812 IROQUOIAN COSMOLOGY [eth. ann. 43 



one certain direction. And this obligation on our part is fixed; and 

 our coming shall never occui- in a different manner as long as the 

 earth endures — at least until that day in the futm-e when He him- 

 self whom you call sometimes Hawenni'yo' shall change and trans- 

 form what He himself has established. 



"So now, moreover, the time has arrived for you to start for your 

 home; but, first, before you depart, you must stroll about this upper 

 world to see everything that may be beneficial to you and to your 

 people in the days to come; and by the time you will return from 

 this tour of inspection, I will have made ready what you shall take 

 with you, when you shall go again to make mellow and wet the earth 

 beneath. And this, too, upon which I am at work is something about 

 which I must tell you something. I am engaged in making myself 

 a mantle, and the material out of which I am weaving it is, indeed, 

 truly what you think it is — for it is human hair with which I am work- 

 ing. And you have observed as well, that each time I lay my work 

 aside for a moment, my smaU dwarf dog often undoes quite all that 

 I have done. I will now tell you by what means I obtain the human 

 hau' with which I am making myself a mantle. 



"It is a fact, that when some human being dies on the earth 

 below, one hair from his or her head detaches itself and departs 

 thence, coming dii-ectly to me. And it is these hairs that I am using 

 in making my mantle. 



"And this too serves as a sign to me that one has ceased to be on 

 the earth below, and that that person is traveling hither. And this 

 too shall endure as long as the earth beneath shall endure and have 

 form. Moreover, mark this well, that when He will cause the 

 expiring of human beings on the earth below to cease, it shall just 

 then and not before be possible for me to finish the mantle upon 

 which I am working; and that (the number of hairs in the mantle) 

 shall then bear witness to the number of persons who have visited 

 the earth below while it lasted. So now you may take a stroll." 



Then the men of the lodge and the entire party of Dc'hae'"hyo'we°'s 

 started out to view the notable things in the vicinity of the lodge. 

 They first went to that place where for the first time during their 

 visit they saw the beauty and pleasantness of that upper world; they 

 admired the strawberry plants, growing there and bearing luscious 

 berries, that were as tall as the high grasses among which they grew; 

 and they were also in bloom, for their bearing season was continuous; 

 and they saw too the growing trees full of rich blossoms; never before 

 had they seen such beautiful flowers, which supplied the light of that 

 upper world; and they saw the plants and the shrubs and bushes full 

 of fruits of all kinds, all growing luxuriantly; and never before had 

 they seen such fine paths leading in various directions; and they saw 

 along these paths the trees whose overhanguig boughs and lower 



