boas] DESCRIPTION OF THE TSIMSHIAN 413 



establish an entirely new relationship. Neither is there any definite 

 statement that the supernatural beings and animals that marry 

 human beings are divided into clans. We only hear of the Killer 

 Whales and Eagles that they are divided into four clans, like the 

 Tsimshian (135, see p. 457). The sacredness of the clans is so great 

 (1.219), that the idea probably did exist that the supernatural beings 

 who married human beings belonged to the proper clan, but this is 

 nowhere stated explicitly. 



Some of the tales of the second class imply the existence of the 

 clans before the events of the tale occurred. In other words, they 

 do not explain the origin of the clans, but only the acquisition of 

 then privileges. This appears most strikingly in the story of the 

 G"it-na-gun-a'ks, where we hear that four hunters go out, — three 

 belonging to the G'ispawadwE'da, one to the Eagle Clan, — who then 

 receive from the supernatural being Na-gun-a'ks gifts that become 

 clan property (285 et seq.). The Eagle Clan, on their escape from 

 Alaska,- acquire through an adventure the Beaver crest (270 et seq.), 

 and in the story of Asdilda, the man whose family receives later on 

 songs and crests owing to the adventures of a woman, wears the Cor- 

 morant hat of the Eagle Clan at the very beginning of the story (260). 

 The Wolf Clan also existed before they acquired their crests (354). 



In a strict sense, neither the stories of the first type nor those of the 

 second type are origin stories. All of them explain rather the origin 

 of clan property. Examples of the origin of clan property from the 

 father-in-law of a woman who has married a supernatural being are 

 the following: Gau'o's daughter is taken up to the sky by the son 

 of the Sky, and has by him four sons and two daughters. The Sky 

 Being gives the eldest one the rainbow crest; the second, the moon; 

 the third, the stars; the fourth the mythical bird Lax-6'rn (Boas 

 4.284). In another version the eldest is given the moon; the second, 

 the stare; the third, the rainbow; the youngest one, the Lax-6'm in 

 the form of a man (1.213). In the Nass version only the Lax-6'm 

 is mentioned, this being the house with three doorways ornamented 

 with skulls, which is given to the eldest one. This version mentions, 

 besides, a head-ornament inlaid with abalone shells, given to the 

 eldest one; for another one, a head-ornament of skms; for a third 

 one, a bow inlaid with abalone. All had blankets made of white 

 weasel skins (N 224). In the version 1.215 it is definitely stated that 

 this was the origin of the G'ispawadwE'da; and this is repeated in 

 the Nass version, in which three brothers go to T!Em-lax-a'm and 

 become the ancestors of the G'isg'aha'st, a branch of the G'ispa- 

 wadwE'da. According to present customs, this implies that the 

 descendants of the two sisters of these brothers form the clan. It is 

 not stated, however, what became of the sisters. It is also inter- 

 esting to note that the Sky chief gives houses only to the brothers, 



