{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19347/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19347","id":"gutenberg_19347","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19347","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Folklore","Indian mythology","Indians -- Folklore","Native America"],"text":"Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Julia Miller and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions\n(www.canadiana.org))\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nA number of typographical errors and inconsistencies have been\nmaintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a\n[TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the\nend of the text.\n\nText printed in Greek letters in the original has been surrounded by ~s.\n\nOe ligatures used in the original text have been expanded. The following\ncodes are used for characters that are not able to be represented in the\ntext format used for this version of the book.\n\n  [)a]    a with breve\n  [=a]    a with macron\n  [=e]    e with macron\n  [=u]    u with macron\n\n\n\n\n                   THE MYTHS\n                      OF\n                 THE NEW WORLD\n\n\n               A TREATISE ON THE\n            SYMBOLISM AND MYTHOLOGY\n                    OF THE\n              RED RACE OF AMERICA\n\n\n                      BY\n\n        DANIEL G. BRINTON, A. M., M. D.\n  _Memb. Hist. Soc. of Penn.; of Numismat. and\n    Antiq. Soc. of Philada.; Corresp. Memb.\n        Amer. Ethnolog. Soc.; author of\n            \"Notes on the Floridian\n               Peninsula,\" Etc._\n\n\n                   NEW YORK\n                LEYPOLDT & HOLT\n             LONDON: TR\u00dcBNER & CO.\n                     1868\n\n\n\n\n  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by\n  DANIEL G. BRINTON,\n\n  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the\n  Eastern District of Pennsylvania.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nI have written this work more for the thoughtful general reader than the\nantiquary. It is a study of an obscure portion of the intellectual\nhistory of our species as exemplified in one of its varieties.\n\nWhat are man's earliest ideas of a soul and a God, and of his own origin\nand destiny? Why do we find certain myths, such as of a creation, a\nflood, an after-world; certain symbols, as the bird, the serpent, the\ncross; certain numbers, as the three, the four, the seven--intimately\nassociated with these ideas by every race? What are the laws of growth\nof natural religions? How do they acquire such an influence, and is this\ninfluence for good or evil? Such are some of the universally interesting\nquestions which I attempt to solve by an analysis of the simple faiths\nof a savage race.\n\nIf in so doing I succeed in investing with a more general interest the\nfruitful theme of American ethnology, my objects will have been\naccomplished.\n\n  PHILADELPHIA,\n  April, 1868.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nGENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE RED RACE.\n                                                                     PAGE\nNatural religions the unaided attempts of man to find out God,\nmodified by peculiarities of race and nation.--The peculiarities of\nthe red race: 1. Its languages unfriendly to abstract ideas. Native\nmodes of writing by means of pictures, symbols, objects, and phonetic\nsigns. These various methods compared in their influence on the\nintellectual faculties. 2. Its isolation, unique in the history of the\nworld. 3. Beyond all others, a hunting race.--Principal linguistic\nsubdivisions: 1. The Eskimos. 2. The Athapascas. 3. The Algonkins and\nIroquois. 4. The Apalachian tribes. 5. The Dakotas. 6. The Aztecs. 7.\nThe Mayas. 8. The Muyscas. 9. The Quichuas. 10. The Caribs and Tupis.\n11. The Araucanians.--General course of migrations.--Age of man in\nAmerica.--Unity of type in the red race                                 1\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE IDEA OF GOD.\n\nAn intuition common to the species.--Words expressing it in American\nlanguages derived either from ideas of above in space, or of life\nmanifested by breath.--Examples.--No conscious monotheism, and but\nlittle idea of immateriality discoverable.--Still less any moral\ndualism of deities, the Great Good Spirit and the Great Bad Spirit\nbeing alike terms and notions of foreign importation                   43\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN AND APPLICATIONS.\n\nThe number Four sacred in all American religions, and the key to their\nsymbolism.--Derived from the CARDINAL POINTS.--Appears constantly in\ngovernment, arts, rites, and myths.--The Cardinal Points identified\nwith the Four Winds, who in myths are the four ancestors of the human\nrace, and the four celestial rivers watering the terrestrial\nParadise.--Associations grouped around each Cardinal Point.--From the\nnumber four was derived the symbolic value of the number _Forty_ and\nthe _Sign of the Cross_                                                66\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT.\n\nRelations of man to the lower animals.--Two of these, the BIRD and the\nSERPENT, chosen as symbols beyond all others.--The Bird throughout\nAmerica the symbol of the Clouds and Winds.--Meaning of certain\nspecies.--The symbolic meaning of the Serpent derived from its mode of\nlocomotion, its poisonous bite, and its power of charming.--Usually\nthe symbol of the lightning and the Waters.--The Rattlesnake the\nsymbolic species in America.--The war charm.--The Cross of\nPalenque.--The god of riches.--Both symbols devoid of moral\nsignificance                                                           99\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE, AND THE THUNDER-STORM.\n\nWater the oldest element.--Its use in purification.--Holy water.--The\nRite of Baptism.--The Water of Life.--Its symbols.--The Vase.--The\nMoon.--The latter the goddess of love and agriculture, but also of\nsickness, night, and pain.--Often represented by a dog.--Fire worship\nunder the form of Sun worship.--The perpetual fire.--The new\nfire.--Burning the dead.--A worship of the passions, but no sexual\ndualism in myths, nor any phallic worship in America.--Synthesis of\nthe worship of Fire, Water, and the Winds in the THUNDER-STORM,\npersonified as Haokah, Tupa, Catequil, Contici, Heno, Tlaloc,\nMixcoatl, and other deities, many of them triune                      122\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE.\n\nAnalysis of American culture myths.--The Manibozho or Michabo of\nthe Algonkins shown to be an impersonation of LIGHT, a hero of the\nDawn, and their highest deity.--The myths of Ioskeha of the\nIroquois, Viracocha of the Peruvians, and Quetzalcoatl of the\nToltecs essentially the same as that of Michabo.--Other\nexamples.--Ante-Columbian prophecies of the advent of a white race\nfrom the east as conquerors.--Rise of later culture myths under\nsimilar forms                                                         159\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE MYTHS OF THE CREATION, THE DELUGE, THE EPOCHS OF NATURE, AND THE\nLAST DAY.\n\nCosmogonies usually portray the action of the SPIRIT on the\nWATERS.--Those of the Muscogees, Athapascas, Quich\u00e9s, Mixtecs,\nIroquois, Algonkins, and others.--The Flood-Myth an unconscious\nattempt to reconcile a creation in time with the eternity of\nmatter.--Proof of this from American mythology.--Characteristics of\nAmerican Flood-Myths.--The person saved usually the first man.--The\nnumber seven.--Their Ararats.--The r\u00f4le of birds.--The confusion of\ntongues.--The Aztec, Quich\u00e9, Algonkin, Tupi, and earliest Sanscrit\nflood-myths.--The belief in Epochs of Nature a further result of this\nattempt at reconciliation.--Its forms among Peruvians, Mayas, and\nAztecs.--The expectation of the End of the World a corollary of this\nbelief.--Views of various nations                                     193\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF MAN.\n\nUsually man is the EARTH-BORN, both in language and\nmyths.--Illustrations from the legends of the Caribs, Apalachians,\nIroquois, Quichuas, Aztecs, and others.--The under-world.--Man the\nproduct of one of the primal creative powers, the Spirit, or the\nWater, in the myths of the Athapascas, Eskimos, Moxos, and\nothers--Never literally derived from an inferior species              222\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY.\n\nUniversality of the belief in a soul and a future state shown by the\naboriginal tongues, by expressed opinions, and by sepulchral rites.\nThe future world never a place of rewards and punishments.--The house\nof the Son the heaven of the red man.--The terrestrial paradise and\nthe under-world.--\u00c7upay.--Xibalba.--Mictlan.--Metempsychosis?--Belief\nin a resurrection of the dead almost universal                        233\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD.\n\nTheir titles.--Practitioners of the healing art by supernatural\nmeans.--Their power derived from natural magic and the exercise of the\nclairvoyant and mesmeric faculties.--Examples.--Epidemic\nhysteria.--Their social position.--Their duties as religious\nfunctionaries.--Terms of admission to the Priesthood.--Inner\norganization in various nations.--Their esoteric language and secret\nsocieties                                                             263\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE INFLUENCE OF THE NATIVE RELIGIONS ON THE MORAL\nAND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE RACE.\n\nNatural religions hitherto considered of Evil rather than of\nGood.--Distinctions to be drawn.--Morality not derived from\nreligion.--The positive side of natural religions in incarnations of\ndivinity.--Examples.--Prayers as indices of religious\nprogress.--Religion and social advancement.--Conclusion               287\n\n\n\n\nTHE MYTHS OF THE NEW WORLD.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nGENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE RED RACE.\n\n     Natural religions the unaided attempts of man to find out God,\n     modified by peculiarities of race and nation.--The peculiarities of\n     the red race: 1. Its languages unfriendly to abstract ideas. Native\n     modes of writing by means of pictures, symbols, objects, and\n     phonetic signs. These various methods compared in their influence\n     on the intellectual faculties. 2. Its isolation, unique in the\n     history of the world. 3. Beyond all others, a hunting\n     race.--Principal linguistic subdivisions: 1. The Eskimos. 2. The\n     Athapascas. 3. The Algonkins and Iroquois. 4. The Apalachian\n     tribes. 5. The Dakotas. 6. The Aztecs. 7. The Mayas. 8. The\n     Muyscas. 9. The Quichuas. 10. The Caribs and Tupis. 11. The\n     Araucanians.--General course of migrations.--Age of man in\n     America.--Unity of type in the red race.\n\n\nWhen Paul, at the request of the philosophers of Athens, explained to\nthem his views on divine things, he asserted, among other startling\nnovelties, that \"God has made of one blood all nations of the earth,\nthat they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and\nfind him, though he is not far from every one of us.\"\n\nHere was an orator advocating the unity of the human species, affirming\nthat the chief end of man is to develop an innate idea of God, and that\nall religions, except the one he preached, were examples of more or\nless unsuccessful attempts to do so. No wonder the Athenians, who\nacknowledged no kinship to barbarians, who looked dubiously at the\ndoctrine of innate ideas, and were divided in opinion as to whether\ntheir mythology was a shrewd device of legislators to keep the populace\nin subjection, a veiled natural philosophy, or the celestial reflex of\ntheir own history, mocked at such a babbler and went their ways. The\ngenerations of philosophers that followed them partook of their doubts\nand approved their opinions, quite down to our own times. But now, after\nweighing the question maturely, we are compelled to admit that the\nApostle was not so wide of the mark after all--that, in fact, the latest\nand best authorities, with no bias in his favor, support his position\nand may almost be said to paraphrase his words. For according to a\nwriter who ranks second to none in the science of ethnology, the\nseverest and most recent investigations show that \"not only do\nacknowledged facts permit the assumption of the unity of the human\nspecies, but this opinion is attended with fewer discrepancies, and has\ngreater inner consistency than the opposite one of specific\ndiversity.\"[2-1] And as to the religions of heathendom, the view of\nSaint Paul is but expressed with a more poetic turn by a distinguished\nliving author when he calls them \"not fables, but truths, though clothed\nin a garb woven by fancy, wherein the web is the notion of God, the\nideal of reason in the soul of man, the thought of the Infinite.\"[2-2]\n\nInspiration and science unite therefore to bid us dismiss the effete\nprejudice that natural religions either arise as the ancient\nphilosophies taught, or that they are, as the Dark Ages imagined, subtle\nnets of the devil spread to catch human souls. They are rather the\nunaided attempts of man to find out God; they are the efforts of the\nreason struggling to define the infinite; they are the expressions of\nthat \"yearning after the gods\" which the earliest of poets discerned in\nthe hearts of all men. Studied in this sense they are rich in teachings.\nWould we estimate the intellectual and \u00e6sthetic culture of a people,\nwould we generalize the laws of progress, would we appreciate the\nsublimity of Christianity, and read the seals of its authenticity: the\nnatural conceptions of divinity reveal them. No mythologies are so\ncrude, therefore, none so barbarous, but deserve the attention of the\nphilosophic mind, for they are never the empty fictions of an idle\nfancy, but rather the utterances, however inarticulate, of an immortal\nand ubiquitous intuition.\n\nThese considerations embolden me to approach with some confidence even\nthe aboriginal religions of America, so often stigmatized as incoherent\nfetichisms, so barren, it has been said, in grand or beautiful\ncreations. The task bristles with difficulties. Carelessness,\nprepossessions, and ignorance have disfigured them with false colors and\nforeign additions without number. The first maxim, therefore, must be to\nsift and scrutinize authorities, and to reject whatever betrays the\nplastic hand of the European. For the religions developed by the red\nrace, not those mixed creeds learned from foreign invaders, are to be\nthe subjects of our study. Then will remain the formidable undertaking\nof reducing the authentic materials thus obtained to system and order,\nand this not by any preconceived theory of what they ought to conform\nto, but learning from them the very laws of religious growth they\nillustrate. The historian traces the birth of arts, science, and\ngovernment to man's dependence on nature and his fellows for the means\nof self-preservation. Not that man receives these endowments from\nwithout, but that the stern step-mother, Nature, forces him by threats\nand stripes to develop his own inherent faculties. So with religion: The\nidea of God does not, and cannot, proceed from the external world, but,\nnevertheless, it finds its _historical_ origin also in the desperate\nstruggle for life, in the satisfaction of the animal wants and passions,\nin those vulgar aims and motives which possessed the mind of the\nprimitive man to the exclusion of everything else.\n\nThere is an ever present embarrassment in such inquiries. In dealing\nwith these matters beyond the cognizance of the senses, the mind is\nforced to express its meaning in terms transferred from sensuous\nperceptions, or under symbols borrowed from the material world. These\ntransfers must be understood, these symbols explained, before the real\nmeaning of a myth can be reached. He who fails to guess the riddle of\nthe sphynx, need not hope to gain admittance to the shrine. With\ndelicate ear the faint whispers of thought must be apprehended which\nprompt the intellect when it names the immaterial from the material;\nwhen it chooses from the infinity of visible forms those meet to shadow\nforth Divinity.\n\nTwo lights will guide us on this venturesome path. Mindful of the\nwatchword of inductive science, to proceed from the known to the\nunknown, the inquiry will be put whether the aboriginal languages of\nAmerica employ the same tropes to express such ideas as deity, spirit,\nand soul, as our own and kindred tongues. If the answer prove\naffirmative, then not only have we gained a firm foothold whence to\nsurvey the whole edifice of their mythology; but from an unexpected\nquarter arises evidence of the unity of our species far weightier than\nany mere anatomy can furnish, evidence from the living soul, not from\nthe dead body. True that the science of American linguistics is still in\nits infancy, and that a proper handling of the materials it even now\noffers involves a more critical acquaintance with its innumerable\ndialects than I possess; but though the gleaning be sparse, it is enough\nthat I break the ground. Secondly, religious rites are living\ncommentaries on religious beliefs. At first they are rude\nrepresentations of the supposed doings of the gods. The Indian\nrain-maker mounts to the roof of his hut, and rattling vigorously a dry\ngourd containing pebbles, to represent the thunder, scatters water\nthrough a reed on the ground beneath, as he imagines up above in the\nclouds do the spirits of the storm. Every spring in ancient Delphi was\nrepeated in scenic ceremony the combat of Apollo and the Dragon, the\nvictory of the lord of bright summer over the demon of chilling winter.\nThus do forms and ceremonies reveal the meaning of mythology, and the\norigin of its fables.\n\nLet it not be objected that this proposed method of analysis assumes\nthat religions begin and develop under the operation of inflexible laws.\nThe soul is shackled by no fatalism. Formative influences there are,\ndeep seated, far reaching, escaped by few, but like those which of yore\nastrologers imputed to the stars, they potently incline, they do not\ncoerce. Language, pursuits, habits, geographical position, and those\nsubtle mental traits which make up the characteristics of races and\nnations, all tend to deflect from a given standard the religious life of\nthe individual and the mass. It is essential to give these due weight,\nand a necessary preface therefore to an analysis of the myths of the red\nrace is an enumeration of its peculiarities, and of its chief families\nas they were located when first known to the historian.\n\nOf all such modifying circumstances none has greater importance than the\nmeans of expressing and transmitting intellectual action. The spoken and\nthe written language of a nation reveal to us its prevailing, and to a\ncertain degree its unavoidable mode of thought. Here the red race offers\na striking phenomenon. There is no other trait that binds together its\nscattered clans, and brands them as members of one great family, so\nunmistakably as this of language. From the Frozen Ocean to the Land of\nFire, without a single exception, the native dialects, though varying\ninfinitely in words, are marked by a peculiarity in construction which\nis found nowhere else on the globe,[6-1] and which is so foreign to the\ngenius of _our_ tongue that it is no easy matter to explain it. It is\ncalled by philologists the _polysynthetic_ construction. What it is will\nbest appear by comparison. Every grammatical sentence conveys one\nleading idea with its modifications and relations. Now a Chinese would\nexpress these latter by unconnected syllables, the precise bearing of\nwhich could only be guessed by their position; a Greek or a German would\nuse independent words, indicating their relations by terminations\nmeaningless in themselves; an Englishman gains the same end chiefly by\nthe use of particles and by position. Very different from all these is\nthe spirit of a polysynthetic language. It seeks to unite in the most\nintimate manner all relations and modifications with the leading idea,\nto merge one in the other by altering the forms of the words themselves\nand welding them together, to express the whole in one word, and to\nbanish any conception except as it arises in relation to others. Thus in\nmany American tongues there is, in fact, no word for father, mother,\nbrother, but only for my, your, his father, etc. This has advantages and\ndefects. It offers marvellous facilities for defining the perceptions of\nthe senses with the utmost accuracy, but regarding everything in the\nconcrete, it is unfriendly to the nobler labors of the mind, to\nabstraction and generalization. In the numberless changes of these\nlanguages, their bewildering flexibility, their variable forms, and\ntheir rapid deterioration, they seem to betray a lack of individuality,\nand to resemble the vague and tumultuous history of the tribes who\nemploy them. They exhibit an almost incredible laxity. It is nothing\nuncommon for the two sexes to use different names for the same object,\nand for nobles and vulgar, priests and people, the old and the young,\nnay, even the married and single, to observe what seem to the European\near quite different modes of expression. Families and whole villages\nsuddenly drop words and manufacture others in their places out of mere\ncaprice or superstition, and a few years' separation suffices to produce\na marked dialectic difference. In their copious forms and facility of\nreproduction they remind one of those anomalous animals, in whom, when a\nlimb is lopped, it rapidly grows again, or even if cut in pieces each\npart will enter on a separate life quite unconcerned about his fellows.\nBut as the naturalist is far from regarding this superabundant vitality\nas a characteristic of a higher type, so the philologist justly assigns\nthese tongues a low position in the linguistic scale. Fidelity to form,\nhere as everywhere, is the test of excellence. At the outset, we divine\nthere can be nothing very subtle in the mythologies of nations with such\nlanguages. Much there must be that will be obscure, much that is vague,\nan exhausting variety in repetition, and a strong tendency to lose the\nidea in the symbol.\n\nWhat definiteness of outline might be preserved must depend on the care\nwith which the old stories of the gods were passed from one person and\none generation to another. The fundamental myths of a race have a\nsurprising tenacity of life. How many centuries had elapsed between the\nperiod the Germanic hordes left their ancient homes in Central Asia, and\nwhen Tacitus listened to their wild songs on the banks of the Rhine? Yet\nwe know that through those unnumbered ages of barbarism and aimless\nroving, these songs, \"their only sort of history or annals,\" says the\nhistorian, had preserved intact the story of Mannus, the Sanscrit Manu,\nand his three sons, and of the great god Tuisco, the Indian Dyu.[9-1] So\nmuch the more do all means invented by the red race to record and\ntransmit thought merit our careful attention. Few and feeble they seem\nto us, mainly shifts to aid the memory. Of some such, perhaps, not a\nsingle tribe was destitute. The tattoo marks on the warrior's breast,\nhis string of gristly scalps, the bear's claws around his neck, were not\nonly trophies of his prowess, but records of his exploits, and to the\ncontemplative mind contain the rudiments of the beneficent art of\nletters. Did he draw in rude outline on his skin tent figures of men\ntransfixed with arrows as many as he had slain enemies, his education\nwas rapidly advancing. He had mastered the elements of _picture\nwriting_, beyond which hardly the wisest of his race progressed. Figures\nof the natural objects connected by symbols having fixed meanings make\nup the whole of this art. The relative frequency of the latter marks its\nadvancement from a merely figurative to an ideographic notation. On what\nprinciple of mental association a given sign was adopted to express a\ncertain idea, why, for instance, on the Chipeway scrolls a circle means\n_spirits_, and a horned snake _life_, it is often hard to guess. The\ndifficulty grows when we find that to the initiated the same sign calls\nup quite different ideas, as the subject of the writer varies from war\nto love, or from the chase to religion. The connection is generally\nbeyond the power of divination, and the key to ideographic writing once\nlost can never be recovered.\n\nThe number of such arbitrary characters in the Chipeway notation is said\nto be over two hundred, but if the distinction between a figure and a\nsymbol were rigidly applied, it would be much reduced. This kind of\nwriting, if it deserves the name, was common throughout the continent,\nand many specimens of it, scratched on the plane surfaces of stones,\nhave been preserved to the present day. Such is the once celebrated\ninscription on Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, long supposed to be a record\nof the Northmen of Vinland; such those that mark the faces of the cliffs\nwhich overhang the waters of the Orinoco, and those that in Oregon,\nPeru, and La Plata have been the subject of much curious speculation.\nThey are alike the mute and meaningless epitaphs of vanished\ngenerations.\n\nI would it could be said that in favorable contrast to our ignorance of\nthese inscriptions is our comprehension of the highly wrought\npictography of the Aztecs. No nation ever reduced it more to a system.\nIt was in constant use in the daily transactions of life. They\nmanufactured for writing purposes a thick, coarse paper from the leaves\nof the agave plant by a process of maceration and pressure. An Aztec\nbook closely resembles one of our quarto volumes. It is made of a\nsingle sheet, twelve to fifteen inches wide, and often sixty or seventy\nfeet long, and is not rolled, but folded either in squares or zigzags in\nsuch a manner that on opening it there are two pages exposed to view.\nThin wooden boards are fastened to each of the outer leaves, so that the\nwhole presents as neat an appearance, remarks Peter Martyr, as if it had\ncome from the shop of a skilful bookbinder. They also covered buildings,\ntapestries, and scrolls of parchment with these devices, and for\ntrifling transactions were familiar with the use of _slates_ of soft\nstone from which the figures could readily be erased with water.[11-1]\nWhat is still more astonishing, there is reason to believe, in some\ninstances, their figures were not painted, but actually _printed_ with\nmovable blocks of wood on which the symbols were carved in relief,\nthough this was probably confined to those intended for ornament only.\n\nIn these records we discern something higher than a mere symbolic\nnotation. They contain the germ of a phonetic alphabet, and represent\nsounds of spoken language. The symbol is often not connected with the\n_idea_ but with the _word_. The mode in which this is done corresponds\nprecisely to that of the rebus. It is a simple method, readily\nsuggesting itself. In the middle ages it was much in vogue in Europe for\nthe same purpose for which it was chiefly employed in Mexico at the same\ntime--the writing of proper names. For example, the English family\nBolton was known in heraldry by a _tun_ transfixed by a _bolt_.\nPrecisely so the Mexican emperor Ixcoatl is mentioned in the Aztec\nmanuscripts under the figure of a serpent _coatl_, pierced by obsidian\nknives _ixtli_, and Moquauhzoma by a mouse-trap _montli_, an eagle\n_quauhtli_, a lancet _zo_, and a hand _maitl_. As a syllable could be\nexpressed by any object whose name commenced with it, as few words can\nbe given the form of a rebus without some change, as the figures\nsometimes represent their full phonetic value, sometimes only that of\ntheir initial sound, and as universally the attention of the artist was\ndirected less to the sound than to the idea, the didactic painting of\nthe Mexicans, whatever it might have been to them, is a sealed book to\nus, and must remain so in great part. Moreover, it is entirely\nundetermined whether it should be read from the first to the last page,\nor _vice versa_, whether from right to left or from left to right, from\nbottom to top or from top to bottom, around the edges of the page toward\nthe centre, or each line in the opposite direction from the preceding\none. There are good authorities for all these methods,[12-1] and they\nmay all be correct, for there is no evidence that any fixed rule had\nbeen laid down in this respect.\n\nImmense masses of such documents were stored in the imperial archives of\nancient Mexico. Torquemada asserts that five cities alone yielded to the\nSpanish governor on one requisition no less than sixteen thousand\nvolumes or scrolls! Every leaf was destroyed. Indeed, so thorough and\nwholesale was the destruction of these memorials now so precious in our\neyes that hardly enough remain to whet the wits of antiquaries. In the\nlibraries of Paris, Dresden, Pesth, and the Vatican are, however, a\nsufficient number to make us despair of deciphering them had we for\ncomparison all which the Spaniards destroyed.\n\nBeyond all others the Mayas, resident on the peninsula of Yucatan, would\nseem to have approached nearest a true phonetic system. They had a\nregular and well understood alphabet of twenty seven elementary sounds,\nthe letters of which are totally different from those of any other\nnation, and evidently original with themselves. But besides these they\nused a large number of purely conventional symbols, and moreover were\naccustomed constantly to employ the ancient pictographic method in\naddition as a sort of commentary on the sound represented. What is more\ncurious, if the obscure explanation of an ancient writer can be depended\nupon, they not only aimed to employ an alphabet after the manner of\nours, but to express the sound absolutely like our phonographic signs\ndo.[13-1] With the aid of this alphabet, which has fortunately been\npreserved, we are enabled to spell out a few words on the Yucatecan\nmanuscripts and fa\u00e7ades, but thus far with no positive results. The loss\nof the ancient pronunciation is especially in the way of such studies.\n\nIn South America, also, there is said to have been a nation who\ncultivated the art of picture writing, the Panos, on the river Ucayale.\nA missionary, Narcisso Gilbar by name, once penetrated, with great toil,\nto one of their villages. As he approached he beheld a venerable man\nseated under the shade of a palm tree, with a great book open before him\nfrom which he was reading to an attentive circle of auditors the wars\nand wanderings of their forefathers. With difficulty the priest got a\nsight of the precious volume, and found it covered with figures and\nsigns in marvellous symmetry and order.[14-1] No wonder such a romantic\nscene left a deep impression on his memory.\n\nThe Peruvians adopted a totally different and unique system of records,\nthat by means of the _quipu_. This was a base cord, the thickness of the\nfinger, of any required length, to which were attached numerous small\nstrings of different colors, lengths, and textures, variously knotted\nand twisted one with another. Each of these peculiarities represented a\ncertain number, a quality, quantity, or other idea, but _what_, not the\nmost fluent _quipu_ reader could tell unless he was acquainted with the\ngeneral topic treated of. Therefore, whenever news was sent in this\nmanner a person accompanied the bearer to serve as verbal commentator,\nand to prevent confusion the _quipus_ relating to the various\ndepartments of knowledge were placed in separate storehouses, one for\nwar, another for taxes, a third for history, and so forth. On what\nprinciple or mnemotechnics the ideas were connected with the knots and\ncolors we are totally in the dark; it has even been doubted whether they\nhad any application beyond the art of numeration.[14-2] Each combination\nhad, however, a fixed ideographic value in a certain branch of\nknowledge, and thus the _quipu_ differed essentially from the Catholic\nrosary, the Jewish phylactery, or the knotted strings of the natives of\nNorth America and Siberia, to all of which it has at times been\ncompared.\n\nThe _wampum_ used by the tribes of the north Atlantic coast was, in many\nrespects, analogous to the quipu. In early times it was composed chiefly\nof bits of wood of equal size, but different colors. These were hung on\nstrings which were woven into belts and bands, the hues, shapes, sizes,\nand combinations of the strings hinting their general significance. Thus\nthe lighter shades were invariable harbingers of peaceful or pleasant\ntidings, while the darker portended war and danger. The substitution of\nbeads or shells in place of wood, and the custom of embroidering figures\nin the belts were, probably, introduced by European influence.\n\nBesides these, various simpler mnemonic aids were employed, such as\nparcels of reeds of different lengths, notched sticks, knots in cords,\nstrings of pebbles or fruit-stones, circular pieces of wood or slabs\npierced with different figures which the English liken to \"cony holes,\"\nand at a victory, a treaty, or the founding of a village, sometimes a\npillar or heap of stones was erected equalling in number the persons\npresent at the occasion, or the number of the fallen.\n\nThis exhausts the list. All other methods of writing, the hieroglyphs of\nthe Micmacs of Acadia, the syllabic alphabet of the Cherokees, the\npretended traces of Greek, Hebrew, and Celtiberic letters which have\nfrom time to time been brought to the notice of the public, have been\nwithout exception the products of foreign civilization or simply frauds.\nNot a single coin, inscription, or memorial of any kind whatever, has\nbeen found on the American continent showing the existence, either\ngenerally or locally, of any other means of writing than those\nspecified.\n\nPoor as these substitutes for a developed phonetic system seem to us,\nthey were of great value to the uncultivated man. In his legends their\nintroduction is usually ascribed to some heaven-sent benefactor, the\nantique characters were jealously adhered to, and the pictured scroll of\nbark, the quipu ball, the belt of wampum, were treasured with provident\ncare, and their import minutely expounded to the most intelligent of the\nrising generation. In all communities beyond the stage of barbarism a\nclass of persons was set apart for this duty and no other. Thus, for\nexample, in ancient Peru, one college of priests styled _amauta_,\nlearned, had exclusive charge over the quipus containing the\nmythological and historical traditions; a second, the _haravecs_,\nsingers, devoted themselves to those referring to the national ballads\nand dramas; while a third occupied their time solely with those\npertaining to civil affairs. Such custodians preserved and prepared the\narchives, learned by heart with their aid what their fathers knew, and\nin some countries, as, for instance, among the Panos mentioned above,\nand the Quiches of Guatemala,[16-1] repeated portions of them at times\nto the assembled populace. It has even been averred by one of their\nconverted chiefs, long a missionary to his fellows, that the Chipeways\nof Lake Superior have a college composed of ten \"of the wisest and most\nvenerable of their nation,\" who have in charge the pictured records\ncontaining the ancient history of their tribe. These are kept in an\nunderground chamber, and are disinterred every fifteen years by the\nassembled guardians, that they may be repaired, and their contents\nexplained to new members of the society.[17-1]\n\nIn spite of these precautions, the end seems to have been very\nimperfectly attained. The most distinguished characters, the weightiest\nevents in national history faded into oblivion after a few generations.\nThe time and circumstances of the formation of the league of the Five\nNations, the dispersion of the mound builders of the Ohio valley in the\nfifteenth century, the chronicles of Peru or Mexico beyond a century or\ntwo anterior to the conquest, are preserved in such a vague and\ncontradictory manner that they have slight value as history. Their\nmythology fared somewhat better, for not only was it kept fresh in the\nmemory by frequent repetition; but being itself founded in nature, it\nwas constantly nourished by the truths which gave it birth.\nNevertheless, we may profit by the warning to remember that their myths\nare myths only, and not the reflections of history or heroes.\n\nRising from these details to a general comparison of the symbolic and\nphonetic systems in their reactions on the mind, the most obvious are\ntheir contrasted effects on the faculty of memory. Letters represent\nelementary sounds, which are few in any language, while symbols stand\nfor ideas, and they are numerically infinite. The transmission of\nknowledge by means of the latter is consequently attended with most\ndisproportionate labor. It is almost as if we could quote nothing from\nan author unless we could recollect his exact words. We have a right to\nlook for excellent memories where such a mode is in vogue, and in the\npresent instance we are not disappointed. \"These savages,\" exclaims La\nHontan, \"have the happiest memories in the world!\" It was etiquette at\ntheir councils for each speaker to repeat verbatim all his predecessors\nhad said, and the whites were often astonished and confused at the\nverbal fidelity with which the natives recalled the transactions of long\npast treaties. Their songs were inexhaustible. An instance is on record\nwhere an Indian sang two hundred on various subjects.[18-1] Such a fact\nreminds us of a beautiful expression of the elder Humboldt: \"Man,\" he\nsays, \"regarded as an animal, belongs to one of the singing species; but\nhis notes are always associated with ideas.\" The youth who were educated\nat the public schools of ancient Mexico--for that realm, so far from\nneglecting the cause of popular education, established houses for\ngratuitous instruction, and to a certain extent made the attendance upon\nthem obligatory--learned by rote long orations, poems, and prayers with\na facility astonishing to the conquerors, and surpassing anything they\nwere accustomed to see in the universities of Old Spain. A phonetic\nsystem actually weakens the retentive powers of the mind by offering a\nmore facile plan for preserving thought. \"_Ce que je mets sur papier, je\nremets de ma m\u00e9moire_\" is an expression of old Montaigne which he could\nnever have used had he employed ideographic characters.\n\nMemory, however, is of far less importance than a free activity of\nthought, untrammelled by forms or precedents, and ever alert to novel\ncombinations of ideas. Give a race this and it will guide it to\ncivilization as surely as the needle directs the ship to its haven. It\nis here that ideographic writing reveals its fatal inferiority. It is\nforever specifying, materializing, dealing in minuti\u00e6. In the Egyptian\nsymbolic alphabet there is a figure for a virgin, another for a married\nwoman, for a widow without offspring, for a widow with one child, two\nchildren, and I know not in how many other circumstances, but for\n_woman_ there is no sign. It must be so in the nature of things, for the\nsymbol represents the object as it appears or is fancied to appear, and\nnot as it is _thought_. Furthermore, the constant learning by heart\ninfallibly leads to slavish repetition and mental servility.\n\nA symbol when understood is independent of language, and is as\nuniversally current as an Arabic numeral. But this divorce of spoken and\nwritten language is of questionable advantage. It at once destroys all\npermanent improvement in a tongue through elegance of style, sonorous\nperiods, or delicacy of expression, and the life of the language itself\nis weakened when its forms are left to fluctuate uncontrolled. Written\npoetry, grammar, rhetoric, all are impossible to the student who draws\nhis knowledge from such a source.\n\nFinally, it has been justly observed by the younger Humboldt that the\npainful fidelity to the antique figures transmitted from barbarous to\npolished generations is injurious to the \u00e6sthetic sense, and dulls the\nmind to the beautiful in art and nature.\n\nThe transmission of thought by figures and symbols would, on the whole,\ntherefore, foster those narrow and material tendencies which the genius\nof polysynthetic languages would seem calculated to produce. Its one\nredeeming trait of strengthening the memory will serve to explain the\nstrange tenacity with which certain myths have been preserved through\nwidely dispersed families, as we shall hereafter see.\n\nBesides this of language there are two traits in the history of the red\nman without parallel in that of any other variety of our species which\nhas achieved any notable progress in civilization.\n\nThe one is his _isolation_. Cut off time out of mind from the rest of\nthe world, he never underwent those crossings of blood and culture which\nso modified and on the whole promoted the growth of the old world\nnationalities. In his own way he worked out his own destiny, and what he\nwon was his with a more than ordinary right of ownership. For all those\nold dreams of the advent of the Ten Lost Tribes, of Buddhist priests, of\nWelsh princes, or of Phenician merchants on American soil, and there\nexerting a permanent influence, have been consigned to the dustbin by\nevery unbiased student, and when we see such men as Mr. Schoolcraft and\nthe Abb\u00e9 E. C. Brasseur essaying to resuscitate them, we regretfully\nlook upon it in the light of a literary anachronism.\n\nThe second trait is the entire absence of the herdsman's life with its\nsoftening associations. Throughout the continent there is not a single\nauthentic instance of a pastoral tribe, not one of an animal raised for\nits milk,[21-1] nor for the transportation of persons, and very few for\ntheir flesh. It was essentially a hunting race. The most civilized\nnations looked to the chase for their chief supply of meat, and the\ncourts of Cuzco and Mexico enacted stringent game and forest laws, and\nat certain periods the whole population turned out for a general crusade\nagainst the denizens of the forest. In the most densely settled\ndistricts the conquerors found vast stretches of primitive woods.\n\nIf we consider the life of a hunter, pitting his skill and strength\nagainst the marvellous instincts and quick perceptions of the brute,\ntraining his senses to preternatural acuteness, but blunting his more\ntender feelings, his sole aim to shed blood and take life, dependent on\nluck for his food, exposed to deprivations, storms, and long\nwanderings, his chief diet flesh, we may more readily comprehend that\nconspicuous disregard of human suffering, those sanguinary rites, that\nvindictive spirit, that inappeasable restlessness, which we so often\nfind in the chronicles of ancient America. The law with reason objects\nto accepting a butcher as a juror on a trial for life; here is a whole\nrace of butchers.\n\nThe one mollifying element was agriculture. On the altar of Mixcoatl,\ngod of hunting, the Aztec priest tore the heart from the human victim\nand smeared with the spouting blood the snake that coiled its lengths\naround the idol; flowers and fruits, yellow ears of maize and clusters\nof rich bananas decked the shrine of Centeotl, beneficent patroness of\nagriculture, and bloodless offerings alone were her appropriate dues.\nThis shows how clear, even to the native mind, was the contrast between\nthese two modes of subsistence. By substituting a sedentary for a\nwandering life, by supplying a fixed dependence for an uncertain\ncontingency, and by admonishing man that in preservation, not in\ndestruction, lies his most remunerative sphere of activity, we can\nhardly estimate too highly the wide distribution of the zea mays. This\nwas their only cereal, and it was found in cultivation from the southern\nextremity of Chili to the fiftieth parallel of north latitude, beyond\nwhich limits the low temperature renders it an uncertain crop. In their\nlegends it is represented as the gift of the Great Spirit (Chipeways),\nbrought from the terrestrial Paradise by the sacred animals (Quiches),\nand symbolically the mother of the race (Nahuas), and the material from\nwhich was moulded the first of men (Quiches).\n\nAs the races, so the great families of man who speak dialects of the\nsame tongue are, in a sense, individuals, bearing each its own\nphysiognomy. When the whites first heard the uncouth gutturals of the\nIndians, they frequently proclaimed that hundreds of radically diverse\nlanguages, invented, it was piously suggested, by the Devil for the\nannoyance of missionaries, prevailed over the continent. Earnest\nstudents of such matters--Vater, Duponceau, Gallatin, and\nBuschmann--have, however, demonstrated that nine-tenths of the area of\nAmerica, at its discovery, were occupied by tribes using dialects\ntraceable to ten or a dozen primitive stems. The names of these, their\ngeographical position in the sixteenth century, and, so far as it is\nsafe to do so, their individual character, I shall briefly mention.\n\nFringing the shores of the Northern Ocean from Mount St. Elias on the\nwest to the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the east, rarely seen a hundred\nmiles from the coast, were the Eskimos.[23-1] They are the connecting\nlink between the races of the Old and New Worlds, in physical appearance\nand mental traits more allied to the former, but in language betraying\ntheir near kinship to the latter. An amphibious race, born fishermen, in\ntheir buoyant skin kayaks they brave fearlessly the tempests, make long\nvoyages, and merit the sobriquet bestowed upon them by Von Baer, \"the\nPhenicians of the north.\" Contrary to what one might suppose, they are,\namid their snows, a contented, light-hearted people, knowing no longing\nfor a sunnier clime, given to song, music, and merry tales. They are\ncunning handicraftsmen to a degree, but withal wholly ingulfed in a\nsensuous existence. The desperate struggle for life engrosses them, and\ntheir mythology is barren.\n\nSouth of them, extending in a broad band across the continent from\nHudson's Bay to the Pacific, and almost to the Great Lakes below, is the\nAthapascan stock. Its affiliated tribes rove far north to the mouth of\nthe Mackenzie River, and wandering still more widely in an opposite\ndirection along both declivities of the Rocky Mountains, people portions\nof the coast of Oregon south of the mouth of the Columbia, and spreading\nover the plains of New Mexico under the names of Apaches, Navajos, and\nLipans, almost reach the tropics at the delta of the Rio Grande del\nNorte, and on the shores of the Gulf of California. No wonder they\ndeserted their fatherland and forgot it altogether, for it is a very\n_terra damnata_, whose wretched inhabitants are cut off alike from the\nharvest of the sea and the harvest of the soil. The profitable culture of\nmaize does not extend beyond the fiftieth parallel of latitude, and less\nthan seven degrees farther north the mean annual temperature everywhere\neast of the mountains sinks below the freezing point.[25-1] Agriculture\nis impossible, and the only chance for life lies in the uncertain\nfortunes of the chase and the penurious gifts of an arctic flora. The\ndenizens of these wilds are abject, slovenly, hopelessly savage, \"at the\nbottom of the scale of humanity in North America,\" says Dr. Richardson,\nand their relatives who have wandered to the more genial climes of the\nsouth are as savage as they, as perversely hostile to a sedentary life,\nas gross and narrow in their moral notions. This wide-spread stock,\nscattered over forty-five degrees of latitude, covering thousands of\nsquare leagues, reaching from the Arctic Ocean to the confines of the\nempire of the Montezumas, presents in all its subdivisions the same\nmental physiognomy and linguistic peculiarities.[25-2]\n\nBest known to us of all the Indians are the Algonkins and Iroquois, who,\nat the time of the discovery, were the sole possessors of the region now\nembraced by Canada and the eastern United States north of the\nthirty-fifth parallel. The latter, under the names of the Five Nations,\nHurons, Tuscaroras, Susquehannocks, Nottoways and others, occupied much\nof the soil from the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario to the Roanoke, and\nperhaps the Cherokees, whose homes were in the secluded vales of East\nTennessee, were one of their early offshoots.[25-3] They were a race of\nwarriors, courageous, cruel, unimaginative, but of rare political\nsagacity. They are more like ancient Romans than Indians, and are leading\nfigures in the colonial wars.\n\nThe Algonkins surrounded them on every side, occupying the rest of the\nregion mentioned and running westward to the base of the Rocky\nMountains, where one of their famous bands, the Blackfeet, still hunts\nover the valley of the Saskatchewan. They were more genial than the\nIroquois, of milder manners and more vivid fancy, and were regarded by\nthese with a curious mixture of respect and contempt. Some writer has\nconnected this difference with their preference for the open prairie\ncountry in contrast to the endless and sombre forests where were the\nhomes of the Iroquois. Their history abounds in great men, whose\nambitious plans were foiled by the levity of their allies and their want\nof persistence. They it was who under King Philip fought the Puritan\nfathers; who at the instigation of Pontiac doomed to death every white\ntrespasser on their soil; who led by Tecumseh and Black Hawk gathered\nthe clans of the forest and mountain for the last pitched battle of the\nraces in the Mississippi valley. To them belonged the mild mannered\nLenni Lenape, who little foreboded the hand of iron that grasped their\nown so softly under the elm tree of Shackamaxon, to them the restless\nShawnee, the gypsy of the wilderness, the Chipeways of Lake Superior,\nand also to them the Indian girl Pocahontas, who in the legend averted\nfrom the head of the white man the blow which, rebounding, swept away\nher father and all his tribe.[27-1]\n\nBetween their southernmost outposts and the Gulf of Mexico were a number\nof clans, mostly speaking the Muscogee tongue, Creeks, Choctaws,\nChikasaws, and others, in later times summed up as Apalachian Indians,\nbut by early writers sometimes referred to as \"The Empire of the\nNatchez.\" For tradition says that long ago this small tribe, whose home\nwas in the Big Black country, was at the head of a loose confederation\nembracing most of the nations from the Atlantic coast quite into Texas;\nand adds that the expedition of De Soto severed its lax bonds and shook\nit irremediably into fragments. Whether this is worth our credence or\nnot, the comparative civilization of the Natchez, and the analogy their\nlanguage bears to that of the Mayas of Yucatan, the builders of those\nruined cities which Stephens and Catherwood have made so familiar to the\nworld, attach to them a peculiar interest.[27-2]\n\nNorth of the Arkansas River on the right bank of the Mississippi, quite\nto its source, stretching over to Lake Michigan at Green Bay, and up the\nvalley of the Missouri west to the mountains, resided the Dakotas, an\nerratic folk, averse to agriculture, but daring hunters and bold\nwarriors, tall and strong of body.[28-1] Their religious notions have\nbeen carefully studied, and as they are remarkably primitive and\ntransparent, they will often be referred to. The Sioux and the\nWinnebagoes are well-known branches of this family.\n\nWe have seen that Dr. Richardson assigned to a portion of the Athapascas\nthe lowest place among North American tribes, but there are some in New\nMexico who might contest the sad distinction, the Root Diggers,\nComanches and others, members of the Snake or Shoshonee family,\nscattered extensively northwest of Mexico. It has been said of a part of\nthese that they are \"nearer the brutes than probably any other portion\nof the human race on the face of the globe.\"[28-2] Their habits in some\nrespects are more brutish than those of any brute, for there is no\nlimit to man's moral descent or ascent, and the observer might well be\nexcused for doubting whether such a stock ever had a history in the\npast, or the possibility of one in the future. Yet these debased\ncreatures speak a related dialect, and are beyond a doubt largely of the\nsame blood as the famous Aztec race, who founded the empire of Anahuac,\nand raised architectural monuments rivalling the most famous structures\nof the ancient world. This great family, whose language has been traced\nfrom Nicaragua to Vancouver's Island, and whose bold intellects colored\nall the civilization of the northern continent, was composed in that\ndivision of it found in New Spain chiefly of two bands, the Toltecs,\nwhose traditions point to the mountain ranges of Guatemala as their\nancient seat, and the Nahuas, who claim to have come at a later period\nfrom the northwest coast, and together settled in and near the valley of\nMexico.[29-1] Outlying colonies on the shore of Lake Nicaragua and in\nthe mountains of Vera Paz rose to a civilization that rivalled that of\nthe Montezumas, while others remained in utter barbarism in the far\nnorth.\n\nThe Aztecs not only conquered a Maya colony, and founded the empire of\nthe Quiches in Central America, a complete body of whose mythology has\nbeen brought to light in late years, but seem to have made a marked\nimprint on the Mayas themselves. These possessed, as has already been\nsaid, the peninsula of Yucatan. There is some reason to suppose they\ncame thither originally from the Greater Antilles, and none to doubt but\nthat the Huastecas who lived on the river Panuco and the Natchez of\nLouisiana were offshoots from them. Their language is radically distinct\nfrom that of the Aztecs, but their calendar and a portion of their\nmythology are common property. They seem an ancient race of mild manners\nand considerable polish. No American nation offers a more promising\nfield for study. Their stone temples still bear testimony to their\nuncommon skill in the arts. A trustworthy tradition dates the close of\nthe golden age of Yucatan a century anterior to its discovery by\nEuropeans. Previously it had been one kingdom, under one ruler, and\nprolonged peace had fostered the growth of the fine arts; but when\ntheir capital Mayapan fell, internal dissensions ruined most of their\ncities.\n\nNo connection whatever has been shown between the civilization of North\nand South America. In the latter continent it was confined to two\ntotally foreign tribes, the Muyscas, whose empire, called that of the\nZacs, was in the neighborhood of Bogota, and the Peruvians, who in their\ntwo related divisions of Quichuas and Aymaras extended their language\nand race along the highlands of the Cordilleras from the equator to the\nthirtieth degree of south latitude. Lake Titicaca seems to have been the\ncradle of their civilization, offering another example how inland seas\nand well-watered plains favor the change from a hunting to an\nagricultural life. These four nations, the Aztecs, the Mayas, the\nMuyscas and the Peruvians, developed spontaneously and independently\nunder the laws of human progress what civilization was found among the\nred race. They owed nothing to Asiatic or European teachers. The Incas\nit was long supposed spoke a language of their own, and this has been\nthought evidence of foreign extraction; but Wilhelm von Humboldt has\nshown conclusively that it was but a dialect of the common tongue of\ntheir country.[31-1]\n\nWhen Columbus first touched the island of Cuba, he was regaled with\nhorrible stories of one-eyed monsters who dwelt on the other islands,\nbut plundered indiscriminately on every hand. These turned out to be the\nnotorious Caribs, whose other name, _Cannibals_, has descended as a\ncommon noun to our language, expressive of one of their inhuman\npractices. They had at that time seized many of the Antilles, and had\ngained a foothold on the coast of Honduras and Darien, but pointed for\ntheir home to the mainland of South America. This they possessed along\nthe whole northern shore, inland at least as far as the south bank of\nthe Amazon, and west nearly to the Cordilleras. It is still an open\nquestion whether the Tupis and Guaranis who inhabit the vast region\nbetween the Amazon and the Pampas of Buenos Ayres are affined to them.\nThe traveller D'Orbigny zealously maintains the affirmative, and there\nis certainly some analogy of language, but withal an inexplicable\ncontrast of character. The latter were, and are, in the main, a\npeaceable, inoffensive, apathetic set, dull and unambitious, while the\nCaribs won a terrible renown as bold warriors, daring navigators,\nskilful in handicrafts; and their poisoned arrows, cruel and disgusting\nhabits, and enterprise, rendered them a terror and a by-word for\ngenerations.[32-1]\n\nOur information of the natives of the Pampas, Patagonia, and the Land of\nFire, is too vague to permit their positive identification with the\nAraucanians of Chili; but there is much to render the view plausible.\nCertain physical peculiarities, a common unconquerable love of freedom,\nand a delight in war, bring them together, and at the same time place\nthem both in strong contrast to their northern neighbors.[33-1]\n\nThere are many tribes whose affinities remain to be decided, especially\non the Pacific coast. The lack of inland water communication, the\ndifficult nature of the soil, and perhaps the greater antiquity of the\npopulation there, seem to have isolated and split up beyond recognition\nthe indigenous families on that shore of the continent; while the great\nriver systems and broad plains of the Atlantic slope facilitated\nmigration and intercommunication, and thus preserved national\ndistinctions over thousands of square leagues.\n\nThese natural features of the continent, compared with the actual\ndistribution of languages, offer our only guides in forming an opinion\nas to the migrations of these various families in ancient times. Their\ntraditions, take even the most cultivated, are confused, contradictory,\nand in great part manifestly fabulous. To construct from them by means\nof daring combinations and forced interpretations a connected account of\nthe race during the centuries preceding Columbus were with the aid of a\nvivid fancy an easy matter, but would be quite unworthy the name of\nhistory. The most that can be said with certainty is that the general\ncourse of migrations in both Americas was from the high latitudes toward\nthe tropics, and from the great western chain of mountains toward the\neast. No reasonable doubt exists but that the Athapascas, Algonkins,\nIroquois, Apalachians, and Aztecs all migrated from the north and west\nto the regions they occupied. In South America, curiously enough, the\ndirection is reversed. If the Caribs belong to the Tupi-Guaranay stem,\nand if the Quichuas belong to the Aymaras, as there is strong\nlikelihood,[34-1] then nine-tenths of the population of that vast\ncontinent wandered forth from the steppes and valleys at the head waters\nof the Rio de la Plata toward the Gulf of Mexico, where they came in\ncollision with that other wave of migration surging down from high\nnorthern latitudes. For the banks of the river Paraguay and the steppes\nof the Bolivian Cordilleras are unquestionably the earliest traditional\nhomes of both Tupis and Aymaras.\n\nThese movements took place not in large bodies under the stimulus of a\nsettled purpose, but step by step, family by family, as the older\nhunting grounds became too thickly peopled. This fact hints unmistakably\nat the gray antiquity of the race. It were idle even to guess how great\nthis must be, but it is possible to set limits to it in both directions.\nOn the one hand, not a tittle of evidence is on record to carry the age\nof man in America beyond the present geological epoch. Dr. Lund examined\nin Brazil more than eight hundred caverns, out of which number only six\ncontained human bones, and of these six only one had with the human\nbones those of animals now extinct. Even in that instance the original\nstratification had been disturbed, and probably the bones had been\ninterred there.[35-1] This is strong negative evidence. So in every\nother example where an unbiased and competent geologist has made the\nexamination, the alleged discoveries of human remains in the older\nstrata have proved erroneous.\n\nThe cranial forms of the American aborigines have by some been supposed\nto present anomalies distinguishing their race from all others, and even\nits chief families from one another. This, too, falls to the ground\nbefore a rigid analysis. The last word of craniology, which at one time\npromised to revolutionize ethnology and even history, is that no one form\nof the skull is peculiar to the natives of the New World; that in the\nsame linguistic family one glides into another by imperceptible degrees;\nand that there is as much diversity, and the same diversity among them in\nthis respect as among the races of the Old Continent.[35-2] Peculiarities\nof structure, though they may pass as general truths, offer no firm\nfoundation whereon to construct a scientific ethnology. Anatomy shows\nnothing unique in the Indian, nothing demanding for its development any\nspecial antiquity, still less an original diversity of type.\n\nOn the other hand, the remains of primeval art and the impress he made\nupon nature bespeak for man a residence in the New World coeval with the\nmost distant events of history. By remains of art I do not so much refer\nto those desolate palaces which crumble forgotten in the gloom of\ntropical woods, nor even the enormous earthworks of the Mississippi\nvalley covered with the mould of generations of forest trees, but rather\nto the humbler and less deceptive relics of his kitchens and his hunts.\nOn the Atlantic coast one often sees the refuse of Indian villages,\nwhere generation after generation have passed their summers in fishing,\nand left the bones, shells, and charcoal as their only epitaph. How many\nsuch summers would it require for one or two hundred people to thus\ngradually accumulate a mound of offal eight or ten feet high and a\nhundred yards across, as is common enough? How many generations to heap\nup that at the mouth of the Altamaha River, examined and pronounced\nexclusively of this origin by Sir Charles Lyell,[36-1] which is about\nthis height, and covers ten acres of ground? Those who, like myself,\nhave tramped over many a ploughed field in search of arrow-heads must\nhave sometimes been amazed at the numbers which are sown over the face\nof our country, betokening a most prolonged possession of the soil by\ntheir makers. For a hunting population is always sparse, and the\ncollector finds only those arrow-heads which lie upon the surface.\n\nStill more forcibly does nature herself bear witness to this antiquity\nof possession. Botanists declare that a very lengthy course of\ncultivation is required so to alter the form of a plant that it can no\nlonger be identified with the wild species; and still more protracted\nmust be the artificial propagation for it to lose its power of\nindependent life, and to rely wholly on man to preserve it from\nextinction. Now this is precisely the condition of the maize, tobacco,\ncotton, quinoa, and mandioca plants, and of that species of palm called\nby botanists the _Gulielma speciosa_; all have been cultivated from\nimmemorial time by the aborigines of America, and, except cotton, by no\nother race; all no longer are to be identified with any known wild\nspecies; several are sure to perish unless fostered by human care.[37-1]\nWhat numberless ages does this suggest? How many centuries elapsed ere\nman thought of cultivating Indian corn? How many more ere it had spread\nover nearly a hundred degrees of latitude, and lost all semblance to its\noriginal form? Who has the temerity to answer these questions? The\njudicious thinker will perceive in them satisfactory reasons for\ndropping once for all the vexed inquiry, \"how America was peopled,\" and\nwill smile at its imaginary solutions, whether they suggest Jews,\nJapanese, or, as the latest theory is, Egyptians.\n\nWhile these and other considerations testify forcibly to that isolation\nI have already mentioned, they are almost equally positive for an\nextensive intercourse in very distant ages between the great families of\nthe race, and for a prevalent unity of mental type, or perhaps they hint\nat a still visible oneness of descent. In their stage of culture, the\nmaize, cotton, and tobacco could hardly have spread so widely by\ncommerce alone. Then there are verbal similarities running through wide\nfamilies of languages which, in the words of Professor Buschmann, are\n\"calculated to fill us with bewildering amazement,\"[38-1] some of which\nwill hereafter be pointed out; and lastly, passing to the psychological\nconstitution of the race, we may quote the words of a sharp-sighted\nnaturalist, whose monograph on one of its tribes is unsurpassed for\nprofound reflections: \"Not only do all the primitive inhabitants of\nAmerica stand on one scale of related culture, but that mental condition\nof all in which humanity chiefly mirrors itself, to wit, their religious\nand moral consciousness, this source of all other inner and outer\nconditions, is one with all, however diverse the natural influences\nunder which they live.\"[38-2]\n\nPenetrated with the truth of these views, all artificial divisions into\ntropical or temperate, civilized or barbarous, will in the present work,\nso far as possible, be avoided, and the race will be studied as a unit,\nits religion as the development of ideas common to all its members, and\nits myths as the garb thrown around these ideas by imaginations more or\nless fertile, but seeking everywhere to embody the same notions.\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.\n\n     As the subject of American mythology is a new one to most readers,\n     and as in its discussion everything depends on a careful selection\n     of authorities, it is well at the outset to review very briefly\n     what has already been written upon it, and to assign the relative\n     amount of weight that in the following pages will be given to the\n     works most frequently quoted. The conclusions I have arrived at are\n     so different from those who have previously touched upon the topic\n     that such a step seems doubly advisable.\n\n     The first who undertook a philosophical survey of American\n     religions was Dr. Samuel Farmer Jarvis, in 1819 (A Discourse on the\n     Religion of the Indian Tribes of North America, Collections of the\n     New York Historical Society, vol. iii., New York, 1821). He\n     confined himself to the tribes north of Mexico, a difficult portion\n     of the field, and at that time not very well known. The notion of a\n     state of primitive civilization prevented Dr. Jarvis from forming\n     any correct estimate of the native religions, as it led him to look\n     upon them as deteriorations from purer faiths instead of\n     developments. Thus he speaks of them as having \"departed less than\n     among any other nation from the form of primeval truth,\" and also\n     mentions their \"wonderful uniformity\" (pp. 219, 221).