BULL. 30] 



MYTHOLOGY 



971 



wherein a wide difference is recognized 

 between man and the animals, the powers 

 and phenomena of nature are i)ersonified, 

 and the gods are anthropi)mori>hic; and 

 (4) psychotheit^vi, wherein mental attri- 

 butes and moral and social characteristics 

 with which are associated the powers of 

 nature are personitied and deified, and 

 there arise gods of war, of love, of rev- 

 elry, plenty, and fortune. This last stage, 

 by processes of mental integration, passe.s 

 into monotheism on the one hand and 

 into pantheism on the other. It is found 

 that these four stages are not thus succes- 

 sive, but that they may and do overlap, 

 and that it is best perhaps to call them 

 phases rather than stages of growth, in 

 that they may exist side by side. 



Brinton learnedly calls attention to the 

 distinctively native American character 

 of the large body of myths and tales 

 rehearsed among the American aborig- 

 ines. His studies include also nmch 

 etymological analysis of mythic and 

 legendary names, which is unfortunately 

 largely inaccurate, analysis being appar- 

 ently made to accord with a preconceived 

 idea of what it should disclose. This 

 vitiates a large ,part of his otherwise 

 excellent identifications of the objective 

 realities of the agents found in the my- 

 thology. He also treats in his instructive 

 style the various cults of the demiurge, 

 or the culture-hero or hero-god; but it 

 must be borne in mind that here the 

 so-called hero-god is not solely or even 

 chiefly such in character. In discussing 

 the hero-myths of the n. w. Pacific coast 

 tribes. Boas points out the fact that the 

 culture-hero of that area was not always 

 prompted by altruistic motives in "giv- 

 ing the world its present shape and man 

 his arts." The hero is credited with 

 failures as well as with successes, and 

 in character is an "egotist pure and 

 simple." On the other hand, Boas finds 

 in the life and character of the Algon- 

 quian Nanabozho (q. v. ) altruistic motives 

 dominant. This tendency to displace the 

 egotistic motives of the primitive trans- 

 former with preeminently altruistic ones 

 is strongly marked in the character of the 

 Iroquoian Tharonhiawagon ( q. v. ), a par- 

 allel if not a cognate conception with that 

 ot the Alonquian Nanabozho. As show- 

 ing a transitional stage on the way to al- 

 truism. Boas states that the transformer 

 among the Kwakiutl brings altout the 

 changes for the benefit of a friend and not 

 for himself. While there are some Algon- 

 quian myths in which Nanabozho appears 

 as a trickster and teller of falsehoods, 

 among the Iroquois the trickster and buf- 

 foon has l)een developed alongside that 

 of the demiurge, and is sometimes reputed 

 to be tlie brother of Death. The mink. 



the wolverene, tne bluejay, the raven- 

 and the coyote are represented as trick, 

 sters in the myths of many of the tribes 

 of the Pacific slope and the N. W. coast. 



Matthews, in "The Night Chant, a 

 Ceremony of the Navaho" (Mem. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist., v, 1902), introduces an 

 interesting account of the striking sym- 

 bolism and mythic philosophy of this 

 remarka))le people. 



INIiss Fletcher, in her many excellent 

 and instructive writings on the customs 

 and syml)olism of the Indians whom she 

 has studied, has placed the study of my- 

 thology on a scientific basis. In her 

 "Hako: A Pawnee Ceremony" (22d 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1903), Miss Fletcher treats 

 in masterful manner this interesting 

 series of rites, which, with marked sym- 

 pathy and the skill of ripe experience, 

 she analyzes and interprets in such wise 

 that the delicately veiled symbolism and 

 mythic conceptions are clearly brought to 

 view. 



In the Zufii record of the genesis of the 

 worlds, as recorded by Cushing (13th 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1896), Awonawilona, the 

 Maker and Container of all, alone and un- 

 perplexed awaiting fate, existed before the 

 beginning of time in the darkness which 

 knew no beginning. Then he conceived 

 within himself, and projecting his think- 

 ing into the void of night, around him 

 evolved fogs of increase — mists potent with 

 growth. Then, in like manner, the All- 

 container took upon himself the form and 

 person of the Sun, the Father of men, who 

 thus came to be, and by whose liglit and 

 brightening thecloud mists became thick- 

 ened into water, and thus was made the 

 world-holding sea. Then from "his sub- 

 stance of flesh outdrawn from the surface 

 of his person," he made the seed of two 

 worlds, fecundating therewith the sea. 

 By the heat of his rays there w'as formed 

 thereon green scums, which increasing 

 apace became "The Four-fold Containing- 

 Mother-earth " and the "All-covering 

 Father-sky." Then from the consorting 

 together of these twain on the great 

 world-waters, terrestrial life was gener- 

 ated, and therefrom sprang all beings of 

 earth — men and the creatures, from the 

 "Four-fold womb of the World." Then 

 the Earth-mother repulsed the Sky- 

 father, and growing heavy sank into the 

 embrace of the waters of the sea, and 

 thus she separated from the Sky-fatlier, 

 leaving him in the embrace of the waters 

 above. Moreover, the Earth -mother 

 and the Sky-father, like all surpassing 

 beings, were changeable, metamorphic, 

 even like smoke in the wind, were 

 " transmutable at thought, manifesting 

 themselves in any form at will, as 

 dancers may by mask-making " Then 



