XV

		Comparison with Kamchadal Mythology	341
		Comparison with Chukchee Mythology	342
		Comparison with Yukaghir Mythology	344
		Comparison with Mongol-Turk Mythology	344
		Types of Koryak Tales	352
		Comparison of Koryak and American Mythologies	354

The general features of Koryak mythology have been discussed in Chapter VII (pp. 115 et seq.)- In general character the mythology of the Koryak, Kamchadal, and Chukchee shows many similarities.

Comparison with Kamchadal Mythology. — All that we know of the Kamchadal mythology from Steller,¹ and from the Kamchadal myths given in Chapter XIV, leads to the conclusion that the Koryak and the Kamchadal had one and the same folk-lore. Steller relates only two complex myths, — one containing the story of Kutq's adventures with the mice, and the other telling of his love-affair with Excrement-Woman. The former myth will also be found among the Kamchadal tales in this book," and both tales occur among the Koryak myths.³ Besides, when summing up the general character- istics of Kamchadal mythology, Steller says that the entire folk-lore of the Kamchadal consisted of indecent tales about their god Kutq (Raven), as Steller calls the founder of the Kamchadal world. In this respect Kamchadal mythology corresponds closely to that of the oryak, and forms a clearly defined cycle, consisting exclusively of raven myths. It may therefore be stated without
hesitation that whatever is true of Koryak folk-lore is just as true of that of the Kamchadal.

Steller also mentions three separate episodes from tales about Kutq which he had heard told. In the first of these episodes, Kutq's gluttony is described. He reaches a river, and sees the ground on the opposite bank covered with berries. Being unable to cross the river, he cuts off his own head, and throws it across, so that it may eat the berries.⁴ The second episode, which is illustrative of the concupiscence of Kutq (who tried to have sexual intercourse with • all objects that he met), relates that he once found a valved shell on the seashore, with which he had intercourse. The valves closed, and cut off his penis.5 This calls to mind the tales about the vagina armed with teeth. The third episode, which reflects the coarse tendency of the Koryak imagination in general, tells how Kutq once took Chãchy (thus Steller calls Raven's wife) for an underground house, her vulva for the entrance-opening, and her anus for the underground passage of the ancient Kamchadal house, which was used for a draught.⁶ He entered the house through the vulva, found the liver, and was about to take it, when it began to move. Then he became frightened, and ran out of the underground house.⁷ In the Koryak tale, Big-Raven entered Miti s anus as though it were the entrance to an underground house.⁸

It is important to point out here some peculiarities of the present Kamchadal myths as compared with those related by Steller, and with the Koryak myths. In the myths collected by Mr. Bogoras, adventures are ascribed to Kutq and to members of his family, which, among the Koryak, are told about kalau.¹ For instance, in one tale ² Miti' cuts off her nose and lips, and catches the mice which are in her light; but the Fox sets the mice free, and finally kills Miti' by throwing her down a rock. In Koryak tales³ all this is told with reference to a kala-woman. I am inclined to attribute this divergence to the effect of Russian influence. The Kamchadal adopted Christianity long ago, and in a certain sense they are devout Christians, while the Russian priests constantly try to persuade the natives of Siberia who have been converted to Christianity that their former gods are devils and evil spirits. Thus, the Yukaghir of the upper Kolyma, in my presence, called their ancient guardian-idol, which was hanging in the woods, "Satan;" and the scaffold graves of their ancestors, and those above ground, which they used to worship, the Russianized Yukaghir of the Lower Kolyma now call "the graves of the perished (могилы пропащихъ)," an expression which is otherwise applied to animals only; and they remained quite indifferent when I proceeded to open those graves.⁴

Comparison with Chukchee Mythology. — The relation of the Koryak folk-lore to that of the Chukchee is somewhat different from its relation to the Kamchadal folk-lore. As may be seen from the publications of Mr. Bogoras,5 the influence of the Eskimo myths upon Chukchee folk-lore was greater than that upon Koryak folk-lore; and the cycle of raven myths is therefore less preponderant than that of the Koryak. Big-Raven and Raven-Man of the Koryak are merged into one person named Ku'rkil (Raven); and the Creator of the Koryak myths, identified among the Koryak with Big-Raven, appears among the Chukchee (with the exception of the passages enumerated before)⁶as a being independent of Ku'rkil, but the same as the Supreme Being. From this we may draw the conclusion that the raven of the Chukchee, owing, per- haps, to the effect of their contact with the Eskimo, has lost its place as the ancestor of the tribe, and remains merely a hero of the animal epos. On the other hand, the Chukchee have retained more cosmogonic tales about the raven than the Koryak, which, however, might be explained by the fact that Koryak folk-lore is on the decline. Incidents of maritime life, which are very prominent in the Koryak myths, are even more prevalent in those of the Chukchee, where they assume a coloring of Eskimo life.

4 It must be noted here that in one Koryak tale of Kamenskoye (Tale 108, p. 295), Big-Raven's son,
Eme'mqut, appears as a cannibal in the same manner as the monster gormandizer of Talc 112, p. 302. This
may also be ascribed to Russian influence.

The ancestors of the Maritime Chukchee1 are said to have been created out of seal-bones. Sea-monsters in the form of a white bear, a whale shaman, and cannibals from beyond the sea, figure very often as heroes of their tales. A skin boat moving as swiftly as the flight of birds, and a canoe which crosses the sea of its own accord, constitute favorite topics of those tales. Some of the Chukchee tales not only contain well-known Eskimo episodes, but are identical in all details with Eskimo traditions. There are also some passages which are similar to the Sedna myths. Fish stories are almost absent. In the Chukchee tales the Reindeer people are more frequently contrasted with the Maritime people, and it might be concluded from this that the be-be-ginning of reindeer-breeding among the Chukchee belongs to a later period than among the Koryak. In the Chukchee traditions telling of their struggles with neighboring tribes, the Koryak are represented as a Reindeer tribe.

Among the Chukchee we find one class of traditions which contain very little of the fantastic element. These tell of their struggles with various hostile tribes. Other groups of tales relate to the creation of the world, to the kelet, and to animals. Among the Koryak, tales of all these classes — such as those of struggles with hostile tribes and of the creation of the world — are either little developed, or appear only as incidents in the myths concerning Big-Raven. Thus, among the number of tales recorded here, there are only two the subject of which is a fight between Big-Raven and the Chukchee.²

The fragmentary and disjointed character of the Koryak tales here presented cannot be explained alone by the fact that the tales about Big-Raven have absorbed all other kinds of tales, but also by the fact, already mentioned, that the Koryak myths are in a period of decline. At present there are no more story-tellers who are ready to present the current episodes in interesting com- binations, and who weld the mythological stories into long tales. The best proof of this is the fact that the art of story-telling has now passed over entirely to the women, while, until quite recently, the men were the best story- tellers. With a few exceptions, almost all the tales collected in this book were told by women. The woman who told me the unfinished tale, No. 9 (p. 142) said that she heard it from an old man who died fifteen years ago. She went one morning into a neighbor's tent, and found there the old story- teller, who began to tell a tale. She listened for a while, and then returned home, where she had work to do. Toward evening she went back to her neighbor's, and found the old man still telling the same tale that he commenced in the morning. The fragment that she related to me constitutes only the beginning of the tale. It is likely that the Koryak woman story about the story-teller is somewhat exaggerated; but nevertheless it gives an idea of how

