{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_45634/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_45634","id":"gutenberg_45634","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45634","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - American","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Cherokee Indians -- Folklore","Cherokee Indians -- History","Cherokee mythology","Legends -- Southern States","Tales -- Southern States"],"text":"MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE\n\n BY\n\n JAMES MOONEY\n\n EXTRACT FROM THE\n NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT\n OF THE\n BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY\n\n\n\n WASHINGTON\n GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE\n\n 1902\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n Page\n\nI--Introduction 11\n\nII--Historical sketch of the Cherokee 14\n\n The traditionary period 14\n The period of Spanish exploration--1540-? 23\n The Colonial and Revolutionary period--1654-1784 29\n Relations with the United States 61\n\n From the first treaty to the Removal--1785-1838 61\n The Removal--1838-1839 130\n The Arkansas band--1817-1838 135\n The Texas band--1817-1900 143\n The Cherokee Nation of the West--1840-1900 146\n The East Cherokee--1838-1900 157\n\nIII--Notes to the historical sketch 182\n\nIV--Stories and story-tellers 229\n\nV--The myths 239\n\n Cosmogonic myths 239\n\n 1. How the world was made 239\n 2. The first fire 240\n 3. Kana'ti and Selu: Origin of corn and game 242\n 4. Origin of disease and medicine 250\n 5. The Daughter of the Sun: Origin of death 252\n 6. How they brought back the Tobacco 254\n 7. The journey to the sunrise 255\n 8. The Moon and the Thunders 256\n 9. What the Stars are like 257\n 10. Origin of the Pleiades and the Pine 258\n 11. The milky way 259\n 12. Origin of strawberries 259\n 13. The Great Yellow-jacket: Origin of fish and\n frogs 260\n 14. The Deluge 261\n\n Quadruped myths 261\n\n 15. The four-footed tribes 261\n 16. The Rabbit goes duck hunting 266\n 17. How the Rabbit stole the Otter's coat 267\n 18. Why the Possum's tail is bare 269\n 19. How the Wildcat caught the turkeys 269\n 20. How the Terrapin beat the Rabbit 270\n 21. The Rabbit and the tar wolf 271\n 22. The Rabbit and the Possum after a wife 273\n 23. The Rabbit dines the Bear 273\n 24. The Rabbit escapes from the wolves 274\n 25. Flint visits the Rabbit 274\n 26. How the Deer got his horns 275\n 27. Why the Deer's teeth are blunt 276\n 28. What became of the Rabbit 277\n 29. Why the Mink smells 277\n 30. Why the Mole lives under ground 277\n 31. The Terrapin's escape from the wolves 278\n 32. Origin of the Groundhog dance: The Groundhog's\n head 279\n 33. The migration of the animals 280\n 34. The Wolf's revenge: The Wolf and the Dog 280\n\n Bird myths 280\n\n 35. The bird tribes 280\n 36. The ball game of the birds and animals 286\n 37. How the Turkey got his beard 287\n 38. Why the Turkey gobbles 288\n 39. How the Kingfisher got his bill 288\n 40. How the Partridge got his whistle 289\n 41. How the Redbird got his color 289\n 42. The Pheasant beating corn: The Pheasant dance 290\n 43. The race between the Crane and the Humming-bird 290\n 44. The Owl gets married 291\n 45. The Huhu gets married 292\n 46. Why the Buzzard's head is bare 293\n 47. The Eagle's revenge 293\n 48. The Hunter and the Buzzard 294\n\n Snake, fish, and insect myths 294\n\n 49. The snake tribe 294\n 50. The Uktena and the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti 297\n 51. \u00c2gan-Uni'tsi's search for the Uktena 298\n 52. The Red Man and the Uktena 300\n 53. The Hunter and the Uksu'hi 301\n 54. The Ust\u00fb'tli 302\n 55. The Uw`ts\u00fb\u00f1'ta 303\n 56. The Snake Boy 304\n 57. The Snake Man 304\n 58. The Rattlesnake's vengeance 305\n 59. The smaller reptiles, fishes, and insects 306\n 60. Why the Bullfrog's head is striped 310\n 61. The Bullfrog lover 310\n 62. The Katydid's warning 311\n\n Wonder stories 311\n\n 63. \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', the Gambler 311\n 64. The nest of the Tla'nuwa 315\n 65. The Hunter and the Tla'nuwa 316\n 66. U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta, the Spear-finger 316\n 67. N\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi, the stone man 319\n 68. The Hunter in the Dakwa' 320\n 69. Atag\u00e2'hi, the enchanted lake 321\n 70. The Bride from the south 322\n 71. The Ice Man 322\n 72. The Hunter and Selu 323\n 73. The underground panthers 324\n 74. The Tsundige'wi 325\n 75. Origin of the Bear: The Bear songs 325\n 76. The Bear Man 327\n 77. The Great Leech of Tlanusi'yi 329\n 78. The N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi and other spirit folk 330\n 79. The removed townhouses 335\n 80. The spirit defenders of Nikwasi' 336\n 81. Tsul`kal\u00fb' the slant-eyed giant 337\n 82. Kana'sta, the lost settlement 341\n 83. Tsuwe'nahi, a legend of Pilot knob 343\n 84. The man who married the Thunder's sister 345\n 85. The haunted whirlpool 347\n 86. Yahula 347\n 87. The water cannibals 349\n\n Historical traditions 350\n\n 88. First contact with whites 350\n 89. The Iroquois war 351\n 90. Hiadeoni, the Seneca 356\n 91. The two Mohawks 357\n 92. Escape of the Seneca boys 359\n 93. The unseen helpers 359\n 94. Hatci\u00f1ondo\u00f1's escape from the Cherokee 362\n 95. Hemp-carrier 364\n 96. The Seneca peacemakers 365\n 97. Origin of the Yonto\u00f1wisas dance 365\n 98. Ga'na's adventures among the Cherokee. 367\n 99. The Shawano wars 370\n 100. The raid on Tikwali'tsi 374\n 101. The last Shawano invasion 374\n 102. The false warriors of Chilhowee 375\n 103. Cowee town 377\n 104. The eastern tribes 378\n 105. The southern and western tribes 382\n 106. The giants from the west 391\n 107. The lost Cherokee 391\n 108. The massacre of the Ani'-Kuta'ni 392\n 109. The war medicine 393\n 110. Incidents of personal heroism 394\n 111. The mounds and the constant fire: The old\n sacred things 395\n\n Miscellaneous myths and legends 397\n\n 112. The ignorant housekeeper 397\n 113. The man in the stump 397\n 114. Two lazy hunters 397\n 115. The two old men 399\n 116. The star feathers 399\n 117. The Mother Bear's song 400\n 118. Baby song, to please the children. 401\n 119. When babies are born: The Wren and the Cricket 401\n 120. The Raven Mocker 401\n 121. Herbert's spring 403\n 122. Local legends of North Carolina. 404\n 123. Local legends of South Carolina 411\n 124. Local legends of Tennessee 412\n 125. Local legends of Georgia 415\n 126. Plant lore 420\n\nVI--Notes and parallels 428\n\nVII--Glossary 506\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n Page\n\n Plate I. In the Cherokee mountains 11\n II. Map: The Cherokee and their neighbors. 14\n III. Map: The old Cherokee country 23\n IV. Sequoya (Sikw\u00e2yi) 108\n V. The Cherokee alphabet 112\n VI. Tahchee (Tatsi) or Dutch 140\n VII. Spring-frog or Tooantuh (Du'stu') 142\n VIII. John Ross (Gu'wisguwi') 150\n IX. Colonel W. H. Thomas (Wil-Usdi') 160\n X. Chief N. J. Smith (Tsaladihi') 178\n XI. Swimmer (A`y\u00fb\u00f1'ini) 228\n XII. John Ax (Itag\u00fb'n\u00fbhi) 238\n XIII. Tagwadihi' 256\n XIV. Ay\u00e2sta 272\n XV. Sawanu'gi, a Cherokee ball player 284\n XVI. Nikwasi' mound at Franklin, North Carolina 337\n XVII. Annie Ax (Sadayi) 358\n XVIII. Walini', a Cherokee woman 378\n XIX. On Oconaluftee river 405\n XX. Petroglyphs at Track-rock gap, Georgia 418\n\nFigure 1. Feather wand of Eagle dance 282\n 2. Ancient Iroquois wampum belts 354\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE\n\nBy James Mooney\n\n\nI--INTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe myths given in this paper are part of a large body of material\ncollected among the Cherokee, chiefly in successive field seasons\nfrom 1887 to 1890, inclusive, and comprising more or less extensive\nnotes, together with original Cherokee manuscripts, relating to the\nhistory, archeology, geographic nomenclature, personal names, botany,\nmedicine, arts, home life, religion, songs, ceremonies, and language\nof the tribe. It is intended that this material shall appear from time\nto time in a series of papers which, when finally brought together,\nshall constitute a monograph upon the Cherokee Indians. This paper may\nbe considered the first of the series, all that has hitherto appeared\nbeing a short paper upon the sacred formulas of the tribe, published\nin the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau in 1891 and containing a\nsynopsis of the Cherokee medico-religious theory, with twenty-eight\nspecimens selected from a body of about six hundred ritual formulas\nwritten down in the Cherokee language and alphabet by former doctors\nof the tribe and constituting altogether the largest body of aboriginal\nAmerican literature in existence.\n\nAlthough the Cherokee are probably the largest and most important\ntribe in the United States, having their own national government and\nnumbering at any time in their history from 20,000 to 25,000 persons,\nalmost nothing has yet been written of their history or general\nethnology, as compared with the literature of such northern tribes\nas the Delawares, the Iroquois, or the Ojibwa. The difference is due\nto historical reasons which need not be discussed here.\n\nIt might seem at first thought that the Cherokee, with their civilized\ncode of laws, their national press, their schools and seminaries,\nare so far advanced along the white man's road as to offer but little\ninducement for ethnologic study. This is largely true of those in the\nIndian Territory, with whom the enforced deportation, two generations\nago, from accustomed scenes and surroundings did more at a single\nstroke to obliterate Indian ideas than could have been accomplished\nby fifty years of slow development. There remained behind, however, in\nthe heart of the Carolina mountains, a considerable body, outnumbering\ntoday such well-known western tribes as the Omaha, Pawnee, Comanche,\nand Kiowa, and it is among these, the old conservative Kitu'hwa\nelement, that the ancient things have been preserved. Mountaineers\nguard well the past, and in the secluded forests of Nantahala and\nOconaluftee, far away from the main-traveled road of modern progress,\nthe Cherokee priest still treasures the legends and repeats the mystic\nrituals handed down from his ancestors. There is change indeed in dress\nand outward seeming, but the heart of the Indian is still his own.\n\nFor this and other reasons much the greater portion of the material\nherein contained has been procured among the East Cherokee living\nupon the Qualla reservation in western North Carolina and in various\ndetached settlements between the reservation and the Tennessee\nline. This has been supplemented with information obtained in the\nCherokee Nation in Indian Territory, chiefly from old men and women\nwho had emigrated from what is now Tennessee and Georgia, and who\nconsequently had a better local knowledge of these sections, as well\nas of the history of the western Nation, than is possessed by their\nkindred in Carolina. The historical matter and the parallels are, of\ncourse, collated chiefly from printed sources, but the myths proper,\nwith but few exceptions, are from original investigation.\n\nThe historical sketch must be understood as distinctly a sketch,\nnot a detailed narrative, for which there is not space in the\npresent paper. The Cherokee have made deep impress upon the history\nof the southern states, and no more has been attempted here than\nto give the leading facts in connected sequence. As the history of\nthe Nation after the removal to the West and the reorganization in\nIndian Territory presents but few points of ethnologic interest, it\nhas been but briefly treated. On the other hand the affairs of the\neastern band have been discussed at some length, for the reason that\nso little concerning this remnant is to be found in print.\n\nOne of the chief purposes of ethnologic study is to trace the\ndevelopment of human thought under varying conditions of race\nand environment, the result showing always that primitive man is\nessentially the same in every part of the world. With this object\nin view a considerable space has been devoted to parallels drawn\nalmost entirely from Indian tribes of the United States and British\nAmerica. For the southern countries there is but little trustworthy\nmaterial, and to extend the inquiry to the eastern continent and the\nislands of the sea would be to invite an endless task.\n\nThe author desires to return thanks for many favors from the Library of\nCongress, the Geological Survey, and the Smithsonian Institution, and\nfor much courteous assistance and friendly suggestion from the officers\nand staff of the Bureau of American Ethnology; and to acknowledge his\nindebtedness to the late Chief N. J. Smith and family for services as\ninterpreter and for kind hospitality during successive field seasons;\nto Agent H. W. Spray and wife for unvarying kindness manifested in many\nhelpful ways; to Mr William Harden, librarian, and the Georgia State\nHistorical Society, for facilities in consulting documents at Savannah,\nGeorgia; to the late Col. W. H. Thomas; Lieut. Col. W. W. Stringfield,\nof Waynesville; Capt. James W. Terrell, of Webster; Mrs A. C. Avery\nand Dr P. L. Murphy, of Morganton; Mr W. A. Fair, of Lincolnton;\nthe late Maj. James Bryson, of Dillsboro; Mr H. G. Trotter,\nof Franklin; Mr Sibbald Smith, of Cherokee; Maj. R. C. Jackson,\nof Smithwood, Tennessee; Mr D. R. Dunn, of Conasauga, Tennessee; the\nlate Col. Z. A. Zile, of Atlanta; Mr L. M. Greer, of Ellijay, Georgia;\nMr Thomas Robinson, of Portland, Maine; Mr Allen Ross, Mr W. T. Canup,\neditor of the Indian Arrow, and the officers of the Cherokee Nation,\nTahlequah, Indian Territory; Dr D. T. Day, United States Geological\nSurvey, Washington, D. C., and Prof. G. M. Bowers, of the United\nStates Fish Commission, for valuable oral information, letters,\nclippings, and photographs; to Maj. J. Adger Smyth, of Charleston,\nS. C., for documentary material; to Mr Stansbury Hagar and the late\nRobert Grant Haliburton, of Brooklyn, N. Y., for the use of valuable\nmanuscript notes upon Cherokee stellar legends; to Miss A. M. Brooks\nfor the use of valuable Spanish document copies and translations\nentrusted to the Bureau of American Ethnology; to Mr James Blythe,\ninterpreter during a great part of the time spent by the author in\nthe field; and to various Cherokee and other informants mentioned in\nthe body of the work, from whom the material was obtained.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nII--HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE CHEROKEE\n\n\nThe Traditionary Period\n\n\nThe Cherokee were the mountaineers of the South, holding the entire\nAllegheny region from the interlocking head-streams of the Kanawha\nand the Tennessee southward almost to the site of Atlanta, and from\nthe Blue ridge on the east to the Cumberland range on the west, a\nterritory comprising an area of about 40,000 square miles, now included\nin the states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina,\nGeorgia, and Alabama. Their principal towns were upon the headwaters of\nthe Savannah, Hiwassee, and Tuckasegee, and along the whole length of\nthe Little Tennessee to its junction with the main stream. Its\u00e2ti, or\nEchota, on the south bank of the Little Tennessee, a few miles above\nthe mouth of Tellico river, in Tennessee, was commonly considered\nthe capital of the Nation. As the advancing whites pressed upon them\nfrom the east and northeast the more exposed towns were destroyed or\nabandoned and new settlements were formed lower down the Tennessee\nand on the upper branches of the Chattahoochee and the Coosa.\n\nAs is always the case with tribal geography, there were no fixed\nboundaries, and on every side the Cherokee frontiers were contested by\nrival claimants. In Virginia, there is reason to believe, the tribe was\nheld in check in early days by the Powhatan and the Monacan. On the\neast and southeast the Tuscarora and Catawba were their inveterate\nenemies, with hardly even a momentary truce within the historic\nperiod; and evidence goes to show that the Sara or Cheraw were fully\nas hostile. On the south there was hereditary war with the Creeks,\nwho claimed nearly the whole of upper Georgia as theirs by original\npossession, but who were being gradually pressed down toward the Gulf\nuntil, through the mediation of the United States, a treaty was finally\nmade fixing the boundary between the two tribes along a line running\nabout due west from the mouth of Broad river on the Savannah. Toward\nthe west, the Chickasaw on the lower Tennessee and the Shawano on\nthe Cumberland repeatedly turned back the tide of Cherokee invasion\nfrom the rich central valleys, while the powerful Iroquois in the far\nnorth set up an almost unchallenged claim of paramount lordship from\nthe Ottawa river of Canada southward at least to the Kentucky river.\n\nOn the other hand, by their defeat of the Creeks and expulsion of\nthe Shawano, the Cherokee made good the claim which they asserted\nto all the lands from upper Georgia to the Ohio river, including\nthe rich hunting grounds of Kentucky. Holding as they did the great\nmountain barrier between the English settlements on the coast and\nthe French or Spanish garrisons along the Mississippi and the Ohio,\ntheir geographic position, no less than their superior number, would\nhave given them the balance of power in the South but for a looseness\nof tribal organization in striking contrast to the compactness of\nthe Iroquois league, by which for more than a century the French\npower was held in check in the north. The English, indeed, found\nit convenient to recognize certain chiefs as supreme in the tribe,\nbut the only real attempt to weld the whole Cherokee Nation into a\npolitical unit was that made by the French agent, Priber, about 1736,\nwhich failed from its premature discovery by the English. We frequently\nfind their kingdom divided against itself, their very number preventing\nunity of action, while still giving them an importance above that of\nneighboring tribes.\n\nThe proper name by which the Cherokee call themselves (1) [1] is\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wiya', or Ani'-Y\u00fb\u00f1'wiya' in the third person, signifying \"real\npeople,\" or \"principal people,\" a word closely related to O\u00f1we-ho\u00f1we,\nthe name by which the cognate Iroquois know themselves. The word\nproperly denotes \"Indians,\" as distinguished from people of other\nraces, but in usage it is restricted to mean members of the Cherokee\ntribe, those of other tribes being designated as Creek, Catawba, etc.,\nas the case may be. On ceremonial occasions they frequently speak of\nthemselves as Ani'-Kitu'hwagi, or \"people of Kitu'hwa,\" an ancient\nsettlement on Tuckasegee river and apparently the original nucleus of\nthe tribe. Among the western Cherokee this name has been adopted by\na secret society recruited from the full-blood element and pledged\nto resist the advances of the white man's civilization. Under the\nvarious forms of Cuttawa, Gattochwa, Kittuwa, etc., as spelled by\ndifferent authors, it was also used by several northern Algonquian\ntribes as a synonym for Cherokee.\n\nCherokee, the name by which they are commonly known, has no meaning\nin their own language, and seems to be of foreign origin. As used\namong themselves the form is Tsa'lagi' or Tsa'ragi'. It first appears\nas Chalaque in the Portuguese narrative of De Soto's expedition,\npublished originally in 1557, while we find Cheraqui in a French\ndocument of 1699, and Cherokee as an English form as early, at least,\nas 1708. The name has thus an authentic history of 360 years. There is\nevidence that it is derived from the Choctaw word choluk or chiluk,\nsignifying a pit or cave, and comes to us through the so-called\nMobilian trade language, a corrupted Choctaw jargon formerly used as\nthe medium of communication among all the tribes of the Gulf states,\nas far north as the mouth of the Ohio (2). Within this area many of\nthe tribes were commonly known under Choctaw names, even though of\nwidely differing linguistic stocks, and if such a name existed for\nthe Cherokee it must undoubtedly have been communicated to the first\nSpanish explorers by De Soto's interpreters. This theory is borne out\nby their Iroquois (Mohawk) name, Oyata'ge`rono\u00f1', as given by Hewitt,\nsignifying \"inhabitants of the cave country,\" the Allegheny region\nbeing peculiarly a cave country, in which \"rock shelters,\" containing\nnumerous traces of Indian occupancy, are of frequent occurrence. Their\nCatawba name also, Ma\u00f1tera\u00f1, as given by Gatschet, signifying \"coming\nout of the ground,\" seems to contain the same reference. Adair's\nattempt to connect the name Cherokee with their word for fire, atsila,\nis an error founded upon imperfect knowledge of the language.\n\nAmong other synonyms for the tribe are Rickahockan, or Rechahecrian,\nthe ancient Powhatan name, and Tallige', or Tallige'wi, the ancient\nname used in the Walam Olum chronicle of the Lenape'. Concerning both\nthe application and the etymology of this last name there has been\nmuch dispute, but there seems no reasonable doubt as to the identity\nof the people.\n\nLinguistically the Cherokee belong to the Iroquoian stock, the\nrelationship having been suspected by Barton over a century ago, and\nby Gallatin and Hale at a later period, and definitely established\nby Hewitt in 1887. [2] While there can now be no question of the\nconnection, the marked lexical and grammatical differences indicate\nthat the separation must have occurred at a very early period. As is\nusually the case with a large tribe occupying an extensive territory,\nthe language is spoken in several dialects, the principal of which may,\nfor want of other names, be conveniently designated as the Eastern,\nMiddle, and Western. Adair's classification into \"Ayrate\" (e'ladi),\nor low, and \"Ottare\" (\u00e2'tali), or mountainous, must be rejected\nas imperfect.\n\nThe Eastern dialect, formerly often called the Lower Cherokee dialect,\nwas originally spoken in all the towns upon the waters of the Keowee\nand Tugaloo, head-streams of Savannah river, in South Carolina and\nthe adjacent portion of Georgia. Its chief peculiarity is a rolling\nr, which takes the place of the l of the other dialects. In this\ndialect the tribal name is Tsa'ragi', which the English settlers\nof Carolina corrupted to Cherokee, while the Spaniards, advancing\nfrom the south, became better familiar with the other form, which\nthey wrote as Chalaque. Owing to their exposed frontier position,\nadjoining the white settlements of Carolina, the Cherokee of this\ndivision were the first to feel the shock of war in the campaigns of\n1760 and 1776, with the result that before the close of the Revolution\nthey had been completely extirpated from their original territory and\nscattered as refugees among the more western towns of the tribe. The\nconsequence was that they lost their distinctive dialect, which is\nnow practically extinct. In 1888 it was spoken by but one man on the\nreservation in North Carolina.\n\nThe Middle dialect, which might properly be designated the Kituhwa\ndialect, was originally spoken in the towns on the Tuckasegee and the\nheadwaters of the Little Tennessee, in the very heart of the Cherokee\ncountry, and is still spoken by the great majority of those now living\non the Qualla reservation. In some of its phonetic forms it agrees with\nthe Eastern dialect, but resembles the Western in having the l sound.\n\nThe Western dialect was spoken in most of the towns of east Tennessee\nand upper Georgia and upon Hiwassee and Cheowa rivers in North\nCarolina. It is the softest and most musical of all the dialects of\nthis musical language, having a frequent liquid l and eliding many\nof the harsher consonants found in the other forms. It is also the\nliterary dialect, and is spoken by most of those now constituting\nthe Cherokee Nation in the West.\n\nScattered among the other Cherokee are individuals whose pronunciation\nand occasional peculiar terms for familiar objects give indication of a\nfourth and perhaps a fifth dialect, which can not now be localized. It\nis possible that these differences may come from foreign admixture,\nas of Natchez, Taskigi, or Shawano blood. There is some reason\nfor believing that the people living on Nantahala river differed\ndialectically from their neighbors on either side (3).\n\nThe Iroquoian stock, to which the Cherokee belong, had its chief home\nin the north, its tribes occupying a compact territory which comprised\nportions of Ontario, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and extended\ndown the Susquehanna and Chesapeake bay almost to the latitude of\nWashington. Another body, including the Tuscarora, Nottoway, and\nperhaps also the Meherrin, occupied territory in northeastern North\nCarolina and the adjacent portion of Virginia. The Cherokee themselves\nconstituted the third and southernmost body. It is evident that tribes\nof common stock must at one time have occupied contiguous territories,\nand such we find to be the case in this instance. The Tuscarora and\nMeherrin, and presumably also the Nottoway, are known to have come\nfrom the north, while traditional and historical evidence concur\nin assigning to the Cherokee as their early home the region about\nthe headwaters of the Ohio, immediately to the southward of their\nkinsmen, but bitter enemies, the Iroquois. The theory which brings\nthe Cherokee from northern Iowa and the Iroquois from Manitoba is\nunworthy of serious consideration. (4)\n\nThe most ancient tradition concerning the Cherokee appears to be the\nDelaware tradition of the expulsion of the Talligewi from the north,\nas first noted by the missionary Heckewelder in 1819, and published\nmore fully by Brinton in the Walam Olum in 1885. According to the\nfirst account, the Delawares, advancing from the west, found their\nfurther progress opposed by a powerful people called Alligewi or\nTalligewi, occupying the country upon a river which Heckewelder thinks\nidentical with the Mississippi, but which the sequel shows was more\nprobably the upper Ohio. They were said to have regularly built earthen\nfortifications, in which they defended themselves so well that at last\nthe Delawares were obliged to seek the assistance of the \"Mengwe,\"\nor Iroquois, with the result that after a warfare extending over many\nyears the Alligewi finally received a crushing defeat, the survivors\nfleeing down the river and abandoning the country to the invaders,\nwho thereupon parceled it out amongst themselves, the \"Mengwe\" choosing\nthe portion about the Great lakes while the Delawares took possession\nof that to the south and east. The missionary adds that the Allegheny\n(and Ohio) river was still called by the Delawares the Alligewi Sipu,\nor river of the Alligewi. This would seem to indicate it as the true\nriver of the tradition. He speaks also of remarkable earthworks seen\nby him in 1789 in the neighborhood of Lake Erie, which were said by\nthe Indians to have been built by the extirpated tribe as defensive\nfortifications in the course of this war. Near two of these, in the\nvicinity of Sandusky, he was shown mounds under which it was said\nsome hundreds of the slain Talligewi were buried. [3] As is usual in\nsuch traditions, the Alligewi were said to have been of giant stature,\nfar exceeding their conquerors in size.\n\nIn the Walam Olum, which is, it is asserted, a metrical translation\nof an ancient hieroglyphic bark record discovered in 1820, the main\ntradition is given in practically the same way, with an appendix\nwhich follows the fortunes of the defeated tribe up to the beginning\nof the historic period, thus completing the chain of evidence. (5)\n\nIn the Walam Olum also we find the Delawares advancing from the\nwest or northwest until they come to \"Fish river\"--the same which\nHeckewelder makes the Mississippi (6). On the other side, we are told,\n\"The Talligewi possessed the East.\" The Delaware chief \"desired the\neastern land,\" and some of his people go on, but are killed, by the\nTalligewi. The Delawares decide upon war and call in the help of their\nnorthern friends, the \"Talamatan,\" i. e., the Wyandot and other allied\nIroquoian tribes. A war ensues which continues through the terms of\nfour successive chiefs, when victory declares for the invaders, and\n\"all the Talega go south.\" The country is then divided, the Talamatan\ntaking the northern portion, while the Delawares \"stay south of the\nlakes.\" The chronicle proceeds to tell how, after eleven more chiefs\nhave ruled, the Nanticoke and Shawano separate from the parent tribe\nand remove to the south. Six other chiefs follow in succession until we\ncome to the seventh, who \"went to the Talega mountains.\" By this time\nthe Delawares have reached the ocean. Other chiefs succeed, after whom\n\"the Easterners and the Wolves\"--probably the Mahican or Wappinger and\nthe Munsee--move off to the northeast. At last, after six more chiefs,\n\"the whites came on the eastern sea,\" by which is probably meant\nthe landing of the Dutch on Manhattan in 1609 (7). We may consider\nthis a tally date, approximating the beginning of the seventeenth\ncentury. Two more chiefs rule, and of the second we are told that \"He\nfought at the south; he fought in the land of the Talega and Koweta,\"\nand again the fourth chief after the coming of the whites \"went to\nthe Talega.\" We have thus a traditional record of a war of conquest\ncarried on against the Talligewi by four successive chiefs, and a\nsuccession of about twenty-five chiefs between the final expulsion\nof that tribe and the appearance of the whites, in which interval\nthe Nanticoke, Shawano, Mahican, and Munsee branched off from the\nparent tribe of the Delawares. Without venturing to entangle ourselves\nin the devious maze of Indian chronology, it is sufficient to note\nthat all this implies a very long period of time--so long, in fact,\nthat during it several new tribes, each of which in time developed\na distinct dialect, branch off from the main Lenape' stem. It is\ndistinctly stated that all the Talega went south after their final\ndefeat; and from later references we find that they took refuge in\nthe mountain country in the neighborhood of the Koweta (the Creeks),\nand that Delaware war parties were still making raids upon both these\ntribes long after the first appearance of the whites.\n\nAlthough at first glance it might be thought that the name Tallige-wi\nis but a corruption of Tsalagi, a closer study leads to the opinion\nthat it is a true Delaware word, in all probability connected with\nwaloh or walok, signifying a cave or hole (Zeisberger), whence we\nfind in the Walam Olum the word oligonunk rendered as \"at the place\nof caves.\" It would thus be an exact Delaware rendering of the same\nname, \"people of the cave country,\" by which, as we have seen, the\nCherokee were commonly known among the tribes. Whatever may be the\norigin of the name itself, there can be no reasonable doubt as to\nits application. \"Name, location, and legends combine to identify the\nCherokees or Tsalaki with the Tallike; and this is as much evidence\nas we can expect to produce in such researches.\" [4]\n\nThe Wyandot confirm the Delaware story and fix the identification\nof the expelled tribe. According to their tradition, as narrated in\n1802, the ancient fortifications in the Ohio valley had been erected\nin the course of a long war between themselves and the Cherokee,\nwhich resulted finally in the defeat of the latter. [5]\n\nThe traditions of the Cherokee, so far as they have been preserved,\nsupplement and corroborate those of the northern tribes, thus bringing\nthe story down to their final settlement upon the headwaters of the\nTennessee in the rich valleys of the southern Alleghenies. Owing to\nthe Cherokee predilection for new gods, contrasting strongly with\nthe conservatism of the Iroquois, their ritual forms and national\nepics had fallen into decay even before the Revolution, as we learn\nfrom Adair. Some vestiges of their migration legend still existed in\nHaywood's time, but it is now completely forgotten both in the East\nand in the West.\n\nAccording to Haywood, who wrote in 1823 on information obtained\ndirectly from leading members of the tribe long before the Removal,\nthe Cherokee formerly had a long migration legend, which was already\nlost, but which, within the memory of the mother of one informant--say\nabout 1750--was still recited by chosen orators on the occasion of\nthe annual green-corn dance. This migration legend appears to have\nresembled that of the Delawares and the Creeks in beginning with\ngenesis and the period of animal monsters, and thence following\nthe shifting fortune of the chosen band to the historic period. The\ntradition recited that they had originated in a land toward the rising\nsun, where they had been placed by the command of \"the four councils\nsent from above.\" In this pristine home were great snakes and water\nmonsters, for which reason it was supposed to have been near the\nsea-coast, although the assumption is not a necessary corollary, as\nthese are a feature of the mythology of all the eastern tribes. After\nthis genesis period there began a slow migration, during which \"towns\nof people in many nights' encampment removed,\" but no details are\ngiven. From Heckewelder it appears that the expression, \"a night's\nencampment,\" which occurs also in the Delaware migration legend,\nis an Indian figure of speech for a halt of one year at a place. [6]\n\nIn another place Haywood says, although apparently confusing\nthe chronologic order of events: \"One tradition which they have\namongst them says they came from the west and exterminated the\nformer inhabitants; and then says they came from the upper parts\nof the Ohio, where they erected the mounds on Grave creek, and\nthat they removed thither from the country where Monticello (near\nCharlottesville, Virginia) is situated.\" [7] The first reference\nis to the celebrated mounds on the Ohio near Moundsville, below\nWheeling, West Virginia; the other is doubtless to a noted burial\nmound described by Jefferson in 1781 as then existing near his home,\non the low grounds of Rivanna river opposite the site of an ancient\nIndian town. He himself had opened it and found it to contain perhaps\na thousand disjointed skeletons of both adults and children, the\nbones piled in successive layers, those near the top being least\ndecayed. They showed no signs of violence, but were evidently the\naccumulation of long years from the neighboring Indian town. The\ndistinguished writer adds: \"But on whatever occasion they may have\nbeen made, they are of considerable notoriety among the Indians: for\na party passing, about thirty years ago [i. e., about 1750], through\nthe part of the country where this barrow is, went through the woods\ndirectly to it without any instructions or enquiry, and having staid\nabout it some time, with expressions which were construed to be those\nof sorrow, they returned to the high road, which they had left about\nhalf a dozen miles to pay this visit, and pursued their journey.\" [8]\nAlthough the tribe is not named, the Indians were probably Cherokee,\nas no other southern Indians were then accustomed to range in that\nsection. As serving to corroborate this opinion we have the statement\nof a prominent Cherokee chief, given to Schoolcraft in 1846, that\naccording to their tradition his people had formerly lived at the\nPeaks of Otter, in Virginia, a noted landmark of the Blue ridge,\nnear the point where Staunton river breaks through the mountains. [9]\n\nFrom a careful sifting of the evidence Haywood concludes that the\nauthors of the most ancient remains in Tennessee had spread over\nthat region from the south and southwest at a very early period,\nbut that the later occupants, the Cherokee, had entered it from\nthe north and northeast in comparatively recent times, overrunning\nand exterminating the aborigines. He declares that the historical\nfact seems to be established that the Cherokee entered the country\nfrom Virginia, making temporary settlements upon New river and the\nupper Holston, until, under the continued hostile pressure from\nthe north, they were again forced to remove farther to the south,\nfixing themselves upon the Little Tennessee, in what afterward\nbecame known as the middle towns. By a leading mixed blood of the\ntribe he was informed that they had made their first settlements\nwithin their modern home territory upon Nolichucky river, and that,\nhaving lived there for a long period, they could give no definite\naccount of an earlier location. Echota, their capital and peace town,\n\"claimed to be the eldest brother in the nation,\" and the claim was\ngenerally acknowledged. [10] In confirmation of the statement as to\nan early occupancy of the upper Holston region, it may be noted that\n\"Watauga Old Fields,\" now Elizabethtown, were so called from the\nfact that when the first white settlement within the present state\nof Tennessee was begun there, so early as 1769, the bottom lands\nwere found to contain graves and other numerous ancient remains of\na former Indian town which tradition ascribed to the Cherokee, whose\nnearest settlements were then many miles to the southward.\n\nWhile the Cherokee claimed to have built the mounds on the upper Ohio,\nthey yet, according to Haywood, expressly disclaimed the authorship\nof the very numerous mounds and petroglyphs in their later home\nterritory, asserting that these ancient works had exhibited the same\nappearance when they themselves had first occupied the region. [11]\nThis accords with Bartram's statement that the Cherokee, although\nsometimes utilizing the mounds as sites for their own town houses,\nwere as ignorant as the whites of their origin or purpose, having\nonly a general tradition that their forefathers had found them in\nmuch the same condition on first coming into the country. [12]\n\nAlthough, as has been noted, Haywood expresses the opinion that the\ninvading Cherokee had overrun and exterminated the earlier inhabitants,\nhe says in another place, on halfbreed authority, that the newcomers\nfound no Indians upon the waters of the Tennessee, with the exception\nof some Creeks living upon that river, near the mouth of the Hiwassee,\nthe main body of that tribe being established upon and claiming all\nthe streams to the southward. [13] There is considerable evidence\nthat the Creeks preceded the Cherokee, and within the last century\nthey still claimed the Tennessee, or at least the Tennessee watershed,\nfor their northern boundary.\n\nThere is a dim but persistent tradition of a strange white race\npreceding the Cherokee, some of the stories even going so far as to\nlocate their former settlements and to identify them as the authors\nof the ancient works found in the country. The earliest reference\nappears to be that of Barton in 1797, on the statement of a gentleman\nwhom he quotes as a valuable authority upon the southern tribes. \"The\nCheerake tell us, that when they first arrived in the country which\nthey inhabit, they found it possessed by certain 'moon-eyed people,'\nwho could not see in the day-time. These wretches they expelled.\" He\nseems to consider them an albino race. [14] Haywood, twenty-six\nyears later, says that the invading Cherokee found \"white people\"\nnear the head of the Little Tennessee, with forts extending thence\ndown the Tennessee as far as Chickamauga creek. He gives the location\nof three of these forts. The Cherokee made war against them and drove\nthem to the mouth of Big Chickamauga creek, where they entered into a\ntreaty and agreed to remove if permitted to depart in peace. Permission\nbeing granted, they abandoned the country. Elsewhere he speaks of this\nextirpated white race as having extended into Kentucky and probably\nalso into western Tennessee, according to the concurrent traditions\nof different tribes. He describes their houses, on what authority is\nnot stated, as having been small circular structures of upright logs,\ncovered with earth which had been dug out from the inside. [15]\n\nHarry Smith, a halfbreed born about 1815, father of the late chief\nof the East Cherokee, informed the author that when a boy he had\nbeen told by an old woman a tradition of a race of very small\npeople, perfectly white, who once came and lived for some time on\nthe site of the ancient mound on the northern side of Hiwassee, at\nthe mouth of Peachtree creek, a few miles above the present Murphy,\nNorth Carolina. They afterward removed to the West. Colonel Thomas,\nthe white chief of the East Cherokee, born about the beginning of\nthe century, had also heard a tradition of another race of people,\nwho lived on Hiwassee, opposite the present Murphy, and warned the\nCherokee that they must not attempt to cross over to the south side\nof the river or the great leech in the water would swallow them. [16]\nThey finally went west, \"long before the whites came.\" The two stories\nare plainly the same, although told independently and many miles apart.\n\n\n\n\nThe Period of Spanish Exploration--1540-?\n\nThe definite history of the Cherokee begins with the year 1540, at\nwhich date we find them already established, where they were always\nafterward known, in the mountains of Carolina and Georgia. The earliest\nSpanish adventurers failed to penetrate so far into the interior,\nand the first entry into their country was made by De Soto, advancing\nup the Savannah on his fruitless quest for gold, in May of that year.\n\nWhile at Cofitachiqui, an important Indian town on the lower Savannah\ngoverned by a \"queen,\" the Spaniards had found hatchets and other\nobjects of copper, some of which was of finer color and appeared to\nbe mixed with gold, although they had no means of testing it. [17]\nOn inquiry they were told that the metal had come from an interior\nmountain province called Chisca, but the country was represented as\nthinly peopled and the way as impassable for horses. Some time before,\nwhile advancing through eastern Georgia, they had heard also of a rich\nand plentiful province called Co\u00e7a, toward the northwest, and by the\npeople of Cofitachiqui they were now told that Chiaha, the nearest town\nof Co\u00e7a province, was twelve days inland. As both men and animals were\nalready nearly exhausted from hunger and hard travel, and the Indians\neither could not or would not furnish sufficient provision for their\nneeds, De Soto determined not to attempt the passage of the mountains\nthen, but to push on at once to Co\u00e7a, there to rest and recuperate\nbefore undertaking further exploration. In the meantime he hoped\nalso to obtain more definite information concerning the mines. As\nthe chief purpose of the expedition was the discovery of the mines,\nmany of the officers regarded this change of plan as a mistake, and\nfavored staying where they were until the new crop should be ripened,\nthen to go directly into the mountains, but as the general was \"a stern\nman and of few words,\" none ventured to oppose his resolution. [18]\nThe province of Co\u00e7a was the territory of the Creek Indians, called\nAni'-Kusa by the Cherokee, from Kusa, or Coosa, their ancient capital,\nwhile Chiaha was identical with Chehaw, one of the principal Creek\ntowns on Chattahoochee river. Cofitachiqui may have been the capital\nof the Uchee Indians.\n\nThe outrageous conduct of the Spaniards had so angered the Indian\nqueen that she now refused to furnish guides and carriers, whereupon\nDe Soto made her a prisoner, with the design of compelling her to\nact as guide herself, and at the same time to use her as a hostage to\ncommand the obedience of her subjects. Instead, however, of conducting\nthe Spaniards by the direct trail toward the west, she led them far\nout of their course until she finally managed to make her escape,\nleaving them to find their way out of the mountains as best they could.\n\nDeparting from Cofitachiqui, they turned first toward the north,\npassing through several towns subject to the queen, to whom, although\na prisoner, the Indians everywhere showed great respect and obedience,\nfurnishing whatever assistance the Spaniards compelled her to demand\nfor their own purposes. In a few days they came to \"a province called\nChalaque,\" the territory of the Cherokee Indians, probably upon the\nwaters of Keowee river, the eastern head-stream of the Savannah. It\nis described as the poorest country for corn that they had yet seen,\nthe inhabitants subsisting on wild roots and herbs and on game\nwhich they killed with bows and arrows. They were naked, lean, and\nunwarlike. The country abounded in wild turkeys (\"gallinas\"), which\nthe people gave very freely to the strangers, one town presenting\nthem with seven hundred. A chief also gave De Soto two deerskins\nas a great present. [19] Garcilaso, writing on the authority of an\nold soldier nearly fifty years afterward, says that the. \"Chalaques\"\ndeserted their towns on the approach of the white men and fled to the\nmountains, leaving behind only old men and women and some who were\nnearly blind. [20] Although it was too early for the new crop, the\npoverty of the people may have been more apparent than real, due to\ntheir unwillingness to give any part of their stored-up provision to\nthe unwelcome strangers. As the Spaniards were greatly in need of corn\nfor themselves and their horses, they made no stay, but hurried on. In\na few days they arrived at Guaquili, which is mentioned only by Ranjel,\nwho does not specify whether it was a town or a province--i. e.,\na tribal territory. It was probably a small town. Here they were\nwelcomed in a friendly manner, the Indians giving them a little corn\nand many wild turkeys, together with some dogs of a peculiar small\nspecies, which were bred for eating purposes and did not bark. [21]\nThey were also supplied with men to help carry the baggage. The name\nGuaquili has a Cherokee sound and may be connected with wa'guli',\n\"whippoorwill,\" uw\u00e2'gi`li, \"foam,\" or gi`li, \"dog.\"\n\nTraveling still toward the north, they arrived a day or two later in\nthe province of Xuala, in which we recognize the territory of the\nSuwali, Sara, or Cheraw Indians, in the piedmont region about the\nhead of Broad river in North Carolina. Garcilaso, who did not see it,\nrepresents it as a rich country, while the Elvas narrative and Biedma\nagree that it was a rough, broken country, thinly inhabited and poor\nin provision. According to Garcilaso, it was under the rule of the\nqueen of Cofitachiqui, although a distinct province in itself. [22]\nThe principal town was beside a small rapid stream, close under a\nmountain. The chief received them in friendly fashion, giving them\ncorn, dogs of the small breed already mentioned, carrying baskets,\nand burden bearers. The country roundabout showed greater indications\nof gold mines than any they had yet seen.1>\n\nHere De Soto turned to the west, crossing a very high mountain range,\nwhich appears to have been the Blue ridge, and descending on the other\nside to a stream flowing in the opposite direction, which was probably\none of the upper tributaries of the French Broad. [23] Although it\nwas late in May, they found it very cold in the mountains. [24] After\nseveral days of such travel they arrived, about the end of the month,\nat the town of Guasili, or Guaxule. The chief and principal men came\nout some distance to welcome them, dressed in fine robes of skins,\nwith feather head-dresses, after the fashion of the country. Before\nreaching this point the queen had managed to make her escape, together\nwith three slaves of the Spaniards, and the last that was heard of her\nwas that she was on her way back to her own country with one of the\nrunaways as her husband. What grieved De Soto most in the matter was\nthat she took with her a small box of pearls, which he had intended\nto take from her before releasing her, but had left with her for the\npresent in order \"not to discontent her altogether.\" [25]\n\nGuaxule is described as a very large town surrounded by a number of\nsmall mountain streams which united to form the large river down\nwhich the Spaniards proceeded after leaving the place. [26] Here,\nas elsewhere, the Indians received the white men with kindness\nand hospitality--so much so that the name of Guaxule became to\nthe army a synonym for good fortune. [27] Among other things they\ngave the Spaniards 300 dogs for food, although, according to the\nElvas narrative, the Indians themselves did not eat them. [28] The\nprincipal officers of the expedition were lodged in the \"chief's\nhouse,\" by which we are to understand the townhouse, which was upon a\nhigh hill with a roadway to the top. [29] From a close study of the\nnarrative it appears that this \"hill\" was no other than the great\nNacoochee mound, in White county, Georgia, a few miles northwest of\nthe present Clarkesville. [30] It was within the Cherokee territory,\nand the town was probably a settlement of that tribe. From here De\nSoto sent runners ahead to notify the chief of Chiaha of his approach,\nin order that sufficient corn might be ready on his arrival.\n\nLeaving Guaxule, they proceeded down the river, which we identify\nwith the Chattahoochee, and in two days arrived at Canasoga, or\nCanasagua, a frontier town of the Cherokee. As they neared the town\nthey were met by the Indians, bearing baskets of \"mulberries,\" [31]\nmore probably the delicious service-berry of the southern mountains,\nwhich ripens in early summer, while the mulberry matures later.\n\nFrom here they continued down the river, which grew constantly larger,\nthrough an uninhabited country which formed the disputed territory\nbetween the Cherokee and the Creeks. About five days after leaving\nCanasagua they were met by messengers, who escorted them to Chiaha,\nthe first town of the province of Co\u00e7a. De Soto had crossed the state\nof Georgia, leaving the Cherokee country behind him, and was now\namong the Lower Creeks, in the neighborhood of the present Columbus,\nGeorgia. [32] With his subsequent wanderings after crossing the\nChattahoochee into Alabama and beyond we need not concern ourselves\n(8).\n\nWhile resting at Chiaha De Soto met with a chief who confirmed what\nthe Spaniards had heard before concerning mines in the province of\nChisca, saying that there was there \"a melting of copper\" and of\nanother metal of about the same color, but softer, and therefore not\nso much used. [33] The province was northward from Chiaha, somewhere\nin upper Georgia or the adjacent part of Alabama or Tennessee, through\nall of which mountain region native copper is found. The other mineral,\nwhich the Spaniards understood to be gold, may have been iron pyrites,\nalthough there is some evidence that the Indians occasionally found\nand shaped gold nuggets.6\n\nAccordingly two soldiers were sent on foot with Indian guides to find\nChisca and learn the truth of the stories. They rejoined the army some\ntime after the march had been resumed, and reported, according to the\nElvas chronicler, that their guides had taken them through a country\nso poor in corn, so rough, and over so high mountains that it would\nbe impossible for the army to follow, wherefore, as the way grew long\nand lingering, they had turned back after reaching a little poor town\nwhere they saw nothing that was of any profit. They brought back with\nthem a dressed buffalo skin which the Indians there had given them,\nthe first ever obtained by white men, and described in the quaint old\nchronicle as \"an ox hide as thin as a calf's skin, and the hair like\na soft wool between the coarse and fine wool of sheep.\" [34]\n\nGarcilaso's glowing narrative gives a somewhat different\nimpression. According to this author the scouts returned full of\nenthusiasm for the fertility of the country, and reported that the\nmines were of a fine species of copper, and had indications also of\ngold and silver, while their progress from one town to another had\nbeen a continual series of feastings and Indian hospitalities. [35]\nHowever that may have been, De Soto made no further effort to reach\nthe Cherokee mines, but continued his course westward through the\nCreek country, having spent altogether a month in the mountain region.\n\nThere is no record of any second attempt to penetrate the Cherokee\ncountry for twenty-six years (9). In 1561 the Spaniards took formal\npossession of the bay of Santa Elena, now Saint Helena, near Port\nRoyal, on the coast of South Carolina. The next year the French\nmade an unsuccessful attempt at settlement at the same place, and in\n1566 Menendez made the Spanish occupancy sure by establishing there\na fort which he called San Felipe. [36] In November of that year\nCaptain Juan Pardo was sent with a party from the fort to explore the\ninterior. Accompanied by the chief of \"Juada\" (which from Vandera's\nnarrative we find should be \"Joara,\" i. e., the Sara Indians already\nmentioned in the De Soto chronicle), he proceeded as far as the\nterritory of that tribe, where he built a fort, but on account of\nthe snow in the mountains did not think it advisable to go farther,\nand returned, leaving a sergeant with thirty soldiers to garrison the\npost. Soon after his return he received a letter from the sergeant\nstating that the chief of Chisca--the rich mining country of which De\nSoto had heard--was very hostile to the Spaniards, and that in a recent\nbattle the latter had killed a thousand of his Indians and burned fifty\nhouses with almost no damage to themselves. Either the sergeant or his\nchronicler must have been an unconscionable liar, as it was asserted\nthat all this was done with only fifteen men. Immediately afterward,\naccording to the same story, the sergeant marched with twenty men\nabout a day's distance in the mountains against another hostile chief,\nwhom he found in a strongly palisaded town, which, after a hard fight,\nhe and his men stormed and burned, killing fifteen hundred Indians\nwithout losing a single man themselves. Under instructions from his\nsuperior officer, the sergeant with his small party then proceeded to\nexplore what lay beyond, and, taking a road which they were told led to\nthe territory of a great chief, after four days of hard marching they\ncame to his town, called Chiaha (Chicha, by mistake in the manuscript\ntranslation), the same where De Soto had rested. It is described at\nthis time as palisaded and strongly fortified, with a deep river on\neach side, and defended by over three thousand fighting men, there\nbeing no women or children among them. It is possible that in view\nof their former experience with the Spaniards, the Indians had sent\ntheir families away from the town, while at the same time they may\nhave summoned warriors from the neighboring Creek towns in order to\nbe prepared for any emergency. However, as before, they received the\nwhite men with the greatest kindness, and the Spaniards continued\nfor twelve days through the territories of the same tribe until they\narrived at the principal town (Kusa?), where, by the invitation of\nthe chief, they built a small fort and awaited the coming of Pardo,\nwho was expected to follow with a larger force from Santa Elena, as he\ndid in the summer of 1567, being met on his arrival with every show of\nhospitality from the Creek chiefs. This second fort was said to be one\nhundred and forty leagues distant from that in the Sara country, which\nlatter was called one hundred and twenty leagues from Santa Elena. [37]\n\nIn the summer of 1567, according to previous agreement, Captain Pardo\nleft the fort at Santa Elena with a small detachment of troops, and\nafter a week's travel, sleeping each night at a different Indian town,\narrived at \"Canos, which the Indians call Canosi, and by another name,\nCofeta\u00e7que\" (the Cofitachiqui of the De Soto chronicle), which is\ndescribed as situated in a favorable location for a large city, fifty\nleagues from Santa Elena, to which the easiest road was by a river\n(the Savannah) which flowed by the town, or by another which they\nhad passed ten leagues farther back. Proceeding, they passed Jagaya,\nGueza, and Arauchi, and arrived at Otariyatiqui, or Otari, in which\nwe have perhaps the Cherokee \u00e2'tari or \u00e2'tali, \"mountain\". It may\nhave been a frontier Cherokee settlement, and, according to the old\nchronicler, its chief and language ruled much good country. From here\na trail went northward to Guatari, Sauxpa, and Usi, i. e., the Wateree,\nWaxhaw (or Sissipahaw?), and Ushery or Catawba.\n\nLeaving Otariyatiqui, they went on to Quinahaqui, and then, turning\nto the left, to Issa, where they found mines of crystal (mica?). They\ncame next to Aguaquiri (the Guaquili of the De Soto chronicle), and\nthen to Joara, \"near to the mountain, where Juan Pardo arrived with\nhis sergeant on his first trip.\" This, as has been noted, was the\nXuala of the De Soto chronicle, the territory of the Sara Indians, in\nthe foothills of the Blue ridge, southeast from the present Asheville,\nNorth Carolina. Vandera makes it one hundred leagues from Santa Elena,\nwhile Martinez, already quoted, makes the distance one hundred and\ntwenty leagues. The difference is not important, as both statements\nwere only estimates. From there they followed \"along the mountains\"\nto Tocax (Toxaway?), Cauchi (Nacoochee?), and Tanasqui--apparently\nCherokee towns, although the forms can not be identified--and after\nresting three days at the last-named place went on \"to Solameco,\notherwise called Chiaha,\" where the sergeant met them. The combined\nforces afterward went on, through Cossa (Kusa), Tasquiqui (Taskigi),\nand other Creek towns, as far as Tascaluza, in the Alabama country, and\nreturned thence to Santa Elena, having apparently met with a friendly\nreception everywhere along the route. From Cofitachiqui to Tascaluza\nthey went over about the same road traversed by De Soto in 1540. [38]\n\nWe come now to a great gap of nearly a century. Shea has a notice\nof a Spanish mission founded among the Cherokee in 1643 and still\nflourishing when visited by an English traveler ten years later,\n[39] but as his information is derived entirely from the fraudulent\nwork of Davies, and as no such mission is mentioned by Barcia in any\nof these years, we may regard the story as spurious (10). The first\nmission work in the tribe appears to have been that of Priber, almost\na hundred years later. Long before the end of the sixteenth century,\nhowever, the existence of mines of gold and other metals in the\nCherokee country was a matter of common knowledge among the Spaniards\nat St. Augustine and Santa Elena, and more than one expedition had been\nfitted out to explore the interior. [40] Numerous traces of ancient\nmining operations, with remains of old shafts and fortifications,\nevidently of European origin, show that these discoveries were followed\nup, although the policy of Spain concealed the fact from the outside\nworld. How much permanent impression this early Spanish intercourse\nmade on the Cherokee it is impossible to estimate, but it must have\nbeen considerable (11).\n\n\n\n\nThe Colonial and Revolutionary Period--1654-1784\n\nIt was not until 1654 that the English first came into contact with\nthe Cherokee, called in the records of the period Rechahecrians,\na corruption of Rickahockan, apparently the name by which they were\nknown to the Powhatan tribes. In that year the Virginia colony,\nwhich had only recently concluded a long and exterminating war with\nthe Powhatan, was thrown into alarm by the news that a great body of\nsix or seven hundred Rechahecrian Indians--by which is probably meant\nthat number of warriors--from the mountains had invaded the lower\ncountry and established themselves at the falls of James river, where\nnow is the city of Richmond. The assembly at once passed resolutions\n\"that these new come Indians be in no sort suffered to seat themselves\nthere, or any place near us, it having cost so much blood to expel and\nextirpate those perfidious and treacherous Indians which were there\nformerly.\" It was therefore ordered that a force of at least 100 white\nmen be at once sent against them, to be joined by the warriors of all\nthe neighboring subject tribes, according to treaty obligation. The\nPamunkey chief, with a hundred of his men, responded to the summons,\nand the combined force marched against the invaders. The result\nwas a bloody battle, with disastrous outcome to the Virginians, the\nPamunkey chief with most of his men being killed, while the whites\nwere forced to make such terms of peace with the Rechahecrians that\nthe assembly cashiered the commander of the expedition and compelled\nhim to pay the whole cost of the treaty from his own estate. [41]\nOwing to the imperfection of the Virginia records we have no means\nof knowing the causes of the sudden invasion or how long the invaders\nretained their position at the falls. In all probability it was only\nthe last of a long series of otherwise unrecorded irruptions by the\nmountaineers on the more peaceful dwellers in the lowlands. From a\nremark in Lederer it is probable that the Cherokee were assisted also\nby some of the piedmont tribes hostile to the Powhatan. The Peaks of\nOtter, near which the Cherokee claim to have once lived, as has been\nalready noted, are only about one hundred miles in a straight line from\nRichmond, while the burial mound and town site near Charlottesville,\nmentioned by Jefferson, are but half that distance.\n\nIn 1655 a Virginia expedition sent out from the falls of James river\n(Richmond) crossed over the mountains to the large streams flowing\ninto the Mississippi. No details are given and the route is uncertain,\nbut whether or not they met Indians, they must have passed through\nCherokee territory. [42]\n\nIn 1670 the German traveler, John Lederer, went from the falls of James\nriver to the Catawba country in South Carolina, following for most\nof the distance the path used by the Virginia traders, who already\nhad regular dealings with the southern tribes, including probably\nthe Cherokee. He speaks in several places of the Rickahockan, which\nseems to be a more correct form than Rechahecrian, and his narrative\nand the accompanying map put them in the mountains of North Carolina,\nback of the Catawba and the Sara and southward from the head of Roanoke\nriver. They were apparently on hostile terms with the tribes to the\neastward, and while the traveler was stopping at an Indian village\non Dan river, about the present Clarksville, Virginia, a delegation\nof Rickahockan, which had come on tribal business, was barbarously\nmurdered at a dance prepared on the night of their arrival by their\ntreacherous hosts. On reaching the Catawba country he heard of white\nmen to the southward, and incidentally mentions that the neighboring\nmountains were called the Suala mountains by the Spaniards. [43] In\nthe next year, 1671, a party from Virginia under Thomas Batts explored\nthe northern branch of Roanoke river and crossed over the Blue ridge\nto the headwaters of New river, where they found traces of occupancy,\nbut no Indians. By this time all the tribes of this section, east of\nthe mountains, were in possession of firearms. [44]\n\nThe first permanent English settlement in South Carolina was\nestablished in 1670. In 1690 James Moore, secretary of the colony,\nmade an exploring expedition into the mountains and reached a point at\nwhich, according to his Indian guides, he was within twenty miles of\nwhere the Spaniards were engaged in mining and smelting with bellows\nand furnaces, but on account of some misunderstanding he returned\nwithout visiting the place, although he procured specimens of ores,\nwhich he sent to England for assay. [45] It may have been in the\nneighborhood of the present Lincolnton, North Carolina, where a dam\nof cut stone and other remains of former civilized occupancy have\nrecently been discovered (11). In this year, also, Cornelius Dougherty,\nan Irishman from Virginia, established himself as the first trader\namong the Cherokee, with whom he spent the rest of his life. [46]\nSome of his descendants still occupy honored positions in the tribe.\n\nAmong the manuscript archives of South Carolina there was said to be,\nsome fifty years ago, a treaty or agreement made with the government of\nthat colony by the Cherokee in 1684, and signed with the hieroglyphics\nof eight chiefs of the lower towns, viz, Corani, the Raven (K\u00e2'lan\u00fb);\nSinnawa, the Hawk (Tla'nuwa); Nellawgitehi, Gorhaleke, and Owasta, all\nof Toxawa; and Canacaught, the great Conjuror, Gohoma, and Caunasaita,\nof Keowa. If still in existence, this is probably the oldest Cherokee\ntreaty on record. [47]\n\nWhat seems to be the next mention of the Cherokee in the South Carolina\nrecords occurs in 1691, when we find an inquiry ordered in regard to\na report that some of the colonists \"have, without any proclamation\nof war, fallen upon and murdered\" several of that tribe. [48]\n\nIn 1693 some Cherokee chiefs went to Charleston with presents for\nthe governor and offers of friendship, to ask the protection of\nSouth Carolina against their enemies, the Esaw (Catawba), Savanna\n(Shawano), and Congaree, all of that colony, who had made war upon\nthem and sold a number of their tribesmen into slavery. They were told\nthat their kinsmen could not now be recovered, but that the English\ndesired friendship with their tribe, and that the Government would\nsee that there would be no future ground for such complaint. [49]\nThe promise was apparently not kept, for in 1705 we find a bitter\naccusation brought against Governor Moore, of South Carolina, that he\nhad granted commissions to a number of persons \"to set upon, assault,\nkill, destroy, and take captive as many Indians as they possible\n[sic] could,\" the prisoners being sold into slavery for his and their\nprivate profit. By this course, it was asserted, he had \"already almost\nutterly ruined the trade for skins and furs, whereby we held our chief\ncorrespondence with England, and turned it into a trade of Indians\nor slave making, whereby the Indians to the south and west of us are\nalready involved in blood and confusion.\" The arraignment concludes\nwith a warning that such conditions would in all probability draw down\nupon the colony an Indian war with all its dreadful consequences. [50]\nIn view of what happened a few years later this reads like a prophecy.\n\nAbout the year 1700 the first guns were introduced among the Cherokee,\nthe event being fixed traditionally as having occurred in the girlhood\nof an old woman of the tribe who died about 1775. [51] In 1708 we\nfind them described as a numerous people, living in the mountains\nnorthwest from the Charleston settlements and having sixty towns,\nbut of small importance in the Indian trade, being \"but ordinary\nhunters and less warriors.\" [52]\n\nIn the war with the Tuscarora in 1711-1713, which resulted in the\nexpulsion of that tribe from North Carolina, more than a thousand\nsouthern Indians reenforced the South Carolina volunteers, among\nthem being over two hundred Cherokee, hereditary enemies of the\nTuscarora. Although these Indian allies did their work well in the\nactual encounters, their assistance was of doubtful advantage, as\nthey helped themselves freely to whatever they wanted along the way,\nso that the settlers had reason to fear them almost as much as the\nhostile Tuscarora. After torturing a large number of their prisoners\nin the usual savage fashion, they returned with the remainder, whom\nthey afterward sold as slaves to South Carolina. [53]\n\nHaving wiped out old scores with the Tuscarora, the late allies of\nthe English proceeded to discuss their own grievances, which, as we\nhave seen, were sufficiently galling. The result was a combination\nagainst the whites, embracing all the tribes from Cape Fear to the\nChattahoochee, including the Cherokee, who thus for the first time\nraised their hand against the English. The war opened with a terrible\nmassacre by the Yamassee in April, 1715, followed by assaults along\nthe whole frontier, until for a time it was seriously feared that\nthe colony of South Carolina would be wiped out of existence. In a\ncontest between savagery and civilization, however, the final result\nis inevitable. The settlers at last rallied their whole force under\nGovernor Craven and administered such a crushing blow to the Yamassee\nthat the remnant abandoned their country and took refuge with the\nSpaniards in Florida or among the Lower Creeks. The English then made\nshort work with the smaller tribes along the coast, while those in\nthe interior were soon glad to sue for peace. [54]\n\nA number of Cherokee chiefs having come down to Charleston in\ncompany with a trader to express their desire for peace, a force of\nseveral hundred white troops and a number of negroes under Colonel\nMaurice Moore went up the Savannah in the winter of 1715-16 and made\nheadquarters among the Lower Cherokee, where they were met by the\nchiefs of the Lower and some of the western towns, who reaffirmed\ntheir desire for a lasting peace with the English, but refused to\nfight against the Yamassee, although willing to proceed against some\nother tribes. They laid the blame for most of the trouble upon the\ntraders, who \"had been very abuseful to them of late.