hoas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 143 



Just before daybreak all the people of the village were sound 

 asleep. Then the strangers went out secretly, and all met at the 

 end of the village and went up the mountain. Before they reached 

 the top of the mountain, they looked back, and, behold! a multitude 

 of people came in pursuit, climbing the side of the steep mountain. 



Then the few strangers were in trouble; and when they reached 

 the sliding snow, they held a counsel, and they agreed that when 

 their pursuers were close behind them, they would try to cause an 

 avalanche to destroy them. 



So the ten men and ten women worked hard in the snow. They 

 used then staffs with mountain-goat horn at the points to dig across 

 a large snowbank that hung on one side of the mountain ; and when 

 the multitude that pursued them was close behind them, they threw 

 down a large piece of snow, and they all perished, and were swept 

 away under the avalanche. 



Then the ten couples had a rest on top of the snow, for they were 

 weary after their labor; and while they were there, behold! another 

 multitude of people came behind them, more than before, and the 

 hearts of the ten couples failed. 



Now, the youngest one said, "Let our hearts not fail us! Let us 

 all have courage! " and so they began again to work with their staffs, 

 and dug out the snow ; and when the many people who pursued them 

 were near to them, they broke off a large piece of snow, which fell 

 down over the people that pursued them, and they all perished in the 

 avalanche. 



Still another multitude of people were coming along, and they also 

 perished in an avalanche. They had done this several times, and at 

 last the chief came up to them alone. He was a short, stout man. 

 He came up to them quickly, so that the ten couples had no time to 

 loosen the snow. 



This was the Mosquito Town, and the old woman in the chief's 

 house drank the baby's blood through its ear. The chief's name was 

 Baboudina (?). He was pursuing the ten couples because his people 

 had been destroyed by the avalanches. His proboscis was of pure 

 crystal. He ran rapidly toward them, and killed the first one with 

 his crystal proboscis. 



Then he went to the other one, and the rest ran away from him, 

 but he pursued them. Finally only one young woman was left. 

 She was younger than all the others, and ran faster than they. She 

 was the mother of the child that was killed in the house of Chief 

 Baboudina. She ran more quickly than the chief; and when she 

 arrived at a lake, she ran into the water; and while she was walking 

 in the water, she saw a tree slanting over the lake. She went to it 

 and climbed to the top. There she staid. As soon as she reached 



