STORIES 459 nearly all had lost one eye; but he had not thought of attributing this to attacks from birds. Soon the sky became black with all kinds of them—geese, ducks, plovers, sandpipers, hawks, owls, eagles, crows, woodpeckers, as well as many varieties of insectivorous birds. They swooped down on the village, flying fearlessly into the faces of the dwarfs who seemed unable to cope with them; in fact, they were as frightened of the birds as the Bella Coola had been of the mdtsgus, which had occasioned the Svutsd/dtst no fear. The lad enjoyed the onslaught and killed a great many wild-fowl, espe- cially geese and swans; it was wonderful hunting. He alone was not afraid of the hummingbirds which penetrated into the houses through minute cracks and flew into the faces of the dwarfs. The birds ceased their attack only after they had carried off one of the Snutsd/dtst as a slave. The Bella Coola youth plucked his booty and cooked a fine meal for himself, while the dwarfs held their noses in horror, just as he had done when they were eating the mdtsqus. He continued to live in the village of the dwarfs for some time, but this last attack, culminating in the loss of one of their young men, had so disheartened the inhabitants that they abandoned their settlement and moved away. Then the youth returned to Bella Coola, where he learnt the fate of the Snutsd/dtst carried off as a slave. The birds, flying in a dense flock, had been carrying him down the Bella Coola valley, when the inhabitants of Nugéxmdts saw the swarm and clapped their hands, noisily. The birds became frightened, separ- ated, and down fell the dwarf near the village. He was made a slave by the Bella Coola, and was greatly valued on account of his strength. It was said that he could make a salmon-weir unaided, a feat which none other could accomplish. _ THE ADVENTURES OF Afisidx One day Affsidx, a man of Stux, went out hunting, leaving his old father, Skimutcit?, at home. The hunter shot an arrow at a mountain goat, but succeeded only in wounding the animal, which fled with the missile sticking in its shoulder, Aifsiéx in pursuit. He followed his quarry for a long time until the goat came to a stream in a canyon of which the farther bank rose precipitously. Hunter and hunted reached the bank ‘at the exact spot where a waterfall plunged down; the animal leapt across fearlessly and vanished against the sheer cliff. It was really Mountain Goat’s home, but 4#sidx was ignorant of this. The disappearance was a mystery to him. Weary and disappointed he sat down and cried. Meanwhile there was consternation within Mountain Goat’s home.