\" A detachment\nunder Colonel George Chicken, sent to the Upper Cherokee, penetrated\nto \"Quoneashee\" (Tlanusi'yi, on Hiwassee, about the present Murphy)\nwhere they found the chiefs more defiant, resolved to continue the\nwar against the Creeks, with whom the English were then trying to\nmake peace, and demanding large supplies of guns and ammunition,\nsaying that if they made a peace with the other tribes they would\nhave no means of getting slaves with which to buy ammunition for\nthemselves. At this time they claimed 2,370 warriors, of whom half\nwere believed to have guns. As the strength of the whole Nation was\nmuch greater, this estimate may have been for the Upper and Middle\nCherokee only. After \"abundance of persuading\" by the officers, they\nfinally \"told us they would trust us once again,\" and an arrangement\nwas made to furnish them two hundred guns with a supply of ammunition,\ntogether with fifty white soldiers, to assist them against the tribes\nwith which the English were still at war. In March, 1716, this force\nwas increased by one hundred men. The detachment under Colonel Chicken\nreturned by way of the towns on the upper part of the Little Tennessee,\nthus penetrating the heart of the Cherokee country. [55]\n\nSteps were now taken to secure peace by inaugurating a satisfactory\ntrade system, for which purpose a large quantity of suitable\ngoods was purchased at the public expense of South Carolina, and a\ncorrespondingly large party was equipped for the initial trip. [56]\nIn 1721, in order still more to systematize Indian affairs, Governor\nNicholson of South Carolina invited the chiefs of the Cherokee to a\nconference, at which thirty-seven towns were represented. A treaty\nwas made by which trading methods were regulated, a boundary line\nbetween their territory and the English settlements was agreed upon,\nand an agent was appointed to superintend their affairs. At the\ngovernor's suggestion, one chief, called Wrosetasatow(?) [57] was\nformally commissioned as supreme head of the Nation, with authority to\npunish all offenses, including murder, and to represent all Cherokee\nclaims to the colonial government. Thus were the Cherokee reduced from\ntheir former condition of a free people, ranging where their pleasure\nled, to that of dependent vassals with bounds fixed by a colonial\ngovernor. The negotiations were accompanied by a cession of land,\nthe first in the history of the tribe. In little more than a century\nthereafter they had signed away their whole original territory. [58]\n\nThe document of 1716 already quoted puts the strength of the\nCherokee at that time at 2,370 warriors, but in this estimate the\nLower Cherokee seem not to have been included. In 1715, according to\na trade census compiled by Governor Johnson of South Carolina, the\ntribe had thirty towns, with 4,000 warriors and a total population\nof 11,210. [59] Another census in 1721 gives them fifty-three towns\nwith 3,510 warriors and a total of 10,379, [60] while the report of\nthe board of trade for the same year gives them 3,800 warriors, [61]\nequivalent, by the same proportion, to nearly 12,000 total. Adair,\na good authority on such matters, estimates, about the year 1735,\nwhen the country was better known, that they had \"sixty-four towns\nand villages, populous and full of children,\" with more than 6,000\nfighting men, [62] equivalent on the same basis of computation to\nbetween 16,000 and 17,000 souls. From what we know of them in later\ntimes, it is probable that this last estimate is very nearly correct.\n\nBy this time the colonial government had become alarmed at the advance\nof the French, who had made their first permanent establishment in\nthe Gulf states at Biloxi bay, Mississippi, in 1699, and in 1714\nhad built Fort Toulouse, known to the English as \"the fort at the\nAlabamas,\" on Coosa river, a few miles above the present Montgomery,\nAlabama. From this central vantage point they had rapidly extended\ntheir influence among all the neighboring tribes until in 1721 it\nwas estimated that 3,400 warriors who had formerly traded with\nCarolina had been \"entirely debauched to the French interest,\"\nwhile 2,000 more were wavering, and only the Cherokee could still\nbe considered friendly to the English. [63] From this time until\nthe final withdrawal of the French in 1763 the explanation of our\nIndian wars is to be found in the struggle between the two nations\nfor territorial and commercial supremacy, the Indian being simply the\ncat's-paw of one or the other. For reasons of their own, the Chickasaw,\nwhose territory lay within the recognized limits of Louisiana, soon\nbecame the uncompromising enemies of the French, and as their position\nenabled them in a measure to control the approach from the Mississippi,\nthe Carolina government saw to it that they were kept well supplied\nwith guns and ammunition. British traders were in all their towns,\nand on one occasion a French force, advancing against a Chickasaw\npalisaded village, found it garrisoned by Englishmen flying the British\nflag. [64] The Cherokee, although nominally allies of the English,\nwere strongly disposed to favor the French, and it required every\neffort of the Carolina government to hold them to their allegiance.\n\nIn 1730, to further fix the Cherokee in the English interest, Sir\nAlexander Cuming was dispatched on a secret mission to that tribe,\nwhich was again smarting under grievances and almost ready to join\nwith the Creeks in an alliance with the French. Proceeding to the\nancient town of Nequassee (Nikwasi', at the present Franklin, North\nCarolina), he so impressed the chiefs by his bold bearing that they\nconceded without question all his demands, submitting themselves\nand their people for the second time to the English dominion and\ndesignating Moytoy, [65] of Tellico, to act as their \"emperor\" and to\nrepresent the Nation in all transactions with the whites. Seven chiefs\nwere selected to visit England, where, in the palace at Whitehall,\nthey solemnly renewed the treaty, acknowledging the sovereignty of\nEngland and binding themselves to have no trade or alliance with any\nother nation, not to allow any other white people to settle among\nthem, and to deliver up any fugitive slaves who might seek refuge\nwith them. To confirm their words they delivered a \"crown\", five\neagle-tails, and four scalps, which they had brought with them. In\nreturn they received the usual glittering promises of love and\nperpetual friendship, together with a substantial quantity of guns,\nammunition, and red paint. The treaty being concluded in September,\nthey took ship for Carolina, where they arrived, as we are told by\nthe governor, \"in good health and mightily well satisfied with His\nMajesty's bounty to them.\" [66]\n\nIn the next year some action was taken to use the Cherokee and Catawba\nto subdue the refractory remnant of the Tuscarora in North Carolina,\nbut when it was found that this was liable to bring down the wrath\nof the Iroquois upon the Carolina settlements, more peaceable methods\nwere used instead. [67]\n\nIn 1738 or 1739 the smallpox, brought to Carolina by slave ships,\nbroke out among the Cherokee with such terrible effect that, according\nto Adair, nearly half the tribe was swept away within a year. The\nawful mortality was due largely to the fact that as it was a new and\nstrange disease to the Indians they had no proper remedies against it,\nand therefore resorted to the universal Indian panacea for \"strong\"\nsickness of almost any kind, viz, cold plunge baths in the running\nstream, the worst treatment that could possibly be devised. As the\npestilence spread unchecked from town to town, despair fell upon the\nnation. The priests, believing the visitation a penalty for violation\nof the ancient ordinances, threw away their sacred paraphernalia as\nthings which had lost their protecting power. Hundreds of the warriors\ncommitted suicide on beholding their frightful disfigurement. \"Some\nshot themselves, others cut their throats, some stabbed themselves\nwith knives and others with sharp-pointed canes; many threw themselves\nwith sullen madness into the fire and there slowly expired, as if they\nhad been utterly divested of the native power of feeling pain.\" [68]\nAnother authority estimates their loss at a thousand warriors, partly\nfrom smallpox and partly from rum brought in by the traders. [69]\n\nAbout the year 1740 a trading path for horsemen was marked out by the\nCherokee from the new settlement of Augusta, in Georgia, to their towns\non the headwaters of Savannah river and thence on to the west. This\nroad, which went up the south side of the river, soon became much\nfrequented.4 Previous to this time most, of the trading goods had\nbeen transported on the backs of Indians. In the same year a party\nof Cherokee under the war chief K\u00e2'lan\u00fb. \"The Raven,\" took part in\nOglethorpe's expedition against the Spaniards of Saint Augustine. [70]\n\nIn 1736 Christian Priber, said to be a Jesuit acting in the French\ninterest, had come among the Cherokee, and, by the facility with\nwhich he learned the language and adapted himself to the native\ndress and mode of life, had quickly acquired a leading influence\namong them. He drew up for their adoption a scheme of government\nmodeled after the European plan, with the capital at Great Tellico,\nin Tennessee, the principal medicine man as emperor, and himself as\nthe emperor's secretary. Under this title he corresponded with the\nSouth Carolina government until it began to be feared that he would\nultimately win over the whole tribe to the French side. A commissioner\nwas sent to arrest him, but the Cherokee refused to give him up,\nand the deputy was obliged to return under safe-conduct of an escort\nfurnished by Priber. Five years after the inauguration of his work,\nhowever, he was seized by some English traders while on his way to\nFort Toulouse, and brought as a prisoner to Frederica, in Georgia,\nwhere he soon afterward died while under confinement. Although his\nenemies had represented him as a monster, inciting the Indians to\nthe grossest immoralities, he proved to be a gentleman of polished\naddress, extensive learning, and rare courage, as was shown later on\nthe occasion of an explosion in the barracks magazine. Besides Greek,\nLatin, French, German, Spanish, and fluent English, he spoke also the\nCherokee, and among his papers which were seized was found a manuscript\ndictionary of the language, which he had prepared for publication--the\nfirst, and even yet, perhaps, the most important study of the language\never made. Says Adair: \"As he was learned and possessed of a very\nsagacious penetrating judgment, and had every qualification that\nwas requisite for his bold and difficult enterprise, it was not to\nbe doubted that, as he wrote a Cheerake dictionary, designed to be\npublished at Paris, he likewise set down a great deal that would\nhave been very acceptable to the curious and serviceable to the\nrepresentatives of South Carolina and Georgia, which may be readily\nfound in Frederica if the manuscripts have had the good fortune to\nescape the despoiling hands of military power.\" He claimed to be a\nJesuit, acting under orders of his superior, to introduce habits of\nsteady industry, civilized arts, and a regular form of government\namong the southern tribes, with a view to the ultimate founding of\nan independent Indian state. From all that can be gathered of him,\neven though it comes from his enemies, there can be little doubt that\nhe was a worthy member of that illustrious order whose name has been\na synonym for scholarship, devotion, and courage from the days of\nJogues and Marquette down to De Smet and Mengarini. [71]\n\nUp to this time no civilizing or mission work had been undertaken\nby either of the Carolina governments among any of the tribes\nwithin their borders. As one writer of the period quaintly puts\nit, \"The gospel spirit is not yet so gloriously arisen as to seek\nthem more than theirs,\" while another in stronger terms affirms,\n\"To the shame of the Christian name, no pains have ever been taken\nto convert them to Christianity; on the contrary, their morals are\nperverted and corrupted by the sad example they daily have of its\ndepraved professors residing in their towns.\" [72] Readers of Lawson\nand other narratives of the period will feel the force of the rebuke.\n\nThroughout the eighteenth century the Cherokee were engaged in\nchronic warfare with their Indian neighbors. As these quarrels\nconcerned the whites but little, however momentous they may have\nbeen to the principals, we have but few details. The war with the\nTuscarora continued until the outbreak of the latter tribe against\nCarolina in 1711 gave opportunity to the Cherokee to cooperate in\nstriking the blow which drove the Tuscarora from their ancient homes\nto seek refuge in the north. The Cherokee then turned their attention\nto the Shawano on the Cumberland, and with the aid of the Chickasaw\nfinally expelled them from that region about the year 1715. Inroads\nupon the Catawba were probably kept up until the latter had become so\nfar reduced by war and disease as to be mere dependent pensioners upon\nthe whites. The former friendship with the Chickasaw was at last broken\nthrough the overbearing conduct of the Cherokee, and a war followed of\nwhich we find incidental notice in 1757, [73] and which terminated in\na decisive victory for the Chickasaw about 1768. The bitter war with\nthe Iroquois of the far north continued, in spite of all the efforts\nof the colonial governments, until a formal treaty of peace was brought\nabout by the efforts of Sir William Johnson (12) in the same year.\n\nThe hereditary war with the Creeks for possession of upper Georgia\ncontinued, with brief intervals of peace, or even alliance, until\nthe United States finally interfered as mediator between the rival\nclaimants. In 1718 we find notice of a large Cherokee war party moving\nagainst the Creek town of Coweta, on the lower Chattahoochee, but\ndispersing on learning of the presence there of some French and Spanish\nofficers, as well as some English traders, all bent on arranging an\nalliance with the Creeks. The Creeks themselves had declared their\nwillingness to be at peace with the English, while still determined\nto keep the bloody hatchet uplifted against the Cherokee. [74] The\nmost important incident of the struggle between the two tribes was\nprobably the battle of Tali'wa about the year 1755. [75]\n\nBy this time the weaker coast tribes had become practically extinct,\nand the more powerful tribes of the interior were beginning to take the\nalarm, as they saw the restless borderers pushing every year farther\ninto the Indian country. As early as 1748 Dr Thomas Walker, with a\ncompany of hunters and woodsmen from Virginia, crossed the mountains\nto the southwest, discovering and naming the celebrated Cumberland\ngap and passing on to the headwaters of Cumberland river. Two years\nlater he made a second exploration and penetrated to Kentucky river,\nbut on account of the Indian troubles no permanent settlement was then\nattempted. [76] This invasion of their territory awakened a natural\nresentment of the native owners, and we find proof also in the Virginia\nrecords that the irresponsible borderers seldom let pass an opportunity\nto kill and plunder any stray Indian found in their neighborhood.\n\nIn 1755 the Cherokee were officially reported to number 2,590 warriors,\nas against probably twice that number previous to the great smallpox\nepidemic sixteen years before. Their neighbors and ancient enemies,\nthe Catawba, had dwindled to 240 men. [77]\n\nAlthough war was not formally declared by England until 1756,\nhostilities in the seven year's struggle between France and England,\ncommonly known in America as the \"French and Indian war,\" began in\nApril, 1754, when the French seized a small post which the English\nhad begun at the present site of Pittsburg, and which was afterward\nfinished by the French under the name of Fort Du Quesne. Strenuous\nefforts were made by the English to secure the Cherokee to their\ninterest against the French and their Indian allies, and treaties were\nnegotiated by which they promised assistance. [78] As these treaties,\nhowever, carried the usual cessions of territory, and stipulated for\nthe building of several forts in the heart of the Cherokee country,\nit is to be feared that the Indians were not duly impressed by\nthe disinterested character of the proceeding. Their preference\nfor the French was but thinly veiled, and only immediate policy\nprevented them from throwing their whole force into the scale on\nthat side. The reasons for this preference are given by Timberlake,\nthe young Virginian officer who visited the tribe on an embassy of\nconciliation a few years later:\n\n\n I found the nation much attached to the French, who have the\n prudence, by familiar politeness--which costs but little and often\n does a great deal--and conforming themselves to their ways and\n temper, to conciliate the inclinations of almost all the Indians\n they are acquainted with, while the pride of our officers often\n disgusts them. Nay, they did not scruple to own to me that it\n was the trade alone that induced them to make peace with us,\n and not any preference to the French, whom they loved a great\n deal better.... The English are now so nigh, and encroached daily\n so far upon them, that they not only felt the bad effects of it\n in their hunting grounds, which were spoiled, but had all the\n reason in the world to apprehend being swallowed up by so potent\n neighbors or driven from the country inhabited by their fathers,\n in which they were born and brought up, in fine, their native soil,\n for which all men have a particular tenderness and affection.\n\n\nHe adds that only dire necessity had induced them to make peace with\nthe English in 1761. [79]\n\nIn accordance with the treaty stipulations Fort Prince George was\nbuilt in 1756 adjoining the important Cherokee town of Keowee, on\nthe headwaters of the Savannah, and Fort Loudon near the junction\nof Tellico river with the Little Tennessee, in the center of the\nCherokee towns beyond the mountains. [80] By special arrangement\nwith the influential chief, Ata-kullakulla (Ata'-g\u00fbl'`kal\u00fb'), [81]\nFort Dobbs was also built in the same year about 20 miles west of\nthe present Salisbury, North Carolina. [82]\n\nThe Cherokee had agreed to furnish four hundred warriors to cooperate\nagainst the French in the north, but before Fort Loudon had been\ncompleted it was very evident that they had repented of their promise,\nas their great council at Echota ordered the work stopped and the\ngarrison on the way to turn back, plainly telling the officer in charge\nthat they did not want so many white people among them. Ata-kullakulla,\nhitherto supposed to be one of the stanchest friends of the English,\nwas now one of the most determined in the opposition. It was in\nevidence also that they were in constant communication with the\nFrench. By much tact and argument their objections were at last\novercome for a time, and they very unwillingly set about raising the\npromised force of warriors. Major Andrew Lewis, who superintended the\nbuilding of the fort, became convinced that the Cherokee were really\nfriendly to the French, and that all their professions of friendship\nand assistance were \"only to put a gloss on their knavery.\" The fort\nwas finally completed, and, on his suggestion, was garrisoned with\na strong force of two hundred men under Captain Demer\u00e9. [83] There\nwas strong ground for believing that some depredations committed\nabout this time on the heads of Catawba and Broad rivers, in North\nCarolina, were the joint work of Cherokee and northern Indians. [84]\nNotwithstanding all this, a considerable body of Cherokee joined the\nBritish forces on the Virginia frontier. [85]\n\nFort Du Quesne was taken by the American provincials under Washington,\nNovember 25, 1758. Quebec was taken September 13, 1759, and by the\nfinal treaty of peace in 1763 the war ended with the transfer of\nCanada and the Ohio valley to the crown of England. Louisiana had\nalready been ceded by France to Spain.\n\nAlthough France was thus eliminated from the Indian problem, the\nIndians themselves were not ready to accept the settlement. In the\nnorth the confederated tribes under Pontiac continued to war on their\nown account until 1765. In the South the very Cherokee who had acted\nas allies of the British against Fort Du Quesne, and had voluntarily\noffered to guard the frontier south of the Potomac, returned to rouse\ntheir tribe to resistance.\n\nThe immediate exciting cause of the trouble was an unfortunate\nexpedition undertaken against the hostile Shawano in February,\n1756, by Major Andrew Lewis (the same who had built Fort Loudon)\nwith some two hundred Virginia troops assisted by about one hundred\nCherokee. After six weeks of fruitless tramping through the woods,\nwith the ground covered with snow and the streams so swollen by rains\nthat they lost their provisions and ammunition in crossing, they\nwere obliged to return to the settlements in a starving condition,\nhaving killed their horses on the way. The Indian contingent had\nfrom the first been disgusted at the contempt and neglect experienced\nfrom those whom they had come to assist. The Tuscarora and others had\nalready gone home, and the Cherokee now started to return on foot to\ntheir own country. Finding some horses running loose on the range,\nthey appropriated them, on the theory that as they had lost their own\nanimals, to say nothing of having risked their lives, in the service\nof the colonists, it was only a fair exchange. The frontiersmen took\nanother view of the question however, attacked the returning Cherokee,\nand killed a number of them, variously stated at from twelve to\nforty, including several of their prominent men. According to Adair\nthey also scalped and mutilated the bodies in the savage fashion to\nwhich they had become accustomed in the border wars, and brought the\nscalps into the settlements, where they were represented as those\nof French Indians and sold at the regular price then established by\nlaw. The young warriors at once prepared to take revenge, but were\nrestrained by the chiefs until satisfaction could be demanded in the\nordinary way, according to the treaties arranged with the colonial\ngovernments. Application was made in turn to Virginia, North Carolina,\nand South Carolina, but without success. While the women were still\nwailing night and morning for their slain kindred, and the Creeks were\ntaunting the warriors for their cowardice in thus quietly submitting\nto the injury, some lawless officers of Fort Prince George committed\nan unpardonable outrage at the neighboring Indian town while most\nof the men were away hunting. [86] The warriors could no longer be\nrestrained. Soon there was news of attacks upon the back settlements\nof Carolina, while on the other side of the mountains two soldiers\nof the Fort Loudon garrison were killed. War seemed at hand.\n\nAt this juncture, in November, 1758, a party of influential chiefs,\nhaving first ordered back a war party just about to set out from\nthe western towns against the Carolina settlements, came down to\nCharleston and succeeded in arranging the difficulty upon a friendly\nbasis. The assembly had officially declared peace with the Cherokee,\nwhen, in May of 1759, Governor Lyttleton unexpectedly came forward\nwith a demand for the surrender for execution of every Indian who\nhad killed a white man in the recent skirmishes, among these being\nthe chiefs of Citico and Tellico. At the same time the commander at\nFort Loudon, forgetful of the fact that he had but a small garrison in\nthe midst of several thousands of restless savages, made a demand for\ntwenty-four other chiefs whom he suspected of unfriendly action. To\ncompel their surrender orders were given to stop all trading supplies\nintended for the upper Cherokee.\n\nThis roused the whole Nation, and a delegation representing every\ntown came down to Charleston, protesting the desire of the Indians for\npeace and friendship, but declaring their inability to surrender their\nown chiefs. The governor replied by declaring war in November, 1759,\nat once calling out troops and sending messengers to secure the aid\nof all the surrounding tribes against the Cherokee. In the meantime\na second delegation of thirty-two of the most prominent men, led by\nthe young war chief Oconostota, (\u00c2gan-st\u00e2ta), [87] arrived to make\na further effort for peace, but the governor, refusing to listen to\nthem, seized the whole party and confined them as prisoners at Fort\nPrince George, in a room large enough for only six soldiers, while\nat the same time he set fourteen hundred troops in motion to invade\nthe Cherokee country. On further representation by Ata-kullakulla\n(Ata'-g\u00fbl'`kal\u00fb'), the civil chief of the Nation and well known as\na friend of the English, the governor released Oconostota and two\nothers after compelling some half dozen of the delegation to sign a\npaper by which they pretended to agree for their tribe to kill or\nseize any Frenchmen entering their country, and consented to the\nimprisonment of the party until all the warriors demanded had been\nsurrendered for execution or otherwise. At this stage of affairs the\nsmallpox broke out in the Cherokee towns, rendering a further stay in\ntheir neighborhood unsafe, and thinking the whole matter now settled\non his own basis, Lyttleton returned to Charleston.\n\nThe event soon proved how little he knew of Indian temper. Oconostota\nat once laid siege to Fort Prince George, completely cutting off\ncommunication at a time when, as it was now winter, no help could well\nbe expected from below. In February, 1760, after having kept the fort\nthus closely invested for some weeks, he sent word one day by an Indian\nwoman that he wished to speak to the commander, Lieutenant Coytmore. As\nthe lieutenant stepped out from the stockade to see what was wanted,\nOconostota, standing on the opposite side of the river, swung a bridle\nabove his head as a signal to his warriors concealed in the bushes,\nand the officer was at once shot down. The soldiers immediately broke\ninto the room where the hostages were confined, every one being a\nchief of prominence in the tribe and butchered them to the last man.\n\nIt was now war to the end. Led by Oconostota, the Cherokee descended\nupon the frontier settlements of Carolina, while the warriors across\nthe mountains laid close siege to Fort Loudon. In June, 1760, a strong\nforce of over 1,600 men, under Colonel Montgomery, started to reduce\nthe Cherokee towns and relieve the beleaguered garrison. Crossing the\nIndian frontier, Montgomery quickly drove the enemy from about Fort\nPrince George and then, rapidly advancing, surprised Little Keowee,\nkilling every man of the defenders, and destroyed in succession\nevery one of the Lower Cherokee towns, burning them to the ground,\ncutting down the cornfields and orchards, killing and taking more\nthan a hundred of their men, and driving the whole population into\nthe mountains before him. His own loss was very slight. He then\nsent messengers to the Middle and Upper towns, summoning them to\nsurrender on penalty of the like fate, but, receiving no reply, he\nled his men across the divide to the waters of the Little Tennessee\nand continued down that stream without opposition until he came in\nthe vicinity of Echoee (Itse'yi), a few miles above the sacred town\nof Nikwasi', the present Franklin, North Carolina. Here the Cherokee\nhad collected their full force to resist his progress, and the result\nwas a desperate engagement on June 27, 1760, by which Montgomery was\ncompelled to retire to Fort Prince George, after losing nearly one\nhundred men in killed and wounded. The Indian loss is unknown.\n\nHis retreat sealed the fate of Fort Loudon. The garrison, though hard\npressed and reduced to the necessity of eating horses and dogs, had\nbeen enabled to hold out through the kindness of the Indian women,\nmany of whom, having found sweethearts among the soldiers, brought\nthem supplies of food daily. When threatened by the chiefs the women\nboldly replied that the soldiers were their husbands and it was their\nduty to help them, and that if any harm came to themselves for their\ndevotion their English relatives would avenge them. [88] The end was\nonly delayed, however, and on August 8, 1760, the garrison of about\ntwo hundred men, under Captain Demer\u00e9, surrendered to Oconostota\non promise that they should be allowed to retire unmolested with\ntheir arms and sufficient ammunition for the march, on condition of\ndelivering up all the remaining warlike stores.\n\nThe troops marched out and proceeded far enough to camp for the night,\nwhile the Indians swarmed into the fort to see what plunder they might\nfind. \"By accident a discovery was made of ten bags of powder and\na large quantity of ball that had been secretly buried in the fort,\nto prevent their falling into the enemy's hands\" (Hewat). It is said\nalso that cannon, small arms, and ammunition had been thrown into\nthe river with the same intention (Haywood). Enraged at this breach\nof the capitulation the Cherokee attacked the soldiers next morning\nat daylight, killing Demer\u00e9 and twenty-nine others at the first\nfire. The rest were taken and held as prisoners until ransomed some\ntime after. The second officer, Captain Stuart (13), for whom the\nIndians had a high regard, was claimed by Ata-kullakulla, who soon\nafter took him into the woods, ostensibly on a hunting excursion,\nand conducted him for nine days through the wilderness until he\ndelivered him safely into the hands of friends in Virginia. The\nchief's kindness was well rewarded, and it was largely through his\ninfluence that peace was finally brought about.\n\nIt was now too late, and the settlements were too much exhausted, for\nanother expedition, so the fall and winter were employed by the English\nin preparations for an active campaign the next year in force to\ncrush out all resistance. In June 1761, Colonel Grant with an army of\n2,600 men, including a number of Chickasaw and almost every remaining\nwarrior of the Catawba, [89] set out from Fort Prince George. Refusing\na request from Ata-kullakulla for a friendly accommodation, he crossed\nRabun gap and advanced rapidly down the Little Tennessee along the\nsame trail taken by the expedition of the previous year. On June 10,\nwhen within two miles of Montgomery's battlefield, he encountered\nthe Cherokee, whom he defeated, although with considerable loss to\nhimself, after a stubborn engagement lasting several hours. Having\nrepulsed the Indians, he proceeded on his way, sending out detachments\nto the outlying settlements, until in the course of a month he had\ndestroyed every one of the Middle towns, 15 in all, with all their\ngranaries and cornfields, driven the inhabitants into the mountains,\nand \"pushed the frontier seventy miles farther to the west.\"\n\nThe Cherokee were now reduced to the greatest extremity. With some of\ntheir best towns in ashes, their fields and orchards wasted for two\nsuccessive years, their ammunition nearly exhausted, many of their\nbravest warriors dead, their people fugitives in the mountains, hiding\nin caves and living like beasts upon roots or killing their horses for\nfood, with the terrible scourge of smallpox adding to the miseries of\nstarvation, and withal torn by factional differences which had existed\nfrom the very beginning of the war--it was impossible for even brave\nmen to resist longer. In September Ata-kullakulla who had all along\ndone everything in his power to stay the disaffection, came down to\nCharleston, a treaty of peace was made, and the war was ended. From\nan estimated population of at least 5,000 warriors some years before,\nthe Cherokee had now been reduced to about 2,300 men. [90]\n\nIn the meantime a force of Virginians under Colonel Stephen had\nadvanced as far as the Great island of the Holston--now Kingsport,\nTennessee--where they were met by a large delegation of Cherokee,\nwho sued for peace, which was concluded with them by Colonel Stephen\non November 19, 1761, independently of what was being done in South\nCarolina. On the urgent request of the chief that an officer might\nvisit their people for a short time to cement the new friendship,\nLieutenant Henry Timberlake, a young Virginian who had already\ndistinguished himself in active service, volunteered to return with\nthem to their towns, where he spent several months. He afterward\nconducted a delegation of chiefs to England, where, as they had come\nwithout authority from the Government, they met such an unpleasant\nreception that they returned disgusted. [91]\n\nOn the conclusion of peace between England and France in 1763,\nby which the whole western territory was ceded to England, a great\ncouncil was held at Augusta, which was attended by the chiefs and\nprincipal men of all the southern Indians, at which Captain John\nStuart, superintendent for the southern tribes, together with the\ncolonial governors of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and\nGeorgia, explained fully to the Indians the new condition of affairs,\nand a treaty of mutual peace and friendship was concluded on November\n10 of that year. [92]\n\nUnder several leaders, as Walker, Wallen, Smith, and Boon, the tide of\nemigration now surged across the mountains in spite of every effort\nto restrain it, [93] and the period between the end of the Cherokee\nwar and the opening of the Revolution is principally notable for a\nnumber of treaty cessions by the Indians, each in fruitless endeavor\nto fix a permanent barrier between themselves and the advancing\nwave of white settlement. Chief among these was the famous Henderson\npurchase in 1775, which included the whole tract between the Kentucky\nand Cumberland rivers, embracing the greater part of the present state\nof Kentucky. By these treaties the Cherokee were shorn of practically\nall their ancient territorial claims north of the present Tennessee\nline and east of the Blue ridge and the Savannah, including much\nof their best hunting range; their home settlements were, however,\nleft still in their possession. [94]\n\nAs one consequence of the late Cherokee war, a royal proclamation\nhad been issued in 1763, with a view of checking future encroachments\nby the whites, which prohibited any private land purchases from the\nIndians, or any granting of warrants for lands west of the sources of\nthe streams flowing into the Atlantic. [95] In 1768, on the appeal of\nthe Indians themselves, the British superintendent for the southern\ntribes, Captain John Stuart, had negotiated a treaty at Hard Labor\nin South Carolina by which Kanawha and New rivers, along their whole\ncourse downward from the North Carolina line, were fixed as the\nboundary between the Cherokee and the whites in that direction. In\ntwo years, however, so many borderers had crossed into the Indian\ncountry, where they were evidently determined to remain, that it was\nfound necessary to substitute another treaty, by which the line was\nmade to run due south from the mouth of the Kanawha to the Holston,\nthus cutting off from the Cherokee almost the whole of their hunting\ngrounds in Virginia and West Virginia. Two years later, in 1772,\nthe Virginians demanded a further cession, by which everything east\nof Kentucky river was surrendered; and finally, on March 17, 1775,\nthe great Henderson purchase was consummated, including the whole\ntract between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers. By this last cession\nthe Cherokee were at last cut off from Ohio river and all their rich\nKentucky hunting grounds. [96]\n\nWhile these transactions were called treaties, they were really\nforced upon the native proprietors, who resisted each in turn and\nfinally signed only under protest and on most solemn assurances\nthat no further demands would be made. Even before the purchases\nwere made, intruders in large numbers had settled upon each of the\ntracts in question, and they refused to withdraw across the boundaries\nnow established, but remained on one pretext or another to await a\nnew adjustment. This was particularly the case on Watauga and upper\nHolston rivers in northeastern Tennessee, where the settlers, finding\nthemselves still within the Indian boundary and being resolved to\nremain, effected a temporary lease from the Cherokee in 1772. As\nwas expected and intended, the lease became a permanent occupancy,\nthe nucleus settlement of the future State of Tennessee. [97]\n\nJust before the outbreak of the Revolution, the botanist, William\nBartram, made an extended tour of the Cherokee country, and has\nleft us a pleasant account of the hospitable character and friendly\ndisposition of the Indians at that time. He gives a list of forty-three\ntowns then inhabited by the tribe. [98]\n\nThe opening of the great Revolutionary struggle in 1776 found the\nIndian tribes almost to a man ranged on the British side against\nthe Americans. There was good reason for this. Since the fall of\nthe French power the British government had stood to them as the\nsole representative of authority, and the guardian and protector\nof their rights against constant encroachments by the American\nborderers. Licensed British traders were resident in every tribe and\nmany had intermarried and raised families among them, while the border\nman looked upon the Indian only as a cumberer of the earth. The British\nsuperintendents, Sir William Johnson in the north and Captain John\nStuart in the south, they knew as generous friends, while hardly a\nwarrior of them all was without some old cause of resentment against\ntheir backwoods neighbors. They felt that the only barrier between\nthemselves and national extinction was in the strength of the British\ngovernment, and when the final severence came they threw their whole\npower into the British scale. They were encouraged in this resolution\nby presents of clothing and other goods, with promises of plunder\nfrom the settlements and hopes of recovering a portion of their lost\nterritories. The British government having determined, as early as\nJune, 1775, to call in the Indians against the Americans, supplies\nof hatchets, guns, and ammunition were issued to the warriors of all\nthe tribes from the lakes to the gulf, and bounties were offered for\nAmerican scalps brought in to the commanding officer at Detroit or\nOswego. [99] Even the Six Nations, who had agreed in solemn treaty to\nremain neutral, were won over by these persuasions. In August, 1775,\nan Indian \"talk\" was intercepted in which the Cherokee assured Cameron,\nthe resident agent, that their warriors, enlisted in the service of\nthe king, were ready at a signal to fall upon the back settlements of\nCarolina and Georgia. [100] Circular letters were sent out to all those\npersons in the back country supposed to be of royalist sympathies,\ndirecting them to repair to Cameron's headquarters in the Cherokee\ncountry to join the Indians in the invasion of the settlements. [101]\n\nIn June, 1776, a British fleet under command of Sir Peter Parker, with\na large naval and military force, attacked Charleston, South Carolina,\nboth by land and sea, and simultaneously a body of Cherokee, led by\nTories in Indian disguise, came down from the mountains and ravaged\nthe exposed frontier of South Carolina, killing and burning as they\nwent. After a gallant defense by the garrison at Charleston the British\nwere repulsed, whereupon their Indian and Tory allies withdrew. [102]\n\nAbout the same time the warning came from Nancy Ward (14), a noted\nfriendly Indian woman of great authority in the Cherokee Nation, that\nseven hundred Cherokee warriors were advancing in two divisions against\nthe Watauga and Holston settlements, with the design of destroying\neverything as far up as New river. The Holston men from both sides\nof the Virginia line hastily collected under Captain Thompson and\nmarched against the Indians, whom they met and defeated with signal\nloss after a hard-fought battle near the Long island in the Holston\n(Kingsport, Tennessee), on August 20. The next day the second division\nof the Cherokee attacked the fort at Watauga, garrisoned by only forty\nmen under Captain James Robertson (15), but was repulsed without loss\nto the defenders, the Indians withdrawing on news of the result at\nthe Long island. A Mrs. Bean and a boy named Moore were captured\non this occasion and carried to one of the Cherokee towns in the\nneighborhood of Tellico, where the boy was burned, but the woman,\nafter she had been condemned to death and everything was in readiness\nfor the tragedy, was rescued by the interposition of Nancy Ward. Two\nother Cherokee detachments moved against the upper settlements at the\nsame time. One of these, finding all the inhabitants securely shut\nup in forts, returned without doing much damage. The other ravaged\nthe country on Clinch river almost to its head, and killed a man and\nwounded others at Black's station, now Abingdon, Virginia. [103]\n\nAt the same time that one part of the Cherokee were raiding the\nTennessee settlements others came down upon the frontiers of Carolina\nand Georgia. On the upper Catawba they killed many people, but the\nwhites took refuge in the stockade stations, where they defended\nthemselves until General Rutherford (16) came to their relief. In\nGeorgia an attempt had been made by a small party of Americans to\nseize Cameron, who lived in one of the Cherokee towns with his Indian\nwife, but, as was to have been expected, the Indians interfered,\nkilling several of the party and capturing others, who were afterward\ntortured to death. The Cherokee of the Upper and Middle towns, with\nsome Creeks and Tories of the vicinity, led by Cameron himself, at\nonce began ravaging the South Carolina border, burning houses, driving\noff cattle, and killing men, women, and children without distinction,\nuntil the whole country was in a wild panic, the people abandoning\ntheir farms to seek safety in the garrisoned forts. On one occasion\nan attack by two hundred of the enemy, half of them being Tories,\nstripped and painted like Indians, was repulsed by the timely arrival\nof a body of Americans, who succeeded in capturing thirteen of the\nTories. The invasion extended into Georgia, where also property was\ndestroyed and the inhabitants were driven from their homes. [104]\n\nRealizing their common danger, the border states determined to strike\nsuch a concerted blow at the Cherokee as should render them passive\nwhile the struggle with England continued. In accord with this plan\nof cooperation the frontier forces were quickly mobilized and in\nthe summer of 1776 four expeditions were equipped from Virginia,\nNorth Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to enter the Cherokee\nterritory simultaneously from as many different directions.\n\nIn August of that year the army of North Carolina, 2,400 strong,\nunder General Griffith Rutherford, crossed the Blue ridge at Swannanoa\ngap, and following the main trail almost along the present line of\nthe railroad, struck the first Indian town, Stik\u00e2'yi, or Stecoee,\non the Tuckasegee, near the present Whittier. The inhabitants having\nfled, the soldiers burned the town, together with an unfinished\ntownhouse ready for the roof, cut down the standing corn, killed one\nor two straggling Indians, and then proceeded on their mission of\ndestruction. Every town upon Oconaluftee, Tuckasegee, and the upper\npart of Little Tennessee, and on Hiwassee to below the junction\nof Valley river--thirty-six towns in all--was destroyed in turn,\nthe corn cut down or trampled under the hoofs of the stock driven\ninto the fields for that purpose, and the stock itself killed or\ncarried off. Before such an overwhelming force, supplemented as it\nwas by three others simultaneously advancing from other directions,\nthe Cherokee made but poor resistance, and fled with their women\nand children into the fastnesses of the Great Smoky mountains,\nleaving their desolated fields and smoking towns behind them. As was\nusual in Indian wars, the actual number killed or taken was small,\nbut the destruction of property was beyond calculation. At Sugartown\n(K\u00fblsetsi'yi, east of the present Franklin) one detachment, sent to\ndestroy it, was surprised, and escaped only through the aid of another\nforce sent to its rescue. Rutherford himself, while proceeding to the\ndestruction of the Hiwassee towns, encountered the Indians drawn up\nto oppose his progress in the Waya gap of the Nantahala mountains,\nand one of the hardest fights of the campaign resulted, the soldiers\nlosing over forty killed and wounded, although the Cherokee were\nfinally repulsed (17). One of the Indians killed on this occasion\nwas afterward discovered to be a woman, painted and armed like a\nwarrior. [105]\n\nOn September 26 the South Carolina army, 1,860 strong, under Colonel\nAndrew Williamson, and including a number of Catawba Indians, effected\na junction with Rutherford's forces on Hiwassee river, near the present\nMurphy, North Carolina. It had been expected that Williamson would join\nthe northern army at Cowee, on the Little Tennessee, when they would\nproceed together against the western towns, but he had been delayed,\nand the work of destruction in that direction was already completed,\nso that after a short rest each army returned home along the route\nby which it had come.\n\nThe South Carolina men had centered by different detachments in the\nlower Cherokee towns about the head of Savannah river, burning one\ntown after another, cutting down the peach trees and ripened corn,\nand having an occasional brush with the Cherokee, who hung constantly\nupon their flanks. At the town of Seneca, near which they encountered\nCameron with his Indians and Tories, they had destroyed six thousand\nbushels of corn, besides other food stores, after burning all the\nhouses, the Indians having retreated after a stout resistance. The\nmost serious encounter had taken place at Tomassee, where several\nwhites and sixteen Cherokee were killed, the latter being all scalped\nafterward. Having completed the ruin of the Lower towns, Williamson\nhad crossed over Rabun gap and descended into the valley of the\nLittle Tennessee to cooperate with Rutherford in the destruction\nof the Middle and Valley towns. As the army advanced every house\nin every settlement met was burned--ninety houses in one settlement\nalone--and detachments were sent into the fields to destroy the corn,\nof which the smallest town was estimated to have two hundred acres,\nbesides potatoes, beans, and orchards of peach trees. The stores of\ndressed deerskins and other valuables were carried off. Everything\nwas swept clean, and the Indians who were not killed or taken were\ndriven, homeless refugees, into the dark recesses of Nantahala or\npainfully made their way across to the Overhill towns in Tennessee,\nwhich were already menaced by another invasion from the north. [106]\n\nIn July, while Williamson was engaged on the the upper Savannah,\na force of two hundred Georgians, under Colonel Samuel Jack, had\nmarched in the same direction and succeeded in burning two towns on\nthe heads of Chattahoochee and Tugaloo rivers, destroying the corn\nand driving off the cattle, without the loss of a man, the Cherokee\nhaving apparently fallen back to concentrate for resistance in the\nmountains. [107]\n\nThe Virginia army, about two thousand strong, under Colonel William\nChristian (18), rendezvoused in August at the Long island of the\nHolston, the regular gathering place on the Tennessee side of the\nmountains. Among them were several hundred men from North Carolina,\nwith all who could be spared from the garrisons on the Tennessee\nside. Paying but little attention to small bodies of Indians, who\ntried to divert attention or to delay progress by flank attacks,\nthey advanced steadily, but cautiously, along the great Indian warpath\n(19) toward the crossing of the French Broad, where a strong force of\nCherokee was reported to be in waiting to dispute their passage. Just\nbefore reaching the river the Indians sent a Tory trader with a\nflag of truce to discuss terms. Knowing that his own strength was\noverwhelming, Christian allowed the envoy to go through the whole camp\nand then sent him back with the message that there could be no terms\nuntil the Cherokee towns had been destroyed. Arriving at the ford,\nhe kindled fires and made all preparations as if intending to camp\nthere for several days. As soon as night fell, however, he secretly\ndrew off half his force and crossed the river lower down, to come upon\nthe Indians in their rear. This was a work of great difficulty; as the\nwater was so deep that it came up almost to the shoulders of the men,\nwhile the current was so rapid that they were obliged to support each\nother four abreast to prevent being swept off their feet. However,\nthey kept their guns and powder dry. On reaching the other side they\nwere surprised to find no enemy. Disheartened at the strength of the\ninvasion, the Indians had fled without even a show of resistance. It\nis probable that nearly all their men and resources had been drawn\noff to oppose the Carolina forces on their eastern border, and the\nfew who remained felt themselves unequal to the contest.\n\nAdvancing without opposition, Christian reached the towns on Little\nTennessee early in November, and, finding them deserted, proceeded to\ndestroy them, one after another, with their outlying fields. The few\nlingering warriors discovered were all killed. In the meantime messages\nhad been sent out to the farther towns, in response to which several\nof their head men came into Christian's camp to treat for peace. On\ntheir agreement to surrender all the prisoners and captured stock\nin their hands and to cede to the whites all the disputed territory\noccupied by the Tennessee settlements, as soon as representatives of\nthe whole tribe could be assembled in the spring, Christian consented\nto suspend hostilities and retire without doing further injury. An\nexception was made against Tuskegee and another town, which had been\nconcerned in the burning of the boy taken from Watauga, already noted,\nand these two were reduced to ashes. The sacred \"peace town,\" Echota\n(20), had not been molested. Most of the troops were disbanded on\ntheir return to the Long island, but a part remained and built Fort\nPatrick Henry, where they went into winter quarters. [108]\n\nFrom incidental notices in narratives written by some of the\nparticipants, we obtain interesting side-lights on the merciless\ncharacter of this old border warfare. In addition to the ordinary\ndestruction of war--the burning of towns, the wasting of fruitful\nfields, and the killing of the defenders--we find that every Indian\nwarrior killed was scalped, when opportunity permitted; women, as\nwell as men, were shot down and afterward \"helped to their end\";\nand prisoners taken were put up at auction as slaves when not killed\non the spot. Near Tomassee a small party of Indians was surrounded\nand entirely cut off. \"Sixteen were found dead in the valley when\nthe battle ended. These our men scalped.\" In a personal encounter\n\"a stout Indian engaged a sturdy young white man, who was a good\nbruiser and expert at gouging. After breaking their guns on each\nother they laid hold of one another, when the cracker had his thumbs\ninstantly in the fellow's eyes, who roared and cried 'canaly'--enough,\nin English. 'Damn you,' says the white man, 'you can never have\nenough while you are alive.' He then threw him down, set his foot\nupon his head, and scalped him alive; then took up one of the broken\nguns and knocked out his brains. It would have been fun if he had\nlet the latter action alone and sent him home without his nightcap,\nto tell his countrymen how he had been treated.\" Later on some of\nthe same detachment (Williamson's) seeing a woman ahead, fired on\nher and brought her down with two serious wounds, but yet able to\nspeak. After getting what information she could give them, through a\nhalf-breed interpreter, \"the informer being unable to travel, some of\nour men favored her so far that they killed her there, to put her out\nof pain.\" A few days later \"a party of Colonel Thomas's regiment,\nbeing on a hunt of plunder, or some such thing, found an Indian\nsquaw and took her prisoner, she being lame, was unable to go with\nher friends. She was so sullen that she would, as an old saying is,\nneither lead nor drive, and by their account she died in their hands;\nbut I suppose they helped her to her end.\" At this place--on the\nHiwassee--they found a large town, having \"upwards of ninety houses,\nand large quantities of corn,\" and \"we encamped among the corn, where\nwe had a great plenty of corn, peas, beans, potatoes, and hogs,\" and\non the next day \"we were ordered to assemble in companies to spread\nthrough the town to destroy, cut down, and burn all the vegetables\nbelonging to our heathen enemies, which was no small undertaking,\nthey being so plentifully supplied.\" Continuing to another town,\n\"we engaged in our former labor, that is, cutting and destroying\nall things that might be of advantage to our enemies. Finding here\ncurious buildings, great apple trees, and white-man-like improvements,\nthese we destroyed.\" [109]\n\nWhile crossing over the mountains Rutherford's men approached a\nhouse belonging to a trader, when one of his negro slaves ran out\nand \"was shot by the Reverend James Hall, the chaplain, as he ran,\nmistaking him for an Indian.\" [110] Soon after they captured two\nwomen and a boy. It was proposed to auction them off at once to\nthe highest bidder, and when one of the officers protested that the\nmatter should be left to the disposition of Congress, \"the greater\npart swore bloodily that if they were not sold for slaves upon the\nspot they would kill and scalp them immediately.\" The prisoners were\naccordingly sold for about twelve hundred dollars. [111]\n\nAt the Wolf Hills settlement, now Abingdon, Virginia, a party sent\nout from the fort returned with the scalps of eleven warriors. Having\nrecovered the books which their minister had left behind in his cabin,\nthey held a service of prayer for their success, after which the fresh\nscalps were hung upon a pole above the gate of the fort. The barbarous\ncustom of scalping to which the border men had become habituated in\nthe earlier wars was practiced upon every occasion when opportunity\npresented, at least upon the bodies of warriors, and the South Carolina\nlegislature offered a bounty of seventy-five pounds for every warrior's\nscalp, a higher reward, however, being offered for prisoners. [112] In\nspite of all the bitterness which the war aroused there seems to be no\nrecord of any scalping of Tories or other whites by the Americans (21).\n\nThe effect upon the Cherokee of this irruption of more than\nsix thousand armed enemies into their territory was well nigh\nparalyzing. More than fifty of their towns had been burned, their\norchards cut down, their fields wasted, their cattle and horses\nkilled or driven off, their stores of buckskin and other personal\nproperty plundered. Hundreds of their people had been killed or had\ndied of starvation and exposure, others were prisoners in the hands\nof the Americans, and some had been sold into slavery. Those who\nhad escaped were fugitives in the mountains, living upon acorns,\nchestnuts, and wild game, or were refugees with the British. [113]\nFrom the Virginia line to the Chattahoochee the chain of destruction\nwas complete. For the present at least any further resistance was\nhopeless, and they were compelled to sue for peace.\n\nBy a treaty concluded at DeWitts Corners in South Carolina on May 20,\n1777, the first ever made with the new states, the Lower Cherokee\nsurrendered to the conqueror all of their remaining territory in South\nCarolina, excepting a narrow strip along the western boundary. Just\ntwo months later, on July 20, by treaty at the Long island, as had\nbeen arranged by Christian in the preceding fall, the Middle and Upper\nCherokee ceded everything east of the Blue ridge, together with all\nthe disputed territory on the Watauga, Nolichucky, upper Holston,\nand New rivers. By this second treaty also Captain James Robertson\nwas appointed agent for the Cherokee, to reside at Echota, to watch\ntheir movements, recover any captured property, and prevent their\ncorrespondence with persons unfriendly to the American cause. As the\nFederal government was not yet in perfect operation these treaties\nwere negotiated by commissioners from the four states adjoining the\nCherokee country, the territory thus acquired being parceled out to\nSouth Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. [114]\n\nWhile the Cherokee Nation had thus been compelled to a treaty of peace,\na very considerable portion of the tribe was irreconcilably hostile\nto the Americans and refused to be a party to the late cessions,\nespecially on the Tennessee side. Although Ata-kullakulla sent word\nthat he was ready with five hundred young warriors to fight for the\nAmericans against the English or Indian enemy whenever called upon,\nDragging-canoe (Tsiyu-g\u00fbnsi'ni), who had led the opposition against\nthe Watauga settlements, declared that he would hold fast to Cameron's\ntalk and continue to make war upon those who had taken his hunting\ngrounds. Under his leadership some hundreds of the most warlike and\nimplacable warriors of the tribe, with their families, drew out from\nthe Upper and Middle towns and moved far down upon Tennessee river,\nwhere they established new settlements on Chickamauga creek, in the\nneighborhood of the present Chattanooga. The locality appears to\nhave been already a rendezvous for a sort of Indian banditti, who\nsometimes plundered boats disabled in the rapids at this point while\ndescending the river. Under the name \"Chickamaugas\" they soon became\nnoted for their uncompromising and never-ceasing hostility. In 1782, in\nconsequence of the destruction of their towns by Sevier and Campbell,\nthey abandoned this location and moved farther down the river, where\nthey built, what were afterwards known as the \"five lower towns,\" viz,\nRunning Water, Nickajack, Long Island, Crow town, and Lookout Mountain\ntown. These were all on the extreme western Cherokee frontier, near\nwhere Tennessee river crosses the state line, the first three being\nwithin the present limits of Tennessee, while Lookout Mountain town\nand Crow town were respectively in the adjacent corners of Georgia\nand Alabama. Their population was recruited from Creeks, Shawano, and\nwhite Tories, until they were estimated at a thousand warriors. Here\nthey remained, a constant thorn in the side of Tennessee, until their\ntowns were destroyed in 1794. [115]\n\nThe expatriated Lower Cherokee also removed to the farthest western\nborder of their tribal territory, where they might hope to be secure\nfrom encroachment for a time at least, and built new towns for\nthemselves on the upper waters of the Coosa. Twenty years afterward\nHawkins found the population of Willstown, in extreme western Georgia,\nentirely made up of refugees from the Savannah, and the children so\nfamiliar from their parents with stories of Williamson's invasion\nthat they ran screaming from the face of a white man (22). [116]\n\nIn April, 1777, the legislature of North Carolina, of which Tennessee\nwas still a part, authorized bounties of land in the new territory\nto all able-bodied men who should volunteer against the remaining\nhostile Cherokee. Under this act companies of rangers were kept\nalong the exposed border to cut off raiding parties of Indians and to\nprotect the steady advance of the pioneers, with the result that the\nTennessee settlements enjoyed a brief respite and were even able to\nsend some assistance to their brethren in Kentucky, who were sorely\npressed by the Shawano and other northern tribes. [117]\n\nThe war between England and the colonies still continued, however,\nand the British government was unremitting in its effort to secure the\nactive assistance of the Indians. With the Creeks raiding the Georgia\nand South Carolina frontier, and with a British agent, Colonel Brown,\nand a number of Tory refugees regularly domiciled at Chickamauga,\n[118] it was impossible for the Cherokee long to remain quiet. In the\nspring of 1779 the warning came from Robertson, stationed at Echota,\nthat three hundred warriors from Chickamauga had started against the\nback-settlements of North Carolina. Without a day's delay the states\nof North Carolina (including Tennessee) and Virginia united to send\na strong force of volunteers against them under command of Colonels\nShelby and Montgomery. Descending the Holston in April in a fleet of\ncanoes built for the occasion, they took the Chickamauga towns so\ncompletely by surprise that the few warriors remaining fled to the\nmountains without attempting to give battle. Several were killed,\nChickamauga and the outlying villages were burned, twenty thousand\nbushels of corn were destroyed and large numbers of horses and cattle\ncaptured, together with a great quantity of goods sent by the British\nGovernor Hamilton at Detroit for distribution to the Indians. The\nsuccess of this expedition frustrated the execution of a project by\nHamilton for uniting all the northern and southern Indians, to be\nassisted by British regulars, in a concerted attack along the whole\nAmerican frontier. On learning, through runners, of the blow that had\nbefallen them, the Chickamauga warriors gave up all idea of invading\nthe settlements, and returned to their wasted villages. [119] They,\nas well as the Creeks, however, kept in constant communication with\nthe British commander in Savannah. In this year also a delegation of\nCherokee visited the Ohio towns to offer condolences on the death of\nthe noted Delaware chief, White-eyes. [120]\n\nIn the early spring of 1780 a large company of emigrants under\nColonel John Donelson descended the Holston and the Tennessee to the\nOhio, whence they ascended the Cumberland, effected a junction with\nanother party under Captain James Robertson, which had just arrived\nby a toilsome overland route, and made the first settlement on the\npresent site of Nashville. In passing the Chickamauga towns they\nhad run the gauntlet of the hostile Cherokee, who pursued them for a\nconsiderable distance beyond the whirlpool known as the Suck, where\nthe river breaks through the mountain. The family of a man named\nStuart being infected with the smallpox, his boat dropped behind,\nand all on board, twenty-eight in number, were killed or taken by the\nIndians, their cries being distinctly heard by their friends ahead who\nwere unable to help them. Another boat having run upon the rocks, the\nthree women in it, one of whom had become a mother the night before,\nthrew the cargo into the river, and then, jumping into the water,\nsucceeded in pushing the boat into the current while the husband of\none of them kept the Indians at bay with his rifle. The infant was\nkilled in the confusion. Three cowards attempted to escape, without\nthought of their companions. One was drowned in the river; the other\ntwo were captured and carried to Chickamauga, where one was burned and\nthe other was ransomed by a trader. The rest went on their way to found\nthe capital of a new commonwealth. [121] As if in retributive justice,\nthe smallpox broke out in the Chickamauga band in consequence of the\ncapture of Stuart's family, causing the death of a great number. [122]\n\nThe British having reconquered Georgia and South Carolina and destroyed\nall resistance in the south, early in 1780 Cornwallis, with his\nsubordinates, Ferguson and the merciless Tarleton, prepared to invade\nNorth Carolina and sweep the country northward to Virginia. The Creeks\nunder McGillivray (23), and a number of the Cherokee under various\nlocal chiefs, together with the Tories, at once joined his standard.\n\nWhile the Tennessee backwoodsmen were gathered at a barbecue to\ncontest for a shooting prize, a paroled prisoner brought a demand\nfrom Ferguson for their submission; with the threat, if they refused,\nthat he would cross the mountains, hang their leaders, kill every man\nfound in arms and burn every settlement. Up to this time the mountain\nmen had confined their effort to holding in check the Indian enemy,\nbut now, with the fate of the Revolution at stake, they felt that the\ntime for wider action had come. They resolved not to await the attack,\nbut to anticipate it. Without order or authority from Congress, without\ntents, commissary, or supplies, the Indian fighters of Virginia, North\nCarolina, and Tennessee quickly assembled at the Sycamore shoals of\nthe Watauga to the number of about one thousand men under Campbell of\nVirginia, Sevier (24) and Shelby of Tennessee, and McDowell of North\nCarolina. Crossing the mountains, they met Ferguson at Kings mountain\nin South Carolina on October 7, 1780, and gained the decisive victory\nthat turned the tide of the Revolution in the South. [123]\n\nIt is in place here to quote a description of these men in buckskin,\nwhite by blood and tradition, but half Indian in habit and instinct,\nwho, in half a century of continuous conflict, drove back Creeks,\nCherokee, and Shawano, and with one hand on the plow and the other\non the rifle redeemed a wilderness and carried civilization and free\ngovernment to the banks of the Mississippi.\n\n\"They were led by leaders they trusted, they were wonted to Indian\nwarfare, they were skilled as horsemen and marksmen, they knew how\nto face every kind of danger, hardship, and privation. Their fringed\nand tasseled hunting shirts were girded by bead-worked belts, and the\ntrappings of their horses were stained red and yellow. On their heads\nthey wore caps of coon skin or mink skin, with the tails hanging down,\nor else felt hats, in each of which was thrust a buck tail or a sprig\nof evergreen. Every man carried a small-bore rifle, a tomahawk, and\na scalping knife. A very few of the officers had swords, and there\nwas not a bayonet nor a tent in the army.\" [124]\n\nTo strike the blow at Kings mountain the border men had been forced\nto leave their own homes unprotected. Even before they could cross\nthe mountains on their return the news came that the Cherokee were\nagain out in force for the destruction of the upper settlements, and\ntheir numerous small bands were killing, burning, and plundering in the\nusual Indian fashion. Without loss of time the Holston settlements of\nVirginia and Tennessee at once raised seven hundred mounted riflemen\nto march against the enemy, the command being assigned to Colonel\nArthur Campbell of Virginia and Colonel John Sevier of Tennessee.