\n\n     The well-known American ethnologist, Mr. E. G. Squier, has also\n     published a work on the subject, of wider scope than its title\n     indicates (The Serpent Symbol in America, New York, 1851). Though\n     written in a much more liberal spirit than the preceding, it is\n     wholly in the interests of one school of mythology, and it the\n     rather shallow physical one, so fashionable in Europe half a\n     century ago. Thus, with a sweeping generalization, he says, \"The\n     religions or superstitions of the American nations, however\n     different they may appear to the superficial glance, are\n     rudimentally the same, and are only modifications of that primitive\n     system which under its physical aspect has been denominated Sun or\n     Fire worship\" (p. 111). With this he combines the favorite and (may\n     I add?) characteristic French doctrine, that the chief topic of\n     mythology is the adoration of the generative power, and to rescue\n     such views from their materializing tendencies, imagines to\n     counterbalance them a clear, universal monotheism. \"We claim to\n     have shown,\" he says (p. 154), \"that the grand conception of a\n     Supreme Unity and the doctrine of the reciprocal principles existed\n     in America in a well defined and clearly recognized form;\" and\n     elsewhere that \"the monotheistic idea stands out clearly in _all_\n     the religions of America\" (p. 151).\n\n     If with a hope of other views we turn to our magnificent national\n     work on the Indians (History, Conditions, and Prospects of the\n     Indian Tribes of the United States: Washington, 1851-9), a great\n     disappointment awaits us. That work was unfortunate in its editor.\n     It is a monument of American extravagance and superficiality. Mr.\n     Schoolcraft was a man of deficient education and narrow prejudices,\n     pompous in style, and inaccurate in statements. The information\n     from original observers it contains is often of real value, but the\n     general views on aboriginal history and religion are shallow and\n     untrustworthy in the extreme.\n\n     A German professor, Dr. J. G. M\u00fcller, has written quite a\n     voluminous work on American Primitive Religions (_Geschichte der\n     Amerikanischen Ur-religionen_, pp. 707: Basel, 1855). His theory is\n     that \"at the south a worship of nature with the adoration of the\n     sun as its centre, at the north a fear of spirits combined with\n     fetichism, made up the two fundamental divisions of the religion of\n     the red race\" (pp. 89, 90). This imaginary antithesis he traces out\n     between the Algonkin and Apalachian tribes, and between the Toltecs\n     of Guatemala and the Aztecs of Mexico. His quotations are nearly\n     all at second hand, and so little does he criticize his facts as to\n     confuse the Vaudoux worship of the Haitian negroes with that of\n     Votan in Chiapa. His work can in no sense be considered an\n     authority.\n\n     Very much better is the Anthropology of the late Dr. Theodore Waitz\n     (_Anthropologie der Naturvoelker_: Leipzig, 1862-66). No more\n     comprehensive, sound, and critical work on the indigenes of America\n     has ever been written. But on their religions the author is\n     unfortunately defective, being led astray by the hasty and\n     groundless generalizations of others. His great anxiety, moreover,\n     to subject all moral sciences to a realistic philosophy, was\n     peculiarly fatal to any correct appreciation of religious growth,\n     and his views are neither new nor tenable.\n\n     For a different reason I must condemn in the most unqualified\n     manner the attempt recently made by the enthusiastic and\n     meritorious antiquary, the Abb\u00e9 E. Charles Brasseur (de Bourbourg),\n     to explain American mythology after the example of Euhemerus, of\n     Thessaly, as the apotheosis of history. This theory, which has been\n     repeatedly applied to other mythologies with invariable failure, is\n     now disowned by every distinguished student of European and\n     Oriental antiquity; and to seek to introduce it into American\n     religions is simply to render them still more obscure and\n     unattractive, and to deprive them of the only general interest they\n     now have, that of illustrating the gradual development of the\n     religious ideas of humanity.\n\n     But while thus regretting the use he has made of them, all\n     interested in American antiquity cannot too much thank this\n     indefatigable explorer for the priceless materials he has unearthed\n     in the neglected libraries of Spain and Central America, and laid\n     before the public. For the present purpose the most significant of\n     these is the Sacred National Book of the Quiches, a tribe of\n     Guatemala. This contains their legends, written in the original\n     tongue, and transcribed by Father Francisco Ximenes about 1725. The\n     manuscripts of this missionary were used early in the present\n     century, by Don Felix Cabrera, but were supposed to be entirely\n     lost even by the Abb\u00e9 Brasseur himself in 1850 (_Lettre \u00e0 M. le Duc\n     de Valmy_, Mexique, Oct. 15, 1850). Made aware of their importance\n     by the expressions of regret used in the Abb\u00e9's letters, Dr. C.\n     Sherzer, in 1854, was fortunate enough to discover them in the\n     library of the University of San Carlos in the city of Guatemala.\n     The legends were in Quiche with a Spanish translation and scholia.\n     The Spanish was copied by Dr. Scherzer and published in Vienna, in\n     1856, under the title _Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de\n     Guatemala, por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenes_. In 1855 the Abb\u00e9\n     Brasseur took a copy of the original which he brought out at Paris\n     in 1861, with a translation of his own, under the title _Vuh Popol:\n     Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s et les Mythes de l'Antiquit\u00e9 Am\u00e9ricaine_.\n     Internal evidence proves that these legends were written down by a\n     converted native some time in the seventeenth century. They carry\n     the national history back about two centuries, beyond which all is\n     professedly mythical. Although both translations are colored by the\n     peculiar views of their makers, this is incomparably the most\n     complete and valuable work on American mythology extant.\n\n     Another authority of inestimable value has been placed within the\n     reach of scholars during the last few years. This is the _Relations\n     de la Nouvelle France_, containing the annual reports of the\n     Jesuit missionaries among the Iroquois and Algonkins from and\n     after 1611. My references to this are always to the reprint at\n     Quebec, 1858. Of not less excellence for another tribe, the Creeks,\n     is the brief \"Sketch of the Creek Country,\" by Col. Benjamin\n     Hawkins, written about 1800, and first published in full by the\n     Georgia Historical Society in 1848. Most of the other works to\n     which I have referred are too well known to need any special\n     examination here, or will be more particularly mentioned in the\n     foot-notes when quoted.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[2-1] Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturvoelker_, i. p. 256.\n\n[2-2] Carriere, _Die Kunst im Zusammenhang der Culturentwickelung_, i. p.\n66.\n\n[6-1] It is said indeed that the Yebus, a people on the west coast of\nAfrica, speak a polysynthetic language, and _per contra_, that the Otomis\nof Mexico have a monosyllabic one like the Chinese. Max Mueller goes\nfurther, and asserts that what is called the process of agglutination in\nthe Turanian languages is the same as what has been named polysynthesis\nin America. This is not to be conceded. In the former the root is\nunchangeable, the formative elements follow it, and prefixes are not\nused; in the latter prefixes are common, and the formative elements are\nblended with the root, both undergoing changes of structure. Very\nimportant differences.\n\n[9-1] Grimm, _Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache_, p. 571.\n\n[11-1] Peter Martyr, _De Insulis nuper Repertis_, p. 354: Colon. 1574.\n\n[12-1] They may be found in Waitz, _Anthrop. der Naturvoelker_, iv. p.\n173.\n\n[13-1] The only authority is Diego de Landa, _Relacion de las Cosas de\nYucatan_, ed. Brasseur, Paris, 1864, p. 318. The explanation is extremely\nobscure in the original. I have given it in the only sense in which the\nauthor's words seem to have any meaning.\n\n[14-1] Humboldt, _Vues des Cordill\u00e8res_, p. 72.\n\n[14-2] Desjardins, _Le P\u00e9rou avant la Conqu\u00eate Espagnole_, p. 122: Paris,\n1858.\n\n[16-1] An instance is given by Ximenes, _Origen de los Indios de\nGuatemala_, p. 186: Vienna, 1856.\n\n[17-1] George Copway, _Traditional History of the Ojibway Nation_, p.\n130: London, 1850.\n\n[18-1] Morse, _Report on the Indian Tribes_, App. p. 352.\n\n[21-1] Gomara states that De Ayllon found tribes on the Atlantic shore\nnot far from Cape Hatteras keeping flocks of deer (_ciervos_) and from\ntheir milk making cheese (_Hist. de las Indias_, cap. 43). I attach no\nimportance to this statement, and only mention it to connect it with some\nother curious notices of the tribe now extinct who occupied that\nlocality. Both De Ayllon and Lawson mention their very light complexions,\nand the latter saw many with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fair skin;\nthey cultivated when first visited the potato (or the groundnut),\ntobacco, and cotton (Humboldt); they reckoned time by disks of wood\ndivided into sixty segments (Lederer); and just in this latitude the most\ncareful determination fixes the mysterious White-man's-land, or Great\nIreland of the Icelandic Sagas (see the _American Hist. Mag._, ix. p.\n364), where the Scandinavian sea rovers in the eleventh century found men\nof their own color, clothed in long woven garments, and not less\ncivilized than themselves.\n\n[23-1] The name Eskimo is from the Algonkin word _Eskimantick_, eaters of\nraw flesh. There is reason to believe that at one time they possessed the\nAtlantic coast considerably to the south. The Northmen, in the year 1000,\nfound the natives of Vinland, probably near Rhode Island, of the same\nrace as they were familiar with in Labrador. They call them _Skralingar_,\nchips, and describe them as numerous and short of stature (Eric Rothens\nSaga, in Mueller, _Sag\u00e6nbibliothek_, p. 214). It is curious that the\ntraditions of the Tuscaroras, who placed their arrival on the Virginian\ncoast about 1300, spoke of the race they found there as eaters of raw\nflesh and ignorant of maize (Lederer, _Account of North America_, in\nHarris, Voyages).\n\n[25-1] Richardson, _Arctic Expedition_, p. 374.\n\n[25-2] The late Professor W. W. Turner of Washington, and Professor\nBuschmann of Berlin, are the two scholars who have traced the boundaries\nof this widely dispersed family. The name is drawn from Lake Athapasca in\nBritish America.\n\n[25-3] The Cherokee tongue has a limited number of words in common with\nthe Iroquois, and its structural similarity is close. The name is of\nunknown origin. It should doubtless be spelled _Tsalakie_, a plural form,\nalmost the same as that of the river Tellico, properly Tsaliko (Ramsey,\n_Annals of Tennessee_, p. 87), on the banks of which their principal\ntowns were situated. Adair's derivation from _cheera_, fire, is\nworthless, as no such word exists in their language.\n\n[27-1] The term Algonkin may be a corruption of _agomeegwin_, people of\nthe other shore. Algic, often used synonymously, is an adjective\nmanufactured by Mr. Schoolcraft \"from the words Alleghany and Atlantic\"\n(Algic Researches, ii. p. 12). There is no occasion to accept it, as\nthere is no objection to employing Algonkin both as substantive and\nadjective. Iroquois is a French compound of the native words _hiro_, I\nhave said, and _kou\u00e8_, an interjection of assent or applause, terms\nconstantly heard in their councils.\n\n[27-2] Apalachian, which should be spelt with one p, is formed of two\nCreek words, _apala_, the great sea, the ocean, and the suffix _chi_,\npeople, and means those dwelling by the ocean. That the Natchez were\noffshoots of the Mayas I was the first to surmise and to prove by a\ncareful comparison of one hundred Natchez words with their equivalents in\nthe Maya dialects. Of these, _five_ have affinities more or less marked\nto words peculiar to the Huastecas of the river Panuco (a Maya colony),\n_thirteen_ to words common to Huasteca and Maya, and _thirty-nine_ to\nwords of similar meaning in the latter language. This resemblance may be\nexemplified by the numerals, one, two, four, seven, eight, twenty. In\nNatchez they are _hu_, _ah_, _gan_, _uk-woh_, _upku-tepish_, _oka-poo_:\nin Maya, _hu_, _ca_, _can_, _uk_, _uapx\u00e6_, _hunkal_. (See the Am. Hist.\nMag., New Series, vol. i. p. 16, Jan. 1867.)\n\n[28-1] Dakota, a native word, means friends or allies.\n\n[28-2] Rep. of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1854, p. 209.\n\n[29-1] According to Professor Buschmann Aztec is probably from _iztac_,\nwhite, and Nahuatlacatl signifies those who speak the language _Nahuatl_,\nclear sounding, sonorous. The Abb\u00e9 Brasseur (de Bourbourg), on the other\nhand, derives the latter from the Quiche _nawal_, intelligent, and adds\nthe amazing information that this is identical with the English _know\nall_!! (_Hist. du Mexique_, etc., i. p. 102). For in his theory several\nlanguages of Central America are derived from the same old Indo-Germanic\nstock as the English, German, and cognate tongues. Toltec, from\n_Toltecatl_, means inhabitant of Tollan, which latter may be from\n_tolin_, rush, and signify the place of rushes. The signification\n_artificer_, often assigned to Toltecatl, is of later date, and was\nderived from the famed artistic skill of this early folk (Buschmann,\n_Aztek. Ortsnamen_, p. 682: Berlin, 1852). The Toltecs are usually spoken\nof as anterior to the Nahuas, but the Tlascaltecs and natives of\nCholollan or Cholula were in fact Toltecs, unless we assign to this\nlatter name a merely mythical signification. The early migrations of the\ntwo Aztec bands and their relationship, it may be said in passing, are as\nyet extremely obscure. The Shoshonees when first known dwelt as far north\nas the head waters of the Missouri, and in the country now occupied by\nthe Black Feet. Their language, which includes that of the Comanche,\nWihinasht, Utah, and kindred bands, was first shown to have many and\nmarked affinities with that of the Aztecs by Professor Buschmann in his\ngreat work, _Ueber die Spuren der Aztekischen Sprache im n\u00f6rdlichen\nMexico und h\u00f6heren Amerikanischen Norden_, p. 648: Berlin, 1854.\n\n[31-1] His opinion was founded on an analysis of fifteen words of the\nsecret language of the Incas preserved in the Royal Commentaries of\nGarcilasso de la Vega. On examination, they all proved to be modified\nforms from the _lengua general_ (Meyen, _Ueber die Ureinwohner von Peru_,\np. 6). The Quichuas of Peru must not be confounded with the Quiches of\nGuatemala. Quiche is the name of a place, and means \"many trees;\" the\nderivation of Quichua is unknown. Muyscas means \"men.\" This nation also\ncalled themselves Chibchas.\n\n[32-1] The significance of Carib is probably warrior. It may be the same\nword as Guarani, which also has this meaning. Tupi or Tupa is the name\ngiven the thunder, and can only be understood mythically.\n\n[33-1] The Araucanians probably obtained their name from two Quichua\nwords, _ari auccan_, yes! they fight; an idiom very expressive of their\nwarlike character. They had had long and terrible wars with the Incas\nbefore the arrival of Pizarro.\n\n[34-1] Since writing the text I have received the admirable work of Dr.\nvon Martius, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's zumal\nBrasilians_, Leipzig, 1867, in which I observe that that profound student\nconsiders that there is no doubt but that the Island Caribs, and the\nGalibis of the main land are descendants from the same stock as the Tupis\nand Guaranis.\n\n[35-1] _Comptes Rendus_, vol. xxi. p. 1368 sqq.\n\n[35-2] The two best authorities are Daniel Wilson, _The American Cranial\nType_, in _Ann. Rep. of the Smithson. Inst._, 1862, p. 240, and J. A.\nMeigs, _Cranial Forms of the Amer. Aborigs._: Phila. 1866. They accord in\nthe views expressed in the text and in the rejection of those advocated\nby Dr. S. G. Morton in the Crania Americana.\n\n[36-1] _Second Visit to the United States_, i. p. 252.\n\n[37-1] Martius, _Von dem Rechtzustande unter den Ureinwohnern\nBrasiliens_, p. 80: Muenchen, 1832; recently republished in his _Beitr\u00e4ge\nzur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's_: Leipzig, 1867.\n\n[38-1] _Athapaskische Sprachstamm_, p. 164: Berlin, 1856.\n\n[38-2] Martius, _Von dem Rechtzustande unter den Ureinwohnern\nBrasiliens_, p. 77.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE IDEA OF GOD.\n\n     An intuition common to the species.--Words expressing it in\n     American languages derived either from ideas of above in space, or\n     of life manifested by breath.--Examples.--No conscious monotheism,\n     and but little idea of immateriality discoverable.--Still less any\n     moral dualism of deities, the Great Good Spirit and the Great Bad\n     Spirit being alike terms and notions of foreign importation.\n\n\nIf we accept the definition that mythology is the idea of God expressed\nin symbol, figure, and narrative, and always struggling toward a clearer\nutterance, it is well not only to trace this idea in its very earliest\nembodiment in language, but also, for the sake of comparison, to ask\nwhat is its latest and most approved expression. The reply to this is\ngiven us by Immanuel Kant. He has shown that our reason, dwelling on the\nfacts of experience, constantly seeks the principles which connect them\ntogether, and only rests satisfied in the conviction that there is a\nhighest and first principle which reconciles all their discrepancies and\nbinds them into one. This he calls the Ideal of Reason. It must be true,\nfor it is evolved from the laws of reason, our only test of truth.\nFurthermore, the sense of personality and the voice of conscience,\nanalyzed to their sources, can only be explained by the assumption of an\ninfinite personality and an absolute standard of right. Or, if to some\nall this appears but wire-drawn metaphysical subtlety, they are welcome\nto the definition of the realist, that the idea of God is the sum of\nthose intelligent activities which the individual, reasoning from the\nanalogy of his own actions, imagines to be behind and to bring about\nnatural phenomena.[44-1] If either of these be correct, it were hard to\nconceive how any tribe or even any sane man could be without some notion\nof divinity.\n\nCertainly in America no instance of its absence has been discovered.\nObscure, grotesque, unworthy it often was, but everywhere man was\noppressed with a _sensus numinis_, a feeling that invisible, powerful\nagencies were at work around him, who, as they willed, could help or\nhurt him. In every heart was an altar to the Unknown God. Not that it\nwas customary to attach any idea of unity to these unseen powers. The\nsupposition that in ancient times and in very unenlightened conditions,\nbefore mythology had grown, a monotheism prevailed, which afterwards at\nvarious times was revived by reformers, is a belief that should have\npassed away when the delights of savage life and the praises of a state\nof nature ceased to be the themes of philosophers. We are speaking of a\npeople little capable of abstraction. The exhibitions of force in nature\nseemed to them the manifestations of that mysterious power felt by their\nself-consciousness; to combine these various manifestations and\nrecognize them as the operations of one personality, was a step not\neasily taken. Yet He is not far from every one of us. \"Whenever man\nthinks clearly, or feels deeply, he conceives God as self-conscious\nunity,\" says Carriere, with admirable insight; and elsewhere, \"we have\nmonotheism, not in contrast to polytheism, not clear to the thought, but\nin living intuition in the religious sentiments.\"[45-1]\n\nThus it was among the Indians. Therefore a word is usually found in\ntheir languages analogous to none in any European tongue, a word\ncomprehending all manifestations of the unseen world, yet conveying no\nsense of personal unity. It has been rendered spirit, demon, God, devil,\nmystery, magic, but commonly and rather absurdly by the English and\nFrench, \"medicine.\" In the Algonkin dialects this word is _manito_ and\n_oki_, in Iroquois _oki_ and _otkon_, the Dakota has _wakan_, the Aztec\n_teotl_, the Quichua _huaca_, and the Maya _ku_. They all express in its\nmost general form the idea of the supernatural. And as in this word,\nsupernatural, we see a transfer of a conception of place, and that it\nliterally means that which is _above_ the natural world, so in such as\nwe can analyze of these vague and primitive terms the same trope appears\ndiscoverable. _Wakan_ as an adverb means _above_, _oki_ is but another\northography for _oghee_, and _otkon_ seems allied to _hetken_, both of\nwhich have the same signification.[46-1]\n\nThe transfer is no mere figure of speech, but has its origin in the very\ntexture of the human mind. The heavens, the upper regions, are in every\nreligion the supposed abode of the divine. What is higher is always the\nstronger and the nobler; a _superior_ is one who is better than we are,\nand therefore a chieftain in Algonkin is called _oghee-ma_, the higher\none. There is, moreover, a naif and spontaneous instinct which leads man\nin his ecstasies of joy, and in his paroxysms of fear or pain, to lift\nhis hands and eyes to the overhanging firmament. There the sun and\nbright stars sojourn, emblems of glory and stability. Its azure vault\nhas a mysterious attraction which invites the eye to gaze longer and\nlonger into its infinite depths.[46-2] Its color brings thoughts of\nserenity, peace, sunshine, and warmth. Even the rudest hunting tribes\nfelt these sentiments, and as a metaphor in their speeches, and as a\npaint expressive of friendly design, blue was in wide use among\nthem.[47-1]\n\nSo it came to pass that the idea of God was linked to the heavens long\nere man asked himself, are the heavens material and God spiritual, is He\none, or is He many? Numerous languages bear trace of this. The Latin\nDeus, the Greek Zeus, the Sanscrit Dyaus, the Chinese Tien, all\noriginally meant the sky above, and our own word heaven is often\nemployed synonymously with God. There is at first no personification in\nthese expressions. They embrace all unseen agencies, they are void of\npersonality, and yet to the illogical primitive man there is nothing\ncontradictory in making them the object of his prayers. The Mayas had\nlegions of gods; \"_ku_,\" says their historian,[47-2] \"does not signify\nany particular god; yet their prayers are sometimes addressed to _kue_,\"\nwhich is the same word in the vocative case.\n\nAs the Latins called their united divinities _Superi_, those above, so\nCaptain John Smith found that the Powhatans of Virginia employed the\nword _oki_, above, in the same sense, and it even had passed into a\ndefinite personification among them in the shape of an \"idol of wood\nevil-favoredly carved.\" In purer dialects of the Algonkin it is always\nindefinite, as in the terms _nipoon oki_, spirit of summer, _pipoon\noki_, spirit of winter. Perhaps the word was introduced into Iroquois\nby the Hurons, neighbors and associates of the Algonkins. The Hurons\napplied it to that demoniac power \"who rules the seasons of the year,\nwho holds the winds and the waves in leash, who can give fortune to\ntheir undertakings, and relieve all their wants.\"[48-1] In another and\nfar distant branch of the Iroquois, the Nottoways of southern Virginia,\nit reappears under, the curious form _quaker_, doubtless a corruption of\nthe Powhatan _qui-oki_, lesser gods.[48-2] The proper Iroquois name of\nhim to whom they prayed was _garonhia_, which again turns out on\nexamination to be their common word for _sky_, and again in all\nprobability from the verbal root _gar_, to be above.[48-3] In the\nlegends of the Aztecs and Quiches such phrases as \"Heart of the Sky,\"\n\"Lord of the Sky,\" \"Prince of the Azure Planisphere,\" \"He above all,\"\nare of frequent occurrence, and by a still bolder metaphor, the\nAraucanians, according to Molina, entitled their greatest god \"The Soul\nof the Sky.\"\n\nThis last expression leads to another train of thought. As the\nphilosopher, pondering on the workings of self-consciousness, recognizes\nthat various pathways lead up to God, so the primitive man, in forming\nhis language, sometimes trod one, sometimes another. Whatever else\nsceptics have questioned, no one has yet presumed to doubt that if a God\nand a soul exist at all, they are of like essence. This firm belief has\nleft its impress on language in the names devised to express the\nsupernal, the spiritual world. If we seek hints from languages more\nfamiliar to us than the tongues of the Indians, and take for example\nthis word _spiritual_; we find it is from the Latin _spirare_, to blow,\nto breathe. If in Latin again we look for the derivation of _animus_,\nthe mind, _anima_, the soul, they point to the Greek _anemos_, wind, and\n_a\u00e9mi_, to blow. In Greek the words for soul or spirit, _psuche_,\n_pneuma_, _thumos_, all are directly from verbal roots expressing the\nmotion of the wind or the breath. The Hebrew word _ruah_ is translated\nin the Old Testament sometimes by wind, sometimes by spirit, sometimes\nby breath. Etymologically, in fact, ghosts and gusts, breaths and\nbreezes, the Great Spirit and the Great Wind, are one and the same. It\nis easy to guess the reason of this. The soul is the life, the life is\nthe breath. Invisible, imponderable, quickening with vigorous motion,\nslackening in rest and sleep, passing quite away in death, it is the\nmost obvious sign of life. All nations grasped the analogy and\nidentified the one with the other. But the breath is nothing but wind.\nHow easy, therefore, to look upon the wind that moves up and down and to\nand fro upon the earth, that carries the clouds, itself unseen, that\ncalls forth the terrible tempests and the various seasons, as the\nbreath, the spirit of God, as God himself? So in the Mosaic record of\ncreation, it is said \"a mighty wind\" passed over the formless sea and\nbrought forth the world, and when the Almighty gave to the clay a living\nsoul, he is said to have breathed into it \"the wind of lives.\"\n\nArmed with these analogies, we turn to the primitive tongues of America,\nand find them there as distinct as in the Old World. In Dakota _niya_ is\nliterally breath, figuratively life; in Netela _piuts_ is life, breath,\nand soul; _silla_, in Eskimo, means air, it means wind, but it is also\nthe word that conveys the highest idea of the world as a whole, and the\nreasoning faculty. The supreme existence they call _Sillam Innua_, Owner\nof the Air, or of the All; or _Sillam Nelega_, Lord of the Air or Wind.\nIn the Yakama tongue of Oregon _wkrisha_ signifies there is wind,\n_wkrishwit_, life; with the Aztecs, _ehecatl_ expressed both air, life,\nand the soul, and personified in their myths it was said to have been\nborn of the breath of Tezcatlipoca, their highest divinity, who himself\nis often called Yoalliehecatl, the Wind of Night.[50-1]\n\nThe descent is, indeed, almost imperceptible which leads to the\npersonification of the wind as God, which merges this manifestation of\nlife and power in one with its unseen, unknown cause. Thus it was a\nworthy epithet which the Creeks applied to their supreme invisible\nruler, when they addressed him as ESAUGETUH EMISSEE, Master of Breath,\nand doubtless it was at first but a title of equivalent purport which\nthe Cherokees, their neighbors, were wont to employ, OONAWLEH UNGGI,\nEldest of Winds, but rapidly leading to a complete identification of the\ndivine with the natural phenomena of meteorology. This seems to have\ntaken place in the same group of nations, for the original Choctaw word\nfor Deity was HUSHTOLI, the Storm Wind.[51-1] The idea, indeed, was\nconstantly being lost in the symbol. In the legends of the Quiches, the\nmysterious creative power is HURAKAN, a name of no signification in\ntheir language, one which their remote ancestors brought with them from\nthe Antilles, which finds its meaning in the ancient tongue of Haiti,\nand which, under the forms of _hurricane_, _ouragan_, _orkan_, was\nadopted into European marine languages as the native name of the\nterrible tornado of the Caribbean Sea.[51-2] Mixcohuatl, the Cloud\nSerpent, chief divinity of several tribes in ancient Mexico, is to this\nday the correct term in their language for the tropical whirlwind, and\nthe natives of Panama worshipped the same phenomenon under the name\nTuyra.[52-1] To kiss the air was in Peru the commonest and simplest sign\nof adoration to the collective divinities.[52-2]\n\nMany writers on mythology have commented on the prominence so frequently\ngiven to the winds. None have traced it to its true source. The facts of\nmeteorology have been thought all sufficient for a solution. As if man\never did or ever could draw the idea of God from nature! In the identity\nof wind with breath, of breath with life, of life with soul, of soul\nwith God, lies the far deeper and far truer reason, whose insensible\ndevelopment I have here traced, in outline indeed, but confirmed by the\nevidence of language itself.\n\nLet none of these expressions, however, be construed to prove the\ndistinct recognition of One Supreme Being. Of monotheism either as\ndisplayed in the one personal definite God of the Semitic races, or in\nthe dim pantheistic sense of the Brahmins, there was not a single\ninstance on the American continent. The missionaries found no word in\nany of their languages fit to interpret _Deus_, God. How could they\nexpect it? The associations we attach to that name are the accumulated\nfruits of nigh two thousand years of Christianity. The phrases Good\nSpirit, Great Spirit, and similar ones, have occasioned endless\ndiscrepancies in the minds of travellers. In most instances they are\nentirely of modern origin, coined at the suggestion of missionaries,\napplied to the white man's God. Very rarely do they bring any\nconception of personality to the native mind, very rarely do they\nsignify any object of worship, perhaps never did in the olden times. The\nJesuit Relations state positively that there was no one immaterial god\nrecognized by the Algonkin tribes, and that the title, the Great Manito,\nwas introduced first by themselves in its personal sense.[53-1] The\nsupreme Iroquois Deity Neo or Hawaneu, triumphantly adduced by many\nwriters to show the monotheism underlying the native creeds, and upon\nwhose name Mr. Schoolcraft has built some philological reveries, turns\nout on closer scrutiny to be the result of Christian instruction, and\nthe words themselves to be but corruptions of the French _Dieu_ and _le\nbon Dieu_![53-2]\n\nInnumerable mysterious forces are in activity around the child of\nnature; he feels within him something that tells him they are not of his\nkind, and yet not altogether different from him; he sums them up in one\nword drawn from sensuous experience. Does he wish to express still more\nforcibly this sentiment, he doubles the word, or prefixes an adjective,\nor adds an affix, as the genius of his language may dictate. But it\nstill remains to him but an unapplied abstraction, a mere category of\nthought, a frame for the All. It is never the object of veneration or\nsacrifice, no myth brings it down to his comprehension, it is not\ninstalled in his temples. Man cannot escape the belief that behind all\nform is one essence; but the moment he would seize and define it, it\neludes his grasp, and by a sorcery more sadly ludicrous than that which\nblinded Titania, he worships not the Infinite he thinks but a base idol\nof his own making. As in the Zend Avesta behind the eternal struggle of\nOrmuzd and Ahriman looms up the undisturbed and infinite Zeruana\nAkerana, as in the pages of the Greek poets we here and there catch\nglimpses of a Zeus who is not he throned on Olympus, nor he who takes\npart in the wrangles of the gods, but stands far off and alone, one yet\nall, \"who was, who is, who will be,\" so the belief in an Unseen Spirit,\nwho asks neither supplication nor sacrifice, who, as the natives of\nTexas told Joutel in 1684, \"does not concern himself about things here\nbelow,\"[54-1] who has no name to call him by, and is never a figure in\nmythology, was doubtless occasionally present to their minds. It was\npresent not more but far less distinctly and often not at all in the\nmore savage tribes, and no assertion can be more contrary to the laws of\nreligious progress than that which pretends that a purer and more\nmonotheistic religion exists among nations devoid of mythology. There\nare only two instances on the American continent where the worship of an\nimmaterial God was definitely instituted, and these as the highest\nconquests of American natural religions deserve especial mention.\n\nThey occurred, as we might expect, in the two most civilized nations,\nthe Quichuas of Peru, and the Nahuas of Tezcuco. It is related that\nabout the year 1440, at a grand religious council held at the\nconsecration of the newly-built temple of the Sun at Cuzco, the Inca\nYupanqui rose before the assembled multitude and spoke somewhat as\nfollows:--\n\n\"Many say that the Sun is the Maker of all things. But he who makes\nshould abide by what he has made. Now many things happen when the Sun is\nabsent; therefore he cannot be the universal creator. And that he is\nalive at all is doubtful, for his trips do not tire him. Were he a\nliving thing, he would grow weary like ourselves; were he free, he would\nvisit other parts of the heavens. He is like a tethered beast who makes\na daily round under the eye of a master; he is like an arrow, which must\ngo whither it is sent, not whither it wishes. I tell you that he, our\nFather and Master the Sun, must have a lord and master more powerful\nthan himself, who constrains him to his daily circuit without pause or\nrest.\"[55-1]\n\nTo express this greatest of all existences, a name was proclaimed, based\nupon that of the highest divinities known to the ancient Aymara race,\nIllatici Viracocha Pachacamac, literally, the thunder vase, the foam of\nthe sea, animating the world, mysterious and symbolic names drawn from\nthe deepest religious instincts of the soul, whose hidden meanings will\nbe unravelled hereafter. A temple was constructed in a vale by the sea\nnear Callao, wherein his worship was to be conducted without images or\nhuman sacrifices. The Inca was ahead of his age, however, and when the\nSpaniards visited the temple of Pachacamac in 1525, they found not only\nthe walls adorned with hideous paintings, but an ugly idol of wood\nrepresenting a man of colossal proportions set up therein, and receiving\nthe prayers of the votaries.[56-1]\n\nNo better success attended the attempt of Nezahuatl, lord of Tezcuco,\nwhich took place about the same time. He had long prayed to the gods of\nhis forefathers for a son to inherit his kingdom, and the altars had\nsmoked vainly with the blood of slaughtered victims. At length, in\nindignation and despair, the prince exclaimed, \"Verily, these gods that\nI am adoring, what are they but idols of stone without speech or\nfeeling? They could not have made the beauty of the heaven, the sun, the\nmoon, and the stars which adorn it, and which light the earth, with its\ncountless streams, its fountains and waters, its trees and plants, and\nits various inhabitants. There must be some god, invisible and unknown,\nwho is the universal creator. He alone can console me in my affliction\nand take away my sorrow.\" Strengthened in this conviction by a timely\nfulfilment of his heart's desire, he erected a temple nine stories high\nto represent the nine heavens, which he dedicated \"to the Unknown God,\nthe Cause of Causes.\" This temple, he ordained, should never be polluted\nby blood, nor should any graven image ever be set up within its\nprecincts.[57-1]\n\nIn neither case, be it observed, was any attempt made to substitute\nanother and purer religion for the popular one. The Inca continued to\nreceive the homage of his subjects as a brother of the sun, and the\nregular services to that luminary were never interrupted. Nor did the\nprince of Tezcuco afterwards neglect the honors due his national gods,\nnor even refrain himself from plunging the knife into the breasts of\ncaptives on the altar of the god of war.[57-2] They were but expressions\nof that monotheism which is ever present, \"not in contrast to\npolytheism, but in living intuition in the religious sentiments.\" If\nthis subtle but true distinction be rightly understood, it will excite\nno surprise to find such epithets as \"endless,\" \"omnipotent,\"\n\"invisible,\" \"adorable,\" such appellations as \"the Maker and Moulder of\nAll,\" \"the Mother and Father of Life,\" \"the One God complete in\nperfection and unity,\" \"the Creator of all that is,\" \"the Soul of the\nWorld,\" in use and of undoubted indigenous origin not only among the\ncivilized Aztecs, but even among the Haitians, the Araucanians, the\nLenni Lenape, and others.[57-3] It will not seem contradictory to hear\nof them in a purely polytheistic worship; we shall be far from\nregarding them as familiar to the popular mind, and we shall never be\nled so far astray as to adduce them in evidence of a monotheism in\neither technical sense of that word. In point of fact they were not\napplied to any particular god even in the most enlightened nations, but\nwere terms of laudation and magniloquence used by the priests and\ndevotees of every several god to do him honor. They prove something in\nregard to a consciousness of divinity hedging us about, but nothing at\nall in favor of a recognition of one God; they exemplify how profound is\nthe conviction of a highest and first principle, but they do not offer\nthe least reason to surmise that this was a living reality in doctrine\nor practice.\n\nThe confusion of these distinct ideas has led to much misconception of\nthe native creeds. But another and more fatal error was that which\ndistorted them into a dualistic form, ranging on one hand the good\nspirit with his legions of angels, on the other the evil one with his\nswarms of fiends, representing the world as the scene of their unending\nconflict, man as the unlucky football who gets all the blows. This\nnotion, which has its historical origin among the Parsees of ancient\nIran, is unknown to savage nations. \"The idea of the Devil,\" justly\nobserves Jacob Grimm, \"is foreign to all primitive religions.\" Yet\nProfessor Mueller, in his voluminous work on those of America, after\napprovingly quoting this saying, complacently proceeds to classify the\ndeities as good or bad spirits![59-1]\n\nThis view, which has obtained without question in every work on the\nnative religions of America, has arisen partly from habits of thought\ndifficult to break, partly from mistranslations of native words, partly\nfrom the foolish axiom of the early missionaries, \"The gods of the\ngentiles are devils.\" Yet their own writings furnish conclusive proof\nthat no such distinction existed out of their own fancies. The same word\n(_otkon_) which Father Bruyas employs to translate into Iroquois the\nterm \"devil,\" in the passage \"the Devil took upon himself the figure of\na serpent,\" he is obliged to use for \"spirit\" in the phrase, \"at the\nresurrection we shall be spirits,\"[59-2] which is a rather amusing\nillustration how impossible it was by any native word to convey the idea\nof the spirit of evil. When, in 1570, Father Rogel commenced his labors\namong the tribes near the Savannah River, he told them that the deity\nthey adored was a demon who loved all evil things, and they must hate\nhim; whereupon his auditors replied, that so far from this being the\ncase, whom he called a wicked being was the power that sent them all\ngood things, and indignantly left the missionary to preach to the\nwinds.[60-1]\n\nA passage often quoted in support of this mistaken view is one in\nWinslow's \"Good News from New England,\" written in 1622. The author says\nthat the Indians worship a good power called Kiehtan, and another \"who,\nas farre as wee can conceive, is the Devill,\" named Hobbamock, or\nHobbamoqui. The former of these names is merely the word \"great,\" in\ntheir dialect of Algonkin, with a final _n_, and is probably an\nabbreviation of Kittanitowit, the great manito, a vague term mentioned\nby Roger Williams and other early writers, not the appellation of any\npersonified deity.[60-2] The latter, so far from corresponding to the\npower of evil, was, according to Winslow's own statement, the kindly god\nwho cured diseases, aided them in the chase, and appeared to them in\ndreams as their protector. Therefore, with great justice, Dr. Jarvis has\nexplained it to mean \"the _oke_ or tutelary deity which each Indian\nworships,\" as the word itself signifies.[61-1]\n\nSo in many instances it turns out that what has been reported to be the\nevil divinity of a nation, to whom they pray to the neglect of a better\none, is in reality the highest power they recognize. Thus Juripari,\nworshipped by certain tribes of the Pampas of Buenos Ayres, and said to\nbe their wicked spirit, is in fact the only name in their language for\nspiritual existence in general; and Aka-kanet, sometimes mentioned as\nthe father of evil in the mythology of the Araucanians, is the benign\npower appealed to by their priests, who is throned in the Pleiades, who\nsends fruits and flowers to the earth, and is addressed as\n\"grandfather.\"[61-2] The \u00c7upay of the Peruvians never was, as Prescott\nwould have us believe, \"the shadowy embodiment of evil,\" but simply and\nsolely their god of the dead, the Pluto of their pantheon, corresponding\nto the Mictla of the Mexicans.\n\nThe evidence on the point is indeed conclusive. The Jesuit missionaries\nvery rarely distinguish between good and evil deities when speaking of\nthe religion of the northern tribes; and the Moravian Brethren among the\nAlgonkins and Iroquois place on record their unanimous testimony that\n\"the idea of a devil, a prince of darkness, they first received in\nlater times through the Europeans.\"[62-1] So the Cherokees, remarks an\nintelligent observer, \"know nothing of the Evil One and his domains,\nexcept what they have learned from white men.\"[62-2] The term Great\nSpirit conveys, for instance, to the Chipeway just as much the idea of a\nbad as of a good spirit; he is unaware of any distinction until it is\nexplained to him.[62-3] \"I have never been able to discover from the\nDakotas themselves,\" remarks the Rev. G. H. Pond, who had lived among\nthem as a missionary for eighteen years,[62-4] \"the least degree of\nevidence that they divide the gods into classes of good and evil, and am\npersuaded that those persons who represent them as doing so, do it\ninconsiderately, and because it is so natural to subscribe to a long\ncherished popular opinion.\"\n\nVery soon after coming in contact with the whites, the Indians caught\nthe notion of a bad and good spirit, pitted one against the other in\neternal warfare, and engrafted it on their ancient traditions. Writers\nanxious to discover Jewish or Christian analogies, forcibly construed\nmyths to suit their pet theories, and for indolent observers it was\nconvenient to catalogue their gods in antithetical classes. In Mexican\nand Peruvian mythology this is so plainly false that historians no\nlonger insist upon it, but as a popular error it still holds its ground\nwith reference to the more barbarous and less known tribes.\n\nPerhaps no myth has been so often quoted in its confirmation as that of\nthe ancient Iroquois, which narrates the conflict between the first two\nbrothers of our race. It is of undoubted native origin and venerable\nantiquity. The version given by the Tuscarora chief Cusic in 1825,\nrelates that in the beginning of things there were two brothers,\nEnigorio and Enigohahetgea, names literally meaning the Good Mind and\nthe Bad Mind.[63-1] The former went about the world furnishing it with\ngentle streams, fertile plains, and plenteous fruits, while the latter\nmaliciously followed him creating rapids, thorns, and deserts. At length\nthe Good Mind turned upon his brother in anger, and crushed him into the\nearth. He sank out of sight in its depths, but not to perish, for in the\ndark realms of the underworld he still lives, receiving the souls of the\ndead and being the author of all evil. Now when we compare this with the\nversion of the same legend given by Father Brebeuf, missionary to the\nHurons in 1636, we find its whole complexion altered; the moral dualism\nvanishes; the names Good Mind and Bad Mind do not appear; it is the\nstruggle of Ioskeha, the White one, with his brother Tawiscara, the Dark\none, and we at once perceive that Christian influence in the course of\ntwo centuries had given the tale a meaning foreign to its original\nintent.\n\nSo it is with the story the Algonkins tell of their hero Manibozho, who,\nin the opinion of a well-known writer, \"is always placed in antagonism\nto a great serpent, a spirit of evil.\"[64-1] It is to the effect that\nafter conquering many animals, this famous magician tried his arts on\nthe prince of serpents. After a prolonged struggle, which brought on the\ngeneral deluge and the destruction of the world, he won the victory. The\nfirst authority we have for this narrative is even later than Cusic; it\nis Mr. Schoolcraft in our own day; the legendary cause of the deluge as\nrelated by Father Le Jeune, in 1634, is quite dissimilar, and makes no\nmention of a serpent; and as we shall hereafter see, neither among the\nAlgonkins nor any other Indians, was the serpent usually a type of evil,\nbut quite the reverse.[64-2]\n\nThe comparatively late introduction of such views into the native\nlegends finds a remarkable proof in the myths of the Quiches, which were\ncommitted to writing in the seventeenth century. They narrate the\nstruggles between the rulers of the upper and the nether world, the\ndescent of the former into Xibalba, the Realm of Phantoms, and their\nvictory over its lords, One Death and Seven Deaths. The writer adds of\nthe latter, who clearly represent to his mind the Evil One and his\nadjutants, \"in the old times they did not have much power; they were but\nannoyers and opposers of men, and in truth they were not regarded as\ngods. But when they appeared it was terrible. They were of evil, they\nwere owls, fomenting trouble and discord.\" In this passage, which, be it\nsaid, seems to have impressed the translators very differently, the\nwriter appears to compare the great power assigned by the Christian\nreligion to Satan and his allies, with the very much less potency\nattributed to their analogues in heathendom, the rulers of the world of\nthe dead.[65-1]\n\nA little reflection will convince the most incredulous that any such\ndualism as has been fancied to exist in the native religions, could not\nhave been of indigenous growth. The gods of the primitive man are beings\nof thoroughly human physiognomy, painted with colors furnished by\nintercourse with his fellows. These are his enemies or his friends, as\nhe conciliates or insults them. No mere man, least of all a savage, is\nkind and benevolent in spite of neglect and injury, nor is any man\ncauselessly and ceaselessly malicious. Personal, family, or national\nfeuds render some more inimical than others, but always from a desire to\nguard their own interests, never out of a delight in evil for its own\nsake. Thus the cruel gods of death, disease, and danger, were never of\nSatanic nature, while the kindliest divinities were disposed to punish,\nand that severely, any neglect of their ceremonies. Moral dualism can\nonly arise in minds where the ideas of good and evil are not synonymous\nwith those of pleasure and pain, for the conception of a wholly good or\na wholly evil nature requires the use of these terms in their higher,\nethical sense. The various deities of the Indians, it may safely be said\nin conclusion, present no stronger antithesis in this respect than those\nof ancient Greece and Rome.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[44-1] But there is no ground for the most positive of philosophers to\nreject the doctrine of innate ideas when put in a certain way. The\ninstincts and habits of the lower animals by which they obtain food,\nmigrate, and perpetuate their kind, are in obedience to particular\ncongenital impressions, and correspond to definite anatomical and\nmorphological relations. No one pretends their knowledge is experimental.\nJust so the human cerebrum has received, by descent or otherwise, various\nsensory impressions peculiar to man as a species, which are just as\ncertain to guide his thoughts, actions, and destiny, as is the cerebrum\nof the insectivorous aye-aye to lead it to hunt successfully for larv\u00e6.\n\n[45-1] _Die Kunst im Zusammenhang der Culturentwickelung_, i. pp. 50,\n252.\n\n[46-1] I offer these derivations with a certain degree of reserve, for\nsuch an extraordinary similarity in the sound of these words is\ndiscoverable in North and portions of South America, that one might\nalmost be tempted to claim for them one original form. Thus in the Maya\ndialects it is _ku_, vocative _\u00e2 kue_, in Natchez _kue-ya_, in the Uchee\nof West Florida _kauhwu_, in Otomi _okha_, in Mandan _okee_, Sioux\n_ogha_, _waughon_, _wakan_, in Quichua _waka_, _huaca_, in Iroquois\n_quaker_, _oki_, Algonkin _oki_, _okee_, Eskimo _aghatt_, which last has\na singular likeness in sound to the German or Norse, _O Gott_, as some of\nthe others have to the corresponding Finnish word _ukko_. _Ku_ in the\nCarib tongue means _house_, especially a temple or house of the gods. The\nearly Spanish explorers adopted the word with the orthography _cue_, and\napplied it to the sacred edifices of whatever nation they discovered. For\ninstance, they speak of the great cemetery of Teotihuacan, near Tezcuco,\nas the _Llano de los Cues_.\n\n[46-2] \"As the high heavens, the far-off mountains look to us blue, so a\nblue superficies seems to recede from us. As we would fain pursue an\nattractive object that flees from us, so we like to gaze at the blue, not\nthat it urges itself upon us, but that it draws us after it.\" Goethe,\n_Farbenlehre_, secs. 780, 781.\n\n[47-1] Loskiel, _Geschichte der Mission der Evang. Brueder_, p. 63:\nBarby, 1789.\n\n[47-2] Cogolludo, _Historia de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. vii.\n\n[48-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France._ An 1636, p. 107.\n\n[48-2] This word is found in Gallatin's vocabularies (_Transactions of\nthe Am. Antiq. Soc._, vol. ii.), and may have partially induced that\ndistinguished ethnologist to ascribe, as he does in more than one place,\nwhatever notions the eastern tribes had of a Supreme Being to the\nteachings of the Quakers.\n\n[48-3] Bruyas, _Radices Verborum Iroqu\u00e6orum_, p. 84. This work is in\nShea's Library of American Linguistics, and is a most valuable\ncontribution to philology. The same etymology is given by Lafitau,\n_Moeurs des Sauvages_, etc., Germ. trans., p. 65.\n\n[50-1] My authorities are Riggs, _Dict. of the Dakota_, Boscana, _Account\nof New California_, Richardson's and Egede's Eskimo Vocabularies,\nPandosy, _Gram. and Dict. of the Yakama_ (Shea's Lib. of Am.\nLinguistics), and the Abb\u00e9 Brasseur for the Aztec.\n\n[51-1] These terms are found in Gallatin's vocabularies. The last\nmentioned is not, as Adair thought, derived from _issto ulla_ or _ishto\nhoollo_, great man, for in Choctaw the adjective cannot precede the noun\nit qualifies. Its true sense is visible in the analogous Creek words\n_ishtali_, the storm wind, and _hustolah_, the windy season.\n\n[51-2] Webster derives hurricane from the Latin _furio_. But Oviedo tells\nus in his description of Hispaniola that \"Hurakan, in lingua di questa\nisola vuole dire propriamente fortuna tempestuosa molto eccessiva, perche\nen effetto non \u00e8 altro que un grandissimo vento \u00e8 pioggia insieme.\"\n_Historia dell' Indie_, lib. vi. cap. iii. It is a coincidence--perhaps\nsomething more--that in the Quichua language _huracan_, third person\nsingular present indicative of the verbal noun _huraca_, means \"a stream\nof water falls perpendicularly.\" (Markham, _Quichua Dictionary_, p. 132.)\n\n[52-1] Oviedo, _Rel. de la Prov. de Cueba_, p. 141, ed. Ternaux-Compans.\n\n[52-2] Garcia, _Origen de los Indios_, lib. iv. cap. xxii.\n\n[53-1] See the _Rel. de la Nouv. France pour l'An 1637_, p. 49.\n\n[53-2] Mr. Morgan, in his excellent work, _The League of the Iroquois_,\nhas been led astray by an ignorance of the etymology of these terms. For\nSchoolcraft's views see his _Oneota_, p. 147. The matter is ably\ndiscussed in the _Etudes Philologiques sur Quelques Langues Sauvages de\nl'Am\u00e9rique_, p. 14: Montreal, 1866; but comp. Shea, _Dict.\nFran\u00e7ais-Onontagu\u00e9_, preface.\n\n[54-1] \"Qui ne prend aucun soin des choses icy bas.\" _Jour. Hist. d'un\nVoyage de l'Am\u00e9rique_, p. 225: Paris, 1713.\n\n[55-1] In attributing this speech to the Inca Yupanqui, I have followed\nBalboa, who expressly says this was the general opinion of the Indians\n(_Hist. du P\u00e9rou_, p. 62, ed. Ternaux-Compans). Others assign it to other\nIncas. See Garcilasso de la Vega, _Hist. des Incas_, lib. viii. chap. 8,\nand Acosta, _Nat. and Morall Hist. of the New World_, chap. 5. The fact\nand the approximate time are beyond question.\n\n[56-1] Xeres, _Rel. de la Conq. du P\u00e9rou_, p. 151, ed. Ternaux-Compans.\n\n[57-1] Prescott, _Conq. of Mexico_, i. pp. 192, 193, on the authority of\nIxtlilxochitl.\n\n[57-2] Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, iii. p. 297, note.\n\n[57-3] Of very many authorities that I have at hand, I shall only mention\nHeckewelder, _Acc. of the Inds._[TN-1] p. 422, Duponceau, _M\u00e9m. sur les\nLangues de l'Am\u00e9r. du Nord_, p. 310, Peter Martyr _De Rebus Oceanicis_,\nDec. i., cap. 9, Molina, _Hist. of Chili_, ii. p. 75, Ximenes, _Origen de\nlos Indios de Guatemala_, pp. 4, 5, Ixtlilxochitl, _Rel. des Conq. du\nMexique_, p. 2. These terms bear the severest scrutiny. The Aztec\nappellation of the Supreme Being _Tloque nahuaque_ is compounded of\n_tloc_, together, with, and _nahuac_, at, by, with, with possessive forms\nadded, giving the signification, Lord of all existence and coexistence\n(alles Mitseyns und alles Beiseyns, bei welchem das Seyn aller Dinge ist.\nBuschmann, _Ueber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen_, p. 642). The Algonkin term\n_Kittanittowit_ is derived from _kitta_, great, _manito_, spirit, _wit_,\nan adjective termination indicating a mode of existence, and means the\nGreat Living Spirit (Duponceau, u. s.). Both these terms are undoubtedly\nof native origin. In the Quiche legends the Supreme Being is called\n_Bitol_, the substantive form of _bit_, to make pottery, to form, and\n_Tzakol_, substantive form of _tzak_, to build, the Creator, the\nConstructor. The Arowacks of Guyana applied the term _Aluberi_ to their\nhighest conception of a first cause, from the verbal form _alin_, he who\nmakes (Martius, _Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's_, i. p. 696).\n\n[59-1] _Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen_, p. 403.\n\n[59-2] Bruyas, _Rad. Verb. Iroqu\u00e6orum_, p. 38.\n\n[60-1] Alcazar, _Chrono-historia de la Prov. de Toledo_, Dec. iii., A\u00f1o\nviii., cap. iv: Madrid, 1710. This rare work contains the only faithful\ncopies of Father Rogel's letters extant. Mr. Shea, in his History of\nCatholic Missions, calls him erroneously Roger.\n\n[60-2] It is fully analyzed by Duponceau, _Langues de l'Am\u00e9rique du\nNord_, p. 309.\n\n[61-1] _Discourse on the Religion of the Ind. Tribes of N. Am._, p. 252\nin the Trans. N. Y. Hist. Soc.\n\n[61-2] Mueller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, pp. 265, 272, 274. Well may he\nremark: \"The dualism is not very striking among these tribes;\" as a few\npages previous he says of the Caribs, \"The dualism of gods is anything\nbut rigidly observed. The good gods do more evil than good. Fear is the\nruling religious sentiment.\" To such a lame conclusion do these venerable\nprepossessions lead. \"_Grau ist alle Theorie_.\"\n\n[62-1] Loskiel, _Ges. der Miss. der evang. Brueder_, p. 46.\n\n[62-2] Whipple, _Report on the Ind. Tribes_, p. 33: Washington, 1855.\nPacific Railroad Docs.\n\n[62-3] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, i. p. 359.\n\n[62-4] In Schoolcraft, _Ibid._, iv. p. 642.\n\n[63-1] Or more exactly, the Beautiful Spirit, the Ugly Spirit. In\nOnondaga the radicals are _onigonra_, spirit, _hio_ beautiful, _ahetken_\nugly. _Dictionnaire Fran\u00e7ais-Onontagu\u00e9, \u00e9dit\u00e9 par Jean-Marie Shea_: New\nYork, 1859.\n\n[64-1] Squier, _The Serpent Symbol in America_.\n\n[64-2] Both these legends will be analyzed in a subsequent chapter, and\nan attempt made not only to restore them their primitive form, but to\nexplain their meaning.\n\n[65-1] Compare the translation and remarks of Ximenes, _Or. de los Indios\nde Guat._, p. 76, with those of Brasseur, _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s_,\np. 189.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE SACRED NUMBER, ITS ORIGIN AND APPLICATIONS.\n\n     The number FOUR sacred in all American religions, and the key to\n     their symbolism.--Derived from the CARDINAL POINTS.--Appears\n     constantly in government, arts, rites, and myths.--The Cardinal\n     Points identified with the Four Winds, who in myths are the four\n     ancestors of the human race, and the four celestial rivers watering\n     the terrestrial Paradise.--Associations grouped around each\n     Cardinal Point.--From the number four was derived the symbolic\n     value of the number _Forty_, and the _Sign of the Cross_.\n\n\nEvery one familiar with the ancient religions of the world must have\nnoticed the mystic power they attach to certain numbers, and how these\nnumbers became the measures and formative quantities, as it were, of\ntraditions and ceremonies, and had a symbolical meaning nowise connected\nwith their arithmetical value. For instance, in many eastern religions,\nthat of the Jews among the rest, _seven_ was the most sacred number, and\nafter it, _four_ and _three_. The most cursory reader must have observed\nin how many connections the seven is used in the Hebrew Scriptures,\noccurring, in all, something over three hundred and sixty times, it is\nsaid. Why these numbers were chosen rather than others has not been\nclearly explained. Their sacred character dates beyond the earliest\nhistory, and must have been coeval with the first expressions of the\nreligious sentiment. Only one of them, the FOUR, has any prominence in\nthe religions of the red race, but this is so marked and so universal,\nthat at a very early period in my studies I felt convinced that if the\nreason for its adoption could be discovered, much of the apparent\nconfusion which reigns among them would be dispelled.\n\nSuch a reason must take its rise from some essential relation of man to\nnature, everywhere prominent, everywhere the same. It is found in the\n_adoration of the cardinal points_.\n\nThe red man, as I have said, was a hunter; he was ever wandering through\npathless forests, coursing over boundless prairies. It seems to the\nwhite race not a faculty, but an instinct that guides him so unerringly.\nHe is never at a loss. Says a writer who has deeply studied his\ncharacter: \"The Indian ever has the points of the compass present to his\nmind, and expresses himself accordingly in words, although it shall be\nof matters in his own house.\"[67-1]\n\nThe assumption of precisely four cardinal points is not of chance; it is\nrecognized in every language; it is rendered essential by the anatomical\nstructure of the body; it is derived from the immutable laws of the\nuniverse. Whether we gaze at the sunset or the sunrise, or whether at\nnight we look for guidance to the only star of the twinkling thousands\nthat is constant to its place, the anterior and posterior planes of our\nbodies, our right hands and our left coincide with the parallels and\nmeridians. Very early in his history did man take note of these four\npoints, and recognizing in them his guides through the night and the\nwilderness, call them his gods. Long afterwards, when centuries of slow\nprogress had taught him other secrets of nature--when he had discerned\nin the motions of the sun, the elements of matter, and the radicals of\narithmetic a repetition of this number--they were to him further\nwarrants of its sacredness. He adopted it as a regulating quantity in\nhis institutions and his arts; he repeated it in its multiples and\ncompounds; he imagined for it novel applications; he constantly\nmagnified its mystic meaning; and finally, in his philosophical\nreveries, he called it the key to the secrets of the universe, \"the\nsource of ever-flowing nature.\"[68-1]\n\nIn primitive geography the figure of the earth is a square plain; in the\nlegend of the Quich\u00e9's it is \"shaped as a square, divided into four\nparts, marked with lines, measured with cords, and suspended from the\nheavens by a cord to its four corners and its four sides.\"[68-2] The\nearliest divisions of territory were in conformity to this view. Thus it\nwas with ancient Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and China;[68-3] and in the\nnew world, the states of Peru, Araucania, the Muyscas, the Quich\u00e9s, and\nTlascala were tetrarchies divided in accordance with, and in the first\ntwo instances named after, the cardinal points. So their chief\ncities--Cuzco, Quito, Tezcuco, Mexico, Cholula--were quartered by\nstreets running north, south, east, and west. It was a necessary result\nof such a division that the chief officers of the government were four\nin number, that the inhabitants of town and country, that the whole\nsocial organization acquired a quadruplicate form. The official title of\nthe Incas was \"Lord of the four quarters of the earth,\" and the\nvenerable formality in taking possession of land, both in their domain\nand that of the Aztecs, was to throw a stone, to shoot an arrow, or to\nhurl a firebrand to each of the cardinal points.[69-1] They carried out\nthe idea in their architecture, building their palaces in squares with\ndoors opening, their tombs with their angles pointing, their great\ncauseways running in these directions. These architectural principles\nrepeat themselves all over the continent; they recur in the sacred\nstructures of Yucatan, in the ancient cemetery of Teo-tihuacan near\nMexico, where the tombs are arranged along avenues corresponding exactly\nto the parallels and meridians of the central tumuli of the sun and\nmoon;[69-2] and however ignorant we are about the mound builders of the\nMississippi valley, we know that they constructed their earthworks with\na constant regard to the quarters of the compass.\n\nNothing can be more natural than to take into consideration the regions\nof the heavens in the construction of buildings; I presume that at any\ntime no one plans an edifice of pretensions without doing so. Yet this\nis one of those apparently trifling transactions which in their origin\nand applications have exerted a controlling influence on the history of\nthe human race.\n\nWhen we reflect how indissolubly the mind of the primitive man is welded\nto his superstitions, it were incredible that his social life and his\narchitecture could thus be as it were in subjection to one idea, and his\nrites and myths escape its sway. As one might expect, it reappears in\nthese latter more vividly than anywhere else. If there is one formula\nmore frequently mentioned by travellers than another as an indispensable\npreliminary to all serious business, it is that of smoking, and the\nprescribed and traditional rule was that the first puff should be to the\nsky, and then one to each of the corners of the earth, or the cardinal\npoints.[70-1] These were the spirits who made and governed the earth,\nand under whatever difference of guise the uncultivated fancy portrayed\nthem, they were the leading figures in the tales and ceremonies of\nnearly every tribe of the red race. These were the divine powers\nsummoned by the Chipeway magicians when initiating neophytes into the\nmysteries of the meda craft. They were asked to a lodge of four poles,\nto four stones that lay before its fire, there to remain four days, and\nattend four feasts. At every step of the proceeding this number or its\nmultiples were repeated.[71-1] With their neighbors the Dakotas the\nnumber was also distinctly sacred; it was intimately inwoven in all\ntheir tales concerning the wakan power and the spirits of the air, and\ntheir religious rites. The artist Catlin has given a vivid description\nof the great annual festival of the Mandans, a Dakota tribe, and brings\nforward with emphasis the ceaseless reiteration of this number from\nfirst to last.[71-2] He did not detect its origin in the veneration of\nthe cardinal points, but the information that has since been furnished\nof the myths of this stock leaves no doubt that such was the case.[71-3]\n\nProximity of place had no part in this similarity of rite. In the grand\ncommemorative festival of the Creeks called the Busk, which wiped out\nthe memory of all crimes but murder, which reconciled the proscribed\ncriminal to his nation and atoned for his guilt, when the new fire was\nkindled and the green corn served up, every dance, every invocation,\nevery ceremony, was shaped and ruled by the application of the number\nfour and its multiples in every imaginable relation. So it was at that\nsolemn probation which the youth must undergo to prove himself worthy of\nthe dignities of manhood and to ascertain his guardian spirit; here\nagain his fasts, his seclusions, his trials, were all laid down in\nfourfold arrangement.[72-1]\n\nNot alone among these barbarous tribes were the cardinal points thus the\nfoundation of the most solemn mysteries of religion. An excellent\nauthority relates that the Aztecs of Micla, in Guatemala, celebrated\ntheir chief festival four times a year, and that four priests solemnized\nits rites. They commenced by invoking and offering incense to the sky\nand the four cardinal points; they conducted the human victim four times\naround the temple, then tore out his heart, and catching the blood in\nfour vases scattered it in the same directions.[72-2] So also the\nPeruvians had four principal festivals annually, and at every new moon\none of four days' duration. In fact the repetition of the number in all\ntheir religious ceremonies is so prominent that it has been a subject of\ncomment by historians. They have attributed it to the knowledge of the\nsolstices and equinoxes, but assuredly it is of more ancient date than\nthis. The same explanation has been offered for its recurrence among the\nNahuas of Mexico, whose whole lives were subjected to its operation. At\nbirth the mother was held unclean for four days, a fire was kindled and\nkept burning for a like length of time, at the baptism of the child an\narrow was shot to each of the cardinal points. Their prayers were\noffered four times a day, the greatest festivals were every fourth year,\nand their offerings of blood were to the four points of the compass. At\ndeath food was placed on the grave, as among the Eskimos, Creeks, and\nAlgonkins, for four days (for all these nations supposed that the\njourney to the land of souls was accomplished in that time), and\nmourning for the dead was for four months or four years.[73-1]\n\nIt were fatiguing and unnecessary to extend the catalogue much further.\nYet it is not nearly exhausted. From tribes of both continents and all\nstages of culture, the Muyscas of Columbia and the Natchez of Louisiana,\nthe Quich\u00e9s of Guatemala and the Caribs of the Orinoko, instance after\ninstance might be marshalled to illustrate how universally a sacred\ncharacter was attached to this number, and how uniformly it is traceable\nto a veneration of the cardinal points. It is sufficient that it be\ndisplayed in some of its more unusual applications.