27. The Prince Who Was Taken Away by the Spring Salmon

There were two towns in the canyon of G·its!alā’sᴇr. One was called G·itxts!ā’xt, the other one G·i-lax-ts!ā’ks. They were on Skeena River, and each of these towns had a chief. Toward the end of winter the people had spent all their provisions. There was a famine, and the people were in want of food. At that time a famine was among the people almost every winter.

The great chief of the G·itxts!ā’xł had one young son. His father loved him very much. Therefore he bought for him a small slave-boy to stay with him whenever his parents had to leave him for a while. The slave-boy loved. his young master. In those days they would not give much food to a young prince, and this prince just chewed the fat of mountain goats, and every day he would make nice arrows.

One day his parents went up into the woods to get the bark of trees, which the people used to eat in those days in winter. While they were away, the slave-boy was very hungry, and cried for food, and the prince was displeased because the slave-boy was crying. Therefore he stopped the work on his arrows and went about the house to try to find something for his slave to eat. He went to his mother’s empty boxes, opened them, and at last he opened the last large box, and saw a small box inside. He opened the small box that was inside the large one, and found a large dried spring salmon, which his mother had folded up and put into the little box inside the large one. The prince took it out, unfolded the large spring salmon, took a small piece off and gave it to the little slave, who was erying from hunger. Then he put the dried salmon back in its place, and tied the two boxes up as they had been before.

Late in the evening his parents came home, bringing much fresh bark which they had gathered. The mother went to the large box, untied it, and opened the small box inside the large one, took her large spring salmon out, unfolded it, and found that she had lost a piece on the right side of her dried salmon. She had kept this large dried salmon for two long years. Now she was as angry as fire. She asked, “Who has stolen my salmon?” She was very angry.

At last the son said to his mother, “I did so, mother.” Then she scolded her son, and said, ‘Yes, you do not care about salmon in the summer. Now you are hungry and begin to steal. Don’t do it again!” Thus she said, and the young prince was very sorry.

He said to his mother, ‘I did not eat your dried salmon. I gave it to my little slave, for he cried all day long after you left.” Then the mother scolded him still more, and so the young man began to cry. When his father saw him crying, he tried to stop his wife, but she did not stop.

Then the prince called his little slave and told him that he would leave his father’s house that evening. The little slave wished to accompany him, but the prince refused to take him. He said, “You shall stay at home with my parents.’ So he went away secretly while the people were all in bod. Before he went, he took his marten garment and put some fat in the pores of all the martens (?) on his garment. Then he went. After he had been away a little while, the little slave began to cry. He could not keep his mouth shut, and cried bitterly. Then the chief said, “Why do vou ery so?” Then the little slave told him what had happened. ‘My young master went away from home.”

So the chief got up and scolded his wife. He ordered his slave to call all the people of the village; and the slave went out and shouted, “My master’s son has gone away from home tonight, great village!” Soon all the people of the village came forth carrying torches of bark and of pitch wood. Some went into the woods, and some to the river, searching for the prince, but they could not find him. The prince looked back and saw the lights of their torches, still the searchers did not see him.

After midnight the searchers went back to their own houses and waited until morning came. The prince, however, went on, and came ashore below the village; and he sat there resting himself, for he was weary. Soon he thought that he heard the noise of a canoe poling up the river a little below the place where he was. He remained sitting there silently; and as soon as the canoe came up to him, it crossed the river and came toward him. It came to the place in front of him. In it were seated four men. They went up to him and called him to come to his father.

Then the prince went down. They took him aboard the nice new canoe; and the men in the canoe said to the prince, “Now lie down and have a good rest and sleep.” The prince did as they told him, and the men paddled away to their home out at sea. When they reached the village, the young prince awoke from his sleep. He saw a large village. The houses were all carved with figures of spring salmon, and in the middle of all the houses was a very large carved house in which the chief lived. The canoe landed in front of this house.

