AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.

THE mythology of ancient America is meager, and is generally of little importance in its relation to literature and art, though it possesses considerable interest in connection with geographical names and local traditions, especially in North America.

The red men of the New World believed generally in the existence of a Great Spirit,' the Master of Life. They cherished a belief in the immortality of the soul, and in a barbarous heaven. Their simple faith is happily expressed in the well-known and frequently quoted lines:

Lo, the poor Indian, whose untutored mind
Sees God in clouds or hears him in the wind;
His soul proud Science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk, or Milky Way;
Yet simple Nature to his hope has given,

Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven;
Some safer world, in depth of wood embraced,
Some happier island in the watery waste,
Where slaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold.
To be, contents his natural desire;

He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky,
His faithful dog shall bear him company.

-Pope's "Essay on Man."

1 It is a remarkable fact that many, if not most, of the rude tribes inhabiting the vast American continent, however disfigured their creeds may have been in other respects by childish superstition, had attained to the sublime conception of one Great Spirit, the Creator of the universe, who, immaterial in his own nature, was not to be dishonored by an attempt at visible representation, and who, pervading all space, was not to be circumscribed within the

GITCHE MANITO (or Manitou) is the most common Indian designation for the Great Spirit, who is thus characterized in contradistinction to the inferior manitos, or spirits. (Manitoba, the name of a province in the Dominion of Canada, means "God speaks ".)

Gitche Manito, the mighty,

He the Master of Life, descending,
On the red crags of the quarry

Stood erect, and called the nations,

Called the tribes of men together.

-Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha."

MITCHE MANITO was a subordinate and malignant spirit, who caused the drought, the forest fires, etc.

And louder lamentations heard we rise:

As when the evil Manitou, that dries

Th' Ohio woods, consumes them in his ire.

-Campbell's" Gertrude of Wyoming."

WETUO MANITOS were inferior gods of the wigwam.

Such a forest devil to run by his side,-
Such a Wetuomanit as thou wouldst make.

- Whittier's "Mogg Megone."

HIAWATHA, in a widespread tradition, was a person of miraculous birth and translation, who was sent by Gitche Manito to clear the forests and rivers, and especially to inculcate in the stern hearts of warlike men a love for peace and for the gentler virtues. Longfellow's exquisite description of his departure from the world has been applied to the leave-taking of the poet himself:

Thus departed Hiawatha,
Hiawatha the Beloved,

In the glory of the sunset,

walls of a temple. Yet these elevated ideas, so far beyond the ordinary range of the untutored intellect, do not seem to have led to the practical consequences that might have been expected; and few of the American nations have shown much solicitude for the maintenance of a religious worship, or found in their faith a powerful spring of action.- William H. Prescott.

In the purple mists of evening,
To the region of the home-wind,
Of the Northwest wind, Keewaydin,
To the Islands of the Blessed,

To the kingdom of Ponemah,

To the land of the Hereafter.

Among the other appellations of the hero are Michabou, Manabozo, Chiabo, and Tarenyawagon.

CHIBIABOS, a musician, was one of Hiawatha's friends.

Most beloved by Hiawatha
Was the gentle Chibiabos,
He the best of all musicians,
He the sweetest of all singers.
Beautiful and childlike was he,
Brave as man is, soft as woman,
Pliant as a wand of willow,
Stately as a deer with antlers.

-Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha."

KWASIND, a hero of marvelous strength, was another

IAGOO was a proverbial boaster and story-teller.

Very boastful was Iagoo;

Never heard he an adventure
FOLK-LORE 2

But himself had met a greater;
Never any deed of daring

But himself had done a bolder;

Never any marvelous story

But himself could tell a stranger.

-Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha.”

MINNEHAHA, the bride of Hiawatha, was the daughter of an old arrow-maker in the country of the Dacotahs (or Sioux), who resided near the cascade which bears her name. The account of her wooing and death are favorite passages in the Song of Hiawatha.

WENONAH, the mother of Hiawatha, was a daughter of NOKOMIS, who fell from the moon. Wenonah was betrayed by Mudjekeewis, the Westwind.

OWEENEE was the heroine of a weird story related by Iagoo. She was wedded in youth to

Old Osséo, poor and ugly,

Broken with age and weak with coughing,

to whom she proved ever faithful. The aged husband became miraculously transformed into a handsome youth, while Oweenee became

Wasted, wrinkled, old, and ugly,

but was restored to her youth and beauty, while her undutiful sisters and their husbands were transformed into birds.

The KINGDOM OF PONEMAH was the "Land of the Hereafter," the "Happy Hunting Ground" of the brave and true. O mighty Sowanna!1

Thy gateways unfold,

From thy wigwam of sunset

Lift curtains of gold!

Take home the poor Spirit whose journey is o'er;
Mat wonck kunna-monee-We see her no more!

- Whittier's "Bridal of Pennacook."

1 Great Spirit.

MAQUON is the hero of an Indian legend which relates the abduction of a young bride and the devoted quest through which she was restored to her lover. It is the subject of a short poem by Bryant.

ST. TAMMANY is the name by which a noted Indian chief of the Delaware tribe is remembered. Tammany, or Tammenund, is believed to have lived in the middle of the seventeenth century. Removing when young from the seacoast to the valley of the Ohio, he became eminent as a sachem, or chief. His rule was beneficent. He was a firm friend of the Whites, and he sought in every way to cultivate among his people the arts of peace. When and in what manner he acquired the title of saint does not appear. It was doubtless a tribute to his piety and worth. The first day of May is sometimes known as St. Tammany's day. A parish in Louisiana and a political society in New York are named in his honor.

Among the Aztecs of Mexico there was a well-developed system of idolatrous worship, with a priesthood and sacrificial rites. At the same time there seems to have been, among the higher classes at least, a recognition of a Supreme Deity, Tloquenalmaque, or Ipaluemoan ("He by whom we live "), who was not represented by images or propitiated with sacrifices other than offerings of incense and flowers.

There were more than a dozen gods (teotls) prominent in the Aztec system. Among these were HUITZILOPOCHTLI, the god of war; TEZCATLIPOCA, the god of justice; QUETZALCOATL, the god of the air; TONATIUH and METZTLI, the sun and moon; CENTEOTL, the goddess of the earth; TLAZOLTEOTL, the goddess of pleasure.

Huitzilopochtli was the real head of the Aztec Pantheon. The great temple, or group of temples and altars, in the ancient city of Mexico was built in his honor, and human sacrifices were offered to him.

The great pyramid at Cholula was surmounted by a temple of Quetzalcoatl. Seats were provided in Mexico for