1 When the earth was created, there were two separate Chukchee countries, — that of the Maritime, and
that of the Reindeer people (Bogoras, Chukchee Materials, p. IX ).
² Tales 6, 26 (pp. 136, 170).

rapid the decline of Koryak folk-lore has been.¹ When among the Rein- deer Koryak on the Palpal, I once urged an old man, who generally was very communicative and answered all my questions, to tell me some tales; but he replied that he did not know any. "Is it possible that you have not heard any tales?" I asked him. "Yes, I have heard them," he replied. "The women will tell them; but I forget them at once. We have no time to fool with stories. We are in the cold all the time, taking care of the herd. We suffer much, and come home tired, just to sleep. The Maritime people don't work in the winter. They have plenty of time. They live in warm houses. They know many tales." However, even the men of the Maritime people did not tell me many tales, either. The few tales that men from the Maritime villages told me are the least interesting ones. It may be said that the primitive form of the folk-lore, in which all forms of tales relate to deities and spirits, is disappearing as a consequence of contact with a higher civilization. It dis- appears without being transformed into folk-lore pure and simple, independent of religion, such as epic hero-tales, interesting fables, and allegories. Such transition seems to occur among the Chukchee. Koryak folk-lore is passing away, just as it has done among a part of the Koryak inhabiting northern Kamchatka, who have entirely forgotten their ancient myths, and have not created any new ones.

Comparison with Yukaghir Mythology. — If we compare the Koryak myths with those of the Yukaghir, 2 we recognize that the latter are in a still worse state of decline, especially with reference to the original topics; but the Yukaghir have borrowed some topics of their tales from the Mongol-Turks. Generally speaking, the Yukaghir myths proper represent at present fragments of the Chukchee and Koryak cycles of traditions; but we find among these fragments elements of myths about the Chukchee kelet or the Koryak kalau, and with episodes of the raven cycle. The new material on the Yukaghir collected by me for the Jesup Expedition, as well as the myths collected by Mr. Bogoras among the Russianized Yukaghir along the lower part of the Kolyma, point still more to a close connection between the Yukaghir traditions and the cycle of myths current on the northern coasts of the Pacific Ocean.

Judging from the material published, and from information gathered from that not yet published, the difference between the Koryak myths and those of the Aino-Gilyak consists primarily in the fact that the Aino-Gilyak myths, owing, perhaps, to Japanese influence, treat mainly of animals, but they include a great many North Pacific elements.

1 I   will   mention   here   that   I   met one male story-teller among the Yakut who was able to relate tales,
with some interruptions, for entire days, combining and welding together various episodes and stories.    I heard
that there are quite a number of such narrators among   the Yakut.

compare the Koryak myths with the Eskimo-Indian traditions, I shall attempt to point out in what respect the Koryak myths differ from those of the Mongol- Turk. I select the Mongol-Turk from among the Ural-Altaic tribes, because they are the nearest neighbors of the Koryak. Besides, the material which I had at my disposal when working up the Koryak collection belonged mainly to the Mongol-Turk folk-lore, or, rather, to the folk-lore of Siberian Mongol- Turks. Though this folk-lore has so far been little studied, sufficient material has been collected. The publications which I used while working up my material are enumerated in the list of authorities, pp. 3-II.

Potanin, the well-known Russian traveller, — who supports the theory that some topics of Russian legends and tales, and of all Western legends in general, were borrowed from Mongol-Turk sources, — finds much in common in the shamanistic beliefs, ceremonies, and legends current over the vast expanse of land extending from the Altai Mountains to the Verkhoyansk Ridge on one side, and to the southern parts of European Russia on the other. He thinks that common cults prevailed, and legends of the same kind were in vogue, over this whole area; 1 and, indeed, the Yakut who inhabit the extreme northeastern portion of that district, and who at present constitute an isolated branch of the Turkish tribes, have legends which bear traces of an origin from the folk-lore created by the civilization of central Asia, which had reached a comparatively high state of development in early antiquity.

I will give here a brief characterization of the folk-lore of the tribes living nearest to the Koryak, confining myself principally to the Turkish Yakut and the Mongol Buryat. We shall see that their folk-lore differs from that of the Pacific coast both in form and ideas. The former is clue to the higher stage of development of the tribes which created the Mongol-Turk folk-lore. The latter points to the fact that the elements of the folk-lore originated in a different region.

Of the various products of the creative genius of the Mongol-Turk, I shall select those which seem most important for purposes of comparison, — their hero-tales. The motives which prompt the heroes of the legends to undertake their wanderings, or to perform certain actions, are common human motives, — the going in quest of a bride or in search of a sister, a contest between heroes, or simply valiant deeds prompted by the desire of the hero to display strength. Though the conditions of life of the Yakut in the extreme north must have had a deteriorating effect upon their culture, which presumably originated in a country situated farther south, their hero-tales (olonxo'), in their elevated style and poetic flight, rise sometimes to the height of epic poems of the West. We find in them descriptions of nature serving as a background to the actions of the heroes, poetical similes and metaphors, and a wealth of epithets applied to the description of objects and persons. The tales

belonging to the North Pacific cycle of myths are characterized by elementary simplicity. Verbosity and eloquence are altogether absent, and the language is marked by meagreness of epithets. The tales consist of episodes following one after another, and contain simple accounts of successive actions or states of the heroes. Only a few of the Chukchee legends, such as the tale about Elendi,¹approach in style the epic models of a more highly developed folk-lore.

In order to give an idea of the difference in style between the Koryak tales and those of the Mongol-Turks, I shall give here extracts from the legends of the latter.

"Khan Guzhir drove to the blue sea, turned into a golden birch, which grows there, throwing a cool shade upon the sea by its curly leaves" (from the Buryat tale about Khan-Guzhir).²

Here are two specimens from Yakut tales, collected by Khudyakoff, who recorded the Yakut text and made a literal translation. In the poem called "The White Youth" (Uru'ñ Uola'n), the appearance of a beautiful fairy, who asks the White Youth, a knight of divine (ayi') origin, for protection against the encroachments of a powerful hero of devilish (abasy') origin, is thus described:³ —

"Just when he was falling asleep, between sleep and waking, he heard above him a voice, gentle and kind, — the voice of a woman whispering, like the sound of the light breeze which rustles in the leaves of the poplar-trees up the river."

