Chapter 16

[80]The primary sources for the Votan stories are Cogolludo, Ordoñez y Aguiar, and Nuñez de la Vega, whose narratives are liberally summarized by Brasseur de Bourbourg [a], I. i, ii (pp. 68-72 containing the passages from Ordoñez here quoted).

[81]For Zamna (or Itzamna) the sources are Cogolludo, Landa, and Lizana, summarized by Brasseur de Bourbourg [a], I. pp. 76-80. Quotations are here made from Cogolludo, IV. iii, vi; Brasseur de Bourbourg [f], ii, "Vocabulaire générale"; and Lizana (ed. Brasseur de Bourbourg), pp. 356-59; cf. also Seler [a], index; Landa, chh. xxxv, xxxvi.

[82]Identifications of images of Itzamna and Kukulcan are discussed by Dieseldorff, inZExxvii. 770-83; Spinden [a], pp. 60-70; Joyce [b], ch. ix, and Morley [c], pp. 16-19.

[83]Cogolludo, Landa, and Lizana are the chief sources for the Kukulcan stories,—especially Landa, chh. vi, xl, being here quoted. Tozzer [a], p. 96, is quoted; cf., for Yucatec survival, p. 157.

[84]Citations from Landa in this section are from chh. xxvii, xl (which records the new year's festivals), xxxiii (describing the future world), and xxxiv. Landa is our chief source for knowledge of the Yucatec rites and of the deities associated with them; additional or corroborative details being furnished by Aguilar, Cogolludo, Lizana, Las Casas, Ponce, and Pio Pérez.

[85]Interpretations of the names of the Maya deities, as here given, are from Brasseur de Bourbourg [f], ii, "Vocabulaire"; and Seler [a], index.

[86]Lizana (ed. Brasseur de Bourbourg), pp. 360-61.

[87]Schellhas [b] gives his identifications and descriptions of the gods of the codices; additional materials are contained in Fewkes [i]; Förstemann [b]; Joyce [b], ch. ix; Morley [c], pp. 16-19; Spinden [b], pp. 60-70; and Bancroft, iii, ch. xi.

[88]Tozzer [a], pp. 150 ff.; also, for the Lacandones, pp. 93-99. The names of the deities, Maya and Lacandone, are here in several cases altered slightly from the form in which Tozzer gives them, for the sake of avoiding the use of unfamiliar phonetic symbols; the result is, of course, phonetic approximation only.

[89]Landa, chh. xxvi, xxvii.

[90]Las Casas [b], ch. cxxiii.

[91]Landa, ch. xxxiv. In chh. iii, xxxii, he gives information in regard to the goddess Ixchel.

[92]The literature of the Maya calendar system is, of course, intimately connected with that of the Mexican (see Note55). The native sources for its study are the Codices and the monumental inscriptions, while of early Spanish expositions the most important are those of Landa and Pio Pérez. In recent times a considerable body of scholars have devoted special attention to the Maya inscriptions and to the elucidation of the calendar, foremost among them being, in America, Ancona, Bowditch, Chavero, Goodman, Morley, Spinden, Cyrus Thomas, and in Europe, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Förstemann, Rosny, and Seler. The foundation of the elucidation of Maya astronomical knowledge is Förstemann's studies of the Dresden Codex, while the study of mythic elements associated with the calendar is represented by Charency, especially "Des ages ou soleils d'après la mythologie des peuples de la Nouvelle Espagne," section ii, inCAiv. 2; and by J. H. Martínez, "Los Grandes Ciclos de la historia Maya," inCAxvii. 2. Summary accounts of the Maya calendar are to be found in Spinden [a], Beuchat, Joyce [b], Arnold, and Frost, while Bowditch [b] and Morley [c] are in the nature of text-book introductions to the subject.

[93]Morley [d], "The Hotun," inCAxix (Washington, 1917).

[94]Morley [c], p. 32.

[95]Tozzer [a], pp. 153-54.

