The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-27
MYTHS OF THE ICE ACE.
Some Traditions Of The Indians Of the
Far Northwest.
How 'spbiow Saved Mankind From the
Wrath OF snoqualn- Some Reminis-
cenees Of the Great Winter.


enc OF the myths which are Identified with
the thought and snaractet Of race
are without a solid enough foundation. if
we could only ind it.
Not TO 90 far aheId for Illustration. per-
sons who are at all familiar with the
character Of the North American Indians.
that is. with those who have not been
long in close contact with civilization.
will admit that "A clas of traditions, sim
liar to those which are hereinafter re-
ferred to, have had as much influence in
determining the thoughts, disposition and
history Of these poole as the Edenic
myth has had upon the thought, dispo-
sition and history of the people Of Christ
endom. Nowhere is the truth Of this
more evident than among the coast tribes
Of the Pacific Northwest, some Of which
are TO all intents and purposes yet in their
aboriginal condition OF savagery When
IL is remembered that one may meet on
the streets Of Seattle any day Princess
Angeline, whose father remembered the
visit Of Vancouver, and that there died
only year or so ago an old snoqualmie
chief, who used to tell Of the visit of the
great white-winged ducks" to Puget
sound, meaning thereby the first ships
that any Indian Of his tribe had ever seen,
and which so frightened him and their
fellow hunters that they deserted their
canoes and fed TO the forest in terror
when these things are remembered. we
realize how close we are to the primitive
ideas OF these people. when we get from
the lips Of one of them a story Of the
far off past Of his race.
OF such stories there is an apparently
inexhaustible mine They differ in de-
tail, but are essentially the same, in that
they all deal with either the coming or
passing away Of great calamity. What
the Indian Of the Pacific Northwest is
to-day he is because of these myths.
His hopes, his fears, his beliefs, his ex-
pectation in this life. his vague antici-
pations of a life to come are all based
upon these myths, and, If he has had
the benefit of instruction in Christianity,
all he does is to apply the new names to
the old things.
The story of how spbiow saved man
kind from the wrath of Snoqualm illus
trates the character Of these myths.
Here is It: 'Spbiow, the Saukalee Tyee,
or Supreme Deity of the Snoqualmies In
dams, had a son named 'Spbiow, who was
inquisitive and daring. Now Snoquatin,
or the moon god, had stolen the sum- the
stars, the machine that made daylight,
and all the trees, and had hidden them
no one knew here, except that they were
somewhere beyond the impenetrabe dome
of the sky. 1t was the time of the great
winter, and all the people and animals
suffered terribly. They besought 'Spbiow
in vain for help. He, either could not or
would not deliver them. Then 'Spbiow,
Hrr, I-.,.f
if he could not get through the sky and
into the kingdom of Snoqualm He made
rope of cedar bark, and calling to his
aid his mother, the Blue Jay, babe her fly
up and attach the rope to the underside
of the sky. When she had done this.
Spbiow climbed up the rope, and without
much trouble passed through the sky.
But now his good fortune deserted him,
for he fell into a great pond, and in seek
ing to go ashore was caught in one Of
Snoqualm's traps, where the moon god
found him later, and taking him to his
cabin. skinned him as though he had been
a beaver or a musk rat, and threw his
carcass away. Now, though Snoqualm did
not know it, Sphtow was more powerful
in death than in life, and the youth only
waited until his captor had fallen asleep
to take his revenge But by reason of his
long fast he had become very hungry
and, wishing to have something to eat be-
lOIG putting HIS blilkS VI IGNtUSG INTO exc
cution, he searched the cabin for food He
found plenty of dried fish. but what was
OF far more importance. he discovered,
hidden away in a remote corner of the
cabin. the sun the stars, the machine
that made the daylight, and the trees, the
latter having been much reduced in size
by Snoqualm, the better to conceal them.
'Spbiow thought no more Of revenge but
placing the sun under one arm and the
machine that made the daylight under
the other and gathering up handful of
stars and a handful of trees, he made his
way to the rope and slid down with his
precious burden in safety. The noise of
his departure awoke SnoquaHn, who start
ed to follow him, and, in order to make
a more rapid descent TO the earth. united
the rope from the underside OF the Sky,
with the result that he fell in a heap on
the prairie which bears his name and out
of which his huge body rises in the form
of a mountain, on whose top the rough
outlines of his face may yet be seen.
/ have given the legend without en-
bellishment just as has been told among
the Sub-qualmie Indians for unnum-
bered generations.
The substantial similarity between. this
story and the familiar tale of Jack and
the Beanstalk suggests "a common origin
for the two. The. origin of the latter
no one pretends- to know. 1t has come
down from very remote age 1t is one
of the stock of myths which our Anglo
Saxon ancestors brought with them
across Europe in the days when Rome
was a commonwealth. 1t seems to be a
version Of some ancient tradition pre-
served by people who did not believe it,
for the amusement of children. The In
dian story, on the other hand, has been
preserved by people who did believe it.
And it may be added that to believe it
requires no greater effort than is called
for by the story of Joshua suspending
the operations of the solar system. or that
of the tower of Babel
This myth is of the class usually called
creation legends" but strictly speaking
there are no creation legends among
these Indians. Al their folklore deals
with either the advent or the passing
away of a period of calamity, and so
many of them contain distinct refer
ences to "the great winter" that 1 have
ventured to class them as myths of the
ice age.
The Bella Coda Indian of British Co
lumbia have reserved a dim tradition of
the existence of their tribe before the
great winter. They then lived, they
claim, beyond where the sun rises"
and they have copper relics which they
say their ancestors brought with them