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BANCROFT. In the Office of the LlbrerUn of Oongrew, et Weehlngton. CONTENTS OF THIS YOLUMK MYTHOLOGY. CHAPTER I. SPEECH AND 8PE0ULATIOM. PAGE. Difference between Man and Brutes — ^Mind-Language and Soul-Lan- guage — Origin of Language: A Gift of the Creator, a Human In- vention, or an Evolution — Nature and Value of Myth — Origin of Myth: The Divine Idea, a Fiction of Sorcery, the Creation of a Designing Priesthood — Origin of Worship, of Prayer, of Sacrifice — Fetichism and the Origin of Animal- Worship — ^Religion and My- thology. 1 CHAPTER n. OBIOIM AND END OF THINOS. Quiche Creation-Myth — Aztec Origin-Myths — The PApagos— Montero* nia and the Coyote — ^The Moquis — The Great Spider's Web of the Pimas — Navajo and Pueblo Creations — Origin of Clear Lake and Lake Tahoe— Chareya of the Cahrocs — Mount Shasta, the Wig< wam of the Great Spirit — Idaho Springs and Water Falls — How Differences in Language Occurred — Yehl, the Creator of the Thlin- keets — The Raven and the Dog 42 CHAPTER in. PHYBIOAL MYTHS. Sun, Moon, and Stars — Eclipses — The Moon Personified in the Land of the Crescent — Fire — How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Cahrocs —How the Frog Lost His Tail— How the Coyote Stole Fire for the NavajoB— Wind and Thunder— The Four Winds and the Cross — Water, the First of Elemental Things — Its Sacred and Cleansing Power — Earth and Sky — Earthquakes and Volcanoes — Mountains — How the Hawk and Crow Built the Coast Range — The Moun- tains of Yosemite 106 iv CONTENTa PAUE. CHAPTER IV. ANIMAL HTTHOLOOT. R6Ies Assin^ed to Animals — Auguries from their Movements — The Ill- omened Owl — Tutelary Aninmls — Metamorphosed Men — The Ogress-Squirrel of Vancouver Island — Monkeys and Beavers — Fallen Men — The Sacred Animals — Prominence of the Bird — An Emblem of the Wind — The Serpent, an Emblem of the Lightning — Not Specially connected with Evil — The Serpent of the Pueblos — ^The Water-Snake — Ophiolatry — Prominence of the Dog, or the CJoyote— Generally though not alr/ays a liciicvolcnt Power— How the Coyote let Salmon up the Klamath — Danse ^facabre and Sad Death of the Coyote ; 127 CHAPTER V. QODB, 8UPEBNATCRAL BEINQS, AND W0B8HIP. Eskimo Witchcraft — The Tinneh and the Koniagas — Kugnns of the Aleuts — The Thlinkeets, the Haidahs, and the Nootkas — Paradise Lost of the Okanagans — The Salish, the Clallams, the Chinooks, the Cayuses, the Walla Wallas, and the Nez Percys — Shoshone Ghouls— Northern California — The Sun at Monterey — Ouiot and Chinigchinich — Antagonistic Gods of Lower California — Coman- ches. Apaches, and Navajos — Montezuma of the Pueblos — Moquis and Mojaves — Primeval Race of Northern California 140 CHAPTER VI. GODS, SCPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Gods and Religious Rites of Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, and Si- naloa— The Mexican Religion, received with different degrees of credulity by diifercnt classes of the people — Opinions of diiferent Writers as to its Nature — Monotheism of Nezahualcoyotl — Present condition of the Study of Mexican Mythology — Tezcatlipoca — Prayers to Him in the time of Pestilence, of War, for those in Au- thority — Prayer used by an Absolving Priest — Genuineness of the foregoing Prayers — Character and Works of Sahagun 178 CHAPTER VII. OODS, SDPKRNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Image of Tezcatlipoca — His Seats at the Street-comers — Various Legends about his Life on Earth— Quetzalcoatl — His Dexterity in the Mechanical Arts — His Religious Observances- The Wealth and Nimbleness of his Adherents — Expulsion from Tula of Quet- zalcoatl by Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli — The Magic Draught CONTENTS. ▼ PAGK. — Huemac, or Vemac, King of the Toltecs, and the Misfortunes brought upon him and his people by Tezcstlipoca in varioua dis- guises — Quetzalcoatl in (^holula— Differing Accounts of the Birth and Life of Quetzalcoatl — His Gentle Character — He drew up the Mexican Calender — Incidents of his Exile and of his Journey to Tlapalla, as related and commented upon by various writers — Bras- seur'u ideas about the Quetzalcoatl Myths — Quetzalcoatl considered a Sun-Gotl by Tylor, and as a Dawn-Hero by Brinton — Helps — Domenech — The Codices — Long Discussion of the Quetzalcoatl Myths by J. G. MttUer 237 CHAPTER Vni. GODS, SUPERNATtfBAL BEINGS, AMD WORSHIP. Various vjcounts of the Birth, Origin, and Derivation of the name of the Mexican War God, Huitzilopochtll, of his Temple, Image, Ceremonial, Festivals, and his deputy, or page, Paynal — Clavigero — Boturini — Acosta — Solis — Sahagun — Herrera — Torqueniada— J. G. Miiller's Summary of the Huitzilopochtll Myths, their Origin, Relation, and Signification — Tylor — Codex Vaticanus — Tlaloc, God of Water, especially of Rain, and of Mountains — Clavigero, Gama, and Ixtlilxochitl — Prayer in time of Drought — Camargo, Motolinia, Mendieta, and the Vatican Codex on the Sacrifices to Tlaloc — The Decorations of his Victims aud the places of their Execution — Gathering Rushes for the Service of the Water God — Highway Robberies by the Priests at this time — Decorations and Implements of the Priests — Punishments for Ceremonial Offences — The Whirlpool of Pantitlan — Images of the Mountains in honor of the Tlaloc Festival — of the coming Rain and Mutilation of the Images of the Mountains — General Prominence in the cult of Tla- loc, of the Number Four, the Cross, and the Snake 288 CHAPTER IX. GODS, BCPEBNATTTRAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. The Mother or all-nourishing Goddess under various names and in various aspects— Her Feast in the Eleventh Aztec month Och- paniztli — Festivals of the Eighth month, HueyteenilhuitI, and of the Fourth, Hueytozoztli — The deification of women that died in child-birth — The Goddess of Water under various names and in various aspects — Ceremonies of the Baptism or lustration of chil- dren — The Goddess of Love, her various names and aspects — Rites of confession and absolution — The God of fire and his various names — His festivals in the tendi month Xocotlveti and in the eighteenth month Yzcali; also his quadriennial festival in tlie latter month— The great festival of every fifty-two years; lighting the new fire— The God of Hades, and Teoyaomique, collector uf the CONTENTS. PAOB. souls of the fallen brave — ^Deification of dead rulers and heroes — Mixcoatl, God of hunting, and his feast in the fourteenth month, Quecholli — Various other Mexican deities — Festival in the second month, Tlacaxipehualiztli, with notice of the gladiatorial sacrifices — Complete Synopsis of the festivals of the Mexican Calendar, fixed and movable — ^Temples and Priests. 349 CHAPTER X. OODS, BUPEBMATCBAI. BEINGS, AND WOBSHTP. Revenues of the Mexican Temples — Vast number of the Priests — Mexi- can Sacerdotal System — Priestesses — ^The Orders of Tlamaxcaca- yotl and Telpochtiliztli — Religious Devotees — Baptism — Circum- cision — Communion — Fasts and Penance — Blood-drawing — Human Sacrifices— The Gods of the Tarascos — Priests and Temple Ser- vice of Michoacan — Worship in Jalisco — Oajaca — Votan and Quet- zalcoatl — Travels of Votan — The Apostle Wixepecocha — Cave near Xustlahuaca — ^The Princess Pinopiaa — ^Worship of Costahun- tox— Tree Worship 430 CHAPTER XI. OODS, 8T7PEBNATCBAI. BEINOB, AND WOASHIP. Maya Pantheon — Zamn& — Cuknlcan — ^The Gods of Yucatan — ^The Symbol of the Cross in America — Human Sacrifices in Yucatan — Priests of Yucatan — Guatemalan Pantheon — Tepeuand Hurakan — Avilix and Hacavitz — The Heroes of the Sacred Book — Quiche Gods — Worship of the Choles, Manches, Itzaes, Lacandones, and others — ^Tradition of Comizahual — Fasts — Priests of Guatemala— Gods, Worship, and Priests of Nicaragua — Worship on the Mos- quito Coast — Gods and Worship of the Isthmians — Phallic Wor- ship in America 461 CHAPTER Xn. FCTUBE STATE. Aboriginal Ideas of Future — General Gonceptioi of Souls — Future > State of the Aleuts, Chepewyans, Natives at Milbank Sound, and Okanagans — Happy Land of the Salish and Chinooks — Conceptions of Heaven and Hell of the Nez Percys, Flatheads, and Haidahs — The Realms of Quawteaht and Ghayher— Beliefs of the Songhies, Clallams, and Pend d'Oreilles — ^The Future State of the Califor- , nian and Nevada Tribes, Comanches, Pueblos, Navajos, Apaches, Moquis, Maricopas, Yumas, and others — The Sun House of the Mexicans— Tlalocau and Mictlan — Condition of the Dead — Jour- ney of the Dead — Future of the Tlaacalteos and other Nations .... 610 Natii V \ I F T k Distin an of an sic of Vo W( CONTENTS. irii LANGUAGES. CHAPTER I. IMTBODCOnON TO LANOCAQES. PAGE. Native Languages in Advance of Social Customs — Characteristic Indi- viduality of American Tongues — Frequent Occurrence of Long Words — Reduplications, Frequentatives, and Duals— Intertribal Languages — Gesture-Language — Slav6 and Chinook Jargons — Pacific States Languages — The Tinneh, Aztec, and Maya Tongues The Larger Families Inland — Language as a Test of Origin — Simi- larities in Unrelated Languages — Plan of this Investigation. 651 CHAPTER n. HTPEBBOBEAN LANGUAGES. Distinction between Eskimo and American — Eskimo Pronunciatin.t and Declension — Dialects of the Koniagas and Aleuts — Language of the Thlinkeets- Hypothetical Affinities — The Tinneh FamUy and its Diale<.i;j 'ustcm. Western, Central, ar4 Southern Divi- sions — Chepewyan Declension- Oratorical Disjilay in the Speech of the itchins— Dialects of the Atnahs and Ugalenzcs Compared — Specimen of the Koltshane Tongue — TacuUy Gutturals — Hoopah Vocabulary — Apache Dialects — Lipan Lord's Prayer — Navajo Words — Comparative Vocabulary of the Tinneh Family 674 CHAPTER m. COLUMBIAN LANGUAGES. The Haidah, its Construction and Conjugation — The Naas Language and its Dialects — Bellacoola and Chimsyan Comparisons — The Nootka Languages of Vancouver Island — Nanaimo Ten Command- ments and Lord's Prayer — Aztec Analogies— Fraser and Thompson River Languages — The Neetlakapamuck Grammar and Lord's Prayer — Sound Languages — The Salish Family — Flathead Gram- mar and Lord's Prayer — Tlie Kootenai — The Sahaptin Family — Nez Perc^ Grammar — Yakima Lord's Prayer — Sahaptin State and Slave Languages — The Chinook Family — Grammar of the Chinook Language — ^Aztoc Affinities — The Chinook Jargon 604 CHAPTER IV. OALITOBNIAN LANGUAGES. Multiplicity of Tongues— Yakon, Klamath, and Palaik Comparisons- Pitt River and Wintoon Vocabularies — Weeyot, Wishosk, Weitspek, Tiii , CONTENTS. PAGE. and Ehnek Comparisons — Languages of Humboldt Bay — Potter Valley, Itussian auil Eel Uivcr Languages — Pomo Lan<;uagc8 — Gallinomcro Grammar — Trans-Pacific Conipari8ons - -Cliocuyeni Lord's Prayer— Languages of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Napa, and Sonoma Valleys — The Olhone and other Languages of San Francisco Bay — Runsien and Eslene of Moiitercy — Santa Clara Lord's Prayer — Mutsun Grammar — Languages of the Missions Santa Cruz, San Antonio dc Padua, Soledad, and San Miguel — Tatch^ Grammar — The Dialects of Santa Cruz and other Islands 035 CHAPTER V. SHOSHONE LANOUAOES. Aztec-Sonora Connections with the Shoshone Family— The Utah, Co- manche, Moqui, Kizh, Netcla, Kechi, Cahuillo, and Ciicinchucvi — Eastern and Western Shoshone, or Wihinasht — The Bannack and Digger, or Shoshokee — The Utah and its Dialects— The Goshute, Washoe, Paiuleo, Piute, Sanipitche, and Mono — Popular Belief as to the Aztec Element in tlio North —(jrimni's Law -Shoshone, Co- manche, and Moqui Comparative Talilc -Nctcia Stanza — Kizh Grammar — The Lord's Prayer in two Dialects of the Kizh — Chemc- huevi and Cahuillo Grammar — Comparative Vocabulary 0(50 CHAPTER VI. THE PUEBLO, COLORADO RlVEIl, AND LOWER CALIFORNIA LANGUAGES. Trat^es of the Aztec not found among the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona — The Five Languages of the Pueblos, the Queres, the Tcgua, the Picoris, Jemez, and Zufli— Pueblo Comparative Vocabu- lary — The Vuniu and its Dialects, tiie Maricopa, Cuchan, Mojave, Dioguofto, Yampais, and Yavipais — The Cochimi and Poricti, witii their Dialects of Lower California — Guaicuri Grannnar — Pater Nostor in Throe Cochimi Dialects -The Languages of Lower Cali- fornia wholly Isolated 080 CHAPTER VII. THE PIMA, OPATA, AND CERI LANOUAGEa. Pima Alto and Bajo— PApago— Pima Grammar— Fomuition of Plurals —Personal Pronoun — Conjugation— Classification of Verbs — Ad- verbs— Propositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections — Syntax of the Pima— Prayers in ditroront dialects- -The Opata and Eudovo— Etulove (.Jramnuir — Conjugutitm of Active and Passive Verbs- Lord's Prayer — ^pata Grammar Declension — Possessive Pronoun — Conjugation — Cori Language with its Dialects, Guaymi and Te- poca— Ceri Vocabulary 004 CONTENTS. CHAPTER Vni. PAGE. NEW MEXICAN LANGUAGES. The Cahita and its Dialecta— Gahita Grammar— Dialectic Differences of the Mayo, Yaqui, and Tehueco — Comparative Vocabulary — Cahita Lord's Prayer — The Tarahumara and its Dialects— The Tarahuniara Grammar— Tarahumara Lord's Prayer in two Dialects —The Concho, the Toboso, the Julime, the Piro, the Sunia, the Chinarru, the Tubar, the Irritila — Tejano— Tejano Grammar — Specimen of the Tejano — The Tepehuana — Tepehuana Grammar and Lord's Prayer — Acax^e and its Dialects, the Topia, Sabaibo and Xiximc — The Zacatec, Cazcane, Mazapilc, Huitcole, Guachi- chile, Colotlan, Tlaxomultec, Tecuexe, and Tcpccano — The Cora and its Dialects, the Muutzicat, Tcacuacitzca, and Atcacari— Cora Grammar 70G CHAPTER IX. THE AZTEC AND OTOHI LANGUAGES. Nahua or Aztec, Chichimec, and Toltcc languages identical — Andhuac the aboriginal scat of the Aztec Tongue — The Aztec the oldest language in Andhuac — Beauty and Uichness of the Aztec— Testi- mony of the Missionaries and early writers in its favor— Specimen from Parcdes' Manual— Grammar of the Aztec language— Aztec Lord's Prayer — The Otomi a Monosyllabic Language of Andhuac - Relationship claimed with the Chinese and Cherokee — Otonii Grammar— Otomi Lord's Prayer in Different Dialects 723 CHAPTER X. LANOUAOKS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MEXICO. The Fame and its Dialects- The Meco of Guanajuato and the Sierra Gordo — Tlie Turasco of Michoacan and its Grammar- The Matlal- tzincaand its Cirammar— The Ocuiltoc— The Miztccand its Dialects — Miztcc Gramnuir — The Aniusgo, Chocho, Mazatec, Cuicatcc, Ciia- tino, Tlapanec, Ciiinantcc, and Po{)oluca — The Zupotec and its Grammar— The Mljo— Mijo Grammar and Lord's Prayer— The Huavo of the Isthnms of Tehuuhtepcc— Huavo Numerals 742 CHAPTER XI. THE M\YA-QUICHb' LANGUAGES. The Maya-QuichiS, the Languugc!* of the Civilized Nations of Central America— Enumeration of thii Monilwrs of this l<'uiuily -Hypotiiet- ical Analogies with Languages of the Old World l^ord's Prayers in the Chaflabal, Chia|)auo4j, Choi, Tzondal, Zo4iue, and Zotzil— Pokonchi (iranmiar -The Mamo or Zaklopahkap—Quich(( Gram- mar Ciikihiiiue! Lord's Prayer — Maya (Srammar—Totonac Gram- mar- Tutuuao Uiuloota— UuMtec Grammar 759 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. PAOB. LANGCAOES OF HONDVIIAS, NIOABAODA, COSTA BICA, AMD THE ISTHUUS or DABIEN. The Carib an Imported Language— The Mosquito Language— The Poya, Towka, Seco, Valiente, Kama, Cookra, Woolwa, and other Lan- guages in ^fonduras— The Chontal— Mosquito Grammar— Love Song in the Mosquito Language— Comparative Vocabulary of Honduras Tongues— The Coribici, Chorotega, Chontal, and Orotiila in Nicaragua— Grammar of theOrotifiaor Nagrandun— Comparison' between the Orotifia and Chorotega— The Chiriqui, Uuatuso, Tiri- bi, and others in Costa Rica— Talamanca Vocabulary— Diversity of Speech on the Isthmus of Darien — Enumeration of Languages — Comparative Vocabulary 782 THE NATIVE RACES or TBB PACIFIC STATES. MYTHOLOGY, LAI^GUAGES. CHAPTER I. SPEECH AND SPECULATION. DiFFBRBNCE BETWEEN M&N AND DrDTKB— MiND LaNOUAOR AND SoCL-LaN- ouAOE — Orioin of Lanodaqe: a Oift of the Creator, a Human Invention, on an Evolution— Nature and Value of Mtth— Origin of Mtth: The Divine Idea, A Fiction of Sorcert, The Creation of a Debignino Priesthood— Origin of Worship, of Prater, of Sacrifice — Fetichism and the ORiaiN OF Animal •Worbuip—Rklioion and Mt- THOLOOT. Hitherto wc have beheld Man only in his material organism; as a wild though intellectual animal. We have watched the intercourse of uncultured mind with its environment. We have seen how, to clothe himself, the savage robs the beast; how, like animals, primitive man constructs his habitation, provides food, rears a family, exercises authority, holds proi)erty, wages war, indulges in amusements, gratifies social instincts; and that in all this, the savage is but one remove from the brute. Ascending the scale, we have examined the first stages of human progress and analyzed an incipient civ- ilization. We will now pass the frontier which separates mankind from animal-kind, and enter the domain of the immaterial and su{)ernatural ; phenomena which philos- ophy purely positive cannot explain. SPEECH AND SPECULATION. ii! The primary indication of an absolute superiority in man over other animals is the faculty of speech; not those mute or vocal symbols, expressive of passion and emotion, displayed alike in brutes and men; but the power to separate ideas, to generate in the mind and embody in words, sequences of thought. True, upon the threshold of this inquiry, as in whatever relates to primitive man, we find the hrxiie creation hotly pursuing, and disputing for a share in this progressional power. In common with man, animals possess all the organs of sensation. They see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. They have even the organs of speech; but they have not speech. The source of this wonderful faculty lies further back, obscured by the mists which ever settle round the immaterial. Whether brutes have souls, according to the Aristotelean theory of soul, or whether brute-soul is immortal, or of quality and destiny unliwe and inferior to that of man-soul, we see in them unmistakable evi- dence of mental faculties. The higher order of animals possess the lower order of intellectual perceptions. Thus pride is manifested by the caparisoned horse, shame by the beaten dog, will by the stubborn mule, lirutes have memory; they manifest love and hate, joy and sorrow, gratitude and revenge. They are courageous or cowardly, subtle or simple, not merely up to the meas- ure of what we commonly term instinct, but with evi- dent exercise of judgment; and, to a certain ^wint, we might even claim for them foresight, as in laying in a store of food for winter. But with all this there seems to be a lack of true or connected thought, and of the fiic- ulty of abstraction, whereby conceptions are analyzed and impressions defined. They have also a language, such as it is; indeed, all the varieties of language common to man. What ges- ture-language can Ije more expressive than that employed by the horse with its ears and by the dog with its tail, wherein are manifestations of every shade of joy, sor- row, courjj^e, fear, shame, and anger? In their brutish physiognomy, also, one may read the language of the THOUGHT AND EXPBESSION. emotions, which, if not so delicately pictured as in the face of man, is none the less distinctive. Nor are they without their vocal language. Every fowl and ever}' quadruped possesses the power of communicating intelli- gence by means of the voice. They have their noise of gladness, their signal cry of danger, their notes of anser and of woe. Thus we see in brutes not onlv in- telligence but the power of communicating intelligence. But intelligence is not thought, neither is expression speech. The 1 inguage of brutes, like themselves, is soul- less. The next indication of man's superiority over brutes, is the faculty of worship. The wild beast, to escape the storm, flies howling to its den ; the savage, awe-stricken, turns and prays. The lowest man perceives a hand be- hind the lightning, hears a voice abroad upon the storm, for which the highest brute has neither eye nor ear. Phis essential of humanity we see primordially displayed in mythic phenomena ; in the first struggle of spiritual man- hood to find expression. Language is symbol significant of thought, mythology is symbol significant of soul. The one is the first distinctive sound that separates the ideal from the material, the other the first respiration of the soul which distinguishes the immortal from the animal. Language is thought incarnate; mythology, soul incar- nate. The one is the instrument of thought, as the other is the essence of thought. Neither is thought ; both are closely akin to thought; separated from either, in some form, perfect intellectual manhood cannot develop. I do not mean to say with some, that thought without siKjech cannot exist ; unless by s|)eech is meant any form of expression symlx)lical, emotional, or vocal, or imless by thought is meant something more than mere self- consciousnoi HLout sequence and without abstriu'tion. There can b^ ».»i doubt that speech is the living breatii of thought, and that the exercise of speech reiu'ts H\yon the mental and emotional faculties. In brutes [y found neither speech nor mytii; in the deaf and dumb, thought and belief are shadowy and undefined; in infants, SPEECH AND SPECULATION. thought is but as a fleeting cloud passing over the brain. Yet for all this, deaf mutes and children who have no adequate form of expression cannot be placed in the cate- gory of brutes. The invention of the finger-alphabet opened a way to the understanding of the deaf and dumb ; but long before this is learned, in every instance, these unfortunates invent a gesture-language of their own, in which they think as well as speak. And could we but see the strangely contorted imagery which takes possession of a gesture-thinker's brain, we should better appreciate the value of words. So, into the mouth of children words are put, round which thoughts coalesce ; but evi- dences of ideas are discovered some time before they can be fully expressed by signs or sounds. Kant held the opinion that the mind of a deaf mute is incapable of development, but the wonderful success of our modern institutions has dissipated forever that idea. The soul of man is a half-conscious inspiration from which perception and expression are inseparable. Na- ture speaks to it in that subtle sympathy by which the immaterial within holds converse with the immaterial without, in the soft whisperings of the breeze, in the fearful bellowings of the tempest. Between the soul and body there is the closest sympathy, an interaction in every relation. Therefore these voices of nature speak- ing to nature's offspring, are answered back in various ways according to the various organisms addressed. The animal, the intellectual, the spiritual, whatsoever the entity consists of, responds, and responding expands and unfolds. Once give an animal the power to speak and mental development ensues; for speech cannot continue without ideas, and ideas cannot spring up without intel- lectual evolution. A dim, half-conscious, brutish thought there may be ; but the faculty of abstraction, sequences of thought, without words either spoken or unspoken, cannot exist. It is not at all probable that a system of gesture-lan- gunge was ever employed by any primitive people, prior or in preference to vocal language. To communicate by ORIGIN OF LANGUAOE. signs requires no little skill and implies a degree of arti- fice and forethought far beyond that required in vocal or emotional language. Long before a child arrives at the point of intelligence necessary for conveying thought by signs, it is well advanced in a vocal language of its own. In m3^hology, language assumes personality and inde- pendence. Oicen the significance of the word becomes the essential idea. Zeus, from meaning simply sky, be- comes god of the sky ; Eos, originally the dawn, is made the goddess of the opening day. Not the idea but the expression of the idea becomes the deity. And so, by these creations of fancy, the imagination expands; in the embodiment of the idea, the mind enlarges with its own creation. Then yet bolder metaphors are thrown off like soap-bubbles, which no sooner take form in words than they are also deified. Thus soul and thought and speech act and react on one another, all the evolu- tions of conception seeking vent in sound or speculation ; and thus language, the expression of mind, and mythol- ogy, the expression of soul, become the exponents of divine humanity. But what then is Language, what is Myth, and whence are they? Broadly, the term language may be ap- plied to whatever social beings employ to communi- cate passion or sentiment, or to influence one another ; whatever is made a vehicle of intelligence, ideographic or phonetic, is language. In this category may be placed, as we have seen, gestures, both instinctive and artificial ; emotional expression, displayed in form or feature ; vocal sounds, such as the cries of birds, the howling of beasts. Indeed, language is everywhere, in everything. While listening to the rippling brook, the roaring sea, the mur- muring forest, as well as to the still small voice within, we are but reading from the vocabulary of nature. Thus construed, the principle assumes a variety of shapes, and may be followed through successive stages of development. In fact, neither form nor feature can be set in motion, or even left in a state of repose, SPEECH AND SPECULATION. laii without conveying intelligence to the observer. The countenance of man, whether it will or not, perpetually speaks, and speaks in most exquisite shades of signifi- cance, and with expression far more delicate than that employed by tongue or pen. The face is the reflex of the soul ; a transparency which glows with light, divine or devilish, thrown upon it from within. It is a por- trait of individual intelligence, a photograph of the inner being, a measure of innate intelligence. And in all pertaining to the actions and passions of mankind, what can be more expressive than the language of the emo- tions? There are the soft, silent wooings of love, the frantic fury of hate, the dancing delirium of joy, the hungry cravings of desire, the settled melancholy of dead hopes. But more definitely, language is articulate human speech or symbolic expression of ideas. How man first leariiad to speak, and whence the power of speech was originally derived, are questions concern- ing which tradition is uncommunicative. Even mythol- ogy, which attempts the solution of supernatural mys- teries, the explanation of all phenomena not otherwise accounted for, has little to say as to the genesis of this most potential of all human powers. Many tlieories have been advanced concerning the origin of language. Some of them are exploded ; others in various stages of modification remain, no two phi- lologists thinking exactly alike. The main hypotheses are three; the subordinate ones are legion. Obvious- ly, speech must be either a direct, completed gift of the Creator, with one or more independent beginnings ; or a human invention; or an evolution from a natural germ. Schleicher conceives primordial language to be a sim- ple organism of vocal gestures; Gould Brown believes language to be partly natural and partly artificial ; Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart give to man the creation and development of speech by his own artificial invention. According to Heroditus, the Phrygians and the Egyptians disputed over the question of the antiquity of their lan- guages. Psammetichus thereupon confided two babes to SCIENCE OF FHILOLOOT. the care of goats, apart from every human sound. At the end of two years they were heard to pronounce the word heko8, the Phrygian for bread. The Phrygians therefore claimed for their language the seniority. In ancient times it was thought that there was some one primeval tongue, a central language from which all the languages of the earth radiated. The Sythic, Ethiopic, Chinese, Greek, Latin, and other languages advanced claims for this seniority. Plato believed lan- guage to be an invention of the gods, and by them given to man. Orthodox religionists did not hesitate to affirm that Hebrew, the language of Paradise, was not only given in a perfected state to man, but was miraculously preserved in a state of purity for the chosen Israel. After the dispersion from Babel, such nations as relapsed into barbarism became barbaric in speech. And in the roots of every dialect of both the old world and the new, the Fathers were able to discern Hebrew analogies sufficient to confirm them in their dogma. Indeed other belief was heresy. There were others who held that, when gesture-lan- guage and the language of the emotions were found insufficient for the growing necessities of man, by com- mon consent, it was agreed that certain objects should be represented by certain sounds, and that so, when a word had been invented for every object, language was made. Another doctrine, called by Mr. Wedgwood, its enthu- siastic advocate, 'onomatopoeia,' and by Professor Max Miiller the 'bow-wow' theory, explains the origin of language in the effort of man to imitate the cries of nature. Thus, for dog the primitive languageless man would say bow-wow ; to the rivulet, the wind, the birds and beasts, names were applied which as far as possible were but reproductions of the sounds made by these ele- ments or animals. Thus philology up to a comparatively late period was a speculation rather than a science. Philosophers sought to know whence language came rather than what lan- guage is. But when the great discovery concerning the 8 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. Arian and Semitic families was made, comparative philologists went to work after the manner of practical investigators in other branches of study, by collecting, classifying and comparing vocabularies, and there- from striking out a path backward to original trunks. Catalogues of languages were published, one in 1800 by Hervas, a Spanish Jesuit, containing three hundred dia- lects, followed by Adelung and Yater's Mithridates, from 1806-17. But not until Sanscrit was made a subject of European study did it become apparent that affinities of tongues are subject to the laws that govern affinities of blood. Then it was that a similarity was discovered, not only between the Sanscrit and the Greek and Latin tongues, but between these languages and the Teutonic, Celtic, Iranic, and Indie, all of which became united in the great Arian family. At the same time, the ancient language of the Jews, the Arabic, and the Aramaic — which constitute the Semitic family — were found to be totally different from the Arian in their radical struc- ture. From these investigations, philologists were no less convinced that the Indo-European languages were all of the same stock, than that the Semitic idioms did not belong to it. The doctrine of the Fathers therefore would not stand; for it was found that all languages were not derivations from the Hebrew, nor from any other known central tongue. Then too, the subordination of tongues to the laws of evolution became apparent. It was discovered that lan- guage was in a state of constant change ; that, with all its variations, human speech could be grouped into fami- lies, and degrees of relationship ascertained ; and that, by the comparison of vocabularies, a classification at once morphological and genealogical could be made. Varieties of tongues, as numberless as the phases of humanity, could be traced back towards their beginnings and resolved into earlier forms. It was discovered that in the first order of linguistic development, words are monosyllabic. In this rudimentary stage, to which the Chinese, Tibetan, and perhaps the Japanese belong, roots, or sounds ex- VABUTIONS OF LANOUAOE. 9 presE&ve only of the material or substantial parts of things, are used. In the second stage, called the poly- synthetic, a^regative, or agglutinate, a modifying ter- mination, significant of the relations of ideas or things to each other, is affixed or glued to the root. To the agglutinate languages belong the American and Tura- nian families. In the third, called the inflectional stage, which comprises only the Arian and Semitic fami- lies, the two elements are more perfectly developed, and it is only in this stage that language can attain the highest degree of richness and refinement. While these stages or conditions are recognized by all, it is claimed on one side that although settled languages retain their grammatical character, every agglutinate* language must once have been monosyllabic, or radical, ; and every inflectional language once agglutinate ; and on the other side it is averred that the assertion is incapable of proof, for no historical evidence exists of any one type ever having |)assed from one of these stages to another. Now if speech is a perfected gift of the Crea- . tor, how happens it that we find language in every stage of development or relapse, from the duckings of Thlin- keets to the classic lines of Homer and of Shakspeare? In his physiological structure, so far as is known, Man is neither more nor less perfect ? >w than in the days of Adam. How then if language is an organism, is it, un- like other organisms, subject to extreme and sudden change? In animated nature there are two principles; one fixed and finished as an organism, subject to per- petual birth and decay, but incapable of advancing or retrograding; the other, elemental life, the germ or cen- tre of a future development. The one grows, the other unfolds. We have no evidence that instincts and organic functions were more or less perfect in the be- ginning than now. If therefore language is an instinct or an organism, a perfect gift of the Creator, how can it exist otherwise than in a concrete and perfect state like other instincts and organisms? The absurdity that human speech is the invention of Id BPEEOH AMD SPEGULATIOM. primitive man — that upon some grassy knoll a company of half-clad barbarians met, and without words invented words, without significant sounds produced sounds sig- nificant of every object, therein by mutual consent originating a language — ^may be set aside. Of all con- jectures concerning the origin of language, the hypothesis that words are an artificial invention is the least tenable. And what is most surprising to us, at the present day, is that such men as Locke and Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart could for a moment have entertained the idea. Obviously, without language there could be no culture, and without culture, words never could have been in- vented. Words are the symbols of objects and ideas. Certain words may be arbitrarily selected, and, by the tacit agreement or general concurrence of society, may be made to signify certain things. And in this sense words may originate conventionally. But though words may have been conventionally selected, they were never selected by conventions. We then have the discoveries of modern philologists, not only to positively deny the infallibility of the common-origin theory, but to bring forward a number of other claimants for the greatest antiquity, as well entitled to a hearing as the Hebrew. Diversity in the origin of speech does not of necessity imply diversity in the origin of race. Thus with a unity of race, circumstances may be conceived in which independent tongues may have arisen in different localities; whereas with a diversity of race; but one lan- guage hypothetically may have been given to all. A common origin is probable, a diversity of origin is pos- sible ; neither can be proved or disproved. The radical diflferences in the structure of the three great types, the monosyllabic, the agglutinate, and the inflectional; and the inherent heterogeneities of the several families of the same type, as of the Chinese nd Siamese, of the American and Turanian, or even of t^ Arian and Semitic, would seem to present insurmount \e obstacles to the theory of a common origin ; while oi. *^^he other hand the won- derful mutations of types and "unks, the known trans- UNIYEBSALITY OF SPEECH. u formations of language, and the identifications by some philologists, of the same stock- in each of the three pro- gressional stages, render the theory of a unity of ori- gin in language equally probable. Therefore the ques- tion of unity or diversity of tongues, as we speak of unity or diversity of race, can be of but little moment to us. Language shows the connection between nations widely separated, leads us back beyond tradition into the obscure past, follows the sinuosities of migrations, indicates epochs in human development, points towards the origin of peoples, serves as a guide in following the radiation of races from common centres. Yet a simi- larity in the sound, or even in the construction of two words, does not necessarily imply relationship. Two totally distinct languages may have borrowed the same word from a third bnguage; which fact would never establish relationship between the borrowers. When like forms are found in difierent languages, in order to establish a relationship, historical evidence must be applied as a test, and the words followed up to their roots. Stripped of technicalities, the question before us is reduced to a few simple propositions. All men speak; there never yet was found a nation without articulate language. Aside from individual and abnormal excep- tions, no primitive tiibe has ever been discovered, where part of the people spoke, and part were speechless. Lan- guage is as much a part of man, as any physical con- stituent; yet unlike physical organs, as the eye, the ear, the hand, language is not born with the individual. It is not in the blood. The Caucasian infant stolen by Apaches, cannot converse with its own mother when restored to her a few years after. Therefore speech is not an independent, perfected gift of the Creator, but an incidental acquirement. Further- more language is an attribute of society. It belongs to the people and not to the individual. The child before mentioned, if dropped by the Apaches among the bears and by them nurtured and reared, is doomed to mutism 12 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. or bear-language. Man was made a social being; speech was made as a means of communicating intelligence be- tween social beings; one individual alone never could originate, or even preserve a language. But how then happens it, if man did not make it, and God did not give it him, that human speech is universal? With the oi^anism of man the Creator implants the organs of speech. With the elemental and progressional life of man the Creator implants the germ of speech. In common with the element of progress and civilization, iiinate from the beginning, speech has developed by slow degrees through thousands of cycles and by various stages, marching steadily forward with the forward march of the intellect. Comparative philology, in common with all other sciences, accords to man a remote antiquity. Bunsen estimates that at least twenty thousand years are required for a language to pass from one rudimentary stage to another. The mind receives impressions and the soul intuitions, and to throw them off in some form is an absolute neces- sity. Painful impressions tend to produce bodily contor- tions and dolorous sounds ; pleasant impressions to illu- mine the features and to make musical the voice. And not only is this compressed emotion destined to find ex- pression, but to impress itself upon others. Emotion is essentially sympathetic. Why certain objects are repre- sented by certain sounds we can never know. Some think that between every word and the object or idea which it represents, there was in the first instance an intimate relationship. By degrees certain natural ar- ticulations became associated with certain ideas; then new names were suggested by some fancied analogy to objects already named. Everything else being (Hjual, similar conditions and causations produce similar im- pressions and are expressed by similar sounds. Hence a certain uniformity between all human tongues ; and a ten- dency in man to imitate the sounds in nature, the cries of animals, the melodies of winds and waters, accounts for the origin of many words. MYTHOLOOT. 18 From giving expression in some outward form to our inward emotion there is no escape. Let us now apply to the expression of feeling and emotion the same law of evolution which governs all social and intellectual phenomena, and from a language of exclamations, we have first the monosyllabic noun and verb, then auxil- liaries, — adverbs, adjectives, prepositions and pro- nouns, — and finally inflections of parts of speech by which the finer shades of meaning may be expressed. The spontaneous outbursts of feeling, or the meta- phorical expressions of emotion, arising instinctively and acting almost simultaneously with the conception or impression made upon the mind, develop with time into settled forms of speech. Man speaks as birds fly or fishes swim, ''^he Creator supplies the organs and implants the instinct. Speech, though intuitive, is more than intuition; for, as we have seen, speech is a social rather than an individual attribute. Dar- win perceives in language not only a spontaneous gen- eration, but a natural selection of grammatical forms; the best words, the clearest and shortest expressions, continually displacing the weaker. So words are made to fit occasions, and dropped as soon as better ones can be found. Languages are not inherited, yet language is an in- heritance. Language is not artificially invented, yet languages are but conventional agreements. Languages are not a concrete perfected gift of the Creator, yet the germ of language is ineradiciibly implanted in man, and was thei-e implanted by none but man's Creator. This then is Language: it is an acquit^ition, but an acquisi- tion from necessity; it is a gift, but, when given, an undeveloped germ; it is an artifice, in so fnr as it is developed by the application of individual agencies. Here, for a while, we will leave Language and turn to Mythology, the mytfios 'fable' and logos 'speech' of the Grecians. Under analysis mythology is open to broad yet sig- u SPEECH AND SPECULATION. nificant interpretations. As made up of legendary ac- counts of places and personages, it is history ; as relating to the genesis of the gods, the nature and adventures of divinities, it is religion; placed in the category of science, it is the science of fable; of philosophy, the philosophy of intuitive beliefs. A mass of fragmentary truth and fiction not open to rationalistic criticism; a system of tradition, genealogical and political, confound- ing the subjective with the objective ; a partition wall of allegories, built of dead facts cemented with wild fan- cies, — it looms ever between the immeasurable and the measurable past. Thick black clouds, portentous of evil, hang threaten- ingly over the savage during his entire life. Genii murmur in the flowing river, in the rustling branches are felt the breathings of the gods, goblins dance in vapory twilight, and demons howl in tlie darkness. In the myths of wild, untutored man, is displayed that inherent desire to account for the origin of things, which, even at the present time, commands the pro- foundest attention of philosophy; and, as we look back upon the absurd conceptions of our savage ancestry with feelings akin to pity and disgust, so may the speculations of our own times appear to those who shall come after us. Those weird tales which to us are puerility or poetry, ac- cording as we please to regard them, were to their believ- ers history, science, and religion. Yet this eftbrt, which continues from the beginning to the end, is not valueless; in it is embodied the soul of human progress. Without mythology, the only d(X)r at once to the ideal and inner life of primitive peoples and to their heroic and historic past would be forever closed to us. Nothing so reflects their heart-secrets, exposes to our view their springs of action, shadows forth the sources of their hopes and fears, exhibits the models after which they moulded their lives. Within crude poetic imagery are enrolled their re- ligious l)eliefs, are laid the foundations of their systems of worship, are portrayed their thoughts concerning ALL MYTHS FOUNDED ON PACT. 16 causations and the destinies of mankind. Under sym- bolic veils is shrouded their ancient national spirit, all that can be known of their early history and popular ideas. Thua are explained the fundamental laws of na- ture ; thus we are told how earth sprang from chaos, how men and beasts and plants were made, how heaven was peopled, and earth, and what were the relative powers and successive dynasties of the gods. Heroes are made gods ; gods are materialized and lirought down to men. Of the value of mythology it is unnecessary here to speak. Never was there a time in the history of phi- loaophy when the character, customs, and Ijeliefs of aboriginal man, and everything appertaining to him, were held in such high esteem by scholars as at present. As the ultimate of human knowledge is approached, the in- quirer is thrown back upon the past ; and more and more the fact becomes apparent, that what is, \s but a re- production of what has been; that in the earlier stages of human development may be found the counterpart of every phase of modern social life. Higher and more heterogeneous as are our present systems of politics and philosophy, every principle, when tracked to its begin- ning, proves to have been evolved, not originated. As there never yet was found a people without a lan- guage, so every nation has its mythology, some popular and attractive form for preserving historical tradition and presenting ethical maxims; and as by the range of their vocabularies we may follow men through all the stages of their progress in government, domestic affairs and mechanical arts, so, by beliefs expressed, we may determine at any given eixxih in the history of a race their ideal and intellectual condition. Without the substance there can be no shadow, without tlie object there can he no name for it ; therefore when we find a language without a word to denote property or chastity, we may Ix) sure that the wealth and women of the tribe are held in common ; and when in a system of my tliology certain important metaphysical or testhetic ideas and at- tributes are wanting, it is evident that the intellect of 16 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. lPl|li:| Ml its composers has not yet reached beyond a certain low point of conception. Moreover, as in things evil may be found a spirit of good, so in fable we find an element of truth. It is now a recognized principle of philosophy, that no religious belief, however crude, nor any historical tra- dition, however absurd, can be held by the majority of a people for any considerable time as true, without having in the beginning some foundation in fact. More espe- cially is the truth of this principle apparent when we consider that in all the multitudinous beliefs of all ages, held by peoples savage and civilized, there exist a con- currence of ideas and a coincidence of opinion. Human conceptions of supernatural affairs spring from like intui- tions. As human nature is essentially the same through- out the world and throughout time, so the religious instincts which form a part of that universal humanity generate and develop ^in like manner under like con- ditions. The desire to penetrate hidden surroundings and the method of attempting it are to a certain extent common to all. All wonder at the mysterious; all attempt the solution of mysteries; all primarily possess equal facilities for arriving at correct conclusions. The genesis of belief is uniform, and the results under like conditions analogous. We may conclude that the purposes for which these fictitious narratives were so carefully preserved and handed down to posterity were two-fold, — to keep alive certain facts and to inculcate certain doctrines. Something there must have been in every legend, in every tradition, in every belief, which has ever been en- tertained by the mtyority of a i)eople, to recommend it to the minds of men in the first instance. Error abso- lute cannot exin- ; false doctrine without an amalgam of verity speedily crumbles, and the more monstrous the falsity the more rapid its decomposition. Myths were the oracles of our savage ancestors; their creed, the rule of their life, prized by them as men now prize their faith I and, by whatever savage philosophy these strange VALUE OF MYTHOLOGY. 17 conceits were eliminated, their effect upon the popular mind was vital. Anaxagoras, Socrates, Protagoras, and Epicurus well Icnew and boldly proclaimed that the gods of the Grecians were disreputable characters, not the kind of deities to make or govern worlds; yet so deep rooted in the hearts of the people were the maxims of the past, that for these expressions one heretic was cast into prison, another expelled from Athens, and another forced to drink the hemlock. And the less a fable presents the appearance of probability, the more grotesque and extravagant it is, the less the likelihood of its having originated in pure invention ; for no ex- travagantly absurd invention without a particle of truth could by any possibility have been palmed off upon a l)eople, and by them accepted, revered, recited, preserved as veritable incident or solution of mystery, and handed down to those most dear to them, to be in like manner held as sacred. Therefore we may be sure that there never was a myth without a meaning ; that mythology is not a bun- dle of ridiculous fancies invented for vulgar amusement; that there is not one of these stories, no matter how silly or absurd, which was not founded in fact, which did not once hold a significance. "And though I have well weighed and considered all this," concluded Lord Bacon, nearly three hundred years ago, ''and thoroughly seen into the levity which the mind indulges for allegories and illusions, yet I cannot but retain a high value for the ancient mythology." Indeed, to ancient myths has been attributed the preservation of shattered fragments of lost sciences, even as some have alleged that we are indebted to the writings of Democritus and Aristotle for modern geographical discoveries. That these ductile narratives have suffered in their transmission to us, that through the magnifying and refracting influences of time, and the ignorance and fanaticism of those to whom they were first recited, we receive them mutilated and distorted, there can be no doubt. Not one in a thousand of those aboriginal 18 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. beliefs which were held by the people of the Pacific Coast at the time of its first occupation by foreigners, has been preserved. And for the originality and purity of such as we have, in many instances, no one can vouch. Infatuated ecclesiastics who saw in tie native fable in- disputable evidence of the presence of an apostle, or the interposition of a tutelary saint in the affairs of benighted heathendom, could but render the narrative in accord- ance with their prepossessions. The desire of some to prove a certain origin for the Indians, and the contempt of others for native character, also led to imperfect or colored narrations. But happily, enough has been pre- served in authentic picture-writings, and by narrators whose integrity and intelligence are above suspicion, to give us a fair insight into the native psychological struc- ture and belief; and if the knowledge we have is but in- finitesimal in comparison with what has been lost, we may thereby learn to prize more highly such as we have. Again we come to the ever -recurring question — Whence is it? Whence arise belief, worship, supers^' tion? Whence the striking likeness in all supernatural conceptions between nations and ages the most diverse? Why is it that so many peoples, during the successive stages of their progress, have their creation myth, their origin myth, their flood myth, their animal, and plant, and planet myths? This coincidence of evolution can scarcely be the result of accident. Mythologies, then, being like languages common to mankind, unifjrm in substance yet varying in detail, what follows with re- gard to the essential system of their supernatural con- ceptions? Is it a perfected gift of the Creator, the invention of a designing priesthood, or a spontaneous generation and natural development? So brond a ques- tion, involving as it does the weightiest matters con- nected with man, may scarcely expect exactly the same answer from any two persons. Origin of life, origin of mind, origin of belief, are as much problems to the profoundest philosopher of to-day, as they were to the first wondering, bewildered savage who wandered through primeval forests. OBIOIN OF BELIEF. 19 Life is defined by Herbert Spencer as "the coordina- tion of actions, or their continuous adjustment;" by Lewes as "a series of definite and successive changes, both of structure and composition, which take place within an individual without destroying its identity;" by Schelling as "the tendency to individuation;" by llicheraud as "a collection of phenomena which succeed each other during a limited time in an organized body;" and by De Blainville as "the two-fold internal movement of composition and decomposition, at once general and continuous.' According to Hume, Mind is but a bundle of ideas and impressions which are the sum of all knowl- edge, and consequently, " the only things known to exist." In the positive philosophy of Auguste Comte, intel- lectual development is divided into three phases ; namely, the Supernatural, in which the mind seeks for super- natural causes; the Metaphysical, wherein abstract forces are set up in place of supernatural agencies; and the Positive, which inquires into the laws which engender phenomena. Martineau, commenting upon intuition and the mind's place in nature, charges the current doctrine of evolution with excluding the element of life from devel- oping organisms. Until the origin of mind, and the rela- tion of mind to its environment is determined, the origin of the supernatural must remain unaccounted for. Yet we may follow the principle of worship back to very near its source, if we are unable entirely to account for it. We have seen how the inability of brutes to form in the mind long sequences of thought, prevents speech; so, in primitive societies, when successions of .unrecorded events are forgotten before any conception of general laws can be formed therefrom, polytheism in its grossest form is sure to prevail. Not until the earlier stages of progress are passed, and, from a multitude of correlative and oft-repeated experiences, general deductions made, can there be any higher religious conceptions than that of an independent cause for every consequence. By some it is alleged that the religious sentiment is a divine idea perfected by the Creator and implanted in 90 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. man as part of his nature, before his divergence from a primitive centre. Singularly enough, the Fathers of the Church referred the origin of fable as well as the origin of fact to the Hebrew Scriptures. Supported by the soundest sophistry, they saw in every myth, Grecian or barbarian, a biblical character. Thus the Greek Hercules was none other than the Hebrew Sampson; Arion was Jonah, and Deucalion Noah. Other mytho- logical characters were supposed by them to have been incarnated fiends, who disappeared after working for a time their evil upon men. There h^ve been those who held myths to be the fictions of sorcery, as there are now those who believe that forms of worship were invented by a designing priesthood, or that mythology is but a collection of tales, physical, ethical and historical, invented by the sages and ancient wise men of the nation, for the purpose of overawing the wicked and encouraging the good. Some declare that religion is a factitious or accidental social phenomenon ; others that it is an aggregation of organ- ized human experiences ; others that it is a bundle of sentiments which were originally projected by the im- agination, and ultimately adopted as entities; others that it is a feeling or emotion, the genesis of which is due to surrounding circumstances. Many believe all mythological personages to have been once real human heroes, the foundations of whose his- tories were laid in truth, while the structure was reared by fancy. The Egyptians informed Herodotus that their deities — the last of whom was Orus son of Osiris, the Apollo of the Grecians — were originally their kings. Others affirm that myths are but symbolic ideas deified ; that they are but the embodiment of a maxim in the form of an allegory, and that under these allegorical forms were taught history, religion, law and morality. Intermingled with all these hypotheses are elements of truth, and yet none of them appear to be satisfying explanations. All imply that religion, in some form, is an essential constituent of humanity, and that whatever RISE OF THE PBIMITIYE PBIESTHOOD. 