The Pimas, a race who live near the Papagos on the eastern coast of
the Gulf of California, say that the earth was made by a being named
Earth-prophet. At first it appeared like a spider's web, reminding one
of the West African legend that a great spider created the world.
Man was made by the Earth-prophet out of clay kneaded with sweat. A
mysterious eagle and a deluge play a great part in the later mythical
adventures of war and the world, as known to the Pimas.(1)

(1) Communicated to Mr. Bancroft by Mr. Stout of the Pima Agency.

In Oregon the coyote appears as a somewhat tentative demiurge, and the
men of his creation, like the beings first formed by Prajapati in
the Sanskrit myth, needed to be reviewed, corrected and considerably
augmented. The Chinooks of Oregon believe in the usual race of magnified
non-natural men, who preceded humanity.

These semi-divine people were called Ulhaipa by the Chinooks, and
Sehuiab by the Lummies. But the coyote was the maker of men. As the
first of Nature's journeymen, he made men rather badly, with closed eyes
and motionless feet. A kind being, named Ikanam, touched up the coyote's
crude essays with a sharp stone, opening the eyes of men, and giving
their hands and feet the powers of movement. He also acted as a
"culture-hero," introducing the first arts. (1)

(1) (Frauchere's Narrative, 258; Gibb's Chinook Vocabulary; Parker's
exploring Tour, i. 139;) Bancroft, iii. 96.

Moving up the West Pacific coast we reach British Columbia, where the
coyote is not supposed to have been so active as our old friend the
musk-rat in the great work of the creation. According to the Tacullies,
nothing existed in the beginning but water and a musk-rat. As the animal
sought his food at the bottom of the water, his mouth was frequently
filled with mud. This he spat out, and so gradually formed by alluvial
deposit an island. This island was small at first, like earth in the
Sanskrit myth in the Satapatha Brahmana, but gradually increased in
bulk. The Tacullies have no new light to throw on the origin of man.(1)

(1) Bancroft, iii. 98; Harmon's Journey, pp. 302, 303.

The Thlinkeets, who are neighbours of the Tacullies on the north,
incline to give crow or raven the chief role in the task of creation,
just as some Australians allot the same part to the eagle-hawk, and the
Yakuts to a hawk, a crow and a teal-duck. We shall hear much of
Yehl later, as one of the mythical heroes o