56 FEANZ BOAS ON THE 



iuto animals, aud killed malignant beings which infested the country. I mentioned 

 above that the ancient beings, who were neither men nor animals but similar to both, 

 were transformed into real men and animals at the time of the great flood. This myth is 

 found from southern Alaska to the northern parts of Vancouver Island, while farther south 

 the transformation by the wanderer takes its place. I am not quite sure whether the 

 wanderer legend is known to the northern tribes of the Kwakiutl. It seems, however, to 

 be less important than it is farther south. The Kwakiutl proper consider the wanderer 

 as identical with the raven, but I believe that this idea also originated in consequence of 

 a mixture of northern aud southern mythology, and that these two all-important mytho- 

 logical j)ersons, who originally belonged to two distinct mythologies, are combined in 

 one person here. 



Unfortunately I do not know whether the legends of the great transformer are known 

 to the Bilqula ; but, even if they exist, they cannot be of great importance as I did not 

 hear him mentioned once, when collecting a considerable number of myths. 



This comparison of the myths of the various tribes shows that they spread from 

 three centres. This conclusion is corroborated by a comparison of customs. "We may 

 consider the Tliugit the representatives of the northern centre. The raven is the chief 

 being of their mythology. We find here the origin of the remarkable copper plates 

 which are used as far south as Fraser River. These tribes are divided into clans or 

 gentes, the child belonging to the mother's gens. The dead are not buried but burned. 

 A comparison of the carvings shows that those of the Tlingit are far less conventional 

 than those of the southern tribes. The most southern people belonging to this group is 

 the Tsimshian. 



The mythology of the tribes belonging to the central group is characterized by a 

 mixture of the ra^-en myths, the sun myths, and those of the wanderer and the mink. 

 Here the child belongs to the father's gens. One of the most remarkable customs of these 

 tribes is the cannibalism which is connected with their winter dances. Only members 

 of certain gentes can become cannibals, but each of these must be properly initiated. The 

 Kwakiutl believe a certain spirit to live in the mountains, aud that by encouatering it 

 the member of a certain family will become cannibal. The latter has certain prerogatives 

 during the season of the winter dances, aud during two months is entitled to bite who- 

 ever displeases him. These customs are also practised by the Bilqula ; but they have 

 evidently been adopted from the Kwakiutl, as the allied tribes farther south do not prac- 

 tice them. The same ceremonies are in use among the Tsimshian, who borrowed them 

 from the Kwakiutl. 



The characteristics of the southern group are sun-worship, the less extensive use 

 of carvings, and the small degree of art displayed in their manufacture. While the 

 houses of the northern tribes are square, and beautifully carved and finished, the tribes 

 of the southern group live in wooden houses which are about five or six times longer 

 than they are wide. 



Common to all these groups are a considerable degree of skill, a comparatively high 

 state of art, the general mode of life, the great winter festivals, and the donation feasts, 

 the so-called potlatches. 



We conclude our brief review, which is presented more to call attention to the impor- 

 tant problems which the ethnology of the Northwest Coast offers than as a contribution 