21 its origin and functions, it has exercised from the earliest ages and does jet exercise the most powerful influence upon man ; working like leaven in the lump, keeping the world in a ferment, stirring up men to action, band- ing and disrupting nations, uniting and dividing com- munities, and forming the nucleus of numberless socie- ties and institutions. In every society, small and great, there are undoubt- edly certain intellects of quicker than ordinary percep- tion, which seize upon occasions, and by a skillful use of means obtain a mastery over inferior minds. It is thus that political and social, as well as ecclesiastical power arises. Not that the leader creates a want — he is but the mouth-piece or agent of pent-up human in- stincts. One of these instincts is dependence. That we are created subordinate, not absolute nor unre- strained, is a fact from which none can escape. Thral- dom, constant and insurmountable, we feel we have inherited. Most naturally, therefore, the masses of mankind seek from among their fellows some embodi- ment of power, and ranging themselves under the ban- ner of leaders, follow blindly whithersoever they are led. Perceiving the power thus placed in their hands, these born leaders of men are not slow to invent means for retaining and increasing it. To the inquiry of the child or unsophisticated savage, who, startled by a peal of distant thunder, cries, "What is that?" the explana- tion is given: "That is the storm-god speaking." "I am afraid, protect me!" implores the supplicant. "I will, only obey," is the reply. The answer is sufficient, curiosity is satisfied, and terror allayed ; the barbarian teacher gains a devotee. In this manner, the super- structure of creeds, witchcrafts, priestcrafts, may have arisen ; some gods may thus have been made, forms of worship invented, and intercourse opened with beings supernal and infernal. Then devotion advances and becomes an art; professors by practice become e :perts. Meanwhile, craft is economized ; the wary Shamdn rain- doctor — like the worthy clergyman of civilized ortho- SPEECH AND SPECULATION. ■ill iiiii doxy, who refused to pray for rain "while the wind was in that quarter" — watches well the gathering ripe- ness of the cloud before he attempts to burst it with an arrow. And in the end, a more than ordinary skill in the exercise of this power, deifies or demonisKcs the possessor. But whence arises the necessity for craft and whence the craft? The faculty of invention implies skill. Skill successfully to play upon the instincts of humanity can only be acquired through the medium of like instincts, and although the skill be empirical, the play must be natural. Craft alone will not suffice to satisfy the de- sire ; the hook must be baited with some small element of truth before the most credulous will seize it. If religious beliefs are the fruits of invention, how shall we account for the strange coincidences of thought and worship which prevail throughout all mj ths and cults? Why is it that all men of every age, in conditions diverse, and in countries widely sundered, are found searching out the same essential facts? All worship; nearly all have their creation-myth, their flood-myth, their theory of origin, of distribution from primitive centres, and of a future state. In this regard as in many another, civilization is but an evolution of savagism; for almost every principle of modem phi- losophy there may be found in primitive times its parallel. The nature and order of supernatural conceptions are essentially as follows: The first and rudest foi'm of be- lief is Fetichism, which invests every phenomenon wHh an independent personality. In the sunshine, fire, and water, in the wind and rock and stream, in every animal, bird, and plant, there is a separate deity; for «very eifect there is a cause. Even Kepler, whose in- tellect could track the planets in their orbits, must needs assume a guiding spirit for every world. It is impos- sible for the mind to conceive of self-creative or self- existent forces. In time the personalities of the fetich-worshiper be- THEORIES CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF WORSHIP. 23 come to some extent generalized. Hom(^eneous appear- ances are grouped into classes, and each class referred to a separate deity, and hence Polytheism. Pantheism then comes in and makes all created substance one with the creator ; nature and the universe are God. From the impersonating of the forces of nature to the creation of imaginary deities there is but a step. Every virtue and vice, every good and evil becomes a personality, under the direct governance of which lie certain passions and events; and thus in place of one god for many individ- uals, each individual may have a multitude of his own personal gods. The theogony of Hesiod was but a sys- tem of materialized love and hate ; while, on the other hand, the gods of Homer, although personating human passions, were likewise endowed with moral perceptions. In them the blind forces of nature are lighted up into a human-divine intelligence. In Monotheism the distinct personalities, which to the savage underlie every appearance, become wholly gen- eralized, and the origin of all phenomena is referred to one First Cause. The subtle and philosophic Greeks well knew that God to be God must be omnipotent, and omnipotency is indivisible. That the Aztecs could be- lieve and practice the absurdities they did is less an ob- ject of wonder, than that the intellectual philosophers of Athens could have tolerated the gods of Homer. In- deed, the religion of the more cultivated Greeks appears to us monstrous, in proportion as they were superior to other men in poetry, art, and philosophy. Comparative mythologists explain the origin of wor- ship by two apparently oppugnant theories. The first is that whatever is seen in nature strange and wonder- ful, is deemed by primitive man an object worthy of worship. The other is, that upon certain noted indi- viduals are fastened metaphorical names, symbolic of some quality alike in them and in the natural object after which they are called ; that this name, which at the first was but the surname of an individual, after its possessor is dead and forgotten, lives, reverts to the u SPEECH AND SPECULATION. ■11 ! I plant or animal whence it came, becomes impersonal, and is worshiped by a conservative posterity. In other words, one theory fastens upon natural phenomena, human attributes, and worships nature under covering of those attributes, while the other worships in the natural object only the memory of a dead and forgotten man. I have no doubt that \n.both of these hypotheses are elements of truth. In the earlier acts of worship the tendency is to assimilate the object worshiped and the character of the worshiper, and also to assign habitations to deities, behind man's immediate environment. Every people has its heaven and hell ; the former most generally lo- cated beyond the blue sky, and the latter in the dark interior caves of the earth. Man in nature reproduces himself; invests appearances with attributes analogous to his own. This likeness of the supernatural to the natural, of gods to man, is the first advance from fetich- ism, but as the intellect advances anthropomorphism declines. As one by one the nearest mysteries are solved by science, the emptiness of superstition becomes apparent, and the wonderless wonder is referred by the waking mind to general laws of causation ; but still cling- ing to its first conceptions it places them on objects more remote. Man fixes his eyes upon the planets, discovers their movements, and fancies their controlling spirit also controls his destiny ; and when released by reason from star- worship, as formerly from feticLism, again an ad- vance is made, always nearing the doctr ne of universal law. In one tersely comprehensive sentenc*^ Clarke gives the old view of what were called natural religions: "They considered them, in their soui'e, the work of fraud; in their essence, corrupt f;u^»er'^r,ition8; in their doctrines, wholly false; in their moril tendency, abso- lutely injurious; and in their result^ degenerating more and more into greater evil." And this view seems to him alike uncharitable and unreasonable: "To assume that they are wholly evil is FBIESTCSAFT AND PBOPITIATION. 25 disrespectful to human nature. It supposes man to be the easy and universal dupe of fraud. But these reli- gions do not rest on such a sandy foundation, but on the feeling of dependence, the sense of accountability, the recognition of spiritual realities very near to this world of matter, and the need of looking up and worshiping some unseen power higher and better than ourselves. We shall find them always feeling after God, often find- ing him. We shall see that in their origin they are not the work of priestcraft, but of human nature ; in their essence not superstitions, but religions; in their doc- trines true more frequently than false ; in their moral tendency good rather than evil. And instead of degen- erating toward something worse, they come to prepare the way for something better." The nearest case to deliberate invention of deities, was, perhaps, the promulgation as objects of worship by the Roman pontifl's, of such abstractions as Hope (Spes); Fear (Pallor), Concord (Concoidia), Courage (Virtus), etc. How far these gods were gods, however, in even the ordinary heathen sense of the word, is doubtful. In any case, they were but the extension of an old and ex- istent principle — the personification of divine aspects or qualities; they added no more to what went before than a new Saint or Virgin of Loretto does to the Catholic Church. "It was a favorite opinion with the Christian apolo- gists, Eusebius and others," says Gladstone, "that the pagan deities represented deified men. Others consider them to signify the powers of external nature personi- fied. For others they are, in many cases, imjxjrsona- tions of human passions and propensities, reflected back from the mind of man. A fourth mode of interpreta- tion would treat them as copies, distorted and depraved, of a primitive system of religion given by God to man. The Apostle St. Paul speaks of them as devils ; by which he may perhaps intend to convey that, under the names and in connection with the worship of those deities, the worst influences of ♦he Evil One were at work. This ae SPEECH AND SPECULATION. "I: J would rather be a subjective than an objective descrip- tion ; and would rather convey an account of the prac- tical working of a corrupted religion, than an explanation of its origi.i or its early course. As between the other four, it seems probable that they all, in various degrees and manners, entered into the composition of the later paganism, and also of the Homeric or Olympian system. That system, however, was profoundly adverse to mere Nature- worship; while the care of departments or prov- inces of external nature were assigned to its leading personages. Such worship of natural objects or ele- mental powers, as prevailed in connection with it, was in general local or secondary. And the deification of heroes in the age of Homer was rare and merely titular. We do not find that any cult or system of devotion was attached to it." So humanly divine, so impotently great are the gods of Homer : so thoroughly invested with the passions of men, clothed in distinctive shades of human character ; such mingled virtue and vice, love and hate, courage and cowardice; animal passions uniting with noble senti- ments; base and vulgar thoughts with lofty and sub- lime ideas; and all so wrought up by his inimitable fancy into divine and supernatural l)eing8, as to work most powerfully upon the nature of the jx^ople. These concrete conceptions of his deities have ever been a source of consolation to the savage; for, by tbus bringiiig down the gods to a nearer level with himself, they could Ijc more materially propitiated, and their pro- tection purchased with gifts and sacrifices. Thus the Greeks could obtain advice through oracles, the Hindoo could pass at on"? into eternal joys by throwing himself under the car of Juggernaut, while the latter-day offender calls in the assistance of the departed, buys forgiveness with charities, and compounds crime by building churches. The difficulty is, that in attempting to establish any theory concerning the origin of things, the soundest logic is little else than wild speculation. Mankind pro- UNEECORDED FACTS SOON BECOME MYTHOLOGICAL. 27 gress unconsciously. We know not what problems we ourselves are working out for those who come after us; we know not by what process we arrive at many of our conclusions ; much of that which is clear to ourselves is never understood by our neighbor, and never will be even known by our posterity. Events the most material are soon forgotten, or else are made spiritual and pre- served as myths. Blot out the process by which science arrived at results, and in every achievement of science, in the steam engine, the electric telegraph, we should soon have a heaven-descended agency, a god for every ma- chine. Where mythology ceases and history begins, is in the annals of every nation a matter of dispute. What at first appears to be wholly fabulous may contain some truth, whereas much of what is held to be true is mere fable, and herein excessive skepticism is as un- wise as excessive credulity. Historical facts, if unrecorded, are soon lost. Thus when Juan de Ofiate penetrated New Mexico in 1596, Fray Marco de Niza, and the expedition of Coronado in 1540, api)enr to have been entirely forgotten by the Cibolans. Fathers Crespi and Junipero Berra, in their overland explorations of 1709, preparatory to the estab- lislunent of a line of Missions along the Californian scalK)ard, could find no traces, in the minds of the natives, of Oabrillo's voyage in 1642, or of the landing of Sir Francis Drake in 1579 ; although, so impressed were the savages in the latter inwiance, that, according to the worthy chaplain of the expedition, they desired "with submis- sion and fear to worship us as gori98 as the origin of the universe — held by atheist; tc Ik self-existent, by pantheists to have been self-crofrlid, ftr«i by theifts to have been originated by an cxter'nt' , j^jmicj — must remain, as they are now admitted to hv, <,»n;iSt^c;n8 beyond even the comprehen- sion of the nucHeiJ ' ii'iewiso scientific ultimates — such as the C|ualities of tnno and space, the divisibility of mat- ter, the co-ordination of motion and rest, the correlation of forces, the mysteries of gravitation, light and heat — are found to be not only not solvable, but not conceiva- ble. And, as with the externo^l, so with the inward 80 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. lii'M I 11^' life; we cannot Tonceive the nature, nor explain the origin and duration, of consciousness. The endless spec- ulations of biology and psychology only leave impres- sions at once of the strength and weakness of the mind of man; strong in empirical knowledge, impotent in every attempt rationally to penetrate the unfathomable. Nowhere in mythology do we find the world self-created or self-existent. Some external agency is ever brought in to perform the work, and in the end the structure of the universe is resolved into it^ , nginal elements. Primordial man finds himself surrounded by natural phenomena, the operations of which his intelligence is capable of grasping but partially. Certain appetites sharpen, at tnce, ct^rtain instincts. Hunger makes him acquainted with tl? fV-nita of the earth; cold with the skins of beasts. A : supplies him with rude im- plements, and imparl!? ■. im a knowledge of his power over animals. But as instinct merges into intellect, strange powers in nature are felt ; invisible agents wield- ing invisible weapons ; realities which exist unheard and move unseen ; outward manifestations of hidden strength. Humanity, divine, but wild and wondering, half-fed, half-clad, ranges woods primeval, hears the roar of bat- tling elements, sees the ancient forest-tree shivered into fragments by heaven's artillery, feels the solid earth rise up in rumbling waves beneath his feet. He receives, as it were, a blow from within the darkness, and Hinging himself upon the ground he begs protection; fro!i> what he knows not, of whom he knows not. "Bury nn not, tumultuous heavens," ho cries, "under the clouds of your displeasure!" "t::5trike me not down in wrath, fierce flaming fire!" "Earth, Ih) firm!" Here, then, is the origin of prayer., And to render more eftectual his entreaties, a gift is offered. Seizing ujKjn whatever he prizes moft, his food, his raiment, he rushes forth and hurls his propitiatory offering heavenward, earthward, whithersoever his frenzied fancy dictates. Or, if this is not enough, the still more dearly valued gift of human blood or human life is offered. His own tlesh he freely ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF PRIESTCRAFT. 31 lacerates; to save his own life he gives that of his enemy, his slave, or even his child. Hence arises sac- rifice. And here also conjurings commence. The necessity is felt of opening up some intercourse with these mys- terious lowers ; relations commercial and social ; calami- ties and casualties, personal and public, must be traced to causes, and the tormenting demon bought off. But it is clearly evident that these elemental forces are not all of them inimical to the happiness of mankind. Sun- shine, air and water, the benign influences in nature, are as powerful to create, as the adverse elements are to destroy. And as these forces appear conflicting, part productive of life and enjoyment, and part of destruc- tion, decay, and death, a separation is made. Hence principles of good and evil are discovered ; and to all these unaccountable forces in nature, names and proper- ties are given, and causations invented. For every act there is an actor — for every deed a doer; for every power and passion there is made a god. Thus we see that worship in some form is a human necessity, or, at least, a constant accompaniment of hu- Mfianity. Until perfect wisdom and limitless power are the attributes of humanity, adoration will continue ; for men will never cease to reverence what they do not un- derstand, nor will they cease to fear such elements of strength as are beyond thei»' control. The form of this conciliatory homage appears to arise from common hu- man instincts; for, throughout the world and in all jigos, a similarity in primitive religious forms has existed. It is a giving of something; the barter of a valuable something for a something more valuable. As in his civil polity all crimes may be comi)ounded or avenged, so in his worship, the savage gives his p»*ide, his prop- erty, or his blood. At first, this spirit i)ower is seen in everything; in the storm and in the soft evening air; in clouds and cataracts, in mountains, rocks, and rivers; in trees, in reptiles, beasts, and fishes. But when progressive man SPEECH AND SPECULATION. obtains a more perfect maatery over the brute creation, brute worship ceases ; as he becomes familiar with the causes of some of the forces in nature, and is better able to protect himself from them, the fear of natural objects is lessened. Leaving the level of the brute creation he mounts upward, and selecting; from his own species some living or deiid hero, he endows a king or comrade with superhuman attributes, and worships his dead fellow as a divine being. Still he tunes his thoughts to subtler creations, and carves with skillful fingers material images of supernatural forms. Then comes idolatry. The great principles of causation being determined and embodied in perceptible forms, adorations ensue. Cravings, how- ever, increase. As the intellect expands, one idol after another is thrown down. Mind assumes the mastery over matter. From gods of wood and stone, made by men's fingers, and from suns and planets, carved by the fingers of omni[>otence, the creature now turns to the Creator. A form of ideal worship supplants the mate- rial form ; god? known and tangible are thrown aside for the unknown God. And well were it for the intel- lect could it stop here. But, as the actions of countless material gods were clear to the primitive priest, and by him satisfactorily explained to the savage masses; so, in this more advanced state men are not wanting who re- ceive from their ideal god revelations of his actions and motives. To its new, unknown, ideal god, the partially awakened human minu attaches the jwsitive attributes of the old, material deities, or invents new ones, and starts anew to tread the endless mythologic circle ; until in yet a higher state it discovers that both god and attri- butes are wholly Iwyond its grasp, and that with all its progress, it has advanced but slightly beyond the first savage conception; — a power altogether mysterious, in- explicable to science, controlling phenomena of mind and matter. Barbarians are the most religious of mortals. While the busy, overworked brain of the scholar or man of business is occupied with more practical affairs, the list- OBIOIN OF FETICHISM. 88 less mind of the savage, thrown as he is upon the very bosom of nature, is filled with innumerable conjectures and interrogatories. His curiosity, like that of a child, is proverbial, and as superstition is ever the resource of ignorance, queer fancies and fantasms concerning life and death, and gods and devils float continually through his unenlightened imagination. Ill-protected from the elements, his comfort and his uncertain food-supply depending upon them, primitive man regards nature wit& eager interest. Like the beasts, his forest companions, he places himself as far as possible in harmony with his environment. He migrates with the seasons; feasts when food is plenty, fasts in famine-time ; basks and gambols in the sunshine, cowers beneath the fury of the storm, crawls from the cold into )iis den, and there quasi-torpidly remains until nature releases him. Is it therefore strange that savage intel- lect peoples the elements with supernatural powers ; that God is everywhere, in everything ; in the most trifling accident and incident, as well as in the sun, the sea, the grove ; that when evil comes God is angry, when fortune smiles God is favorable; and that he speaks to his wild, untutored ^xjople in signs and dreams, in the tempest and in the sunshine. Nor does he withhold the still, small voice, which breathes upon minds most darkened, and into breasts the most savage, a spirit of progress, which, if a people bo left to the frce fulfillment of their destiny, is sure, sooner or later, to riixjn into full development. We will now glance at the origin of fetichism, which indeed may be called the origin of ideal religion, from the other standpoint; that which arises from the respect men feol for the memory of their departed arcestors. The first conception of a dualty in man's nature has liccn attributed to various causes ; it may be the result of a combination of causes. There is the shadow upon tlie ground, separate, yet inseparable; the reflection of the form upon the water; the echo of the voice, the adventures of fancy portrayed by dreams. Self Vol. II. 3 84 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. i :i!^ is I ' ':i; 1 is divisible from and inseparably connected with this other self. Herefrom arise innumerable superstitions; it was portentous of misfortune for one's clothes to be stepped on ; no food must be left uneaten ; nail clippings and locks of hair must not fall into the hands of an enemy. Catlin, in sketching his portraits, often narrow- ly escaped with his life, the Indians believing that in their likenesses he carried away their other self. And when death comes, and this other self departs, whither has it gone? The lifeless body remains, but where is the life? The mind cannot conceive of the total extinguishment of an entity, and so the imagina- tion rears a local habitation for every departed spirit. Every phenomenon and every event is analyzed under this hypothesis. For every event there is not only a cause, but a personal cause, an independent agent behind every consequence. Every animal, every fish and bird, every rock and stream and plant, the ripening fruit, the falling rain, the uncertain wind, the sun and stars, are all personified. There is no disease without its god or devil, no fish entangled in the net, no beast or bird that falls before the hunter, without its special sender. Savages are more afraid of a dead man than a live one. They are overwhelmed with terror at the thought of this unseen power over them. The spirit of the de- parted is omnipotent and omnipresent. At any cost or hazard it must be propitiated. So food is placed in the grave; wives and slaves, and horses and dogs, are slain, and in spirit sent to serve the ghost of the departed ; phantom messengers are sent to the region of shadows from time to time ; the messengers sometimes even vol- unteering to go. So boats and weapons and all the property of the deceased are burned or deposited with him. In the hand of the dead child is placed a toy ; in that of the departed warrior, the symbolic pipe of peace, which is to open a tranquil entrance into his new abode; clothes, and ornaments, and paint, are conveniently placed, and thus a proper personal appearance guaran- teed. Not that the things themselves are to be used. THE WOBSHIP OF DEAD ANGESTOBS. 86 but the souls of things. The body of the chief rota, as does the material substance of the articles buried with it; but the soul of every article follows the soul of its owner, to serve its own peculiar end in the land of phantoms. The Chinese, grown cunning with the great antiquity of their burial customs, which require money and food to be deposited for the benefit of the deceased, spiritual- ize the money, by making an imitation coin of paste- board, while the food, untouched by the dead, is finally eaten by themselves. But whence arises the strange propensity of all prim- itive nations to worship animals, and plants, and stones, things animate and inanimate, natural and supernatural? Why is it that all nations or tribes select from nature some object which they hold to be sacred, and which they venerate as deity? It is the opinion of Herbert Spencer that "the rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing, and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants. " It is the universal custom with savage tribes, as the character of their members becomes developed, to drop the real name of individuals and to fix upon them the attribute of some external object, by whose name only they are aft )rwards known. Thus a swift runner is called the ' antelope,' the slow of foot, the 'tortoise,' a merciless warrior, the 'wolf,' a dark- eyed maid may be likened to the 'raven,' a majestic matron to the ' cypress.' And so the rivulet, the rock, the dawn, the sun, and even elements invisible, are seized up- on as metaphors and fastened upon individuals, according to a real or fancied resemblance between the qualities of nature and the character of the men. Inferiority and baseness, alike with nobleness and wise conduct, perpetuate a name. Even in civilized societies, a nick- name often takes the place of the real name. School- boys are quick to distinguish peculiarities in their fel- lows, and fasten upon them significant names. A dull scholar is called ' cabbage-head,' the girl with red ring- 86 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. l! !; .1 mu " lets, ' carrots.' In the family there is the greedy 'pig,' the darling 'duck,' the little 'lamb.' In new countries, and abnormal communities, where strangers from all parts are promiscuously thrown together, not un- frequently men live on terms of intimacy for years with- out ever knowing each other's real name. Among miners, such appellations as 'Muley Bill,' 'Sandy,' 'Shorty,' ' Sassafras Jack,' often serve all the purposes of a name. In more refined circles, there is the hypocritical 'cro- codile,' the sly 'fox,' the gruff 'bear.' We say of the horse, ' he is as fleet as the wind,' of a rapid account- ant, 'he is as quick as lightning.' These names, which are used by us but for the moment, or to fit occasions, are among rude nations permanent— in many instances the only name a person ever receives. Sometimes the nickname of the individual becomes first a family name and then a tribal name; as when the chief, 'Coyote,' becomes renowned, his children love to call themselves 'Coyotes.' The chieftainship descending to the son and grandson of Coyote, the name becomes famous, the Coyote family the domin- ant family of the tribe; members of the tribe, in their intercourse with other tribes, call themselves 'coyotes,' to distinguish themselves from other tribes; the head, or tail, or claws, or skin, of the coyote ornaments the dress or adorns the body ; the name becomes tribal, and the animil the symbol or totem of the tribe. After a few generations have passed, the great chieftain. Coyote, and his immediate progeny are forgotten; meanwhile the beast becomes a favorite with the people ; he begins to be regarded as privileged; is not hunted down like other beasts; the virtues and exploits of the whole Coyote clan become identified with the brute ; the af- fections of the people are centered in the animal, and finally, all else being lost and forgotten, the descendants of the chieftain, Coyote, are the offepring of the veri- table beast, coyote. Concerning image-worship and the material represen- tation of ideal beings, Mr. Tylor believes that " when ABStr.VCT CONCEPTIONS, M0N8TEBS, AND METAPHOBB. 87 man has got some way in developing the religious ele- ment in him, he begins to catch at the device of setting up a puppet, or a stone, as the symbol and representative of the notions of a higher being which are floating in his mind." Primitive languages cannot express abstract qualities. For every kind of animal or bird or plant there may be a name, but for animals, plants, and birds in general, they have no name or conception. Therefore, the abstract quality becomes the concrete idea of a god, and the de- scendants of a man whose symbolic name was ' dog,' from being the children of the man become the child- ren of the dog. Hence also arise monsters, beings compounded of bea'.t, bird, and fish, sphinxes, mermaids, human-headed brutes, winged animals; as when the descendant of the 'hawk' carries off a wife from the 'salmon' tribe, a totem representing a fish with a hawk's head for a time keeps alive the occurrence and finally becomes the deity. Thus realities become metaphors and metaphors reali- ties; the fact dwindles into shadowy nothingness and the fancy springs into actual being. The historical inci- dent becomes first indistinct and then is forgotten ; the metaphorical name of the dead ancestor is first respected in the animal or plant, then worshiped in the animal or plant, and finally the nickname and the ancestor both are forgotten and the idea becomes the entity, and the veritable object of worship. From forgetfulness of primo- genitor and metaphor, conceiving the animal to be the very ancestor, words are put into the animal's mouth, the sayings of the ancestor become the sayings of the brute ; hence mythological legends of talking beasts, and birds, and wise fishes. To one animal is attributed a miracu- lous cure, to another, assistance in time of trouble ; one animal is a deceiver, another a betrayer; and thus through their myths and metaphors we may look back into the soul of savagism and into their soul of nature. That this is the origin of some phases of fetichism there can be no doubt; that it is the origin of all reli- ^^. SPEECH AND SPECULATION. •11 i-ii lili Bm i:!i $M gions, or even the only method hy which animal and plant worship originates, I do not believe. While there are undoubtedly general principles underlying all religious conceptions, it does not necessarily follow, that in every instance the methods of arriving at those funda- mental principles must be identical. As with us a child weeps over a dead mother's picture, regarding it with fond devotion, so the dutiful barbarian son, in order the better to propitiate the favor of his dead ancestor, some- times carves his image in wood or stone, which sentiment with time lapses into idolatry. Any object which strikes the rude fancy as analogous to the character of an indi- vidual may become an object of worship. The interpretation of myth can never be absolute and positive ; yet we may in almost every instance discover the general purport. Thus a superior god, we may be almost sure, refers to some potent hero, some primitive ruler, whom tradition has made superhuman in origin and in power; demigods, subordinate or inferior beings in power, must be regarded as legendary, referring to cer- tain influential persons, identified with some element or incident in which the deified personage played a con- spicuous part. Although in mythology religion is the dominant ele- ment, yet mythology is not wholly made up of religion, nor are all primitive religions mythical. "There are few mistakes" says Professor Max Miiller "so widely spread and so firmly established as that which makes us confound the religion and the mythology of the ancient nations of the world. How mythology arises, necessarily and naturally, I tried to explain in my former lectui-es, and we saw that, as an affection or disorder of language, mythology may infect every part of the intellectual life of man. True it is that no ideas are more liable to my- thological disease than religious ideas, because they transcend those regions of our experience within which language has its natural origin, and must therefore, ac- cording to their very nature, be satisfied with metaphori- cal expressions. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS OF BELIQ^ON. ] it entered into the heart of man. Yet even the j^ions of the ancient nations are by no means inevi- tably and altogether mythological. On the contrary, as a diseased frame pre-supposes a healthy frame, so a mythological religion pre-supposes, I believe, a healthy religion." The universal secrets of supernatural beings are wrap- ped up in probable or possible fable; the elements of physical nature are impersonated in allegories, and arrayed in forms perceptible to the imagination ; deities are sometimes introduced into the machinery of the supernatural in order to gratify that love for the mar- velous which every attempt to explain the mysterious forces of nature creates in the ignorant mind. Yet it cannot truly be said that any form of religion, much less any religion was wholly invented. Fanatics some- times originate doctrines, and the Church sets forth its dogmas, but there must be a foundation of truth or the edifice cannot stand. Inventions there undoubtedly have been and are, but inventions, sooner or later fall to the ground, while the essential principles underlying ligion and mythology, though momentarilv overcome wept away, are sure to remain. Every one of the fundamental ideas of religion is of indigenous origin, generating spontaneously in the human heart. It is a characteristic of mythology that the present inhabitants of the world descended from some nobler race. From the nobler impulses of fancy the savage derives his origin. His higher instincts teach him, that his dim distant past, and his impenetrable future, are alike of a lighter, more ethereal nature ; that his earthly nature is base, that that which binds him to earth is the lowest, vilest part of himself. The tendency of positive knowlege is to overthrow superstition. Hence as science develops, many tenets of established religions, palpably erroneous, are dropped, and the more knowledge becomes real, the more real know- ledge is denied. Superstition is not the effect of an active imagination, but shows rather a lack of imagination, 40 SPEECH AND SPECULATION. M'lili n:M'!l1 \4 i^iri . for we see that the lower the stage of intelligence, and the feebler the imagination, the greater the superstition. A keen, vivid imagination, although capable of broader and more complicated conceptions, is able to explain the cruder marvels, and consequently to dispel the coarser phases of superstition, while the dull intellect accepts everything which is put upon it as true. Ultimate reli- gious conceptions are symbolic rather than actual. Ul- timate ideas of the universe are even beyond the grasp of the profoundest intellect. We can form but an ap- proximate idea of the sphere on which we live. To form conceptions of the relative and actual distances and magnitudes of heavenly bodies, of systems of worlds, and eternities of space, the human mind is totally inadequate. If, theroifore, the mind is unable to grasp material visible objects, iiow much less are we able to measure the invisi- ble and eternal. When theretcre the savage attempts to solve the prob- lem of natural phenomena, he first reduces broad concep- tions to symbolic ideas. He moulds his deity according to the measure of his mind ; and in forn^ing a skeleton upon which to elaborate his religious instincts, proximate theories are accepted, and almost any explanation ap- pears to him plausible. The potential creations of his fancy are brought within the compass of his comprehen- sion; symbolic gods are mouMed from mud, or carved from wood or stone; and thus by segregating an infi- nitesimal part of the vast idea of deity, the worshiper meets the material requirements of his religious con- ceptions. And although the lower forms of worship are abandoned as the intellect unfolds, the same principle is continued. We set up in the mind symbols of the ulti- mate idea which is too groat for our grasp, and ima^ning ourselves in possession of the actual idea, we fall into numberless errors concerning what we believe or think. The atheistic hypothesis of self-existence, the pantheistic hy|x>thesis of self-creation, and the theistic hypothesis of creation by an extornal agency are equally unthinkable, and therefore as postulates equally untenable. Yet un- CLASSIFICATION OF PACIFIC STATES' MYTHS. 41 derlying all, however gross or superstitious the dogma, is one fundamental truth, namely, that there is a prob- lem to be solved, an existent mysterious universe to be accounted for. Deep down in every human breast is implanted a religiosity as a fHndamental attribute of man's nature; a consciousness that behind visible appearances is an in- visible power; underlying all conception is an instirH or intuition from which there is no escape, that beyond material actualities potential agencies are at work ; and throughout all belief, from the stupidest fetichism to the most exalted monotheism, as part of these instinctive con- victions, it is held that the beings, or being, who rule man's destiny may be propitiated. The first cry of nature is hushed. From time im- memorial nations and i)eoples have come and gone, whence and whither no one knows ; entering existence unannounced they disap[)ear and leave no trace, save perhaps their impress on the language or the mythology of the world. Thus from historic fact bleiided with the religious sentiments springs the Mythic Idea. In the following chapters, I have attempted, as far as practicable, to classify the Myths of the Pacific States under appropriate head s. I n making such a classification there is no ^'fficulty, except where in one myth occur two or more divisions of the subject, in which case it becomes necessary, either to break the narrative, or make exceptions to the general rule of classifying. I have invariably lulopted the latter altt>rnative. The divisions which I make of Mythology are as follows: 1. Origin and End of Things; II. Physical Mytlis; III. Animal Myths; IV. Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship; V. The Future State. i iH''i CHAPTER II. ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. QcioBK Obkatton-Mttr— AzTio Orioim-Mtths— Thb Papaoob— MoMTinr- tlA. AND THK CoXOTB— ThB MoQUIS — ThB ObBAT SpIDBR'B WbB OF TBI FiHAS— Navajo and Pcbblo Creations— Obioin of Clbab Lakb and Lake Tahok— Chabbya of the Cahrocs— Mount Shasta, the Wio* WAM OF THE OrBAT SpIRIT— IdAHO SpRINQS AND WaTBR FaLLS — HoW Diffbrenoes in LANonAoi OooDRBKD— Ybhl, thb Cbeatob of the Thlinkebts— The Batbn and the Doo. I : In Vienna in 1857, the book now best known as the Fopol Vuh was first brought to the notice of Euronenn scholars, under the following title: Z/M llistiirias del Orior la primern vet, y aumetitado eon una introduccion y anotncxoMH por el Or V. Scherrer. What Dr Hchorzer says in n pitpur road before the Vienna Academy of Boieuces, Feb. 30th, 1850,- and repeats in his introduction, about its author, amounts to this : In the early pn ' * of the 18th century Francisco Ximenez, a Dominicnn Father of great rcputr tut his learning and his love of truth, tilled the ofilee of curate U) the little Indian town of Chichicastenungo in the highlands of Guatemala. Neither the time of his hlrth nor that of his death can be exactly asoert^tined, but the internal evidence of one of his works shows that ho was engaged upon it in 1731. Ho left many manuscripts, but it is supnosed tnat the unpalatnltle truths some of them contain with regard to the ill-treatment of the Indians by the colonial authorities s\ifHced, as previously in the case nf Las ('asas. to ensure their partial destruction and tottil s\t2)pression. What remains of them lav long hid in an obscure corner of the t'onvent of the Dominicans in Guatemala, and passed afterwards, on the suoression of all 43 THE POPOL VUH. 48 is, in its rude strange eloquence and poetic originality, one of the rarest relics of aboriginal thought. Although obliged in reproducing it to condense somewhat, I have the religions orders, into the library of the UniTersity of San Carlos (Oua- temaLi). Here Dr. Hcherzer discovered them in June 1851, and care- fully copied, and afterwards published as above the particular treatise with which we are now concerned. This, according to Father Ximenez him- self, and according to its internal evidence, is a translation of a literal copy of an original book, written by or.o or more Quiches, in the Quiche language, in Roman letters, after the Christians ha:l occupied Guatemala, and after the real original Popol Vuh— National lloDk — had been lost or destroyed— lite- rally, was uo more to be seen — and written to nplace that lost book. * Quise trasiadar todas las historias d la letra de estos indios, y tnmbien traducirla en la lengua castellana.' 'Esto escribiremos ya en la ley de Dios en la cristiandad, los sacaremos, porque ya no hay libro comuu, original donde verlo, Xiinenet, Hist. Ind, Uuat., pp. 1, 4, 5. ' Voilk ce que nous ecrirons de- puis (qu'on a promulguu) la parole de Dieu, et en dedans du ChristiauiRme; nons le reproduirons, parce qu'on ne voit plus ce Livre national,' 'Vne x-chi-ka tzibah chupan chio u chabal Dios, pa Christianoil chic; x-chi-k'- elezah, rumal ma-haoi chio ilbal re Popo-Vuh, lira.tseur de liourbmtrg, Popol Vuh, p. 5. The evidence that the author was Quiche will be found in the numerous passages scattered through the narrative in which he speaks of the Quiche nation, and of the ancestors of that nation as ' our people, 'our ancestors,' and so on. We pass now to what the Abbu Bras- seur de Dourbourg has to say about the book. He says that Ximenes 'diRCovered this document, in the last years of the 17th century.' In 1855, at Guatemala, the abbe first saw Ximenez' manuscript containing this work. The manuscript contained the Quiche text and the Spanish curate's translation of that text. Hrasseur de Bourbourg copied both at that time, but he was dissatistted with the translation, believing it to be full of faults owing to the prejudices and the ignorance of the age in which it was made, as weU as diflflgured by abridgments and omissions. 8o in 1860 he settled himself among the Quichus and by the help of natives joined to his own practical knowledge of their language, he elaborated a new and literal translation, (auRsi litti'rale qu'il a tte poRsible de la faire). We seem justified then on the whole in taking this document for what Ximenez and its own evidence declare it to be, namely, a reproduction of an older work or body of Quiche traditional history, written because that older work had been lost and was likely to be forgotten, and written by a Quiche not long after the Spanish contjuest. One consequence of the last fact would seem to be that a tinge of biblical expression has, consciously or unconsciously to the Quichu who wrote, influenced the form of the narrative. But these coincidences may be wholly accidental, the more as there are also striking resemblances to expres- sions in the Scandinavian Edda and in the Hindoo Veda. And even if tliey be not accidental, 'much remains,' adopting the language and the conclu- sion of Professor Max MUUer, ' in these American traiiitions which is so ditforcnt from anything else in the national literatures of other countries, that we may safely treat it as the genuine growth of the intellectual soil of Aniei'iaa.' Vliipa from a Ufrtiian If orAd/tow, vol. i,, p. 3'J8. For the fore- going, as well as further information on the subject see :—Jiras»nir de lioiir- bourii, 1'oimI Vuh, pp. 5-31, lU5-'i31; S'il rxinte Jen Sources de I'llist. Prim., pp.H;t-7; IHgt. dea Sat. Clc, <(»»i. i., pp. 47-(H; Xlmenet, Hist, Ind. Ouiit,, pp. 5-15; Scherter, in Siltuixjberiehte arr Ahidemie der }y^iiisenshujtpn W'iin, 2(lth Feb., 186G; Jielpii' Spnniiih Conquest, vol. iv., pp. 455-0. Professor MUUcr iu his essay on the Popol Vuh, has in one or two places misunder- Rto'ul the narrative, There was no such creation of man as that lio givos as the second, while his third creation is the second of the original, .^gnin, he makes the four Quioh^ anoeston to be the progenitors of 44 OBIOIN AND END 0S< THINGS. m I li! 1 \m im': I Si endeavored to give not only the substance, but also, as far as possible, the peculiar style and phraseology of the original. It is with this primeval picture, whose simple silent sublimity is that of the inscrutable past, that we begin : — And the heaven was formed, and all the signs thereof set in their angle and alignment, and its boundaries fixed towards the four winds by the Creator and Former, and Mother and Father of life and existence, — he by whom all move and breathe, the Father and Cherisher of the peace of nations and of the civilization of his people, — he whose wisdom has projected the excellence of all that is on the earth, or in the lakes, or in the sea. Behold the first word and the first discourse. There was as yet no man, nor any animal, nor bird, nor fish, nor crawfish, nor any pit, nor ravine, nor green herb, nor any tree ; nothing was but the firmament. The face of the earth had not yet appeared, — only the peaceful sea and all the space of heaven. There was nothing yet joined together, nothing that clung to anything else ; no- thing that balanced itself, that made the least rustling, that made a sound in the heaven. There was nothing that stood up ; nothing but the quiet water, but the sea, calm and alone in its boundaries : nothing existed ; no- thing but immobility and silence, in the darkness, in the night." all tribes both while and black; while thev were the parents of the Quiohii and kindred races only. The course of the legend brinss us to tribes of a strange blood, with which these four ancestors and their people were often at war. The narrative is, however, itself so confused and contradictory at points, that it is almost impossible to avoid such things; and, as a whole, the views of Professor MUller on the Popol Vuh seem just and well oonsidered. Baldwin, Ancient America, pp. 101-7, gives a mere dilution of Professor MUller's essay, and that without acknowledgment. I The original Quiche runs as follows: * Are u tzihoxto vae ca catzinin-oo, ca ca chamam-oo, ca tKinoni(;; ca ca cilanio, ca ca lolinic, ca tolona puch u pa cah. Vae cute nabe tsih, nabe uchan.— Ma-lmbi-oo hun vinak, hun ohicop; tsiquin, oar, tap, che, abith, hul, oivan, quim, qichelah: xn-utuquel cah qolio. Mavi oalah u vach uleu : xa-utuquel remanio palo, u pah cah ronohel. Ma-habi nakila ca molobic, ca cotcobic: hunta ca zilobic; ca mal ca ban-tah, ca cots oa ban-tah pa cah. X-ma qo-vi nakila qolio yacalio; xa remunio ha, xa lianio palo, xa-utuquel remauic; x-ma qo-vi nakilalo qolio. Xa ca chamunio, oa tsininio chi gekum, chi ugub.' This passage is rendered by the Abbtt Urasseur de Dourbourg thus: ' Voi- oi le r^cit oomme quoi tout titait en auspsna, tout ^tait oalme et ■ilencieux; if rii! THE QUICHE IDEA OF GBEATION. 46 Alone also the Creator, the Former, the Dominator, the Feathered Serpent, — those that engender, those that give being, they are upon the water, like a growing light. They are enveloped in green and blue; and therefore their name is Gucumatz.' Lo, now how the heavens exist, how exists also the Heart of Heaven; such is the name of God; it is thus that he is called. And they spake; they con- sulted together and meditated ; they mingled their words and their opinion. And the creation was verily after this wise: Earth, they said, and on the instant it was formed ; like a cloud or a fog was its beginning. Then the mountains rose over the water like great lobsters ; in an instant the mountains and the plains were visible, and the cypress and the pine appeared. Then was the Oucumatz filled with joy, crying out: Blessed be thy coming, Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, Thunderbolt. Our work and our labor has accomplished its end. The earth and its vegetation having thus appeared, it was peopled with the various forms of animal life. And the Makers said to the animals: Speak now our name, tout utait itninobile, tout t-tait pnisible, et Tide etnit 1' immensitu des cieux. Voilk done la premiere parole et le premier diHconrs. II n'y avait pas encore uu senl homme, pas uii animal; pas d'oiseaux, de poissons, dY-crevissep, de bois, de pierre, do fondrit>re8, de ravins, d'herbe ou bebocages: senlement le ciel existait. La face de la t«rre ne se manifestait pas encore: seule la mer pnisible t'tait ct tout I'cspaoe des cieux. II n'y avait encore rien qui fit corps, rien qtii se cramponnilt k autre chose: rien qui se bulan^ftt, qui fit (le raoiiulre) frolement, qui fit (entendre) un son dans le ciel. II n'y avait rien mii oxiHtAt debout; (il n'y avait) que I'eau paisible, que la mercafme ct senle I an I Htm borncs; car il n y avait rien qtii existAt. Ce n'l'tuit que I'immobili- ti^ I't lo silence dans les teniibros, dans la nuit.' Popnl ru/i,p. 1, And by Francisco Ximenez thus: Este es su ser dicho cuando estaba sus- pensoenoalnia, ensilencio, sin movorse, sin rosa sine vacio el cielo. Y esta es la primera palabra y elocuencia; aun nohabia hombrcs, animales, pharos, pescatlo, cangrejo, palo, picdra, hoya, barranca, paja ni nionte, sino solo estaba el cielo; no se manifestaba la faz de la lierra; sino que solo estaba el mar represado, y todolo del cielo; aun nohabia cosa alguna juntu. nisonaba nnda, ni cosa algnna se meneaba, ni oosa que hicicra nial, ni r.isa quo hioiera "C'lt:," (osto es ruido en el oielo), ni habia cosa que est'iviese paraJa en pit'; Nolo el agua vepresada, solo la mar sosegada, solo ella represaaa, ni cosa al^ima habia que estuviose; solo estaba en silcncio, y sosiego en la obsou- riduii, y la noche,' Hist, tnil, Uuat., pp. G-G. 3 'Oxeumntt, Utti'ralement serpent empluni)', et dans un sens plus I'tondu, serpent revfitu de couleura brillantes, de vert ou d'azur. Les phunen dn guo ou quetzid ofhrent I'galement les deux tointes. C'cst exactmont la mOme chose que quetKtIcohnaU i\i\n>t la langae mexioaine.' Brasatur d« IhurboMrg, Hist, dw Nal. Viu., torn, i., p. 50. 46 OBiaiN AND END OF THINGS. iiiil honor us, us your mother and father ; invoke Hurakan, the Lightning-flash, the Thunderbolt that strikes, the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of the Earth, the Creator and Former, Him who begets, and Him who gives being, — Speak, call on us, salute us! So was it said to the animals. But the animals could not answer; they could not speak at all after the manner of men ; they could only cluck, and croak, each murmuring after his kind in a different manner. This displeased the Create .'s, and they said to the animals: Inasmuch as ye can not praise us, neither call upon our names, your flesh shall be humiliated ; it shall be broken with teeth ; ye shall be killed and eaten. Again the gods took counsel together ; they determined to make man. So they made a man of clay ; and when they had made him, they saw that it was not good. He was without cohesion, without consistence, motionless, strengthless, inept, watery ; he could not move his head, his face looked but one way; hip sight was restricted, he could not look behind him ; he had been endowed with language, but he had no intelligence, so he was consumed in the water. Again is there counsel in heaven: Let us make an intelligent being who shall adore and invoke us. It was decided that a man should be made of wood and a woman of a kind of pith. They were made ; but the result was in no wise satisfactory. They moved about perfectly well, it is true ; they increased and mul- tiplied ; they jxioplcd the world with sons and daughters, little wooden mannikins like themselves ; but still the heart and the intelligence were wanting; they held no memory of their Maker and Former ; they led a useless existence, they lived as the beasts live ; they forgot the Heart of Heaven. They were but an essay, an attempt at men; they had neither blood, nor substance, nor moisture, nor fat; their cheeks were shrivelled, their feet and hands dried up; their flesh languished. Then was the Heart of Heaven wroth ; and he sent ruin and destruction upon thoi^ ingrates ; he rained upon them night and day from heaven with a thick resin; DESTBUCTION AND BE-GBEATION OF MAN. 47 and the earth was darkened. And the men went mad with terror; they tried to mount upon the roofs and the houses fell ; they tried to climb the trees and the trees shook them far from their branches ; they tried to hide in the caves and dens of the earth, but these closed their holes against them. The bird Xecotcovach came to tear out their eyes ; and the Camalotz cut off their head ; and the Cotzbalara devoured their flesh; and the Tecum- balam broke and bruised their bones to powder. Thus were they all devoted to chastisement and destruction, save only a few who were preserved as memorials of the wooden men that had been; and these now exist in the woods as little apes.