»»» TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [ETH. anx. 31 



He believes that he has been away for four days, but in reality he 

 has been absent for four years. When he comes near his father's 

 house, he meets his younger brother, and sends him to tell his father 

 that he has married and has come home again. When the boy goes 

 in with the message, his father strikes him, and bids him not to men- 

 tion the brother's name. The boy, however, insists, and finally the 

 father believes, and the young man with his wife and children enter 

 the house. The people dance in his honor, and he sends them to 

 bring in the load from his canoe. The people, however, can not lift 

 the boxes, because they are too heavy. Then the shaman wife goes 

 out and carries in the boxes. She tells her father-in-law to build a 

 large house and to call all the people together. They will not believe 

 that the boxes contain enough material for a great potlatch ; but when 

 they are opened, the boxes prove to be inexhaustible. One contains 

 salmon; another one, berries; another one, meat and tallow. 



Notes 



8. The bird Tsiskin quarrels with the Black Bear. The Bear snuffs 

 him in, and the bird makes a fire in his stomach with his fire-drill 

 and kills the Bear. 



9. A chief catches a sea otter, and lets his daughter wash it. 

 Then a Killer Whale takes her and carries her away. 



10. A woman named Halxis is picking berries. She has the same 

 name as a whale who came and carried her away in his canoe. Two 

 girls who accompanied her return home and tell what has happened. 

 Then the people prepare many poles and put poison on them, and 

 then call the monster Hanaxatse. It opens its mouth. They 

 throw the poles hi. After a short time they become rotten and kill 

 the fish, which drifts ashore. 



11. The Raven sees Sea Gull getting herrings. Then he tells the 

 Beaver that the Sea Gull is slandering him, and suggests to him to 

 hit Gull's belly. When Beaver does so, the herrings come out, and 

 Raven eats them. 



MYTHS OF THE NOOTKA ' 



Collected by George Hunt 



1. The Liberation of the Sun 



Once upon a time there lived at Heltsaes a chief, one of the 

 Yalo £ asaqin s ath a sept of the Mowa'tc !ath a , whose name was Gwawete, 

 or the Chief of the Moon, who owned the sun, which he kept in a box. 

 He would open only one corner of the box, so as to have daylight in 

 his own village; but the light did not reach to the other villages. 



1 The spelling of Nootka words has been revised according to information kindly furnished by 

 Dr Edward Sapir. 



