88 IJOEATIO HALE ON LANGUAGE 



genius, there is uo coinpaiisou between the two narratives. It woiild be hard to deny 

 to the ancient Assyrians the title of a civilized people ; yet it must be said that their 

 solemn record of the "descent of Ishtar," striking as it certainly is, becomes childish and 

 barbarous when compared with the Navajo Shaman's "Prayer of the Rendition." 



The Navajo "Mountain Chant," given by Dr. Matthews in the fifth 'Annual Eeport 

 of the Bureau of Ethnology,' is a mvich longer and more elaborate composition, a narrative 

 of great and varied interest, comprising historical and mythological details in vast pro- 

 fusion, and illustrated by many dramatic ceremonies, with numerous songs and dances, 

 and some curious aboriginal drawings. The same exuberant yet regulated imaginative 

 power is apparent in this as in the former production. 



Certain points in the social system of the Southern Tiuueh rec[uire special notice 

 The origin and character of the Navajo and Apache gentes have been well described by 

 Pr. Matthews and Captain John Gr. Eourke in the April- June number of the American 

 "Journal of Folk-lore " for 1890. These gentes, or clans, if they may be so styled, seem 

 all of comparatively modern origin, and apparently correspond to nothing found among 

 the Northeru Tiuneh, east of the Rocky Mountains. Another and far more profound 

 change is a matter of much greater moment. The condition of women among the 

 Navajos is as far as possible removed from that of the tribes described by M. Petitot. 

 Among these tribes women are slaves ; among the others they are queens. With the 

 Northern Tinneh, wives are drudges, bought, unwooed, unloved, and abused. With the 

 Southern Tinneh, they are won by courtship, are regarded by their husbands with the 

 warmest affection, hold their own separate property, and are consulted in all transactions 

 of business. The change in their position is not u.nknown to the people themselves. It 

 is, in fact, the subject of a curious legend, which Dr. Matthews has recorded.' There was 

 a time in their early history when the men and women fell out. The women declared 

 themselves tired of drudging for their husbands, and the sexes agreed to separate. They 

 took opposite sides of the river on which they lived, and thus dwelt apart for four years. 

 Then the women wearied of the separation, and wanted the help of the strong arms of 

 their husbands. They cried across the river and begged to be taken back. While the 

 men hesitated and debated, some of the women tried to swim across and were drowned. 

 This decided the question, and the men took back their wives. It would be absurd to 

 siippose that such an event really occurred, but the legend embodies the unquestionable 

 fact of a notable change in the relation of the sexes. Nor can there be any reasonable 

 doubt as to the origin of this change. 



The common opinion that women among savage tribes in general are treated with 

 harshness, and are regarded as slaves, or at least as inferiors and drudges, is, like many com- 

 mon opinions, based on error, originating in a too large and indiscriminate deduction from 

 narrow premises. A wider experience shows that this depressed condition of women 

 really exists, but only in certain regions and under special circumstances. It is entirely 

 a question of physical comfort, and mainly of the abundance or lack of food. Where, 

 owin"' to an inclement climate, as in arctic or sub-arctic America, or to a barren soil as in 

 Australia, food is scanty, and the people are frequently on tlie verge of famine, harsh con- 

 ditions of social life prevail. When men in their full strength suffer from lack of the 



See " A Part of tbe Navajos' Mythology," in the ' American Antimiaiian ' for April, 1833. 



