boas] TSIMSHIAN MYTHS 349 



shamans in the canoe; and he took his brother's grizzly-bear box and 

 the Thunderbird drum, Lightning, and Hail. 



His brother, Month At Each End, went home to the bottom of the 

 lake, and Devoured By Martens was left alone. He conquered all 

 the supernatural powers all around. 



Many years had passed, and there was a great famine in the whiter. 

 Then the. people of Devoured By Martens came up to him, and said, 

 "You have really supernatural power. Try to get some provisions 

 for us!" So this shaman lay down on one side of the fire, and asked 

 his friends to cover him up with a cedar-bark mat, and he began his 

 supernatural song: 



Wil q!ala-llal ha°n, wil q!ala-llal M°n 



La ma°5da naxno'xsut ndatlal q!ala-llam ha°nt.' 



Every living fish, every living fish, 



My supernatural power told me where every living fish is now. 



On the following day all his relatives started. They went 

 aboard their canoes and went down the river. They had long 

 boards in their canoes, and tied four canoes together, putting 

 the long boards across. The shaman lay down on these planks, 

 winch were painted red, and covered himself with a mat. These 

 four canoes on which the shaman was lying went down first, 

 and many canoes followed. All along the way he repeated the 

 same words, "Every living fish, every living fish," and they went 

 down the river. The shaman said just this one phrase, "Every living 

 fish, every living fish." He was telling his people where every living 

 fish was, pointing with his finger down river, until they came down to 

 the mouth of Skeena River. Then the shaman said, "Way out at sea." 

 They paddled along, and soon they came near Stephens Island, where 

 there is a good place for camping on a sandy shore. The shaman 

 said, "This is the place that my supernatural helper has pointed out to 

 me." They all camped on the sandy shore; and the. shaman said to 

 his people, "Go and bring down crooked branches of red and yellow 

 cedar." His people went and fetched crooked branches. Moreover, 

 the shaman said, "Make hooks out of them," and they did so. Thej- 

 obeyed the shaman. "Let the women make fishing-lines out of red- 

 cedar bark," and the women made fishing-lines. They measured off 

 sixty fathoms for each fishing-line. Moreover, he said to them, 

 "Go, ye women, and bring down thin spruce roots and split them!" 

 They did as the shaman had said. Then the shaman also said to 

 the men, "Go down when the tide is very low. Then you will find 

 a kind of fish under the rocks, with eight legs and a round head, with 



1 It is not quite certain from Mr. Tate's MS. whether these are the words sting, or a speech made by the 

 shaman. It seems probable, however that the words are those of the song.— F. B. 



