THE MYTHOLOGY OF ALL RACES

VOLUME

NORTH AMERICAN

VOLUME I. Greek and Roman

WILLIAM SHERWOOD Fox, Ph.D., Princeton University.
VOLUME
AXEL OLRIK,

VOLUME
CANON JOHN

Teutonic

II.

Ph.D., University of Copenhagen.

III.

Celtic, Slavic

A.

MACCULLOCH, D.D., Bridge of Allan, Scotland.

JAN MACHAL, Ph.D., Bohemian University, Prague.

VOLUME
UNO HOLMBERG,

IV.

Finno-Ugric, Siberian

Ph.D., University of Finland, Helsingfors.

VOLUME V.

Semitic

R. CAMPBELL THOMPSON, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.G.S., Oxford.

VOLUME

VI.

Indian, Iranian

A. BERRTJEDALE KEITH, D.C.L., Edinburgh University.

ALBERT J. CARNOY, Ph.D., University of Lou vain.

VOLUME VII. Armenian, African

MARDIROS ANANTKIAN, B.D, Kennedy School of Missions, Hart
ford, Connecticut.
es Lettres, French Institute of Oriental

GEORGE FOUCART, Docteur

Archaeology, Cairo.

VOLUME

VIII.

Chinese, Japanese

U. HATTORI, Litt.D., University of Tokyo.

(Japanese Exchange Professor at Harvard University, 1915-1016)
MASAHARU ANESAKI, Litt.D., University of Tokyo.
(Japanese Exchange Professor at Harvard University, 1913-1915)

VOLUME IX. Oceanic

ROLAND BURRAGE DDCON, Ph.D.. Harvard

VOLUME X.
HARTLEY BURR

University.

American (North

of Mexico)
ALEXANDER, Ph.D., University of Nebraska.

VOLUME XI.

American (Latin)

HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER, Ph.D., University

of

Nebraska.

VOLUME XII. Egypt, Far East

W. MAX MULLER, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania.
SIR (JAMES) GEORGE SCOTT, K.C.I.E., London.
VOLUME XIEI.

Index

PLATE
Zuni mas ks
clours,

for

mask of

ceremonial dances.
Upper
the Warrior of the
Zenith ;

all

THE MYTHOLOGY
OF ALL RACES
IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES

LOUIS HERBERT GRAY,

GEORGE FOOT MOORE,

A.M., PH.D., EDITOR

A.M., D.D., LL.D., CONSULTING EDITOR

NORTH AMERICAN
BY

HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER,

PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA

VOLUME X

BOSTON

MARSHALL JONES COMPANY

M DCCCC XVI

PH.D.

COPYRIGHT, 1916

BY MARSHALL JONES COMPANY

Entered at Stationers Hall, London
All rights reserved

Printed April, 1916

&L
v 10

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

BOUND BY THE BOSTON BOOKBINDING COMPANY

AUTHOR S PREFACE
one can be more keenly aware of the sketchy nature
of the study here undertaken than is the author. The

NO

literature of the subject, already very great,

mented at a rate hitherto unequalled; and it

is

being aug

is

needless to

say that this fact alone renders any general analysis at present
As far as possible the author has endeavoured
provisional.
to confine himself to a descriptive study and to base this
Criticism has been limited to
study upon regional divisions.

the indication of suggestive analogies, to summaries in the

shape of notes, and to the formulation of a general plan of
selection (indicated in the Introduction), without

book could be written.

a closely analytical

The time

will

certainly
comparative study of North

which no

come for
American

myths, but at the present time a general description

the work which is needed.

is

surely

Bibliographical references have been almost entirely rele

gated to the Notes, where the sources for each section will be

found, thus avoiding the typographical disfigurement which

footnotes entail. The plan, it is believed, will enable a ready

any passage desired, and at the same time

convenient key for the several treatments of related
topics. The Bibliography gives the sources upon which the text
identification of

will give a

is

chiefly based, chapter for chapter.

Other references,

inci

dentally quoted, are given in the Notes. The critical reader s

attention is called, in particular, to Note I, dealing with the
difficult

has

question of nomenclature and spelling. The author

to present a complete bibliography of

made no attempt

American Indian mythology. For further references the

litera

ture given in the "Bibliographical Guides "should be consulted;

AUTHOR S PREFACE

vi

important works which have appeared since the publication

of these "Guides" are, of course, duly mentioned.
For the form and spelling of the names of tribes and of
stocks

linguistic

the

usage of the Handbook

of

American

followed, and the same form is used for both the

singular and for the collective plural. Mythic names of In
dian origin are capitalized, italics being employed for a few

Indians

is

Indian words which are not names.

The names

of various

sun, moon,
regarded as persons or mythic beings
etc.
are
when
various
the per
animals,
earth,
capitalized
sonified reference is clear; otherwise not. This rule is difficult

objects

to maintain consistently, and the usage in the

less varies

somewhat.

The word
stood in

volume doubt

"corn,"

its

occurring in proper names, must be under

distinctively

American meaning of

"maize."

Maize being the one indigenous cereal of importance in Ameri

can ritual and myth, "Spirits of the Corn" (to use Sir J. G.
Frazer s classic phrase) are, properly speaking, in America
"

Spirits of the

which

The

Maize."

America

A like ambiguity attaches to

"

buffalo,"

almost universally applied to the bison.

illustrations for the volume have been selected with a

in

is

view to creating a clear impression of the art of the North

American Indians, as well as for their pertinency to mythic
ideas. This art varies in character in the several regions quite

much as does the thought which it reflects. It is interesting

to note the variety in the treatment of similar themes or in
the construction of similar ceremonial articles; for this reason
representations of different modes of presenting like ideas
as

have been chosen from diverse sources: thus, the Thunderbird

conception appears in Plates III, VI, XVI, and Figure i;
the ceremonial pole in Plates XII, XVII, XXX; and masks
from widely separate areas are shown in the Frontispiece and in
Plates IV, VII, XXV, XXXI. In a few cases (as Plates II,

VIII, IX, XI, XVIII, and probably XIX) the art is modified
by white influence; in the majority of examples it is purely

AUTHOR S PREFACE
aboriginal.

The motives which prompt

vii

the several treatments

are interestingly various: thus, the impulse which lies behind

Plates II, VIII, IX, XVIII,
is purely the desire for
pic
torial illustration of a mythic story; mnemonic, historical, or

XIX

heraldic in character

prompted by the desire for record

are Plates V, X, XI, XVII, XX, XXI, XXX, XXXII, XXXIII;
while the majority of the remaining examples are representa
tions of cult-objects. Through all, however, is to be observed
the keen aesthetic instinct which

American

is

so

marked a

trait of

North

tribes.

The author desires to express his sense of obligation to the

editor of this series, Dr. Louis H. Gray, for numerous and
valuable emendations, and to Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore, recently
of the Nebraska State Historical Society, now Curator of the
State Historical Society of North Dakota, especially for the
materials appearing in Note 58 and Plate XIV.

HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER.

MARCH

I,

1916.

CONTENTS
PAGE

AUTHOR

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER

I.

xv

THE FAR NORTH

Norseman and Skraeling

The Eskimo s World
III The World-Powers
IV The World s Regions
V The Beginnings
VI Life and Death
I

II

CHAPTER
I

II.

The

10

THE FOREST TRIBES

13

Forest Region

13

and Pagan
III The Manitos
IV The Great Spirit
II Priest

15

17
19

The Frame of the World

VI The Powers Above
VII The Powers Below
VIII The Elders of the Kinds
CHAPTER
I

II

III.

THE FOREST TRIBES

Iroquoian Cosmogony

Algonquian Cosmogony

The Deluge
IV The Slaying of the Dragon
V The Theft of Fire
VI Sun-Myths
VII The Village of Souls
III

VIII Hiawatha

CHAPTER
I

II

IV.

THE GULF REGION

21

24
27

30
(continued)

33
33

38

42

44

46
48

49
51

53

Tribes and Lands

53

Sun-Worship

55

CONTENTS
PAGE
III

The New Maize

57
60

IV Cosmogonies

V
I

Animal Stones
and Wonder-Folk

64

Tricksters

67

VII Mythic History

69

CHAPTER V. THE GREAT PLAINS

I

II

The

74

An Athapascan Pantheon

The Great Gods of the

IV The Life of the World

III

74

Tribal Stocks

77
80

Plains

82

"Medicine"

85

VI Father Sun
VII Mother Earth and Daughter Corn
VIII The Morning Star
IX The Gods of the Elements

CHAPTER VI. THE GREAT PLAINS

I

87
91

93
0,7

102

(continued)

Athapascan Cosmogonies
Cosmogonies

102

II Siouan

ioc

Caddoan Cosmogonies
IV The Son of the Sun
V The Mystery of Death
VI Prophets and Wonder- Workers
VII Migration-Legends and Year-Counts.
III

CHAPTER VII. MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

I The Great Divide
II The Gods of the Mountains
III The World and its Denizens
IV Shahaptian and Shoshonean World-Shapers

107
II2

n^
120
124

129
129
132
135

....

139

"V

Coyote

I4I

VI Spirits, Ghosts, and Bogies

VII Prophets and the Ghost-Dance

CHAPTER

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

I The Navaho and their Gods
II The Navaho Genesis
III The Creation of the Sun
IV Navaho Ritual Myths
VIII.

145

149
(continued)

....

154
154
159
166

169

CONTENTS
V Apache and Piman Mythology
VI Yuman Mythology
CHAPTER IX. THE PUEBLO DWELLERS
I The Pueblos
II Pueblo

Cosmology
III Gods and Katcinas

and Ceremonies

The Creator

and

Spirits

their Tutelaries

IV The World and its Rulers

V The Sun and the Moon
The Raven Cycle

>>VI

NOTES

.-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

196
202

206
212
212
215

2^ o

Totemism and Totemic

their

I92

221

CHAPTER XI. THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

I Peoples of the North-West Coast

VII Souls and

j82

225

VII Death and the Ghost- World

III Secret Societies

182

217

IV Cataclysms
V The First People
VI Fire and Light

II

^9

^7

VII Zuiii Cosmogony

CHAPTER X. THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST
I The California-Oregon Tribes
III

175

jgc

IV The Calendar
V The Great Rites and their Myths
VI Sia and Hopi Cosmogonies

II Religion

xi
PAGE

Powers

233

237
237

240
245

249
254
258
262

26/
r

ILLUSTRATIONS
FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE

p LATE
I

II

Coloured Frontispiece
masks for ceremonial dances
2
Encounter of Eskimo and Kablunait ....,-..

Zurii

III Harpoon-rest with sketch of a mythic bird capturing a

8

whale
III

Dancing gorget

IV Ceremonial mask

of the Iroquois Indians

14
18

Coloured
Chippewa pictograph
VI Ojibway (Chippewa) quill- work pouch
VII Seneca mask

VIII Iroquois drawing of a Great Head

IX

X
XI

Iroquois drawing of Stone Giants

Onondaga

wampum

22

26

Coloured
Coloured

...
...

belt

Coloured
Iroquois drawing of Atotarho
a stag to the Sun

Sacrifice to the

Morning

52

Star, pencil sketch

56
62

by Charles
76

Knifechief

XV

Portrait of Tahirussawichi, a

Pawnee

priest

Col
80

oured

XVI

Thunderbird

fetish

XVII Sioux drawing

XVIII Kiowa drawing

XIX

XX
XXI

84

Coloured

90
112

Coloured

124
128

Cheyenne drawing

Kiowa calendar
Coloured
Ghost-Dance, painted on buckskin
a
or
from
drysand-painting
gods,

XXII Navaho

150

Col

oured

XXIII Navaho

38

44

XII Florida Indians offering

XIII Human figure in stone

XIV

30

156
dry- or sand-painting connected with the

Night Chant ceremony

Coloured

170

ILLUSTRATIONS

xiv
PLATE

XXIV

XXV
XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII

XXIX

XXX
XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII

FACING PAGE

Coloured
Apache medicine-shirt
Zum masks for ceremonial dances
Coloured ...
Wall decoration in the room of a Rain Priest, Zuni

178
188

Altar of the Antelope Priests of the Hopi

Maidu image for a woman

200

Coloured

192

216

Maidu image for a man

Frame of Haida house with totem-pole

216

Kwakiutl ceremonial masks

246

Haida

crests,

240

Coloured

from tatu designs

Chilkat blanket

Coloured

256
260

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

FIGURE

PAGE

Birdlike deity

Map

71

of the world as

drawn by

Thompson River Indian

148

MAP
FACING PAGE

Map of the Linguistic

Stocks of North America

Coloured.

326

INTRODUCTION
the term be understood as signifying a systematic and
conscious arrangement of mythic characters and events,

IF

is
certainly a misnomer to speak of the stories of the
North American Indians as "mythology." To be sure, cer
tain tribes and groups (as the Iroquois, the Pawnee, the Zufii,
the Bella Coola, to mention widely separate examples) have
attained to something like consistency and uniformity in

it

their

mythic

beliefs

(and

it

is

significant that in just these

groups the process of anthropomorphization has gone farthest)

but nowhere on the continent can we find anything like the
sense for system which in the Old World is in part evidenced
;

and

in

part

introduced

by the

epic

literatures

Aryan,

Babylonian, Greek, Norse.

Mythology in the classic acceptation, therefore, can scarcely
be said to exist in North America; but in quite another sense
nature-powers and
the possession of stories narrating the deeds and adventures
the Indians own, not one, but many
of these persons
for
every tribe, and often, within the tribe, each
mythologies;
belief in

more or

less clearly personified

clan and society, has

its

Here again
vary from tribe to

individual mythic lore.

the statement needs qualifying. Beliefs

tribe, even from clan to clan, and yet throughout,

if

one

attention be broadly directed, there are fundamental similari

ties and uniformities that afford a basis for a kind of critical

reconstruction of a North American Indian mythology. No

single tribe and no group of tribes has completely expressed

much less has any realized its form; but the

mythology
student of Indian lore can scarcely fail to become conscious of
a coherent system of myths, of which the Indians themselves
this

7
)

INTRODUCTION

xv i

if the intervention
might have become aware in course of time,
them.
confused
not
had
ideas
of Old- World

number

of distinctions are the necessary introduction to

myth. In the first place, in America, no

in the Old World, are we to identify religion with
mythology. The two are intimately related; every mythology
is
is in some degree an effort to define a religion; and yet there
no profound parallelism between god and hero, no immutable
relation between religious ceremony and mythic tale, even
study of Indian

any
more than

the tale be told to explain the ceremony. No illustra

tion could be better than is afforded by the fact that the great
est of Indian mythic heroes, the Trickster-Transformer, now

when

now Coyote, now Raven,

is nowhere important in ritual;

Indian s deepest veneration,
the
evoke
which
while the powers
Father Sky and Mother Earth, are of rare appearance in the

Hare,

tales.

The Indian

religion

must be studied

in his rites rather

than

myths; and it may be worth while here to designate the

most significant and general of these rites. Foremost is the
calumet ceremony, in which smoke-offering is made to the sky,
in his

the earth, and the rulers of earth s quarters, constituting a kind

of ritualistic definition of the Indian s cosmos. Hardly second
the rite of the sweat-bath, which is not merely a means
of healing disease, but a prayer for strength and purification
to this

is

addressed to the elements

earth,

fire,

water,

air,

in

which

resides the life-giving power of the universe. Third in order

are ceremonies, such as fasting and vigil, for the purpose of

inducing visions that shall direct the way of life; for among the
Indian s deepest convictions is his belief that the whole en

vironment of physical life is one of strength-imbuing powers

only thinly veiled from sight and touch. Shamanistic or mediumistic rites, resting upon belief in the power of unseen
beings to possess and inspire the mortal body, form a fourth
fifth is composed of the great com
group of ceremonies.

munal ceremonies, commonly

called

"dances"

by white men.
x

INTRODUCTION

xvii

form of dramatic prayers

combinations of sacrifice, song, and symbolic personation
addressed to the great nature-powers, to sun and earth, to the

These are almost invariably

in the

and to the givers of food and game. A final

rites in honour of the dead or of ancestral
ceremonies usually annual and varying in purpose

rain-bringers,

group

is

formed of

tutelaries,

from solicitude

for the welfare of the departed to desire for

their assistance

and propitiation of

their possible

ill

will.

In these rituals are defined the essential beings of the In

dian

pagan

religion.

There

is

the Great Spirit, represented

by Father Sky or by the sky s great incarnation, the Sun

Father. There are Mother Earth and her daughter, the Corn
Mother. There are the intermediaries between the powers be
low and those above, including the birds and the great mythic
Thunderbird, the winds and the clouds and the celestial bodies.
There are the Elders, or Guardians, of the animal kinds, who
replenish the earth with game and come as helpers to the hunts
men; and there is the vast congeries of things potent, belong

ing both to the seen and to the unseen world, whose help may
be won in the form of "medicine" by the man who knows the

usages of Nature.
Inevitably these powers find a fluctuating representation in
the varying imagery of myth. Consistency is not demanded,
for the Indian s mode of thought is too deeply symbolic for

own stories as literal: they are neither alle

nor
history; they are myth, with a truth midway between
gory
that of allegory and that of history. Myth can properly be
him

to regard his

defined only with reference to its sources and motives. Now

the motives of Indian stories are in general not difficult to
determine. The vast majority are obviously told for enter- \.

tainment; they represent an art, the art of fiction; and they

fall into the classes of fiction, satire and humour,
romance,
adventure. Again, not a few are moral allegories, or they are
fables with obvious lessons, such as often

of the theft of fire

X,

when

it

appear in the story

wood from which

details the kinds of

INTRODUCTION

xviii

third motive

is our universally
the
causes of things,
human curiosity: we
whether they be the forces that underlie recurrent phenomena

fire

can best be kindled.

desire to

know

or the seeming purposes that mark the beginnings and govern

the course of history. Myths that detail causes are science in
infancy, and they are perhaps the only stories that may
ex
properly be called myths. They may be simply fanciful

planations of the origin of animal traits

dog s nose is cold or why the robin s breast

have the beast

fable.

They may be no

telling
is

why

the

red; and then we

less fanciful

accounts of

the institution of some rite or custom whose sanction

is

deeper
than reason; and we have the so-called aetiological myth.
They may be semi-historical reminiscences of the inauguration

new ways

of the conquest of fire or the introduc

tion of maize by mythical wise men; or they may portray re
coverable tribal histories through the distorted perspective of

of

of

life,

In the most significant group of all, they seek to con

ceptualize the beginnings of all things in those cosmogonic
legend.

which the nebular hypothesis

allegories of

is

only the most

recently outgrown example.

which

Stories

With

about causes are true myths.

should perhaps seem an easy task for the

satisfy curiosity

this criterion it

student to separate mythology from fiction, and to select or

reject from his materials. But the thing is not so simple.

Human

motives, in whatever grade of society, are seldom un

mixed; it is much easier to analyze them in kind than to
distinguish them in example. Take such a theme as the well-

nigh universally North American account of the origin of

death. On the face of it, it is a causal explanation; but in very
many examples it is a moral tale, while in not a few instances

and the moral interest disappear before the

In a Wikeno story death came into the world by the
"How should I nest me in your warm
will of a little bird,
both the

scientific

aesthetic.

graves

if

ye

men

it is difficult

and however grim the fancy,

anything but art in its motive; but in the

live

to see

forever?"

INTRODUCTION
version

known

ant choice
are

is

to the Arctic Highlanders, where the poign

put, "Will ye have eternal darkness and eternal

or light and

life,

xix

death?"

art

and morality and philosophy

all

intermingled.
perfect our criterion we must add to the analysis of mo
tive the study of the sources of mythic conceptions. In a

To

broad way, these are the suggestions of environing nature,

human nature both psychical and physi

the analogies of

ological, imagination,

and borrowings.

Probably the

first

of

is the most important, though the "nature-myth" is far

from being the simple and inevitable thing an elder genera
tion of students would make of it. Men s ideas necessarily re

these

the world that they know, and even where the mythic
incidents are the same the timbre of the tale will vary, say

flect

from the Yukon to the Mississippi, in the eastern forest, or on

There are physiographical boundaries

the western desert.

within the continent which form a natural chart of the divi

sions in the complexion of aboriginal thought;

and while there

numberless overlappings, outcroppings, and intrusions,

none the less striking are the general conformities of the char
are

acter of the several regions with the character of the mythic

developed in them. The forests of the East, the Great

lore

Plains, the arid South-West, secluded California, the NorthWestern archipelago, each has its own traits of thought as it
has its own traits of nature, and it is inevitable that we sup
pose the former to be in some degree a reflection of the latter.
all this there are certain constancies of nature, the
succession of darkness and light, the circle of the seasons, the
motions of sun, moon, and stars, of rivers and winds, that

Beyond

affect

and

men everywhere and everywhere

colour their fancies;

not the least interesting feature of the study of a wide

spread mythic theme or incident to see the variety of natural
it is

phenomena for which it may, first and last, serve

since the myth-maker does not find his story in
writes

it

there with her colouring.

to account,

nature, but

INTRODUCTION

xx

The second great source of myth material is found in the

analogies of human nature. Primarily these are psychical:
the desires and purposes of men are assumed, quite uncon
animate and to inspire the whole drama of nature s
growth and change, and thus the universe becomes peopled with
personalities, ranging in definition from the senselessly vora
sciously, to

cious appetites incarnated as monsters, to the self-possessed

purpose and, not infrequently, the

"sweet

reasonableness"

Besides the psychical, however,

of man-beings and gods.
there are the physical analogies of humankind. The most

elementary are the physiological, which lead to a symbolism

now gruesome, now poetic. The heart, the hair, and the breath

most

and their inner meaning

could scarcely be better indicated than in the words of a
Pawnee priest from whom Alice Fletcher obtained her report
of the Hako. One act of this ceremony is the placing of a
are the

bit of white

significant to the Indian,

down

and in
taken from

in the hair of a consecrated child,

explaining this rite the priest said: "The

under the wings of the white eagle. The

down is
down grew

close to

the heart of the eagle and moved as the eagle breathed. It

represents the breath and life of the white eagle, the father of

the

child."

man and

Further, since the eagle

is

intermediary between

Father Heaven, "the white, downy feather, which is

if it were
breathing, represents Tirawa-atius,

ever moving as

who

clouds";

beyond the blue sky, which is above the soft, white

and it is placed in the child s hair "on the spot where

a baby

skull

dwells

is

open, and you can see

it breathe."

This

is

poetic side of the symbolism; the gruesome is represented

scalping, by the tearing out of the heart, and sometimes

the

by
by

the devouring of it for the sake of obtaining the strength of

the slain. Another phase of physiological symbolism has to do

with the barbarian

s
never-paling curiosity about matters of
there
is
little
trace
of phallic worship in North America,
sex;
but the Indian s myths abound in incidents which are as un

consciously as they are unblushingly indecent.

strange and

INTRODUCTION
recurrent feature of Indian

members

myth

is

xxi

the personification of

of the body, especially the genital

organs, usually in

connexion with divination.

in the use of the

human body

as a

symbol

and excretory

The
is

final step

anthropomor

complete anthropomorphism wherein mythic

powers are given bodies, not part human and part animal,
but wholly human; it marks the first clear sense of the dig
that

phism

nity of man, and of the superiority of his wisdom to that of

the brutes. Not many Indian groups have gone far in this
direction,

but among the more advanced

it is

a step clearly

undertaken.

Imagination plays a part in the development of myth which

is

best realized

tales or

by

by the

aesthetic effect created

a set of pictorial symbols.

Indian mythic emblems

is

The

by

body

of

total impression of

undoubtedly one of

grotesquerie,

but

to point to

any pagan religious art except the

Greek that has outgrown the grotesque; and the Indian has a
quality of its own. There is a wide difference, however, in
the several regions, and indeed as between tribes of the same
region. The art of the North- West and of the South- West are
it is difficult

both highly developed, but even in such analogous objects as

masks they represent distinct types of genius. The Navaho

and the Apache are neighbours and relatives, but they are
poles apart in their aesthetic expression.

Some

tribes, as the

Pawnee, show great originality; others, as the northern Atha

pascans and most of the Salish, are colourless borrowers.
indeed, the

most

difficult of

problems to solve.
In the abstract, it is easy to suppose that, with the main simi
larities of environment in North America and the general even

Borrowing

is,

ness of a civilization everywhere neolithic, the like conditions of

a like human nature would give rise to like ideas and fancies.
It

is

equally easy to suppose that in a territory permeable

among tribes in constant intercourse, bor

nearly everywhere,

rowing must be extensive. Both factors are significant, though

in general the obvious borrowing is likely to seem the more

INTRODUCTION

xxii

impressive.

Nevertheless, universal borrowing is a difficult

innumerable instances show an identity of Old-

hypothesis, for

World and New-World

thinkable time

is

ideas,

where communication within

Even

incredible.

in the

New World

there are

wide separations for identical notions that seem to imply dis

tinct origins. Thus the Arctic Highlanders, who have only
recently learned that there are other peoples in the world, pos
sess ideas identical with those of the Indians of the far South.

When

such an idea

world which

is

simply that there

an abode of spirits, there

communication,

is

for the notion

is

is

a cavernous

under

no need to assume
world-wide; but when the two
is

regions agree in asserting that there are four underworld cav

an idea which is in no sense a natural inference
then
erns

the suspicion of communication becomes inevitable. Again,

constellation-myths which see in Corona Borealis a circle of

Ursa Major
a quadruped pursued by three hunters, might have many
independent origins; but when we encounter so curious a story
chieftains, in the Pleiades a

group of dancers,

as that of the incestuous relations of the

told

by Eskimo

munication

is

in the

in

Sun and the

north and Cherokee in the south,

Moon
com

again suggested; and this suggestion becomes

find, further, that a special incident

almost certainty when we

of this

ashes

the daubing
myth
by which he is later

of the secret lover with paint or

identified

appears in another

tale found in nearly every part of the continent, the story of

the

girl

who

bore children to a dog.

In the story just mentioned the children of the girl and the
dog sometimes become stars, sometimes the ancestors of a tribe
or clan of men; and this

is

a fair illustration of the

manner

in

which incidents having all the character of fiction are made to

serve as explanatory myths by their various users. The funda
mental material of myth is rather a collection of incidents
fitted into the scheme of things suggested by perception and
habit than the stark invention of nature; and while the inci
dents must have an invention somewhere, the greater portion

INTRODUCTION
of

them seem to be given by

art

xxiii

and adopted by nature,

borrowing and adaptation being, for the savage as for the

ized man, more facile than new thinking.

civil

In every considerable collection of Indian stories there are

many adaptations of common ideas and incidents. In different

comes to characteristic forms of

viewed as one
there
is
a
definable
scheme, within which
generally
great region,
the mythic conceptions of the North American fall into place.
It is in this sense, and with reference to this scheme, that we
regions this basic material

Finally, in the continent as a whole,

expression.

may speak of a North American Indian mythological system.

On the side of cosmology, the scheme has already been
There

indicated.

Father and of the

is

a world above, the

celestial

powers; there

is

home

of the

Sky

a world below, the

of the Earth Mother and the abode of the dead;

the central plane of the earth, and there are the genii
Quarters. But cosmology serves only to define the

embodiment
there

of

its

is

theatre;
tial

it

does not give the action. Cosmogony is the essen

In the Indian scheme the beginning is seldom

drama.

few tribes recognize a creator who makes or a

procreator who generates the world and its inhabitants; but
the usual conception is either of a pre-existent sky-world,
absolute.

peopled with the images of the beings of an earth-world yet to

come into being, or else of a kind of cosmic womb from which
the First People were to have their origin. In the former type
of legend, the action begins with the descent of a heaven-born
Titaness; in the latter, the first act portrays the ascent of the
ancestral beings from the place of generation. Uniformly, the
next act of the world drama details the deeds of a hero or of

who are the shapers and lawgivers of the habitable

They conquer the primitive monsters and set in order

twin heroes
earth.

the furniture of creation; quite generally, one of them is slain,

and passes to the underworld to become its Plutonian lord.

The

fire, the origin of death, the liberation of the ani

the
mals,
giving of the arts, the institution of rites are all

theft of

INTRODUCTION

xxiv

themes that

recur, once

and again, and

in

forms that show

surprisingly small variation. Universal, too, is the cataclysmic

destruction of the earth by flood, or fire and flood, leaving a

few survivors to repopulate the restored land. Usually this

event marks the close of a First, or Antediluvian Age, in which
the people were either animal in form or only abortively hu

man. After the

flood the animals are transformed once for

into the beings they now are, while the new race of men is
created. It is not a little curious to find in many tribes tales
all

of a confusion of tongues and dispersion of nations bringing

to a close the cosmogonic period and leading into that of

legendary history.
Such, in broad outline,

is

the chart of the Indian

cosmic

perspective. It is with a view to its fuller illustration that the

myths studied in the ensuing chapters have been chosen from

the great body of American Indian lore.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

NORTH AMERICAN
MYTHOLOGY
CHAPTER I
THE FAR NORTH
I.

NORSEMAN AND SKRAELING

the year of our Lord 982 Eric the Red, outlawed from
Iceland, discovered Greenland, which shortly afterward

IN

was colonized by
first

Eric

Icelanders.

Christian of the

New

son, Leif the

Lucky, the

World, voyaging from Norway to

a region to the south of Greenland

and wild vines grew, and which,
corn"

Greenland, came upon

where

"self-sown

accordingly, he

named Vinland. This was

the year in which

all

Second Advent and

instead the

first

in the year 1000,

Mediaeval Europe was looking for the

s destruction, but which brought

for earth

discovery of a

New World.

As yet no people had been encountered by the Scandina

vians in the new-found lands. But the news of Vinland stirred
the heart of Thorfinn Karlsefni and of his wife Gudrid, and
with a company of men and two ships they set out for the
region which Leif had found. First they came to a land which
they called Helluland, "the land of flat stones," which seemed

to them a place of little worth. Next they visited a wooded

land full of wild beasts, and this they named Markland.
Finally they came to Vinland, and there they dwelt for three
winters, Gudrid giving birth to Snorri, the first white child
born on the Western Continent. It was in Vinland that the
Norsemen first encountered the Skraelings: "They saw a
number of skin canoes, and staves were brandished from
their boats with a noise like

the same

flails,

direction in which the sun

and they were revolved in

moves."
Thorfinn s band

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

small, the Skraelings were a multitude; so the colony re

turned to Greenland in the year 1006.

was

Apparently no further attempt was made to settle the main

land, though from time to time voyages were made thither for
cargoes of timber. But the Greenland colony continued, un
molested and flourishing. About the middle of the thirteenth
century peoples from the north, short and swart, began to
appear; encounters became unfriendly, and in 1341 the north

ernmost Scandinavian settlement was destroyed. Meanwhile,

ships were coming from Norway less and less frequently, and
the colony ceased to prosper, ceased to be heard from. At the
time when Columbus discovered the Antilles there was a

Bishop of Greenland, holding title from the Pope, but there is

no evidence that he ever saw his diocese, and when, in 1585,
John Davis sailed into the strait now bearing his name all

Norsemen s colony was lost.

But the people of the Far North had not forgotten, and
when the white men again came among them they still pre
trace of the

served legends of former Kablunait. 1 The story of the first

meeting of the two peoples still survived, and of their mutual

and of how an Eskimo and a white man

became fast friends, each unable to outdo the other in feats of
skill and strength, until at last the Eskimo won in a contest at
archery, and the white man was cast down a precipice by his
fellow-countrymen. There is the story of Eskimo men lying
in wait and stealing the women of the Kablunait as they came
to draw water. There are stories of blood feuds between the
two peoples, and of the destruction of whole villages. At Ikat
curiosity

and

fear,

the Kablunait were taken

by

surprise; four fathers with their

upon the ice and all were drowned; sometimes

are
visible
at the bottom of the sea, and then, say the
they
children fled out

Eskimo, one of our people will die.

Such are the memories of the lost colony which the Greenlanders have preserved. But far and wide among the Eskimo
tribes there

is

the tradition of their former association with

PLATE

II

Encounter of Eskimo and Kablunait, from a GreenAfter H. Rink, Tales and Traditions
landic
drawing.

of

the Eskimo.

THE FAR NORTH

the Tornit, the Inlanders, from whom they were parted by feud
and war. The Tornit were taller and stronger and swifter
than the Eskimo, and most of them were blear-eyed their
dress and weapons were different, and they were not so skil
ful in boating and sealing or with the bow. Finally, an Es
kimo youth quarrelled with one of the Tornit and slew him,
;

boring a hole in his forehead with a drill of crystal. After that

the Tornit fled away for fear of the Eskimo and since then

all

the Coast-People and the Inland-Dwellers have been enemies.

In the stories of the Tornit may be some vague recollections

Norsemen more plausibly they represent the

Indian neighbours of the Eskimoan tribes on the mainland,
for to the Greenlanders the Indians had long become a fabulous

of the ancient

and magical

Sometimes, they say, the Tornit

race.

steal

women

who

are lost in the fog, but withal are not very dangerous;
they keep out of sight of men and are terribly afraid of dogs.
Besides the Tornit there are in the Eskimo s uncanny Inland

and cannibal giants, one-eyed people, shape-shifters,

dog-men, and monsters, such as the Amarok, or giant wolf,

elves

or the horrid caterpillar that a woman nursed until it grew so

for it is a region where
huge that it devoured her baby
2
history and imagination mingle in nebulous marvel.

II.

There

is

THE ESKIMO S WORLD

probably no people on the globe more isolated in

and their life than are the Eskimo. Their nat

their character

home

to the greater part of mankind one of the least

inviting regions of the earth, and they have held it for centuries
with little rivalry from other races. It is the coastal region
ural

is

Ocean from Alaska to Labrador and from Labra

dor to the north of Greenland: inlandward it is bounded by
frozen plains, where even the continuous day of Arctic sum

of the Arctic

mer

frees only a

icy waters, solid

few inches of

soil;

seaward

it

borders upon

during the long months of the Arctic night.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

caribou and more essentially the seal are the two animals
upon which the whole economy of Eskimo life depends, both

The

for bodily covering; the caribou is hunted in

is the main reliance for winter.
seal
the
But the
summer,
is
never
certain; the seasonal
provision of a hunting people
is fluctuating; and the Eskimo is no stranger to
of
game
supply

for food

and

not a green world, but a world of whites

and greys, shot with the occasional splendours of the North.
Night is more open to him than the day; he is acquainted
starvation.

His

is

with the stars and death

his familiar.

is

country has wide borders; there is no man born has

travelled round it; and it bears secrets in its bosom of which no
"Our

white

man

dreams.

Up

here

we

live

two

different lives; in

Summer, under the torch of the Warm Sun; in the Winter,

under the lash of the North Wind. But it is the dark and
the

the cold that

make

And when the long Dark

country, many hidden things are

us think most.

ness spreads itself over the

and men s thoughts travel along devious paths

(quoted from "Blind Ambrosius," a West Greenlander, by
Rasmussen, The People of the Polar North, p. 219).
The religious and mythical ideas of the Eskimo wear the
"

revealed,

hues of their

life.

They

are savages, easily cheered

when food

plenty, and when disheartened oppressed rather by a blind

helplessness than by any sense of ignorance or any depth of
is

thought.

Their social organization

is

loose;

their

law

is

strength; their differences are settled by blood feuds; a kind

of unconscious indecency characterizes the relations of the
sexes;

people

but they have the crude virtues of a simply gregarious

ready hospitality, willingness to share, a lively

ful affectionateness, a sense of fun.

and dancing and

tale-telling; to

magic and trance and

by

spirit-

are grim enough, but

their flights of fancy. As their life

journeys. Their adventures in real

these are outmatched

They

if fit

are given to singing

demands, they are rapacious

life

and ingrained huntsmen; and

perhaps the strongest trait of their tales

is

the succession of

THE FAR NORTH

images reflecting the intimate habits of a people whose every

blubber and entrails and warm blood,
is a butcher
bones and the foulness of parasites and decay: these replace

member

the tenderer images suggested to the minds of peoples

dwell in flowered and verdured lands.

THE WORLD-POWERS

III.

For the Eskimo,

held
its

by

as for all savage people, the world

invisible powers.

"owner"

or

who

Everything

"indweller";

is

up

in nature has its Inua, 3

stones and animals have their

Inue, the air has an Inua, there is even an Inua of the strength
or the appetite; the dead man is the Inua of his grave, the soul
Inue are separable from the
is the Inua of the lifeless body.
objects of which they are the "owners"; normally they are
invisible, but at times they appear in the form of a light or a

an

fire

The

foretokening death.
may become the helpers or guard
and then they are known as Tornait. 4 Especially

ill-seen thing,

"owners"

ians of

men

of objects

potent are the Inue of stones and bears; if a bear "owner"

becomes the Tornak of a man, the man may be eaten by the
bear and vomited up again; he then becomes an Angakok, or
5
shaman, with the bear for his helper. Men or women with
many or powerful Tornait are of the class of Angakut, endowed

with magical and healing power and with eyes that see hidden
things.

The Greenlanders had

vague

belief in a being,

Tornarsuk,

the Great Tornak, or ruler of the Tornait, through whom the

Angakut obtained their control over their helpers; but a like
belief

seems not to have been prevalent on the continent. 6

In the spiritual economy of the Eskimo, the chief place is

Nerri-

held by a woman-being, the Old Woman of the Sea,

vik, the "Food Dish," the north Greenlanders call her,

Sedna

is

woman;

a mainland

a petrel

name

for her. 7

while

Once she was a mortal

wooed her with entrancing song and carried

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

her to his

home beyond

the sea.

Too

late she

found that he

When

her relatives tried to rescue her,

that they cast her into the sea to
storm
the bird raised such a

had deceived

her.

save themselves; she attempted to cling to the boat, but they

cut off her hand, and she sank to the bottom, her severed fin
gers being transformed into whales and seals of the several
kinds. In her house in the depths of the sea Nerrivik dwells,
trimming her lamp, guarded by a terrible dog, and ruling over

the animal

life

and then the

of the deep.

Sometimes men catch no seals,

to her and force or persuade

Angakut go down

her to release the food animals; that is why she is called the
It is not difficult to perceive in this Woman of
"Food Dish."
a hunter folk s god
the Sea a kind of Mother of Wild Life

but cruel and capricious as is the sea itself.

In the house of Sedna is a shadowy being, Anguta, her father.
Some say that it was he who rescued her and then cast her

dess,

overboard to save himself, and he is significantly surnamed

"the Man with
Something to Cut." Like his daughter, Anguta

maimed hand, and it is with this that he

and drags them down to the house of Sedna
has a

seizes the

dead

for her sover

eignty is over the souls of the dead as well as over the food of
the living; she is Mistress of Life and of Death. According to
the old Greenlandic tradition, when the Angakut go down to
the Woman of the Sea they pass first through the region of

the dead, then across an abyss where an icy wheel is forever

revolving, next by a boiling cauldron with seals in it, and lastly,

when the

great dog at the door is evaded, within the very en

trance there is a second abyss bridged only by a knifelike way.
Such was the Eskimo s descensus Averno.*

IV.

As the Eskimo

THE WORLD S REGIONS

s Inland is
peopled with monstrous tribes,
Sea-Front populous with strange beings. 9 There are
the Inue of the sea
a kind of mermen; there are the mirage-

so

is

his

THE FAR NORTH

Kayak-men who raise storms and foul weather; there are

phantom women s boats, the Umiarissat, whose crews,

like

the

some

say, are seals transformed into rowers.

Strangest of

all

are the Fire-People, the Ingnersuit, dwelling in the cliffs, or,

as it were, in the crevasse between land and sea. They are of

two

classes, the

Pug-Nosed People and the Noseless People.

The former are friendly to men, assisting the kayaker even

when invisible to him; the Noseless Ones are men s enemies,
and they drag the hapless kayaker to wretched captivity down
beneath the black waters.

An Angakok was

once seal-hunting,

found himself surrounded by strange

the Fire-People coming to seize him. But a commo

far at sea; all at once he

kayaks

among them, and he saw

that they were pursued

was
like
a
whose
great mouth, opening and
by kayak
prow
were
in its path; and suddenly
all
that
and
slaying
shutting,
all of the Fire-People were gone from the surface of the sea.

tion arose
a

Such was the power of the shaman

In the

Eskimo

s helping spirit.
there
are regions above and re
conception
visible abode, and the dead are to be found

gions below man s

in each. 10 Accounts differ as to the desirability of the several
or some of them
abodes. The mainland people
regard the
lower world as a place of cold and storm and darkness and

hunger, and those

who have been unhappy

or wicked in this

are bound thither; the region above is a land of plenty

and song, and those who have been good and happy, and also
those who perish by accident or violence, and women who die

life

upper land. But there are others

who deem the lower world the happier, and the upper the realm
in child-birth, pass to this

of cold

and hunger; yet others maintain that the soul

is

full

of joy in either realm.

The Angakut make soul-journeys to both the upper and the

lower worlds. 11 The lower world is described as having a sky
our own, only the sky is darker and the sun paler;
always winter there, but game is plentiful. Another tale

like

it

is

tells

of four cavernous underworlds, one beneath the other; the

x
3

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

8
first

three are low-roofed and uncomfortable, only the fourth

and lowest

is

roomy and

pleasant.

The upper world

is

beyond

the visible sky, which is a huge dome revolving about a moun

tain-top; it is a land with its own hills and valleys, duplicating

Earth. Its

"owners"

are the Inue of the celestial bodies,

who

once were men, but who have been translated to the heavens
and are now the celestial lights. The road to the upper world
is not free from perils: on the way to the moon there is a
person
in

who tempts

wayfarers to laughter, and

making them laugh takes out

their entrails. 8

if

successful

Perhaps this

is a kind of process of disembodying; for repeatedly in Es

kimo myth occur spirit-beings which when seen face to face

appear to be

human

like skeletons.

12

V.

The Sun and

beings, but

seen from behind are

THE BEGINNINGS

Moon

the

when

were

sister

and brother

mortals

In a house where there was no light they lay together,

and when the sister discovered who had been her companion,

once.

in her

shame she

tore off her breasts

and threw them to her

my body pleaseth thee, taste these,

brother, saying,
Then she fled away, her brother pursuing, and each
too."
bearing the torches by means of which they had discovered
"Since

one another.

As they ran they

rose

up into the heavens;

torch burned strong and bright, and she became

the Sun; the brother s torch died to a mere ember, and he be
came the Moon. 13 When the Sun rises in the sky and summer

the sister

approaching, she is coming "to give warmth to orphans,"

say the Eskimo; for in the Far North, where many times in
is

the winter starvation

is

near, the lot of the

orphan

is

grimly

uncertain.

The Greenlanders

are alert to the stars, especially those

that foretell the return of the

seen toward dawn,

summer

is

summer

sun;

when Orion

is

coming and hearts are joyous.

PLATE

III

Example of gorget, or breast-ornament, of wood,

used by the Eskimo of western Alaska in shamanistic
On the
dances, often in combination with a mask.
original

(now

in the

United States National Museum),

man standing on a whale and

the central figure of a

holding fishes
ing in black.

is

painted in red,

The

all

the other figures be

central figure represents a marine

god or giant, probably the Food-Giver.

See Note 9,

2 74)(P-

Harpoon-rest with sketch of a mythic bird captur

From Cape Prince of Wales. Now in
ing a whale.

United States National Museum.

The

bird

is

prob

ably the Thunderbird, as in the similar motive in the

art of the North- West Coast Indians.

THE FAR NORTH

The Eskimo
out on the

tell

ice;

how men with dogs once pursued a bear far

suddenly the bear began to rise into the air,

his pursuers followed,

and

which we name Orion.

this

group became the constellation

is sometimes told of the

like story

Great Bear (Ursa Major). Harsher is the tale which tells of

the coming of Venus: "He who Stands and Listens"
for
the sun

companion

is

man

to the Eskimo.

An

old

man, so

the story goes, was sealing near the shore; the noise of chil
dren playing in a cleft of rock frightened the seals away;
and at last, in his anger, he ordered the cleft to close over them.

When

their parents returned from hunting, all they could do

was to pour a little blood down a fissure which had been left,
but the imprisoned children soon starved. They then pursued
the old man, but he shot up into the sky and became the lumi

nous planet which

is

seen low in the west

when

the light begins

14

to return after the wintry dark.

The Eskimo do not greatly trouble themselves with thoughts
as to the beginnings of the world as a whole; rather they take

granted, quite unspeculatively. There

odd Greenlandic tale of how earth dropped
it for

heavens,

came

soil

and

stones, forming the lands

is,

however, an

down from the

we know. Babies

and sprawled about among the

dwarf willows; and there they were found by a man and a
woman (none knows whence these came), and the woman made
forth

earth-born

and so there were people; and the man

the
stamped upon
earth, whence sprang, each from its tiny
15
the
mound,
dogs that men need. At first there was no death;
clothes for them,

neither was there any sun. Two old women debated, and one
said, "Let us do without light, if so we can be without death";

but the other said, "Nay, let us have both light and death!"
and as she spoke, it was so. 16
The Far North has also a widely repeated story of a deluge
that destroyed most of the earth s life, as well as another wide
spread account of the birth of the different races of mankind

for at first all

men were Eskimo

from the union of a

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

io

with a dog: 17 the ancestors of the white men she put in

the sole of a boot and sent them to find their own country,
girl

and when the white men

above, the
boot!

body

ships

came

again,

lo,

as seen

from

of each ship looked precisely like the sole of a

VI.

Birth and death, in

LIFE

AND DEATH

Eskimo conception,

are less a beginning

Bodies are only instruments

and an end than episodes of life.

the souls which are their "owners"; and what re
spect is shown for the bodies of the dead is based upon a very
definite awe of the potencies of their Inue, which have been

of souls

augmented rather than diminished by the last liberation.

Souls may be born and reborn both as man and as beast,
and some have been known to run the whole gamut of the ani
mal kingdom before returning to human shape. 18 Ordinarily
human souls are reborn as men. Monsters, too, are born of

human

parents: one of the most ghastly of the northern tales

the story of "the Baby who ate its parents"; it tore off its
mother s breasts as she suckled it, it devoured her body and

is

ate

its

and then, covered with its parents blood and

meat, it crawled horribly toward the folk, who fled

father;

crying for
in terror. 19

Besides the soul which

lieve in a name-soul.

20

is

the body

The name

"owner"

of the

his kinsfolk until a child has

dead

come

the

man

Eskimo be
is

not

men

into the world to

tioned

by

bear

anew. Then, when the name has thus been reborn, the

it

man s proper soul is free to leave the corpse and go to

the land of the departed. An odd variant of this Greenlandic
notion was encountered by Stefansson among the western
dead

tribes: these people believe that the soul of the

dead relative

body of the new-born child, guarding and protect

and
uttering all its words until it reaches the age of
ing
discretion; then the child s own soul is supposed to assume
sway, and it is called after a name of its own. If there have

enters the
its life

THE FAR NORTH

been a number of deaths previous to a birth, the child may

have several such guardian spirits.
Sometimes a child had dire need of guardian spirits. Such
a one was Qalanganguase; his parents and his sister were dead;
he had no kindred to care for him and he was paralysed in
the lower part of his body. When his fellow-villagers went
hunting, he was left alone; and then, in his solitude, the spirits
came and whiled away the hours. Once, however, the spirit

Qalanganguase had been

had left when she died), and
the people, on their return, saw the shadow of her flitting feet.
When Qalanganguase told what had happened, the villagers
challenged him to the terrible song-duel in which the Angakut
21
and they bound him to the sup
try one another s strength;
and
left
him
swinging to and fro. But the
ports of the house
spirit of his mother came to him, and his father s spirit, say
ing, "Journey with us"; and so he departed with them, nor
did his fellow-villagers ever find him again. 22
Qalanganguase was an orphaned child and a cripple; his
in the Polar North
were little enough.
rights to life
Mitsima was an old man. He was out seal-catching in mid
winter; a storm came up, and he was lost to his companions.
When the storm passed, his children saw him crawling like
a dog over the ice, for his hands and feet were frozen
his
children saw him, but they were afraid to go out to him, for
he was near unto death. "He is an old man," they said, and
so they let him die; for the aged, too, have little right to life
of his sister

was slow

in going (for

looking after the little child she

in the Polar North.

Perhaps

it is

necessity rather than cruelty in a region where

Perhaps it is that death seems less final, more

episodic, to men whose lives are always in peril. Perhaps it
is the ancient custom of the
world, which only civilized men
have forgotten. "We observe our old customs," said a wise
life is

hard.

elder to

Knud Rasmussen

and he was speaking of the ob

servation of the rites for the dead

"in

order to hold the

12

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

world up, for the powers must not be offended. We observe

our customs, in order to hold each other up. We are afraid of
the great Evil. Men are so helpless in the face of illness. The
people here do penance, because the dead are strong in their
vital sap, and boundless in their might."

CHAPTER

II

THE FOREST TRIBES

I.

THE FOREST REGION

British and French and Dutch colonized North

America in the seventeenth century, the region which
they entered was a continuous forest extending northward to
the tree line of Labrador and Hudson s Bay west, southward to
the foot-hills of the mountains and the shores of the Gulf, and
westward to about the longitude of the Mississippi River.
This vast region was inhabited by numerous tribes of a race
new to white men. The Norse, during their brief stay in Vinland, on the northern borders of the forest lands, had heard,

WHEN

through the Skraelings, of

men who wore

fringed garments,

and whooped loudly; but they had not

seen those people, whom it had remained for Columbus first
to encounter. These men
"Indians" Columbus had called
carried long spears,

them

were, in respect to polity, organized into small tribal

groups; but these groups, usually following relationship in
speech and natural proximity, were, in turn, loosely bound to

gether in

"confederacies"

or

"nations."

Even beyond

limits affinity of speech delimited certain

these

major groups, or

normally representing consanguineous races;

and, indeed, the whole forest region, from the realm of the
Eskimo in the north to the alluvial and coastal lands bordering

linguistic stocks,

on the Gulf, was dominated by two great linguistic stocks, the

Algonquian and the Iroquoian, whose tribes were the first
aborigines encountered

by the white

The Algonquians, when

the more numerous

colonists.

the whites appeared, were by far

and wide-spread of the two peoples.

14

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

Their tribes included, along the Atlantic coast, the

New

Brunswick and Nova

Massachuset,

Scotia, the Abnaki,

Nauset, Narraganset,

Pequot,

Micmac

of

Pennacook,

etc.,

of

New

England, the Mahican and Montauk of New York, the Dela

ware of New Jersey, and the Nanticoke and Powhatan of Vir
ginia and North Carolina. North of the St. Lawrence were the

Montagnais and Algonquin tribes, while westward were the

Chippewa and Cree, mainly between the Great Lakes and
Hudson s Bay. The Potawatomi, Menominee, Sauk and Fox,
Miami, Illinois, and Shawnee occupied territory extending
from the western lakes southward to Tennessee and westward
to the Mississippi.

On the Great Plains

the Arapaho and

Chey

enne and in the Rocky Mountains the Siksika, or Blackfeet,

were remote representatives of this vast family of tribes.
In contrast, the Iroquoian peoples were compact and little di
vided. The two centres of their power were the region about
Lakes Erie and Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence, south

ward through central New York and Pennsylvania, and the

mountainous region of the Carolina and Virginia colonies.
Of the northern tribes the Five Nations, 23 or Iroquois Con
federacy, of New York, and the Canadian Huron, with whom
they were perpetually at war, were the most important; of
the southern, the Tuscarora and Cherokee. In all the wide
territory occupied by these two great stocks the only consid
erable intrusion was that of the Catawba, an offshoot of the
famed Siouan stock of the Plains, which had established
itself between the Iroquoian Cherokee and the Algonquian
Powhatan.
As the territories of the forest tribes were similar
heavily
wooded, whether on mountain or plain, copiously watered,
so were their modes of
abounding in game and natural fruits
life and thought cast to the same pattern. Every man was a
hunter; but, except in the Canadian north, agriculture was prac
24
and
tised by the women, with maize for the principal crop,
the villages were accordingly permanent.

Industries were of

PLATE

IV

Ceremonial mask of the Iroquois Indians, New

Carved wood painted red. This mask repre
of the great anthropic beings defeated in
one
sents

York.

primal times by the Master of Life ; its face, pre

beautiful, was contorted in the struggle.

viously

Specimen

in

the United States National

Museum.

THE FOREST TRIBES

15

the Stone Age, though not without art, especially where the
ceremonial of life was concerned. The tribes were organized
for war as for peace, and indeed, if hunting was the vocation,

war was the avocation of every Indian man: warlike prowess

was his crowning glory, and stoical fortitude under the most
terrible of tortures his supreme virtue; the cruelty of the
North American Indian
and few peoples have been more
can be properly understood only as the re
esteem for personal courage, to the proof

consciously cruel

flection of his intense

of which his whole

ritual

was subjected. For the rest, a love of

song and dance, of oratory and the counsel of elders,
life

a fine courtesy, a subtle code of honour, an impeccable pride,

were

all traits which the Forest Tribes had

developed to the
and
which
to
the
Indian that aloofness of mien and
full,
gave
austerity of character which were the white man s first and
most vivid impression of him. In the possession of these traits,

as in their

mode

of

life

and the ideas to which

it

gave birth,

the forest Indians were as one people; the Algonquians were

perhaps the more poetical, the more given to song and proph
ecy, the Iroquoians the

more

politic

and the better

tacticians;

but their differences were slight in contrast to an essential

unity of character which was to form, during the first two
centuries of the white

the European

II.

Men

men

contact with the new-found race,

indelible impression of the

PRIEST

Red Man.

AND PAGAN

most precious possessions. The gold

and the tobacco of the New World were bright
allurements to the western adventure; but it was the desire
s

and the

beliefs are their

furs

to keep their faith unmolested that planted the first

permanent

English colony on American shores, and Spanish conquistador es

and French voyageurs were not more zealous for wealth and

war than were the Jesuit Fathers, who followed in their foot
steps and outstayed their departure, for the Christianizing of

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

16

Red Man s pagan soul. It is to these missionary priests

that we owe most of our knowledge of the Indian s native be
at least, for the earlier period. They entered the wilder
liefs

the

ness to convert the savage,

and accordingly

immediate interest to discover what

it

became

their

religious ideas this child

of nature already possessed. In their letters on the language,

institutions, and ideas of the Indians, written for the enlighten

ment

of those intending to enter the mission field,

first reliable accounts of

Indian

myth and

we have

the

religion.

To

be sure, the Fathers did not immediately understand

the aborigines. In one of the earliest of the Relations Pere

Lalemant wrote, of the Montagnais: "They have no form of

divine worship nor any kind of prayers"; but such expressions

mean simply

that the missionaries found

among

the Indians

nothing similar to their own religious practices. In the Rela

tion of 1647-48 Pere Raguenau said, writing of the Huron:
"To

speak truly,

all

the nations of these countries have re

ceived from their ancestors no knowledge of a God; and, before

we set foot here, all that was related about the creation of the

world consisted of nothing but myths. Nevertheless, though

they were barbarians, there remained in their hearts a secret
idea of the Divinity and of a
things,
ests

whom

first Principle,

the author of

all

they invoked without knowing him. In the for

and during the chase, on the waters, and when

of shipwreck, they
call him to their aid.

name him Aireskouy

in

danger

Soutanditenr,

25

and

In war, and in the midst of their battles,

of Ondoutaete and believe that he alone

him the name

they give
awards the victory. 69 Very frequently they address themselves

to the Sky, paying it homage; and they call upon the Sun to
be witness of their courage, of their misery, or of their inno
cence. But, above all, in treaties of peace and alliance with
foreign Nations they invoke, as witnesses of their sincerity,

the Sun and the Sky, which see into the depths of their hearts,
and will wreak vengeance on the treachery of those who betray
their trust

and do not keep their word. So true

is

what Ter-

THE FOREST TRIBES

17

most infidel Nations, that nature in the

makes
them speak with a Christian voice,
perils
Exclamant vocem naturaliter Christianam,
and have recourse

tullian said of the

midst of
to a

God whom they invoke almost without knowing

Ignoto

Deo."

him,

Exclamant vocem naturaliter Christianam!

later another Jesuit,

Father

De

Two

centuries

Smet, uses the same expression

Kansa

in describing the religious feeling of the

we showed them an Ecce Homo and

tribe:

a statue of our

"When

Lady of the

Seven Dolours, and the interpreter explained to them that that

head crowned with thorns, and that countenance defiled with
real image of a God who had died
and that the heart they saw pierced with seven
swords was the heart of his mother, we beheld an affecting illus
insults,

were the true and

for love of us,

tration of the beautiful thought of Tertullian, that the soul

of

man
It

is

is

naturally

Christian!"

not strange, therefore, that

when

these same Fathers

found in America myths of a creation and a deluge, of a fall

from heaven and of a sinful choice bringing death into the
world, they conceived that in the new-found Americans they
had discovered the lost tribes of Israel.

III.

THE MANITOS

definition of being

"The

is

simply

power,"

says a speaker

and this is a statement to which every

American Indian would accede. Each being in nature, the
Indians believe, has an indwelling power by means of which
in Plato

Sophist;

particular character and in its own way

Such powers may be little or great,
weak or mighty; and of course it behooves a man to know which
ones are great and mighty. Outward appearances are no sure
sign of the strength of an indwelling potency; often a small
animal or a lethargic stone may be the seat of a mighty power;
but usually some peculiarity will indicate to the thoughtful
this being

affects

maintains

its

other beings.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

observer the object of exceptional might, or it may be revealed

in a dream or vision. To become the possessor of such an ob

own powers proportionally increased; it

is good "medicine" and will make one strong.
Every American language has its name for these indwelling
powers of things. The Eskimo word is Inua, or "owner";

ject

is

to have one

Iroquois employ the word Orenda, and for maleficent

26
powers, or "bad magic," Otgon; the Huron word is Oki; the

the

Siouan, Wakanda. But the term by which the idea has become
most generally known to white men, doubtless because it was
the word used by the Indians first encountered by the colo
nists, is the Algonquian Manitou, Manito, or Manido, as it is
variously spelled. The customary translations are "power,"
commoner yet,
and "medi
"mystery," "magic," and,
of
the
word
would
include all
-and the full meaning
cine"
of these; for the powers of things include every gradation from
the common and negligible to the mysterious and magical:
"spirit"

when they

pertain to the higher forces of nature they are in

telligent spirits, able to hear and answer supplications; and
wherever they may be appropriated to man s need they are

medicine, spiritual and physical.

The Indian does not make, as

we

do, a sharp division be

tween physical and spiritual powers; rather, he is concerned

with the distinction between the weak and the strong: the

sub-human he may neglect or conquer, the superhuman he

must supplicate and appease. It is commonly to these latter,
is
the mighty Manitos, that the word
applied.
Nor must we suppose that the Manitos always retain the
same shape. Nature is constantly changing, constantly trans
"spirit"

forming herself in every part; she

is full of
energy, full of life;
these
are
Manitos
transformations, pre
everywhere effecting
in
now
in that. Conse
now
this
themselves
shape,
senting

quently, the Indian does not judge by the superficial gift of

vision; he studies the effects of things, and in objects of hum
blest appearance he often finds evidences of the highest

pow-

PLATE V
Chippewa pictographic record of Midewiwin songs
and

After Schoolcraft, Indian

rites.

Two records

Plate LI.

are given

Tribes^ part

i,

they are read from

and upward.
Following are interpre
right to left,
tations of the figures, abridged from Schoolcraft.

Medicine lodge with winged

Great Spirit come to instruct
Candidate for admission with pouch
2.
the Indians.
attached to his arm; wind gushes from the pouch.

Upper record:

I.

the
figure representing

4. Arm
preparation of feast.
hand of the master of

Pause, indicating

3.

holding a dish, representing

Arm of the priest

6.
5. Sweat-lodge.
conducts the candidate.
Symbol for gifts,
7.
8. Sacred tree, with
the admission fee of candidate.
crane
10.
Stuffed
medicine root.
medicine-bag.
9.
Arrow penetrating the circle of the sky. n. A
ceremonies.

who

small

high-flying

Spirit

above

hawk.
manito

it,

12.
s

The

sky, the Great

arm upraised beneath

in

Sacred or magic
13.
supplication.
16. Half of the sky with a
tree.
15. Drumstick.
man walking on it, symbol of midday. 17. The
Great Spirit filling all space with his beams and halo.
Pause.

19. Tambourine with feather orna

21. An initiate or priest hold
Crow.
one hand a drumstick, in the other the clouds

Drum.

8.

ments.

20.

ing in

of the

celestial

Lower
2.

wood.
Spirit,

14.

filling

Mide
sun.

Man

12.

Bow

s,

blood.

5.

Pipe, here represent

that eats decaying

A worm

6.

A Wabeno

spirit,

addressed for aid.

Wabeno

Horned

and

wolf.

13.

The war

potent.
initiate, or doctor, holding the sky.
17.

8.

9. The Great
powers.
10. Sky
the sky with his presence.
ii. Fabulous monster chasing the

with

clouds.

clouds.

A Wabeno s, or doctor hand.

4.
plant.
3. A Wabeno dog.

medicine."

7.

hunter

with

i.

tree or

man vomiting

"bad

ing

hemisphere.

record

Sacred

Sick

14.

Bow

with drum,

arrow,

and

magically

arrow

in ecstasy.

eagle.

15.
16. The

shooting power.
Cf. Plate XX.

18.

THE FOREST TRIBES

19

Stones do not seem to us likely objects of veneration, yet

many strong Manitos dwell in them
perhaps it is the spark
of fire in the impassive flint that appeals to the Red Man s
ers.

imagination; perhaps it is an instinctive veneration for the

ancient material out of which were hewn the tools that

have

lifted

man above

the brute; perhaps

age-long permanence and invulnerable

foundations 27

At

it is

a sense of the

reality of earth

rocky

Ho! Aged One, e?ka,

when there were gathered together seven persons,*

a time

You
And

sat in the seventh place,

it is said,

Seven you alone possessed knowledge of all things,

Aged One, e^ka.
When in their longing for protection and guidance,
The people sought in their minds for a way,
They beheld you seated with assured permanency and endurance,
In the center where converged the paths,
of the

There, exposed to the violence of the four winds, you

Possessed with power to receive supplications,

Aged One,

sat,

e9ka.

It is thus that the Omaha began his invocation to the healing

a veritable omphalos, or centre of
stones of his sweat lodge
the world, symbolizing the invisible, pervasive, and enduring
life

of

all

things.

IV.

THE GREAT

SPIRIT 6

The Algonquians

of the north recognize as the chief of their

Manitos, Gitche (or Kitshi) Manito, the Great Spirit, whom
28
It should not be inferred
they also call the Master of Life.
that a manlike personality is ascribed to the Great Spirit. He

invisible

is

and immaterial; the author of

life,

but himself

uncreated; he is the source of good to man, and is invoked

with reverence: but he is not a definite personality about whom
*

The spirits of the seven directions, above, below, here, and the
The passage is translated by Alice C. Fletcher, 27 ARBE,

points.

word
etc.,

"

"

ecka may be roughly rendered I desire,"

but has no exact equivalent in English.
"

"

four cardinal
p.

"

crave,"

586.

The

"

I implore,"

seek,"

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

20

are told; he

myths

from the world

some translators

aloof

is

perhaps best named,

as

of sense;

and he

is

prefer, the Great

Mystery of all things.

Yet the Great Spirit is not without proper names. Pere
Le Jeune wrote thus in 1633, concerning the Montagnais:
that there is a certain one whom they call Atahocan,
"They say

who made all things. Talking one day of God, in a cabin, they
asked me what this God was. I told them that it was he who
could do everything, and who had made the Sky and Earth.
They began

to say to one another,

"

Atahocan.

writing in

Winslow,

Atahocan, Atahocan, it is
1622, mentions a similar

Kiehtan, recognized by the Massachusetts Indians;

and the early writers on the Virginia Indians tell of their belief
spirit,

"that

tie"

there

is

one chiefe

who made

God

that hath beene from

the world and set the sun and

The Iroquoian

all

eterni-

moon and

stars

have no precise
equivalent for the Algonquian Kitshi Manito, but they be
lieved in a similar spirit, known by the name of Areskoui or
to be his ministers.

whom

Agreskoui, to

they offered the

and of victorious war.

The

tribes

first-fruits of

terrible letter in

the chase

which Pere Isaac

Jogues recounts his stay among the Iroquois, as a prisoner,

woman

captive to this deity: "And

to that unhappy one with
fire
the
as often as they applied
torches and burning brands, an old man cried in a loud voice:
tells of

the sacrifice of a

we

thee this victim that thou mayst

satisfy thyself with her flesh, and give us victory over our
999
enemies.
Aireskoi,

sacrifice to

The

usual rite to the Great Spirit, however, is not of this

horrible kind. From coast to coast the sacred Calumet is

Heaven.

30

spected,"

smoke

the proper offering to

"The Sceptres of our Kings are not so much re
wrote Marquette, "for the Savages have such a

the Indian

altar,

and

its

is

Deference for this Pipe, that one

may

and War, and

and

the Arbiter of Life

call it the
Death."

God of Peace
was really

"It

a touching spectacle to see the calumet, the Indian

emblem

THE FOREST TRIBES

21

of peace, raised heavenward by the hand of a savage, present

ing it to the Master of Life imploring his pity on all his chil
dren on earth and begging him to confirm the good resolutions

which they had made." This is a comment of Father De

Smet, who spent many years among many different tribes,
and it is he who preserves for us the Delaware story of the
gift of

the Calumet to

resolved

upon

war

man: The peoples

of the

North had

of extermination against the Delaware,

midst of their council, a dazzling white bird

appeared among them and poised with outspread wings above
the head of the only daughter of the head chief. The girl

when,

in the

heard a voice speaking within her, which said:

warriors together;

make known

to

"Call

all

them that the heart

the

of the

covered with a dark and heavy cloud,

because they seek to drink the blood of his first-born children,
the Lenni-Lennapi, the eldest of all the tribes on earth. To

Great Spirit

is

sad,

is

appease the anger of the Master of Life, and to bring back

happiness to his heart, all the warriors must wash their hands
in the blood of a young fawn; then, loaded with presents, and
the

Hobowakan

met

of peace

[calumet] in their hands, they must go all

together and present themselves to their elder brothers; they
must distribute their gifts, and smoke together the great calu

and brotherhood, which

is

to

make them one

forever."

T.

THE FRAME OF THE WORLD

11

Herodotus said of the Persians:

is their wont to per
form sacrifices to Zeus, going up to the most lofty of the moun
tains; and the whole circle of the heavens they call Zeus;
and they sacrifice to the Sun and the Moon and the Earth,
"It

to Fire and to

Water and

to the Winds; these are the only

gods to whom they have sacrificed ever from the first." The
ritual of the calumet 30 indicates identically the same concep
tion of the world-powers
all

great

occasions,"

among

says

De

the American Indians.

Smet,

"in

their religious

"On

and

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

22

and at their great feasts, the calumet pre

its first fruits, or its first puffs, to the
send
the
sides;
savages
Great Waconda, or Master of Life, to the Sun, which gives
them light, and to the Earth and Water by which they are
political ceremonies,

nourished; then they direct a puff to each point of the com

pass, begging of Heaven all the elements and favorable winds."

And

Calumet to the Great Spirit, to

the Four Winds, to the Sun, Fire, Earth and Water."
again:

The

offer the

"They

ritual of the

calumet defines for the Indian the frame

of the world and the distribution of

Above,
whose power

its

remote and shining sky,

in the

the breath of

is

indwelling powers.
the Great Spirit,

is

that permeates

life

all

nature and

the light which reveals creation. As

he
himself in the sun, "the eye of the
of
shows
the spirit
light
Great Spirit"; as the breath of life he penetrates all the world

whose manifestation

is

form of the moving Winds. Below is Mother Earth,

giving forth the Water of Life, and nourishing in her bosom
all organic beings, the Plant Forms and the Animal Forms.
in the

birds are the intermediaries between the habitation of men

and the Powers Above; serpents and the creatures of the waters
are intermediaries communicating with the Powers Below.

The

Such, in broad definition, was the Indian s conception of the

world-powers. But he was not unwilling to elaborate this sim
ple scheme.

The

world, as he conceived it, is a storeyed world:

earth is the realm of winds and clouds, haunted

above the

flat

by

and traversed by the great Thunderbird; above this,

Moon and the Stars have their course; while

spirits

the Sun and the

high over

Great

the circle of the upper sky, the abode of the

Commonly, the visible firmament is regarded

all is

Spirit.

as the roof of

man

world, but

it is

also the floor of

an arche

typal heavenly world, containing the patterns of all things

that exist in the world below: it is from this heaven above the

heavens that the beings descend who create the visible uni
And as there are worlds above, so are there worlds
beneath us; the earth is a floor for us, but a roof for those

verse.

PLATE
Chippewa

side

ornamented with

The two

large

Specimen

in the

VI

pouch of black dressed buckskin

red,

blue,

and yellow quill-work.

are Thunderbirds.

birds represented

chusetts.

Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massa

See Note 32 (pp. 287-88), and compare

Plates III,

XVI, and Figure

i.

THE FOREST TRIBES

23

the powers that send upward the fructifying springs

and break forth as spirits of life in Earth s verdure. Further,

below

both the realms above and the realms below are habitations
men; for to the Indian death is only a

for the souls of departed

change of

life.

The Chippowa

believe that there are four

"layers,"

or

storeys, of the world above, and four of the world below.

is probably only a reflection in the overworld and the

This

nether world of the fourfold structure of the cosmos, since

four is everywhere the Indian s sacred number. The root of
is to be found in the conception of the four cardinal
31
or
of the quarters of the world, from which came the
points
ministering genii when the Earth was made, and in which

the idea

dwell, upholding the corners of the heavens.

Potogojecs, a Potawatomi chief, told Father De Smet how
Nanaboojoo (Manibozho) "placed four beneficial spirits at

these

spirits

the four cardinal points of the earth, for the purpose of con
tributing to the happiness of the human race. That of the

north procures for us

ice

and snow,

in order to aid us in dis

covering and following the wild animals. That of the south

gives us that which occasions the growth of our pumpkins,
melons, maize and tobacco. The spirit placed at the west
gives us rain, and that of the east gives us light, and com
mands the sun to make his daily walks around the globe."

Frequently the Indians identify the Spirits of the Quarters

with the four winds. Ga-oh is the Iroquoian Wind Giant, at
the entrance to whose abode are a Bear and a Panther and a

Moose and

Fawn:

"When

the north wind blows strong, the

prowling in the sky if the west

The Bear is
The Panther is whining. When the east wind
blows chill with its rain, The Moose is spreading his breath
and when the south wind wafts soft breezes, The Fawn is
Iroquois say,

wind

is

violent,

Four is the magic number in all In

returning to its Doe.
dian lore; fundamentally it represents the square of the direc
"

tions,

by which the
x

creator measured out his work.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

24

VI.

THE POWERS ABOVE

82
greater than the Wind Giant is the Thunderer,
the Iroquois deemed to be the guardian of the Heavens,

Even

whom

mighty bow and flaming arrows, hater and de

stroyer of all things noxious, and especially to be revered as
having slain the great Serpent of the waters, which was de
vouring mankind. Hino is the Thunderer s name, and his

armed with

the Rainbow; he has many assistants, the lesser Thun

derers, and among them the boy Gunnodoyah, who was once
a mortal. Hino caught this youth up into his domain, armed
bride

is

him to encounter the great

Serpent; but the Serpent devoured Gunnodoyah, who com
municated his plight to Hino in a dream, whereupon the
Thunderer and his warriors slew the Serpent and bore Gunno
him with

a celestial bow, and sent

back to the Skies. Commonly the Thun

derer is a friend to man; but men must not encroach upon his
domain. The Cherokee tell a tale of "the Man who married
l7
lured by the maiden to the Thunder s
the Thunder s sister":
doyah,

still

cave, he

when he

is

living,

declines to

living turtle,

and

eye,

by shape-shifting horrors, and

a serpent-steed saddled with a
grows angry, lightning flashes from his

there surrounded

mount

Thunder

young brave senseless;

way home, though it seems to

a terrific crash stretches the

when he revives and makes his

him that he has been gone but a day, he
people have long given him up for dead;

discovers that his

and, indeed, after

he survives only seven days. 33

this

One

of

Hino

whose lodge

is

in

Oshadagea, the great Dew Eagle,

the western sky and who carries a lake of dew

assistants

in the hollow of his back.

his spreading

When

the malevolent Fire Spirits

verdure, Oshadagea flies abroad, and

wings falls the healing moisture. The Dew

are destroying Earth

from

is

Eagle of the Iroquois is probably only the ghost of a Thunderbird spirit, which has been replaced, among them, by Hino the
Heavenly Archer. The Thunderbird is an invisible spirit; the

THE FOREST TRIBES

lightning
his wings.

is

25

the flashing of his eye; the thunder is the noise of

is surrounded by assistants, the lesser Thunder

He

ers, especially birds of

the hawk-kind and of the eagle-kind;

Keneu, the Golden Eagle, is his chief representative. If it

were not for the Thunderers, the Indians say, the earth would
become parched and the grass would wither and die. Pere

Le Jeune tells how, when a new altar-piece was installed in

the Montagnais mission, the Indians, "seeing the Holy Spirit
pictured as a dove surrounded by rays of light, asked if the
bird was not the thunder; for they believe that the thunder is
a bird; and when they see beautiful plumes, they ask if they
are not the feathers of the

The domain above

Moon and

thunder."

the clouds

is

the heaven of the Sun and

a man-being, the Moon a

sometimes
are
brother
and sister, some
they
woman-being;
13
The Montagnais told Pere Le Jeune
times man and wife.

the

that the

Moon

the Stars.

is

appeared to be dark at times because she held

If the Moon has a son, she is married,

her son in her arms:

or has been?

The Sun

Oh,

"

yes, the

her husband, who walks all

he be eclipsed or darkened, it is

Sun

is

day, and she all night; and if

because he also sometimes takes the son which he has had by
the Moon into his arms.
Yes, but neither the Sun nor the

Moon

has any arms.

Thou hast no sense; they always hold
their drawn bows before them, and that is why their arms do

not

appear."

Another Algonquian

tribe,

the Menominee,

the Sun, armed with bow and arrows, departed for

a hunt; his sister, the Moon, alarmed by his long absence,
went in search of him, and travelled twenty days before she
tell

how

found him. Ever since then the

Moon

has

made twenty-day

journeys through the sky. The Iroquois say that the Sun,
Adekagagwaa, rests in the southern skies during the winter,
leaving his "sleep spirit" to keep watch in his stead. On the

eve of his departure, he addresses the Earth, promising his

return:

"Earth,

Great Mother, holding your children close

to your breast, hear

my

power! ...

am Adekagagwaa!

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

26
I reign,

and

I rule all

your

lives!

My

field is

broad where

and chase, and climb, and curl, and fall

and streams. My shield is vast and cov
your
its
ers your land with
yellow shine, or burns it brown with
my hurrying flame. My eyes are wide, and search everywhere.
My arrows are quick when I dip them in dews that nourish
swift clouds race,

in rains to

rivers

army is strong, when I sleep it watches my

come again my warriors will battle throughout
Ga-oh will lock his fierce winds; Heno will soften
Gohone [Winter] will fly, and tempests will war

My

and breathe.
fields.

When

the skies;
his voice;

no

more!"

the poetry of the stars. 14 It is odd to find

the Iroquois telling the story of the celestial bear, precisely
as it is told by the Eskimo of northern Greenland: how a

The Indians know

group of hunters, with their faithful dog, led onward by the

excitement of the chase, pursued the great beast high into the
heavens, and there became fixed as the polar constellation
(Ursa Major). In the story of the hunter and the Sky Elk
the sentiment of love mingles with the passion of the chase.
Sosondowah ("Great Night"), the hunter, pursued the Sky
Elk, which had wandered down to Earth, far up into the

above the heaven of the Sun. There Dawn

made him her captive, and set him as watchman before the
door of her lodge. Looking down, he beheld and loved a

heaven which

is

mortal maiden; in the spring he descended to her under the

form of a bluebird; in the summer he wooed her under the
semblance of a blackbird; in the autumn, under the guise of a
giant nighthawk, he bore her to the skies. But Dawn, angered
at his delay, bound him before her door, and transforming

the maiden into a star set her above his forehead, where he
must long for her throughout all time without attaining her.

The name

of the star-maiden,

Gendenwitha,

"It

Brings the

which
Day."

is

the Morning Star, is

Pleiades are called

The

the Dancing Stars. They were a group of brothers who were

awakened in the night by singing voices, to which they began

PLATE
Secret society

Wind

Mask,"

mask of

VII

the Seneca.

The

"

a medicine or doctor mask, used

Great
in

the

ceremonies of the False Face Company. This society

is said to have
originated with the Stone Giants, who
are represented in

one of the masks used.

Repro

duced by courtesy of Arthur C. Parker, Archaeologist

of the New York State Museum.
See Note 65
(pp.

IV,

309-10), and compare Frontispiece and Plates

XXV, XXXI.

THE FOREST TRIBES

27

As they danced, the voices receded, and they, fol

were
led, little by little, into the sky, where the pitying
lowing,
Moon transformed them into a group of fixed stars, and bade
them dance for ten days each year over the Red Man s councilhouse; that being the season of his New Year. One of the danc
to dance.

ing brothers, however, hearing the lamentations of his mother,

looked backward; and immediately he fell with such force that

he was buried in the earth. For a year the mother mourned

over his grave, when there appeared from it a tiny sprout,
which grew into a heaven-aspiring tree; and so was born the
Pine, tallest of trees, the guide of the forest, the watcher of
the skies.
VII.

As there

THE POWERS BELOW

are Powers above so are there Powers below. Earth

the eldest and most potent of these. 34 Nokomis,

"Grandmother," is her Algonquian name, but the Iroquois

herself

is

address her as Eithinoha,

"Our

Mother"; for,

they say,

"the

is living matter, and the tender plantlet of the bean and

the sprouting germ of the corn nestling therein receive through
their delicate rootlets the life substance from the Earth.

earth

Earth, indeed, feeds itself to them; since

them
and

is

living matter, life in

what

is

supplied to

them

as food the ripened corn

is produced and conserved,

and bean and their kinds, thus

produced, create and develop the

life

of

man and

of

all

living

things."

Earth

daughter, in Iroquois legend, is Onatah, the Corn

Once Onatah, who had gone in search of refreshing
dews, was seized by the Spirit of Evil and imprisoned in his
darkness under the Earth until the Sun found her and guided
her back to the lost fields; never since has Onatah ventured
s

35

Spirit.

abroad to look for the dews.

The

Iroquois story

is

thus a

Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. The

on
the other hand, make of the Corn Spirit a
Chippewa,
heaven-sent youth, Mondamin, who is conquered and buried

parallel of the

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

28

by a mortal hero: from his grave springs the gift of maize.

Other food plants, such as the bean and the pumpkin, as
well as wild plants and the various species of trees, have their
several spirits, or Manitos; indeed, the world
countless mysteries, of every strength and size,

is

alive

and the

with
for

thronged with armies of Pukwudjies, the Indian s

36
folk.
"During a shower of rain thousands of them are
fairy
sheltered in a flower. The Ojibwa, as he reclines beneath the
est

all

is

imagines these gods to be about

detects their tiny voices in the insect s hum. With

shade of his forest

He

him.

trees,

half-closed eyes he beholds

them sporting by thousands on a

sun-ray."

