242 REV. S. D. PEET ON THE TRADITIONS OF 
the divinity varied according to the cultus of the people. 
The culture-hero was the divinity of the more advanced tribes, 
but an animal divinity was the master of life with the more 
degraded tribes. Dr. D. G. Brinton, of Philadelphia, a great 
authority, thinks that all culture-heroes were personifications 
of the sun-divinity; but he has taken some examples from 
tribes which had not reached sun-worship, and therefore is 
mistaken in his interpretation. They were divinities which 
possessed human attributes, and it is gratuitous to identify 
them with nature-powers, for some did not even symbolise 
these powers. ‘I'he animal divinities, also, had personal attri- 
butes, and many of them had a history which was almost as 
human as the culture-heroes. The Coyote, the Wolf and Dog 
of the Chinooks, the Serpent of the Pecos, the Raccoon of the 
Navajoes, the Hagle of the Pimas, the Hawk of the Californians, 
the Grizzly Bear of the Mount Shastas, the Raven of the Thlin- 
keets, the Dog of the Tinnehs were all supernatural beings 
whose work was to create or to restore, and who assumed 
control over other animals by their supernatural powers as well 
as by their human intelligence. ‘This element of personal cha- 
racter which is so frequently ascribed to animal divinities must 
have come from the religious consciousness, and not from any 
elaborate philosophy. It takes a great deal of study to trace any 
analogy between the animal divinities and the sun or nature- 
powers ; butavery primitive fancy was enough to personify an 
animal, and make it represent a divinity with human attributes, 
The attempt to naturalise the human divinities and culture- 
heroes breaks down, but the work of humanising animal 
divinities is done for us by the natives already. Take the 
adventures of any one of these ‘‘ culture-heroes”’ or ‘ masters 
of life’? which bears an animal name and semblance, and see 
how much of the human element there is, and how little ofthe 
natural. The imagery is always expressive of the habits of the 
people: bows and arrows, canoes, caves, trees, lodges, medicine- 
bags, villages, islands, lakes, mountains, forests, fire-brands, 
waves, salt water, river banks, and a thousand things which are 
familiar to the savage and hunter tribes are mentioned when 
telling the story of their animal divinities. There is a different 
framework for the culture-heroes, which bear personal names. 
Here there are council-houses, conversations, hours of medi- 
tation, and many other scenes which indicate a contemplative 
and purely human condition. 
Personality was ascribed to all the divinities. Hven the 
fetiches, which were mere stones or sticks of trees, had 
personal qualities, and were supposed to be possessed by 
