Note 6 — THE TUSAYAN RITUAL: A STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON ABORIGINAL CULTS.[1]

Considerable evidence has been adduced, mainly from documentary sources, that the more civilized people of Central America attained in Precolombian times the monotheistic stage of supernatural concepts, and if that evidence is unimpeachable it would not be improbable that traces of the same should be found among pueblos. Unfortunately, however, the evidences on this point are none too strong, the probabilities that the writers and the documents did not eliminate their own interpretation too great. The pueblos at present have an idea of a supreme spirit, but there is every reason to believe it is of exotic derivation in the time since Coronado. However honest may be the modern priest who may say that he learned from his grandfather certain current beliefs, the crucial test of their prehistoric character must come from proof that the grandfather’s testimony is correct. The sources of error in stories passed down by word of mouth through many generations are too many to permit us to pin much faith to traditions reputed to be of great age.