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Core Concepts of Accounting

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Chapter 9
Introduction to Internal Control Systems
Discussion Questions
9-1. The primary provisions for the 1992 COSO Report and the 2004 Report are outlined
in Figure 9-1.

Business and operating environment have change dramatically since the release of the first
COSO Report. The major drivers of change were globalization, technological innovation, and
increase in overall business complexity. On May 14, 2013, COSO released an updated version
of its Internal Control—Integrated Framework. The new framework has several important
changes, it:
• Codifies principles that support five components of internal control and explicitly states 17
principles representing fundamental concepts associated with five components of internal
control.
• Clarifies the role of objective-setting in internal control.
• Incorporates increased relevance of information technology.
• Reflects on enhanced discussion of governance concepts.
• Expands the reporting category of objectives.
• Enhances consideration of anti-fraud expectations.
• Increases focus on non-financial reporting objectives.
For further information review http://www.coso.org/documents/coso%20mcnallytransition%20article-
final%20coso%20version%20proof_5-31-13.pdf

9-2. The primary provisions of the original version of COBIT, as well as the current
version (5), are outlined in Figure 9-1.

9-3. COSO stands for Committee of Sponsoring Organizations, which was established by
the Treadway Commission to work on a common definition for internal control. COBIT stands
for Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology. It was a project undertaken by
the Information Systems Audit and Control Foundation that involved an extensive examination
of the internal control area.

An important role played by COSO in the internal control area was to come up with a definition
of internal control along with a description of five interrelated components (control environment,
risk assessment, control activities, information and communication, and monitoring) that should
be included within an internal control system. Regarding COBIT and its role in the internal
control area, COBIT adapted its definition of internal control based on the COSO report. COBIT
(as well as COSO) emphasizes that people at every level of an organization are a very
important part of the organization’s internal control system.

COSO is an important framework that management of organizations might use to help ensure
that they have effective corporate governance. This is the case because the COSO framework
presents criteria to evaluate an organization’s internal control systems. According to SOX,
Section 404, management must now document the effectiveness of their internal controls and
then issue a report that accompanies the company’s annual report. Similarly, COBIT is used by
managers to ensure effective IT governance.

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 1
9-4. The control environment establishes the tone of a company, influencing the control
awareness of the company’s employees. It is the foundation for all the other internal control
components. Risk assessment recognizes the fact that every organization faces risks to its
success and that risks which appear to affect the accomplishment of a company’s goals should
be identified, analyzed, and acted upon. Control activities reflect the policies and procedures
that help ensure that management directives are carried out. Regarding information and
communication, the former refers to the accounting system, which includes the methods and
records used to record, process, summarize, and report a company’s transactions as well as
maintain accountability for the company’s assets, liabilities, and equity. The latter,
communication, refers to providing a company’s personnel with an understanding of their roles
and responsibilities in regard to internal control over financial reporting. Finally, monitoring is
the process that assesses the quality of internal control performance over time. Performance
reports prepared on a timely basis contribute to the monitoring component of an internal control
system.

Concerning which component is the most important, this is a matter of opinion. Most students
indicate that the control environment is the most important component of an internal control
system because, as mentioned in the textbook, it is the foundation for all the other internal
control components, providing discipline and structure.

9-5. Accountants should be concerned that their organization’s financial resources are
protected from activities such as loss, waste, or theft. To protect organizational assets, an
internal control system must be developed and implemented within a company’s AIS as well as
within other parts of the company’s system. In addition to safeguarding assets, an efficient and
effective internal control system should also:
1) Check the accuracy and reliability of accounting data
2) Promote operational efficiency
3) Encourage adherence to prescribed managerial policies.
Accountants should be concerned that all of these objectives are accomplished by their
organization’s internal control system.

9-6. Preventive control procedures are designed and implemented before an activity is
performed to prevent some potential problem (e.g., the inaccurate handling of cash receipts)
from occurring that relates to the activity. Detective control procedures are designed and
implemented to provide feedback to management regarding whether or not operational
efficiency and adherence to prescribed managerial policies have been achieved. In other
words, preventive controls should be developed prior to operating activities taking place and
detective controls should be developed to evaluate if operating efficiency and adherence to
policies of management have occurred after operating activities have taken place. Corrective
control procedures come into play based on the findings from the detective control procedures.
That is, through detective controls, corrective control procedures should be developed to identify
the cause of an organization’s problem, correct any difficulties or errors resulting from the
problem, and modify the organization’s processing system so that future occurrences of the
problem will hopefully be eliminated or at least minimized.

Examples of each type of controls are as follows:


Preventive: scenario planning, risk management, segregation of duties, controlling access to
assets
Detective: duplicate check of calculations, bank reconciliations, monthly trial balances
Corrective: backup copies of transactions and master files, training personnel to perform
their jobs

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 2
9-7. Competent employees are definitely important to an organization's internal control
system because employees will be working continually with the organization's various asset
resources. The employees will be, for example, handling cash, acquiring and disbursing
inventory, and operating expensive production equipment. If the organization has incompetent
employees, there is a strong likelihood that inefficient use of the firm's asset resources will
result. This inefficiency will lead to overall operating inefficiency within the organization, thereby
preventing the adherence to management's prescribed policies.

9-8. The “separation of duties” element of an organization’s internal control system


means that, for instance, employees who are given responsibility for the physical custody of
specific company assets (e.g., handling cash or inventory) should not also be given
responsibility for the record-keeping functions relating to the assets (e.g., recording cash or
inventory transactions in the company's journals and ledgers). Otherwise, an employee could
misappropriate company assets and then attempt to conceal this fraud by falsifying the
accounting records.

