ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 579 



Most of the tales are old, and in but two or three the white man 

 appears, and in these he is represented as doing something ridiculous or 

 obscene. 



The Indians and the animals are so confused at times that it is 

 impossible to say where the human and where the animal character pre- 

 dominates. Old men and women appear very often. 



The spirits, who appear with great frequency, are represented as 

 giving advice, being consulted by, or interfering with the actions of, the 

 various characters. In one tale a mountain spirit is represented as 

 harassing the Indians very much, depriving them of game, and killing 

 the hunters who ventured up the mountain. He is finally outwitted by 

 the coyote. 



There are several giants, the principal being the monster ydwo'Eneli, 

 who is represented sometimes as human, sometimes as a fish, and some- 

 times as a huge lake animal. He is shot by the chicken-hawk for 

 outraging his wife, and this brings on the deluge. One of the giant tales 

 is as follows : — A woman was out picking berries, and her child was 

 lying on the ground near her. A giant (^ehd) came along, and said to her, 

 ' How is it that you have made my brother {i.e., the child) so white and 

 smooth ? ' ' Oh ! I roasted him,' said the woman. Then said the giant, 

 ' Roast me too ; I want to be white and smooth.' So she set the giant to 

 work to dig a big hole, put plenty of wood into it, and lay stones on top. 

 On this grass was placed, and the giant lay down, and the woman piled 

 grass, earth, and stones on him, so that in spite of his efforts he could 

 not rise, and was roasted to death. The woman then went home, saying 

 to her people, ' I have killed the giant.' 



As mentioned above, the moon and the stars (d'qMtlno'hds) are repre • 

 sented as occasionally visiting the earth. In one tale the star kills the 

 eagle, who is found sitting on the branch of a tree. 



Two very interesting tales are those of ' Seven Heads ' and ' Lame 

 Knee.' The first tale in abstract is this : — There was a young man, 

 and his name was 'Bad Clothes' (Sd'mlk'dld'Ent), and he determined 

 to find 'Seven Heads' (Wistddld' dldm) and kill him. After searching 

 for some time he met him, and the two fought, and ' Seven Heads ' 

 was slain. The youth returned home in triumph, carrying with him the 

 tongues of the monster as a trophy. 



The outline of the story of ' Lame Knee ' is as follows : — Ko'mdtllia'nlcd, 

 ov ' Lame Knee,' runs off with the wife of a chief and outrages her. The 

 chief pursues, and, overtaking ' Lame Knee,' cuts off his head with a 

 knife and throws it away, but as it rolls along the ground the head 

 appears to laugh very much. He then cuts off one arm at the shoulder, 

 and afterwards the other ; and also the two legs are cut off one after the 

 other. Only the ti'unk of the body is left, and this the chief gashes all 

 over with his knife. At night singing is heard, and ' Lame Knee,' having 

 risen to life again, kills the chief and departs, taking the latter's wives 

 with him. 



Regarding the relations of Kootenay mythology to the mythologies of 

 other Indian tribes, not much can at present be said. The coyote myths 

 seem to point to the mythic cyclus of the Indians to the south-east, from 

 the Nez Perces to the Navajos ; the Deluge legend has an Algonkian 

 aspect ; and some of the other legends point to the Sioux, and the 

 tribes of "Western British Columbia. But more study is necessary to 

 niake out definitely any points of contact. 



p p 2 



