918 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [ETH. ANN. 31 



Then some of the people said, "Let us go and ask our chief, Wood- 

 pecker, to send his speakers to invite the chief that owns this house, 

 ■whoever he may be!" Before Woodpecker sent his speaker to call 

 the stranger, he sent for the Clam (He'tcin'qas) to come to his house. 

 When the Clam had entered, he said, "Now, Clam, I am going to send 

 for the owner of that painted house; and when he comes, I want to 

 find out who he is, and what power he has in the way of magic. So I 

 am going to ask him to play some kind of game before I feed him ; and 

 before he plays, I will call you by name to come out and show him 

 your trick, that is, to squirt water through a stone, as you always do; 

 and after you have done it, I will give the stranger another stone. 

 He shall try and force water through it, as you do. Of course, if he 

 can not do it, we have nothing to be afraid of; but if he can do it like 

 you, then he may be able to kill us by squirting water on us. Then 

 we shall have to kill him. Now, that is all I want of you," said 

 Woodpecker to the Clam. After he had finished speaking, he called 

 four of his speakers, saying, "I want you to go and invite the 

 stranger who lives in that new house to come and eat in my house." 



Then the four speakers went out of their chief's house, and walked 

 off to the front of the stranger's house, and began to call out loudly 

 from outside of the house, saying, "We come to invite you, chief of 

 this house! for our chief, Woodpecker, who is over all our tribe, 

 said so; and we are to wait for you to come along with us now." 

 And Kwa'tiyat' called his two wives, saying, " Now, Chief Woodpecker 

 calls us to go to his house; and he told his speakers to wait for 

 us and bring us along with them." Then they got ready, and all 

 three came out of the monster fish's mouth. When Kwa'tiyat' came 

 out, he looked very handsome; he looked like a great chief ; he even 

 looked greater than Woodpecker, his master; and the four speakers 

 led the way. Kwa'tiyaf's two wives walked ahead of him; and 

 when they went into the house, Chief Woodpecker told his speaker 

 to take them to the rear of the house, and they sat on a new mat 

 that was spread there for them. After they had sat down, Wood- 

 pecker said to his chief speaker, "Will you tell this chief that 

 I want to know his name, and also where he came from?" Then 

 the speaker asked Kwa'tiyat' all that the chief wanted to know; 

 but Kwa'tiyat' oiily kept quiet. 



[One thing I have forgotten; that is, that Kwa'tiyat' said to the 

 four speakers, "I will not go to your chief's house unless he lays 

 roof boards on the ground from your chief's house door to my house 

 door, for me to walk on, for I don't walk on the ground of the place 

 where I come from." The four speakers went back to Chief Wood- 

 pecker's house and told him what had been said by Kwa'tiyat'. 

 Then Chief Woodpecker was half afraid of him, and said, "Get 

 all my people to get one board from their house roof and lay it on the 



