INFI.I NT Iff 



have* tilled tin- minds ,,!' tin- p-opi, with images of the 

 grand and tin* t.-mMi- which they have to repro- 



duc.- in tho dogmas of their theology, in the chara- 

 of their gods, nn m tin* forms .of their temples. 40 



Tin- anci.-nt ' of India >! id-nce of the 



most remarkable ascendancy of the imagination. 10 Most 

 of their works on grammar, on law, on mc<li< in, , on 

 geography, on matin -m.v <1 on metaphysics an- in 



tho form oi in an excessive reverence for 



antiquity. In ancient times th-ir wise and gn-at IIM-II 

 were supposed to have lived to an e\ n.iry age. 



< ni- i-niinmt man "liv,-.! in a pun* and virtuous age, and 

 days WIMV indited long in tht lai. \\li n lie was 



made kinir he was a million years old; h<- th.-n r iirned 

 three hundred thonsan<l years; having done 

 whieh. he and lingered on for one 



hundred thousand years more."* 1 Speaking of the 

 growth of American Indian mythologies with tln-ir many 

 strange incon> s and superstitions, Professor Boas 



says, *' be no doubt that the impression made 



h\ the grandeur i.f natur,- upon the mind of priinit 



the ultimate cause from which these myths spring, 

 but nrv.-rtheless the form in which we find these tradi- 

 tion.- intluenc.-d by tin- borrowing." 11 



Thus, it appeal the phy>i.-.-d en\ imnment iih-lud- 



at ions has been a signiticair in 



social evolution. On the one hand, a population is dri\ 



u-tMiuod abode by the force of some gradual 

 climatic puN.itimi, and the movement of the people is 



-f flgurr 60. 

 Bucklr, op. . 



"TIM Growth of Indian Mrtholo^r.," Jour. Amrr. FoA /.orr, rot 



