220 THE FOUR COUSINS. [et'hnoloqy 



2 ga'yaqct. Go Lka'nax La'Xa, a'nqate e'kx-it atce'tElax. Ewa' 



lousy one. Where a chief his child, at once huying as he did her. Thus 



a wife 



^ Tkwinaiu'LEkc, e'wa Tlile'miikc e'wa k"ca'la x-ik ne'maL, e'wa 



•^ the Quenaiult, thus the Tillamook, thus up stream that river, thus 



o Gita'qauelitsk, ka'uauwe noxuexela'kXuit tca'nEmckc qix* ga'yaqct 



" the Cowlitz, all they we^e mixed his wives that lousy one 



^ a'nqate. Qe iiakct qigo aqixE'cgam e^ela'ke qo'ctac cia'xk'un 



formerly. If not where it was taken from the sea-otter, those his elder 



him brothers 



5 acgixE'cgam ka io'LEma atce'^^ElkEl. Itclx'ia'n atce/f^ElkEl. 



they took it from then the supernat- he saw it. Itclx'ia'n he saw him. 



him ural being 



Translation. 



There were three brothers and their younger cousin, who was very 

 poor. He was full of lice. He had no mother, only a grandmother. 

 The two eldest brothers knew how to wm in the game at disks. When 

 the summer approached the grandmother spun twine out of willow 

 bark. The people hired her to spin bark. Then she kept a little for 

 herself. At last she made a large rope. Now [the cousins] went to 

 Chehalis. The people stayed [at that timej at Mythtown [at the most 

 southern part of Shoalwater bay]. There they are every spring when 

 they are going to Columbia river. Now the cousins went to Cheha- 

 lis. The grandmother said to her youngest grandson: "Take this 

 rope and exchange it for ground-hog blankets." Now they went to 

 Chehalis. The elder cousins wanted to play at disks. They arrived 

 there. 



Now somebody had found a sea-otter. They wished to buy it and 

 wanted to give long dentalia for it; but that man did not want to part 

 with his sea-otter. They wanted to give him a canoe, but he did not 

 want to part with it. Now they heard about the rope. Then that man 

 went to their house [and said]: "I will give you this sea-otter if you 

 will give me this rope." Now he exchanged the rope for the sea-otter. 

 Then they went home. [The eldest one] said: "I shall take the sea- 

 otter away from him. He will certainly gamble and lose it." Then 

 the one who was next to the youngest said : " Let the poor boy alone. 

 Let him lose. If his grandmother gave it to him, let him lose it; if 

 somebody made him happy and gave him something, let him lose 

 it." They went home. They slept at Nema. The elkskin blanket of 

 the younger cousin had no hair. When he slept the eldest brother 

 awoke his people. They took the sea-otter away from him and left him 

 asleep. Early the next morning he awoke. Now the brothers had 

 disappeared. He thought: "Behold! they deserted me!" The sea-otter 

 had disappeared. " O, they took the sea otter away from me." Now 

 it was spring time. He went on afoot, going home. When he arrived 

 at Ne'lEqtEu it was ebbtide. He stayed ashore and thought: "At 

 slack water I will swim across." It grew calm. Then he heard some- 

 thing in the water. " I must see what that is." It made tumm under 