\n\nSevier started first with nearly three hundred men, going south\nalong the great Indian war trail and driving small parties of the\nCherokee before him, until he crossed the French Broad and came upon\nseventy of them on Boyds creek, not far from the present Sevierville,\non December 16, 1780. Ordering his men to spread out into a half\ncircle, he sent ahead some scouts, who, by an attack and feigned\nretreat, managed to draw the Indians into the trap thus prepared,\nwith the result that they left thirteen dead and all their plunder,\nwhile not one of the whites was even wounded. [125]\n\nA few days later Sevier was joined by Campbell with the remainder\nof the force. Advancing to the Little Tennessee with but slight\nresistance, they crossed three miles below Echota while the Indians\nwere watching for them at the ford above. Then dividing into two\nbodies, they proceeded to destroy the towns along the river. The\nchiefs sent peace talks through Nancy Ward, the Cherokee woman\nwho had so befriended the whites in 1776, but to these overtures\nCampbell returned an evasive answer until he could first destroy\nthe towns on lower Hiwassee, whose warriors had been particularly\nhostile. Continuing southward, the troops destroyed these towns,\nHiwassee and Chestuee, with all their stores of provisions, finishing\nthe work on the last day of the year. The Indians had fled before\nthem, keeping spies out to watch their movements. One of these,\nwhile giving signals from a ridge by beating a drum, was shot by\nthe whites. The soldiers lost only one man, who was buried in an\nIndian cabin which was then burned down to conceal the trace of\nthe interment. The return march was begun on New Year's day. Ten\nprincipal towns, including Echota, the capital, had been destroyed,\nbesides several smaller villages, containing in the aggregate over\none thousand houses, and not less than fifty thousand bushels of corn\nand large stores of other provision. Everything not needed on the\nreturn march was committed to the flames or otherwise wasted. Of all\nthe towns west of the mountains only Talassee, and one or two about\nChickamauga or on the headwaters of the Coosa, escaped. The whites\nhad lost only one man killed and two wounded. Before the return a\nproclamation was sent to the Cherokee chiefs, warning them to make\npeace on penalty of a worse visitation. [126]\n\nSome Cherokee who met them at Echota, on the return march, to talk\nof peace, brought in and surrendered several white prisoners. [127]\nOne reason for the slight resistance made by the Indians was probably\nthe fact that at the very time of the invasion many of their warriors\nwere away, raiding on the Upper Holston and in the neighborhood of\nCumberland gap. [128]\n\nAlthough the Upper or Overhill Cherokee were thus humbled, those of the\nmiddle towns, on the head waters of Little Tennessee, still continued\nto send out parties against the back settlements. Sevier determined to\nmake a sudden stroke upon them, and early in March of the same year,\n1781, with 150 picked horsemen, he started to cross the Great Smoky\nmountains over trails never before attempted by white men, and so\nrough in places that it was hardly possible to lead horses. Falling\nunexpectedly upon Tuckasegee, near the present Webster, North Carolina,\nhe took the town completely by surprise, killing several warriors\nand capturing a number of women and children. Two other principal\ntowns and three smaller settlements were taken in the same way,\nwith a quantity of provision and about 200 horses, the Indians\nbeing entirely off their guard and unprepared to make any effective\nresistance. Having spread destruction through the middle towns,\nwith the loss to himself of only one man killed and another wounded,\nhe was off again as suddenly as he had come, moving so rapidly that\nhe was well on his homeward way before the Cherokee could gather for\npursuit. [129] At the same time a smaller Tennessee expedition went\nout to disperse the Indians who had been making headquarters in the\nmountains about Cumberland gap and harassing travelers along the road\nto Kentucky. [130] Numerous indications of Indians were found, but\nnone were met, although the country was scoured for a considerable\ndistance. [131] In summer the Cherokee made another incursion, this\ntime upon the new settlements on the French Broad, near the present\nNewport, Tennessee. With a hundred horsemen Sevier fell suddenly upon\ntheir camp on Indian creek, killed a dozen warriors, and scattered the\nrest. [132] By these successive blows the Cherokee were so worn out and\ndispirited that they were forced to sue for peace, and in midsummer of\n1781 a treaty of peace--doubtful though it might be--was negotiated\nat the Long island of the Holston. [133] The respite came just in\ntime to allow the Tennesseeans to send a detachment against Cornwallis.\n\nAlthough there was truce in Tennessee, there was none in the South. In\nNovember of this year the Cherokee made a sudden inroad upon the\nGeorgia settlements, destroying everything in their way. In retaliation\na force under General Pickens marched into their country, destroying\ntheir towns as far as Valley river. Finding further progress blocked by\nheavy snows and learning through a prisoner that the Indians, who had\nretired before him, were collecting to oppose him in the mountains, he\nwithdrew, as he says, \"through absolute necessity,\" having accomplished\nvery little of the result expected. Shortly afterward the Cherokee,\ntogether with some Creeks, again invaded Georgia, but were met on\nOconee river and driven back by a detachment of American troops. [134]\n\nThe Overhill Cherokee, on lower Little Tennessee, seem to have been\ntrying in good faith to hold to the peace established at the Long\nisland. Early in 1781 the government land office had been closed\nto further entries, not to be opened again until peace had been\ndeclared with England, but the borderers paid little attention to\nthe law in such matters, and the rage for speculation in Tennessee\nlands grew stronger daily. [135] In the fall of 1782 the chief, Old\nTassel of Echota, on behalf of all the friendly chiefs and towns,\nsent a pathetic talk to the governors of Virginia and North Carolina,\ncomplaining that in spite of all their efforts to remain quiet the\nsettlers were constantly encroaching upon them, and had built houses\nwithin a day's walk of the Cherokee towns. They asked that all those\nwhites who had settled beyond the boundary last established should\nbe removed. [136] As was to have been expected, this was never done.\n\nThe Chickamauga band, however, and those farther to the south, were\nstill bent on war, being actively encouraged in that disposition by the\nBritish agents and refugee loyalists living among them. They continued\nto raid both north and south, and in September, 1782, Sevier, with 200\nmounted men, again made a descent upon their towns, destroying several\nof their settlements about Chickamauga creek, and penetrating as far\nas the important town of Ustana'li, on the headwaters of Coosa river,\nnear the present Calhoun, Georgia. This also he destroyed. Every\nwarrior found was killed, together with a white man found in one of\nthe towns, whose papers showed that he had been active in inciting\nthe Indians to war. On the return the expedition halted at Echota,\nwhere new assurances were received from the friendly element. [137]\nIn the meantime a Georgia expedition of over 400 men, under General\nPickens, had been ravaging the Cherokee towns in the same quarter,\nwith such effect that the Cherokee were forced to purchase peace\nby a further surrender of territory on the head of Broad river in\nGeorgia. [138] This cession was concluded at a treaty of peace held\nwith the Georgia commissioners at Augusta in the next year, and was\nconfirmed later by the Creeks, who claimed an interest in the same\nlands, but was never accepted by either as the voluntary act of their\ntribe as a whole. [139]\n\nBy the preliminary treaty of Paris, November 30, 1782, the long\nRevolutionary struggle for independence was brought to a close, and\nthe Cherokee, as well as the other tribes, seeing the hopelessness\nof continuing the contest alone, began to sue for peace. By seven\nyears of constant warfare they had been reduced to the lowest depth of\nmisery, almost indeed to the verge of extinction. Over and over again\ntheir towns had been laid in ashes and their fields wasted. Their best\nwarriors had been killed and their women and children had sickened and\nstarved in the mountains. Their great war chief, Oconostota, who had\nled them to victory in 1780, was now a broken old man, and in this\nyear, at Echota, formally resigned his office in favor of his son,\nThe Terrapin. To complete their brimming cup of misery the smallpox\nagain broke out among them in 1783. [140] Deprived of the assistance\nof their former white allies they were left to their own cruel fate,\nthe last feeble resistance of the mountain warriors to the advancing\ntide of settlement came to an end with the burning of Cowee town,\n[141] and the way was left open to an arrangement. In the same year\nthe North Carolina legislature appointed an agent for the Cherokee\nand made regulations for the government of traders among them. [142]\n\n\n\n\nRelations with the United States\n\n\nFROM THE FIRST TREATY TO THE REMOVAL--1785-1838\n\nPassing over several unsatisfactory and generally abortive negotiations\nconducted by the various state governments in 1783-84, including the\ntreaty of Augusta already noted, [143] we come to the turning point in\nthe history of the Cherokee, their first treaty with the new government\nof the United States for peace and boundary delimitation, concluded\nat Hopewell (25) in South Carolina on November 28, 1785. Nearly one\nthousand Cherokee attended, the commissioners for the United States\nbeing Colonel Benjamin Hawkins (26), of North Carolina; General Andrew\nPickens, of South Carolina; Cherokee Agent Joseph Martin, of Tennessee,\nand Colonel Lachlan McIntosh, of Georgia. The instrument was signed\nby thirty-seven chiefs and principal men, representing nearly as\nmany different towns. The negotiations occupied ten days, being\ncomplicated by a protest on the part of North Carolina and Georgia\nagainst the action of the government commissioners in confirming to\nthe Indians some lands which had already been appropriated as bounty\nlands for state troops without the consent of the Cherokee. On the\nother hand the Cherokee complained that 3,000 white settlers were at\nthat moment in occupancy of unceded land between the Holston and the\nFrench Broad. In spite of their protest these intruders were allowed\nto remain, although the territory was not acquired by treaty until\nsome years later. As finally arranged the treaty left the Middle and\nUpper towns, and those in the vicinity of Coosa river, undisturbed,\nwhile the whole country east of the Blue ridge, with the Watauga and\nCumberland settlements, was given over to the whites. The general\nboundary followed the dividing ridge between Cumberland river and\nthe more southern waters of the Tennessee eastward to the junction\nof the two forks of Holston, near the present Kingsport, Tennessee,\nthence southward to the Blue ridge and southwestward to a point not\nfar from the present Atlanta, Georgia, thence westward to the Coosa\nriver and northwestward to a creek running into Tennessee river at the\nwestern line of Alabama, thence northward with the Tennessee river to\nthe beginning. The lands south and west of these lines were recognized\nas belonging to the Creeks and Chickasaw. Hostilities were to cease and\nthe Cherokee were taken under the protection of the United States. The\nproceedings ended with the distribution of a few presents. [144]\n\nWhile the Hopewell treaty defined the relations of the Cherokee to the\ngeneral government and furnished a safe basis for future negotiation,\nit yet failed to bring complete peace and security. Thousands of\nintruders were still settled on Indian lands, and minor aggressions\nand reprisals were continually occurring. The Creeks and the northern\ntribes were still hostile and remained so for some years later, and\ntheir warriors, cooperating with those of the implacable Chickamauga\ntowns, continued to annoy the exposed settlements, particularly on the\nCumberland. The British had withdrawn from the South, but the Spaniards\nand French, who claimed the lower Mississippi and the Gulf region\nand had their trading posts in west Tennessee, took every opportunity\nto encourage the spirit of hostility to the Americans. [145] But the\nspirit of the Cherokee nation was broken and the Holston settlements\nwere now too surely established to be destroyed.\n\nThe Cumberland settlements founded by Robertson and Donelson in the\nwinter of 1779-80 had had but short respite. Early in spring the\nIndians--Cherokee, Creeks, Chickasaw, and northern Indians--had begun\na series of attacks with the design of driving these intruders from\ntheir lands, and thenceforth for years no man's life was safe outside\nthe stockade. The long list of settlers shot down at work or while\nhunting in the woods, of stock stolen and property destroyed, while\nof sorrowful interest to those most nearly concerned, is too tedious\nfor recital here, and only leading events need be chronicled. Detailed\nnotice may be found in the works of local historians.\n\nOn the night of January 15, 1781, a band of Indians stealthily\napproached Freeland's station and had even succeeded in unfastening\nthe strongly barred gate when Robertson, being awake inside, heard\nthe noise and sprang up just in time to rouse the garrison and beat\noff the assailants, who continued to fire through the loopholes after\nthey had been driven out of the fort. Only two Americans were killed,\nalthough the escape was a narrow one. [146]\n\nAbout three months later, on April 2, a large body of Cherokee\napproached the fort at Nashville (then called Nashborough, or simply\n\"the Bluff\"), and by sending a decoy ahead succeeded in drawing a large\npart of the garrison into an ambush. It seemed that they would be cut\noff, as the Indians were between them and the fort, when those inside\nloosed the dogs, which rushed so furiously upon the Indians that the\nlatter found, work enough to defend themselves, and were finally forced\nto retire, carrying with them, however, five American scalps. [147]\n\nThe attacks continued throughout this and the next year to such an\nextent that it seemed at one time as if the Cumberland settlements\nmust be abandoned, but in June, 1783, commissioners from Virginia\nand North Carolina arranged a treaty near Nashville (Nashborough)\nwith chiefs of the Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Creeks. This treaty,\nalthough it did not completely stop the Indian inroads, at least\ngreatly diminished them. Thereafter the Chickasaw remained friendly,\nand only the Cherokee and Creeks continued to make trouble. [148]\n\nThe valley towns on Hiwassee, as well as those of Chickamauga, seem\nto have continued hostile. In 1786 a large body of their warriors,\nled by the mixed-blood chief, John Watts, raided the new settlements\nin the vicinity of the present Knoxville, Tennessee. In retaliation\nSevier again marched his volunteers across the mountain to the valley\ntowns and destroyed three of them, killing a number of warriors;\nbut he retired on learning that the Indians were gathering to give\nhim battle. [149] In the spring of this year Agent Martin, stationed\nat Echota, had made a tour of inspection of the Cherokee towns and\nreported that they were generally friendly and anxious for peace,\nwith the exception of the Chickamauga band, under Dragging-canoe,\nwho, acting with the hostile Creeks and encouraged by the French\nand Spaniards, were making preparations to destroy the Cumberland\nsettlements. Notwithstanding the friendly professions of the others,\na party sent out to obtain satisfaction for the murder of four Cherokee\nby the Tennesseeans had come back with fifteen white scalps, and sent\nword to Sevier that they wanted peace, but if the whites wanted war\nthey would get it. [150] With lawless men on both sides it is evident\nthat peace was in jeopardy. In August, in consequence of further\nkilling and reprisals, commissioners of the new \"state of Franklin,\"\nas Tennessee was now called, concluded a negotiation, locally known\nas the \"treaty of Coyatee,\" with the chiefs of the Overhill towns. In\nspite of references to peace, love, and brotherly friendship, it\nis very doubtful if the era of good will was in any wise hastened\nby the so-called treaty, as the Tennesseeans, who had just burned\nanother Indian town in reprisal for the killing of a white man,\nannounced, without mincing words, that they had been given by North\nCarolina--against which state, by the way, they were then in organized\nrebellion--the whole country north of the Tennessee river as far west\nas the Cumberland mountain, and that they intended to take it \"by the\nsword, which is the best right to all countries.\" As the whole of this\ncountry was within the limits of the territory solemnly guaranteed to\nthe Cherokee by the Hopewell treaty only the year before, the chiefs\nsimply replied that Congress had said nothing to them on the subject,\nand so the matter rested. [151] The theory of state's rights was too\ncomplicated for the Indian understanding.\n\nWhile this conflict between state and federal authority continued, with\nthe Cherokee lands as the prize, there could be no peace. In March,\n1787, a letter from Echota, apparently written by Agent Martin, speaks\nof a recent expedition against the Cherokee towns, and the confusion\nand alarm among them in consequence of the daily encroachments of\nthe \"Franklinites\" or Tennesseeans, who had proceeded to make good\ntheir promise by opening a land office for the sale of all the lands\nsouthward to Tennessee river, including even a part of the beloved town\nof Echota. At the same time messengers were coming to the Cherokee from\ntraders in the foreign interest, telling them that England, France,\nand Spain had combined against the Americans and urging them with\npromises of guns and ammunition to join in the war. [152] As a result\neach further advance of the Tennessee settlements, in defiance as it\nwas of any recognized treaty, was stubbornly contested by the Indian\nowners of the land. The record of these encounters, extending over a\nperiod of several years, is too tedious for recital. \"Could a diagram\nbe drawn, accurately designating every spot signalized by an Indian\nmassacre, surprise, or depredation, or courageous attack, defense,\npursuit, or victory by the whites, or station or fort or battlefield,\nor personal encounter, the whole of that section of country would\nbe studded over with delineations of such incidents. Every spring,\nevery ford, every path, every farm, every trail, every house nearly,\nin its first settlement, was once the scene of danger, exposure,\nattack, exploit, achievement, death.\" [153] The end was the winning\nof Tennessee.\n\nIn the meantime the inroads of the Creeks and their Chickamauga\nallies upon the Georgia frontier and the Cumberland settlements\naround Nashville became so threatening that measures were taken for\na joint campaign by the combined forces of Georgia and Tennessee\n(\"Franklin\"). The enterprise came to naught through the interference\nof the federal authorities. [154] All through the year 1788 we hear\nof attacks and reprisals along the Tennessee border, although the\nagent for the Cherokee declared in his official report that, with\nthe exception of the Chickamauga band, the Indians wished to be at\npeace if the whites would let them. In March two expeditions under\nSevier and Kennedy set out against the towns in the direction of\nthe French Broad. In May several persons of a family named Kirk were\nmurdered a few miles south of Knoxville. In retaliation Sevier raised\na large party and marching against a town on Hiwassee river--one of\nthose which had been destroyed some years before and rebuilt--and\nburned it, killing a number of the inhabitants in the river while\nthey were trying to escape. He then turned, and proceeding to the\ntowns on Little Tennessee burned several of them also, killing a\nnumber of Indians. Here a small party of Indians, including Abraham\nand Tassel, two well-known friendly chiefs, was brutally massacred\nby one of the Kirks, no one interfering, after they had voluntarily\ncome in on request of one of the officers. This occurred during the\ntemporary absence of Sevier. Another expedition under Captain Fayne\nwas drawn into an ambuscade at Citico town and lost several in killed\nand wounded. The Indians pursued the survivors almost to Knoxville,\nattacking a small station near the present Maryville by the way. They\nwere driven off by Sevier and others, who in turn invaded the Indian\nsettlements, crossing the mountains and penetrating as far as the\nvalley towns on Hiwassee, hastily retiring as they found the Indians\ngathering in their front. [155] In the same summer another expedition\nwas organized against the Chickamauga towns. The chief command was\ngiven to General Martin, who left White's fort, now Knoxville, with\nfour hundred and fifty men and made a rapid march to the neighborhood\nof the present Chattanooga, where the main force encamped on the site\nof an old Indian settlement. A detachment sent ahead to surprise a town\na few miles farther down the river was fired upon and driven back,\nand a general engagement took place in the narrow pass between the\nbluff and the river, with such disastrous results that three captains\nwere killed and the men so badly demoralized that they refused to\nadvance. Martin was compelled to turn back, after burying the dead\nofficers in a large townhouse, which was then burned down to conceal\nthe grave. [156]\n\nIn October a large party of Cherokee and Creeks attacked Gillespie's\nstation, south of the present Knoxville. The small garrison was\noverpowered after a short resistance, and twenty-eight persons,\nincluding several women and children, were killed. The Indians\nleft behind a letter signed by four chiefs, including John Watts,\nexpressing regret for what they called the accidental killing of the\nwomen and children, reminding the whites of their own treachery in\nkilling Abraham and the Tassel, and defiantly concluding, \"When you\nmove off the land, then we will make peace.\" Other exposed stations\nwere attacked, until at last Sevier again mustered a force, cleared\nthe enemy from the frontier, and pursued the Indians as far as their\ntowns on the head waters of Coosa river, in such vigorous fashion\nthat they were compelled to ask for terms of peace and agree to a\nsurrender of prisoners, which was accomplished at Coosawatee town,\nin upper Georgia, in the following April. [157]\n\nAmong the captives thus restored to their friends were Joseph Brown, a\nboy of sixteen, with his two younger sisters, who, with several others,\nhad been taken at Nickajack town while descending the Tennessee in\na flatboat nearly a year before. His father and the other men of the\nparty, about ten in all, had been killed at the time, while the mother\nand several other children were carried to various Indian towns,\nsome of them going to the Creeks, who had aided the Cherokee in the\ncapture. Young Brown, whose short and simple narrative is of vivid\ninterest, was at first condemned to death, but was rescued by a white\nman living in the town and was afterward adopted into the family of\nthe chief, in spite of the warning of an old Indian woman that if\nallowed to live he would one day guide an army to destroy them. The\nwarning was strangely prophetic, for it was Brown himself who guided\nthe expedition that finally rooted out the Chickamauga towns a few\nyears later. When rescued at Coosawatee he was in Indian costume,\nwith shirt, breechcloth, scalp lock, and holes bored in his ears. His\nlittle sister, five years old, had become so attached to the Indian\nwoman who had adopted her, that she refused to go to her own mother and\nhad to be pulled along by force. [158] The mother and another of the\ndaughters, who had been taken by the Creeks, were afterwards ransomed\nby McGillivray, head chief of the Creek Nation, who restored them to\ntheir friends, generously refusing any compensation for his kindness.\n\nAn arrangement had been made with the Chickasaw, in 1783, by which\nthey surrendered to the Cumberland settlement their own claim to the\nlands from the Cumberland river south to the dividing ridge of Duck\nriver. [159] It was not, however, until the treaty of Hopewell, two\nyears later, that the Cherokee surrendered their claim to the same\nregion, and even then the Chickamauga warriors, with their allies,\nthe hostile Creeks and Shawano, refused to acknowledge the cession\nand continued their attacks, with the avowed purpose of destroying\nthe new settlements. Until the final running of the boundary line, in\n1797, Spain claimed all the territory west of the mountains and south\nof Cumberland river, and her agents were accused of stirring up the\nIndians against the Americans, even to the extent of offering rewards\nfor American scalps. [160] One of these raiding parties, which had\nkilled the brother of Captain Robertson, was tracked to Coldwater, a\nsmall mixed town of Cherokee and Creeks, on the south side of Tennessee\nriver, about the present Tuscumbia, Alabama. Robertson determined\nto destroy it, and taking a force of volunteers, with a couple of\nChickasaw guides, crossed the Tennessee without being discovered and\nsurprised and burnt the town. The Indians, who numbered less than\nfifty men, attempted to escape to the river, but were surrounded\nand over twenty of them killed, with a loss of but one man to the\nTennesseeans. In the town were found also several French traders. Three\nof these, who refused to surrender, were killed, together with a white\nwoman who was accidentally shot in one of the boats. The others were\nafterward released, their large stock of trading goods having been\ntaken and sold for the benefit of the troops. The affair took place\nabout the end of June, 1787. Through this action, and an effort made\nby Robertson about the same time to come to an understanding with the\nChickamauga band, there was a temporary cessation of hostile inroads\nupon the Cumberland, but long before the end of the year the attacks\nwere renewed to such an extent that it was found necessary to keep\nout a force of rangers with orders to scour the country and kill\nevery Indian found east of the Chickasaw boundary. [161]\n\nThe Creeks seeming now to be nearly as much concerned in these raids\nas the Cherokee, a remonstrance was addressed to McGillivray, their\nprincipal chief, who replied that, although the Creeks, like the\nother southern tribes, had adhered to the British interest during\nthe Revolution, they had accepted proposals of friendship, but while\nnegotiations were pending six of their people had been killed in the\naffair at Coldwater, which had led to a renewal of hostile feeling. He\npromised, however, to use his best efforts to bring about peace, and\nseems to have kept his word, although the raids continued through this\nand the next year, with the usual sequel of pursuit and reprisal. In\none of these skirmishes a company under Captain Murray followed some\nIndian raiders from near Nashville to their camp on Tennessee river\nand succeeded in killing the whole party of eleven warriors. [162]\nA treaty of peace was signed with the Creeks in 1790, but, owing\nto the intrigues of the Spaniards, it had little practical effect,\n[163] and not until Wayne's decisive victory over the confederated\nnorthern tribes in 1794 and the final destruction of the Nickajack\ntowns in the same year did real peace came to the frontier.\n\nBy deed of cession of February 25, 1790, Tennessee ceased to be a\npart of North Carolina and was organized under federal laws as \"The\nTerritory of the United States south of the Ohio river,\" preliminary\nto taking full rank as a state six years later. William Blount (27)\nwas appointed first territorial governor and also superintendent for\nthe southern Indians, with a deputy resident with each of the four\nprincipal tribes. [164] Pensacola, Mobile, St. Louis, and other\nsouthern posts were still held by the Spaniards, who claimed the\nwhole country south of the Cumberland, while the British garrisons\nhad not yet been withdrawn from the north. The resentment of the\nIndians at the occupancy of their reserved and guaranteed lands by\nthe whites was sedulously encouraged from both quarters, and raids\nalong the Tennessee frontier were of common occurrence. At this time,\naccording to the official report of President Washington, over five\nhundred families of intruders were settled upon lands belonging rightly\nto the Cherokee, in addition to those between the French Broad and\nthe Holston. [165] More than a year before the Secretary of War had\nstated that \"the disgraceful violation of the treaty of Hopewell with\nthe Cherokee requires the serious consideration of Congress. If so\ndirect and manifest contempt of the authority of the United States\nbe suffered with impunity, it will be in vain to attempt to extend\nthe arm of government to the frontiers. The Indian tribes can have\nno faith in such imbecile promises, and the lawless whites will\nridicule a government which shall on paper only make Indian treaties\nand regulate Indian boundaries.\" [166] To prevent any increase of\nthe dissatisfaction, the general government issued a proclamation\nforbidding any further encroachment upon the Indian lands on Tennessee\nriver; notwithstanding which, early in 1791, a party of men descended\nthe river in boats, and, landing on an island at the Muscle shoals,\nnear the present Tuscumbia, Alabama, erected a blockhouse and other\ndefensive works. Immediately afterward the Cherokee chief, Glass,\nwith about sixty warriors, appeared and quietly informed them that if\nthey did not at once withdraw he would kill them. After some parley\nthe intruders retired to their boats, when the Indians set fire to\nthe buildings and reduced them to ashes. [167]\n\nTo forestall more serious difficulty it was necessary to\nnegotiate a new treaty with a view to purchasing the disputed\nterritory. Accordingly, through the efforts of Governor Blount,\na convention was held with the principal men of the Cherokee at\nWhite's fort, now Knoxville, Tennessee, in the summer of 1791. With\nmuch difficulty the Cherokee were finally brought to consent to\na cession of a triangular section in Tennessee and North Carolina\nextending from Clinch river almost to the Blue ridge, and including\nnearly the whole of the French Broad and the lower Holston, with the\nsites of the present Knoxville, Greenville, and Asheville. The whole\nof this area, with a considerable territory adjacent, was already\nfully occupied by the whites. Permission was also given for a road\nfrom the eastern settlements to those on the Cumberland, with the\nfree navigation of Tennessee river. Prisoners on both sides were to\nbe restored and perpetual peace was guaranteed. In consideration of\nthe lands surrendered the Cherokee were to receive an annuity of one\nthousand dollars with some extra goods and some assistance on the road\nto civilization. A treaty was signed by forty-one principal men of the\ntribe and was concluded July 2, 1791. It is officially described as\nbeing held \"on the bank of the Holston, near the mouth of the French\nBroad,\" and is commonly spoken of as the \"treaty of Holston.\"\n\nThe Cherokee, however, were dissatisfied with the arrangement,\nand before the end of the year a delegation of six principal chiefs\nappeared at Philadelphia, then the seat of government, without any\nprevious announcement of their coming, declaring that when they\nhad been summoned by Governor Blount to a conference they were not\naware that it was to persuade them to sell lands; that they had\nresisted the proposition for days, and only yielded when compelled\nby the persistent and threatening demands of the governor; that the\nconsideration was entirely too small; and that they had no faith\nthat the whites would respect the new boundary, as they were in fact\nalready settling beyond it. Finally, as the treaty had been signed,\nthey asked that these intruders be removed. As their presentation of\nthe case seemed a just one and it was desirable that they should carry\nhome with them a favorable impression of the government's attitude\ntoward them, a supplementary article was added, increasing the annuity\nto eight thousand five hundred dollars. On account of renewed Indian\nhostilities in Ohio valley and the desire of the government to keep\nthe good will of the Cherokee long enough to obtain their help against\nthe northern tribes, the new line was not surveyed until 1797. [168]\n\nAs illustrating Indian custom it may be noted that one of the principal\nsigners of the original treaty was among the protesting delegates,\nbut having in the meantime changed his name, it appears on the\nsupplementary paragraph as \"Iskagua, or Clear Sky, formerly Nenetooyah,\nor Bloody Fellow.\" [169] As he had been one of the principal raiders\non the Tennessee frontier, the new name may have been symbolic of\nhis change of heart at the prospect of a return of peace.\n\nThe treaty seems to have had little effect in preventing Indian\nhostilities, probably because the intruders still remained upon the\nIndian lands, and raiding still continued. The Creeks were known to\nbe responsible for some of the mischief, and the hostile Chickamaugas\nwere supposed to be the chief authors of the rest. [170] Even while the\nCherokee delegates were negotiating the treaty in Philadelphia a boat\nwhich had accidentally run aground on the Muscle shoals was attacked\nby a party of Indians under the pretense of offering assistance,\none man being killed and another severely wounded with a hatchet. [171]\n\nWhile these negotiations had been pending at Philadelphia a young man\nnamed Leonard D. Shaw, a student at Princeton college, had expressed\nto the Secretary of War an earnest desire for a commission which would\nenable him to accompany the returning Cherokee delegates to their\nsouthern home, there to study Indian life and characteristics. As the\npurpose seemed a useful one, and he appeared well qualified for such\na work, he was accordingly commissioned as deputy agent to reside\namong the Cherokee to observe and report upon their movements, to\naid in the annuity distributions, and to render other assistance\nto Governor Blount, superintendent for the southern tribes, to\nstudy their language and home life, and to collect materials for\nan Indian history. An extract from the official instructions under\nwhich this first United States ethnologist began his work will be of\ninterest. After defining his executive duties in connection with the\nannuity distributions, the keeping of accounts and the compiling of\nofficial reports, Secretary Knox continues--\n\n\n A due performance of your duty will probably require the exercise\n of all your patience and fortitude and all your knowledge of the\n human character. The school will be a severe but interesting\n one. If you should succeed in acquiring the affections and a\n knowledge of the characters of the southern Indians, you may be\n at once useful to the United States and advance your own interest.\n\n You will endeavor to learn their languages; this is essential to\n your communications. You will collect materials for a history of\n all the southern tribes and all things thereunto belonging. You\n will endeavor to ascertain their respective limits, make a\n vocabulary of their respective languages, teach them agriculture\n and such useful arts as you may know or can acquire. You will\n correspond regularly with Governor Blount, who is superintendent\n for Indian affairs, and inform him of all occurrences. You\n will also cultivate a correspondence with Brigadier-General\n McGillivray [the Creek chief], and you will also keep a journal\n of your proceedings and transmit them to the War Office.... You\n are to exhibit to Governor Blount the Cherokee book and all the\n writings therein, the messages to the several tribes of Indians,\n and these instructions.\n\n Your route will be hence to Reading; thence Harris's ferry\n [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania] to Carlisle; to ---- ferry on the\n Potomac; to Winchester; to Staunton; to ----, and to Holston. I\n should hope that you would travel upwards of twenty miles each day,\n and that you would reach Holston in about thirty days. [172]\n\n\nThe journey, which seemed then so long, was to be made by wagons from\nPhiladelphia to the head of navigation on Holston river, thence by\nboats to the Cherokee towns. Shaw seems to have taken up his residence\nat Ustanali, which had superseded Echota as the Cherokee capital. We\nhear of him as present at a council there in June of the same year,\nwith no evidence of unfriendliness at his presence. [173] The friendly\nfeeling was of short continuance, however, for a few months later we\nfind him writing from Ustanali to Governor Blount that on account\nof the aggressive hostility of the Creeks, whose avowed intention\nwas to kill every white man they met, he was not safe 50 yards from\nthe house. Soon afterwards the Chickamauga towns again declared war,\non which account, together with renewed threats by the Creeks, he\nwas advised by the Cherokee to leave Ustanali, which he did early\nin September, 1792, proceeding to the home of General Pickens, near\nSeneca, South Carolina, escorted by a guard of friendly Cherokee. In\nthe following winter he was dismissed from the service on serious\ncharges, and his mission appears to have been a failure. [174]\n\nTo prevent an alliance of the Cherokee, Creeks, and other southern\nIndians with the confederated hostile northern tribes, the government\nhad endeavored to persuade the former to furnish a contingent of\nwarriors to act with the army against the northern Indians, and\nspecial instruction had been given to Shaw to use his efforts for\nthis result. Nothing, however, came of the attempt. St Clair's defeat\nturned the scale against the United States, and in September, 1792,\nthe Chickamauga towns formally declared war. [175]\n\nIn November of this year the governor of Georgia officially reported\nthat a party of lawless Georgians had gone into the Cherokee Nation,\nand had there burned a town and barbarously killed three Indians,\nwhile about the same time two other Cherokee had been killed within the\nsettlements. Fearing retaliation, he ordered out a patrol of troops to\nguard the frontier in that direction, and sent a conciliatory letter\nto the chiefs, expressing his regret for what had happened. No answer\nwas returned to the message, but a few days later an entire family\nwas found murdered--four women, three children, and a young man--all\nscalped and mangled and with arrows sticking in the bodies, while,\naccording to old Indian war custom, two war clubs were left upon\nthe ground to show by whom the deed was done. So swift was savage\nvengeance. [176]\n\nEarly in 1792 a messenger who had been sent on business for\nGovernor Blount to the Chickamauga towns returned with the report\nthat a party had just come in with prisoners and some fresh scalps,\nover which the chiefs and warriors of two towns were then dancing;\nthat the Shawano were urging the Cherokee to join them against the\nAmericans; that a strong body of Creeks was on its way against the\nCumberland settlements, and that the Creek chief, McGillivray, was\ntrying to form a general confederacy of all the Indian tribes against\nthe whites. To understand this properly it must be remembered that\nat this time all the tribes northwest of the Ohio and as far as the\nheads of the Mississippi were banded together in a grand alliance,\nheaded by the warlike Shawano, for the purpose of holding the Ohio\nriver as the Indian boundary against the advancing tide of white\nsettlement. They had just cut to pieces one of the finest armies\never sent into the West, under the veteran General St Clair (28),\nand it seemed for the moment as if the American advance would be\ndriven back behind the Alleghenies.\n\nIn the emergency the Secretary of War directed Governor Blount to\nhold a conference with the chiefs of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and\nCherokee at Nashville in June to enlist their warriors, if possible,\nin active service against the northern tribes. The conference was\nheld as proposed, in August, but nothing seems to have come of it,\nalthough the chiefs seemed to be sincere in their assurances of\nfriendship. Very few of the Choctaw or Cherokee were in attendance. At\nthe annuity distribution of the Cherokee, shortly before, the chiefs\nhad also been profuse in declarations of their desire for peace. [177]\nNotwithstanding all this the attacks along the Tennessee frontier\ncontinued to such an extent that the blockhouses were again put in\norder and garrisoned. Soon afterwards the governor reported to the\nSecretary of War that the five lower Cherokee towns on the Tennessee\n(the Chickamauga), headed by John Watts, had finally declared war\nagainst the United States, and that from three to six hundred warriors,\nincluding a hundred Creeks, had started against the settlements. The\nmilitia was at once called out, both in eastern Tennessee and on the\nCumberland. On the Cumberland side it was directed that no pursuit\nshould be continued beyond the Cherokee boundary, the ridge between\nthe waters of Cumberland and Duck rivers. The order issued by Colonel\nWhite, of Knox county, to each of his captains shows how great was\nthe alarm:\n\n\n Knoxville, September 11, 1792.\n\n Sir: You are hereby commanded to repair with your company to\n Knoxville, equipped, to protect the frontiers; there is imminent\n danger. Bring with you two days' provisions, if possible; but\n you are not to delay an hour on that head.\n\n I am, sir, yours, James White. [178]\n\n\nAbout midnight on the 30th of September, 1792, the Indian force,\nconsisting of several hundred Chickamaugas and other Cherokee,\nCreeks, and Shawano, attacked Buchanan's station, a few miles south\nof Nashville. Although numbers of families had collected inside the\nstockade for safety, there were less than twenty able-bodied men\namong them. The approach of the enemy alarmed the cattle, by which\nthe garrison had warning just in time to close the gate when the\nIndians were already within a few yards of the entrance. The assault\nwas furious and determined, the Indians rushing up to the stockade,\nattempting to set fire to it, and aiming their guns through the\nport holes. One Indian succeeded in climbing upon the roof with\na lighted torch, but was shot and fell to the ground, holding his\ntorch against the logs as he drew his last breath. It was learned\nafterward that he was a half blood, the stepson of the old white\ntrader who had once rescued the boy Joseph Brown at Nickajack. He\nwas a desperate warrior and when only twenty-two years of age had\nalready taken six white scalps. The attack was repulsed at every\npoint, and the assailants finally drew off, with considerable loss,\ncarrying their dead and wounded with them, and leaving a number of\nhatchets, pipes, and other spoils upon the ground. Among the wounded\nwas the chief John Watts. Not one of those in the fort was injured. It\nhas been well said that the defense of Buchanan's station by such a\nhandful of men against an attacking force estimated all the way at\nfrom three to seven hundred Indians is a feat of bravery which has\nscarcely been surpassed in the annals of border warfare. The effect\nupon the Indians must have been thoroughly disheartening. [179]\n\nIn the same month arrangements were made for protecting the frontier\nalong the French Broad by means of a series of garrisoned blockhouses,\nwith scouts to patrol regularly from one to another, North Carolina\ncooperating on her side of the line. The hostile inroads still\ncontinued in this section, the Creeks acting with the hostile\nCherokee. One raiding party of Creeks having been traced toward\nChilhowee town on Little Tennessee, the whites were about to burn\nthat and a neighboring Cherokee town when Sevier interposed and\nprevented. [180] There is no reason to suppose that the people of\nthese towns were directly concerned in the depredations along the\nfrontier at this period, the mischief being done by those farther to\nthe south, in conjunction with the Creeks.\n\nToward the close of this year, 1792, Captain Samuel Handley, while\nleading a small party of men to reenforce the Cumberland settlement,\nwas attacked by a mixed force of Cherokee, Creeks, and Shawano, near\nthe Crab Orchard, west of the present Kingston, Tennessee. Becoming\nseparated from his men he encountered a warrior who had lifted his\nhatchet to strike when Handley seized the weapon, crying out \"Canaly\"\n(for higina'lii), \"friend,\" to which the Cherokee responded with the\nsame word, at once lowering his arm. Handley was carried to Willstown,\nin Alabama, where he was adopted into the Wolf clan (29) and remained\nuntil the next spring. After having made use of his services in\nwriting a peace letter to Governor Blount the Cherokee finally sent\nhim home in safety to his friends under a protecting escort of eight\nwarriors, without any demand for ransom. He afterward resided near\nTellico blockhouse, near Loudon, where, after the wars were over,\nhis Indian friends frequently came to visit and stop with him. [181]\n\nThe year 1793 began with a series of attacks all along the Tennessee\nfrontier. As before, most of the depredation was by Chickamaugas and\nCreeks, with some stray Shawano from the north. The Cherokee from\nthe towns on Little Tennessee remained peaceable, but their temper\nwas sorely tried by a regrettable circumstance which occurred in\nJune. While a number of friendly chiefs were assembled for a conference\nat Echota, on the express request of the President, a party of men\nunder command of a Captain John Beard suddenly attacked them, killing\nabout fifteen Indians, including several chiefs and two women, one of\nthem being the wife of Hanging-maw (Ushw\u00e2'li-g\u00fbta), principal chief of\nthe Nation, who was himself wounded. The murderers then fled, leaving\nothers to suffer the consequences. Two hundred warriors at once took\nup arms to revenge their loss, and only the most earnest appeal from\nthe deputy governor could restrain them from swift retaliation. While\nthe chief, whose wife was thus murdered and himself wounded, forebore\nto revenge himself, in order not to bring war upon his people, the\nSecretary of War was obliged to report, \"to my great pain, I find to\npunish Beard by law just now is out of the question.\" Beard was in\nfact arrested, but the trial was a farce and he was acquitted. [182]\n\nBelieving that the Cherokee Nation, with the exception of the\nChickamaugas, was honestly trying to preserve peace, the territorial\ngovernment, while making provision for the safety of the exposed\nsettlements, had strictly prohibited any invasion of the Indian\ncountry. The frontier people were of a different opinion, and in\nspite of the prohibition a company of nearly two hundred mounted\nmen under Colonels Doherty and McFarland crossed over the mountains\nin the summer of this year and destroyed six of the middle towns,\nreturning with fifteen scalps and as many prisoners. [183]\n\nLate in September a strong force estimated at one thousand\nwarriors--seven hundred Creeks and three hundred Cherokee--under\nJohn Watts and Doublehead, crossed the Tennessee and advanced in the\ndirection of Knoxville, where the public stores were then deposited. In\ntheir eagerness to reach Knoxville they passed quietly by one or two\nsmaller settlements until within a short distance of the town, when,\nat daybreak of the 25th, they heard the garrison fire the sunrise gun\nand imagined that they were discovered. Differences had already broken\nout among the leaders, and without venturing to advance farther they\ncontented themselves with an attack upon a small blockhouse a few miles\nto the west, known as Cavitts station, in which at the time were only\nthree men with thirteen women and children. After defending themselves\nbravely for some time these surrendered on promise that they should be\nheld for exchange, but as soon as they came out Doublehead's warriors\nfell upon them and put them all to death with the exception of a boy,\nwho was saved by John Watts. This bloody deed was entirely the work\nof Doublehead, the other chiefs having done their best to prevent\nit. [184]\n\nA force of seven hundred men under General Sevier was at once\nput upon their track, with orders this time to push the pursuit\ninto the heart of the Indian nation. Crossing Little Tennessee and\nHiwassee they penetrated to Ustanali town, near the present Calhoun,\nGeorgia. Finding it deserted, although well filled with provision,\nthey rested there a few days, the Indians in the meantime attempting\na night attack without success. After burning the town, Sevier\ncontinued down the river to Etowah town, near the present site of\nRome. Here the Indians--Cherokee and Creeks--had dug intrenchments\nand prepared to make a stand, but, being outflanked, were defeated\nwith loss and compelled to retreat. This town, with several others in\nthe neighborhood belonging to both Cherokee and Creeks, was destroyed,\nwith all the provision of the Indians, including three hundred cattle,\nafter which the army took up the homeward march. The Americans had\nlost but three men. This was the last military service of Sevier. [185]\n\nDuring the absence of Sevier's force in the south the Indians made\na sudden inroad on the French Broad, near the present Dandridge,\nkilling and scalping a woman and a boy. While their friends were\naccompanying the remains to a neighboring burial ground for interment,\ntwo men who had incautiously gone ahead were fired upon. One of them\nescaped, but the other one was found killed and scalped when the rest\nof the company came up, and was buried with the first victims. Sevier's\nsuccess brought temporary respite to the Cumberland settlements. During\nthe early part of the year the Indian attacks by small raiding parties\nhad been so frequent and annoying that a force of men had been kept\nout on patrol service under officers who adopted with some success the\npolicy of hunting the Indians in their camping places in the thickets,\nrather than waiting for them to come into the settlements. [186]\n\nIn February, 1794, the Territorial assembly of Tennessee met at\nKnoxville and, among other business transacted, addressed a strong\nmemorial to Congress calling for more efficient protection for the\nfrontier and demanding a declaration of war against the Creeks and\nCherokee. The memorial states that since the treaty of Holston (July,\n1791), these two tribes had killed in a most barbarous and inhuman\nmanner more than two hundred citizens of Tennessee, of both sexes,\nhad carried others into captivity, destroyed their stock, burned their\nhouses, and laid waste their plantations, had robbed the citizens\nof their slaves and stolen at least two thousand horses. Special\nattention was directed to the two great invasions in September,\n1792, and September, 1793, and the memorialists declare that there was\nscarcely a man of the assembly but could tell of \"a dear wife or child,\nan aged parent or near relation, besides friends, massacred by the\nhands of these bloodthirsty nations in their house or fields.\" [187]\n\nIn the meantime the raids continued and every scattered cabin was\na target for attack. In April a party of twenty warriors surrounded\nthe house of a man named Casteel on the French Broad about nine miles\nabove Knoxville and massacred father, mother, and four children in\nmost brutal fashion. One child only was left alive, a girl of ten\nyears, who was found scalped and bleeding from six tomahawk gashes,\nyet survived. The others were buried in one grave. The massacre\nroused such a storm of excitement that it required all the effort\nof the governor and the local officials to prevent an invasion in\nforce of the Indian country. It was learned that Doublehead, of the\nChickamauga towns, was trying to get the support of the valley towns,\nwhich, however, continued to maintain an attitude of peace. The\nfriendly Cherokee also declared that the Spaniards were constantly\ninstigating the lower towns to hostilities, although John Watts,\none of their principal chiefs, advocated peace. [188]\n\nIn June a boat under command of William Scott, laden with pots,\nhardware, and other property, and containing six white men, three\nwomen, four children, and twenty negroes, left Knoxville to descend\nTennessee river to Natchez. As it passed the Chickamauga towns it was\nfired upon from Running Water and Long island without damage. The\nwhites returned the fire, wounding two Indians. A large party of\nCherokee, headed by White-man-killer (Une'ga-dihi'), then started in\npursuit of the boat, which they overtook at Muscle shoals, where they\nkilled all the white people in it, made prisoners of the negroes, and\nplundered the goods. Three Indians were killed and one was wounded in\nthe action. [189] It is said that the Indian actors in this massacre\nfled across the Mississippi into Spanish territory and became the\nnucleus of the Cherokee Nation of the West, as will be noted elsewhere.\n\nOn June 26, 1794, another treaty, intended to be supplementary to that\nof Holston in 1791, was negotiated at Philadelphia, being signed by\nthe Secretary of War and by thirteen principal men of the Cherokee. An\narrangement was made for the proper marking of the boundary then\nestablished, and the annuity was increased to five thousand dollars,\nwith a proviso that fifty dollars were to be deducted for every horse\nstolen by the Cherokee and not restored within three months. [190]\n\nIn July a man named John Ish was shot down while plowing in his field\neighteen miles below Knoxville. By order of Hanging-maw, the friendly\nchief of Echota, a party of Cherokee took the trail and captured the\nmurderer, who proved to be a Creek, whom they brought in to the agent\nat Tellico blockhouse, where he was formally tried and hanged. When\nasked the usual question he said that his people were at war with\nthe whites, that he had left home to kill or be killed, that he had\nkilled the white man and would have escaped but for the Cherokee,\nand that there were enough of his nation to avenge his death. A few\ndays later a party of one hundred Creek warriors crossed Tennessee\nriver against the settlements. The alarm was given by Hanging-maw, and\nfifty-three Cherokee with a few federal troops started in pursuit. On\nthe 10th of August they came up with the Creeks, killing one and\nwounding another, one Cherokee being slightly wounded. The Creeks\nretreated and the victors returned to the Cherokee towns, where their\nreturn was announced by the death song and the firing of guns. \"The\nnight was spent in dancing the scalp dance, according to the custom\nof warriors after a victory over their enemies, in which the white\nand red people heartily joined. The Upper Cherokee had now stepped\ntoo far to go back, and their professions of friendship were now no\nlonger to be questioned.\" In the same month there was an engagement\nbetween a detachment of about forty soldiers and a large body of\nCreeks near Crab Orchard, in which several of each were killed. [191]\nIt is evident that much of the damage on both sides of the Cumberland\nrange was due to the Creeks.\n\nIn the meantime Governor Blount was trying to negotiate peace with the\nwhole Cherokee Nation, but with little success. The Cherokee claimed\nto be anxious for permanent peace, but said that it was impossible\nto restore the property taken by them, as it had been taken in war,\nand they had themselves been equal losers from the whites. They said\nalso that they could not prevent the hostile Creeks from passing\nthrough their territory. About the end of July it was learned that a\nstrong body of Creeks had started north against the settlements. The\nmilitia was at once ordered out along the Tennessee frontier, and\nthe friendly Cherokees offered their services, while measures were\ntaken to protect their women and children from the enemy. The Creeks\nadvanced as far as Willstown, when the news came of the complete\ndefeat of the confederated northern tribes by General Wayne (30), and\nfearing the same fate for themselves, they turned back and scattered\nto their towns. [192]\n\nThe Tennesseeans, especially those on the Cumberland, had long ago\ncome to the conclusion that peace could be brought about only through\nthe destruction of the Chickamauga towns. Anticipating some action\nof this kind, which the general government did not think necessary\nor advisable, orders against any such attempt had been issued\nby the Secretary of War to Governor Blount. The frontier people\nwent about their preparations, however, and it is evident from\nthe result that the local military authorities were in connivance\nwith the undertaking. General Robertson was the chief organizer of\nthe volunteers about Nashville, who were reenforced by a company\nof Kentuckians under Colonel Whitley. Major Ore had been sent by\nGovernor Blount with a detachment of troops to protect the Cumberland\nsettlements, and on arriving at Nashville entered as heartily into the\nproject as if no counter orders had ever been issued, and was given\nchief command of the expedition, which for this reason is commonly\nknown as \"Ore's expedition.\"\n\nOn September 7, 1794, the army of five hundred and fifty mounted men\nleft Nashville, and five days later crossed the Tennessee near the\nmouth of the Sequatchee river, their guide being the same Joseph Brown\nof whom the old Indian woman had said that he would one day bring the\nsoldiers to destroy them. Having left their horses on the other side\nof the river, they moved up along the south bank just after daybreak of\nthe 13th and surprised the town of Nickajack, killing several warriors\nand taking a number of prisoners. Some who attempted to escape in\ncanoes were shot in the water. The warriors in Running Water town,\nfour miles above, heard the firing and came at once to the assistance\nof their friends, but were driven back after attempting to hold their\nground, and the second town shared the fate of the first. More than\nfifty Indians had been killed, a number were prisoners, both towns and\nall their contents had been destroyed, with a loss to the assailants\nof only three men wounded. The Breath, the chief of Running Water, was\namong those killed. Two fresh scalps with a large quantity of plunder\nfrom the settlements were found in the towns, together with a supply\nof ammunition said to have been furnished by the Spaniards. [193]\n\nSoon after the return of the expedition Robertson sent a message to\nJohn Watts, the principal leader of the hostile Cherokee, threatening\na second visitation if the Indians did not very soon surrender\ntheir prisoners and give assurances of peace. [194] The destruction\nof their towns on Tennessee and Coosa and the utter defeat of the\nnorthern confederates had now broken the courage of the Cherokee,\nand on their own request Governor Blount held a conference with them\nat Tellico blockhouse, November 7 and 8, 1794, at which Hanging-maw,\nhead chief of the Nation, and Colonel John Watt, principal chief\nof the hostile towns, with about four hundred of their warriors,\nattended. The result was satisfactory; all differences were arranged\non a friendly basis and the long Cherokee war came to an end. [195]\n\nOwing to the continued devastation of their towns during the\nRevolutionary struggle, a number of Cherokee, principally of the\nChickamauga band, had removed across the Ohio about 1782 and settled\non Paint creek, a branch of the Scioto river, in the vicinity of\ntheir friends and allies, the Shawano. In 1787 they were reported\nto number about seventy warriors. They took an active part in the\nhostilities along the Ohio frontier and were present in the great\nbattle at the Maumee rapids, by which the power of the confederated\nnorthern tribes was effectually broken. As they had failed to attend\nthe treaty conference held at Greenville in August, 1795, General Wayne\nsent them a special message, through their chief Long-hair, that if\nthey refused to come in and make terms as the others had done they\nwould be considered outside the protection of the government. Upon\nthis a part of them came in and promised that as soon as they could\ngather their crops the whole band would leave Ohio forever and return\nto their people in the south. [196]\n\nThe Creeks were still hostile and continued their inroads upon the\nwestern settlements. Early in January, 1795, Governor Blount held\nanother conference with the Cherokee and endeavored to persuade them\nto organize a company of their young men to patrol the frontier against\nthe Creeks, but to this proposal the chiefs refused to consent. [197]\n\nIn the next year it was discovered that a movement was on foot to\ntake possession of certain Indian lands south of the Cumberland\non pretense of authority formerly granted by North Carolina for\nthe relief of Revolutionary soldiers. As such action would almost\nsurely have resulted in another Indian war, Congress interposed,\non the representation of President Washington, with an act for the\nregulation of intercourse between citizens of the United States and the\nvarious Indian tribes. Its main purpose was to prevent intrusion upon\nlands to which the Indian title had not been extinguished by treaty\nwith the general government, and under its provisions a number of\nsquatters were ejected from the Indian country and removed across the\nboundary. The pressure of border sentiment, however, was constantly\nfor extending the area of white settlement and the result was an\nimmediate agitation to procure another treaty cession. [198]\n\nIn consequence of urgent representations from the people of\nTennessee, Congress took steps in 1797 for procuring a new treaty\nwith the Cherokee by which the ejected settlers might be reinstated\nand the boundaries of the new state so extended as to bring about\ncloser communication between the eastern settlements and those on the\nCumberland. The Revolutionary warfare had forced the Cherokee west and\nsouth, and their capital and central gathering place was now Ustanali\ntown, near the present Calhoun, Georgia, while Echota, their ancient\ncapital and beloved peace town, was almost on the edge of the white\nsettlements. The commissioners wished to have the proceedings conducted\nat Echota, while the Cherokee favored Ustanali. After some debate a\nchoice was made of a convenient place near Tellico blockhouse, where\nthe conference opened in July, but was brought to an abrupt close by\nthe peremptory refusal of the Cherokee to sell any lands or to permit\nthe return of the ejected settlers.\n\nThe rest of the summer was spent in negotiation along the lines already\nproposed, and on October 2, 1798, a treaty, commonly known as the\n\"first treaty of Tellico,\" was concluded at the same place, and was\nsigned by thirty-nine chiefs on behalf of the Cherokee. By this treaty\nthe Indians ceded a tract between Clinch river and the Cumberland\nridge, another along the northern bank of Little Tennessee extending up\nto Chilhowee mountain, and a third in North Carolina on the heads of\nFrench Broad and Pigeon rivers and including the sites of the present\nWaynesville and Hendersonville. These cessions included most or all\nof the lands from which settlers had been ejected. Permission was\nalso given for laying out the \"Cumberland road,\" to connect the east\nTennessee settlements with those about Nashville. In consideration of\nthe lands and rights surrendered, the United States agreed to deliver\nto the Cherokee five thousand dollars in goods, and to increase their\nexisting annuity by one thousand dollars, and as usual, to \"continue\nthe guarantee of the remainder of their country forever.\" [199]\n\nWayne's victory over the northern tribes at the battle of the Maumee\nrapids completely broke their power and compelled them to accept the\nterms of peace dictated at the treaty of Greenville in the summer\nof 1795. The immediate result was the surrender of the Ohio river\nboundary by the Indians and the withdrawal of the British garrisons\nfrom the interior posts, which up to this time they had continued to\nhold in spite of the treaty made at the close of the Revolution. By the\ntreaty made at Madrid in October, 1795, Spain gave up all claim on the\neast side of the Mississippi north of the thirty-first parallel, but on\nvarious pretexts the formal transfer of posts was delayed and a Spanish\ngarrison continued to occupy San Fernando de Barrancas, at the present\nMemphis, Tennessee, until the fall of 1797, while that at Natchez,\nin Mississippi, was not surrendered until March, 1798. The Creeks,\nseeing the trend of affairs, had made peace at Colerain, Georgia,\nin June, 1796. With the hostile European influence thus eliminated,\nat least for the time, the warlike tribes on the north and on the\nsouth crushed and dispirited and the Chickamauga towns wiped out of\nexistence, the Cherokee realized that they must accept the situation\nand, after nearly twenty years of continuous warfare, laid aside the\ntomahawk to cultivate the arts of peace and civilization.\n\nThe close of the century found them still a compact people (the\nwestward movement having hardly yet begun) numbering probably about\n20,000 souls. After repeated cessions of large tracts of land, to\nsome of which they had but doubtful claim, they remained in recognized\npossession of nearly 43,000 square miles of territory, a country about\nequal in extent to Ohio, Virginia, or Tennessee. Of this territory\nabout one-half was within the limits of Tennessee, the remainder being\nalmost equally divided between Georgia and Alabama, with a small area\nin the extreme southwestern corner of North Carolina. [200] The old\nLower towns on Savannah river had been broken up for twenty years,\nand the whites had so far encroached upon the Upper towns that the\ncapital and council fire of the nation had been removed from the\nancient peace town of Echota to Ustanali, in Georgia. The towns on\nCoosa river and in Alabama were almost all of recent establishment,\npeopled by refugees from the east and north. The Middle towns, in\nNorth Carolina, were still surrounded by Indian country.\n\nFirearms had been introduced into the tribe about one hundred years\nbefore, and the Cherokee had learned well their use. Such civilized\ngoods as hatchets, knives, clothes, and trinkets had become so\ncommon before the first Cherokee war that the Indians had declared\nthat they could no longer live without the traders. Horses and other\ndomestic animals had been introduced early in the century, and at\nthe opening of the war of 1760, according to Adair, the Cherokee had\n\"a prodigious number of excellent horses,\" and although hunger had\ncompelled them to eat a great many of these during that period, they\nstill had, in 1775, from two to a dozen each, and bid fair soon to\nhave plenty of the best sort, as, according to the same authority,\nthey were skilful jockeys and nice in their choice. Some of them\nhad grown fond of cattle, and they had also an abundance of hogs\nand poultry, the Indian pork being esteemed better than that raised\nin the white settlements on account of the chestnut diet. [201] In\nSevier's expedition against the towns on Coosa river, in 1793, the\narmy killed three hundred beeves at Etowah and left their carcasses\nrotting on the ground. While crossing the Cherokee country in 1796\nHawkins met an Indian woman on horseback driving ten very fat cattle\nto the settlements for sale. Peach trees and potatoes, as well as\nthe native corn and beans, were abundant in their fields, and some\nhad bees and honey and did a considerable trade in beeswax. They seem\nto have quickly recovered from the repeated ravages of war, and there\nwas a general air of prosperity throughout the nation. The native arts\nof pottery and basket-making were still the principal employment of\nthe women, and the warriors hunted with such success that a party of\ntraders brought down thirty wagon loads of skins on one trip. [202]\nIn dress and house-building the Indian style was practically unchanged.