Mabch 25, 1887.J 



SCIENCE. 



289 



supreme being, that the identity of both be- 

 comes highly probable. The tribes of the south- 

 ern part of Vancouver Island ascribe to the mink 

 all the exploits that are told farther north as hav- 

 ing been accomplished by the raven, and add a 

 great number of others which belong to the mink 

 alone. The Qomoks of the central part of Van- 

 couver Island relate both traditions separately. 

 Those of the raven refer to its voracious appetite, 

 while those of the mink have a highly erotic 

 character. 



The Qomoks, Heiltsuk, and the Bilhula of Ben- 

 tinck Arm are particularly interesting, as we may 

 observe with them the transferrence of legends 

 from one tribe to another. The Bilhula have a 

 tradition of their own describing the origin of 

 mountains, woods, and animals, which, though in- 

 fluenced by the legends of the Tlingit and Tsitnp- 

 shian, has a peculiar character. They say that after 

 the raven had created the sun, four men — Mas- 

 masalanigh, Yulatimot, Matlapalitsek, and Matli- 

 pekoagh — descended from heaven and created 

 every thing, after which they returned. Masmas- 

 alanigh and the raven are said to be identical, and 

 all his works originated in Yulatimot's mind. 

 The same tradition is found among the Heiltsuk. 

 Though they speak a dialect of the Kwakiutl, 

 their customs and their belief are closely allied 

 to those of the Bilhula. They say that two men, 

 Masmasalanigh and Noakaua, descended from 

 heaven and created every thing. Similarly the 

 Qomoks, who belong to the Selish family, have 

 adopted a great number of traditions and customs 

 of the Kwakiutl. 



The most important of these is the cannibalism 

 connected with the winter dances. The custom 

 prevails among the Kwakiutl, Tsimpshian, BUhula, 

 and Qomoks, and is said by some natives to be prac- 

 tised by the Tlingit. According to the Kwakiutl 

 tradition, one of their ancestors descended from 

 heaven, wearing a ring of red-cedar bark, and 

 taught people the cannibal ceremonies. The 

 Tsimpshian tell of a man who, in pursuit of a bear, 

 came to a mountain that closed upon him. In 

 the interior he learned the dances connected with 

 the cannibal ceremonies, and taught them to his 

 tribe after his return. This custom has evidently 

 been adopted only by the Bilhula, as none of the 

 Selish tribes except the Qomoks practise it. The 

 latter have adopted only part of the ceremonies, 

 and replace the terrible practice of devouring 

 corpses by eating artificial ones, that are made by 

 sewing dried halibut to a human skeleton. 



Among the northern tribes originated the use 

 of the well-known copper plates, which are highly 

 prized, and which increase in value the more 

 frequently they change their proprietor, and the 



longer their history is. They became known to 

 the Bilhula quite recently, and I am told by old 

 natives that they have never been in use among 

 the Indians at the mouth of Fraser River. 



There is a remarkable difference between the 

 social institutions of the Tsimpshian, Tlingit, and 

 Haida, and those of the rest of the tribes. Among 

 the former the children belong to the gens to 

 which the mother belongs : among the latter they 

 follow the father's gens. This fact indicates a 

 close connection between the Kwakiutl and Selish 

 tribes ; and, as a consideration of the languages 

 shows some affinity of the two peoples, it is pos- 

 sible that the Kwakiutl are a remote branch of the 

 Selish stock. The animal crest which prevails in 

 the north is not found among the southern tribes. 

 Their gentes derive their origin from a fabulous 

 being which descended from heaven dressed in a 

 bird's skin or in the shape of a man. Members 

 of one gens are not allowed to intermarry, but 

 have to take their wife or husband from another 

 gens. In some of the tribes there are as many as 

 from fifteen to twenty gentes. 



Every tribe owns its district for fishing and 

 hunting purposes and for gathering berries. In- 

 side the boundaries of the tribe, each family has 

 its own claim to certain rivers and parts of the 

 coast, which they derive from their ancestor ; but 

 we are far from knowing the actual distribution 

 of tribes and gentes. Even their number and 

 names are still doubtful in many of the districts. 



The common culture which extends over tribes 

 of a great number of linguistic stocks of the 

 north-west coast is one of the most attractive 

 problems of American ethnology, and one deserv- 

 ing a thorough study. However, the ethnological 

 character of these Indians is disappearing rapidly 

 through their permanent contact with the whites ; 

 and within a few years it will be too late to collect 

 the vast material that may readily be gathered at 

 the present time. Puget Sound, the Selish of the 

 interior, the Tsimpshian, are actually unknown, 

 and an explorer may glean ample results by visit- 

 ing some of these tribes, and contribute new and 

 valuable material to American ethnology. 



LONDON LKITER. 



The theory of Prof. G. H. Darwin, enunciated 

 in a recent number of the Fortnightly review, that 

 the actual origin of earthquake-shocks is usually 

 to be traced below the bed of the sea not far from 

 the coast, will probably receive a certain amount 

 of confirmation when all the observations on the 

 recent earthquake in the Riviera are collated and 

 discussed. The steamship Carina, of Cardiff, off 

 Savona, on the morning of the fatal Wednesday, 



