boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 183 



Early the following morning they reached Xien village. Then 

 the wholo tribe of the chief, the husband of Robin, came down to 

 unload the two canoes which were full of all kinds of meat and fresh 

 ripe berries, of fat, and of fresh fish of all kinds. They unloaded the 

 two canoes; and the chief invited all his people into his house, and 

 gave them food until they were satisfied. 



Then the chief said to his people, " My dear people, I want to invite 

 all the Tsimshian tribes, and give them some of this food; for they 

 are starving, and famine is on the river." His tribe consented, and 

 on the following morning a canoe manned by many young men and 

 one prince, a nephew of the chief, went out as messengers to every 

 tribe to invite the chiefs and their people. 



When they had visited each tribe, they came back to their chief 

 with happy hearts. On the following day all the guests entered, and 

 the tribes sat down by themselves with their chiefs. When they 

 were all in, the chief said, "Bring your boiled fresh spring-salmon, 

 put it into a wooden dish, and place it before the chiefs." So his 

 attendants did what he had said. They passed wooden spoons and 

 horn spoons about to all the chiefs and their people, and they placed 

 in front of the guests wooden dishes filled with fresh boiled salmon. 

 Then all the guests wondered to see the fresh spring sahnon, and they 

 ate it all. 1 



After they had eaten fresh spring salmon, the chief said, "Bring 

 (he fresh ripe salmonberries," and his attendants brought in many 

 new boxes filled with fresh ripe salmonberries mixed with fat of the 

 grizzly bear. Again the guests were much astonished. They put 

 the food into the wooden dishes, and passed about mountain-sheep 

 horn spoons. Soon the guests tasted the nice fresh ripe salmon- 

 berries, and the young men told the story about Chief Robin's house 

 and village. They said that the house was a marvelous one; that 

 there was winter on one side, and midsummer on the other side. 

 They continued, "We saw all varieties of birds and of flowers." 



Soon after they had told their story, the guests went home, and 

 all their canoes were loaded with some of the food. They were all 

 merry. On the following day the chief invited the chiefs of the tribes 

 with their wives and people, as he had done before. When all the 

 guests were in, he repeated the same words that he had said a few 

 days before. He spoke to his attendants, and said, "Bring in the 

 fresh meat and fat." They did so. They brought in a box. They 

 poured water into the box, and put red-hot stones into it until the 

 water began to boil. Then they put the meat over the hot stones 

 and covered the boxes to keep the steam in. 



After the chiefs and then - wives had eaten the meat and the soup, 

 they gave them blueberries and many different kinds of berries. 



i The reason why they were astonished was because it was winter.— F. B. 



