622 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ANN. 31 



to another, until the water filled the house and covered the moun- 

 tains. Then the boy put on the skin of the "heaven-bird" and flew 

 up until his beak struck the sky, where he remained hanging. His 

 mother put on the diver skin and swam about on the water. After 

 many days the waters began to subside ; and when, they had receded to 

 half the height of the mountains, the boy pulled out his beak and 

 fell down on a piece of kelp. 



I will give now the data from which the tale as given before has been 

 reconstructed. 



Only Tl 3 and Tla, b open with the statement that in the beginning there was no 

 daylight in this world. In T16 80 Raven At The Head Of Nass River (Nas-eAld-yel) 

 created the Heron, and later on Raven (Yel) came into being as told before. 



In Tl 3 the name Nas-schakie'l ( = Nas-CA'ki-yel) is given to the 

 place to winch Raven retires after his migrations, and where the 

 East Wind lives. This is obviously an error, since the translation 

 given above signifies "a raven," not a place. 



Raven At The Head Of Nass River T16 [a jealous chief Tl 3, Tl 4; NAfikilsLas Kai 5] 

 * guarded his wife [G'ins^ha'noa, her Kaigani name, in Eai 5] carefully. She did no work, 

 and staid at home or on the rocks of the beach. She was guarded by eight hummingbirds 

 (kuri) [translated in T16 119 as "flicker"], which she carried, four on each side [four 

 hummingbirds, two on the outer sides of her breasts, two lower down on her body], and 

 which flew away as soon as she would as much as glance at a man Tl 3.* [In Kai 5 she 

 carries robins in her armpits. The identification of these birds is probably erroneous.] 

 Her husband was an expert canoe-builder Tl 3. Whenever he left the house, he put 

 her into a box. [In Tl 4 he suspended the box from a rafter, tying the rope with a 

 peculiar knot, which showed whether the box had been handled. In T16 he kept 

 her in the box in which sun, moon, and stars were originally kept, and she had 

 flickers (jfefin) under her armpits T16 119.] 



In Tl 4 and Kai 5 the description of the jealousy of the husband and 

 his precautions is inserted after the birth of the Raven; in T16 119 

 it is evidently misplaced. 



He did nut want his sister [Kitrhuginsi Tl 3; in Tl 2 the brother is called Kitkh- 

 oughin-si] to have sons. [They died. At the same place it is stated that the woman 

 may have been his sister or some other woman. This remark is placed in the begin- 

 ning, after the creation of the Heron T16 80.] He killed her ten Tl 4 [many Kai 5, 

 T16 80; several Tl 3.372] sons by pressing them against his sharp neck-ornaments Kai 5. 

 [He killed them to prevent the increase of mankind Tl 2.] 



Tl 2 inserts here the Deluge sent by Kitkh-ougliin-si, in which 

 people save themselves on mountains, to which they tie the canoes. 



In Tl 3 it is said that when the sister's sons were old enough to take notice of his 

 wife, he would take them out in his canoe, and by upsetting it drown them; he would 

 have a canoe that he was building close upon them. This is probably misplaced, and 

 refers to the uncle's attempt to kill Raven. [When her children were dead, the 

 woman's husband sent her back to her brother NAnki'lsLas Kai 5.] 



