350 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ANN. 31 



eyes on the neck. Bring it up and tie it to your wooden hooks for 

 bait." The men did as the shaman had told them. After they had 

 done so, the shaman told them to launch then - canoes to go out 

 fishing, so they went. The shaman was standing on the beach, and 

 directed them. The shaman wore all the clothes of his supernatural 

 helper. Devoured By Martens put on a bear skin for a garment. 

 He had on his dancing-apron and his crown of bear claws. He 

 painted his face red mixed with charcoal. He had a rattle in each 

 hand, and eagle down scattered all over his body. Then the shaman 

 said again, "Every living fish, every living fish;" and his people 

 had to repeat what he said, "Every living fish, every living fish!" 

 The shaman repeated this three or four times. Then they (the 

 people) went, and the shaman remained standing there on the beach, 

 pointing in the direction toward which they were to go. He said, 

 "Go a little farther to the open sea, and you will find them." They 

 went on, and the shaman was still standing on the beach. Then he 

 said, "Pull up your fishing-lines!" They hauled up their lines, and 

 all the hooks were full of halibut. The people were afraid of them 

 becaiise they were new to them. Finally a shaman told the people 

 to take the halibut into their canoes. They took them ashore and 

 cooked them, and Devoured By Martens was the first to eat of them. 

 His supernatural helper told him that halibut is good food. So the 

 starving people obtained the halibut. Now, they were all satisfied, 

 for they had every living fish, as the supernatural power had told 

 Devoured By Martens. This is the first time that the people of 

 Skeena River reached the sea, and the first time that they learned 

 how to catch halibut at the bottom of the sea. They built a new 

 village there, and did not return up Skeena River. 

 This is Devoured By Martens' dancing-song: 



1. Wola ha, a wila ha, o o, wila ha haa. 

 Hiyu wila ha, o o, wila ha 



Dedi tsal na-nExno'xsie ul sil-hahalai'de. 



2. WT-tsamtH hi! lax-ha', ye, hit ts!ElEni-ga /0 t 

 Wi-spA-uExnd'x tslEm-sio-tla , ya. 



1. My supernatural being will devour other shamans (?). 



2. Ther^ was great lightning in the air, when the great supernatural 



being took me into the Lake Of The Beginning. 



62. The Cannibal 1 



(This is a great story of which the people were much afraid. They 

 had four dances, which were very curious and important, — the Can- 

 nibal, who ate dead persons; the Dog Eater, who ate live dogs; the 

 Destroyers, who broke up houses, canoes, and boxes; and those who 



' Notes, p. 863. 



