32 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. V. 



told his brothers and they looked down. Then they also felt their hearts 

 falling down at this. After a little time, they held consultation together 

 as to the best means of returning to the earth. Then, on the advice of 

 the eldest but one, they dropped down the little packages of dried salmon ^ 

 which each of them had carried so far as provisions for the journey. They 

 hung underneath a grey jay, and carefully cautioned the bird not to look 

 up until they had all got back to their country. They expected to be 

 taken down to the earth along with the flying bird. But the jay could 

 not resist the temptation of taking a look at the salmon which he con- 

 sidered as his prospective prey. Therefore the whole assemblage of the 

 three br<3thers with their packages of salmon underneath was fixed for- 

 ever in the sky, men and salmon being changed into stars. 



These we now see every clear night. The three brothers we call 

 EintJj or the Pursuers^. Their sister underwent a like transforma- 

 tion, and we can also see her a short distance off under the shape of 

 a solitary star. Ahead of the whole is Sdmijnu'^ which is nothing else 

 than the herd of caribou chased by the three brothers. Those stars are 

 always scintillating as if constantly on the move. This is because the 

 caribou are fleeing from the three brothers. In a straight line beneath 

 the hunters are three smaller stars ; they are the packages of salmon 

 changed into stars by the curiosity of the jay. As for the bird, he flew 

 away, and therefore he cannot now be seen. 



When the mother of the three brothers and of the she-dog saw that the 

 sun had disappeared below the horizon without their coming back, she 

 became very anxious ; for they used to return home by daylight*. At 

 last, having accidentally looked up to the heavens, she beheld them there 

 stationary under the form of stars. Mad with sorrow and guessing that 

 this was due to the witchcraft of the old woman, she ran out to her and. 

 loaded her with a coiled-root basket^ full of burning coals which she 

 placed on her back, constantly to pack thereafter. Then she thrust a 

 roasting-spit through her and hurled her up to the East, saying, "Hence- 

 forth you shall be she after whom daylight comes^." The old woman 



^The daily bread of the Carriers. 

 ^ Orion. 



'The Pleiades. Their Carrier name is an old word, the nearest equivalent of which would 

 be " star island." 



* In Carrier legends, hunters are very generally supposed to return before night, unless they 

 meet with some accident. 



'There are no such baskets among the Carriers, but they are very common among the 

 Tsii>[oh'tin, the southern neighbours of the sub-tribe to which my narrator belongs. 



* L/' kwe-y^i^aih ofile. The morning star. 



