1894-95. ] THREE CARRIER MYTHS. 35

a man, while the lower part is that of a dog. Their name for these
monsters is Tlin-akeni, which means at the same time Dog-feet and Dog-
race (fils de chien).

To return to our legend. It would seem as if its first part were a sort
of national tradition among the hyperborean races of America, since even
the Eskimo have a story which is evidently the equivalent of it. Ac-
cording to Dr. F. Boas, an old Eskimo was living alone with his daughter
who, for a long time, would not marry. At length a dog, spotted white
and red, won her affection and became her husband. By him she had
ten children, five of whom were dogs and five were Adlet, a tribe of
fabulous beings half-men, half-dogs. The former became the ancestors of
the Europeans, while the latter were the progenitors of a numerous
people?®.

As to the second part of our myth, namely, the beautiful story of the
initiation of the three brothers into the mysteries of the hunt, and their
final transformation into stars, it is, as far as I know, found among no
other Déné tribe, except the Tsijyoh’tin. But the Central Eskimo have a
legend which, though strongly impregnated with local colouring, bears a
close resemblance thereto. Here it is, after Dr. Boas :-—

“Three men went bear hunting witha sledge and took a young boy
with them. When they approached the edge of the floe, they saw a bear
and went in pursuit. Though the dogs ran fast they could not get nearer,
and all of a sudden they observed that the bear was lifted up and their
sledge followed. At this moment the boy lost one of his mittens and in
the attempt to pick it up fell from the sledge. Then he saw the men
ascending higher and higher, finally being transformed into stars. The
bear became the star Nanuqdjung (Betelgeux); the pursuers, Udleqdjun
(Orion’s belt), and the sledge, Kamutiqdjung (Orion’s sword). ‘The men
continue the pursuit up to this day; the boy, however, returned to the
village and told how the men were lost.”?

It is but natural to see savages believe in the personal nature of the
heavenly bodies, when even Plato, the great philosopher, thought that the
stars were as many animated beings. All the mythologies are unanimous
in personifying, each according to the particular bias and the favourite
avocation of the people, the constellations and principal stars of the
firmament. Hence, the Pleiades, which are among the sedentary people

LO2 Pa eK

2The Central Eskimo, by Dr. F. Boas, Sixth Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethnol.; Washington, 1888,
p. 637.

3 Jbid, p. 637.