384 W. THALBITZER. 
Many of these legends vanish into the mists of antiquity and some 
may have followed the Eskimo on their migrations from the shores of 
Bering Strait. Some of them I refind in variant forms in E. W. Nelson’s 
material from S. W. Alaska (see further my introductory notes to 
nos. 215 and 218); others are recognised by Franz Boas as having their 
origin in Alaska (see his brief but important notes on the Eskimos 
of Port Clarence, Alaska). 
Franz Boas identifies the “sun-myth” as known in Alaska and 
shows the influence in it of the mythology of the Indians. Further, 
he found the Greenlandic tale about “the mistress of the sea animals” 
known at Port Clarence as also the myth about “the woman who mar- 
ried a dog and who had ten children, five of whom were dogs, while 
the other five became the ancestors of the Eqidlit or Indians.” — In 
an earlier paper I have discussed the spread eastward of various Green- 
landic tale-motives and hero- and folk-names, Kaatatik = WGr. Kaas- 
assuk, EGr. Koopajeeq; Alhlet, Tornit, etc.” While there is no doubt 
but that the Erqilhlit and Tornit of the Greenlanders are to be found 
in the Eskimo names of foreign tribes (Indian neighbors) as far off as 
the northern part of the Northwest Territory, the case is different with 
the parallel EGr. Ingalilik |Inalilik] — Al. Ingalik (= Inkalik), for, in 
spite of the great similarity in the spelling of these names, they have 
probably no connection with each other. Formerly, in accord with 
Holm’s hypothesis (see First Part p. 230) I believed that they had, 
but the different authors’ variant forms of Ingalik, (Inkilik, etc.) and 
their notes on the matter show that Al. inga or inka (probably = inga) 
is an older form of erga and that as a result Inkalik is merely an 
old Alaskan dialect form corresponding to the Erqilik of the eastern 
tribes, and has the same meaning (literally, having егдед ‘louse’s egg’, 
an expression of scorn used of the Indians).” The Greenlandic Ipalilik 
means on the other hand, ‘having a cooking utensil’, thus designating 
an inland-dweller who carries a pot or a lamp on his person when 
on a journey (“а pot-troll”). 
As a rule the Alaskan variants of the myths and legends are 
distinguished by being far more complete than the eastern variants, 
and by containing more details. In the science of folk-lore this is 
considered a proof that the traditions are further removed from the 
original form or style, but in this instance the content of the tradi- 
tions is such that we may suppose that in many respects the Alaskan 
versions, in spite of super-abundance of detail, are closer to the original 
form than the Greenlandic. 
These productions are like comets with the true idea as a star- 
like nucleus to which loose and varying details are fastened like a 
a broad but pliable tail. Often the very nature of these details 
first reveals to us that two very distant variants belong to the same 
legend-nucleus. In some cases, the East Greenland legend-variant 
1 Boas, 1894, pp. 205—207. 
2 Thalbitzer, 1913, especially pp. €8 ff. French résumé рр. 94—96. See also G. 
Holm’s parallels (First Part, p.231) with Boas’ legendary material from Baffin’s- 
land, and Rink: Eskimo Tribes, 1891, p.17—21. 
3 This is the interpretation of Е. W. Nelson (1899, р. 307); Е. Barnum (1901) р. 336 
inkik ‘nits’; Schultze (1894) р. 37 in'get ‘nits’; Hawkes (1913) р. 13 Inkilik; see 
also Handbook Amer. Ind. under Ingalik and Inkalich. 
