22 



KANABOZHO 



[b. a. e> 



related his dream to his sister, saying 

 that it had been revealed to him that 

 five young man-beings would that night 

 visit their lodge, and that she was for- 

 bidden to speak to or in any manner rec- 

 ognize any of the first four who would 

 seek admission to the lodge, but that 

 she should w^elcome the fifth when he 

 would seek admission. This advice she 

 followed. After their metamorphosis 

 these four primal young man-beings be- 

 came respectively Sama or Tol^acco, who, 

 receiving no answer from the sister, died 

 of chagrin; Wapekone or Squash; Eshke- 

 tamok or IMelon, and Kojees or Bean, 

 who shared the fate of tlie first. But 

 ]\landamin or Corn, the fifth, was an- 

 swered and welcomed by the sister, and 

 he entered tlie lodge and because her hus- 

 band. Then IVIandamin buried his four 

 comrades, and soon from their graves 

 sprang up respectively tobacco, s(|uashes, 

 melons, and ))eans in such quantity as to 

 supply them for the year, and tobacco 

 enough to enable them to make offerings 

 to the i)rinial man-beings and to smoke 

 in council. From this union sprang the 

 Indian race. 



In one version of the prevailing Algon- 

 quian cosmogonic story it is said that 

 before the formation of the earth there 

 was only water; that on the surface of 

 this vast expanse of water fioated a large 

 raft on which were the animals of the 

 various kinds which are on the earth and 

 of which the Great Hare was the chief. 

 They sought a fit and firm place on which 

 to disembark; but as there were in sight 

 only swans and other waterfowl, they 

 began to lose hope, and, having no other, 

 they requested the beaver to clive for the 

 purpose of bringing up some earth from 

 the bottom of the water, assuring him in 

 the name of all the animals present that, 

 should he return with only a single par- 

 ticle, it would jjroduce an earth sufficiently 

 spacious to contain and nourish all. But 

 the beaver sought an excuse for refusal, 

 saying that he had already dived around 

 the raft and had failed to reach the bot- 

 tom. He was pressed so strongly to make 

 anew so worthy an attempt, however, that 

 he took the hazard and clived. He re- 

 mained without returning for so long a 

 time that the supplicants believed him 

 drowned. Finally they saw him appear 

 nearly dead and motionless. Then all the 

 animals, seeing that he was in no condi- 

 tion to remount the raft, at (mce interested 

 themselves to take him into it. After ex- 

 amining carefully his paws and tail, they 

 found nothing. But the little hope left 

 them of being al )le to save their lives com- 

 pelled them to address themselves to the 

 otter to ask that he make an attempt to 

 find earth at the bottom of the waters. 

 It was told him that his own safety, as 



well as theirs, depended on the result of 

 his effort. So the otter yielded to 

 their urging and dived. He remained 

 in the depths of the waters a longer time 

 than did the beaver, but, like him, he 

 came to the surface without suct-ess. 

 The impossibility of finding a place to 

 dwell where they could subsist left them 

 nothing more to ho])e, when the musk- 

 rat offered to attempt to find the bottom, 

 and he fiattered himself that he would 

 ))ring back sand. Although the beaver 

 and the otter, nuich stronger than he, had 

 not been able to accomplish the task, they 

 encouraged him, promising even that, if 

 he succeeded in his attemjit, he should be 

 the ruler of the whole world. The musk- 

 rat then ca.st himself into the waters and 

 bravely dived into the depths. After 

 remaining therein nearly an entire day 

 and night he appeared motionless at the 

 side of the raft, belly uppermost and 

 paws closed. The other animals care- 

 fully took him out of the water, opened 

 one of his paws, then a second, then a 

 third, and finally the fourth, where there 

 was a small grain of sand between his 

 claws. The (ireat Hare, who was en- 

 couraged to form a vast and spacious 

 earth, took this grain of sand and let it 

 fall on the raft, which became larger. 

 He took a part and scattered it, which 

 caused the mass to increase more and 

 more. When it was of the size of a 

 mountain he willed it to turn, and as 

 it turned the mass still increased in size. 

 As soon as it appeared quite large he 

 gave orders to the fox to examine his 

 work with power to enlarge it. He 

 obeyed. The iox, Slaving learned that 

 the earth was of such size that he could 

 easily take his prey, returned to the Great 

 Hare to inform him that the earth was 

 large enough to contain and nourish all 

 the animals. After this rejiort the Great 

 Hare went over his work, and, on going 

 around it, found it imperfect. He has 

 since not been disposed to trust any one 

 of all the other animals, and ever keeps 

 on enlarging the earth by ceaselessly 

 going around it. The rumblings heard 

 in the caverns of mountains confirm the 

 Indians in the belief that the Great Hare 

 continues the work of enlarging the 

 earth. He is honored by them, and they 

 regard him as the god who has formed 

 the land. 



Such is what the Algonquians teach 

 regarding the formation of the earth, 

 which they believe is borne on a raft. 

 Concerning the sea and the firmament, 

 they assert that they have existed for all 

 time. After the formation of the earth 

 all the other animals withdrew into the 

 places most fitted to them, where they 

 could feed and find their i)rey. The first 

 of these having died, the Great Hare 



