TRAITS OF NORTHWESTERN INDIANS. 829 



down after a time and found that he could not even see the earth. 

 So he went on climbing till at last he reached another country 

 above, which was very pleasant and populous, and there he re- 

 mained. The old stump by the wayside is the remnant of that 

 tree. 



Another curious story relates to a mosquito gorged with 

 blood, which flew up where the thunder is. The thunder asked 

 the mosquito where it got the blood, and the insect falsely replied 

 that it was sucked from the buds at the very top of the trees be- 

 low. Hence the reason that the thunder (or lightning) strikes the 

 tops of the trees. 



Some curious myths are associated with particular places. The 

 lakes are supposed to be occupied by peculiar beings called " water 

 people," who are alleged to have remarkable powers and to use 

 them in performing strange acts. It is dangerous for canoes to 

 pass Battle Bluff, on Kamloops Lake, because of the water peo- 

 ple, who in this instance are described as of human shape, but 

 hairy in the upper half, with fishlike tails below. It is also told 

 of this bluff that some hostile people, once coming by land to 

 attack the Kamloops Indians, looking down over the front of the 

 bluff as they passed, saw a woman or witch dancing in a niche 

 part way down the cliff. They sat down on the edge of the cliff 

 to watch the woman dance and were turned to stones. " Little 

 men "are reported to exist in several places, to hunt with bows 

 and arrows, to be only two feet high, and yet able to carry a deer 

 easily. In contrast to this, when a squirrel is killed, they skin it 

 and take only a part, as the whole is too heavy for them. The 

 Indians are very much afraid of them. The Indians aver that 

 unknown beings sometimes throw stones at them, particularly at 

 night, when stones may be noticed occasionally falling into the 

 fire. A Kamloops Indian, long since dead, once saw a white object 

 following him by night. He drew back from the trail and shot 

 an arrow at it as it passed. In the morning he returned and found 

 his arrow buried in a human shoulder-blade. It is believed that 

 burning wood from a tree which had been struck by lightning 

 brings on cold weather. This appears to be based on the fact 

 that cold follows a thunderstorm. Thus, in the spring, when In- 

 dians may be traveling over the snow on high ground, splinters 

 of such wood are thrown on the fire to reduce the temperature, in 

 order that the crust may remain unmelted on the snow. A small 

 splinter of such wood wrapped up with the bullet in loading a gun 

 is supposed to increase the deadly effect of the bullet. The plant 

 Parnassia fimbriata, worn in the hat or rubbed on it and on the 

 soles of the feet, is believed to make it certain for the deer-hunter 

 that the deer will be seen and caught. The rattle of a rattlesnake 

 is worn as a preventive against headache. 