[96]J. Martínez Hernández, "La Creación del Mundo según los Mayas," inCAxviii (London, 1913), pp. 164-71. Señor Hernández notes that the tense of the verb in the first sentence of the myth is for the sake of literal translation.

[97]For ethnic analysis Thomas and Swanton is followed here and throughout the chapter. Of the earlier Spanish authors Las Casas (especially [b], chh. cxxii-cxxv, clxxx, ccxxxiv ff.) is the most weighty. See also Morley [e], "The Rise and Fall of the Maya Civilizations," inCAxix (Washington, 1917).

[98]Brinton [h], p. 69.

[99]ib. p. 149.

[100]Brasseur de Bourbourg [a], pp. lxxx-lxxxiii.

[101]ThePopul Vuh, described by Brasseur de Bourbourg in hisHistoire du Mexiqueunder the titleManuscrit Quiché de Chichicastenango([a], i. pp. lxxx ff.), is a Quiché document, part myth and part legendary history, supposed to have been put in writing in the seventeenth century, when it was copied and translated into Spanish by Francisco Ximenes, of the Order of Predicadores. The manuscript was found by C. Scherzer in 1855 in the library of theuniversity of San Carlos, Guatemala. The Spanish text of Ximenes was published at Vienna in 1856, and again, with French translation and notes, by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Paris, 1861; a second Spanish version, by Barberena, appeared in San Salvador, 1905. None of these translations is regarded as accurate, or indeed as other than filled with error and misinterpretation; but pending the appearance of a scholarly rendering from the native text they are our only sources for a document of profound interest. The edition of Brasseur de Bourbourg is that here employed, translations being from parts i, ii, and iii, while interpretations of names are drawn chiefly from Brasseur's footnotes. Las Casas [b], ch. cxxiv, contains some account of the gods and heroes mentioned in thePopul Vuh.

[102]For discussion of the bat-god, Zotz, see Seler,28 BBE, pp. 231 ff., "The Bat God of the Maya Race"; also, Dieseldorff, ib., p. 665, "A Clay Vessel with a Picture of a Vampire-headed Deity"; cf. Giglioli,CAxvi (Vienna and Leipzig, 1910).

[103]TheManuscrit Cakchiquel, orMémorial de Tecpan-Atitlan, as he calls it, was given to Brasseur de Bourbourg by Juan Gavarrete, of the Convent of Franciscans of Guatemala. Its author, says the Abbé ([a], i. p. lxxxiii) was Don Francisco Ernandez Arana Xahila, of the Princes Ahpotzotziles of Guatemala, grandson of King Hunyg, who died of the plague, five years before the Spaniards set foot in this country, in 1519. The manuscript was brought down to 1582 by this author, and thence carried forward to 1597 by Don Francisco Diaz Gebuta Queh, of the same family. Brinton published his translation under the title,The Annals of the Cakchiquels, in Philadelphia, 1885, and the work now commonly is referred to under this name. It is Brinton's version which is here followed, with some inconsequential alterations of phraseology. In his introduction Brinton gives (pp. 39-48) interesting comments on the "Religious Notions."

[104]Brinton [h], pp. 25-26.

[105]ib. p. 14.

[106]Of works dealing with the religious beliefs of the natives of Honduras and Nicaragua, the writings of Oviedo and of Las Casas (especially [b], ch. clxxx) are the most important of early date. Among works of later date Squier's books are of the first significance. Bancroft, iii, ch. xi, gives a summary of most that is known of the myths of this region; Brasseur de Bourbourg [a], livre v, ch. iii, livre viii, ch. iv, contains additional materials. The archaeology is described by Squier [a], [b], [c],passim; Joyce [a], part i; Brinton [h], introduction; and, with ethnological analysis, Lehmann [c].

[107]Brasseur de Bourbourg [a], ii. p. 556. The Mictlan myth is given, ib. p. 105.

[108]Oviedo,TCxiv, p. 133.

