It has only recently been recognized as a fact, says Prof. A. F. Bandelier, "that on the whole American continent, the mode of life of the primitive inhabitants was formed on one sociological principle, and consequently the culture of these peoples has varied, locally, only in degree, not in kind. The religious principles were fundamentally the same among the Sioux and the Brazilians, and physical causes more than anything else have been at the bottom of the local differences." Such has been my own experience in studying the stories of El Dorado which form the subject of this book, and in presenting a man-a culture hero-who came by sea from the East, I am justified by a more complete set of records than is known to the superficial student. As this man's principles of life were the same, we are forced to the conclusion that all the heroes were one conception, handed down by oral tradition, but widely separated as to locality, by the lapse of time, by migrations and commercial relations of the different tribes. As to where these myths originated, or how old they are, I have nothing to suggest, since in presenting these simple variants, it is no concern of mine. It is sufficient for my purpose to know that they exist. To me they lend a dignity to our country by investing it with a misty past, replete with a mythology as rich and sublime as that of any of the races of antiquity. Not only will the study of them inspire patriotism and make us better acquainted with the inner lives of the red men, but it will tend to create an interest in our sister republics which cannot fail to be of lasting practical benefit. We know much more of Europeans than we do of the peoples of this continent.
About the Author: Frona Eunice Wait (1859-1946) was an American author and newspaper writer. From her beginning as a journalist, she rose to become an associate editor for the Overland Monthly.Frona Eunice was born in Yolo County, California in 1859. She was married young to John Courtland Wait in Dayton, Washington.She had two children with him, the second of whom, Sylvester James "Vessie" died in 1880. Her circumstances of leaving her husband are unknown, but she left him after her son died. From that point she began to work, getting her first job with the Santa Rosa Republican newspaper and learning the writing and publishing trade.