670 REroRT— 1898. 



here. It is probable that further measurements will show that the tribes 

 of Harrison Lake and the Gulf of Georgia represent a fourth type. 



The distribution of the types of man in Bi'itish Columbia has an 

 important bearing upon the much discussed question of the classification 

 of mankind ; while some anthropologists have maintained that all classi- 

 fication must be based upon considerations of language, others maintain 

 as rigorously that the main consideration must be that of physical type. 

 The data collected by the Committee show clearly that neither of these 

 contentions is entirely correct. We have seen that certain tribes — such as 

 the Bilqula, who linguistically belong to the Salish group — physically 

 belong to another group. This shows that the two phenomena do not go 

 hand in hand, but that they constantly overlap. The classification of 

 mankind according to physical characteristics takes into consideration 

 only the effects of heredity and environment upon the physical type of 

 man. E/ace mixture, isolation, and effect of environment will be reflected 

 in the results of these classifications. But there are evidently cases in 

 which a slow infiltration of foreign blood takes place, while language and 

 customs remain unaltered or changed to but a slight extent. The Bilqula 

 branched off from the Coast Salish at an early time, and retain the Salish 

 language ; but there has been an infiltration of Kwakiutl blood and of 

 Athapaskan blood, which has entirely changed the physical features of the 

 tribe. With this infiltration of foreign blood came foreign words and 

 foreign cultural elements, but they were not sufficiently powerful to change 

 the original speech of the people. 



It is clear, from these considerations, that the three methods of classi- 

 fying mankind — that according to physical characters, according to lan- 

 guage, and according to culture — all reflect the historical development of races 

 from different standpoints ; and that the results of the three classifica- 

 tions are not comparable, because the historical facts do not affect the 

 three classes of phenomena equally. A consideration of all these classes 

 of facts is needed when we endeavour to reconstruct the early history of 

 the races of mankind. 



It will be sufficient to point out in this place a few of the more general 

 results of the studies conducted by the Committee on the cultures of the 

 primitive people of British Columbia. In the Reports of the Committee 

 only brief abstracts were given of the mythologies and traditions of the 

 tribes, but full collections were made ; and a comparison of these has led 

 to the following results : — The culture of the coast tribes of the Province 

 is quite uniform. It has reached its highest development in the district 

 extending from Queen Charlotte Islands to northern Vancouver Island. 

 As we depart from this region, a gradual change in arts and customs 

 takes place, and together with it we find a gradual diminution in the 

 number of myths which the distant tribes have in common with the 

 people of British Columbia. At the same time a gradual change in the 

 incidents and general character of the legends takes place. 



We can in this manner trace what we might call a dwindling-down 

 of an elaborate cyclus of myths to mere adventures, or even to incidents 

 of adventures, and we can follow the process step by step. Wherever 

 this distribution can be traced, we have a clear and undoubted example 

 of the gradual dissemination of a myth over neighbouring tribes. The 

 phenomena of distribution can be explained only by the theory that the 

 tales have been carried from one tribe to its neighbours, and by the tribe 

 ■which has newly acquired them in turn to its own neighbours. It is not 



