Errata
:
STORIES OF THE FOURTH NIGHT
:
Aw-aw-tam Indian Nights
In this book of Pima legends, various errors with regard to Indian
words have occurred which will be corrected in a second edition. These
are principally as follows:
The rule was made that all Indian words should be printed the first
time in italics, with hyphens to facilitate pronunciation; afterwards
in roman type, without hyphens. This rule has many times been violated.
There is a lack of
uniformity in the spelling, etc., of many of the
Indian terms. Thus the name of the old seeneeyawkum has been spelled in
different ways, but should always be Comalk Hawkkih. The name of the
Creator should always be Juwerta Mahkai. The name of his subordinate
should be Eeheetoy. Gee-ee-sop should be Geeheesop. Cheof should be
Cheoff. Vah-kee-woldt-kee, as on page 8, should be Vahf-kee-woldt-kih
as on page 112. Sah-kote-kee, on page 183, should be Sah-kote-kih,
and Chirt-kee should be Chirt-kih. On page 224, vahs-shroms should
be vahs-hroms. Tcheuassat Seeven (page 237) should be Tcheunassat
Seeven. Stchenadack Seeven (page 238) should be Stcheuadack
Seeven. Scheunassat Seeven, on page 239, should be Tcheunassat
Seeven. In the story of the Turquoises and the Red Bird (page 99)
the name of the chief who lived in the Casa Grande ruins should have
been spelled with a u, instead of a w, to secure uniformity; also the
Indian name of the turquoises. The name of the Salt River Mountain,
wherever it occurs, should always be Moehahdheck.
NOTES
[1] Many doubt that the Indians of North America knew anything about
the diamond, but my interpreter insisted that the Doctor-stone was
the diamond, therefore I have taken his word for it. Perhaps it
was crystal.
[2] What the Pimas call the haht-sahn-kahm is the wickedest cactus in
Arizona. The tops of the branches fall off, and lie on the ground,
and if stepped on the thorns will go thru ordinary shoe leather and
seem to hold with the tenacity of fish-hooks, so that it is almost
impossible to draw them out.
[3] "To swallow charcoal" implies the swallowing of meat so greedily
it is not properly cleansed of the ashes of its roasting.
[4] The reference to the "gun" shows clearly that this song was made
after the advent of the white man.
[5] This word was not translated--probably archaic and the meaning
forgotten.
[6] This song is evidently imperfect, for in the context it is said
that before this fight they sang about the beads, sah-vaht-kih,
but there is no mention of them here.
[7] The reason why the older people went inside the circle was to
protect the younger ones from the impurity of anything Apache, and
they went inside as more hardened to this.
[8] Read before the Anthropological Society of Philadelphia, May
11, 1904.
[9] This is a Pima flute-song, a record of which I obtained for my
phonograph while in Arizona. It has no direct connection with the
legends; but illustrates the Story of Tcheunassat Seeven a little,
as it is about a woman, the wife of an Indian named the Lark, who is
led away by the seductive singing of another Indian named the Bamboo;
the Indians having an idea that women were most easily seduced by
music. The Pimas, when they speak English, calling the wild cane
bamboo.