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flicts, of blood-feuds and quarrels over women, of orphans who grew 
up to avenge the murders of their parents, of famines, and long 
journeys by land and sea in search of food. The Indians on the 
coast of British Columbia told of the rivalry of chiefs, of potlatches 
and the struggles for wealth and position, and of journeys up and 
down the coast for trade and warfare.^ From the plains there are 
anecdotes of the march and of the buffalo hunt, accounts of the 
search for medicine-power and of the origins of amulets and medicine- 
bundles, and endless stories of raids for scalps and horses. Tales of 
war and of medicine-power were popular, also, among the Iroquoians 
and eastern Algonkians, but these tribes have absorbed so many 
European tales during the last three centuries that it is not easy to 
disentangle their original folk-lore, except the myths that belong to 
tlie first cycle. 
It is noticeable that in every area, but particularly on the plains, 
many tales are frankly modelled on exactly the same plot. A story 
that describes the origin of a certain medicine-bundle will be repeated 
with the change of a few names for several other bundles, as though 
this particular plot has carried a special appeal. Another stylistic 
feature, common in European folk-lore also,- is the repetition of the 
same incident over and over again for the purpose of holding the 
listener in susj^ense and retaining his interest. Thus in a Tsimshian 
tale a woman cries out for aid, and the animals come one after 
another to offer their services. Each asks the same question and 
receives the same answer, until the words become a refrain that 
lingers in the mind and serves as a text for the entire story. Many 
plains’ and west coast tales specialize in repeating the incident four 
times. Four brothers in succession will start out on a journey and 
only the youngest be successful, or a man will undergo four tests and 
succeed only at the last. In this respect the folk-lore parallels some 
of the religious rituals, which were commonly repeated four times; 
and it reminds us of the use of the number seven in the ancient 
rituals and folk-lore of western Asia. 
1 Boas has successfully reconsinicted niany phases in the social life of the T.simshian solely from 
their mythology (Boas, F. : “Tsimshian Mythology,” p. 393 et seq, 31st Ann. Kept., Bur, Am. Ethn,, 
1909-1910 (Washington, 1916)). Such a prttcedure however, requires extraordinary caution. The Sekani 
Indian.s at the headwaters of Peace river, for example, absorfjefl many myths from the Carriers and 
Tsimshian which pre-suppose potlatches ancl distinctions of rank, although neither ever became estab- 
lished among the Sekani. 
2 Cf. the story of the “ Three Billy-Goats that go to the Mountain.” 
