Myths and Legends of our Own Land, by Charles M. Skinner, , at
sacred-texts.com The county called Kern, in California, lies
mostly in a circular valley, and long, long before the evil one
had created the pale face it was the home of a nation advanced
in arts, who worshipped the Great Spirit in a building with a
lofty dome. But the bravery and wisdom of one of their own
people made them forget the Manitou and idolize the man who
seemed the most like him. They brought him to the temple and
prayed and sang to him, and held their sacred dances there, so
angering God that he rent the earth and swallowed them. Nothing
was seen of this people for years after, but their stone tools
were left on neighboring hill-sides. Manitou even poured water
into the valley, and great creatures sported in the inland sea.
But, ere long, he repented his anger, and, in a fit of
impatience at what he had done, he threw up quantities of earth
that smoked with heat, and thus created the Sierra Nevada, while
he broke away the hills at the