30. Ntcimi'ken
(Upper and Lower Uta'mqt.)
(cont.)Now the boy went across the river to fetch Ntcimi'ken's wife. He crossed in a canoe of horse-tails (Lu'xen). He entered the Cannibal's house, and saw human heads hanging all around in a circle. The woman had earrings and necklaces of finger-nails. She was engaged in breaking human bones to extract the marrow, for that was the Cannibal's favorite food. When she saw the boy, she said, "Did you not meet the Cannibal:" He answered, "Yes, I met him and slew him. I have now come to fetch you back to your husband Ntcimi'ken." She was overjoyed at this news, and at once began to divest herself of her finger-nail ornaments. The lad said, "There is no hurry. I wish you to let me take a sweat-bath before we depart." Then he took four stones, and entered the woman's privates, where he sweat-bathed. When he came out to wash himself, his hair had grown down to his shoulders. He re-entered, and, on coming forth the second time, his hair had Grown halfway down his back. On issuing the third time, it had reached the small of his back, and the fourth time it had grown to his heels. The woman said, "Your hair is now too long," therefore she cut it off even with his buttocks.
Now they returned to Ntcimi'ken, whom they found in his house on the Thompson. He was glad to get his wife back. The lad stayed with them a long time, but left them for brief intervals, going back to the mountains where he trained himself and hunted.
Now the time came for him to return to his own country, and Ntcimi'ken told him to sweat-bathe. When he was ready to start, Ntcimi'ken and his wife gave him directions how to go, where to camp, and how to manage when danger threatened him. The woman gave him a present of four goat hair blankets1, when he was leaving, and Ntcimi'ken gave him a pair of snowshoes and two deer's tripes.2 He turned these into dogs, which followed him. The first night he camped on a high mountain3 near the edge of a precipice. He lit a fire and sat down near it, with the dogs on each side. Presently four4 mysterious persons (xaxa)5 approached the camp. He said to them, "Sit down on the opposite side of the fire," (which was near the edge of the cliff,) "for my dogs may bite you if you come too close." They sat down as directed. Then he gradually pushed the fire nearer to them, and the dogs also moved towards them from each side. They gradually backed away from the fire and the dogs, and eventually fell over the cliff. The lad thought he had killed them, but the following night they appeared at his camp again. He repeated his tactics, with the same result. He did this for four nights.1 Some Upper Uta'mqt say the present was four necklaces, - one of rattlesnake-tails, one of Golden eagle (hele'w) tail-feathers, one of chicken-hawk tail-feathers, and one of tcix'tcuxt hawk tail-feathers.
2 The Upper Uta'mqt say that these were blown up by the wind
3 Some say near Spences Bridge.
4 Some say there were only three. Men endowed with great 'mystery," medicine or magic, supernatural beings.
5 The Upper Uta'mqt say that the lad put one of the tripes under each arm, and pressed them, the wind blowing out made a growling noise, and the xaxa' thought they were dogs.
