Love to mankind, the evil of revenge, and the glories of forgiveness form the principal features of the doctrine.  The legend, or tradition, goes on to say that so violent was the opposition to this crusader, who attacked local institutions so bitterly, that finally he was seized and nailed to a tree.  This act of crucifixion resulted from a final sermon, in which the wanton destruction of human beings was denounced in terms of great vehemence.  As nine, instead of seven or three, is the general number talked of in this section, it is not surprising that the story should go on to state that after nine days the “Mysterious One” was reanimated, and once more commenced his work of reformation and tuition.

Nothing in connection with the story can be objected to.  By some it is supposed to be the result of casual immigration from the regions of Palestine, to which also is attributed the story of the flood.

Among nearly all the Indians of the Northwest there is a flood story, or legend, and there must be hundreds of Noahs in the minds of the story-tellers.  We are told, for example, that when the Great Spirit flooded the entire earth, there was not quite enough water to cover the summit of Mount Tacoma.  The man chosen to prevent the human race from being entirely obliterated was warned in a dream, or by some other means, to climb to the summit of this great mountain, where he remained until the wicked ones below him were annihilated, without a man, woman or child escaping.  After the flood was over and the waters began to recede, the Great Spirit hypnotized or mesmerized this solitary human being, and created for him a wife of exceptional beauty.  Together these two recommenced the battle of life, and, as the legend runs, every human being in existence can trace his lineage to them.

The mountain is surely worth all that has been said about it.  Its great height has already been commented upon.  Standing, as it does, with its summit 14,444 feet above the sea level, it is actually a sentinel for almost the entire State.  Hazard Stevens, the first man to climb Tacoma, reported that it was so called by the Indians because the word means, in their vocabulary, “mountain,” and was given to Tacoma because it was a veritable prince among hills.  It was at one time called Rainier, after a British lord, but the Indian name has generally prevailed.

Tacoma has been described by many tourists as a rival to the most vaunted peaks of the Swiss Alps.  As will be seen from the illustrations, which are remarkably good ones, there is a dim mistiness about the mountain.  When the light is poor, there is a peculiar, almost unnatural, look about the cloud-topped peak.  When the clouds are very white, the line of demarcation becomes faint in the extreme, and it is very hard to distinguish one from the other.  Sometimes, for days together, the mountain is literally cloud-capped, and its peak hidden from view.  Those who are fortunate enough to be able to appreciate the awful and unique in history, never tire of gazing upon Tacoma.  They are glad to inspect it from every side.  Some call it a whited sepulchre.  There was a time when it was anything but the calm, peaceful eminence of to-day.  Every indication points to the fact that it was once among the most active volcanoes in existence.