boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 229 



shore. On the following day they cut the blubber and carried it into 

 a large house. They filled three houses with it, because the whale 

 was very large. They did so several days. Now they had ten great 

 whales. They had cut six whales, and four remained on the beach. 



The prince went out, walking around the whole village. All the 

 houses were full of blubber. He was thinking of his uncle who had 

 pitied him while he was hungry. Therefore he called a gull and asked 

 it to let him have its skin. So the gull lent him its skin. He put it 

 on and took a small piece of boiled seal meat and flew away to Nass 

 River. When he arrived there, he saw many canoes trying to catch 

 olachen with their bag nets, but they could not catch many. The 

 prince flew over the canoes, trying to find one of his relatives among 

 the canoes. At last he discovered his father's slaves in one of the 

 canoes. He flew over it. 



A slave-woman was sitting in the stern, while her husband and 

 others were managing the nets. The gull was flying over her head, 

 and dropped down a piece of seal meat to her. The slave-woman 

 took it and put it into her glove, and she then saw the gull fly away 

 down river until she lost sight of it. 



In the evening, when the fishermen came home, and when all the 

 people were in bed (the slave families live in one corner), the slave- 

 woman told her husband that the gull dropped a piece of half-dried 

 seal meat to the place where she was sitting in the canoe. Therefore 

 the man had a little of the seal. She also had a little, and gave the 

 greater piece to her child. The child was glad to get the seal, and 

 swallowed it and choked. The child almost died because he swallowed 

 it whole; and the child's mother put her fingers into the child's 

 mouth, trying to take the piece of seal meat that was choiring the child, 

 but she could not do so, because she had short fingers. Therefore the 

 chieftainess inquired what was the matter with the child. The slave 

 said, "We do not know." The chieftainess said, "Bring the child 

 here to the fight of the fire, so that I may know!" They did so, and 

 she said, "Something obstructs its breath." Therefore the chief- 

 tainess put her long fingers into its mouth, and she felt something. 

 She took out the piece of boiled seal meat. Behold ! there was a piece 

 of seal meat. Then she asked the slaves where they had gotten it, 

 and she told her husband the chief about it. Therefore the chief 

 asked the slaves where they had obtained the dried seal meat, and 

 the mother of the child told the chief how the gull had dropped the 

 piece of seal meat into the canoe wlfile they were out fishing. The 

 chief asked, furthermore, "Where did the gull go after it had dropped 

 theseal into thecanoe?" and the slave-woman said, " It went straight 

 down river." 



Therefore the great chief said, "Call all the wise men, and I will 

 ask them what they think." So the great slave called all the old 



