FEACHTKNBERGJ 



AI.SEA TEXTS AND MYIIIS 11 



of his Dative texts. Tlie three traditions told to him in Enghsh were 

 recorded in short but loose sentences; they had no titles and were not 

 paragraphed. In editing them I arranged the sentences in what 

 seemed to be logical consecutive order, amplifying them whenever 

 necessary, but trying to avoid changes in style as much as possible. 

 I also supplied them with what seemed to be the most appropriate 

 titles and paragraphed them in accordance with the distinct incidents 

 which they contain. From considerations of a linguistic character, 

 as well as from the point of view of subject matter, the material 

 collected by Doctor Farrand forms the more important part of the 

 present collection. His texts contain archaic forms, and are told in 

 a style and language of which neither of my informants seemed to 

 be capable; while the creation myths obtained by him are replete 

 with valuable mythological data which could not have been collected 

 through the medium of my informants. This is especially true of 

 creation myths numbered 5 and 6, both of which, despite their 

 numerous defects, have proved a veritable source for a clear under- 

 standing of Alsea mythology and folklore. 



In preparing this volume for publication it w^as deemed best to 

 group the traditions in the most convenient way consonant with 

 the subject matter they contain and the importance that may be 

 attached to them. Consequently, a grouping which would have 

 separated the traditions in accordance with the two distmct collec- 

 tions was* disregarded. Similarly, a division based on the chro- 

 nological order i"n which the various texts were obtained was rejected 

 as unsuitable. Finally, it was decided to tabiUate the texts in 

 accordance with the types which they represent. For that reason 

 all creation mythg are grouped together. These are followed by 

 the several miscellaneous tales. These, in turn, are succeeded by 

 the narratives that contain ethnological and historical data, fol- 

 lowed by the texts embodying superstitious beliefs. The narratives 

 obtained in English only are grouped together at the end. 



The texts recorded in the present volume can not be said to rep- 

 resent a complete and exhaustive collection of all the myths and 

 traditions common to the Alsea Indians. However,' in spite of this 

 incompleteness, sufficient data are presented here to give an insight 

 into the philosophical concepts held by these Indians concerning the 

 cosmos and its origin, the creation of mankind, and similar subjects, 

 and to obtain a clear understanding of the exact aspects of Alsea 

 mythology, and of the intimate connection which exists between 

 the folklore of the Alsea Indians and that of the neighboring tribes. 

 iS'o attempt was made to correlate Alsea mythology with the mythol- 

 ogies of the tribes inhabiting the area east of the Rocky Mountains 

 and the South. Consequently, all comparativ^e work was confined 

 to a concordance between the traditions of this tribe and the folk- 



