From https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.01337/page/n9/mode/1up
1944
by

CLARENGE A. MILLS, M.D., Ph.D.

Why germany behaves as it does since 1900-climate and energy of nations 1942-page129 .
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48628/page/n129/mode/1up


  CONTENTS

Part I

1.   Sun Worshippers   7

2.   Helpers in the Laboratory   io

3.   Farm Animals in the Tropics   18

4.   Vitamins and Climate   24

5.   TheFallacyofEarlyTropicalMaturity   36

Part II

6.   The Price of Activity   44

7.   Drugs and Stimulants   54

8.   Stormy Weather and Respiratory Infections   65

9.   Tuberculosis, Leprosy, and Rheumatic Infections   72

10.   Cancer   80

11.   Shadows over Our Cities   85

12.   Rilling Heat   95

13.   Bad Moods and Falling Barometers   102

14.   Climate and Human Reproduction   107

15.   Made-to-Order Indoor Climates   115

Part III

16.   Life, Sunspots and the Atmosphere   126

17.   Ice Ages and Climates of the Future   134

18.   Climate, Weather, and World Dominance   141

19.   Thermometers and History   150

20.   Climate and World War   158

21.   Migration for Health   166

22.   From Flood Tide to Beginning Ebb   174

23.   Epilogue   185
 
  PART I

CHAPTER I

SUN WORSHIPPERS

To-day’s world turmoil and confusion have rudely awakened
man from his cherished dream that he alone is the master of his
own destiny. Even the most egotistic and confident person now
feels uncertain of his sacred powers as he surveys a universe in
which war and social revolution are striking at the very founda-
tions of the only civilization he has known. Altruism seems
suddenly to have given way to the rule of might, with humanity
slipping back toward another Dark Age.

People everywhere have begun to suspect that mighty external
forces are at work—forces against which their greatest efforts will
prove small and futile. This feeling of futility in the face of a
darkening future has awakened in the world’s thinkers a desire to
know more about these outside factors—what they are and how
they work. Fortunately Science has accumulatcd a considerable
mass of evidence regarding the surprising and powerful effects
exerted upon human beings by two of them: climate, the long-
term average of atmospheric conditions, and weather, the short-
cycle changes which make one day or hour different from the
next. These findings are helping to put man in his proper place
within the cosmic scheme of things, for the sun and planets
exert an indirect but well-proved effect on all life through their
control of earth temperatures and weather.

The awareness of a connection between the solar system and
human welfare is older by far than recorded history. When the
first human beings roamed a strange, hostile world some

500,000   years ago, they spent long nights huddled together in
caves to escape the unknown terrors of darkness. They looked
forward to the morning, for the first stages of man’s battle to
master his environment took place in broad daylight. It was only
natural for our primeval ancestors to regard the sun with awe
and gratitude, for it bropght them light and warmth. Ages and
civilizations passed, but this great feeling of dependence did not.

The Spaniards found this feeling in Peru during the sixteenth
century when they set out to conquer a territory rich in gold.
High in the lofty Andes little bands of Incas paused in reverence
  to face the rising sun and to receive its blessing before continuing
their journey to Cuzco. Everywhere throughout the far-flung Incan
empire other groups were bowing in similar adoration before the
Giver of Life, for sun worship was the state religion of those
people. They built massive and beautiful temples to provide the
sun with the dignity and place of first importance it held in their
lives. The moon and planets were also worshipped, but as deities
far inferior to the all-powerful sun.

Reverence for the sun and its satellites was carried to great
extremes in the eatliest civilizations. All phases of life were closely
regulated according to the positions of the planets and other
heavenly bodies. People believed that outside forces exerted
potent and direct influences over human afïairs, and the astrolo-
ger’s advice was always in demand. When men later discarded
such primitive beliefs, they ignored the intuitive rightness of the
feeling that humanity was not entirely its own lord and master.
Humility was replaced by a laboratory-gained egotism as sci-
entists obtained ever increasing control over their physical
environment.

This ovcr-confidence grew rapidly during the nineteenth
ccntury while researchers were piling discovery upon discovery.
New inventions enabled us to harness electricity and perfect the
telegraph, telephone, incandescent lamp, radio, ai}d power
transmission. Equally striking advances were made in the
knowledge of the human body, its inner workings, its diseases,
and the means of kceping it healthy. But the egotism which came
with these and other material accomplishments began slipping
in the last war; and to-day, when the notion that humanity
Controls its own fate has fallen into even greater disrepute, the
same science which produced over-confidence in man is be-
ginning to teach him a new humility.

Studies during the past few years have revealed that climatic
factors in life play a startling and dominating role in all we do.
Mtfn as an energy machine thinks and acts only because of the
burning of food in his tissues; but the speed of this burning—
and the intensity of his living—depends largely upon outside tem-
peratures and how easily he can get rid of his waste heat. Just
why this is so will be considered in detail on later pages;it need
only be said here that the climatic influences are real and clear-
cut. They affect man’s rate of growth, speed of developmerft,
resistance to infection, fertility of mind and body, and the amount
of energy available for thought or action. The heat of the tropics
lulls people into a passive complacency and saps their vitality;
residents of colder climates are driven onward into restless

8
  activity, since natural conditions pcrmit their tissue fires to burn
more brightly.

Climate affects man’s sicknesses as well as his health. In his
vegetative tropical existence he is much more susceptible to
infectious diseases, while in temperate coolness the stress of a more
energetic life causes frequent breakdown in his body machinery
and raises heart failure to a leading position among the causes of
death. People seldom wear out in warm climates; in cooler regions
breakdown diseases are now providing medical meiï with their
keenest worries. The matter is an exceedingly important onc for
individual and public health. It richly deserves the close attention
finally being accorded it.

People of the tropics can be raised out of their sluggish state
into a higher vitality and more active life only when faster food
burning can be maintained in their body tissues. In temperate
coolness, on the other hand, ways must be found for reducing the
stress of life and conserving the body machinery if we are to halt
the rising rate of breakdown which now threatens civilization’s
advance. Too many of society’s most progressive and valuable
individuals are now succumbing just as they reach their most
Creative period.

Weather changes affect man also, but somewhat differently
from climate. In many regions of the earth he has almost no
weather problem to face; sudden variations in temperature and
pressure seldom occur because cyclonic storms are lacking—only
the climatic and seasonai infiuences are left. Violent and fre-
quent storms bring to other regions major weather problems,
with sudden atmospheric changes which rack body and mind.
In the earth’s most active storm beits this turbulence becomes a
very important factor of existence, adding spice to life but at the
same time interfering with body functions and bringing on many
serious ailments. Such infiuences have been studied less than
those of climate and cannot be discussed in as much detail. It
should be kept in mind, however, that the two work together
upon man in many regions. In between weather and climate
come the seasons. They too are potent health factors—absent,
of course, in the tropics.

The picture of these forces acting upon man is a fascinating
one, still blurred in places, but with its main outlines clear-cut
and definite. The sun does far more than merely provide day-
light and the special forms of radiant energy needed by all grow-
ing things. Through its influence over world weather and
climatic characteristics it dominates many other phases of
human activity. Since the planets seem to be at the basis of
  changes in the sun’s influence, we now begin to see man in his
true relation to the solar system. He is not the independent
master of his own life as he so fondly believed a few decades ago,
but instead is pushed hither and yon by larger outside forces.
He could learn a great deal from primitive sun-worshippers, for
he is still a veritable pawn of the universe.

CHAPTER 2

HELPERS IN THE LABORATORY

"What real evidence have we that climate influences
mankind?” This will be the first question asked by many readers
as they begin perusal of these pages. People have always bristled
at the suggestion that they are not lords of creation. The idea that
weather and climate are to be credited with the ambitious
activity of temperate-zone citizens, or for the slower-paced life
of tropical dwellers, strikes at one of the firmest beliefs of human
beings: that their actions are independent of great and uncon-
trollable outside forces. It may not be flattering for the doubting
Thomas to learn that rats and other animals have helped furnish
much important evidence for humanity’s dependence upon the
elements; but such is the case, and these helpers in the
laboratory can never receive too much praise for their
contributions.

Few persons outside scientific circles appreciate how much
humanity owes to the laboratory animals. Rats, white mice,
rabbits, and the famed guinea-pigs are almost as fully domesti-
cated as horses, cattle, and hogs. Instead of doing our work or
supplying us with much-needed food, these docile creatures give
valuable information about how our bodies work and how to
keep them healthy. Only with their help could medical Science
make many of the wonderful discoveries that have brought the
great health improvements of the past half-century.

When you think of a rat, is it with almost the same aversion
you feel for snakes? Such dislike may be justified in the case of
wild rats, but I assure you it is not with the Wistar white rat. He
is an intelligent, gooa-natured fellow, scrupulously clean in
person and most reliable in his responses. His name was taken
from the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, where careful breeding

IO
  through hundreds of generations weeded out abnormal and
unwanted traits. These animals are now highly standardized and
much favoured among scientists, responding to a given diet or
special vitamin with almost the regularity of pure Chemical
reactions in its test tubes. The results obtained in one laboratory
can be duplicated readily by far distant investigators under
similar conditions.

Two such rats, Ivan (not the terrible) and Hilda, his mate,
were adopted into the exclusive circles of our laboratory rat
colony early in childhood. They were likable and appealing,
with sparkling eyes and glossy fur, as they came to us just after
ha ving been weaned. New hands bothered them somewhat for
the first few days, but soon all strangeness disappeared. When
they became accustomed to the new surroundings a delightful
confidence and intimacy was established which has persisted to
adult life. Curious as it may appear from the human angle, Ivan
seems to enjoy handling and attention more than Hilda. He is
less wrapped up in himself, more easily influenced, worrying
little when his treacherous foster parents keep from him one
essential food element after another. Even if he does lose vigour
in the experimental “tropics” of a hot room, it is without ill-will
and with a most appealing trust in his keepers. Rcstoring him to
full health and vitality after a period of decline brings to us
almost as much pleasure as the recovery from serious illness of
our own human children.