\n\nIt is well known that the calendar common to the Aztecs and Mayas\ndivides the month into four weeks, each containing a like number of\nsecular days; that their indiction is divided into four periods; and\nthat they believed the world had passed through four cycles. It has not\nbeen sufficiently emphasized that in many of the picture writings these\ndays of the week are placed respectively north, south, east, and west,\nand that in the Maya language the quarters of the indiction still bear\nthe names of the cardinal points, hinting the reason of their\nadoption.[74-1] This cannot be fortuitous. Again, the division of the\nyear into four seasons--a division as devoid of foundation in nature as\nthat of the ancient Aryans into three, and unknown among many tribes,\nyet obtained in very early times among Algonkins, Cherokees, Choctaws,\nCreeks, Aztecs, Muyscas, Peruvians, and Araucanians. They were supposed\nto be produced by the unending struggles and varying fortunes of the\nfour aerial giants who rule the winds.\n\nWe must seek in mythology the key to the monotonous repetition and the\nsanctity of this number; and furthermore, we must seek it in those\nnatural modes of expression of the religious sentiment which are above\nthe power of blood or circumstance to control. One of these modes, we\nhave seen, was that which led to the identification of the divinity with\nthe wind, and this it is that solves the enigma in the present instance.\nUniversally the spirits of the cardinal points were imagined to be in\nthe winds that blew from them. The names of these directions and of the\ncorresponding winds are often the same, and when not, there exists an\nintimate connection between them. For example, take the languages of the\nMayas, Huastecas, and Moscos of Central America; in all of them the word\nfor _north_ is synonymous with _north wind_, and so on for the other\nthree points of the compass. Or again, that of the Dakotas, and the word\n_tate-ouye-toba_, translated \"the four quarters of the heavens,\" means\nliterally, \"whence the four winds come.\"[75-1] It were not difficult to\nextend the list; but illustrations are all that is required. Let it be\nremembered how closely the motions of the air are associated in thought\nand language with the operations of the soul and the idea of God; let it\nfurther be considered what support this association receives from the\npower of the winds on the weather, bringing as they do the lightning and\nthe storm, the zephyr that cools the brow, and the tornado that levels\nthe forest; how they summon the rain to fertilize the seed and refresh\nthe shrivelled leaves; how they aid the hunter to stalk the game, and\nusher in the varying seasons; how, indeed, in a hundred ways, they\nintimately concern his comfort and his life; and it will not seem\nstrange that they almost occupied the place of all other gods in the\nmind of the child of nature. Especially as those who gave or withheld\nthe rains were they objects of his anxious solicitation. \"Ye who dwell\nat the four corners of the earth--at the north, at the south, at the\neast, and at the west,\" commenced the Aztec prayer to the Tlalocs, gods\nof the showers.[75-2] For they, as it were, hold the food, the life of\nman in their power, garnered up on high, to grant or deny, as they see\nfit. It was from them that the prophet of old was directed to call back\nthe spirits of the dead to the dry bones of the valley. \"Prophesy unto\nthe wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord\nGod, come forth from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these\nslain, that they may live.\" (Ezek. xxxvii. 9.)\n\nIn the same spirit the priests of the Eskimos prayed to _Sillam Innua_,\nthe Owner of the Winds, as the highest existence; the abode of the dead\nthey called _Sillam Aipane_, the House of the Winds; and in their\nincantations, when they would summon a new soul to the sick, or order\nback to its home some troublesome spirit, their invocations were ever\naddressed to the winds from the cardinal points--to Pauna the East and\nSauna the West, to Kauna the South and Auna the North.[76-1]\n\nAs the rain-bringers, as the life-givers, it were no far-fetched\nmetaphor to call them the fathers of our race. Hardly a nation on the\ncontinent but seems to have had some vague tradition of an origin from\nfour brothers, to have at some time been led by four leaders or princes,\nor in some manner to have connected the appearance and action of four\nimportant personages with its earliest traditional history. Sometimes\nthe myth defines clearly these fabled characters as the spirits of the\nwinds, sometimes it clothes them in uncouth, grotesque metaphors,\nsometimes again it so weaves them into actual history that we are at a\nloss where to draw the line that divides fiction from truth.\n\nI shall attempt to follow step by step the growth of this myth from its\nsimplest expression, where the transparent drapery makes no pretence to\nconceal its true meaning, through the ever more elaborate narratives,\nthe more strongly marked personifications of more cultivated nations,\nuntil it assumes the outlines of, and has palmed itself upon the world\nas actual history.\n\nThis simplest form is that which alone appears among the Algonkins and\nDakotas. They both traced their lives back to four ancestors, personages\nconcerned in various ways with the first things of time, not rightly\ndistinguished as men or gods, but very positively identified with the\nfour winds. Whether from one or all of these the world was peopled,\nwhether by process of generation or some other more obscure way, the old\npeople had not said, or saying, had not agreed.[77-1]\n\nIt is a shade more complex when we come to the Creeks. They told of four\nmen who came from the four corners of the earth, who brought them the\nsacred fire, and pointed out the seven sacred plants. They were called\nthe Hi-you-yul-gee. Having rendered them this service, the kindly\nvisitors disappeared in a cloud, returning whence they came. When\nanother and more ancient legend informs us that the Creeks were at first\ndivided into four clans, and alleged a descent from four female\nancestors, it will hardly be venturing too far to recognize in these\nfour ancestors the four friendly patrons from the cardinal points.[78-1]\n\nThe ancient inhabitants of Haiti, when first discovered by the\nSpaniards, had a similar genealogical story, which Peter Martyr relates\nwith various excuses for its silliness and exclamations at its\nabsurdity. Perhaps the fault lay less in its lack of meaning than in his\nwant of insight. It was to the effect that men lived in caves, and were\ndestroyed by the parching rays of the sun, and were destitute of means\nto prolong their race, until they caught and subjected to their use four\nwomen who were swift of foot and slippery as eels. These were the\nmothers of the race of men. Or again, it was said that a certain king\nhad a huge gourd which contained all the waters of the earth; four\nbrothers, who coming into the world at one birth had cost their mother\nher life, ventured to the gourd to fish, picked it up, but frightened by\nthe old king's approach, dropped it on the ground, broke it into\nfragments, and scattered the waters over the earth, forming the seas,\nlakes, and rivers, as they now are. These brothers in time became the\nfathers of a nation, and to them they traced their lineage.[78-2] With\nthe previous examples before our eyes, it asks no vivid fancy to see in\nthese quaternions once more the four winds, the bringers of rain, so\nswift and so slippery.\n\nThe Navajos are a rude tribe north of Mexico. Yet even they have an\nallegory to the effect that when the first man came up from the ground\nunder the figure of the moth-worm, the four spirits of the cardinal\npoints were already there, and hailed him with the exclamation, \"Lo, he\nis of our race.\"[79-1] It is a poor and feeble effort to tell the same\nold story.\n\nThe Haitians were probably relatives of the Mayas of Yucatan. Certainly\nthe latter shared their ancestral legends, for in an ancient manuscript\nfound by Mr. Stephens during his travels, it appears they looked back to\nfour parents or leaders called the Tutul Xiu. But, indeed, this was a\ntrait of all the civilized nations of Central America and Mexico. An\nauthor who would be very unwilling to admit any mythical interpretation\nof the coincidence, has adverted to it in tones of astonishment: \"In all\nthe Aztec and Toltec histories there are four characters who constantly\nreappear; either as priests or envoys of the gods, or of hidden and\ndisguised majesty; or as guides and chieftains of tribes during their\nmigrations; or as kings and rulers of monarchies after their foundation;\nand even to the time of the conquest, there are always four princes who\ncompose the supreme government, whether in Guatemala, or in\nMexico.\"[79-2] This fourfold division points not to a common history,\nbut to a common nature. The ancient heroes and demigods, who, four in\nnumber, figure in all these antique traditions, were not men of flesh\nand blood, but the invisible currents of air who brought the fertilizing\nshowers.\n\nThey corresponded to the four gods Bacab, who in the Yucatecan mythology\nwere supposed to stand one at each corner of the world, supporting, like\ngigantic caryatides, the overhanging firmament. When at the general\ndeluge all other gods and men were swallowed by the waters they alone\nescaped to people it anew. These four, known by the names of Kan, Muluc,\nIx, and Cauac, represented respectively the east, north, west, and\nsouth, and as in Oriental symbolism, so here each quarter of the compass\nwas distinguished by a color, the east by yellow, the south by red, the\nwest by black, and the north by white. The names of these mysterious\npersonages, employed somewhat as we do the Dominical letters, adjusted\nthe calendar of the Mayas, and by their propitious or portentous\ncombinations was arranged their system of judicial astrology. They were\nthe gods of rain, and under the title Chac, the Red Ones, were the chief\nministers of the highest power. As such they were represented in the\nreligious ceremonies by four old men, constant attendants on the high\npriest in his official functions.[80-1] In this most civilized branch\nof the red race, as everywhere else, we thus find four mythological\ncharacters prominent beyond all others, giving a peculiar physiognomy to\nthe national legends, arts, and sciences, and in them once more we\nrecognize by signs infallible, personifications of the four cardinal\npoints and the four winds.\n\nThey rarely lose altogether their true character. The Quich\u00e9 legends\ntell us that the four men who were first created by the Heart of Heaven,\nHurakan, the Air in Motion, were infinitely keen of eye and swift of\nfoot, that \"they measured and saw all that exists at the four corners\nand the four angles of the sky and the earth;\" that they did not fulfil\nthe design of their maker \"to bring forth and produce when the season of\nharvest was near,\" until he blew into their eyes a cloud, \"until their\nfaces were obscured as when one breathes on a mirror.\" Then he gave them\nas wives the four mothers of our species, whose names were Falling\nWater, Beautiful Water, Water of Serpents, and Water of Birds.[81-1]\nTruly he who can see aught but a transparent myth in this recital, is a\nrealist that would astonish Euhemerus himself.\n\nThere is in these Aztec legends a quaternion besides this of the first\nmen, one that bears marks of a profound contemplation on the course of\nnature, one that answers to the former as the heavenly phase of the\nearthly conception. It is seen in the four personages, or perhaps we\nshould say modes of action, that make up the one Supreme Cause of All,\nHurakan, the breath, the wind, the Divine Spirit. They are He who\ncreates, He who gives Form, He who gives Life, and He who\nreproduces.[82-1] This acute and extraordinary analysis of the origin\nand laws of organic life, clothed under the ancient belief in the action\nof the winds, reveals a depth of thought for which we were hardly\nprepared, and is perhaps the single instance of anything like\nmetaphysics among the red race. It is clearly visible in the earlier\nportions of the legends of the Quich\u00e9s, and is the more surely of native\norigin as it has been quite lost on both their translators.\n\nGo where we will, the same story meets us. The empire of the Incas was\nattributed in the sacred chants of the Amautas, the priests assigned to\ntake charge of the records, to four brothers and their wives. These\nmythical civilizers are said to have emerged from a cave called _Pacari\ntampu_, which may mean \"the House of Subsistence,\" reminding us of the\nfour heroes who in Aztec legend set forth to people the world from\nTonacatepec, the mountain of our subsistence; or again it may mean--for\nlike many of these mythical names it seems to have been designedly\nchosen to bear a double construction--the Lodgings of the Dawn,\nrecalling another Aztec legend which points for the birthplace of the\nrace to Tula in the distant orient. The cave itself suggests to the\nclassical reader that of Eolus, or may be paralleled with that in which\nthe Iroquois fabled the winds were imprisoned by their lord.[83-1] These\nbrothers were of no common kin. Their voices could shake the earth and\ntheir hands heap up mountains. Like the thunder god, they stood on the\nhills and hurled their sling-stones to the four corners of the earth.\nWhen one was overpowered he fled upward to the heaven or was turned into\nstone, and it was by their aid and counsel that the savages who\npossessed the land renounced their barbarous habits and commenced to\ntill the soil. There can be no doubt but that this in turn is but\nanother transformation of the Protean myth we have so long\npursued.[83-2]\n\nThere are traces of the same legend among many other tribes of the\ncontinent, but the trustworthy reports we have of them are too scanty to\npermit analysis. Enough that they are mentioned in a note, for it is\nevery way likely that could we resolve their meaning they too would\ncarry us back to the four winds.[83-3]\n\nLet no one suppose, however, that this was the only myth of the origin\nof man. Far from it. It was but one of many, for, as I shall hereafter\nattempt to show, the laws that governed the formations of such myths not\nonly allowed but enjoined great divergence of form. Equally far was it\nfrom being the only image which the inventive fancy hit upon to express\nthe action of the winds as the rain bringers. They too were many, but\nmay all be included in a twofold division, either as the winds were\nsupposed to flow in from the corners of the earth or outward from its\ncentral point. Thus they are spoken of under such figures as four\ntortoises at the angles of the earthly plane who vomit forth the\nrains,[85-1] or four gigantic caryatides who sustain the heavens and\nblow the winds from their capacious lungs,[85-2] or more frequently as\nfour rivers flowing from the broken calabash on high, as the Haitians,\ndraining the waters of the primitive world,[85-3] as four animals who\nbring from heaven the maize,[85-4] as four messengers whom the god of\nair sends forth, or under a coarser trope as the spittle he ejects\ntoward the cardinal points which is straightway transformed into wild\nrice, tobacco, and maize.[85-5]\n\nConstantly from the palace of the lord of the world, seated on the high\nhill of heaven, blow four winds, pour four streams, refreshing and\nfecundating the earth. Therefore, in the myths of ancient Iran there is\nmention of a celestial fountain, Arduisur, the virgin daughter of\nOrmuzd, whence four all nourishing rivers roll their waves toward the\ncardinal points; therefore the Thibetans believe that on the sacred\nmountain Himavata grows the tree of life Zampu, from whose foot once\nmore flow the waters of life in four streams to the four quarters of the\nworld; and therefore it is that the same tale is told by the Chinese of\nthe mountain Kouantun, by the Brahmins of Mount Meru, and by the Parsees\nof Mount Albors in the Caucasus.[85-6] Each nation called their sacred\nmountain \"the navel of the earth;\" for not only was it the supposed\ncentre of the habitable world, but through it, as the foetus through\nthe umbilical cord, the earth drew her increase. Beyond all other spots\nwere they accounted fertile, scenes of joyous plaisance, of repose, and\neternal youth; there rippled the waters of health, there blossomed the\ntree of life; they were fit trysting spots of gods and men. Hence came\nthe tales of the terrestrial paradise, the rose garden of Feridun, the\nEden gardens of the world. The name shows the origin, for paradise (in\nSanscrit, _para desa_) means literally _high land_. There, in the\nunanimous opinion of the Orient, dwelt once in unalloyed delight the\nfirst of men; thence driven by untoward fate, no more anywhere could\nthey find the path thither. Some thought that in the north among the\nfortunate Hyperboreans, others that in the mountains of the moon where\ndwelt the long lived Ethiopians, and others again that in the furthest\neast, underneath the dawn, was situate the seat of pristine happiness;\nbut many were of opinion that somewhere in the western sea, beyond the\npillars of Hercules and the waters of the Outer Ocean, lay the garden of\nthe Hesperides, the Islands of the Blessed, the earthly Elysion.\n\nIt is not without design that I recall this early dream of the religious\nfancy. When Christopher Columbus, fired by the hope of discovering this\nterrestrial paradise, broke the enchantment of the cloudy sea and found\na new world, it was but to light upon the same race of men, deluding\nthemselves with the same hope of earthly joys, the same fiction of a\nlong lost garden of their youth. They told him that still to the west,\namid the mountains of Paria, was a spot whence flowed mighty streams\nover all lands, and which in sooth was the spot he sought;[87-1] and\nwhen that baseless fabric had vanished, there still remained the fabled\nisland of Boiuca, or Bimini, hundreds of leagues north of Hispaniola,\nwhose glebe was watered by a fountain of such noble virtue as to restore\nyouth and vigor to the worn out and the aged.[87-2] This was no fiction\nof the natives to rid themselves of burdensome guests. Long before the\nwhite man approached their shores, families had started from Cuba,\nYucatan, and Honduras in search of these renovating waters, and not\nreturning, were supposed by their kindred to have been detained by the\ndelights of that enchanted land, and to be revelling in its seductive\njoys, forgetful of former ties.[87-3]\n\nPerhaps it was but another rendering of the same belief that pointed to\nthe impenetrable forests of the Orinoko, the ancient homes of the Caribs\nand Arowacks, and there located the famous realm of El Dorado with its\nimperial capital Manoa, abounding in precious metals and all manner of\ngems, peopled by a happy race, and governed by an equitable ruler.\n\nThe Aztec priests never chanted more regretful dirges than when they\nsang of Tulan, the cradle of their race, where once it dwelt in peaceful\nindolent happiness, whose groves were filled with birds of sweet voices\nand gay plumage, whose generous soil brought forth spontaneously maize,\ncocoa, aromatic gums, and fragrant flowers. \"Land of riches and plenty,\nwhere the gourds grow an arm's length across, where an ear of corn is a\nload for a stout man, and its stalks are as high as trees; land where\nthe cotton ripens of its own accord of all rich tints; land abounding\nwith limpid emeralds, turquoises, gold, and silver.\"[88-1] This land was\nalso called Tlalocan, from Tlaloc, the god of rain, who there had his\ndwelling place, and Tlapallan, the land of colors, or the red land, for\nthe hues of the sky at sunrise floated over it. Its inhabitants were\nsurnamed children of the air, or of Quetzalcoatl, and from its centre\nrose the holy mountain Tonacatepec, the mountain of our life or\nsubsistence. Its supposed location was in the east, whence in that\ncountry blow the winds that bring mild rains, says Sahagun, and that\nmissionary was himself asked, as coming from the east, whether his home\nwas in Tlapallan; more definitely by some it was situated among the\nlofty peaks on the frontiers of Guatemala, and all the great rivers that\nwater the earth were supposed to have their sources there.[88-2] But\nhere, as elsewhere, its site was not determined. \"There is a Tulan,\"\nsays an ancient authority, \"where the sun rises, and there is another in\nthe land of shades, and another where the sun reposes, and thence came\nwe; and still another where the sun reposes, and there dwells\nGod.\"[89-1]\n\nThe myth of the Quich\u00e9s but changes the name of this pleasant land. With\nthem it was _Pan-paxil-pa-cayala_, where the waters divide in falling,\nor between the waters parcelled out and mucky. This was \"an excellent\nland, full of pleasant things, where was store of white corn and yellow\ncorn, where one could not count the fruits, nor estimate the quantity of\nhoney and food.\" Over it ruled the lord of the air, and from it the\nfour sacred animals carried the corn to make the flesh of men.[90-1]\n\nOnce again, in the legends of the Mixtecas, we hear the old story\nrepeated of the garden where the first two brothers dwelt. It lay\nbetween a meadow and that lofty peak which supports the heavens and the\npalaces of the gods. \"Many trees were there, such as yield flowers and\nroses, very luscious fruits, divers herbs, and aromatic spices.\" The\nnames of the brothers were the Wind of Nine Serpents and the Wind of\nNine Caverns. The first was as an eagle, and flew aloft over the waters\nthat poured around their enchanted garden; the second was as a serpent\nwith wings, who proceeded with such velocity that he pierced rocks and\nwalls. They were too swift to be seen by the sharpest eye, and were one\nnear as they passed, he was only aware of a whisper and a rustling like\nthat of the wind in the leaves.[90-2]\n\nWherever, in short, the lust of gold lured the early adventurers, they\nwere told of some nation a little further on, some wealthy and\nprosperous land, abundant and fertile, satisfying the desire of the\nheart. It was sometimes deceit, and it was sometimes the credited\nfiction of the earthly paradise, that in all ages has with a promise of\nperfect joy consoled the aching heart of man.\n\nIt is instructive to study the associations that naturally group\nthemselves around each of the cardinal points, and watch how these are\nmirrored on the surface of language, and have directed the current of\nthought. Jacob Grimm has performed this task with fidelity and beauty as\nregards the Aryan race, but the means are wanting to apply his searching\nmethod to the indigenous tongues of America. Enough if in general terms\ntheir mythological value be determined.\n\nWhen the day begins, man wakes from his slumbers, faces the rising sun,\nand prays. The east is before him; by it he learns all other directions;\nit is to him what the north is to the needle; with reference to it he\nassigns in his mind the position of the three other cardinal\npoints.[91-1] There is the starting place of the celestial fires, the\nhome of the sun, the womb of the morning. It represents in space the\nbeginning of things in time, and as the bright and glorious creatures of\nthe sky come forth thence, man conceits that his ancestors also in\nremote ages wandered from the orient; there in the opinion of many in\nboth the old and new world was the cradle of the race; there in Aztec\nlegend was the fabled land of Tlapallan, and the wind from the east was\ncalled the wind of Paradise, Tlalocavitl.\n\nFrom this direction came, according to the almost unanimous opinion of\nthe Indian tribes, those hero gods who taught them arts and religion,\nthither they returned, and from thence they would again appear to resume\ntheir ancient sway. As the dawn brings light, and with light is\nassociated in every human mind the ideas of knowledge, safety,\nprotection, majesty, divinity, as it dispels the spectres of night, as\nit defines the cardinal points, and brings forth the sun and the day,\nit occupied the primitive mind to an extent that can hardly be magnified\nbeyond the truth. It is in fact the central figure in most natural\nreligions.\n\nThe west, as the grave of the heavenly luminaries, or rather as their\ngoal and place of repose, brings with it thoughts of sleep, of death, of\ntranquillity, of rest from labor. When the evening of his days was come,\nwhen his course was run, and man had sunk from sight, he was supposed to\nfollow the sun and find some spot of repose for his tired soul in the\ndistant west. There, with general consent, the tribes north of the Gulf\nof Mexico supposed the happy hunting grounds; there, taught by the same\nanalogy, the ancient Aryans placed the Nerriti, the exodus, the land of\nthe dead. \"The old notion among us,\" said on one occasion a\ndistinguished chief of the Creek nation, \"is that when we die, the\nspirit goes the way the sun goes, to the west, and there joins its\nfamily and friends who went before it.\"[92-1]\n\nIn the northern hemisphere the shadows fall to the north, thence blow\ncold and furious winds, thence come the snow and early thunder. Perhaps\nall its primitive inhabitants, of whatever race, thought it the seat of\nthe mighty gods.[92-2] A floe of ice in the Arctic Sea was the home of\nthe guardian spirit of the Algonkins;[92-3] on a mountain near the north\nstar the Dakotas thought Heyoka dwelt who rules the seasons; and the\nrealm of Mictla, the Aztec god of death, lay where the shadows pointed.\nFrom that cheerless abode his sceptre reached over all creatures, even\nthe gods themselves, for sooner or later all must fall before him. The\ngreat spirit of the dead, said the Ottawas, lives in the dark\nnorth,[93-1] and there, in the opinion of the Monquis of California,\nresided their chief god, Gumongo.[93-2]\n\nUnfortunately the makers of vocabularies have rarely included the words\nnorth, south, east, and west, in their lists, and the methods of\nexpressing these ideas adopted by the Indians can only be partially\ndiscovered. The east and west were usually called from the rising and\nsetting of the sun as in our words orient and occident, but occasionally\nfrom traditional notions. The Mayas named the west the greater, the east\nthe lesser debarkation; believing that while their culture hero Zamna\ncame from the east with a few attendants, the mass of the population\narrived from the opposite direction.[93-3] The Aztecs spoke of the east\nas \"the direction of Tlalocan,\" the terrestrial paradise. But for north\nand south there were no such natural appellations, and consequently the\ngreatest diversity is exhibited in the plans adopted to express them.\nThe north in the Caddo tongue is \"the place of cold,\" in Dakota \"the\nsituation of the pines,\" in Creek \"the abode of the (north) star,\" in\nAlgonkin \"the home of the soul,\" in Aztec \"the direction of Mictla\" the\nrealm of death, in Quich\u00e9 and Quichua, \"to the right hand;\"[93-4] while\nfor the south we find such terms as in Dakota \"the downward direction,\"\nin Algonkin \"the place of warmth,\" in Quich\u00e9 \"to the left hand,\" while\namong the Eskimos, who look in this direction for the sun, its name\nimplies \"before one,\" just as does the Hebrew word _kedem_, which,\nhowever, this more southern tribe applied to the east.\n\nWe can trace the sacredness of the number four in other curious and\nunlooked-for developments. Multiplied into the number of the\nfingers--the arithmetic of every child and ignorant man--or by adding\ntogether the first four members of its arithmetical series (4 + 8 + 12 +\n16), it gives the number forty. This was taken as a limit to the sacred\ndances of some Indian tribes, and by others as the highest number of\nchants to be employed in exorcising diseases. Consequently it came to be\nfixed as a limit in exercises of preparation or purification. The\nfemales of the Orinoko tribes fasted forty days before marriage, and\nthose of the upper Mississippi were held unclean the same length of time\nafter childbirth; such was the term of the Prince of Tezcuco's fast when\nhe wished an heir to his throne, and such the number of days the Mandans\nsupposed it required to wash clean the world at the deluge.[94-1]\n\nNo one is ignorant how widely this belief was prevalent in the old\nworld, nor how the quadrigesimal is still a sacred term with some\ndenominations of Christianity. But a more striking parallelism awaits\nus. The symbol that beyond all others has fascinated the human mind, THE\nCROSS, finds here its source and meaning. Scholars have pointed out its\nsacredness in many natural religions, and have reverently accepted it as\na mystery, or offered scores of conflicting and often debasing\ninterpretations. It is but another symbol of the four cardinal points,\nthe four winds of heaven. This will luminously appear by a study of its\nuse and meaning in America.\n\nThe Catholic missionaries found it was no new object of adoration to the\nred race, and were in doubt whether to ascribe the fact to the pious\nlabors of Saint Thomas or the sacrilegious subtlety of Satan. It was the\ncentral object in the great temple of Cozumel, and is still preserved on\nthe bas-reliefs of the ruined city of Palenque. From time immemorial it\nhad received the prayers and sacrifices of the Aztecs and Toltecs, and\nwas suspended as an august emblem from the walls of temples in Popoyan\nand Cundinamarca. In the Mexican tongue it bore the significant and\nworthy name \"Tree of Our Life,\" or \"Tree of our Flesh\" (Tonacaquahuitl).\nIt represented the god of rains and of health, and this was everywhere\nits simple meaning. \"Those of Yucatan,\" say the chroniclers, \"prayed to\nthe cross as the god of rains when they needed water.\" The Aztec goddess\nof rains bore one in her hand, and at the feast celebrated to her honor\nin the early spring victims were nailed to a cross and shot with arrows.\nQuetzalcoatl, god of the winds, bore as his sign of office \"a mace like\nthe cross of a bishop;\" his robe was covered with them strown like\nflowers, and its adoration was throughout connected with his\nworship.[96-1] When the Muyscas would sacrifice to the goddess of waters\nthey extended cords across the tranquil depths of some lake, thus\nforming a gigantic cross, and at their point of intersection threw in\ntheir offerings of gold, emeralds, and precious oils.[96-2] The arms of\nthe cross were designed to point to the cardinal points and represent\nthe four winds, the rain bringers. To confirm this explanation, let us\nhave recourse to the simpler ceremonies of the less cultivated tribes,\nand see the transparent meaning of the symbol as they employed it.\n\nWhen the rain maker of the Lenni Lenape would exert his power, he\nretired to some secluded spot and drew upon the earth the figure of a\ncross (its arms toward the cardinal points?), placed upon it a piece of\ntobacco, a gourd, a bit of some red stuff, and commenced to cry aloud to\nthe spirits of the rains.[96-3] The Creeks at the festival of the Busk,\ncelebrated, as we have seen, to the four winds, and according to their\nlegends instituted by them, commenced with making the new fire. The\nmanner of this was \"to place four logs in the centre of the square, end\nto end, forming a cross, the outer ends pointing to the cardinal points;\nin the centre of the cross the new fire is made.\"[97-1]\n\nAs the emblem of the winds who dispense the fertilizing showers it is\nemphatically the tree of our life, our subsistence, and our health. It\nnever had any other meaning in America, and if, as has been said,[97-2]\nthe tombs of the Mexicans were cruciform, it was perhaps with reference\nto a resurrection and a future life as portrayed under this symbol,\nindicating that the buried body would rise by the action of the four\nspirits of the world, as the buried seed takes on a new existence when\nwatered by the vernal showers. It frequently recurs in the ancient\nEgyptian writings, where it is interpreted _life_; doubtless, could we\ntrace the hieroglyph to its source, it would likewise prove to be\nderived from the four winds.\n\nWhile thus recognizing the natural origin of this consecrated symbol,\nwhile discovering that it is based on the sacredness of numbers, and\nthis in turn on the structure and necessary relations of the human\nbody, thus disowning the meaningless mysticism that Joseph de Maistre\nand his disciples have advocated, let us on the other hand be equally on\nour guard against accepting the material facts which underlie these\nbeliefs as their deepest foundation and their exhaustive explanation.\nThat were but withered fruit for our labors, and it might well be asked,\nwhere is here the divine idea said to be dimly prefigured in mythology?\nThe universal belief in the sacredness of numbers is an instinctive\nfaith in an immortal truth; it is a direct perception of the soul, akin\nto that which recognizes a God. The laws of chemical combination, of the\nvarious modes of motion, of all organic growth, show that simple\nnumerical relations govern all the properties and are inherent to the\nvery constitution of matter; more marvellous still, the most recent and\nsevere inductions of physicists show that precisely those two numbers on\nwhose symbolical value much of the edifice of ancient mythology was\nerected, the _four_ and the _three_, regulate the molecular distribution\nof matter and preside over the symmetrical development of organic forms.\nThis asks no faith, but only knowledge; it is science, not revelation.\nIn view of such facts is it presumptuous to predict that experiment\nitself will prove the truth of Kepler's beautiful saying: \"The universe\nis a harmonious whole, the soul of which is God; numbers, figures, the\nstars, all nature, indeed, are in unison with the mysteries of\nreligion\"?\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[67-1] Buckingham Smith, _Gram. Notices of the Heve Language_, p. 26\n(Shea's Lib. Am. Linguistics).\n\n[68-1] I refer to the four \"ultimate elementary particles\" of\nEmpedocles. The number was sacred to Hermes, and lay at the root of the\nphysical philosophy of Pythagoras. The quotation in the text is from the\n\"Golden Verses,\" given in Passow's lexicon under the word ~tetraktys:\nnai ma ton hametera psycha paradonta tetraktyn, pagan aenaou physe\u00f4s~.\n\"The most sacred of all things,\" said this famous teacher, \"is Number;\nand next to it, that which gives Names;\" a truth that the lapse of three\nthousand years is just enabling us to appreciate.\n\n[68-2] Ximenes, _Or. de los Indios_, etc., p. 5.\n\n[68-3] See Sepp, _Heidenthum und dessen Bedeutung f\u00fcr das Christenthum_,\ni. p. 464 sqq., a work full of learning, but written in the wildest vein\nof Joseph de Maistre's school of Romanizing mythology.\n\n[69-1] Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, ii. p. 227, _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des\nQuich\u00e9s_, introd. p. ccxlii. The four provinces of Peru were Anti, Cunti,\nChincha, and Colla. The meaning of these names has been lost, but to\nrepeat them, says La Vega, was the same as to use our words, east, west,\nnorth, and south (_Hist. des Incas_, lib. ii. cap. 11).\n\n[69-2] Humboldt, _Polit. Essay on New Spain_, ii. p. 44.\n\n[70-1] This custom has been often mentioned among the Iroquois.\nAlgonkins, Dakotas, Creeks, Natchez, Araucanians, and other tribes.\nNuttall points out its recurrence among the Tartars of Siberia also.\n(_Travels_, p. 175.)\n\n[71-1] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. pp. 424 et seq.\n\n[71-2] _Letters on the North American Indians_, vol. i., Letter 22.\n\n[71-3] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iv. p. 643 sq. \"Four is their sacred\nnumber,\" says Mr. Pond (p. 646). Their neighbors, the Pawnees, though not\nthe most remote affinity can be detected between their languages,\ncoincide with them in this sacred number, and distinctly identified it\nwith the cardinal points. See De Smet, _Oregon Missions_, pp. 360, 361.\n\n[72-1] Benj. Hawkins, _Sketch of the Creek Country_, pp. 75, 78:\nSavannah, 1848. The description he gives of the ceremonies of the Creeks\nwas transcribed word for word and published in the first volume of the\nAmerican Antiquarian Society's Transactions as of the Shawnees of Ohio.\nThis literary theft has not before been noticed.\n\n[72-2] Palacios, _Des. de la Prov. de Guatemala_, pp. 31, 32, ed.\nTernaux-Compans.\n\n[73-1] All familiar with Mexican antiquity will recall many such\nexamples. I may particularly refer to Kingsborough, _Antiqs. of Mexico_,\nv. p. 480, Ternaux-Compans' _Recueil de pi\u00e8ces rel. \u00e0 la Conq. du\nMexique_, pp. 307, 310, and Gama, _Des. de las dos Piedras que se\nhallaron en la plaza principal de Mexico_, ii. sec. 126 (Mexico, 1832),\nwho gives numerous instances beyond those I have cited, and directs with\nemphasis the attention of the reader to this constant repetition.\n\n[74-1] Albert Gallatin, _Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc._, ii. p. 316, from the\nCodex Vaticanus, No. 3738.\n\n[75-1] Riggs, _Gram. and Dict. of the Dakota Lang._, s. v.\n\n[75-2] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, in Kingsborough, v. p. 375.\n\n[76-1] Egede, _Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland_, pp. 137, 173, 285. (Kopenhagen,\n1790.)\n\n[77-1] Schoolcraft, _Algic Researches_, i. p. 139, and _Indian Tribes_,\niv. p. 229.\n\n[78-1] Hawkins, _Sketch of the Creek Country_, pp. 81, 82, and Blomes,\n_Acc. of his Majesty's Colonies_, p. 156, London, 1687, in Castiglioni,\n_Viaggi nelle Stati Uniti_, i. p. 294.\n\n[78-2] Peter Martyr, _De Reb. Ocean._, Dec. i. lib. ix. The story is also\ntold more at length by the Brother Romain Pane, in the essay on the\nancient histories of the natives he drew up by the order of Columbus. It\nhas been reprinted with notes by the Abb\u00e9 Brasseur, Paris, 1864, p. 438\nsqq.\n\n[79-1] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, iv. p. 89.\n\n[79-2] Brasseur, _Le Liv. Sac._, Introd., p. cxvii.\n\n[80-1] Diego de Landa, _Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, pp. 160, 206, 208,\ned. Brasseur. The learned editor, in a note to p. 208, states erroneously\nthe disposition of the colors, as may be seen by comparing the document\non p. 395. This dedication of colors to the cardinal points is universal\nin Central Asia. The geographical names of the Red Sea, the Black Sea,\nthe Yellow Sea or Persian Gulf, and the White Sea or the Mediterranean,\nare derived from this association. The cities of China, many of them at\nleast, have their gates which open toward the cardinal points painted of\ncertain colors, and precisely these four, the white, the black, the red,\nand the yellow, are those which in Oriental myth the mountain in the\ncentre of Paradise shows to the different cardinal points. (Sepp,\n_Heidenthum und Christenthum_, i. p. 177.) The coincidence furnishes food\nfor reflection.\n\n[81-1] _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s_, pp. 203-5, note.\n\n[82-1] The analogy is remarkable between these and the \"quatre actes de\nla puissance generatrice jusqu'\u00e0 l'entier developp\u00e9ment des corps\norganis\u00e9s,\" portrayed by four globes in the Mycenean bas-reliefs. See\nGuigniaut, _Religions de l'Antiquit\u00e9_, i. p. 374. It were easy to\nmultiply the instances of such parallelism in the growth of religious\nthought in the Old and New World, but I designedly refrain from doing so.\nThey have already given rise to false theories enough, and moreover my\npurpose in this work is not \"comparative mythology.\"\n\n[83-1] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 105, after Strahlheim, who is,\nhowever, no authority.\n\n[83-2] M\u00fcller, _ubi supra_, pp. 308 sqq., gives a good r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of the\ndifferent versions of the myth of the four brothers in Peru.\n\n[83-3] The Tupis of Brazil claim a descent from four brothers, three of\nwhose names are given by Hans Staden, a prisoner among them about 1550,\nas Krimen, Hermittan, and Coem; the latter he explains to mean the\nmorning, the east (_le matin_, printed by mistake _le mutin_, _Relation\nde Hans Staden de Homberg_, p. 274, ed. Ternaux-Compans, compare Dias,\n_Dicc. da Lingua Tupy_, p. 47). Their southern relatives, the Guaranis of\nParaguay, also spoke of the four brothers and gave two of their names as\nTupi and Guarani, respectively parents of the tribes called after them\n(Guevara, _Hist. del Paraguay_, lib. i. cap. ii., in Waitz). The fourfold\ndivision of the Muyscas of Bogota was traced back to four chieftains\ncreated by their hero god Nemqueteba (A. von Humboldt, _Vues des\nCordill\u00e8res_, p. 246). The Nahuas of Mexico much more frequently spoke of\nthemselves as descendants of four or eight original families than of\nseven (Humboldt, _ibid._, p. 317, and others in Waitz, _Anthropologie_,\niv. pp. 36, 37). The Sacs or Sauks of the Upper Mississippi supposed that\ntwo men and two women were first created, and from these four sprang all\nmen (Morse, _Rep. on Ind. Affairs_, App. p. 138). The Ottoes, Pawnees,\n\"and other Indians,\" had a tradition that from eight ancestors all\nnations and races were descended (Id., p. 249). This duplication of the\nnumber probably arose from assigning the first four men four women as\nwives. The division into clans or totems which prevails in most northern\ntribes rests theoretically on descent from different ancestors. The\nShawnees and Natchez were divided into four such clans, the Choctaws,\nNavajos, and Iroquois into eight, thus proving that in those tribes also\nthe myth I have been discussing was recognized.\n\n[85-1] Mandans in Catlin, _Letts. and Notes_, i. p. 181.\n\n[85-2] The Mayas, Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 8.\n\n[85-3] The Navajos, Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, iv. p. 89.\n\n[85-4] The Quich\u00e9s, Ximenes, _Or. de los Indios_, p. 79.\n\n[85-5] The Iroquois, M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 109.\n\n[85-6] For these myths see Sepp, _Das Heidenthum und dessen Bedeutung f\u00fcr\ndas Christenthum_, i. p. 111 sqq. The interpretation is of course my own.\n\n[87-1] Peter Martyr, _De Reb. Ocean._, Dec. iii., lib. ix. p. 195; Colon,\n1574.\n\n[87-2] Ibid., Dec. iii., lib. x. p. 202.\n\n[87-3] Florida was also long supposed to be the site of this wondrous\nspring, and it is notorious that both Juan Ponce de Leon and De Soto had\nsome lurking hope of discovering it in their expeditions thither. I have\nexamined the myth somewhat at length in _Notes on the Floridian\nPeninsula, its Literary History, Indian Tribes, and Antiquities_, pp. 99,\n100: Philadelphia, 1859.\n\n[88-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. iii. cap. iii.\n\n[88-2] _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s_, Introd., p. clviii.\n\n[89-1] Memorial de Tecpan Atitlan, in Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, i. p.\n167. The derivation of Tulan, or Tula, is extremely uncertain. The Abb\u00e9\nBrasseur sees in it the _ultima Thule_ of the ancient geographers, which\nsuits his idea of early American history. Hernando De Soto found a\nvillage of this name on the Mississippi, or near it. But on looking into\nGallatin's vocabularies, _tulla_ turns out to be the Choctaw word for\n_stone_, and as De Soto was then in the Choctaw country, the coincidence\nis explained at once. Buschmann, who spells it _Tollan_, takes it from\n_tolin_, a rush, and translates, _juncetum_, _Ort der Binsen. Ueber die\nAztekischen Orstnamen_,[TN-2] p. 682. Those who have attempted to make\nhistory from these mythological fables have been much puzzled about the\nlocation of this mystic land. Humboldt has placed it on the northwest\ncoast, Cabrera at Palenque, Clavigero north of Anahuac, etc. etc. Aztlan,\nliterally, the White Land, is another name of wholly mythical purport,\nwhich it would be equally vain to seek on the terrestrial globe. In the\nextract in the text, the word translated God is _Qabavil_, an old word\nfor the highest god, either from a root meaning to open, to disclose, or\nfrom one of similar form signifying to wonder, to marvel; literally,\ntherefore, the Revealer, or the Wondrous One (_Vocab. de la Lengua\nQuich\u00e9_, p. 209: Paris, 1862).\n\n[90-1] Ximenes, _Or. de los Indios_, p. 80, _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9_, p. 195.\n\n[90-2] Garcia, _Origen de los Indios_, lib. iv. cap. 4.\n\n[91-1] Compare the German expression _sich orientiren_, to right oneself\nby the east, to understand one's surroundings.\n\n[92-1] Hawkins, _Sketch of the Creek Country_, p. 80.\n\n[92-2] See Jacob Grimm, _Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache_, p. 681\n\n[92-3] De Smet, Oregon Missions, p. 352.\n\n[93-1] Bressani, _Relation Abr\u00e9g\u00e9_, p. 93.\n\n[93-2] Venegas, _Hist. of California_, i. p. 91: London, 1759.\n\n[93-3] Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. iii.\n\n[93-4] Alexander von Humboldt has asserted that the Quichuas had other\nand very circumstantial terms to express the cardinal points drawn from\nthe positions of the son (_Ansichten der Natur_, ii. p. 368). But the\ndistinguished naturalist overlooked the literal meaning of the phrases he\nquotes for north and south, _intip chaututa chayananpata_ and _intip\nchaupunchau chayananpata_, literally, the sun arriving toward the\nmidnight, the sun arriving toward the midday. These are evidently\ntranslations of the Spanish _hacia la media noche_, _hacia el medio dia_,\nfor they could not have originated among a people under or south of the\nequatorial line.\n\n[94-1] Catlin, _Letters and Notes_, i., Letter 22; La Hontan, _M\u00e9moires_,\nii. p. 151; Gumilla, _Hist. del Orinoco_, p. 159\n\n[96-1] On the worship of the cross in Mexico and Yucatan and its\ninvariable meaning as representing the gods of rain, consult\nIxtlilxochitl, _Hist. des Chichimeques_, p. 5; Sahagun, _Hist. de la\nNueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. i. cap. ii.; Garcia, _Or. de los Indios_, lib. iii.\ncap. vi. p. 109; Palacios, _Des. de la Prov. de Guatemala_, p. 29;\nCogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. ix.; Villagutierre\nSotomayor, _Hist. de el Itza y de el Lacandon_, lib. iii. cap. 8; and\nmany others might be mentioned.\n\n[96-2] Rivero and Tschudi, _Peruvian Antiquities_, p. 162, after J.\nAcosta.\n\n[96-3] Loskiel, _Ges. der Miss. der evang. Br\u00fcder_, p. 60.\n\n[97-1] Hawkins, _Sketch of the Creek Country_, p. 75. Lapham and Pidgeon\nmention that in the State of Wisconsin many low mounds are found in the\nform of a cross with the arms directed to the cardinal points. They\ncontain no remains. Were they not altars built to the Four Winds? In the\nmythology of the Dakotas, who inhabited that region, the winds were\nalways conceived as birds, and for the cross they have a native name\nliterally signifying \"the musquito hawk spread out\" (Riggs, _Dict. of the\nDakota_, s. v.). Its Maya name is _vahom che_, the tree erected or set\nup, the adjective being drawn from the military language and implying as\na defence or protection, as the warrior lifts his lance or shield (Landa,\n_Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, p. 65).\n\n[97-2] Squier, _The Serpent Symbol in America_, p. 98.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE SYMBOLS OF THE BIRD AND THE SERPENT.\n\n     Relations of man to the lower animals.--Two of these, the BIRD and\n     the SERPENT, chosen as symbols beyond all others.--The Bird\n     throughout America the symbol of the Clouds and Winds.--Meaning of\n     certain species.--The symbolic meaning of the Serpent derived from\n     its mode of locomotion, its poisonous bite, and its power of\n     charming.--Usually the symbol of the Lightning and the Waters.--The\n     Rattlesnake the symbolic species in America.--The war charm.--The\n     Cross of Palenque.--The god of riches.--Both symbols devoid of\n     moral significance.\n\n\nThose stories which the Germans call _Thierfabeln_, wherein the actors\nare different kinds of brutes, seem to have a particular relish for\nchildren and uncultivated nations. Who cannot recall with what delight\nhe nourished his childish fancy on the pranks of Reynard the Fox, or the\ntragic adventures of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf? Every nation\nhas a congeries of such tales, and it is curious to mark how the same\nanimal reappears with the same imputed physiognomy in all of them. The\nfox is always cunning, the wolf ravenous, the owl wise, and the ass\nfoolish. The question has been raised whether such traits were at first\nactually ascribed to animals, or whether their introduction in story was\nintended merely as an agreeable figure of speech for classes of men. We\ncannot doubt but that the former was the case. Going back to the dawn of\ncivilization, we find these relations not as amusing fictions, but as\nmyths, embodying religious tenets, and the brute heroes held up as the\nancestors of mankind, even as rightful claimants of man's prayers and\npraises.\n\nMan, the paragon of animals, praying to the beast, is a spectacle so\nhumiliating that, for the sake of our common humanity, we may seek the\nexplanation of it least degrading to the dignity of our race. We must\nremember that as a hunter the primitive man was always matched against\nthe wild creatures of the woods, so superior to him in their dumb\ncertainty of instinct, their swift motion, their muscular force, their\npermanent and sufficient clothing. Their ways were guided by a wit\nbeyond his divination, and they gained a living with little toil or\ntrouble. They did not mind the darkness so terrible to him, but through\nthe night called one to the other in a tongue whose meaning he could not\nfathom, but which, he doubted not, was as full of purport as his own. He\ndid not recognize in himself those god-like qualities destined to endow\nhim with the royalty of the world, while far more clearly than we do he\nsaw the sly and strange faculties of his antagonists. They were to him,\ntherefore, not inferiors, but equals--even superiors. He doubted not\nthat once upon a time he had possessed their instinct, they his\nlanguage, but that some necromantic spell had been flung on them both to\nkeep them asunder. None but a potent sorcerer could break this charm,\nbut such an one could understand the chants of birds and the howls of\nsavage beasts, and on occasion transform himself into one or another\nanimal, and course the forest, the air, or the waters, as he saw fit.\nTherefore, it was not the beast that he worshipped, but that share of\nthe omnipresent deity which he thought he perceived under its\nform.[101-1]\n\nBeyond all others, two subdivisions of the animal kingdom have so\nriveted the attention of men by their unusual powers, and enter so\nfrequently into the myths of every nation of the globe, that a right\nunderstanding of their symbolic value is an essential preliminary to the\ndiscussion of the divine legends. They are the BIRD and the SERPENT. We\nshall not go amiss if we seek the reasons of their pre-eminence in the\nfacility with which their peculiarities offered sensuous images under\nwhich to convey the idea of divinity, ever present in the soul of man,\never striving at articulate expression.\n\nThe bird has the incomprehensible power of flight; it floats in the\natmosphere, it rides on the winds, it soars toward heaven where dwell\nthe gods; its plumage is stained with the hues of the rainbow and the\nsunset; its song was man's first hint of music; it spurns the clouds\nthat impede his footsteps, and flies proudly over the mountains and\nmoors where he toils wearily along. He sees no more enviable creature;\nhe conceives the gods and angels must also have wings; and pleases\nhimself with the fancy that he, too, some day will shake off this coil\nof clay, and rise on pinions to the heavenly mansions. All living\nbeings, say the Eskimos, have the faculty of soul (_tarrak_), but\nespecially the birds.[101-2] As messengers from the upper world and\ninterpreters of its decrees, the flight and the note of birds have ever\nbeen anxiously observed as omens of grave import. \"There is one bird\nespecially,\" remarks the traveller Coreal, of the natives of Brazil,\n\"which they regard as of good augury. Its mournful chant is heard rather\nby night than day. The savages say it is sent by their deceased friends\nto bring them news from the other world, and to encourage them against\ntheir enemies.\"[102-1] In Peru and in Mexico there was a College of\nAugurs, corresponding in purpose to the auspices of ancient Rome, who\npractised no other means of divination than watching the course and\nprofessing to interpret the songs of fowls. So natural and so general is\nsuch a superstition, and so wide-spread is the respect it still obtains\nin civilized and Christian lands, that it is not worth while to summon\nwitnesses to show that it prevailed universally among the red race also.\nWhat imprinted it with redoubled force on their imagination was the\ncommon belief that birds were not only divine nuncios, but the visible\nspirits of their departed friends. The Powhatans held that a certain\nsmall wood bird received the souls of their princes at death, and they\nrefrained religiously from doing it harm;[102-2] while the Aztecs and\nvarious other nations thought that all good people, as a reward of\nmerit, were metamorphosed at the close of life into feathered songsters\nof the grove, and in this form passed a certain term in the umbrageous\nbowers of Paradise.\n\nBut the usual meaning of the bird as a symbol looks to a different\nanalogy--to that which appears in such familiar expressions as \"the\nwings of the wind,\" \"the flying clouds.\" Like the wind, the bird sweeps\nthrough the aerial spaces, sings in the forests, and rustles on its\ncourse; like the cloud, it floats in mid-air and casts its shadow on the\nearth; like the lightning, it darts from heaven to earth to strike its\nunsuspecting prey. These tropes were truths to savage nations, and led\non by that law of language which forced them to conceive everything as\nanimate or inanimate, itself the product of a deeper law of thought\nwhich urges us to ascribe life to whatever has motion, they found no\nanimal so appropriate for their purpose here as the bird. Therefore the\nAlgonkins say that birds always make the winds, that they create the\nwater spouts, and that the clouds are the spreading and agitation of\ntheir wings;[103-1] the Navajos, that at each cardinal point stands a\nwhite swan, who is the spirit of the blasts which blow from its\ndwelling; and the Dakotas, that in the west is the house of the\nWakinyan, the Flyers, the breezes that send the storms. So, also, they\nfrequently explain the thunder as the sound of the cloud-bird flapping\nhis wings, and the lightning as the fire that flashes from his tracks,\nlike the sparks which the buffalo scatters when he scours over a stony\nplain.[103-2] The thunder cloud was also a bird to the Caribs, and they\nimagined it produced the lightning in true Carib fashion by blowing it\nthrough a hollow reed, just as they to this day hurl their poisoned\ndarts.[104-1] Tupis, Iroquois, Athapascas, for certain, perhaps all the\nfamilies of the red race, were the subject pursued, partook of this\npersuasion; among them all it would probably be found that the same\nfigures of speech were used in comparing clouds and winds with the\nfeathered species as among us, with however this most significant\ndifference, that whereas among us they are figures and nothing more, to\nthem they expressed literal facts.\n\nHow important a symbol did they thus become! For the winds, the clouds,\nproducing the thunder and the changes that take place in the\never-shifting panorama of the sky, the rain bringers, lords of the\nseasons, and not this only, but the primary type of the soul, the life,\nthe breath of man and the world, these in their role in mythology are\nsecond to nothing. Therefore as the symbol of these august powers, as\nmessenger of the gods, and as the embodiment of departed spirits, no one\nwill be surprised if they find the bird figure most prominently in the\nmyths of the red race.\n\nSometimes some particular species seems to have been chosen as most\nbefitting these dignified attributes. No citizen of the United States\nwill be apt to assert that their instinct led the indigenes of our\nterritory astray when they chose with nigh unanimous consent the great\nAmerican eagle as that fowl beyond all others proper to typify the\nsupreme control and the most admirable qualities. Its feathers composed\nthe war flag of the Creeks, and its images carved in wood or its stuffed\nskin surmounted their council lodges (Bartram); none but an approved\nwarrior dare wear it among the Cherokees (Timberlake); and the Dakotas\nallowed such an honor only to him who had first touched the corpse of\nthe common foe (De Smet). The Natchez and Akanzas seem to have paid it\neven religious honors, and to have installed it in their most sacred\nshrines (Sieur de Tonty, Du Pratz); and very clearly it was not so much\nfor ornament as for a mark of dignity and a recognized sign of worth\nthat its plumes were so highly prized. The natives of Zu\u00f1i, in New\nMexico, employed four of its feathers to represent the four winds in\ntheir invocations for rain (Whipple), and probably it was the eagle\nwhich a tribe in Upper California (the Acagchemem) worshipped under the\nname Panes. Father Geronimo Boscana describes it as a species of\nvulture, and relates that one of them was immolated yearly, with solemn\nceremony, in the temple of each village. Not a drop of blood was\nspilled, and the body burned. Yet with an amount of faith that staggered\neven the Romanist, the natives maintained and believed that it was the\nsame individual bird they sacrificed each year; more than this, that the\nsame bird was slain by each of the villages![105-1]\n\nThe owl was regarded by Aztecs, Quich\u00e9s, Mayas, Peruvians, Araucanians,\nand Algonkins as sacred to the lord of the dead. \"The Owl\" was one of\nthe names of the Mexican Pluto, whose realm was in the north,[106-1] and\nthe wind from that quarter was supposed by the Chipeways to be made by\nthe owl as the south by the butterfly.[106-2] As the bird of night, it\nwas the fit emissary of him who rules the darkness of the grave.\nSomething in the looks of the creature as it sapiently stares and blinks\nin the light, or perhaps that it works while others sleep, got for it\nthe character of wisdom. So the Creek priests carried with them as the\nbadge of their learned profession the stuffed skin of one of these\nbirds, thus modestly hinting their erudite turn of mind,[106-3] and the\nculture hero of the Monquis of California was represented, like Pallas\nAthene, having one as his inseparable companion (Venegas).\n\nAs the associate of the god of light and air, and as the antithesis\ntherefore of the owl, the Aztecs reverenced a bird called _quetzal_,\nwhich I believe is a species of parroquet. Its plumage is of a bright\ngreen hue, and was prized extravagantly as a decoration. It was one of\nthe symbols and part of the name of Quetzalcoatl, their mythical\ncivilizer, and the prince of all sorts of singing birds, myriads of whom\nwere fabled to accompany him on his journeys.\n\nThe tender and hallowed associations that have so widely shielded the\ndove from harm, which for instance Xenophon mentions among the ancient\nPersians, were not altogether unknown to the tribes of the New World.\nNeither the Hurons nor Mandans would kill them, for they believed they\nwere inhabited by the souls of the departed,[107-1] and it is said, but\non less satisfactory authority, that they enjoyed similar immunity among\nthe Mexicans. Their soft and plaintive note and sober russet hue widely\nenlisted the sympathy of man, and linked them with his more tender\nfeelings.\n\n\"As wise as the serpent, as harmless as the dove,\" is an antithesis that\nmight pass current in any human language. They are the emblems of\ncomplementary, often contrasted qualities. Of all animals, the serpent\nis the most mysterious. No wonder it possessed the fancy of the\nobservant child of nature. Alone of creatures it swiftly progresses\nwithout feet, fins, or wings. \"There be three things which are too\nwonderful for me, yea, four which I know not,\" said wise King Solomon;\nand the chief of them were, \"the way of an eagle in the air, the way of\na serpent upon a rock.\"\n\nIts sinuous course is like to nothing so much as that of a winding\nriver, which therefore we often call serpentine. So did the Indians.\nKennebec, a stream in Maine, in the Algonkin means snake, and Antietam,\nthe creek in Maryland of tragic celebrity, in an Iroquois dialect has\nthe same significance. How easily would savages, construing the figure\nliterally, make the serpent a river or water god! Many species being\namphibious would confirm the idea. A lake watered by innumerable\ntortuous rills wriggling into it, is well calculated for the fabled\nabode of the king of the snakes. Thus doubtless it happened that both\nAlgonkins and Iroquois had a myth that in the great lakes dwelt a\nmonster serpent, of irascible temper, who unless appeased by meet\nofferings raised a tempest or broke the ice beneath the feet of those\nventuring on his domain, and swallowed them down.[108-1]\n\nThe rattlesnake was the species almost exclusively honored by the red\nrace. It is slow to attack, but venomous in the extreme, and possesses\nthe power of the basilisk to attract within reach of its spring small\nbirds and squirrels. Probably this much talked of fascination is nothing\nmore than by its presence near their nests to incite them to attack, and\nto hazard near and nearer approaches to their enemy in hope to force him\nto retreat, until once within the compass of his fell swoop they fall\nvictims to their temerity. I have often watched a cat act thus. Whatever\nexplanation may be received, the fact cannot be questioned, and is ever\nattributed by the unreflecting, to some diabolic spell cast upon them by\nthe animal. They have the same strange susceptibility to the influence\nof certain sounds as the vipers, in which lies the secret of snake\ncharming. Most of the Indian magicians were familiar with this\nsingularity. They employed it with telling effect to put beyond question\ntheir intercourse with the unseen powers, and to vindicate the potency\nof their own guardian spirits who thus enabled them to handle with\nimpunity the most venomous of reptiles.[109-1] The well-known antipathy\nof these serpents to certain plants, for instance the hazel, which bound\naround the ankles is an efficient protection against their attacks, and\nperhaps some antidote to their poison used by the magicians, led to\ntheir frequent introduction in religious ceremonies. Such exhibitions\nmust have made a profound impression on the spectators, and redounded in\na corresponding degree to the glory of the performer. \"Who is a manito?\"\nasks the mystic meda chant of the Algonkins. \"He,\" is the reply, \"he who\nwalketh with a serpent, walking on the ground, he is a manito.\"[109-2]\nAnd the intimate alliance of this symbol with the most sacred mysteries\nof religion, the darkest riddles of the Unknown, is reflected in their\nlanguage, and also in that of their neighbors the Dakotas, in both of\nwhich the same words _manito_, _wakan_, which express divinity in its\nbroadest sense, are also used as generic terms signifying this species\nof animals! This strange fact is not without a parallel, for in both\nArabic and Hebrew, the word for serpent has many derivatives, meaning to\nhave intercourse with demoniac powers, to practise magic, and to consult\nfamiliar spirits.[110-1]\n\nThe pious founder of the Moravian brotherhood, the Count of Zinzendorf,\nowed his life on one occasion to this deeply rooted superstition. He was\nvisiting a missionary station among the Shawnees, in the Wyoming valley.\nRecent quarrels with the whites had unusually irritated this unruly\nfolk, and they resolved to make him their first victim. After he had\nretired to his secluded hut, several of their braves crept upon him, and\ncautiously lifting the corner of the lodge, peered in. The venerable man\nwas seated before a little fire, a volume of the Scriptures on his\nknees, lost in the perusal of the sacred words. While they gazed, a huge\nrattlesnake, unnoticed by him, trailed across his feet, and rolled\nitself into a coil in the comfortable warmth of the fire. Immediately\nthe would-be murderers forsook their purpose and noiselessly retired,\nconvinced that this was indeed a man of God.\n\nA more unique trait than any of these is its habit of casting its skin\nevery spring, thus as it were renewing its life. In temperate latitudes\nthe rattlesnake, like the leaves and flowers, retires from sight during\nthe cold season, and at the return of kindly warmth puts on a new and\nbrilliant coat. Its cast-off skin was carefully collected by the savages\nand stored in the medicine bag as possessing remedial powers of high\nexcellence. Itself thus immortal, they thought it could impart its\nvitality to them. So when the mother was travailing in sore pain, and\nthe danger neared that the child would be born silent, the attending\nwomen hastened to catch some serpent and give her its blood to\ndrink.[111-1]\n\nIt is well known that in ancient art this animal was the symbol of\n\u00c6sculapius, and to this day, Professor Agassiz found that the Maues\nIndians, who live between the upper Tapajos and Madeira Rivers in\nBrazil, whenever they assign a form to any \"remedio,\" give it that of a\nserpent.[111-2]\n\nProbably this notion that it was annually rejuvenated led to its\nadoption as a symbol of Time among the Aztecs; or, perchance, as they\nreckoned by suns, and the figure of the sun, a circle, corresponds to\nnothing animate but a serpent with its tail in its mouth, eating itself,\nas it were, this may have been its origin. Either of them is more likely\nthan that the symbol arose from the recondite reflection that time is\n\"never ending, still beginning, still creating, still destroying,\" as\nhas been suggested.\n\nOnly, however, within the last few years has the significance of the\nserpent symbol in its length and breadth been satisfactorily explained,\nand its frequent recurrence accounted for. By a searching analysis of\nGreek and German mythology, Dr. Schwarz, of Berlin, has shown that the\nmeaning which is paramount to all others in this emblem is _the\nlightning_; a meaning drawn from the close analogy which the serpent in\nits motion, its quick spring, and mortal bite, has to the zigzag course,\nthe rapid flash, and sudden stroke of the electric discharge. He even\ngoes so far as to imagine that by this resemblance the serpent first\nacquired the veneration of men. But this is an extravagance not\nsupported by more thorough research. He has further shown with great\naptness of illustration how, by its dread effects, the lightning, the\nheavenly serpent, became the god of terror and the opponent of such\nheroes as Beowulf, St. George, Thor, Perseus, and others, mythical\nrepresentations of the fearful war of the elements in the thunder storm;\nhow from its connection with the advancing summer and fertilizing\nshowers it bore the opposite character of the deity of fruitfulness,\nriches, and plenty; how, as occasionally kindling the woods where it\nstrikes, it was associated with the myths of the descent of fire from\nheaven, and as in popular imagination where it falls it scatters the\nthunderbolts in all directions, the flint-stones which flash when struck\nwere supposed to be these fragments, and gave rise to the stone worship\nso frequent in the old world; and how, finally, the prevalent myth of a\nking of serpents crowned with a glittering stone or wearing a horn is\nbut another type of the lightning.[113-1] Without accepting unreservedly\nall these conclusions, I shall show how correct they are in the main\nwhen applied to the myths of the New World, and thereby illustrate how\nthe red race is of one blood and one faith with our own remote ancestors\nin heathen Europe and Central Asia.