178 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ann.31 



arc ! What will they eat in the cold winter, when the snow is on one 

 side of the trees!" Then the young woman laughed aloud, and said, 

 "Oh, you funny fellow! I hid your dried eels in the corner. Go 

 there and get them!" Mink went and got them and hung them in 

 the smoke. He was glad, and said to his dear wife, "My dear wife, I 

 am sorry to trouble you about the dried eels, but I did not mean you, 

 I just talked to myself." 



Now, the time came when the people moved to Nass River to fish 

 for olachen. One day the sun shone, and the young woman said, 

 "Let us take a walk and sit on the point yonder! There we shall see 

 the canoes passing by." They went there, and sat down behind a 

 log. The canoes passed by the place where they were sitting. Mink 

 saw some people wearing white bone ornaments in their ears and in 

 their noses. 1 



Mink saw that it looked very well, and he said, "My dear wife, 

 what are these white things in the ears of your people?" — "They are 

 bones."— "But why do they do it?" She replied, "Because they 

 want to show that they are of my rank." Mink said, "Can you do 

 the same to me ? " — "Oh, yes ! I will if you want me to. " Mink said, 

 "How do they make the holes in the ears?" — "You must sharpen a 

 hard spruce branch, and then I will do it for you." — "Yes, my dear 

 wife, I want it very much. You must do it with a sharp branch 

 tomorrow. " 



On the following morning Mink went and got a spruce branch. He 

 took it home and sharpened it. The young woman said, "Sharpen 

 both ends." Mink did as his wife told bun; and when he had done 

 so, he gave the branch to his wife. The young woman said, "Are 

 you ready now?" — "Yes, I am ready," said he. Then the young 

 woman took the sharpened branch, and asked, "Where is your stone 

 hammer?" Mink gave it to her. "Now lie down on the ground, and 

 I will drive this sharp branch through your ears. " Mink lay down 

 on the ground, and said, "My dear wife, I am afraid I shall die." — 

 "Oh, no!" said the young woman, "you will not die. The people 

 shall know that you are of my rank. It will not hurt you, but my 

 father's people will like you. " Therefore he lay down on the ground. 

 The young woman took the spruce branch in one hand, and the stone 

 hammer in the other. She said, "Close your eyes!" — "No," said he, 

 "I'm afraid, I'm afraid !" said he. Then the woman said, ' ' Then I shall 

 leave you and go home to my father." Now, Mink lay down on the 

 ground, his one ear up, and the other down on the ground. "Close 

 your eyes!" said the woman. He closed his eyes, and the young 

 woman took the sharp branch and drove it into his ear and fastened 

 it to the ground. Mink died there, and the young woman went back 

 to her father's house. 



1 It was the custom to wear bones in holes made through the ears and the nose. — Henry W. Tate. 



