CHAPTER XIV.
THE DELUGE OF THE KLAMATH INDIANS.
IT has been handed down from long ago that the people became so wicked, no good was found in anything, and human progress retrograded into destruction. Unwedded women became the mothers of a host of bastard children as the men led a life of debauchery, and the women a life of shame. Crimes and murders lurked in every corner, plunder and the greed for riches followed each other in a terrible way. Men sought not honest lives, but sought the greed and plunder of riches. Those who commanded their self-respect and cherished their family pride became few and far between. Profane language became the rule, laws became corrupt and unheeded, and whole communities swerved downward in utter ruination.
God became angry upon looking down, He saw the people growing more corrupt, year by year, where human beings eked out a miserable existence in their greed. God appeared to one of the good men, (a Talth) a man who had always lived an honest and upright life, respecting his fellow men, and observed above all, God’s moral laws. He appeared to this man, Gus-so-me, who possessed in his secret breast the true name of God, and God said unto him that He was going to destroy everything on earth with a great flood, as the people had become so wicked that He would no longer endure the sights of such wickedness. Gus-so-me pleaded with God not to destroy the people by flooding the world, and God then told him to go forth among the people and see how many good ones he could find, he could find but one more, so God told him to prepare a raft, as He was going to destroythe world with a flood. This one man that had the abiding faith of an honorable man was Haw-gon-ow, also a Talth. God now appeared before their two High Priests and bade them prepare for the final deluge as there was no good people to be found on earth, except the two Talth and their wives. He bade them to build a large raft upon which they would float while the rest of the creation would sink beneath the rising waters and perish.
Gus-so-me and the Haw-gon-ow began at once to build the raft, (men-up) while the people continued in their wild revelries, jeering in contempt at the two builders, but they heeded them not and worked steadily on. When the two Talth completed the raft He caused it to begin raining, and it rained steadily, causing the waters to rise higher and higher, until the o-plah-peck (flood) waters covered the entire world. When the waters came up around the raft the two Talth took their wives, Ger-ke-er and Ca-wa-mer onto the raft, where they remained and floated upward as the water rose. These two wives were also Talth, and our holy order was kept intact over the great deluge. They carried with them upon the raft, the herb, or walth-pay, which as before kept perfectly green and bloomed, they also took with them the raven and the dove, but all the other species of the earth were left, and they were destroyed in the great flood. It rained steadily for many days and nights upon a terror stricken world, until all the valleys and lowlands were one continuous sea, and only tops of the highest hills and mountains remained uncovered, where the people stood huddled together, as they had been steadily driven up the mountain sides by the water. And still it continued to rain, the people running hither and thither, piercing wails went up as the terrible apprehension of destruction was upon them, their piteous cries were only answered by the rising waters as their bodies were tossed a moment upon the angry waves and then sank to their graves in the unknown depths. Soon all the highest mountain peaks were covered with water and the world was one continuous sea. All living creatures had perished from the earth, as they had sank beneath the waves to live no more.
When the rain stopped, Gus-so-me sent the raven (bua-gawk) forth from the raft to see if it could bring any tidings of dry land. He flew away over the waters until he found some dead fish and never returned. This is the reason the raven ever since has lived on carrion and always remained so wild, inhabitingthe far off crags of the mountains that command a view of the surrounding country, so they can see any one approaching, and fly away. After a few days had passed and no tidings of the raven came, Gus-so-me sent forth the dove, (aw-rah-way) and after it was gone a short time, it returned to the raft with a twig of the pepperwood. Gus-so-me now knew that the waters on which he floated were going back, and soon there would be dry land, and from that time on, the Indians have had a great reverence for the dove. We carry the symbol of the dove in our sacred lodge, and teach the children from childhood never to harm the dove, and we never harm it in any way.
After the return of the dove the raft floated on the waters for a few days longer and finally rested on the top of a very high mountain, known as Ne-gam-alth, which is located in the far north-east on this continent and not across the ocean. This lofty peak glistens in the sunlight and can be seen from a great distance. The raft as it rested on this mountain, turned to white flint, and when the sun shines this flint glistens brightly. In our traditions only one man has ever climbed this mountain and returned to our people since the flood, bringing with him a piece of the flint, and since this time we have used the white flint at our festivals, it being the most valuable of all other kinds.
When the waters went down sufficiently, God commanded Gus-so-me and Haw-gon-ow, with their wives, to go down from the mountain and re-populate the earth. From these two Talth and their wives came our present people, and they again scattered over the continent. In coming down from the mountain top the Talth carried with them the walth-pay, the same as they did when they first made their long journey from the land of Cheek-cheek-alth. This divine herb bloomed perpetually again, and Gus-so-me, with the assistance of Haw-gon-ow, in using the correct words of their prayer to God, could command with the herb anything they needed for human existence, as their prayers would be granted by God.
