Tuina and Machperkami (Curtin’s Yana account)

Overview

Jupka commands a splendid feathered figure at the eastern edge of the sky to announce his rising with a shout. He names him Tuina and names his accompanying dog Machperkami. The traveller has two small but powerful dogs and seeks a good companion because he is afraid during daylight journeys. He makes the chosen dog still smaller and binds it beneath the hair on top of his head.

Tuina has no brightness before he is dressed, armed and accompanied by his dog. Once prepared, he illuminates the world and travels west along the road Bohkuina has made in the sky. At the ocean his approaching heat drives the water grizzlies toward the mountains. When he plunges in, the water boils up and rolls over the shore, carrying ocean shells onto land.

His return follows another road: Jupka earlier turned the earth over and made a smooth passage beneath it from west to east. Tuina descends through the seabed, travels this lower route, rests in the east and rises again. The account distinguishes the two road-makers and does not assign Machperkami a battle or rescue that the episode never describes. Jupka’s subsequent making of the Yana follows this establishment of the Sun’s regular work.

Origins & earliest records

Jeremiah Curtin, Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind (Boston: Little, Brown,1898). Collection notes486–487 distinguish the first nine narratives as Wintu and the later thirteen as Yana. Curtin describes California collecting in1895 and prior publication of these narratives in The Sun. The Yana section begins at281; these selected chapters do not name individual tellers.

Records & interpretation

Complete The First Battle in the World and the Making of the Yana, pp. 467–484, read through the final instructions. This is Curtin’s English presentation of a Yana origin narrative, with no individual teller named in the chapter. Mythic landscape explanations are not presented as archaeological or geological findings.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Creation Myths of Primitive America

   Jeremiah Curtin, collector and English presenter; individual Yana teller unnamed here · 1898

   The First Battle in the World and the Making of the Yana, pp. 467–484; collection provenance pp. 486–487.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Primary textCurtin1898 digitised primary collectionResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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