120 MASKS AND LABRETS. 



which takes whales in its claws and devours them, the flapping of 

 whose wiugs produces thunder, and who launches (at Neeah Bay) a 

 supernatural tish 1 [Hippocampus), which appears to mortals as light- 

 ning. The Tlinkit form of the myth may be found in Alaska and its 

 Resources, pages 423, i'2i. 



This myth, in some form or other, seems to be very widespread on the 

 West American coast. I have been informed that the ancient Mexican 

 mythology included a belief in such a creature. Further north it is 

 known to be spread from Washington Territory to Prince William 

 Sound, where the Innuit begin to occupy the coast. Prof. E. W. Nel- 

 son astonished me by declaring that it exists among the Innuit of the 

 shores of Bering Sea, and proved his point by producing a carving of 

 the very bird from the Diomede Islands in Bering Strait. 



This is another of the links which bind diverse West American na- 

 tions into a mysterious partnership. 



1 See Swan, Indians of Cape Flattery, pp. 8, 9. 



