boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 847 



is the canoe-swallowing sea monster. After the feast the men fall asleep again in 

 their canoe, and find themselves on the surface. They have been taken home by 

 three Killer Whales. Their canoe is filled with seals. They believe they have been 

 down below for four days, but in reality they have been absent four years. Their 

 anchor line and stone are covered wiih sea grass. They throw it ashore. This is 

 the origin of sea grass H 5.238. There is little doubt that Deans's story of a visit of 

 four men to the house of Keel-coonuc belongs here Hai 6.66. 



48. The Four Chiefs and Chief Grizzly Bear (p. 292) 

 (2 versions: Ts 292; Ts 295) 

 There are four brothers in one village. A famished man comes down the river in 

 winter, and the chiefs make fun of him. Instead of feeding him, they give him snow 

 to eat. The youngest one takes pity on him, and in return is promised crests. On 

 the following morning, men are seen on the other side of the river wearing grizzly- 

 bear and mountain-goat crests and singing a song. Crests and song are given to the 

 young chief. The elder brothers do not receive anything. The young chief is a 

 successful hunter and gives great feasts. When he is old. he goes hunting, and is met 

 by a man who gives him a mountain-pole with a carving at one end Ts 292. 



Another version is given in Ts 295, in which it is stated that after the chief had 

 fed the stranger, the prince of the Black Bears comes down from the hills singing and 

 carrving the crests. 



49. Gatj'o (p. 297) 



(i) The Faithless Woman 



(5 versions: Ts 1.193; Ts 5.281; N 221; Ska 166; Sk& 341 [citea respectively as Ts 1, 

 Ts5, N, Ska, Sk6], See also H 5.234; BC 5.257; Ri MS; K 5.130, 162; K 9.487; 

 Chil44; Chippewayan 7.407— Sk 201; BC 5.247; Lil 335; Ts 317.— K 5.129; Nu 

 5.123; Pentlatch 5.96; Co 5.89; Sts 5.22; Lil 339; U 285; Ntl Teit 3.384; Quin 

 121— Ts 270.— U 240; Till 138; Coos 155) 



There were two villages on Nass River Ts 1, Ts 5, N, Sk5 — one east and one west 

 Ts 1. In one lived the G'ispawadwE'da; in the other one, the G'it-g'inio'x N. 

 M 728 gives G'it'e'ks as the place where these events happened. The people were 

 wealthy, numerous, and brave warriors Ts 1. In the village of the G'ispawadwE'da 

 lived the chieftainess Gau'6, who had four sons and one daughter Ts 1, Ts 5 [Sqa'gal's 

 children settled at Q'ado', and she had seven sonsand one daughter Ska 166; the sons 

 are rich in provisions and marmot skins Ts 5]. The inhabitants of the two villages 

 are in the habit of visiting and gambling together Ski. The brothers go into their 

 valleys to hunt deer and beaver, and after one month their tents are full of skins; 

 they give a feast to the people of the two villages and return to hunt; before going out, 

 they fast, and the wife of the eldest fasts with him ; three of the brothers are successful 

 in trapping', but the eldest does not catch anything; they go to another valley where 

 there are beaver-dams Ts 5. [The boys hunt marmots for two months, and three are 

 successful; the eldest one has bad luck Tsl; the four brothers observe taboos Ski.] 

 They go beaver hunting [they do not kill anything Sk6]. When breaking down the 

 beaver-dams, the eldest one is buried under the dam Ts 1, Ts 5, N. A log pierces his 

 heart Ts 5, N [his shoulder Ska; the dam floats down and the brothers barely save 

 themselves Sko], They take out the body of the eldest Ts 1, N. They take it back 

 to the valley where they had been hunting before Ts 5. Then they think that the 

 eldest brother's wife must have been faithless Ts 5, N, Sk6 [they know that regulatii >ns 

 have been broken Sko]; the youngest one is sent home to see what the wife of the 

 eldest brother is doing Ts 1, Ts 5 [the eldest one goes home Sko]. He waits behind 

 the houses until it is dark Ts 1, Ts 5 [three brothers hide behind the house N; at mid- 

 night all are behind the house Ska]. They make a torch of pitch wood N. At mid- 

 night he [they] listen, and hear talking in the room of the woman Ts 1 , Ts 5, N. At 



