1894-9o.] THREE CARRIER MYTHS. 35 



3. man, while the lower part is that of a dog.^ Their name for these 

 monsters is Tlin-akeni, which means at the same time Dog-feet and Dog- 

 race (Ji/s de cJiien). 



To return to our legend. It would seem as if its first part were a sort 

 of national tradition among the hyperborean races of America, since even 

 the Eskimo have a story which is evidently the equivalent of it. Ac- 

 <:ording to Dr. F. Boas, an old Eskimo was living alone with his daughter 

 who, for a long time, would not marry. At length a dog, spotted white 

 and red, won her affection and became her husband. By him she had 

 ten children, five of whom were dogs and five were Adlet, a tribe of 

 fabulous beings half-men, half-dogs. The former became the ancestors of 

 the Europeans, while the latter were the progenitors of a numerous 

 people^. 



As to the second part of our myth, namely, the beautiful story of the 

 initiation of the three brothers into the mysteries of the hunt, and their 

 final transformation into stars, it is, as far as I know, found among no 

 other Den6 tribe, except the Tsi[>ioh'tin. But the Central Eskimo have a 

 legend which, though strongly impregnated with local colouring, bears a 

 close resemblance thereto. Here it is, after Dr. Boas : — 



"Three men went bear hunting with a sledge and took a young boy 

 with them. When they approached the edge of the floe, they saw a bear 

 and went in pursuit. Though the dogs ran fast they could not get nearer, 

 and all of a sudden they observed that the bear was lifted up and their 

 sledge followed. At this moment the boy lost one of his mittens and in 

 the attempt to pick it up fell from the sledge. Then he saw the men 

 ascending higher and higher, finally being transformed into stars. The 

 bear became the star Nanuqdjung (Betelgeux); the pursuers, Udleqdjun 

 (Orion's belt), and the sledge, Kamutiqdjung (Orion's sword). The men 

 ■continue the pursuit up to this day ; the boy, however, returned to the 

 village and told' how the men were lost."^ 



It is but natural to see savages believe in the personal nature of the 

 heavenly bodies, when even Plato, the great philosopher, thought that the 

 stars were as many animated beings. All the mythologies are unanimous 

 in personifying, each according to the particular bias and the favourite 

 avocation of the people, the constellations and principal stars of the 

 firmament. Hence, the Pleiades, which are among the sedentary people 



^ Ibid, p. xxix. 



2 The Central Eskimo, by Dr. F. Boas, .Sixth Ann. Rep. Bur. Etlinol.; Washington, i888, 

 p. 637- 



^ Ibid, p. 637. 