Among our numerous white rats, Ivan and Hilda have been
willing co-workers for years as we have studied the various
phases of climatic influences. They have spent weeks shivering
in the cold without complaint and endured tropical heat with
calm complacency. When temperatures were too high and they
began to develop fever, they wet their fur on the nozzle of the
water bottle and lay relaxed to keep their own heat production
down to a minimum. They have been finicky about eating their
food in the heat and enjoyed gluttonous appetites in the cold.
They have provided much valuable information on climatic
dominance over basic body functions and vitality. Climatic
effects only suggested by human statistics have been made quite
clear and definite through their help. They well deserve a
Congressional Medal for services to the common good, but it
matters not to them that no politician has yet attempted to
Champion their cause.

We often become quite attached to these willing and friendly
helpers during months of close association. It is like watching an
adopted child grow from babyhood through the vicissitudes of

XI
  life, for we usually work with the rats from weaning time to adult
life. Some of them are like shy and retiring children, but the
majority are untroubled extroverts who love being handled. It
saddens us to watch these little friends lose their appetites and
fail in health as we omit from their diet some necessary element
or otherwise vary experimental conditions. But afterwards comes
miraculous recovery as the missing substance is restored. Over-
night the sick are made well again when we know just what to do
for them.

Rats are particularly valuable in studies of climate because
their basic life functions very much resemble those of human
beings. To grow, to reproduce, to digest food, to run and climb,
and to do the hundred and one other things which Ril the day
for the modern rat—all these require energy, whose sole source is
the burning of food in the body cells. But rats are no more
efficiënt than people in their ability to use combustion energy.
Like other warm-blooded animals, they must eliminate three or
four units of heat from their bodies for every single unit actually
used as energy to keep their life process going. In rats and human
beings elimination of this waste heat goes on best in cool, tem-
perate-zone climates. Tropical warmth slows the rate of heat
loss, while Arctic surroundings permit heat to escape too rapidly
for maximal efficiency. What these facts mean in the physiology
of daily living has been shown largely by studies on laboratory
animals.

In a fairly cool, natural environment, Ivan and Hilda
eliminated their waste heat at a normal and efficiënt pace. Ivan
ate greedily and grew at a rapid rate; always active and in-
quisitive, he reached maturity quickly. Hilda began her sexual
cycles early and reached a high level of reproductivity, giving
birth to large litters of lusty young. These offspring in turn went
through life with a zest and gusto which is possible only in cool
surroundings. Such active living requires much energy, however,
and necessitates the giving off of large amounts of waste heat.
When shifted to tropical heat, Ivan and Hilda were forced to
adapt their lives to a more leisurely pace. After about three
weeks of heat they ate less than half the food they had in the cool
surroundings and their rate of growth was correspondingly
reduced. Their cousins, who were kept permanendy in the heat,
matured late and were of low fertility. Although mating took
place just as freely as in the cold, it was difficult to achieve con-
ceptions or to produce healthy offspring. These animals of good
stock, kept in the heat but on entirely adequate diets and with
perfect sanitation, showed the same high stillbirth and infant-

12
  death rates found among human populations in tropical regions
where heat conditions are similar.

It is interesting that rats or mice subdued to a slow pace of
life by tropical heat live longer and come to old age later than do
their brothers or cousins kept in more invigorating coolness.
This is true, however, only if they are carefully shielded from all
infections and contagious diseases. In the heat their ability to
ward off or fight infection is sharply reduced. While living in the
cold, Ivan could survive an injection of pneumonia germs which
would be quickly fatal to him if he had been living for three
weeks or more in the heat. Vaccines also call forth a more active
defence response when he is living in energizing coolness.

White blood cells constitute the body’s first-line forces in the
fight against invading bacteria. At any point of attack they
quickly gather in large numbers, to ingest and destroy the in-
vading organisms. Theirs is often a suicidal defence, however,
for many of them are eventually killed by the toxins liberated
from the bacteria they ingest. These vital single-celled defenders
become sluggish in tropical heat, just as do all other body tissues,
and sit idly by while invading bacteria grow and multiply
unhindered.

Our animals from the hot and cold rooms show striking
differences in white blood cell activity when they are injected
with living bacteria. In those from the cold room, the white cells
spring into vigorous attack almost at once, gathering in and
digesting enormous numbers of the in vaders; but in the heat the
cells remain largely inactive, even though the living bacteria be
thick around them. Further chilling of the cold-room occupants,
sufficiënt really to lower the body temperature, renders even
those vigorous white cells less active. This effect probably ex-
plains why chilling is likely to bring on a respiratory infection,
for some of the disease germs are usually present in the nose and
throat awaiting an opportunity to attack when the white-cell
defenders are sluggish and off guard.

These observations on our thousands of laboratory animals
have helped greatly in explaining human behaviour under
different climatic conditions. People die early in the tropics from
infectious diseases, with few individuals reaching old age.
Malaria, tuberculosis, and many other diseases run a much more
rapid course in tropical countries than they do in temperate
lands.

Strange as it may seem, people in cool climates live longest,
but mainly because they are more resistant to infectious than
people of warmer regions. Those few tropical residents who do

13
  survive to advanced age show much less evidence of ageing in
their bodies than is seen in temperate-zone residents of similar
years. Their blood vessels show less hardening and are much
more elastic than those of people the same age in cool regions
where life has been full of stress. With Ivan and Hilda we can
quite thoroughly eliminate the infectious diseases and so study
the life processes from birth to a normal death. And when we slow
down their speed of life by making the loss of body heat difficult
in experimental hot rooms, we find that the changes of old age
are markedly delayed.

 5 years ago  I started to look for evidence for that socalled climate change and sofar could find not evidence only for the contrary, despite the mediahype of the hypemedia.

Some of the sources from that 5 years can be found  on

There is NO men-made global warming, there's ONLY politicians/subsidized NGO(GREEN MAFFIA)/goverment and corporate-made global warming to us people of this earth presented as OUR eternal sin! Yes, just like in religion!!
https://www.reddit.com/r/russiawarinukraine/comments/67168t/there_is_no_menmade_global_warming_theres_only/

and also on

https://www.reddit.com/r/russiawarinukraine/comments/m10wuo/ban_subsidized_airlines_hardly_taxed_from_using/

which resulted after I wrote some articles in dutch in local newspapers
in this site/article

https://unitedworld.earth/ban-airliners-from-jetstream-worlwide/


a nice site with real data/ measurments instead of models is on this  site https://electroverse.net/u-s-has-been-cooling-since-the-1930s/

https://archive.org/details/climateconsider06wardgoog/page/n8/mode/1up
climate considered in relation to man

x     https://archive.org/details/climateconsider03wardgoog/page/n381/mode/1up
by Ward, Robert DeCourcy, 1867-1931
1918

x   https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.01337/page/n9/mode/1up
1944
climate .
Climate makes the man


Why germany behaves as it does since 1900-climate and energy of nations 1942-page129 .
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48628/page/n129/mode/1up
.
Manual Of Meteorology Vol 1
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.177480/page/n14/mode/1up
https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.26344/page/n7/mode/2up
1926-1942
https://archive.org/details/manualofmeteorol01shawuoft
1919


x      https://archive.org/details/ldpd_11151278_000/page/13/mode/1up
The evolution of climate  1925 climatehistory

https://archive.org/details/climaticchangest00huntuoft
Climatic changes, their nature and causes

https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra11gray_0/page/n10


THE MYTHOLOGY OF ALL RACES

Volume I
GREEK AND ROMAN





PLATE I

Aphrodite the Mother

On Aphrodite's left arm originally rested an infant,
the fingers of whose little hand may still be seen on the
drapery of its mother's bosom. The goddess is look-
ing straight before her, not, however, with her vision
concentrated on a definite object, but rather abstract-
edly, as if serenely proud of her motherhood. She
seems to represent here that special development of
the earth goddess who typified the kindly, fostering
care of the soil, and reminds one of certain Asiatic
images of the divine mother and child. From a
marble statue of the fourth or third century b.c.^
found on the Greek mainland, and now in the Royal
Ontario Museum of Archaeology, Toronto (photo-
graph). See pp. 196^.




THE MYTHOLOGY
OF ALL RACES

IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES

LOUIS HERBERT GRAY, A.M., PH.D., Editor
tSEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M., D.D.y LL.D., Consulting Editor

GREEK AND ROMAN

BY

WILLIAM SHERWOOD FOX, A.M., PH.D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CLASSICS
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

VOLUME I




BOSTON

MARSHALL JONES COMPANY

M DCCCC XVI



Copyright, 1916
Bt Marshall Jones Company



Entered at Stationers' Hall, London
AU rights reserved

Printed June, 1916



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OV AlfESICA BT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

B0X7ND BY THE BOSTON BOOKBINDING COMPANY



 



 



TO THE MEMORY

OF

HARRY LANGFORD WILSON

SCHOLAR • TEACHER • FRIEND



 



 



 



 



CONSULTING EDITOR'S PREFACE

THERE are many good books on the mythology of par-
ticular peoples or races, ancient and modern, and much
material accessible in books of travel and works on ethnology
and religion; for classical antiquity excellent dictionaries of
mythology exist. There are also books of narrower or wider
range on comparative mythology, besides many in which
myth and custom have been pressed into the service of theories
of society, civilization, and religion, or are adduced for the
illustration of art and archaeology. But a comprehensive
collection by competent scholars of myths from all quarters
of the earth and all ages has not hitherto been attempted;
for several important parts of the field, no satisfactory works
exist in English, while in some there is none in any language.
On the value of an undertaking like the Mythology of All
Races J therefore, no words need be spent.

The intrinsic interest of the subject is very great; for better
than almost anything else myths reveal men's first notions
about their world and the powers at work in it, and the rela-
tions between men and those powers. They show what things
in their surroundings early engaged men's attention; what
things seemed to them to need explanation; and how they
explained them.

For a myth is commonly an explanation of something, in
the form of a story — what happened once upon a time, or
what repeats itself from day to day — and in natural myths,
as distinct from the invented myths of philosophers and poets,
the story is not the artificial vesture of an idea but its spon-
taneous expression, not a fiction but a self-evident fact. The
student of the mind of man in its uniformity and its varia-



 



 



viii CONSULTING EDITOR'S PREFACE

tions therefore finds in mythology a great fund of instructive
material. A comprehensive collection like the present lends
itself also to comparative study of single myths or systems of
myth among different and widely remote peoples, and this
use of the volumes will be facilitated by a suitable analytical
index.

