696 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [etii. a.\n. 32 



Upon nearing the roosting place of the pigeons it was customary 

 to make a collection of gifts from the people, consisting of various 

 articles of ornament and trinkets of all kinds, for an oft'ering to the 

 pigeons. These freely given gifts were placed in a bark bowl and 

 this was borne solemnly into the forest to some swampy place where 

 tall weeds were plentiful, and these gifts were spread out on a piece 

 of elm bark while native tobacco was burned and an invocation to 

 tlie offering was made to the pigeons and their Maker. 



Tradition reports that for the first hunting expedition the people 

 as a whole did not observe the rules of the master of tlie hunt, which 

 he had learned from the White Pigeon. So some went around the 

 painted rod placed across the path when the party halted for any 

 purpose; others withheld presents from the offering, and many 

 accidents happened to them; some broke their legs, others their 

 arms, some fell sick, and some died. A great number of misfortunes 

 befell the expedition. 



After the expedition had returned to the home lands this fact 

 aroused much discussion. So the old man, Wild Cat, questioned 

 his people as to their conduct, and they informed him. He declared 

 that they had brought these ills upon themselves and urged them to 

 observe strictly the rule which the White Pigeon had given them 

 for their guidance if they wished to avoid these misfortunes. So 

 the following season the people went out to the hunt, but they care- 

 fully observed the rules laid down for their guidance and all went 

 well, and so every spring for 20 years they continued to go out on 

 these expeditions without any marked untoward events taking place. 



But toward the end of this period many factions had arisen among 

 the people. The young people asked. What is the need for these 

 things? Pigeons may be killed at any time of the year. They are 

 fit for food at all seasons of the year. What can isigeons do with these 

 offerings of ornaments and trinkets which they are not able to wear or 

 make anj' use of? Another faction of the people killed the pigeons 

 wherever and whenever they found them, killing both the young and 

 the old pigeons. Another faction boasted that its members had no faith 

 in what was done, and so they had no desire to engage in pigeon 

 hunting, even refusing to eat any of the pigeon meat when it was 

 offered to them. But it was not long before misfortune began to 

 assail these seditious factions. The members of the faction which 

 had refused to eat any of the pigeon meat died off one by one. 

 Before the visit of the White Pigeon they never died, they seemed to 

 be immortal; but now disease and death abounded among them 

 because they had failed to obey the regulations prescribed by the 

 White Pigeon for their guidance. 



These conditions continued for some time, becoming more and 

 more distressful as time elapsed. Then, for the third time, the 



