68 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. I. 



hundred years ago, and what is more, of a people whose descendants, 

 numbering many thousands, are still reckoned among our population. 



As affording material for a chapter in the story of man's development 

 these conditions have proved immensely valuable, notwithstanding that 

 much yet demands careful and prolonged study before anything approach- 

 ing correct solutions can be arrived at. In all that relates to existing 

 tribes or families of Indians, much time and patient btudy have been 

 devoted by individuals and by learned societies, more especially during 

 the last half-century, and more particulary still, during the past twenty 

 )'ears by the American Bureau of Ethnology under the able directorship 

 of Major J. W. Powell whose services cannot well be over-estimated in 

 connection with the enormous mass of matter collected by himself and 

 his staff of enthusiastic assitants, for fhe benefit of all who are interested 

 (and who should not be .?) in the cognate studies of archaeology, mythology, 

 and anthropology. 



To many it seems little less than puerile that busy, practical, nine- 

 teenth century people should pay any attention to the fables and legends 

 of the aborigines. In this connection Dr. Parkman says, " The fireside 

 stories of every primitive people are faithful reflections of the form and 

 coloring of the national mind ; it is no proof of sound philosophy to turn 

 with contempt from the study of a fairy tale. The legendary lore of the 

 Iroquois, black as the midnight forests, awful in its gloomy strength, is 

 but another manifestation of that spirit of mastery which uprooted whole 

 tribes from the earth and deluged the wilderness with blood. The tradi- 

 tionary tales of the Algonquins wear a difTerent aspect. The credulous 

 circle around an Ojibwa lodge-fire listened to wild recitals of necromancy 

 and witchcraft — men transformed to beasts, and beasts transformed to 

 men, animated trees, and birds who spoke with human tongue. They 

 heard of malignant sorcerers dwelling among the lovely islands of spell- 

 bound lakes ; of grisly zveendigoes, and bloodless geebi ; of evil manitoes 

 lurking in the dens and fastnesses of the woods ; of pigmy champions, 

 diminutive in stature but mighty in soul, who by the potency of charm 

 and talisman subdued the direst monsters of the waste ; and of heroes, 

 who not by downright force and open onset, but by subtle strategy, 

 tricks or magic art, achieved marvellous triumphs over the brute force of 

 their assailants. Sometimes the tale will breath a different spirit, and 

 tell of orphan children abandoned in the heart of a hideous wilderness, 

 beset with fiends and cannibals. Some enamoured maiden scornful of 

 earthly suitors, plights her troth to the graceful manito of the grove ; or 

 bright aerial beings, dwellers of the sky, descend to tantalize the gaze of 

 mortals with evanescent forms of loveliness." 



