THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 417 



liim and who made the hammer fall into the water. Twice the hammer 

 fell into the water, but when he .said " hoi'p," it floated. Then Qfi/niqilak" 

 spoke to xya'mtalaL: "Who are yon?" "I am jr)'a'mtalaL.'' Then 

 Qa/niqilak" said merely: "O, friend." Now jr)'a'mtalaL asked in his turn : 

 "Who are yon, friend?" and Qa'niqilak" replied, "I am Qa'niqilak", 

 friend." ISTan'alagnmqa knew Qri'niqilak"'s thonghts. She went to 

 her honse and closed all the chinks and holes. She knew that Qa'ni- 

 qilak" was going to make a flood. She and her sister finished closing 

 the chinks and holes of the honse. Qa'niqilak" spoke: " Is it true that 

 you are a shaman, friend ? " It is said that x^'a'mtalaL's face was almost 

 covered by his head ring of red cedar bark. "Give me some of your 

 cedar bark, .rj'a'mtalaL,'' said Qa'niqilak". Then -r)'a'ratalaL tore a 

 piece of bark from his ring and gave it to Qa'niqilak". Now Qa'niqilak" 

 made the tide rise, but Jc)'a'mtalaL merely said "hoi'p," and the water 

 ceased rising. Then Qa'niqilak" said: "Truly you can work miracles." 

 Now i)'a'mtalaL sent his children home. They left their father. As 

 soon as they arrived in their house, our Lord Qa'niqilak" made a flood. 

 Then x)*a'mtalaL died. Then B'a'Lalag'ilak" took the place of his father. 

 When the tide had gone down, he saw an oulachon in the river. He did 

 not know what kind of fish it was. Then he went home with his sis- 

 ters. He asked his mother : " What is swimming in the river here? It 

 looks like worms." She replied: "Those are oulachons. They are fat. 

 Make a trap at the point on the beach where the drift logs are and make 

 a string of grass and try to fish." 



Then he went back to the river and saw a canoe coming. It stopped on 

 the beach in the same ])lace where B'a'Lalag'ilak" was sitting. We'qae 

 was in the canoe. He spoke: "What are you doing at my river?" 

 B'a'Lalag-ilak" replied : " Is that your river ? Then tell me what kinds of 

 fish go up the river? " We'qac said : "These are the kinds of fish that 

 go up my river: Steel head salmon, spring salmon, silver salmon, dog 

 salmon, humpback salmon, fronts, that is all." Then B'a'Lalag-ilak" 

 rei^lied: "Is that all that goes up the river?" W^e'qae said: "That is 

 all." But B'a'Lalag'ilak" added : " Oulachon go up my river." "Qh, I for- 

 got that. Let ns go ashore. I want to take that boy into my canoe," said 

 We'qae. B'a'Lalag-ilak" asked his sisters to stay where they were. He 

 was taken and tied in We'qae's canoe. He made him a slave. Now they 

 went down the inlet and came to Dox'ualits'enac. Then B'a'Lalag-ilak" 

 moved in the canoe and flew away. In vain they tried to catch him 

 with their paddles. He flew home. We'qae traveled on and came to 

 (^a'qetEn. There he saw the thunder bird sitting on a rock. 1 le landed 

 under the mountain where the tliunder bird was sitting, but he did not 

 go out of his canoe. Then the thunder bird sent the wind maker to 

 hear what they said. He went down and heard We'qaf' saying: "I 

 thought he always made it hail." Then tlie wind maker went back to 

 tell the thunder bird what he had heard. Now the thunder bird arose 

 and went into his house. He put on his eagle dress and <;ame out again. 

 NAT MUS 95 27 