\n\nIt asks no elaborate effort of the imagination to liken the lightning to\na serpent. It does not require any remarkable acuteness to guess the\nconundrum of Schiller:--\n\n   \"Unter allen Schlangen ist eine\n      Auf Erden nicht gezeugt,\n    Mit der an Schnelle keine,\n      An Wuth sich keine vergleicht.\"\n\nWhen Father Buteux was a missionary among the Algonkins, in 1637, he\nasked them their opinion of the nature of lightning. \"It is an immense\nserpent,\" they replied, \"which the Manito is vomiting forth; you can see\nthe twists and folds that he leaves on the trees which he strikes; and\nunderneath such trees we have often found huge snakes.\" \"Here is a novel\nphilosophy for you!\" exclaims the Father.[113-2] So the Shawnees called\nthe thunder \"the hissing of the great snake;\"[113-3] and Tlaloc, the\nToltec thunder god, held in his hand a serpent of gold to represent the\nlightning.[114-1] For this reason the Caribs spoke of the god of the\nthunder storm as a great serpent dwelling in the fruit forests,[114-2]\nand in the Quich\u00e9 legends other names for Hurakan, the hurricane or\nthunder-storm, are the Strong Serpent, He who hurls below, referring to\nthe lightning.[114-3]\n\nAmong the Hurons, in 1648, the Jesuits found a legend current that there\nexisted somewhere a monster serpent called Onniont, who wore on his head\na horn that pierced rocks, trees, hills, in short everything he\nencountered. Whoever could get a piece of this horn was a fortunate man,\nfor it was a sovereign charm and bringer of good luck. The Hurons\nconfessed that none of them had had the good hap to find the monster and\nbreak his horn, nor indeed had they any idea of his whereabouts; but\ntheir neighbors, the Algonkins, furnished them at times small fragments\nfor a large consideration.[114-4] Clearly the myth had been taught them\nfor venal purposes by their trafficking visitors. Now among the\nAlgonkins, the Shawnee tribe did more than all others combined to\nintroduce and carry about religious legends and ceremonies. From the\nearliest times they seem to have had peculiar aptitude for the\necstasies, deceits, and fancies that made up the spiritual life of their\nassociates. Their constantly roving life brought them in contact with\nthe myths of many nations. And it is extremely probable that they first\nbrought the tale of the horned serpent from the Creeks and Cherokees. It\nfigured extensively in the legends of both these tribes.\n\nThe latter related that once upon a time among the glens of their\nmountains dwelt the prince of rattlesnakes. Obedient subjects guarded\nhis palace, and on his head glittered in place of a crown a gem of\nmarvellous magic virtues. Many warriors and magicians tried to get\npossession of this precious talisman, but were destroyed by the poisoned\nfangs of its defenders. Finally, one more inventive than the rest hit\nupon the bright idea of encasing himself in leather, and by this device\nmarched unharmed through the hissing and snapping court, tore off the\nshining jewel, and bore it in triumph to his nation. They preserved it\nwith religious care, brought it forth on state occasions with solemn\nceremony, and about the middle of the last century, when Captain\nTimberlake penetrated to their towns, told him its origin.[115-1]\n\nThe charm which the Creeks presented their young men when they set out\non the war path was of very similar character. It was composed of the\nbones of the panther and the horn of the fabulous horned snake.\nAccording to a legend taken down by an unimpeachable authority toward\nthe close of the last century, the great snake dwelt in the waters; the\nold people went to the brink and sang the sacred songs. The monster rose\nto the surface. The sages recommenced the mystic chants. He rose a\nlittle out o[TN-3] the water. Again they repeated the songs. This time\nhe showed his horns and they cut one off. Still a fourth time did they\nsing, and as he rose to listen cut off the remaining horn. A fragment of\nthese in the \"war physic\" protected from inimical arrows and gave\nsuccess in the conflict.[116-1]\n\nIn these myths, which attribute good fortune to the horn of the snake,\nthat horn which pierces trees and rocks, which rises from the waters,\nwhich glitters as a gem, which descends from the ravines of the\nmountains, we shall not overstep the bounds of prudent reasoning if we\nsee the thunderbolt, sign of the fructifying rain, symbol of the\nstrength of the lightning, horn of the heavenly serpent. They are\nstrictly meteorological in their meaning. And when in later Algonkin\ntradition the hero Michabo appears in conflict with the shining prince\nof serpents who lives in the lake and floods the earth with its waters,\nand destroys the reptile with a dart, and further when the conqueror\nclothes himself with the skin of his foe and drives the rest of the\nserpents to the south where in that latitude the lightnings are last\nseen in the autumn;[116-2] or when in the traditional history of the\nIroquois we hear of another great horned serpent rising out of the lake\nand preying upon the people until a similar hero-god destroys it with a\nthunderbolt,[116-3] we cannot be wrong in rejecting any historical or\nethical interpretation, and in construing them as allegories which at\nfirst represented the atmospheric changes which accompany the advancing\nseasons and the ripening harvests. They are narratives conveying under\nagreeable personifications the tidings of that unending combat which the\nDakotas said was being waged with varying fortunes by Unktahe against\nWauhkeon, the God of Waters against the Thunder Bird.[117-1] They are\nthe same stories which in the old world have been elaborated into the\nstruggles of Ormuzd and Ahriman, of Thor and Midgard, of St. George and\nthe Dragon, and a thousand others.\n\nYet it were but a narrow theory of natural religion that allowed no\nother meaning to these myths. Many another elemental warfare is being\nwaged around us, and applications as various as nature herself lie in\nthese primitive creations of the human fancy. Let it only be remembered\nthat there was never any moral, never any historical purport in them in\nthe infancy of religious life.\n\nIn snake charming as a proof of proficiency in magic, and in the symbol\nof the lightning, which brings both fire and water, which in its might\ncontrols victory in war, and in its frequency, plenteous crops at home,\nlies the secret of the serpent symbol. As the \"war physic\" among the\ntribes of the United States was a fragment of a serpent, and as thus\nsignifying his incomparable skill in war, the Iroquois represent their\nmythical king Atatarho clothed in nothing but black snakes; so that when\nhe wished to don a new suit he simply drove away one set and ordered\nanother to take their places,[118-1] so, by a precisely similar mental\nprocess, the myth of the Nahuas assigns as a mother to their war god\nHuitzilapochtli, Coatlicue, the robe of serpents; her dwelling place\nCoatepec, the hill of serpents; and at her lying-in say that she brought\nforth a serpent. Her son's image was surrounded by serpents, his sceptre\nwas in the shape of one, his great drum was of serpents' skins, and his\nstatue rested on four vermiform caryatides.\n\nAs the symbol of the fertilizing summer showers the lightning serpent\nwas the god of fruitfulness. Born in the atmospheric waters, it was an\nappropriate attribute of the ruler of the winds. But we have already\nseen that the winds were often spoken of as great birds. Hence the union\nof these two emblems in such names as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, Kukulkan,\nall titles of the god of the air in the languages of Central America,\nall signifying the \"Bird-serpent.\" Here also we see the solution of that\nmonument which has so puzzled American antiquaries, the cross at\nPalenque. It is a tablet on the wall of an altar representing a cross\nsurmounted by a bird and supported by the head of a serpent. The latter\nis not well defined in the plate in Mr. Stephens' Travels, but is very\ndistinct in the photographs taken by M. Charnay, which that gentleman\nwas kind enough to show me. The cross I have previously shown was the\nsymbol of the four winds, and the bird and serpent are simply the rebus\nof the air god, their ruler.[119-1] Quetzalcoatl, called also Yolcuat,\nthe rattlesnake, was no less intimately associated with serpents than\nwith birds. The entrance to his temple at Mexico represented the jaws of\none of these reptiles, and he finally disappeared in the province of\nCoatzacoalco, the hiding place of the serpent, sailing towards the east\nin a bark of serpents' skins. All this refers to his power over the\nlightning serpent.\n\nHe was also said to be the god of riches and the patron consequently of\nmerchants. For with the summer lightning come the harvest and the\nripening fruits, come riches and traffic. Moreover \"the golden color of\nthe liquid fire,\" as Lucretius expresses it, naturally led where this\nmetal was known, to its being deemed the product of the lightning. Thus\noriginated many of those tales of a dragon who watches a treasure in the\nearth, and of a serpent who is the dispenser of riches, such as were\nfound among the Greeks and ancient Germans.[119-2] So it was in Peru\nwhere the god of riches was worshipped under the image of a rattlesnake\nhorned and hairy, with a tail of gold. It was said to have descended\nfrom the heavens in the sight of all the people, and to have been seen\nby the whole army of the Inca.[119-3] Whether it was in reference to\nit, or as emblems of their prowess, that the Incas themselves chose as\ntheir arms two serpents with their tails interlaced, is uncertain;\npossibly one for each of these significations.\n\nBecause the rattlesnake, the lightning serpent, is thus connected with\nthe food of man, and itself seems never to die but annually to renew its\nyouth, the Algonkins called it \"grandfather\" and \"king of snakes;\" they\nfeared to injure it; they believed it could grant prosperous breezes, or\nraise disastrous tempests; crowned with the lunar crescent it was the\nconstant symbol of life in their picture writing; and in the meda signs\nthe mythical grandmother of mankind _me suk kum me go kwa_ was\nindifferently represented by an old woman or a serpent.[120-1] For like\nreasons Cihuacoatl, the Serpent Woman, in the myths of the Nahuas was\nalso called Tonantzin, our mother.[120-2]\n\nThe serpent symbol in America has, however, been brought into undue\nprominence. It had such an ominous significance in Christian art, and\none which chimed so well with the favorite proverb of the early\nmissionaries--\"the gods of the heathens are devils\"--that wherever they\nsaw a carving or picture of a serpent they at once recognized the sign\nmanual of the Prince of Darkness, and inscribed the fact in their\nnote-books as proof positive of their cherished theory. After going\nover the whole ground, I am convinced that none of the tribes of the red\nrace attached to this symbol any ethical significance whatever, and that\nas employed to express atmospheric phenomena, and the recognition of\ndivinity in natural occurrences, it far more frequently typified what\nwas favorable and agreeable than the reverse.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[101-1] That these were the real views entertained by the Indians in\nregard to the brute creation, see Heckewelder, _Acc. of the Ind.\nNations_, p. 247; Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, iii. p. 520.\n\n[101-2] Egede, _Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland_, p. 156.\n\n[102-1] _Voiages aux Indes Occidentales_, pt. ii. p. 203: Amst. 1722.\n\n[102-2] Beverly, _Hist. de la Virginie_, liv. iii. chap. viii.\n\n[103-1] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 420.\n\n[103-2] Mrs. Eastman, _Legends of the Sioux_, p. 191: New York, 1849.\nThis is a trustworthy and meritorious book, which can be said of very few\ncollections of Indian traditions. They were collected during a residence\nof seven years in our northwestern territories, and are usually verbally\nfaithful to the native narrations.\n\n[104-1] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 222, after De la Borde.\n\n[105-1] _Acc. of the Inds. of California_, ch. ix. Eng. trans. by\nRobinson: New York, 1847. The Acagchemem were a branch of the Netela\ntribe, who dwelt near the mission San Juan Capistrano (see Buschmann,\n_Spuren der Aztek. Sprache_, etc., p. 548).\n\n[106-1] Called in the Aztec tongue _Tecolotl_, night owl; literally, the\nstone scorpion. The transfer was mythological. The Christians prefixed to\nthis word _tlaca_, man, and thus formed a name for Satan, which Prescott\nand others have translated \"rational owl.\" No such deity existed in\nancient Anahuac (see Buschmann, _Die Voelker und Sprachen Neu Mexico's_,\np. 262).\n\n[106-2] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 420.\n\n[106-3] William Bartram, Travels, p. 504. Columbus found the natives of\nthe Antilles wearing tunics with figures of these birds embroidered upon\nthem. Prescott, _Conq. of Mexico_, i. p. 58, note.\n\n[107-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1636, ch. ix. Catlin, _Letters and\nnotes_, Lett. 22.\n\n[108-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1648, p. 75; Cusic, _Trad. Hist. of\nthe Six Nations_, pt. iii. The latter is the work of a native Tuscarora\nchief. It is republished in Schoolcraft's Indian Tribes, but is of little\nvalue.\n\n[109-1] For example, in Brazil, M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urrelig._, p. 277; in\nYucatan, Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 4; among the\nwestern Algonkins, _Hennepin, Decouverte dans l'Amer. Septen_. chap. 33.\nDr. Hammond has expressed the opinion that the North American Indians\nenjoy the same immunity from the virus of the rattlesnake, that certain\nAfrican tribes do from some vegetable poisons (_Hygiene_, p. 73). But his\nobservation must be at fault, for many travellers mention the dread these\nserpents inspired, and the frequency of death from their bites, e. g.\n_Rel. Nouv. France_. 1667, p. 22.\n\n[109-2] _Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner_, p.\n356.\n\n[110-1] See Gallatin's vocabularies in the second volume of the _Trans.\nAm. Antiq. Soc._ under the word _Snake_. In Arabic _dzann_ is serpent;\n_dzanan_ a spirit, a soul, or the heart. So in Hebrew _nachas_, serpent,\nhas many derivatives signifying to hold intercourse with demons, to\nconjure, a magician, etc. See Noldeke in the _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr\nVoelkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft_, i. p. 413.\n\n[111-1] Alexander Henry, _Travels_, p. 117.\n\n[111-2] _Bost. Med. and Surg. Journal_, vol. 76, p. 21.\n\n[113-1] Schwarz, _Der Ursprung der Mythologie dargelegt an Griechischer\nund Deutscher Sage_: Berlin, 1860, _passim_.\n\n[113-2] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_: An 1637, p. 53.\n\n[113-3] _Sagen der Nord-Amer. Indianer_, p. 21. This is a German\ntranslation of part of Jones's _Legends of the N. Am. Inds._: London,\n1820. Their value as mythological material is very small.\n\n[114-1] Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. vi. cap. 37.\n\n[114-2] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urrelig._, 221, after De la Borde.\n\n[114-3] _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s_, p. 3.\n\n[114-4] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1648, p. 75.\n\n[115-1] _Memoirs of Lieut. Henry Timberlake_, p. 48: London, 1765. This\nlittle book gives an account of the Cherokees at an earlier date than is\nelsewhere found.\n\n[116-1] Hawkins, _Sketch of the Creek Country_, p. 80.\n\n[116-2] Schoolcraft, _Algic Researches_, i. p. 179 sq.; compare ii. p.\n117.\n\n[116-3] Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 159; Cusic, _Trad. Hist. of\nthe Six Nations_, pt. ii.\n\n[117-1] Mrs. Eastman, _Legends of the Sioux_, pp. 161, 212. In this\nexplanation I depart from Prof. Schwarz, who has collected various\nlegends almost identical with these of the Indians (with which he was not\nacquainted), and interpreted the precious crown or horn to be the summer\nsun, brought forth by the early vernal lightning. _Ursprung der\nMythologie_, p. 27, note.\n\n[118-1] Cusic, u. s., pt. ii.\n\n[119-1] This remarkable relic has been the subject of a long and able\narticle in the _Revue Am\u00e9ricaine_ (tom. ii. p. 69), by the venerable\ntraveller De Waldeck. Like myself--and I had not seen his opinion until\nafter the above was written--he explains the cruciform design as\nindicating the four cardinal points, but offers the explanation merely as\na suggestion, and without referring to these symbols as they appear in so\nmany other connections.\n\n[119-2] Schwarz, _Ursprung der Mythologie_, pp. 62 sqq.\n\n[119-3] \"I have examined many Indians in reference to these details,\"\nsays the narrator, an Augustin monk writing in 1554, \"and they have all\nconfirmed them as eye-witnesses\" (_Lettre sur les Superstitions du\nP\u00e9rou_, p. 106, ed. Ternaux-Compans. This document is very valuable).\n\n[120-1] _Narrative of John Tanner_, p. 355; Henry, _Travels_, p. 176.\n\n[120-2] Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. vi. cap. 31.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nTHE MYTHS OF WATER, FIRE, AND THE THUNDER-STORM.\n\n     Water the oldest element.--Its use in purification.--Holy\n     water.--The Rite of Baptism.--The Water of Life.--Its symbols.--The\n     Vase.--The Moon.--The latter the goddess of love and agriculture,\n     but also of sickness, night, and pain.--Often represented by a\n     dog.--Fire worship under the form of Sun worship.--The perpetual\n     fire.--The new fire--Burning the dead.--A worship of the passions,\n     but no sexual dualism in myths, nor any phallic worship in\n     America.--Synthesis of the worship of Fire, Water, and the Winds in\n     the THUNDER-STORM, personified as Haokah, Tupa, Catequil, Contici,\n     Heno, Tlaloc, Mixcoatl, and other deities, many of them triune.\n\n\nThe primitive man was a brute in everything but the susceptibility to\nculture; the chief market of his time was to sleep, fight, and feed; his\nbodily comfort alone had any importance in his eyes; and his gods were\nnothing, unless they touched him here. Cold, hunger, thirst, these were\nthe hounds that were ever on his track; these were the fell powers he\nsaw constantly snatching away his fellows, constantly aiming their\ninvisible shafts at himself. Fire, food, and water were the gods that\nfought on his side; they were the chief figures in his pantheon, his\nkindliest, perhaps his earliest, divinities.\n\nWith a nearly unanimous voice mythologies assign the priority to water.\nIt was the first of all things, the parent of all things. Even the gods\nthemselves were born of water, said the Greeks and the Aztecs.\nCosmogonies reach no further than the primeval ocean that rolled its\nshoreless waves through a timeless night.\n\n\"Omnia pontus erant, deerant quoque litora ponto.\"\n\nEarth, sun, stars, lay concealed in its fathomless abysses. \"All of us,\"\nran the Mexican baptismal formula, \"are children of Chalchihuitlycue,\nGoddess of Water,\" and the like was said by the Peruvians of Mama Cocha,\nby the Botocudos of Taru, by the natives of Darien of Dobayba, by the\nIroquois of Ataensic--all of them mothers of mankind, all\npersonifications of water.\n\nHow account for such unanimity? Not by supposing some ancient\nintercourse between remote tribes, but by the uses of water as the\noriginator and supporter, the essential prerequisite of life. Leaving\naside the analogy presented by the motherly waters which nourish the\nunborn child, nor emphasizing how indispensable it is as a beverage, the\nmany offices this element performs in nature lead easily to the\nsupposition that it must have preceded all else. By quenching thirst, it\nquickens life; as the dew and the rain it feeds the plant, and when\nwithheld the seed perishes in the ground and forests and flowers alike\nwither away; as the fountain, the river, and the lake, it enriches the\nvalley, offers safe retreats, and provides store of fishes; as the\nocean, it presents the most fitting type of the infinite. It cleanses,\nit purifies; it produces, it preserves. \"Bodies, unless dissolved,\ncannot act,\" is a maxim of the earliest chemistry. Very plausibly,\ntherefore, was it assumed as the source of all things.\n\nThe adoration of streams, springs, and lakes, or rather of the spirits\ntheir rulers, prevailed everywhere; sometimes avowedly because they\nprovided food, as was the case with the Moxos, who called themselves\nchildren of the lake or river on which their village was, and were\nafraid to migrate lest their parent should be vexed;[124-1] sometimes\nbecause they were the means of irrigation, as in Peru, or on more\ngeneral mythical grounds. A grove by a fountain is in all nature worship\nthe ready-made shrine of the sylphs who live in its limpid waves and\nchatter mysteriously in its shallows. On such a spot in our Gulf States\none rarely fails to find the sacrificial mound of the ancient\ninhabitants, and on such the natives of Central America were wont to\nerect their altars (Ximenes). Lakes are the natural centres of\ncivilization. Like the lacustrine villages which the Swiss erected in\nante-historic times, like ancient Venice, the city of Mexico was first\nbuilt on piles in a lake, and for the same reason--protection from\nattack. Security once obtained, growth and power followed. Thus we can\ntrace the earliest rays of Aztec civilization rising from lake Tezcuco,\nof the Peruvian from Lake Titicaca, of the Muyscas from Lake Guatavita.\nThese are the centres of legendary cycles. Their waters were hallowed by\nvenerable reminiscences. From the depths of Titicaca rose Viracocha,\nmythical civilizer of Peru. Guatavita was the bourne of many a foot-sore\npilgrim in the ancient empire of the Zac. Once a year the high priest\npoured the collective offerings of the multitude into its waves, and\nanointed with oils and glittering with gold dust, dived deep in its\nmidst, professing to hold communion with the goddess who there had her\nhome.[125-1]\n\nNot only does the life of man but his well-being depends on water. As an\nablution it invigorates him bodily and mentally. No institution was in\nhigher honor among the North American Indians than the sweat-bath\nfollowed by the cold douche. It was popular not only as a remedy in\nevery and any disease, but as a preliminary to a council or an important\ntransaction. Its real value in cold climates is proven by the sustained\nfondness for the Russian bath in the north of Europe. The Indians,\nhowever, with their usual superstition attributed its good effects to\nsome mysterious healing power in water itself. Therefore, when the\npatient was not able to undergo the usual process, or when his medical\nattendant was above the vulgar and routine practice of his profession,\nit was administered on the infinitesimal system. The quack muttered a\nformula over a gourd filled from a neighboring spring and sprinkled it\non his patient, or washed the diseased part, or sucked out the evil\nspirit and blew it into a bowl of water, and then scattered the liquid\non the fire or earth.[125-2]\n\nThe use of such \"holy water\" astonished the Romanist missionaries, and\nthey at once detected Satan parodying the Scriptures. But their\nastonishment rose to horror when they discovered among various nations a\nrite of baptism of appalling similarity to their own, connected with\nthe imposing of a name, done avowedly for the purpose of freeing from\ninherent sin, believed to produce a regeneration of the spiritual\nnature, nay, in more than one instance called by an indigenous word\nsignifying \"to be born again.\"[126-1] Such a rite was of immemorial\nantiquity among the Cherokees, Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians. Had the\nmissionaries remembered that it was practised in Asia with all these\nmeanings long before it was chosen as the sign of the new covenant, they\nneed have invoked neither Satan nor Saint Thomas to explain its presence\nin America.\n\nAs corporeal is near akin to spiritual pollution, and cleanliness to\ngodliness, ablution preparatory to engaging in religious acts came early\nto have an emblematic as well as a real significance. The water freed\nthe soul from sin as it did the skin from stain. We should come to God\nwith clean hands and a clean heart. As Pilate washed his hands before\nthe multitude to indicate that he would not accept the moral\nresponsibility of their acts, so from a similar motive a Natchez chief,\nwho had been persuaded against his sense of duty not to sacrifice\nhimself on the pyre of his ruler, took clean water, washed his hands,\nand threw it upon live coals.[126-2] When an ancient Peruvian had laid\nbare his guilt by confession, he bathed himself in a neighboring river\nand repeated this formula:--\n\n\"O thou River, receive the sins I have this day confessed unto the Sun,\ncarry them down to the sea, and let them never more appear.\"[127-1]\n\nThe Navajo who has been deputed to carry a dead body to burial, holds\nhimself unclean until he has thoroughly washed himself in water prepared\nfor the purpose by certain ceremonies.[127-2] A bath was an\nindispensable step in the mysteries of Mithras, the initiation at\nEleusis, the meda worship of the Algonkins, the Busk of the Creeks, the\nceremonials of religion everywhere. Baptism was at first always\nimmersion. It was a bath meant to solemnize the reception of the child\ninto the guild of mankind, drawn from the prior custom of ablution at\nany solemn occasion. In both the object is greater purity, bodily and\nspiritual. As certainly as there is a law of conscience, as certainly as\nour actions fall short of our volitions, so certainly is man painfully\naware of various imperfections and shortcomings. What he feels he\nattributes to the infant. Avowedly to free themselves from this sense of\nguilt the Delawares used an emetic (Loskiel), the Cherokees a potion\ncooked up by an order of female warriors (Timberlake), the Takahlies of\nWashington Territory, the Aztecs, Mayas, and Peruvians, auricular\nconfession. Formulize these feelings and we have the dogmas of \"original\nsin,\" and of \"spiritual regeneration.\" The order of baptism among the\nAztecs commenced, \"O child, receive the water of the Lord of the world,\nwhich is our life; it is to wash and to purify; may these drops remove\nthe sin which was given to thee before the creation of the world, since\nall of us are under its power;\" and concluded, \"Now he liveth anew and\nis born anew, now is he purified and cleansed, now our mother the Water\nagain bringeth him into the world.\"[128-1]\n\nA name was then assigned to the child, usually that of some ancestor,\nwho it was supposed would thus be induced to exercise a kindly\nsupervision over the little one's future. In after life should the\nperson desire admittance to a superior class of the population and had\nthe wealth to purchase it--for here as in more enlightened lands\nnobility was a matter of money--he underwent a second baptism and\nreceived another name, but still ostensibly from the goddess of\nwater.[128-2]\n\nIn Peru the child was immersed in the fluid, the priest exorcised the\nevil and bade it enter the water, which was then buried in the\nground.[128-3] In either country sprinkling could take the place of\nimmersion. The Cherokees believe that unless the rite is punctually\nperformed when the child is three days old, it will inevitably\ndie.[128-4]\n\nAs thus curative and preservative, it was imagined that there was water\nof which whoever should drink would not die, but live forever. I have\nalready alluded to the Fountain of Youth, supposed long before Columbus\nsaw the surf of San Salvador to exist in the Bahama Islands or Florida.\nIt seems to have lingered long on that peninsula. Not many years ago,\nCoacooche, a Seminole chieftain, related a vision which had nerved him\nto a desperate escape from the Castle of St. Augustine. \"In my dream,\"\nsaid he, \"I visited the happy hunting grounds and saw my twin sister,\nlong since gone. She offered me a cup of pure water, which she said came\nfrom the spring of the Great Spirit, and if I should drink of it, I\nshould return and live with her forever.\"[129-1] Some such mystical\nrespect for the element, rather than as a mere outfit for his spirit\nhome, probably induced the earlier tribes of the same territory to place\nthe conch-shell which the deceased had used for a cup conspicuously on\nhis grave,[129-2] and the Mexicans and Peruvians to inter a vase filled\nwith water with the corpse, or to sprinkle it with the liquid, baptizing\nit, as it were, into its new associations.[130-1] It was an emblem of\nthe hope that should cheer the dwellings of the dead, a symbol of the\nresurrection which is in store for those who have gone down to the\ngrave.\n\nThe vase or the gourd as a symbol of water, the source and preserver of\nlife, is a conspicuous figure in the myths of ancient America. As Akbal\nor Huecomitl, the great or original vase, in Aztec and Maya legends it\nplays important parts in the drama of creation; as Tici (Ticcu) in Peru\nit is the symbol of the rains, and as a gourd it is often mentioned by\nthe Caribs and Tupis as the parent of the atmospheric waters.\n\nAs the MOON is associated with the dampness and dews of night, an\nancient and wide-spread myth identified her with the Goddess of Water.\nMoreover, in spite of the expostulations of the learned, the common\npeople the world over persist in attributing to her a marked influence\non the rains. Whether false or true, this familiar opinion is of great\nantiquity, and was decidedly approved by the Indians, who were all, in\nthe words of an old author, \"great observers of the weather by the\nmoon.\"[130-2] They looked upon her not only as forewarning them by her\nappearance of the approach of rains and fogs, but as being their actual\ncause.\n\nIsis, her Egyptian title, literally means moisture; Ataensic, whom the\nHurons said was the moon, is derived from the word for water; and\nCitatli and Atl, moon and water, are constantly confounded in Aztec\ntheology. Their attributes were strikingly alike. They were both the\nmythical mothers of the race, and both protect women in child-birth, the\nbabe in the cradle, the husbandman in the field, and the youth and\nmaiden in their tender affections. As the transfer of legends was nearly\nalways from the water to its lunar goddess, by bringing them in at this\npoint their true meaning will not fail to be apparent.\n\nWe must ever bear in mind that the course of mythology is from many gods\ntoward one, that it is a synthesis not an analysis, and that in this\nprocess the tendency is to blend in one the traits and stories of\noriginally separate divinities. As has justly been observed by the\nMexican antiquarian Gama: \"It was a common trait among the Indians to\nworship many gods under the figure of one, principally those whose\nactivities lay in the same direction, or those in some way related among\nthemselves.\"[131-1]\n\nThe time of full moon was chosen both in Mexico and Peru to celebrate\nthe festival of the deities of water, the patrons of agriculture,[131-2]\nand very generally the ceremonies connected with the crops were\nregulated by her phases. The Nicaraguans said that the god of rains,\nQuiateot, rose in the east,[131-3] thus hinting how this connection\noriginated. At a lunar eclipse the Orinoko Indians seized their hoes and\nlabored with exemplary vigor on their growing corn, saying the moon was\nveiling herself in anger at their habitual laziness;[132-1] and a\ndescription of the New Netherlands, written about 1650, remarks that the\nsavages of that land \"ascribe great influence to the moon over\ncrops.\"[132-2] This venerable superstition, common to all races, still\nlingers among our own farmers, many of whom continue to observe \"the\nsigns of the moon\" in sowing grain, setting out trees, cutting timber,\nand other rural avocations.\n\nAs representing water, the universal mother, the moon was the\nprotectress of women in child-birth, the goddess of love and babes, the\npatroness of marriage. To her the mother called in travail, whether by\nthe name of \"Diana, diva triformis\" in pagan Rome, by that of Mama\nQuilla in Peru, or of Meztli in Anahuac. Under the title of\nYohualticitl, the Lady of Night, she was also in this latter country the\nguardian of babes, and as Teczistecatl, the cause of generation.[132-3]\n\nVery different is another aspect of the moon goddess, and well might the\nMexicans paint her with two colors. The beneficent dispenser of harvests\nand offspring, she nevertheless has a portentous and terrific phase. She\nis also the goddess of the night, the dampness, and the cold; she\nengenders the miasmatic poisons that rack our bones; she conceals in her\nmantle the foe who takes us unawares; she rules those vague shapes which\nfright us in the dim light; the causeless sounds of night or its more\noppressive silence are familiar to her; she it is who sends dreams\nwherein gods and devils have their sport with man, and slumber, the twin\nbrother of the grave. In the occult philosophy of the middle ages she\nwas \"Chief over the Night, Darkness, Rest, Death, and the\nWaters;\"[133-1] in the language of the Algonkins, her name is identical\nwith the words for night, death, cold, sleep, and water.[133-2]\n\nShe is the evil minded woman who thus brings diseases upon men, who at\nthe outset introduced pain and death in the world--our common mother,\nyet the cruel cause of our present woes. Sometimes it is the moon,\nsometimes water, of whom this is said: \"We are all of us under the power\nof evil and sin, _because_ we are children of the Water,\" says the\nMexican baptismal formula. That Unktahe, spirit of water, is the master\nof dreams and witchcraft, is the belief of the Dakotas.[133-3] A female\nspirit, wife of the great manito whose heart is the sun, the ancient\nAlgonkins believed brought death and disease to the race; \"it is she\nwho kills men, otherwise they would never die; she eats their flesh and\nknaws[TN-4] their vitals, till they fall away and miserably\nperish.\"[134-1] Who is this woman? In the legend of the Muyscas it is\nChia, the moon, who was also goddess of water and flooded the earth out\nof spite.[134-2] Her reputation was notoriously bad. The Brazilian\nmother carefully shielded her infant from the lunar rays, believing that\nthey would produce sickness;[134-3] the hunting tribes of our own\ncountry will not sleep in its light, nor leave their game exposed to its\naction. We ourselves have not outgrown such words as lunatic,\nmoon-struck, and the like. Where did we get these ideas? The\nphilosophical historian of medicine, Kurt Sprengel, traces them to the\nprimitive and popular medical theories of ancient Egypt, in accordance\nwith which all maladies were the effects of the anger of the goddess\nIsis, the Moisture, the Moon.[134-4]\n\nWe have here the key to many myths. Take that of Centeotl, the Aztec\ngoddess of Maize. She was said at times to appear as a woman of\nsurpassing beauty, and allure some unfortunate to her embraces, destined\nto pay with his life for his brief moments of pleasure. Even to see her\nin this shape was a fatal omen. She was also said to belong to a class\nof gods whose home was in the west, and who produced sickness and\npains.[134-5] Here we see the evil aspect of the moon reflected on\nanother goddess, who was at first solely the patroness of agriculture.\n\nAs the goddess of sickness, it was supposed that persons afflicted with\ncertain diseases had been set apart by the moon for her peculiar\nservice. These diseases were those of a humoral type, especially such as\nare characterized by issues and ulcers. As in Hebrew the word _accursed_\nis derived from a root meaning _consecrated to God_, so in the Aztec,\nQuich\u00e9, and other tongues, the word for _leprous_, _eczematous_, or\n_syphilitic_, means also _divine_. This bizarre change of meaning is\nillustrated in a very ancient myth of their family. It is said that in\nthe absence of the sun all mankind lingered in darkness. Nothing but a\nhuman sacrifice could hasten his arrival. Then Metzli, the moon, led\nforth one Nanahuatl, the leprous, and building a pyre, the victim threw\nhimself in its midst. Straightway Metzli followed his example, and as\nshe disappeared in the bright flames the sun rose over the\nhorizon.[135-1] Is not this a reference to the kindling rays of the\naurora, in which the dark and baleful night is sacrificed, and in whose\nlight the moon presently fades away, and the sun comes forth?\n\nAnother reaction in the mythological laboratory is here disclosed. As\nthe good qualities of water were attributed to the goddess of night,\nsleep, and death, so her malevolent traits were in turn reflected back\non this element. Other thoughts aided the transfer. In primitive\ngeography the Ocean Stream coils its infinite folds around the speck of\nland we inhabit, biding its time to swallow it wholly. Unwillingly did\nit yield the earth from its bosom, daily does it steal it away piece by\npiece. Every evening it hides the light in its depths, and Night and the\nWaters resume their ancient sway. The word for ocean (_mare_) in the\nLatin tongue means by derivation a desert, and the Greeks spoke of it as\n\"the barren brine.\" Water is a treacherous element. Man treads boldly on\nthe solid earth, but the rivers and lakes constantly strive to swallow\nthose who venture within their reach. As streams run in tortuous\nchannels, and as rains accompany the lightning serpent, this animal was\noccasionally the symbol of the waters in their dangerous manifestations.\nThe Huron magicians fabled that in the lakes and rivers dwelt one of\nvast size called _Angont_, who sent sickness, death, and other mishaps,\nand the least mite of whose flesh was a deadly poison. They added--and\nthis was the point of the tale--that they always kept on hand portions\nof the monster for the benefit of any who opposed their designs.[136-1]\nThe legends of the Algonkins mention a rivalry between Michabo, creator\nof the earth, and the Spirit of the Waters, who was unfriendly to the\nproject.[136-2] In later tales this antagonism becomes more and more\npronounced, and borrows an ethical significance which it did not have at\nfirst. Taking, however, American religions as a whole, water is far more\nfrequently represented as producing beneficent effects than the reverse.\n\nDogs were supposed to stand in some peculiar relation to the moon,\nprobably because they howl at it and run at night, uncanny practices\nwhich have cost them dear in reputation. The custom prevailed among\ntribes so widely asunder as Peruvians, Tupis, Creeks, Iroquois,\nAlgonkins, and Greenland Eskimos to thrash the curs most soundly during\nan eclipse.[137-1] The Creeks explained this by saying that the big dog\nwas swallowing the sun, and that by whipping the little ones they could\nmake him desist. What the big dog was they were not prepared to say. We\nknow. It was the night goddess, represented by the dog, who was thus\nshrouding the world at midday. The ancient Romans sacrificed dogs to\nHecate and Diana, in Egypt they were sacred to Isis, and thus as\ntraditionally connected with night and its terrors, the Prince of\nDarkness, in the superstition of the middle ages, preferably appeared\nunder the form of a cur, as that famous poodle which accompanied\nCornelius Agrippa, or that which grew to such enormous size behind the\nstove of Dr. Faustus. In a better sense, they represented the more\nagreeable characteristics of the lunar goddess. Xochiquetzal, most\nfecund of Aztec divinities, patroness of love, of sexual pleasure, and\nof childbirth, was likewise called _Itzcuinan_, which, literally\ntranslated, is _bitch-mother_. This strange and to us so repugnant title\nfor a goddess was not without parallel elsewhere. When in his wars the\nInca Pachacutec carried his arms into the province of Huanca, he found\nits inhabitants had installed in their temples the figure of a dog as\ntheir highest deity. They were accustomed also to select one as his\nliving representative, to pray to it and offer it sacrifice, and when\nwell fattened, to serve it up with solemn ceremonies at a great feast,\neating their god _substantialiter_. The priests in this province\nsummoned their attendants to the temples by blowing through an\ninstrument fashioned from a dog's skull.[138-1] This canine canonization\nexplains why in some parts of Peru a priest was called by way of honor\n_allco_, dog![138-2] And why in many tombs both there and in Mexico\ntheir skeletons are found carefully interred with the human remains.\nWherever the Aztec race extended they seem to have carried the adoration\nof a wild species, the coyote, the _canis latrans_ of naturalists. The\nShoshonees of New Mexico call it their progenitor,[138-3] and with the\nNahuas it was in such high honor that it had a temple of its own, a\ncongregation of priests devoted to its service, statues carved in stone,\nan elaborate tomb at death, and is said to be meant by the god Chantico,\nwhose audacity caused the destruction of the world. The story was that\nhe made a sacrifice to the gods without observing a preparatory fast,\nfor which he was punished by being changed into a dog. He then invoked\nthe god of death to deliver him, which attempt to evade a just\npunishment so enraged the divinities that they immersed the world in\nwater.[139-1]\n\nDuring a storm on our northern lakes the Indians think no offering so\nlikely to appease the angry water god who is raising the tempest as a\ndog. Therefore they hasten to tie the feet of one and toss him\noverboard.[139-2] One meets constantly in their tales and superstitions\nthe mysterious powers of the animals, and the distinguished actions he\nhas at times performed bear usually a close parallelism to those\nattributed to water and the moon.\n\nHunger and thirst were thus alleviated by water. Cold remained, and\nagainst this _fire_ was the shield. It gives man light in darkness and\nwarmth in winter; it shows him his friends and warns him of his foes;\nthe flames point toward heaven and the smoke makes the clouds. Around it\nsocial life begins. For his home and his hearth the savage has but one\nword, and what of tender emotion his breast can feel, is linked to the\ncircle that gathers around his fire. The council fire, the camp fire,\nand the war fire, are so many epochs in his history. By its aid many\narts become possible, and it is a civilizer in more ways than one. In\nthe figurative language of the red race, it is constantly used as \"an\nemblem of peace, happiness, and abundance.\"[140-1] To extingish[TN-5] an\nenemy's fire is to slay him; to light a visitor's fire is to bid him\nwelcome. Fire worship was closely related to that of the sun, and so\nmuch has been said of sun worship among the aborigines of America that\nit is well at once to assign it its true position.\n\nA generation ago it was a fashion very much approved to explain all\nsymbols and myths by the action of this orb on nature. This short and\neasy method with mythology has, in Carlylian phrase, had its bottom\npulled from under it in these later times. Nowhere has it manifested its\ninefficiency more palpably than in America. One writer, while thus\nexplaining the religions of the tribes of colder regions and higher\nlatitudes, denies sun worship among the natives of hot climates; another\nasserts that only among the latter did it exist at all; while a third\nlays down the maxim that the religion of the red race everywhere \"was\nbut a modification of Sun or Fire worship.\"[141-1] All such sweeping\ngeneralizations are untrue, and must be so. No one key can open all the\narcana of symbolism. Man devised means as varied as nature herself to\nexpress the idea of God within him. The sun was but one of these, and\nnot the first nor the most important. Fear, said the wise Epicurean,\nfirst made the gods. The sun with its regular course, its kindly warmth,\nits beneficent action, no wise inspires that sentiment. It conjures no\nphantasms to appal the superstitious fancy, and its place in primitive\nmythology is conformably inferior. The myths of the Eskimos and\nnorthern Athapascas omit its action altogether. The Algonkins by no\nmeans imagined it the highest god, and at most but one of his\nemblems.[142-1] That it often appears in their prayers is true, but this\narose from the fact that in many of their dialects, as well as in the\nlanguage of the Mayas and others, the word for heaven or sky was\nidentical with that for sun, and the former, as I have shown, was the\nsupposed abode of deity, \"the wigwam of the Great Spirit.\"[142-2] The\nalleged sun worship of the Cherokees rests on testimony modern,\ndoubtful, and unsupported.[142-3] In North America the Natchez alone\nwere avowed worshippers of this luminary. Yet they adored it under the\nname Great Fire (_wah sil_), clearly pointing to a prior adoration of\nthat element. The heliolatry organized principally for political ends by\nthe Incas of Peru, stands alone in the religions of the red race. Those\nshrewd legislators at an early date officially announced that Inti, the\nsun, their own elder brother, was ruler of the cohorts of heaven by like\ndivine right that they were of the four corners of the earth. This\nscheme ignominiously failed, as every attempt to fetter the liberty of\nconscience must and should. The later Incas finally indulged publicly in\nheterodox remarks, and compromised the matter by acknowledging a\ndivinity superior even to their brother, the sun, as we have seen in a\nprevious chapter.\n\nThe myths of creation never represent the sun as anterior to the world,\nbut as manufactured by the \"old people\" (Navajos), as kindled and set\ngoing by the first of men (Algonkins), or as freed from some cave by a\nkindly deity (Haitians). It is always spoken of as a fire; only in Peru\nand Mexico had the precession of the equinoxes been observed, and\nwithout danger of error we can merge the consideration of its worship\nalmost altogether in that of this element.[143-1]\n\nThe institutions of a perpetual fire, of obtaining new fire, and of\nburning the dead, prevailed extensively in the New World. In the present\ndiscussion the origin of such practices, rather than the ceremonies with\nwhich they were attended, have an interest. The savage knew that fire\nwas necessary to his life. Were it lost, he justly foreboded dire\ncalamities and the ruin of his race. Therefore at stated times with due\nsolemnity he produced it anew by friction or the flint, or else was\ncareful to keep one fire constantly alive. These not unwise precautions\nsoon fell to mere superstitions. If the Aztec priest at the stated time\nfailed to obtain a spark from his pieces of wood, if the sacred fire by\nchance became extinguished, the end of the world or the destruction of\nmankind was apprehended. \"You know it was a saying among our\nancestors,\" said an Iroquois chief in 1753, \"that when the fire at\nOnondaga goes out, we shall no longer be a people.\"[144-1] So deeply\nrooted was this notion, that the Catholic missionaries in New Mexico\nwere fain to wink at it, and perform the sacrifice of the mass in the\nsame building where the flames were perpetually burning, that were not\nto be allowed to die until Montezuma and the fabled glories of ancient\nAnahuac with its heathenism should return.[144-2] Thus fire became the\ntype of life. \"Know that the life in your body and the fire on your\nhearth are one and the same thing, and that both proceed from one\nsource,\" said a Shawnee prophet.[144-3] Such an expression was wholly in\nthe spirit of his race. The greatest feast of the Delawares was that to\ntheir \"grandfather, the fire.\"[144-4] \"Their fire burns forever,\" was\nthe Algonkin figure of speech to express the immortality of their\ngods.[144-5] \"The ancient God, the Father and Mother of all Gods,\" says\nan Aztec prayer, \"is the God of the Fire which is in the centre of the\ncourt with four walls, and which is covered with gleaming feathers like\nunto wings;\"[144-6] dark sayings of the priests, referring to the\nglittering lightning fire borne from the four sides of the earth.\n\nAs the path to a higher life hereafter, the burning of the dead was\nfirst instituted. It was a privilege usually confined to a select few.\nAmong the Algonkin-Ottawas, only, those of the distinguished totem of\nthe Great Hare, among the Nicaraguans none but the caciques, among the\nCaribs exclusively the priestly caste, were entitled to this peculiar\nhonor.[145-1] The first gave as the reason for such an exceptional\ncustom, that the members of such an illustrious clan as that of Michabo,\nthe Great Hare, should not rot in the ground as common folks, but rise\nto the heavens on the flames and smoke. Those of Nicaragua seemed to\nthink it the sole path to immortality, holding that only such as offered\nthemselves on the pyre of their chieftain would escape annihilation at\ndeath;[145-2] and the tribes of upper California were persuaded that\nsuch as were not burned at death were liable to be transformed into the\nlower orders of brutes.[145-3] Strangely, enough, we thus find a sort of\nbaptism by fire deemed essential to a higher life beyond the grave.\n\nAnother analogy strengthened the symbolic force of fire as life. This is\nthat which exists between the sensation of warmth and those passions\nwhose physiological end is the perpetuation of the species. We see how\nnative it is to the mind from such coarse expressions as \"hot lust,\" \"to\nburn,\" \"to be in heat,\" \"stews,\" and the like, figures not of the\npoetic, but the vulgar tongue. They occur in all languages, and hint how\nreadily the worship of fire glided into that of the reproductive\nprinciple, into extravagances of chastity and lewdness, into the\nshocking orgies of the so-called phallic worship.\n\nSome have supposed that a sexual dualism pervades all natural religions\nand this too has been assumed as the solution of all their myths. It has\nbeen said that the action of heat upon moisture, of the sun on the\nwaters, the mysteries of reproduction, and the satisfaction of the\nsexual instincts, are the unvarying themes of primitive mythology. So\nfar as the red race is concerned, this is a most gratuitous assumption.\nThe facts that have been eagerly collated by Dulaure and others to\nbolster such a detestable theory lend themselves fairly to no such\ninterpretation.\n\nThere existed, indeed, a worship of the passions. Apparently it was\ngrafted upon or rose out of that of fire by the analogy I have pointed\nout. Thus the Mexican god of fire was supposed to govern the generative\nproclivities,[146-1] and there is good reason to believe that the sacred\nfire watched by unspotted virgins among the Mayas had decidedly such a\nsignification. Certainly it was so, if we can depend upon the authority\nof a ballad translated from the original immediately after the conquest,\ncited by the venerable traveller and artist Count de Waldeck. It\npurports to be from the lover of one of these vestals, and referring to\nher occupation asks with a fine allusion to its mystic meaning--\n\n   \"O vi\u00e8rge, quand pourrai-je te poss\u00e9der pour ma compagne cherie?\n    Combien de temps faut-il encore que tes voeux soient accomplis?\n    Dis-moi le jour qui doit devancer la belle nuit o\u00f9 tous deux,\n    Alimenterons le feu qui nous fit naitre et que nous devons\n        perpetuer.\"[147-1]\n\nThere is a bright as well as a dark side even to such a worship. In\nMexico, Peru, and Yucatan, the women who watched the flames must be\nundoubted virgins; they were usually of noble blood, and must vow\neternal chastity, or at least were free to none but the ruler of the\nrealm. As long as they were consecrated to the fire, so long any carnal\nardor was degrading to their lofty duties. The sentiment of shame, one\nof the first we find developed, led to the belief that to forego fleshly\npleasures was a meritorious sacrifice in the eyes of the gods. In this\npersuasion certain of the Aztec priests practised complete abscission or\nentire discerption of the virile parts, and a mutilation of females was\nnot unknown similar to that immemorially a custom in Egypt.[147-2] Such\nenforced celibacy was, however, neither common nor popular.\nCircumcision, if it can be proven to have existed among the red\nrace--and though there are plenty of assertions to that effect, they are\nnot satisfactory to an anatomist--was probably a symbolic renunciation\nof the lusts of the flesh. The same cannot be said of the very common\ncustom with the Aztec race of anointing their idols with blood drawn\nfrom the genitals, the tongue, and the ears. This was simply a form of\nthose voluntary scarifications, universally employed to mark contrition\nor grief by savage tribes, and nowhere more in vogue than with the red\nrace.\n\nThere was an ancient Christian heresy which taught that the true way to\nconquer the passions was to satiate them, and therefore preached\nunbounded licentiousness. Whether this agreeable doctrine was known to\nthe Indians I cannot say, but it is certainly the most creditable\nexplanation that can be suggested for the miscellaneous congress which\nvery often terminated their dances and ceremonies. Such orgies were of\ncommon occurrence among the Algonkins and Iroquois at a very early date,\nand are often mentioned in the Jesuit Relations; Venegas describes them\nas frequent among the tribes of Lower California; and Oviedo refers to\ncertain festivals of the Nicaraguans, during which the women of all rank\nextended to whosoever wished just such privileges as the matrons of\nancient Babylon, that mother of harlots and all abominations, used to\ngrant even to slaves and strangers in the temple of Melitta, as one of\nthe duties of religion. But in fact there is no ground whatever to\ninvest these debauches with any recondite meaning. They are simply\nindications of the thorough and utter immorality which prevailed\nthroughout the race. And a still more disgusting proof of it is seen in\nthe frequent appearance among diverse tribes of men dressed as women and\nyielding themselves to indescribable vices.[149-1] There was at first\nnothing of a religious nature in such exhibitions. Lascivious priests\nchose at times to invest them with some such meaning for their own\nsensual gratification, just as in Brazil they still claim the _jus prim\u00e6\nnoctis_.[149-2] The pretended phallic worship of the Natchez and of\nCulhuacan, cited by the Abb\u00e9 Brasseur, rests on no good authority, and\nif true, is like that of the Huastecas of Panuco, nothing but an\nunrestrained and boundless profligacy which it were an absurdity to call\na religion.[149-3] That which Mr. Stephens attempts to show existed once\nin Yucatan,[149-4] rests entirely by his own statement on a fancied\nresemblance of no value whatever, and the arguments of Lafitau to the\nsame effect are quite insufficient. There is a decided indecency in the\nremains of ancient American art, especially in Peru (Meyen), and great\nlubricity in many ceremonies, but the proof is altogether wanting to\nbind these with the recognition of a fecundating principle throughout\nnature, or, indeed, to suppose for them any other origin than the\npromptings of an impure fancy. I even doubt whether they often referred\nto fire as the deity of sexual love.\n\nBy a flight of fancy inspired by a study of oriental mythology, the\nworship of the reciprocal principle in America has been connected with\nthat of the sun and moon, as the primitive pair from whose fecund union\nall creatures proceeded. It is sufficient to say if such a myth exists\namong the Indians--which is questionable--it justifies no such\ndeduction; that the moon is often mentioned in their languages merely as\nthe \"night sun;\" and that in such important stocks as the Iroquois,\nAthapascas, Cherokees, and Tupis, the sun is said to be a feminine noun;\nwhile the myths represent them more frequently as brother and sister\nthan as man and wife; nor did at least the northern tribes regard the\nsun as the cause of fecundity in nature at all, but solely as giving\nlight and warmth.[150-1]\n\nIn contrast to this, so much the more positive was their association of\nthe THUNDER-STORM as that which brings both warmth and rain with the\nrenewed vernal life of vegetation. The impressive phenomena which\ncharacterize it, the prodigious noise, the awful flash, the portentous\ngloom, the blast, the rain, have left a profound impression on the myths\nof every land. Fire from water, warmth and moisture from the destructive\nbreath of the tempest, this was the riddle of riddles to the untutored\nmind. \"Out of the eater came forth meat, out of the strong came forth\nsweetness.\" It was the visible synthesis of all the divine\nmanifestations, the winds, the waters, and the flames.\n\nThe Dakotas conceived it as a struggle between the god of waters and the\nthunder bird for the command of their nation,[150-2] and as a bird, one\nof those which make a whirring sound with their wings, the turkey, the\npheasant, or the nighthawk, it was very generally depicted by their\nneighbors, the Athapascas, Iroquois, and Algonkins.[151-1] As the\nherald of the summer it was to them a good omen and a friendly power. It\nwas the voice of the Great Spirit of the four winds speaking from the\nclouds and admonishing them that the time of corn planting was at\nhand.[151-2] The flames kindled by the lightning were of a sacred\nnature, proper to be employed in lighting the fires of the religious\nrites, but on no account to be profaned by the base uses of daily life.\nWhen the flash entered the ground it scattered in all directions those\nstones, such as the flint, which betray their supernal origin by a gleam\nof fire when struck. These were the thunderbolts, and from such an one,\nsignificantly painted red, the Dakotas averred their race had\nproceeded.[151-3] For are we not all in a sense indebted for our lives\nto fire? \"There is no end to the fancies entertained by the Sioux\nconcerning thunder,\" observes Mrs. Eastman. They typified the\nparadoxical nature of the storm under the character of the giant Haokah.\nTo him cold was heat, and heat cold; when sad he laughed, when merry\ngroaned; the sides of his face and his eyes were of different colors and\nexpressions; he wore horns or a forked headdress to represent the\nlightning, and with his hands he hurled the meteors. His manifestations\nwere fourfold, and one of the four winds was the drum-stick he used to\nproduce the thunder.[152-1]\n\nOmitting many others, enough that the sameness of this conception is\nillustrated by the myth of Tupa, highest god and first man of the Tupis\nof Brazil. During his incarnation, he taught them agriculture, gave them\nfire, the cane, and the pisang, and now in the form of a huge bird\nsweeps over the heavens, watching his children and watering their crops,\nadmonishing them of his presence by the mighty sound of his voice, the\nrustling of his wings, and the flash of his eye. These are the thunder,\nthe lightning, and the roar of the tempest. He is depicted with horns;\nhe was one of four brothers, and only after a desperate struggle did he\ndrive his fraternal rivals from the field. In his worship, the priests\nplace pebbles in a dry gourd, deck it with feathers and arrows, and\nrattling it vigorously, reproduce in miniature the tremendous drama of\nthe storm.[152-2]\n\nAs nations rose in civilization these fancies put on a more complex form\nand a more poetic fulness. Throughout the realm of the Incas the\nPeruvians venerated as creator of all things, maker of heaven and earth,\nand ruler of the firmament, the god Ataguju. The legend was that from\nhim proceeded the first of mortals, the man Guamansuri, who descended to\nthe earth and there seduced the sister of certain Guachemines, rayless\nones, or Darklings, who then possessed it. For this crime they destroyed\nhim, but their sister proved pregnant, and died in her labor, giving\nbirth to two eggs. From these emerged the twin brothers, Apocatequil\nand Piguerao. The former was the more powerful. By touching the corpse\nof his mother he brought her to life, he drove off and slew the\nGuachemines, and, directed by Ataguju, released the race of Indians from\nthe soil by turning it up with a spade of gold. For this reason they\nadored him as their maker. He it was, they thought, who produced the\nthunder and the lightning by hurling stones with his sling; and the\nthunderbolts that fall, said they, are his children. Few villages were\nwilling to be without one or more of these. They were in appearance\nsmall, round, smooth stones, but had the admirable properties of\nsecuring fertility to the fields, protecting from lightning, and, by a\ntransition easy to understand, were also adored as gods of the Fire, as\nwell material as of the passions, and were capable of kindling the\ndangerous flames of desire in the most frigid bosom. Therefore they were\nin great esteem as love charms.\n\nApocatequil's statue was erected on the mountains, with that of his\nmother on one hand, and his brother on the other. \"He was Prince of Evil\nand the most respected god of the Peruvians. From Quito to Cuzco not an\nIndian but would give all he possessed to conciliate him. Five priests,\ntwo stewards, and a crowd of slaves served his image. And his chief\ntemple was surrounded by a very considerable village whose inhabitants\nhad no other occupation than to wait on him.\" In memory of these\nbrothers, twins in Peru were deemed always sacred to the lightning, and\nwhen a woman or even a llama brought them forth, a fast was held and\nsacrifices offered to the two pristine brothers, with a chant\ncommencing: _A chuchu cachiqui_, O Thou who causest twins, words\nmistaken by the Spaniards for the name of a deity.[154-1]\n\nGarcilasso de la Vega, a descendant of the Incas, has preserved an\nancient indigenous poem of his nation, presenting the storm myth in a\ndifferent form, which as undoubtedly authentic and not devoid of poetic\nbeauty I translate, preserving as much as possible the trochaic\ntetrasyllabic verse of the original Quichua:--\n\n   \"Beauteous princess,\n    Lo, thy brother\n    Breaks thy vessel\n    Now in fragments.\n    From the blow come\n    Thunder, lightning,\n    Strokes of lightning.\n    And thou, princess,\n    Tak'st the water,\n    With it rainest,\n    And the hail, or\n    Snow dispensest.\n    Viracocha,\n    World constructor,\n    World enliv'ner,\n    To this office\n    Thee appointed,\n    Thee created.\"[155-1]\n\nIn this pretty waif that has floated down to us from the wreck of a\nliterature now forever lost, there is more than one point to attract the\nnotice of the antiquary. He may find in it a hint to decipher those\nnames of divinities so common in Peruvian legends, Contici and Illatici.\nBoth mean \"the Thunder Vase,\" and both doubtless refer to the conception\nhere displayed of the phenomena of the thunder-storm.[155-2]\n\nAgain, twice in this poem is the triple nature of the storm adverted to.\nThis is observable in many of the religions of America. It constitutes a\nsort of Trinity, not in any point resembling that of Christianity, nor\nyet the Trimurti of India, but the only one in the New World the least\ndegree authenticated, and which, as half seen by ignorant monks, has\ncaused its due amount of sterile astonishment. Thus, in the Quich\u00e9\nlegends we read: \"The first of Hurakan is the lightning, the second the\ntrack of the lightning, and the third the stroke of the lightning; and\nthese three are Hurakan, the Heart of the Sky.\"[156-1] It reappears with\ncharacteristic uniformity of outline in Iroquois mythology. Heno, the\nthunder, gathers the clouds and pours out the warm rains. Therefore he\nwas the patron of husbandry. He was invoked at seed time and harvest;\nand as purveyor of nourishment he was addressed as grandfather, and his\nworshippers styled themselves his grandchildren. He rode through the\nheavens on the clouds, and the thunderbolts which split the forest trees\nwere the stones he hurled at his enemies. _Three_ assistants were\nassigned him, whose names have unfortunately not been recorded, and\nwhose offices were apparently similar to those of the three companions\nof Hurakan.[156-2]\n\nSo also the Aztecs supposed that Tlaloc, god of rains and the waters,\nruler of the terrestrial paradise and the season of summer, manifested\nhimself under the three attributes of the flash, the thunderbolt, and\nthe thunder.[157-1]\n\nBut this conception of three in one was above the comprehension of the\nmasses, and consequently these deities were also spoken of as fourfold\nin nature, three _and_ one. Moreover, as has already been pointed out,\nthe thunder god was usually ruler of the winds, and thus another reason\nfor his quadruplicate nature was suggested. Hurakan, Haokah, Tlaloc, and\nprobably Heno, are plural as well as singular nouns, and are used as\nnominatives to verbs in both numbers. Tlaloc was appealed to as\ninhabiting each of the cardinal points and every mountain top. His\nstatue rested on a square stone pedestal, facing the east, and had in\none hand a serpent of gold. Ribbons of silver, crossing to form squares,\ncovered the robe, and the shield was composed of feathers of four\ncolors, yellow, green, red, and blue. Before it was a vase containing\nall sorts of grain; and the clouds were called his companions, the winds\nhis messengers.[157-2] As elsewhere, the thunderbolts were believed to\nbe flints, and thus, as the emblem of fire and the storm, this stone\nfigures conspicuously in their myths. Tohil, the god who gave the\nQuich\u00e9s fire by shaking his sandals, was represented by a flint-stone.\nHe is distinctly said to be the same as Quetzalcoatl, one of whose\ncommonest symbols was a flint (tecpatl). Such a stone, in the beginning\nof things, fell from heaven to earth, and broke into 1600 pieces, each\nof which sprang up a god;[158-1] an ancient legend, which shadows forth\nthe subjection of all things to him who gathers the clouds from the four\ncorners of the earth, who thunders with his voice, who satisfies with\nhis rain \"the desolate and waste ground, and causes the tender herb to\nspring forth.\" This is the germ of the adoration of stones as emblems of\nthe fecundating rains. This is why, for example, the Navajos use as\ntheir charm for rain certain long round stones, which they think fall\nfrom the cloud when it thunders.[158-2]\n\nMixcoatl, the Cloud Serpent, or Iztac-Mixcoatl, the White or Gleaming\nCloud Serpent, said to have been the only divinity of the ancient\nChichimecs, held in high honor by the Nahuas, Nicaraguans, and Otomis,\nand identical with Taras, supreme god of the Tarascos and Camaxtli, god\nof the Teo-Chichimecs, is another personification of the thunder-storm.\nTo this day this is the familiar name of the tropical tornado in the\nMexican language.[158-3] He was represented, like Jove, with a bundle of\narrows in his hand, the thunderbolts. Both the Nahuas and Tarascos\nrelated legends in which he figured as father of the race of man. Like\nother lords of the lightning he was worshipped as the dispenser of\nriches and the patron of traffic; and in Nicaragua his image is\ndescribed as being \"engraved stones,\"[158-4] probably the supposed\nproducts of the thunder.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[124-1] A. D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Am\u00e9ricain_, i. p. 240.\n\n[125-1] Rivero and Tschudi, _Peruvian Antiquities_, 162, after J. Acosta.\n\n[125-2] Narrative of _Oceola Nikkanoche, Prince of Econchatti_, p. 141;\nSchoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, iv. p. 650.\n\n[126-1] The term in Maya is _caput zihil_, corresponding exactly to the\nLatin _renasci_, to be re-born, Landa, _Rel. de Yucatan_, p. 144.\n\n[126-2] Dumont, _Mems. Hist. sur la Louisiane_, i. p. 233.\n\n[127-1] Acosta, _Hist. of the New World_, lib. v. cap. 25.