The Maid of the Mist Corp. will no longer tell a tale Indians consider racist when it takes tourist on trips near Niagara Falls. The company changed it's policy after Indian leaders threatened to leaflet and picket the tour boat operator's docks.

"We are very sensitive to the concerns of Native American people and want to ensure that we do not portray their heritage in an inappropriate manner," company President James Glynn told the Buffalo News on Thursday.

The controversy centered on a so called legend that was included in audio presentations on Maid of the Mist tour boats. The boats take passengers up the Niagara River close to the falls and are a popular tourist attraction.

The story tells of an Indian maiden who is sent over the falls in a canoe as ahuman sacrifice. But Indian leaders-including Bill `Grandpa Bear' Swanson, executive director of the state chapter of the American Indian Movement (AIM)-as well as local historians say the version of the tour boats is a mistelling of the Maid of the Mist legend.

The orriginal story comes from the Seneca Indian tribe, they say, and involves a young woman who marries three times. Each time her husband dies suddenly. Distraught by her losses, she attempts suicide by going over the falls.

Historians have found no evidence that local tribes ever practiced human sacrifice. Allan Jamieson, Director of NENTO, a Native American arts and cultural organization, welcomed the decision to drop the story.

"It looks like they're going to cancel any reference to the false legend," he said.

Glymm said that from now on guides will tell curious tourists to conduct their own research if they want to know why the boats are called the Maid of the Mist.