164 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [ETH. ANN. 31 



and lime of burnt clamshells, and he took two young men to go 

 with him and carry his provisions. 



Now he started. They went on and on day after day; and each 

 evening in the camp the young man would burn something good in the 

 fire, and would pray to the supernatural powers to direct him to the 

 place where his only sister lived. He did so night after night. Still 

 he went on, and passed all the mountains, valleys, rivers, and diffi- 

 culties. Then they reached a great plain, and ran as fast as they 

 could toward the rising sun. Finally they arrived at a great valley. 

 They stood at the edge of the valley, and, behold! smoke ascended 

 straight from it down below; but there were bare rocks all around 

 the valley, and there was no way to descend. 



The youngest brother camped here with his company, and offered 

 his burnt-offering the same evening. In the night he was thinking 

 of a way to get down into the deep valley. It occurred to him that 

 it must be the town to which his sister had been taken, and therefore 

 he was sleepless that night. Early the next morning he arose. He 

 took up his tools and started. Before he left he ordered his com- 

 panions to continue to offer sacrifices. He cut down a red-cedar tree 

 and shaped it in the form of a flying eagle, for this man was a wood- 

 worker. When he had finished it, he took it down to the camp, and 

 said to his companions, "I will put on this eagle and try to fly up in 

 the air like a bird, for I want to reach my only sister in the village 

 there." So he put on his wooden eagle that he had made. Then 

 he flew up, and not very high above the ground the wings broke, and 

 he fell back to the ground; therefore he broke it up and threw it into 

 the fire. 



Then he went again and cut down a spruce tree and made it into 

 an eagle. After he had finished, he took it down to the camp. His 

 two companions continued to offer sacrifices. Then the young man 

 put on his eagle carving and flew up; but he did not reach very high 

 when the feathers of the tail broke and he fell down to the ground. 

 He broke it up and threw it into the fire and burned it. 



On the following day he went and cut down a yellow cedar. He did 

 better than before; he carved an eagle, and took it down to the 

 camp where his two friends were still offering sacrifices. He put on the 

 eagle and flew up. He flew way up into the air; and when he tried to 

 fly down again, the tips of his wings broke, and he fell rapidly down 

 to the ground. He tried all kinds of wood, but failed. 



Finally he went and sat in the woods and considered what to do. 

 At last he thought that if he should make an eagle from different 

 kinds of light woods, he might succeed. Therefore he made the body 

 out of red cedar; the head, and also the tail, of white pine; the legs 

 and the beak, of yellow cedar ; and the claws, of mountain-goat horn. 

 He finished it, and took it down to their camp, where his companions 