\n\nIn pursuance of a civilizing policy, the government had agreed, by the\ntreaty of 1791, to furnish the Cherokee gratuitously with farming tools\nand similar assistance. This policy was continued and broadened to such\nan extent that in 1801 Hawkins reports that \"in the Cherokee agency,\nthe wheel, the loom, and the plough is [sic] in pretty general use,\nfarming, manufactures, and stock raising the topic of conversation\namong the men and women.\" At a conference held this year we find\nthe chiefs of the mountain towns complaining that the people of the\nmore western and southwestern settlements had received more than\ntheir share of spinning wheels and cards, and were consequently more\nadvanced in making their own clothing as well as in farming, to which\nthe others retorted that these things had been offered to all alike at\nthe same time, but while the lowland people had been quick to accept,\nthe mountaineers had hung back. \"Those who complain came in late. We\nhave got the start of them, which we are determined to keep.\" The\nprogressives, under John Watts, Doublehead, and Will, threatened to\nsecede from the rest and leave those east of Chilhowee mountain to\nshift for themselves. [203] We see here the germ of dissatisfaction\nwhich led ultimately to the emigration of the western band. Along\nwith other things of civilization, negro slavery had been introduced\nand several of the leading men were now slaveholders (31).\n\nMuch of the advance in civilization had been due to the intermarriage\namong them of white men, chiefly traders of the ante-Revolutionary\nperiod, with a few Americans from the back settlements. The families\nthat have made Cherokee history were nearly all of this mixed\ndescent. The Doughertys, Galpins, and Adairs were from Ireland; the\nRosses, Vanns, and McIntoshes, like the McGillivrays and Graysons\namong the Creeks, were of Scottish origin; the Waffords and others\nwere Americans from Carolina or Georgia, and the father of Sequoya\nwas a (Pennsylvania?) German. Most of this white blood was of good\nstock, very different from the \"squaw man\" element of the western\ntribes. Those of the mixed blood who could afford it usually sent their\nchildren away to be educated, while some built schoolhouses upon their\nown grounds and brought in private teachers from the outside. With the\nbeginning of the present century we find influential mixed bloods in\nalmost every town, and the civilized idea dominated even the national\ncouncils. The Middle towns, shut in from the outside world by high\nmountains, remained a stronghold of Cherokee conservatism.\n\nWith the exception of Priber, there seems to be no authentic record of\nany missionary worker among the Cherokee before 1800. There is, indeed,\nan incidental notice of a Presbyterian minister of North Carolina\nbeing on his way to the tribe in 1758, but nothing seems to have come\nof it, and we find him soon after in South Carolina and separated\nfrom his original jurisdiction. [204] The first permanent mission was\nestablished by the Moravians, those peaceful German immigrants whose\nteachings were so well exemplified in the lives of Zeisberger and\nHeckewelder. As early as 1734, while temporarily settled in Georgia,\nthey had striven to bring some knowledge of the Christian religion to\nthe Indians immediately about Savannah, including perhaps some stray\nCherokee. Later on they established missions among the Delawares in\nOhio, where their first Cherokee convert was received in 1773, being\none who had been captured by the Delawares when a boy and had grown\nup and married in the tribe. In 1752 they had formed a settlement\non the upper Yadkin, near the present Salem, North Carolina, where\nthey made friendly acquaintance with the Cherokee. [205] In 1799,\nhearing that the Cherokee desired teachers--or perhaps by direct\ninvitation of the chiefs--two missionaries visited the tribe to\ninvestigate the matter. Another visit was made in the next summer,\nand a council was held at Tellico agency, where, after a debate in\nwhich the Indians showed considerable difference of opinion, it was\ndecided to open a mission. Permission having been obtained from the\ngovernment, the work was begun in April, 1801, by Rev. Abraham Steiner\nand Rev. Gottlieb Byhan at the residence of David Vann, a prominent\nmixed-blood chief, who lodged them in his own house and gave them every\nassistance in building the mission, which they afterward called Spring\nplace, where now is the village of the same name in Murray county,\nnorthwestern Georgia. They were also materially aided by the agent,\nColonel Return J. Meigs (32). It was soon seen that the Cherokee\nwanted civilizers for their children, and not new theologies, and\nwhen they found that a school could not at once be opened the great\ncouncil at Ustanali sent orders to the missionaries to organize a\nschool within six months or leave the nation. Through Vann's help\nthe matter was arranged and a school was opened, several sons of\nprominent chiefs being among the pupils. Another Moravian mission\nwas established by Reverend J. Gambold at Oothcaloga, in the same\ncounty, in 1821. Both were in flourishing condition when broken up,\nwith other Cherokee missions, by the State of Georgia in 1834. The\nwork was afterward renewed beyond the Mississippi. [206]\n\nIn 1804 the Reverend Gideon Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister of\nTennessee, opened a school among the Cherokee, which continued for\nseveral years until abandoned for lack of funds. [207]\n\nNotwithstanding the promise to the Cherokee in the treaty of 1798\nthat the Government would \"continue the guarantee of the remainder\nof their country forever,\" measures were begun almost immediately to\nprocure another large cession of land and road privileges. In spite\nof the strenuous objection of the Cherokee, who sent a delegation of\nprominent chiefs to Washington to protest against any further sales,\nsuch pressure was brought to bear, chiefly through the efforts of\nthe agent, Colonel Meigs, that the object of the Government was\naccomplished, and in 1804 and 1805 three treaties were negotiated at\nTellico agency, by which the Cherokee were shorn of more than eight\nthousand square miles of their remaining territory.\n\nBy the first of these treaties--October 24, 1804--a purchase\nwas made of a small tract in northeastern Georgia, known as the\n\"Wafford settlement,\" upon which a party led by Colonel Wafford had\nlocated some years before, under the impression that it was outside\nthe boundary established by the Hopewell treaty. In compensation\nthe Cherokee were to receive an immediate payment of five thousand\ndollars in goods or cash with an additional annuity of one thousand\ndollars. By the other treaties--October 25 and 27, 1805--a large tract\nwas obtained in central Tennessee and Kentucky, extending between\nthe Cumberland range and the western line of the Hopewell treaty,\nand from Cumberland river southwest to Duck river. One section was\nalso secured at Southwest point (now Kingston, Tennessee) with the\ndesign of establishing there the state capital, which, however, was\nlocated at Nashville instead seven years later. Permission was also\nobtained for two mail roads through the Cherokee country into Georgia\nand Alabama. In consideration of the cessions by the two treaties\nthe United States agreed to pay fifteen thousand six hundred dollars\nin working implements, goods, or cash, with an additional annuity\nof three thousand dollars. To secure the consent of some of the\nleading chiefs, the treaty commissioners resorted to the disgraceful\nprecedent of secret articles, by which several valuable small tracts\nwere reserved for Doublehead and Tollunteeskee, the agreement being\nrecorded as a part of the treaty, but not embodied in the copy sent\nto the Senate for confirmation. [208] In consequence of continued\nabuse of his official position for selfish ends Doublehead was soon\nafterward killed in accordance with a decree of the chiefs of the\nNation, Major Ridge being selected as executioner. [209]\n\nBy the treaty of October 25, 1805, the settlements in eastern\nTennessee were brought into connection with those about Nashville\non the Cumberland, and the state at last assumed compact form. The\nwhole southern portion of the state, as defined in the charter, was\nstill Indian country, and there was a strong and constant pressure\nfor its opening, the prevailing sentiment being in favor of making\nTennessee river the boundary between the two races. New immigrants\nwere constantly crowding in from the east, and, as Royce says,\n\"the desire to settle on Indian land was as potent and insatiable\nwith the average border settler then as it is now.\" Almost within two\nmonths of the last treaties another one was concluded at Washington on\nJanuary 7, 1806, by which the Cherokee ceded their claim to a large\ntract between Duck river and the Tennessee, embracing nearly seven\nthousand square miles in Tennessee and Alabama, together with the\nLong island (Great island) in Holston river, which up to this time\nthey had claimed as theirs. They were promised in compensation ten\nthousand dollars in five cash installments, a grist mill and cotton\ngin, and a life annuity of one hundred dollars for Black-fox, the aged\nhead chief of the nation. The signers of the instrument, including\nDoublehead and Tollunteeskee, were accompanied to Washington by the\nsame commissioners who had procured the previous treaty. In consequence\nof some misunderstanding, the boundaries of the ceded tract were still\nfurther extended in a supplementary treaty concluded at the Chickasaw\nOld Fields on the Tennessee, on September 11, 1807. As the country\nbetween Duck river and the Tennessee was claimed also by the Chickasaw,\ntheir title was extinguished by separate treaties. [210] The ostensible\ncompensation for this last Cherokee cession, as shown by the treaty,\nwas two thousand dollars, but it was secretly agreed by Agent Meigs\nthat what he calls a \"silent consideration\" of one thousand dollars\nand some rifles should be given to the chiefs who signed it. [211]\n\nIn 1807 Colonel Elias Earle, with the consent of the Government,\nobtained a concession from the Cherokee for the establishment of iron\nworks at the mouth of Chickamauga creek, on the south side of Tennessee\nriver, to be supplied from ores mined in the Cherokee country. It was\nhoped that this would be a considerable step toward the civilization\nof the Indians, besides enabling the Government to obtain its supplies\nof manufactured iron at a cheaper rate, but after prolonged effort\nthe project was finally abandoned on account of the refusal of the\nstate of Tennessee to sanction the grant. [212] In the same year, by\narrangement with the general government, the legislature of Tennessee\nattempted to negotiate with the Cherokee for that part of their unceded\nlands lying within the state limits, but without success, owing to\nthe unwillingness of the Indians to part with any more territory,\nand their special dislike for the people of Tennessee. [213]\n\nIn 1810 the Cherokee national council registered a further advance\nin civilization by formally abolishing the custom of clan revenge,\nhitherto universal among the tribes. The enactment bears the signatures\nof Black-fox (Ina'li), principal chief, and seven others, and reads\nas follows:\n\n\n In Council, Oostinaleh, April 18, 1810.\n\n 1. Be it known this day, That the various clans or tribes which\n compose the Cherokee nation have unanimously passed an act of\n oblivion for all lives for which they may have been indebted one\n to the other, and have mutually agreed that after this evening\n the aforesaid act shall become binding upon every clan or tribe\n thereof.\n\n 2. The aforesaid clans or tribes have also agreed that if, in\n future, any life should be lost without malice intended, the\n innocent aggressor shall not be accounted guilty; and, should\n it so happen that a brother, forgetting his natural affections,\n should raise his hands in anger and kill his brother, he shall\n be accounted guilty of murder and suffer accordingly.\n\n 3. If a man have a horse stolen, and overtake the thief, and should\n his anger be so great as to cause him to shed his blood, let it\n remain on his own conscience, but no satisfaction shall be required\n for his life, from his relative or clan he may have belonged to.\n\n By order of the seven clans. [214]\n\n\nUnder an agreement with the Cherokee in 1813 a company composed\nof representatives of Tennessee, Georgia, and the Cherokee nation\nwas organized to lay out a free public road from Tennessee river to\nthe head of navigation on the Tugaloo branch of Savannah river, with\nprovision for convenient stopping places along the line. The road was\ncompleted within the next three years, and became the great highway\nfrom the coast to the Tennessee settlements. Beginning on the Tugaloo\nor Savannah a short distance below the entrance of Toccoa creek,\nit crossed the upper Chattahoochee, passing through Clarkesville,\nNacoochee valley, the Unicoi gap, and Hiwassee in Georgia; then\nentering North Carolina it descended the Hiwassee, passing through\nHayesville and Murphy and over the Great Smoky range into Tennessee,\nuntil it reached the terminus at the Cherokee capital, Echota,\non Little Tennessee. It was officially styled the Unicoi turnpike,\n[215] but was commonly known in North Carolina as the Wachesa trail,\nfrom Watsi'sa or Wachesa, a prominent Indian who lived near the\ncrossing-place on Beaverdam creek, below Murphy, this portion of the\nroad being laid out along the old Indian trail which already bore\nthat name. [216]\n\nPassing over for the present some negotiations having for their\npurpose the removal of the Cherokee to the West, we arrive at the\nperiod of the Creek war.\n\nEver since the treaty of Greenville it had been the dream of Tecumtha,\nthe great Shawano chief (33), to weld again the confederacy of the\nnorthern tribes as a barrier against the further aggressions of\nthe white man. His own burning eloquence was ably seconded by the\nsubtler persuasion of his brother, who assumed the role of a prophet\nwith a new revelation, the burden of which was that the Indians must\nreturn to their old Indian life if they would preserve their national\nexistence. The new doctrine spread among all the northern tribes and\nat last reached those of the south, where Tecumtha himself had gone\nto enlist the warriors in the great Indian confederacy. The prophets\nof the Upper Creeks eagerly accepted the doctrine and in a short time\ntheir warriors were dancing the \"dance of the Indians of the lakes.\" In\nanticipation of an expected war with the United States the British\nagents in Canada had been encouraging the hostile feeling toward the\nAmericans by talks and presents of goods and ammunition, while the\nSpaniards also covertly fanned the flame of discontent. [217] At the\nheight of the ferment war was declared between this country and England\non June 28, 1812. Tecumtha, at the head of fifteen hundred warriors,\nat once entered the British service with a commission as general,\nwhile the Creeks began murdering and burning along the southern\nfrontier, after having vainly attempted to secure the cooperation of\nthe Cherokee.\n\nFrom the Creeks the new revelation was brought to the Cherokee, whose\npriests at once began to dream dreams and to preach a return to the\nold life as the only hope of the Indian race. A great medicine dance\nwas appointed at Ustanali, the national capital, where, after the\ndance was over, the doctrine was publicly announced and explained by\na Cherokee prophet introduced by a delegation from Coosawatee. He\nbegan by saying that some of the mountain towns had abused him and\nrefused to receive his message, but nevertheless he must continue to\nbear testimony of his mission whatever might happen. The Cherokee had\nbroken the road which had been given to their fathers at the beginning\nof the world. They had taken the white man's clothes and trinkets,\nthey had beds and tables and mills; some even had books and cats. All\nthis was bad, and because of it their gods were angry and the game was\nleaving their country. If they would live and be happy as before they\nmust put off the white man's dress, throw away his mills and looms,\nkill their cats, put on paint and buckskin, and be Indians again;\notherwise swift destruction would come upon them.\n\nHis speech appealed strongly to the people, who cried out in great\nexcitement that his talk was good. Of all those present only Major\nRidge, a principal chief, had the courage to stand up and oppose it,\nwarning his hearers that such talk would inevitably lead to war with\nthe United States, which would end in their own destruction. The\nmaddened followers of the prophet sprang upon Ridge and would have\nkilled him but for the interposition of friends. As it was, he was\nthrown down and narrowly escaped with his life, while one of his\ndefenders was stabbed by his side.\n\nThe prophet had threatened after a certain time to invoke a\nterrible storm, which should destroy all but the true believers,\nwho were exhorted to gather for safety on one of the high peaks of\nthe Great Smoky mountains. In full faith they abandoned their bees,\ntheir orchards, their slaves, and everything that had come to them\nfrom the white man, and took up their toilsome march for the high\nmountains. There they waited until the appointed day had come and\npassed, showing their hopes and fears to be groundless, when they\nsadly returned to their homes and the great Indian revival among the\nCherokee came to an end. [218]\n\nAmong the Creeks, where other hostile influences were at work, the\nexcitement culminated in the Creek war. Several murders and outrages\nhad already been committed, but it was not until the terrible massacre\nat Fort Mims (34), on August 30, 1813, that the whole American nation\nwas aroused. Through the influence of Ridge and other prominent\nchiefs the Cherokee had refused to join the hostile Creeks, and\non the contrary had promised to assist the whites and the friendly\ntowns. [219] More than a year before the council had sent a friendly\nletter to the Creeks warning them against taking the British side in\nthe approaching war, while several prominent chiefs had proposed to\nenlist a Cherokee force for the service of the United States. [220]\nFinding that no help, was to be expected from the Cherokee, the Creeks\ntook occasion to kill a Cherokee woman near the town of Etowah, in\nGeorgia. With the help of a conjurer the murderers were trailed and\novertaken and killed on the evening of the second day in a thicket\nwhere they had concealed themselves. After this there could be no\nalliance between the two tribes. [221]\n\nAt the time of the Fort Mims massacre McIntosh (35), the chief of\nthe friendly Lower Creeks, was visiting the Cherokee, among whom he\nhad relatives. By order of the Cherokee council he was escorted home\nby a delegation under the leadership of Ridge. On his return Ridge\nbrought with him a request from the Lower Creeks that the Cherokee\nwould join with them and the Americans in putting down the war. Ridge\nhimself strongly urged the proposition, declaring that if the prophets\nwere allowed to have their way the work of civilization would be\ndestroyed. The council, however, decided not to interfere in the\naffairs of other tribes, whereupon Ridge called for volunteers, with\nthe result that so many of the warriors responded that the council\nreversed its decision and declared war against the Creeks. [222]\nFor a proper understanding of the situation it is necessary to state\nthat the hostile feeling was confined almost entirely to the Upper\nCreek towns on the Tallapoosa, where the prophets of the new religion\nhad their residence. The half-breed chief, Weatherford (36), was the\nleader of the war party. The Lower Creek towns on the Chattahoochee,\nunder McIntosh, another half-breed chief, were friendly, and acted\nwith the Cherokee and the Americans against their own brethren.\n\nIt is not our purpose to give a history of the Creek war, but only to\nnote the part which the Cherokee had in it. The friendly Lower Creeks,\nunder McIntosh, with a few refugees from the Upper towns, operated\nchiefly with the army under General Floyd which invaded the southern\npart of the Creek country from Georgia. Some friendly Choctaw and\nChickasaw also lent their assistance in this direction. The Cherokee,\nwith some friendly Creeks of the Upper towns, acted with the armies\nunder Generals White and Jackson, which entered the Creek country from\nthe Tennessee side. While some hundreds of their warriors were thus\nfighting in the field, the Cherokee at home were busily collecting\nprovisions for the American troops.\n\nAs Jackson approached from the north, about the end of October, 1813,\nhe was met by runners asking him to come to the aid of Pathkiller,\na Cherokee chief, who was in danger of being cut off by the hostiles,\nat his village of Turkeytown, on the upper Coosa, near the present\nCenter, Alabama. A fresh detachment on its way from east Tennessee,\nunder General White, was ordered by Jackson to relieve the town,\nand successfully performed this work. White's force consisted of one\nthousand men, including four hundred Cherokee under Colonel Gideon\nMorgan and John Lowrey. [223]\n\nAs the army advanced down the Coosa the Creeks retired to\nTallaseehatchee, on the creek of the same name, near the present\nJacksonville, Calhoun county, Alabama. One thousand men under General\nCoffee, together with a company of Cherokee under Captain Richard Brown\nand some few Creeks, were sent against them. The Indian auxiliaries\nwore headdresses of white feathers and deertails. The attack was\nmade at daybreak of November 3, 1813, and the town was taken after\na desperate resistance, from which not one of the defenders escaped\nalive, the Creeks having been completely surrounded on all sides. Says\nCoffee in his official report:\n\n\n They made all the resistance that an overpowered soldier could\n do--they fought as long as one existed, but their destruction\n was very soon completed. Our men rushed up to the doors of the\n houses and in a few minutes killed the last warrior of them. The\n enemy fought with savage fury and met death with all its horrors,\n without shrinking or complaining--not one asked to be spared,\n but fought as long as they could stand or sit.\n\n\nOf such fighting stuff did the Creeks prove themselves, against\noverwhelming numbers, throughout the war. The bodies of nearly two\nhundred dead warriors were counted on the field, and the general\nreiterates that \"not one of the warriors escaped.\" A number of women\nand children were taken prisoners. Nearly every man of the Creeks had\na bow with a bundle of arrows, which he used after the first fire with\nhis gun. The American loss was only five killed and forty-one wounded,\nwhich may not include the Indian contingent. [224]\n\nWhite's advance guard, consisting chiefly of the four hundred other\nCherokee under Morgan and Lowrey, reached Tallaseehatchee the same\nevening, only to find it already destroyed. They picked up twenty\nwounded Creeks, whom they brought with them to Turkeytown. [225]\n\nThe next great battle was at Talladega, on the site of the present\ntown of the same name, in Talladega county, Alabama, on November 9,\n1813. Jackson commanded in person with two thousand infantry and\ncavalry. Although the Cherokee are not specifically mentioned they\nwere a part of the army and must have taken part in the engagement. The\ntown itself was occupied by friendly Creeks, who were besieged by the\nhostiles, estimated at over one thousand warriors on the outside. Here\nagain the battle was simply a slaughter, the odds being two to one, the\nCreeks being also without cover, although they fought so desperately\nthat at one time the militia was driven back. They left two hundred\nand ninety-nine dead bodies on the field, which, according to their\nown statement afterwards, was only a part of their total loss. The\nAmericans lost fifteen killed and eighty-five wounded. [226]\n\nA day or two later the people of Hillabee town, about the site of the\npresent village of that name in Clay county, Alabama, sent messengers\nto Jackson's camp to ask for peace, which that commander immediately\ngranted. In the meantime, even while the peace messengers were on\ntheir way home with the good news, an army of one thousand men from\neast Tennessee under General White, who claimed to be independent\nof Jackson's authority, together with four hundred Cherokee under\nColonel Gideon Morgan and John Lowrey, surrounded the town on November\n18, 1813, taking it by surprise, the inhabitants having trusted so\nconfidently to the success of their peace embassy that they had made\nno preparation for defense. Sixty warriors were killed and over two\nhundred and fifty prisoners taken, with no loss to the Americans, as\nthere was practically no resistance. In White's official report of the\naffair he states that he had sent ahead a part of his force, together\nwith the Cherokee under Morgan, to surround the town, and adds that\n\"Colonel Morgan and the Cherokees under his command gave undeniable\nevidence that they merit the employ of their government.\" [227] Not\nknowing that the attack had been made without Jackson's sanction or\nknowledge, the Creeks naturally concluded that peace overtures were\nof no avail, and thenceforth until the close of the war there was no\ntalk of surrender.\n\nOn November 29, 1813, the Georgia army under General Floyd, consisting\nof nine hundred and fifty American troops and four hundred friendly\nIndians, chiefly Lower Creeks under McIntosh, took and destroyed\nAutossee town on the Tallapoosa, west of the present Tuskegee,\nkilling about two hundred warriors and burning four hundred well-built\nhouses. On December 23 the Creeks were again defeated by General\nClaiborne, assisted by some friendly Choctaws, at Ecanachaca or the\nHoly Ground on Alabama river, near the present Benton in Lowndes\ncounty. This town and another a few miles away were also destroyed,\nwith a great quantity of provisions and other property. [228] It is\ndoubtful if any Cherokee were concerned in either action.\n\nBefore the close of the year Jackson's force in northern Alabama\nhad been so far reduced by mutinies and expiration of service terms\nthat he had but one hundred soldiers left and was obliged to employ\nthe Cherokee to garrison Fort Armstrong, on the upper Coosa, and to\nprotect his provision depot. [229] With the opening of the new year,\n1814, having received reinforcements from Tennessee, together with\nabout two hundred friendly Creeks and sixty-five more Cherokee,\nhe left his camp on the Coosa and advanced against the towns on the\nTallapoosa. Learning, on arriving near the river, that he was within a\nfew miles of the main body of the enemy, he halted for a reconnoissance\nand camped in order of battle on Emukfaw creek, on the northern bank\nof the Tallapoosa, only a short distance from the famous Horseshoe\nbend. Here, on the morning of June 24, 1814, he was suddenly attacked\nby the enemy with such fury that, although the troops charged with the\nbayonet, the Creeks returned again to the fight and were at last broken\nonly by the help of the friendly Indians, who came upon them from the\nrear. As it was, Jackson was so badly crippled that he retreated to\nFort Strother on the Coosa, carrying his wounded, among them General\nCoffee, on horse-hide litters. The Creeks pursued and attacked him\nagain as he was crossing Enotochopco creek on January 24, but after\na severe fight were driven back with discharges of grapeshot from a\nsix-pounder at close range. The army then continued its retreat to Fort\nStrother. The American loss in these two battles was about one hundred\nkilled and wounded. The loss of the Creeks was much greater, but they\nhad compelled a superior force, armed with bayonet and artillery, to\nretreat, and without the aid of the friendly Indians it is doubtful\nif Jackson could have saved his army from demoralization. The Creeks\nthemselves claimed a victory and boasted afterward that they had\n\"whipped Jackson and run him to the Coosa river.\" Pickett states,\non what seems good authority, that the Creeks engaged did not number\nmore than five hundred warriors. Jackson had probably at least one\nthousand two hundred men, including Indians. [230]\n\nWhile these events were transpiring in the north, General Floyd again\nadvanced from Georgia with a force of about one thousand three hundred\nAmericans and four hundred friendly Indians, but was surprised on\nCaleebee creek, near the present Tuskegee, Alabama, on the morning\nof January 27, 1814, and compelled to retreat, leaving the enemy in\npossession of the field. [231]\n\nWe come now to the final event of the Creek war, the terrible battle\nof the Horseshoe bend. Having received large reenforcements from\nTennessee, Jackson left a garrison at Fort Strother, and, about the\nmiddle of March, descended the Coosa river to the mouth of Cedar\ncreek, southeast from the present Columbiana, where he built Fort\nWilliams. Leaving his stores here with a garrison to protect them,\nhe began his march for the Horseshoe bend of the Tallapoosa, where the\nhostiles were reported to have collected in great force. At this place,\nknown to the Creeks as Tohopki or Tohopeka, the Tallapoosa made a bend\nso as to inclose some eighty or a hundred acres in a narrow peninsula\nopening to the north. On the lower side was an island in the river,\nand about a mile below was Emukfaw creek, entering from the north,\nwhere Jackson had been driven back two months before. Both locations\nwere in the present Tallapoosa county, Alabama, within two miles of\nthe present post village of Tohopeka. Across the neck of the peninsula\nthe Creeks had built a strong breastwork of logs, behind which were\ntheir houses, and behind these were a number of canoes moored to the\nbank for use if retreat became necessary. The fort was defended by a\nthousand warriors, with whom were also about three hundred women and\nchildren. Jackson's force numbered about two thousand men, including,\naccording to his own statement, five hundred Cherokee. He had also\ntwo small cannon. The account of the battle, or rather massacre,\nwhich occurred on the morning of March 27, 1814, is best condensed\nfrom the official reports of the principal commanders.\n\nHaving arrived in the neighborhood of the fort, Jackson disposed his\nmen for the attack by detailing General Coffee with the mounted men\nand nearly the whole of the Indian force to cross the river at a ford\nabout three miles below and surround the bend in such manner that none\ncould escape in that direction. He himself, with the rest of his force,\nadvanced to the front of the breastwork and planted his cannon upon a\nslight rise within eighty yards of the fortification. He then directed\na heavy cannonade upon the center of the breastwork, while the rifles\nand muskets kept up a galling fire upon the defenders whenever they\nshowed themselves behind the logs. The breastwork was very strongly\nand compactly built, from five to eight feet high, with a double row\nof portholes, and so planned that no enemy could approach without being\nexposed to a crossfire from those on the inside. After about two hours\nof cannonading and rifle fire to no great purpose, \"Captain Russell's\ncompany of spies and a party of the Cherokee force, headed by their\ngallant chieftain, Colonel Richard Brown, and conducted by the brave\nColonel Morgan, crossed over to the peninsula in canoes and set fire\nto a few of their buildings there situated. They then advanced with\ngreat gallantry toward the breastwork and commenced firing upon the\nenemy, who lay behind it. Finding that this force, notwithstanding\nthe determination they displayed, was wholly insufficient to dislodge\nthe enemy, and that General Coffee had secured the opposite banks of\nthe river, I now determined on taking possession of their works by\nstorm.\" [232]\n\nCoffee's official report to his commanding officer states that he had\ntaken seven hundred mounted troops and about six hundred Indians,\nof whom five hundred were Cherokee and the rest friendly Creeks,\nand had come in behind, having directed the Indians to take position\nsecretly along the bank of the river to prevent the enemy crossing,\nas already noted. This was done, but with fighting going on so near\nat hand the Indians could not remain quiet. Continuing, Coffee says:\n\n\n The firing of your cannon and small arms in a short time became\n general and heavy, which animated our Indians, and seeing about\n one hundred of the warriors and all the squaws and children of the\n enemy running about among the huts of the village, which was open\n to our view, they could no longer remain silent spectators. While\n some kept up a fire across the river to prevent the enemy's\n approach to the bank, others plunged into the water and swam\n the river for canoes that lay at the other shore in considerable\n numbers and brought them over, in which crafts a number of them\n embarked and landed on the bend with the enemy. Colonel Gideon\n Morgan, who commanded the Cherokees, Captain Kerr, and Captain\n William Russell, with a part of his company of spies, were among\n the first that crossed the river. They advanced into the village\n and very soon drove the enemy from the huts up the river bank\n to the fortified works from which they were fighting you. They\n pursued and continued to annoy during your whole action. This\n movement of my Indian forces left the river bank unguarded and\n made it necessary that I should send a part of my line to take\n possession of the river bank. [233]\n\n\nAccording to the official report of Colonel Morgan, who commanded\nthe Cherokee and who was himself severely wounded, the Cherokee took\nthe places assigned them along the bank in such regular order that no\npart was left unoccupied, and the few fugitives who attempted to escape\nfrom the fort by water \"fell an easy prey to their vengeance.\" Finally,\nseeing that the cannonade had no more effect upon the breastwork than\nto bore holes in the logs, some of the Cherokee plunged into the river,\nand swimming over to the town brought back a number of canoes. A\npart crossed in these, under cover of the guns of their companions,\nand sheltered themselves under the bank while the canoes were sent back\nfor reenforcements. In this way they all crossed over and then advanced\nup the bank, where at once they were warmly assailed from every side\nexcept the rear, which they kept open only by hard fighting. [234]\n\nThe Creeks had been fighting the Americans in their front at such\nclose quarters that their bullets flattened upon the bayonets\nthrust through the portholes. This attack from the rear by five\nhundred Cherokee diverted their attention and gave opportunity to the\nTennesseeans, Sam Houston among them, cheering them on, to swarm over\nthe breastwork. With death from the bullet, the bayonet and the hatchet\nall around them, and the smoke of their blazing homes in their eyes,\nnot a warrior begged for his life. When more than half their number\nlay dead upon the ground, the rest turned and plunged into the river,\nonly to find the banks on the opposite side lined with enemies and\nescape cut off in every direction. Says General Coffee:\n\n\n Attempts to cross the river at all points of the bend were made\n by the enemy, but not one ever escaped. Very few ever reached\n the bank and that few was killed the instant they landed. From\n the report of my officers, as well as from my own observation,\n I feel warranted in saying that from two hundred and fifty to\n three hundred of the enemy was buried under water and was not\n numbered with the dead that were found.\n\n\nSome swam for the island below the bend, but here too a detachment\nhad been posted and \"not one ever landed. They were sunk by Lieutenant\nBean's command ere they reached the bank.\" [235]\n\nQuoting again from Jackson--\n\n\n The enemy, although many of them fought to the last with that\n kind of bravery which desperation inspires, were at last entirely\n routed and cut to pieces. The battle may be said to have continued\n with severity for about five hours, but the firing and slaughter\n continued until it was suspended by the darkness of night. The\n next morning it was resumed and sixteen of the enemy slain who\n had concealed themselves under the banks. [236]\n\n\nIt was supposed that the Creeks had about a thousand warriors,\nbesides their women and children. The men sent out to count the dead\nfound five hundred and fifty-seven warriors lying dead within the\ninclosure, and Coffee estimates that from two hundred and fifty to\nthree hundred were shot in the water. How many more there may have\nbeen can not be known, but Jackson himself states that not more than\ntwenty could have escaped. There is no mention of any wounded. About\nthree hundred prisoners were taken, of whom only three were men. The\ndefenders of the Horseshoe had been exterminated. [237]\n\nOn the other side the loss was 26 Americans killed and 107 wounded,\n18 Cherokee killed and 36 wounded, 5 friendly Creeks killed and 11\nwounded. It will be noted that the loss of the Cherokee was out of\nall proportion to their numbers, their fighting having been hand to\nhand work without protecting cover. In view of the fact that Jackson\nhad only a few weeks before been compelled to retreat before this same\nenemy, and that two hours of artillery and rifle fire had produced no\nresult until the Cherokee turned the rear of the enemy by their daring\npassage of the river, there is considerable truth in the boast of the\nCherokee that they saved the day for Jackson at Horseshoe bend. In\nthe number of men actually engaged and the immense proportion killed,\nthis ranks as the greatest Indian battle in the history of the United\nStates, with the possible exception of the battle of Mauvila, fought\nby the same Indians in De Soto's time. The result was decisive. Two\nweeks later Weatherford came in and surrendered, and the Creek war\nwas at an end.\n\nAs is usual where Indians have acted as auxiliaries of white troops,\nit is difficult to get an accurate statement of the number of Cherokee\nengaged in this war or to apportion the credit among the various\nleaders. Coffee's official report states that five hundred Cherokee\nwere engaged in the last great battle, and from incidental hints\nit seems probable that others were employed elsewhere, on garrison\nduty or otherwise, at the same time. McKenney and Hall state that\nRidge recruited eight hundred warriors for Jackson, [238] and this\nmay be near the truth, as the tribe had then at least six times as\nmany fighting men. On account of the general looseness of Indian\norganization we commonly find the credit claimed for whichever chief\nmay be best known to the chronicler. Thus, McKenney and Hall make\nMajor Ridge the hero of the war, especially of the Horseshoe fight,\nalthough he is not mentioned in the official reports. Jackson speaks\nparticularly of the Cherokee in that battle as being \"headed by their\ngallant chieftain, Colonel Richard Brown, and conducted by the brave\nColonel Morgan.\" Coffee says that Colonel Gideon Morgan \"commanded\nthe Cherokees,\" and it is Morgan who makes the official report of\ntheir part in the battle. In a Washington newspaper notice of the\ntreaty delegation of 1816 the six signers are mentioned as Colonel\n[John] Lowrey, Major [John] Walker, Major Ridge, Captain [Richard]\nTaylor, Adjutant [John] Ross, and Kunnesee (Tsi'yu-g\u00fbnsi'ni,\nCheucunsene) and are described as men of cultivation, nearly all\nof whom had served as officers of the Cherokee forces with Jackson\nand distinguished themselves as well by their bravery as by their\nattachment to the United States. [239] Among the East Cherokee in\nCarolina the only name still remembered is that of their old chief,\nJunaluska (Tsunu'lahu\u00f1'ski), who said afterward: \"If I had known that\nJackson would drive us from our homes I would have killed him that\nday at the Horseshoe.\"\n\nThe Cherokee returned to their homes to find them despoiled and ravaged\nin their absence by disorderly white troops. Two years afterward, by\ntreaty at Washington, the Government agreed to reimburse them for the\ndamage. Interested parties denied that they had suffered any damage\nor rendered any services, to which their agent indignantly replied:\n\"It may be answered that thousands witnessed both; that in nearly all\nthe battles with the Creeks the Cherokees rendered the most efficient\nservice, and at the expense of the lives of many fine men, whose wives\nand children and brothers and sisters are mourning their fall.\" [240]\n\nIn the spring of 1816 a delegation of seven principal men, accompanied\nby Agent Meigs, visited Washington, and the result was the negotiation\nof two treaties at that place on the same date, March 22, 1816. By the\nfirst of these the Cherokee ceded for five thousand dollars their last\nremaining territory in South Carolina, a small strip in the extreme\nnorthwestern corner, adjoining Chattooga river. By the second treaty a\nboundary was established between the lands claimed by the Cherokee and\nCreeks in northern Alabama. This action was made necessary in order\nto determine the boundaries of the great tract which the Creeks had\nbeen compelled to surrender in punishment for their late uprising. The\nline was run from a point on Little Bear creek in northwestern Alabama\ndirect to the Ten islands of the Coosa at old Fort Strother, southeast\nof the present Asheville. General Jackson protested strongly against\nthis line, on the ground that all the territory south of Tennessee\nriver and west of the Coosa belonged to the Creeks and was a part\nof their cession. The Chickasaw also protested against considering\nthis tract as Cherokee territory. The treaty also granted free and\nunrestricted road privileges throughout the Cherokee country, this\nconcession being the result of years of persistent effort on the part\nof the Government; and an appropriation of twenty-five thousand five\nhundred dollars was made for damages sustained by the Cherokee from\nthe depredations of the troops passing through their country during\nthe Creek war. [241]\n\nAt the last treaty the Cherokee had resisted every effort to induce\nthem to cede more land on either side of the Tennessee, the Government\nbeing especially desirous to extinguish their claim north of that\nriver within the limits of the state of Tennessee. Failing in this,\npressure was at once begun to bring about a cession in Alabama,\nwith the result that on September 14 of the same year a treaty was\nconcluded at the Chickasaw council-house, and afterward ratified in\ngeneral council at Turkeytown on the Coosa, by which the Cherokee\nceded all their claims in that state south of Tennessee river and west\nof an irregular line running from Chickasaw island in that stream,\nbelow the entrance of Flint river, to the junction of Wills creek\nwith the Coosa, at the present Gadsden. For this cession, embracing\nan area of nearly three thousand five hundred square miles, they were\nto receive sixty thousand dollars in ten annual payments, together\nwith five thousand dollars for the improvements abandoned. [242]\n\nWe turn aside now for a time from the direct narrative to note the\ndevelopment of events which culminated in the forced expatriation of\nthe Cherokee from their ancestral homes and their removal to the far\nwestern wilderness.\n\nWith a few notable exceptions the relations between the French and\nSpanish colonists and the native tribes, after the first occupation of\nthe country, had been friendly and agreeable. Under the rule of France\nor Spain there was never any Indian boundary. Pioneer and Indian built\ntheir cabins and tilled their fields side by side, ranged the woods\ntogether, knelt before the same altar and frequently intermarried on\nterms of equality, so far as race was concerned. The result is seen\nto-day in the mixed-blood communities of Canada, and in Mexico,\nwhere a nation has been built upon an Indian foundation. Within\nthe area of English colonization it was otherwise. From the first\nsettlement to the recent inauguration of the allotment system it\nnever occurred to the man of Teutonic blood that he could have for\na neighbor anyone not of his own stock and color. While the English\ncolonists recognized the native proprietorship so far as to make\ntreaties with the Indians, it was chiefly for the purpose of fixing\nlimits beyond which the Indian should never come after he had once\nparted with his title for a consideration of goods and trinkets. In\nan early Virginia treaty it was even stipulated that friendly Indians\ncrossing the line should suffer death. The Indian was regarded as an\nincumbrance to be cleared off, like the trees and the wolves, before\nwhite men could live in the country. Intermarriages were practically\nunknown, and the children of such union were usually compelled by\nrace antipathy to cast their lot with the savage.\n\nUnder such circumstances the tribes viewed the advance of the English\nand their successors, the Americans, with keen distrust, and as early\nas the close of the French and Indian war we find some of them removing\nfrom the neighborhood of the English settlements to a safer shelter\nin the more remote territories still held by Spain. Soon after the\nFrench withdrew from Fort Toulouse, in 1763, a part of the Alabama,\nan incorporated tribe of the Creek confederacy, left their villages\non the Coosa, and crossing the Mississippi, where they halted for a\ntime on its western bank, settled on the Sabine river under Spanish\nprotection. [243] They were followed some years later by a part of the\nKoasati, of the same confederacy, [244] the two tribes subsequently\ndrifting into Texas, where they now reside. The Hichitee and others of\nthe Lower Creeks moved down into Spanish Florida, where the Yamassee\nexiles from South Carolina had long before preceded them, the two\ncombining to form the modern Seminole tribe. When the Revolution\nbrought about a new line of division, the native tribes, almost without\nexception, joined sides with England as against the Americans, with\nthe result that about one-half the Iroquois fled to Canada, where they\nstill reside upon lands granted by the British government. A short\ntime before Wayne's victory a part of the Shawano and Delawares, worn\nout by nearly twenty years of battle with the Americans, crossed the\nMississippi and settled, by permission of the Spanish government, upon\nlands in the vicinity of Cape Girardeau, in what is now southeastern\nMissouri, for which they obtained a regular deed from that government\nin 1793. [245] Driven out by the Americans some twenty years later,\nthey removed to Kansas and thence to Indian territory, where they\nare now incorporated with their old friends, the Cherokee.\n\nWhen the first Cherokee crossed the Mississippi it is impossible\nto say, but there was probably never a time in the history of the\ntribe when their warriors and hunters were not accustomed to make\nexcursions beyond the great river. According to an old tradition,\nthe earliest emigration took place soon after the first treaty with\nCarolina, when a portion of the tribe, under the leadership of\nY\u00fb\u00f1wi-usga'se`ti, \"Dangerous-man,\" foreseeing the inevitable end\nof yielding to the demands of the colonists, refused to have any\nrelations with the white man, and took up their long march for the\nunknown West. Communication was kept up with the home body until\nafter crossing the Mississippi, when they were lost sight of and\nforgotten. Long years afterward a rumor came from the west that\nthey were still living near the base of the Rocky mountains. [246]\nIn 1782 the Cherokee, who had fought faithfully on the British side\nthroughout the long Revolutionary struggle, applied to the Spanish\ngovernor at New Orleans for permission to settle on the west side of\nthe Mississippi, within Spanish territory. Permission was granted,\nand it is probable that some of them removed to the Arkansas country,\nalthough there seems to be no definite record of the matter. [247]\nWe learn incidentally, however, that about this period the hostile\nCherokee, like the Shawano and other northern tribes, were in the habit\nof making friendly visits to the Spanish settlements in that quarter.\n\nAccording to Reverend Cephas Washburn, the pioneer missionary of the\nwestern Cherokee, the first permanent Cherokee settlement beyond\nthe Mississippi was the direct result of the massacre, in 1794,\nof the Scott party at Muscle shoals, on Tennessee river, by the\nhostile warriors of the Chickamauga towns, in the summer. As told\nby the missionary, the story differs considerably from that given\nby Haywood and other Tennessee historians, narrated in another\nplace. [248] According to Washburn, the whites were the aggressors,\nhaving first made the Indians drunk and then swindled them out of the\nannuity money with which they were just returning from the agency at\nTellico. When the Indians became sober enough to demand the return of\ntheir money the whites attacked and killed two of them, whereupon the\nothers boarded the boat and killed every white man. They spared the\nwomen and children, however, with their negro slaves and all their\npersonal belongings, and permitted them to continue on their way, the\nchief and his party personally escorting them down Tennessee, Ohio,\nand Mississippi rivers as far as the mouth of the St. Francis, whence\nthe emigrants descended in safety to New Orleans, while their captors,\nunder their chief, The Bowl, went up St. Francis river--then a part\nof Spanish territory--to await the outcome of the event. As soon as\nthe news came to the Cherokee Nation the chiefs formally repudiated\nthe action of the Bowl party and volunteered to assist in arresting\nthose concerned. Bowl and his men were finally exonerated, but had\nconceived such bitterness at the conduct of their former friends, and,\nmoreover, had found the soil so rich and the game so abundant where\nthey were, that they refused to return to their tribe and decided to\nremain permanently in the West. Others joined them from time to time,\nattracted by the hunting prospect, until they were in sufficient\nnumber to obtain recognition from the Government. [249]\n\nWhile the missionary may be pardoned for making the best showing\npossible for his friends, his statement contains several evident\nerrors, and it is probable that Haywood's account is more correct\nin the main. As the Cherokee annuity at that time amounted to but\nfifteen hundred dollars for the whole tribe, or somewhat less than\nten cents per head, they could hardly have had enough money from that\nsource to pay such extravagant prices as sixteen dollars apiece for\npocket-mirrors, which it is alleged the boatmen obtained. Moreover,\nas the Chickamauga warriors had refused to sign any treaties and\nwere notoriously hostile, they were not as yet entitled to receive\npayments. Haywood's statement that the emigrant party was first\nattacked while passing the Chickamauga towns and then pursued to\nthe Muscle shoals and there massacred is probably near the truth,\nalthough it is quite possible that the whites may have provoked\nthe attack in some such way as is indicated by the missionary. As\nWashburn got his account from one of the women of the party, living\nlong afterward in New Orleans, it is certain that some at least were\nspared by the Indians, and it is probable that, as he states, only\nthe men were killed.\n\nThe Bowl emigration may not have been the first, or even the\nmost important removal to the western country, as the period was\none of Indian unrest. Small bands were constantly crossing the\nMississippi into Spanish territory to avoid the advancing Americans,\nonly to find themselves again under American jurisdiction when the\nwhole western country was ceded to the United States in 1803. The\npersistent land-hunger of the settler could not be restrained or\nsatisfied, and early in the same year President Jefferson suggested\nto Congress the desirability of removing all the tribes to the west\nof the Mississippi. In the next year, 1804, an appropriation was made\nfor taking preliminary steps toward such a result. [250] There were\nprobably but few Cherokee on the Arkansas at this time, as they are\nnot mentioned in Sibley's list of tribes south of that river in 1805.\n\nIn the summer of 1808, a Cherokee delegation being about to visit\nWashington, their agent, Colonel Meigs, was instructed by the\nSecretary of War to use every effort to obtain their consent to\nan exchange of their lands for a tract beyond the Mississippi. By\nthis time the government's civilizing policy, as carried out in the\nannual distribution of farming tools, spinning wheels, and looms,\nhad wrought a considerable difference of habit and sentiment between\nthe northern and southern Cherokee. Those on Little Tennessee and\nHiwassee were generally farmers and stock raisers, producing also a\nlimited quantity of cotton, which the women wove into cloth. Those\nfarther down in Georgia and Alabama, the old hostile element, still\npreferred the hunting life and rejected all effort at innovation,\nalthough the game had now become so scarce that it was evident a\nchange must soon come. Jealousies had arisen in consequence, and the\ndelegates representing the progressive element now proposed to the\ngovernment that a line be run through the nation to separate the\ntwo parties, allowing those on the north to divide their lands in\nseveralty and become citizens of the United States, while those on\nthe south might continue to be hunters as long as the game should\nlast. Taking advantage of this condition of affairs, the government\nauthorities instructed the agent to submit to the conservatives a\nproposition for a cession of their share of the tribal territory\nin return for a tract west of the Mississippi of sufficient area to\nenable them to continue the hunting life. The plan was approved by\nPresident Jefferson, and a sum was appropriated to pay the expenses\nof a delegation to visit and inspect the lands on Arkansas and White\nrivers, with a view to removal. The visit was made in the summer\nof 1809, and the delegates brought back such favorable report that\na large number of Cherokee signified their intention to remove at\nonce. As no funds were then available for their removal, the matter\nwas held in abeyance for several years, during which period families\nand individuals removed to the western country at their own expense\nuntil, before the year 1817, they numbered in all two or three thousand\nsouls. [251] They became known as the Arkansas, or Western, Cherokee.\n\nThe emigrants soon became involved in difficulties with the native\ntribes, the Osage claiming all the lands north of Arkansas river,\nwhile the Quapaw claimed those on the south. Upon complaining to the\ngovernment the emigrant Cherokee were told that they had originally\nbeen permitted to remove only on condition of a cession of a portion\nof their eastern territory, and that nothing could be done to protect\nthem in their new western home until such cession had been carried\nout. The body of the Cherokee Nation, however, was strongly opposed\nto any such sale and proposed that the emigrants should be compelled\nto return. After protracted negotiation a treaty was concluded at the\nCherokee agency (now Calhoun, Tennessee) on July 8, 1817, by which the\nCherokee Nation ceded two considerable tracts--the first in Georgia,\nlying east of the Chattahoochee, and the other in Tennessee, between\nWaldens ridge and the Little Sequatchee--as an equivalent for a tract\nto be assigned to those who had already removed, or intended to remove,\nto Arkansas. Two smaller tracts on the north bank of the Tennessee,\nin the neighborhood of the Muscle shoals, were also ceded. In return\nfor these cessions the emigrant Cherokee were to receive a tract\nwithin the present limits of the state of Arkansas, bounded on the\nnorth and south by White river and Arkansas river, respectively, on\nthe east by a line running between those streams approximately from\nthe present Batesville to Lewisburg, and on the west by a line to\nbe determined later. As afterward established, this western line ran\nfrom the junction of the Little North Fork with White river to just\nbeyond the point where the present western Arkansas boundary strikes\nArkansas river. Provision was made for taking the census of the whole\nCherokee nation east and west in order to apportion annuities and\nother payments properly in the future, and the two bands were still\nto be considered as forming one people. The United States agreed to\npay for any substantial improvements abandoned by those removing\nfrom the ceded lands, and each emigrant warrior who left no such\nvaluable property behind was to be given as full compensation for\nhis abandoned field and cabin a rifle and ammunition, a blanket, and\na kettle or a beaver trap. The government further agreed to furnish\nboats and provisions for the journey. Provision was also made that\nindividuals residing upon the ceded lands might retain allotments and\nbecome citizens, if they so elected, the amount of the allotment to\nbe deducted from the total cession.\n\nThe commissioners for the treaty were General Andrew Jackson, General\nDavid Meriwether, and Governor Joseph McMinn of Tennessee. On behalf of\nthe Cherokee it was signed by thirty-one principal men of the eastern\nNation and fifteen of the western band, who signed by proxy. [252]\n\nThe majority of the Cherokee were bitterly opposed to any cession or\nremoval project, and before the treaty had been concluded a memorial\nsigned by sixty-seven chiefs and headmen of the nation was presented\nto the commissioners, which stated that the delegates who had first\nbroached the subject in Washington some years before had acted without\nany authority from the nation. They declared that the great body of\nthe Cherokee desired to remain in the land of their birth, where they\nwere rapidly advancing in civilization, instead of being compelled to\nrevert to their original savage conditions and surroundings. They\ntherefore prayed that the matter might not be pressed further,\nbut that they might be allowed to remain in peaceable possession of\nthe land of their fathers. No attention was paid to the memorial,\nand the treaty was carried through and ratified. Without waiting for\nthe ratification, the authorities at once took steps for the removal\nof those who desired to go to the West. Boats were provided at points\nbetween Little Tennessee and Sequatchee rivers, and the emigrants were\ncollected under the direction of Governor McMinn. Within the next\nyear a large number had emigrated, and before the end of 1819 the\nnumber of emigrants was said to have increased to six thousand. The\nchiefs of the nation, however, claimed that the estimate was greatly\nin excess of the truth. [253]\n\n\"There can be no question that a very large portion, and probably a\nmajority, of the Cherokee nation residing east of the Mississippi had\nbeen and still continued bitterly opposed to the terms of the treaty of\n1817. They viewed with jealous and aching hearts all attempts to drive\nthem from the homes of their ancestors, for they could not but consider\nthe constant and urgent importunities of the federal authorities in the\nlight of an imperative demand for the cession of more territory. They\nfelt that they were, as a nation, being slowly but surely compressed\nwithin the contracting coils of the giant anaconda of civilization;\nyet they held to the vain hope that a spirit of justice and mercy\nwould be born of their helpless condition which would finally\nprevail in their favor. Their traditions furnished them no guide\nby which to judge of the results certain to follow such a conflict\nas that in which they were engaged. This difference of sentiment in\nthe nation upon a subject so vital to their welfare was productive\nof much bitterness and violent animosities. Those who had favored\nthe emigration scheme and had been induced, either through personal\npreference or by the subsidizing influences of the government agents,\nto favor the conclusion of the treaty, became the object of scorn and\nhatred to the remainder of the nation. They were made the subjects\nof a persecution so relentless, while they remained in the eastern\ncountry, that it was never forgotten, and when, in the natural course\nof events, the remainder of the nation was forced to remove to the\nArkansas country and join the earlier emigrants, the old hatreds and\ndissensions broke out afresh, and to this day they find lodgment in\nsome degree in the breasts of their descendants.\" [254]\n\nTwo months after the signing of the treaty of July 8, 1817, and\nthree months before its ratification, a council of the nation sent\na delegation to Washington to recount in detail the improper methods\nand influences which had been used to consummate it, and to ask that\nit be set aside and another agreement substituted. The mission was\nwithout result. [255]\n\nIn 1817 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions\nestablished its first station among the Cherokee at Brainerd, in\nTennessee, on the west side of Chickamauga creek, two miles from\nthe Georgia line. The mission took its name from a distinguished\npioneer worker among the northern tribes (37). The government aided\nin the erection of the buildings, which included a schoolhouse,\ngristmill, and workshops, in which, besides the ordinary branches,\nthe boys were taught simple mechanic arts while the girls learned the\nuse of the needle and the spinningwheel. There was also a large work\nfarm. The mission prospered and others were established at Willstown,\nHightower, and elsewhere by the same board, in which two hundred pupils\nwere receiving instruction in 1820. [256] Among the earliest and most\nnoted workers at the Brainerd mission were Reverend D. S. Buttrick and\nReverend S. A. Worcester (38), the latter especially having done much\nfor the mental elevation of the Cherokee, and more than once having\nsuffered imprisonment for his zeal in defending their cause. The\nmissions flourished until broken up by the state of Georgia at the\nbeginning of the Removal troubles, and they were afterwards renewed\nin the western country. Mission ridge preserves the memory of the\nBrainerd establishment.\n\nEarly in 1818 a delegation of emigrant Cherokee visited Washington\nfor the purpose of securing a more satisfactory determination of\nthe boundaries of their new lands on the Arkansas. Measures were\nsoon afterward taken for that purpose. They also asked recognition\nin the future as a separate and distinct tribe, but nothing was done\nin the matter. In order to remove, if possible, the hostile feeling\nbetween the emigrants and the native Osage, who regarded the former\nas intruders, Governor William Clark, superintendent of Indian affairs\nfor Missouri, arranged a conference of the chiefs of the two tribes at\nSt. Louis in October of that year, at which, after protracted effort,\nhe succeeded in establishing friendly relations between them. Efforts\nwere made about the same time, both by the emigrant Cherokee and by\nthe government, to persuade the Shawano and Delawares then residing in\nMissouri, and the Oneida in New York, to join the western Cherokee,\nbut nothing came of the negotiations. [257] In 1825 a delegation of\nwestern Cherokee visited the Shawano in Ohio for the same purpose,\nbut without success. Their object in thus inviting friendly Indians\nto join them was to strengthen themselves against the Osage and other\nnative tribes.\n\nIn the meantime the government, through Governor McMinn, was bringing\nstrong pressure to bear upon the eastern Cherokee to compel their\nremoval to the West. At a council convened by him in November, 1818,\nthe governor represented to the chiefs that it was now no longer\npossible to protect them from the encroachments of the surrounding\nwhite population; that, however the government might wish to help them,\ntheir lands would be taken, their stock stolen, their women corrupted,\nand their men made drunkards unless they removed to the western\nparadise. He ended by proposing to pay them one hundred thousand\ndollars for their whole territory, with the expense of removal, if\nthey would go at once. Upon their prompt and indignant refusal he\noffered to double the amount, but with as little success.\n\nEvery point of the negotiation having failed, another course was\nadopted, and a delegation was selected to visit Washington under the\nconduct of Agent Meigs. Here the effort was renewed until, wearied\nand discouraged at the persistent importunity, the chiefs consented\nto a large cession, which was represented as necessary in order to\ncompensate in area for the tract assigned to the emigrant Cherokee in\nArkansas in accordance with the previous treaty. This estimate was\nbased on the figures given by Governor McMinn, who reported 5,291\nCherokee enrolled as emigrants, while the eastern Cherokee claimed\nthat not more than 3,500 had removed and that those remaining numbered\n12,544, or more than three-fourths of the whole nation. The governor,\nhowever, chose to consider one-half of the nation as in favor of\nremoval and one-third as having already removed. [258]\n\nThe treaty, concluded at Washington on February 27, 1819, recites\nthat the greater part of the Cherokee nation, having expressed an\nearnest desire to remain in the East, and being anxious to begin\nthe necessary measures for the civilization and preservation of\ntheir nation, and to settle the differences arising out of the\ntreaty of 1817, have offered to cede to the United States a tract\nof country \"at least as extensive\" as that to which the Government\nis entitled under the late treaty. The cession embraces (1) a tract\nin Alabama and Tennessee, between Tennessee and Flint rivers; (2)\na tract in Tennessee, between Tennessee river and Waldens ridge; (3)\na large irregular tract in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia,\nembracing in Tennessee nearly all the remaining Cherokee lands\nnorth of Hiwassee river, and in North Carolina and Georgia nearly\neverything remaining to them east of the Nantahala mountains and\nthe upper western branch of the Chattahoochee; (4) six small pieces\nreserved by previous treaties. The entire cession aggregated nearly\nsix thousand square miles, or more than one-fourth of all then held\nby the nation. Individual reservations of one mile square each within\nthe ceded area were allowed to a number of families which decided\nto remain among the whites and become citizens rather than abandon\ntheir homes. Payment was to be made for all substantial improvements\nabandoned, one-third of all tribal annuities were hereafter to be\npaid to the western band, and the treaty was declared to be a final\nadjustment of all claims and differences arising from the treaty of\n1817. [259]\n\nCivilization had now progressed so far among the Cherokee that in\nthe fall of 1820 they adopted a regular republican form of government\nmodeled after that of the United States. Under this arrangement the\nnation was divided into eight districts, each of which was entitled\nto send four representatives to the Cherokee national legislature,\nwhich met at Newtown, or New Echota, the capital, at the junction of\nConasauga and Coosawatee rivers, a few miles above the present Calhoun,\nGeorgia. The legislature consisted of an upper and a lower house,\ndesignated, respectively (in the Cherokee language), the national\ncommittee and national council, the members being elected for limited\nterms by the voters of each district. The principal officer was styled\npresident of the national council; the distinguished John Ross was\nthe first to hold this office. There was also a clerk of the committee\nand two principal members to express the will of the council or lower\nhouse. For each district there were appointed a council house for\nmeetings twice a year, a judge, and a marshal. Companies of \"light\nhorse\" were organized to assist in the execution of the laws, with a\n\"ranger\" for each district to look after stray stock. Each head of\na family and each single man under the age of sixty was subject to\na poll tax. Laws were passed for the collection of taxes and debts,\nfor repairs on roads, for licenses to white persons engaged in farming\nor other business in the nation, for the support of schools, for the\nregulation of the liquor traffic and the conduct of negro slaves,\nto punish horse stealing and theft, to compel all marriages between\nwhite men and Indian women to be according to regular legal or church\nform, and to discourage polygamy. By special decree the right of blood\nrevenge or capital punishment was taken from the seven clans and vested\nin the constituted authorities of the nation. It was made treason,\npunishable with death, for any individual to negotiate the sale\nof lands to the whites without the consent of the national council\n(39). White men were not allowed to vote or to hold office in the\nnation. [260] The system compared favorably with that of the Federal\ngovernment or of any state government then existing.