boas] TSIMSHIAN SOCIETY 487 



Attention may also be called to the similarity of the name Ganha'da 

 for the Raven group, and that of the Tlingit Raven family, Gana x a '< li, 

 to which I have already referred; and to the name of the subdivision, 

 Tsunadate, of the Ganha'da, which has undoubtedly the appearance 

 of a Tlingit name, and suggests the name of the river Chunah ( = Tcu'- 

 nax), which empties into Behm Channel. This derivation might seem 

 uncertain, since the d of the ending -date, can not be derived from 

 this name. Similar forms occur, however, in other Tlingit names; 

 as, for instance, in the parallel form GanAxte'di for GanaxA'di. 



It would seem, on the basis of the data here given, either that 

 the older form of social organization of the Athapascan, Tsimshian, 

 Haida, Tlingit, and perhaps also of the Bellabella, was based on a 

 threefold division, or that the first three tribes developed a third group, 

 that took a somewhat exceptional position. Considering the claim 

 of the Tsimshian that the wolf was introduced among the tribe at a 

 late date, comparatively speaking, it seems certainly interesting that 

 the Wolf group, according to my informant, is missing from the 

 Bellabella, although this is contradicted by Professor Farrand. On 

 the other hand, the event can not be quite recent, since in most of 

 the myths the four exogamic groups are considered as entirely equiva- 

 lent. Thus, in the tale of "The Giant DevUfish," ' the four groups 

 are spoken of as characteristic of all the Tsimshian as well as of the 

 Killer Whales; and in the Deluge legend 1.250 they are noted. 



Further inquiries among the Tlingit and Loucheux may perhaps 

 enable us to answer this important question more definitely than 

 we can do now. 



Some of the "tribes" are evidently the result of a breaking-up of 

 older communities, made necessary by their increase in numbers. 

 It is told that when a village became too large, the head chief would 

 assign part of his people to his nephew, who would set out and found 

 a new village, which would naturally embrace only members of his 

 own exogamic group (see p. 509). 



On the preceding pages I have given a list of the tribal divisions, 

 towns, and exogamic groups. These divisions are termed by the 

 Tsimshian as follows: 



The people of the whole country are designated by the term gad, 

 which simply means "people" without any special reference to social 

 divisions. Thus we find the expressions nE-g-a'dEsgE K-sia'n ("the 

 people of the Skeena") 1.70.2; 2 lu-q!a'gan txan.'i g-at ("it killed off 

 all the people") 1.70.21 ; nE-g-a'dEsga qal-is.'a'pgE ("the people of the 

 town") 1.214.22. 



'No. 13, p. 135. 



- References such as 1.70.2 refer to Tsimshian Texis, l'lihlknlimis <>/ ih, A nurknn Fihimlngknl .sn,„n/, 



