:Tov. 1, 1885.] 



♦ KNO\VLEDGE ♦ 



23 



force gusts of wind from the opening, so strong tliat tlie 

 travellers could liardly keep their feet, and the sun passed 

 but a short distance above their heads. The sky would 

 come down with violence, but it would rise slowly and 

 gradually. Iosco and one of his friends stood near the 

 edge, and with a great effort leapt through, and gained a 

 foothold on the other side ; but the other two were fear- 

 ful and undecided, and when their companions called to 

 them through the darkness, ' Leap ! leap ! the sky is on 

 its way down,' thty looked up, and saw it descending ; 

 but, paralysed bj- fear, they sprang so feebly that they 

 only reached the other side with their hands, and the sky 

 at the same moment striking violently on the earth with 

 a terrible sound, forced them into the dreadful, dark 

 abj'ss."* 



The Ottawa tribes also believe the Sun and Moon to be 

 brother and sister. " Two Indians, it is said, sprang 

 through a chasm in the sky, and found themselves in a 

 pleasant moonlit land. There thej" saw the moon 

 approaching as from behind a hill ; they knew her at 

 the first sight; she was an aged woman with white face 

 and pleasing air. Speaking kindly to them, she led them 

 to her brother, the Sun, and he carried them with him 

 in his course, and sent them home with promise of happy 

 life."t 



There is an Ottawa myth about Manabozho, the solar 

 god, among the Algonquins, which tells about his 

 driving his father, the West, across mountain and lake to 

 the brink of the world, biit he was not able to kill him. 

 This conflict is described in " Hiawatha '" ; the West- 

 Wind or Mudjekee'wis being the father of Hiawatha. 



Then began the deadly conflict, 

 Hand to hand among the mountains. 

 ***** 



Back retreated Mudjekeewis, 



Paishing westward o'er the mountains, 



Stumbling westward down the mountains, 



Three whole days retreated fighting, 



Still pursued by Hiawatha, 



To the portals of the West Wind, 



To the portals of the Sunset, 



To the earth's remotest borders 



Where into the empty spaces 



Sinks the sun, as a flamingo 



Drops into her nest at nightfall 



In the melancholy marshes. 



" Hold 1 " at length cried Jludjekeewis, 



" Hold, my son, my Hiawatha 1 



'Tis impo.ssihle to kill me, 



For you cannot kill the immortal. 



I have put you to this trial 



But to know and prove your courage." 



In the Ottawa myth, Manabozho is called Xa-na- 

 bou-jou, and is the elder brother of Ning-gah-be-ar-nong 

 Manito, the Spirit of the W'est, god of the country of 

 the dead, in the region of the setting sun. This sun- 

 hero, Manabozho, when he angled for the King of Fishes, 

 was swallowed, canoe and all ; then he smote the 

 monster's heart with his war-club till he woiild fain have 

 cast him up into the lake again, biit the hero set his 

 canoe fast across the fish's throat inside, and finished 

 slaying him ; when the dead monster drifted ashore, the 

 gulls pecked an opening for Manabozho to come out." J 

 This story is likewise told in " Hiawatha," in the account 

 of the Little Monedo of the Ojibwas. 



The Oraibi philosopher who lives in a pnehlo knows 

 something about architecture ; therefore he imagines the 

 world to be a building, and seven stories high. We are 

 supposed to occupy the second story, one being below and 

 five being above. The third story is occupied by the rain- 

 god, who sprinkles the earth with rain by dipping a 



* Tyler's " Primitive Culture.'' 



t Ibid., p. 337. 



i Ibid. 



brush made of birds' feathers into the lakes of the skies. 

 The Indians who live on the cliffs of Arizona believe 

 that the rain is sent for the irrigation of their crops and 

 to refresh the thirsty earth. In the winter this god 

 causes a snow-fall bj- crushing the ice of the heavenly 

 lakes, and scattering it over the earth. 



The reason why we occupy the second story of this 

 wonderful building is presented in the following way by 

 the Oraibi philosopher. It was supposed that people 

 originally inhabited a lower world — in fact, the first 

 story. However, they ascended to our world by means 

 of a magical tree, which served as a ladder from the 

 lower world to this. They foimd the firmament resting 

 low down on the earth, forming the floor of the world, 

 and Mateito, one of their gods, raised the firmament on 

 his shoulders to its present place. He is also supposed to 

 have made the moon out of seven baskets of cotton bolls, 

 woven by seven maidens, and the bits of cotton which 

 were scattered about whilst they worked were made into 

 stars. Mateito then made a sun to keep the people 

 warm, for they complained because the moon was cold. 

 He made the sun of the hair of seven buffalo robes. He 

 also appointed the times and seasons for the heavenly 

 bodies to appear; and the gods of the heavens have 

 obeyed his commands from the day of creation till the 

 present time. 



According to the Shoshoni Indians, the sky is ice 

 (being of the colour of ice), and the fall of snow is 

 caused by a monster serpent-god, who coils his huge back 

 against the sky and brushes the ice dust off with his scales. 

 This serpent-god is supposed to be the rainbow,* and the 

 Shoshoni philosophers believe it to be the serpent-god of 

 storm. In the winter-time the serpent sends snow, and 

 in the summer time rain. 



Schoolcraft, who spent some time visiting among the 

 Indian tribes, relates a story told by a North American 

 Indian prophetess, describing a vision she had of the 

 Bright Blue Sky. " At her solitary fast at womanhood 

 shefell into an ecstasy, and at the call of the spirits she 

 went up to heaven by the path that leads to the open- 

 ing in the sky ; there .she Jaeard a voice, and standing 

 still, saw the figure of a man near the path. His head 

 was surrounded by a brilliant halo, and his breast was 

 covered with squares. ' Look at me,' he said, ' my name 

 is Oshannauegeeghick, the Bright Blue Sky.' " She 

 likewise described the spirit as being ornamented with 

 the hieroglyphic horns of power.f 



The North American Indians called the Pleiades the 

 Dancers, and the morning star the Day-bringer. Stories 

 are told of an Indian who had long gazed on a star in 

 childhood. One day it left its place in the heavens, and 

 came down to the earth, and talked with him. When he 

 went out hunting, and had poor luck, the star would lead 

 him to a place where there was plenty of game. J 



The Indian myths about the planet Venus are interest- 

 iiag. Longfellow tells in " Hiawatha " how,- — 



" The Star of Evening 

 Melts and trembles through the purple. 

 Hangs suspended in the twilight. 

 Xo ; it is a bead of Wampum 



* Compare the account of the rainbow by Nokomis, the mothrr 

 of Weenonah : — 



" 'Tis the heaven of flowers you see there 



All the wild flowers of the forest. 



All the lilies of the prairie, 



When on earth they fade and perish, 



Blossom in that heaven above us." 



Prettier this than the serpent theory. 



f Schoolcraft's " Indian tribes. " 



t Ty lot's " Primitive Culture," Vol. 1 . 