* Once more are the gods in counsel ; in the darkness, in the night of a desolated universe do they commune to- gether: of what shall we make man? And the Crea- tor and Former made four perfect men ; and wholly of yellow and white maize was their flesh composed. These were the names of the four men that were made: the name of the first was Balam-Quitze ; of the second, Baiam- Agab; of the third Mahucutah; and of the fourth, Iqi- Balam." They had neither father nor mother, neither were they made by the ordinary agents in the work of creation ; but their coining into existence was a miracle extraordinary, wrought by the special intervention of him who is preeminently The Creator. Verily, at last, were there found men worthy of their origin and their destiny ; verily, at last, did the gods look on beings who could see with their eyes, and handle with their hands, and understand with their hearts. Grand of counte- nance and broad of limb the four sires of our race stood up under the white rays of the morning star — sole light as yet of the primeval world — stood up and looked. Their great clear eyes swept rapidly over all ; they saw * A lonR rambling Btor^ is here introdnoed which has nothing to do with Creation, and which i.s omitted for the present. i Ualam-Quiltii, the tiger with the Hweet smile ; nalam'Agdb, the tiger of the night; Mahucidnh, the (liHtinauishcd niiiuo; ]ql-lia!am, the tiger of the moon. ' Telle CHt la nigniflcatiun litti^ralo que Xiutenez a donuuo de oc» quatre noms.' Braaaeur de liourbourg, Popol KuA, p. 109, 48 OBIOIK AND END OF THINOS. the woods and the rocks, the lakes and the sea, the mountains and the valleys, and the heavens that were above all ; and they comprehended all and admired ex- ceedingly. Then they returned thanks to those who had made the world and all that therein was: We oflfer up our thanks, twice — ^yea verily, thrice ! We have received life ; we speak, we walk, we taste ; we hear and under- stand ; we know, both that which is near and that which is far off; we see all things, great and small, in all the heaven and earth. Thanks then. Maker and Former, Father and Mother of our life! we have been created; we are. But the gods were not wholly pleased with this thing; Heaven they thought had overshot its mark ; these men were too perfect; knew, understood, and saw too much. Therefore there was counsel again in heaven : What shall we do with man now? It is not good, this that we see; these are as gods ; they would make themselves equal with us; lo, they know all things, great and small. Let us now contract their sight, so that they may see only a little of the surface of the earth and be content. There- upon the Heart of Heaven breathed a cloud over the pupil of the eyes of men, and a veil came over it as when one breathes on the face of a mirror ; thus was the globe of the eye darkened ; neither was that which was far off clear to it any more, but only that which was near. Then the four men slept, and there was counsel in heaven : and four women were made, — to Balam-Quitze was allotted Caha-Paluma to wife; to Balam-Agab, Chomiha; to Mahucuth, Tzununiha; and to Iqi-Balam, Cakixaha." Now the women were exceedingly fair to look upon ; and when the men awoke, their hearts were glad because of the women. Next, as I interpret the narrative, there were other men created, the ancestors of other peoples, while the Cdha-paiuma, the falling water; Chomi-ha or Choniih-a, the bonntiful house or the bonutiful water; in the same way, Tuiuuniha may moan either the house or the water of the humming-birds; and Cahlxaha, cither the house or the water of the aras [ whioh are a kind of parrot]. Braimur d« Jivurbourg, Popol Vtih, p. 205. ■'I" THE QUICHES SET OUT FOB TULAN-ZUIVA. 49 first four were the fathers of all the branches of the Quiche race. The different tribes at first, however, lived together amicably enough, in a primitive state; and in- creased and multiplied, leading happy lives under their bright and morning star, precursor of the yet unseen sun. They had as yet no worship save the breathing of the instinct of their soul, as yet no altars to the gods; only — and is there not a whole idyl in the simple words? — only they gazed up into heaven, not knowing what they had come so far to do!' They were filled with love, with obedience, and with fear ; and lifting their eyes to- wards heaven, they made their requests: — Hail! Creator, Former! thou that hearest and understandest us! abandon us not, forsake us not! God, thou that art in heaven and on the earth, Heart of Heaven, Heart of Earth! ^ve us descendants and a posterity as long as the light endure. Give us to walk always in an open road, in a path without snares; to lead happy, quiet, and peaceable lives, free of all reproach. It was thus they spake, living tranquilly, invoking the return of the light, waiting the rising of the sun, watch- ing the star of the morning, precursor of the sun. But no sun came, and the four men and their descendants grew uneasy: We have no person to watch over us, they said, nothing to guard our symbols. So the four men and their people set out for Tulan-Zuiva,' otherwise called the Seven-caves or Seven-ravines, and there they re- ceived gods, each man as head of a family, a god ; though inasmuch as the fourth man, Iqi-Balam, had no children and founded no family, his god is not usually taken into the account. Balam-Quitz(5 received the god Tohil ; Ba- ^ ' Are ma-habi ohi tsnkun, qai ooon ; zavi ohi oah chi qni paoaba qni vaoh ; mavi qu'etaam x-e be-vi naht x-qni bano. ' ' Alora iU ne s^rvaient pas enoore et ne Bontenaient point (leg autels des dieux) ; aeulement ils tournaientleun viBuges vera la ciel, et ils ne anvaient oe qn'iU ^taient Tenna faire si loin.' Brasmtr de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, jj. 209. It is right to add, however, that Ximenez gives a much more proaaic torn to the passage: 'No cabian de RUBtento, sine que levantaban las caras al oielo y no se sabian alejar.' /fM. Ind.Gwtt., p. M. * Or as XimenoB, Hist. Ind. Ouat., p. 87, writes it,— J\datuk, (las aiete ouevas y siete barrancas) . Vol.. III. « • 60 OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS. lam Agab received the god Avilix; and Mahucutah re- ceived the god Hacavitz ; all very powerful gods, but Tohil seems to have been the chief, and in a general way, god of the whole Quiche nation. Other people received gods at the same time ; and it had been for all a long march to Tulan. Now the Quiches had as yet no fire, and as Tulan was a much colder climate than the happy eastern land they had left, they soon began to feel tiie want of it. The god Tohil who was the creator of fire had some in his possession ; so to him, as was most natural, the Quiches applied, and Tohil in some way supplied them with fire. But shortly after, there fell a great rain that extin- guished all the fires of the land ; and much hail also fell on the heads of the people ; and because of the rain and the hail, their fires were utterly scattered and put out. Then Tohil created fire again by stamping with his sandal. Several times thus fire failed them, but Tohil always renewed it. Many other trials also they under- went in Tulan, famines and such things, and a general dampness and cold, — for the earth was moist, there being as yet no sun. Here also the language of all the families was confused so that no one of the first four men could any longer un- derstand the speech of another. This also made them very sad. They determined to leave Tulan; and the greater part of them, under the guardianship and direc- tion of Tohil, set out to see where they should take up their abode. They continued on their way amid the most extreme hanlships for want of food ; sustaining them- selves at one time upon the mere smell of their staves, and by imagining that they were eating, when in verity and in truth, they ate nothing. Their heart, indeed, it is again and again said, was almost broken by affliction. Poor wanderers! they had a cruel way to go, many for- ests to pierce, many stem mountains to overpass and a long passage to make through the sea, along the shingle and pebbles and drifted sand, — the sea being, however, parted for their passage. quighcS orioin of the sun. n At last they came to a mountun that they named Hacavitz, after one of their gods, and here they rested, — for here they were by some means given to understand that they should see the sun. Then indeed, was filled with an exceeding joy, the heart of Balam-Quitz^, of Balam- Agab, of Mahucutah, and of Iqi-Balam. It seemed to them that even the face of the morning star caught a new and more resplendent brightness. They shook their incense pans and danced for very gladness: sweet were their tears in dancing, very hot their incense — their pre- cious incense. At last the sun commenced to advance: the animals, small and great, were full of delight; they raised themselves to the surface of the water; they flut- tered in the ravines; they gathered at the edge of the mountains, turning their heads together toward that part from which the sun came. And the lion and the tiger roared. And the first bird that sang was that called the Queletzu. All the animals were beside themselves at the sight; the eagle and the kite beat their wings, and every bird, both small and great. The men prostrated themselves on the ground, for their hearts were full to the brim. And the sun, and the moon, and the stars were now all established. Yet was not the sun then in the be- ginning the same as now ; his heat wanted force, and he was but as a reflection in a mirror; verily, say the histo- ries, not at all the same sun as that of to-day. Never- theless he dried up and warmed the surface of the earth, and answered many good ends. Another wonder when the sun rose! The three tribal gods, Tohil, Avilix, and Harr*vitz, were turned into stone, as were also the goda connected with the lion, the tiger, the viper, and other fierce and dangerous animals. Per- haps we should not be alive at this moment — continues the chronicle — ^because of the voracity of these fierce ani- mals, of these lions, and tigers, and vipers ; perhaps to- day our glory would not be in existente, had not the sun caused this petrification. And the people multiplied on this Mount Hacavitz, 52 OBIGIN AND END OF THINOS. and here they built their city. It is here also that they b^an to sing that song called Kamucu, 'we see.' They sang it, though it made their hearts ache, for this is what they said in singing: Alas! We ruined ourselves in Tulan, there lost we many of our kith and kin, they still remain there, left behind! We indeed have seen the sun, but they — now that his golden light be^ns to ap- pear, where are they? And they worshiped the gods that had become stone, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; and they offered them the blood of beasts, and of birds, and pierced their own ears and shoulders in honor of these gods, and collected the blood with a sponge, and pressed it out into a cup before them. Toward the end of their long and eventful life Ba- lam-Quitze, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam were impelled, apparently by a supernatural vision, to lay before their gods a more awful offering than the life of senseless beasts. They began to wet their altars with the heart's blood of human victims. From their mountain hold they watched for lonely travelers belong- ing to the surrounding tribes, seized, overpowered, and slew them for a sacrifice. Man after man was missing in the neighboring villages; and the people said; Lo! the tigers have carried them away, — for wherever the blood was of a man slain, were always found the tracks of many tigers. Now this was the craft of the priests, and at last the tribes began to suspect the thing and to fol- low the tracks of the tigers. But the trails had been made purposely intricate, by steps returning on them- selves and by the obliteration of steps; and the moun- tain region where the altars were was already covered with a thick fog and a small rain, and its paths flowed with mud. The hearts of the villagers were thus fatigued within them, pursuing unknown enemies. At last, however, it became plain that the gods Tohil, Avilix and Hacavitz and their worship, were in some way or other the cans* of this bereavement: so the people of the villages con- THE END OF THE QUICH^ CREATION. S8 spired against them. Many attacks, both openly and by ruses, did they make on the gods, and on the four men, and on the children and people connected with them ; but not once did they succeed, so great was the wisdom, and power, and courage of the four men and of their deities. And these three gods petrified, a«» we have told, could nevertheless resume a movable ^!;^pe when they pleased ; which indeed they often did, as will be seen hereaft;er. At last the war was finished. By the miraculous aid of a horde oft wasps and hornets, the Quiches utterly de- feated and put to the rout in a general battle all their enemies. And the tribes humiliated themselves before the face of Balam-Quitz^, of Balam-Agab, and of Mahu- cutah: L iifortunates that we are, they said, spare to us at least our lives. Let it be '^), it was answered, al- though you be worthy of death ; you shall, however, be our tributaries and serve us, as long as the sun endure, as long as the light shall follow his course. This was the reply of our fathers and mothers, upon Mount Ha- cavitz; and thereafter they lived in great honor and peace, and their souls had rest, and all the tribes served them there. Now ii, > uiiie to pass that the time of the death of Balam-Quitz^, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam drew near. No bodily sickness nor suffering came upon them; but they were forewarned that their death and their end was at hand. Then they called their sons and their descendants round them to receive their last counsels. And the heart of the old men was rent within them. In the anguish of their heart they sang the Kamucu, the old sad song that they had sung when the sun first rose, when the sun rose and they thought of the friends thr bad left in Tulan, whose face they should see HO more for ever. Then they took leave of their one by one; and of their sons, one by one; of wives, n* each i particular they took leave; and they said: We return to our people; already the King of the 64 OSIOIN AND END OF THINGS. otags is ready, he stretches himself through the heaven. Lo, we are about to return; our work is done; the days of our life are complete. Remember us well; let us never pass from your memory. You will see still our houses and our mountains; multiply in them, and then go on upon your way an«l see again the places whence we are come. So the old men too'; leave of their sons and of their wives; and Balam-Quitz^ spake again: Behold! he said, I leave you what shall keep me in remembrance. I have taken leave of you — and am filled with sadness, he added. Then instantly the four old men were not; but in their place was a great bundle ; and it was never unfolded, neither could any man find seam therein on rolling it over and over. So it was called the Majesty Enveloped ; and it became a memorial of these fathers, and was held very dear and precious in the sight of the Quiches ; and they bunied incense before it." Thus died and disappeared on Mount Hacavitz Balam- Quitzd, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, these first men who came from the east, from the other side of the sea. Long time had they been here when they died ; and they were very old, and surnomed the Ven- erated and the Sacrificers. Such is the Quiche account of the creation of the earth and its inhabitants and of the first years of the existence of mankind. Although we find here described * The following pnoHage iu a letter from the AbM Bramenrdo noiirbonrg, to Mr. Uiifn of Co|)enhageu, bearing date 25th Untober, 1H6H, inav be UMuful in thia connectioa:— * On sait que la coutumu tolt^tiue et luexiaaiue dtait de ooniterver, conime ohes lea ohrelienn, lea reliqneH dtm h^roa de la patrie: on enveloppait leiim oa avec dea pierrea pr^oieuaea dana un paqiiet d'^toffea annutil on donnait le nom de Tlaquimllolli; oea imiiuotH deniouraient k Ja- mata ferm^a et on lea dupumtit an f<>nd dea aanotnairna oil on lea oonaervait ooinuie dea objeitta aikcn'a.' NmuteUm Annalen de» loynf/fA, 1H68, toin. iv., p. 968. One of tli<>He 'bundlea,' wua uivou up to the Christiana by a Tlaaoa- Iteo Hoine time after the i^onqtii'Ht. It wita reported to contain the remaina of Gamaxtli, the chief }(.h1 of Tlaacala. The native hiatorian, Camargo, de- aorilM>H it aa foUowa: ' Qnand on dt'tlt le paqitet oh ae trouvaient lea oondrea do I'idole (^aniaxtle, on y trouva anaai un paqnet de ohevenx blonda, on y trouva anaHi une t^meraude, et de aea cendtna on avnit fait une pAte, en lea pi'triannnt hv< o le aang dea entanta que Ton a\.iU aaoriilea.' HIm, dt 'naxoamu; iu SouwUti Anmlu du Vy., torn, xclx., 1M3, p. 279. MBXXOAN COSMOGONY. 66 in the plainest and least equivocal terms a supreme, all- powerful Creator of all things, there are joined with him,, in a somewhat perplexing manner ^ number of auxiliary deities and makers. It may be that those whose faith the Popol Yuh represents, conceiving and speaking of their supreme god under many aspects and as fulfilling many functions, came at times, either un- consciously or for dramatic effect, to bring this one great Being upon their mythic stage, sustaining at once many of his different parts and characters. Or per- haps, like the Hebrews, they believed that the Creator had made out of nothing or out of his own essence, in some mysterious way, angels and other beings to obey and to assist him in his sovereign designs, and that these 'were called gods.' That these Quich6 notions tsecm foolishness to us, is no argument as to their adapta- tion to the life and thoughts of those whe believed them ; for, in the words of Professor Max Miiller, *' the thoughts of primitive humanity were not only different from our thoughts, but different also from what we think their thoughts ought to have been."" Yet whatever be the inconsistencies that obscure the Popol Yuh, we find them multiplied in the Mexican cosmogony, a tangled string of meagre and apparently fragmentary traditions. There appear to have been two principal soliools of opinion in Andhuac, differing as to who was the Creator of the world, as well as on other points, — two veins of tradition, perhaps of common origin, which often seem to run into one, and are oftener still considered as one by historians to whom these heathen vanities were mat^ ters of little importance. The more advanced schiv)!, ascribing its inspiration to Toltec sources, seems to have nourished notivbly in Tezcuco, especially while the fa- mous Nezahualcoyotl reigned tliert^, and to have had very definite monotheistic ideas. It taught, 'is is asserted in unmistakable terms, that all things hud been » Bae C'(Mt'< ifyihohg^ of lh$ Aryan Nationt, Tol. i., p. 938. 66 OBIOIN AND END OF THIN08. made by one God, omnipotent and invisible; and to this school were probably owing the many gentle and beautiful ideas and rites, mingled with the hard, coarse, and' prosaic cult of the mass of the people." The other school may be considered as more distinc- tively national, and as representing more particularly the ordinary Mexican mind. To it is to be ascribed by far the larger part of all we know about the Mexican religion." According to the version of this school, 'I'ez- catlipoca, a gcd whose birth and adventures are set forth hereatter, was the creator of the material heaven and earth, though not of mankind ; and sometimes even the honor of this partial creation is disputed by others of the gods. One Mexican nation, again, according to an ancient writer of their own blood, affirmed that the earth had been created by chance ; and as for the heavens, they had always existed." :*-^ t ' 11 Even ■nppoiiing there were noHOocial historical reasonii (or making thia distinction, it seems convenient that such a division sliould be made in a country where the distinction of classes was so marked us in Mexico. As Ueode puts the case, Martrydom of Man, p. 177, ' In those countries where two distinct clitsHcs of men exist, the one intellectual and learned, the other illiterate and degraded, there will be in reality two religions, though nomi- nally there may be only one.' " ' Les pretres et les nobles de Mexico avaient peri presquetous lors do la prise de oette ville, et ceux qui avaient echappe au massacre s'etuient rvfu- gi^s dans des lieux iuaccessibles, Ce furentdouo presque toniours des geua du peunle nans t^ducation et livres aux plus grossieres superstitions qui lenr ftrent les recits (^u'ils nous out tmnsmis; Les missionnaires, d'allleura, avaient plus d'interet & connaltre les usageit qu'ils vouUicnt duraciuer de la masse du peupio qu'k oomprendre le sens plus ulevu que la partie uuluirue de la nation pouvait y attacher.' TeriMux-Compang, Rsmti sur la TMoyonie Mtxicalitf, in n'ouwl.tH AnnattH dea Voy., tom. Ixxxv., 1H40, o. 274. » This last statement rests on the authority of Domingo MuAos Camargo, a native of the city of Tliscala who wrote about 16H5. See his HM. d« TkuccUlan as translated by Temaux Coinpans in the SottitUfH Annulta de» Voy., tom. soix., 1M43, p. lUO. 'Leu Indicns ue orovaieut pas que le inonde eikt (H6 i -ku, mitis peiisaient qu'il ^tait le produit du hasard. lis disaient aussi qtie les eieux avaieni toujoun existaiile tikiiiitien Ipalnemohualoni, que quiere deoir, por iiuieu vivimos y soinoa, y tn6 la iinica dridod que odoramn en uquelloa primitivos tiempos; y aun dospnes que se intrtnlujo la idolatrtn y i>l falso culto, le 'jrevurun siem- nre Nunorior n todos sum dioses, y le invtM'abun levaiitaiido los ojos al oiolo. En I'stu ureea"|i« ue matituviertm ooastontes hasta la llegada de los es- ohhialpopooa uanusgbipt. 57 From the fragments of the Chimalpopoca manuscript given by the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg we learn that the Creator — whoever he may have been — produced his work in successive epochs. In the sign Tochtli, the earth was created ; in the sign Acatl was made the fir- mament, and in the sign Tecpatl the animals. Man it is added, was made and animated out of ashes or dust by (jlod on the seventh day, Ehecatl, but finished and per- fected by that mysterious personage Quetzalcoatl. However this account may be reconciled with itself or with others, it ^* ' Loraque le ciel et la torre a'etaiont faita, quatre foia dejk I'homme avait et(! formu. . . .de oendrea Dieu I'avait furniu et auimu.' The Ctnkx l.'hlmulttu- fiwi, or Chimalpomca MS., after Hraaaeur d« Jitmrbourg, JliM. des XiU, Cit\, tiiiu. i., p. 63. TuiB Codex Chimalpopoca, ao called by the Ablxi liraaBeur de Udurbourg, ia an anouymoua niauuHorint in the Mexican language. What we really know of thia much-tulked-of document Ib little, and will be beat given in the original form. The following ia the flrat notice 1 And of thia miuiUMcript, witn ita appurtenancefl, being Uoturini'a deHcription of it aa noHHeHHetl at one time by him. Caldlogo, pp. 17-18. ' Una hlatoriu de Ioh IteynoH de Culhukcan, y Mexico en lengua Nikhuatl, y pa|>el £uro]M'o do Autor Anonvmo, y tieiie ailaiUda una Breve Itelaciou de Ion DioBca, y Ititoa (le la Qvntilidad en lengua CaHlellana quo eacribi6 el Uachiller Don Pedro Ponce, Indio ('aa!i(]ue Ueneflciado, quo fu^ del Partido de Tzumpahnkcan. EntA todo oopiado de letrn do Don Fernando do Alba, y le faltik la primera toja.' With regard to the term ffahuaU uaed in thia ('alnUHpie, aee id p. t)>i : ' LoH ManuBcriUiH en lengua NkhnatI, que en eate CatAlogo ho citan, Me enti- onde Her en lengua Mexicana!' Thia manuaoript, or a copy of it, fell into the handa of the Abbt^ DrnHaeur de Donrlxturg in the city of Mexico, in the year 1850, lirasmHr de Bouriourj, iJiWiom it one thousand six hundred gods. These gods being alone on the earth, — though as will hereafter appear, there had been men in the world at a former period, — sent up their messenger Tlotli, the Hawk, to pray their mother to empower them to create men, so that they might have servants as be- came their lineage. Citlalicue st^emed to be a little i.\i riii ■ if'' ducHon, p. xxi., and tho learned khb6 deRcribes it as (ollowa: — ' Oodex Ohiinalpopoou (Cunie da), oonteniint les EpoqueH, diten HiHtuire den 8(>- leila et I'HlMtoire iftt KoyauiUBit de Colhuuoau et de Mexion, toxte Mexi- oain (oorri^tH d'aprett celiii de M. Aubin), aveo iin easai de trudnotiou fmu- <;aiBe en r'jgard. ^r. in 4"— Manuaorit de 93 ff., oopi^ et tradnit par le Higna- taire de la bibiiotlit^que. C'est la oupie du document murqut'i au n' 13, ( viii., dii oataln){ae de Botnriui, houh le titre de: Historia de Ion UeynoH de Oolhuaoau y Mexico, eto. Ce doomuent, oh pour la premi6re foia j'ui Houlevi' le voile enigmatique qui reoouvrait ten Hymbules de fa religiou et de I'hiHloire da Mexiqne et le plas iinpurtaut de touit rem aai nuua noient reHti'i* dvii an- uales antiqneH inexioaiuoH. II renferine ohronologiqnement ThiHtoire guolu- giqae du nionde, par H.iriea de 13 anit, k oommenoer de plua de dix millo ana avant I'^re chri'tiunntN auivant Iuh caloula mexioaina.' la., p. 47. ^ Utherwiap called, aoeording to Clavigen), the god Omftemttl, nnd the Soddeaa OmtolKuaU. Ternaux-l'Oinpana aaya: 'Lea noma d'Ometeuotli et 'Oinecibuatl ne a* tronvenl nulle part ailleura dana la ntythologle tnexioaine; maia on pourrait lea expltqner i>itr rt'-tyinologie. ()m» aignttte deux en niexi- eain, et toua lea auteura aont a'aooord pour tradulre litteralemvnt leur nom par deux aeignaun el deux damea.' iVuuiwUM AnnaUi dm Vou,, torn. Ixxxvi., 1840, p. 7. ■| ml ! '1 AZTEO OBEATION-MYTHS. 60 ashamed of these sons of hers, born in so strange a manner, and she twitted them cruelly enough on what they could hardly help : Had you been what you ought to have been, she exclaimed, you would still be in my com- pany. Nevertheless she told them what to do in the mat- ter of obtaining their desire: Go beg of Mictlanteuctli, Lord of Hades, that he may give you a bone or some ashes of the dead that are with him ; which having received you shall sacrifice over it, sprinkling blood from your own bodies. And the fallen gods having consulted to- gether, sent one of their number, called Xolotl," down to hades as their mother had advised. He succeeded in getting a bone of six feet long from Mictlanteuctli; and then, wary of his grisly host, he took an abrupt de- parture, running at the top of his speed. Wi-oth at this, the infernal chief gave chose ; not causing to Xolotl, how- ever, any more serious inconvenience thim a hasty fall in which the bone was broken in pieces. The messenger gathered up what he could in all haste, and despite his stumble made his escape. Reaching the earth, he put the fragments of bone into a basin, and all the gods drew blood from their bodies and sprinkled it mto the vessel. On the fourth day there was a movement among the wetted bones and a boy lay there before all ; and in four days more, the blood-letting and sprinkling boing still kept up, a girl was lifted from the ghastly dish. The children were given to Xolotl to bring up; and he fed tlien on the juice of the maguey." Increas- I* XnMl, 'n(>ryant or page.'— .VoHmi, Vomfndarlo en Imujua CaxteBmw Metl- <-nnA. Not ' eye ' an Home HoholiiMtH have it. >' Literally, in thn earlioHt copv of the mvth that I have Keen, ih« mUk of (heihlMle, * la leohe de oardo,' which tenn naH been rcpuntvd blindly, and nppiireutly without any idea of itH ineanin)^, by the varioim writ<>rH that have followed. The old authoriticm, howcvxr, and eHpeoially Mendieta, from whom I take the h'K^nd, were in the habit of onllinc the maKuey a thiHtle; and indeed the tremendona priokloa of thit Mexican plant may lay Kood claim to thn ATemo me {mpun« htmnitot the Hoottinh emblem. * Maxney, qne ea el oar- don dedonde Hatwn la miel.' Afeiulietn, ins(. AV/m, p. 110. ' Metl ea un arliol 6oardoqneen len((na de laa lalaa ae llama maguey,' MutnHttia, IM. d« tint Ihd., in Icathalctta, Cot. d« Doe., tom. i., p. 'i48. ' Et aimilmente-oogliono le foKlie di queato albero, ft oardo ohe ai tenitono Ih, come ana lo vigne, et chiamanlo maKtieia,' JMaHone fatta per un SmtU'huumo d«i aifpmr Cortem, in Hamugh Vlagffi, torn, iii., fol. 307. 60 OBIOIN AMD END OF THINGS. ing in stature, they became man and woman; and from them are the people of the present day descended, who, even as the primordial bone was broken into unequal pieces, vary in size and shape. The name of this first man was Iztacmixcuatl, and the name of his wife Ilan- cueitV" and they had six sons born to them, whose de- scendants, with their god-masters, in process of time moved eastward from their original home, almost uni- versally described as having been towards Jalisco. Now there had been no sun in existence for many years; so the gods being assembled in a place called Teotihufican, six leagues from Mexico, and gathered at the time round a great fire, told their devotees that he of them who should first cast himself into that fire, should have the honor of being transformed into a sun. So one of them called Nanahuatzin, — either as most say, out of pure bravery, or as Sahagun relates, because his life had become a burden to him through a syphilitic disease, — tlung himself into the fire. Then the gods began to peer through the gloom in all directions for the expected light and to make bets as to what part of heaven he should first appear in. And some said Here, and some said There ; but when the sun rose they were all proved wrong, for not one of them had fixed u^Mn the eoat.^ And in that same hour, though they knew it iim;m 1* Motolinia in loatboUctta, Cot. torn, i., pp. 0-10, says this flrat man and woman were begotten between the rain and the du8t of the earth — ' engendrada de In lluvia y del pulvo de la tiurra' — and in other ways adds to the per* plexity; so thut I am well inclined to agree with MUller, AimrlkaniiKhe ifrre- nflfionen, p. 6tH, when he Hayn these ouHmogoniual mythH dinplay marks of local origin and of the subsequent fusion oif several legends into an incon- gruous whole. 'Aus dieser Mengo von Verschiedenheiten in diesen Kos- mogonien ist ersiohtlich, dass viele Lokalmythen hier wie in Peru unabhtin- gig von einander entstauden die man Ausserlich niit t>iuander vorband, die aber in mancherloi WidersprQcheu auch nooh spAter ihre urspriiugliche Un- abhknoigkeitsu erkennen geben.' » Here, as elsewhere in this legend we follow Andres de Olraos' account as giviju by Mendieta. Bahagun, however differs from it a good deal in places. At this point for example, he mentions some notable personiigos who guessed right about the rising of the sun:—' Otros se pusieron & mirar Acia el orientr, y digeron aquf, de esta parte ha do salir el 8ol. El dicho de estos f uu verda- aero. Dioen que los que mirantn Ania el Oriente, fueron Quetsalooatl, que tambien se llama EoatI, y otr(» que se llama Toteo, y nor otro nombre Anaoatly. teou. y por otro nombre Tlatitvictezoatlipuca, y olnm que se llaman Miniz- ooa,* or as in Kingsbo.ough's editiim, Mex. Antiq, vol. vU., p. 186. * por HOW THE SUN WAS PLACED IN THE HEAVENS. 61 not, the decree went forth that they should all die by sacrifice. The sun had risen indeed, and with a glory of the cruel fire about him that not even the eyes of the gods could endure ; but he moved not. 'There he lay on the horizon ; and when the deities sent Tlotli their messenger to him, with orders that he should go on upon his way, his ominous answer was, that he would never leave that place till he harl destroyed and put an end to them all. Then a great fear fell upon some, while others were moved only to anger ; and among the latter was one Citli, who im- mediately strung his bow and advanced against the glit- tering enemy. By quickly lowering his head the Sun avoided the first arrow shot at him ; but the second and third had attained his body in quick succession, when, filled with fury, he seized the last and launched it back upon his assailant. And the brave Citli laid shaft to string nevermore, for the arrow of the sun pierced his forehead. Then all was dismay in the assembly of the gods, and despair filled their heart, for they saw that they could not prevail against the shining one ; and they agreed to die, and to cut themselves open through the breast. Xolotl was appointed minister, and he killed his companions one by one, and last of all he slew himself also.'"' So they died like gods; and each left to the sad and wondering men who were his servants, his garments for a memorial. And these servants made up, each party, a bundle of the raiment that had been left to otro nombre Anaoatl y Teon, y por otro nombre Tlataviotezoatlipuca, j otroa qno Be Unman Mimizooa, que non inumerable8;y cnatro mnaeres, la nna ne llama Tiacapan, la otra Teton, la tercera Tlaooeoa, la onarta Xoooyotl.' Saha- ijun, IlLHt. (fen., torn, ii., lib. viii., p. 248. o^ UeHideH (iifferenoeR of authorities already noticed, I may add that Sa> hngun deHcribea the pentonnge who became the aun, — aa well an him who, M we aball Hoon aee, became the moon, — ax belougin;^ before hlH transfor- mation to the number of the gods, and not as one of the men who served them. Further, in recounting the death of the gods, Rahogun says that to the Ail', Kcnti, QuctzalcoatI, was allnted the task of killing the rest; nor doea it appear that Qnetzalcoatl killed himielf. As to Xolotl, he plays quite a cowardly part in this version; trying to elude his death, he transformed him- le'f into various things, and was omy at last taken and killed under the form of a fish called AmoloU, 62 OBiaiN AND END OF THINQS. them, binding it about a stick into which they had bed-' ded a small green stone to serve as a heart. These bun- dles were called tlaquimilloii, and each bore the name of that god whose memorial it was; and these things were more reverenced thbn the ordinary gods of stone and wood of the country. Fray Andres de Olmos found one of these relics in Tlalmanalco, wrapped up in many cloths, and half rotten with being kept hid so long.'** Immediately on the death of the gods the sun be- gan his motion in the heavens; and a man called Te- cuzistecatl, or Tezcociztecatl, who, when Nanahuatzin leaped into the fire, had retired into a cave, now emerged from his concealment as the moon. Others say that instead of going into a cave, this Tecuzis- tecatl, had leaped into the fire after Nanahuatzin, but that, the heat of the fire being somewhat abated, he had come out less brilliant than the sun. Still another variation is, that the sun and moon came out equally bright, but this not seeming good to the gods, one of them took a rabbit by the heels and slung it into the face of the moon, dimming its lustre with a blotch whose mark may be seen to this day. After the gods had died in the way herein related, leaving their garments behind as relics, those servants went about everywhere, bearing these relics like bundles upon their shoulders, very sad and pensive and wonder- ing if ever again they would see their departed gods. Now the name of one of these deceased deities was Tez- catlipoca, and his servant having arrived at the sea coast, was favored with an apparition of his master in three different shapes. And Tezcatlipoca spake to his servant saying: Come hither, thou that lovest me so well, that I may tell thee what thou hast to do. Go now to the House of the Sun and fetch thence singers and in- struments so that thou mayest make me a festival ; but first call upon the whale, and upon the siren, and upon the tortoise, and they shall make thee a bridge to the sun. t> This kind of idol tnRWAn evidently to the myiteriont ' Envelope ' of the Qnioh^ myth. Bee also note 9. li THE TEZCUCAN AOCOUNT OF THE CBEATION. 63 Then was all this done; and the messenger went across the sea upon his living bridge, towards the House of the Sun, singing what he had to say. And the Sun heard the song, and he straitly charged his people and servants, saying: See now that ye make no response to this chant, for whoever replies to it must be taken away by the singer. But the song was so exceeding sweet that some of them could not but answer, and they were lured away, bearing with them the drum, teponaatli, and the kettle-drum, vewetl. Such was the origin of the festivals and the dances to the gods ; and the songs sung during these dances they held as prayers, singing them always with great accuracy of intonation and time. In their oral traditions, the Tezcucans agreed with the usual Mexican account of creation — the falling of the flint from heaven to earth, and so on — but what they after- ward showed in a picture, and explained to Fray Andres de Olmos as the manner of the creation of mankind, was this: The event took phice in the land of Aculma, on the Tezcucan boundary at a distance of two leagues from Teswuco and of five from Mexico. It is said that the sun, being at the hour of nine, cast a dart into the earth at the place we have mentioned and made a hole ; from this hole a man came out, the first man and somewhat imperfect withal, as there was no more of him than from the arm-pits up, much like the conventional European cherub, only without wings. After that the woman came up out of the hole. The rest of the story was not considered proper for printing by Mendieta; but at any rate from these two are mankind descended. The name of the first man was Aculmaitl, — -that is to say, acuUi^ shoulder, and mavtl, hand or arm, — and from him the town of Aculma is said to take its name." And this ety- mology seems to make it probable that the details of thi.s myth are derived, to some extent, from the name of the » Besides the Chimalpopooa manuHcript, the earlieiit aummarieB of the Mexican creation-raytha are to be found in Mrtuikia, Hisl. Ectea., pp. 77-81 ; Stthajxtn, IM. Gen., torn, i., lib. iii., p. 233, tota. ii., lib. vii., pp. 246-260; Boturinl, Idea de una Hist., pp. 37-43; Torqwmada, Monarq, Ind., iom. i., pp. 31-6, torn, ii., pp. 76-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. dd Metaico, torn. ii„ pp. 8-10. 04 ORIGIN AND END OF THINOB. place in which it was located ; or that the name of the first man belonging to an early phase of the language, has been misunderstood, and that to the false etymol- ogy the details of the myth are owing. As already stated there had been men on the earth previous to that final and perfect creation of man from the bone supplied by Mictlanteuctli, and wetted by the gods with their own blood at the place of the Seven Oaves. These men had been swept away by a succes- sion of great destructions. With regard to the number of these destructions it is hard to speak positively, as on no single point in the wide range of early American reli- gion, does there exist so much difference of opinion. All the way from twice to five times, following different accounts, has the world been desolated by tremendous convulsions of nature. I follow most closely the version of the Tezcucan historian Ixtlilxochitl, as being one of the earliest accounts, as, prima facie, from its origin, one of the most authentic, and as being supported by a majority of respectable historians up to the time of Hum- boldt. Of the creation which ushered in the first age we know nothing; we are only told by Boturini, that giants then began to appear on the earth. This First Age, or 'sun,' was called the Sun of the Water, and it was ended by a tremendous flood in which every living thing perished, or was transformed, except, following some accounts, one man and one woman of the giant race, of whose escape more hereafter. The Second Age, called the Sun of the Earth, was closed with earthquakes, yawnings of the earth, and the overthrow of the highest mountains. Giants, or Quinam^s, a powerful and haughty race still appear to be the only inhabitants of the world. The Third Age was the Sun of the Air. It was ended by tempests and hurricanes, so destructive that few indeed of the inhabitants of the earth were left; and those that were saved, lost, according to the Tlascaltec ac- count, their reason and speech, becoming monkeys. The present is the Fourth Age. To it appear to be- ii THE AGES OB SUNS OF THE UEXIGANS. 66 long the falling of the goddess-bom flint from heaven, the birth of the sixteen hundred heroes from that flint, the bi^th of mankind from the bone brought from hades, the transformation of Nanahuatzin into the sun, the trans- formation of Tezcatecatl into the moon, and the death of the sixteen hundred heroes or gods. It is called the Sun of Fire, and is to be ended by a universal conflagra- tion.** Connected with the great flood of water, there is a n TxUUxochiU, ITisl. Chichimtca in Klmjaborough's Mex. Anliq., vol. ix., pp. 205-6. The mme author, in his Relaciones, lb. pp. 321-2, either through his own carelessness or that of a transcriber, transposes the second and third Ages. To see that it is an oversight of some sort, we have but to pass to the summary he gives at the end of these same Relaciones, lb., p. 459, where the account is again found in strict agreement with the version given iu the test. Gitmar^o, Hint, de TUtx. in Nouvellea Aiuvcdea ties Voy., torn, xcix., 1813, p. 13J, giving as we may suppose the Tlascalteo version of the general Mexican myth, agrees with Ixtlilxochitl as to the whole number of Ages, following, however, the order of the error above noticed iu the KelO' ciorf^. The Tlascalteo historian, moreover, aflSrms that only two of these Ages are past, and that the third and fourth destructions are yet to come. M. Ternaux-Compans, Nouvettes Annates des Vau., torn. Ixxxvi., 1840, p. 5, udoi>ts this Tlascalteo account as the general Mexican tradition; he is fol- lowed by Dr. Prichard, Rsetrnhm, vol v., pp., 360-1. Dr. Prichard cites Bradford as supporting the same opinion, but erroneously, as Bradfonl. Am. Antiq., p. 32S, follows Humboldt, lioturini. Idea de una liik., p. 3, and Clavi- gero, Storki Ant. del Mi'sako, torn, ii., p. 57, agree exactly with the text. The AbbJ Brasseur de llourbourg also accepts the version of three past destruc- tions, S'il exlste des Sources de t'lliat. Pnm., pp. 26-7. Professor J. G. MUl- ler, Amerllainif^he ITrrelijionen, pp. 510-12, ndmits that the version of three pnst destructions and one to come, as given in the text, and in the order there given, ' seeuis to be the most ancient Mexican version ;' though he decides to follow Humboldt, and adopts what he calls the ' latest and fullest form of the myth. ' The Siti'^'iatinne delte Taixtte del Godice Mesdiftno [ Vaticano 1 contradicts itself, giving first two past destructions, and farther on four, Kinjsliomwih's Mi-x. Anliq., vol. v., pp. 163-7; as does also the Explic. del Codex TeUerUino- Heminaia, Ih., pp. 131-6. Kingsboron^h himself seems to favor the idea of throo past destructions and four ages in all; see Mex. Anliq., vol. vi., p. 171, note. Goiniira, IVi-it. .V^ae., fol. 297-8; Leon v Oama, Dos Piedras, parte i., pp. 94-5; Humboldt, Vuejt., tom.ii., pp. 118-129; Prescott, C'otif. o/ A/eoe., vol. i., p. 61; Gallatin, in km. Elhnol. Soc. Traninct., vol. i., p. 325,— de- scribe four past destructions and one yet to come, or five Ages, and the Chimalpopoca MS., see note 13, seems also to favor this opinion. LiiDtly, Mendieta, HM. Edes., p. 81, declares that the Mexicans believe in five Suns, or Ages, in times past; but these suns were of inferior quality, so tlint the soil produced its fruits only in a crude and imperfect state. The voiiHoquence was that in every case the inhabitants of the world died through thn eating of divers things. This present and sixth Hun was good, however, iiud under its influence all things were produced properly. Torquemada— who has, indeed, been all along appropriating, bv whole chapters, the so loni,' inedited work of Mendieta; and that, if we believe Icazbalceta, //M. E'kt., yoticiasdet Autor., pp. xxx. to xlv., under circumstances of peculiar turpitude — of course gives also five past Ages, repeating Mendieta word for wurd with the exception of a single 'la.' Jfonarg. Ind., torn, ii., p. 79. Vol. UI. s ee OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS. Ml m Mexican tradition presenting aome analogies to the story of Naib and his ark. In most of the painted manu- scripts supposed to relate to this event, a kind of boat is represented floating over the waste of water, and con- taining a man and a woman. Even the Tlascaltecs, the Zapotecs, the Miztecs, and the people of Michoacan are said to have had such pictures. The man is variously called Coxcox, Teocipactli, Tezpi, and Nata; the woman Xochiquetzal and Nena." The following has been usually accepted as the ordi- nary Mexican version of this myth: In Atonatiuh, the Age of Water, a great flood covered all the face of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof were turned into fishes. Only one man and one woman escaped, saving themselves in the hollow trunk of an ahahv£te or bald cypress; the name of the man being Ckxxcox, and that of of his wife Xochiquetzal. On the waters abating a little they grounded their ark on the Peak of Colhuacan, the Ararat of Mexico. Here they increased and multiplied, and children b^an to gather about them, children who were all born dumb. And a dove came and gave them tongues, innumerable languages. Only fifteen of the descendants of Coxcox, who afterward became heads of families, spake the same languor or could at all under- stand each other; and from these fifteen are descended the Toltecs, the Aztecs, and the Aoolhuas. This dove is not the only bird mentioned in these deluvial tra- ditions, and must by no means be confounded with the birds of another palpably Christianized story. For in Michoacan a tradition was preserved, following which the name of the Mexican Noah was Tezpi. With better fortune than that ascribed to Coxcox, he was able to save, in a spacious vessel, not only himself and his wife, M ProfesRor J. O. Mailer, Amtrikianiache Urreligionm, p. 668, remarks of these two personaoes: ' Rein nordi8ch ist der chichimekische Coxcox, der Bohon bei aer Flathsage genannt wnrde, der Tezpi der Mechoakaner. Dob ist auch araprfinglich ein Waasergott und Fischgott, danim trftgt er anch den Namen GipaotU, Fisch, Teocipactli, gAttlicher Fisch, Huehuetonacateoci- paclli, alter Fischgott von onserem Fleisch. Darum ist auch seine Oattiu eino FflaniengOttin wit Namen Xoohiquetsal d. h. geflagelte Blume.' I::;i, Hi THE TOWEB OF BABEL. 67 but also his children, several animalB, and a quantity of grain for the common use. When the waters began to subside, he sent out a vulture that it might go to and fro on the earth and bring him word again when the dry land began to appear. But the vulture fed upon the carcasses that were strewed in every part, and never re- turned. Then Tezpi sent out other Lirds, and among these was a humming-bird. And when the sun began to cover the earth with a new verdure, the humming-bird returned to its old refuge bearing green leaves. And Tezpi saw that his vessel was aground near the moun- tc.in of Colhuacan and he landed there. The Mexicans round Cliolula had a special legend, connecting the escape of a remnant from the great del- uge with the often-mentioned story of the origin of the people of Anahuac from Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves. At the time of the cataclysm, the country, ac- cording to Pedro de los Rios, was inhabited by giants. Some of these perished utterly ; ct' ^-^ were changed in- to fishes; while seven brothers of them found safety by closing themselves into certain caves in a mountain called Tlaloc. When the waters we»e assuaged, one of the giants, Xelhua, surnamed the Architect, went to Cholula and began to build an artificial mountain, 08 a monument and a memorial of the Tlaloc that had sheltered him and his when the angry waters swept through all the land. The bricks were mode in Tlama- nalco, at the foot of the Sierra de Cocotl, and passed to Cholula from hand to hand along a file of men — whence these came is not said — stretching between the two places. Then were the jealousy and the anger of the gods aroused, as the huge pyramid rose slowly up, threaten- ing to reach the clouds and the great heaven itself; and the gods launched their fire upon the builders and slew many, so that the work was stopped.'" But the half-fin- " Boiurini, Idea tie una His/, pp. 113-4; Id., Caldlogo, pp. 39-40; ClaiH- flcro, Stor'M Ant, dd MeaMco, torn, i., pp. 129-30, torn, ii., p. ($; Spieifatione deUe Tavole dd Coiiice Mexioano [Vaticauo] tev. vii., in Kim/idmroujh'a Mtx- Ant., vol. v., pp. 164-6; Otmelli Carreri, in ChurchiU'H Col. Voff,, vol. iv., p. 481; UumlxMt, Vues., torn. !., pp. 114-15, torn ii., pp., 176-8; Tj/lor'a Ana. 68 OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS. i; ii 1:J' i ished structure, afterwards dedicated by the Clioiultecs to Quetzalcoatl, still remains to show how well Xelhua, the giant, deserved his surname of the Architect. hwic, pp. 276-7; Gonlra, in Prea:oU, Conquista dv ^fexko, torn, iii., pp. 1-10. A caret'nl couiparisoLX of tue passa^^ea given above will sliow that thiti whole Rtr^jr of the escape of Coxcox and Ma wife in a Imat from a great deluge, and of the distribnticu by a bird of different languat;|eH to their descend- ants, rests on the interpr itation of certran Aztec paintings, containing sup- posed pictures of a floud, of Coxcox aad his wife, of a canoe or rude vessel of some kind, uf tlij mountain Cu'huacan, which was the Mexioiin Ararat, and of a bird distributing languages to a number of men. Not one of the earliest writers on Mexicat mythology, none uf those personally fa- miliar with the natives and with their oral traditions as existing at the time of, or immedi;itely after the conquest, seems to have known this legend; Olmos, Sahi^iin, Motolinia, Mendieta, IxtlilxochitI 4ud Camargo, are all of them silent with regard to it. These facts must give rise to gravn suspicions with regard to the accuracy of the commonly accepted version, notwithstanding its apparently implicit reception up to this time by the most critical historians. These suspicions will not be lessened by the result of the researches of Don Josj Fernando Itauiire/., Conservator of the Mexican National Museum, a gentleman not less remarkable for liis familiarity with the language and antii^uities of Mexico than for the moderai h >n and calmness of his criti.al judgments, as far as these are known. In a commnnii^ation datod April, 1858, to Garcia y Ciibns, Alias (kojrdfii'A), EsUid'ntko r 1114 '>rko de In lie- pabliiia Mjli-ana, ontrega 29, speaking of the celebrated Mexican picture there for the first time, as he claims, accurately given to the public, — SigUenza's copy of it, as givtm bv GoincUi Caren-i, that given by Clavigoro in his Shria should have to suppose a repetition of the same deluge in the figure No. 41), where it is reproduced with some of its priiicipiil accidents, N^'ither, for the same reason, do the human heads and the heads of birds whi(*li anpear t<.) float there, denote the submerging of men and aiuiiiiils, for It w>iul(Hi>.! show clearly and distinctly the attention with whieh they listi'iin). (.'oasLMpiuntly the designer of the boforo-mentiontvd drawing for Clavigitro, riii THE MEXICAN DELUGE. 68 Yet another record remains to us of a traditional Mexican deluge, in the following extract from the Chimal- popoca Manuscript. Its words seem to have a familiar sound ; but it would hardly be scientific to draw from such a fragment any very sweeping conclusion as to its relationship, whether that be Quich<5 or Christian : — When the Sun, or Age, Nahui-Atl came, there had passed already four hundred years ; then came two hun- dred years, then seventy and six, and then mankind wore lost and drowned and turned into fishes. The waters and the sky drew near etich other; in a single day all was lost; the day Four Flower consumed \^1 that there was of our ttosh. And this year was the ytja* Ce-Calli ; on the first day, Nahui-Atl, all was lost. The very mountains were swallowed up in the flood and the waters remained, lying tranquil during fifty and two spring-times. But before the Hood began, Titlacahuan iiad warned the man Nata and his wife Nena, saving: pre-ocoupied with the ictea of gignifyinc; by it the pretendi .1 confusion of tonf;ueH, chauKcd with bin ^ncil the hiHtoriu truth, Kivin^ to theHu MKuren t)i)p(>Hite .Urections. ExiiiniuiuK ittt^'ntivcly the inttxuclitudeM nml cmirB of tbu graver and the pencil in all hiHtorituil euKntvinKH relating to Mexico, it in Heun that they are no leaH numerouM anaint- ing to a simple record of a wandering of the Mexicans among the lakes of the Mexican valley,— that jimrney b< added thatTonjuetuada gives u painted inanuscrint, possibly that under diHctission, as his authority for the story. The Imat, the mountain, and the other adjuncts of th<' picture are explained in a like simple way, as Mie hieriigly])liies. for the most part, of various proper names. Our spa'je here will not i)'rmit further ((•'tails - though another volume will contain this picturi> aiul a further discuitsioii of th(> subject, — but I may remark in concluding that the mialeration with which Heilor llamireK discusses the (inestion. as well as his great experience uiul learning in matters of Mexican anti(iuity, seem to claim for his views the seriuun oousideration of future hold a goiirj(, IHnt. dcit Knt. C\\\, torn. I., pp. 495-7. " Fr. (JreKorio (inruiH, (h'litn lif Im 1ml., pp. IW7-W, took thin narrntivc from a iNtok he fomid iu u ounvuiit in C'liilapn, a little Indian town alwitit u IflikKne nnil a half Houth of Oajaoa. Thv l>ook had lM«>n eouinili-d Ity (In vintr of that convent, and- ' eitoriti) con hum FiKuruH, couio h>ii ImiioHde iii|iirl Rnino Mixtrco Ihm tenian en huh LibruM, u PerganiinoH an-olladoH, con la di - claracion de lo (|Ui< Hiunifleaban Ian FiuuntH, vu que ountabau au Origen, la Creacion del Muudu, lUlluvlu Uuuvral. THE FLYING HEBOES OF MIZTEGA. 