Also, according to Dixon, “Thunder is thought to be a man or boy of miraculous abilities. He eats trees chiefly. Had it not been for Mosquito, however, Thunder would have preyed on people. Mosquito deceived him, and refused to let Thunder know whence the blood and meat he brought came. Had Thunder found out that Mosquito obtained these from people, they, and not the trees, would have been his prey.” To Yana, thunder was a mythical dog originally: “... a child dug from the ground who accompanied Flint Boy to the west in the guise of a dog. He remained behind in the black storm clouds capping Bally Mountain, a high peak west of Redding, whence his terrific bark could be heard as thunder.”
Atsugewi and mountain Maidu, fearing thunder and lightning, talked to them and told them to go away. Old men in the latter tribe carried burning sticks in a circle to help drive them away. Atsugewi placed skins, preferably raccoon, on sticks held up in the air. They would wave these around and call aloud words to the effect that there are: “Too many rattlesnakes here, go some other place!”. Not only that, but frequently during a thunder storm, especially if violent, they would run into open areas, and sometimes even jump into water. Lightning was thought to be the weapon of the old man, Thunder Person, mentioned above. It came out of his mouth. Apparently Thunder Person was thought to assume the form of a raccoon on occasion. Maidu also believed that it would thunder whenever a person was bitten by a rattlesnake or when a great man died or when a woman had a miscarriage.
Whirlwinds were generally regarded as evil omens which sickened people with bad dreams and captured peoples’ shadows or spirits. Indians tried to dodge or hide from them. They spoke informally to whirlwinds. Mountain Maidu said that they put pains into people. Whenever possible, Maidu smoked tobacco when talking to whirlwinds. Atsugewi threw dirt and water at the dust devils in an effort to destroy them. Yana did likewise, but they did not believe that spirits were inside of whirlwinds.
Chapter XXXII
EARTHQUAKE BELIEFS
Lassen Peak and its vicinity are subject to many local earthquakes today. The geologic nature of the area indicates that this has been so for thousands of years. Lassen Peak was known to the Atsugewi as Wicuhirdiki, which has no meaning. The area was thought to be inhabited by a powerful spirit, but Garth notes that there seemed to be no fear about hunting and fishing there, and the Indians apparently utilized the hot springs medicinally. Garth recorded one pertinent bit of Atsugewi (Apwaruge) myth as follows:
“There once was an earthquake that shook this country up and made those boulders out on the flat shake. It shook so much that it made people sick. There was a very old woman whose hair was almost green. She picked up a rock and pounded it on another rock while she sang. She was praying for the world to stop shaking. Soon she got an answer, and the shaking ceased. Many people were killed. Those who lived in canyons were covered by rocks that were shaken down.”
Yana interpretation of the perplexing and frightening phenomenon of earthquakes is tied in, as we might expect, with mythology as follows, to quote from Sapir and Spier:
“A series of fabulous malignant beings were conceived as dwelling in certain localities. In the Sacramento River were water grizzlies (hat-en-na) which pulled fishermen down to devour (them).... They were spotted black and white, like dogs. Somewhere (not specified) was a serpent (e-k-u) which killed people. Near Terry’s mill were believed to dwell malignant little beings (yo-yautsgi), like little children. They often enticed people and ate them up. At a marshy spot and spring on Round Mountain, called Ha-mupdi (?), dwelled a being called Mo-s-ugi-yauna who caused the ground to shake when he was displeased.
“Once Mo-s-ugi-yauna made a little baby of himself and put himself in the road of two women. One of them took it up and in sport gave it one of her nipples to suck, though she was really without milk. The baby kept sucking until the girl tried to take her breast away, but without success. The baby kept sucking at her, sucked up her flesh, and at last sucked up her whole body.
“This being was displeased if strangers came near and talked anything but Yana. Once some Yreka Indians came and talked Chinook jargon at that place, whereupon the earth began to shake violently. At last the owner of the place cried out to Mo-s-ugi-yauna that it was not he who had thus spoken and begged him ‘in the doctor way’ to stop, whereupon he did.”
Chapter XXXIII
CREATION BELIEFS AND OTHER LEGENDS
All local Indians believed in a mythical age when animals were persons and talked to each other. Both Atsugewi and mountain Maidu thought that floods played a part in the past scheme of things before people were created by gifted animal ancestors.