Through the separation of duties, one employee acts as a check on the work of another
employee. Thus, if an employee attempts to embezzle cash from a customer payment, but
does not have access to the accounts receivable subsidiary ledger to cover up this theft, he or
she would likely be detected. The other employee who performs the record-keeping activities
for accounts receivable would not have recorded the customer's payment since it was
embezzled by the employee handling cash. Consequently, the customer would complain to the
company upon receiving a subsequent billing statement which would not reflect his or her recent
payment. Upon investigating this complaint, the dishonest employee would likely be caught. It
should be noted, however, that through collusion among the employees handling assets and
recording assets, irregularities are usually not detected as quickly as when individuals work
alone (as described earlier).

In addition to detecting irregularities, separation of duties can also be helpful in detecting


accidental errors. If the same employee performs all accounting functions related to a specific
activity (e.g., handling inventory items and recording the inventory transactions), an accidental
human error by this employee, such as incorrectly recording an inventory transaction, may not
be detected. However, with two or more employees handling the accounting functions relating
to a specific activity, an accidental human error made by one employee should be detected by
another employee involved with the same activity.

9-9. Many organizations have a large volume of cash disbursement transactions. In


order to detect any errors and irregularities relating to cash disbursements, a good audit trail for
cash issuances is essential. If an organization uses both a voucher system and prenumbered
cheques for cash disbursement transactions, its audit trail of cash outlays can easily be traced.
The use of prenumbered cheques for making authorized cash disbursements enables a
company to maintain accountability over its issued cheques and its unissued cheques. After the
issued cheques clear the bank in a particular month and are returned to the organization with
the monthly bank statement, these cheques represent evidence of the actual cash
disbursements that were made. Two advantages of employing a voucher system along with
prenumbered cheques are (1) the number of cash disbursement cheques that are written is
reduced, since several invoices to the same vendor can be included on one disbursement
voucher, and (2) the disbursement voucher is an internally generated document; thus, each
voucher can be prenumbered to simplify the tracking of all payables, thereby contributing to an
effective audit trail over cash disbursements.

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 3
Sometimes, prenumbered cheques are not efficient for an organization to use. For example, for
expenditures of small dollar amounts (e.g., spending a few dollars to have the company
president's car washed) cash payment might be a better choice. Because of the time and effort
involved in processing cheques, it is normally more efficient to use a petty cash fund for making
various small, miscellaneous expenditures. However, to exercise good internal control over the
petty cash fund's use, one employee (called the petty cash custodian) should be given the
responsibility for handling petty cash transactions.

9-10. Under the cost-benefit concept, an analysis is performed on each potential control
procedure (i.e., compare the expected costs of designing, implementing, and operating each
control to its expected benefits). Only those controls whose benefits are expected to be greater
than, or at least equal to, the expected costs should be implemented into the company’s
system. Cost-effective controls are those whose anticipated benefits exceed their anticipated
costs.

Ideal control procedures (i.e., those that would reduce the risk to practically zero of any
undetected errors and irregularities occurring) may be impractical for a company because the
expected costs may be larger than their expected benefits. The implementation of controls
whose costs are expected to exceed the controls benefits would not contribute to a company’s
overall operating efficiency. In these cases, control procedures which are less than ideal for
detecting errors and irregularities (but whose expected benefits exceed the expected costs)
should be implemented within the company’s internal control system.

From the standpoint of evaluating a company’s internal control system, a performance report is
a type of report that provides information to management on how efficiently and effectively its
company’s internal controls are functioning. Based on accurately prepared performance
reports, management receives feedback on the success or failure of the previously implemented
package of internal controls. The preparation of a performance report is a detective control
procedure.

Performance reports should be an essential element within a company’s internal control system
because they are the major means of communicating to management regarding the actual
operations of the company’s internal control systems. For specific controls that are not
operating the way they were originally planned, as indicated by a performance report,
management can then take action to correct identified problems.

Timely information to managers, regarding internal control problems, is critical so that mangers
can initiate action to correct the problems. Thus, performance reports should be prepared on a
timely basis in order that a minimum period elapses between the occurrence of operational
problems with certain controls and the feedback to management on these poorly functioning
controls.

9-11. Discussion question 9-5 identifies a number of reasons why accountants are so
concerned about their organizations’ internal control systems. However, the managers of these
organizations are particularly concerned about the effectiveness and efficiency of internal
controls due to the SOX legislation. Under Section 302 of this legislation, the CEO and CFO are
legally responsible for establishing and maintaining internal controls in the organization. In
addition, they must have evaluated the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls and
submitted their report to the external auditors, who evaluate the sufficiency of those internal

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 4
controls. Further, when we talk about the control environment of an organization, we know that
management’s support of a strong internal control system is critical.

9-12. COSO’s 2008 Guidance on Monitoring Internal Control Systems (COSO’s Monitoring
Guidance) was developed to clarify the monitoring component of internal control. It does not
replace the guidance first issued in the COSO Framework or in COSO’s 2006 Internal Control
over Financial Reporting — Guidance for Smaller Public Companies (COSO’s 2006 Guidance).
Rather, it expounds on the basic principles contained in both documents, guiding organizations
in implementing effective and efficient monitoring.

To read the entire document “Guidance on Monitoring Internal Control Systems”, go to this site:
http://www.coso.org/documents/COSO_Guidance_On_Monitoring_Intro_online1.pdf

Problems
9-13.

Weaknesses Recommended Improvements


1. Raw materials may be 1. Raw materials should be removed from the
removed from the storeroom storeroom only upon written authorization from an
upon oral authorization from authorized production foreman. The authorization
one of the production forms should be prenumbered and accounted for,
foremen. list quantities and job or production number, and be
signed and dated.

