the precious hoard, the "mysterious" treasure. The black Stygian water is, like the black, muddy spring of Dhulqarnein, the place where the sun dies and enters into rebirth, the maternal sea of death and night. On his journey thither Hiawatha takes with him the magic oil of Mishe-Nahma, which helps his boat through the waters of death. (Also a sort of charm for immortality, like the dragon's blood for Siegfried, etc.)
First, Hiawatha slays the great serpent. Of the "night journey in the sea" over the Stygian waters it is written:
"All night long he sailed upon it,
Sailed upon that sluggish water,
Covered with its mould of ages,
Black with rotting water-rushes,
Rank with flags, and leaves of lilies,
Stagnant, lifeless, dreary, dismal,
Lighted by the shimmering moonlight
And by will-o'-the-wisps illumined,
Fires by ghosts of dead men kindled,
In their weary night encampments."
The description plainly shows the character of a water of death. The contents of the water point to an already mentioned motive, that of encoiling and devouring. It is said in the "Key to Dreams of Jagaddeva":[50]
"Whoever in dreams surrounds his body with bast, creepers or
ropes, with snake-skins, threads, or tissues, dies."
I refer to the preceding arguments in regard to this.
Having come into the west land, the hero challenges the
magician to battle. A terrible struggle begins. Hia-
