SWANTON] ORIGIN LEGENDS 179 
away. During the night he walked in advance to direct them. The name of 
this dog was Panti? He led them out of all difficulties and kept them from 
getting into places from which they might not be able to extricate themselves. 
If anyone fell sick, they would stop for several days and treat him by means 
of an herb steeped in water. If one was bitten by a snake, the dog would lick the 
place and the person would get well. 
The tribe kept moving eastward in this manner until they came to a big 
body of water which they called Ok-hata icto (“ Big Ocean”), and the original 
narrator of this story thought that the Okhotsk Sea must have derived its name 
from this term. When they could go no farther they camped on the shore of 
this big water for several days. At that place they were able to see the land on 
the other side. (The place was identified with Bering Strait by the story 
teller.) So they determined to cross to the other side and held councils to work 
out a plan by which the passage might be accomplished. Finally they decided 
that they must construct a raft. They went to work at once, but after they had 
finished it discovered that they could cross only at certain times when the 
water moved back (i. e., when the tide ebbed). At last they got safely to 
North America, but it was so cold there that they started on again southward 
until they came to the neighborhood of Montana, where they remained a long 
time. 
At the end of that period they held a council and some wanted to move on 
again, while others preferred to remain. Therefore they divided. Those that 
wished to emigrate took the dog Panti with them. They loved him dearly, tor 
he was a great help to them. Moving on eastward they came to a prairie 
country where were numerous wild animals, some of which Panti killed for 
them to eat, while he drove the rest away. There were at that time plenty of 
deer, prairie chickens, turkeys, squirrels, fish, and many other creatures good 
to eat. There were also some dangerous animals, like panthers and wolves, 
but they moved along cautiously so that these creatures could not get at them. 
There were several kinds of poisonous snakes, and they also avoided them 
carefully. In case anyone did get bitten they had a good remedy to apply. 
Whenever they wanted to move forward they began several days in advance 
to prepare breadstuffs like blue or shuck bread (banaha) and cold flour (tam- 
bota). They put up so much of this that they had plenty to eat for several 
days. 
When they reached the Mississippi River they camped upon its banks for 
some time, uncertain how they could get to the other side. Finally they de- 
cided to construct another raft and they did so, but during the passage their 
raft came to pieces and they lost their faithful dog. 
After this sad event they did not at first know what to do, but finally they 
decided to use a wooden pole (kohta) as their guide. Every night, when they 
made camp, they stuck this pole into the ground, and in the morning it would be 
found leaning in a certain direction. This was the direction in which they were 
to march. They kept on, guided thus, for many days, until finally the pole 
was found standing perfectly erect, and they said “This must be the place for 
which we are looking.” So they began a settlement and continued there for 
a long time, living by hunting and fishing. 
This is all of the story that really concerns us, although the manu- 
script devotes considerable additional space to detailing subsequent 
relations between the Chickasaw and the whites. 
= Panti means “ cat-tail,”’ at least in Choctaw. 