2. Alden's practice of monthly 2. A perpetual inventory system should be established


physical inventory counts does under the control of someone other than the
not compensate for the lack of storekeepers. The system should include quantities
a perpetual inventory system. and values for each item of raw material. Total
Quantities on hand at the end inventory value per the perpetual records should be
of one month may not be compared with the general ledger at reasonable
sufficient to last until the next intervals. When physical counts are taken, they too
month's count. If the company should be compared to the perpetual records.
has taken this into account in Where differences occur, they should be
establishing reorder levels, investigated, and if the perpetual records are in
then it is carrying too large an error, they should be adjusted. Also, controls
investment in inventory. should be established over obsolescence of stored
materials.

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 5
3. Raw materials are purchased 3. Requests for purchases of raw materials should
at a predetermined reorder come from the production department management
level and in predetermined and be based on production schedules and
quantities. Since production quantities on hand per the perpetual records.
levels may often vary during
the year, quantities ordered
may be either too small or too
great for the current
production demands.

4. The accounts payable clerk 4. The purchasing function should be centralized in a


handles both the purchasing separate department. Prenumbered purchase
function and payment of orders should originate from and be controlled by
invoices. This is not a this department. A copy of the purchase order
satisfactory separation of should be sent to the storeroom clerks.
duties. Consideration should be given as to whether the
storeroom clerks’ copy should show quantities.

5. Raw materials are always 5. The purchasing department should be required to


purchased from the same obtain competitive bids on all purchases over a
vendor. specified amount.

6. There is no receiving 6. A receiving department should be established.


department or receiving Personnel in this department should count or weigh
report. For proper separation all goods received and prepare prenumbered
of duties, the individuals receiving reports. These reports should be signed,
responsible for receiving dated, and controlled. Copies should be sent to the
should be separate from the accounting department, purchasing department, and
storeroom clerks. storeroom.

7. There is no inspection 7. An inspection department should be established to


department. Since high cost inspect goods as they are received. Prenumbered
electronic components are inspection reports should be prepared and
usually required to meet accounted for. Copies of these reports should be
certain specifications, they sent to the accounting department.
should be tested for these
requirements when received.

9-14.

a. The separation of duties is meant to safeguard assets; in this case, cash receipts.
b. Signature plates are used to authenticate cheques. Keeping them secure is a means of
preventing their unauthorized use.
c. Matching the vendor invoice with a receiving report (or similar document) ensures payment
for goods or services actually received.
d. Separating these functions helps ensure payment only for legitimate obligations of the
organization.
e. This procedure would help ensure that disbursements are made only for authorized
purchases.
f. Prenumbered documents have to be securely stored if this preventive control is to be
effective.

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 6
g. Using an imprest or special account for payroll limits the loss due to incorrectly printed
cheques associated with each period’s total payroll.
h. Separation of functions prevents one person from diverting cash assets and subsequently
concealing the wrongdoing.
i. Cheque protectors use a number of methods which make it difficult to successfully change
the cheque amount.
j. Both the surprise counts and the knowledge of their likelihood deter the unauthorized use of
cash.
k. Approved vendor lists help prevent unauthorized purchases (irregularities or embezzlement
of assets).
l. Such separation of duties helps prevent unauthorized purchases.

9-15.

a) As a member of the company’s management, you would hopefully reject the control
recommendations. Specific internal controls should not be implemented into a company’s
system unless the anticipated benefits from the controls are expected to exceed the
anticipated costs of the controls. In the case of Sandra’s recommendations, it is obvious
that the costs to operate these suggested controls would exceed the benefits from having
the controls. The maximum monthly benefit from Sandra’s recommended controls would be
the $350 estimated monthly loss that could be eliminated; however, to achieve this benefit, a
separate room for storing supplies would have to be used and an employee would have to
be assigned the full-time job of supervising the issuance of supplies. The costs of using a
separate room and having an employee work full-time in handling office supplies would
definitely be much greater than the $350 estimated monthly loss that could be eliminated.

A couple of possible control procedures that the company might wish to implement to
reduce the monthly loss from employee theft of office supplies are mentioned below.

b) Rather than storing the supplies on shelves at the back of the office facility whereby
employees have easy access to these supplies, they could be locked in a cabinet. An
authorized company employee (such as a secretary) would be given the responsibility for
issuing supplies when requested by various employees. The authorized employee in
charge of the supplies would have this new job responsibility along with his or her existing
job responsibilities. When an individual needs office supplies, he or she would go to the
authorized employee's desk and indicate the request. The employee in charge of supplies
would then unlock the cabinet and issue the requested supplies. The person receiving the
supplies would have to sign a supplies-received voucher, which serves as evidence of the
specific supplies issued.

Another suggestion might be to use a separate room for storing the supplies (as suggested
by Sandra). This room would be kept locked throughout the day except for possibly one
hour each day. Company employees would be made aware of the specific time every day
during which the supply room is open. As a result of this procedure, an employee would
not be used full-time in issuing the supplies. Rather, the employee assigned the
responsibility for supervising the issuance of supplies could still perform his or her other job
functions throughout the day. Approximately one hour each day away from his or her other
job functions would be required to issue office supplies. As in the preceding suggestion,
each person receiving supplies would have to sign a supplies-received voucher.

9-16.

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 7
1. Most students believe that Ron Mitchell’s method of stealing cash receipts will be detected
by the movie theatre's manager assuming that the manager uses a few internal control
procedures.

First, the tickets issued by Ron to theatre patrons should be prenumbered and controlled by
the manager. At the beginning of Ron's work shift, he should be made accountable for a
specific quantity of prenumbered tickets and not have access to any other tickets. At the
end of Ron's work shift, the manager should count the total number of ticket-halves that he
has accumulated from customers who have entered the theatre. From multiplying the
selling price per ticket by the number of ticket-halves in his possession, the manager can
determine the total cash receipts that should have been collected by Ron. If there is more
than one price for tickets, such as children prices and adult prices, the differently
priced-tickets can be colour-coded to enable the manager to compute the total cash
receipts that should have been collected. The manager can then count the total actual cash
that Ron collected during his work shift. (Of course, the amount of change fund that Ron
was provided at the start of his shift should be subtracted from his total cash.) Through this
procedure, the manager can determine if the actual cash receipts collected by Ron are
equal to the cash receipts that should have been collected (based on the manager's
accumulated ticket-halves). The cash receipts that were pocketed by Ron should thus be
detected, since the manager's count of actual cash receipts would fall short of the cash
receipts that should have been collected.

