Amazonian legends refer to Noa, the Deluge Saviour.

 

Another Brazilian name for the Deluge Saviour is Tamandare or  Tamanduare.

 

The name Noa does sound familiar in a Deluge context.

 

In reference to the world Cataclysm Amazonian legends mention that there was a terrific explosion after which the world was plunged into darkness.

 

On the Earth all was dark as night for many moons, hidden for many days was the Sun, in reference to the Cataclysm.

 

 

 

The Arawaks of the Guianas, Caribbean, northern Brazil and Columbia mention that the God Makonaima created a marvelous tree each branch of which produced a different variety of fruit. A certain Sigu cut down this tree, the stump of which was found to be full of water, which began to flow and a terrible flood ensued. Sigu led all the animals to an eminence and succeeded in saving them during the period of submergence and darkness.

 

Another Arawak myth states that Sigu saved all of the animals from the Deluge by sealing them up in a hige cave. Sigu then climbed to the top of the tallest tree at the centre of the world where he survived the world wide deluge. After the flood had abated he climbed down and released the animals.

 

Since its creation the world has been destroyed twice, once by fire and once by flood, by the great god Aimon Kondi because of the wickedness of mankind. The pious and wise chief Marerewana was informed of the coming of the great flood and saved himself and his family in a large canoe. He tied the canoe to a tree with a long cable of bushrope to prevent it drifting too far from his old home.

 

The Great Spirit punished the Arawaks with fire and then with a terrible flood.

 

The Arawaks also mention that Aimon Kondi, the Great Spirit, scourged the world with fire from which the survivors sought refuge in underground caverns. A Great Flood followed in which Marerewana and his followers saved themselves in a canoe.

 

The benevolent God Sigoo took all the animals and birds to high mountains where they survived the terrible time of darkness and storms while the fearful flood inundated the lowlands.

 

These legends are becoming all too familiar.

 

The Arawak Indians state that ages ago the Creator became impatient with all of the evil in the world and decide to destroy it and create a new one. He looked around the Earth and could only find one righteous family that deserved to live and appearing to them one day told them to go and dig a large pit which is to be covered with logs which are themselves covered with sand over the top. After it is finished the family were to seal themselves into it. As soon as the family finished the pit and got into it there was a terrible fall of fire and hail from the sky to destroy the world.  Inside the pit the ground shook violently from the concussions and they heard the roaring and crackling of flames as the forests around them burst into flames. The air in the pit grew warmer until it was almost too hot to breathe. Soon the noise stopped and the heat subsided. The family then came out to a scorched world as far as they could see in every direction. Some other people survived with a few animals and they rebuilt the world.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Brazil. Mato Grosso State. Bororo Indians.

 

The Bororo people of the upper Paraguay River in the Mato Grosso region of central Brazil call the planet Venus Sandfly. This is similar to the Bantu legend of South Africa in which Sandfly brought fire from the sky. Sandfly was the planet Venus?

 

The ancient Greeks state that Venus was called Dogfly by the God Mars.

 

A Sandfly is annoying. So is a Dogfly. Why the annoying insect references for a planet? How can a planet be annoying?

 

 

The Botocudos Indians believe that the Moon falling upon it once destroyed the world.

 

Here is our falling Moon again.

 

Was it our moon or something that looked like our moon? Was it our Earth shifting and giving the Moon the illusion of moving. Other legends mention the Moon and Sun losing their old positions in the sky.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Brazil. Karayas Indians.

 

The Karayas Indians of Brazil state that their culture-hero Caboy brought their ancestors out of a subterranean world following the great flood.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Brazil.  Cashinaua Indians.

 

The Cashinaua Aborigines of Western Brazil state that there was a time when the lightnings flashed and the thunders roared terribly and all were afraid.  Then the Heaven burst and the fragments fell down and killed everything and everybody.  Heaven and earth changed places at the same time and nothing that had life was left upon the Earth.

 

Was this a description of an earth tilt following a cosmic collision?

 

 How do you have falling fragments of Heaven?

 

 

The Coroados also known as the Kainganags of the Rio Grande do Sul, south Brazil, have the tradition of the Great Flood-Deluge that covered the whole earth inhabited by their forefathers. Only the top of the range of the Serro do Mar, the eastern coastal range of Brazil, remained above water.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Brazil. Amazon. Desana Indians.

 

The Desana recall the time when the Sun God punished their ancestors for being sinful. The world caught fire which was extinguished by a world wide flood.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Brazil. Amazonas State. Ipurinas Indians.