The

Iroquois recognize three tribes of Jogaoh, or Dwarf

People: the Gahonga, of the rocks and rivers, whom the In
dians call

and

"Stone

Throwers"

because of their great strength

27
the

their fondness for playing with stones as with balls;

Gandayah, who have a care

for the fruitfulness not only of

they fashion "dewcup charms" which attract

but also
the grains and fruits and cause them to sprout,
of the water, where they release captive fish from the trap
the land

for

when

the fishermen too rapaciously pursue; and the Ohdowas,

or underground people. The underworld where the Ohdowas
live

is

dim and

sunless realm containing forests

and

plains,

all of which
man, peopled with many animals
It is
are ever desirous to ascend to the sunny realm above.

like the earth of

the task of the

Ohdowas

to keep these underworld creatures

many of them are venom

in their proper place, especially since

ous and noxious beasts; and though the Ohdowas are small,
they are sturdy and brave, and for the most part keep the mon
strous beings imprisoned; rarely do the latter break through
to devastate and defile the world above. As there are under-

earth people, so are there underwater people 9 who, like the

Fire-People of the Eskimo, are divided into two tribes, one
helpful,

human

These underwater beings are

form, and have houses, like those of men, beneath

one hurtful to man.

in

THE FOREST TRIBES

the waters; but they dress in snake

Sometimes

skins

29

and wear horns.

their beautiful daughters lure mortal

into the depths, to

men down

don the snake-skin costume and to be

lost

to their kindred forever.

Of monstrous beings, inhabiting partly the earth

surface,

partly the underworld, the Iroquois recognize in particular

the race of Great Heads 37 and the race of Stone Giants.

The Great Heads

and provided
wings; they ride on

are gifted with penetrating eyes

with abundant hair which serves them as

the tempest, and in their destructive and malevolent powers

seem to be personifications of the storm, perhaps of the tornado.
In one tale, which may be the detritus of an ancient and crude

cosmogony, the Great Head obviously plays the role of a

demiurge; and a curious story tells of the destruction of one
of the tribe which pursued a young woman into her lodge and
seeing her parching chestnuts concluded that coals of fire were

good to

eat; partaking of the coals,

it

died.

These bizarre

creatures are well calculated to spice a tale with terrors.

The Iroquoian Stone Giants, 38 as well as their congeners

among

the Algonquians

(e. g.

the

Chenoo

of the

Abnaki and

Micmac), belong to a wide-spread group of mythic beings of

which the Eskimo Tornit are examples. They are powerful
magicians, huge in stature, unacquainted with the bow, and
employing stones for weapons. In awesome combats they fight
one another, uprooting the tallest trees for weapons and rend
ing the earth in their fury. Occasionally, they are tamed by

men

and, as they are mighty hunters, they become useful

friends. Commonly they are depicted as cannibals; and it may
well be that this far-remembered mythic people is a reminis
cence, coloured by time, of backward tribes, unacquainted

with the bow, and long since destroyed by the Indians of his
toric times. 2 Of course, if there be such an historic element in
these myths, it is coloured and overlaid by wholly mythic con
ceptions of stone-armoured Titans or demiurges (see Ch. Ill,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

30

THE ELDERS OF THE KINDS

VIII.

The Onondaga
these words:

40

story of the beginnings of things closes with

"Moreover,

it

verily thus with

is

all

things

that are contained in the earth here present, that they sev
erally retransform or exchange their bodies. It is thus with all
things that sprout and grow, and, in the next place, with all
things that produce themselves and grow, and, in the next
place, all the man-beings.

All these are affected in the

same

manner, that they severally transform their bodies, and, in

the next place, that they retransform their bodies, severally,
without

cessation"

(Hewitt, 21

ARBE,

Savages, and perhaps all people

first and inevitably Heracliteans
philosopher,

all

who
:

for

pp. 219-20).
near to Nature, are

live

them, as for the Greek

is a world of

things flow, the sensible world

perpetual mutation; bodies, animate and inanimate, are but

outward shadows of the multi
temporary manifestations

tude of shape-shifting Powers which govern the spectacle from

behind the scene. Yet even the savage, conscious as he is of
the impermanency of sensible things, detects certain constant
forms, persistently reappearing, though in various individual

embodiments. These forms are the natural kinds

the kin

dreds or species into which Nature is divided; they are the

Ideas of things, as a greater Greek than Heraclitus would say;

and the Indians all develop into Platonists, for they hold that
each natural kind has its archetype, or Elder (as they prefer),
dwelling in an invisible world and sustaining the temporary
lives of all its earthly copies

by the strength

of

its

primal

being.

The changing
beyond

seasons themselves

which, for

all

peoples

the tropics, are the great facts governing the

whole

become fixed in a kind of constancy, and

strategy of life
are eventually personified into such beings as we still fanci
fully

To

form

and Summer and Winter and Autumn. 39

the seasons are not so many for peoples whose sus-

for Spring

be sure,

PLATE

VIII

of a Great

Head
a type of
man-eating monster (see Note 37, pp. 290The picture, reproduced from
Schoolcraft, Indian

Iroquois

drawing

bodiless,

91).

Tribes, part

i,

Plate

LXXII,

is

an

illustration

story of the outwitting of the Great

dian

woman,

story

tribes (see p.
29).

common

to

of the

Head by an In
many of the Eastern

THE FOREST TRIBES

31

mainly obtained by the chase: for them, the open

closed, the green and the white, are the important divi
sions of the year. The Iroquois say that Winter is an old

tenance

is

and

man

who

raps the trees with his war-club: in

very cold weather one can hear the sharp sound of his blows;
while Spring is a lithe young warrior, with the sun in his
of the woods,

The Montagnais were not sure whether the two

were
Seasons
manlike, but they told Pere Le Jeune that they
were very sure that Nipin and Pipoun were living beings:
countenance.

they could even hear them talking and rustling, especially at

"For their dwelling-place they share the world
their coming.

between them, the one keeping upon the one side, the other
upon the other; and when the period of their stay at one end
of the world has expired, each goes over to the locality of the
other, reciprocally succeeding each other. Here we have, in
part, the fable of Castor

Father.

"When

and

comments the good

he brings back with him

Pollux,"

Nipinoukhe returns,

the heat, the birds, the verdure, and restores life and beauty
to the world; but Pipounoukhe lays waste everything, being
accompanied by the cold winds, ice, snows, and other phenom

ena of Winter. They

call this succession of

one to the other

Achitescatoueth; meaning that they pass reciprocally to each

other s places." Perhaps as charming a myth of the seasons
as could be

found

is

The North

the Cherokee tale of

"the

Bride from the

love with the daughter of the South,

and in response to his ardent wooings is allowed to carry her
away to his Northland, where the people all live in ice houses.
South."

falls in

But the next day, when the sun rises, the houses begin to
melt, and the people tell the North that he must send the
daughter of the South to her native land, for her whole nature
warm and unfit for the North.

is

But

especially in the world of animals that the spirits

Kinds are important. 40 "They say," says Le Jeune,
speaking of these same Montagnais (whose beliefs, in this
respect, are typical), "that all animals, of every species, have

of the

it is

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

32

an elder brother, who is, as it were, the source and origin of all
individuals, and this elder brother is wonderfully great and

The

elder of the Beaver, they

tell me, is perhaps as

our cabin, although his Junior (I mean the ordinary
Beaver) is not quite as large as our sheep. ... If anyone,
when asleep, sees the elder or progenitor of some animals, he

powerful.
large as

will

he sees the elder of the Beavers,

he sees the elder of the Elks, he will

have a fortunate chase;

he

if

will take Beavers; if

take Elks, possessing the juniors through the favor of their
senior whom he has seen in the dream. I asked them where

We are not sure,

these elder brothers were.

but we think the elders of the birds are

they answered me,

in the sky,

the elders of the other animals are in the water.

"

and that

In another

the following story, which he had

from a Montagnais: "A man, having traveled a long distance,
at last reached the Cabin or house of God, as he named him

connexion the Father

tells

who gave him something

to eat.

...

All kinds of animals

surround him [the god], he touches them, handles them as he

wishes, and they do not fly from him; but he does them no

harm, for, as he does not eat, he does not kill them. However,
he asked this new guest what he would like to eat, and having
learned that he would relish a beaver, he caught one without
any trouble, and had him eat it; then asked him when he in

tended going away.

said he,

you

will

In two nights, was the answer.

remain two nights with me.

Good,
These two

nights were two years; for what we call a year is only a day or
a night in the reckoning of him who procures us food. And

one

is

so contented with

him that two

winters, or

two

years,

seem only like two nights. When he returned to his own coun
try he was greatly astonished at the delay he had experienced."
The god of the cabin is, no doubt, Messou (Manabozho),
the Algonquian demiurge, for he is "elder brother to all
beasts" and the ruler of animal life.
Similarly, the Iroquoian
is the bringer and namer of the primal
believe that animals were not at liberty from

demiurge louskeha
animals:

"They

THE FOREST TRIBES

33

the beginning of the world, but that they were shut up in a

there
great cavern where louskeha guarded them. Perhaps
all
that
God
the
fact
to
allusion
some
in
that
be
brought
may

adds Pere Brebeuf and in the Seneca

version of the Iroquoian genesis, the youth who brings the

the animals to

Adam,"

animals from the cavern of the Winds does, in fact, perform

41
the office of Adam, giving them their several names.

CHAPTER

THE FOREST

III

TRIBES

(Continued)
I.

IROQUOIAN COSMOGONY

15

Onondaga version of the genesis-myth of the Iroquois, as recorded by Hewitt, begins in this fashion:
"He
who was my grandfather was wont to relate that,
verily, he had heard the legend as it was customarily told by
five generations of grandsires, and this is what he himself was

THE

in the habit of telling.

in the sky,

He

on the farther

customarily said: Man-beings dwell

side of the visible sky. The lodges

they severally possess are customarily long [the Iroquoian

or lodge]. In the end of the lodges there are
"long house,"
out
strips of rough bark whereon lie the several mats.
spread

There

it is that, verily, all pass the night. Early in the morning

the warriors are in the habit of going to hunt and, as is their
custom, they return every evening."

This heaven above the visible heavens, which has existed

from eternity, is the prototype of the world in which we
dwell;

and

in it

is

set the first act of the

cosmic drama.

Sorrow

and death were unknown there; it was a land of tranquil abun

dance. It came to pass that a girl-child was born of a celestial
maid, her father having sickened and died
in the universe

shortly before she was born.

had directed, on a burial

the

first

He had

death

been

by the AncientBodied One, grandmother to the child; and thither the girlchild was accustomed to go and converse with the dead parent.

placed, as he

When

scaffold

she was grown, he directed her to take a certain journey

through the heaven realm of Chief He-Holds-the-Earth, whom

THE FOREST TRIBES

35

she was to marry, and beside whose lodge grew the great
tree. 42 The maiden crosses a river on a maple-log,
avoids various tempters, and arrives at the lodge, where the

heaven

chief subjects her to the ordeals of stirring scalding

mush

which spatters upon her naked body and of having her burns
licked by rasp-tongued dogs. Having successfully endured
these pains, he sends her, after three nights, to her own people,
with the gift of maize and venison. She returns to her chief,

and

he, observing that she

pregnant, becomes

is

unjustified jealousy of the Fire-Dragon.

a daughter, Gusts-of-Wind; whereupon
visits

ill

with an

She gives birth to

the

chief

from the Elders of the Kinds, which dwell

receives

in heaven,

among them being

the Deer, the Bear, the Beaver; Wind,

Daylight, Night, Star; the Squash, the Maize, the Bean; the
Turtle, the Otter, the Yellowhammer; Fire, Water, Medicine,
patterns of the whole furniture of creation. Aurora Borealis
divines what is troubling his mind, and suggests the uprooting
of the heaven tree.

looking

down

This

is

done, and an abyss

into a chaos of

is

disclosed,

Wind and Thick Night

"the

aspect was green and nothing else in color," says the Seneca
version. Through this opening the Chief of Heaven casts his

spouse and the child,

who

returns again into the

body

of her

providing her with maize and venison and a fag

got of wood, while the Fire-Dragon wraps around her a great

mother,

ray of

first

light.

Here ends the Upper World act of the drama. The name
of the woman-being who is cast down from heaven is, as we
know from the Jesuit Relations, Ataentsic or Ataensic, 43 who
is to become the
great Earth Mother. The Chief of Heaven
is

her spouse,

drama
is

so that these

are Earth and

two great

actors in the world

Sky

respectively; while their first-born

the

drama

the Breath-of-Life.

The second act of

The Onondaga myth
"So

now,

is

set in the

World Below.

continues:

verily, her

body continued to

fall.

Her body was

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

36

some time before it emerged. Now she was surprised,

seemingly, that there was light below, of a blue color. She
looked and there seemed to be a lake at the spot toward which
she was falling. There was nowhere any earth. There she saw
many ducks on the lake where they, being waterfowl of all
their kinds, floated severally about. Without interruption the
falling

body

of the

woman-being continued to

"Now

Do

ye look, a woman-being

saying:
the water, her body
it is

even

"Now
1

fall.

at that time the waterfowl called the

is

floating

up

is

coming

hither.

Loon shouted,

in the

They

depths of

said:

Verily,

so.

in a short

time the waterfowl called Bittern said:

true that ye believe that her body is floating up from the

All
depths of the water. Do ye, however, look upward.
It

is

looked up, and all said: Verily, it is true.

It seems, then, that there must
"One of the persons said:
be land in the depths of the water. At that time the Loon
said:
Moreover, let us first seek to find some one who will
be able to bear the earth on his back by means of the forehead
1

pack

strap."

Otter and Turtle attempt the

the Muskrat succeeds, placing the soil brought

All the animals volunteer.

feat

and

fail;

up from below on the back of the Turtle. "Now at this time

the carapace began to grow and the earth with which they
had covered it became the Solid Land." Upon this land
Ataentsic alights, her fall being broken by the wings of the
fowl which fly upward to meet her. 40

On

the growing Earth Gusts-of-Wind is reborn, and comes

to maturity. She receives the visits of a nocturnal stranger,

who

none other than the ruler of the winds, and gives birth
to twins 44
Sapling and Flint, the Yoskeha and Tawiscara
is

of the Relations

45

who show

their

enmity by a pre-natal

death in being born. From

the body of her daughter Ataentsic fashions the sun and the
moon, though she does not raise them to the heavens. Sapling
quarrel, and cause their mother

THE FOREST TRIBES

37

she casts out, for Flint falsely persuades her that

who is responsible for their mother s death.

The

third act of the

and

and

drama

it is

Sapling

details the creative acts of

Sap

Sapling (better known as

his
most ancient title seems to be TehaYoskeha, though
ronhiawagon, He-Holds-the-Sky) is the demiurge and earthling

Flint,

their enmities.

shaper, and the spirit of life and summer. Flint, or Tawiscara,

an imitator and trickster, maker of malevolent beings, and

is

38
wintry forces, but the favourite of Ataentsic.
act opens with the visit of Sapling to his father, the

spirit of

The

Wind-Ruler, who gives him presents of bow and arrows and

of maize, symbolizing mastery over animal and vegetable food.

The

preparation of the maize is his first feat, Ataentsic ren

dering his work imperfect by casting ashes upon it: "The way
in which thou hast done this is not good," says
Sapling, "for

that the man-beings shall be exceedingly happy, who

are about to dwell here on this earth." Next he brings forth
the souls of the animal kinds, and moulds the traits of the dif
I desire

ferent animals. 41

however, imprisons them in a cavern,

succeeds
in releasing most of them, some
and, although Sapling
remain behind to become transformed into the noxious crea
Flint,

tures of the underworld.

Afterward, in a

trial

of strength,

Sapling overcomes the humpback Hadui, who is the cause of

disease and decrepitude, but from whom Sapling wins the
secret of medicine and of the ceremonial use of tobacco. The
giving of their courses to the Sun and the

from

mother

Moon, fashioned

head and body by Ataentsic, was his next

deed. 13 The grandmother and Flint had concealed these bodies
and had left the earth in darkness; Sapling, aided by four ani
his

mals, typifying the Four Quarters, steals back the Sun, which
is passed from animal to animal
(as in the Greek torch-race in

honour of Selene) when they are pursued by Ataentsic and

Flint. The creation of man, which Flint imitates
only to pro
duce monsters, and the banishment of Flint to the under
world complete the creative drama.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

38

said that this Sapling, in the manner in

has this to befall him recurrently, that he

"Moreover, it is

which he has

life,

body, and that when, in fact, his body becomes

ancient normally, he then retransforms his body in such wise

becomes old

in

that he becomes a

new man-being again and again

recovers

youth, so that one would think that he had just grown to

the size which a man-being customarily has when he reaches
his

the youth of man-beings, as manifested by the change of voice

at puberty. Moreover, it is so that continuously the orenda

immanent

in his

the orenda with which he suffuses

body

orenda which he projects or exhibits, through

is ever full, unpossessed of force and potency

his person, the

which he

is

diminished, and all-sufficient; and, in the next place, nothing

that is otkon or deadly, nor, in the next place, even the Great

Destroyer, otkon in itself and faceless, has any effect on him,

he being perfectly immune to its orenda; and, in the next place,
46
nothing that can bar his way or veil his faculties."
In the Relation of 1636 Brebeuf says of the Hurons:
they see their fields verdant in the spring, if they reap good

there

is

"If

and abundant harvests, and

ears of corn, they

owe

it

if

their cabins are

to louskeha.

crammed with

do not know what God

has in store for us this year; but

louskeha, it is reported
has been seen quite dejected, and thin as a skeleton, with a
.

poor ear of corn in

II.

his

hand."

35

ALGONQUIAN COSMOGONY

15

As compared with the Iroquoian cosmogony, that

nebulous and confused: their gods are

anthropomorphic, more prone to animal form; the order

Algonquian
less

of the

tribes

is

not so clearly defined. There is hardly a person

age or event in the Iroquoian story that does not appear in
Algonquian myth, and indeed the Algonquians would seem
of events

is

to have been the originators, or at least the earlier possessors,

of these stories; yet the same power for organization which

PLATE IX
After SchoolIroquois drawing of Stone Giants.
Indian
Plate
LXXIII.
The
craft,
Tribes, part i,

Stone Giants are related to such cosmogonical beings

(Tawiscara) and Chakekenapok (see pp. 36,

They are generally malevolent in character.

as Flint

41).
See Note 38 (pp. 291-92).

THE FOREST TRIBES

is

reflected in the Iroquoian

39

Confederacy appears in the Iro-

more masterful assimilation and depiction of the cosmic

which
he seems to have borrowed from his Algonquian
story
s

quois

neighbours.

The

central personage of Algonquian

the Great Hare (also

myth

47

Manabozho,
known by many other names and variants,
is

Nanibozho, Manabush, Michabo, Messou, Glooscap), who

the incarnation of vital energy: creator or restorer of the
earth, the author of life, giver of animal food, lord of bird and
as

is

beast.

Brinton,

original

meaning

by

dubious etymology, would make the

name to be "the Great White One,"

of the

Manabozho with the creative light of day; but if

we remember that the Algonquians are, by their own tradi
identifying

24

where the hare is one of the

most prolific and staple of all food animals, and if we bear
in mind the universal tendency of men whose sustenance is
tion, sons of the frigid

North,

precarious to identify the source of life with their principal

source of food, it is no longer plausible to question the identi
fication, which the Indians themselves make, of their great

demiurge with the Elder of the Hares, who

Brother of Man and of all life. 48

is

also the Elder

With Manabozho

is intimately associated his

grandmother,
the
Nokomis,
Earth, and his younger brother, Chibiabos,
who himself is customarily in animal form (e. g., the Micmac

know

the pair as Glooscap and the Marten; to the MontagMessou and the Lynx; to the Menominee,

nais they were

Manabush and

the Wolf). 44 This younger brother is sometimes

represented as a twin; and it is not difficult to see in Noko
mis, Manabozho, and Chibiabos the Algonquian prototypes

Huron Ataentsic, louskeha, and Tawiscara.

Various tales are told as to the origin of the Great Hare.

of the

The Micmac

declare that Glooscap was one of twins, who

quarrelled before being born; and that the second twin killed
the mother in his birth, in revenge for which Glooscap slew

him.

The Menominee
x

say:

"The

daughter of Nokomis, the

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

40
Earth,

is

the mother of Manabush,

who

is

also the Fire.

The

Flint grew up out of Nokomis, and was alone. Then the Flint
made a bowl and dipped it into the earth; slowly the bowlful

became blood, and it began to change its form. So

the blood was changed into Wabus, the Rabbit. The Rabbit
grew into human form, and in time became a man, and thus
was Manabush formed." According to another version, the
daughter of Nokomis gave birth to twins, one of whom died,
as did the mother. Nokomis placed a wooden bowl (and we
must remember that this is a symbol of the heavens) over the
of earth

remaining child for its protection; upon removing the bowl,

she beheld a white rabbit with quivering ears:
my dear
"O

she cried, "my Manabush!"

how the Great Hare came to earth as a gift
tribes
tell
Other
from the Great Spirit. The Chippewa recognize, high over
little Rabbit,"

Kitshi Manito, the Great Spirit, and next in rank

Manito, the Good Spirit, whose servant is Manabozho.
all,

abode of

Dzhe
The

the servant of

Upper World. "When Minabozho,

Dzhe Manido, looked down upon the earth he

human
Ojibwa. They

beings, the Anishinabeg, the ancestors of the

occupied the four quarters of the earth

beheld

all

these

is

the

the northeast, the southeast, the southwest, and the north

west. He saw how helpless they were, and desiring to give
them the means of warding off the diseases with which

they were constantly afflicted, and to provide them with

animals and plants to serve as food, Minabozho remained
thoughtfully hovering over the center of the earth, endeavor
ing to devise some means of communicating with them." Be

neath Minabozho was a lake of waters, wherein he beheld an

Otter, which appeared at each of the cardinal points in suc

and then approached the centre, where Minabozho de

scended (upon an island) to meet it and where he instructed it
in the mysteries of the Midewiwin, the sacred Medicine Society.
cession

According to the Potawatomi, also, the Great Hare appears

as the founder of a sacred mystery and the giver of medicine.

THE FOREST TRIBES

The story is recorded by Father De Smet:
came on earth, and chose a wife from among

"A

41
great manitou
the children of

men. He had four sons at a birth; the first-born was called

Nanaboojoo, the friend of the human race, the mediator be
tween man and the Great Spirit; the second was named
Chipiapoos, the man of the dead, who presides over the coun
try of the souls; the third, Wabasso, as soon as he saw the

toward the north where he was changed into a white

and
under that name is considered there as a great
rabbit,
the
fourth was Chakekenapok, the man of flint, or
manitou;
fire-stone. In coming into the world he caused the death of
his mother." The tale goes on to tell the deeds of Nanaboojoo.
(i) To avenge his mother he pursues Chakekenapok and slays
him:
fragments broken from the body of this man of
light, fled

"all

stone then grew up into large rocks; his entrails were changed
into vines of every species, and took deep root in all the for
ests; the flintstones scattered around the earth indicate where

the

different

combats took

38

(2) Chipiapoos, the

beloved brother of Nanaboojoo, venturing one day upon the
ice, was dragged to the bottom by malignant manitos, where
place."

upon Nanaboojoo hurled multitudes of these beings into the

deepest abyss. For six years he mourned Chipiapoos, but at
the end of that time four of the oldest and wisest of the mani
"The manitos, by their medicine, healed him of his grief.
tous brought back the lost Chipiapoos, but it was forbidden
him to enter the lodge; he received, through a chink, a burning
coal, and was ordered to go and preside over the region of
souls, and there, for the happiness of his uncles and aunts,
that is, for all men and women, who should repair thither,
kindle with this coal a fire which should never be extinguished."
Nanaboojoo then initiated all his family into the mysteries
of the medicine which the manitos had brought. (3) After
ward Nanaboojoo created the animals, put the earth, roots,
and herbs in charge of his grandmother, and placed at the four
cardinal points the spirits that control the seasons and the

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

42

heavenly bodies, while in the clouds he set the Thunderbirds,

his intermediaries. 31

III.

The second

of these episodes of the

more universal form,

its

THE DELUGE
is

49

Potawatomi legend,

the tale identified

by the

in

Jesuit

Fathers as a reminiscence of the Biblical Deluge. In his

Relation of 1633, Le Jeune gives the Montagnais version:

one named Messou, who restored

This Messou,
the world when it was lost in the waters.
instead
of
was
with
warned
that it
lynxes,
dogs,
going hunting
"They

say that there

is

would be dangerous

for his lynxes (which he called his brothers)

where he was. One day as

his
an
he was hunting
elk,
lynxes gave it chase even into the
lake; and when they reached the middle of it, they were sub
merged in an instant. When he arrived there and sought his
in a certain lake near the place

brothers everywhere, a bird told him that it had seen them at

the bottom of the lake, and that certain animals or monsters

them there; but immediately the lake overflowed, and

increased so prodigiously that it inundated and drowned the

held

whole earth. The Messou, very much astonished, gave up all

thought of his lynxes, to meditate on creating the world anew.

He

sent a raven to find a small piece of earth with which to

build up another world. The raven was unable to find any,
everything being covered with water. He made an otter dive

down, but the depth of the water prevented it from going to

the bottom. At last a muskrat descended, and brought
back some earth. With this bit of earth, he restored every
thing to its condition. He remade the trunks of the trees,
and shot arrows against them, which were changed into

would be a long story to recount how he re

established everything; how he took vengeance on the mon
sters that had taken his hunters, transforming himself into a

branches.

It

thousand kinds of animals to circumvent them.

In short,

THE FOREST TRIBES

43

the great Restorer, having married a little muskrat, had chil

dren who repeopled the world."
The Menominee divide the story. They tell how Moqwaio,
the Wolf, brother of Manabush, was pulled beneath the ice
of a lake by the malignant Anamaqkiu and drowned; how
Manabush mourned four days, and on the fifth day met the

shade of his brother, whom he then sent to the place of the

setting sun to have care of the dead, and to build there a
fire

to guide

comes

them

thither.

The account

of the deluge,

how

connexion with the conflict of the Thunderers,

under the direction of Manabush who is bent on avenging his
ever,

in

brother, and the

Anamaqkiu,

led

by two Bear

chiefs.

Mana

bush, by guile, succeeded in slaying the Bears, whereupon the

Anamaqkiu pursued him with a great flood. He ascended a

mountain, and then to the top of a gigantic pine; and as the

waters increased he caused this tree to grow to twice its height.
;

Four times the pine doubled in altitude, but still the flood
rose to the armpits of Manabush, when the Great Spirit made
the deluge to cease. Manabush causes the Otter, the Beaver,
the Mink, and the Muskrat, in turn, to dive in search of a
grain of earth with which he can restore the world. The first
three rise to the top, belly uppermost, dead; but the
succeeds, and the earth is created anew.

Muskrat

A third version of the deluge-myth tells how the Great Hare,

with the other animals, was on a raft in the midst of the waters.
Nothing could be seen save waterfowl. The Beaver dived,
seeking a grain of soil; for the Great Hare assured the ani
mals that with even one grain he could create land. Neverthe
Then the
less, almost dead, the Beaver returned unsuccessful.

and he was gone nearly a whole day. When he

reappeared, apparently dead, his four feet were tight-clenched;
but in one of them was a single grain of sand, and from this
the earth was made, in the form of a mountain surrounded by

Muskrat

tried,

water, the height ever increasing, even to this day, as the

Great Hare courses around it.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

44
It

is

obvious that in this chaotic flood

equivalent of

"the

waters below the

we have an Indian

firmament" in

the midst

Hebrew

genesis, the dry land

appeared. And the Indians, like the Semites, conceived the
world to be a mountain, rising from the waste of cosmic

of which, according to the

waters, and arched by the celestial dome.

"They believe,"
the
earth is
the
author
of
Relation
of
"that the
1637,
says
its
and
that
ends
are
cut
off
entirely flat,
perpendicularly;

that souls go away to the end which is at the setting Sun

and that they build their cabins upon the edge of the great
precipice which the earth forms, at the base of which there
is

nothing but

IV.

The deeds

water."

THE SLAYING OF THE DRAGON

50

Hare include many contests with

and
witches who people Algonquian
the giants, cannibals,
folk-tales. In these he displays adept powers as a trickster
and master of wile, as well as a stout warrior. The conflict with
of the Great

Flint turns, as in the Iroquois tradition, upon a tricky dis

covery of what substance is deadly to the Fire-Stone Man:

Flint asks the

Hare what can hurt him; he

replies,

the cat

s-

tail, or featherdown, or something of the sort, and, in turn,

puts the question to Flint, who truthfully answers, "the horn
of the stag"; and it is with stag s horn that the Hare fractures

and

flakes his

body

mythic reminiscence, we

of the great primitive industry of flint-flaking

may

suppose,

by

aid of a

horn implement.

The great feat of the Hare as a slayer, however, was his

destruction of the monstrous Fish or Snake which oppressed
and devoured men and animals. This creature like the Teu
was a water monster, and ruler of the Powers of

tonic Grendel

the Deep. 9

Sometimes, as in the Iroquoian myth, he is a

horned serpent; commonly, among the Algonquians, he is a
the sturgeon which swallows Hiawatha. The
great fish

PLATE X
Onondaga wampum

belt believed to

commemorate

the formation of a league (possibly the Iroquois Con

federacy) or an early treaty with the Thirteen Colonies
(there are thirteen figures of
p.

252.

men).

After 2

ARBE,

THE FOREST TRIBES

45

how the people were greatly distressed by

the
Mashenomak,
aquatic monster who devoured fishermen.
himself
to be swallowed by the gigantic
allows
Manabush
Menominee

tell

creature, inside of which he finds his brothers, the Bear, the

Deer, the Raven, the Pine-Squirrel, and many others. They
all hold a war-dance in the monster s maw, and when Mana

bush

past the heart he thrusts his knife into it, causing

Mashenomak to have a convulsion; finally, he lies motionless,
and Manabush cuts his way through to the day. In another
circles

who

the monster

destroyed the
brother of Manabush, is slain by the hero in the same fashion.
The Micmac, who live beside the sea, make the great fish to
version,

Misikinebik,

has

who is a servant rather than a foe of Glooscap,

and upon whose back he is carried when he goes in search of
his stolen brother and grandmother. The Clams (surely tame
substitutes for water demons!) sing to the Whale to drown
Glooscap; but she fails to understand them, and is beached
be a whale,

through his trickery. "Alas,

have been my death.
"you
"Never
right."

my
I

grandchild!"

she lamented,

can never get out of

you mind, Noogumee," said Glooscap,

And with a push he sends her far out to

"I

ll

this."

set

sea.

you
It

is

evident that the legend has passed through a long descent!

In his war against the underwater manitos, the assistants
of the Great

version

it is

Hare

the

are the Thunderbirds.

Thunderboy who

is

In the Iroquoian
swallowed by the horned

water-snake, from whose maw he is rescued by Thunder and

his warriors
as in the Hiawatha story it is the gulls who re
lease the prisoner from the sturgeon s belly in which he has

been engulfed as a consequence of

his rash

ambition to con

quer the ruler of the depths. The myth has many variants
however, and while it may sometimes represent the storm

goading to fury the man-devouring waters, in a more uni

mode it would seem to be but an American version of

versal

the world-old conception of the conquest of the watery Chaos

by the creative genius of Light.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

46

V.

The conquest

THE THEFT OF FIRE

of fire

most impressive of

51

by man deservedly ranks among the

race-memories, for perhaps no one nat

all

ural agency has done so much to exalt the potency of the human
race as has that which gives us heat and light and power.
Mythic imagination everywhere ascribes a divine origin to

the heaven, or some other remote region over which

guardian powers preside, is the source of this great agency,
as in the Greek tale of Prometheus
it is
from which
fire;

"stolen

in the

pith"

and borne among men to

alleviate their

estate.

In Algonquian myth the Great Hare, here as elsewhere, is

A Menominee version begins
"the benefactor of mankind."
quite naively: "Manabush, when he was still a youth, once
said to his grandmother Nokomis, Grandmother, it is cold

here and

we have no

fire; let

me

go to get some.

"

Nokomis

endeavours to dissuade him, but the young hero, in his canoe,

starts eastward across the waters to an island where dwells

man who has fire. "This old man had two daughters,
when
who,
they emerged from the sacred wigwam, saw a little
the old

Rabbit, wet and cold, and carefully taking

it into the sacred wigwam, where they set

it
it

up they carried

down near the

When

the watchers are occupied, the Rabbit

seizes a burning brand and scurries to his canoe, pursued by
the old man and his daughters. "The velocity of the canoe

fire

to

warm."

caused such a current of

and thus

fiercely";

derers received the

of

it

It

ever
is

watchers

Smet,

that the brand began to burn

brought to Nokomis. "The Thun

from Nokomis, and have had the care

fire

since."

man across the Eastern

Sun-God, nor in the sacred wigwam with its maiden
a temple of fire with its Vestals.
says De
in all the Indian tribes that I have known, an em

not

waters a

air

fire is

difficult to see in

the old

"Fire,"

"is,

blem of happiness or good

fortune."

It

is

the

emblem

of

life,

THE FOREST TRIBES

Said a Chippewa prophet:

too.

"The

47

must never be suf

and winter, day and

fire

fered to go out in your lodge. Summer

night, in storm or when it is calm, you

must remember that

the
your body and the fire in your lodge are the same
and of the same date. If you suffer your fire to be extinguished,
at that moment your life will be at its end." Even in the
life

in

other world, fire is the source of life; there Chibiabos keeps the
sacred fire that lights the dead thither; and, says De Smet,
"to see a fire
rising mysteriously, in their dreams or otherwise,
is

the symbol of the passage of a soul into the other world."

narrates, in this connexion, the fine Chippewa legend of

He

a chief, arrow-stricken in the

was

left,

enemy

moment

of victory,

whose body

war-panoply, facing the direction of the

On the long homeward return of the war-

in all its

retreat.

party, the chiefs spirit accompanies the warriors and tries to

assure them that he is not dead, but present with them;
even when the home village is reached and he hears his deeds

lauded, he is unable to make his presence known; he cannot

console his mourning father; his mother will not dress his

wounds; and when he shouts

Then

am

in the ear of his wife,

"I

am

she hears only a vague rumbling.

he remembers having heard how the soul sometimes for

thirsty!

hungry!"

body, and he retraces the long journey to the field of

battle. As he nears it, a fire stands directly in his path. He
sakes

its

changes his course, but the fire moves as he does; he goes to

the right, to the left, but the spirit-fire still bars his way. At
desperate resolution, he cries out:
also, I am a spirit;
seeking to return to my body; I will accomplish my de
sign. Thou wilt purify me, but thou shalt not hinder the

last, in

"I

am

my

have always conquered my ene

mies, notwithstanding the greatest obstacles. This day I will
triumph over thee, Spirit of Fire!" With an intense effort he
darts through the mysterious flame, and his body, to which
the soul is once more united, awakens from its long trance on
realization of

the

project.

field of battle. 20

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

48

VI.

The Old Man and

SUN-MYTHS

the Maids from

whom Manabush

steals

belong to the

Wabanunaqsiwok, the Dawn-People,

who dress in red; and, should a man or a woman dream of the
Dawn-People, he or she must forthwith prepare a ball game.
the

fire

This,

it is

said,

was instituted by Manabush

in celebration of

his victory over the malignant manitos; he made Kineun,

the Golden Eagle and Chief of the Thunderers, leader of one
side, and Owasse, the Bear and Chief of the Underground
52
but the Thunderers always win
People, leader of the other;
the game, even though the sky be darkened by cloud and rain. 33

easy to recognize in the ball, which bears the colours

of the East and the West, red and yellow, a symbol of the
Sun; and in this myth (as in the Iroquois legend of the rape
It

is

of the Sun)

51

to see a story of the ceaseless conflict of

Day

and Night, with Day the eternal conqueror. Sun-symbolism,

13
the boy who
also, seems to underlie the tale of Ball-Carrier,
was lured away by an old witch who possessed a magic ball
that returned of

itself

to her

wigwam when

a child pursued

it,

and who was sent by her in search of the gold (Sunlight) and
the magic bridge (Rainbow) in the lodge of a giant beyond
the waters. Ball-Carrier, who is a kind of Indian Jack the
Giant-Killer, steals the gold and the bridge, and after many
amazing adventures and transformations returns to his home.
A similar, perhaps identical, character is the Tchakabech of
Le Jeune s Relation of 163 7. 42 Tchakabech is a Dwarf, whose
parents have been devoured by a Bear (the Underworld Chief)
and a Great Hare, the Genius of Light. He decided to ascend
to the

Sky and climbed upward on

a tree,

which grew

as he

breathed upon it, until he reached the heavens, where he found

the loveliest country in the world. He returned to the lower
world, building lodges at intervals in the branches of the
tree, and induced his sister to mount with him to the Sky;

but the

little

child of the sister broke off the

end of the

tree,

THE FOREST TRIBES

49

just low enough so that no one could follow them to their des
tination. Tchakabech snared the Sun in a net; during its cap
tivity there was no day below on earth; but by the aid of a
mouse who sawed the strands with his sharp teeth, he was at
last able to release the Sun and restore the day. In the Menom-

by Hoffman, the snare is made by a

and the Sun is set free by the un
the Mouse.

inee version recorded

noose of the

sister

aided efforts of

hair,

In these shifting stories

we

see the

image of changing

Na

Day and

Night, Sunlight and Darkness, the Heavens

above and the Earth beneath, coupled with a vague appre

ture

hension of the Life that

is

in all things,

and a dim

effort to

grasp the origins of the world.

THE VILLAGE OF SOULS

VII.

The Great Hare,

10

the Algonquians say, departed, after his

where he dwells in the Village of

labours, to the far West,

Souls with his Grandmother and his Brother. Perrot tells of

an Indian who had wandered far from his own country, en

countering a

man

so tall that he could not descry his head.

The trembling hunter hid himself, but the giant said: "My
son, why art thou afraid? I am the Great Hare, he who has
caused thee and many others to be born from the dead bodies
of various animals. Now I will give thee a companion." Ac
cordingly, he bestowed a wife

on the man, and then continued,

and
make canoes, and do all things
"Thou, man,
that a man must do; and thou, woman, shalt do the cooking
for thy husband, make his shoes, dress the skins of
animals,
sew, and perform all the tasks that are proper for a woman."
shalt hunt,

Le Jeune

relates

another tale:

how

"a

certain savage

had

re

ceived from Messou the gift of immortality in a little

package,
with a strict injunction not to open it; while he kept it closed

he was immortal, but his wife, being curious and incredulous,

wished to see what was inside this present; and having opened

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

50
it

it,

all

subject to

woman

and since then the savages have been

Thus, in the New World as in the Old,

flew away,
death."

curiosity

is

mankind

bane. 16

story which has many versions is that of the journey of

sometimes four, sometimes seven
to the
a group of men

He

abode of the Great Hare.

them

entertains

One

receives

after their long journey,

them courteously,
and asks each

his

war, another for success in hunting,

another for fame, another for love, and the Master of Life
But there is
assures each of the granting of his request.

wish.

asks for

skill in

man

yet to be heard from, and his plea is for long life;

whereupon he is transformed into a tree or, better, a stone:
"You shall have your wish; here you shall always remain for

one

future generations to look upon," says the Hare. An odd sequel

to this story is that the returning warriors find their journey
very short, or again that what has seemed only a brief period
shifts of time which
turns out to have been a stay of years
indicate that their travel has led them into the spirit-world.

time from the Huron country, the fate

ful journey to the Village of Souls is undertaken by a man who
has lost his beloved sister. Her spirit appears to him from time
In another

tale, this

to time as he travels, but he

after crossing

is

unable to touch her. At

an almost impassable

river,

last,

he comes to the

abode of one who directs him to the dancing-house of the spir

its. There he is told to seize his sister s soul, imprison it in a
pumpkin, and, thus secured, to take it back to the land of the
living,

where he

will

be able to reanimate

it,

provided that,

during the ceremony, no one raises an eye to observe. This he

does, and he feels the life returning to his sister s body, but at
the last moment a curious person ventures to look, and the
returning

life

flees

away.

53

Here

is

the tale of Orpheus and

Eurydice.
In both Algonquian and Iroquoian myth the path to the
Village of Souls is guarded by dread watchers, ready to cast
into the abyss beneath those

whose wickedness has given them

THE FOREST TRIBES

into the

power of these guardians

Way, whose Indian name

the Milky

VIII.

for this
is

the

HIAWATHA

51

path they find

Pathway

in

of Souls. 8

54

Tales recounting the deeds of Manabozho, collected and

published by Schoolcraft, as the "myth of Hiawatha," were
the primary materials from which Longfellow drew for his
Song of Hiawatha. The fall of Nokomis from the sky; Hiawa

tha

West Wind; the gift of maize,

the
conflict with the great Stur
Mondamin;
which Hiawatha was swallowed; the rape and res

journey to

in the legend of

his father, the

35

geon, by
toration of Chibiabos; the pursuit of the storm-sprite, PauPuk-Keewis; and the conflict of the upper and underworld

elements in the cosmogonic myths of the Algonquian tribes.

Quite another personage is the actual Hiawatha of Iroquoian
tradition, certain of whose deeds and traits are incorporated
powers, are

all

in the poet

tale.

Hiawatha was an Onondaga

chieftain

whose

active years fell in the latter half of the sixteenth century.

At that time the Iroquoian tribes of central New York were

war with one another and with their Algonquian

neighbours, and Hiawatha conceived the great idea of a union
which should ensure a universal peace. It was no ordinary
at constant

confederacy that he planned, but an intertribal government

affairs should be directed and whose
disputes should be

whose

settled

by a

federal council containing representatives from each

This grandiose dream of a vast and peaceful Indian
nation was never realized; but it was due to Hiawatha that the

nation.

Iroquoian confederacy was formed, by means of which these

became the overlords of the forest region from the

tribes

Connecticut to the Mississippi and from the St. Lawrence to

the Susquehanna.
This great result was not, however, easily attained. The
Iroquois preserve legends of Hiawatha s trials: how he was

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

52

opposed among
Atotarho; how

his
his

own

people by the magician and war-chief

only daughter was slain at a council of

the tribe by a great white bird, summoned,

it is

said,

by the

vengeful magician, which dashed downward from the skies and

struck the maiden to earth; how Hiawatha then sadly departed
from the people whom he had sought to benefit, and came to
the villages of the Oneida in a white canoe, which moved with
out human aid. It was here that he made the acquaintance

Dekanawida, who lent a willing ear to the apostle

and
who was to become the great lawgiver of the
of peace,
league. With the aid of this chieftain, Hiawatha s plan was
carried to the Mohawk and Cayuga tribes, and once again to
the Onondaga, where, it is told, Hiawatha and Dekanawida
of the chief

finally

won

Morgan

the consent of Atotarho to the confederation.

says, of Atotarho, that tradition

as covered with tangled serpents,

and

"represents

his look,

his

head

when angry,

whoever looked upon him fell dead. It

when the League was formed, the snakes were
combed out of his hair by a Mohawk sachem, who was
which is
hence named Hayowentha, the man who combs,
as so terrible that

relates that

"

doubtless a parable for the final conversion of the great war55

After the union had been per
chief by the mighty orator.
how
Hiawatha
tells
tradition
departed for the land of
fected,

the sunset, sailing across the great lake in his magic canoe.
Iroquois raised him in memory to the status of a demigod.

The

In these tales of the

of tribes,

man who created

a nation from a

medley
civil
to
the
of
the
from
plane
nature-myth
pass
which the culture hero appears. Hiawatha is an

we

ization in

historical personage invested with semi-divinity because of his

great achievements for his fellow-men. Such an apotheosis is

inevitable wherever, in the human race, the dream of peace

out of

men

divisions creates their

more splendid

unities.

PLATE XI
Iroquois drawing of Atotarho (i), receiving

Mohawk

chieftains,

Hiawatha

(3).

Plate

LXX.

perhaps Dekanawida

(2)

two
and

After Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, part

i,

CHAPTER IV
THE GULF REGION
TRIBES

I.

AND LANDS

states bordering the northern shores

THE Mexico
of

the

"Cotton

characteristic physiographic

of the

Gulf

form a thoroughly
Low-lying and deeply

Belt"

region.

abundantly watered both by rains and streams, and

blessed with a warm, equable climate, this district is the
alluvial,

natural support of a teeming life. At the time of its discovery

it was inhabited by completely individuated peoples.
While
there were some intrusions of fragmentary representatives from
the great stocks of other regional centres
Iroquoian and
Siouan tribes from the north, and Arawak from the Bahamas

the Gulf-State lands were mainly in the possession of lin

guistic stocks not found elsewhere, and, therefore, to be re

garded as aboriginals of the

Of these

stocks

by

soil.

far the largest

and most important was

the Muskhogean, occupying the greater part of what

is

now

Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, as well as a large portion

of Tennessee, and including among its chief tribes the Choc-

taw, Chickasaw, Creek (or Muskhogee), Alabama, Apalachee,

and Seminole Indians. Probably the interesting Natchez of

northern Louisiana were an offshoot of the same stock.

Two

other stocks or families of great territorial extent were the

Timuquanan tribes, occupying the major portion of the Floridan peninsula, and the Caddoan tribes of Louisiana, Texas,

Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

Of the beliefs of few aboriginal

peoples of North America is less known than of the Timu
quanan Indians of Florida, so early and so entirely were they

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

54

destroyed; while the southern Caddo, by habit and thought,

are most properly to be regarded as a regional division of the
Great Plains tribes. Minor stocks are the Uchean of South
Carolina, early assimilated with the Muskhogean, and the
highly localized groups of the Louisiana and Texas littoral,

whom

concerning

our knowledge

is

slight.

In the whole Gulf

the institutions and thought of the Muskhogeans

region,
that are of domi
with the culturally affiliated Cherokee
it is

nant importance and

interest.

Historically, the Muskhogean tribes, in company with the

Cherokee of the Appalachian Mountain region, who were a

southern branch of the Iroquoian stock, form a group hardly

less important than the Confederacy of the north. The "Five
Civilized

Tribes"

of the Indian Territory, so recognized

by

the United States Government, comprise the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes, the major por
tion of

whom removed

from their eastern lands between the

years 1832 and 1835 and established themselves in the Terri

tory under treaty. In a series of patents to the several nations
of this group, given by the United States (1838 to the Chero

Choctaw, from

kee, 1842 to the

their title,

to

whom

the Chickasaw derived

and 1852 to the Creek, who,

the

these

tribes

in turn, conveyed
received inalienable

Seminole),
to the lands into which they immigrated; and they ad
vanced so rapidly in the direction of self-government and
rights
titles

building towns, and encouraging and

developing industry, that they came to be known as "the five
civilized tribes," in contrast to their less progressive brethren
stable

organization,

of other stocks.

The

separate government of these tribes,

modelled upon that of the United States, but having only a

treaty relation with it, continued until, as the result of the
labours of a commission appointed by the United States Gov
ernment, tribal rule was abolished. Accordingly, in 1906 and

United States, and

part of the state of Oklahoma.

1907, the Indians

their territories

became

citizens of the

THE GULF REGION

II.

It

is

SUN-WORSHIP

55

13

not extraordinary that the Gulf-State region should

show throughout a predominance

where in America the sun was one

of solar worship. Every

of the chief deities, and, in

general, his relative importance in an Indian pantheon is a

measure of civilization. In the forest and plains regions he is
likely to

he

ister

be subordinated to a
is;

sky-god, whose min

find the sun assuming

still loftier

but as we go southward we

the royal prerogative of the celestial universe, and advancing

to a place of supremacy among the world-powers. Possibly,
this is in part due to the greater intensity of the southern sun,

but a more likely reason

is

the relative advance in agricul

made by

the southerly tribes. Hunting peoples are only

vaguely dependent upon the yearly course of the sun for their
ture

food-supply, and hence they are only slightly observant of

it.

Agricultural peoples are directly and insistently followers of

the sun s movements; the solar calendar is the key to their
life;

and consequently

it is

among them

that the pre-eminence

of solar worship early appears. Proficiency in agriculture is a

mark of the Muskhogean and other southern Indians, and it
is to be expected that
among them the sun will have become

an important world-power.
It

is

interesting to find that the Cherokee, an Iroquoian

southern type. There is

pantheon. Above a horde of

tribe, assimilated their beliefs to the

little

that

in their

is

metaphysical
animal-powers and fantastic sprites appear the great spirits
of the elements, Water, Fire, and the Sun, the chief of all.

The sun

is

reference to

called Unelanuhi,
its

"the

Apportioner," in

obvious

position as ruler of the year.

Curiously enough,
not a masculine, but, like the Eskimo sun,
a feminine being. Indeed, the Cherokee tell the selfsame story
which the Eskimo recount concerning the illicit relations of the
the Cherokee sun

sun-girl

is

and her moon-brother: how the unknown lover visited

how she rubbed his face with ashes

the sun-girl every month,

6
x

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

56

that she might recognize him, and how, when discovered, "he
was so much ashamed to have her know it that he kept as

end of the sky; ever since he

tries to keep a long way behind the sun, and when he does some
times have to come near her in the west he makes himself as
thin as a ribbon so that he can hardly be seen." 17 The Chero
far

away

kee

myth

as he could at the other

of the raising of the sun

by the animal

elders,

hand-

breadth by handbreadth, until it was just under the sky-arch,

seven handbreadths high, is evidently akin to the similar legend

Navaho of the South-West; while the story of the two

boys who journeyed to the Sunrise, and the Cherokee version
in which, after various other
of the myth of Prometheus
of the

animals have failed in their efforts to snatch

sycamore
succeeds

fire

from the sacred

which Thunder had concealed

it, the Water-Spider

are both doublets of tales common in the far West.

in

Thus legends from

all parts of the continent are gathered in

the one locality.
Like the Cherokee, the Yuchi Indians, who were closely
associated with the Creek politically, regarded the sun as a

female.

She was the ancestress of the human

race, or, accord

ing to another story, the Yuchi sprang from the blood trickling
from the head of a wizard who was decapitated when he at
a tale in which the head
tempted to kill the sun at its rising
a
doublet
the sun itself. Among
of
would seem to be merely
the Muskhogean tribes generally the sun-cult seems to have
been closely associated with fire-making festivals and fire-tem
ples, in forms strikingly like those of the Incas of Peru. Per

haps the

earliest

the Natchez,
quainSj

i.

by
16768:

that preserved, with respect to

Lafitau, in his Mceurs des sauvages ameri-

account

is

Louisiana the Natchez have a temple wherein without

cessation watch is kept of the perpetual fire, of which great
"In

care

is

be never extinguished. Three pointed

to maintain it, which number is never either in

taken that

sticks suffice

it

creased or diminished

which seems to indicate some mys-

PLATE

XII

Florida Indians offering a

stag to the Sun.

drawing

is

from Picart (Ceremonies and

toms of the various Nations

of the

don,

1733-39,

iii,

Plate

of an American Indian
in

the

Indians.

sun-worship of

rite.

many

Cus

known World, Lon

LXXIV

represents a seventeenth century

The

religious

[lower]),

and

European conception

The

pole

Plains

is

and

symbol

Southern

THE GULF REGION

tery.

As they burn, they

57

are advanced into the

fire,

until it

becomes necessary to substitute others. It is in this temple that

the bodies of their chiefs and their families are deposited. The

day at certain hours to the entrance of the

temple, where, bending low and extending his arms in the
form of a cross, he mutters confusedly without pronouncing
any distinct word; this is the token of duty which he renders
to the Sun as the author of his being. His subjects observe
the same ceremony with respect to him and with respect to
all the princes of his blood, whenever they speak to them,
honouring in them, by this external sign of respect, the Sun
from which they believe them to be descended. ... It is
singular that, while the huts of the Natchez are round, their
chief goes every

is

temple

quite the opposite of those of Vesta.

long

On

the

two extremities are to be seen two images of eagles,

a bird consecrated to the Sun among the Orientals as it was to
roof at

its

Jupiter in
"The

all

the Occident.

Oumas and some

peoples of Virginia and of Florida

have temples and almost the same religious observances.

Those of Virginia have even an idol which they name Oki or
Kiousa, which keeps watch of the dead. I have heard say,
also

moreover, that the Oumas, since the arrival of the French who
profaned their temple, have allowed it to fall into ruin and

have not taken the trouble to restore

III.

THE NEW MAIZE 39

The most famous and

khogean

tribes

as

Busk"

"the

"fast").

interesting

that which has

is

it."

come

ceremony of the Musto be

known

in

English

Creek puskita, meaning

This was a celebration at the time of the first ma
(a corruption of the

turing of the maize, in July or August, according to locality,

though it had the deeper significance of a New Year s feast,

and hence of the rejuvenation of all life.

In the Creek towns, the Busk was held

in the

"great house,"

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

58

which consisted of four rectangular lodges, each divided into

three compartments, and all open-faced toward a central
square, or plaza, which they served to bound. The lodges were
fitted

to

its

with banks of seats, and each compartment was assigned

own class of men. The place of honour (in some towns at

was the western lodge, open to the morning sun, where

was the seat of the head chief. In the centre of the square was
kept burning a fire, made from four logs oriented to the four
least)

cardinal points. The structure

temple of the year, the central

highly suggestive of a kind of

fire being the symbol of the sun
is

and of the four-square universe, and the twelve compartments

of the lodges perhaps indicative of the year s lunations. Al
though the Busk was not a festival of the summer solstice, it
came, none the less, at the season of the hottest sun, and so

marked a natural change in the year.

The Busk occupies four days in the lesser towns, eight
greater; and the ceremony seems to have four significant

in the

parts,

the eight-day form being only a lengthening of the performance.

On the first day, all the fires of the village having been pre
viously extinguished, a new fire is kindled by friction, and fed
by the four logs oriented to the cardinal points. Into this fire
cast a first-fruits offering, consisting of four ears of the newly
ripened maize and four branches of the cassine shrub. Dances
is

and purificatory ceremonies occupy the day. On the second

day the women prepare new maize for the coming feast, while
the warriors purge themselves with "war physic," and bathe
in

running water.

The

third

day

is

apparently a time of

vigil

men, while the younger men hunt in preparation

for the coming feast. During these preliminary days the sexes
are tabu to one another, and all fast. The festival ends with
for the older

a feast and merry-making, accompanied by certain curious

ceremonies, such as the brewing of medicine from a great vari
ety of plants, offerings of tobacco to the cardinal points, and a
significant rite, described as follows:
"At the miko s cabin a cane having

two white feathers on

its

THE GULF REGION

end

is

stuck out.

At

the

moment when

59

the sun sets, a

man

of

the fish gens takes it down, and walks, followed by all spec
tators, toward the river. Having gone half way, he utters the

death-whoop, and repeats it four times before he reaches the

water s edge. After the crowd has thickly congregated at the
bank, each person places a grain of old man s tobacco on
the head and others in each ear. Then, at a signal repeated
four times, they throw some of it into the river, and every
man, at a like signal, plunges into the water to pick up four
stones from the bottom.

With these they

cross themselves

on

their breasts four times, each time throwing one of the stones
back into the river and uttering the death-whoop. Then they

wash themselves, take up the cane with the feathers, return

to the great house, where they stick it up, then walk through
the town visiting."
In the opening ceremony (according to one authority) the
is said to converse with "the Master of Breath."

fire-maker

Doubtless the cane tipped with white feathers is (as white

feathers are elsewhere) a symbol of the breath of life, and the
rite at the riverbank is thus to be
interpreted as the death of
the year throughout the world s quarters.

That the Indians regarded the Busk

tous change

The women

clear

from

as a period of

momen

attendant social consequences.

burned or otherwise destroyed old vessels, mats,
is

its

and the like, replacing them with new and unused ones; the
town was cleansed; and all crimes, except murder, were for
given. The new fire was the symbol of the new life of the
new year, whose food was now for the first time taken;
while the fasting and purgation were
purificatory rites to
prepare men for new undertakings. The usual date for the

ceremony was in July or August, though it varied from town

town with the ripening of the maize. Ceremonies similar
to the Creek Busk,
though less elaborate, were observed by
to

the Chickasaw, Seminole, and, doubtless,

by other

gean

tribes.

Muskho-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

60

IV.

The Gulf

COSMOGONIES

States, representing a

15

region into which tribes

from both the north and the west had pressed, naturally show
diverse and contradictory conceptions, even among neighbour
ing tribes. Perhaps most interesting is the contrast of cos-

mogonic

ideas.

The

Forest tribes of the north

commonly

find

the prototype of the created world in a heaven above the

heavens, whose floor is the visible firmament; the tribes of the

South-West very generally regard the habitable earth as an

upper storey into which the ancestors of man ascended from
their pristine underground abodes. Both of these types of cos
are to be found in the Gulf region.
Naturally the Cherokee share with their Iroquoian cousins
the belief in an original upper world, though their version of

mogony

the origin of things is by no means as rich and complicated as

a great island
the Iroquois account. "The earth," they say,
floating in a sea, and suspended at each of the four cardinal
"is

points by a cord hanging down from the sky vault, which is

of solid rock. When the world grows old and worn out, the
people will die and the cords will break and let the earth sink

down

into the ocean,

and

all will

be water

again."
Originally
the animals were crowded into the sky-world; everything was
flood below. The Water-Beetle was sent on an exploration,

and

after darting

ing no

rest, it

about on the surface of the waters and find

dived to the depths, whence

it

brought up a bit

accretion. 40

"When
mud, from which Earth developed by
the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still
dark, so they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day

of

across the island from east to west, just overhead.

It

was too

hot
Tsiskagili, the Red Crayfish, had his shell
scorched a bright red, so that his meat was spoiled; and the
Cherokee do not eat it. The conjurers put the sun another
this

way, and

handbreadth higher
raised

it

in the air,

but

it

was

another time, and another, until

still

it

too hot.

They

was seven hand-

THE GULF REGION

61

breadths high and just under the sky arch. Then it was right,
and they left it so. This is why the conjurers call the highest
the seventh height, because it is seven handbreadths
above the earth. Every day the sun goes along under this arch,
and returns at night on the upper side to the starting place." 13
place

The primeval sky-world and the chaos of waters, the episode

of the diving for earth, and the descent of life from heaven all
indicate a northern origin; but there are many features of this
suggestive of the far South- West, such as the crowding
of the animals in their original home, the seven heights of

myth

heaven, and the raising of the sun. Furthermore, the Cherokee

myth continues with an obvious addition of south-western
ideas:

"There is

another world under

this,

and

it is

like ours

save that the

animals, plants, and people
seasons are different. The streams that come down from

in

everything

the mountains are the trails

by which we reach

this

under

world, and the springs at their heads are the doorways by

which we enter it, but to do this one must fast and go to water

and have one of the underground people for

know that the seasons in the underworld are

a guide.

We

different

from

ours, because the water in the springs is always

winter and cooler in summer than the outer air."

Among

warmer

in

other Cherokee myths having to do with the begin

is a legend of the theft of fire
a tale widely

nings of things

distributed throughout America. The world was cold, says

the myth, until the Thunders sent their lightnings to implant
fire in the heart of a sycamore, which
grew upon an island.

The animals beheld the smoke and determined to obtain the fire
to warm the world. First the birds attempted the feat, Raven
and Screech Owl and Horned Owl and Hooting Owl, but came
away only with scorched

feathers or blinking eyes.

Next the

snakes, Black Racer and Blacksnake, in succession swam

through the waters to the island, but succeeded only in black

ening their own skins. Finally, Water-Spider spun a thread

from her body and wove it into a tusti bowl which she fastened

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

62

on her back and

live coal. 51

activities of

old

in

which she succeeded

in bringing

home

Game and Corn came

two

into the world through the

boys, one the son and one the foster-son of

man Lucky Hunter and

his wife

Corn.

The boys

followed

saw him open the rock entrance

which the animals were confined, and after

their father into the woods,

of the great cave in

ward in mischief loosed

all

the animals, to people the world

41

with game.
Their mother Corn they slew, and wherever
her blood fell upon the ground there maize sprang up. 35 The
parents went to the East and dwelt with the sunrise, but the

boys themselves became the Thunderers and abode in the

darkening West, and the songs which they taught to the

hunters are still used in the chase of deer.
Like the Cherokee, the Yuchi held to the northern cosmog
an upper world, containing the Elders of men and ani
ony
mals, and a waste of waters below. Animal after animal
attempts to bring up earth from the deep, until, in this legend,
the crayfish succeeds in lifting to the surface the embryonic
is to grow.
The Yuchi add, however, an
element
to
the
myth: The new-formed land was
interesting
semi-fluid. Turkey-Buzzard was sent forth to inspect it, with

ball

whence Earth

the warning that he was not to flap his wings while soaring
above earth s regions. But, becoming wearied, he did so, to

avoid

falling,

and the

effect

upon the

created was the formation of

hill

fluid

and

land of the winds so

valley.

In contrast to these tales of a primeval descent or fall

from an upper world are the cosmogonic myths of an ascent

from a subterranean abode, which the Muskhogean tribes share

with the Indians of the South- West. "At a certain time, the
Earth opened in the West, where its mouth is. The earth
opened and the Cussitaws came out of its mouth, and set
the beginning of the famous migra
31
The
tion-legend of the Creeks, as preserved by Gatschet.
recounts
how
earth
became
and
a
the
ate
story
up por
angry
tled near

by."

This

tion of her progeny;

is

how

the people started out on a journey

PLATE
Human
deity

figure

height

Georgia.

21^

in

XIII

stone, probably

inches.

Found

in

representing

Bartow County,

After Report of the United States National

Museum, 1896,

Plate

XLIV.

THE GULF REGION

63

toward the sunrise; how they crossed a River of Slime, then a

River of Blood, and came to the King of Mountains, whence a
blazed upward with a singing sound. Here there was
an assembly of the Nations, and a knowledge of herbs and of
great

fire

was given to men: from the East came a white fire, which
they would not use; from the South a blue fire, neither would
they have this; from the West came a black fire, and this, too,
was refused; but the fire from the North, which was red and
yellow, they took and mingled with the fire from the mountain,
"and this is the fire
they use today; and this, too, sometimes
On the mountain they found a pole which was rest
sings."
less and made a noise; they sacrificed a motherless child to
29
and then took it with them to be their war standard. 42
it,
At this same place they received from singing plants knowl
edge of the herbs and purifications which they employ in
fire

the Busk.

The Choctaw,

like the Creek, regard themselves as earthIn very ancient times, before man lived, Nane Chaha
was formed, from the top of which a passage led
("high hill")
down into the caverns of earth from which the Choctaw

born.

emerged, scattering to the four points of the compass. With

them the grasshoppers also appeared, but their mother, who

had stayed behind, was killed by men, so that no more of the

insects came forth, and ever after those that remained on
earth were known to the Choctaw as "mother dead." The
grasshoppers, however, in revenge, persuaded Aba, the Great
Spirit, to close the mouth of the cave; and the men who re
mained therein were transformed into ants. 46

The Louisiana Choctaw continue their myth with the story

of how men tried to build a mound reaching to the heavens,
how the mound was thrown down and a confusion of tongues
ensued, how a great flood came, and how the Choctaw and
the animals they had taken with them into a boat were saved
from the universal deluge 49
all elements of an obviously

Old- World origin; though the story of the smoking mountain,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

64
and

of the cavern peopled

to be found far in the

is

continent, to which

it is

by the ancestral animals and men,

North and West on the American

undoubtedly native.

ANIMAL STORIES

V.

41

To the most

primitive stratum of myth belong those tales of

the beginnings of things which have to do, not with the source
for the idea that man s habitat is itself a single
of the world

and end, is neither a simple nor a very

but which recount the origins of animal

being, with beginning

primitive concept
traits.

How

Snake got

mouth, why Mole

lives

why Possum
underground, why Cedar is
his poison,

has a large

red-grained
these are titles representative of a multitude of stories nar
rating the beginnings of the distinctive peculiarities of ani

mals and plants as the Indian

fancy conjectures them.

The

Gulf-State region is particularly rich in tales of this type,

and it has been urged very plausibly that the prevalence of
similar and identical animal stories among the Indians and
negroes points to a
for

most

common and

probably American source

of them.

The

snakes, the bees, and the wasps got their venom, ac

cording to the Choctaw story, when a certain water-vine, which

had poisoned the Indians who came to the bayou to bathe,

surrendered its poison to these creatures out of commisera

men; the opossum got his big mouth, as stated by

these same Indians, from laughter occasioned by a malev
olent joke which he perpetrated upon the deer; the mole lives
tion for

underground, say the Cherokee, for fear of rival magicians

jealous of his powers as a love-charmer; and in Yuchi story
the red grain of the cedar is due to the fact that to its top is
fastened the bleeding head of the wizard who tried to kill

the sun.

The motives
less,

Doubt

inspiring the animal stories are various.

the mere love of story-telling, for entertainment

sake,

is

THE GULF REGION

suggested by nature, and

frequently with a humorous or

a fundamental stimulus; the plot

the fancy enlarges upon

65

it,

is

is an easy turn;
the story-teller who sees human foible in the traits of animals
is well on the way to become a fabulist.
Many of the Indian

But from

satirical vein.

satire to moralizing

stories are intended to point a moral, just as

many

of

them

are

designed to give an answer, more or less credible, to a natural

Thus we find morals
difference that stimulates curiosity.

and science, mingling instruction with entertainment, in this

most primitive of literary forms.
Vanity is one of the motives most constantly employed.
The Choctaw story of the raccoon and the opossum tells how,
long ago, both of these animals possessed bushy tails, but the
opossum s tail was white, whereas the raccoon s was beauti
fully striped.

At the raccoon

to brown the hairs of his

advice, the

tail at a fire,

but

opossum undertook
his lack of caution

caused the hair to burn, and his tail has been smooth ever
since. A similar theme, with an obvious moral, is the Chero
kee fable of the buzzard

topknot:

"The

buzzard used to

which he was so proud that he refused

to eat carrion, and while the other birds were pecking at the
body of a deer or other animal which they had found he would

have

a fine topknot, of

strut around and say:

You may have

it all,

it

is

not good

They resolved to punish him, and with the

enough
help of the buffalo carried out a plot by which the buzzard
lost not his topknot alone, but nearly all the other feathers
for

on

me.

his head.

willing

He

lost his pride at the

enough now

same time,

to eat carrion for a

so that he

is

living."

Vengeance, theft, gratitude, skill, and trickery in contest

are other motives which make of these tales not only explana
tions but lessons.

The

Cherokee analogue

fable of the lion

and the mouse has a

whose eyes were

in the story of the wolf

plastered shut, while he slept, by a malicious raccoon; a bird,

taking pity on the wolf, pecked the plaster from his eyes; and
the wolf rewarded the bird by telling him where to find red

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

66

paint with which he might colour the sombre feathers of his

breast. This was the origin of the redbird. The story of the

hare and the tortoise

is

recalled

by the race

of the crane

and

the humming-bird; the swift humming-bird outstripped the

crane by day but slept at night; the lumbering crane, because
of his powers of endurance, flying night and day, won the
race. Even more suggestive of the same fable is the tale of

how

the terrapin beat the rabbit,

a race,

by

posting at each station

who had

challenged

him to

on the course a member of

his family, himself awaiting his antagonist at the finish.

Magic and transformation

stories

form

still

another class

46
The
analogies to similar Old-World tales.
Cherokee have a story, immediately reminiscent of German

presenting

many

folk-tales, of a girl

who found

a bullfrog sitting beside the

spring where she went for water; the bullfrog transformed

himself into a young man, whom she married, but his face
always had a froggish look. In other cases transformation is
for the sake of revenge, as the eagle who assumed human form
after his mate had been killed, and who took vengeance upon

Probably the moral of the broken

at the basis of this story, for this is a frequent motive

the tribe of the hunter.

tabu

lies

in tales

where men are transformed into animals or animals

assume human shape. Thus, a hungry hunter is turned into a

snake for eating squirrel meat, which was tabu to him; another
has his death foretold by a katydid whose song he ridicules;
another is lured by a doe, which comes to life after he has
slain her, to the cavern of the deer, and is there himself trans
formed into a deer, returning to his own people only to die.
Stories of the Rip Van Winkle type develop from this theme
of the hunter lured

away by

animals, as in the instance of the

man who

spent a night with the panthers, and found, upon his

33
while Euro
return, that he had been lost a whole season;

pean tales of merfolk find their parallels in stories of under

water towns to which fishermen are dragged or lured by wizard
fishes.

THE GULF REGION

67

TRICKSTERS AND WONDER-FOLK 48

VI.

The telling of animal stones leads naturally to the formation

of groups of tales in which certain animals assume constant
and characteristic roles, and attain to the rank of mythic be
ings.

The Brer

Rabbit stories,

made famous

by Joel Chandler Harris, appear as

among the Cherokee, from whom they
There can be
malicious

as negro tales

a veritable saga cycle

are doubtless borrowed.

vain, tricky,
question that "Brer Rabbit"
a southern and humorous debasement of the

little
is

Great Hare, the Algonquian demiurge and trickster; while

the Turtle, also important in northern cosmogony, is repre
sented by the put-upon, but shifty, "Brer Terrapin" of the
southern tales. The
baby" by which the thieving Rabbit
was tricked and caught appears in Cherokee lore as a "tar
wolf," set as a trap; the Rabbit, coming upon it by night, kicks
it and is stuck fast; the wolf and the fox find him caught, and
debate how he shall be put to death; the Rabbit pleads with
them not to cast him into the thicket to perish, which accord
ingly they do, and thus he makes off. The escape of an animal
from his captors through pretending fear of his natural ele
ment and thus inducing them to throw him into it is a frequent
"tar

incident in animal tales, while the

riants, as

baby"

story has va

says,
only among the Cherokee, but
wher
Washington, and southern Alaska

Mooney

also in Mexico,

"tar

"not

ever, in fact, the pinon or the pine supplies enough gum to

be molded into a ball for Indian uses." Another legend found

and known to Cherokee and Creek, is the

story of how the Rabbit dines the Bear (the "imitation of
the host" theme, as it is called, which has endless variants

from coast to

coast,

throughout the continent): "The Bear invited the Rabbit to

dine with him. They had beans in the pot, but there was no
grease for them, so the Bear cut a

slit in his side and let the

run out until they had enough to cook the dinner. The
Rabbit looked surprised, and thought to himself, That s a

oil

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

68

handy way.

think

vited the Bear to

ll

try that.

come and take

Bear came the Rabbit said,

Now I ll get grease for them.
into his side, but instead of

When he started home he in

dinner with him. When the
have beans

for dinner, too.

So he took a knife and drove it

a stream of blood gushed out

oil,

and he fell over nearly dead. The Bear picked him up and
had hard work to tie up the wound and stop the bleeding.

Then he
and
you

scolded him,

You

little fool,

lined all over with fat; the knife

and

re small

The world

lean,

and you can

and strong
hurt me; but

large

don

do such things.

"

peopled, however, with other wonder-folk

besides the magic animals, and many of these mythic beings
is

belong to ancient and wide-spread systems. Thus, the Chero

kee Flint (Tawiskala) is obviously the evil twin of the north
ern Iroquois cosmogony; and although he has ceased to be

remembered

as a demiurgic Titan, his evil

ture remains the same. 45

In Choctaw

and unsociable na

tales,

the Devil

who

is

drowned by a maiden whom he has lured from her home, and

whose body breaks into stony fragments, is apparently the
same being. 38 The Ice Man, with his northerly winds and
sleety rains, who quenched the fire that threatened to consume
the world; the North who kept the South for Bride until the
hot sun forced him to release her; 39 Untsaiyi, the Gambler,
who games away his life, and flees to the world s end, where
he is bound and pinned by the two brothers who have pursued
56
all these are
him, there to writhe until the world s end
tales with familiar heroes, known in many tribes and lands.
Nor are the tribes of magic folk different in kind from those
found elsewhere. There are the helpful spirit warriors, who
dwell in rock and hill, the Nunnehi; there are the Little
36
there are the Tsundigewi, the
People, fairies good and evil;
Dwarfs who lived in nests scooped from the sand, and who
2
fought with and were overcome by the cranes; the WaterCannibals,
children;

who

live

upon human

flesh,

the Thunderers, whose steed

is

especially that

of

the great Uktena;

THE GULF REGION

69

50
and to
the horned snake with a diamond in his forehead,
whose cave a young man was lured by the Thunder s sister,

only to find, when he returned to his folk to tell his story and
die, that the night he had spent there comprised long years.
Kanati, Lucky Hunter, the husband of Selu, Corn, and Tsulkalu, the slant-eyed giant, held dominion over the animals

and were gods of the hunter; while the

were under the supervision

in its kind,

different animals, each

of the animal Elders, 40

such as the Little Deer, invisible to all except the greatest

hunters, the White Bear, to whom wounded bears go to be
cured of their hurts, Tlanuwa, the Hawk impervious to
arrows, Dakwa, the great fish which swallowed the fisherman

and from which he cut himself out, and the man-eating Leech,
as large as a house.

Such is the general complexion of the Cherokee pantheon

hordes or kinds of nature-powers, with a few mightier per
sonalities

emerging above them, embryonic gods.

similar are the conceptions of the

and dwarfs,

fairies

shape, peopling

hill

Altogether

Muskhogean tribes
giants
now human, now animal in

and wizards,
and stream, forest and bayou.

VII.

MYTHIC HISTORY 57

Tribes, such as the Cherokee, Creek, and allied nations,

with settled towns and elaborate institutions are certain to

show some development of the historical

the Cherokee have no such wealth of

sense.

It

is

true that

historic tradition

as

have their northern cousins, the peoples of the Iroquois Con

federacy; but at the same time they possess a considerable
lore dealing with their past. Hero tales, narrating the deeds of
redoubtable warriors of former days, and incidentally keeping
alive the memory of the tribes with whom the Cherokee were at

war

form the chief portion of such tra

but there are also fabulous stories of abandoned towns,

in early days, naturally

ditions;

ancient mounds, and strange peoples formerly encountered.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

70

In one particular the Cherokee are distinguished above all

other tribes. In the first years of the nineteenth century

Sequoya, having observed the utility of the white man s art

of writing, invented the Cherokee alphabet, still employed for
the native literature.

men

He

submitted

his syllabary to the chief

was adopted, and in a few months thou

sands of the Cherokee had learned its use. Nevertheless, this
innovation was not made without antagonism; and the oppo
of the nation;

it

make

strong their case, told a tale of how, when In

man were created, the Indian, who was the
elder, received a book, while the white was given bow and
arrows. But since the Indian was neglectful of his book, the
nents, to

dian and white

white

man

stole

it,

leaving the

bow

in its place, so that

thence

book belonged legitimately to the white man, while

with
the bow was the Indian s rightful life. A similar
hunting
tale makes the white man s first gift a stone, and the Indian s
forth the

a piece of silver, these gifts becoming exchanged; while an

other story tells how the negro invented the locomotive, which
the white man, after killing the negro, took from him.

To an entirely different stratum of historical myth belongs

the story of the massacre of the Anikutani. These were a
priestly clan having hereditary supervision of all religious
ceremonies

among

the Cherokee.

They abused

their powers,

taking advantage of the awe in which they were held, to over

ride the most sacred rights of their fellow tribesmen, until
finally, after

one of the Anikutani had violated the wife of a

rose in wrath and extirpated the clan.

a natural calamity which is made re
sponsible for the destruction of the wicked priests; so that here

young brave, the people

In later versions

we seem

it is

to have a tale

which records not only a radical change

but which is well on

in the religious institutions of the tribe,

way toward the formation of a story of divine retribution. 5

The Creek "Migration Legend," edited by Gatschet, and

the

recorded from a speech delivered in 1735 by Chekilli, head

chief of the Creek, is a much more comprehensive historical

THE GULF REGION

71

myth than anything preserved for us by the kindred tribes.

The legend begins with the account of how the Cussitaw (the
Creek) came forth from the Earth in the far West; how they
crossed a river of blood, and

came

to a singing mountain

where they learned the use of fire and received their mysteries
and laws. After this the related nations disputed as to which

was the

and the Cussitaw, having been the

eldest,

FIG.

i.

Copper plate found

Deity.

Now

BIRDLIKE DEITY FROM ETOWAH

in

in the

first

to

MOUND

Etowah Mound, Georgia, representing a Birdlike

United States National Museum, Washington

cover their scalp-pole with scalps, were given the place of

honour. Since a huge blue bird was devouring the folk, the
people gave it a clay woman to propitiate it and to induce it to
cease its depredations. By this woman the bird became the
father of a red rat, which

gnawed

the bird was unable to defend

though they regarded

They came
x

to

it

parent

itself,

as a king

a white path,

its

bowstring.

Thus

and the people slew

among

it,

birds, like the eagle.

and thence to the town of

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

72

Coosaw, where they dwelt four years.

preyed upon the people of this town.

man-eating lion
"The Cussitaws said

they would try to kill the beast. They digged a pit and
stretched over it a net made of hickory bark. They then laid
a number of branches crosswise, so that the lion could not
follow them, and going to the place where he lay they threw
a rattle into his den. The lion rushed forth in great anger and
pursued them through the branches. Then they thought it
better that one should die rather than

motherless child 22 and threw

it

all,

so they took a

before the lion as he

came near

The lion rushed at it, and fell in the pit, over which
the net, and killed him with blazing pinewood.
threw
they
His bones, however, they keep to this day; on one side they
are red, on the other blue. The lion used to come every seventh
the

pit.

the people. Therefore, they remained there seven

days after they had killed him. In remembrance of him, when
they prepare for war they fast six days and start on the seventh.

day to

kill

19
they take his bones with them they have good fortune."
After this, the tribe continued its journey, seeking the people

If

who had made

the white path.

They passed

several rivers,

and came to various towns; but when they shot white arrows
into these towns, as a sign of peace, the inhabitants shot back
red arrows. Sometimes the Cussitaw went on without fight
sometimes they fought and destroyed the hostile people.
Finally, "they came again to the white path, and saw the

ing,

smoke of a town, and thought that this must be the people they
had so long been seeking. This is the place where nowthe tribe
The Palachucolas gave them black
of Palachucolas live.
drink, as a sign of friendship, and said to them: Our hearts are
white and yours must be white, and you must lay down the
bloody tomahawk, and show your bodies, as a proof that they
shall be white." The two tribes were united under a common
chief.
"Nevertheless, as the Cussitaws first saw the red
smoke and the red fire and made bloody towns, they cannot
yet leave their red hearts, which are, however, white on one
.

THE GULF REGION

73

and red on the other. They now know that the white
path was the best for them."
side

Such

the migration-legend of the Creek, altogether similar

to other tales of tribal wandering both in the New World and
is

the Old.

Partly it is a mythical genesis; partly it is an exodus

from a primitive land of tribulation and war into a land of
historical reminiscence, the tale of a conquer
ing tribe journeying in search of richer fields. The sojourn by
the mountain of marvels whence came the talismanic pole, 61

peace; partly

it is

as well as

knowledge of the law and the mysteries, recalls the

of
story
Sinai, while the white path and the search for the
land of peace suggest the promise of Canaan. The episodes
of the man-devouring bird and the man-eating lion
possess
many mythic parallels, while both seem to hark back to a time

when human
whole

tale

is

was a recognized rite. 29 Doubtless the

a complex of fact and ritual, partly veritable

sacrifice

recollection of the historic past, partly a fanciful account of

the beginnings of the rites and practices of the nation. Last
all, comes the bit of psychological analysis represented by
the allegory of the parti-coloured heart of the Red Man who
knows the better way, but, because of his divided nature, is

of

not wholly capable of following it. This gives to the whole

myth an aetiological rationality and a dramatically appro
priate finish.

The

fall

of

man

is

narrated; his redemption re

mains to be accomplished.
Unquestionably many myths of the type of this Creek legend
have been lost, for it is only by rare chance that such heroic
tales survive the vicissitudes of time.

CHAPTER V
THE GREAT PLAINS
I.

THE

THE TRIBAL STOCKS

broad physiographical divisions of the North Ameri

can continent are longitudinal. The region bounded on

by the Atlantic seaboard extends westward to parallel

the east

mountain ranges which slope away on the north into the

Labrador peninsula and Hudson s Bay, and to the south into
the peninsula of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. West of the
eastward mountains, stretching as far as the vast ranges of the
Rockies, is the great continental trough, whose southern half
is

drained by the Mississippi into the Gulf, while the Macken

and its tributaries carry the waters from the northern divi

zie

sion into the Arctic Ocean.

