904 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ANN. 31 



Clam Boy (He'tcin'qas). These little boys went up the river; and 

 they had not gone far, when they met a great woman chewing gum. 

 She had a great basket on her back. She came to the little boys and 

 blew at them with something that took all their strength away, so 

 that they could not run away from her. The first one she got hold of 

 was Dogfish, then Spirit Of The Dogfish, and last Small Clam Boy. 

 Now, as soon as she got hold of them, she took some of the gum from 

 her mouth and put it into their eyes, and then threw them into her 

 basket. All the other little boys were treated in the same way. 

 The first three, however, went through the netting of the basket as 

 soon as they were thrown in; for Dogfish, as soon as he found out 

 that he had been thrown into the basket, stretched his body and 

 went through, and the other two did the same. All the other little 

 children were carried away by the great Woman Of The Woods 

 Malahas (in Kwakiutl Dzo'noqlwa). Dogfish, Spirit Of The Dogfish, 

 and Small Clam Boy helped one another take the gum out of 

 their eyes; and as soon as their eyes were clean, they went to then- 

 people and told the news. Woman Of The Woods, however, as soon 

 as she went into her house, took a long round pole and a rope, and tied 

 the children's legs to this pole; and after she had them tied on, she 

 hung them over the fire alive, and smoked them to death. 



Now, one woman in the village of the Mowa'tc!ath a , as soon as she 

 found out that her little boy was among those carried away by the 

 great Woman Of The Woods, went back of her house and cried, and 

 she kept on crying for four days. On the fourth day she blew her 

 nose and threw the mucus on the ground. On the second day she 

 saw the mucus begin to have a little head on it, and arms and legs. 

 Then she began to shut her eyes, and she cried again. On the third 

 morning she looked at it, and found that it was as long as her longest 

 finger; and on the fourth day she heard the little boy begin to cry. 

 Then she took a piece of her yellow-cedar-bark blanket and wrapped 

 it round the little baby boy, and she bid it under a tree. She thought 

 then that she would better go and tell her husband about it; so she 

 went and called her husband, and showed the little boy to him, and 

 he told her to take him home. After that the boy began to grow Tery 

 fast, and in a short tune he began to talk. Then he asked his mother to 

 make a bow and two arrows for him, and they began to make a bow 

 and two arrows; and after they were finished, he asked his mother 

 what made her cry so much. She told him about losing the only little 

 boy she had. The child wanted to know where he was lost. Then she 

 said, "Don't go up the little stream E mo £ wl'n £ ts, for there is a great 

 woman there who killed all the little children that went there to play; 

 and one of them was my child, who was killed with all the rest." 

 After he heard this, he told his mother that he wanted to go and 

 see the woman. His mother told him not to go, but he insisted. 



