SHUSWAP PEOPLE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. 31 



crows cawing yoii will be near the earth. You must then sway the basket, and we will 

 let yon down gently. N-kik-sam-tam reached the earth thus at Tl-kam-cheeu (Lyttou), 

 and the stone upon which he descended may still be seen. A large number of people 

 were going from Lytton to Botanie at the time he came down. He joined the crowd and 

 went with them, following one of his wives who had been true to him, while the other 

 had abandoned him for his father. "When they reached Botanie the woman turned round 

 and recognized him, and the two afterwards lived together. 



Though Sin-ka-yap is found described above as a man with wings, it is recognized 

 that he was also the coyote in some way. 



Besides Skil-fip', there were at the same early time other supernatural beings or demi- 

 gods who roamed the world, and of these the most important was named KwU-l-eW . It 

 may be that in the stories related ot Kwil-T-elt' and SkiKip' we find the mingling of 

 mythological ideas among the Shuswaps, derived from two different sources, and this is 

 a point deserving enquiry. 



Kwil-î-elt' had no recognized father nor any other relative but his mother, and was the 

 offspring of the union of the woman, his mother, with a root which is eaten by the Indians 

 for food and is named k'l-ktve'-la. His name is a synonym of the ordinary name of this 

 root and signifies " the straight." The root in question grows on the borders of rivers and 

 streams.' When the son Kwil-T-elt' grew up, he became a great hunter and killed many 

 deer for his mother, who lived at Kwi-kooi', at the lower end of Adams Lake. He often 

 asked his mother who his father was, but she was ashamed of the union which had resulted 

 in his birth, and told him his father was dead. Now it happened that he passed by a root 

 of the kn-kwe'-la, and it made a peculiar sound. This he noticed three times, but could 

 not see what inade the sound ; but a fourth time he spied the root, and it said " I am your 

 father." This made him so much ashamed that he went back to the lodge and lay down 

 there three days without speaking a word. After this he rose up and went out hunting, 

 and when he had brought in a good store of meat, he bitterly reproached his mother, and 

 told her that he was about to go away and would never return to her. His mother then 

 told him of all the evil and malignant monsters which at that time lived in the country 

 further down the river, and he formed the resolve to extirpate them. 



When Kwil-T-elt' left his birthplace in this wise, he travelled down the Thompson 

 Tiiver and then up the Fraser, coming at last to the place where his career ended in the 

 manner subsequently related. Most of his wonderful deeds were performed on that part 

 of the Thompson between the lower end of Kamloops Lake and Spence's Bridge. When 

 on his way, not far below Kamloops Lake, two brothers who were of the same old super- 

 natural character as himself, spied him. These were named Klr-sa and Took-im-in-Thl' . 

 They said, " We will have some fun with this traveller ;" and as he was passing along 

 the edge of the river, by way of a joke, they kicked down a huge piece of the hillside 

 upon him. But when the great dust which arose cleared away there was Kwil-T-elt' 

 unhurt and walking along quite i^nconcerned. Four times the brothers repeated this 

 trick, but always with the same result, and the last time Kwil-T-elt' spoke, saying, " What 

 are you trying to do, you cannot injure me." Then the three held a conference together 

 and formed a pact, becoming as brothers and banding together for the purpose of making 



1 The plant was not identified. 



