boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAX MYTHOLOGY 587 



introduction is used also by the Lower Thompson Indians (U 218), 

 and has been recorded as far east as Lytton, at the confluence of 

 Fraser and Thompson Rivers (5.16; Teit 3.317). It is also referred 

 to as belonging to the Lillooet of Fraser River (Lil 350), while 

 most of the Upper Thompson Indians (Teit 2.42, Hill-Tout 1.195, 

 Ntl Teit 3.315) and the Shuswap (5.1, Sh 644) lack this part of the 

 introduction. Since most of the inland tribes state definitely that 

 these Transformers came from the coast, it seems plausible that this 

 introduction belonged originally to the region of the Fraser River 

 Delta. The tale itself has a wide distribution and is often not con- 

 nected with the Transformer cycle. Examples are K 5. 168; K 11.15; 

 Co 5.S1; Ntl Teit 2.69; Lil 322; Sh 681; Kath 118; Takelma 117; 

 Klamath US. 1 



The Shuswap version, referred to before, shows certain indications 

 of a relationship to the Chilcotin introduction. In the version 5.1 

 it is stated that a woman threw medicine on her three sons, who 

 attained magical power; while the oldest one, whom she missed, 

 became a dog. In both these versions the Transformers use a magical 

 staff in their exploits (see pp. 610 et seq.). 



Among the Quinault and Chinook a quite different formula is used as 

 introduction. A woman is carried away by a Grizzly Bear. She has a 

 son and a daughter. The Bear kills her brothers, except the youngest 

 one, who burns the abductor and his son in their house. The brothers 

 are revived, and on their way home they bathe in a lake. There the 

 sister is transformed into a lake-monster. The daughter marries a 

 chief. 2 Bluejay induces her to laugh, in consequence of which she 

 becomes a cannibal. Her twin sons discover what she has done, and 

 punish her. They become the Transformers (Chin 17; Quin 81). 



Among the Comox (5.63), Cowichan (5.45), Squamish (5.56), and 

 Puyallup of Puget Sound, 3 no introduction has been recorded. 



In all these cases there are a number of Transformers. Among the 

 Kwakiutl, Nootka, Quinault, and Chinook, they are twins. The Bear 

 children of the interior, referred to before, are brothers, although in 

 the related stories of the interior they are sometimes described as 

 friends. Among the Comox the Transformer, who is called Kumsno'ol 

 ("Our Elder Brother"), is accompanied by Raven, Mink, and a bird, 

 probably the Woodpecker. All along the Gulf of Georgia the Trans- 

 former is called Xiils, or, in reduplicated form, XExals (Sts Hill-Tout 

 5.360). By the Nitinath he is called Alis {Globus, liii [1888], 157). 



In the Nootka introduction recorded by George Hunt (Nu ap 908), 

 the Mucus Boy (see p. 734), who visits his father in the sky, becomes 

 the Transformer and is sent down to our earth. In the Nootka ver- 

 sion 5.98 no introduction has been recorded. 



1 A. S. Gatschet, The Klamath Indians (Cotltributio Its to North American Ethnology, vol. n. Pt. 1). 



2 The Quinault version begins here. 



a Boas, "Zur Mythologie der Indianer von Washington and Oregon" (Globus, vol. lxiii, p. 1.54, 1893). 



