1898-99. | ; PRIMITIVE NATURE STUDY. 333 
was too cold to sit down to relieve one’s self”; the Tsilkoh’tins (Déné) 
termed November “the month of entering the subterranean huts,’ and 
March “the month of leaving the subterranean huts”; to the Shush- 
waps December was “the month of remaining at home”; and with the 
semi-civilized peoples of Mexico and Central America the recognition of 
man’s activities, rites and ceremonies tended more and more, as with the 
ancient Romans, to obscure or to supersede the older month-names, 
which had originated from direct observation of nature animate and 
inanimate. Of course, with primitive peoples, the line of demarkation 
between moon and moon is not fixed like the laws of the Medes and 
Persians. What Mr. Riggs says of the Dakotas will stand for other 
tribes as well: “ The Dakotas have often very warm debates, especially 
towards the close of the winter, about what moon it is. The raccoons do 
not always make their appearance at the same time every winter 
(February) ; and the causes which produce sore eyes are not developed 
precisely at the same time in each successive spring (March). All these 
variations make room for strong arguments in a Dakota tent for or 
against Wecata-w7 (February) or /stawacayazan-w7 (March).” 
Much of the best nature-study of primitive peoples is no doubt 
contained in such debates and in the legends and poems recited about 
the lodge-fire or at the summer camp. But many tribes have felt that 
there are certain times of the years when nature and the gods are 
indisposed towards the mythopceic and the mythophoric art. With the 
Omaha Indians winter is the favourite season for story-telling,there being 
“a superstition which prevents the telling of stories in the summer season, 
as the snakes may hear and do mischief,’—the children, however, “ carry 
the songs out among the summer blossoms, and the snakes do them no 
harm.” (Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, |., p. 120). 
6a 
Of day and night little can be said here. Day is quite often “sun,” 
night quite often “ sleep,” —orning, “little sun,” afternoon “big sun,” with 
’ oO) ) > , 
primitive peoples in their measurement of time. Occasionally we meet 
with a strange or naive poetical turn of phrase, as e.g., when the Tlingit 
_of Alaska style morning ts’o tat, “blue night,” or when the Tupis, of 
Brazil, call evenzng, “time of sadness.” It is worth noting also—a relic 
of the old custom survives in our fortnight, sennight, German Fastnacht, 
Wethnachten—that our Aryan ancestors counted by “nights” and not 
by “days.” This is probably why all the great Indo-European 
languages have a common word for xzght, but differ considerably in 
their terms for day. The profound influence of night with its moon and 
myriad stars is noticeable everywhere, though in extremely varying 
fashion. 