[109]Lehmann [c], p. 717.

[110]See Lehmann [c], pp. 715-16.

[111]The ethnology of the Andean region is treated by Joyce [c], Wissler,The American Indian, and Beuchat, II. iv. Bastian,Culturländer, and Payne,History, give more extended views; while tribal distribution in its cultural relations is probably best presented by Schmidt, inZExlv. Spinden, "The Origin and Distribution of Agriculture in America," and Means, "An Outline of the Culture-Sequence in the Andean Area," both inCAxix (Washington, 1917), are significant contributions to the problem of origins and history; with these should be placed, "Orígenes Etnográficos de Colombia," by Carlos Cuervo Márquez, in theProceedings of the Second Pan American Scientific Congress, i (Washington, 1917). Spinden conceives an archaic American culture, probably originating in Mexico and thence spreading north and south, which was based upon agriculture and characterized by the use of pottery, textiles, etc., and which, in the course of time, made its influence felt from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to that of La Plata. This hypothesis admirably accounts for the obvious affinities of the civilizations of the two continents.

[112]The linguistic and cultural affinities of the Isthmian tribes are described by Wissler, Beuchat, Joyce [c], and Thomas and Swanton; and on the archaeological side especially by Hartman [a], [b], and Holmes [c], [d]. For the broader analogies of the Central American, North Andean, and Antillean regions see also Saville, Cuervo Márquez, and Spinden's article mentioned in Note111,supra. Spinden,Maya Art (MPM), argues against the conception of extensive borrowing. Of the earlier authorities for this region, the important are Peter Martyr, Benzoni, Oviedo, Herrera, and Las Casas. Among writers of later times, Humboldt holds first place.

[113]Oviedo (TC), pp. 211-22. Other references in this paragraph are: Benzoni (HS), ii; Andagoya (HS), pp. 14-15; Cieza de León (HS),1864, ch. viii.

[114]Peter Martyr, 1912, ii (pp. 319, 326 quoted).

[115]Gabb, pp. 503-06; Pittier de Fábrega [b], pp. 1-9; Las Casas [b], ch. cxxv.

[116]The most recent work, summarizing the legend of El Dorado, is Zahm [b]; and the earliest versions of the tale are those of Simon, Fresle, Piedrahíta, Cavarjal, and Castellanos, the latter of whom incorporated the story in his poeticalElejias de Varones Ilustres de Indias, which was printed at Madrid, in 1850. Critical accounts, in addition to Zahm, are Bollaert's "Introduction" to Simon'sExpedition of Pedro de Ursua(Spanish in Serrano y Sanz,Historiadores de Indias, ii) and in Bandelier'sThe Gilded Man. On the historical side, especially as regards the period of the Conquest, Andagoya, Castellanos, Carvajal, Fresle, Simon, give unforgettable pictures of the adventurous extravagance andbizarrerieof a time scarcely to be paralleled in human annals. Father Zahm'sQuest of El Doradois an inviting introduction to this literature.

[117]For Chibchan ethnology and archaeology, see Joyce [c], Acosta de Samper, and Cuervo Marquez.

[118]Cieza de León (HS), 1864, pp. 59, 88, 101.

[119]The primary sources for the mythology of the Chibchan tribes at the time of the Conquest are Pedro Simon, Lucas Fernandez Piedrahíta (especially I, iii, iv), and Cieza de León. Simon's "Cuarta Noticia," in eighteen chapters, is the fullest exposition of Chibcha beliefs and history; along with the "Tercera Noticia" it is printed in Kingsborough, viii, which is here cited (pp. 244, 263-64 quoted). Other authorities include Humboldt, Joyce [c], chh. i, ii; Acosta de Samper, ch. viii; Sir Clements Markham, art. "Andeans," inERE; and Beuchat, pp. 549-50. On the deluge myth see also Bandelier [c].

