NOTES AND QUERIES ARIKARA CREATION MYTH.-In vol. vi of this Journal (1893), pp. 123 et seq., Mr. George Bird Grinnell has published an account of the Arikara Creation myth, as recorded by Rev. C. L. Hall. In the original notes of the collector, written at Fort Berthold, in March, 1881, which are preserved in the Bureau of American Ethnology, a few data are contained which are worth preserving, since the present form of the myth contains a number of traits that are not found in the various records published by later collectors (see George A. Dorsey, "Traditions of the Arikara" [Washington, Carnegie Institution], pp. 11 et seq.). The variants, together with some critical and explanatory remarks kindly furnished by Mr. Grinnell, are given in the following lines. When introducing his account, Rev. Hall says, "The following account of the creation and early history of mankind was obtained from an Arikara Indian who said he had paid a quantity of buffalo taken in hunting for the privilege of hearing it from the lips of a 'medicine-man.' The story was afterward told to him a second time, that he might remember it correctly, and he again paid for the relation. The story as told by the Indian was written down as he told it. Lately we desired to hear it again, that any mistakes might be corrected, but the narrator refused on the ground that the 'medicinemen' were displeased with him for having told the story to white people." In the account itself the term "God" is used throughout for Atius. It is not stated that God made the earth, but created "a people of stone and iron." The following is not contained in the manuscript of Rev. Hall: "Many of the people being big and heavy, and so able to move only slowly, could not reach the tops of the hills to which all tried to escape for safety, and even those who did so were drowned by the rising waters, which at last covered the whole land."— In the account of the duck and the mosquito a remark is added in Rev. Hall's version, in reference to the presence of these two animals after the deluge: "It is always thus with ducks and mosquitoes, you cannot tell where they go to, but they always come." The obstacles met during the migrations of the tribes are recorded by Rev. Hall in the following order: First a river, which the people cross, following a fish with sharp fins on its back, that is taken out of the sacred bundle. "Some poor women and children who lagged behind, did not get across in time and were drowned in the waters and afterward transformed into fishes. Thus we see that fishes are relations of mankind." The second obstacle is a dense forest, through which the mole burrows. The laggards are transformed into moles, muskrats, beavers, and animals of like nature, that live under ground. The third obstacle is a ravine, where the laggards are transformed into birds. Mr. Grinnell has remarked in his earlier publication that the order in which the obstacles to the progress of the original company are encountered varies in the different versions given to him by various old men. A version which was told to him by Pahukatawa, who is said to have been born in 1821, declares that various tribes of the original company among which he mentioned Arikara, Pawnee, Sioux, and Mandan - all moved together slowly from the big mountains in the south, and camped on a high hill called the Rough Butte. Another narrator spoke of this hill as the "Hard Butte -- in the Black Hills." Pahukatawá, when telling the myth to Mr. Grinnell, said that all the Arikara passed safely over the deep ravine, which could be crossed only by aid of the bird called "striking bone;" thus implying that the laggards caught there and changed to animals belonged to other tribes. -The "Blue Mountains" are "presumed to be the Rocky Mountains." — When the people gamble, one man "lost nearly all he had and wanted to stop, but his partner would not stop. Whereupon the man said, 'You will have to take (or kill) me then.'—'Well,' answered the other; 'I will take you.' But in the next game the loser won back all he had lost, whereat the other player grew angry and the two began to fight." At that time the people divided into nine tribes. When they reach the Missouri River (p. 124) it is said, "Now they knew what the boy meant by saying, 'We shall see life and live in it.' He meant the 'Sacred Water,' the Missouri (the breastbone of the great Mother Earth)." According to Mr. Grinnell, this name must be a translation of the Pawnee name of the Missouri River, Kits'wă'rūksti (“ mysterious water").—The beans which the boy took out of the bundle are in "the gullet of a buffalo." The incident of obtaining the fire is not contained in Rev. Hall's version. The two great fires that pursue the people are not identified with the two deserted dogs, but said to be "caused by the dogs," although later on the dogs in the same version say, "We have bitten you," meaning that the fire has harmed the people. —The record continues as told by Mr. Grinnell; but before the last paragraph on p. 127, the following incident is found: "While living near the Missouri River and planting their field the Arikara remembered those parts of the great original company who had wandered away, and concluded that the reason why they saw no more of them was because of a dense pine forest between them. They had recourse to the boy and his mysterious bundle again. In the bundle were seen birds' feathers, snake-skins, and other such things, but the first that moved was a mole who offered to make a road for one of the other tribes to return to them. The road he made is marked to-day by a very prominent break or chasm in the Black Hills. This second tribe was very glad to find a road through the forests of the Black Hills and speedily followed it. One night these strangers encamped in the Bad Lands and