526 REPORT— 1900. 



not wary. He has killed a great many of our lovers that way. When 

 we get to the door watch how I get through, and follow in the same 

 manner. If you succeed in getting through safely you must not, how- 

 ever, think you are free from danger. Another danger awaits you. My 

 father will spread a fine handsome bear skin rug on the ground for you 

 to sit upon. In the hair of this skin are fixed many sharp claws of the 

 grisly bear (tlatla'lEm) so skilfully hidden that no one would suspect 

 their presence. Should any one, however, be unwary enough to throw 

 himself down on the skin, these claws will tear and rip him to pieces. Be 

 careful of yourself, therefore, when my father invites you to sit down on 

 this rug and avoid the claws.' MEn-tlE-Saie'lEm thanks the maiden for 

 her warning, but tells her not to fear for him ; that his medicine is stronger 

 than her father's. Before entering the house MEn-tlE-Saie'lEm filled his 

 clothes with pieces of rock and siones. "When they got to the door the 

 girl gave a sudden leap and passed safely through. MEn-tlE Saie'lEm, 

 observing her action, did the same, and passed through without harm to 

 himself ; but the door springing to after him caught the end of his quiver as 

 it trailed in the air and cut off the end of it. The shaman looked up and 

 accosted the youth thus : ' Ah ! stuta'tl (prospective son-in-law), you have 

 arrived, have you 1 Come and sit down on this rug.' And with that he 

 shakes out a fine bearskin and spreads it on the floor. MEn-tlK-Raie'lEm 

 throws himself on the skin, as if he had no suspicion of its hidden dangers, 

 and rolls about upon it as if he sought to find the most comfortable 

 position, breaking off as he did so all the points of the sharp claws with 

 the stones he had placed inside his gai'ments. He was thus able to lie 

 upon the rug without harm. They talk together for a while, and then, 

 as night had come on, they retire to rest, MEn-tlE-Saie'lEm and his bride 

 occupying the same bed. Before they rose next morning she warns him 

 that a third trial awaits him. ' In the yard yonder,' said she, ' my father 

 has a big canoe he is in the course of making {tcatwi'tl). It is of rock 

 and not of wood. In it is a deep crevice or fissure, down which my father 

 will purposely drop his Qohai't (chisel) to-morrow morning and request 

 you to dive in and bring it out. When any one does this the crevice 

 closes over him and he is buried alive in the rock. I am greatly alarmed 

 for your safety. Hitherto no one has escaped this trap of my father's.' 

 The young wife is very sad and cries as she tells her husband of the danger 

 ahead of him. MEn-tlE-Saie'lEm bids her be of good cheer and not to be 

 anxious for him. ' I shall do as your father desires me,' said he ; 'his 

 medicine cannot hurt me.' Presently the shaman calls out to the young 

 man : ' Saq (son-in-law), I want you to come and get my chisel for me ; 

 it has dropped down a deep crack in my tcativi'tl. He got up at once, 

 but before leaving his wife he requests from her some stau'dk- (pipeclay) ^ 

 which he hides upon his person. He now goes out to the old man, who 

 points out to him the deep crevice into which his chisel has, as he declares, 

 fallen. The young man takes a leap into the fissure, and as he enters he 

 throws the stau'ok- back over his shoulder, and the next moment the cleft 

 closes over him. The shaman perceiving the ataic'ok- come from the rock 

 imagines it to be his son-in-law's brains, Aviiich have been squeezed out by 

 the pressure of the rocks upon his head as they closed upon him, and goes 

 off laughing, saying as he went : ' I got him that time, sure.' Meanwhile 



' Dr. G. M. Dawson obtained a .specimen of this substance from the Sk-qo'mic on 

 Eurrard Inlet in 1875, and found it to be a diatomaceous earth, and not true jpipe- 

 clay. 



