[III-39] _Holmberg_, _Ethn. Skiz._, p. 141.
[III-40] _Villagutierre_, _Hist. Conq. de Itza_, pp. 151-2.
[III-41] _Sahagun_, _Hist. Gen._, tom. i., lib. ii., p. 177.
[III-42] _Powers' Pomo_, MS. This is a tradition of the Yocuts, a Californian tribe, occupying the Kern and Tulare basins, the middle San Joaquin, and the various streams running into Lake Tulare.
[III-43] _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. iv., pp. 197-9.
[III-44] _Hutchings' Cal. Mag._, vol. iv., p. 243.
RÔLES ASSIGNED TO ANIMALS -- AUGURIES FROM THEIR MOVEMENTS -- THE ILL-OMENED OWL -- TUTELARY ANIMALS -- METAMORPHOSED MEN -- THE OGRESS-SQUIRREL OF VANCOUVER ISLAND -- MONKEYS AND BEAVERS -- FALLEN MEN -- THE SACRED ANIMALS -- PROMINENCE OF THE BIRD -- AN EMBLEM OF THE WIND -- THE SERPENT, AN EMBLEM OF THE LIGHTNING -- NOT SPECIALLY CONNECTED WITH EVIL -- THE SERPENT OF THE PUEBLOS -- THE WATER-SNAKE -- OPHIOLATRY -- PROMINENCE OF THE DOG, OR THE COYOTE -- GENERALLY THOUGH NOT ALWAYS A BENEVOLENT POWER -- HOW THE COYOTE LET SALMON UP THE KLAMATH -- DANSE MACABRE AND SAD DEATH OF THE COYOTE.
The reader must have already noticed the strange rôles filled by animals in the creeds of the Native Races of the Pacific States. Beasts and birds and fishes fetch and carry, talk and act, in a way that leaves even Æsop's heroes in the shade; while a mysterious and inexplicable influence over human destiny is often accorded to them. It is of course impossible to say precisely how much of all this is metaphorical, and how much is held as soberly and literally true. Probably the proportion varies all the way from one extreme to the other among different nations, and among peoples of different stages of culture in the same nation. They spake only in part, these priests and prophets of barbaric cults, and we can understand only in part; we cannot solve the dark riddle of the past; we can oftenest only repeat it, and even that in a more or less imperfect manner.
The Mexicans had their official augurs and soothsayers, who divined much as did their brethren of classic times. The people also drew omen and presage from many things: from the howling of wild beasts at night; the singing of certain birds; the hooting of the owl; a weasel crossing a traveler's path; a rabbit running into its burrow; from the chance movements of worms, beetles, ants, frogs, and mice; and so on in detail.[IV-1]