876 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [bth. axn. 31 



appears, however, in quite different connections in other regions (see 

 p. 818). The same is true of the story of the Killer Whale who car- 

 ries away the woman, which among the Tsimshian belongs to the 

 GunaxnesEmg'a'd tale, but appears among neighboring tribes in this 

 connection, by itself, or in other connections. Other examples of 

 similar kind are quite numerous. 



The literary device that holds together each one of these tales con- 

 sists in the use of the interest in the hero that has been created by the 

 introductory story, and that makes the audience desirous of knowing 

 about the hero's fiu'ther deeds and adventures. The greater the 

 personal interest in the hero, the more marked is the desire to. attach 

 to his name some of the favorite exploits that form the subject of 

 folk-tales. T presume this is the reason why in so many cases the 

 introductory tales differ enormously, while the adventures and 

 exploits themselves show a much greater degree of uniformity. I 

 have tried to elucidate this point somewhat fully in connection with 

 the Transformer and Raven tales (pp. 567 et seq.). When a large 

 number of the same exploits is thus ascribed to the heroes of different 

 tribes, it seems to happen easily that the heroes are identified. There- 

 fore I imagine that the steps in the development of a culture-hero 

 myth may have been in many cases the following: An interesting story 

 told of some personage; striking and important exploits ascribed to 

 him ; similar tales of these personages occurring among various tribes ; 

 identification of the heroes of different tribes. While I do not assume 

 that this lino of development has occurred every single time, — and it 

 seems to me rather plausible that in other cases the introductory 

 story and the adventures may have come to be associated in other 

 ways, — it may be considered as proved that introduction and adven- 

 tures do not belong together by oiigin, but are results of later asso- 

 ciation. The great diversity of associations of this type compels us 

 to take this point of view. 



On the whole, in the peculiar development of Northwest-coast 

 literature, the interest in the personality of the hero is a sufficient 

 means of establishing and maintaining these connections. Never- 

 theless there are a few cases at least in which the adventures conform 

 to a certain definite character of the hero. I have pointed out that 

 this is the case in the Raven, Mink, and Coyote tales, in which greed, 

 amorous propensities, and vaingloriousness are the chief character- 

 istics of the three heroes (see p. 618). In tales that have a more 

 human background these tendencies are hardly ever developed. 



The large number of Raven incidents that have been recorded and 

 discussed in the present investigation show also that the imagination 

 of the Indians revels in the development of certain definite themes, 

 that are determined by the character of the hero, or that lend them- 

 selves in other ways to variation. Thus Raven's voraciousness, that 