Such exalted language and such poetical similes could not have originated in the polar region, where the Yakut live at present. Another part of the same poem is worth quoting.⁴ It is erotic in character; but, in spite of its utter frankness, it is clothed in a poetical form, and is not at all like the coarse and lewd passages of the corresponding erotic episodes of the Pacific coast. A monster of devilish origin appeals to the White Youth, requesting him to assist him in getting possession of the beautiful woman : —

" 'We shall ride very fast, very hastily, very speedily,' says the monster. 'Go and make the bed softer for the mistress, for the lady. To-night I have a mind to go to my mistress, to take her, the clean one, to wet her, the transparent one. Lad, untie her night-dress, with four rings and a seam in the middle; strip off her soft reindeer-skin dress, with eight hooks and a seam at the groins. And then, from under the hem, the shameful part of the body will sparkle, the distinguished part of the body will shine. Look out! don't lust after it, don't envy! That is mine, thy master's. Art thou quick in letting down women's drawers ? Art thou prompt in tearing off their leggings ?... Oh! I, so wasted and emaciated, shall I have a chance to enjoy it? Thou, I suppose, wilt support and help me, and wilt even push me! Dost thou hear? Well, then, go on!'

"Upon this the man grew terribly angry, awfully wrathful: the blood rushed to his cheeks, and smoking hot became the blood of his nose. His daring thought came leaping from his side; his boastful thought came flying from the nape of his neck; his proud thought arrived, smoking like a blue cloud. Then he commenced to speak in his wrath, like the sound of a rifle-shot:

" 'What insulting words! what a venom of mouth! what a caustic beak! foulness of the lips of such a piece of nothingness! the lowest of eaters,⁵ profligate among the devils! a devil from the

1 Bogoras, Chukchee Materials, pp. 339-353. 2 Khangalofl" and Satoplaeff, p. 70.

5 The evil spirits abasyla'r are called in the Yakut myths simply "eaters," on account of their being
cannibals and soul-eaters.

very worst place! Thou'dst better tell thy will instead of that! Say, instead of that, thy last word of farewell to the earth and place! I shall break the crown of thy head into four pieces; the upper part of thy body, into three; thy body, into five parts!'"

All this is a preliminary dialogue before a combat between the devilish (abasy') and divine (ayi') heroes.

It must be remarked, that, since the art of writing is unknown to the Yakut, the heroic tales are committed to memory by young narrators, who learn them from the old men; for, in spite of the wealth of allegory in the Yakut ordinary conversation and the Yakut fondness of verbosity, the solemn character, impressive style, poetic flight, and the archaic expression of the poems, are peculiar to the heroic tales. It is not easy to be a good narrator. The Yakut, as well as the Buryat, do not hesitate to call things by their proper names in the presence of girls and children. They are greatly disposed to ribaldry; their languages contain many ambiguous expressions; they have many obscene stories: but the last named occupy rather the place of pornographic stories of more civilized peoples.

I shall quote here one more passage from a Yakut tale, bearing traces of a more primitive view of nature, which regards all domestic objects as though they were, animate; but it is rendered in an exalted style.

In a lengthy description of the riches of Ber-Khara', the hero, it is said, "had a bowl which would rise gravely and walk up to him. He had kumiss- goblets which walked up at the quiet pace of a stout man. There were cups which came up awkwardly. There were meat-boards which came up step by step. He had a hatchet which came running up to him. In the middle of his smooth, rapidly moving silver courtyard there were three lordly horse- ties, like three tribal chiefs." ^l

But such animistic views are seldom met with in the Mongol-Turk legends. Transformations of heroes into animals or inanimate objects appear in them to be the result of supernatural powers; while in the North Pacific myths all transformations appear as acts which are close to natural phenomena.

The Mongol-Turk folk-lore not only reflects a mode of life different from that portrayed in the North Pacific myths, but it manifests another form of imagination. Among- the Yakut, the heroes are chiefs of clans (toyo'ns): among other Turkish tribes and among the Buryat Mongols, they are khans and princes, who, either by their origin, or kinship, or ties of friendship, are connected with the creative and benevolent, or with the evil, supernatural beings. They are often actuated by noble motives, while the heroes of the Koryak myths, like those of North American mythology, are egotistical. There are many-headed monsters swallowing entire kingdoms,' iron athletes destroying everything in their way, resplendent heroes mounted upon winged iron steeds. The hero's steed is swift as an arrow, light as a cloud, and, covered with

bloody sweat, it breaks the iron walls of enchanted castles. The horse figures as the assistant and counsellor of the hero, - it warns him of impending danger, shows the way, and participates in his battles. The reindeer of the Koryak myths does not play such a part, being regarded mainly as an indication of wealth.¹

Though the heroes of this legendary epos are frequently transformed into animals, or have the shape of animals, the underlying idea is not that of the identity of the hero and of the animal, but rather that of a supernatural and exceptional transformation for special purposes.

The Mongol-Turk tales of animals, in general, constitute a separate class of folk-lore, and in most cases have the form of comical fantastic tales told for pastime, or they are fables. Only a few of them reflect the view of nature held by the tribe at a remote period, and are connected with cosmogonic and mythological tales.

Although the Koryak folk-lore, as will be shown further on, is closely connected with American mythology, it contains, nevertheless, a certain number of Asiatic or Mongol-Turk elements. Since the majority of episodes of the Koryak myths are found also in the tales of American tribes, we are justified in ascribing the presence of Mongol-Turk elements in the Koryak mythology, not to the common origin of the latter with the Mongol-Turk, but simply to the fact that the Koryak must have borrowed these elements. It would be interesting to find out how these elements have been introduced. As far as we are familiar with the history of these peoples, neither the Buryat nor the Yakut ever had any direct intercourse with the Koryak or Chukchee. The Buryat live too far southwest, while the Yakut are comparatively recent arrivals in the far north. Even at present the Koryak do not come in contact with the Yakut as a tribe. Only on rare occasions do a few Yakut from the Kolyma cross the Stanovoi Mountains to visit Gishiga for trading-purposes. At the end of the eighteenth and at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Russian Government sent Yakut criminals into exile from Yakutsk to the Okhotsk Sea, near the southern border of the Koryak territory; but these isolated meetings cannot have had any influence upon Koryak mythology.

If the assumption that the Mongol-Turk elements in the Koryak myths were borrowed, is at all correct, then the tribes by which these elements were introduced must have been the Yukaghir in the west, and the Tungus in the south. I shall discuss at length the influence of the Yukaghir in my description of the Yukaghir, which will be published later on. At present I shall confine myself to a few remarks on the influence of the Tungus.

