They have already given rise to false theories enough, and moreover my
purpose in this work is not "comparative mythology."
[83-1] Mueller, _Amer. Urreligionen_, p. 105, after Strahlheim, who is,
however, no authority.
[83-2] Mueller, _ubi supra_, pp. 308 sqq., gives a good resume of the
different versions of the myth of the four brothers in Peru.
[83-3] The Tupis of Brazil claim a descent from four brothers, three of
whose names are given by Hans Staden, a prisoner among them about 1550,
as Krimen, Hermittan, and Coem; the latter he explains to mean the
morning, the east (_le matin_, printed by mistake _le mutin_, _Relation
de Hans Staden de Homberg_, p. 274, ed. Ternaux-Compans, compare Dias,
_Dicc. da Lingua Tupy_, p. 47). Their southern relatives, the Guaranis of
Paraguay, also spoke of the four brothers and gave two of their names as
Tupi and Guarani, respectively parents of the tribes called after them
(Guevara, _Hist. del Paraguay_, lib. i. cap. ii., in Waitz). The fourfold
division of the Muyscas of Bogota was traced back to four chieftains
created by their hero god Nemqueteba (A.
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