The Spirit Land
:
Myths And Legends Of California And The Old Southwest
Gallinomero (Russian River, Cal.)
When the flames burn low on the funeral pyres of the Gallinomero, Indian
mourners gather up handfuls of ashes and scatter them high in air. Thus
the good mount up into the air, or go to the Happy Western Land beyond
the Big Water.
But the bad Indians go to an island in the Bitter Waters, an island
naked and barren and desolate, covered only with brine-spattered stone,
swept with cold winds and the biting sea-spray. Here they live always,
breaking stone upon one another, with no food but the broken stones and
no drink but the salt sea water.