1 It is interesting to note, that, in a Gilyak tale recorded on Saghalin Island by Sternberg (Gilyak
Materials, p. 407), the hero has a winged iron reindeer, which speaks, gives advice, and carries him to heaven.
It seems to me that this is borrowed from the Tungus tribes.

migrated northward from the Amur River. At the time of the advent of the Russians in the Far East, the Tungus already occupied the coast of the Okhotsk Sea thus separating the Gilyak of the Lower Amur River from the Koryak. The mythology of the Tungus has hardly been studied at all. From the small number of Tungus tales recorded by me on the coast of the Okhotsk Sea, it may be seen, that, though reflecting the mode of life of a reindeer- breeding people, they contain episodes from Mongol-Turk tales, and have almost no relation whatever to the raven cycle, or other characteristic North Pacific coast tales. Owing to the difference in social conditions, we find, in place of the rich Yakut lord or clan chief (toyo'n), or the Buryat Mongolian khans and princes, the powerful men (ni'vany), iron heroes, and amazons. We find also iron tents and reindeer breathing flames, like the iron houses and the winged iron steeds of the Mongol-Turk. I found all the episodes of one Tungus tale recorded by me, in the Buryat tales of Khangaloff. Of course, in order to form a final opinion regarding Tungus folk-lore, it is necessary to wait until the material of their tales has been collected from the various regions inhabited by the branches of this small but widely scattered tribe.¹ A certain number of Tungus tales from the northern regions have been recorded by Mr. Bogoras, but have not been published. However, the material at present available proves that a certain part of the Mongol-Turk elements found in the Koryak folk-lore was borrowed from the Tungus.

Through the use of domesticated reindeer, which is an acquisition of Asiatic culture, elements must have been introduced into the folk-lore of the Koryak which are foreign to the American tribes. In relation to this subject, a comparative study should be made of the myths current on the Asiatic coasts of the Pacific Ocean, of those of the reindeer-breeding Samoyed-Finn tribes inhabiting all of northern Siberia and Europe, including the Lapps of Norway, and of those of the reindeer-breeders to the south of the Koryak.

Among the Mongol-Turk elements of the Koryak myths, I include bloody sacrifices; and the presence in the tales of iron and silver objects owned by beings or men of supernatural power, such as iron or silver horns and hoofs of rein- deer, rods of the tent or posts of the underground house, iron snowshoes, wonderful iron sleighs, iron boats or fishes which take the hero across a burning sea, iron mice lifting the hero upon a burning mountain, or a child with iron teeth from which sparks are flying, or an iron cliff in which a girl is hidden.³

It must be pointed out, however, that copper is mentioned in a similar manner in Indian myths.Copper was used by the American Indians long before the advent of the whites, and may have been replaced by other metals when the episodes in which it was referred to were carried to Asia. In most

1 The branches of the Tungus tribe arc scattered at present between the Okhotsk Sea to the east, the
River Yenisei to the west, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and China to the south.

2 See Tales 11, 17, 21, 48, 52, 66, 82, 83, 95, (pp. 145, 155, 163, 201, 208, 226, 251, 254, 281, 282).

of the American tales, copper is mainly a symbol of wealth; but we also find passages in which copper articles possess, like those of iron and silver in Asia, a magic power. For instance, in a tale of the Nimkish tribe,¹ we find a copper plate, which is the cause of daylight; and in one of the Kwakiutl tales 2 a copper canoe moves by itself, without paddles, over sea and land, talks, gives instructions to its master how to kill deer, eats seals, and causes a flood; in a tale of the Chilcotin ³ an "iron sweat-house" of the Sun is mentioned.

The frequent occurrence of tales about girls being placed by themselves in small huts, on trees, in underground houses, or hidden in stones, beads, rings, and other objects, may also be counted among the Asiatic elements.

In the tales of both sides of the Pacific Ocean we frequently hear of powerful heroes who pull up trees in order to develop their strength. Powerful men who carry forests and mountains on the palms of their hands, mentioned in the tale "Bear's Ear" (No. 76, p. 240), are found in myths almost the world over, and may also belong to the Asiatic episodes. I obtained all the episodes of this tale from Mongolian sources. Mr. Potanin,⁴ in describing a certain sacred Mongolian picture representing the deity Dzu-shi, tells that, among the accessory figures on it, there is one athlete carrying a mountain on his head, and another one uprooting forests. In the Buryat tale, "Bor-khu,"⁵three athletes who had become friends settled down to live together. Every day two of them went out hunting, while the third remained at home to cook. Once, when the youngest one remained at home, three girls came from beyond the sea. Two of them took hold of the host and bent him down to the ground, and the third one carried off the cooked meat. When Bor-khu remained at home, he hid; and, when the maidens who had taken the meat wished to leave, he pressed his knee against the door, and they were unable to get out. Almost the same thing happened to Bear's-Ear and his two giant comrades. When the men were out hunting, one of them remained at home. Then a kamak would come, press him against the ground, and eat the cooked meat; but he did not succeed in overcoming Bear's-Ear.6

The whole story of Bear's-Ear has the characteristic of Asiatic-European folk-lore. In a Russian tale, "Ivan, the Little Bear" ("Ivan Medvedko"), we read of the expulsion from his parents' home of a strong man who is half man, half bear. Likewise, in the Koryak tale "Bear's-Ear," the hero is repre- sented as a troublesome house-fellow, because he tears the children's clothes. The tale of a bear's ear is known also in the Caucasus.

The five-headed kamak⁷ seems to me also to belong to the elements of Mongol-Turk tales, in which many-headed monsters occur quite frequently.

1 Boas, Indianische Sagen, p. 140. 2 Ibid., p. 167. 3 Farrand, Chilcotin Indians, p. 25.

6 Among Mr. Bogoras's collection (Chukchce Materials, p. 99) there is also a tale called "The Bear's-Ear,"
but its contents are different.

It may be of interest to compare here the Indian tale 1 of a man whose body is covered with mouths that laugh and cry at the same time, with the Buryat tale of Khan-Guzhiry 2 in which a monster with fifty-eight heads comes out of the sea. Some talk, others sing, still others smoke, and the rest propose riddles to one another. This passage, with the same details, is found in the Mongol variants of the poem about Gesser collected by Potanin. The monster Abargo-Sesen-Mañaqtoi has fifteen heads. Some laugh, others talk, still others sing, and the rest tell tales to one another.3

The episode ⁴ in which Eme'mqut is described as having lain on the same spot ever since he was born, so that his side stuck fast to his bed, recalls an episode of Asiatic-European legends about heroes. For instance, the giant Sartactai, according to the Altaic tradition, left his trace on the banks of Katooni River, on which he had been sitting.⁵ The most important hero of the Russian epos, Ilya Murometz ( ), — who had been sitting motionless for thirty-three years, before he commenced his exploits, — left, according to one version of the legend, an imprint on his clay stove, on which he had been sitting.

The tales in which a man turns into a monster⁶ and devours all the inhabitants of the village - which corresponds to the tale about the child- monster of the Yukaghir, Chukchee,⁷ and Eskimo⁸ - may also be found among the Kirghis tales. The following is quite like it: -

"There lived once an old man and an old woman. A child was born to them. Soon they noticed that their cattle was disappearing during the night, but they were unable to discover the cause. The child was a monster. It used to leave its cradle and eat up a horse every night. Having destroyed all the live-stock, the child-monster commenced to devour people. Only his father and mother were left. Finally he swallowed them also." 9

We find in American tales some elements that occur in the myths of the Old World, but they are absent in the. Koryak tales recorded here. For instance, "the water of life," which a hero procures to restore dead bodies to life, or to revive bones, figures frequently in Indian myths on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, and is also one of the favorite episodes of the myths of the Old World.¹⁰ Another case in point is the cosmogonic tale about the
raven, or some other bird or other animal which dives into the water to obtain some mud, out of which the earth is created. This tale is popular in many parts of North America, and is found as well among the Chukchee and Yuka-

5 Potanin, II, p. 171. 6 Tales 108, 112 (pp. 295, 302). 7 Bogoras, Chukchee Materials, p. 27. 8 Rink, p. 258. 9 Potanin, II, Remarks, p. 32.

