SwANTON] INDIANS OP THE SOUTHEASTEHN UNITED STATES 781 



which supports it, at the foot of which there are two or three little earthen pots 

 near the fire, out of which they take a little ashes to put in these pots, from 

 I know not what superstition. ( Shea, 1861, pp. 133-134 ; Swanton, 1911, pp. 318- 



319.) 



Elsewhere we find the sun, fire, and heaven at least represented by a 

 single deity. The principal Tunica myth preserved is the story of 

 Thunder, which is shared with a number of other tribes. There is also 

 a rather elaborate flood myth (Swanton, 1911, pp. 319-324). 



The Chitimacha Indians shared the common Southeastern belief in 

 a sky god, though there is evidence that, like the corresponding deity 

 of the Yuchi and Cherokee, it was originally feminine. Information 

 obtained by the writer would seem to indicate that this god was also 

 the trickster, an unusual combination in the section. Each youth un- 

 derwent solitary confinement in some house until he obtained a guard- 

 ian spirit and this is also affirmed of each girl. Thunder is said to have 

 been made by the supreme being, Kutnahin. There were numerous 

 stories regarding the animals in which they appear as having dealings 

 with human beings. A kind of wild canary, tcintc, was able to talk 

 with men and women and to foretell the weather. There was a spirit 

 called New Spirit which passed from east to west in the spring and 

 returned in the fall, and a monster called Long-nose Spirit which de- 

 stroyed human beings and was later identified with the elephant. 

 There was a belief in four trees of peculiar sanctity, one at the mouth 

 of the Mississippi, one somewhere in the east, one at the entrance of 

 Vermilion Bay, and one at a town called Hipinimsh on Grand Lake. 

 In the summer a great ceremony was held in the dance houses and this 

 seems to have corresponded to the Creek busk. In the Chitimacha 

 creation legend we find a version of the Earth Diver story in which 

 Crawfish finally succeeds in obtaining earth for the future continents. 

 The sky deity taught them the use of the bow and arrow, how to make 

 fire, and the religious observances. Animals took part in their coun- 

 cils and each family came to be associated with a certain animal species. 

 The moon and sun were supposed to be man and wife, the wife more 

 powerful because she had taken medicines and baths more regularly. 

 At the time of the flood mankind was saved inside of an earthen pot at 

 the bottom of the ocean. Fire was obtained from an old blind man in 

 whose custody it had been placed. Knowledge of doctoring, fishing, 

 and of the use of corn was brought to earth by three men who got these 

 things from the sky god. The soul was said to survive the death of the 

 body and be reborn through some woman (Swanton, 1911, pp. 

 362-360). 



According to the fragment of Atakapa religious belief which has 

 come down to us, they came out of the sea and were given their 

 first rules of conduct by a man sent down by "God," and men are 



