524 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. axx. 3] 



prove this point. During the warlike past of the people some of the 

 old, native divisions, which the strangers joined, may very well have 

 disappeared. Furthermore, it does not follow from the tales that there 

 may not have been other accessions to the tribe which are not recorded 

 in legendary history, because there were no chiefs of high standing 

 among the arrivals. The absence of old Tsimshian groups among the. 

 Ganha'da, Eagles, and Wolves, may therefore be due to the accident 

 that the native divisions became extinct. It is certainly worth while 

 to know that in some of the tales it is implied that the exogamic 

 group to which the newcomers belong was present among the 

 Tsimshian. In the tale of the Wolf group it is explicitly stated that 

 the fleeing Tahltan joined the Wolf group on Nass River. On the 

 other hand, it may be said that the appearance, of exogamic groups 

 in these tales 'may simply be due to an anachronistic, introduction of 

 modern conditions into ancient times. 



The most definite statement of the origin of the exogamic groups 

 is contained in the Gau'6 story 1.214.18-21. On account of the 

 importance of the subject. I will ^ive here a literal translation of the 



Nin!i'° wul Tii-SE-tla'tgE wul na-t'.E itla'ia pta'xdat: 1 G-ispawutwa'da 



That being the beginning the companies exogarniegroups; the G-ispawadwE'ds 



lax-ha' vmla wa'tgtga"; dil gik feMa'xs ptaxt, G-ispawutwa'da, 



the sky where they came from; and also the various exogamic groups, the G'ispawadwE'da, 



dil Lax-x-skl'°Tc, ganl GanJia'da, ada Lax-g\ibu'°t. 



and the Eagle group, and the Ganha'da, also the Wolf group. 



That means: "This (namely, the coming-down of the four houses 

 of the four heavenly brothers and of their two sisters) was the begin- 

 ning of the exogamic companies; the G'ispawadwE'da come from 

 the sky, also the various exogamic groups, — the G'ispawadwE'da 

 and the Eagles, and the Ganha'da and also the Wolves." 



Later on it is said that the brothers traveled about " to make the 

 exogamic groups" (asga dsmt dzabE pta°xt) in every village 1.216.10, 

 and "they tried to make the exogamic groups" (ada g'ikt ba'°l d.Emi 

 sa-na-pta'°xtga ) 1.216.22. 



It is also stated expressly - that the four groups existed in T!Em- 

 lax-a'm before the Deluge 1.250. In this passage the four groups, 

 which are mentioned by name, are called "crests" (dzapJc); and the 

 members of each are called "relatives" (umlwula'isk) . 



The uncertainties of an euhemeristic explanation are brought out 

 very clearly by the attempt to reconstruct the history of the North- 

 west coast tribes solely on the basis of their traditions. Swanton has 

 shown that the Haida tales indicate a native origin of the Raven 

 side. The most important characteristic of these tales is the sys- 



< The punctuation given here is better than that adopted in t lie original. ; See p. 411. 



