358 BUREAU OF AMEEICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



off sharply from the rest of the body as it is to-day. After the sea 

 had subsided considerably this bird was sent to find land, but after 

 a long search he came back empty-handed. Then the dove was sent 

 and returned with a single grain of sand. This was placed upon the 

 surface of the sea and made to stretch out in order to form the dry 

 land. Therefore the dove is called Ne-he'tcmon^ 'Ground-watcher,' 

 because it saw the ground come out when the great flood subsided. 



Fire was originally given — probably by Ku'tnahin — into the cus- 

 tody of an old man. This man w^as blind, but he was always able to 

 feel the presence of an intruder in search of his fire and chased him 

 away with his stick. One time, however, he beat about so much with 

 his stick that, although he was successful in forcing the thief to 

 drop the fire he had carried away, he at the same time knocked some 

 of it into a log, and the man obtained fire from that. 



Whether there was one great culture myth among the Chitimacha, 

 as was the case with several tribes, must always be uncertain, but if 

 such existed the following was no doubt part of it. 



One time from 20 to 22 men set out toward the north until they 

 came to the edge of the sky. In trying to pass under this all of them 

 were crushed except 6, who continued on along the sky floor until 

 they came to Ku'tnahin. After they had remained with him for a 

 certain time he asked them how they would descend. One answered, 

 " I will go down as a squirrel." He tried to do so, but was dashed to 

 pieces on the earth. Two others chose the forms of other animals, 

 but with no better fate. The fourth, however, declared he would go 

 down like a spider, while the fifth chose the form of an eagle, and 

 the sixth that of a pigeon. Each of these succeeded, and each brought 

 back to mankind a gift from Ku'tnahin. The man who had de- 

 scended in the form of a spider learned how to cure people and was 

 the first shaman. Before he could get back to earth with his new 

 knowledge, however, one man fell sick and died. This was the first 

 death among mankind, and had the shaman gotten back in time to 

 cure him there would have been no death among human beings. 

 The man who came back as an eagle taught men how to fish, and he 

 who came down as a pigeon taught them the use of maize, which was 

 then growing wild. 



Besides being the chief deity, Ku'tnahin performed the functions 

 of " trickster," like Spider among the Sioux and Raven on the north 

 Pacific coast. He traveled all over the earth in the guise of a filthy 

 person covered with buzzard dung. Once he peeped into a house 

 and so frightened a man inside by his appearance that the latter 

 started off on 'the run. Ku'tnahin shouted, " Don't be afraid. It is 

 I, Ku'tnahin," but the man would not listen to him and kept on into 

 the forest. 



