be men, and
expert with bow and arrows. The elder had the arrow of the turtle,
which was pointed with flint; the younger had the arrow pointed with
bark. The first was, by his temper and skill and success in hunting, a
favorite of his grandmother. They lived in the midst of plenty, but
would not allow the younger brother, whose arrow was insufficient to
kill anything but birds, to share with their abundance.

As this young man was wandering one day along the shore, he saw a bird
perched on a limb hanging over the water. He aimed to kill it, but his
arrow, till this time always sure, went aside the mark, and sank into
the sea.

He determined to recover it, and made a dive for the bottom. Here, to
his surprise, he found himself in a small cottage. A fine-looking old
man sitting there welcomed him with a smile, and thus spoke to him: "My
son, I welcome you to the home of your father! To obtain this meeting I
directed all the circumstances which have combined to bring you hither.
Here is your arrow, and an ear of corn. I have watched the unkindness
of your brother, and now command you to take his life. When you return
home, gather all the flints you can find, and hang up all the deer's
horns. These are the only things which will make an impression on his
body, which is made of flint."

Having received these instructions, the young Indian took his leave,
and, in a quarrel with his brother, drove him to distant regions, far
beyond the savannas, in the southwest, where he killed him, and left
his huge flint form in the earth. (Hence the Rocky Mountains.) The
great enemy to the race of the turtle being thus destroyed, they sprang
from the ground in human form, and multiplied in peace.

The grandmother, roused to furious resentment at the loss of her
favorite son, resolved to be revenged.

For many days she caused the rain to descend from the clouds in
torrents, until the whole surface of the earth, and even the highest
mountains, were covered. The inhabitants escaped by fleeing to their
canoes. She then covered the earth with snow; but they betook
themselves to their snow-shoes. She then gave up the hope of destroying
them all at once, and has ever since employed herself in inflicting
smaller evils on the world, while her younger son displays his good and
benevolent feelings by showering blessings on his race.

[For this tradition I am indebted to N. P. Willis, Esq., whose visits
to my house in New York were among the e