October 21, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



557 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 The Dawn of the World, Myths and Weird 

 Tales told by the Mewan Indians of Cali- 

 fornia. By C. Hart Meeriam. Pp. 273. 

 Cleveland, The Arthur H. Clark Company. 

 1910. 



This work of a well-known American biol- 

 ogist resembles Jeremiah Curtin's " Creation 

 Myths of Primitive America " in that it en- 

 deavors to acquaint the general public with a 

 body of aboriginal American myths, further in 

 the fact that the tribe selected for the purpose 

 is Californian. Mr. Merriam's book, however, 

 has not only a popular appeal, but is of dis- 

 tinct scientific value and as such is worthy of 

 careful perusal and study on the part of those 

 interested in American Indian mythology and 

 ethnology. The greater part of the Califor- 

 nian mythologic material hitherto published 

 (Hupa, Kato, Wishosk, Lassik, Shasta, Acho- 

 mawi, Atsugewi, Tana, Wintun, Maidu) be- 

 longs to the smaller half of the state lying 

 north of San Francisco Bay. Besides some 

 material, mostly San Luisefio and Diegueno, 

 from the extreme southern part of the state, 

 practically nothing, if we except Dr. Kroeber's 

 " Myths of South Central California," which 

 are chiefly Tokuts, has been published specific- 

 ally referring to the folk-lore of the Indians 

 between San Francisco Bay and the Mexican 

 border. " The Dawn of the "World," as ex- 

 plained by its subtitle, is devoted to the tribes 

 variously kno-\vn as Miwok (Merriam's Me- 

 wuk) and Moquelumnan. These tribes, of 

 whom hardly anything beyond fragmentary 

 notes have been published, include the Miwok 

 proper of the San Joaquin valley and the 

 foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada to the east, the 

 Coast Miwok just north of Golden Gate nearly 

 to Russian River, and the small group of Clear 

 Lake Miwok northeast of the Coast Miwok. 



The body of the book consists of a set of 

 over thirty myths in the ordinary sense of the 

 word, called " ancient myths " by Mr. Mer- 

 riam, and a series of beliefs or " present-day 

 myths " respecting animals, ghosts and the 

 sign of death, natural phenomena, witches, 

 pigmies, giants and other fabulous beings; an 

 introduction on the general characteristics of 

 Miwok mythology prefaces these two parts. 



Many of the myths proper are very short and 

 are evidently but fragments of what must 

 originally have been fuller narratives. " Dur- 

 ing the few years that have passed since the 

 tales were collected," says Mr. Merriam, " sev- 

 eral of the tribes have become extinct." 

 Hence even a fragmentary myth is of positive 

 value and thanks are due Mr. Merriam for 

 having rescued what in some cases would very 

 soon have become irretrievably lost. Several 

 points of interest come out when the main 

 facts of Miwok mythology are considered in 

 comparison with those of other Californian 

 tribes. In the first place, the creation of the 

 world from out of a watery waste, a myth that 

 is characteristic of the Maidu, Wintun and 

 Achomawi of northern California, is conspicu- 

 ous by its absence here; the creation of man 

 from feathers is characteristic of the tribe. 

 Secondly, Coyote, who in most American In- 

 dian mythologies is, if not always entirely, yet 

 generally to a considerable extent, looked upon 

 as a " trickster," meddlesome and obscene, is 

 among the Miwok a consistently benevolent 

 being and is, somewhat vaguely, looked upon 

 as the creator. The great role played in 

 Miwok mythology by the falcon, to a less ex- 

 tent also the " condor," is further noteworthy ; 

 this feature is paralleled also in the mythology 

 of the Tokuts, who live to the south of the 

 Miwok. Not a few of the myths published 

 by Mr. Merriam find^ ready analogues among 

 other Californian tribes, some even outside of 

 California. Such, to mention but a few, are 

 the theft of fire, of which quite a number of 

 versions are found in the book, the making of 

 hands for man by the lizard, and the " bear 

 and deer " story (pp. 103-112), a widely spread 

 myth found also in the Columbia River region 

 and among the Shoshone of the Great Basin. 

 The second part of the book, the " present-day 

 myths," contains much of ethnologic in- 

 terest and many of the beliefs listed could be 

 paralleled among other tribes. That it is 

 necessary for a person before he dies to have 

 his nose perforated (p. 218) is, for instance, 

 a belief shared also by the Tana of northern 

 California as well as by other tribes of the 

 state. 



The myths are told in a rather agreeable 



