bb TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ann. 31 



corners of his house to break the corners. They did so, and the 

 olachen went down into the water. Therefore Giant ran down to 

 the water, stepped into the river, and shouted to the olachen to go 

 up the river. He said, "Go up on both sides of the river!" Then 

 he went aboard his canoe, filled it with olachen, and paddled along to 

 Nass River, shouting all the while. Therefore on Nass River the 

 olachen fishing begins very early in spring. 



(9) GIANT LEARNS HOW TO COOK OLACHEN 1 



Giant camped at a certain place. He did not know how to cook 

 his olachen. A woman came to the place where he had camped, and 

 Giant spoke kindly to her, like a brother to his sister. Her name was 

 Tsowatz. She was the Oil Woman, of dark complexion. Giant 

 asked her, "Tell me, how shall I cook my olachen?" Od Woman 

 told him, "You must heat stones; and when they are red-hot, pour 

 four pails of water into a large cedar box." Thus spoke Oil Woman 

 to Giant. She said also, "Make a pair of tongs of cedar wood for 

 handling red-hot stones. The tongs should be a fathom and a half 

 long. Throw red-hot stones into a box; and when the water boils, 

 fill five baskets with olachen; then heat some more stones; and when 

 they also are red-hot, make a large spoon of alder wood, and use it for 

 taking the stones out of the cedar box. When you have done this 

 two or three times, the fish will be done. Before the fish is done, 

 pour more water into the box before you take out the first lot of stones. 

 Then, after you take out the first lot of stones, put in the second 

 lot. Then take them out again, and put in the third lot of red-hot 

 stones to cook the fish with; and when the oil appears on top of the 

 water, you wdl have all the grease you want." Thus spoke the Oil 

 Woman to Giant, and Giant was glad to receive the instruction of 

 Oil Woman. He took her gladly to be his sister. 



(10) GIANT AND THE GULLS 



Whde he was still encamped there, a gull appeared over Giant. 

 He called him Little Gull. Then two Gulls came to him; and Giant 

 asked them, "How shall I roast my olachen, friends?" The two 

 Gulls taught him how to roast the olachen. They built a frame of 

 elderberry wood and put it in good order. The space between the 

 elderberry sticks was about three finger-widths, and they were as long 

 as the fore arm. They placed the olachen on the elderberry frame. 

 Then the Gulls said to Giant, "Put on your mat of spruce roots and 

 your cedar-bark raincoat, and your gloves, and wrap your blanket 

 around your knees, and start a fire under the frame, and sit there and 

 keep the fire a-going until the olachen are done on one side. Then 



■This and the following story contain the olachen taboos practiced by the Tsimshian.— Notes, 

 p. 653.— F. B. 



