June 1, 18S8.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



185 



Hush up. This expression is equivalent to our English 

 " Shut up," or to the American " Give us a rest." 



Hyper, To. To hurry, or, as Americans sa)-, to "hurry up.' 



Hypo, for " hvpochonclrui," is probably English, but I 

 have never heard the word except in America. 



Hyst, for " hoist," is sometimes used in America to 

 describe a " fall," but (a distinction Bartlett fails to notice) 

 only a fall which is so violent as to be followed by some sort 

 of rebound. It is the rebound, not the f\ili itself, which is 

 the '■ hyst." 



ORIGIN OF LIFE. 



A NAVAJO TKADITIOX. 



HE Navajo Indians of Arizona have a tra- 

 dition to the effect that while the earth 

 was young and destitute of animal life the 

 Great Spirit created twelve people — six 

 f'T^' r^?^ ^^^^ ^■^•^ s^^ ■N^omen — together with many 

 ; jKiSwsS^ ; species of animals, and confined them in a 

 cavern of the San Francisco mountain, 

 where they lived as a great happy fixmily for many years. 

 But in coarse of time a restlessness possessed the prisoners. 

 Though they had known nothing of freedom, all felt the 

 oppression of their narrow limits, and vaguely yearned for a 

 greater fulfilment of the dream or reality of living. But 

 what could they do I All speculated on the situation to no 

 purpose. Daily they jostled each othei-, little and big, 

 clumsy and nimble, bipeds and quadrupeds, feathered and 

 furred, winged and wingless, timid and bold. Every suc- 

 cessive period of time was but a repetition of the past. 



None of the many puzzled brains could offer means of 

 breaking the monotony, till a happy thought struck one of 

 the most insignificant of the living mass. For want of 

 other occupation a locust boi'ed a hole in the wall and 

 thereby opened the way for the enthusiasm^ and progress of 

 the host of its comrades throughout the lenirth and breadth 

 of their underground world. The Great Spirit had so 

 decreed it. They were there only for a time of incubation. 

 At the destined hour, as the eaglet bursts the shell that 

 imprisons it, so the locust's tiny burrow should lead to the 

 escape of all into the open world, where each could follon- 

 his inclinations unhampered. 



The labouring locust had but a solitary witness. A 

 badger watched with growing amusement the diminutive 

 tunnel-making. His eyes sparkled with interest as the 

 locust laboured energetically. He lay resting with his 

 bead bstvveen his fore paws in a most lazy attitude, but his 

 face expressed animation and eagerness not much longer to 

 be retained. As the tail of the locust disappeared the time 

 for exertion had come. To follow the locust's movements 

 further necessitated like energy. The locust's hole was too 

 small for the badger's access, sa he started a tunnel-making 

 of his own. By the time he reached the locust he was in 

 no mood to give up the chase, so he passed on, scratching 

 his w.iy through the solid earth until he broke through the 

 outer crust of the mountain, and in the joy and excitement 

 of the moment he sprang into the ample space before him. 

 The mountain side was steep, and he " landed " in the 

 shallow edge of the lake in Montezuma valley. As he fell 

 liis fore feet struck deep into the mire, and his progeny 

 even unto to-day have inherited black fore paws because of 

 this incident of the world's first peopling. 



The Navajoes within the cavern, noting the departure of 

 the badger, began a " prospect." Finding the hole large 

 enough for exit, they crept out, one after the other, and a 

 train of all sizes and sjiecies of animals followed in their 

 ■wake, as from Noah's ark. 



As soon as all the prisoners were free, fire and smoke 

 began to issue from the hole that had delivered them. This 

 frightened them far away into the valley, and there they 

 prepared to make themselves comfortable and live as their 

 new advantages permitted. Food was plentiful in vegetable 

 forms, but some varieties needed heat to make them good. 

 At least the Navajoes thought so, but they had no means of 

 kindling a fire. This difficulty was soon overcome b}' send- 

 ing a bat, a wolf, and a squirrel after the needed element, 

 fire. Going to a hnle in the mountain, the wolf tied some 

 pitchy splinters to his tail, then turned and held it over the 

 little volcano till it began to smoke and ignite. The bat 

 then fimned it into flames with its wings, and the squirrel 

 carried it away to the Navajoes. The people were delighted 

 of getting the one missing essential to a happy life in the 

 open world, and when, long after, a time came when the 

 world's plenty had pampered their wills and fostered their 

 greed and selfishness to the point of preying upon their 

 fellow-creatures for food, they still had the honour to vow 

 never to eat wolf or squirrel flesh. Neither would they move 

 camp without a live coal among their possessions. And 

 even to-day the Navajoes' gratitude to the trio is observed 

 as the promise made to the tire-getters of the tradition. 



Between the Navajoes and different animals there sprang 

 up a dispute over the Great Spirit's intended use for night 

 and day. All agreed that one should be spent in sleep and 

 one in action, but which should serve the one and which the 

 other ? It was settled at last. Those that wished to roam 

 at night should do so and sleep by day, and vice versd. The 

 heroic badger was among those who chose the mysteries of 

 the darkness or the immediate dawn and dusk for thought 

 and action, and the bright and sunny hours as fit to be 

 slept away in his cool underground nest. As the sun sank 

 in the west upon their business meeting, the owl, bat, moth, 

 and many other animals scattered out into the valley 

 borders on their foraging exploits, while many kinds of 

 birds flew to roost in the trees. Other animals lay down to 

 sleep in sheltered parts of the forest, and the Navajoes 

 spread their waterproof blankets, the trophies of the 

 women's industry, and enjoyed their couches under the 

 starry sky in peaceful dreams. — Overland Jlont/di/-. 



S!0ip» 



Br EicsABD A. Proctor. 



1 HOPE to visit England next September, for the winter of 

 1888-89. Any institutions, societies, ic, or individuals 

 who may wish for lectures from me should address me 

 (without great delay) at Corona Lodge, Orange Lake, Fla. ; 

 or communications may be addressed to Mr. John Flack, 

 care of the publishers of Knowledge. 

 * * * 



A coheespondext mentions that in a certain game, in 

 which the chances were even, one player won nine times in 

 succession. He and his friends discussed the matter, and 

 one of them afterwards calculated that the odds were 511 

 to 1 against the observed event. He asks me if this is 

 right. It is, if the question is. What are the odds against 

 one named player winning nine successive games, counting 

 from the one first to be played 1 If, however, the question 

 be, What are the odds against one or the other player 

 winning the first nine games played ? then the odds are only 

 255 to 1. And if the question be. What are the odds 

 against the occurrence of a run of nine successive wins by 

 one or other player in the coui'se of an evening's plav 1 the 

 odds will be much le.ss — only determinable, however, if the 

 number of games to be played be mentioned. 



