210 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 



I I'TII. ANN. . 



and all kinds of fishes. When they were all at home, they gave the 

 animals and the fishes to their chief; and the chief invited all his 

 people, to tell them that his son-in-law was to leave the following 

 morning for his own native land; and he also said to his daughter, 

 "When you have no food in whiter, tell your husband to ask his 

 wood-carvers to make a good long cane six fathoms long of ash. 

 You will need six digging-sticks. 1 Also let them make a large board 

 four fathoms long and two fathoms wide." 



When the feast was over, the people all went home, and on the 

 following morning they took down two large canoes. Both ends of 

 these canoes were carved in the form of the mouth of an animal, ami 

 all the large flat-beamed canoes were carved with figures of otters. 

 Then the people took down to the canoes the whale blubber that they 

 had brought the day before; and when the two canoes were full of 

 whale blubber, the chief took hold of them by the stern and shook 

 them, and the whale blubber decreased in bulk. Then they loaded 

 the canoes with blubber of sea lions; and when they were full, the 

 chief took hold of them by the stern and shook them, and the sea- 

 lion blubber decreased in bulk. Next they loaded them with seal 

 blubber; and when the canoes were full, the chief took hold of them 

 by the stern and shook them, and the seal blubber became less. 

 Then they loaded them with all kinds of fish, and so the canoes were 

 filled with many kinds of fishes. Then the people took down a large 

 board, put it across the two canoes, and spread garments of sea otters 

 over the boards. The two young people were made to sit on these; 

 and the chief said to his daughter, "My dear, when you hear the 

 thwarts, the stern, or the bow of the canoes creak, or if they stop 

 going, then you must know that they are hungry, and you must feed 

 them with seal blubber. Feed the bow and the stern half a seal each. 

 And when they have eaten your seals, whistle. " After he had given 

 this advice to her, he shook the two large canoes, and he whistled. 

 Then the canoes moved and went on rapidly toward sunrise. 



They went a long way, then they stopped ; and all the thwarts, the 

 bow, and the stern made a great noise. The princess said to her 

 husband, "Feed them!" The prince did so; and soon after he had 

 fed them, he whistled, and they went on. Four times the two canoes 

 rested on their way across the sea. 



Early on the following morning it was calm and foggy. Then 

 they arrived in front of the village of Mctlakahtla; and when the 

 fog vanished, the people of the village came forth, and, behold! the 

 large canoes anchored in front of the village. 



The village people asked those in the canoes, "What kind of people 

 are you V Soon the young man arose, and said, "Did not a prince 



• We call this a digging-stick. In those days they were used for digging clams or digging the ground. 

 It was a pole sharp at each end. Sometimes they would also kill people w it li it. A iki in-digging stick is 

 not very long, three or four feet, but the chief told him to make it six fathoms long.— Henry W. Tate 



