Boas.] 42^ [jjoy 18^ 



Notes on the EiJinology of British Colvmbia. By Dr. F. Boas. 



{Read hefore the American Philosophical Society, November 18, 18S7.) 



Note.— The Indian words are spelled according to the system used by the Bureau of 

 Ethnology : q is the German ch in Bach ; c is the English sh. 



In the following remarks I intend to give a brief summary of the results 

 of my journey in British Columbia. The principal purpose of my re- 

 searches was to study the distribution of the native tribes, their ethnologi- 

 cal character, and their languages. I arrived in Victoria in September, 

 1886, and spent most of my time among the natives of the east coast of 

 Vancouver island and of the mainland opposite ; but in the course of my 

 journeys I came in contact with several individuals of the Tlingit, Tsimp- 

 shian, and Bilqula tribes, and I studied particularly the language of the 

 last, of which I had obtained a slight knowledge from a number of men 

 who w'ere brought by Captain A. Jacobsen to Berlin. Among the linguistic 

 results of my journey the tnost interesting are the discovery of three 

 unknown dialects of the Salish stock and the establishment of the fact 

 that the Bilqttla, who are of Salish lineage, must have lived at one time 

 with other Salish tribes near the sea. 



Though the culture of these tribes seems very uniform, closer inquiry 

 shows that they may be divided into four groups — the northern one com- 

 prising the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimpshian ; the central comprising the 

 Kwakiutl and Bilqula ; the sottthern comprising the different tribes of the 

 Coast Salish ; and the tribes of the west coast of Vancouver island. All 

 these tribes are divided intogentes ; but, while among the northern tribes, 

 the child belongs to the gens of the mother, among the southern ones it 

 belongs to that of the father. The arts, industries, folk-lore, and other 

 ethnological phenomena of these groups are also different, and the groups 

 have evidently influenced one another. 



I shall first show some of these differences by considering the folk-lore 

 of a few of these tribes. 



The principal legend of the Tlingit is the well-known raven myth. It 

 is not necessary to dwell upon this myth, as it is known by the reports of 

 many travelers. Vemiauow, who lived for a long time among the Tlin- 

 git, considers the raven as their supreme deity. It appears from the 

 myths which I collected that besides the raven the eagle is of great im- 

 portance. One of the legends tells how the raven obtained the fresh 

 water from a mighty chief called Kanuk. This Kanuk is identical with 

 the eagle. Traces of the raven legend are found among all tribes as far 

 south as Koraoks. The Kwakiutl consider the raven the creator of the 

 sun, moon, and stars. 



The raven legend is not found among the Salish tribes ; their supreme 

 deity is the sun, who is called by the Skqomic the great wandering chief, 

 and a greatnumberof myths refer to him. Among the northern tribes of this 

 group and among the Kwakiutl the identity of the sun and the deitj^ is not 



