ANOTHER LEGEND OF TIS-SA´-ACK.
Tis-sa´-ack and her husband traveled from a far-off country, and entered the Valley footsore and weary. She walked ahead, carrying a great conical burden-basket, which was supported by a band across her forehead, and was filled with many things. He followed after, carrying a rude staff in his hand and a roll of woven skin blankets over his shoulder. They had come across the mountains and were very thirsty, and they hurried to reach the Valley, where they knew there was water. The woman was still far in advance when she reached the Lake Ah-wei´-yah [Mirror Lake], and she dipped up the water in her basket and drank long and deep. She was so thirsty that she even drank up all the water in the lake and drained it dry before her husband arrived. And because the lake was dry there came a terrible drouth in the Valley, and the soil was dried up and nothing grew.
And the husband was much displeased because the woman had drunk up all the water and left none for him, and he became so angry that he forgot the customs of his people and beat the woman with his staff. She ran away from him, but he followed her and beat her yet more. And she wept, and in her anger she turned and reviled her husband, and threw her basket at him. And while they were in this attitude, one facing the other, they were turned into stone for their wickedness, and there they still retain. The upturned basket lies beside the husband, where the woman threw it, and the woman's face is tear stained with long dark lines trailing down.
Half-Dome is the woman Tis-sa´-ack and North Dome is her husband, while beside the latter is a smaller dome which is still called Basket Dome to this day.
LEGEND OF THE GRIZZLY BEAR.
The significance and derivation of the name "Yosemite," as given by old Tenei´-ya, chief of the tribe, have been explained in another chapter, but there is also a legendary account of its origin, which may be of interest.
Long, long ago, when the remote ancestors of the Yosemite Indians dwelt peacefully in the valley called Ah-wah´-nee [Yosemite Valley], one of the stalwart young braves of the tribe went early one morning to spear some fish in the lake Ah-wei´-yah [Mirror Lake]. Before reaching his destination he was confronted by a huge grizzly bear, who appeared from behind one of the enormous boulders in that vicinity, and savagely disputed his passage.
Photograph by Foley.
EL CAPITAN (TO-TAU-KON-NU´-LA), 3,300 Feet.
Indians believe that this great rock grew from a small boulder. See "Legend of the Tul-tok´-a-na."