\n\n[127-2] _Senate Report on Condition of Indian Tribes_, p. 358:\nWashington, 1867.\n\n[128-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. vi. cap. 37.\n\n[128-2] Ternaux-Compans, _Pi\u00e8ces rel. \u00e0 la Conq. du Mexique_, p. 233.\n\n[128-3] Velasco, _Hist. de la Royaume de Quito_, p. 106, and others.\n\n[128-4] Whipple, _Rep. on the Indian Tribes_, p. 35. I am not sure that\nthis practice was of native growth to the Cherokees. This people have\nmany customs and traditions strangely similar to those of Christians and\nJews. Their cosmogony is a paraphrase of that of Genesis (Squier, _Serp.\nSymbol_, from Payne's MSS.); the number seven is as sacred with them as\nit was with the Chaldeans (Whipple, u. s.); and they have improved and\nincreased by contact with the whites. Significant in this connection is\nthe remark of Bartram, who visited them in 1773, that some of their\nfemales were \"nearly as fair and blooming as European women,\" and\ngenerally that their complexion was lighter than their neighbors\n(_Travels_, p. 485). Two explanations of these facts may be suggested.\nThey may be descendants in part of the ancient white race near Cape\nHatteras, to whom I have referred in a previous note. More probably they\nderived their peculiarities from the Spaniards of Florida. Mr. Shea is of\nopinion that missions were established among them as early as 1566 and\n1643 (_Hist. of Catholic Missions in the U. S._, pp. 58, 73). Certainly\nin the latter half of the seventeenth century the Spaniards were\nprosecuting mining operations in their territory (See _Am. Hist. Mag._,\nx. p. 137).\n\n[129-1] Sprague, _Hist. of the Florida War_, p. 328.\n\n[129-2] Basanier, _Histoire Notable de la Floride_, p. 10.\n\n[130-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. iii. app. cap. i.;\nMeyen, _Ueber die Ureinwohner von Peru_, p. 29.\n\n[130-2] Gabriel Thomas, _Hist. of West New Jersey_, p. 6: London, 1698.\n\n[131-1] Gama, _Des. de las dos Piedras_, etc., i. p. 36.\n\n[131-2] Garcia, _Or. de los Indios_, p. 109.\n\n[131-3] Oviedo, _Rel. de la Prov. de Nicaragua_, p. 41. The name is a\ncorruption of the Aztec _Quiauhteotl_, Rain-God.\n\n[132-1] Gumilla, _Hist. del Orinoco_, ii. cap. 23.\n\n[132-2] _Doc. Hist. of New York_, iv. p. 130.\n\n[132-3] Gama, _Des. de las dos Piedras_, ii. p. 41; Gallatin, _Trans. Am.\nEthnol. Soc._, i. p. 343.\n\n[133-1] Adrian Van Helmont, _Workes_, p. 142, fol.: London, 1662.\n\n[133-2] The moon is _nipa_ or _nipaz_; _nipa_, I sleep; _nipawi_, night;\n_nip_, I die; _nepua_, dead; _nipanoue_, cold. This odd relationship was\nfirst pointed out by Volney (Duponceau, _Langues de l'Am\u00e9rique du Nord_,\np. 317). But the kinship of these words to that for water, _nip_, _nipi_,\n_nepi_, has not before been noticed. This proves the association of ideas\non which I lay so much stress in mythology. A somewhat similar\nrelationship exists in the Aztec and cognate languages, _miqui_, to die,\n_micqui_, dead, _mictlan_, the realm of death, _te-miqui_, to dream,\n_cec-miqui_, to freeze. Would it be going too far to connect these with\n_metzli_, moon? (See Buschmann, _Spuren der Aztekischen Sprache im\nN\u00f6rdlichen Mexico_, p. 80.)\n\n[133-3] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, vol. iii. p. 485.\n\n[134-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1634, p. 16.\n\n[134-2] Humboldt, _Vues des Cordill\u00e8res_, p. 21.\n\n[134-3] Spix and Martius, _Travels in Brazil_, ii. p. 247.\n\n[134-4] _Hist. de la M\u00e9decine_, i. p. 34.\n\n[134-5] Gama, _Des. de las dos Piedras_, etc., ii. pp. 100-102. Compare\nSahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. i. cap. vi.\n\n[135-1] Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, i. p. 183.\nGama and others translate Nanahuatl by _el buboso_, Brasseur by _le\nsyphilitique_, and the latter founds certain medical speculations on the\nword. It is entirely unnecessary to say to a surgeon that it could not\npossibly have had the latter meaning, inasmuch as the diagnosis between\nsecondary or tertiary syphilis and other similar diseases was unknown.\nThat it is so employed now is nothing to the purpose. The same or a\nsimilar myth was found in Central America and on the Island of Haiti.\n\n[136-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1648, p. 75.\n\n[136-2] Charlevoix is in error when he identifies Michabo with the Spirit\nof the Waters, and may be corrected from his own statements elsewhere.\nCompare his _Journal Historique_, pp. 281 and 344: ed. Paris, 1740.\n\n[137-1] Bradford, _American Antiquities_, p. 833; Martius, _Von dem\nRechtszustande unter den Ureinwohnern Brasiliens_, p. 32; Schoolcraft,\n_Ind. Tribes_, i. p. 271.\n\n[138-1] La Vega, _Hist. des Incas_, liv. vi. cap. 9.\n\n[138-2] _Lett. sur les Superstitions du P\u00e9rou_, p. 111.\n\n[138-3] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, iv. p. 224.\n\n[139-1] Chantico, according to Gama, means \"Wolf's Head,\" though I cannot\nverify this from the vocabularies within my reach. He is sometimes called\nCohuaxolotl Chantico, the snake-servant Chantico, considered by Gama as\none, by Torquemada as two deities (see Gama, _Des. de las dos Piedras_,\netc., i. p. 12; ii. p. 66). The English word _cantico_ in the phrase, for\ninstance, \"to cut a cantico,\" though an Indian word, is not from this,\nbut from the Algonkin Delaware _gentkehn_, to dance a sacred dance. The\nDutch describe it as \"a religious custom observed among them before\ndeath\" (_Doc. Hist. of New York_, iv. p. 63). William Penn says of the\nLenape, \"their worship consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico,\" the\nlatter \"performed by round dances, sometimes words, sometimes songs, then\nshouts; their postures very antic and differing.\" (_Letter to the Free\nSociety of Traders_, 1683, sec. 21.)\n\n[139-2] Charlevoix, _Hist. G\u00e9n. de la Nouv. France_, i. p. 394: Paris,\n1740. On the different species of dogs indigenous to America, see a note\nof Alex. von Humboldt, _Ansichten der Natur._, i. p. 134. It may be\nnoticed that Chichimec, properly Chichimecatl, the name of the Aztec\ntribe who succeeded the ancient Toltecs in Mexico, means literally\n\"people of the dog,\" and was probably derived from some mythological\nfable connected with that animal.\n\n[140-1] _Narr. of the Captiv. of John Tanner_, p. 362. From the word for\nfire in many American tongues is formed the adjective _red_. Thus,\nAlgonkin, _skoda_, fire, _miskoda_, red; Kolosch, _kan_, fire, _kan_,\nred; Ugalentz, _takak_, fire, _takak-uete_, red; Tahkali, _c[=u]n_, fire,\n_tenil-c[=u]n_, red; Quiche, _cak_, fire, _cak_, red, etc. From the\nadjective _red_ comes often the word for _blood_, and in symbolism the\ncolor red may refer to either of these ideas. It was the royal color of\nthe Incas, brothers of the sun, and a llama swathed in a red garment was\nthe Peruvian sacrifice to fire (Garcia, _Or. de los Indios_, lib. iv.\ncaps. 16, 19). On the other hand the war quipus, the war wampum, and the\nwar paint were all of this hue, boding their sanguinary significance. The\nword for fire in the language of the Delawares, Nanticokes, and\nneighboring tribes puzzles me. It is _taenda_ or _tinda_. This is the\nSwedish word _taenda_, from whose root comes our _tinder_. Yet it is\nfound in vocabularies as early as 1650, and is universally current\nto-day. It has no resemblance to the word for fire in pure Algonkin. Was\nit adopted from the Swedes? Was it introduced by wandering Vikings in\nremote centuries? Or is it only a coincidence?\n\n[141-1] Compare D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Am\u00e9ricain_, i. p. 243, M\u00fcller,\n_Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 51, and Squier, _Serpent Symbol in America_, p.\n111. This is a striking instance of the confusion of ideas introduced by\nfalse systems of study, and also of the considerable misapprehension of\nAmerican mythology which has hitherto prevailed.\n\n[142-1] La Hontan, _Voy. dans l'Am\u00e9r. Sept._, p. ii. 127; _Rel. Nouv.\nFrance_, 1637, p. 54.\n\n[142-2] Copway, _Trad. Hist. of the Ojibway Nation_, p. 165. _Kesuch_ in\nAlgonkin signifies both sky and sun (Duponceau, _Langues de l'Am\u00e9r. du\nNord_, p. 312). So apparently does _kin_ in the Maya.\n\n[142-3] Payne's manuscripts quoted by Mr. Squier in his Serpent Symbol in\nAmerica were compiled within this century, and from the extracts given\ncan be of no great value.\n\n[143-1] The words for fire and sun in American languages are usually from\ndistinct roots, but besides the example of the Natchez I may instance to\nthe contrary the Kolosch of British America, in whose tongue fire is\n_kan_, sun, _kakan_ (_gake_, great), and the Tezuque of New Mexico, who\nuse _tah_ for both sun and fire.\n\n[144-1] _Doc. Hist. of New York_, ii. p. 634.\n\n[144-2] Emory, _Milt'y Reconnoissance[TN-6] of New Mexico_, p. 30.\n\n[144-3] _Narrative of John Tanner_, p. 161.\n\n[144-4] Loskiel, _Ges. der Miss. der evang. Br\u00fcder_, p. 55.\n\n[144-5] _Nar. of John Tanner_, p. 351.\n\n[144-6] Sahagun, _Hist. Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. vi. cap. 4.\n\n[145-1] _Letts. Edifiantes et Curieuses_, iv. p. 104, Oviedo; _Hist. du\nNicaragua_, p. 49; Gomara, _Hist. del Orinoco_, ii. cap. 2.\n\n[145-2] Oviedo, _Hist. Gen. de las Indias_, p. 16, in Barcia's _Hist.\nPrim._\n\n[145-3] _Presdt's Message and Docs._ for 1851, pt. iii. p. 506.\n\n[146-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, i. cap. 13.\n\n[147-1] _Voyage Pittoresque dans le Yucatan_, p. 49.\n\n[147-2] Davila Padilla, _Hist. de la Prov. de Santiago de Mexico_, lib.\nii. cap. 88 (Brusselas, 1625); Palacios, _Des. de Guatemala_, p. 40;\nGarcia, _Or. de los Indios_, p. 124. To such an extent did the priests of\nthe Algonkin tribes who lived near Manhattan Island carry their\nausterity, such uncompromising celibates were they, that it is said on\nauthority as old as 1624, that they never so much as partook of food\nprepared by a married woman. (_Doc. Hist. New York_, iv. p. 28.)\n\n[149-1] Martius, _Von dem Rechtzustande unter den Ureinwohnern\nBrasiliens_, p. 28, gives many references.\n\n[149-2] Id. _ibid._, p. 61.\n\n[149-3] _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s_, Introd., pp. clxi., clxix.\n\n[149-4] _Travels in Yucatan_, i. p. 434.\n\n[150-1] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. pp. 416, 417.\n\n[150-2] Mrs. Eastman, _Legends of the Sioux_, p. 161.\n\n[151-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1634, p. 27; Schoolcraft, _Algic\nResearches_, ii. p. 116; _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 420.\n\n[151-2] De Smet, _Western Missions_, p. 135; Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_,\ni. p. 319.\n\n[151-3] Mrs. Eastman, _Legends of the Sioux_, p. 72. By another legend\nthey claimed that their first ancestor obtained his fire from the sparks\nwhich a friendly panther struck from the rocks as he scampered up a stony\nhill (McCoy, _Hist. of Baptist Indian Missions_, p. 364).\n\n[152-1] Mrs. Eastman, ubi sup., p. 158; Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, iv.\np. 645.\n\n[152-2] Waitz, _Anthropologie_, iii. p. 417; M\u00fcller, _Am. Urrelig._, p.\n271.\n\n[154-1] On the myth of Catequil see particularly the _Lettre sur les\nSuperstitions du P\u00e9rou_, p. 95 sqq., and compare Montesinos, _Ancien\nP\u00e9rou_, chaps. ii., xx. The letters g and j do not exist in Quichua,\ntherefore Ataguju should doubtless read _Ata-chuchu_, which means lord,\nor ruler of the twins, from _ati_ root of _atini_, I am able, I control,\nand _chuchu_, twins. The change of the root _ati_ to _ata_, though\nuncommon in Quichua, occurs also in _ata-hualpa_, cock, from _ati_ and\n_hualpa_, fowl. Apo-Catequil, or as given by Arriaga, another old writer\non Peruvian idolatry, Apocatequilla, I take to be properly\n_apu-ccatec-quilla_, which literally means _chief of the followers of the\nmoon_. Acosta mentions that the native name for various constellations\nwas _catachillay_ or _catuchillay_, doubtless corruptions of _ccatec\nquilla_, literally \"following the moon.\" Catequil, therefore, the dark\nspirit of the storm rack, was also appropriately enough, and perhaps\nprimarily, lord of the night and stars. Piguerao, where the g appears\nagain, is probably a compound of _piscu_, bird, and _uira_, white.\nGuachemines seems clearly the word _huachi_, a ray of light or an arrow,\nwith the negative suffix _ymana_, thus meaning rayless, as in the text,\nor _ymana_ may mean an excess as well as a want of anything beyond what\nis natural, which would give the signification \"very bright shining.\"\n(Holguin, _Arte de la Lengua Quichua_, p. 106: Cuzco, 1607.) Is this\nsister of theirs the Dawn, who, as in the Rig Veda, brings forth at the\ncost of her own life the white and dark twins, the Day and the Night, the\nlatter of whom drives from the heavens the far-shooting arrows of light,\nin order that he may restore his mother again to life? The answer may for\nthe present be deferred. It is a coincidence perhaps worth mentioning\nthat the Augustin monk who is our principal authority for this legend\nmentions two other twin deities, Yamo and Yama, whose names are almost\nidentical with the twins Yama and Yami of the Veda.\n\n[155-1] _Hist. des Incas_, liv. ii. cap. 28, and corrected in Markham's\n_Quichua Grammar_.\n\n[155-2] The latter is a compound of _tici_ or _ticcu_, a vase, and\n_ylla_, the root of _yllani_, to shine, _yllapantac_, it thunders and\nlightens. The former is from _tici_ and _cun_ or _con_, whence by\nreduplication _cun-un-un-an_, it thunders. From _cun_ and _tura_,\nbrother, is probably derived _cuntur_, the condor, the flying\nthunder-cloud being looked upon as a great bird also. Dr. Waitz has\npointed out that the Araucanians call by the title _con_, the messenger\nwho summons their chieftains to a general council.\n\n[156-1] _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9_, p. 9. The name of the lightning in Quich\u00e9 is\n_cak ul ha_, literally, \"fire coming from water.\"\n\n[156-2] Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_, p. 158.\n\n[157-1] \"El rayo, el rel\u00e1mpago, y el trueno.\" Gama, _Des. de las dos\nPiedras_, etc., ii. p. 76: Mexico, 1832.\n\n[157-2] Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. vi. cap. 23. Gama, ubi sup.\nii. 76, 77.\n\n[158-1] Torquemada, ibid., lib. vi. cap. 41.\n\n[158-2] _Senate Report on the Indian Tribes_, p. 358: Washington, 1867.\n\n[158-3] Brasseur, _Hist[TN-7] du Mexique_, i. p. 201, and on the extent\nof his worship Waitz, _Anthropol._, iv. p. 144.\n\n[158-4] Oviedo, _Hist. du Nicaragua_, p. 47.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHE SUPREME GODS OF THE RED RACE.\n\n     Analysis of American culture myths.--The Manibozho or Michabo of\n     the Algonkins shown to be an impersonation of LIGHT, a hero of the\n     Dawn, and their highest deity.--The myths of Ioskeha of the\n     Iroquois, Viracocha of the Peruvians, and Quetzalcoatl of the\n     Toltecs essentially the same as that of Michabo.--Other\n     examples.--Ante-Columbian prophecies of the advent of a white race\n     from the east as conquerors.--Rise of later culture myths under\n     similar forms.\n\n\nThe philosopher Machiavelli, commenting on the books of Livy, lays it\ndown as a general truth that every form and reform has been brought\nabout by a single individual. Since a remorseless criticism has shorn so\nmany heroes of their laurels, our faith in the maxim of the great\nFlorentine wavers, and the suspicion is created that the popular fancy\nwhich personifies under one figure every social revolution is an\nillusion. It springs from that tendency to hero worship, ineradicable in\nthe heart of the race, which leads every nation to have an ideal, the\nimagined author of its prosperity, the father of his country, and the\nfocus of its legends. As has been hinted, history is not friendly to\ntheir renown, and dissipates them altogether into phantoms of the brain,\nor sadly dims the lustre of their fame. Arthur, bright star of chivalry,\ndwindles into a Welsh subaltern; the Cid Campeador, defender of the\nfaith, sells his sword as often to Moslem as to Christian, and _sells_\nit ever; while Siegfried and Feridun vanish into nothings.\n\nAs elsewhere the world over, so in America many tribes had to tell of\nsuch a personage, some such august character, who taught them what they\nknew, the tillage of the soil, the properties of plants, the art of\npicture writing, the secrets of magic; who founded their institutions\nand established their religions, who governed them long with glory\nabroad and peace at home; and finally, did not die, but like Frederick\nBarbarossa, Charlemagne, King Arthur, and all great heroes, vanished\nmysteriously, and still lives somewhere, ready at the right moment to\nreturn to his beloved people and lead them to victory and happiness.\nSuch to the Algonkins was Michabo or Manibozho, to the Iroquois Ioskeha,\nWasi to the Cherokees, Tamoi to the Caribs; so the Mayas had Zamna, the\nToltecs Quetzalcoatl, the Muyscas Nemqueteba; such among the Aymaras was\nViracocha, among the Mandans Numock-muckenah, and among the natives of\nthe Orinoko Amalivaca; and the catalogue could be extended indefinitely.\n\nIt is not always easy to pronounce upon these heroes, whether they\nbelong to history or mythology, their nation's poetry or its prose. In\narriving at a conclusion we must remember that a fiction built on an\nidea is infinitely more tenacious of life than a story founded on fact.\nFurther, that if a striking similarity in the legends of two such heroes\nbe discovered under circumstances which forbid the thought that one was\nderived from the other, then both are probably mythical. If this is the\ncase in not two but in half a dozen instances, then the probability\namounts to a certainty, and the only task remaining is to explain such\nnarratives on consistent mythological principles. If after sifting out\nall foreign and later traits, it appears that when first known to\nEuropeans, these heroes were assigned all the attributes of highest\ndivinity, were the imagined creators and rulers of the world, and\nmightiest of spiritual powers, then their position must be set far\nhigher than that of deified men. They must be accepted as the supreme\ngods of the red race, the analogues in the western continent of Jupiter,\nOsiris, and Odin in the eastern, and whatever opinions contrary to this\nmay have been advanced by writers and travellers must be set down to the\naccount of that prevailing ignorance of American mythology which has\nfathered so many other blunders. To solve these knotty points I shall\nchoose for analysis the culture myths of the Algonkins, the Iroquois,\nthe Toltecs of Mexico, and the Aymaras or Peruvians, guided in my choice\nby the fact that these four families are the best known, and, in many\npoints of view, the most important on the continent.\n\nFrom the remotest wilds of the northwest to the coast of the Atlantic,\nfrom the southern boundaries of Carolina to the cheerless swamps of\nHudson's Bay, the Algonkins were never tired of gathering around the\nwinter fire and repeating the story of Manibozho or Michabo, the Great\nHare. With entire unanimity their various branches, the Powhatans of\nVirginia, the Lenni Lenape of the Delaware, the warlike hordes of New\nEngland, the Ottawas of the far north, and the western tribes perhaps\nwithout exception, spoke of \"this chimerical beast,\" as one of the old\nmissionaries calls it, as their common ancestor. The totem or clan\nwhich bore his name was looked up to with peculiar respect. In many of\nthe tales which the whites have preserved of Michabo he seems half a\nwizzard[TN-8], half a simpleton. He is full of pranks and wiles, but\noften at a loss for a meal of victuals; ever itching to try his arts\nmagic on great beasts and often meeting ludicrous failures therein;\nenvious of the powers of others, and constantly striving to outdo them\nin what they do best; in short, little more than a malicious buffoon\ndelighting in practical jokes, and abusing his superhuman powers for\nselfish and ignoble ends. But this is a low, modern, and corrupt version\nof the character of Michabo, bearing no more resemblance to his real and\nancient one than the language and acts of our Saviour and the apostles\nin the coarse Mystery Plays of the Middle Ages do to those recorded by\nthe Evangelists.\n\nWhat he really was we must seek in the accounts of older travellers, in\nthe invocations of the jossakeeds or prophets, and in the part assigned\nto him in the solemn mysteries of religion. In these we find him\nportrayed as the patron and founder of the meda worship,[162-1] the\ninventor of picture writing, the father and guardian of their nation,\nthe ruler of the winds, even the maker and preserver of the world and\ncreator of the sun and moon. From a grain of sand brought from the\nbottom of the primeval ocean, he fashioned the habitable land and set\nit floating on the waters, till it grew to such a size that a strong\nyoung wolf, running constantly, died of old age ere he reached its\nlimits. Under the name Michabo Ovisaketchak, the Great Hare who created\nthe Earth, he was originally the highest divinity recognized by them,\n\"powerful and beneficent beyond all others, maker of the heavens and the\nworld.\" He was founder of the medicine hunt in which after appropriate\nceremonies and incantations the Indian sleeps, and Michabo appears to\nhim in a dream, and tells him where he may readily kill game. He himself\nwas a mighty hunter of old; one of his footsteps measured eight leagues,\nthe Great Lakes were the beaver dams he built, and when the cataracts\nimpeded his progress he tore them away with his hands. Attentively\nwatching the spider spread its web to trap unwary flies, he devised the\nart of knitting nets to catch fish, and the signs and charms he tested\nand handed down to his descendants are of marvellous efficacy in the\nchase. In the autumn, in \"the moon of the falling leaf,\" ere he composes\nhimself to his winter's sleep, he fills his great pipe and takes a\ngod-like smoke. The balmy clouds float over the hills and woodlands,\nfilling the air with the haze of the \"Indian summer.\"\n\nSometimes he was said to dwell in the skies with his brother the snow,\nor, like many great spirits, to have built his wigwam in the far north\non some floe of ice in the Arctic Ocean, while the Chipeways localized\nhis birthplace and former home to the Island Michilimakinac at the\noutlet of Lake Superior. But in the oldest accounts of the missionaries\nhe was alleged to reside toward the east, and in the holy formul\u00e6 of\nthe meda craft, when the winds are invoked to the medicine lodge, the\neast is summoned in his name, the door opens in that direction, and\nthere, at the edge of the earth, where the sun rises, on the shore of\nthe infinite ocean that surrounds the land, he has his house and sends\nthe luminaries forth on their daily journies.[164-1]\n\nIt is passing strange that such an insignificant creature as the rabbit\nshould have received this apotheosis. No explanation of it in the least\nsatisfactory has ever been offered. Some have pointed it out as a\nsenseless, meaningless brute worship. It leads to the suspicion that\nthere may lurk here one of those confusions of words which have so often\nled to confusion of ideas in mythology. Manibozho, Nanibojou, Missibizi,\nMichabo, Messou, all variations of the same name in different dialects\nrendered according to different orthographies, scrutinize them closely\nas we may, they all seem compounded according to well ascertained laws\nof Algonkin euphony from the words corresponding to _great_ and _hare_\nor _rabbit_, or the first two perhaps from _spirit_ and _hare_ (_michi_,\ngreat, _wabos_, hare, _manito wabos_, spirit hare, Chipeway dialect),\nand so they have invariably been translated even by the Indians\nthemselves. But looking more narrowly at the second member of the word,\nit is clearly capable of another and very different interpretation, of\nan interpretation which discloses at once the origin and the secret\nmeaning of the whole story of Michabo, in the light of which it appears\nno longer the incoherent fable of savages, but a true myth, instinct\nwith nature, pregnant with matter, nowise inferior to those which\nfascinate in the chants of the Rig Veda, or the weird pages of the Edda.\n\nOn a previous page I have emphasized with what might have seemed\nsuperfluous force, how prominent in primitive mythology is the east, the\nsource of the morning, the day-spring on high, the cardinal point which\ndetermines and controls all others. But I did not lay as much stress on\nit as others have. \"The whole theogony and philosophy of the ancient\nworld,\" says Max M\u00fcller, \"centred in the Dawn, the mother of the bright\ngods, of the Sun in his various aspects, of the morn, the day, the\nspring; herself the brilliant image and visage of immortality.\"[165-1]\nNow it appears on attentively examining the Algonkin root _wab_, that it\ngives rise to words of very diverse meaning, that like many others in\nall languages while presenting but one form it represents ideas of\nwholly unlike origin and application, that in fact there are two\ndistinct roots having this sound. One is the initial syllable of the\nword translated hare or rabbit, but the other means _white_, and from it\nis derived the words for the east, the dawn, the light, the day and the\nmorning.[165-2] Beyond a doubt this is the compound in the names\nMichabo and Manibozho which therefore mean the Great Light, the Spirit\nof Light, of the Dawn, or the East, and in the literal sense of the word\nthe Great White One, as indeed he has sometimes been called.\n\nIn this sense all the ancient and authentic myths concerning him are\nplain and full of meaning. They divide themselves into two distinct\ncycles. In the one Michabo is the spirit of light who dispels the\ndarkness; in the other as chief of the cardinal points he is lord of the\nwinds, prince of the powers of the air, whose voice is the thunder,\nwhose weapon the lightning, the supreme figure in the encounter of the\nair currents, in the unending conflict which the Dakotas described as\nwaged by the waters and the winds.\n\nIn the first he is grandson of the moon, his father is the West Wind,\nand his mother, a maiden, dies in giving him birth at the moment of\nconception. For the moon is the goddess of night, the Dawn is her\ndaughter, who brings forth the morning and perishes herself in the act,\nand the West, the spirit of darkness as the East is of light, precedes\nand as it were begets the latter as the evening does the morning.\nStraightway, however, continues the legend, the son sought the unnatural\nfather to revenge the death of his mother, and then commenced a long and\ndesperate struggle. \"It began on the mountains. The West was forced to\ngive ground. Manabozho drove him across rivers and over mountains and\nlakes, and at last he came to the brink of this world. 'Hold,' cried he,\n'my son, you know my power and that it is impossible to kill\nme.'\"[167-1] What is this but the diurnal combat of light and darkness,\ncarried on from what time \"the jocund morn stands tiptoe on the misty\nmountain tops,\" across the wide world to the sunset, the struggle that\nknows no end, for both the opponents are immortal?\n\nIn the second, and evidently to the native mind more important cycle of\nlegends, he was represented as one of four brothers, the North, the\nSouth, the East, and the West, all born at a birth, whose mother died in\nushering them into the world;[167-2] for hardly has the kindling orient\nserved to fix the cardinal points than it is lost and dies in the\nadvancing day. Yet it is clear that he was something more than a\npersonification of the east or the east wind, for it is repeatedly said\nthat it was he who assigned their duties to all the winds, to that of\nthe east as well as the others. This is a blending of his two\ncharacters. Here too his life is a battle. No longer with his father,\nindeed, but with his brother Chakekenapok, the flint-stone, whom he\nbroke in pieces and scattered over the land, and changed his entrails\ninto fruitful vines. The conflict was long and terrible. The face of\nnature was desolated as by a tornado, and the gigantic boulders and\nloose rocks found on the prairies are the missiles hurled by the mighty\ncombatants. Or else his foe was the glittering prince of serpents whose\nabode was the lake; or was the shining Manito whose home was guarded by\nfiery serpents and a deep sea; or was the great king of fishes; all\nsymbols of the atmospheric waters, all figurative descriptions of the\nwars of the elements. In these affrays the thunder and lightning are at\nhis command, and with them he destroys his enemies. For this reason the\nChipeway pictography represents him brandishing a rattlesnake, the\nsymbol of the electric flash,[168-1] and sometimes they called him the\nNorthwest Wind, which in the region they inhabit usually brings the\nthunder-storms.\n\nAs ruler of the winds he was, like Quetzalcoatl, father and protector of\nall species of birds, their symbols.[168-2] He was patron of hunters,\nfor their course is guided by the cardinal points. Therefore, when the\nmedicine hunt had been successful, the prescribed sign of gratitude to\nhim was to scatter a handful of the animal's blood toward each of\nthese.[168-3] As daylight brings vision, and to see is to know, it was\nno fable that gave him as the author of their arts, their wisdom, and\ntheir institutions.\n\nIn effect, his story is a world-wide truth, veiled under a thin garb of\nfancy. It is but a variation of that narrative which every race has to\ntell, out of gratitude to that beneficent Father who everywhere has\ncared for His children. Michabo, giver of life and light, creator and\npreserver, is no apotheosis of a prudent chieftain, still less the\nfabrication of an idle fancy or a designing priestcraft, but in origin,\ndeeds, and name the not unworthy personification of the purest\nconceptions they possessed concerning the Father of All. To Him at early\ndawn the Indian stretched forth his hands in prayer; and to the sky or\nthe sun as his homes, he first pointed the pipe in his ceremonies, rites\noften misinterpreted by travellers as indicative of sun worship. As\nlater observers tell us to this day the Algonkin prophet builds the\nmedicine lodge to face the sunrise, and in the name of Michabo, who\nthere has his home, summons the spirits of the four quarters of the\nworld and Gizhigooke, the day maker, to come to his fire and disclose\nthe hidden things of the distant and the future: so the earliest\nexplorers relate that when they asked the native priests who it was they\ninvoked, what demons or familiars, the invariable reply was, \"the\nKichigouai, the genii of light, those who make the day.\"[169-1]\n\nOur authorities on Iroquois traditions, though numerous enough, are not\nso satisfactory. The best, perhaps, is Father Brebeuf, a Jesuit\nmissionary, who resided among the Hurons in 1626. Their culture myth,\nwhich he has recorded, is strikingly similar to that of the Algonkins.\nTwo brothers appear in it, Ioskeha and Tawiscara, names which find their\nmeaning in the Oneida dialect as the White one and the Dark one.[170-1]\nThey are twins, born of a virgin mother, who died in giving them life.\nTheir grandmother was the moon, called by the Hurons Ataensic, a word\nwhich signifies literally _she bathes herself_, and which, in the\nopinion of Father Bruyas, a most competent authority, is derived from\nthe word for water.[170-2]\n\nThe brothers quarrelled, and finally came to blows; the former using the\nhorns of a stag, the latter the wild rose. He of the weaker weapon was\nvery naturally discomfited and sorely wounded. Fleeing for life, the\nblood gushed from him at every step, and as it fell turned into\nflint-stones. The victor returned to his grandmother, and established\nhis lodge in the far east, on the borders of the great ocean, whence\nthe sun comes. In time he became the father of mankind, and special\nguardian of the Iroquois. The earth was at first arid and sterile, but\nhe destroyed the gigantic frog which had swallowed all the waters, and\nguided the torrents into smooth streams and lakes.[171-1] The woods he\nstocked with game; and having learned from the great tortoise, who\nsupports the world, how to make fire, taught his children, the Indians,\nthis indispensable art. He it was who watched and watered their crops;\nand, indeed, without his aid, says the old missionary, quite out of\npatience with such puerilities, \"they think they could not boil a pot.\"\nSometimes they spoke of him as the sun, but this only figuratively.[171-2]\n\nFrom other writers of early date we learn that the essential outlines of\nthis myth were received by the Tuscaroras and the Mohawks, and as the\nproper names of the two brothers are in the Oneida dialect, we cannot\nerr in considering this the national legend of the Iroquois stock. There\nis strong likelihood that the Taronhiawagon, he who comes from the Sky,\nof the Onondagas, who was their supreme God, who spoke to them in\ndreams, and in whose honor the chief festival of their calendar was\ncelebrated about the winter solstice, was, in fact, Ioskeha under\nanother name.[172-1] As to the legend of the Good and Bad Minds given\nby Cusic, to which I have referred in a previous chapter, and the later\nand wholly spurious myth of Hiawatha, first made public by Mr. Clark in\nhis History of Onondaga (1849), and which, in the graceful poem of\nLongfellow, is now familiar to the world, they are but pale and\nincorrect reflections of the early native traditions.\n\nSo strong is the resemblance Ioskeha bears to Michabo, that what has\nbeen said in explanation of the latter will be sufficient for both. Yet\nI do not imagine that the one was copied or borrowed from the other. We\ncannot be too cautious in adopting such a conclusion. The two nations\nwere remote in everything but geographical position. I call to mind\nanother similar myth. In it a mother is also said to have brought forth\ntwins, or a pair of twins, and to have paid for them with her life.\nAgain the one is described as the bright, the other as the dark twin;\nagain it is said that they struggled one with the other for the mastery.\nScholars, likewise, have interpreted the mother to mean the Dawn, the\ntwins either Light and Darkness, or the Four Winds. Yet this is not\nAlgonkin theology; nor is it at all related to that of the Iroquois. It\nis the story of Sarama in the Rig Veda, and was written in Sanscrit,\nunder the shadow of the Himalayas, centuries before Homer.\n\nSuch uniformity points not to a common source in history, but in\npsychology. Man, chiefly cognizant of his soul through his senses,\nthought with an awful horror of the night which deprived him of the use\nof one and foreshadowed the loss of all. Therefore _light_ and _life_\nwere to him synonymous; therefore all religions promise to lead\n\n   \"From night to light,\n    From night to heavenly light;\"\n\ntherefore He who rescues is ever the Light of the World; therefore it is\nsaid \"to the upright ariseth light in darkness;\" therefore everywhere\nthe kindling East, the pale Dawn, is the embodiment of his hopes and the\ncentre of his reminiscences. Who shall say that his instinct led him\nhere astray? For is not, in fact, all life dependent on light? Do not\nall those marvellous and subtle forces known to the older chemists as\nthe imponderable elements, without which not even the inorganic crystal\nis possible, proceed from the rays of light? Let us beware of that\nshallow science so ready to shout Eureka, and reverently acknowledge a\nmysterious intuition here displayed which joins with the latest\nconquests of the human mind to repeat and emphasize that message which\nthe Evangelist heard of the Spirit and declared unto men, that \"God is\nLight.\"[173-1]\n\nBoth these heroes, let it be observed, live in the uttermost east; both\nare the mythical fathers of the race. To the east, therefore, should\nthese nations have pointed as their original dwelling place. This they\ndid in spite of history. Cusic, who takes up the story of the Iroquois a\nthousand years before the Christian era, locates them first in the most\neastern region they ever possessed. While the Algonkins with one voice\ncalled those of their tribes living nearest the rising sun _Abnakis_,\nour ancestors at the east, or at the dawn; literally our _white_\nancestors.[174-1] I designedly emphasize this literal rendering. It\nreminds one of the white twin of Iroquois legend, and illustrates how\nthe color white came to be intimately associated with the morning light\nand its beneficent effects. Moreover color has a specific effect on the\nmind; there is a music to the eye as well as to the ear; and white,\nwhich holds all hues in itself, disposes the soul to all pleasant and\nelevating emotions.[174-2] Not fashion alone bids the bride wreathe her\nbrow with orange flowers, nor was it a mere figure of speech that led\nthe inspired poet to call his love \"fairest among women,\" and to\nprophecy a Messiah \"fairer than the children of men,\" fulfilled in that\nday when He appeared \"in garments so white as no fuller on earth could\nwhite them.\" No nation is free from the power of this law. \"White,\"\nobserves Adair of the southern Indians, \"is their fixed emblem of peace,\nfriendship, happiness, prosperity, purity, and holiness.\"[175-1] Their\npriests dressed in white robes, as did those of Peru and Mexico; the\nkings of the various species of animals were all supposed to be\nwhite;[175-2] the cities of refuge established as asylums for alleged\ncriminals by the Cherokees in the manner of the Israelites were called\n\"white towns,\" and for sacrifices animals of this color were ever most\nhighly esteemed. All these sentiments were linked to the dawn. Language\nitself is proof of it. Many Algonkin words for east, morning, dawn, day,\nlight, as we have already seen, are derived from a radical signifying\n_white_. Or we can take a tongue nowise related, the Quich\u00e9, and find\nits words for east, dawn, morning, light, bright, glorious, happy,\nnoble, all derived from _zak_, white. We read in their legends of the\nearliest men that they were \"white children,\" \"white sons,\" leading \"a\nwhite life beyond the dawn,\" and the creation itself is attributed to\nthe Dawn, the White One, the White Sacrificer of Blood.[175-3] But why\ninsist upon the point when in European tongues we find the daybreak\ncalled _l'aube_, _alva_, from _albus_, white? Enough for the purpose if\nthe error of those is manifest, who, in such expressions, would seek\nsupport for any theory of ancient European immigration; enough if it\ndisplays the true meaning of those traditions of the advent of\nbenevolent visitors of fair complexion in ante-Columbian times, which\nboth Algonkins and Iroquois[176-1] had in common with many other tribes\nof the western continent. Their explanation will not be found in the\nannals of Japan, the triads of the Cymric bards, nor the sagas of\nIcelandic skalds, but in the propensity of the human mind to attribute\nits own origin and culture to that white-shining orient where sun, moon,\nand stars, are daily born in renovated glory, to that fair mother, who,\nat the cost of her own life, gives light and joy to the world, to the\nbrilliant womb of Aurora, the glowing bosom of the Dawn.\n\nEven the complicated mythology of Peru yields to the judicious\napplication of these principles of interpretation. Its peculiar\nobscurity arises from the policy of the Incas to blend the religions of\nconquered provinces with their own. Thus about 1350 the Inca Pachacutec\nsubdued the country about Lima where the worship of Con and Pachacam\u00e0\nprevailed.[176-2] The local myth represented these as father and son,\nor brothers, children of the sun. They were without flesh or blood,\nimpalpable, invisible, and incredibly swift of foot. Con first possessed\nthe land, but Pachacam\u00e0 attacked and drove him to the north. Irritated\nat his defeat he took with him the rain, and consequently to this day\nthe sea-coast of Peru is largely an arid desert. Now when we are\ninformed that the south wind, that in other words which blows to the\nnorth, is the actual cause of the aridity of the low-lands,[177-1] and\nconsider the light and airy character of these antagonists, we cannot\nhesitate to accept this as a myth of the winds. The name of _Con tici_,\nthe Thunder Vase, was indeed applied to Viracocha in later times, but\nthey were never identical. Viracocha was the culture hero of the ancient\nAymara-Quichua stock. He was more than that, for in their creed he was\ncreator and possessor of all things. Lands and herds were assigned to\nother gods to support their temples, and offerings were heaped on their\naltars, but to him none. For, asked the Incas: \"Shall the Lord and\nMaster of the whole world need these things from us?\" To him, says\nAcosta, \"they did attribute the chief power and commandement over all\nthings;\" and elsewhere \"in all this realm the chief idoll they did\nworship was Viracocha, and _after him_ the Sunne.\"[178-1]\n\nEre sun or moon was made, he rose from the bosom of Lake Titicaca, and\npresided over the erection of those wondrous cities whose ruins still\ndot its islands and western shores, and whose history is totally lost in\nthe night of time. He himself constructed these luminaries and placed\nthem in the sky, and then peopled the earth with its present\ninhabitants. From the lake he journeyed westward, not without\nadventures, for he was attacked with murderous intent by the beings whom\nhe had created. When, however, scorning such unequal combat, he had\nmanifested his power by hurling the lightning on the hill-sides and\nconsuming the forests, they recognized their maker, and humbled\nthemselves before him. He was reconciled, and taught them arts and\nagriculture, institutions and religion, meriting the title they gave him\nof _Pachayachachic_, teacher of all things. At last he disappeared in\nthe western ocean. Four personages, companions or sons, were closely\nconnected with him. They rose together with him from the lake, or else\nwere his first creations. These are the four mythical civilizers of\nPeru, who another legend asserts emerged from the cave Pacarin tampu the\nLodgings of the Dawn.[179-1] To these Viracocha gave the earth, to one\nthe north, to another the south, to a third the east, to a fourth the\nwest. Their names are very variously given, but as they have already\nbeen identified with the four winds, we can omit their consideration\nhere.[179-2] Tradition, as has rightly been observed by the Inca\nGarcilasso de la Vega,[179-3] transferred a portion of the story of\nViracocha to Manco Capac, first of the historical Incas. King Manco,\nhowever, was a real character, the Rudolph of Hapsburg of their reigning\nfamily, and flourished about the eleventh century.\n\nThere is a general resemblance between this story and that of Michabo.\nBoth precede and create the sun, both journey to the west, overcoming\nopposition with the thunderbolt, both divide the world between the four\nwinds, both were the fathers, gods, and teachers of their nations. Nor\ndoes it cease here. Michabo, I have shown, is the white spirit of the\nDawn. Viracocha, all authorities translate \"the fat or foam of the sea.\"\nThe idea conveyed is of whiteness, foam being called fat from its\ncolor.[180-1] So true is this that to-day in Peru white men are called\n_viracochas_, and the early explorers constantly received the same\nepithet.[180-2] The name is a metaphor. The dawn rises above the horizon\nas the snowy foam on the surface of a lake. As the Algonkins spoke of\nthe Abnakis, their white ancestors, as in Mexican legends the early\nToltecs were of fair complexion, so the Aymaras sometimes called the\nfirst four brothers, _viracochas_, white men.[180-3] It is the ancient\nstory how\n\n                                    \"Light\n    Sprang from the deep, and from her native east\n    To journey through the airy gloom began.\"\n\nThe central figure of Toltec mythology is Quetzalcoatl. Not an author on\nancient Mexico but has something to say about the glorious days when he\nruled over the land. No one denies him to have been a god, the god of\nthe air, highest deity of the Toltecs, in whose honor was erected the\npyramid of Cholula, grandest monument of their race. But many insist\nthat he was at first a man, some deified king. There were in truth many\nQuetzalcoatls, for his high priest always bore his name, but he himself\nis a pure creation of the fancy, and all his alleged history is nothing\nbut a myth.\n\nHis emblematic name, the Bird-Serpent, and his rebus and cross at\nPalenque, I have already explained. Others of his titles were, Ehecatl,\nthe air; Yolcuat, the rattlesnake; Tohil, the rumbler; Huemac, the\nstrong hand; Nani he hecatle, lord of the four winds. The same dualism\nreappears in him that has been noted in his analogues elsewhere; He is\nboth lord of the eastern light and the winds.\n\nAs the former, he was born of a virgin in the land of Tula or Tlapallan,\nin the distant Orient, and was high priest of that happy realm. The\nmorning star was his symbol, and the temple of Cholula was dedicated to\nhim expressly as the author of light.[181-1] As by days we measure time,\nhe was the alleged inventor of the calendar. Like all the dawn heroes,\nhe too was represented as of white complexion, clothed in long white\nrobes, and, as most of the Aztec gods, with a full and flowing\nbeard.[181-2] When his earthly-work was done he too returned to the\neast, assigning as a reason that the sun, the ruler of Tlapallan,\ndemanded his presence. But the real motive was that he had been\novercome by Tezcatlipoca, otherwise called Yoalliehecatl, the wind or\nspirit of night, who had descended from heaven by a spider's web and\npresented his rival with a draught pretended to confer immortality, but,\nin fact, producing uncontrollable longing for home. For the wind and the\nlight both depart when the gloaming draws near, or when the clouds\nspread their dark and shadowy webs along the mountains, and pour the\nvivifying rain upon the fields.\n\nIn his other character, he was begot of the breath of Tonacateotl, god\nof our flesh or subsistence,[182-1] or (according to Gomara) was the son\nof Iztac Mixcoatl, the white cloud serpent, the spirit of the tornado.\nMessenger of Tlaloc, god of rains, he was figuratively said to sweep the\nroad for him, since in that country violent winds are the precursors of\nthe wet seasons. Wherever he went all manner of singing birds bore him\ncompany, emblems of the whistling breezes. When he finally disappeared\nin the far east, he sent back four trusty youths who had ever shared his\nfortunes, \"incomparably swift and light of foot,\" with directions to\ndivide the earth between them and rule it till he should return and\nresume his power. When he would promulgate his decrees, his herald\nproclaimed them from Tzatzitepec, the hill of shouting, with such a\nmighty voice that it could be heard a hundred leagues around. The arrows\nwhich he shot transfixed great trees, the stones he threw levelled\nforests, and when he laid his hands on the rocks the mark was indelible.\nYet as thus emblematic of the thunder-storm, he possessed in full\nmeasure its better attributes. By shaking his sandals he gave fire to\nmen, and peace, plenty, and riches blessed his subjects. Tradition says\nhe built many temples to Mictlanteuctli, the Aztec Pluto, and at the\ncreation of the sun that he slew all the other gods, for the advancing\ndawn disperses the spectral shapes of night, and yet all its vivifying\npower does but result in increasing the number doomed to fell before the\nremorseless stroke of death.[183-1]\n\nHis symbols were the bird, the serpent, the cross, and the flint,\nrepresenting the clouds, the lightning, the four winds, and the\nthunderbolt. Perhaps, as Huemac, the Strong Hand, he was god of the\nearthquakes. The Zapotecs worshipped such a deity under the image of\nthis member carved from a precious stone,[183-2] calling to mind the\n\"Kab ul,\" the Working Hand, adored by the Mayas,[183-3] and said to be\none of the images of Zamna, their hero god. The human hand, \"that divine\ntool,\" as it has been called, might well be regarded by the reflective\nmind as the teacher of the arts and the amulet whose magic power has won\nfor man what vantage he has gained in his long combat with nature and\nhis fellows.\n\nI might next discuss the culture myth of the Muyscas, whose hero Bochica\nor Nemqueteba bore the other name SUA, the White One, the Day, the\nEast, an appellation they likewise gave the Europeans on their arrival.\nHe had taught them in remotest times how to manufacture their clothing,\nbuild their houses, cultivate the soil, and reckon time. When he\ndisappeared, he divided the land between four chiefs, and laid down many\nminute rules of government which ever after were religiously\nobserved.[184-1] Or I might choose that of the Caribs, whose patron Tamu\ncalled Grandfather, and Old Man of the Sky, was a man of light\ncomplexion, who in the old times came from the east, instructed them in\nagriculture and arts, and disappeared in the same direction, promising\nthem assistance in the future, and that at death he would receive their\nsouls on the summit of the sacred tree, and transport them safely to his\nhome in the sky.[184-2] Or from the more fragmentary mythology of ruder\nnations, proof might be brought of the well nigh universal reception of\nthese fundamental views. As, for instance, when the Mandans of the Upper\nMissouri speak of their first ancestor as a son of the West, who\npreserved them at the flood, and whose garb was always of four\nmilk-white wolf skins;[185-1] and when the Pimos, a people of the valley\nof the Rio Gila, relate that their birthplace was where the sun rises,\nthat there for generations they led a joyous life, until their\nbeneficent first parent disappeared in the heavens. From that time, say\nthey, God lost sight of them, and they wandered west, and further west\ntill they reached their present seats.[185-2] Or I might instance the\nTupis of Brazil, who were named after the first of men, Tupa, he who\nalone survived the flood, who was one of four brothers, who is described\nas an old man of fair complexion, _un vieillard blanc_,[185-3] and who\nis now their highest divinity, ruler of the lightning and the storm,\nwhose voice is the thunder, and who is the guardian of their nation. But\nis it not evident that these and all such legends are but variations of\nthose already analyzed?\n\nIn thus removing one by one the wrappings of symbolism, and displaying\nat the centre and summit of these various creeds, He who is throned in\nthe sky, who comes with the dawn, who manifests himself in the light and\nthe storm, and whose ministers are the four winds, I set up no new god.\nThe ancient Israelites prayed to him who was seated above the firmament,\nwho commanded the morning and caused the day-spring to know its place,\nwho answered out of the whirlwind, and whose envoys were the four winds,\nthe four cherubim described with such wealth of imagery in the\nintroduction to the book of Ezekiel. The Mahometan adores \"the clement\nand merciful Lord of the Daybreak,\" whose star is in the east, who rides\non the storm, and whose breath is the wind. The primitive man in the New\nWorld also associated these physical phenomena as products of an\ninvisible power, conceived under human form, called by name, worshipped\nas one, and of whom all related the same myth differing but in\nunimportant passages. This was the primeval religion. It was not\nmonotheism, for there were many other gods; it was not pantheism, for\nthere was no blending of the cause with the effects; still less was it\nfetichism, an adoration of sensuous objects, for these were recognized\nas effects. It teaches us that the idea of God neither arose from the\nphenomenal world nor was sunk in it, as is the shallow theory of the\nday, but is as Kant long ago defined it, a conviction of a highest and\nfirst principle which binds all phenomena into one.\n\nOne point of these legends deserves closer attention for the influence\nit exerted on the historical fortunes of the race. The dawn heroes were\nconceived as of fair complexion, mighty in war, and though absent for a\nseason, destined to return and claim their ancient power. Here was one\nof those unconscious prophecies, pointing to the advent of a white race\nfrom the east, that wrote the doom of the red man in letters of fire.\nHistorians have marvelled at the instantaneous collapse of the empires\nof Mexico, Peru, the Mayas, and the Natchez, before a handful of Spanish\nfilibusters. The fact was, wherever the whites appeared they were\nconnected with these ancient predictions of the spirit of the dawn\nreturning to claim his own. Obscure and ominous prophecies, \"texts of\nbodeful song,\" rose in the memory of the natives, and paralyzed their\narms.\n\n\"For a very long time,\" said Montezuma, at his first interview with\nCortes, \"has it been handed down that we are not the original possessors\nof this land, but came hither from a distant region under the guidance\nof a ruler who afterwards left us and returned. We have ever believed\nthat some day his descendants would come and resume dominion over us.\nInasmuch as you are from that direction, which is toward the rising of\nthe sun, and serve so great a king as you describe, we believe that he\nis also our natural lord, and are ready to submit ourselves to\nhim.\"[187-1]\n\nThe gloomy words of Nezahualcoyotl, a former prince of Tezcuco,\nforetelling the arrival of white and bearded men from the east, who\nwould wrest the power from the hands of the rightful rulers and destroy\nin a day the edifice of centuries, were ringing in his ears. But they\nwere not so gloomy to the minds of his down-trodden subjects, for that\nday was to liberate them from the thralls of servitude. Therefore when\nthey first beheld the fair complexioned Spaniards, they rushed into the\nwater to embrace the prows of their vessels, and despatched messengers\nthroughout the land to proclaim the return of Quetzalcoatl.[188-1]\n\nThe noble Mexican was not alone in his presentiments. When Hernando de\nSoto on landing in Peru first met the Inca Huascar, the latter related\nan ancient prophecy which his father Huayna Capac had repeated on his\ndying bed, to the effect that in the reign of the thirteenth Inca, white\nmen (_viracochas_) of surpassing strength and valor would come from\ntheir father the Sun and subject to their rule the nations of the world.\n\"I command you,\" said the dying monarch, \"to yield them homage and\nobedience, for they will be of a nature superior to ours.\"[188-2]\n\nThe natives of Haiti told Columbus of similar predictions long anterior\nto his arrival.[188-3] And Father Lizana has preserved in the original\nMaya tongue several such foreboding chants. Doubtless he has adapted\nthem somewhat to proselytizing purposes, but they seem very likely to be\nclose copies of authentic aboriginal songs, referring to the return of\nZamna or Kukulcan, lord of the dawn and the four winds, worshipped at\nCozumel and Palenque under the sign of the cross. An extract will show\ntheir character:--\n\n   \"At the close of the thirteenth Age of the world,\n    While the cities of Itza and Tancah still flourish,\n    The sign of the Lord of the Sky will appear,\n    The light of the dawn will illumine the land,\n    And the cross will be seen by the nations of men.\n    A father to you, will He be, Itzalanos,\n    A brother to you, ye natives of Tancah;\n    Receive well the bearded guests who are coming,\n    Bringing the sign of the Lord from the daybreak,\n    Of the Lord of the Sky, so clement yet powerful.\"[189-1]\n\nThe older writers, Gomara, Cogolludo, Villagutierre, have taken pains to\ncollect other instances of this presentiment of the arrival and\ndomination of a white race. Later historians, fashionably incredulous of\nwhat they cannot explain, have passed them over in silence. That they\nexisted there can be no doubt, and that they arose in the way I have\nstated, is almost proven by the fact that in Mexico, Bogota, and Peru,\nthe whites were at once called from the proper names of the heroes of\nthe Dawn, _Suas_, _Viracochas_, and _Quetzalcoatls_.\n\nWhen the church of Rome had crushed remorselessly the religions of\nMexico and Peru, all hope of the return of Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha\nperished with the institutions of which they were the mythical founders.\nBut it was only to arise under new incarnations and later names. As well\nforbid the heart of youth to bud forth in tender love, as that of\noppressed nationalities to cherish the faith that some ideal hero, some\nroyal man, will yet arise, and break in fragments their fetters, and\nlead them to glory and honor.\n\nWhen the name of Quetzalcoatl was no longer heard from the teocalli of\nCholula, that of Montezuma took its place. From ocean to ocean, and from\nthe river Gila to the Nicaraguan lake, nearly every aboriginal nation\nstill cherishes the memory of Montezuma, not as the last unfortunate\nruler of a vanished state, but as the prince of their golden era, their\nSaturnian age, lord of the winds and waters, and founder of their\ninstitutions. When, in the depth of the tropical forests, the antiquary\ndisinters some statue of earnest mien, the natives whisper one to the\nother, \"Montezuma! Montezuma!\"[190-1] In the legends of New Mexico he is\nthe founder of the pueblos, and intrusted to their guardianship the\nsacred fire. Departing, he planted a tree, and bade them watch it well,\nfor when that tree should fall and the fire die out, then he would\nreturn from the far East, and lead his loyal people to victory and\npower. When the present generation saw their land glide, mile by mile,\ninto the rapacious hands of the Yankees--when new and strange diseases\ndesolated their homes--finally, when in 1846 the sacred tree was\nprostrated, and the guardian of the holy fire was found dead on its cold\nashes, then they thought the hour of deliverance had come, and every\nmorning at earliest dawn a watcher mounted to the house-tops, and gazed\nlong and anxiously in the lightening east, hoping to descry the noble\nform of Montezuma advancing through the morning beams at the head of a\nconquering army.[191-1]\n\nGroaning under the iron rule of the Spaniards, the Peruvians would not\nbelieve that the last of the Incas had perished an outcast and a\nwanderer in the forests of the Cordilleras. For centuries they clung to\nthe persuasion that he had but retired to another mighty kingdom beyond\nthe mountains, and in due time would return and sweep the haughty\nCastilian back into the ocean. In 1781, a mestizo, Jose Gabriel\nCondorcanqui, of the province of Tinta, took advantage of this strong\ndelusion, and binding around his forehead the scarlet fillet of the\nIncas, proclaimed himself the long lost Inca Tupac Amaru, and a true\nchild of the sun. Thousands of Indians flocked to his standard, and at\ntheir head he took the field, vowing the extermination of every soul of\nthe hated race. Seized at last by the Spaniards, and condemned to a\npublic execution, so profound was the reverence with which he had\ninspired his followers, so full their faith in his claims, that,\nundeterred by the threats of the soldiery, they prostrated themselves on\ntheir faces before this last of the children of the sun, as he passed on\nto a felon's death.[191-2]\n\nThese fancied reminiscences, these unfounded hopes, so vague, so\nchild-like, let no one dismiss them as the babblings of ignorance.\nContemplated in their broadest meaning as characteristics of the race of\nman, they have an interest higher than any history, beyond that of any\npoetry. They point to the recognized discrepancy between what man is,\nand what he feels he should be, must be; they are the indignant protests\nof the race against acquiescence in the world's evil as the world's law;\nthey are the incoherent utterances of those yearnings for nobler\nconditions of existence, which no savagery, no ignorance, nothing but a\nfalse and lying enlightenment can wholly extinguish.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[162-1] The _meda_ worship is the ordinary religious ritual of the\nAlgonkins. It consists chiefly in exhibitions of legerdemain, and in\nconjuring and exorcising demons. A _jossakeed_ is an inspired prophet who\nderives his power directly from the higher spirits, and not as the\n_medawin_, by instruction and practice.\n\n[164-1] For these particulars see the _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1667, p.\n12, 1670, p. 93; Charlevoix, _Journal Historique_, p. 344; Schoolcraft,\n_Indian Tribes_, v. pp. 420 sqq., and Alex. Henry, _Travs. in Canada and\nthe Ind. Territories_, pp. 212 sqq. These are decidedly the best\nreferences of the many that could be furnished. Peter Jones' _History of\nthe Ojibway Indians_, p. 35, may also be consulted.\n\n[165-1] _Science of Language_, Second Series, p. 518.\n\n[165-2] Dialectic forms in Algonkin for white, are _wabi_, _wape_,\n_wompi_, _waubish_, _oppai_; for morning, _wapan_, _wapaneh_, _opah_; for\neast, _wapa_, _waubun_, _waubamo_; for dawn, _wapa_, _waubun_; for day,\n_wompan_, _oppan_; for light, _oppung_; and many others similar. In the\nAbnaki dialect, _wanbighen_, it is white, is the customary idiom to\nexpress the breaking of the day (Vetromile, _The Abnakis and their\nHistory_, p. 27: New York, 1866). The loss in composition of the vowel\nsound represented by the English w, and in the French writers by the\nfigure 8, is supported by frequent analogy.\n\n[167-1] Schoolcraft, _Algic Researches_, i. pp. 135-142.\n\n[167-2] The names of the four brothers, Wabun, Kabun, Kabibonokka, and\nShawano, express in Algonkin both the cardinal points and the winds which\nblow from them. In another version of the legend, first reported by\nFather De Smet and quoted by Schoolcraft without acknowledgment, they are\nNanaboojoo, Chipiapoos, Wabosso, and Chakekenapok. See for the support of\nthe text, Schoolcraft, _Algic Res._, ii. p. 214; De Smet, _Oregon\nMissions_, p. 347.\n\n[168-1] _Narrative of John Tanner_, p. 351.\n\n[168-2] Schoolcraft, _Algic Res._, i. p. 216.\n\n[168-3] _Narrative of John Tanner_, p. 354.\n\n[169-1] Compare the _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1634 p. 14, 1637, p. 46,\nwith Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 419. _Kichigouai_ is the same word\nas _Gizhigooke_, according to a different orthography.\n\n[170-1] The names _I8skeha_ and _Ta8iscara_ I venture to identify with\nthe Oneida _owisske_ or _owiska_, white, and _tetiucalas_ (_tyokaras_,\n_tewhgarlars_, Mohawk), dark or darkness. The prefix i to _owisske_ is\nthe impersonal third person singular; the suffix _ha_ gives a future\nsense, so that _i-owisske-ha_ or _iouskeha_ means \"it is going to become\nwhite.\" Brebeuf gives a similar example of _gaon_, old; _a-gaon-ha_, _il\nva devenir vieux_ (_Rel. Nouv. France_, 1636, p. 99). But \"it is going to\nbecome white,\" meant to the Iroquois that the dawn was about to appear,\njust as _wanbighen_, it is white, did to the Abnakis (see note on page\n166), and as the Eskimos say, _kau ma wok_, it is white, to express that\nit is daylight (Richardson's Vocab. of Labrador Eskimo in his _Arctic\nExpedition_). Therefore, that Ioskeha is an impersonation of the light of\nthe dawn admits of no dispute.\n\n[170-2] The orthography of Brebeuf is _aataentsic_. This may be analyzed\nas follows: root _aouen_, water; prefix _at_, _il y a quelque chose l\u00e0\ndedans_; _ataouen_, _se baigner_; from which comes the form\n_ataouensere_. (See Bruyas, _Rad. Verb. Iroqu\u00e6or._, pp. 30, 31.) Here\nagain the mythological role of the moon as the goddess of water comes\ndistinctly to light.\n\n[171-1] This offers an instance of the uniformity which prevailed in\nsymbolism in the New World. The Aztecs adored the goddess of water under\nthe figure of a frog carved from a single emerald; or of human form, but\nholding in her hand the leaf of a water lily ornamented with frogs.\n(Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, i. p. 324.)\n\n[171-2] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1636, p. 101.\n\n[172-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1671, p. 17. Cusic spells it\n_Tarenyawagon_, and translates it Holder of the Heavens. But the name is\nevidently a compound of _garonhia_, sky, softened in the Onondaga dialect\nto _taronhia_ (see Gallatin's Vocabs. under the word sky), and _wagin_, I\ncome.\n\n[173-1] ~Ho Theos ph\u00f4s esti~, The First Epistle General of John, i. 5.\nIn curious analogy to these myths is that of the Eskimos of Greenland.\nIn the beginning, they relate, were two brothers, one of whom said:\n\"There shall be night and there shall be day, and men shall die, one\nafter another.\" But the second said, \"There shall be no day, but only\nnight all the time, and men shall live forever.\" They had a long\nstruggle, but here once more he who loved darkness rather than light was\nworsted, and the day triumphed. (_Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland aus einem\nTagebuche vom Bischof Paul Egede_, p. 157: Kopenhagen, 1790. The date of\nthe entry is 1738.)\n\n[174-1] I accept without hesitation the derivation of this word, proposed\nand defended by that accomplished Algonkin scholar, the Rev. Eugene\nVetromile, from _wanb_, white or east, and _naghi_ ancestors (_The\nAbnakis and their History_, p. 29: New York, 1866).\n\n[174-2] White light, remarks Goethe, has in it something cheerful and\nennobling; it possesses \"eine heitere, muntere, sanft reizende\nEigenschaft.\" _Farbenlehre_, sec's 766, 770.\n\n[175-1] _Hist. of the N. Am. Indians_, p. 159.\n\n[175-2] La Hontan, _Voy. dans l'Am\u00e9r. Sept._, ii. p. 42.\n\n[175-3] \"Blanco pizote,\" Ximenes, p. 4, _Vocabulario Quich\u00e9_, s. v.\n_zak_. In the far north the Eskimo tongue presents the same analogy. Day,\nmorning, bright, light, lightning, all are from the same root (_kau_),\nsignifying white (Richardson, Vocab. of Labrador Eskimo).\n\n[176-1] Some fragments of them may be found in Campanius, _Acc. of New\nSweden_, 1650, book iii. chap. 11, and in Byrd, _The Westover\nManuscripts_, 1733, p. 82. They were in both instances alleged to have\nbeen white and bearded men, the latter probably a later trait in the\nlegend.\n\n[176-2] _Con_ or _Cun_ I have already explained to mean thunder, _Con\ntici_, the mythical thunder vase. Pachacam\u00e0 is doubtless, as M. Leonce\nAngrand has suggested, from _ppacha_, source, and _cam\u00e0_, all, the Source\nof All things (Desjardins, _Le P\u00e9rou avant la Conq. Espagnole_, p. 23,\nnote). But he and all other writers have been in error in considering\nthis identical with _Pachac\u00e1mac_, nor can the latter mean _creator of the\nworld_, as it has constantly been translated. It is a participial\nadjective from _pacha_, place, especially the world, and _camac_, present\nparticiple of _camani_, I animate, from which also comes _camakenc_, the\nsoul, and means _animating the world_. It was never used as a proper\nname. The following trochaic lines from the Quichua poem translated in\nthe previous chapter, show its true meaning and correct accent:--\n\n  P[=a]ch[)a] r[=u]r[)a]c,    World creating,\n  P[=a]ch[)a] c[=a]m[)a]c,    World animating,\n  Viracocha,                  Viracocha,\n  Camasunqui,                 He animates thee.\n\nThe last word is the second transition, present tense, of _camani_, while\n_camac_ is its present participle.\n\n[177-1] Ulloa, _M\u00e9moires Philosophiques sur l'Am\u00e9rique_, i. p. 105.\n\n[178-1] Acosta, _Hist. of the New World_, bk. v. chap. 4, bk. vi. chap.\n19, Eng. trans., 1704.\n\n[179-1] The name is derived from _tampu_, corrupted by the Spaniards to\n_tambo_, an inn, and _paccari_ morning, or _paccarin_, it dawns, which\nalso has the figurative signification, it is born. It may therefore mean\neither Lodgings of the Dawn, or as the Spaniards usually translated it,\nHouse of Birth, or Production, _Casa de Producimiento_.