582 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. ANN. 31 



I believe this summary of incidents proves clearly that the Raven 

 legend as a whole can not be considered as a well-organized cycle. 

 So many versions have been recorded, that, if the single incidents 

 which occur — particularly in the Tlingit and Haida series — were old 

 and widely distributed parts of the Raven legend, they would be 

 expected to appear in other forms of the tradition too. 1 



I believe a clearer insight into the character of the whole cycle may 

 be obtained by determining the popularity of the various incidents 

 according to the number of records made among various tribes and 

 from various narrators. In the table on p. 583 are given the number 

 of versions that have been recorded from each tribe. Naturally, when 

 telling myths to a collector, the natives will tell those first with which 

 they are most familiar, and which appeal more strongly to their im- 

 agination. In this sense the table will give us an impression of the 

 popularity and relative importance of the various incident of the tale. 



in a number of cases the character of the tales changes materially 

 among the different tribes, as will be more fully illustrated in our 

 discussions on pp. 621 et seq. Strongly aberrant types of tales that 

 are not connected with the Raven cycle are indicated in the table 

 by placing such versions in parentheses. 



I have grouped all the Tlingit tribes together. Masset and Kaigani 

 form a group by themselves. The Skidegate has been counted sepa- 

 rately. Tsimshian and Nass form one group; Bellacoola, Ilaida, 

 and Rivers Inlet, another group by themselves; and the Kwakiutl 

 tribes south of Rivers Inlet have been grouped together. 



In a study of this table it must be borne in mind that while the 

 material for the Tlingit, Masset, Skidegate, Tsimshian, and Kwakiutl, 

 is very full, that collected from the Bellacoola, Bellabella, Rivers 

 Inlet tribe, Nootka, and Comox is much less exhaustive; so that 

 further research might give us additional material for these tribes. 

 These five tribes are represented principally by the records published 

 in my "Sagen" (Boas 4). Besides this, I have used a manuscript 

 collection from Rivers Inlet collected by me in 1897, the Nootka 

 and Bellabella tales given in Appendix I to this paper, and the 

 materia] contained in my discussion of the mythology of the Bella- 

 coola (Boas 15). 



' I !ii\i- recently had an opportunity to discuss this matter with Mr. Shotridge, an educated Indian from 

 Chilkat. lie claims that among the Tlingit the Raven legend, so far as it refers to the creation, follows a 

 regular sequence. Upon closer inquiry, he said that everything had to be created in definite order,— day- 

 light before the world became inhabitable; water before fish could be produced: and so on. In answer to 

 my question regarding the order of the other incidents of the tale, he claimed that they were told only to 

 offset the serious parts of the tale, in order to entertain the listeners, and that there was no particular order 

 in which these were told. 



