November 3, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



645 



Dwellers, (7) The Pacific Coast. A 

 scheme is followed in the treatment of these 

 seven divisions. The tribes dwelling within 

 a division are named; the environment indi- 

 cated; cosmogony outlined; the deified powers 

 and mythic characters mentioned; and the be- 

 liefs, legends, stories, briefly set forth. By 

 such a broad sketch of each, the seven divi- 

 sions are presented in the eleven chapters of 

 the book. 



Professor Alexander in his "Introduction," 

 remarks (p. xv) : 



" Mythology in the classical acceptation can 

 scarcely be said to exist in North America; 

 but in quite another sense — a belief in more 

 or less personified nature-powers and the pos- 

 session of stories narrating the deeds and ad- 

 ventures of these persons — the Indians own, 

 not one but many mythologies ; for every tribe 

 and often within the tribe, each clan and soci- 

 ety, has its individual mythic lore." This 

 statement he qualifies and adds the following 

 discriminating observation. " Beliefs vary 

 from tribe to tribe, even from clan to clan, yet 

 there are fundamental similarities and uni- 

 formities that afford a basis for a kind of 

 critical reconstruction of a North American 

 mythology. No single tribe and no group of 

 tribes has completely expressed this mythol- 

 ogy — much less has any realized its form; but 

 the student of Indian lore can scarcely fail to 

 become conscious of a coherent system of 

 myths, of which the Indians themselves might 

 have become aware in the course of time, if 

 the intervention of Old- Word ideas had not 

 confused them." On p. xvi the author wisely 

 says : " In America, no more than in the Old 

 World, are we to identify religion with mythol- 

 ogy. The two are intimately related; every 

 mythology is in some degree an effort to define 

 a religion." Attention is called to the fact 

 that " the powers which evoke the Indian's 

 deepest veneration are of rare appearance in 

 the tales," and adds : " The Indian's religion 

 must be studied in his rites rather than in his 

 myths." On p. xviii we read: "Inevitably 

 these powers (of nature) find a fluctuating 

 representation in the varying imagery of 

 myth. Consistency is not demanded, for the 



Indian's mode of thought is too deeply sym- 

 bolic for him to regard his own stories as 

 literal; they are neither allegory nor history; 

 they are myth with a truth midway between 

 that of allegory and that of history. . . . 

 The vast majority (of Indian stories) are obvi- 

 ously told for entertainment; they represent 

 an art, the art of fiction; and they fall into 

 the classes of fiction, satire and humor, 

 romance, adventure. Again, not a few are 

 moral allegories, or they are fables with obvi- 

 ous lessons. . . . Myths that detail causes are 

 science in infancy and they are perhaps the 

 only stories that may properly be called 

 myths." 



Space forbids further quotation of the many 

 discerning observations or deductions scattered 

 throughout the pages. 



One who knows something of the vast 

 jumble of material that in this volume has 

 been whipped into shape, can best appreciate 

 the difficulty of the task essayed by the author 

 and it is a pleasure to call attention to the 

 breadth of culture and sympathy he has 

 brought to its accomplishment. " The time 

 will certainly come for a closely analytical 

 comparative study of North American myths " 

 he declares; and when that time arrives, may 

 the task fall into equally competent hands, as 

 the present volume. 



This interesting and valuable book was not 

 prepared for specialists, although it will be of 

 service to such. To the general student of 

 American history it presents a new and com- 

 prehensive view of ancient life and thought 

 upon this continent. 



Alice C. Fletcher 



NOTES ON CANADIAN STRATIGRAPHY 

 AND PALEONTOLOGY 



CORDILLERAN PROVINCE 



The Eossland, British Columbia, mining 

 camp is situated in the Columbia Bange im- 

 mediately north of the international boundary 

 and west of the Columbia Biver. A recently 

 published memoir by C. W. Drysdale, 1 al- 



i ' ' Geology and Ore Deposits of Eossland, B. 

 C, " C. W. Drysdale, Geological Survey, Canada, 

 Memoir 77, 1915. 



