436 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

can be removed at will, and the Bella Coola relate how, long
ago, the inhabitants of a village captured one of these. Cruelly,
they placed it at the top of a lofty tree, then carefully smoothed
off the bark to make climbing virtually impossible. The unfor-
tunate szuug tried repeatedly to scale the tree, amid the mock-
ings of its human tormentors; at last it succeeded in doing so,
whereupon it dashed off, happily, with its basket.

Less dangerous than the svg is the creature known as
po-qwais, differing only from the true smug in having a band
of white through its eyes. A third variety, smumgos wa sumdas,
the mountain svg, remains perpetually above the line of
vegetation. Little is known of it.

The most dangerous is a true sug with the genital organs
of a woman on its forehead. This creature is able to reverse
the course of streams, to cause light snow to fall, and even to
raise up mountains when pursued. A hunter meeting one of
these monsters is in deadly danger unless he calls it by its
name, splx, female genitalia. So doing will cause the animal
to lose its power and grovel and writhe impotently on the
ground.

Like all other supernatural animals, the szumg is believed
to have only recently quitted the vicinity of Bella Coola, on
account, so it is said, of the noise made by the rifles of the white
man. No living Bella Coola claims to have seen one of the
animals, though several state that they have heard them not
many years ago. It is assumed that the svg has migrated
to some less populated area, probably to the region north of
Dean Channel and east of Frederick Island.

The following stories, which are among the most popular
in Bella Coola, illustrate the characteristics of the swmg.

THE GRAVE ROBBER?!

Long, long ago, there was a large Bella Coola town* on the White-

“For another version of this story see Boas, p. 86.
“Other informants stated that the village was Stutx.