RELIGION 87

she had to follow him into water up to her waist. Then Raven suddenly
grasped her under the arms, hauled her into his craft, and fled. The
sockeye salmon men cried out in anger and leapt into their canoes for
pursuit, but one by one they sank; Mouse had done her work well. For
a time the chase was close; in fact, the sockeye salmon nearly caught
Tolink? in North Bentinck Arm, but as danger threatened, Raven seized
a pole and delivered several vigorous thrusts which sent the canoe beyond
the reach of the already sinking pursuers. The gashes made in the rocks
by his shoves are still visible near the site of the Bella Coola Cannery,
as well as the pole which he threw ashore when he had finished with it;
it became petrified and can still be seen immediately behind the manager’s
house. At the south of the Bella Coola River, Raven threw the chief’s
daughter into the water. Her descendants are the sockeye salmon which
visit that stream; and it is due to his failure to capture more than one,
that so few sockeyes come to this river.

Another version of this myth was collected from a Kims-
quit man.

It describes how Raven went alone in Tobink? to the land of the
salmon, in the guise of an old man. He was courteously received at the
home of Skatpts, chief of the salmon, who gave him a meal of that
fish. Raven carefully watched to ascertain what he had omitted from
his wooden model, and when he found out that it was the bone at the
back of the neck, he secreted one in the palate of his mouth. Presently
one of the salmon women became ill, and Skarpés said:

“Qld man, you have hidden a bone.”

The salmon searched Raven, but failed to find what he had hidden,
and he was able to return to Kimsquit with it. He added this bone to
one of his models, and it was at once able to swim strongly; in fact, it
became a real salmon.

This fish was the ancestor of all steel-head salmon, which are
still called Samsamtkdimut di Qwax, “The Salmon-like Fish of
Raven.” They are not considered as valuable for food as other
salmon.

Another exploit accredited to Raven in the beginning of
time was the bringing of herring to Kimsquit.

None of these fish then inhabited the rivers, and Raven determined
to bring them to increase the food supplies of his people. A gull happened
to catch a single herring far from shore and brought it to Raven, who

smeared Tobink? with its scales. Then he set out for the land of the
herring beyond the western ocean. On arriving, Raven went to the home