12 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

from Snuisli. My informant’s grandchildren regard them-
selves as Snuisli boys, and their names are embodied in myths
of that village, although their forbears have not lived there
for five generations. There is no reason to suppose this case
exceptional. Other instances were obtained of movements of
people from one village to another at earlier times, and there
seems no cause to doubt the general accuracy of these. Names
embodied in the origin myths of different towns are used as
prerogatives and have been potent factors in keeping their
memory alive. Uncertainties and inaccuracies there must be
in the foregoing list, but on the whole it appears to be fairly
reliable, since few contradictions were received from different
informants.

Accounts obtained of the same ceremonies from the descen-
dants of people of different villages were found in most cases to
be identical. There were a few differences in custom between
the people of Stuux.and those of the other upper valley towns
on the one hand, and the inhabitants of the lower valley on
the other. These will be mentioned when necessary, but on
the whole the inhabitants of the Bella Coola valley ‘can be
considered as a tribal entity.

Boas (p. 48) gives a list of Bella Coola towns which agrees
fairly well with the above. Among his villages are included
Pe-asla (no. 4), Nuixuxtskwan-e (no. -7), and Nusdisum (no.
16). All the older people agreed that these are the names of
streams, though settlements located on them may have been
known by the same designations. Names of the five villages
recorded by Boas, nos. 6, 8, 9, 19, and 24, were not known by
several old men questioned on the subject.

The villages of the Bella Coola valley did not form a political
unit; each was independent. A common language was spoken
throughout and the inhabitants of the different towns recog-
nized that their origins and customs were similar. This was
also recognized to be the case with regard to the people living
on South Bentinck Arm, and at the head of Dean Channel.

12Using in each case the spelling of this monograph.