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The Myths
OF
The New World
A TREATISE ON THE
SYMBOLISM AND MYTHOLOGY
OF THE
RED RACE OF AMERICA
BY
Daniel G. Brinton, A. M., M. D.
Memb. Hist. Soc. of Penn.; of Numismat. and
Antiq. Soc. of Philada.; Corresp. Memb.
Amer. Ethnolog. Soc.; author of
“Notes on the Floridian
Peninsula,” Etc.
NEW YORK
LEYPOLDT & HOLT
LONDON: TRÜBNER & CO.
1868
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
DANIEL G. BRINTON,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PREFACE.
I have written this work more for the thoughtful general reader than theantiquary. It is a study of an obscure portion of the intellectualhistory of our species as exemplified in one of its varieties.
What are man’s earliest ideas of a soul and a God, and of his own originand destiny? Why do we find certain myths, such as of a creation, aflood, an after-world; certain symbols, as the bird, the serpent, thecross; certain numbers, as the three, the four, the seven—intimatelyassociated with these ideas by every race? What are the laws of growthof natural religions? How do they acquire such an influence, and is thisinfluence for good or evil? Such are some of the universally interestingquestions which I attempt to solve by an analysis of the simple faithsof a savage race.
If in so doing I succeed in investing with a more general interest thefruitful theme of American ethnology, my objects will have beenaccomplished.
Philadelphia,
April, 1868.