19

SKETCH OF THE MYTHOLOGY

OFTHE

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS.

By J. W. POWELL.

THE GENESIS OF PHILOSOPHY.

The wonders of the course of nature have ever challenged attention.

In savagery, in barbarism, and -in civilization alike, the mind of man

has sought the explanation of things. The movements of the heavenly

bodies, the change of seasons, the succession of night and day, the

powers of the air, majestic mountains, ever-flowing rivers, perennial

springs, the night of birds, the gliding of serpents, the growth of trees,

the blooming of flowers, the forms of storm-carved rocks, the mysteries

of life and death, the institutions of society-many are the things to be

explained. The yearning to know is universal. ~OM) and wAy are ever-

lasting interrogatories profoundly instinct in humanity. In the evolu-

tion of the human mind, thé instinct of cosmic interrogation follows

hard upon the instinct of self-préservation.

In all the operations of nature, man's weal and woe are involved. A

cold wave sweeps from the north-rivers and lakes are frozen, forests

are buried under snows, and the fierce winds almost congeal the life-

nuids of man himself, and indeed man's sources of supply are buried

under the rocks of water. At another time the heavens are as brass,

and the clouds corne and go with mockery of uniulnlled promises of

rain, thé fierce midsununer sum pours its beams upon the sands, and

blasts heated in the furnace of the desert sear the végétation; and the

traits, which in more congenial seasons are subsistence and luxury,

shrivel before the eyes of famishing men. A river rages and destroys

the adjacent valley with its flood. A mountain bursts forth with its

rivers of fire, the land is buried and the people are swept away. Light-

ning shivers a tree and rends a skull. The silent, unseen powers of

nature, too, are at work bringing pain or joy, health or sickness, life or

death, to mankind. In like manner man's welfare is involved in all the

institutions of society. How and why are the questions asked about ail

these things-questions springing from the deepest instinct of self-

preservation.

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