34 THE SIA. 



the men and youths, carrying their bows and arrows. The elder woman, 

 after they halted to await the coming of the sun, said : '> We are here 

 to watch for the suu.'" (The people had divided, some being on the 

 side of Now'dtset, the others with Ot'set). " If the sun looks first upon 

 me, all the people on my side will be my people and will slay the 

 others, and if the sun looks first upon the face of my sister all the peo- 

 ple on her side will be her people and they will destroy my people." 



As the sun left his house, the bird Shu'ahkai placed himself so 

 as to obscure the light, excepting where it penetrated tlirough the 

 space left by the plucking of the feather from his wing, and the light 

 shone, not only on the wand on the head of the younger sister, but it 

 covered her face, while it barely touched the top of the plumes of the 

 elder; and so the people of the younger sister destroyed those of the 

 elder. The two women stood still while the men fought. The women 

 remained on the mountain top, but the men descended into a 

 grassy park to fight. After a time the younger sister ran to the park 

 and cried, "This is enough; fight no more." She then returned to the 

 mountain and said to her sister, " Let us descend to the park and 

 fight." And they fought like women — not with arrows — but wrestled. 

 The men formed a circle around them and the women fought hard and 

 long. Some of the men said, " Let us go and part the women ; " others 

 said, " No ; let them alone." The younger woman grew very tired in her 

 arms, and cried to her people, "I am very tired," and they threw the 

 elder sister upon the ground and tied her hands; the younger woman 

 then commanded her people to leave her, and she struck her sister with 

 her fists about the head and face as she lay upon the ground, and in 

 a little while killed her. She then cut the breast with a stone knife and 

 took out the heart, her people being still in a circle, but the circle was 

 80 large that they were some distance off. She held the heart in her hand 

 and cried : "Listen, men and youths ! This woman was my sister, but 

 she compelled us to fight; it was she who taught you to fight. The 

 few of her people who escaped are in the mountains and they are the 

 people of the rats;" and she cut the heart into pieces and threw it 

 upon the ground, saying, " Her heart will become rats, for it was very 

 bad," and immediately rats could be seen running in all directions. 

 She found the center of the heart full of cactus, and she said, "The 

 rats for evermore will live with the cacti ; " and to this day the rats 

 thus live (referring to the Xeotoma). She then told her people to re- 

 turn to their homes. 



It was about this time that Sus'sistinnako organized the cult socie- 

 ties, instructing all of the societies in the songs for rain, but imparting 

 only to certain ones the secrets whereby disease is extracted through 

 the sucking and brushing jirocesses. 



For eight years after the fight (years referring to periods of time\ the 

 people were very happy and all things flourished, but the ninth year 

 was very bad, the whole earth being filled with water. The water did 



