450 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

It was a long journey home, perhaps twelve miles, but the little girl
carefully carried one end of the rope, nor did she forget to tie it toa tree
before she entered the house. When she had told of her amazing adven-
tures, great was the delight of her parents at her escape from such a
perilous predicament. She told of the old woman rooted to the ground,
and gave her name, well-known as that of a woman who had mysteriously
disappeared one night many years previously, whose fate had never been
discovered. The girl told also of the wealth on the walls of the smung’s
house, valuables robbed from the coffins of the dead, and how the old
woman had bade her bring her friends to carry away the loot.

Next morning the entire population of the village set out on the quest,
led by the little girl, who carefully watched the rope to guide her back to
her destination. After travelling about twelve miles they came to the
canyon.

“We are almost there,’
cave.”

No one else could distinguish it so the villagers went closer, but
still it remained invisible to all except the girl herself. She rubbed her
hands over the eyes of about a dozen men and at once they were able to
see the mouth of thecave. With these men she entered and found nothing
altered since the preceding day. The place was packed to the roof with
all sorts of treasure, including a countless number of mountain goat skins,
highly prized for their wool. The men took down the valuables and divided
them equally among all who had taken part in the expedition. A more
difficult task was to free the old woman. First they tried to pull her up,
but the roots were as firm as if a part of the mountain itself. At her
request, given the day before to the little girl, they had brought an axe
and when all else failed they cut her roots. When the last was severed,
however, her life went too for it extended down into them. So the party
went home without her.

> she said. “I can see the opening into the

Two other versions of this story were collected; they
resemble the accounts here given so closely that publication
seems unnecessary.

SUPERNATURAL STORIES

In this section are grouped a number of miscellaneous
accounts, describing the adventures of supernaturally endowed
individuals, and of those who came in contact with super-
natural beings but received no special boon. These are of