458 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth. ann. 31 



The Otter chief and his village (167); the Mink village (177); the 

 house of the old Raccoon Woman and of her granddaughter (127); 

 the Mosquito village, the chief of which has a crystal proboscis (143) ; 

 the Snail village, where some of the people appear in the form of 

 giant snails warming their backs by the fire (162); the Bear village 

 (1.151); the Mouse village (237); the village of the Killer Whales, 

 who abduct a woman (1.173 et seq.) — appear in the traditions. 



In 1.129 we hear about a man who has been deserted on a sea-lion 

 rock and is taken into the house of the Sea Lions under the rock. 

 The Sea Lion sends a Mouse to call him, and he notices it disappearing 

 under a bunch of grass. When he pulls out the bunch of grass, he 

 sees a ladder stretching down into the ground. He enters, climbing 

 down the ladder, and sees that the Sea Lions whom he had shot are 

 sick, the shamans of the Sea Lions being unable to see his arrows. 

 He cures them by pulling out the arrows, and is then sent back in 

 the canoe of the Sea Lion chief — a sea lion's stomach, which is tied 

 up, and is drifted to the shore by the wind. After he has used the 

 canoe, he ties it up again, and it drifts back to the Sea Lions. 



A visitor to the animals may learn from them their dances and 

 songs, and is given instructions how to treat the animals. The dances 

 and songs of the Mice are thus acquired by the Haida (237). 



A hunter obtains the good will of the Porcupine by refraining from 

 killing it (148). He gains the love of the Bear Woman by touching 

 her belly (148) or falling against her privates (N 203). 



Of somewhat different type are other references to supernatural 

 animals. Thus the Red Bear who is pursued by a hunter kicks the 

 mountain, thus creating a deep gorge (1.85). At another place we 

 hear of a Red Bear which runs down the ice, and, being pursued, kicks 

 it to pieces, and thus drowns his pursuer (177). The Mountain Sheep 

 pursued by a hunter jumps down from a cliff and produces an earth- 

 quake (245). Here may also be mentioned the animals who are 

 called hi to marry the daughter of a widow, and who describe their 

 powers. In 1.199 the Wren shows how he flies about the hunter, 

 the Hummingbird picks the hair off people's heads, the Sparrow sings 

 at the dawn of day and wakens the sleepers, the Robin brings the 

 summer by his song, the Mockingbird brings bad weather by his 

 song, the Bluejay foretells good luck to people who go picking ber- 

 ries, the Eagle picks out the eyes of his enemies, the Squirrel climbs 

 trees and scatters pine nuts and thus frightens the people, the Rab- 

 bit frightens the people by opening his eyes, the Porcupine strikes 

 his enemies with his tail, the Marmot foretells the weather by looking 

 into the sun, the Land Otter drowns his enemy by diving with him, 

 the Beaver cuts trees and throws them upon his enemies, the Wolf 

 kills his enemies with his teeth, the Grizzly Bear tears them with 



