BOAS] TSIMSHIAN TEXTS 243 



his father's house and placed on a mat, and durinq- the mourning 

 ceremony he revives. The sijuirrel meat is burned and the 3'outh 

 becomes a great shaman. 



The Okioin of the G'ispawaduwe'da 



There are two towns on opposite sides of Nass river. The eldest of 

 four brothel's from one of these towns is killed while hunting. The 

 reason for his accident is the faithlessness of his wife, whose lover is 

 the son of the chief of the other village. The surviving ))r«thers 

 tind the lover with their sister-in-law. They cut oti' his head and 

 hang it over the doorway. When the young chief is missing his 

 people send a slave girl across the river to look for him. under the pre- 

 text that their lire has gone out. She finds his head, and a l)attle 

 ensues in which all the people of the first village are killed except the 

 woman whose lover had been slain and her daughter. They hide in 

 a hole under ground while the town is being burned. When all is 

 quiet, the mother shouts, "'Who will marry my daughter ?" Various 

 animals come, but she refuses them because they are too weak. 

 Finallj' a supernatural being from heaven comes and is accepted. He 

 tries to carry both women up to heaven, but is compelled to leave the 

 mother behind because, against his orders, she opens her eyes on the 

 way. He puts her into the branch of a tree, where she remains and 

 causes the noise produced by the wind. The daughter has several 

 children, who receive supernatural gifts and are sent liack to earth. 

 Among these gifts is a club which, when turned, causes the earth to turn 

 over and bury the owner's enemies. The children come down at the 

 old village site. In a liattle with their old enemies the brothers are 

 victorious by using their magical clul). Not satisfied with taking 

 revenge, they continue to make war and thus excite the anger of the 

 chief in heaven, who makes them lose their club. 



Asi-hwi'l 



The people in two villages are starving. Two sisters who live in 

 these villages start to visit each other and meet half-way. They 

 make a small hut, and a supernatural being, "Good-luck," appears 

 and marries the younger sister. Their sou is named Asi-hwi'l. He 

 receives from his father magic snowshoes, with which he can climb 

 the steepest mountains, and two small dogs which can be made to 

 grow lai'ge and to throw mountain goats down precipices. The boy 

 goes hunting and meets a supernatural being who kills mountain goats 

 by clapping his hands. The sisters, with their son, rejoin th(>ir people 

 and become very rich. Asi-hwi'l tries in vain to kill a supernatural 

 white bear which disappears in a cliff. He marries a Tsimshian girl. 

 Her brothers become jealous of him on account of his prowess and 