 

The Ipurinas of the Rio Purus, upper Amazon territory, tell of a Deluge of hot water. This scalding liquid poured down on earth burning all up including the forest. On earth all was dark as night and the Sun and Moon hidden. The hot flood took place when the sun, which was a cauldron of hot water, tipped over.  Are there clouds of water floating through space? Or was it the melting mass of an enormous ice comet rapidly melting? Are there ice comets larger than the earth?

 

Other Ipurinas legends state that the world flood was caused by a kettle overflowing in the sun.

 

So many legends worldwide mention the disappearance of the Sun and Moon during the Cataclysm.

 

 

Once upon a time the folk heard a great rumbling above and below ground. The Sun and Moon turned red, blue and yellow and the wild beasts mingled fearlessly with men. A month passed and the forebears heard a roar ing noise coming from above as well as under the ground. The sun and moon turned red. Then the ancestors saw darkness ascending from the Earth to the sky, accompanied by thunder and heavy rain which blotted out the Earth and made day into night. Some people lost themselves. Others died not knowing why everything was in such a state of confusion. The waters rose very high till the Earth was sunk beneath them and only the branches of the tallest trees stood out above the huge flood. Thither people fled for refuge and perched high among the boughs of trees. They died of cold and hunger and only Uassu and his wife were saved. When they came down from the height they found not a single corpse or even a pile of bleached bones.

 

Legends.  Cataclysm . Brazil. Macus Indians.

 

The Macus Indians of Amazonia state that Maconen, king of the flood time repopulated the Earth after the Great Deluge.

 

The Macus or Macusi of Guyana state that after the world Deluge the two flood saviours repopulated the world by throwing stones behind them over their shoulders.

 

This is the same as the ancient Greek legends of Deucalion and Pyrrha.

 

We shall hear this odd stone throwing legend again as well from several continents. Indeed we have already heard of it. Is there anything new at all?

 

The Macusi state that the good spirit Makunaima, He who works in the night, created the heaven and earth. When he had created  plants and trees he came down from his heavenly mansion, climbed a tree, and chipped off bark with a large stone axe. The chips turned into animals of all kinds when they fell into the river at the base of the tree. Next Makunaima created man and after man had fallen asleep he awoke to find woman beside him. Later the evil spirit got more pwer on Earth so Makunaima sent a great flood. Only one man survived in a canoe and he sent a rat to see whether the flood had abated. The rat came back with a cob of maize. When the flood had subsided the man threw stones behind him which became people.

 

 Legends. Cataclysm. Brazil.  Maranon River.

 

In the region of the upper Maranon or Amazon the ancient Indians were terrified by a Deluge of hot and steaming water which poured down on the Earth, burning and scalding it all up and destroying the great forests. On earth all was dark as night for many moons. The Sun was completely hidden for days.

 

Sound familiar?

 

Legends. Deluge. Brazil.  Parrarys Indians.

 

Once upon a time the folk heard a great rumbling above and below ground. The Sun and Moon turned red, blue and yellow and the wild beasts mingled fearlessly with men. A month passed and the forebears heard a roar ing noise coming from above as well as under the ground. The sun and moon turned red. Then the ancestors saw darkness ascending from the Earth to the sky, accompanied by thunder and heavy rain which blotted out the Earth and made day into night. Some people lost themselves. Others died not knowing why everything was in such a state of confusion. The waters rose very high till the Earth was sunk beneath them and only the branches of the tallest trees stood out above the huge flood. Thither people fled for refuge and perched high among the boughs of trees. They died of cold and hunger and only Uassu and his wife were saved. When they came down from the height they found not a single corpse or even a pile of bleached bones.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Brazil. Serro do Mar.

 

The natives of the eastern coastal range of Brazil said that there were great rumblings, both above and below ground. The Sun and Stars turned red, blue, yellow, and wild beasts mingled fearlessly with men. A whole month passed and the forefathers heard a roar and saw darkness ascending from the Earth into the sky while thunder rolled terrifyingly and great rain in spouts blotted out the Earth and made day night. People fled to the trees for refuge against the rising waters, many died of hunger, and cold as they hung perched on the highest boughs.

 

Legends. Deluge. Brazil.  Sierra Parima Indians.

 

Local legends of the Sierra Parima on the border of Brazil and Venezuela states that there is a dead city there called Ma-Noah, which in the local dialect means the “Waters of Noah”. This city was supposed to have been built after the Universal Deluge.

 

There’s that name again.