[120]The story of the giants is given by Cieza de León [a], ch. lii; see also Velasco, p. 12; Bandelier [b], where the literature of the subject is assembled; and Saville, 1907, p. 9. The archaeology of the region, with numerous plates, is presented in Saville's reports; ii. 88-123 (1910) contains a description and discussion of the stone seats; while brief accounts are to be found in Beuchat and in Joyce [c].

[121]Velasco is the chief authority for the career of the people of Cara. The discoveries of Dorsey on the island of La Plata give an added significance to these tales of men from the sea.

[122]Balboa (TC), ch. vii; cf. Joyce [c], ch. iii.

[123]The history and archaeology of aboriginal Peru is summarized by Markham,The Incas of Peru(1910), to which his notes and introductions to his many translations of Spanish works, published by the Hakluyt Society, form a varied supplementation. Among earlier authorities E. G. Squier,Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas(1877), and Castelnau,Expédition(1850-52), are eminent; while of later authorities the more conspicuous are: for Inca monuments, Bingham, of the Yale Expedition, and Baessler; for Tiahuanaco, Créqui-Montfort, of the Mission scientifique française à Tiahuanaco, Bandelier, Gonzalez de la Rosa, Posnansky, Uhle and Stübel; for the coastal regions, Baessler, Reiss and Stübel, Uhle, Tello; and for the Calchaqui territories, Ambrosetti, Boman, and Lafone Quevado. General and comparative studies are presented in Wissler,The American Indian; Beuchat,Manuel; Joyce,South American Archeology; Spinden,Handbook; while a careful effort to restore the sequences of cultures in Peru is Means, "Outline of the Culture-Sequence in the Andean Area," inCAxix (Washington, 1917).

[124]Cieza de León [a], ch. xxxvi.

[125]The origin of agriculture in America is regarded by Spinden, "The Origin and Distribution of Agriculture in America,"CAxix (Washington, 1917), as probably Mexican. From Mexico it passed north and south, reaching its limiting areas in the neighbourhoods of the St. Lawrence and of La Plata. Cf. Wissler,The American Indian.

[126]Montesinos's lists are analyzed by Markham [a]. See, also, Means; cf. Pietschmann.

[127]Uhle, especially [a], [c], and art.,CAxviii (London, 1913), "Die Muschelhügel von Ancon, Peru"; Bingham [b], [c].

[128]Means,CAxix (Washington, 1917), p. 237, gives as the general chronological background of Peruvian culture:?-circa200b. c.Preliminary migrations.circa200b. c.-600a. d.Megalithic Empire.circa600-1100a. d.Tampu-Tocco Period, decadence.circa1100-1530a. d.Inca Empire.He also gives in the same article, p. 241, a most interesting comparative restoration of the chronologies of the sequence of culture in the several Peruvian and Mexican centres, namely:

[128]Means,CAxix (Washington, 1917), p. 237, gives as the general chronological background of Peruvian culture:

?-circa200b. c.Preliminary migrations.circa200b. c.-600a. d.Megalithic Empire.circa600-1100a. d.Tampu-Tocco Period, decadence.circa1100-1530a. d.Inca Empire.

He also gives in the same article, p. 241, a most interesting comparative restoration of the chronologies of the sequence of culture in the several Peruvian and Mexican centres, namely:

TABLE DESIGNED TO SHOW THE SEQUENCE OF ABORIGINAL AMERICAN CULTURES AND THEIR CHRONOLOGIC RELATIONS

[129]For the myths and religion of the coastal peoples of Peru the important early authorities are Arriaga, Avila, Balboa, Cieza de León, and Garcilasso de la Vega. Markham [a], especially chh. xiv, xv, is the primary authority here followed. For archaeological details the authorities are Baessler; Bastian; Joyce [c], ch. viii; Squier [e]; Tello; Putnam; and Uhle. It is from this coastal region that the most striking Peruvian pottery comes, the Truxillo and Nasca styles respectively typifying the Chimu and Chincha groups.