\n\nAt this time there were five principal missions, besides one or two\nsmall branch establishments in the nation, viz: Spring Place, the\noldest, founded by the Moravians at Spring place, Georgia, in 1801;\nOothcaloga, Georgia, founded by the same denomination in 1821 on the\ncreek of that name, near the present Calhoun; Brainerd, Tennessee,\nfounded by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions\nin 1817; \"Valley-towns,\" North Carolina, founded by the Baptists in\n1820, on the site of the old Natchez town on the north side of Hiwassee\nriver, just above Peachtree creek; Coosawatee, Georgia (\"Tensawattee,\"\nby error in the State Papers), founded also by the Baptists in 1821,\nnear the mouth of the river of that name. All were in flourishing\ncondition, the Brainerd establishment especially, with nearly one\nhundred pupils, being obliged to turn away applicants for lack of\naccommodation. The superintendent reported that the children were apt\nto learn, willing to labor, and readily submissive to discipline,\nadding that the Cherokee were fast advancing toward civilized life\nand generally manifested an ardent desire for instruction. The\nValley-towns mission, established at the instance of Currahee Dick,\na prominent local mixed-blood chief, was in charge of the Reverend\nEvan Jones, known as the translator of the New Testament into the\nCherokee language, his assistant being James D. Wafford, a mixed-blood\npupil, who compiled a spelling book in the same language. Reverend\nS. A. Worcester, a prolific translator and the compiler of the Cherokee\nalmanac and other works, was stationed at Brainerd, removing thence to\nNew Echota and afterward to the Cherokee Nation in the West. [261]\nSince 1817 the American Board had also supported at Cornwall,\nConnecticut, an Indian school at which a number of young Cherokee\nwere being educated, among them being Elias Boudinot, afterward the\neditor of the Cherokee Phoenix.\n\nAbout this time occurred an event which at once placed the Cherokee in\nthe front rank among native tribes and was destined to have profound\ninfluence on their whole future history, viz., the invention of\nthe alphabet.\n\nThe inventor, aptly called the Cadmus of his race, was a mixed-blood\nknown among his own people as Sikw\u00e2'yi (Sequoya) and among the whites\nas George Gist, or less correctly Guest or Guess. As is usually the\ncase in Indian biography much uncertainty exists in regard to his\nparentage and early life. Authorities generally agree that his father\nwas a white man, who drifted into the Cherokee Nation some years before\nthe Revolution and formed a temporary alliance with a Cherokee girl\nof mixed blood, who thus became the mother of the future teacher. A\nwriter in the Cherokee Phoenix, in 1828, says that only his paternal\ngrandfather was a white man. [262] McKenney and Hall say that his\nfather was a white man named Gist. [263] Phillips asserts that his\nfather was George Gist, an unlicensed German trader from Georgia,\nwho came into the Cherokee Nation in 1768. [264] By a Kentucky family\nit is claimed that Sequoya's father was Nathaniel Gist, son of the\nscout who accompanied Washington on his memorable excursion to the\nOhio. As the story goes, Nathaniel Gist was captured by the Cherokee\nat Braddock's defeat (1755) and remained a prisoner with them for\nsix years, during which time he became the father of Sequoya. On\nhis return to civilization he married a white woman in Virginia,\nby whom he had other children, and afterward removed to Kentucky,\nwhere Sequoya, then a Baptist preacher, frequently visited him and\nwas always recognized by the family as his son. [265]\n\nAside from the fact that the Cherokee acted as allies of the English\nduring the war in which Braddock's defeat occurred, and that Sequoya,\nso far from being a preacher, was not even a Christian, the story\ncontains other elements of improbability and appears to be one of\nthose genealogical myths built upon a chance similarity of name. On\nthe other hand, it is certain that Sequoya was born before the date\nthat Phillips allows. On his mother's side he was of good family in the\ntribe, his uncle being a chief in Echota. [266] According to personal\ninformation of James Wafford, who knew him well, being his second\ncousin, Sequoya was probably born about the year 1760, and lived as\na boy with his mother at Tuskegee town in Tennessee, just outside\nof old Fort Loudon. It is quite possible that his white father may\nhave been a soldier of the garrison, one of those lovers for whom the\nCherokee women risked their lives during the siege. [267] What became\nof the father is not known, but the mother lived alone with her son.\n\nThe only incident of his boyhood that has come down to us is his\npresence at Echota during the visit of the Iroquois peace delegation,\nabout the year 1770. [268] His early years were spent amid the stormy\nalarms of the Revolution, and as he grew to manhood he developed a\nconsiderable mechanical ingenuity, especially in silver working. Like\nmost of his tribe he was also a hunter and fur trader. Having nearly\nreached middle age before the first mission was established in the\nNation, he never attended school and in all his life never learned\nto speak, read, or write the English language. Neither did he ever\nabandon his native religion, although from frequent visits to the\nMoravian mission he became imbued with a friendly feeling toward the\nnew civilization. Of an essentially contemplative disposition, he\nwas led by a chance conversation in 1809 to reflect upon the ability\nof the white men to communicate thought by means of writing, with\nthe result that he set about devising a similar system for his own\npeople. By a hunting accident, which rendered him a cripple for life,\nhe was fortunately afforded more leisure for study. The presence of his\nname, George Guess, appended to a treaty of 1816, indicates that he was\nalready of some prominence in the Nation, even before the perfection\nof his great invention. After years of patient and unremitting\nlabor in the face of ridicule, discouragement, and repeated failure,\nhe finally evolved the Cherokee syllabary and in 1821 submitted it\nto a public test by the leading men of the Nation. By this time, in\nconsequence of repeated cessions, the Cherokee had been dispossessed\nof the country about Echota, and Sequoya was now living at Willstown,\non an upper branch of Coosa river, in Alabama. The syllabary was soon\nrecognized as an invaluable invention for the elevation of the tribe,\nand within a few months thousands of hitherto illiterate Cherokee were\nable to read and write their own language, teaching each other in the\ncabins and along the roadside. The next year Sequoya visited the West,\nto introduce the new science among those who had emigrated to the\nArkansas. In the next year, 1823, he again visited the Arkansas and\ntook up his permanent abode with the western band, never afterward\nreturning to his eastern kinsmen. In the autumn of the same year\nthe Cherokee national council made public acknowledgment of his\nmerit by sending to him, through John Ross, then president of the\nnational committee, a silver medal with a commemorative inscription\nin both languages. [269] In 1828 he visited Washington as one of the\ndelegates from the Arkansas band, attracting much attention, and the\ntreaty made on that occasion contains a provision for the payment to\nhim of five hundred dollars, \"for the great benefits he has conferred\nupon the Cherokee people, in the beneficial results which they are now\nexperiencing from the use of the alphabet discovered by him.\" [270]\nHis subsequent history belongs to the West and will be treated in\nanother place (40). [271]\n\nThe invention of the alphabet had an immediate and wonderful effect\non Cherokee development. On account of the remarkable adaptation\nof the syllabary to the language, it was only necessary to learn\nthe characters to be able to read at once. No schoolhouses were\nbuilt and no teachers hired, but the whole Nation became an academy\nfor the study of the system, until, \"in the course of a few months,\nwithout school or expense of time or money, the Cherokee were able to\nread and write in their own language. [272] An active correspondence\nbegan to be carried on between the eastern and western divisions,\nand plans were made for a national press, with a national library\nand museum to be established at the capital, New Echota. [273]\nThe missionaries, who had at first opposed the new alphabet on the\nground of its Indian origin, now saw the advisability of using it\nto further their own work. In the fall of 1824 Atsi or John Arch,\na young native convert, made a manuscript translation of a portion\nof St. John's gospel, in the syllabary, this being the first Bible\ntranslation ever given to the Cherokee. It was copied hundreds\nof times and was widely disseminated through the Nation. [274] In\nSeptember, 1825, David Brown, a prominent half-breed preacher, who\nhad already made some attempt at translation in the Roman alphabet,\ncompleted a translation of the New Testament in the new syllabary,\nthe work being handed about in manuscript, as there were as yet no\ntypes cast in the Sequoya characters. [275] In the same month he\nforwarded to Thomas McKenney, chief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs\nat Washington, a manuscript table of the characters, with explanation,\nthis being probably its first introduction to official notice. [276]\n\nIn 1827 the Cherokee council having formally resolved to establish\na national paper in the Cherokee language and characters, types\nfor that purpose were cast in Boston, under the supervision of the\nnoted missionary, Worcester, of the American Board of Commissioners\nfor Foreign Missions, who, in December of that year contributed to\nthe Missionary Herald five verses of Genesis in the new syllabary,\nthis seeming to be its first appearance in print. Early in the next\nyear the press and types arrived at New Echota, and the first number\nof the new paper, Tsa'lagi Tsu'lehisanu\u00f1'hi, the Cherokee Phoenix,\nprinted in both languages, appeared on February 21, 1828. The first\nprinters were two white men, Isaac N. Harris and John F. Wheeler,\nwith John Candy, a half-blood apprentice. Elias Boudinot (Galagi'na,\n\"The Buck\"), an educated Cherokee, was the editor, and Reverend\nS. A. Worcester was the guiding spirit who brought order out of chaos\nand set the work in motion. The office was a log house. The hand\npress and types, after having been shipped by water from Boston,\nwere transported two hundred miles by wagon from Augusta to their\ndestination. The printing paper had been overlooked and had to be\nbrought by the same tedious process from Knoxville. Cases and other\nequipments had to be devised and fashioned by the printers, neither of\nwhom understood a word of Cherokee, but simply set up the characters,\nas handed to them in manuscript by Worcester and the editor. Such was\nthe beginning of journalism in the Cherokee nation. After a precarious\nexistence of about six years the Phoenix was suspended, owing to the\nhostile action of the Georgia authorities, who went so far as to throw\nWorcester and Wheeler into prison. Its successor, after the removal\nof the Cherokee to the West, was the Cherokee Advocate, of which\nthe first number appeared at Tahlequah in 1844, with William P. Ross\nas editor. It is still continued under the auspices of the Nation,\nprinted in both languages and distributed free at the expense of the\nNation to those unable to read English--an example without parallel\nin any other government.\n\nIn addition to numerous Bible translations, hymn books, and other\nreligious works, there have been printed in the Cherokee language and\nsyllabary the Cherokee Phoenix (journal), Cherokee Advocate (journal),\nCherokee Messenger (periodical), Cherokee Almanac (annual), Cherokee\nspelling books, arithmetics, and other schoolbooks for those unable to\nread English, several editions of the laws of the Nation, and a large\nbody of tracts and minor publications. Space forbids even a mention\nof the names of the devoted workers in this connection. Besides this\nprinted literature the syllabary is in constant and daily use among the\nnon-English-speaking element, both in Indian Territory and in North\nCarolina, for letter writing, council records, personal memoranda,\netc. What is perhaps strangest of all in this literary evolution is\nthe fact that the same invention has been seized by the priests and\nconjurers of the conservative party for the purpose of preserving\nto their successors the ancient rituals and secret knowledge of the\ntribe, whole volumes of such occult literature in manuscript having\nbeen obtained among them by the author. [277]\n\nIn 1819 the whole Cherokee population had been estimated at 15,000,\none-third of them being west of the Mississippi. In 1825 a census\nof the eastern Nation showed: native Cherokee, 13,563; white men\nmarried into the Nation, 147; white women married into the Nation,\n73; negro slaves, 1,277. There were large herds of cattle, horses,\nhogs, and sheep, with large crops of every staple, including cotton,\ntobacco, and wheat, and some cotton was exported by boats as far as New\nOrleans. Apple and peach orchards were numerous, butter and cheese were\nin use to some extent, and both cotton and woolen cloths, especially\nblankets, were manufactured. Nearly all the merchants were native\nCherokee. Mechanical industries flourished, the Nation was out of debt,\nand the population was increasing. [278] Estimating one-third beyond\nthe Mississippi, the total number of Cherokee, exclusive of adopted\nwhite citizens and negro slaves, must then have been about 20,000.\n\nSimultaneously with the decrees establishing a national press,\nthe Cherokee Nation, in general convention of delegates held for\nthe purpose at New Echota on July 26, 1827, adopted a national\nconstitution, based on the assumption of distinct and independent\nnationality. John Ross, so celebrated in connection with the history\nof his tribe, was president of the convention which framed the\ninstrument. Charles R. Hicks, a Moravian convert of mixed blood, and at\nthat time the most influential man in the Nation, was elected principal\nchief, with John Ross as assistant chief. [279] With a constitution\nand national press, a well-developed system of industries and home\neducation, and a government administered by educated Christian men, the\nCherokee were now justly entitled to be considered a civilized people.\n\nThe idea of a civilized Indian government was not a new one. The first\ntreaty ever negotiated by the United States with an Indian tribe,\nin 1778, held out to the Delawares the hope that by a confederation\nof friendly tribes they might be able \"to form a state, whereof\nthe Delaware nation shall be the head and have a representation in\nCongress.\" [280] Priber, the Jesuit, had already familiarized the\nCherokee with the forms of civilized government before the middle\nof the eighteenth century. As the gap between the conservative and\nprogressive elements widened after the Revolution the idea grew,\nuntil in 1808 representatives of both parties visited Washington to\npropose an arrangement by which those who clung to the old life might\nbe allowed to remove to the western hunting grounds, while the rest\nshould remain to take up civilization and \"begin the establishment\nof fixed laws and a regular government.\" The project received the\nwarm encouragement of President Jefferson, and it was with this\nunderstanding that the western emigration was first officially\nrecognized a few years later. Immediately upon the return of the\ndelegates from Washington the Cherokee drew up their first brief\nwritten code of laws, modeled agreeably to the friendly suggestions\nof Jefferson. [281]\n\nBy this time the rapid strides of civilization and Christianity had\nalarmed the conservative element, who saw in the new order of things\nonly the evidences of apostasy and swift national decay. In 1828\nWhite-path (N\u00fb\u00f1'n\u00e2-tsune'ga), an influential full-blood and councilor,\nliving at Turniptown (U`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi), near the present Ellijay, in Gilmer\ncounty, Georgia, headed a rebellion against the new code of laws,\nwith all that it implied. He soon had a large band of followers, known\nto the whites as \"Red-sticks,\" a title sometimes assumed by the more\nwarlike element among the Creeks and other southern tribes. From the\ntownhouse of Ellijay he preached the rejection of the new constitution,\nthe discarding of Christianity and the white man's ways, and a return\nto the old tribal law and custom--the same doctrine that had more than\nonce constituted the burden of Indian revelation in the past. It was\nnow too late, however, to reverse the wheel of progress, and under\nthe rule of such men as Hicks and Ross the conservative opposition\ngradually melted away. White-path was deposed from his seat in council,\nbut subsequently made submission and was reinstated. He was afterward\none of the detachment commanders in the Removal, but died while on\nthe march. [282]\n\nIn this year, also, John Ross became principal chief of the Nation,\na position which he held until his death in 1866, thirty-eight years\nlater. [283] In this long period, comprising the momentous episodes\nof the Removal and the War of the Rebellion, it may be truly said\nthat his history is the history of the Nation.\n\nAnd now, just when it seemed that civilization and enlightenment\nwere about to accomplish their perfect work, the Cherokee began to\nhear the first low muttering of the coming storm that was soon to\noverturn their whole governmental structure and sweep them forever\nfrom the land of their birth.\n\nBy an agreement between the United States and the state of Georgia\nin 1802, the latter, for valuable consideration, had ceded to the\ngeneral government her claims west of the present state boundary,\nthe United States at the same time agreeing to extinguish, at its own\nexpense, but for the benefit of the state, the Indian claims within\nthe state limits, \"as early as the same can be peaceably obtained on\nreasonable terms.\" [284] In accordance with this agreement several\ntreaties had already been made with the Creeks and Cherokee, by\nwhich large tracts had been secured for Georgia at the expense of\nthe general government. Notwithstanding this fact, and the terms\nof the proviso, Georgia accused the government of bad faith in not\ntaking summary measures to compel the Indians at once to surrender\nall their remaining lands within the chartered state limits, coupling\nthe complaint with a threat to take the matter into her own hands. In\n1820 Agent Meigs had expressed the opinion that the Cherokee were now\nso far advanced that further government aid was unnecessary, and that\ntheir lands should be allotted and the surplus sold for their benefit,\nthey themselves to be invested with full rights of citizenship in\nthe several states within which they resided. This suggestion had\nbeen approved by President Monroe, but had met the most determined\nopposition from the states concerned. Tennessee absolutely refused\nto recognize individual reservations made by previous treaties, while\nNorth Carolina and Georgia bought in all such reservations with money\nappropriated by Congress. [285] No Indian was to be allowed to live\nwithin those states on any pretext whatsoever.\n\nIn the meantime, owing to persistent pressure from Georgia, repeated\nunsuccessful efforts had been made to procure from the Cherokee a\ncession of their lands within the chartered limits of the state. Every\neffort met with a firm refusal, the Indians declaring that having\nalready made cession after cession from a territory once extensive,\ntheir remaining lands were no more than were needed for themselves\nand their children, more especially as experience had shown that\neach concession would be followed by a further demand. They conclude:\n\"It is the fixed and unalterable determination of this nation never\nagain to cede one foot more of land.\" Soon afterward they addressed\nto the President a memorial of similar tenor, to which Calhoun, as\nSecretary of War, returned answer that as Georgia objected to their\npresence either as a tribe or as individual owners or citizens,\nthey must prepare their minds for removal beyond the Mississippi. [286]\n\nIn reply, the Cherokee, by their delegates--John Ross, George Lowrey,\nMajor Ridge, and Elijah Hicks--sent a strong letter calling attention\nto the fact that by the very wording of the 1802 agreement the\ncompact was a conditional one which could not be carried out without\ntheir own voluntary consent, and suggesting that Georgia might be\nsatisfied from the adjoining government lands in Florida. Continuing,\nthey remind the Secretary that the Cherokee are not foreigners, but\noriginal inhabitants of America, inhabiting and standing now upon\nthe soil of their own territory, with limits defined by treaties\nwith the United States, and that, confiding in the good faith of the\ngovernment to respect its treaty stipulations, they do not hesitate\nto say that their true interest, prosperity, and happiness demand\ntheir permanency where they are and the retention of their lands. [287]\n\nA copy of this letter was sent by the Secretary to Governor Troup of\nGeorgia, who returned a reply in which he blamed the missionaries\nfor the refusal of the Indians, declared that the state would not\npermit them to become citizens, and that the Secretary must either\nassist the state in taking possession of the Cherokee lands, or, in\nresisting that occupancy, make war upon and shed the blood of brothers\nand friends. The Georgia delegation in Congress addressed a similar\nletter to President Monroe, in which the government was censured for\nhaving instructed the Indians in the arts of civilized life and having\nthereby imbued them with a desire to acquire property. [288]\n\nFor answer the President submitted a report by Secretary Calhoun\nshowing that since the agreement had been made with Georgia in 1802\nthe government had, at its own expense, extinguished the Indian claim\nto 24,600 square miles within the limits of that state, or more\nthan three-fifths of the whole Indian claim, and had paid on that\nand other accounts connected with the agreement nearly seven and a\nhalf million dollars, of which by far the greater part had gone to\nGeorgia or her citizens. In regard to the other criticism the report\nstates that the civilizing policy was as old as the government itself,\nand that in performing the high duties of humanity to the Indians,\nit had never been conceived that the stipulation of the convention\nwas contravened. In handing in the report the President again called\nattention to the conditional nature of the agreement and declared it\nas his opinion that the title of the Indians was not in the slightest\ndegree affected by it and that there was no obligation on the United\nStates to remove them by force. [289]\n\nFurther efforts, even to the employment of secret methods, were made in\n1827 and 1828 to induce a cession or emigration, but without avail. On\nJuly 26, 1827, as already noted, the Cherokee adopted a constitution\nas a distinct and sovereign Nation. Upon this the Georgia legislature\npassed resolutions affirming that that state \"had the power and\nthe right to possess herself, by any means she might choose, of the\nlands in dispute, and to extend over them her authority and laws,\"\nand recommending that this be done by the next legislature, if the\nlands were not already acquired by successful negotiation of the\ngeneral government in the meantime. The government was warned that\nthe lands belonged to Georgia, and she must and would have them. It\nwas suggested, however, that the United States might be permitted to\nmake a certain number of reservations to individual Indians. [290]\n\nPassing over for the present some important negotiations with the\nwestern Cherokee, we come to the events leading to the final act in\nthe drama. Up to this time the pressure had been for land only, but\nnow a stronger motive was added. About the year 1815 a little Cherokee\nboy playing along Chestatee river, in upper Georgia, had brought in to\nhis mother a shining yellow pebble hardly larger than the end of his\nthumb. On being washed it proved to be a nugget of gold, and on her\nnext trip to the settlements the woman carried it with her and sold it\nto a white man. The news spread, and although she probably concealed\nthe knowledge of the exact spot of its origin, it was soon known that\nthe golden dreams of De Soto had been realized in the Cherokee country\nof Georgia. Within four years the whole territory east of the Chestatee\nhad passed from the possession of the Cherokee. They still held the\nwestern bank, but the prospector was abroad in the mountains and it\ncould not be for long. [291] About 1828 gold was found on Ward's\ncreek, a western branch of Chestatee, near the present Dahlonega,\n[292] and the doom of the nation was sealed (41).\n\nIn November, 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected to succeed John Quincy\nAdams as President. He was a frontiersman and Indian hater, and the\nchange boded no good to the Cherokee. His position was well understood,\nand there is good ground for believing that the action at once taken\nby Georgia was at his own suggestion. [293] On December 20, 1828, a\nmonth after his election, Georgia passed an act annexing that part of\nthe Cherokee country within her chartered limits and extending over it\nher jurisdiction; all laws and customs established among the Cherokee\nwere declared null and void, and no person of Indian blood or descent\nresiding within the Indian country was henceforth to be allowed as a\nwitness or party in any suit where a white man should be defendant. The\nact was to take effect June 1, 1830 (42). The whole territory was soon\nafter mapped out into counties and surveyed by state surveyors into\n\"land lots\" of 160 acres each, and \"gold lots\" of 40 acres, which were\nput up and distributed among the white citizens of Georgia by public\nlottery, each white citizen receiving a ticket. Every Cherokee head\nof a family was, indeed, allowed a reservation of 160 acres, but no\ndeed was given, and his continuance depended solely on the pleasure of\nthe legislature. Provision was made for the settlement of contested\nlottery claims among the white citizens, but by the most stringent\nenactments, in addition to the sweeping law which forbade anyone of\nIndian blood to bring suit or to testify against a white man, it was\nmade impossible for the Indian owner to defend his right in any court\nor to resist the seizure of his homestead, or even his own dwelling\nhouse, and anyone so resisting was made subject to imprisonment at\nthe discretion of a Georgia court. Other laws directed to the same\nend quickly followed, one of which made invalid any contract between\na white man and an Indian unless established by the testimony of two\nwhite witnesses--thus practically canceling all debts due from white\nmen to Indians--while another obliged all white men residing in the\nCherokee country to take a special oath of allegiance to the state of\nGeorgia, on penalty of four years' imprisonment in the penitentiary,\nthis act being intended to drive out all the missionaries, teachers,\nand other educators who refused to countenance the spoliation. About\nthe same time the Cherokee were forbidden to hold councils, or to\nassemble for any public purpose, [294] or to dig for gold upon their\nown lands.\n\nThe purpose of this legislation was to render life in their own country\nintolerable to the Cherokee by depriving them of all legal protection\nand friendly counsel, and the effect was precisely as intended. In an\neloquent address upon the subject before the House of Representatives\nthe distinguished Edward Everett clearly pointed out the encouragement\nwhich it gave to lawless men: \"They have but to cross the Cherokee\nline; they have but to choose the time and the place where the eye of\nno white man can rest upon them, and they may burn the dwelling, waste\nthe farm, plunder the property, assault the person, murder the children\nof the Cherokee subject of Georgia, and though hundreds of the tribe\nmay be looking on, there is not one of them that can be permitted to\nbear witness against the spoiler.\" [295] Senator Sprague, of Maine,\nsaid of the law that it devoted the property of the Cherokee to the\ncupidity of their neighbors, leaving them exposed to every outrage\nwhich lawless persons could inflict, so that even robbery and murder\nmight be committed with impunity at noonday, if not in the presence\nof whites who would testify against it. [296]\n\nThe prediction was fulfilled to the letter. Bands of armed men\ninvaded the Cherokee country, forcibly seizing horses and cattle,\ntaking possession of houses from which they had ejected the occupants,\nand assaulting the owners who dared to make resistance. [297] In one\ninstance, near the present Dahlonega, two white men, who had been\nhospitably received and entertained at supper by an educated Cherokee\ncitizen of nearly pure white blood, later in the evening, during the\ntemporary absence of the parents, drove out the children and their\nnurse and deliberately set fire to the house, which was burned to the\nground with all its contents. They were pursued and brought to trial,\nbut the case was dismissed by the judge on the ground that no Indian\ncould testify against a white man. [298] Cherokee miners upon their\nown ground were arrested, fined, and imprisoned, and their tools\nand machinery destroyed, while thousands of white intruders were\nallowed to dig in the same places unmolested. [299] A Cherokee on\ntrial in his own nation for killing another Indian was seized by\nthe state authorities, tried and condemned to death, although, not\nunderstanding English, he was unable to speak in his own defense. A\nUnited States court forbade the execution, but the judge who had\nconducted the trial defied the writ, went to the place of execution,\nand stood beside the sheriff while the Indian was being hanged. [300]\n\nImmediately on the passage of the first act the Cherokee appealed to\nPresident Jackson, but were told that no protection would be afforded\nthem. Other efforts were then made--in 1829--to persuade them to\nremoval, or to procure another cession--this time of all their lands\nin North Carolina--but the Cherokee remained firm. The Georgia law was\ndeclared in force on June 3, 1830, whereupon the President directed\nthat the annuity payment due the Cherokee Nation under previous\ntreaties should no longer be paid to their national treasurer, as\nhitherto, but distributed per capita by the agent. As a national fund\nit had been used for the maintenance of their schools and national\npress. As a per capita payment it amounted to forty-two cents to each\nindividual. Several years afterward it still remained unpaid. Federal\ntroops were also sent into the Cherokee country with orders to\nprevent all mining by either whites or Indians unless authorized by\nthe state of Georgia. All these measures served only to render the\nCherokee more bitter in their determination. In September, 1830,\nanother proposition was made for the removal of the tribe, but the\nnational council emphatically refused to consider the subject. [301]\n\nIn January, 1831, the Cherokee Nation, by John Ross as principal chief,\nbrought a test suit of injunction against Georgia, in the United States\nSupreme Court. The majority of the court dismissed the suit on the\nground that the Cherokee were not a foreign nation within the meaning\nof the Constitution, two justices dissenting from this opinion. [302]\n\nShortly afterward, under the law which forbade any white man to reside\nin the Cherokee Nation without taking an oath of allegiance to Georgia,\na number of arrests were made, including Wheeler, the printer of the\nCherokee Phoenix, and the missionaries, Worcester, Butler, Thompson,\nand Proctor, who, being there by permission of the agent and feeling\nthat plain American citizenship should hold good in any part of the\nUnited States, refused to take the oath. Some of those arrested\ntook the oath and were released, but Worcester and Butler, still\nrefusing, were dressed in prison garb and put at hard labor among\nfelons. Worcester had plead in his defense that he was a citizen of\nVermont, and had entered the Cherokee country by permission of the\nPresident of the United States and approval of the Cherokee Nation;\nand that as the United States by several treaties had acknowledged\nthe Cherokee to be a nation with a guaranteed and definite territory,\nthe state had no right to interfere with him. He was sentenced to four\nyears in the penitentiary. On March 3, 1832, the matter was appealed as\na test case to the Supreme Court of the United States, which rendered a\ndecision in favor of Worcester and the Cherokee Nation and ordered his\nrelease. Georgia, however, through her governor, had defied the summons\nwith a threat of opposition, even to the annihilation of the Union,\nand now ignored the decision, refusing to release the missionary,\nwho remained in prison until set free by the will of the governor\nnearly a year later. A remark attributed to President Jackson, on\nhearing of the result in the Supreme Court, may throw some light on\nthe whole proceeding: \"John Marshall has made his decision, now let\nhim enforce it.\" [303]\n\nOn the 19th of July, 1832, a public fast was observed throughout\nthe Cherokee Nation. In the proclamation recommending it, Chief\nRoss observes that \"Whereas the crisis in the affairs of the Nation\nexhibits the day of tribulation and sorrow, and the time appears to\nbe fast hastening when the destiny of this people must be sealed;\nwhether it has been directed by the wonted depravity and wickedness of\nman, or by the unsearchable and mysterious will of an allwise Being,\nit equally becomes us, as a rational and Christian community, humbly\nto bow in humiliation,\" etc. [304]\n\nFurther attempts were made to induce the Cherokee to remove to the\nWest, but met the same firm refusal as before. It was learned that\nin view of the harrassing conditions to which they were subjected the\nCherokee were now seriously considering the project of emigrating to\nthe Pacific Coast, at the mouth of the Columbia, a territory then\nclaimed by England and held by the posts of the British Hudson Bay\nCompany. The Secretary of War at once took steps to discourage the\nmovement. [305] A suggestion from the Cherokee that the government\nsatisfy those who had taken possession of Cherokee lands under\nthe lottery drawing by giving them instead an equivalent from the\nunoccupied government lands was rejected by the President.\n\nIn the spring of 1834 the Cherokee submitted a memorial which, after\nasserting that they would never voluntarily consent to abandon their\nhomes, proposed to satisfy Georgia by ceding to her a portion of\ntheir territory, they to be protected in possession of the remainder\nuntil the end of a definite period to be fixed by the United States,\nat the expiration of which, after disposing of their surplus lands,\nthey should become citizens of the various states within which they\nresided. They were told that their difficulties could be remedied\nonly by their removal to the west of the Mississippi. In the meantime\na removal treaty was being negotiated with a self-styled committee of\nsome fifteen or twenty Cherokee called together at the agency. It was\ncarried through in spite of the protest of John Ross and the Cherokee\nNation, as embodied in a paper said to contain the signatures of\n13,000 Cherokee, but failed of ratification. [306]\n\nDespairing of any help from the President, the Cherokee delegation,\nheaded by John Ross, addressed another earnest memorial to Congress\non May 17, 1834. Royce quotes the document at length, with the remark,\n\"Without affecting to pass judgment on the merits of the controversy,\nthe writer thinks this memorial well deserving of reproduction here as\nevidencing the devoted and pathetic attachment with which the Cherokee\nclung to the land of their fathers, and, remembering the wrongs\nand humiliations of the past, refused to be convinced that justice,\nprosperity, and happiness awaited them beyond the Mississippi.\" [307]\n\nIn August of this year another council was held at Red Clay,\nsouth-eastward from Chattanooga and just within the Georgia line,\nwhere the question of removal was again debated in what is officially\ndescribed as a tumultuous and excited meeting. One of the principal\nadvocates of the emigration scheme, a prominent mixed-blood named\nJohn Walker, jr., was assassinated from ambush while returning from\nthe council to his home a few miles north of the present Cleveland,\nTennessee. On account of his superior education and influential\nconnections, his wife being a niece of former agent Return J. Meigs,\nthe affair created intense excitement at the time. The assassination\nhas been considered the first of the long series of political murders\ngrowing out of the removal agitation, but, according to the testimony\nof old Cherokee acquainted with the facts, the killing was due to a\nmore personal motive. [308]\n\nThe Cherokee were now nearly worn out by constant battle against\na fate from which they could see no escape. In February, 1835, two\nrival delegations arrived in Washington. One, the national party,\nheaded by John Ross, came prepared still to fight to the end for\nhome and national existence. The other, headed by Major John Ridge,\na prominent subchief, despairing of further successful resistance,\nwas prepared to negotiate for removal. Reverend J. F. Schermerhorn\nwas appointed commissioner to arrange with the Ridge party a treaty\nto be confirmed later by the Cherokee people in general council. On\nthis basis a treaty was negotiated with the Ridge party by which the\nCherokee were to cede their whole eastern territory and remove to the\nWest in consideration of the sum of $3,250,000 with some additional\nacreage in the West and a small sum for depredations committed upon\nthem by the whites. Finding that these negotiations were proceeding,\nthe Ross party filed a counter proposition for $20,000,000, which\nwas rejected by the Senate as excessive. The Schermerhorn compact\nwith the Ridge party, with the consideration changed to $4,500,000,\nwas thereupon completed and signed on March 14, 1835, but with\nthe express stipulation that it should receive the approval of the\nCherokee nation in full council assembled before being considered of\nany binding force. This much accomplished, Mr. Schermerhorn departed\nfor the Cherokee country, armed with an address from President\nJackson in which the great benefits of removal were set forth to the\nCherokee. Having exhausted the summer and fall in fruitless effort to\nsecure favorable action, the reverend gentleman notified the President,\nproposing either to obtain the signatures of the leading Cherokee by\npromising them payment for their improvements at their own valuation,\nif in any degree reasonable, or to conclude a treaty with a part of the\nNation and compel its acceptance by the rest. He was promptly informed\nby the Secretary of War, Lewis Cass, on behalf of the President, that\nthe treaty, if concluded at all, must be procured upon fair and open\nterms, with no particular promise to any individual, high or low,\nto gain his aid or influence, and without sacrificing the interest\nof the whole to the cupidity of a few. He was also informed that,\nas it would probably be contrary to his wish, his letter would not\nbe put on file. [309]\n\nIn October, 1835, the Ridge treaty was rejected by the Cherokee Nation\nin full council at Red Clay, even its main supporters, Ridge himself\nand Elias Boudinot, going over to the majority, most unexpectedly\nto Schermerhorn, who reports the result, piously adding, \"but the\nLord is able to overrule all things for good.\" During the session of\nthis council notice was served on the Cherokee to meet commissioners\nat New Echota in December following for the purpose of negotiating\na treaty. The notice was also printed in the Cherokee language and\ncirculated throughout the Nation, with a statement that those who\nfailed to attend would be counted as assenting to any treaty that\nmight be made. [310]\n\nThe council had authorized the regular delegation, headed by John Ross,\nto conclude a treaty either there or at Washington, but, finding that\nSchermerhorn had no authority to treat on any other basis than the one\nrejected by the Nation, the delegates proceeded to Washington. [311]\nBefore their departure John Ross, who had removed to Tennessee to\nescape persecution in his own state, was arrested at his home by\nthe Georgia guard, all his private papers and the proceedings of the\ncouncil being taken at the same time, and conveyed across the line\ninto Georgia, where he was held for some time without charge against\nhim, and at last released without apology or explanation. The poet,\nJohn Howard Payne, who was then stopping with Ross, engaged in the\nwork of collecting historical and ethnologic material relating to\nthe Cherokee, was seized at the same time, with all his letters and\nscientific manuscripts. The national paper, the Cherokee Phoenix,\nhad been suppressed and its office plant seized by the same guard a\nfew days before. [312] Thus in their greatest need the Cherokee were\ndeprived of the help and counsel of their teachers, their national\npress, and their chief.\n\nAlthough for two months threats and inducements had been held\nout to secure a full attendance at the December conference at New\nEchota, there were present when the proceedings opened, according\nto the report of Schermerhorn himself, only from three hundred to\nfive hundred men, women, and children, out of a population of over\n17,000. Notwithstanding the paucity of attendance and the absence\nof the principal officers of the Nation, a committee was appointed\nto arrange the details of a treaty, which was finally drawn up and\nsigned on December 29, 1835. [313]\n\nBriefly stated, by this treaty of New Echota, Georgia, the Cherokee\nNation ceded to the United States its whole remaining territory east of\nthe Mississippi for the sum of five million dollars and a common joint\ninterest in the territory already occupied by the western Cherokee,\nin what is now Indian Territory, with an additional smaller tract\nadjoining on the northeast, in what is now Kansas. Improvements were\nto be paid for, and the Indians were to be removed at the expense of\nthe United States and subsisted at the expense of the Government for\none year after their arrival in the new country. The removal was to\ntake place within two years from the ratification of the treaty.\n\nOn the strong representations of the Cherokee signers, who would\nprobably not have signed otherwise even then, it was agreed that a\nlimited number of Cherokee who should desire to remain behind in North\nCarolina, Tennessee, and Alabama, and become citizens, having first\nbeen adjudged \"qualified or calculated to become useful citizens,\"\nmight so remain, together with a few holding individual reservations\nunder former treaties. This provision was allowed by the commissioners,\nbut was afterward struck out on the announcement by President Jackson\nof his determination \"not to allow any preemptions or reservations, his\ndesire being that the whole Cherokee people should remove together.\"\n\nProvision was made also for the payment of debts due by the Indians out\nof any moneys coming to them under the treaty; for the reestablishment\nof the missions in the West; for pensions to Cherokee wounded in the\nservice of the government in the war of 1812 and the Creek war; for\npermission to establish in the new country such military posts and\nroads for the use of the United States as should be deemed necessary;\nfor satisfying Osage claims in the western territory and for bringing\nabout a friendly understanding between the two tribes; and for the\ncommutation of all annuities and other sums due from the United\nStates into a permanent national fund, the interest to be placed\nat the disposal of the officers of the Cherokee Nation and by them\ndisbursed, according to the will of their own people, for the care\nof schools and orphans, and for general national purposes.\n\nThe western territory assigned the Cherokee under this treaty was\nin two adjoining tracts, viz, (1) a tract of seven million acres,\ntogether with a \"perpetual outlet west,\" already assigned to the\nwestern Cherokee under treaty of 1833, as will hereafter be noted,\n[314] being identical with the present area occupied by the Cherokee\nNation in Indian Territory, together with the former \"Cherokee strip,\"\nwith the exception of a two-mile strip along the northern boundary,\nnow included within the limits of Kansas; (2) a smaller additional\ntract of eight hundred thousand acres, running fifty miles north\nand south and twenty-five miles east and west, in what is now the\nsoutheastern corner of Kansas. For this second tract the Cherokee\nthemselves were to pay the United States five hundred thousand dollars.\n\nThe treaty of 1833, assigning the first described tract to the western\nCherokee, states that the United States agrees to \"guaranty it to them\nforever, and that guarantee is hereby pledged.\" By the same treaty,\n\"in addition to the seven millions of acres of land thus provided\nfor and bounded, the United States further guaranty to the Cherokee\nnation a perpetual outlet west and a free and unmolested use of\nall the country lying west of the western boundary of said seven\nmillions of acres, as far west as the sovereignty of the United\nStates and their right of soil extend ... and letters patent shall\nbe issued by the United States as soon as practicable for the land\nhereby guaranteed.\" All this was reiterated by the present treaty,\nand made to include also the smaller (second) tract, in these words:\n\n\n Art. 3. The United States also agree that the lands above ceded by\n the treaty of February 14, 1833, including the outlet, and those\n ceded by this treaty, shall all be included in one patent, executed\n to the Cherokee nation of Indians by the President of the United\n States, according to the provisions of the act of May 28, 1830....\n\n Art. 5. The United States hereby covenant and agree that the\n lands ceded to the Cherokee nation in the foregoing article shall\n in no future time, without their consent, be included within the\n territorial limits or jurisdiction of any state or territory. But\n they shall secure to the Cherokee nation the right of their\n national councils to make and carry into effect all such laws as\n they may deem necessary for the government and protection of the\n persons and property within their own country belonging to their\n people or such persons as have connected themselves with them:\n Provided always, that they shall not be inconsistent with the\n Constitution of the United States and such acts of Congress as have\n been or may be passed regulating trade and intercourse with the\n Indians; and also that they shall not be considered as extending\n to such citizens and army of the United States as may travel or\n reside in the Indian country by permission, according to the laws\n and regulations established by the government of the same....\n\n Art. 6. Perpetual peace and friendship shall exist between the\n citizens of the United States and the Cherokee Indians. The United\n States agree to protect the Cherokee nation from domestic strife\n and foreign enemies and against intestine wars between the several\n tribes. The Cherokees shall endeavor to preserve and maintain\n the peace of the country, and not make war upon their neighbors;\n they shall also be protected against interruption and intrusion\n from citizens of the United States who may attempt to settle in\n the country without their consent; and all such persons shall\n be removed from the same by order of the President of the United\n States. But this is not intended to prevent the residence among\n them of useful farmers, mechanics, and teachers for the instruction\n of the Indians according to treaty stipulations.\n\n Article 7. The Cherokee nation having already made great progress\n in civilization, and deeming it important that every proper and\n laudable inducement should be offered to their people to improve\n their condition, as well as to guard and secure in the most\n effectual manner the rights guaranteed to them in this treaty,\n and with a view to illustrate the liberal and enlarged policy\n of the government of the United States toward the Indians in\n their removal beyond the territorial limits of the states, it\n is stipulated that they shall be entitled to a Delegate in the\n House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress\n shall make provision for the same.\n\n\nThe instrument was signed by (Governor) William Carroll of Tennessee\nand (Reverend) J. F. Schermerhorn as commissioners--the former,\nhowever, having been unable to attend by reason of illness--and\nby twenty Cherokee, among whom the most prominent were Major Ridge\nand Elias Boudinot, former editor of the Phoenix. Neither John Ross\nnor any one of the officers of the Cherokee Nation was present or\nrepresented. After some changes by the Senate, it was ratified May 23,\n1836. [315]\n\nUpon the treaty of New Echota and the treaty previously made with the\nwestern Cherokee at Fort Gibson in 1833, the united Cherokee Nation\nbased its claim to the present territory held by the tribe in Indian\nTerritory and to the Cherokee outlet, and to national self-government,\nwith protection from outside intrusion.\n\nAn official census taken in 1835 showed the whole number of Cherokee\nin Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee to be 16,542,\nexclusive of 1,592 negro slaves and 201 whites intermarried with\nCherokee. The Cherokee were distributed as follows: Georgia, 8,946;\nNorth Carolina, 3,644; Tennessee, 2,528; Alabama, 1,424. [316]\n\nDespite the efforts of Ross and the national delegates, who presented\nprotests with signatures representing nearly 16,000 Cherokee, the\ntreaty had been ratified by a majority of one vote over the necessary\nnumber, and preliminary steps were at once taken to carry it into\nexecution. Councils were held in opposition all over the Cherokee\nNation, and resolutions denouncing the methods used and declaring\nthe treaty absolutely null and void were drawn up and submitted to\nGeneral Wool, in command of the troops in the Cherokee country, by whom\nthey were forwarded to Washington. The President in reply expressed\nhis surprise that an officer of the army should have received or\ntransmitted a paper so disrespectful to the Executive, the Senate,\nand the American people; declared his settled determination that\nthe treaty should be carried out without modification and with all\nconsistent dispatch, and directed that after a copy of the letter\nhad been delivered to Ross, no further communication, by mouth or\nwriting, should be held with him concerning the treaty. It was further\ndirected that no council should be permitted to assemble to discuss the\ntreaty. Ross had already been informed that the President had ceased\nto recognize any existing government among the eastern Cherokee,\nand that any further effort by him to prevent the consummation of\nthe treaty would be suppressed. [317]\n\nNotwithstanding this suppression of opinion, the feeling of the Nation\nwas soon made plain through other sources. Before the ratification of\nthe treaty Major W. M. Davis had been appointed to enroll the Cherokee\nfor removal and to appraise the value of their improvements. He soon\nlearned the true condition of affairs, and, although holding his\noffice by the good will of President Jackson, he addressed to the\nSecretary of War a strong letter upon the subject, from which the\nfollowing extract is made:\n\n\n I conceive that my duty to the President, to yourself, and to\n my country reluctantly compels me to make a statement of facts\n in relation to a meeting of a small number of Cherokees at\n New Echota last December, who were met by Mr. Schermerhorn and\n articles of a general treaty entered into between them for the\n whole Cherokee nation.... Sir, that paper, ... called a treaty,\n is no treaty at all, because not sanctioned by the great body of\n the Cherokee and made without their participation or assent. I\n solemnly declare to you that upon its reference to the Cherokee\n people it would be instantly rejected by nine-tenths of them,\n and I believe by nineteen-twentieths of them. There were not\n present at the conclusion of the treaty more than one hundred\n Cherokee voters, and not more than three hundred, including women\n and children, although the weather was everything that could\n be desired. The Indians had long been notified of the meeting,\n and blankets were promised to all who would come and vote for\n the treaty. The most cunning and artful means were resorted\n to to conceal the paucity of numbers present at the treaty. No\n enumeration of them was made by Schermerhorn. The business of\n making the treaty was transacted with a committee appointed by the\n Indians present, so as not to expose their numbers. The power of\n attorney under which the committee acted was signed only by the\n president and secretary of the meeting, so as not to disclose\n their weakness.... Mr. Schermerhorn's apparent design was to\n conceal the real number present and to impose on the public and the\n government upon this point. The delegation taken to Washington by\n Mr. Schermerhorn had no more authority to make a treaty than any\n other dozen Cherokee accidentally picked up for the purpose. I now\n warn you and the President that if this paper of Schermerhorn's\n called a treaty is sent to the Senate and ratified you will bring\n trouble upon the government and eventually destroy this [the\n Cherokee] Nation. The Cherokee are a peaceable, harmless people,\n but you may drive them to desperation, and this treaty can not\n be carried into effect except by the strong arm of force. [318]\n\n\nGeneral Wool, who had been placed in command of the troops concentrated\nin the Cherokee country to prevent opposition to the enforcement of\nthe treaty, reported on February 18, 1837, that he had called them\ntogether and made them an address, but \"it is, however, vain to talk\nto a people almost universally opposed to the treaty and who maintain\nthat they never made such a treaty. So determined are they in their\nopposition that not one of all those who were present and voted at\nthe council held but a day or two since, however poor or destitute,\nwould receive either rations or clothing from the United States lest\nthey might compromise themselves in regard to the treaty. These same\npeople, as well as those in the mountains of North Carolina, during\nthe summer past, preferred living upon the roots and sap of trees\nrather than receive provisions from the United States, and thousands,\nas I have been informed, had no other food for weeks. Many have said\nthey will die before they will leave the country.\" [319]\n\nOther letters from General Wool while engaged in the work of disarming\nand overawing the Cherokee show how very disagreeable that duty was\nto him and how strongly his sympathies were with the Indians, who were\npractically unanimous in repudiating the treaty. In one letter he says:\n\n\n The whole scene since I have been in this country has been nothing\n but a heart-rending one, and such a one as I would be glad to get\n rid of as soon as circumstances will permit. Because I am firm\n and decided, do not believe I would be unjust. If I could, and I\n could not do them a greater kindness, I would remove every Indian\n to-morrow beyond the reach of the white men, who, like vultures,\n are watching, ready to pounce upon their prey and strip them of\n everything they have or expect from the government of the United\n States. Yes, sir, nineteen-twentieths, if not ninety-nine out of\n every hundred, will go penniless to the West. [320]\n\n\nHow it was to be brought about is explained in part by a letter\naddressed to the President by Major Ridge himself, the principal\nsigner of the treaty:\n\n\n We now come to address you on the subject of our griefs and\n afflictions from the acts of the white people. They have got\n our lands and now they are preparing to fleece us of the money\n accruing from the treaty. We found our plantations taken either\n in whole or in part by the Georgians--suits instituted against us\n for back rents for our own farms. These suits are commenced in\n the inferior courts, with the evident design that, when we are\n ready to remove, to arrest our people, and on these vile claims\n to induce us to compromise for our own release, to travel with\n our families. Thus our funds will be filched from our people, and\n we shall be compelled to leave our country as beggars and in want.\n\n\nEven the Georgia laws, which deny us our oaths, are thrown aside,\nand notwithstanding the cries of our people, and protestation of\nour innocence and peace, the lowest classes of the white people are\nflogging the Cherokees with cowhides, hickories, and clubs. We are\nnot safe in our houses--our people are assailed by day and night by\nthe rabble. Even justices of the peace and constables are concerned\nin this business. This barbarous treatment is not confined to men, but\nthe women are stripped also and whipped without law or mercy.... Send\nregular troops to protect us from these lawless assaults, and to\nprotect our people as they depart for the West. If it is not done,\nwe shall carry off nothing but the scars of the lash on our backs,\nand our oppressors will get all the money. We talk plainly, as\nchiefs having property and life in danger, and we appeal to you for\nprotection.... [321]\n\n\nGeneral Dunlap, in command of the Tennessee troops called out to\nprevent the alleged contemplated Cherokee uprising, having learned\nfor himself the true situation, delivered an indignant address to his\nmen in which he declared that he would never dishonor the Tennessee\narms by aiding to carry into execution at the point of the bayonet\na treaty made by a lean minority against the will and authority of\nthe Cherokee people. He stated further that he had given the Cherokee\nall the protection in his power, the whites needing none. [322]\n\nA confidential agent sent to report upon the situation wrote in\nSeptember, 1837, that opposition to the treaty was unanimous and\nirreconcilable, the Cherokee declaring that it could not bind\nthem because they did not make it, that it was the work of a few\nunauthorized individuals and that the Nation was not a party to\nit. They had retained the forms of their government, although no\nelection had been held since 1830, having continued the officers\nthen in charge until their government could again be reestablished\nregularly. Under this arrangement John Ross was principal chief, with\ninfluence unbounded and unquestioned. \"The whole Nation of eighteen\nthousand persons is with him, the few--about three hundred--who\nmade the treaty having left the country, with the exception of\na small number of prominent individuals--as Ridge, Boudinot, and\nothers--who remained to assist in carrying it into execution. It is\nevident, therefore, that Ross and his party are in fact the Cherokee\nNation.... I believe that the mass of the Nation, particularly the\nmountain Indians, will stand or fall with Ross....\" [323]\n\nSo intense was public feeling on the subject of this treaty that it\nbecame to some extent a party question, the Democrats supporting\nPresident Jackson while the Whigs bitterly opposed him. Among\nnotable leaders of the opposition were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster,\nEdward Everett, Wise of Virginia, and David Crockett. The speeches\nin Congress upon the subject \"were characterized by a depth and\nbitterness of feeling such as had never been exceeded even on the\nslavery question.\" [324] It was considered not simply an Indian\nquestion, but an issue between state rights on the one hand and\nfederal jurisdiction and the Constitution on the other.\n\nIn spite of threats of arrest and punishment, Ross still continued\nactive effort in behalf of his people. Again, in the spring of 1838,\ntwo months before the time fixed for the removal, he presented\nto Congress another protest and memorial, which, like the others,\nwas tabled by the Senate. Van Buren had now succeeded Jackson and\nwas disposed to allow the Cherokee a longer time to prepare for\nemigration, but was met by the declaration from Governor Gilmer of\nGeorgia that any delay would be a violation of the rights of that\nstate and in opposition to the rights of the owners of the soil, and\nthat if trouble came from any protection afforded by the government\ntroops to the Cherokee a direct collision must ensue between the\nauthorities of the state and general government. [325]\n\nUp to the last moment the Cherokee still believed that the treaty\nwould not be consummated, and with all the pressure brought to bear\nupon them only about 2,000 of the 17,000 in the eastern Nation had\nremoved at the expiration of the time fixed for their departure,\nMay 26, 1838. As it was evident that the removal could only be\naccomplished by force, General Winfield Scott was now appointed to\nthat duty with instructions to start the Indians for the West at\nthe earliest possible moment. For that purpose he was ordered to\ntake command of the troops already in the Cherokee country, together\nwith additional reenforcements of infantry, cavalry, and artillery,\nwith authority to call upon the governors of the adjoining states for\nas many as 4,000 militia and volunteers. The whole force employed\nnumbered about 7,000 men--regulars, militia, and volunteers. [326]\nThe Indians had already been disarmed by General Wool.\n\nOn arriving in the Cherokee country Scott established headquarters at\nthe capital, New Echota, whence, on May 10, he issued a proclamation\nto the Cherokee, warning them that the emigration must be commenced\nin haste and that before another moon had passed every Cherokee man,\nwoman, and child must be in motion to join his brethren in the far\nWest, according to the determination of the President, which he, the\ngeneral, had come to enforce. The proclamation concludes: \"My troops\nalready occupy many positions ... and thousands and thousands are\napproaching from every quarter to render resistance and escape alike\nhopeless.... Will you, then, by resistance compel us to resort to arms\n... or will you by flight seek to hide yourselves in mountains and\nforests and thus oblige us to hunt you down?\"--reminding them that\npursuit might result in conflict and bloodshed, ending in a general\nwar. [327]\n\nEven after this Ross endeavored, on behalf of his people, to secure\nsome slight modification of the terms of the treaty, but without\navail. [328]\n\n\n\n\nTHE REMOVAL--1838-39\n\nThe history of this Cherokee removal of 1838, as gleaned by the author\nfrom the lips of actors in the tragedy, may well exceed in weight\nof grief and pathos any other passage in American history. Even the\nmuch-sung exile of the Acadians falls far behind it in its sum of\ndeath and misery. Under Scott's orders the troops were disposed at\nvarious points throughout the Cherokee country, where stockade forts\nwere erected for gathering in and holding the Indians preparatory to\nremoval (43). From these, squads of troops were sent to search out\nwith rifle and bayonet every small cabin hidden away in the coves or\nby the sides of mountain streams, to seize and bring in as prisoners\nall the occupants, however or wherever they might be found. Families\nat dinner were startled by the sudden gleam of bayonets in the doorway\nand rose up to be driven with blows and oaths along the weary miles\nof trail that led to the stockade. Men were seized in their fields or\ngoing along the road, women were taken from their wheels and children\nfrom their play. In many cases, on turning for one last look as they\ncrossed the ridge, they saw their homes in flames, fired by the\nlawless rabble that followed on the heels of the soldiers to loot\nand pillage. So keen were these outlaws on the scent that in some\ninstances they were driving off the cattle and other stock of the\nIndians almost before the soldiers had fairly started their owners in\nthe other direction. Systematic hunts were made by the same men for\nIndian graves, to rob them of the silver pendants and other valuables\ndeposited with the dead. A Georgia volunteer, afterward a colonel in\nthe Confederate service, said: \"I fought through the civil war and\nhave seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the\nCherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.\"\n\nTo prevent escape the soldiers had been ordered to approach and\nsurround each house, so far as possible, so as to come upon the\noccupants without warning. One old patriarch, when thus surprised,\ncalmly called his children and grandchildren around him, and,\nkneeling down, bid them pray with him in their own language, while the\nastonished soldiers looked on in silence. Then rising he led the way\ninto exile. A woman, on finding the house surrounded, went to the door\nand called up the chickens to be fed for the last time, after which,\ntaking her infant on her back and her two other children by the hand,\nshe followed her husband with the soldiers.\n\nAll were not thus submissive. One old man named Tsali, \"Charley,\"\nwas seized with his wife, his brother, his three sons and their\nfamilies. Exasperated at the brutality accorded his wife, who,\nbeing unable to travel fast, was prodded with bayonets to hasten\nher steps, he urged the other men to join with him in a dash for\nliberty. As he spoke in Cherokee the soldiers, although they heard,\nunderstood nothing until each warrior suddenly sprang upon the one\nnearest and endeavored to wrench his gun from him. The attack was so\nsudden and unexpected that one soldier was killed and the rest fled,\nwhile the Indians escaped to the mountains. Hundreds of others,\nsome of them from the various stockades, managed also to escape\nto the mountains from time to time, where those who did not die of\nstarvation subsisted on roots and wild berries until the hunt was\nover. Finding it impracticable to secure these fugitives, General Scott\nfinally tendered them a proposition, through (Colonel) W. H. Thomas,\ntheir most trusted friend, that if they would surrender Charley and\nhis party for punishment, the rest would be allowed to remain until\ntheir case could be adjusted by the government. On hearing of the\nproposition, Charley voluntarily came in with his sons, offering\nhimself as a sacrifice for his people. By command of General Scott,\nCharley, his brother, and the two elder sons were shot near the mouth\nof Tuckasegee, a detachment of Cherokee prisoners being compelled\nto do the shooting in order to impress upon the Indians the fact\nof their utter helplessness. From those fugitives thus permitted to\nremain originated the present eastern band of Cherokee. [329]\n\nWhen nearly seventeen thousand Cherokee had thus been gathered\ninto the various stockades the work of removal began. Early in\nJune several parties, aggregating about five thousand persons, were\nbrought down by the troops to the old agency, on Hiwassee, at the\npresent Calhoun, Tennessee, and to Ross's landing (now Chattanooga),\nand Gunter's landing (now Guntersville, Alabama), lower down on the\nTennessee, where they were put upon steamers and transported down\nthe Tennessee and Ohio to the farther side of the Mississippi, when\nthe journey was continued by land to Indian Territory. This removal,\nin the hottest part of the year, was attended with so great sickness\nand mortality that, by resolution of the Cherokee national council,\nRoss and the other chiefs submitted to General Scott a proposition\nthat the Cherokee be allowed to remove themselves in the fall,\nafter the sickly season had ended. This was granted on condition\nthat all should have started by the 20th of October, excepting the\nsick and aged who might not be able to move so rapidly. Accordingly,\nofficers were appointed by the Cherokee council to take charge of the\nemigration; the Indians being organized into detachments averaging\none thousand each, with two leaders in charge of each detachment,\nand a sufficient number of wagons and horses for the purpose. In this\nway the remainder, enrolled at about 13,000 (including negro slaves),\nstarted on the long march overland late in the fall (44).