ox THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 403 



S'kElau' secured fire for the up-river Indians. Shamming death in this 

 manner is evidently a common subterfuge of S'kElau'. In the N'tlaka - 

 pamuQ story his assistant was the eagle. ^ 



The Origin of the Totem of the Sqoi'aqi - and Cilmu'qtcis as told by the Pila'tlq. 



There once lived a young man who was afflicted with shorn (leprosy). 

 He was very ill, and cried all the time. So burdensome was existence to 

 him that he determined to end his life. So he went to a lake which was 

 inhabited by ' Sla'lakum ' (a kind of water-sprite) with the intention Of 

 drowning himself. Two creeks led out of this lake. Up one of these he 

 went, and as he did so he perceived a ko'kuai; (salmon, ' sockeye '), There- 

 upon he cut a stick, and having pointed it speared the salmon with it. 

 He then made a fire and roasted the fish, with the intention of eating it. 

 When cooked he laid it on some leaves and sat contemplating it for some 

 moments. Presently his attention was drawn away from the salmon, and 

 when he looked again, in place of the fish he perceived a pipahd'm 

 (frog). He turned away in disgust and proceeded up the creek to the lake. 

 When he arrived there he Undressed himself on a projecting rock and 

 jumped into the lake. He sank down and lost consciousness. After a 

 while he came to himself again, and was greatly surprised to find that he 

 was lying on the rock from which he had a little time before plunged into 

 the water. 'Why cannot I die ?' he cried, and shed many tears again. 

 Presently he determined to cast himself in again. He took the plunge, 

 and felt himself sinking down into the depths of the lake without loss of 

 consciousness. Down deeper and deeper he went, and presently he found 

 himself lying on the roof of a house. This was the habitation of the lake 

 people, who were startled by his fall oii their roof, and sent one of their 

 number up to see what was there. He perceived the young man and 

 reported that a ' Sla'lakum ' ^ was there. He was then brought down and 

 treated with great hospitality. The Sla'm gave him his daughter to 

 wife. She and others among them were sick. This sickness had been 

 caused by himself. He had spat in the lake, and his tears had also fallen 

 into the water. This had caused a sickness to fall upon some of the lake 

 people. It was always thus. If any of the earth people spat in the 

 Avater it caused sickness among those who lived below. He wiped off 

 the spittle from the girl and she was straightway cured. He healed the 

 others in like manner. While among the water people he saw the Sqoi'aqi 

 and the Cilmu'qicin for the first time. 



In the meantime his parents and the rest of the family had gone up 

 the river towards Yale to catch and dry salmon. In this lake of the 

 Sla'lakum lived the Kokiiar^ and the SkvJa'u, who wanted to get out into 

 the Fraser. So they dug and dug, till at last they came up through a hole 

 near Yale. The youth, who had watched and followed them, also came up 



' See the writer's notes on the N'tlaka'pamuQ, Third Report of the Committee, 

 1899. 



- The Sqoi'aqi is asLrange-lookingmask with feathered head and staring eyes, and 

 the Cilmu'qtcis is a rattle made from the hoofs of the deer. This totem plays an 

 important part in the ceremonies and customs of the Halkome'lEm tribes. 



' Id would appear from this that mortals were .s?ft'/«7<wwA to the water beings as 



much as the latter were to the earth people. This term sla'ldh/iii is ditRcult of direct 



translation into English. A sla'lakum is not a ghost or spirit, but a being of a 



different order from a mortal. They inhabit mountains and forests as well as lakes. 



, Their analogue is found amongst most peoples at some stage of their culture. 



D D 3 



