290 THE MAIDU. 
wait two or three hours before they address him. The substance of the 
above story was related to me by an American, who was an eye-witness of 
the captives’ return. 
LEGEND OF THE FLOOD. 
Of old the Indians abode tranquilly in the Sacramento Valley, and 
were happy. All on a sudden there was a mighty and swift rushing of 
waters, so that the whole valley became like the Big Water, which no man 
can measure. The Indians fled for their lives, but a great many were over- 
taken by the waters, and they slept beneath the waves. Also, the frogs 
and the salmon pursued swiftly after them, and they ate many Indians. 
Thus all the Indians were drowned but two, who escaped into the foot-hills. 
But the Great Man gave these two fertility and blessed them, so that the 
world was soon repeopled. From these two there sprung many tribes, even 
a mighty nation, and one man was chief over all this nation—a chief greatly 
known in the world, of large renown. ‘Then he went out on a knoll over- 
looking the wide waters, and he knew that they covered fertile plains once 
inhabited by his ancestors. Nine sleeps he lay on the knoll, turning over 
and over in his mind the thoughts of these great waters, and he strove to 
think how they came upon the land. Nine sleeps he lay without food, for 
he lived on his thoughts alone, and his mind was always thinking of this 
only: ‘How did this deep water cover the face of the world”? And at 
the end of nine sleeps he was changed. He was no more like himself before, 
for now no arrow could wound him. Though a thousand Indians should shoot 
at him, not one flint-pointed arrow would pierce his skin. He was like the 
Great Man in heaven, for no man could slay him forevermore. Then he 
spoke to the Great Man, and commanded him to let the water flow off from 
the plains which his ancestors had inhabited. The Great Man did this; he 
rent open the side of the mountain, and the water flowed away into the Big 
Water. 
The following legend is taken from Bean’s ‘History and Directory of 
Nevada County”: 
THE LION AND THE CAT. 
It was a long time ago. A California lion and his younger brother, 
