ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 705 
the “ Old Man ”’ took, and blowing on it he swelled it to such an extent as 
make the whole earth of it. Then it took him four days to complete 
his work, and make the mountains, rivers, plants, and beasts. (This 
number four is a fatidical one in the legends of these Indians.) The 
* Old Man ” worked two days more in order to make the first woman, for 
after the first day’s work he had not succeeded in making anything 
graceful. When the first woman, after much toil, was completed, a sort 
‘of council was held, in which the woman opposed every one of Napiw’s 
_ propositions that would have been very favourable to the welfare of man- 
kind. So we must conclude that all the evil on the earth comes from 
_ the woman’s contradictious will.’ 
This Napiw, or ‘Old Man,’ adds Father Lacombe, ‘appears again in 
_ many other traditions and legendary accounts, in which he is associated 
with the various kinds of animals, speaking to them, making use of them, 
and especially cheating them, and playing every kind of trick. In these 
_ legends Napiw comes down from the high position of creator to a much 
_ lower one, and appears not unlike to a buffoon and treacherous rascal. I 
will mention only that, according to the account of the Indians, the “‘ Old 
Man ”’ is said to have come from the south-west, across the mountains; 
and after a prolonged sojourn in these countries he went toward the 
north-east, where he disappeared, and nobody has heard of him since. 
The Indians point out the place where the “ Old Man” played with the 
Coutonay Indians, not far from the Porcupine Hills ; on another spot he 
slept ; and on a hill not far from Red-deer River any one can see at the 
present day the place where Napiw came down by sliding.’ 
Those who have read Schooleraft’s ‘ Algic Researches,’ Mr. Leland’s 
Algonquin Legends,’ and, above all, Dr. Brinton’s ‘Myths of the New 
World,’ will recognise in Napiw the most genuine and characteristic of 
_ all the Algonkin divinities. In every tribe of this widespread family, 
_ from Nova Scotia to Virginia, and from the Delaware to the Rocky 
_ Mountains, he reappears under various names—Manabosho, Michabo, 
Wetuks, Glooskap, Wisaketjak, Napiw—but everywhere with the same 
traits and the same history. He is at once a creator, a defender, a teacher, 
and at the same time a conqueror, a robber, and a deceiver. But the 
robbery and deceit, it would seem, are usually for some good purpose. 
He preserves mankind from their enemies, and uses the arts and craft of 
these enemies to subdue and destroy them. In Dr. Brinton’s view, his 
origin is to be found in a nature-myth, representing, ‘on the one hand, 
the unceasing struggle of day with night, of light with darkness, and, on 
the other, that no less important conflict which is ever waging between 
_ the storm and sunshine, the winter and summer, the rain and clear sky.’ 
Napiw, the ‘old man,’ has, it seems, other names in the Blackfoot 
tongue. He is known as Kenakakatsis, ‘he who wears a wolfskin robe,’ 
and Mik-orkayew, ‘he who wears a red-painted buffalo-robe.’ These 
names have probably some reference to legends of which he is the hero. 
: The name of the creator, Apistotokiw, as explained by M. Lacombe, offers 
: a good example of the subtle grammatical distinctions which abound in 
the Siksika (or Blackfoot) speech, as in the other Algonkin tongues. 
The expression ‘he makes,’ or ‘he creates’ (which, like other verbal 
forms, may be used as a noun), can be rendered in four different forms. 
Apistototsim signifies ‘he makes,’ when the complement, or thing made, 
1s expressed, and is an inanimate object. Apistotoyew is used when the 
gee object is animate. Apistotakiw is the indefinite form, used 
i . ZZ 
