4()0 THE TLINGIT INDIANS [eth. ans. 26 



and put it into the water, .saying, "You will do great work to-day." 

 Then he placed it by his side, knowing that he would get something. 



The Tlingit, like the Haida, believed in spirits that brought wealth to 

 him who saw or heard them and two such are identical in both myth- 

 ologies. When one heard in the woods a sound like that made by a 

 sucking child he must remove his clothing and pursue it. Then, if he 

 were destined to become wealthy, he would finally overtake and catch 

 a woman carrying a child on her back. She was tine looking and had 

 curly hair, Init her finger nails were long and sharp. She would 

 scratch him with these nails and he must keep the scabs that came off 

 when the scars she made were healing. If he gave a piece of one of 

 these scabs to a friend, the latter, by washing or scraping his arm 

 slightly with it, would become wealthy. This woman was known 

 as Le'nAxxI'dAfi, and is evidently identical with the Skil dja'adai 

 (property woman) of the Haida. 



TAxgwA's was a being who nuule canoes, and so corresponded to the 

 Iliiidu canoe maker WAtgadagfi'n. One who was destined to become a 

 good canoe maker heard him chopping ver}' fast, woodpecker-like. 

 Then the man had to throw off his coat and shirt and follow the sound, 

 and he had to wash his face and head in the first lake he came to. 'Sly 

 interpreter told me that his father once heard the noise TAxgwA's 

 makes, and came upon a tree with fine chips all around the bottom, but 

 he forgot to take off his coat and so missed seeing the being himself. 



Mountain Dweller, CaqAnayi', is also said to bi-ing good luck to one 

 wiio hears him chopping and sees where he has been. Perhaps he is 

 to be identified with TAxgwA's. The gona(iAde't was more popular 

 than any of these. It lived in the sea and could assume an}' shape. 



A very strong spirit, called Kl'wax awutsle'x ("one-heard-coming"), 

 travels along, raising his feet high and making a great noise. 



Finall}', we nuist mention the four brother tnuisfornicrs who appear 

 so often in Tlingit mythology, especially the headstrong mischief- 

 maker, Jjkayil'kl, and KAcklA'Lkl, the shaman. 



FATE OF SOULS 



The soul of a living person was called (jfituwu' or wa'sa-tu'watf 

 ("■what feels"), " because when a person's feeling is gone he is dead," 

 and the soul after death, yu'kgwAhe'3'Ak" (or kayukgwahe'yak"), or 

 else qayahayi', "shadow," which is also the word for picture, while 

 the ghost or spirit of the dead body was called slA'gi. Rather incon- 

 sistently, as it would appear, the last word is that applied to the place 

 where souls go after death, sA'gi qii'wu fi'ni ("ghosts' home"). This 

 was an entirely happj' region, elevated above the plane of this world, 

 and, since some souls were said to go to the sun, moon, or stars, the 

 towns or houses thought to be there nuist sometimes have been con- 



