boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 331 



55. Great Shaman ' 



In olden times there were in tliis country a great many shamans 

 who were like supernatural beings among the people, and who, 

 through then - magic, worked wonders among them. Everybody was 

 afraid of then" supernatural powers. They could heal the sick and 

 punish those who did not believe hi them. They would help those 

 who paid them much, and kill those who were against them. 



Now, there were three men in one tribe. They lived at K-lax-g'ils 

 River, on the south side of the Skeena River. They talked day by 

 day of the power of the shamans and how they obtained their power 



One of these men said to his friends, "I heard of a deep pit down 

 on this side of Skeena River, where some people went down and 

 obtained then power from the supernatural being in the hole." 

 Therefore they all decided one day to go down and see the pit. 



One day they took a canoe, and the three went aboard. They 

 started from K-lax-g'Ils by canoe, and before dark they reached the 

 deep pit. There they waited until the following day, and in the night 

 they offered food to the supernatural being in the pit. Early the 

 following day they all went up to where the great pit was. When 

 they arrived there, they found a deep pit at the foot of a steep rock 

 in a cave. They called the cave Cave Of Fear. Nobody except 

 great shamans can enter it. 



Now, these men did not know what to do. Therefore one of them 

 said, "Let us take a cedar-bark rope, and we will climb down!" 

 So they took a long cedar-bark line. They tied one man to the end 

 of it, and two let him down gently. As they were letting him down, 

 and when he was halfway down, the man who was tied to the end 

 of the line shouted, "Haul me up again, haul me up again, lest I die!" 



The two men who were standing at the mouth of the pit pulled as 

 hard as they could ; and when the man came up again, his body was 

 red from the stings of insects, and he told them that when he was 

 halfway down the pit a great swarm of insects came and stung him. 



Then the second man tied a rope around his body, and they let 

 hun down the pit. When he was halfway down, the swarm of 

 buzzing insects attacked him. They stung his body so that he cried 

 out louder and louder, and those who were standing at the mouth 

 of the pit hauled him up agam; and when he reached the surface, 

 behold ! his body was bleeding. 



Then the thud man, the steersman of the canoe, tied the end of 

 the cedar-bark line around his body. They let him down gently, 

 and he went right down to the bottom of the dark pit. He did not 

 feel the stings of the insects. There was thick darkness down below, 

 and he groped along the bottom. The line was still tied to his 



1 Notes, p. 859. 