The

eastern portion of this trough,

to a line lying roughly between longitudes 90 and 95, is a

part of what was originally the forest region; the western
part, from far beyond the tree line in the north to the des

Mexico, comprises the Great Plains of North

America, the prairies, or grass lands, which, previous to white
settlement, supported innumerable herds of buffalo to the south
erts of northern

and caribou to the north,

as well as a varied

and

prolific life

of lesser animals

antelope, deer, rabbits, hares, fur-bearing

animals, and birds in multitude. Coupled with this plenitude
of game was a paucity of creatures formidable to man, so that
aboriginally the Great Plains afforded a hunting-ground with
scarcely an equal on any continent. It was adapted to and did
support a hale population of nomadic huntsmen.

As

having no natural bar

human
the
and
intercourse,
aboriginals of the
passage

in similar portions of the earth

riers to

THE GREAT PLAINS

75

region fell into few and vast linguistic stocks. Teiritorially

the greatest of these was the Athapascan, which occupied all
central Alaska and, in Canada, extended from the neighbour

hood of the Eskimo southward through the greater part of

British Columbia and Athabasca into Alberta, and which,
curiously enough, also bounded the Great Plains population
to the south, Athapascan tribes, such as the Navaho and

Apache, occupying the plains of southern Texas, New Mexico,

and northern Mexico. Just south of the northern Athapascans
a stratum of the Algonquian stock, including the important
Cree and Blackfoot tribes, penetrated as far west as the moun
tains of Alberta

Athapascans, as

and Montana, while north of the southern

were reciprocally, a layer of the western

it

Shoshonean stock extended eastward into central Texas, the

Shoshonean Comanche forming one of the fiercest of the Plains
tribes.

Between these groups, occupying the greatest and

richest portion of the prairie region in the

United States, were

the powerful and numerous Siouan and Caddoan peoples, the

former, probably immigrants from the eastern forests, having

Caddo, whose provenance

seems to have been southern, were divided into three segre
gated groups, Texan, Nebraskan, and Dakotan. The Pawnee,
their seat in the north, while the

Wichita, Ankara, and Caddo proper are the principal tribes

of the Caddoan stock; the Siouan stock is represented by
many tribes and divisions, of whom the most famous are the

Dakota or

Sioux, the

Omaha, Assinaboin, Ponca, Winnebago,

Mandan, Crow, and Osage. It is of interest to note that five
states, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and the two Dakotas,
either bear the designations of Siouan tribes or appellations
of Siouan origin, while many towns, rivers, and counties are

similarly

named.

Other important Plains

tribes,

occupying

the region at the base of the Rocky Mountains, from Wyoming

south to northern Texas, are the Arapaho and Cheyenne of the
intrusive Algonquian stock and the Kiowa, linguistically
related to any other people.

un

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

76

The manner of life of the Plains tribes was everywhere

much the same. They were in the main hunters, living in
towns during the winter and in summer moving their portable
camps from place to place within the tribal hunting range.
The skin tipi, or Indian tent, was the usual type of dwelling,
generally replacing the bark wigwam of the forests; but the
Caddoan and some other tribes built substantial earth lodges
a form of dwelling which archaeological research shows to
have been ancient and wide-spread along the banks of the

great western rivers.

24

Agriculture,

too,

was more important

and more highly developed among the earth-lodge dwellers,

being partly a symbol and partly a consequence of their more
settled life. It found its reflection, also, in ideas, the most

and terrible instance being that underlying the

sacrifice of the Skidi Pawnee, which, like the
Star
Morning
similar rite of the Kandhs (or Khonds) of India, consisted in
significant

the sacrifice of a virgin, commonly a captive from a hostile

tribe, whose body was torn to pieces and buried in the fields
29
for the magical fructification of the grain.

romantic

stories of the

West

Skidi warrior of renown. 58

is

One

of the

most

of the deed of Petalesharo, a

Comanche maiden was about

to

be sacrificed according to custom when Petalesharo stepped

forward, cut the thongs which bound the captive, declaring
that such sacrifices must be abolished, and bearing her through
the crowd of his tribesmen, placed her upon a horse and con

veyed her to the borders of her own

tribal territories.

in the early part of the nineteenth century,

his act

put an end to the

and

it is

This was
said that

rite.

In warlike zeal and enterprise the Indians of the Plains 59

were no whit inferior to the braves of the East. The coming
of the horse, presumably of Spanish introduction, added won
derfully to the mobility of the Indian camp, and opened to

new

that of horse-stealing; so that the

man who successfully stole his enemy s horses was little less
distinguished than he who took hostile scalps. The Indian s

native daring a

field,

PLATE XIV
Pencil sketch by Charles Knifechief, representing
the Skidi Pawnee in the sacrifice
the scaffold used

by

to the

Morning

Star.

See Note 58 (pp. 303-06).

By courtesy of Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore.

THE GREAT PLAINS

77

wars were really in the nature of elaborate feuds, giving oppor- *

tunity for the display of prowess and the winning of fame, like
the chivalry of the knight-errant; they were rarely intentional
aggressions. Nor was Indian life wanting in complex rituals

making of peace and the spread of a sense of brotherhood

from tribe to tribe. Under the great tutelage of Nature noble
and beautiful ceremonies were created, having at their heart
truths universal to mankind; and nowhere in America were
such mysteries loftier and more impressive than among the
for the

tribes of the

Great Plains.

II.

Of

AN ATHAPASCAN PANTHEON

the great stocks of the Plains the Athapascan tribes

the
(with
exception of the Navaho) show the least native ad
vancement. The northern Athapascans, or Tinne trib^s 1 in
all

particular, while gojod^j^unters

like,

even

in self-defence,

and traders, are

and

far

from war

their arts are inferior to the

general level of the Plains peoples. The ideas of these tribes

are correspondingly nebulous and confused. Father Jette,

has made a study of the mind of the Yukon Indians, says

them that "whereas there is a certain uniformity in the

who
of

are very few points of belief

common to several individuals, and these are of the vaguest
kind."
And he and other observers find a certain emptiness

practices"

of these people,

"there

in the rites of the far north, as

if

the Indians themselves had

forgotten their real significance.

Father Jette gives a general analysis of the Yukon pantheon.

The Tinne, he says, are incapable of conceiving really spiritual
substances, but they think of a kind of aeriform fluid, capable
and invisible at will, pene

of endless transformations, visible

all things and passing wherever they wish; and these

embodiments of spiritual power. There is little that is
personal and little that is friendly in these potencies; the relig
ion of the Tinne is a religion of fear.

trating
are the

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

78

four greater spirits among these powers are Man of

Cold, Man of Heat, Man of Wind, and a Spirit of Plague
(Tena-ranide), the evil that afflicts man s body, known by

The

appearing in many forms. Man of Cold

during the winter months, causes the frost and the

many names and

"reigns

snow, kills people by freezing them to death, takes possession

of the body at death, and faithfully covers the grave of the

Tena with

whom

a shroud of

snow."

Man

turn during the season of cold. 39

than

of

Heat

the foe of Cold,

is

he has conquered in the summer, as he succumbs in

He

is

Cold, but still must be kept

and suffocates when the chance

is

stifles

more

friendly to

man

in check, for he, too,

is

offered him.

Wind

brings death and destruction in storm; while Tena-ranide

Death itself stalking the earth, and ever in wait for man

is

says Father Jette, the name means "the thing for

that is, "the thing that kills man."
obvious enough that here we have the world-scheme of

literally,
man,"

It

is

a people for whom the shifts of nature are the all-important

events of life. Changes of season and weather are great and
sudden in the continental interior of North America, becoming

more

perilous

and so we

and

striking as the Arctic zone

is

approached;

we might expect, that the peoples of the

make Heat and Cold and Windy Storm fore

find, as

northern inland

form of ever-striking Death

Below these greater spirits there is a
multitude of confused and phantom powers. There are souls 20
the body
of men and animals, the soul which is "next
and makes it live; there are the similar souls of "those who are

most

of their gods, with the grisly

for their attendant.

to"

becoming
is

again,"

or awaiting reincarnation;

18

finally, there

a strange shadow-world of doubles, not only for

men and

animals, but for some inanimate objects. The Yega ("pic

is called, is
"shadow"), as the double
ture,"
protecting
"a

spirit, jealous and revengeful, whose mission is not to avert

harm from the person or thing which it protects but to punish

the ones

who harm

or misuse

it."

When

man

is

to die, his

THE GREAT PLAINS

is first

Yega

79

devoured by Tena-ranide or one of the malevolent

Nekedzaltara, who are servants of the death-bringer. The

familiars, or daemons, of the shamans, form another class of
personal spirits, similar to the Tornait of the Eskimo Angakut,
whose function is to give their masters knowledge of the hidden
events and wisdom of the world, as well as power over disease
and death.

The Nekedzaltara, "Things," form a class or classes of the

hordes of nature-powers, visible and invisible, which people
the world with terrors. Father Jette gives a folk-tale descrip
tion of one of these beings
one form out of a myriad. The
seems
to
be
a
version
of
the
story
wide-spread North American

who

swallowed by a water-dwelling mon

from whose body he cuts his way to freedom. The hero
has just gotten into the Nekedzaltara s mouth: 2
"Then he stopped and looked around him.
He was in a
kettle-shaped cave, the bottom of which was covered with
tale of the hero

is

ster,

boiling water;

from

this large bubbles

were constantly coming

Looking up he saw stretching above his head a huge

and
jaw;
looking down he saw another enormous jaw beneath
him. Then he realized that he had put himself into the very
forth.

had gone into it unawares. He was deep

where the boiling water was bubbling
it,
The
up.
long twisting ropes were appendages to the devil s
jaw, and now they began to encircle him and closed fast upon
him. But he drew his sword and cut them. Then he ran out
of the dreadful cave. Before going, as he saw the big teeth on
the monster s jaw, he pulled out one of them and took it with

mouth

of a devil: he

close to the throat,

in

And he gave the devil s tooth to his master."

easy to see in this monster a whale, says the recorder;
and certainly it is quite possible that this version of the story

him.
It

is

picturesque detail from the Arctic and the Eskimo, to

whose beliefs those of the Tinne tribes show so many parallels.

got

Of

its

course, the story

episode of

is

known

far to the

Hiawatha and the sturgeon,

South

also,

for example.

in the

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

8o

THE GREAT GODS OF THE PLAINS

III.

On

the plains there is a majestic completeness of almost

every view of earth and sky. There are no valley walls to
narrow the horizon; there are no forests to house men from
the heavens.

The

and the dome

horizon is complete and whole,

where the rainbow forms frequently

circle of the

of the sky,

To men accustomed
and simple lines of such vision, the brilliant
blue of predominantly sunny skies, the green of the summer
in perfect arc,

vast and undiminished.

is

to the broad spaces

prairies, the sparkling

white of the winter plains, the world

seemed at once

and

hung

colossal

intelligible.

Its

plan was the plan

own

lodges: a flat and circular base over which was

the tent of the skies, with door to the eflst.., the fjirertion

of their

you go on a high hill," said a Pawnee

look
around, you will see the sky touching the
priest,
earth on every side, and within this circular enclosure the people

of the rising sun.

"If

"and

dwell."

The

"represent

men were made on

lodges of

the circle which Father

dwelling-place of

all

the

people";

Heaven

and, in

the same plan, to

has made for the

many tribes,

the

camp

form was also circular, the tipis being ranged

within which each clan had its assigned position.
The great gods of men in such a world form a natural, in
deed an inevitable, hierarchy. Supreme over all is Father
in a great ring,

Heaven, whose abode

verse.

Tirawa-atius

the highest circle of the visible uni

his Pawnee name. All the powers in

is

is

heaven and on earth are derived from him; he is father of all

things visible and invisible, and father of all the people, perpetuating the

life

of

The Pawnee symbols

mankind through the

gift of children.

Tirawa are white featherdown, typi

and hence the
fying the fleecy clouds of the upper heavens
life
the
breath
of
winds
and
and, in facecloud-bearing
painting, a blue line drawn arch-like from cheek to cheek over
the brow, with a straight line down the nose which symbolizes
the path by which life descends from above. Yet the Pawnee
of

PLATE XV
Portrait of Tahirussawichi, a

Pawnee

priest, bearing

hands an eagle-plume wand, symbol of Mother

Earth, and a rattle marked with blue lines emblematic of
in his

the Sky.

After 22

ARBE,

part 2, Plate

LXXXV.

THE GREAT PLAINS

81

are not anthropomorphic in their ideas. "The white man

speaks of a Heavenly Father; we say Tirawa-atius, the Father

above, but we do not think of Tirawa as a person. We think of

Tirawa as in everything, as the Power which has arranged and
thrown down from above everything that man needs. What the

power above, Tirawa-atius,

been

is

like,

no one knows; no one has

there."

The

priest who
tion of the world

powers.
to man,

mediate

Mother

made

this remark also said: "At the crea

was arranged that there should be lesser C
Tirawa-atius, the mighty power, could not come near
therefore lesser powers were permitted. They were to
between man and Tirawa." The Sun father and Earth
were the two foremost of these lesser powers, whose /^

union brings forth

it

all

the moving pageantry of

life.

The Morn

ing Star, the herald of the Sun, is scarcely less important.

The Winds from the four quarters of the world, the life-giving
all these are powers
Vegetation, Water, the Hearth-Fire
calling for veneration.

./

In the intermediate heavens, below

s reach, are the bird messen

Sun and Moon, yet above man

gers,

with the Eagle at their head, each with its special wisdonk
too, dwell the Visions which descend to

and guidance. Here,

the dreamer, giving him revelations direct from the higher

powers; and here the dread Thunder wings his stormy course.
With little variation, these deities
Heaven, Earth^ Sun,

Moon, Morning. Star, Wind,

mon pantheon
as the

Fire,

Triunder

of the Plains tribesr

x,

form the com

Xhe

agricultural tribes,
Indians, give the Corn Mother
Animal-gods, the Elders of tTTe~"ammal

Pawnee and Mandan

a prominent place.
kinds, are important according to the value of the animal as
game or as a symbol of natural prowess. The Eagle is supreme

among

birds; the Bear, the Buffalo, the Elk,

among quad

rupeds; while the Coyote appears in place of the Rabbit as the

arch-trickster. The animak _JiQH^vejr,..jLre not gods in any
z

true sense, for they

befong _to that lesser realm~of~creation
with
shares
in the universal life of the world.
which,
man,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

82

THE LIFE OF THE WORLD

IV.

been much the custom of writers dealing

with Indian beliefs to assert that the conception of a Great
Spirit or Great Mystery is imported by white teachers, that
It has recently

the untutored Indian knows no such being; the universality

of the earlier tradition as to the native existence of this idea is

consequence, almost as a studied misin

Nevertheless, when we find such definite con

regarded as of

little

terpretation.
ceptions as that of Kitshi

Manito among the Algonquians or

Tirawa-atius in Pawnee religion, or even such indefinite ones

as that of the Carrier Indian s Yuttoere ("that which is on

we

high"),

As

tion.

possess
Spirit,

begin to question the truth of the modern asser

is hardly a tribe that does not

a matter of fact, there

what may very properly be called a Great

or Great Mystery, or Master of Life. Such a being is,
its belief in

no doubt, seldom or never conceived anthropomorphically,

seldom if ever as a formal personality; but if these preconcep
tions of the white man be avoided, and the Great Spirit be
judged by what he does and the manner in which he is
approached, his difference from the Supreme Deity of the
white man is not so apparent.

Probably the Siouan conception of Wakanda, the Mystery

that is in all life and all creation, has been as carefully studied
as

3
religious idea.

any Indian

In general,

Wakanda

is

the

Siouan equivalent of the Algonquian Manito, not a being but

an animating power, or one of a series of animating powers

which are the

life.

invisible

but potent causes of the whole world

the Indians," says De Smet, of the Assiniboin,

the existence of the Great Spirit, viz., of a Supreme

"All

"admit

the important affairs of life, and who

manifests his action in the most ordinary events.
Every

Being

who

governs

all

spring, at the first peal of thunder,

which they

call

the voice

of the Great Spirit speaking from the clouds, the Assiniboins offer
it sacrifices.
Thunder, next to the sun, is their great
.

THE GREAT PLAINS

83

Wah-kon. ... At the

least misfortune, the father of a family

to the Great Spirit, and, in prayer,
the
calumet
presents
him
to
take
pity on him, his wives and children."
implores
"Prayer to Wakanda," another observer was told, "was not

made

but only for

and
such
as
important undertakings,
great
going to war
or starting on a journey."
Doubtless the most illuminating analysis of this great Siouan
which is in all things is that made by Miss Fletcher in
for small matters, such as going fishing,

I/divinity

her study of the

Omaha

for the mysterious

tribe.

Wakanda, she
all

life

says,

"stands

natural forms and

power permeating
and all phases of man s conscious life.
Visible na
ture seems to have mirrored to the Omaha mind the everpresent activities of the invisible and mysterious Wakonda
forces

and to have been an instructor

both religion and ethics.

Natural phenomena served to enforce ethics. Old men
have said: Wakonda causes day to follow night without varia
.

in

and summer to follow winter; we can depend on these

regular changes and can order our lives by them. In this way
tion

-^Wakonda teaches us that our words and our acts must be truth
ful, so that we may live in peace and happiness with one an
other. Our fathers thought about these things and observed
the acts of Wakonda and their words have come down to us.

All experiences in life were believed to be directed by

Wakonda, a belief that gave rise to a kind of fatalism. In the
.

face of calamity, the thought, This is ordered by Wakonda,

put a stop to any form of rebellion against the trouble and
often to any effort to overcome it. ... An old man said:
*

Tears were made by Wakonda as a relief to our human nature;

Wakonda made joy and he also made tears! An aged man,
standing in the presence of death, said: From my earliest
years
life

as
.

and

man
.

remember the sound

of weeping; I

shall hear it until I die.

There

have heard

it all

my

be parting as long
has willed it to be so!
will

on the earth. Wakonda

Personal prayers were addressed directly to Wakonda.
lives

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

84

A man

and go alone to the hills; there he

would silently offer smoke and utter the call, Wakonda ho!
while the moving cause, the purport of his prayer, would
remain unexpressed in words. 30 If his stress of feeling was great,
he would leave his pipe on the ground where his appeal had

would take

been made.

his pipe

Women

when praying;

did not use the pipe

were made directly, without any intermediary.

were used; generally the sorrowful or bur
words
Few,
any,
dened woman simply called on the mysterious power she be
lieved to have control of all things, to know all desires, all
their appeals
if

needs, and to be able to send the required help."

The mere quotation of Indian utterances, the mere descrip
tion of their simple rites, out-tell all commentary. Yet the

testimony of one whose first and native education was in this

belief may well be appended. "The worship of the
great
Mystery,"
all

says Dr. Eastman,

self-seeking.

It

was

silent,

"was

silent, solitary, free

because

all

speech

is

from

of necessity

and imperfect; therefore the souls of my ancestors as

cended to God in wordless adoration. It was solitary, because
they believed that He is nearer to us in solitude, and there
feeble

were no

priests authorized to

Maker. None

man and his

way meddle
Among us all men

come between

might exhort or confess or in any

with the religious experience of another.

were created sons of God and stood erect, as conscious of their
divinity.

forced

Our

faith

might not be formulated

upon any who were

unwilling to receive

in creeds,
it;

nor

hence there

was no preaching, proselyting, nor persecution, neither were

there any scoffers or atheists. There were no temples or shrines
among us save those of nature. Being a natural man, the In
dian was intensely poetical. He would deem it sacrilege to
build a house for Him who may be met face to face in the
mysterious, shadowy aisles of the primeval forest, or on the
sunlit bosom of virgin prairies, upon dizzy spires and pinna
cles of naked rock, and yonder in the jeweled vault of the night
sky! He who enrobes Himself in filmy veils of cloud, there on

PLATE XVI
Rawhide image of a Thunderbird for use as a head
The image is
band ornament in ceremonial dances.
beaded and painted, the zigzag lines representing the
lightning issuing from the heart of the Thunderbird.
See Note 32 (pp. 287-88), and compare Plates III,
After
VI, XII, XXII, XXIV, XXVI, and Figure i
.

14.

ARBE,

part 2, p. 969.

THE GREAT PLAINS

85

the rim of the visible world where our Great-Grandfather Sun

kindles his evening camp-fire, He who rides upon the rigorous
of the north, or breathes forth His spirit upon aromatic

wind

southern

airs,

whose war-canoe

He

and inland seas

rivers

V.

To make

launched upon majestic

needs no lesser cathedral!"
is

"MEDICINE"

the impersonal and pervasive

life

of nature

more

particularly his own, the Indian seeks his personal "medicine"

half talisman, half symbol. Usually the medicine is revealed
in a fast-induced vision, or in a
It

tion.

borne in

dream, or

in a religious initia

then becomes a personal tutelary whose emblem is

to which miraculous
possessor s "medicine-bag"

its

powers are often attributed.

"A

skin of a weasel, heads and

made of wood and stone,

bodies of different birds stuffed, images

of beads

worked upon

skin,

bulls, wolves, serpents, of

rude drawings of bears, of buffalo

monsters that have no name, nor

ever had an existence, in fact everything animate and inanimate

is used, according to the superstition and belief of the indi
vidual.

oped

This

object,"

De Smet,
envel
with a lock of some deceased rela

continues Father

in several folds of skin,

"is

and a small piece of tobacco enclosed and the whole

placed in a parfleche [buffalo skin stripped of hair and
stretched over a frame] sack neatly ornamented and fringed,
and this composes the arcanum of the medicine-sack. This
tive

sack

hair

is

never opened in the presence of any one, unless the

owner or some of his family fall dangerously ill, when it is

taken out and placed at the head of his bed and the aid of the
Great Spirit invoked through it. Ordinarily this sack is opened
in secret; the

medicine smoked and invoked and prayers and

sacrifices made in its presence, and

through it, as a tangible
medium to the Great Spirit, who is unknown and invisible."
The Indian s "medicine" is, in fact, a symbol of superhuman

power, just as his pipe

is

a portable altar of sacrifice; having

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

86

these articles with him, he

is

equipped for

As the medicine was

service.

all

ordinary religious

so often revealed in vision, so

potencies were partly to extend the knowledge of its owner

by giving him guidance in the hour of need. Indeed, the fun
damental demands underlying the Indian s use of his medicine
its

were, first, for clairvoyance, the power to see behind the

screen of appearances and to give man a longer time for adap
tation to exigencies than his mere physical vision might allow,

and, second, for prowess, the strength to cope with environ

ing perils, be they human enemies, elemental dangers, or the
insidious onslaughts of disease. The means for thus raising
the tension of man s native abilities is the concentration of

by means of the emblem, be it image or

relic.
With the more advanced Indians such "medicine" is
regarded as no more than a symbol of the greater Medicine of
nature
though still a symbol which is, in some vague sense,
diffuse natural forces

key

Nor

for the unlocking of nature

is

larger store.

limited to private possession. Every

and clan and
"medicine-bag," but tribe

"medicine"

Indian had his

own

religious society all

owned and guarded sacred

objects not dif

from the individual s magic treasure, except

for their greater powers and the higher veneration attached
to them.
fering in character

The

"medicine"

potency of objects

not limited to per

various tokens, such

is

sonal talismans and sacred things. The

as eagle feathers, animal skins or teeth or claws, with which
the Indian adorned his costume, were also supposed to have

powers which entitled them to be treated with respect. Simi

and tipi, fol
larly, the painting of face and body, of robe

lowed the

strictest of rules,

and was

for the specific

purpose

of increasing the potencies of the owners of the decoration.

The Indian s art was in a curious sense a private possession.
If a man invented a song, it was his song, and no other had a
right to sing

a formal

it

without

ceremony

his

usually, only after

permission
In similar fashion, societies

of teaching.

THE GREAT PLAINS

87

had songs which could be sung only by their members; and

there were chants that could be sung only at certain periods
of the day or at fixed seasons of the year. So also in respect
to pictorial design: certain patterns were revealed to the

owner

in

dream or

vision,

and thereafter they were

for his

person or clothing or dwelling, and might not be copied or ap

propriated by any other, at least not without a proper trans

was a part

of the Indian

s implicit belief that all

nature, including human thought and action, represents one
web of interknitted forces whose destined order may not be

All this

fer.

broken without
but in

its

White men

peril.

essence

it

is

call this belief superstition,

not radically different from their

own

notion of a nature fabricated of necessity and law.

FATHER SUN

VI.

"Shakuru,

the

Pawnee

man

the Sun,

is

the

first

priest, quoted above.

13

of the visible
"It

is

powers,"

very potent;

it

said

gives

and strength. Because of its power to

make things grow, Shakuru is sometimes spoken of as atius,
father. The Sun comes direct from the mighty power above;
health, vitality,

that gives

it its

great

potency."

Here we have a compendium of the theology of sun-worship,

perhaps the most conspicuous feature of the Plains Indian s
religion. The sun was regarded as a mighty power, though
not the mightiest; he was the first and greatest of the inter

who brought

the power of Father Heaven down to

earth, and he himself was addressed as "Father" or "Elder"
because of his life-giving qualities. Especially potent were his

mediaries

first rays.

in

"Whoever is

the morning receives

touched by the first rays of the Sun

new life and strength which have

been brought straight from the power above. The first rays
of the sun are like a young man they have not yet spent their
force or grown old." Inevitably this expression brings to mind
the boy Harpocrates and the youth Horus, personations of
:

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

88

the strength and splendour of the morning sun, as he leaped

from the couch of night before the eyes of the priests of old

Egypt.

Pawnee ritual in connexion with which this ex

was
given seems to afford us a glimpse of just such
planation
a rite as must have been practised centuries before Heliopolis was founded or the temple of the Sphinx oriented to the
morning sun. All night long, in a ceremonial lodge whose door
is toward the east, priest and doctor chant their songs; as the
hour of dawn approaches, a watcher is set for the Morning
Star; and the curtain at the lodge door is flung back that the
strength-giving rays may penetrate within. "As the Sun rises
Indeed, the

higher the ray, which is its messenger, alights upon the edge
of the central opening in the roof of the lodge, right over the
see the spot, the sign of its touch, and we know
fireplace.
that the ray is there. The fire holds an important place in the

We

lodge.

Father Sun

is

down

into the lodge.

by

his

messenger to

now

climbing

We watch the spot where it has

alighted.

moves over the edge

It

life

sending

this central place in the lodge.

The ray

is

of the opening above the fireplace and

descends into the lodge, and we sing that life from our Father
the Sun will come to us by his messenger, the Ray." All day
long the course of the life-giving beam
of thankfulness. "Later, when the Sun

the land

is

in

is
is

followed with songs

sinking in the west,

shadow, only on the top of the

hills

toward the

east can the spot, the sign of the ray s touch, be seen.
of Father Sun, who breathes forth life, is standing
.

The ray

on

the edge of the hills. We remember that in the morning it

stood on the edge of the opening in the roof of the lodge over
the fireplace; now it stands on the edge of the hills that, like
the walls of a lodge, inclose the land where the people dwell.

When

the spot, the sign of the ray, the messenger of

our Father the Sun, has left the tops of the hills and passed
.

from our sight ... we know that the ray which was sent
to bring us strength has now gone back to the place whence it

THE GREAT PLAINS

came.

We

are thankful to our Father the

he has sent us by his

Sun

89
for that

which

ray."

Of Stonehenge and Memphis and Pekin and Cuzco, the

most ancient temples of the world s oldest civilizations, this
ritual is strangely and richly reminiscent. Far anterior to the
olden temples must have been such shrines as the sacred if
temporary lodges of the Indian

worship, within which the

daily movements of the sun s ray were watched by faithful

Horus of the morning, Re of the midday, Atum of
priests

and by which the first invention of the gnomon,

and hence the beginnings of the measured calendar, were sug

the sunset

gested.

Who, remembering

the sculptures of Amenophis IV,

with rays reaching down from the Divine Disk to rest hands of
benediction upon the king, but will feel the moving analogy

Pawnee conception

of the Ray, the Sun s messenger,

with
life? Or, indeed, who will fail to
touching
worshippers
find in the Indian s prayers to Father Sun the same beauty and
of the

his

aspiration that pervades the psalms of the heretic king?

The Sun-Dance of the Prairie tribes is their greatest and

most important

ritual.

39

This

is

an annual

festival,

occupying,

usually, eight days, and it is undertaken in consequence of a

vow, sometimes for an escape from imminent death, especially
in battle; sometimes in hopes of success in war; sometimes as

the result of a

woman

ery of the sick.

promise to the Sun-God for the recov

In the main, the ceremonies are dramatic,
s

consisting of processions, symbolic dances, the recounting and

enactment of deeds of valour, and the fulfilment of vows of

kinds undertaken during the year. The last and,

is the
building of a great lodge, symbolic orv.
the home of man, in the centre of which is erected a pole, as

various

central feature

an emblem of earth and heaven, sometimes cruciform, some

times forked at the top, and adorned with symbols typifying
the powers of the universe. Warriors under vow were for
merly attached to this pole by ropes fastened to skewers in
serted under the muscles of back and chest, and they danced

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

90

21

but this and

atonement to the lifewere not essential to
giving Sun for the life he had spared
the ceremony, and in some tribes were never permitted;
among the Kiowa the mere appearance of blood during the
ceremony was regarded as an ill omen.

about

it

until the lacerated

other forms of self-torture

Not only were vows

body was

freed;

a kind of

atonement and propitiation fulfilled

on the occasion of the Sun-Dance, but the dead of the year
were mourned, babes had their ears pierced by the medicine
men, yoimg men who had distinguished themselves were given
formal recognition, and tribal and intertribal affairs and poli
of

were often participants.

The central feature, however, was a kind of cosmic thanks
giving, in which the people, through the Sun-Symbol, were
cies

were discussed,

for visiting tribes

brought directly into relation with Father Sun. The prayer

of a chief directing this ceremony, in a recent performance
of

it,

gives

its

meaning perhaps more

fully

than could any

commentary
I am praying for my people that they
"Great Sun Power!
may be happy in the summer and that they may live through
the cold of winter. Many are sick and in want. Pity them
and let them survive. Grant that they may live long and have
:

May we

go through these ceremonies correctly,

as you taught our forefathers to do in the days that are past.
If we make mistakes pity us. Help us, Mother Earth! for we

abundance.

depend upon your goodness. Let there be rain to water the

prairies, that the grass may grow long and the berries be abun
dant. O Morning Star! when you look down upon us, give us
peace and refreshing sleep. Great Spirit! bless our children,
through a happy life. May our trails lie
straight and level before us. Let us live to be old. We are all
your children and ask these things with good hearts" (Mc-

friends,

and

visitors

Clintock, The Old North Trail, p. 297).

"We are all your children and ask these things with good
Is not this the essence of religious faith?
hearts"!

PLATE XVII
Sioux drawing, representing the

and tortures of devotees (see

Plate

XLVIII.

p.

See Note 61

89).
(p.

Sun-Dance
After //

307).

pole

ARBE,

THE GREAT PLAINS

VII.

91

MOTHER EARTH AND DAUGHTER CORN

34

Earth," said the Pawnee priest,

very
we
near to man;
speak of her as Atira, Mother, because she
brings forth. From the Earth we get our food; we lie down
on her; we live and walk on her; we could not exist without her,
as we could not breathe without Hoturu, the Winds, or grow
"H

Uraru, the

without Shakuru, the

"is

Sun."

the deep veneration with which the

Indian looks upon his Mother the Earth. She is omniscient;
she knows all places and the acts of all men; hence, she is the
It

is

difficult to realize

universal guide in all the walks of life. But she is also, and be
she who brings forth all life,
fore all, the universal mother

and into whose body all life is returned after its appointed time,
day of its rebirth and rejuvenation. The concep
tion was not limited to one part of the continent, but was
general. "The Sun is my father and the Earth is my mother;
on her bosom I will rest," said Tecumseh to General Harrison;
and from a chieftain of the far West, the prophet Smohalla,
comes perhaps the most eloquent expression of the sense of
Earth s motherhood in Occidental literature. Urged to settle
to abide the

his people in agriculture,

"You

tear

ask

me

he replied:

to plow the ground!

Shall I take a knife

my mother s bosom? Then when I

to her

bosom

"You

ask

her bones?

and

die she will not take

me

to rest.

me

to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for

Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be

born again.

me

to cut grass and make hay and sell it, and be

men! But how dare I cut off my mother s hair?
is a bad law, and
my people cannot obey it. I want
my people to stay with me here. All the dead men will come
to life again. Their spirits will come to their bodies again.
We must wait here in the homes of our fathers and be ready to
meet them in the bosom of our mother."
"You

ask

rich like white

"It

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

92

On

the Great Plains a remarkable ceremony, known to many

tribes, represented the union of Heaven and Earth and the

The

fullest account of it is preserved from the

the
Sioux and Omaha tribes have contributed
Pawnee, though
many elements of the ritual. The Hako (sacra, or sacred ob

birth of Life.

jects,
is

employed

a dramatic

in the

ceremony), as the Pawnee

prayer for life

and children,

rite is called,

for health

and pos

directed to the universal powers, to Father Heaven

terity.
and the celestial powers, and to Mother Earth and the terres
It

is

trial powers, with the beautiful imagery of birds as the inter

mediaries between earth and heaven. 40 The central symbols of

for mystery it is, in the full classical sense

the mystery
are the winged wands which represent the Eagle, the highest

of the bird messengers; a plume of white featherdown, typi

fying the fleecy clouds of heaven, and hence the winds and the

breath of

life, "breathed

maize, symbol of

down from

"Mother Corn,"

60
above";

daughter of

and an ear of
Heaven and

Earth.
"The

ear of

corn,"

said the priest,

natural power that dwells in

forth the food that sustains

h Atira, mother breathing

which enables it to bring

"represents the super

the earth which brings
so we speak of the ear as

H Uraru,
life;

forth

life.

35

The power

in the earth

forth comes from above; for that

with blue.
the
ear
of
corn
The life of man
paint
Earth.
Tirawa-atius
works
the
depends upon
through it. The
kernel is planted within Mother Earth and she brings forth
the ear of corn, even as children are begotten and born of

reason

we

We give the cry of reverence to Mother Corn, she

the
promise of children, of strength, of life, of
brings

women.

who

plenty, and of

peace."

impossible to study the Hako ceremonial without being

struck by the many analogies which it affords for what is known
It

is

of the Eleusinian Mysteries. In the latter, as in the Hako, an

ear of corn was the supreme symbol, while the central drama
of both was the imaging of a sacred marriage of Heaven and

THE GREAT PLAINS

93

Earth and the birth of a Son, who symbolized the renewal of

in the participants. The Hako
life, physical and spiritual,
did not, as the Eleusinian Mysteries did, convey a direct prom
ise of life in a future world; but this is only a further step in

symbolism easy to take, and it is by no means beyond reason

to presume that the great religious mysteries of the ancients
took their origin from ceremonies of the type for which the
Indian

rite furnishes

us probably our purest and most primitive

example.
VIII.

THE MORNING STAR

14

After the Sun the most important of the celestial divinities

among the Plains tribes is the Morning Star (Venus). The

Pawnee

priest, Tahirussawichi, describes

Morning Star
strength and fruitfulness
reverent toward it. Our

is

"The

The

in its honor.
all

over; that

robe

is

is

are with the

the color of

is

high

is

He

We

are

is

This feather represents the

in the

ray of the coming sun.

of breath and

Star.

Morning

and

Life

clad in leggings and a

his head is a soft downy eagle s

life.

wrapped about him. On

cloud that

him thus:

lesser powers.

fathers performed sacred ceremonies

Morning Star is like a man; he is painted red

feather, painted red.

This

one of the

heavens, and the red

The

soft,

downy

is

soft,

light

the touch of a

feather

is

the symbol

life."

Pawnee watch, as the herald of

chant to the solar god. "The star

the star for which the

the sun, in the great ritual

comes from a great distance, too far away for us to see the
place where it starts. At first we can hardly see it; we lose
so far off; then we see it again, for it is coming
toward
us all the time. We watch it approach; it
steadily
comes nearer and nearer; its light grows brighter and brighter."

sight of

it, it is

A hymn

we sing, the Morning Star

him standing there in the
man
a
heavens,
strong
shining brighter and brighter. The
soft plume in his hair moves with the breath of the new day,
comes

is

still

sung to the

nearer and

star.

"As

now we

see

94

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

and the ray of the sun touches

so bright, he

is

it

with

color.

bringing us strength and

As he stands there
life. As we look

new

upon him he grows less bright, he is receding, going back to his

dwelling place whence he came. We watch him vanishing, pass
ing out of our sight. He has left with us the gift of life which
Tirawa-atius sent him to bestow."
Formerly the Skidi Pawnee were accustomed to sacrifice a
captive virgin to the Morning Star, her body being used
similar association
magically to fertilize the fields of maize.

of ideas, though on the plane of mythic poetry rather than on

that of barbarous rite, seems to underlie the Blackfoot legend
of Poi a,

"Scarface,"

the Star Boy.

Long ago, according to this story, a maiden, Feather Woman,

was sleeping in the grass beside her tipi. The Morning Star
loved her, and she became with child. Thenceforth she suf
fered the disdain and ridicule of her tribesfolk, until one day,
as she went to the river for water, she met a young man who
proclaimed himself her husband, the Morning Star. "She saw
in his hair a yellow plume, and in his hand a juniper branch
with a spider web hanging from one end. He was tall and
straight and his hair was long and shining. His beautiful
clothes were of soft-tanned skins, and from them came a
fragrance of pine and sweet grass." Morning Star placed the
feather in her hair and, giving her the juniper branch, directed
her to shut her eyes; she held the upper strand of the spider s
web in her hand and placed her foot on the lower, and in a

moment

she was transported to the sky. Morning Star led her

to the lodge of his parents, the Sun and the Moon; and there

she gave birth to a son, Star Boy (the planet Jupiter). The
Moon, her mother-in-law, gave her a root digger, saying,

should be used only by pure women. You can dig all

kinds of roots with it, but I warn you not to dig up the large
turnip growing near the home of Spider Man." Curiosity
"This

eventually got the better of caution; Feather Woman, with the

aid of two cranes, uprooted the forbidden turnip, and found

THE GREAT PLAINS

95

covered a window in the sky looking down to the earth

she had left; at sight of the camp of her tribesfolk she became

that

it

sad with home-sickness, and the Sun, her husband s father,

decreed that she must be banished from the sky, and be re

turned to earth. Morning Star led her to the home of Spider

Man, whose web had drawn her to the sky, and, with a

upon her head, and her babe, Star Boy,

was lowered in an elk s skin to earth. Here,
her husband and the lost sky-land, Feather Woman

"medicine-bonnet"

in her arms, she

pining for
soon died, having first told her story to her tribesfolk. Her
son, Star Boy, grew up in poverty, and, because of a scar
upon his face, was named Poi a, "Scarface." When he became

young man, he loved a chieftain s daughter; but she re

him because of his scar. Since a medicine-woman told
him that this could be removed only by the Sun-God himself,
a

fused

Poi a set out for the lodge of the solar deity, travelling west
ward to the Pacific. For three days and three nights he lay

on the shore
a bright

and praying; on the fourth day he beheld

leading across the water, and following it he

fasting

trail

came

to the lodge of the Sun. In the sky- world Poi a killed

seven huge birds that had threatened the life of Morning

Sun not only removed the scar

but
also
face,
taught him the ritual of the SunDance and gave him raven feathers to wear as a sign that he
came from the Sun, besides a lover s flute and a song which
Star, and, as a reward, the

from Poi a

would win the heart of the maid whom he loved. The Sun
then sent him back to earth
by way of the short path, Wolf
Trail (the Milky Way)
telling him to instruct the Blackfeet in the ritual of the dance.

Afterward Poi a returned to

the sky with the maiden of his choice.

"Morning Star," said the narrator of this myth,
to us as a sign to herald the coming of the Sun.
.

"was

The

given
Star
*

that stands

because
It

is

it

still
(North Star) is different from other stars,
never moves. All the other stars walk round it.

a hole in the sky, the

same hole through which

So-at-sa-ki

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

96
(Feather

down

Woman) was

again to earth. It

drawn up to the sky and then let

the hole through which she gazed upon

first
is

up the forbidden turnip. Its light is the

radiance from the home of the Sun God shining through. The

earth, after digging

half circle of stars to the east (Northern

Crown) is the lodge

beyond (in the
constellation of Hercules) are his five fingers, with which he spun
the web, upon which Soatsaki was let down from the sky."
Corona Borealis is an important constellation in the mythic

of the Spider Man, and the

five bright stars just

lore of nearly all the tribes of the Plains.

Pawnee,

it

a circle of chiefs

is

who

According to the

are the guardians of the

mystic sign of Tirawaatius, and the Pawnee society of Raritesharu (chiefs in charge of the rites given by Tirawa) paint their

heaven and the

and
wear
their
the
featherdown
heads
upon
path of descent,
symbol of celestial life. "The members of this society do not
dance and sing; they talk quietly and try to be like the stars."
faces with the blue lines representing the arc of

Ursa Major and the Pleiades are other constellations con

spicuous in Indian myth. The Assiniboin regard the seven
stars of Ursa Major as seven youths who were driven by pov
erty to transform themselves, and who rose to heaven by means
of a spider s web. For the Blackfeet also these stars are seven
brothers who have been pursued into the heavens by a huge

bear (an interesting reversal of the Eskimo story). The Mandan believed this constellation to be an ermine; some of the
Sioux held

it

to be a bier, followed

Blackfoot legend, are the

to take refuge in the sky.
in

Everywhere

Mandan

stars

considered

"lost

by mourners. The Pleiades,

children," driven by poverty

were associated with the dead.

them

to be deceased

men: when

The

a child

born, a star descends to earth in human form; at death, it

18
A meteor was
appears once more in the heavens as a star.

is

frequently regarded as a forerunner of death; and the Milky

Way, as with the eastern tribes, is the path by which souls

ascend into heaven.

THE GREAT PLAINS

THE GODS OF THE ELEMENTS

IX.

The

97
11

typical dwelling of the Plains folk, whether tipi or earth

is

lodge,

circular in ground-plan, and, similarly, tribal

encamp

ments, especially for religious or ceremonial purposes, were

round in form. On such occasions the entrance to the lodge
faced the east, which was always the theoretic orientation of
the camp. A cross, with arms directed toward the four cardi
nal points, and circumscribed by a circle, symbolizes the Plains

conception of the physical world, and at the same time

represents his analysis of the elemental powers of Nature, and

Indian

hence of

human

his analysis of the organization of

society,

which
upon these potencies.
The circle of the horizon, the floor of the lodge of heaven;
the circle of the tribal encampment; and the circular floor of
is

so directly dependent

home

these might be said to

typify so many concentrics, each a symbol of the universe, in
the Indian s thought. In the Hako, the priest draws a circle

the lodge, the

with

his toe,

of the family

within which circle he places featherdown. "The

and is drawn by the toe, because the

circle represents a nest,

eagle builds

its

nest with

we

tion;

its

claws. Although

we

are imitating

another meaning to the ac

are thinking of Tirawa making the world for the

the bird making

its

nest, there

is

people to live in. If you go on a high hill and look around, you
will see the sky touching the earth on every side, and within
this circular inclosure the people live.

So the

circles

we have

made

are not only nests, but they also represent the circle
Tirawa-atius has made for the dwelling place of all the people.

The

circles also

stand for the kinship group, the clan, and the

tribe."

The tribal

circle of

the

Omaha was divided into two groups, the

Sky-People occupying the northern, and the Earth-People the

southern, semi-circle. The Sky represented the masculine, the
Earth the feminine, element in nature; the human race was sup

posed to be born of the union of Earth-People and Sky-People;

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

98

marriage was not customary within either of

these two groups, but only between members of Earth clans

and

in the tribe

and members of Sky clans. Each group also had its own chief
tain and ceremonial, so that the whole tribe possessed a dual
organization, corresponding to the great dualism of nature.
J. O. Dorsey found a similar scheme prevalent throughout

the Siouan stock, and this scheme he generalized by the figure

of a quartered circle. The quarters of one half, which was the
side of peace, were devoted respectively to Earth and Water;
the quarters of the masculine, or Sky half, which was the side
of war, were sacred to the spirits of Fire and Air. Powers of

Earth, Water, Fire, and Air formed the great groups of the
elemental gods. The Dakota name for the Earth-Power is

Tunkan,

27
"Boulder,"

and

it

should be remembered that

stones were not only the materials for the

most important of

aboriginal implements, but that they played an almost magical

part in the venerated medicine rite of the sweat-bath lodge.

The

priests of the

lowing

Pebble Society of the

in this connexion:

myth
mind

were

in the

were

spirits.

"At

Omaha

relate the fol

the beginning

all

things

Wakonda. All creatures, including man,

They moved about in space between the earth
of

They were

seeking a place where they could

come into a bodily existence. They ascended to the sun, but
the sun was not fitted for their abode. They moved on to the

and the

stars.

moon and found that it

Then they descended to

also

was not

the earth.

fitted for their abode.

They saw

it

was covered

with water.

They floated through the air to the north, the

the
east,
south, and the west, and found no dry land. They
were sorely grieved. Suddenly from the midst of the water up
rose a great rock.

It burst into flames

into the air in clouds.

Dry

and the waters floated

land appeared; the grasses and the

trees grew.

The

gratitude to

Wakonda, the maker

hosts of spirits descended and became flesh

and blood, fed on the seeds of the grasses and the fruits of the
trees, and the land vibrated with their expressions of joy and
of

all things."

15

THE GREAT PLAINS

The Water-Powers

99

were divided into two

classes, those of

the streams, which were masculine, and those of the sub

terranean waters, which were feminine. According to the

Winnebago, the earth is upheld by the latter, which are some

times represented as many-headed monsters
veritable levia
thans. The Wind-Makers, occupying half the space devoted
to the Sky-Powers, were especially associated with the four
quarters whence the winds came, and with the animal gods or
Elders, who came from the quarters. An Omaha cosmogony
tells how, when the earth was covered with water and the
souls were seeking their dwelling, an Elk came, and with a
loud voice shouted to the four quarters, whereupon the four
winds, in response, blew aside the waters, and exposed the
rock which was the kernel of Earth. The tale of the diving of
the different animals for mud, to expand the earth, is added
to this legend.
Of the Fire-Powers, the

Sun and the Thunderers or Thunder-

birds were of first importance. The position of the Sun in the

Prairie Indian s lore has been stated. The Thunders 32 were

even more important among the aborigines of the central

west than with their eastern cousins, perhaps because the elec
tric

storms of the Plains are so

much more

terrible

and con

spicuous. The Assiniboin regard the Thunder as "the voice of

the Great Spirit speaking from the clouds," says De Smet;
and the Dakota, he adds, "pretend that Thunder is an enor
mous bird, and that the muffled sound of the distant thunder
is

caused by countless numbers of young birds! The great

they say, gives the first sound, and the young ones re

bird,

peat

it: this is

the cause of the reverberations.

The Sioux de

clare that the

youth, who
or big bird,

young thunders do all the mischief, like giddy

will not listen to good advice; but the old thunder,
is

wise and excellent, he never

kills

or injures any

one."

The Thunder was pre-eminently

59
and, therefore, a tutelary of war.

the power of destruction,

the boy was initiated

When

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

ioo

manhood, a lock of hair was cut from his crown by the

priest, and dedicated to the Thunder. The hair, it must be
borne in mind, was in many ways regarded by the Indian as a
man s strength and life. Frequently a lock of the hair of a
dead relative was preserved, and if carried by a pregnant
woman it was thought to ensure the rebirth of the dead. When
the hair on the boy s crown grew out once more, a special lock
was parted in a circle from the rest, and braided by itself.
Upon this lock war-honours were worn, and it was this that
was taken when the dead enemy was scalped. It was more than
a symbol it was the magic vehicle of the vital strength of the
slain man. 55
into

In few Indian

rites is

the relation of the elemental powers

human society more impressively symbolized than in the

Omaha ceremony of the sacred pole. 61 According to the legend,
to

the tribe was threatened with disruption and was holding a

council to determine by what means it could be kept intact.

During
forest,

made
his

this conference, a

and
his

in the night

way home and

discovery,

"My

young hunter

lost his

way

he came upon a luminous

in the

tree.

He

told his father, a chief of the tribe, of

whereupon the old man

son has seen a wonderful tree.

said to the Council

The Thunder

birds

come

and go upon this tree, making a trail of fire that leaves four
paths on the burnt grass that stretch toward the four Winds.
When the Thunder birds alight upon the tree it bursts into
flame and the fire mounts to the top. The tree stands burning,
but no one can see the fire except at night." It was agreed that
this marvel was sent from Wakanda. The warriors, stripped
and painted, ran for the tree, and struck it as if it were an
enemy; and after it had been felled and brought back to the
camp, for four nights the chiefs sang the songs that had been

composed for it. A sacred tent, decked with symbols of the

sun, was made for the tree, which was trimmed and adorned.
They called it a human being, and fastened a scalp-lock to it
for hair. The tree, or pole, had keepers appointed for it, and

THE GREAT PLAINS

became the symbol
palladium, which was

of tribal unity

it

for

which an annual

manner

of

its

carried

rite

was

101

and authority

a true

on important excursions, and

commemorating the

instituted,

discovery.

Perhaps the feeling of the Plains Indian for that great world
of nature which surrounds him may best be summed up in
the Blackfoot prayer to the Quarters, which is recorded by

McClintock. 31

First, to the

West:

"Over

there are the

moun

from them

you
May you see them
you must receive your sweet pine as incense." To the North:
Strength will come from the North. May you look for many
live, for

as long as

tains.

"

upon the Star that never moves.

age will come from below where lies the

years

the South:

"May

cess in securing

the

warm winds

food."

"

To

the East:

light of the

"Old

Sun."

of the South bring

To

you suc

CHAPTER

VI

THE GREAT PLAINS

(Continued)
I.

ATHAPASCAN COSMOGONIES

15

no portion of the American continent is intercourse of

tribe with tribe easier than on the Great Plains. Of natural
barriers there are none, and in the days of the aboriginal

IN

hunter,

when

all

the prairie nations spent a part of each year

game that crossed and recrossed their

in pursuit of the herds of

ill-defined hunting-grounds,

it

was inevitable that annually

there should be encounters of people with people, and even

tually of ideas with ideas. It was on the Plains that the sign

language was developed and perfected, a mute lingua franca,

serving almost the explicitness of vocal speech. The funda
little from tribe
were
often
indeed
from
and
one people to
to tribe,
conveyed
another at the great intertribal gatherings, where feasting and
trading and the recounting of the deeds of heroes were the
order of the day. Loose confederacies were formed, and it was
sometimes the custom for friendly nations to exchange chil
dren for a term that some might grow up in each nation ac

mental ceremonials of a ceremonial race varied

quainted with the language of the other.

Not

infrequently

tribes or

segments of tribes of quite distinct linguistic stocks

lived together in a more or less coherent nationality, sharing

the same territory and villages.

Even in time of war there

were well recognized rules, forming a kind of chivalric code,
which obtained a general adherence; and one of the obvious
outcomes of Indian warfare was the constant replenishment of
tribal stocks with the blood of adopted captives.

THE GREAT PLAINS

103

With all these sources of intermingling it was natural that

there should be interchange of stories, and indeed it is not un
reasonable to suppose that the open country was the path

by which many

of the tales found in both the extreme north

and the extreme south were transmitted from latitude to lati

tude, while similarly there was here a meeting-ground for the
lore of the westward pressing tribes of the Forest Region and
the eastward intrusions of the Mountain and Desert stocks.

As

a matter of fact, this meeting and commingling of myth is

just what we find on the Plains, perhaps nowhere better illus

trated than in the field of cosmogony.

Even among the remote Athapascans of the north cosmo-

gonic myths are of diverse source. It is supposed that these

Indians came originally from the north-west, and it is, there

no matter of wonder that they know and tell legends of

the demiurgic Raven which form the characteristic cosmogony
of the Pacific Coast tribes. They are also acquainted with the
fore,

Forest Region tale of the deluge and of the animals that dived
from which the earth grew; and they tell,

for the kernel of soil

likewise, the story known to the Eskimo, of the girl who bore
children to a dog, from whom mankind are descended, or who,
as in a Carrier version, became stars. 17 According to this re

was a virgin, who when her shame was dis

was
abandoned
to die; but she contrived to find food
covered,
for herself and her offspring, who were in the form of puppies.
One night, coming back to her abode, she saw the footprints of
children about the fireplace, and following this clue she re
turned surreptitiously to the lodge on the next occasion, and
cension, the girl

discovered her children in

human form;

she succeeded in de

stroying the dog-dress of her three boys, but the girl-child

retransformed herself into a dog before her parent could inter

After

the mother (who seems very clearly to be the

progenitress of all animal kinds, the Mother of Wild Life)
taught her boys to hunt the different animals, their sister,
fere.

this,

the dog, aiding

x

them

in the chase;

but one day brothers and

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

104

pursued a herd of caribou up into the sky, where all

became stars, the Pursuers (Orion) and the Herd (Pleiades). 14
sister

The tale of the two boys who were

followed by their mother s

head seems to be a Great Plains version of the cosmogonic
stories of the Forest

Region.

37

The mother

of the boys

was

decapitated by her husband for illicit intercourse with a ser

50
but the head remained alive and gave chase to the
pent;
children. With charms received from their father, the boys
first, by a mountain, but the head turned
wind and blew over it; second, by a heavenreaching thorn-bush, which sprang from a drop of blood drawn
from a wound in the head, but the head overleaped it; third,
62
by a wall of fire, but the head passed through it.
Finally,

protected themselves,
into a

itself

driven into the midst of a lake, the elder brother struck the
head with his knife, whereupon two water monsters emerged
and swallowed it. It is easy to see in this pursuing head the
of the cosmic Titaness, the Earth Goddess, overcoming
in turn earth, vegetation, and fire, and succumbing only to

body

that primeval flood upon which the earth rests; and it is inter
esting to surmise in this legend the original of the gruesome
tales of cannibal heads, known to tribes of the greater portion

North America.

of

brothers,
till

two
and
held
a
by
captured
magician,

second part of the story

44

one of

whom

is

tells

of the adventures of the

he finally frees himself by proving his own greater magic;

is slain by water monsters, but restored by his brother,

the other

although in the form of a wolf. The episode of the flood and

the diving animals also appears. 49 All these themes are well
known in Algonquian myth. The stories of the journey of the

two young men to the

village of souls,

known

as far as the

Gulf Region; the universal legend of the theft of fire; the

tradition of the creation of light; even the familiar South-

Western tale of the ascent of the ancestral Elders from the

each and every one is common
under to the upper world,
the
northern
tribes.
And
among
perhaps nowhere in America

THE GREAT PLAINS

105

more charming mythic conceit than that of the

Chipewyans of the Arctic Barren Lands, relative to the Ani
mal Age: "At the beginning there were no people, only ani
mals; still they resembled human beings, and they could
speak: when the animals could speak it was summer, and when
39
Here in
they lost the power of speaking winter followed."
is

there a

deed we have a picture of the primeval world: the stillness of

when even the animals were mute; the

the dark Arctic winter,

loveliness of

summer, musical and

living with the multitu

dinous voices of Nature.

II.

SIOUAN COSMOGONIES 15

The Assiniboin, the most northerly Siouan tribe, have a form

of the story of the mother s head, but their own tales of the
origins of things centre about the diving animals and the trick
ster hero, Inktonmi, a Siouan cousin of Manabozho. Further
to the south the

Mandan

also possessed

two

cycles of cos-

mogonic myths. Apparently of southern provenance are the

11
there were four storeys
legends of the storeyed universe:
below and four above the earth. Before the
in

an underworld

village, to

flood,

men

lived

which a grape-vine extended from

the world above.

until a

Up this, first the animals, then men, climbed^

corpulent woman broke the vine. Next a flood

very
destroyed most of the human race. A Kiowa version of this
tale tells how the first people emerged from a hollow cottonwood log, until it came the turn of a pregnant woman, who
was held fast
and this accounts for the small number of the

Kiowa tribe.
The second Mandan

cycle evidently belongs to the more

Siouan
version
of the demiurgic pair. The Lord of
properly
Life created the First Man, who formed the earth out of mud

brought up from the waters by a duck. Afterward the First

and the Lord of Life quarrelled, and divided the earth
between them. The Hidatsa believe that the Lord of Life,

Man

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

106

the Man-Who-Never-Dies, lives in the Rocky Mountains; 63

and they also say of the First Man, the Creator, that no one
made him, and that he is immortal. To the Old-Woman-Who-

Never-Dies,

34

the Grandmother,

Earth, they ascribe a

minor

who

none other than the

is

the creation; it was she who

which are the tribal fetish, di

role in

gave them the "two kettles,"

recting that they be preserved

in

memory

of the great waters

whence came all the animals dancing. When drought threat

ens they hold a feast, ceremonially using the two kettles and
praying for rain. It seems altogether probable that these ves
sels

are the

of earth

"bowls

and

sky,"

and so symbolize the

universe.

The Dakota

the story of the drowning of the younger

Man by the water monsters, and of his

tell

brother of the First

resuscitation after they

by means

had been

slain.

He was

49

and

of the sweat-bath,

brought to
not fanci

it is

they say,
connect the cosmic forces with the symbolism of the
stones (earth) and steam (water) used in this rite. 27 Indeed,

life,

ful to

the

Omaha make

manence, long
"man s

symbolism definite. The idea of per

and wisdom they typify by the stone;

this

life,

restlessness, his questionings of fate, his destructive-

ness, are frequently

symbolized by the

wolf";

and

in

myth

west
the wolf and the stone are the two demiurgic brothers
ern duplicates of Flint and Sapling. One of the most inter
esting of

Omaha

lated

Alice C. Fletcher, in 27

that of the Pebble Society, sung to

commemorate the great rock which Wakanda summoned from
the waters, at the beginning of the world, to be a home for the
animal souls that wandered about in primitive chaos (trans

by

rituals

is

ARBE,

p.

570):-

Toward

the coming of the Sun

There the people of every kind gathered,

And

great animals of every kind.

Verily all gathered together, as well as people.
Insects also of every description,
Verily all gathered there together,

By what means

or

manner we know

not.

THE GREAT PLAINS

107

Verily, one alone of all these was greatest,

Inspiring to all minds,
The great white rock,

Standing and reaching as high as the heavens, enwrapped in mist,

Verily, as high as the heavens.
Thus
little ones shall speak of

my

As long as they shall travel in life

Such were the words, it has been

me,
path, thus shall they speak of me.

said.

Then next in rank

Thou, male of the crane, stoodst with thy long beak
And thy neck, none like to it in length,
There with thy beak didst thou strike the earth.
This shall be the legend
Of the people of yore, the red people,
Thus my little ones shall speak of me.

Then next in rank stood the male gray wolf, whose cry,
Though uttered without effort, verily made the earth to
Even the stable earth to tremble.
Such

shall

Then next

tremble,

be the legend of the people.

in

rank stood Hega, the buzzard, with his red neck.

his great wings spread, letting the heat of the sun

Calmly he stood,

straighten his feathers.

Slowly he napped his wings,

Then
Thus

floated away, as though without effort,

displaying a power often to be spoken of

by the old men

in

their teachings.

III.

CADDOAN COSMOGONIES

18

Of the Caddoan stock the northerly Ankara were in close

association with the Hidatsa and the Mandan. Among them
it is

natural to find again the story of the demiurgic pair

and Lucky Man," as they name these heroes; 44 but

"Wolf

the

Ankara

also

have

stories

origin, especially legends of

of

all

the

Caddoan

tribes. 35

belonging to their

own

southerly

Mother Corn, the great goddess

It was Mother Corn who, with

the help of the animals, led the people from the under into
the upper world, after which she apportioned territories, and

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

io8

taught the use of implements and ceremonial

rites.

Previous

to their coming, the earth was inhabited by a race of people

"so
strong that they were not afraid of anybody, but they did

not have good sense; they made fun of all the gods in heaven."
This sounds curiously like the Greek myth of the race of Giants;

nor

is

the sequel unlike the Greek.

"Nesaru

looked

down

upon them, and was angry. Nesaru said: I made them

too strong. I will not keep them. They think that they are
like myself.

people that

destroy them, but I shall put away my

like and that are smaller."
The giants were

I shall

killed in a flood, while the

animals and maize were preserved

Eventually, from an ear of maize which he had

heaven, Nesaru created a woman, Mother Corn,

in a cave.

raised in

whom

he sent into the underworld to deliver the people im

prisoned there, and to lead them once more into the light of

day
or

a Descent into Hell, like that of Ishtar or Persephone

many another Corn Goddess.

The Pawnee of Nebraska tell

more complicated

tale of

with a suggestively astrological motive under

14
In the beginning were Tirawa, Chief of
the
myth.
lying
11
and Atira, his
the
Tirawahut,
great circle of the heavens,
first things,

spouse, the Sky- Vault. Around them sat the gods in council,
the place of each appointed by Tirawa. The latter spoke to

the gods, saying: "Each of you gods I am to station in the

heavens; and each of you shall receive certain powers from

am

about to create people who shall be like myself.

be
under your care. I will give them your land to
They
live upon, and with your assistance they shall be cared for."
Then he appointed the station of Sakuru, the Sun, in the east,

me,

for I

shall

to give light and warmth; and that of Pah, the Moon, in the
13
Also, he allotted the stations of
west, to illumine the night.

To

Bright Star, the evening star, he said, "You

shall stand in the west. You shall be known as Mother of all

the stars.

things; for through

you

Star, the

star,

morning

all

beings shall be

he spake,

"You

created."

shall

To Great

stand in the

THE GREAT PLAINS

109

You shall be a warrior. Each time you drive the people

towards the west, see that none lag behind." To the Star-ThatDoes-Not-Move he appointed the north as station, and he
east.

made him

And

the star-chief of the skies.

placed Spirit Star,

"for

you

shall

in the south

he

be seen only once in a while,

Four other stars he set over the

north-east
and
north-west, and south-east
quartered regions,
and south-west, and commanding these four to move closer
to him, he said to them: "You four shall be known as the ones
who shall uphold the heavens. There you shall stand as long
at a certain time of the

year."

as the heavens last, and, although your place

heavens up,

them

I also

give you power

is

to hold the

to create people.

which

You

shall

be holy bundles.
Your powers will be known by the people, for you shall touch
the heavens with your hands, and your feet shall touch the
give

different bundles,

shall

earth."

this, Tirawa said to Bright Star, the west star:

send to you Clouds, Winds, Lightnings, and Thunders.

After
will

"I

When you

have received these gods, place them between you

and the Garden. When they stand by the Garden, they shall
turn into human beings. They shall have the downy feather
in their hair [symbol of the breath of

life].

Each

shall

wear the

buffalo robe for his covering. Each shall have about his waist
a lariat of buffalo hair. Each shall also wear moccasins. Each
of

them

shall

garden of the

have the

Evening

hand [symbol of the

These four gods shall be the

rattle in his right

Star].

who shall create all things."

Then the Clouds gathered; the Winds

ones

blew; Lightnings and

Thunders entered the Clouds. When space was canopied,
Tirawa dropped a pebble into their midst, which was rolled
about in the thick Clouds. The storm passed, and a waste of
waters was revealed. Then to the Star-Gods of the WorldQuarters Tirawa gave war-clubs, bidding them to strike the
waters with them; and as they obeyed, the waters separated,
and the earth was made.

no
When

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

all

this

had come to

pass,

Tirawa commanded the

Bright Star of the evening to tell the Star-Gods of the Quarters

to sing of the formation of the earth. As they sang, the ele

mental gods, the Clouds and the Winds and the Lightnings
and the Thunders, again assembled, and from the might of
their storm earth was divided into hill and valley. Then again

Tirawa bade, through Bright

Star, that the Star-Gods of the

Quarters should sing of timber and of vegetation, and again

there was a storm, and earth was given a dress of living green.

third time they sang, and the waters of earth were cleansed
and sweetened and coursed in flowing streams. A fourth time
they sang, and all manner of seeds, which had been dropped
to earth, sprouted into life.
Now, at the decree of Tirawa, the

Sun and the Moon were

union
was
and
from
their
born
a son; and the Morning
united,
and the Evening Stars were united, and from them a daughter
was born. And these two, boy and girl, were placed upon the
earth, but as yet they had no understanding. Then Tirawa
again commanded: "Tell the four gods to sing about putting
life into the children. ... As the four gods rattled their
gourds, the Winds arose, the Clouds came up, the Lightnings
entered the Clouds. The Thunders also entered the Clouds.
The Clouds moved down upon the earth, and it rained upon
the two children. The Lightnings struck about them. The
Thunders roared. It seemed to awaken them. They under
stood."

To this

was born, and then "they seemed to under

stand all; that they must labor to feed the child and clothe
him. Before this time they had not cared anything about
clothing or food, nor for shelter." Tirawa saw their needs, and
he sent the messenger gods to bear them gifts and to instruct
them. To the woman they gave seeds and the moisture to
fructify them; they bestowed upon her the lodge and the lodge
altar, the holy place; they presented her with the fireplace, and
they taught her the use of fire; the power of speech also was
pair a son

THE GREAT PLAINS

in

granted her; and the space about the lodge was to be hers;
and the materials of the sacred pipes. To the man was given
man s clothing and the insignia of the warrior: the war-club,
"to

the

remind him that with war-clubs earth was divided from

waters";

knowledge of paints, and the names of the ani

mals; bow and arrows, and the pipes that should be sacred to
the gods. "As each star came over the land, the young man
went to the place where the Lightning had struck upon the

He

mountains. 32

found flint-stones with bows and arrows.

When

the gods had sung the songs about giving these things
to these two people, the boy had seen the bow and arrows held

up by

his father, the

Sun."

27

After this, Bright Star came to the man in visions and

revealed to him the rites of sacrifice and the making of the

bundle of sacred objects which was to be hung up in the

lodge. Meanwhile the gods had created other people, and to
these also had been given bundles by the gods who had formed
them; but as yet they did not know the rites that were ap

propriate to them. Then Bright Star said to the man:

of these bundles contains a different kind of corn, given

"Each

by the

The Southwest

people have the white corn; the North

west people have the yellow corn; the Northeast people have
the black corn; the Southeast people have the red corn."
gods.

She promised that one would be sent to reveal the rites of the
for this was the chiefs
Thereupon Closed Man

bundles.

name
a

summoned

man who had

the peoples from the four quarters, and

learned the rituals in a vision taught them the

songs and ceremonies.

They made

their

camp

in a circle,

and

ranged the people in imitation of the stations of the stars;

and the

performed a drama symbolizing the creation,

a bowl of water
show the people
how the gods had struck the water when the land was divided
from the waters."
priests

making movements over

Closed

Man

placed upon

was the

a bundle;

"to

After he died, his skull was

before he had died he had told the

first chief.
"for

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

112

people that Tirawa had told him, through Bright Star, that
die his skull should be placed upon the bundle,
so that his spirit should have power, and be ever present with

when he should
the Skidi

people."

This extraordinary myth offers a multitude of analogies, not

only with New-World, but also with Old-World cosmogonies.

There

is

in

not a

it

little

that

is

suggestive of the Biblical

Genesis, or of the time when the morning stars sang together

and cloud and thick darkness were earth s swaddling-band.

The Star-Gods

of the Quarters, whose feet touch earth and

whose hands uphold the heavens, are the very image of the
cosmic Titans of old Mediterranean lore, and of the Homeric
Strife, "who holdeth her head in the Heavens while her feet

tread the

In the earlier astronomical portion of the

much that is reminiscent of Plato s account of

Earth."

legend there is
creation, in the Timaeus, with its apportionments of the heav
ens among the stars and its delegation of the shaping of all

save the souls of

Surely, there

is

men

Demiurge and the Star-Gods.

the Pawnee conception of Tirawa,

to the

sublimity in

circle of the heavens, passing his com

the
to
bright evening star, the Mother Star, mistress
of the spirit garden of the West; of the Stars of the Quarters

in his

abode above the

mands

singing together their creative hymns; and of the Gods of the

Elements, amid turmoil of cloud and wind and thunder and
flame, shaping and fashioning the habitable globe, breathing
the breath of life into stream and field, into physical seed and
spiritual understanding,

and striking the earth with the

fires

of purification.

IV.

THE SON OF THE SUN

13

story of a woman of the primitive period ascending to

the sky- world; of her marriage with a celestial god, son of the
Sun Father; of her breaking a prohibition; and of her fall to

The

earth,

where a boy, or twin boys,

is

born to her; and tales of

PLATE

XVIII

Kiowa drawing, representing (upper) the Woman

who climbed to the Sky in pursuit of a Porcupine that
turned out to be Son of the Sun, and
(lower) who
later

fell

to

(see p. 115).

Earth, after digging the forbidden root

After 77 ARBE, Plate LXVII.

THE GREAT PLAINS

113

all this is common,

the future deeds of the son of the sky-god
in part or in whole, to many tribes and to all regions of the

American continent. Indeed, it has obvious affinities to world

wide myths of a similar type, of which Jack and the Beanstalk
is the familiar example in English folk-lore.

The Iroquoian cosmogonic tale

down from heaven to the waters

of the Titaness

who

is

cast

of primeval chaos is a part

of this mythic cycle, but it does not tell of the previous ascent
of the woman into the sky-world. The beautiful and poetic
Blackfoot tale of Poi a, the son of the girl who married the

Morning

Star,

is

more complete version

of the

myth

or

perhaps a transformation of the legend, for here it is no longer,

as with the Iroquois, a cosmogony, but the tale of a culture
hero.

In different tribes

it

shifts

from one character to the

world origins and civilization origins

but in the
main its central event seems to be the bringing of a golden
treasure from the sky-world by a wonderful boy who becomes
other

a teacher of

knowledge

mankind

of the

a son of the

Sun bringing to earth a

Medicine of Heaven.

The Skidi Pawnee narrate the story almost exactly in its

Blackfoot form, although they do not tell of the poetical trans
lation to and from the heavens by means of a spider s web;
but the Ankara, in their version of the "Girl Who Married a
Star," give an account of this journey, which is by climbing

an ever-growing tree that at

last penetrates the

sky-world

means known not only to Jack of beanstalk fame, but to

many another tale of the Old and the New Hemispheres. 42
It is in this form that the story is known to several tribes -

14
Arapaho, Crow, Kiowa, Assiniboin.

The

events of the legend, as told in the very perfect Ara

paho version, begin with the sky-world family: "their tipi was
formed by the daylight, and the entrance-door was the sun."

Here lived
Moon. In

Man

and a

Woman

and

their

two boys

Sun and

search of wives the youths go along Eagle River,

which runs east and west, the older brother. Sun, travelling

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

114

down

the stream; the younger, Moon, in the opposite direction.

Sun takes for his wife a water animal, the Toad; but Moon

decides to

marry

a mortal

woman, and when he

sees

two

girls

in the field, he turns himself into a porcupine and climbs

a tree. One of the girls starts to follow the animal up the

keeps ascending, and the tree continues growing.

Finally the sky is pierced, and Moon, resuming the form of a
young man, takes the girl to wife in the sky-world lodge. There

but

tree,

a son

is

it

born to her. Meanwhile the father of Sun and

Moon

has presented his daughter-in-law with a digging stick, but

her husband forbids her to dig a certain withered plant. Out
of curiosity she disobeys and uncovers a hole through which
she looks
takes to

down upon the camp circle of her people. She under

descend by means of a sinew rope, but just before

she reaches earth with her son,

Heated Stone,
return to

after her, saying,

is

"I

throws a stone, called

shall have to make her

a remark which, the Indians declare, shows

me"

that there

Moon

another place for dead people, the sky-world.

The woman is killed by the stone, but the boy is uninjured.

At first he is nourished from the breasts of his dead mother;
but afterward he

is

found and cared for by Old

who had come to the

you

Little Star?

spot.

am

so

"Well, well!"

happy

to

Woman

Night,

she says to him,

meet you.

This

"Are

is

the

which everybody comes to. It is the terminus of

all trails from all directions. I have a little tipi down on the
north side of the river, and I want you to come with me. It
central spot

is

Come on, grandchild, Little

woman made bow and arrows for Little Star,

only a short distance from here.

Star."

The

old

and with these he slew a horned creature with blazing eyes

which proved to have been the husband of Night. 50 She trans
formed the bow into a lance, and with this he began to kill
the serpents which infested the world. While he was sleeping
on the prairie, however, a snake entered his body and coiled
All the flesh fell from him, but his bones
itself in his skull.
still

held together, and

"in

this condition

he gave his image to

THE GREAT PLAINS

115

the people as a cross." Sense had not altogether deserted him;

he prayed for two days of torrential rain and two of intense
heat; and

when

head out of

his

these had passed the serpent thrust

mouth, whereupon he pulled

it

its

forth,

panting

and was

restored to his living form. The reptile s skin he affixed to his

and thus equipped returned to the black lodge of Night,

lance,

where he became the morning star.

In other versions
the Sun, not the Moon,
Crow, Kiowa
is the celestial husband; and the porcupine, with his beautiful
quills, would seem to be more appropriately an embodiment
of the orb of day. The tabued plant, which the wife digs, ap
pears as a constant feature in nearly every variant. That there
is close association with the buffalo is indicated by the fact

that a buffalo chip (dried dung of the buffalo) is substituted

in the Crow story, and that in the Kiowa the tabu is a plant

whose top had been bitten

off

by that animal. The Kiowa

version gives the interesting variation that the boy, who is

adopted in this instance by Spider Woman, the earth goddess,
into twins

gaming wheel

sun-symbol) which he
throws into the air. The story goes on with the drowning of
one of the twins by water monsters, while the other trans
is split

by

formed himself into

self to

the

Kiowa

"medicine,"

as the pledge

(a

and

shape gave him

in this

and guardian of

their national

existence.

V.

Why men
mind than
death,

is

THE MYSTERY OF DEATH

16

a problem no less mysterious to the human

the coming of life. One account of the origin of

die

common

is

to a

number

of Plains tribes,

makes

it

the con

sequence of an unfavourable chance at the beginning of the

world.

As the Blackfeet

tell

it,

debated whether people should

said Old Man.
said Old
"Oh,"

Old

die.

Man

and Old

"People

Woman,

will

"that

Woman

never

will

die,"

never do;

because, if people live always, there will be too many people

in the world." "Well," said Old Man, "we do not want to

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

ii6

die forever.
again."

We

"Oh,

days and then come to life

said Old Woman,
will be better to die

shall die for four

no,"

we

"it

be sorry for each other." Unable to

leave
the
matter
to a sign: Old Man throws a buf
agree, they
falo chip into the water; if it sinks, men are to die. "Now, Old
Woman had great power, and she caused the chip to turn into
forever, so that

a stone, so

We

it

shall

sank.

must have death

So when we
in order that

we die forever."
we may pity one another!

die,

there is an elemental pathos in this simple motive, as in the

not dissimilar Eskimo parable of the Old Woman who chose
light and death rather than life amid darkness.

tale of a different complexion,

touched by the character

genius of the tribe, is the Pawnee story of

the origin of death. 14 Mankind had not yet been created when
Tirawa sent the giant Lightning to explore the earth. In his
istic astrological

sack

mand

the tornado

given him by Bright Star,

who

has

com

of the elements, Lightning carried the constellations

is accustomed to drive before him; and,

circuit
of the earth, Lightning released the
the
making
there
in
their celestial order. Here they
to
stars,
encamp

which Morning Star

after

would have remained, but a certain star, called Fool-Coyote

(because he deceives the coyotes, which howl at him, thinking
him to be the morning star, whom he precedes), was jealous
of the power of Bright Star, and he placed upon the earth a
wolf, which stole the tornado-sack of Lightning. He released
the beings that were in the sack, but these, when they saw that
it was the wolf, and not their master Lightning, which had
freed them, slew the animal; and ever since earth has been the
abode of warfare and of death.
Another Pawnee myth, with the same astrological turn, tells
of the termination that

is

to

come

earthly life. Various

will turn red and the sun will

portents will precede: the moon

die in the skies. The North Star

to

all

the power which is to pre

side at the end of all things, as the Bright Star of evening was
the ruler when life began. The Morning Star, the messenger
is

THE GREAT PLAINS

117

of heaven, which revealed the mysteries of fate to the people,

said that in the beginning, at the first great council which ap

portioned the star folk their stations, two of the people fell
One of these was old, and one was young. They were

ill.

placed upon stretchers, carried by stars (Ursa Major and Ursa

Minor), and the two stretchers were tied to the North Star.
Now the South Star, the Spirit Star, or Star of Death, comes
higher and higher in the heavens, and nearer and nearer the
North Star, and when the time for the end of life draws nigh,
the Death Star will approach so close to the North Star that
it will capture the stars that bear the stretchers and cause

the death of the persons who are lying ill upon these stellar
couches. The North Star will then disappear and move away
and the South Star will take possession of earth and of its

command for the ending of all things will be

the
North
Star, and the South Star will carry out
given by
the commands. Our people were made by the stars. When
people.

"The

the time comes for

all things to end our people will turn into

small stars and will fly to the South Star, where they belong."
Like other Indians, the Pawnee regard the Milky Way as the

path taken by the souls after death. The soul goes first to
the North Star, they say, which sets them upon the north end
of the celestial road,

by which they proceed

to the Spirit Star

of the south.

Yet not

all

not directly.

the spirits of the dead go to the stars

at least,
For the Indian the earth is filled with ghostly

men and animals wandering through the

had made familiar. One of the most grue
of these is formed by the Scalped Men. Men

visitants, spirits of

places which

some

classes

life

and scalped in battle are regarded as not truly dead; they

become magic beings, dwelling in caves or haunting the wilds,
slain

for shame prevents them from returning to their own

people.
Their heads are bloody and their bodies mutilated, as left by
their enemies, and one horribly vivid Pawnee tale tells how

they address one another by names descriptive of the patches

n8
of hair

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

still

left

upon

their

heads
of

all

Hair, Hair-Back-of-the-Head,
The story in which this occurs

"One-Hair,

you

come!"

Forehead-

12

man who had lost wife

bereavement
was
son,
wandering over the prai
ries in quest of death. He was met by the Scalped Men of his
tribe, and these, taking pity upon him, implored Tirawa to
return the dead to the land of the living. The request was
and

and

is

of a

in his

granted with certain restrictions

encamp

for four days, side

by

side,

dead and living were to

without speaking to one

another; the bereaved father might speak to his son, but might
not touch him. The tribesfolk assembled in camp; they beheld
a huge dust approaching; the spirits of their departed friends
passed before them. But when the father saw his son among

the dead, he seized hold of him and hugged him, and in his
will not let you go!" The people shrieked;
heart he said,
the dead disappeared; and death has continued upon earth. 53
"I

Not

less deeply pathetic is another Pawnee tale on the Or

and
Eurydice theme. A young man joined a war-party
pheus
in order to win ponies as a bridal fee for the girl of his desire.
When her lover no longer appeared, the maiden, not knowing
that he had gone to war, sickened and died. On the return of
the war-party, it was noised through the village that the young
brave had captured more ponies than any of the other men;
and when he arrived at his father s lodge, his mother told him
the tribal gossip, but failed to mention the girl s death. He
went to the spring where the maidens go for water, the meetingplace of Indian lovers, but his sweetheart was not among them.
The next day his mother remarked that a girl of the tribe had
died during his absence, and then he knew that it was his love
who was dead. When he learned this, he called for meat and
a new pair of moccasins, and went forth in search of the girl s
grave, for the people, following the buffalo, had moved from
the place in which she had died. He came to the spot where
the grave was and remained beside it for several days, weeping.
Then he went on to the empty village, where the people had

THE GREAT PLAINS

been when the
earth lodges.

he saw smoke rising from one of the

and there he saw his beloved, to

girl died, for

He

peeped

119

in,

gether with the buffalo robes and other objects which had

been buried with her. As he stood gazing, the maiden said,

"You have been
standing there a long time. Come into the

do not come near me.

lodge, but

Sit

down near

the

entrance."

was allowed to return, each time coming a

Night
little nearer to the girl, but never being permitted to touch
her. Finally, she told him that, if he would do in all things as
after night he

she said, he might be allowed to keep her. After this, invisible

filled the lodge, each night becoming more visible,

dancers

until at last he

of the girl

when you
you

saw himself surrounded by a group of

relatives.