2. An additional control procedure that the theatre manager may want to implement is to
periodically observe Ron while he is performing his work functions. This procedure should
take place without Ron being aware that he is being observed. If, as a result of observing
Ron's work activities, the manager is suspicious of irregular acts, he can watch Ron even
closer until his suspicions are fully confirmed.

9-17.
a. Cost-benefit analysis:

Without Control With Control Net Expected


Procedure Procedure Difference

Cost of reproducing production $12,000 $12,000


cost data
Risk of data errors 16% 2%
Reprocessing cost expected $ 1,920 $ 240 $1,680
($12,000 * risk)
Cost of validation control $0 $ 800 ($ 800)
procedure
(an incremental cost)
Net estimated benefit from $ 880
validation control procedure

b. Management should implement the data validation control procedure because of the $880
net estimated benefit that is projected with this procedure.

Case Analyses

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 8
9-18. Manitoba Menswear (Risk Assessment and Control Procedures)

1. (a) The risk is that merchandise is stolen.


(b) Shoplifting is a very large problem for retailers. There should be better inventory
controls. These might include closed circuit cameras, tags that are removed at the end
of the sales process, and security personnel.

2. (a) The risk is that stolen merchandise (perhaps at the same two stores in point #4) is being
returned for cash.
(b) Returns should require a sales receipt. The store may also consider a policy of allowing
returns for merchandise credit only.

3. (a) The risk is that the store is losing income.


(b) Either revenues are down or cost of sales has increased. Management needs to inspect
these numbers closely to see where the problem lies. At least part of it could be
attributable to poor inventory control.

4. (a) The risk is that cash was not deposited.


(b) This can easily be controlled by requiring daily reconciliations by an employee not
involved in receiving or depositing cash.

5. (a) The risk is that cash was not collected from customers.
(b) The employee should be reprimanded. Either all cheques or cheques exceeding a
specific dollar amount should be approved by someone other than the salesperson.

6. (a) The risk is that petty cash was pilfered.


(b) There should be a custodian over petty cash who has sole responsibility for it. The
custodian should never disburse cash without obtaining a receipt.

9-19. Cuts-n-Curves Athletic Club (Analyzing Internal Controls)

Weaknesses Recommended Improvements

1. The employee at the desk could 1. There needs to be some separation of duties.
allow friends to enter at no There could be another person at the front desk
charge. where the visitor completes the waiver form and
obtains a daily pass. The first employee would
then require a pass and would not handle cash.
(Note - this may be cost prohibitive)

2. The employee at the desk could 2. The same control as #1.


pocket cash.

3. The cash receipts are not 3. The cash receipts should be kept in a file. They
controlled. should also be sequentially numbered.

4. There may be many different 4. There should be a log of employees and their
desk employees throughout the working hours. They need to sign in and out.
day. If cash is missing, there

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 9
will be no accountability.

5. There does not appear to be a 5. Someone other than the accountant and the desk
procedure for comparing the employees should periodically compare the cash
cash receipts journal entry and receipts journal entries, bank deposit slips, and
bank deposit with the cash cash receipts kept on file.
receipts given to employees at
the desk.

9-20. Emerson Department Store (Control Suggestions to Strengthen Payroll


System)

1. The use of currency rather than cheques for paying employees makes it essential that
effective separation of duties exist in both the payroll preparation and the payroll distribution
functions.

Regarding payroll preparation, Morris is responsible for submitting payroll information to the
computer centre for data processing. Therefore, Morris should not be involved in the work
of placing currency in each employee's pay envelope. Another company accountant and a
secretary could perform this function. Also, the individuals responsible for placing currency
in employees pay envelopes should be provided with the exact amount of currency
necessary to cover the total net pay for all employees. Using the information from the
payroll register, each employee's gross wages, individual deductions, and net pay should be
printed on the outside of the employee's pay envelope. This information could be prepared
by the computer in the form of an individual printed label for each employee, which would
then be affixed to the employee's envelope. The two employees would then insert in each
wage earner's envelope the correct amount of currency.

Regarding payroll distribution, the completed pay envelopes should not be given to the
department managers for distribution to their employees because these managers are
involved in the payroll record-keeping functions (e.g., the managers submit their employees’
time cards to Morris). Rather, an individual who has no other payroll-related duties should
be designated as paymaster and be responsible for distributing pay envelopes. At pre-
established times on Monday afternoon, pay envelopes should be distributed to the
employees from a central payroll window. The employees would line up at this window and
upon each employee showing proper identification (such as a driver's license or social
insurance card), he or she would be issued a pay envelope by the paymaster. The
employee should also be required to count immediately his or her currency within the
envelope and then sign his or her name on the payroll register. The employee's signature
verifies that he or she received the correct amount of currency in the pay envelope. Any
unclaimed pay envelopes should be returned to the accounting department and should be
locked in the company safe until the employees come in person and sign for their
envelopes.

Regarding all company employees involved in the payroll process, a further control would be
to have fidelity bond coverage for these employees.

