Produced by Robert Cicconetti, Julia Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions (www.canadiana.org)) Transcriber's Note A number of typographical errors and inconsistencies have been maintained in this version of this book. They have been marked with a [TN-#], which refers to a description in the complete list found at the end of the text. The following less-common letters are used in this version of the book. If the characters do not display correctly, please try changing the font. ă a with breve ā a with macron ē e with macron œ oe ligature ū u with macron THE MYTHS OF THE NEW WORLD A TREATISE ON THE SYMBOLISM AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE RED RACE OF AMERICA BY DANIEL G. BRINTON, A. M., M. D. _Memb. Hist. Soc. of Penn.; of Numismat. and Antiq. Soc. of Philada.; Corresp. Memb. Amer. Ethnolog. Soc.; author of "Notes on the Floridian Peninsula," Etc._ NEW YORK LEYPOLDT & HOLT LONDON: TRÜBNER & CO. 1868 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by DANIEL G. BRINTON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. PREFACE. I have written this work more for the thoughtful general reader than the antiquary. It is a study of an obscure portion of the intellectual history of our species as exemplified in one of its varieties. What are man's earliest ideas of a soul and a God, and of his own origin and destiny? Why do we find certain myths, such as of a creation, a flood, an after-world; certain symbols, as the bird, the serpent, the cross; certain numbers, as the three, the four, the seven--intimately associated with these ideas by every race? What are the laws of growth of natural religions? How do they acquire such an influence, and is this influence for good or evil? Such are some of the universally interesting questions which I attempt to solve by an analysis of the simple faiths of a savage race. If in so doing I succeed in investing with a more general interest the fruitful theme of American ethnology, my objects will have been accomplished. PHILADELPHIA, April, 1868. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I.