Then the men said to the prince, “Come up with us to our great chief’s house! He invites you in.” So they went up; and as soon as they got in, the prince saw the great. chief lying in the rear of his large house. He was sick with palsy. For two years he had had that dreadful disease. The sick chief ordered his attendants to spread mats at one side of the large fire. They did so. Then the prince went and seated himself on the mats which had been spread for him by the chief’s attendants. As soon as he was seated on a mat, behold! an old woman came to his side, who touched him, and said, “My dear prince!” Then she questioned him. “Do you know who brought you here?” The prince replied, “No.”—‘The Spring Salmon have brought you here, for their chief has been sick with palsy for over two years, because your mother has kept him in her little box for two years. When you unfolded the salmon the other day, the chief got a little better because you did so.”

Before the Mouse Woman informed the prince, she had asked him if he had no ear-ornaments of wool. The prince gave her both of his woolen ear-ornaments, which he took and threw into the fire; and she took the ear-ornaments while they were burning and ate them.

She said, furthermore, “Some time when you are very hungry, take a club and club one of the children who are playing on the sand-hill behind the houses. Make a fire and roast it. Then eat itGather all the little bones and cast them into the fire.” The MouseWoman went away after giving her advice to the prince.

Now, the chief ordered his attendants to give good food to the visiting prince. They did so: and after the prince had eaten, the chief said to him, “My son, I am well pleased that you have come to my village. You shall live with me in my own house, and I will take care of you, together with all my good people, until we take you back to your own home. I am glad because you have taken me out of your mother’s small box; and you unfolded my feet and my arms, therefore I sent to bring you to my house.” Thus spoke the chief to the prince.

Now, the prince stood there for awhile. On the following day he was very hungry. Then he remembered the advice of the old Mouse Woman. He went behind the village, and saw there many children playing on the sand-hill. Some of them threw themselves down and rolled down to the foot of the hill. Then the prince stood there. He took a club, and when he saw a good-looking boy, he took hold of him and clubbed him. The boy was at once transformed into a nice little spring salmon. He was surprised. He took it and went up a little farther along the sand-hill. There he started a fire and roasted the whole small spring salmon; and when it was done, he ate it all. After he had eaten, he went to a brook, drank, and went back to gather all the bones, which he burned, as the old Mouse Woman had advised him to do.

Then he went to the chief’s house. In the evening, as soon as he was seated at the side of the house, he heard some one cry bitterly, saying, “Oh, my eye is sore, my eye is sore!” Then the Mouse Woman came to him and said, ‘Go and search in the hole at the foot of your roasting-spit!” He went quickly, and found the eye of the little spring salmon in the little hole where the roasting-spit had been placed. He threw it into the fire. When he went in, behold! the boy whose eye had been sore had recovered.

The Mouse Woman also advised him, **.As soon as you have eaten the fresh salmon, take a drink of fresh water” (so the natives do nowadays; as soon as they have eaten any kind of salmon or any kind of fish, they take a drink of fresh water, that the salmon or other kinds of fishes may be revived again, and so go home again gladly).

One day the chief sent his people to see if the leaves of the cottonwood had fallen into the Skeena River. -They went, and found a few leaves falling from the cottonwood tree. The Salmon called the leaves of the cottonwood tree salmon. It was early in the spring when the Spring Salmon were sent. to see whether cottonwood leaves had fallen into Skeena and Nass Rivers. When they came back from these two rivers, the chief asked if there were salmon in the rivers. The scouts said that there were a few in the rivers.

The prince staid there a while longer in the town of the Spring Salmon. One day he was again very hungry. He went behind the town, where the children were playing on a sand-hill. Then he saw a beautiful fat youth. Ho took hold of him and clubbed him, and he became a good-looking small spring salmon. He roasted him at the same place where he had roasted the salmon before; and after he had eaten it all, he gathered the bones and threw them into the fire. Then he went to a brook, where he drank. Then he went home well satisfied. After a little while, some one came to the house, crying, “Alas, my rib is sore! Alas, my rib is sore!” He cried bitterly. When the young prince heard it, he went quickly to the place where he had roasted the spring salmon. He searched all around, and found a little rib under the chips. He cast it into the fire and went home, and the boy was well.