2. Now that management is willing to change from cash payroll disbursements, students will
recommend that cheques or direct deposit are better alternatives. Other arguments for
these options are:
• Freeing up the payroll employees from inserting cash into 500 envelopes every week

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 10
saving valuable time
• When the information is sent to the computing centre, that department can write the
cheques and stubs
• Use an imprest account for payroll
• Continue to have employees come to the payroll office to pick up their wages
• Continue to put unclaimed cheques in the safe
• Continue to use separation of duties

Chapter 9 Solutions manual to accompany Accounting Information Systems, Cdn ed Simkin et al.
p. 11
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Then Cogátkis began to cry; he wanted to go with his sisters. When
his mother gave each of the girls water for the road he screamed.

Yaulilik said to her daughters: “Your brother feels lonesome; let him
go with you.”

The elder sister said: “If the lolus seeds are not ripe, we shall come
home. He is little; he can’t travel fast.”

The younger sister was sorry for her brother, so she tied his hair in a
knot on the top of his head and told her mother to take him to Duilas
(Little Shasta). From Duilas, through the power of his hair, he could
see them when they were on the mountain.

The sisters started toward Mlaiksi, and Yaulilik took Cogátkis to


Duilas. Cogátkis could watch his sisters, and he could talk with his
mother, though the house was a long way off.

The sisters gathered seeds all day. When it was nearly dark, the
elder sister asked: “Shall we stay here to-night?” [33]

“We have only a few seeds,” said the younger sister. “We can stay all
night and fill our baskets in the morning.”

When Cogátkis saw them picking up wood, he went home. Early the
next morning he went again to Duilas. The girls were busy gathering
seeds, so Cogátkis called to his mother: “They are at work again!”

At midday the younger sister said: “I want water; where can we get
some?”

“I don’t know. There is no water near here.”

They were at the foot of Mlaiksi. The younger sister looked at the
mountain, and said: “High up there is a green place; maybe there is
water there. I will go and see.”

She climbed the mountain till she came to soft ground, then went
higher and came to a place where the ground was moist. She dug
down and found mud, but no water; she went higher, and this time,
when she came to moist earth and dug down, she found a little
water. She called her sister, and both drank of the water and then
filled their water baskets.

They gathered seeds a while. The younger sister kept going up the
mountain. The elder sister said: “Don’t go so high; you won’t find any
seeds up there. It is getting late. Let us go back to where we camped
last night.”

The younger sister heard a strange noise and wanted to find out
what made it. She thought: “I will go back now, but to-morrow I will
go to that green place that I can see way up there. Maybe I will find
out what that noise is.”

When they got to the foot of the mountain and began to pick up
wood Cogátkis went home, and said to his mother: “My sisters have
camped where they camped last night.”

That night the younger sister couldn’t sleep; she was thinking of the
strange noise she had heard: she felt drawn toward the sound. The
next morning they gathered seeds till their baskets were full, then the
younger sister said: “I want water. I am going to the place where we
got some yesterday.”

They left their baskets and climbed up to where they had dug the
hole; there was no water in it. They went higher, came to moist
ground, dug down and got a little water. The younger sister again
heard the strange sound. She went higher [34]and listened; then she
heard, far away, a weak voice saying: “Kĕlmas popanwe. Kĕlmas
popanwe!” (You are drinking nothing but tears. You are drinking
nothing but tears.)

The girl followed the sound, and saw a bright red hair on the ground.
When she picked it up she knew it was a hair from the head of the
man who had killed her and her sister. The place where she found
the hair was level and smooth, without a blade of grass or a weed on
it. In the middle of that space was a skeleton. All the bones were
dead but the eyes were living. It was Isis’ skeleton. Thousands of
deer had been there and danced around the man who had killed so
many of their people. With their hoofs they had stamped down the
grass and beaten the ground level.

When the elder sister saw the skeleton she was frightened and
wanted to run away, but the younger sister spread out her wolf skin
blanket and put the skeleton on it.

“What are you going to do with that?” asked her sister. “It smells
badly. It makes me sick.” She wanted to snatch the skeleton and
break it up.

“Go away!” said the younger girl. “I will bring this to life.” She
wrapped the bones up carefully and started down the mountain, her
sister following.

When they got to their camp the elder said: “Let me have those
bones; they are the bones of the man who killed us. I’ll pound them
up and burn them.”

The younger sister didn’t listen to what the elder said. She got deer
fat, rubbed the skeleton with it, and pushed some of the fat between
the teeth. She worked over the skeleton all night. In the morning
there was a little flesh on the bones; at midday the skeleton was a
man again.
The younger sister fed him, and the elder gathered seeds for him, for
she liked him now.

Cogátkis called to his mother: “I see two persons sitting in the shade
while my elder sister gathers seeds.” The next morning he called to
his mother: “The stranger is alone; both my sisters are gathering
seeds.”

Isis drank water, then lay down and slept. While he was sleeping
porcupines danced around him, and sang. The [35]sisters came at
midday, and when the porcupines saw them coming they ran away.

The next morning the younger sister said to Isis: “This is the last day
we can gather seeds near by. We must go farther up the mountain.”

When Isis was left alone, he fell asleep. The porcupines came and
danced around him and sang, and each one’s song was: “Who can
cut off my feet and hands and eat them?”

Isis woke up, struck the chief of the porcupines with his cane, killed
him, cut off his feet and hands, pulled the quills out of his back and
tied them up in ten bunches. He wanted to give the quills to his wives
and his mother-in-law. Isis was well now, and could hunt for deer.

Soon the elder sister had a child. Isis stayed in the camp till the child
was five days old; then he went out to hunt. He killed a deer, but he
let it stay where it fell, for it wasn’t right to bring it home or say
anything about it. The next day he killed two deer at a shot, left them
and went home.

When the first child was seven days old, the younger sister had a
little boy. When the last child was eight days old, Isis said to his
wives: “Your mother and brother are lonesome, we must go and see
them.”
The next day they started. The sisters complained of the weight of
the seeds, and Isis said: “I will make them light.” As soon as he said
that, their baskets were as light as feathers.

