CONCLUSION 



The comparative material contained in the preceding chapter 

 illustrates a number of points that are of importance for the inter- 

 pretative study of modern primitive mythology. 



In my first attempt at a comparative study of the folk-lore of the 

 North Pacific coast, which was published as the concluding chapter of 

 my "Indianische Sagen" (1895), I pointed out that the Tsimshian 

 take a somewhat exceptional position among neighboring tribes, and 

 seem to be recent intruders on the coast (p. 347). 



The much fuller collections which have since been accumulated, 

 largely through the activities of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 

 through Swanton's work among the Tlingit, and Hill-Tout's collections 

 on the Gulf of Georgia, demonstrate that the Tsimshian possess a 

 number of stories that show close affinities to those of the Western 

 Plateaus, and that these have not spread among the more southern 

 coast tribes. Whether or not the Tsimshian differ fundamentally in 

 this respect from the more southern coast tribes, which have many 

 tales in common with their inland neighbors, will appear when a 

 careful analysis of other coast and inland mythologies has been made. 

 It is certainly true that the inland stories have, on the whole, not 

 gained a wide distribution along the coast, so that they are prob- 

 ably comparatively recent acquisitions. 



Most remarkable among the inland stories found among the 

 Tsimshian is that of the brothers who become sun and moon (p. 727), 

 which has direct relationship to the corresponding tales of the Shu- 

 swap, Lower Thompson Indians, Okanagon, Kutenai, Wishram, and 

 Wasco, but which has no analogue whatever on the North Pacific 

 coast. The relationship of the second part of the story, which deals 

 with the origin of the seasons, points even more markedly eastward. 

 References to this story occur in Tlingit and Haida mythology, but 

 they are so fragmentary that they are hardly intelligible. The 

 story itself is fully developed among the Shuswap, Shoshoni, Assini- 

 boin, and northern Athapascan. To the group of stories with inland 

 affiliations belongs also "How Raven Makes a Princess Sitk and 

 Cures Her" (p. 722), which is well known among the Thompson 

 Indians, but occurs also among the Wishram and Tillamook, and in a 

 modified form among the Kwakiutl. Other tales of this class are 

 that of "The Beaver and Porcupine" (p. 724) and that of "The 

 Four Chiefs of the Winds" (p. 732). It seems plausible, that a f idler 

 of Carrier mythology would show that we are dealing here 



