swANTON] HAIDA TEXTS AND MYTHS 153 



spruce roots] tiiken ott' when lie repaired his hiilil)ut hoolis. When he 

 put these roots into the water, [the chareoul] divided, and he was towed 

 through. Not far away the canoe came to another place where it (the 

 passage) had closed together. And when he put some [roots] into the 

 water, as before, that also parted. 



Then he was towed out of it and was bi'ought to the edge of the 

 sky. Now, after it had shut together four times, he braced the spear 

 under it.'' He went under. Then he pulled his spear out and put it 

 into the canoe. He took the paddle and began paddling. 



By and b}- he coidd see the smoke of a great town. And he pulled 

 the canoe ashore some distance to one side of the town, they say. 

 After he had turned the (;anoe over he made the chief's wife sit 

 under it. Then he walked to the town. When he came to the end of 

 the town it was low tide. A certain woman, with her infant on her 

 back, had come down to the uncovered beach. She held a basket in 

 her hand, and she had a digging stick and moved it before her as if 

 hunting for something. While putting something into the basket she 

 looked up to where he was seated. And, after she had looked for a 

 while, she did the same thing again. And, after she had rolled away 

 the stones, she put sea cucumbers into the l)asket. That was Property- 

 woman. "^ 



When she again fastened her eyes on the place where he sat, she 

 said: "I know^ yo^i-" ^»tl then he stood up. And he went down 

 on the beach and stood near her. Then she said to him: "Do you 

 travel hither expecting to see the chiefs child?" He said "Yes." 

 "You see this town. He thought grease into his son's wife's mind^ 

 because he gave away his father's hat as soon as he married the 

 chief's child.* She is laying over there in a cave, AYhen j'ou have 

 entered pass along by the right side of the chief's house and go behind 

 the screen. There you will hear news." 



Then he started away from Property-woman and went into the cave 

 to the chief's child. And as she lay there she was winking her e3^es. 

 lie took his coat off and rubbed it upon her. And he tried to make 

 her sit up. In vain. And he ))ecame angr}^ because he was unsuccess- 

 ful. And, since he could not succeed, he started off. 



He put on his two yellow-cedar blankets and walked about among 

 them (the people). And they did not see him. Then he went into the 

 chief's house and to the right. It had ten tiers of retaining planks. 

 On the upper one, in the middle of the sides, one sat weaving a chief's 

 dancing-blanket. Then from the blanket she was weaving something- 

 said: "To-morrow, too, one of my eyes [will still be] untinished, 

 unfinished."'-' 



Then, contrary to the expectations of those in the house, he went 

 round behind the screen and a wonderful sight met his eyes, they 

 sa}'. A large lake with several gravel points running into it lay there. 