71 name was the Lion-Snake. There appeared also a very beautiful goddess called the Deer, and surnamed the Tiger-Snake.* These two gods were the origin and be- gin ing of all the gods. Now when these two gods became visible in the world, they made, in their knowledge and omnipotence, a great rock, upon which they built a very sumptuous palace, a masterpiece of skill, in which they made their abode upon earth. On the highest part of this building thei* was an axe of copper, the edge being uppermost, and on this axe the heavens rested. This rock and the palace of the gods were on a moun- tain in the neighborhood of the town of Apoala in the prov- ince of Mizteca Alta. The rock was called The l*lnce of Heaven; there the gods first alMxie on earth, living many years in great rest and content, as in a happy and delicious land, tuough the world still lay in obscurity and darkness. IMie father and mother of all the gods being here in their place, two mim were born to them, very handsome and very s \ed in all wisdom and arts. The first was railed thi .nd of Nine Snakes, after the name of the flay on which he w}t*< Iwrn; and the second was called, in like manr>»'r the Wind of Nine Caves. Very daintily iideed were these youths brought up. When the elder wished to uiiihh*' himself, he t(x>k the form of an eagle, Hy- ing thus far and wid«' the younger turned himself into a small iK'ast of a Her|)ent .Mha|N>. havinu, wings that he used with such agilitv and sleight that he iHM'ame invis- ible, and Hew through rocks and walls even as through the air. As they went, tiie din and clamor of these brethren wax beard by i\uMO over wh<»ni they passed. They tlves and in ivsutiiiiig attain their original xhap. And they alnxle in gi-eat jx'ace in the manrion of their fmrents, so they iigreed to make •" ' QtU' rtimrpi'irron viHiblcniftitc un Dion. ; i iiiitt Diimit iiiui lindii. i iK'nunna, iiuc hii N'Dialii'i' fuu un (.'l«ri)o ' por Hobreuouibre r'Mi»'>rrt lir Tiiflf.' Wurrin, /(/..pp. a.7 7S ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. k^' a sacrifice and an offering to these gods, to their father and to their mother. Then they took each a censer oC clay, and put fire therein, and poured in ground bekm for incense ; and this offering was the first that had ever been made in the world. Next the brothers made to themselves a garden, in which they put many trees, and fruit-trees, and flowers, and roses, and odorous herbs of different kinds. Joined to this garden they laid out a very beautiful meadow, which they fitted up with all things necessary for ottering sacrifice to the gods. In this manner the two bi-ethren left their parents' house, and fixed themselves in this garden to dress it and to keep it, watering the trees fl>nd the plants and the odor- ous herbs, multiplying them, and burning incense of powder of beleflo in censers of clay to the gods, their father and mother. They made also vows to these gods, and promises, praying that it might seem good to them to shape the firmament and lighten the darkness of the world, and to establish the foundation of the earth, or rather to gather the waters together so that the earth might appear, — as they had no phuje to rest in save only one little garden. And to make their prayers more ob- ligatory upon the gods, they pierced their ears and tongues with flakes of flint, sprinkling the blood that dropped from the wounds over the trees and plants of the gard Iftfter, however, l>eiiiK the «M>rniot reatlin({, i»m the liHt of iiiiiiieH ill thu iwuM a"iimHcri(it hIiuwh, nud as Father Uoinun given it. HtH> uute 33. iU THE COYOTE OP THE PAPAOOS. 76 already mentioned. But at last a principal woman " among them, having received a revelation from heaven, taught them the true name of God, and how that name should be adored ; all this, however, they aftenvard for- got.'" In Nicaragua, a country where the principal language was a Mexican dialect, it was believed that ages ago the world was destroyed by a flood in which the most part of mankind perished. Afterward the teotes, or gods, restocked the earth as at the beginning. Whence came the teotes, no one knows; but the names of two of them who took a principal part in the creation were Tamagostat and Cipattonal." Leaving now the Central American region we pass north into the Papago country, lying south of the Gila, with the river Santa Cruz on the east and the Gulf of California on the west. Here we meet for the first time the coyote, or prairie wolf; we find him much more than an animal, something more even than a man, only a little lower than the gods. In the following Papago myth" he figures as a prophet, and af> a minister and as- sistunt to a certain great hero-god Montezuma, whom we are destined to meet often, and in many chanicters, as a central figure in the myths of the Gila valley: — The Great Spirit made the earth and all living things, " This tntdition, wiys tho AHhi' BmBfienr fie BonrboiirR, Iliitt. rfw Nnl. Cii'., torn, ii., jip. 74-5, hiiH indubitably refereiu-e to n queen whoHu memory liuH lH'cMni(> utUkcluHl to very utuny pluceH in (lunteruiilu, nnd Central Ameri- ca Kt'lit'rully. She waH called Atit, Grandmothi>r: and from her the volcano of Atitluu, received the name Atital-huyu, by v-hich it is Htill known to the ubonKinett. ThiH Atit lived during four centnrieH, and from her ore dt^mjeuded nil the royal and princely familicH of Guatemala. '•>■•' Uiitmii), lieiniihlit'tt tie loH JntlioH Or.ditenialex, part 1, lib. 2, cap. 15, after tldrriii, Orujen tie hs /u'/., pp. ii'2!t-30; his I'asiiH, Hist. AiuiliMiiiUai, MH., cup. "iilG, after Hrlpn' .S'/mii». Conq., vol. ii., p. 140; Torwiemwin, .W')»m»'(/. lull., toni. ii., pp. 53-4; Jiraaaeur de Jiourbounj, Hist. iltM S'ltl, Civ., ton*. H , PI). 74-5. ^* The flntt of theHA two name^ \h erroneonRly Hpelt ' FamaRoztad ' by .\i. Ternaux-romi)anH, Mr. Hijuier, and the Abhi'' HraHH>-ur dc UourlMinrs, ihe two latter perhapH led aHtray by the «Tror of M. Tenianx-('iinn)anH, an error wbit^h Antt appeared in that Ventleuiau'it traUHlation of Uvtedo. Oi'irdn, Itntt. Urn,, torn, iv., p. 40. I'lir Mariyr, dt>c. vi., cnp. 4. •'•' Thin tradition wan ' gathered princiiuilly from the rf<]aiionii of Con (jiiicn, the intelligent chief of the central PapagM-' iMii'Uimn, in Iml. .ifi'. It i>i., i8«5, pp. i;n-;j. 76 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. before he made man. And he descended from heaven, and digging in the earth, found clay such as the potters use, which, having again ascended into the sky, he dropped into the hole that he had dug. Immediately there came out Montezuma and, with the assistance of Montezuma, the rest of the Indian tribes in order. Last of all came the Apaches, wild from tleir natal hour, running away as fast OS they were created. Those first days of the world were happy and peaceful days. The sun was nearer the earth than he is now ; his grateful rays made all the seasons equal, and rendered garments unneces- sary. Men and beasts talked together, a common lan- guage made all brethren. But an awful destruction ended this happy age. A great flood destroyed all flesh wherein was the breath of life; Montezuma and his friend the Coyote alone escaping. For before the flood began, the Coyote prophesied its coming, and Montezu- ma took the warning and hollowed out a boat to himself, keeping it ready on the topmost summit of Santa Rosa. The Coyote also prepared an ark ; gnawing down a great cane by the river bank, entering it, and stopping up the end with a certain gum. So when the waters rose these two saved themselvifH, and met again at lost on dry land after the flood had passed away. Naturallx enough Mon- tezuma was now anxious to know how nmcli dry land hud been left, and he sent the Coyote off on four succes- sive journeys, to find exactly where the sea lay toward each of the four winds. From the west and from the south, the answer swiftly came: The sea is at hand. A longer search wru^i that made towards the east, but at last there too was the sea found. On the north only was no water found, though the faithful messenger almost wearied himself out with searcliing. In the meantime the (Jreat Spirit, aided by Montezuma, hud again re- IK'opled the world, and animals and men In'gan to in- crease and multiply. To Montezuma had In'en allotted the care and government of the new race ; but pufted up with pride iind self im[K>rtance, he neglected the most im- {)ortant duties of his onerous |)OHition, and suflered the LEGEND OF MONTEZUMA. 77 most disgraceful wickedness to pass unnoticed among the people. In vain the Great Spirit came down to earth and remonstrated with his vicegerent, who only scorned his laws and advice, and ended at last by breaking out into open rebellion. Then indeed the Great Spirit was filled with anger, and he returned to heaven, pushing back the sun on his way, to that remote part of the sky he now occupies. But Montezuma hardened his heart, and collecting all the tribes to aid him, set about build- ing a house that should reach up to heaven itself. Al- ready it had attftined a great height, and contained many aiMirtments lined with gold, silver, and precious stones, the Avhole threatening soon to make good the boast of its architect, when the Great Spirit launched his thunder, and laid its glory in ruins. Still Montezuma hardened himself; proud and inflexible, he answered the thunderer out of the haughty defiance of his heart; he ordered the temple-houses to be desecrated, and the holy images to l)e dragged in the dust, he made them a scoff and by- word for the very children in the village streets. Then the Great Spirit prepared his supreme punishment. He sent an insect flying away towards the east, towards an unknown land, to bring the Spaniards. When these came, they made war upon Montezuma and destroyed him, and utterly dissipated the idea of his divinity.* "> The le^cndnry Monteziimn, whom we sball meet bo often in the mythoU nf;y of the Uilit viiflev, muHt uut be confounded with the two Mexican nion- Mvhti of the Hume title. The niinie itHelf wouhl Heeni, in the absence of proof to tlie poiitrnry, to have been carried into Arizona and New Mexico by the Spiiniui'ds or their Mexican attenduntu, and to have become gradually aiuioci- atcd in the niinda of some of the New Mexican and neighboring tribes, with H vague, mythical, and departed grandenr. The name Muntezunut became thus, to use Mr. Tylor's words, thut of the great ' Homebody ' of the tril)e. This being once the case, all the lesser heroes would be graifually absorbed in the gi-euter, and their names forgotten. Their deeds would become his ilcedx, their fame his fame. There » evidence enough that thin is a general tendency of tradition, even in historical times. The pages of Mr. Cox's xeholaily and comprehensive work, The MytluAixw of the Aryan Xatums, teem with examples of it. In Persia, deeds of every kind and date are referred to Antnr. In Russia, buildings of every age are dechred to l>e the work of Peter the Great. All over Europe, in Germany, France, Spain, Switzer- land, England, Scotland, Ireland, the exploits of the oldest mythological heroes figuring in the Sagas, Eddas, and Nioelungen Lied have Inten ascribed in the folk-lore nnd ballads of the people to Darbarossit, Charlemagne, ltoab» •HI, Charles V., William Tell, Arthur, liobin Hood, Wallace, and St. Patrick. 78 OBiaiN AND END OF THINGS. The Fimas," a neighboring and closely allied people to the Papagos, say that the earth was made by a cer- tain Chiowotmahke, that is to say Earth-prophet. It appeared in the be^nning like a spider s web, stretching far and fragile across the nothingness that was. Then the Earth-prophet flew over all lands in the form of a butterfly, till he came to the place he judged flt for his purpose, and there he made man. And the thing was after this wise : The Creator took clay in his hands, and mixing it with the sweat of his own body, kneaded the whole into a lump. Then he blew upon the lump till it was filled with life and began to move ; and it became man and woman. This Creator had a son called Szeu- kha, who, when the world was beginning to be tolerably peopled, lived in the Gila valley, where lived also at the same time a great prophet, whose name has been foi^ot- ten. Upon a certain night when the prophet slept, he was wakened by a noise at the door of his house, and when he looked, a great Eagle stood before him. And the Eagle spake : Arise, thou that healest the sick, thou that shouldest know what is to come, for behold a deluge is at hand. But the prophet laughed the bird to scorn and gathered his robes about him and slept. After- wards the Eagle came again and warned him of the waters near at hand ; but he gave no ear to the bird at all. Perhaps he would not listen because this Eagle had an exceedingly bad reputation among men, being re- ported to take at times the form of an old woman that lured away girls and children to a certain cliff so that they were never seen again ; of this, however, more anon. A third time, the Eogle came to warn the prophet, and to say that all the valley of the Gila should be laid waste with water; but the prophet gave no heed. Then, in The connection of the name of Montezuma with ancient bnildinoi and legend- ary advintureH in the mythology of the Gila volley scemii to oe Himply an- other example of the same kind. ^ I am indebted for these particulars of the belief of the Pimas to the kindness of Mr. J. H. Stout of the Pima agency, who procured me a per- sonal interview with Ave chiefs of that nation, and their very intelligent and obliging interpreter, Mr. Walker, at San Francisco, in October, 1873. DELUOE OF THE PIMA8. 79 the twinkling of an eye, and even as the flapping of the Eagle's wings died away into the night, there came a peal of thunder and an awful crash ; and a green mound of water reared itself over the plain. It seemed to stand upright for a second, then, cut incessantly by the light- iing, goaded on like a gret beast, it flung itself upon the prophet's hut. When the morning broke there was noth- ing to be seen alive but one man — if indeed he were a man ; Szeukha, the son of the Creator, had saved himself by floating on a ball of gum or resin. On the waters fall- ing a little, he landed near the mouth of the Salt River, uix)n a mountain where there is a cave that can still be seen, together with the tools and utensils Szeukha used while he lived there. Szeukha was very angry with the Great Eagle, who he probably thought had had more to do with bringing on the flood than appears in the narrative. At any rate the general reputation of the bird was sufliciently bad, and Szeukha prepared a kind of rope ladder from a very tough species of tree, much like woodbine, with the aid of which he climbed up to the cliff where the Eagle lived, and slew him.* Looking about here, he found the mutilated and decaying bodies of a great multitude of those that the Eagle had stolen and taken for a prey ; and he raised them all to life again and sent them away to repeople the earth. In the house or den of the Engle, he found a woman that the monster had taken to wife, and a child. These he sent also upon their way, and from these are descended that great peo- ple called Hohocam, 'ancients or grandfathers,' who were led in all their wanderings by an eagle, and who eventually passed into Mexico.* One of these Hohocam '8 For the killing of this Oreat Eagle Szeukha had to do a kind of pen- ance, which waH never to scratch himself with his nailH, but always with u Hmall stick. This custom is still observed by all Pimas; and n bit of wood, renewed every fourth day, is carried for this purpose stuck in their long hair. 3!> With the reader, as with myself, this clause will prolwbly call up some- thing more than a mere suspicion of Spanish influence tinging the incidents of the legend. The Pimas themselves, however, asserted that this tradition existed among them long before the arrival of the Spaniards and was not inodiflcd thereby. One fact that seems to speak for the comparative purity of their traditions is that the name of Montezuma is nowhere to be found in them, although Cremouy, Apaclu:a, p. 1U2, states the contrary. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) h 'o i^ m> WM ^ ^ / ^>^ ■% 1.0 I.I u 2.0 1.25 11^ 1.6 ^ 6" » Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIIT MAIN r.TMIT WIUTIR.N.Y. !4!«I0 (71«) •79-4S03 80 OBIQIN AND END OF THINGS. numed Sivano, built the Casa Grande on the Gila, and in- deed the ruins of this structure are called after his name to this day. On the death of Sivano, his son led a branch of the Hohocam to Salt River, where he built certain edificeci and dug a large canal, or aceguia. At last it came about that a woman ruled over the Hohocam. Her throne was cut out of a blue stone, and a mysteri- ous bird was her constant attendant. These Hohocam were at war with a people that lived to the east of them, on the Rio Verde, and one day the bird warned her that the enemy was at hand. The warning was disregarded or it came too late, for the eastern people came down in three bands, destroyed the cities of the Hohocam, and killed or drove away all the inhabitants. Most of the Pueblo tribes call themselves the descend- ants of Montezuma;*" the Motjuis, however, have a quite different story of their origin. They believe in a great Father living where the sun rises; and in a great Moth- er, whose home is where the sun goes down. The Fa- ther is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine; but from the Mother are all joys, peace, plenty, and health. In the beginning of time the Mother produced from her western ho:ne nine races of men in the follow- ing primary forms: First, the Deer race; second, the Sand race; third, the Water race; fourth, the Bear race; fifth, the Hare race; sixth, the Prairie-wolf race ; seventh, the Rattle-snake race; eighth, the Tobacco- plant race; and ninth, the Reed-grass race. All these the Mother placed resi)ectively on the spots where their villages now stand, and transformed them into the men who built the present Pueblos. These race-distinctions are still sharp- ly kept up; for they are l)elieved to be realities, not only of the past and present, but also of the future ; every man when he dies shall be resolved into his primeval form; shall wave in the grass, or drift in the sand, or prowl on the prairie as in the beginning." «• (frtga'H Commtrct of Iht PraMta, vol. 1., p. 208. " TVn Bntch in Schoolrra/Vn Arch,, vol. Iv., pp. 86-6. OAYE-OBIOIN OF THE NAVAJOS. 81 The Navajos, living north of the Pueblos, say that at one time all the nations, Navajos, Pueblos, Coyoteros, and white people, lived together, underground in the heart of a mountain near the river San Juan. Their only food was meat, which they had in abundance, for all kinds of game were closed up with them in their cave ; but their light was dim and only endured for a few hours each day. There were happily two dumb men among the Navajos, flute-players who enlivened the dark- ness with music. One of these striking by chance on the roof of the limbo with his flute, brought out a hol- low sound, upon which the elders of the tribes deter- mined to bore in the direction whence the sound came. The flute was then set up against the roof, and the Rac- coon sent up the tube to dig a way out; but he could not. Then the Moth-worm mounted into the breach, and bored and bored till he found himself suddenly on the outside of the mountain and surrounded by water. Under these novel circumstances, he heaped up a little mound and set himself down on it to observe and pon- der the situation. A critical situation enough ! for, from the four comers of the universe, four great white Swans bore down upon him, every one witb two arrows, one under either wing. The Swan from the north reached him first, and having pierced him with two arrows, drew them out and examined their points, exclaiming as the result: He is of my race. So also, in succession, did all the others. Then they went away ; and towards the di- rections in which they departed, to the north, south, east, and west, were found four great arroyos, by which all the water flowed off, leaving only mud. The worm now returned to the cave, and the Raccoon went up into the mud, sinking in it mid-leg deep, as the marks on his fur show to this day. And the wmd began to rise, sweep- ing up the four great arroyos, and the mud was dried away. Then the men and the animals began to come up iTom their cave, and their coming up required sever- al days. First came the Navi^os, ana no sooner had Vol. in., •. 82 OBIGIN AND E>n) OF THINGS. they reached the surface then they commenced gaming at patok, their favorite game. Then came the Pueblos and other Indians who crop their hair and build houses. Lastly came the white people, who started off at once for the rising sun and were lost sight of for many winters. While these nations lived underground they all spake one tongue ; but with the light of day and the level of earth, came many languages. The earth was at this time very small and the light was quite aa scanty as it had been down below; for there was as yet no heaven, nor sun, nor moon, nor stars. So another council of the ancients was held and a committee of their number ap- pointed to manufacture these luminaries. A large house or workshop was erected ; and when the sun and moon were ready, they were eYitrusted to the direction and guidance of the two dumb fluters already mentioned. The one who got charge of the sun came very near, through his clumsiness in his new office, to making a Phaethon of himself and setting fire to the earth. The old men, however, either more lenient than Zeus or lack- ing his thunder, contented themselves with forcing the offender back by puffing the smoke of their pipes into his face. Since then the increasing size of the earth has four times rendered it necessary that he should be put bock, and his course farther removed from the world and from the subterranean cave to which he nightly re- tires with the great light. At night also the other dumb man issues from this cave, bearing the moon under his arm, and lighting up such part of the world as he can. Next the old men set to work to make the heavens, in- tending to broider in the stars in beautiful patterns, of bears, birds, and such things. But just as they had made a beginning i\ prairie-wolf rushed in, and crying out: Why all this trouble and embroidery? scattered the pile of stars ove: all the floor of heaven, just as they still lie. When now the world and its firmament had been fin- ished, the old men prepared two earthen linages or water- jars, and having decorated one with bright colors, fiUed OBIOIN-MYTHS OV 80UTHEBN OALIFOBNIA. 88 gaming Pueblos . houses. once for inters. all spake I level of ) at this uity as it > heaven, icil of the imber ap- ixge house ind moon iction and uentioned. irery near, making a irth. The [US or lack- forcing the pipes into the earth should be the world lightly re- ►ther dumb under his as he can. savens, in- itterns, of they had id crying [attered the ist as they been fin- er water- r»lors, filled it with trifles; while the other was left plain on the out- side, but filled within with flocks and herds and riches of all kinds. These jars being covered and presented to the Navajos and Pueblos, the former chose the gaudy but paltry jar; while the Pueblos received the plain and rich vessel; each nation showing in its choice traits which characterize it to this day. Next there arose among the Navajos a great gambler, who went on win- ning the goods and the persons of his opponents till he had won the whole tribe. Upon this, . one of the old men became indignant, set the gambler on his bow- string and shot him off into space, — ^an unfortunate pro- ceeding, for the fellow returned in a short time with fire- arms and the Spaniards. Let me conclude by telling how the Navajos came by the seed they now cultivate : All the wise men being one day assembled, a turkey-hen came flying from the direction of the morning star, and shook from her feathers an ear of blue corn into the midst of the company; and in subsequent visits brought all the other seeds they possess.*' Of some tribes, we do not know that they possess any other ideas of their origin than the name of their first ancestor, or the name of a creator or a tradition of his existence. The Sinaloas, from Culiacan north to the Yaqui River, have dances in honor of a certain Viriseva, the mother of the first man. This first man, who was her son, and called Vairubi, they hold in like esteem.** The Cochimis, of Lower California, amid an apparent multiplicity of gods, say there is in reality only one, who created heaven, earth, plants, animals, and man.** The Pericues, also of Lower California, call the creator Nipar^ja, and say that the heavens are his dwelling-place. A sect of ♦* Ten Brotck in SchtxAci^ft'H Arch,, ▼ol. It., pp. 80-00; and Eaton, lb., pp. 218-0. The-latter account differa a Iktle from that giyen in the text, and lunkeH the following addition: After the Mavi^oi oame up from the cave, there cnine a time vhen, by the ferocity of gianui and rapacions animals, their utimbera were reduced to thne — an old man, an old woman, and a young woinnn. The atook waa repleniahed by the latter beuing a child to the sun. «> RUku, HM., pp. 18, 40. M Clavtgtro, BtorUt dtUa Cal, torn 1., p. 139. 84 OmOIK AND END OF THINaS. the same tribe, add that the stars are made of metal, and are the work of a certain Fwutabui; while the moon has been made by one Cucunumic.*" The nations of Los Angeles County, California, believe that their one god, Quaoar, came down from heaven; and, after reducing chaos to order, put the world on the back of seven giants. He then created the lower ani- mals, and lastly a man and a woman. These were made separately out of earth and called, the man Tobohar, and the woman Pabavit.** Hugo Reid, to whom we are mainly indebted for the mythology of Southern California, and who is an excel- lent authority, inasmuch as his wife was an Indian woman of that country, besides the preceding gives us another and different tradition on the same subject: Two great Beings made the world, filled it with grass and trees, and gave form, life, and motion to the various animals that people land and sea. When this work was done, the elder Creator went up to heaven and left his brother alone on the earth. The solitary god left below, made to himself men-children, that he should not be utterly com- panionless. Fortunately also, about this time, the moon came to that neighborhood ; she was very fair in her delica;e beauty, very kind hearted, and she filled the place of a mother to the men-children that the god had created. She watched over them, and guarded them from all evil things of the night, standing at the door of their lodge. The children grew up very happily, lay- ing great store by the love with which their guardians regarded them ; but there came a day when their heart saddened, in which they began to notice that neither their god-creator nor their moon foster-mother gave them any longer undivided affection and car^, but that in- stead, the two great ones seemed to waste much precious love upon each other. The tall god began to steal out of their lodge at dusk, and spend the night watches in the company of the white-haired moon, who, on the M Clavtgtro, Bloria dttta CcU„ torn, i., pp. 185-7. «• Hugo Btid, in Loa Angthi Star. CENTBAI/-CALIFOBNIAN OBEATION-MTTHS. 86 other hand, did not seem on these occasions to pay such absorbing attention to her sentinel duty as at other times. The children grevi sad at this, and bitter at the heart with a boyish jealousy. But worse was yet to come: one night they were awakened by a querulous wail- ing in their lodge, and the earliest dawn showed them a strange thing, which they afterwards came to know was a new-bom infant, lying in the doorway. The god and the moon had eloped together; their Great One had returned to his place beyond the aether, and that he might not be separated from his paramour, he had appoint- ed her at the same time a lodge in the great firmament; where she may yet be seen, with her gauzy robe and shining silver hair, treading celestial paths. The child left on the earth was a girl. £ne grew up very soft, very bright, very beautiful, like her mother; but like her mother also, so fickle and frail! She was the first of woman-kind, from her are all other women descended, and from the moon ; and as the moon changes so they all change, say the philosophers of Los An- geles." A much more prosaic and materialistic origin is that accorded to the moon in the traditions of the Gallino- meros of Central California.** In the beginning, they say, there was no light, but a thick darkness covered all the earth. Man stumbled blindly against man and against the animals, the birds clashed together in the air, and confusion reigned everywhere. The Hawk happening by chance to fly into the face of the Coyote, there followed mutual apologies and afterwards a long discussion on the emergency of the situation. Deter- mined to make some effort toward abating the public evil, the two set about a remedy. The Coyote gathered a great heap of tules, rolled them into a ball, and gave it to the Hawk, together with some pieces of flint. Gather- ing all together as well as he could, the Hawk flew straight up into the sky, where he struck fire with the « Hugo RHd, lb. " Ruuiaa River Valley, Sonoma County. 86 OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS. flints, lit his ball of reeds, and left it there, whirling along all in a fierce red glow as it continues to the pres- ent; for it is the sun. In the same way the moon was made, but as the tules of which it was constructed were rather damp, its light has been always somewhat uncer- tain and fijeble.*" In northern California, we find the Mattoles," who connect a tradition of a destructive flood with Taylor Peak, a mountain in their locality, on which they say their forefathers took refuge. As to the creation, they teach that a certain Big Man began by making the naked earth, silent and bleak, with nothing of plant or animal thereon, save one Indian, v/iio roamed about in a wofuUy hungry and desolate state. Sudden- ly there rose a terrible whirlwind, the air grew dark and thick with dust and drifting sand, and the Indian fell upon his face in sore dread. Then there came a great calm, and the man rose and looked, and lo, all the earth was perfect and peopled ; the grass and the trees were green on every plain and hill ; the beasts of the fields, the fowls of the air, the creeping things, the things that swim, moved everywhere in his sight. There is a limit set to the number of the animals, which is this: only a certain number of animal spirits are in existence ; when one beast dies, his spirit immediately takes up its abode in another body, so that the whole number of ani- mals is always the same, and the original spirits move in an endless circle of earthy immortality." We pass now to a train of myths in which the Coyote again appears, figuring in many important and some- what mystical r61es, — figuring in fact as the great Some- body of many tribes. To him, though involuntarily as it r^ppears, are owing the fish to be found in Clear Lake. The story runs that one summer long ago there was a terrible drought in that region, followed by a plague of grasshoppers. The Coyote ate a great quantity of these *• Powers' Porno, MS. M Humboldt Oonntr. M Powtra' Porno, BIB. THE COYOTE OF THE GALIFOBNIANS. 87 grasshoppers, and drank up the whole lake to quench his thirst. After this he lay down to sleep off the effects of his extraordinary repast, and while he slept a man came up from the south country and thrust him through with a spear. Then all the water he had drunk flowed back through his wound into the lake, and with the water the grasshoppers he had eaten; and these insects became fishes, the same that still swim in CleaP Lake."' The Californians in most cases describe themselves as originating from the Coyote, and more remotely, from the very soil they tread. In the language of Mr. Powers, — ^whose extended personal investigations give him the right to speak with authority, — " All the abo- riginal inhabitants of California, without exception, believe that their first ancestors were created directly from the earth of their respective present dwelling- places, and, in very many cases, that these ancestors were coyotes.'"" • The Potoyantes give an ingenious account of the transformation of the first coyotes into men: There was an age in which no men existed, nothing but coyotes. When one of these animals died, his body used to breed a multitude of little animals, much as the carcass of the huge Ymir, rotting in Ginnunga-gap, bred the maggots that turned to dwarfs. The little animals of our story were in reality spirits, which, after crawling about for a time on the dead coyote, and taking all kinds of shapes, ended by spreading wings and floating off to the moon. This evidently would not do ; the earth was in danger of becoming depopulated ; so the old coyotes took coun- sel together if perchance they might devise a remedy. The result was a general order that, for the time to come, all bodies should be incinerated immediately after death. Thus originated the custom of burning the dead, a custom still kept up among these people. We next learn, — what indeed might have been expected of animals of such wisdom and parts, — that these primeval coyotes M Powers' Porno, MS. M Povoera' Pomo, MS. 88 OBIOIN Am) END OF THINGS. b^an by d^rees to assume the shape of men. At first, it is true, with many imperfections; but, a toe, an ear, a hand, bit by bit, they v.'cre gradually builded up into the perfect form of man looking upward. For one thing they still grieve, however,- of all their lost estate, — their tails are gone. An acquired habit of sitting up- right, has utterly erased and destroyed that beautiful member. Lost is indeed lost, and gone is gone for ever, yet still when in dance and festival, the Potoyante throws ofif the weary burden of hard and utilitarian care, he attaches to himself, as nearly as may be in the ancient place, an artificial tail, and forgets for a happy hour the degeneracy of the present in simulating the glory of the past.** The Califomians tell again of a great flood, or at least of a time when the whole country, with the exception of Mount Diablo and Reed Peak, was covered with water. There was a Coyote on the peak, the only living thing the wide world over, and there was a single feather toss- ing about on the rippled water. The Coyote was look- ing at the feather, and even as he looked, flesh and bones and other feathers, came and joined themselves to the first, and became an Eagle. There was a stir on the water, a rush of broad pinions, and before the widening circles reached the island-hill, the bird stood beside the astonished Coyote. The two came soon to be acquainted and to be good friends, and they made occa- sional excursions together to the other hill, the Eagle flying leisurely overhead while the Coyote swam. After a time they began to feel lonely, so they created men ; and as the men multiplied the waters abated, till the dry land came to be much as it is at present. Now, also, the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin began to find their way into the Pacific, through the mountains which, up to this time, had stretched across the mouth of San Francisco Bay. No Poseidon clove the hills with his trident, as when the pleasant vale of Tempo was formed, but a strong earthquake tore the ^JohntUm, in Schoolannft'a Arch., vol. iv., pp. 224-6. HOW THE GOLDEN GATE WAS OPENED. 8» rock apart and opened the Qolden Gate between the waters within and those without. Before this there had existed only two outlets for the drainage of the whole country; one was the Russian River, and the other the San Juan." The natives in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe, ascribe its origin to a great natural convulsion. There was a time, they say, when their tribe possessed the whole earth, and were strong, numerous, and rich; but a day came in which a people rose up stronger than they, and defeated and enslaved them. Afterwards the Great Spirit sent an immense wave across the conti- nent from the sea, and this wave engulfed both the oppressors and the oppressed, all but a very small remnant. Then the taskmasters made the remaining people raise up a great temple, so that they, of the ruling caste, should have a refuge in case of another flood, and on the top of this temple the masters worshiped a column of perpetual fire. Half a moon had not elapsed, however, before the earth was again troubled, this time with strong con- vulsions and thunderings, upon which the masters took refuge in their great tower, closing the people out. The poor slaves fled to the Humboldt River, and getting into canoes paddled for life from the awful sight behind them. For the land was tossing like a troubled sea, and casting up Are, smoke, and ashes. The flames went up to the very heaven and melted many stars, so that they rained down in molten metal upon the earth, forming the ore that the white men seek. The Sierra was mounded up from the bosom of the earth ; while the place where the great fort stood sank, leaving only the dome on the top exposed above the waters of Lake Tahoe. The inmates of the temple-tower clung to this dome to save themselves from drowning ; but the Great Spirit walked upon the waters in his wrath, and took the oppressors one by one like pebbles, and threw them far into the recesses of a great cavern, on the east side of M //. B. D. in Hesperian Mag., vol. iU., 1869, p. 326. 90 OSIOIN AND END OF THINGS. the lake, called to this day the Spirit Lodge, where the waters shut them in. There must they remain till a last great volcanic burning, which is to overturn the whole earth, shall again set them free. In the depths of their cavern-prison they may still be heard, wailing and moaning, when the snows melt and the waters swell in the lake." We again meet the Coyote among the Cahrocs of Klamath River in Northern California. These Cahrocs believe in a certain Chareya, Old Man Above, who made the world, sitting the while upon a certain stool now in the possession of the high-priest, or chief medicine-man. After the creation of the earth, Chareya first made fishes, then the lower animals, and lastly man, upon whom was conferred the power of assigning to each animal its re- spective duties and position. The man determined to give each a bow, the length of which should denote the rank of the receiver. So he called all the animals together, and told them that next day, early in the morning, the distribution of bows would take place. Now the Coyote greatly desired the longest bow ; and, in order to be in first at the division, he determined to remain awake all night. His anxiety sustained him for some time; but just before morning he gave way, and fell into a sound sleep. The consequence was, he was last at the rendezvous, and got the shortest bow of all. The man took pity on his distress, however, and brought the matter to the notice of Chareya, who, on considering the circumstances, decreed that the Coyote shou^ 1 become the most cunning of animals, as he remains tc this time. The Coyote was very grateful to the man for his inter- ceHsion, and he became his friend and the friend of his children, and did many things to aid mankind as we shall see hereafter." The natives in the neighborhood of Mount Shasta, in Northern California, say that the Great Spirit made this mountain first of all. Boring a hole in the sky, using a M Wadaieorth, in Hukhinga' Col. Mag., vol. ii., 1868, pp. 356-8. " Pouxra' Porno, MB. MOUNT SHASTA TW^ WIQWAM OF THE GREAT SPIBIT. 91 large stone as an auger, he pushed down snow and ice until they b&d reached the desired height; then he stepped from cloud to cloud down to the great icy pile, and from it to the earth, where he planted the first trees by merely putting his finger into the soil here and there. The sun began to melt the snow ; the snow produced water; the water ran down the sides of the mountains, refreshed the trees, and made rivers. The Creator gathered the leaves that fell from the trees, blew upon them, and they became birds. He took a stick and broke it into pieces; of the small end he made fishes; and of the middle of the stick he made animals, — ^the grizzly bear excepted, which he formed from the big end of his stick, appointing him to be master over all the others. Indeed this animal was then so large, strong, and cunning, that the Creator somewhat feared him, and hollowed out Mount S: u . ; as a wigwam for himself, where he might reside while on earth, in the most per- fect security and toinfort. So the smoke was soon to be seen curling up from the mountain, where the Great Spirit and his family lived, and still live, though their hearth-fire is alight no longer, now that the white man is in the land. This was thousands of snows ago, and there came after this a late and severe spring-time, in which a memorable storm blew up from the sea, shaking the huge lodge to its base. The Great Spirit commanded his daughter, little more than an infant, to go up and bid the wind to be still, cautioning her at the same time in his fatherly way, not to put her head out into the blast, but only to liirust out her little red arm and make a sign before she delivered her message. The eager child hastened up to the hole in the roof, did as she was told, and then turned to descend ; but the Eve was too strong in her to leave without a look at the forbidden world outside and the rivers and the trees, at the far ocean and the great waves that the storm had made as hoary as the forests when the snow is on the firs. She stopped, she put out her head to look; instantly th; storm took her by the long hair, and blew her down to 93 ORiaiN AND END OF THINOB. the earth, down the mountain side, over the smooth ice and soft snow, down to the land of the grizzly bears. Now the grizzly bears were somewhat different then from what they are at present. In appearance they were much the same it is true ; but they walked then on their hind legs like men, and talked, and carried clubs, using the fore-limbs as men use their arms. There was a family of these grizzlies living at the foot of the mountain, at the place where the child was blown to. The father was r-jtuming from the hunt with his club on his shoulder and a young elk in his hand, when he saw the little shivering waif lying on the snow with her hair all tangled about her. The old Grizzly, pitying and wondering at the strange forlorn creature, lifted it up, and carried it in to his wife to see what should be done. She too was pitiful, and she fed it from her own breast, bringing it up quietly as one of her family. So the girl grew up, and the eldest son of the old Grizzly married her, and their offspring was neither grizzly nor Great Spirit, but man. Very proud indeed were the whole grizzly nation of the new race, and uniting their strength from all parts of the country, they built the young mother and her family a mount- ain wigwam near that of the Great Spirit; and this structure of theirs is now known as Little Mount Shasta. Many years passed away, and at last the old grandmother Grizzly became very feeble and felt that she must soon die. She knew that the girl she hud adopted was the daughter of the Great Spirit, and her conscience troubled her that she had never let him know anything of the fate of his child. So she called all the grizzlies together to the new lodge, and sent her eldest grandson up on a cloud to the summit of Mount Shasta, to tell the father that his daughter yet lived. When the Great Spirit heard that, he was so glad that he immedi- ately ran down the mountain, on the south side, toward where he had been told his daughter was; and such was the swiftness of his pace that the snow was melted here and there along his course, as it remains to this THE GRIZZLY FAMILY OF MOXTNT SHASTA. 98 day. The grizzlies had prepared him an honorable reception, and as he approached his daughter's home, he found them standing in thousands in two files, on either side of the door, with their clubs under their arms. He had never pictured his daughter as aught but the little child he had loved so long ago ; but when he found that she was a mother, and that he had been betrayed into the creation of a new race, his anger overcame him ; he scowled so terribly on the poor old grandmother Grizzly that she died upon the spot. At this all the bears set up a fear- ful howl, but the exasperated father, taking his lost dar- ling on his shoulder, turned to the armed ho^t, and in his fury cursed them. Peace! he said. Be silent for ever! Let no articulate word ever again pass your lips, neither stand any more upright; but use your hands as feet, and look downward until I come again! Then he drove them all out ; he drove out also the new race of men, shut to the door of Little Mount Shasta, and passed away to his mountain, carrying his daughter; and her or him no eye has since seen. The grizzlies never spoke again, nor stood up ; save indeed when fighting for their life, when the Great Spirit still permits them to stand as in the old time, and to use their fists like men. No Indian tracing his descent from the spirit mother and the grizzly, as here described, will kill a grizzly bear; and if by an evil chance a grizzly kill a man in any place, that spot becomes memorable, and every one that passes casts a stone there till a great pile is thrown up." Let us now pass on, and going east and north, enter the Shoshone country. In Idaho there are certain famous Soda Springs whose origin the Snakes refer to the close of their happiest age. Long ago, tlie legend runs, when the cotton-woods on the Big River were no larger than arrows, all red men were at peace, the hatchet was everywhere buried, and hunter met hunter in the game- lands of the one or the other, with all hospitality and good- will. During this state of things, two chiefs, one of the M Joaquin Milkr'B L\ft Among^ iht Moiloen, pp. 235-336, 243-6. 94 OBIOIN AND END OF THINOS. SLoshone, the other of the Comanche nation, met one day at a certain spring. The Shoshone had been suc- cessful in the chase, and the Comanche very unlucky, which put the latter in rather an ill humor. So he got up a dispute with the oiiier as to the importance of their respective and related tribes, and ended by making an unprovoked and treacherous attack on the Shoshone, striking him into the water from behind, when he had stooped to drink. The murdered man fell forward into the water, and immediately a strange commotion was observable there; great bubbles and spirts of gas shot up from the bottom of the pool, and amid a cloud of vapor there arose also an old white-haired Indian, armed with a ponderous club of elk-horn. Well the assassin knew who stood before him ; the totem on the breast was that of Wankanaga, the father both of the Shoshone and of the Comanche nations, an ancient famous for his brave deeds, and celebrated in the hieroglyphic pictures of both peoples. Accursed of two nations! cried the old man, this day hast thou put death between the two greatest peoples under the sun ; see, the blood of this Shoshone cries out to the Great Spirit for vengeance. And he dashed out the brains of the Comanche with his club, and the murderer fell there beside his victim into the spring. After that the spring became foul and bitter, nor even to this day can any one drink of its nauseous water. Then Wankanaga, seeing that it had been defiled, took his club and smote a neighboring rock, and the rock burst forth into clear bubbling water, so fresh and so grateful to the palate that no other water can even be compared to it."" Passing into Washington, we find an account of the origin of the falls of Palouse River and of certain native tribes. There lived here at one time a family of giants, four brothers and a sister. The sister wanted some beaver-fat and she begged her brothers to get it for her, — no easy task, as there was only one beaver in the u RimUm'i Advtn. in M«»,, pp. 844-6. THE GIANTS OF THE FALOUSE UIVEB. 96 country, and he an animal of extraordinary size and activity. However, like four gallant fellows, the giants set out to find the monster, soon catching sight of him near the mouth of the Palouse, then a peaceful gliding river with an even though winding channel. They at once gave chase, heading him up the river. A little distance up-stream they succeeded in striking him for.the first time with their spears, but he shook himself clear, making in his struggle the first rapids of the Palouse, and dashed on up-stream. Again the brothers overtook him, pinning him to the river-bed with their weapons, and again the vigor- ous beast writhed away, making thus the second falls of the Palouse. Another chase, and, in a third and fatal attack, the four spear-shafls are struck again through the broad wounded bock. There is a last stubborn struggle at the spot since marked by the great falls called Aputaput, a tearing of earth and a lashing of water in the fierce death-flurry, and the huge Beaver is dead. The brothers having secured the skin and fat, cut up the body and threw the pieces in various directions. From these pieces have originated the various tribes of the country, as the Cayuses, the Nez Percys, the Walla Wallas, and so on. The Cayuses sprang from the beaver's heart, and for this reason they are more energetic, daring, and suc- cessful than their neighbors.** In Oregon the Chinooks and neighboring people tell of a pre-human demon race, called Ulhaipa by the Chinooks, and Sehuidb by the Clallams and Lummis. The Chinooks say that the human race was created by Italapas, the Coyote. The first men were sent into tlie world in a very lumpish and imperfect state, their mouth and eyes were closed, their hands and feet im- movable. Then a kind and powerful spirit called Ikd- nam, took a sharp stone, opened the eyes of these poor creatures, and gave motion to their hands and feet. He taught them how to make canoes as well as all other implements and utensils ; and he threw great rocks into M WUkta' Nar. In U. 8. Tx. Ex., vol. Iv., p. 406. 06 OBIGIN AND END OF THINOS. the rivers and made falls, to obstruct the salmon in their ascent, so that they might be easily caught." Farther north among the Ahts of Vancouver Island, perhaps the commonest notion of origin is that men at first existed as birds, animals, and fishes. We are told of a certain Quawteaht, represented somewhat contradictori- ly, as the ficst Aht that ever lived, thickset and hairy- limbed, and as the chief Aht deity, a purely supernatural being, if not the creator, at least the maker and shaper of most things, the maker of the land and the water, and of the animals that inhabit the one or the other. In each of these animals as at first created, there resided the embryo or essence of a man. One day a canoe came down the coast, paddled by two personages in the, at that time, unknown form of men. The ani- mals were frightened out of their wits, and fled, each from his house, in such haste that he left behind him the human essence that he usually carried in his body. These embryos rapidly developed into men ; they multiplied, mnde use of the huts deserted by the animals, and became in every way as the Ahts are now. There exists another account of the origin of the Ahts, which would make them the direct descendants of Quawteaht and an immense bird that he married, — the great Thun- der Bird, Tootooch, with which, under a diflerent name and in a different sex, we shall become more familiar presently. The flapping of Tootooch's wings shook the hills with thunder, tootah; and when she put out her forked tongue, the lightning quivered across the sky. The Ahts have various legends of the way in which fire was first obtained, which legends may be reduced to the following: Quawteaht withheld fire, for some reason or other, from the creatures that he had brought into the world, with one exception ; it was always to be found burning in the home of the cuttl -fish, telhoop. The other beasts attempted to steal this fire, but only the •> Fyanchhre'a Nar., p. 368; Cox's Advm,, toI. i., p. 317: Oibba' CMmok Vocab^ pp., 11-13; Id,, CMlam and Lummi Vooab., pp. 15-20; Parker'a Sw- plor. Tour, p. 139. NOOTKA AND 8ALISH GBEATION-HTTHS. 97 iheir land, en at )ldof ctori- lairy- Sktural ihaper water, ►r the , there day a onages tie Ln\' I, each behind in his i; they nimals, There , which .wteaht Thun- t name amiliar ook the ut her iky. ■which uced to reason linto the found The ily the U' Chinook \rktr'8 B«- deer succeeded ; he hid a little of it in the joint of his hind leg, and escaping, introduced the element to general use. Not all animals, it would appear, were produced in the general creation ; the loon and the crow had a special origin, being metamorphosed men. Two fishermen, being out at sea in their canoes, fell to quarreling, the one ridiculing the other for his small success in fishing. Finally the unsuccessful man became so infuriated by the taunts of his companion that he knocked him on the head, and stole his fish, cutting out his tongue before he paddled off, lest by any chance the unfortunate should recover his senses and gain the shore. The precaution was well taken, for the mutilated man reached the land and tried to denounce his late companion. No sound how- ever could he utter but something resembling the cry of a loon, upon which the Great Spirit, Quawteaht, became so indiscriminatingly angry at the whole affair that he changed the poor mute into a loon, and his assailant into a crow. So when the mournful voice of the loon is heard from the silent lake or river, it is still the poor fisherman that we hear, trying to make himself under- stood and to tell the hard story of his wrongs.*" The general drift of many of the foregoing myths would go to indicate a wide-spread belief in the theory of an evolution of man from animals.*" Traditions are not wanting, however, whose teaching is precisely the reverse. The Salish, the Nisquallies, and the Yakimas of Washington, all hold that beasts, fishes, and even edible roots are descended from human originals. One account of this inverse Darwinian develop'^ent is this: The son of the Sun — w* ""'n he may have been — caused certain individuals to &,\ivti through a lake of magic oil, a liquid of such Gircean potency that the unfortunates •* Spnat'B 8 Harmon'g Jovr., pp. 30i-3. YEHL, THE OBEATOB 0» •put. ™«^ ^^* OF THE TBUNKEETS. 99 by eight nrf bfrd^Hhe k?„1 ^?Jf"S?»»*'j' "•""''^ assurance surer, he ev4led to ^'f *^ ^o make box everj, time'he left ho^ ^ ffij^"' ?.,» « Wnd of a widow it would appeT^a. d *" "''''« ''« «'»<»'•, "he Ijad, fine tall fellSSTSw "^"8 7 '*'^'" »»« The jealous uncle couKS "PT^bing manhood, being in the neighborhot^ 'f fc^ •?* *»"«">' of their them one by one, tS.e ^?^J^' ""«• . So he inveigled on preteme of fi'shin^, Td d^l^M" ««, "ith him poor mother was left desdate .iT ^ *««• The to weep for her children Ado^^^'^"" " *^ ^-^ore -saw her there, and pitied her- f!!