10 It seems that in the Koryak tales the blood of the reindeer takes the place of "the water of life"
(.see Tales 3, 67, pp. 130, 228). It must be noted here that in one Chukchee tale we find «bladder with living Russian.
water" (Bogoras, Chukchee Materials, p. XXIV ); and in one Yakut tale (Khudyakoff, p. 127) "three bottles with

living water" are mentioned. As to the Chukchee, Mr. Bogoras considers the passage as borrowed from the
Russian.

ghir, as also among the Buryat,¹ Turk, and Finnish tribes,- but it is absent in the Koryak myths.

The episode about a girl who is visited every night by an unknown lover, and who, in order to discover who her visitor is, smears him with paint or soot and thus discovers that he is her brother, is common to the Indians and Eskimo, but is also found in Mongolia. In one Mongol tale about the origin of the Kirghis from a sow, it is told that Djengis-khan once arranged a festival. That same night his son shared the bed with his mother, who smeared the culprit's back with soot. In this manner he was recognized in the morning. His father sent him away to the Desert Gobi. There he found a sow. By her he had children, who were the ancestors of the Kirghis.³

The episode of Indian tales in which people defecate valuable articles, such as copper ornaments, in place of excrement, is found among the Yakut,⁴who have a tale about a girl who produced precious beads when blowing her nose, and also among the Mongols. The hero of one Mongol tale used to vomit gold, and defecated gold.⁵ In one Yukaghir tale we find a hero's horse which defecates silver coins.⁰ We find this episode in only one Koryak tale, in which a kala's daughter defecates brass rings (the Indian symbol of wealth) and beads (the Tungus symbol of wealth).⁷ Steller tells about Kutka, that, in order to detain pursuers, he defecated on his way all kinds of berries.⁸

The frequent episode in Indian tales of the origin of mosquitoes, flies, frogs, or snakes, etc., from the body, bones, or ashes of spirits, cannibals, or shamans,⁹ is found not only in Yukaghir tales,¹⁰ but also in Mongol-Turk traditions.¹¹

I will point out here one more passage, common to the Indian and Mongol- Turk tales. A monster woman or a deity is described in the myths of the Bella Coola Indians as a cannibal, who inserts her long snout in the ears of man and sucks out his brain.¹² She is afterwards transformed into mosquitoes. In a Buryat variant of "Gesser we find a similar episode. A monster bee, monster wasp, and a monster snake are sent one after another to the infant Gesser to suck out his brain, but he strikes them with a magic stone, and they split into small pieces, which become bees, wasps, and snakes.¹³

Types of Koryak Tales. — In order to facilitate the study of the Koryak myths, without regard to the similarity of their elements to one or another cycle of myths of other tribes, I have arranged them, according to their contents,

6 Jochelson, Yukaghir Materials, p. 52. This is undoubtedly a borrowed Russian folk-tale.

in a number of divisions. Some of the tales, owing to the diversity of the episodes contained in them, will be mentioned in two or more divisions.

1. The struggle between Big-Raven and his family, and the kalau. This is the largest division, containing twenty-eight tales.¹ To this division belong also the tales about cannibals who are not kalau,² and tales about Big-Raven's struggle with wolves.³

2. Comic tales and myths about the tricks played by Big-Raven and members of his family, or about the tricks played on them by others.⁴

3. Eme'mqut, Cloud-Man, or other heroes, kill a girl, or the wife of some person, or persuade the husband to kill his wife, for alleged infidelity, and then restore the killed woman to life, and marry her.⁵ Here also belong the stories of a person taking a woman away from her husband.6 In others of the same group a person revives a dead girl, and marries her ;⁷ or Cloud-Man causes Big-Raven to conceive an unnatural desire to give his daughter to his son in marriage, in order that the daughter may run away from Big-Raven, and flee to the camp of the young man whom he patronizes. 8

4. A kamak, or some other hero, carries away the wife or sister of Eme'mqut, who recovers them after various adventures ;9 or Illa' kills Eme'mqut in order to get possession of his wives; but he comes back to life, and punishes Illa'.¹⁰

5. .Eme'mqut starts off on a voyage, overcomes dangers, and obtains the daughter of the Sun for his wife,11 or that of Floating-Island ¹² or of a five- headed kamak.¹³

6. Big-Raven steals a girl for his son, 14 or, in the shape of a raven, looks out for a bride for him.¹⁵

7. A girl does not want to marry Eme'mqut; but a monster or some other undesirable suitor sent to her by Big-Raven causes her to run away to Eme'mqut, whom she had rejected before.¹⁰

10. Eme'mqut or his sister Yiñe'a-ñe'ut succeeds in marrying advanta-geously; and their cousins, Illa' and Kïlu', wish to do the same, but do not

1 Tales 1-3, 8, 13-15, 22, 24, 29, 30, 32, 37, 39, 51, 54, 56, 57, 62, 73-75, 78, 102, 103. 105, 118, 128 (pp. 125, 127, 128, 140, 149, 150, 151, 164, 166, 175, 177, 181, 185, 187, 206, 210, 212, 216, 220, 235, 236, 237, 244, 290, 291, 293, 323).

2 Tales 79, 108, 112 (pp. 246, 295, 302). 3 Tales 38, 84, 115 (pp. 186, 255, 309).

4 Tales 2, 7, 9, 22, 23, 25, 31, 34, 35, 42, 45, 49, 50, 61, 63, 65, 6S-71, 88, 90, 92, 105, 106, 119-122,
124-127, 130, 131 (pp. 127,139, 142, 164, 165, 168, 178,183, 184, 190, 193, 203, 204, 219, 221, 224, 231, 232,260, 266-8, 293, 294, 315, 16, 317, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 327).

5 Tlales 75, 80, 81, 83 (pp. 237, 247, 248, 253). 6 Tales 8, 11, 45, 67 (pp. 140, 145, 193, 227).

succeed.¹ In Tale 123 (p. 318), on the contrary, Re'ra, Kïlu"s sister, finds a husband, while Yiñe'a-ñe'ut does not.