[130]Tello, "Los antiguos cementerios del valle de Nasca," p. 287, suggests three criteria by means of which the mythological nature of such figures is to be inferred: When symbolical attributes are indicated by the animal's carrying mystical or thaumaturgical objects; when the figure retains, through a variety of representations, certain constant, individualizing traits; and when the same image is used repeatedly on the more notable types of cultural and artistic objects. Señor Tello believes Nasca religion to have been totemic in character.

[131]It is reproduced by Joyce [c], p. 155.

[132]Garcilasso's accounts of the coastal religion are scattered through his inchoate work, the more important passages being bk. ii, ch. iv; bk. vi, chh. xvii, xviii.

[133]Summarized by Markham [a], p. 217.

[134]Summarized by Markham [a], pp. 235-36.

[135]Avila [b].

[136]Avila'sNarrativeinRites and Laws of the Yncas (HS), 1883, pp. 121-47, is the authority for the myths given in the text; but several of the stories appear also in Molina, Salcamayhua, and Sarmiento, showing that the mythic cycle was widespread, extending into the highlands as well as along the coast. The people from whom Avila received his tales were of a tribe that had migrated from the coast to higher valleys.

[137]The Tiahuanaco monolith is interpreted by Squier [e], ch. xv; Markham [a], ch. ii; Gonzalez de la Rosa, "Les deux Tiahuanaco,"CAxvi (1910); and by Posnansky, "El signo escalonado,"CAxviii (1913). The latter regards the meander design, or its element, the stair-design in its various forms, as a symbol of the earth; and he believes Tiahuanaco to be the place of origin of this symbol, whence it spread northward into Mexico. It is, of course, among the Pueblo Indians of the United States an earth-symbol. If this be the correct interpretation, the central figure is the sun, rising or standing above the earth. Bandelier [e] gives ancient and modern myths in regard to Titicaca and its environs.

[138]Representations of pottery and other designs from the Diaguité region showing the influence of Tiahuanaco and possibly Nascainfluence are to be found in the publications of Ambrosetti, Boman, Lafone Quevado and others. Perhaps the most interesting is the potsherd showing the figure of a deity (?) bearing an axe with a trident-like handle, while near him is what seems clearly to be a representation of a thunderbolt; a trophy head is at his girdle.

[139]Markham [a], pp. 41-42. Caparó y Pérez,Proceedings of the Second Pan American Scientific Congress, section i, pp. 121-22, interprets the name "Uirakocha" as composed ofuira, "grease," andkocha"sea"; and, since grease is a symbol for richness and the sea for greatness, it "signified that which was great and rich."

[140]Molina (Markham,Rites and Laws), p. 33.

[141]Markham [a], ch. viii; another version is given by Markham [c]; while the text and Spanish translation are in Lafone Quevado [a]. Cf. the fragments from Huaman Poma given by Pietschmann [b], especially the prayer, p. 512: "Supreme utmost Huiracocha, wherever thou mayest be, whether in heaven, whether in this world, whether in the world beneath, whether in the utmost world, Creator of this world, where thou mayest be, oh, hear me!"

[142]Salcamayhua (Markham,Rites and Laws), pp. 70-72.

[143]Bandelier [d], [e], especially pp. 291-329.

[144]Molina,op. cit.; Cieza de León [b], ch. v, pp. 5-10; Sarmiento, pp. 27-39; and for summary of the narrative of Huaman Poma, Pietschmann,CAxviii (London, 1913), pp. 511-12.

