Ten'a texts and tales from Anvik, Alaska / by John W. Chapman, with vocabulary by Pliny Earle Goddard.

  • Chapman, John W. (John Wight), 1858-1939
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Ten'a texts and tales from Anvik, Alaska / by John W. Chapman, with vocabulary by Pliny Earle Goddard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    20/248 page 8
    L — ENGLISH VERSIONS. I. The Creation. First Account} There was some one above who made the world. They do not name him, but speak of him as being above. He was upon the world that he made, and did all the various works that men were to do. The natives say nothing of 1 The accounts so far received have been meagre, and until recently very in- definite and unsatisfactory • but lately a man of about sixty years of age, living on the Shageluk, gave a clear account of the tradition, which he said he had obtained from his grandfather. He was emphatic on the point that he had not received it from his parents, but from his grandfather, as the tradition which was current before the Russians came. This man’s testimony is important for several reasons. He himself is an intel- ligent man, for one of his race, and one whom the Indians themselves greatly respect. His brother is the principal shaman of his village 5 and the family have always maintained the old traditions, and upheld the system of feasts. This man has lately become an inquirer into Christian doctrine, and is making comparisons between the new and the old religions. His account of the native tradition deserves especial consideration, because it confirms nearly everything which I have heretofore ascer- tained to be generally taught as of ancient tradition. In some particulars which were new to me, as the order of creation of the animals and man, confirmation has since been received from an independent source. As to the differentiation of the Creator and the Raven, confirmation was found, subsequently to the discovery of the tradition, in the work of Mr. Bogoras (American Ajitliropologtst^ vol. 4, p. 640). On the same page is found something similar to the account of the Raven having thrown the figures of animals in different directions, although in Mr. Bogoras’s account this is the act of the Creator. As he says, liowever, that in some versions this is the act of the Raven, this incident also may be considered to have received full corroboration. An interesting point, which has not been corroborated, is the punishment of certain crimes in the fire, in the life of the future. This of course suggests a foreign origin 5 but, on the other hand, the punishment of suicides by hanging is abundantly corroborated by the consensus of the testimony of the old people. I give the tradition above. [8]
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