The Dawn of the World, by C. Hart Merriam, [1910], at sacred-texts.com

A HOLE IN THE NOSE SAVES TURNING INTO A FISH

The Southern Mewuk of the Mariposa region say:

If a person dies without a hole in his nose he will turn into a fish, but if the nose is perforated

p. 219

for the kun-no-wah 25 he will not turn into a fish.

Footnotes

219:25 The kun-no-wah is a short white rod of shell or stone worn in the nose by both men and women of this tribe.