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to communicate, and depended less than was commonly supposed 

 upon the possession of the faculty of oral speech. He expressed 

 his belief that if the human race, all other things being as they are, 

 had been destitute of that faculty they would have nevertheless 

 found means of carrying on the various functions of civilized 

 society very nearly the same as they now do. 



Forty-Sixth Regular Meeting, November 15, 1881. 



Mr. R. L. Packard read a paper reciting A Navajo Myth. 

 The following is an epitome of the myth : 



The story in brief is that the Navajos first appeared as certain 

 animals, in a world under the earth we inhabit. There they lived 

 a long time, under the rule of twelve chiefs, one of whom was the 

 head chief. In consequence of the discovery of the infidelity of 

 the wife of this chief, an absolute separation of the sexes through- 

 out the tribe was effected, by the males crossing a large river, which 

 flowed near the camp. The two sexes lived apart four years, at the 

 end of which time many females had died, and the rest were 

 threatened with starvation, so that a reunion of the males and fe- 

 males was made necessary. After this had been effected a water 

 monster, which lived in the great water near which the people were 

 camped, was robbed of its young by Coyote ; the evening of the 

 same day the water began to rise and caused a flood, which drove 

 all the people up to a high mountain ; and the water still rising, 

 they planted a reed on the top of the mountain and fled to its in- 

 terior for safety. This reed grew rapidly and carried them to the 

 upper earth, which Badger was sent forth to explore. His report 

 was that the upper earth was covered by a sea, like the one which 

 had driven the people up the mountain below ; and that there were 

 four swans at the four corners, viz., the north, eastj south, and 

 west corners of this sea. with whom he had had a combat ; he and 

 Cicada vanquished the swans and the people came to the upper 

 earth, through the hole he had made, and took possession of the 



