460 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY . [bth. ANN. 31 



Finally the boy is unable to remove the skin again, and becomes him- 

 self a supernatural frog (N 165). 



Travelers meet a beautiful young woman, who, when they try to 

 take her into their canoe, jumps away as a frog (261). Another 

 supernatural frog that lives in a lake is mentioned (129). When 

 cedar bark containing the breath of people is pushed into its mouth, 

 the people die. In 1.161 it is said that the lice of a supernatural 

 being were frogs. 



The Mouse appears a great many times as an old woman who 

 warns a human being against the supernatural beings whom he 

 visits. The regular form of this warning is that the Mouse Woman 

 asks the visitor to throw his woolen ear-ornaments into the fire. 

 She takes them out by magic, and then asks the visitor whether 

 he knows where he is (109, 160, 162, 167, 168, 179, 194, 208, 273, 

 279, 286, 1.129, 1.131, 1.151, 1.155, N 87, N 127, N 136). The Mouse 

 Woman as guardian of a trail and adviser (N 128), and the Mouse as 

 messenger of the Sea Lion (1.129), have been referred to before. 



Supernatural Beings and their Feats. — Supernatural beings appear 

 very often in the form of a flash of lightning. The son of the Sky 

 is so described (1.211). The arrival of a supernatural being is 

 announced by four lightning flashes and by four claps of thunder 

 (347). Lightning proceeds from his leggings and moccasins (218). 

 Sometimes it is merely stated that supernatural beings appear as 

 shining youths (58, 95, 117, 239, 297, 298), or they appear in sliining 

 light (305). They shine like the sun (239) or have garments like 

 tongues of fire (1.211). There is also mention of a supernatural 

 woman sliining like light (76). Generally these supernatural beings 

 appear for the purpose of marrying a girl. They also appear in 

 order to help the unfortunate and poor (N 138). Additional instances 

 of this kind, in which the supernatural being is not described in 

 detail, are found in 158, 172, 177, 298, 1.73, 1.77, 1.79. A super- 

 natural being who is the personification of devil's-club is said to 

 have a skin that burns like nettles (172). Another one is described 

 as having a hairy body (332). Still another one, the Bear, has rough 

 palms (192). The snail has a skin as smooth as glass (161). They 

 are jealous, and it is dangerous for a person married to a super- 

 natural being to marry again or to have a lover (155). Supernat- 

 ural beings who leave mankind after having lived among them are 

 apt to be transparent, like a cloud (213), or they disappear sud- 

 denly (309, 1.79, 1.81, 1.115). When their friends are in danger, they 

 appear to them (1.105). 



A young woman (besides her grandmother, the only survivor of 

 her tribe) has six supernatural children — five boys and one girl. The 

 first one originates from her tears (or the mucus of her nose); the 

 others, from objects that she puts under her blanket. They are Crab- 



