CIV ETHNOdRAPHIG SKIiTC.1. 



rei)uted to be a relative (sha-amoksli) of Marten, and consequently of 

 K'mukamtch ; he stayed at the lodg'e of the five Thunders at the time when 

 it was burnt down, pp. 112. 113. One of liis residences is at Mount Shasta. 



Other quadrupeds frequently mentioned in these stories are tlie skunk 

 (tclu'ishash), the three different kinds of deer, tlie antdope (tchi'-u), the elk 

 (vu'n), the mole (nuVnk, Mod. mu-ue). Men or Indians appear but inci- 

 dentally in beast stories, as pshe-utiwash, a plural noun, and are engaged 

 only as a passive element in every occurrence where they are mentioned. 



Among the birch the most prominent p;ut is assigned to the raven (Kak, 

 Kakaratch), for he is Fate jjersonified, and his office is to punish by death 

 all those who act antagonistically to liis or his allies' interests. This is done 

 by changing them into rocks. In all nations the croaking, doleful cries 

 of the raven leav^e a deep impression on the human mind, and hence in 

 mythology the raven fulfills the function of a soothsayer and messenger of 

 woe. In British Columbia and farther to the northwest he is (as Yehl) 

 considered the creator of all organisms, and almost all the folklore centers 

 around him as the main figure. 



Tiie golden earjle or the one "floating in the skies" (P'laiwash) is in the 

 Klamath lore mentioned as often as the raven, either alone or as a family 

 of five brothers, but does not command so much respect as the raven does. 



The tcater birds, as cranes, ducks, geese, coots, form the light infantry 

 of the mythologic make-up, and mostly figure in crowds of five or ten, 

 the coot representing the Ojibwe Shingibis so well known through Long- 

 fellow's Hiawatha. Some of the lower organisms rise to an unexpected 

 dignity, like the woodtick or slikd'ks, which becomes the wife of the tricky 

 Marten, and a caterpillar of beautiful colors, whose exterior makes him the 

 rival or "master of the sun" (shapsam ptchiwip). Aishish counts among 

 his plural wives two butterflies of the gayest colors. 



PRINCIPLES OF MYTHIFICATION. 



The idea that every phenomenon and every change observed in nature 

 and mind is caused by some spirit, ghost, genius, god, or other mysterious, 

 generally invisible agent, embodies what we call animism, and forms the 

 foundation ot all rc^ligioiis of tli(^ world, however al)straet they may have 



