334 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF MYTHS. 



" The earth is conceived in the ^atapatha Brahmana as the 

 under shell (adharam kapalam) of the Tortoise Kurma, which * 

 represents the Triple World. The upper shell is the sky^ the 

 body lying between the two shells is the atmosphere (nabhas, 

 antari-ksham) which connects them.^^^ 



There are tales to be found in the Old World that seem 

 remnants of the great Indian myth of the World-Tortoise, 

 which have degenerated, as myths so often do when they come 

 do\vn into an age which has quite lost the consciousness of their 

 meaning, into mere wonder-tales. It is related in the first 

 voyage of Sindbad, that he and his companions came, as they 

 sailed along, to an island like one of the gardens of Paradise, 

 and there they anchored the ship, and went ashore, and lighted 

 fires to cook food. But the island was a great fish, on whose 

 back sand had accumulated, and trees had grown from times 

 of old, and when it felt the fire on its back, it moved and went 

 down to the bottom of the sea. In El-Kazwini's account of 

 the animals of the water, there is a version of this story, which 

 describes the creature as a huge tortoise ; " The tortoise," he 

 says, " is a sea and land animal. As to the sea-tortoise, it is 

 very enormous, so that the people of the ship imagine that it is 

 an island. One of the merchants hath related, saying, ' We 

 found in the sea an island elevated above the water, having 

 upon it green plants ; and we went forth to it, and dug [holes 

 for fire] to cook ; whereupon the island moved, and the sailors 

 said. Come ye to your place ; for it is a tortoise, and the heat 

 of the fire hath hurt it ; lest it carry you away ! — By reason of 

 the enormity of its body,^ saith he (i. e. the narrator above 

 mentioned), 'it was as though it were an island ; and earth col- 

 lected upon its back in the length of time, so that it became 

 like land, and produced plants.^ "'^ 



The striking analogy between the Tortoise-myths of North 

 America and India is by no means a matter of new observation ; 



' Webei', 'Indische Studien;' Berlin, 1850, etc., toI. i. p. 187. See also p. 81. 

 I may mention having set down this conception as the probable basis of the Tor- 

 toise-myths before meeting with this direct evidence from ancient India. The 

 coincidence defends such an interpretation of the myths from the charge of being 

 far-fetched and fanciful. 



" Lane, ' The Thousand and One Nights,' London, 1859, vol. iii. pp. 6, 79. 