It is one of the merits of this collection that it is made for
its own sake, with no theory to maintain or illustrate. The
contributors have been given free hand to treat their subjects
by such methods as may be best adapted to the nature of the
sources and the peculiarities of the mythology itself, without
any attempt to impose upon either the material or the writers
a schematic plan.

The names of the contributors are a sufficient guarantee of
the thoroughness and trustworthiness of their work, while the
general editor is himself a scholar of wide attainments in this
field. The volumes will be amply illustrated, not for the sake
of making picture books, but for the legitimate purposes of
illustration — a feature which will add much to the useful-
ness as well as to the attractiveness of the series. Taken all in
all, therefore, the Mythology of All Races may safely be pro-
nounced one of the most important enterprises of this age of
co-operative scholarship,

GEORGE FOOT MOORE.

Harvard UinvERsmr
March 20, 1916.



 



 



EDITOR'S PREFACE

THE theme of mythology is of perennial interest, and,
more than this, it possesses a value that is very real. It
is a document and a record — existing not merely in the dim
past, but in the living present — of man's thought, of his
ceaseless endeavour to attain that very real happiness which,
as Vergil tells us, arises from "knowledge of the causes of
things.*' Even in his most primitive stages of development
man finds himself dwelling in a world filled with phenomena
that to him are strange, sometimes friendly, often hostile.
Why are these things so? Rightly mankind perceives that a
phenomenon is not a Thing in Itself, an Absolute, but that it
is an effect, the result of a cause. Now, the immediate cause
may often be found; but then it will be seen that this cause is
itself only a result of an anterior cause; and so, step by step,
the search for ultimate Cause proceeds. Thus mythology is
a very real phase — perhaps the most important primitive
phase — of that eternal quest of Truth which ever drives us
on, though we know that in its full beauty it may never be
revealed to mortal eye nor heard by ear of man — that quest
more precious than meat or raiment — that quest which we
may not abandon if we will still be men.

Mythology is not, then, a thing of mere academic interest;
its value is real — real to you and to me. It is the history of
the thought of early man, and of primitive man today. In it
we may find much to tell us how he lived, and how he had
lived in the ages of which his myths recount. As affording us
materials for a history of civilization mythology is of inestim-
able value. We know now that history is something more than



 



 



X EDITOR'S PREFACE

a matter of dates and events. "Magna Charta was signed by
King John at Runnimede in 121 5." What of it, if that be all?
The exact words of the document, the particular monarch who
signed it, the precise spot, the specific date are of no worth
in themselves. The real historical question is — What were the
causes which led the English Barons, at a certain point in the
development of the British Nation, to compel the King to sanc-
tion a document abridging the Royal prerogatives; and what
have been the consequences, not merely to the subsequent evo-
lution of the British Constitution, but to all States and Colonies
thereby affected? So, too, we read mythology, not only for
its specific statements — its legends of gods and of heroes, its
theories of the world, and its attempts to solve the mystery of
the destiny of each and every individual — but also, with a
wider purview, for the light which it sheds upon the infancy
and the childhood of the race to which we — you who read
and I who write — belong.

Science; has mythology aught to do with that? Assuredly,
yes. Mythology is science in its infancy. Does the geologist
seek to determine how the earth came into being, how the
mountains and the lakes were formed; does the astronomer
essay to know the stars and their natures; do the zoologist and
the botanist endeavour to explain why animals and trees are
as they are — the maker of myth does even the same. The
scientist today is the lineal descendant of the myth-maker of
olden days. To say this is to honour both alike — both, with
all the light at their command, have sought, and ever seek,
the Truth. The hypotheses of the myths, do they differ in
principle from the hypotheses of science? We think not.
There is no real scientist who does not know that the hypotheses
with which he needs must work and which seem thus far in-
fallible in providing explanations for all phenomena in his field
may some day be modified or even utterly destroyed by new
discoveries. The Ptolemaic Theory is gone, the Atomic Theory
is questioned. But no sane man will for that reason condemn



 



 



EDITOR'S PREFACE xi

hypotheses in totOy neither will he despise those who, in their
day, held hypotheses then deemed irrefutable.

The connexion of mythology with religion is obvious, yet a
word of caution is needed here. Mythology is not synony-
mous with religion, but only a part of it. Religion consists
of at least three parts — the attitude of soul, which is religion
par excellence; the outward act of worship, which is ritual;
and the scientific explanation, which — in the very highest and
noblest sense of the term — is myth; and these three — which
we may call the attitude of soul, body, and mind — go to-
gether to make religion. Throughout our study of mythology
we must bear constantly in mind that we are dealing with
only one feature of religion — its causal aspect. We must
not take the part for the whole, else we shall be one-sided and
unjust in our appreciation of religion as a whole.

One attitude of mind is absolutely essential in reading my-
thology — sympathy — and almost as important a requisite
is that, while reading it, its premisses must be granted.
If we approach mythology with the preconception that it is
false or nonsensical or trivial, it will be but waste of time to
read it; indeed it will be better never to have read it, for read-
ing in such a spirit will only embitter. It is, perhaps, not
suflBciently recognized how important a factor one's attitude
of sympathy is, not merely in regard to religion or psychology
or philosophy, or any other "mental and moral science," but
also toward the "exact sciences." If, for example, I make up
my mind that spectral analysis is utterly impossible, the dis-
covery of a new element in the gaseous emanation of a distant
planet by such analysis will be to me nothing but folly. If,
again, I reject the mathematical concept of infinity, which
I have never seen, and which cannot be weighed or measured,
then I shall of course deny that parallel lines meet in infinity;
you cannot give me the precise location of infinity, and, be-
sides, all parallel lines that I have ever seen are equidistant at
all points from each other. This is a reductio ad ahsurdum of



 



 



xii EDITOR'S PREFACE

an attitude which is far too common in regard to mythology
and religion. This does not, of course, mean that we must
implicitly believe all that we read; but it does mean that we
should approach with kindly hearts. With reverence, then,
and with love we take up myths. We may smile, at times, at
their naivete; but we shall never sneer at them. Unblushing,
sometimes, we shall find them, and cruel; but it is the un-
modesty and the cruelty of the child. Myths may be moral
or un-moral; they are not immoral, and only a morbid mind
will see uncleanness in them.

No attempt has hitherto been made to collect the myths
of the entire human race into a single series. Yet this is not
so strange as it might appear at first. Scattered in many
volumes both old and new, and in periodicals of many kinds
and languages, it is an impossible task for one man to know
all myths, or to master more than one or two specific mythol-
ogies or a few special themes in mythology as a whole. It is
quite true that countless volumes have been written on the
myths of individual peoples and on special mythic themes,
but their assemblage into a single unit has not thus far been
accomplished. This is the purpose of the present series of the
Mythology of All RaceSj and this the reason for its being.
Herein it differs from all other collections of mythologies in
that the mythology of each race is not merely given a special
volume or half-volume of its own; but, since the series is an
organic entity — not a chance collection of monographs —
the mythology of an individual race is seen to form a coherent
part of mythology. Moreover, the mythology of one people
will not infrequently be found to cast light upon problems con-
nected with the mythic system of quite another people, whence
an accurate and a thorough understanding of any individual
mythology whatever demands an acquaintance with the mythic
systems of mankind as a whole. On the other hand, by thus
taking a broad survey, and by considering primarily the simple
facts — as presented chiefly by travellers, missionaries, and



 



 



EDITOR'S PREFACE xiii

anthropologists — we may hope to escape some of the pecu-
liar dangers which beset the study of mythology, especially
preconceived theories and prejudices, and the risk of taking
for aboriginal what is really borrowed and vice versa. We shall
advance no special theory of mythology which shall seek to
solve each and every problem by one and the same formula;
we shall aim to present the facts in the case — and the theories
may safely be trusted to take care of themselves, being then
wisely built on solid foundations.

We have not attempted to make an encyclopaedia of myth-
<^ogy, nor have we planned a mere reference book, which would
have been, in many ways, an easier task. We have had con-
stantly in mind not only the technical student — though he,
too, if the editor's own experience be any criterion, will learn
much — but the more general reader who desires breadth of
understanding, and who would know what the childhood of
our race has thought of the mysteries of nature and of life,
and how it has endeavoured to resolve them. We have sought
to be scientific — in the best sense of the term — but we have
also sought to present a book that shall be eminently readable,
that shall set forth myths as living entities, and that — because
each writer knows and loves the mythology of which he treats
— will fill the reader with enthusiasm for them.

Much of the material here given appears for the first time
in the English language — Slavic and Finno-Ugric, Oceanic,
Armenian, and African. No survey of American mythology
as a whole has hitherto been written. Even where — as in
Indian, Teutonic, and Semitic — English monographs exist,
new points of view are presented. Taking our stand on the
best modern scholarship, we venture to hope that many cur-
rent misconceptions of mythology may be brought to an end.
Thus, within recent years, the science of Greek mythology
has been revolutionized by the discovery of the very simple
fact that Homer is not its ultimate authority, that, indeed,
he represents a comparatively late stage in its development;



 



 



xiv EDITOR'S PREFACE

80 that we must give full consideration to the non-Homeric
myths and see that here, too, there is the same underlying
primitive stratum common to all the race of man. This mod-
ern scientific treatment of Classical mythology has its initial
English presentation in our series. Perhaps, at first blush,
we shall seem to lose much both here and elsewhere; we may,
perchance, be disappointed when we find that the vaunted
wisdom of Egyptians and of Druids was not so very profound;
but if we must part with some false, though pretty, ideas,
we shall find ample compensation in knowing Egyptians and
Druids as they were. After all, which do we prefer — a fanciful
picture of our friend, or his actual portrait.^

Mythology may be written in either of two ways — pres-
entational or comparative. In the former the myths of each
people are presented separately; in the latter some special
theme — the deluge-legend, the afterworld, or the like —
is considered as it appears in myth throughout the world.

The utmost care has been taken in the choice of collabora-
tors, and it is believed that to scholars their names will be in
themselves sufficient warrant that the volumes will possess
distinct scientific value. The ample bibliographies and ref-
erences appended to the pertinent sections will enhance the
technical worth of our series. In addition, we propose to give
in our index volume not merely the names and subjects dis-
cussed in the various volumes, but also a topical arrangement
by which the variant myths and mythic themes of the differ-
ent peoples upon a given subject may be found readily and
accurately.

