90 THE INDIANS OF GATE FLATTERY. 



and mythological talcs. Of the revolutions of the heavenly bodies they know 

 nothing more than that the sun in summer is higher in the heavens than during 

 the winter, and that its receding or approach causes the difference of cold and 

 heat of the seasons. The stars are believed to be the spirits of Indians and repre 

 sentatives of every animal that has existed on earth, whether beast, bird, or fish. 

 Their notions, however, are very confused, for as they think that all who die 

 go immediately to the centre of the earth, they find it difficult to explain 

 how they get from there to become luminaries in the sky. 1 Most, if not all 

 the constellations have names, such as the whale, halibut, skate, shark, etc., but I 

 have never had any of them pointed out to me ; they seemed to have a superstitious 

 repugnance to doing so, and although they will at times talk about the stars, 

 they generally prefer cloudy weather for such conversations. The moon they 

 believe is composed of a jelly-like substance, such as fishes eat. They think&quot; 

 that eclipses are occasioned by a fish like the &quot;cultus&quot; cod, or toosh-kow, which 

 attempts to eat the sun or moon, and which they strive to drive away by shouting, 

 firing guns, and pounding with sticks upon the tops of their houses. On the 5th 

 of December, 1862, I witnessed the total eclipse of the moon, and had #n oppor 

 tunity of observing their operations. There was a large party gathered that eve 

 ning at the house of a chief who was giving a feast. I had informed some of the 

 Indians during the day that the^e would be an eclipse that evening, but they paid 

 no regard to what I said, and kept on with their feasting and dancing till nearly 

 ten o clock, at which time the eclipse had commenced. Some of them coming out 

 of the lodge at the time, observed it and set up a howl, which soon called out all 

 the rest, who commenced a fearful din. They told me that the toosh-kow were 

 eating the moon, and if we did not drive them away they Avould eat it all up, and 

 we should have no more. As the moon became more and more obscure, they 

 increased their clamor, and finally, when totally obscured, they were in great excite 

 ment and fear. Thinking to give them some relief, I got out a small swivel, and 

 Avith the assistance of one of the employes of the reservation, fired a couple of 

 rounds. The noise, which was so much louder than any they could make, seemed 

 to appease them, and as we shortly saw the silvery edge of the moon make its 

 appearance after its obscuration, they were convinced that the swivel had driven off 

 the toosh-kow before they had swallowed the last mouthful. I tried to explain the 

 cause of the eclipse, but could gain no converts to the new belief, except one or 

 two who had heard me explain and predict the eclipse during the previous day, 

 and who thought as I could foretell so correctly what was going to take place, I 

 could also account for the cause. 



Their idea of the aurora borealis I have already explained. Comets and meteors 

 are supposed to be spirits of departed chiefs. Rainbows are supposed to be of a 

 malignant nature, having some connection with the Thlookloots, or Thunder Bird, 



1 I believe that this may be explained : the stars are the spirits of the pre-human and not of the 

 existing race. Almost all nations have given the names of animals to certain constellations ; thus 

 the Eskimo call the Great Bear the Cariboo, the Puget Sound Indians call it the Elk, etc. G. G. 



