without any storm, a good day.”

nus nuw’ q’ep’ut tuw’ mukw’ stem.
I tied everything down.

’i’ nem’ tst wulh ts’imul ’u tey’ yu shhwunum’ tst
And we were getting close to our destination

’i’ wulh tetsul tu spuhels.
and it started getting windy.

tl’lim’ ’uw’ hweluq tst ni’ ’ikw’ ’i’ ni’ tst ’uw’ (inaudible).

ni’ tst ’uw’ tus (inaudible).
and we arrived at our destination.

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A story in Hul’q’umi’num’ by Bill Seward, Snuneymuxw First Nations, Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Recorded by Chris Bouris.
Transcribed by Ruby Peter, typed by Sarah Kell, and edited and translated by Donna Gerdts.
Thanks to Chris Bouris, Sean Milliken, and Zoey Peterson for video and post-production.