n is
recalled by the legend that the Great Spirit cut out a piece of
himself for the purpose; the Chaldean wisdom coincides, too, with the
philosophical acumen of the Po-to-yan-te or Coyote tribe of Digger
Indians. Though the Chaldean theory is only connected with that of the
Red Men by its savagery, we may briefly state it in this place.

(1) Ibid., iv. 228.

According to Berosus, as reported by Alexander Polyhistor, the universe
was originally (as before Manabozho's time) water and mud. Herein all
manner of mixed monsters, with human heads, goat's horns, four legs,
and tails, bred confusedly. In place of the Iroquois Ataentsic, a woman
called Omoroca presided over the mud and the menagerie. She, too, like
Ataentsic, is sometimes recognised as the moon. Affairs being in this
state, Bel-Maruduk arrived and cut Omoroca in two (Chokanipok destroyed
Ataentsic), and out of Omoroca Bel made the world and the things in it.
We have already seen that in savage myth many things are fashioned out
of a dead member of the extra-natural race. Lastly, Bel cut his own head
off, and with the blood the gods mixed clay and made men. The Chaldeans
inherited very savage fancies.(1)

(1) Cf. Syncellus, p. 29; Euseb., Chronic. Armen., ed. Mai, p. 10;
Lenormant, Origines de l'Histoire, i. 506.

One ought, perhaps, to apologise to the Chaldeans for inserting their
myths among the fables of the least cultivated peoples; but it will
scarcely be maintained that the Oriental myths differ in character from
the Digger Indian and Iroquois explanations of the origin of things. The
Ahts of Vancouver Island, whom Mr. Sproat knew intimately, and of whose
ideas he gives a cautious account (for he was well aware of the limits
of his knowledge), tell a story of the usual character.(1) They believe
in a member of the extra-natural race, named Quawteaht, of whom we shall
hear more in his heroic character. As a demiurge "he is undoubtedly
represented as the general framer, I do not say creator, of all things,
though some special things are excepted. He made the earth and water,
the trees and rocks, and all the animals. Some say that Quawteaht made
the sun and moon, but the majority of the Indians believe that he had
nothing to do with their formation, and that they are deities superior
to himself, though now distant and less active. He gave names to
everything; among the rest, to all the Indian houses which then existed,
although inhabited only by