62 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to account for particular phenomena of tlie earth's surface, and such 

 convulsions as earthquakes. Some have tried to compare the earth 

 with an egg in a vessel of water, or with the yolk in the egg ; and cos- 

 mologies involving this idea are widely spread in Southern Asia, Poly- 

 nesia, and Melanesia. The Tonga-Islanders say that a god they call 

 Maui carries the earth on his back, and whenever he moves, to turn 

 the other side, or falls asleep, there is an earthquake ; and the people 

 were accustomed to beat the ground, with a great cry, to make Maui 

 be quiet. The Khasias, in Assam, say that everything would be de- 

 stroyed by earthquakes if God did not hold the earth in his hands. 

 The priestly philosophy of the Hawaiians figured the earth as a great 

 mass which the earth-shaker, or earthquake-god, laid upon the central 

 fire. The earth on its side supported the sky by means of two or four 

 pillars. The heaven of the Maories and the Soma of the Vedas are 

 also supported by pillars. The manner in which the sky was in the 

 beginning lifted up on these pillars is carefully described in the Poly- 

 nesian myth, which relates that the gods Maui and Rua together held 

 the sky on their knees, then lifted it upon their backs, and then on 

 their hands. Other stories relate that, while the sky was resting on 

 the broad leaves of the teva-plant, Rua raised it a little higher up by 

 putting sticks under it, and then the stalwart Maui put his hands to 

 it. In Celebes an earthquake is fabled to take place whenever Eber, 

 who is supposed to be the earth-bearer, rubs himself against a tree 

 and shakes his load. The world-bearing frog of the Mongol lamas, 

 the world-ox of the Moslems, and the gigantic Omophore of the Mani- 

 chsean cosmogony, are all creatures that carry the world on their back 

 or head, and shake it whenever they stretch themselves or turn around. 

 A similar part is performed in European mythologies by the Scandi- 

 navian Loki, who is bound with iron chains in his subterranean cave ; 

 by Prometheus, trying to break his chains ; and by the Lettish Dreb- 

 kuls. A branch of the Yuma Indians in Colorado are in dread of an 

 evil spirit that is sleeping on Mount Avicome, and causes a slight 

 earthquake when he moves uneasily, and a dangerous one when he 

 turns clear over. The Caribs were accustomed to say, when there was 

 an earthquake, that Mother Earth was dancing. The Iroquois, ac- 

 cording to the testimony of many travelers, conceived the earth as an 

 island in the sea, resting on the back of a huge tortoise. Floods oc- 

 curred whenever the tortoise sank under the water, earthquakes when 

 it shook itself or changed its position. The Hindoos imagined an 

 earth-bearing elephant, standing on the tortoise, and attributed terres- 

 trial convulsions to his motions. The Duphlas of Assam imagined 

 four elephants supporting the four corners of the earth, which had to 

 suffer when either of its bearers became uneasy. 



According to the Kamchatkadales, earthquakes originate when the 

 dogs of the earthquake-god, who travels in a sleigh under the ground, 

 shake the fleas in the snow from themselves. The Siberian hunting 



