112 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



white men. In fact, the superintendent of Indian affairs offered their 

 medicine-men a hundred dollars to make him sick or kill any of his 

 horses, for they profess to have power to kill horses as well as persons, 

 but they could do nothing, and say that the white man's heart is hard, 

 so that the invisible stone cannot affect it, but the Indian's heart is soft 

 like mud, and is easily affected. 



The fifth, month, sta-ko-lit, was so named because it was the month 

 for tamanamus formerly. The practice which gave it the name has now 

 entirely ceased, and is hardly known to the younger ones, and indeed 

 there are many who hardly know the old name, or indeed any of the 

 names of the months. The ancient x^ractice, it is said, in this month, 

 was to go far off into the mountains, wash themselves very frequently, 

 remain half-naked, build a very large fire a hundred feet long and 

 twenty feet wide, and remain for seven days or thereabouts without 

 sleep. I suppose that they tamanamused also in other ways. When 

 they returned, they rested and slept very much. 



E. — Myths. 



Hades and heaven. — Their idea of heaven formerly was that it was be 

 low, and a place for good hunting and fishing, for good Indians. They 

 had no hell, as they supposed wicked persons would be turned into a 

 rock or beast. Now most of them believe the heaven and hell of the 

 Bible to be true, I think. 



Omens. — When they see something very unusual, they think some- 

 thing bad will happen. For instance, if they find a fish very different 

 from any they have ever seen, or a white squirrel, or find a frog cut 

 open and laid on a rock, or anything very unusual, they think something 

 bad will happen, as a great storm, or that some one will die, or some- 

 thing else bad, and if it does not occur till a 5 ear passes, but then 

 occurs, they think the omen is fulfilled. To go near a dead person, 

 especially if children should do so, is an omen that those doing so may 

 die soon. 



Inanimate ohjects.— There is a rock a few miles from Union City, 

 which, if touched by any person, would cause the hand to dry up and 

 wither.] There is at Eneti, on the reservation, an irregular basaltic 

 rock, about three feet by three feet and four inches and a foot and a half 

 high. On one side there has been hammered a face, said to be the rep- 

 resentation of the face of the thunder-bird, which could also cause 

 storms. It is delineated in diagrammatic outline at Fig. S, Plate 25. 

 The two eyes are about sis inches in diameter and four inches apart, 

 and the nose about nine inches long. It is said to have been made by 

 some man a long time ago, who felt very badly, and went and sat on 

 the rock, and with another stone hammered out the eyes and nose. 

 For a long time, they believed that if the rock was shaken, it would 

 cause rain, probably because the thunder-bird was angry. They have 

 now about lost faith in it, so much so that about two years ago they 