~^!*'^»*bale That chTd Z'a,'":S*\hrt'f ^"^ ^-''^ human shape, and gre v ud a mi ^\ "^ himself a We archer. One d!y ^k P \™«h J, hunter and nota- ■"g a long tail like a mS a^rt?f "^ *» '>™. bav- «» of metal; the name 7th'e bfrd '""^r^"""™* biU that IS Crane that can soar to h ""^ Kut^hatushl, bird, skinned it, and wh^ev.^ K ™".- ^*' «hot the cloUie himself iAitoX™"™' •" "'*^ to fly used t^ '0 ~im:fif^™;"„ ti^ir^ ■"I"" -'«'*'»»«> brothera; so he onened »h2 L • f"' *e death of hia f wife ;as shut X i^r/r'"* «>« 'vell-^.a^'! .«ew off and told tfie huZ^ ^ i.*^ ""«''* faithful birds '",.« m„rfe«,us m^.'^St l^ *' T' '"« •>" home P?t'ence, he g«ietedY;hl »TiT"'"«' '""'«™''. in his h.m mto his* canoe CalTT^'T' "'"■ '""led paddled out some way he flun^ ^'P t *«• Having "an and foreed him overLT* ij"*^'^ "" *« ^ounf ~. ar.d st«>d-„p in^Ir'i'„xrai:L2."^«5!Lt£ 100 ORIGIN AND END OF THINGS. murderer was beside himself with fury, he imprecated with a potent curse a deluge upon all the earth, well content to perish himself so he involved his rival in the common destruction, for jealousy is cruel ast the grave. The flood came, the waters rose and rose; but Yehl clothed himself in his bird-skin, and soared up to heaven, where he struck his beak into a cloud, and re- mained till the waters were assuaged. After this affair Yehl had many other adventures, so many that " one man cannot know them all," as the Thlinkeets say. One of the most useful things he did was to supply light to mankind — with whom, as appears, the earth had been again peopled after the deluge. Now all the light in the world was^ stored away in • three boxes, among the riches of a certain mysterious' old Chief, who guarded his treasure closely. Yehl set his wits to work to secure the boxes ; he determined to be born into the chief's family. The old fellow had one daughter upon whom he doted, and Yehl transforming himself into a blade of grass, got into the girl's drinking- cup and was swallowed by her. • In due time she gave birth to a son, who was Yehl, thus a second time bom of a woman into the world. Very proud was the old chief of his grandson, loving him even aZs he loved his daugh- ter, so that Yehl came to be a decidedly spoiled child. He fell a crying one day,. working himself, almost into a fit; he kicked and scratched and howled, and turned the family hut into a little pandemonium as only an infant plague can. He screamed for one of the three boxes ; he would have a box ; nothing but a box should ever appease him ! The indulgent grandfather gave him one of the boxes; he clutched it, stopped crying, and crawled oft' into the yard to play. Playing, he, contrived to wrench the lid off, and lo! the beautiful heaven, was thick with sta's, and the box empty. The old man wept for the loss of his stars, but he did *not scold his grandson, he loved him too blindly for that. Yehl had succeeded in 'getting the stars into the firmamer)t, and he proceeded to repeat his successful trick, to do the like ADVENTURES OF YEHL AMD KHAMUKH. 101 res, so as the he did ppears, Now 1- three ous old ehl set lined to had one iforming •inking- }he gave bom of )ld chief Is daugh- A child. [st into a turned only an le three Ix should rave hini |ing, onA •ontrived kven .was old man Bcold his fehl had, lent, ft"* the like by the moon and sun. As may be imagined, the difficulty was much increased ; still he gained his end. He first let the moon out into the sky, and some time afterward, getting possession of the box that held the sun, he changed himself into a raven and flew away with his greatest prize of all. When he set up the blazing light in heaven, the people that saw it were at first afraid. Many hid themselves in the mountains, and in the forests, and even in the water, and were changed into the various kinds of animals that frequent these places. There are still other feats of Yehl's replete with the happiest consequences to mankind. There was a time, for instance, when all the fire in the world was hid away in an island of the ocean. Thither flew the indefatigable deity, fetching back a brand in his mouth. The dis- tance, however, was so great that most of the wood was burned away and a part of his beak, before he reached the Thlinkeet shore. Arrived there, he dropped the embers at once, and the sparks flew about in all direc- tions among various sticks and stones; therefore it is that by striking these stones, and by friction on this wood, fire is always to be obtained. Light they now had, and fire; but one thing was still wanting to men; they had no fresh water. A personage called Khanukh" kept all the fresh water in his well, in an island to the east of Sitka, and over the mouth of the well, for its better custody, he had built his hut. Yehl set out to the island in his boat, to secure the water, and on his way he met Khanukh himself, paddling along in another boat. Khanukh spoke first: How long liast thou been lining in the world ? Proudly Yehl answered: Before the world stood *in its place, I was there. Yehl in his turn qtestioned Khanukh: But how long iiast thou> lived in the world,? To which Khanukh replied: Ever since the time that the liver came out from * ThiB Khannkh was the progenitor o( the Wolf family of the Thlinkeete even aa Yehl was that of the Raven family. The influence of this wolf-deity Beems to have been senerally malign, but except in connection with this water-legend, he ia littte menuoned in the Thiiukeet myths. Aa OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS. below." Then said Yehl : Thou art older than I. Upon this Khanukh, to show that his power was as great as his age, took off his hat, and there rose a dense fog, so that the one could no longer see the other. Yehl then became afraid, and cried out to Khanukh ; but Khanukh RTxswered nothing. At last when Yehl found himself completely helpless in the darkness, he began to weep and howl ; upon which the old sorcerer put on his hat again, and the fog vanished. Khanukh then invited Yehl to his house, and entertained him handsomely with many luxuries, among which was fresh water. The meal over, host and guest sat down, and the latter began a long relation of his many exploits and adventures. Khanukh listened as attentively as he could, but the story was really so interminable that he at last fell asleep across the cover of his well. This frustrated Yehl's intention of stealing the water while its owner slept, so he resorted to another stratagem : he put some filth under the sleeper, then waking him up, mode him believe he had bewrayed himself. Khanukh, whose own nose abhorred him, at once hurried off to the sea to wash, and his deceiver as quickly set about securing the pre- cious water. Just as .\ ll-father Odin, the Raven-god , stole Suttung s mead, drinking it up and escaping in the form of a bird, so Yehl drank what fresh water he could, filling himself to the very beak, then took the form of a raven and attempted to fly off through the chimney of the hut. He stuck in the flue however, and Khanukh returning at that instant recognized his guest in the struggling bird. The old man comprehended the situa- tion, and quietly piling up a roaring fire, he sat down comfortably to watch the choking and scorching of his crafty guest. The raven had always been a white bird, but so thoroughly was he smoked in the chhnney on this occasion that he has ever since remained the sootiest of C7 ' Seit der Zeit, entgegnete Khanukh, als von unten die Leber herons- kam.' Holmberg, Ethn. Skit., p. 61. What is meant by the term ' die Leber,' literally the partionlar gland of the body called in English 'the liver,' I cannot say; neither Holmberg or any one else, as for as my knowledge goex, attempting any explanation. OHETHL AND AHOI8HANAKH0V. 108 fowls. At last Khanukh watching the fire, heeame drowsy and fell asleep; so Yehl escaped from the island with the water. He flew back to the continent, where he scattered it in every direction ; and wherever small drops fell there are now springs and creeks, while the large drops have produced lakes and rivers. This is the end of the exploits of Yehl ; having thus done every- thing necessary to the happiness of mankind, he returned to his habitation, which is in the east, and into which no other spirit, nor any man can possibly enter. The existing difference in language between the Thlin- keets and other people is one of the consequences of a great flood, — perhaps that flood already described as having been brought on through the jealousy of the canoe-builder. Many persons escaped drowning by taking refuge in a great floating building. When the waters fell, this vessel grounded upon a rock, and was broken into two pieces; in the one fragment were left those whose descendants speak the Thlinkeet language, in the other remained all whose descendants employ a diflerent idiom. Connected with the history of this deluge is another myth in which a great Bird figures. When the waters rose a certain mysterious brother and sister found it necessary to part. The name'' of the brother was Chethl, that is. Thunder or ^Lightning, and the name of the sister was Ahgishanakhou, which means the Under- ground Woman. As they separated Chethl said to her: Sister, you shall never see me again, but while I live you shall hear my voice. Then he clothed himself in the skin of a great bird,, and flew towards the south- west. His sister climbed to the top of Mount Edgecomb, which is near Sitka, and it opened and swallowed her up, leaving a great hole, or crater. The world itself is an immense flat plate supported on a pillar, and under the world, in silence and darkness, this Under-ground Woman guards the great pillar from evil and malignant powers. She has never seen her brother since she left the upper world, and she shall never see him again ; but lOi OBIOIN AND END OF THINGS. still, when the tempest sweeps down on Edgecomb, the lightning of his eyes gleams down her crater-window, and the thundering of his wings re-echoes through all her subterranean halls.'' The Koniagas, north of the Thlinkeets, have their l^endary Bird and Dog, — the latter taking the place occupied in the mythology of many other tribes by the wolf or coyote. Up in heaven, according to the Koni- agas, there exists a great deity called Shljam Schoa. He created two personages and sent them down to the earth, and the Riven accompanied them carrying light. This original pair made sea, rivers, mountains, forests, and such things. Among other places they made the Island of Kadiak, and so stocked it that the present Koniagas assert themselves the descendants of a Dog.^ The Aleuts of the Aleutian Archipelago seem to dis- agree upon their origin. Some say that in the beginning a Bitch inhabited Unaloska, and that a great Dog swam across to her from Kadiak; from which pair the human race have sprung. Others, naming the bitch-mother of their race Mahakh. describe a certain Old Man, called Iraghdadakh, who came from the north to visit this Mahakh. The result of this visit was the birth of two creatures, male and female, with such an extraordinary mixing up of the elements of nature in them that they were each half man half fox. The name of the male creature was Acagnikakh, and by the other creature he became father of the human race. The Old Man how- ever seems hardly to have needed any help to people the world, for like the great patriarch of Thessaly, ^e was able to create men by merely cast'ng stones on the earth. He flung also other stones into tl 3 air, into the M'ater, and over the land, thus making b; sts, birds, and fishes. In another version of the narrative he first father of the « Sarreit-Lenmrd's Trav., pp. 54-7; Holmberg, Sthn. Skit., pp. 14, 52-63; Baer, Slat. u. Elhn., pp. 93-100; DalVs Alaska, ) . 421-22; Marfie's Vane. M., pp 452-5; RhhirJaon'a Jour., vol. i., p. 405: Mayne's B.C,. p. 272. •9 BMr, Slat. u. Elhn., p. 116; LWansfcy** Voy., pp. 197-8; Doll's Maaka, p. 405; Uoltnbtrg, EUm. Skis., p. 140. THE DOO-OBIGIN OF THE HYPEB0BEAN8. 106 the low, iher their place ^ the [^oni- choa. 3 the light. >rest8, ,e the resent og.* :o dis- inning ; swam liuman ther of called |it this of two [dinary it they ,e male ;ure he how- Iple the e was earth, water, fishes, of the U, 62-63; le'8 Vane. 1272. IsAlaaka, Aleuts is said to have fallen from heaven in the shape of a dog.™ In the legends of the Tinneli, living inland, north-east of the Koniagas, the familiar Bird and Dog again appear. These legends tell us that the world existed at first as a great ocean frequented only by an immense Bird, the beating of whose wings was thunder, and its glance light- ning. This great flying monster descended and tou hed the waters, upon which the earth rose up and appeared above them; it touched the earth, and therefrom came every living creature, — except the Tinneh, who owe their origin to a Dog. Therefore it is that to this day a dog's tiesh is an abomination to tLo Tinneh, as are also all who eat such flesh. A few years before Captain Frank- lin's visit they almost ruined themselves by following the advice of some fanatic reformer. Convinced by him of the wickedness of exacting labor from their near rela- tions, the dogs, they got rid at once of the sin and of all temptation to its recommission, by killing every cur in their possession. To return to the origin of the Tinneh, the wonderful Bird before mentioned made and presented to them a peculiar arrow, which they wore to preserve for all time with great care. But they would not; they misappro- priated the sacred shaft to some common use, and imme- diately the great Bird flew away never to return. With its departure ended the Golden Age of the Tinneh, — an age in which men lived till their throats were worn through with eating, and their feet with walking.*" Belonging to the Northern-Indian branch of the Tin- neh we find a narrative in which the Dog holds a promi- nent place, but in which we find no mention at all of the Bird: The earth existed at first in a chaotic state, with only one human inhabitant, a woman who dwelt in a cave and lived on berries. While gathering these one day, she encountered an animal like a dog, which followed ™ Chorta, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 7; KoU»bw'a Voy., vol. ii., p., 165. " Dunn's Oregon, pp. lOi, el seq: SchoolcrafVB Ardt, vol. v., p. Ifacfcenne's Voy., p. oxnii.; Franklin a Nar., vol. i., pp. 249-60. 173; 106 OBIQIS AND END OF THINGS. her home. This Dog possessed the power of transform- ing himself into a handsome young man, and in this shape he became the father by the woman of the first men. In course of time a giant of such height that his head reached the clouds, arrived on the scene and fitted the earth for its inhabitants. He reduced the chaos to order; he established the land in its boundaries, he marked out with his staff the position or course of the lakes, ponds, and rivers. Next he slew the D(^ and tore him to pieces, as the four giants did the Beaver of the Palouse River, or as the creating iEsir did Aui^elmir. Unlike the four brothers, however, and unlike the sons of Bor, this giant of the Tinneh used the fragments not to create men or things, but animals. The entrails of the dog he threw into the water, and every piece became a fish ; the flesh he scattered over the land, and every scrap became an animal ; the bits of skin he sowed upon the wind, and they became birds. All these spread over the earth, and increased and multiplied ; and the giant gave the woman and her progeny pov Akgre, Ulal. Vomp, d« Jiaua, torn, i,, p, 970; iipo«<(M(om'niiUi, pwti» ii., lam. x., in Kinrtaborough'ii Mat, Antlqt, vol. v., p. 130; 8p^9J(u^oM dtttt Ta\)ol» M CoJio$ Mtgieano f VtUicanaJ Uv. no PHYaiOAL MYTHS. ably certfdn, held, if not the highest place, one not far removed from that position in the Mexican pantheon. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Tylor, Squier, and Schoolcraft agree in considering sun-worship the most radical reli- gious idea of all civilized American religions.^ Pro- fessor Miiller considers the sun-god and the supreme Mexican Teotl to be identical.' Dr. Brinton, as we shall see when we come to notice the mythology of tire, while not denying the prominence of the sun-cult, would refer that cult to a baf>al and original fire-worship. Many interpreters of mythology see also the personification of the sun in others of the Mexican gods besides Tonatiuh. More especially does evidence seem to point strongly in this direction in the case of Quetzalcoatl, as will be seen when we come to deal with this god. The Mexicans were much troubled and distressed by an eclipse of the sun. They thought that he was much disturbed and tossed about by something, and that he was becoming seriously jaundiced. This was the occa- sion of a general panic, women weeping aloud, and men howling and shouting and striking the hand upon the mouth. There was an immediate search for men with white hair and white faces, and these were sacrificed to the sun, amid the din and tumult of singing and musical in- struments. It was thought that should the eclipse become once total, there would be an end of the light, and that in the darkness the demons would come down to the devouring of the people.' 178, 181-3; MendUla, >, torn, ii., pp. 0, 11, zxv. and zxxiii., ic Kingalwrough'a Mtx, ArUtq., Tol. ▼., p] Hist. EdtB., pp. 80-1; Clavigero, Utoria Ani. del Meta 17, 34-5. * Brasatur de Bourhourg, HM. dea Nat. Civ., torn, iii., p. 301; Braaaeur d« Bowbourg, Qualn Leltrta, p. 150; Tyhr'a Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 250, !26ii -3: Squier'a Serptni Sjftnbol, pp. 18-20; Schoolcraft'a Arch., Tof. Ul., p. 60, Tol. iv., p. 630, vol. v., pp. 20-87. \o\. vi., pp. 504, 626, 636. * Mmtr, AmerikxmiacM Urreligionen, p. 474. * Sahaaun, llial. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vii., pp. 244-6. In Gamp«ohe, lu 1834, M. Wnldeok witneBsed an eclipae of the moon durinu which the Yucn- teoi conducted themaelves much m their fathern might huvo d(me in tht'ir gentile days, howling frightfully and making every effort to part the oeletitiul oombatanta. The snly apparent advance made on the old ouatomi was the firing off of muaketa, 'to prove ' in the worda of th« aarcaatio artiat, ' that the YuonteoN of to-^y an not atrangera to the prognts of dvlUiation.' WaUleck, Voy. Pitt., p. 14. ECLIPSES, AND THEIB EFFECT ON MAN. Ill otfar theon. )lcraft X reli- Pro- ipreme Q shall , while d refer Many ition of matiuh. •ngly in be seen jssed by as much that he ihe occa- md men upon the len with edtothe isical in- become and that n to the 2; Mtndieia, ., pp. 9. 11. Braaatur d« }p. 359, 1262 ^peohe, iu h the \ucii- one in their the oelestittl HUB WM the It, 'that the • Waidwk, The Tlascaltecs, r^^ording the sun and the moon as husband and wife, believed eclipses to be domestic quar- rels, whose consequences were likely to be fatal to the world if peace could not be made before things proceeded to an extremity. To sooth the ruffled spirit of the sun when he was eclipsed, a human sacrifice was offered to him of the . ruddiest victims that could be found ; and when the moon was darkened she was appeased with the blood of those white-complexioned persons commonly known as Albinos.' The idea of averting the evil by noise, in case of an eclipse either of the sun or moon, seems to have been a common one among other American tribes. Alegre ascribes it to the natives of Sonora in general. Ribas tells how the Sinaloas held that the moon in an eclipse was darkened with the dust of battle. Her enemy had come upon her, and a terrible fight, big with consequence to those on earth, went on in heaven. In wild excite- ment the people beat on the sides of their houses, en- couraging the moon and shooting flights of arrows up into the sky to distract her adversary. Much the same OS this was also done by certain Californians.' With regard to an eclipse of the moon the Mexicans seem to have had rather special ideas as to its effects upon unborn children. At such times, women who were with child became alarmed lest their infant should be turned into a mouse, and to guard against such an un- desirable consummation they held a bit of obsidian, iztU, in their mouth, or put a piece of it in their girdle, so that the child should be born perfect and not lipless, or noseless, or wry-mouthed, or squinting, or a monster.' These ideas are probably connected with the fact that the Mexicans worshiped the moon under the name of Meztli, as a deity presiding over hiunan generations. f Camargo, HM. dt TUmoaOan, in JVouvtUM ^tmolM di* Voy,, 184S, totn. xovii., p. 1»3. *AU»ir; HM. Comp. d» Juut, torn. ii.. p. 218; Ribaa, UM.d»tM Trium- pkos, p. 202; Bamana, In Aobinton'a Life in Vol., pp. 296-800. • Sahagun, Hid. Otn., torn, ii., Ub. riii., p. 20U. 112 PHTBIGAL MYTHS. This moon-god is considered by Glavigero to be identical with Joaltecutli, god of night.*" It is to the Abb4 Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, that we must turn for a truly novel and cyclopean theory of Mexican lunolatry. He sees back to a time when the forefathers of American civilization lived in a certain Crescent Land in the Atlantic; here they practiced Sabaism. Through some tremendous physical catas- trophe their country was utterly overwhelmed by the sea ; and this inundation is considered by the abh^ to be the origin of the deluge-myths of the Central- Ameri- can nations. A remnant of these Crescent people saved themselves in the seven principal islands of the Lesser Antilles; these are, he explains, the seven mythical caves or grottoes celebrated in so many American legends as the cradle of the nations. The saved remnant of the people wept the loss of their friends and of their old land, making the latter, with its crescent shape, memorable for- ever by rdopting the moon as their god. "It is the moon," writes the great Amdricaniste, " male and female, Luna and Lunus, personified in the land of the Crescent, engulfed in the abyss, that I believe I see at the commencement of this amalgam of rites and symbols of every kind." " I confess inability to follow the path by which the abbe has reached this conclusion ; but I have indicated its whereabouts, and future students may be granted a further insight into this new labyrinth and the subtleties of its industrious DsBdalus. The Mexicans had many curious ideas about the stars, some of which have come down to us. They particularly reverenced a certain group of three called mamaffwantli, in, or in the neighborhood of, the sign Taurus of the zodiac. This name was tthe same as that of the stickH from which fire was procured: a resemblance of some >■ ExpHcacion del Codtx TeUertano-RemmaU, part, ii., lam. x., in Kinoi>- borough's Mex. Antiq., vol. t., p. 139; SpiegoMtoiu dtUe Tavole del Godiot J/rari- cano fVttlkanoJ, tav. xxri., in Kin/Hborough'a Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 17t); Sahagun, HIM. Oen., torn, il., lib. vU.. p. 260; Ohvigero, Storia AtU. del Memko, tnm.il., pp. 0-17. » Brauiur de Bourbourg, Quatre Letlres, pp. 166-6. WHAT THE MEXICANS THOUGHT OF STABS AMD COMETS. 118 itical :, that ory of 5nthe sertain icticed catas- by the hU to Ameri- e saved > Lesser lythical legends X of the )ld land, able for- It is the lale and id of the 1 see at symbols the path jn; but I [ents may inth and Ithe stars, ticularly \1aJhoa2tU, M of the [he sticks of some -,. in Kind"- [Codice 3ff «• i- V., P- V kind being supposed to exist between them and these stars. Connected again with this was the burning by every male Mexicani of certain marks upon his wrist, in honor of the same stars ; it beii^ believed that the man who died without these marks should, on his arrival in hades, be forced to draw fire from his wrist by boring upon it as on a fire-stick. The planet Yenus was wor- shiped as the first light that appeared in the world, as the god of twilight, and, according to some, as being identical with Quetzalooatl. This star has been further said to borrow its light from the moon, and to rise by four starts. Its first twinkle was a bad augury, and to be closed out of all doors and windows; on appearing for the third time, it began to give a steady light, and on the fourth it shone forth in all its clearness and brilliancy. Comets were called each citlalinpopoca, or the smok- ing star; their appearance was considered as a public disaster, and as announcing pest, dearth, or the death of some prince. The common people were accustomed to say of one. This is our famine, and they believed it to cast down certain darts, which falling on any animal, bred a maggot that rendered the creature unfit for food. All possible precautions of shelter were of course taken by persons in positions exposed to the influence of these noxious rays. Besides the foregoing, there were many stars or groups of stars whose names were identical with those of certain gods; the following seem to belong to this class: Tonocatlecutli or Citlalalatonalli, the milky way ; Yzacatecutli, Tlahvizcalpantecutli, Ceyacatl, Achi- tutnetl, Xacupancalqui, Mixcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Con- temoctli." I have already noticed a prevailing tendency to con- nect the worship of fire and that of the sun. The rites of a perpetual fire are found closely connected with » JSkpHeaoion deUe Taoole del Codioe Mtxtcano, fMtt, i., lam. ii., part. U., lam. xiv., iu Klngtborouyh'a Mex. AnUq,, vol. v., pp. 139, 140; Spugation$ dflle TamU dtl Codicc Mtxicano fVaHca»Mj, tav., xvli., xxxi., lb., vol. v., pp. 175, 181; Sahagun, HM. Oen., toro. ii., lib. vii., pp. 960-263; Camariio, Uigt. de TlaxcaUan, iu iVouue//e« Annalta dta Koy., 1m3, toiu. xoviii., p. 198; Vol. III. 8 lU PHTBICAL MTFHS. a sun-cult, and, whichever may he the older, it is certain they are rarely found apart. "What," says Tylor, "the sea is to Water-worship, in some measure the Sun is to Fire-worship." " Brinton would reverse this and give to fire the predominance: in short, he says, the sun "is always spoken of as a fire;" "and without danger or error we can merge the consideration of its wor- ship almost altogether is this element." " This sounds rather extravagant and is hardly needed in any case; for sufficient reason for its deification can always be found in its mysterious nature and awful powers of destruction, as well as in its kind and constantly renewed services, if gratitude have any power in mak- ing a god. The mere guarding ayid holding sacred a particular fire probably originated in the importance of possessing an unfailing source of the element, and in the difficulty of its production if allowed to die out, among men not possessed of the appliances of civiliza- tion. When we come to review the gods in general, those connected with fire will be pointed out as they appear; for the present, let it suffice to say that many American peoples had such gods, or had ceremonies suggesting their existence and recognition, or lastly, had legends of the origin or procurement of the fire they daily used on the altar or on the hearth. In the Pueblos of New Mexico, and more especially among the Pecos, sacred perpetual fires were kept up by special command of their traditionary god and ruler Montezuma; but these fires were not regarded as fetiches." The Mexican fire-god was known by the name of Xiuhtecutli, and by other names appertaining to the diflerent aspects in which he was viewed. While preserving his own well-marked identity, he was evidently closely re- Mendieta, HM. Edea., p. 81. The word (eoutfi is of freqnent ooounrenoe as a tennination in the namee of Mexican gods. It signifies ' lord ' and is written with Tarions spellinRii. I follow that given by Molina's Vocabulary. II Tylor'a Prim. VuU., toI. ii., p. 260. i« BrMm'a Mertam •, '"the in is to id give le Bun danger ts wor- sounds ly case; mys be were of nstantly in mak- r sacred portance t, and in die out, civiliza- ral, those y appear; American uggesting egends of f used on s of New )8, sacred (imand of but these Mexican 3utli, and it aspects ; his own iosely re- otinenoe as » landiBwrittttn ilary. lated also to the sun-god. Many and various, even in domestic life, were the ceremonies by which he was recognized ; the most important ritual in connection with his Si r vice being, perhaps, the lighting of the new fire, with which, as we shall see, the banning of every Mexican cycle was solemnized." There are various fables scattered up and down among the various tribes regarding the origin or rather the pro- curing of fire. We know how the Quiches received it from the stamp of the sandal of Tohil; how^ from the home of the cuttle-fish, a deer brought it to the Ahts in a joint of his leg; how from a distant island the great Yehl of the Thlinkeets fetched the brand in his beak that filled the flint and the fire-stick with seeds of eter- nal fire. The Cahrocs hold that, when in the beginning the crea- tor Chareya made fire, he gave it into the custody of two old hags, lest the Cahrocs should steal it. The Cahrocs, having exhausted every means to procure the treasure, applied for help to their old friend the Coyote ; who, having maturely, considered how the theft might best be accomplished, set about the thing in this way: From the land of the Cahrocs to the home of the old women he stationed a great company of animals, at convenient distances ; the strongest nearest the den of the old beldames, the weakest farthest removed. Last of all he hid a Cahroc in the neighborhood of the hut, and, having left the man precise directions how to act, he trotted up to the door and asked to be let in out of the cold. Suspecting nothing, the crones gave him ad- mittance ; 'so he lay down in front of the fire, and made himself as comfortable as possible, waiting for the further action of his human accomplice without. In good time, the man made a furious attack on the house and the old furies rushed out atiOnce to drive off the invader. This was the Coyote's opportunity.' Instantly he seized a ."> Sahagun, HM, Otn., torn, i., lib. i'., p. 16; Tormumada, Monarq. Ind., torn, ii., pp. 56-7; Bra$aeur de Bourbourg, UM. dt$ Nat. Civ., torn, iii., pp. 481-a. 116 PHTSIOAL MITHS. half-burnt brand and fled like a comet down the trail; and the two hags, seeing how they had been outwitted, turned after him in immediate and furious chase. It had gone hard then with the hopes of the Gahrocs, if their four- lej^ed Prometheus had trusted to his single speed; but just as he began to feel the pace tell on him, and just as the wierd' women thought they were about to recover the brand, the Cougar relieved him of it. Great was the satisfaction of our wise Coyote, as he sank down, clearing his sooty eyes and throat, and etching his breath, to see the great lithe cat leap away with the torch, and the hags gnash their choppy gums as they rushed by, hard in pursuit, on the dim trail of sparks. The Cougar passed the brand to the Betu*, the Bear to his neighbor, and so on to the end. Down the long line of carriers, the panting crones plied their withered old legs in vain ; only two mishaps occurring among all the animals that made up the file. The squirrel, last in the train but one, burned his tail so badly that it curled up over his back, and even scorched the skin above his shoulders. Last of all, the poor Frog, who received the brand when it had burned down to a very little piece, hopped along so heavily that his pursuers gained on him, gained fast and surely. In vain he gathered himself for every spring, in vain he stretched at every leap till the jarred muscles cracked again. He was caught. The smoke-dimmed eyes stood out from his head, his little heart thumped like a club against the lean fingers that closed upon his body — yet that wild croak was not the croak of despair. Once more for the hope of the Cah- rocs! one more struggle for the Coyote that trusted him in this great thing! and with a gulp the plucky little martvr swallowed the fire, tore himself from the hands that held him, leaped into a river, and diving deep and long, gained his gaol ; but gained it a mourn- ful wreck, the handsome tail, which, of all his race, only the tadpole should ever wear again, was utterly gone, left, like that of an O'Shanter's mare, in the witch's grasp; only the ghost of himself was left to s^it out on FIRE, THE LIOHTNING, AVD WIND. in some |neoei» of wood the preoioii» embers pKeserved at ao great a cost. And it is because the Frog e^iat out this fire upon these pieces of wood that it can i^way»be extracted again by rubbing them hard together." The Navajos have a legend as to the procuring of fir^^ that has many analogies to the foregoing. They tell how, when they first gained the earth, they were with- out fire, and how the Coyote, the Bat, and the Squirrel agreed to procure it for them. The object of their denire seems to have been in the possessicm of the animals in general, in some distant locality. The Coyote, having attached pine splinters to his tail, ran quickly through the fire and fled with his lighted prize. Being keenly pursued, however, by the other animals, he soon tired ; upon which the Bat relieved him, and dodging and flitting here and there, carried the splinters still farther. Then the Squirrel came to the assistance of the Bat, and succeeding him in his office, contrived to reach the hearths of the Navajos with the coveted embers." The natives of Mendocino county^ California, believe that lightning is the wigin of fire, that a primeval bolt hurled down by the Man Above fell upon certain wood^ from which, consequently fire can always be extracted by rubbing two pieces together." From fire let us turn for a moment to wind, whose phenomena, as might be expected, have not been allowed to pass wholly unnoticed by the mythologies with which we have to deal. When wq come to examine ideas connected with death and with the soul of man and its future, we shall find the wind, or the air, often in use. as the best name and figure for the expression of primitive conceptions of that mysterious thing, the vital essence or spirit. The wind too is often considered as a god, or at least as the breath of a god, and in many American languages the Great Spirit And the Qreat Wind are one and the same both in word and signification. The name " PoteerH' Porno, MS. i» Eaton, in Sckoolcrqft'» Arch., vol. iv., pp. 218-10. '9 Powtra' Porno, MS. m PHYSICAL MTTHS. of the god Hurakan, mentioned in Quiche mytiis, still signifies the Storm in many a language strange to his worshipers, while in Quiche it may be translated Spirit, or swiftly moving Spirit;** and the name of the Mexi- can god Mixooatl is said to be to this day the correct Mexican term for the whirlwind.** An interesting point here arises with regard to the divisicMi of the heavens into four quarters and the naming of these after the names of the wind. Dr. Brinton believes this fact to be at the bottom of the sacredness and ofl;en occurrence of the number four in so many early legends, and he connects these four winds and their embodiment in many quaternions of deities, with the sacredness of the cross and its use among widely separated nations, to whom its later Christian significa- tion was utterly unknown.** If we may suppose that the Great Spirit and the wind are often represented under the form of an enormous bird, we must connect with them, as their most inseparable attributes, the thunder and the lightning; the first, as we have so often seen, is the rustling or stridor of the wings of the bird, the second is the flashing of his eyes. The Raven of the Koniagas is not, however, as among most other tribes of the great Northwest, the author of these things; but their principal deity when he is angry sends down two dwarfs, who thunder and lighten according to his command.^ Of the god Hurakan, whom we have noticed as the etymon of the word hurri- cane, the Popol Vuh says: " The flash is the first sign of Hurakan; the second is the furrow of the flash; the third is the thunder-bolt that strikvs;"''* and to the Mexican god, Tlaloc, are also attached the same three attributes." *> Brwu:mr de Bourbourg, S'U Exiate dea Souroea de I'Hia. Prim, du Mexiqut, ,p. 101. « Brasaew de BouriHturg, Hid. NcU. Civ., torn, iii., p. 485; Brinton'a Myths, p. 61. n Britdon's Mutha, pp. 66-98. n Holmberg, Ethn. SJW»., p. 141. M Ximemt, mat. Ind. Own., p. 6; Brataewr de Bawr1>ourg, Popot V\A, p. 9. » OanM, Doa Piedraa, pt. ii.. p. 76. WATEB AS A FUSIFTINO ELEMENT. 119 Turning to water, we find it regarded among many tribes as the first of elemental things. It is from a pri- meval ocean of water that the earth is generally sup- posed to come up. Water is obviously a first and chief nourisher of v^etable life, and an indispensable prere- quisite of all fertility ; from this it is but a short step to saying, that it is the mother of those that live by the earth's fertility. "Your mother, Chalchiuhtlicue, god- dess of water," is a phrase constantly found in the mid- wife's mouth, in her address to the child, in the Mexican washing or baptismal service.** The use of water more or less sanctified or set apart or made worthy the distinction ' holy ;' the employment of this in a rite of avowed purification from inherent sin, at the time of giving a name, — baptism, in one word, — runs back to a period far pre-Christian among the Mexican, Maya, and other American nations; as ancient ceremonies to be hereafter described will show. That man sets out in tliis life-journey of his with a terrible bias toward evil, with a sad and pitiful liability to temptation, is a point upon which all religions are practically unanimous. How else could they exist? Were man born perfect he would remain perfect, other- wise the first element of perfection would be wanting; and perfection admits of no superlative, no greater, no god. Where there is a religion then, there is generally a consciousness of sin voluntary and involuntary. How shall I be cleansed? how shall my child be cleansed from this great wickedness? is the cry of the idolater as well as of the monotheist. Is it strange that the analogy be- tween corporal and spiritual pollution should indepen- dently suggest itself to both? Surely not. Wash and be clean, is to all the world a parable needing no inter- preter." M Sahaffun, Hial. Oen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 197. " Singularly apt in this connection are the wise words that Oarlyle, Past and Presmil Chartism, book i., p. 233, puts into the month of his mythical friend Sauerteig, — ' Strip thyself, go into the bath, or were it into the limpid pool and running brook, and there wash and be clean; thou wilt step out again n purer and a better man. This oousciouBuetM of perfect outer pureness, m PHYSICAL MYTHS. T^e ceremdifll use of water followed the Mexican through all his life; though for thei present we shall only notice one more custoin connected with it, the last of all. When a body was buried, a vase of clean, sweet water was let down into the tomb; bright, clear, life- giving and preserving water, — ^hope and love, dumb and inarticulate, stretching vague hand toward a resurrection. The Mexican rain and water god was Tlaloc, sender of thunder and lightning, lord of the earthly paradise, and fertilizer of earth ; his wife was the Ghalchiuhtlicue, already mentioned.* Like Tlaloc was Quiateot, the Xicaraguan rain-god, master of thunderbolts and general director of meteorological phenomena.* The Navajos puffed tobacco smoke straight up toward heaven to bring rain, and those of them that carried a corpse to burial were unclean till washed in water.* In a deep and lonely cafion near Fort Defiance there is a spring that this tribe hold sacred, approaching it only with much reverence and the performance of certain mystic ceremonies. They say it was once a boiling spring, and that even yet if approached heedlessly or by a bad Indian, its waters will seethe up and leap forth to overwhelm the intruder." The Zuflis had also a sacred spring; sacred to the rain- god, who^ as we see by implication, is Montezuma the great Pueblo deity himself. No animal might taste of its sacred waters, and it was cleansed annually with vessels also saci'ed, — most ancient vases that hod been transmitted from gpuemtion to generation since times to that to thy nkin there now adheres no foreiffn spenk of imperfection, how it radiates in on thee with cunning Hynibolio lufluenceH, to the very Houll It remainn a religious duty from oldest time in the East Even the dull English feel something of this; they have a saying, " oleaalinesa is near of kin to Godliness." ' M Cld^ijero, Starla Ant. flel Meiisico, tom. ii., pp.' 15-10. ' Era oonosciutn con altri nomi assiti esoressive, i quali o signittcuvano i divers! effetti, cIdi oauionano I'aoqne, o le aiverso apnaronze, c. ,>ri, che formano col loro nu)to, I Tlascallesi la chiamavano Mutlalcueje, oioi, veatita di gouna turchina,' Bee also MMer, Reittrn }n Mex., tom. iii., p. 89. » Oiifcffo, jnsl. (/en., tom. iv., pp. 4«, 56. w Till Hrmck, in Schooleraft't Arch., vol. iv., p. 91; BrUM, In InJ. M. Rept., 1807, p. 358. « Backtu, in 8choolcr In re is a t only certain boiling or by rthto In, how it ThouU.-- J the dull |b near u( |)no8o»uta fetti, fh« J)ro moto. lurchinn.' l/iu/. M- which even tradition went notback. These vessels were kept ranged on the wall of the well. The frog, the rattlesnake, and the tortoise were depicted upon them, and were sacred to the great patron of the place, whose terrible lightning should consume the sacrilegious hand that touched these hallowed relics.** We have seen how the Califomian tribes believe tliemselves desf^ended from the very earth, how the bodi- less ancestor of the Tezcucans came up from the soil, how the Guatemalteos, Papagos, and Pimas were molded from the clay they tread, and how the Navajos came to light from the bowels of a great mountain near the river San Juan. It seems long ago and often to have come into men's mind that the over-arching heaven or Homething there and the all-producing earth are, as it were, a father and mother to all living creatures. The Comanches call on the earth as their mother, and on the Great Spirit as their father. The Mexicans used to pray: Be pleased, our Lord, that the nobles who may die in the war be peacefully and pkikoirjrlv received by the sun and the earth, who are the father and mother of nil.** It was probably, again, with some reference to the motherly function of the earth that the same l)eople, when an earthquake came, took their children by the head or hand, and lifted them up saying: The earth- quake will make them grow."* Sometimes they specified a [Mirticular part of the earth as closer to them in this relation than other parts. It is said thnt on the tenth day of the month Quecholli, the citi/xjuH (^f Mexico and those of Tlatelolco were wont to visit a hill called Caca- teiK»c, for they said it was their mother." As to the substance, arrangemeiit, and so on of the earth and sky there remain one or two iiioas not already given in connection with the general creation. The Tlaacaltecs, and iierhaps others of the Andlnuu5 peojjles, believed that the earth was fiat, and ending with the sea- s' H7ii;)/»^. In Poc. R. : : j/., vol. iil., p. 30. " .S'(i/..i.,iin, IIM. Gen., torn. 11., lib. vl., p. 43. )< people of the old world. The Choles of the province of Itza had a hill in their country that thev regarded as the god of all the moiuitains, and on which they burned a i)erpetual fire." The Mexicans, praying for rain, were M Camarqo, Hiat, d« TIaxctUlan, in Nouvellea AnnaUa dn Voy., i834, torn, xoviii.. p. liii. " RtUI, in Lo» Anijelen Star. )** fAimla, Ntl, ih tan Cimui de Yumtan, p. 200. «• Ilolmbeni, Klhn. Skit., p. 141. «» VUlagutknt, lHat. Conq. d« lUa, pp. 151-8. -W: HILLS AND MOUNTAIN BANOE8. 128^ 3 cer- called lames, Jauac. of the tien all ranean ^as, for habited t forth uses or accustomed to vow that they would make images of the mountains if their petitions were favorably received ;** and, in other points connected with their religion to show, as has appeared and will appear both with them and with other jieople, their recognition of a divinity abid- ing on or hedging about the great peaks. What wonder, indeed, that to the rude and awe-struck mind, the ever- lasting hills seemed nearer and liker heaven than the common-place level of earthy? and that the wild man should kneel or go softly there, as in the peculiar pre- sence of the Great Spirit? This is hardly a new feeling, it seems an instinct and custom as old as religion. Where went Abraham in that awful hour, counted to him fo'^ 1 lo-howi^.sness through all the centuries? Where .«:r»!()HM, T thunderings and lightnings that heralded th;.' aeli very of the Law, when the son of Amram talked with Jehovah face to face, as a man talketh with his friend? Whence saw a greater than Moses the kingdoms of the world and the glory of tliem? whence, in the all- nights that came after, did the prayers of the Christ awcend ? and where stood he when his raiment became as no fuller on earth could white it, Moses and Elias talking with him, and Peter so sore afraid ? Where hills were not found conveniently situated for purposes of worship, they seem to have Ijeen counterfeit- ed after man's f; '^ble fashion: from high-place and mound, from pyrvurui and tcocalli, since the morning stars sang toge*Uoi, the smoke of the altar and the censer has noi vvih'Sd to ascend. But the day ))eginB to broaden oi t, .ivl the mists of the morning tiee away; thoujj;'i ihe i ills Ui not lowered, (jod is lifted up. Yet they have ii,eir glory and their charm still even to us, and to the savage they often appear a« the result of a sixicial and several creation. We remem- IxT how the (Jreat Spirit made Mount Shashi as his only worthy abiding-place on eai*th; and I give hero another legend of a much more trivial sort than the first, ' torn. 1., Hb. 11., p. 177. im PHT8IGAL MTTHfi. telling how, not Mount Shasta alone, but all the mount- ains of California were built and put into position:— •*' At a time when the world was covered with water there existed a Hawk and a Crow and a very small Duck. The latter, after diving to the bottom and bringing up a beakful of mud, died ; whereupon the Crow and the Hawk took each a half of the mud that i.^3 been brought up, and set to work to make the mountains. Beginning at a place called Teheechaypah Pass, they built northwards, the Hawk working on the eastern range and the Crow on the western. It was a long and weary toil, but in time the work was fi: sa.,1. and as they laid the last peak the workers met ac t Shasta. Then the Hawk saw that there had been i i play somewhere, for the western range was bigger than his; and he charged the Crow with stealing some of his mud. But the smart bird laughed a hoarse guffaw in the face of his eastern brother, not even taking the trouble to disown the theft, and chuckled hugely over his own success and western enterprise. The honest Hawk was* at his wits' end, and he stood thinking with his head on one side for quite a long time ; then in an absent kind of way he picked up a leaf of Indian tobacco and began to chew, and wisdom came with chewing. And he strengthened Himself mightily, and fixed his claws in the mountiun^', and turned the whole chain in the water like a great Healing wheel, till the range of his rival had changed places 'vith his, and the Sierra Nevada was on the east and the Coast Range on the west, as they remain to this day. This legend is not without ingenuity in its way but there is more of human interest in the following pretty story of the Yosemite nations, as to the origin of the names and present appearance of certain \yeak» and other natural features of their valley: — A certain Totokunula was once chief of the people here; a mighty hunter and a good husbandman, his « PovMim' Porno, MH. Thin in a tradition of tlie Yoouts, a Galiforninn tribe, ncoupying tho Kern and Tuliiro l>iiHinH, tho middle Ban Jonquiu, and tlie varioua atreauiH running into Luke Tulare. TOTOKONULA. AND TISAYAG OF YOSEMITE. 125 tribe never wanted food while he attended to their wel- fare. But a change came; while out hunting one day, the young man met a spirit-maid, the guardian angel of the valley, the beautiful Tisayao. She was not as the dusky beauties of his tribe, but white and fair, with roll- ing yellow tresses that fell over her shoulders like sun- shine, and blue eyes with a light in them like the sky where the sun goes down. White, cloudlike wings were folded behind her shoulders, and her voice was sweeter than the song of birds; no wonder the strong chief loved her with a mad and instant love. He reached toward her, but the snowy wings lifted her above his sight, and he stood again alone upon the dome, where she had been. No more Totokonula led in the chase or heeded the crops in the valley; he wandered here and there like a man distraught, ever seeking that wonderful shin- ing vision that had made all else on earth stale and un- profitable in his sight. The land began to languish, missing the industrious directing hand that had tended it so long; the pleasant garden became a wilderness where the drought laid waste, and the wild beast spoiled what was left, and taught his cubs to divide the prey. When the fair spirit returned at last to visit her valley, she wept to see the desolation, and she knelt upon the dome, praying to the Great Spirit for succor. Clod heard, and stooping from his place, he clove the dome ujjon which she stood, and the granite was riven beneath her feet, and the melted snows of the Nevada rushed through the gorge, bearing fertility ujion their cool Iwsom. A Ixjautiful lake was formed between the cloven walls of the mountain, and a river issued from it to feed the valley for ever. Then sang the binls as of old, laving their iKxlies in the water, and the odor of Howers rose like a pleasant incense, and the trees put forth their buds, and the corn shot up to meet the sun and rustled when the breeze crept through the tall stalks. Tisayac moved away as she had come, and none knew whither she went; but the people called the dome by lior name, as it is indeed known to this day. After her '496 PHYSICAL MYTHS. departure the chief returned from his weary quest; and as he heard that the winged one had visited the valley, the old madness crept up into his eyes and entered, seven times worse than at the first, into his empty soul ; he turned his back on the lodges of his people. His last act was to cut with his hunting-knife the outline of his face upon a lofty rock, so that if he never returned his memorial at least should remain with them forever. He never did return from that hopeless search, but the graven rock was called Totokunula, after his name, and it may be still seen, three thousand feet high, guard- ing the entrance of the beautiful valley.** Leaving this locality and subject, I may remark that the natives have named the Pohono Fall, in the same valley, after an evil spirit; many persons having been swept over and dashed to pieces there. No native of the vicinity will so m icli as point at this fall when going through the valley, nor could anything tempt one of them to sleep near it; for the ghosts of the drowned are tossing in itii spray, and their wail is heard forever above the hiss of its rushing waters." « HiUchings' Col. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 197-0. « IMchinQs' Col. Mag., vol. iv., p. 2«. CHAPTER IV. ANIMAL MYTHOLOGY. R6lic8 Asbioned to Anihau— AuacBiKs raoM thkib MoyiMSKTB— Trb Ilii- OMKNXdOwL— TUTBLABT AnIHALS— MkTAUOBPHOSXD MkN — Tea OOBEBS- Squibbkl of Vancoutib Island- Monxxtb and Bkavkrs— Fallkn Mkn — Thk Sacbeu Animals— Pbominknob or the Bibd— An Emblem or THE Wind— The Sebpent, am Emblem of the Liohtnimo — Not Spe- CULLT CONNKCTED WITH EviL — ThE SeBPENT OF THE PuBBLOS — ThE Wateb-Skake — Ophiolatbt — Pbohinbnce OF the Doo, OB the Cototb — Obneballt thocoh not always a Benetolbkt Powbb — How the Covotb let Salmon up the Klamath — Dansb Maoabbr' and 8ad Death of the Cototb. The reader must have already noticed the strange rCles filled by animals in the creeds of the Native Races of the Pacific States. Beasts and birds and fishes fetch' and carry, talk and act, in a way that leaves even /Esop's heroes in the shade ; while a mysterious and inexplicable influence over human destiny is often accorded to them. It is of course impossible to say precisely 'how much of all this is metaphorical, andy how mucji is held as soberly and literally true. Probably the proportion varies all the way from one extreme to the other among different nations, aiid among peoples of different stages of culture in the same nation. They, spake only in part, these priests and prophets of barbaric cults, and we can under- Htand only in part; we cannojb solve the dark riddle of the past; we can oftenest only repeat it, and even that in a more or less imperfect manner. The Mexicans had their official augurs and sooth- 138 ANIMAL MTIHOLOaT. sayers, who divined much as did their brethren of classic times. The people also drew omen and presage from many things: from the howling of wild beasts at night; the singing of certain birds; the hooting of the owl; a weasel crossing a traveler's path ; a rabbit running into its burrow ; from the chance movements of worms, bee- tles, ants, frogs, and mice ; and so on in detail.^ The owl seems to have been in many places considered a bird of ill omen. Among all the tribes visited by Mr Lord, from the Fraser River to the Saint Lawrence, this bird was portentously sacred, and was a favorite decora- tion of the medicine-men. To come on an owl at an unusual time, in daylight for example, and to hear its mystic cry, were things not desirable of any that loved fulness of pleasure and length of days.^ In California, by the tribes on the Russian River, owls were held to be devils or evil spirits incarnate.'' We often find an animal adopted in much the same way as a patron saint was selected by the medioQval knight. The Hyperborean lad, for example, when he reaches man- hood, takes some beast or fish or bird to be his patron, and the spirit connected with that animal is supposed to guard him. Unlike most Indians, the Eskimo will have nu hesitation in killing an animal of his tutelary species; he is only careful to wear a piece of its skin or bone, which he regards as an amulet, which it were to him a serious misfortune to lose. Prolonged ill luck some- times leads a man to change his jMitron beast for another. The spirits connected with the deer, the seal, the salmon, and the beluga are regarded by all with special venera- tion.* ^/The Mexicans used to allot certain animals to certain parts of the body ; perhaps in muc|i the same way a» astrologers and alchymists used to connect the stars ol' heaven witli difierent substances and persons. The fol- lowing twenty 'Mexican symbols -were suppose!^ to rule > Sahtigun, IHgt. Otn., torn, ii., lib. v., pp. 1-14, np. pp. 25-0. • Ijord'a Naturalist in Vancouvtr ManJ, vol, ii., pp. 32-i, > Powers' Porno, MS. « DttU'a Alaaha, p. U6. THE HUMANITY OF ANIMALS. 