The selection of illustrations will, it is hoped, meet with
general favour. It would have been a very easy matter to
present fancy pictures or to reproduce paintings of great
modem artists. Instead of that, we have deemed it more in
harmony with the purpose of the series to choose for each
section pictures of the deities or of mythic incidents as delin-
eated by the people who themselves believed in those deities



 



 



CONTENTS

PAGE

Consulting Editor's Preface vii

Editor's Preface ix

Author's Preface xxi

Introduction to the Greek Myths xli

Sources for the Greek Myths Ix

Sources for the Roman Myths Ixi

Part I. Myths of the Beginning, the Heroes, and the

Afterworld I

Chapter I. Myths of the Beginning 3

The Creation of the World 4

The Regime of Ouranos 6

The Regime of Kronos 7

Establishment of the Regime of Zeus; the Titans ... 8

Typhon (or Typhoeus); the Giants 8

The Creation of Man 10

Prometheus 12

Pandora 14

Origins of Certain Animals and Plants 15

Beginnings of Civilization 16

The Ages of the World 17

The Great Flood 18

Chapter II. Myths of the Peloponnesos 20

I Arkadia:

Pelasgos 20

Lykaon 20

Kallisto 21

Arkas, Aleos, Auge 21

The Plague at Teuthis . .* 22



 



 



xxvi coNTE^^^s

PAGE

II Lakonia and Messene:

Lelez and his Descendants 23

Hyakinthos 23

The Family of Perieres 24

Tyndareos, Helen, Kastor and Polydeukes .... 24

Idas and Marpessa 27

III Argos:

Inachos, lo 28

The Families of Danaos and Aigyptos 30

Proitos and his Daughters 32

Akrisios, Danae, and Perseus 33

IV Corinth:

The Divine Patrons of Corinth 36

Sisyphos 37

Glaukos 38

Bellerophon 39

Chapter III. Myths of the Northern Mainland. . . 42
I Boiotia and Euboia:

The First Inhabitants of Boiotia 42

Amphion and Zethos 43

Kadmos 44

The Daughters of Kadmos:

Semele 45

Ino 46

Autonoe 46

Agave 47

The Sorrows of the House of Labdakos; Oidipous . 48

The Sons of Oidipous, and the Seven against Thebes 5 1

The Epigonoi 54

Alkmaion 54

II Aitolia:

The Founding of Aitolia 55

Meleagros and Atalante 56

Chapter IV. Myths of Crete and Attike 60

I Crete:

Europe 60

Myths of Minos and his Sons; Minos 61



 

https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra81gray







THE MYTHOLOGY OF ALL RACES


Volume VIII
CHINESE





PLATE I

Eight Genii Crossing the Sea

See p. 1 1 8.



THE MYTHOLOGY
OF ALL RACES

IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES

CANON JOHN ARNOTT MacCULLOCH, D.D., Editor
GEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Consulting Editor


CHINESE

BY

JOHN C. FERGUSON


JAPANESE

BY

MASAHARU ANESAKI

PROFESSOR OF THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION
AT THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO


VOLUME VIII



ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF AMERICA
MARSHALL JONES COMPANY • BOSTON
M DCCCC XXVIII


Copyright, 1928
By Marshall Jones Company

Copyrighted in Great Britain


All rights reserved


Printed May, 1928


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY THE PLIMPTON PRESS ? NORWOOD • MASS.


