ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XXXIX 



of the lore repeated by the clderineu and elderwoinen night 

 after uiyht to while awav the long evenings by the eanip lire, 

 and in this way they become impressed on the niemor\' and 

 imagination of the younger associates; for under the condi- 

 tions of prescriptorial life thev come to take the phu'c of leaini- 

 iug and literature in the growing mind of the youth. In the 

 successive repetitions the weaker fables are eliminated, while 

 the more vigorous are gradualK combined and eventually 

 strung together in an order made definite by custom: at the 

 same time the}- acquire sacredness with age, and some of them 

 become so far esoteric that they may not be repeated by 

 youths, or perhaps even by laymen, but they are the exclu- 

 sive property of sages or shamans. Now the fable, per se, is 

 seldom vigorous enough to j)ass unaided into the esoteric lore 

 of the tribe; but when it serves to interpret some interesting 

 natural phenomenon, either in its original form or in its subse- 

 quent association, it is therebv fertilized, and with the com- 

 bined vitalit)' of fable and interpretation enjoys greatly 

 iucreased chance of survival. Sometimes the historical ele- 

 ment is also added, when the composite intellectual structure 

 is still further strengthened, and nia-\' persist until history 

 blends with fancy-painted prehistory, and the story becomes a 

 full-fledged cosmogonic myth. Accordingly, the character and 

 the age of myths are correlated in significant fashion. 



TUSAYAN MlfiRATION TRADITIONS 



The most pressing and at the same time the most obscure 

 problems presented to the archa-ologic student relate to the 

 interpretation of relics. Dift'erent methods of solving these 

 problems have been pursued by the students of various coun- 

 tries; but it is held that the method employed in the Hinvau 

 of American Ethnology, and now pretty generalh- adoptcil 

 throughout the United States, is l)y far the most trustwortln' 

 of all — it is the method of interpretation in terms of tjie 

 observed activities of cognate tribesmen still living. It is in 

 pursuance of this method that Dr Fewkes has passed from a 

 study of the abundant relics exhumed from ruins in the puel)lo 

 region to a study of the jdxtriginal inhabitants of neighboring 



