454 THE TLIXGIT INDIANS [eth. ann. 26 



Tliey always talked to a <^lacier, saying, "My son'.s daughter, be 

 very careful. You might come down on nio." (iriacier spirits called 

 Fair-gii'ls-of-the-glacier (sltl tu Ivoha'ni) came to shamans. 



W'lien a tree was being cut down, one .said to it. "Black bear skins 

 have l)een laid in the place where you are going to fall. Fall down on 

 them;" though they had not actually placctl any tiling there. 



The thunder bird causes thunder b}' fiappiiig its wings or by mov- 

 ing (>vcn a single quill. When it winks, lightning Hashes. Upon its 

 back is a large lake, which accounts for tiie great ([uantityof rain fall- 

 ing during a thundershower. When a thundei'storm comes upon 

 I'ipening tierries, too much rain falls to let them grow as they should. 

 Tile thunder l)ird keeps on thundering and the sky continues cloudy 

 until the bird catches a whale. Then it carries the whale up into the 

 mountains, where bones of whales caught in this manner may often be 

 seen. 



A hunter from Daxe't was once overtaken oy a tnunderstorm and 

 was blinded ])y a great flash. When lie linally looked up he saw a big 

 thunder bird astride of a mountain. Jt had the general appearance of 

 an eagle. .Vnother time some Sitka people out in a choppy place in 

 the ocean heard thundering going on in a certain direction and, repair- 

 ing to that point next day, found a wBale lodged in the trees with 

 claw marks on it. A Russian vessel was almost carried away by one 

 of these birds because the sailors had made fun of it. A certain man 

 was hunting on the mountain Xas. ^^'hell he reached the top, he 

 .saw a dark cloud and heai'd some one talking lo him very plainly in 

 the Chinook jargon. This was a thunder l)ird and he became very rich 

 from having heard it. and this is why peo])le lielievc it exists. People 

 also become rich if thej' merely catch sight of it. 



According to Katishan, Nas-cA'ki-3-e}(Raveii-at-the-hcad-of->iass) was 

 the supreme deity and the real object of worshiii of his people, but the 

 owner of the famous Seattle totem pole informs us, through Geoi'ge 

 Hunt," that he was merely the king of birds, and from that circum- 

 stance superioi- to Raven. Possibly there was some notion of a 

 supreme deily luiiong the Tlingit similar to Haida and Tsinishian 

 beliefs regarding Sius-sga'nagwai and Laxha', but this is all the infor- 

 mation the writer possesses regarding it. As represented at the foot of 

 the Seattle pole, Nas-CA'ki-ycl: is certainly of avian character. 



Raven was the creator, or rather organizer, of the present state 

 of things, both in the natural and in the artificial woi'ld. '"After he 

 was through with his travels he stopped somewhere,"' perhaps in 

 YcJ qiwaqri'wo(see p. 461). When a raven was flying about, people 

 of either side talked to it. 



When people were out halibut Ashing and saw a cormorant flying 

 about they .said, "Squeeze j'our buttocks this way." Then, after it 

 had .shaken itself and defecated, they said, "It has done so now," and 



u Personal commtiniciition to Prol. Franz Boas. 



