124 B'ATHER MOEICR ON 



Tsèchah, the village where the large inter-tribal fairs already mentioned were held. It 

 might also be noted that 1 did not see Dr. Boas's account of it until long after my own 

 paper had been published. 



While reviewing a paper published in Berlin {ZeUscliriff fur Ethnologie, 1888), by Dr. 

 Boas, A. S. Gatschet quotes ' a Tsirashian myth, of which I regret not having seen the text. 

 Its title, " The Abandoned Man," is suggestiA'e to me, because our Indians possess a tale for 

 which no better heading could be devised. 



Of course, in a question of comparative mythologj^, perfect identity of narratives 

 ought not to be sought. Native imagination is bound to have its play, and the peculiar 

 psychological tendencies of the narrator or of the tribe to which he belongs will also 

 generally influence the structure and wording of a myth, and sometimes even completely 

 divert it from its original simplicity. Local colouring should also be expected as a matter 

 of course, since it is well known that Indian legends relate happenings which are, as a 

 rule, supposed to have taken place in the narrator's country. However, the main drift 

 of them makes generally their identity unmistakable. It should also be added that several 

 Carrier legends have the sea-coast for the scene of their heroes' adventures. 



It happens, also, not infrequently, that a Tsimshian or Haida myth has been mixed up 

 with, or added to, a purely Déué legend ; but, even in such a case, the resemblance 

 between the original and the main points of the complex story is, as a rule, too great to 

 escape detection. 



Take, for instance, the creation myth. Whether the creating power be called 

 g^stas by the Carriers, Y7t/ by the Tlingit, Ni-kilsUas by the Haida, or Kaneakeluh by the 

 Kwakwiutl, thoiigh its role is, in this connection, more restricted in the Carrier mythology, 

 and, in spite of the unavoidable local colouring, it remains perfectly clear that the hero of 

 the various narratives is one and the same personage acting in a similar capacity. This 

 national legend, which is common to all the Coast tribes, is unknown among theTsé'kènne 

 and all such Denes as have had no tribal intercourse with the Tlingit, Tsimshian or 

 Kwakwiutl. Therefore, it could not have originated among the inland tribes, as Dr. Dawson 

 was inclined to suppose. According to Petitot, by some Eastern Déné tribes, the creation 

 of the universe was believed to have resulted from the Thunder Bird touching with its 

 wing the open sea, from which the earth is said to have emerged, while, according to 

 others, the creation was due to certain genii, servants of a Superior Being, who created 

 all things by the spreading of a sort of magic veil over the bare earth." 



What is said of the marvellous and somewhat burlescjue personage, g;stas, would fill a 

 good-sized volume. It is, therefore, impracticable to attempt here even an abridged 

 relation of his many adventures. Suffice it to say that what I have read of his doubles 

 among the Coast Indians is the exact counterpart of what is related of him here. Where 

 his role has suffered the greatest alteration is, I thinkf in connection with the creation, or 

 rather distribution of light, fire and water. In the Carrier myth, it is only with regard 

 to the last-named element that gstas comes in for his share of the marvellous. As 

 Dr. Dawson, in his essay on the Haida,* has reproduced from those aborigines that 



' The American Antiquarian, Nov., 1S89, p. 390. 

 -Monographie des Déné Diudjié, pp. xxiv, xxvi. 

 ■'Report on tlie Queen Charlotte Islands. Geol. Surv. Can., 1878-79. 



