90 



* KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Jan. 1, 1886. 



the sum total of liis belief. As lie beholds day after day 

 the ■vfonder.s and beauties of nature, and at night gazes 

 on the star-lit heavens, he must form some opinion about 

 them, and attribute some reason for their existence. If 

 he sees .smoke in the distance he knows there is a fire, if 

 he sees clouds in the sky he knows it is going to rain, 

 for he has noticed that a cloudy sky precedes rain. We 

 maj- imagine him gazing in wonder at the glorious stream 

 of stars known as the Milky Way, and endeavour to trace 

 the line of thought and observation which suggested the 

 following beautiful story related in Schoolcraft's 

 "Hiawatha Legends." It is called " The White Stone 

 Canoe,'' and is a myth of the Dacotahs. " It is .said 

 that many jears ago an Indian chief was about to be 

 married to a beautifitl girl who unfortunately died on the 

 morning of the wedding-day. He was overcome with grief, 

 but he ^Yas determined to see her once more. He had 

 heard of the ' Spirits' Path,' and, hoping to see his 

 bride again, he made a most remarkable journey. He 

 travelled towards the sou.th, and, at first, the hills and 

 valleys were covered with snow. After awhile the snow 

 disappeared, the leaves put forth their buds, and it was 

 spring. He had left the land of ice and snow, and the 

 dark clouds of winter had rolled by, disclosing the land 

 of flower.-i and sweet singing birds, with a bright blue 

 sky overhead. Soon he came to the path he was seeking, 

 and it led him throitgh a shady grove. After passing 

 over an elevated ridge beyond the grove he reached a 

 lodge. Here stood an old man with white hair and eyes 

 of fiery brightness. Around his .shoulders hung a robe 

 of skins, and he leant on a staff. It was Chibiabos."* 



He said to the young chief, " I have expected you, and 

 had just risen to bid you welcome to my abode. She 

 whom you seek passed here but a few days since, and 

 being fatigued with her journey, rested for awhile. 

 Enter my lodge and be seated, and I w^ill then satisfy 

 your inquiries, and give you directions for your journey 

 from this point." After the chief had rested, Chibiabos 

 gave him the following advice. " Ton see yonder gulf, 

 and the wide-stretching, blue jjlains beyond. It leads to 

 the land of souls. Ton stand upon its borders, and my 

 lodge is the gate of entrance. But you cannot take your 

 body along ; leave it here with your bow and arrows, 

 your bundle, and your dog ; you will find them safe on 

 your return." The chief did as he was told, and soon he 

 was flying along the path as if he were a bird. Stranger 

 still, he could pass through trees without any trouble, which 

 proved that he was in the land of " shadows," and that 

 these trees were but shadows. He sp,w many beautiful birds, 

 and flowers, and everything bright and glorious. At 

 last he came to the banks of a lake, and here he found a 

 snow-white canoe. He untied it, and was soon paddling 

 across the lake, when to his great joy and astonishment 

 he saw his fair bride. She approached him in her canoe, 

 and they crossed the lake together. The lake was covered 

 with foam, and the turbulent waves threatened every 

 moment to swallow them up. The travellers saw some 

 whose boats were swamjoed, and as the water was 

 wonderfully clear they could see the bodies of many who 

 had been drowned. f The canoes in which little children 

 travelled, however, met no waves, and they passed over 

 in safety. After many difficulties the opposite bank was 

 reached, and the happy pair sprang out on the land. They 

 wandered together over the beautiful fields and meadows. 



* The aurora ; or, possibly, the rainbow. 



t The story of Charon, the ferryman, is to be found not only in 

 " Homer," but in the poetiy of many lands. Tlie River must be 

 crossed before gaining the Isles of the Blest. " Kg-yptian Belief," 

 Bonwick, p. 49. 



Here they saw no suffering, for neither cold, nor death, 

 nor hunger were present. The very air they breathed 

 was food. The two would have wandered on for ever in 

 their happiness, but the voice of the Master of Life, 

 borne on the sighing breeze, bade the chief return once 

 more to his native land. " Return to your people, and 

 accomplish the dtities of a good man," he said; "you 

 will be ruler of your tribe for many days. When 

 Chibiabos surrenders back your body he will tell you 

 what to do. Tour bride is accepted, and will be ever 

 here, as young and happy as when I first called her 

 from the land of snows." When this voice ceased, the 

 chief awoke. " It was a dream, and he was still in the 

 bitter land of snows, and htmger, and tears."* 



There is something quaint and beautiful in this myth, 

 and the fact of its being an established belief among 

 many of the North American Indian tribes proves that 

 dreams are accepted by them as fact. In the "Legends 

 of the Sioux,' Mrs. Eastman tells us that an old woman 

 assured her that " the Dacotah has four soirls. One 

 wander.s about the earth, and requires food ; another 

 protects the body ; the third goes to the Land of Spirits 

 (whilst sleeping) ; and the fourth hovers around his 

 native village.''t (The Pythagoreans give as their 

 master's word that souls dwell in the Galaxy, and that 

 the souls of those who are crowded there descend, and 

 appear to men as dreams. J) Thus they believe that every- 

 one they see in their dreams, and everything they dream 

 they do, are realities, but that this concerns the soul only. 

 We read that the " Tagals of Luzon object to waking a 

 sleejier on account of the absence of his soul."§ It 

 would certainly be rather inconvenient for the sleeper 

 to find himself awake without a soul. The Indian then, 

 according to his own fancy, lives two lives, the waking 

 and the sleeping life. Whilst he is awake he can control 

 his own actions, but when he sleeps he believes that his 

 soul leaves his body controlled bj* an unknown jiower, 

 wandering far and wide, only to return when the owner 

 awakes.ll 



THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM AND A BIBLE 

 COMET, 



Bt Richard A. Proctor. 



NE of the strangest ways of the well- 

 meaning but foolish persons who regard 

 the student of science as the natui-al 

 enemy of religion, is their habit of being 

 angry with those who study the various 

 books of the Bible for such light as these 

 may throw on matters not specially con- 

 nected with religious dogmas. Whether it is that they 

 are in anxiety lest something not quite agreeing with 

 their own jieculiar notions about religious matters may 

 be noted, or whether they as.sume that the student of 

 science is necessarily an evil-minded person who cannot 

 open the Bible except to find iiult with it, does not 

 appear. But they will not inquire into the historical or 

 scientific evidence contained in the Bible themselves, and 

 they grow exceedingly angry when any one else does. 



* " Hiawatha Legends,'' Schoolcraft, p. T2H. 



t " Lesrends of the Sioux.' Mrs. Eastman. P. 190. 



X TvloVs " Prim. Culture," vol. i., p. 3."j9. 



§ Jhitl., p. 442. 



ij Ibid., p. 49, vol. ii. Among the North American Indians, and 

 especially the Algonquin tribes, accounts are not unusual of men 

 whose spirits, travelling in dreams or in the hallucinations of 

 extreme illness to the land of the dead, have returned to reanimate 

 their bodies and tell what they liave seen. 



