540 REPORT—1899, 
fruit feasted upon Lynx’s game as they had not feasted for a long time 
before. The others, whose cellars were as empty as their stomachs, 
gathered round Lynx’s keekwilee-house and eagerly picked up and 
devoured the scraps which the woman had purposely thrown out. Little 
Ant and several of his relatives climbed on the roof and began to eat the 
fat that had gathered there. For some days neither Lynx nor his wife 
would show themselves, but each morning they threw out a basketful of 
bones and pickings, which were quickly seized and devoured by the 
starving crowd. When the woman thought she had sufficiently humbled 
their pride and revenged herself for their cruelty to her, she bade her 
husband make a great feast and invite them all to it. This he did, and 
when they had eaten their fill he told them of his vision and the promise 
his guardian spirit had made to him. From this they perceived that he 
was ordained to be their chief. They accordingly denounced the old 
chieftainess, declaring that she should have known all this, and, deposing 
her, they made him chief in her place. 
Thus Lynx’s dream was fulfilled, and he became a great man among 
them from that time forward. 
Tla'pas Cima'ms, or the Forgotten Wife Story. 
There was once a young man who was very desirous of becoming a 
great ‘medicine’ man, or Shaman. Following the usual custom of the 
Indians he retired to a solitary spot that he might be alone. He sub- 
jected himself to the severest discipline, fasting till his body was so 
wasted that his bones almost came through his skin, but he met with no 
success. No dream or vision came to him ; no spirit promised him its 
aid and help. Giving up the trial in despair, he resolved to go and visit 
a certain famous Shaman who lived in another part of the country. On 
his journey thither he came upon a secluded village through which his 
path ran ; and, as it was near night, he resolved to stay there till next 
morning. To his surprise he found the village deserted, but for one 
old woman. Going up to her he saw that she was very old and decrepit, 
so old, indeed, that, she could not sit upright, her body falling forward 
between her knees as she crouched over the embers of a decaying charcoal 
fire. By her side was a basket of koakoé’la, or ‘husband’ roots ; while 
from every joint in her limbs and from each side of her head there grew 
out young fir-trees. These appeared to incommode her considerably, and 
as soon as she saw the young man she begged him to cut them for her. 
Being of an obliging nature, and seeing that she was extremely old, and 
probably wise and gifted with supernatural power, he complied with her 
request. She then begged him to make her a little fresh charcoal for her 
fire and place it by her side. This he did also, and then began to question 
her as to why she was all alone and why her people had deserted her, 
‘They have not deserted me,’ answered she, ‘they are all dead, I have 
outlived them all. J am very old, so old that the fir-trees grow upon me 
as you have seen.’ 
‘ But how have you managed to live so long?’ questioned the youth. 
‘Because my “medicine” is good,’ she answered. ‘See these roots at my 
side? That is my ‘‘power.”’ I have eaten nothing but these since I was 
a girl, In their strength I have lived on, while all my kinsfolk have died 
and passed away. I have learnt, too, to read the secrets of the heart ; I 
know your ambition and the object of your journey through the forest, 
