450 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth. ass. 31 



la'sEr probably also refers to the customary taboos: When the first 

 salmon has been caught, four old shamans are called to the fisher- 

 man's platform. They bring along a new cedar-bark mat, bird's- 

 down, red ocher, and the other paraphernalia belonging to a shaman. 

 They spread the cedar-bark mat on the platform; and the shaman 

 fisherman puts on his attire, holding the rattle in his right hand, the 

 eagle tail in his left. The shamans take up the mat at its four cor- 

 ners and carry up the salmon (in the same way as a guest is welcomed) ; 

 the fisherman shaman going ahead of them, shaking his rattle and 

 swinging his eagle tail. The salmon is carried to the chief's house; 

 and all the young people who are considered unclean are ordered to 

 leave the house, while all the old people enter in front of the proces- 

 sion. All the shamans of the village dress up and come in, following 

 the salmon. Inside, the salmon is placed on a large cedar board, 

 and the shamans march around it four times. Meanwhile the singers 

 sit down in their proper places around the house, and the fisherman 

 shaman calls two old shaman women to cut his salmon. They take 

 up their mussel-shell knives, while all the people keep quiet. They 

 call the salmon by its honorary names — Chief Spring Salmon, Quartz 

 Nose, Two Gills On Back, Lightning Following One Another, and 

 Three Jumps. Then they cut along the lower side of the salmon 

 and take out the stomach (201). While this is told as an incident in 

 the capture of the Salmon chief, it seems very probable that this 

 represents one of the customs relating to the capture of the first salmon. 



Particular customs are prescribed for the roasting of the first 

 olachen of the season. A frame must be built of elderberry wood, 

 the space between the elderberry sticks being about three finger- 

 widths, the length being that of the fore arm. The olachen is placed 

 on this frame. Then the person who roasts the olachen puts on a 

 hat of spruce roots and a cedar-bark mat, coat, gloves, and wraps a 

 blanket around the knees. A fire is started under the frame, which 

 is kept going until the olachen is done on one side. When they are 

 turned over, the person must say "Lawa!" Then the other side of 

 the fish is exposed to the fire. When one of the fishes bursts, they 

 must say, "Oh, oh, some more olachen are coming up!" * (67). 



Children must not make much noise playing on the street, for 

 those who disobeyed this command were taken up to heaven and 

 died (126). 



A woman with a newborn child is isolated (156). Adolescent 

 girls must live in a hut by themselves (N 96). It seems probable 

 that the girl saved in a pit lined with valuable blankets and coppers 

 (264) was also isolated because she was adolescent. 



On 305, 306, we learn about the taboos relating to copper. It is 

 believed that living copper exists near the head of Skeena Kiver. 



i See also Boas 1, 1888, p. 847. 