After some time the chief ordered his slaves to go as scouts to the two rivers to see whether the salmon had come. So they went to examine the rivers. Now they saw that many leaves had fallen from the cottonwood trees, Then they returned to their master with the glad tidings, and the chief said that it would be better for them to get ready to move.

Therefore he invited his tribe into his house. He told them what the scout slaves had to say, and all the people agreed to move within a few days. The scouts had brought home with them some fresh green leaves, and the whole tribe were glad to see the leaves. Therefore on an appointed day they were ready to move from their home in the deep sea. They went very slowly, and soon they reached the town of the Silver Salmon.;

Then the chief of the Spring Salmon told them that his scouts had brought home some nice new salmon, and that therefore they were moving. Thus he informed the Silver Salmon. Therefore the chief of the Silver Salmon said, “We will also move after you have gone a little distance.”

Soon after they had left the town of the Silver Salmon, the chief took a small smooth round pebble from his own mouth and handed it to his adopted son, the princes. He said, “Take this and put it into your mouth. It will defend you against all dangers, death, and difliculties.” The young man took it. and put it into his mouth.

They went on their way, and soon they met many canoes. They asked the crew, “How is it in those two rivers? Are there any salmon?” They said, ‘Yes.’ Then the prince asked one of his men, “Who are these people?” The man told him that these were the canoes of the Steelhead Salmon, who had come back from the two rivers, that they moved early in the spring, and that they were now on their way home.

Soon they came to another large town, the village of the Humpback Salmon, The chief of the Spring Salmon told them that his scouts had brought good tidings from the Skeena and Nass Rivers; and the chief of the Humpback Salmon replied, “We will go up Skeena and Nass Rivers after the Steelhead Salmon have passed... They went on their way, and came to another village, the houses of which were carved in the form of the rainbow. The prince asked who these people were, and they told him that it was the town of the Dog Salmon. The chief told them also that his scouts had brought good tidings from Skeena and Nass Rivers; and the chief of the Dog Salmon replied, “We will go after the Humpback Salmon have passed.” They went on their way, and came to a large town, the town of the Cohoes Salmon. The carvings on their houses were curious hooked noses. The Spring Salmon told the Cohoes Salmon that he had good tidings from the Nass and Skeena Rivers; and the chief of the Cohoes said, “We will wait until late in the fall, just before there is ice on the rivers.” They went on their way; and after they had traveled a short distance, they came to a very large village, the village of the Trout. Their houses were carved with stars. The chief of the Spring Salmon told them that he had good tidings from the Nass and Skeena Rivers; and therefore the chief of the Trout said, ‘Chief, will you wait for us a couple of days, so that we may get ready to move with you?” The Spring Salmon consented to wait for a couple of days. Soon they got ready, and the chief of the Trout wanted to go ahead of the Spring Salmon. The Spring Salmon agreed to this, and the Trout went ahead. The Spring Salmon moved along slowly; and as soon as they reached just outside of the Skeena and Nass Rivers, just inside of Douglas and Stephens Islands, they rested for a while.

Then the chief stood up in his canoe and said to his people, °° Now I will question you, and you shall answer me: and so he asked the people in the first canoe, “Which way will you go?” and many canoes replied, “We will go up Nass River.” Then the chief said, “Oh, many of you are just like bones found on a sandbar in Nass River.”

Then he questioned another company: “Which way will you go?” and they replied, “We will go up Ksdâl River.”—“Oh,” said the chief, “your flesh is harder than wood.”

Then be turned to a third company: “Which way will you go?” They replied, “We will go up G·its!ᴇmgā‘lén.” ‘Then the chief said, “Go to those that will carry you there and that will throw you on the ground!”[1]

Then he turned to the fourth company and said, “And which way will you go?” The fourth company replied, “We will go to the canyon of the G·its!alā’sᴇr.” Then the first three companies replied, “Go there! Your ears shall be full of maggots.”

