The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-10-28

THE AUSTRALIANS TELL THE STORY OF hAsoP
CLAY-BELiEFs OF THE zULUs. TIE BUSH
MEN, sCANDISAvIANs, AND OTHERS.

tIsA1-uEbfEfS W 1HE LDEt5s fNS ,'
MEN, scANDISAvIASs, AND OTHERS.
The Australians. says the Saturday Ne
uiep, tell the story OF the making OF man
out OF clay, and IL seems. on the wnoie,
probable that this Is native opinion. ana
not q perverted form Of the narrative In
Genesis. The people OF the New Hebrldes
have the same tale, and add the pretty de-
tail that when Qat saw smile on the lace
OF one OF his clay images he knew that
he had made woman. Some OF
the non-Aryan races OF South India
: declare that man was made out
! OF clay, and they connect his making In q
very curious and clever way with myth
OF the origin of death. In New Iea-
land, according to one legend Qor there
are various stories), Tiki made man out OF
red clay, kneaded up with his own blood.
Ptah, in Egyptian monuments, is repre-
sented IN the act CT making men and gods
with his hands; but men and gods are also
shown in the act of emanating from the
different parts of his body, which is very
popular way OF viewing the origin OF man
among the Aryans OF India.
Prometheus made men OF clay, accord
ing TO Greek myth, which is perhaps late,
or, again, may always have been n local
story among the Phlegyes, though II only
found it, way into literature. In other
savage and Aryan myths, man comes full-
grown out OF bed OF reeds, out OF trees,
or out Of hole In the ground. Examples
are TO be found among Zulus and Bush
men, in the early myths OF Attica, in the
Hesiodie and Scandinavian theory OF an
"ashen race" and in the Homeric saw
about "men born OF oak and rock"
Not uncommonly man Is said to
have come into an empty, unfur-
nished world, which he had to decorate
for himself. Among the Navaioes OF New
Mexico the myth AYERS that men and beasts
crept out OF a hole 10 the ground, and
found the universe very dark. They made
sun. moon. and stars. The sun and moon
they gave TO two flute-players, who have
carried them about the sky ever since.
| With the stars they began to- embro!der the
heavens i'm beautiful decorative patterns,
which reminds one OF the tale about the en-
brolderies wrought by Zeus-a legend pre-
served by Clemens, OF Alexandra. The
prairie-wolf, however ito 90 on with the
Nayajoe narative), was an inartistic char
acter. Just stick the stars I'm anyhow" he
cried, and tossed the heap all over the
| heavens, where they still remain. In this
very atheistie myth, where man makes
| things for himself, the heavens are regarded
as being within easy reach OF the earth.
The most widely distributed form of that
conception regards earth and heaven rs
two living beings. originally united in mar
rage, and ultimately thrust apart and for
ever divorced by their children, who, in
turn, became gods, and makers Of fathers
If men. This opinion is best known in the
Greek OF Hesiod, but is also common in the
Vedas. the Brahmanas. III New Zealand, in
| China, and elsewhere. Among other
MYTHS OF the making Of man, that which
takes him to have been constructed by
a god out OF part OF the gods
own body is found among the Winneba-
goes, and among other races a great deal
more famous and civilized. We have now
seen man regarded as, in his origin, child
OF the gods, or a manufactured article, or
a being who, like Topsy, "specs he grow
| ed " out OF the earth, or out Of trees or
rocks. The more scientific opinion that
man was evolved from The lower animals
has also had wide success among savage
races. Closely akin to this conception is
the mythical theory that tie gods stroye to
make man, made him i'll, found that he did
not harmonic with his environment, broke
him, and tired again, ALWAYS improving on
the original model.
As to the theory Of descent from ami
mails, we generally find it in the familiar
and worldwide form of Totemism. Each
elan boasts descent from some special beast,
bird, or what not. The name OF beasts in
the geneal0gies OF Anglo-SaXon royalty and
the common Egyptian names, "son Of the
panther" son OF the leopard" and so
forth, are some OF the traces OF a similar
belief among races who have proved capa-
bic OF civilization. Not often, however,
do we find, as among the Digger Indians,
well wrought out theory OF the pro-
cess OF evolution. The chief who told
the story belonged TO the elan OF the
Coyotes. The first Indians, he said. were
Coyotes. Gradually they began to assume
the shape Of man, but it was a slow trans
formation. At first they walked on all
iours; then one and another would begin
To put forth one human feature one toe,
one finger, one eye-lust like the Ascidau,
our first vertebrate ancestor. Then, here
and there, a being would develop double
set OF organs-twO eyes, two hands. and
the like. Finally, these creatures ac-
quired the habit OF sitting up. and so wore
away their tails, which the Coyote In
dians unaflectedly regret, as they con-
slider the tail quite an ornament. We
shall return TO the Australian myth about
the development OF men out OF lizards I:
but first we may look at the Coyote myth as
it occurs in Oregon. In Oregon the Coy
otes did not gradually diflerentiate them
selves into men, but the Coyote made men,
and did not make them WELL They needed
to be reviewed, corrected. and consider
ably augmented. His men had eyes which
would not open, and feet which refused to
move. A kind being named Ikanam took
pity on the Coyote and "imparted artistic
merit TO his failures with sharp stone.
Ne opened the closed eyes and divided the
immoyable feet. This myth has a more
substantial shape In South America, and is
recorded III the Popul Nuh. According TO
the Popul Vuh, the gods were always
making MA, finding that, for one rea-
son or another, he would not work, and
then destroying him by fire, wind, water.
and other violent forces Of nature which
recur In the myths OF Mexico and Austria
Tia. In India the Satapatha Brahmana re-
presents mammals as the result OF a series
Of experiments in creation. Praiapati
created living beings, which persisted for
want of food. Thus persisted birds and
serpents. Praiapati paused and reflected
a." How is il that my creatures perish after
having been formed :" lie perceived that
they persisted for want Of food. In his
own presence he caused milk to be supplied
to breasts. lie created living beings,
which resorting to the breasts were
thus preserved. These are the crea-
lures which did not perish. The
Dieyrie (Australian) legend OF mans
origin is, like some Others, a mixture OF
the hypothesis OF creation by experiment
and evolution. Mora Mora. the demiurge.
made number OF small black Lizards,
liked them, and promised them dominion.
| L.. T.. ;,,t., a