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 destroy the 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, inhabiting the 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 adultery
until 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 men have 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.