129 over the various members of the human body: The sign of the deer, over the right foot ; of the tiger, over the left foot; of the eagle, over the right hand; of the monkey, over the left hand ; of death, — represented by a skull, — over the skull ; of water, over the hair ; of the house, over the brow; of rain, over the eyes; of the do^, over the nose ; of the vulture, over the right ear ; of the rabbit, over the left ear; of the earthquake, over the tongue ; of flint, over the teeth ; of air, over the breath ; of the rose over the breast; of the cane, over the heart; of wind over the lungs — as appears from the plate in the Codex Vaticanus, the Italian interpreter giving, how- ever, " over the liver;" of the grass, over the intestines; of the lizard, over the loins; and of the serpent over the genitals." Sometimes the whole life and being of a iium was supposed to be bound up in the bundle with that of some animal. Thus, of the Guatemaltecs, old Gage quaintly enough writes: " Many are deluded by the Devil to be- lieve that their life dependeth upon the life of such and such a beast (which they take unto them as their familiar spirit) and think that when that beas* dieth they must die; when he is chased their hearts pant; when he is faint they are faint ; nay it happeneth that by the devil's delusion they appear in the shajie of that beast."" Animals are sometimes only men in disguise; and this is the idea often to be found at the bottom of that sacredness which among particular tribes is ascribed to particular animals. The Thlinkeet will kill a bear only in case of great necessity, for the bear is supposed to be a man that has taken the shape of an animal. We do not know if they think the same of the albati'oss, but they certainly will ' Cmlex Vatlcamts (Mex.), in KlngHhorow/h's Mex. Antiq., vol. ii., plate 75; Spifi/otione dellc Tavole del C'odice Mexicano (VaticanoJ, in Kingnborouiih's Mi'x. Antiq., vol. v., p. l!)7, tav. Ixxv.; Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in KinitHboroutjh's Mex, Antiq., vol. vi., pp. '.^22-3, plate Ixxv. It will be Been tha; I have tntHted more to the plate itself than to the Italian explanation. Ah to KiugBborough'a translation of that explanation, it ia nothing but a gloss with additions to and oniissionB from the original. Oage'a Neu) Survey, p. 334. Vol. III. If-" 130 ANIMAL MYTHOLOOT. I i i i i I not kill this bird, believing, like mariners ancient and modem, that such a misdeed would be followed by bad weather.'' Among the natives seen by Mr Lord on Vancouver Is- land, ill-luck is supposed to attend the profane killing of the ogress-squirrel, and the conjurers wear its skin as a strong charm among their other trumpery. As tradition tells, there once lived there a monstrous old woman with wolfish teeth, and finger-nails like claws. She ate chil- dren, this old hag, wiling them to her with cunning and oily words, and many were the broken hearts and empty cradles that she left. One poor Rachel, weeping ■for her child and not to be comforted because it was not, cries aloud : Oh, Great Spirit, Great Medicine, save my son, in any way, in any form! And the great, good Father, looking down upon the red mother pities her; lo, the child's soft brown skin turns to fur, and there slides from the (press's grip no child, but the happiest, liveliest, merriest little squirrel of all the west—but bearing, as its descendants still bear, those four dark lines along the back that show where the cruel claws plowed into it escaping." Where monkeys are found, the idea seems often to have occurred to men, to account for the resemblance of the monkey to the man by making of the first a fallen or changed form of the latter. We have already seen how the third Quiche destruction of the human race ter- minated thus ; and how the hurricane-ended Sun of the Air in Mexican mythology, also left men in the apish state. The intelligence of beavers may have been the means of winning them a similar distinction. The Flat- head says these animals are a fallen race of Indians, condemned for their wickedness to this form, but who will yet, in the fulness of time, be restored to their hu- manity.' As we shall see more particularly, when we come to f Hdmhtrg, Ethn. SkU., p. 30. * Lnrd'8 JVd(., vol. ii., pp. 52^. • Cox'b Advm., vol. i,, p. 253. SACBEDNESS OF GEBTAIN BRUTES. in deal with the question of the future life, it was a com- mon idea that the soul of the dead took an animal shape, sometimes inhabiting another world, sometimes this. The Thlinkeets, for example, believed that their shamans used to have interviews with certain spirits of the dead that appeared to them in two forms, some as land ani- mals, some as marine.^" The Galifornians round San Diego will not eat the flesh of large game, believing such animals are inhabited by the souls of generations of people that have died ages ago; 'eater of venison!' is a term of reproach among them." The Pimos and Maricopas had, if Bartlett's account be correct, some curious and unusual ideas regarding their future state; saying that the several parts of the body should be changed into separate animals; the head would perhaps take the form of an owl, the feet become wolves, and so on." The Moquis supposed that at death they should be severally changed into animals — bears, deer, and such beasts; which indeed, as we have already seen, they believed to have been their ori- ginal fonn.** Different reasons are given by diftJsrent tribes for holding certain animals sacred ; some of these we have already had occasion to notice. Somewhat difterent from most, however, is that given by the Northern-Indian branch of the Tinneh, for not eating the flesh of foxes, wolves, ravens, and so on. This tribe are accustomed to abandon the bodies of their dead wherever they happen to fall, leaving them to the maws of kites or of any other animals of prey in the neighborhood ; therefore nothing but the extremest necessity can force any member of the nation to make use of such animals as food.^* Certain natives of Guatemala in the province of AcaUn, called by Yillagutierre Mazotecas, kept deer in so tame a >« DaU's Alaska, pp. 422-3. II Schookraft'a Arvh., vol. v., p. 216. « BartteiVa Pen. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222. » Ten Broeck, in Schoolcr^ft'a Arch., vol. iv., p. 86. ■< Jleame'8 Journey, p. 3il. 4 132 ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT. state that they were easily killed by the least active soldiers. These deer were held as sacred by the inhabitants ; for tradition told them that their greatest god had visited them in this figure." The Apaches greatly respect the bear, neither killing him nor tasting his flesh. They think that there are spirits of divine origin within or connected with the eagle, the owl, and all birds perfectly white. Swine, they hold to be wholly unclean.^* Some animals are sacred to particular gods: with the Ziinis, the fn^, the turtle, and the rattlesnake were either con- sidered as specially under the protection of Montezuma, — here considered as the god of rain, — or they were them- selves the lesser diviniti'^s of water." It is sometimes necessary to guard against being mis- led by names. Thus the natives of Nicaragua had gods whose name was that of a rabbit or a deer ; yet the.se animals were not considered as gods. The identity of name went only to say that such and such were the gods to be invoked in hunting such and such animals." The reader must have already noticed how important is the part assigned to birds in our mythology, especially in creation-myths. A great bird is the agent of the chief deity, iierhaps the chief deity himself. The sweep of his wings is thunder; the lightnings are the 'glances of his eyes." Chipewyans, Thlinkeets, Atnas, Koltschanes, Kenai, and other nations give this being great prominence in their legends. Brinton believes this bird to be the emblem of the wind, to be " a relic of the cosmc^onal myth which explained the origin of the world from the action of the winds, un- 15 ViUofiutiem, Ilisl. Conq. Jtxa, p. 43. "> Charlton, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. v., p. 209. " Whipple, Etobank, and Turner's Rept., pp. 39-40, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. 's Oviedo, Hist. Oen., torn, iv., pp. 54-5. » Swinborue, Anactor'ia, has found an allied idea worthy of his Rnblimo verse:— ' Cast forth of heaven, with feet of awful gold, And plumeless winga that make the bright air blind, Lightning, with thunder for a hound behind. Hunting through fields unfurrowed and unsown — ' THE WIND OB THUNDEB BIBD. 188 der the image of the bird, on the primeval ocean;"* and his view is probably correct in many cases. The savage is ever ready to be smitten by natural powers. Ignorant and nga[)e with wonder, is it unnatural that he should regard, with a superstitious awe and re- spect, the higher and more peculiar animal gifts, relating them to like physical powers, and managing to mix and confuse the whole by a strange synthesis of philosophy ? Birds flew, the winds flew ; the birds were of the kith of the winds, and the winds were of the kin of the gods who are over all. Poor, weary, painted man, who could only toil dustily along, footsore and perhaps heartsore, with strange longings that venison and bear-meat could not satisfy, — was it very wonderful if the throbbing music and upward flight of the clear-throated and swift- winged were to him very mysterious and sacred things? "All living beings," say the north-eastern Eskimos, " have the faculty of soul, but especially the bird." From the flight and song of birds, the Mexican divined and shadowed forth the unborn shapes of the to-come. He died too, if he died in an odor of warlike sanctity, in the dtrong faith that his soul should ultimately take the foim of a bird and twitter through the ages in the purple shadows of the trees of paradise.''* The Kailtas on the south fork of the Trinity in Cali- id Brinton's Myths, p. 205. The Norse belief is akin to this: — ' The giant Hrsuelgur, At the end of heaven, Sits in an eagle's form; 'Tis said that from his wings The cold winds sweep Over all the nations. Vaflhrudvers maal; Orenville Pigott's translation, in Scandinavian Mytholoriy, p. 27. Scott, Pirate, chap, v., in the ' Song of the Tempest,' which he transHtes from Noma's mouth, shows that the same idea is still found in the Shetland Islands: — Stem eagle of the far north-west. Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thunderbolt. Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness, . . . Gease thou the waving of thy pinions. Let the ocean irepose in her dark strength; Goase thou the flashing of thine eyes. Lot the thunderbolt sleep in the armory of Odin.' " .bVtfc«.7wn, Jrtst. Oen., torn, i, lib.iii., p. 265; Ctavlijero, Storia Ant. dtl Memco, tom. ii., p. 5. 184 ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT. fomia, though they do not turn the soul into a bird, do say that as it leaves the body a little bird carries it up to the spirit-land.** The Spaniards of Vizcaino's expedition, in 1602, found the Californians of Santa Catalina Island venerat- ing two great black crows, which, according to Sefior Galan, were probably a species of bird known in Mexico as rey de ha eopUotes, or king of turkey-buzzards; he adding that these birds are still the objects of respect and devotion among most Californian tribes." As another symbol, sign, or type of the supernatural, the serpent would naturally suggest itself at an early dote to man. Its stealthy, subtle, sinuous motion, the glittering fascination of its eyes, the silent deathly thrust of its channeled fangs, — what marvel if the foolishest cf men, like the wisest of kings, should say " I know it not; it is a thing too wond*>rfnl for me?" It seems to be immortal : every spring-time it cast oiT and crept from its former skin, a crawling unburnt phoerix, a new ani- mal. Schwartz, of Berlin, affirms, from deep research in Greek and Gennan mythology, that the paramount germinal idea in this wide-spread serpent-emblem is the lightning, and Dr. Brinton develops the same opinion at some length.'" Tlaloc, the Aztec rain-god, held in his hand a ser- pent-shaped piece of gold, representing most probably the lightning. Hurakan, of the Quichf^ legends, is otherwise the Strong Serpent, he who hurls below, referring in all likelihood to storm powers as thunderer.'" This view being accepted, the lightning- •• Powers' Porno, MS. *> Torquemada, MotMrq. Ind., torn, i., p. 713: ' The entire tribes of the Oaliforaiau Indiania [aio 1 appear to have had agreat devotion and venera tion for the Condor or Yellow-hondod Vulture.' Taylor, in Cal. Farmtr, M«» 25th, 1860. ' Cathartea Califoruianua, the largest rapacious bird of Nurth Amerioe.' Baird'n Birds of N. Am., p. 5. ' This bird is an object of gruut veneration or worship among the Indian tribes of every portion of the state.' Reid, in Los Angtits Star. « Brinlon's Myths, p. 113. *> Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., torn. !{■, PP- M-71; Cktvigero, Sloria Ant.dil niessioo, torn, ii., pp. 14-16; Oama, Dos PUdrar:, pt. ii., pp. 76-7. THE GBOSS AND THE FOUB WINDS. 185 serpent is the type of fruitfulness; the thunder storm being inseparably joined with the thick, fer- tilizing summer showers." Born, too, in the middle heaven, of a cloud mother and of an Ixion upon whom science cannot yet place her finger, amid moaning breeze and threatening tempest, the lightning is surely also akin to the wind and to the bird that is their symbol. The amalgamation of these powers in one deity seems to be what is indicated by such names as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, Cukulcan, all titles of the God of the Air in different American languages, and all signifying ' Bird- Serpent.' In a tablet on the wall of a room at Palenque is a cross surmounted by a bird, and supported by what ap- pears to be the head of a serpent: "The cross," says Brinton, " is the symbol of the four winds; the bird and serpent, the rebus of the air god, their ruler." It does not appear that savage;^ attach any special signi- ficance of evil to the snake, though the prepossessions of early writers almost invariably blind them on this point." This rule is not without its exceptions however ; the Apaches hold that every rattlesnake contains the aoul of a bad man or is an emissary of the Evil Spirit." The Piutes '^f Nevada have a demon-deity in the form of a serpent itill supposed to exist in the waters of Pyra- mid Lake. The wind when it sweeps down among the nine islands of the lake drives the waters into the most fantastic swirls and eddies, even when the general surface of the luke is tolerably placid. This, say the Piutes, is the devil-snake causing the deep to boil like a pot; this is the old serpent seeking whom he may devour ; and no native in possession of his five sober wits will be found steering toward those troubled waters at such a time." In the Pueblo cities, among the Pecos especially, there existed in early times an immense serpent, supposed to be sacred, and which, according to some accounts, was •« MMer, Amtrtkaniache Umll(iionm, p. BOO. " Tylor'tPrim. VuU., vol. ii., p. 217. « Cfiarlhn, in Schmlirafl'a Anh., vol. v., p. 809. » Virginta lUy CKronioU, in 8. F. DaUy Evg Poti, of Aug. lath, 1879. I » 186 ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT. fed with the flesh of his devotees. Gregg heard an "honest ranchero" relate how, one snowy morning, he had come upon this terrible reptile's trail, " large as that of a dragging ox ;" the ranchero did not, pursue the in- vestigation farther, not obtrud^.ig his science, such as it was, upon his religion. This serpent was supposed to be specially connected with Montezuma, and with rain phenomena: it is often called " the great water-snake." It was described to Whipple " as being as large round as a man's body; and of exceeding great length, slowly gliding upon the water, with long wavy folds " like the Nahant sea-serixjnt, — to Mollhausen, as being a great rattlesnake, possessor of power over seas, lakes, rivers and rain; as thick as many men put t(^ether, and much longer than all the snakes in the world ; moving in great curves and destroving wicked men. The Pueblo In- dians prayed to it for rain and revered its mysterious powers.** A people, called by Castafieda Tabus, apparently of Sinaloa in the neighborhood of Culiacan, regarded cer- tain large serijents with sentiments of great veneration if not of worship.'* These reptiles seem also to have been regarded with considerable reverence in Yucatan. In 1517, Kernal Diaz noticed many figures of serpents in a temple he saw at Campeche. Juan de Orijalva, also, found at the same time many such figures at Champotou, among other idols of clay and wood." We have already spoken of the Mexican Tlaloc and of the frequent appearance of the serpent in his worship; it does not ap[)ear, however, notwithstanding Mr Squier's assertion to tlu? contrary, that that the serpent was actu- ally worshiped either in Yucatan or Mexico. Ikriial Diaz, indeed, says positively in one passnge, speaking of "> Orc()H not nxint nt preHoiit. Wand, in bul, j\ff. lUpt., 1804, p. 1S);1; Meline'H V'loo ThuuHaml MlltH. p. i^6(l. SI CnHliD'itila, Voy, tk Cibola, in TtmawC'CompanH, Voy(h;ea, Borie i., toni. ix., p. ino. x Jkrttai IHat, Hiat. Cvnq,, (ol. 3, 8. THE DOG OF AMEBIGAN MYTHOLOOT. 187 and of orship ; quior's k8 jvctu- liernal ung of Turnir'.s h, p. m; ly all th« nothing 1804, p. I i., torn. a town called Tenayuca, that " they worshiped here, in their chief temple, three serpents;" but the stout soldier was not one to make fine distinctions between gods and their attributes or symbols ; nor, even with the best in- tentions, was he or any other of the conquistodores in a |X)sition to do justic. to the faith of ' gentiles.' ^ We shall hereafter find the serpent closely connected with Quetzalcoatl in many of his manifestations, as well as with others of the Mexican gods. From the serpent let us turn to the dog, with his rela- tions the wolf and coyote, an animal holding a respecta- ble place in American mythology. We have seen how many tribes derive, figuratively or literally, their origin from him, and how often he becomes legendarlly impor- tant as the hero of some adventure or the agent of some deity. He is generally brought before us in a rather tenevolent aspect, though an exception occurs to this in the case of the Chinooks at the mouth of the Columbia. With these the coyote figures as the chosen medium for the action of the Evil Spirit toward any given malevo- lent end, — as the form taken by the Evil One to coun- teract some beneficence of the Good Spirit toward the poor Indian whom he loves.'* Very difterent from this is the character of that Coyote of the Cahrocs whose good deeds we have so often had (KUMision to set forth. One feat of his yet remains to be told. — how he stocked the river with salmon. Chfirova, the creator, had mjule salmon, but he had put them in the big-water, and made a great fish-dam at the mouth of the Klamath, so that they could not go up; and this dam was closiul with something of the nature of a white man's key, which key was given in charge to two old hajrs, not wholly unfamiliar to us, to keep and watch ov(>r it niglit and day, so that no Cahroc should get near it. Now fish being wanting to the Cahrocs, they were sorely pushed by hunger, and the voice of women and " lirml nidt, Hist. Conq.. fol. 130; Schoolorafl'a Arch., vol. v., p. 106. " Lord's A'(i<„ vol. ii , p. 218. 188 ANIMAL MTTHOLOOT. little children was heard imploring food. The Coyote determined to help them ; he swore by the stool of Cha- reya that before another moon their lodges should drip with salmon, and the very dogs be satisfied withal. So he traveled down the Klamath many days' journey till he came to the mouth of the river and saw the big- water and heard the thunder of its waves. Up he went to the hut of the old women, rapped, and asked hospitality for the night ; and he was so polite and debonair that the crones could find no excuse for refusing him. He entered the place and threw himself down by the fire, warming himself while they prepared salmon for supper, which they ate without offering him a bite. All night long he lay by the fire pretending to sleep, but thinking over his plans and waiting for the event that should put him in possession of the mighty key that he saw hanging so high above his reach. In the morning one of the hags took down the key and started off toward the dam to get some fish for breakfast. Like a flash the Coyote leaped at her, hurling himself between her feet; heels over head she pitched, and the key flew far from her hands. Before she well knew what had hurt her the Coyote stood at the dam with the key in his teeth, wrenching at the fastenings. They gave way ; and with a great roar the green water raced through, all ashine with salmon, utterly destroying and breaking down the dam, so that ever after fish found free way up the Klamath. The end of the poor Coyote was rather sad, considering his kindness of heart and the many services he had ren- dered the Cab rocs. Like too many great personages, he grew proud and puffed up with the adulation of flatterers and sycophants, — proud of his courage and cunning, and of the success that had crowned his great enterprises for the good of mankind, — proud that he had twice deceived and outwitted the guardian hags to whom Chareya had entrusted the fire and the salmon, — so proud that he determined to have a dance through heaven itself, hav- ing chosen as his partner a certain star that used to imsa quite close by a mountain where he spent a good deal of COYOTES MUST NOT DANCE WITH STABS. 139 his time. So he called out to the star to take him by the paw and they would go round the world together for a night; but the star only laughed, and winked in an excessively provoking way from time to time. The Coyote persisted angrily in his demand, and barked and barked at the star all round heaven, till the twinkling thing grew tired of his noise and told him to be quiet and he should be taken next night. Xext night the star came quite up close to the cliff where the Coyote stood, who leaping was able to catch on. Away they danced together through the blue heavens. Fine sport it was for a while ; but oh, it grew bitter cold up there for a Coyote of the earth, and it was an awful sight to look down to where the broad Klamath lay like a slack bow- string and the Cahroc villages like arrow-heads. Woe for the Coyote! his numb paws have slipped their hold on his bright companion ; dark is the partner that leads the dance now, and the name of him is Death. Ten long snows the Coyote is in falling, and when he strikes the earth he is " smashed as flat as a willow-mat". — Coyotes must not dance with stars.'" u Povoer'a Porno, MS.; Boaoana. in Robinson's Life in Col., pp. 260-263, describes certain other OalifornianB aa worshipirg for their chief god aome- thiu^ in the form of a stuffed ooyote. CHAPTER V. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Eskimo Witchcraft — The Tinnkh and thb Komiaqas— Kuoamb of tbk Alkdtb— Thb Thlin'kketb, thb Haioahb, and the Nootkab— Pabadibx Lost of tub Okanaoanb — The Salish, the Clallahb, the Chinooxb, THE Gayuses, the Walla Wallas, and the Nez Pkbckb— Shoshone GHODiii — Northebm Califobmu — The Hi v at Montkbey — O01OT and Chiniochimich — Antaoonistio O0D8 OF LowKB California — Comam- OBEs, Apaches, and Navajob— Montbedha of the Pueblob— Moqdib and Mojaves — Primeval Back of Nobthebn California. We now come to the broadest, whether or not it be the most important, branch of our subject, namely, the gods and spirits that men worship or know of. Commencing at the extreme north, we shall follow them through the various nations of our territory toward the south. Very wild and conflicting is the general mass of evidence bearing on a belief in supernatural existences. Not only from the nature of the subject is it allied to questions and matters the most abstruse and transcendental, — in the ex- pression of which the exactest dialectic terminology must often \ye at fault; much more the rude and stam- mering speech of savages — but it is also apt to call up prejudices of the most warping and contradictory kind in the minds of those through whose relation it must pass to us. However hopeless the task, I will strive to hold an equal beam of historical truth, and putting away speculations of either extreme, try to give the naked expression of the belief of the |X3oples we deal with, — ESKIMO SHAMANISM mg to the ingenbus sSS&^ "^iT ' ^^^^ The Eskimos do notappear tol^ ^^"* *^^"«t«- deity, but only an indeS nuT^^'"? ^"-^^ «"Preme things varying in name, ^ter 2^^ «"P«*-"«tural seeming to predominate ^S " ^^^^acter-the evil small ivory image rudely carveJ fl"^ "" *^^^ P^^son a mal, as a kind of talisman fh! ^^P«^«ent some ani- success in huntin-^ nlZl T T ^'^^"ght to further 'i'-irdly be looked"i;on3 '"^ "*^^'- P"^^"its, but can are generally to b^Cl fofT/^'"' ''''''^'^' «« C fepnce. All superSm, l^sL^^^^^^^^^ the medium of shVmdns -^^funo ?n '• *'«"«««ted through Jnedicme-menofeastern Vni" !^^^"^««"««'eringto the >oth male and femarioh ^^"^^^^'-^^th^^e there 1 t or his or herTwn reT^^Jr''^^ «" «^ «^r the £ne ''I'f art differ somewhafn^r j^'^' ^'^^ ^ites of Sr of their Tinneh neTghWs' and' v '"^ *" ^^^"' ^'^'n thoi ti;e Tschuktschi and otW snr^ """-^ ^"^"^ *hoserf whole religion may be sCmed,m?" *"^«' ^"^ their •tH^^expression in witchcrT' ^' "' " ^"^'"^ fear finding %f hS^^^^^^^ of ,,, i «pific, do not seem inanv^of th5^ '•^^"^'*" '^^d to the ;^ «;^gle expressed idea Zfr^^Z ?"""« *"»>«« to have heLoucheux branch recocmS ^-'^ «"P»'«me power, dent in the moon whn^ ?k ''*'''**^'» Persona^rresi starting on a h^g tLul'"^^^^^^^^^^ «~n ^•""ng them as a pSor SZiri" ^?« '^ing once lived «elt ridiculous to his i ui^i ^""^ "^^'^ »^»de liim- very large snow.shoctf£"«r^->^, '"'^'^•"g « pair^f a starveling like him j?o„ ^?'' "^"'^^ "«* see wha ^/,ll7!:-'c""?'» ^-or.. pp. ,0. ,0.. .,_. . . ^"^ ^"^ , . "'"^ ««jro88 a new •20, 3:;6. Iti 00D8, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. I! trail that led to a head or two of freshly killed game. They were glad enough to get the game and without scruples as to its appropriation ; still they felt curious as to whence it came and how. Suspicion at last pointing to the boy and bis great shoes, as being in some way implicated in the affair, he was watched. It soon became evident that he was indeed the benefactor of the Loucheux, and the secret hunter whose quarry had so often replenished their empty pots; yet the people were far from being adequately grateful, and continued to treat him with little kindness or respect. On one occa- sion they refused him a certain piece of fat — him who had so often saved their lives by his timely bounty ! That night the lad disappeared, leaving only his clothes behind, hang- ing on a tree. He returned to them in a month, however, appearing as a man and dressed as a man. He told them that he had taken up his home in the moon ; that he would always look down with a kindly eye to their success in hunting; but he added, .that as a punishment for their shameless greed and ingratitude in refusing him the piece of fat, all animals should be lean the long win- ter through, and fat only in summer; as has since been the case. According to Heame, the Tinneh believe in a kind of spirits, or fairies, called nantena, which people the earth, the sea, and the air, and are instrumental for both good and evil. Some of them believe in a good spirit called Tihugun, ' my old friend,' supposed to reside in the sun and in the moon ; they have also a bad spirit, Chutsain, apparently only a personification of death, and for this reason called bad. They have no regular order of shamdns; any one when the spirit moves him may take upon himself their duties and pretensions, though some by happy chances, or pecu- liar cunning, are much more highly esteemed in this re- gard than others, and are supported by voluntary con- tributions. The coi\jurer often shuts himself in his tent and abstains from food for days till his earthly grossncss thins away, ard the spirits and things unseen are con- -«."or nl?rtht';L^^^^^^^ ?« yT^r Ti„„eh keen eye, holding their owf'J^i ?*'^?^ ^^'"^ and the mock at the terrors of th^n^^ I/" *^« J«««e of life . dwindle with diseaSor a^'^7«We; ^"^ «« the puS in the shadow of imDenS.f5 t ^"^« «*rike together to exf.1 the evil C^of Thth ^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^" Among the Taculliesfa «,Xtn f« ^*^'"* "possessed this stage, on the truth Tnd «^" '" '*^*^'» ^^^orted to at thechancesof ar^very Asfl "J"""^^^ ^^^°^ de^nd which they most frequeVeo^C?-'"^"' " *^^ ^'•^"•es of their moral chari^ter and^T ?''^^^'- something mentioned," but in St ^^^^'^fo'* deserve to b? -th women and w h VenTfil^^^^ *»^««XS^ worse than the sins of &2,^ f J^S^"" *"d '^stiality stomach of description Th! ^^ und hTf^t Th ^' ^^'^^^S^Se^ rather beforj^te td 1^"'^^^ ^^^^^ the ima4l*^v descended and enterS Ito f^,*^ ^^''^ ^^^'^ a ku<2 him or to her w W 1 S *^^ ^^«n %ure W^* - the whirl oftaTaw?utdrel T' ^^»' - was'^^^d was not more fatalThan a^l ' *^^ «*«^« «f the Gorgon possessed the idol- anH f« ^'''"''^ °^ the demon S opposite sex, howWerl/ """^ °"^ *« J«>k on re of thi -mted as oneXd ''^^: tt^l ^^ -^^^"^even' Idols and the masks wpI t !^ ^^^^^ was over thp may be added thaTsuch m„ J^^''\ ^^^^ «««t awly ' It by prophets in therHfT''' "' ^'^'^ ^^^e need^7eve„ that know all V ^1 f^''''^''' with the great 'S Vou m.. ,7 "'• ^'^' vol. i., p. oX P- ^^'^J -OaW'a ^mAo, 146 GODS. SUPEBNATUILLL BEINQS. AND WORSHIP. ter of these in the supernatural world, nor even their comparative rank, can be established above contradiction. Thus Yehl is said to be the creator of all beings and things, yet we have not forgotten how Khanukh wrung from the unwilling lips of him the confession : Thou art older that I. It is (^ain said of Yehl that his power is unlimited ; but alas, we have seen him helpless in the magic darkness raised by Khanukh, and howling as a frightened child might do in a gloomy corridor. The nature of Yehl is kind and he loves men, while the re- verse is generally considered true of Khanukh ; but Yehl, too, when his anger is stirred up sends sickness and evil fortune. Yehl existed before his birth upon earth ; he cannot die nor even become older. Where the sources of the Nass are, whence the east-wind comes, is Nass- shakieyehl, the home of Yehl; the east-wind brings news of him. By an unknown mother a son was bom to him, who loves mankind even more than his father, and provides their food in due season. To conclude the mattei", Yehl is, if not the central figure, at least the most prominent in the Thlinkeet pantheon, and the alpha and the omega of Thlinkeet philosi.^hy and theol- ogy is summed up in their favorite aphorism : As Yehl acted and lived, so also will we live and do. After Yehl and Khanukh, the Thlinkeets believe in the brother and sister, Ghethl and Ahgishanakhou, the Thunder or Thunder-bird, and the Under-ground Woman. Chethl is a kind of great northern rukh that snatches up and swallows a whale without difficulty, while his wings and eyes produce thunder and lightning as alrearly described ; his sister Ahgishanakhou sits alone below and guards the Irminsul that supports the world of the North-west." The Tiilinkeets have no idols, unless the little images > In Holmberg's account of these Thlinkeet supernatural powers, not' " is said of the sun or moon as indicating the possession of life by thot ony qualities not material. But Dunn, The Omjnn Territnry, p. ? Dixon, Voyarft Round Uie World, pp. 169-90, describe at least some tribes of the Thlinkeets and many trib'js of the Haidahs, that consider u to be a great spirit moving over th>) earth once every day, animatiii^ I keeping alive all creatures, and, apparently, as being the origin of all; H" moou IS a subordinate and night watcher. 1BE THLIKKEET SHAMAN. sometimes carried hv ♦»,« • . may be caiied b/Ct ^l^^^/^J charming with nor pnests, unless their soSs 1^2 .^''^"^ ^«™h»P may be entitled to tH-^se S^*- "^ *^® "*«« of them or shamans seem to S^munK "**'""!• '^^^^^^e ^o^ei^S -tions are ^nerallyl^^X^^'^ ^^'^ -«-J« -nd though the death of a mfSlf • ^^qmesced in by all- tim is sometimes Infful^^r^^^' V "P^^^ vt' the deceased. Shamdni^is^S^,, v ^ ^l *^^ "^^^^^i^^^ of ml course of things theTong^^i^J^^^^^^^' ^«"«t»^ dre^s and so on, is inheritSTv 1 ^^P**^*"'' "»««'"» of the deceased conjurer 1^ ^^, ^^^ *^" ""' grandson ever, prove himself worthy „f !.^°""g.^^an must, how- comes assured to him Kir '^ P*'*'*^^" "^^re it be. with spirits. The futu^ XmL"^ ?' communicating forest or up some moun^n wK hf ^^ ^"*^ * ^«"cly mg onl^. on the roots oUhe m^t T' '^*^^' ^««J- for the spirits to come ^hC^'/Z'^^'''^^ ^""^ ^«iting supposed to do in fn,m to to fir 'll "^ ^ ^"^"^"^ the meeting takes place m?H f K u •T''^- ^^ «» Ko well ^^'T'' « «"PP08ed to be hid thp wh ,^ ^'^"^^ «^ wWch ot shamanism Th*. »« ® ^'^^^^^ Power and seoi** and four times, elh timelT^V^' ^^* fe t'S ^•'^ntly, reaching out aVthe ^^ft" -^.^^^^^ ^«"« ^n- the man cuts off and preservS L7^ ? ' *°"^"«' ^'hich P ace, for if any one^nrSa^ f ^',«^ayin aclose tahsman the sight would^ " ^ ^^''''^^ ^ook on this « inned by the tlTam^niTd th" T"^". '^^^^ «"- « of hi« profession, while The Zl '^^ f '''" '^^P' ^^ a sign [awful to kill a^Tver.otter 11? '' """^' '^ ''^ ^^' have been described if L^v/"..'""^ «^^'«n« ^ ^it the would-be sham/n T .^^ ^^e spirits xvili not |of the otter-tontet CrK al""^^^^^^^^^^^ ^ « the tomb of a dead r„m - ^''f' *^'^ "eophyfe tia GODS. 8UPSBNATUBAL BEIKOS, AN1> WOBSHIP. When all these things have been done the shaman re- turns to his family emaciated and worn out, and his new powers are immediately put to the test. His reputation depends on the numb^^r of spirits at his command. The spirits are called yeh, and to every conjurer a certain numbf^r of them arf; attached as familiars, while there are others on whom he may call in an emergency; in- deed every man of whatever rank or profession is attended by a familiar spirit or demon, who only aban- dons his charge when the man becomes exceedingly bad. The world of spirits in general is divided into three classes: keeyek, tdkeeyek, and Ukeeyek. The first-class, 'the Upper Ones,' dwell in the north and seem to be connected with the northern lights; they are the spirits of the brave fallen in battle. The other two classes are the spirits of those that died a natural death, and their dwelling is called takankdu. The takeeyek, ' land-spirits,' appear to the shamdns in the form of land animals. With regard to the tekeeyek, 'sea-spirits* which appear in the form of marine animals, there is some dispute among the Thlinkeets as to whether these spirits were ever the spirits of men like those of the other two classes, or whether they were merely the souls of sea animals. The supreme feat of a conjurer's power is to throw one of his liege spirits into the body of one who refuses to believe in his power ; upon which the possessed is taken with swooning and fits. The hair of a shamun is never cut. A a among the Aleuts, a wooden mask is necessary to his safe intercourse with any spirit ; separate masks are worn for interviews with separate spirits. When a shaman sickens, his relatives fast for his recovery ; when he dies, his body is not burned like that of other men, but put in a box which is set up on a high frame. The first night followi^ his death bi;^ body is left in that corner of his hut in which he died. On the second night it is carried to ant ther corner, and so on for four nights till it has occupied successively all the corner^: of the yourt, all the occupants of which are supposed *a) fust SOLAB SPIRIT OP THE HAIDAH8. during this time. On the fifth a .^ down on a board, and LXn^. th T.k^", *^^ ''' «ed often used in his'rites when afL ^'T t«^ ""^^ ^^ his hair and the other inThoi®^'''^ '^^^'^^ ^^e one in head is then covered with I^^,^"^g« «^ his nose. The taken to its placeXp* W ^^^^ «nd the body dropping a little tobacco into fhf^? *^^ ^^^^ without m«;ies of the mightM^^'i*'' *^" ^'»*«'- ^ conciliate the ine Haidahs bel'ipvA tu^ rator and supreme ruler th^l^^^^^^^^ ^ he the !»"» ^vith the material sun wh7i. "«^^?«^ever confuse "»g round the fixed earth mid " '^'"'"« "»«» ^valk- crown. Sometimes the mLL,r'""^ '^ "radiated" fused indefinite way wUnb' *" connected in a con- an evil spirit who/aCi*^%r;\' '^''''' '^'^^^ « wi h hoofs and horisTouXn.^ •^"""' " P^^ided fashion of them, whether orfh!i*'""» " «^'d as to the at leajt those s^nhXfJ:L'T^ £'« ""'d^ti"! land, have no worsJ.ip, nor did fh! i^",^" ^^^''^otte Is- a« in any way responds b,e to an v'l '^^"^" themselves As with their northern „!? f I? ^"^'^y ^«^ their action^ Klmmikh. wi.ui. ."V^.v*^'*' ffves us a vn^..\dl'.;. ^fnaifn Altx. Arch horn are toy,^ri4TnUfV.:'t^''^ ^1 " host of Zd :«.i^^.,«^kits do not «b«.it«heoriKi^Sn«t«JT"'?,°f " »'n'erZx^a£ l"^'^ formerly ^u qmro,I greut "kill in the ui« „7 ,''*'^\ "" ^^^h n„d w«bT l*' ""■" *"''»• h«fd '"•<>«. assume their -ImL ?i ''**' •»<>» and urrL i/'"*'*' ^""K ho no- ^, . BJUl.. Who aw .UPP0.8U to U Uie fottnjr'"^'.^ <''•' **o Huusn Of tho IndUB UO GODS, BUPERNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. With some at least of the Haidahs there was in exist- ence a rite of this sorcery attended by circumstances of more than ordinary barbarity and feroeit;y'. When the salmon season is over and the provisions of winter have been stored away, feasting and conjuring begin. The chief — who seems to be the principal sorcerer, and indeed to possess little authority save from his connection with the preter-human powers — goes off to the loneliest and wildest retreat he knows of or can discover in the mount- ains or forest, and half starves himself there for some weeks till he is worked up to a frenzy of religious in- sanity and xhe nawhks — fearful beings of some kind not human — con^ient to communicate with him by voices or otherwise. During all this observance, the chief is called taamish, and woe to the unlucky Haidah who happens by chance so much as to look on him during its continu- ance ; even if the taamish do not instantly slay the in- truder, his neighbors are certain to do so when the thing oomes to their knowledge, and if the victim attempt to conceal the affair, or do not himself confess it, the mont cruel tortures are added to his fate. At last the inspired demoniac returns to his village, naked save a bear-skin or a ragged blanket, with a chaplet on his head and a red band of alder-bark about his neck. He springs on the first person he meets, bites out and swallows one or more mouthfuls of the man's living flesh wherever he can fix his teeth, then rushes to another and another, repeating his revolting meal till he falls into a torpor from his sudden and half-masticated surfeit of flesh. For some days after this he lies in a kind of coma, " like tin over-gorged beast of prey," as Dunn says; the same observer adding that his breath during that time is " like an exhalation from a grave." The victims of this ferocity dare not resist the bite of the taamish ; on the oontrary, they are sometimes willing to offer themselves to the ordeal, and are always proud of its scars.'' The Kootkas acknowledge the existence of a great per- V Dunn'ji Ortffon, pp. 253-U; Somthr, in lAmd. Otog, Soo, Jour., vol. xi,, 1% 833; Bancro/t'B Nat. liaceg, vol. i., p]). 170-71. NOOTKA OODS. 161 ist- jof the ave The leed with and )unt- gome win- d not ces or called ippens iitinu- [he in- ) thing ;mpt to le most iij»pired far-skin and a |ing8 on one or jver he |.nother, >r from 11. VoT like an [e same |time is of this on tlie [raselves 5at per- flonage called Quahootze, whose habitation is apparently in the sky, but of whose nature little is known. When a storm begins to rage dangerously the Nootkas climb to the top of their houses and looking upwards to this great god, they beat drums and chant and call upon his name, imploring him to still the tempest. They fast, as some- thing agreeable to the same deity, before setting out on the hunt, and, if their success warrant it, hold a feast in his honor afi^r their return. This festival is held usually in December, and it was formei'ly the custom to finish it with a human sacrifice, an atrocity now happily fallen y| into disuse ; a boy, with knives stuck through the super- | ficial flesh of his arms, legs, and sides, being exhibited as a substitute for the ancient victim. Matlose is a famous hob-goblin of the Nootkas; he is a very Caliban of spirits; hiis head is like the head of something that might have been a man but is not; his uncouth bulk is horrid with black bristles ; his monstrous teeth and nails are like the fangs and claws of a bear. Whoever hears his terrible voice falls like one smitten, and his curved claws rend a prey into morsels with a single stroke. The Nootkas, like so many American peoples, have a tradition of a supernatural teacher and benefactor, an old man that came to them up the Sound long ago. His canoe was copper, and the paddles of it copper; every thing he had on him or about him was of the stune metal, lie landed and instructed the men of that day in many things; telling them that he came from the sky, that their country' should be eventually destroyed, that they should all die, but after death rise and live with him ahove. Then all the people rose up angry, and took his canoe from him, and slew him ; a crime from which their descendants have derived much benefit, for copjier and the use of it have remained with them ever since. Huge inuigcs, carved in wood, still stand in their houses in- tended to represent the form and hold in remembrance the visit of this old man, — by which visit i» not improb- ably intended to be signified an avatar or incarnation I i i 162 OODS, SUPERIfATUBAL BEINGS. AND WOBSHIP. of that chief deity, or great spirit, worshiped by many Californian tribes as ' the Old Man above.' The Ahts regard the moon and the sun as their highest deities, the moon being the husband and the sun the wife. To the moon chiefly, as the more powerful deity, they pray for what they require; and to both moon and sun, as to all good deities, their prayers are addressed directly and without the intervention of the sorcerers. Quawteaht — which seems to be a local Aht modification of Quahootze — who made most things that are in the world, was the first to teach the people to worship these luminaries who, over all and seeing all, are more powerful than himself, though more distant and less active. There is also that Tootooch, thunder- bird, of which so much has been already said. The Nootkas, in general, believe in the existence of numberless spirits of various kinds, and in the efficacy of sorcery. As in neighboring nations, the shaman gains or renews his inspiration by fasting and solitary meditation in some retired place, re-appearing at the end of his vigil half-starved and half-instme, but filled with the black virtue of his art. He does not generally col- lect a meal of living humnn flesh like the toamish of the preceding family, but he is satisfied with what his teeth can tear from the corpses in the burial-places. Old women are admitted to a shai^e in the powers of sorcery and prophecy and the interpretation of omens and dreams; the latter a most important function, as few days and nights pass over a Nootka house that do not give occasion by some vision or occurrence for the office of the sibyl or the augur." • JeieUt'a Nar,, p. 83; SmuIw, in Land. Qtoq. Soc. Jour., vol. xl., pp, 223- 4; Mo/ras, Explor., torn, i,, p. 346; SutUy MtxioatM, Viagr, p. 130; Mf ares' Voy.. p. 270; Uutchlnia' Vol. Maq., vol. v., pp. 'ii'i-4; Mai'fii'H Vano, M., pit. 433-411, 455; Bmet-Lenmrd'n Trav., pp. 61-3; Sproat'» Scenm, pp. 40, li«ntic alt; and she was a great and ! '^T'*" """^ «com. Scomalt. Atlastthe^^l"oftfe7J V"'*^^^" by war, and the noise of ra'tLwLh'^'";^ V" ^^'^^yed %hting the one with the othor '^'^j*^^^^' the white men ;ngly wroth. She roi up anS' aTd^ Sc'n^'^lt was exceed" these wicked far from me m \ ^^/ "«^ ^ ^i" drive vexed concerning Sem^f^^ ^"^f^^" '^ "« longer faithful of my ^ple^vith tir f-^t^'^ *^"^»« 'he And she drove trrebelliol * *?"'''"^' ""''y "»ore ^nd of the island, and broke of .,'' *• ^*^« "««"nosi ^|vh.Mhey wero huddled^Tn'd^ pl£ KTutlo'^, Z "Wiu in n„ elab!r««li.**' '"" hundred blankotii Tkj .!** "»•' *^^f' wob estf. ulwrifflneH: May thnv .11 k I*"*'* "" '" um nmonS„-«» V""V"^<"« «' conl "ve«„„«, b?r&IJ^.(''»«»ded for -yXWrilu? JuVwH IM OODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF. drift whither it would. This floating island was tossed to and fro many days and buffeted of the winds exceed- ingly, so that all the people thereon died save one man and one woman, who, seeing their island was ready to sink, made themselves a canoe and gat them away to- ward the west. After paddling day and night for many suns, they came to certain islands, whence steering through them, they came at last to where the mainland was, being the territory that the Okanagans now inhabit; it was, however, much smaller in those days, having grown much since. This man and woman were so sorely weather-beaten when they landed that they found their original whiteness quite gone, and a dusky reddish color in its place. All the people of the continent are de- scended from this pair, and the dingy skin of their storm- tossed ancestors has become a characteristic of the race. And even, as in time past the wrath of the fair Scomalt loosed the island of their ancestors from its mainland, and sent it adrift with its burden of sinful men, so in a time to come, the deep lakes, that like some Hannihal'H vinegar soften the rocks of the foundations of the world, and the rivers that run for ever and gnaw them away, shall set the earth afloat again ; then shall the end of the world be, the awful itsowkighJ' The Salish tribes believe the sun to be the chief deity, and certain cei'emonies, described by Mr Lord as having taken place on the death of a chief, seem to indicate that fire is in some way connected with the great light." The chief is ex officio a kind of priest, presiding for the most part at the various observances by which the deity of the sun is recognized. There is the usual belief in sorcery and second sight, and individuals succeed, by force of • Rom' Advtti., pp. 3S7-0. 10 • The bravest woman of the tribe, one used to o&rrying Ammuuition to the warrior when enf{Aged in light, bnred her breast to the pertMU who for courage and oonduot was deemed flt successor to the departed. From the breast he out a small portion, which he threw into the Are. She then cut n ■moll piece from the shoulder of the warrior, which was also throwu into the Are. A piece of bitter root, with a piece of meat, were nest thrown into the Are, all these being intended as offerings to the Hun, the d«ity of tho Flatheads.' Tolmit, in Jjonl't N •""""of « good dca of ceremony a„d Ivl '"°'» '" attended by a thiw night, must the nov^^ ^f ??" *• Three day, i,d !»-^»4^-Wt£:tr'/r^^ iKunara, the creator of fhn, • «!nong the ChinoorX tv"'"'"''"' " ** P«^«rful deitv ho Coyote, who created me^ aft!^ "J*^' ^'"«« JtalaZ* ^"«Ht them ho. to mata td^XS^^^^^^^ " XHn«'a Wand ^«.'^^"'""^''^'-''--''X.„.,,^.,;,^ 156 GODS, SUPEBNATUAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. make a fire, and how to cook ; for this the first fruits of the fishing season are always sacred to him, and his figure is to be found carved on the head of almost every Chinook canoe on the Columbia. They have a fire-spirit, an evil spirit, and a body of familiar spirits, tamanowaa. Each person has his special spirit, selected by him at an early age, sometimes by fasting and other mortification of the flesh, sometimes by the adoption of the first object the child or young man sees, or thinks he sees, on visiting the woods. These spirits have a great effect on the imagination of the Chinooks, and their supposed direc- tions are followed under pain of mysterious and awful punishments ; people converse — " particularly when in the water" — ^with them, apparently talking to themselves in low monotonous tones. Some say that when a man dies his tamanowa passes to his son ; but the whole matter is darkened with much mystery and secrecy ; the name of one's familiar spirit or guardian never being mentioned even to the nearest friend. A similar custom forbids the mention of a dead man's name, at least till many years have elapsed after the bereavement. The Chinook medicine-men are possessed of the usual powers of converse and mediation with the spirits good and evil; there are two classes of them, employed in all cases of sickness, — the etaminuas, or priests, who in- tercede for the soul of the patient, and, if necessary, for its safe passage to the land of spirits, — and the keekUes, or doctors, sometimes women, whose duty it is to ad- minister medical as well as spiritual aid.*^ With the Cayuses and the Walla- Wallas any one may become a medicine-man ; among the Nez Perces the ofiice belongs to an hereditary order. Women are sometimes trained to the profession, but they are not believed to hold such extreme powers as the males, nor are they murdered on the supposed exercise of some fatal influ- » WUkxa' Nar. in U. S. Ex. Ex., yol. v., pp. 124-6; Coos'* Advtn., toI. i., p. 317; Dtinn'a Oregon, pp. 125-fl; Franchire'a Nar., p. 358; Mofraa, Explor., torn, ii., p. 3»4; lioaa' Advtn., p. 96; Parker's Explor. Tour, pp. 13it, 246, 264; Tolmi\ in Lord's Nat., vol. ii., p. 248; OMs' Chinook Vooab., pp. 11, 13; Olbbs', Clallam and Lummi Vocab., pp. 16, 29; Irving's Atloria, pp. 339-40; Tyhr's Prim. Cult., vol. ii, p. 263. SHOSHONE DEMONS. IS a power of life, and death h\ •,''"^ *''»" ^^^e. His W a hated life Tf „ttt ^^^^^^ T ^^**^^^«"d the stare of the Medusa- he Tml^, ? J^"*' «^ ^"^^3^ «« «lnj jour friend or C^elf an?7*l ^^^^^^'"'-he can how sweet an anod^i^/J^T* Vk ^^"^'' b»* ^^^n magic can avail when the hS« W 2^-? '' "« «*rong avenger's shaft, no cunnin. u ^^"^ *"«'^^es down the the life in whei his SLT>"'r"* *^** ««" C Potsherd,-and so it c^^es atutTnt^ *^*^ ^^"» ^^^^^ « everywhere with theirT^in thlfr ) /^"J"^^«^«»k 8 rained to be very warv in IL* ^'^"^' '^"d are con- nous powers." ^ "^^ ''' ^^^^^^ exercise of their nefa- ihe Shoshone ]pn-on^<, i mountains of Monta?^wTthm?I^'''^"•" ^'^' «f the «7^^. who are al^uT two^t'r' "' ^J'"""^ «"»ed and provided each with a tlu "'rly\P'f^'^yr^^ked, one are accustomed to eat un L ^''"^'' «^ *'»« evi may find, leaving in its stL^ ""guarded infant they race. When the\ "tier tmesT '' ^?'^^«^" ^""^fuT po.^s to be her child the S I l"'^'^ ^^''^t «he sup. W and begins to dilrtn C^'\^' ""'''' ^e^ and the alarm therebn^^enJ^'^f'^^^u^"^ «''•««'«« »mp to make his esca^,^ thereT„ ^T *^/ ^'^"e'O"^ dit's within the twentvfhnrh "? h«Pe further: she 'n the meantimrtt HUl^^^^^^^^^ ^'^ ^^" ^"tcfi '^nJ make an end of her bv fi^K- ""t "^^" ^^"rn n^eal. There is another varfetv ^?^.k^^' interrupted <^fpa^mh8, 'water-infantJ' S^ I *^^'^ hobgoblins ch'Idren as do their bmthprfi ^'^ ^Z'^^"'' ^o»nen and ^Plete the ring^houtK ^h ^h'^^""*-". and Shoshone child and mother '• *** *'^*''^« "^""^ the 168 OODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINaS. AND WOBSHIP. The Califomian tribes, taken as a whole, are pretty uniform in the main features of their theogonic beliefs. They seem, without exception, to have had a hazy con- ception of a lofty, almost supreme being; for the most part referred to as a Great Man, the Old Man Above, the One Above ; attributing to him, however, as is usual in such cases, nothing but the vaguest and most negative functions and qualities. The real, practical power that most interested them, who had most to do with them and they with him, was a demon, or body of demons, of a toler- ably pronounced character. In the face of divers assertions to the effect that no such thing as a devil proper has ever been found in savage mythology, we would draw atten- tion to the following extract from the Porno manuscript of Mr Powers — a gentleman who, both by his study and by personal investigation, has made himself one of the best qualified authorities on the belief of the native Califomi- an, and whose dealings have been for the most part with tribes that have never had any friendly intercourse with white men: — " Of course the thin and meagre imagina- tion of the American savages was not equal to the crea- tion of Milton's magnificent imperial Satan, or of Goethe's Mephistopheles, with his subtle intellect, his vast powers, his malignant mirth ; but in so far as the Indian fiends or devils have the ability, they are wholly as wicked as these. They are totally bad, they have no good thing in them, they think only evil ; but they are weak and undignified and absurd ; they are as much beneath Satan as the ' I^g Indians ' who itivent them are inferior in imagination to John Milton."'' A definite location is generally assigned to the evil one as his favorite residence or resort; thus the Cali- fornians in the county of Siskiyou, give over Devil's Castle, its mount and lake, to the malignant spirits, and avoid the vicinity of these places with all possible care. The medicine-man of these people is a personage of some importance, dressing in the most costly furs ; he is a non- combatant, not coming on the field till after the fight ; among " Poioer'a Porno, MS. SACRED PIBES. Other duties, it ig ahanl.,f«i "* enemy, there to chant the H.^ **^" ^"^^n by the angry spirit that wXh f v **^r"g «nd appeal the only after this has S^* *^^^ Judgment of dife^ for "gain the lodge^t the'oW V' Jl^"«^* ^^^ ^ iigt lodge-fires are never allowJS 1 ''*'**''• 0"«« lit th!se peace; it would be a h^ f ^ ^ ^"* ^"ring times^ «»ng with these men Id "'I^i'^^/^^^^^ ««^ ev^ry The power of nr««K'- , oeducible from nU iU-^ "■any other Wbes ^^J^S"^"^' 'he Euroca, ^d m the «„,red flro of" S^h" *« "-^ that ia to be b^ y only with eertai„7m=«utr„l ""j"'"™ ''^ '»»'>. "-S r^'tl fire is lit everv ^ S """^ '^""nonies. Th„ ""■e • who ha» g;„rZ -^r '" September by a* mi; m«iaated for tT„ "d^s . '^n^j *t,/'»^ ""d &.ted Sd «^»«1, no seculareye m'u A S " '*'^'''n "me Ci °f 't under awful penalH " T^ » " '"'"='' "« 'he mote never suflered to Tout tm th "^^ <""* hnrnilt further heat unne^^y aid f„rv""">«"'' to reX _ On one only occnal™, ■ "l "V'onvenient. °.f 'vomen, wh^enl^Se • t' ^I"^ ''"'"> «•» head «« ranks, she i, Se ^ H*^ '"'""''"''''> "Su ;^1 *e falls exhauS t ^ ** '" "■« "weat-houi '"" even by becoS a mi^' ""' "PI*", howeve? '»'« the interior of tliisj^'"""^ «»'J.ehope to Z' " Joaquin JUiUer'a r/*. 