522 EEPORT— 1900. 



year. As he was leaving Kos said, ' I and my tribe will visit you first 

 in the season.' ' After Kos,' said the tsuk-ai (popularly known as the 

 sockeye), ' I will come.' ' And after the tsuk-ai I will arrive,' said the 

 tsdivin (cohoe). ' I will follow next,' said the kudk'Enis (dog-salmon). 

 'I will come last of all,' cried the tlau'etcin (humpback), ' and I shall not 

 come regularly like the others, but just now and again.' 



Hence, according to Indian belief, the irregularity of the runs of the 

 last-named species. 



When Qais got back he assembled a great concourse of people and. 

 told them that for the future they would have plenty to eat ; that the 

 Salmon had promised to come to them every year. After this he recalls 

 that his youngest brother had been carried off by Snu'k'um and seeks to 

 learn from those present if any of them could climb up beyond the clouds 

 to Snu'k -urn's house. They all reply that no one could climb so far. 

 But among them was one cleverer and smarter than the rest, named 

 Tu'mtum (Wren ?). He possessed a fine bow and many arrows. He 

 now comes forward and says to Qais, ' I can shoot up there and make a 

 chain of my arrows.' Qais was delighted with the plan, and bade him 

 begin at once. Tu'mtum thereupon shoots an arrow into the clouds, and 

 they hear it strike against the sky where it remained. He shoots again, 

 and the second arrow lodges in the notch of the first. He continues 

 shooting in this way, each arrow striking and fixing itself in the last until 

 the chain thus formed reached to the ground. Qais now takes some of 

 his ' medicine ' and sprinkles it on the line of arrows, and the whole 

 becomes rigid and stout and strong.^ 



KOd'tEii, the mouse-man, now comes forward, and offers to climb up 

 first. Qais consents, and be swarms up followed by To'tlum, the flea, 

 after whom come Me'tcin, the louse, 'Ske'Eks, the woodpecker, and the 

 rest of the company. When they reached the summit of the ladder they 

 perceive a big house. This was Snu'k-um's dwelling. They seek to 

 enter, but find it securely fastened and too strong to break into by main 

 force. 



After some consultation it is decided to leave the matter of forcing 

 an entrance to Koa'tEn, To'tlum, and Me'tcin. Koa'tEn sets to work 

 and soon gnaws himself a hole to enter by, and the other two force 

 themselves through a small crack in the boards. When they get inside 

 Snu'k'um is just getting into bed. The fleas get into his blankets and 

 worry him, the lice into his head and do the same, and the mice 

 make such a disturbance that he is unable to get to sleep. They keep 

 him awake tossing and turning till after midnight, and then being very 

 weary he falls into a deep sleep in spite of them. They bite him again 

 and again, but cannot wake him. Koa'tEn then opens the door to Qais 

 and the others. Q.iis discovers the head and bones of his brother, and 

 returns to the ground with them. He now sprinkles some of his 

 ' medicine ' upon them, and his brother conies to life again. 



When he had done this he pulled down the ladder, and many of those 

 who were still upon it fell down and were killed. The Qais having come 

 together again, the youngest resumes the form of a canoe, and they 

 paddle away to another part of the country. On their way they come 



' It is worthy of remark that in one of the Haida folk-tales access to the upper 

 regions is gained by an arrow rope constructed, as here, by shooting one arrow into 

 the notch of another (see Second Report of the Committee under the writer's notes 

 on the Haida Beliefs, &o.). 



