BOAS] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 101 



see the beautiful carvings in TlEm-nunx's house; and the Tsimshian 

 people spread the fame of his house, telling how nice it was; and all 

 the people around the Tshnshian talked about the beautiful carved 

 house of TlEm-nunx. And so all the people round about came to see 

 the house. Finally all the animals also heard of the fame of T!Em- 

 nunx's house. 



Now, TxamsEm also heard about this. Every day since Chief 

 TlEm-nunx had finished his house it was full of people, and every 

 night all kinds of animals came in to see the carved timbers. This 

 beautiful house was built on the Skeena River, at the mouth of 

 K-lax-g'ils River, where the G'i-lu-dza'r tribe lived. 



After a while, before spring, when the people were ready to go to 

 Nass River to fish for olachen, one midnight Chief TlEm-nunx could 

 not sleep, and he saw that the door of his house was secretly opened. 

 Then he called his wife, and asked her what it might be. They 

 looked, and saw a great man enter. He crept along, came in, and 

 began to look at the carved timbers. Before the giant had finished 

 looking over the house, the chief was filled with fear, and groaned. 

 Therefore the giant stepped out quickly. 



On the following morning the chief invited his whole tribe in, and 

 told them what had happened in his house on the previous night. 

 Therefore all his men agreed to watch the following night ; and when 

 night came, three men lay in wait at the door. One of the chief's 

 men had a gun loaded with five bullets; and before midnight the 

 door was secretly opened again, as had happened before; and, 

 behold! a great man crept in and looked at the carvings which he 

 had not been able to examine the night before. Then the three men 

 who lay in wait for him shot him. The man who had the gun was 

 scared, but the others had more courage, and took the gun from him 

 and shot the giant in the breast with the five bullets; but the giant 

 took no notice of it, and the man who lay in wait famted . The chief 

 did not faint at all. When the giant had examined all the timbers, 

 he went out, and the three men did not know who it was whom they 

 had shot. Then the people were afraid, because they had shot a 

 supernatural being. 



Many years passed on. Two years after the canneries had been 

 established on Skeena River, not many years ago, a young man of 

 the upper Skeena River was gambling with another one. He lost 

 all his goods, and also those of his wife and his two children. There- 

 fore he was very sad, for his wife had nothing to wear, and they had 

 no food for their children. Therefore the young man went away 

 from his empty, lonely house. He wandered about in the moun- 

 tains. He had passed over many mountains; and after he had done 

 so, he came to the border of a great plain. There he found a narrow 

 trail, which he follower!. Finally he saw smoke ascending in the 



