Volume 1

BIG BELLIED COSMOGONY.
35 I
people, whose longest excursions are only for a few days to
hunt buffalo, for which purpose, and to convey home the
meat, they always use horses.
Another dirty custom I observed in all their villages is
that of easing the calls of nature near the door of
the hut;
it requires the greatest precaution, both day and night, to
avoid these numerous dung-hills. The inside of the hut is
commonly kept clean. Day and night the young men
watch and sleep upon the roofs, which are level and
spacious, being about 50 feet in circumference, and so well
supported by the four stout posts on which the squared
timbers rest, as to sustain the weight of 50 men at once.
Any trifling occurrence will assemble them, as when anybody
arrives, or something else excites their curiosity.
The Big Bellies, as far as I could learn, have an extraordinary
notion of creation. They say that at first the world
was entirely water, inhabited by no living creature but a
swan, which in some unaccountable way produced a crow,
a wolf, and a water hen. One day the crow dressed herself
out very fine, having daubed herself with red and white
earth, particularly her face, which was painted in equal proportions
of those two colors. Having thus made her person
the more agreeable, she visited the wolf, and reminded him
of their forlorn and pitiful situation, surrounded as they
were by water ; adding how much happier they would
be had they but a certain proportion of earth, to obtain
which she proposed to send the water hen to the bottom to
fetch some up. This was accordingly done, and after some
time, the water hen returned with a small quantity in her
bill. The crow then took the earth in her hands, and
directed the wolf to take a chiecheckquoi or rattle, and
sing a certain song. While he was performing, with a
melodious voice and graceful manner of beating time, the
crow sprinkled the earth around them ; instantly the globe
was formed, and it remains the same to this day. In this
state they lived very happily for some time. But the crow
was restless, and wished to better their condition.
For this