When Cogátkis saw his sisters and the stranger coming, he called to
his mother: “My sisters are coming, and there is a beautiful blue man
with them!”

Old Yaulilik spread out nice mats and her daughters’ bead dresses
and ornaments. When near the house, Isis stopped and the sisters
went on. Cogátkis ran to meet them; he was glad, but he was afraid
of Isis. The sisters said: “Go and lead your brother-in-law into the
house.”

When they were in the house, Cogátkis told Isis how deer ran
around him while he was out on the mountain watching his sisters.

Isis said: “I want to go and hunt for deer, but I haven’t arrows
enough.” [36]

“I will give you all the arrows you want,” said old Yaulilik, and she
gave him a quiverful that had been her husband’s. Isis killed two
deer.

“How can we carry them home?” asked Cogátkis.

Isis picked up the deer and put them in his belt. On the way home he
killed a third deer, and he put that in his belt also. When Cogátkis
told his younger sister how many deer Isis had killed, she said:
“Maybe he will go away. Maybe he doesn’t want to stay here.”

Isis pulled up six big trees, brought them to the house, and set them
up to dry meat on. The next morning he killed a deer and said to
Cogátkis: “Stay here and see that nobody steals the deer while I am
gone.” When he came back, he had ten deer in his belt. He put the
first deer with them and went home. Old Yaulilik cut up the meat and
hung it on the trees to dry, and Isis stretched the skins.

The next day when he was going home, with his belt full of deer, he
wanted water and went to Tsiwisa to get it. After he had drunk, he
remembered that the spring was near the place where Kumush had
made the tree, with the eagle’s nest on it, grow up to the sky. He
didn’t like the place, for it made him feel lonesome. That night he
said to the sisters: “I am going away. You have plenty of meat; you
can stay here with your mother and brother.”

The elder sister didn’t want to stay, and Isis said: “I am going a long
way. The children are heavy; you couldn’t carry them.”

“We can carry them easily,” said the elder sister. “I don’t want to stay
here.”

“Then you can go,” said Isis, for he wasn’t willing to show that he
wanted them to stay.

Her sister said: “He is going to a strange country; something may


happen to me. I don’t want to go.”

“You must go with us, so get ready,” said the elder sister.

The younger sister said to her mother: “I didn’t ask to go with them;
she makes me go.”

“You can stay with me,” said her mother. [37]

“No, maybe they will be gone a long time. I will go with them, and it
won’t be my fault if something happens.”

The three traveled one day, then camped at Blaiaga, the mountain
where Isis and Kumush had lived. Isis said to his wives: “The spring
here is bad. When you go for water you must take the children with
you.”

Each day for three days Isis killed deer. The fourth day, while he was
hunting, the younger sister put her child on her back and went for
wood. The elder sister wanted water and she ran to the spring to get
it. She forgot that Isis had told her not to leave her child alone. The
boy was beginning to walk. He tried to follow his mother, but he fell
and hit his head on a stone. He gave one loud scream and died. The
younger sister heard the scream and ran to the child. The mother
heard it, too, and came back quickly. Her sister said: “I told you we
had better stay with our mother; that we didn’t know this country. See
what trouble has come to us.” They set bushes on fire to let Isis
know what had happened.

The moment the child fell, Isis struck his foot against a stone and
stumbled. Right away he knew that something had happened to one
of his boys. When he saw the smoke, he left the deer he had killed
and went home.

When the younger sister told him that his child was dead, he said: “I
didn’t think that my wives would cause me greater grief than my
father did, but you have. I thought my children would live, that they
would go to the swimming places and talk to the earth and
mountains, that they would be wise and able to do things. If my first
child is dead, I don’t want to live in this world. Bring me the other
boy.”

When the younger wife brought her child, Isis took it in his arms, put
the top of its head to his mouth and drew a long breath. He took the
breath out of the child and it was dead. He put the second child by
the first, and said:
“These children are half mine, and half yours. The breath is mine,
the body is yours. I have taken the breath into myself. You can have
the bodies. This is the last time I will have a wife. If I live forever I
shall never have a woman again. This place where my children died
will be called [38]Yaulilikumwas. People who come in after times will
find you under the bushes. They will make sport of you and call you
Yaulilikumwas. You will die from the cold and snow which you
yourselves make. Your brother will run around the world and be
Kĕngkong’kongis (a medicine) and doctors will dream of him.”

Right away Isis’ wives and their mother turned to snowbirds and
Cogátkis became Kĕngkong’kongis. Sometimes ordinary people see
him in their dreams. Doctors always see him in the country where his
mother and sisters lived. Isis went north, went far away. [39]
[Contents]
KUMUSH AND HIS DAUGHTER

CHARACTERS

Kumush The Creator, according to Indian myths


Skoks Spirit

Kumush (our Father) left Tula Lake and wandered over the earth. He
went to the edge of the world and was gone a great many years;
then he came back to Nihlaksi, where his sweat-house had been;
where Látkakáwas brought the disk; where the body of the beautiful
blue man was burned, and where Isis was saved.

Kumush brought his daughter with him from the edge of the world.
Where he got her, no one knows. When he came back, Isis and all
the people he had made were dead; he and his daughter were
alone. The first thing he did was to give the young girl ten dresses,
which he made by his word. The finest dress of all was the burial
dress; it was made of buckskin, and so covered with bright shells
that not a point of the buckskin could be seen.