 

 

One man and one woman were saved from the Deluge by taking refuge on the lofty mountains of Tamancu and after the Deluge they threw over their heads the fruits of the Mauritius palm, from the kernels of which sprang men and women.

 

In the time of the great flood, the age of water, the sea broke against the Encamadera Mountain chain and people were forced into canoes. One man and one woman were saved on the high mountain called Tamanacu on the banks of the Asiveru. After the flood as they descended the mountain grieving the destruction of mankind they heard a voice telling them to throw the fruits of the Mauritia palm over their heads behind them. Men sprang from the kernels thrown by the men and women from those thrown by the women.

 

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Brazil. Tupis Indians.

 

The Tupinamba were also known as the Tupi or Tupis. In the beginning Monau, Monan, was without beginning or end, author of all that is, seeing the ingratitude of men and their contempt for him who had made them thus joyous, withdrew from them and sent upon them Tata the divine fire which burned all that was on the surface of the Earth. He swept about the fire in such a way that in places he raised mountains and in others he dug valleys. Of all men only one alone, Irin Mage, was saved whom Monau carried into Heaven. He seeing all things destroyed said to Monau “Will thou also destroy the Heavens and their garniture? Henceforth where will be our home? Why should I live since there is none other of my kind?” Then Monau was so filled with pity that he poured a deluging rain upon the Earth, which quenched the fire and flowed on all sides forming the ocean that we call the Parana the great waters.

 

Another version of the same legend states that Monau, vexed with mankind, resolved to destroy the world with fire. But Irin Mage, a magician of might, extinguished the conflagration by a heavy rainstorm. This caused the rivers and lakes to overflow and precipitated a Great Flood.

 

The Tupi state that Monau or Monan sent down a great fire which was follwed by a great flood during the War of the Gods between Tupi (the serpent god- Sungod) and Monau, the Thundergod.

 

The Tupinamba Indians of Brazil when they were discovered venerated a series of civilizing or creator heroes. The first of these was Monan, the old or ancient, who was said to have been the creator of mankind but who then destroyed the world with flood and fire.

 

Another Tupi myth states that a powerful supernatural agency called Maire sent an inundation, Deluge, from which but a few were saved by climbing trees and hiding in caves.

 

On the east coast of South America the Tupi-Guarani have a legend of Tamandare who when the rains fell and began to cover the Earth stayed in the valley instead of going to the mountains with his companions. As the waters got higher he climbed a palm tree and ate the fruit while he waited. As the waters rose the palm tree became uprooted and he and his wife rode on it while the land, the forest and finally the mountains disappeared. God stopped the waters when they touched the sky and Tamandare who had now floated to the top of a mountain descended when he heard the beating of wings of a Heavenly Bird, a signal that the waters were abating and proceeded to repopulate the Earth.

 

Another Tupi-Guarani legend states that there were three brothers named Coem, Hermitten and Krimen. Krimen led them and they survived the Great Flood by hiding in caves high up on mountains and then climbing trees.

 

Legends. Deluge. Brazil. Tupuya or Ges Indians.

 

The Tupuya or Ges Indians of Eastern Brazil and Bolivia tell how the God Antiwar originated the Deluge and that the Waterhen fetched earth to the hills where those saved from the flood congregated so that their area of safety might be enlarged. The goddess Waterhen was also known as Saracura.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Buddhist.Visuddhi-magga.

 

This Buddhist sacred book contains a chapter on world cycles. There are three destructions. The destruction by water, the destruction by fire, the destruction by wind. After the catastrophe of the Deluge when now a long period has elapsed from the cessation of the rains a second Sun appeared. In the interim the world was enveloped by gloom. When the second Sun appears there is no distinction between day and night. An incessant heat beats upon the world. When the fifth Sun appeared the ocean gradually dried up. When the sixth Sun appeared the whole world became filled with smoke. After the lapse of another long period a seventh Sun appears and the whole world breaks into flames. The Buddhist book refers to a more ancient “Discourse on the Seven Suns”.

 

 In the Visuddhi-Magga in the chapter on world cycles it is said that there are three destructions, the destruction by water, the destruction by fire and the destruction by wind. There are also seven ages each of which is separated by a world catastrophe.

 

When a world cycle is destroyed by wind there arises in the beginning a cycle destroying great cloud. There arises a fine dust and then coarse dust and then fine sand and then coarse sand and then grit, stones up to boulders as large as mighty trees on the hillside.  Large areas crack and are thrown upwards. All the mansions of earth are destroyed in a catastrophe when worlds clash with worlds. This resembles a meteorite shower that is gathering in intensity.

