86 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

at the back of the neck; this is called nuikd/xita by the Bella Coola and
it is thought to be especially important since the spirit (I, p. 94) is
located there. Somewhat discouraged by his lack of success, Raven sat
holding his head in his hands, pondering. Finally, he decided that he
would have to visit Mid/tawa, the land of the salmon far beyond the
western ocean.

His self-propelling canoe, Todunk?, was soon made ready and Raven
invited Mouse, a young woman, to accompany him. The two travelled
without incident till they came to the flat land where the salmon had
their homes. On the beach were myriads of canoes, each in reality the
skin of a sockeye salmon. Raven had instructed Mouse to remain in
his canoe, so when the sockeye salmon chief invited the two to his house
only Raven accepted, though Mouse was urged most courteously to
accompany him. Raven was conducted to the house, where his host
threw his own daughter into the river. She changed into a sockeye
salmon and swam to the beach; some of her father’s servants cut her
up and brought her to the house where she was cooked. The meal was
set before the guest whom the chief instructed not to eat any of the
bones. As he ate, Raven examined the salmon very carefully to see
what had been lacking in his model, and soon discovered it to be the
thin bone, shaped like a maple leaf, at the back of the neck. Seizing an
opportunity when no one was looking, Raven secreted this bone against
the palate of his mouth. When the meal was over and the guest had tied
what was left of the food into a mat, someone collected all the bones and
threw them into the river. Forthwith they became a sockeye salmon,
which swam towards the shore. But after an instant, the fish began to
behave peculiarly, swimming around madly in circles, and jumping in an
aimless manner. Everyone agreed that a bone must have been lost, and
they searched the house for it without success. They also examined
Raven. Finally, one man thought of investigating the guest’s mouth
where they found the missing bone.

“Oh,” said Raven, lying: “I did not know it was there.”

As soon as the bone was thrown into the river the sockeye salmon
became normal and swam quietly to the beach where it changed into
the chief’s daughter once more.

When the time came to leave, Raven asked the chief to tell his
daughter to take his bundle of food to his canoe for him. Meanwhile
Mouse had carried out Raven’s instructions, which were to gnaw a hole
in each of the sockeye salmon canoes. Raven entered Todink? before
taking the parcel from the girl, and as he stepped in, the canoe was
forced a little distance from the land so that she waded into the water
to hand it to him. As she did so, he backed his canoe further out until