Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/820

 laufer] pe TROGL YPHS ON THE A MOOR 749

It will require systematic excavations in order to ascertain if the loose bowlders mark old burial sites. Some of the Golds maintain that these petroglyphs were made by a people pre- ceding them, whom they identify with the Koreans ; but there is also a tradition referring to the origin of these rock carvings, which is as follows :

In the beginning of the world there were only three men, called Shankoa, Shanwai, and Shanka. There were three divers and three swans. Once on a time the three men sent the three

����Fig. 34— A moor petro- Fig. 35 — Amoor petroglyphs,—

glyph, said to repre- simple lines,

sent the thunder dragon.

swans and the three divers to dive for soil, stones, and sand. The birds dived. For seven days they stayed under water. Then they emerged. They brought earth, stones, and sand, and they began to fly about, carrying the earth that they had brought. They flew all around the world. The earth originated when the divers flew, holding earth and stones in their bills. Mountains and plains arose. The divers flew about ; and where they flew, rivers arose. Thus they determined the courses of the rivers. They flew toward the sea, and the Amoor river arose. Flying along the shore, they formed bays of the sea.

Then the three men made a man called Ka'do, and a woman called Julchu'. After a while they had a girl, who was called Ma'milji. The people multiplied, and the whole country adjoin- ing the Amoor was populated. Ka'do said, "There are three Suns in the sky. It is impossible to live. It is too hot. I will shoot the Sun." Then his wife said, " Go ! " Ka'do went to where the Sun rises. He dug a pit, in which he hid ; and when the first Sun rose, he shot him. He missed the second Sun ; but

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