\n\nThose who thus emigrated under the management of their own officers\nassembled at Rattlesnake springs, about two miles south of Hiwassee\nriver, near the present Charleston, Tennessee, where a final council\nwas held, in which it was decided to continue their old constitution\nand laws in their new home. Then, in October, 1838, the long procession\nof exiles was set in motion. A very few went by the river route;\nthe rest, nearly all of the 13,000, went overland. Crossing to the\nnorth side of the Hiwassee at a ferry above Gunstocker creek, they\nproceeded down along the river, the sick, the old people, and the\nsmaller children, with the blankets, cooking pots, and other belongings\nin wagons, the rest on foot or on horses. The number of wagons was 645.\n\nIt was like the march of an army, regiment after regiment, the\nwagons in the center, the officers along the line and the horsemen on\nthe flanks and at the rear. Tennessee river was crossed at Tuckers\n(?) ferry, a short distance above Jollys island, at the mouth of\nHiwassee. Thence the route lay south of Pikeville, through McMinnville\nand on to Nashville, where the Cumberland was crossed. Then they\nwent on to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where the noted chief White-path,\nin charge of a detachment, sickened and died. His people buried him\nby the roadside, with a box over the grave and poles with streamers\naround it, that the others coming on behind might note the spot and\nremember him. Somewhere also along that march of death--for the exiles\ndied by tens and twenties every day of the journey--the devoted wife\nof John Ross sank down, leaving him to go on with the bitter pain of\nbereavement added to heartbreak at the ruin of his nation. The Ohio\nwas crossed at a ferry near the mouth of the Cumberland, and the army\npassed on through southern Illinois until the great Mississippi was\nreached opposite Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It was now the middle\nof winter, with the river running full of ice, so that several\ndetachments were obliged to wait some time on the eastern bank for\nthe channel to become clear. In talking with old men and women at\nTahlequah the author found that the lapse of over half a century\nhad not sufficed to wipe out the memory of the miseries of that halt\nbeside the frozen river, with hundreds of sick and dying penned up\nin wagons or stretched upon the ground, with only a blanket overhead\nto keep out the January blast. The crossing was made at last in two\ndivisions, at Cape Girardeau and at Green's ferry, a short distance\nbelow, whence the march was on through Missouri to Indian Territory,\nthe later detachments making a northerly circuit by Springfield,\nbecause those who had gone before had killed off all the game along the\ndirect route. At last their destination was reached. They had started\nin October, 1838, and it was now March, 1839, the journey having\noccupied nearly six months of the hardest part of the year. [330]\n\nIt is difficult to arrive at any accurate statement of the number\nof Cherokee who died as the result of the Removal. According to the\nofficial figures those who removed under the direction of Ross lost\nover 1,600 on the journey. [331] The proportionate mortality among\nthose previously removed under military supervision was probably\ngreater, as it was their suffering that led to the proposition of the\nCherokee national officers to take charge of the emigration. Hundreds\ndied in the stockades and the waiting camps, chiefly by reason of the\nrations furnished, which were of flour and other provisions to which\nthey were unaccustomed and which they did not know how to prepare\nproperly. Hundreds of others died soon after their arrival in Indian\nterritory, from sickness and exposure on the journey. Altogether it\nis asserted, probably with reason, that over 4,000 Cherokee died as\nthe direct result of the removal.\n\nOn their arrival in Indian Territory the emigrants at once set\nabout building houses and planting crops, the government having\nagreed under the treaty to furnish them with rations for one\nyear after arrival. They were welcomed by their kindred, the\n\"Arkansas Cherokee\"--hereafter to be known for distinction as the\n\"Old Settlers\"--who held the country under previous treaties in 1828\nand 1833. These, however, being already regularly organized under a\ngovernment and chiefs of their own, were by no means disposed to be\nswallowed by the governmental authority of the newcomers. Jealousies\ndeveloped in which the minority or treaty party of the emigrants,\nheaded by Ridge, took sides with the Old Settlers against the Ross or\nnational party, which outnumbered both the others nearly three to one.\n\nWhile these differences were at their height the Nation was thrown\ninto a fever of excitement by the news that Major Ridge, his son John\nRidge, and Elias Boudinot--all leaders of the treaty party--had been\nkilled by adherents of the national party, immediately after the\nclose of a general council, which had adjourned after nearly two\nweeks of debate without having been able to bring about harmonious\naction. Major Ridge was waylaid and shot close to the Arkansas line,\nhis son was taken from bed and cut to pieces with hatchets, while\nBoudinot was treacherously killed at his home at Park Hill, Indian\nterritory, all three being killed upon the same day, June 22, 1839.\n\nThe agent's report to the Secretary of War, two days later, says of\nthe affair:\n\n\n The murder of Boudinot was treacherous and cruel. He was assisting\n some workmen in building a new house. Three men called upon him\n and asked for medicine. He went off with them in the direction\n of Wooster's, the missionary, who keeps medicine, about three\n hundred yards from Boudinot's. When they got about half way\n two of the men seized Boudinot and the other stabbed him,\n after which the three cut him to pieces with their knives and\n tomahawks. This murder taking place within two miles of the\n residence of John Ross, his friends were apprehensive it might\n be charged to his connivance; and at this moment I am writing\n there are six hundred armed Cherokee around the dwelling of Ross,\n assembled for his protection. The murderers of the two Ridges\n and Boudinot are certainly of the late Cherokee emigrants, and,\n of course, adherents of Ross, but I can not yet believe that\n Ross has encouraged the outrage. He is a man of too much good\n sense to embroil his nation at this critical time; and besides,\n his character, since I have known him, which is now twenty-five\n years, has been pacific.... Boudinot's wife is a white woman, a\n native of New Jersey, as I understand. He has six children. The\n wife of John Ridge, jr., is a white woman, but from whence, or\n what family left, I am not informed. Boudinot was in moderate\n circumstances. The Ridges, both father and son, were rich.... [332]\n\n\nWhile all the evidence shows that Ross was in no way a party to the\naffair, there can be no question that the men were killed in accordance\nwith the law of the Nation--three times formulated, and still in\nexistence--which made it treason, punishable with death, to cede away\nlands except by act of the general council of the Nation. It was for\nviolating a similar law among the Creeks that the chief, McIntosh,\nlost his life in 1825, and a party led by Major Ridge himself had\nkilled Doublehead years before on suspicion of accepting a bribe for\nhis part in a treaty.\n\nOn hearing of the death of the Ridges and Boudinot several other\nsigners of the repudiated treaty, among whom were John Bell,\nArchilla Smith, and James Starr, fled for safety to the protection\nof the garrison at Fort Gibson. Boudinot's brother, Stand Watie,\nvowed vengeance against Ross, who was urged to flee, but refused,\ndeclaring his entire innocence. His friends rallied to his support,\nstationing a guard around his house until the first excitement had\nsubsided. About three weeks afterward the national council passed\ndecrees declaring that the men killed and their principal confederates\nhad rendered themselves outlaws by their own conduct, extending\namnesty on certain stringent conditions to their confederates, and\ndeclaring the slayers guiltless of murder and fully restored to the\nconfidence and favor of the community. This was followed in August\nby another council decree declaring the New Echota treaty void and\nreasserting the title of the Cherokee to their old country, and\nthree weeks later another decree summoned the signers of the treaty\nto appear and answer for their conduct under penalty of outlawry. At\nthis point the United States interfered by threatening to arrest Ross\nas accessory to the killing of the Ridges. [333] In the meantime the\nnational party and the Old Settlers had been coming together, and a\nfew of the latter who had sided with the Ridge faction and endeavored\nto perpetuate a division in the Nation were denounced in a council of\nthe Old Settlers, which declared that \"in identifying themselves with\nthose individuals known as the Ridge party, who by their conduct had\nrendered themselves odious to the Cherokee people, they have acted in\nopposition to the known sentiments and feelings of that portion of this\nNation known as Old Settlers, frequently and variously and publicly\nexpressed.\" The offending chiefs were at the same time deposed from\nall authority. Among the names of over two hundred signers attached\nthat of \"George Guess\" (Sequoya) comes second as vice-president. [334]\n\nOn July 12, 1839, a general convention of the eastern and western\nCherokee, held at the Illinois camp ground, Indian territory, passed\nan act of union, by which the two were declared \"one body politic,\nunder the style and title of the Cherokee Nation.\" On behalf of\nthe eastern Cherokee the instrument bears the signature of John\nRoss, principal chief, George Lowrey, president of the council,\nand Going-snake (I'nad\u00fb-na'i), speaker of the council, with thirteen\nothers. For the western Cherokee it was signed by John Looney, acting\nprincipal chief, George Guess (Sequoya), president of the council, and\nfifteen others. On September 6, 1839, a convention composed chiefly of\neastern Cherokee assembled at Tahlequah, Indian territory--then first\nofficially adopted as the national capital--adopted a new constitution,\nwhich was accepted by a convention of the Old Settlers at Fort Gibson,\nIndian Territory, on June 26, 1840, an act which completed the reunion\nof the Nation. [335]\n\n\n\n\nTHE ARKANSAS BAND--1817-1838\n\nHaving followed the fortunes of the main body of the Nation to their\nfinal destination in the West, we now turn to review briefly the\nhistory of the earlier emigrants, the Arkansas or Old Settler Cherokee.\n\nThe events leading to the first westward migration and the subsequent\nnegotiations which resulted in the assignment of a territory in\nArkansas to the western Cherokee, by the treaty of 1817, have been\nalready noted. The great majority of those thus voluntarily removing\nbelonged to the conservative hunter element, who desired to reestablish\nin the western wilderness the old Indian life from which, through\nthe influence of schools and intelligent leadership, the body of\nthe Cherokee was rapidly drifting away. As the lands upon which the\nemigrants had settled belonged to the Osage, whose claim had not yet\nbeen extinguished by the United States, the latter objected to their\npresence, and the Cherokee were compelled to fight to maintain their\nown position, so that for the first twenty years or more the history of\nthe western band is a mere petty chronicle of Osage raids and Cherokee\nretaliations, emphasized from time to time by a massacre on a larger\nscale. By the treaty of 1817 the western Cherokee acquired title to a\ndefinite territory and official standing under Government protection\nand supervision, the lands assigned them having been acquired by\ntreaty from the Osage. The great body of the Cherokee in the East\nwere strongly opposed to any recognition of the western band, seeing\nin such action only the beginning of an effort looking toward the\nultimate removal of the whole tribe. The Government lent support to\nthe scheme, however, and a steady emigration set in until, in 1819,\nthe emigrants were said to number several thousands. Unsuccessful\nendeavors were made to increase the number by inducing the Shawano and\nDelawares of Missouri and the Oneida of New York to join them. [336]\n\nIn 1818 Tollunteeskee (Ata'l\u00fb\u00f1ti'ski), principal chief of the\nArkansas Cherokee, while on a visit to old friends in the East,\nhad become acquainted with one of the officers of the American\nBoard of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and had asked for the\nestablishment of a mission among his people in the West. In response to\nthe invitation the Reverend Cephas Washburn and his assistant, Reverend\nAlfred Finney, with their families, set out the next year from the old\nNation, and after a long and exhausting journey reached the Arkansas\ncountry, where, in the spring of 1820, they established Dwight mission,\nadjoining the agency at the mouth of Illinois creek, on the northern\nbank of the Arkansas, in what is now Pope county, Arkansas. The name\nwas bestowed in remembrance of Timothy Dwight, a Yale president and\npioneer organizer of the American Board. Tollunteeskee having died in\nthe meantime was succeeded as principal chief by his brother, John\nJolly, [337] the friend and adopted father of Samuel Houston. Jolly\nhad removed from his old home at the mouth of Hiwassee, in Tennessee,\nin 1818. [338]\n\nIn the spring of 1819 Thomas Nuttall, the naturalist, ascended the\nArkansas, and he gives an interesting account of the western Cherokee\nas he found them at the time. In going up the stream, \"both banks of\nthe river, as we proceeded, were lined with the houses and farms of\nthe Cherokee, and though their dress was a mixture of indigenous and\nEuropean taste, yet in their houses, which are decently furnished,\nand in their farms, which were well fenced and stocked with cattle,\nwe perceive a happy approach toward civilization. Their numerous\nfamilies, also, well fed and clothed, argue a propitious progress in\ntheir population. Their superior industry either as hunters or farmers\nproves the value of property among them, and they are no longer\nstrangers to avarice and the distinctions created by wealth. Some\nof them are possessed of property to the amount of many thousands\nof dollars, have houses handsomely and conveniently furnished, and\ntheir tables spread with our dainties and luxuries.\" He mentions an\nengagement some time before between them and the Osage, in which the\nCherokee had killed nearly one hundred of the Osage, besides taking\na number of prisoners. He estimates them at about fifteen hundred,\nbeing about half the number estimated by the eastern Nation as having\nemigrated to the West, and only one-fourth of the official estimate. A\nfew Delawares were living with them. [339]\n\nThe Osage troubles continued in spite of a treaty of peace between\nthe two tribes made at a council held under the direction of Governor\nClark at St. Louis, in October, 1818. [340] Warriors from the eastern\nCherokee were accustomed to make the long journey to the Arkansas\nto assist their western brethren, and returned with scalps and\ncaptives. [341]\n\nIn the summer of 1820 a second effort for peace was made by Governor\nMiller of Arkansas territory. In reply to his talk the Osage complained\nthat the Cherokee had failed to deliver their Osage captives as\nstipulated in the previous agreement at St. Louis. This, it appears,\nwas due in part to the fact that some of these captives had been\ncarried to the eastern Cherokee, and a messenger was accordingly\ndispatched to secure and bring them back. Another peace conference\nwas held soon afterward at Fort Smith, but to very little purpose,\nas hostilities were soon resumed and continued until the United States\nactively interposed in the fall of 1822. [342]\n\nIn this year also Sequoya visited the western Cherokee to introduce to\nthem the knowledge of his great invention, which was at once taken up\nthrough the influence of Takatoka (Degat\u00e2'ga), a prominent chief who\nhad hitherto opposed every effort of the missionaries to introduce\ntheir own schools and religion. In consequence perhaps of this\nencouragement Sequoya removed permanently to the West in the following\nyear and became henceforth a member of the western Nation. [343]\n\nLike other Indians, the western Cherokee held a firm belief\nin witchcraft, which led to frequent tragedies of punishment or\nretaliation. In 1824 a step forward was marked by the enactment of a\nlaw making it murder to kill any one for witchcraft, and an offense\npunishable with whipping to accuse another of witchcraft. [344] This\nlaw may have been the result of the silent working of missionary\ninfluence, supported by such enlightened men as Sequoya.\n\nThe treaty which assigned the Arkansas lands to the western Cherokee\nhad stipulated that a census should be made of the eastern and western\ndivisions of the Nation, separately, and an apportionment of the\nnational annuity forthwith made on that basis. The western line of\nthe Arkansas tract had also been left open, until according to another\nstipulation of the same treaty, the whole amount of land ceded through\nit to the United States by the Cherokee Nation in the East could be\nascertained in order that an equal quantity might be included within\nthe boundaries of the western tract. [345] These promises had not\nyet been fulfilled, partly because of the efforts of the Government\nto bring about a larger emigration or a further cession, partly on\naccount of delay in the state surveys, and partly also because the\nOsage objected to the running of a line which should make the Cherokee\ntheir next door neighbors. [346] With their boundaries unadjusted\nand their annuities withheld, distress and dissatisfaction overcame\nthe western Cherokee, many of whom, feeling themselves absolved from\nterritorial restrictions, spread over the country on the southern side\nof Arkansas river, [347] while others, under the lead of a chief named\nThe Bowl (Diwa'`li), crossed Red river into Texas--then a portion of\nMexico--in a vain attempt to escape American jurisdiction. [348]\n\nA provisional western boundary having been run, which proved\nunsatisfactory both to the western Cherokee and to the people of\nArkansas, an effort was made to settle the difficulty by arranging an\nexchange of the Arkansas tract for a new country west of the Arkansas\nline. So strongly opposed, however, were the western Cherokee to this\nproject that their council, in 1825, passed a law, as the eastern\nCherokee and the Creeks had already done, fixing the death penalty\nfor anyone of the tribe who should undertake to cede or exchange land\nbelonging to the Nation. [349]\n\nAfter a long series of negotiations such pressure was brought to bear\nupon a delegation which visited Washington in 1828 that consent was\nat last obtained to an exchange of the Arkansas tract for another\npiece of seven million acres lying farther west, together with \"a\nperpetual outlet west\" of the tract thus assigned, as far west as the\nsovereignty of the United States might extend. [350] The boundaries\ngiven for this seven-million-acre tract and the adjoining western\noutlet were modified by treaty at Fort Gibson five years later so as\nto be practically equivalent to the present territory of the Cherokee\nNation in Indian Territory, with the Cherokee strip recently ceded.\n\nThe preamble of the Washington treaty of May 6, 1828, recites that\n\"Whereas, it being the anxious desire of the Government of the\nUnited States to secure to the Cherokee nation of Indians, as well\nthose now living within the limits of the territory of Arkansas as\nthose of their friends and brothers who reside in states east of the\nMississippi, and who may wish to join their brothers of the West,\na permanent home, and which shall, under the most solemn guarantee\nof the United States, be and remain theirs forever--a home that shall\nnever, in all future time, be embarrassed by having extended around it\nthe lines or placed over it the jurisdiction of a territory or state,\nnor be pressed upon by the extension in any way of any of the limits\nof any existing territory or state; and whereas the present location\nof the Cherokees in Arkansas being unfavorable to their present repose,\nand tending, as the past demonstrates, to their future degradation and\nmisery, and the Cherokees being anxious to avoid such consequences,\"\netc.--therefore, they cede everything confirmed to them in 1817.\n\nArticle 2 defines the boundaries of the new tract and the western\noutlet to be given in exchange, lying immediately west of the present\nArkansas line, while the next article provides for the removal of\nall whites and others residing within the said boundaries, \"so that\nno obstacles arising out of the presence of a white population, or\nany population of any other sort, shall exist to annoy the Cherokees,\nand also to keep all such from the west of said line in future.\"\n\nOther articles provide for payment for improvements left behind;\nfor a cash sum of $50,000 to pay for trouble and expense of removal\nand to compensate for the inferior quality of the lands in the new\ntract; for $6,000 to pay for recovering stock which may stray away\n\"in quest of the pastures from which they may be driven;\" $8,760\nfor spoliations committed by Osage and whites; $500 to George Guess\n(Sequoya)--who was himself one of the signers--in consideration of the\nbeneficial results to his tribe from the alphabet invented by him;\n$20,000 in ten annual payments for education; $1,000 for a printing\npress and type to aid in the enlightenment of the people \"in their\nown and our language\"; a personal indemnity for false imprisonment;\nand for the removal and reestablishment of the Dwight mission.\n\nIn article 6 \"it is moreover agreed by the United States, whenever\nthe Cherokee may desire it, to give them a set of plain laws, suited\nto their condition; also, when they wish to lay off their lands and\nown them individually, a surveyor shall be sent to make the surveys\nat the cost of the United States.\" This article was annulled in 1833\nby request of the Cherokee.\n\nArticle 9 provides for the Fort Gibson military reservation within\nthe new tract, while article 7 binds the Cherokee to surrender and\nremove from all their lands in Arkansas within fourteen months.\n\nArticle 8 shows that all this was intended to be only preliminary\nto the removal of the whole Cherokee Nation from the east of the\nMississippi, a consummation toward which the Jackson administration\nand the state of Georgia immediately began to bend every effort. It\nis as follows:\n\n\n Article 8. The Cherokee nation, west of the Mississippi, having\n by this agreement freed themselves from the harassing and ruinous\n effects consequent upon a location amidst a white population,\n and secured to themselves and their posterity, under the solemn\n sanction of the guarantee of the United States as contained in\n this agreement, a large extent of unembarrassed country; and that\n their brothers yet remaining in the states may be induced to join\n them and enjoy the repose and blessings of such a state in the\n future, it is further agreed on the part of the United States\n that to each head of a Cherokee family now residing within the\n chartered limits of Georgia, or of either of the states east of\n the Mississippi, who may desire to remove west, shall be given,\n on enrolling himself for emigration, a good rifle, a blanket,\n a kettle, and five pounds of tobacco; (and to each member of his\n family one blanket), also a just compensation for the property\n he may abandon, to be assessed by persons to be appointed by the\n President of the United States. The cost of the emigration of\n all such shall also be borne by the United States, and good and\n suitable ways opened and procured for their comfort, accommodation,\n and support by the way, and provisions for twelve months after\n their arrival at the agency; and to each person, or head of a\n family, if he take along with him four persons, shall be paid\n immediately on his arriving at the agency and reporting himself\n and his family or followers as emigrants or permanent settlers, in\n addition to the above, provided he and they shall have emigrated\n from within the chartered limits of the State of Georgia, the\n sum of fifty dollars, and this sum in proportion to any greater\n or less number that may accompany him from within the aforesaid\n chartered limits of the State of Georgia.\n\n\nA Senate amendment, defining the limits of the western outlet,\nwas afterward found to be impracticable in its restrictions and was\ncanceled by the treaty made at Fort Gibson in 1833. [351]\n\nThe Washington treaty was signed by several delegates, including\nSequoya, four of them signing in Cherokee characters. As the laws\nof the western Cherokee made it a capital offense to negotiate any\nsale or exchange of land excepting by authority of council, and the\ndelegates had acted without such authority, they were so doubtful\nas to what might happen on their return that the Secretary of War\nsent with them a letter of explanation assuring the Cherokee that\ntheir representatives had acted with integrity and earnest zeal for\ntheir people and had done the best that could be done with regard\nto the treaty. Notwithstanding this, they found the whole tribe so\nstrongly opposed to the treaty that their own lives and property\nwere unsafe. The national council pronounced them guilty of fraud\nand deception and declared the treaty null and void, as having been\nmade without authority, and asked permission to send on a delegation\nauthorized to arrange all differences. [352] In the meantime, however,\nthe treaty had been ratified within three weeks of its conclusion,\nand thus, hardly ten years after they had cleared their fields on the\nArkansas, the western Cherokee were forced to abandon their cabins\nand plantations and move once more into the wilderness.\n\nA considerable number, refusing to submit to the treaty or to trust\nlonger to guarantees and promises, crossed Red river into Texas and\njoined the Cherokee colony already located there by The Bowl, under\nMexican jurisdiction. Among those thus removing was the noted chief\nTahchee (Tatsi) or \"Dutch,\" who had been one of the earliest emigrants\nto the Arkansas country. After several years in Texas, during which\nhe led war parties against the wilder tribes, he recrossed Red river\nand soon made himself so conspicuous in raids upon the Osage that a\nreward of five hundred dollars was offered by General Arbuckle for\nhis capture. To show his defiance of the proclamation, he deliberately\njourneyed to Fort Gibson, attacked a party of Osage at a trading post\nnear by, and scalped one of them within hearing of the drums of the\nfort. With rifle in one hand and the bleeding scalp in the other,\nhe leaped a precipice and made his escape, although a bullet grazed\nhis cheek. On promise of amnesty and the withdrawal of the reward, he\nafterward returned and settled, with his followers, on the Canadian,\nsouthwest of Fort Gibson, establishing a reputation among army officers\nas a valuable scout and guide. [353]\n\nBy treaties made in 1826 and 1827 the Creeks had ceded all\ntheir remaining lands in Georgia and agreed to remove to Indian\nTerritory. Some of these emigrants had settled along the northern bank\nof the Arkansas and on Verdigris river, on lands later found to be\nwithin the limits of the territory assigned to the western Cherokee by\nthe treaty of 1828. This led to jealousies and collisions between the\ntwo tribes, and in order to settle the difficulty the United States\nconvened a joint council of Creeks and Cherokee at Fort Gibson, with\nthe result that separate treaties were concluded with each on February\n14, 1833, defining their respective bounds to the satisfaction of all\nconcerned. By this arrangement the upper Verdigris was confirmed to\nthe Cherokee, and the Creeks who had settled along that portion of\nthe stream agreed to remove to Creek territory immediately adjoining\non the south. [354]\n\nBy the treaty made on this occasion with the Cherokee the boundaries\nof the tract of seven million acres granted by the treaty of 1828\nare defined so as to correspond with the present boundaries of the\nCherokee country in Indian territory, together with a strip two miles\nwide along the northern border, which was afterward annexed to the\nstate of Kansas by the treaty of 1866. A tract in the northeastern\ncorner, between Neosho or Grand river and the Missouri line, was\nset apart for the use of the Seneca and several other remnants of\ntribes removed from their original territories. The western outlet\nestablished by the treaty of 1828 was reestablished as a western\nextension from the seven-million-acre tract thus bounded, being what\nwas afterward known as the Cherokee strip or outlet plus the two-mile\nstrip extending westward along the south line of Kansas.\n\nAfter describing the boundaries of the main residence tract, the\nfirst article continues:\n\n\n In addition to the seven millions of acres of land thus provided\n for and bounded the United States further guarantee to the Cherokee\n nation a perpetual outlet west and a free and unmolested use of\n all the country lying west of the western boundary of said seven\n millions of acres, as far west as the sovereignty of the United\n States and their right of soil extend--provided, however, that\n if the saline or salt plain on the great western prairie shall\n fall within said limits prescribed for said outlet the right\n is reserved to the United States to permit other tribes of red\n men to get salt on said plain in common with the Cherokees--and\n letters patent shall be issued by the United States as soon as\n practicable for the lands hereby guaranteed.\n\n\nThe third article cancels, at the particular request of the Cherokee,\nthat article of the treaty of 1828 by which the government was to\ngive to the Cherokee a set of laws and a surveyor to survey lands\nfor individuals, when so desired by the Cherokee. [355]\n\nTheir differences with the Creeks having been thus adjusted, the\nArkansas Cherokee proceeded to occupy the territory guaranteed to\nthem, where they were joined a few years later by their expatriated\nkinsmen from the east. By tacit agreement some of the Creeks who had\nsettled within the Cherokee bounds were permitted to remain. Among\nthese were several families of Uchee--an incorporated tribe of the\nCreek confederacy--who had fixed their residence at the spot where\nthe town of Tahlequah was afterward established. They remained here\nuntil swept off by smallpox some sixty years ago. [356]\n\n\n\n\nTHE TEXAS BAND--1817-1900\n\nAs already stated, a band of western Cherokee under Chief Bowl,\ndissatisfied with the delay in fulfilling the terms of the treaty of\n1817, had left Arkansas and crossed Red river into Texas, then under\nMexican jurisdiction, where they were joined a few years later by\nTahchee and others of the western band who were opposed to the treaty\nof 1828. Here they united with other refugee Indians from the United\nStates, forming together a loose confederacy known afterward as \"the\nCherokee and their associated bands,\" consisting of Cherokee, Shawano,\nDelaware, Kickapoo, Quapaw, Choctaw, Biloxi, \"Iawanie\" (Heyowani,\nYowani), \"Unataqua\" (Nada'ko or Anadarko, another Caddo subtribe),\n\"Tahookatookie\" (?), Alabama (a Creek subtribe), and \"Cooshatta\"\n(Koasa'ti, another Creek subtribe). The Cherokee being the largest and\nmost important band, their chief, Bowl--known to the whites as Colonel\nBowles--was regarded as the chief and principal man of them all.\n\nThe refugees settled chiefly along Angelina, Neches, and Trinity\nrivers in eastern Texas, where Bowl endeavored to obtain a grant of\nland for their use from the Mexican government. According to the Texan\nhistorians they were tacitly permitted to occupy the country and hopes\nwere held out that a grant would be issued, but the papers had not\nbeen perfected when the Texas revolution began. [357] According to\nthe Cherokee statement the grant was actually issued and the Spanish\ndocument inclosed in a tin box was on the person of Bowl when he\nwas killed. [358] On complaint of some of the American colonists in\nTexas President Jackson issued a proclamation forbidding any Indians\nto cross the Sabine river from the United States. [359]\n\nIn 1826-27 a dissatisfied American colony in eastern Texas, under\nthe leadership of Hayden Edwards, organized what was known as the\n\"Fredonia rebellion\" against the Mexican government. To secure the\nalliance of the Cherokee and their confederates the Americans entered\ninto a treaty by which the Indians were guaranteed the lands occupied\nby them, but without specification as to boundaries. The Fredonia\nmovement soon collapsed and nothing tangible seems to have come of\nthe negotiations. [360]\n\nIn the fall of 1835 the Texan revolution began, resulting in the\nsecession of Texas from Mexico and her establishment as an independent\nrepublic until annexed later to the United States. General Samuel\nHouston, a leading member of the revolutionary body, was an old friend\nof the Cherokee, and set forth so strongly the claims of them and\ntheir confederates that an act was passed by the convention pledging\nto these tribes all the lands which they had held under the Mexican\ngovernment. In accordance with this act General Houston and John Forbes\nwere appointed to hold a treaty with the Cherokee and their associated\nbands. They met the chiefs, including Bowl and Big-mush (Gat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li,\n\"Hard-mush\"), of the Cherokee, at Bowl's village on February 23,\n1836, and concluded a formal treaty by which the Cherokee and their\nallies received a fee simple title to all the land lying \"west of\nthe San Antonio road and beginning on the west at a point where\nthe said road crosses the river Angelina, and running up said river\nuntil it reaches the mouth of the first large creek below the great\nShawnee village, emptying into the said river from the northeast,\nthence running with said creek to its main source and from thence a\ndue north line to the Sabine and with said river west. Then starting\nwhere the San Antonio road crosses the Angelina and with said road\nto where it crosses the Neches and thence running up the east side of\nsaid river in a northwest direction.\" The historian remarks that the\ndescription is somewhat vague, but is a literal transcription from\nthe treaty. [361] The territory thus assigned was about equivalent\nto the present Cherokee county, Texas.\n\nThe treaty provoked such general dissatisfaction among the Texans that\nit was not presented to the convention for ratification. General\nHouston became President of Texas in November, 1836, but\nnotwithstanding all his efforts in behalf of the Cherokee, the treaty\nwas rejected by the Texas senate in secret session on December\n16, 1837. [362] Texas having in the meantime achieved victorious\nindependence was now in position to repudiate her engagements with\nthe Indians, which she did, not only with the Cherokee, but with\nthe Comanche and other wild tribes, which had been induced to remain\nneutral during the struggle on assurance of being secured in possession\nof their lands.\n\nIn the meantime President Houston was unremitting in his effort to\nsecure the ratification of the Cherokee treaty, but without success. On\nthe other hand the Cherokee were accused of various depredations,\nand it was asserted that they had entered into an agreement with\nMexico by which they were to be secured in the territory in question\non condition of assisting to drive out the Americans. [363] The charge\ncame rather late in the day, and it was evident that President Houston\nput no faith in it, as he still continued his efforts in behalf of\nthe Cherokee, even so far as to order the boundary line to be run,\naccording to the terms of the treaty (45). [364]\n\nIn December, 1838, Houston was succeeded as President by Mirabeau\nB. Lamar, who at once announced his intention to expel every Indian\ntribe from Texas, declaring in his inaugural message that \"the sword\nshould mark the boundaries of the republic.\" At this time the Indians\nin eastern Texas, including the Cherokee and their twelve confederated\nbands and some others, were estimated at 1,800 warriors, or perhaps\n8,000 persons. [365]\n\nA small force of troops sent to take possession of the salt springs in\nthe Indian country at the head of the Neches was notified by Bowl that\nsuch action would be resisted. The Indians were then informed that they\nmust prepare to leave the country in the fall, but that they would be\npaid for the improvements abandoned. In the meantime the neighboring\nMexicans made an effort to free themselves from Texan rule and sent\novertures to the Indians to make common cause with them. This being\ndiscovered, the crisis was precipitated, and a commission consisting\nof General Albert Sidney Johnston (secretary of war of the republic),\nVice-President Burnet, and some other officials, backed up by several\nregiments of troops, was sent to the Cherokee village on Angelina\nriver to demand of the Indians that they remove at once across the\nborder. The Indians refused and were attacked and defeated on July 15,\n1839, by the Texan troops under command of General Douglas. They were\npursued and a second engagement took place the next morning, resulting\nin the death of Bowl himself and his assistant chief Gat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li,\n\"Hard-mush,\" and the dispersion of the Indian forces, with a loss in\nthe two engagements of about 55 killed and 80 wounded, the Texan loss\nbeing comparatively trifling. The first fight took place at a hill\nclose to the main Cherokee village on the Angelina, where the Indians\nmade a stand and defended their position well for some time. The second\noccurred at a ravine near Neches river, where they were intercepted\nin their retreat. Says Thrall, \"After this fight the Indians abandoned\nTexas, leaving their fine lands in possession of the whites.\" [366]\n\nBy these two defeats the forces of the Cherokee and their confederates\nwere completely broken up. A part of the Cherokee recrossed Red river\nand rejoined their kinsmen in Indian territory, bringing with them\nthe blood-stained canister containing the patent for their Texas\nland, which Bowl had carried about with him since the treaty with\nHouston and which he had upon his person when shot. It is still\nkept in the Nation. [367] Others, with the Kickapoo, Delawares, and\nCaddo, scattered in small bands along the western Texas frontier,\nwhere they were occasionally heard from afterward. On Christmas\nday of the same year a fight occurred on Cherokee creek, San Saba\ncounty, in which several Indians were killed and a number of women\nand children captured, including the wife and family of the dead\nchief Bowl. [368] Those of the Cherokee who did not return to Indian\nterritory gradually drifted down into Mexico, where some hundreds of\nthem are now permanently and prosperously domiciled far south in the\nneighborhood of Guadalajara and Lake Chapala, communication being\nstill kept up through occasional visits from their kinsmen in the\nterritory. [369]\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHEROKEE NATION IN THE WEST--1840-1900\n\nWith the final removal of the Cherokee from their native country\nand their reunion and reorganization under new conditions in Indian\nTerritory in 1840 their aboriginal period properly comes to a close\nand the rest may be dismissed in a few paragraphs as of concern rather\nto the local historian than to the ethnologist. Having traced for\nthree full centuries their gradual evolution from a savage tribe to a\ncivilized Christian nation, with a national constitution and national\npress printed in their own national alphabet, we can afford to leave\nthe rest to others, the principal materials being readily accessible\nin the Cherokee national archives at Tahlequah, in the files of\nthe Cherokee Advocate and other newspapers published in the Nation,\nand in the annual reports and other documents of the Indian office.\n\nFor many years the hunter and warrior had been giving place to the\nfarmer and mechanic, and the forced expatriation made the change\ncomplete and final. Torn from their native streams and mountains,\ntheir council fires extinguished and their townhouses burned behind\nthem, and transported bodily to a far distant country where everything\nwas new and strange, they were obliged perforce to forego the old\nlife and adjust themselves to changed surroundings. The ballplay\nwas neglected and the green-corn dance proscribed, while the heroic\ntradition of former days became a fading memory or a tale to amuse\na child. Instead of ceremonials and peace councils we hear now of\nrailroad deals and contracts with cattle syndicates, and instead of the\nold warrior chiefs who had made the Cherokee name a terror--Oconostota,\nHanging-maw, Doublehead, and Pathkiller--we find the destinies of the\nnation guided henceforth by shrewd mixed-blood politicians, bearing\nwhite men's names and speaking the white man's language, and frequently\nwith hardly enough Indian blood to show itself in the features.\n\nThe change was not instantaneous, nor is it even yet complete,\nfor although the tendency is constantly away from the old things,\nand although frequent intermarriages are rapidly bleaching out\nthe brown of the Indian skin, there are still several thousand\nfull-blood Cherokee--enough to constitute a large tribe if set off by\nthemselves--who speak only their native language and in secret bow\ndown to the nature-gods of their fathers. Here, as in other lands,\nthe conservative element has taken refuge in the mountain districts,\nwhile the mixed-bloods and the adopted whites are chiefly on the\nricher low grounds and in the railroad towns.\n\n\n\nOn the reorganization of the united Nation the council ground at\nTahlequah was designated as the seat of government, and the present\ntown was soon afterward laid out upon the spot, taking its name from\nthe old Cherokee town of Talikwa', or Tellico, in Tennessee. The\nmissions were reestablished, the Advocate was revived, and the work\nof civilization was again taken up, though under great difficulties,\nas continued removals and persecutions, with the awful suffering\nand mortality of the last great emigration, had impoverished and\nmore than decimated the Nation and worn out the courage even of the\nbravest. The bitterness engendered by the New Echota treaty led to\na series of murders and assassinations and other acts of outlawry,\namounting almost to civil war between the Ross and Ridge factions,\nuntil the Government was at last obliged to interfere. The Old Settlers\nalso had their grievances and complaints against the newcomers, so\nthat the history of the Cherokee Nation for the next twenty years is\nlargely a chronicle of factional quarrels, through which civilization\nand every good work actually retrograded behind the condition of a\ngeneration earlier.\n\nSequoya, who had occupied a prominent position in the affairs of the\nOld Settlers and assisted much in the reorganization of the Nation, had\nbecome seized with a desire to make linguistic investigations among the\nremote tribes, very probably with a view of devising a universal Indian\nalphabet. His mind dwelt also on the old tradition of a lost band of\nCherokee living somewhere toward the western mountains. In 1841 and\n1842, with a few Cherokee companions and with his provisions and papers\nloaded in an ox cart, he made several journeys into the West, received\neverywhere with kindness by even the wildest tribes. Disappointed\nin his philologic results, he started out in 1843 in quest of the\nlost Cherokee, who were believed to be somewhere in northern Mexico,\nbut, being now an old man and worn out by hardship, he sank under the\neffort and died--alone and unattended, it is said--near the village\nof San Fernando, Mexico, in August of that year. Rumors having come\nof his helpless condition, a party had been sent out from the Nation\nto bring him back, but arrived too late to find him alive. A pension\nof three hundred dollars, previously voted to him by the Nation,\nwas continued to his widow--the only literary pension in the United\nStates. Besides a wife he left two sons and a daughter. [370] Sequoyah\ndistrict of the Cherokee Nation was named in his honor, and the great\ntrees of California (Sequoia gigantea) also preserve his memory.\n\nIn 1846 a treaty was concluded at Washington by which the conflicting\nclaims of the Old Settlers and later emigrants were adjusted,\nreimbursement was promised for sums unjustly deducted from the\nfive-million-dollar payment guaranteed under the treaty of 1835,\nand a general amnesty was proclaimed for all past offenses within the\nNation. [371] Final settlement of the treaty claims has not yet been\nmade, and the matter is still a subject of litigation, including all\nthe treaties and agreements up to the present date.\n\nIn 1859 the devoted missionary Samuel Worcester, author of numerous\ntranslations and first organizer of the Advocate, died at Park Hill\nmission, in the Cherokee Nation, after thirty-five years spent in\nthe service of the Cherokee, having suffered chains, imprisonment,\nand exile for their sake. [372]\n\nThe breaking out of the civil war in 1861 found the Cherokee divided\nin sentiment. Being slave owners, like the other Indians removed\nfrom the southern states, and surrounded by southern influences, the\nagents in charge being themselves southern sympathizers, a considerable\nparty in each of the tribes was disposed to take active part with the\nConfederacy. The old Ridge party, headed by Stand Watie and supported\nby the secret secession organization known as the Knights of the\nGolden Circle, declared for the Confederacy. The National party,\nheaded by John Ross and supported by the patriotic organization\nknown as the Kitoowah society--whose members were afterward known\nas Pin Indians--declared for strict neutrality. At last, however,\nthe pressure became too strong to be resisted, and on October 7,\n1861, a treaty was concluded at Tahlequah, with General Albert Pike,\ncommissioner for the Confederate states, by which the Cherokee Nation\ncast its lot with the Confederacy, as the Creeks, Choctaw, Chickasaw,\nSeminole, Osage, Comanche, and several smaller tribes had already\ndone. [373]\n\nTwo Cherokee regiments were raised for the Confederate service,\nunder command of Stand Watie and Colonel Drew, respectively, the\nformer being commissioned as brigadier-general. They participated in\nseveral engagements, chief among them being the battle of Pea Ridge,\nArkansas, on March 7, 1862. [374] In the following summer the Union\nforces entered the Cherokee country and sent a proposition to Ross,\nurging him to repudiate the treaty with the Confederate states,\nbut the offer was indignantly declined. Shortly afterward, however,\nthe men of Drew's regiment, finding themselves unpaid and generally\nneglected by their allies, went over almost in a body to the Union\nside, thus compelling Ross to make an arrangement with the Union\ncommander, Colonel Weir. Leaving the Cherokee country, Ross retired\nto Philadelphia, from which he did not return until the close of the\nwar. [375] In the meantime Indian Territory was ravaged alternately by\ncontending factions and armed bodies, and thousands of loyal fugitives\nwere obliged to take refuge in Kansas, where they were cared for by\nthe government. Among these, at the close of 1862, were two thousand\nCherokee. In the following spring they were sent back to their homes\nunder armed escort to give them an opportunity to put in a crop,\nseeds and tools being furnished for the purpose, but had hardly begun\nwork when they were forced to retire by the approach of Stand Watie\nand his regiment of Confederate Cherokee, estimated at seven hundred\nmen. Stand Watie and his men, with the Confederate Creeks and others,\nscoured the country at will, destroying or carrying off everything\nbelonging to the loyal Cherokee, who had now, to the number of nearly\nseven thousand, taken refuge at Fort Gibson. Refusing to take sides\nagainst a government which was still unable to protect them, they\nwere forced to see all the prosperous accumulations of twenty years\nof industry swept off in this guerrilla warfare. In stock alone their\nlosses were estimated at more than 300,000 head. [376]\n\n\"The events of the war brought to them more of desolation and ruin\nthan perhaps to any other community. Raided and sacked alternately,\nnot only by the Confederate and Union forces, but by the vindictive\nferocity and hate of their own factional divisions, their country\nbecame a blackened and desolate waste. Driven from comfortable homes,\nexposed to want, misery, and the elements, they perished like sheep in\na snow storm. Their houses, fences, and other improvements were burned,\ntheir orchards destroyed, their flocks and herds slaughtered or driven\noff, their schools broken up, their schoolhouses given to the flames,\nand their churches and public buildings subjected to a similar fate;\nand that entire portion of their country which had been occupied by\ntheir settlements was distinguishable from the virgin prairie only by\nthe scorched and blackened chimneys and the plowed but now neglected\nfields.\" [377]\n\nAfter five years of desolation the Cherokee emerged from the war\nwith their numbers reduced from 21,000 to 14,000, [378] and their\nwhole country in ashes. On July 19, 1866, by a treaty concluded at\nTahlequah, the nation was received back into the protection of the\nUnited States, a general amnesty was proclaimed, and all confiscations\non account of the war prohibited; slavery was abolished without\ncompensation to former owners, and all negroes residing within the\nNation were admitted to full Cherokee citizenship. By articles 15 and\n16 permission was given the United States to settle friendly Indians\nwithin the Cherokee home country or the Cherokee strip by consent\nand purchase from the Nation. By article 17 the Cherokee sold the\n800,000-acre tract in Kansas secured by the treaty of 1835, together\nwith a two-mile strip running along the southern border of Kansas,\nand thereafter to be included within the limits of that state, thus\nleaving the Cherokee country as it was before the recent cession of the\nCherokee strip. Payment was promised for spoliations by United States\ntroops during the war; and $3,000 were to be paid out of the Cherokee\nfunds to the Reverend Evan Jones, then disabled and in poverty, as a\nreward for forty years of faithful missionary labors. By article 26\n\"the United States guarantee to the Cherokees the quiet and peaceable\npossession of their country and protection against domestic feuds\nand insurrection as well as hostilities of other tribes. They shall\nalso be protected from intrusion by all unauthorized citizens of the\nUnited States attempting to settle on their lands or reside in their\nterritory.\" [379]\n\nThe missionary, Reverend Evan Jones, who had followed the Cherokee\ninto exile, and his son, John B. Jones, had been admitted to Cherokee\ncitizenship the year before by vote of the Nation. The act conferring\nthis recognition recites that \"we do bear witness that they have done\ntheir work well.\" [380]\n\nJohn Ross, now an old man, had been unable to attend this treaty, being\npresent at the time in Washington on business for his people. Before\nits ratification he died in that city on August 1, 1866, at the age\nof seventy-seven years, fifty-seven of which had been given to the\nservice of his Nation. No finer panegyric was ever pronounced than\nthe memorial resolution passed by the Cherokee Nation on learning\nof his death. [381] Notwithstanding repeated attempts to subvert his\nauthority, his people had remained steadfast in their fidelity to him,\nand he died, as he had lived for nearly forty years, the officially\nrecognized chief of the Nation. With repeated opportunities to enrich\nhimself at the expense of his tribe, he died a poor man. His body\nwas brought back and interred in the territory of the Nation. In\nremembrance of the great chief one of the nine districts of the\nCherokee Nation has been called by his Indian name, Cooweescoowee (46).\n\nUnder the provisions of the late treaty the Delawares in Kansas,\nto the number of 985, removed to Indian territory in 1867 and became\nincorporated as citizens of the Cherokee Nation. They were followed\nin 1870 by the Shawano, chiefly also from Kansas, to the number of\n770. [382] These immigrants settled chiefly along the Verdigris, in the\nnorthwestern part of the Nation. Under the same treaty the Osage, Kaw,\nPawnee, Ponca, Oto and Missouri, and Tonkawa were afterward settled on\nthe western extension known then as the Cherokee strip. The captive\nNez Perc\u00e9s of Joseph's band were also temporarily located there,\nbut have since been removed to the states of Washington and Idaho.\n\nIn 1870 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railway, a branch of the Union\nPacific system, was constructed through the lands of the Cherokee\nNation under an agreement ratified by the Government, it being the\nfirst railroad to enter that country. [383] Several others have since\nbeen constructed or projected.\n\nThe same year saw a Cherokee literary revival. The publication of the\nAdvocate, which had been suspended since some years before the war,\nwas resumed, and by authority of the Nation John B. Jones began the\npreparation of a series of schoolbooks in the Cherokee language and\nalphabet for the benefit of those children who knew no English. [384]\n\nIn the spring of 1881 a delegation from the Cherokee Nation visited\nthe East Cherokee still remaining in the mountains of North Carolina\nand extended to them a cordial and urgent invitation to remove and\nincorporate upon equal terms with the Cherokee Nation in the Indian\nterritory. In consequence several parties of East Cherokee, numbering\nin all 161 persons, removed during the year to the western Nation,\nthe expense being paid by the Federal government. Others afterwards\napplied for assistance to remove, but as no further appropriation was\nmade for the purpose nothing more was done. [385] In 1883 the East\nCherokee brought suit for a proportionate division of the Cherokee\nfunds and other interests under previous treaties, [386] but their\nclaim was finally decided adversely three years later on appeal to\nthe Supreme Court. [387]\n\nIn 1889 the Cherokee female seminary was completed at Tahlequah at a\ncost of over $60,000, supplementing the work of the male seminary,\nbuilt some years before at a cost of $90,000. The Cherokee Nation\nwas now appropriating annually over $80,000 for school purposes,\nincluding the support of the two seminaries, an orphan asylum, and\nover one hundred primary schools, besides which there were a number\nof mission schools. [388]\n\nFor a number of years the pressure for the opening of Indian territory\nto white settlement had been growing in strength. Thousands of\nintruders had settled themselves upon the lands of each of the five\ncivilized tribes, where they remained upon various pretexts in spite\nof urgent and repeated appeals to the government by the Indians\nfor their removal. Under treaties with the five civilized tribes,\nthe right to decide citizenship or residence claims belonged to the\ntribes concerned, but the intruders had at last become so numerous and\nstrong that they had formed an organization among themselves to pass\nupon their own claims, and others that might be submitted to them,\nwith attorneys and ample funds to defend each claim in outside courts\nagainst the decision of the tribe. At the same time the Government\npolicy was steadily toward the reduction or complete breaking up\nof Indian reservations and the allotment of lands to the Indians in\nseveralty, with a view to their final citizenship, and the opening of\nthe surplus lands to white settlement. As a part of the same policy\nthe jurisdiction of the United States courts was gradually being\nextended over the Indian country, taking cognizance of many things\nhitherto considered by the Indian courts under former treaties with the\nUnited States. Against all this the Cherokee and other civilized tribes\nprotested, but without avail. To add to the irritation, companies of\narmed \"boomers\" were organized for the express purpose of invading\nand seizing the Cherokee outlet and other unoccupied portions of the\nIndian territory--reserved by treaty for future Indian settlement--in\ndefiance of the civil and military power of the Government.\n\nWe come now to what seems the beginning of the end of Indian\nautonomy. In 1889 a commission, afterward known as the Cherokee\nCommission, was appointed, under act of Congress, to \"negotiate with\nthe Cherokee Indians, and with all other Indians owning or claiming\nlands lying west of the ninety-sixth degree of longitude in the\nIndian territory, for the cession to the United States of all their\ntitle, claim, or interest of every kind or character in and to said\nlands.\" In August of that year the commission made a proposition\nto Chief J. B. Mayes for the cession of all the Cherokee lands\nthus described, being that portion known as the Cherokee outlet or\nstrip. The proposition was declined on the ground that the Cherokee\nconstitution forbade its consideration. [389] Other tribes were\napproached for a similar purpose, and the commission was continued,\nwith changing personnel from year to year, until agreements for\ncession and the taking of allotments had been made with nearly all\nthe wilder tribes in what is now Oklahoma.\n\nIn the meantime the Attorney-General had rendered a decision denying\nthe right of Indian tribes to lease their lands without permission\nof the Government. At this time the Cherokee were deriving an annual\nincome of $150,000 from the lease of grazing privileges upon the strip,\nbut by a proclamation of President Harrison on February 17, 1890,\nordering the cattlemen to vacate before the end of the year, this\nincome was cut off and the strip was rendered practically valueless\nto them. [390] The Cherokee were now forced to come to terms, and a\nsecond proposition for the cession of the Cherokee strip was finally\naccepted by the national council on January 4, 1892. \"It was known to\nthe Cherokees that for some time would-be settlers on the lands of\nthe outlet had been encamped in the southern end of Kansas, and by\nevery influence at their command had been urging the Government to\nopen the country to settlement and to negotiate with the Cherokees\nafterwards, and that a bill for that purpose had been introduced in\nCongress.\" The consideration was nearly $8,600,000, or about $1.25\nper acre, for something over 6,000,000 acres of land. One article\nof the agreement stipulates for \"the reaffirmation to the Cherokee\nNation of the right of local self-government.\" [391] The agreement\nhaving been ratified by Congress, the Cherokee strip was opened by\nPresidential proclamation on September 16, 1893. [392]\n\nThe movement for the abolition of the Indian governments and the\nallotment and opening of the Indian country had now gained such force\nthat by act of Congress approved March 3, 1893, the President was\nauthorized to appoint a commission of three--known later as the Dawes\nCommission, from its distinguished chairman, Senator Henry L. Dawes\nof Massachusetts--to negotiate with the five civilized tribes of\nIndian territory, viz, the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and\nSeminole, for \"the extinguishment of tribal titles to any lands within\nthat territory, now held by any and all of such nations and tribes,\neither by cession of the same or some part thereof to the United\nStates, or by the allotment and division of the same in severalty\namong the Indians of such nations or tribes respectively as may be\nentitled to the same, or by such other method as may be agreed upon\n... to enable the ultimate creation of a state or states of the Union,\nwhich shall embrace the land within the said Indian territory.\" [393]\nThe commission appointed arrived in the Indian territory in January,\n1894, and at once began negotiations. [394]\n\nAt this time the noncitizen element in Indian Territory was\nofficially reported to number at least 200,000 souls, while those\nhaving rights as citizens of the five civilized tribes, including\nfull-blood and mixed-blood Indians, adopted whites, and negroes,\nnumbered but 70,500. [395] Not all of the noncitizens were intruders,\nmany being there by permission of the Indian governments or on\nofficial or other legitimate business, but the great body of them\nwere illegal squatters or unrecognized claimants to Indian rights,\nagainst whose presence the Indians themselves had never ceased to\nprotest. A test case brought this year in the Cherokee Nation was\ndecided by the Interior Department against the claimants and in favor\nof the Cherokee. Commenting upon threats made in consequence by the\nrejected claimants, the agent for the five tribes remarks: \"It is not\nprobable that Congress will establish a court to nullify and vacate\na formal decision of the Interior Department.\" [396] A year later\nhe says of these intruders that \"so long as they have a foothold--a\nresidence, legal or not--in the Indian country they will be disturbers\nof peace and promoters of discord, and while they cry aloud, and spare\nnot, for allotment and statehood, they are but stumbling blocks and\nobstacles to that mutual good will and fraternal feeling which must be\ncultivated and secured before allotment is practicable and statehood\ndesirable.\" [397] The removal of the intruders was still delayed,\nand in 1896 the decision of citizenship claims was taken from the\nIndian government and relegated to the Dawes Commission. [398]\n\nIn 1895 the commission was increased to five members, with enlarged\npowers. In the meantime a survey of Indian Territory had been ordered\nand begun. In September the agent wrote: \"The Indians now know that\na survey of their lands is being made, and whether with or without\ntheir consent, the survey is going on. The meaning of such survey\nis too plain to be disregarded, and it is justly considered as the\ninitial step, solemn and authoritative, toward the overthrow of their\npresent communal holdings. At this writing surveying corps are at work\nin the Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations, and therefore each one\nof these tribes has an ocular demonstration of the actual intent and\nultimate purpose of the government of the United States.\" [399]\n\nThe general prosperity and advancement of the Cherokee Nation at\nthis time may be judged from the report of the secretary of the\nCherokee national board of education to Agent Wisdom. He reports 4,800\nchildren attending two seminaries, male and female, two high schools,\nand one hundred primary schools, teachers being paid from $35 to $100\nper month for nine months in the year. Fourteen primary schools were\nfor the use of the negro citizens of the Nation, besides which they\nhad a fine high school, kept up, like all the others, at the expense\nof the Cherokee government. Besides the national schools there were\ntwelve mission schools helping to do splendid work for children of both\ncitizens and noncitizens. Children of noncitizens were not allowed to\nattend the Cherokee national schools, but had their own subscription\nschools. The orphan asylum ranked as a high school, in which 150\norphans were boarded and educated, with graduates every year. It\nwas a large brick building of three stories, 80 by 240 feet. The\nmale seminary, accommodating 200 pupils, and the female seminary,\naccommodating 225 pupils, were also large brick structures, three\nstories in height and 150 by 240 feet on the ground. Three members,\nall Cherokee by blood, constituted a board of education. The secretary\nadds that the Cherokee are proud of their schools and educational\ninstitutions, and that no other country under the sun is so blessed\nwith educational advantages at large. [400]\n\nAt this time the Cherokee Nation numbered something over 25,000 Indian,\nwhite, and negro citizens; the total citizen population of the three\nraces in the five civilized tribes numbered about 70,000, while the\nnoncitizens had increased to 250,000 and their number was being rapidly\naugmented. [401] Realizing that the swift, inevitable end must be the\ndestruction of their national governments, the Cherokee began once more\nto consider the question of removal from the United States. The scheme\nis outlined in a letter written by a brother of the principal chief\nof the Cherokee Nation under date of May 31, 1895, from which we quote.