1894-95. ] THREE CARRIER MYTHS. iy.

by their mother’s head be considered as a vague reminiscence of the con-
tinual journeying of the Hebrews led by the two brothers, Moses and
Aaron, away from the land of Egypt which had nursed them for four
centuries? There would be nothing very extraordinary in one point of
a native myth recalling two facts of analogous nature. The issue of the
feud between pursuer and pursued, at least, seems in both cases strikingly
similar. After having pursued by land the fugitive Israelites, Pharaoh,
reaching the shores of the opened Red Sea, makes bold to follow therein
the tracks of his former slaves. But Moses stretches forth his hand over
the sea and his pursuer comes to grief together with his army, all being
drowned by the return of the waters, In like manner, the Déné Moses
long followed by the head of his mother, finally comes upon a large lake
which he crosses in a miraculous way. As his tormentor is still after
him, even in the middle of the lake, he stretches forth his wonder-
working dagger, whereupon his enemy is instantly drowned, or devoured
by a monster fish, which is practically the same.

The Carrier hero’s adventure on top of the mountain and his meeting
with the thunder's children, followed by their father’s anger, have counter-
parts in the mythology of, no less than three different native tribes east
of the Rockies. It would be too long to reproduce each of them. This
part of the myth being so widely-spread must have some importance,
Might it not be a vague reminiscence of the giving of the tables of the
law to Moses amidst the peals of thunder on the Mount of Sinai and of
the casting away of the same at the sight of the prevarication of Israel ?
The anger of the Carrier hero who throws the bundle of feathers in the
fires, the ashes of which finally cover up the old man who has treacher-
ously left him for dead on the mountain, might then recall to mind the
irritation of Moses caused by the unfaithful Israelites who had aban-
doned him and were despairing of his ever coming back to them, and who,
on his return, were compelled to swallow the very ashes of the golden
calf. This, however, might be too far-fetched, and is given simply as a
hint to lovers of identifications.

Another part of the myth which I feel much bolder in assimilating to
the Biblical narrative, is the end of the Carrier text. JUS I Saavial lS
every body will agree, unmistakably points to the destruction of mankind
by the deluge. In Moses’ account of the cataclysm, mankind is punished
for its sins by a flood, the waters of which cover the highest mountains
and from which only Noah and his family escape, being floated on the
waters by the ark. In the Déné narrative, the waters similarly reach
above the highest peaks, and the deluge immediately follows the wrongs

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