Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/211

206 according to the number of female relatives of those killed in battle kept running. In addition to these forty horsemen also circled from left to right about the whole gathering.



The traditions of the Pimas are kept by those who show special aptitude in remembering them and who gradually become recognized as the tribal historians. To them the boys are regularly sent that they may listen for four nights to the narrative of how the world was made and peopled; whence the Pimas came and how they struggled with demons, monsters, and savage enemies. These tales are not usually told in the presence of the women, and consequently they know only imperfect fragments of them.

The myths are not related in the summer because of the fear of being bitten by rattlesnakes, which of course hibernate. No information was obtainable that the Pimas believe that the snakes then carry venom, nor why the snakes should bite those who disregard the tabu. The Pimas do not hesitate to kill rattlesnakes except in certain cases.

In the beginning there was nothing where now are earth, sun, moon, stars, and all that we see. Ages long the darkness was gathering, until it formed a great mass in which developed the spirit of Earth Doctor, who, like the fluffy wisp of cotton that floats upon the wind, drifted to and fro without support or place to fix himself. Conscious of his power, he determined to try to build an abiding place, so he took from his breast a little dust and flattened it into a cake. Then he thought within himself, "Come forth, some kind of plant," and there appeared the creosote bush. Placing this in front of him, he saw it turn over as soon as his grasp upon it relaxed. Advancing toward it, he again set it upright, and again it fell. A third and yet a fourth time he placed it, and then it remained standing. When the flat dust cake was still he danced upon it, singing:

