DORSET-swANTON] THE BILOXI AND OFO LANGUAGES 43 



xe'ni ka° a'^tatka'-ya^ ku'ni o°'iii etu' xa. KudSska' natci'ya^ 



though when child the she did not in the they regularly. Bird cloud the 



give to him past say 



du'stuki na'iik o'^ni', si'ndi-pa' kiduspe' na'nk o'^'nidi' si'ndi- 



grasped with sat in the past tail atone sank in the sat in the past, tail 



their claws water because 



pa'di so^so'^'ti yuke' xya etu' xa. Oraa'yi-na' e'tike nafife: 



only why all sharp at they are always they regularly. Ancient of Yellow- was there sat 

 the ends say hammers 



o^'ni, e'ke o"^'!!! si'ndi-pa so'^so'^'ti. Puka'yi he' e'tike na'tci-k 



in the so In the past tail only all sharp at Largo red- too was there cloud (ob.) 

 past the ends. headed 



woodpecker 



10 du'stuki na'nk o'^'ni : e he' si'ndi-p so°so°'ti. Te'-ii3kayi' ehe'tike 



grasped in sat in the past he too tail alone all sharp at Ivory-billed was there 

 his claws the ends. woodpecker too 



na'nk o^'nidi' sindi'-p so^so'^'ti etu' xa. 



sat in the past, tail alone all sharp at they say regularly, 

 because the ends 



NOTES 



1. Kidwnahix, probably contracted (judging from the x) before 

 ka^^ from hldimahihi^ "to turn over more than once.'" When the 

 world turned over, it made water so deep that it reached to the sky 

 and drowned all the people but the woman and her two children 

 [probably a boy and a girl] ; so'^sa^ pronounced sd^-^-sa. 



3-4. Nax ka"^, a contraction of nanki before a k. 



4. i^xka-naske-na ka'^^ perhaps we should insert eya^'hi^ "he 

 arrived there," between the noun and ^a", in order to complete the 

 sense. 



5. iku hi ni, given as a^'chaic for nyiku dande; but iku now 

 means, "you give (or gave) it to him," and at present they would say, 

 inku dande or nyiku dande^ "I will give it to you;" hi ni is a femi- 

 nine future ending, " niusf,^^ of which hi na is the masculine. 



6. Kudeska. "The birds were clinging to the edges of the cloud, 

 their tails hanging down into the water." 



8. soHoHi^ "all [the tail-feathers] were sharp at the ends." Had 

 it referred to one alone, psoHi would have been used. 



8. Omayi-na. The omayi is so called from its note, "iZi^' Aj/," 

 made when it gets an insect from a tree, etc. 



9. Pukayi, a large red-headed woodpecker, with a long bill, 

 stays in the swamps, and cries, '''' Kl' -U-tl' -U-W -tl-W -Viy The white 

 people call it the " Kate bird." 



10. Te-inkayi, a white-billed [woodpecker?] that stays in swamps 

 and cries, "Te'-m^.^ Te'-ink! Te'-ifikr' 



TRANSLATION 



They say that when the world turned over, the people died. A 



woman took two children and lodged in a tree. She sat there waiting 



for the water to subside, for she could find no way of reaching the 



ground. On seeing the Ancient of Ked-headed Buzzards, she cried 



83515°— Bull. 47-12 4 