12. The hero causes a woman to contract a disease of which he himself cures her. Then, as a reward, the woman becomes his wife. By the same strategy a man may become a desired husband.³

13. Big-Raven's daughter is married to one man, and later on another husband brings her back when she visits her parents.⁴

14. Two persons sue for the hand of Big-Raven's daughter, and the one who accomplishes a certain task gets her."

15. The marriage of Big-Raven's children to animals, inanimate objects, phenomena of nature, and supernatural beings.⁶

17. Eme'mqut marries his sister; and the latter, out of shame, exchanges husbands with another woman.⁸

18. A son of Big-Raven who had been driven away from home, or his deserted daughter, become powerful, and take revenge on their father; 9 or his daughters run away from home, owing to bad treatment.¹⁰

19. One of Big-Raven's sons starts off in search of his brothers, who are killed by cannibals. He kills the latter, and restores his brothers to life.¹¹

20. The transformation of a man into a woman, and vice versa, and stories of men bearing children.¹³

21. Big-Raven's and his children's intercourse with the inhabitants of the heavenly or underground villages.¹³

Comparison of Koryak and American Mythologies. — Before proceeding to compare the elements of Koryak folk-lore with the episodes of American myths, it is important to point out some peculiarities of the Koryak tales. We shall see, from the comparative list of episodes (pp. 363-382), that the Koryak myths, while containing chiefly Indian elements, include also a certain number of Eskimo episodes. In the religion of the Koryak we have already

2 Tales 7, 59 (pp. 140, 217). 3 Tales 64, 75, 80 (pp. 222, 237, 248).
4 Tales 79, 81, 91 (pp. 246, 248, 267). 5 Tale 82 (p. 250).

6 Tales 19, 33, 48, 52, 55, 58, 60, 63, 64, 66, 68, 80, 81-83, 86, 87, 106, Il6, 123, 126, 135 (pp. 157,
183, 200, 207, 211, 216, 218, 221, 222, 225, 231, 247, 248, 250, 253, 258, 259, 294, 310, 318, 322, 335).

7 Tales 31, 100, 121 (pp. 180, 288, 316). 8 Tales 17, 20 (pp. 154, 159).
9 Tales 76, 114 (pp. 240, 305). 10 Tale 69 (p. 232), see also p. 21.

10Tales 3, 24, 30 (pp. I28, 166, 177). 12 Tales 45, 85, 113, 129 (pp. 193, 258, 304, 324).

13Tales 8, 9, 12, 81, 83, 95, 111, 113, 114 (pp. 140, 142, 146, 248, 253, 280, 299, 304, 305).

15 Tales 27, 36, 43, 44, 47, 57, 97, 99, 105 (pp. 171, 184, 191, 192, 198, 216, 284, 287, 293).

found customs that have been observed among the Eskimo. The whale festival of the Maritime Koryak, and their taboo with reference to sea-mammals, — the meat of which must not be partaken of by women after confinement, and which must not come in contact with the dead, — are also found among the Aleut and Eskimo. This similarity is the more interesting, since the main food of the Maritime Koryak, as well as that of the Indians of the Pacific coast, does not consist of sea-mammals, but of fish.

Nevertheless, we find greater similarity between the religion of the Koryak and the beliefs of the Indians of the Pacific coast. In nothing, however, is this similarity so complete as in the Koryak myths, and nothing points so plainly to a very ancient connection between the Koryak and Indian mythologies as the similarity of the elements of which they are composed; for, while some of the religious customs and ceremonies may have been borrowed in recent times, the myths reflect for a very long time, and very tenaciously, the state of mind of the people of the remotest periods.

On the other hand, the similarity between the elements of Koryak myths and those of the Indians cannot be ascribed to a single cycle of traditions of the Pacific coast of America. They are not even confined to the coast only. We find in the Koryak myths elements of the raven cycle of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian; those of the cycle of tales about the Mink of the Kwakiutl and neighboring tribes ; of myths about wandering culture-heroes, totem-ancestors; and of tales about animals current among the tribes of British Columbia; and also episodes from the myths of the Athapascan of the interior, and the Al- gonquin and Iroquois east of the Rocky Mountains.

The circumstance that almost the entire Koryak-Kamchadal mythology is devoted exclusively to tales about Big-Raven brings it close to the American cycle of raven myths; but some characteristic features from other American cycles are also referred to Big-Raven. We find in the tales relating to Big- Raven and to members of his family a love for indecent and coarse tricks, which they perform for their own amusement, — a feature common to all the tales current on the whole Pacific coast.

To Big-Raven are ascribed not only greediness and gluttony, features characteristic of the heroes of the raven cycle, but also the erotic inclinations of the Mink, as well as the qualities of other heroes and transformers of the Pacific coast, and of the heroes Manabozho of the Algonquin, and Hiawatha of the Iroquois. Thus Big-Raven figures not only as the organizer of the universe and the ancestor of the Koryak, but also as a culture- hero.

In the monotony and lack of color of the tales, uniformity of the episodes, and simplicity of the motives of actions, the Koryak myths remind one rather of the tales of the Athapascans. Thus we find a similarity of form between some of the Athapascan legends recorded by E. Petitot^l and those of the Koryak.

Some of the Athapascan traditions recorded by Chapman ¹ and Boas² show the same characteristic traits. Some of the tales of Dr. Boas's collection particularly recall the Koryak myths; for example, the traditions of Cloud- Woman and of the cannibals (xùdële').³

Judging from the contents of their myths, the Koryak world is quite narrow: the wanderings of the heroes are limited in space and time, and their adventures are simple. It goes without saying that they cannot be compared with the heroes of the Mongol-Turk tales, who fly over a number of worlds on their iron steeds,⁴ and whose wanderings and battles last for several gener- ations. They are inferior even to the wanderers of the myths of the American coast of the Pacific, who usually visit various places, have many encounters and adventures, and travel for a considerable time. The wanderings of Big- Raven and his children take place within the limits of a narrow horizon. From the seashore he goes to the Reindeer people, into the open tundra, up the river, or to some island. The hero seldom goes to the other side of the sea. The journey to the heavenly village, or the descent into the lower world, takes place very quickly, as if the sky were not far from the earth. The sojourn there of the travellers is not permanent. Only in one tale 5 we find that Eme'mqut, who became separated from the reindeer-train which was lifting Big-Raven up to heaven, had time to grow up on earth from a boy to a young man, and to marry, before Big-Raven came down to earth again.

The social organization of the Koryak also exercises a certain influence on the contents of their myths; and we find in them many of the American episodes changed, and adapted to the Koryak understanding of family and social relations. True, Big-Raven, like the totem representatives of the Indians, appears as the common ancestor of the Koryak as a tribe, and in the whale festival we have the germ of a communal organization ; but the ideas connected with the secret societies of tribes, such as the Kwakiutl, with chieftaincy, like that of most Indian tribes, and clans, are foreign to the Koryak. The highest social unit of the Koryak is a large family, whose members are connected byties of consanguinity and by hereditary guardians and amulets. The guardians rotecting one family are dangerous to families hostile to it. Thus the guardians prevent one family from entering into too close relations with other families. Marriages between the families, however, destroy this exclusiveness, make friends of their guardians, and, such a union once established, it is endeavored to strengthen it by new marriages. Such relations between families find their

1 Chapman, Athapascan Traditions from the Lower Yukon (Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. XIV,
pp. 180-185), I903.

