,
their authority for their governmental institutions, their social
institutions, their habits and customs. It is their unwritten bible.

_THE CIN-AU-AeV BROTHERS DISCUSS MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE TO THE PEOPLE._

Once upon a time the _Cin-au-aev_ brothers met to consult about the
destiny of the _U-in-ka-rets_. At this meeting the younger said:
"Brother, how shall these people obtain their food? Let us devise some
good plan for them. I was thinking about it all night, but could not see
what would be best, and when the dawn came into the sky I went to a
mountain and sat on its summit, and thought a long time; and now I can
tell you a good plan by which they can live. Listen to your younger
brother. Look at these pine trees; their nuts are sweet; and there is
the _us_, very rich; and there is the apple of the cactus, full of juice;
on the plain you see the sunflower, bearing many seeds--they will be
good for the nation. Let them have all these things for their food, and
when they have gathered a store they shall put them in the ground, or
hide them in the rocks, and when they return they shall find abundance,
and having taken of them as they may need, shall go on, and yet when
they return a second time there shall still be plenty; and though they
return many times, as long as they live the store shall never fail; and
thus they will be supplied with abundance of food without toil." "Not
so," said the elder brother, "for then will the people, idle and
worthless, and having no labor to perform, engage in quarrels, and
fighting will ensue, and they will destroy each other, and the people
will be lost to the earth; they must work for all they receive." Then
the younger brother answered not, but went away sorrowing.

The next day he met the elder brother and accosted him thus: "Brother,
your words were wise; let the _U-in-ka-rets_ work for their food.
But how shall they be furnished with honey-dew? I have thought all night
about this, and when the dawn came into the sky I sat on the summit of
the mountain and did think, and now I will tell you how to give them
honey-dew: Let it fall like a great snow upon the rocks, and the women
shall go early in the morning and gather all they may desire, and they
shall be glad." "No," replied the elder brother, "it will not be good,
my little brother, for them to have much and find it without toil; for
they will deem it of no more value than dung, and what we give them for
their pleasure