Through amazing ability of primitive man on this continent to retain, or perhaps through his inability to change or go forward, he has preserved a system of thought already old at the time of the first cuneiform letters and of the earliest statements on stone or papyrus. And the discovery of this system of ours coincides almost with the moment when America after a century and a quarter of free political activity, and of intellectual labor unexampled in fruitfulness, takes her due place as a World Power, and enters into intimate and searching relations, not with Europe alone, or one section of mankind, but with the whole human race wherever fixed or resident. JEREMIAH CURTIN. Washington, D. C., U. S. A., October 11, 1898. CREATION MYTHS OF PRIMITIVE AMERICA [Decoration] OLELBIS PERSONAGES After each name is given that of the beast, bird, or thing into which the personage was changed subsequently. Names on which accents are not placed are accented on the penult. Names of places are explained in the notes. Kiemila and Herit mean "old" and "young," respectively; they are applied to male persons. Pokaila and Loimis are applied to females; the first means "old," the second "young." =Bisus=, mink; =Chálilak=, goose; =Chuluhl=, meadow-lark; =Dokos=, flint; =Hau=, red fox; =Héssiha=, tomtit; =Hilit=, house-fly; =Hlihli=, white oak acorn; =Hus=, turkey buzzard; =Kahit=, wind; =Kahsuku=, cloud dog; =Kaisus=, gray squirrel; =Kar=, gray heron; =Karili=, coon; =Katkatchila=, swift; =Katsi=, chicken-hawk; =Kau=, white crane; =Kiriú=, loon; =Klabus=, mole; =Klak=, rattlesnake; =Kuntihlé=, fish-hawk; =Lutchi=, humming-bird; =Mem Loimis=, water; =Mem Tulit=, beaver; =Min Taitai=, sap-sucker; =Móihas=, bald eagle; =Pákchuso=, the pakchu stone; =Patsotchet=, badger; =Poháramas=, shooting star; =Sas=, sun; =Sedit=, coyote; =Sosini=, a small web-footed bird; =Sútunut=, black eagle; =Tede Wiu=, a small bird; =Tilichi=, a water-bird; =Tilikus=, fire drill; =Titchelis=, ground squirrel; =Toko=, sunfish; =Tórihas=, blue crane; =Tsárarok=, kingfisher; =Tsaroki Sakahl=, green snake; =Tsurat=, woodpecker; =Wehl Dilidili=, road-runner; =Wima Loimis=, grizzly bear; =Wokwuk=, a large bird, extinct; =Yilahl=, gopher; =Yoholmit=, frog; =Yonot=, buckeye bush. * * * * * The first that we know of Olelbis is that he was in Olelpanti. Whether he lived in another place is not known, but in the beginning he was in Olelpanti (on the upper side), the highest place. He was in Olelpanti before there was anything down here on the earth, and two old women were with him always. These old women he called grandmother, and each of them we call Pakchuso Pokaila. There was a world before this one in which we are now. That world lasted a long, long time, and there were many people living in it before the present world and we, the present people, came.