Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/478

354 that the chase of the bear lasted from spring until autumn, when the animal was wounded, and its blood was seen on the crimson foliage of the forest.

Stansbury Hagar, in an interesting monograph on The Celestial Bear, relates much of interest in this connection, which the writer takes the liberty of quoting in part. In some particulars the legends he recites coincide with the Indian legends previously referred to, but there are many interesting details in addition which reveal the active imagination of the American Indians in its relation to these famous stars.

"It is probable that in no part of the world has the observation of the stars exerted a greater influence over religion and mythology than amongst the native civilised people of Central and South America. Throughout their mythology the most beautiful legends are those associated with the heavens, and the two stellar groups which seem to have played decidedly the most conspicuous parts in these legends are the Pleiades and the Great Bear.

"These star groups figured prominently in the legends of the North American Indians also, and we can easily imagine the astonishment of the early missionaries when they pointed out the stars of the Great Bear to the Algonquins and received the reply: 'But they are our Bear stars too.'

"This constellation, famous in the mythology of the Orient, seems to have been called 'the Bear' over nearly the whole of our continent, when the first Europeans of whom we have knowledge arrived.

"It was known as far north as Point Barrow, as far east as Nova Scotia, as far west as the Pacific coast, and as far south as the Pueblos. The best-known legend concerning this star group is common to the tribes of the Algonquin and Iroquois Indians, and beside Ursa Major it embraces the neighbouring constellations Boötes and Corona Borealis. It is in the form of a drama with the following Dramatis Personæ: