sons of Noah, and finally through Noah up to the first man,
whose Hebrew name, Adam, means simply man.[1447] The table of nations in
Genesis x is a remarkable example of ethnographic organization. As it is
based on geographical relations, it does not in all particulars accord
with modern ethnological schemes, but it is a noteworthy attempt to
embrace the whole world in a family picture. The view that the division
of the earth among the various peoples revolved around the Israelite
territory is expressed in the poem cited above,[1448] which is of the
seventh century B.C., and it may be inferred that this large
genealogical unification was completed among the Israelites at a time
when they felt the influence of the great Assyrian civilization, with
which they seem to have come into somewhat intimate contact. Later
examples are found in Vergil's AEneid and Milton's "History of Britain"
(in which he adopts early attempts at genealogical construction).

+842+. _Sociogonic myths._ Most of the customs and institutions of early
peoples go back to a time when there were no records, and their
introduction was naturally referred, so soon as reflection thereon
began, to gods and heroes of primeval time.

+843+. The arts of life are commonly explained in this mythical way.
The beginnings of agriculture are referred in Melanesia to the Little
One or to Qat, in Mexico to the god or culture-hero Quetzalcoatl, in
Peru to Viracocha or Pachacamac, or to Manco Capac and his wife. For the
Algonkins Michabo, the Great Hare, was the teacher of fishing and of
other pursuits.[1449] The Babylonian god Ea was the instructor of his
people in all the arts of civilization.[1450] In the Old Testament
Cainite (Kenite) genealogy the originators of pastoral life, of
metal-working, and of music, are the ancient ancestors.[1451] In the
Book of Enoch the employment of metals, the use of writing, and in
general all the early arts of civilization are ascribed to the fallen
angels, whose children are represented in the Book of Genesis[1452] as
the culture-heroes of the olden time. The introduction of writing into
Greece is ascribed by the Greeks to the mythical hero or demigod
Cadmus.[1453] Fire is in India the production of the god Agni[1454] (who
is simply fire elevated to the rank of a personal divinity); in the
Greek myth it is stolen and given to men by the demigod Prometheus[1455]
against the will of the gods, who are jealous of human progress.[1456]
A