boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 667 



The Bellacoola tell that Masmasala'nix carved the salmon, which, however, was 

 unable to swim, because it had no soul. Then the Raven is sent to get the soul of 

 the salmon, which he obtains in the Salmon country BC 5.242. 



Another Rivers Inlet tale (Ri MS) is quite similar to the Bellacoola version. 

 Raven makes a salmon trap; and when he does not catch anything, he carves a 

 salmon of alder wood. It can not swim straight, because it has no bones on the 

 nose. Then follows the story of how he obtains the bone. 



In the Newettee version, /£ meal is said to have carved a wooden fish, which he 

 throws into the water. Instead of going up the river, as ordered, the fish goes out to 

 sea and becomes a halibut. Next he tries the blossom of a salmonberry bush, which, 

 however, also turns and becomes a red cod Ne 5.174. 



(13) RAVEN MARRIES THE DEAD TWIN 



(6 versions: Ri 5.209; Ri MS; Ne 5.174; Ne 9.217; K 9.491; K 10.323) 



After his failure to carve the salmon out of wood or to make it out 

 of other materials, Raven tries to revive a twin woman. The idea 

 underlying this incident is that twins have power over the salmon. 

 This version is found among the Kwakiutl tribes from Vancouver 

 Island north to Rivers Inlet. I have not obtained it from the Bella- 

 coola. The tale is very uniform in all the versions that have been 

 recorded. 



K!wek!waxa'we* Ri 5, K 9 [He'maskas^o Ri MS; O^meal Ne 5, Ne 9], goes to the 

 graves and asks whether there is a grave of twins [the graves direct him to another 

 grave farther back; this is repeated three times Ne 9, K 9]. He hears a voice from 

 one of the graves, saying, "I used to be a salmon." He opens the grave, finds the 

 body of a woman, which he washes with the water of life [four times Ri MSJ. She 

 rubs her eyes as though she had been asleep. He takes her home. She receives the 

 name Omag'I £ ga. He asks her to create salmon. She asks for a mat and gull feathers, 

 swims in the river, which at once is full of salmon Ri 5. The woman sits down near 

 the water, and puts her little finger into the river. At once there is a salmon going 

 up the river. Raven roasts it Ri MS. The woman sends him for salt water. He 

 brings a shell full of water. She washes in it, and a salmon is in the shell, which she 

 requests him to throw into the river. He orders his brother, Me'mg'umlEmps, to 

 take it to the river. The next day the same is repeated and four salmon are in the 

 shell. Then he builds a salmon weir and catches fish Ne 5. She asks for water to 

 wash her hands in, and then orders the water to be poured out into the river. At 

 once a salmon jumps up. The following day there are two salmon. They increase 

 in numbers, and the people make a salmon weir Ne 9. The woman asks him to 

 collect fern roots, to strip off the leaves and throw them into the water at Osto' £ wa, 

 near Kingcombe Inlet. At once salmon are jumping in the river, and go into the 

 salmon trap. Deer's salmon trap is not made in the right way, and is bo full that it 

 floats away K 9. 



The fullest version of this incident has been recorded from the 

 Na'k!wax - da £ x u . As in the last version, the incident is located at 

 Osto' £ wa. 



/£ meal asks his brothers to dig a ditch. He drinks some water, and lets it run out 

 on a prairie. It runs down the ditch and forms a lake and a river. He inquires of 

 his aunt Star Woman how to make salmon, and she tells him to look for a grave of 

 twins. Then he questions the graves, as before, and they direct him to one con- 