The

leader said to him,

spirits

"Young

man,

started from the village where your people are

to
knew what you were crying about.
began
cry.
first

We

You were poor in spirit because this girl had died. All of us
agreed that we would send the girl back. You can see her now,
but she is not real. You must be careful and not make her
angry or you will lose her. You have been a brave man to
stay with the girl when we came in, but this is the way we are.
You can not see us, but some time we can turn into people and
you can see us, though we are not real. We are spirits. There
one thing you must do before the girl can stay with you.
We have smoked." The feat that remained to be accomplished
is

was

that,

when her mortal

relatives should return

and approach

her grave with meat-offerings, he must be able to seize and hold

her in their presence. Four trials would be granted him; if

he failed in each essay, she would vanish forever. Thrice he

girl escaped; the fourth time, with the

was thrown, and the

aid of her uncles, he succeeded in holding her, and she became

Only her mother seemed to be suspicious of her; the

his wife.

old

woman

took her hoe, went out to her daughter s grave,

she found the bones; but when she returned, the

and dug

till

girl said

to her:

"Mother, I

do not believe that

X

10

am

know what you have

You

done.

your daughter; but, mother,

am

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

120

My

your daughter.
I

you.

am

properly,

The

not

real,

I will

body lies up there, but I am here with

and if you people do not always treat me

suddenly

disappear."

gave birth to a son in due time, but the

child was never allowed to touch the ground, and the mother
never

spirit bride

made moccasins

for her

husband.

He had become

man

renown and he wished to take another wife. The spirit

wife warned him not to do so, but he persisted. Eventually a
quarrel came, due to the jealousy of the new wife, and the
man struck his spirit wife. She said: "Do not strike me any
more, for you know what I told you. For one thing I am glad,
and that is I have a child. If I had remained in the Spirit
Land I should never have been allowed to have a child.
The child is mine. You do not love my child. ... I love my
of

child.

When

am

gone

I shall

take

my

child with

me."

The

mother disappeared in a whirlwind, and the next morning the

child was found dead. The man, too, died of grief and remorse,
but the people buried him apart from the ghost wife s grave.

VI.

PROPHETS AND WONDER-WORKERS

In the legendary lore of all Indian tribes the part played by

in the affairs of men is the predominating
theme. Sometimes these are demiurgic beings, exercising and

wonder-workers

evincing their might in the process of creation.

Sometimes

they are magical animals, endowed with shape-shifting powers.

Sometimes they are human heroes who acquire wonderful po

some special initiation granted them by the

Nature-Powers, and so become great prophets, or medicine
men. Frequently such human heroes are of obscure origin
tencies through

very familiar type of story, a poor or an orphan boy

passes from a place despised into one of prominence and

in a

who

benefaction.
a feeling
In these legends various motives are manifest
and the truth of nature, love of the marvellous,

for history

THE GREAT PLAINS

and moral

allegory.

121

G. A. Dorsey divides Pawnee myths into

four great classes: (i) Tales of the heavenly beings, regarded

as true, and having religious significance. (2) Tales of Ready-

the culture hero, 69 especially pertaining to the guar

dian deity of the people in the matter of food-quests. (3)
to-Give,

60

Stories of wonder-deeds on earth, the majority of them being

concerned with the acquisition of "medicine "-powers by some
individual. (4) Coyote tales, not regarded as true, but com

monly pointing

a moral.

low

The

coyote,

among

the Pawnee, usu

not as a magical transformer,

as in his more truly mythic embodiments; and apparently he
is with them a degraded mythological being, perhaps belong
ally appears as a

trickster,

ing to an older stratum of belief than their present astronomi

cal theology, perhaps borrowed from other tribal mythologies.
There is reason to believe, says Dorsey, that when the Pawnee

Nebraska the word coyote was rarely

and that the Wolf was the hero of
the Trickster tales, this Wolf being the truly mythological
being who was sent by the Wolf Star to steal the tornado-sack
of Lightning, and so to introduce death upon earth. If the
were

residents of

still

in these stories,

employed

Wolf be indeed a kind of mythic embodiment of the tornado,

which yearly deals death on some portion of the Great Plains,
the Omaha description of "the male gray wolf, whose cry,
uttered without effort, verily
will

to

mind

made

the earth to

tremble,"

of significance; and it will inevitably call

the Icelandic dog, Garm, baying at world-destroying

be at once

full

Ragnarok, and the wolf, Fenrir, loosed to war upon the gods
of heaven.
Stories of the Trickster and Transformer are universal in
North America. 48 In the eastern portion of the continent the
Algonquian Great Hare (and his degenerate doublet, "Brer
Rabbit")

is

the conspicuous personage, though he sometimes

appears in human form, as in Glooscap and his kindred. On

the Great Plains, and westward to the Pacific, the Coyote is
the most

common embodiment

of this character.

Sometimes

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

122

he appears as a true demiurge, sometimes as the typical ex

ample for a well-shot moral or as the butt of satire and ridicule.
Occasionally, the Trickster and the Coyote appear as doubles,
as in some Arapaho stories of Nihancan, vying with Coyote
in contests of trickery; the Assiniboin Tricksters,

have
and
Rabbit,
they are made heroes

and

Inktonmi

similar encounters with the

Sitconski,

of tales

Coyote or the
which elsewhere have

the animals themselves as central figures. Nihancan, Ink

tonmi, Sitconski, and the Athapascan trickster, Estas, all

appear as heroes of cosmogonic events, though they are appar

ently in no sense deities, but only mythic personages of the Age
"Old

and Titans, when animal-beings were earth s rulers.

Man" of the Blackfeet and "Old Man Coyote" of the

Crow

tribe play the

of Giants

same role; so that everywhere among the

Plains tribes we seem to see a process of progressive anthropomorphization of a primitive Wolf god, who was the demiur
gic hero. Whether such a being was ever worshipped, as are
the heavenly gods in the cult of Sun and Stars, is a matter of
doubt.

Among other
held places of

animals the buffalo, and

40

first

but

all

among birds the eagle,

known creatures were

importance;
regarded as having potencies worthy of veneration and de
sirable of acquisition. The Pawnee spoke of the animal-

whom

they thought to be organized in

lodges. Of these lodges, Pahuk on the Platte River was re
garded as the most important. According to a story of which
in one ver
there are several variants, a chief slew his son

powers as Nahurak,

sion as a sacrifice to Tirawa, in other forms of the legend be

and cast
cause he was jealous of the son s medicine-powers

the body into the Platte. The corpse was observed by the King
fisher, who informed the animals at Pahuk. When the body
floated

down

to their hill-side lodge, the animals took

it,

car

ried it in by the vine-hidden entrance, and sent to the animals

of Nakiskat, the animal lodge to the west, to inquire whether
life

should be restored to the body of the slain youth.

The

THE GREAT PLAINS

123

animals of Nakiskat referred the matter to the animals of

still westward on the Platte, and these sent him
on to Kitsawitsak, southward in Kansas; there he was bidden
to go to Pahua and thence again to Pahuk, all the lodges

Tsuraspako,

agreeing that the verdict should be left to the ruling Nahurak

The latter decided to restore life to the body and to

of Pahuk.

send the youth back to his tribe instructed in the animal mys
teries. There he became a great teacher and doctor, and taught
the people to give offerings to the Nahurak of Pahuk, which

was thenceforth a place of great

sojourn in the interior of a

the lodge of Nature-Powers

inal mysteries

is

who

sanctity.
hill

or a mountain which

instruct the

comer

in

is

medic

a frequent episode, especially in stories ac

counting for the origin of a certain cult or rite. The Cheyenne

legend of the introduction of the Sun-Dance is a tale of this
character. 5

In a time of famine a young medicine-man went

woman, the wife of a chief, journey

into the wilderness with a

ing until they came to a forest-clad mountain, beyond which

lay a sea of waters. The mountain opened, and they entered;

and Roaring Thunder, who talked to them from the top of the
mountain-peak, instructed them
"From

henceforth,

by following

children shall be blessed

in the ritual of the dance.

my

teachings,

abundantly,"

you and your

he said;

"follow

my

and then, when you go forth from this

all
of
the
mountain,
heavenly bodies will move. The Roar
ing Thunder will awaken them, the sun, moon, stars, and the

instructions accurately,

rain will bring forth fruits of all kinds, all the animals will
come forth behind you from this mountain, and they will fol

low you home. Take

this horned cap to wear when you perform

the ceremony that I have given you, and you will control the
buffalo and all other animals. Put the cap on as you go forth

from here and the earth

buffalo, which lay down

Followed by herds of
and
marched as they
they camped
to
their
marched, they returned
people, where the ritual was
performed; while the horned head-dress was preserved as a
will bless

as

you."

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

124

sacred object and handed down in the tribe. In the Sun-Dance

ceremonial the altar is made of a buffalo skull, and it is often

by dragging

buffalo skulls, attached

of the back, that

vows are

fulfilled

by thongs

to the muscles

and penance

is

performed.

It is not difficult to see that the buffalo, as the great food ani
mal of the Plains, is here the important personage, the gift of

the heavenly powers; and

on some

would be interesting to theorize

the bucrania which adorned the

it

similar origin for

places of sacrifice of classical peoples.

MIGRATION-LEGENDS AND YEAR-COUNTS 57

VII.

The

historical

sense had reached a certain development

among those of the east.

the Indians of the Plains as

among
Not only

are migration-legends to be found, such as that of

the Creek, but pictographic records, like the Walum Olum of
the Delaware, are possessed by more than one western tribe.
Among the most interesting of these migration-traditions
interesting because of their analogies with similar legends
are the Cheyenne myths
of the civilized Mexican peoples

reported by G. A. Dorsey. The tales begin with an origin

15
Medicine
telling how, in the beginning, the Great
story,
created the earth and the heavenly bodies; and, in the far
north, a beautiful country, an earthly Paradise where fruits

and game were plentiful, and where winter was unknown.

Here the first people lived on honey and fruits; they were
naked, and wandered about like the animals with whom they
were friends; they were never cold or hungry. There were

men: a hairy race; a white race, with hair

the Indians, with hair only on the top of
and
on their heads;
the head. The hairy people went south, where the land was
three races of these

barren, and after a time the Indians followed them; the white,
bearded men also departed, but none knew whither. Before
beautiful country, the Great Medicine
them that which seemed to awaken

the red

men

blessed

them and gave

left this

PLATE XIX
Cheyenne drawing, representing

the medicine-man

who brought back the Sun-Dance from

the Mountain of the Roaring Thunder
(see p. 123).
After FCM ix, Plate XIV.
and

his wife

gjL

THE GREAT PLAINS

their

they had been without in

They were taught to clothe their bodies with skins

dormant minds,

telligence.

125

and to make

tools

for hitherto

and weapons of

flint.

followed the hairy men to the south, where the

cave-dwellers. These, however, were afraid
become
latter had

The

red

men

of the Indians, were few in number, and eventually disappeared.

Warned of a flood which was to cover the southland, the In

dians returned to the north, to find that the bearded

men

and some of the animals were gone from there. Nor were they
the
able, as before, to talk with the animals, but they tamed
panther and bear and other beasts, teaching them to catch
game for the people. Afterward they went once more to the
south, where the flood had subsided, and where the land was
beautiful and green. Another inundation came, how
ever, and scattered them here and there in small bands, so

become

that they never again were united as one people. This deluge
laid the country waste, and to escape starvation they journeyed
north once more, only to find the lands there also barren.
After hundreds of years, the earth shook, and the high hills
sent forth fire and smoke; with the winter came floods, so that
all the red men had to dress in furs and live in caves, for the

winter was long and cold, and it destroyed all the trees. The
people were nearly starved when spring came; but the Great

Medicine gave them maize to plant and buffalo for meat, and
after that there were no more famines.
A second myth of the same people, which is in some de
gree a doublet of the preceding, tells how the ancestors of
the Cheyenne dwelt in the far north, beyond a great body of

They were overpowered by an enemy and in danger

of becoming slaves, when a medicine-man among them, who
possessed a marvellous hoop and carried a long staff, led them
water.

saw before them

went in front

this

On

the fourth night of their journey, they

a bright light, a little above the ground, and

from the country.

of

them

When they came

them that he was going

as they advanced.

to the water, the medicine-man told

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

126

where they should live forever. He sang

magic songs; the waters divided; and the people crossed on
dry land. The fire now disappeared, and when day came they
found themselves in a beautiful country.

to lead

them

to a land

In these events the missionary influence

is

obvious: the

Cheyenne history. The story

goes on, however, with elements that seem truly aboriginal.
In the new country the Cheyenne were physically strong, but
mentally weak. They could carry off large animals on their
backs; they tamed the bear and the panther. Animals, too,
were huge. One variety was in the form of the cow, though
four times as large; it was tame by nature, and men used its
milk; twenty men and boys could get upon the back of one of
these creatures at a time. Another species resembled the horse,
but had horns and long, sharp teeth; this was a man-eater,
and could trail human beings through the rivers and tall grass
by scent; fortunately, beasts of this kind were few in number.
Exodus

Most

of Israel

is

adapted to

of the animals were destroyed in a great flood, after

which the Cheyenne who survived were strong

weak

in

in

mind, but

body.

vague memories of
back
perhaps to the
great physiographical changes, reaching
glacial age, and to the period when the elephant kind was
It

is

tempting to see

abundant

in

yet extinct.

in these stories

North America, and the great sabre-tooth not

On the other hand, the northerly and southerly

wanderings of the tribe may well be historical, for it is alto

gether in keeping with what is known of the drift of the tribal
stocks; naturally, such migrations in search of food

would be

in the conditions of life, in

accompanied by changes
and in flora. The legend of the bearded white men

fauna

in the far

interesting, both as recalling the Nahuatlan myths of

Quetzalcoatl, and for its suggested reminiscence of the North

north

not be possible that the hairy men of the

races in the extreme north were the fur-clad Eskimo, and

men:
first

is

for

may

it

that the bearded men,

who came and

disappeared, none

knew

THE GREAT PLAINS

127

whither, were descendants of the Scandinavian colonizers of

Greenland ?

Myths having

to do with the gift of maize

to mankind are of frequent occurrence.

counts the adventures of two young men

and of the buffalo

Cheyenne

who

tale re

entered a

hill

44
Inside they
by diving into a spring which gushed from it.
found an old woman cooking buffalo meat and maize in

two separate pots; and they saw great herds of buffalo and
ponies and all manner of animals, as well as fields of growing
maize. The ancient crone 7 gave them the two bowls with
maize and meat, commanding them to feed all the tribe, last
of all an orphan boy and an orphan girl, the contents of
the vessels being undiminished until it came the turn of the
62
Buffalo arose from the
orphans, who emptied the dishes.
that
while
from
the
seed
the
spring,
young men brought maize

was grown,

this cereal being thereafter

planted every year by
the Cheyenne. It is easy to see in the episode of the orphans
the symbol of plenty, for with wild tribes the lot of the

orphan is not secure: it is the orphan child that is sacrificed

in the hour of danger, the orphan who is left to starve in time
of famine, the orphan, too, who is sometimes led to a
ful career by the pitying powers of nature. 22

The Dakota
scent of the
of Battiste

divide their national history

7

Woman-from-Heaven, which,

Good (Wapoctanxi),

wonder

by the epochal de
in the

chronology

a Brule, occurred in the year

901 A. D. All the tribes of the Dakota nation were assembled

woman appeared to two of

came from Heaven to teach the
and what their future shall be. ... I

camp, when a beautiful

in a great

the young men, saying,

Dakotas how to

live

"I

30

keep it always." Besides the pipe, she

bestowed upon them a package containing four grains of maize
one white, one black, one yellow, one variegated
with

give you

this pipe;

the words,

"

am

a buffalo, the

White Buffalo Cow.

I will spill

my milk [the maize] all over the earth, that the people may
35
live."
She pointed to the North: "When you see a yellowish

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

128

cloud toward the north, that is my breath; rejoice at the sight

shall soon see buffalo. Red is the blood of the
it, for you

of

Pointing to the east,

symbolized by blue: "This pipe is related to the heavens, and
that is, the blue smoke of the pipe
you shall live with

and by that you

buffalo,

shall

live."

it"

akin to the heavenly blue to which

is

ascends.

it

Southward:

may come up from the south, but look

many
at the pipe and the blue sky and know that the clouds will
soon pass away and all will become blue and clear again."
Westward: "When it shall be blue in the west, know that it
"

is

Clouds of

colors

closely related to

and by that you

my

Cow;

may
men
And

live

milk

by

it.

you through the pipe and the blue heavens,

grow rich. ... I am the White Buffalo

shall

is

of four kinds;

You

31

me

will follow

shall call

over the

I spill it

on the earth that you

me Grandmother.

hills

you

shall see

If

you young

my

relatives."

with this revelation she disappeared. 40

Good

chronology, or "Cycles," is one of the most

interesting pictographic records made by an Indian north of
Mexico. It recalls the Nahuatlan historical documents by
Battiste

its

cyclic character, although the numerical period, seventy

is

years,

different.

Each

cycle

is

represented

by

circle,

and containing emblems recalling note

from 901, the year of the mythic
Occurrences
events.
worthy
are
revelation, to 1700
legendary, but from 1700 onward each
surrounded by

is

year

tipis,

marked by an image emblematic

historical character.

The

of

some event

veracity of the record

is

of

an

proved

in

part by the existence of other Dakotan "Winter-Counts" (so

called because the Dakota chiefly choose winter events to

mark

their chronology) with corroborative statements.

lar pictographic chronologies

Simi

have been discovered elsewhere,

those of the Kiowa showing a division of the year into sum

mer and winter and even into moons, or months; but in no
other part of the American continent, north of Mexico, do we
find

an antiquity of reference equal to that claimed

Siouan records.

for the

PLATE XX
Kiowa

calendar, painted on buckskin.

The

bars,

twenty-nine in number, represent the years from 1864

The crescents, thirty-seven in number,
onward.
represent a lunar record, separate from the year-count.
The figures attached to these signs are symbols of the

events which

mark

the periods indicated.

Compare,

forms of pictographic and mnemonic record,

After 77 ARBE,
Plates V, X, XXX, and Figure 2.

for other

Plate

LXXX.

CHAPTER VII
MOUNTAIN AND DESERT
I.

THE GREAT DIVIDE

of the Great Plains, and extending almost the full

length of the continent, rises the long wall of the Rocky

WEST

the Great Divide of North America.

Mountains

To

the

the open prairies, grassy and watered,

forest lands, rich in vegetation.
ancient
the
and beyond these
To the west, extending to the coastal ranges which abruptly
overlook the Pacific, is a vast plateau, at its widest occupying
east of this chain

lie

third of the continental breadth, the surface of which is

a continuous variegation of mountain and valley, desert and

full

oasis.

To

the north this plateau contracts in width,

becom

as it narrows
ing more continuously and densely mountainous
in the high ranges and picturesque glaciers of the Canadian

In the central region it opens out into broad intermontane valleys, like that of the Columbia, and eventually
expands into the semi-arid deserts of the south-west, the land
Rockies.

mesa and canyon, wonderfully fertile where water is ob

tainable, but mainly a waste given over to cactus and sage

of

brush.

Still

farther south the elevated area contracts again

into the central plateau of Mexico, which becomes more fruit

ful and fair as the Tropic of Cancer is passed, until it falls
at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
This plateau region of North America

away

tinct ethnically as

it is

physiographically.

is

well-nigh as dis

In the mountains

Columbia and up into central Alaska its aborigi

nals are Athapascan tribes, whose congeners hold the Barren

of British

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

130

Lands of the north and the Plains as far as Hudson s Bay;

and in the south, in eastern New Mexico, in Arizona and south
ern Texas, and on into Mexico itself, Athapascans are again
found in the Navaho and Apache peoples. Between these

now

however

penetrating
eastward into the Plains

limits,

stocks

who

now westward
is

to the Pacific,
a succession of linguistic

are the characteristic autochthones of the

moun

tain and desert region, colouring with their beliefs and civil
ization other intrusive tribes who have taken a habitation

beside them.

The

northerly of these stocks

more than

sixty

tribes, of

is

whom

the Salishan, comprising

the Flathead and Pend

known. Southern British Columbia,

western Montana, and most of Washington, where they sur
d

Oreille are perhaps best

rounded Puget Sound and held the Pacific coast, is territory

which was once almost wholly Salishan; although, around the
headwaters of the Columbia, the Kutenai formed a distinct
stock consisting of a single tribe. Adjoining the Salish to the
south, and extending from the Columbia valley in Washington
and Oregon eastward to central Idaho, were the tribes of the

Shahaptian stock, made famous by the Nez Perce and their

great Chief Joseph. From central Oregon and Idaho, through
the deserts of Nevada, Utah, and southern California, east
ward into the mountains of Wyoming and Colorado, and finally
out through the lower hills of New Mexico into the Texas

Ban
were the tribes of the great Shoshonean family
nock and Shoshoni in the north, Paiute and Ute in the central
belt, Hopi in Tusayan, and Comanche on the Great Plains. To
plains,

the south dwell the most characteristically desert peoples of

all
the Yuman Mohave and Cocopo of Arizona and Lower

Pima and Papago of southern Arizona, whose

kindred extend far south into western Mexico. Another group,
culturally the most interesting of all, although territorially
California, the

the most limited,

is

formed by the Pueblo Indians

various stocks forming

little islets

of race

tribes of

amid the engulfing

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

Athapascans of Arizona and New Mexico
separate chapter must be devoted.

The

but to these a

from zone
In the north, where

cultural characteristics of these peoples vary

to zone, both in form and in originality.

the headwaters of the Columbia and the Missouri approach
each other, and where the valleys of these rivers form easy

paths that lead down to the sea or out into the plains, it is to
be expected that we should find, as we do find, the civilization
of the Salish and the Shahaptian approximating in form and
idea to that of the neighbouring peoples of coast and prairie.

In the central region, where the mountain barriers on each

side are huge and the distances are immense, it is equally
natural to discover among the sparse and scattered Shosho-

nean peoples a comparatively isolated culture

inept and
roots
and
herbs
eke out
reliance
to
with
that
crude,
upon
their meagre supply of animal food which has won for many of
In the more open south,
"Digger Indians."
in
was
some
degree by every people
agriculture
practised
and civilization
Yuman, Piman, Athapascan, and Pueblo
was accordingly higher, the arts of pottery, basketry, and

them the

epithet

weaving being developed into skilled industries, especially

among the more gifted tribes. Here, however, there is a sharp
line between the dwellers in well-built pueblos and the camp
ers, content with grass hut or brush wikiup in summer and
earth-covered hogan in winter
organization and

The

a difference reflected in social

in ideas.

subsistence of the tribes of the mountain and desert

own character. The range of the buffalo, nowhere

such numbers as on the Plains, was restricted to the
eastern portion of the region; and the deer kind and other

area had

found

its

in

and mountain goat, were not

numerous to form an economic equivalent. Of
smaller animals the hare was perhaps most important, and
large animals, such as the bear

sufficiently

Horses were early

used, and in recent times the Navaho have become accomhis dignity

is

reflected in his

mythic

roles.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

132

plished herdsmen. The dog was, of course, ubiquitous.

table subsistence is abundant in places where water

but these are few, and hence

ficient,

it

Vege
is

suf

comes that a great

part of the religion, especially of the agricultural tribes of the

South- West, revolves about rain-making and the rain-bringing

powers.
II.

The

THE GODS OF THE MOUNTAINS

prairie tribes,

and even

tribes of the forest region, held

the western mountains in veneration, for to them the Rockies

were the limits of the known World. They regarded them as
the pillars of heaven, whose summits were the abode of mighty
beings,

who spoke

the lightning

in the

flash.

thunders and revealed themselves in

There, too, on the Mountains of the

Setting Sun, many a tribe placed the Village of Souls, to reach

which the adventurous spirit must run a gauntlet of terrors

snow-storm and torrent, shaking rock and perilous bridge;

only the valiant soul could pass these obstacles and arrive
at last in the land of plenty and verdure which lay beyond.
Again, the mountains were the seats of revelation; thither
went mighty medicine-men, the prophets of the nations, to

keep their solitary vigils, or to receive, in the bosom of these

lodges of the gods, instruction in the mysteries which were to

be the salvation of their people.

It is not extraordinary that the mountains exercised a

like

fascination over the mythopoetic imaginations of the tribes

who inhabited their valleys or dwelt on the intermontane

plateau. There are many myths accounting for the formation

of natural wonders, and the wilds are peopled with monstrous
2
Giants,
beings, oft-times reminiscent of European folk-lore.
or
in
houses
armoured
with
stone
stone
shirts, are
dwelling

human flesh, fang-mouthed

and huge-bellied. The cannibal s wife, who warns and protects
her husband s visitors, even to the point where they destroy
him, is a frequent theme; and the Ute tell stories of mortal
familiar figures, as are also eaters of

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

133

men

capturing bird-women by stealing their bird-clothes while

exactly as the swan-maidens are taken in
they are bathing
Teutonic and Oriental folk-lore. 46 The home of these bird-

mountains, whither the human hero

makes his adventurous flight with magic feathers and a mantle

women

is

far

away

in the

of invisibility. 62

In a Shoshonean tale, published by Powell,

Stone Shirt, 38 the giant, slays Sikor, the crane, and carries
away the wife of the bird, but her babe is left behind and is

reared

by

his

grandmother. One day a ghost appears and

tells

He

returns to his grand

mother: "Grandmother, why have you lied to me about my
father and mother?"
but she answers nothing, for she knows

the boy of the fate of his parents.

that a ghost has told him all; and the boy sobs himself to sleep.
There a vision came to him, promising him vengeance, and he
resolved to enlist all nations in his enterprise; but first he com

grandmother to cut him in twain with a magic

when she had done, lo, there were two boys, whole
and beautiful, where before there had been only one. 44 With
Wolf and Rattlesnake as their counsellors, the brothers set out
pelled his

axe, which,

across the desert.

to their followers,

From a never-failing cup they gave water

when threatened with death from thirst;

and when hunger beset them, all were fed from the flesh of the
thousand-eyed antelope which was the watchman of Stone
Shirt, but which Rattlesnake, who had the power of making
himself invisible, approached and slew. In the form of doves
the brothers spied out the home of Stone Shirt, to which they

were taken by the giant s daughters, to whom the two birds

came while the maidens bathed. In the form of mice, they
gnawed the bowstrings of the magic bows which the young
girls owned; and when Stone Shirt appeared, glorying in his
strength and fancied immunity, the Rattlesnake struck and
hurt him to the death. The two maidens, finding their

sang their death-song and danced their

and
death-dance,
passed away beside their father. The girls
were buried on the shore of the lake where their home had

weapons

useless,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

134

been, but the bones of Stone Shirt were left to bleach as he

had left the bones of Sikor, the crane.

This myth surely recounts the conquests of the mountains

by the animal-powers, with the birds at their head. The
northern Shoshoni say that formerly there were numerous
Stone Giants (Dzoavits) dwelling in the hills; many of these

were

by

by the Weasels, but most

killed

birds

who

built fires

familiar western

genius

who

is

of

which exterminated the

form of the Theft of

the

fire s

them were destroyed

Fire, it

jealous guardian,

is

race.

In a

a mountain

and from whom, by

craft and fleetness, the animals steal the precious element for
the succour of a cold and cheerless world.
It

is

not always the animals, however, who war against the

On the Columbia River, the canyon by which it

mountains.

passes through the Cascade Range was at one time, the In

dians say, bridged by rock, a veritable Bridge of the Gods;
but the snow-capped hills of the region engaged in war, hurl
ing enormous boulders at one another, and one of these, thrown
by Mt. Hood at Mt. Adams, fell short of its mark, struck and

dammed the river where is now the great

Salishan legend tells that this bridge was made
by Sahale, the creator, to unite the tribes of men who dwelt
on either side of the mountains. He stationed Loowit, the
broke the bridge, and
cascade.

witch, on guard at this bridge, where was the only fire in the
51
world, but she, pitying the Indians, besought Sahale to per

mit her to bestow upon them the gift of fire. This was done,
to the end that men s lot was vastly bettered, and Sahale,
pleased with the result, transformed Loowit into a beautiful

But the wars brought on by the rivalry of two

and Wiyeast, for the hand of Loowit were so
Klickitat
chiefs,
disastrous to men that Sahale repented his act, broke down

maiden.

the bridge, and, putting to death the lovers and their beloved,
reared over them, as memorials, the three great mountains

over Loowit the height that is now St. Helens, over

yeast Mt. Hood, and over Klickitat Mt. Adams.

Wi

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

Another great elevation of the
its

own

legends.

Of

its

vicinity,

135

Mt. Tacoma, has

beautiful Paradise Valley, near the

snow-line, the Indians made a sanctuary, a place of refuge for

the pursued, upon attaining which none dared harm him, a

place of penance for the repentant, a place of vigil for the

seeker after visions. But beyond this valley, toward the moun

no Indian ventured. Long ago, they said, a man was

dream that on the mountain s top was great wealth
of shell money. He made his way thither, and under a great
rock, elk-shaped like the spirit that had directed him, he
tain-top,

told in a

found stores of treasure; but in his greed he took all, leaving

naught as an offering to the mountain. Then it, in its anger,
shook and smoked and belched forth fire; and the man, throw
ing

down

his old

When

his riches, fell insensible.

camp

in Saghalie Illahie,

"the

he awoke, he was at

Land

of

Peace,"

now

called Paradise Valley; but the time he had passed, instead

of a single day, had been years, and he was now an old man,
life was passed as a counsellor of his tribe,
venerated because of his ascent of the divine mountain. 33

whose remaining

III.

Men

THE WORLD AND

ITS

DENIZENS

ideas of the form of the world, in the pre-scientific

stage of thinking, are determined by the aspect of their natu

ral environment: dwellers by the sea look upon the land as an
island floating like a raft on cosmic waters; plains-folk believe
the earth to be a circle overcanopied by the tent of heaven;

mountaineers naturally regard the mountains as the pillars

of the firmament supporting the sky-roof over the habitable
valleys.

The Thompson River

Indians, of Salishan stock,

dwelling amid the dense mountains that stand between the

Eraser and Columbia rivers, consider the earth to be square,
11

the corners directed to the points of the compass.

comparatively level toward the centre, but rises in

says Teit,
It

is

mountain chains at the outer borders, where,

x

it

too, clouds

and

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

136

mists ascend from the encircling lakes. The earth rises to

it grows colder as one travels in this

ward the north; hence

direction.

Long ago, these Indians say, earth was destitute of trees

and of many kinds of vegetation; there were no salmon nor
berries. The people of the time, though they had human form,
were really animals, gifted with magical powers. 40 Into the
world then came certain transformers, 48 the greatest of whom
were the Coyote and the Old Man, 63 and these were the beings

who put

the earth in order, giving the mountains and valleys

their present aspects and transforming the wicked among the

ancient world denizens into the animal shapes which are still
theirs; the descendants of the good among these pristine beings
are the Indians of today. Many of these creatures, too, were
transformed into rocks and boulders: on a certain mountain

men may be seen sitting in a stone canoe; they are

human beings who escaped thither when the deluge 49

three stone

three

overtook the world; Coyote alone survived this flood, for he

transformed himself into a piece of wood, and floated until
the waters subsided.
It

was Coyote

son, created

by

his father

from quartz, who

climbed to the sky- world on a tree which he made to grow by

42
In that realm he found all sorts of utensils
lifting his eyelids.
useful to

man, but when he chose one, the others attacked him,

so that he cursed

human

race.

He

them

all

thenceforth to be servants of the

returned to the world of

man by means

of a

basket which Spider lowered for him; and on earth, in a series

of miracles, he distributed the food animals for the people to

upon. The place where Coyote s son came back from the
the centre of the earth.
sky
There is a world below the world of men as well as a world

live

is

In the world below the people are Ants, very active

and gay and fond of the game of lacrosse. On a certain
above.

day one of two brothers disappeared; the remaining brother

searched far and wide, but could find no trace of him. Now the

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

137

Ants had stolen him, and had carried him away to the under
world, where he played with them at lacrosse. But one day,
as he was in the midst of a game, he began to weep, and the
Ants said that some one must have struck him with a lacrosse
stick.

"No!

Nobody

struck

me,"

he answered.

"I

am

sorrow

was playing a tear fell on my hand. It was

s
from the upper world, and I know by it
brother
tear
my
that he is searching for me and weeping." Then the Ants in
ful

because while

pity sent a messenger to the upper world to tell the bereaved

his brother was well and happy in the underworld.

one that
"How

can

I see

my brother?"

replied the Ant.

But the Spider

too weak.

Go

you with

and

in

world.

"

to the

cannot

Crow."

let

"

must not

and he

you down,

may
as

tell
tell

my

The Crow answered,

you,"
you."

thread

"I

will

is

not

mouth, but I will tell you in a dream";

the vision he was told to lift the stone over the fireplace
lodge, and there would be the entrance to the lower

tell

in his

to the Spider,

"Go

said,

he asked.

my

He was

to close his eyes, leap

downward, and, when

he alighted, jump again. Four times he was to leap with closed

eyes. The bereaved brother did so, and the fourth jump

brought him to the lowest of the worlds, where he was happy

with his brother. This myth presents analogies not only
with the

Navaho conception

of an ant-infested series of under

worlds, but far to the south, in Central America, with the Cakchiquel legend of the two brothers who played at ball with the
44
and again, on a world canvas,
powers of the underworld;
with the myriad tales of the bereaved one, god or mortal,
53
seeking the ghost of his beloved in gloomy Hades.
These same Indians tell a story that seems almost an echo

of the

Greek

tale of

Halcyone or of Tereus lamenting the

lost

A certain

hunter, they say, commanded his sister never

Itys.
to eat venison while he was on the hunt, but she disobeyed, and
he struck her. In chagrin she transformed herself into a golden
46

plover and flew away, while he, since he really loved his sister,
began to weep and bemoan his fate, until he, too, became

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

138

a bird, crying disconsolately,

younger

"Na

xlentcetca,"

"Oh,

my

sister!"

Like the southern tribes, the Salish tell of a time when the
a man-slayer, nearer to earth than now. 13 Across a

Sun was

56
made his way to the Sun s
bridge of fog an unlucky gambler
s
son
concealed
him from his cannibal
where
the
Sun
house,

father. 19

"Mum,

mum, mum! There must

said the Sun; but his son persuaded

be a

man

here,"

him that there was none,

and sent the gambler back to earth, burdened with riches.

The Thunderbird is not so huge as the bird of the Plains
tribes; he is in fact a small, red-plumaged creature which shoots
arrows from his wing as from a bow, the rebound of the wing

making the thunder, while the twinkling

32

lightning;

the large black stones found

of his eyes
in the

is

the

country are

Thunder s arrows. 27 The winds are people, dwelling north

and south; some describe the wind as a man with a large

the

light, fluttering above the ground.

the
Wind
SouthPeople gave a daughter in marriage
Long ago
to the North, but their babe was thrown into the water by the

head and a body thin and

whose southern warmth was unable to endure

the little one s colder nature; and the child became ice float
ing down the river. Where the powerful Chinook wind blows,
capable of transforming the temperature from winter to sum
bride

mer

brother,

in a

few hours, the Indians

wrestling-match of long ago, in

Warm-Wind People were

Cold- Wind Brothers; but

tell

of a great struggle, a
five brothers of the

which

defeated and decapitated by the

the son of one of the Warm- Wind

Brothers grew up to avenge his uncles, and defeated the ColdBrothers, allowing only one to live, and that with re

Wind

stricted powers.

Both the

stories

of the north

marrying the

are found far

south and of the wrestling winds, or seasons
but
and
the
east among the Algonquians
allegory is
Iroquois;
too natural to necessitate any theory of borrowing
any more

than we might suppose the bodiless cherubs of the old Italian

39
painters to be akin to the Salish wind-people.

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

IV.

139

SHAHAPTIAN AND SHOSHONEAN WORLD-SHAPERS

The Nez Perce

are the

most important

tribe of the Sha-

In the primeval age, they say, 41 there was a

monster in what is now central Idaho whose breath was so

haptian stock.

powerful that

inhaled the winds, the grass, the trees, and dif

them to destruction. The Coyote, who

it

ferent animals, drawing

was the most powerful being of the time, counselled by the Fox,
decided to force an entrance into this horrible creature, and
there he found the emaciated people, their life being slowly
drawn out of them, chill and insensible. He kindled a fire

from the fat in the monster s vitals, revived the victims, and
then, with the knives with which he had provided himself,
cut their

way out

into the sunlight.

From

the different parts

of the body of the hideous being he created the tribes of

men, last of all making the Nez Perce from its blood, mingled

Here

with water.

the hero, swallowed

though

light;

another world-wide myth, the tale of

by the monster, making his way again to

is

in this

Nez Perce

version

it

seems to be a true

cosmogony, the monster being the world-giant from whose

body

all life

emerges.
Shoshoni, or Snake, who border upon the Nez Perce,
regard the firmament as a dome of ice, against which a great
50
serpent, who is none other than the rainbow, rubs his back.

The

From

the friction thus produced particles of ice are ground off,

in winter fall to earth as snow, while in summer they
melt into rain. Thunder they do not ascribe to birds, but to

which

the howling of Coyote, or, some say, to a celestial mouse run

32
A great bird they know, Nunyening through the clouds.
which
carries
off
nunc,
men, like the roc of Arabian tales,

but he

is

tribes,

they

killing

men with

not connected with the thunder.

tell

of a time
its

heat.

Like neighbouring

when the sun was close to the earth,

The Hare was sent to slay it, and he

shattered the sun into myriad fragments; but these set the
world ablaze, and it was not until the Hare s eyes burst, and a

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

140

flood of tears issued forth, that the conflagration was quenched.

Thereafter the sun was conquered, and its course regulated. 13
The tale of the theft of fire recurs in many forms. 51 The fa
is that in which the flame is guarded
by its first
mountain
until
some
the
tribes of animals who
owners
lodge,
dwell in cold and gloom decide to steal it. Entrance is gained
to the home of the guardians by craft, and a bit of the fire is

miliar type
in

smuggled out under the coat or blanket of the

thief.

He

is

discovered and pursued by the owners of the flame, but suc

ceeds in passing it on to another animal, which in turn gives
it

to another,

and

this

one to yet another, until it is distributed

hidden in trees or stones. A Sho-

in all nature, or, perhaps,

makes the great animal hero of this region, the

the
thief.
With the aid of the Eagle he steals the fire
Coyote,
from its guardian, the Crane. Blackbird and Rock-Squirrel
shoni version

are the animals

who

carry the flame farther, while Jack-Rabbit

revives the fallen fire-carriers. The Thompson River Indians

make

the Beaver the assistant of the Eagle in the theft; and

they also tell a story of the Pandora type, of a man who
guarded fire and water in two boxes till an Elk, out of curios

opened the receptacles and set the elements free. A Nez

Perce variant also makes the Beaver the thief; the Pines were
ity,

guardians, but the Beaver stole a live coal, hid

in his breast, and distributed it to willows and birches and

the
it

fire s first

other trees which as yet did not possess it; and it is from these
woods that the Indians now kindle fire by rubbing.
Perhaps the most dramatic fire-myth of all is the elaborate

Ute

which Coyote is again the hero. It was in the

age when Coyote was chief, but when the animals had no fire,
though the rocks sometimes got hot. Once a small piece of
burnt rush, borne by the winds, was discovered by Coyote,
version, in

and then he knew that there was

a head-dress of bark

fibre,

and dispatched the birds

try.

The Humming-Bird

fire.

summoned

He made

for himself

the animals in council,

as scouts to discover the flame

descried

it;

coun

and headed by Coyote,

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

141

they made a visit to the fire-people, who entertained them with

dance and feast. As they danced, Coyote came nearer and
nearer to the flame, took off his bark wig, and with it seized
Then all fled, pursued by the enraged guardians.
fire.

the

Coyote passed the fire to Eagle, Eagle to Humming-Bird,

thence to Hawk-Moth, to Chicken-Hawk, to Humming-Bird
again, and once more to Coyote, who, nearly caught, concealed
himself in a cavern where he nourished the one

that remained alive.

The

little

spark
disappointed fire-people caused rain

and snow, which filled the valleys with water; but directed by
the Rabbit, Coyote discovered a cave containing dry sage
brush. Here he took a piece of the dry sage-brush, bored a
hole in

it,

and

filled it

he returned home and

then he took the

stick,

with

coals.

With

this

under

his belt

summoned the people who were left;

made a hole in it with an arrow-point,

and whittled a piece of hard greasewood. After

this

he bored

the sage-brush with the greasewood, gathered the borings, and

put them in dry grass; blowing upon this he soon had a fire.

dry pine-nut will be burned hereafter," he said.

cedar will also be burned. Take fire into all the tents.
"This

throw away the rocks. There

V.

will

be

fire in

every

"Dry

I shall

house."

COYOTE 48

The animal-powers bulk large in the myths of the tribes of

the Mountain and Desert region. Doubtless in their religion,
apart from myth, the animal-powers are secondary; the Shoshoni, says De Smet, swear by the Sun, by Fire, and by the

Earth, and what

marks

men

swear by we

their intensest convictions.

may

The

be reasonably sure

ritual of the calumet,

directed to the four quarters, to heaven, and to earth, is fa

miliar here as elsewhere among the Red Men; and there is

not wanting evidence of the same veneration of a "Great

which is so nearly universal in America. 6 Even in
Spirit"

myth

there

is

a considerable degree of anthropomorphism.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

142

The Transformer
ator.

or

One"

"Old

63

is

"Old

not always an animal, but is often the

Man," the Ancient who is the true cre

Other manlike beings, good and

evil,

hold or have

held the rulership of certain provinces of nature; and in the

Age of Animals, before men were, the beasts themselves are
said to

have had human form: their present shapes were im

posed upon them by the Transformers. Nevertheless, they

were truly animals, in nature and disposition, and the heroic

myth is the period of their deeds.

creatures Coyote is chief. It is difficult to
these
Among
obtain a clear conception of the part which Coyote plays in
age of Indian
all

imagination. The animal itself, the prairie wolf,

small and cowardly, the least imposing of the wolf kind.

the Indian
is

In multitudes of stories he

is represented as contemptible
with
an erotic mania that leads him
deceitful, greedy, bestial,
even to incest, often outwitted by the animals whom he en

deavours to

and

without gratitude to those that help him;

this, he is shown as a mighty magician, re

trick,

yet, with all

ducing the world to order and helping man with innumerable

benefactions, perhaps less the result of his intention than the
indirect

outcome of

his

own

efforts to satisfy his selfish

appe

impossible to regard such a being as a divinity, even

those
tribes who make him the great demiurge; it is
among
equally out of the question to regard him as a hero, for his

tite.

It

is

character abuses even savage morals. In general he resem

bles the Devil of mediaeval lore more than perhaps any other
the same combination of craft and selfishness, often
being

own ends, of magic powers and supernatural

alliances. The light in which the Indians themselves regard
him may best be indicated by the statement made to Teit
by an old Shuswap: "When I was a boy, very many stories
were told about the Old One or Chief, who travelled over the

defeating

its

country teaching people, and putting things to

wonderful tales were related of him; but the
these stories are

now

all

rights.

Many

men who

dead, and most of the

told

Old One

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

143

have been forgotten. The majority of the Coyote tales

have survived, however, and are often told yet; for they are
funny, and children like to hear them. Formerly Coyote sto
tales

were probably commonest of all. Long before the arrival

of the first white miners, a Hudson Bay half-breed told the
Shuswap that after a time strange men would come among
ries

them, wearing black robes (the priests). He advised them not

to listen to these men, for although they were possessed of much
magic and did some good, still they did more evil. They were
descendants of the Coyote, and like him, although very

they were also very

erful,

foolish

and told many

lies.

pow
They

were simply the Coyote returning to earth in another form."

Coyote stories have a wide distribution. They are told by
Athapascans
stocks that

north and in the south, and by men of the

between, from the prairies to the western coast.

in the

lie

Their eastern counterparts are the tales of the Great Hare;

but the two beings, Hare and Coyote, appear together in
stories, often as contestants, and the Hare, or Rabbit,
an important mythic being among the Shoshonean Ute as

many
is

well as

the Algonquian Chippewa. Nevertheless, in

Coyote who holds the first and important place

among

the west

it is

among the animal-powers; and it may reasonably be assumed

that his heroship is a creation of the plateau region.
Like the Hare, Coyote is frequently represented as having
a close associate, or helper.

Sometimes

this

is

a relative, as

Coyote son; sometimes another animal, especially the Fox;

sometimes it is the Wolf, whose character is, on the whole,
s

more

dignified

and respectable.

myth, published by Powell,

debated the lot of mortals.
"Brother,

how

A most interesting Shoshonean

how Wolf and his brother
The younger of the pair said:

tells

shall these people

obtain their food?

Let us

devise some good plan for them. I was thinking about it all
night, but could not see what would be best, and when the
into the sky l went to a mountain and sat on its
and
summit,
thought a long time; and now I can tell you a good

dawn came

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

144

plan by which they can

live.

Listen to your younger brother.

at these pine trees; their nuts are sweet; and there on

the plain you see the sunflower, bearing many seeds
they will

Look

be good for the nation. Let them have all these things for their
food, and when they have gathered a store they shall put them
in the ground, or hide them in the rocks, and when they re
turn they shall find abundance, and having taken of them as
they need, shall go on, and yet when they return a second time

be plenty; and though they return many times,

as long as they live the store shall never fail; and thus they
shall be supplied with abundance of food without toil." "Not
there shall

so,"

still

said the elder brother,

"for

then will the people,

idle

and

and having no labor to perform, engage in quarrels,

will ensue, and they will destroy each other, and
the people will be lost to the earth; they must work for all they
Then the younger brother went away grieving, but
receive."
worthless,

and fighting

the next day he came with the proposition that, though the
people must work for their food, their thirst should be daily

quenched with honey-dew from heaven. This, too, the elder

brother denied; and again the younger departed in sorrow.

But he came

to the Wolf, his brother, a third time:

brother, your words are wise; let the

"My

women

gather the honeydew with much toil, by beating the reeds with flails. Brother,
when a man or a woman or a boy or a girl, or a little one dies,

where
the

shall

he go?

dawn came

have thought

into the sky

night about this, and when

on the top of the mountain

all

I sat

and did think. Let me tell you what to do: When a man dies,
send him back when the morning returns, and then will all
said the elder; "the dead shall
his friends rejoice." "Not
so,"

Then

the younger went away sorrowing.

But one day he beheld his brother s son at play, and with an
arrow slew him; and when Wolf, the father, sought his boy in

return no

more."

anguish, his younger brother, the Coyote, said to him: "You

made the law that the dead shall never return. I am glad that

you are the

first

to

suffer."

16

In such a tale as

this, it is self-

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

145

we

are hearing, not of heroes of romance, but of

fate-giving divinities; and it is not far to go back in imagina
tion to a time when the Wolf was a great tribal god.

evident that

SPIRITS, GHOSTS,

VI.

AND BOGIES

Giants, dwarfs, talking animals, ogre-like cannibals,

many-

headed water monsters, man-stealing rocs, sky-serpents, and

desert witches are all forms which, in the jargon of the north
west, are regarded as tamanos, or powerful, though they are
neither gods nor spirits, and, indeed, may be destroyed by an
adroit and bold warrior. These beings must be put in the

general class of bogies, and, though one is tempted to see, es

pecially in the prevalence and ferocity of cannibal tales, some

reminiscence of former practices or experiences, there is prob

ably nothing more definite behind them than the universal

fancy of mankind.

To a somewhat
daemons attached

different category belong the tutelaries, or

as guardians to individuals, and the re

sidua of once-living beings which correspond to the European s
conceptions of ghosts and souls. Both of these classes of beings

are related to visionary experience. The Indian s tutelary is

commonly revealed to him in a fast-induced vision, especially
4

in the period of pubescence; from the nature of the revelation

vision of a weapon or a
comes his own conception of himself

scalp will

mean

that he

is

to be a warrior, of a game-animal

that he will succeed in the chase, of a ghostly being that he will

be a medicine-man of renown; and from it he fashions an image
is to be his personal and potent
the secret
derives his name
he
even
medicine; sometimes,
after
some
reveal
which
he
exploit has jus
name,
may
only

or fabricates a bundle which

from the same source.

tified it

kind are

likeliest seen in

or dream;
pelled

by

or,

if

Similarly, ghosts

the course of spirit-journeys, in trance

beheld by the eyes of

the taunt,

and their

"Thou

flesh,

art only a ghost!

they

may

Get thee

be

dis

gone."

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

146

On

the other hand, a ghost that

is

feared

may

be a fatal an

tagonist.

Ghosts and souls are distinct. In several tribes ghosts are

regarded as the shadows of souls; they dress and appear like
the

man

may make

Souls

himself.

body and return again;

in the case of

the land of souls

and

may
own

itself,

be reincarnated in
families;

some

still

human

journeys from the living

shamans they may reach

come back.

Souls of the dead

bodies; usually this

is

in their

tribes say that only children are so reborn.

Again, souls are frequently regarded as manikins, a few inches

a conception found all over the earth; and the noises
high
of the spirit-world, especially the voices of the shades, are thin

or like the crying of a child. 20

Ghosts, as distinguished from souls or spirits, are of a more
substantial character. 12 They are wraiths of the dead, but they

and

shrill

assume material forms, and at times enter into human rela

tions with living people, even marriage and parentage. Often
detected as such only when his body is seen trans
and we are reminded of
parent, with the skeleton revealed
the Eskimo ghosts, men when beheld face to face, but skeletons
the ghost

is

when perceived from

behind.

idea, the Cannibal Babe,

19

Reminiscent of another Eskimo

the

is

Montana legend

of the

Weep

traveller passing a certain place would hear an

ing Child.
infant crying; going thither, he would find the babe and take
it in his

arms and give

it

his finger to quiet it;

but the child

would suck all the flesh from his bones, so that a great pile of
skeletons marked its monstrous lair. The Klickitat, a Shahaptian tribe of the lower Columbia, have a story of the union of
a mortal and a ghost curiously like the Pawnee tale of "The

Man who

The Klickitat buried their dead

was here that the body of a young
chief was carried. But neither his soul, on the isle of the dead,
nor the mind of his beloved, who was with her people, could
forget one another, and so he came to her in a vision and called

on

Married a

Spirit."

islands of the river,

her to him.

and

At night her

it

father took her in a canoe to the

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

isle

and

left

147

her with the dead. There she was conducted to the

dance-house of the spirits, and found her lover more beautiful

and strong than ever he was upon earth. When the sun rose,
however, she awoke with horror to find herself surrounded by
the hideous remains of the dead, while her body was clasped
by the skeleton arm of her lover. Screaming she ran to the
water s edge and paddled across the river to her home. But
she was not allowed to remain, for the fear of the departed was
now upon the tribe; and again she was sent back, and once
more passed a night of happiness with the dead. In the course
of time a child was born to her, more beautiful than any mor
The grandmother was summoned, but was told that
tal.
she must not look upon the child till after the tenth day; un
able to restrain her curiosity, she stole a look at the sleeping
babe, whereupon it died. Thenceforth, the spirit-people de
creed, the dead should nevermore return, nor hold intercourse

with the

53

living.

The path from

the land of the living to the land of the dead

variously described by the different tribes. Generally it lies

westward, toward the setting sun, or downward, beneath the
earth. Often it is a journey perilous, with storms and trials
is

to be faced, narrow bridges and yawning chasms to be crossed

a hard way for the ill-prepared soul. Teit has given us a
of which the following is a paraphrase
of
the road to the soul s world, as conceived by the Thompson

full

account

River tribes 8

a description interesting for

its

analogies to

the classical Elysium, lying beyond Styx, and the three judges
of the dead:

The country
set; the

who

of the souls

trail leads

last

through a

went over

it,

is

underneath

dim

and of

twilight.

us,

toward the sun

Tracks of the people

their dogs, are visible.

The path

winds along until it meets another road which is a short cut

used by the shamans when trying to intercept a departed soul.
The trail now becomes much straighter and smoother, and is
painted red with ochre.

After a while

it

winds to the west-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

148

ward, descends a long gentle slope, and terminates at a wide

shallow stream of very clear water. This is spanned by a long
slender log, on which the tracks of the souls may be seen.
After crossing, the traveller finds himself again on the trail,
which now ascends to a height heaped with an immense pile of
the belongings which the
have brought from the land
of the living and which they must
clothes

souls

From

leave here.
trail

is

this

point the

and gradually grows

Three guardians are sta

level,

lighter.

tioned along this road, one on either

side of the river and the third at

the end of the path; it is their duty

to send back those souls whose time

not yet come to enter the land of

the dead. Some souls pass the first
is

two of

these, only to be turned

back

third, who is their chief and

an orator who sometimes sends

by the
is

messages to the living by the re

turning souls. All of these

very

old, grey-headed,

At the end

venerable.

men

are

and

wise,
of the trail

a great lodge, mound-like in form,

with doors at the eastern and the
is

6
FIG.

2.

SKETCH OF THE WORLD

WCStern SldeS and Wlth & d uble

drawn by a
Map
River
Indian,
WestTOW of fires extending through it.
Thompson
(a)
ward trail to the Underworld, (b) TTTI
i
j
j r
i
p
the deceased friends of a perRiver, (c) Land of the Dead, (d)
Sunrise point,
(e) Middle place, son
expect his soul to arrive, they
of the world as

When

After

MAM

death.

ii,

343.

assemble here and talk about his

As the deceased reaches the entrance, he hears people

on the other

Some stand

On

side talking, laughing,

singing,
at the door to welcome him

and beating drums.

call his name.

and

entering, a wide country of diversified aspect spreads out

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

149

There is a sweet smell of flowers and an abun

grass, and all around are berry-bushes laden with ripe
The air is pleasant and still, and it is always light and
fruit.
warm. More than half the people are dancing and singing to
the accompaniment of drums. All are naked, but do not seem
before him.

dance of

The

people are delighted to see the new comer,

take him up on their shoulders, run around with him, and
to notice

make

it.

a great noise.

PROPHETS AND THE GHOST-DANCE

VII.

spirit-journey

ates

and a revelation

is

the sanction which cre

Shaman and medicine-man

an Indian prophet.

alike

claim this power of spiritual vision, and the records of investi

gators sufficiently show that the Indian possesses in full degree
this form of mystic experience. Behind nearly every important

movement

of the Indian peoples lies some trance of seer or

prophet, to whom the tribes look for guidance. Underneath
the "conspiracy of Pontiac" were the visions and teachings of

a Delaware prophet, who had visited the Master of Life and

received from him a message demanding the redemption of

the Indian

lands and

life

from white pollution; the trances of

Tenskwatawa were the inspiration of his brother, the great

chief Tecumseh, in the most formidable opposition ever organ
ized by Indians against the whites; Kanakuk, the prophet of the
Spirit, and brought back to
and industry, peace and piety.
prophets the most notable have been men of the

Kickapoo, talked with the Great

his tribe a

Of the
far

message of sobriety

later

West. Smohalla, chief of a small Shahaptian tribe of Wash

who was called by his people "The Shouting Moun

because they believed that his revelation came from a
living hill which spoke to him as he lay entranced, founded a
sect of Dreamers, whose main tenet was hostility to the ways

ington,
tain"

of the white

man and

insistence that the land of the Indian

should be Indians land:

"My

young men

shall

never

work,"

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

150
he said;

"men

who work cannot dream, and wisdom comes

to

This was the doctrine which inspired Chief

his
Nez Perce in the wonderful exploit which
and
Joseph
"the Earth is our
marked the exodus of his tribe in 1877
us in

dreams."

shall not be torn by plow nor hoe; neither shall

nor
be
she
sold,
given from the hand of her children."
Very similar is the teaching of the Paiute prophet, Wovoka,

Mother; she

the Indian
life

of the

from

"messiah,"

whose promises of a regeneration of the

Red Man, with

his ancient holdings,

the foreigner destroyed or driven

spread throughout all the tribes of the

Plains and Mountains, and eventuated in the Sioux uprising

of 1890 and the tragedy of Wounded Knee. Wovoka is the
son of a prophet; his home a strip of valley prairie surrounded
by the dark walls of volcanic sierras. Here, when he was about

the sun

(probably the
eclipse of January I, 1889), he declared that he went up to
heaven, and saw God, and received a message to all Indians
thirty-three, in the year

"when

died"

that they must love one another, that they must not fight, nor
steal, nor lie, and he received also a dance which he was to
bring to them as pledge and promise of their early redemption
from the rule of the whites. The dead are all alive again, the

prophet taught; already they have reached the boundaries of

earth, led by the spirit captain in the form of a cloud. When

they arrive, the earth

be healed, the old

of the Indian again restored.

will shake, the sick

made young, and the free life

Among many of the tribes the dance which they were

to con

tinue until the day of the advent assumed the form of ecstasy
and trance, in which visionary souls would perceive the advanc
ing hosts of the spirit Indians, the buffalo once more filling the
prairies, and the Powers of the Indian s universe returning to

Better than aught else the Ghost-Dance

songs, collected by Mooneyfrom the various tribes among whom
the religion spread, give the true spirit of the creed, and at the

their ancient rule.

same time

afford an insight into the religious feeling

goes far deeper in the Indian

which

experience than story-made

PLATE XXI
Ghost-Dance, painted on buckskin by

among

the

Cheyenne

in

1891.

Ute captive

Cheyenne and Arap-

aho are the dancers; the prostrate forms in the centre

represent persons entranced; the round object is a
blanket; before
a subject.

After 14

it

stands a medicine-man hypnotizing

Now in United States National Museum.

ARBE, part 2, Plate CIX.

\Za
-

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

myth

(See

James Mooney,

Ghost-Dance

"The

151
Religion,"

in

Part 2, pp. 953-1103).

curious and lovely feature of these Indian hymns of the
Ghost-Dance is their intense visualization of Nature. The

14

ARBE,

words are elemental and

realistic,

but no song

is

without

its

inner significance, either as symbolic of indwelling Powers or

as vocables of individual experiences too full for complete ex
pression. Among the Paiute songs one seems to be a promise
of the advancing spirits, approaching

by the Path

of Souls to

an earth clothed in a kindred purity

The
The
The
The
Others

tell

snow lies here

snow lies here
snow lies here
Milky Way lies

ro rani!
ro rani!
ro rani!

there!

of rejuvenated animal

and vegetable

life

slender antelope, a slender antelope,

is wallowing upon the ground.

He

And
The cottonwoods are growing tall,
They are growing tall and verdant.
Again

it is

the elements, astir with expectancy of the great

regeneration

The rocks are ringing,

The rocks are ringing,
They are ringing in the mountains!

And

especially there

is

the whirlwind, advancing, like the Spirit

new life of earth

Captain, as a cloud that foretokens the

There
There

The

dust from the whirlwind,

dust from the whirlwind,
whirlwind on the mountain!
is

is

The Whirlwind! The Whirlwind!

The snowy Earth comes gliding, the snowy Earth comes

The more

beautiful

and

intellectual

come, however, not from the Paiute,

x

12

who

gliding!

Ghost-Dance songs
originated the cere-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

152

mony, but from the Plains

is

still

leading the ghostly visitants

Our

father, the

it

to

its

Arapaho songs. The

the Psychopompos,

Especially fine are the

the mighty power

intensest form.

Whirlwind

who developed

tribes

Whirlwind

By its aid I am running swiftly,

By which means I saw our father.

The Whirlwind

is

personified thus

I circle

around,

I circle

around

The boundaries

of the Earth,

Wearing the long wing feathers

as I fly.

songs are devoted to the bird messengers of the GhostDance, to the mythical Thunderbirds and to the Crow which

Many

the sacred bird of the dance; and in these there

always a note of exaltation

is

I fly
I fly

I fly

On
On

around yellow,
around yellow,
with the wild rose on

high
high

my

is

almost

head,

He e f !
Hiii!

Uplifted, too, and exultant

song, to the Father

is

the note of another Arapaho

Father, now I am singing

Father, now I am singing
That loudest song of all,

That resounding song

it

it

Hi

Hi
Hi

ni ni!
ni ni/

ni ni!

Again, the note struck is cosmogonic, with a reference back

in this case to the Algonto the old beliefs of the Indians

quian conception of the Turtle whose carapace supports the

Earth At the beginning of human existence

I yehe eye f
It was the Turtle who gave this grateful gift to me,
I yahe eye !
The Earth
Thus my father told me

Ahe eyi-he

eye

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

But the commonest note

of

all,

153

and the one that best sum

marizes the whole

spirit, not only of the Ghost-Dance, but of

the prophecy of the Indians through all the later period when
they have felt themselves inevitably succumbing before the

hard encroachments of the white race,

supplication, a pleading for help.
songs,

"sung,"

says

Mooney,

"to

is

the note of sorrowful

The most

pathetic of these

a plaintive tune,

with tears rolling down the cheeks of the

he calls the Indian s Lord s Prayer

dancers," is

sometimes
that which

Father, have pity on me,

Father, have pity on me;
I am crying for thirst,
I am crying for thirst;
All

The hunger and

is

gone

thirst here

have nothing to

meant

eat.

are of the spirit,

and the

sustenance that the Indian supplicates is the spiritual food

and drink which will support him through the harsh trials of
a changing

life.

CHAPTER VIII
MOUNTAIN AND DESERT
(Continued)
I.

THE NAVAHO AND THEIR GODS

Navaho speak an Athapascan

tongue, but in blood

they are one of the most mixed of Indian peoples, with
numerous infusions from neighbouring tribes, additions having

THE
come
as

to

them from the more

from the wandering

their origin, the

civilized

Pueblo dwellers as well

tribes of the desert.

Navaho have

But various

as

is

a cultural unity and distinction

setting them in high relief among Indian peoples. They prac

tise a varied agriculture, are herdsmen even more than hunts

men, and have developed arts, such as blanket weaving and

silversmithing, which have made them pre-eminent among
Indian craftsmen.

It

is

chiefly in the

matter of habitation

that they are inferior to the tribes of the pueblos, for until
recently they have persistently adhered to temporary dwell
it is supposed, because of the superstition which
the abandonment of a house in which a death has

ings (partly,
calls for

occurred)
shelter for

the hogan, or earth hut, for winter, the brush

summer

residence.

Navaho have developed an artistic power

them the admiration of the white race, with

In particular the

which has won

for

whom

their work finds a ready market; though it is perhaps in

the unmerchantable wares of the mind, in myth and poetry,

and

their curiously ephemeral sand-painting that their powers

are revealed at their best. Their religious rituals are charac

by elaborate masques, far more in the nature of drama

than of dance; by cycles of unusually poetic song (though their

terized

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

155

gift is not comparable with that of some other tribes)

and by an elaboration and concatenation of myth which truly
deserves the name of a mythology, for it is no mere aggrega
tion of unconnected legends, but an organized body of teach
ing. Among all peoples on the way toward civilization there
a tendency to organize the confused and contradictory
is

melodic

stories of uncritical

savagery into consistently connected sys

tems and the Navaho are well advanced

in this direction. Very

North America as dis
jointed episodes have been incorporated by them into dramatic
series; and in no small sense is their artistic skill manifested
by the cleverness with which these stories are assimilated to
;

many

of the tales found elsewhere in

not wholly congruous contexts

mythology, as in their arts, the

for

it is

obvious that in their

Navaho have been wide bor

rowers, though in both art and mythology they have bettered

these borrowings in relation and design.

Another evidence of advancement

in

Navaho

culture

is

the

degree of personification
anthropomorphic personification
attained in their pantheon. Animal-beings are consistently of
less

importance than manlike

divinities,

and

in the

concep
to be

phenomenon is more likely

the instrument than the embodiment of the potency
tion of nature-powers the

light

the arrow or missile of the war-god or storm-god, the

rainbow is a bridge, light and clouds are robes or bundles, the
sun itself is dependent upon the Sun-Carrier, Tshohanoai, who

ning

is

hangs the blazing disk in

his lodge at the

end of the day

All this represents that consistent intellectualization

journey.
of nature-myth, which finds one of

its earliest expressions in

the replacing of immanent nature-powers by manlike gods
who make of nature their tool. In their curiously geometrical
representations of the gods, it is not animals, nor part animals,

that the

and

Navaho draw, but

in their

conventionalized

men and women,

ceremonial masques the divine beings

human form and

feature.

still

have

recognizably
Of course there are abundant traces of the more primitive

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

156

type of thinking. The background of the mythic world of the

Navaho is filled in with classes of beings, sometimes emerging
into distinct individuals, sometimes sinking back into vague
kinds, such as are found in the protean strata of every mythol

beings like the Satyrs, Panes, Keres, and Daimones of

the Greeks, or the local and household godlings of the Romans.
The Yei of the Navaho, for the most part genii locorum, num

ogy

among them many such

fire-godlings and godand

harvest
corn
the
chase,
deities, such as the
spirits
lings of
Ganaskidi, or "Humpbacks," who bear cloud-humps upon their

ber

backs and ram

kinds

horns on their heads, and sometimes appear

in the guise of the Rocky Mountain sheep. Other Yei ap
proach the dignity and importance of great gods, though their
homes are the wild places mountains and caverns of earth:
s

these Thonenli, the Water Sprinkler, and especially

Hastsheyalti, the Talking God (also known as Yebitshai, "Ma
ternal Grandfather of the Gods"), and Hastshehogan, the

among

House-God, hold high positions

figure importantly in myth and
the

dawn and

in the

Navaho pantheon and

ritual. Hastsheyalti is god of

the east, Hastshehogan of evening and the west;

is Hastsheyalti s and yellow Hastshehogan s; and

from white and yellow maize that man and woman are
created by the gods under the supervision of these two Yei

white maize
it is

chieftains. 35

The Yei
Another

are in the

main beneficent and kindly

to

man.

the Anaye, or Alien Gods, are man-destroyers

2
monsters, giants, beasts, or bogies. The worst of them were
slain by the Sons of the Sun long ago, but the race is not yet
class,

made up of the
among whom is
which remains with the body when

utterly destroyed. Still another evil kind

Tshindi, or Devils, ugly and venomous,

numbered the Corpse

Spirit,

is

the soul departs to the lower world. 12 Other classes comprise

the Animal Elders, such as are universal in Indian lore; the
Digini, half wizard, half sprite, dwelling in the strange and fan
tastic formations with

which volcanic

fire

and eroding waters

PLATE XXII
Navaho

The
gods, from a dry- or sand-painting.
with
the rectangular head is a female
figure
divinity,
with arms covered with
The roundyellow pollen.
headed figures are male deities, the one
carrying a
bow
and
a
the
other
lightning
rattle,
having a cloudsack on his back and a basket before him.
The
colours and

other

After

ornaments

vegetation,

MAM

vi,

of

are symbolic

rain,

Plate VIII.

lightning,

of maize and
fertility,

etc.

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

157

have made the Navaho country picturesque; and the WaterPowers, among whom Tieholtsodi, of the waters beneath the
the most powerful. 9
The highest place in the Navaho pantheon is held by Estsa7
for, like the Phoenix,
natlehi, the "Woman Who Changes
is

earth,

"

when

she becomes old, she transforms herself again into a

46
young girl and lives a renewed life. Though she originated on
earth, her home is now in the west, on an island created for
her by the Sun-Carrier, who made her his wife. From that
direction

come the

rains that water the

Navaho country and

the winds that foretell the spring; and it is therefore appro

priate that the goddess of nature s fruitfulness should dwell

The younger sister of Estsanatlehi is Yolkai Estsan,

Woman, wife of the Moon-Carrier, Klehanoai.

there.

the White Shell

The white

shell

as her sister,

white

is

is

her symbol, and she is related to the waters,

is the turquoise, is akin to the earth;

whose token

the colour of the

dawn and

the east, blue of midday and

the south, and it is with the magic of these colours that the
two sisters kindle the sun s disk and the moon s
although,

according to Navaho myth, which is by no means always

consistent, the Sun-God and the Moon-God were in existence
before the sisters were created.

Of the male

deities

worshipped by the Navaho, the most

important are the brothers, Nayanezgani, Slayer of the Alien

44
In some
Gods, and Thobadzistshini, Child of the Waters.
stories these are represented as twins of the Sun-Carrier and
Estsanatlehi; in others, Thobadzistshini is the child of Water
and Yolkai Estsan. These two brothers are the new genera
tion of gods which overthrow the monsters and bring to an end
the Age of Giants. Their home is on a mountain in the centre

Navaho

country, to which warriors betake themselves

to pray for prowess and success in war. Klehanoai, the MoonCarrier, is sometimes identified with a deity by the name of

of the

Bekotshidi, represented as an old man, and regarded as the

creator of many of the beasts, especially the larger game and

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

158

the domestic animals; his home is in the east, and many of the
Navaho think that he is the god worshipped by the white men.

Another mythic pair of importance are the First Man, Atse

Hastin, and the First Woman, Atse Estsan, who were created
in the lower world from ears of maize; it is they who led the
First People into the world in

which we

live.

Coyote,

48

who

a conspicuous figure in adventures serious and ludicrous,

though he never plays the role of demiurge, such as he sustains
is

among many Indian

Woman

is

South- West

tribes,

is

sometimes represented as ac

two Elders from the lower world. Spider

companying these

an underground witch (the large spiders of the

make their nests in the ground), friendly with her

magic; and Niltshi, the Wind, saves

many a

hero by whispering

timely counsels in his ear. Other beings are little more than
lay figures: such are Mirage Boy, Ground-Heat Girl, White-

Corn Boy, Yellow-Corn

Rock-Crystal Boy, Pollen Boy,

a few out of the multitude which

Girl,

Grasshopper Girl, etc.

seem to be, in many cases, merely personifications of objects
important in

ritual practices.

The most important

cult-symbols employed by the

Navaho

are arranged in groups according to their system of colour31

white, the mantle of dawn, for the east; blue,
symbolism

the robe of the azure sky, for the south; yellow, the raiment
of the sunset, for the west; black, the blanket of night, for
"

Thus, the jewels" of the respective quarters are:

white shell beads and rock-crystal; south, turquoise;

the north.
east,

west, haliotis shell (regarded by the Navaho as yellow) ; north,

black stones or cannel-coal. 27 Birds are similarly denoted by

the hues of their feathers; animals by their hides; maize by

its kernels
white, blue, yellow, and, for the

the colour of

north, variegated (the north is sometimes all-colours, in

stead of black). The colours are used also in the sand-paint
ings, or drawings,

feature of

Navaho

sticks, frequently

which form an important and distinctive

rites; and in the painting of the prayer-

adorned with feathers, 60 which, with pollen

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

and tobacco,

in the

form of

offered in sacrifice. 30

159

cigarettes, are the principal articles

Navaho

rituals

comprise

many

elaborate

ceremonies, a conspicuous feature of which are masques, or

dramatic representations of myths, in which the actors per

sonate the gods.

convention of these masques is the repre
sentation of male deities with rounded, and of female with
rectangular faces, a distinction which is maintained in the
sand-paintings.

II.

The Navaho

THE NAVAHO GENESIS

believe that the world

is

15

built in a sequence of

these being the earth on which men now

dwell. 11 The genesis-legend of this tribe divides into four epi
sodic tales, the first of which, the Age of Beginnings, narrates
storeys, the

fifth of

the ascent of the progenitors of Earth s inhabitants from storey

to storey of the Underworld, and their final emergence upon
Earth. The second, the Age of Animal Heroes, tells of the set
ting In order of Earth, its illumination by the heavenly bodies,
its
The third,
early inhabitants.
of
the
recounts
the
of
the
Gods,
Age
slaying
giants and
other monsters by the War-Gods and the final departure of

and the adventures of

the

the great goddess to the West. The fourth, the Patriarchal

Age, chronicles the growth of the Navaho nation in the days
of

its early wanderings; to this age, too,

belong
revelations which prophets and visionaries bring

most of the
back in the

form of

rites, acquired in their visits to the abodes of the gods.

lowest of the world-storeys, where the Navaho myth
begins, was red in colour, and in its centre was a spring from
which four streams flowed, one to each of the cardinal points,

The

while oceans bordered the land on

all sides.

Tieholtsodi, the

water monster, the Blue Heron, Frog, and Thunder were

chiefs in this world; while the people
there"

were ants,

some say

First

who

beetles, dragon-flies, locusts,

Man,

First

"started

in life

and bats (though

Woman, and Coyote were

in ex-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

160

istence even here). For the sin of adultery these people were
driven out by a flood raised by the Underworld gods, 49 and as
they flew upward, seeking a place of escape, a blue head was

thrust from the sky and directed

them

to a hole leading into the

next storey. This second world was blue, and was inhabited
by the Swallow People. Here they lived till, on the twentyfourth night, one of the strangers made free with the wife of
the Swallow chief; and they were commanded to leave. Again

that of Niltshi, the

they flew upward, and again a voice
directed them to an opening by which they escaped
Wind
into the third storey. Here they were in a yellow world, in

habited by Grasshoppers; but exactly what happened in the

world below was repeated here, and once more directed by a

Wind they
coloured.

flew

up

into the fourth storey, which

was

all-

31

The

fourth world was larger than the others and had a

snow-covered mountain at each of the cardinal points. Its in

habitants were Kisani (Pueblo Indians), who possessed culti

vated fields and gave the wanderers maize and pumpkins. The

White Body, Blue Body, Yellow

and
these created Atse Hastin (First
Body, and Black Body,
Man) and Atse Estsan (First Woman), from ears of white and
four gods of this world were

35
To this pair came five births of
yellow maize respectively.
64
twins, of whom the first were hermaphrodites, who invented

pottery and the wicker water-bottle. The other twins inter

married with the Mirage People, who dwelt in this world, and
with the Kisani, and soon there was a multitude of people

under the chieftainship of First Man.

day they saw the Sky stooping down and the Earth
At the point of contact Coyote and Badger
rising to meet
sprang down from the world above; Badger descended into
the world below, but Coyote remained with the people. It
was at this time that the men and women quarrelled and tried
the experiment of living apart; at first the women had plenty
of food, but eventually they were starving and rejoined the
"One

it."

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

161

Two girls, however, who were the last to cross the

stream that had separated the sexes, were seized by Tiehol29
Guided by the gods,
tsodi, and dragged beneath the waters.

men.

man and

woman

descended to recover them, but Coyote

surreptitiously accompanied them and, unperceived, stole two

of the offspring of the Water Monster. Shortly afterward, a
ilood was sent by the Monster, "high as mountains encircling

the whole

horizon."

The

people fled to a

hill

and various ani

mals attempted to provide a means of escape by causing trees

to outgrow the rising waters, but it was not until two men
appeared, bearing earth from the seven sacred mountains of
is now the Navaho s land, that a soil was made from

what

which grew a huge hollow reed, reaching to the sky. 42 The

last of the people were scarcely in this stalk, and the opening
closed, before they heard the loud noise of the surging waters

outside.

But there was

sent up the Great

still

no opening

Hawk, who clawed

in the

sky above. They

till he could

the heaven

see light shining through; the Locust followed,

tiny passage to the world above, where he was

and made a

met by

four

magic contest won

half of their world; finally, the Badger enlarged the hole so
that people could go through, and all climbed into the fifth

Grebes from the four quarters, and

world, whose surface

The

is

in a

our earth.

emergence was an islet in the middle of a lake,

but the gods opened a passage, and they crossed to the shores.
It was here that they sought to divine their fate, and a hideit sinks we perish, ;f it
scraper was thrown into the water:
place of

"If

floats

we

"Let

me

live."

but Coyote cast

It floated,

divine:

if it

sinks

we

perish,

if it

in a stone, saying,
floats

we

live."

It

sank, and in answer to the execrations of the people, he said

If we all live and continue to increase, the earth will soon be
:

"

too small to hold

us.

It

is

better that each of us should live

and make room for our children." 1G

But the peril of the flood was not yet escaped, for waters
were observed welling up from the hole of emergence. Then

but a time on

this earth

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

62

was discovered that Coyote had with him the stolen off
spring of Tieholtsodi. At once the people threw them into the
hole, and with a deafening roar the waters subsided. Shortly
after this, the first death occurred, and two hunters, looking
it

down

into the lower world, beheld the deceased

hair, as she sat beside a river.

so that the people

knew that

The two men

a ghost

is

a thing

combing her

died very soon;

ill

seen.

First Man and First Woman, Black Body and Blue Body,
built the seven mountains of the Navaho land, one at each
cardinal point, and three in the centre. "Through Tsisnadzini [Pelado Peak,

New

of lightning to fasten

white
rain.

shells,

They

it

Mexico], in the east, they ran a bolt

to earth. They decorated it with

white lightning, white corn, dark clouds, and he-

set a big

bowl of

shell

on

its

summit, and

in it

they
put two eggs of the Pigeon to make feathers for the moun
tain.
The eggs they covered with a sacred buckskin to make

them hatch

wild pigeons in this mountain

now]. All these things they covered with a sheet of daylight,
and they put the Rock-Crystal Boy and the Rock-Crystal
[there are

many

Mount Taylor, of the San

southern
the
mountain, and this was pinned
range,
to earth with a great stone knife, adorned with turquoise,
Girl into the

mountain to

Mateo

dwell."

27

is

mist,

and

home

of

she-rain, nested with bluebird

s eggs, guarded by
and
covered
with a blanket of
Turquoise Boy and Corn Girl,
blue sky. San Francisco, in Arizona, the mountain of the
west, was bound with a sunbeam, decked with haliotis shell,
clouds, he-rain, yellow maize and animals, nested with eggs
of the Yellow Warbler, spread with yellow cloud, and made the

White-Corn Boy and Yellow-Corn Girl. San Juan,

was fastened with a rainbow, adorned with black

in the north,

beads, nested with eggs of the Blackbird, sheeted with dark

31
ness, and made the abode of Pollen Boy and Grasshopper Girl.

In a similar fashion the three central mountains were built.

the Moon-Disk, and the Stars were then made
and First Woman, and two men from among

The Sun-Disk,
by

First

Man

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

163

the people were appointed to be the Sun-Carrier and the Moon13

these being the same two men who had caused the
Carrier,
reed to grow, by means of which the folk had ascended from
the world below.

now formed, but its inhabitants were not yet

in order. The myth goes on to tell of the birth of the giants and
the dread Anaye. 19 They
other man-devouring monsters
were the offspring of women who had resorted to evil prac
The

tices

The

earth was

during the separation of the sexes in the world below.

first-born was the headless and hairy being, Theelgeth;

the second the harpylike Tsanahale, with feathered back; the

third was the giant whose hair grew into the rock, so that he
could not fall, and who kicked people from the cliff as they
passed; the fourth birth produced the limbless twins, the
Binaye Ahani, who slew with their eyes; and there were many

other monsters besides these, born of sinful

destroyers of men.

The next event

bler

women

to

become

in this

age was the descent of a

gam

from the heavens, He-Who- Wins-Men, who enslaved the

mankind by inducing them to bet their free

we first hear of the beneficent Yei, Hastsheyalti

greater part of

dom.
Now
and Hastshehogan, with their assistants, Wind, Darkness,
animal-gods, and others. By their aid a young Navaho
feated the Gambler, and with a magic bow shot him into
sky whence he came, and whence he was sent back into
world to become the ruler of the Mexicans.
56

the

de
the
the

48

now appears upon the scene in a series of ad

ventures such as are told of him by neighbouring tribes; the
Coyote

unsuccessful imitation of his host, in which Coyote comes ingloriously to grief in endeavouring to entertain, first Porcu

had entertained him; a tradition of

which he rounds up game by driving them

pine, then Wolf, as they

Coyote
with

hunt, in

from a faggot of shredded cedar-bark

a story with
resemblances to the Ute version of the theft of fire; the

fire

many

tale of the blinding of Coyote,

who attempts

to imitate birds

64

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

whom

he sees toss up their eyes and catch them again in the

sockets, and of the substitution of gum eyes, which melt as
lost; the story of how
to
break
and heal his own
by pretending
Coyote
the giant to follow his example; and the
leg, and inducing
is apparently a version of the fire-theft tale, of
which
legend,

fire is

approached, for the eyes he has

killed a giant

marries a witch who is unable to kill him, is con

her
from her man-devouring brothers, steals fire
by
from their lodge, is persecuted by animals at the instigation of

how Coyote
cealed

the brothers, and

into a bear.

is

avenged by

The youngest

his wife,

who

is

transformed

brother, however, with the aid of

the winds, escapes the Bear Woman and eventually kills her,
causing her to live again in the form of the several animals,
which spring from the parts of her body as he cuts it up.

