204 CASTOROI,OGIA. 



For the earth lie drew a straight line, 

 For the sky a bow above it ; 

 White the space between for day-time ; 

 Filled with little stars for night-time ; 

 On the left a point for sunrise, 

 On the right a point for sunset, 

 On the top a point for noon-tide, 

 And for rain and cloudy weather 

 Waving lines descending from it. 



All these things did Hiawatha 

 Show unto his wondering people. 

 And interpreted their meaning. 

 And he said : ' Behold, your grave-posts 

 Have no mark, no sign, nor symbol. 

 Go and paint them all with figures, 

 Each one with its household symbol. 

 With its own ancestral Totem ; 

 So tha Jiose who follow after 

 May distinguish them and know them.' 



And they painted on the grave-posts 

 Of the graves yet unforgotten, 

 Fach his own ancestral Totem, 

 Each the symbol of his household ; 

 Figures of the Bear and Reindeer, 

 Of the Turtle, Crane, and Beaver, 

 Each inverted as a token 

 That the owner was departed. 

 That the chief who bore the symbol 

 Lay beneath in dust and ashes." 