 

When the world cycle is destroyed by wind the ground is also turned upside down and throws it into the sky. Areas of one hundred leagues in extent, two hundred, three hundred, five hundred leagues in extent, crack and are thrown upwards by the force of the wind and do not fall again but are blown to powder in the sky and annihilated. The Wind also does this to the mountains that encircle the Earth, which are ground to powder and destroyed. The cosmic wind blows and destroys a hundred thousand times ten million worlds. From the text on world cycles.

 

All the peaks of Mount Sineru, even those that are hundreds of leagues in height, crumble and disappear in the sky.  The flames of fire rise up and envelop Heaven.  The sixth Sun or Sun age ended.

 

Sineru has at its summit Tawrutisa, the habitation of Sekra, the supreme God from which proceed the four sacred streams running in as many contrary directions. This is similar to the description of Atlantis and its four rivers and Eden with its four rivers.

 

Buddhist scholars declare that with the beginning of the sixth World Age or Sun the whole world becomes filled with smoke and saturated with the greasiness of that smoke. There is no distinction of night and day. The gloom is caused by a cycle destroying great cloud of cosmic origin and dimensions.

 

When a world cycle ends up with the world destroyed, the ocean dried up, there is no distinction of night and day and Heavenly ambrosia serves as food.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Burma.

 

A legend from the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal off Burma states that some time after their creation men grew disobedient. In anger Puluga the creator sent a flood which covred the whole land except perhaps Saddle Peak where Puluga resided. Puluga the supreme being who has the thunder for voice and the wind for breath came down to earth to bring prosperity to man. The only survivors were two men and two women who had been in a canoe when the flood came. The waters sank and they landed but they found themselves in a sad plight. Puluga recreated birds and animals for their use but the world was still damp and without fire. The ghost of one of the people’s friends took the form of a kingfisher and tried to steal a brand form Puluga’s fire but he accidentally dropped it on the creator. Incensed Puluga hurled the brand at the bird but it missed and landed where the four flood survivors were.After the people were seated and had leisure to reflect they began to murmur against the creatort and plotted to murder him. The creator warned them away form such action and explained that men had brought the flood on themselves by their disobedience and that another such offence would likewise be met with punishment. This was the last time that the Creator spoke with men face to face.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Burma. Karen.

 

The Karen people of Burma have traditions of a global Deluge from which two brothers were saved on a raft.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Burma. Mergui Archipelago. Selung People.

 

The Selungs stated that formerly their country, now an archipelago, was a continent. One day the daughter of an evil spirit threw many rocks into the sea and thereupon the waters rose and swallowed up all of the land. Everything alive perished  except what was able to save itself on one island that remained above the waters.  The forefathers of the Selungs then practiced great magic and this caused the waters to fall and other islands to rise which the Selungs have inhabited ever since.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Burma. Shan people.

 

The Shan worshipped the Supreme Sky God Ling-lawn who was offended by the immorality of his human creations that he sent the gods to destroy the Earth. The Gods sent forth a great conflagration that scattered fire everywhere. The fire swept over the Earth and the smoke ascended into Heaven. When there were only a few men and women left Ling-lawn extinguished the worldwide fires with a worldwide flood of which only one man and one woman survived in a boat with a bag of seeds.

 

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. North American Indian.

 

There is a universal belief amongst the American Indians that if the Pole Star were to move its place then the Earth would be destroyed in a great conflagration. This belief is also held by the Lapps of Finland as well as several other cultures including the Egyptians who kept a wary eye on the Pole Star.

 

Avilla and Molina collected the traditions of the American Indians of the Pacific Coast. It is related that the Sun did not appear for five days. A cosmic collision of Stars preceded the Cataclysm. People and animals tried to escape to mountain caves. Scarcely had they reached there when the sea, breaking out of bounds following a terrifying shock, began to rise on the Pacific coast. But as the sea rose filling the valleys, the plains around the mountain of Ancasmarca rose too like a ship on the waves. During the five days that this Cataclysm lasted the Sun did not show its face and the Earth remained in darkness.

 

Several tribes insist that the ocean boiled and grew very hot. Many animals jumped into the water to save themselves but the water began to boil.

