boas] DESCRIPTION OF THE TSIMSHIAN 457 



Txa'msEm's present abode is described as situated in a deep valley 

 located on a plain. A trail leads down, and he lives in a hut below. 

 He has two monsters for hunting-dogs. Game is plentiful on the 

 sides of the valley (102). 



The Killer Whales have four clans, whose crests are on their dorsal 

 fins. The Eagle Clan has a white line in the middle of the dorsal 

 fin; the Wolf Clan has a dorsal fin long, like a wolf's tail; theGanha'da 

 have a short one, like a raven's beak; and the GispawadwE'da have 

 a flat, short dorsal fin with' a round hole in the center (135). On 138 

 it appears as though the Ravens themselves formed a Raven Clan. 



On 182 the house of the Robin is described. On one side of the 

 house is a large room filled with snow and ice. On the other side is 

 a room with hills full of salmonberries and other kinds of fruit; while 

 flowers are budding on the green grass, and the birds are singing. 

 Hummingbirds are flying about among the flowers. In the rear of 

 the house is a beautiful river filled with all kinds of salmon. On one 

 side of the house is winter; on the other side summer. On p. 180 

 we hear about the Sawbill Duck. The daughter of the Sawbill Duck 

 chief has braided hair, ornamented with white shells, hanging down 

 her back. The house of the White-Squirrel chief and his daughter 

 is described in N 211. The house of the Mountain Goats is located 

 in the middle of a great plain on top of a mountain. A shaman is 

 dancing around the fire, trying to see the future, while the other 

 Goats are beating time on planks; one is beating the drum in the 

 corner of the house, and the shamans are singing. In his dance, 

 the Goat jumps over the fire, followed by a little Lamb (1.93). The 

 people of a certain village are invited to visit the Mountain Goats 

 (132), whose village they see on a prairie. They are invited to a 

 dance, in which the hosts wear headdresses and blankets of mountain- 

 goat hair. Then they perform a dance in which a beautiful mountain 

 is made to appear in the middle of the house. A one-horned Mountain 

 Goat appears on the mountain, jumping about. When the Goat kicks 

 the front of the house, the floor breaks down, and the house proves 

 to be a great mountain, and the visitors are killed by a landslide, 

 except one who sits behind the house post, which is in reality a 

 spruce tree. 



The Bear village is described several times. The men go out to 

 get salmon (279, 1.153) ; the women gather driftwood for fuel (1.153) 

 and pick berries. When a male Bear's fishing-line or when a female 

 Bear's carrying-strap breaks, he or she is killed by a hunter. After 

 a few days, however, they return to the village. The old Bears say 

 that the lines break because they are not made of cranberry bushes. 

 In the fall of the year all the Bears assemble, and each announces in 

 which den he is going to sleep in winter (280). They gather food for 

 the winter, and go to their dens when they hear the thunder (281). 



