boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 863 



The younger brother remains alive and overcomes his enemies. One winter there is 

 a famine, and the people apply to the younger brother for help. He takes them down 

 the river and instructs them in the use of sea fish, and shows them how to make halibut 

 hooks. At that time the people of Skeena River reach the sea for the first time 



62. The Cannibal (p. 350) 



Story of the. initiation of a cannibal who is placed in a hut in the 

 branches of a tree. 



He is visited by the cannibal spirit, who gives him dead bodies, which he has to 

 bolt down. He is captured by the Cannibal Society and treated in the usual way, 

 in order to restore him to his normal condition. He escapes and flies away. The 

 people desert him, and he continues to prey on them, eating live people as well as 

 bodies of the dead. The people catch him in a trap, and by treatment with medicine 

 and by putting on him rings of red -cedar bark, they try to drive away the supernatural 

 power. He flies to a rock which floats during high tide, and later on lands again . He 

 continues to live on a tree. He cfevours people every now and then. After two gen- 

 erations his voice ceases to be heard. 



63. Origin of the Cannibals (p. 353) 



A mountain-goat hunter pursues a white bear, and is taken into a mountain . There 

 he finds a house, and sees the four secret societies, each seated in one corner of the 

 house. There he learns their practices and is sent back. He appears on the top of 

 a tree, devours people, but is finally overcome and restored to his senses, and teaches 

 the people the dances. 



64. Story of the Wolf Clan (p. 354) 



The Tahltan have a war, and six brothers belonging to the Wolf Clan make their 

 escape. Two cross the mountains to Nass River, where they are kindly received. 

 Four go down Stikine River. The latter pass through an ice cave and reach a village 

 at the mouth of the river. They are kindly received among the Stikine people. 

 Later on a war breaks out, and some of them escape to Tongass. Still later one of 

 them escapes to the Tsimshian. 



NASS MYTHS 

 The Wolves and the Deer (N, p. 83) 



The Wolves and the Deer have a feast. They play laughing at each other. The 

 Wolves laugh first. The Deer fear the large teeth of the Wolves and do not open 

 their mouths. They are told to laugh aloud. When the Wolves see that the Deer 

 have no teeth, they devour them. 



The Stars 

 (3 versions: N 86; Tl 209; M 450) 



A boy makes fun of a Star, saying. "Poor fellow! You little twinkler, you must 

 feel cold." In punishment, the Star takes him up. The people are unable to find 

 him. The father travels about, reaches a smoking mountain, and is told by a woman 

 who lives on top of the mountain that the Stars have taken the child and have tied 

 it to the edge of the smoke hole, so that sparks fall on its body. He is told to make 

 a chain of arrows and to ascend to the sky N 86. 



Two boys make many arrows, and when playing one of them makes fun of the 

 Moon, saying that it looks like his mother's labret. A ring like a rainbow appears 

 over this boy, and he is taken up. The friend who remains behind tries to shoot 

 arrows to the sky, and finally succeeds Tl 209. 



