CHAPTER VII.
THE MYTHS OF THE CREATION, THE DELUGE, THE EPOCHS OF NATURE, AND THE LAST DAY.
Cosmogonies usually portray the action of the SPIRIT on the WATERS .-- Those of the Muscogees, Athapascas, Quiches, Mixtecs, Iroquois, Algonkins, and others .-- The Flood-Myth an unconscious attempt to reconcile a creation in time with the eternity of matter .-- Proof of this from American mythology .-- Characteristics of American Flood-Myths .-- The person saved usually the first man .-- The number seven .-- Their Ararats .-- The role of birds .-- The confusion of tongues .-- The Aztec, Quiche, Algonkin, Tupi, and earliest Sanscrit flood-myths .-- The belief in Epochs of Nature a further result of this attempt at reconciliation .-- Its forms among Peruvians, Mayas, and Aztecs .-- The expectation of the End of the World a corollary of this belief .-- Views of various nations 193.