\n\nAfter prefacing that the government of the United States seems\ndetermined to break up the tribal autonomy of the five civilized\ntribes and to divide their lands, thus bringing about conditions\nunder which the Cherokee could not exist, he continues:\n\n\n Then for a remedy that will lead us out of it, away from it, and\n one that promises our preservation as a distinct race of people\n in the enjoyment of customs, social and political, that have been\n handed down to us from remote generations of the past. My plan is\n for the Cherokees to sell their entire landed possessions to the\n United States, divide the proceeds thereof per capita, then such\n as desire to do so unite in the formation of an Indian colony,\n and with their funds jointly purchase in Mexico or South America\n a body of land sufficient for all their purposes, to be forever\n their joint home.... I believe also that for such Indians as did\n not desire to join the colony and leave the country provision\n should be made for them to repurchase their old homes, or such\n other lands in the country here as they might desire, and they\n could remain here and meet such fate as awaits them. I believe\n this presents the most feasible and equitable solution of the\n questions that we must decide in the near future, and will prove\n absolutely just and fair to all classes and conditions of our\n citizens. I also believe that the same could be acted upon by\n any or all of the five civilized tribes.... [402]\n\n\nThe final chapter is nearly written. By successive enactments\nwithin the last ten years the jurisdiction of the Indian courts\nhas been steadily narrowed and the authority of the Federal courts\nproportionately extended; the right to determine Indian citizenship\nhas been taken from the Indians and vested in a Government commission;\nthe lands of the five tribes have been surveyed and sectionized by\nGovernment surveyors; and by the sweeping provisions of the Curtis\nact of June 28, 1898, \"for the protection of the people of the Indian\nTerritory,\" the entire control of tribal revenues is taken from the\nfive Indian tribes and vested with a resident supervising inspector,\nthe tribal courts are abolished, allotments are made compulsory, and\nauthority is given to incorporate white men's towns in the Indian\ntribes. [403] By this act the five civilized tribes are reduced to\nthe condition of ordinary reservation tribes under government agents\nwith white communities planted in their midst. In the meantime the\nDawes commission, continued up to the present, has by unremitting\neffort broken down the opposition of the Choctaw and Chickasaw, who\nhave consented to allotment, while the Creeks and the Seminole are\nnow wavering. [404] The Cherokee still hold out, the Ketoowah secret\nsociety (47) especially being strong in its resistance, and when\nthe end comes it is possible that the protest will take shape in a\nwholesale emigration to Mexico. Late in 1897 the agent for the five\ntribes reports that \"there seems a determined purpose on the part of\nmany fullbloods ... to emigrate to either Mexico or South America\nand there purchase new homes for themselves and families. Such\nindividual action may grow to the proportion of a colony, and it\nis understood that liberal grants of land can be secured from the\ncountries mentioned. [405] Mexican agents are now (1901) among the\nCherokee advocating the scheme, which may develop to include a large\nproportion of the five civilized tribes. [406]\n\nBy the census of 1898, the most recent taken, as reported by Agent\nWisdom, the Cherokee Nation numbered 34,461 persons, as follows:\nCherokee by blood (including all degrees of admixture), 26,500;\nintermarried whites, 2,300; negro freedmen, 4,000; Delaware, 871;\nShawnee, 790. The total acreage of the Nation was 5,031,351 acres,\nwhich, if divided per capita under the provisions of the Curtis bill,\nafter deducting 60,000 acres reserved for town-site and other purposes,\nwould give to each Cherokee citizen 144 acres. [407] It must be noted\nthat the official rolls include a large number of persons whose claims\nare disputed by the Cherokee authorities.\n\n\n\n\nTHE EASTERN BAND\n\nIt remains to speak of the eastern band of Cherokee--the remnant which\nstill clings to the woods and waters of the old home country. As\nhas been said, a considerable number had eluded the troops in the\ngeneral round-up of 1838 and had fled to the fastnesses of the high\nmountains. Here they were joined by others who had managed to break\nthrough the guard at Calhoun and other collecting stations, until\nthe whole number of fugitives in hiding amounted to a thousand or\nmore, principally of the mountain Cherokee of North Carolina, the\npurest-blooded and most conservative of the Nation. About one-half\nthe refugee warriors had put themselves under command of a noted\nleader named U'tsala, \"Lichen,\" who made his headquarters amid the\nlofty peaks at the head of Oconaluftee, from which secure hiding\nplace, although reduced to extremity of suffering from starvation\nand exposure, they defied every effort to effect their capture.\n\nThe work of running down these fugitives proved to be so difficult\nan undertaking and so well-nigh barren of result that when Charley\nand his sons made their bold stroke for freedom [408] General Scott\neagerly seized the incident as an opportunity for compromise. To this\nend he engaged the services of William H. Thomas, a trader who for\nmore than twenty years had been closely identified with the mountain\nCherokee and possessed their full confidence, and authorized him to\nsubmit to U'tsala a proposition that if the latter would seize Charley\nand the others who had been concerned in the attack upon the soldiers\nand surrender them for punishment, the pursuit would be called off and\nthe fugitives allowed to stay unmolested until an effort could be made\nto secure permission from the general government for them to remain.\n\nThomas accepted the commission, and taking with him one or two\nIndians made his way over secret paths to U'tsala's hiding place. He\npresented Scott's proposition and represented to the chief that by\naiding in bringing Charley's party to punishment according to the\nrules of war he could secure respite for his sorely pressed followers,\nwith the ultimate hope that they might be allowed to remain in their\nown country, whereas if he rejected the offer the whole force of the\nseven thousand troops which had now completed the work of gathering\nup and deporting the rest of the tribe would be set loose upon his\nown small band until the last refugee had been either taken or killed.\n\nU'tsala turned the proposition in his mind long and seriously. His\nheart was bitter, for his wife and little son had starved to death on\nthe mountain side, but he thought of the thousands who were already on\ntheir long march into exile and then he looked round upon his little\nband of followers. If only they might stay, even though a few must\nbe sacrificed, it was better than that all should die--for they had\nsworn never to leave their country. He consented and Thomas returned\nto report to General Scott.\n\nNow occurred a remarkable incident which shows the character of Thomas\nand the masterly influence which he already had over the Indians,\nalthough as yet he was hardly more than thirty years old. It was\nknown that Charley and his party were in hiding in a cave of the Great\nSmokies, at the head of Deep creek, but it was not thought likely that\nhe could be taken without bloodshed and a further delay which might\nprejudice the whole undertaking. Thomas determined to go to him and\ntry to persuade him to come in and surrender. Declining Scott's offer\nof an escort, he went alone to the cave, and, getting between the\nIndians and their guns as they were sitting around the fire near the\nentrance, he walked up to Charley and announced his message. The old\nman listened in silence and then said simply, \"I will come in. I don't\nwant to be hunted down by my own people.\" They came in voluntarily and\nwere shot, as has been already narrated, one only, a mere boy, being\nspared on account of his youth. This boy, now an old man, is still\nliving, Wasit\u00fb'na, better known to the whites as Washington. [409]\n\nA respite having thus been obtained for the fugitives, Thomas next went\nto Washington to endeavor to make some arrangement for their permanent\nsettlement. Under the treaty of New Echota, in 1835, the Cherokee\nwere entitled, besides the lump sum of five million dollars for the\nlands ceded, to an additional compensation for the improvements which\nthey were forced to abandon and for spoliations by white citizens,\ntogether with a per capita allowance to cover the cost of removal and\nsubsistence for one year in the new country. The twelfth article had\nalso provided that such Indians as chose to remain in the East and\nbecome citizens there might do so under certain conditions, each head\nof a family thus remaining to be confirmed in a preemption right to\n160 acres. In consequence of the settled purpose of President Jackson\nto deport every Indian, this permission was canceled and supplementary\narticles substituted by which some additional compensation was allowed\nin lieu of the promised preemptions and all individual reservations\ngranted under previous treaties. [410] Every Cherokee was thus made\na landless alien in his original country.\n\nThe last party of emigrant Cherokee had started for the West in\nDecember, 1838. Nine months afterwards the refugees still scattered\nabout in the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee were reported\nto number 1,046. [411] By persistent effort at Washington from 1836 to\n1842, including one continuous stay of three years at the capital city,\nThomas finally obtained governmental permission for these to remain,\nand their share of the moneys due for improvements and reservations\nconfiscated was placed at his disposal, as their agent and trustee,\nfor the purpose of buying lands upon which they could be permanently\nsettled. Under this authority he bought for them, at various times\nup to the year 1861, a number of contiguous tracts of land upon\nOconaluftee river and Soco creek, within the present Swain and Jackson\ncounties of North Carolina, together with several detached tracts in\nthe more western counties of the same state. The main body, upon the\nwaters of Oconaluftee, which was chiefly within the limits of the\ncession of 1819, came afterward to be known as the Qualla boundary,\nor Qualla reservation, taking the name from Thomas' principal trading\nstore and agency headquarters. The detached western tracts were\nwithin the final cession of 1835, but all alike were bought by Thomas\nfrom white owners. As North Carolina refused to recognize Indians as\nlandowners within the state, and persisted in this refusal until 1866,\n[412] Thomas, as their authorized agent under the Government, held the\ndeeds in his own name. Before it was legally possible under the state\nlaws to transfer the title to the Indians, his own affairs had become\ninvolved and his health impaired by age and the hardships of military\nservice so that his mind gave way, thus leaving the whole question\nof the Indian title a subject of litigation until its adjudication by\nthe United States in 1875, supplemented by further decisions in 1894.\n\nTo Colonel William Holland Thomas the East Cherokee of to-day\nowe their existence as a people, and for half a century he was as\nintimately connected with their history as was John Ross with that of\nthe main Cherokee Nation. Singularly enough, their connection with\nCherokee affairs extended over nearly the same period, but while\nRoss participated in their national matters Thomas gave his effort\nto a neglected band hardly known in the councils of the tribe. In\nhis many-sided capacity he strikingly resembles another white man\nprominent in Cherokee history, General Sam Houston.\n\nThomas was born in the year 1805 on Raccoon creek, about two miles\nfrom Waynesville in North Carolina. His father, who was related to\nPresident Zachary Taylor, came of a Welsh family which had immigrated\nto Virginia at an early period, while on his mother's side he was\ndescended from a Maryland family of Revolutionary stock. He was\nan only and posthumous child, his father having been accidentally\ndrowned a short time before the boy was born. Being unusually bright\nfor his age, he was engaged when only twelve years old to tend an\nIndian trading store on Soco creek, in the present Jackson county,\nowned by Felix Walker, son of the Congressman of the same name who\nmade a national reputation by \"talking for Buncombe.\" The store\nwas on the south side of the creek, about a mile above the now\nabandoned Macedonia mission, within the present reservation, and\nwas a branch of a larger establishment which Walker himself kept at\nWaynesville. The trade was chiefly in skins and ginseng, or \"sang,\"\nthe latter for shipment to China, where it was said to be worth its\nweight in silver. This trade was very profitable, as the price to the\nIndians was but ten cents per pound in merchandise for the green root,\nwhereas it now brings seventy-five cents in cash upon the reservation,\nthe supply steadily diminishing with every year. The contract was\nfor three years' service for a total compensation of one hundred\ndollars and expenses, but Walker devoted so much of his attention to\nlaw studies that the Waynesville store was finally closed for debt,\nand at the end of his contract term young Thomas was obliged to accept\na lot of second-hand law books in lieu of other payment. How well he\nmade use of them is evident from his subsequent service in the state\nsenate and in other official capacities.\n\nSoon after entering upon his duties he attracted the notice of\nYonaguska, or Drowning-bear (Y\u00e2'na-g\u00fb\u00f1'ski, \"Bear-drowning-him\"),\nthe acknowledged chief of all the Cherokee then living on the waters\nof Tuckasegee and Oconaluftee--the old Kituhwa country. On learning\nthat the boy had neither father nor brother, the old chief formally\nadopted him as his son, and as such he was thenceforth recognized\nin the tribe under the name of Wil-Usdi', or \"Little Will,\" he\nbeing of small stature even in mature age. From his Indian friends,\nparticularly a boy of the same age who was his companion in the store,\nhe learned the language as well as a white man has ever learned it,\nso that in his declining years it dwelt in memory more strongly than\nhis mother tongue. After the invention of the Cherokee alphabet,\nhe learned also to read and write the language.\n\nIn 1819 the lands on Tuckasegee and its branches were sold by the\nIndians, and Thomas's mother soon after removed from Waynesville\nto a farm which she purchased on the west bank of Oconaluftee,\nopposite the mouth of Soco, where her son went to live with her,\nhaving now set up in business for himself at Qualla. Yonaguska and\nhis immediate connection continued to reside on a small reservation\nin the same neighborhood, while the rest of the Cherokee retired\nto the west of the Nantahala mountains, though still visiting\nand trading on Soco. After several shiftings Thomas finally, soon\nafter the removal in 1838, bought a farm on the northern bank of\nTuckasegee, just above the present town of Whittier in Swain county,\nand built there a homestead which he called Stekoa, after an Indian\ntown destroyed by Rutherford which had occupied the same site. At the\ntime of the removal he was the proprietor of five trading stores in or\nadjoining the Cherokee country, viz, at Qualla town, near the mouth\nof Soco creek; on Scott's creek, near Webster; on Cheowa, near the\npresent Robbinsville; at the junction of Valley river and Hiwassee,\nnow Murphy; and at the Cherokee agency at Calhoun (now Charleston),\nTennessee. Besides carrying on a successful trading business he was\nalso studying law and taking an active interest in local politics.\n\nIn his capacity as agent for the eastern Cherokee he laid off the\nlands purchased for them into five districts or \"towns,\" which he\nnamed Bird town, Paint town, Wolf town, Yellow hill, and Big cove, the\nnames which they still retain, the first three being those of Cherokee\nclans. [413] He also drew up for them a simple form of government,\nthe execution of which was in his own and Yonaguska's hands until\nthe death of the latter, after which the band knew no other chief\nthan Thomas until his retirement from active life. In 1848 he was\nelected to the state senate and continued to serve in that capacity\nuntil the outbreak of the civil war. As state senator he inaugurated\na system of road improvements for western North Carolina and was also\nthe father of the Western North Carolina Railroad (now a part of the\nSouthern system), originally projected to develop the copper mines\nof Ducktown, Tennessee.\n\nWith his colleagues in the state senate he voted for secession in\n1861, and at once resigned to recruit troops for the Confederacy, to\nwhich, until the close of the war, he gave his whole time, thought,\nand effort. In 1862 he organized the Thomas Legion, consisting of two\nregiments of infantry, a battalion of cavalry, a company of engineers,\nand a field battery, he himself commanding as colonel, although then\nnearly sixty years of age. Four companies were made up principally of\nhis own Cherokee. The Thomas Legion operated chiefly as a frontier\nguard for the Confederacy along the mountain region southward from\nCumberland gap.\n\nAfter the close of the conflict he returned to his home at Stekoa\nand again took charge, unofficially, of the affairs of the Cherokee,\nwhom he attended during the smallpox epidemic of 1866 and assisted\nthrough the unsettled conditions of the reconstruction period. His own\nresources had been swept away by the war, and all his hopes had gone\ndown with the lost cause. This, added to the effects of three years\nof hardship and anxiety in the field when already almost past the\nage limit, soon after brought about a physical and mental collapse,\nfrom which he never afterward rallied except at intervals, when for a\nshort time the old spirit would flash out in all its brightness. He\ndied in 1893 at the advanced age of nearly ninety, retaining to the\nlast the courteous manner of a gentleman by nature and training,\nwith an exact memory and the clear-cut statement of a lawyer and man\nof affairs. To his work in the state senate the people of western\nNorth Carolina owe more than to that of any other man, while among\nthe older Cherokee the name of Wil-Usdi' is still revered as that of\na father and a great chief. [414]\n\nYonaguska, properly Y\u00e2'n\u00fb-g\u00fb\u00f1'ski, the adopted father of Thomas,\nis the most prominent chief in the history of the East Cherokee,\nalthough, singularly enough, his name does not occur in connection\nwith any of the early wars or treaties. This is due partly to the fact\nthat he was a peace chief and counselor rather than a war leader,\nand in part to the fact that the isolated position of the mountain\nCherokee kept them aloof in a great measure from the tribal councils\nof those living to the west and south. In person he was strikingly\nhandsome, being six feet three inches in height and strongly built,\nwith a faint tinge of red, due to a slight strain of white blood\non his father's side, relieving the brown of his cheek. In power of\noratory he is said to have surpassed any other chief of his day. When\nthe Cherokee lands on Tuckasegee were sold by the treaty of 1819,\nYonaguska continued to reside on a reservation of 640 acres in a bend\nof the river a short distance above the present Bryson City, on the\nsite of the ancient Kituhwa. He afterward moved over to Oconaluftee,\nand finally, after the Removal, gathered his people about him and\nsettled with them on Soco creek on lands purchased for them by Thomas.\n\nHe was a prophet and reformer as well as a chief. When about sixty\nyears of age he had a severe sickness, terminating in a trance, during\nwhich his people mourned him as dead. At the end of twenty-four hours,\nhowever, he awoke to consciousness and announced that he had been to\nthe spirit world, where he had talked with friends who had gone before,\nand with God, who had sent him back with a message to the Indians,\npromising to call him again at a later time. From that day until his\ndeath his words were listened to as those of one inspired. He had\nbeen somewhat addicted to liquor, but now, on the recommendation of\nThomas, not only quit drinking himself, but organized his tribe into\na temperance society. To accomplish this he called his people together\nin council, and, after clearly pointing out to them the serious effect\nof intemperance, in an eloquent speech that moved some of his audience\nto tears, he declared that God had permitted him to return to earth\nespecially that he might thus warn his people and banish whisky from\namong them. He then had Thomas write out a pledge, which was signed\nfirst by the chief and then by each one of the council, and from that\ntime until after his death whisky was unknown among the East Cherokee.\n\nAlthough frequent pressure was brought to bear to induce him and his\npeople to remove to the West, he firmly resisted every persuasion,\ndeclaring that the Indians were safer from aggression among their\nrocks and mountains than they could ever be in a land which the white\nman could find profitable, and that the Cherokee could be happy only\nin the country where nature had planted him. While counseling peace\nand friendship with the white man, he held always to his Indian faith\nand was extremely suspicious of missionaries. On one occasion, after\nthe first Bible translation into the Cherokee language and alphabet,\nsome one brought a copy of Matthew from New Echota, but Yonaguska\nwould not allow it to be read to his people until it had first been\nread to himself. After listening to one or two chapters the old chief\ndryly remarked: \"Well, it seems to be a good book--strange that the\nwhite people are not better, after having had it so long.\"\n\nHe died, aged about eighty, in April, 1839, within a year after\nthe Removal. Shortly before the end he had himself carried into the\ntownhouse on Soco, of which he had supervised the building, where,\nextended on a couch, he made a last talk to his people, commending\nThomas to them as their chief and again warning them earnestly\nagainst ever leaving their own country. Then wrapping his blanket\naround him, he quietly lay back and died. He was buried beside Soco,\nabout a mile below the old Macedonia mission, with a rude mound of\nstones to mark the spot. He left two wives and considerable property,\nincluding an old negro slave named Cudjo, who was devotedly attached\nto him. One of his daughters, Kat\u00e2'lsta, still survives, and is the\nlast conservator of the potter's art among the East Cherokee. [415]\n\nYonaguska had succeeded in authority to Yane'gwa, \"Big-bear,\" who\nappears to have been of considerable local prominence in his time,\nbut whose name, even with the oldest of the band, is now but a\nmemory. He was among the signers of the treaties of 1798 and 1805,\nand by the treaty of 1819 was confirmed in a reservation of 640 acres\nas one of those living within the ceded territory who were \"believed\nto be persons of industry and capable of managing their property with\ndiscretion,\" and who had made considerable improvements on the tracts\nreserved. This reservation, still known as the Big-bear farm, was\non the western bank of Oconaluftee, a few miles above its mouth, and\nappears to have been the same afterward occupied by Yonaguska. [416]\n\nAnother of the old notables among the East Cherokee was\nTsunu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'ski, corrupted by the whites to Junaluska, a great warrior,\nfrom whom the ridge west of Waynesville takes its name. In early life\nhe was known as G\u00fbl'`kala'ski. [417] On the outbreak of the Creek\nwar in 1813 he raised a party of warriors to go down, as he boasted,\n\"to exterminate the Creeks.\" Not meeting with complete success,\nhe announced the result, according to the Cherokee custom, at the\nnext dance after his return in a single word, detsinu'lah\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb',\n\"I tried, but could not,\" given out as a cue to the song leader,\nwho at once took it as the burden of his song. Thenceforth the\ndisappointed warrior was known as Tsunu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'ski, \"One who tries,\nbut fails.\" He distinguished himself at the Horseshoe bend, where\nthe action of the Cherokee decided the battle in favor of Jackson's\narmy, and was often heard to say after the removal: \"If I had known\nthat Jackson would drive us from our homes, I would have killed him\nthat day at the Horseshoe.\" He accompanied the exiles of 1838, but\nafterward returned to his old home; he was allowed to remain, and in\nrecognition of his services the state legislature, by special act,\nin 1847 conferred upon him the right of citizenship and granted to him\na tract of land in fee simple, but without power of alienation. [418]\nThis reservation was in the Cheowa Indian settlement, near the present\nRobbinsville, in Graham county, where he died about the year 1858. His\ngrave is still to be seen just outside of Robbinsville.\n\nAs illustrative of his shrewdness it is told that he once tracked a\nlittle Indian girl to Charleston, South Carolina, where she had been\ncarried by kidnappers and sold as a slave, and regained her freedom\nby proving, from expert microscopic examination, that her hair had\nnone of the negro characteristics. [419]\n\nChristianity was introduced among the Kituhwa Cherokee shortly before\nthe Removal through Worcester and Boudinot's translation of Matthew,\nfirst published at New Echota in 1829. In the absence of missionaries\nthe book was read by the Indians from house to house. After the\nRemoval a Methodist minister, Reverend Ulrich Keener, began to make\nvisits for preaching at irregular intervals, and was followed several\nyears later by Baptist workers. [420]\n\nIn the fall of 1839 the Commissioner of Indian Affairs reported that\nthe East Cherokee had recently expressed a desire to join their\nbrethren in the West, but had been deterred from so doing by the\nunsettled condition of affairs in the Territory. He states that \"they\nhave a right to remain or to go,\" but that as the interests of others\nare involved in their decision they should decide without delay. [421]\n\nIn 1840 about one hundred Catawba, nearly all that were left of the\ntribe, being dissatisfied with their condition in South Carolina, moved\nup in a body and took up their residence with the Cherokee. Latent\ntribal jealousies broke out, however, and at their own request\nnegotiations were begun in 1848, through Thomas and others, for their\nremoval to Indian Territory. The effort being without result, they\nsoon after began to drift back to their own homes, until, in 1852,\nthere were only about a dozen remaining among the Cherokee. In 1890\nonly one was left, an old woman, the widow of a Cherokee husband. She\nand her daughter, both of whom spoke the language, were expert potters\naccording to the Catawba method, which differs markedly from that\nof the Cherokee. There are now two Catawba women, both married to\nCherokee husbands, living with the tribe, and practicing their native\npotter's art. While residing among the Cherokee, the Catawba acquired\na reputation as doctors and leaders of the dance. [422]\n\nOn August 6, 1846, a treaty was concluded at Washington with the\nrepresentatives of the Cherokee Nation west by which the rights of the\nEast Cherokee to a participation in the benefits of the New Echota\ntreaty of 1835 were distinctly recognized, and provision was made\nfor a final adjustment of all unpaid and pending claims due under\nthat treaty. The right claimed by the East Cherokee to participate\nin the benefits of the New Echota treaty, although not denied by the\ngovernment, had been held to be conditional upon their removal to\nthe West. [423]\n\nIn the spring of 1848 the author, Lanman, visited the East Cherokee\nand has left an interesting account of their condition at the time,\ntogether with a description of their ballplays, dances, and customs\ngenerally, having been the guest of Colonel Thomas, of whom he\nspeaks as the guide, counselor, and friend of the Indians, as well\nas their business agent and chief, so that the connection was like\nthat existing between a father and his children. He puts the number\nof Indians at about 800 Cherokee and 100 Catawba on the \"Qualla town\"\nreservation--the name being in use thus early--with 200 more Indians\nresiding in the more westerly portion of the state. Of their general\ncondition he says:\n\n\n About three-fourths of the entire population can read in their own\n language, and, though the majority of them understand English, a\n very few can speak the language. They practice, to a considerable\n extent, the science of agriculture, and have acquired such a\n knowledge of the mechanic arts as answers them for all ordinary\n purposes, for they manufacture their own clothing, their own\n ploughs, and other farming utensils, their own axes, and even\n their own guns. Their women are no longer treated as slaves, but\n as equals; the men labor in the fields and their wives are devoted\n entirely to household employments. They keep the same domestic\n animals that are kept by their white neighbors, and cultivate all\n the common grains of the country. They are probably as temperate\n as any other class of people on the face of the earth, honest\n in their business intercourse, moral in their thoughts, words,\n and deeds, and distinguished for their faithfulness in performing\n the duties of religion. They are chiefly Methodists and Baptists,\n and have regularly ordained ministers, who preach to them on every\n Sabbath, and they have also abandoned many of their mere senseless\n superstitions. They have their own court and try their criminals\n by a regular jury. Their judges and lawyers are chosen from among\n themselves. They keep in order the public roads leading through\n their settlement. By a law of the state they have a right to vote,\n but seldom exercise that right, as they do not like the idea of\n being identified with any of the political parties. Excepting\n on festive days, they dress after the manner of the white man,\n but far more picturesquely. They live in small log houses of\n their own construction, and have everything they need or desire\n in the way of food. They are, in fact, the happiest community\n that I have yet met with in this southern country. [424]\n\n\nAmong the other notables Lanman speaks thus of Sal\u00e2'li, \"Squirrel,\"\na born mechanic of the band, who died only a few years since:\n\n\n He is quite a young man and has a remarkably thoughtful face. He\n is the blacksmith of his nation, and with some assistance supplies\n the whole of Qualla town with all their axes and plows; but what\n is more, he has manufactured a number of very superior rifles and\n pistols, including stock, barrel, and lock, and he is also the\n builder of grist mills, which grind all the corn which his people\n eat. A specimen of his workmanship in the way of a rifle may be\n seen at the Patent Office in Washington, where it was deposited\n by Mr. Thomas; and I believe Salola is the first Indian who ever\n manufactured an entire gun. But when it is remembered that he never\n received a particle of education in any of the mechanic arts but\n is entirely self-taught, his attainments must be considered truly\n remarkable. [425]\n\n\nOn July 29, 1848, Congress approved an act for taking a census of all\nthose Cherokee who had remained in North Carolina after the Removal,\nand who still resided east of the Mississippi, in order that their\nshare of the \"removal and subsistence fund\" under the New Echota\ntreaty might be set aside for them. A sum equivalent to $53.33-1/3 was\nat the same time appropriated for each one, or his representative,\nto be available for defraying the expenses of his removal to the\nCherokee Nation west and subsistence there for one year whenever\nhe should elect so to remove. Any surplus over such expense was\nto be paid to him in cash after his arrival in the west. The whole\namount thus expended was to be reimbursed to the Government from the\ngeneral fund to the credit of the Cherokee Nation under the terms\nof the treaty of New Echota. In the meantime it was ordered that to\neach individual thus entitled should be paid the accrued interest\non this per capita sum from the date of the ratification of the New\nEchota treaty (May 23, 1836), payment of interest at the same rate\nto continue annually thereafter. [426] In accordance with this act a\ncensus of the Cherokee then residing in North Carolina, Tennessee, and\nGeorgia, was completed in the fall of 1848 by J. C. Mullay, making the\nwhole number 2,133. On the basis of this enrollment several payments\nwere made to them by special agents within the next ten years, one\nbeing a per-capita payment by Alfred Chapman in 1851-52 of unpaid\nclaims arising under the treaty of New Echota and amounting in the\naggregate to $197,534.50, the others being payments of the annual\ninterest upon the \"removal and subsistence fund\" set apart to their\ncredit in 1848. In the accomplishment of these payments two other\nenrollments were made by D. W. Siler in 1851 and by Chapman in 1852,\nthe last being simply a corrected revision of the Siler roll, and\nneither varying greatly from the Mullay roll. [427]\n\nUpon the appointment of Chapman to make the per capita payment above\nmentioned, the Cherokee Nation west had filed a protest against the\npayment, upon the double ground that the East Cherokee had forfeited\ntheir right to participation, and furthermore that their census\nwas believed to be enormously exaggerated. As a matter of fact the\nnumber first reported by Mullay was only 1,517, to which so many were\nsubsequently added as to increase the number by more than 600. [428]\nA census taken by their agent, Colonel Thomas, in 1841, gave the number\nof East Cherokee (possibly only those in North Carolina intended) as\n1,220, [429] while a year later the whole number residing in North\nCarolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia was officially estimated\nat from 1,000 to 1,200. [430] It is not the only time a per capita\npayment has resulted in a sudden increase of the census population.\n\nIn 1852 (Capt.) James W. Terrell was engaged by Thomas, then in the\nstate senate, to take charge of his store at Qualla, and remained\nassociated with him and in close contact with the Indians from then\nuntil after the close of the war, assisting, as special United States\nagent, in the disbursement of the interest payments, and afterward as\na Confederate officer in the organization of the Indian companies,\nholding a commission as captain of Company A, Sixty-ninth North\nCarolina Confederate infantry. Being of an investigating bent, Captain\nTerrell was led to give attention to the customs and mythology of\nthe Cherokee, and to accumulate a fund of information on the subject\nseldom possessed by a white man. He still resides at Webster, a few\nmiles from the reservation, and is now seventy-one years of age.\n\nIn 1855 Congress directed the per capita payment to the East Cherokee\nof the removal fund established for them in 1848, provided that North\nCarolina should first give assurance that they would be allowed to\nremain permanently in that state. This assurance, however, was not\ngiven until 1866, and the money was therefore not distributed, but\nremained in the treasury until 1875, when it was made applicable to\nthe purchase of lands and the quieting of titles for the benefit of\nthe Indians. [431]\n\nFrom 1855 until after the civil war we find no official notice of\nthe East Cherokee, and our information must be obtained from other\nsources. It was, however, a most momentous period in their history. At\nthe outbreak of the war Thomas was serving his seventh consecutive\nterm in the state senate. Being an ardent Confederate sympathizer, he\nwas elected a delegate to the convention which passed the secession\nordinance, and immediately after voting in favor of that measure\nresigned from the senate in order to work for the southern cause. As\nhe was already well advanced in years it is doubtful if his effort\nwould have gone beyond the raising of funds and other supplies but for\nthe fact that at this juncture an effort was made by the Confederate\nGeneral Kirby Smith to enlist the East Cherokee for active service.\n\nThe agent sent for this purpose was Washington Morgan, known to the\nIndians as \u00c2'ganst\u00e2'ta, son of that Colonel Gideon Morgan who had\ncommanded the Cherokee at the Horseshoe bend. By virtue of his Indian\nblood and historic ancestry he was deemed the most fitting emissary\nfor the purpose. Early in 1862 he arrived among the Cherokee, and by\nappealing to old-time memories so aroused the war spirit among them\nthat a large number declared themselves ready to follow wherever he\nled. Conceiving the question at issue in the war to be one that did not\nconcern the Indians, Thomas had discouraged their participation in it\nand advised them to remain at home in quiet neutrality. Now, however,\nknowing Morgan's reputation for reckless daring, he became alarmed at\nthe possible result to them of such leadership. Forced either to see\nthem go from his own protection or to lead them himself, he chose the\nlatter alternative and proposed to them to enlist in the Confederate\nlegion which he was about to organize. His object, as he himself has\nstated, was to keep them out of danger so far as possible by utilizing\nthem as scouts and home guards through the mountains, away from the\npath of the large armies. Nothing of this was said to the Indians,\nwho might not have been satisfied with such an arrangement. Morgan\nwent back alone and the Cherokee enrolled under the command of their\nwhite chief. [432]\n\nThe \"Thomas Legion,\" recruited in 1862 by William H. Thomas for\nthe Confederate service and commanded by him as colonel, consisted\noriginally of one infantry regiment of ten companies (Sixty-ninth\nNorth Carolina Infantry), one infantry battalion of six companies,\none cavalry battalion of eight companies (First North Carolina Cavalry\nBattalion), one field battery (Light Battery) of 103 officers and men,\nand one company of engineers; in all about 2,800 men. The infantry\nbattalion was recruited toward the close of the war to a full regiment\nof ten companies. Companies A and B of the Sixty-ninth regiment\nand two other companies of the infantry regiment recruited later\nwere composed almost entirely of East Cherokee Indians, most of the\ncommissioned officers being white men. The whole number of Cherokee\nthus enlisted was nearly four hundred, or about every able-bodied\nman in the tribe. [433]\n\nIn accordance with Thomas's plan the Indians were employed\nchiefly as scouts and home guards in the mountain region along the\nTennessee-Carolina border, where, according to the testimony of Colonel\nStringfield, \"they did good work and service for the South.\" The most\nimportant engagement in which they were concerned occurred at Baptist\ngap, Tennessee, September 15, 1862, where Lieutenant Astu'gat\u00e2'ga,\n\"a splendid specimen of Indian manhood,\" was killed in a charge. The\nIndians were furious at his death, and before they could be restrained\nthey scalped one or two of the Federal dead. For this action ample\napologies were afterward given by their superior officers. The war,\nin fact, brought out all the latent Indian in their nature. Before\nstarting to the front every man consulted an oracle stone to learn\nwhether or not he might hope to return in safety. The start was\ncelebrated with a grand old-time war dance at the townhouse on Soco,\nand the same dance was repeated at frequent intervals thereafter,\nthe Indians being \"painted and feathered in good old style,\" Thomas\nhimself frequently assisting as master of ceremonies. The ballplay,\ntoo, was not forgotten, and on one occasion a detachment of Cherokee,\nleft to guard a bridge, became so engrossed in the excitement of\nthe game as to narrowly escape capture by a sudden dash of the\nFederals. Owing to Thomas's care for their welfare, they suffered\nbut slightly in actual battle, although a number died of hardship\nand disease. When the Confederates evacuated eastern Tennessee,\nin the winter of 1863-64, some of the white troops of the legion,\nwith one or two of the Cherokee companies, were shifted to western\nVirginia, and by assignment to other regiments a few of the Cherokee\nwere present at the final siege and surrender of Richmond. The main\nbody of the Indians, with the rest of the Thomas Legion, crossed over\ninto North Carolina and did service protecting the western border until\nthe close of the war, when they surrendered on parole at Waynesville,\nNorth Carolina, in May, 1865, all those of the command being allowed\nto keep their guns. It is claimed by their officers that they were\nthe last of the Confederate forces to surrender. About fifty of the\nCherokee veterans still survive, nearly half of whom, under conduct of\nColonel Stringfield, attended the Confederate reunion at Louisville,\nKentucky, in 1900, where they attracted much attention. [434]\n\nIn 1863, by resolution of February 12, the Confederate House of\nRepresentatives called for information as to the number and condition\nof the East Cherokee, and their pending relations with the Federal\ngovernment at the beginning of the war, with a view to continuing\nthese relations under Confederate auspices. In response to this\ninquiry a report was submitted by the Confederate commissioner\nof Indian affairs, S. S. Scott, based on information furnished by\nColonel Thomas and Captain James W. Terrell, their former disbursing\nagent, showing that interest upon the \"removal and subsistence fund\"\nestablished in 1848 had been paid annually up to and including\nthe year 1859, at the rate of $3.20 per capita, or an aggregate,\nexclusive of disbursing agent's commission, of $4,838.40 annually,\nbased upon the original Mullay enumeration of 1,517.\n\nUpon receipt of this report it was enacted by the Confederate congress\nthat the sum of $19,352.36 be paid the East Cherokee to cover the\ninterest period of four years from May 23, 1860, to May 23, 1864. In\nthis connection the Confederate commissioner suggested that the payment\nbe made in provisions, of which the Indians were then greatly in need,\nand which, if the payment were made in cash, they would be unable to\npurchase, on account of the general scarcity. He adds that, according\nto his information, almost every Cherokee capable of bearing arms was\nthen in the Confederate service. The roll furnished by Captain Terrell\nis the original Mullay roll corrected to May, 1860, no reference\nbeing made to the later Mullay enumeration (2,133), already alluded\nto. There is no record to show that the payment thus authorized was\nmade, and as the Confederate government was then in hard straits it\nis probable that nothing further was done in the matter.\n\nIn submitting his statement of previous payments, Colonel Thomas,\ntheir former agent, adds:\n\n\n As the North Carolina Cherokees have, like their brethren west,\n taken up arms against the Lincoln government, it is not probable\n that any further advances of interest will be made by that\n government to any portion of the Cherokee tribe. I also enclose a\n copy of the act of July 29, 1848, so far as relates to the North\n Carolina Cherokees, and a printed explanation of their rights,\n prepared by me in 1851, and submitted to the attorney-general,\n and his opinion thereon, which may not be altogether uninteresting\n to those who feel an interest in knowing something of the history\n of the Cherokee tribe of Indians, whose destiny is so closely\n identified with that of the Southern Confederacy. [435]\n\n\nIn a skirmish near Bryson City (then Charleston), Swain county,\nNorth Carolina, about a year after enlistment, a small party of\nCherokee--perhaps a dozen in number--was captured by a detachment\nof Union troops and carried to Knoxville, where, having become\ndissatisfied with their experience in the Confederate service, they\nwere easily persuaded to go over to the Union side. Through the\ninfluence of their principal man, Digane'ski, several others were\ninduced to desert to the Union army, making about thirty in all. As\na part of the Third North Carolina Mounted Volunteer Infantry, they\nserved with the Union forces in the same region until the close of\nthe war, when they returned to their homes to find their tribesmen\nso bitterly incensed against them that for some time their lives were\nin danger. Eight of these are still alive in 1900. [436]\n\nOne of these Union Cherokee had brought back with him the smallpox from\nan infected camp near Knoxville. Shortly after his return he became\nsick and soon died. As the characteristic pustules had not appeared,\nthe disease seeming to work inwardly, the nature of his sickness\nwas not at first suspected--smallpox having been an unknown disease\namong the Cherokee for nearly a century--and his funeral was largely\nattended. A week later a number of those who had been present became\nsick, and the disease was recognized by Colonel Thomas as smallpox\nin all its virulence. It spread throughout the tribe, this being in\nthe early spring of 1866, and in spite of all the efforts of Thomas,\nwho brought a doctor from Tennessee to wait upon them, more than one\nhundred of the small community died in consequence. The fatal result\nwas largely due to the ignorance of the Indians, who, finding their\nown remedies of no avail, used the heroic aboriginal treatment of the\nplunge bath in the river and the cold-water douche, which resulted\nin death in almost every case. Thus did the war bring its harvest of\ndeath, misery, and civil feud to the East Cherokee. [437]\n\nShortly after this event Colonel Thomas was compelled by physical\nand mental infirmity to retire from further active participation\nin the affairs of the East Cherokee, after more than half a century\nspent in intimate connection with them, during the greater portion of\nwhich time he had been their most trusted friend and adviser. Their\naffairs at once became the prey of confusion and factional strife,\nwhich continued until the United States stepped in as arbiter.\n\nIn 1868 Congress ordered another census of the East Cherokee, to serve\nas a guide in future payments, the roll to include only those persons\nwhose names had appeared upon the Mullay roll of 1848 and their legal\nheirs and representatives. The work was completed in the following year\nby S. H. Sweatland, and a payment of interest then due under former\nenactment was made by him on this basis. [438] \"In accordance with\ntheir earnestly expressed desire to be brought under the immediate\ncharge of the government as its wards,\" the Congress which ordered\nthis last census directed that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs\nshould assume the same charge over the East Cherokee as over other\ntribes, but as no extra funds were made available for the purpose\nthe matter was held in abeyance. [439] An unratified treaty made this\nyear with the Cherokee Nation west contained a stipulation that any\nCherokee east of the Mississippi who should remove to the Cherokee\nnation within three years should be entitled to full citizenship and\nprivileges therein, but after that date could be admitted only by\nact of the Cherokee national council. [440]\n\nAfter the retirement of Thomas, in the absence of any active\ngovernmental supervision, need was felt of some central authority. On\nDecember 9, 1868, a general council of the East Cherokee assembled\nat Cheowa, in Graham county, North Carolina, took preliminary steps\ntoward the adoption of a regular form of tribal government under a\nconstitution. N. J. Smith, afterward principal chief, was clerk of\nthe council. The new government was formally inaugurated on December\n1, 1870. It provided for a first and a second chief to serve for a\nterm of two years, minor officers to serve one year, and an annual\ncouncil representing each Cherokee settlement within the state of\nNorth Carolina. K\u00e2'lah\u00fb', \"All-bones,\" commonly known to the whites\nas Flying-squirrel or Sawnook (Sawanu'gi), was elected chief. A new\nconstitution was adopted five years later, by which the chief's term\nof office was fixed at four years. [441]\n\nThe status of the lands held by the Indians had now become a matter\nof serious concern, As has been stated, the deeds had been made out by\nThomas in his own name, as the state laws at that time forbade Indian\nownership of real estate. In consequence of his losses during the war\nand his subsequent disability, the Thomas properties, of which the\nCherokee lands were technically a part, had become involved, so that\nthe entire estate had passed into the hands of creditors, the most\nimportant of whom, William Johnston, had obtained sheriff's deeds\nin 1869 for all of these Indian lands under three several judgments\nagainst Thomas, aggregating $33,887.11. To adjust the matter so\nas to secure title and possession to the Indians, Congress in 1870\nauthorized suit to be brought in their name for the recovery of their\ninterest. This suit was begun in May, 1873, in the United States\ncircuit court for western North Carolina. A year later the matters\nin dispute were submitted by agreement to a board of arbitrators,\nwhose award was confirmed by the court in November, 1874.\n\nThe award finds that Thomas had purchased with Indian funds a tract\nestimated to contain 50,000 acres on Oconaluftee river and Soco\ncreek, and known as the Qualla boundary, together with a number of\nindividual tracts outside the boundary; that the Indians were still\nindebted to Thomas toward the purchase of the Qualla boundary lands\nfor the sum of $18,250, from which should be deducted $6,500 paid by\nthem to Johnston to release titles, with interest to date of award,\nmaking an aggregate of $8,486, together with a further sum of $2,478,\nwhich had been intrusted to Terrell, the business clerk and assistant\nof Thomas, and by him turned over to Thomas, as creditor of the\nIndians, under power of attorney, this latter sum, with interest\nto date of award, aggregating $2,697.89; thus leaving a balance\ndue from the Indians to Thomas or his legal creditor, Johnston, of\n$7,066.11. The award declares that on account of the questionable\nmanner in which the disputed lands had been bought in by Johnston,\nhe should be allowed to hold them only as security for the balance\ndue him until paid, and that on the payment of the said balance of\n$7,066.11, with interest at 6 per cent from the date of the award,\nthe Indians should be entitled to a clear conveyance from him of the\nlegal title to all the lands embraced within the Qualla boundary. [442]\n\nTo enable the Indians to clear off this lien on their lands and for\nother purposes, Congress in 1875 directed that as much as remained\nof the \"removal and subsistence fund\" set apart for their benefit in\n1848 should be used \"in perfecting the titles to the lands awarded to\nthem, and to pay the costs, expenses, and liabilities attending their\nrecent litigations, also to purchase and extinguish the titles of any\nwhite persons to lands within the general boundaries allotted to them\nby the court, and for the education, improvement, and civilization\nof their people.\" In accordance with this authority the unpaid\nbalance and interest due Johnston, amounting to $7,242.76, was paid\nhim in the same year, and shortly afterward there was purchased\non behalf of the Indians some fifteen thousand acres additional,\nthe Commissioner of Indian Affairs being constituted trustee for the\nIndians. For the better protection of the Indians the lands were made\ninalienable except by assent of the council and upon approval of the\nPresident of the United States. The deeds for the Qualla boundary\nand the 15,000 acre purchase were executed respectively on October 9,\n1876, and August 14, 1880. [443] As the boundaries of the different\npurchases were but vaguely defined, a new survey of the whole Qualla\nboundary and adjoining tracts was authorized. The work was intrusted\nto M. S. Temple, deputy United States surveyor, who completed it\nin 1876, his survey maps of the reservation being accepted as the\nofficial standard. [444]\n\nThe titles and boundaries having been adjusted, the Indian Office\nassumed regular supervision of East Cherokee affairs, and in June,\n1875, the first agent since the retirement of Thomas was sent out in\nthe person of W. C. McCarthy. He found the Indians, according to his\nreport, destitute and discouraged, almost without stock or farming\ntools. There were no schools, and very few full-bloods could speak\nEnglish, although to their credit nearly all could read and write\ntheir own language, the parents teaching the children. Under his\nauthority a distribution was made of stock animals, seed wheat, and\nfarming tools, and several schools were started. In the next year,\nhowever, the agency was discontinued and the educational interests\nof the band turned over to the state school superintendent. [445]\n\nIn the meantime K\u00e2'lah\u00fb' had been succeeded as chief by Lloyd R. Welch\n(Da'si`giya'gi), an educated mixed-blood of Cheowa, who served about\nfive years, dying shortly after his reelection to a second term\n(48). He made a good record by his work in reconciling the various\nfactions which had sprung up after the withdrawal of the guiding\ninfluence of Thomas, and in defeating the intrigues of fraudulent\nwhite claimants and mischief makers. Shortly before his death the\nGovernment, through Special Agent John A. Sibbald, recognized his\nauthority as principal chief, together with the constitution which\nhad been adopted by the band under his auspices in 1875. N. J. Smith\n(Tsa'ladihi'), who had previously served as clerk of the council,\nwas elected to his unexpired term and continued to serve until the\nfall of 1890. [446]\n\nWe find no further official notice of the East Cherokee until 1881,\nwhen Commissioner Price reported that they were still without agent\nor superintendent, and that so far as the Indian Office was concerned\ntheir affairs were in an anomalous and unsatisfactory condition,\nwhile factional feuds were adding to the difficulties and retarding the\nprogress of the band. In the spring of that year a visiting delegation\nfrom the Cherokee Nation west had extended to them an urgent invitation\nto remove to Indian Territory and the Indian Office had encouraged\nthe project, with the result that 161 persons of the band removed\nduring the year to Indian Territory, the expense being borne by the\nGovernment. Others were represented as being desirous to remove,\nand the Commissioner recommended an appropriation for the purpose,\nbut as Congress failed to act the matter was dropped. [447]\n\nThe neglected condition of the East Cherokee having been brought to\nthe attention of those old-time friends of the Indian, the Quakers,\nthrough an appeal made in their behalf by members of that society\nresiding in North Carolina, the Western Yearly Meeting, of Indiana,\nvolunteered to undertake the work of civilization and education. On\nMay 31, 1881, representatives of the Friends entered into a contract\nwith the Indians, subject to approval by the Government, to establish\nand continue among them for ten years an industrial school and other\ncommon schools, to be supported in part from the annual interest of the\ntrust fund held by the Government to the credit of the East Cherokee\nand in part by funds furnished by the Friends themselves. Through the\nefforts of Barnabas C. Hobbs, of the Western Yearly Meeting, a yearly\ncontract to the same effect was entered into with the Commissioner of\nIndian Affairs later in the same year, and was renewed by successive\ncommissioners to cover the period of ten years ending June 30, 1892,\nwhen the contract system was terminated and the Government assumed\ndirect control. Under the joint arrangement, with some aid at the\noutset from the North Carolina Meeting, work was begun in 1881 by\nThomas Brown with several teachers sent out by the Indiana Friends,\nwho established a small training school at the agency headquarters at\nCherokee, and several day schools in the outlying settlements. He\nwas succeeded three years later by H. W. Spray, an experienced\neducator, who, with a corps of efficient assistants and greatly\nenlarged facilities, continued to do good work for the elevation\nof the Indians until the close of the contract system eight years\nlater. [448] After an interregnum, during which the schools suffered\nfrom frequent changes, he was reappointed as government agent and\nsuperintendent in 1898, a position which he still holds in 1901. To\nthe work conducted under his auspices the East Cherokee owe much of\nwhat they have to-day of civilization and enlightenment.\n\nFrom some travelers who visited the reservation about this time we\nhave a pleasant account of a trip along Soco and a day with Chief\nSmith at Yellow Hill. They describe the Indians as being so nearly\nlike the whites in their manner of living that a stranger could\nrarely distinguish an Indian's cabin or little cove farm from that\nof a white man. Their principal crop was corn, which they ground\nfor themselves, and they had also an abundance of apples, peaches,\nand plums, and a few small herds of ponies and cattle. Their wants\nwere so few that they had but little use for money. Their primitive\ncostume had long been obsolete, and their dress was like that of\nthe whites, excepting that moccasins took the place of shoes, and\nthey manufactured their own clothing by the aid of spinning-wheels\nand looms. Finely cut pipes and well-made baskets were also produced,\nand the good influence of the schools recently established was already\nmanifest in the children. [449]\n\nIn 1882 the agency was reestablished and provision was made for\ntaking a new census of all Cherokee east of the Mississippi, Joseph\nG. Hester being appointed to the work. [450] The census was submitted\nas complete in June, 1884, and contained the names of 1,881 persons in\nNorth Carolina, 758 in Georgia, 213 in Tennessee, 71 in Alabama, and 33\nscattering, a total of 2,956. [451] Although this census received the\napproval and certificate of the East Cherokee council, a large portion\nof the band still refuse to recognize it as authoritative, claiming\nthat a large number of persons therein enrolled have no Cherokee blood.\n\nThe East Cherokee had never ceased to contend for a participation in\nthe rights and privileges accruing to the western Nation under treaties\nwith the Government. In 1882 a special agent had been appointed to\ninvestigate their claims, and in the following year, under authority\nof Congress, the eastern band of Cherokee brought suit in the Court\nof Claims against the United States and the Cherokee Nation west to\ndetermine its rights in the permanent annuity fund and other trust\nfunds held by the United States for the Cherokee Indians. [452] The\ncase was decided adversely to the eastern band, first by the Court of\nClaims in 1885, [453] and finally, on appeal, by the Supreme Court on\nMarch 1, 1886, that court holding in its decision that the Cherokee\nin North Carolina had dissolved their connection with the Cherokee\nNation and ceased to be a part of it when they refused to accompany\nthe main body at the Removal, and that if Indians in North Carolina\nor in any state east of the Mississippi wished to enjoy the benefits\nof the common property of the Cherokee Nation in any form whatever\nthey must be readmitted to citizenship in the Cherokee Nation and\ncomply with its constitution and laws. In accordance with this\ndecision the agent in the Indian territory was instructed to issue\nno more residence permits to claimants for Cherokee citizenship, and\nit was officially announced that all persons thereafter entering that\ncountry without consent of the Cherokee authorities would be treated\nas intruders. [454] This decision, cutting off the East Cherokee from\nall hope of sharing in any of the treaty benefits enjoyed by their\nwestern kinsmen, was a sore disappointment to them all, especially\nto Chief Smith, who had worked unceasingly in their behalf from the\ninstitution of the proceedings. In view of the result, Commissioner\nAtkins strongly recommended, as the best method of settling them\nin permanent homes, secure from white intrusion and from anxiety on\naccount of their uncertain tenure and legal status in North Carolina,\nthat negotiations be opened through government channels for their\nreadmission to citizenship in the Cherokee Nation, to be followed,\nif successful, by the sale of their lands in North Carolina and their\nremoval to Indian Territory. [455]\n\nIn order to acquire a more definite legal status, the Cherokee residing\nin North Carolina--being practically all those of the eastern band\nhaving genuine Indian interests--became a corporate body under the laws\nof the state in 1889. The act, ratified on March 11, declares in its\nfirst section \"That the North Carolina or Eastern Cherokee Indians,\nresident or domiciled in the counties of Jackson, Swain, Graham, and\nCherokee, be and at the same time are hereby created and constituted\na body politic and corporate under the name, style, and title of the\nEastern Band of Cherokee Indians, with all the rights, franchises,\nprivileges and powers incident and belonging to corporations under\nthe laws of the state of North Carolina. [456]\n\nOn August 2, 1893, ex-Chief Smith died at Cherokee, in the\nfifty-seventh year of his life, more than twenty of which had been\ngiven to the service of his people. Nimrod Jarrett Smith, known to\nthe Cherokee as Tsa'ladihi', was the son of a half breed father by an\nIndian mother, and was born near the present Murphy, Cherokee county,\nNorth Carolina, on January 3, 1837. His earliest recollections were\nthus of the miseries that attended the flight of the refugees to the\nmountains during the Removal period. His mother spoke very little\nEnglish, but his father was a man of considerable intelligence, having\nacted as interpreter and translator for Reverend Evan Jones at the\nold Valleytown mission. As the boy grew to manhood he acquired a fair\neducation, which, aided by a commanding presence, made him a person of\ninfluence among his fellows. At twenty-five years of age he enlisted\nin the Thomas Legion as first sergeant of Company B, Sixty-ninth North\nCarolina (Confederate) Infantry, and served in that capacity till the\nclose of the war. He was clerk of the council that drafted the first\nEast Cherokee constitution in 1868, and on the death of Principal Chief\nLloyd Welch in 1880 was elected to fill the unexpired term, continuing\nin office by successive reelections until the close of 1891, a period\nof about twelve years, the longest term yet filled by an incumbent. As\nprincipal chief he signed the contract under which the school work\nwas inaugurated in 1881. For several years thereafter his duties,\nparticularly in connection with the suit against the western Cherokee,\nrequired his presence much of the time at Washington, while at home his\ntime was almost as constantly occupied in attending to the wants of a\ndependent people. Although he was entitled under the constitution of\nthe band to a salary of five hundred dollars per year, no part of this\nsalary was ever paid, because of the limited resources of his people,\nand only partial reimbursement was made to him, shortly before his\ndeath, for expenses incurred in official visits to Washington. With\nfrequent opportunities to enrich himself at the expense of his people,\nhe maintained his honor and died a poor man.\n\nIn person Chief Smith was a splendid specimen of physical manhood,\nbeing six feet four inches in height and built in proportion, erect\nin figure, with flowing black hair curling down over his shoulders,\na deep musical voice, and a kindly spirit and natural dignity that\nnever failed to impress the stranger. His widow--a white woman--and\nseveral children survive him. [457]\n\nIn 1894 the long-standing litigation between the East Cherokee and a\nnumber of creditors and claimants to Indian lands within and adjoining\nthe Qualla boundary was finally settled by a compromise by which the\nseveral white tenants and claimants within the boundary agreed to\nexecute a quitclaim and vacate on payment to them by the Indians of\nsums aggregating $24,552, while for another disputed adjoining tract\nof 33,000 acres the United States agreed to pay, for the Indians, at\nthe rate of $1.25 per acre. The necessary Government approval having\nbeen obtained, Congress appropriated a sufficient amount for carrying\ninto effect the agreement, thus at last completing a perfect and\nunincumbered title to all the lands claimed by the Indians, with the\nexception of a few outlying tracts of comparative unimportance. [458]\n\nIn 1895 the Cherokee residing in North Carolina upon the reservation\nand in the outlying settlements were officially reported to number\n1,479. [459] A year later an epidemic of grippe spread through the\nband, with the result that the census of 1897 shows but 1,312, [460]\namong those who died at this time being Big-witch (Tskil-e'gwa),\nthe oldest man of the band, who distinctly remembered the Creek war,\nand Wadi'yahi, the last old woman who preserved the art of making\ndouble-walled baskets. In the next year the population had recovered\nto 1,351. The description of the mode of living then common to most\nof the Indians will apply nearly as well to-day:\n\n\n While they are industrious, these people are not progressive\n farmers and have learned nothing of modern methods. The same crops\n are raised continuously until the soil will yield no more or is\n washed away, when new ground is cleared or broken. The value of\n rotation and fertilizing has not yet been discovered or taught....\n\n That these people can live at all upon the products of their small\n farms is due to the extreme simplicity of their food, dress, and\n manner of living. The typical house is of logs, is about fourteen\n by sixteen feet, of one room, just high enough for the occupants\n to stand erect, with perhaps a small loft for the storage of\n extras. The roof is of split shingles or shakes. There is no\n window, the open door furnishing what light is required. At one\n end of the house is the fireplace, with outside chimney of stones\n or sticks chinked with clay. The furniture is simple and cheap. An\n iron pot, a bake kettle, a coffeepot and mill, small table, and a\n few cups, knives, and spoons are all that is needed. These, with\n one or two bedsteads, homemade, a few pillows and quilts, with\n feather mattresses for winter covering, as well as for the usual\n purpose, constitute the principal house possessions. For outdoor\n work there is an ax, hoe, and shovel plow. A wagon or cart may be\n owned, but is not essential. The outfit is inexpensive and answers\n every purpose. The usual food is bean bread, with coffee. In the\n fall chestnut bread is also used. Beef is seldom eaten, but pork\n is highly esteemed, and a considerable number of hogs are kept,\n running wild and untended in summer. [461]\n\n\nBy the most recent official count, in 1900, the East Cherokee residing\nin North Carolina under direct charge of the agent and included within\nthe act of incorporation number 1,376, of whom about 1,100 are on\nthe reservation, the rest living farther to the west, on Nantahala,\nCheowa, and Hiwassee rivers. This does not include mixed-bloods in\nadjoining states and some hundreds of unrecognized claimants. Those\nenumerated own approximately 100,000 acres of land, of which 83,000\nare included within the Qualla reservation and a contiguous tract in\nJackson and Swain counties. They receive no rations or annuities and\nare entirely self-supporting, the annual interest on their trust\nfund established in 1848, which has dwindled to about $23,000,\nbeing applied to the payment of taxes upon their unoccupied common\nlands. From time to time they have made leases of timber, gold-washing,\nand grazing privileges, but without any great profit to themselves. By\nspecial appropriation the government supports an industrial training\nschool at Cherokee, the agency headquarters, in which 170 pupils are\nnow being boarded, clothed, and educated in the practical duties of\nlife. This school, which in its workings is a model of its kind, owes\nmuch of its usefulness and high standing to the efficient management\nof Prof. H. W. Spray (Wilsini'), already mentioned, who combines the\nduties of superintendent and agent for the band. His chief clerk,\nMr James Blythe (Diskwa'`ni, \"Chestnut-bread\"), a Cherokee by blood,\nat one time filled the position of agent, being perhaps the only\nIndian who has ever served in such capacity.