ich, owing to the difficulties that
stand in the way of those who attempt to gather them, are not included
in this collection.

It is safe to say, however, that the best and most characteristic of the
legends current on the rice plantations and Sea Islands, are also
current on the cotton plantations. Indeed, this has been abundantly
verified in the correspondence of those who kindly consented to aid the
author in his efforts to secure stories told by the negroes on the
seacoast. The great majority of legends and stories collected and
forwarded by these generous collaborators had already been collected
among the negroes on the cotton plantations and uplands of Georgia and
other Southern States. This will account for the comparatively meagre
contribution which Daddy Jack, the old African of the rice plantations,
makes towards the entertainment of the little boy.

The difficulty of verifying the legends which came to hand from various
sources has been almost as great as the attempt to procure them at first
hand. It is a difficulty hard to describe. It is sometimes amusing, and
sometimes irritating, but finally comes to be recognized as the result
of a very serious and impressive combination of negro characteristics.
The late Professor Charles F. Hartt, of Cornell University, in his
admirable monograph[i_2] on the folk-lore of the Amazon regions of Brazil,
found the same difficulty among the Amazonian Indians. Exploring the
Amazonian valley, Professor Hartt discovered that a great body of myths
and legends had its existence among the Indians of that region. Being
aware of the great value of these myths, he set himself to work to
collect them; but for a long time he found the task an impossible one,
for the whites were unacquainted with the Indian folk-lore, and neither
by coaxing nor by offers of money could an Indian be persuaded to relate
a myth. In most instances, Professor Hartt was met with statements to
the effect that some old woman of the neighborhood was the story-teller,
who could make him laugh with tales of the animals; but he never could
find this old woman.

But one night, Professor Hartt heard his Indian steersman telling the
Indian boatmen a story in order to keep them awake. This Indian
steersman was full of these stories, but, for a long time, Professor
Hartt found it impossible to coax this steersman to tell him another. He
discovered that the Indian myth is always related without mental effort,
simply