486 TSIMSIIIAX MYTHOLOGY [ETH. axx. 31 



The Gun-hu'°t of G - its!Emga'16n are considered the descendants of 



Tlingit Eagles, who were vanquished by Ravens, and emigrated. 

 In 1888 I was told in Port Essington that this emigration occurred 

 six generations ago, that is about 1740, and that it was a consequence 

 of continued wars. It was said that these people married a number 

 of Tsimshian men and women, among whom the names of Gataxa'x 

 and Astoe'ne are mentioned. For a considerable t ime they continued 

 to speak Tlingit, but were finally assimilated by the Tsimshian. On 

 p. 270 the mythical story of their exodus is told. According to 

 this tale, they settled first on Nass River, but later on spread and 

 lived among the G"its!Emga'l6n, G'i-spa-x-hV 'ts, G'itJama't, and in 

 other places. 



The Wolves are said to have come from Stikine River, and they 

 are considered as descendants of a group of Tahltan who fled from 

 their countrj' and settled partly on the coast of Alaska, partly on 

 Nass River, and partly on Skeena River. Their story is told on p. 354. 



According to the table given on p. 4S3, all the members of the 

 Eagles are derived partly from the Tlingit, partly from the G - idEsdzu', 

 partly from the Athapascan tribes at the head of Stikine River. 

 This last statement was not made explicitly by Mr. Tate, but it is 

 implied in his remarks about the GispawadwE'da. 



The Ganha'da are also all foreigners, — one group derived from the 

 interior, a second one from northern Alaska, a third one from Cape 

 Fox. Mr. Tate's notes do not make it quite clear whether the sub- 

 group Ganha'da originated in the interior. lie simply says "from 

 across the mountains." which may also mean Nass River. The sub- 

 group Tsunadate he describes as coming from Alaska. It is possible, 

 however, that the notes in regard to these two groups may have to be 

 exchanged. 



Among the G-ispawadwE'da, the first group. G'it !i:m-lax-a'm, are 

 considered true Tsimshian, while the others are considered descend- 

 ants of the G'idEsdzti'. I am not quite clear in regard to the descent 

 of the third group. If they are really considered the descendants of 

 Gau'o, they would seem to be a subdivision of the first group. At 

 one place Mr. Tate says that the clan took the name GispawadwE'da 

 (meaning "going to another") from the Gau'o story, that before 

 that time they were called "Grizzly Bear." I do not know, how- 

 ever, whether I understood his statement rightly. 



Taking this in connection with the oft-repeated statement that the 

 people of T!Em-lax-a'm are the original Tsimshian, it might almost 

 seem as though, in the opinion of the Indians, the tribe had con- 

 sisted originally of this group only, and that the other groups had 

 developed by accretion. 



I should like to repeat, however, that Mr. Tate's notes do not 

 make it quite clear whether the G"it-lax-wl-yl'a of the Eagle group 

 and the Ganha'da of the Raven group are not also by origin Tsimshian. 



