498 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [BTH. ANN. 31 



its standing by defeat in war or display. An example of this is con- 

 tained in the story of the war between the G - i-spa-x-la'°ts and the 

 G-it-dzi'°s (pp. 355 et seq.). In this account it is told that the Eagle 

 group discarded the name of their head chief, Nes-balas, when the 

 last head chief of that name was killed and his head kept in the 

 house of the Ganha'da; while the Ganha'da discarded the name 

 Txa-dzl'°kik for the same reason. The former substituted the name 

 LEge'°x; the latter, the name Haimas. The expression used here 

 is that the name was discarded because "it was in the house of 

 another exogamic group." 



While the lines between the highest nobility and the lower members 

 of nobility are well fixed at any given moment, it is quite evident 

 that a certain amount of change must always have taken place. By 

 right the descent was always determined by blood relationship in 

 the maternal line; but, owing to warlike deeds and newly acquired 

 wealth, individuals that belonged to the nobility but had the position 

 of attendants evidently pushed forward into the head ranks from 

 time to time; and it seems also plausible that some of the people of 

 low ancestry may have pushed their way into the higher ranks. It 

 appears, however, also very clearly that when chiefs became poor, 

 their noble descent was remembered for a long time, and that, on the 

 other hand, common people who assumed high positions were con- 

 sidered as intruders. The social advancement of poor boys is an 

 ever-recurring theme in Tsimshian tales. 



I am under the impression that the rigidity with which primogeni- 

 ture is regarded, at least theoretically, among the Kwakiutl, does not 

 exist among the Tsimshian. Among the Kwakiutl on Vancouver 

 Island a sharp distinction is made between the line of first-born 

 children and the lines of later-born children, and in theory only the 

 former are entitled to high positions. The same phenomenon may 

 be observed among the Kwakiutl, however, as we found among 

 the Tsimshian; namely, the tendency for people of younger lines, or 

 even for those whose relationship to the nobility is not known, to 

 push their way into high and important positions. This is facilitated 

 among the Kwakiutl by the custom of acqiuring position from the 

 father-in-law, so that a person of lower rank may obtain a high 

 position by marrying a woman of high rank. 



Among the Tsimshian, class prejudice was very strong; and 

 Mi-. Tate repeats over and over again that chiefs' nephews must not 

 marry the nieces of attendants, and that the nephews of attendants 

 of high rank must not many t lie nieces of common people. In short, 

 all marriages must take place among members of the same social 

 rank. In some passages Mr. Tate even goes so far as to state that 

 princes must not speak to common people. Those who are kind to 

 the common people are praised for their humility. 



