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.



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