584 



TSIMSHIAX MYTHOLOGY 



Amorous Adventures 



_ . !(ti) Raven and the girls . . 



41. He burns Ins sister's groins ' 



1(6) Raven's son earned away 



42. Master Fisherman deserted 



Miscellaneous Adventures 



43. War with Thunderbirds 



44. Arrow of supernatural being 



45. Invitation of 



M. \i 



The name of the Raven changes from tribe to tribe. While among 

 the Tlingit the name Yel is used throughout, the Haida, although 

 identifying the being with Raven, call him NAfiki'lsLas (' ' He Whose 

 Voice Is Obeyed"). The Tsimshian also identify him with Raven, 

 but they call him Txa'nisEin. Among the Bellacoola I always heard 

 the name Raven used, except in so far as he is identified with the 

 ancestors of certain village communities. The Bellabella and Rivers 

 Inlet tribes use the name He'maslras ("Real Chief"). In Rivers 

 Inlet, however, a second name, K!wek!waxa'we £ ("Great Inventor") 

 also appears. This name seems to be used from here southward as 

 far as the most southern Kwakiutl tribes. In northern Vancouver 

 Island the two names, ME'skwa ("The Greedy One") and 0' £ meal 

 (perhaps related to o' £ ma, " chief tainess") appear. Among the 

 southern Kwakiutl, Great Inventor or 0' £ meal is considered the elder 

 brother of the animals, and among the Kwakiutl proper the myth, 

 develops in such a way that Great Inventor appears as the chief of 

 the village of the Quadrupeds, while the Birds with their chief live in 

 another village. The tale is localized in the old home of the Kwakiutl 

 atQa'logwis ("Crooked Beach "). The Nootka call him Qo"icin i 'mit', 

 and localize his home at Yuquot, in the Mowa'tc!ath a territory. 



In the region of the Gulf of Georgia, and extending northward as 

 far as Bellabella, the Mink legends replace to a great extent the 

 Raven tales. We have seen, however, that the Raven tale extends 

 southward as far as the most southern Kwakiutl tribes. In frag- 

 ments it may be recognized even still farther south. The essential 

 traits of the Mink tale seem to me quite different from those of the 

 Raven tale. In our discussion of the introduction to the Raven tale 

 we shall see that there is apparently a close relation between the first 

 incident of the Mink myth (his ascent to the sky) and the beginning 

 of the Raven tale, in so far as both may be interpreted as Deluge 

 legends. The exploits of Mink are, however, quite distinct in char- 

 acter from those of the Raven. Most of them deal with marriages 

 of Mink and various kinds of beings and of his amorous propensi- 

 ties — a trait that is not so prominent in the northern tales. Never- 



