A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Little Pitch lives with his wife in a well-provisioned house in Philip’s Raven sequence. He welcomes Txa’msEm, feeds him and lets him sleep. When the guest proposes a halibut expedition, Little Pitch agrees on a specific condition: they must return while the air is still cold, because being outside after sunrise is dangerous for him. Txa’msEm promises to follow his wishes.

They fish through the night. At sunrise Little Pitch asks to return, but his companion insists on continuing and tells him to lie beneath a mat in the canoe’s bow. Txa’msEm repeatedly calls his name. Little Pitch’s responses weaken as the heat increases. Even when the canoe finally starts home, Txa’msEm pretends to paddle vigorously while placing the blades edgewise in the water, deliberately slowing their progress.

Pitch eventually flows from the dying chief and spreads across the halibut. The story uses this event to explain why halibut are dark on one side. Its own closing comment names Little Pitch among the chiefs Txa’msEm has killed. He is therefore neither an attacking monster nor an inert material accidentally melted by the weather: he is a speaking host whose trust and bodily vulnerability are exploited.

The episode belongs to Philip’s section of Boas’s Nisga’a collection. The English translation identifies him through the substance pitch, but the compendium does not infer a specific botanical resin or a biological species from that translation.

Speaking pitch personHospitality and fishing expertiseExplicit warning against sunlightMelting explains halibut colour
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Origins & earliest records

Franz Boas, Tsimshian Texts, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 27 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902). Recorded at Kinkolith, at the Nass River’s mouth, in November–December 1894. Boas’s introduction, dated June 1899, names Philip, Moses, Chief Mountain and Moody as the collection’s narrators. The volume prints the language it calls Nîsqa’E alongside English translation; individual story headings identify their tellers.

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Records & interpretation

Complete third Txa’msEm English sequence, pp.34–71, read including short page-boundary continuations and final alternative3a. Heading attributes episodes1–17 to Philip and18–20,3a to Moses.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Tsimshian Texts: Nass River Dialect

    Philip, teller; Franz Boas, recorder and translator · 1902

    Third Txa’msEm, episode14, Philip; third sequence34–71 and introduction5.

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.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textBoas 1902 original Nass River collectionResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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