WHY THE BODEGA BAY INDIANS CAN NOT STAND COLD

The Dawn of the World, by C. Hart Merriam, [1910], at sacred-texts.com

p. 158

A TALE OF THE BODEGA OLAMENTKO

PERSONAGE

O'-ye the Coyote-man

p. 159

WHY THE BODEGA BAY INDIANS CAN NOT STAND COLD

WHEN O'-ye the Coyote-man had everything ready he thought he would make people. So he gathered a lot of sticks of different kinds--some hard, as oak, madrone, and manzanita; some soft and hollow, as the sage-herb--and made a big pile of them and said that by and by they would turn into people.

Then he went over all the country and whereever he wanted a village he laid down two sticks, and gave the place a name--and the name he gave it then has always been its name and is its name to this day. Then he went away.

In a short time the sticks turned into people, and all the rancherias were started with the first real people.

In places where he had put sticks of hard wood the people were strong and well and warm-blooded and could stand cold weather; but in places where he put poor wood the people were weak and sickly and could not stand cold weather. Here at Bodega Bay he left only sticks of Po'-to-po'-to the sage-herb, ¹⁷ which has a hollow stem and has no strength. That is the reason our people are tender and weak

p. 160

and can not stand cold, and why nearly all died soon after the white men came. We are hollow inside and can not stand cold.

Footnotes

159:17 The sage-herb is a form of Artemisia ludoviciana.