The first of the ten dresses was for a young girl; the second was the
maturity dress, to be worn while dancing the maturity dance; the third
was the dress to be put on after coming from the sweat-house, the
day the maturity dance ended; the fourth was to be worn on the fifth
day after the dance; the fifth dress was the common, everyday
dress; the sixth was to wear when getting wood; the seventh when
digging roots; the eighth was to be used when on a journey; the ninth
was to wear at a ball game; the tenth was the burial dress.
When they came to Nihlaksi Kumush’s daughter was within a few
days of maturity. In the old time, when he was making rules for his
people, Kumush had said that at maturity a girl should dance five
days and five nights, and while she was [40]dancing an old woman, a
good singer, should sing for her. When the five days and nights were
over she should bathe in the sweat-house, and then carry wood for
five days. If the girl grew sleepy while she was dancing, stopped for
a moment, nodded and dreamed, or if she fell asleep while in the
sweat-house and dreamed of some one’s death, she would die
herself.

Kumush was the only one to help his daughter; he sang while she
danced. When the dance was over and the girl was in the sweat-
house, she fell asleep and dreamed of some one’s death. She came
out of the sweat-house with her face and hands and body painted
with wáginte. 1 As she stood by the fire to dry the paint, she said to
her father: “While I was in the sweat-house I fell asleep and I
dreamed that as soon as I came out some one would die.”

“That means your own death,” said Kumush. “You dreamed of


yourself.”

Kumush was frightened; he felt lonesome. When his daughter asked


for her burial dress he gave her the dress to be worn after coming
from the sweat-house, but she wouldn’t take it. Then he gave her the
dress to be worn five days later, and she refused it. One after
another he offered her eight dresses—he could not give her the one
she had worn when she was a little girl, for it was too small. He held
the tenth dress tight under his arm; he did not want to give it to her,
for as soon as she put it on the spirit would leave her body.

“Why don’t you give me my dress?” asked she. “You made it before
you made the other dresses, and told me what it was for; why don’t
you give it to me now? You made everything in the world as you
wanted it to be.”

He gave her the dress, but he clung to it and cried. When she began
to put it on he tried to pull it away. She said: “Father, you must not
cry. What has happened to me is your will; you made it to be this
way. My spirit will leave the body and go west.”

At last Kumush let go of the dress, though he knew her spirit would
depart as soon as she had it on. He was crying [41]as he said: “I will
go with you; I will leave my body here, and go.”

“No,” said the daughter, “my spirit will go west without touching the
ground as it goes. How could you go with me?”

“I know what to do,” said Kumush. “I know all things above, below,
and in the world of ghosts; whatever is, I know.”

She put on the dress, Kumush took her hand, and they started,
leaving their bodies behind. Kumush was not dead but his spirit left
the body.

As soon as the daughter died, she knew all about the spirit world.
When they started she said to her father: “Keep your eyes closed; if
you open them you will not be able to follow me, you will have to go
back and leave me alone.”

The road they were traveling led west to where the sun sets. Along
that road were three nice things to eat: goose eggs, wild cherries
and crawfish. If a spirit ate of the wild cherries it would be sent back
to this world, a spirit without a body, to wander about homeless,
eating wild cherries and other kinds of wild fruit. If it ate of the goose
eggs, it would wander around the world, digging goose eggs out of
the ground, like roots. It would have to carry the eggs in a basket
without a bottom, and would always be trying to mend the basket
with plaited grass. If it ate of the crawfish it would have to dig
crawfish in the same way.

A Skoks offered Kumush’s daughter these three harmful things, but


she did not look at them; she went straight on toward the west, very
fast.

After a time Kumush asked: “How far have we gone now?”

“We are almost there,” said the girl. “Far away I see beautiful roses.
Spirits that have been good in life take one of those roses with the
leaves, those that have been bad do not see the roses.”

Again Kumush asked: “How far are we now?”

“We are passing the place of roses.”

Kumush thought: “She should take one of those roses.”

The girl always knew her father’s thoughts. As soon as that thought
came into his mind, she put back her hand and, [42]without turning,
pulled a rose and two leaves. Kumush did not take one. He could not
even see them, for he was not dead.

After a time they came to a road so steep that they could slide down
it. At the beginning of the descent there was a willow rope. The girl
pulled the rope and that minute music and voices were heard.
Kumush and his daughter slipped down and came out on a beautiful
plain with high walls all around it. It was a great house, and the plain
was its floor. That house is the whole underground world, but only
spirits know the way to it.

Kumush’s daughter was greeted by spirits that were glad to see her,
but to Kumush they said “Sonk!” (raw, not ripe), and they felt sorry
for him that he was not dead.

Kumush and his daughter went around together, and Kumush asked:
“How far is it to any side?”

“It is very far, twice as far as I can see. There is one road down,—the
road we came,—and another up. No one can come in by the way
leading up, and no one can go up by the way leading down.”

The place was beautiful and full of spirits; there were so many that if
every star of the sky, and all the hairs on the head of every man and
all the hairs on all the animals were counted they would not equal in
number the spirits in that great house.

When Kumush and his daughter first got there they couldn’t see the
spirits though they could hear voices, but after sunset, when
darkness was in the world above, it was light in that house below.

“Keep your eyes closed,” said Kumush’s daughter. “If you open
them, you will have to leave me and go back.”

At sunset Kumush made himself small, smaller than any thing living
in the world. His daughter put him in a crack, high up in a corner of
the broad house, and made a mist before his eyes.

When it was dark, Wus-Kumush, the keeper of the house, said: “I


want a fire!” Right away a big, round, bright fire sprang up in the
center, and there was light everywhere in [43]the house. Then spirits
came from all sides, and there were so many that no one could have
counted them. They made a great circle around Kumush’s daughter,
who stood by the fire, and then they danced a dance not of this
world, and sang a song not of this world. Kumush watched them
from the corner of the house. They danced each night, for five
nights. All the spirits sang, but only those in the circle danced. As
daylight came they disappeared. They went away to their own
places, lay down and became dry, disjointed bones.

Wus-Kumush gave Kumush’s daughter goose eggs and crawfish.