160 GODS, SUPEUNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. The admission of a man to the medicine is a much severer affair. He must retire to the forest for ten days, eating no meat the while, and only enough aoom-porridge to keep the life in him ; the ten days past, he returns to the sweat-house and leaps up and down till he falls, just as the woman did. The doctors or sorcerers are of two kinds, ' root doctors' and ' barking doctors.' To the barking doctor falls the diagnosis of a case of sickness. He, or she, squats down opposite the patient, and barks at him after the manner of an enraged cur, for hours together. If it be a poison- ing case, or a case of malady inflicted by some conjurer, the barking doctor then goes on to suck the evil thing out through the skin or administer emetics, as may be deemed desirable. If the case, however, be one of less serious proportions, the ' barker,'^ after having made his diagnosis, retires, and the root-doctor comes in, who, with his herbs and simples and a few minor incantations, pro- ceeds to cure the ailment. If a patient die, then the medicine is forced to return his fee; and if he refuse to attend on anyone and the person die, then he is forced to pay to the relatives a sum equal to that which was tendered to him as a foe in the beginning of the affair; thus like all professions, that of a medicine has its draw-backs as well as advantages. Several Northern Califomian tribes have secret socie- ties which meet in a lodge set apart, or in a sweat-house, and engage in mummeries of various kinds, all to fright- en their women. The men pretend to converse with the devil, and make their meeting-place shake and ring (^;ain with yells and whoops. In some instances, one of their number, disguised as the master fiend himself, issues from the haunted lodge, and rushes like a madman through the village, doing his best to frighten contumacious women and children out of their senses. This, it would seem, has been going on from time immemorial and the poor women are still gulled by it, and even frightened into more or less prolonged fits of wifely propriety and less easy virtue. CALIFOBNUN DEITIES. . '''^e coast tribes of Del ]Vorfo n **^ m constant terror of a maliJ^ ?''""*-^' California, live form of certain animals Thjf*"' ^P*"' that takes thp a tarantula, and i on k *'"° ^^ * K of aWjc of ^-ts that if at^to";^ -P-if y d;iigh^^^ wliite hair that f«n ""^^^^ne-bag, and as Cvin!i^ Practicall,: Wv^ VcS ^^"* }^Z^m^ Cahfornian tribes, venemtP iL^ ' ^'J® *h« ™aJoritv of dread is also had of SS t'^L^^^ "^y^^ Xat habits; these, sa^ thelur^/X'tr"« of nocturna ^^^:X t^f^^^ ^-of bea^and and those connect^^^ ;^h! "' ^^ Californian belief Man, who made the eartfZi ^'f ' ''^'^*'^^^' ^^'^afc Big ^ we hnd it again bofh „^ A^** "^^«« »" th? skv » San Luis Obisp^ the ^rS ^M^ :!{ ^^ -Sd »n these neighborhoods to ih^ }.? ^^^^ were offered w^greeted ,ith cnW^of« "^^ ^^^^ and his rS^ Father Geronimo Boiana»» • .iSsly v-^&i'S- "^- ^- »'«• * left beCdKr^i. **"« «' ""reX't^^V " " ^P" ^^e, 3J WRin the text hi^»^^°'*™'''»°«'riSi8toJS?i^^^ to V leS OODS, SUPLSNATURAL BBINOS, AND WORSHIP. relation of the faith and worship of the Aoagchemem nations, in the valley and neighborhood of San Juan Capistrano, Califoriiia. Part of it would fall naturally into that part of this work alloted to origin ; but the whole is so intimately mixed with so much concerning the life, deeds, and worship of various supernatural per- sonages that it has seomed better to fit its present ix)sition tlmn any other. Of the first part of the tradition there are two versions — if indeed they be versions of the same tradition. We give first that version held by the serranm, or highlanders, of the interior country, .hree or four leagues inland from the said San Juan Capistrano: — l^efore the material world at all existed there lived two beings, brother and sister, of a nature that can not be explained; the brother living abov<\ and his name meaning the Heavens, the sister living below and her name signifying Earth. From the union of these two, there sprang a numerous oftspring. Earth and sand were the first fruit« of this marriage ; then were born rocks and stones; then trees both great and small; then grass and herbs; then animals; lastly was born a great personage called Ouiot, who was a "grand captain." By some unknown mother many children of a medicine race were born to this Ouiot. All these things hap})ened in the north; and afterward when men were created they were created in the north ; but as the people multi- plied they moved toward the south, tlie earth growing larger also and extending itself in the same direction. in process of time, Ouiot Ixjcoming old, his chil- dren plottod to kill him, alleging that the infirmities of longest and the nioHt valuable notice in exiHtenoo on the reli^on o.' a nation of the nutivi! (.^uliforniunH, an oxiHliiiu at thi- time uf the HpaniMh conquvMl, ami more wotthy of (.'onttdeucu than the g<>ueral nin of huvIi doc-uuicntH >^'aH o' 'T aevnnty yearH of ago. They knew all the Mecrets, for two of them wita onpilaiits, and the other apul, who were well histruvted in the niyHteriex. IW giftM, endcarmentM. and kindncHH, I elieited from them their secretH, with Uieir expIanationH; audby witnesHing the eerenioni«s whi»; «« forZ 1 -«•■'«» to c^.0, ^ ^wr^^i:,'^, ,:-.- u. GODS, BUPEBNATUBAL BEINOB, AND WORSHIP. that the game fail not and the harvests be sure. Then Chinigchinich made man ; out of the clay of the lake he formed him, male and female; and the present Califor- nians arc the descendants of the one or more pairs there and thus created. So ends the known tradition of the mountaineers; we must now go back and take up the story anew at its beginning, as told by the pkiyanon, or ^leople of the valley of San Juan Capistrano. These say that an invisible all-i)owerful being, called Nocuma, made the world and all that it contains of things that grow and move, lie made it round like a ball and held it in his hands, where it rolled alwut a good deal at first, till he steadied it by sticking a heavy black rock called tnaaiU into it, as a kind of ballast. The sea was at this time only a little stivam running round the world, and so crowded with fish that their twinkling fins had no kinger room to move; .so great was the press that some of the more foolish fr}' were for effecting a landing and founding a colony, upon the dry land, and it was only with the utmost difficulty that they were [lersuadtHi by their elders, that the killing air and })aneful sun and th** want of feet inust infallibly prove the destructiim before many daysof iii who took part in such a desinnate enterjirixp The projKM plan wjis evidently to improve and eniurp' tlioir pnwiit home; and to this ond, i)rincipally by thi* »id of one very large (i.sh, they broke the great rock tosaut in two. find- ing a bladder in the centre filled with a very bitter siih- stance. The taste of it plejised the fish, so they emptied it into the water, and instantly the water became salt and swelled up and overHowed a great part of the old earth, and made itself tlie new boundaries that remain to this day. Th«'n Xiwuma created a man, shaping him out of the soil of the earth, calling him Kjoni. A woman als«) the great gcKl made, presumably of the same material as tlic man, calling her Ae. Many children were born to tliin first pair, and their descendants multiplied over the land. The name of one of these last was Sirout, that is to m), THE Pi«gT MSDIOWE-MAN. Handful of Tobacco an^ *h ** -^. which me^j^CVtdZV'' ^'' ^'^ ^^ Yea. ^rn a «on, while they^liedln^ ^r"* ^^ ^'^i^t w^ e.glit leagues from San J,r„ p,^P*«^ north-east abo,J? this son was Ouiot, thatl tT^X'^"'. The naine of /lerce and redoutable warrinr T^ 7»n»'nator; he grew a «o»«, he extended hrsSi*"^*^' ^"'^^^^^"^'^^^n- eveo^whei^ as with a roi !? ^ ^" ^^"^>^ «de S* «P'red against him. It^as detT^" '"1 '^' People con? i'e by poison; a piece of iS! ^^*7"»'»ed that he should "• «« deadly k way ?h/t t ""^^ ^"* ^«« ground ud t'Hit 1.0 held himself consS; T'' notwithstanding 7"ied of his danger by «^"^^?^ *^« ^'^rt, having S the c^oe.;;,^, ^^ ulmbirto^vL f'^^^g animal t^^ ,7«- "ed to hi, a*i»tonco b^« "'* ""«" "f the Cd '"» U)die. Hi, C^Sv' '""''•ore w,M „„thin„ f™ , »^hilo t|,p j,^ . vv«.« '.1 *"** nation reioiced -'"■•'■d to then,. „«„i^^ JhiT"' '^""■'•' "'cw a!! '';: I'^'^V'*; "TM. that he milr'. ''""• '""* ^" thes^ g,^ ot''<''' that h.. «,;.,»,♦ ^"^ '^"'«' 'ain to fall f» "'WO apiwiTOi in tl,,, „1„ 1 ** "'* "'•''«''' "f Oniot IM GODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. chinich, which means Almighty. He first manifested his powers to the people on a day when they had met in congregation for some purpose or other; he appeared dancing before them crowned with a kind of high crown made of tall feathers stuck into a circlet of some kind, girt with a kind of petticoat of feathers, and having his flesh painted black and red. Thus decorated he was called the tdbet. Having danced some time, Chinigchinich called out the medicine-men, or puplems as they were called, among whom it would appear the chiefs are always numbered, and confirmed their power; telling them that he had come from the stars to instruct them in dancing and all other things, and commanding that in all their necessities they should array themselves in the tobet, and so dance as he had danced, supplicating him by his great name, that thus they might receive of their petitions. He taught them liow to worship him, how to build vangu£chs, or places of worship, and how to direct their conduct in various affairs of life. Then he prepared to die, and the people asked him if they should bury him ; but he warned them against attempting such a thing: If ye buried me, he said, ye would tread upon my grave, and for that my hand would be heavy upon you ; look to it, and to all your ways, for lo, I go up where the high stars are, where mine eyes shall see all the ways of men ; and whosoever will not keep my commandments nor observe the things I have taught, behold disease shall plague all his body, and no food shall come near his lips, the bear shall rend his flesh, and the crooked tooth of the serpent shall sting him. The vanquech, or place of worship, seems to have been an unroofed inclosure of stakes, within which, on a hurdle, was placed the image of the g(xl Chinigchinich. This image was the skin of a coyote or that of a mount- ain-cat stuffed with the feathers of certain birds, and with various other things, so that it looked like a live animal ; a bow and some arrows were attached to it on tho outside, and other arrows were thrust down its throat m SANCTDABIESOPBETOOE. that the feathers of th«™ "" of a quiver. ?hf ^T ^Pf^J^ «he month a, out fored.and not to be an^Jl!^ "^ *« ineIo8u« w"' doe. not ^m that ZriS^Jl^J"*^'""^ r^ot^^jH d..p there offenrf, bTonW p^™"" „T P*" "^ «>e w^" of pantomine connected witfT ' ^"^ """""'mes a kind be furthe,*d-thu8, desTriL ™r''*1'*'''8<'«»i«dto nn,.m.cked the action's of XdiZT '" """"""S ""e ones bow. Each vanquech w^k T"« ™<' '"''"ginK nght, of sanctuary excldwl * ""•>' "'^ "fuge, with or Christian countries v?,'"^«*''"-«nMited in JeS «.fe there whatev^r'S, ^fZ Z ''■"'' ""^ were blotted out from ihnt rH ' } *"® ^'*"ne was •>« if at liberty to leavTVe L^^[":"*' «"d the off^^^^^ fore, it wa« „ot lawful even to'L"?^ T"^ «^»t^ that the avenger could do wrtl^^- f ?u^'« «"'"«; all hmi, saying: Lo, a cowai^ who h'^'l!! ""^ *'"" «"d deride ^'hmigchinieh! This Shf ^""^ ^" tbrced to flee to ^neaner thing i^thluto^y^turn^^ ^ '""e^ a he hend of him that fled Cn?h1/,' P""'«^''"«"t from t'ves; hfe went for life evS ""^ """'« o^-his rela- even to the thini andlZl ^'^^'•'^"^ tooth for toSh I^«idesChinig4fnirhef^^^^^^^ feared, a god called Touch ^wh-^?' «'' «t any rate tains and the bowels of th; ^^o inhabited the mou„! from ti, to time in leroZt' "P^?^**""^' ^^^^^ve" ^rnfying kind. Every d.iW at 1 '"''""'' '*"''"«'« of a •reived, sent to him Lm t *^? "^^^ ^^-six or seven Protectcy.. To find mit wlTat L''™-' T« «"'""^' -^ a «hape of animal was nar« tt • ?"'"'"' «'" «P"it in the t!'« «nbject fitted «n w£,^rV'^« ^^e hwLiowc . « «»titlod hnn to wait L I .\^; "J. ' "^' ^^hoso rmik ."'^'rcd inclosure, was set h ^T''? "Pl"tHti«n in o one of the wise men^n „±u^^^^ '"''' -k.U^K^lhy Iho child was then loft T ''^^•"^' "< •orno animui 169 GODS, SUFBBNATURAL BEINGS, AMD WOBSHIP. 1 by eating or drinking or otherwise, would be reported to the god by the sprawling figure the enchanter had drawn in the clay, and that in such a case the punishment of Chinigchinich would be terrible. After all this was over, a scar was made on the child's right krm, and some- times on the thick part of the leg also, by covering the part, " according to the figure required," with a peculiar herb dried and powdered, and setting fire to it. This was a brand or seal required by Chinigchinich, and was besides supposed to strengthen the nerves and give " a better pulse for the management of the bow." ** The Acagchemems, like many other Califomian tribes,** regard the great buzzard with sentiments of veneration, while they seem to have had connected with it several r'ites and ideas peculiar to themselves. They called this bird the paties, and once every year they had a festival of the same name, in which the principal ceremony was the killing of a buzzard without losing a drop of its blood. It was next skinned, all possible care being taken to pre- serve the feathers entire, as these were used in making the feathered petticoat and diadem, already described as part of the ti'bet. Last of all the body was buried within the sacred iiiClosure amid great apparent grief from the old women, they mourning as over the loss of rela- tive or frieid. Tradition explained this: the panes had indeed b^n once a woman, whom, wandering in the mountain ways, the great god Chinigchinich had come suddenly upon and changed into a bird. How this was connected with the killing of her anew every year by the people, and with certain extraordinary ideas held relative to that killing is, however, by no means clear; for it was believed that as often as the bird was killed it vfos miule alive again, and more, and faith to niuve mountaiuN — that the birds killed in one same yearly feast in many separate villages were one and the same bini. How these things were or whv, none knew, it was enough n Hoc p. 11.1. of tl 'B volume, for a cutitiom among the Mazioaiu not with- out anulogieH to thiH. M 8(te p. 131, of thiH volume. uiat thev wpno a « * 109 The Pericues of Lower P«i.v • ayp. was a real mo«»j; "''*''; "neof whnm A "™v ^ong time he liv«iS *u ***" ^'""ng god wa« «5 whom it is almost to h!fp *H «»«««tor8 ofThe Sr^ ** we are told K wa^^atlT^^^^V" ^^^^^^^ "P out of the earth Thi '""'^^'"en, drawing thl fmn hi, wound,, «„d he ZLJ^^ •""> «>n»t«nu7 h^ven mto a cave rnider t^^ ? "' "'"1 «"" forth rf Jhalea of the «,a wer^^^.e ^r ' "'"'"* "»" e the Tupinm to be their ^reaTaP '°°* *'"" heldflS 170 GODS. BUPEBNATUAL BEXKGS, AND WOBSHIP. Niparaya.^ The Cochimis and remaining natives of the Califomian peninsula seem to have held in the main much the same ideas with regard to the gods and powers above them as the Pericues held, and the sorcerers of all had the common blowings, leapings, fastings, and other mummeries that make these professors of 'the sinister art so much alike everywhere in our territory.** The natives of Nevada have ideas respecting a great kind Spirit uf some kind, as well as a myth concerning an evil one ; but they have no sj^ecial class set apart as medicine-men." The Utah belief seems to be as nearly as possible identical with that of Nevada.^ The Comanches acknowledge more or less vaguely a Supreme Spirit, but seem to use the Sun and the Earth as mediators with and, in some sort, as embodiments of him. They have a recognized body of sorcerers called pinjaeantes, and various religious ceremonies and chants; for the most part of a simple kind, and directed to the Sun as the great source of life, and to the Earth as the pro- ducer and receptacle of all that sustains life. According to the AbW Domenech, every Comanche wears a little figure of the sun, attached to his neck, or has a picture of it painted on his shield ; from the ears of each hang also two crescents, which may possibly represent the moon.'' The Apocbes recognize a supreme power in heaven under the name Yaxtaxitaxitanne, the creator and master of all things ; but tbey render him no open service nor wor- ship. To any taciturn cunning man they are accustomed to credit intercourse with a preternatural power of some kind, and to look to him as a sort of oracle in various emergencies. This is, in fact, their medicine-man, and w See pp. 83-4, this volnme. " Vtn-!ias, NotUiisdeladul., torn. 1., pp. 103-124; Claviiiero, StortadtUa Vol., torn, i., pp. 135-141; lluntbdltU, Easai J'ol.. torn, i., p. 314. w Virninia City Chrwiicle, quoted in S. F. Daily Ev'y J^ost, o( Oct. ISth, 1873; Brown*' a lAmerCai., p. 188. so Dt Smet'H IMtrra, p. 41. 'I Parker, in SchnoU!n\fl's Arch., vol. v., p. 084; Whipple, Eutbank, and Tiirn?r'a llepl., pp. 35-6, in Pac. li. It. Kept., vol. iii.; Jiarrriro, Ojeadaadm N. Mm., ap. p. 8; Filley'a Life and Adum., p. 83; Marcy'sArmyUfe, pp. 58, 01; Domeutch, Jour, d'un Miaa,, pp. 13, 131, 401). MONmUMA OF TEE PUEBLOS. in cases of illnp«9 i,« . , *'* them from their evil one^„^ T^^ *« be to pro& min Jong -ound stones thona-K* *' J *^® ««rae end cer f«i spirit wh.^ "„^e t ' ""'"^"'^ of « g.^ld ""J rate he is trod tSt ' ^ ^O"' Montezuma "^T! ;«no„g the PueWrS'furPPT' '° ''»ve «pLA' 'l-e" present towns. ''Si^*^!;?d ""-ived at ofS "'her the anoes,„,„, .S::^.^?^ *"'"'' """«* ht """"'""people; but 'W-.^rtv'^ **" *■• *■«•• .p. PP a 1 „ ITS GODS, SUPERNATUBAL 8EIN08, AND 1lK)BSHIP. the most regard him as a kind of semi or wholly divine priest, prophet, leader, and l^slator. Under restric- tions pointed out in a former note,** we may fairly regard him as at once the Melchizedek, the Moses, and the Messiah of these Pueblo desert wanderers from an Egypt that history is ignorant of, and whose name even tradi- tion whispers not. He taught his people to build cities ^ith tall houses, to construct estufas, or semi-sacred sweat-houses, and to kindle and guard the sacred fire. At Acoma, it is said by some, was established the first Pueblo, and thence the people marched southward, form- ing others. Acoma was one, and Pecos another. At this last, Montezuma planted a tree upside down, and said that, on his leaving them, a strange nation should oppress them for many years, years also in which there should be no rain, but that they were to persist in watching the sacred fire until the tree fell, when he would return, with a white race which should destroy their enemies; and then rain should fall again and the earth be fertile. It is said that this tree fell from its abnormal position, as the An^rican army entered Santa The watching of the fire, kept up in subterranean estufas, under a covering of ashes generally, and in the basin of a small altar, was no light task. Tlie warriors took the post by turns, some said, for two successive days and nights, sons food, sans drink, sans sleep, sans every- thing. Otlicrs affirm that this watching was kept up till exhaustion and even death relieved the guard — the last not to be wondered at, seeing the insufferable close- ness of the place and the accumulation of carbonic acid. The remains of the dead were, it was sometimes sup{X)sed, carried off by a monstrous serpent. This holy fire was believed to be the palladium of the city, and the watch- ers by it could well dream of that day, when, coming with the sun, Montezuma should descend by the column of smoke whose roots they fed, and should nil the shabby M See pp. 77-8, note 36, Uuh volume. ^ « ^OT DEAD BDT SLBB^j^^ ^^'""»te s^t&" *e^oj:fe„f g-nng from hi, sCm at^h " Jf"'' 'he Tell Si Gennany « at heTSZ^tht "T'' '•'" ''«'"'• " When »> in th?.Uo':^' orr'n"*""* ctX'lttj «nd the plumes of him— ^' "P"" t'le mountains Slid by hirtriji- "*" » 'leHpoir To earth t„n,ii"«^X!'^* »"»« 4';S th^t ri^^^^ '^i \ -me time prfeste . «/ t»»e «un and of MontS2a "^' ^y which the^^^r' «e power-according to^Z/' '"""^'"'^^ n« wdl L f^'iake, to whom !», ^ "*® «W5count«— <,f w ♦ u^ri ior life •" f h , -^ ^^^^ of Montezumn^ ^® ^^«* Which \. ^^ "'** officiate in^ertir ^-^''"^ *« ^"^^ ZT ^^^^y Pr«y for rain Tu " ct'i^'monies with % # Vv^, ■». lAAAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 1.4 11.6 ' whose blessing had given the increase. It has been affirmed, without much foundation or pro- bability of truth, that the Pueblos worshiped fire and water." »• are(n'» Com. PraMen, vol. i., pp. 371-3; Davia' El Qringo, pp. 142, 396; 8imp»>n'H Overland Journ., pp. 'Jl -3; Ihmetuch'ii DtmU, vol. i., pp. Ifl^-fi, 41H. Tol. ii., pp. 62-3, 401; Mmhavmtn, Twiebuch, pp. 170, 219, 284; MMm'h Tm ThouMUulMUM on Horatback, pp. 202, 226; ittucton's Advtn. in Mm.., p. lOS; 3Vn Broeck, iu Scho(^eraft't Arch., vol. Iv., p. 73; Ward, in Ind. Aff- ^^'^ > 1864, pp. 102-3; Emory's Reconnoiamince, p. 30; Tylor'n Prim. VvU.. vol. ii., p. 384; Brinton't My(h$, p. 190; CorotMdo, in Hakluyt'a Voy., vol. iil., p. MOJAVE DEITIES. 1T6 The Moquis know nothing of Montezuma; they believe in a Great Father, living where the sun riwis, and in a great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down. This Father is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine; but from the mother are all their joy, peace, plenty, and health." The Mojaves tell of a certain Matevil, creator of hea- ven and earth, who was wont in time past to remain among them in a certain grand casa. This habitation was, however, by some untoward event broken down; the nations were destroyed ; and Matevil departed east- ward. Whence, in the latiPi' days, he will again return to consolidate, prosper, and live with his people forever. This Matevil, or Mathowelia, has a son called Mastamho, who made the water and planted trees. There is also an Evil Spirit Newathie.* From a letter just received from Judge Roseborough, I am enabled to close this chapter with some new and valuable facts regarding the religious ideas of certain tribes — not accurately specified — of the north-west por- tion of Upper California. The learned judge has given unusual attention to the subject of which he writes, and his opportunities for procuring information must have been frequent during ten years of travel and residence in the districts of the northern counties of California: — Among the tribes in the neighborhood of Trinity river is found a legend relating to a certain Wappeckquemow, who was a giant, and apparently the father and leader of 879. Fremont gives an kcoount of the birth of MonteEuma : Hin mother was, it iH said, a woman of exquisite beauty, udmiird and Rought after by all men, they making her presents of corn and skins and all that they had; but the fantidiuus beauty would accept nothing ot them but their gifts. In process of time a season of drought brought on a famine and much distress; tlicn it wus that the rich ladv showed her charity to be as great in one direction as it had been wanting in another. She opened her granaries and the gifts of the lovers she had not loved went to releave the hungry she pitied. At last with rain, fertility returned to the earth; and on the chaste Artemis of the PnebloB its touch fell too, Bhe bore a son to the thick summer shower and that son was Montecnma. " Ten Hrotck, in SoKoolavft'ii Arch., vol. Iv., pp. 85-0. M Whipplf, Ewbank, and Tumtr'g Rfpl., pp. 42-3, in Poo. R. R. Rtnt., vol. iii.; Dodt, in Ind. 4ff. Rtpt., 1870, p. 1129. 176 OODS, BUPEBNATURAL BEINGS. AND WORSHIP. a pre-human race like himself. He wa« expelled from the country that he inhabited — near the mouth of the Kla- math — for disobeying or offending some great god, and a curse was pronounced against him, so that not even his descendants should ever return to that land. On the expulsion of these Anakim, the ancestors of the people to whom this legend belongs came down from the north- west, a direction of migration, according to Judge Rose- borough, uniformly adhered to in the legends of all the tribes of north-west California. These new settlers, how- ever, like their predecessors of the giant race, quarreled with the great god and were abandoned by him to their own devices, being given over into the hands of certain evil powers or devils. Of these the first is Omahd, who, possessing the shape of a grizzly bear, is invisible and goes about everywhere bringing sickness and misfortune on mankind. Next there is Makalay, a fiend with a horn like a unicorn ; he is swift as the wind and moves by great leaps like a kangaroo. The sight of him is usually death to mortals. There is, thirdly, a dreadful being called Kalicknateck, who seems a faithful reproduction of the great thunder-bird of the north : thus Kalicknateck " is a huge bird that sits on the mountain-peak, and broods in silence over his thoughts until hungry ; when he will sweep down over the ocean, snatch up a large whale, and carry it to his mountain-throne, for a single meal." Besides the before-mentioned powers of evil, these Trinity people have legends connected with other person- ages of the same nature, among whom are Wanuswegock, Surgelp, Napousney, and Nequiteh. When white miners first came to work on the Trinity River, ^heir advent caused, as may be imagined, much unsatisfactory speculation among the aborigines; some saying one thing of the whites and some another. At last an old seer of the Hoopah Valley settled the question by declaring that the new-comers were descendants of that banished Wappeckquemow, from whose heads the already-mentioned curse, forbidding their return, had been by some means lifted. a s to 1 shell table Thes come "hou —all down at tin many boats; made( to the to certj sels. refuse acciunu seen, sea in t rude hn offtheii grcat wi the nort in (larki men sufl wind, th as the U fi inarv'ol was suej While tlu '»g i'oun( vast of 1m wen; hut know of, once livei now is. THE KITCHEN-MIDDEN OF THE HOHOATES. 177 The coast people in northern California have a story about a mysterious people called Hohgates, to whom is ascribed an immense bed of mussel- shells and bones of animals still existing on the table-land of Point St George, near Crescent City. These Hohgates, seven in number, are said to have come to the place in a boat, to have built themselves "houses above-ground, after the style of white men" — all this about the time that the first natives came down the coast from the north. These Hohgates. living at the [xjint mentioned, killed many elk on land, and many seals and sea-lions in fishing excursions from their boats; using for the latter purpose a kind of harpoon made of a knife attached to a stick, and the whole fastened to the boat with a long line. They also sailed frequently to certain rocks, and loaded their little vessels with mus- sels. By all this they secured plenty of food, and the refuse of it, the bones and shells and so on, rapidly accumulated into the great kjokken rmdding still to be seen. One day, however, all the Hohgates being out at sea in their boat, they struck a huge sea-lion with their rude harpoon, and, unable or unwilling to cut or throw oft' their line, were dragged with fearful speed toward a great whirli)ool, called Ohareckquin, that lay far toward the north-west. It is the place where soul? go, where in darkness and cold the spirits shiver for ever ; living men sufter even from its winds, — from the north-west wind, the bleak and bitter Charreck-rawek. And just as the boat reached the edge of this fearful place, behold, a marvelous thing: tiie rope broke and the sea-monster was Kwept down alone into the whirl of wind and water, while the Hohgates were caught up into the air; swing- ing round and round, their boat floati d steadily up into tho vast of heaven. Nevermore on earth were the Hohgates seen ; but there are seven stars in heaven that all men know of, and these stars arc the seven Hohgates that once lived where the great shell-bed near Crescent City now is. \ III Vol. m. la CHAPTER VI. GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. Gods and Rklioious Bitbs of Chihuahua, Sonoba, Durakoo, and Sin- ALOA — Thk Mexican Relioion, beceiteu with diftebknt deorees or OBEDULITY BY DIFFBBENT OLABSEB OF THE PEOPLE — OPINIONS OF DIFFER- ENT AVbitebs as to its Natube — MoNOTHEisu OF Nezaiiualcoyotl— Pbesknt condition of the Study of Mexican Mytholooy— Tezcatli- pocA — Pravebb to Him in time of Pestilence, of War, fob those IN AuTHOBitY— Prayer used by an Absolvino Priest— Genuineness of the fobkooino Pbayebs — Chabaotbb and Works of Bahauun. From the Pueblo cities let us now pass down into Mexico, glancing first at the northern and north-western neighbors of this great people that ruled on the plateau of Andhuac. The Chihuahuans worshiped a great god called by them the 'captain of heaven' and recognized a lesser divinity as abiding in and inspiring their priests and medicine-men. They rendered homage to the sun; and when any comet or other phenomenon ap^xjared in the heavens they oftered sacrifice thereto; their sacrifice being much after the Mexican fashion ; fruits, herbs, and such things as they had, together with blood drawn from their bodies by the pricks of a thorn.* In Sonora, — the great central heart of Mexico making its beatings more and more clearly felt as we approach it nearer, — the vague feelings of awe and reverence with which the savage regards the urtseen, unknown, and un- knowable powers, begin at last to somewhat lose their ' i Soe. Mm. Otog., Bolttin, torn, iii., p. 29; Doc. IM. Mcx., serie iv., torn. iU., p. 86. GODS OF SONOBA AND DUBANOO. 179 vagueness and to crystallize into the recognition of a power to be represented and symbolized by a god mode with hands. The ofierings thereto begin also, more and more, to lose their primitive simple bhape, and the blood, without which is no remission of sins, stains the rude altar that a more Arcadian race had only heaped with flowers and fruit. The natives of Sonora bring, says Las Casas, "many deer, wolves, hares, and birds before a large idol, with music of many flutes and other instru- ments of theirs; then cutting open the animals through the middle, they take out their hearts and hang them round the neck of the image, wetting it with the flowing blood. It is certain that the only offering made in all this province of Sonr ra was the hearts of brutes."" All this they did more especially in two great festivals they had , the one at seed-time, the other at harvest ; and we have reason to rejoice that the thing was no worse, reason to be glad that the hearts of brave men and fair women, and soft children not knowing their right hand from their left, were not called for, as in the land of the eagle and coctuf banner, to feed that devil's Minotaur, superstition. The people of Durango called the principal power in which they believed Meyuncarne, that is to say. Maker of All Things; they had another god, Cachiripa, whose name is all we know of him. They had besides innu- merable private idols, penates of all possible and impoa- eible figures ; some being stone, shaped by nature only. In one village they worshiped a great flint knife that their flint implements of every kind might be good and Bure. They had gods of storm and gods of sunshine, gods of good and gods of evil, gods of everything in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth. Their idols received bloody sacrifices, not always of beasts; a bowl containing beans and the cooked human flesh of an enemy was oflered to them for success in war.' > Las Casus, Ilisl. ApologiUea, MB., torn, iii., oAp. 168; 8mUh'a ReMm «f Cahna dt Kaca, p. 177. s miMs, Hist, dt tos Triwnphot, pp. 473-6; Doe. Hid. Mt»., Mri« iv., torn. iii., p. 48. I ! i\ i80 GODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WOESHIP • Much of the preceding paragraph belongs also to Sin- aloa or cannot'be exactly located more in the one province than in the other. The Sinaloas are said to have venerated above all the other gods one called Cocohuame, which is, being interpreted, Death. They worshiped also a certain Ouraba,* which is Valor, oftering him bows, iarrows, and all kinds of instruments of war. To Sehua- toba, that is to say Pleasure, they sacrificed feathers, raiment, beads of glass, and women's ornaments. Bam- usehua was the god of water. In some parts, it is said, there was recognized a divine element in common herbs iand birds. One deity — or devil, as Ribas calls him with the exquisite courtesy that distinguishes the theosophic historian — ^was the especial patron of a class of wizards closely resembling the shamans and medicine-men of the north. No one seemed to know exactly the powers of this deity, but everyone admitted their extent by re- cognizing with a respectful awe their effects; effects brought about through the agency of the wizards, by the use of bags, rattles, magic stones, blowings, suck- ings, and all that routine of sorcery with which we are already familiar. This deity was called Grandfather or Ancestor." One Sinaloa nation, the Tabus, in the neighborhood of Culiacan, reared great serpents for which they had a good deal of veneration. They propitiated their gods with offerings of precious stones and rich stuffs, but they did not sacrifice men. With an altogether characteris- tic insinuation, the Abbe Domenech says, that though highly immoral in the main, they so highly respected women who devoted themselves to a life of celibacy, * Apparently the same ns that Vairubi spoken of on p. 83 of this volume. 4 lubas, Hist, de Ion Triumpliim, pp. IC, 18, 40. ' A uno de bus dioBcs llnra- abun Ouraba, que auiere docir fortaleza. Era como Mnrto, dies de In guorrn. Ofrdo'anlo arcua, itechaa y todo gtiuero de armas para el fcliz txito do hus batallas. A otro llaraaban Behuutoba, que quiero decir, delrito, :i nuku ofrecian pluinas, mantas, cueutecillas de vfdrio y ndornos rouRerilcs. Al dius de Ian aguas Uamabnn Bamuaehua. El maa venerado de todos era Coco- ' huatne, que signifloa muerte.' Aleyre, Hist, Comp. de Jesua, torn, ii., p. 'Hi. 'They worship' for their gods such things as they haue in their houROR, ns ' namely, hearbes, and birdes, and sing songs vnto them in their Innguugo. Ooronado, in Ilakluyt'a Voy., vol. iii., p. 363. THE MEXICAN RELIGION AND ITS HISTOBIANS. 181 line. Inni- Irrft. jiien |l\iUH loco- 45. k, M lugo- that they held great festivals in their honor — leaving the reader to suppose that the Talius had a class of female religious who devoted themselves to a life of chastity and were respected for that reason ; the truth is found to be, on referring to the author Castafieda — from whom apparently the abb4 has taken this half truth and whole falsehood- — that these estimable celibate women were the public prostitutes of the nation." The Mexican religion, as transmitted to us, is a con- fused and clashing chaos of fragments. If ever the great nation of Anahuac had its Hesiod or its Homer, no ray of his light has reached the stumbling feet of research in that direction ; no echo of his harmony has been ever heard by any ear less dull than that of a Zumdrraga. It is given to few men to rise above their age, and it is folly to expect grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ; yet it is hard to suppress wholly some feelings of regret, in poring ujwn those ponderous tomes of sixteenth and seventeenth century history that touch upon Mexican religion; one pities far less the inevitable superstition and childish ignorance of the barbarian than the senility of his Christian historian and critic — there was some element of hope and evidence of attainment in what the half-civilized barbarian knew ; but from what heights of Athenian, Roman, and Alexandrian philosophy and elo- quence, had civilization fallen into the dull and arrogant nescience of the chronicles of the clergy of Spain. Wc have already noticed^ the existence of at least two schools of religious philosophy in Mexico, two average <• * IIh cdlubraient de grandes fdten en I'honneur des femmes qui voulaient vivro (lunt) le cJlibat. Les caciques d'un canton se rtuniBwiient it dnnsaient tons nus, I'un nprbs I'autre, avec la femmo qui nvait priH oette determination. Quaud la danae utait terminie, iU la couduisaicnt dans uno petite uiaiaon mi'un nvait d.'corie & cet cffet, et lis jouissnient de sa peraonno, les caciqtieB a' nbord ct cnsuite toug ceux qui le voulaient. A dnter de ce moment, clles no pouvtiient rien refuser h quicuuque leur offrait le prix tixu pour cela. EUcu n'(. tiilcnt jamaia diopenBeea de cette obligation, m6me quand pins tard clles BO mariaient.' Castaneda, in Ternawc'Compans, Toy., serie i., torn, ix., pp. 150-1. ' Although these men were very immoral, yet Buch was their re- Hpuct (nr nil women who led a life of ceUoacy, that they celebrated grand fustivalu in their honour.' And there he makes an end. Domcneeh'a Dtaerii, vol. i., p. 170. ^ This volume, pp. 66-0. 1 -H J i ^Hm R 1 ■ |M n ' Hi 1 i 1 liB m OOD8, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. levels of thought, the one that of the vulgar and credu- lous, the other that of the more enlightened and reflec- tive. It has resulted from this thnt different writers differ somewhat in their opinions with regard to the pre- cise nature and essence of that religion, some saying one thing and some another. I cannot show this more short- ly and — what is much more important in a subject like this — more exactly, than by quoting a number of these opinions: " Turning from the simple faiths of savage tribes of America, to the complex religion of the half-civilized Mexican nation, we find what we might naturally expect, a cumbrous polytheism complicated by mixture of several national pantheons, and beside and beyond this, certain appearances of a doctrine of divine supremacy. But these doctrines seem to have been spoken of more defi- nitely than the evidence warrants. A remarkable native development of Mexican theism must be admitted, in so far as we may receive the native historian Ixtlilxo- chitl's account of the worship paid by Nezahualcoyotl, the poet-king of Tezcuco, to the invisible supreme Tloque- Nahuaque, he who has all in him, the cause of causes, in whose star-roofed pyramid stood an idol, and who there received no bloody sacrifice, but only flowers and incense. Yet it would have been more satisfactory, were the stories told by this Aztec panegyrist of his royal an- cestors confirmed by other records. Traces of divine supremacy in Mexican religion are especially associated with Tezcatlipoca, * Shining Mirror,' a deity who seema in his original nature the Sun-god, and thence by ex- pansion to have become the soul of the world, creator of heaven and earth, lord of all things. Supreme Deity. Such conceptions may, in more or less measure, have arisen in native thought, but it should be pointed out that the remarkable Aztec religious formulas collected by Saha^un, in which the deity Tezcatlipoca is so promi- nent a figure, show traces of Christian admixture in their material, as well as of Christian influence in their style. In distinct and absolute personality, the divine Sun in COMPLEXITY OF AZTEC THEOLOGY. 188 Aztec theology was Tonatiuh" whose huge pyramid- mound stands on the plain of Teotihuacan, a witness of his worship for future ages. Beyond this the religion of Mexico, in its complex system, or congeries of great gods, such as results from the mixture and alliance of the deities of several nations, show^s the solar element ixwted deeply and widely in other personages of its divine my- thology, and attributes especially to the sun the title of Teotl, God."» " It is remarkable," says Professor J. G. Miiller, " that the well-instructed Acosta should have known nothing about the adoration of a highest invisible God, under the name of Teotl. And yet this adoration has been re- ported in the most certain manner by others, and made evident from more exact statements regarding the nature of this deity. He has been surnamed Ipalnemoan, that is, He through whom we live, and Tloquenahuaque, that is, He who is all things through himself. He has been looked upon as the originator and essence of all things, and as especially throned in the high cloud-surrounded mountains. Rightly does Wuttke contend against any conception of this deity as a monotheistic one, the poly- theism of the people being considered — for polytheism and monotheism will not be yoked together; even if a logical concordance were found, the inner spirits of the princi- ples of the two would still be opposed to each other. Another argument stands also clearly out, in the total absence of any prayers, offerings, feasts, or temples to or in the honor of this god. From this it is evident that Teotl was not a god of the common people. Yet this, on the other hand, cannot justify us, — the so-frequently- occurring statements of well-informed authorities being taken into account, — in denying in toto all traces of a pan- theistic monotheism, as this latter may easily spring up I * I would call attention to the fact that Alvarado, the ruddy handsome Spanish cnptuiu, waH called Tonatioh by the Mexicans, just as Barnabas was called Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, by the people of Lystra—going to show how uufetish and anthropomorphic were the ideas connected with the aun- god by the Mexicans. 9 Tylor'8 Prim. CuU., vol. U., p. 311. 18i GODS. SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. among cultivated polytheists as a l(^cal result and out- come of their natural religion. Nezahualcoyotl, the en- lightened king of Tezcuco, adored as the cause of causes, a god without an image. The chief of the Totonac aborigines of Cempoallan had, if we may credit the speech put in his mouth by Las Casas and Herrera, an idea of a highest god and creator. This abstract idea has also here, as in other parts of America, inter- twined itself with the conception of a sun-god. Hence the Mexicans named the sun-god pre-eminently Teotl ; and that enlightened king of Tezcuco, who built a temple of nine stories — symbolizing the nine heavens — in honor of the stars, called the sun-god his father." '" " To the most ancient gods," says Klemm, "belonged the divinities of nature, as well as a highest being called Teotl, God. He was perfect, independent, and invisible, And consequently not represented by any image. His qualities were represented by expressions like these: He through whom we live. He who is all in himself. This god coincides very nearly with the Master of Life of the North Americans. In opposition to him is the evil spirit, the enemy of mankind, who often appears to and terrifies them. He is called Tlacate- cololotl, that is to say. Rational Owl, and may possi- bly, like the Lame-foot of the Peruvians, be a sur- vival from the times when the old hunter-nations in- habited the forests and mountains. Next to Teotl •• Matter, Amerikanische Urreligiotun, pp. IT' 4. The 80-often diBoussed resemblance in form and sif^uification betwei .. the two Mexican words ieotl and calli (see Molina, Vocabuhrio) and the two Greek words (heos and kalia, is completely enough noticed by MQlIer. ' Die Mexikanischen Volker haben cinen Appellativniimen t&t Gott, Teotl, wtlcher, da die liuchstaben tl blosse aztekische Endnug sind. merkwiirdiger Wcise mit dem Indoger- Mauischen theos, Deus, Deva, Dew, zusammenstimmt. Dieses Wort wird EUr Dildung mancher Gotteruamen oder Kultusgegenstfinde gebniueht. Hieher gehoren die Gfittemamen Tcotlacozonqui, Teocipactli, Teotetl, GOttermarsch. Dazu kommen noch manche Namen von Htadten, die alB Kultussitze ausgezeichnet waren, wie das uns schon frtther bekaunt gewordene Teotihuacan. Im Plural wurden die G6tter Teules genannt una ebcu bo, wie uns Bemal Diaz so oft erz&hlt, die Geffthrten des Cortes welche das ge- meiue Volk als Gfitter bezeiohnen wollte.' Id., p. 472. TLOQUE-NAHUAQUE. 186 was Tezcatlipoca, that is to say, Shining Mirror; he was the god of providence, the soul of the world, and the creator of heaven and earth. Teotl was not represented by any image, and was probably not worshiped with offerings nor in any special temples; Tezcatlipoca was, however, so represented, and that as a youth, because time could have no power over his beauty and his splendor. He rewarded the righteous, and punished the ungodly with sickness and misfortune. He created the world, and mankind, and the sun, and the water, and he was himself in a certain degree tLc overseer thereof"" The Abbe Brasseur believes in the knowledge by the Mexicans and certain neighboring or related natiors. of a Supreme God; but he thinks also that the names of great priests and legislators have often been usod for or confounded witl 'Le one Name above e\ery name. He says: "In the traditions that have reached us the mime oi the legislator is often confused with that of the divinity ; and behind the symbolic veil that covers primitive history, he who civilized and brought to light in the Americans a new life, is designedly identified with the Father of the universal creation. The writers who treat of the history of the ancient American nations avow that, at the time of the landing of the Spaniards on the soil of the western continent, there was not one that did not recognize the existence of a supreme deity and arbi- ter of the universe. In that confusion of religious ideas, which is the inevitable result of ignorance and supersti- tion, the notion of a unique immaterial being, of an in- visible power, had survived the shipwreck of pure primi- tive creeds. Under the name Tloque-Nahuaque, the Mexicans adored Him who is th(i first cause of all things, who preserves and sustains all by his providence; call- ing him again, for the same reason, Ipalnemoaloni, He in whom and by whom we are and live. This god was the same as that Kunab-Ku, the Alone Holy, who was adored in Yucatan; the same again as that jJurakan, >i KUmm, CuUur-OtschichU, torn, v., pp. 114-5, -I'll h\ 186 OODS, SUPEBNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. the Voice that Cries, the Heart of Heaven, found with the Guatemalan n-itions of Central America; and the same lastly as that Teotl, God, whom we find named in the Tzendal and Mexican hooka. This "God of all purity," as he was styled in a Mexican prayer, was, however, too elevated for the thoughts of the vulgar. His existence was recognized, and sages invoked him; hut he had neither temples nor altars, — perhaps hecause no one knew how he should be represented, — and it was only in the last times of 'the Aztec monarchy that Nezahual- coyotl, king of Tezcuco, dedicated to him a teocalli of nine terraces, without statues, under the title of the unknown god."" Mr Gallatin says of the Mexicans: " Their mythology, as far as we know it, presents a great number of uncon- nected gods, without apparent system or unity of design. It exhibits no evidence of metaphysical research or ima- ginative powers. Viewed only as a development of the intellectual faculties of man, it is, in every respect, vastly inferior to the religious systems of Egypt, India, Greece, or Scandinavia. If imjwrted, it must have been from some barbarous country, and brought directly from such country to Mexico, since no traces of a similar worship are found in the more northern parts of America."" "The Aztecs," writes Prescott, "recognized the exist- ence of a Supreme Creator and Lord of the Universe. But the idea of unity — of a being, with whom volition is action, who has no need of inferior ministers to execute his purjioses — was too simple, or t(X) vast, for their understandings; and they sought relief as usual, in a plurality of deities, who presided over the elements, the changes of the seasons, and the various occupations of man. Of these, there were thirteen principal deities, and more than two hundred inferior; to each of whom some special day, or appropriate festival, was conse- crated."" •• Bnusrur de Bourbourq, Iflst, (its Kat. Civ,, torn, i., pp. IS Uiillutin, in Amer, Anliq. iS'ne. Tmninct., vol, i., p. 3Gi. '< PrtacoU'a Conq. of Mex., vol. I,, p. 57. 46-0. FBIMrnVE WORSHIP. 187 According to Mr Squier: " The original deities of tlie Mexican pantheon are few in number. Thus when the Mexicans engaged in a war, in defense of the liberty or sovereignty of their country, they invoked the War God, under his aspect and name Huitzlipochtli. When sud- denly attacked by enemies, they called u\y)n the same god, under his aspect and name of Paynalton, which im- plied God of Emergencies, etc. In fact, as already else- where observed, all the divinities of the Mexican, as of every other mythology, resolve themselves into the pri- meval God and Goddess." " " The population of Central America," says the Vi- comto do Bussierre, '* although they had preserved the vw^wc notion of a superior eternal God and creator, kiimvn by the name Tootl, hud an Olympus as numerous as that of the Greeks and the Romans. It would apjiear, — the most ancient, though, unfortunately, also the most obscure legends being followed, — that during the civilized period which preceded the successive invunsions of the barbarous hordes of the north, the inhabitants of Ana- huac joined to the idea of a supremo Innng the worship of the sun and the moon, oflering them llowers, fruits, anil tiie first fruits of their fields. The most ancient moiuunents of the country, such as the pyramids of Teo- tihuacan, were incontestably consecrated to those lumi- naries. Let us now trace some of the most striking features of these jieople. Among the number of their goils, is found one represented under the figui*e of a man otiTiially young, and considered as the symlwl of tho supreme and mysterious (JimI. Two other gcxls tiiero were, watching over mortals from the height of a celestial city, and charged witii the accomplishment of their prayers. Air, earth, firo, and water had their particu- lar divinities. The woman of the serjient, the i)rolifio woman, she who never gave birth but to twins, was adored as the mother of tho human race. The sun and tho m(H)n luul their altars. Various divinities presi» TJu-wUrre, L'Emplrt Mtxleain, pp. 131-3. i' JiraiUt ,\l(iiier, in SvliookrajVa Arch., vol. vi., p. 686; goe aho, Brantt Mayzr'a Mtxiw cw it was, p. 110. MEXICAN BELIOION, OKEEE AND BOMAN: iSO and recompensed after it by the offering of numerous captives taken in conflict." '* The religion of the Mexicans," writes Sefior Carbajal Espinosa," plagiarizing as literally as possible from Clavi- gero, " was a tissue of errors and of cruel and superstitious rites. Similar infirmities of the human mind are in- separable from a religious system originating in caprice and fear, as we see even in the moat cultured nations of antiquity. If the religion of the Mexicans be com- pared with that of the Greeks and Romans, it will be found that the latter is the more superstitious and ridic- ulous and the former the more barbarous and sangui- nary. These celebrated nations of ancient Europe multiplied excessively their gods because of the mean idea that they had of their power; restricting their rule within narrow limits, attributing to them the most atro- cious crimes, and solemnizing their worship with such execrable impurities as were so justly condemned by the fathers of Christianity. The gods of the Mexicans were less imperfect, and their worship although superstitious contained nothing repugnant to decency. They hud some idea, although imperfect, of a Supreme Being, ab- solute, independent, Ixilieving that they owed him tri- bute, adoration, and fear. They had no figure whereby to represent him, believing him to Ijc invisible, neither did they give him any other name, save the generic one, God, which is in the Mexican tongue teotl, resembling even more in sense than in pronunciation the theos of the Greeks; tiiey used, however, epithets, in the highest degree expressive, to signify the grandeur and the ix)wcr which they believed him endowed with, calling him Ipalnemoani, that is to say, Ho by whom we live, and Tloque-Nahuaque, which means. He that is all things in himself But the knowledge and the worship of this Supremo Essence were obscured by the multitude of pods invented by su|)erstition. The people believed further- more in an evil spirit, inimical to mankind, calling ■3 Carhajal Esphioaa, Ilist. dt Mtxko, torn, i., pp. 403-0; Clavigtro, Storiu Ant, del Mvasico, turn, il., pp. U-4. 190 aODS, SDPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. him Tlacatecololotl, or Rational Owl, and saying that oftentimes he revealed himself to men, to hurt or to terrify them." " The Mexicans and the Tezcucans," following Sefior Piraentel, " recognized the existence of a Supreme Being, of a First Cause, and gave him that generic title Teotl, God, the analogy of which with the Theos of the Greeks, has been already noted by various authors. The idea of God is one of those that appear radical to our very exist- ence .... With the Mexicans and Tezcucans this idea was darkened by the adoration of a thousand gods, in- voked in all emergencies; of these gods there were thir- teen principal, the most notable being the god of prov- idence, that of war, and that of the wind and waters. The god of providence had his seat in the sky, and hod in his care all human affairs. The god of the waters was considered as the fertilizer of earth, and his dwelling was in the highest of the mountains where he arranged the clouds. The god of war was the principal protector of the Mexicans, their guide in their wanderings from the mysterious country of Aztlan, the god to whose favor they owed those great victories that elevated theni from the lowly estate of lake-fishermen up to the lord- ship ot Anahuac. The god of the wind had an aspect more benign .... The Mexicans also worshiped the sun and the moon, and even, it would appear, certain ani- mals considered as sacred. There figured also in the Aztec mythology an evil genius called the Owl-man,'" since in some manner the good and the bad, mixed up here on earth, have to be explained. So the Persians had their Oromasdcs and Arimancs, the first the genius of good, and the second of evil, and so, later, Maniche- ism presents us with analogous explanations."* Solis, writing of Mexico and the Mexicans says: "There was hardly a street without its tutelary god; neither was there any calamity of nature without its altar, to which they had recourse for remedy. They imagined '• Ilomhrt Buho. w PlmenM, Mem. »obr$ la Ikua ImUgma, pp. 11-13. THE NAMELESS GOD. «wid made their gods out of th ■ ^'^ sending that theyTesse„ed th. ^""^ ^^^'' "«* under- they attributed to others ttT"',?^ ^^'"^ ^7 what their gods, and so compete 'as 1 ?/'i,^ "^^^"^^ ^ we^ Idolatry, they were nTwUhout th:^ '"'T« ^^^^'^ buperior Deity, to whom ihl .J-, ^«nowledge of a the heavens a^id ti^Zl^^''Tk^:'c^y'^ '""^ -^^«on of among the Mexicans a ^od J*l ."^'"^^ ^^ things wa^ ;vord in their language SwwS;'. "''"'' *^^^ ^«^ ^o theygaveittobeimderst^d tim/ft ^V^"^'' ^»'»n. only reverently towards he^veTa^^ ^^••^'''""^^'^''"'Po nt"ng ^shion the attribute oSb?e^:-.T.i° ^'"^^^^^r the"? ""■" B"» ioiiacateotle, who tl,,.„ .-. •' ""^slowed on created the «oi|d • mid I, ?,' i-*^ *"!''• ""^ "'« god that «»»'' <« lord of an T " ™" "«'•>' P»inted with I "»S"d r they Jd h^it^/'f;''': »ffe««, ^^rifi^to ' le others to whom t he 1 1 v "",' '^'' «•"='' things Vn «me o,- demons."" "^ '"""«'=«' >™«' men ont on " We liave already seen fmm ir «.» co„fcs«,a to a s'mX" f J^rr'?"' " the Mexi- «« t''"W and the saidtfX^l ^'">'' ?"'^ """«»- of vo-ted,iooi' Ouiciio, IM. Oen., torn, iii., p. 603. ACOSTA AND TEOTL ^ew Spain, Toraupmo^ ' ^^ these p^opfe er^ i^" ^^n-* !*• But a.i?'^ P'?**"- attributing it^^'" '" ''«WI'"tinB thi, / •'" *'''"''' "■e^ ■^milfaT^ sods; ;>.et, i„ iXv 1"';?"^ """^ "O"! to „„!!!*"" reke into tli Indil^r"" ^««ta "■"cli, ivliereU f '"' '"<"•"• tonirues tJ?„ u??*"' "f "-%- to co;„,cv: ettif ""St !i' '■■"™-^:^ „ »'Vpai.e»<»„„„, ■ ""'■y """de Iheir »l * N„iiu.