BULL. 30] 



RELIGION 



367 



the world — or, in other words, the mythol- 

 ogy of each tribe — enters to a very great 

 extent into their religious c;oncepts and 

 activities. The mythologies are highly 

 specialized in different parts of Nortn 

 America; and, although a large number 

 of myths are the common property of 

 many American tribes, the general view 

 of the world appears to be quite distinct 

 in various parts of the continent. Taking 

 into consideration the continent of Amer- 

 ica as a whole, we find a type of explana- 

 tion of the world which is psychologically 

 quite different from the familiar Semitic 

 type. In the Semitic religions eternal 

 existence appeared as an unintelligible 

 problem, and the mind preferred to assume 

 a beginning which was accounted for by 

 transferring the existing world, as it was 

 known by observation, into the thought 

 of a creator, and interpreting the creation 

 as a projection of his thoughts by his will- 

 power into objective existence. The In- 

 dian mind, on the other hand, accepts the 

 eternal existence of the world, and ac- 

 counts for its specific form by the assump- 

 tion that events which once happened in 

 early times settled for once and all the 

 form in which the same kind of event 

 must continue to occur. For instance, 

 when the bear produced the stripes of the 

 chipmunk by scratching its back, this de- 

 termined that all chipmunks were to have 

 such stripes; or when an ancestor of a clan 

 was taught a certain ceremony, that same 

 ceremony must be performed by all future 

 generations. This idea is not by any means 

 confined to America, but is found among 

 primitive peoples of other continents as 

 well, and occurs even in Semitic cults. 



Considering American mythologies in 

 their broadest outlines, the following 

 areas may be distinguished: (1) The Es- 

 kimo area, the mythology of which is 

 characterized by an abundance of purely 

 human hero-tales, and a verj' small num- 

 ber of traditions accounting for the origin 

 of animals, and these generally largely in 

 human setting. (2) The North Pacific 

 Coast area, characterized by a large cycle 

 of transformer myths, in which the origin 

 of many of the arts of man is accounted 

 for, as well as the peculiarities of many 

 animals; the whole forming a very dis- 

 connected heterogeneous mass of tradi- 

 tions. (3) Allied to these appear the tra- 

 ditions of the Western plateau and of the 

 Mackenzie basin area, a region in which 

 animal tales abound, many accounting for 

 the present conditions of the world, the 

 whole being very disconnected and con- 

 tradictory. (4) The Californian area, the 

 mythologies of which are characterized by 

 a stronger emphasis laid on creation by 

 will-power than is found in most other 

 parts of the American continent. (5) 

 The principal characteristic of the my- 

 thologies of the area of the Great Plains, 



the eastern woodlands, and the arid South- 

 west, is the tendency to systematization 

 of the myths under the influence of a 

 highly developed ritual. This tendency 

 is more sharply defined in the S. than in 

 the N. and N. E., and has perhaps pro- 

 gressed further than anywhere else among 

 the Pueblos, to whom the origin of the 

 clans and societies seems to give the key- 

 note of mythological concepts; and among 

 the Pawnee, whose contemplation of the 

 stars seems to havegiventheprincipal tone 

 to their mythology (see also article My- 

 thologif). The religious concepts of the In- 

 dians deal largely with the relation of the 

 individual to the magic power mentioned 

 above, and are specialized in accordance 

 with their general mythological concepts, 

 which determine largely the degree to 

 which the powers are personified as ani- 

 mals, spirits, or deities. 



Another group of religious concepts, 

 which are not less important than the 

 group heretofore discussed, refers to the 

 relations of the individual to his internal 

 states, so far as these are not controlled 

 by the will, and are therefore considered 

 as subject to external magic influences. 

 Most important among these are dreams, 

 sickness, and death. These may be pro- 

 duced by obsession, or by external forces 

 which compel the soul to leave the body. 

 In this sense the soul is considered by 

 almost all tribes as not subject to the 

 individual will; it may be abstracted 

 from the body by hostile forces, and it 

 may be damaged and killed. The con- 

 cept of the soul itself shows a great 

 variety of forms. Very often the soul is 

 identified with life, but we also find com- 

 monly the belief in a multiplicity of 

 souls. Thus, among the Eskimo, the 

 name is considered as one of the souls of 

 man, another soul belongs to the body, 

 a third one is independent of the body. 

 The soul is also identified with the 

 blood, the bones, the shadow, the nape 

 of the neck (see Soul). Based on these 

 ideas is also the belief in the existence of 

 the soul after death. Thus, in the behef 

 of the Algonquian Indians of the Great 

 Lakes, the souls of the deceased are be- 

 lieved to reside in the far west with the 

 brother of the great culture-hero. Among 

 the Kutenai the belief prevails that the 

 souls will return at a later period, accom- 

 panying the culture-hero. Sometimes 

 the land from which the ancestors of the 

 tribe have sprung, which in the S. is often 

 conceived of as underground, is of equal 

 importance. 



Since the belief in the existence of 

 magic powers is very strong in the In- 

 dian mind, all his actions are regulated 

 by the desire to retain the good will of 

 those friendly to him, and to control 

 those that are hostile. 



The first means of retaining the good 



