37 
start a fire with this rotten wood..’ So they started a fire. Near by they discovered 
some meat already cooked, and ate it. Then the sun said to them * You shall not 
be the only people on this land. You shall make a woman, of clay.' So they made 
a woman of clay, and also a clay pot. They travelled to another place and did 
the same; and so continued all over the land. That is why there are so many 
different tribes of Indians today, and so many different languages” (Jim Nanibush). 
Jonas King gave a different version of this myth; 
"In the first days two men suddenly appeared sitting opposite each other 
as if they had just awakened. One was named Bemikkwang, and the othei 
Nigankwam. Each carried a bow and arrow on his right shoulder. Nigankwam 
rose, went over to a mound, and poked it with the end of his bow. A bear came 
out, which he shot. Bemikkwang then arose, went over to a mound on the opposite 
side and poked from it a knife and a large birch-bark pot. The two men skinned 
the bear, cooked it in the pot, and ate the whole carcass at one meal. Nigankwam 
then arose, took up the skull of the bear and threw it into the sky, where it became 
three stars (in the Great Bear?). Bemikkwang arose, took up a vertebrum and 
threw it into the sky; it also changed to stars. Nigankwam rose again, took up 
the breast bone and threw it up; it became the Milky Way. Nigankwam and 
Bemikkwang were the first human beings. Afterwards Nigankwam made a woman 
and had children, who were the ancestors of the present Indians.” 1 
Another great thunder was Djingkuam, the thunder that makes the 
land shake from afar, i.e., the earthquake; 
"Trees fell to pieces when Djingkuam merely pointed at them; and the same 
fate befell his enemies, even the great serpent. At last the manidos held a council 
to discuss how they might defend themselves. They said * Djingkuam has too much 
power. Let us kill him.’ Then one day, when Djingkuam was hunting, he struck 
with his arrow a log that had been washed up on the shore. He tried to recover 
it, but when he stepped on the ground his foot stuck in a log that suddenly 
appeared like a great serpent. He planted his other foot on the log, and it stuck 
also. The serpent log dragged him far down into the earth; his thunder crashed 
over it, but came too late. Since then Djingkuam is reported to have been very 
active underground in the United States” (Pegahmagabow). 
Strangely enough, alongside of this belief in invisible thunders, the 
Parry Islanders possess the totally different concept of a thunderbird; 
and the same Indians will subscribe to both notions without remarking 
any contradiction. During the great war Pegahmagabow was overtaken 
by a terrific thunderstorm. He felt the air flap his face as though moved 
by the wings of a mighty bird. Previously he had not believed the story 
of a thunderbird, but on this occasion at least it seemed to him that it 
must be true. 
“ At Killarney there is a big mountain that no one may ascend. Once some 
Indian youths climbed to the summit and found there a white bird unlike any 
they had seen before. Its eyes were closed, and it appeared to be a fledgeling. 
They went home and told their people that they had seen a manido. Later they 
returned to the same place. One boy touched the bird lightly with something and 
received an electric shock. Another touched one of the bird’s closed eyes with a 
long stick. The eye opened slightly and the stick split down the middle. The youths 
fled precipitately, knowing that it was a thunder-bird. Presently there was a terrific 
thunderstorm. When other Indians visited the mountain some time afterwards the 
bird was gone” (Jim Nanibush). 
1 “The first Indian was made of clay by Nigankwam, ‘leading thunder,’ who created man at the command of 
the Great Spirit. That is why the Indians are brown” (Jim Nanibush). 
