ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, 529 



Here he comes to an open glade {sivU'weJc) where many yit-twd'nai Csal- 

 mon-berry bushes) are growing. He halts here, procures some bark of 

 the klo'lai or alder tree (Alnus rubra), and chewing this blows the juice 

 from his mouth upon his wad of sluwi, thus dyeing it red. But only the 

 outer bark is stained red, the inner remaining yellow. He now proceeds 

 to tie little tufts of it to the salmon-berry bushes, some of the tufts 

 being red and some yellow. Next he transforms these tufts of do'ivi into 

 salmon-berries, some of which are red and some yellow. This originated 

 the salmon-berry, and thus it is that the fruit of one bush is red and that 

 of another yellow. But the fruit was not yet ripe. To I'ipen it he needs 

 some assistance. So he next proceeds to call upon some of his ancestors 

 to help him. He invokes them in the following terms : ' Come to me, 

 my grandparents, and help me ripen this fruit ! ' The grandparents 

 whom he calls upon for this purpose are the titc-titcEuTs, or humming- 

 bird {Trochilus S]).), the S^k'ukumkum, or humble-bee [Bombus sp.), and 

 the Qit,^ or wren (Troglodytes hiemalis ?). The two former were males, 

 the latter a female. The bumble-bee is the first to respond to the 

 invocation. He buzzes round and round in the air in lessening circles 

 until he alights upon the salmon-berry bushes. He is followed by the 

 humming-bird, and he again by the wren. They all three set to work at 

 once to ripen the berries. He begs them not to loiter over their work, 

 as he wants the berries in four days at the latest. When the fourth 

 day arrived all the berries were ripe and ready for picking. He had 

 brought a small woven basket (iealeuk-) with him. This he soon filled, 

 putting into it only red berries. When it was full he uttered sluwe'n 

 words over it, and the berries immediately sank down, leaving room for 

 more to be added. When it was full the second time he put it aside and 

 makes another little receptacle from alder-bark (pia'ko). This he fills 

 in the same way with the yellow berries. When full he sprinkles over 

 the fruit some of the needles of the hemlock-spruce. As he does so 

 he converses with the needles and instructs them in this wise: ' Some of 

 you must stick to the berries, and when my father-in-law eats them you 

 must stay in his throat and not let him swallow you or spit you out. 

 You must then begin to grow, and go on growing till you come out 

 through the top of his head.' On the red berries he sprinkles no leaves, 

 intending these for his wife and sister-in-law. 



He now starts homeward after thanking his grandparents for the 

 help they had given him. He has not picked all the berries that were 

 ripened, and as he leaves he bids them enjoy what is left themselves. On 

 tlie aftei-noon of the fifth day he arrives home with his two baskets of 

 berries. He calls to his wife and says : ' Has your father any cedar- 

 plates (Qdplyoitl) 1 ' The wife answers that he has, and brings him one. 

 On this he now pours out the yellow berries, some of which have the 

 little needles of the spruce still sticking to them. The basket of red 

 berries he gave to his wife and sister-in-law. He then presents the dish 

 of yellow berries to his father-in-law, saying as he does so, 'Here, Saq, 

 are the berries you desired : they have cost me some trouble to procure 

 for you.' The old shaman grumbled when he saw hoyf few, they seemed, 



' It is interesting to note that a myth of the Haida (Queen Charlotte Islanders) 

 makes the wren, Called also by them Qit or WMt, the ripener of the wild berries. 

 She is inVokefd among them in a soug the. words of which I haA e given in the original 

 with a free translation in my note's on HaAda Stones and Bdiffs (see Second Eeport 

 of the Ethnological Survey of Canada, 1S9S). 



1900 "■ MM 



