boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 287 



you shall swallow it. It will not hurt you. Tell your companions 

 what I have said." Those three men belonged to the crest of the 

 Killer Whale, while the steersman belonged to the Eagle crest. Then 

 each man took up a pole. They took up a seal and brought it to the 

 guests. One of the men who held the boiled seal at the end of his pole 

 stepped in front of Dragging Along Shore, who opened his mouth; 

 and the man who held the seal took it by the tail; and the chief swal- 

 lowed the whole seal, beginning at the head. The second man stood 

 in front of the next one, who opened his mouth and swallowed the 

 whole seal. Finally the last man who had a seal in his hands at the 

 end of the pole stood in front of the steersman, and said, "Open your 

 mouth!" So the steersman opened his mouth and tried to swallow 

 it; but the whole seal would not go down his throat, because he 

 belonged to the Eagles. 



(The other three men belonged to the Killer- Whale crest, therefore 

 they could swallow the whole seal; but the steersman belonged to 

 the Eagles.) 



Now, Chief Na-gun-a'ks said to his servants, "Cut that seal to 

 pieces, so that he may eat it easily." Then they did so. 



The men had been there a whole year. Then the other super- 

 natural being who lived on the other side of the sea would often say, 

 "Let your guests come out!" Chief Na-gun-a'ks loved these human 

 beings who had come to his house. So one clay Chief Na-gun-a'ks 

 said to Ins attendants and to his servants, "I will give a great feast 

 to all my fellow-chiefs in the rocks. I will invite them, and will 

 show them my human guests. After that I will send these my 

 friends to their own home." His attendants consented, and there- 

 fore he sent messengers all over the world to invite his fellow-chiefs, 

 the supernatural beings of the rocks. 



The men did not know how long they had been there, and they 

 never felt hungry. Before the monsters came into their host's house, 

 Chief Na-gun-a'ks said, "Get into your canoe, and you shall see what 

 will come to pass!" Before they went aboard their canoe, Chief 

 Dragging Along Shore said to his host, "Shall I give you a present ?" 

 His master said, "Do so!" and he presented him with four coppers 

 and the fat of mountain goat, and tobacco, with a box of grease 

 and a box of crabapples and a box of cranberries, also with 

 red ocher and eagle down. Na-gun-a'ks was very glad to have all 

 these presents. His house was full of the things which Dragging 

 Along Shore had presented to him. Chief Na-gun-a'ks sent them 

 into their canoe after they had put away all the presents. 



Then the chief commanded that the door of his house be opened; 

 and when it opened, the water rushed in. The house was full of 

 water, and the canoe was floating on the first platform of the chief's 

 house. Then the waters subsided until the tops of the various kinds 