 

The Shooting Star and the firedrill set the world aflame. In the burning world one could see nothing but waves of flames, rocks were burning, ground was burning, everything was burning, great rolls and piles of smoke were rising, fire blew up towards the sky in great flames, in great sparks and brands. The great fire was blazing and roared all over the Earth. Burning rocks, earth, trees, people, everything. Water rushed in like a crowd of rivers, covered the Earth, put out the fire as it rolled on towards the south. Water rose mountain high. A celestial monster flew with a whistle in his mouth. As the monster flew forward he blew it with all his might and made a terrible noise. He came flowing and blowing. He looked like an enormous bat with wings spread. His feathers waved up and down and grew till they could touch the sky on both sides.

 

Was this a depiction of a massive comet or cosmic body?

 

The local tribes mention great clouds appearing and such a great heat came that finally the water boiled. People jumped into the streams and lakes to cool themselves off and died.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. British Columbia. Akawais Indians

 

The Akawais of British Columbia remember a period of prolonged darkness and the intense cold it caused at the time that an immense world sculpting flood occurred.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada.Chiglit Indians

 

The Chiglit Indians of Canada state that after having poured over the terrestrial disk human dwellings disappeared and the wind carried them away.  The survivors fastened several boats to one another. The waves traversed the Rocky Mountains and a great wind drove them.  Presently the moon and the earth disappeared. Men died of terrible heat and also perished in the waves. Men bewailed what had happened. Uprooted trees floated about in the waters. The men who had fastened the boats together trembled with the cold in the darkness that covered the waters. Men were enclosed under the tent without doubt.  Thereupon a man called Son of the Screech Owl threw his bow into the sea and stated that he had enough of the wind. He then threw his ear rings into the water. It was enough and the end had come.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. British Columbia. Chuckchee Indians

 

The Chuckchee Indians of coastal British Columbia remember Quikinna’qu who was the lone survivor of an island that had been transformed into a whale by the Thunderbird and which then dived down into the sea drowning all of the inhabitants to escape attack from the Thunderbird’s talons. Only Quikinna’qu survived by floating on a log to Vancouver Island where he married a native girl whose children became the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest. This legend was shared by the Chuckchee, Koryak and Kamchadal Indians.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. Dog-Rib Indians.

 

The Dog-rib Indians of the far northwest have the story of Chapawee who climbs a tree in pursuit of a squirrel until he reaches Heaven. He set a snare made of his sisters hair and caught the Sun unawares. The sky was instantly darkened and Chapawee’s family said to him that he must have done something wrong when he was aloft for we no longer enjoy the light of day. Chapawee said that he had but it was unintentional. Chapawee sent a number of animals to cut the snare but the heat was so intense that it reduced them all to ashes. At last the ground mole working in the Earth cut the snare but lost its sight and its nose and teeth have ever since been brown as if burnt.

 

This trapping of the Sun legend is even found in Polynesia.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Canada. British Columbia. Gitskan Indians.

 

The Gitskan Indians of northern British Columbia remember the land of Dzilke also known as Dimlahamid which was destroyed by earthquakes and then submerged under the sea. This was the home of their ancestors who after the Deluge arrived on Vancouver Island around  1,500 BC. The ocean had risen in one mighty swell and submerged the city. This myth was well known throughout North America. Was this a lost Pacific Ocean civilization?

 

Legends. Deluge. Canada. Queen Charlotte Islands. Haida Indians.

 

The Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands retain the tradition of great sages descending from the Stars on discs of fire. The Haida also have the legends of the Thunderbird, the gods traveling through the sky on golden discs, the war between the Serpent and the Bird, the great flood and that the gods originally came from the stars. The Haida remember that great sages descended from the sky on discs of fire.

 

Before the world wide flood their ancestors lived in a magnificent city in a distant land. Long ago the great chief of the Heavens decide to punish this great village. He caused the rivers to rise and soon all creeks and rivers all over the country began to swell. Some of the people escaped to the hills whilst others escaped in large canoes. Still the waters rose higher until only the high mountain peaks showed above the waters. When the great flood was over the lost stone anchors of these huge canoes were found on top of the mountains where the Haida ancestors had anchored their canoes.

 

Archeologists state that the Haida arrived in the Queen Charlotte Islands around twelve thousand years ago.

 

The Haida remember Nammu the giant whale upon whose back mankind originally lived until Nammu sunk under the sea during savage attacks from the sky. Many people drowned but there were survivors who arrived on the Pacific coast of British Columbia and became the ancestors of the Haida.

 

The Haida also state that before the deluge they lived in the world’s largest village. Survivors of this deluge escaped it in large canoes which took them to a new land where they landed on a mountain.

