'6^ [94] TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



When from the place of their "issuing" the Kasi'hta arrived at 

 the ''thick, muddy, slimy river," a one night's stay was made 

 upon it, and the next day they came to the ''red, bloody river.'' 

 No mention is made of having crossed the " muddy river." U-i 

 ukufki (if this term was used by Tchikilli to designate that water- 

 course) is applied in Creek to any river or brook carrying discol- 

 ored water, and need not, as has generally been done, to be taken 

 for the Mississippi river, though it is the usual name for it. Wio- 

 gufka, e.g., was an Upper Creek town of the same name, which 

 was certainly named after a muddy stream in its vicinity. Thus 

 many other water-courses of the same name may have existed 

 west of Coosa river, one of which is alluded to by the present 

 passage of the legend. 



To throw more light upon the discutable topic of river-names 

 in legends, I quote a parallel Iroquois migration legend, also al- 

 leged to refer to Mississippi river :* 



When the Holder of the Heavens, Tarenjawagon, had brought out six 

 families of the Iroquois Indians (which represent the tribes afterwards 

 called the Six Nations) out of a cave near the falls of Oswego river, where 

 they had taken refuge, he gave them instructions and laws concerning 

 their future mode of living; he also warned them against the evil spirit, 

 and distributed among them maize, beans, squash, potatoes, tobacco, and 

 dogs to hunt their game. Following his directions, they came to the Hud- 

 son river and subsequently to Mohawk river, where the first of the families 

 settled. The remainder going west, the second family then settled at 

 Oneida, the third at Onondaga, the fourth on Cayuga lake, the fifth (now 

 called Seneca) south of Canandaigua lake. The sixth family proceeded 

 to the banks of Lake Erie, then turned to the southwest and journeyed for 

 along distance until it reached Onaweyoka, "the great stream," now Mis- 

 sissippi river. t In the attempt of crossing this broad water-course, they 

 held on to a vine which they found stretching from shore to shore; but, 

 after a portion of the people had floated and crossed over in this manner, 

 the vine broke, they became separated from the rest and had to combat the 

 hostile tribes on the western banks. The portion which remained upon 

 the east side was led by Tarenyawagon across the Alleghany Mountains 

 to Neuse river in North Carolina, where in time their language was 

 changed. This is the Tuscarora branch of the Iroquois Indians. 



When we examine this legend with the eyes of a critic, there is 



* Elias Johnson, '' Legends, etc., of the Iroquois," Lockport, N.Y., iSSi, p. 43 sqq. 



t This should properly be O'hnaweyokie, " at the great current," a term now designat- 

 ing Ohio river to the Tuskaroras and all the other Iroquois of New York. From o'hnawa 

 current; 1-0, eyo great, -kie, kia' locative suffix. 