The chief was very glad, for many of his company were going with him to the canyon of G·its!alā’sᴇr. Then the four companies separated, each going to its own camp. All the Spring Salmon went on their way.

Now the chief’s company in his large canoe was at the mouth of Skeena River, together with the prince. When they were close to the mouth of Skeena River, they rested for some time.

Now [ I will go back to the beginning. When day came, after the prince had left his father’s house, the people searched for him in the daylight. Then the father of the prince assembled all the shamans in his house, and he said to them, “I want you to let me know whether my son is dead or alive.” Then all the shamans of G·its!alā’sᴇr each worked his own spell, but none of them could explain to the chief what had happened. The chief and his chieftainess were very sad. There was only one great shaman left on the other side of the village. The chief spoke to his attendants, and said, “Go and bring that great shaman here!” So they went, called him, and took with them much property to present it to the great shaman. He was called Neswa-yē’°tk.

Then the shaman went with all his companions: and when he came in, those who accompanied him arranged a seat for him. He put on his crown of grizzly-bear claws, put eagle’s down in the crown, put on his dancing-apron, and red paint on his face. He was quite naked, and took his rattle in his right hand and the white tail of an eagle in his left hand. Then he began to sing, and all his companions struck batons against a cedar board which lay in front of them. The great shaman was dancing around the fire.

As soon as his three songs were ended, he stood still in front of the father and mother of the prince who had been lost.

He said to the father and mother, “Your boy is not dead. He is alive, and lives in the house of the Salmon people.’ Then the father took a little comfort, and the shaman sang again. He ran around the fire; and after another three songs, he stood still again, and said, “The Spring Salmon took away your son. He is now in the house of the Spring Salmon chief; for your wife was angry with the boy because he took a little piece of her large dried spring salmon; and if you do not eat the dried spring salmon, your son will not come back this spring. As soon as you eat the dried spring salmon which you have kept for two full years in your box, the chief of the Spring Salmon will get better, and then your boy will come back with him.” Thus spoke the great shaman to the father and to the mother of the prince. After that he went to his own home on the other side of the canyon.

Now, the parents of the prince took their dried salmon and ate it all. Not many days after the great shaman had done this, the prince’s father invited the same shaman to come and to use all his spells. He did the same as before; and after he had danced, he told the boy’s parents that the chief of the Spring Salmon was now better, and that he would start soon to bring the boy up the river. He continued, “Now I will give you my advice again. Give orders to all your brave men who know how to fast in order to catch animals, and who have eaten ‘medicine,’ to obtain this power throughout the winter. I will give the same orders to my own tribe; and you yourself keep away from your wife until the spring salmon stop running up the river. I shall use my spells every day in your house. Let all the old women work on the salmon nets. Do not allow young women to touch the twine if their lives are unclean. Thus let every age have its own duty. Then let all the old men make new poles to be used this spring—those who are ready to fast.’ Thus said the great shaman to the prince’s father.

Therefore the father gave orders to his brave men and to the old women. Now the shaman ordered his own people to do the same, and therefore the two tribes made ready for the arrival of the spring salmon; and they also made ready their platforms on the side of a steep rock alongside of the canyon of G·its!alā’sᴇr.

Now the great shaman came to the chief’s house almost every evening, accompanied by all his friends. He tried to find out whether the spring salmon would arrive soon. Now the spring was coming: and as soon as the ice was floating in the river, the shaman said to all the people who had assembled in the chief’s house, ‘[ have seen in my vision the chief of the Spring Salmon, and all his people accompanying him, leaving their village today, together with the prince.” The great shaman was dancing every day. After eight days had passed, he said, “Now they have arrived at the mouth of Skeena River. The chief of the Spring Salmon wants to rest at the mouth of the river for a while.”

Now we will return to the Spring Salmon. While they were resting at the mouth of Skeena River, the Spring Salmon children said, “Let us keep together and go up the (mâlwilnᴇm?)!” Soon the time came, and the Spring Salmon moved up the river slowly. They went up farther and farther, until they reached the mouth of the canyon of G·its!alā’sᴇr. There they rested again.

