boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 619 



p. 574) ; the naming of places (Nos. 94-98, p. 574) ; the making of 

 geographical features (Nos. 96, 99-123, pp. 574, 575). 



There is no connection whatever between the Raven myth and the 

 social grouping of the people, except the vague statement, that is not 

 found embodied in any version as an important element, that Raven 

 was the ancestor of the Raven Clan. This idea is certainly foreign 

 to the Tsimshian. There is no mention whatever in the Raven myth 

 of the ancestors of any of the local subdivisions of the exogamic 

 groups. 



In this respect there is a fundamental difference between the Raven 

 myth and the Transformer tales of Vancouver Island, the coast of 

 Washington, and the delta of Fraser River, where the most important 

 tales refer to meetings between the Transformers and the ancestors 

 of village communities and tribal subdivisions. In the area of 

 northern Vancouver Island the ancestors, many of whom are con- 

 ceived as endowed with the powers of the winter ceremonial, prove 

 themselves equal to the Transformer. Others are transformed by 

 him into rocks or mountains, islands, or rivers. In still other cases 

 he bestows on them food animals. This type of tale is common on 

 Fraser River (Nos. 1-62, pp. 601-604), although there are also a 

 number of tales (Nos. 63-68, pp. 604-608) in which the Transformer 

 either is vanquished or has at least difficulty hi overcoming the 

 ancestor. On the coast of Washington the principal contents of the 

 culture-hero myth are tales of his encounters with the ancestors of 

 various villages, of the creation of food animals for their use, and of 

 gifts of implements to the villagers. The close simdarity between the 

 Transformer myth of the Kwakiutl and the Salish tribes which 

 appears here, and their intimate relation to the village communities, 

 corroborate my views, previously expressed, in regard to the recent 

 changes in the social organization among the Kwakiutl. 1 The ancient 

 paternal, or, better, bdateral family organization of the Kwakiutl 

 tribe is also clearly brought out by the table of relationship terms 

 given on p. 494. 



The whole southern coast region contains also, as part of the Trans- 

 former legend, encounters with persons who are advised of the 

 arrival of the Transformer, and who intend to kill him. These are 

 changed into various kinds of animals. In form these tales are quite 

 analogous to the meetings of the Transformer with the ancestors of 

 village communities. 



Another point in regard to which the Transformer tale of this area 

 differs from that of the north is that the Trickster tales, which play 

 an important part in the mythology of all these tribes, are entirely 

 divorced from the Transformer tales. A few of these do occur in 



