own children, as by Indra,(3) who
"stretched them out like a hide," who, like Atlas, "sustains and upholds
them"(4) or, again, Tvashtri, the divine smith, wrought them by his
craft; or, once more, heaven and earth sprung from the head and feet
of Purusha. In short, if any one wished to give an example of that
recklessness of orthodoxy or consistency which is the mark of early
myth, he could find no better example than the Indian legends of the
origin of things. Perhaps there is not one of the myths current among
the lower races which has not its counterpart in the Indian Brahmanas.
It has been enough for us to give a selection of examples.

(1) Muir, v. 22.

(2) iv. 27; Haug, ii. 308.

(3) Rig-Veda, viii. 6, 5.

(4) Ibid., iii. 32, 8.

CHAPTER IX. GREEK MYTHS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND MAN.

The Greeks practically civilised when we first meet them in Homer--Their
mythology, however, is full of repulsive features--The hypothesis that
many of these are savage survivals--Are there other examples of such
survival in Greek life and institutions?--Greek opinion was constant
that the race had been savage--Illustrations of savage survival from
Greek law of homicide, from magic, religion, human sacrifice, religious
art, traces of totemism, and from the mysteries--Conclusion: that savage
survival may also be expected in Greek myths.

The Greeks, when we first make their acquaintance in the Homeric poems,
were a cultivated people, dwelling, under the government of royal
families, in small city states. This social condition they must have
attained by 1000 B.C., and probably much earlier. They had already a
long settled past behind them, and had no recollection of any national
migration from the "cradle of the Aryan race". On the other hand, many
tribes thought themselves earth-born from the soil of the place where
they were settled. The Maori traditions prove that memories of a
national migration may persist for several hundred years among men
ignorant of writing. Greek legend, among a far more civilised race, only
spoke of occasional foreign settlers from Sidon, Lydia, or Egypt. The
Homeric Greeks were well acquainted with almost all the arts of life,
though it is not absolutely certain that they could write, and certainly
they were not addicted to reading. In war they fought from chariots,
like the Egyptians and Assyrians; they were bold seafarers, being
accustomed to harry the shores even of Egypt, and they h