23 (Berlin, 1860).] I make these remarks as a sort of apology for the shortcomings of the present study, and especially for the imperfections of the fragments I have still to present.

They are, however, sufficiently defined to make it certain that they belonged to cycles of myths closely akin to those already given.

They will serve to support my thesis that the seemingly confused and puerile fables of the native Americans are fully as worthy the attention of the student of human nature as the more poetic narratives of the Veda or the Edda.

The red man felt out after God with like childish gropings as his white brother in Central Asia.

When his course was interrupted, he was pursuing the same path toward the discovery of truth.
In the words of a thoughtful writer: "In a world wholly separated from that which it is customary to call the Old World, the religious evolution of man took place precisely in the same manner as in those surroundings which produced the civilization of western Europe."[1] [Footnote 1: Girard de Rialle, _La Mythologie Comparee_, vol.I, p.