SKETCH OF THE MYTHOLOGY. 
Or THE 
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
By J. W. POWELL. 
THE GENESIS OF PHILOSOPHY. 
The wonders of the course of nature have ever challenged attention. 
In savagery, in barbarism, and in civilization alike, the mind of man 
has sought the explanation of things. The movements of the heavenly 
bodies, the change of seasons, the succession of night and day, the 
powers of the air, majestic mountains, ever-flowing rivers, perennial 
springs, the flight of birds, the gliding of serpents, the growth of trees, 
the blooming of flowers, the forms of storm-carved rocks, the mysteries 
of life and death, the institutions of society—many are the things to be 
explained. The yearning to know is universal. How and why are ever- 
lasting interrogatories profoundly instinct in humanity. In the evolu- 
tion of the human mind, the instinct of cosmic interrogation follows 
hard upon the instinct of self-preservation. 
In all the operations of nature, man’s weal and woe are involved. A 
cold wave sweeps from the north—rivers and lakes are frozen, forests 
are buried under snows, and the fierce winds almost congeal the life- 
fluids of man himself, and indeed man’s sources of supply are buried 
under the rocks of water. At another time the heavens are as brass, 
and the clouds come and go with mockery of unfulfilled promises of 
rain, the fierce midsummer sun pours its beams upon the sands, and 
blasts heated in the furnace of the desert sear the vegetation; and the 
fruits, which in more congenial seasons are subsistence and luxury, 
shrivel before the eyes of famishing men. A river rages and destroys 
the adjacent valley with its flood. A mountain bursts forth with its 
rivers of fire, the land is buried and the people are swept away. Light- 
ning shivers a tree and rends a skull. The silent, unseen powers of 
nature, too, are at work bringing pain or joy, health or sickness, life or 
death, to mankind. In like manner man’s welfare is involved in all the 
institutions of society. How and why are the questions asked about all 
these things—questions springing from the deepest instinct of self- 
preservation. 
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