Now, the shaman had seen in his vision that the spring salmon were resting at the mouth of the canyon. Therefore he ordered all the people to make haste and to go down to their platforms and to have their nets and poles ready. They all went down quickly, and each put down his pole with the net at one end. Then the great shaman went down himself with his pole on his shoulder. He was sitting on his platform, and he put down his pole with the net at one end. The prince’s father also went down. Then the people caught many spring salmon. The shaman, however, had none, but the father of the prince caught many. Then the chief of the Spring Salmon saw the net of the great shaman on one side of the canyon, and stretching to the other side.[1][1] So the Salmon chief saw that he had no way to go up through the canyon; and he said to the prinee, “Now, my son, don’t let your father dry my flesh! Let him invite the people of all ages, and let them eat my flesh at once, and he shall throw my bones into the fire. Then he shall drink fresh water as soon as he has eaten me.’ Thus spoke the Spring Salmon.

Then he went through the net of the great shaman. Therefore the shaman felt his net-line shake, and so he pulled up his net easily. He looked down to the lower end of his pole, and, behold! a large spring salmon was in his net. Therefore he shouted, so that his companions might come and help him. Two men came, and they pulled up the salmon on the shaman’s platform. When he got the salmon on his platform, the shaman’s supernatural helper came to him on his platform, and said to him, ‘That is the chief of the Spring Salmon, with the lost prince in his stomach. Don’t club him hard, lest the prince should be hurt!’ Thus said the shaman’s supernatural helper. “Lay the Salmon down easily, so that the prince may not be hurt!”

He took the large Spring Salmon out of the bag net and put it down easily on the platform. Then he said to his companions, ‘Go to the village and tell the people that I caught the chief of the Spring Salmon who took away the young prince, and call four old shamans to be my helpers, and bring down a new cedar-bark mat and bird’s down and my bag of red ocher, also my rattle and my crown of grizzly-bear claws, my dancing-apron, and the white eagle tail.” They went, and they shouted, “The great shaman has caught in his bag net the chief of the Spring Salmon, who carried away our prince!”

Therefore all the people assembled around the two men who brought the good tidings. They also said, “Let four old shamans go down to his platform to help him carry up the large Salmon to the chief’s house. Also take a new cedar-bark mat, red ocher, eagle’s down, his dancing-apron, his crown of bear’s claws, his rattle, and his white eagle tail.” So the four shamans went down and spread out the new cedar-bark mat. The great shaman put on his apron and his crown of bear’s claws. He took his rattle in his right hand, and the eagle tail in his left. The four shamans were already dressed before they went on the platform. Then they took the four corners of the cedar-bark mat on which the large salmon had been placed, and walked up slowly. The great shaman went ahead of them, shaking his rattle and swinging his eagle tail, going in front of the

four shamans who were carrying the large Spring Salmon on the mat, Before entering the chief’s house, he ordered all the young people to come out, for they were all unclean. He let all the aged people enter in front of the large Spring Salmon: and he made all the shamans dress up, men and women. Then the crowd moved into the house, and the chief laid a good-sized cedar board in the center of the house. Then all the old men and women were ready. The male and female shamans were dressed up, and came in after the large Salmon had been placed on the new cedar board. All the shamans marched around the fire four times. All the singers were ready, sitting around the house. Then the great shaman said, “Let two very old. women shamans get ready to cut this great chief Spring Salmon!’ Then two very old women took up their large mussel-shell knives (these were very useful in olden times), and the whole assembly kept silence. Then one of the old women shamans said, ‘I will call the names of this chief of the Spring Salmon:” and she began to call, “My dear chief Spring Salmon, named Quartz Nose, named Two Gills On Back, named Lightning Following One Another, named Three Jumps!”