BOUND BY THE BOSTON BOOKBINDING COMPANY


CONTENTS

CHINESE

PAGE

Author’s Preface 3

Introduction 5

Chapter I. Taoism 13

II. The Three Emperors 25

III. Other Prehistoric Emperors 33

IV. Intermixture of Early Religious Beliefs. 46

V. Cosmogony and Cosmological Theories . . 52

VI. Spirits of Nature 61

VII. Domestic Rites 74

VIII. Great National Heroes 85

IX. The Animal and Vegetable Worlds . ... 98

X. Supernatural Beings 108

XI. Occultism 133

XII. Folk-lore 148

XIII. Exemplary Tales 16 1

XIV. Theatrical Tales 174

XV. Buddhist Myths 188

XVI. Criticism 199

JAPANESE

PAGE

Author’s Preface 207

Introduction 209

Chapter I. Cosmological Myths and Tales of Origins. 221

I Spontaneous Generation: Life and Death 221

II The Rulers of the World: The Contest between the

Sun-Goddess and Storm-God 225

III Further Conflicts and Compromises 228

IV Episodes and Myths of Origins 231


15386


vi CONTENTS

PAGE

V The Beliefs Concerning the Soul 237

VI The Buddhist Paradise and the Guardians of the

World 240

Chapter II. Local Legends and Communal Cults . . 244

Topography and the Division into Clans . . . 244

Chapter III. Fairies, Celestial Beings, the Men of the

Mountain 256

I The Sources of Fairy Tales 256

II The Fairy-Maiden 257

III The Buddhist Fairies, the Tennin and the Ryujin . . 267

IV The Taoist Immortals 274

Chapter IV. Demons, Vampires and other Ghostly

Beings 281

I The Devil 282

II The Hungry Ghost and the Furious Spirit 287

III Other Ghostly Beings 289

Chapter V. Romantic Stories 293

Chapter VI. Heroic Stories 303

Chapter VII. Stories of Animals 316

I Grateful Animals 318

II Revengeful and Malicious Animals 324

III The Serpent 33 1

IV Love and Marriage of Animals 333

V The Insects, especially the Butterfly 335

Chapter VIII. Stories of Plants and Flowers .... 338

I Mythical Trees 339

II The Genii of the Plants 34 °

III The Flower Fairies 34 2

IV The Floral Calendar 34&

Chapter IX. Didactic Stories, Humour and Satire . 354

I The Adaptation of Stories to Didactic Purposes . . . 354

II The Story of Bontenkoku 35 ^

III Humour and Satire .... 3 ^°

IV An Age of Discontent and Satire 3 ^ 2


CONTENTS vii

PAGE

Appendix, Folk-Lore in Folk-Songs 369

Notes, Japanese 377

Bibliography, Chinese 391

Bibliography, Japanese 395

Index, Chinese 403


15386



ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE FACING PAGE

I Eight Genii Crossing the Sea — Coloured . . Frontispiece

II Central Hall, Po Yiin Kuan 22

III i. Third Court, Po Yiin Kuan 50

2. Fourth Court, Po Yiin Kuan 50

IV Court of the Tung Yo Temple 136

V Court of the Tung Yo Temple 136

VI Chang Tao-lin, Taoist Patriarch — Coloured ... 154

VII The Primeval Couple Creating Islands 222

VIII The Sun-goddess — Coloured 226

IX The Lady-who-makes-the-trees-bloom 232

X The Star Festival of Tana-bata 236

XI A Ghost 240

XII Shozu-ga no Baba, Guardian of the Cross-road . . . 240

XIII Jizo, Guardian of the Children’s Souls 240

XIV Emma, the Pluto of the Buddhist Hells 240

XV Furu no Yashiro, a Shinto Shrine 246

XVI Mount Tsukuba 250

XVII Mount Fuji 250

XVIII The Fairies of the Cherry Blossoms and the Emperor

Temmu 260

XIX A Female Immortal Riding on a Mythical Peacock . 276

XX A View of the Gathering Place of the Immortals . . 276

XXI A Male Immortal Riding on a Chinese Dragon . . . 276

XXII The Sennin of Kume 276

XXIII Uzume and the Seven Deities of Good Fortune . . . 280

XXIV Daikoku, God of Good Fortune 280

XXV Ebisu, God of Good Fortune 280

XXVI Fuku-roku-ju, God of Good Fortune 280

XXVII Frolic of Demons 284

ix


X


ILLUSTRATIONS


PLATE FACING PAGE

XXVIII Shoki, the Devil Hunter 286

XXIX Sojo-bo, the Chief of the Gengu or Vampires . . 288

XXX Rai-jin, Thunder 288

XXXI Fu-jin, Wind 288

XXXII Yama-uba, the Mountain Woman and her Son,

Kintaro 288

XXXIII The Maiden of Unai 296

XXXIV Shuten Doji, The Drunkard Boy 306

XXXV Ushiwaka and Benkei on Gojo Bridge in Miyako . 310

XXXVI Momotaro, the Peachling Boy, on the Isle of

Devils — Coloured 314

XXXVII Momotaro, the Peachling Boy, on the Isle of

Devils — Coloured 314

XXXVIII A Badger in the Disguise of a Buddhist Monk . . 326

XXXIX Wedding of the Monkeys 332

XL The Classical Dance of the Butterflies — Coloured 336

XLI New Year’s Day 348

XLII May Day 348

XLIII Tortoises, Symbolizing Longevity 348

XLIV Cranes, Symbolizing Prosperity 348

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

FIGURE PAGE

1 Hou-chi 6

2 Meeting of Confucius and Lao Tzu 15

3 Kuang Ch’eng-tzu 22

4 The Three Emperors; Huang Ti, Fu Hsi and Shen Nung . 26

5 Goddess of the Lo, Lo Shen 34

6 Pi Kan 4 °

7 Lieh Tzu 53

8 Yii Huang, the Jade Emperor 58

9 T’u-ti and his Wife 64

10 Hou-t’u 67

1 1 Ch’eng Huang 68

12 Sa Chen-jen 69

13 Jade Lady, Yii Nii 7 1


ILLUSTRATIONS


xi


FIGURE PAGE

14 T’ien Hou 72

15 Tsao Shen, God of the Hearth 74

16 Men Shen, Guardians of the Portals 77

17 Ts’ai Shen, God of Riches 78

18 Chao Kung-ming, God of Riches 79

19 Chiang Tzu-ya 80

20 Shou Hsing, Nan-chi lao-jen, God of Longevity .... 81

21 Chang Hsien 83

22 Ta Ssu Ming 85

23 Hsiao Ssu Ming 86

24 Tung Huang T’ai I 87

25 Yiin Chung Chun 88

26 Hsiang Chiin 89

27 Hsiang Fu-jen 90

28 Tung Chiin 91

29 Ho Po 92

30 Shan Kuei 93

31 Kuo Shang 94

32 Kuan Yii, God of War 95

33 Kuo Tzu-i 96

34 The Phoenix 99

35 The Dragon, Lung 102

36 The Fox 103

37 Hua T’o, the Great Physician 107

38 The Taoist Trinity, T’ien Pao, Ling Pao, Shen Pao . . . 108

39 Yuan Shih T’ien Tsun 109

40 Tao Chiin 110

41 Chen Wu Ill

42 Wen Ch’ang, God of Literature 112

43 Tung Wang Kung and Hsi Wang Mu 1 15

44 Four of the Eight Immortals; Lan Ts’ai-ho, Li T’ieh-kuai,

Lii Tung-pin, Chung-li Ch’iian 118

45 Li T’ieh-kuai 119

46 Chung-li Ch’iian 120

47 Lii Tung-pin 121

48 Lii Tung-pin, Chung-li Ch’iian 122


XU


ILLUSTRATIONS


FIGURE PAGE

49 Lan Ts’ai-ho 124

50 Chang-kuo 125

51 Han Hsiang 126

52 Ts’ao Kuo-chiu 127

53 Ho Hsien-ku 129

54 Ho Hsien-ku, Chang Kuo 130

55 Weaving Damsel and Shepherd Boy, Chih Nu and Niu Lang 131

56 Control of the Breath 146

57 Chung K’uei 152

58 Shih Kan Tang 153

59 The Goddess of T’ai-shan, Niang Niang 154

60 Yo Fei 180

61 A Hermit’s Mountain Hut 195

MAP

FACING PAGE

Illustrating the Story of the Addition of Pieces of Land to

Izumo by Omi-tsu-nu 248


CHINESE MYTHOLOGY


BY

JOHN C. FERGUSON




AUTHOR’S PREFACE


T HIS volume should be called “ Outlines of Chinese My-
thology.” It lays no claim to consideration as being an
exhaustive study of Chinese mythology, which would require
many volumes. It has been possible to condense the essential
facts into this small space by an exclusion of all myths which
have any suspicion of a foreign origin and by avoiding all com-
parisons between those of China and those of other countries.
Only such traditional stories have been examined as are con-
cerned with the powers of nature, the origin of created things,
or the growth of governmental institutions and popular customs
among the Chinese people.

When the earliest written records of China were made, es-
tablished government and an orderly life among the people
already existed. There must have been also a vast store of oral
traditions. The task of those who were able to transmit their
opinions by means of writing was to explain established govern-
ment and organized life in the light of oral tradition. Out of
this attempt grew all the myths which centre around the early
rulers, celestial and terrestrial. Although the form of these
myths may have suffered many changes as they were being
transcribed to writing, their content has, without doubt, been
accurately preserved} it is with written traditions that this
study is concerned.

The sources are numerous and are too well-known to those
who are versed in Chinese literature to need mentioning, while
a detailed list would be of no help to the general reader. The
index will serve as a guide to those who wish to go further into
Chinese literary sources, as well as an aid to those to whom the
system of transliteration of Chinese sounds may be unfamiliar.


4


AUTHOR’S PREFACE


On the part of the author the approach to the subject has been
made with full recognition that pitfalls for the unwary were
waiting at every turn. The extent of Chinese literature, the
niceties of verbal distinction, the various versions of stories
which have gradually developed into fixed accounts, the free
use of imaginative details by authors who agree only concerning
central facts, these and many other similar conditions make the
path of one working in this field slippery and dangerous. The
hope of the author is that the aid of scholarly Chinese friends
has helped him to avoid many mistakes and has enabled him to
give a presentation of the outlines of a vast subject which no
one up to the present writing has ventured to treat.

JOHN C. FERGUSON

January, 1927


vm — 1


INTRODUCTION


T HE origin of the tribes which first settled along the valley
of the Yellow River and expanded into the Chinese race,
is still a subject for future investigators. Wherever these early
settlers came from, they possessed strong physiques and must
have been fond of adventure, for we find them scattered along
the Yangtze River in the neighbourhood of the present city of
Hankow and far east of the hills of Chehkiang, as well as
having pushed their way to the country north and south of the
mouth of the Yellow River. The courses of the great rivers
of China being eastward, it is reasonable to suppose that the
drift of the mainland population of China has been from west
to east.

The coast provinces of China, Kuangtung, Fukien, and the
southern half of Chehkiang, give evidences of having been pop-
ulated in the first instance by seafaring people, probably of
Malay origin. They were allied to the early populations of the
Philippine Islands and Japan, spoke many dialects, and per-
sisted for a long time in their inherent tendency to split up into
small divisions. The mainland civilization of China gradually
spread south-eastward among these illiterate people, and from
the time of the T’ang dynasty in the seventh century a.d.,
absorbed them not only into the political domain, but also in-
fused into them its dominating spirit. China furnished these
tribes with literature, art and government institutions so com-
pletely that in a few generations nearly all traces of their exotic
origin had been obliterated, the only persisting reminder being
in the name “ Men of T’ang ” by which the people of Canton
still call themselves, thus remembering that they came into the


VIII — 2


6


INTRODUCTION


realm of Chinese civilization in the T’ang dynasty, and that this
event was the beginning of their ordered life under established
government.

There was no attempt among the early annalists of China to
trace their national origin to a divine or supernatural source.
The nearest approach to such extravagance is in the account of

the birth of the legendary
founder of the Chow dynasty.
Hou-chi, to whom sacrifices were
offered by the House of Chow,
was the son of Chiang Yuan.
His mother, who had been child-
less for some time, trod on a toe-
print made by God, was moved
thereby to become pregnant, and
later gave birth to Hou-chi.
This wonderful son was reared
with the aid of sheep and oxen
who protected him with loving
care. Birds screened and sup-
ported him with their wings.
He was able to feed himself at
an early age by planting beans
and wheat. It was he who gave
to his people the beautiful grains
of the millet which was reaped in abundance and stacked up on
the ground for the support of his dependent people. This tale
has been recognized in historical times as a fable, and treated
with good-natured tolerance, though not with belief. There
has been a surprising lack of interest among Chinese writers
concerning this subject of the origin of their race, and it will be
noted in this account of Hou-chi that nothing is said about the
origin of his mother. The keen common sense of the Chinese
race, which has been one of their most prominent characteristics



INTRODUCTION


7

in all ages, has kept them from the folly of ascribing a divine
origin to their particular race.

The historian Ssu-ma Ch’ien commences his Annals with
Huang Ti, the first of the Five Sovereigns, 2704-2595 b . c .
Some other writers go back to the earlier period of the mythical
Three Emperors, but the period in which events may be re-
garded as having historical foundations is much later even than
the time of Huang Ti. With the information which is at pres-
ent available to the world, it is not safe to place the commence-
ment of the historical period of China earlier than the fall of
the Shang dynasty, and the rise of the House of Chow, 1122 b . c .
It is better still to place the beginning of reliable history as
841 b . c ., which is the first exact date with which Ssu-ma Ch’ien
starts in the Shih Chi. At this period we are met with a civiliza-
tion already well established. The people not only were good
agriculturists, but also understood the art of writing. Such
remains as we have of an earlier time are ideographs incised on
bones or cast as inscriptions on bronze sacrificial vessels. The
amount of historical knowledge gained from these is very small
and has made little contribution to our understanding of the
early civilization of China. Their chief value has been in fur-
nishing evidence that the civilization of China as we know it
in the Chow dynasty, is a continuous development from the
early civilization of the original inhabitants of China, and that
it is not an importation from outside sources. China developed
for herself a civilization distinct from that of any other nation
of antiquity, and this civilization with many changes and wide
development has remained down to our present time. It has
had a longer continuous existence than any other that the world
has ever known.

The practice of divination and the observance of ceremonies,
family and tribal, are the two outstanding features of the ancient
civilization of China. They represent the contrasting ideals of
individualistic and of social development. The conception of


8


INTRODUCTION


the individual, governed by his own innate sense of right and
wrong, as forming the basis of the state, is associated with the
practices of divination by means of which the immediate actions
of the individual should be determined and the results of his
actions foretold. The conception of the state, personified by its
tutelary head, as determining right or wrong for the individual,
is associated with ceremonial observances. The former system,
being individualistic, is liberal, while the latter is conservative.
The former provides for change amidst changing circumstances}
the latter contemplates rigidity based upon existing tradition.

It has been customary among Chinese writers to divide the
philosophic concepts of the nation into nine schools. These
are: (i) The School of Dualism, (2) The School of Letters,
(3) The School of Equality, (4) The School of Words, (5)
The School of Laws, (6) The School of Doctrine, (7) The
School of Agriculturists, ( The School of Tolerance, and (9)
The Eclectic School. There is no need of following the intri-
cate philosophic distinctions of these nine schools in this present
discussion} it is sufficient to note that they can be classified under
the two general headings of Liberalism, as exemplified by Lao
Tzu, Tao Chia, and of Conservatism, as typified by Confucius,
Ju Chia. The development and tendencies of these two schools
circumscribe the entire body of Chinese thought, both ancient
and modern.

The line of demarcation between these two schools may be
illustrated by the adherence of the one to the Eight Diagrams
reputed to have been evolved by Fu Hsi from marks found on
the back of a dragon horse} and of the other to the ceremonial
Nine Tripods recognized by Confucius as the emblem of Impe-
rial authority. The Liberal School found ancient authorization
in “ The Book of Changes,” the Conservative in “ The Spring
and Autumn Annals.” The former was free to range over the
whole field of animal and plant life in search of an explanation
of man’s relation to the universe} the latter confined itself to

https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra10gray/page/n8

GEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Consulting Editor


NORTH AMERICAN


BY

HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA


VOLUME X



. BOSTON

MARSHALL JONES COMPANY
M DCCCC XVI




Copyright, 1916
By Marshall Jones Company

Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
All fights reserved

Printed April, 1916


OTNTED IN tTHE TOUTED STATES OE AMERICA BY TEE TOIVERSIXY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

BOUND BY THE BOSTON BOOKBINDING COMPANY



AUTHOR’S PREFACE


N O one can be more keenly aware of the sketchy nature
of the study here undertaken than is the author. The
literature of the subject, already very great, is being aug-
mented at a rate hitherto unequalled; and it is needless to
say that this fact alone renders any general analysis at present
provisional. As far as possible the author has endeavoured
to confine himself to a descriptive study and to base this
study upon regional divisions. Criticism has been limited to
the indication of suggestive analogies, to summaries in the
shape of notes, and to the formulation of a general plan of
selection (indicated in the Introduction), without which no
book could be written. The time will certainly come for
a closely analytical comparative study of North American
myths, but at the present time a general description is surely
the work which is needed.