[145]Viracocha and Tonapa obviously belong to the group, or chain, of hero-deities of a like character, extending from Peru to Mexico, and, in modified forms, far to the north and far to the south of each of these centres. This personage, as a hero, is a man, bearded, white, aided by a magic wand or staff, who brings some essential element of culture and departs; as a god, he is a creator, who appeared after the barbaric ages of the world and introduced a new age (there are exceptions to this, as the narrative of Huaman Poma); further, he is a deity of the heavens, the plumed- or the double-headed serpent is his emblem, perhaps his incarnation, and he is closely associated with the sun, which seems to be his servant. Is it not entirely possible that this interesting mythic complex is historically associated, in its spread, with the spread of the cultivation of maize at some early period? In the Navaho representations of Hastsheyalti, the white god of the east, bearded with pollen, and himself creator and maize-god, with the Yei as his servants, and his two sons (in the tale of "The Stricken Twins") genii respectively of rain (vegetation) and of animals (seeMythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, x, ch. viii, sections ii, iv) we have the essential attributes of this deity and at the same time an image of his probable function, as sky-god associated especially with the whiteness of dawn, with rain-giving, and hence with growing corn. The staff, which is the conspicuous attribute of Tonapa and Bochica in particular, may well bear a double significance: in the hands of the hero, as the dibble of the maize-planter; in the hands of the god, as the lightning. In any case, there are a multitude of analogies, not only in the myths, but also in the art-motives and symbolisms of the group of tribes which extends from the Diaguité to the North American Pueblo regions that powerfully suggest a common origin of the ideas which centre about the cult of heaven and earth, of descending rain and upspringing maize. Many partial parallels for the same group of ideas are to be found among the less advanced tribes of the plains and forest regions of both South and North America. Possibly, the myth, or at least the rites upon which it rests, accompanied the knowledge of agriculture into these regions.

[146]Lafone Quevado [a], p. 378.

[147]Garcilasso de la Vega, bk. i, chh. xv, xvi. The myth is also given by Acosta, bk. i, ch. xxv; bk. vi, ch. xx; by Sarmiento, chh. xi-xiv; and by Salcamayhua (Markham,Rites and Laws), pp. 74-75.

[148]Garcilasso de la Vega, bk. ii, ch. xviii; bk. viii, ch. viii; cf. bk. ix, ch. x.

[149]Molina, pp. 11-12.

[150]The Inca pantheon is described by Markham [a], chh. viii, ix, and by Joyce [c], ch. vii. The primary sources are Garcilasso dela Vega, Cieza de León, Molina, Salcamayhua, and Sarmiento, and perhaps most important of all Blas Valera, the "Anonymous Jesuit" whose writings were utilized by various early narrators. Salcamayhua's chart is published by Markham, in a corrected form, inRites and Laws of the Yncas, p. 84. The literal reproduction accompanies Hagar's discussion of it,CAxii, and it has been several times reproduced. Its interpretation is discussed by Hagar,loc. cit.; Spinden,AA, new series, xviii (1916); Lafone Quevado [b], and "Los Ojos de Imaymana," with a reproduction of the chart which he characterizes as "the key to Peruvian symbolism"; cf., also, Ambrosetti,CAxix (Washington, 1913).

[151]The myth of the Ayars is recorded by Sarmiento, x-xiii; it is discussed by Markham [a], ch. iv, where are the interpretations of the names adopted in this text.

[152]Cieza de León [b], chh. vi-viii (pp. 13, 16, quoted).

[153]Garcilasso de la Vega, bk. i, ch. xviii.

[154]The argument for the antiquity of man in South America rests mainly upon the discoveries and theories of Ameghino, especially,La Antigüedad del hombre en la Plata(2 vols., Buenos Aires and Paris, 1880) and artt. inAnMB, who is followed by other Argentinian savants. Ales Hrdlicka,Early Man in South America (52 BBE, Washington, 1912), examines the claims made for the several discoveries and uniformly rejects the assumption of their great age, in which opinion he is generally followed by North American anthropologists; as cf. Wissler,The American Indian(New York, 1917). The theory favored by Hrdlicka and others is of the peopling of the Americas by successive waves of immigrants from north-eastern Asia, with possible minor intrusions of Oceanic peoples along the Pacific coasts of the southern continent.

