XC ETHNOGRAPHIC SKETCH. 



])hized and too dimly delined to deserve the name "gods." Those among 

 them that are most frequently mentioned in myths and pojnilar stories are 

 tlie "-enii of the Thunder and of the Winds. 



Tlie irenius of tlie Thunder, Lemc'-isli, is sometimes mentioned as a 

 single person, or abstract mythic being, but more frequently as a company 

 of five brothers, the Thunders or Lemeleme-ish. At times they make them- 

 selves formidable, for their terrible weapon is the liglitniug or thunderbolt; 

 they cleave the mountains, rocks, and trees, kill, roast, and devour huinnn 

 beings, in which character they are called maklaks papfsh. The interior 

 of their lodge is dark, for a sky obscured by a thunderstorm is lacking the 

 full daylight. K'mukamtch entering the lodge, disguised as the " strong 

 man" under tlie mask of Ske'l or pine-marten, annihilates them, for the 

 winter sky with its cold blasts is antagonistic to the display of celestial elec- 

 tricity. The eldest of the Thunders is married to Ski'de, the meadow lark, 

 who is the sister of pine marten. After having made themselves thoroughly 

 odious upon the earth, they were, as the myth tells us, relegated to the far- 

 off skies, where they can frighten the people by their noise only and do no 

 further harm 



The parents of the Thunders are supposed to live in a small hut or 

 kaytita, and in their stead two dogs are often mentioned as accompanying 

 the Thunders. Of these there are five, because the thunder rolling along 

 the mountains is heard in repeated peals, and these peals are in the myths 

 likened to repeated explosions of the Thunders' Iiearts. The shooting up 

 of lightnings from the earth to the skies gave rise to the idea that their 

 home is undergi'ound, and that the lightnings coming down from the skies 

 are simply the Thunders returning to their homes. As the spirit of the 

 Thunder Yayaysi-ash is mentioned in a mythic tale. 



The Thunder-hird, which plaj-s so prominent a part in the myths of the 

 Eastern and Northwestern tribes, does not appear here under this name, 

 but is represented in some stories by the Raven or Kak.* 



• The belief in the Tliimder-bird is found more frequently among Northern than 

 among Soutliern Indians. Cf. "The Tlinnder bird amongst the Algonkins," by A. 

 F. Chambeilain, Amer. Anthropologist, Jan., 1890, pp. 51-54; and my "Migration 

 Legend of the Creek Indians," vol. 2, 49. 