2 F. Boas, Traditions of the Tsets'a'ut (Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. IX, pp. 257-268; Vol. X,
pp. 35-48), 1896, 1897.

4 In one Yakut tale the hero flies over thirty heavens; and that of an Altai tale, over three hundred
heavens (Potanin, IV, p. 564).

reflection in the tales. A young man who marries into a strange family usually brings along his wife's brother, who marries his sister. Families thus connected by marriage ties come to visit each other. Big-Raven also goes to visit the upper world, owing to matrimonial unions between his children and the heavenly dwellers.

The list on pp. 363-382 shows which of the elements of the Koryak myths have analogous episodes in other cycles of myths. In comparing the elements of various cycles, I have taken into consideration, not only complete tales, but separate episodes from tales as well. In the myths of one and the same tribe we often find either a welding of two or more independent stories into one tale, or a disintegration of a tale into its constituent parts. Frequently one and the same episode is ascribed, now to one, now to another hero. These changes are due either to the individual peculiarities of the narrator or to the historical development of folk-lore, producing new variants, and adding new material.

We may expect changes of this kind, but on a larger scale, in cases where one tribe borrows its myths from another unrelated tribe, or where one branch of a people breaks away, and so moves far away from the common habitat. In the first case, the tribe adapts the new myths to its own concep- tions concerning phenomena and events; in the second case, the branch that splits off changes its myths in consequence of the influence of its contact with new conditions of life and new neighbors.

Leaving open for the time being the question as to the former relations between the Koryak and the aborigines of North America, we must say that we have in the Koryak myths quite a number of episodes constituting only fragments of the whole mass of episodes contained in Indian and Eskimo tales. For instance, of the highly elaborated tale of the Tlingit and Tsimshian, — in which it is related how the sun is set free by the Raven, who has turned himself into a leaf or the needle of a cedar, and, letting himself be swallowed by the daughter of the owner of the sun, is born anew by her in the shape of a child, and then steals the sun, which is kept concealed in a box, — we find modified episodes among the Koryak. They tell that Raven-Man steals the sun in revenge for his unsuccessful wooing of Yiñe'a-ñe'ut, and hides it in his mouth until Big-Raven's daughter tickles him, so that he opens his mouth, and thus sets the sun free.¹ The episode of another tale 2 about Big- Raven's daughter giving birth to a child in consequence of having eaten a piece of reindeer-marrow into which Earth-Maker (Tanu'ta) had transformed himself, is apparently adapted from the episode with the leaf or cedar-tree needle, altered to suit the conditions of life of reindeer-breeders.

The Eskimo-Indian tales about the children of the woman and a dog, who take off their dog-skins in their mother's absence, and assume a human

appearance, are in the Koryak tales divided into two separate episodes, — into tales about Big-Raven's daughter marrying a dog;¹ and those about dogs, which, in the absence ot their masters (Big-Raven's family), put on embroidered coats, and beat the drum.²

In a common episode from the Indian cycle of tales about the Mink, it is told that a hero ascends to heaven by means of a chain of arrows. In the Koryak tales, this chain is reduced to one arrow sent up to heaven, which thus makes a road leading upward. The place of the American mink, which does not occur in northeastern Asia, is apparently filled in the Koryak tales by the ermine.

In place of the Eskimo and Indian tales about the lover who goes at night to a certain girl, who makes a mark on the visitor, and thus discovers in the morning that he is her brother, we have tales about Eme'mqut marrying his sister. It should be remarked that in the former as well as in the latter tales, the brother figures as the cause of the incest, and the sister considers it a disgrace. But in one Chukchee tale³ it is the sister who induces her brother, in a fraudulent manner, to enter into a culpable union with her, just as in the Greek myth about Hippolytus and his step-mother Phaedra.

The episode about the daughter hidden in a bead, who remains upon the body of her dead mother, 4 recalls the Indian tale about a dead woman giving birth to a live child.5

Summary of Comparisons. — A concordance of episodes of Koryak myths is given on pp. 363-382. From this it appears, that, out of 122 episodes, there occur in

(1)	Old-World mythology	8
(2)	Eskimo	12
(3)	Indian	75
(4)	Indian and Eskimo mythology	10
(5)	Indian and Old-World mythology	9
(6)	Indian, Eskimo, and Old-World mythology	8
(7)	Eskimo and Old-World mythology	0
		122

102	Indian	episodes,	or	84	per cent.
30	Eskimo	"	"		"
25	Old-World	"	"		"

It is very interesting to note that we have no episodes common to the Old-World and the Eskimo only, and we conclude that the elements of Old- World myths found in the Eskimo mythology reached the Eskimo through the medium of the Indian or Chukchee.

If we assume that the mythology of the Koryak has borrowed certain elements from the Mongol-Turk, we must admit that the similarity between some American and Asiatic episodes is also due to borrowing. For this reason it is necessary that the comparative study of Asiatic and American myths be continued, in order to make clear the ways and means by which the borrowing took place.

I have not introduced into our comparative list of legendary elements any episodes from the myths of the Alaskan Eskimo, published by Nelson,¹because the Indians have exerted a very strong influence on the folk-lore of the Alaskan Eskimo, and a large part of the episodes of the latter cannot be considered as genuine Eskimo elements. To have included these elements would have caused confusion.

Eskimo influence on Koryak culture is not easily explained. If we had to do merely with a certain number of common mythical episodes, it would be plausible to assume that the Eskimo reached Bering Sea rather recently, coming from the East, — that is, broke the chain of myths spread in a continuous line along the Asiatic and American coasts of the northern part of the Pacific, — and that thus the Eskimo myths reached the Koryak through Chukchee channels; but the Eskimo elements in the religious rites, and, as we shall see later on, in the material culture, of the Koryak, point, I believe, to direct intercourse of the Koryak with the Eskimo at some period. The attempt to explain the cultural similarity of the two peoples as the result of similar conditions of life would be utterly inadequate, in view of their geographical proximity; but when, and under what circumstances, the contact between the Koryak and the Eskimo took place, remains thus far an open question.

Whatever the solution of this question may be, there is no doubt that the Eskimo appeared on the American-Asiatic coasts of Bering Sea as an entering wedge, which split apart the trunk of the common mythological tree. Neither the present isolation of the Koryak from the Indians, nor the influence of Asiatic culture on their customs and social life, has been able to efface from their myths the characteristic spirit and style of the traditions of the American Pacific coast. This is amply proved by the list of episodes contained in our list. It should be stated that most of the episodes cited are repeated in the myths in different combinations; nevertheless, I am far from having exhausted all the episodes of the tales. In the time at my disposal for this investigation, I have been able to make use of a small part only of the comparative material from mythological literature. No doubt the list of similar episodes and of complex episodes could be considerably increased by the use of more extended material. This would result, of course, in adding to the list of Eskimo and Asiatic points of similarity; but the percentile proportion between the different groups of episodes would probably increase in favor of the Indian myths. It

may be stated with certainty that the myths of the Asiatic-American coasts of the North Pacific Ocean (not going here into details as to the peculiarities of the different cycles of myths of North America) possess a homogeneous cycle of ideas. Besides, the Koryak myths, both by their general character and by their form, resemble most closely the northern Indian cycles, — the raven cycle of the Tlingit of the Pacific coast, and the myths of the Athapascan; that is, the groups of myths of those tribes whose territory lies next to that of the Alaskan Eskimo, who have evidently separated the Indian tribes from the so-called Palaeasiatics, and in their turn adopted a considerable part of the ideas of the raven cycle.