\n\n[179-2] The names given by Balboa (_Hist. du P\u00e9rou_, p. 4) and Montesinos\n(_Ancien P\u00e9rou_, p. 5) are Manco, Cacha, Auca, Uchu. The meaning of Manco\nis unknown. The others signify, in their order, messenger, enemy or\ntraitor, and the little one. The myth of Viracocha is given in its most\nantique form by Juan de Betanzos, in the _Historia de los Ingas_,\ncompiled in the first years of the conquest from the original songs and\nlegends. It is quoted in Garcia, _Origen de los Indios_, lib. v. cap. 7.\nBalboa, Montesinos, Acosta, and others have also furnished me some\nincidents. Whether Atachuchu mentioned in the last chapter was not\nanother name of Viracocha may well be questioned. It is every way\nprobable.\n\n[179-3] _Hist. des Incas_, liv. iii. chap. 25.\n\n[180-1] It is compounded of _vira_, fat, foam (which perhaps is akin to\n_yurac_, _white_), and _cocha_, a pond or lake.\n\n[180-2] See Desjardins, _Le P\u00e9rou avant la Conq. Espagnole_, p. 67.\n\n[180-3] Gomara, _Hist. de las Indias_, cap. 119, in M\u00fcller.\n\n[181-1] Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, i. p. 302.\n\n[181-2] There is no reason to lay any stress upon this feature. Beard was\nnothing uncommon among the Aztecs and many other nations of the New\nWorld. It was held to add dignity to the appearance, and therefore\nSahagun, in his description of the Mexican idols, repeatedly alludes to\ntheir beards, and M\u00fcller quotes various authorities to show that the\npriests wore them long and full (_Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 429). Not only\nwas Quetzalcoatl himself reported to have been of fair complexion--white\nindeed--but the Creole historian Ixtlilxochitl says the old legends\nasserted that all the Toltecs, natives of Tollan, or Tula, as their name\nsignifies, were so likewise. Still more, Aztlan, the traditional home of\nthe Nahuas, or Aztecs proper, means literally the white land, according\nto one of our best authorities (Buschmann, _Ueber die Aztekischen\nOrtsnamen_, 612: Berlin, 1852).\n\n[182-1] Kingsborough, _Antiquities of Mexico_, v. p. 109.\n\n[183-1] The myth of Quetzalcoatl I have taken chiefly from Sahagun,\n_Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. i. cap. 5; lib. iii. caps. 3, 13, 14;\nlib. x. cap. 29; and Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. vi. cap. 24.\nIt must be remembered that the Quich\u00e9 legends identify him positively\nwith the Tohil of Central America (_Le Livre Sacr\u00e9_, p. 247).\n\n[183-2] Padilla Davila, _Hist. de la Prov. de Santiago de Mexico_, lib.\nii. cap. 89.\n\n[183-3] Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 8.\n\n[184-1] He is also called Idacanzas and Nemterequetaba. Some have\nmaintained a distinction between Bochica and Sua, which, however, has not\nbeen shown. The best authorities on the mythology of the Muyscas are\nPiedrahita, _Hist. de las Conq. del Nuevo Reyno de Granada_, 1668 (who is\ncopied by Humboldt, _Vues des Cordill\u00e8res_, pp. 246 sqq.), and Simon,\n_Noticias de Tierra Firme_, Parte ii., in Kingsborough's _Mexico_.\n\n[184-2] D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Am\u00e9ricain_, ii. p. 319, and Rochefort,\n_Hist. des Isles Antilles_, p. 482 (Waitz). The name has various\northographies, Tamu, Tam\u00f6i, Tamou, Itamoulou, etc. Perhaps the Ama-livaca\nof the Orinoko Indians is another form. This personage corresponds even\nminutely in many points with the Tamu of the island Caribs.\n\n[185-1] Catlin, _Letters and Notes_, Letter 22.\n\n[185-2] Journal of Capt. Johnson, in Emory, _Reconnoissance of New\nMexico_, p. 601.\n\n[185-3] M. De Charency, in the _Revue Am\u00e9ricaine_, ii. p. 317. _Tupa_ it\nmay be observed means in Quichua, lord, or royal. Father Holguin gives as\nan example _\u00e2 tupa Dios_, O Lord God (_Vocabulario Quichua_, p. 348:\nCiudad de los Reyes, 1608). In the Quich\u00e9 dialects _tepeu_ is one of the\ncommon appellations of divinity and is also translated lord or ruler. We\nare not yet sufficiently advanced in the study of American philology to\ndraw any inference from these resemblances, but they should not be\noverlooked.\n\n[187-1] Cortes, _Carta Primera_, pp. 113, 114.\n\n[188-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. xii. caps. 2, 3.\n\n[188-2] La Vega, _Hist. des Incas_, lib. ix. cap. 15.\n\n[188-3] Peter Martyr, _De Reb. Oceanicis_, Dec. iii. lib. vii.\n\n[189-1] Lizana, _Hist. de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de Itzamal_, lib. ii. cap. i. in\nBrasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, ii. p. 605. The prophecies are of the\npriest who bore the title--not name--_chilan balam_, and whose offices\nwere those of divination and astrology. The verse claims to date from\nabout 1450, and was very well known throughout Yucatan, so it is said.\nThe number thirteen which in many of these prophecies is the supposed\nlimit of the present order of things, is doubtless derived from the\nobservation that thirteen moons complete one solar year.\n\n[190-1] Squier, _Travels in Nicaragua_, ii. p. 35.\n\n[191-1] Whipple, _Report on the Ind. Tribes_, p. 36. Emory, _Recon. of\nNew Mexico_, p. 64. The latter adds that among the Pueblo Indians, the\nApaches, and Navajos, the name of Montezuma is \"as familiar as Washington\nto us.\" This is the more curious, as neither the Pueblo Indians nor\neither of the other tribes are in any way related to the Aztec race by\nlanguage, as has been shown by Dr. Buschman, _Die Voelker und Sprachen\nNeu Mexico's_, p. 262.\n\n[191-2] Humboldt, _Essay on New Spain_, bk. ii. chap. vi, Eng. trans.;\n_Ansichten der Natur_, ii. pp. 357, 386.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE MYTHS OF THE CREATION, THE DELUGE, THE EPOCHS OF NATURE, AND THE\nLAST DAY.\n\n     Cosmogonies usually portray the action of the SPIRIT on the\n     WATERS.--Those of the Muscogees, Athapascas, Quich\u00e9s, Mixtecs,\n     Iroquois, Algonkins, and others.--The Flood-Myth an unconscious\n     attempt to reconcile a creation in time with the eternity of\n     matter.--Proof of this from American mythology.--Characteristics of\n     American Flood-Myths.--The person saved usually the first man.--The\n     number seven.--Their Ararats.--The r\u00f4le of birds.--The confusion of\n     tongues.--The Aztec, Quich\u00e9, Algonkin, Tupi, and earliest Sanscrit\n     flood-myths.--The belief in Epochs of Nature a further result of\n     this attempt at reconciliation.--Its forms among Peruvians, Mayas,\n     and Aztecs.--The expectation of the End of the World a corollary of\n     this belief.--Views of various nations.\n\n\nCould the reason rest content with the belief that the universe always\nwas as it now is, it would save much beating of brains. Such is the\ncomfortable condition of the Eskimos, the Rootdiggers of California, the\nmost brutish specimens of humanity everywhere. Vain to inquire their\nstory of creation, for, like the knife-grinder of anti-Jacobin renown,\nthey have no story to tell. It never occurred to them that the earth had\na beginning, or underwent any greater changes than those of the\nseasons.[193-1] But no sooner does the mind begin to reflect, the\nintellect to employ itself on higher themes than the needs of the body,\nthan the law of causality exerts its power, and the man, out of such\nmaterials as he has at hand, manufactures for himself a Theory of\nThings.\n\nWhat these materials were has been shown in the last few chapters. A\nsimple primitive substance, a divinity to mould it--these are the\nrequirements of every cosmogony. Concerning the first no nation ever\nhesitated. All agree that before time began _water_ held all else in\nsolution, covered and concealed everything. The reasons for this assumed\npriority of water have been already touched upon. Did a tribe dwell near\nsome great sea others can be imagined. The land is limited, peopled,\nstable; the ocean fluctuating, waste, boundless. It insatiably swallows\nall rains and rivers, quenches sun and moon in its dark chambers, and\nraves against its bounds as a beast of prey. Awe and fear are the\nsentiments it inspires; in Aryan tongues its synonyms are the _desert_\nand the _night_.[194-1] It produces an impression of immensity,\ninfinity, formlessness, and barren changeableness, well suited to a\nnotion of chaos. It is sterile, receiving all things, producing nothing.\nHence the necessity of a creative power to act upon it, as it were to\nimpregnate its barren germs. Some cosmogonies find this in one, some in\nanother personification of divinity. Commonest of all is that of the\nwind, or its emblem the bird, types of the breath of life.\n\nThus the venerable record in Genesis, translated in the authorized\nversion \"and the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters,\" may\nwith equal correctness be rendered \"and a mighty wind brooded on the\nsurface of the waters,\" presenting the picture of a primeval ocean\nfecundated by the wind as a bird.[195-1] The eagle that in the Finnish\nepic of Kalewala floated over the waves and hatched the land, the egg\nthat in Chinese legend swam hither and thither until it grew to a\ncontinent, the giant Ymir, the rustler (as wind in trees), from whose\nflesh, says the Edda, our globe was made and set to float like a speck\nin the vast sea between Muspel and Niflheim, all are the same tale\nrepeated by different nations in different ages. But why take\nillustrations from the old world when they are so plenty in the new?\n\nBefore the creation, said the Muscogees, a great body of water was alone\nvisible. Two pigeons flew to and fro over its waves, and at last spied a\nblade of grass rising above the surface. Dry land gradually followed,\nand the islands and continents took their present shapes.[195-2] Whether\nthis is an authentic aboriginal myth, is not beyond question. No such\ndoubt attaches to that of the Athapascas. With singular unanimity, most\nof the northwest branches of this stock trace their descent from a\nraven, \"a mighty bird, whose eyes were fire, whose glances were\nlightning, and the clapping of whose wings was thunder. On his descent\nto the ocean, the earth instantly rose, and remained on the surface of\nthe water. This omnipotent bird then called forth all the variety of\nanimals.\"[196-1]\n\nVery similar, but with more of poetic finish, is the legend of the\nQuich\u00e9s:--\n\n\"This is the first word and the first speech. There were neither men nor\nbrutes; neither birds, fish, nor crabs, stick nor stone, valley nor\nmountain, stubble nor forest, nothing but the sky. The face of the land\nwas hidden. There was naught but the silent sea and the sky. There was\nnothing joined, nor any sound, nor thing that stirred; neither any to do\nevil, nor to rumble in the heavens, nor a walker on foot; only the\nsilent waters, only the pacified ocean, only it in its calm. Nothing was\nbut stillness, and rest, and darkness, and the night; nothing but the\nMaker and Moulder, the Hurler, the Bird-Serpent. In the waters, in a\nlimpid twilight, covered with green feathers, slept the mothers and the\nfathers.\"[196-2]\n\nOver this passed Hurakan, the mighty wind, and called out Earth! and\nstraightway the solid land was there.\n\nThe picture writings of the Mixtecs preserved a similar cosmogony: \"In\nthe year and in the day of clouds, before ever were either years or\ndays, the world lay in darkness; all things were orderless, and a water\ncovered the slime and the ooze that the earth then was.\" By the efforts\nof two winds, called, from astrological associations, that of Nine\nSerpents and that of Nine Caverns, personified one as a bird and one as\na winged serpent, the waters subsided and the land dried.[197-1]\n\nIn the birds that here play such conspicuous parts, we cannot fail to\nrecognize the winds and the clouds; but more especially the dark thunder\ncloud, soaring in space at the beginning of things, most forcible emblem\nof the aerial powers. They are the symbols of that divinity which acted\non the passive and sterile waters, the fitting result being the\nproduction of a universe. Other symbols of the divine could also be\nemployed, and the meaning remain the same. Or were the fancy too\nhelpless to suggest any, they could be dispensed with, and purely\nnatural agencies take their place. Thus the unimaginative Iroquois\nnarrated that when their primitive female ancestor was kicked from the\nsky by her irate spouse, there was as yet no land to receive her, but\nthat it \"suddenly bubbled up under her feet, and waxed bigger, so that\nere long a whole country was perceptible.\"[197-2] Or that certain\namphibious animals, the beaver, the otter, and the muskrat, seeing her\ndescent, hastened to dive and bring up sufficient mud to construct an\nisland for her residence.[197-3] The muskrat is also the simple\nmachinery in the cosmogony of the Takahlis of the northwest coast, the\nOsages and some Algonkin tribes.\n\nThese latter were, indeed, keen enough to perceive that there was really\nno _creation_ in such an account. Dry land was wanting, but earth was\nthere, though hidden by boundless waters. Consequently, they spoke\ndistinctly of the action of the muskrat in bringing it to the surface as\na formation only. Michabo directed him, and from the mud formed islands\nand main land. But when the subject of creation was pressed, they\nreplied they knew nothing of that, or roundly answered the questioner\nthat he was talking nonsense.[198-1] Their myth, almost identical with\nthat of their neighbors, was recognized by them to be not of a\nconstruction, but a reconstruction only; a very judicious distinction,\nbut one which has a most important corollary. A reconstruction supposes\na previous existence. This they felt, and had something to say about an\nearth anterior to this of ours, but one without light or human\ninhabitants. A lake burst its bounds and submerged it wholly. This is\nobviously nothing but a mere and meagre fiction, invented to explain the\norigin of the primeval ocean. But mark it well, for this is the germ of\nthose marvellous myths of the Epochs of Nature, the catastrophes of the\nuniverse, the deluges of water and of fire, which have laid such strong\nhold on the human fancy in every land and in every age.\n\nThe purpose for which this addition was made to the simpler legend is\nclear enough. It was to avoid the dilemma of a creation from nothing on\nthe one hand, and the eternity of matter on the other. _Ex nihilo nihil_\nis an apothegm indorsed alike by the profoundest metaphysicians and the\nrudest savages. But the other horn was no easier. To escape accepting\nthe theory that the world had ever been as it now is, was the only\nobject of a legend of its formation. As either lemma conflicts with\nfundamental laws of thought, this escape was eagerly adopted, and in the\nsuggestive words of Prescott, men \"sought relief from the oppressive\nidea of eternity by breaking it up into distinct cycles or periods of\ntime.\"[199-1] Vain but characteristic attempt of the ambitious mind of\nman! The Hindoo philosopher reconciles to his mind the suspension of the\nworld in space by imagining it supported by an elephant, the elephant by\na tortoise, and the tortoise by a serpent. We laugh at the Hindoo, and\nfancy we diminish the difficulty by explaining that it revolves around\nthe sun, and the sun around some far-off star. Just so the general mind\nof humanity finds some satisfaction in supposing a world or a series of\nworlds anterior to the present, thus escaping the insoluble enigma of\ncreation by removing it indefinitely in time.\n\nThe support lent to these views by the presence of marine shells on high\nlands, or by faint reminiscences of local geologic convulsions, I\nestimate very low. Savages are not inductive philosophers, and by\nnothing short of a miracle could they preserve the remembrance of even\nthe most terrible catastrophe beyond a few generations. Nor has any such\noccurred within the ken of history of sufficient magnitude to make a\nvery permanent or wide-spread impression. Not physics, but metaphysics,\nis the exciting cause of these beliefs in periodical convulsions of the\nglobe. The idea of matter cannot be separated from that of time, and\ntime and eternity are contradictory terms. Common words show this\nconnection. World, for example, in the old language _waereld_, from the\nroot to wear, by derivation means an age or cycle (Grimm).\n\nIn effect a myth of creation is nowhere found among primitive nations.\nIt seems repugnant to their reason. Dry land and animate life had a\nbeginning, but not matter. A series of constructions and demolitions may\nconveniently be supposed for these. The analogy of nature, as seen in\nthe vernal flowers springing up after the desolation of winter, of the\nsapling sprouting from the fallen trunk, of life everywhere rising from\ndeath, suggests such a view. Hence arose the belief in Epochs of Nature,\nelaborated by ancient philosophers into the Cycles of the Stoics, the\nGreat Days of Brahm, long periods of time rounded off by sweeping\ndestructions, the Cataclysms and Ekpyrauses of the universe. Some\nthought in these all beings perished; others that a few survived.[200-1]\nThis latter and more common view is the origin of the myth of the\ndeluge. How familiar such speculations were to the aborigines of America\nthere is abundant evidence to show.\n\nThe early Algonkin legends do not speak of an antediluvian race, nor of\nany family who escaped the waters. Michabo, the spirit of the dawn,\ntheir supreme deity, alone existed, and by his power formed and peopled\nit. Nor did their neighbors, the Dakotas, though firm in the belief that\nthe globe had once been destroyed by the waters, suppose that any had\nescaped.[201-1] The same view was entertained by the Nicaraguans[201-2]\nand the Botocudos of Brazil. The latter attributed its destruction to\nthe moon falling to the earth from time to time.[201-3]\n\nMuch the most general opinion, however, was that some few escaped the\ndesolating element by one of those means most familiar to the narrator,\nby ascending some mountain, on a raft or canoe, in a cave, or even by\nclimbing a tree. No doubt some of these legends have been modified by\nChristian teachings; but many of them are so connected with local\npeculiarities and ancient religious ceremonies, that no unbiased student\ncan assign them wholly to that source, as Professor Vater has done, even\nif the authorities for many of them were less trustworthy than they are.\nThere are no more common heirlooms in the traditional lore of the red\nrace. Nearly every old author quotes one or more of them. They present\ngreat uniformity of outline, and rather than engage in repetitions of\nlittle interest, they can be more profitably studied in the aggregate\nthan in detail.\n\nBy far the greater number represent the last destruction of the world to\nhave been by water. A few, however, the Takahlis of the North Pacific\ncoast, the Yurucares of the Bolivian Cordilleras, and the Mbocobi of\nParaguay, attribute it to a general conflagration which swept over the\nearth, consuming every living thing except a few who took refuge in a\ndeep cave.[202-1] The more common opinion of a submersion gave rise to\nthose traditions of a universal flood so frequently recorded by\ntravellers, and supposed by many to be reminiscences of that of Noah.\n\nThere are, indeed, some points of striking similarity between the deluge\nmyths of Asia and America. It has been called a peculiarity of the\nlatter that in them the person saved is always the first man. This,\nthough not without exception, is certainly the general rule. But these\nfirst men were usually the highest deities known to their nations, the\nonly creators of the world, and the guardians of the race.[202-2]\n\nMoreover, in the oldest Sanscrit legend of the flood in the Zatapatha\nBrahmana, Manu is also the first man, and by his own efforts creates\noffspring.[202-3]\n\nA later Sanscrit work assigns to Manu the seven Richis or shining ones\nas companions. Seven was also the number of persons in the ark of Noah.\nCuriously enough one Mexican and one early Peruvian myth give out\nexactly seven individuals as saved in their floods.[203-1] This\ncoincidence arises from the mystic powers attached to the number seven,\nderived from its frequent occurrence in astrology. Proof of this appears\nby comparing the later and the older versions of this myth, either in\nthe book of Genesis, where the latter is distinguished by the use of the\nword Elohim for Jehovah,[203-2] or the Sanscrit account in the Zatapatha\nBrahmana with those in the later Puranas.[203-3] In both instances the\nnumber seven hardly or at all occurs in the oldest version, while it is\nconstantly repeated in those of later dates.\n\nAs the mountain or rather mountain chain of Ararat was regarded with\nveneration wherever the Semitic accounts were known, so in America\nheights were pointed out with becoming reverence as those on which the\nfew survivors of the dreadful scenes of the deluge were preserved. On\nthe Red River near the village of the Caddoes was one of these, a small\nnatural eminence, \"to which all the Indian tribes for a great distance\naround pay devout homage,\" according to Dr. Sibley.[203-4] The Cerro\nNaztarny on the Rio Grande, the peak of Old Zu\u00f1i in New Mexico, that of\nColhuacan on the Pacific Coast, Mount Apoala in Upper Mixteca, and\nMount Neba in the province of Guaymi, are some of many elevations\nasserted by the neighboring nations to have been places of refuge for\ntheir ancestors when the fountains of the great deep broke forth.\n\nOne of the Mexican traditions related by Torquemada identified this with\nthe mountain of Tlaloc in the terrestrial paradise, and added that one\nof the seven demigods who escaped commenced the pyramid of Cholula in\nits memory. He intended that its summit should reach the clouds, but the\ngods, angry at his presumption, drove away the builders with lightning.\nThis has a suspicious resemblance to Bible stories. Equally fabulous was\nthe retreat of the Araucanians. It was a three-peaked mountain which had\nthe property of floating on water, called Theg-Theg, the Thunderer. This\nthey believed would preserve them in the next as it did in the last\ncataclysm, and as its only inconvenience was that it approached too near\nthe sun, they always kept on hand wooden bowls to use as\nparasols.[204-1]\n\nThe intimate connection that once existed between the myths of the\ndeluge and those of the creation is illustrated by the part assigned to\nbirds in so many of them. They fly to and fro over the waves ere any\nland appears, though they lose in great measure the significance of\nbringing it forth, attached to them in the cosmogonies as emblems of the\ndivine spirit. The dove in the Hebrew account appears in that of the\nAlgonkins as a raven, which Michabo sent out to search for land before\nthe muskrat brought it to him from the bottom. A raven also in the\nAthapascan myth saved their ancestors from the general flood, and in\nthis instance it is distinctly identified with the mighty thunder bird,\nwho at the beginning ordered the earth from the depths. Prometheus-like,\nit brought fire from heaven, and saved them from a second death by\ncold.[205-1] Precisely the same beneficent actions were attributed by\nthe Natchez to the small red cardinal bird,[205-2] and by the Mandans\nand Cherokees an active participation in the event was assigned to wild\npigeons. The Navajos and Aztecs thought that instead of being drowned by\nthe waters the human race were transformed into birds and thus escaped.\nIn all these and similar legends, the bird is a relic of the cosmogonal\nmyth which explained the origin of the world from the action of the\nwinds, under the image of the bird, on the primeval ocean.\n\nThe Mexican Codex Vaticanus No. 3738 represents after the picture of the\ndeluge a bird perched on the summit of a tree, and at its foot men in\nthe act of marching. This has been interpreted to mean that after the\ndeluge men were dumb until a dove distributed to them the gift of\nspeech. The New Mexican tribes related that all except the leader of\nthose who escaped to the mountains lost the power of utterance by\nterror,[205-3] and the Quich\u00e9s that the antediluvian race were \"puppets,\nmen of wood, without intelligence or language.\" These stories, so\nclosely resembling that of the confusion of tongues at the tower of\nBabel or Borsippa, are of doubtful authenticity. The first is an\nentirely erroneous interpretation, as has been shown by Se\u00f1or Ramirez,\ndirector of the Museum of Antiquities at Mexico. The name of the bird in\nthe Aztec tongue was identical with the word _departure_, and this is\nits signification in the painting.[206-1]\n\nStories of giants in the days of old, figures of mighty proportions\nlooming up through the mist of ages, are common property to every\nnation. The Mexicans and Peruvians had them as well as others, but their\nconnection with the legends of the flood and the creation is incidental\nand secondary. Were the case otherwise, it would offer no additional\npoint of similarity to the Hebrew myth, for the word rendered _giants_\nin the phrase, \"and there were giants in those days,\" has no such\nmeaning in the original. It is a blunder which crept into the\nSeptuagint, and has been cherished ever since, along with so many others\nin the received text.\n\nA few specimens will serve as examples of all these American flood\nmyths. The Abb\u00e9 Brasseur has translated one from the Codex Chimalpopoca,\na work in the Nahuatl language of Ancient Mexico, written about half a\ncentury after the conquest. It is as follows:--\n\n\"And this year was that of Ce-calli, and on the first day all was lost.\nThe mountain itself was submerged in the water, and the water remained\ntranquil for fifty-two springs.\n\n\"Now towards the close of the year, Titlahuan had forewarned the man\nnamed Nata and his wife named Nena, saying, 'Make no more pulque, but\nstraightway hollow out a large cypress, and enter it when in the month\nTozoztli the water shall approach the sky.' They entered it, and when\nTitlacahuan had closed the door he said, 'Thou shalt eat but a single\near of maize, and thy wife but one also.'\n\n\"As soon as they had finished [eating], they went forth and the water\nwas tranquil; for the log did not move any more; and opening it they saw\nmany fish.\n\n\"Then they built a fire, rubbing together pieces of wood, and they\nroasted the fish. The gods Citlallinicue and Citlallatonac looking below\nexclaimed, 'Divine Lord, what means that fire below? Why do they thus\nsmoke the heavens?'\n\n\"Straightway descended Titlacahuan Tezcatlipoca, and commenced to scold,\nsaying, 'What is this fire doing here?' And seizing the fishes he\nmoulded their hinder parts and changed their heads, and they were at\nonce transformed into dogs.\"[207-1]\n\nThat found in the oft quoted legends of the Quich\u00e9s is to this effect:--\n\n\"Then by the will of the Heart of Heaven the waters were swollen and a\ngreat flood came upon the mannikins of wood. For they did not think nor\nspeak of the Creator who had created them, and who had caused their\nbirth. They were drowned, and a thick resin fell from heaven.\n\n\"The bird Xecotcovach tore out their eyes; the bird Camulatz cut off\ntheir heads; the bird Cotzbalam devoured their flesh; the bird\nTecumbalam broke their bones and sinews, and ground them into\npowder.\"[207-2]\n\n\"Because they had not thought of their Mother and Father, the Heart of\nHeaven, whose name is Hurakan, therefore the face of the earth grew dark\nand a pouring rain commenced, raining by day, raining by night.\n\n\"Then all sorts of beings, little and great, gathered together to abuse\nthe men to their faces; and all spoke, their mill-stones, their plates,\ntheir cups, their dogs, their hens.\n\n\"Said the dogs and hens, 'Very badly have you treated us, and you have\nbitten us. Now we bite you in turn.'\n\n\"Said the mill-stones, 'Very much were we tormented by you, and daily,\ndaily, night and day, it was _squeak, squeak, screech, screech_, for\nyour sake. Now yourselves shall feel our strength, and we will grind\nyour flesh, and make meal of your bodies,' said the mill-stones.[208-1]\n\n\"And this is what the dogs said, 'Why did you not give us our food? No\nsooner did we come near than you drove us away, and the stick was always\nwithin reach when you were eating, because, forsooth, we were not able\nto talk. Now we will use our teeth and eat you,' said the dogs, tearing\ntheir faces.\n\n\"And the cups and dishes said, 'Pain and misery you gave us, smoking our\ntops and sides, cooking us over the fire, burning and hurting us as if\nwe had no feeling.[209-1] Now it is your turn, and you shall burn,' said\nthe cups insultingly.\n\n\"Then ran the men hither and thither in despair. They climbed to the\nroofs of the houses, but the houses crumbled under their feet; they\ntried to mount to the tops of the trees, but the trees hurled them far\nfrom them; they sought refuge in the caverns, but the caverns shut\nbefore them.\n\n\"Thus was accomplished the ruin of this race, destined to be destroyed\nand overthrown; thus were they given over to destruction and contempt.\nAnd it is said that their posterity are those little monkeys who live in\nthe woods.\"[209-2]\n\nThe Algonkin tradition has often been referred to. Many versions of it\nare extant, the oldest and most authentic of which is that translated\nfrom the Montagnais dialect by Father le Jeune, in 1634.\n\n\"One day as Messou was hunting, the wolves which he used as dogs entered\na great lake and were detained there.\n\n\"Messou looking for them everywhere, a bird said to him, 'I see them in\nthe middle of this lake.'\n\n\"He entered the lake to rescue them, but the lake overflowing its banks\ncovered the land and destroyed the world.\n\n\"Messou, very much astonished at this, sent out the raven to find a\npiece of earth wherewith to rebuild the land, but the bird could find\nnone; then he ordered the otter to dive for some, but the animal\nreturned empty; at last he sent down the muskrat, who came back with\never so small a piece, which, however, was enough for Messou to form the\nland on which we are.\n\n\"The trees having lost their branches, he shot arrows at their naked\ntrunks which became their limbs, revenged himself on those who had\ndetained his wolves, and having married the muskrat, by it peopled the\nworld.\"\n\nFinally may be given the meagre legend of the Tupis of Brazil, as heard\nby Hans Staden, a prisoner among them about 1550, and Coreal, a later\nvoyager. Their ancient songs relate that a long time ago a certain very\npowerful Mair, that is to say, a stranger, who bitterly hated their\nancestors, compassed their destruction by a violent inundation. Only a\nvery few succeeded in escaping--some by climbing trees, others in caves.\nWhen the waters subsided the remnant came together, and by gradual\nincrease populated the world.[210-1]\n\nOr, it is given by an equally ancient authority as follows:--\n\n\"Monan, without beginning or end, author of all that is, seeing the\ningratitude of men, and their contempt for him who had made them thus\njoyous, withdrew from them, and sent upon them _tata_, the divine fire,\nwhich burned all that was on the surface of the earth. He swept about\nthe fire in such a way that in places he raised mountains, and in others\ndug valleys. Of all men one alone, Irin Monge, was saved, whom Monan\ncarried into the heaven. He, seeing all things destroyed, spoke thus to\nMonan: 'Wilt thou also destroy the heavens and their garniture? Alas!\nhenceforth where will be our home? Why should I live, since there is\nnone other of my kind?' Then Monan was so filled with pity that he\npoured a deluging rain on the earth, which quenched the fire, and,\nflowing from all sides, formed the ocean, which we call _parana_, the\nbitter waters.\"[211-1]\n\nIn these narratives I have not attempted to soften the asperities nor\nconceal the childishness which run through them. But there is no\noccasion to be astonished at these peculiarities, nor to found upon them\nany disadvantageous opinion of the mental powers of their authors and\nbelievers. We can go back to the cradle of our own race in Central\nAsia, and find traditions every whit as infantile. I cannot refrain from\nadding the earliest Aryan myth of the same great occurrence, as it is\nhanded down to us in ancient Sanscrit literature. It will be seen that\nit is little, if at all, superior to those just rehearsed.\n\n\"Early in the morning they brought to Manu water to wash himself; when\nhe had well washed, a fish came into his hands.\n\n\"It said to him these, words: 'Take care of me; I will save thee.' 'What\nwilt thou save me from?' 'A deluge will sweep away all creatures; I wish\nthee to escape.' 'But how shall I take care of thee?'\n\n\"The fish said: 'While we are small there is more than one danger of\ndeath, for one fish swallows another. Thou must, in the first place, put\nme in a vase. Then, when I shall exceed it in size, thou must dig a deep\nditch, and place me in it. When I grow too large for it, throw me in the\nsea, for I shall then be beyond the danger of death.'\n\n\"Soon it became a great fish; it grew, in fact, astonishingly. Then it\nsaid to Manu, 'In such a year the Deluge will come. Thou must build a\nvessel, and then pay me homage. When the waters of the Deluge mount up,\nenter the vessel. I will save thee.'\n\n\"When Manu had thus taken care of the fish, he put it in the sea. The\nsame year that the fish had said, in this very year, having built the\nvessel, he paid the fish homage. Then the Deluge mounting, he entered\nthe vessel. The fish swam near him. To its horn Manu fastened the ship's\nrope, with which the fish passed the Mountain of the North.\n\n\"The fish said, 'See! I have saved thee. Fasten the vessel to a tree, so\nthat the water does not float thee onward when thou art on the mountain\ntop. As the water decreases, thou wilt descend little by little.' Thus\nManu descended gradually. Therefore to the mountain of the north remains\nthe name, Descent of Manu. The Deluge had destroyed all creatures; Manu\nsurvived alone.\"[213-1]\n\nHitherto I have spoken only of the last convulsion which swept over the\nface of the globe, and of but one cycle which preceded the present. Most\nof the more savage tribes contented themselves with this, but it is\ninstructive to observe how, as they advanced in culture, and the mind\ndwelt more intently on the great problems of Life and Time, they were\nimpelled to remove further and further the dim and mysterious Beginning.\nThe Peruvians imagined that _two_ destructions had taken place, the\nfirst by a famine, the second by a flood--according to some a few only\nescaping--but, after the more widely accepted opinion, accompanied by\nthe absolute extirpation of the race. Three eggs, which dropped from\nheaven, hatched out the present race; one of gold, from which came the\npriests; one of silver, which produced the warriors; and the last of\ncopper, source of the common people.[213-2]\n\nThe Mayas of Yucatan increased the previous worlds by one, making the\npresent the _fourth_. Two cycles had terminated by devastating plagues.\nThey were called \"the sudden deaths,\" for it was said so swift and\nmortal was the pest, that the buzzards and other foul birds dwelt in the\nhouses of the cities, and ate the bodies of their former owners. The\nthird closed either by a hurricane, which blew from all four of the\ncardinal points at once, or else, as others said, by an inundation,\nwhich swept across the world, swallowing all things in its mountainous\nsurges.[214-1]\n\nAs might be expected, the vigorous intellects of the Aztecs impressed\nupon this myth a fixity of outline nowhere else met with on the\ncontinent, and wove it intimately into their astrological reveries and\nreligious theories. Unaware of its prevalence under more rudimentary\nforms throughout the continent, Alexander von Humboldt observed that,\n\"of all the traits of analogy which can be pointed out between the\nmonuments, manners, and traditions of Asia and America, the most\nstriking is that offered by the Mexican mythology in the cosmogonical\nfiction of the periodical destructions and regenerations of the\nuniverse.\"[215-1] Yet it is but the same fiction that existed elsewhere,\nsomewhat more definitely outlined. There exists great discrepancy\nbetween the different authorities, both as to the number of Aztec ages\nor Suns, as they were called, their durations, their terminations, and\ntheir names. The preponderance of testimony is in favor of _four_\nantecedent cycles, the present being the _fifth_. The interval from the\nfirst creation to the commencement of the present epoch, owing to the\nequivocal meaning of the numeral signs expressing it in the picture\nwritings, may have been either 15228, 2316, or 1404 solar years. Why\nthese numbers should have been chosen, no one has guessed. It has been\nlooked for in combinations of numbers connected with the calendar, but\nso far in vain.\n\nWhile most authorities agree as to the character of the destructions\nwhich terminated the suns, they vary much as to their sequence. Water,\nwinds, fire, and hunger, are the agencies, and in one Codex (Vaticanus)\noccur in this order. Gama gives the sequence, hunger, winds, fire, and\nwater; Humboldt hunger, fire, winds, and water; Boturini water, hunger,\nwinds, fire. As the cycle ending by a famine, is called the Age of\nEarth, Ternaux-Compans, the distinguished French _Am\u00e9ricaniste_, has\nimagined that the four Suns correspond mystically to the domination\nexercised in turn over the world by its four constituent elements. But\nproof is wanting that Aztec philosophers knew the theory on which this\nexplanation reposes.\n\nBaron Humboldt suggested that the suns were \"fictions of mythological\nastronomy, modified either by obscure reminiscences of some great\nrevolution suffered by our planet, or by physical hypotheses, suggested\nby the sight of marine petrifactions and fossil remains,\"[216-1] while\nthe Abb\u00e9 Brasseur, in his late works on ancient Mexico, interprets them\nas exaggerated references to historical events. As no solution can be\naccepted not equally applicable to the same myth as it appears in\nYucatan, Peru, and the hunting tribes, and to the exactly parallel\nteachings of the Edda,[216-2] the Stoics, the Celts, and the Brahmans,\nboth of these must be rejected. And although the Hindoo legend is so\nclose to the Aztec, that it, too, defines four ages, each terminating by\na general catastrophe, and each catastrophe exactly the same in\nboth,[216-3] yet this is not at all indicative of a derivation from one\noriginal, but simply an illustration how the human mind, under the\nstimulus of the same intellectual cravings, produces like results. What\nthese cravings are has already been shown.\n\nThe reason for adopting four ages, thus making the present the fifth,\nprobably arose from the sacredness of that number in general; but\ndirectly, because this was the number of secular days in the Mexican\nweek. A parallel is offered by the Hebrew narrative. In it six epochs or\ndays precede the seventh or present cycle, in which the creative power\nrests. This latter corresponded to the Jewish Sabbath, the day of\nrepose; and in the Mexican calendar each fifth day was also a day of\nrepose, employed in marketing and pleasure.\n\nDoubtless the theory of the Ages of the world was long in vogue among\nthe Aztecs before it received the definite form in which we now have it;\nand as this was acquired long after the calendar was fixed, it is every\nway probable that the latter was used as a guide to the former.\nEchevarria, a good authority on such matters, says the number of the\nSuns was agreed upon at a congress of astrologists, within the memory of\ntradition.[217-1] Now in the calendar, these signs occur in the order,\nearth, air, water, fire, corresponding to the days distinguished by the\nsymbols house, rabbit, reed, and flint. This sequence, commencing with\nTochtli (rabbit, air), is that given as that of the Suns in the Codex\nChimalpopoca, translated by Brasseur, though it seems a taint of\nEuropean teaching, when it is added that on the _seventh_ day of the\ncreation man was formed.[217-2]\n\nNeither Jews nor Aztecs, nor indeed any American nation, appear to have\nsupposed, with some of the old philosophers, that the present was an\nexact repetition of previous cycles,[218-1] but rather that each was an\nimprovement on the preceding, a step in endless progress. Nor did either\nconnect these beliefs with astronomical reveries of a great year,\ndefined by the return of the heavenly bodies to one relative position in\nthe heavens. The latter seems characteristic of the realism of Europe,\nthe former of the idealism of the Orient; both inconsistent with the\nmeagre astronomy and more scanty metaphysics of the red race.\n\nThe expectation of the end of the world is a natural complement to the\nbelief in periodical destructions of our globe. As at certain times past\nthe equipoise of nature was lost, and the elements breaking the chain of\nlaws that bound them ran riot over the universe, involving all life in\none mad havoc and desolation, so in the future we have to expect that\nday of doom, when the ocean tides shall obey no shore, but overwhelm the\ncontinents with their mountainous billows, or the fire, now chafing in\nvolcanic craters and smoking springs, will leap forth on the forests and\ngrassy meadows, wrapping all things in a winding sheet of flame, and\nmelting the very elements with fervid heat. Then, in the language of the\nNorse prophetess, \"shall the sun grow dark, the land sink in the waters,\nthe bright stars be quenched, and high flames climb heaven\nitself.\"[218-2] These fearful foreboding shave[TN-9] cast their dark\nshadow on every literature. The seeress of the north does but paint in\nwilder colors the terrible pictures of Seneca,[219-1] and the sibyl of\nthe capitol only re-echoes the inspired predictions of Malachi. Well has\nthe Christian poet said:--\n\n    Dies ir\u00e6, dies illa,\n    Solvet s\u00e6clum in favill\u00e2,\n    _Testis David cum Sibyl\u00e2_.\n\nSavage races, isolated in the impenetrable forests of another continent,\ncould not escape this fearful looking for of destruction to come. It\noppressed their souls like a weight of lead. On the last night of each\ncycle of fifty-two years, the Aztecs extinguished every fire, and\nproceeded, in solemn procession, to some sacred spot. Then the priests,\nwith awe and trembling, sought to kindle a new fire by friction.\nMomentous was the endeavor, for did it fail, their fathers had taught\nthem on the morrow no sun would rise, and darkness, death, and the\nwaters would descend forever on this beautiful world.\n\nThe same terror inspired the Peruvians at every eclipse, for some day,\ntaught the Amautas, the shadow will veil the sun forever, and land,\nmoon, and stars will be wrapt in the vortex of a devouring conflagration\nto know no regeneration; or a drought will wither every herb of the\nfield, suck up the waters, and leave the race to perish to the last\ncreature; or the moon will fall from her place in the heavens and\ninvolve all things in her own ruin, a figure of speech meaning that the\nwaters would submerge the land.[220-1] In that dreadful day, thought\nthe Algonkins, when in anger Michabo will send a mortal pestilence to\ndestroy the nations, or, stamping his foot on the ground, flames will\nburst forth to consume the habitable land, only a pair, or only, at\nmost, those who have maintained inviolate the institutions he ordained,\nwill he protect and preserve to inhabit the new world he will then\nfabricate. Therefore they do not speak of this catastrophe as the end of\nthe world, but use one of those nice grammatical distinctions so\nfrequent in American aboriginal languages and which can only be\nimitated, not interpreted, in ours, signifying \"when it will be near its\nend,\" \"when it will no longer be available for man.\"[220-2]\n\nAn ancient prophecy handed down from their ancestors warns the\nWinnebagoes that their nation shall be annihilated at the close of the\nthirteenth generation. Ten have already passed, and that now living has\nappointed ceremonies to propitiate the powers of heaven, and mitigate\nits stern decree.[220-3] Well may they be about it, for there is a\ngloomy probability that the warning came from no false prophet. Few\ntribes were destitute of such presentiments. The Chikasaw, the Mandans\nof the Missouri, the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, the Muyscas of\nBogota, the Botocudos of Brazil, the Araucanians of Chili, have been\nasserted on testimony that leaves no room for scepticism, to have\nentertained such forebodings from immemorial time. Enough for the\npurpose if the list is closed with the prediction of a Maya priest,\ncherished by the inhabitants of Yucatan long before the Spaniard\ndesolated their stately cities. It is one of those preserved by Father\nLizana, cur\u00e9 of Itzamal, and of which he gives the original. Other\nwitnesses inform us that this nation \"had a tradition that the world\nwould end,\"[221-1] and probably, like the Greeks and Aztecs, they\nsupposed the gods would perish with it.\n\n   \"At the close of the ages, it hath been decreed,\n    Shall perish and vanish each weak god of men,\n    And the world shall be purged with a ravening fire.\n    Happy the man in that terrible day,\n    Who bewails with contrition the sins of his life,[221-2]\n    And meets without flinching the fiery ordeal.\"\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[193-1] So far as this applies to the Eskimos, it might be questioned on\nthe authority of Paul Egede, whose valuable _Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland_\ncontains several flood-myths, &c. But these Eskimos had had for\ngenerations intercourse with European missionaries and sailors, and as\nthe other tribes of their stock were singularly devoid of corresponding\ntraditions, it is likely that in Greenland they were of foreign origin.\n\n[194-1] Pictet, _Origines Indo-Europ\u00e9ennes_ in Michelet, _La Mer_. The\nlatter has many eloquent and striking remarks on the impressions left by\nthe great ocean.\n\n[195-1] \"Spiritus Dei incubuit superficei aquarum\" is the translation of\none writer. The word for spirit in Hebrew, as in Latin, originally meant\nwind, as I have before remarked.\n\n[195-2] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, i. p. 266.\n\n[196-1] Mackenzie, _Hist. of the Fur Trade_, p. 83; Richardson, _Arctic\nExpedition_, p. 239.\n\n[196-2] Ximenes, _Or. de los Ind. de Guat._, pp. 5-7. I translate freely,\nfollowing Ximenes rather than Brasseur.\n\n[197-1] Garcia, _Or. de los Indios_, lib. v. cap. 4.\n\n[197-2] _Doc. Hist. of New York_, iv. p. 130 (circ. 1650).\n\n[197-3] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1636, p. 101.\n\n[198-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1634, p. 13.\n\n[199-1] _Conquest of Mexico_, i. p. 61.\n\n[200-1] For instance, Epictetus favors the opinion that at the solstices\nof the great year not only all human beings, but even the gods, are\nannihilated; and speculates whether at such times Jove feels lonely\n(_Discourses_, bk. iii. chap. 13). Macrobius, so far from coinciding with\nhim, explains the great antiquity of Egyptian civilization by the\nhypothesis that that country is so happily situated between the pole and\nequator, as to escape both the deluge and conflagration of the great\ncycle (_Somnium Scipionis_, lib. ii. cap. 10).\n\n[201-1] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, iii. p. 263, iv. p. 230.\n\n[201-2] Oviedo, _Hist. du Nicaragua_, pp. 22, 27.\n\n[201-3] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urrelig._, p. 254, from Max and Denis.\n\n[202-1] Morse, _Rep. on the Ind. Tribes_, App. p. 346; D'Orbigny, _Frag.\nd'un Voyage dans l'Am\u00e9r. M\u00e9rid._, p. 512.\n\n[202-2] When, as in the case of one of the Mexican Noahs, Coxcox, this\ndoes not seem to hold good, it is probably owing to a loss of the real\nform of the myth. Coxcox is also known by the name of Cipactli, Fish-god,\nand Huehue tonaca cipactli, Old Fish-god of Our Flesh.\n\n[202-3] My knowledge of the Sanscrit form of the flood-myth is drawn\nprincipally from the dissertation of Professor Felix N\u00e8ve, entitled _La\nTradition Indienne du Deluge dans sa Forme la plus ancienne_, Paris,\n1851. There is in the oldest versions no distinct reference to an\nantediluvian race, and in India Manu is by common consent the Adam as\nwell as the Noah of their legends.\n\n[203-1] Prescott, _Conquest of Peru_, i. p. 88; _Codex Vaticanus_, No.\n3776, in Kingsborough.\n\n[203-2] And also various peculiarities of style and language lost in\ntranslation. The two accounts of the Deluge are given side by side in Dr.\nSmith's _Dictionary of the Bible_ under the word Pentateuch.\n\n[203-3] See the dissertation of Prof. N\u00e8ve referred to above.\n\n[203-4] _American State Papers_, Indian Affairs, i. p. 729. Date of\nlegend, 1801.\n\n[204-1] Molina, _Hist. of Chili_, ii. p. 82.\n\n[205-1] Richardson, _Arctic Expedition_, p. 239.\n\n[205-2] Dumont, _Mems. Hist. sur la Louisiane_, i. p. 163.\n\n[205-3] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 686.\n\n[206-1] Desjardins, _Le P\u00e9rou avant la Conq. Espagn._, p. 27.\n\n[207-1] Cod. Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, Pi\u00e8ces\nJustificatives.\n\n[207-2] These four birds, whose names have lost their signification,\nrepresent doubtless the four winds, or the four rivers, which, as in so\nmany legends, are the active agents in overwhelming the world in its\ngreat crises.\n\n[208-1] The word rendered mill-stone, in the original means those large\nhollowed stones on which the women were accustomed to bruise the maize.\nThe imitative sounds for which I have substituted others in English, are\nin Quich\u00e9, _holi, holi, huqui, huqui_.\n\n[209-1] Brasseur translates \"quoique nous ne sentissions rien,\" but\nXimenes, \"nos quemasteis, y sentimos el dolor.\" As far as I can make out\nthe original, it is the negative conditional as I have given it in the\ntext.\n\n[209-2] _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9_, p. 27; Ximenes, _Or. de los Indios_, p. 13.\n\n[210-1] The American nations among whom a distinct and well-authenticated\nmyth of the deluge was found are as follows: Athapascas, Algonkins,\nIroquois, Cherokees, Chikasaws, Caddos, Natchez, Dakotas, Apaches,\nNavajos, Mandans, Pueblo Indians, Aztecs, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Tlascalans,\nMechoacans, Toltecs, Nahuas, Mayas, Quiches, Haitians, natives of Darien\nand Popoyan, Muyscas, Quichuas, Tuppinambas, Achaguas, Araucanians, and\ndoubtless others. The article by M. de Charency in the _Revue Am\u00e9ricaine,\nLe Deluge, d'apr\u00e8s les Traditions Indiennes de l'Am\u00e9rique du Nord_,\ncontains some valuable extracts, but is marred by a lack of criticism of\nsources, and makes no attempt at analysis, nor offers for their existence\na rational explanation.\n\n[211-1] _Une F\u00eate Br\u00e9silienne c\u00e9l\u00e9br\u00e9 \u00e0 Rouen en 1550, par M. Ferdinand\nDenis_, p. 82 (quoted in the _Revue Am\u00e9ricaine_, ii. p. 317). The native\nwords in this account guarantee its authenticity. In the Tupi language,\n_tata_ means fire; _parana_, ocean; Monan, perhaps from _mon\u00e1ne_, to\nmingle, to temper, as the potter the clay (_Dias, Diccionario da Lingua\nTupy_: Lipsia, 1858). Irin monge may be an old form from _mongat-iron_,\nto set in order, to restore, to improve (_Martius, Beitr\u00e4ge zur\nEthnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika's_, ii. p. 70).\n\n[213-1] Professor N\u00e8ve, _ubi supra_, from the Zatapatha Brahmana.\n\n[213-2] Avendano, _Sermones_, Lima, 1648, in Rivero and Tschudi, _Peruv.\nAntiqs._, p. 114. In the year 1600, O\u00f1ate found on the coast of\nCalifornia a tribe whose idol held in one hand a shell containing three\neggs, in the other an ear of maize, while before it was placed a cup of\nwater. Vizcaino, who visited the same people a few years afterwards,\nmentions that they kept in their temples tame ravens, and looked upon\nthem as sacred birds (Torquemada, _Mon. Ind._, lib. v. cap. 40 in Waitz).\nThus, in all parts of the continent do we find the bird, as a symbol of\nthe clouds, associated with the rains and the harvests.\n\n[214-1] The deluge was called _hun yecil_, which, according to Cogolludo,\nmeans _the inundation of the trees_, for all the forests were swept away\n(_Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 5). Bishop Landa adds, to\nsubstantiate the legend, that all the woods of the peninsula appear as if\nthey had been planted at one time, and that to look at them one would say\nthey had been trimmed with scissors (_Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan_, 58,\n60).\n\n[215-1] _Vues des Cordill\u00e8res_, p. 202.\n\n[216-1] Ubi sup., p. 207.\n\n[216-2] The Scandinavians believed the universe had been destroyed nine\ntimes:--\n\n    Ni Verdener yeg husker,\n    Og ni Himle,\n\nsays the Voluspa (i. 2, in Klee, _Le Deluge_, p. 220). I observe some\nEnglish writers have supposed from these lines that the Northmen believed\nin the existence of nine abodes for the blessed. Such is not the sense of\nthe original.\n\n[216-3] At least this is the doctrine of one of the Shastas. The race, it\nteaches, has been destroyed four times; first by water, secondly by\nwinds, thirdly the earth swallowed them, and lastly fire consumed them\n(Sepp., _Heidenthum und Christenthum_, i. p. 191).\n\n[217-1] Echevarria y Veitia, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. i. cap. 4,\nin Waitz.\n\n[217-2] Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, iii. p. 495.\n\n[218-1] The contrary has indeed been inferred from such expressions of\nthe writer of the book of Ecclesiastes as, \"that which hath been, is now,\nand that which is to be, hath already been\" (chap. iii. 15), and the\nlike, but they are susceptible of an application entirely subjective.\n\n[218-2] Voluspa, xiv. 51, in Klee, _Le Deluge_.\n\n[219-1] _Natur. Qu\u00e6stiones_, iii. cap. 27.\n\n[220-1] Velasco, _Hist. du Royaume du Quito_, p. 105; Navarrete,\n_Viages_, iii. p. 444.\n\n[220-2] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1637, p. 54; Schoolcraft, _Ind.\nTribes_, i. p. 319, iv. p. 420.\n\n[220-3] Schoolcraft, ibid., iv. p. 240.\n\n[221-1] Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 7.\n\n[221-2] The Spanish of Lizana is--\n\n   \"En la ultima edad, segun esta determinado,\n    Avra fin el culto de dioses vanos;\n    Y el mundo sera purificado con fuego.\n    El que esto viere sera llamado dichoso\n    Si con dolor llorar\u00e9 sus pecados.\"\n\n(_Hist. de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de Itzamal_, in Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_,\nii. p. 603). I have attempted to obtain a more literal rendering from the\noriginal Maya, but have not been successful.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nTHE ORIGIN OF MAN.\n\n     Usually man is the EARTH-BORN, both in language and\n     myths.--Illustrations from the legends of the Caribs, Apalachians,\n     Iroquois, Quichuas, Aztecs, and others.--The underworld.--Man the\n     product of one of the primal creative powers, the Spirit, or the\n     Water, in the myths of the Athapascas, Eskimos, Moxos, and\n     others.--Never literally derived from an inferior species.\n\n\nNo man can escape the importunate question, whence am I? The first\nreplies framed to meet it possess an interest to the thoughtful mind,\nbeyond that of mere fables. They illustrate the position in creation\nclaimed by our race, and the early workings of self-consciousness. Often\nthe oldest terms for man are synopses of these replies, and merit a more\nthan passing contemplation.\n\nThe seed is hidden in the earth. Warmed by the sun, watered by the rain,\npresently it bursts its dark prison-house, unfolds its delicate leaves,\nblossoms, and matures its fruit. Its work done, the earth draws it to\nitself again, resolves the various structures into their original mould,\nand the unending round recommences.\n\nThis is the marvellous process that struck the primitive mind. Out of\nthe Earth rises life, to it it returns. She it is who guards all germs,\nnourishes all beings. The Aztecs painted her as a woman with countless\nbreasts, the Peruvians called her Mama Allpa, _mother_ Earth. _Homo_,\n_Adam_, _chamaigen[=e]s_, what do all these words mean but the\nearth-born, the son of the soil, repeated in the poetic language of\nAttica in _anthropos_, he who springs up as a flower?\n\nThe word that corresponds to the Latin _homo_ in American languages has\nsuch singular uniformity in so many of them, that we might be tempted to\nregard it as a fragment of some ancient and common tongue, their parent\nstem. In the Eskimo it is _inuk_, _innuk_, plural _innuit_; in Athapasca\nit is _dinni_, _tenn\u00e9_; in Algonkin, _inini_, _lenni_, _inwi_; in\nIroquois, _onwi_, _eniha_; in the Otomi of Mexico _n-aniehe_; in the\nMaya, _inic_, _winic_, _winak_; all in North America, and the number\nmight be extended. Of these only the last mentioned can plausibly be\ntraced to a radical (unless the Iroquois _onwi_ is from _onnha_ life,\n_onnhe_ to live). This Father Ximenes derives from _win_, meaning to\ngrow, to gain, to increase,[223-1] in which the analogy to vegetable\nlife is not far off, an analogy strengthened by the myth of that stock,\nwhich relates that the first of men were formed of the flour of\nmaize.[223-2]\n\nIn many other instances religious legend carries out this idea. The\nmythical ancestor of the Caribs created his offspring by sowing the soil\nwith stones or with the fruit of the Mauritius palm, which sprouted\nforth into men and women,[224-1] while the Yurucares, much of whose\nmythology was perhaps borrowed from the Peruvians, clothed this crude\ntenet in a somewhat more poetic form, fabling that at the beginning the\nfirst of men were pegged, Ariel-like, in the knotty entrails of an\nenormous hole, until the god Tiri--a second Prospero--released them by\ncleaving it in twain.[224-2]\n\nAs in oriental legends the origin of man from the earth was veiled under\nthe story that he was the progeny of some mountain fecundated by the\nembrace of Mithras or Jupiter, so the Indians often pointed to some\nheight or some cavern, as the spot whence the first of men issued, adult\nand armed, from the womb of the All-mother Earth. The oldest name of the\nAlleghany Mountains is Paemotinck or Pemolnick, an Algonkin word, the\nmeaning of which is said to be \"the origin of the Indians.\"[224-3]\n\nThe Witchitas, who dwelt on the Red River among the mountains named\nafter them, have a tradition that their progenitors issued from the\nrocks about their homes,[225-1] and many other tribes the Tahkalis,\nNavajos, Coyoteras, and the Haitians, for instance, set up this claim to\nbe autochthones. Most writers have interpreted this simply to mean that\nthey knew nothing at all about their origin, or that they coined these\nfables merely to strengthen the title to the territory they inhabited\nwhen they saw the whites eagerly snatching it away on every pretext. No\ndoubt there is some truth in this, but if they be carefully sifted,\nthere is sometimes a deep historical significance in these myths, which\nhas hitherto escaped the observation of students. An instance presents\nitself in our own country.\n\nAll those tribes, the Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, Chicasaws, and\nNatchez, who, according to tradition, were in remote times banded into\none common confederacy under the headship of the last mentioned,\nunanimously located their earliest ancestry near an artificial eminence\nin the valley of the Big Black River, in the Natchez country, whence\nthey pretended to have emerged. Fortunately we have a description,\nthough a brief one, of this interesting monument from the pen of an\nintelligent traveller. It is described as \"an elevation of earth about\nhalf a mile square and fifteen or twenty feet high. From its northeast\ncorner a wall of equal height extends for near half a mile to the high\nland.\" This was the Nunne Chaha or Nunne Hamgeh, the High Hill, or the\nBending Hill, famous in Choctaw stories, and which Captain Gregg found\nthey have not yet forgotten in their western home. The legend was that\nin its centre was a cave, the house of the Master of Breath. Here he\nmade the first men from the clay around him, and as at that time the\nwaters covered the earth, he raised the wall to dry them on. When the\nsoft mud had hardened into elastic flesh and firm bone, he banished the\nwaters to their channels and beds, and gave the dry land to his\ncreatures.[226-1] When in 1826 Albert Gallatin obtained from some\nNatchez chiefs a vocabulary of their language, they gave to him as their\nword for _hill_ precisely the same word that a century and a quarter\nbefore the French had found among them as their highest term for\nGod;[226-2] reversing the example of the ancient Greeks who came in time\nto speak of Olympus, at first the proper name of a peak in Thessaly, as\nsynonymous with heaven and Jove.\n\nA parallel to this southern legend occurs among the Six Nations of the\nnorth. They with one consent, if we may credit the account of Cusic,\nlooked to a mountain near the falls of the Oswego River in the State of\nNew York, as the locality where their forefathers first saw the light of\nday, and that they had some such legend the name Oneida, people of the\nStone, would seem to testify.\n\nThe cave of Pacari Tampu, the Lodgings of the Dawn, was five leagues\ndistant from Cuzco, surrounded by a sacred grove and inclosed with\ntemples of great antiquity. From its hallowed recesses the mythical\ncivilizers of Peru, the first of men, emerged, and in it during the time\nof the flood, the remnants of the race escaped the fury of the\nwaves.[227-1] Viracocha himself is said to have dwelt there, though it\nhardly needed this evidence to render it certain that this consecrated\ncavern is but a localization of the general myth of the dawn rising from\nthe deep. It refers us for its prototype to the Aymara allegory of the\nmorning light flinging its beams like snow-white foam athwart the waves\nof Lake Titicaca.\n\nAn ancient legend of the Aztecs derived their nation from a place called\nChicomoztoc, the Seven Caverns, located north of Mexico. Antiquaries\nhave indulged in all sorts of speculations as to what this means.\nSahagun explains it as a valley so named; Clavigero supposes it to have\nbeen a city; Hamilton Smith, and after him Schoolcraft, construed\ncaverns to be a figure of speech for the _boats_ in which the early\nAmericans paddled across from Asia(!); the Abb\u00e9 Brasseur confounds it\nwith Aztlan, and very many have discovered in it a distinct reference\nto the fabulous \"seven cities of Cibola\" and the Casas Grandes, ruins of\nlarge buildings of unburnt brick in the valley of the River Gila. From\nthis story arose the supposed sevenfold division of the Nahuas, a\ndivision which never existed except in the imagination of Europeans.\nWhen Torquemada adds that _seven_ hero gods ruled in Chicomoztoc and\nwere the progenitors of all its inhabitants, when one of them turns out\nto be Xelhua, the giant who with six others escaped the flood by\nascending the mountain of Tlaloc in the terrestrial paradise and\nafterwards built the pyramid of Cholula, and when we remember that in\none of the flood-myths _seven_ persons were said to have escaped the\nwaters, the whole narrative acquires a fabulous aspect that shuts it out\nfrom history, and brands it as one of those fictions of the origin of\nman from the earth so common to the race. Fictions yet truths; for\ncaverns and hollow trees were in fact the houses and temples of our\nfirst parents, and from them they went forth to conquer and adorn the\nworld; and from the inorganic constituents of the soil acted on by\nLight, touched by Divine Force, vivified by the Spirit, did in reality\nthe first of men proceed.\n\nThis cavern, which thus dimly lingered in the memories of nations,\noccasionally expanded to a nether world, imagined to underlie this of\nours, and still inhabited by beings of our kind, who have never been\nlucky enough to discover its exit. The Mandans and Minnetarees on the\nMissouri River supposed this exit was near a certain hill in their\nterritory, and as it had been, as it were, the womb of the earth, the\nsame power was attributed to it that in ancient times endowed certain\nshrines with such charms; and thither the barren wives of their nation\nmade frequent pilgrimages when they would become mothers.[229-1] The\nMandans added the somewhat puerile fable that the means of ascent had\nbeen a grapevine, by which many ascended and descended, until one day an\nimmoderately fat old lady, anxious to get a look at the upper earth,\nbroke it with her weight, and prevented any further communication.\n\nSuch tales of an under-world are very frequent among the Indians, and\nare a very natural outgrowth of the literal belief that the race is\nearth-born.\n\nMan is indeed like the grass that springs up and soon withers away; but\nhe is also more than this. The quintessence of dust, he is a son of the\ngods as well as a son of the soil. He is the direct product of the great\ncreative power; therefore all the Athapascan tribes west of the Rocky\nMountains--the Kenai, the Kolushes, and the Atnai--claim descent from a\nraven--from that same mighty cloud-bird, who in the beginning of things\nseized the elements and brought the world from the abyss of the\nprimitive ocean. Those of the same stock situate more eastwardly, the\nDogribs, the Chepewyans, the Hare Indians, and also the west coast\nEskimos, and the natives of the Aleutian Isles, all believe that they\nhave sprung from a dog.[229-2] The latter animal, we have already seen,\nboth in the old and new world was the fixed symbol of the water goddess.\nTherefore in these myths, which are found over so many thousand square\nleagues, we cannot be in error in perceiving a reflex of their\ncosmogonical traditions already discussed, in which from the winds and\nthe waters, represented here under their emblems of the bird and the\ndog, all animate life proceeded.\n\nWithout this symbolic coloring, a tribe to the south of them, a band of\nthe Minnetarees, had the crude tradition that their first progenitor\nemerged from the waters, bearing in his hand an ear of maize,[230-1]\nvery much as Viracocha and his companions rose from the sacred waves of\nLake Titicaca, or as the Moxos imagined that they were descended from\nthe lakes and rivers on whose banks their villages were situated.\n\nThese myths, and many others, hint of general conceptions of life and\nthe world, wide-spread theories of ancient date, such as we are not\naccustomed to expect among savage nations, such as may very excusably\nexcite a doubt as to their native origin, but a doubt infallibly\ndispelled by a careful comparison of the best authorities. Is it that\nhitherto, in the pride of intellectual culture, we have never done\njustice to the thinking faculty of those whom we call barbarians? Or\nshall we accept the only other alternative, that these are the\nunappreciated heirlooms bequeathed a rude race by a period of higher\ncivilization, long since extinguished by constant wars and ceaseless\nfear? We are not yet ready to answer these questions. With almost\nunanimous consent the latter has been accepted as the true solution, but\nrather from the preconceived theory of a state of primitive\ncivilization from which man fell, than from ascertained facts.