Chapter 3 



THE LIFE OF CHIEF OUIOT AND THE ORIGIN OF 

 THESE INDIANS. 



While Chief Ouiot was with his people, as they say, which he kept 

 procreating, that first ground, which his mother liad given birth to, 

 kept increasing and widening, always from the north to the south 

 (it is to be noted that all these Indians believe that they come from 

 the region of the north), and as they kept on increasing, the earth 

 kept growing all the time. Oiot already being very old, the eldest of 

 his vassals, whether it may have been because of envy or because of 

 the desire of governing, determined to kill their chief, alleging that 

 he was not governing them well, and that he already was too old to 

 govern ; they held their conference as to what manner of death they 

 should put him to, and the decision was rendered that he should be 

 herbed or poisoned. They made the mixture, and giving him to drink 

 that beverage which they had prepared for the purpose of killing 

 him, immediately he felt sick, and finding this to be his fate he 

 descended from the hills or mountains where he was making his home, 

 and he came to where the beach now is (for at that time there was 

 no sea yet). His mother knowing the danger in which her son, Oiot, 

 found himself, prepared a remedy for curing him, which was in this 

 manner: she urinated in a large abalone shell, placed in the urine 

 some worms and certain herbs, put it in the sun, but while she had 

 it fermenting, the Coyote came along, gave the shell a kick, and 

 spilled all the medicinal preparation, and by this accident were frus- 

 trated all the desires and hopes of the mother of Chief Oiot. 



Note: These Indians were of the belief that from this urine which the 

 Coyote spilled, the sea was formed, that from the worms which were in the 

 shell the fish were created, and that from the herbs were born the Giant Kelp 

 and other plants which there are in the sea, and for this reason, they say, that 

 the water of the sea has the taste or flavor of urine, because it is salty and 

 bitter. 



At last Chief Oiot died, and although before he died he had told 

 them that in a short time he would return to live with them, from 

 that time on they never saw him more. It is to be noted, that at that 

 time there were no seeds or game, their food was earth, (which 

 according as they explained and as I understand) is a kind of white 

 clay or fine argil, with which they plaster their heads. Finding them- 

 selves thus situated after the death of Oiot, they discussed the 



