A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Ten hunting brothers and their wives enter a village hidden below a snowy mountain. An apparently helpful woman takes the youngest couple’s baby while its mother eats, but drinks its blood through its ear. Recognising the danger, the parents warn the other visitors. They remain awake, deter approaching hosts with noises and escape before dawn.
The travellers repeatedly bring avalanches down on their pursuers. At last the chief follows alone, too fast for another avalanche. The narrative now identifies the settlement as Mosquito Town and gives the chief’s name as Baboudina, printed with an editorial question mark. He is a short, stout figure with a crystal proboscis; the final scenes also mention long hair and wings. He kills the fleeing adults until only the bereaved mother remains.
She wades into a lake and climbs an overhanging tree. The chief loses her scent in the water and attacks her reflection, repeatedly diving, muddying the lake and waiting for it to clear. Her laughter increases his fury. After sunset the cold and north wind freeze him, his wings stuck to the ground. She tests whether he is dead and cuts out his heart, which remains alive with eyes and a mouth.
The woman carries the heart back to her companions and swings it over their bodies to revive them. The account explicitly follows the recovery of the adults; it does not separately describe restoring the dead infant. The survivors then burn the chief and his heart. Ashes blown from the fire become the small mosquitoes that remain in the world.
Origins & earliest records
Franz Boas, Tsimshian Mythology, based on texts recorded by Henry W. Tate, published in 1916 in the Bureau of American Ethnology’s thirty-first report for 1909–1910. Boas translated Tate’s free interlinear English renderings of his Tsimshian texts. The preface notes Tate’s editorial choices and some influence from published collections; the 1916 volume omits the original-language text.
Records & interpretation
Story 15, The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito, complete pp. 141–145 through the return home; preface pp. 31–32.
In the literature
“His wings were frozen to the ground.”
15. The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito, complete pp.141–145; brief prose p.144 · Franz Boas, based on Henry W.Tate’s free interlinear rendering, Preface31
Ten brothers and their wives encounter a Mosquito village where an old woman kills the youngest mother’s baby. Escaping repeated pursuit, they are attacked by chief Baboudina, whose crystal proboscis kills nineteen companions. The surviving woman escapes into a tree; he repeatedly mistakes her reflection for her, becomes wet and freezes to death. His heart remains alive, and her companions are restored. The burned chief’s ashes become small Mosquitoes. The account does not explicitly restore the baby.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Tsimshian Mythology
Story 15, The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito, complete pp. 141–145 through the return home; preface pp. 31–32.
- 02
Tsimshian Mythology — 15. The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito, complete pp.141–145
Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete selected English narrative(s) and attached technical footnotes read in retained OCR. Original selected opening/identity/ending pages visually checked. Preface31–32 translation provenance independently inspected. Comparative chapters not included in this reading claim.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Tsimshian Mythology — 15. The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito, complete pp.141–145
Washington: Government Printing Office,1916; Thirty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology,1909–1910. Complete selected English narrative(s) and attached technical footnotes read in retained OCR. Original selected opening/identity/ending pages visually checked. Preface31–32 translation provenance independently inspected. Comparative chapters not included in this reading claim.
- Ten brothers and their wives encounter a Mosquito village where an old woman kills the youngest mother’s baby. Escaping repeated pursuit, they are attacked by chief Baboudina, whose crystal proboscis kills nineteen companions. The surviving woman escapes into a tree; he repeatedly mistakes her reflection for her, becomes wet and freezes to death. His heart remains alive, and her companions are restored. The burned chief’s ashes become small Mosquitoes. The account does not explicitly restore the baby.
15. The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito, complete pp.141–145
No whole volume or independent Tsimshian translation claimed; no songs, prayers, net-making procedures, food processing or ritual preparation reproduced.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textBoas/Tate 1916: Story 15, The Winter Hunters and the Mosquito, complete pp. 141–145 through the return home; preface pp. 31–32.Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.