COSMOGONY—THE LIZARD STEALING FIRE. 343 
deer, but the little one was a sap-sucker. So these two made a wheel to ride 
on, that they might pursue their mother, for they were not well pleased to 
see her without eyes. But they were punished for this act of wickedness, 
for the wheel went contrary with them, turned aside, and plunged into a 
pool of water, so that they were drowned. 
This story contains a considerable part of the Nishinam cosmogony. 
In common with most California tribes, these Indians regard all animals, 
including men, as having a common original, and being intimately related. 
Thus the bear calls herself aunt to the deer’s children, and one of the latter 
is a bird. 
There is another tradition to the same effect substantially, that men 
were once on the same level with the beasts of the forest, and habitually 
devoured their own dead, as the coyote is said to do. 
ORIGIN OF FIRE. 
After the coyote had created the world and its inhabitants, there was 
still one thing lacking—fire. In the western country there was plenty of 
it, but nobody could get it; it was so far off and so closely hidden. So the 
bat proposed to the lizard that he should go and stealsome. ‘This the lizard 
did, and he got a good coal of it, but found it very hard to bring home 
because everybody wanted to steal it from him. At length he reached the 
western edge of the Sacramento Valley, and he had to be extremely careful 
in crossing with it, lest he should set the country on fire. He was obliged 
to travel by night to prevent the thieves from stealing the fire, and to keep 
the dry grass from catching fire. One night when he had nearly reached 
the foot-hills on the east side of the valley, he was so unfortunate as to come 
upon a company of sand-hill cranes (ko'-dok), who were sitting up all night 
gambling. He crept slyly along on the side of a log, holding the fire in 
his hand, but they discovered him and gave chase. Their legs were so 
long he had no hope of escape, so he was obliged to set fire to the grass, 
and let it burn into the mountains. Thus he soon had a roaring fire, and 
he had to run like a good one to keep ahead of it. When the bat saw the 
fire coming, being unused to it, he was half-blinded and had sharp pain in 
his eyes. He eried out to the lizard that his eyes would be put out, and 