God now created the animal and plant life that was destroyed during the flood, with the exception of the raven and the dove, which the High Priests carried with them upon the raft. When the re-creation was made, God first made the white deer, then the red eagle, the same as in the first creation. He also placed the rain bow in the heavens as a promise to Gus-so-me and Haw-gon-ow,that he would never again destroy the people by flood, but if the people ever become so corrupt again He would destroy them with a great fire burning the world. When the Indians see the rainbow in the heavens, they always look upon it with the assurance that it is the promise of God, that He will destroy the world no more with rain. When the heavy rains fall they always say that it will not continue to rain very long, for the next time all the world will pass away in flames.
The Talth bring down the traditions that when they first arrived in this land, the white race which they found here were a highly moral race. They lived in peace and happiness and crimes were things unknown. With the passing of this white race, passed the age of innocence and peace.
Upon the arrival of the present white race, the Indians first believed that it was the ancient white people returning. The tribes rejoiced as they thought peace and happiness would reign again, for the Wa-gas had given them their faithful promise that they would some day return. Alas, the sad mistaken identity of these people for they were foreigners who took advantage of our hospitality, and soon wanted to claim the land of our forefathers. Crimes followed in their footsteps of extermination, together with race hatred has covered nearly sixty-five years of their annals. Worse than the shot and shell, it brought the pride of our race to their graves long ago. The introduction of whiskey brought desolation and ruin upon us, without an example story to tell. They ruined the splendid morals of our women, and led them to prostitution, which they had never known since the re-creation of our kingdom. They filled their bodies with loathsome disease that we had never known since the world began, and our Indian doctors gave up in despair for they could not find any cure for these diseases. When our loyal good men rose up and remonstrated against these outrages, these foreign white men were wont to abuse us and call us savages, and sent some of the tribes away to distant reservations to starve and die. They called our women “Squaws”, and our men “Bucks”. It seems they had an idea that we did not possess human souls, cherished with the human love of devotion. They claimed our lands and their historians termed us as, “the wild denizens of the forest,” as if we were foreigners in the remote ages of a vast antiquity. Fortune seekers, gamblers and cut-throats lived with our women in adulteryuntil they grew weary of them and left them with children. Poor little children of their own flesh and blood, children without a birth and without a parent to legalize them as his own. The fathers of the animal kingdom are proud to fight for their young and will not abandon them, even in the jaws of death. Can such a class of people as this have a soul, when they have committed such outrages upon my people and have disgraced the living by their deeds? The origin of our race was proud, the proudest that ever walked the earth, and when these children find their pride forever robbed by no fault of their own, their proud hearts break down in the sorrowful years that follow, as their fallen parentage leads them to unhonored graves. Such sorrowful processions as these follow each other under the gloom of oppression. I have today looked among my tribe of the Po-lick-la’s and the Pech-ic-la’s and am deeply grieved to find but very few babies born of good pure blood, that is not tainted with the virus of venereal diseases. Where do these pathetic conditions arise? We are reluctant to point again to the white man. In some instances a large family of brothers and sisters do not know their true relationship. I dare say, perhaps each one came from a different father, and the father comes from God knows where, and has gone they know not where, but such a father will undoubtedly answer at the Throne of the Almighty God. I pray that God may have mercy upon such children who are left to suffer the disgrace of an unworthy parent. Today where the Klamath rears its regal monarchs of the forests, where it rears its lofty mountain peaks from its rugged shores, and mingles its waters with the Pacific Ocean, this glorious country once in its beauty and pride, I have scanned its hostage and find not one, whose birth will admit them to that holy lodge, not one who can burn its sacred fires at the sacred alter. The Talth are waiting ever, for no more will answer their piteous pleadings, to save and cherish a sublime religion. A precious few of the middle aged have the birth, but their morals in a larger sense, have been corrupted, their integrity has been undermined until they think a promise broken is better than a promise kept, therefore, while the world lasts they can never be admitted to this sacred lodge. Some of the ken-ne-ah men have been honest enough to wed our women under their laws, and some of them have married under both the white man’s and the Indian’s marriage laws. Most of these menhave brought up large families, and the children from these unions, on an average, make men and women that the American nation might well be proud of.
The High Priests say today, that from their ancient teachings, and their ancient religion, that the corruption of the ken-ne-ah’s (whites) among themselves, and the demoralization of their own race, that the two races are becoming very wicked. Men and women alike use profane languages, men debauch their women into prostitution, the whiskey and wine from the saloons pierce the hearts of young men and women alike, breaking up the ties of peaceful homes, and tearing asunder the love of human hearts, thus leaving desolation as it goes on. The greed for riches by trickery and deception in general leads the Talth to believe very strongly, that ere long God will send the great conflagration that will consume all the world in flames, and that its people will pass away. Over their ashes God will create another people, where they will build their stately mansions, of the soul unto God. Over the ashes of the obliterated ages, will prosper a new people with new governments, and new laws, and the ages of peace and happiness will dawn again, shedding its radiance of glory over the entire world. Thus have prophesied our High Priests.