*» ^^^ *c^ N"-/^ ' ;.; »-5 . 3VVVV-O. c "Y^^i f . SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY: J. W. POWELL, DIRECTOR BULLET IN 27 TSTMSHIAN TEXTS FR^IsTZ BO^S WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1 H U -2 CONTENTS Introduction _ o ' Texts: Txii'msEm and Lognl.iolfi' 7 Txii'msEui 25 Txii'msEni _ 36 The Stone and the Elderberry Bnsh 72 Tlie Porcupine and the Beaver 73 The Wolves and the Deer 83 The Stars 86 Rotten-feathers _ 94 K -'eLk" 1 02 The sealion hunters 108 Smoke-hole 116 Ts'ak- 117 Gro\ving-up-like-one-\vho-has-a-irnindniother_ i:!7 Little-eagle 169 She-\vho-has-a-lal)i'et-on-one-side 1S8 The Grizzly Bear 200 Squirrel 211 Witchcraft 217 Supiilementary stories: The origin of the G'ispawailuwE'da 221 Asi-hwi'l 225 The Grouses 229 TsEgu'ksk" 231 Rotten-feathers i continued from page 100) 234 Abstracts 236 3 TSIMSHIAN TEXTS Nass River Dialect Recorded and translated ])y Franz Boas INTRODUCTION The following texts were coUeeted in Kinkolith, at the mouth of the Nass river, during the months of November and December, 189-i, while I was engaged in researches under the auspices of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The principa] object of these investigations was a study of the Athapascan tribe of Port- land canal, and the following texts were collected incidentally only. The ethnologic results of these investigations were published in the reports of the Committee on the Northwestern Tribes of Canada of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.' The texts are in the Nass River dialect of the Tsimshian language. The dialect is called bj' the natives Nisqa'E. The texts were obtained from four individuals—Philip, Moses, Chief Mountain, atid Moody. By far the greater number of them are myths of the tribe. Judging from similar myths which I collected in previous years among the Tsim- shian proper," they ai'e only moderately well told. Possibly the method of transcribing sounds is not i[uite satisfactory. I have not been able to determine detiniteU' if there are one or two palatized Ts. I consider it probable that there may be two; but in the present texts all the palatized Ts are '-endered by one character. There is also a certain incon-sistency in my perception of the surds and sonants, the fortis, or the surd followed by a hiatus, very often sound- ing similar to the sonant. I have not endeavored to make the spelling throughout consistent, but have rather followed the transcription which seemed to me most appropriate at the time when I wrote the texts down. Franz Boas. New York, Jiuw, 1899. 1 Report of the 66th meeting of the Britisli Association for the Advancement of Science. Ipswich, 1895, pp. 569-5fi6. ^Franz Boas, Indianische Sageu vou der no rd-pacitischen Kiiste Ameril;as, Berlin, 1895, pp. 272-305. 5 6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [biii,l..!7 a. e, i, o. u ha\o thcii' contiiiciitiil sounds (short). fi, (", T, 0, u Viw^ vowels. K obsi-uro (' ill llower. ", ", ', ", " vowels not arliculated, Imt indicated hy position of the iiioutii. ii in (iciinaii Bar. si aw ill law. , 6 o (Tcriiuiii \'oll. e e in hell. ai i in island. au ow in how. L posterior palatal 1; the tip of tongue touches the alveoli of the lower jaw, the back of the tongue is pressed against the hard palate; geiKM'ally surd. The occur- rence of th(^ corresponding sonant is doubtful. Pos- sibly there is still another 1, produced a little nearer the front pai't of the hard palate. q velar k. g velar g. k English k. g' palatalized g, almost gy. k' palatized k, almost ky. X ch in German Bach. X X pronounced at the posterior border of the hard palate. X' palatal x as in German ich. s pronounced with open teeth, therefore somewhat similar to Ena'lish sh. d. t as in English, but surd and sonant more difficult to dis- b. p tinguish. h as in English. y as in year. w as in English, probably always aspirated. 