As to the number of Indian episodes in the Koryak mythology, we see from the comparative list that

73	episodes	belong	to the	myths of the Tlingit (coast of Alaska) and of the northern coast of
65	"	"	"	coast of southern British Columbia.
35	"	"	"	Athapascan tribes.
27	"	"	"	coast of Washington.
10	"	"	"	Algonquin.
13	"	"	"	Micmac, Ponca, Navajo, and other Indian mythologies.

What, then, is the conclusion to be drawn from the similarity of ideas of Koryak and Indian folk-lore as to the relations between these tribes at a time remote from ours?

We can hardly ascribe this similarity, in accordance with the theory of Andrew Lang, to the uniform workings of the human mind. There is no ground, in this case, for holding to this theory; for how can it be explained that the imagination of the Koryak has created a mass of American, and not Asiatic or European topics, and topics which have retained in a great many cases entirely fortuitous details? Moreover, the geographical proximity of these tribes does away with the plausibility of such an hypothesis.

Two possible explanations may be advanced in the present case, — (1) the similarity of the folk-lore is the result of a common origin of the tribes themselves ; or (2) the myths alone have a common origin, and one of the tribes has borrowed its ideas from the other. However, in both cases, the two tribes must have been at some time in close contact.

The somatological material collected by the Expedition has not been worked up as yet, and it is therefore impossible to say at present what conclusions may be drawn from it with reference to the origin of the tribes of the two coasts of the Pacific Ocean. However, the folk-lore which has been investigated justifies us in saying that the Koryak of Asia and the North American Indians, though at present separated from each other by an enormous stretch of sea, had at a more or less remote period a continuous and close intercourse, and exchange of ideas.

In conclusion, I wish to say a few words about the elements common to the New World and the Old. I have tried to point out in the list given on pp 363-382 the common elements. Under the group of episodes from the Old World are included, not alone the Mongol-Turk elements from the sources which I had at hand in working up my material, but also the legendary episodes (as far as I am familiar with them) which are known the world over. This is shown by pp. 363, 367-371 of the list. At the same time we must distinguish the Asiatic episodes, whose presence in Koryak or American folk-lore may be ascribed to borrowing from Asia, from such episodes as appear to be, in all probability, the result of independent development of the elementary forms of the human imagination. Of Asiatic origin are those episodes of the Koryak myths which contain mention of iron objects (the use of metals having been introduced from the West or South), or the story of Bear's-Ear, in which we meet with episodes having all the incidents and details found in Mongol and other Old-World stories. On the other hand, episodes that tell of talking animals (dogs, deer, or horses) which assist the heroes; stories of cannibals; of sexual unions of heroes with animals, or of their transformation into animals; of miraculous births; of the uncouth, dirty child which became a handsome youth, — may in their elementary ideas be the products of spontaneous development of the imagination in different places. These elementary ideas become character- istic of this or that cycle of myths only through the particular forms which they assume. For instance, Eme'mqut 1 is ugly because he is incased in a hideous skin cover; or the Sun's daughter is ugly,2 being incased in a mouldy skin. When the outer cover splits open, Eme'mqut and the Sun's daughter come out beautiful and radiant. This detail is quite true to the spirit of the Koryak ideas of the outward form of objects concealing their human-like essence. On the other hand, if we compare the story of the birth of Geser, the divine hero of the Mongol-Turk poem, with the miraculous birth of the heroes of the raven cycle, we see that in this case it is not the elementary idea, but the details, which mark the episode as part of the one folk-lore or of the other. Geser descends from heaven to be born on earth, and enters the womb of a woman ; while the Raven turns into objects that are edible or easily swallowed. From this point of view, a part of the episodes of the Pacific, considered before as similar to the episodes of the Old World, might also be classed with the original episodes characteristic of the Pacific cycle of myths exclusively.

To bring out this point more clearly, I will mention another interesting example. According to the underlying elementary idea, we may compare the beings, half men and half dog, described in the myths of the Eskimo, Indian, Koryak,³ and Yukaghir, with the beings, half men and half deer, of the Tungus, Chukchee, and Yukaghir; with the centaurs, or beings, half men and half

horses of the Thessalian tribe; and with the being, half man and half ass, called "Kitovras" (Китоврасъ), in the Slav myths. In all of these creations of imagination there appears the same fundamental idea of combining the faculties of man and animal in one mythical being, whose powers are the combined powers of man and animal. This being may be, for instance, a good shot, and at the same time fleet of foot. It seems likely that, for this reason, these complex beings have the upper parts of their bodies human and the lower parts like those of animals.¹ In one Yukaghir tale recorded by me on the Jesup Expedition, the son of a man who cohabited with a bitch was half dog. His upper half was human. When he grew up, he became a remarkable hunter. No animal could escape him. His sight was keen, his arrows never missed their aim, and he was so fleet of foot that he could catch up with any animal. He was, however, troubled by a lack of co-ordination between his canine qualities and his human faculties. The dog's feet ran independently, and the human half frequently had to call to the feet to mod- erate their pace. Therein lay his peril. Once his dog-feet ran in the woods so fast that he was unable to stop them in time; and he ran into a sharp branch of a tree, which caused his death.

It may be fully granted that the fundamental idea of such combined beings could originate quite independently in different parts of the world; and episodes like the tales of men-dogs may thus be considered as original elements of the Pacific cycle of myths, and not as borrowed from the Old World.

In concluding my review of the Koryak folk-lore, I deem it necessary to state, that I regard the identity of the Koryak folk-lore with that of North America as established. I look upon the comparative part of my review, however, as merely a weak attempt in this field. An insufficient acquaintance on my part with many works on the folk-lore of other tribes, and lack of time to make use of the largest possible number of sources relating to myths of the New and Old Worlds, have made it impossible for me to furnish a more substantial basis for the comparative part of my work.

I hope to continue the comparative study of American and Asiatic mythol- ogies in working up the Yukaghir mythological material.

1 It is interesting to note that in one of Boas's Athapascan tales (Traditions of the Ts'ets'ã'ut, Journal
of American Folk-Lore, Vol. X, 1897, p. 44) cannibals are pictured with "faces which look almost like those
of a dog." In this case, the dog-face is ascribed to the cannibal, because he has a keen sense of smell, like a
dog, — a faculty which he requires in order to scent human beings. In the stories of all nations we find the
stereotyped expression of cannibals, «I smell a man or human flesh." (See pp. 134, 303.)