STORIES 503

have since, in their songs, told of Bella Coola, but have not been able to
return. A canoe from the lower Fraser, with its occupants, landed on
Mount Nusgalst. The flood lasted until food was almost gone, but at
last the waters subsided. Many people had been drowned, others had
died from starvation, so that there were fewer Bella Coola villages after
the deluge than before.

Many years afterwards, two men at different times climbed to the
summit of Nusga/st and found a number of relics proving the existence of
a large camp, and thus confirming the tradition of the food. Hundreds
of years later, XogotHis, a man from Nusgalst village, scaled the peak, but
a gale prevented any search for remains. Xogo#is determined that he
would succeed on some future occasion, and for twelve months observed
continence. On the same day of the next year he again climbed the
mountain. Owing to the care with which he had purified himself it was
a fine day; there was neither wind nor clouds, only brilliant sunshine.
After finding spoons and other relics of the camp, all turned to stone, he
took up a position on the very summit, and looked to the east where he
saw the tide-flats of the upper world. Then he looked southwards, where
he saw a huge column of smoke rising vertically; it rose from a beautiful
seashore where no house was visible, so he judged it was from the abode
of Kaémai-ts. Looking west, he saw a pleasant country, but when he
looked north all was dark and ominous. When he had completed the
circle, moving in the same direction as the sun, he started to descend.
His fellow-villagers, knowing of his effort, were awaiting his return and
went to meet him when, on the third day, they saw him approaching.
He summoned them all to his own house, and, standing on a box, told
them what he had seen. When the story was finished, a sudden gust of
wind blew open the door, although it had been a calm day. Ashes were
blown over Xogo#is and he fell dead, without a mark on his body. The
people were grieved, not only on account of the loss of their companion,
but because they wished to hear more of what he had seen.

As further evidence of the flood it is said that a white man has seen a
white man’s anchor above the timber-line on Mount Kwatna, forty miles
to the west of Bella Coola. The presence of clams in the upper Bella
Coola valley is also accepted as proof of the flood, though the shell-fish
are really fresh-water mussels.

__ According to another version, the climber, on his first trip, saw frag-
ments of mooring ropes and hooks used for raising salmon-traps, all re-
duced to the consistency of burnt paper. A gale then forced him back.
After a year’s continence, he again scaled the mountain choosing a wind-
less day for the attempt, and not only regained the point he had reached
on the previous occasion, but scaled to a pleasant land which he thought
was the home of Kémai-ts. He returned in safety and lived to a great age.