166 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ann. 31 



the back, and the color of the body is like dark crimson. 1 It has no 

 feet, but its under side is like that of a snail, and it sticks to the rocks. 

 At low water the natives take them off the rocks for food. Beaver- 

 Tail Island is the place where they are found, and they are about six 

 inches long and four inches wide. 



Some of the fat of the big animals was driven to the dry land. 

 Therefore small snails cover all the land on the coast, and they creep 

 slowly along the ground in summer-time. This is because their 

 forefathers missed the way when pursuing their daughter-in-law. In 

 the warm days in summer some of the old snails go down to the 

 beach when the tide is very low and stick to the rocks, and there they 

 become a kind of shellfish with a hard shell on the back, which sticks 

 to the rocks. This is the end. 



21. The Otter Who Married the Princess 2 



In early times many different things happened to the people who 

 lived on this coast, and there are many stories among them referring 

 to the time since the Deluge, when they lived at the old town of 

 Metlakahtla. 



There was a great chief who lived in his own village with his own 

 tribe, hi the village QJadti' in Metlakahtla. He had a beautiful 

 daughter, who refused to marry her cousin. She hated him, although 

 her father was very anxious to let his nephew marry her, for his 

 nephew was to succeed to his place when he should die, but she 

 refused to do so. 



In the fall all the young women went in their canoes up to a brook 

 which ran at the north side of Skeena River, called Kiyaks River, to 

 gather fern roots, which they were going to use hi winter. 3 



Before evening they arrived at the camping-ground at the foot of 

 a large spruce tree, which was full of leaves. All the young women 

 went to gather firewood. The princess felt very chilly, for the sky 

 was clear. Her aunt was with her at this time. They started a 

 large fire, but the princess still felt chilly. They kept piling fuel on 

 the fire ; and when night came on and all the stars were in the clear 

 sky, the princess still felt chilly. 



The fire had almost gone out when a friend of the young prince 

 came to the place where the women were camping. They asked him 

 where he came from, and he replied, "I came up with my friend the 

 prince." Therefore the princess's aunt said to her, "Don't speak 

 angrily to your cousin, for he wants to take you home tonight. Go 

 with him!" 



i Evidently a Chiton— F. B. 

 = Notes, pp. 747, 751. 



» After they have been cooking one night, being steamed in the ground, they are very good to eat. They 

 taste almost like cooked turnips.- 



