swAXTox] TLINGIT MYTHS AND TEXTS 159 



on it all night. All the village jx'ople were looking on and getting 

 wood for him. 



Now the people felt very happy to see how well they had gotten 

 through the winter and that they were learning to put up more food. 

 The younger people would dance all day. In the morning they were 

 asked to go out and uncover the hole. He uncovered his own first. 

 It was so savory that the whole village was scented with it. Then he 

 tasted it, found it sweet, and asked the rest of the village to taste it. 

 The rumor of its excellence spread all over town, and so many came to 

 try it that before he knew it half of his bark was gone. All the people 

 of the village were burying bark as he had done. 



After he had taken the bark out a quantity of water was left, which 

 they poured into their dishes. Then he put the cooked bark into a 

 dish and pounded it with a masher. After that he pressed the cakes 

 very hard and made a hole in one corner of each in order to hang it up. 

 The cakes dried very (puckly. Some cakes they put away dry, and 

 some that were dried very hard they put into oil. After they had been 

 in oil for several months he took them out and ate them. They 

 tasted very good. lie also showed how to use those that had been put 

 away dry. lie took them out and boiled some water for them, after 

 which he soaked some in it. They tasted altogether different from 

 those that had been in the oil. 



Next Kake/q!"te showed the people how^ to put up a certain root 

 (ts!et) found on sand flats and taken before tops come upon it. 

 Geese also live upon this root. He collected a lot of this and brought 

 it to his wives, asking them whether they ate it. They said they ditl 

 not, and when they had tasted it they found it very sweet. This 

 root tastes lilvc sweet potatoes. Then the pe()i)le took their canoes and 

 went to get these roots for their winter's food. Each carrietl a hard- 

 wood stick with sharpened ends. He said, "This is women's work or 

 for boys and girls. It is easy. Where I come from the women do 

 that." After they liad dug many roots he showed them how to dry 

 these. He tied uj) a bunch of them and on top another until he had 

 made a long string. Then he hung them up where they could tlry 

 cjuickly. He cooked them in pots. After the water is ])oured oft" 

 from them they move around as if alive, and for that reason Tlingit 

 widows tlo not eat them, fearing that they will make them nervous. 

 After being cooked in i)ots they taste just as if fresh. 



He also showetl them how to put up a root called s!in, which he 

 pounded up and pressed into cakes like the l)ark. They are soaked 

 like the others and also eaten with oil. He showed them as well how 

 to kill seals and prepare their flesh. For tlie next winter they pre- 

 pared more than for the winter preceding. That fall, after the food 

 was all put away, the}^ went into the interior after furs. He showed 

 them how to catch animals by means of deadfalls with fat as bait. 