1 \ as in English; as terminal sounds articulated but Inaud- m >- ible, unless followed by a word beginning with a ' n \()wel. ' a pause; when following an initial or terminal mute, it tends to increase the stress of the latter. Txa'mskm and Looobola' [l-'i told by Moses: 6-S, 2<i. aiui m told by Philip] 1. There was a town in wliich a chief and chieftainess were living. The chieftainess had done something bad. She had a lover, but the chief did not know it. The young man loved the chieftainess very much. He often went to the place where she lived with the chief. Then the chieftainess resolved, "'I will pretend to die." She pre- tended to be very sick, because she wanted to marry that man. After a short time she pretended to die. Then all the people cried. Before she died the chieftainess said, "Make a large box in which to bury me when I am dead."' The people made a box and put her Txa'msem and L(X;obol.\' 1. Hetk"L qal-ts'a'p. NLk''e k"'alL sEm'a'g'it de-k"'alL sig'idEmna'q. \ There a town. Then one chief and one chieftainess. .stood NLk"'e .sg'lL hwilL sig'idEmna'ti. K-'iilL Lgo-g'a'tg"e, nLne fan 2 Then had done the chieftaine.ss. One little man, he who something lele'luksL sig'idEmna'q. >>i'g"it hwilii'x'L sEin'a'g'it. SEm-.sI'epEnL 3 stole often the chieftain- Not knew it the chief. Very he loved ess. sig'idEmna'q fan qaqa'odet aL dEd'ii't aL awa'aL sEm'a'g'it. NLk"'e 4 the chieftainess who went there to she was in proximity the chief. Then often of tgonL .sa-ga'otk"L sigidEmna'q: "AmL dEm no'oeE aL dEm 5 this resolved the chieftainess: "t^Tood (fut.) lam and (fnt.) dead sI-be'Ek"seE.'' NLk''e a'd'iksk"L dEm hwil sfepk^L sig'idEmna'q. 6 make I lie." Then came (ftit.) being sick the chieftain- ess. NLk"'e wI-fe'sL ha-si'epk"L aL sl-be'k"stg'e dEmt hwila nak'sk"L 7 Then was great sickness at she a lie (fnt.) trying she wanted made to marry k'MlL g'at, ([an het. Nig"i nak"L sg'eL sig'idEmna'q, nlk''e 8 one man, there- she Not long lay the chieftainess, then fore said so. no'ot. Ntk-'e .sig-a'tk"L txane'tk"L qal-ts'a'p. NLk-'e tgonL hcL 9 she was Then cried all the people. Then this said dead. Sig'idEmna'q: "Tse si-laisEm xpeis tsE hwil lo-.sg'i'eE." La no'ot, 10 the chieftainess: "Make that large a box where in I shall When she was lie." dead, nLk'"et dzsl'pdcL xpeist. NLk"'et lo-ma'qdet la'ot. NLk''et 11 then they made a box. Then in they put in it. Then her 8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 27 into it. They put it on the branches of a tree in the wood.s. The chieftainess had a .spoon and a fi.sh knife in her box. She pretended to b(5 dead. For two niglits t\w, ehief went into the wood.-^, and sat right under the box in which the chieftainess was lying. Then he ceased to cry. Behold, there were maggots falling down from the bottom of the box. Then the chief thought, "She is full of maggots." But actually the chieftainess was scraping the spoon with her Hsh knife, and the scrapings looked just like maggots. In the evening her lover went into the woods. He climbed the tree and knocked on the box, saying, "Let me in, gho,st!" He said so twice. Then the chieftainess replied, " Ha-ha! I pretend to make maggots out of myself 1 q'aldjx'-ma'qdet aL g-ile'lix'. NLk-'et ma'qsaandeL gan. in the rear they put at in the woods. Then they put her on a tree, of the houses her 2 Ts'o'sg-im nak", nLk-'et lo-dfi'mL sig'idEmna'qi. (j'aldo'x- qani, A little while, then in held in the chieftainess a spoon and her hands 3 ha-q'6'L. Bek"L hwi'ltg-e. Nig-ide no'ot. NLa g-e'lp"El yu'k.sa a knife to Shelled she did so. Not she wa.s (Perf.) two evenines split salmon. dead. 4 qa'ne-hwila q'aldix'-ia'L sEm'a'g'it aL logol-dEp-d'a't aL LaXL always to the rear went the ehief 'under he sat at under of the houses 5 hwil le-sgUL xpe'is hwil lo-.sg"lL .sig'idEmna'q. La Lesk"L where on was the box where in lay the chieftain- When finished ess. 6 wi-ye'tk"L sEm'a'g-it, gwina'dcL, smfi'wun qa'ne-hwila mak't rl crying the chief, behold, maggots always tell at down 7 bak"t aL siii'nL xpe'tst. NLk-'e tgonL heL qatL sEm'a'g'it: came at the bottom the box. Then this said the heart the chief- out of of of 8 "La smii'wun da." De'yaL qa'6tL sEm'a'g'it.