Now they began to cut the large Spring Salmon along its big stomach. They cut along easily, and took out the large stomach: and one of the women cut the large Salmon, and the other cut open the large stomach. When she opened it, behold! a small child was in it. She took it up easily, and the great shaman began to sing, while all the other shamans, male and female, swung their rattles. The singers were singing as loud as they could, and the great shaman was running around the small child. It was the size of a span from the middle finger to the thumb.

While the shamans were working around the prince, he began to grow very quickly, not as children grow up nowadays. He came to be of his former size.

Then he told his story—how the Spring Salmon had taken him away the same night when he left his father’s home; and he told his father’s people how he reached the village of the Salmon. He continued, ‘I did not know where I was until the old Mouse Woman came to my side and asked for my ear-ornaments. Then she told me as follows: “His is the town of the Spring Salmon which you see. The chief was sick for two years, until you took him out of your mother’s box. Then he was a little better. Therefore he sent his attendants when your mother was angry with you.’” And he told his story right along—how he had lived at the town of the Spring Salmon until the chief was quite cured, and how the chief sent his people often to Skeena River to see if salmon (that is, the leaves of cottonwood) were in the river, until the messengers brought the news that the season had arrived. Then they moved, and first passed the town of the Silver Salmon, to whom the chief gave the good news from Skeena River -how they went on and passed the town of the Humpback Salmon, and how the chief told them the news from Skeena River; how they went on and passed the village of the Dog Salmon, and told them the same story; how they went on and passed the village of the Cohoes chief, and told them the news; how they went on and passed the town of the Trout, and how all the Trout had asked Chief Spring Salmon to wait until they themselves were ready to go ahead of the Spring Salmon, to which the chief had consented; how they waited there two days and met the Steelhead Salmon coming from the rivers, when the ice was still on the rivers, who told them that it was good weather on the Skeena and Nass Rivers and about the fishing; how they rested between two islands; and how the chief had asked all his people where they would camp, and how they had answered him what rivers they chose; and how they had come to the mouth of the canyon and had seen all the bag nets at the sides of the canyon; how some nets had been well open and others closed. He continued, ‘Only the net of the great shaman was wide open, and reached from one side of the canyon to the other end of the other side. Therefore my Salmon father had no way to go up any farther.”[1]

All his father’s people listened in silence and astonishment. Therefore he turned to his mother, and said, ‘Now, mother, don’t keep dried salmon in your box any longer; and if any one cooks fresh salmon of any kind, throw the bones into the fire and drink as soon as you finish eating. Then the salmon will go home, and will revive again safely.” The father kept the prince in his house.

The prince kept a little round pebble in his mouth, which his father Salmon had given him before they moved from their town. Therefore the prince did not need any food after he had come home.

One day the prince called four young men, who were to be his companions; and he loved them very much, and they loved him also. The prince staid in his father’s house for a long time. He began again his old occupation of making arrows with eagle’s feathers, and therefore eagle feathers were very useful to him. Therefore one day he went out with his four friends to his eagle trap, which he used to make, digging a deep pit, with some small pieces of wood across the opening of the pit. They put the bait on top, and some man would stand in the pit. As soon as the eagle saw the bait, he would swoop

down upon it to take it, and the eagle’s feet would sink down. Then the man in the pit would take the feet of the eagle and club it. Sometimes they would catch many in this way in a single day, and they used their feathers. The four young men did not know what kind of bait the prince used; and one day they went again, as they had been doing for many days before. There was one among the young men who loved the prince more than the other three, and whom the prince also loved. Before they went to the eagle trap, the prince called this youth, and took out of his mouth the small stone and put it into the mouth of his beloved friend. Then they went on; and as soon as they arrived at the place where the trap was, the three men went into hiding, and the fourth one went down into the pit, ready to catch eagles, as usual. The prince himself lay down at the opening of the trap, and became like a small spring salmon, very pretty to look at, and shining brightly. Then a large hawk which flew high up in the air looked down for his prey, and saw a nice little spring salmon on the ground below. Therefore he turned his wings down rapidly and picked up the small spring salmon by the throat and flew away quickly. Behold! there was the young prince dead on his eagle trap, his mouth full of blood. When the young men, his companions, saw this, they wept bitterly, and his friends took him down to his father’s house. Then all his people mourned over him for many days.

