714 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ass. 31 



scouts. They see that the woman is watched by Thunderbird girls. Kwo'tiath is 

 told to become a salmonberry. He assumes the form of an enormously large berry, 

 and the Thunderbird girls suspect that it is dangerous. Next Woodpecker tells 

 Kwo'tiath to assume the shape of a salmonberry bush. He becomes an enormously 

 big bush, which is again suspected. Next Kwo'tiath transforms himself into a giant 

 salmon, while Woodpecker becomes a small salmon trout. Thunderbird catches 

 them and carries them home. When the woman cuts the salmon trout, the latter 

 tells her to keep all the bones and the skin. When Kwo'tiath is cut and hung up 

 to dry, lie breaks the poles. Thunderbird orders his wife to throw the bones into 

 the river. She goes way out into the water and is carried away by the Trout. At the 

 same time Kwo'tiath breaks the drying-frames, revives, and swims away Nu 5. 



Iii the Comox version there are also a number of incidents pre- 

 ceding the making of the whale. 



The birds hold a council, and Wren advises them to let Woodpecker assume the 

 form of a trout and to attack Thunderbird. Mink assumes the form of a spring salmon 

 and accompanies hint. They go into Thunderbird's fish trap. The fish are carried 

 into the house, and the Trout that is Woodpecker tells her to preserve his bones and 

 to throw them into the water. The other lish are dried. Mink always jumps down 

 from the drying-frame. When she carries the bones into the water, the Trout revives 

 and carries her away Co 5. 



Quite similar to this is the StsEe'lis version. 



Woodpecker and Mink, who had been a slave of Sockeye Salmon, go to recover the 

 woman. They go into the fish trap which is watched by the Thunderbird. Wood- 

 pecker assumes the form of a cohoes salmon; Mink, that of a spring salmon. Mink 

 wishes that the woman should dry him over the lire, and that she should roast the Wood- 

 pecker. Mink falls down repeatedly. He wishes that the woman shall throw the 

 bones of the cohoes salmon into the water. Then the bones revive and carry the 

 woman away. The Thunderbird story ends here Sts 5. 



(c) The Animals Make an Artificial Whale and KiU Thunderbird 



(13 versions: H ap 884; Ri 5.211; Ri 5.214; Ri MS; Ne 5.206; Ne 5.179; Ne 9.241; 



K 9.493; K 10.308; K 11.180; Nu 5.104; Nu Sproat ' 177; Co 5.83) 



As stated before, the versions Ri MS, Ne 5.179, K 9.493, K 11.180, 

 introduce here the incident of the killing of Pitch, which Raven 

 requires in order to calk the whale that the animals intend to make 

 (see p. 6S3). There is a reference to this incident, although in a dif- 

 ferent form, in K 10. 



The animals have another council and decide to make war on Thunderbird. Owl, 

 Hawk, Bat. and Raven go out to borrow pitch. After some time these animals come 

 back, and the pitch is taken up to the beach. [The Bellabella version is very brief. 

 It is simply stated that Raven lets the people put stones into the whale, and that he 

 gets pitch and alder wood, probably for making the whale. Among the animals that 

 go in is the Mouse H ap.] 



One of the Rivers Inlet versions is independent of the preceding 

 story, and tells that the two culture-heroes No'aqawa and Masmasala '- 

 nix decided to make the whale in order to kill Thunderbird, who 

 carries away people. 



No'aqawa wishes Masmasala 'nix to make the whale. He does so and covers it with 

 pitch. Then he tells all the people to enter the whale, which Masmasala'nix closes 

 Hi 5 -Ml. 



i O. M. Sproat. Scenes and Studies of Savage Life, London, isik 



