Nharíne Cha Cónhe is the principal of the Maleku gods, the tócu maráma, whose seats are the headwater springs of the rivers of the Río Frío basin in northern Costa Rica. He takes his name from the source of the Río Nharíne, the Río Venado in Spanish, which he reserved for himself. In the cosmogony recorded as Laca majifijica, 'the transformation of the earth', he creates the plants, the animals and humankind; after a cataclysm provoked by human misconduct destroys the first humanity, he reflects and creates anew, calling the second humanity, the Maleku, out of the cave Aréfe by casting tobacco seed upon the ground. He then apportions the headwaters of the tributaries of the Río Frío among the tócu who came after him, granting the lagoons of Toro lhámi to his daughter Jáfara, so that each clan would venerate the deity of its own river.