moonev] PAIl'TE GENESIS 1051 



it, but that the sage-hen (hutsi — Centrocercus urophasianus) nestled 

 down over it and fanned away the water with her wings. The heat 

 scorched the feathers on the breast of the sage-hen and they remain 

 black to this day. Afterward the l'aiute got their fust fire from the 

 mountain through the help of the rabbit, who is a great wonder- worker, 

 •■ same as a god." As the wafer subsided other mountains appealed, 

 until at last the earth was left as it is now. 



Then the great ancestor of the Paiute, whom they call Niimi'nati', 

 '•Our Father," came from the south in the direction of Mount Grant, 

 upon which his footprints can still be seen, and journeyed across to the 

 mountains east of Carson sink and made his home there. A woman, 

 tbidsii, "Our Mother," followed him from the same direction, and they 

 met and she became his wife. They dressed themselves in skins, and 

 lived on the meat of deer and mountain sheep, for there was plenty 

 of game in those days. They had children — two boys and two girls. 

 Their father made bows and arrows for the boys, and the mother fash 

 toned sticks for the girls with which to dig roots. When the children 

 grew up, each boy married his sister, but the two families quarreled 

 until their father told them to separate. So one family went to Walker 

 hike and became Aga'ih-tika'ra, " fish eaters" (the Paiute of Walker 

 lake), while the other family went farther north into Idaho and became 

 Kotso'-ttkara, "buffalo eaters "(the Bannock), but both are one peo- 

 ple and have the same language. After their children had left them, 

 the parents went on to the mountains farther east, and there HTuminaa' 

 went up into the sky and his wife followed him. 



THE WASHO 



Associated with the l'aiute are the Washo, or Wd'siu, as they call 

 themselves, a small tribe of about 100 souls, and having no affinity, so 

 far as known, with any other Indians. They occupy the mountain 

 region in the extreme western portion of Nevada, about Washo and 

 Tahoe lakes and the towns of ( arson and Virginia City. They formerly 

 extended farther east and south, but have been driven back by the 

 Taiute, who conquered them, reducing them to complete subjection and 

 forbidding them the use of horses, a prohibition which was rigidly 

 enforced until within a few years. Thus broken in spirit, they became 

 mere hangers-on of the white settlements on the opening up of the 

 mines, and are now terribly demoralized. They have been utterly 

 neglected by the government, have never been included in any treaty, 

 and have now no home that they can call their own. They are devoted 

 adherents of the messiah, but usually join in the dance with the nearest 

 camp of Paiute, whose songs they sing, and have probably no Ghost 

 songs in their own language. We quote a gloomy account of their con- 

 dition in 1SC6. The description will apply equally well today, except- 

 ing that their numbers have diminished: 



This is a small tribe of about 500 Indians, living in the extreme western pari of 

 the state. They are usually a harmless people, with much less physical and mental 



