60 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tal attitude is to let him tell his myths and make his remarks in 

 his own way and in his own language. When such texts are 

 written out, translated, and studied they are of great value. It 

 is only within about twelve years that this has been done in a 

 systematic manner, but it has already resulted in the correction 

 of many popular errors. 



In attempting to translate the epithets mentioned, the mis- 

 sionaries and travelers often honestly used the word which, in their 

 own conception, was the nearest equivalent. An instructive ex- 

 ample is where Boscana describes a structure in southern Cali- 

 fornia as a " temple." It was a circular fence, six feet high, not 

 roofed in a mere plaza for dancing ; but the dancing was reli- 

 gious, and the word " temple " was the best one he could find, by 

 which mistake he has perplexed archaeologists who have sought 

 in vain for the ruins. 



A consideration not often weighed is that the only members 

 of the Indian tribes who are willing to give their own ideas on 

 religious matters to foreigners are precisely those who are most 

 intelligent and most dissatisfied with their old stories. There 

 were minds among them groping after something newer and bet- 

 ter, and it would be easy to translate their vague longings into 

 the conception of an overruling Providence. But the people had 

 made no such advance. 



The missionaries who announced that the Indians were fixed 

 in the belief in one god were much troubled by the statement of 

 the converted native, Hiaccomes, of Martha's Vineyard, who, hav- 

 ing enumerated his thirty-seven gods, gave them all up. This, 

 however, was a typical instance of the truth. The Indians had an 

 indefinite number of so-called gods corresponding with the like 

 indefinite number of the Elohim of the Israelites before the su- 

 premacy of Jahveh. 



The biblical religion of Israel has been popularly held to be 

 coeval with the world, but its own beginning was by no means 

 archaic. About a thousand years before Christ it did not exist, 

 and at least four hundred years were required for its develop- 

 ment. The religious practices of David and Solomon did not 

 materially differ from those of their neighbors in Palestine. Not 

 until the time of Hezekiah, about seven hundred and twenty-five 

 years before Christ, did the Israelite religion attain to a distinct 

 formulation. Its ordinances and beliefs advanced from crudity 

 and mutation to ripeness and establishment. It was a system 

 long in growth, and so could not early possess authoritative docu- 

 ments. 



The nomad Semite believed, with other barbarians, that he 

 lived amid a supernatural environment. The world was sur- 

 rounded and governed by the Elohim myriads of active beings, 



