IV. COMPAKATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 

 Introductory 



The present collection contains a series of tales all of which are 

 considered by the Tsimshian as myths, and I have used the term in 

 this sense. The Tsimshian distinguish clearly between two types of 

 stories — the myth (ada'ox) and the tale (ma'lEslc). The latter is 

 entirely historical in character, although from our point of view it 

 may contain supernatural elements. The incidents narrated in the 

 former are believed to have happened during the time when animals 

 appeared in the form of human beings. While ordinarily the dis- 

 tinction between the two types of tales is quite clear, there are some 

 cases where the interpretation might be doubtful. In the myth 

 animaLs appear as actors, and very often incidents are mentioned 

 which describe the origin of some feature of the present world; but 

 incidents of a similar character are not by any means absent from the 

 tales. This is particularly true in those cases in which animals 

 appear as individual protectors and in which a supposed revelation 

 is used to explain certain customs of the people. Nevertheless the 

 fact that incidents of such a tale are an individual experience relating 

 to the present period set it off clearly in the mind of the Tsimsliian 

 from mythological tales. I presume, however, that in course of time 

 historical tales may have been embodied in the groups of myths. 



Similar distinctions are made by all the other tribes of the North 

 Pacific coast. I mention here only the terms nu'yam of the Kwakiutl, 

 iJdanam of the Chinook, and spEta'M of the Thompson Indians, winch 

 designate myths in the sense here given as opposed to tales belong- 

 ing to the present period. It should be remembered that in the 

 mind of the Indian it is not the religious, ritualistic, or explanatory 

 character of a tale that makes it a myth, but the fact that it per- 

 tains to a period when the world was different from what it is now. 

 It seems to my mind advantageous to adopt this objective defini- 

 tion of myth as felt by the natives, rather than any of the many 

 definitions based on a subjective standpoint. If it should be ob- 

 jected that by doing so I extend my inquiry over and beyond the 

 domain of myths, as defined by various groups of investigators, I 

 may point out that I am discussing tales which at the present time 

 form a unit in the mind of the Tsimshian, and that this justifies 

 their treatment as an objective unit. 



In the present chapter I intend to present a comparative study of 

 the Tsimshian myths here recorded, based on the data heretofore 

 collected among other tribes of the North Pacific coast. I have made 



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