\n\nIt would, perhaps, be pushing symbolism too far to explain as an emblem\nof the primitive waters the coyote, which, according to the Root-Diggers\nof California, brought their ancestors into the world; or the wolf,\nwhich the Lenni Lenape pretended released mankind from the dark bowels\nof the earth by scratching away the soil. They should rather be\ninterpreted by the curious custom of the Toukaways, a wild people in\nTexas, of predatory and unruly disposition. They celebrate their origin\nby a grand annual dance. One of them, naked as he was born, is buried in\nthe earth. The others, clothed in wolf-skins, walk over him, snuff\naround him, howl in lupine style, and finally dig him up with their\nnails. The leading wolf then solemnly places a bow and arrow in his\nhands, and to his inquiry as to what he must do for a living, paternally\nadvises him \"to do as the wolves do--rob, kill, and murder, rove from\nplace to place, and never cultivate the soil.\"[231-1] Most wise and\nfatherly counsel! But what is there new under the sun? Three thousand\nyears ago the Hirpini, or Wolves, an ancient Sabine tribe, were wont to\ncollect on Mount Soracte, and there go through certain rites in memory\nof an oracle which predicted their extinction when they ceased to gain\ntheir living as wolves by violence and plunder. Therefore they dressed\nin wolf-skins, ran with barks and howls over burning coals, and gnawed\nwolfishly whatever they could seize.[231-2]\n\nThough hasty writers have often said that the Indian tribes claim\nliteral descent from different wild beasts, probably in all other\ninstances, as in these, this will prove, on examination, to be an error\nresting on a misapprehension arising from the habit of the natives of\nadopting as their totem or clan-mark the figure and name of some animal,\nor else, in an ignorance of the animate symbols employed with such\nmarked preference by the red race to express abstract ideas. In some\ncases, doubtless, the natives themselves came, in time, to confound the\nsymbol with the idea, by that familiar process of personification and\nconsequent debasement exemplified in the history of every religion; but\nI do not believe that a single example could be found where an Indian\ntribe had a tradition whose real purport was that man came by natural\nprocess of descent from an ancestor, a brute.\n\nThe reflecting mind will not be offended at the contradictions in these\ndifferent myths, for a myth is, in one sense, a theory of natural\nphenomena expressed in the form of a narrative. Often several\nexplanations seem equally satisfactory for the same fact, and the mind\nhesitates to choose, and rather accepts them all than rejects any. Then,\nagain, an expression current as a metaphor by-and-by crystallizes into a\ndogma, and becomes the nucleus of a new mythological growth. These are\nfamiliar processes to one versed in such studies, and involve no logical\ncontradiction, because they are never required to be reconciled.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[223-1] _Vocabulario Quiche_, s. v., ed. Brasseur, Paris, 1862.\n\n[223-2] The Eskimo _innuk_, man, means also a possessor or owner; the\nyelk[TN-10] of an egg; and the pus of an abscess (Egede, _Nachrichten von\nGr\u00f6nland_, p. 106). From it is derived _innuwok_, to live, life. Probably\n_innuk_ also means the _semen masculinum_, and in its identification with\npus, may not there be the solution of that strange riddle which in so\nmany myths of the West Indies and Central America makes the first of men\nto be \"the purulent one?\" (See ante, p. 135.)\n\n[224-1] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urrelig._, pp. 109, 229.\n\n[224-2] D'Orbigny, _Frag. d'une Voy. dans l'Am\u00e9r. M\u00e9rid._, p. 512. It is\nstill a mooted point whence Shakspeare drew the plot of The Tempest. The\ncoincidence mentioned in the text between some parts of it and South\nAmerican mythology does not stand alone. Caliban, the savage and brutish\nnative of the island, is undoubtedly the word Carib, often spelt\nCaribani, and Calibani in older writers; and his \"dam's god Setebos\" was\nthe supreme divinity of the Patagonians when first visited by Magellan.\n(Pigafetta, _Viaggio intorno al Globo_, Germ. Trans.: Gotha, 1801, p.\n247.)\n\n[224-3] Both Lederer and John Bartram assign it this meaning. Gallatin\ngives in the Powhatan dialect the word for mountain as _pomottinke_,\ndoubtless another form of the same.\n\n[225-1] Marcy, _Exploration of the Red River_, p. 69.\n\n[226-1] Compare Romans, _Hist. of Florida_, pp. 58, 71; Adair, _Hist. of\nthe North Am. Indians_, p. 195; and Gregg, _Commerce of the Prairies_,\nii. p. 235. The description of the mound is by Major Heart, in the\n_Trans. of the Am. Philos. Soc._, iii. p. 216. (1st series.)\n\n[226-2] The French writers give for Great Spirit _coyocopchill_; Gallatin\nfor hill, _kweya koopsel_. The blending of these two ideas, at first\nsight so remote, is easily enough explained when we remember that on \"the\nhill of heaven\" in all religions is placed the throne of the mightiest of\nexistences. The Natchez word can be analyzed as follows: _sel_, _sil_, or\n_chill_, great; _cop_, a termination very frequent in their language,\napparently signifying existence; _kweya_, _coyo_, for _kue ya_, from the\nMaya _kue_, god; the great living God. The Tarahumara language of Sonora\noffers an almost parallel instance. In it _regui_, is _above_[TN-11], up,\nover, _reguiki_, heaven, _reguiguiki_, a hill or mountain (Buschmann,\n_Spuren der Aztek. Sprache im n\u00f6rd. Mexico_, p. 244). In the Quich\u00e9\ndialects _tepeu_ is lord, ruler, and is often applied to the Supreme\nBeing. With some probability Brasseur derives it from the Aztec _tepetl_,\nmountain (_Hist. du Mexique_, i. p. 106).\n\n[227-1] Balboa, _Hist. du P\u00e9rou_, p. 4.\n\n[229-1] Long's _Expedition to the Rocky Mountains_, i. p. 274; Catlin's\n_Letters_, i. p. 178.\n\n[229-2] Richardson, _Arctic Expedition_, pp. 239, 247; Klemm,\n_Culturgeschichte der Menschheit_, ii. p. 316.\n\n[230-1] Long, _Exped. to the Rocky Mountains_, i. p. 326.\n\n[231-1] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 683.\n\n[231-2] Schwarz, _Ursprung der Mythologie_, p. 121.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE SOUL AND ITS DESTINY.\n\n     Universality of the belief in a soul and a future state\n     shown by the aboriginal tongues, by expressed opinions,\n     and by sepulchral rites.--The future world never a place\n     of rewards and punishments.--The house of the Sun the\n     heaven of the red man.--The terrestrial paradise and the\n     under-world.--\u00c7upay.--Xibalba.--Mictlan.--Metempsychosis?--Belief\n     in a resurrection of the dead almost universal.\n\n\nThe missionary Charlevoix wrote several excellent works on America\ntoward the beginning of the last century, and he is often quoted by\nlater authors; but probably no one of his sayings has been thus honored\nmore frequently than this: \"The belief the best established among our\nAmericans is that of the immortality of the soul.\"[233-1] The tremendous\nstake that every one of us has on the truth of this dogma makes it quite\na satisfaction to be persuaded that no man is willing to live wholly\nwithout it. Certainly exceptions are very rare, and most of those which\nmaterialistic philosophers have taken such pains to collect, rest on\nmisunderstandings or superficial observation.\n\nIn the new world I know of only one well authenticated instance where\nall notion of a future state appears to have been entirely wanting, and\nthis in quite a small clan, the Lower Pend d'Oreilles, of Oregon. This\npeople had no burial ceremonies, no notion of a life hereafter, no word\nfor soul, spiritual existence, or vital principle. They thought that\nwhen they died, that was the last of them. The Catholic missionaries who\nundertook the unpromising task of converting them to Christianity, were\nat first obliged to depend upon the imperfect translations of half-breed\ninterpreters. These \"made the idea of soul intelligible to their hearers\nby telling them they had a gut which never rotted, and that this was\ntheir living principle!\" Yet even they were not destitute of religious\nnotions. No tribe was more addicted to the observance of charms, omens,\ndreams, and guardian spirits, and they believed that illness and bad\nluck generally were the effects of the anger of a fabulous old\nwoman.[234-1] The aborigines of the Californian peninsula were as near\nbeasts as men ever become. The missionaries likened them to \"herds of\nswine, who neither worshipped the true and only God, nor adored false\ndeities.\" Yet they must have had some vague notion of an\nafter.world[TN-12], for the writer who paints the darkest picture of\ntheir condition remarks, \"I saw them frequently putting shoes on the\nfeet of the dead, which seems to indicate that they entertain the idea\nof a journey after death.\"[234-2]\n\nProof of Charlevoix's opinion may be derived from three independent\nsources. The aboriginal languages may be examined for terms\ncorresponding to the word soul, the opinions of the Indians themselves\nmay be quoted, and the significance of sepulchral rites as indicative of\na belief in life after death may be determined.\n\nThe most satisfactory is the first of these. _We_ call the soul a ghost\nor spirit, and often a shade. In these words, the _breath_ and the\n_shadow_ are the sensuous perceptions transferred to represent the\nimmaterial object of our thought. Why the former was chosen, I have\nalready explained; and for the latter, that it is man's intangible\nimage, his constant companion, and is of a nature akin to darkness,\nearth, and night, are sufficiently obvious reasons.\n\nThese same tropes recur in American languages in the same connection.\nThe New England tribes called the soul _chemung_, the shadow, and in\nQuich\u00e9 _natub_, in Eskimo _tarnak_, express both these ideas. In Mohawk\n_atonritz_, the soul, is from _atonrion_, to breathe, and other examples\nto the same purpose have already been given.[235-1]\n\nOf course no one need demand that a strict immateriality be attached to\nthese words. Such a colorless negative abstraction never existed for\nthem, neither does it for us, though we delude ourselves into believing\nthat it does. The soul was to them the invisible man, material as ever,\nbut lost to the appreciation of the senses.\n\nNor let any one be astonished if its unity was doubted, and several\nsupposed to reside in one body. This is nothing more than a somewhat\ngross form of a doctrine upheld by most creeds and most philosophies. It\nseems the readiest solution of certain psychological enigmas, and may,\nfor aught we know, be an instinct of fact. The Rabbis taught a threefold\ndivision--_nephesh_, the animal, _ruah_, the human, and _neshamah_, the\ndivine soul, which corresponds to that of Plato into _thumos_,\n_epithumia_, and _nous_. And even Saint Paul seems to have recognized\nsuch inherent plurality when he distinguishes between the bodily soul,\nthe intellectual soul, and the spiritual gift, in his Epistle to the\nRomans. No such refinements of course as these are to be expected among\nthe red men; but it may be looked upon either as the rudiments of these\nteachings, or as a gradual debasement of them to gross and material\nexpression, that an old and wide-spread notion was found among both\nIroquois and Algonkins, that man has two souls, one of a vegetative\ncharacter, which gives bodily life, and remains with the corpse after\ndeath, until it is called to enter another body; another of more\nethereal texture, which in life can depart from the body in sleep or\ntrance, and wander over the world, and at death goes directly to the\nland of Spirits.[236-1]\n\nThe Sioux extended it to Plato's number, and are said to have looked\nforward to one going to a cold place, another to a warm and comfortable\ncountry, while the third was to watch the body. Certainly a most\nimpartial distribution of rewards and punishments.[237-1] Some other\nDakota tribes shared their views on this point, but more commonly,\ndoubtless owing to the sacredness of the number, imagined _four_ souls,\nwith separate destinies, one to wander about the world, one to watch the\nbody, the third to hover around the village, and the highest to go to\nthe spirit land.[237-2] Even this number is multiplied by certain Oregon\ntribes, who imagine one in every member; and by the Caribs of\nMartinique, who, wherever they could detect a pulsation, located a\nspirit, all subordinate, however, to a supreme one throned in the heart,\nwhich alone would be transported to the skies at death.[237-3] For the\nheart that so constantly sympathizes with our emotions and actions, is,\nin most languages and most nations, regarded as the seat of life; and\nwhen the priests of bloody religions tore out the heart of the victim\nand offered it to the idol, it was an emblem of the life that was thus\ntorn from the field of this world and consecrated to the rulers of the\nnext.\n\nVarious motives impel the living to treat with respect the body from\nwhich life has departed. Lowest of them is a superstitious dread of\ndeath and the dead. The stoicism of the Indian, especially the northern\ntribes, in the face of death, has often been the topic of poets, and has\noften been interpreted to be a fearlessness of that event. This is by\nno means true. Savages have an awful horror of death; it is to them the\nworst of ills; and for this very reason was it that they thought to meet\nit without flinching was the highest proof of courage. Everything\nconnected with the deceased was, in many tribes, shunned with\nsuperstitious terror. His name was not mentioned, his property left\nuntouched, all reference to him was sedulously avoided. A Tupi tribe\nused to hurry the body at once to the nearest water, and toss it in; the\nAkanzas left it in the lodge and burned over it the dwelling and\ncontents; and the Algonkins carried it forth by a hole cut opposite the\ndoor, and beat the walls with sticks to fright away the lingering ghost.\nBurying places were always avoided, and every means taken to prevent the\ndeparted spirits exercising a malicious influence on those remaining\nbehind.\n\nThese craven fears do but reveal the natural repugnance of the animal to\na cessation of existence, and arise from the instinct of\nself-preservation essential to organic life. Other rites, undertaken\navowedly for the behoof of the soul, prove and illustrate a simple but\nunshaken faith in its continued existence after the decay of the body.\n\nNone of these is more common or more natural than that which attributes\nto the emancipated spirit the same wants that it felt while on earth,\nand with loving foresight provides for their satisfaction. Clothing and\nutensils of war and the chase were, in ancient times, uniformly placed\nby the body, under the impression that they would be of service to the\ndeparted in his new home. Some few tribes in the far west still retain\nthe custom, but most were soon ridiculed into its neglect, or were\nforced to omit it by the violation of tombs practised by depraved whites\nin hope of gain. To these harmless offerings the northern tribes often\nadded a dog slain on the grave; and doubtless the skeletons of these\nanimals in so many tombs in Mexico and Peru point to similar customs\nthere. It had no deeper meaning than to give a companion to the spirit\nin its long and lonesome journey to the far off land of shades. The\npeculiar appropriateness of the dog arose not only from the guardianship\nit exerts during life, but further from the symbolic signification it so\noften had as representative of the goddess of night and the grave.\n\nWhere a despotic form of government reduced the subject almost to the\nlevel of a slave and elevated the ruler almost to that of a superior\nbeing, not animals only, but men, women, and children were frequently\nimmolated at the tomb of the cacique. The territory embraced in our own\ncountry was not without examples of this horrid custom. On the lower\nMississippi, the Natchez Indians brought it with them from Central\nAmerica in all its ghastliness. When a sun or chief died, one or several\nof his wives and his highest officers were knocked on the head and\nburied with him, and at such times the barbarous privilege was allowed\nto any of the lowest caste to at once gain admittance to the highest by\nthe deliberate murder of their own children on the funeral pyre--a\nprivilege which respectable writers tell us human beings were found base\nenough to take advantage of.[239-1]\n\nOviedo relates that in the province of Guataro, in Guatemala, an actual\nrivalry prevailed among the people to be slain at the death of their\ncacique, for they had been taught that only such as went with him would\never find their way to the paradise of the departed.[240-1] Theirs was\ntherefore somewhat of a selfish motive, and only in certain parts of\nPeru, where polygamy prevailed, and the rule was that only one wife was\nto be sacrificed, does the deportment of husbands seem to have been so\ncreditable that their widows actually disputed one with another for the\npleasure of being buried alive with the dead body, and bearing their\nspouse company to the other world.[240-2] Wives who have found few\nparallels since the famous matron of Ephesus!\n\nThe fire built nightly on the grave was to light the spirit on his\njourney. By a coincidence to be explained by the universal sacredness of\nthe number, both Algonkins and Mexicans maintained it for _four_ nights\nconsecutively. The former related the tradition that one of their\nancestors returned from the spirit land and informed their nation that\nthe journey thither consumed just _four_ days, and that collecting fuel\nevery night added much to the toil and fatigue the soul encountered, all\nof which could be spared it by the relatives kindling nightly a fire on\nthe grave. Or as Longfellow has told it:--\n\n   \"Four days is the spirit's journey\n    To the land of ghosts and shadows,\n    Four its lonely night encampments.\n    Therefore when the dead are buried,\n    Let a fire as night approaches\n    Four times on the grave be kindled,\n    That the soul upon its journey\n    May not grope about in darkness.\"\n\nThe same length of time, say the Navajos, does the departed soul wander\nover a gloomy marsh ere it can discover the ladder leading to the world\nbelow, where are the homes of the setting and the rising sun, a land of\nluxuriant plenty, stocked with game and covered with corn. To that land,\nsay they, sink all lost seeds and germs which fall on the earth and do\nnot sprout. There below they take root, bud, and ripen their\nfruit.[241-1]\n\nAfter four days, once more, in the superstitions of the Greenland\nEskimos, does the soul, for that term after death confined in the body,\nat last break from its prison-house and either rise in the sky to dance\nin the aurora borealis or descend into the pleasant land beneath the\nearth, according to the manner of death.[241-2]\n\nThat there are logical contradictions in this belief and these\nceremonies, that the fire is always in the same spot, that the weapons\nand utensils are not carried away by the departed, and that the food\nplaced for his sustenance remains untouched, is very true. But those who\nwould therefore argue that they were not intended for the benefit of the\nsoul, and seek some more recondite meaning in them as \"unconscious\nemblems of struggling faith or expressions of inward emotions,\"[242-1]\nare led astray by the very simplicity of their real intention. Where is\nthe faith, where the science, that does not involve logical\ncontradictions just as gross as these? They are tolerable to us merely\nbecause we are used to them. What value has the evidence of the senses\nanywhere against a religious faith? None whatever. A stumbling block\nthough this be to the materialist, it is the universal truth, and as\nsuch it is well to accept it as an experimental fact.\n\nThe preconceived opinions that saw in the meteorological myths of the\nIndian, a conflict between the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil,\nhave with like unconscious error falsified his doctrine of a future\nlife, and almost without an exception drawn it more or less in the\nlikeness of the Christian heaven, hell, and purgatory. Very faint traces\nof any such belief except where derived from the missionaries are\nvisible in the New World. Nowhere was any well-defined doctrine that\nmoral turpitude was judged and punished in the next-world. No contrast\nis discoverable between a place of torments and a realm of joy; at the\nworst but a negative castigation awaited the liar, the coward, or the\nniggard. The typical belief of the tribes of the United States was well\nexpressed in the reply of Esau Hajo, great medal chief and speaker for\nthe Creek nation in the National Council, to the question, Do the red\npeople believe in a future state of rewards and punishments? \"We have an\nopinion that those who have behaved well are taken under the care of\nEsaugetuh Emissee, and assisted; and that those who have behaved ill\nare left to shift for themselves; and that there is no other\npunishment.\"[243-1]\n\nNeither the delights of a heaven on the one hand, nor the terrors of a\nhell on the other, were ever held out by priests or sages as an\nincentive to well-doing, or a warning to the evil-disposed. Different\nfates, indeed, awaited the departed souls, but these rarely, if ever,\nwere decided by their conduct while in the flesh, but by the manner of\ndeath, the punctuality with which certain sepulchral rites were\nfulfilled by relatives, or other similar arbitrary circumstance beyond\nthe power of the individual to control. This view, which I am well aware\nis directly at variance with that of all previous writers, may be shown\nto be that natural to the uncultivated intellect everywhere, and the\nreal interpretation of the creeds of America. Whether these arbitrary\ncircumstances were not construed to signify the decision of the Divine\nMind on the life of the man, is a deeper question, which there is no\nmeans at hand to solve.\n\nThose who have complained of the hopeless confusion of American\nreligions have but proven the insufficiency of their own means of\nanalyzing them. The uniformity which they display in so many points is\nnowhere more fully illustrated than in the unanimity with which they all\npoint to the _sun_ as the land of the happy souls, the realm of the\nblessed, the scene of the joyous hunting-grounds of the hereafter. Its\nperennial glory, its comfortable warmth, its daily analogy to the life\nof man, marked its abode as the pleasantest spot in the universe. It\nmatters not whether the eastern Algonkins pointed to the south, others\nof their nation, with the Iroquois and Creeks, to the west, or many\ntribes to the east, as the direction taken by the spirit; all these\nmyths but mean that its bourn is the home of the sun, which is perhaps\nin the Orient whence he comes forth, in the Occident where he makes his\nbed, or in the South whither he retires in the chilling winter. Where\nthe sun lives, they informed the earliest foreign visitors, were the\nvillages of the deceased, and the milky way which nightly spans the arch\nof heaven, was, in their opinion, the road that led thither, and was\ncalled the path of the souls (_le chemin des ames_).[244-1] To _hueyu\nku_, the mansion of the sun, said the Caribs, the soul passes when death\novertakes the body.[244-2] Our knowledge is scanty of the doctrines\ntaught by the Incas concerning the soul, but this much we do know, that\nthey looked to the sun, their recognized lord and protector, as he who\nwould care for them at death, and admit them to his palaces. There--not,\nindeed, exquisite joys--but a life of unruffled placidity, void of\nlabor, vacant of strong emotions, a sort of material Nirvana, awaited\nthem.[244-3] For these reasons, they, with most other American nations,\ninterred the corpse lying east and west, and not as the traveller Meyen\nhas suggested,[244-4] from the reminiscences of some ancient migration.\nBeyond the Cordilleras, quite to the coast of Brazil, the innumerable\nhordes who wandered through the sombre tropical forests of that immense\nterritory, also pointed to the west, to the region beyond the mountains,\nas the land where the souls of their ancestors lived in undisturbed\nserenity; or, in the more brilliant imaginations of the later\ngenerations, in a state of perennial inebriety, surrounded by infinite\ncasks of rum, and with no white man to dole it out to them.[245-1] The\nnatives of the extreme south, of the Pampas and Patagonia, suppose the\nstars are the souls of the departed. At night they wander about the sky,\nbut the moment the sun rises they hasten to the cheerful light, and are\nseen no more until it disappears in the west. So the Eskimo of the\ndistant north, in the long winter nights when the aurora bridges the sky\nwith its changing hues and arrowy shafts of light, believes he sees the\nspirits of his ancestors clothed in celestial raiment, disporting\nthemselves in the absence of the sun, and calls the phenomenon _the\ndance of the dead_.\n\nThe home of the sun was the heaven of the red man; but to this joyous\nabode not every one without distinction, no miscellaneous crowd, could\ngain admittance. The conditions were as various as the national\ntemperaments. As the fierce gods of the Northmen would admit no soul to\nthe banquets of Walhalla but such as had met the \"spear-death\" in the\nbloody play of war, and shut out pitilessly all those who feebly\nbreathed their last in the \"straw death\" on the couch of sickness, so\nthe warlike Aztec race in Nicaragua held that the shades of those who\ndied in their beds went downward and to naught; but of those who fell\nin battle for their country to the east, \"to the place whence comes the\nsun.\"[246-1] In ancient Mexico not only the warriors who were thus\nsacrificed on the altar of their country, but with a delicate and\npoetical sense of justice that speaks well for the refinement of the\nrace, also those women who perished in child-birth, were admitted to the\nhome of the sun. For are not they also heroines in the battle of life?\nAre they not also its victims? And do they not lay down their lives for\ncountry and kindred? Every morning, it was imagined, the heroes came\nforth in battle array, and with shout and song and the ring of weapons,\naccompanied the sun to the zenith, where at every noon the souls of the\nmothers, the Cihuapipilti, received him with dances, music, and flowers,\nand bore him company to his western couch.[246-2] Except these,\nnone--without, it may be, the victims sacrificed to the gods, and this\nis doubtful--were deemed worthy of the highest heaven.\n\nA mild and unwarlike tribe of Guatemala, on the other hand, were\npersuaded that to die by any other than a natural death was to forfeit\nall hope of life hereafter, and therefore left the bodies of the slain\nto the beasts and vultures.\n\nThe Mexicans had another place of happiness for departed souls, not\npromising perpetual life as the home of the sun, but unalloyed pleasure\nfor a certain term of years. This was Tlalocan, the realm of the god of\nrains and waters, the terrestrial paradise, whence flowed all the\nrivers of the earth, and all the nourishment of the race. The diseases\nof which persons died marked this destination. Such as were drowned, or\nstruck by lightning, or succumbed to humoral complaints, as dropsies and\nleprosy, were by these tokens known to be chosen as the subjects of\nTlaloc. To such, said the natives, \"death is the commencement of another\nlife, it is as waking from a dream, and the soul is no more human but\ndivine (_teot_).\" Therefore they addressed their dying in terms like\nthese: \"Sir, or lady, awake, awake; already does the dawn appear; even\nnow is the light approaching; already do the birds of yellow plumage\nbegin their songs to greet thee; already are the gayly-tinted\nbutterflies flitting around thee.\"[247-1]\n\nBefore proceeding to the more gloomy portion of the subject, to the\ndestiny of those souls who were not chosen for the better part, I must\nadvert to a curious coincidence in the religious reveries of many\nnations which finds its explanation in the belief that the house of the\nsun is the home of the blessed, and proves that this was the first\nconception of most natural religions. It is seen in the events and\nobstacles of the journey to the happy land. We everywhere hear of a\nwater which the soul must cross, and an opponent, either a dog or an\nevil spirit, which it has to contend with. We are all familiar with the\ndog Cerberus (called by Homer simply \"the dog\"), which disputed the\npassage of the river Styx over which the souls must cross; and with the\ncustom of the vikings, to be buried in a boat so that they might cross\nthe waters of Ginunga-gap to the inviting strands of Godheim. Relics of\nthis belief are found in the Koran which describes the bridge _el\nSirat_, thin as a hair and sharp as a scimetar,[TN-13] stretched in a\nsingle span from heaven to earth; in the Persian legend, where the\nrainbow arch Chinevad is flung across the gloomy depths between this\nworld and the home of the happy; and even in the current Christian\nallegory which represents the waters of the mythical Jordan rolling\nbetween us and the Celestial City.\n\nHow strange at first sight does it seem that the Hurons and Iroquois\nshould have told the earliest missionaries that after death the soul\nmust cross a deep and swift river on a bridge formed by a single slender\ntree most lightly supported, where it had to defend itself against the\nattacks of a dog?[248-1] If only they had expressed this belief, it\nmight have passed for a coincidence merely. But the Athapascas\n(Chepewyans) also told of a great water, which the soul must cross in a\nstone canoe; the Algonkins and Dakotas, of a stream bridged by an\nenormous snake, or a narrow and precipitous rock, and the Araucanians of\nChili of a sea in the west, in crossing which the soul was required to\npay toll to a malicious old woman. Were it unluckily impecunious, she\ndeprived it of an eye.[248-2] With the Aztecs this water was called\nChicunoapa, the Nine Rivers. It was guarded by a dog and a green dragon,\nto conciliate which the dead were furnished with slips of paper by way\nof toll. The Greenland Eskimos thought that the waters roared through\nan unfathomable abyss over which there was no other bridge than a wheel\nslippery with ice, forever revolving with fearful rapidity, or a path\nnarrow as a cord with nothing to hold on by. On the other side sits a\nhorrid old woman gnashing her teeth and tearing her hair with rage. As\neach soul approaches she burns a feather under its nose; if it faints\nshe seizes it for her prisoner, but if the soul's guardian spirit can\novercome her, it passes through in safety.[249-1]\n\nThe similarity to the passage of the soul across the Styx, and the toll\nof the obolus to Charon is in the Aztec legend still more striking, when\nwe remember that the Styx was the ninth head of Oceanus (omitting the\nCocytus, often a branch of the Styx). The Nine Rivers probably refer to\nthe nine Lords of the Night, ancient Aztec deities guarding the\nnocturnal hours, and introduced into their calendar. The Tupis and\nCaribs, the Mayas and Creeks, entertained very similar expectations.\n\nWe are to seek the explanation of these wide-spread theories of the\nsoul's journey in the equally prevalent tenet that the sun is its\ndestination, and that that luminary has his abode beyond the ocean\nstream, which in all primitive geographies rolls its waves around the\nhabitable land. This ocean stream is the water which all have to attempt\nto pass, and woe to him whom the spirit of the waters, represented\neither as the old woman, the dragon, or the dog of Hecate, seizes and\novercomes. In the lush fancy of the Orient, the spirit of the waters\nbecomes the spirit of evil, the ocean stream the abyss of hell, and\nthose who fail in the passage the damned, who are foredoomed to evil\ndeeds and endless torture.\n\nNo such ethical bearing as this was ever assigned the myth by the red\nrace before they were taught by Europeans. Father Brebeuf could only\nfind that the souls of suicides and those killed in war were supposed to\nlive apart from the others; \"but as to the souls of scoundrels,\" he\nadds, \"so far from being shut out, they are the welcome guests, though\nfor that matter if it were not so, their paradise would be a total\ndesert, as Huron and scoundrel (_Huron et larron_) are one and the\nsame.\"[250-1] When the Minnetarees told Major Long and the Mannicicas of\nthe La Plata the Jesuits,[250-2] that the souls of the bad fell into the\nwaters and were swept away, these are, beyond doubt, attributable either\nto a false interpretation, or to Christian instruction. No such\ndistinction is probable among savages. The Brazilian natives divided the\ndead into classes, supposing that the drowned, those killed by violence,\nand those yielding to disease, lived in separate regions; but no ethical\nreason whatever seems to have been connected with this.[250-3] If the\nconception of a place of moral retribution was known at all to the race,\nit should be found easily recognizable in Mexico, Yucatan, or Peru. But\nthe so-called \"hells\" of their religions have no such significance, and\nthe spirits of evil, who were identified by early writers with Satan, no\nmore deserve the name than does the Greek Pluto.\n\n\u00c7upay or Supay, the Shadow, in Peru was supposed to rule the land of\nshades in the centre of the earth. To him went all souls not destined to\nbe the companions of the Sun. This is all we know of his attributes; and\nthe assertion of Garcilasso de la Vega, that he was the analogue of the\nChristian Devil, and that his name was never pronounced without spitting\nand muttering a curse on his head, may be invalidated by the testimony\nof an earlier and better authority on the religion of Peru, who calls\nhim the god of rains, and adds that the famous Inca, Huayna Capac, was\nhis high priest.[251-1]\n\n\"The devil,\" says Cogolludo of the Mayas, \"is called by them\nXibilha,[TN-14] which means he who disappears or vanishes.\"[251-2] In the\nlegends of the Quich\u00e9s, the name Xibalba is given as that of the\nunder-world ruled by the grim lords One Death and Seven Deaths. The\nderivation of the name is from a root meaning to fear, from which comes\nthe term in Maya dialects for a ghost or phantom.[251-3] Under the\ninfluence of a century of Christian catechizing, the Quich\u00e9 legends\nportray this really as a place of torment, and its rulers as malignant\nand powerful; but as I have before pointed out, they do so, protesting\nthat such was not the ancient belief, and they let fall no word that\nshows that it was regarded as the destination of the morally bad. The\noriginal meaning of the name given by Cogolludo points unmistakably to\nthe simple fact of disappearance from among men, and corresponds in\nharmlessness to the true sense of those words of fear, Scheol, Hades,\nHell, all signifying hidden from sight, and only endowed with more grim\nassociations by the imaginations of later generations.[252-1]\n\nMictlanteuctli, Lord of Mictlan, from a word meaning to die, was the\nMexican Pluto. Like \u00c7upay, he dwelt in the subterranean regions, and his\npalace was named Tlalxicco, the navel of the earth. Yet he was also\nlocated in the far north, and that point of the compass and the north\nwind were named after him. Those who descended to him were oppressed by\nthe darkness of his abode, but were subjected to no other trials; nor\nwere they sent thither as a punishment, but merely from having died of\ndiseases unfitting them for Tlalocan. Mictlanteuctli was said to be the\nmost powerful of the gods. For who is stronger than Death? And who dare\ndefy the Grave? As the skald lets Odin say to Bragi: \"Our lot is\nuncertain; even on the hosts of the gods gazes the gray Fenris\nwolf.\"[252-2]\n\nThese various abodes to which the incorporeal man took flight were not\nalways his everlasting home. It will be remembered that where a\nplurality of souls was believed, one of these, soon after death,\nentered another body to recommence life on earth. Acting under this\npersuasion, the Algonkin women who desired to become mothers, flocked to\nthe couch of those about to die, in hope that the vital principle, as it\npassed from the body, would enter theirs, and fertilize their sterile\nwombs; and when, among the Seminoles of Florida, a mother died in\nchildbirth, the infant was held over her face to receive her parting\nspirit, and thus acquire strength and knowledge for its future\nuse.[253-1] So among the Tahkalis, the priest is accustomed to lay his\nhand on the head of the nearest relative of the deceased, and to blow\ninto him the soul of the departed, which is supposed to come to life in\nhis next child.[253-2] Probably, with a reference to the current\ntradition that ascribes the origin of man to the earth, and likens his\nlife to that of the plant, the Mexicans were accustomed to say that at\none time all men have been stones, and that at last they would all\nreturn to stones;[253-3] and, acting literally on this conviction, they\ninterred with the bones of the dead a small green stone, which was\ncalled the principle of life.\n\nWhether any nations accepted the doctrine of metempsychosis, and thought\nthat \"the souls of their grandams might haply inhabit a partridge,\" we\nare without the means of knowing. La Hontan denies it positively of the\nAlgonkins; but the natives of Popoyan refused to kill doves, says\nCoreal,[254-1] because they believe them inspired by the souls of the\ndeparted. And Father Ignatius Chom\u00e9 relates that he heard a woman of the\nChiriquanes in Buenos Ayres say of a fox: \"May that not be the spirit of\nmy dead daughter?\"[254-2] But before accepting such testimony as\ndecisive, we must first inquire whether these tribes believed in a\nmultiplicity of souls, whether these animals had a symbolical value, and\nif not, whether the soul was not simply presumed to put on this shape in\nits journey to the land of the hereafter: inquiries which are\nunanswered. Leaving, therefore, the question open, whether the sage of\nSamos had any disciples in the new world, another and more fruitful\ntopic is presented by their well-ascertained notions of the resurrection\nof the dead.\n\nThis seemingly extraordinary doctrine, which some have asserted was\nentirely unknown and impossible to the American Indians,[254-3] was in\nfact one of their most deeply-rooted and wide-spread convictions,\nespecially among the tribes of the eastern United States. It is\nindissolubly connected with their highest theories of a future life,\ntheir burial ceremonies, and their modes of expression. The Moravian\nBrethren give the grounds of this belief with great clearness: \"That\nthey hold the soul to be immortal, and perhaps think the body will rise\nagain, they give not unclearly to understand when they say, 'We Indians\nshall not for ever die; even the grains of corn we put under the earth,\ngrow up and become living things.' They conceive that when the soul has\nbeen a while with God, it can, if it chooses, return to earth and be\nborn again.\"[255-1] This is the highest and typical creed of the\naborigines. But instead of simply being born again in the ordinary sense\nof the word, they thought the soul would return to the bones, that these\nwould clothe themselves with flesh, and that the man would rejoin his\ntribe. That this was the real, though often doubtless the dimly\nunderstood reason of the custom of preserving the bones of the deceased,\ncan be shown by various arguments.\n\nThis practice was almost universal. East of the Mississippi nearly every\nnation was accustomed, at stated periods--usually once in eight or ten\nyears--to collect and clean the osseous remains of those of its number\nwho had died in the intervening time, and inter them in one common\nsepulchre, lined with choice furs, and marked with a mound of wood,\nstone, and earth. Such is the origin of those immense tumuli filled with\nthe mortal remains of nations and generations which the antiquary, with\nirreverent curiosity, so frequently chances upon in all portions of our\nterritory. Throughout Central America the same usage obtained in various\nlocalities, as early writers and existing monuments abundantly testify.\nInstead of interring the bones, were they those of some distinguished\nchieftain, they were deposited in the temples or the council-houses,\nusually in small chests of canes or splints. Such were the\ncharnel-houses which the historians of De Soto's expedition so often\nmention, and these are the \"arks\" which Adair and other authors, who\nhave sought to trace the descent of the Indians from the Jews, have\nlikened to that which the ancient Israelites bore with them on their\nmigrations. A widow among the Tahkalis was obliged to carry the bones of\nher deceased husband wherever she went for four years, preserving them\nin such a casket handsomely decorated with feathers.[256-1] The Caribs\nof the mainland adopted the custom for all without exception. About a\nyear after death the bones were cleaned, bleached, painted, wrapped in\nodorous balsams, placed in a wicker basket, and kept suspended from the\ndoor of their dwellings.[256-2] When the quantity of these heirlooms\nbecame burdensome, they were removed to some inaccessible cavern, and\nstowed away with reverential care. Such was the cave Ataruipe, a visit\nto which has been so eloquently described by Alexander von Humboldt in\nhis \"Views of Nature.\"\n\nSo great was the filial respect for these remains by the Indians, that\non the Mississippi, in Peru, and elsewhere, no tyranny, no cruelty, so\nembittered the indigenes against the white explorers as the sacrilegious\nsearch for treasures perpetrated among the sepulchres of past\ngenerations. Unable to understand the meaning of such deep feeling, so\nforeign to the European who, without a second thought, turns a cemetery\ninto a public square, or seeds it down in wheat, the Jesuit missionaries\nin Paraguay accuse the natives of worshipping the skeletons of their\nforefathers,[257-1] and the English in Virginia repeated it of the\nPowhatans.\n\nThe question has been debated and variously answered, whether the art of\nmummification was known and practised in America. Without entering into\nthe discussion, it is certain that preservation of the corpse by a long\nand thorough process of exsiccation over a slow fire was nothing\nunusual, not only in Peru, Popoyan, the Carib countries, and Nicaragua,\nbut among many of the tribes north of the Gulf of Mexico, as I have\nelsewhere shown.[257-2] The object was essentially the same as when the\nbones alone were preserved; and in the case of rulers, the same homage\nwas often paid to their corpses as had been the just due of their living\nbodies.\n\nThe opinion underlying all these customs was, that a part of the soul,\nor one of the souls, dwelt in the bones; that these were the seeds\nwhich, planted in the earth, or preserved unbroken in safe places,\nwould, in time, put on once again a garb of flesh, and germinate into\nliving human beings. Language illustrates this not unusual theory. The\nIroquois word for bone is _esken_--for soul, _atisken_, literally that\nwhich is within the bone.[257-3] In an Athapascan dialect bone is\n_yani_, soul _i-yune_.[257-4] The Hebrew Rabbis taught that in the bone\n_lutz_, the coccyx, remained at death the germ of a second life, which,\nat the proper time, would develop into the purified body, as the plant\nfrom the seed.\n\nBut mythology and supersitions[TN-15] add more decisive testimony. One of\nthe Aztec legends of the origin of man was, that after one of the\ndestructions of the world the gods took counsel together how to renew\nthe species. It was decided that one of their number, Xolotl, should\ndescend to Mictlan, the realm of the dead, and bring thence a bone of\nthe perished race. The fragments of this they sprinkled with blood, and\non the fourth day it grew into a youth, the father of the present\nrace.[258-1] The profound mystical significance of this legend is\nreflected in one told by the Quich\u00e9s, in which the hero gods Hunahpu and\nXblanque succumb to the rulers of Xibalba, the darksome powers of death.\nTheir bodies are burned, but their bones are ground in a mill and thrown\nin the waters, lest they should come to life. Even this precaution is\ninsufficient--\"for these ashes did not go far; they sank to the bottom\nof the stream, where, in the twinkling of an eye, they were changed into\nhandsome youths, and their very same features appeared anew. On the\nfifth day they displayed themselves anew, and were seen in the water by\nthe people,\"[258-2] whence they emerged to overcome and destroy the\npowers of death and hell (Xibalba).\n\nThe strongest analogies to these myths are offered by the superstitious\nrites of distant tribes. Some of the Tupis of Brazil were wont on the\ndeath of a relative to dry and pulverize his bones and then mix them\nwith their food, a nauseous practice they defended by asserting that the\nsoul of the dead remained in the bones and lived again in the\nliving.[259-1] Even the lower animals were supposed to follow the same\nlaw. Hardly any of the hunting tribes, before their original manners\nwere vitiated by foreign influence, permitted the bones of game slain in\nthe chase to be broken, or left carelessly about the encampment. They\nwere collected in heaps, or thrown into the water. Mrs. Eastman observes\nthat even yet the Dakotas deem it an omen of ill luck in the hunt, if\nthe dogs gnaw the bones or a woman inadvertently steps over them; and\nthe Chipeway interpreter, John Tanner, speaks of the same fear among\nthat tribe. The Yurucares of Bolivia carried it to such an inconvenient\nextent, that they carefully put by even small fish bones, saying that\nunless this was done the fish and game would disappear from the\ncountry.[259-2] The traveller on our western prairies often notices the\nbuffalo skulls, countless numbers of which bleach on those vast plains,\narranged in circles and symmetrical piles by the careful hands of the\nnative hunters. The explanation they offer for this custom gives the key\nto the whole theory and practice of preserving the osseous relics of the\ndead, as well human as brute. They say that, \"the bones contain the\nspirits of the slain animals, and that some time in the future they will\nrise from the earth, re-clothe themselves with flesh, and stock the\nprairies anew.\"[259-3] This explanation, which comes to us from\nindisputable authority, sets forth in its true light the belief of the\nred race in a resurrection. It is not possible to trace it out in the\nsubtleties with which theologians have surrounded it as a dogma. The\nvery attempt would be absurd. They never occurred to the Indian. He\nthought that the soul now enjoying the delights of the happy hunting\ngrounds would some time return to the bones, take on flesh, and live\nagain. Such is precisely the much discussed statement that Garcilasso de\nla Vega says he often heard from the native Peruvians. He adds that so\ncareful were they lest any of the body should be lost that they\npreserved even the parings of their nails and clippings of the\nhair.[260-1] In contradiction to this the writer Acosta has been quoted,\nwho says that the Peruvians embalmed their dead because they \"had no\nknowledge that the bodies should rise with the soul.\"[260-2] But,\nrightly understood, this is a confirmation of La Vega's account. Acosta\nmeans that the Christian doctrine of the body rising from the dust being\nunknown to the Peruvians (which is perfectly true), they preserved the\nbody just as it was, so that the soul when it returned to earth, as all\nexpected, might not be at a loss for a house of flesh.\n\nThe notions thus entertained by the red race on the resurrection are\npeculiar to it, and stand apart from those of any other. They did not\nlook for the second life to be either better or worse than the present\none; they regarded it neither as a reward nor a punishment to be sent\nback to the world of the living; nor is there satisfactory evidence that\nit was ever distinctly connected with a moral or physical theory of the\ndestiny of the universe, or even with their prevalent expectation of\nrecurrent epochs in the course of nature. It is true that a writer whose\npersonal veracity is above all doubt, Mr. Adam Hodgson, relates an\nancient tradition of the Choctaws, to the effect that the present world\nwill be consumed by a general conflagration, after which it will be\nreformed pleasanter than it now is, and that then the spirits of the\ndead will return to the bones in the bone mounds, flesh will knit\ntogether their loose joints, and they shall again inhabit their ancient\nterritory.[261-1]\n\nThere was also a similar belief among the Eskimos. They said that in the\ncourse of time the waters would overwhelm the land, purify it of the\nblood of the dead, melt the icebergs, and wash away the steep rocks. A\nwind would then drive off the waters, and the new land would be peopled\nby reindeers and young seals. Then would He above blow once on the bones\nof the men and twice on those of the women, whereupon they would at once\nstart into life, and lead thereafter a joyous existence.[261-2]\n\nBut though there is nothing in these narratives alien to the course of\nthought in the native mind, yet as the date of the first is recent\n(1820), as they are not supported (so far as I know) by similar\ntraditions elsewhere, and as they may have arisen from Christian\ndoctrines of a millennium, I leave them for future investigation.\n\nWhat strikes us the most in this analysis of the opinions entertained by\nthe red race on a future life is the clear and positive hope of a\nhereafter, in such strong contrast to the feeble and vague notions of\nthe ancient Israelites, Greeks, and Romans, and yet the entire inertness\nof this hope in leading them to a purer moral life. It offers another\nproof that the fulfilment of duty is in its nature nowise connected with\nor derived from a consideration of ultimate personal consequences. It is\nanother evidence that the religious is wholly distinct from the moral\nsentiment, and that the origin of ethics is not to be sought in\nconnection with the ideas of divinity and responsibility.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[233-1] _Journal Historique_, p. 351: Paris, 1740.\n\n[234-1] _Rep. of the Commissioner of Ind. Affairs_, 1854, pp. 211, 212.\nThe old woman is once more a personification of the water and the moon.\n\n[234-2] B\u00e6gert, _Acc. of the Aborig. Tribes of the Californian\nPeninsula_, translated by Chas. Rau, in Ann. Rep. Smithson. Inst., 1866,\np. 387.\n\n[235-1] Of the Nicaraguans Oviedo says: \"Ce n'est pas leur coeur qui va\nen haut, mais ce qui les faisait vivre; c'est-\u00e0-dire, le souffle qui leur\nsort par la bouche, et que l'on nomme _Julio_\" (_Hist. du Nicaragua_, p.\n36). The word should be _yulia_, kindred with _yoli_, to live.\n(Buschmann, _Uber die Aztekischen Ortsnamen_, p. 765.) In the Aztec and\ncognate languages we have already seen that _ehecatl_ means both _wind_,\n_soul_, and _shadow_ (Buschmann, _Spuren der Aztek. Spr. in N\u00f6rdlichen\nMexico_, p. 74).\n\n[236-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1636, p. 104; \"Keating's\n_Narrative_,\" i. pp. 232, 410.\n\n[237-1] French, _Hist. Colls. of Louisiana_, iii. p. 26.\n\n[237-2] Mrs. Eastman, _Legends of the Sioux_, p. 129.\n\n[237-3] _Voy. \u00e0 la Louisiane fait en 1720_, p. 155: Paris, 1768.\n\n[239-1] Dupratz, _Hist. of Louisiana_, ii. p. 219; Dumont, _Mems. Hist.\nsur la Louisiane_, i. chap. 26.\n\n[240-1] _Rel. de la Prov. de Cueba_, p. 140.\n\n[240-2] Coreal, _Voiages aux Indes Occidentales_, ii. p. 94: Amsterdam,\n1722.\n\n[241-1] _Senate Rep. on the Ind. Tribes_, p. 358: Wash. 1867.\n\n[241-2] Egede, _Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland_, p. 145.\n\n[242-1] Alger, _Hist. of the Doctrine of a Future Life_, p. 76.\n\n[243-1] Hawkins, _Sketch of the Creek Country_, p. 80.\n\n[244-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1634, pp. 17, 18.\n\n[244-2] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 229.\n\n[244-3] La Vega, _Hist. des Incas._, lib. ii. cap. 7.\n\n[244-4] _Ueber die Ureinwohner von Peru_, p. 41.\n\n[245-1] Coreal, _Voy. aux Indes Occident._, i. p. 224; M\u00fcller, _Amer.\nUrrelig._, p. 289.\n\n[246-1] Oviedo, _Hist. du Nicaragua_, p. 22.\n\n[246-2] Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. vi. cap. 27.\n\n[247-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. x. cap. 29.\n\n[248-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1636, p. 105.\n\n[248-2] Molina, _Hist. of Chili_, ii. p. 81, and others in Waitz,\n_Anthropologie_, iii. p. 197.\n\n[249-1] _Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland aus dem Tagebuche vom Bischof Paul\nEgede_, p. 104: Kopenhagen, 1790.\n\n[250-1] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1636, p. 105.\n\n[250-2] Long's _Expedition_, i. p. 280; Waitz, _Anthropologie_, iii. p.\n531.\n\n[250-3] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 287.\n\n[251-1] Compare Garcilasso de la Vega, _Hist. des Incas._, liv. ii. chap.\nii., with _Lett. sur les Superstitions du P\u00e9rou_, p. 104. \u00c7upay is\nundoubtedly a personal form from _\u00c7upan_, a shadow. (See Holguin, _Vocab.\nde la Lengua Quichua_, p. 80: Cuzco, 1608.)\n\n[251-2] \"El que desparece \u00f4 desvanece,\" _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv.\ncap. 7.\n\n[251-3] Ximenes, _Vocab. Quich\u00e9_, p. 224. The attempt of the Abb\u00e9\nBrasseur to make of Xibalba an ancient kingdom of renown with Palenque as\nits capital, is so utterly unsupported and wildly hypothetical, as to\njustify the humorous flings which have so often been cast at antiquaries.\n\n[252-1] Scheol is from a Hebrew word, signifying to dig, to hide in the\nearth. Hades signifies the _unseen_ world. Hell Jacob Grimm derives from\n_hilan_, to conceal in the earth, and it is cognate with _hole_ and\n_hollow_.\n\n[252-2] Pennock, _Religion of the Northmen_, p. 148.\n\n[253-1] La Hontan, _Voy. dans l'Am. Sept._, i. p. 232; _Narrative of\nOceola Nikkanoche_, p. 75.\n\n[253-2] Morse, _Rep. on the Ind. Tribes_, App. p. 345.\n\n[253-3] Garcia, _Or. de los Indios_, lib. iv. cap. 26, p. 310.\n\n[254-1] _Voiages aux Indes Oc._, ii. p. 132.\n\n[254-2] _Lettres Edif. et Cur._, v. p. 203.\n\n[254-3] Alger, _Hist. of the Doctrine of a Future Life_, p. 72.\n\n[255-1] Loskiel, _Ges. der Miss. der evang. Br\u00fcder_, p. 49.\n\n[256-1] Richardson, _Arctic Expedition_, p. 260.\n\n[256-2] Gumilla, _Hist. del Orinoco_, i. pp. 199, 202, 204.\n\n[257-1] Ruis, _Conquista Espiritual del Paraguay_, p. 48, in Lafitau.\n\n[257-2] _Notes on the Floridian Peninsula_, pp. 191 sqq.\n\n[257-3] Bruyas, _Rad. Verborum Iroqu\u00e6orum_.\n\n[257-4] Buschmann, _Athapask. Sprachstamm_, pp. 182, 188.\n\n[258-1] Torquemada, _Monarquia Indiana_, lib. vi. cap. 41.\n\n[258-2] _Le Livre Sacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s_, pp. 175-177.\n\n[259-1] M\u00fcller, _Amer. Urrelig._, p. 290, after Spix.\n\n[259-2] D'Orbigny, _Annuaire des Voyages_, 1845, p. 77.\n\n[259-3] Long's _Expedition_, i. p. 278.\n\n[260-1] _Hist. des Incas_, lib. iii. chap. 7.\n\n[260-2] _Hist. of the New World_, bk. v. chap. 7.\n\n[261-1] _Travels in North America_, p. 280.\n\n[261-2] Egede, _Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland_, p. 156.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE NATIVE PRIESTHOOD.\n\n     Their titles.--Practitioners of the healing art by supernatural\n     means.--Their power derived from natural magic and the exercise of\n     the clairvoyant and mesmeric faculties.--Examples.--Epidemic\n     hysteria.--Their social position.--Their duties as religious\n     functionaries.--Terms of admission to the Priesthood.--Inner\n     organization in various nations.--Their esoteric languages and\n     secret societies.\n\n\nThus picking painfully amid the ruins of a race gone to wreck centuries\nago, thus rejecting much foreign rubbish and scrutinizing each stone\nthat lies around, if we still are unable to rebuild the edifice in its\npristine symmetry and beauty, yet we can at least discern and trace the\nground plan and outlines of the fane it raised to God. Before leaving\nthe field to the richer returns of more fortunate workmen, it will not\nbe inappropriate to add a sketch of the ministers of these religions,\nthe servants in this temple.\n\nShamans, conjurers, sorcerers, medicine men, wizards, and many another\nhard name have been given them, but I shall call them _priests_, for in\ntheir poor way, as well as any other priesthood, they set up to be the\nagents of the gods, and the interpreters of divinity. No tribe was so\ndevoid of religious sentiment as to be without them. Their power was\nterrible, and their use of it unscrupulous. Neither men nor gods, death\nnor life, the winds nor the waves, were beyond their control. Like Old\nMen of the Sea, they have clung to the neck of their nations, throttling\nall attempts at progress, binding them to the thraldom of superstition\nand profligacy, dragging them down to wretchedness and death.\nChristianity and civilization meet in them their most determined, most\nimplacable foes. But what is this but the story of priestcraft and\nintolerance everywhere, which Old Spain can repeat as well as New Spain,\nthe white race as well as the red? Blind leaders of the blind, dupers\nand duped fall into the ditch.\n\nIn their own languages they are variously called; by the Algonkins and\nDakotas, \"those knowing divine things\" and \"dreamers of the gods\"\n(_manitousiou_, _wakanwacipi_); in Mexico, \"masters or guardians of the\ndivine things\" (_teopixqui_, _teotecuhtli_); in Cherokee, their title\nmeans, \"possessed of the divine fire\" (_atsilung kelawhi_); in Iroquois,\n\"keepers of the faith\" (_honundeunt_); in Quichua, \"the learned\"\n(_amauta_); in Maya, \"the listeners\" (_cocome_). The popular term in\nFrench and English of \"medicine men\" is not such a misnomer as might be\nsupposed. The noble science of medicine is connected with divinity not\nonly by the rudest savage but the profoundest philosopher, as has been\nalready adverted to. When sickness is looked upon as the effect of the\nanger of a god, or as the malicious infliction of a sorcerer, it is\nnatural to seek help from those who assume to control the unseen world,\nand influence the fiats of the Almighty. The recovery from disease is\nthe kindliest exhibition of divine power. Therefore the earliest canons\nof medicine in India and Egypt are attributed to no less distinguished\nauthors than the gods Brahma and Thoth;[265-1] therefore the earliest\npractitioners of the healing art are universally the ministers of\nreligion.\n\nBut, however creditable this origin is to medicine, its partnership with\ntheology was no particular advantage to it. These mystical doctors\nshared the contempt still so prevalent among ourselves for a treatment\nbased on experiment and reason, and regarded the administration of\nemetics and purgatives, baths and diuretics, with a contempt quite equal\nto that of the disciples of Hahnemann. The practitioners of the rational\nschool formed a separate class among the Indians, and had nothing to do\nwith amulets, powwows, or spirits.[265-2] They were of different name\nand standing, and though held in less estimation, such valuable\nadditions to the pharmacopoeia as guaiacum, cinchona, and ipecacuanha,\nwere learned from them. The priesthood scorned such ignoble means. Were\nthey summoned to a patient, they drowned his groans in a barbarous\nclangor of instruments in order to fright away the demon that possessed\nhim; they sucked and blew upon the diseased organ, they sprinkled him\nwith water, and catching it again threw it on the ground, thus drowning\nout the disease; they rubbed the part with their hands, and exhibiting a\nbone or splinter asserted that they drew it from the body, and that it\nhad been the cause of the malady, they manufactured a little image to\nrepresent the spirit of sickness, and spitefully knocked it to pieces,\nthus vicariously destroying its prototype; they sang doleful and\nmonotonous chants at the top of their voices, screwed their\ncountenances into hideous grimaces, twisted their bodies into unheard of\ncontortions, and by all accounts did their utmost to merit the\nhonorarium they demanded for their services. A double motive spurred\nthem to spare no pains. For if they failed, not only was their\nreputation gone, but the next expert called in was likely enough to\nhint, with that urbanity so traditional in the profession, that the\nillness was in fact caused or much increased by the antagonistic nature\nof the remedies previously employed, whereupon the chances were that the\ndoctor's life fell into greater jeopardy than that of his quondam\npatient.\n\nConsidering the probable result of this treatment, we may be allowed to\ndoubt whether it redounded on the whole very much to the honor of the\nfraternity. Their strong points are rather to be looked for in the real\nknowledge gained by a solitary and reflective life, by an earnest study\nof the appearances of nature, and of those hints and forest signs which\nare wholly lost on the white man and beyond the ordinary insight of a\nnative. Travellers often tell of changes of the weather predicted by\nthem with astonishing foresight, and of information of singular accuracy\nand extent gleaned from most meagre materials. There is nothing in this\nto shock our sense of probability--much to elevate our opinion of the\nnative sagacity. They were also adepts in tricks of sleight of hand, and\nhad no mean acquaintance with what is called natural magic. They would\nallow themselves to be tied hand and foot with knots innumerable, and at\na sign would shake them loose as so many wisps of straw; they would spit\nfire and swallow hot coals, pick glowing stones from the flames, walk\nnaked through a fire, and plunge their arms to the shoulder in kettles\nof boiling water with apparent impunity.[267-1] Nor was this all. With a\nskill not inferior to that of the jugglers of India, they could plunge\nknives into vital parts, vomit blood, or kill one another out and out to\nall appearances, and yet in a few minutes be as well as ever; they could\nset fire to articles of clothing and even houses, and by a touch of\ntheir magic restore them instantly as perfect as before.[267-2] If it\nwere not within our power to see most of these miracles performed any\nnight in one of our great cities by a well dressed professional, we\nwould at once deny their possibility. As it is, they astonish us only\ntoo little.\n\nOne of the most peculiar and characteristic exhibitions of their power,\nwas to summon a spirit to answer inquiries concerning the future and the\nabsent. A great similarity marked this proceeding in all northern tribes\nfrom the Eskimos to the Mexicans. A circular or conical lodge of stout\npoles four or eight in number planted firmly in the ground, was covered\nwith skins or mats, a small aperture only being left for the seer to\nenter. Once in, he carefully closed the hole and commenced his\nincantations. Soon the lodge trembles, the strong poles shake and bend\nas with the united strength of a dozen men, and strange, unearthly\nsounds, now far aloft in the air, now deep in the ground, anon\napproaching near and nearer, reach the ears of the spectators. At length\nthe priest announces that the spirit is present, and is prepared to\nanswer questions. An indispensable preliminary to any inquiry is to\ninsert a handful of tobacco, or a string of beads, or some such douceur\nunder the skins, ostensibly for the behoof of the celestial visitor, who\nwould seem not to be above earthly wants and vanities. The replies\nreceived, though occasionally singularly clear and correct, are usually\nof that profoundly ambiguous purport which leaves the anxious inquirer\nlittle wiser than he was before. For all this, ventriloquism, trickery,\nand shrewd knavery are sufficient explanations. Nor does it materially\ninterfere with this view, that converted Indians, on whose veracity we\ncan implicitly rely, have repeatedly averred that in performing this\nrite they themselves did not move the medicine lodge; for nothing is\neasier than in the state of nervous excitement they were then in to be\nself-deceived, as the now familiar phenomenon of table-turning\nillustrates.\n\nBut there is something more than these vulgar arts now and then to be\nperceived. There are statements supported by unquestionable testimony,\nwhich ought not to be passed over in silence, and yet I cannot but\napproach them with hesitation. They are so revolting to the laws of\nexact science, so alien, I had almost said, to the experience of our\nlives. Yet is this true, or are such experiences only ignored and put\naside without serious consideration? Are there not in the history of\neach of us passages which strike our retrospective thought with awe,\nalmost with terror? Are there not in nearly every community individuals\nwho possess a mysterious power, concerning whose origin, mode of action,\nand limits, we and they are alike in the dark? I refer to such organic\nforces as are popularly summed up under the words clairvoyance,\nmesmerism, rhabdomancy, animal magnetism, physical spiritualism.\nCivilized thousands stake their faith and hope here and hereafter, on\nthe truths of these manifestations; rational medicine recognizes their\nexistence, and while it attributes them to morbid and exceptional\ninfluences, confesses its want of more exact knowledge, and refrains\nfrom barren theorizing. Let us follow her example, and hold it enough to\nshow that such powers, whatever they are, were known to the native\npriesthood as well as the modern spiritualists, and the miracle mongers\nof the Middle Ages.\n\nTheir highest development is what our ancestors called \"second sight.\"\nThat under certain conditions knowledge can pass from one mind to\nanother otherwise than through the ordinary channels of the senses, is\nfamiliarly shown by the examples of persons _en rapport_. The limit to\nthis we do not know, but it is not unlikely that clairvoyance or second\nsight is based upon it. In his autobiography, the celebrated Sac chief\nBlack Hawk, relates that his great grandfather \"was inspired by a belief\nthat at the end of four years, he should see a white man, who would be\nto him a father.\" Under the direction of this vision he travelled\neastward to a certain spot, and there, as he was forewarned, met a\nFrenchman, through whom the nation was brought into alliance with\nFrance.[269-1] No one at all versed in the Indian character will doubt\nthe implicit faith with which this legend was told and heard. But we may\nbe pardoned our scepticism, seeing there are so many chances of error.\nIt is not so with an anecdote related by Captain Jonathan Carver, a\ncool-headed English trader, whose little book of travels is an\nunquestioned authority. In 1767, he was among the Killistenoes at a time\nwhen they were in great straits for food, and depending upon the arrival\nof the traders to rescue them from starvation. They persuaded the chief\npriest to consult the divinities as to when the relief would arrive.\nAfter the usual preliminaries, this magnate announced that next day,\nprecisely when the sun reached the zenith, a canoe would arrive with\nfurther tidings. At the appointed hour the whole village, together with\nthe incredulous Englishman, was on the beach, and sure enough, at the\nminute specified, a canoe swung round a distant point of land, and\nrapidly approaching the shore brought the expected news.[270-1]\n\nCharlevoix is nearly as trustworthy a writer as Carver. Yet he\ndeliberately relates an equally singular instance.