662 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



refer to what I stated previously (pp. 332, 336) in regard to the growth 

 of the clan system of the Kwakiutl tribes. I pointed out that this 

 system probably attained its present develoi)ment under the impetus 

 of the clan system of the northern tribes; that the social distinction 

 connected witli the possession of a clan legend gave a suflticient sugges- 

 tion to the mind of the Indian to turn his imagination in this direction, 

 and that the hereditary manitou probably became the totem of the clan. 



Tlie close similarity between the clan legends and those of the acquisi- 

 tion of spirits presiding over secret societies, as well as the intimate 

 relation between these and the social organizations of the tribes, allow 

 us to apply the same argument to the consideration of the growth of 

 the secret societies, and lead us to the conclusion that the same psy- 

 chical factor that molded the clans into their present shape molded the 

 secret societies. 



If this argument is correct, we must expect that the legends of the 

 secret societies, although belonging to the most sacred myths of 

 the tribes, show indications of foreign intiuences, as these nnist have 

 offered the material for the suggestions which gave rise to the myths. 

 I will not at this place enter into a detailed discussion of these tradi- 

 tions as I have done so in another publication.' I have shown that 

 all legends of this region are of complex origin, and that they must 

 have been carried over enormous distances from tribe to tribe. This is 

 true as well of the more insigniticant tales as of the most important 

 myths, such as creation legends, and the legends of the origin of the 

 secret societies. To give only one or two examples: In the tale of the 

 origin of the cannibal society of the He'iltsuq (p. 401), it is told how a 

 woinan gave birth to a number of dogs, who attained the secrets of the 

 cannibal society. This tale is found over the whole of the northwestern 

 portion of Korth America, among all the Athapascan tribes, among 

 the Eskimo, and all along the Korth Pacific Coast. Only in this sin- 

 gle instance is it connected with the origin of the secret societies, and I 

 conclude, therefore, that a foreign story has been embodied in this myth. 



While here the foreign portion of the myth forms only a slightly 

 connected incident of the tale, foreign material is much more closely 

 interwoven with the whole labric in the most important one of all 

 the legends of secret societies, viz, the tale of BaxbakuillanuXsI'wac.- 

 When we compare this myth with the creation myth of the Chinook' 

 we find a remarkable resemblance in certain parts of the legends. 

 The grandmother of the divinity of the Chinook, when a <;liild, was car- 

 ried away by a monster. Their child became the mother of the culture 

 hero, and by her help the monster was slain. Among the Kwakiutl, the 

 cannibal spirit carries away a girl, and is finally slain by her help. 

 In one version, their child becomes the new cannibal spirit. There 

 exist several stories on the west coast of Vancouver Island which form 



' " Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Kiiste Amerikas," Berlin, 189.5, p. 

 329. 



2 " Chinook Texts," Bnlletin T 20oi'ihe Bureau of Etlinology, Washington, 1894, p.9. 