while they were feasting and dancing and singing there, one of them tramping about discovered the wonderful formation of rocks there that has the appearance of a deserted village. It was then occupied by one of the bands of the Arikara tribe who had the first horses these strangers had ever seen, and a pair were presented to the travellers. They then came on until they reached the Missouri River, where they found four bands of Arikara living together near the great bend of the Missouri, between Crow Creek and Fort Sully. As these two horses were brought into camp they were much wondered at and so highly prized that they were called 'mysterious dogs,' and were for several days worshipped. The Arikara have kept horses ever since, as they are good for travel, and do not as dogs give out in hot weather; and they are also valuable in hunting, and especially in Indian bartering. The Arikara have always kept near the Missouri River, and lived in great part by planting." Obviously this, if it belongs to the creation legend at all, is a late addition. The mythical origin of the horses is peculiar, since the Pawnee remember their first acquisitions (G. P. Grinnell, "Pawnee Hero Stories," pp. 249, 265). Mr. Grinnell, when recording the Arikara myth twenty years ago, did not hear of horses in connection with the creation myth. Two-Crows (Kakapi'tka), then chief priest of the Arikara, told him distinctly that they had received their horses from the Omaha. They did not know what they were, nor their use, nor what they fed on. Mr. Grinnell did not hear that the people were created by the Mother Corn, but the Arikara constantly expressed their reverence for her who gave them all their culture, taught them how to make kettles of clay, knives from stone in the ground, and how to make bows and arrows. In regard to the term Ne-sa'ru used by G. A. Dorsey in his creation stories, Mr. Grinnell says that it is apparently the Arikara form of the Pawnee word lesharu (“chief”). It seems to mean "the chief person." Mr. Grinnell never heard this term used for Ati'us, the principal god. NOTES ON THE NORTHERN WINTUN INDIANS.1 The following notes are based on the writer's boyhood recollections, forty and more years ago, of the Indians called Nomlaki, then living in the western part of Tehama County, along the upper portion of Elder and Thomes Creeks, in the vicinity of Lowrey, Paskenta, and Henleyville. The largest village with which the author was personally acquainted was on a confluent of Elder Creek, a few miles north of Henleyville. In physical appearance these Indians were quite different from those of Pit River, and from the Konkaus of Maidu stock, who lived back of Chico. They were of medium stature and not notably inclined to be stout. Their features were good, and many women had beautiful hands and feet. The women generally wore their hair banged across the forehead. The men, as a rule, wore their hair short, searing it off with a coal. The beard was usually pulled out. The pubic hair was not removed, as it was by the Yuki and Pit River Indians. Tattooing was practised somewhat, but not extensively. The nose was occasionally perforated. I have some remembrance of seeing three or four shell beads (mempak) used as an ornament worn in the nose, but this was not customary. In general, bodily mutilations were not practised. The various tribes of neighboring stocks were different from the Nomlaki in habits, implements, and physical appearance. The Yuki to the west were shorter, darker, rather broad, and with short necks and square shoulders. They were simpler or of a lower order in most things pertaining to their houses and mode of life. They were said to store no food, but to live from day to day. The Pit River Indians to the northeast resembled eastern Indians in general appearance, looking as though they might be related to tribes such as the Cheyenne. Their sharp eyes and pronounced features contrasted with the heavier and rather square features of the Nomlaki. The Konkau, of Maidu stock, to the east, seemed taller than the Nomlaki, and in certain ways resembled Hawaiians in their appearance. The Nomlaki lived in a beautiful country with rolling hills and valleys, well watered and wooded. There were many springs, and it was near these that they generally lived. While the country mostly inhabited was between the Sacramento River and the Coast Range, trips were made to the river for the salmon-runs, and in the fall to gather wild grapes, while pine-nuts were 1 Communicated as part of the Proceedings of the California Branch of the American Folk-Lore Society. A previous notice of these Indians by the author of the present paper has appeared in "Notes on California Folk-Lore," in this Journal, xix, 144, 1906. gathered in the mountains. The mountains proper were not ordinarily inhabited. There was a strip of probably about twenty-five miles where no one lived. The crest of the range was the dividing-line between the two peoples. Any one found over the divide was likely to precipitate trouble. There was not very much intercourse across the Sacramento River. The people east of the river were reputed more warlike. The Nomlaki do not appear to have been troubled much with wars, the river protecting them on one side, and the mountains on the other. Ordinarily they lived perhaps ten or fifteen miles west of the river, and five or six miles east of the mountains. They themselves were peaceable and free from care. Having almost always abundant food and easy circumstances, they lacked incentive to war and expeditions for plunder. Within their own speech or family they called the people to the north of them Wailaki ("north language "), and those to the south Noimok. Articles of trade were principally salt, obsidian, and shells for beads. Salt was gathered by the Nomlaki at salt