boas] COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 625 



by the water. When the house was nearly full T16 120,* Raven put on the skin of the 

 white bird Tl 3, T16 120 p^ird Tl 4, raven Kai 5]; his mother, that of the cox T16 120 

 [diver Kai 5, bird Tl 4]. He flew up to the clouds or the sky Tl 4, T16 120, Kai 5, 

 from which he hung by hia beak Tl 4, T16 120 for ten days Tl 4 [nobody knows hi rw li ing 

 T16 120] until the flood reached hia leet Tl 4 [his tail Tl 3]. [The uncle's hat rose up 

 to the sky; and Raven put his feet against the hat, his beak against the sky, and 

 finally pressed his uncle down, thus drowning him Kai 5.] He waited for the water 

 to run off, then pulled his beak out of the cloud or sky Tl 4, T16 120, and prayed to 

 fall on a piece of kelp T16 120 [fell on kelp Tl 3, Tl 4; on a stone, where he hurt 

 himself; this is the cause of all sickness Tl 2]. The water had receded to half the 

 height of the mountains when he fell down T16 120. 



TYPE II. HAIDA 



(5 versions: Ma 293, 296, 308; Ska 110, 118; [Skfe 110]; Skgr 138 ' [see also 8.74]; 

 Hai 5.306; Harrison 2 [cited respectively Ma, Ska, Skb, Skg, 8, Hai 5]) 



The Haida version of the Raven legend is not as clear as that of the 

 Tlingit. As stated before, the Kaigani Haida tale which I collected 

 in 1888 (Kai 5.306) agrees in form with the Tlingit tale, and must be 

 classed with these. We have one version of the Haida form of the 

 story, obtained in 1900 by Swanton, from members of the Skidegate 

 group Ska 110; another one obtained by me in 1897 from a member of 

 the Rose Spit group Skg 138; furthermore, we have Harrison's version 

 from Masset, 2 Dawson's very brief account (1.149B), and fragments 

 recorded by me in 1888 from Skidegate Haida 5.306. Swanton's 

 Masset series M and Kaigani series Kai do not contain the begin- 

 ning of the tale. Incidents of the introduction are, however, referred 

 to M 293, 296, 30S. 



In both its fullest versions the whole story is characterized by 

 repetitions, which are obviously not due to faulty telling, but which 

 must belong to it, since they appear in these versions as well as in 

 some of the fragments. These must therefore not bo excluded in the 

 reconstruction of the essential form of the tale. All the versions 

 also lack in one point or another in coherence. We shall discuss this 

 feature later on. 



I will give, first of all, a summary of the essential elements in their 

 most plausible secmence: 



Chief Hole In His Fin, of a town on Rose Spit, and his wife Flood- 

 Tide Woman, had an infant son who cried, and would not be quieted 

 until his father's sister, Ice Woman, took him on her arms, so that 

 he could touch her breast. By supernatural means he made the 

 people sleep, and lay with his aunt. At the same time the chief's 

 nephew, Fin Turned Back, was the lover of Flood-Tide Woman. 

 Therefore the chief sent his wife and son back to her brother, Great 

 Breakers. 



1 A Masset version. 



2 See Harrison, Religion and Family among the Haida (Journal of the Anthropological ImtituU o] Cunt 

 Britain and Inland, xxi, 1S92, pp. 1 l-2«,i i 



50633°— 31 eth— 16 41) 



