1894-95.] THREE CARRIER MYTHS. 3 



-count of things the like of which the narrator has not seen. Such long 

 ages have elapsed since the events hinted at have occurred and so many 

 generations of aborigines have been accustomed to the mode of life of 

 their present descendants that it is but in order to be indulgent when it 

 is a matter of detail. 



One and the same personage is also often made to play the role of 

 various historical heroes, as we shall see further on. 



Another point of mythological exegesis which it is hardly necessary to 

 mention is that when the narrative, turning into an apologue, introduces 

 animal characters, these are not, of course, to be taken literally. 



There is also a last point which might be noted here, that relative to 

 the mystic or sacred numbers of some myths. But this will be found 

 explained at length in the course of my remarks on our first legend. 



The Carrier stories are generally much more elaborate and longer than 

 those current among the Eastern Denes. They evidence also a tendency 

 to become apologues or allegories not to be found in their Eastern 

 counterparts. Must this be regarded as a mark of a more cultivated 

 mind and consequently of later origin, or should their very completeness 

 be looked at rather as indicative of greater purity ? This I leave to the 

 reader to decide. 



A word now as to the way the texts have been collected. Most 

 published accounts of native legends purport to be the English version of 

 the words of some old Indian written on dictation by the transcriber. I 

 tried this system when I resided among the Tsi|>|oh'tin some twelve years 

 ago, but the results were most unsatisfactory. I could find no Indian 

 clever enough to dictate to me without interruptions, repetitions or 

 omissions, any single legend. Therefore it is but fair that I should give 

 an idea of my present mode of transcribing aboriginal myths, so that the 

 reader may be in a position to gauge the degree of accuracy of the 

 following texts. 



I have a reliable Indian narrate me as clearly as possible the whole of 

 one myth (when this is not too long) in his native language. I then 

 repeat as verbatim as I can what I have heard, subject to corrections 

 when such may be necessary, and then I write down the whole in Indian. 

 My last step is generally to read out my version in the hope of provoking 

 further notices of inaccuracies. 



This mode of gathering native legends may appear rather loose and 

 fanciful. Yet it is but justice to myself, no less than to the present ver- 

 sions, to remark that, as I speak Carrier more fluently than English or 

 even than my native French, my thoughts are generally through the 

 channel of the aboriginal idiom, so that I find no great difficulty in 



