extracts "The Great Light; spirit of light," from Michabo,
"beyond a doubt!" In my poor opinion, whatever claims Michabo may have
as an unique creator of earth and heaven--"God is Light,"--he owes his
mythical aspect as a Hare to something other than an unconscious pun. In
any case, according to Dr. Brinton, Michabo, regarded as a creator, is
equivalent to Strachey's Ahone. This amount of corroboration, valeat
quantum, I may claim, from the Potomac Indians, for the belief in
Ahone on the James River. Dr. Brinton is notoriously not a believer in
American "monotheism".(2)

(1) Myths of the New World, p. 178.

(2) Myths of the New World, p. 53.

The opponents of the authenticity of Ahone, however, will certainly
argue: "For Oke, or Oki, as a redoubted being or spirit, or general name
for such personages, we have plentiful evidence, corroborating that of
Smith. But what evidence as to Ahone corroborates that of Strachey?" I
must confess that I have no explicit corroborative evidence for Ahone,
but then I have no accessible library of early books on Virginia. Now
it is clear that if I found and produced evidence for Ahone as late
as 1625, I would be met at once with the retort that, between 1610 and
1625, Christian ideas had contaminated the native beliefs. Thus if I
find Ahone, or a deity of like attributes, after a very early date, he
is of no use for my purpose. Nor do I much expect to find him. But do we
find Winslow's Massachusetts God, Kiehtan, named AFTER 1622 ("I only
ask for information"), and if we don't, does that prevent Mr. Tylor from
citing Kiehtan, with apparent reliance on the evidence?(1)

(1) Primitive Culture, ii. p. 342.

Again, Ahone, though primal and creative, is, by Strachey's account,
a sleeping partner. He has no sacrifice, and no temple or idol is
recorded. Therefore the belief in Ahone could only be discovered as a
result of inquiry, whereas figures of Oke or Okeus, and his services,
were common and conspicuous.(1) As to Oke, I cannot quite understand Mr.
Tylor's attitude. Summarising Lafitau, a late writer of 1724, Mr. Tylor
writes: "The whole class of spirits or demons, known to the Caribs by
the name of cemi, in Algonkin as manitu, in Huron as oki, Lafitau now
spells with capital letters, and converts them each into a supreme
being".(2) Yet in Primitive Culture, ii., 342, 1891, Mr. Tylor had
cited Smith's Okee (with a capital letter) as the "chief god" of the
Virginians in 1612. H