Bibliographical references have been almost entirely rele-
gated to the Notes, where the sources for each section will be
found, thus avoiding the typographical disfigurement which
footnotes entail. The plan, it is believed, will enable a ready
identification of any passage desired, and at the same time
will give a convenient key for the several treatments of related
topics. The Bibliography gives the sources upon which the text
Is chiefly based, chapter for chapter. Other references, inci-
dentally quoted, are given in the Notes. The critical reader’s
attention is called, in particular, to Note i, dealing with the
difficult question of nomenclature and spelling. The author
has made no attempt to present a complete bibliography of
American Indian mythology. For further references the litera-
ture given in the “Bibliographical Guides ” should be consulted;



VI


AUTHOR’S PREFACE


important works which have appeared since the publication
of these “Guides” are, of course, duly mentioned.

For the form and spelling of the names of tribes and of
linguistic stocks the usage of the Handbook of American
Indians is followed, and the same form is used for both the
singular and for the collective plural. Mythic names of In-
dian origin are capitalized, italics being employed for a few
Indian words which are not names. The names of various
objects regarded as persons or mythic beings — sun, moon,
earth, various animals, etc. — are capitalized when the per-
sonified reference is clear; otherwise not. This rule is difficult
to maintain consistently, and the usage in the volume doubt-
less varies somewhat.

The word “corn,” occurring in proper names, must be under-
stood in its distinctively American meaning of “maize.”
Maize being the one indigenous cereal of importance in Ameri-
can ritual and myth, “Spirits of the Corn” (to use Sir J. G.
Frazer’s classic phrase) are, properly speaking, in America
“ Spirits of the Maize.” A like ambiguity attaches to “ buffalo,”
which in America is almost universally applied to the bison.

The illustrations for the volume have been selected with a
view to creating a clear impression of the art of the North
American Indians, as well as for their pertinency to mythic
ideas. This art varies in character in the several regions quite
as much as does the thought which it reflects. It is interesting
to note the variety in the treatment of similar themes or in
the construction of similar ceremonial articles; for this reason
representations of different modes of presenting like ideas
have been chosen from diverse sources: thus, the Thunderbird
conception appears in Plates III, VI, XVI, and Figure l;
the ceremonial pole in Plates XII, XVII, XXX; and masks
from widely separate areas are shown in the Frontispiece and in
Plates IV, VII, XXV, XXXI. In a few cases (as Plates II,
VIII, IX, XI, XVIII, and probably XIX) the art is modified
by white influence; in the majority of examples it is purely



AUTHOR’S PREFACE


Vll


aboriginal. The motives which prompt the several treatments
are interestingly various: thus, the impulse which lies behind
Plates II, VIII, IX, XVIII, XIX is purely the desire for pic-
torial illustration of a mythic story; mnemonic, historical, or
heraldic in character — prompted by the desire for record —
are Plates V, X, XI, XVII, XX, XXI, XXX, XXXII, XXXIII;
while the majority of the remaining examples are representa-
tions of cult-objects. Through all, however, is to be observed
the keen aesthetic instinct which is so marked a trait of North
American tribes.

The author desires to express his sense of obligation to the
editor of this series. Dr. Louis H. Gray, for numerous and
valuable emendations, and to Dr. Melvin R. Gilmore, recently
of the Nebraska State Historical Society, now Curator of the
State Historical Society of North Dakota, especially for the
materials appearing in Note 58 and Plate XIV.

HARTLEY BURR ALEXANDER.


Marcb 1, 1916.




CONTENTS


PAGE

Author’s Preface v

Introduction xv

Chapter L The Far North i

I Norseman and Skraeling i

II The Eskimo’s World 3

III The World-Powers 5

IV The World’s Regions 6

V The Beginnings 8

VI Life and Death * 10


CHAPtER IL The Forest Tribes

I The Forest Region

II Priest and Pagan

' III The Manitos

IV The Great Spirit

V The Frame of the World

VI The Powers Above

VII The Powers Below

VIII The Elders of the Kinds

Chapter IIL The Forest Tribes

I Iroquoian Cosmogony

II Algonquian Cosmogony

III The Deluge

IV The Slaying of the Dragon

Y The Theft of Fire

Sun-Myths

VII The Village of Souls

VIII Hiawatha

Chapter IV. The Gulf Region

I Tribes and Lands

,^J[I^-Worship


13

13

IS

17

19

21

24

27

30

33

33

38

42

44

46

48

49
SI

S3

S3

5S



X


CONTENTS


PAGE


III The New Maize S 7

IV Cosmogonies 6o

V Animal Stories 64

VI Tricksters and Wonder-Folk 67

VII Mythic History 69

Chapter V. The Great Plains 74

I The Tribal Stocks 74

II An Athapascan Pantheon 77

III The Great Gods of the Plains 80

IV The Life of the World 82

V “Medicine” 85

Father Sun 87

VII Mother Earth and Daughter Corn 91

VIII The Morning Star 93

IX The Gods of the Elements 97

Chapter VI. The Great Plains (continued) 102

I Athapascan Cosmogonies 102

II Siouan Cosmogonies 105

III Ca.ddban Cosmogonies 107

X^JJf^-The Son of the Sun iiz.

V The Mystery of Death 115

VI Prophets and Wonder-Workers 120

VII Migration-Legends and Year-Counts 1 24

Chapter VIL Mountain and Desert 129

I The Great Divide 129

II The Gods of the Mountains 132

III The World and its Denizens 135

IV Shahaptian and Shoshonean World-Shapers .... 139

V Coyote 141

VI Spirits, Ghosts, and Bogies 145

VII Prophets and the Ghost-Dance 149

Chapter VIIL Mountain and Desert .... 154

I The Navaho and their Gods 154

II The Navaho Genesis ijg

III The Creation of the Sun 166

IV Navaho Ritual Myths igg



CONTENTS


XI

PAGE

V Apache and PIman Mythologf 175

VI Yuman Mythology 179

Chapter IX. The Pueblo Dwellers 182

I The Pueblos 182

11 Pueblo Cosmology 185

III Gods and Katcinas 187

IV The Calendar 192

V The Great Rites and their Myths 196

VI Sia and Hopi Cosmogonies 202

VII Zuni Cosmogony 206

Chapter X. The Pacific Coast, West 212

I The California-Oregon Tribes 212

II Religion and Ceremonies 215

III The Creator 217

IV Cataclysms 221

V The First People 225

VI Fire and Light 230

VII Death and the Ghost-World 233

Chapter XL The Pacific Coast, North 237

I Peoples of the North-West Coast 237

II Totemism and Totemic Spirits 240

III Secret Societies and their Tutelaries 245

IV The World and its Rulers 249

V The Sun and the Moon 254

VI The Raven Cycle 258

VII Souls and their Powers 262

Notes 267

Bibliography 315




ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

plate facing page

I Zuni masks for ceremonial dances — Coloured Fro^itispiece

II Encounter of Eskimo and Kablunait 2

III Harpoon-rest with sketch of a mythic bird capturing a

whale 8

III Dancing gorget 8

IV Ceremonial mask of the Iroquois Indians 14

V Chippewa pictograph — Coloured 18

VI Ojibway (Chippewa) quill-work pouch 22

VII Seneca mask 26

VIII Iroquois drawing of a Great Head — Coloured ... 30

IX Iroquois drawing of Stone Giants — Coloured ... 38

X Onondaga wampum belt 44

XI Iroquois drawing of Atotarho — Coloured 52

XII Florida Indians offering a stag to the Sun 56

XIII Fluman figure in stone 62

XIV Sacrifice to the Morning Star, pencil sketch by Charles

Knifechief 76

XV Portrait of Tahirussawichi, a Pawnee priest — ^Col-
oured 80

XVI Thunderbird fetish 84

XVII Sioux drawing — Coloured 90

XVIII Kiowa drawing — Coloured 112

XIX Cheyenne drawing 124

XX Kiowa calendar 128

XXI Ghost-Dance, painted on buckskin — Coloured . . 150

XXII Navaho gods, from a dry- or sand-painting — Col-
oured 156

XXIir Navaho dry- or sand-painting connected with the

Night Chant ceremony — Coloured. ....... 170



xiv


ILLUSTRATIONS


plate facing page

XXIV Apache medicine-shirt — Coloured 178

XXV Zuhi masks for ceremonial dances — Coloured ... 188

XXVI Wall decoration in the room of a Rain Priest, Zuni . 192

XXVII Altar of the Antelope Priests of the Hopi — Coloured 200

XXVIII Maidu image for a woman 216

XXIX Maidu image for a man 216

XXX Frame of Haida house with totem-pole 240

XXXI Kwakiutl ceremonial masks — Coloured 246

XXXII Haida crests, from tatu designs 256

XXXIII Chilkat blanket — Coloured 260

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

FIGURE PAGE

1 Birdlike deity 71

2 Map of the world as drawn by a Thompson River Indian 148

MAP

FACING PAGE

Map of the Linguistic Stocks of North America — Coloured • . 326



INTRODUCTION


I F the term be understood as signifying a systematic and
conscious arrangement of mythic characters and events,
it is certainly a misnomer to speak of the stories of the
North American Indians as “mythology.” To be sure, cer-
tain tribes and groups (as the Iroquois, the Pawnee, the Zuni,
the Bella Coola, to mention widely separate examples) have
attained to something like consistency and uniformity in
their mythic beliefs (and it is significant that in just these
groups the process of anthropomorphization has gone farthest);
but nowhere on the continent can we find anything like the
sense for system which in the Old World is in part evidenced
and in part introduced by the epic literatures — Aryan,
Babylonian, Greek, Norse.