 

The Haida had a god that  restrained the buckling of the earth that was the Sacred-One –Standing-and-Moving who is the earth supporter  who rests himself upon a copper box like a boat.  From his breast  rises the Pillar of the Heavens extending to the sky. His movements are the cause of earthquakes. If he ever lost control of the Pillar of Heaven there would be earthquakes, the sky would fall and this would be followed by a worldwide flood.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. British Columbia. Kamchadal  Indians

 

The Chuckchee Indians of coastal British Columbia remember Quikinna’qu who was the lone survivor of an island that had been transformed into a whale by the Thunderbird and which then dived down into the sea drowning all of the inhabitants to escape attack from the Thunderbird’s talons. Only Quikinna’qu survived by floating on a log to Vancouver Island where he married a native girl whose children became the Indian tribes of the Pacific Northwest.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Canada. British Columbia. Kaska Indians.

 

The Kaska Indians of British Columbia relate that once a long time ago the sky was very close to the Earth. The sky was pushed up and the weather changed. The Sun after being stopped on its way across the firmament became very small and small it has remained since then.

 

The Kaska state that a great flood came and people survived it on rafts and canoes. Darkness and high winds came which scattered the vessels and when the flood subsided people landed at the nearest land and lived where they had landed. Thus they were scattered over all of the world and when they met again long afterwards they were different tribes and spoke different languages.

 

 

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. British Columbia. Koryak Indians

 

The Chuckchee Indians of coastal British Columbia remember Quikinna’qu who was the lone survivor of an island that had been transformed into a whale by the Thunderbird and which then dived down into the sea drowning all of the inhabitants to escape attack from the Thunderbird’s talons. Only Quikinna’qu survived by floating on a log to Vancouver Island where he married a native girl whose children became the Indian tribes of the

Pacific Northwest.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. British Columbia. Kutenai Indians

 

The Kutenai of Canada have a legend of a great fire that spread over the earth when the sun was struck by an arrow. Coyote was envious and shoots the sun at sunrise. His arrows caught fire, fell down and set fire to the grass. The Kutenai still fear that  the world will come to an end and  watch for Polaris, the North Star, and should it not be in place then the end of the world is imminent.

 

The Kutenai’s neighbors, the Blackfoot, called them the Kutenai which means “White Men”. The Kutenai at times have wavy hair, light brown skin and slight beards. The neighboring Okanogan called them the “skelsa’ulk”, the water people.

 

Legends. Cataclysm . Canada. British Columbia. Vancouver Island. Kwakiutl Indians.

 

The civilizer of the Kwakiutl Indians was Q’o’mogwa, the “Copper Maker” who made long sea voyages to the land of the Ancestors in the Pacific Ocean, beyond the west where the sun sets. Q’o’mogwa had a magical ship that took him to all parts of the world and was a self paddling copper canoe.

 

A long time ago a flood covered everything but three mountains. One near Bella-Bella, one northeast of there and a hill called Ko-Kwus on Don Island which rose from the flood to stay above the water. Nearly all people floated on logs and trees in different directions.Some people had small canoes with anchors and managed to land near their homes when the waters subsided. Of the Hailtzuk only two men and one woman survived along with a dog. One of the men landed at Ka-pa, one at another village site and the woman and dog at Bella-Bella. The Bella-Bella Indians descended from the marriage of the woman and the dog. There was not fresh water when the flood subsided and Raven showed people where they could dig for a little water and how chewing on cedar brought water into their mouths.This sustained them until a great rain came which filled the rivers and lakes.

 

The flood hero of the Kwakiutl was Q’a’mtalat who died during the deluge while successfully saving his children by placing them on the summit of a high mountain.

 

The Kwakiutl stated that when the great flood subsuded there was no fresh water to be found. The people were nigh on dying from thirst and chewed plants for moisture. Then a great rain came that  was very heavy and very long which filled the valleys with freshwater lakes and rivers which have remained there ever since.

 

Legends. Cataclysm. Canada. British Columbia. Green River. Lillooet Indians.

 

A great rain came making the rivers and lakes  overflow the country. A man named Ntcinemkin took refuge with his family in his very large canoe. The others fled to the mountains but the flood rose to cover them too. The people begged Ntcinemkin to save their children but he didn’t have room enough for all of them so he took one child from each family alternating males and females. The flood covred all land except the peak of Split Mountain, Ncikato, on the west side of lower Lillooet Lake. When the waters dropped the canoe grounded on Smimelc Mountain and each stage of the waters dropping is marked by a terrace on the side of the mountain.