ABSTRACTS 



Txa'msem and L6gobola 



A chief !? wife pretends to bo dead and is Imried on a tree. Her 

 lover goes to see her in the grave box. They are discovered and 

 killed l)y the chief. The dead woman gives birth to a boy who lives by 

 sucking his mother's intestines. He takes away the arrows of some 

 playing children, and is discovered and taken to the house of the chief , 

 who raises him. The boy and one of his friends kill two birds, put 

 on their skins and tiy through a hole in the heavens. The boy goes 

 on alone, assumes the shape of a cedar leaf, drops into a well, and is 

 swallowed by the daughter of the chief in heaven. She gives birth to a 

 boy, who cries for the box in which the sun is kept. The chief .sends 

 for it. The boy steals it and becomes Txa'msEm, the Raven. He puts 

 his cap into a cliff. He goes up Nass river and returns because gho.sts 

 whistle in front of him. Therefore the water of the river turns back. 

 He then asks the ghosts, who are fishing olachen, for fish. He is 

 refused and makes it daylight, thus driving away the ghosts. Finally 

 Txii'msEm meets his brother, Logoboia', who takes off his hat, thus 

 causing a fog in which Txa'msEm is lost. Logobola' cau.ses all fresh 

 water to disappear. They have a .shooting match and stake the Nass 

 river against the Skeena river. Txii'msEm orders the crows to put 

 his arrow into the goal and to remove L6g6bola"s. Thus he wins by 

 fraud. They divide the stakes and make the olachen go up Nass river 

 anel the salmon up Skeena river. They separate. 



Txa'msem 



Txii'msEm visits a chief who owns fresh water. He pretends that 

 the chief soiled his l)ed, and by threatening to tell on him he gets per- 

 mission to take a drink of water. He takes all the water and flies away. 

 The water runs out of his l)lanket and forms rivers. He meets the 

 ghosts and turns back, therefore the waters of Nass river turn back. 

 He makes a gull vomit olachen, then he rubs its spawn over his canoe 

 and goes to a chief who owns the olachen. He pretends to have caught 

 many olachen. showing the sj)a\vn in his canoe. The chief is annoj-ed 

 and releases the olachen from his house. Txii'msEm catches olachen 

 and roasts them. Gulls steal them. He throws the gulls into a fire 

 and the tips of their wings become black. He assumes the shape 

 23tt 