Age of Animals. The ensuing

Gods. The Yei, under the leadership

Here end the adventures

is

the

Age

of the

New

of the

of Hastsheyalti, create Estsanatlehi

the great goddess

who

whenever she grows old

from an image
of turquoise, and her sister, Yolkai Estsan, from white shell.
Each sister gives birth to a son; Estsanatlehi becomes the
rejuvenates herself

mother of Nayanezgani, whose father is the Sun; Yolkai

Estsan of Thobadzistshini, Son of the Waters. 44 Counselled
by Niltshi, the Wind, and aided by Spider Woman, who gives

them

life-preserving feathers, the boys journey to the

of the Sun-Carrier

home

passing, with magic aids, clashing rocks

which, like the Symplegades, close upon those who go between

them; a plain of knifelike reeds and another of cane cactuses,

which rush together and destroy travellers, and finally a des

ert of boiling sands. 8 Bear guardians, serpent guardians, and
lightning guardians

still

bar their

way

to the

Sun

house,

but these, too, they overcome by means of the Spider s spells.

In the lodge of the Sun, which is of turquoise and stands on
the shore of a great water, the children of the Sun-Carrier
conceal them in a bundle; but the Sun-Carrier knew of their

coming, and when he had arrived at the end of the day

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

165

it on
journey, and had taken the Sun from his back and hung
a peg on the west wall of his lodge, he took down the parcel.
"He

first

unrolled the robe of

dawn with which they were

covered, then the robe of blue sky, next the robe of yellow
evening light, and lastly the robe of darkness." In a series of

he tried to slay the boys, but, finding at last that he could

not do so, he acceded to their request for weapons with which

tests

armour
to fight the beings that were devouring mankind
from every joint of which lightning shot, a great stone knife,
and arrows of lightning, of sunbeams, and of the rainbow.
brothers returned to earth on a lightning flash, and in a
series of adventures, like the labours of Hercules, cleansed the

The

world of the gre ter part of the man-devouring monsters which

infested it. On a second visit to the Sun, they received four
hoops by means of which their mother, Estsanatlehi, raised a
great storm which brought to an end the Age of Monsters and
formed the earth anew, shaping the canyons and hewing pil
lars of rock from the ancient bluffs. "Surely all the Anaye

now

but Old Age, Cold, Poverty,

survived, and were allowed to live on; for
should they be slain, they said, men would prize neither life
are

killed,"

and Hunger

said Estsanatlehi;

still

nor warmth nor goods nor food. 16

When this had been accomplished, the brothers returned to
the mountain which is their home, and whither warriors go to
59
Then the Sun-God, after creating
pray for success in war.
the animals which inhabit the earth, departed for the far West

where he had made a lodge, beyond the waters, for Estsanat

lehi, who became his wife and the great goddess of the west,
the source of the life-bringing rains. Every day, as he journeys
toward the west, the Sun-Carrier sings:
"

In

my

thoughts I approach,
approaches,
Earth s end he approaches,
Estsanatlehi s hearth approaches,
In old age walking the beautiful trail.

The Sun-God

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

66

In

"

my

I approach,
approaches,
Earth s end he approaches,
Yolkai Estsan s hearth approaches,
In old age walking the beautiful trail."

thoughts

The Moon-God

For Yolkai Estsan, too, became the bride of a god. But before
she departed for the divine lodge, she remained for some time
It was then, in the days of her loneliness, that Hassolitary.

came

tsheyalti

to her, and

it

was decided that

men
man was formed from

should be created. With the assistance of

new

all

race of

the gods a

a white, and a woman from a yellow,

Niltshi gave them the breath of life; the Rock-

ear of maize.

Boy gave them mind; the Grasshopper Girl gave them

Yolkai Estsan gave them fire and maize, and married

Crystal
voices.

man to Ground-Heat Girl and the woman to Mirage Boy,

and from these two couples is descended the first gens of the

the

Navaho

the House of the

tribe

cause the gods

who

created the

Dark

first

named be
came from the cliff

Cliffs,

pair

"so

houses."

THE CREATION OF THE SUN

III.

13

Navaho

Genesis, just recounted, there is a brief de

somewhat differ
scription of the creation of the Sun-Disk.
ent and fuller version, recorded by James Stevenson, is as

In the

follows

first

"The

They moved

three worlds were neither good nor healthful.

all the time, and made the people dizzy.
Upon

Navaho found only darkness

Two women were sum
light.

ascending into this world the

and they

moned
Estsan)

said,

We must have

"

Ahsonnutli (Estsanatlehi) and Yolaikaiason (Yolkai

and to them the Indians told their desire. "The

Navaho had

already partially separated light into its several

to the floor was white, indicating dawn; upon
the white blue was spread for morning; and on the blue yellow

colors.

Next

for sunset;

and next was black representing

31

night.

They had

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

167

prayed long and continuously over these, but their prayers

had availed nothing. The two women on arriving told the
people to have patience and their prayers would eventually
be answered.
"Night

had a
l

person said,
as his

familiar,

Send

for the

who was always

youth

at the great

messenger a shooting star.

at his ear.
falls.

This

Night sent

The youth soon appeared

and said, Ahsonnutli has white beads in her right breast

and turquoise in her left. We will tell her to lay them on dark
ness and see what she can do with her prayers. This she did.
The youth from the great falls said to Ahsonnutli, You have
carried the white-shell beads and the turquoise a long time;
27
dipped
you should know what to say. Then with a crystal
in pollen she marked eyes and mouth on the turquoise and on
the white-shell beads, and forming a circle round these with
the crystal she produced a slight light from the white-shell
beads and a greater light from the turquoise, but the light was
insufficient.
"Twelve

eight

of the cardinal points. The fortyAfter their arrival Ahsonnutli sang

men lived at each

men were sent for.

men sitting opposite

to her; yet even with their

the
needed light. Two eagle
to
secure
failed
the
song
presence
cheek
of the turquoise and two
each
were
feathers
placed upon
a song, the

on the cheeks

of the white-shell beads

and one at each of the

cardinal points. 60 The twelve men of the east placed twelve

turquoises at the east of the faces. The twelve men of the

south placed twelve white-shell beads at the south. The men

of the west placed twelve turquoises on that side, and the
men of the north twelve white-shell beads at the north, and

with a pollen-dipped crystal a circle was drawn around the

whole. But the wish remained unrealized. Then Ahsonnutli
held the crystal over the turquoise face, whereupon it lighted
The people retreated far back on account of the

into a blaze.

great heat, which continued increasing. The men from the

four points found the heat so intense that they arose, but they
x
13

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

168

could hardly stand, as the heavens were so close to them.

They looked up and saw two rainbows, one across the other

from east to west and from north to south. The heads and
feet of the rainbows almost touched the men s heads. The

men

but each time they

tried to raise the great light,

failed.

man and a woman appeared, whence they knew

"Finally,
not. The man s name was Atseatsine [Atse Hastin] and the
woman s name was Atseatsan [Atse Estsan]. They were
a

asked,

How

can this sun be got up?

the sunbeams;

They

replied,

We

people down

know; we heard the

this is why we came.

here trying to raise it, and

Sunbeams, exclaimed the man, I have
have a crystal from which I can light the sun

beams, and have the rainbow; with these three

sun. The people said, Go ahead and raise it.
I

elevated the sun a short distance

it

can raise the

When

tipped a little

he had

and burned

vegetation and scorched the people, for it was still too near.
the people said to Atseatsine and Atseatsan, Raise the

Then

sun higher, and they continued to elevate it, and yet it con
tinued to burn everything. They were then called to lift it
higher still, but after a certain height was reached their power
failed; it
"The

would go no

farther.

made

couple then

of white-shell beads,

four poles,

two

of turquoise

and two

and each was put under the sun, and with

these poles the twelve men at each of the cardinal points raised
it.
They could not get it high enough to prevent the people
and grass from burning. The people then said, Let us stretch

the world
world. 62

so the twelve

The sun continued

began to shine with

men

at each point

expanded the

to rise as the world expanded, and

less heat,

but when

it

reached the meridian

the heat became great and the people suffered much.

crawled everywhere to find shade. Then the voice of

They
Dark

men

at the

ness

went four times around the world

telling the

I want all
cardinal points to go on expanding the world.
this trouble stopped, said Darkness; the people are suffering

and

all is

burning; you must continue stretching.

And

the

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

men blew and

169

and after a time they saw the sun

and when the sun again reached the meridian
it was only tropical. It was then just right, and as far as the
eye could reach the earth was encircled first with the white
dawn of day, then with the blue of early morning, and all
things were perfect. And Ahsonnutli commanded the twelve
stretched,

rise beautifully,

men

to go to the east, south, west, and north, to hold up the

heavens [Yiyanitsinni, the holders up of the heavens], which
office

they are supposed to perform to

IV.

this

day."

NAVAHO RITUAL MYTHS

The myth

of the creation of the sun, just quoted, gives a

vivid picture of a primitive ritual, with its reliance upon mi

metic magic and the power of suggestion; the magic depicted

is that of the gods, but all Navaho
ceremonials, and indeed

Indian rituals generally, are regarded as derived from the

great powers. The usual form of transmission is through some

prophet or seer who has visited the abodes of the powers, and
there has been permitted to observe the rites by means of
which the divine ones attain their ends. On returning to his
people, the prophet brings the ceremony (or "dance," as such
rites are frequently called, although
dancing is commonly a

minor feature) to his people, where it is transmitted from gen

eration to generation of priests or shamans. It is interesting to
note that among the Navaho it is usually the younger brother
of the prophet, not the prophet himself,

when once

it

44

is

and

it

is

who conducts

their

the

rite,

custom to choose

learned;
younger brothers to be educated as shamans (though the elder
brothers are not deterred from such a career, if they so choose)

the

Navaho

be the more
Indian

reason being that the younger brother

is

likely to

intelligent.

rites

may

be broadly divided into three classes:

(i)

pertaining to the life-history of the individual

birth,
clan and fraternity
pubescence, death; and to social life
rites

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

170

the making of war and the cementing of peace;

connected with the elements and seasons, maize fes
rain dances, the magic fructification of fields and the

rites, rites for

(2) rites

tivals,

magic invocation of game; and (3) mysteries or medicine rites,

designed to bring health, both physical and spiritual, and to
ensure life and prosperity to individual and tribe,
a thera
peutic which recognizes that all men are at all times ailing and
in need of some form of divine aid. The various elements of

the different types interlace, but in general, those of the first

class fall into a biographical or an historical series, those of

the second class tend to assume a

ferial character,

and those

upon the chance of necessity or of

desire for their performance
upon the fulfilment of a vow,

of the third class depend

the need of the sick for cure, or the like.

Navaho ceremonials are mainly of the latter kind and are in

sharp contrast to the calendric rites of their Pueblo neighbours.

They are medicine ceremonies, undertaken in the interest of

who

individually defray the expenses, although the

supposed to benefit the whole tribe; and they are per
formed at no stated times, but only in response to need. There

the sick,
rite

is,

is

the Night Chant, the most popu

ceremonies, may be held only in the winter,

however, some restriction

lar of all

when

Navaho

perhaps because serpents

are regarded as underworld-powers, and related to the malefi
cent deities of the region of the dead; a similar motive pro
the snakes are hibernating

duces a reverse effect on the Great Plains, where the Hako

Ceremony and the Sun-Dance are observed only when the

world

is

green and

life is

39

stirring.

some other Navaho ceremonies, has

first day holy articles and the sacred
lodge are prepared; on the second, the sweat-house and the
first sand-painting are made, and the song of the approach of
the gods is sung: prayers and a second sweat-house are features

The Night Chant,

a nine-day period.

like

On the

of the third day, while the fourth is devoted to preparations

for the vigil which occupies the fourth night, at which the

PLATE XXIII
Navaho

dry- or sand-painting connected with the

The encircling figure is the
Night Chant ceremony.
Rainbow goddess. The swastika-like central figure
the

represents

them

whirling

logs with

Yei riding upon

At the East

is
Hastsheyalti
173).
the
West, Hastshehogan (black). Rain
(white);
spirits, with cloud-sacks and baskets, are North and

(see

p.

at

South.

Symbols of vegetation

of the cross.

After

MAM

are

between the arms

vi, Plate VI.

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

171

65

of the gods are sprinkled with pollen and water

sacred masks
and a communal supper is followed by a banquet; the prin
cipal feature of each of the next four

days

is

the preparation of

an elaborate sand-painting of the gods, each picture symbo

lizing a mythic revelation, and the touching of the affected
parts of the bodies of the sick with the coloured sands from
the analogous parts of the divine images; the ninth day is
devoted to preparations for the great ceremony which marks
the ninth night, at which the masque of the gods is presented.
It is from this masque of the ninth night that the Night Chant
gets its name, and this is the night, too, of that prayer to the

dark bird who

the chief of pollen which is perhaps the most

poetic description of the genius of thunder-cloud and rain in
Indian literature, and which runs thus, abridged from Mat-

thews
In
In
In
In
In

is

translation 32

Tsegihi,

house made of dawn,

house made of evening twilight,
house made of dark cloud,
house made of rain and mist, of pollen, of grasshoppers,
Where the dark mist curtains the doorway,
The path to which is on the rainbow,
the
the
the
the

Where the
Where the

zigzag lightning stands high on top,

he-rain stands high on top,

Oh, male divinity!

With your moccasins of dark cloud, come to us,

With your leggings and shirt and head-dress of dark

cloud,

come

to

us,

With
With
With
With

your mind enveloped in dark cloud, come to us,

the dark thunder above you, come to us soaring,

the shapen cloud at your feet, come to us soaring.

the far darkness made of the dark cloud over your head, come
to us soaring,
With the far darkness made of the rain and the mist over your head,
come to us soaring.

With the zigzag lightning flung out on high over your head,
With the rainbow hanging high over your head, come to us
With the far darkness made of the dark cloud on the ends
wings,

soaring.
of your

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

172
With

the far darkness

made

of the rain

and the mist on the ends of

your wings, come to us soaring,

With the zigzag lightning, with the rainbow hanging high on the
ends of your wings, come to us soaring.
With the near darkness made of the dark cloud of the rain and the
mist, come to us,
With the darkness on the earth, come to us.
With these I wish the foam floating on the flowing water over the
roots of the great corn.

have made your sacrifice,

I have prepared a smoke for you,
My feet restore for me.
I

My limbs

restore,

my

body

restore,

my mind

restore,

my

voice re

store for me.

Today, take out your spell for me,

Today, take away your spell for me.
Away from me you have taken it,
Far off from me it is taken,
Far off you have done it.
Happily
Happily

My

recover,

become

cool,

eyes regain their power,

strength, I hear again.

my

head

cools,

my

limbs regain their

me

the spell is taken off,

walk; impervious to pain, I walk; light within,
joyous, I walk.
Abundant dark clouds I desire,

Happily
Happily

for
I

An abundance of vegetation I desire,

An abundance of pollen, abundant dew, I desire.
Happily may fair white corn, to the ends of the earth, come
Happily may fair yellow corn, fair blue corn, fair corn of
plants of all kinds, goods of all kinds, jewels of
ends of the earth, come with you.

With
With

all

walk;

with you,
all

kinds,
kinds, to the

these before you, happily may they come with you,

these behind, below, above, around you, happily may they

come

with you,
Thus you accomplish your tasks.
Happily the old men will regard you,

Happily the old women will regard you,

The young men and the young women will
The children will regard you,
The chiefs will regard you,

regard you,

Happily, as they scatter in different directions, they will regard you,

Happily, as they approach their homes, they will regard you.

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

May

their roads

home be on

the

trail of

Happily may they all return.

In beauty I walk,
With beauty before me, I walk,
With beauty behind me, I walk,
With beauty above and about me,
It

is

It

is

173

peace,

walk.

finished in beauty,
finished in beauty.

The Tsegihi of the first verse of this impressive prayer is

one of the sacred places with which the Navaho country
abounds. The myths which explain most of their rites fre
quently recount the

was from such

visits of

a trip that the

a hunter found his

prophets to such places, and it

Night Chant was brought back:

arm paralysed when he attempted

to

draw

bow upon four mountain sheep; after the fourth endeavour

the sheep appeared to him in their true form, as Yei, and con
ducted him to their rocky abode, where he was taught the
the

mystery and sent home to

his people.

This same

man became

a great prophet: he made a strange voyage in a hollow log,

with windows of crystal, guided by the gods; finally, at a
place sacred to the Navaho, a whirling lake with no outlet and

no bottom, he beheld the "whirling logs"

a cross upon
which rode eight Yei, two on each arm; and by these he was
instructed in a mystery of healing, in which maize and rain and
life-giving magic play the chief roles. There are other myths
representing similar journeys in god-steered logs, from which
the hero returns with a magic gift: on one such trip, the prophet
is

said to

have gone

shore on one side

of mixing colours
to the Navaho.

Upon

another

as far as the sea

only"

-and

"the

and the use of maize, a food

myth

is

waters that had a

there to have learned the art

till

then unknown

based the ceremony of the Mountain

Chant. Like the Night Chant,

this rite

is

characterized

by a

nocturnal masque of the gods, depicting the mythic adven

ture, and in it the hero ascends to the world above the sky,

where the people were Eagles. Here, with the aid of Spider

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

174

Woman

magic, he defeated the Bumble-Bees and TumbleWeeds who were the Eagles foemen, and in return was given
the sacred rite. He, however, used his powers to trick the
s

Pueblo people into surrendering their wealth to him; and in a

great shell which he obtained from them he was lifted by
ropes of lightning

The

treasure. 56

up

into the heavens, surrounded

by

his

story recalls similar ascents in the legends of

northern Indians.

Of all the ritual myths of the Navaho the most pathetic is

the story of the Stricken Twins. 44 They were children of a
mortal girl by a god; and in childhood one was blinded, the
other lamed. Driven forth by relatives too poor to keep them,
they wandered from one abode of the gods to another in search
of a cure, the blind boy carrying the lame. At each sacred place
the Yei demanded the fee of jewels which was the price of

and when they found that the children had nothing sent
them on with ridicule. Their father, Hastsheyalti, secretly

cure,

placed food for them, for he wished to keep his paternity con
cealed,

and

gave them a cup containing a never-failing

After twice making the rounds of the sacred

finally

supply of meal.

62

places, rejected at

all,

paternity was discovered,

to the sweat-house, undertook to

the children

and the gods, taking them

heal them, warning them that they must not speak while there;
but when the blind one became faintly conscious of light, in
joy he cried, "Oh, younger brother, I see!"; and when the
lame one
brother,

returning strength, he exclaimed, "Oh, elder

move my limbs!" And the magic of the gods was

felt

undone. Again blind and halt, they were sent forth to secure
the fee by which alone they could hope for healing. The gods
aided them with magic, and they tricked the wealthy Pueblo
dwellers into giving them the needed treasure. Provided with

they returned once more to the abode of the Yei, and

a nine days rite
in an elaborate ceremony
they were at
this,

last

perfect. The ritual they took back to their people,

which they returned to the gods, one to become a rain

made

after

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

175

animals. 22 In this myth the

genius, the other a guardian of
abodes of the Yei are usually represented as crystal-studded
caverns, which are entered through rainbow doorways. An
interesting feature, as touching the primitive philosophy of
a cure:
sacrifice, is the reason given by the Yei for refusing

you mortals, they say, have certain objects, tobacco,

feathers, jewels, which we lack and desire; in return

pollen,

for

our

of
healing, you should give them to us: do ut des. The gods
the Navaho are not represented as omnipotent, nor as much

more powerful than men: to save the passenger in the floating

to the magic
log from capture by mortals, they must resort
as Aeneas
device of raising a storm and concealing their hero
is

driven forth by the angry waves^ or as Hector

from

V.

hidden

APACHE AND PIMAN MYTHOLOGY

The mythology
Athapascan stock,

of the Apache,
is

of the

same

their kindred tribe, except that

who

like the

quently with the same names

Navaho

are of

general character as that of

it

lacks the organization

Navaho myth, and in general reflects

Apache to Navaho culture. The same gods

poetry of
of

is

peril in a cloud.

and

the inferiority
reappear, fre

similar stories are told of them,

fragmentary fashion; rites and ceremonies show

though
elements. Occasionally, an Apache version re
common
many
in a

veals a dramatic superiority to the Navaho, as in the Jicarilla

story of the emergence, where a feeble old man and old woman

behind when the First People ascended into this world.

but the people heeded them not,
out," they called,
cried
after
and the deserted ones
them, "You will come back
here to me"; and now they are rulers of the dead in the

were

left

"Take

us

lower world. 16

Such improvements, however, are incidental;

the bulk of Apache lore is on an inferior level, with an emphasis

on the coarser elements and on the unedifying adventures and

misadventures of Coyote.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

176

Similar in grade is the mythology of the other two wide

spread stocks of the South-West, the Piman and Yuman,

who occupy the territories to the west and south-west of the

Navaho country, far into Mexico and Lower California, and
who form, in all probability, the true autochthones of the
In material culture these peoples are perhaps
the
to
Apache, their hereditary foe, for they are suc
superior
cessful agriculturists on the scale which their lands permit;
arid region.

yet they are in no sense the equals of the Navaho.

mythology and
is

known

religion

make

to

have been

slightly reported,

Their

but enough

clear the general relations of their ideas.

Among tribes of the Piman stock Sun, Moon, and Morning

Star are the great deities governing the world, while Earth
Doctor and Elder Brother are the important heroes of demiur
gic

myth.

13

The Moon

is

the wife of Father Sun, the pair being

by some of the half-Christianized Mexican peoples

with the Virgin and the Christian God. Coyote is the son of
Sun and Moon according to the Pima, and all the tribes of
this stock have their full quota of tales of Coyote and his
identified

kindred.

The Devil

Tarahumare,

a mighty power in the eyes of the

a Mexican tribe of Piman stock, and no mean
is

antagonist for Tata Dios ("Father God"), whom he slays

twice before he is finally cast down. Death, it may be noted,
is no annihilation in Piman view, for, as one shaman remarked,
"the

dead are very much

"

alive.

It

is

among

the Cora of

Mex

14

is most important,
that Chulavete, the Morning Star,
tribes
him
the
other
(or her, for with the
recognize
though
Pima "Visible Star" is a girl). Star-myths are found in various

ico,

an interesting instance being the legend, which occurs

in analogous forms in Tarahumare and Tepehuane lore, of
tribes,

women who commit

the sin of cannibalism and flee from

husbands into the heavens: there they are transformed
into stars, the Pleiades or Orion s Belt, while the husband who

the

their

has vainly pursued them is changed into a coyote. The use of

the cross, 61 apparently an ancient and indigenous symbol of

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

177

the Sun Father, and the cult of the peyote (a species of plant,
especially the cactus Lophophora Williamsii, used to exalt and
intensify the imaginative faculties) are features of the ritual
of tribes of this stock; the peyote, deified as Hikuli, the fourfaced god who sees all things, being one of the important deities
of the pagan Tarahumare.
Piman cosmogony 15 contains the typically south-western
ascent of the First People from the Underworld and the uni
versal story of the deluge, but the form and embellishment of
these incidents are original. As told by a shaman of the Pima
tribe: "In the beginning there was nothing where now are

moon, stars, and all that we see. Ages long the

darkness was gathering, until it formed a great mass in which
developed the spirit of Earth Doctor, who, like the fluffy wisp
of cotton that floats upon the wind, drifted to and fro without
earth, sun,

support or place to fix himself. Conscious of his power, he

determined to try to build an abiding place, so he took from
his breast a little dust and flattened it into a cake. Then he

Come

some kind of plant,

Three times the earthdisk upset, but the fourth time it remained where he had re
placed it. "When the flat dust cake was still he danced upon
thought within himself,

and there appeared the creosote

it

forth,

bush."

singing:

Earth Magician shapes this world.

Behold what he can do!
Round and smooth he molds it.
Behold what he can do
!

Earth Magician makes the mountains.

Heed what he has to say!

it is that makes the mesas.
Heed what he has to say!

He

Earth Magician shapes this world;

Earth Magician makes its mountains;

Makes

all

larger, larger, larger.

Into the earth the magician glances;

Into its mountains he may see.
"

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

178

an extraordinary genesis, with its con

ception of a primeval void and fiat creation, to come from
the untaught natives, and it is possible that mission teachings
Assuredly this

is

may have influenced its form, though the matter seems to

be aboriginal. The story goes on with the creation of insects;
then of a sky-dome which the Earth Doctor commanded Spider
to sew to the earth around the edges; then of sun, moon, and
stars,

the two

from blocks of

first

"I

ice flung into

the heavens,

have made the sun!

I have made the sun!

Hurling it high
In the four directions.
To the east I threw it
To run its appointed course,"

the stars from water which he sprayed from his mouth. Next
Earth Doctor created living beings, but they developed canni
shall unite
balism and he destroyed them. Then he said:
earth and sky; the earth shall be as a female and the sky as a
"I

male, and from their union shall be born one who shall be a
34
Let the sun be joined with the moon, also even
helper to me.
as

man

is

wedded

to

woman, and

their offspring shall be a

Earth gave birth to Elder Brother, who in

helper to me."
true Olympian style later became more powerful than his
creator; and Coyote was born from the Moon. Elder Brother
13

handsome youth who seduced the daughter of South

the unrestrainable tears of the child of this union
and
Doctor,
49
Elder Brother,
threatened to destroy all life in a mighty flood.
a
in
himself
pot which rolled
however, escaped by enclosing
created a

about beneath the waters; Coyote made a raft of a log; while

Earth Doctor led some of the people through a hole which he
made to the other side of the earth-disk. After the flood Elder
Brother was the

first

became the ruler. He

navel, and when the

of the gods to appear, and he therefore

sent his subordinates in search of earth s

central

mountain had been discovered,

they set about repeopling the world.

PLATE XXJV
Apache

medicine-shirt,

painted

with

gods, centipedes, clouds, lightning,

After p ARBE, Plate VI.

the

figures

sun,

of
etc.

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

The myth

179

continues with incidents having to do with the

and the cremation of the dead; the freeing of the

origin of
48
animals, by the wile of Coyote, from the cave in which they
were imprisoned; the coming of the wicked gambler, who is
fire

and

finally defeated

is

changed into a vicious, man-devouring

Eagle; the birth and destruction of a cannibal monster, Ha-ak,

and the origin of tobacco from the grave of an old woman who

had

stolen

Ha-ak

blood;

30

and

finally the destruction of

Elder

Brother by the Vulture, his journey to the underworld, and his

return to conquer the land with the aid of some of the ante
diluvians

who had

escaped to the other side of the world.

YUMAN MYTHOLOGY

VI.

The

tribes of the

Yuman

stock

of

15

which the Mohave,

Maricopa, Havasupai, Walapai, Diegueno, and Yuma proper

are the most important in the United States
occupy terri
coast
and the
the
southern
Californian
from
tory extending
peninsula of Lower California eastward into the arid high
lands. Geographically they are thus a connecting link between

the tribes of the South-West and the Californian stocks, and

their

customs and

beliefs

show

relation to both groups; but

their traditions assign their origin to the inland,

and because

of this and of their great territorial extension, which is in con

trast with the limited areas held by the stocks of the coastal
region, they

may

best be classed with the tribes of the desert

region.

The little that

when Earth was

is

recorded of their mythology

woman and Sky was

tells

of a time

man. 34 Earth con

ceived (some say from a drop of rain that fell upon her while
she slept), and twin sons were born of her (some say from a
volcano),

Kukumatz and Tochipa (Mohave),

Tochopa (Walapai, etc.).

embrace of Sky, and the

Earth at
first

this

or

Hokomata and

time was close in the

task of the twins was to raise

the heavens, after which they set the cardinal points, defined

i8o

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

the land, and created its inhabitants

though the Mohave
were
created
First
the
that
People
by Mustamho, who was
say
a
second
son
of
himself the
generation born of Earth and

Sky; and the Walapai

tell

how

the

first

man, Kathatakanave,

Taught-by-Coyote, issued with his friend Coyote from the

Grand Canyon.

The Walapai myth goes on to recount how Kathatakanave

prayed to Those Above (the di superi) to create companions
for him; how Coyote broke the spell by speaking before all
men had been created and so slunk away, ashamed; how Tochopa instructed the human race in the arts and was beloved
accordingly, and how Hokomata out of jealousy taught them
war and thus brought about the division of mankind. The
between the brothers, and that
rage brought about a deluge which destroyed

also of the feud

Havasupai

tell

Hokomata

in his

the world. 49 Before the waters came, however, Tochopa sealed

his beloved daughter, Pukeheh, in a hollow log, from which
she emerged when the flood had subsided; she gave birth
to a boy, whose father was the sun, and to a girl, whose fa
ther was a waterfall (whence Havasupai women have ever

been called

"Daughters

of the

Water");

and from these two

the world was repeopled. In the Mohave version, Mustamho

took the people in his arms and carried them until the waters
abated.

The

origin of death

is

by the Diegueno.

told

"Tuchaipai

thought to himself, If all my sons do not have enough food

and drink, what will become of them?" He gave men the
choice of living forever, dying temporarily, and final death;

but while they were debating the question, the Fly said,
Oh, you men, what are you talking so much about? Tell
"

him you want

to die forever.

fly rubs his hands together.

16
people for these words."

He

is

This

is

the reason

why

the

begging forgiveness of the

Another myth, which the Yuman tribes share with the

Piman, tells of Coyote s theft of the heart from a burning

MOUNTAIN AND DESERT

As the Diegueno

181

Tuchaipai, slain through

the malevolence of the Frog, whose body is placed upon the
pyre; the Mohave recount the same event of the remains of
corpse.

tell it, it is

Matyavela, the father of Mustamho, who may be a doublet

of Tuchaipai, or Tochipa. When the pyre is ready, Coyote is
sent away on an invented errand, for his presence is feared;
but seeing the smoke of the cremation, he hurries back in time
to snatch the heart from the burning body, and this he carries
off to the

mountains.

"

For

this reason

men

hate the

48

Coyote."

tempting to see in this myth, coming to peoples whose

kindred extend far into Mexico, some relation to the Nahuatlan human sacrifice, in which the heart was torn from the vic
It

is

tim

29
body, which was not infrequently thereafter burned.

CHAPTER IX
THE PUEBLO DWELLERS
I.

THE PUEBLOS

of the most interesting and curious groups of people,

not only of North America but of the world, is composed
The
of the Pueblo dwellers of New Mexico and Arizona.

ONE

Pueblo Indians get their name (given them by the Spaniards)

from the fact that they live in compact villages, or pueblos,
of stone or adobe houses, which in some instances rise to a
height of five storeys. These villages suggest huge commu
nal dwellings, or labyrinthine structures like the "house of
Minos," but in fact each family possesses its own abode, the
form of building being partly an economy of construction,

but mainly for ready defence; for the pueblos are islets of
sedentary culture in the midst of what was long a sea of

marauding savagery. For this same protective reason sites

were chosen on the level tops of the mesas, or villages were
built in

cliff
"

dwellings

walls, hollowed

of the desert region

and probably the

out and walled in (the "cliff

have been identified as former,

earliest, seats of

Pueblo culture)

but under

the influence of their modern freedom from attack

many

of

the villages are gradually disaggregating into local houses.

Anciently the Pueblo territory extended from central Colorado

and Utah

Mexico; now about three hundred

the east from Oraibi in the west, while

far south into

miles separate Taos in

the north and south distance, from Taos to Acoma, is half of
this. Within the modern area the pueblos fall into two main
groups: those of northern and central New Mexico, clustered

along the Rio Grande, and those of the

Moqui

or Hopi reserva-

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

tion in Arizona; between these,

pueblos of Laguna,

The Pueblo

183

and to the south, are the large

Acoma, and Zuni,

all

in

New

Mexico.

tribes are of four linguistic stocks; three of

them,

the Tanoan, Keresan, and Zunian, are unknown elsewhere; the

fourth constitutes a special group of Shoshonean dialects, the
language of the Hopi of Arizona, related to the Ute and Shoshoni in the north and perhaps to the Aztec far to the south.
if there is divergence in language, there is little difference

But

in the degree of aboriginal evolution (though

power to pre
under the pressure of white civilization varies greatly).
The most astonishing feature of this development is that it
serve

is

is

it

based primarily upon agriculture. 24 The Pueblo culture

located, and apparently has evolved, in what is agricultu

rally the least

promising part of North America south of the

The South-West is an arid plateau, wa

rains
and
traversed by few streams. Its one
scant
by
favourable feature is that where water is obtainable for irri

Arctic barren lands.

tered

gation the returns in vegetation are luxuriant; but irrigation,

even where

feasible, requires

both

toil

and

intelligence,

and

it

seems truly extraordinary that the most varied agriculture of

the continent, north of Mexico, should have developed in so

unpromising a region. It is not, however, surprising that the

religion of the Pueblo agriculturists should be found to centre
about the one recurrent theme of prayer for rain; to few other
peoples

is

a dry year so terrible.

not alone in agriculture and housing that the Pueblo

show advancement. In the industrial arts of basketry,
pottery, weaving, and stone-working they were and are in the
forefront of the tribes, and it is altogether probable that it is
to the Pueblos that the neighbouring Navaho owe their skill

But

it is

dwellers

In decorative art they display an equal

both
geometric and naturalistic design being
pre-eminence,
pleasingly adapted to their elaborate symbolism. Socially the
Pueblo dwellers form a distinctive group. Each village is a

in these industries.

tribal unit,

14

with a republican system of government, formed

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

84

of a group of clans, originally exogamous and frequently,

though not invariably, with matrilinear descent. There is no

women

to the men, though there is a divi

sion of privilege: the family home is the property of the wife,
but in each pueblo there is a type of building
varying in
inferiority of the

one, in the smaller, to a dozen or more in the

called the
kiva," which is characteristically
larger villages
the men s house. The kiva is partly temple, partly club

number from

"

house or lounging room; the more primitive type

the later rectangular, like the houses; sometimes

it

circular,
is

sub

men gather for work or amusement,

occur the secret rites of the various fraternities

In the kiva

terranean.

and

is

in the kiva

and priesthoods. Women are rarely admitted, except in those

pueblos where they have a kiva of their own, or rites demand
ing one. It is regarded as probable that the kiva is the original
the primitive "men s house," con
nucleus of the pueblo
verted into a temple, around which first grew the fortified

and permanent town.

Where the pagan religion of the Pueblo dwellers persists
and in matters of belief they have shown themselves to be
their elaborate and
among the most conservative of Indians
refuge,

and

later the settled

spectacular rites are in charge of fraternities or priesthoods,

its own cult practices and its proper fetes in the

each with
calendar.

These

devoted to the three great ob

and hence abundant crops, healing the

festivals are

jects of securing rain,

and obtaining success in war. Practically all Pueblo men

are initiates into one or more fraternities, to some of which
sick,

women

In certain pueblos, as the

Hopi, the fraternities appear to have originated from the war
rior and medicine societies of the various clans, such socie
are occasionally admitted.

being found in almost every Indian tribe; in others, clan

origin cannot be traced if it ever existed, admission being
ties

gained either by the exhibition of prowess (as formerly in the

warrior societies), by the fact of being healed by the rites of the
is ascribed
fraternity, or by some such portent as that to which

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

185

the Zuni Struck-by-Lightning fraternity, which was founded

by a number of Indians, including, besides Zuni men, one

Navaho and a woman, who were severely shocked by a thun
derbolt. 32 In

of rank,

many

of the fraternities there are orders or steps

priests of the societies hold a

and the head men or

power over the pueblo which sometimes amounts,

as at Zuni,

In spite of differences of language and ori

to theocratic rule.

gin, the general resemblances of the Pueblos to one another,

in the matter of ritual and myth as in outward culture, is

such as to

make

of

them an

essential group.

At

least this

is

indicated from the results which have been recorded for Sia,
of Keresan, Zunian, and ShoshoZuni, and the Hopi towns
which are the only groups as yet
nean stock respectively

deeply studied.
II.

PUEBLO COSMOLOGY

11

The symbolism

of the World-Quarters, of the Above, and

nowhere
more elaborately developed among
of the Below
American Indians than with the Pueblos. 31 Analogies are drawn
not merely with the colours, with plants and animals, and
is

with cult objects and religious ideas, but with human society
in all the ramifications of its organization, making of mankind
not only the theatric centre of the cosmos, but a kind of elab
orate image of its form.
According to their Genesis, the ancestors of the Pueblo
dwellers issued from the fourfold Underworld through a Sipapu, which some regard as a lake, and thence journeyed in
search of the Middle Place of the World, Earth s navel, which
the various tribes locate differently; in Zuni, for example, it is
in the

town

The world

itself.

the sunrise
the Old World

east

is

"the

is

oriented from this point and

as in the ancient lore of

before,"

the four cardinals, the zenith, and the nadir

defining the cosmic frame of all things. It may be of interest

to note that if these points be regarded as everywhere equi
distant from the centre, and that if they then be circumscribed

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

86

every plane about the centre, the resulting figure

be a sphere; and it is not improbable that from such a

circles in

by

will

procedure arose the first conception of the spherical form of

the universe; the swastika and the swastika inscribed in a
circle are

cosmic symbols in the South- West as in

many

other

parts of the world, and while no Indians had attained to the

concept of a world-sphere, the Pueblos at least were upon

the very threshold of the idea. 66 Each of the six regions

the
Quarters, the Above, and the Below
possesses its symbolic
colour: in the Zuni

and Hopi systems, the white of dawn

is

the colour of the East; the blue of the daylit sky is the tint
which the sun takes his daily journey;

of the West, toward

the hue of the South; and

yellow, for sunrise and sunset, perhaps for the aurora as well,
is the Northern colour; all colours typify the Zenith; black
red, the

is

symbol of

is

the symbol of the Nadir. As the colours, so the elements are

to the North belongs the air, element

related to the Quarters

of

and heat,

fire

wind and breath,

the

West

is

for

from

characterized

it

come the strong winter winds;

by water,

for in the

Pueblo land rains

sweep in from the Pacific; fire is of the South; while the earth
and the seeds of life which fructify the earth are of the East.
In their rituals the Zuni address the points in this order:
prayer is made first to the Middle Place, then to the North

with

whom

to the

West

the breath which

the prime essential of life,

whose rain-laden clouds first break the hold of

is

is

Nadir which
holds in its bosom the caverns of the dead, and once again
the Middle Place. The tribal clans are grouped and organ
winter, to the South, the East, the Zenith, the

ized with respect to these

same

points, while

human

activities,

by the fraternities having them symbolically in

are
war is of the North, peace and
charge,
similarly oriented
the chase of the West, husbandry of the South, rite and medi
as represented

cine of the East; to the Zenith belong the life-preservers, and

to the Nadir the life-generators, for not only do the dead de

part thither to be born again, but

it is

from Below that the

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

ancestors of

men

all

first

187

came; to the Middle Place, the heart

or navel of the world, belong the "Mythic Dance Drama

all the clans, and having in charge the
People," representing

presentation of the masques of the ancestral and allied divin

ities.
This sevenfold division is reflected in the six kivas and

Middle Place of the town itself; and may be

associated with the original seven towns of the ancestral com
munity, for it is taken as established that the Seven Cities of
Cibola, whose fame brought Coronado and his expedition from
the south, were the ancestral pueblos of the present Zufii. 67
shrine of the

GODS AND KATCINAS

III.

In such a frame are set the world-powers venerated by the

These cosmic potencies may be classed in

Pueblo dwellers.

two great

categories

divisions of nature;

the gods, which represent the powers and

and the Katcinas, primarily the spirits of

ancestors, but in a secondary usage the spirit-powers of other

beings, even of the gods.

Father Sun 13 and Mother Earth are the greater deities of the
pantheon; but each is known by many names, and may indeed
be said to separate into numerous personalities
among the
for
the
Sun
is
Heart
called
of
the
Hopi,
example,
Sky, while
of Germs or Seed, Old Woman, Spider Woman, Corn
and
Goddess of Growth are all appellations of the Earth. 34
Maid,
Superior even to this primeval pair, the Zufii recognize Awona-

Mother

wilona, the supreme life-giving power, the initiator and em

bodiment of the life of the world, referred to as He-She, whose
earliest avatar

pervasive

being

is

was the person of the Sun Father, but whose

confined to no one being. 6 No similar Hopi

life is

reported.

Along with the Sun are other celestial gods, the Moon
Mother and the Morning and Evening Stars, the Galaxy,
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Polar Star, 14
and the knife-feathered monster whom the Zufii name Achi-

Pleiades, Orion,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

88

38

the veil

Moon

masked by shields as they trav

by little, Awonawilona draws aside
from Moon Mother s shield and as gradually replaces

Sun and
yalatopa.
erse the skies, but,

are

little

thus imaging the course of man s life from infancy to the

fulness of maturity and thence to the decline of age. These,
with the meteorological beings, the cloud-masked rain-bringit,

the di superi, "Those Above." The di inferi, "Those

Below," dwellers in the bosom of Mother Earth, include the

ers, are

twin Gods of War, 59 who in the years of the beginnings de

livered mankind from the monsters; the Corn Father and Corn

Earth or Earth

35

and the
and "Women" representing Salt, Red Shell,
White Shell, and Turquoise; 27 as well as the animal-gods, or
Ancients, which are the intermediaries between men and the
higher gods, and which also act as the tutelaries or patrons
40
Another deity, associated with
of the several fraternities.
both the subterranean and the celestial powers, is the Plumed
Mother, the
mineral

Serpent,

Hopi.

50

latter being

Daughters;

"Men"

Koloowisi by the Zuni, Palulukon by the

This god is connected both with the lightning and with
called

fertility: a

moving serpent is a natural symbol for the zigzag

and it is probably this analogy ^hich has

flash of lightning,

the South-West to the myth of sky-travelling

the
other hand, lightning is associated with rain
on
snakes;
fall, and rain, according to the South- Western view, is carried
aloft from the subterranean reservoirs of water; the connexion

given

rise in

of rain with fertility is obvious; in the Zuni initiation of boys

into the Kotikili (of which all who may enter the Dance-House

must be members), Koloowisi is repre

image from whose mouth water and maize

of the Gods, after death,

sented by a large
issue, and in the highly dramatic Palulukonti of the Hopi
Indians there are several acts which seem to represent the
fructification of the

maize by the Plumed Snake.

Possibly

Mexican origin, for far to the south, among

the Mayan and Nahuatlan peoples, the Plumed Serpent is a
this deity

is

of

potent divinity.

PLATE XXV
Zuni masks
of

for ceremonial dances.

Upper mask

Warrior God; lower, mask of the Rain

of the North.

After 23

AREE,

Plates

Priest

XVI, LIV.

See Note 65 (pp. 309-10), and compare Frontispiece

and Plates III, IV, VII,

XXXI.

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

The second

189

composed of the
ancestral and totemic Katcinas which play an important part
in the Pueblo scheme of things. 65 "While the term Katcina,"
says Fewkes,

great group of higher powers

"was

is

originally limited to the spirits, or personi

fied medicine power, of ancients, personifications of a similar

power in other objects have likewise come to be called Katcinas.

Thus the magic power

or medicine of the sun

may

be called

Katcina, or that of the earth may be known by the same

general name, this use of the term being common among the

Hopis.

The term may

also be applied to personations of these

men

or their representation by
other
means."
The number
by
of Katcinas is very great, for every clan has its own, not to be
personated by members of any other clan; while others are
spirits or magic potencies by
pictures or graven objects, or

introduced by being adopted as a result of initiation into the

rites of neighbouring pueblos.
In general, the Katcinas are

In ritual and in picture they appear as

masked, and to their representation is due the long series of
masques which characterize Pueblo ceremonial life.

anthropomorphic.

The mask

is

certainly

more than

a symbolic disguise.

The

mythology of the South-West, despite the extensive appear

ance of animal-powers and the use of animal fetishes, is pre
dominantly anthropomorphic in cast: the Sun and the Moon
are manlike beings, hidden by shields; clouds are shields or
screens concealing the manlike Rain-Bringers. The Hopi place
cotton masks upon the faces of their dead, and the Zuni

blacken the countenances of their deceased chieftains.

Now

the dead depart to the Underworld 10 (though the Zuni be

lieve that members of the warrior society, the Bow Priesthood,

ascend to the Sky, thence to shoot their lightning shafts, while

the Rain-makers roll their thunderous gaming stones), 32 there
to become themselves rain-bringers, or at least more potent
intercessors for rain than are their mortal brethren.
"The
earth,"

Mrs. Stevenson writes,

watered by the deceased
both sexes, who are controlled and directed by

Zuni, of

"is

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

190

a council composed of ancestral gods. These shadow people

collect water in vases and gourd jugs from the six great waters
of the world, and pass to and fro over the middle plane,
protected from the view of the people below by cloud

These

great waters are the waters of the six

springs in the hearts of the six mountains of the cosmic
The Uwannami, as the Zuiii name these shadowy
points.
masks."

six

rain-makers, are carried by the vapour which arises from

these springs, each Uwannami holding fast a bunch of breath60
to facilitate ascension.
Clouds of different forms
plumes

have varying significance: cirrus clouds tell that the Uwan

nami are passing about for pleasure; cumulus and nimbus
that the earth is to be watered. Yet it is not from, but
through, the clouds that the rain really comes: each cloud is
a sieve into which the water is poured directly or sprinkled

by means

of the

prayers for rain.

plumed sticks, such as the Zuni use in their

Of this same tribe Mrs. Stevenson says again:

people rarely cast their eyes upward without invoking

the rain-makers, for in their arid land rain is the prime object
"These

of prayer. Their water vases are covered with cloud and rain
emblems, and the water in the vase symbolizes the life, or

This picturesque conception of the office of

not shared by the Hopi, who regard the
the ancestral gods
rain as coming directly from a special group of gods, the Omosoul, of the

vase."

is

wuhs; but the Hopi do believe that the dead are potent in
tercessors with these deities, and they call the mask which is
placed over the face of the deceased a "prayer to the dead to
bring

rain."

Pueblo maskers personate divine and mythological beings of

many descriptions, as well as the ancestral dead, and to the

masks themselves attaches a kind of veneration, due to

sacred employment. Besides the masks, however,
objects are used as ritualistic sacra.
bolic colours,

many

Sticks painted with

their

other

sym

and adorned with plumes which convey the

breath of prayer upward to the gods, are offered by the thou-

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

191

sand, the placing of such prayer-plumes at notable shrines

60
being a feature of the ceremonial life of each individual.

The

fraternities, or cult societies, erect elaborate altars, sand-

paintings, images, and symbolic objects, indicating the powers

to which they are devoted. Meal and pollen, seeds, cords of

native cotton, maize of various colours, tobacco in the form of

cigarettes, and stone implements, nodules, and figures are all

important adjuncts of worship. What are called fetishes are

employed in numbers, and vary in character from true fetishes

Many of the stone fetishes are private prop

nature
of the "medicine" universal in North
the
of
erty,
America. 4 Others are properties of the fraternities, and are in
to true idols.

the keeping of certain priests or initiates who bring them forth

of the appropriate festivals. Still others are of
the nature of tribal palladia, in charge of the higher priest

on the occasion

hoods. Thus, at Zuni, the images of the Gods of War (wooden

stocks with crudely drawn faces, such as must have been the

most ancient xoana) are under the guardianship of the

Bow

who

are servants of the Lightning-Makers. 61

Priesthood,
In Zuni the supreme sacerdotal group consists of the Ashi-

wanni, the rain priesthood, which comprises fourteen rain

priests, two priests of the bow, and the priestess of fecun
5

Six of the rain priests are

dity.

known

as Directors of the

this house being the chamber which marks the Middle

Place of the world, in which is kept the fetish of the rain
priests of the North, who are supposed to be exactly over the

House,

very heart of the world.

tor

and deputy of the

The

and the direc

added to the Ashiwanni, form

priest of the sun

Kotikili,

the whole body of Zuni priests duplicating in the flesh the

Council of the Gods, which assembles in Kothluwalawa, the

Dance-House

of the Gods.

The Kokko

constitute the entire

group of anthropic gods worshipped by the Zuni. The Koti

kili is

the society of those

(including in its

women

who may
all

personate them in masques

men and a few of the

of the

membership
and it is only the members of the

of Zuni);

Kotikili

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

192

who

Kothluwalawa after death. The other

of Zuni have in charge the service of animal, not

are admitted into

fraternities

beings regarded rather as powerful inter

anthropic, deities
mediaries between

men and gods, and as magical assistants

of hunters and doctors, than as rulers of creation. In the Hopi
towns

and

priests

fraternities

likewise form the

sacerdotal

organization, though with a clearer dependence upon what

is

evidently a more

worship.

ancient and primitive system of clan

IV.

THE CALENDAR

39

Agriculture makes a people not only non-migratory, but

close observers of the seasons, and hence of the yearly stations
of the sun.

The count of time by moons

is

whose subsistence

is

sufficient for

nomadic

mainly by the chase,

peoples, or for tribes
but in a settled agricultural community the primitive lunar
year is sooner or later replaced by a solar year, determined by
the passage of the sun through the solstitial and equinoctial
points. The lunar measure of time will not be abandoned,
but it will be corrected by the solar, and gradually give way
to the latter.

Such, indeed,

development.
The Zuni year

is

is

the outline of

all

calendric

divided into two seasons, inaugurated by

luna
is composed of six months

each of which

the solstices,
subdivided into three ten-day periods.
tions of the month names are interesting: the
tions,

winter

solstice,

Turning-Back,
the south;

it

which

is

The significa
month of the

the beginning of the year, is called

Sun Father s return from

in reference to the
is

followed by Limbs-of-the-Trees-Broken-by-

Snow, No-Snow-in-the-Road, Little-Wind, Big-Wind, and NoName. For the remaining half of the year, these appellations,
though now inappropriate, are used again, the months of the
second half-year being, strictly speaking, nameless. A similar
duplication occurs in the Hopi calendar, where the names of
five

moons

are repeated, but in

summer and winter

rather

PLATE XXVI
Wall decoration

in

the

room of

Rain

Priest,

Beneath the cloud-symbols are Plumed Ser

while
a sacred Frog,
pents,
wearing a cloud cap and
shooting forth lightnings, stands on their protruding
Zufii.

tongues.

After 23

ARBE,

Plate

XXXVI.

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

than

in the solstitial division, which,

tant

role in

the ferial calendar.

however, plays an impor

Fewkes records an

interesting
give the true reason for the arrangement:
of the upper world are celebrating the winter Pa

remark that

may

"When

we

moon,"

said the priest,

engaged

193

in the

"the
people of the under world are
observance of the Snake or Flute [summer fes

and vice versa." The priest added that the prayersticks which were to be used by the Hopi in their summer
festivals were prepared in winter during the time when the
underworld folk were performing these rites. "From their

tivals],

many

stories of the

believe that the

under

world,"

Hopi consider

it

writes Fewkes,

"I

am

led to

a counterpart of the earth

surface, and a region inhabited by sentient beings. In this

under world the seasons alternate with those in the upper
world, and when it is summer in the above it is winter in the

world

below."

Ceremonies are said to be performed there,

as here.

Both Zuni and Hopi have

whose special duty it is to

observe the annual course of the sun, and hence to determine
the dates for the great festivals of the winter and summer
priests

The Zuni sun priest uses as his gnomon a petrified

which
stands at the outskirts of the village, and at which
stump
he sprinkles meal and makes his morning prayers to the sun,
solstices. 13

on the day when that luminary rises at a certain

Corn Mountain, the priesthood is informed of the
approaching change. Every fourth morning, for twenty days,
the sun priest offers prayer-plumes to the Sun Father, the
Moon Mother, and to departed sun priests; on the twentieth
morning he announces that in ten days the rising sun will
strike the Middle Place, in the heart of Zuni, and the ceremony

until,

point of

This rite occupies another twenty-day period, be

with
ginning
prayers to the gods and ending in days of carnival
and giving; during this time the gods are supposed to visit
the town, images and fetishes are brought forth and adorned,
will begin.

prayer-plumes are deposited by each family in honour of

its

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

194

ancestral rain-bringers, boys are initiated

21

ging,

the sacred

fire is

by ceremonial

flog

kindled by the fire-maker, and there

a great house cleaning, moral as well as physical, for personators of the gods make it a part of their duty to settle
is

family quarrels and to reprimand the delinquents, young and

old. At each solstice the sun is believed to rest in his yearly

journey (the Hopi speak of the solstitial points as "houses");

when the sun strikes a certain point on Great Mountain five
days in succession, the second change of the year takes place.
The ceremonies of the summer solstice include pilgrimages to
shrines

and elaborate dances, and

this

is

also the season

when

especially lucky to fire pottery, so that all the kilns are

smoking. An instructive feature is the igniting of dried grass

it is

and trees and bonfires generally; for the Zuni believe clouds
to be akin to smoke, and by means of the smoke of their
to bring rain. 62
solstice, in fact, is the inaugura

they seek to encourage the

fires

The ceremony

of the

tion of the series of

summer
masques

in

Uwannami

which they,

in

common with

the other Pueblos, implore moisture from heaven for the crops
that are now springing up.

make

use of thirteen points on the

of
ceremonial dates. Their ritual
horizon for the determination

The Hopi sun

priests

year begins in November with a New Fire ceremony, which

is given in an elaborate and extended form every fourth year,

then includes the initiation of novices into the fraterni

Other cer monies are similarly elaborated at these same
times; while still other rites, as the Snake- and Flute-Dances,

for

it

ties.

occur in alternate years. The Hopi year is divided into two

unequal seasons, the greater festivals occurring in the longer
ason,

which includes the cold months. Five and nine days

are the usual active periods for the greater festivals, though
the total duration from the announcement to the final purifica

some instances twenty days. Of the greater festivals,

the New Fire ceremony of November is followed at the winter
solstice by the Soyaluna, in which the germ god is supplicated
tion

is

in

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

and the return

of the sun, in the

form of a

bird,

195
is

dramatized;

or Bean-Planting, comes in February, its main

the
renovation of the earth for the coming sow
object being
and
the
celebration
of the return of the Katcinas, to be
ing

the

Powamu,

with the people until their departure at Niman, following the

summer

solstice;

the famous Snake-Dance of the Hopi alter

month of August. These are

nates with the Flute-Dance in the

only a few of the annual festivals, a striking feature of which

is the arrival and departure of the Katcinas.
The period dur
ing which these beings remain among the Hopi is approxi

mately from the winter to the summer solstice, and it may be

supposed that their absence is due in some way to their func
tion as intercessors for rain during the remaining half-year.

secondary trait, found only in Katcina ceremonies, is the

- a curious
presence of clowns or "Mudheads"
type of fun-

maker whose presence

union of a

Yuman

Gushing ascribes to the ancient

tribe with the original Zunian stock.
in Zufii

Neither Zuni nor Hopi succeed in entirely co-ordinating the

primitive
stations

lunar and solar years. The lunations and sunare observed, rather than counted in days; appar

ently no effort is made to keep a precise record of time nor

to correct the calendar, unless indeed the uncertainty which

Fewkes found among the Hopi

priests as to the true

number

of lunations in the year, twelve according to some, thirteen

and even fourteen according to others, may represent such an
attempt. On a sun shrine near Zuni there are marks said to

represent year-counts; certain it is that few North American

Indians have a more ancient and verifiable tradition than is

possessed

by the Pueblo

dwellers. 57

Analogies between the Pueblo periods and festivals and

those of the more civilized peoples of ancient Mexico seem to
the five-, nine-, and twenty-day
point to a remote identity
68
the general character of many of the rites and
periods,

mythological beings, the significance of the heart as the seat

of life. 29 But one in search of parallels need not confine him-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

196

self to the New World. The great summer solstice festival of

the Celts, with its balefires, is of a kind with that of the Zufii,
while the purification ceremonies of the winter solstice have

points of identity with the Roman Lupercalia, the Anthesteria

of the Greeks, and similar festivals, which close analysis would

The quadrennial and biennial character of many

Pueblo ceremonies, as well as the division into greater and lesser
multiply.

rites,

other noteworthy analogues of Greek usage.

are

still

V.

THE GREAT RITES AND THEIR MYTHS

Perhaps no feature of Pueblo culture is more distinctive

than the calendric arrangement of their religious rites. Other

North America have ceremonies as elaborate as any

the pueblos, and probably in most cases these rituals are

tribes in
in

regarded as appropriate only to certain seasons of the year,

but it is not generally the season that brings the performance:
sickness and the need for cure, the fulfilment of a vow, the

munificence or ambition of a rich man, are the commoner oc

casions. In the pueblos, on the other hand, not a moon passes

without

its

necessary and distinctive festivals, which are fruit

of the season rather than of individual need or impulse, thus

marking a great step in the direction of social solidarity and
cultural advancement.

The

origin of these ceremonies harks back to the genesis of

the tribes. Most of these are formed of an amalgam of clans

which from time to time have joined themselves to the initial

tribal nucleus, and have eventually become welded into a single
body. Each of these clans has brought to the tribe its own rites,
the mythic source of which is zealously recounted; and thus
the general corpus of the tribal ritual has been enriched. But
the joining of clan to tribe has entailed a modification: by

adoption and initiation new members have been added, from

without the clan, to the ceremonial body, and eventually (a
process which seems to have gone farthest in Zuni) a cult

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

197

society, or fraternity, has replaced the clan as the vehicle of

rite; again, clans with analogous or synchronous rites
have united their observances into a new and complicated

the

for the esoteric as

ceremony, partly public, partly secret
pect is never quite lost, each organization having its own rites,
such as the preparation of ceremonial objects, the erecting of
altars, etc.,

shared only by

its initiates

and usually taking place

in its proper kiva.

famous ceremony of the type just named is the Snakeof the Hopi Indians, the most examined of all Pueblo

Dance

50

This ritual occurs biennially in five of the Hopi vil

of a similar observance have been recorded
remnants
lages;
from Zurii and the eastern group of pueblos; and it is probable
that a form of it was celebrated in pre-Columbian Mexico.
rites.

The

participants in the

two

fraternities

Hopi Snake-Dance

are the

members

of

each of which

the Snake and the Antelope

conducts both secret and public rites during the nine days of
In the early part of the ceremony serpents are

the festival.

captured in the fields and brought to the kiva of the Snake

priests, where the reptiles undergo a ritual bathing and tending;
the building of the Snake altar, with personifications of the

Snake Youth and Snake Maid, the initiation of novices, the

singing of songs, and the recitation of prayers are other rites
of the secret ceremonial. The Antelope priests meantime erect
their own altar, on which are symbols of rain-clouds and light
ning, as well as of maize

and other

fruits of

the earth; and

lead in a public dance in which symbols of vegetation and water

are displayed. The Antelope priests, moreover, are the first
to appear in the public dance on the final day, when the snakes
are brought forth from the Snake kiva.

These are carried

in

the mouths of the dancing Snake priests, who are sprinkled

with meal by the women; and finally the serpents are taken
far into the fields and loosed, that they may bear to the Powers

Below the prayers

for rain

of the whole ceremony.

and

fertility

which

is

the object

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

198

The symbolism of the Snake-Dance is in part explained by

the myth which, in varying versions, the Hopi tell of the Snake
Youth and Maid. It is a story very similar to the Navaho tale
of the Floating Log.

youth, a chiefs son, spent his days

Grand Canyon, wondering where all the water of

flowed to and thinking, "That must make it very

beside the

the river

full somewhere."

Finally, he

borne to the

where he

embarks

in a hollow log

and

is

Woman, who

hailed

sea,
by Spider
wizardly assistant. Together they visit the kiva
of the mythic Snake People, at the moment human in shape,

becomes

is

his

young man to tests, which, with the aid of

he
Spider Woman,
successfully meets. The Snake People then
assume serpentine form; at the instigation of Spider Woman

who

subject the

he seizes the

fiercest of these,

whereupon the

a beautiful girl who, before the transformation,

becomes
had caught the

reptile

youth s fancy. This is the Snake Maid, whom he now marries

and leads back to his own country. The first offspring of this
union is a brood of serpents but later human children are born,
;

become the ancestors of the Snake Clan. In some versions,

the Snake Maid departs after the birth of her children, never
to return; or her offspring are driven forth, from them spring
to

ing a strange goddess of wild creatures, a sorceress who gam

bles for life with young hunters, and who carries a child that
is

never born.

In this mythic medley

it is

easy to see that the forces of

generation are the primary powers. The Snake Maid, from the
waters of the west, is the personification of underworld life,

that appears in the cultivated maize of the

the reproduction of animals in the wilds (there are
the

life

fields

and

many

in

im
the Corn Goddess

dications that other animals besides snakes were formerly

portant in the

rite).

Fewkes regards her

as

one Hopi myth a Corn Maid is transformed into

a snake. 35 The Snake Youth is probably a sky-power, for in
at least one version the Sun-Man bears the youth on his back

herself

and

in

in his course

about the earth. The significance of the antelope

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

in the

ceremony

lope priests
tility;

but

is

not so

clear,

199

though the altar of the Ante

obviously associated also with the powers of fer

may not be amiss to assume that the horn of the

is

it

antelope, like the horn of the ram in Old-World symbolism,

is also a sign of fertility; certainly the
conception of descent
from an ancestral horn is not foreign to South-Western myth. 40

The

Flute Ceremony, which alternates with the SnakeDance, has a similar purpose, though here the emblem of the

Sun, an adorned disk encircled by eagle feathers and streamers,

significant of the pre-eminence of the Powers Above; and

is

in the Lalakonti,

which

follows, in

September, the Flute or

Snake Ceremony of August, the women, who have charge of

the festival, erect an altar on which images of the Growth God
dess and the Corn Goddess are conspicuous. 7 In this ritual the

women

dance, carrying baskets, while the two Lakone maids,

adorned with horn and squash-blossom symbols of fertility,

throw baskets and gifts to the spectators
all a dramatic plea
for a bountiful harvest.

The Corn Maidens 35

are omnipresent in Pueblo rites, one of

the most sacred and guarded of the Zuni ceremonials being the

quadrennial drama representing their visit to their ancestors,

an observance occurring, like the Snake-Dance, in August.

When

their fathers issued from the lower world, the Zufii say,
the ten Corn Maidens came with them and for four years ac
companied them, unseen and unknown, but at Shipololo, the

Place of Fog, witches discovered them and gave them seeds

of the different kinds of maize and the squash. Here the Maid
ens remained while the Ashiwi, the fathers of the Zuni, con
tinued on their journey; they whiled away their hours bathing
dew and dancing in a bower walled with cedar, fringed
with spruce, and roofed with cumulus cloud; each maiden held
in the

in her

hand

stalks of a beautiful plant, with white, plumelike

leaves, brought from the lower world. Once the Divine Ones,
twins of the Sun and Foaming Waters, while on a deer hunt,
found the Maidens in their abode, and when their discovery

15

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

200

command

Sun priest,
The Maidens came and danced

related they were sent, at the

was

of the

them to the people.

them all in a court decorated with a meal-painting of
cloud-symbols. But as they danced the people fell asleep, for
it was night, and during their slumber Payatamu, the diminu

to lead

before

god who plays his flute in the fields, caus

ing the flowers to bloom and the butterflies to crowd after
him (Pied Piper and god Pan in one), came near and saw the

tive flower-crowned

Maidens dancing. He thought them all beautiful, but deemed

the Yellow Corn Maiden the loveliest of all. They read his
thoughts, and in fear kept on dancing until he, too, fell asleep,

when they

fled away, by the first light of the morning star,

Mist and Cloud Spring, where the gods, in the form of
ducks, spread their wings and concealed the Maidens hiding
in the waters. But famine came to the people, and in their dis

to the

tress

they called upon the Gods of

War

to find the Corn

Maid

ens for them. These two besought Bitsitsi, the musician and
jester of the Sun Father, to aid them, and he from a height

beheld the Maidens beneath the spreading feathers of a duck s

wings. In their kiva the Ashiwanni were sitting without fire,
food, drink, or smoke:

"all

their thoughts

were given to the

Corn Maidens and to rain." Bitsitsi, borne by the Galaxy,

who bowed to earth to receive him, went to the Maidens with
the message of the Ashiwanni, which he communicated with
out words;

and

"all

lips did not

spoke with their hearts; hearts spoke to hearts,

move." He promised them safety and brought

to the Ashiwi, before whom they enacted the

ceremonial dance which was to be handed down in the rites

them once more

of their descendants.

Even Payatamu

assisted.

His home

is

cave of fog and cloud with a rainbow door, and thence he came
bringing flutes to make music for the dancers. "The Corn

Maidens danced from daylight until night. Those on the north

side, passing around by the west, joined their sisters on the
and, leaving the hampone [waving corn], danced in
the plaza to the music of the choir. After they had all returned

south

side,

PLATE XXVII
Altar of the Antelope Priests of the Hopi.

The

central dry-painting represents rain-clouds and light

About this are arranged symbols of vegetation,
ning.

prayer sticks, offerings of meal, etc.

Plate

XLVI.

After iq

ARBE,

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

201

to their places the Maidens on the south side, passing by the

west, joined their sisters on the north, and danced to the music,

not only of the choir, but also of the group of trumpeters led
by Payatamu. The Maidens were led each time to the plaza by
either their elder sister Yellow Corn Maiden, or the Blue Corn

Maiden, and they held their beautiful thlawe (underworld plant

plumes) in either hand. The Corn Maidens never again ap
peared to the

Not

all

Ashiwi."

myths connected with the maize

poetic as this.

The

are as innocent or

witches that gave the seed to the Corn

last comers from the Underworld at the

Maidens were the two

time of the emergence. At first the Ashiwi were in favour of

sending them back, but the witches told them that they had in
their possession the seeds of

they demanded the

ing,

"We

wish to

So a boy and a

all

things, in exchange for

sacrifice of a

kill

which

youth and a maid, declar

the children that the rains

may

come."

children of one of the Divine Ones, were

bitter
devoted, and the rain came, and the earth bore fruit
fruit it

was, at

girl,

first, till

the owl and the raven and the coyote

it. Here we have one of the many

had softened and sweetened

legends of the South- West telling of the sacrifice of children to

the Lords of the Waters which seem to point to a time when
the Pueblo dwellers and their neighbours, like the Aztecs of the
south, cast their

Tlaloque.

own

flesh

and blood to the hard-bargaining

29

The one theme of Pueblo ritual is prayer for rain. When

asked for an explanation of his rites, says Fewkes (Annual
Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 1896, pp. 698-99),
there are two fundamentals always on the
lips of the Hopi
"We
to
the
rites
of
our
ancestors
because they
priest.
cling
have been .pronounced good by those who know; we erect our
altars, sing our traditional songs, and celebrate our sacred
dances for rain that our corn may germinate and yield abun
dant harvest." And he gives the call with which the town crier

at

dawn announces

the feast:

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

202

All people awake, open your eyes, arise,

Become children of light, vigorous, active, sprightly.

Hasten clouds from the four world quarters;

Come snow in plenty, that water may be abundant when summer
comes
Come ice, cover the fields, that the planting may yield abundance.
;

Let

all

hearts be glad!

The knowing ones will assemble in four days;

They will encircle the village dancing and singing
That moisture may come in abundance.

VI.

SIA

their lays

AND HOPI COSMOGONIES

15

No

Indians are more inveterate and accomplished tellers of

tales than are the Pueblo dwellers. Their repertoire includes its
full

quota of coyote traditions and

2

cannibals, ogres,

and

fairies, as

stories of ghosts,

bugaboos,

well as legends of migration

and clan accession, of cultural innovations and the found

character of which is more or less
ing of rites, the historical
fundamental

beliefs the

clear.

But

myths

of these, as of other peoples, are the

To

for insight into

be sure, not

mogony
that

all

who

the beings

cosmogonic
most valuable of all.

play leading roles in cos

many of them belong to

in cult:

are equally important

of traditionary powers which appear
generation"
developed mythic system; and often the po

"elder

in every highly

tencies for

bolized in

which there

is

a real religious veneration are

myth by more or

less

strange personifications

sym
as

to be only an image
Spider Woman, in the South- West, appears
the
uncannily huge earthof the Earth Goddess, suggested by
it is to cosmog
nesting spiders of that region. Nevertheless,
onies that we must look for the clearest definition of mythic

powers.
In their general outlines the cosmogonies of the Pueblo
dwellers are in accord with the Navaho Genesis, with which

they clearly share a

and among

common

incidents, as well as in

origin.

They

differ

from

this,

arrangement and emphasis of

dramatic and conceptual imagination.

themselves, in the

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

203

The cosmogony of the Sia is very near in form to that of the

Navaho. The first being was Sussistinnako, Spider, who drew
where he dwelt, 66 placed magic
parcels at the eastern and western points, and sang until two
women came forth from these, Utset, the mother of Indians,
a cross in the lower world

and Nowutset, the parent of other men. Spider also cre

ated rain, thunder, lightning, and the rainbow, while the two

women made

moon and

sun and

stars.

After this there was

and Nowutset, who,

a contest of riddles between the sisters,

though stronger, was the duller of the two, losing the contest,
was slain by Utset and her heart cut from her breast. 29 This
was the beginning of war in the world. For eight years the
people dwelt happily in the lower world, but in the ninth a
flood came and they were driven to the earth above, to which
42
Utset led the way, carrying
they ascended through a reed.
the stars in a sack; the turkey was last of

all,

and the foaming

41
tail,
day bears their mark.
The locust and the badger bored the passage by which the
sky of the lower world was pierced, and all the creatures
passed through. Utset put the beetle in charge of her star-

which to

waters touched his

sack, but he, out of curiosity,

this

made

a hole in

it,

and the

stars

escaped to form the chaotic field of heaven, although a few re

mained, which she managed to rescue and to establish as con
stellations. 14

The

First People, the Sia, gathered into

camps

beside the Shipapo, through which they had emerged, but they
had no food. Utset, however, had always known the name
"

of

though the grain

corn,"

ingly, she
said,

now planted

corn is my
my breasts."

"This

milk from

itself

was not

in existence; accord

bits of heart, and, as the cereal grew, she

heart,
35

and

it

The people

shall

be to

my

people as

desired to find the

Middle

Place of the world, but the earth was too soft, and so Utset
requested the four beasts of the quarters
cougar, bear, wolf,
to harden it; but they could not, and it was
and badger
a Spider

Woman

and a Snake

upon which the people

Man who

set forth

on

finally

made a path
The quar-

their journey.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

204

men and women, their separation, and the birth of

events which the Navaho
cannibal beings from the women
now occur; a little while later the
place in the Underworld
rel of

the

and a virgin, embraced by the Sun, gives birth

to Maasewe and Uyuuyewe, the diminutive twin Warriors,
who visit their Sun Father, and are armed to slay the monsters,
sexes reunite,

Navaho myth. 44 After

the departure of the Warrior

the
of
Underworld
the
waters
Twins,
began to rise, and the
49
of
a
the
flood
fled
to
the
mesa,
being placated only
top
people
and
a
maiden.
When the earth
of
a
sacrifice
the
youth
by
as in

was again hardened, the people resumed their search for the
Middle Place, which they reached in four days and where they
built their permanent home. Shortly afterward a virgin gave
birth to a son, Poshaiyanne, 56 who grew up, outcast and neg

become

gambling with the chief,

he won all the towns and possessions of the tribe, and the people
themselves, but he used his power beneficently and became a
lected, to

a great magician;

potent bringer of wealth and game. Finally, he departed, prom

ising to return; but on the way he was attacked and slain by
jealous enemies.

A white,

fluffy eagle feather fell

and touched

body, and as it came in contact with him, it rose again,

and he with it, once more alive. Somewhere he still lives, the
Sia say, and sometime he will come back to his people. Here
we meet a northern version of the famous legend of Quetzalhis

coatl.

69

of the beginnings contain the same general in

In the Underworld there was nothing but water; two
7
women, Huruing Wuhti of the East and Huruing Wuhti of
the West, lived in their east and west houses, and the Sun made

Hopi myths

cidents.

journey from one to the other, descending through an open

ing in the kiva of the West at night and emerging from a simi
his

aperture in the kiva of the East at dawn. These deities

decided to create land, and they divided the waters that the
earth might appear. Then from clay they formed, first, birds,
lar

which belonged to the Sun, then animals, which were the prop-

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

205

two Women, and finally men, whom the Women

rubbed with their palms and so endowed with understanding. 70
At first the people lived in the Underworld in Paradisic bliss,
but the sin of licentiousness appeared, and they were driven
erty of the

forth

by the

of Spider

under the leadership

by means of a giant reed, sunflower, and

rising waters, escaping only

Woman,

two kinds of pine-tree. 42 Mocking-Bird assigned them their

tribes and languages as they came up, but his songs were ex
hausted before all emerged and the rest fell back into nether
gloom. At this time death entered into the world, for a sorcerer
caused the son of a chief to die. The father was at first deter

mined to cast the guilty one back into the Sipapu, the hole of
emergence, but relented when he was shown his dead son
living in the realm below:

"That

is

the

way

it will

said

be,"

16
the sorcerer,
anyone dies he will go down there."
The earth upon which the First People had emerged was
dark and sunless, 13 and only one being dwelt there, Skeleton,
"if

who was very poor, although he had a little fire and some maize.
The people determined to create Moon and Sun, such as they
had had
carriers,

Underworld, and these they cast, with their

up into the sky. They then set out to search for the
in the

the White People

and the Pueblos in
the centre. It was agreed that whenever one of the parties
arrived at the sunrise, the others should stop where they
stood. The whites, who created horses to aid them, were the
sunrise, separating into three divisions

to the south, the Indians to the north,

to attain their destination, and

when they

did so a great
shower of stars informed the others that one of the parties had

first

reached the goal, so both Indians and Pueblo dwellers settled

live. The legends of the flood and of the

where they now

sacrifice of children are also

Warrior Brothers

form the usual

of a

known

to the Hopi, while the

Pookonghoya and Balongahoya

per

feats of monster-slaying. 44 Additional incidents

more wide-spread type are found

in

Hopi and other Pueblo

by

mythologies: the killing of the man-devouring monster

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

206

being swallowed and cutting a way to

imprisoned victims; the creation of

light,

thus liberating the

from the flesh of a

slain animal; the freeing of the beasts from a cave, to people
41
the adventures of young hunters with
the world with game;
Circe-like

women

of the wilderness

life

all

of

them myths which

represent the detritus of varied cosmogonies.

VII.

Of

all

account

ZUNI COSMOGONY

15

the Pueblo tales of the origin of the universe the Zuni

the most interesting, for it alone displays some power

is

of metaphysical conceptualization.

"In

wilona with the Sun Father and the

the beginning

Awona-

Moon Mother

existed

above, and Shiwanni and Shiwanokia, his wife, below.

(Shiwanni and Shiwanokia labored not with hands but with
.

hearts and minds; the Rain Priests of the Zurii are called Ashi-

wanni and the Priestess of Fecundity Shiwanokia.)

All
was shipololo (fog), rising like steam. With breath from his
heart Awonawilona created clouds and the great waters of
.

the world.

(He-She

64

is

the blue vault of the firmament.

The

breath-clouds of the gods are tinted with the yellow of the

north, the blue-green of the west, the red of the south, and the

Awonawilona. The smoke clouds of white

and black become a part of Awonawilona; they are himself, as
he is the air itself; and when the air takes on the form of a
silver of the east of

bird

but a part of himself

is himself. Through the light,
air he becomes the essence and creator of vege

it is

clouds, and
tation.)

After Awonawilona created the clouds and the

great waters of the world, Shiwanni said to Shiwanokia,

make something beautiful, which will give light

when the Moon Mother sleeps. Spitting in the palm

I,

too, will

at

night

of

his left

hand, he patted the spittle with the palm of his right

spittle foamed like yucca suds and then formed

hand, and the

into bubbles of

many

which he blew upward; and thus

and constellations. Then Shiwanokia

colors,

he created the fixed stars

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

207

See what I can do, and she spat into the palm of her
hand and slapped the saliva with the fingers of her right,
and the spittle foamed like yucca suds, running over her hand
and flowing everywhere; and thus she created Awitelin Tsita,
the Earth Mother." 34
Light and heat and moisture and the seed of generation
said,

left

these are the forces personified in this thinly mythic veil. In

the version rendered by Gushing there is a still more sin
gle beginning:

"Awonawilona

conceived within himself and

whereby mists of increase, steams

potent of growth, were evolved and uplifted. Thus, by means
thought outward

in space,

of his innate knowledge, the All-container made himself in per

son and form of the Sun whom we hold to be our father and

thus came to exist and appear. 13 With his appearance

came the brightening of the spaces with light, and with the

who

brightening of the spaces the great mist-clouds were thickened

together and fell, whereby was evolved water in water; yea,

and the world-holding sea. With his substance of flesh outdrawn from the surface of his person, the Sun-father formed
the seed-stuff of twin worlds, impregnating therewith the great
waters, and lo! in the heat of his light these waters of the sea

grew green and scums rose upon them, waxing wide and
weighty until, behold they became Awitelin Tsita, the Four
fold Containing Mother-earth, and Apoyan Tachu, the All!

covering Father-sky. From the lying together of these twain

upon the great world-waters, so vitalizing, terrestrial life was
conceived; whence began
tures, in the Four-fold

all

beings of earth, men and the crea

of the World. Thereupon the

womb

Earth-mother repulsed the Sky-father, growing big and sink

ing deep into the embrace of the waters below, thus separat
ing from the Sky-father in the embrace of the waters above.
"As a woman forebodes evil for her first-born ere born, even
so did the Earth-mother forebode, long withholding from birth
her myriad progeny and meantime seeking counsel with the

Sky-father.

How,

said they to one another,

shall

our

chil-

208

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

dren, when brought forth, know one place from another,

Now like
even by the white light of the Sun-father ?
the
Earth-mother and the Sky-father
all the surpassing beings
.

were changeable, even as smoke

wind; transmutable
any form at will, like

in the

at thought, manifesting themselves in

Thus, as a man and

one
to
another.
woman, spake they,
Behold! said the Earth-mother as a great terraced bowl
as dancers

may by mask-making.

"

appeared at hand and within

it

water,

this

is

as

upon me the

homes of my tiny children shall be. On the rim of each worldcountry they wander in, terraced mountains shall stand, mak
many, whereby country shall be known from
country, and within each, place from place. Behold, again!
said she as she spat on the water and rapidly smote and stirred
ing in one region

it

with her fingers.

Foam

formed, gathering about the terraced

rim, mounting higher and higher.

Yea, said she, and from

my bosom they shall draw nourishment, for in such as this
shall they find the substance of life whence we were ourselves
sustained, for see!

Then with her warm breath

she blew

foam broke away, and,

were
the
shattered by the cold
above
over
water,
floating
breath of the Sky-father attending, and forthwith shed down
across the terraces; white flecks of the

ward abundantly fine mist and spray! Even so, shall white
clouds float up from the great waters at the borders of the
world, and clustering about the mountain terraces of the hori
zons be borne aloft and abroad by the breaths of the surpass
ing soul-beings, and of the children, and shall hardened and
broken be by thy cold, shedding downward, in rain spray, the
water of life, even into the hollow places of my lap For therein
!

our children, mankind and creature-kind,

Lo! even the trees on high
for warmth in thy coldness.
mountains near the clouds and the Sky-father crouch low
chiefly shall nestle

toward the Earth-mother

for

warmth and

protection!

the Earth-mother, cold the Sky-father, even as

the warm, man the cold being!

is

Warm

woman

is

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

"

Even

so,

said the Sky-father;

209

Yet not alone

shalt thou

helpful be unto our children, for behold! and he spread his

hand abroad with the palm downward and into all the wrinkles

and crevices thereof he set the semblance of shining yellow

corn-grains; in the dark of the early world-dawn they gleamed
like sparks of fire, and moved as his hand was moved over the
bowl, shining up from and also moving in the depths of the
See! said he, pointing to the seven grains

water therein.
clasped by his

thumb and

four fingers,

by such

shall

our

chil

dren be guided; for behold, when the Sun-father is not nigh,

and thy terraces are as the dark itself (being all hidden therein),
then shall our children be guided by lights
like to these lights
of all the six regions turning round the midmost one
as in

and around midmost

place,

where these our children

shall

the other regions of space! Yea! and even as these

abide,
grains gleam up from the water, so shall seed-grains like to
lie all

them, yet numberless, spring up from thy bosom when touched

by my waters, to nourish our children. Thus and in other ways

many devised they for their offspring."

