Napo Quichua

(map)

Once, when the land was flat, the region was inhabited by God and the saints. Volcanoes erupted and spread mud, the water rose, rose, rose without ceasing. God built a large steamship and entered it with the saints. When they touched the ceiling of heaven, God and the saints entered the sky, where they stayed. The empty boat drifted to the land of aliens (Europe) when the water descended. The land is high there and was not flooded. From the steamship, foreigners learned to make boats, machinery, and many other things.

Two mountains were not covered by the flood. These are Sumaco (north of the Napo) and Quotoque (?). An old woman with her three daughters and an Indian escaped there. People today are descended from them. Whenever the rising water was about to reach the family, the mountain would grow. It touched the ceiling of heaven, then lowered as the water decreased.

Marquis de Wavrin, Moeurs et Coutumes des Indiens Sauvages de L'Amérique de Sud (Paris: Payot, 1937), 610.