„|'"°?'S»l. que quiera d,.|, =.« *«ffe |)v Hw, »* ■. P' ^'''*' — Not ho u - ' .''•' *oni. «! „ on " ' y "' ser eu IM GODS. SUPEBNATUBi^ BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. greatest adoration to an Idol called Yitzilipuztli, the which in all this region they called the most puissant and Lord of all things: for this cause. the Mexicaines built him a Temple, the greatest, the fairest, the highest, and the most sumptuous of all others .... But heere the Mexicaines Idolatrie hath bin more pernicious and hurtfull than that of the Inguas, as wee shall see plainer heereafter, for that the greatest part of their adoration and idolatrie, was imployed to Idols, and not to naturall things, although they did attribute naturall effects to these IdoUs, as raine, multiplication of cattell, warre, and generation, even as the Greekes and Latins have forged Idolls of Phoebus, Mercuric, Jupiter, Minerva, and of Mars. To conclude, who so shall neerely looke into it, shall finde this manner which the Divell hath vsed to deceive the Indians, to be the same wherewith hee hath deceived the Greckes and Romans, and other ancient Gentiles, giving them to vnderstand that these notable creatures, the Sunne, Moone, Starres, and Elements, had power and authoritie to doe good or harme to men."* Mendieta says: " It is to be noted for a general rule that, though these people, in all the continent of these Indias, from the farthest parts of New Spain to the parts of Florida, and farther still to the kingdoms of Peru, had, as has been said, an infinity of idols that tliey reverenced as gods, nevertheless, above all, they still held the sun as chiefest and most powerful. And they dedicated to the sun the greatest, richest, and most sumptuous of their temples. This should be the power the Mexicans called Ipalnemohuani, that is to say, 'by whom all live,' and Moyucuyatzin ayac oquiyocux ayiw oquipic, that is to say, ' he that no one created or formed, but who, on the contrary, made all things by his own Sower and will.' .... So many are the fictions and fa- tes that the Indians invented about their gods, and so differently are these related in the different towns, that neither can they agree among themselves in recounting M iieosta. HM. Nat. Ind., pp. 334, 337-8. «^«»BW.sWH™,Uas„cifl^OBV. 'hem, nor shall there Iw. f„. j "* »tond them. In the ttf^r^™? *''o^«'I under- «.o»e -^f^*tn'"th2t"^'-«^ Sl"St H,„ r '.V'e" «o remark," writeaS ""PO'^titions."" Uie Indians had a diWnh^Cf ""I"^' " «'at nithouirl. wie lollowinff terms- " n ii "**"Ve prayer courluwi • llf'ndieta,JIUt.g,i„ o. „, , ^ •'"^-rgOds ),— jou thftfc 196 GODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. I ii': have all power over men forsake us not in danger. We invoke you, as well also as the sun Nauholin, and the moon, spouse of that brilliant luminary, the stars of heaven also, and the wind of the night and of the day."^ According to the somewhat vague and incomplete ac- count of Fray Toribio de Benavente, or Motolinia, — the latter his adopted name and that by which he is best known, — another of the original and early authorities in matter concerning the gentile Mexicans: " Tezcatlipoca was the god or demon that they held for greatest and to whom most dignity was attributed . . . They had idols of stone, and of wood, and of baked clay ; they also made them of dough and of seeds kneaded into the dough . . . Some of them were shaped like men,. . . some were like women ; . . . some were like wild beasts, as lions, tigers, dogs, deer, and such other animals as frequented the mountains and plains ; . . . some like snakes of many fashions, large and coiling ... Of the owl and other night-birds, and of others as the kite, and of every large bird, or beautiful, or fierce, or preciously feathered, — they had an idol. But the principal of all was the sun. Likewise had they idols of the moon and stars, and of the great fishes, and of the water-lizards, and of toads and frogs, and of other fishes ; and these they said were the gods of th< fishes . . . They had for gods fire, water, and earth ; and of all these they had painted figures ... Of many other things they had figures and idols, carved or painted, even of butterflies, fleas, and locusts." ** Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, was he who — accord- ing to the no doubt somewhat partial account of his de- scendant Ixtlilxochitl — pushed the farthest into overt speech and act his contempt of the vulgar idolatry and his recognition of a high, holy, and to a great extent unknowable supreme power. This thoughtful monarch " found for false all the gods adored by the people of this land, saying that they were statues and demons 33 Camargo, ITwt. de Thx., in Nouvelles Annates des Voy., 1843, torn, xcviii., p. 101, torn, xcix., p. 168. 3« Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in leazbaloeta, Col., torn, i., pp.4, 33-24. moral things, and he Znt to l.T ^"^^ ^««rned in other seeking if haplvTeli^hf 2/7 T^ ^^an an\ true God and creator of all thhi""^ ^^^^^ to affirm thi .^'^/^^^"rseofhishislir^afchr '^^ ^« ^n n that he composed on this fh ^i^*" ^^^"ess the son-H was only OnC that S^io^fLT;.^ ^^^ th«t t'^eS and earth, that he sustained allT ?! "^^'^^'^ «f heaven ^eyer--tho„gh there weieL^.'^i'P^ «"d sufferiLf ^dols--did the king SecTl^^^'^^P'-^^^ntingmafv when divinity was diisSd " ''j;^^*""'ty of i,,-"^ palne moalani,' which rnSe T''"^"*^ "^ "auhaqie y as above expressed. Wrfh . ^T "^ ^^^ conviction^ a« his fother and the earth .t'"'' ''" ''^^^Knized tJie «"« ^ow it is in tbJLTt '^' ^'^ mother."'^ ^"" jnfe' or doubthiS^^^^^^^^^^^^ *^"* ^- been said deny N^^ uaw^ the creeHf tianslated, from among othpr n "^^ P»««age above ««hject in the ^^to,.^^r^,w ^"''''^^''' *«"«J»ng the mmt J have selected j7'^,^t'^^^""^^"« »nd in the /?./.! * urr... 1 J "'*^'^ciea It not becaii«o ;♦ • li ^^ekiciones. «'*d, or the most eloque^ !! .1'" "'« ■"°«' clearly fyV lUVO OOP fnlu„.. ... X , '"! "1 hnvixhni'nu„i.<„ 1, 3; 198 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEHfOS. ANl> WOBSHIP. solely on account of the sentence with which it concludes: Nezahualcoyotl "recognized the sun as his father and the earth as his mother." These few words occurr- ing at the end of a eulogy of the great Tezcucan by a confessed admirer, these few words that have passed un- noticed amid the din and hubbub raised over the lofty creed to which they form the last article, these few words so insignificant apparently and yet so significant in their connection, — should go far to prove the faithfulness of of Ixtlilxochitl's record, and the greater or less complete- ness of his portrait of his great ancestor. Were Ixtlilxo- chitl dishonest, would he ever have allowed such a pagan chord as this to come jangling into the otherwise jjerfect music of his description of a perfect sage and Christian, who believed in a God alone and all-sufficient, who be- lieved in a creator of all things without any help at all, much less the help of his dead material creatures the sim and the earth ? Let us admit the honesty of Ixtlilxo- chitl, and admit with him a knowledge of that Unknown God, whom, as did the Athenians, Nezahualcoyotl igiio- rantly worshiped ; but let us not be blinded by a glitter of words — which we may be sure lose nothing in the repetition — as to the significance of that 'ignorjintly;' let us never lose sight across the shadow of that obscure Athenian altar to the Unknown God, of the mighty columns of the Acropolis and the crest of the Athena Promachos. Nezahualcoyotl seems a fair type of a thoughtful, somewhat sceptical Mexican of that better- instructed class which is ever and everywhere the horror of hypocrites and fanatics, of that class never without its witnesses in all countries and at all times, of that class two steps above the ignorant 'aity, and one step above the learned pri' sthood, yet far still from that simi)le and perfect truth wl ch shall one day be patent enough to all. Turning from the c ?ussion of a point so obscure and intangible as the monc leism of Nezahualcoyotl and the school of which he was le type, let us review the very palpable and indubital ^ polytheism of the Mexicans. AMERICAN MYTHOIOOY mylhology „aa tj,, ,^ |, 'f.' ™™ .« J"mble as Aryan the ripest Went «„d s^houil!' ,"?"" '<'■' the vai of "i-y into the path/„r.~P » .the "ineteenth^n": "to god or hera sh„„ti„! S? rf"»g. «hicl. led again Unfortunately tl» nhilol^j;;" , *""» "V he invemed 7 'an eKh«Ltivetfe';,"Ar"'"'%''« "-"te^W for given to the world on the \rv > u 'j "".■■ "^"mple, has ft/>eAn,an Nations, is L ,'!'ft ''«*"^''' "' his 4*ifoZ 'nd«.d makes themil^^Vi^rflTft'^; "'""hS there is nothin.'formo „t ""''''» hke the nre».nf «.™nge, with sue°li sClTS;' """ '" «""'-' »~- s'We, all accessible inaterfl »1 T^"'''*'"'™' "» ""V be n™. hat done let mom "kTlSlT^"J""'"°*e subject in h«S^ their place in (he wall „f • """ «"<< »nd give then.' place there, whether or noTf' . *'<»• they hale a ■noTow; abreachisIheJetL ,'l/r"'» *»-4 or to? «t and (ill it. "•«"* that shall be empty until th7y wh|::':ffiS-^j'-^" -*-» on the wuh^a ei'Ltrgo-j I'-n'd -ir '•■« '-••^" tmtmg this phase of his Phm.„«* . ""'^ Proceed, iHus. f possible the various ni^r*'." *^ ^"•'^"^'^te as closelJ ^,^-«ed to this g4at SrL7'^'-^^'^''«^""««^^ litlfwoan, Yautl, TelnuchfiJ T? '''' ^"' ^'•^^'ous names ^--, Neeoeiautira^^^^^^^^^ aOO OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. 0, thou almighty God, that givest life to men, and art called Titlacaoan, grant me in thy mercy everything needful to eat and to drink, and to enjoy of thy soft and delicate things; for in grievous toil and straitness I live in the world. Have mercy on me, so poor I am and naked, I that labor in thy service, and for thy service sweep, and clean, and put light in this poor house, where I await thine orders; otherwise let me die soon and end this toilful and miserable life, so that my body may find rest and a breathing-time. In illness the people prayed to this deity as follows: God, whose name is Titlacaoan, be merciful and send away this sickness which is killing me, and I will reform my life. Let me be once healed of this infirmity and I swear to serve thee and to earn the right to live ; should 1 by hard toil gain something, I will not eat it nor employ it in anything save only to thine honor ; I will give a feast and a banquet of dancing in this poor house. But the sick man that could not recover, and that felt it so, used to grow desperate and blaspheme saying: Titlacaoan, since thou mockest me, why dost thou not kill me?** Then following is a prayer to Tezcatlipoca, used by the priest in time of pestilence: mighty Lord, under whose wing we find defense and shelter, thou art invis- ible and impalpable even as night and the air. How can I that am so mean and worthless « Sahainm, Itiat. Otn., torn, i., lib. iii., pp. 341-3. PBAm W TIME OF PESTILENCE. coming down even as fi*nno» wretches that inhabU the IrT"';?"^ •"''r « "P«" the lence with which we ar^ «fflT* r"**"'^ '« ^^e soiTpesti- Alas, valiant anfallll^t^^^ "'"^ost desti^^ed. pie are almost made an^nT^f ^T*^' ^^'^ ^^^mon L,. destruction and n.Jn^K ""^ **"*^ destroyed- a ^S^ thij nation; and, Xat t S'^^^f. ^'^IreadV.ir^* children that ak inno^nraL^'*'*"] ^^ ^"' the little only to play with pebbleTrn/* v.""^^"«^»d "othini of earth, they too die bml" *^>^.^P "P ""le mounds again8t8tonesandawa^I-l!^K" ''"'^ ^«^^^ *« Pieces as the cradles, nor those XrcoL "I ""* "^^» tho.e in Ah, Lord, howaP th;n«.„tl "^ "*** walk nor sDeal/ f "d old ai'id of men ant t^""' confounded ; of Tun^ hmnch nor root; thy trr" f'T ^"^^'"« "Sef ;vealth are leveled d^own ^nd 7.\ **'->^,P^Plo and thy mtector of all, most vaTant andt'n^-l'^-. ^ «"r Lord^ / hine anger and thine inXn^f " T^ '''"^' ^hat is this? ^" haling the stoneanS^^^^^^^ pestilence, made exceediiS • '^'''' '^^he fire of Se »>«hut, burningund snSSr ^^^^^ "«tion, as a fire «o;;nd. The grfndersoTivteTh?'^ """V"^ "P^ht o7 ^tter whips u,x,n the misemb^ nfT ^"^P^^-V^d, and thy '^come lean and of littirSnl "^ ^^^P'^' ^^^o have «'^"^- Vea, what doest tio ? ' T'^ "'^ ^ follow grS compassionate, invS . ! Z'".'^' ^ ^^^^'d, most stro^J^ f things obey, u";,rdl/T^ ^''ose wf,' he world, to win „, JJ is "n '"^T^ '^^'P^"'^^ the rule of '"7«t hast thou d i,^t.d ' p'^Jf '-^vbat in thy di 'nf K<^thor forsaken tl v Sn. '^^^^^'^ ^ast thou aC -niv determined iha? Hti:! t 'T^^^^^ ^^-" ttot h^' no more memory of it i } "^ ^PJ^' "»^^ that there j'^co become a wooded ilUitj T-^', *'"^^ *'»« I'^-Pc'd mdventure wilt thou "^^ tuI^t^'T «* '^^""^^«? t'iei)IiU3esofpraver luu] til u . the temples and an OODS. STJPBBMATUBAL BEIN08, AND WOBSHIP. will go on to the end to our destruction ? Is it already fixed in thy divine counsel that there is to be no mercy nor pity for us, until the arrows of thy fury are spent to our utter perdition and destruction? Is it possible that this lash and chastisement is not given for our cor- rection and amendment, but only for our total destruc- tion and obliteration; that the sun shall nevermore shine upon us, but that we must remain in perpetual darkness and silence; that nevermore thou wilt look upon us with eyes of mercy, neither little nor much ? Wilt thou after this fashion destroy the wretched sick that cannot find rest nor turn from side to side, whose mouth and teeth are filled with earth and scurf? It is a sore thing to tell how we are all in dark- ness, having none understanding nor sense to watch for or aid one another. We are all as drunken and without understanding, without hope of any aid; already the little children perish of hunger, for there is none to give them food, nor drink, nor consolation, nor caress, — none to give the breast to them that suck ; for their fathers and and mothers have died and left them orphans, suffer- ing for the sins of their fathers. our Lord, all- powerful, full of mercy, our refuge, though indeed thine anger and indignation, thine arrows and stones, have sorely hurt this poor people, let it be as a father or a mother that rebukes children, pulling their ears, pinch- ing their arms, whipping them with nettles, pouring chill water upon them ; all being done that they may amend their puerility and childishness. Thy chastise- ment and indignation have lorded and prevailed over these thy servants, over this poor people, even as rain falling upon the trees and the green canes, being touched of the wind, drops also upon those that are below. most compjissionate Lord, thou knowest that the common folk are as children, that being whipped they cry and sob and repent of what they have done. Peradventure, already these poor people by reason of thy chastisement weep, sigh, blame,' and murmur against themselves ; in thy presence they bliune and bear witness against their bad beeds and SPABE THE GBEEW ASH ta». n^, "■*« A«j> TAKE THE BIPB. punish themselves therefor n. t . nate pitiful, noble, «,d p^^^^ ^^'1.°»««t ^on^passio- people to repent; let theCHw " ^'^'^ ^ S^^^^e end here, to begin again inhp^^**'"^"* «»«<*, let it don and overlS>k Xe "1 „f ^?"" '"f "™ "«*• Par- anger and thy resTtn^l"! f *^® P^P'e; cause thine within thy hrelrZ^^'l^^^'. ??-". '' ^^^ there; /et it cease, for of a^^ "/* ^'*'**'^''' '«* '* rest death nor escape to inypl^^SJ'^'-y "«»« can avoid and all that iTve in Krid^LT*"^"*^*«'^^th; thl8 tribute shall everv mT^ ^-^^^ ^^^^ thereof- «hall avoid from fdanea?h V''? ^'^ "«^- ^^"e what hour soever it niaylelnl t '* '^**^>^ °^«««enger mg always to devour aU thaHi • T""^ ""^ thirst- powerful that none shaU e^"' .Tu '" *^f T'^^ «»^1 «o man be Punished a«3oi^ ^^^P? : *,^«»;"deed «hall every Lord, at least take mtvaLX ^^^'^^' ^ '"ost pitiful ren that are in the c^les ut^T^"'^: "^-'^ the Sh/w- Have merey also, WuZ ,£ *^"* "**""«* ^«Ik. rable who have nothing to ^" !„' r'""^ ^""-^^ "^'«e- withal, nor a place to sifep wh ' T "i f^""^' themselves a happy day is, wh(^r&„ *" "'*' '^""^^ what thinir affliotioi, an^d sidne^r fc T "^'"^^"^^^ '^ S Lord, if thou shouM fort" to b' ""''" ^' "«* ^tter soldiers and upon the men f L^ IT "^^^^ "P«» the need of sometime; belmld iUsTVf^r J^"" ^"**^«ve go to serve food and drh k in th^l ' **" 9^ ^" ^^^ «nd to die in this pestilence and I T'^ "^**»« «»»» than «t«3"g Lord, pS^tector ^f Ti? tT"f .If ^^''^l^' « "»««* of ho world, and universal mX h /h' '"^*^' ««vernor fiiction thou hast alread/taTn ' » ' '^'' ''"^ «"*>«" «"'fice; make an end of 'thrsmnl 'a T'* P"'"«hment ment; quench also tStT,,/?^*"»«*' thy resent- tlune anger: let serenUy ^m^ "" '^^^'^^'i"^ fire of «mall birds of thy people'^b^rr- '^"'^r^' ^«' the the sun; give therquiet wlfh "^^ to approach 904 OODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP. and I have nothing more to say, only to prostrate and throw myself at thy feet, seeking pardon for the faults of this my prayer; certainly I would not remain in thy displeasure, and I have no other thing to say. The following is a prayer to the same deity, under his names Tezcatlipuca and Yoalliehecatl, for succor against poverty : O our Lord, protector most strong and cora!- passionate, invisible, and impalpable, thou art the giver of life ; lord of all, and lord of battles, I present myself here before thee to say some few words concerning the need of the poor people, the people of none estate nor intelligence. When they lie down at night they have nothing, nor when they rise up in the morning; the darkness and the light pass alike in great poverty. Know, Lord, that thy subjects and servants, sufter a sore poverty that cannot be told of more than that it is a sore poverty and desolateness. The men have no gar- ments nor the women to cover themselves with, but only certain rags rent in every part that allow the air and the cold to pass everywhere. With great toil and weariness they scrape together enough for each day, going by mountain and wilderness seeking their food ; so faint and enfeebled are they that their bowels cleave to the ribs, and all their body reechoes with hollowness; and they walk as people aftrighted, the face and the body in like- ness of death. If they be merchants, they now sell only cakes of salt and broken pepper; the people that have something despise their wares, so that they go out to sell from door to door and from house to house ; and when they soil nothing they sit down sjully by some lencc, or wall, or in some corner, licking their lips and gnaw- ing the i.ails of their hands for the hunger that is in them ; they look on the one side and on the other at the mouths of those that pass by, hoping peradventurc that one may s\yeak some word to them. O compassionate God, the bed on which they lie down is not a thing to rest u[)on, but to eiuhire torment in ; they draw a rag over them at night and so sleep ; there they throw down their bodies and the bodies of children that thou hast PRAYER FOR AID AGAINST POVERTY. 205 given them. For the misery they grow up in, for the filth" of their food, for the lack of covering, their faces are yellow and all their bodies of the color of earth. They tremble with cold, and for leanness they stagger in walking. They go weeping, and sighing, and full of sadness, and all misfortunes are joined to them ; though they stay by a fire they find little heat. our Lord, most clement, invisible, and impalpable, I supplicate thee to see good to have pity upon them as they move in thy presence wailing and clamoring and seeking mercy with anguish of heart. O our Lord, in whose power it in to give all content, consolation, sweetness, softness, prosperity and riches, for thou alone art lord of all good, — have mercy upon them for they are thy servants. I supplicate thee, Lord, that thou prove them a little with tenderness, indulgence, sweetness, and softness, which indeed they sorely lack and require. I suppli- cate thee that thou will lift up their heads with thy favor and aid, that thou will see good that they enjoy some days of prosfKirity and tranquillity, so they may sleep and know repose, having prosi)erou8 jmd peaceable days of life. Should they still refuse to serve thee, thou after- wards canst take away what thou hast given ; they having enjoyed it but a few days, as those that enjoy a fragrant and Ijeautiful llower and find it wither presently. Should this nation, for whom I pray and entreat thee to do them g(X)d, not understand what thou hast given, thou canst take away the good and pour out cursing; so that all evil may come u^jon them, and they become poor, in need, maimed, lame, blind, and deaf: then indeed they shall waken and know the g(K)d that they had and have not, and they shall call \i\yon thee and lean towards thee ; but thou wilt not listen, for in the day of abundance they would not understand thy goodness towards them. In conclusion, I supplicate thee, O most kind and benif- icent Lord, that thou will see gotxi to give this ^wople to taste of the goods and riches that thou art wont to give, and that proceed from thee, things sweet and soft *'' Pur k frem do In oomida: Sahagun, IlUd. Om,, torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 30. li: 906 GODS, SUPEBNATDSAIi BEINGS. AND WOBSHIF. - ■ ^ 1^' and bringing content and joy, although it be but for a little while, and as a dream that passes. For it is certain that for a long time the people go p. ^ly before thee, weeping and thoughtful, because of the anguish, hardship, and anxiety that fill their bodies and hearts, taking away all ease and rest. Verily, it is not doubtful that to this poor nation, needy and shelterless, happens all I have said. If thou answerest my petition it will be only of thy liberality and magnificence, for no one is worthy to re- ceive thy bounty for any merit of his, but only through thy grace. Search below the dung-hills and in the mountains for thy servants, friends, and acquaintance, and raise them to riches and dignities. our Lord, most clement, let thy will be done as it is ordained in thy heart, and we shall have nothing to say. I, a rude man and common, would not by importunity and pro- lixity disgust and annoy thee, detailing my sickness, destruction, and punishment. Whom do 1 ei^r-^k to? Where am I ? Lo I speak with thee, King ; well do I know that I stand in an eminent place, and that I talk with one of great majesty, before whose presence flows a river through a chasm, a gulf sheer down of awful depth ; this also is a slippery place, whence many precipitate themselves, for there shall not be found one without error before thy majesty. I myself, a man of little understanding and lacking speech, dr -e to address my words to thee; I put myselfin peril of falling into the gorge and cavern of this river. I, Lord, have come to take with my hands blindness to mine eyes, rotten- ness and shrivelling to my members, poverty and affliction to my body; for my meanness and rudeness this it is that I merit to receive. Live and rule for ever in all quietness and tranquillity, thou that art our lord, our shelter, our protector, most compassionate, most pitiful, invisible, impalpable. This following is a petition in time of war to the same principal god, under his name of Tezcatlipoca Yautlnecoci- untlmonenequi, praying favor against the enemy: our Lord, moet compuasionate, protector, defender, invisible, PBAYEB IN TIME OF WAB. m impalpable, by whose will and wisdom we are directed and governed, beneath whose rule we live, — 0, Lord of battles, it is a thing very certain and settled that war begins to be arranged and prepared for. The god of the earth opens his mouth, thirsty to drink the blood of them that shall die in this strife. It seems that they wish to be merry, the sun and the god of the earth called Tlaltecutli ; they wish to ^ve to eat and drink to the gods of heaven and hades, making them a banquet with the blood and flesh of the men that have to die in this war. Already do they look, the gods of heaven and hades, to see who they are that have to con- quer, and who to be conquered; who they are that have to slay, and who to be slain; whose blood it is that has to be drunken, and whose flesh it is that has to be eaten ; — which things the noble fathers and mothers whose sons have to die, are ignorant of. Even so are ignorant all their kith and kin, and the nurses that gave them suck, — ignorant also are the fa- thers that toiled for them, seeking things needful for their food and drink and raiment until they reached the age they now have. Certainly they could not foretell how those sons should end whom they reared so anx- iously, or that they should be one day left captives or dead upon fhe field. See good, O our Lord, that the nobles who die in the shock of war be peacefully and agreeably received, and with bowels of love, by the sun and the earth that are father and mother of all. For verily thou dost not deceive thyself in what thou doest,"" to wit, in wishing them to die in war; for certainly for this didst thou send them into the world, so that with their flesh and their blood they might be for meat and drink to the sun and the earth. 1^ not wroth, Lord, anew against those of the profession of war, for in the same place where they will die have died ** ' Porqne I la yerdad no os flngaftaiB oon lo qne luuwiB:* mo Sahagmi, in Kbui»borou;ik'a Ma. Antiq., toI. t., p. 866, u the ■nbsUtation of ' engaAeiH ' for ' engnAaia ' deatrovH the seMe of the paaaaoe in Buatamante'a ed. of the lame, WM. Om., torn, ii., lib. vi.,p. 43. 108 GODS, SUPEBNATDBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIP. many generous" and noble lords and captains, and valiant men. The nobility and generosity of the nobles and the greatheartedness of the warriors is made appar- ent, and thou makest manifest, Lord, how estimable and precious is each one, so that as -such he may be held and honored, even as a stone of price or a rich feather. Lord, most clement, lord of battles, emperor of all, whose name is Tezcatlipoca, invisible and impalpable, we supplicate thee that he or they that thou wilt per- mit to die in this war may be received into the house of the sun in heaven, with love and honor, and may be placed and lodged between the brave and famous war- riors already dead in war, to wit, the lords Quitzicqua- quatzin, Maceuhcatzin, Tlacahuepantzin, Ixtlilcuechavac, Ihuitltemuc, Chavacuetzin, tind all the other valiant and renowned men that died in former times, — who are re- joicing with and praising our lord the sun, who are glad and eternally rich through him, and shall be for ever; they go about sucking the sweetness of all flowers delec- table and pleasant to the taste. This is a great dignity for the stout and valiant ones that died in war; for this they are drunken with delight, keeping no account of night, nor day, nor years, nor times ; their joy and their wealth is without end; the nectarous flowers they sip never fade, and for the desire thereof men of high de- scent strengthen themselves to die. In conclusion, I entreat thee, Lord, that art our lord most clement, our emperor most invincible, to see good that those that die in this war be received with bowels of pity and love by our father the sun, and our mother the earth ; for thou only livest and rulest and art our most compassion- ate lord. Nor do I supplicate alone for the illustrious and noble, but also for the other soldiers, who are troubled and tormented in heart, who clamor, calling upon thee, holding their lives as nothing, and who fling themselves without fear upon the enemy, seeking death. Grant ^ By an error and a solecism of Bustamente's ed. the Tvords ' gentes rojos' ore substituted for the ndjeotive 'Benerosos:' see, as in the preciil- lug note, Sahagun, in Kinfitborough's Me*. Aniiq., vol. v., p. 367, and Sahaijun, im. Gen., torn, ii., lib. vi., p. 43. mYEB TO THE GOD OP BATTLES. them at least some small part of fl.^ 7" ^ and repose in this life; or Kere tZ ^"'^7' ««°»« ^ not destined to prosoeritv « ^®^®' *^ ^^^s world, thev arp officers of the BCrgi!^e^?K5' H ^^l^^-^ -d luidesand tothoseinheiven AhI .k""^ to those in 1 18 to rule the state and to be «11T ^^T ^^ose chaise „f make them to be fatherland t^*^ "" ^^^^'h^- of war hat wander by S a^S J"^*^,^ *« ^^e men and ravine,-in their hand isThl '"T*^'"' ^^ height enemies and criminals, ial^ f^ ??"*??«« «f death for ties, the offices and thr^rm ^^ ^''*"^"*i«» «f digni- grantingprivilege?to those Sat 1^'- '^' ^^^^Mhe on the head, and ear-rin^ tn^7T "^'"^^ «"^ *««il«" have yellow skins tied otLS?^' ^^ ^^^^^^^H and Pnvilege of appoint^ theT^^^^^^ them i's the every one shall wear.^ It is To ,T '^ *^ '"^^"^^"^ *hat nnssion to certain to nJ ^ ***®^ ^^^ to give ner ehalchivetes, tuTuol^^:^^^^^^^ and to wear necklaces knd iewel« nf ?/" *^^ ^»«ce«, things are delicate and prSut^Is^^^-- «» of which % riches, and which thou S ff.lP^^^ing fn)m feate and valiant deeds in ^^ T^ *^^ *^.^* Perform I^ord, to make grace of 1 \ ^ ®"*''®** *hee also O ^Wiers, give them' ZeleJt a^l^, *^« «~ vvorld, make them stout Tni u ^^ ^"^ ^^^ging in this cowardice from their hea^t 7? ""^ *«^^ «W a '^eet death with cheerfulnZ k1 "«* ««Jy «hall they 7f thing,a.flower8^^^^^^^^^ desire it as { the hoots and shouts of thpir "^ '^' "'''' '^'^^d at all ^ to thy friend. Formnuoh.^T'''''' ^^'' ^o to them on whose will deS h?^.*^"*" ^^* ^o«l of batde^ -It, needing not ffa^tuI^Vj^^^^^^^^ "^^ S Lord, to make mad andTlu ^^'"""^ «"t"^at thee without hurt to us tly la^lTr '""V^^^ ^ ^h^t h«nds, into the handTKurten:r^-«« into our „;'EsdecirOoa,«„dantesdr» •. ^ '"^"^ enduring given .bolW' In B7«teM.T^'«-<>«?V. Jlfeo,. .!„«. _.. Vol. m. x« ««w»«iwn, ^s Jtfea,. ^„<,. _ J 210 GODS, SUPEBNATUSiLL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP. 80 much hardship and poverty. our Lord, since thou art God, all-powerful, all-knowing, disposer of all things, able to make this land rich, prosperous, praised, honored, famed in the art and feats of war, able to make the warriors now in the field to live and be prosperous, if, in the days at hand, thou see good that they die in war, let it be to go to the house of the sun, among all the heroes that are there and that died upon the battle- field. The following prayer is one addressed to the principal deity, under his name Tezcatlipoca Teiocoiani Tehima- tini, asking favor for a newly elected ruler: To-day, a fortunate day, the sun has risen upon us, warming us, so that in it a precious stone may be wrought, and a hand- some sapphire. To us has appeared a new light, has arrived a new brightness, to us hais been given a glitter- ing axe to rule and govern our nation, — has been given a man to take upon his shoulders the affairs and troubles of the state. He is to be the image and substitute of the lords and governors that have already passed away from this life, who for some days labored, bearing the burden of thy people, possessing thy throne and seat, which is the principal dignity" of this thy nation, province, and kingdom; having and holding the same in thy name and person some few days. These have now departed from this life, put off their shoulders the great load and burden that so few are able to suffer. Now, Lord, we marvel that thou hast indeed set thine eyes on this man, rude and of little knowledge, to make him for some days, for some little time, the govenior of this state, nation, province, and kingdom. O our Lord, most clement, art thou peradventure in want of persons and friends? — nay verily, thou that hast thereof more than can be counted! Is it, peradventure, by error, or that thou dost not know him; or is it that thou hast taken him for the nonce, while thou seekest among many for <* 'Dignidad,' Sahamn, in Kingsborough'a Mm. AtUiq.,yo\. v.. p. 359, misprinted 'diligenoia^ in Bnatamente's Sahagun, Hist.Om., tom.u.,Ub. Ti., p. 46. anot profi give us. perhj thy \ this ; that I fear t sidera has, ti makin dignitj presun; withpc know t theatre, merry. through carelessj from th wood, a and the Then th( dung-hil] lings, an( when tho roan is J who art c t^r, undei that thou rouch as h deign to pi what he h« he has to ft contrary tc what is to I] night; we another and a better ih. u give thanks to thy male^v fn .?^^«''^d- finally we »«. What thy dii^T^iret f « fr^" ^'^^^ ^ast^^: perhaps beforehand this X" T *^" *^«"« ^nowe^ % will be done as t is £! ^ S^" Pn)vided for ' this man serve far i! determined in thv hearf • i ** thathewilffiTthtoffirdeSiv",' *^"^- '"^t* fear to his subjects, dSZ m^^Z^ll' ^^^"^ "n^^st and nas thinking that he will r^n.^-^ • *^® dignity he niaking a sad dream oT I ^ l " '" '* ^«r « long time dignity thou Iiast7iv^l^^i7^"^^ ^^e occupation aTd presumption, makin|Spnf " ?^^«" ofpride and with ^mp aid pagel f wllh& ^"^ ^"^ «^ut know the event of all for all « * ^^"^ *^W thou wilt theatre, at which thou wK *^.*^^ '^^^^^ ^d "jerry. Perhaps this nl * .??*^ '"akest thy^tf tag3,and extreme iZrty WI ^''^"'^''"'''WvS! wnen thou wilt nnt !,!»,•'. '"^ hour of hi« j„„,\: 'ho art our Lo„i, our fnvfefblfr'i '^' ^Pf'^te tC tor, under whose 'will ^dS '' ""Hpable protS fc »f and pS fS":,^-* :«««>, who^all^e KKht!SfRst'-t' he im to follow, 80^ to tmL^"" ^ ^^' «»d the S contrary to fh^r a- •?. commit no error in hi. « whnf lo * u "-^ disposition and win m. "" ^^^ce, ~' most clement, that our 213 GODS, 8UPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF. ways and deeds are not so much in our hands as in the hands of our ruler. If this ruler after an evil and per- verse fashion, in the place to which thou hast elevated him, and in the seat in which thou hast put him, — which is thine, — ^where he manages the aflfairs of the people, as one that washes filthy things with clean and clear water, (yea in the same seat holds a similar cleansing office the ancient god, vvho is father and mother to thy- self, and is god of fire, who stands in the midst of flowers, in the midst of the place bounded by four walls, who is covered with shining feathers that are as wings), — if this ruler-elect of ours do evil with which to provoke thine ire and indignation, and to awaken thy chastisement against himself, it will not be of his own will or seek- ing, but by thy permission or by some impulse from without; for which I entreat thee to see good to open his eyes to give him light; open also his ears and guide him, not so much for his own sake as for that of those whom he has to rule over and carry on his shoulders.** I sup- *^ This doubtfal and involved sentence, with the contained clause touching the nature of the fire-god, runs exactly as follows in the two varying editions of the original : ' i^i algnna cosa aviesa 6 mal heche hiciera en la dignidud que le habeia dado, y en la silla en que le habeis puesto, que ^s vuestra, donde est^l tratando los negocios populares, como (|uien lava cohhb sncias cou agus may clara y muy limpia; en la qual silla y dignidad tiene el mismo oflcio de lavar vuestro padre y madre de todos los Dioses, el Dios antiguo que i-s el Dios del fuego, que est& en medio del albergue cerca de quatro paredes, y e8t4 onbierto con plumas resplandecientes que son como alas, lo que este electo hiciese mal hecho, con que provoque vuestra ira e indignacion, y des- jrierte vuestro castiso contra si, noser& de su albedrio d de su querer, sino de vuestra permision, o de algun otra sugestion vuestra, 6 de otro ; por lo cual os ■uplico tengais por bien de abrirle los ojos y darle lumbre y abrirle las orejas, y gniadle k este pobre electo, no tanto por lo que el es, smo princi|)alnieute por aquellos & quienes ha de regir y Uevar a cuestas.' Samr/un, in Khujs- borough's Mex. Aniiq., vol. v., pp. 360-361. ' Si alguna cosa aviesa o mal lieoha hiciere, en la dignidad que le habeis diido, y en la silla en que lo habeis puesto que es vuestra, donde tisi'« tratando los negocios populnres, oomo quien laba oosas sucias, con ntjin m y clara y may limpia, on la cual ulla y dignidad tiene el mismo oficio de /.abar vuestro padre y madre, de todos los dioses, el dios antiguo, que <>s '>l dios del fuego que esta en medio de las flores, y en medio del alr.ci'giU' cercado de cuatro paredes, y cst& oubierto con plumas resplandecienteb que son somo Alas; lo que este electo hiciere mal hecho con que provoque vuestra ira e indignacion, y despierte Tuestro oastigo contra sf, no Ber& de su alvedrio de 6 su querer, aino de vues- tra permision, 6 de alguna otra sugestion vuestra, 6 de otro; por lo cual os flnpiioo tenuis por bien de abirle los ojos, y darle luz, y abridle tambien las orejas, y gmad a eate pobre electo; no tanto por lo que es el, sino principal- mente por aquellos & quien ha de regir yllevar aouestas:' Bustameute's Sahagun, Hist. Oen., torn. ii.. lib. vi., p. 48. THAT A BUIEB MAT NOT ABUSE HIS POWEB. 218 plicate thee, that now, from the beginning, thou inspire him with what he is to conceive in his heart, and the road he is to follow, inasmuch as thou hast made of him a seat on which to seat thyself, and also as it were a flute that, being played upon, may signify thy will. Make him, Lord, a faithful image of thyself, and per- mit not that in thy throne and hall he make himself proud and haughty, but rather see good, Lord, that quietly and prudently he rule and govern those in his charge who are common people: do not permit him to insult and oppress his subjects, nor to give over without reason any of them to destruction. Neither permit, Lord, that he spot and defile thy throne and hall with any injustice or oppression, for in so doing he will stain also thine honor and fame. Already, Lord, has this poor man accepted and received the honor and lordship that thou hast given him ; already he possesses the glory and riches thereof; already thou hast adorned his hands, feet, head, ears, and lips, with visor, ear-rings, and brace- lets, and put yellow leather upon his ankles. Permit it not, Lord, that these decorations, badges, and ornaments be to him a cause of pride and presumption; but rather that he serve thee with humility and plainness. May it please thee, our Lord, most clement, that he rule and govern this, thy seignory, that thou hast committed to him, with all prudence and wisdom. May it please tliee that he do nothing wrong or to thine offense ; deign to walk with him and direct him in all his ways. But if thou wilt not do this, ordain that from this day hence- forth he be abhorred and disliked, and that he die in war at the hands of his enemies, that he depart to the house of the sun ; where he will be taken care of as a precious stone, and his heart esteemed by the sun-lord ; he d}ing in the war like a stout and valiant man. This would be much better than to be dishonored in the world, to ]}e disliked and abhorred of his people for his faults or defects, our Lord, thou that providest to all the things needful for them, let this thing be done as I have entreated and supplicated thee. , ■1 ;;, i \h'l 'i 214 GODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND W0B8HIP. The next prayer, directed to the god under his name Tezcatlipoca Titlacaoamoquequeloa, is to ask, after the death of a ruler, that another may be given: our Lord, already thou knowest how our ruler is dead, already thou hast put him under thy feet ; he is gathered to his place ; he is gone by the road that all have to go by, and to the house where all have to lodge ; house of perpetual darkness, where there is no window, nor any light at all ; he is now where none shall trouble his rest. He served thee here in his office during some few days and years, not indeed without fault and offense. Thou gavest him to taste in this world somewhat of thy kind- ness and favor, passing it before his face as a thing that passes quickly. This is the dignity and office that thou placedst him in, that he served thee in for some days, as has been said, with sighs, tears and devout prayers lie- fore thy majesty. Alas, he is gone now where our father and mother the god of hades is, the god that descended head foremost below the fire," the god that desires to carry us all to his place, with a very impor- tunate desire, with such a desire as one has that dies of hunger and thirst; the god that is moved exceedingly, both by day and night, crying and demanding that a)l go to him. There, with this god, is now our late-de- parted ruler ; he is there with all his ancestors that wore in the first times, that governed this kingdom, with Acamapichtli, with Tyzoc, with Avitzotl, with the firt^t Mocthocuzoma, with Axayacatl, and with those that came last, as the second Mocthecuzoma and also M(«" thecn/riii.i llhuicamina." All these lords and kiuis ruled, governed, and enjo3'ed the sovereignty and royal dignity, and throne and seat of this empire; tiiey ordered and regulated th.e aflairs of this thy kingdom. — thou that art the universal lord and emperor, and that needest not to take counsel with another. Already had ** See this volume p. CO. *i Soino of thi'Ko noiuos nre differently spelt in Kinpsboroiigh'H ed., JIfX. Antiq., vol. v., p. 3Ca. ; ' Uno de Ioh qnnteH fne Camnpichtli, otro fno Tizncic, otro Avitzotl, otro el priniero Mote/.iizonia, otro Axnynon. y Ioh quo iiluirn & lu parte hnu muerto, conio el Hegiindo Moteznzonui, y tnnibien Ylhiyraiiiiimi' THAT A BULEB BE SET OVEB THE NATION. 215 these put off the intolerable load that they had on their shoulders, leaving it to their successor, our late ruler, so that for some days he bore up this lordship and kingdom ; but now he has passed on after his predecessors to the other world. For thou didst ordain him to go, and didst call him to give thanks for being unloaded of so great a burden, quit of so sore a toil, and left in i)eace and rest. Some few days we have enjoyed him, but now forever he is absent from us, never more to return to the world. Perad venture has he gone to any place whence he can return here, so that his subjects may see his face again ? Will he come again to tell us to do this or that? Will he come again to look to the consuls or governors of the state ? Perad venture will they see him any more, or hear his decree and commandment? Will he come any more to give consolation and comfort to his principal men and his consuls? Alas, there is an end to his presence, he is gone for ever. Alas, that our candle has been quiinched, and our light, that the axe that shone with us is lost altogether. All his subjects and inferiors, he has left in o^'pbanage and without shelter. Peradventure will he take care henceforward of this city, province, and kingdom, though this city be de- stmyed and leveled to the ground, with this seignory and kingdom? our Lord, most clement, is it a fit thing tliat by tlie absence of him that died shall come to the city, seignory, and kingdom some misfortune, in which will be destroyed, undone, and affrighted the vas- sals that live therein? For while living, he who has died gave shelter under his wJngs, mv\ kept his feathers spread over the jieopk. Great danger runs this your city, seignory, and kingdom, if another ruler be not elected inmiediately to Ije a shelter thereto. What is it that thou art resolved to do? Is it good that thy iKK)ple be in darkness? Is it grnxl that they Ik; without head or shelter? Is it thy will that thev l»e leveled down and destroyed? Woe for the ixK)r iind the little ones, thy servants 'V it go seeking a father and mother, some one to shelter tuid govern them, even as little children that 1:1 916 QODS, SUPERNATURAL BEINGS, AND WORSHIP. go weeping, seeking an absent father and mother, and that grieve, not finding them. Woe for the merchants, petty and poor, that go about by the mountains, deserts, and meadows, woe also to the sad toilers that go about seeking herbs to eat, roots and wood to burn, or to sell, to eke out an existence withal. Woe for tne poor sol- diers, for the men of war, that go about seeking death, that abhor life, that think of nothing but i;he field and the line where battle is given, — upon whom shall they call? who shall take a captive? to whom shall they pre- sent the same? And if they themselves be taken cap- tive, to whom shall they give notice, that it may be known in their land ? Whom shall they take for father and mother, so that in such a case favor may be granted them? Since he whose duty it was to see to this, who was as father and mother to all, is already dead. There will be none to weep, to sigh for the captives, to tell their relatives about them. Woe for the ix)or of the litigants, for those that have lawsuits with those that would take their estates. Who will judge, make iwace among, and clear them of their disputes and quarrels? Behold when a child becomes dirty, if his motht'i* clean him not, he must remain filthy. And those that, make strife between themselves, that beat, that knock down, who will keep peace between them? Those that for all this go weeping and shedding tears, who shall wijw away their tears and put a stop to their laments? I'orad ven- ture can they apply a remedy to themselves? Thow deserving death, will they jxiradventure pass sentence upon themselves? Who shall set up the throne of justice? Who shall ^xissess the Iiall of the judge, since there is no judge? Who will ordain tlio things that av*e necessary for the good of this city, seignory, and kingdom? Who will elect the siK'ciiil judges that have charge of the lower jHiople, district by district? Who will look to the sounding of the drum and fife to gather the i)eople for war? who will collect and lead the soldiers and dextennis men to battle? our Lord and protector see g(K)d to elect and decide uj[X)n """"^ '^ '•-'«» 0^ A BAB Bn^. some person sufficipnf m ah to ghuiden and cheer theZ.1 ^ '"''"^ «^ '^^ stite, mother cureases the ch Id tSTf •^^^ ^"^" «« ^^e make music to the troubled S'^r.^;: ^T ^*»«^i» at rest? our Lord mr^f i ^ *^** *hey may be elect, whom we A^C mJlX' 'T^ «- r4^ him so that he may hold this voL T ^^' f^.^* ^"^ choose ment; give him a/a loan vou^ ?h "^''"P ^"^ g^^^rn- he may rule over this s^fgnC andT "5^ ^'**' «« *^«t he lives; lift him from T. ? v kingdom as long a« which he' is, and puUn h t th?l!"''' '^"^ humilit^in we think him worVy of • ol* r^^r' ""^ dignity (hat hght and splendor with vonr T ^ f"^' T'^ ^^'^^^^nt, give ^^'^^^. What has b^I^,;Sr n /"^ *^ ^^"« '^""^^ «»d kfng! ' .^je«ty ,. although ^.^dl^^vlT' *^ T^^^^^ *« % en, and that staggers S^!"^'^^ """^^ ^^^'^^ ^^ which may lK3st «em theeTalTS ^ ^**"' ^^^ 'hat What follows is a k nd'oP „ T^ *^"'«"gh all. or prayer to get rid of TvnL^tullZ ^'^T""""«'^««n, his iK,wer and dignity ,,! r ,^"^'"'^ and misused pvest shelter to 'evo^; «„" tlir^' '""'^^^^^^^^nt, thZ tree of great height and l""addrt» ^'^':T'^'"^' ^^«» '^ a "^nJ impalpable; that at 1 ! f^^^'-^ invisible petrate the stones Id the treo'^ ""'l^'^'^^^^^, able to tamed therein. For thL.aJ^l''''^ '^^^^^^ knowest -.hat is within oil T' *''"" «^'««t and *''^"Vht. 0.v«,uli i" nLtr*' ""^ ''^''^ our i;;.^ ;1-^: -isos ft.,mZ~^ ^- '^ Httle smoke hnhlr.! f,v,, t,,, ^, deed rd ;L '"""'"* '^* «» be "».y «>^^o, .,, u..,i: ,eest and k 1 .T""""^'' «*' "^ing of ^'ir ruler ijus a cruel nnTi ," 'hou knowest that ;'!^"itv that thou Wtgi^ven I hn aT T^ '^^"^ he '"* wn.e, as one dnmko I vl ' '' * '^'^''•"'kar.i abuses ^'"•* ^''^' nches, cligniy uTa Ibu^^^^^ thatistosTy r.:,.;;,?';"J- • i»B«s..t.,.^' "t;^*"f »«^' «»at for a little • ***** Tl(| »il i '■ i r 1" 218 aODS, SUPEBNATUBAL BEINGS, AND WOBSHIF. while thou hast given him, fill him with error, haughti- ness, and unrest, and that he becomes a fool, intoxicated with the poison that makes him mad. His prosperity causes him to despise and make little of every one; it seems that his heart is covered with sharp thorns and also his face : all of which is made apparent by his man- ner of living, and by his manner of talking; never say- ing nor doing anything t,\^zt gives pleasure to any one, never caring for any one, never taking counsel of any one ; he ever lives as seems good to him and as the whim directs. our Lord, most clement, protector of all, creatoi and maker of all, it is too certain that this man has destroye; >. i . w^lf, has acted like a child ungrateful to his father, i drunkard without reason. The favors thou hast ■. orded him, the dignity thou hast set him in, have occasioned his perdition. Besides these, there is another thing, exceedingly hurtful and repre- hensible: he is irreligious, never praying to the gods, never weeping before them, nor grieving for his sins, nor sighing ; from this it comes about that he is as headstrong as a drunkard in his vices, going about like a hollow and empty jxirson, wholly senseless; he stays not to consider what he is nor the office that he fills. Of a verity he dishonors and affronts the dignity and throne that he holds, which is thine, and which ought to be much honored and reverenced; for from it dopcu'ls the justice and rightness of the judicature that he hold i, for the sus- taining and worthily directing of thy nation, thou being emperor of all. I le should so hold his ixjwer that the low- er i)eople be not injured and oppressed by the great ; I'roni him should fall punishment and humiliation on those that resixict not thy ix)'ver and dignity. But all things and people suffer loss in that he fills not his office as he ought. The merchants suffer alst), who tu'o those to whom thou givest the most of thy riches, who overrun all the world, yea the mountains and the uniK3opled places, seeking through much sorrow thy gifts, favors, and dain- ties, the which thou givest sparingly and to thy friends. Ah, Lord, not only does he dishonor thee as aforesaid, THAT A BAD BULEB BE BEMOVED. 219 but also when we are gathered together to intone thy songs, gathered in the place where we solicit thy mercies and gifts, in the place where thou art praised and prayed to, where the sad afflicted ones and the poor gather com- fort and strength, where very cowards find spirit to die in war, — ^in this so holy and reverend place this man exhibits his dissoluteness and hurts devotion ; he troubles those that serve and praise thee in the place where thou gatlierest and markest thy friends, as a shepherd marks his flock.** Since thou, Ijord, hearest and knowest to be true all that I have now said in thy presence, there re- mains no more but that thy will be done, and the good plejusure of thy heart to the remedy of this affair. At least, Lord, punish this man in such wise that he be- come a warning to others, so that they may not imiUite his evil life. Let the punishment fall on him from thy hand that to thee seems most meet, be it sickness or any other affliction; or deprive him of the lordship, so that thou mayest give it to another, to one of thy friends, to one humble, devoted, and i)euitent; for many such thou hast, thou that lackest not iKjrsons such as are necessary for this office, friends that hoixj, crying to thee : thou knowest those for friends and servants that weep and sigh in thy presence every day. Elect some one of these tiiat he may hold the dignity of this thy kingdom and seignory ; make trial of some of these. And now, Lord, of all the aforesaid things which is it that thou wilt grant? Wilt thou take fi*om this ruler the lordship, dignity, and riches on which he prides himself, and give theui to another who may be devout, j^xMiilent, humble, obedient, capable, and of good understanding? Or, per- adveuture, wilt thou be served by the falling of this proud one into jx)verty and misery, as one of the \h)oy rustics that can hardly gather the wherewithal to eat, (h'iidv, and clothe himself? Or, |x»rad venture, will it please thee to smite him with a sore punishment so that ^'^ Doth cditoni of Bnhngnn agree heroin UHiii^ the word 'obeJiiH.' An Hhocj) w(>r(t uiikiiuwn in Moxico it in too tivident thnt othor hands thun Mcxi- cim hnvo buon employed in the construction of this Hiniilo, 220 GODS, SUPEBNATtJBAL BEINOB. AKD WOBSHIP. all his body may shrivel up, or his eyes be made blind, or his members rotten? Or wilt thou be pleased to withdraw him from the world through death, and send him to hades, to the house of darkness and obscur- ity, wiiere his ancestors are, whither we have all to go, where our father is, and our mother, the god and the goddess of hell. our Lord, most clement, what is it that thy heart desires the most? Let thy will be done. And in this matter in which I supplicate thee, I am not moved by envy nor hate ; nor with any such motives have I come into thy presence. I am moved only by the robbery and ill-treatment that the people suifer, only by a desire for their peace and prosperity. I would not desire, O Lord, to provoke against myself thy wrath and indignation, I that am a mean man and rude ; for it is to thee, Lord, to penetrate the heart and to know the thoughts of all mortals. The following is a form of Mexican prayer to Tezcat- lipoca, ustti by the officiating confessor after having heard a confession of sins from some one. The peculiarity of a Mexican confession was that it could not lawfully have place in a man's life more than once ; a man's first absolu- tion and remission of sins was also the last and the only one he had to hope for: — our most compassionate Lord, protector and favorer of all, thou hast now heard the confession of this poor sinner, with which he has published in thy presence his rottenness and unsavori- ness. Perhaps he has hidden some of his sins before thee, and if it be so he has irreverently and offensively mocked thy majesty, and thrown himself into a dark cavern and into a deep ravine ;*' he has snared and en- tangled himself; he has made himself worthy of blind- ness, shrivelling and rotting of the members, |X)verty, and misery. Alas, if this poor sinner have attempted 4* ' Bi cfl ns( ha hecho burla de V.M., y oon deaacato v grnnde ofensa, se ha arrojndu A una cima, y en una profunda barranca:' l^ustamente's c>d. of Sahaijun, Hist. Gin,, torn, ii,, lib. vi., p. 58. The same passage runs as fol- lows in KingHbornuKh's ed. : ' Si ^h asi ha hecho burla do vuistraumgestnd, y oon desacato y grande ofensa de vuestra magcttad serA arrojado en uno sima, y en una profunda barranca:' Kinjshoromjli's Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 367. PBAmuSEI.BV.C0WES80.„„„^ areckoning with a 1 h^h" .S"-- »^'I, that k^;^^^ seest him, for thou seest all ih- \ /""" thorouffhlv wi houtbodil^parJlfhfhltT ^u^ T'^'^hleand nii« own will, put liiuKself in thr*^-f *^^"S' ^'^'^, thisisaplaceof vervstrinf • .• P^"^ and risk- tor ^-nt This rite LVke t^^^^^^^ thou washest away the fanU? ? ?^' ''''^'' ^^th which fesses, even if he havl • °^ ^^"^ ^^^t wholly con shortening of days ifZ 'TT^ destruction"^ and truth, and have a Ld^,!f,^.^!-^"^" *«^d all Tie and faults, he has receJve/ff '^ ^""^^^ fr«"» hi « ns ^hat they have iW^d Thl^"^^'" "^ *^^"^ «»d «? pan that has slippedTnd fJt'^^ ™^" ^*« «ven as a "}S thee in divers wis dirr"i" **^^ P^«^nce, offend himself into a de^p'^cl'^rt ^„"d'^ ^"^ « 4 fen hke a poor and lean mLn a ^**«n»l««« well." He discontented with alUhrnasri^T ^'" '' grieved and pained and ill at enZ i ^ *' ^'^ ^^a^t and bodv nr! mmed never to offend thee'^at: "iH "^^^"^ ^^'^er" a[so that this poor ^vroiZ %a *^""&'' that knowest l^berty of free >^ j^w^ ^^1, T. ''^ ''''^' «" en dre the nature of thesgn unKhM ^? '^ ""^ inclined by ™e this is 80,0 our Lord nT'^^^ And i\elper of all, since ZthkZTJ'T''^ Protector t^ "not sorry „„ly, bS? terriflj^ 2! ?."'■' •"' *'«'"•' 'he „ » T-.. • i. »i.„ri..^ , ^^ """' % f"/ «nd I