132 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



tion of the prophet's teaching. The Canadian Iroquois, however, 

 received the revelations later than their New York brethren, and 

 were longer under the influence of the older religion, which may 

 account for the survival and use of the sun-disk. 



The writer has discovered several sun myths among the Seneca, 

 the one which follows being related by Edward Cornplanter, 

 SosonMowa (''Great Night"), the recognized head preacher of 

 the GaiSviio' of Handsome Lake. Cornplanter is a Seneca, and a 

 descendant of Gaiant^vaka, the prophet's brother. 



The fragments of the cosmological myths which conclude this 

 article are from a mass of ethnological and folk-lore data which it 

 is hoped will shortly be edited and published. 



THREE BROTHERS WHO FOLLOWED THE SUN UNDER THE SKY'S RIM 



This happened in old times, when there were not many people. 

 There were three brothers and they were not married. They were 

 hunters and had spent their lives hunting. When the brothers were 

 young they enjoyed the excitement of hunting; but as they grew 

 older it did not give them so much pleasure. The youngest brother 

 suggested that for new experiences they walk to the edge of the 

 earth, where the sky comes down and touches the big sea of salt 

 water. There is salt Avater west, and this world is an island. The 

 other brothers thought the plan a good one; and when they had 

 prepared everything they started on the journey. They traveled a 

 good many years and a good many things happened to them. They 

 always went straight westward. 



At last the brothers came to a place where the sun goes under the 

 sky's edge. The sky bends down there and sinks into the water. 

 They camped there for a month and watched the things that hap- 

 pened there. They noticed how the sun got under the rim of the 

 sky and went away quickly. Some men came there and tried to 

 get under the edge of the sky, but it descended quickly and crushed 

 them. There is a road there. Now they noticed that when the sky 

 came up, the water sank lower; and that when the sky went in the 

 water, the water rose higher. 



The younger brothers desired to pass under the rim of the sky 

 when the sun slipped under on his road ; but the elder brother said 

 that the happenings were too evilly mysterious, and that he was 

 afraid. The younger brothers ran under the rim of the sky quickly, 

 and the rim was very thick. They kept on the road, and water was 

 on each side. They were afraid that the sky would come down and 