springs, and was always more or less mixed with dirt. Obsidian was obtained by trade. A lump as large as a man's head brought articles to the value of twenty dollars. It was chipped with a wire about the size of a lead pencil. A piece of skin was used with it to protect the hand. The shells used for making beads came from the south. They were large clams, four or five inches long and three inches wide. These were broken and made into disk beads. These beads, which were called mempak (“ waterbone"), were the principal article of value and exchange. Their value depended on their thickness rather than on their size, and also in large measure on their age and the degree of polish which they had acquired by carrying and use. Cylinders of colored stone perforated longitudinally, and strung with disk beads, were brought from Lake County, and were very valuable, bringing from five to ten dollars. Shells and shell beads other than mempak were not much used. Dentalia and haliotis were known and somewhat employed, but were little valued. The principal villages were more or less permanently inhabited. They were always situated where wood and water were abundant, and consisted usually of about five or six houses. These were often arranged more or less regularly in rows. The houses in appearance were mound-shaped. The supports and frame were of oak logs and were thatched. The entrance was low, so that it was necessary to stoop to pass through it. In the centre of the house was the fire, the smoke coming out through a hole at the top. The houses were small, averaging perhaps a dozen feet in diameter. The so-called sweat-house, which was really a dance-house, was larger. The ground was excavated for it. The frame rested largely on a centre pole from which logs radiated. The centre pole was not used in the dwelling-houses. The dance-house was not used for ordinary purposes or sleeping. It was distinctly festive and ceremonial in character. It was not used for sweating. Many of these houses were built where there was no water available for swimming after a sweat. Conditions of life were unusually favorable. The country was covered with wild oats, which had only to be beaten into baskets when ripe. The hills were studded with oaks, from which acorns were obtained. From these both bread and soup were made. The bread was of two kinds, one white, the other black. The latter was rather sweet, and appears to have been made with the admixture of a certain kind of clay. At any rate, this clay was used as food, being mixed with acorn-flour. The wild oats were parched with live-coals in flat circular baskets, which were given a continuous tossing motion. The coals not. only roasted the grains, but burned the chaff. After parching, the oats were pounded to meal. Buckeyes were eaten after the poison had been extracted by leaching or filtration. There was some provision for the future in the matter of vegetable food. Inclosures of wattles for preserving oats and seeds were made near the house, and sometimes in the house. Acorns were also stored. Besides other methods, the following was employed in years when there was a large crop. The acorns were put into boggy holes near a spring, where the water flowed over them continuously. In this way they would keep for years. Their fishing was very simple. Salmon in many cases could literally be scooped out, especially when they ran up small streams. Fish-traps of branches were also quickly and readily made. These had wing-dams leading to them; and the fish, on arriving at the end of the trap, rolled out of the water. The Sacramento River at certain seasons was full of salmon, so that from this source alone the Indians were absolutely relieved from serious trouble about their food. Game was equally abundant, the quantity of deer and elk being enormous. Rabbits and squirrels were of course proportionately plentiful. The principal method of hunting was driving. In this way rabbits and deer were killed. Large parties were formed to drive the game over a certain territory to a particular point. Much noise was made to confuse the animals, which were finally driven into nets. In hunting rabbits, knobbed throwing-sticks were used. These were perhaps four feet long, made of a stick from a shrub with a piece of root attached. The thickness was about that of a man's thumb. The Indians could throw these sticks with great accuracy, and kill rabbits more effectively with them than with arrows. Besides being important in the hunt, these sticks were used in games of skill. When rabbits and small game were killed, the body was skinned and cleaned. It was then laid on a stone and pounded with a pestle until thoroughly crushed. After this it was cooked and eaten entire. Grasshoppers, larvæ of bees and wasps, and worms, were eaten. Snakes and lizards were not eaten, and much aversion was felt to the oysters of the whites. Grasshoppers were captured by being driven after the grass had been fired. Worms were taken when the ground was sodden with rain. A stick was put into the earth and worked around and around. All the worms within a radius of five or six feet came rushing out of the ground, and were simply gathered up. They were eaten cooked. The chief possessed little but nominal authority. Conditions may possibly have been different in this respect before the coming of the Americans. One of the principal functions of a chief or prominent man was haranguing. The speaker used a different inflection of the voice when haranguing, and repeated words over and over. Much of the harangues was difficult to understand. They were unintelligible to me, and appear to have been partly so at least to the younger Indians. A man that could harangue well was considered an important person. There was no system of punishment for crime or offence. I never knew of a |