Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 10 (North American).djvu/15



O one can be more keenly aware of the sketchy nature of the study here undertaken than is the author. The literature of the subject, already very great, is being augmented at a rate hitherto unequalled; and it is needless to say that this fact alone renders any general analysis at present provisional. As far as possible the author has endeavoured to confine himself to a descriptive study and to base this study upon regional divisions. Criticism has been limited to the indication of suggestive analogies, to summaries in the shape of notes, and to the formulation of a general plan of selection (indicated in the Introduction), without which no book could be written. The time will certainly come for a closely analytical comparative study of North American myths, but at the present time a general description is surely the work which is needed.

Bibliographical references have been almost entirely relegated to the Notes, where the sources for each section will be found, thus avoiding the typographical disfigurement which footnotes entail. The plan, it is believed, will enable a ready identification of any passage desired, and at the same time will give a convenient key for the several treatments of related topics. The Bibliography gives the sources upon which the text is chiefly based, chapter for chapter. Other references, incidentally quoted, are given in the Notes. The critical reader’s attention is called, in particular, to Note 1, dealing with the difficult question of nomenclature and spelling. The author has made no attempt to present a complete bibliography of American Indian mythology. For further references the literature given in the "Bibliographical Guides" should be consulted;