BOAS] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 775 



(i c) The Return of the Salmon 



The Salmon chief sends scouts to see whether the cottonwood leaves, which they 

 call salmon, are in Skeena River. When he hears that the leaves are in the river, he 

 tells the people to move. They pats in order the village of the Silver Salmon, the 

 Humpback Salmon, the Steelhead Salmon, Dog Salmon, Cohoes Salmon, and of the 

 Trout. The villagers all state that they will go up the rivers at definite times. 

 He asks the people of each canoe where they will go, and they name their rivers. 

 The Spring Salmon chief and the prince go up to G'itsIala'sEr Ts 196. 



The Salmon people know that the month has come for them to go up the rivers. 

 They take the prince along. The Cohoes Salmon break their canoe, therefore they are 

 the last to arrive. They pass under the sit (probably the horizon i, which cuts some 

 of those who pass through. The Indians see a cloud shaped like a canoe coming up. 

 The Fish camp, and put flat sticks into the ground. They pelt one another with 

 hot stones, which leave scars on their skins. They continue the journey to the coast 

 and meet the Herring tribe. The two tribes taunt each other. The Salmon chief 

 asks the people to what rivers they are going. The Salmon call the houses for smoking 

 fish"forts." They call human beings "Seal children's dog salmon." Thepeopleput 

 sharpened poles into the water, on which the salmon fall when jumping 11 303. 



The woman tells the boy that the Salmon are going to start for the coast. They pass 

 through the sit, which opens and shuts and cuts some of the salmon in two. They meet 

 the Herrings, and the two tribes taunt each other. They tell to what rivers they are 

 going. They call salmon traps "forts;" and when these are ready, they start for the 

 rivers Tl 314. The moving horizon is also mentioned in the widely diverging variant 

 Quin 112. 



The Herring people start. A long time afterward the Salmon people follow. They 

 meet the Herrings. The two parties taunt each other, and by their remarks the Her- 

 rings produce the marks on the skin of the salmon. The Salmon go to Kasaan. 'When 

 they stand up in their canoes, people think the salmon are jumping. A long, thin 

 big-headed salmon is their canoe Kai 244. 



The Salmon people start towards the surface of the earth. Those who have injuries 

 are not allowed to go. In the fall many Salmon people have sore feet and sore eyes. 

 The youth goes with them. While traveling, some are lost in a batch of floating char- 

 coal, others in a batch of foam. They pass under the edge of the sky, which moves up 

 and down, where some are cut in two. Finally they see what looks like stars. These 

 are the rivers. Theygoup. The people see them, and shout, u E'yo!" (seep. 675.) 

 The Salmon wait until the fish traps are finished. They call these "forts." They 

 shake the sky with a canoe-pole, and thus produce rain Sk 11. 



After their visit to the Spring Salmon they return . He marries in the village of one 

 of the various kinds of fish, and then goes home with his wife and many presents. 

 Various kinds of fish accompany him BC 5.267. The various Salmon villages are 

 also mentioned in Nu 5.120. 



In the Bellabella version the Salmon villages and the dangers of 

 the journey are described on the way out. 



The salmon have to pass through a hole by which an Eagle is seated who is watching 

 for fish. They dart through when the Eagle looks away. After passing through the 

 hole, they reach the villages of the various kinds of Salmon. The SteeDiead Salmon 

 are tall and strong; the Humpback Salmon, poor and weak; the Dog Salmon have big 

 teeth H ap 886. 



The Salmon make hooks of wood, which they use in ascending rapid rivers. They 

 start upstream Chil 24. 



The Transformers who visit the Salmon chief give him some medicine, and in 

 return are promised that the various kinds of salmon will visit the country of the 



