more clearly if we possessed Indian mythologies more nearly in their original form, uninfluenced by the effect of civilization.
The idea that the powers of Nature were originally hostile, and must be either conquered or propitiated in order to be brought into satisfactory relations with humanity, is set forth in several myths of this collection not directly concerned with the great transformers. A singular tale (No. VII.) recites how a boy is abandoned by his parents on account of his general worthlessness of character, but becomes a mighty hunter, and makes blankets out of bird-skins, so beautiful that they are noticed and coveted by the Sun, who perceives them on his daily round, and purchases them at great price; the tints of the bird-plumes, at least those of the blue jay, are still visible in the orb. From another story (No. VIII.) we learn that the sun was originally a cannibal, who passed nearer the earth than at present, and daily returned to his house laden with the bodies of the men he had slain with his beams. It happens that an unlucky gambler, who had lost his all in the game, goes to the wilderness in order to consult his protecting spirit, and receives advice to travel in quest of fortune; he roves until he comes to a lake, over which lies a cloud which rises and falls ; at the moment when this envelope is lowest he leaps on the cloud, which serves as a bridge; he crosses the lake and comes to a delightful land, where he observes a path; this he follows and arrives at the habitation of the Sun, at the time absent on his daily journey. A son of the master of the house receives, warns, and conceals him. The sky-wanderer returns, carrying on his back the body of a victim; entering the lodge (according to the habit of cannibals down to those of the English nursery), he scents the presence of a human being, but is persuaded out of his opinion. On the morrow, when the daily traveller has once more departed, the sun-youth dismisses the guest with the present of a magic bundle; the adventurer reaches his village, opens the pack, and finds himself the possessor of sun-robes sufficient in quantity to stock several lodges. Thus suddenly enriched and elevated to the position of an important person, he is able to purchase two wives; accompanied by these he sets out on a second expedition, crosses the lake, reaches the sun-lodge, and presents one of the women to the youth who had befriended him, reserving the second for the sun-father. Pleased with the gift, the Sun makes an agreement to desist from his former practices, and no longer to destroy Indians, unless on exceptional occasions.
Another tale (No. IX.) supplies a different and highly poetical explanation of the daily solar travel. A daughter of the Sun is sought in marriage by a mortal, who overcomes the first severity of the father and obtains the girl, who departs to her husband's coun-