[270-2]\n\nBut these examples are surpassed by one described in the _Atlantic\nMonthly_ of July, 1866, the author of which, John Mason Brown, Esq., has\nassured me of its accuracy in every particular. Some years since, at the\nhead of a party of voyageurs, he set forth in search of a band of\nIndians somewhere on the vast plains along the tributaries of the\nCopper-mine and Mackenzie rivers. Danger, disappointment, and the\nfatigues of the road, induced one after another to turn back, until of\nthe original ten only three remained. They also were on the point of\ngiving up the apparently hopeless quest, when they were met by some\nwarriors of the very band they were seeking. These had been sent out by\none of their medicine men to find three whites, whose horses, arms,\nattire, and personal appearance he minutely described, which description\nwas repeated to Mr. Brown by the warriors before they saw his two\ncompanions. When afterwards, the priest, a frank and simple-minded man,\nwas asked to explain this extraordinary occurrence, he could offer no\nother explanation than that \"he saw them coming, and heard them talk on\ntheir journey.\"[271-1]\n\nMany tales such as these have been recorded by travellers, and however\nmuch they may shock our sense of probability, as well-authenticated\nexhibitions of a power which sways the Indian mind, and which has ever\nprejudiced it so unchangeably against Christianity and civilization,\nthey cannot be disregarded. Whether they too are but specimens of\nrefined knavery, whether they are instigations of the Devil, or whether\nthey must be classed with other facts as illustrating certain obscure\nand curious mental faculties, each may decide as the bent of his mind\ninclines him, for science makes no decision.\n\nThose nervous conditions associated with the name of Mesmer were nothing\nnew to the Indian magicians. Rubbing and stroking the sick, and the\nlaying on of hands, were very common parts of their clinical procedures,\nand at the initiations to their societies they were frequently\nexhibited. Observers have related that among the Nez Perc\u00e9s of Oregon,\nthe novice was put to sleep by songs, incantations, and \"certain passes\nof the hand,\" and that with the Dakotas he would be struck lightly on\nthe breast at a preconcerted moment, and instantly \"would drop prostrate\non his face, his muscles rigid and quivering in every fibre.\"[272-1]\n\nThere is no occasion to suppose deceit in this. It finds its parallel in\nevery race and every age, and rests on a characteristic trait of certain\nepochs and certain men, which leads them to seek the divine, not in\nthoughtful contemplation on the laws of the universe and the facts of\nself-consciousness, but in an entire immolation of the latter, a sinking\nof their own individuality in that of the spirits whose alliance they\nseek. This is an outgrowth of that ignoring of the universality of Law,\nwhich belongs to the lower stages of enlightenment.[273-1] And as this\nis never done with impunity, but with iron certainty brings its\npunishment with it, the study of the mental conditions thus evoked, and\nthe results which follow them, offers a salutary subject of reflection\nto the theologian as well as the physician. For these examples of\nnervous pathology are identical in kind, and alike in consequences,\nwhether witnessed in the primitive forests of the New World, among the\nconvulsionists of St. Medard, or in the excited scenes of a religious\nrevival in one of our own churches.\n\nSleeplessness and abstemiousness, carried to the utmost verge of human\nendurance--seclusion, and the pertinacious fixing of the mind on one\nsubject--obstinate gloating on some morbid fancy, rarely failed to bring\nabout hallucinations with all the garb of reality. Physicians are well\naware that the more frequently these diseased conditions of the mind are\nsought, the more readily they are found. Then, again, they were often\ninduced by intoxicating and narcotic herbs. Tobacco, the maguey, coca;\nin California the chucuaco; among the Mexicans the snake plant,\nollinhiqui or coaxihuitl; and among the southern tribes of our own\ncountry the cassine yupon and iris versicolor,[273-2] were used; and, it\nis even said, were cultivated for this purpose. The seer must work\nhimself up to a prophetic fury, or speechless lie in apparent death\nbefore the mind of the gods would be opened to him. Trance and ecstasy\nwere the two avenues he knew to divinity; fasting and seclusion the\nmeans employed to discover them. His ideal was of a prophet who dwelt\nfar from men, without need of food, in constant communion with divinity.\nSuch an one, in the legends of the Tupis, resided on a mountain\nglittering with gold and silver, near the river Uaupe, his only\ncompanion a dog, his only occupation dreaming of the gods. When,\nhowever, an eclipse was near, his dog would bark; and then, taking the\nform of a bird, he would fly over the villages, and learn the changes\nthat had taken place.[274-1]\n\nBut man cannot trample with impunity on the laws of his physical life,\nand the consequences of these deprivations and morbid excitements of the\nbrain show themselves in terrible pictures. Not unfrequently they were\ncarried to the pitch of raving mania, reminding one of the worst forms\nof the Berserker fury of the Scandinavians, or the Bacchic rage of\nGreece. The enthusiast, maddened with the fancies of a disordered\nintellect, would start forth from his seclusion in an access of demoniac\nfrenzy. Then woe to the dog, the child, the slave, or the woman who\ncrossed his path; for nothing but blood could satisfy his inappeasable\ncraving, and they fell instant victims to his madness. But were it a\nstrong man, he bared his arm, and let the frenzied hermit bury his teeth\nin the quivering flesh. Such is a scene at this day not uncommon on the\nnorthwest coast, and few of the natives around Milbank Sound are without\nthe scars the result of this horrid custom.[275-1]\n\nThis frenzy, terrible enough in individuals, had its most disastrous\neffects when with that peculiar facility of contagion which marks\nhysterical maladies, it swept through whole villages, transforming them\ninto bedlams filled with unrestrained madmen. Those who have studied the\nstrange and terrible mental epidemics that visited Europe in the middle\nages, such as the tarantula dance of Apulia, the chorea Germanorum, and\nthe great St. Vitus' dance, will be prepared to appreciate the nature of\na scene at a Huron village, described by Father le Jeune in 1639. A\nfestival of three days and three nights had been in progress to relieve\na woman who, from the description, seems to have been suffering from\nsome obscure nervous complaint. Toward the close of this vigil, which\nthroughout was marked by all sorts of debaucheries and excesses, all the\nparticipants seemed suddenly seized by ten thousand devils. They ran\nhowling and shrieking through the town, breaking everything destructible\nin the cabins, killing dogs, beating the women and children, tearing\ntheir garments, and scattering the fires in every direction with bare\nhands and feet. Some of them dropped senseless, to remain long or\npermanently insane, but the others continued until worn out with\nexhaustion. The Father learned that during these orgies not unfrequently\nwhole villages were consumed, and the total extirpation of some families\nhad resulted. No wonder that he saw in them the diabolical workings of\nthe prince of evil, but the physician is rather inclined to class them\nwith those cases of epidemic hysteria, the common products of violent\nand ill-directed mental stimuli.[276-1]\n\nThese various considerations prove beyond a doubt that the power of the\npriesthood did by no means rest exclusively on deception. They indorse\nand explain the assertions of converted natives, that their power as\nprophets was something real, and entirely inexplicable to themselves.\nAnd they make it easily understood how those missionaries failed who\nattempted to persuade them that all this boasted power was false. More\ncorrect views than these ought to have been suggested by the facts\nthemselves, for it is indisputable that these magicians did not\nhesitate at times to test their strength on each other. In these strange\nduels _\u00e0 l'outrance_, one would be seated opposite his antagonist,\nsurrounded with the mysterious emblems of his craft, and call upon his\ngods one after another to strike his enemy dead. Sometimes one,\n\"gathering his medicine,\" as it was termed, feeling within himself that\nhidden force of will which makes itself acknowledged even without words,\nwould rise in his might, and in a loud and severe voice command his\nopponent to die! Straightway the latter would drop dead, or yielding in\ncraven fear to a superior volition, forsake the implements of his art,\nand with an awful terror at his heart, creep to his lodge, refuse all\nnourishment, and presently perish. Still more terrible was the tyranny\nthey exerted on the superstitious minds of the masses. Let an Indian\nonce be possessed of the idea that he is bewitched, and he will probably\nreject all food, and sink under the phantoms of his own fancy.\n\nHow deep the superstitious veneration of these men has struck its roots\nin the soul of the Indian, it is difficult for civilized minds to\nconceive. Their power is currently supposed to be without any bounds,\n\"extending to the raising of the dead and the control of all laws of\nnature.\"[277-1] The grave offers no escape from their omnipotent arms.\nThe Sacs and Foxes, Algonkin tribes, think that the soul cannot leave\nthe corpse until set free by the medicine men at their great annual\nfeast;[277-2] and the Puelches of Buenos Ayres guard a profound silence\nas they pass by the tomb of some redoubted necromancer, lest they should\ndisturb his repose, and suffer from his malignant skill.[278-1]\n\nWhile thus investigating their real and supposed power over the physical\nand mental world, their strictly priestly functions, as performers of\nthe rites of religion, have not been touched upon. Among the ruder\ntribes these, indeed, were of the most rudimentary character.\nSacrifices, chiefly in the form of feasts, where every one crammed to\nhis utmost, dances, often winding up with the wildest scenes of\nlicentiousness, the repetition of long and monotonous chants, the making\nof the new fire, these are the ceremonies that satisfy the religious\nwants of savages. The priest finds a further sphere for his activity in\nmanufacturing and consecrating amulets to keep off ill luck, in\ninterpreting dreams, and especially in lifting the veil of the future.\nIn Peru, for example, they were divided into classes, who made the\nvarious means of divination specialties. Some caused the idols to speak,\nothers derived their foreknowledge from words spoken by the dead, others\npredicted by leaves of tobacco or the grains and juice of cocoa, while\nto still other classes, the shapes of grains of maize taken at random,\nthe appearance of animal excrement, the forms assumed by the smoke\nrising from burning victims, the entrails and viscera of animals, the\ncourse taken by a certain species of spider, the visions seen in\ndrunkeness,[TN-16] the flights of birds, and the directions in which\nfruits would fall, all offered so many separate fields of\nprognostication, the professors of which were distinguished by different\nranks and titles.[279-1]\n\nAs the intellectual force of the nation was chiefly centred in this\nclass, they became the acknowledged depositaries of its sacred legends,\nthe instructors in the art of preserving thought; and from their duty to\nregulate festivals, sprang the observation of the motions of the\nheavenly bodies, the adjustment of the calendars, and the pseudo-science\nof judicial astrology. The latter was carried to as subtle a pitch of\nrefinement in Mexico as in the old world; and large portions of the\nancient writers are taken up with explaining the method adopted by the\nnative astrologers to cast the horoscope, and reckon the nativity of the\nnewly-born infant.\n\nHow was this superior power obtained? What were the terms of admission\nto this privileged class? In the ruder communities the power was\nstrictly personal. It was revealed to its possessor by the character of\nthe visions he perceived at the ordeal he passed through on arriving at\npuberty; and by the northern nations was said to be the manifestation of\na more potent personal spirit than ordinary. It was not a faculty, but\nan inspiration; not an inborn strength, but a spiritual gift. The\ncurious theory of the Dakotas, as recorded by the Rev. Mr. Pond, was\nthat the necromant first wakes to consciousness as a winged seed, wafted\nhither and thither by the intelligent action of the Four Winds. In this\nform he visits the homes of the different classes of divinities, and\nlearns the chants, feasts, and dances, which it is proper for the human\nrace to observe, the art of omnipresence or clairvoyance, the means of\ninflicting and healing diseases, and the occult secrets of nature, man,\nand divinity. This is called \"dreaming of the gods.\" When this\ninstruction is completed, the seed enters one about to become a mother,\nassumes human form, and in due time manifests his powers. _Four_ such\nincarnations await it, each of increasing might, and then the spirit\nreturns to its original nothingness. The same necessity of death and\nresurrection was entertained by the Eskimos. To become of the highest\norder of priests, it was supposed requisite, says Bishop Egede, that one\nof the lower order should be drowned and eaten by sea monsters. Then,\nwhen his bones, one after another, were all washed ashore, his spirit,\nwhich meanwhile had been learning the secrets of the invisible world,\nwould return to them, and, clothed in flesh, he would go back to his\ntribe. At other times a vague and indescribable longing seizes a young\nperson, a morbid appetite possesses them, or they fall a prey to an\ninappeasable and aimless restlessness, or a causeless melancholy. These\nsigns the old priests recognize as the expression of a personal spirit\nof the higher order. They take charge of the youth, and educate him to\nthe mysteries of their craft. For months or years he is condemned to\nentire seclusion, receiving no visits but from the brethren of his\norder. At length he is initiated with ceremonies of more or less pomp\ninto the brotherhood, and from that time assumes that gravity of\ndemeanor, sententious style of expression, and general air of mystery\nand importance, everywhere deemed so eminently becoming in a doctor and\na priest. A peculiarity of the Moxos was, that they thought none\ndesignated for the office but such as had escaped from the claws of the\nSouth American tiger, which, indeed, it is said they worshipped as a\ngod.[281-1]\n\nOccasionally, in very uncultivated tribes, some family or totem claimed\na monopoly of the priesthood. Thus, among the Nez Perc\u00e8s of Oregon, it\nwas transmitted in one family from father to son and daughter, but\nalways with the proviso that the children at the proper age reported\ndreams of a satisfactory character.[281-2] Perhaps alone of the Algonkin\ntribes the Shawnees confined it to one totem, but it is remarkable that\nthe greatest of their prophets, Elskataway, brother of Tecumseh, was not\na member of this clan. From the most remote times, the Cherokees have\nhad one family set apart for the priestly office. This was when first\nknown to the whites that of the Nicotani, but its members, puffed up\nwith pride and insolence, abused their birthright so shamefully, and\nprostituted it so flagrantly to their own advantage, that with savage\njustice they were massacred to the last man. Another was appointed in\ntheir place who to this day officiates in all religious rites. They\nhave, however, the superstition, possibly borrowed from Europeans, that\nthe _seventh_ son is a natural born prophet, with the gift of healing by\ntouch.[281-3] Adair states that their former neighbors, the Choctaws,\npermitted the office of high priest, or Great Beloved Man, to remain in\none family, passing from father to eldest son, and the very influential\n_piaches_ of the Carib tribes very generally transmitted their rank and\nposition to their children.\n\nIn ancient Anahuac the prelacy was as systematic and its rules as well\ndefined, as in the Church of Rome. Except those in the service of\nHuitzilopochtli, and perhaps a few other gods, none obtained the\npriestly office by right of descent, but were dedicated to it from early\nchildhood. Their education was completed at the _Calmecac_, a sort of\necclesiastical college, where instruction was given in all the wisdom of\nthe ancients, and the esoteric lore of their craft. The art of mixing\ncolors and tracing designs, the ideographic writing and phonetic\nhieroglyphs, the songs and prayers used in public worship, the national\ntraditions and the principles of astrology, the hidden meaning of\nsymbols and the use of musical instruments, all formed parts of the\nreally extensive course of instruction they there received. When they\nmanifested a satisfactory acquaintance with this curriculum, they were\nappointed by their superiors to such positions as their natural talents\nand the use they had made of them qualified them for, some to instruct\nchildren, others to the service of the temples, and others again to take\ncharge of what we may call country parishes. Implicit subordination of\nall to the high priest of Huitzilopochtli, hereditary _pontifex\nmaximus_, chastity, or at least temperate indulgence in pleasure,\ngravity of carriage, and strict attention to duty, were laws laid upon\nall.\n\nThe state religion of Peru was conducted under the supervision of a\nhigh priest of the Inca family, and its ministers, as in Mexico, could\nbe of either sex, and hold office either by inheritance, education, or\nelection. For political reasons, the most important posts were usually\nenjoyed by relatives of the ruler, but this was usage, not law. It is\nstated by Garcilasso de la Vega[283-1] that they served in the temples\nby turns, each being on duty the fourth of a lunar month at a time. Were\nthis substantiated it would offer the only example of the regulation of\npublic life by a week of seven days to be found in the New World.\n\nIn every country there is perceptible a desire in this class of men to\nsurround themselves with mystery, and to concentrate and increase their\npower by forming an intimate alliance among themselves. They affected\nsingularity in dress and a professional costume. Bartram describes the\njunior priests of the Creeks as dressed in white robes and carrying on\ntheir head or arm \"a great owlskin, stuffed very ingeniously, as an\ninsignia of wisdom and divination. These bachelors are also\ndistinguishable from the other people by their taciturnity, grave and\nsolemn countenance, dignified step, and singing to themselves songs or\nhymns, in a low sweet voice, as they stroll about the towns.\"[283-2] The\npriests of the civilized nations adopted various modes of dress to\ntypify the divinity which they served, and their appearance was often in\nthe highest degree unprepossessing.\n\nTo add to their self-importance they pretended to converse in a tongue\ndifferent from that used in ordinary life, and the chants containing\nthe prayers and legends were often in this esoteric dialect. Fragments\nof one or two of these have floated down to us from the Aztec\npriesthood. The travellers Balboa and Coreal, mention that the temple\nservices of Peru were conducted in a language not understood by the\nmasses,[284-1] and the incantations of the priests of Powhatan were not\nin ordinary Algonkin, but some obscure jargon.[284-2] The same\npeculiarity has been observed among the Dakotas and Eskimos, and in\nthese nations, fortunately, it fell under the notice of competent\nlinguistic scholars, who have submitted it to a searching examination.\nThe results of their labors prove that certainly in these two instances\nthe supposed foreign tongues were nothing more than the ordinary\ndialects of the country modified by an affected accentuation, by the\nintroduction of a few cabalistic terms, and by the use of descriptive\ncircumlocutions and figurative words in place of ordinary expressions, a\nslang, in short, such as rascals and pedants invariably coin whenever\nthey associate.[285-1]\n\nAll these stratagems were intended to shroud with impenetrable secrecy\nthe mysteries of the brotherhood. With the same motive, the priests\nformed societies of different grades of illumination, only to be entered\nby those willing to undergo trying ordeals, whose secrets were not to be\nrevealed under the severest penalties. The Algonkins had three such\ngrades, the _waubeno_, the _meda_, and the _jossakeed_, the last being\nthe highest. To this no white man was ever admitted. All tribes appear\nto have been controlled by these secret societies. Alexander von\nHumboldt mentions one, called that of the Botuto or Holy Trumpet, among\nthe Indians of the Orinoko, whose members must vow celibacy and submit\nto severe scourgings and fasts. The Collahuayas of Peru were a guild of\nitinerant quacks and magicians, who never remained permanently in one\nspot.\n\nWithal, there was no class of persons who so widely and deeply\ninfluenced the culture and shaped the destiny of the Indian tribes, as\ntheir priests. In attempting to gain a true conception of the race's\ncapacities and history, there is no one element of their social life\nwhich demands closer attention than the power of these teachers.\nHitherto, they have been spoken of with a contempt which I hope this\nchapter shows is unjustifiable. However much we may deplore the use they\nmade of their skill, we must estimate it fairly, and grant it its due\nweight in measuring the influence of the religious sentiment on the\nhistory of man.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[265-1] Haeser, _Geschichte der Medicin_, pp. 4, 7: Jena, 1845.\n\n[265-2] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 440.\n\n[267-1] Carver, _Travels in North America_, p. 73: Boston, 1802;\n_Narrative of John Tanner_, p. 135.\n\n[267-2] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. x. cap. 20; _Le Livre\nSacr\u00e9 des Quich\u00e9s_, p. 177; _Lett. sur les Superstit. du P\u00e9rou_, pp. 89,\n91.\n\n[269-1] _Life of Black Hawk_, p. 13.\n\n[270-1] _Travs. in North America_, p. 74.\n\n[270-2] _Journal Historique_, p. 362.\n\n[271-1] Sometimes facts like this can be explained by the quickness of\nperception acquired by constant exposure to danger. The mind takes\ncognizance unconsciously of trifling incidents, the sum of which leads it\nto a conviction which the individual regards almost as an inspiration.\nThis is the explanation of _presentiments_. But this does not apply to\ncases like that of Swedenborg, who described a conflagration going on at\nStockholm, when he was at Gottenberg, three hundred miles away.\nPsychologists who scorn any method of studying the mind but through\nphysiology, are at a loss in such cases, and take refuge in refusing them\ncredence. Theologians call them inspirations either of devils or angels,\nas they happen to agree or disagree in religious views with the person\nexperiencing them. True science reserves its opinion until further\nobservation enlightens it.\n\n[272-1] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, iii. p. 287; v. p. 652.\n\n[273-1] \"The progress from deepest ignorance to highest enlightenment,\"\nremarks Herbert Spencer in his _Social Statics_, \"is a progress from\nentire unconsciousness of law, to the conviction that law is universal\nand inevitable.\"\n\n[273-2] The Creeks had, according to Hawkins, not less than seven sacred\nplants; chief of them were the cassine yupon, called by botanists _Ilex\nvomitoria_, or _Ilex cassina_, of the natural order Aquifoliace\u00e6; and the\nblue flag, _Iris versicolor_, natural order Iridace\u00e6. The former is a\npowerful diuretic and mild emetic, and grows only near the sea. The\nlatter is an active emeto-cathartic, and is abundant on swampy grounds\nthroughout the Southern States. From it was formed the celebrated \"black\ndrink,\" with which they opened their councils, and which served them in\nplace of spirits.\n\n[274-1] Martius, _Von dem Rechtzustande unter den Ureinwohnern\nBrasiliens_, p. 32.\n\n[275-1] Mr. Anderson, in the _Am. Hist. Mag._, vii. p. 79.\n\n[276-1] Such spectacles were nothing uncommon. They are frequently\nmentioned in the Jesuit Relations, and they were the chief obstacles to\nmissionary labor. In the debauches and excesses that excited these\ntemporary manias, in the recklessness of life and property they fostered,\nand in their disastrous effects on mind and body, are depicted more than\nin any other one trait the thorough depravity of the race and its\ntendency to ruin. In the quaint words of one of the Catholic fathers, \"If\nthe old proverb is true that every man has a grain of madness in his\ncomposition, it must be confessed that this is a people where each has at\nleast half an ounce\" (De Quen, _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, 1656, p. 27).\nFor the instance in the text see _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1639, pp.\n88-94.\n\n[277-1] Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes_, v. p. 423.\n\n[277-2] J. M. Stanley, in the _Smithsonian Miscellaneous Contributions_,\nii. p. 38.\n\n[278-1] D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Am\u00e9ricain_, ii. p. 81.\n\n[279-1] See Balboa, _Hist. du P\u00e9rou_, pp. 28-30.\n\n[281-1] D'Orbigny, _L'Homme Am\u00e9ricain_, ii. p. 235.\n\n[281-2] Schoolcraft, _Ind. Tribes_, v. p. 652.\n\n[281-3] Dr. Mac Gowan, in the _Amer. Hist. Mag._, x. p. 139; Whipple,\n_Rep. on the Ind. Tribes_, p. 35.\n\n[283-1] _Hist. des Incas_, lib. iii. ch. 22.\n\n[283-2] _Travels in the Carolinas_, p. 504.\n\n[284-1] _Hist. du P\u00e9rou_, p. 128; _Voiages aux Indes Occidentales_, ii.\np. 97.\n\n[284-2] Beverly, _Hist. de la Virginie_, p. 266. The dialect he specifies\nis \"celle d'Occaniches,\" and on page 252 he says, \"On dit que la langue\nuniverselle des Indiens de ces Quartiers est celle des _Occaniches_,\nquoiqu'ils ne soient qu'une petite Nation, depuis que les Anglois\nconnoissent ce Pais; mais je ne sais pas la difference qui'l y a entre\ncette langue et celle des Algonkins.\" (French trans., Orleans, 1707.)\nThis is undoubtedly the same people that Johannes Lederer, a German\ntraveller, visited in 1670, and calls _Akenatzi_. They dwelt on an\nisland, in a branch of the Chowan River, the Sapona, or Deep River\n(Lederer's _Discovery of North America_, in Harris, Voyages, p. 20).\nThirty years later the English surveyor, Lawson, found them in the same\nspot, and speaks of them as the _Acanechos_ (see _Am. Hist. Mag._, i. p.\n163). Their totem was that of the serpent, and their name is not\naltogether unlike the Tuscarora name of this animal _usquauhne_. As the\nserpent was so widely a sacred animal, this gives Beverly's remarks an\nunusual significance. It by no means follows from this name that they\nwere of Iroquois descent. Lederer travelled with a Tuscarora (Iroquois)\ninterpreter, who gave them their name in his own tongue. On the contrary,\nit is extremely probable that they were an Algonkin totem, which had the\nexclusive right to the priesthood.\n\n[285-1] Riggs, _Gram. and Dict. of the Dakota_, p. ix; Kane, _Second\nGrinnell Expedition_, ii. p. 127. Paul Egede gives a number of words and\nexpressions in the dialect of the sorcerers, _Nachrichten von Gr\u00f6nland_,\np. 122.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE INFLUENCE OF THE NATIVE RELIGIONS ON THE MORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF\nTHE RACE.\n\n     Natural religions hitherto considered of Evil rather than of\n     Good.--Distinctions to be drawn.--Morality not derived from\n     religion.--The positive side of natural religions in incarnations\n     of divinity.--Examples.--Prayers as indices of religious\n     progress.--Religion and social advancement.--Conclusion.\n\n\nDrawing toward the conclusion of my essay, I I am sensible that the vast\nfield of American mythology remains for most part untouched--that I have\nbut proved that it is not an absolute wilderness, pathless as the\ntropical jungles which now conceal the temples of the race; but that, go\nwhere we will, certain landmarks and guide-posts are visible, revealing\nuniformity of design and purpose, and refuting, by their presence, the\noft-repeated charge of entire incoherence and aimlessness. It remains to\nexamine the subjective power of the native religions, their influence on\nthose who held them, and the place they deserve in the history of the\nrace. What are their merits, if merits they have? what their demerits?\nDid they purify the life and enlighten the mind, or the contrary? Are\nthey in short of evil or of good? The problem is complex--its solution\nmost difficult. The author who of late years has studied most profoundly\nthe savage races of the globe, expresses the discouraging conviction:\n\"Their religions have not acted as levers to raise them to\ncivilization; they have rather worked, and that powerfully, to impede\nevery step in advance, in the first place by ascribing everything\nunintelligible in nature to spiritual agency, and then by making the\nfate of man dependent on mysterious and capricious forces, not on his\nown skill and foresight.\"[288-1]\n\nIt would ill accord with the theory of mythology which I have all along\nmaintained if this verdict were final. But in fact these false doctrines\nbrought with them their own antidotes, at least to some extent, and\nwhile we give full weight to their evil, let us also acknowledge their\ngood. By substituting direct divine interference for law, belief for\nknowledge, a dogma for a fact, the highest stimulus to mental endeavor\nwas taken away. Nature, to the heathen, is no harmonious whole swayed by\neternal principles, but a chaos of causeless effects, the meaningless\nplay of capricious ghosts. He investigates not, because he doubts not.\nAll events are to him miracles. Therefore his faith knows no bounds, and\nthose who teach that doubt is sinful must contemplate him with\nadmiration. The damsels of Nicaragua destined to be thrown into the\nseething craters of volcanoes, went to their fate, says Pascual de\nAndagoya, \"happy as if they were going to be saved,\"[288-2] and\ndoubtless believing so. The subjects of a Central American chieftain,\nremarks Oviedo, \"look upon it as the crown of favors to be permitted to\ndie with their cacique, and thus to acquire immortality.\"[288-3] The\nterrible power exerted by the priests rested, as they themselves often\nsaw, largely on the implicit and literal acceptance of their dicta.\n\nIn some respects the contrast here offered to enlightened nations is not\nalways in favor of the latter. Borrowing the pointed antithesis of the\npoet, the mind is often tempted to exclaim--\n\n                                  \"This is all\n    The gain we reap from all the wisdom sown\n    Through ages: Nothing doubted those first sons\n    Of Time, while we, the schooled of centuries,\n    Nothing believe.\"\n\nBut the complaint is unfounded. Faith is dearly bought at the cost of\nknowledge; nor in a better sense has it yet gone from among us. Far more\nsublime than any known to the barbarian is the faith of the astronomer,\nwho spends the nights in marking the seemingly wayward motions of the\nstars, or of the anatomist, who studies with unwearied zeal the minute\nfibres of the organism, each upheld by the unshaken conviction that from\nleast to greatest throughout this universe, purpose and order everywhere\nprevail.\n\nNatural religions rarely offer more than this negative opposition to\nreason. They are tolerant to a degree. The savage, void of any clear\nconception of a supreme deity, sets up no claim that his is the only\ntrue church. If he is conquered in battle, he imagines that it is owing\nto the inferiority of his own gods to those of his victor, and he rarely\ntherefore requires any other reasons to make him a convert. Acting on\nthis principle, the Incas, when they overcame a strange province, sent\nits most venerated idol for a time to the temple of the Sun at Cuzco,\nthus proving its inferiority to their own divinity, but took no more\nviolent steps to propagate their creeds.[290-1] So in the city of Mexico\nthere was a temple appropriated to the idols of conquered nations in\nwhich they were shut up, both to prove their weakness and prevent them\nfrom doing mischief. A nation, like an individual, was not inclined to\npatronize a deity who had manifested his incompetence by allowing his\ncharge to be gradually worn away by constant disaster. As far as can now\nbe seen, in matters intellectual, the religions of ancient Mexico and\nPeru were far more liberal than that introduced by the Spanish\nconquerors, which, claiming the monopoly of truth, sought to enforce its\nclaim by inquisitions and censorships.\n\nIn this view of the relative powers of deities lay a potent corrective\nto the doctrine that the fate of man was dependent on the caprices of\nthe gods. For no belief was more universal than that which assigned to\neach individual a guardian spirit. This invisible monitor was an ever\npresent help in trouble. He suggested expedients, gave advice and\nwarning in dreams, protected in danger, and stood ready to foil the\nmachinations of enemies, divine or human. With unlimited faith in this\nprotector, attributing to him the devices suggested by his own quick\nwits and the fortunate chances of life, the savage escaped the\noppressive thought that he was the slave of demoniac forces, and dared\nthe dangers of the forest and the war path without anxiety.\n\nBy far the darkest side of such a religion is that which it presents to\nmorality. The religious sense is by no means the voice of conscience.\nThe Takahli Indian when sick makes a full and free confession of sins,\nbut a murder, however unnatural and unprovoked, he does not mention, not\ncounting it crime.[291-1] Scenes of brutal licentiousness were approved\nand sustained throughout the continent as acts of worship; maidenhood\nwas in many parts freely offered up or claimed by the priests as a\nright; in Central America twins were slain for religious motives; human\nsacrifice was common throughout the tropics, and was not unusual in\nhigher latitudes; cannibalism was often enjoined; and in Peru, Florida,\nand Central America it was not uncommon for parents to slay their own\nchildren at the behest of a priest.[291-2] The philosophical moralist,\ncontemplating such spectacles, has thought to recognize in them one\nconsoling trait. All history, it has been said, shows man living under\nan irritated God, and seeking to appease him by sacrifice of blood; the\nessence of all religion, it has been added, lies in that of which\nsacrifice is the symbol, namely, in the offering up of self, in the\nrendering up of our will to the will of God.[291-3] But sacrifice, when\nnot a token of gratitude, cannot be thus explained. It is not a\nrendering up, but a _substitution_ of our will for God's will. A deity\nis angered by neglect of his dues; he will revenge, certainly, terribly,\nwe know not how or when. But as punishment is all he desires, if we\npunish ourselves he will be satisfied; and far better is such\nself-inflicted torture than a fearful looking for of judgment to come.\nCraven fear, not without some dim sense of the implacability of nature's\nlaws, is at its root. Looking only at this side of religion, the ancient\nphilosopher averred that the gods existed solely in the apprehensions of\ntheir votaries, and the moderns have asserted that \"fear is the father\nof religion, love her late-born daughter;\"[292-1] that \"the first form\nof religious belief is nothing else but a horror of the unknown,\" and\nthat \"no natural religion appears to have been able to develop from a\ngerm within itself anything whatever of real advantage to\ncivilization.\"[292-2]\n\nFar be it from me to excuse the enormities thus committed under the garb\nof religion, or to ignore their disastrous consequences on human\nprogress. Yet this question is a fair one--If the natural religious\nbelief has in it no germ of anything better, whence comes the manifest\nand undeniable improvement occasionally witnessed--as, for example,\namong the Toltecs, the Peruvians, and the Mayas? The reply is, by the\ninfluence of great men, who cultivated within themselves a purer faith,\nlived it in their lives, preached it successfully to their fellows, and,\nat their death, still survived in the memory of their nation,\nunforgotten models of noble qualities.[293-1] Where, in America, is any\nrecord of such men? We are pointed, in answer, to Quetzalcoatl,\nViracocha, Zamna, and their congeners. But these august figures I have\nshown to be wholly mythical, creations of the religious fancy, parts and\nparcels of the earliest religion itself. The entire theory falls to\nnothing, therefore, and we discover a positive side to natural\nreligions--one that conceals a germ of endless progress, which\nvindicates their lofty origin, and proves that He \"is not far from every\none of us.\"\n\nI have already analyzed these figures under their physical aspect. Let\nit be observed in what antithesis they stand to most other mythological\ncreations. Let it be remembered that they primarily correspond to the\nstable, the regular, the cosmical phenomena, that they are always\nconceived under human form, not as giants, fairies, or strange beasts;\nthat they were said at one time to have been visible leaders of their\nnations, that they did not suffer death, and that, though absent, they\nare ever present, favoring those who remain mindful of their precepts. I\ntouched but incidentally on their moral aspects. This was likewise in\ncontrast to the majority of inferior deities. The worship of the latter\nwas a tribute extorted by fear. The Indian deposits tobacco on the rocks\nof a rapid, that the spirit of the swift waters may not swallow his\ncanoe; in a storm he throws overboard a dog to appease the siren of the\nangry waves. He used to tear the hearts from his captives to gain the\nfavor of the god of war. He provides himself with talismans to bind\nhostile deities. He fees[TN-17] the conjurer to exorcise the demon of\ndisease. He loves none of them, he respects none of them; he only fears\ntheir wayward tempers. They are to him mysterious, invisible, capricious\ngoblins. But, in his highest divinity, he recognized a Father and a\nPreserver, a benign Intelligence, who provided for him the comforts of\nlife--man, like himself, yet a god--God of All. \"Go and do good,\" was\nthe parting injunction of his father to Michabo in Algonkin\nlegend;[294-1] and in their ancient and uncorrupted stories such is ever\nhis object. \"The worship of Tamu,\" the culture hero of the Guaranis,\nsays the traveller D'Orbigny, \"is one of reverence, not of fear.\"[294-2]\nThey were ideals, summing up in themselves the best traits, the most\napproved virtues of whole nations, and were adored in a very different\nspirit from other divinities.\n\nNone of them has more humane and elevated traits than Quetzalcoatl. He\nwas represented of majestic stature and dignified demeanor. In his train\ncame skilled artificers and men of learning. He was chaste and temperate\nin life, wise in council, generous of gifts, conquering rather by arts\nof peace than of war; delighting in music, flowers, and brilliant\ncolors, and so averse to human sacrifices that he shut his ears with\nboth hands when they were even mentioned.[295-1] Such was the ideal man\nand supreme god of a people who even a Spanish monk of the sixteenth\ncentury felt constrained to confess were \"a good people, attached to\nvirtue, urbane and simple in social intercourse, shunning lies, skilful\nin arts, pious toward their gods.\"[295-2] Is it likely, is it possible,\nthat with such a model as this before their minds, they received no\nbenefit from it? Was not this a lever, and a mighty one, lifting the\nrace toward civilization and a purer faith?\n\nTransfer the field of observation to Yucatan, and we find in Zamna, to\nNew Granada and in Nemqueteba, to Peru and in Viracocha, or his reflex\nManco Capac, the lineaments of Quetzalcoatl--modified, indeed, by\ndifference of blood and temperament, but each combining in himself all\nthe qualities most esteemed by their several nations. Were one or all of\nthese proved to be historical personages, still the fact remains that\nthe primitive religious sentiment, investing them with the best\nattributes of humanity, dwelling on them as its models, worshipping them\nas gods, contained a kernel of truth potent to encourage moral\nexcellence. But if they were mythical, then this truth was of\nspontaneous growth, self-developed by the growing distinctness of the\nidea of God, a living witness that the religious sense, like every\nother faculty, has within itself a power of endless evolution.\n\nIf we inquire the secret of the happier influence of this element in\nnatural worship, it is all contained in one word--its _humanity_. \"The\nIdeal of Morality,\" says the contemplative Novalis, \"has no more\ndangerous rival than the Ideal of the Greatest Strength, of the most\nvigorous life, the Brute Ideal\" (_das Thier-Ideal_).[296-1] Culture\nadvances in proportion as man recognizes what faculties are peculiar to\nhim _as man_, and devotes himself to their education. The moral value of\nreligions can be very precisely estimated by the human or the brutal\ncharacter of their gods. The worship of Quetzalcoatl in the city of\nMexico was subordinate to that of lower conceptions, and consequently\nthe more sanguinary and immoral were the rites there practised. The\nAlgonkins, who knew no other meaning for Michabo than the Great Hare,\nhad lost, by a false etymology, the best part of their religion.\n\nLooking around for other standards wherewith to measure the progress of\nthe knowledge of divinity in the New World, _prayer_ suggests itself as\none of the least deceptive. \"Prayer,\" to quote again the words of\nNovalis,[296-2] \"is in religion what thought is in philosophy. The\nreligious sense prays, as the reason thinks.\" Guizot, carrying the\nanalysis farther, thinks that it is prompted by a painful conviction of\nthe inability of our will to conform to the dictates of reason.[296-3]\nOriginally it was connected with the belief that divine caprice, not\ndivine law, governs the universe, and that material benefits rather than\nspiritual gifts are to be desired. The gradual recognition of its\nlimitations and proper objects marks religious advancement. The Lord's\nPrayer contains seven petitions, only one of which is for a temporal\nadvantage, and it the least that can be asked for. What immeasurable\ninterval between it and the prayer of the Nootka Indian on preparing for\nwar!--\n\n\"Great Quahootze, let me live, not be sick, find the enemy, not fear\nhim, find him asleep, and kill a great many of him.\"[297-1]\n\nOr again, between it and the petition of a Huron to a local god, heard\nby Father Brebeuf:--\n\n\"Oki, thou who livest in this spot, I offer thee tobacco. Help us, save\nus from shipwreck, defend us from our enemies, give us a good trade, and\nbring us back safe and sound to our villages.\"[297-2]\n\nThis is a fair specimen of the supplications of the lowest religion.\nAnother equally authentic is given by Father Allouez.[297-3] In 1670 he\npenetrated to an outlying Algonkin village, never before visited by a\nwhite man. The inhabitants, startled by his pale face and long black\ngown, took him for a divinity. They invited him to the council lodge, a\ncircle of old men gathered around him, and one of them, approaching him\nwith a double handful of tobacco, thus addressed him, the others\ngrunting approval:--\n\n\"This, indeed, is well, Blackrobe, that thou dost visit us. Have mercy\nupon us. Thou art a Manito. We give thee to smoke.\n\n\"The Naudowessies and Iroquois are devouring us. Have mercy upon us.\n\n\"We are often sick; our children die; we are hungry. Have mercy upon us.\nHear me, O Manito, I give thee to smoke.\n\n\"Let the earth yield us corn; the rivers give us fish; sickness not slay\nus; nor hunger so torment us. Hear us, O Manito, we give thee to smoke.\"\n\nIn this rude but touching petition, wrung from the heart of a miserable\npeople, nothing but their wretchedness is visible. Not the faintest\ntrace of an aspiration for spiritual enlightenment cheers the eye of the\nphilanthropist, not the remotest conception that through suffering we\nare purified can be detected.\n\nBy the side of these examples we may place the prayers of Peru and\nMexico, forms composed by the priests, written out, committed to memory,\nand repeated at certain seasons. They are not less authentic, having\nbeen collected and translated in the first generation after the\nconquest. One to Viracocha Pachacamac, was as follows:--\n\n\"O Pachacamac, thou who hast existed from the beginning and shalt exist\nunto the end, powerful and pitiful; who createdst man by saying, let man\nbe; who defendest us from evil and preservest our life and health; art\nthou in the sky or in the earth, in the clouds or in the depths? Hear\nthe voice of him who implores thee, and grant him his petitions. Give\nus life everlasting, preserve us, and accept this our sacrifice.\"[299-1]\n\nIn the voluminous specimens of Aztec prayers preserved by Sahagun, moral\nimprovement, the \"spiritual gift,\" is very rarely if at all the object\ndesired. Health, harvests, propitious rains, release from pain,\npreservation from dangers, illness, and defeat, these are the almost\nunvarying themes. But here and there we catch a glimpse of something\nbetter, some dim sense of the divine beauty of suffering, some feeble\nglimmering of the grand truth so nobly expressed by the poet:--\n\n                 aus des Busens Tiefe str\u00f6mt Gedeihn\n    Der festen Duldung und entschlossner That.\n    Nicht Schmerz ist Ungl\u00fcck, Gl\u00fcck nicht immer Freude;\n    Wer sein Geschick erf\u00fcllt, dem l\u00e4cheln beide.\n\n\"Is it possible,\" says one of them, \"that this scourge, this affliction,\nis sent to us not for our correction and improvement, but for our\ndestruction and annihilation? O Merciful Lord, let this chastisement\nwith which thou hast visited us, thy people, be as those which a father\nor mother inflicts on their children, not out of anger, but to the end\nthat they may be free from follies and vices.\" Another formula, used\nwhen a chief was elected to some important position, reads: \"O Lord,\nopen his eyes and give him light, sharpen his ears and give him\nunderstanding, not that he may use them to his own advantage, but for\nthe good of the people he rules. Lead him to know and to do thy will,\nlet him be as a trumpet which sounds thy words. Keep him from the\ncommission of injustice and oppression.\"[300-1]\n\nAt first, good and evil are identical with pleasure and pain, luck and\nill-luck. \"The good are good warriors and hunters,\" said a Pawnee\nchief,[300-2] which would also be the opinion of a wolf, if he could\nexpress it. Gradually the eyes of the mind are opened, and it is\nperceived that \"whom He loveth, He chastiseth,\" and physical give[TN-18]\nplace to moral ideas of good and evil. Finally, as the idea of God rises\nmore distinctly before the soul, as \"the One by whom, in whom, and\nthrough whom all things are,\" evil is seen to be the negation, not the\nopposite of good, and itself \"a porch oft opening on the sun.\"\n\nThe influence of these religions on art, science, and social life, must\nalso be weighed in estimating their value.\n\nNearly all the remains of American plastic art, sculpture, and painting,\nwere obviously designed for religious purposes. Idols of stone, wood, or\nbaked clay, were found in every Indian tribe, without exception, so far\nas I can judge; and in only a few directions do these arts seem to have\nbeen applied to secular purposes. The most ambitious attempts of\narchitecture, it is plain, were inspired by religious fervor. The great\npyramid of Cholula, the enormous mounds of the Mississippi valley, the\nelaborate edifices on artificial hills in Yucatan, were miniature\nrepresentations of the mountains hallowed by tradition, the \"Hill of\nHeaven,\" the peak on which their ancestors escaped in the flood, or that\nin the terrestrial paradise from which flow the rains. Their\nconstruction took men away from war and the chase, encouraged\nagriculture, peace, and a settled disposition, and fostered the love of\nproperty, of country, and of the gods. The priests were also close\nobservers of nature, and were the first to discover its simpler laws.\nThe Aztec sages were as devoted star-gazers as the Chaldeans, and their\ncalendar bears unmistakable marks of native growth, and of its original\npurpose to fix the annual festivals. Writing by means of pictures and\nsymbols was cultivated chiefly for religious ends, and the word\n_hieroglyph_ is a witness that the phonetic alphabet was discovered\nunder the stimulus of the religious sentiment. Most of the aboriginal\nliterature was composed and taught by the priests, and most of it refers\nto matters connected with their superstitions. As the gifts of votaries\nand the erection of temples enriched the sacerdotal order individually\nand collectively, the terrors of religion were lent to the secular arm\nto enforce the rights of property. Music, poetic, scenic, and historical\nrecitations, formed parts of the ceremonies of the more civilized\nnations, and national unity was strengthened by a common shrine. An\nactive barter in amulets, lucky stones, and charms, existed all over the\ncontinent, to a much greater extent than we might think. As experience\ndemonstrates that nothing so efficiently promotes civilization as the\nfree and peaceful intercourse of man with man, I lay particular stress\non the common custom of making pilgrimages.\n\nThe temple on the island of Cozumel in Yucatan was visited every year by\nsuch multitudes from all parts of the peninsula, that roads, paved with\ncut stones, had been constructed from the neighboring shore to the\nprincipal cities of the interior.[302-1] Each village of the Muyscas is\nsaid to have had a beaten path to Lake Guatavita, so numerous were the\ndevotees who journeyed to the shrine there located.[302-2] In Peru the\ntemples of Pachacam\u00e0, Rimac, and other famous gods, were repaired to by\ncountless numbers from all parts of the realm, and from other provinces\nwithin a radius of three hundred leagues around. Houses of entertainment\nwere established on all the principal roads, and near the temples, for\ntheir accommodation; and when they made known the object of their\njourney, they were allowed a safe passage even through an enemy's\nterritory.[302-3]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe more carefully we study history, the more important in our eyes will\nbecome the religious sense. It is almost the only faculty peculiar to\nman. It concerns him nearer than aught else. It is the key to his origin\nand destiny. As such it merits in all its developments the most earnest\nattention, an attention we shall find well repaid in the clearer\nconceptions we thus obtain of the forces which control the actions and\nfates of individuals and nations.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[288-1] Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturvoelker_, i. p. 459.\n\n[288-2] Navarrete, _Viages_, iii. p. 415.\n\n[288-3] _Relation de Cueba_, p. 140. Ed. Ternaux-Compans.\n\n[290-1] La Vega, _Hist. des Incas_, liv. v. cap. 12.\n\n[291-1] Morse, _Rep. on the Ind. Tribes_, App. p. 345.\n\n[291-2] Ximenes, _Origen de los Indios de Guatemala_, p. 192; Acosta,\n_Hist. of the New World_, lib. v. chap. 18.\n\n[291-3] Joseph de Maistre, _Eclaircissement sur les Sacrifices_; Trench,\n_Hulsean Lectures_, p. 180. The famed Abb\u00e9 Lammenaais and Professor Sepp,\nof Munich, with these two writers, may be taken as the chief exponents of\na school of mythologists, all of whom start from the theories first laid\ndown by Count de Maistre in his _Soir\u00e9es de St. Petersbourg_. To them the\nstrongest proof of Christianity lies in the traditions and observances of\nheathendom. For these show the wants of the religious sense, and\nChristianity, they maintain, purifies and satisfies them all. The rites,\nsymbols, and legends of every natural religion, they say, are true and\nnot false; all that is required is to assign them their proper places and\ntheir real meaning. Therefore the strange resemblances in heathen myths\nto what is revealed in the Scriptures, as well as the ethical\nanticipations which have been found in ancient philosophies, all, so far\nfrom proving that Christianity is a natural product of the human mind, in\nfact, are confirmations of it, unconscious prophecies, and presentiments\nof the truth.\n\n[292-1] Alfred Maury, _La Magie et l'Astrologie dans l'Antiquit\u00e9 et au\nMoyen Age_, p. 8: Paris, 1860.\n\n[292-2] Waitz, _Anthropologie_, i. pp. 325, 465.\n\n[293-1] So says Dr. Waitz, _ibid._, p. 465.\n\n[294-1] Schoolcraft, _Algic Researches_, i. p. 143.\n\n[294-2] _L'Homme Am\u00e9ricain_, ii. p. 319.\n\n[295-1] Brasseur, _Hist. du Mexique_, liv. iii. chaps. 1 and 2.\n\n[295-2] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. x. cap. 29.\n\n[296-1] Novalis, _Schriften_, i. p. 244: Berlin, 1837.\n\n[296-2] Ibid., p. 267.\n\n[296-3] _Hist. de la Civilisation en France_, i. pp. 122, 130.\n\n[297-1] _Narrative of J. R. Jewett among the Savages of Nootka Sound_, p.\n121.\n\n[297-2] _Rel. de la Nouv. France_, An 1636, p. 109.\n\n[297-3] Ibid., An 1670, p. 99.\n\n[299-1] Geronimo de Ore, _Symbolo Catholico Indiano_, chap, ix., quoted\nby Ternaux-Compans. De Ore was a native of Peru and held the position of\nProfessor of Theology in Cuzco in the latter half of the sixteenth\ncentury. He was a man of great erudition, and there need be no hesitation\nin accepting this extraordinary prayer as genuine. For his life and\nwritings see Nic. Antonio, _Bib. Hisp. Nova_, tom. ii. p. 43.\n\n[300-1] Sahagun, _Hist. de la Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, lib. vi. caps. 1, 4.\n\n[300-2] Morse, _Rep. on the Ind. Tribes_, App. p. 250.\n\n[302-1] Cogolludo, _Hist. de Yucathan_, lib. iv. cap. 9. Compare\nStephens, _Travs. in Yucatan_, ii. p. 122, who describes the remains of\nthese roads as they now exist.\n\n[302-2] Rivero and Tschudi, _Antiqs. of Peru_, p. 162.\n\n[302-3] La Vega, _Hist. des Incas_, lib. vi. chap. 30; Xeres, _Rel de la\nConq. du P\u00e9rou_, p. 151; _Let. sur les Superstit. du P\u00e9rou_, p. 98, and\nothers.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\nAbnakis, 174\n\nAcagchemem, a Californian tribe, 105\n\nAge of man in America, 35-37\n\nAges of the world, 213 sq.\n\nAkakanet, 61\n\nAkanzas, 238\n\nAkenatzi, 284\n\nAlgonkins, location, 26\n  name of God, 58 n.[TN-19]\n  mythical ancestors, 77\n  veneration of birds, 103\n    of serpents, 108, 109, 113, 116\n  myths and rites, 133, 136, 144, 147, 151, 161, 174, 198, 209, 220,\n    224, 236, 240, 244, 248, 277, 297\n\nAluberi, a name of God, 58 n.[TN-19]\n\nAnahuac, 29, 282\n\nAngont, a mythical serpent, 136\n\nApalachian tribes, 27, 225\n\nApocatequil, a Peruvian deity, 153\n\nArarats, of America, 203\n\nAraucanians, 33\n  name of God, 48, 61\n  myths, 204, 248\n\nArks, 255\n\nArowacks, 58 n.[TN-19]\n\nAtaensic, an Iroquois deity, 123, 131, 170\n\nAtaguju, or Atachuchu, 152\n\nAtatarho, mythical Iroquois chief, 118\n\nAthapascan tribes, 24\n  myths, 104, 150, 195, 205, 229, 248, 257\n\nAtl, an Aztec deity, 131\n\nAurora borealis, 245\n\nAymaras, 31, 34, 177\n\nAztecs, their books and characters, 10\n  divisions, 29\n  names of God, 48, 50, 58 n.[TN-19]\n  government, 69\n  rites, 72, 126, 127, 147\n  calendar, 74\n  worship of cross, 95\n  names of cardinal points, 93\n  worship of birds, 102, 106, 107\n  of serpents, 111\n  myths, 132, 133, 134, 138, 144, 156, 171, 181, 205, 214 sq., 227,\n    240, 246, 248, 252, 258\n  priests, 282\n  prayers, 292\n\nAztlan, 181\n\n\nBacab, Maya gods, 80\n\nBaptism, 125 seq.\n\nBimini, 87\n\nBird, symbol of, 101 sq., 195 sq., 229, 254\n\nBlue, symbolic meaning of, 47\n\nBochica, 183\n\nBoiuca, a mythical isle, 87\n\nBones, preservation of, 255\n  soul in the, 257\n\nBotocudos, 123, 201\n\nBrasseur, Abb\u00e9, his works, 41\n\nBrazilian tribes, 102, 134, 250\n  (See _Tupis_, _Botocudos_.)\n\nBusk, a Creek festival, 71, 96\n\n\nCaddoes, 93, 203\n\nCamaxtli, 158\n\nCardinal points, adoration of, 67 sq.\n  names of, 93 sq.\n\nCaribs, 32\n  theory of lightning, 104, 114\n  myths and rites, 145, 184, 223, 237, 244, 256\n  priests, 282\n\nCatequil. (See _Apocatequil_.)\n\nCenteotl, goddess of maize, 22, 134\n\nChac, Maya gods, 80\n\nChalchihuitlycue, an Aztec god, 123\n\nChantico, an Aztec god, 138\n\nCherokees, location, 25\n  name of God, 51\n  serpent myth, 115\n  baptism, 128\n  deluge, 205\n  priests, 281\n\nChia, goddess of Muyscas, 134\n\nChichimec, 139 n., 158\n\nChicomoztoc, the Seven Caves, 227\n\nChicunoapa, the Aztec Styx, 249\n\nChipeways, picture-writing, 10\n  records, 17\n  magicians, 71\n  myths, 163, 168\n\nChoctaws, location, 27\n  name of God, 51\n  myths, 84 n.,[TN-20] 225, 261\n  priests, 281\n\nCholula, 180, 181, 204, 228\n\nCihuacoatl, the Serpent Woman, 120\n\nCihuapipilti, 246\n\nCircumcision, 147\n\nCitatli, 131\n\nClairvoyance, 269\n\nCoatlicue, 118\n\nColors, symbolism of, 47, 80, 140, 165\n\nCon or Contici, 155, 176\n\nCoxcox, 202\n\nCraniology, American, 35\n\nCreation, myths of, 193 seq.\n\nCreeks, location, 27\n  name of God, 50\n  rites, 71, 96\n  mythical ancestors, 77\n  serpent myth, 115\n  other myths, 137, 225, 242, 244\n  priests, 273, 283\n\nCross, symbolic meaning of, 95-7, 183, 188\n  of Palenque, 118\n\nCupay,[TN-21] the Quichua Pluto, 61, 251\n\nCusic, his Iroquois legends, 63, 108 n.\n\n\nDakotas, location, 28\n  rites, 71\n  language, 75\n  mythical ancestors, 77\n  myths, 62, 103, 133, 150, 237, 259, 279\n\nDawn, myths of, 166, 167, 175, 227\n\nDelawares, 140 n., 144\n  (See _Lenni Lenape_.)\n\nDeluge, myth, origin, etc., 198-212\n\nDevil, idea of unknown to red race, 59, 251\n\nDivination, 278\n\nDobayba, 123\n\nDog, as a symbol, 137, 229, 247-9\n\nDove, as a a[TN-22] symbol, 107\n\nDualism, moral, not found in America, 59\n  sexual not found, 146\n\n\nEagle, as a symbol, 104\n\nEast, myths, concerning, 91, 165, 174, 180\n  (See _Dawn_.)\n\nEastman, Mrs., her _Legends of the Sioux_, 103\n\nEldorado,[TN-23] 87\n\nEnigorio and Enigohahetgea, 63\n\nEpochs of nature, 200 seq.\n\nEsaugetuh Emissee, 50\n\nEskimos, location, 23\n  name of chief god, 50, 76\n  term for south, 94\n  veneration of birds, 101\n  myths, 173 n., 193, 226, 229, 241, 245, 261, 280\n\n\nFear in religion, 141, 292\n\nFire-worship, 140 seq.\n\nFlood-myth. (See _Deluge_.)\n\nFlorida, 87\n\nForty, a sacred number, 94\n\nFountain of youth, 129\n\nFour, the sacred number of red race, 66 sq., 105, 157, 167, 178, 182,\n  184, 240\n\nFour brothers, the myth of, 76-83, 152, 167, 178, 182\n\n\nGarhonia, Iroquois deity, 48\n\nGizhigooke, the day-maker, 169\n\nGuaranis, 32, 84 n.[TN-20]\n\nGuatavita Lake, 124\n\nGucumatz, the bird-serpent, 118\n\nGumongo, god of the Monquis, 93\n\n\nHaitians, myths of, 78, 85, 135, 188\n\nHand, symbol of the, 183\n\nHaokah, Dakota thunder god, 151\n\nHawaneu. (See _Neo_.)\n\nHeaven, the, of the red race, 243\n\nHell, the hidden world, 252\n\nHeno, Iroquois thunder-god, 156\n\nHiawatha, myth of, 172\n\nHobbamock, 60\n\nHuemac, the Strong-hand, 181, 183\n\nHuitzilopochtli, the god of war, 118, 282\n\nHunting, its effect on the mind, 21, 67, 100\n\nHurakan or hurricane, meaning of, 51\n  a Maya god, 81, 82, 114, 156, 196\n\nHurons, 25, 48, 114, 136, 169, 248, 250, 275\n\nHushtoli, Choctaw name of God, 51\n\n\nIllatici, Quichua name of God, 55, 155\n\nIncas, secret language, 31\n  official title, 69\n  ancestors, 82, 153\n  arms, 120\n  sun-worship, 142\n  myths, 188, 191, 244\n\nIoskeha, supreme god of Iroquois, 63, 170-2\n\nIroquois, location, 25\n  name of God, 48, 53\n  myths of, 83, 85, 169-72, 196, 227, 236\n  veneration of serpents, 108, 116, 118\n  of fire, 148\n\nIsolation of the red race, 20, 34\n\nItzcuinan, the Bitch-Mother, 138\n\n\nJarvis, Dr., his Discourse on American Religions, 39\n\nJuripari, 61\n\n\nKillistenoes, 270\n\nKittanitowit, 58, 60\n\nKu, a name of divinity, 46, 47\n\nKukulcan, god of air, 118\n\n\nLanguages of America, 7\n  esoteric of priests, 284\n\nLenni Lenape, 26, 96, 161, 231\n\nLight, universal symbol of divinity, 173\n\nLightning, the, 112 seq., 151 seq., 168\n\n\nMadness, as inspiration, 274 seq.\n\nMagic, natural, 266\n\nMaistre, Joseph de, his theory of mythology, 291, n.[TN-24]\n\nMaize, distribution of, 22, 37\n\nMan, origin of, 222 sq., 258\n  word for, 223\n\nMandans, 71, 85, 107, 184, 205, 228\n\nManibozho. (See _Michabo_.)\n\nMannacicas, 250\n\nManoa, 87\n\nManes, 111\n\nMayas, alphabet, 13\n  location, 30\n  calendar, 74, 80\n  mythical ancestors, 79, 80, 85\n  myths and rites, 93, 146, 183, 188, 214, 221\n  name of cross, 97\n\nMbocobi, 201\n\nMeda worship, 162 n.\n\nMedicine, 45\n  lodge, 267\n  men, 264, 277 seq.\n\nMemory, cultivated by picture-writing, 18\n\nMesmerism, 272\n\nMessou, 209\n  (See _Michabo_.)\n\nMetempsychosis, 253\n\nMexicans, (See _Aztecs_.)\n\nMeztli, 132, 135\n\nMichabo, supreme Algonkin god, 63, 116, 136, 161-9, 198, 220, 294\n\nMictlan, god of the dead, 92, 252\n\nMigrations, coarse of, 34\n\nMilky-way, 244\n\nMillennium, 261\n\nMinnetarees, 228, 230, 250\n\nMixcoatl, or Mixcohuatl, 22, 51, 158\n\nMixtecas, 90, 196\n\nMonan, 211\n\nMonquis, 93, 106\n\nMontezuma, 187, 190\n\nMoon, worship of, 130 seq.\n\nMoxos, 124, 230\n\nM\u00fcller, J. G., his work on American religions, 40, 59, 61\n\nMummies, 257-60\n\nMuscogees, 195\n  (See _Creeks_.)\n\nMuyscas, 31\n  myths, 84 n.,[TN-20] 183-4\n\n\nNahuas, 29, 73\n  myths, 84 n.,[TN-20] 118, 138, 158, 206\n  (See _Aztecs_.)\n\nNanahuatl, 135\n\nNatchez, 27, 28 n.[TN-25]\n  myths, 126, 142, 149, 205, 225, 239\n\nNatural religions, 3\n\nNavajos, 79, 84 n.,[TN-20] 103, 127, 205, 241\n\nNeo, Iroquois corruption of _Dieu_, 53\n\nNemqueteba, 183\n\nNetelas, 50, 105 n.\n\nNez Perc\u00e9s[TN-26] 272, 281\n\nNicaraguans, 145, 158, 201, 245, 288\n\nNine Rivers, the, 248\n\nNootka Indians, 297\n\nNorth, myths concerning, 82\n\nNottoways, 25, 84\n\nNumbers, sacred, 66, 98\n  (See _Four_, _Three_, _Seven_.)\n\n\nOccaniches, 284\n\nOki, name of God, 46-8\n\nOnniont, a mythical serpent, 114\n\nOnondagas, 171\n\nOonawleh unggi, 51\n\nOtomis, 6, 158\n\nOttawas, 93, 145, 161\n\nOttoes, 84 n.[TN-20]\n\n\nPacari Tampu, 82, 179, 227\n\nPachacamac, 56, 176-7, 298\n\nPanos, 13\n\nParadise, myth of, 86 seq.\n\nParia, 87\n\nPassions, worship of, 146, 149\n\nPawnees, 71 n., 84 n.[TN-20]\n\nPend d'Oreilles, 233\n\nPeru, 69\n  rites and myths, 82, 102, 106, 131, 132, 137, 138, 142, 149,\n    152 sq,[TN-27] 176-9, 188, 213, 219, 227, 240, 251, 260\n  priests, 278, 282, 284\n    (See _Aymaras_, _Incas_.)\n\nPhallic worship, 146, 149\n\nPicture writing, 9\n\nPilgrimages, custom of, 301\n\nPimos, 185\n\nPrayers, specimens of, 296-300\n\nPriesthood, native, 263 sq.\n\nPuelches, 277\n\n\nQuetzalcoatl, the supreme Aztec god, 106, 118, 157, 180-3, 188, 294-6\n\nQuiateot, a rain god, 131\n\nQuich\u00e9s, 30\n  Sacred Book, 41\n  names for God, 51, 58 n.[TN-19]\n  evil deities, 64\n  myth of first four brothers, 81\n  of paradise, 89\n  of creation, 196\n  of flood, 207\n  of hell, 251, 258\n\nQuichuas, 31\n  religion, 55\n  ancestors, 82, 153\n  names of cardinal points, 93 n.\n  myths, 155\n    (_See_ Peru, Incas.)[TN-28]\n\nQuipus, 14\n\n\nRattlesnake, as a symbol, 108 sq.\n\nRaven, as a symbol, 195, 204, 213, 229\n\nRed, symbolic meaning, 80, 88, 140\n\n\nSacrifice, its meaning, 291\n\nSacs, 84, 277\n\nSanscrit flood-myth, 212\n\nSchwarz, Dr., his views of mythology, 112\n\nSeminoles, 129\n\nSerpent, as a symbol, 107 sq., 136, 158\n\nSeven, a sacred number, 66, 128 n., 202, 204, 273 n., 281, 283\n\nShawnees, 26, 84 n.,[TN-20] 110, 113, 114, 144, 281\n\nShoshonees, 28, 138\n\nSillam Innua, 50, 76\n\nSioux, 28, 151, 236\n\nSoul, notions concerning, 235 sq., 277\n\nSua, the Muysca God, 184\n\nSun-worship, 141 sq., 149, 243-9\n\nSuns, Aztec, 215 sq.\n\n\nTakahlis, 127, 197, 201, 253, 256\n\nTamu, 184, 294\n\nTaras, 158\n\nTaronhiawagon, 171\n\nTawiscara, 170\n\nTeczistecatl, 132\n\nTeatihuacan,[TN-29] 46, 69\n\nThree, a sacred number, 66, 98, 156\n\nThunder-storm, in myths, 150 sq.\n\nTici, the vase, 130\n\nTimberlake, Lt., his _Memoirs_, 115\n\nTiticaca, Lake, 124, 178\n\nTlacatecolotl, supposed Aztec Satan, 106\n\nTlaloc, god of rain, 75, 88, 156-7\n\nTlalocan, 88, 246\n\nTlapallan, 88, 91, 181\n\nTloque nahuaque, 58 n.[TN-19]\n\nTohil, 157\n\nToltecs, 29, 180\n\nTonacatepec, 88\n\nToukaways, 231\n\nTrinity, in American religions, 156\n\nTulan, 88, 89, 181\n\nTupa, 32, 84, 152, 185\n\nTupis, 32\n  myths, 83 n., 152, 185, 210, 258, 274\n\nTwins, sacred to lightning, 153-4\n\n\nUnktahe, a Dakota god, 133\n\n\nVase, symbol of, 130, 155\n\nViracocha, supreme god in Peru, 124, 155, 177-80\n\n\nWaitz, Dr., his _Anthropology_, 40, 288\n\nWampum, 15\n\nWater, myths of, 122 seq., 194\n\nWest, myths of, 92, 93, 166\n\nWhite, as a symbol, 165, 174-6\n\nWhiteman's land, 21 n.\n\nWinds, myths of, 49-52, 74 sq., 96, 103, 166, 182\n\nWinnebagoes, 220\n\nWitchitas, 224\n\nWriting, modes of, 9-13\n\n\nXelhua, 228\n\nXibalba, 64, 251\n\nXochiquetzal, 137\n\nXolotl, 258\n\n\nYakama language, 50\n\nYamo and Yama, twin deities, 154 n.\n\nYoalli-ehecatl, 50\n\nYohualticitl, 132\n\nYupanqui, Inca, 55\n\nYurucares, 201, 224, 259\n\n\nZac, empire of, 31, 124\n\nZamna, culture hero of Mayas, 93, 183, 188\n\nZapotecs, 183\n\n\n\n\nERRATA.\n\n\n  Page   31, note, for \"_Ureinbewohner_\" read \"_Ureinwohner_.\"[TN-30]\n    \"   101, line 10 from bottom, _for_ \"clouds\" _read_ \"clods.\"\n    \"   145, note 1, _for_ \"Gomara\" _read_ \"Gumilla.\"\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nThe following typographical errors were noted in the original text.\n\n        Page  Error\n  TN-1    57  the Inds. p. should read the Inds., p.\n  TN-2    89  Orstnamen should read Ortsnamen\n  TN-3   115  o should read of\n  TN-4   134  knaws should read gnaws\n  TN-5   140  extingish should read extinguish\n  TN-6   144 fn. 2  Reconnoissance was spelled this way in the title of\n                    original publication, quoted correctly\n  TN-7   158 fn. 3  Hist du Mexique should read Hist. du Mexique\n  TN-8   162  wizzard should read wizard\n  TN-9   218  foreboding shave should read forebodings have\n  TN-10  223 fn. 2  yelk should read yolk\n  TN-11  226 fn. 2  _above_ should read above\n  TN-12  234  after.world should read after world\n  TN-13  248  scimetar should read scimitar\n  TN-14  251  Xibilha should read Xibalba\n  TN-15  258  supersitions should read superstitions\n  TN-16  278  drunkeness should read drunkenness\n  TN-17  294  fees should read frees or feeds?\n  TN-18  300  give should read gives\n  TN-19  303 (and elsewhere)  58 n. refers to footnote 57-3, the\n              continued text of this footnote was printed on p. 58 in\n              the original book\n  TN-20  304 (and elsewhere)  84 n. refers to footnote 83-3, the\n              continued text of this footnote was printed on p. 84 in\n              the original book\n  TN-21  304  Cupay should read \u00c7upay\n  TN-22  304  a a symbol should read a symbol\n  TN-23  304  Eldorado should read El Dorado\n  TN-24  305  291, n. should read 291 n.\n  TN-25  305  28 n. refers to footnote 27-2, the continued text of this\n              footnote was printed on p. 28 in the original book\n  TN-26  306  Nez Perc\u00e9s should read Nez Perc\u00e9s,\n  TN-27  306  152 sq, should read 152 sq.,\n  TN-28  306  _See_ Peru, Incas should read See _Peru_, _Incas_\n  TN-29  306  Teatihuacan should read Teotihuacan\n  TN-30  307  Ureinbewohner was not found in the text\n\nThe following words were inconsistently spelled:\n\n  Mannacicas / Mannicicas\n  Perc\u00e8s / Perc\u00e9s\n  Quich\u00e9 / Quiche\n  r\u00f4le / role\n  Tam\u00f6i / Tamoi\n\nThe following words were inconsistently hyphenated:\n\n  Aka-kanet / Akakanet\n  Ama-livaca / Amalivaca\n  child-birth / childbirth\n  Teo-tihuacan / Teotihuacan\n  under-world / underworld\n  Ur-religionen / Urreligionen\n  Yoalli-ehecatl / Yoalliehecatl\n\nOther inconsistencies\n\nTitles of works referred to in the footnotes are occasionally not\nitalicized. Author names of the works referred to in the footnotes are\noccasionally italicized.","title":"The Myths of the New World: A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":89784}