sWAXTox] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 65 



sneak around here for I can see you." They could not get at them. 

 These hind-otter-men had come to the women to turn them into land- 

 otter-people also. 



A mens truant woman is the only thing that will enfeeble the power 

 of a shaman's spirit, therefore, although the shaman endeavored to 

 get these land-otter-men out of the women, his spirits kept turning 

 back. When the shaman's spirit came to him next evening, it said 

 that there were more land-otter-men coming to take away the ones in 

 these women and the women with them. lie told the people to l)e 

 watchfid, because there was going to be a great disturl>ance that 

 night. When night came on the people were all very much frightened 

 at the noises the land-otter-men made under the houses, and they 

 had great trouble keeping the two women in their rooms so that they 

 should not be carried oiT. All the people helped them, but the land 

 otters were invisible. After that nobody went out to camp for a 

 long time. Then they said to the two women, "Take your bloody 

 clothes to different beaches, leave them there, and tell the land 

 otters that they are too great animals to fight with weak beings." 

 In those times whenever a menstruant woman said anything of that 

 kind it had to be obeyed. So the land otters went off. 



The shamans in those times were very strict and strong, and what- 

 ever they saw was true. By and by these shamans said, "Some- 

 thing is going to happen to that great town there by the lake." Wlien 

 the things that had happened in their neighbors' town regarding the 

 land otters were reported to the people there, they said, "Are you 

 afraid of those things that stutter and can not talk like you and I?" 

 By and by two men started hunting from this place. When they 

 had reached the top of a neighboring mountain, they looked back and 

 saw a great flood come down between the mountains and overwhelm 

 their town. This flood was caused by an avalanche which poured 

 into the lake and filled it up, forcing the water out. Some human 

 bodies were hanging to the branches of trees. The men knew this 

 had happened on account of the way they had spoken of the land 

 otters, and, starting on aimlessly, they came to the town where the 

 shamans lived. 



One of these tw^o shamans had a quantity of oil which he was going 

 to carry to another town. He wanted to buy skins of kinds different 

 from those his own people had. When they reached a camping place 

 outside of the town the man's spirit told him to go down to the beach 

 at low tide and carry a hook with him. A shaman's spirits never 

 liked salt things. There he saw a very big devilfish under a rock, and 

 his spirit said to him, ' ' Look out, master, that is a big live devilfish. ' ' 

 As soon as he had hooked it, he saw what appeared to be two ducks 

 flying toward him from either side, but they were really the devilfish's 

 arms. Then his spirit told him to run up quickly on the bank, and 

 49438— Bull. 39—09 5 



