The following notes are put in as condensed a form as possible. They
are confined to explanations of the actors or characters in the myths,
and to information concerning the meaning of names of persons and
places.
The myths from one to nine inclusive are Wintu, from ten to the end
Yana. These two nations, though neighbors, are not related; their
languages are radically different.
* * * * *
In 1895 I made a journey to California in consequence of an
arrangement with the late Charles A. Dana, editor of "The Sun."
According to this arrangement, Mr. Dana was to publish on consecutive
Sundays such myth-tales as I might think of sufficient value to appear
in his paper. Those myths were to be found by me in California,
Mexico, and Guatemala.
I began at the source of the Sacramento River, and worked down to the
mouth, my last stopping-place being the extensive hop-fields in the
lower valley.
In San Francisco I wrote the following short account of the Wintus.
That done, I set out for Mexico.
In the city of Guadalajara I copied the myths obtained in California
and sent them to "The Sun." After that I worked at "Quo Vadis," the
greater part of which I translated in Guadalajara.
All the myths in this volume were published in "The Sun," and appeared
as a part of a series pertaining to Indians in California, Mexico, and
Guatemala.
Only the California part has been published thus far.
After leaving Guadalajara I spent almost a year in Guatemala and
Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico. Among the last places which
I visited was Palenque. A view of one part of the ruins of this
remarkable and mysterious city appears as a frontispiece to the
present volume.