[Illustration: TUNISIAN WOMAN OUT FOR A WALK—BLACK MASK AND ROOMY
"BAGS.">[
Just at the entrance to the harbour of Vancouver stands a solitary pinnacle of rock, straight and upright. It is called the Siwash Rock.
A young chief had made himself renowned for his wonderful courage in war and for his sense of duty to his tribe and to his religion, and for his courtesy to women.
He had married a wife, and when she was about to give birth to a child they did as laid down in the laws of the tribe, that is, they both bathed in the sea to be so clean that no wild animal should be able to scent them. This would ensure their child being clean in thought and deed.
The woman returned to their tent, but the young chief went on swimming to make sure that he should be clean and pure for the birth of his son.
While he swam a canoe came along with four giants in it. These shouted to him to get out of their way, but he only laughed back at them that he was swimming on important business.
But they shouted to him that he must cease swimming in the channel, as they were messengers of the great God, and that if he did not they would turn him into a fish, or a tree, or a stone.
[Illustration: A SPAHI (NATIVE CAVALRY SOLDIER) ADMIRED BY AN ABAB BOY
SCOUT OF THE FUTURE.]
But he only replied that he must be clean for the birth of his child, and therefore he meant to go on swimming, no matter what the risk was to him.
This quite nonplussed the giants.