THE MOOSE IN IN DUN MYTH 255 



The Menomini Indians of Wisconsin, their 

 history, customs, and myths, are described in an 

 exhaustive paper by Walter J. Hoffman, M.D., 

 in the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of 

 Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution. '° The tribe is 

 divided into phratries, or clans. A phratry, now 

 extinct, was known as the Moose phratry, divided 

 into the Moose, Elk, Marten, and Fisher totems. 



The Menomini myths relate, among other 

 things, the adventures of Manabush, a demigod, 

 grandson of Nokomis, and a mighty hunter. As 

 in most mythologies, the Indian deities have 

 many human characteristics, just as the men 

 and animals of the remote antiquity of primitive 

 peoples have many quasi-divine attributes. Mana- 

 bush, by the aid of the Wolf, who was a manido, or 

 spirit, and invisible to others, generally succeeded 

 in his hunting. But his wife found fault alike in 

 success and failure, and so, acting on the Wolfs 

 advice, he deserted her. 



Manabush in his travels came to two villages, 

 close together, one of which was inhabited by the 

 Elk people and the other by the Moose people. 

 The Moose people appear to have been four- 

 footed hoofed creatures of carnivorous tastes who 

 lived in wigwams. Their physical characteristics 



" 1892-93. See pp. 42, 161, 182-196, of the Report. 