Mythology in the classic acceptation, therefore, can scarcely
be said to exist in North America; but in quite another sense
— belief in more or less clearly personified nature-powers and
the possession of stories narrating the deeds and adventures
of these persons — the Indians own, not one, but many
mythologies; for every tribe, and often, within the tribe, each
clan and society, has its individual mythic lore. Here again
the statement needs qualifying. Beliefs vary from tribe to
tribe, even from clan to clan, and yet throughout, if one’s
attention be broadly directed, there are fundamental similari-
ties and uniformities that afford a basis for a kind of critical
reconstruction of a North American Indian mythology. No
single tribe and no group of tribes has completely expressed
this mythology — much less has any realized its form; but the
student of Indian lore can scarcely fail to become conscious of
a coherent system of myths, of which the Indians themselves



XVI


INTRODUCTION


might have become aware in course of time, if the intervention
of Old-World ideas had not confused them.

A number of distinctions are the necessary introduction to
any study of Indian myth. In the first place, in America, no
more than in the Old World, are we to identify religion with
mythology. The two are intimately related; every mythology
is in some degree an effort to define a religion; and yet there is
no profound parallelism between god and hero, no immutable
relation between religious ceremony and mythic tale, even
when the tale be told to explain the ceremony. No illustra-
tion could be better than is afforded by the fact that the great-
est of Indian mythic heroes, the Trickster-Transformer, now
Hare, now Coyote, now Raven, is nowhere important in ritual ;
while the powers which evoke the Indian’s deepest veneration.
Father Sky and Mother Earth, are of rare appearance in the
tales.

The Indian’s religion must be studied in his rites rather than
in his myths; and it may be worth while here to designate the
most significant and general of these rites. Foremost is the
calumet ceremony, in which smoke-offering is made to the sky,
the earth, and the rulers of earth’s quarters, constituting a kind
of ritualistic definition of the Indian’s cosmos. Hardly second
to this is the rite of the sweat-bath, which is not merely a means
of healing disease, but a prayer for strength and purification
addressed to the elements — earth, fire, water, air, in which
resides the life-giving power of the universe. Third in order
are ceremonies, such as fasting and vigil, for the purpose of
inducing visions that shall direct the way of life; for among the
Indian’s deepest convictions is his belief that the whole en-
vironment of physical life is one of strength-imbuing powers
only thinly veiled from sight and touch. Shamanistic or me-
diumistic rites, resting upon belief in the power of unseen
beings to possess and inspire the mortal body, form a fourth
group of ceremonies. A fifth is composed of the great com-
munal ceremonies, commonly called “dances” by white men.



introduction xvii

These arc<ahnosl invariably in the fonai of dramatic prayers -
combinations ot sacnhcc, song, and symbolic personation —
addressed tc' the great nature-powers, to sun and earth, to the
rain-bringers, and to tlic givers of food and game. A final
group is formed of rites honour of the dead or of ancestral
tutelari<-s, eereinomes usually annual and varying in purpose
from solicitude bn- the welfare of the departed to desire for
their assistance aitd propitiation of their possible ill will.

In these rituals are defined the essential beings of the In-
dian s pagan religion. There is the Great Spirit, represented
by Father Sky or by the sky’s great incarnation, the Sun
Father. Ihcic are Mother Earth and her daughter, the Corn
Mother. 1 here arc the intermediaries between the powers be-
low and those above, iitcluding the birds and the great mythic
Thunderbird, the winds and the clouds and the celestial bodies.
There are the Elders, or Guardians, of the animal kinds, who
replenish the earth with game and come as helpers to the hunts-
men; and llicre is the vast congeries of things potent, belong-
ing both to the seen and to the unseen world, whose help may
be won in the form of “medicine” by the man who knows the
usages of Nature.

Inevitably these powers find a fluctuating representation in
the varying imagery of myth. Consistency is not demanded,
for the Indian’s mode of thought is too deeply symbolic for
him to regard his own stories as literal: they are neither alle-
gory nor history; they are myth, with a truth midway between
that of allegory and that of history. Myth can properly be
defined only with reference to its sources and motives. Now
the motives of Indian stories are in general not difficult to
determine. The vast majority are obviously told for enter-
tainment; they represent an art, the art of fiction; and they
fall into the classes of fiction, satire and humour, romance,
adventure. Again, not a few are moral allegories, or they are
fables with obvious lessons, such as often appear in the story
of the theft of fire when it details the kinds of wood from which

X — ' .



svm


INTRODUCTION


fire can best be kindled. A third naotive is our universally
human curiosity: we desire to know the causes of things,
whether they be the forces that underlie recurrent phenomena
or the seeming purposes that mark the beginnings and govern
the course of history. Myths that detail causes are science in
infancy, and they are perhaps the only stories that may
properly be called myths. They may be simply fanciful ex-
planations of the origin of animal traits — telling why the
dog’s nose is cold or why the robin’s breast is red; and then we
have the beast fable. They may be no less fanciful accounts of
the institution of some rite or custom whose sanction is deeper
than reason; and we have the so-called aetiological myth.
They may be semi-historical reminiscences of the inauguration
of new ways of life, of the conquest of fire or the introduc-
tion of maize by mythical wise men; or they may portray re-
coverable tribal histories through the distorted perspective of
legend. In the most significant group of all, they seek to con-
ceptualize the beginnings of all things in those cosmogonic
allegories of which the nebular hypothesis is only the most
recently outgrown example.

Stories which satisfy curiosity about causes are true myths.
With this criterion it should perhaps seem an easy task for the
student to separate mythology from fiction, and to select or
reject from his materials. But the thing is not so simple.
Human motives, in whatever grade of society, are seldom un-
mixed; it is much easier to analyze them in kind than to
distinguish them in example. Take such a theme as the well-
nigh universally North American account of the origin of
death. On the face of it, it is a causal explanation; but in very
many examples it is a moral tale, while in not a few instances
both the scientific and the moral interest disappear before the
aesthetic. In a Wikeno story death came into the world by the
will of a little bird, — “How should I nest me in your warm
graves if ye men live forever?” — and however grim the fancy,
it is difficult to see anything but art in its motive; but in the

https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra71gray/page/101






AFRICAN MYTHOLOGY


BY

ALICE WERNER


Sometime Scholar and Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge
Professor of Swahili and Bantu Languages, University of London


I


To E. T. C. W.

Peking

Go, little Book, and pass to Kambalu

Greet him who dwells beside the Peaceful Gate,

Hard by the sheep-mart, in the ancient town.

May Peace be his, and happy springs renew
Earth’s beauty, marred by foolish strife and hate: —
On his fair garth sweet dews glide gently down.

He loves the ancient lore of Chou and Han
And eke the science of the farthest West;

High thought he broods on ever — yet maybe
He will not grudge an idle hour, to scan
These childlike dreams — these gropings for the Best
Of simple men beyond the Indian sea.




AUTHOR’S PREFACE


HERE may perhaps be an impression in the minds of


most readers that Africa, with its practically unwritten
languages and comparatively undeveloped religious ideas, can
have little or nothing which can properly be described as myth-
ology, or at any rate that the existing material is too scanty to
justify a volume on the subject.

I must confess that, until I actually undertook the work, I
had no conception of the enormous amount of material that
is in fact available — a great deal of it in German periodicals
not always readily accessible. The limitations of time, space,
and human faculties have prevented my making full use of
these materials: I can only hope to supply clues which other in-
vestigators may follow up if I cannot do so. I intend, however,
should I live long enough, to work out in detail some of the
subjects here presented in a very imperfect sketch — for in-
stance, the distribution of the Chameleon-myth in Africa;
the “ Exchanges ” story (fresh material having come to
hand since I wrote the article in the African Monthly , 1911)5
the Swallower-myth as exemplified in Kholumolumo of
the Basuto and its various African modifications; and several
others.

I have not attempted to state any theories or to work out
comparisons with any folklore outside Africa, though here
and there obvious parallels have suggested themselves. Any
approaches to theorising — such as the occasional protests I
have felt compelled to make against the assumption that simi-
larity necessarily implies borrowing — must be regarded as
merely tentative.



io6


AUTHOR’S PREFACE


Since completing the chapter on the “ Origin of Death,”
I have found among my papers a Duruma Chameleon-story
(kindly supplied to me in MS., with interlinear translations
into Swahili, by Mr. A. C. Hollis), which is so interesting that
I may perhaps be excused for inserting it here. The Duruma
are one of the so-called “ Nyika ” tribes living inland
from Mombasa, neighboured on the east by the Rabai and
on the southwest (more or less) by the Digo: they have not
been very fully studied up to the present. The legend is as
follows:

When man was first made, the Chameleon and the Lizard
(dzonzoko or gae — called in the Swahili translation mjusika-
firi ) were asked their views about his ultimate fate. The Cha-
meleon answered : “ I should like all the people to live and not
to die,” while the dzonzoko said: “ I wish all people to die.”
The matter was settled by the two running a race, a stool ( chin )
being set up as the goal; the one who reached it first was to have
his desire granted. As might be expected, the Lizard won, and
ever since, the Chameleon walks slowly and softly, grieving
because he could not save men from death.

The mention of the stool is curious, because it affords a point
of contact with a Chameleon-story of a widely different type,
current both in East and West Africa, but hitherto, so far as I
am aware, not much noticed by folklorists. It seems to be an
independent form of the idea contained in the well-known
Hare and Tortoise race. Pre-eminence among the animals is
to be decided by a race to a stool (the chief’s seat of honour) :
the Dog thinks he has won, but the Chameleon gets in first by
clinging to his tail and leaping in front of him at the last mo-
ment. Of course this folklore tale has, so far as one can see,
nothing to do with the older myth.

The author desires to express her most cordial thanks to all
who have contributed to the embellishment of this volume:
in the first place to Miss Alice Woodward for her beautiful


AUTHOR’S PREFACE


107


drawings ; then to Messrs. E. Torday, P. Amaury Talbot, and
F. W. H. Migeod, for the use of original photographs 5 and to
the Clarendon Press for permitting the reproduction of plates
from Bushman Paintings copied by Miss M. H. Tongue.