She ate them and became bones. All newcomers became bones,
but those who had been tried for five years, and hadn’t eaten
anything the Skoks gave them, lived in shining settlements outside,
in circles around the big house. Kumush’s daughter became bones,
but her spirit went to her father in the corner.

On the sixth night she moved him to the eastern side of the house.
That night he grew tired of staying with the spirits; he wanted to
leave the underground world, but he wanted to take some of the
spirits with him to people the upper world. “Afterward,” said he, “I am
going to the place where the sun rises. I shall travel on the sun’s
road till I come to where he stops at midday. There I will build a
house.”

“Some of the spirits are angry with you,” said Wus-Kumush.


“Because you are not dead they want to kill you; you must be
careful.”

“They may try as hard as they like,” said Kumush; “they can’t kill me.
They haven’t the power. They are my children; they are all from me.
If they should kill me it would only be for a little while. I should come
to life again.”

The spirits, though they were bones then, heard this, and said: “We
will crush the old man’s heart out, with our elbows.”

Kumush left Wus-Kumush and went back to the eastern side of the
house. In his corner was a pile of bones. Every bone in the pile rose
up and tried to kill him, but they couldn’t hit him, for he dodged them.
Each day his daughter moved him, but the bones knew where he
was, because they could [44]see him. Every night the spirits in the
form of living people danced and sang; at daylight they lay down and
became disconnected bones.

“I am going away from this place,” said Kumush, “I am tired of being


here.” At daybreak he took his daughter’s bones, and went around
selecting bones according to their quality, thinking which would do
for one tribe and which for another. He filled a basket with them,
taking only shin-bones and wrist-bones. He put the basket on his
back and started to go up the eastern road, the road out. The path
was steep and slippery, and his load was heavy. He slipped and
stumbled but kept climbing. When he was half-way up, the bones
began to elbow him in the back and neck, struggling to kill him.
When near the top the strap slipped from his forehead and the
basket fell. The bones became spirits, and, whooping and shouting,
fell down into the big house and became bones again.

“I’ll not give up,” said Kumush; “I’ll try again.” He went back, filled the
basket with bones and started a second time. When he was half-way
up he said: “You’ll see that I will get to the upper world with you
bones!” That minute he slipped, his cane broke and he fell. Again the
bones became spirits and went whooping and shouting back to the
big house.

Kumush went down a second time, and filled the basket. He was
angry, and he chucked the bones in hard. “You want to stay here,”
said he, “but when you know my place up there, where the sun is,
you’ll want to stay there always and never come back to this place. I
feel lonesome when I see no people up there; that is why I want to
take you there. If I can’t get you up now, you will never come where I
am.”

When he put the basket on his back the third time, he had no cane,
so he thought: “I wish I had a good, strong cane.” Right away he had
it. Then he said: “I wish I could get up with this basketful of bones.”

When half-way up the bones again tried to kill him. He struggled and
tugged hard. At last he got near the edge of the slope, and with one
big lift he threw the basket up on to level ground. “Maklaksûm káko!”
(Indian bones) said he. [45]

He opened the basket and threw the bones in different directions. As


he threw them, he named the tribe and kind of Indians they would
be. When he named the Shastas he said: “You will be good fighters.”
To the Pitt River and the Warm Spring Indians he said: “You will be
brave warriors, too.” But to the Klamath Indians he said: “You will be
like women, easy to frighten.” The bones for the Modoc Indians he
threw last, and he said to them: “You will eat what I eat, you will keep
my place when I am gone, you will be bravest of all. Though you
may be few, even if many and many people come against you, you
will kill them.” And he said to each handful of bones as he threw it:
“You must find power to save yourselves, find men to go and ask the
mountains for help. Those who go to the mountains must ask to be
made wise, or brave, or a doctor. They must swim in the gauwams
and dream. When you are sure that a doctor has tried to kill some
one, or that he won’t put his medicine in the path of a spirit and turn
it back, you will kill him. If an innocent doctor is killed, you must kill
the man who killed him, or he must pay for the dead man.”

Then Kumush named the different kinds of food those people should
eat,—catfish, salmon, deer and rabbit. He named more than two
hundred different things, and as he named them they appeared in
the rivers and the forests and the flats. He thought, and they were
there. He said: “Women shall dig roots, get wood and water, and
cook. Men shall hunt and fish and fight. It shall be this way in later
times. This is all I will tell you.”
When he had finished everything Kumush took his daughter, and
went to the edge of the world, to the place where the sun rises. He
traveled on the sun’s road till he came to the middle of the sky; there
he stopped and built his house, and there he lives now. [46]

1 A red root. ↑
[Contents]
WANAGA BECOMES WUS-KUMUSH

Two brothers, Kumush and Wanaga, lived east of Tula Lake.


Wanaga was uneasy; he didn’t want to be always with Kumush, so
one day he started off toward the northwest to hunt for woodchucks.
When he had killed five, he took out the intestines, cleaned them,
filled them with fat and cooked them in front of the fire. The bodies
he cooked on hot stones. He was eating the intestines when his
brother came up to the fire. Kumush’s face was wet, he had run so
fast.

Wanaga was mad, but he said: “Now you are here, come and eat
some of these intestines.”

Kumush didn’t want a part of the intestines; he wanted them all, and
wanted the woodchucks, too, so he asked: “Which way did you
come?”

Wanaga told him, but told him wrong.

Kumush said: “I saw a long track the way I came. I thought it was
yours.”

“Why don’t you eat?” asked Wanaga.

“I can’t, my heart beats so. I am scared; I feel as if some one were


near here, watching us. I will go down the hill and look around in the
bushes.”

Kumush went into thick bushes where Wanaga couldn’t see him; he
pulled every hair out of his head, eyebrows, eye-lashes, ears, beard,
armpits, pulled out every hair on his body, and said to them: “You

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