The Zuiii legend continues with events made
other narratives. As in the

familiar in

Navaho

Genesis, the First People

four
underworlds
before
pass through
they finally emerge on
earth: "the Ashiwi were queer beings when they came to this

world; they had short depilous tails, long ears, and webbed feet
and hands, and their bodies and heads were covered with moss,

a lengthy tuft being on the fore part of the head, projecting

like a

they also gave forth a foul odour, like burning

sulphur, but all these defects were removed by the Divine
Ones, under whose guidance the emergence and early journey
horn";

ing of the First People took place. These gods, Kowwituma and
Watsusi, are twins of the Sun and Foam, and are obviously

doublets of the
variants of those

Twin Gods of War (whose Zufii names are

known to the Sia), by whom they are later

44
Other incidents of the Zuiii story tell of the origins
replaced.
and cults near the place of emergence, of the
institutions
of

210

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

hardening of the world, of the search for the Middle Place,

and of the cities built and shrines discovered on the way.
Incidents of the journey include the incest of a brother and
17
to whom a sterile progeny
sister, sent forward as scouts,

was born, and who created Kothluwalawa, the mountain

home of the ancestral gods; the accession and feats of the
diminutive twins, the Gods of War; the coming of the Corn
49
Maidens, already recounted; the flood and the sacrifice of a
29
the
youth and a maid, which caused the waters to recede;
assignment of languages and the dispersal of tribes; stories
of Poshaiyanki, 69 the culture hero, and of the wanderings
of Kiaklo, who visited Pautiwa, the lord of the dead, and re
turned to notify the Ashiwi of the coming of the gods to endow
that after death they might
them with the breath of life
enter the dance house at Kothluwalawa before proceeding to
"so

the undermost world whence they came." 10

In the cosmogonies of the Pueblo dwellers, thus sketched,
the events fall into two groups: gestation of life in the un

derworld and birth therefrom, and the journey to the Middle

Place
Emergence and Migration, Genesis and Exodus. The
historical character of many of the allusions in the migration-

been made plausible by archaeological investiga

tions, which trace the sources of Pueblo culture to the old
cliff-dwellings in the north. Characteristically these abodes are
stories has

in the faces of

whose

canyon

walls, bordering the deep-lying streams

strips of arable shore

formed the ancient

fields.

May it

not be that the tales of emergence refer to the abandonment of

these ancient canyon-set homes, never capable of supporting
a large population?

Some

of the tribes identify the Sipapu

and
with the Grand Canyon
surely a noble birthplace!
when in fancy we see the First People looking down from the
sunny heights of the plateau into the depths whence they had
emerged and beholding, as often happens in the canyons of the
South- West, the trough of earth filled with iridescent mist, with
rainbows forming bridgelike spans and the arched entrances

THE PUEBLO DWELLERS

211

to cloudy caverns, we can grasp with refreshened imagination

many of the allusions of South-Western myth. Possibly a
hint as to the reason which induced the First People to come
forth from

name

so fairylike an abode

for the place of emergence,

is

contained in the Zuni

which

signifies "an opening

water which mysteriously disappeared,
leaving a clear passage for the Ashiwi to ascend to the outer

in the earth filled with

world."

One

other point in South-Western myth is of suggestive in

terest. This is the moral implication which clearly appears

and marks the advancement of the thought of these Indians

over more primitive types. In the world below the First People
dwelt long in Paradisic happiness; but sin (usually the sin of

among them, and

the angry waters

drove them forth, the wicked being imprisoned in the nether
darkness. The events narrated might be ascribed to mission

licentiousness) appeared

ary influence, were it not that these same events have close
analogues far and wide in North American myth, and for the
further fact of the pagan conservatism of the Pueblos.

That

the people are capable of the moral understanding implied is

indicated by the reiterated assertion of priest and story that
"the

prayer

is

not effective except the heart be

good."

CHAPTER X

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

I.

THE CALIFORNIA-OREGON TRIBES

GLANCE
America

at the linguistic map of aboriginal North

the fact that more than half of the

will reveal

radical languages of the continent north of Mexico

nearly
of
in
the
narrow
extend
are
all
in
territory
strip
spoken
sixty

ing from the Sierras, Cascades, and western Rockies to the

sea, and longitudinally from the arid regions of southern Cali
fornia to the

Alaskan angle. In

this region,

nowhere extending

inland more than five degrees of longitude, are, or were, spoken

some thirty languages bearing no relation to one another, and
the great majority of them having no kindred tongue. The
exceptional cases, where representatives of the great continen
tal stocks have penetrated to the coast, comprise the Yuman

and Shoshonean

tribes

occupying southern California, where

the plateau region declines openly to the sea; small groups of

Athapascans on the coasts of California and Oregon; and the

numerous Salishan units on the Oregon-Washington coast and

about Puget Sound.
It

is

this latter intrusion, the Salishan,

which divides the

Coast Region into two parts, physiographically and ethnically

From Alaska to Mexico the Pacific Coast is walled

distinct.

from the continental interior by high and difficult moun

There are, in the whole extent, only two regions
which the natural access is easy. In the south, where the Si

off

tain ranges.
in

Nevada range

Mohave

Desert, the great

here
we find the ab
Southern Trail enters California; and
origines of the desert interior pressing to the sea. The Northerra

subsides into the

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

213

ern, or Oregon, Trail follows the general course of the Missouri

to

its

headwaters, crosses the divide, and proceeds down the

its mouth; and this marks the general line of

Columbia to

Salishan occupancy, which extends northward to the more

opened by the Fraser River. The Salishan

difficult access

form a

tribes

division,

ally uniting a northern

markedly distinct type.

at once separating

and transition-

and a southern coastal culture of

Indeed, the Salish form a kind of

key to the continent, touching the Plains civilization to the

east and that of the Plateau to the south, as well as the two
coastal types; so that there is perhaps no group of Indians

more

with respect to cultural relationships.

The linguistic diversity of the southern of the two Coast
groups bounded by the Salish is far greater than that of the
northern. In California alone over twenty distinct linguistic
difficult to classify

stocks have been noted, and Oregon adds several to this score.
Such a medley of tongues is found nowhere else in the world

save in the Caucasus or the Himalaya mountains

regions
where sharply divided valleys and mountain fastnesses have
afforded secure retreat for the weaker tribes of men, at the
same time holding them in sedentary isolation. Similar con
ditions prevail in California, the chequer of

mountain and

valley fostering diversity. Furthermore, the nature of the lit

toral contributed to a like end. The North-Western coast,

from Puget Sound to Alaska,

is fringed by an
uninterrupted
the
tribes
of
this
are
the
most
archipelago;
region
expert in
maritime arts of all American aborigines; and the linguistic

owing to

stocks,

this

ready communication, are relatively few.

Columbia to the Santa Barbara Is

From

the

lands,

on the contrary, the coast is broken by only one spacious

the bay of San Francisco
and little encourage

mouth

of the

harbour

ment

is

offered to seafarers.

art of navigation
bia,

was

little

and the Chumashan

Among

known

the tribes of this coast the

the Chinook, on the Colum

Indians, who occupied the Santa
:

Barbara Islands, built excellent canoes, and used them with

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

214
skill;

but among the intervening peoples rafts and balsas, crud

water transports, took the place of boats, and even sea

est of

food was

sought, seeds and fruits, and especially acorn

meal, being the chief subsistence of the Californian tribes.
In the general character of their culture the tribes of
little

form a unity

this region

as

marked

Socially their organization

as

is

their diversity of

was primitive, without

speech.
centralized tribal authority or true gentile division. They
lived in village communities, whose chiefs maintained their

liberal giving; and a distinctive

of the Californian villages was the large

ascendancy by the virtue of

feature of

many

communal houses occupied by many

brush, and bark were the

common

families.

Grass, tule,

housing materials, for

woodworking was only slightly advanced; northward,

however, plank houses were built, such as occur the length
of the North- West Coast. Of the aboriginal arts only basketmaking, in which the Californian Indians, and especially the
skill in

other tribes, was the only one highly

developed; pottery-making was almost unknown. In other
respects these peoples are distinctive: they were unwarlike

Athapascan Hupa, excel

all

to the point of timidity; they did not torture prisoners;

in

common

trast to

with the

Yuman

and Piman

and

stocks, but in con

most other peoples of North America, they very gen

erally preferred cremation to burial.

and

Intellectually they are

lethargic,
myths contain no element of conscious
history; they regard themselves as autochthones, and such
they doubtless are, in the sense that their ancestors have con

their

tinuously occupied California for many centuries. Physical

and mental traits point to a racial unity which is in part borne

out by their language

divided into

be traced

itself; for

although their speech

is

now

many stocks between which no relationship can

a clear indication of long and conservative segre

yet there is a similarity in phonetic material, the

Californian tongues being notable, among Indian languages,
for vocalic wealth and harmony.

gation,

THE PACIFIC

reflect

215

RELIGION AND CEREMONIES

II.

The

WEST

COAST,

religious life

and conceptions of the Californian

tribes

the simplicity of their social organization. In northern

and Oregon the religious life gains in complexity

California

North-West becomes stronger, and a

similar increase in the importance of ceremonial is observed in
as the influence of the

the south; but in the characteristic area of the region, central

California, the development of rites is meagre. The shaman
is

more important personage than the

and

priest

ritual

is

consequence than magical therapy; in fact, the Cali

fornian Indians belong to that primitive stratum of mankind

of far less

for
est,

which shamanism

is the
engrossing form of religious inter
the western shamans, like the majority of Indian "medi

cine-men,"

acquiring their powers through fast and vision in

which the possessing tutelary

is

revealed. 5

Of ceremonies proper, the most distinctive on

is the annual rite in commemoration

of the Coast

known
dead."

as the

This

"burning"

or the

"cry"

or the

this portion

of the dead,

"dance

of the

an autumnal and chiefly nocturnal ceremony in

is

which, to the dancing and wailing of the participants, various

kinds of property are burned to supply the ghosts; the period

mourning is then succeeded by a feast of jollity. In few

parts of America are the tabus connected with the dead so

of

stringent: typical customs include the burning of the house

in

which death occurs; the ban against speaking the name of

the deceased, or using, for the space of a year, a word of

which this name is a component; and the marking of a widow

by smearing her with pitch, shearing her hair, or the like,

mourning releases her from the tabu. Such
usages, along with cremation, disappear as the North-West is
until the annual

approached.
A second group of

menstruation

and

dance
16

is

is

rites

have to do with puberty.

marked by severe tabus

given

when

the period

is

for the girl

passed.

Her

first

concerned

Boys undergo

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

216
an

initiation into the tribal mysteries, the

ceremony including
the recounting of myths. Rites of this character are not al
ways compulsory, nor are they limited to boys, since men who
have passed the age period without the ceremony sometimes
participate later. The body of initiates forms a kind of Medi
cine Society, having in charge the religious supervision of the
village.

Still

a third ceremonial group includes

intended to foster the creative

life

magic dances

of nature, the

number

of

varying from tribe to tribe.

Ceremonial symbolism, so elaborate in many portions of
America, is little developed in the West-Coast region. Pictosuch

rites

graphs are

unknown and

fetishes little

employed; nor

is

there

character the complicated use of

anything approaching
mask personations which reaches its highest forms in the
in

neighbouring South-West and North- West. Mythic tales and

ritual songs have a similar inferiority of development, the ex
tremes of the region, north and south, showing the greatest
advancement in this as in other respects. In one particular
the Californians stand well in advance: throughout the cen
tral region, their idea of the creation

is

clearly conceptualized;

and it is their cosmogonic myths, with the idea of a definite

and single creator, which form their most unique contribution
to American Indian lore. The creator is sometimes animal,
sometimes manlike, in form, but he is usually represented as
dignified and beneficent, and there is an obvious tendency to

humanize his character.

Northern California and Oregon, however, know

less of

such

a single creator. In this section stories of the beginnings start

or rather, of anthropic beings who
with the Age of Animals
whose
on the coming of man were transformed into animals

doings set the primeval model after which

human

deeds and

institutions are copied. Here is a cycle assimilated to the

myth of the North-West, just as the lore of the south Californian tribes approaches the type of the plateau and desert
region.

PLATE XXVIII
Maidu image

Ceremony
After

in

BAM

for a

woman,

used

honour of the dead

xvii,

Plate

XLIX.

at

the Burning

(see

p.

215).

PLATE XXIX
Maidu image

mony
Plate

in

man, used at the Burning Cere

After
honour of the dead.
xvii,

XLVIII.

for a

EAM

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

III.

THE CREATOR

217

15

In the congeries of West-Coast peoples it is inevitable that

there should be diversity in the conception of creation and
creator, even in the presence of a general and family likeness.

But the differences in the main follow geographical lines. To

the south, while creation is definitely conceived as a primal
act, the creative beings are of animal or of bird form, for the
winged demiurge is characteristic of the Pacific Coast through
out

its

48

length.

the creator

is

In the central region of California and Oregon

imaged in anthropomorphic aspect, the animals

being assistants or clumsy obstructionists in his work. To the

north, and along the coast, the legend of creation fades into a
delineation of the First People,

whose deeds

set a pattern for

mankind.
Tribes of the southerly stocks very generally believed in
primordial waters, the waters of the chaos before Earth or of

the flood enveloping it. Above this certain beings dwell

the
Coyote and the birds. In some versions they occupy a moun
tain

peak that pierces the waves, and on

this height

until the flood subsides; in others, they float

upon
the

Duck

with a bit of

above the waters. In the latter

from which to build the earth; it

that succeeds, floating to the surface dead, but

49
soil in its bill
like the Muskrat in the east

ern American deluge-tales. The Eagle, the

and the Humming-Bird are the winged folk
in these stories, with the Eagle in the
it is

they abide
raft or rest

a pole or a tree that rises

case, the birds dive for soil

is

on a

Coyote

though he

taken by birds

who

plotter of the

of

way

is

Hawk, the Crow,

who figure chiefly

more kingly

role;

but

sometimes absent, his place being

the creator and shaper and magic

is

life.

In the region northward from the latitude of San Francisco

among the Maidu, Porno, Wintun, Yana, and neighbouring
tribes

the Coyote-Man, while

still

being, sinks to a secondary place;

an important demiurgic
deeds thwart rather

his

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

21 8

than help the beneficent intentions of the creator, toil, pain,

was the oldest in
and death being due to his interference.
the olden time, and if a person die he must be dead," says
"I

Coyote to Earth-Maker

The

first

act of this

Maidu

Maidu myth,

16

reported by Dixon.
creation already implies the covert

in a

antagonism:
"When

upon

it,

this

world was

filled

kept floating about.

with water, Earth-Maker floated

Nowhere in the world could he

No

person of any kind flew about.

He went about in this world, the world itself being invisible,
transparent like the sky. He was troubled. I wonder how, I
see even a tiny bit of earth.

wonder where,

wonder

in

what

place, in

You

what country we
man, to

shall find a world!

he

be thinking of

I am guessing in
world/ said Coyote.
then
to
that
distant
land let us
is,

what

this

said.

are a very strong

direction the world

said Earth-Maker." The two float about seeking the

Where
earth and singing songs
Where, O world, art thou ?
are you, my great mountains, my world mountains?" "As

float!

"

"

"

they floated along, they saw something like a bird s nest.

It is small. If
Well that is very small, said Earth-Maker.
I
But it is too small, he said.
it were larger I could fix it.
1

wonder how

can stretch

it

a little

He

extended a rope

to the east, to the south he extended a rope, to the west, to

the northwest, and to the north he extended ropes. When all
said, Well, sing, you who were the finder
of this earth, this mud! "In the long, long ago, Robin-Man
made the world, stuck earth together, making this world."
Thus mortal men shall say of you, in myth-telling. Then

were stretched, he

Robin

sang,

and

the ropes were

he ceased.

you
one

mountains;

all

world-making song sounded sweet. After

stretched, he kept singing; then, after a time,

Do
to Coyote also.

Then Earth-Maker spoke

sing, too,

travels

his

So he sang, singing, My world where

my world of many foggy
world where one goes zigzagging hither and

he

said.

by the valley-edge;

my

thither; range after range,

he

said,

sing of the country I

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

In such a world

shall travel in.

I shall

219

wander, he

Then

said.

had made, kept

Now, he said, it would be
Let us stretch it!
Stop!

sang of the world he

Earth-Maker sang
singing, until by and by he ceased.
well if the world were a little larger.

The world ought to be painted

with something so that
may look pretty. What do ye two
think? Then Robin-Man said, I am one who knows nothing.
said Coyote.

speak wisely.
it

Ye two
if

are clever men,

making

said Coyote,

I will

in the world;

and people

There

paint

be birds born

shall

world.

it

good.

Very

be born there, having blood.

have blood. Everything
sorts of men without any exception

shall

shall

game, all
things shall have blood that are to be created

And

well,

with blood. There shall be blood

who

deer, all kinds of

all

it

this world, talking it over;

make

ye find anything evil, ye will

in another place,

making

red, there shall

it

in this

be red

blood were mixed up with the world,

After this Earth-Maker
and thus the world will be beautiful!

rocks.

It will

be as

if

"

stretched the world, and he inspected his work, journeying

through all its parts, and he created man-beings in pairs to

people earth

regions, each with a folk speaking differently.

Then he addressed

the

last-created

pair,

saying:

"Now,

have passed along, there shall never be a lack of

The
he
said, and made motions in all directions.
anything,
is
ever
one
where
shall
be
have
been
where
I
nothing
country

wherever

have finished talking to you, and I say to you that

ye shall remain where ye are to be born. Ye are the last people;
and while ye are to remain where ye are created, I shall return,
and stay there. When this world becomes bad, I will make it
lacking.

over again; and after

make

it,

ye shall be born, he said.

This world will
they say.)

(Long ago Coyote suspected this,

This world is spread out
shake, he said.
After this world

not stable.
long time,

be firm.
now, he

I will pull this

is

all

rope a

flat,

the world

made, by and by,

little,

is

after a

then the world shall

pulling on my rope, shall make it shake. And

said, there shall be songs, they shall not be lacking,
I,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

220
ye

shall

have them.

And

he sang, and kept on singing until he

mortal men shall have this song, he said,

ceased singing. Ye
and then he sang another; and singing many different songs,
he walked along, kept walking until he reached the middle
of the world; and there, sitting

down over

across

from

it,

he

remained."

In another myth of the Maidu, Earth-Maker descends from

heaven by a feather rope to a raft upon which Turtle and a
sorcerer are afloat. Earth-Maker creates the world from mud

brought up by the Turtle, who dives for it, and Coyote issues
from the Underworld to introduce toil and death among men.

The Maidu Earth-Maker

has close parallels among neigh

the
most exalted being Olelbis, of the
bouring tribes, perhaps
Wintun: "The first that we know of Olelbis is that he was in
6

Whether he

Olelpanti.

lived in another place

is

not known,

but in the beginning he was in Olelpanti (on the upper side),

the highest place." Thus begins Curtin s rendering of the myth
of creation. The companions of Olelbis in this heaven-world
completing the triad which so often recurs in Californian
are two old women, with whose aid he builds
cosmogonies
a wonderful sweat-house in the sky:
oaks;

its

roof

is

endless acorns;
its

its pillars

their intertwining branches,

it is

are six great

from which

fall

bound above with beautiful flowers, and

woven by the two women;

four walls are screens of flowers

"all

kinds of flowers that are in the world

now were gathered

around the foot of that sweat-house, an enormous bank of

them; every beautiful color and every sweet odor in the world

was

42
there."

The sweat-house grew

until

it

became wonder

ful in size and splendour, the largest and most beautiful thing
in the world, placed there to last forever
perhaps the most
in
Paradise
Indian
myth.
charmingly pictured

Other creators,

in the

myths

of this region, are Taikomol,

Yimantuwinyai, Old-OneAcross-the-Ocean, of the Hupa; K mukamtch, Old Man, of

the Klamath, tricky rather than edifying in character; and the

He-Who-Goes-Alone,

of the Yuki;

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

221

Wishes k Maker Gudatrigakwitl, Old-Man-Above, who per

forms his creative work by "joining his hands and spreading

them

Among

out."

existed forever:

"It

these the Hupa creator seems not to have

was at Tcoxoltcwedin he came into being.

From

the earth behind the inner house wall he sprang into

existence. There was a ringing noise like the striking together
of metals at his birth.

the mountain side.

someone

fell

into his

Before his coming smoke had settled on

Rotten pieces of wood thrown up by
hands. Where they fell there was
fire."

This surely implies a volcanic birth of the universe, natural

enough in a land where earthquakes are common and volcanoes
not extinct. Something of the same suggestion is conveyed by
a myth of the neighbouring Coos Indians, in which the world

by two brothers on a foundation of pieces of soot

44
In this Kusan myth the third person
upon the waters.
the recurrent Californian triad is a medicine-man with a

created

is

cast
of

directions

all

whom

the brothers slay, spilling his blood in

an episode reminiscent of the role of Coyote in

red-painted face,

Maidu genesis. When the world is completed, the brothers

shoot arrows upward toward the heavens, each successive bolt
striking into the shaft of the one above, and thus they build
the

a ladder

by means

of which they ascend into the sky.

IV.

CATACLYSMS 49

The
or

notion of cataclysmic destructions of the world by flood

fire, often with a concomitant falling of the sky, is frequent

West-Coast myth. Indeed, many of the creation-stories

seem to be, in fact, traditions of the re-forming of the earth
after the great annihilation, although in some myths both the
creation and the re-creation are described. One of the most
in

the genesis-legend of the Kato, an Athapascan

tribe closely associated with the Porno, who are of Kulanapan
interesting

is

stock.

The

story begins with the

making

of a

new

sky, to replace

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

222

the old one, which is soon to fall.

formed the sky was old, they say.

"The

It

sandstone rock which

thundered

in the east; it

thundered in the west; it thundered

The rock is old, we will fix it, he said. There

in the south; it

thundered

in the north.

were two, Nagaitcho and Thunder. We will stretch it above

far to the east, one of them said. They stretched it. 62 They
walked on the sky." So the tale begins. Nagaitcho, the Great
Traveller, and Thunder then proceed to construct an outer
cosmos of the usual Californian type: a heaven supported by
pillars, with openings at each of the cardinal points for winds

and clouds and mist, and with winter and summer trails for
s course.
They created a man and a woman, presum
to
become
the
ably
progenitors of the next world-generation.

the sun

Then upon the

earth that was they caused rain to fall: "Every

rained, every night it rained. All the people slept. The
day
sky fell. The land was not. For a very great distance there was
it

no land. The waters of the oceans came together. Animals of

all kinds drowned. Where the water went there were no trees.

Water came, they say. The waters

completely joined everywhere. There was no land or mountains

There was no land.

or rocks, but only water. Trees and grass were not. There were
no fish, or land animals, or birds. Human beings and animals

had been washed away. The wind did not then blow
through the portals of the world, nor was there snow, nor
alike

frost,

nor rain.

It did not

thunder nor did

it

lighten.

Since

there were no trees to be struck, it did not thunder. There

were neither clouds nor fog, nor was there a sun. It was very

Then it was that this earth with its great, long

horns got up and walked down this way from the north. As it
walked along through the deep places the water rose to its
dark.

shoulders.

up. There

When

it

When
is

it

came up

it

looked

a ridge in the north upon which the waves break.

to the middle of the world, in the east under the

came

rising of the sun, it looked

will

into shallower places,

up again. There where

it

looked up

be a large land near to the coast. Far away to the south

it

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

continued looking up.

come from the north

It

walked under the ground. Having

and lay down.

traveled far south

it

Nagaitcho, standing on earth

Where

south.

earth lay

223

head, had been carried to the

down Nagaitcho

placed its head as it

should be and spread gray clay between its eyes and on each
horn. Upon the clay he placed a layer of reeds and then another

In this he placed upright blue grass, brush, and

have finished, he said.
Let there be mountain

layer of clay.
trees.

peaks here on
them.

its

head. Let the waves of the sea break against

"

The Wintun
a plot of the
of the First
Olelbis,

creation-myth, narrated by Curtin, possesses

same type. Just as he perceives that the end
World and of the First People is approaching,

He-Who-Sits-Above, builds

in the sky-world to

The cataclysm

become

his paradisic

a refuge for such as

sweat-house

may

attain to

caused by the theft of Flint from the

for
Swift, who,
revenge, induces Shooting Star, Fire Drill,
and the latter s wife, Buckeye Bush, to set the world afire. 51

it.

is

"Olelbis looked down into the

burning world. He could see
nothing but waves of flame; rocks were burning, the ground

was burning, everything was burning. Great rolls and piles

smoke were rising; fire flew up toward the sky in flames, in
great sparks and brands. Those sparks are sky eyes, and all
the stars that we now see in the sky came from that time when
the first world was burned. The sparks stuck fast in the sky,
and have remained there ever since. Quartz rocks and fire in
the rocks are from that time; there was no fire in the rocks

of

before the world

During the fire they could see noth

and smoke." Olelbis did not
and on the advice of two old women, his Grand
fire.

ing of the world below but flames

like this;

mothers, as he called them, he sent the Eagle and the HummingBird to prop up the sky in the north, and to summon thence

Mem

Kahit, the Wind, and

Loimis, the Waters, who lived be
9
yond the first sky. "The great fire was blazing, roaring all
over the earth, burning rocks, earth, trees, people, burning

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

everything. Mem Loimis started, and with her Kahit.
224

Water

rushed in through the open place made by Lutchi when he

raised the sky. It rushed in like a crowd of rivers, covered the

and put out the fire as it rolled on toward the south.

so much water outside that could not come through
was
There
that it rose to the top of the sky and rushed on toward OlelMem Loimis went forward, and water rose moun
panti.
earth,

tains high.

He

Following closely after

had a whistle

in his

mouth;

as

Mem

Loimis came Kahit.

he moved forward he blew

might, and made a terrible noise. The whistle

was his own; he had had it always. He came flying and blow
ing; he looked like an enormous bat with wings spread. As
he flew south toward the other side of the sky, his two cheek
it

with

all his

feathers grew straight out,

and down, grew

till

became immensely

long,

waved up

they could touch the sky on both

sides."

Finally the fire was quenched, and at the request of Olelbis,

Kahit drove
Loimis, the Waters, back to her underworld
while
beneath
home,
Olelpanti there was now nothing but naked

Mem

by the receding waters. The myth

the refashioning and refurnishing of the world

rocks, with a single pool left

goes on to

tell

of

by such of the survivors of the cataclysm

of fire and flood as had managed to escape to Olelpanti. A
net is spread over the sky, and through it soil, brought from

by

Olelbis, assisted

beyond the confines of the sky-capped world, is sifted down to

cover the boulders. Olelbis marks out the rivers, and water is
drawn to fill them from the single lakelet that remains. Fire,
now sadly needed in the world, is stolen from the lodge of Fire
without
the parents of flame
Drill and Buckeye Bush
their discovering the loss (an unusual turn in the tale of the

theft of

by

fire).

seed dropping

the skies.

and

The

Many

bits of the

earth

is

fertilized

by Old

Man

Acorn and

down from the flower lodge of Olelbis in

animals spring into being from the feathers

body

of

Wokwuk,

a large

and beautiful

bird,

with very red eyes; while numerous others are the result of the
transformations wrought by Olelbis, who now metamorphoses

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

the survivors of the

first

225

world into the animals and objects

whose nature they had in reality always possessed. 41 A par

ticularly charming episode tells of the snaring of the clouds.
These had sprung into being when the waters of the flood struck
the fires of the conflagration, and they were seeking ever to
escape back to the north, whence Kahit and Mem Loimis had
come. Three of them, a black, a white, and a red one, are cap
tured; the skin of the red cloud is kept by the hunters, who
often hang it up in the west, though sometimes in the east;
the black and the white skins are given to the Grandmothers

two old women, "we have this

When we hang the white skin
will go
outside this house, white clouds will go from it,
away down south, where its people began to live, and then they
will come from the south and travel north to bring rain.
When they come back, we will hang out the black skin, and
from it a great many black rain clouds will go out, and from
these clouds heavy rain will fall on all the world below."
The Pacific Coast is a land of two seasons, the wet and the
dry, and these twin periods could scarcely be more beautifully
of Olelbis.

said the

"Now,"

white skin and this black one.

symbolized.

39

V.

THE FIRST PEOPLE 40

upon the operations

of animistic imagina
tion will go far to explain the conception of a First People,
little reflection

manlike in form, but animal or plant or stone or element in

nature, which is nowhere in America more clearly defined than

on the West Coast. 3 The languages of primitive folk are built

up of concrete terms; abstract and general names are nearly
unknown; and hence their thought is metaphorical in cast and
procedure. Now the nearest and most intelligible of meta
phors are those which are based upon the forms and traits of
men s own bodies and minds: whatever can be made familiar
in terms of
familiar,

human

"Man is

instinct

and habit and desire is truly

all things," and primitive

the measure of

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

226

the elementary form of applying this stand

ard. At first it is the activities rather than the forms of things
that are rendered in terms of human nature; for it is always
is

mythic metaphor

the activities, the powers of things, that are important in

practical life; the outward, the aesthetic, cast of experience
becomes significant only as people advance from a life of

need to a

life

and

of thought

mythopoetic fancy

reflection.

content to ascribe

is

Hence, at

human

first,

action and

human speech and desires, to environing creation;

the physical form is of small consequence in explaining the
conduct of the world, for physical form is of all things the
intention,

most inconstant to the animistic mind, and it is invariably

held suspect, as if it were a guise or ruse for the deluding of the
human race. But there comes a period of thought when anthro
an aesthetic humanizing of the world
is as
pomorphism
essential to mental comfort and to the sense of the intelligi
bility of nature as is the earlier and more nai ve psychomorphism: when the phantasms, as well as the instincts and
powers, of the world

Such

call for

of the First People. This

as

human

explanation.

in its incipiency,

demand,

in conduct,

is

is

met by the conception

a primeval race, not only regarded

but imagined

as

manlike

in form.

They

belong to that uncertain past when all life and all nature were
a period of formation and
not yet aware of their final goal
transformation, of conflict, duel, strife, of psychical and physi
cal monstrosities, before the good and the bad had been clearly
separated.
in the

"As

the heart

myth-maker

is,

so shall ye

be,"

is

the formula ever

half unconscious thought,

and the whole

process of setting the earth in order seems to consist of the

struggle after appropriate form on the part of the world s
46
primitive forces.

West-Coast
First People,

lore

and

in great part

is

it is

composed of

instructive that the stories

tales of the

and events

more constant than are the personali

in this

mythology are

ties of

the participants. This harks back to the prime impor-

far

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

tance of the action:

it is

as

if

227

the motives and deeds of the

natural world were being tried out, fitted, like vestments, now
upon this type of being, now upon that, with a view to the dis

covery of the most suitable character. It indicates, too, that

the tales are probably far older than the environment, which

they have been gradually transformed to satisfy. To be sure,

certain elements are constant, for they represent unchangeable
factors in

human

experience

as the relation of

Earth and

Sky, Light and Darkness, Rain, Fire, Cloud, and Thunder;

personalities, and to a less extent the monstrous

but the animal

beings, vary for the

same plot

in different tribes

and

differ

vary, yet with certain constancies that deserve

note. Coyote, over the whole western half of North America,
is the most important figure of myth: usually, he is not an

ent tellings

edifying hero, being mainly trickster and dupe by turns; yet

he very generally plays a significant role in aiding, willy-nilly,

the First People to the discovery of their final and appropriate

shapes. He is, in other words, a great transformer; he is fre
quently the prime mover in the theft of fire, which nearly all
tribes

mark

as the beginning of

human advancement; and

in

parts, at least, of California, his deeds are represented as al

most invariably beneficent in their outcomes; he is a true, if

often unintentional, culture hero. Other animals
the Elk,
the Bear, the Lion
are frequent mythic figures, as are cer
tain reptiles

who

floats

the Rattlesnake, the exultant Frog Woman,

crest of the world-flood, and the Lizard who,

on the

because he has five fingers and knows their usefulness, similarly

endows man when the human race comes to be created. But
it is

especially the

winged kind

the birds

that play, after

Coyote, the leading roles in West-Coast myth. The Eagle, the

Falcon, the Crow, the Raven, and to a less degree the Vulture

and the Buzzard, are most conspicuous,

for

it is

noticeable

among animals, it is the stronger, and

the
carnivorous, kinds that are the chiefs of legend.
especially
this
is no invariable rule, and the Woodpecker,
Nevertheless,
that

among

birds, as

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

228

whose red head-feathers were used as money among the Californian tribes, the Humming-Bird, and indeed most other birds

known

to them, figure in the

myths

of the region.

smaller creatures

the Louse, the Fly, and the

insignificant for the

maker

Nor

Worm

are

too

of traditions.

All of these beings, in the age of the First People, were

human in form; the present order of existence began with their

transformation into the birds and animals

West-Coast myth,

we now know. In

metamorphosis often follows directly

upon the cataclysm of fire or flood by which the First World
was destroyed, thus giving the two periods a distinctness of
this

separation not common in Indian thought. In many versions

the transformation is the work of the world-shaper
Coyote
as in the myth of Olelbis, who apportions to
or another

each creature

some

sort,

proper shape and home after the earth has

Even more frequently there is a contest of

its

been restored.

that victor and vanquished

be
a battle of wits, as in the
may
whose voice was thunder and whose

the outcome of which

is

are alike transformed. This

Coos story of the Crow

32
a certain man-being persuaded the
eyes flashed lightning:
Crow first to trade voices with him, and then to sell the light

nings of his eyes for the food left by the ebb-tide, whereupon
the Crow degenerated into what he now is, a glutton with a
raucous voice, while the man became the Thunderer. Again,

the struggle may be of the gaming type: in a Miwok legend

Wek-wek, the Falcon, participated with a certain winged giant,

Kelok, in a contest at which each in turn allowed himself to

be used as a target for red-hot stones hurled by his opponent;
through over-confidence Wek-wek is slain, but he is restored to
again by Coyote, who is shrewd enough to beat the giant
at his own game; while from the body of the slain monster is

life

started the conflagration that destroys the world. 38 In a third

case, the contest is one of sorcery the story of the Loon Woman
tells how she fell in love with the youngest of her ten brothers
:

as they

danced

in the sweat-lodge;

by her magic she com-

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

pelled

him

to

accompany

her,

with the aid of their elder

heaven

in a basket;

Loon

229

but he escaped, and the brothers,

Spider Woman, ascended to

sister,

Woman

perceived them, set fire to

the
save
Eagle fell back into the flames;

the sweat-house, and all

their bodies were burned and Loon

Woman made herself a neck

Nevertheless, her triumph was brief, for

the Eagle succeeded in slaying her, and placing her heart along
with those of his brothers in a sweat-house, brought them all
lace of their hearts.

back to

life,

but with the forms and dispositions which they

now possess. 17
The creation

of the

human

race

70

marks the

close of the age

also the shaper

of the First People. Usually the World-Maker
of men, and it is the West-Coast mode to conceive the process
quite mechanically: men are fashioned from earth and grass,
is

or appear as the transformations of sticks and feathers; the

story is altogether detailed, telling how Nagaitcho made
a trachea of reed and pounded ochre to mix with water and

Kato

make

blood.

more

was that of Gudatritools, but formed

dignified creation

gakwitl, the Wishosk Maker,

who used no

things by spreading out his hands. "When Gudatrigakwitl

wanted to make people, he said, I want fog. Then it began to
be foggy. Gudatrigakwitl thought: No one will see it when

the people are born. Then he thought:

be all over, broadcast. I want it to be

Now
full

wish people to

of people

and

full

Then the fog went away. No one had seen them

but
now they were there." Most imaginative of all is
before,
the Modoc myth, recorded by Curtin. Kumush, the man of

of game.

the beautiful blue, whose life was the sun s golden disk, had a
daughter. He made for her ten dresses: the first for a young
the second the maturity raiment in which a maiden
clothes herself when she celebrates the coming of womanhood,

girl,

the third to the ninth festal and work garments such as women
wear, the tenth, and most beautiful of all, a burial shroud.

When

the

girl

was within a few days

the sweat-house to dance; there she

of maturity, she entered

fell

asleep

and dreamed

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

230

that some one was to die, and

of Kumush her burial dress.

when

she

came out she demanded

He offered her each of the others

but she would have only this; when she had donned it,
she died, and her spirit set out for the west, the home of them
in turn,

that had passed away.

Kumush, however, would not let her

and
I
know
all things above,
saying,
go alone,
below, and in the
world of ghosts; whatever is, I know," he accompanied her
"

down

There father and daughter

dwelt, by night dancing with the spirits, which became skeletons
by day. But Kumush wearied of this, and determined to return
to earth and restore life upon it. He took a basketful of the
bones and set out, but they resisted and dug sharply into his
body. Twice he slipped and fell back, but the third time he
into the caverns of the dead.

landed in the world above, and sowing there the bones of the
the race of men who
ghosts, a new race sprang up from them

have since inhabited the earth.

VI.

FIRE

AND LIGHT

51

In the beginning the First World was without light or heat;

blackness and cold were everywhere, or if there were light and

warmth, they were distant and inaccessible: "the world was

dark and there was no fire; the only light was the Morning,
and it was so far away in the high mountains of the east that
the people could not see it; they lived in total darkness"
with this suggestive image of valley life begins a Miwok tale

Sometimes

of the theft of Morning.

it

is

Morning or Day

light that is stolen, sometimes it is the Sun, oftenest it is Fire;

but the essential plot of the story seldom varies on the con
:

world there

which the Light or the Fire

is guarded by jealous watchmen, from whom their treasure
must be taken by craft; generally, the theft is discovered and a
pursuit is started, but relays of animals succeed in bearing off

fines of the

is

a lodge in

a fragment of the treasure.

Coyote

is

the usual plotter and hero of myths of

fire

and

light.

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

231

In a dramatic Kato story he dreams of the sun in the east. 13

With three mice for companions he sets out, coming at last to
the lodge where two old women have the sun bound to the
When they sleep, the mice gnaw the bands that hold the

floor.

sun, and Coyote seizes it, pursued by the awakened women,

whom he changes into stone. From the stolen sun he fashions
all

the heavenly bodies: "Moon, sun, fly into the sky. Stars
in it. In the morning you shall come up. You

become many
shall

go around the world. In the east you

shall rise again in

the morning. You shall furnish light." Not always, however,

is the venture so successful; in the Miwok tale the stealing
of the sun results in the transformation of the First People into
animals, and the like metamorphosis follows on the theft of

narrated by the Modoc. Sometimes the fire-origin story

and simple, as in the Wishosk legend of the dog who
kindled the first flame by rubbing two sticks; sometimes it is

fire as

is literal

dramatic and grim, as

in the duel of magicians,

tradition narrates, in which one

which the Coos

eaten by maggots

is

till

he

is

nothing but bones, before he finally succeeds in so terrifying

his opponent that the latter flees, and his wealth of fire and

water

a unique combination

taken. 21

Again, there are

the Shasta story which makes Pain and his
poetic versions
children the guardians of fire; or the Miwok tale of the Robin

who

is

got his red breast from nestling his stolen flame, to keep
or that of the Mouse who charmed the fireowners with

it alive;

music and hid a coal

The Maidu,
ters
tell,

in his flute.

naturally enough,

make Thunder and

(who must be the

his

Daugh
They
away

32
lightnings) the guardians of fire.
in a hero story, how the elder of two brothers is lured

by, and pursues, a daughter of Thunder. He shoots an arrow

ahead of her, and secures it from her pack-basket (the stormcloud) without harm.

He makes

his

way through

a briar field

aid of a flint which cuts a path for him. Protected by

moccasins of red-hot stone, he follows her through a field of
rattlesnakes, and when he finds her he cuts off the serpent teeth

by the

17

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

232

which surround her vagina (a variant of one of the most wide

spread of North American myth-incidents). On his moccasins
he crosses a frozen lake, and with the assistance of a feather
he fords a deep river and passes
the universal symbol of life
8
Arrived at the house of
the Valley-of-Death-by-Old-Age.
Thunder, he avoids poisoned food, breaks a pitch-log for

firewood, escapes a water monster that nearly drowns him,

and slays a grizzly bear which pursues him, when on a deer-

hunt, by shooting it in the left hind foot, its only vulnerable

Hercules
spot. These labours performed, the North American
takes the daughter of

Thunder

to wife, and returns to his

home.

many hero tales in which the West-Coast

red-hot moccasins suggest the personi
The
mythology
fication of volcanic forces, so that the whole myth may well
This

is

one of the
is

rich.

be the story of a volcano, wedded to its lightnings, cleaving

lake and river and valley, and overcoming the mighty of earth.
A similar origin may be that of the Miwok giant Kelok, hurl
ing his red-hot rocks and setting the world ablaze
volcanic Titan.

Another type of hero

is

the child of the Sun. 48

surely a

The Maidu

birth to
story of the exploits of the Conquerors, born at one
Cloud Man and a virgin, is strikingly like the South-Western

Sun; and a somewhat

44
The kind of hero
similar legend is narrated by the Yuki.
more distinctive of the West Coast, however, is "Dug-fromIn the Hupa recension a virgin, forbidden by
the-Ground."

tales of the divine twins, sons of the

her grandmother to uproot two stocks (the mandrake super

and digs up a child. He grows to manhood,

visits the sky-world, and finally journeys to the house of the
sun in the east, where he passes laborious tests, and in the game
of hockey overcomes the immortals, including Earthquake and
Thunder. Tulchuherris is the Wintun name for this hero; he
is dug up by an old woman, and when he emerges a noise like
stition), disobeys,

thunder

is

heard in the distant east, the

home

of the sun.

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

233

Curtin regards Tulchuherris as the lightning, born of the fog

which issues from the earth after sunrise.
In another story, one of the most popular of Californian
52
tales, the Grizzly Bear and the Doe were kindred and friends,

and feeding in the same pasture. One day

while afield the Bear killed the Doe, but her two Fawns dis
covered the deed, and beguiling the murderess into letting them
living together

have her cub for a playmate, they suffocated it in a sweathouse. Pursued by the Bear, they were conveyed to heaven
by a huge rock growing upward beneath them; and there they
found their mother. The story has many forms, but the Fawns
are always associated with

fire.

Sometimes they trap the

mother bear, but usually they kill her by hurling down redhot rocks. They themselves become thunders, and it is in
structive that the Doe,

sky-world, dies

after

drinking the waters of the

clearly she is the

and descends to earth

rain-cloud and her

Fawns

are the thunders.

The

legend of
the heaven-growing rock, lifting twins to the skies, occurs
in California, most appropriate surely when
42
the
to
great El Capitan of the Yosemite.
applied
It is perhaps too easy to read naturalistic interpretations

more than once

In many instances the meaning is un

and
seems never to be lost, as in the
mistakably expressed
and the hero of
Promethean theft of fire; but in others
it is by no means cer
Herculean labours is a fair example
into primitive myth.

tain that long and varied borrowing has not obscured the
original intention. Volcanic fire, lightning, and sunlight itself
seem to be the figures suggesting the adventures; but it may

well be that for the aboriginal narrators these meanings have

long since vanished.

VII.

DEATH AND THE GHOST-WORLD

The source of death, no less than the origin of life, is a riddle

which the mind of man early endeavours to solve; and in the

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

234

New

World, as sometimes

in the Old, the

event

is

made

to

turn upon a primal choice. In the New-World tales, however,

it is not the creature s disobedience, but deliberate selection
of the primal beings that establishes the law. The typ
16
the Author of Life in
ical story is of a conflict of design

by one

tends to create
far

men

undying, but another being, who

more often than any

other, jealous of the

new

is

Coyote

race, wishes

mortality into the world, and his wish prevails. In very many
versions, neither rational nor ethical principle is concerned in

the choice; it is a result of chance; but on the West Coast not

a few examples of the legend involve both reason and morals.
As it is told, one of the First People loses a child; its resurrec

contemplated; but Coyote interferes, saying, "Let it re

main dead; the world will be over-peopled; there will be no
food; nor will men prize life, rejoicing at the coming of chil

tion

is

dren and mourning the dead." "So be

they respond, for
Coyote s argument seems good. But human desires are not
it,"

satisfied

by reason

conclusion: Coyote

alone, as
s

real

motive

is

in the

grimly ironical
not the good of the living;

now his own

and jealousy prompt
son dies, and he begs that the child be restored to life; but
is the response, "the law is established."
"Nay, nay,"
The most beautiful myth of this type that has been recorded
is Curtin s "Sedit and the Two Brothers Hus," of the Wintun.
his specious plea;

selfishness

shown

is

Sedit is Coyote; the brothers Hus are buzzards.

Olelbis,
about to create men, sends the brothers to earth to build a
ladder of stone from it to heaven; half way up are to be set a
be two
pool for drink and a place for rest; at the summit shall
internal
one for drinking and the other for bathing
for these are to be that very Foun
and external purification
tain of Youth whose rumour brought Ponce de Leon from Spain
springs,

to Florida.

When

man

or a

woman

grows

old, says Olelbis,

or her climb to Olelpanti, bathe and drink, and youth

will be restored. But as the brothers build, Coyote, the tempter,
let

him

comes, saying,

"I

am wise;

let

us

reason";

and he pictures con-

THE PACIFIC COAST, WEST

235

temptuously the destiny which Olelbis would bestow: "Sup

pose an old woman and an old man go up, go alone, one after

come back

the other, and

They

alone, young.

will

be alone as

before, and will grow old a second time, and go up again and
come back young, but they will be alone, just the same as at
first. They will have nothing on earth whereat to rejoice. They

never have any friends, any children; they will never have
any pleasure in the world; they will never have anything to
do but to go up this road old and come back down young
at birth and grief for the dead is better," says
again."
"Joy
will

Coyote,

"for

these

mean

love."

The

brothers

Hus

are con

vinced, and destroy their work, though not until the younger
one says to Coyote: "You, too, shall die; you, too, shall lie

ground never to rise, never to go about with an otterskin band on your head and a beautiful quiver at your back!"

in the

And when Coyote sees that it is so, he stands muttering:

"What am I to do now? I am sorry. Why did I talk so much?
Hus asked me if I wanted to die. He said that all on earth
That

here will have to die now.

know what

What

is

what Hus

said.

don

Desperate, he makes him

self wings of sunflowers
the blossoms that are said always
to follow the sun
and tries to fly upward; but the leaves
to do.

wither, and he
"It

his

is

own

falls

do?"

back to earth, and

deed,"

words; hereafter

can

all his

says Olelbis;

people

"he

will fall

is
is

and

dashed to death.
killed

by

his

own

die."

Such is the origin of death; but death is, after all, not the
end of a man; it only marks his departure to another world
than this earth. The body of a man may be burned or buried,
but his life is a thing indestructible; it has journeyed on to
another land.

dead

The West-Coast

in various places. 10

peoples find the abode of the

it is in the world above,
ascents
detailing
to, and descents

Sometimes

and many are the myths

from, the sky; sometimes it
is

night.

Not

is

in the

underworld; oftenest,

it

beyond the waters where the sun is followed by

always, however, are mortals content to let their

in the west,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

236

loved ones depart, and over and again occurs the story of the
quest for the dead, at times almost in the form of Orpheus and
53
Thus the Yokut tell of a husband grieving beside
Eurydice.
his wife s grave, until, one night, her spirit rises and stands
beside him. He follows her to the bridge that arches the river

separating the land of the living from the realm of

them that

have passed away, and there wins consent from the guardians
of the dead for her return to earth, but he is forbidden to sleep
on the return journey; nevertheless, slumber overtakes him

on the third

night,

and he wakes

in the

morning to

find that

beside a log. The Modoc story of Kumush and his

daughter and of the creation of men from the bones of the dead

he

is

lies

surely akin to this, uniting

life

and death

in

one unbroken

This conception is brought out even more clearly in

a second version of the Yokut tale, wherein the man who has
chain.

visited the isle of the

dead

how, as
crowded forth to become birds and fish.

That the home

of those

tells

it fills,

the souls are

who have gone hence

should

lie

beyond the setting sun is a part of that elemental poetry by

which man sees his life imaged and painted on the whole field
of heaven and earth: the disk of morning is the symbol of
birth, noon is the fullness of existence, and evening s decline is
the sign of death. But dawn follows after the darkness with a
new birth, for which the dead that be departed do but wait
where better than in those Fortunate Isles which all men

whose homes have bordered on the western sea have dreamed

to

lie

beyond

its

gleaming horizons?

CHAPTER

THE
I.

XI

PACIFIC COAST,

NORTH

PEOPLES OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST

Puget Sound northward to the neighbourhood of

Mt. St. Elias and the Copper River the coast is cut by
innumerable fiords and bays, abutted by glaciated mountains,

FROM

and bordered by an almost continuous archipelago. The rainy

season is long and the precipitation heavy on this coast, which,
on the lower

levels,

is

densely forested, conifers forming the

greater part of the upper growth, while the shrubbery of bushes

furnishes a wealth of berries. The red cedar (Thuja plicata)
of especial importance to the natives of the coast, its wood
serving for building and for the carvings for which these people

is

are remarkable, while

its

bark

is

used for clothing, ropes, and

the like. Deer, elk, bear, the wolf, the mountain goat, the
beaver, the mink, and the otter inhabit the forest, the hills,

and the streams, and are hunted by the Indians; though it is

chiefly from the sea that the tribes of this region draw their
food. Besides molluscs, which the women gather, the waters
abound in edible fish: salmon and halibut, for which the coast
is famous, herring, candlefish, from which the natives draw the
oil which is an important article of their diet, and marine

mammals, such

as the seal, sea-lion,

and whale. The region

is

adapted to support a considerable population, even under

aboriginal conditions of life, while at the same time its easy
internal communication by water, and its relative inacces
sibility

on the continental

side,

encourage a unique and special

culture.

Such, indeed,

we

find.

While no

less

than

six linguistic divi-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

238

sions are found

on the North-West Coast, accompanied by a

corresponding diversity of physical types, the general cul

ture of the region is one, and of a cast unlike
anything else
on the continent. Its foundation is maritime, the Indians of

and shapely canoes, and some tribes,

such as the Nootka and Quileute, even
attacking the whale
in the open sea. Villages are built
facing the beach, and the
this region building large

timber houses, occupied by several families, represent the

high
est architectural skill of any Indian structures north of the
pueblos.

The wood-working

craft

is

nowhere

in

America more

developed, not only in the matter of weapons and utensils,

but especially in carvings, of which the most famous exam
ples are the totem-poles

61

of the northern tribes.

Work

in

shell, horn, and stone is second in quality only to that in wood,

while copper has been extensively used, even from
aboriginal
times. Basketry and the weaving of mats and bark-cloth are

also native crafts.

In art the natives of the North-West at

tained a unique excellence, their carvings and

drawings show
a
of
decorative
ing type
conventionalizing of human and animal
figures

unsurpassed in America, as

these elements are combined.

wholly mythical, and

poles, grave-posts,

and
clothing and
rattles,

The

in

it

is

also the skill with

The impulse

of this art

almost

finds its chief expression in heraldic

and house-walls,

in ceremonial

masks and

the representation of ancestral animals on

utensils.

social structure of the peoples of the

flects their

is

which

advancement

in the crafts.

North-West

The majority

re

of the

and clans determining descent

In the northern area descent is counted

tribes are organized into septs

and marriage

relations.

matrilinearly, in the southern

by the

patrilinear rule.

The

Kwakiutl have an institution which seems to mark a transi

tion between the two systems: descent follows the
paternal
line, but each individual inherits the crest of his maternal
In some village-groups parents are at
liberty to
place their children in either the maternal or the paternal

grandfather.

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

clan.

Clan exogamy

is

239

the rule. Within the tribe the various

clans are not of equal status; consequently, there is a similar

gradation in the rank of the nobles who are the clan heads

These nobles are the real rulers of the North- West

whose
government is thus of an oligarchic type. Clan
peoples,
membership carries with it the right to use the ancestral crest,

or chiefs.

certain totems involving the privileges of rank, while others

mark plebeian
in the

caste.

Slavery

is

another institution prominent

North-West, slaves being either prisoners of war or

hopeless debtors.
Perhaps the most distinctive feature of these tribes
Potlatch.

word designates
means distributes

Primarily this

a chieftain or a

man

of

a festival at
a large

is

the

which

amount

of

property, often the accumulation of years. These riches are

not, however, a free presentation, since the recipients are bound
to return, with interest, the gifts received, so that a wealthy
man thus ensures to himself competence and revenue, as well
as

importance in the tribal councils. Rivalry of the intensest

is generated between the great men of the several clans,

sort

each striving to outdo the others in the munificence of his

feasts, which thus become a matter of family distinction, enti
tled to record on the family crest. The recognized medium of
the blanket, but a curious and interesting device is
a ham
the bank-note of the North-West
"Copper"

exchange
the

is

mered and decorated sheet of copper of a special form, having

the value of many hundred or of several thousand blankets,
according to the amount offered for it at a festal sale. These
Coppers are, in fact, insignia of wealth; and since the destruc
is regarded as the highest evidence of social
are sometimes broken, or even entirely de
they
importance,

tion of property

stroyed, as a sign of contempt for the riches of a less able rival.

Of the stocks of the North-West the most northerly is the

Koluschan, comprising the Tlingit Indians, whose region ex

tends from the Copper River, where they border upon the

Eskimoan Aleut, south

to Portland Canal.

The

Skittagetan

\S

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

240

Queen Charlotte Islands and the southern part

Wales Island, is formed of the Haida tribes; while

stock, of the

of Prince of

on the opposite mainland, following the Nass and Skeena riv

ers far inland, is the district of the Tsimshian and other Chimmesyan peoples. South of these begin the territories of the
Wakashan stock, which extend on the mainland to Johnston
Strait and, beyond, over the whole western part of the is
land of Vancouver. Powell divided this stock into the Aht
and Haeltzuk (Bellabella) tribes, but later authorities prefer
Kwakiutl and Nootka, the latter holding the seaward side of
Vancouver. The fifth group comprises the Coast Salish: a
northern division, about Dean Inlet and the Salmon and Bella
Coola rivers, adjoining the Wakashan territories; a central di
vision extending

from the head of the

Strait of Georgia south

ward to Chinook lands about the Columbia; and a southern

group holding the Oregon coast south of the Chinook peoples.
A single tribe, the Quileute, about Cape Flattery in Wash
ington, represents the almost extinct

Chimakuan

stock.

In

general, the culture of the Tlingit and Haida tribes show

an identity of form which distinguishes them

the like

as a group from
manifested
the
Tsimshian, Kwakiutl,
community
by

Nootka, and North-Coast

II.

TOTEMISM AND TOTEMIC

The ceremonies
two

The

Salish.

of the tribes of the

classes, following their social

social division into clans,

SPIRITS 3

North-West

fall

into

and ceremonial organization.

which are matrilinear and exo-

mixed systems prevail

outward expression in totemic insignia and
in ceremonial representations of the myths narrating the be
ginnings of the septs. These origins are ascribed to an ancestor
who has been initiated by animal-beings into their mysteries,
or dances, thus conferring upon him the powers of the initiating
gamic

in the north, while patrilinear or

in the south, finds

creatures; the animals themselves are not regarded as ancestral,

PLATE XXX
Frame of Haida house with totem-pole.

MAM

viii,

Plate

XL

After

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

241

nor are the members of the clan akin to the totemic being,
except in so far as they possess the powers and practise the
rites obtained through the ancestral revelation. The manner of
precisely that in which the Indian everywhere in
North America acquires his guardian or tutelary, his personal
totem in fast or trance the man is borne away by the animal-

revelation

is

being, taken perhaps to the lodge of

an

initiation

which he

tinctive feature of the

carries

its

back to

kind,

and there given

his people.

The

dis

North-Western custom, however,

is

that a totem so acquired may be transmitted by inheritance,

so that a man s lineage may be denoted by such a series of
61
upon the totem-pole. Correspondingly, the
number and variety of totemic spirits become reduced, ani
mals or mythic beings of a limited and conventionalized group
forming a class fixed by heredity. Yet the individual character
of the totem never quite disappears; what is transmitted
by

crests as appears

birth

is

without

the right to initiation into the ancestral mysteries;

ceremony the individual possesses neither the use

this

of the crest nor knowledge of its myths and songs.

The animal totems of the Tlingit, as given by Boas, are
the Raven and the Wolf; of the Haida, the Raven and the
Eagle; of the Tsimshian, Raven, Eagle, Wolf, and Bear; of

the Heiltsuk Kwakiutl, Raven, Eagle, and Killer Whale; while

the Haisla (like the Heiltsuk Kwakiutl of Wakashan stock)

have
Killer

six

totems, Beaver, Eagle, Wolf, Salmon, Raven, and

Among the remaining tribes of the region n

Whale.

Nootka, Kwakiutl, and Salishan

family crests, rather than
clan totems, are the marks of social distinction; but even in
the north, where the totemic clan prevails, crests vary among
the clan families: thus, the families of the Raven clan of the
Stikine tribe of the Tlingit have not only the Raven, but also
the Frog and the Beaver, as hereditary crests.
In addition to acquisition by marriage and
inheritance,
rights to a crest may pass from one family or tribe to another

through war; for a warrior who slays a foe

is

deemed

to have

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

242

acquired the privileges of the slain man s totem; if this be one

foreign to the conqueror s tribe, slaves may be called upon
to give the proper initiation, which is still essential. Thus the
rights to certain crests pass from clan to clan and from tribe to

forming the foundation for a kind of intertribal relation

ship of persons owning like totems. Wars were formerly waged
for the acquisition of desired totemic rights, and more than
tribe,

once, the legends tell, bitter conflicts have resulted from the
appropriation of a crest by a man who had no demonstrable

no prerogatives are more jealously guarded in

the North-West. Only persons of wealth could acquire the
use of crests, for the initiation must be accompanied by feast
right to

it,

for

ing and gift-giving at the expense of the initiate and his kin
dred. On the other hand, the possession of crests is a mark of
social importance; hence, they are eagerly sought.

The origin of crests was referred to mythic ancestors. The

Haida are divided into Eagles and Ravens. The ancestress of
the Raven clan is Foam Woman, who rose from the sea and is
said to have had the power of driving back all other super
natural beings with the lightnings of her eyes; Foam Woman,
like Diana of the Ephesians, had many breasts, at each of

which she nourished a grandmother of a Raven family of the

Haida. The oldest crest of this clan is the Killer Whale, whose
dorsal fin, according to tradition, adorned the blanket of one
of the daughters of Foam Woman; but they also have for crests
the Grizzly Bear, Blue Hawk, Sea-Lion, Rainbow, Moon, and

and animals. Curiously enough, the Raven crest

the
Haida
does not belong to families of the Raven clan,
among
but to Eagles, whose ancestor is said to have obtained it
other

spirits

from the Tsimshian.

All the Eagles trace their descent

from

an ancestress called Greatest Mountain, probably denoting a

mainland origin of this clan, but the Eagle is regarded as the
oldest of their crests. [^The animals themselves are not held to

be ancestors, but only to have been connected in some signifi

cant fashion with the family or clan progenitor; thus, an Eagle

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

chief appeared at a feast with a necklace of live frogs,
family forthwith adopted the frog as a crest.

Many

243

and

his

creatures besides animals appear as totemic or family

crests, and the double-headed snake (represented with a head

at each end and a human he.ad in the middle), known to the
Kwakiutl as Sisiutl, is one of the most important of these

A Squawmish myth tells of a young man who pur

sued the serpent Senotlke for four years, finally slaying it;
as he did so, he himself fell dead, but he regained life and, on
50

beings.

his return to his

own

the power to slay

all

people,

who

became

a great

beheld him and to

shaman, having

make them

live

myth which seems clearly reminiscent of initiation

again
rites. The Sisiutl is able to change itself into a fish, whose flesh
is fatal to those who eat it, but for those who obtain its super
a

natural help

it is

a potent assistant.

Pieces of

its

body, owned

by shamans, are powerful medicine and command high prices.

The Bella Coola believe that its home is a salt-water lake be
hind the house of the supreme goddess in the highest heaven,
and that the goddess uses this mere as a bath. The skin of the
Sisiutl is so hard that it cannot be pierced by a knife, but it
can be cut by a leaf of holly. In one Bella Coola myth the
mountain is said to have split where it crawled, making a
passage for the waters of a river. It would appear from these
and other legends that the Sisiutl, like the horned Plumed
Snake of the Pueblos, is a genius of the waters, perhaps a
personification of rain-clouds.

ways

Twin

A Comox

tradition, in

many

analogous to the South- Western story of the visit of the

Warriors to the Sun, tells of the conquest of Tlaik, chief

of the sky, by the two sons of Fair Weather, and of the final
destruction of the sky-chief, who is devoured by the doubleheaded snake
a tale which suggests clearly enough the efface-

ment

of the sun by the clouds.

Another being important in clan ritual is the Cannibal
woman (Tsonoqoa, Sneneik), 19 whose offspring are represented
as wolves, and in whose home is a slave rooted to the ground

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

244

from eating the food which the demoness gave

pophagous monster dwells in the woods and

her.

This anthro

carries a basket

which she puts the children whom she steals to eat, and she
also robs graves; but at last she is slain by a sky-boy to whose
in

image, reflected in the water, she makes love. Komokoa, the

is the protector of seals, and lives at the bottom

Rich One, 7

of the sea; the

of persons

drowned go to him, and stories are narrated

penetrated to his abode and afterward

who have

returned to give his crest to their descendants.

frequent form
of legend recounts how hunters harpoon a seal and are dragged
down with incredible velocity until the home of Komokoa is
reached; there they are initiated, and receive crests and riches
with which they go back to their kindred, who have believed

them long

since dead.

The Thunderbird, 32

described as a huge

creature carrying a lake on its back and flashing lightnings from

its eyes, is also a crest, traditions telling of clan ancestors
being
carried away to its haunts and there initiated. Whales are said
its food, and the bones of cetaceans devoured
by it may
be seen upon the mountains. Monstrous birds are of frequent

to be

occurrence in the myths of the North-West, as in California,

many of them seeming to derive their characteristics from the

Thunderbird, while the latter

is

sometimes asserted to resemble

types of the Falconidae, as the hawk or the eagle.

The wooden masks, carved and painted, employed in the
initiation ceremonies connected with the clan totems are the
65
representations of the clan myth.
Many of these
masks are double, the inner and outer faces representing two
moods or incidents in the mythic adventure. Frequently the

ritual

outer

is

an animal, the inner a human, face

a curious ex

pression of the aboriginal belief in a man-soul underlying the

animal exterior. Masks are not regarded as idols; but that a

kind of fetishistic reverence attaches to wood-carvings of super

by the number of

natural beings in the North-West is shown

myths telling of such figures manifesting life.

the house posts wink their

is
eyes,"

"The
carvings on
Haida saying denoting

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

excellence in art,
tales of houses in

245

and more than one myth is adorned with

which the sculptured pillars or the painted

pictures are evidently alive, while stories of living persons

rooted to the floor apparently have a similar origin. The carv

and occasionally
she, like Galatea, is vivified; when the husband s name is
Sitting-on-Earth, we may suspect that here, too, we have a
ing of a wife out of

wood

is

a frequent theme,

myth connected with the house-post. In creation stories the

human pair are sometimes represented as carved from
wood by the demiurge and then endowed with life, although
first

may be a version of the Californian legend of the creation

men from sticks, modified by a people with a native genius

this

of
for

wood

III.

70

carving.

SECRET SOCIETIES AND THEIR TUTELARIES

Of even greater ceremonial significance than the possession

of crests is membership in the secret societies of the NorthWest. Everywhere in North America, as the clan system loos
ens in rigidity, the Medicine Lodge or the Esoteric Fraternity
grows in importance. In its inception the medicine society is
seldom unrelated to the clan organization, but it breaks free

form of a ceremonial priesthood, as

in
or
that
of a tribal or inter-tribal religious
the
Pueblo,
among
order, as in the mystery societies of the Great Plains. Among
from

this either in the

the peoples of the North-West the fraternities have had a de

velopment of their own. Apparently they originated with the

Kwakiutl
a

tribes,

compromise or

among whom the

social organization

is

either

between the matrilinear

and the patriarchal family or

a transitional stage

clans of the northward stocks

Membership
village-groups of the southerly Coast-Dwellers.
in the secret societies is in a sense dependent upon heredity,
for certain of the tutelary spirits of the societies are supposed

to appear only to members of particular clans or families; but

with this restriction the influence of the clan upon society

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

246

membership ends. Perhaps no sharper indication of the differ

ence could be given than the very general custom of changing
the names of the society members, during the season of their
ceremonials, from their clan names to the spirit names given

them

20

the family system tem

porarily yields place to a mystic division into groups defined by
patron spirits, the genii or guardians of the societies.
at the time of their initiation;

These spirits are distinguished from the totems that mark

descent in that the latter are not regarded as giving continued
revelations of themselves: the totem appeared to the ancestor
mystery, which then became traditionary;
of the societies manifest themselves to, and indeed

and revealed

his

the spirits
must take possession of, every initiate; they still move among
men, and the ceremonials in their honour take place in the
winter season, when these supernatural beings are supposed to

be living in association with their neophytes. 39 The most

famed and dreaded of the secret society tutelaries is the Canni

whose votaries practise ceremonial anthropophagy, biting

the arms of non-initiates (in former times slaves were killed
and partly eaten). 19 Cannibals are common characters in the
myths of the North- West, as elsewhere; but the Cannibal of
bal,

the society is a particular personage who is supposed to dwell

in the mountains with his servants, the man-eating Grizzly

Bear and the Raven who feeds upon the eyes of the persons
his master has devoured, and who is a long-beaked bird
which breaks men s skulls and finds their brains a dainty morsel.

whom
The

cult of the Cannibal probably originated

tsuk Kwakiutl, whence

paratively recent times.
spirit, his gifts

and

disease.

able to
to

life

kill

fly,

after

it

among the

Heil-

passed to neighbouring tribes in com

of the North is a second

The Warrior

being prowess in war, and resistance to wounds

others are the Bird-Spirit which makes one

Still

and the ghosts who bestow the power of returning

being slain. The Dog-Eating Spirit, whose votaries

and eat a dog

as

they dance,

is

the inspirer of yet another

society with a wide-spread following.

The more potent

spirits

PLATE XXXI
Kwakiutl ceremonial masks.

Upper, an ancestral

or totemic double

mask, the bird mask, representing

the totem being opened out to show the inner manfaced mask.
Lower, mask representing the Sisiutl,
or double-headed and horned
After
serpent.
Plates
LX.
viii,
XLIX,

MAM

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

247

are regarded as malignant in character, but there are milder

beings and gentler forms of inspiration derived from the greater
powers, some of these latter types belonging to societies exclu
sively for

women.

The winter

ceremonials, accompanying initiations into the

secret societies, are the great festivals of the North-West.

They

are

made

the occasion for feasts,

mask dances

of the clan

honour of their totems, potlatches, with their rival

and varied forms of social activity and ceremonial puri-

initiates in
ries,

The central event, however, is the endowment of the

neophyte with the powers which the genius of the society is be

fication.

lieved to give.

The underlying

idea

is

5
shamanistic; the initiate

must be possessed by the spirit, which is supposed to speak and

act through him: he must become as glass for the spirit to
enter him, as one myth expressively states. The preparation
is various: sometimes he is sent into the wilder

of the novice

ness to seek his revelation; sometimes he is ceremonially killed

or entranced; but in every instance seizure by the controlling

the end sought. The Haida call this "the spirit speak
ing through" the novice; and an account of such possession
by the Cannibal Spirit, Ulala, is given by Swanton: "The one
spirit

is

who was

He

going to be initiated sat waiting in a definite place.

always belonged to the clan of the host s wife. When the

had danced around the fire awhile, he threw feathers upon

the novice, and a noise was heard in the chief s body. Then
the novice fell flat on the ground, and something made a noise
chief

inside of him.

So and so

fell

When

that happened, all the inspired said,

on the ground. A while after he went out of

Walala (the same as Ulala) acted through him.

novice was naked; but the spirit-companions wore dancing
skirts and cedar-bark rings, and held oval rattles (like those

the house.

The

used by shamans) in their hands. Wherever the novice went in,

the town people acted as if afraid of him, exclaiming, Hoy-hoyhoy-hoy hiya-ha-ha hoyi! Wherever he started to go in, the
spirit-companions went in
x -18

first in a

crowd. All the uninitiated

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

248

hid themselves; not so the others. When he passed in through

the doorway, he made his sound, Ap ap ap! At the same time

the Walala spirit made a noise outside. As he went around the

he held his face turned upward. In his mouth, too, some

fire

thing (a whistle) sounded. His eyes were turned over and

showed the whites." The cannibal initiate among the Kwakiutl
is

called

and Boas has recorded (Report

"hamatsa";

of the

United States National Museum, 1895, PP- 458-62) a number

of hamatsa songs which reveal the spirit of the society and its

than mere description. The poetry of the Northtribes, like their mythology, seems pervaded with a spirit

rites better

West

of rank gluttony, which naturally finds

pression in the cannibal songs:

its

most unveiled ex

Food

will be given to me, food will be given to me, because I ob

tained this magic treasure.
I am swallowing food alive: I eat living men.
I swallow wealth; I swallow the wealth that my father is giving
away [in the accompanying Potlatch].

This

an old song, and typical.

is

touch of sensibility and a

grimly imaginative repression of detail

Now

My face
I

in the following:

am

going to eat.
ghastly pale.
shall eat what is given to
I

is

is

Baxbakualanuchsiwae

is

me by

the Kwakiutl

Spirit,

and the appellation

mouth

of the

river,"

i.

Baxbakualanuchsiwae.

e.,

signifies

name

"the

first

in the north, the

for the

to eat

Cannibal

man

at the

ocean being con

ceived as a river running toward the arctic regions. In some

of the songs the cosmic significance of the spirit is clearly set
forth:
will be known all over the world; you will be known all over the
world, as far as the edge of the world, you great one who safely
returned from the spirits.
You will be known all over the world; you will be known all over
the world, as far as the edge of the world. You went to Bax
bakualanuchsiwae, and there you first ate dried human flesh.

You

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

You were

led to his cannibal pole, in the place of

and his house is our world.

You were led to his cannibal pole, which

is

249

honor

in his house,

the milky

way

of our

world.

You were

led to his cannibal pole at the right-hand side of our world.

From

the abode of the Cannibal, the Kwakiutl say, red

Sometimes the "cannibal pole" is the rainbow,
rather than the Milky Way; but the Cannibal himself is re

smoke

arises.

garded as living at the north end of the world (as is the case
with the Titanic beings of many Pacific-Coast myths), and it is
quite possible that he

originally a

war-god typified by the

A Tlingit belief holds that the souls of all who

Aurora Borealis.

meet

is

a violent death dwell in the heaven-world of the north,

by Tahit, who determines those that shall fall in battle,

what sex children shall be born, and whether the mother
shall die in child-birth. 10 The Aurora is blood-red when these
ruled

of

fighting souls prepare for battle,

and the Milky

Way

is

huge

tree-trunk (pole) over which they spring back and forth. Boas
is of opinion that the secret societies originated as warrior
fraternities

among

the Kwakiutl, whose two most famed tute-

the Cannibal and Winalagilis, the Warrior of the

North. Ecstasy is supposed to follow the slaying of a foe;
the killing of a slave by the Cannibal Society members is in
laries are

a sense a celebration of victory, since the slave is war booty;

and it is significant that in certain tribes the Cannibals merely

hold in their teeth the heads of enemies taken in war.

IV.

The
in the

THE WORLD AND

ITS

RULERS

usual primitive conception of the world

solid

form prevails

and round below and surmounted

firmament in the shape of an inverted bowl. As

North- West.

above by a

11

It

is

flat

the people of this region are Coast-Dwellers, Earth is regarded

as an island or group of islands floating in the cosmic waters.

The Haida have

a curious belief that the sky-vault rises

and

250

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

at regular intervals, so that the clouds at times strike

against the mountains, making a noise which the Indians say

falls

they can hear. The world above the firmament is inhabited,

and one Haida myth (which closely resembles the Pueblo
cosmogony) tells of Raven, escaping from the rising flood in
the earth below, boring his

way through

the firmament and

discovering five successive storeys in the world above; a fiverow town is the more characteristically North-West concep
tion, given in

another version.

The

Bella Coola believe that

there are five worlds, one above the other, two being heavenan
worlds, two underworlds, and our Earth the mid-world

arrangement which is of significance in their theology. Belief

in an underworld, and especially in undersea towns and coun
universal in this region; while the northern tribes all
regard the Earth itself as anchored in its mobile foundation by
a kind of Atlas, an earth-sustaining Titan. According to the

tries, is

Haida, Sacred-One-Standing-and-Moving, as he is called, is the

Earth-Supporter; he himself rests upon a copper box, which,
conceived as a boat; from his breast rises the
Pillar of the Heavens, extending to the sky; his movements are

presumably,

is

The

Bella Coola, following a myth

which is clearly of a South-Coast type, also believe in the EarthTitan, who is not, however, beneath the world, but sits in the

the cause of earthquakes.

distant east holding a stone bar to which the earth island is

fastened by stone ropes; when he shifts his hold, earthquakes

The Tsimshian and Tlingit deem the Earth-Sustainer

to be a woman. The earth, they say, rests upon a pillar in
7
charge of this Titaness, Old-Woman-Underneath; and when
the Raven tries to drive her from the pillar, earthquake follows.
The sun, moon, stars, and clouds are regarded as material

occur.

sometimes as mechanically connected with the firma

ment; sometimes as the dwellings of celestial creatures; some

things,

times, as in the South-West, as

masks

of these beings. 13

The

winds are personified according to their prevailing directions,

but there is little trace in the North-West of the four-square

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

251

31
conception of the world, amounting to a cult of the Quarters.
As might be expected among seafarers, tide-myths are common.

Among the southern tribes animal heroes

tail

of the

or flow

Wolf that owned the

by

raising or lowering

tides,

it.

movement
Mink who stole the

control the

of the sea, as in the Kwakiutl story of the

and caused them to ebb

In the north a different con

ception prevails the Haida regard the command of the tide as

the possession of an Old Man of the Sea, from whom the ebb
:

and flow were won by the craft of the Raven, who wished to
satisfy his gluttony on the life of the tide-flats; the same story
is

found among the Tlingit, who, however, also believe the

from and recede into a hole at the north end of

tide to issue

the world, an idea which

of an undersea

man who

is

similar to the Bella Coola notion

twice a day swallows and gives forth

the waters.

The

peopled by an uncountable
number of spirits or powers, whom the Tlingit call Yek. 3
According to one of Swanton s informants, everything has
universe so conceived

is

one principal and several subordinate spirits, "and this idea

seems to be reflected in shamans masks, each of which repre

main spirit and usually contains effigies of several

subsidiary spirits as well." There is a spirit on every trail, a
spirit in every fire, the world is full of listening ears and gazing
sents one

the eyes so conspicuous in the decorative emblems of

eyes
the North- West. Earth is full and the sea is full of the Keres
loosed

by Pandora, says Hesiod, and an anonymous Greek

how the air is so dense with them that there is no

tells

poet
chink or crevice between them; for the idea

is

universal to

mankind.
these spirits appear, up and down the Coast, almost
2
every type of being known to mythology. There are the oneeyed Cyclops, the acephalous giant with eyes in his breast;

Among

the bodiless but living heads and talking skulls, sea-serpents,

mermen, Circes, the siren-like singers of Haida lore, anthro

pophagi of

many

types,

Harpy-like birds, giants, dwarfs,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

252

treasure-wardens, witches, transformers, werefolk, ghosts, and

a multitude of genii locorum, to say nothing of magically

endowed animals,

and

birds,

The Haida even have

fishes.

a double nomenclature for the animal kinds; as "Gina teiga"

they are creatures of their several sorts, and the proper prey
of the hunter; as

might.

40

they are werefolk or manrace with their magic

"Sgana quedas"

beings, capable of assisting the

human

The Haida make another

interesting distinction be

tween the world-powers, classifying them, as their own tribes

are divided, into Ravens and Eagles; and they also arrange
the ruling potencies in a sort of hierarchy, sky, sea, and land
superior and subordinate powers.
greatest of these potencies is a true divinity, who is
6
Power-of-the-Shining-Heavens, and who, in a prayer

having each

The
named

its

recorded by Swanton, is thus addressed: "Power-of-the-Shin

ing-Heavens, let there be peace upon me; let not my heart be
sorry."

a legend

He
is

is

not, however, a deity of popular story, although

told of his incarnation.

Born

of a cockle-shell

which

a maiden dug from the beach, he became a mighty getter of

food; a picturesque passage tells how he sat "blue, broad and

high over the

sea";

said, "When the

it

and at

his final

sky looks

like

there will be no wind; in

me

my
(i.

departure for heaven, he

my father painted
my days) people will

face as

e.,

in

get their food." It is Power-of-the-Shining-Heavens who de

termines those that are to die, although Wigit, another celestial
the same as the Raven, is the one who apportions
the length of life of the new-born child, according as he draws
a long or a short stick from the faggot which he keeps for this
deity,

\K

who

is

purpose. The Tsimshian have a conception of the sky-god

similar to that of the Haida, their name for him being Laxha.
The idea of a Fate in the sky-world, deciding the life of

common

Tahit, the Tlingit

divinity of this type, has already been mentioned; and the
same
(Taxet, "the House Above") is recognized by the

men,

is

to the northern tribes.

god
Haida, though here he

is

the one

who

receives the souls of

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

253

by violence, rather than the determiner of death.

Bella Coola have an elaborate system of Fates. When

those slain

The

Senx creates the new-born

an assistant deity gives

child,

it its

individual features, while a birth goddess rocks it in a pre

natal cradle; and this is true also of animals whose skins and

and clothing of man. Death,

is
the
Bella
to
Coola,
predestined by the deities who
according
rule over the winter solstice (the season of the great cere

flesh are foreordained for the food

monies)

two

divinities stand at the ends of a plank,

like a seesaw, while the souls of

about them; and

as the

men and

rises or falls,

plank

balanced

animals are collected

the time of the pass

ing of the souls is decided.

It is among the Bella Coola that the hierarchic arrangement
of the world-powers has reached, apparently, the most system
atic

and conscious form on the North

Pacific.

As stated above,

this tribe separates the universe into five worlds or storeys,

two above and two below the

earth.

