XIV. 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF TRADITIONS, MYTSS, AND FOLKLORE- 

 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



The traditions and myths of the northern group of the northwest 

 coast (Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian) are very similar, but with pecul- 

 iar local variations. No attempt can be made here other than to out- 

 line the principal tradition of the creation and of the origin of man, 

 and that only to illustrate the general character of their beliefs and 

 ideas, [n their legends and traditions we have the unconscious ex- 

 l^ression of their religious, moral, and sesthetic ideas, their views of life 

 and death, their cosmogonj^ and astrology, their fanciful biographies 

 and history, and their explanations of all the i^henomena of nature. 

 Related around the log lire in the family circle, with loud and confident 

 voice, with labored and dramatic imitations and gestures, and listened 

 to with wrapt attention by the inmates of the lodge, they represent the 

 history of human thought — the blind gropings of the mind to know — 

 in this narrow pocket of the world, and as such are as worthy of care- 

 ful compilation and study as if they were facts of veritable history. 



The creator of all things and the benefactor of man was the great 

 raven called by the Tlingit Yetl^ YeshU or Yeatl^ and by the Haida Ne- 

 Ml-Htlas. He was not exactly an ordinary bird, but, like all old Indian 

 mythical characters, had many human attributes, and the power of 

 transforming himself into anything in the world. His coat of feathers 

 could be put on or taken off at will like a garment, and he could as- 

 sume any character whatever. He existed before his birth, never 

 grows old, will never die. Numerous are the stories of his adventures 

 in peopling the world and giving to man the earth, fire, fresh water, life, 

 fish, game, etc. According to the Haida and Kaigani the first people 

 sprung from a cockle-shell {Cardium corbis, Mart). Nelcil-stlas became 

 very lonely and began to look about him for a mate, but could find 

 none. At last he took a cockle shell from the beach, and marrying it, 

 he still continued to brood and think earnestly of his wish for a com- 

 panion. By and by he heard a faint cry in the shell, which gradually 

 became louder till at last a little female child was seen, which by de- 

 grees grew to be a woman and married the raven. From this union 

 came all the Indians of this region, who at first lived in darkness and 

 want. As they multiplied Yetl or Ne-Ml-stlas endowed them with the 

 various gifts of light, fresh water, fire, etc. All these were in the pos- 