[155]The sketch of South American ethnography in d'Orbigny'sL'Homme américainis, of course, now superseded in a multitude of details; it appears, however, to conform, in broad lines, to the deductions of later students. In addition to d'Orbigny and Schmidt (ZExlv, 1913), Brinton,The American Race, Beuchat,Manuel, and Wissler,The American Indian, present the most available ethnographic analyses.

[156]"Linguistic Stocks of South American Indians," inAA, new series, xv (1913); also, Wissler,The American Indian, pp. 381-85, listing eighty-four stocks. It must be borne in mind, however, that the tendency of minute study is eventually to diminish the number oflinguistic stocks having no detectable relationships, and that, in any case, classifications based upon cultural grade are more important for the student of mythology than are those based upon language alone.

[157]Brett [a], p. 36; other quotations from this work are from pp. 374, 401, 403.

[158]King Blanco, pp. 63-64. The lack of significant early authorities for the mythologies of the region of Guiana and the Orinoco (Gumilla is as important as any) is compensated by the careful work of later observers of the native tribes, especially of Guiana. Among these, Humboldt, Sir Richard and Robert H. Schomburgk, and Brett, in the early and middle years of the nineteenth century, and im Thurn, at a later period, hold first place, while the contributions of van Coll, in Anthropos ii, iii (1907, 1908), are no less noteworthy. Latest of all is Walter Roth's "Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians," in 30ARBE(1915), which, as a careful study of the myth-literature of a South American group, stands in a class by itself; it is furnished with a careful bibliography. The reader will understand that the intimate relation between the Antillean and Continental Carib (and, to a less extent, Arawakan) ideas brings the subject-matter of this chapter into direct connexion with that of Chapter I; while it should also be obvious that the Orinoco region is only separated from the Amazonian for convenience, and that Chapter X is virtually but a further study of the same level and type of thought. The bibliographies of Chh. I, VI, and X are supplementary, for this same region, to that given for Chapter VIII.

[159]Humboldt [b] (Ross), iii. 69; im Thurn, pp. 365-66.

[160]Surely one may indulge a wry smile when told that "heavenly father" and "creator" are no attributes of God, and may be reasonably justified in preferring Sir Richard Schomburgk's judgment, where he says (i. 170): "Almost all stocks of British Guiana are one in their religious convictions, at least in the main; the Creator of the world and of mankind is an infinitely exalted being, but his energy is so occupied in ruling and maintaining the earth that he can give no special care to individual men." This unusual reason for the indifference of the Supreme Being toward the affairs of ordinary men is probably an inference of the author's. Roth commences his study of Guiana Indian beliefs with a chapter entitled, "No Evidence of Belief in a Supreme Being," and begins his discussion with the statement: "Careful investigation forces one to the conclusion that, on the evidence, the native tribes of Guiana had no idea of a Supreme Being in the modern conception of the term," quoting evidence, from Gumilla and others, which to the present writer seems to point in just the opposite direction. Of course, the phrase "in the modern conception of the term" is the key to much difference in judgement. If it means that savages have no conception of a Divine Ens, Esse, Actus Purus, or the like, definable by highly abstract attributes,ça va sans dire; but if the intention is to say that there is no primitive belief in a luminous Sky Father, creator and ruler, good on the whole, though not preoccupied with the small details of earthly and human affairs, such a conclusion is directly opposed to all evidence, early and late, North American and South American, missionary and anthropological. Cf.Mythology of All Races, x, Note 6, and references there given; and, in the present volume, not only Ch. I,iii(Ramon Pane is surely among the earliest), but also—passing over the numerous allusions in descriptions of the pantheons of the more advanced tribes (Chh.II-VII)—Ch. IX,iii(early and late for the low Brazilian tribes); Ch. X,ii,iii,iv.

[161]Sir Richard Schomburgk, ii. 319-20; i. 170-72. Roth gives legends from many sources touching these deities and others of a similar character.

[162]Humboldt [b] (Ross), ii. 362.

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