"  In  another  myth  a  woman  is  discovered  hover-
ing in  mid-air  above  the  watery  waste  of  chaos.  She
has  fallen  or  has  been  expelled  from  heaven,  and
there  is  no  earth  to  offer  her  a  resting-place.  The
tortoise,  however,  rose  from  the  depths  and  put  his
broad  shield-like  back  at  her  service,  and  she  de-
scended upon  it  and  made  it  her  abode,  for  its  dome-
like oval  resembled  the  first  emergence  of  dry  land
from  the  waters  of  the  deluge.  The  tortoise  slept
upon  the  deep,  and  round  the  margin  of  his  shell
barnacles  gathered,  the  scum  of  the  sea  collected  and
the  floating  fragments  of  the  shredded  sea-weed
accumulated  until  the  dry  land  grew  apace,  and
by  and  by  there  was  all  that  broad  expanse  of  land
which  now  constitutes  North  America.  The
woman,  weary  of  watching,  worn  out  with  aighs  for


her  lonesomeness,  dropped  off  into  a  tranquil
slumber,  and  in  that  sleep  she  dreamed  of  a  spirit
who  came  to  her  from  her  lost  home  above  the
skies,  and  of  that  dream  the  fruits  were  sons  and
daughters,  from  whom  have  descended  the  human
race.  Another  legend  personifies  the  Great  Spirit
under  the  form  of  a  gigantic  bird  that  descended
upon  the  face  of  the  waters  and  brooded  there  until
the  earth  arose.  Then  the  Great  Spirit,  exercising
a  creative  power,  made  the  plants  and  animals
and,  lastly,  man,  who  was  formed  out  of  the  integu-
ments of  the  dog,  and  endowed  with  a  magic  arrow
that  was  to  be  preserved  with  great  care,  for  it  was
at  once  a  blessing  and  a  safeguard.  But  the  man
carelessly  lost  the  arrow,  whereupon  the  Great
Spirit  soared  away  upon  its  bird-like  wings  arid
was  no  longer  seen,  and  man  had  thenceforth  to
hunt  and  struggle  for  his  livelihood.
