SWANTON] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 103 



see that his eyes are closed, do not try to kill him. Approach him 

 when his eyes are open. The canoe," he said, "is right round there 

 back of my house. " They went to look for it bat saw nothing at that 

 place except an old log covered with moss. They said to him, " Wliere 

 is the canoe you were talking about?" Then the old man came out 

 and threw the moss off, revealing a fine painted canoe. Another name 

 for this was Canoe-that-travels-in-the-air (QAxyi'xdoxoa), referring 

 to its swiftness. All of the paddles that he brought out to them 

 we;re beaatifidly painted. Then they got into the canoe and tested it. 



Next day they set out and soon came to a point named Point-that 

 moves-up-and-down ( Yen-yulu'-s !it A'ngi-q !a) . Whenever a canoe 

 approached it this point would rise, and, as soon as the canoe 

 attempted to pass iindei-, would fall and smash it. They, however, 

 passed right underneath, and it did not fall upon them. They killed 

 it by doing so, theirs being the first canoe that had passed imder. 



Beyond this they saw a patch of kelp calletl Kelps-washed-up- 

 against-one-another-by-the-waves (WucxkAduti't-gic) , which closed 

 on those trying to pass, but they shot through as soon as the kelp 

 parted. Thus the}" killed the kelp patch, and the kelp piled up in 

 one place, becoming a kelp-covered rock wliicli may still be seen. 



Next they reached Fire-coming-up-out-of-the-sea (HinAx-qegA'ntc), 

 which rose out of the ocean quickly and fell back again. \Vlien it fell 

 back they passed over it and killed it. 



After that they came to Dogs-of-the-sea (WiiciAdAgu'q-cAq!), after 

 whom LAkitcine"s dog is said to have been named." These drew to 

 each side and then ran together upon anyone who tried to pass be- 

 tween. Ai'row-canoe was too quick for them, however, and killed 

 them ]>y running through in safety. Then they became rocks. 



Before the monster's dwelling were two mountains, called Aloun- 

 tains-that-divide (Wu'cqAdagAt-ca), which formed liis doors. These 

 would separate and come together again. Arrow-canoe passed be- 

 tween when they were separated and killed them. You can see them 

 now, one on each side of a salt-water pond, looking as though they 

 had been cut apart. 



As soon as they had passed between these they saw the monster, 

 a very bad shaman called also Shaman-of-the-sea (IIin-t!Aq-i'xt!i). 

 He looked as though his eyes were open, so they threw a rope made 

 of whale sinew about his neck. Immediately he shook himself and 

 broke it. They made ropes out of tiie sinews of all the different 

 monsters they had killed, but he broke them. All the time they were 

 doing this a little bird called Old-person (Laguqa'wu),'' kept coming 

 to their camp and saying, "My sinews only, my sinews." So they 



a In another place, however, Katishan suggested that it might have been named from leq!. his red- 

 cod blanket. The word CAq! must be an old term for dog or some variety of dog. 

 b Probably the wtcu. 



