Yosemite > Library > Dawn of the World > Note >

Note

The accompanying illustrations are from paintings made expressly for the present collection of Myths by Edwin W. Deming of New York and Charles J. Hittell of San Francisco.

Of the stories here published, only a few are complete, and several consist of the merest fragments. All however are of ethnologic value, for even those expressing a single idea may prove of service in tracing relationship. In preparing them for the press my aim has been to reproduce them in simple English, adhering as closely as possible to the form in which they were told me by the Indians. Certain brief passages and repetitions have been omitted; nothing has been added.

All the Indian words, whether tribal names or names of objects, are written in simple phonetic English. The letter a, when unmarked, has the sound of a in fat; a long (ā) has the sound of a in fate; and the ah sound is always spelled, ah.

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/dawn_of_the_world/05.html