ON THE NOKTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 549 



American Folk-lore ' for July-September 1890.' It will be sufiBcient to 

 say bere tbat tbe words in question, wben used by any islanders (and 

 sometimes by coast tribes) in a myth ascribing a celestial or an under- 

 ground origin to their ancestors, are found to have meant originally 

 ' from tbe windward ' and ' from the leeward.' When used by inland 

 tribes they have usually signified, in the first instance, ' down-stream ' and 

 'up-stream.' Thus the Iroquois have two traditions of their origin, 

 the one purely historical and the other merely mythical — the latter 

 derived from the former by a perversion of the sense of these terms. The 

 former describes their ancestors as ascending the St. Lawrence River in 

 canoes from the neighbourhood of Quebec to the southern coast of Lake 

 Ontario, at or near Oswego. The mythical legend makes them literally 

 ' come from below ' by finding their way through an opening which led 

 upward from a subterranean abode beneath a mountain near Oswego. 

 So the curiously combined tradition and myth of the Kootenays inform 

 us that, in their opinion, their ancestors formerly dwelt in some locality 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, and had arrived at that locality by an 

 earlier ascent, doubtless up the Saskatchewan River. That they had 

 been steadily forced westward by their persistent enemies and supplanters, 

 the warlike Algonkians of the powerful Blackfoot confederacy, seems 

 clear from the concurring traditions of both parties. 



Seport on the Kootenay Indians of South-IE astern British Golnmhia. 

 By Dr. A. F. Chamberlain. 



Intboductort. 



The present report contains a summary of the results of the investi- 

 gations of the writer on behalf of the British Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science during the summer of 1891 in South-eastern British 

 Columbia. The Indians visited were the various tribes of the Ki'tSna'Qa, 

 or Kootenays, about whom comparatively little was previously known. 

 They were studied in regard to physical characteristics, sociology, folk- 

 lore, and language. 



The investigations were conducted under all the difficulties incidental 

 to scientific research in a new country, and the writer takes this oppor- 

 tunity of thanking Mr. Michael Phihpps, the Indian agent, and his good 

 friends in the Kootenay district who did all in their power to make his 

 sojourn pleasant and to advance the objects of his visit. Particularly 

 does he desire to express to the Hon. R. L. T. Galbraith, ex-M.P.P., of 

 Fort Steele, his gratitude for the many courtesies shown him, and for 

 the hearty manner in which he endorsed and encouraged the writer in 

 his movements amongst the Indians ; to Father Coccolo and the Sisters 

 of the Mission of St. Eugene he returns thanks for their hospitality and 

 the willingness with which they used their influence with the Indians on 

 behalf of science. To Mr. David McLaughlin, of Idaho, his thanks are 

 also due for turning to good use, in favour of the writer, the great 

 influence which he possesses over the Lower Kootenay Indians, and for 

 useful information concerning these aborigines.^ 



' 'Above and Below': a Mytliological Disease of Language. By H. Hale. 



2 To Dr. Franz Boas, of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., the writer desires 

 to acknowledge his indebtedness for much kind advice, and to express his apprecia- 

 tion of his courtesy in placing at his disposal, during the preparation of this report, 

 his manuscript vocabulary of the Upper Kootenay language. 



