KUMUSH The 'old man of the ancients' in Modoc Indian legend, Kumush descended with his daughter to the underground realm of spirits, and having spent six days and six nights there, decided to return, and bring some of the shades with him. He collected the bones in a big basket, and set off, but was balked twice by the long and steep climb out of the netherworld. Every time he fell, the bag opened and the bones leapt out, taking flesh as the spirits whose bones they were, shouting and singing. The third time he shouted angrily to the spirits to remain quiet, and he managed the climb out of the underworld, bringing the spirits with him, including those that begot the tribe of the Modocs. Then he finished his arrangement of the world, travelled along the sun's road, and built for himself and his daughter a house in the middle of the sky, where they still live today.