he^iotJ . INTKODUCTION 57 



To sum up, we may say, that the Indian tales reveal to us a whole system of 

 religion, philosophy, and social polity. . . . 



Those tales form a complete series. The whole mental and social life of the 

 race to which they belong is evident in them.' 



The results to be obtained from a comparison of systems of thought like the 

 Indian and the Gaelic would be great, if made thorou.ghly. If extended to all 

 races, such a comparison would render possible a history of the human mind 

 in a form such as few men at present even dream of, — a history with a basis as 

 firm as that which lies under geology. . . . We must make large additions 

 indeed to our knowledge of primitive peoples. We must complete the work 

 begun iu America. . . . The undertaking is arduous, and there is need to 

 engage in it promptly. The forces of civilized society, at present, are destroying 

 on all sides, not saving that which is precious in primitive people. Civilized 

 society supposes that man, in an early degree of development, should be stripped 

 of all that he owns, both material and mental, and then be refashioned to 

 serve the society that stripped him. If he will not yield to the stripping and 

 training, then slay him.' 



In the United States, little was accomplished till recent years ; of late, how- 

 ever, public interest has been roused somewhat, and, since Ma.1or Powell entered 

 the field, and became Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, more has been done 

 in studying the native races of America than had been done from the discovery 

 of the country up to that time.' 



Of course there is no true information in the American ethnic religion as to 

 the real chrnges which affected the world around us; but there is in It, as in 

 all systems like it, true information regarding the history of the human mind. 

 Every ethnic religion gives us documentary evidence. It gives us positive facts 

 which, in their own sphere, are as true as are facts of geology iu the history 

 of the earth's crust and surface. They do not tell us what took place in the 

 world without, in the physical universe, they had no means of doing so ; but 

 they do tell us what took place at certain periods in the world of mind, in the 

 interior of man.' 



An ethnic or primitive religion is one which belongs to people of one blood 

 and language, people who increased and developed together with the beliefs 

 of every sort which belong to them. Such a religion includes every species of 

 knowledge, every kind of custom, institution, and art. Every aboriginal nation 

 or human brood has its gods. All people of one blood and origin are under the 

 immediate care and supervision of their gods, and preserve continual communi- 

 cation and converse with them. According to their own beliefs, such people 

 received from their gods all that they have, all that they practice, all that they 

 know. Such people, while their blood is unmixed and their society uneonquered, 

 adhere to their gods with the utmost fidelity. 



The bonds which connect a nation with its gods, bonds of faith, and those 

 which connect the individuals of that nation with one another, bonds of blond. 

 are the strongest known to primitive man, and are the only social bonds in 

 prehistoric ages.* 



A good deal has been given to the world of late on mythology by able writers 

 who with good materials would attain good results; but as the materials at 

 their disposal are faulty, much of their work with all Its cleverness is mainly a 

 persistent pouring of the emjily into the void. 



' Curtln, Jeremiah, HerO'Tale.? of Ireland, p. xlvlli, Boston, 1S94. 



- Ibid., pp. xlvl -^Ivii. 



•Curtin, .Teromiah, Creation Myths of Primitive America, pp. xxxi-xxxli, Boston, 1898. 



•Ibid., p. xxxU. " 



