514 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

As soon as the weather moderated, the rest of the party returned, each
carrying enough marten skins for at least one blanket. Some had so many
that three or four cloaks could be made, in addition to the large supplies
of smoked goat meat and grease.

THE SUCCESS OF A LAZY HUNTER

In the early days, when the visit of a trading vessel to Bella Coola was
a rare event, it is remembered that an Asdn-dn-i chief bought a musket
from the captain of the Beaver. He paid for it a pile of beaver-skins which,
when stacked up, was equal in height to the length of the weapon. This
was one of the first muskets owned by a Bella Coola and the chief took
great care of it, never treating it roughly, and hanging it with ropes from
the roof of his house whenever he was not actually using it. One day a
certain Sndkeft asked the owner to lend him the musket to hunt goats.
This was no slight request, and it was surprising, since Sndkeff was not a
hunter, but merely packed in meat killed by others. At first the chief
was unwilling to allow his prized weapon out of his sight, but at last
consented when Szdéket promised to give him half the goats that he
might kill.

Sndékeit probably thought that even temporary possession of the mys-
terious musket would make it possible for him to kill goats, but when he
had climbed up into the mountains, and stalked for hours, he had not
succeeded even in approaching one. He knew that if he returned home,
unsuccessful and without some plausible excuse, he would be laughed to
scorn, so he determined to cover his failure. First he beat the musket
on a boulder until it was bent and battered, then he took a sharp rock and
pounded himself until he was covered with blcod from head to foot, as if
he had been caught in aland-slide. When near the village, he lay down
on the ground and called faintly for help; at first the people could not
locate the sound, but after a short search someone found the would-be
hunter, apparently in the last stages of exhaustion. Help was called, and
Snéket carried home, moaning feebly and saying that he would die. He
could just whisper that he had been caught in a slide on the other side of
the mountain, this explanation being necessary since no one had heard
one in the near vicinity. As the apparent sufferer was lying in his house,
one man noticed that the patient’s wounds were from gashes, not from
bruises, and loudly protested that Sudket must have mutilated himself
to conceal his lack of success. Everyone came crowding around and
agreed that this must be the case; Swdkeft finally admitted the deception
and congratulated his discoverer on his powers of observation. After a
few days, he was as well as ever, but the chief had lost his precious musket.