SWANTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 61 



sing for him. At the command of this spirit he had them make him 

 a pair of snowshoes with which his spirit could take him around the 

 fire, a shaman's mask, and bows and arrows. 



Then they came with him to Fort-by-small-lake (Ak!" Nu), just 

 west of Juneau, "^ and built a big house for him with inside rooms 

 (t!aq!), corner and middle posts, the last mentioned being carved to 

 represent the Great Dipper (YAxte')- At that time the shaman 

 fasted for four days and YAxte' (the constellation) appeared to him. 

 So from that house the people were called YAxte'-hit-tan (Wain- 

 House people). 



The mountain-sheep tribe gave this man the name of Skowad a'1, and 

 he was also called CAxtca'tc (Long-toothed-humpback). Wlien his 

 spirit was about to work in him, two porcupine bladders were blown 

 up and hung in the house, and, when the spirit arrived, all stood up in 

 the customary way. Then he put on his mask and his snowshoes, 

 which were thrown down on the floor for him, and carried his bow and 

 arrows in his hand. Although he could not see through this mask, he 

 climbed up on the walls of the inside rooms and ran around there 

 backward. While there he shot at a bladder and the arrow passed 

 straight through it. 



Wlien the shaman's spirits left him he said, "You people are going 

 to see a wonderfid gift. It is coming to such and such a place." In 

 the morning they went out with a dog and armed with spears, and 

 before they got far away the dog began to bark at a bear. Then the 

 animal ran under a log, and all climbed on top of the log prepared to 

 spear it. The shaman had said, "Something is going to happen to one 

 of you," and sure enough the first man that speared this bear fell 

 down before it and was caught and killed. Then the others qidckly 

 speared the bear through and through and killed it. 



Meanwhile a s]nrit came to the shaman, who had remained at home, 

 saying, "Your friend has been killed by a bear." They brought the 

 bear and the dead man's body down at once and laid the body before 

 him in the middle of the house. Then the shaman took some of the 

 red paint with which they had brought the mountain sheep to life and 

 put it on the body after which he began miming around it. The 

 third time he did this the dead man sat up. The shaman always had 

 such strength. 



Some time afterward he again began testing his spirits, because 

 they were going south to war, and, when they left him, he told his 

 people that they would destroy an entire town. 



Wlien he was walking around in the woods a raven fell m front of 

 him, and on getting back to the house he said to his clothes man, "I 

 am in luck." He told some one to return with him, and they found 

 the raven still with life in it. Then he said to his friends, " I will set up 



o Or on the side toward Sitka. 



