932 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ann. 31 



The first thing the old man did was to make a salmon trap (nizis) ; 

 and as soon as it was finished, it rained a little. Then he put it into 

 the river, and the next morning he went to see it. When he came to 

 it, he found four pretty dog salmon in it, and he took a small stick to 

 club them. Then he took the largest one out and began clubbing 

 it until it groaned. Then he stopped. He did the same thing to the 

 others. Then he took them home and told his wife to cut them open 

 and to cook them at once, and his wife cut them up and cooked 

 them all. 



After the salmon had been cooked, they called some of their friends 

 to come and help them eat it; and when they had finished eating, the 

 old man picked up every piece of bone and skin and flesh, for he had 

 faith in what his son had said to him. 



He called all the people to come out of the house to see what he 

 was going to do. Then they came out ; and the old man went down 

 to the beach, carrying the box of bones. He threw the box into the 

 salt water. As soon as it went under the water, they saw Ya'loV and 

 his wife and the two boys come out of the salt water; and they went 

 into their house. 



Now all the people were happy to see their chief home again, and 

 they began to call him and his family to a feast to make sure that 

 it was he; for they thought if it really were Ya'loV, he would not eat 

 anything. He ate whatever was given to him, however. Then 

 he told them all about what he was told to tell the people, and what 

 the salmon like; and that whenever the women are cutting any kind 

 of salmon, they should keep their legs wideopen, and should not use any 

 other knife than a large mussel-shell for cutting the salmon open, so 

 that they can get the broken pieces; and that the men should not use a 

 blunt-pointed spear-head on the salmon, for they say it hurts them 

 more than a sharp one. That is all, only that Ya'loV is the head 

 chief of his tribe now, and that is how the Indians know that the 

 Salmon are men, as we are. 



That ends the story. 



9. How Eaven Committed Eape on the Octopus Woman 



(A Mowa'tc!ath a Story) 



Once upon a time there lived in the village at Yogwat a man whose 

 name was Raven (Qo' £ cin' £ nnt'), and he was a chief of that tribe. He 

 was always taking a walk to different places. One day he thought 

 he would go to £ mo £ wi'n e is River; and when he came up to the little 

 river, he thought he would better go to Running Tide Place (Ts !ats!e I 

 The tide was very low, and there was a long rock on the beach. 

 Alongside of it he saw an object moving that looked somewhat like a 

 woman, and he went into the woods so that this thing could not see 



