704. REPORT— 1898. 



J)elieve that he is fulfilling his destiny, and tliey think of him with 

 «ratitude and offer him sacrifices of berries, roots, salmon, and bear-grease. 

 These they place in hollow trees that he may eat when he feels hungry. 

 They believe that he wanders upon the earth night and day, and will 

 continue to do .so until the end of time, when the Raven will recall him. 

 But woe to the Haidas when this takes place ; for the trees and plants, 

 the fish and animals, the fowls of the air, and even the very land itself 

 will pass away and cease to be, and then will their own end come. 



Haida Moon Stories. 



In early times the Haida moon met with several misadventures, but 

 as every tribe had a tribal moon of its own the consequences were not so 

 serious as they would otherwise have been. When the Raven was in the 

 ' Land of Light ' he saw that each tribe there had a separate moon, and 

 he adopted the same plan for the Haidas. The principal moon of the 

 race is that derived from the large splinter kicked ofi" the sun by the 

 'clam- shell' man in his anger at being refused the hand of the heaven- 

 born man's daughter for wife, as related in the cosmogonical lore of the 

 Haidas. The beaver once ate up the moon of the Masset tribe, and 

 the Raven had to supply another. The sun once chased the moon up the 

 Kaas River into the interior of the mainland, where she could find no food. 

 About spring-time, being desperately hungry, she demanded food from her 

 worshippers, who produced the ' candle-fish,' or ulakan, which were made 

 to run up the river in gi'eat numbers for the purpose. To offset this the 

 eun's worshippers produced the salmon to eat up the ulakans, and it was 

 only at the intervention of the ' Wanderer,' who fought the salmon, that 

 the little fish were rescued. 



The moon is not to be insulted with impunity. Once a naughty boy 

 was sent to gather sticks for the fire, but did not want to go, urging that 

 it was dark. His father made him go, telling him that the moon would 

 presently rise and there would be plenty of light. The lad went and 

 stood on the seashore to wait for the moon to rise. As it appeared above 

 the horizon he mocked it by putting his fingers to his nose. Presently a 

 giant came down from the moon and snatched up the boy, and he may 

 now be seen on clear nights in the moon with a bundle of sticks over 

 his shoulder. 



Ntlahapamnq Moon Story. — With the above may be compared the 

 belief of the Thompson Indians. 



Once there was an old woman who was very meddlesome and interfer- 

 in*^. She was perpetually making mischief in the village. The people 

 endured her as long as they could, but at last determined they could 

 stand her no longer. They agreed to seek a new settlement and leave 

 her behind. So each family got out their canoes, and loaded them with 

 all their belongings and paddled away. As each left, the old woman 

 betrged to be taken on board, but was told that the canoe was too full 

 already, that the next boat would be best for her. They all made the 

 same excuse, and presently the last canoe passed her and she was left 

 behind. As she sat bewailing her lot the moon rose, and she called to it 

 to have compassion on her. The moon came down almost to the ground 

 to see what the old woman was wailing about, and she, seizing the 

 opportunity, leaped up into it and was cai'ried up into the sky. In her 

 hand as she leaped she held a little birch-bark bucket, and on clear nights 

 .<he can still be seen in the moon with her little bucket in her hand. 



