482 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [ran. ANN. 31 



to one of the subdivisions of the larger group. It is therefore evident 

 that in such eases the animal name of the group, and the crest of the 

 subdivision of the group, are not equivalent. 



The subgroups among the Haida and Tlingit are throughout local 

 in character. They were evidently at one time village communities 

 consisting of blood relatives; that is to say, of a number of people 

 related or supposed to be related by maternal descent. Such a group 

 of people have their own local traditions, which in many cases have 

 the form of crest traditions. Similar conditions prevailed among the 

 Tsimshian, among whom, however, the number of local subgroups 

 seems to have been rather small. 



Although such a village was the property of a subdivision of one 

 group, necessarily a considerable number of individuals of the oppo- 

 site group must have lived in the same village as husbands or wives, 

 as the case may have been. It is probable that in this way the present 

 conditions originated, the recent villages consisting of a number of 

 house groups inhabited by different branches of the groups. 



In the following notes I shall describe the organization of the 

 Tsimshian. 



Tsimshian is spoken in three principal dialects: 



1 . Nisqa'*, on Nass River. 



2. G'it-ksa'n, on the head waters of Skeena River ( = People of 

 Skeena River). 



3. TslEm-sia'n, on Skeena River and including the closely related 

 dialects south and west of Skeena River ( = inside of Skeena River) . 



The Tsimshian proper embrace the following tribes: 



1. TslEm-sia'n, on Skeena River. 



2. G'itslEinga'lon, below the canyon of Skeena River. 



3. GitsIala'sEr, on the canyon of Skeena River. 



4. G'it-qxa'la, on the islands outside of Skeena River. 



5. Git-q!a'°da, on Granville Channel. 



6. G'idEsdzu', northwest of Millbank Sound. These are considered 

 half Bellabella. 1 



The Tsimshian have nine towns: 



1. G-i-spa-x-la'°ts 1 , F ,.s 6. G-it-dzi'°s 3 (Raven). 



2. G-it!anda' 2 J ^ a s ie; ' 7. G'id-wul-g-a'dz | 



3. G-inax'ang-i'°k (Bear). 8. Gi-lu-dza'r (Bear). 



4. G-it-la'n (Raven and Wolf). 9. G-inada.'°xs 4 



5. G - idzExla'°l (Raven). 



■ Publications of the American Ethnological Society, vol. in, p. 225. 



« Two additional Eagle towns, G-id-wul-ksE-ba'° and Gi-spa-x'a'l, have become extinct. 



3 Two additional Raven towns, named Wuts!En-a'Iuk and G id-gadii, have he .nine extinct. 



< The list given here is contained in Mr. Tate's version of the Gau'6 story (Pubs.Amer. Ellin Soc., vol. 

 m, p. 223) and in the story of the Deluge (ibid., p. 217). It occur? also on p. 275 of the present volume. 

 It agrees with 1 hi' list obtained by me from another person in Inks, except that the latter contains tile 

 additional name Gid-wul-ksE-ba'°. My list of 1SS8 agrees with the one obtained by Aurel Krause in 

 1SS2 (Die Tlinkit-Indiantr, p. :U7). He mentions one trite that I have not identified, the Kftrau-ai-iKS 

 (<! it-gawa'yiks?). On p. 275 the G'id-wul-ksE-ba'o are mentioned in place of the G - it!anda'. 