At the end of the mourning-season the whole village took him to his grave. They put the coflin in the same place where he had been taken away when he had taken the shape of a spring salmon. They put the coffin on four strong poles to protect it from the wolves.

When night came, the four friends staid under the coffin. About midnight one man left his companions and went home, and three remained. At midnight another man went home, and two remained. Then after midnight the third man went home, and only one remained. He was the one who loved the prince most in his heart.

Before daylight he thought he heard the sound of people coming up the river in canoes and talking to one another. Soon the canoes reached the beach in front of the place where they were. The people went up to where the coffin was. Three men stood at the foot end, and one of them climbed up to the coflin. He loosened the rope around the coflin and opened it. Then he said, ‘Dear prince, your father the chief sent us to take you down to him.” Thus spoke the man who had climbed up. Then the prince arose, and went down laughing for joy, and his beloved friend stood there speechless. The men helped the prince down from the coffin.

Then the prince’s friend went to him and said, ‘My dear prince, I am here. Don’t go with those men! Come down with me to your own father’s house!’ The prince, however, took no notice of him. They went down to the canoe, and the prince went aboard with them. Then the friend jumped aboard. The four men, however, did not— see him, and the prince also did not see him. They paddled away happy, and their hearts full of joy. The man was very anxious to talk to the prince, and went to him in the canoe, sat down by his side, and said, ‘My dear prince, did you know that I came aboard with you!” but the prince took no notice of him at all. Therefore the man began to cry.

Now the prince said to the men who took him in the canoe, “Pull hard! [ I feel something touching me on my right side.” They pulled hard.

The prince’s friend was angry with those men who were taking away the prince, and he saw that they all had around their throats large wreaths of cedar bark. Therefore he went to the steersman, took the big red thing around hus throat, and pressed it. between his hands. Then the steersman fainted. The young man left him and went to the others and did the same, until he had done so to all of them. As soon as he let go, each man revived. Therefore they paddled away hard to get home. When they reached there, the whole village of the Salmon people greatly rejoiced, and the friend of the prince was astonished to see them.

They took the prince into the chief’s house, where there were a great number of Salmon people. The prince’s friend stood outside. No one took notice of him. Therefore he was thinking of his own home, and stood outside crying. When he stopped crying, he wiped the tears from his eyes down his cheeks with the palm of his hand. Then he felt something in his own mouth. Behold! it was the small pebble which the prince had put into his mouth before they had gone to the eagle trap. Therefore he took the stone out of his own mouth and offered it to the prinee, who was seated by a large fire. where he was eating. The young man took the small pebble and put it into the prince’s mouth. Then the prince looked around, and saw his friend sitting by his side. [He put his arm around his neck, and said to him, ‘Did you come along with me “The youth replied, “Yes, I came along with you, my beloved prince.”

Then the prince said to his friend, “If you are hungry, go behind the village, and you will see the children playing on the sand-hill. Take one of them and club it. Make a fire and roast it whole; and when you have eaten enough, throw the remains into the fire, bones and all, and drink fresh water.”

None of the Salmon people knew that the young man was there, only the prince. At night they lay down in one bed to sleep, and they were talking together. Whenever he was hungry, the young man did what the prince had told him.

On the following day the prince asked his friend, “Did you hear the drum which is always being beaten at the end of the village ”” “Yes,” he replied. “They are dancing. If you want to see them, go down and look up. Don’t go in! hist look in at a knot-hole. Take with you leaves of a small hemlock tree, and put them into the knot-hole.”. Therefore the man went; and when he reached in front of the large house, he heard a drum and singing, and he looked with one eye through the knot-hole. He saw that the house was full of eagle down, and all the Salmon people were dancing, wearing garments set with abalone shells.

When he took his eye away from the knot-hole, it was full of herring spawn. Then he put the hemlock branch through the knot-hole; and when he pulled it out, it was full of herring spawn. He ate it and went home. The prince asked him, “Where have you been all this time?” and he told him that he had been to see the dancers.

