Different reasons are given by different tribes for holding certain animals sacred; some of these we have already had occasion to notice. Somewhat different from most, however, is that given by the Northern-Indian branch of the Tinneh, for not eating the flesh of foxes, wolves, ravens, and so on. This tribe are accustomed to abandon the bodies of their dead wherever they happen to fall, leaving them to the maws of kites or of any other animals of prey in the neighborhood; therefore nothing but the extremest necessity can force any member of the nation to make use of such animals as food.[IV-14]
Certain natives of Guatemala in the province of Acalán, called by Villagutierre Mazotecas, kept deer in so tame a state that they were easily killed by the least active soldiers. These deer were held as sacred by the inhabitants; for tradition told them that their greatest god had visited them in this figure.[IV-15] The Apaches greatly respect the bear, neither killing him nor tasting his flesh. They think that there are spirits of divine origin within or connected with the eagle, the owl, and all birds perfectly white. Swine, they hold to be wholly unclean.[IV-16] Some animals are sacred to particular gods: with the Zuñis, the frog, the turtle, and the rattlesnake were either considered as specially under the protection of Montezuma—here considered as the god of rain—or they were themselves the lesser divinities of water.[IV-17]
It is sometimes necessary to guard against being misled by names. Thus the natives of Nicaragua had gods whose name was that of a rabbit or a deer; yet these animals were not considered as gods. The identity of name went only to say that such and such were the gods to be invoked in hunting such and such animals.[IV-18]
THE WIND OR THUNDER BIRD.
The reader must have already noticed how important is the part assigned to birds in our mythology, especially in creation-myths. A great bird is the agent of the chief deity, perhaps the chief deity himself. The sweep of his wings is thunder; the lightnings are the glances of his eyes.[IV-19] Chipewyans, Thlinkeets, Atnas, Koltschanes, Kenai, and other nations give this being great prominence in their legends.
Brinton believes this bird to be the emblem of the wind, to be "a relic of the cosmogonal myth which explained the origin of the world from the action of the winds, under the image of the bird, on the primeval ocean;"[IV-20] and his view is probably correct in many cases.
The savage is ever ready to be smitten by natural powers. Ignorant and agape with wonder, is it unnatural that he should regard, with a superstitious awe and respect, the higher and more peculiar animal gifts, relating them to like physical powers, and managing to mix and confuse the whole by a strange synthesis of philosophy? Birds flew, the winds flew; the birds were of the kith of the winds, and the winds were of the kin of the gods who are over all. Poor, weary, painted man, who could only toil dustily along, foot-sore and perhaps heart-sore, with strange longings that venison and bear-meat could not satisfy—was it very wonderful if the throbbing music and upward flight of the clear-throated and swift-winged were to him very mysterious and sacred things? "All living beings," say the north-eastern Eskimos, "have the faculty of soul, but especially the bird." From the flight and song of birds, the Mexican divined and shadowed forth the unborn shapes of the to-come. He died too, if he died in an odor of warlike sanctity, in the strong faith that his soul should ultimately take the form of a bird and twitter through the ages in the purple shadows of the trees of paradise.[IV-21]
The Kailtas on the south fork of the Trinity in California, though they do not turn the soul into a bird, do say that as it leaves the body a little bird carries it up to the spirit-land.[IV-22]
The Spaniards of Vizcaino's expedition, in 1602, found the Californians of Santa Catalina Island venerating two great black crows, which, according to Señor Galan, were probably a species of bird known in Mexico as rey de los zopilotes, or king of turkey-buzzards; he adding that these birds are still the objects of respect and devotion among most Californian tribes.[IV-23]
As another symbol, sign, or type of the supernatural, the serpent would naturally suggest itself at an early date to man. Its stealthy, subtle, sinuous motion, the glittering fascination of its eyes, the silent deathly thrust of its channeled fangs—what marvel if the foolishest of men, like the wisest of kings, should say "I know it not; it is a thing too wonderful for me?" It seems to be immortal: every spring-time it cast off and crept from its former skin, a crawling unburnt phœnix, a new animal.