ALICE WERNER

School of Oriental Studies
London, January 23, 1922


INTRODUCTION


T O TREAT the mythology of a whole continent is a task
not to be lightly undertaken. In the case of Africa,
however, there are certain features which make the enterprise
less formidable than it would be if directed elsewhere. The
uniformity of Africa has become a commonplace with some
writers; and, indeed, when we compare its almost unbroken
coast-line and huge, undifferentiated tracts of plain or table-
land, with Europe and Asia, we cannot picture it as divided into
countries occupied by separate nations. This feeling is intensi-
fied, if we confine our view to Africa south of the Sahara, as we
shall practically have to do for the purposes of this book, which
omits from consideration both Egypt and (except for incidental
references) the Islamised culture of the Barbary States.
Broadly speaking, the whole of this area (which we might de-
scribe as a triangle surmounted by the irregular band extending
from Cape Verde to Cape Guardafui) is occupied by the black
race, and as, to the casual European, all black faces are as much
alike as the faces of a flock of sheep, it is a natural infer-
ence that their characters are the same. The shepherd, of
course, knows better; so does the white man who has lived long
enough among “ black ” people (comparatively few are black
in the literal sense) to discriminate between the individual and
the type . 1 But, in any case, the inhabitants, even of the limited
Africa we are taking for our province, are not all of one kind.
We have not only the black Africans, but the tall, light-com-
plexioned Galla, Somali, and Fula, with their Hamitic speech,
the Hottentots, whose Hamitic affinities, suspected by Moffat,
have been strikingly demonstrated in recent years, the little


INTRODUCTION


109


yellow Bushmen, who are probably responsible for the non-
Hamitic elements in the Hottentots, and others. Moreover,
there is a very distinct cleavage of speech — though not, per-
haps, of race, among the black Africans themselves: between
the monosyllabic, uninflected languages of the Gold Coast and
the upper Nile, and the symmetrically-developed grammati-
cal structure of the Bantu tongues. And, even taking the
Bantu by themselves, we may expect to find great local differ-
ences. As the late Heli Chatelain remarked, speaking of a
writer who has not greatly advanced the cause of research:
“ The material on which he worked consisted of but a few
volumes on South African tribes, and he often fell into the
common error of predicating of the whole race, the Bantu, and
even of all Africans, what he had found to hold true in several
South African tribes. To this habit of unwarranted generali-
sation must be attributed, very largely, the distressing inaccu-
racy and the contradictory statements with which books and
articles on Africa are replete.” 2

At the same time, a study of African folk-lore extending
over many years has gradually produced the conviction that
both sections of the African race, the Bantu-speaking and the
Sudanic, have many ideas, customs and beliefs in common.
Some of these may be due to independent development , 3 others
to recent borrowing, but there is a great deal which, I feel
certain, can only be accounted for by some original community
of thought and practice. This will appear, over and over again,
in connection with various stories which we shall have to dis-
cuss. But this is not all. We shall find that both Negro and
Bantu have some elements in common with Galla, Masai, and
other Hamitic or quasi-Hamitic peoples (I here leave out
of account matter demonstrably introduced by Arabs or Euro-
peans at a more recent date) ; and some very interesting prob-
lems of diffusion are connected with tales originating, perhaps,
in the Mediterranean basin and carried to the extreme south of


no


INTRODUCTION


the continent by the nomad herdsmen whom Van Riebeek
found in possession at the Cape of Good Hope. The Hausa,
whose linguistic and racial affinities have long been a puzzle,
have evidently been influenced from both sides — the black
aboriginal tribes from whom they are in great part descended,
and the pastoral Hamitic immigrants.

Here let me remark in passing that I use the word “ aborig-
inal ” in a purely relative sense and without intending to ex-
press any opinion on this point. Neither shall I attempt to deal
with the vexed question of race. What really constitutes
“ race ” is by no means clear to me, nor, I imagine, can the ex-
perts agree on a definition. Whether there is any real distinc-
tion of race between Bantu-speaking and other (Sudanic)
Negroes , 4 I very much doubt, and, in any case, the problem;
lies outside our present scope.

As suggesting a common fund of primitive ideas in widely
separated parts of the continent, let us take the case of the
Zulu word inkata and the thing denoted by it. The word is
also found in Nyanja as nkata , in Swahili khata (with aspir-
ated k ), in Chwana as khare (kx#re), in Herero as ongata ,
and in similar or cognate forms elsewhere. Its original
meaning seems to be a “ coil ” or “ twist but it generally
stands for the twisted pad of grass or leaves used by people
who carry heavy loads on the head. But the Zulu inkata
has another and more recondite meaning. The inkata yezwe
( u coil of the country ”) or inkata yomuzi (“ coil of the
clan ”) is both “ a symbol of unity and federation of the
people ” 6 and an actual talisman to ensure the same, together
with the personal safety of the chief. It is a large twist or
cushion of grass, impregnated with powerful u medicines ”
and made with special ceremonies by professional “ doctors ”
( izinnyanga ), on which the chief, at his installation, has to
stand. At other times it is kept, carefully hidden from view,
in the hut of the chief wife. I do not know whether the inkata







; ir: : . ... ; i


: : ? [ ' ; • ? Ti<! il l A

1 it. ' -



PLATE VII


A Somali, member of a typically Hamitic tribe,
who inhabit the “ Eastern Horn of Africa.” After
a photograph by Dr. Aders.












INTRODUCTION


hi


has everywhere the same ritual significance: I strongly suspect
that, where such is not recorded, it has either become obsolete
or escaped the notice of inquirers, as — belonging to the most
intimate and sacred customs of the people — it would be quite
likely to do. But, in Uganda, enkata means, not only the
porter’s head-pad, but the topmost of the grass rings forming
the framework of the house and supporting the thatch. This
“ was of equal importance with the foundation of a brick
house,” 6 and, in building the house of the King’s first wife —
the Kadulubare — had to be put in position with special cere-
monies. Now, we find that, on the Gold Coast, where the
head-pad is called ekar in Twi, it has some ritual connection
with the succession to the chieftainship, while it (or something
representing it) figures in some curious magical ceremonies of
the Ibibio (Calabar), described by the late Mrs. Amaury
Talbot . 7

Some other facts, interesting in this connection, will come in
more fittingly when considering the numerous animal-stories
of the “ Uncle Remus ” type, which are found in these areas.

Whether one studies Africa geographically, ethnologically,
or psychologically, one feels the absence of definite frontiers
more and more acutely as one goes on. We can recognize
Abyssinia or Basutoland as a separate country, just like Switzer-
land or Denmark; but such cases are infrequent, and this ap-
plies even more strongly to thought, belief and custom, than to
physical configuration. Hence I have been forced to give up
as hopeless the geographical or “ regional ” treatment of the
subject, and shall attempt, instead, to trace a few main groups
and ideas through the different strata of which the African
population is made up.

It will make clearer what I have been trying to say, if we
picture these strata, not as regular, superimposed beds of hard
stone, but as composed of different coloured sands, spread in
successive layers, some of each penetrating those below


1 12


INTRODUCTION


and the lighter particles of the lower beds working up
into the higher at every jar or disturbance. And here we come
back to our starting-point. With all the diversity to be found
in Africa, on which, as we have seen, it is necessary to insist,
there is some indefinable quality inherent in the whole of it, as
though the continent imparted its own colour and flavor to
whatever enters it from the outside. The white man who has
grown up among the Zulus very quickly feels at home with
Yaos or Giryama, though he may know nothing of their lan-
guage j and there is always a certain community of feeling be-
tween “ old Africans,” in whatever part of the continent their
experiences may have lain.

Without wasting time in speculation on the past, we may
now briefly survey the state of things as known at present.
In the main, the area we have mapped out, from the Cape of
Good Hope to Lake Victoria, and thence eastward to the Tana
River and westward to the Cameroons, is occupied by Bantu-
speaking tribes. North of these, the peoples of “ Negro,”
“ Sudanic,” or “ Nigritian ” speech extend in an irregular
band from Cape Verde to the confines of Abyssinia, even to
some extent penetrating the latter. The “ Eastern Horn,”
which ends in Cape Guardafui, is inhabited by the Hamitic
Somali, while their kinsmen the Galla, and other tribes, prob-
ably more or less allied to them (Samburu, Rendile, Turkana,
Nandi), spread out to the north, west, and south, their fringes
touching on the areas of Bantu and Negro tribes — Pokomo,
Kikuyu, Kavirondo, and others.

But these areas are not completely uniform. In South
Africa we have two non-Bantu elements, though both are now
almost negligible except within a very limited area. The
Bushmen, who would seem to have been the oldest inhabitants,
are now practically confined to the Kalahari Desert and the ad-
jacent regions, though a few fwho have quite lost all memory
of their own language and traditions) are to be found scattered


INTRODUCTION


H3

about the Cape Province and Orange Free State. If they are
the Troglodytes alluded to by Herodotus, whose speech was
“ like the squeaking of bats,” they must either have at one time
overspread the greater part of the continent, or migrated
southward from the Sahara within historic times. The
wretched Troglodytes were hunted with chariots by the Gara-
mantes, and I remember being told of a Natal farmer (by one
of his own relatives) that he used to talk cheerfully of having
shot a Bushman or two before breakfast. Here is at least one
additional point of resemblance.

The treatment of the South African Bushmen by the colo-
nists is one of the most disgraceful pages in Colonial history.
Particulars may be found in G. W. Stow’s Native Races of
South Africa — it is no part of our plan to give them here;
but there is another point of which we must not lose sight.
To speak of “ extermination ” in connection with the Bushmen,
though only too true as regards a limited area of South Africa,
is somewhat misleading when we come to survey a larger ex-
tent of the continent. In the earlier stages of the Bantu migra-
tion into South Africa, the relations between the Bushmen and
the newcomers appear to have been friendly, and intermar-
riage frequently took place. There is reason to think that some
Bechwana tribes — e.g. the Leghoya, are largely of Bushman
descent; and the same probably applies to large sections of the
Anyanja, in the districts west of the Shire. The importance of
this point will appear when we have to come back to it in the
chapter on Creation-Legends.

Whether the Bushmen have anything beyond their small
stature and their mode of life, in common with the Pygmies
of the Congo basin and other small races known or reported
to exist in various parts of Africa, remains, at least, doubtful;
but anatomists, I believe, hold that their physical evolution has
proceeded on entirely different lines. Both, in any case, are
interesting, not only as living representatives of a prehistoric