Now the man had been there a long time. One day he felt homesick for his parents and his village, and he cried all day long. Then the prince came to him and asked him why he was crying, and he told him that he was homesick for his parents and brothers and sisters. Therefore the prince said, “I will take you up there after a while, early in spring; for now the ice covers all the rivers, and no one can go up Skeena River until the ice is melted.” The prince tried in every way to comfort him. They went to the place behind the village; and the prince said to his friend, “I will take you to the mouth of Skeena River, and then I will go back. I will stay here as long as my Salmon father is alive. You shall tell this story in my father’s house when you get home. My Salmon father also said to me, ‘When the people of the canyon cut the spring salmon, let them cut the head first, and the tail also, but don’t let them break the tail off with the hand. hist cut it right through with the mussel-shell knife. Don’t use a stone or bone blade. Otherwise thunder and lightning and heavy rains will come upon them and bring disaster to your people.”” After the prince had spoken, the man said, “My dearly beloved prince, I do not want to leave you here. I want you to go back with me to our home, lest your relatives and your father make complaint against me if you do not come back with me.”

Therefore the prince spoke again, and said, “IT will go back with you: and as soon as] I arrive at home, I shall die, and then [ I shall stay with my grandfather and his people.” The friend compelled him to go home with him. At the end of their talk they went into the chief’s house. That was the winter-time, and the prince always said to his friend that he should club one of the children behind the town whenever he was hungry, and so his friend did so all winter long. Early in spring the prince spoke to the Salmon people. “O father! I wish to go as a scout and to see if there are any salmon in Skeena River.” Therefore the Salmon father invited all his people into his house, and told them what his adopted son had said; and all the Salmon were glad, because the prince was wise. Early the next morning they took the prince down to a new canoe. They launched it, and they all went aboard, together with the prince and his friend. Then the Salmon people paddled: and as soon as they arrived at the mouth of Skeena River, they saw the ice floating down, therefore they could not go any farther.

Then the prince said to his companions, ‘Let us try to go a little farther up; and the young people pulled very hard to get ahead, but they were hindered by floating ice. Soon they arrived at the mouth of G·its!ᴇmgālôn River. Then the prince said to his friend, “You go ashore here and walk up to the village.” They both cried for a while, and then separated, their hearts full of sorrow because they were never to meet again. The young man stood on shore, weeping. Then the canoe of the prince went down river quickly, and the young man lost sight of it. Therefore he went up to his own town; and when he arrived there, his parents were glad of his coming. His father called all the people; and when they were all in, the young man told his story—how the Spring Salmon had taken the body of the prince, and that he was living there now, that he had gone with him in the canoe of the Spring Salmon. He continued, “He did not know me at first; and when we reached the place, I remembered that he put a small pebble into my mouth, so [ I put it back into his mouth. Then he knew that I was with him. Te still loved me, but the Salmon people did not see me at all’? Moreover, he told the people that the prince would not come back any more, because the Spring Salmon loved him, and that many of the young Salmon people loved him much. He also told the people what advice the prince had given, to be very careful in cutting the spring salmon when cutting off the head and the tail, and that if they broke the backbone at the head or tail, then thunder and lightning would burn up the mountains and the village; and he said, ‘Don’t use stone or bone knives, because this will make heavy rains and the rivers will overflow.” Furthermore, he said to them, “Don’t let the people keep salmon in their boxes when it is dry, lest there be no salmon the following summer:” but he also told them how the Herrings were dancing every day, and how beautiful the houses of all the Salmon were; that the Spring Salmon had carved houses, and also Silver Salmon, Humpback Salmon, Dog Salmon, Cohoes Salmon, and Steelhead Salmon, but that the houses of Trout were carved better than all the others; that the Spring Salmon were the chiefs of all the Salmon, and that their town was way out at sea, and so on; and that all the tribes of Salmon were people. His is the end. They have always kept the story of the prince and the Salmon.