Note 243 — Chapter VI

This myth was obtained in 1812, from the Shawnees in Missouri (Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, Vol. IV, p. 254), and independently in 1819, from those in Ohio (Mr. John Johnston, in Trans. of the Amer. Antiq. Soc., Vol. I, p. 273). Those of the tribe who now live on the Quapaw Reservation, Indian Territory, repeat every year a long, probably mythical and historical, chant, the words of which I have tried, in vain, to obtain. They say that to repeat it to a white man would bring disasters on their nation. I mention it as a piece of aboriginal composition most desirable to secure.