Qamaits, who is also called

of-Nothing." The house of this
7

sides

In the upper heaven re

AfraidWoman" and
"

"Our

goddess is in the east of the

treeless and wind-swept prairie which forms her domain, and
behind her home is the salt-water pond in which she bathes

and which forms the abode of the Sisiutl. In the beginning of

the world she is said to have waged war against the moun
tains, who made the world uninhabitable, and to have con
quered them and reduced them in height. Qamaits is regarded
as a great warrior, but she is not addressed in prayer, and her

and death. In the centre of

the lower heaven stands the mansion of the gods, called the
rare visits to earth cause sickness

House

13

Myths. Senx, the Sun, is master of this house, "the

Sacred One" and "Our Father" are his epithets; and it is to
him that the Bella Coola pray and make offerings. Almost
of

equal in rank to Senx is Alkuntam, who, with the sun, presided

over the creation of man. 70 Alkuntam s mother is described
as a Cannibal,

who

inserts her long snout into the ears of

and sucks out their brains.

men

She seems to be a personification

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

254

myth frequent throughout the Norththese insects spring from the ashes to which the Cannibal
reduced in the effort to destroy her. 37 Various inferior gods,

of the mosquito, for in a

West
is

including the Fates and the ten deities presiding over the great
ceremonies, dwell in the House of Myths; at the rear of it are
in the first of which lives the Cannibal, organizer of
the Cannibal Society, and in the second another ecstasy-giv
ing god: these two are the sons of Senx and Alkuntam. In

two rooms,

tercessors

and Messengers, Sun Guardians and Sky Guardians

to feed the sky continually with firewood),

the Flower Goddess, and the Cedar-Bark Goddess are other per

(whose business

it is

sonages of the Bella Coola pantheon. Four brothers, dwellers

in the House of Myths, gave man the arts, teaching him carv
ing and painting, the making of canoes, boxes, and houses,

and hunting. 69 They are continually engaged in carv

ing and painting, and seem to be analogous to the Master Car
penter, who often appears in Haida myths. Earth, in Bella

fishing,

Coola

lore, is

the

home

and

Animal Elders

of a multitude of spirits

in the

chiefly

ocean are similar beings, though

there seems to be no power corresponding to the Haida Nep

The two underworlds
tune, The-Greatest-One-in-the-Sea.

have their own raison d

nant

spirits,

who

etre,

the upper one belonging to reve-

are at liberty to return to heaven,

whence

they may be reborn on earth; and the lower being the abode
of those who die a second death, from which there is no re
lease.

18

V.

THE SUN AND THE MOON

13

The

place of sunrise, according to the Bella Coola, is guarded

Bear of Heaven, 52 a fierce warrior, inspirer of martial
the
by
zeal in man; and the place of sunset is marked by an enor

which supports the sky. The trail of the Sun is a

bridge as wide as the distance between the winter and summer
solstices; in summer he walks on the right-hand side of the
bridge, in winter on the left; the solstices are "where the sun

mous

pillar

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

255

sits down." Three guardians accompany the Sun on his course,

dancing about him; but sometimes he drops his torch, and then
an eclipse occurs.

Not many

Pacific-Coast tribes have as definite a concep

tion of the Sun as this, and generally speaking the orb of day
is

of less importance in the

myths of the northern than

of the southern stocks of the North- West. It

as a living being,

which can even be

slain,

is

in those

conceived both

and

as a material

carried by a Sun-Bearer. One

a torch or a mask
object
of the most wide-spread of North- Western legends is a Phaethon-like story of the Mink, son of the Sun, and his adventures

burden, the sun-disk. A woman becomes preg

nant from sitting in the Sun s rays; she gives birth to a boy,

with

his father

who grows with

can

marvellous rapidity, and who, even before he

mother that he wants a bow and ar

talk, indicates to his

rows; other children taunt him with having no father, but when
his mother tells him that the Sun is his parent, he shoots his

arrows into the sky until they form a ladder whereby he climbs
to the Sun s house; the father requests the boy to relieve him of
the sun-burden, and the boy, carelessly impatient, sweeps away
the clouds and approaches the earth, which becomes too hot
the ocean boils, the stones split, and all life is threatened;
whereupon the Sun Father casts his offspring back to earth

condemning him to take the form of the Mink. In some ver

sions the heating of the world results in such a conflagration
that those animal-beings who escape it, by betaking themselves
to the sea, are transformed into the men who thereafter people
It is obvious that in these myths we have a special
North-Western form of the legend of the Son of the Sun who
climbs to the sky, associated with the cataclysm which so fre

the earth.

quently separates the Age of Animals from that of Man.

A curious Kwakiutl tradition tells of a Copper given up by

the sea and accidentally turned so that the side bearing a pic
tured countenance lay downward; for ten days the sun failed
to rise or shine then the
:

Copper was

laid face

upward, and the

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

256

would seem from this that copper is

Other myths tell of a hero who marries
an underworld or undersea
a copper woman, whose home
is also made of copper. The connexion of the bones
mansion
of the dead with an abundance of food and mineral wealth
light again appeared.

It

associated with the sun.

would imply that the hero of this tale, Chief Wealthy, is a

kind of Pluto. One of the most widely disseminated of NorthWestern legends, in which the Raven is usually the principal
figure, tells of a

world.

The

time when darkness reigned throughout the

sun, or daylight,

was kept imprisoned

in a chest,

under the jealous protection of a chieftain. The hero of the

story realizes that daylight cannot be obtained by force, so he
enters the womb of the chieftain s daughter when she comes
to the spring for water; thence he is born, an infant insatiate
until he gets possession of the precious box, from which the
Salish version makes the Gull the guardian of
light is freed.

Raven wishes a thorn into the Gull s foot; then

he demands light to draw the thorn; and thus day and light

the chest; the

another tale (which seems to be derived

from the South- West) narrates how the Raven bored his way
are created.

Still

through the sky or persuaded the beings above to break

open, thus permitting sunlight to enter the world below.

The origin of fire 51

it

sometimes associated with the sun, as in

in a dream"
a Salish account which tells how men lived
without fire until the Sun took pity upon them and gave it to
them; but in very many North- Western myths the element is
is

"as

perhaps a remi
secured, curiously enough, from the ocean
niscence of submarine volcanoes. Thus another Salish story-

how the Beaver and the Woodpecker stole fire from

the Salmon and gave it to the ghosts; the Mink captured the
head of the ghost-chief and received fire as its ransom. Possibly
the salmon s red flesh may account for its connexion with the
recounts

igneous element, but the most plausible explanation of the fire

as the gift of the sea is in the popular tale which ascribes its
theft to the
An old man had a daughter who owned a
stag.

PLATE XXXII
Haida
Sun;

from tatu designs.

Upper left, the
Moon and Moon Girl. Central, left,

crests,

right,

Eagle; right, Sea-Lion.

After
Killer Whale.

Lower,

MAM

viii,

left,

Plate

Raven;

XXI.

right,

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

bow and

wonderful

257

arrow; in the navel of the ocean, a gigan

tic whirlpool, pieces of wood suitable for kindling were carried

about, and when the daughter shot her arrows into this mael
strom the wood was cast ashore, and her father lit a huge fire

and became

its

hair, entered

by

keeper; but the stag, concealing bark in his

craft, lay down by the flame as if to dry him

caught the spark, and made off with the treasure.

The Sun and the Moon are sometimes described as hus

self,

band and

wife,

and the Tlingit say that

eclipses are caused

by

the wife visiting her husband.

heaven," and
and eyelashes

it is

Again, they are the "eyes of

quite possible that the prominence of eyes

North-Western myth

in

is

associated primarily

with these heavenly bodies. The Sun s rays are termed his
eyelashes; one of the sky-beings recognized by the Haida is
called Great Shining

Heaven, and a row of little people is said

to be suspended, head down, from his eyelashes. The Haida,
Kwakiutl, and Tlingit believe that they see in the moon figure
a

girl with a bucket, carried thither by the Moon; and the

Kwakiutl have also a legend of his descent to earth, where
he made a rattle and a medicine lodge from an eagle s beak and
jaw, and with the power so won created men, who built him a

wonderful four-storeyed house, to be his servants. An interest

ing Tsimshian belief makes the Moon a kind of half-way house
to the heavens, so that whoever would enter the sky-world
must pass through the Home of the Moon. The Keeper of
this

abode

Keeper,

"I

"

will call,
will kill

is

Pestilence,

and with him are four hermaphrodite

When

dwarfs. 64

the quester appears, he must cry out to the

wish to be made fair and sound"; then the dwarfs

Come

hither,

him; but

if

come

If

hither!"

he passes on, he

is

he obeys them, they

8
A certain hero

safe.

his way to the Moon s House by the frequent mode of

the arrow ladder, and was there made pure and white as snow.
Finally the Keeper sent him back to the world, with the com

found

mand:

"Harken

to Earth.

what you

I rejoice

to see

shall teach

men upon

men when you

return

the Earth, for otherwise

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

258

there would be no one to pray to

me or to honor me.

need and

enjoy your worship. But when you undertake to do evil I will

thwart you. Man and wife shall be true to one another; ye
shall pray to me; and ye shall not look upon the Moon when
attending to nature s needs. I rejoice in your smoke. Ye shall
not spend the evening in riotous play. When you undertake
to do what I forbid I will deny you." This revelation of the

law

is

upon

a truly primitive mixture of morality and tabu, based

the do ut des relationship of god and man so succinctly

expressed in a Haida prayer recorded by Swanton:

to you for a whale; give one to me, Chief."

VI.

The most

"I

give this

THE RAVEN CYCLE 48

mythology of the
North-West is the cycle of legends of which the hero is the
the Yetl of the Northern tribes. Like Coyote in
Raven
the tales of the interior, Raven is a transformer and a trickster
half demiurge, half clown; and very many of the stories that
characteristic feature of the

are told of Coyote reappear almost unchanged with Raven as

their hero; he is in fact a littoral and insular substitute for

Coyote.
Nevertheless, he

he

is

greedy,

is

selfish,

licentiousness

is

He is engaged in an in
never got full," says a Tlingit
he had eaten the black spots off of his own toes.
his prevailing vice.

satiable food-quest:
teller, "because

given a character of his own. Like Coyote,

and treacherous, but gluttony rather than
"Raven

He

learned about this after having inquired everywhere for

some way of bringing such a state about. Then he wandered

through
of
els

in

all

the world in search of things to

Raven form the

eat."

The journeys

most of the myths; he trav

from place to place, meets animals of every description, and
contests of wit usually succeeds in destroying and eating
chief subject of

them or in driving them off and securing their stores of food.

As is the case with Coyote, he himself is occasionally over-

THE PACIFIC

COAST,

NORTH

come, but always manages to make good

259
even

his escape,

(again like Coyote) returning to life after having been slain.

touch of characteristic humour is added to his portrait by
the derisive "Ka, ka," with which he calls back to his oppon

ents as he

frequently through the smoke-hole, to

away

flies

which he owes

his blackness,

having once been uncomfortably

detained in this aperture.

Despite all their ugliness and clownishness, the acts of Raven

have a kind of fatefulness attached to them, for their conse

quence
of

is

the establishment of the laws that govern life, alike

Haida epithet for Raven is He-Whoseanimals.

men and

Voice-is-Obeyed, because whatever he told to happen came to

pass, one of his marked traits being that his bare word or even
his unexpressed wish

a creative act.

is

In one Haida version

a suggestion of Genesis in the. Raven s creative laconism: "Not long ago no land was to be seen. Then there was a

there

is

little

thing on the ocean. This was

sat

upon

He

this.

all

sea.

open

And Raven

Become dust. And it became Earth."

says, make a distinction between the
the truly crea
portion of the Raven story
*

said,

The Haida, Swanton

events in the

first

will

first

and the mad adventures of the

tive acts

division

is

called

"the

not allow the young

old

men

man

later anecdotes

story,"

to laugh while

and the

the

chiefs

it is

being told,
the
latter
hilarity being permissible only during
part.

Raven
is

is

an object of worship, although it

former times people sometimes left food on the

not, apparently,

said that in

beach for him. Rather he is numbered among those heroes of

the past about whom indecorous tales may be narrated without
sullying the spirit of reverence which attaches to the regnant
a
gods. One of the most comprehensive of Raven stories

Tlingit version

states that at the beginning of things there

was no daylight; the world was

in darkness. 15

lived Raven-at-the-Head-of-Nass,

who had

In this period
house the

in his

sun, moon, stars, and daylight. With him were two aged men,
Old -Man -Who -Foresees -All -Trouble-in-the- World and He-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

260

Who-Knows-Everything-that-Happens, while Old-Woman-UnRaven-at-the-Head-of-Nass

derneath was under the world.
had a sister, who was the mother of many children, but they
died young, the reason, according to the legend, being the
jealousy of her brother, who did not wish her to have any male
all

Advised by Heron, who had already been created,

she circumvented his malicious intent by swallowing a redhot stone, as a consequence of which she gave birth to Yetl,
the Raven, who was as hard as rock and so tough that
offspring.

he could not easily be

killed.

Nascakiyetl (Raven-at-theHead-of-Nass) thereupon made Raven the head man over theNascakiyetl appears as the true creator in this myth,
however, for it is he who brought mankind into existence.
world.

He

undertook to make people out of a rock and a leaf at the

same time, but the rock was slow and the leaf quick; there
fore human beings came from the latter. Then the creator"
showed a leaf to the new race and said, "You see this leaf.
You are to be like it. When it falls off the branch and rots J
And so death came into the world. 16
there is nothing left of
it."

striking Tsimshian myth

tells

how

woman

died in the

throes of child-birth; how her child lived in her grave, nour

ished by her body; how he later ascended to heaven, by means

Woodpecker s wings, and married the Sun s daughter; and

her child by him was cast down to earth and adopted by
a chieftain there, but abandoned because the gluttonous in
fant ate the tribe out of provisions; this child was the Raven.
Usually, however, the myth begins abruptly with the wander
ing Raven. The world is covered with water and Raven is

of

how

seeking a resting-place.

upon which he

From

a bit of flotsam or a rocky islet

alights he creates the earth.

His adventures,

creative in their consequences rather than in intention, follow.

He steals the daylight and the sun, moon, and stars from an

old

man who

keeps them in chests or sacks and

who seems

to be a kind of personification of primeval night, Raven s

mode of theft being to allow himself to be swallowed by the

PLATE XXXIII
Chilkat blanket.

Whale

Killer

two
teeth

in

kites

as a
design is interpreted
Above the lower fringe are

The

motive.

Above

profile.

of the whale, whose

these

the

mouth and

nostrils are central in the

the figure
eyes are just above,
the
blowhole,
between them representing water from
The
face.
human
central
the
indicated
is
which
by
the
is denoted by the upper face,
body of the whale

mouth.

figures
fins.

tail;

The whale

on either

side

of the two faces representing

the lobes of the whale s

The upper eyes represent

the figure between them, the dorsal

MAM

iii,

Plate

XXVII.

fin.

After

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

261

daughter, from whom he is born again. He steals

water from its guardian, the Petrel, and creates the rivers and

old

man

streams, and he forces the tide-keeper to release the tides. He

captures fire from the sea and puts it in wood and stone for the

use of man.

He

seizes

and opens the chest containing the

fish

that are to inhabit the sea, also creating fish by carving their
images in wood and vivifying them; or he carries off the Sal

mon

s daughter and throws her into the water, where she be

comes the parent of the salmon kind. 41 In addition he enters
the belly of a great fish, where he kindles a fire, but his everpresent greed causes him to attack the monster s heart, thereby

he wishes the carcass ashore, and is released by the

people who cut up its body. In some versions the walrus is
Raven s victim, the story being a special North- West form of
killing it;

by the monster, which is found

North America. Finally, in various ways
he is responsible for the flood which puts an end to the Age
of Animal Beings and inaugurates that of Men. 49 A Haida
the

myth

of the hero swallowed

from ocean to ocean

in

legend repeats the Tlingit tale of the jealous uncle, who is

here identified with the personified Raven, Nankilstlas (He-

Whose-Voice-is-Obeyed). The sister gives birth to a boy, as

a result of swallowing hot stones, but the uncle plots to de
stroy the child, and puts on his huge hat (the rain-cloud?),
from which a flood of water pours forth to cover the earth.
The infant transforms himself into Yetl, the Raven, and flies
heavenward, while the hat of Nankilstlas rises with the inun
dation; but when Yetl reaches the sky, he pushes his beak
into it and, with his foot upon the hat, presses Nankilstlas
back and drowns him. This tale appears in many forms in
the North-West, the flood-bringing hat often belonging to the

After the deluge, the surviving beings of the first

are
transformed
into animals, human beings are created,
age
with their several languages, and the present order of the world

Beaver.

is

established

all

as in Californian

myths.

version of events, in a Kwakiutl story,

tells

One curious in
how the ante-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

262

diluvian wolves, after the subsidence of the

flood, took off their

wolf-masks and became

VII.

SOULS

human

46

beings.

AND THEIR POWERS

In no section of America

the belief in possession

by spirits
spiritistic powers more deeply seated than in the NorthWest shamanism is the key to the whole conception of life
is

and

which animates myth and rite. Scarcely any idea connected

with spiritualism is absent: stories of
are fre

soul-journeys
quent, while telepathic communication, prophetic forewarnings
of death and disaster, and magic cures
through spirit aid are

a part of the scheme of nature; there are accounts of

crystalgazing, in which all lands and events are revealed in the trans

lucent stone, which recurs again and

again as a magic object;
and there are tales of houses haunted by shadows and
feathers,

of talking skulls and bones that are

living beings
and of children born of the dead, which are only

human. There
veloped

is

by

night,

abortively
also a kind of psychology which is well de

among some

tribes. 20

whole or hale being:

"Why

You who

men

take away

The disembodied

soul is not a
an
making
uproar, ghosts?
reason!" is a
fragment of Kwakiutl

are you

song; and a certain story tells how a sick girl, whose heart was
painted, went insane because the colouring was applied too
two of these
strongly. The Haida have three words for
apply to the incarnate soul, and are regarded as synonyms;
"soul";

the third designates the disembodied soul,

although the latter
is not the same as the
a distinct
ghost, which is marked

name.

mind
when we
for

by

curious feature of Haida psychology is that the word

is the same as that for throat
less strange, perhaps,

upon the importance of speech in any descrip

mind s most distinctive power, that of reason.

reflect

tion of the

The

A Tlingit
origin of death is explained in many ways.
has
been
and
a Nootka tale tells of a chieftain
story
given,
who

kept eternal

16

life

in a chest;

men

tried to steal it

from him

THE PACIFIC COAST, NORTH

and almost succeeded, but

their final failure

263

doomed them

to

A significant Wikeno (Kwakiutl) myth recounts the

descent from heaven of two ancestral beings who wished to
endow men with everlasting life, but a little bird wished death
mortality.

into the world:

"Where

will I

dwell,"

he asked,

"if

ye always

would build my nest in your graves and warm me."

The two offered to die for four days, and then arise from the
tomb; but the bird was not satisfied, so finally they concluded
to pass away and be born again as children. After their death
they ascended to heaven, whence they beheld men mourning
live?

them; whereupon they transformed themselves into drops of

blood, carried downward by the wind. Sleeping
breathe these drops and thence bear children.

The abodes
sea

is

women

in

dead are variously placed. 10 Beneath the

one of the most frequent, and there is an interesting story

telling of the

of the

waters parting and the ghost, in the form of a

young man who sat fasting beside

butterfly, rising before a

the waters.

The Haida

believe that the

drowned go to

live

with

whales; those who perish by violence pass to Taxet s

house in the sky, whence rebirth is difficult, though not impos

the

killer

sible for

an adventurous

soul; while those

who

die in the sick

bed pass to the Land of Souls

a shore land, beyond the
with
innumerable
each
with its town, just as in
waters,
inlets,
their

own

selves to

country. Although the dying could decide for them

in the Land of Souls they wished their

what town

own

spirits to go, there is occasionally, nevertheless, an appor

tionment of the future abode on a moral basis; thus, in Tlingit
myth, after Nascakiyetl has created men, he decrees that when

the souls of the dead come before him, he will ask: "What were
you killed for? What was your life in the world?" Destiny is

determined by the answer; the good go to a Paradise above;

the wicked and witches are reborn as dogs and other animals.
The Bella Coola assign the dead to the two lower worlds, from
the upper of which alone is return possible through reincarna
tion.

An

old

19

woman who,

in trance,

had seen the

spirit world,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

264
described

When

it

it is

as stretching along the

summer

in the

banks of a sandy

world above,

it is

river.

winter in the earth

below (an idea which appears in Hopi conceptions of the world

order); and the ghosts, too, are said to walk with their heads

downward.

a different language from that in the

each soul receives a new name on entering

They speak

world above, and

the lower realms.

The ever-recurring and ever-pathetic story of the dead wife

the tale of Orpheus
and of her grieving lord s quest for her
53
and Eurydice
appears in various forms in the North- West.
Sometimes it is the story of a vain journey, without even a
sight of the beloved, though the Land of the Dead be dis
covered; sometimes the searcher is sent back with gifts, but
not with the one sought; sometimes the legend is made a part
of the incident of the carved wife
the bereaved husband

making a statue of the lost spouse, which may show a dim

and troubled life, as if her soul were seeking to break through
to him; and again it is the true Orphean tale with the partial
success, the tabu broken through anxiety or love, and the spirit

wife receding once more to the lower world. It is not necessary

to invoke the theory of borrowings for such a tale as this the
;

elemental fact of
will explain

it.

human

grief

and yearning

Doubtless a similar universality in

ture and a similar likeness in

human

for the multitude of other conceptions

universe of the

for the departed

men

fundamentally and

of the Old

experiences will account

which make the mythic

World and the men

essentially one.

human na

of the

New

NOTES

NOTES
I. SPELLING.
Kabluna (kavdlundk, qadluna are variants) is
the Eskimo s word for "white man"; kablunait is the plural. Simi
larly, tornit (tunnit) is the plural of tunek (tuniq, tunnek}\ tornait of
tornak (tornaq, tornat); angakut of angakok, other forms of which are

angekkok, angatkuk, angaqok, etc. These differences in spelling are

due in part to dialectic variations in Eskimo speech, in part to the
phonetic symbols adopted by investigators. Their number in a
language comparatively so stable as is Eskimo illustrates the diffi
culties which beset the writer on American Indian subjects in choos
ing proper representation for the sounds of aboriginal words. These
difficulties arise from a number of causes. In the first place, aboriginal
tongues, having no written forms, are extremely plastic in their
phonetics. Dialects of the same language vary from tribe to tribe;
within a single tribe different clans or families show dialectic pecu
liarities; while individual pronunciation varies not only from man to
man but from time to time. In the second place, the printed records
vary in every conceivable fashion. Divergent systems of trans
literation are employed by different investigators, publications, and
ethnological bureaux; translations from French and Spanish have
introduced foreign forms into English; usage changes for old words
later times; and finally few men whose writings are
extensive adhere consistently to chosen forms; indeed, not infre
quently the form for the same word varies in an identical writing.

from early to

In formulating rules of spelling for a general work, a number of

considerations call for regard. First, it is undesirable even to seek
to follow the phonetic niceties represented by the more elaborate

which represent sound-material unknown in

English or other European tongues.
Aboriginal phonetics is impor
tant to the student of linguistics; it is unessential to the student
transliterative systems,

of mythology; and it is detrimental to that literary interest which

seeks to make the mythological conceptions available to the general
reader; for the mythologist or the literary artist a symbol conform
ing to the genius of his own tongue is the prime desideratum. In
the light of these considerations the following rules of spelling for

aboriginal terms have been adopted for the present work:

(i) In the spelling of the names of tribes and linguistic stocks the
usage of the Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (jo

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

268

has been chosen as the standard. The same form (as a rule)
used for the singular and for the collective plural; also, frequently,

BBE)
is

for the adjective.

Where

a term

has attained, through considerable usage, a

form,
especially if this has literary (as distinct
frequent English
from scientific) sanction, such form is preferred. This rule is neces
sarily loose and difficult to apply. Thus the term manito, which has
(2)

almost equally well known under the French

is the warrant of
geographical usage.
Again, Manabozho is preferred to Nanabozho (used for the title of
the article in jo BBE) for the reason that Manabozho is more widely
employed in non-technical works.
(3) In adaptations of transliterations all special characters are
rendered by an approximation in the Anglo-Roman alphabet and
all except the most familiar diacritical marks are omitted. This is
an arbitrary rule, but in a literary sense it seems to be the only one

many

variants,

is

form manitou, for which there

possible.

Vowels have the Italian values. Thus tipi replaces the older
Changes of this type are not altogether fortunate, but
the trend of usage is clearly in this direction. In a few cases (notably
from Longfellow s Hiawatha} older literary forms are kept.
2. MONSTERS.
Monstrous beings and races occur in the my
thology of every American tribe, and with little variation in type.
There are: (a) manlike monsters, including giants, dwarfs, cannibals,
and hermaphrodites; (b) animal monsters, bird monsters, water
monsters, etc.; (c) composite and malformed creatures, such as oneeyed giants, headless bodies and bodiless heads, skeletons, persons
half stone, one-legged, double-headed, and flint-armoured beings,
(4)

form

teepee.

harpies, witches, ogres, etc. As a rule, these creatures are in the

nature of folk-lore beings or bogies. In some cases they have a clearcut cosmologic or cosmogonic significance; thus, myths of Titans

and Stone Giants are usually cosmogonic in meaning; legends of

serpents and giant birds occur especially in descriptions of atmos
pheric and meteorological phenomena; the story of the hero swal
lowed by a monster is usually in connexion with the origin of ani
mals.

See Notes

9,

12,

19, 32, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 49, 50, 64.

The

Ch.
principal text references are: Ch. I. i (cf. RINK, Nos. 54, 55).
II. vii.
Ch. IV. vi (MOONEY [b], pp. 325-49).
Ch. V. ii QETTE
Ch. VII. ii (LowiE [b], Nos. 10-15, 31; TEIT [a], Nos. 29-30;
[a]).
Ch. VIII. i, ii.
Ch. IX. vi (GUSHING [c],
POWELL, pp. 45-49).

LUMMIS, VOTH).
3. ANIMISM.
of

Ch.

XL

iv.

The Eskimo s Inue belong to that universal group

elementary powers commonly called "animistic," though some

writers object to this

term on the ground that

it

implies a clear-cut

NOTES

269

spiritism in aboriginal conceptions (cf. Clodd, Hartland, et al., in

Transactions of the Third International Congress for the History of
Religions, Oxford, 1908; Marett, Threshold of Religion, London, 1909;
"Preanimistic Religion," in Contemporary Review, 1909; see

Lang,

ARBE,

also, Powell, I

sense of

"breath,"

pp. 29-33).
no other

"wind,"

Taking anima in its primitive

word seems really preferable as

a description of the ancient notion of indwelling lives or powers in

The American
if that term be preferred.
all things,
"panzoism,"
forms under which this idea appears are many, manito, orenda, and
wakanda being the terms most widely known. The application of
the words varies somewhat, (a) Manito, the Algonquian name, desig
nates not only impersonal powers, but frequently personified beings,
(b) Orenda, an Iroquoian term, is applied to powers, considered as
attributes, (c) Wakanda, the Siouan designation, connotes, in the

main, impersonal powers, though it is sometimes used of individuals,

and apparently also for the collective or pantheistic power of the
world as a whole. Usually in Indian religion there is some sense of
the difference between a personality as a cause and its power as an
attribute, but in myths the tendency is naturally toward lively per
Cf. Note 4. Text references: Ch. I. iii (inua, plural
sonification.
man" or "owner").
inue, is cognate with inuk, "man," and means
Ch. II. iii (BRINTON [a], p. 62; HEWITT [a], pp. 134, 197, note a;
Ch. V. ii (JETTE [a], [b]); iv (FLETCHER
JR v. 157, 175; Ixvi. 233 if.).
Ch. VIII. i (MATTHEWS [a]).
and LA FLESCHE, pp. 597-99).
Ch. XI. ii (BOAS [f]; SWANTON [a], chh. viii, ix); iv
Ch. X. v.
"its

(SWANTON
4.

[e],

p. 452).

MEDICINE.

The term

"medicine"

has

come

to be applied

in a technical sense to objects and practices controlling the animistic

powers of nature, as the Indian conceives them. "Medicine" is,

therefore, in the nature of private magical property. It may exist

in the form of a song or spell known to the owner, in the shape of a

symbol with which he adorns his body or his possessions, or in the

guise of a material object which is kept in the "medicine-bag," in
the "sacred bundle," or it may be present in some other fetishistic
form. It may appear in a "medicine dance" or ceremony, or in a
system of

rites

and practices known to a

"medicine

lodge"

or so

On

ciety. The essential idea varies from fetishism to symbolism.

the fetishistic level is the regard for objects themselves as sacred

and powerful, having the nature of charms or talismans.

Such

be personal belongings
the contents of the "medicineetc. (sometimes even subject to barter)
or they may be
bag,"
tribal or cult possessions, such as the sacred poles and sacred bundles

fetishes

may

of the Plains tribes, or the fetish images, masks, and sacra of the
Pueblo and North- West stocks; a not infrequent form is the sacred

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

270
drum

or rattle.

Symbolism

is

rarely absent even

from the

fetishistic

object, and usually the fetish is lost in the symbol, which is the
token of the union of interests between its owner and his "helper,"
or tutelary. It is in this latter sense, as designating the relation

between the owner and his guardian or tutelary, that the Algonquian term "totem" is most used. The totem is not a thing mate
rially owned, as is the fetish; it is a spirit or power, frequently an
animal-being, which has been revealed to the individual in vision as
his tutelary, or which has come to him by descent, his whole clan
participating in the right. The Tornait of the Eskimo belong to this
Viatter class; the word "totem," however, is not used in connexion
^with such guardians, and indeed is now mainly restricted to the tutelaries of clans, right to which passes by inheritance.
Text references:
Ch. V. v (DE SMET, pp. 1068-69).
Ch. VII. vi. Ch. I. iii.
Ch. IX. iii (GUSHING [a]; M. C. STEVENSON [cjj FEWKES, passim).
The terms applied to Indian priests and wonder
5. SHAMANISM.
workers are many, but they do not always bear a clear distinction
of meaning.

The word

"shaman"

is

especially

common

in

works on

the Eskimo and the North- West tribes; "medicine-man" is used

very largely with reference to the eastern and central tribes; "priest"
is particularly frequent in descriptions of Pueblo institutions.
In
general, the following definitions represent the distinctions implied:
wonder-worker and healer directly inspired by a
(a) Shaman.

or group of such powers, "shamanism" signify

ing the recognition of possession by powers or spirits as the primary
modus operandi in all the essential relations between man and the
"medicine "-power,

world-powers.
(b) Medicine-Man, Doctor. Not radically different from shaman,
though the employment of naturalistic methods of healing, such as

the use of herbal medicines, the sweat-bath, crude surgery, etc., is

often implied, especially where the term "doctor" is employed.
(c) Priest. One authorized to preside over the celebration of tradi
tional ceremonies. Such persons must be initiates in the society or
body owning the rites, which are sometimes shamanistic in char
acter, though more frequently the shaman is supposed to get his
powers as the result of an individual experience.
Every degree of relationship is found for these offices. In tribes
of low social organization (e. g. the Eskimo and the Californians)
the shaman is the man of religious importance; in tribes with well

developed traditional rites the priestly character is frequently com

bined with the shamanistic (as in the North- West); still other peo
ples (as the Pueblo) elevate the priest far above the medicine-man,
who may be simply a doctor, or medical practitioner, or who, on
the shamanistic level, may be regarded as a witch or wizard, with

NOTES

271

reputation. The tendency toward formal and hereditary

is naturally confined to the socially advanced peoples
the
Creek and Pueblo are examples), while "mystery"
whom
(of
societies and ceremonies, the aim of which is spiritual and physical

an

evil

priesthoods

well-being,

and often material prosperity

in addition,

occur in

all

but the lowest tribal stocks. The principal text references are: Ch.
Ch. IV. vii (MOONEY [b], p. 392).
Ch. VI. vi (G. A.
I. iii.
Ch. VII. vii (MOONEY [d], for trans
DORSET [b], pp. 46-49).
Ch. VIII. iv (MATTHEWS [a],
lated songs, pp. 958-1012, 1052-55).
"Natinesthani," "The Great Shell of Kintyel"; [c], "The Vision
ary,"

"So,"

STEVENSON,
[a],

Nos.

"The
"The

Stricken

Floating

18, 22, 23).

62-67, 289-90;

FEWKES

Twins,"

"The

Whirling

Logs,"

"The

Brothers";

Ch. IX.
[a],

iii

Logs";

(M. C. STEVENSON
Ch. X. ii.

pp. 310-11).

cf.

JAMES

GODDARD
pp. 32-33,

[c],

Ch. XI.

iii

(SWANTON [a], pp. 163-64; BOAS [f]).

The Greenlander
6. GREAT SPIRIT.

s Tornarsuk is another ex
for
which Lang so astutely
supreme
being
ample
argued (Myth, Ritual and Religion, 3d ed., London, 1901, Introd.),
citing Atahocan and Kiehtan as early instances. Writers on Ameri
can Indian religion frequently assert that the idea of a "Great
is not aboriginal (cf. Brinton [a], p. 69; Fewkes [f], p. 688).
Spirit"
Thus Morgan (Appendix B, sect. 62): "The beautiful and elevating
conception of the Great Spirit watching over his red children from
the heavens and pleased with their good deeds, their prayers, and
their sacrifices, has been known to the Indians only since the Gospel
of Christ was preached to them." Yet in the section just preceding,
on Indian councils, he says: "The master of ceremonies, again ris
ing to his feet, filled and lighted the pipe of peace from his own fire.
Drawing three whiffs, one after the other, he blew the first toward
the zenith, the second toward the ground, and the third toward the
Sun. By the first act he returned thanks to the Great Spirit for the
preservation of his life during the past year, and for being permitted

of the faineant

to be present at this council. By the second, he returned thanks to

his Mother, the Earth, for her various productions which had minis

And by the third, he returned thanks to the

for his never-failing light, ever shining upon all."
one ques
tions the aboriginal character of this pipe ritual, its pre-Columbian
tered to his sustenance.

No

Sun

antiquity, or

its

universality

(cf., e. g.,

De

Smet, Index,

"Calumet");

and equally there is abundant evidence that Morgan s interpreta

tion of its meaning is correct: the first whiff is directed to the Great
Spirit, the Master of Life, whose abode is the upper heaven. Very
commonly this being is referred to as "Father Heaven," and invari
ably he is regarded as beneficent and all-seeing, and as "pleased
with the good deeds of his red children." The only truth in the as-

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

272

s idea of a Great Spirit is derived from white

that the Indian conception is less anthropomorphic
than that commonly entertained by an unphilosophic white (though
it is one that would have been readily comprehended by the Stoics
of antiquity, and would not have seemed remote to the thought of
Plato or Aristotle). If a separation of ideas be made, and the Bibli
cal epithet "Heavenly Father" be understood for what it doubtless
originally was, a name for a being who was (i) the sky-throned ruler
of the world, and (2) its creator, a better comprehension of Indian

sertion that the Indian

missionaries

is

ideas will follow; for

it is

rare in

America to

find Father

Heaven

in

the creative role (the Zurii and Californian cosmogonies are excep
tions). It is partly for this reason that he plays so small a part
hi myth; he belongs to religion rather than to mythology proper.
Lang is probably wrong in regarding the Supreme Being as faineant,
a do-nothing; occasionally the Indian expresses himself to this

but no one can follow the detail of Indian ritual without

being impressed by his intense reverence for the Master of Life and
his firm conviction in his goodness. That the Indian more often
addresses prayer to the intermediaries between himself and the
effect,

ruler of the high heaven, or makes offerings to them,

as that a Latin should approach his familiar saints.

is

as natural

particularly

bit of evidence, if more were needed, for the aboriginal char

acter of the heaven-god is given by Swanton ([a], p. 14). "TrieChief-Above" is the Haida name for God, as taught them by the

good

"

is
their aboriginal
Power-of-the-Shining-Heavens
Masset people once fell to comparing The-Chief-Above
"

missionaries;

Zeus: "Some
with Power-of-the-Shining-Heavens in
they were not the same. The idea that

my
I

presence.

They

said

formed of their attitude

being was, that, just as human beings could receive

be possessed by supernatural beings, and supernatural
beings could receive power from other supernatural beings, so the
whole of the latter got theirs in the last analysis from the Power-ofin space with
the-Shining-Heavens." The same idea of a hierarchy

toward

this

power

or

the heaven-god at
in the

its

summit appears

Hako Ceremony, and

in the ritual of the

in the Olelbis

Midewiwin,
myth. These are only a

few instances from different parts of the continent; there are numer
ous other examples, for wherever the breath of Heaven is identi
fied with the descent of life from on high, and the light of day is
regarded as the symbol of blessings bestowed upon man, the con
ception of Father Heaven, the Great Spirit, is found. See Notes 13,
iii (cf. BOAS [a], p. 583:
15, 25, 26, 30, 34, 63. Text references: Ch. I.
believe in the Tornait of the old Green"The Central Eskimo
landers, while the Tornarsuk (i. e. the great Tornaq of the latter)
Ch. II. ii (JR xxxiii. 225); iv (see Note
is unknown to them").
.

NOTES

273

Ch. V. iii (FLETCHER, pp. 27, 216, 243); iv (MORICE [b];

Ch. IX.
Ch. VII. v.
SMET, p. 936; EASTMAN [b], pp. 4-6).
iii (M. C. STEVENSON
Ch. X. iii (KROEBER [c],
[c], pp. 22-24).
pp. 184, 348; [e], p. 94; GODDARD [b], No. i; GATSCHET [c], p. 140;
CURTIN [a]; [b], pp. 39-45).
Ch. XL iv (SWANTON [a], pp. 13-15,
28).

DE

190;
7.

[b], p.

284;

[c],

GODDESSES.

pp. 26-30).

There are several occurrences

in

North Ameri

can mythology of a goddess as the supremely important deity of a

pantheon. Nerrivik, "Food Dish," is the epithet given by Rasmussen to the divinity called Arnarksuagsak, "Old Woman," by Rink,
Arnakuagsak by Thalbitzer, and Sedna and Nuliajoq by Boas. Her
character as the ruler of sea-food sufficiently accounts for her impor
tance in the far North. A somewhat similar goddess appears among
the North- West Coast tribes; she is the owner of the food animals
of the sea which come forth from a chest that is always full (Boas

Foam Woman, the Haida ancestral divinity, is perhaps

[g], xx. 7).
the same personage. The Bella Coola deity, Qamaits, who dwells
in the highest heaven, belongs to a different class; apparently she is
the one example of a truly supreme being in feminine form in North
America, for she is a cosmic creator and ruler rather than a foodgiver; on the other hand, the fact that she has a lake of salt water
as her bath may indicate a marine origin. In the South- West god
desses are important both in

cosmogony and

in cult.

There

is

no

higher personage in the Navaho pantheon than Estsanatlehi, and

her doublets in Pueblo myth enjoy nearly equal rank. Again it is
her association with food-giving from which this goddess derives
her status, for in the South- West the Great Goddess of the West
presides over the region

whence come the

Cosalmost every instance

as personifications of the Earth, which in turn is almost universally
recognized as the great giver of life and food. See Notes 34, 35, 43.
Text references: Ch. I. iii (cf. RASMUSSEN, pp. 142, 151; RINK, p. 40;
BOAS [a], pp. 583-87).
Ch. VI. vii.
Ch. VIII. i (MATTHEWS
Ch. IX. v (see Note 35 for references), vi.
Ch. XL ii:
[a]).
The marine god of the North- West Coast is a masculine equivalent

mogonic Titanesses occur

of Sedna (BOAS

in

many myths,

fructifying rains.

in

passim}; iv (BOAS [j], pp. 27-28).

Descriptions of the dangers besetting
the journey to the Land of Spirits, whether for the dead souls that
are to return no more, the adventurous spirits of shamans, or the
still more daring heroes of myth who seek to traverse the way in the
flesh, are found in practically all Indian mythologies. The analogues
with Old- World myth will occur to every reader. The special perils
associated with the moon in journeys to the sky-world are interest
8.

[f],

p. 374; [g],

THE PERILOUS WAY.

ingly similar in Greenland and on the North- West Coast.

Cf.

Notes

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

274

Text references: Ch. I. iii, iv.

Ch. III. vii (JR vi. 181;
Ch. VII. vi.
Ch.
CONVERSE, pp. 51-52; DE SMET, p. 382).
Ch.
v.
Ch. X. vi.
VIII. ii.
There is a striking similarity in the per
9. WATER MONSTERS.
sonnel of the mythic sea-powers among the Eskimo and on the
North- West Coast, nearly every type of being in the one group hav
mermen, phantom boatmen, mouthing its equivalent in the other
10, 42, 53.

XL

prowed and

Nowhere

living boats, and, most curious of all, the Fire-People.

else in North America, except for the Nova Scotian Mic-

mac, has any considerable body of marine myths been preserved.

Everywhere, however, there are well defined groups of under-water
beings, sometimes reptilian or piscine, sometimes human in form.
Among the important myths in which under-water monsters are
conspicuous are: (a) the common legend of a hero swallowed by a
huge fish or other creature (not always a water-being; cf. Note 41),
from whose body he cuts his way to freedom, or is otherwise released;
(b) the flood story, in which the hero s brother, or companion, is
dragged down to death by water monsters which cause the deluge

when the hero

takes revenge upon them (see Note 49); (c) the

South- Western myth of the subterranean water monster who threat
ens to inundate the world in revenge for the theft of his two children,
and who is appeased only by the sacrifice of other two children or of
a youth and a maid (cf. Note 29). Text references: Ch. I. iv (RiNK,
Ch. II. vii.
Ch. III. iv.
Ch.
p. 46; RASMUSSEN, pp. 307-08).
IV. vi (MOONEY [b], pp. 320, 349).
Ch. V. ix (J. O. DORSEY [d],
Ch. VIII. i.
Ch.
p. 538; FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE, p. 63).

X.

iv.

ABODE OF THE DEAD.

Cavernous underworlds, houses in
heaven, the remotely terrene village beyond the river, or the earthly
town on the other side of the western sea are all included in the
American s mythic homes of the dead. In the Forest and Plains
regions a western village, situated beyond a river which the living
cannot cross even if they win to its banks, is perhaps the most
common idea, though throughout this portion of the continent the
Milky Way is the "Pathway of Souls." In the South- West the sub
terranean land of souls is usual, and on the Pacific the spirits of the
dead are supposed to fare to oversea isles; but nowhere is there great
10.

consistency of belief.

The

classes of people finds

what

idea of divergent destinies for different

is doubtless its most primitive form in

the notion that those

who

die

women

by

violence, especially in war,

and

have a separate abode in the after-life. The

Eskimo, Tlingit, and Haida place the dwelling-place of persons so
dying in the skies, and it is interesting to note that the same dis
tinction was observed by the Aztecs, who believed that men dying
in child-birth

NOTES

275

in battle, persons sacrificed to the gods (except underworld gods),

in child-birth all went to the house of the Sun,

and women dead

others to a subterranean Hades.

The Norse

Valhalla

is

a European

counterpart, though it is difficult to say whether the American in

stances had any clearly conscious moral value in view. The Zuni
make a similar discrimination for a different reason, the souls of the
members of the Bow priesthood going to the sky-world, but only
office as archers and hence as lightning and stormfurther Zuni distinction limits entrance to the Dancebringers.
House of the Gods, inside a mountain, to initiates in the Kotikili.

because of their

A moral
ment

value

is

clear

enough
and in

in the Tlingit conception of the

judge

and other North- West notions it

appears that the possibility of rebirth is more or less dependent upon
the abode attained, though it may be doubted whether the mode of
death is not really the final crux even here, the mutilated and slain
finding reincarnation more difficult. One of the most ghastly of
North American superstitions is the belief that scalped men lead a
shadowy life (ghosts rather than spirits) about the scenes where they
met their fate, but this properly belongs to ghost-lore. See Notes
Ch. III. vii (PERROT, Memoire,
8, 47, 53. Text references: Ch. I. iv.
English translation in BLAIR, i. 39; JR x. 153-55; RAND, Nos. x,
Ch. IX. iii, vii (M. C.
xxxv, xlii; HOFFMAN [b], pp. 118, 206).
Ch. XL iii (BOAS [g], xxv.
STEVENSON [c], p. 66).
Ch. X. vii.
3); vii (BOAS [g], xv. i; [j], pp. 37-38; SWANTON [a], pp. 34-36; [d],
of Nascakiyetl,

p. 81).
ii. THE

this

All American tribes recognize a world above

COSMOS.
the heavens and a world below the earth. Many of them multiply
these worlds. Thus the Bella Coola believe in a five-storey universe,
with two worlds above and two below our earth. Four worlds above
and four below is a recorded Chippewa and Mandan conception,
and in the South- West the four-storey underworld is the common
idea. It is of extraordinary interest to find the same belief in Green
land. The fact that the earth is divided into quarters, in the Indian s
orientations, and that offerings are made to the tutelaries of the quar
ters in nearly every ritual, may be the analogy which has suggested
the multiplication of the upper and under worlds, but it is at least
curious that the conception of a storeyed universe should be so defi
nite among the Northern and North- Western Coast peoples, with
whom the cult of the Quarters is absent or rare. The notion of a
series of upper worlds appears in the rituals of some Plains tribes;
thus the Pawnee recognize a "circle" of the Visions (apparently the
level of the clouds), a "circle" of the Sun, and the still higher "circle"
of Father Heaven; and the Chippewa believe in a series of powers
dwelling in successive skyward regions. It is possible that the analogy

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

276

of this upper-world series has been symmetrically extended to the

world below, and yet it is the four-fold underworld that recurs

See Notes
v (45 BBE,

most

definitely.

iv.

Ch.

note

i).

II.

Ch. V.

LA FLESCHE,

ix (J.

(WiLL and SPINDEN);

"Tirawahut"

tained

O.

pp. 134-41;
refers

to

iii

6, 10, 31, 66, 68.

p.

MOONEY

21;

DORSEY
cf.

(G.

"the

Text references: Ch.

[b],

pp.

I.

236-40, 430,

pp. 520-26; FLETCHER and

DORSEY [b], [e]).
Ch. VI. ii
A. DORSEY [e], note 2, states that

J.

[d],

O.

entire heavens

the

and everything con

Chaui

Tahirussawichi,
priest quoted in 22
where
part 2, p. 29, said: "Awahokshu is that place
Tirawa-atius, the mighty power, dwells. Below are the lesser powers,
to whom man can appeal directly, whom he can see and hear and
feel, and who can come near him. Tirawahut is the great circle in
the sky where the lesser powers dwell.").
Ch. VII. iii (TEIT [a],
therein";

ARBE,

and Nos. 2, 10, 27, 28; [b], p. 337; MASON, No. 26).
Ch. VIII.
Ch. IX. ii (GUSHING [b]; M. C. STEVENSON [b], [c]; FEWKES
Ch. XL iv (SWANTON [a], ch. ii; [e], pp. 451-60; BOAS
[e]).

p. 19,
ii.

[a],

UL PP. 27-37).
12. GHOSTS.

The ghost or wraith of the dead is generally con

ceived to be different from the soul, and is closely associated with the
material remains of the dead. Animated skeletons, talking skulls,
and scalped men are forms in which the dead are seen in their former
haunts; sometimes shadows and whistling wraiths represent the de
parted. In a group of curious myths the dead appear as living and
beautiful by night, but as skeletons by day. Marriages between the
dead and the living, with the special tabu that the offspring shall

not touch the earth, occur in several instances, as the Pawnee tale
(Ch. VI. v) or the Klickitat story of the girl with the ghost lover
(Ch. VII. vi), for which Boas gives a Bella Coola parallel in which
the offspring of the marriage is a living head that sinks into the earth
so soon as it is inadvertently allowed to. touch the ground ([g], xxii.
Text references: Ch. I. iv.
Ch. VI. v
17). See Notes 8, 20, 53.
(G. A. DORSEY [g], Nos. 10, 34; [e], No. 20; GRINNELL [c], "The
Ghost Wife").
Ch. VII. vi (see Notes 20, 53 for references).
Ch. VIII. i.
The sun is the most universally venerated
13. SUN AND MOON.
aboriginal deity of North America; and this is true to such an extent
that the Indians have been reasonably designated Sun-Worshippers."
"

Nevertheless, there are many tribes where the sun-cult is unimpor

tant, but on the other hand, there are well defined regions where it
becomes paramount, particularly among the southern agricultural

The moon

regarded as a powerful being, yet quite fre

dangerous one (cf. Note 8). Usually the sun
masculine and the moon feminine, though in a curious exception

peoples.

is

quently as a baneful or
is

NOTES

277

is the woman and the moon the man;

and North- West both are generally described as
masculine. Husband and wife is the usual relation of the pair, and
the Tlingit explain the sun s eclipse as due to a visit of wife to hus
band; but in a myth which is told by both Eskimo and Cherokee,
sun and moon are brother and sister, guilty of incest (cf. Note 17).
In the South- West, and more or less on the Pacific Coast, the sun
and moon are conceived as material objects borne across the sky by
carriers, and the yearly variations of the sun s path are explained
by mechanical means
poles by which the Sun-Carrier ascends to
a sky-bridge, which he crosses and which is as broad as the ecliptic,
"Father Sun"
he is seldom
etc. While the sun is a great deity
truly supreme; he is the loftiest and most powerful of the interme
diaries between man and Father Heaven, and both he and the moon

(Cherokee, Yuchi) the sun

in the South- West

are invariably created beings. Sometimes, however, the sun seems

to be regarded as the life of heaven itself, and as its immortal life;
this is clearly the meaning of the Modoc myth of Kumush, the

who annihilated by fire the beautiful blue man, but could

not destroy the golden disk which was his life, and so used it to
transform himself into the empyrean (Curtin [b], pp. 39-45). Doublet
suns and moons, in the worlds below and above our own, are fre
quently mentioned; often the sun is supposed to pass to the under
world after the day s journey is completed, in order to return to his
starting-point; possibly the notion of an underworld whose days and
seasons interchange with ours (a Pacific-Coast notion) is due to the
assumption that the sun alternates in the world above and the world
below. Among the important sun-myths are: (a) the well-nigh uni
versal story of the hero or heroic brothers whose father is the sun or
some celestial person closely akin to the sun (cf. Note 44); (b) the
Phaethon myth, common in the North- West, in which the Mink is
permitted to carry the sun-disk and, as a consequence, causes a con
flagration; (c) the related legend of the creation of the sun, which,
until it is properly elevated, overheats the world; (d) traditions of
the theft of the sun, which are variants of the Promethean tale of
the theft of fire (cf. Note 51). Text references: Ch. I. v (RiNK, No.
Ch. II. vi
35; RASMUSSEN, pp. 173-74; BOAS [a], pp. 597-98).
Ch.
(JR vi. 223; CONVERSE, pp. 48-51; HOFFMAN [b], p. 209).
III. i, vi (for the "Ball-Carrier" story, see SCHOOLCRAFT [a], part
Ch. IV. ii (MOONEY [a],
iii, p. 318; HOFFMAN [b], pp. 223-38).
Ch. V. vi
p. 340; [b], pp. 239-49, 2 56; LAFITAU, i. 167-68); iv.
creator,

30, 134-40; for Sun-Dance references see Note 39).

iv (G. A. DORSET [e], No. 16; [h], Nos. 14, 15; [a],

(FLETCHER, pp.
Ch. VI.

iii,

pp. 212-13;

No.

17;

DORSET and KROEBER, Nos.

[c], pp. 238-39; LOWIE

MOONEY

134-38; SIMMS,
[a],

No.

18).

FCM

ii,

Ch. VII.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

278
iii

(TEIT

[a],

No.

8;

LOWIE

Ch. VIII.

pp. 52-56).

[b],

ii,

iii

No.

8;

POWELL,

p. 24); iv

GAMES STEVENSON,

(POWELL,
v

pp. 275-76);

(RUSSELL, p. 251; LUMHOLTZ [a], i. 295 fL, 311; [b], pp. 357 if.).
Ch. X. vi (GODDARD [c], Nos. 3, 4).
Ch.
Ch. IX. iii, iv, vi, vii.
XL iv, v (BoAS [j], pp. 28-36; [g], v. 2; viii. 2; xv. i; xviii. i; xx. I, la;
xxii. i, 19; xxiii. I, 3, 4; SWANTON [a], p. 14. For the Mink cycle:

BOAS and HUNT

BOAS [j], p. 95).
No group of myths is more
14. STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS.
uniform on the North American continent than those relating to
constellations; usually they are extremely simple. The Great Bear,
Pleiades, and Orion s Belt are the groups most frequently men
tioned; and the commonest tale is of a chase in which the pursued
runs up into the sky, followed by eternally unsuccessful pursuers.
This myth seems quite natural as a description of Ursa Major
BOAS

[g], xvii.

i; xviii. 7; xx. 2, 3; xxi. 2; xxii. I, 2;

pp. 80-163;

[b],

the four feet of a fleeing quadruped (usually in America, too, a bear),

and three pursuers. Equally obvious is the conception of Pleiades as a
group of dancers, or of Corona Borealis as a council circle. Of the stars,
Venus, as morning star, which is generally regarded as a young war
rior,

messenger of the Sun, and the Pole Star, believed by the Pawnee

to be the chief of the night skies, are the only ones widely indi
vidualized in myth. The Milky Way is universally the Spirit Path.
Star-myths are especially abundant and vivid among the Pawnee
(cf.

Ch. VI.

Text references: Ch.

iii).

I.

v (RiNK, pp.
Ch.

48, 232;

BOAS

II. vi

(CONVERSE,
pp. 53-63; SMITH, pp. 80-81; cf. E. G. SQUIER, American Review,
Ch. V. viii (FLETCHER, p. 129.
new series, ii, 1848, p. 256).
G. A. DORSEY [e] states that the Evening Star is of higher rank among
the Pawnee. The legend of Poia has been made the subject of an
opera by Arthur Nevin and Randolph Hartley. The version here
followed is that of WALTER MCCLINTOCK, The Old North Trail, ch.
xxxviii. Other versions are GRINNELL [a], pp. 93-103; WISSLER and
[a],

p. 636;

DUVALL,

ii.

RASMUSSEN, pp. 176-77,

The

4.

320).

story belongs to a wide-spread type;

cf.

G. A.

and note 117; [f], Nos. 14, 15; Note 36, infra.
For constellation-myths see FLETCHER, p. 234; LOWIE [a], p. 177;

DORSEY

[e],

No.

16,

Ch. VI. i
pp. 488-90; J. O. DORSEY [d], p. 517).
iii (G. A.
v.
the
Canadian
Transactions
Institute,
28-32);
of
(MORICE,
DORSEY [e], No. I, and Introd.); iv (see Note 13 for references); v (G.
Ch. VIII. v (LUMHOLTZ [a],
A. DORSEY [e], No. 2; [g], No. 35).

MCCLINTOCK,

pp. 298, 311, 361, 436).

Ch. IX.

iii,

vi.
^

American cosmogonies ought perhaps to be

15.
described as cosmic myths of migration and transformation. In a
few instances (notably the Zurii cosmogony and some Californian

COSMOGONY.

legends) there

is

a true creation ex nihilo; but the typical stories

NOTES

279

are of sky-world beings who descend to the waters beneath and

magically expand a bit of soil into earth, or the characteristically
southern tale of an ascent of the First People from an underground
abode, followed by a series of adventures and transformations which
make the world habitable. The cataclysmic destruction of the first
inhabitants by flood, sometimes by fire, is universal in one form or
another; it is succeeded by the transformation of the survivors of
the antediluvian age into animals or men, by the creation of the
present human race, and frequently by a confusion of tongues and
a dispersion of peoples. There can be no doubt as to the truly aborig
inal character of all these episodes, though in some instances the
native stories have clearly been coloured by knowledge of their
Biblical analogues. See Notes 6, n, 31, 40, 49, 57, 70.
Text refer
ences: Ch. I. v.
Ch. III. i (HEWITT [a] gives an Onondaga, a
Seneca, and a Mohawk version of the Iroquois genesis, the first
of these being the one here mainly followed; other authorities on

Iroquoian cosmogony are: HEWITT [b] and "Cosmogonic Gods of

the Iroquois," in Proceedings of the American Association for the Ad
vancement of Science, 1895; BREBEUF, on the Huron, JR x. 127-39;
[a], pp. 53-62; PARKMAN [a], pp. Ixxv-lxxvii; HALE, JAFL
177-83; CONVERSE, pp. 31-36; SCHOOLCRAFT [a], part iii, p. 314;
and, for the Cherokee, MOONEY [b], pp. 239 ff.); ii (important sources

BRINTON

i.

on Algonquian cosmogony

are: JR, Index, "Manabozho"; CHARLEvoix, Journal historique, Paris, 1840; PERROT, Memoire, English
translation in BLAIR, i. 23-272; SCHOOLCRAFT [a], i.; BRINTON [d];

RAND; HOFFMAN

[a], [b]; A. F. CHAMBERLAIN, "Nanibozhu amongst

the Otchipwe, Mississagas, and other Algonkian Tribes," in JAFL
iv. 193-213).
Ch. IV. iv (MOONEY [b], pp. 239-49; GATSCHET [a],
Ch. V. ix (FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE,
[b]; BUSHNELL [a], [b]).
Ch. VI. i (MORICE, "Three Carrier Myths," in
pp. 63, 570).
Transactions of the Canadian Institute, v.; LOFTHOUSE,
Chipewyan
"

in ib. x.); ii (LowiE [a], Nos. I, 2, 22, et

SPINDEN, pp. 138-41; FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE;
Stories,"

al.;

J.

WILL and
DORSEY

O.

EASTMAN [b]; see MOONEY [c], p. 152, for a Kiowa instance);

(G. A. DORSEY [e], No. i, is the authority chiefly followed here
for one of the finest of American cosmogonic myths); vii (G. A.
[a];

iii

DORSEY

Ch. VIII. ii (MATTHEWS [a]); v (RUSSELL,

LUMHOLTZ [a], pp. 296 ff.; [b], pp. 357 ff.); vi (BOURKE
Ch. IX. vi
[b]; KROEBER [b]; DuBois; JAMES, chh. xii, xiv).
(M. C. STEVENSON [b], pp. 26-69; VOTH, Nos. 14, 15, 37); vii (M. C.
STEVENSON [a], [c]; GUSHING [b], [c]).
Ch. X. iii.
Ch. XL vi (see
Note 48 for references).
16. ORIGIN OF DEATH.
Stories of the origin of death are found
[b],

pp. 206-38;

pp. 34-49).

cf.

from Greenland to Mexico.

What may

be termed the Northern type

280

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

represents a debate between two demiurgic beings, one arguing for

the bestowal of immortal life upon the human race, the other in
sisting that men must die; sometimes the choice is determined by
reason, sometimes by divination maliciously influenced. A SouthWestern type tells of a first death, caused by witchcraft or malice,
which sets the law. On the Pacific Coast the two motives are com
bined; the first death is followed by a debate as to whether death
shall be lasting or temporary; and often a grim reprisal upon the
person (usually Coyote) who decrees the permanency of death
appears in the fact that it is his child who is the second victim.
Other motives are occasionally found. These myths seem to be typi
Text references: Ch. I. v (RASMUSSEN, pp. 99-102;
cally American.
Ch. VI. v (G. A. DORCh. III. vii (JR vi. 159).
RINK, p. 41).

SEY [e], No. 2; [g], No. 35; WISSLER and DUVALL, i. 3, 4; DORSET
and KROEBER, No. 41).
Ch. VII. v (POWELL, pp. 44-45; cf. LOWIE
Ch. VIII. ii (MATTHEWS [a], "Origin Myth"); v (GoD[b], No. 2).
Ch. IX. vi.
Ch. X. iii (DixoN [d],
DARD [a], No. i); vi (DuBois).
Nos. i, 2); vii (KROEBER [c], Nos. 9, 12, 17, 38; DIXON [b], No. 7;
[c], No. 2; FRACHTENBERG [a], No. 5; CURTIN [a], pp. 163-74; M, pp.
Ch. XL vi (BOAS [g], xxiv. i); vii
60, 68; GODDARD [b], p. 76).

(BOAS

[g], xiii. 2,

6b).

Stories of supernatural and unnatural

MISCEGENATION.
marriages and sexual unions are very common. Sometimes they
are legends of the maid who marries a sky-being and gives birth to
a son who becomes a notable hero; sometimes a young man weds
a supernatural girl, as the Thunder s Daughter or the Snake Girl,
thereby winning secrets and powers which make him a great theur17.

sometimes it is the marriage of the demand the living; fre

quently the union of women with animals is the theme, and a
story found the length of the continent tells of a girl rendered preg
nant by a dog, giving birth to children who become human when she
steals their dog disguises. This legend is frequently told with the
episode found in the tradition of the incest of sun-brother and moonsister: the girl is approached by night and succeeds in identifying
her lover only by smearing him with paint or ashes. See Notes 13,
32, 50. Text references: Ch. I. v (RASMUSSEN, p. 104; BOAS [a], p.
Ch.
Ch. II. vi (MOONEY [b], pp. 345-47).
637; RINK, No. 148).
Ch. VI. i (MORICE, Transactions of
IV. ii (MOONEY [b], p. 256).
Ch. IX. vii (M. C. STEVENSON
the Canadian Institute, v. 28-32).
Ch. X. v (DixoN [c], No.
[c], p. 32; CUSHING [b], pp. 399 ff.).
"Two
Nos.
CURTIN
Sisters").
[a],
i, 2;
7; [b],
Belief in the possibility of rebirth is gen
1 8. TRANSMIGRATION.
eral, although some tribes think that only young children may be
reincarnated, and certain of the Californians who practise crema-

gist;

NOTES

281

tion bury the bodies of children that they may the more easily be
reborn. Again, rebirth is apparently easier for souls that have

passed to the underworld than for those whose abode is the sky.
Bella Coola allow no reincarnation for those who have died a
second death and passed to the lowest underworld. See Notes 10,
Ch. V. ii,
20, 46. Text references: Ch. I. vi (RASMUSSEN, p. 116).
iv (BOAS [j], pp. 27-28).
viii (J. O. DORSEY [d], p. 508).
Ch.
Cannibals occur in many
19. CANNIBALS AND MAN-EATERS.
stories.
Three forms of anthropophagy, practised until recently by
North American tribes, are to be distinguished: (i) the devouring
of a portion of the body, especially the heart or blood, of a slain
warrior in order to obtain his strength or courage (cf. JR i. 268;
De Smet, p. 249); (2) ceremonial cannibalism, especially in the
North-West, where it is associated with the Cannibal Society; (3)
cannibalism for food. This latter form, except under stress of famine,
is rare in recent times, although archaeological evidence indicates
that it was formerly wide-spread. The ill repute borne by the
Tonkawa is an indication of the feeling against the custom, which,
on the whole, the cannibal-myths substantiate (cf. Ch. VIII. v).
In many legends the anthropophagist s wife appears as a protec

The

XL

tor of his prospective victim, as in European tales of ogres, and it

is interesting to find the "Fe fo fum" episode of English folk-lore
recurring in numerous stories. The grisly "cannibal babe" tradi
tion of the Eskimo has a kind of parallel in a Montana tale (Ch.

VII. vi); while the obverse motive, of the old female cannibal who
lures children to their destruction, is a frequent North-West story.
Legends of man-eating bears and lions are to be expected; the manPlateau region is more difficult to explain,
devouring bird of
though the idea may be connected with that of the Thunderbird
and the destructiveness of lightning. See Notes 2, 37. Text refer
ences: Ch. I. vi (RASMUSSEN, p. 186; RINK, No. 39).
Ch. IV. vii.
-Ch. VII. iii (TEXT [a], No. 8); vi (O. D. WHEELER, The Trail of
Lewis and Clark, New York, 1904, ii. 74; cf. MCDERMOTT, No. 5,
where Coyote takes vengeance on the babe).
Ch. VIII. ii.
Ch.
"he

XL

ii (BOAS
[f], pp. 372-73; [g], xxii. 5,
and HUNT [a]); iii (BoAS [f], pp. 394-466;

SWANTON [a], ch. xi).

20. NAMES AND SOULS.
Ghosts and
distinguished. The disembodied soul, or
ceived as related to

fire

6, 7;
[g],

[j],

pp. 83-90;

BOAS

xv. 9; xvii. 8, 9; xx. 8;

souls are very generally

spirit,

is

mythically con

as transiently human in
also have a kind of person

and wind, and

form, sometimes as a manikin. Names

ality. Individuals believed to be the reincarnation of one dead are
given the same appellation as that borne by him, and Curtin tells
a story of a babe that persistently cried until called by the right name

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

282

A curious custom of renaming a living man after a dead

that the character and traits of the departed may not be
lost, is described by the Jesuit Fathers (JR xxii. 289; xxvi. 155-63).
See Notes 12, 18, 53. Text references: Ch. I. vi (STEFANSSON, pp.
Ch. V. ii.
Ch. III. v (DE SMET, pp. 1047-53).
395-40x3).
([b], p. 6).

chief,

Ch. VII. vi (LowiE [b], Nos. 38, 39; TEIT

Ch. XI. iii (BOAS [f], pp. 418 ff.
p. 611).

[b],
;

pp. 342, 35$;

p.

[j],

37); vii

[d],

(BOAS

p. 482; [g], xiii. 2, 6; SWANTON [a], p. 34).

Ordeals may be classified as follows: (i) initia
21. ORDEALS.

[f],

and tortures, of which flogging and fasting are the com

monest methods; (2) trials of a warrior s fortitude, in the forms
of torture of captives, expiatory sacrifices and purifications of men
setting out on the war-path, and fulfilment of a vow for deliverance
from peril or evil; the famous Sun-Dance tortures belong to the
latter class; body scarring and the offering of finger-joints are fre
tion trials

quent modes of expiation; (3) punishment for crime, especially mur

der; (4) mourning customs involving mutilation and hardship, par
ticularly severe for widows; (5) duels, especially the magical duels
of shamans, which range from satirical song-duels to contests of skill
Text refer
resulting in degradation or even death for the defeated.
ences: Ch.

I.

vi

(RASMUSSEN,

p. 312).

Ch. V.

Ch. IX.

vi.

iv.

No. 4).
Tales of orphans and poor boys
22. ORPHANS AND POOR BOYS.
who are neglected and persecuted form a whole body of litera
Ch. X. vi (FRACHTENBERG

[a],

ture, second in extent only to the "Trickster-Transformer" stories.

return of the hero, after a journey to some beneficent god, who

The

often

is

his father,

and

his

subsequent elevation to power, as a chief

or medicine-man, are recurrent motives. The whole group might

be called Whittington stories, but there are many variations. Text
references:
[e]

Ch.

makes a

orphans).

I.

Ch. IV.

vi.

class of

"Boy

Ch. VIII.

The Five

vii.

Hero"

Ch. VI.
stories,

(G. A. DORSEY
of them tales of

vii

many

iv.

Nations, or tribes of the original Iroquois Confed

the
included
Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca;
eracy,
later the Tuscarora were admitted, whence the league is also called
the Six Nations.
Pumpkins, squash, beans, sweet potatoes,
24. AGRICULTURE.
and tobacco are other crops cultivated in various localities by the
aborigines. Wild rice and the seeds of grasses were gathered; roots
and wild fruits were eaten; in the maple-tree zone maple sugar is a
native food, and particularly in the far West acorn meal forms an
important article of aboriginal diet. It seems certain that the Algonquians came from the north and learned agriculture of the south
ern nations, especially the Iroquois. The northern Algonquians
23.

NOTES

283

practised no agriculture when the Jesuits began

among them, though the cultivation of maize was
well established among the New England tribes before the appear
ance of the Colonists. The introduction of maize among the Chippewa
is remembered in the myth of Mondamin (cf. BRINTON
[d], ch. vi,

Montagnais,

etc.

missionary work

and PERROT, Memoire,

English translation in BLAIR, i).

of other tribes among whom
agriculture is recent have traditions or myths recording the way
in which they first learned it. See Notes 35, 39. Text references:
Ch. II. i.
Ch. III. ii.
Ch. V. i.
Ch. IX. i.
ch.

iv,

The Omaha, Navaho, and a number

ARESKOUI.

25.

Lafitau,

i.

126, 132, 145, discusses Areskoui, or

whom

he regards as an American reminiscence of the

Greek Ares. This seems to be the primary ground for the assertion
that Areskoui is a god of war, though it is to a degree borne out by
the nature of the allusions to him in the Jesuit Relations, especially
Agriskoue,

(JR xxxix. 219). The members of the Huron mission,

a better chance to understand this deity, evidently con
sidered him a supreme being, or Great Spirit; cf. with the passage
quoted in the text, from JR xxxiii. 225, the similar statement
in xxxix. 13: "And certainly they have not only the perception
of a divinity, but also a name which in their dangers they invoke,
without knowing its true significance,
recommending themselves
Ignoto Deo with these words, Airsekui Sutanditenr, the last of which
may be translated by miserere nobis" Morgan, Appendix B, sect.
62, says: "Areskoui, the God of War, is more evidently a Sun God.
Most of the worship now given to the Great Spirit belongs histori
cally to Areskoui." This seems to concede the case; Areskoui is,
like Atahocan, a name for the Great Spirit, addressed in times of
Cf. Note 6.
Text reference:
peril by an epithet, the "Saviour."
Jogues

s letter

who had

Ch.

II.

26.

ii.

OKI.

The Huron Oki

as of Algonquian origin.

is regarded by Brinton ([a],

p. 64)
Powhatan Oke, Okeus, is mentioned by

Cap,tain John Smith, and a few other traces of it are found in Algon
quian sources. Lafitau, i. 126, calls "Okki" a Huron god, and so it
appears in the early Relations (JR v. 257; viii, 109-10; x. 49, 195),
though Nipinoukhe and Pipounoukhe (JR v. 173) are Montagnais.
It is not certain whether oki is a term belonging to the same class as
manito, or whether it is the proper name of a supreme being, as
Lang regarded it (Myth, Ritual and Religion, 3d ed., London, 1901,
Introd.). Text reference: Ch. II. iii.
Stones are of great importance in both Indian ritual
27. STONES.
and myth; they are regarded as magically endowed, and a not infre
quent notion is that if potent stones be broken they will bleed like
flesh.
Their principal ceremonial uses are four in number, (i) The

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

284

a universal North American institution, used for healingpurification, and regarded as capable of effecting magical trans
consists of a small hut, large enough for the body of
formations
the patient, which is filled with steam by means of water thrown

sweat-bath

and

upon heated stones. (2) Stone fetishes, particularly nodules crudely

representing animals, which are sometimes partly shaped by hand,
form one of the commonest types of personal "medicine" (cf. espe
cially Gushing [a]). (3) Stones of a special kind are frequently used
symbolically. This is particularly true in the South-West, where
crystal, turquoise, and black stones are symbols of light, the blue
and night. The magic properties of white stones and crystals
appear in myths from many quarters: it is with crystal that the
Eskimo youth slays the Tunek (see p. 3); a crystal is in the head
of the Horned Serpent (cf. Note 50); a suggestion of crystal-gazing
is in the Comox myth recorded by Boas ([g], viii. 10), where the
sky,

serpent gives a transparent stone to a man who thereupon falls as

if dead, while the stone leads his soul through all lands.
(4) Rocks
in situ are venerated for various reasons, as seats of power or as nat
ural altars. Mythic themes in which stones are important include:
(i) stories of the placing of fire in flint and quartz; (2) stories of
"Flint"

and the Stone Giants;

(3)

"Travelling Rock"

stories; (4)

apparently volcanic
and
of
stories
jewels; (6) cosmogonies with
magic crystals
myths; (5)
a stone as the earth kernel; and (7) stories of living beings changed
into rocks, though sometimes only a part of the body is so trans
formed. See Notes 31, 32, 37, 38, 62. Text references: Ch. II. iii,
Ch.
Ch. V. ix (FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE, pp. 570-71).
vii.
VI. ii (FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE, pp. 565-71: the name of the
stories

of

red-hot

rocks

hurled by giants

Inkugthi athin, means literally, "they who

iii (G. A. DORSEY [e], No. i).
Ch.
pebble");
Ch. IX. iii.
Ch. VIII. i, ii, iii.
VII. iii.
This term is apparently the original after
28. KITSHI MANITO.
which the English "Great Spirit" is formed, and Hoffman [a] renders
as "Great Spirit." This is a Chippewa form;
"Kitshi Manido"

Omaha

"Pebble Society,"

have the translucent

the

Menominee

lates

"Great

note, states:

ghost.

The

"Kisha Manido"

Mystery"
"The

or

and

"Great

word manido

is

"Masha Manido"

he trans

S3 BBE,
defined by Baraga as

Unknown."

following explanation of the

word

p.

143,

spirit,

was given by

Rev. J. A. Gilfillan: Kijie Manido, literally, he who has his origin

De Smet, passim,
from no one but himself, the Uncreated God.
over the evil
a
for
The
case
"Great Spirit."
supreme
spirit
employs
forces of nature is not so clear as that for the beneficent Great Spirit,
"

although there is some early evidence of Algonquian provenience

that points strongly in this direction. Thus Le Jeune in the early

NOTES

285

Relation of 1634 writes: "Besides these foundations of things good,

they recognize a Manitou, whom we may call the devil. They re

gard him as the origin of evil; it is true that they do not attribute
great malice to the Manitou, but to his wife, who is a real she-devil.
The husband does not hate men" (JR vi. 175). The wife of Mani
tou, we are informed, is "the cause of all the diseases which are in
the

world"

who was

(cf.

p.

189);

and

it is

down from heaven,

cast

possible that she is the Titaness

as the eastern cosmogonies tell,

and from whose body both beneficent and maleficent forces arise.
Mother Earth is, on the whole, beneficent, although Indian thought
fluctuatingly attributes to her the fostering of noxious underworld
powers. Bacqueville de la Potherie, Histoire de V Amerique septeni. 121
ff., says of the northern Algonquians, with
he was associated, that they recognized a Good Spirit, Quichemanitou, and an evil, Matchimanitou, but the latter is clearly the
name for a "medicine spirit," magical rather than evil. The same
statement is probably true with regard to the Abnaki Matsi Niouask
which Abbe Maurault contrasts with the good Ketsi Niouask (His
toire des Abenakis, Quebec, 1866, pp. 18-19); an d we may suppose
it to have been the original force of the Potawatomi distinction be

trionale, Paris, 1753,

whom

tween Kchemnito,
personified,"

"goodness

recorded by

De

itself,"

Smet,

and Mchemnito,

p. 1079.

The

devil

"wickedness
is

less a

moral

being than a physiological condition, at least in his aboriginal status

(cf. the Hadui episode in Iroquoian cosmogony, Hewitt [a], pp. 197
201, 232-36, 333-35). Mitche Manito is described in the Hiawatha
a universal symbol. The Menominee have a
myth as a serpent,

name
29.

(Hoffman [b], p. 225) for a similar being.

Text reference: Ch. II. iv.
SACRIFICE.
Human sacrifice, in one form or another,

"Matshehawaituk"

See Notes

3, 6.

HUMAN

appears in every part of aboriginal America. It is necessary to dis

tinguish, however, sporadic propitiations from customary and ritual
istic offering of human life. The latter, north of Mexico, is rare,
(i) The sacrifice of captives taken in war, frequently with burning
and other tortures, was partly in the nature of an act of vengeance
and a trial of fortitude, partly a propitiation of the Manes of the
dead; captives made by a war-party were much more likely to be
spared if it had suffered no casualties. The tearing out and eating of
the heart of a slain enemy or sacrificed captive was not unusual, the
idea being that the eater thus receives the courage of the slain man
(cf. JR i. 268). The symbolism of the heart as the seat of life and
strength occurs in numberless mythic forms and reaches its ex
treme consequences in the Mexican human sacrifices, the usual form
of which consisted in opening the breast and drawing forth the heart
of the victim. Possibly the mythic references to this form of offering,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

286

occurring in the South-West (cf. M. C. Stevenson [b], pp. 34, 39,

more or less remote. (2) The sacrifice
45, 47), point to a like custom,
of children, especially orphans, is not uncommon. A number of
instances are mentioned in the Creek migration-legend (cf. Ch. IV.
vii); in the cosmogonies of the Pueblo Indians there are references
to the sacrifice of children to water monsters, a rite obviously related
to the Nahuatlan offering of children to the tlaloque, or water-gods;

among the Piman-Yuman tribes, and doubt

the same practice. De Smet mentions a Columbia River
instance of a child offered to the Manes of one of its companions
(De Smet, p. 559). (3) The sacrifice of slaves, especially in the rites
of the Cannibal Society, prevailed until recently on the North-West
the

myth

also appears

less refers to

Coast, and is mentioned in the myths of this region. (4) The most
notable instance of ritualistic sacrifice is that of the Skidi Pawnee,
who formerly offered a female captive to the Morning Star in an
See
annual ceremony for the fertilization of the maize fields.
Notes 9, 19, 21, 58. Text references: Ch. II. iv (JR xxxix. 219).
Ch. V. i (DE SMET, pp. 977Ch. IV. iv, vii (GATSCHET [a]).
of a Sioux girl by the Skidi
the
sacrifice
of
an
account
88, gives

Ch. VIII.
Pawnee).
RUSSELL, pp. 215-17).
pp.
p. 429).
[b],

30.

34>

45>

47>

ii,

67;

(DuBois, p. 184; BOURKE [b], p. 188;

Ch. IX. iv, v, vi, vii (M. C. STEVENSON
vi

[c],

pp. 21, 30, 46, 61, 176;

THE CALUMET AND TOBACCO

RITES.

The

GUSHING

[b],

use of tobacco

is

American origin. As smoked in pipes it is North American, cigars

and cigarettes being the common forms in Latin portions of the
continent. The Navaho, Pueblo, and other South-Western peoples
generally employ cigarettes both for smoking and for ritualistic
use, though the pipe is not unknown to them. The ritual of the
ceremonial pipe, or calumet, is the most important of all North
American religious forms, and is certainly ancient, elaborate pipes
being among the most interesting objects recovered from prehistoric
mounds. The rite is essentially a formal address to the world-powers
its use in councils and other formal meetings naturally made the
pipe a symbol of peace, as the tomahawk was a token of war. Cf.
Notes 6, 31, 63. Text references: Ch. II. iv, v (cf. DE SMET, pp.
Ch. V. iv (FLETCHER and LA
394, 681, 1008-11, and Index).
of

FLESCHE,
31.

Ch. VI.

p. 599).

vii.

Ch. VIII.

i,

v.

THE WORLD-QUARTERS AND COLOUR-SYMBOLISM.

more constantly

No

idea

influences Indian rites than that of the fourfold

s surface, in conjunction with the conception

above and a world below. The four quarters, together
with the upper and the under worlds, form a sixfold partition of

division of the earth

of a world

the cosmos, affording a kind of natural classification of the presiding

NOTES
world-powers, to

whom,

and prayers addressed,

287

accordingly, sacrifice
as in the

calumet

is

ritual.

successively made
The addition of

colour-symbolism, each of the quarters having a colour of its own,

forms the basis for a highly complex ritualism; for objects of all
kinds
stones, shells, flowers, birds, animals, and maize of dif
are devoted to the quarter having a colour in some
ferent colours
sense analogous. In the South- West the Navaho and Pueblo Indians
employ a sixfold colour-symbolism, with a consequent elaboration
of the related forms. There is, however, no uniformity in the dis
tribution of the colours to the several regions, the system varying

from

tribe to tribe, while in some cases two systems are employed

tribe (see 30 BBE, "Color Symbolism," with table).

by the same

In addition to the Quarters, the Above, and the Below, the Here,
or Middle Place, which typifies the centre of the cosmos, is of cere
monial and (especially in the South- West) of mythic importance. As
in the Old World, the Middle Place is often termed the "Navel"
of the earth. The most usual form of naming the directions is after
the prevailing winds, and sometimes seven winds are mentioned for
the seven cardinal points (cf. JR xxxiii. 227). Settled communities,
however, employ names derived from physical characteristics (cf.
Gushing [b], p. 356); in the South- West names of directions are appar
ently related in part to bodily orientation: thus, "East is always
the before with the Zufii" (M. C. Stevenson [b], p. 63). It may
be taken as certain that the division of the horizon by four points,

naming the

man

directions,

is

fundamentally based upon the fact that

a four-square animal:

earliest orientation in space,

says Schrader (Indogermanische Altertumskunde, Strassburg, 1901, p. 371), "arose from the fact that
man turned his face to the rising sun and thereupon designated the
East as the before, the West as the behind, the South as the right,
is

among Indo-Germanic

"The

peoples,"

Evidence from Semitic tongues indicates

and the North as the left.
that a similar system prevailed among the early desert dwellers of
Arabia. In America orientation to the rising sun is abundantly illus
trated in the sun rituals and shrines, and to some degree in burials.
Colour-symbolism, too, points in the same direction, the white or
red of dawn being the hue ordinarily assigned to the east. See
Notes n, 13, 30, 66, 68. Text references: Ch. II. v (DE SMET, p. 1083;
Ch. III. ii.
Ch. IV. iv (GATSCHET [a], p.
CONVERSE, p. 38).
Ch. V. ix (J. O. DORSEY
244; BUSHNELL [a], p. 30; [b], p. 526).
Ch. VI. vii.
Ch. VIII.
[d], pp. 523-33; McCLiNTOCK, p. 266).
"

Ch. IX. ii (FEWKES [a], [e]; M. C. STEVENSON [b], [c];

ii, iii.
Ch. XL iv.
GUSHING [b], pp. 369-70).
The well-nigh universal American conception
32. THUNDERERS.
of the thunder is that it is caused by a bird or brood of birds
the
i,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

288

Thunder-birds. Sometimes the Thunderbird is described as huge,

carrying a lake of water on his back and flashing lightnings from

sometimes as small, like some ordinary bird in appear

even the humming-bird occurring as an analogy. Very often
the being is the "medicine" or tutelary of one who has seen him
in vision, and Thunderbird effigies are common among the Plains
tribes. Almost the only tribal groups unacquainted with the con
his eyes;

ance

cept are the Iroquois, in the East, whose Dew Eagle is related to
the Thunderbird idea, and some of the tribes of the far West and
the South- West, such as the Zuni, who regard the thunder as made by
the gaming stones rolled by the celestial Rain-Makers and the light
ning as the arrows of celestial Archers. It is notable that a huge
man-devouring bird appears in the mythologies of the South-Western peoples, from whose lore the Thunderbird is absent. See Notes
Text references: Ch. II. vi (CONVERSE, pp. 36-44;
2 2
33) 5x.
v.
45, and note 3; SCHOOLCRAFT [b], part iii, p. 322).
223;
JR
J

7>

Ch. V.

ix

122-26).
celts are

(DE SMET, pp.

