INDIANS OF: BRITISH COLUMBIA. ' Bs

Among the Coast Salish and the northern tribes of Kwakiutl lineage, a great number of fables and tales refer to the mink, but these are similar in character to those told by the Tlingit and their neighbors referring to the raven. It is only among the Snanaimugq that the mink is of some importance, as he obtained the fire. The legend says the ghosts were in the sole possession of the fire. Mink wanted to have it, and for this purpose stole the infant child of the chief of the ghosts. Vhe ghosts pursued him, but did not dare to attack him, and offered in exchange for the child, furs, mountain-goat blankets, and deer-skins, and finally the fire-drill. Mink accepted the latter, and thus obtained the fire. From all we know about the traditions of the Northwest American Indians, it seems that the series of legends treating of mink as the son of the sun are confined to the Bilqula and Kwakiutl, and that they have spread to some extent among their northern and southern neighbors. As the mink occupies a position of similar importance to that of the raven, many of the adventures and exploits of the latter are also told of the former. We have shown above that the Bilqula are closely related to the Coast Salish. As the latter have no legends referring to the mink as the son of the sun, we conclude that the Bilqula adopted them from the Kwakiutl. Thus we have found a second centre from which the folklore of Northwest America has spread.

We have frequent occasion to mention the important part played by the sun in the legends of these Indians. The farther south we proceed, the more important becomes the sun as a mythological figure. Among the Coast Salish ‘we observe that he is worshipped, although no offerings are made to him, while it is said that the Salish of the interior burn food, blankets, and other property as an offering to the sun. The most important of the legends referring to the sun, which are known only in the southern parts of the coast, are those referring to his murder, and the origin of the new sun and of the moon. Lin- guistic research has shown that, among a great number of tribes of this region, sun and moon haye the same name; and a study of the legends shows that they are really consi- dered one and the same person, or at least as two brothers. These facts are so important that I shall give one of the traditions belonging to this group. I. heard it told by a Catloltq at Comox.

A long time ago the gum was a man named Momhani’tc, who was blind. As he was unable to endure the heat of the sun, he went, during the night, fishing. When the day began to dawn, his wife came down to the beach and called him, saying, “ Hasten to come home. The sun is going to rise.” Thus he returned before it grew warm. One day, however, his wife slept too long, and when she awoke she saw that it was daylight. She ran to the beach and called her husband to come home as quick as possible. He hastened as fast as he could, but it was too late. The sun was so hot that he melted before he reached the shore. Then his sons spoke unto one another: “ What. shall we do? We will avenge father.” And they made a chain of arrows reaching from heaven to earth, and climbed up. They killed the sun with their arrows. And they thought, “What shall we do next ?”” The older one said, ‘“‘ Let us be the sun.” And he asked his brother where he wanted to go. The latter answered, “I will go to the night: you go to

the day.” And they did so. The younger brother became the moon, the elder the sun.

Connected with the sun myths we find the legend of the wanderer. He is considered the son of the deity, and called by the Coast Salish Qéls, and by the Kwakiutl K:anikila He instituted the laws and customs which are rigidly observed, and he transformed man