8o2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



circulation of water from the heavens to the earth, and from the earth 

 to the heavens that orderly succession of events in which the waters 

 travel by river, by sea, and by cloud. 



Rainbow. In Shoshone, the rainbow is a beautiful serpent that 

 abrades the firmament of ice to give us snow and rain. In Norse, the 

 rainbow is the bridge Bifrost spanning the space between heaven and 

 earth. In the Iliad, the rainbow is the goddess Iris, the messenger of 

 the King of Olympus. In Hebrew, the rainbow is the witness to a 

 covenant. In science, the rainbow is an analysis of white light into 

 its constituent colors by the refraction of rain-drops. 



Falling Stars. In Ute, falling stars are the excrements of dirty 

 little star-gods. In science well, I do not know what falling stars 

 are in science. I think they are cinders from the furnaces where the 

 worlds are forged. You may call this mythologic or scientific, as you 

 please. 



Migration of Birds. The Algonquin philosopher explains the mi- 

 gration of birds by relating the myth of the combat between Ka-bi- 

 bo-no-ke and Shingapis, the prototype or progenitor of the water-hen, 

 one of their animal gods. A fierce battle raged between Ka-bi-bo-no-ke 

 and Shingapis, but the latter could not be conquered. All the birds 

 were driven from the land but Shingapis ; and then was it established 

 that whenever in the future Winter-maker should come with his cold 

 winds, fierce snows, and frozen waters, all the birds should leave for 

 the south except Shingapis and his friends. So the birds that spend 

 their winters north are called by the Algonquin philosophers "the 

 friends of Shingapis." 



In contrast to this explanation of the flight of birds may be placed 

 the explanation of the modern evolutionist, who says that the birds 

 migrate in quest of abundance of food and a genial climate, guided 

 by an instinct of migration, which is an accumulation of inherited 

 memories. 



Diversity of Languages. The Kaibabit philosopher accounts for 

 the diversity of languages in this manner : Si-chom-pa Ma-so-its, the 

 grandmother goddess of the sea, brought up mankind from beneath 

 the waves in a sack, which she delivered to the Shi-nau-av brothers, 

 the great wolf-gods of his mythology, and told them to carry it from 

 the shores of the sea to the Kaibab Plateau, and then to open it ; but 

 they were by no means to open the package ere their arrival, lest some 

 great disaster should befall. The curiosity of the younger Shi-nau-av 

 overcame him, and he untied the sack and the people swarmed out ; 

 but the elder Shi-nau-av, the wiser god, ran back and closed the sack 

 while yet not all the people had escaped, and they carried the sack, 

 with its remaining contents, to the plateau, and there opened it. Those 

 that remained in the sack found a beautiful land a great plateau 

 covered with mighty forests, through which elk, deer, and antelope 

 roamed in abundance, and many mountain-sheep were found on the 



