boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 861 



their feathers and finds the bones of the victims of the shaman. After four days the 

 shaman reappears, intending to pick up the feathers. When he goes ashore, she creeps 

 into the canoe, cuts the rope with which it is tied to the shore, and leaves the shaman 

 on the rock. She shouts, and he is eaten by the birds. Then she returns home, and 

 she tells what has happened . 



A somewhat similar story is told by the Comox. A woman deserts her rival on a 

 lonely rock, induces her to tear out her hair, and calls the Thunderbird to kill her. 

 Later on she is killed in the same manner by the woman who had survived Co 5.84. 



An old woman who ties up her wrinkles in order to appear young is mentioned in 

 Lil 294; Lil Hill-Tout 6.185; Sts 5.30; U 284 (see No. 64, p. 605). 



58, 59. The Brothers Who Visited the Sky; the Six Hunters 

 (pp. 344, 345) 



(6 versions: Ts 344; ' Ts 345; 2 M 370; Sk 259; Sk 36; Hare Indians, 7.207) 



A group of stories common to the Tsimshian, Haida, and Tirmeh 

 centers around the idea that hunters, by disregarding certain taboos, 

 may find themselves suddenly either at the bottom of a pit or on 

 top of an unscalable rock. 



Three brothers are out hunting and lie down to sleep. When they awake, they find 

 themselves on a rock near the sky. The elder brothers want to climb down, but the 

 youngest advises them to wait. When they lie down again, the youngest is told by 

 the daughter of the Sun to hold a pebble in his mouth (see p. 776). The elder brothers 

 try to climb down while the youngest is asleep, and perish. The youngest prays to 

 the heavenly bodies, puts his arrow into a crack, ties a rope to it, and gets back 

 safely Ts 344. 



Six men go out hunting. Their provisions are stolen by a squirrel, which they 

 throw into the fire. On the following morning they find themselves in a deep pit. 

 Since they are hungry, they throw one of their dogs into the fire. Suddenly they 

 see it on top of the pit. Then five of the men jump into the fire and appear at once 

 on the rim of the pit. The youngest one lies down. The Mouse Woman appears and 

 takes him to the house of the Squirrel, who tells him that the other men are dead. 

 On the next morning he finds himself in the woods, sees the bodies of his companions, 

 and returns. The people kill the Squirrels, who. in revenge, burn the town, sparing 

 only the house of the youngest hunter Ts 345. 



A hunter and his friends kill a black bear which is different from others. On the 

 following morning they find themselves at the bottom of a deep pit. They put one 

 of their dogs into the fire, which at once is seen on top of the pit. They do the same 

 with their other dogs, and finally they themselves jump into the fire. Immediately 

 they find themselves on top of the mountain. They go home in their canoe; but 

 when they arrive, nobody takes any notice of them, and they find that they have 

 become supernatural beings M 370. 



Ten brothers go hunting with a dog. They find themselves on a steep mountain, 

 light a fire, jump in, and find themselves on the ground below. They reach a town 

 in Masset Inlet, and find that they have become supernatural beings Sk 36. 



The incident occurs also in the long story of Laguadji'na, which 

 is said to have happened in the ■Kaigani country. 



A woman has ten children, whose father is a Dog. They attain human form when 

 then- mother burns their blankets. North marries the only girl among these children, 

 and a contest between the brothers-in-law follows . North puts them on an inaccessible 

 tree. The brothers jump into the fire, and find themselves at the bottom Sk 259. 



i Same as Ts 5.290. 2 Same as Ts 5.304. 