Ch. VI.

iii.

936, 945;

The

"thunderstones"

FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE,

belief that stone axes, arrow-heads,

or lightning-bolts

is

world-wide

BLINKENBERG, The Thunderweapon in Religion and

pp.

and

(cf.

Folklore,

C.

Cam

bridge, 1911). The cult of the lightning in almost its Roman form,
i. e. the erection of bidentalia, was
practised by the Peruvians (GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA, Royal Commentaries, book ii, ch. i); and a
similar suggestion is found in the Struck-by-Lightning Fraternity
(M. C. STEVENSON [c]). The Omaha have a "Thunder

of the Zuni

(FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE, p. 133), whose talisman is

suggestive enough of the black baetyl brought to
Rome, 205 B. c., as an image of Rhea-Cybele, or of the hoary sanctity
Ch. VII. iii, iv (LowiE [b], p. 231;
of the Black Stone of Mecca.
Society"

a black stone

Ch. VIII. iv (MATTHEWS [a], pp. 265-75; [c],

p. 26).
Ch. IX. i, iii (M. C. STEVENSON [c], pp. 65, 177,
pp. 143-45).
Ch. X. v (FRACHTENBERG [a], No. 2); vi (DixoN [c],
308, 413).
ii (SWANTON
Ch.
No. 3; KROEBER [c], p. 186).
[e], p. 454;

POWELL,

XL

BOAS

[j],

p. 47; [g],

passim).

In a note to Rip Fan Winkle, Irving

33. RIP VAN WINKLE.
describes an Indian goddess of the Catskills who presides over the
clouds, controls the winds and the rains, and is clearly a meteoro
She may be a thunder spirit also, for the incident of
logical genius.
the gnomes playing at ninepins, and so producing the thunder, has a
parallel in the Zuni Rain-Makers, who cause the thunder by a similar
celestial game with rolling stones. The incident of foreshortened
time, years being passed in the illusion of a brief space, occurs in
several stories of visits to the Thunder; but this is a common theme
Text
in tales of guestship with all kinds of supernatural beings.

NOTES
Ch. II. vi (MooNEY
Ch. IV. v (MOONEY [b], p. 324).

references:

[b],

289

pp. 345-47).

Ch. VII.

ii

that Was God, Tacoma, 1910).

The personification
MOTHER EARTH.

(J.

Ch.

III. vi.

H. WILLIAMS, The

Mountain
34.

of the Earth, as the

and the giver of food, is a feature of the universal

of mankind. It prevails everywhere in North America,
except among the Eskimo, where the conception is replaced by that
of the under-sea woman, Food Dish, and on the North-West Coast,
where sea deities again are the important food-givers, and the under
world woman is no more than a subterranean Titaness. In many
localities the myth of the marriage of the Sky or Sun with the Earth
is clearly expressed, as is to be expected of the most natural of all
allegories. The notion that the dead are buried to be born again
from the womb of Earth is found in America as in the Old World (cf.
A. Dieterich, Mutter Erde, Berlin, 19x55); and there is more than one
trace of the belief in an orifice by which the dead descend into the
body of Earth and from which souls ascend to be reborn. De Smet
(p. 1378) mentions a cavern in the Yellowstone region which the
Indians named "the place of coming-out and going-in of under
ground spirits," and the South-Western notion of the Sipapu is an

mother of
mythology

life

instance in point; other examples appear in the mythologies of the

Creek, Kiowa, and Mandan. In the South- West, where large groundnesting spiders abound, the Spider Woman seems to be a mythic

incarnation of the earth; though elsewhere, very generally, this in

is associated with aerial ascents to and descents from the sky,
of web-hung baskets, and Spider itself is often masculine.
means
by
In the Forest and Plains regions the conception of the life of the earth
as due to a Titaness, fallen from heaven, is the common one; and the

sect

magic Grandmother who appears

in so many hero-myths is certainly

See Notes 7, II, 18,
cases a personification of the earth.
28, 35, 43, 70. Text references: Ch. II. vii (HEWITT [a], p. 138).

some

in

(FLETCHER, pp. 31, 190, 721, et passim; FLETCHER and

Study of Omaha Indian
pp. 376 if.; cf. FLETCHER,
Music," in Archceological and Ethnological Papers, Peabody Museum,
1893, i; H. B. ALEXANDER, The Mystery of Life, Chicago, 1913).
Ch. VIII. v, vi.
Ch. IX.
Ch. VI. ii (J. O. DORSEY [d], p. 513).

Ch. V.

vii

LA FLESCHE,

(M. C. STEVENSON

iii,

vii

If],

p. 688).

35.

"A

CORN

SPIRITS.

[b], p.

22;

GUSHING

Spirits of the

[b], p.

379;

FEWKES

maize and other cultivated

plants are prominent figures in the mythologies of all the agricultural

peoples. Ordinarily they are feminine, the Algonquian Mondamin
being an exception. Corn, Squash, and Bean form a maiden triad in

Iroquois

Corn

lore,

Spirits.

and

in the

Hopi

South- West there

girls of

is a whole
group of maiden
marriageable age wear their hair in two

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

290

whorls at the sides of the head, imitating the squash blossom, which
is with them the symbol of fertility. As a rule Corn Spirits are far
more vital in ritual than in myth. Ears of maize are important as
sacra or fetishes in numerous rites, especially in the South- West and

among

the Pawnee,

who show many South-Western

affinities; ears

of different colours are conspicuous in the symbolism of

the world-quarters; blades and stalks are often employed in adorning

and grains

altars; and corn meal [maize flour] is in constant use in South-West

ern ceremonial.
similarly ritualistic use is made of other plants.
In the South- West the creation of men from ears of maize is a fre
quent incident. See Notes 7, 24, 31, 34, 39. Text references: Ch.

II. vii

(CONVERSE, pp. 63-66; SMITH,

Ch. IV. iv
139),
Ch. VI.
(FLETCHER).
Ch. VIII.
No. 4), vii.
viii.

(MOONEY
iii
i,

(G. A.
ii.

p.

Ch.

52).

pp. 242-49).

[b],

DORSEY

Ch. IX.

iii,

III.

(JR

Ch. V.

x.

vii

Nos. 3-7;

cf.

[e],

(FEWKES
STEVENSON

[b],

pp.

[h],

v, vi

[c], pp.
299-308; [e], pp. 22, 58, 118; [f], p. 696; M. C.
29-32, 48-57; CUSHING [b], pp. 39!-9 8 430-47)The fairy folk of Indian myth are generally dimin
36. FAIRIES.
utive and mischievous. A romantic version of the myth of the mar
Em. Domenech
riage of a human hero with a sky-girl is given by Abbe
Deserts
North
in
the
Great
Residence
Years
America, Lon
of
(Seven
don, 1860, i. 303 ff.), which he calls the "Legend of the Magic Circle
of the Prairies." There are on the prairies, he says, circles denuded
of vegetation which some attribute to buffaloes, while others regard
them as traces of ancient cabins. The myth tells of a hunter who
saw a basket containing singing maidens descend from the sky to
such a circle, where the girls danced and played with a brilliant ball.
He succeeded in capturing one of the girls, who became his wife;
home-sick for the sky-world, she, with their baby, reascended to the
heaven during the hunter s absence; but her star-father commanded
her to return to earth and bring to the sky her husband, with tro
All the sky-people chose, each for
phies of every kind of game.
himself, a trophy; and they were then metamorphosed into the cor
responding animals, the hunter, his wife, and son becoming falcons.
The dancing and singing sky-girls, on the magic circle, certainly sug
gest the fairy dances and fairy rings of European folk-lore. Text
references: Ch. II. vii (COPWAY; CONVERSE, pp. 101-07; SMITH, pp.
Ch. IV. vi (MOONEY [b], pp.
65-67; MOONEY [b], Nos. 74, 78).
>

330-35)-

GREAT HEADS, CANNIBAL HEADS, PURSUING ROCKS, ETC.

Myths of heads that pursue in order to devour or destroy are found
37.

In some instances they have obvious

surmise that the idea is older
than the meanings. Possibly it is connected with the custom of de-

in every part of America.

significations,

but

it is

not

difficult to

NOTES

291

capitation which prevailed in America everywhere before scalping

largely displaced it; possibly the tumble-weed of the Plains, in the
autumn borne along by the wind like a huge ball, may have some
thing to do with the idea; possibly it was suggested by the analogy of
sun and moon, conceived as travelling heads or masks, or by the tor
(the Iroquois have "Great Head" stories in which the heads
are apparently wind-beings). In many examples there is a cosmogonic suggestion in the myths. In Iroquois cosmogony the severed
body and head of Ataentsic are transformed into the sun and moon,

nado

and there is a Chaui (Pawnee) tale of a rolling head that is split by

a hawk and becomes the sun and moon (G. A. Dorsey [g], No. 5).

The cosmogonic
version (Ch. VI.

character of the legend appears also in the Carrier

i), though this same tradition as told by the Skidi

(G. A. Dorsey [e], No. 32) shows no cosmogony. Arapaho

(Dorsey and Kroeber, Nos. 32-34) are instances in which a
travelling rock is substituted for a head; in one instance (ib., No. 5)
the pursuer is a wart, and it is interesting to note that "Flint"
bears the epithet "Warty" in Seneca cosmogony (Hewitt [a]). Pur
suing heads and rocks appear in the far West as well as in the East
(examples are McDermott, No. 8, Flathead; Kroeber [a], No. 2,
and Mason, Nos. 10, n, Ute; Matthews [a], sect. 350, Navaho;
Goddard [a], No. 10, Apache). Usually they are bogies or monsters
folk-lore beings rather than mythic persons. A curious story found
among the Iroquois (Canfield, p. 125, variants of which are very
common in the North-West, e.g., Boas [j], p. 30; [g], viii. 18; xvii.
8, 9; xx. 8; xxi. 8) tells of a cannibal head which is transformed into
mosquitoes after it has been killed and burnt. One of the most in

Pawnee
stories

teresting versions

No.

14;

cf.

is

Curtin

a Californian story preserved by Dixon

[a],

"Hitchinna,"

[b],

"Ilyuyu"),

which

([c],

tells

of

man who dreams

that he eats himself up; afterward he goes to

gather pine-nuts, and his son throws one down and wounds him;
he licks the blood, likes its taste, and eats all of himself but the head,
which bounces about in pursuit of people until it finally leaps into
the river. In connexion with head stories it is worth noting that a
number of myths relate to a tribal palladium or "medicine" consist
ing of a skull (e.g. G. A. Dorsey [e], Nos. I, 12). See Notes 2, 19,
Ch. VI.
27, 38. Text references: Ch. II. vii (SMITH, pp. 59-62).

Ch.
i (MORICE [b]; LOFTHOUSE, pp. 48-51; LOWIE [a], No. 22).
XI. iv.
Apparently these beings are personifica
38. STONE GIANTS.
tions of implements of stone, especially flint, and they find their best

mythic representative
far

West

birds

knives appear.

with

in

"Flint"

flint

of Iroquoian

feathers or heroes

The Chenoo with

the icy heart

cosmogony. In the
armoured with flint
is

a familiar concep-

292

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

Canada and New England, and may refer to rocky

which cores of ice are preserved through the summer.
Like other giants, the Stone Giants are usually cannibals. See Notes
2, 19, 37, 46. Text references: Ch. II. vii (SMITH, pp. 62-64; MOONEY

tion in eastern
recesses in

Nos. 8, 67, p. 501; LELAND, pp. 233-51; RAND, CONVERSE,

Ch. III. i, ii.
Ch. IV. vi (BUSHNELL [a]; MOONEY [b]).
Ch. VII. ii (POWELL, pp. 47-51; LOWIE [b], p. 262).
Ch. IX. iii.
Ch. X. v (MERRIAM, pp. 75-82).
The seasons that appear in North American
39. THE SEASONS.
myth are almost invariably two, the hot and the cold, summer and
[b],

etc.).

Other divisions of the year occur, especially among agricul

BBE, "Calendar"), as governing ritual, but even
here the fundamental partition of the year is twofold. What may be
called the supernatural division of the year into seasons, in one of
which the ancestral gods are present and in the other absent, with a
corresponding classification of rites, is found both in the South-West
and on the Pacific Coast, and it is in these two regions, likewise, that
we meet the interesting suggestion of antipodes
i. e. of underworld
seasons alternating with those of the world above. Everywhere the
is the period in which the
open season
spring to autumn
great
winter.

tural tribes (see jo

invocations of the powers of nature take place in such ceremonies as

the Busk (Ch. IV. iii), the Sun-Dance (Ch. V. vi), the Hako (Ch. V.
vii), and the Snake-Dance (Ch. IX. v); while rites in honour of the
dead or of ancestral and totemic spirits occur (like their classical

analogues) in autumn and winter. Text references: Ch. II. viii (CON
VERSE, pp. 96-100; RAND, Nos. xl, xlvi; SCHOOLCRAFT [b], part iii,
obviously the original of the form used by Longfellow,
p. 324
Ch. IV. iii (GATSCHET [a],
Hiawatha, canto ii; JR vi. 161-63).
pp. 179-80; SPECK, JAFL xx. 54-56; MACCAULEY, pp. 522-23;
Ch. V. ii, vi
30 BBE "Busk"); vi (MOONEY [b], p. 322).
"Sun
O.
DORSEY
Dance";
[d], pp. 449-67; MOONEY [c],
J.
(30 BBE,
pp. 242-44; MCCLINTOCK, chh. xi-xxiii; G. A. DORSEY [a], [b]).
i
iii
No.
Ch. VI. (LOFTHOUSE).
Ch. VII.
10; [b], p. 337).
(TEXT [a],
Ch. VIII. iv.
Ch. IX. iv (M. C. STEVENSON [c], pp. 108 if.;
FEWKES [a], pp. 255 ff.; [e], pp. 18 ff.; [f], p. 692).
Ch. X. iv
Ch. XI. iii (BOAS [f], pp. 383 if., 632 ff.).
(CURTIN [a], "Olelbis").
One of the most distinctive of American
40. ANIMAL ELDERS.
is
ideas
the
mythic
conception that every species of animal is repre
sented by an Elder Being who is at once the ancestor and protector
of its kind. These Elders of the Kinds appear in various roles. Where
a food animal is concerned
the
deer, buffalo, rabbit, seal, etc.
function of the Elder seems to be to continue the supply of game;
he is not offended by the slaughter of his wards provided the tabus are
properly observed. Some tribes believe that the bones of deer are

NOTES

293

reborn as deer, and so must be preserved, or that the bones of fish

returned to the sea will become fish again. Many myths tell of pun
ishment wreaked upon the hunter who continues to slay after his
food necessities are satisfied. The Elders of beasts and birds of
prey are the usual totems or tutelaries of hunters and warriors; the
Elders of snakes, owls, and other uncanny creatures are supposed to
give medicine-powers. Divination by animal remains and the use of
charms and talismans made of animal parts are universal. Magic
animals that have the power of appearing as men and men who can
assume animal forms occur along with stories of the swan-shift
type, in which the beast- or bird-disguise is stolen or laid aside and
human form is retained. Frequently animals assume symbolic roles.
Thus the porcupine is an almost universal symbol for the sun, and the
mink and red-headed woodpecker appear in a like relation; the bear
is frequently an underground genius, and is conceived as a powerful
being in the spirit- wo rid; the birds are regarded as intermediaries
between man and the powers above; the turkey, in the South and
the South-West, is a mythic emblem of fertility, and an interesting
episode in the Hako ritual tells how the turkey was replaced by the
eagle as the symbolic leader of the rite, on the ground that the fer
tility of the turkey was offset by its lack of foresight in the protec
tion of its nests (Fletcher, pp. 172-74); the whole Hako Ceremony

dominated by bird-symbolism. Animal-beings are rarely to be re

garded as deities in any strict sense. Rather they are powerful genii
and intermediaries between men and gods. In the cosmogonic cycles
three animals, the hare, the coyote, and the raven, appear as creative
agents, but they are beings that belong to the domain of myth rather
than to that of religion. Two incidents in which animals conspicu
ously figure are found the length and breadth of the continent: (i)
the diving of the animals after soil from which the earth may be magi
most frequently encountered east of the
cally created or renewed
or of the sun or of
and (2) the theft of fire
Rocky Mountains,
brand snatched or
animals
who
bear
afar
the
of
by relays
daylight
stolen from the fire-keepers. The myth of the origin of the animals
(Note 41) is almost as ubiquitous. See Notes 3, 4, 5, 9, 13, 18, 46, 47,
48, 50, 52. Text references: Ch. II. viii (JR vi. 159-61; ix. 123-25;
is

Ch. V.
Ch. III. i.
Ch. IV. iv, vi (MOONEY [b]).
Ch. VI. vi (the legend of the Nahurak as here
(FLETCHER).
Letekots Taka
recorded follows a version given by White Eagle
a Skidi chief, to Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore, recently of the Nebraska State
Historical Society; see also GRINNELL [c], pp. 161-70; G. A. DORSET
vii (MALLERY, 10 ARBE, ch. x).
Ch. VII. iii. [g], Nos. 84, 85);
Ch. X. v (CURTIN [a], Introd.; MERRIAM, Introd.).
Ch. IX. iii, v.
Ch. XL iv.
xxxix. 15).

vii

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

294

ORIGIN OF ANIMALS.

41.
tically

throughout the continent

North American myth found prac

tells of

the release of the animals

from a cave, or chest, or the inside of a cosmic monster, whence they

distributed themselves over the earth. This event is sometimes
placed in the First Age, as an episode of a creation-story, sometimes
it follows the cataclysmic flood or conflagration which ends the pri
meval period. The people of the First Age are very generally repre
sented as human in form but animal in reality, and a frequent story
of the transformation of the First People into the animals they
soon as genuine human beings appear. The converse of

tells

really are, as
this recounts

how

the original animal-beings laid aside their animal

of men at the
beginning of the human era. Often both the transformation and the
liberation stories appear; in such instances the liberated animals are
usually of the food or game varieties. A vast body of traditions and
incidents account for the origin of animal traits; and it is these legends
which represent what is perhaps the most primitive stratum of
Indian mythology. See Notes 36, 40. Text references: Ch. II. viii

masks and became human beings and the ancestors

x.

(JR

HEWITT [a], pp. 194-97; 232-41; 302-09).

Ch. III. i.
(MOONEY [b], pp. 242-49); v (MOONEY [b], pp. 261Ch.
293, quoted; BUSHNELL [a], pp. 533-34; [b], p. 32).
(McDERMOTT, No. 2; W. D. LYMAN, The Columbia River,

137;

Ch. IV. iv
311; p.
VII. iv

New

XL

York, 1909, pp. 19-21).

Ch. IX.

vi.

Ch. X.

iv.

Ch.

vi.

The conception of a great tree in the upper

42. HEAVEN TREE.
world magically connected with the life of nature occurs in more than
one instance. In the Mohawk cosmogony (Hewitt [a], p. 282) it is
said to be adorned with blossoms that give light to the people in
the sky-world, while in the Olelbis myth (Curtin [a], "Olelbis") the
celestial sudatory is built of oak-trees bound together with flowers.
The Tlingit regard the Milky Way as the trunk of a celestial tree.
In many stories on the Jack-and-the-Beanstalk theme, the hero or
heroine ascends to the sky on a rapidly growing tree, sometimes be
lieved to be a replica of a similar tree in the world above. In SouthWestern genesis-stories the emergence from the underworld is by
means of magically growing trees, reeds, sunflowers, and the like.
Ascents to and descents from the sky occur with a variety of other
methods: the tradition of an upshooting mountain or rock, common
in California, is clearly related to the tree conception; the rainbow
bridge is a frequent idea, and is sometimes, like the Milky Way,
regarded as the Pathway of Souls; in the South- West lightning is
conceived as forming a bridge or ladder; and a similar idea in con
nexion with the fall of Ataentsic is the Fire-Dragon episode; descents
and ascents by means of a basket swung from spider-spun filaments

NOTES
are

common

295

in Plains

mythology, while magic shells, boats, and bas

sky by song or spell, occur east and west; on the
West Coast the arrow chain is frequent. The cult use of poles, orig
inating from magically endowed trees, is associated with some of
kets, raised to the

the most picturesque myths and important rites. See Notes 13,
14,
Text references: Ch. III. i, vi (JR xii. 31-37; SCHOOLCRAFT [b],

61.

Ch. IV. iv (GATSCHET [a]).

p. 320; HOFFMAN [b], p. 181).
VI. iv (see Note 13, for references).
Ch. VII. iii.
Ch.
VIII. ii.
Ch. IX. vi.
Ch. X. iii (CURTIN [a], "Olelbis"); vi
part

iii,

-Ch.

(POWERS, p. 366).
43. ATAENTSIC.
("Cosmogonic

Spelled also,

Gods

of the

JR

Iroquois,"

viii. 117, Eataentsic.

Hewitt
in Proceedings of the American

Association for the Advancement of Science, 1895) gives Eyatahentsik,

and regards her as goddess of night and earth. She is also named

Awenhai ("Mature Flowers"). Cf. 30 BBE, "Teharonhiawagon,"

and Lang, Myth, Ritual and Religion, 3d ed., London, 1901. See
Note 34. Text reference: Ch. III. i.
A common feature of American cosmo44. HERO BROTHERS.
gonic myths is the association of two kinsmen, usually described as
brothers or sometimes as twins.
In Iroquoian legend one of the
brothers is good, the other evil, and the evil brother is banished to
the underworld. In Algonquian tradition (and the same notion is

found among Siouan and other Plains tribes), the younger brother
is dragged down to the underworld by
vengeful monsters. An under
world relative of one of the brothers appears also in the South- West,
where the father of the elder is always the Sun, while the younger
is sometimes regarded as the son of the Waters,
welling up from
below. Almost always the elder brother, or first-born in case of twins,
is the hero, the doer; while the
younger is frequently a magician and
clairvoyant. It seems evident that the brothers represent respectively
the upper and underworld powers of nature, and it is doubtless for
this reason that Flint is described as the favourite of his mother
Ataentsic (the Earth) in Iroquois myth. In the South-West Coyote
often takes the evil part: thus the maladroit creations assigned to
Flint by the Iroquois are there the work of Coyote. Hero brothers
occur in other types of myth, and it is interesting to note that the
younger brother is the one to whom medicine-powers are ascribed.

See Notes 45, 69.

Text references: Ch. III.

i,

DORSEY [h], No. i), vii.

Ch. VII. ii, iii.
THEWS [a]; JAMES STEVENSON, pp. 279-80);
Stricken
[a],

Twins").

Ch. IX.

vi, vii.

iv

Ch. VI.
Ch. VIII.

variously spelled

21

as loskeha,

i,

iii

(G. A.

i,

ii

(MAT

(MATTHEWS

Ch. X.

i); vi DIXON [d], No. 3; KROEBER [c], p.

YOSKEHA AND TAwiscARA.
The names

No.

45.

ii.

iii

[c], "The

(FRACHTENBERG

186).
of these twins are

louskeha or Jouskeha, Tawiskara,

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

296

Onondaga and

"Maple

Yoskeha, called

etc.

Tawiscaron, Tawiskala,

Sapling"

"Sapling"

by the Mohawk, has been

by the
identi

with the sun or light by Brinton ([a], p. 203), though there seems
better reason in Hewitt s view that he is "the reproductive, rejuvenat
Cosmogonic Gods of the Iroquois," in Pro
ing power in nature"
ceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
1895). Tawiscara is rendered by Brinton "the Dark One," and in
terpreted as "the destructive or Typhonic power." "Flint" is the
name given to Tawiscara by the Onondaga; the Mohawk designate

fied

("

him by the Huron name which

in their language signifies

or
while the Seneca know him by the epithet "Warty" (cf.
Note 37). He is described as
marvelously strange personage
over the top of his head, a sharp
his flesh is nothing but flint
comb of flint." Brebeuf s narrative tells how, when Tawiscara was
punished by Jouskeha and fled, "from his blood certain stones sprang
up, .like those we employ in France to fire a gun" (JR x. 131). In
Cherokee myth Tawiscala appears in association with the Algonquian "Great Rabbit," which would indicate, what is indeed obvious,
that Yoskeha and Manabozho are one and the same. Hewitt re
gards Flint (Tawiscaron, which he interprets as from a root signify
see 30 BBE, "Tawiscaron") as a personification of Winter;
ing
"flint"

"chert";

"a

"ice";

while Sapling,

whom

he identifies with Teharonhiawagon, personifies

Summer; but this can be, at best, only in a secondary mode.

name Teharonhiawagon Hewitt interprets as meaning literally
is-holding-the-sky-in-two-places," referring to

The
"He-

the action of the

two

hands (jo BBE, "Teharonhiawagon"). Other interpretations are:

affermit le ciel de toutes parts";
Lafitau, i. 133, Tharonhiaouagon,
Brinton [a], p. 205, Taronhiawagon, "he who comes from the sky";
Morgan, ii. 234, Tarenyawagon, stating that he was "the sender of
dreams"; Hewitt [a], p. 137, Tharonhiawakon, "he grasps the sky,"
i. e. in
memory. Mrs. Smith (p. 52) says that little more is known of
this god than that he brought out from Mother Earth the six tribes
of the Iroquois. The name is not much used, the cosmogonies pre
ferring an epithet, as Odendonnia ("Sapling"), which is probably
also the meaning of Yoskeha. See Notes 38, 44, 47, 69. Text refer
Ch. IV. vi.
ences: Ch. III. i.
Transformations are of course common
46. METAMORPHOSIS.
mythic incidents. They may be classified into (i) phoenix-like period
"il

ical

rejuvenations, as in the case of Sapling (Yoskeha) in Iroquoian

in Navaho myth; (2) the metamorphosis of the

and of Estsanatlehi

People of the First Age into the animals or

human

beings of the final

which men now live; (3) incidental changes of form, as dis

guises assumed by magicians or deities, "swan-shift" episodes, wereperiod, in

folk incarnations,

all

in the general field of folk-tales; (4) reincarnation

NOTES

297

or transmigration changes, which may be from human to animal

form, as in the Tlingit concept that the wicked are reborn as ani
mals, or the Mohave belief that all the dead are reincarnated in a
series of

animal forms until they

finally disappear; (5)

transforma

by way of revenge, wrought by a mythic Transformer

Especially in the North- West and South-West stone

tions, frequently

or other deity.
formations are explained as representing transformed giants of earlier
times; (6) animal trait stories, in which the distinctive character
istic of an animal kind is held to be the result of some
primitive
change, usually the consequence of accident or trick, wrought in
the body of an ancestral animal. See Notes 3, 5, 18, 35, 40, 41, 43,
Text references: Ch. III. i (HEWITT [a]).
Ch. IV. iv, v
48, 62.

(MOONEY

[b],

Ch. VII.
47-51);
[a],

iii

ii

(KROEBER

(TEXT

Introd.;

BUSHNELL [a], p. 32).

MASON, No. 25; POWELL, pp.
Ch. VIII.
Ch. X. v (CURTIN

pp. 293, 304, 310-11, 320, 324;

[a],

No.

MERRIAM,

[a],

No.

27).

Introd.).

10;

i.

Ch.

XL

vi

(BoAS and

HUNT

[b],

p. 28).

These two are the Algonquian

47. MANABOZHO AND CHIBIABOS.
equivalents of the Iroquoian Yoskeha and Tawiscara. Manabozho,
the Great Hare, is one of the most interesting figures in Indian myth,

and probably he owes his importance to a variety of traits: the

hare s prolific reproduction and his usefulness as a food animal were
the foundation; his speed gave him a symbolic character; and per
haps his habit of changing his coat with the seasons enhanced his
reputation as a magician. At all events, in one line of development
he becomes the great demiurge, the benefactor of mankind, spirit
of life, and intercessor with the Good Spirit; while in another direc
tion he is evolved into the vain, tricky, now stupid, now clever hero
of animal tales, whose final incarnation, after his deeds have passed
from Indian into negro lore, appears in the "Brer Rabbit" stories
of Joel Chandler Harris. In Indian myth the relation between the
demiurgic Great Hare and the tricky Master Rabbit varies with tribe
and time. The tendency is to anthropomorphize the Great Hare
or to assimilate his deeds to an anthropomorphic deity. This has
gone farthest with the Iroquois, by whom indeed the conception of
a rabbit demiurge may never have been seriously entertained. The
Iroquoian Cherokee have many Rabbit stories, but they are folk
tales rather than myths. Among the Abnaki there seems to be a
clear separation between Glooscap, the demiurge, and the Rabbit
(cf Rand, Leland) Glooscap is, however, an obvious doublet of the
.

Hare, having all his tricky and magic character. It is interesting to

note that among the Ute, of the western Plateau, where, as in the
far North, the rabbit is a valuable food animal, the Rabbit again
becomes an important mythic being, though still subordinate to the

298

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

Coyote, which effaces him everywhere in the West. Apparently

the Coyote or some other Wolf was the original companion or
"brother" of the Hare; for in practically every version in which two
animals are present as the Hero Brothers, one is a carnivore. In the
east it is often the lynx, which, like the wolf, preys upon the rabbit.
Sometimes birds replace quadrupeds, as in the Omaha myth of
O. Dorsey [a]), where the duck and buzzard appear;
"Haxige" (J.
but the relation of prey and carnivore is constant. It is at least note
worthy that the food animal should be the eminent hero in Forest
Region myth, while the beast of prey takes this role on the Plains and
westward. The Algonquian names and epithets for the Great Hare

many; Messou, Manabush, Minabozho, and Nanaboojoo are

in the text (cf. Note i). Chibiabos (also Chipiapoos), the
companion of Manabozho, almost invariably occurs in the form of
are

mentioned

a carnivore, as the marten, lynx, or wolf.

In the interesting Pota-

watomi version given by De Smet (pp. 1080-84) two mythic

seem to be mingled: Chakekenapok, with whom Nanaboojoo

cycles
fights,

clearly Flint, the wicked twin of the Iroquoian tale; Chipiapoos,

the friendly brother, is Algonquian, and the same being who be
comes lord of the ghost-world after being dragged down by the water
monsters; Wabasso is clearly another name for the Great Hare, and
from the nature of the reference it is plausible to suppose that the
i. e.
Arctic hare is meant
Nanaboojoo-Wabasso and ChipiapoosChakekenapok are in reality only two persons. See Notes 15, 44,
45, 49. Text reference: Ch. III. ii (RAND, No. Ix; HOFFMAN [b], pp.
is

1
for general references, see Note 15).
87^ 113-14; [a], p. 66;
being who is at once
48. HERO-TRANSFORMER-TRICKSTER.
a demiurge, a magical transformer, and a trickster both clever and

gullible is the great personage of North American mythology. In

some tribes the heroic character, in some the trickster nature pre

dominates; others recognize a clear distinction between the myths,

which creative acts are ascribed to this being, and the folk-tales or
fictions, in which his generally discreditable adventures are narrated.
Of the mythic acts the most important ascribed to him are: (i) the
setting in order of the shapeless first world, and the conquest of its
monstrous beings, who are usually transformed; (2) the prime role

in

the sun, or daylight; (3) the restoration of the

(4) the creation of mankind and the insti
tution of the arts of life. Where these deeds are performed by some
other being, only the trickster character remains in a group of fairly
constant adventures, nearly all of which have close analogues in
European folk-tales. The important hero-tricksters are: (i) the
Great Hare, or Master Rabbit, of the eastern part of the continent;
(2) Coyote, the chief hero of Plains folk-tales and in the far West

in the theft of

fire,

world after the flood; and

NOTES

299

the great demiurge; (3) the Raven, which plays the parts of both
demiurge and trickster on the North- West Coast; and (4) "Old
Man," who is chiefly important in the general latitude of the Oregon
trail, from Siouan to Salish territory. In some instances (as in cer
tain Salish groups) there are a number of hero-trickster characters,
Coyote, Raven, Old Man, and the Hero Brothers all being present;
such cases seem to be the consequence of indiscriminate borrowing.
See Notes 40, 44, 45, 47, 63, 69. Text references: Ch. III. ii.
Ch.
Ch. VI. vi.
Ch.
IV. vi (MOONEY [b], pp. 233, 273, quoted).
Ch. VIII.
VII. iii (for references see Note 11); v (TEIT [c], p. 621).
Ch. X. iii, vi
i, ii, v, vi (GODDARD [a], Nos. 15, 16, 23, 33, etc.).

(GODDARD

[b],

esp. xvii-xxv;
[d],

No. 2; DIXON [b], No. 10).

SWANTON [a], pp. 27-28; [b],

Ch. XI. vi (BOAS [g],

[c], pp. 110-50;

p. 293;

pp. 80-88).

The conception of an abyss of waters from

THE DELUGE.
which the earth emerges, either as a new creation or as a restoration,
is found in every part of the American continent.
Not infrequently
both the evocation of the world from primeval waters and its subse
quent destruction by flood occur in the same myth or cycle, and in
49.

what passes for a creation-story is clearly nothing

than the post-diluvian renewal of the earth. The same
episode of the diving animals is found in connexion, now with the
creation, now with the deluge, so that it is difficult to say to which

many

instances

more or

less

myth it originally belonged. On the whole, it is best developed and

-most characteristic in the East and North, where its cosmogonic
features are also most clearly evolved. The other most familiar deluge
motive, the upwelling of a flood because of the wrath of underworld
water monsters, is characteristic in the South-West, though it also
occurs in the Manabozho stories, generally in conjunction with the
Physiographic conditions no doubt affect the cir
diving incident.
cumstances of the myth. Thus in the arid South-West the idea of
primeval waters is generally absent; the flood is an outpouring of
underworld waters, which we may presume is associated with the
sudden floodings of the canyons after heavy rains in the mountains;
it is curious to find the incidents of the South-Western myth repeated
in the North- West (cf. Boas [g], xxiv. I Swanton [d], p. no), although
this is not the customary form in that region. Again, in California
the notion of a refuge on a mountain-peak is common, and here, too,
we find the cataclysm of fire in conjunction with that of water,
indicating volcanic forces. Most, if not all, of the incidents of the
Noachian deluge are duplicated in one or other of the American
the raft containing the hero and surviving animals,
deluge-myths
the sending out of a succession of animals to discover soil or vege
tation, the landing on a mountain, even the subsequent building of
;

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

300

a ladder to heaven, the confusion of tongues, and the dispersal of

mankind. There is no reasonable question but that these incidents
are aboriginal and pre-Columbian, although in some instances later
coloured by knowledge of the Bible tale; and it is hardly a matter
of wonder that the first missionaries were convinced that Indian
is only a perverted reminiscence of the events narrated in
the Scriptures. See Notes 9, 15, 48, 50, 51. Text references: Ch.
III. iii (JR v. 155-57; vi. 157-59; HOFFMAN [b], pp. 87-88, 131 if.;
Ch. IV.
PERROT, Memoir e, ch. i, English translation in BLAIR, i.).
Ch. VII. iii.
Ch. VIII. ii,
Ch. VI. i, ii.
iv (BUSHNELL [b]).
Ch. X. iii (KROEBER [c]; [d], pp. 342-46;
Ch. IX. vi, vii.
v, vi.

mythology

p. 383); iv (POWERS, pp. 144, 161, 227, 383; KROEBER

pp. 177, 178, 184, 189; Nos. i, 7, n, 15, 25, 37; MERRIAM, pp.
Ch.
75, 81, 139; DIXON [c], Nos. I, 2; [d], Nos. i, 2; CURTIN [a]).

POWERS,
[c],

XL

vi

(BOAS

[g],

xxiv. i).

THE SERPENT.

Snakes seem naturally associated with under

world-powers, and are so in many instances, notably the snake rites
of the Hopi (Ch. IX. v) but the great mythic serpent of Indian lore
is quite as much a sky- as a water-being
probably he is mainly the
personified rainbow and lightning and therefore associated with both
sky and water. Commonly he is represented as plumed or horned;
frequently he carries a crystal in his head; in the North-West the
Sisiutl has a serpent head at each end and a human face in the middle.
Flying snakes occur in Navaho myth as a genre; the Shoshoni regard
the rainbow as a great sky-serpent, and the rainbows on the waters of
Niagara may be the suggestion which makes this cataract the home
of a great reptile. The Sia (M. C. Stevenson [b], p. 69) have a series
one for each of the quarters, one for heaven,
of cosmic serpents
and one for earth; the heaven-serpent has a crystal body, and it is so
brilliant that the eyes cannot rest upon it; the earth-serpent has a
mottled body, and is to be identified with the spotted monster which
rules the waters beneath the world and, in South-Western myth
to the upper
generally, causes the flood that drives the First People
world. The most frequent identification of the serpent, however, is
with lightning. It is partly as connected with the lightning, partly
as associated with the underworld-powers, that the snake becomes
an emblem of fertility, especially in the South-West. There may be
some connexion with the same idea in the frequent myth of the in
tercourse of a woman with a serpent. In many hero-stories the rep
tile appears as an antagonist of the Sun or the Moon or of the Hero
demiurge. Sometimes he is the husband of Night, and an obvious
impersonation of evil. On the Pacific Coast the horned serpent is a
magic rather than a cosmic being, though the latter character is by
no means absent. Very frequently medicine-powers are ascribed to
50.

NOTES

301

snakes, and there are numerous myths of potencies so acquired by

the snake-people. In the incident of the hero swallowed by
the monster, this being is in many cases a serpent, as in the Iroquois
E. G. Squier (American Review, new series, ii, 1848, pp.
version.
392-98) gives a type of the Manabozho story with the following
visits to

"cousin" of Manabozho, as he was

by Meshekenabek, the Great Serpent; (2) Manabozho s transformation of himself into a tree and his shooting of the
Serpent; (3) the flood caused by the water serpents, and the flight
of men and animals to a high mountain, whence a raft is launched
containing the hero and many animals; (4) the diving incident; and
See Notes 2, 9, 41, 49.
(5) Manabozho s remaking of the earth.
Text references: Ch. III. iv (HOFFMAN [b], pp. 88-89, 125 if.; RAND,

incidents: (i) the seizing of the

crossing the

ice,

Ch. VI. i
Ch. IV. vi.
I, xxxiii; MOONEY [b], pp. 320-21).
(MoRiCE, Transactions of the Canadian Institute, v. 4-10); iv (POWELL,
Ch. VII. iv.
Ch. IX. iii (M. C. STEVENSON [c], pp. 94 ff.,
p. 26).
179; FEWKES [f], p. 691); v (jo BEE, "Snake Dance"; FEWKES [b],
[c]; DORSEY and VOTH, especially pp. 255-61; 349-53; VOTH, Nos.

Nos.

6>

Ch.

7, 27, 37).

xvii. 2;

[j],

THE

XL

ii

(BOAS

[f],

p.

371;

[g], vi. 5,

5a;

viii. 3,

4;

pp. 28, 44, 66).

THEFT OF FIRE.

The Promethean myth is one of the

America. Sometimes it is the sun that is stolen,
sometimes the daylight; but in the great majority of cases it is fire.
The legend frequently has a utilitarian turn, describing the kinds
of wood in which the fire is deposited. Usually the flame is in the
keeping of beings who are obviously celestial, but there are some
51.

most universal

in

curious variations, as in the North-West versions which derive fire

from the ocean or from ghosts (cf. Boas [g], xvii. i). It is impossible
to believe that the fire-theft stories refer to the actual introduction
fire as a cultural agency; more likely the ritualistic preservation
and kindling of fire, with the distribution of the new fire by relays

of

rites of which there are traces in both North

and South America
constitute the basis of the myth in its com
monest form, that is, theft followed by distribution by relays of
animals. See Notes 13, 40. Text references: Ch. III. v (HOFFMAN
[b], pp. 126-27; MOONEY [d], p. 678; DE SMET, pp. 1047-53); vi
Ch. IV. iv (MOONEY [b], pp.
(HEWITT [a], pp. 201 ff., 317 ff.).
Ch. VII. ii (W. D. LYMAN, The Columbia River, New
240-42).
York, 1909, pp. 22-24; c f- EELS, Annual Report of the Smithsonian
Institution, 1887, part i); iv (KROEBER [a], No. i; LOWIE [b], No.
Ch. X.
3; PACKARD, No. i; TEIT [a], Nos. 12, 13; [c], No. n).
iv, vi (CURTIN [a], p. 365; [b], p. 51; MERRIAM, pp. 33, 35, 43-53,
89, 139; GODDARD [b], No. 12; [c], Nos. 3, 4, 5; FRACHTENBERG [a],
No. 4; DIXON [b], No. 3; [c], No. 5; [d], No. 8; KROEBER [c], Nos.

of torch-bearers

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

302
8, 16,
xiii.

26;

[e],

No.

Ch.

17).

XL

v (BoAS

[g], iii.

i, 8;

v. 2; viii. 8;

66).

THE BEAR.

52.

It

is

doubtless the cave-dwelling and hibernat

ing habits of the bear, coupled with his formidable strength, that give
him his position as chief of the underworld Manitos. In the Midewi-

win the bears are the most important of the malignant Manitos bar
See Hoffman
Text references: Ch. III. vi.
Ch.

ring the progress of the candidate during his initiation.

[a],

pp. 167-69,

X.

vi

and

(POWERS,

MERRIAM,

cf.

Note

14.

DIXON [c], No. 9; GODDARD

in; KROEBER [c], p. 180, No. 10).

p. 342;

pp. 103,

[c],

No.

Ch.

XL

17;
v.

Stories on the theme of Orpheus and

53. RETURN OF THE DEAD.
Eurydice are sufficiently frequent to form a class by themselves. In
some cases the return of the beloved dead is defeated because of the

breaking of a tabu, as in the Greek instance; in others the seeker is

given wealth or some other substitute; in still others the dead is
returned to life, but usually with an uncanny consequence; altogether
ghastly are the stories where the revivification is only apparent, and
the seeker awakes to find himself or herself clutching a corpse or
skeleton. See Notes 10, 12, 17. Text references: Ch. III. vii (JR x.
Ch. VI. v (G. A. DORSEY [g], Nos. 10,
149-53; SMITH, p. 103).

Ch. VII. iii, vi (W. D. LYMAN, The Columbia River, New

34).
Ch. X. vii (KROEBER [c], Nos. 24, 25;
York, 1909, pp. 28-31).
XL
vii.
Ch.
POWERS, p. 339).
For
the
HIAWATHA.
story of Hiawatha consult 50 BBE,
54.

Wathototarho
Hale, Iroquois Book
of Rites, a study of the traditions of the League as retained by the
Iroquois and reduced to writing in the eighteenth century; Morgan,
i.
63-64; Smith; Beauchamp, "Hi-a-wat-ha," in JAFL iv; School"

"Dekanawida," "Hiawatha,"

"

pp. 314 ff. Text reference: Ch. III. viii.

Of the parts of the body, the hair and the
55.
heart seem to be particularly associated with the life and strength of
the individual. The scalp-lock was a specially dressed wisp or braid

craft

[a], i.; [b],

part

iii,

HAIR AND SCALP.

of hair, separated out when the boy reached

that was taken as a trophy from the slain.

manhood, and it was this

The custom of scalping
seems to have originated in the east and from there to have spread
westward, replacing the older practice of decapitation, which, on
some parts of the Pacific Coast, was never superseded. Hair-sym
bolism appears not only in scalping, but in the wide-spread custom
of giving a pregnant woman a charm made of the hair of a deceased
relative whose rebirth was hoped for (cf. JR vi. 207, for an early
instance). Hair-combing episodes are frequent in myth, usually
with a magic significance. In Iroquois cosmogony Ataentsic combs
the hair of her father, apparently to receive his magic power. Hia
watha s combing of the snakes from the hair of Atotarho is perhaps

NOTES

303

a symbolic incident. The character of Atotarho s hair may be in

ferred from Captain John Smith s description of that of the chief
priest of the Powhatan: "The ornaments of the chiefe Priest was
certain attires for his head made thus. They tooke a dosen or 16 or

more snakes, and

vermine

skins, a

meete

their tailes

all

Round about
hang about
his

face"

them with mosse; and of weesels and other

good many. All these they tie by their tailes, so as
stuffed

toppe of their head, like a great Tassell.

as it were a crown of feathers; the skins
head, necke and shoulders, and in a manner cover
in the

this Tassell

his

(Description of Virginia, 1612,

37. Text references: Ch. III. viii

See Note
V. ix (FLETCHER and
56.

their

is

"Of

their

(MORGAN,

i.

Religion").

63).

Ch.

LA FLESCHE,

pp. 122-26).
American Indians are inveterate gamesters, and

GAMBLERS.
myths accordingly abound

in stories of

gambling contests, in

frequently the theme of interest. See

Note 21. Text references: Ch. IV. vi (MOONEY [b], pp. 311-15).
Ch. VIII. ii (MATTHEWS [a], "Origin
Ch. VII. iii (TEIT [a], No. 8).

which the magic element

is

iv (MATTHEWS [a], "The Great Shell of Kintyel"; cf.

Ch. IX. vi.
GODDARD [a], No. 18; RUSSELL, p. 219).
AND
HISTORIES.
MIGRATION-MYTHS
57.
Migration-myths and
Myth");

all the more ad

Such traditions are usually closely
interwoven with cosmogonic stories, so that there are formed fairly
consistent narratives of events since the "beginning." Chronology
is generally vague, though there are some notable attempts at exac

more or

less

legendary histories are possessed by

vanced North American

titude (see Ch. VI.

MOONEY

[b],

MALLERY,
WINSHIP,
infra)

Text references: Ch. IV. vii (GATSCHET [a];

Ch. VI. vii (G. A. DORSEY [b], pp. 34 ff.;
Writing of the American Indians," in 10 ARBE,

vii).

pp. 350-97).

"Picture

MOONEY

ch. x;

tribes.

"The

[c],

pp. 254-64).

Coronado

Ch. IX. iv (see especially G. P.

in 14 ARBE cf. Note 67,

Expedition,"

PETALESHARO.
See 30 BBE, Petalesharo." The story is told
Kenney, Memoirs Official and Personal, New York,
1846, ii. 93 ff., but Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore, recently of the Nebraska
State Historical Society, states that the Skidi of today deny its truth;
the Morning Star sacrifice lapsed, they say, by common consent.
Dr. Gilmore has very kindly given the writer the following data re
garding Petalesharo and the Morning Star sacrifice which correct
many statements current in government and other publications:
In the contact of two races of widely variant modes of thought
and manners of life there is abundant room for misunderstandings
and mistaken ideas to be formed of each by the other, and when one
race possesses the art of writing and the other does not, the people
with the superior advantage may, without any wrong intention,
"

58.

by Thomas

"

304

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

perpetuate false views and impressions equally with true statements

Thus the misapprehension of one observer is thereafter
propagated and confirmed by every writer who deals with the given
In such light, I think, is to be regarded the character of
subject.
Pita Leshara [Petalesharo], and especially one deed commonly as
cribed to him in white men s accounts.
"Pita Leshara was chief of the Tshawi [Chaui] tribe of the Pawnee

of facts.

He was a forceful character, wise, brave, and benevolent,

and was in the height of his power just at the time that his nation
was coming into the closest contact with the white race. Because
of his outstanding ability and force of character, and because he
was a chief, the whites popularly regarded him as the principal chief
nation.

of the nation.
"Of
the four tribes, originally independent, but in later times
confederated into the Pawnee nation, one, the Skidi, possessed the
rite of human sacrifice, the offering of certain war captives, pro
vided that at the time of their capture they had been devoted by
the consecrational vows of their captors. This ceremony was prac
tised by the Skidi Pawnee until some time after the middle of the
nineteenth century. It died out at that time because of the various
influences incident to increasing contact with, and more constant
propinquity of, the white race. The cessation of this practice oc
curring contemporaneously with the period of Pita Leshara s public
activities, a belief obtained among white people, and crystallized
into a dictum, that it was due to a mandate of the chief that the
practice of the rite ceased. But the observance of religious ceremo
nies does not originate nor terminate by mandate.
the old people of the Pawnee I am
"By careful inquiry among
unable to find any support for either of the statements current
among the whites that Pita Leshara was head chief of the nation
and that he, by edict, caused the Skidi tribe to abandon their pecu
The following account will serve as an example of the
liar ritual.

information on the subject given me very generally by old people

informant
now living who were contemporaries of Pita Leshara.
in this instance was White Eagle, a chief of the Skidi Pawnee. He
was about eighty-three years old at the time he gave me this account
in 1914. His father was the last priest, or Ritual Keeper, of the rite
of human sacrifice who performed the ceremony, and White Eagle
himself, as his father s successor, now has in his keeping the sacred
pack pertaining to the sacrifice and described below.
I told him the current story,
"White Eagle s account follows.
an educated young Skidi named Charles Knifechief being our in
he
terpreter. White Eagle listened with attention and at the close
said: It is not a true account. Now let me tell you. At one time

My

NOTES

305

there was a Skidi chief named Wonderful Sun (Sakuruti Waruksti).

This chief ordered the [Skidi] tribe on the buffalo-hunt. So they
made ready with tents and equipment. The people went south
west, beyond the Republican River. While they were in that region,

they came into the vicinity of a Cheyenne camp. One of the Chey
enne women was gathering wood along the river bottom many miles
from camp. Some Pawnees overtook her and made her captive.
The Pawnees at this time had finished the hunt and were returning
home. They brought the captive Cheyenne woman along. A man
of the Skidi declared the woman to be waruksti [a formula of conse
cration]. They continued on the return journey and camped on the
way at Honotato kako [the name of an old village site on the south
bank of the Platte River where the Tshawi, Kitkahak [Kitkehahti]
and Pitahawirat [Pitahauerat], the other three tribes of the Pawnee
nation, had formerly resided]. From this place they travelled along
the south bank of the Platte to the ford at Columbus. Before they
crossed the river one of the old men of the Skidi, a man named Big
Knife (Nitsikuts), went up to this woman and shot her with an arrow.
He did so because he thought that the white men at Columbus would
take her away from them and send her back to her own people if
they learned that the Skidi had a captive. And now this story as
I have told it to you is the real truth of the reason that the Skidi
Pawnee no longer continued the sacrifice. The captor of the Chey
enne woman was a man named Old Eagle. He pronounced her to
be waruksti. Big Knife killed her because she had been made wa
ruksti. The story of Pita Leshara is untrue.
If he had interfered,
he would have been killed, because he had no authority over the
Skidi. He was chief of the Tshawi.
"The sketch [mentioned below] was made
by Charles Knifechief
as he sat interpreting for us. He has drawn a Pawnee earth lodge
in the distance as seen from the Place of Sacrifice. The door-way of
the house opens toward the rising sun. The victim was bound by
the hands to the upright posts, standing on the upper of four hori
zontal bars, the ends of which were bound to the upright posts.
White Eagle said that the human sacrifice was not connected with
the planting ceremony, but was for atonement, planting being con
trolled by another Sacred Pack. He declared that he has the Human
Sacrifice Pack which he inherited from his father, but he was not
instructed in the ritual, so that it is now lost. He said that the body
sacrificed to the birds of the air and to animals, and was left on

was

the scaffold until it was consumed. The victim was put to death by
the authorized bowman of the ritual, by shooting with the four
sacred arrows. After the archer had thus slain the sacrifice, four
men advanced with the four ancient war-clubs from the Sacred Pack

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

306

it was at the will of the

to
this ritual contains the
pertaining
populace.
sacred bow, the four sacred arrows, four sacred war-clubs, and a
human skull, the skull of a man who was a chief long ago, distin

and

in turn struck the

body, after which

The Sacred Pack

guished by his great human sympathy."

Despite White Eagle s statement that the sacrifice was not con
nected with agricultural rites, it may still be noted that neighbour
ing tribes associated the Pawnee offering of human beings with
agriculture. Thus an Omaha narrative (J. O. Dorsey [a], p. 414)
declares that the Pawnee "greased their hoes" in the flesh of a vic
tim
they wished to acquire good crops."
The illustration to which Dr. Gilmore refers, and which is repro
"as

duced, through his courtesy, opposite p. 76, is of particular interest

since there is, so far as the author knows, no other existing picture of
the manner in which the famous sacrifice to the Morning Star was con
ducted. Text reference: Ch. V. i. Cf. DE SMET, pp. 977-88.
Most North American Indians are
59. WAR AND WAR-GODS.

courageous warriors, though tribes vary much in their reputations.

On the Great Plains the northern Athapascans form an exception,
having, as a rule,

little

inclination for fighting.

The

Californian

were on the whole peaceful, and in the South-West the

Pueblo Dwellers, valorous in defence, were little given to forays.
The Sun and the Thunder are the war-divinities of the greater part
of the continent; in the South-West the war-gods are the twin sons
tribes, also,

of the Sun. Usually the Indian warrior relied

more upon

his personal

and Eagle
than upon any war-god of a national type. The bearing of palladia
into battle was common, however; and the loss of such a treasure
was regarded as a great disaster. See Notes 25, 37, 55. Text refer
Ch. IX. iii.
Ch. VIII. ii.
Ch. V. i, ix.
ences: Ch. II. ii.
The use of feather-symbols is one of
60. FEATHER-SYMBOLISM.
the most characteristic features of Indian dress and rituals. Eagle
feathers, denoting war-honours, are in the nature of insignia; but there
are many ritualistic uses in which the feathers seem to be primarily
symbols of the intermediation between heaven and earth which is
char
assigned to the birds. Feathers thus have a ghostly or spiritual
acter. Boas records a story in which a house is haunted by feathers
and shadows ([g] xxv. i, 13), and one of the most curious of Plains
tutelary or Medicine-Spirit

especially the Bear, Wolf,

legends is the Pawnee tale of Ready-to-Give, whom the gods restored

to life with feathers in place of brains. In the South-West feathers
are attached to prayer-sticks addressed to the celestial powers. Cf.
Notes 21, 27, 30, 31, 40, 61. Text references: Ch. V. vii (FLETCHER,
The Hako, is perhaps the most important single source on feather-

symbolism).

Ch. VI. vi

(for

stories

of

Ready-to-Give, G. A.

NOTES

307

[g], Nos. 39-76; GRINNELL [c], pp. 142-60).

Ch. IX. iii.
The most conspicuous use of sacred poles
61. SACRED POLES.
is in the Sun-Dance rite, where the central object of the Medicine
Lodge is a post adorned with emblematic objects, especially a bundle
tied transversely so as to give the general effect of a cross. Sacred
poles appear as palladia in a number of instances. The Creek migra
tion-legend recounts such a use, and the Omaha tribal legends refer
not only to the pillar mentioned in Ch. V. ix, but to another and
older sacred post of cedar. In the Hedawichi ceremony of the same

DORSET

[e],

Ch. VIII.

i,

No.

10;

iii.

tribe a pole made from a felled tree was a symbol of life and strength,
and of cosmic organization. The relation of these pillars to the pole
in the Sun-Dance, all forming a single ritualistic group,
seems obvious. The transition from poles to xoana, or crude pillar-

employed

apparent in the wooden statuettes made by the Zuiii

little more than decorated stocks.
On
the North- West Coast an entirely individual development is found in
the carved "totem-poles" and grave memorials carved with totemic
figures; but these seem to be heraldic rather than ritualistic in inten
tion. See Notes 4, 42, 65. Text references: Ch. IV. vii (GATSCHET [a]).
Ch. VIII.
Ch. V. ix (FLETCHER and LA FLESCHE, pp. 216-60).
Ch. XL i, ii.
Ch. IX. iii.
v (LUMHOLTZ [a]).
like images,

is

and other Pueblo, which are

62. MAGIC.
Magic is the science of primitive man, his means
of controlling the forces of nature. Imitative and sympathetic magic
underlie most Indian rites to a degree that frequently makes it im
possible to determine where magic coercion of nature gives place,

mind of the celebrant, to symbolic supplication. Both elements

are present in all the important ceremonies, and it is often a matter
of interest or prepossession on the part of the reporter as to which
in the

will be emphasized in his record. Magic motives

magic or worship
in myth are too numerous to classify, but a few types may be men
tioned, (i) Transformations (see Notes 5, 41). (2) Magic increase
and replenishment. The idea underlying this form is: Given a little
of a substance, it may be magically increased; possibly animal and
vegetable multiplication is the analogy which suggests this; at all
events it seems less difficult for the primitive mind to imagine con
Typical notions are
tinuity and increase than creation ex nihilo.
the creation of the earth from a kernel of soil, the stretching of the

world, the continuous growth of the heaven-reaching tree or rock,

the constant replenishment of a vessel of food which, like the widow s
cruse, is never exhausted during need, or is emptied only by an orphan
after all others have partaken. (3) Songs and spells. The Indian
has an inveterate belief in the power of words, and even thoughts, to
produce mechanical and organic changes; hence the importance of

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

308

song in his rituals, and the tabus which forbid songs to be sung out
of season (a hunting song in the closed season, for example). (4)
The magic flight. This is an incident that recurs many times: the
hero

is

stacles

pursued by a monster; as he flees he creates successive ob

by means of charms, which the monster in turn overcomes

(an example is given Ch. VI. i).

to the underworld or spirit- world
(5) Magic use of stones, wands,

The conception

of the perilous way

related to this idea (see Note 8).
and other talismans. See Notes 4,
is

Text references: Ch. VI.

Ch. VII. ii.

i, vii.
Ch. X. iv (GODDARD [c], Nos. 1,2).
The personage usually called "Old Man" is a
63. OLD MAN.
distinctly Western figure who seems to be in some instances a per
sonification of the Great Spirit, though for the most part he is clearly
a member of the "Trickster-Transformer" group. The Blackfeet
and Arapaho, western Algonquians, share this character with their
neighbours of Siouan and Salish stocks (cf. De Smet, p. 525; Wissler
and Duvall, Nos. 1-23). Old Man is the hero of the raft story and
the diving animals in Arapaho myth, their version of which, as given
by G. A. Dorsey ([a], pp. 191-212; also, Dorsey and Kroeber, Nos.
i, 2, 3), is one of the best recorded. It is interesting to note in this
the cruciform symbol of
legend that the raft is made of four sticks
and that it supports a calumet, personified as Flatthe quarters
the "Father," and representing the palladium of the tribe.
pipe,"
This connects both with the far north and the extreme south, for the
story of the raft is known to the Athapascans of the North, while the
Navaho and Pueblo traditions of the floating logs and the cruciform
symbol are an interesting southern analogue (cf. 8 ARBE, p. 278;
and Chh. VIII. iv; IX. v). The Cheyenne creator, "Great Medicine"
(G. A. Dorsey [b], pp. 34-37), is a similar, if not an identical being,
personifying the Great Spirit, or Life of the World, as a creative in
dividual. This Cheyenne myth tells of a Paradisic age when men
were naked and innocent, amid fields of plenty, followed by a period
in which flood, war, and famine ensued upon the gift of understanding.
The Crow (Siouan) name for the creator, "Old Man Coyote" (FCM
ii. 281), is an interesting identification of this character with Coyote.
See Notes 6, 48. Text references: Ch. VI. ii (J. O. DORSEY [d], p.
27, 30, 35, 60, 61.

Ch. VIII.

iii,

iv.

Ch. IX.

iv.

"

513).

Ch. VII.

iii,

v.

Unsexed beings appear not infrequently,

64. HERMAPHRODITES.
of the western half of the continent.
in
the
mythology
especially
Matthews ([a], note 30) says: The word (translated "hermaphrodite")
usually employed to designate that class of men, known perhaps
in all wild Indian tribes, who dress as women, and perform the duties
"is

women in Indian Camps." The custom is certainly

Father Morice describes it among the northern Atha-

usually allotted to

wide-spread.

NOTES

309

a noteworthy instance of the

pascans; and De Smet (p. 1017) gives
reverse usage: "Among the Crows I saw a warrior who, in conse
and subjected him
quence of a dream, had put on women s clothing
so humiliating to
that
of
duties
labors
and
the
all
to
condition,
self
an Indian. On the other hand there is a woman among the Snakes
who once dreamed that she was a man and killed animals in the chase.

Upon waking

s garments, took his gun and

dream; she killed a deer. Since
man s costume; she goes on hunts

she assumed her husband

test the virtue of her

went out to

that time she has not left off

and on the war-path; by some fearless actions she has obtained the
title of brave and the privilege of admittance to the council of the
chiefs."
Perhaps the most interesting case recorded is that of Wewha,
a Zufii man who donned woman s attire, described by Mrs. Steven

son ([c], p. 310) as "undoubtedly the most remarkable member of

the strongest both mentally and physically." The
the tribe
s attire and work by youths reaching puberty
woman
of
assumption
is a matter of choice. This choice the boy makes for himself among
the Zufii, and doubtless also in the other Pueblos where the practice
exists. "Hermaphrodites" have a certain mythic representation in
Zufii ceremonies, and it is noteworthy that the Zufii Creator is a bi.

sexed being, "He-She" (M. C. Stevenson [a], pp. 23, 37). Among
the tribes of the North-West Coast mythic hermaphrodite dwarfs,
xxiii. 3;
life-destroyers, appear as denizens of the moon (Boas [g],
Ch. XI. v.
Ch. IX. vii.
Text references: Ch. VIII. ii.
til, P- 53)The use of masks in rites intended
65. MASKS AND EFFIGIES.
as dramatic representations of deities finds

its highest development

(among the Navaho and Pueblo tribes) and on
the North-West Coast, though it is not limited to these regions.
The purpose of the mask is impersonation, but their employment is
not on the purely dramatic plane, since they can be worn only by
some
i. e. the mask is to
persons qualified by birth or initiation
extent regarded as an outward expression of an inward character
already possessed. In both regions masks are associated with cere
monies in honour of ancestral spirits or clan or society tutelaries

in the South- West

rather than concerned with the worship of the greater nature-powers.

use of masks has to a degree affected myth: the Zufii regard the
clouds as masks of the celestial Rain-Makers; the Sun and Moon are
masked persons; and in the North-West an interesting mythic inci
dent is the laying aside of animal masks and the consequent conver
sion of the animal-beings of the First Age into mankind. Wooden

The

images of divine beings also occur in these same regions, and with
some ritual use, but on the whole idols are rare in America north of
Mexico; objects of especial sanctity are more often in the nature of
have the character of talismans
"Medicine," and even tribal sacra

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

3io

rather than of symbols. Elaborate masques, or ceremonies in which

maskers are the chief performers, are given in the Pueblos during the
season in which the katcinas, or ancestral spirits, are supposed to
be present. A similar division of the ritual year, for a like reason,
obtains in the North- West. It is difficult to characterize these rites
They are not ancestor-worship in the Oriental or classi
precisely.
cal sense; for while the spirits of ancestors are

supposed to be repre
sented, they are associated with mythic powers and totemic tutelaries rather than with the well-being of households and clans as
such. Rites at the grave and prayers to the dead are a Pueblo cus
tom, but the deceased are addressed primarily in their mythic role
of the Rain-Makers.

On

the whole, the distinctly ancestral character

South-West, where the masks are chiefly
anthropomorphic, while the totemic signification is more in evidence
in the mainly animal masks of the North- West. See Notes
4, 27,
Ch. IX. iii (FEWKES [a], pp.
30, 61. Text references: Ch. VIII. iv.
265, note, 312; [e], p. 16; M. C. STEVENSON [b], pp. 20-21, 62 ff.,
is

more marked

316, 576

in the

Ch.

ff.).

BOAS and HUNT

[a],

XL

ii

(SWANTON

pp. 26, 28;

[c],

pp. 499, 503, 508, 509;

BOAS

[d],

[g], xxii.

No. 41;
i).

66. THE SWASTIKA.

Cruciform symbols are pre-Columbian in
both the Americas. Probably the commonest form is the swastika,
the symbolism of which is certainly in some, and perhaps in most,
uses that of an emblem of the World-Quarters and their presiding
powers. The most elementary geographical frame is the cross, each
arm of which, for cult purposes, is provided with an extension for
the support of the genii of the directions
especially the powers of
wind and storm. The circular horizon is a natural image with which

to circumscribe this cross; and thus is derived a kind of primitive

projection of the plane of earth. The sky above is conceived as an
inverted bowl; not infrequently the earth beneath is symbolized by

a corresponding bowl (as in the Pawnee Hako ceremony, while the

Pueblo Dwellers, who live in a land environed by mountain and
mesa, employ terraced bowls in the same sense); and thus the spher
ical universe is defined in all but word (cf. the "two kettle"
palladium
of the "Two Kettle Sioux"
a division of the Teton). It is inter
esting to note that in the Sia cosmogony the first act of Spider, about
to create the world, is to draw a cross and to station goddesses at
the eastern and western points. See Notes n, 31, and cf. Thomas

Wilson,

"The

Museum,
ii,

Swastika,"

1894; and 30

in Report of the

BEE,

"Cross."

United States National

Text references: Ch. IX.

vi.

67.

SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA.

The

"

Kingdom

of

Cibola,"

with

was discovered by Fray Marcos of Niza in 1539,

and the consequence of his glowing description was the Coronado ex-

its "seven

cities,"

NOTES

311

pedition of 1540, which resulted in the first contact of the Spaniards

with the Pueblo Indians. The "seven cities" are identified as a

group of pueblos of which Zuni is the modern representative, and

Zunian legends still recount the history of the period. It was while
among the Pueblos that Coronado learned of "Quivira" and set
out for that country, guided by an Indian whom the Spaniards
called "the Turk," and who is believed to have been a Pawnee.
This is interesting in connexion with the many affinities of Pawnee
and South-Western rites (cf. Fletcher, pp. 84-85 and Note 35,
It is supposed that Coronado penetrated into what is now
supra).
Kansas on this expedition, and that the great chief Tartarrax, of the
province of Harahey, was a Pawnee chieftain. See 30 BBE, "Qui
Text reference: Ch. IX. ii.
vira," "Zuni."
68. NUMBER.
Four is generally said to be the "sacred number"

North Americans, and it occurs as the natural consequence

on the World-Quarters in cult practices. Possibly
the number three, which is occasionally found in Indian myths, simi
larly reflects ritualistic relations to the Upper, Middle, and Lower
Worlds, while the combination of the two gives the sacred seven,
employed in Pueblo rites, or (with the Mid-World omitted) six.
the "fourth time is
Usually four is the magic number in myths
the charm." The duration of Pueblo ceremonial periods of five and
nine days has been explained as the addition of a day of preparation
of the

of the emphasis

to a four-day period or its double. On the Pacific Coast the impor

tance of the Quarters in ritual is not great; consequently four as a

mythic number is not so common there as elsewhere. See Note 31.

Text reference: Ch. IX. iv.
The term "culture hero" is not infre
69. CULTURE HERO.
quently applied to the Trickster-Transformer, who is, however, a
demiurge on his heroic side. A second group of beings who may be
regarded as culture heroes are the mortals who make journeys to
supernatural abodes and bring thence to mankind not only medicinepowers but gifts of various sorts. The acquisition of fire, of maize,

and of methods of hunt and chase are the chief events

about which these myths centre. Usually some sort of tribal palla
dium is acquired along with any distinct innovation in the mode of
life. "Medicine" heroes, who institute new rites and found
societies,
appear in all important collections of myths; and the Messianic
promise of the return of a departing hero is again a frequent inci
See Notes
dent, suggesting the Quetzalcoatl legend of the Aztecs.
Text references: Ch. VI. vi.
Ch. IX. vi, vii.
44?
S6
57Ch. XI. iv (BOAS [j], pp. 32-33).
The creation of mankind in Indian
70. CREATION OF MEN.
legends, as distinct from metamorphosis or from descent from
of utensils,

54>

22

312

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

animal or semi-human in form, is usually a rather

unimportant theme, with little mythic expansion. Men are made
from clay, sticks, feathers, grass, ears of maize, and, in one interest
ing myth recorded by Curtin, from -the bones of the dead. Some
times they are "earth-born," or issue from a spring or swamp; and
in the North-West carved images are vivified to become human
ancestors. See Notes 15, 18, 34, 35, 46, 57. Text references: Ch. IX.
Ch. X. V (GODDARD [c], p. 185; KROEBER [e], p. 94; CuRTIN
Vi.
Ch. XL ii (BOAS [g], xxii. i, 2); iv (BOAS [j], pp.
[b], PP- 39-45)earlier beings

29-32).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
I.

AA
ARBE
.

BAM.
BBE

FCM

JAFL
JR

MAM
PAM

WC

American Anthropologist.
Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology.
Bulletin, American Museum of Natural History.
Bulletin, Bureau of American Ethnology.
Anthropological Series, Field Columbian Museum.
Journal of American Folk-Lore.
Jesuit Relations, Thwaites edition and translation.
Memoirs, American Museum of Natural History.
Anthropological Papers, American Museum of Natural

ABBREVIATIONS

History.
University

Publications

California

of

in

American

Archaeology and Ethnology.

NOTE.
Works"

listed,

or

by the author

Citation
"Select

Literature"

they are distinguished by

name refers
Where

to the work noted under "General

the same author has several works

(below).

letters in the list

and correspondingly referred to

in

the Notes.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL GUIDES

II.

Handbook

of

American Indians North

of

Mexico (jo BBE}.

Espe

(Washington, 1907), art. "Bureau of American

in
Ethnology";
part 2 (Washington, 1910), "Bibliography,"
pp. 1179-1221.
List of Publications of the Bureau of American Ethnology with Index
to Authors and Titles (58 BBE).
Washington, 1914.
cially in part

The Literature of American History.

Bibliographical Guide.

J.

N.

Larned, editor. Boston, 1902.

The Basis of American History (vol. ii of The American Nation, Hart,
editor).
By L. Farrand. Especially pp. 272-89. New York,
1904.
Narrative and Critical History of America. By Justin Winsor. Vol. i,
Aboriginal America, "Bibliographical Appendix."
Boston,
1889.

Native Races of the Pacific States of North America.

croft.

Vol.

i,

"Authorities Quoted."

By H. H. Ban

New York,

1875.

NORTH AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY

316

Manuel d archeologie

By H.

americaine.

Beuchat.

Paris, 1912.

"Mythology of Indian Stocks North of Mexico," by A. F. Cham

xviii (1905).
Also, same author,
berlain, in
Indians,
North American," in Encyclopaedia Britannica, nth ed.

JAFL

"Ethnology in

series,

iii

"

Relations," by J. D. McGuire, in
(Guide to the materials in JR.)

the Jesuit

(1901).

A A, new-

COLLECTIONS AND PERIODICALS

III.

Publications of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C:

Contributions to North American Ethnology, vols. i-vii,

1877-93.
Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1881
Bulletin, Bureau of American Ethnology, 1887 ff.
Report of the United States National Museum, 1884 ff.
Publications of the American

Museum

ix,

ff.

of Natural History,

New

York:
Anthropological Papers, 1907
Memoirs, 1898 ff.
Bulletin, 1881 ff.

if.

Publications of the American Ethnological Society.

Leyden, 1907 ff. (Texts and translations.)

Publications of the Field Columbian

Chicago, 1895

F. Boas, editor.

Museum. Anthropological

University of California Publications in Archaeology

Berkeley, CaL, 1903 ff.

Memoirs

of

Canada Department

Ottawa, 1914

of Mines.

and Ethnology.

Anthropological Series.

ff.

Transactions of the Canadian Institute.

Proceedings and Transactions

of the

Toronto, 1889

ff.

Royal Society of Canada.

real, ist series, 1883-95; 2cl series, 1895

"Ethnological

Series.

ff.

Mont

ff.

Survey of Canada," in Reports of the British Associa

Advancement of Science, 1897-1902. London, 1898-

tion for the

1903.

Comptes rendus du Congres international des Americanistes.

and elsewhere, 1878 ff.
Publications of the Hakluyt Society.

Vols. i-lxxix.

Paris

London, 1847-89.
ff.

Publications of the Champlain Society.

Toronto, 1907

Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents.

Ixx.
Cincinnati, 1896-1901.

R. Thwaites, editor. Vols. i-

BIBLIOGRAPHY

317

Early Western Travels. R. Thwaites, editor. Vols. i-xxxii. Cleve

land, 1904-07.
Voyages, relations et memoires originaux pour servir d I histoire de la

H. Ternaux-Compans, editor. Tomes

(Mainly Latin America.)
Library of Aboriginal American Literature. D. Brinton, editor. Vols.
decouverte de
i-xx.

Amerique.

Paris, 1837-41.

i-vi.
Philadelphia, 1882-85.
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.
burgh and New York, 1908 ff.

James Hastings,

editor.

Edin

Vols. i-xi, Washington, 1888-98; new

York, 1899 if.
Journal of American Folk-Lore. Boston and New York, 1888 ff.
Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society. Boston and New York,

American Anthropologist.
series, vols.

1894

if.,

New

ff.

IV.

GENERAL WORKS
(a}

CATLIN, GEORGE,

[a],

Descriptive

Illustrations of the

Manners and Customs and

Condition of the North American Indians. 2 vols. 2d ed., Lon

don, 1866.
[b], Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condi
2 vols.
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DE

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SMET,

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LAFITAU,

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1724.
SCHOOLCRAFT, H. R., [a], Algic Researches. New York, 1839.
[b], Historical and Statistical Information Respecting the His
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Parts

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(b)

BRINTON, D. G.,

[a],

Myths

Critical

of the

New

World.

3d

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1896.
[b],
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American Hero Myths. Philadelphia, 1882.

Essays of an Americanist. Philadelphia, 1890.

LOWIE, ROBERT H.,

ology,"

in

JAFL

"The

Test-Theme

xxi (1908).

in

North American Myth

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3i8
POWELL,

J.

W.,

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ARBE

in i

Indians,"

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RADIN, PAUL, Literary Aspects of North American Mythology (Museum

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SELECT AUTHORITIES

V.

CHAPTER
AMUNDSEN,
BOAS,

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F., [a],
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Central

"The

Eskimo

"The

BAM xv

ARBE

(1888).

Land and Hudson

Baffin

of

London, 1908.

in 6

Bay,"

in

(1901).

[c], "Eskimo

GOSLING, W.

Eskimo,"

Tales and

G., Labrador.

MURDOCH, JOHN,

ARBE

inJAFL ii, vii,

x (1889-97).

London, 1910.

"Ethnological

in 9

pedition,"

Songs,"

Results of the Point Barrow

Ex

(1892).

NANSEN, F., Eskimo Life. 2d ed., London, 1894.

NELSON, E. W., "The Eskimo about Bering Strait,"

in

18

ARBE

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PEARY, R., The Conquest of the Pole. New York, 1911.

RASMUSSEN, KNUD, The People of the Polar North. London, 1908.
RINK, H., Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo. London, 1875.
STEFANSSON, V., My Life with the Eskimo. New York, 1913.
THALBITZER, WILLIAM, [a], "The Heathen Priests of East Green
Internal. Amerikanisten-Kongress.
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Indian
American
Handbook
in
Languages
of
[b], "Eskimo,"
(40

BBE,

part

i).

Washington,

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(Bibliography of Eskimo

literature.)

CHAPTERS II-III
(a)

Algonquian Tribes

BARBEAU, C. M., Huron and Wyandot Mythology (Memoirs

of Canada

No. n).

Ottawa,

Department of Mines.

Anthropological Series,

1915.

BLAIR, E. H., Indian Tribes of the Upper Mississippi and the Great
Lakes Regions. 2 vols. Cleveland, 1911. (Early documents.)

BRINTON, D. G., [d], The Lendpe and their Legends (Library of Abo
Philadelphia, 1885.
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The
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Ojibway
COPWAY, GEORGE,

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DIXON, R.

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[a],

"The

in

JAFL

HECKEWELDER, JOHN G.

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E.,

Account of

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J., [a],

Ojibwa,"

"The

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ARBE

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JONES, WILLIAM, Fox Texts (Publications of

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HOFFMAN, W.

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LELAND, CHARLES G., The Algonquin Legends

of

New

England.

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MECHLING, W. H., Malecite

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OWEN, MARY A., Folklore of the Musquakie Indians. London,

PARKMAN, FRANCIS, [a], The Jesuits in North America. Boston,
[b],

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RADIN, PAUL,

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of

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[b], Some Myths and Tales of the Ojibwa of Southeastern On

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RAND, S. T., Legends of the Micmacs. New York and London,

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SPECK, F. G., Myths and Folk-lore of the Timiskaming Algonquin and

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CANFIELD, WILLIAM W., The Legends of

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COLDEN, CADWALLADER, The History

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HALE, HORATIO, The Iroquois Book of Rites (Library of Aboriginal
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HEWITT,

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[b], artt.

30

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SMITH, ERMINNIE A.,

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CHAPTER IV
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(a)

MOONEY, JAMES,

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Formulas of the

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ARBE

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[b], "Myths

ROYCE, CHARLES

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(b)
I., [a],

BBE

19

ARBE,

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[b], "Myths

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BUSHNELL, D.

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AA

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(V)

GATSCHET, A.

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CHAPTERS V-VI
(a)

Northern Athapascan

JETTE, P. J., [a], "On the Superstitions of the Ten a

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in

the Anthropological Institute of Great

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LOFTHOUSE, Bishop, "Chipewyan

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MORICE, A.

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PETITOT, EMILE, Traditions indiennes du Canada nord-ouest.

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[b],

Algonquian and Kiowan

"The

Arapaho Sun

DORSEY and KROEBER,

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FCM

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FCM

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GRINNELL, GEORGE

B.,

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[a],

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MCCLINTOCK, WALTER, The Old North Trail. New York, 1910.

MOONEY, JAMES, [c], "Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians,"
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ARE E,

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WISSLER and DUVALL,

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DORSEY, G. A., [c], "Traditions of the Osage," in FCM vii (1904).

DORSEY, J. OWEN, [a], "Dhegiha Texts," in Contributions to North
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[c],

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[e],

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CHAPTER VII
Salishan Tribes

(a)

FARRAND,

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MCDERMOTT, LOUISA,
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JAFL

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TEIT, JAMES, [a], Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British

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MAM

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L.,
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SPINDEN, H.

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JAFL

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[c],

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[b],

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KROEBER, A.

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LOWIE, ROBERT

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MASON, J. A., "Myths of the Uintah Utes," in JAFL xxiii (1910).

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CHAPTER VIII
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BOURKE, JOHN

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CHAPTER IX
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