\n\nThe exact legal status of the East Cherokee is still a matter of\ndispute, they being at once wards of the government, citizens of the\nUnited States, and (in North Carolina) a corporate body under state\nlaws. They pay real estate taxes and road service, exercise the voting\nprivilege, [462] and are amenable to the local courts, but do not pay\npoll tax or receive any pauper assistance from the counties; neither\ncan they make free contracts or alienate their lands (49). Under their\ntribal constitution they are governed by a principal and an assistant\nchief, elected for a term of four years, with an executive council\nappointed by the chief, and sixteen councilors elected by the various\nsettlements for a term of two years. The annual council is held in\nOctober at Cherokee, on the reservation, the proceedings being in the\nCherokee language and recorded by their clerk in the Cherokee alphabet,\nas well as in English. The present chief is Jesse Reid (Tse'si-Ska'tsi,\n\"Scotch Jesse\"), an intelligent mixed-blood, who fills the office with\ndignity and ability. As a people they are peaceable and law-abiding,\nkind and hospitable, providing for their simple wants by their own\nindustry without asking or expecting outside assistance. Their fields,\norchards, and fish traps, with some few domestic animals and occasional\nhunting, supply them with food, while by the sale of ginseng and\nother medicinal plants gathered in the mountains, with fruit and\nhoney of their own raising, they procure what additional supplies\nthey need from the traders. The majority are fairly comfortable, far\nabove the condition of most Indian tribes, and but little, if any,\nbehind their white neighbors. In literary ability they may even be\nsaid to surpass them, as in addition to the result of nearly twenty\nyears of school work among the younger people, nearly all the men\nand some of the women can read and write their own language. All wear\ncivilized costumes, though an occasional pair of moccasins is seen,\nwhile the women find means to gratify the racial love of color in\nthe wearing of red bandanna kerchiefs in place of bonnets. The older\npeople still cling to their ancient rites and sacred traditions, but\nthe dance and the ballplay wither and the Indian day is nearly spent.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIII--NOTES TO THE HISTORICAL SKETCH\n\n(1) Tribal synonymy (page 15): Very few Indian tribes are known to us\nunder the names by which they call themselves. One reason for this\nis the fact that the whites have usually heard of a tribe from its\nneighbors, speaking other languages, before coming upon the tribe\nitself. Many of the popular tribal names were originally nicknames\nbestowed by neighboring tribes, frequently referring to some peculiar\ncustom, and in a large number of cases would be strongly repudiated by\nthe people designated by them. As a rule each tribe had a different\nname in every surrounding Indian language, besides those given by\nSpanish, French, Dutch, or English settlers.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wiya'--This word is compounded from y\u00fb\u00f1wi (person) and ya\n(real or principal). The assumption of superiority is much in\nevidence in Indian tribal names; thus, the Iroquois, Delawares,\nand Pawnee call themselves, respectively, O\u00f1we-ho\u00f1we, Leni-lenape',\nand Tsariksi-tsa'riks, all of which may be rendered \"men of men,\"\n\"men surpassing other men,\" or \"real men.\"\n\nKitu'hwagi--This word, which can not be analyzed, is derived from\nKitu'hwa, the name of an ancient Cherokee settlement formerly on\nTuckasegee river, just above the present Bryson City, in Swain county,\nNorth Carolina. It is noted in 1730 as one of the \"seven mother towns\"\nof the tribe. Its inhabitants were called Ani'-Kitu'hwagi (people of\nKituhwa), and seem to have exercised a controlling influence over\nthose of all the towns on the waters of Tuckasegee and the upper\npart of Little Tennessee, the whole body being frequently classed\ntogether as Ani'-Kitu'hwagi. The dialect of these towns held a middle\nplace linguistically between those spoken to the east, on the heads\nof Savannah, and to the west, on Hiwassee, Cheowah, and the lower\ncourse of Little Tennessee. In various forms the word was adopted\nby the Delawares, Shawano, and other northern Algonquian tribes as a\nsynonym for Cherokee, probably from the fact that the Kituhwa people\nguarded the Cherokee northern frontier. In the form Cuttawa it appears\non the French map of Vaugondy in 1755. From a similarity of spelling,\nSchoolcraft incorrectly makes it a synonym for Catawba, while Brinton\nincorrectly asserts that it is an Algonquian term, fancifully rendered,\n\"inhabitants of the great wilderness.\" Among the western Cherokee it\nis now the name of a powerful secret society, which had its origin\nshortly before the War of the Rebellion.\n\nCherokee--This name occurs in fully fifty different spellings. In the\nstandard recognized form, which dates back at least to 1708, it has\ngiven name to counties in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia,\nand Alabama, within the ancient territory of the tribe, and to as many\nas twenty other geographic locations within the United States. In\nthe Eastern or Lower dialect, with which the English settlers first\nbecame familiar, the form is Tsa'ragi', whence we get Cherokee. In\nthe other dialects the form is Tsa'lagi'. It is evidently foreign\nto the tribe, as is frequently the case in tribal names, and in\nall probability is of Choctaw origin, having come up from the south\nthrough the medium of the Mobilian trade jargon. It will be noted that\nDe Soto, whose chroniclers first use the word, in the form Chalaque,\nobtained his interpreters from the Gulf coast of Florida. Fontanedo,\nwriting about the year 1575, mentions other inland tribes known to\nthe natives of Florida under names which seem to be of Choctaw origin;\nfor instance, the Canogacole, interpreted \"wicked people,\" the final\npart being apparently the Choctaw word okla or ogula, \"people\", which\nappears also in Pascagoula, Bayou Goula, and Pensacola. Shetimasha,\nAtakapa, and probably Biloxi, are also Choctaw names, although the\ntribes themselves are of other origins. As the Choctaw held much of\nthe Gulf coast and were the principal traders of that region, it was\nnatural that explorers landing among them should adopt their names\nfor the more remote tribes.\n\nThe name seems to refer to the fact that the tribe occupied a cave\ncountry. In the \"Choctaw Leksikon\" of Allen Wright, 1880, page 87,\nwe find choluk, a noun, signifying a hole, cavity, pit, chasm,\netc., and as an adjective signifying hollow. In the manuscript\nChoctaw dictionary of Cyrus Byington, in the library of the Bureau\nof American Ethnology, we find chiluk, noun, a hole, cavity, hollow,\npit, etc., with a statement that in its usual application it means a\ncavity or hollow, and not a hole through anything. As an adjective,\nthe same form is given as signifying hollow, having a hole, as iti\nchiluk, a hollow tree; aboha chiluk, an empty house; chiluk chukoa,\nto enter a hole. Other noun forms given are chuluk and achiluk in\nthe singular and chilukoa in the plural, all signifying hole, pit,\nor cavity. Verbal forms are chilukikbi, to make a hole, and chilukba,\nto open and form a fissure.\n\nIn agreement with the genius of the Cherokee language the root form\nof the tribal name takes nominal or verbal prefixes according to\nits connection with the rest of the sentence, and is declined, or\nrather conjugated, as follows: Singular--first person, tsi-Tsa'lagi,\nI (am) a Cherokee; second person, hi-Tsa'lagi, thou art a Cherokee;\nthird person, a-Tsa'lagi, he is a Cherokee. Dual--first person,\n\u00e2sti-Tsa'lagi, we two are Cherokee; second person, sti-Tsa'lagi,\nyou two are Cherokee; third person, ani'-Tsa'lagi, they two are\nCherokee. Plural--first person, atsi-Tsa'lagi, we (several) are\nCherokee; second person, hitsi-Tsa'lagi, you (several) are Cherokee;\nthird person, ani'-Tsa'lagi, they (several) are Cherokee. It will be\nnoticed that the third person dual and plural are alike.\n\nOyata'ge`rono\u00f1', etc.--The Iroquois (Mohawk) form is given by Hewitt\nas O-yata'-ge`rono\u00f1', of which the root is yata', cave, o is the\nassertive prefix, ge is the locative at, and rono\u00f1' is the tribal\nsuffix, equivalent to (English) -ites or people. The word, which has\nseveral dialectic forms, signifies \"inhabitants of the cave country,\"\nor \"cave-country people,\" rather than \"people who dwell in caves,\"\nas rendered by Schoolcraft. The same radix yata' occurs also in the\nIroquois name for the opossum, which is a burrowing animal. As is well\nknown, the Allegheny region is peculiarly a cave country, the caves\nhaving been used by the Indians for burial and shelter purposes, as\nis proved by numerous remains found in them. It is probable that the\nIroquois simply translated the name (Chalaque) current in the South,\nas we find is the case in the West, where the principal plains tribes\nare known under translations of the same names in all the different\nlanguages. The Wyandot name for the Cherokee, Wataiyo-rono\u00f1', and\ntheir Catawba name, Ma\u00f1tera\u00f1', both seem to refer to coming out of\nthe ground, and may have been originally intended to convey the same\nidea of cave people.\n\nRickahockan--This name is used by the German explorer, Lederer,\nin 1670, as the name of the people inhabiting the mountains to the\nsouthwest of the Virginia settlements. On his map he puts them in the\nmountains on the southern head streams of Roanoke river, in western\nNorth Carolina. He states that, according to his Indian informants,\nthe Rickahockan lived beyond the mountains in a land of great waves,\nwhich he interpreted to mean the sea shore (!), but it is more likely\nthat the Indians were trying to convey, by means of the sign language,\nthe idea of a succession of mountain ridges. The name was probably\nof Powhatan origin, and is evidently identical with Rechahecrian of\nthe Virginia chronicles of about the same period, the r in the latter\nform being perhaps a misprint. It may be connected with Righkahauk,\nindicated on Smith's map of Virginia, in 1607, as the name of a town\nwithin the Powhatan territory, and still preserved in Rockahock,\nthe name of an estate on lower Pamunkey river. We have too little\nmaterial of the Powhatan language to hazard an interpretation,\nbut it may possibly contain the root of the word for sand, which\nappears as lekawa, nikawa, negaw, rigawa, rekwa, etc., in various\neastern Algonquian dialects, whence Rockaway (sand), and Recgawawank\n(sandy place). The Powhatan form, as given by Strachey, is racawh\n(sand). He gives also rocoyhook (otter), reihcahahcoik, hidden under\na cloud, overcast, rickahone or reihcoan (a comb), and rickewh (to\ndivide in halves).\n\nTalligewi--As Brinton well says: \"No name in the Lenape' legends has\ngiven rise to more extensive discussion than this.\" On Colden's map\nin his \"History of the Five Nations,\" 1727, we find the \"Alleghens\"\nindicated upon Allegheny river. Heckewelder, who recorded the\nDelaware tradition in 1819, says: \"Those people, as I was told,\ncalled themselves Talligeu or Talligewi. Colonel John Gibson, however,\na gentleman who has a thorough knowledge of the Indians, and speaks\nseveral of their languages, is of the opinion that they were not\ncalled Talligewi, but Alligewi; and it would seem that he is right\nfrom the traces of their name which still remain in the country,\nthe Allegheny river and mountains having indubitably been named\nafter them. The Delawares still call the former Alligewi Sipu (the\nriver of the Alligewi)\"--Indian Nations, p. 48, ed. 1876. Loskiel,\nwriting on the authority of Zeisberger, says that the Delawares knew\nthe whole country drained by the Ohio under the name of Alligewinengk,\nmeaning \"the land in which they arrived from distant places,\" basing\nhis interpretation upon an etymology compounded from talli or alli,\nthere, icku, to that place, and ewak, they go, with a locative\nfinal. Ettwein, another Moravian writer, says the Delawares called\n\"the western country\" Alligewenork, meaning a warpath, and called\nthe river Alligewi Sipo. This definition would make the word come\nfrom palliton or alliton, to fight, to make war, ewak, they go, and a\nlocative, i. e., \"they go there to fight.\" Trumbull, an authority on\nAlgonquian languages, derives the river name from wulik, good, best,\nhanne, rapid stream, and sipu, river, of which rendering its Iroquois\nname, Ohio, is nearly an equivalent. Rafinesque renders Talligewi as\n\"there found,\" from talli, there, and some other root, not given\n(Brinton, Walam Olum, pp. 229-230, 1885).\n\nIt must be noted that the names Ohio and Alligewi (or Allegheny) were\nnot applied by the Indians, as with us, to different parts of the same\nriver, but to the whole stream, or at least the greater portion of it\nfrom its head downward. Although Brinton sees no necessary connection\nbetween the river name and the traditional tribal name, the statement\nof Heckewelder, generally a competent authority on Delaware matters,\nmakes them identical.\n\nIn the traditional tribal name, Talligewi or Alligewi, wi is an\nassertive verbal suffix, so that the form properly means \"he is a\nTallige,\" or \"they are Tallige.\" This comes very near to Tsa'lagi',\nthe name by which the Cherokee call themselves, and it may have\nbeen an early corruption of that name. In Zeisberger's Delaware\ndictionary, however, we find waloh or walok, signifying a cave or\nhole, while in the \"Walam Olum\" we have oligonunk rendered \"at the\nplace of caves,\" the region being further described as a buffalo\nland on a pleasant plain, where the Lenape', advancing seaward from\na less abundant northern region, at last found food (Walam Olum,\npp. 194-195). Unfortunately, like other aboriginal productions of its\nkind among the northern tribes, the Lenape chronicle is suggestive\nrather than complete and connected. With more light it may be that\nseeming discrepancies would disappear and we should find at last\nthat the Cherokee, in ancient times as in the historic period, were\nalways the southern vanguard of the Iroquoian race, always primarily\na mountain people, but with their flank resting upon the Ohio and\nits great tributaries, following the trend of the Blue ridge and\nthe Cumberland as they slowly gave way before the pressure from the\nnorth until they were finally cut off from the parent stock by the\nwedge of Algonquian invasion, but always, whether in the north or in\nthe south, keeping their distinctive title among the tribes as the\n\"people of the cave country.\"\n\nAs the Cherokee have occupied a prominent place in history for so long\na period their name appears in many synonyms and diverse spellings. The\nfollowing are among the principal of these:\n\n\nSYNONYMS\n\nTsa'lagi' (plural, Ani'-Tsa'lagi'). Proper form in the Middle and\nWestern Cherokee dialects.\nTsa'ragi'. Proper form in the Eastern or Lower Cherokee dialect.\nAchalaque. Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, 1847 (incorrectly quoting\nGarcilaso).\nChalakee. Nuttall, Travels, 124, 1821.\nChalaque. Gentleman of Elvas, 1557; Publications of Hakluyt Society,\nIX, 60, 1851.\nChalaquies. Barcia, Ensayo, 335, 1723.\nCharakeys. Homann heirs' map, about 1730.\nCharikees. Document of 1718, fide Rivers, South Carolina, 55, 1856.\nCharokees. Governor Johnson, 1720, fide Rivers, Early History South\nCarolina, 93, 1874.\nCheelake. Barton, New Views, xliv, 1798.\nCheerake. Adair, American Indians, 226, 1775.\nCheerakee. Ibid., 137.\nCheeraque's. Moore, 1704, in Carroll, Hist. Colls. South Carolina,\nII, 576, 1836.\nCheerokee. Ross (?), 1776, in Historical Magazine, 2d series, II,\n218, 1867.\nChel-a-ke. Long, Expedition to Rocky Mountains, II, lxx, 1823.\nChelakees. Gallatin, Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc., II, 90, 1836.\nChelaques. Nuttall, Travels, 247, 1821.\nChelekee. Keane, in Stanford's Compendium, 506, 1878.\nChellokee. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, II, 204, 1852.\nCheloculgee. White, Statistics of Georgia, 28, 1849 (given as plural\nform of Creek name).\nChelokees. Gallatin, Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc., II, 104, 1836.\nCheokees. Johnson, 1772, in New York Doc. Col. Hist., VIII, 314, 1857\n(misprint for Cherokees).\nCheraguees. Coxe, Carolina, II, 1741.\nCherakees. Ibid., map, 1741.\nCherakis. Chauvignerie, 1736, fide Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, III,\n555, 1853.\nCheraquees. Coxe, Carolana, 13, 1741.\nCheraquis. Penicaut, 1699, in Margry, V, 404, 1883.\nCherickees. Clarke, 1739, in New York Doc. Col. Hist., VI, 148, 1855.\nCherikee. Albany conference, 1742, ibid., 218.\nCherokee. Governor Johnson, 1708, in Rivers, South Carolina, 238, 1856.\nCherookees. Croghan, 1760, in Mass. Hist. Soc. Colls., 4th series,\nIX, 372, 1871.\nCheroquees. Campbell, 1761, ibid., 416.\nCherrackees. Evans, 1755, in Gregg, Old Cheraws, 15, 1867.\nCherrokees. Treaty of 1722, fide Drake, Book of Indians, bk. 4,\n32, 1848.\nCherrykees. Weiser, 1748, fide Kauffman, Western Pennsylvania,\nappendix, 18, 1851.\nChirakues. Randolph, 1699, in Rivers, South Carolina, 449, 1856.\nChirokys. Writer about 1825, Annales de la Prop. de la Foi, II,\n384, 1841.\nChorakis. Document of 1748, New York Doc. Col. Hist., X, 143, 1858.\nChreokees. Pike, Travels, 173, 1811 (misprint, transposed).\nShanaki. Gatschet, Caddo MS, Bureau Am. Ethn., 1882 (Caddo name).\nShan-nack. Marcy, Red River, 273, 1854 (Wichita name).\nShannaki. Gatschet, Fox MS, Bureau Am. Ethn., 1882 (Fox name: plural\nform, Shannakiak).\nShayage. Gatschet, Kaw MS, Bur. Am. Ethn., 1878 (Kaw name).\nSulluggoes. Coxe, Carolana, 22, 1741.\nTcalke. Gatschet, Tonkawa MS, Bur. Am. Ethn., 1882 (Tonkawa name,\nChal-ke).\nTcerokiec. Gatschet, Wichita MS, Bur. Am. Ethn., 1882 (Wichita name,\nCherokish).\nTchatakes. La Salle, 1682, in Margry, II, 197, 1877 (misprint).\nTsalakies. Gallatin, Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc., II, 90, 1836.\nTsallakee. Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, 310, 1847.\nTs\u00e4-l\u00f3-kee. Morgan, Ancient Society, 113, 1878.\nTschirokesen. Wrangell, Ethn. Nachrichten, XIII, 1839 (German form).\nTs\u00fblahki. Grayson, Creek MS, Bur. Am. Ethn., 1885 (Creek name; plural\nform, Tsalgal'gi or Ts\u00fblg\u00fbl'gi--Mooney).\nTzerrickey. Urlsperger, fide Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend, I,\n26, 1884.\nTzulukis. Rafinesque, Am. Nations, I, 123, 1836.\nZolucans. Rafinesque, in Marshall, Kentucky, I, 23, 1824.\nZulocans.\nTalligeu. Heckewelder, 1819, Indian Nations, 48, reprint of 1876\nTalligewi. (traditional Delaware name; singular, Tallige' or\nAlligewi. Allige' (see preceding explanation).\nAlleg. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, V, 133, 1855.\nAllegans. Colden, map, 1727, fide Schoolcraft, ibid., III, 525, 1853.\nAllegewi. Schoolcraft, ibid., V, 133, 1855.\nAlleghans. Colden, 1727, quoted in Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois,\n147, 1847.\nAlleghanys. Rafinesque, in Marshall, Kentucky, I, 34, 1824.\nAlleghens. Colden, map, 1727, fide Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois,\n305, 1847.\nAllegwi. Squier, in Beach, Indian Miscellany, 26, 1877.\nAlli. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, V, 133, 1855.\nAllighewis. Keane, in Stanford's Compendium, 500, 1878.\nTalagans. Rafinesque, in Marshall, Kentucky, I, 28, 1824.\nTalega. Brinton, Walam Olum, 201, 1885.\nTallagewy. Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, II, 36, 1852.\nTallegwi. Rafinesque, fide Mercer, Lenape Stone, 90, 1885.\nTalligwee. Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, 310, 1847.\nTallike. Brinton, Walam Olum, 230, 1885.\nKitu'hwagi (plural, Ani'-Kitu'hwagi. See preceding explanation).\nCuttawa. Vaugondy, map, Partie de l'Am\u00e9rique, Septentrionale 1755.\nGatohua. Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend, I,\nGattochwa. 28, 1884.\nKatowa (plural, Katowagi).\nKetawaugas. Haywood, Natural and Aboriginal Tennessee, 233, 1823.\nKittuwa. Brinton, Walam Olum, 16, 1885 (Delaware name).\nKuttoowauw. Aupaumut, 1791, fide Brinton, ibid., 16 (Mahican name).\nOyata'ge`rono\u00f1'. Hewitt, oral information (Iroquois (Mohawk) name. See\npreceding explanation).\nOjadagochroene. Livingston, 1720, in New York Doc. Col. Hist., V,\n567, 1855.\nOndadeonwas. Bleeker, 1701, ibid., IV, 918, 1854.\nOyadackuchraono. Weiser, 1753, ibid., VI, 795, 1855.\nOyadagahroenes. Letter of 1713, ibid., V, 386, 1855 (incorrectly\nstated to be the Flat-heads, i. e., either Catawbas or Choctaws).\nOyadage'ono. Gatschet, Seneca MS, 1882, Bur. Am. Ethn. (Seneca name).\nO-ya-d\u00e4'-go-o-no. Morgan, League of Iroquois, 337, 1851.\nOyaudah. Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, 448, 1847 (Seneca name).\nUwata'-yo-ro'-no. Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend, 28, 1884 (Wyandot\nname).\nUyada. Ibid. (Seneca name).\nWe-yau-dah. Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, 253, 1847.\nWa-tai-yo-ro-no\u00f1''. Hewitt, Wyandot MS, 1893, Bur. Am. Ethn. (Wyandot\nname).\nRickahockans. Lederer, 1672, Discoveries, 26, reprint of 1891 (see\npreceding explanation).\nRickohockans. Map, ibid.\nRechahecrians. Drake, Book of Indians, book 4, 22, 1848 (from old\nVirginia documents).\nRechehecrians. Rafinesque, in Marshall, Kentucky, I, 36, 1824.\nM\u00e2\u00f1ter\u00e2\u00f1'. Gatschet, Catawba MS, 1881, Bur. Am. Ethn. (Catawba\nname. See preceding explanation).\nEntarironnon. Potier, Racines Huronnes et Grammaire, MS, 1751\nOchie`tarironnon. (Wyandot names. The first, according to Hewitt,\n is equivalent to \"ridge, or mountain, people\").\nT'kwen-tah-e-u-ha-ne. Beauchamp, in Journal Am. Folklore, V, 225,\n1892 (given as the Onondaga name and rendered, \"people of a beautiful\nred color\").\nCanogacole(?). Fontanedo, about 1575, Memoir, translated in French\nHist. Colls., II, 257, 1875 (rendered \"wicked people\").\n\n\n(2) Mobilian trade language (page 16): This trade jargon, based upon\nChoctaw, but borrowing also from all the neighboring dialects and even\nfrom the more northern Algonquian languages, was spoken and understood\namong all the tribes of the Gulf states, probably as far west as\nMatagorda bay and northward along both banks of the Mississippi to\nthe Algonquian frontier about the entrance of the Ohio. It was called\nMobilienne by the French, from Mobile, the great trading center of\nthe Gulf region. Along the Mississippi it was sometimes known also as\nthe Chickasaw trade language, the Chickasaw being a dialect of the\nChoctaw language proper. Jeffreys, in 1761, compares this jargon in\nits uses to the lingua franca of the Levant, and it was evidently by\nthe aid of this intertribal medium that De Soto's interpreter from\nTampa bay could converse with all the tribes they met until they\nreached the Mississippi. Some of the names used by Fontanedo about\n1575 for the tribes northward from Appalachee bay seem to be derived\nfrom this source, as in later times were the names of the other\ntribes of the Gulf region, without regard to linguistic affinities,\nincluding among others the Taensa, Tunica, Atakapa, and Shetimasha,\nrepresenting as many different linguistic stocks. In his report upon\nthe southwestern tribes in 1805, Sibley says that the \"Mobilian\" was\nspoken in addition to their native languages by all the Indians who\nhad come from the east side of the Mississippi. Among those so using\nit he names the Alabama, Apalachi, Biloxi, Chactoo, Pacana, Pascagula,\nTaensa, and Tunica. Woodward, writing from Louisiana more than fifty\nyears later, says: \"There is yet a language the Texas Indians call\nthe Mobilian tongue, that has been the trading language of almost\nall the tribes that have inhabited the country. I know white men\nthat now speak it. There is a man now living near me that is fifty\nyears of age, raised in Texas, that speaks the language well. It is a\nmixture of Creek, Choctaw, Chickasay, Netches [Natchez], and Apelash\n[Apalachi]\"--Reminiscences, 79. For further information see also\nGatschet, Creek Migration Legend, and Sibley, Report.\n\nThe Mobilian trade jargon was not unique of its kind. In America, as in\nother parts of the world, the common necessities of intercommunication\nhave resulted in the formation of several such mongrel dialects,\nprevailing, sometimes over wide areas. In some cases, also, the\nlanguage of a predominant tribe serves as the common medium for\nall the tribes of a particular region. In South America we find the\nlingoa geral, based upon the Tupi' language, understood for everyday\npurposes by all the tribes of the immense central region from Guiana\nto Paraguay, including almost the whole Amazon basin. On the northwest\ncoast we find the well-known \"Chinook jargon,\" which takes its name\nfrom a small tribe formerly residing at the mouth of the Columbia,\nin common use among all the tribes from California far up into\nAlaska, and eastward to the great divide of the Rocky mountains. In\nthe southwest the Navaho-Apache language is understood by nearly\nall the Indians of Arizona and New Mexico, while on the plains the\nSioux language in the north and the Comanche in the south hold almost\nthe same position. In addition to these we have also the noted \"sign\nlanguage,\" a gesture system used and perfectly understood as a fluent\nmeans of communication among all the hunting tribes of the plains\nfrom the Saskatchewan to the Rio Grande.\n\n(3) Dialects (page 17): The linguistic affinity of the Cherokee and\nnorthern Iroquoian dialects, although now well established, is not\nusually obvious on the surface, but requires a close analysis of\nwords, with a knowledge of the laws of phonetic changes, to make it\nappear. The superficial agreement is perhaps most apparent between the\nMohawk and the Eastern (Lower) Cherokee dialects, as both of these lack\nthe labials entirely and use r instead of l. In the short table given\nbelow the Iroquois words are taken, with slight changes in the alphabet\nused, from Hewitt's manuscripts, the Cherokee from those of the author:\n\n\n Mohawk Cherokee (Eastern)\n\n person o\u00f1gwe' y\u00fb\u00f1wi\n fire otsi'ra' atsi'ra (atsi'la)\n water awe\u00f1' awa' (ama')\n stone one\u00f1ya' n\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'\n arrow ka'no\u00f1' k\u00fbni'\n pipe kano\u00f1nawe\u00f1' kan\u00fb\u00f1'naw\u00fb\n hand (arm) owe'ya' uw\u00e2'yi\n milk une\u00f1'ta' un\u00fb\u00f1'ti\n five wisk hiski\n tobacco [tcarh\u00fb', Tuscarora] ts\u00e2r\u00fb (ts\u00e2l\u00fb)\n fish otco\u00f1'ta' \u00fb'ts\u00fbti'\n ghost o'ske\u00f1na' asgi'na\n snake e\u00f1nat\u00fb\u00f1 i'nad\u00fb'\n\n\nComparison of Cherokee dialects\n\n\n Eastern (Lower) Middle Western (Upper)\n fire atsi'ra atsi'la atsi'la\n water awa' ama' ama'\n dog gi'ri' gi'li' gi'li'\n hair gits\u00fb' gits\u00fb' gitl\u00fb'\n hawk tsa'nuwa' tsa'nuwa' tla'nuwa'\n leech tsanu'si' tsanu'si' tlanu'si'\n bat tsa'weha' tsa'meha' tla'meha'\n panther ts\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi ts\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi tl\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi\n jay tsay'k\u00fb' tsay'k\u00fb' tlay'k\u00fb'\n martin (bird) tsuts\u00fb' tsuts\u00fb' tlutl\u00fb'\n war-club atas\u00fb' atas\u00fb' atasi'\n heart unahu' unahu' unahwi'\n where? ga'ts\u00fb ga'ts\u00fb ha'tl\u00fb\n how much? h\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb' h\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb' hila'g\u00fb\n key stugi'sti stugi'sti stui'sti\n I pick it up (long) tsinigi'\u00fb tsinigi'\u00fb tsine'\u00fb\n my father agid\u00e2'ta agid\u00e2'ta ed\u00e2'ta\n my mother a'gitsi' a'gitsi' etsi'\n my father's father agini'si agini'si eni'si\n my mother's father agidu'tu agidu'tu edu'tu\n\n\nIt will be noted that the Eastern and Middle dialects are about the\nsame, excepting for the change of l to r, and the entire absence\nof the labial m from the Eastern dialect, while the Western differs\nconsiderably from the others, particularly in the greater frequency\nof the liquid l and the softening of the guttural g, the changes\ntending to render it the most musical of all the Cherokee dialects. It\nis also the standard literary dialect. In addition to these three\nprincipal dialects there are some peculiar forms and expressions in\nuse by a few individuals which indicate the former existence of one\nor more other dialects now too far extinct to be reconstructed. As in\nmost other tribes, the ceremonial forms used by the priesthood are\nso filled with archaic and figurative expressions as to be almost\nunintelligible to the laity.\n\n(4) Iroquoian tribes and migrations (p. 17): The Iroquoian stock,\ntaking its name from the celebrated Iroquois confederacy, consisted\nformerly of from fifteen to twenty tribes, speaking nearly as many\ndifferent dialects, and including, among others, the following:\n\n\n Wyandot, or Huron. | Ontario, Canada.\n Tionontati, or Tobacco nation. |\n Attiwan'daron, or Neutral nation. |\n Tohotaenrat. |\n Wenrorono. |\n\n Mohawk. | Iroquois, or Five Nations, New York.\n Oneida. |\n Onondaga. |\n Cayuga. |\n Seneca. |\n\n Erie. Northern Ohio, etc.\n\n Conestoga, or Susquehanna. Southern Pennsylvania and Maryland.\n\n Nottoway. | Southern Virginia.\n Meherrin?. |\n\n Tuscarora. Eastern North Carolina.\n\n Cherokee. Western Carolina, etc.\n\n\nTradition and history alike point to the St. Lawrence region as the\nearly home of this stock. Upon this point all authorities concur. Says\nHale, in his paper on Indian Migrations (p. 4): \"The constant tradition\nof the Iroquois represents their ancestors as emigrants from the region\nnorth of the Great lakes, where they dwelt in early times with their\nHuron brethren. This tradition is recorded with much particularity\nby Cadwallader Colden, surveyor-general of New York, who in the early\npart of the last century composed his well known 'History of the Five\nNations.' It is told in a somewhat different form by David Cusick,\nthe Tuscarora historian, in his 'Sketches of Ancient History of\nthe Six Nations,' and it is repeated by Mr. L. H. Morgan in his now\nclassical work, 'The League of the Iroquois,' for which he procured his\ninformation chiefly among the Senecas. Finally, as we learn from the\nnarrative of the Wyandot Indian, Peter Clarke, in his book entitled\n'Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandotts,' the belief of\nthe Hurons accords in this respect with that of the Iroquois. Both\npoint alike to the country immediately north of the St. Lawrence,\nand especially to that portion of it lying east of Lake Ontario, as\nthe early home of the Huron-Iroquois nations.\" Nothing is known of\nthe traditions of the Conestoga or the Nottoway, but the tradition of\nthe Tuscarora, as given by Cusick and other authorities, makes them a\ndirect offshoot from the northern Iroquois, with whom they afterward\nreunited. The traditions of the Cherokee also, as we have seen, bring\nthem from the north, thus completing the cycle. \"The striking fact\nhas become evident that the course of migration of the Huron-Cherokee\nfamily has been from the northeast to the southwest--that is, from\neastern Canada, on the Lower St. Lawrence, to the mountains of northern\nAlabama.\"--Hale, Indian Migrations, p. 11.\n\nThe retirement of the northern Iroquoian tribes from the St. Lawrence\nregion was due to the hostility of their Algonquian neighbors, by whom\nthe Hurons and their allies were forced to take refuge about Georgian\nbay and the head of Lake Ontario, while the Iroquois proper retreated\nto central New York. In 1535 Cartier found the shores of the river\nfrom Quebec to Montreal occupied by an Iroquoian people, but on the\nsettlement of the country seventy years later the same region was\nfound in possession of Algonquian tribes. The confederation of the\nfive Iroquois nations, probably about the year 1540, enabled them to\ncheck the Algonquian invasion and to assume the offensive. Linguistic\nand other evidence shows that the separation of the Cherokee from\nthe parent stock must have far antedated this period.\n\n(5) Walam Olum (p. 18): The name signifies \"red score,\" from the\nDelaware walam, \"painted,\" more particularly \"painted red,\" and olum,\n\"a score, tally-mark.\" The Walam Olum was first published in 1836 in a\nwork entitled \"The American Nations,\" by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque,\na versatile and voluminous, but very erratic, French scholar, who spent\nthe latter half of his life in this country, dying in Philadelphia in\n1840. He asserted that it was a translation of a manuscript in the\nDelaware language, which was an interpretation of an ancient sacred\nmetrical legend of the Delawares, recorded in pictographs cut upon\nwood, obtained in 1820 by a medical friend of his among the Delawares\nthen living in central Indiana. He says himself: \"These actual olum\nwere first obtained in 1820 as a reward for a medical cure, deemed a\ncuriosity, and were unexplicable. In 1822 were obtained from another\nindividual the songs annexed thereto in the original language, but\nno one could be found by me able to translate them. I had therefore\nto learn the language since, by the help of Zeisberger, Heckewelder,\nand a manuscript dictionary, on purpose to translate them, which I\nonly accomplished in 1833.\" On account of the unique character of\nthe alleged Indian record and Rafinesque's own lack of standing among\nhis scientific contemporaries, but little attention was paid to the\ndiscovery until Brinton took up the subject a few years ago. After a\ncritical sifting of the evidence from every point of view he arrived at\nthe conclusion that the work is a genuine native production, although\nthe manuscript rendering is faulty, partly from the white scribe's\nignorance of the language and partly from the Indian narrator's\nignorance of the meaning of the archaic forms. Brinton's edition\n(q. v.), published from Rafinesque's manuscript, gives the legend\nin triplicate form--pictograph, Delaware, and English translation,\nwith notes and glossary, and a valuable ethnologic introduction by\nBrinton himself.\n\nIt is not known that any of the original woodcut pictographs\nof the Walam Olum are now in existence, although a statement of\nRafinesque implies that he had seen them. As evidence of the truth\nof his statement, however, we have the fact that precisely similar\npictographic series cut upon birch bark, each pictograph representing\na line or couplet of a sacred metrical recitation, are now known to\nbe common among the Ojibwa, Menomini, and other northern tribes. In\n1762 a Delaware prophet recorded his visions in hieroglyphics cut upon\na wooden stick, and about the year 1827 a Kickapoo reformer adopted\nthe same method to propagate a new religion among the tribes. One of\nthese \"prayer sticks\" is now in the National Museum, being all that\nremains of a large basketful delivered to a missionary in Indiana\nby a party of Kickapoo Indians in 1830 (see plate and description,\npp. 665, 697 et seq. in the author's Ghost-dance Religion, Fourteenth\nAnnual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology).\n\n(6) Fish river (p. 18): Nam\u00e6si Sipu (Heckewelder, Indian Nations, 49),\nor Namassipi (Walam Olum, p. 198). Deceived by a slight similarity of\nsound, Heckewelder makes this river identical with the Mississippi,\nbut as Schoolcraft shows (Notes on Iroquois, p. 316) the true name of\nthe Mississippi is simply Misi-sipi, \"great river,\" and \"fish river\"\nwould be a most inappropriate name for such a turbulent current, where\nonly the coarser species can live. The mere fact that there can be a\nquestion of identity among experts familiar with Indian nomenclature\nwould indicate that it was not one of the larger streams. Although\nHeckewelder makes the Alligewi, as he prefers to call them, flee down\nthe Mississippi after their final defeat, the Walam Olum chronicle says\nonly \"all the Talega go south.\" It was probably a gradual withdrawal,\nrather than a sudden and concerted flight (see Hale, Indian Migrations,\npp. 19-22).\n\n(7) First appearance of whites (p. 19): It is possible that this may\nrefer to one of the earlier adventurers who coasted along the North\nAtlantic in the first decades after the discovery of America, among\nwhom were Sebastian Cabot, in 1498; Verrazano, in 1524; and Gomez, in\n1525. As these voyages were not followed up by permanent occupation\nof the country it is doubtful if they made any lasting impression\nupon Indian tradition. The author has chosen to assume, with Brinton\nand Rafinesque, that the Walam Olum reference is to the settlement\nof the Dutch at New York and the English in Virginia soon after 1600.\n\n(8) De Soto's route (p. 26): On May 30, 1539, Hernando de Soto,\nof Spain, with 600 armed men and 213 horses, landed at Tampa bay,\non the west coast of Florida, in search of gold. After more than\nfour years of hardship and disappointed wandering from Florida to the\ngreat plains of the West and back again to the Mississippi, where De\nSoto died and his body was consigned to the great river, 311 men,\nall that were left of the expedition, arrived finally at P\u00e1nuco,\nin Mexico, on September 10, 1543.\n\nFor the history of this expedition, the most important ever\nundertaken by Spain within eastern United States, we have four original\nauthorities. First is the very brief, but evidently truthful (Spanish)\nreport of Biedma, an officer of the expedition, presented to the King\nin 1544, immediately after the return to Spain. Next in order, but of\nfirst importance for detail and general appearance of reliability, is\nthe narrative of an anonymous Portuguese cavalier of the expedition,\ncommonly known as the Gentleman of Elvas, originally published in\nthe Portuguese language in 1557. Next comes the (Spanish) narrative\nof Garcilaso, written, but not published, in 1587. Unlike the others,\nthe author was not an eyewitness of what he describes, but made up his\naccount chiefly from the oral recollections of an old soldier of the\nexpedition more than forty years after the event, this information\nbeing supplemented from papers written by two other soldiers of De\nSoto. As might be expected, the Garcilaso narrative, although written\nin flowery style, abounds in exaggeration and trivial incident, and\ncompares unfavorably with the other accounts, while probably giving\nmore of the minor happenings. The fourth original account is an\nunfinished (Spanish) report by Ranjel, secretary of the expedition,\nwritten soon after reaching Mexico, and afterward incorporated with\nconsiderable change by Oviedo, in his \"Historia natural y general de\nlas Indias.\" As this fourth narrative remained unpublished until 1851\nand has never been translated, it has hitherto been entirely overlooked\nby the commentators, excepting Winsor, who notes it incidentally. In\ngeneral it agrees well with the Elvas narrative and throws valuable\nlight upon the history of the expedition.\n\nThe principal authorities, while preserving a general unity of\nnarrative, differ greatly in detail, especially in estimates of\nnumbers and distances, frequently to such an extent that it is useless\nto attempt to reconcile their different statements. In general the\nGentleman of Elvas is most moderate in his expression, while Biedma\ntakes a middle ground and Garcilaso exaggerates greatly. Thus the\nfirst named gives De Soto 600 men, Biedma makes the number 620,\nwhile Garcilaso says 1,000. At a certain stage of the journey the\nPortuguese Gentleman gives De Soto 700 Indians as escort, Biedma\nsays 800, while Garcilaso makes it 8,000. At the battle of Mavilla\nthe Elvas account gives 18 Spaniards and 2,500 Indians killed,\nBiedma says 20 Spaniards killed, without giving an estimate of the\nIndians, while Garcilaso has 82 Spaniards and over 11,000 Indians\nkilled. In distances there is as great discrepancy. Thus Biedma\nmakes the distance from Guaxule to Chiaha four days, Garcilaso has\nit six days, and Elvas seven days. As to the length of an average\nday's march we find it estimated all the way from \"four leagues,\nmore or less\" (Garcilaso) to \"every day seven or eight leagues\"\n(Elvas). In another place the Elvas chronicler states that they\nusually made five or six leagues a day through inhabited territories,\nbut that in crossing uninhabited regions--as that between Canasagua and\nChiaha, they marched every day as far as possible for fear of running\nout of provisions. One of the most glaring discrepancies appears in\nregard to the distance between Chiaha and Coste. Both the Portuguese\nwriter and Garcilaso put Chiaha upon an island--a statement which\nin itself is at variance with any present conditions,--but while\nthe former makes the island a fraction over a league in length the\nlatter says that it was five leagues long. The next town was Coste,\nwhich Garcilaso puts immediately at the lower end of the same island\nwhile the Portuguese Gentleman represents it as seven days distant,\nalthough he himself has given the island the shorter length.\n\nNotwithstanding a deceptive appearance of exactness, especially in\nthe Elvas and Ranjel narratives, which have the form of a daily\njournal, the conclusion is irresistible that much of the record\nwas made after dates had been forgotten, and the sequence of events\nhad become confused. Considering all the difficulties, dangers, and\nuncertainties that constantly beset the expedition, it would be too\nmuch to expect the regularity of a ledger, and it is more probable\nthat the entries were made, not from day to day, but at irregular\nintervals as opportunity presented at the several resting places. The\nstory must be interpreted in the light of our later knowledge of the\ngeography and ethnology of the country traversed.\n\nEach of the three principal narratives has passed through translations\nand later editions of more or less doubtful fidelity to the original,\nthe English edition in some cases being itself a translation from\nan earlier French or Dutch translation. English speaking historians\nof the expedition have usually drawn their material from one or\nthe other of these translations, without knowledge of the original\nlanguage, of the etymologies of the Indian names or the relations\nof the various tribes mentioned, or of the general system of Indian\ngeographic nomenclature. One of the greatest errors has been the\nattempt to give in every case a fixed local habitation to a name\nwhich in some instances is not a proper name at all, and in others is\nmerely a descriptive term or a duplicate name occurring at several\nplaces in the same tribal territory. Thus Tali is simply the Creek\nword talua, town, and not a definite place name as represented by\na mistake natural in dealing through interpreters with an unknown\nIndian language. Tallise and Tallimuchase are respectively \"Old town\"\nand \"New town\" in Creek, and there can be no certainty that the same\nnames were applied to the same places a century later. Canasagua is\na corruption of a Cherokee name which occurs in at least three other\nplaces in the old Cherokee country in addition to the one mentioned in\nthe narrative, and almost every old Indian local name was thus repeated\nseveral times, as in the case of such common names as Short creek,\nWhitewater, Richmond, or Lexington among ourselves. The fact that only\none name of the set has been retained on the map does not prove its\nidentity with the town of the old chronicle. Again such loose terms\nas \"a large river,\" \"a beautiful valley,\" have been assumed to mean\nsomething more definitely localized than the wording warrants. The\nmost common error in translation has been the rendering of the Spanish\n\"despoblado\" as \"desert.\" There are no deserts in the Gulf states,\nand the word means simply an uninhabited region, usually the debatable\nstrip between two tribes.\n\nThere have been many attempts to trace De Soto's route. As nearly every\nhistorian who has written of the southern states has given attention to\nthis subject it is unnecessary to enumerate them all. Of some thirty\nworks consulted by the author, in addition to the original narratives\nalready mentioned, not more than two or three can be considered as\nspeaking with any authority, the rest simply copying from these without\ninvestigation. The first attempt to locate the route definitely was\nmade by Meek (Romantic Passages, etc.) in 1839 (reprinted in 1857),\nhis conclusions being based upon his general knowledge of the geography\nof the region. In 1851 Pickett tried to locate the route, chiefly, he\nasserts, from Indian tradition as related by mixed-bloods. How much\ndependence can be placed upon Indian tradition as thus interpreted\nthree centuries after the event it is unnecessary to say. Both these\nwriters have brought De Soto down the Coosa river, in which they\nhave been followed without investigation by Irving, Shea and others,\nbut none of these was aware of the existence of a Suwali tribe,\nor correctly acquainted with the Indian nomenclature of the upper\ncountry, or of the Creek country as so well summarized by Gatschet in\nhis Creek Migration Legend. They are also mistaken in assuming that\nonly De Soto passed through the country, whereas we now know that\nseveral Spanish explorers and numerous French adventurers traversed\nthe same territory, the latest expeditions of course being freshest\nin Indian memory. Jones in his \"De Soto's March Through Georgia\"\nsimply dresses up the earlier statements in more literary style,\nsometimes changing surmises to positive assertions, without mentioning\nhis authorities. Maps of the supposed route, all bringing De Soto down\nthe Coosa instead of the Chattahoochee, have been published in Irving's\nConquest of Florida, the Hakluyt Society's edition of the Gentleman\nof Elva's account, and in Buckingham Smith's translation of the same\nnarrative, as well as in several other works. For the eastern portion,\nwith which we have to deal, all of these are practically duplicates of\none another. On several old Spanish and French maps the names mentioned\nin the narrative seem to have been set down merely to fill space,\nwithout much reference to the text of the chronicle. For a list and\nnotices of principal writers who have touched upon this subject see the\nappendix to Shea's chapter on \"Ancient Florida\" in Winsor's Narrative\nand Critical History of America, II; Boston, 1886. We shall speak\nonly of that part of the route which lay near the Cherokee mountains.\n\nThe first location which concerns us in the narrative is Cofitachiqui,\nthe town from which De Soto set out for the Cherokee country. The\nname appears variously as Cofitachequi (Ranjel), Cofitachique\n(Biedma), Cofachiqui (Garcilaso), Cutifa-Chiqui (by transposition,\nElvas), Cofeta\u00e7que (Vandera), Catafachique (Williams) and Cosatachiqui\n(misprint, Brooks MSS), and the Spaniards first heard of the region as\nYupaha from a tribe farther to the south. The correct form appears to\nbe that first given, which Gatschet, from later information than that\nquoted in his Creek Migration Legend, makes a Hitchitee word about\nequivalent to \"Dogwood town,\" from cofi, \"dogwood,\" cofita, \"dogwood\nthicket,\" and chiki, \"house,\" or collectively \"town.\" McCulloch puts\nthe town upon the headwaters of the Ocmulgee; Williams locates it on\nthe Chattahoochee; Gallatin on the Oconee or the Savannah; Meek and\nMonette, following him, probably in the fork of the Savannah and the\nBroad; Pickett, with Jones and others following him, at Silver bluff\non the east (north) bank of the Savannah, in Barnwell county, South\nCarolina, about 25 miles by water below the present Augusta. It will\nthus be seen that at the very outset of our inquiry the commentators\ndiffer by a distance equal to more than half the width of the state of\nGeorgia. It will suffice here to say, without going into the argument,\nthat the author is inclined to believe that the Indian town was on or\nnear Silver bluff, which was noted for its extensive ancient remains as\nfar back as Bartram's time (Travels, 313), and where the noted George\nGalphin established a trading post in 1736. The original site has\nsince been almost entirely worn away by the river. According to the\nIndians of Cofitachiqui, the town, which was on the farther (north)\nbank of the stream, was two day's journey from the sea, probably by\ncanoe, and the sailors with the expedition believed the river to be the\nsame one that entered at St. Helena, which was a very close guess. The\nSpaniards were shown here European articles which they were told had\nbeen obtained from white men who had entered the river's mouth many\nyears before. These they conjectured to have been the men with Ayllon,\nwho had landed on that coast in 1520 and again in 1524. The town was\nprobably the ancient capital of the Uchee Indians, who, before their\nabsorption by the Creeks, held or claimed most of the territory on\nboth banks of Savannah river from the Cherokee border to within about\nforty miles of Savannah and westward to the Ogeechee and Cannouchee\nrivers (see Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend, I, 17-24). The country\nwas already on the decline in 1540 from a recent fatal epidemic,\nbut was yet populous and wealthy, and was ruled by a woman chief\nwhose authority extended for a considerable distance. The town was\nvisited also by Pardo in 1567 and again by Torres in 1628, when it was\nstill a principal settlement, as rich in pearls as in De Soto's time\n(Brooks MSS, in the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology).\n\nSomewhere in southern Georgia De Soto had been told of a rich province\ncalled Co\u00e7a (Coosa, the Creek country) toward the northwest. At\nCofitachiqui he again heard of it and of one of its principal towns\ncalled Chiaha (Chehaw) as being twelve days inland. Although on\nfirst hearing of it he had kept on in the other direction in order\nto reach Cofitachiqui, he now determined to go there, and made the\nqueen a prisoner to compel her to accompany him a part of the way\nas guide. Co\u00e7a province was, though he did not know it, almost due\nwest, and he was in haste to reach it in order to obtain corn, as\nhis men and horses were almost worn out from hunger. It is apparent,\nhowever, that the unwilling queen, afraid of being carried beyond her\nown territories, led the Spaniards by a roundabout route in the hope\nof making her escape, as she finally did, or perhaps of leaving them\nto starve and die in the mountains, precisely the trick attempted by\nthe Indians upon another Spanish adventurer, Coronado, entering the\ngreat plains from the Pacific coast in search of golden treasure in\nthe same year.\n\nInstead therefore of recrossing the river to the westward, the\nSpaniards, guided by the captive queen, took the direction of the north\n(\"la vuelta del norte\"--Biedma), and, after passing through several\ntowns subject to the queen, came in seven days to \"the province\nof Chalaque\" (Elvas). Elvas, Garcilaso, and Ranjel agree upon the\nspelling, but the last named makes the distance only two days from\nCofitachiqui. Biedma does not mention the country at all. The trifling\ndifference in statement of five days in seven need not trouble us,\nas Biedma makes the whole distance from Cofitachiqui to Xuala eight\ndays, and from Guaxule to Chiaha four days, where Elvas makes it,\nrespectively, twelve and seven days. Chalaque is, of course, Cherokee,\nas all writers agree, and De Soto was now probably on the waters of\nKeowee river, the eastern head stream of Savannah river, where the\nLower Cherokee had their towns. Finding the country bare of corn,\nhe made no stay.\n\nProceeding six days farther they came next to Guaquili, where they\nwere kindly received. This name occurs only in the Ranjel narrative,\nthe other three being entirely silent in regard to such a halting\nplace. The name has a Cherokee sound (Wakili), but if we allow for\na dialectic substitution of l for r it may be connected with such\nCatawba names as Congaree, Wateree, and Sugeree. It was probably a\nvillage of minor importance.\n\nThey came next to the province of Xuala, or Xualla, as the Elvas\nnarrative more often has it. In a French edition it appears as\nChouala. Ranjel makes it three days from Guaquili or five from\nChalaque. Elvas also makes it five days from Chalaque, while Biedma\nmakes it eight days from Cofitachiqui, a total discrepancy of four\ndays from the last-named place. Biedma describes it as a rough\nmountain country, thinly populated, but with a few Indian houses,\nand thinks that in these mountains the great river of Espiritu Santo\n(the Mississippi) had its birth. Ranjel describes the town as situated\nin a plain in the vicinity of rivers and in a country with greater\nappearance of gold mines than any they had yet seen. The Portuguese\ngentleman describes it as having very little corn, and says that\nthey reached it from Cofitachiqui over a hilly country. In his\nfinal chapter he states that the course from Cofitachiqui to this\nplace was from south to north, thus agreeing with Biedma. According\nto Garcilaso (pp. 136-137) it was fifty leagues by the road along\nwhich the Spaniards had come from Cofitachiqui to the first valley\nof the province of Xuala, with but few mountains on the way, and the\ntown itself was situated close under a mountain (\"a la falda de una\nsierra\") beside a small but rapid stream which formed the boundary\nof the territory of Cofitachiqui in this direction. From Ranjel we\nlearn that on the same day after leaving this place for the next\n\"province\" the Spaniards crossed a very high mountain ridge (\"una\nsierra muy alta\").\n\nWithout mentioning the name, Pickett (1851) refers to Xuala as \"a\ntown in the present Habersham county, Georgia,\" but gives no reason\nfor this opinion. Rye and Irving, of the same date, arguing from a\nslight similarity of name, think it may have been on the site of a\nformer Cherokee town, Qualatchee, on the head of Chattahoochee river in\nGeorgia. The resemblance, however, is rather farfetched, and moreover\nthis same name is found on Keowee river in South Carolina. Jones (De\nSoto in Georgia, 1880) interprets Garcilaso's description to refer to\n\"Nacoochee valley, Habersham county\"--which should be White county--and\nthe neighboring Mount Yonah, overlooking the fact that the same\ndescription of mountain, valley, and swift flowing stream might apply\nequally well to any one of twenty other localities in this southern\nmountain country. With direct contradiction Garcilaso says that the\nSpaniards rested here fifteen days because they found provisions\nplentiful, while the Portuguese Gentleman says that they stopped but\ntwo days because they found so little corn! Ranjel makes them stop\nfour days and says they found abundant provisions and assistance.\n\nHowever that may have been, there can be no question of the identity\nof the name. As the province of Chalaque is the country of the\nCherokee, so the province of Xuala is the territory of the Suwali\nor Sara Indians, better known later as Cheraw, who lived in early\ntimes in the piedmont country about the head of Broad river in North\nCarolina, adjoining the Cherokee, who still remember them under\nthe name of Ani'-Suwa'li. A principal trail to their country from\nthe west led up Swannanoa river and across the gap which, for this\nreason, was known to the Cherokee as Suwa'li-nu\u00f1n\u00e2, \"Suwali trail,\"\ncorrupted by the whites to Swannanoa. Lederer, who found them in\nthe same general region in 1670, calls this gap the \"Suala pass\"\nand the neighboring mountains the Sara mountains, \"which,\" he says,\n\"The Spaniards make Suala.\" They afterward shifted to the north and\nfinally returned and were incorporated with the Catawba (see Mooney,\nSiouan Tribes of the East, bulletin of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1894).\n\nUp to this point the Spaniards had followed a north course from\nCofitachiqui (Biedma and Elvas), but they now turned to the west\n(Elvas, final chapter). On the same day on which they left Xuala they\ncrossed \"a very high mountain ridge,\" and descended the next day to\na wide meadow bottom (\"savana\"), through which flowed a river which\nthey concluded was a part of the Espiritu Santo, the Mississippi\n(Ranjel). Biedma speaks of crossing a mountain country and mentions\nthe river, which he also says they thought to be a tributary of the\nMississippi. Garcilaso says that this portion of their route was\nthrough a mountain country without inhabitants (\"despoblado\") and\nthe Portuguese gentleman describes it as being over \"very rough and\nhigh ridges.\" In five days of such travel--for here, for a wonder,\nall the narratives agree--they came to Guaxule. This is the form\ngiven by Garcilaso and the Gentleman of Elvas; Biedma has Guasula,\nand Ranjel Guasili or Guasuli. The translators and commentators\nhave given us such forms as Guachoule, Quaxule, Quaxulla, and\nQuexale. According to the Spanish method of writing Indian words the\nname was pronounced Washul\u00e9 or Wasuli, which has a Cherokee sound,\nalthough it can not be translated. Buckingham Smith (Narratives,\np. 222) hints that the Spaniards may have changed Guasili to Guasule,\nbecause of the similarity of the latter form to a town name in\nsouthern Spain. Such corruptions of Indian names are of frequent\noccurrence. Garcilaso speaks of it as a \"province and town,\" while\nBiedma and Ranjel call it simply a town (\"pueblo\"). Before reaching\nthis place the Indian queen had managed to make her escape. All the\nchroniclers tell of the kind reception which the Spaniards met here,\nbut the only description of the town itself is from Garcilaso, who\nsays that it was situated in the midst of many small streams which\ncame down from the mountains round about, that it consisted of three\nhundred houses, which is probably an exaggeration, though it goes to\nshow that the village was of considerable size, and that the chief's\nhouse, in which the principal officers were lodged, was upon a high\nhill (\"un cerro alto\"), around which was a roadway (\"paseadero\") wide\nenough for six men to walk abreast. By the \"chief's house\" we are to\nunderstand the town-house, while from various similar references in\nother parts of the narrative there can be no doubt that the \"hill\"\nupon which it stood was an artificial mound. In modern Spanish writing\nsuch artificial elevations are more often called lomas, but these early\nadventurers may be excused for not noting the distinction. Issuing\nfrom the mountains round about the town were numerous small streams,\nwhich united to form the river which the Spaniards henceforth followed\nfrom here down to Chiaha, where it was as large as the Guadalquivir\nat Sevilla (Garcilaso).\n\nDeceived by the occurrence, in the Portuguese narrative, of the\nname Canasagua, which they assumed could belong in but one place,\nearlier commentators have identified this river with the Coosa,\nPickett putting Guaxule somewhere upon its upper waters, while Jones\nimproves upon this by making the site \"identical, or very nearly\nso, with Coosawattee Old town, in the southeastern corner of Murray\ncounty,\" Georgia. As we shall show, however, the name in question was\nduplicated in several states, and a careful study of the narratives,\nin the light of present knowledge of the country, makes it evident\nthat the river was not the Coosa, but the Chattahoochee.\n\nTurning our attention once more to Xuala, the most northern point\nreached by De Soto, we have seen that this was the territory\nof the Suwala or Sara Indians, in the eastern foothills of the\nAlleghenies, about the head waters of Broad and Catawba rivers, in\nNorth Carolina. As the Spaniards turned here to the west they probably\ndid not penetrate far beyond the present South Carolina boundary. The\n\"very high mountain ridge\" which they crossed immediately after\nleaving the town was in all probability the main chain of the Blue\nridge, while the river which they found after descending to the\nsavanna on the other side, and which they guessed to be a branch\nof the Mississippi, was almost as certainly the upper part of the\nFrench Broad, the first stream flowing in an opposite direction\nfrom those which they had previously encountered. They may have\nstruck it in the neighborhood of Hendersonville or Brevard, there\nbeing two gaps, passable for vehicles, in the main ridge eastward\nfrom the first-named town. The uninhabited mountains through which\nthey struggled for several days on their way to Chiaha and Co\u00e7a (the\nCreek country) in the southwest were the broken ridges in which the\nSavannah and the Little Tennessee have their sources, and if they\nfollowed an Indian trail they may have passed through the Rabun gap,\nnear the present Clayton, Georgia. Guaxule, and not Xuala, as Jones\nsupposes, was in Nacoochee valley, in the present White county,\nGeorgia, and the small streams which united to form the river down\nwhich the Spaniards proceeded to Chiaha were the headwaters of the\nChattahoochee. The hill upon which the townhouse was built must have\nbeen the great Nacoochee mound, the most prominent landmark in the\nvalley, on the east bank of Sautee creek, in White county, about\ntwelve miles northwest of Clarkesville. This is the largest mound\nin upper Georgia, with the exception of the noted Etowah mound near\nCartersville, and is the only one which can fill the requirements\nof the case. There are but two considerable mounds in western North\nCarolina, that at Franklin and a smaller one on Oconaluftee river,\non the present East Cherokee reservation, and as both of these are on\nstreams flowing away from the Creek country, this fact alone would\nbar them from consideration. The only large mounds in upper Georgia\nare this one at Nacoochee and the group on the Etowah river, near\nCartersville. The largest of the Etowah group is some fifty feet\nin height and is ascended on one side by means of a roadway about\nfifty feet wide at the base and narrowing gradually to the top. Had\nthis been the mound of the narrative it is hardly possible that the\nchronicler would have failed to notice also the two other mounds of\nthe group or the other one on the opposite side of the river, each of\nthese being from twenty to twenty-five feet in height, to say nothing\nof the great ditch a quarter of a mile in length which encircles the\ngroup. Moreover, Cartersville is at some distance from the mountains,\nand the Etowah river at this point does not answer the description\nof a small rushing mountain stream. There is no considerable mound\nat Coosawatee or in any of the three counties adjoining.\n\nThe Nacoochee mound has been cleared and cultivated for many years\nand does not now show any appearance of a roadway up the side, but\nfrom its great height we may be reasonably sure that some such means\nof easy ascent existed in ancient times. In other respects it is the\nonly mound in the whole upper country which fills the conditions. The\nvalley is one of the most fertile spots in Georgia and numerous ancient\nremains give evidence that it was a favorite center of settlement\nin early days. At the beginning of the modern historic period it was\nheld by the Cherokee, who had there a town called Nacoochee, but their\nclaim was disputed by the Creeks. The Gentleman of Elvas states that\nGuaxule was subject to the queen of Cofitachiqui, but this may mean\nonly that the people of the two towns or tribes were in friendly\nalliance. The modern name is pronounced Nagu`tsi' by the Cherokee,\nwho say, however, that it is not of their language. The terminal may\nbe the Creek udshi, \"small,\" or it may have a connection with the\nname of the Uchee Indians.\n\nFrom Guaxule the Spaniards advanced to Canasoga (Ranjel) or Canasagua\n(Elvas), one or two days' march from Guaxule, according to one\nor the other authority. Garcilaso and Biedma do not mention the\nname. As Garcilaso states that from Guaxule to Chiaha the march\nwas down the bank of the same river, which we identify with the\nChattahoochee, the town may have been in the neighborhood of the\npresent Gainesville. As we have seen, however, it is unsafe to trust\nthe estimates of distance. Arguing from the name, Meek infers that\nthe town was about Conasauga river in Murray county, and that the\nriver down which they marched to reach it was \"no doubt the Etowah,\"\nalthough to reach the first named river from the Etowah it would\nbe necessary to make another sharp turn to the north. From the same\ncoincidence Pickett puts it on the Conasauga, \"in the modern county\nof Murray, Georgia,\" while Jones, on the same theory, locates it\n\"at or near the junction of the Connasauga and Coosawattee rivers,\nin originally Cass, now Gordon county.\" Here his modern geography\nas well as his ancient is at fault, as the original Cass county is\nnow Bartow, the name having been changed in consequence of a local\ndislike for General Cass. The whole theory of a march down the Coosa\nriver rests upon this coincidence of the name. The same name however,\npronounced Gans\u00e2'gi by the Cherokee, was applied by them to at least\nthree different locations within their old territory, while the one\nmentioned in the narrative would make the fourth. The others were\n(1) on Oostanaula river, opposite the mouth of the Conasauga, where\nafterward was New Echota, in Gordon county, Georgia; (2) on Canasauga\ncreek, in McMinn county, Tennessee; (3) on Tuckasegee river, about\ntwo miles above Webster, in Jackson county, North Carolina. At each\nof these places are remains of ancient settlement. It is possible\nthat the name of Kenesaw mountain, near Marietta, in Cobb county,\nGeorgia, may be a corruption of Gans\u00e2'gi, and if so, the Canasagua\nof the narrative may have been somewhere in this vicinity on the\nChattahoochee. The meaning of the name is lost.\n\nOn leaving Canasagua they continued down the same river which they\nhad followed from Guaxule (Garcilaso), and after traveling several\ndays through an uninhabited (\"despoblado\") country (Elvas) arrived\nat Chiaha, which was subject to the great chief of Co\u00e7a (Elvas). The\nname is spelled Chiaha by Ranjel and the Gentleman of Elvas, Chiha by\nBiedma in the Documentos, China by a misprint in an English rendering,\nand Ychiaha by Garcilaso. It appears as Chiha on an English map of\n1762 reproduced in Winsor, Westward Movement, page 31, 1897. Gallatin\nspells it Ichiaha, while Williams and Fairbanks, by misprint, make\nit Chiapa. According to both Ranjel and Elvas the army entered it\non the 5th of June, although the former makes it four days from\nCanasagua, while the other makes it five. Biedma says it was four\ndays from Guaxule, and, finally, Garcilaso says it was six days and\nthirty leagues from Guaxule and on the same river, which was, here\nat Chiaha, as large as the Guadalquivir at Sevilla. As we have seen,\nthere is a great discrepancy in the statements of the distance from\nCofitachiqui to this point. All four authorities agree that the town\nwas on an island in the river, along which they had been marching\nfor some time (Garcilaso, Ranjel), but while the Elvas narrative\nmakes the island \"two crossbow shot\" in length above the town and\none league in length below it, Garcilaso calls it a \"great island\nmore than five leagues long.\" On both sides of the island the stream\nwas very broad and easily waded (Elvas). Finding welcome and food\nfor men and horses the Spaniards rested here nearly a month (June\n5-28, Ranjel; twenty-six or twenty-seven days, Biedma; thirty days,\nElvas). In spite of the danger from attack De Soto allowed his men to\nsleep under trees in the open air, \"because it was very hot and the\npeople should have suffered great extremity if it had not been so\"\n(Elvas). This in itself is evidence that the place was pretty far to\nthe south, as it was yet only the first week in June. The town was\nsubject to the chief of the great province of Co\u00e7a, farther to the\nwest. From here onward they began to meet palisaded towns.\n\nOn the theory that the march was down Coosa river, every commentator\nhitherto has located Chiaha at some point upon this stream, either\nin Alabama or Georgia. Gallatin (1836) says that it \"must have\nbeen on the Coosa, probably some distance below the site of New\nEchota.\" He notes a similarity of sound between Ichiaha and \"Echoy\"\n(Itseyi), a Cherokee town name. Williams (1837) says that it was on\nMobile (i. e., the Alabama or lower Coosa river). Meek (1839) says\n\"there can be little doubt that Chiaha was situated but a short\ndistance above the junction of the Coosa and Chattooga rivers,\"\ni. e., not far within the Alabama line. He notes the occurrence of a\n\"Chiaha\" (Chehawhaw) creek near Talladega, Alabama. In regard to the\nisland upon which the town was said to have been situated he says:\n\"There is no such island now in the Coosa. It is probable that the\nSpaniards either mistook the peninsula formed by the junction of\ntwo rivers, the Coosa and Chattooga, for an island, or that those\ntwo rivers were originally united so as to form an island near their\npresent confluence. We have heard this latter supposition asserted\nby persons well acquainted with the country.\"--Romantic Passages,\np. 222, 1857. Monette (1846) puts it on Etowah branch of the Coosa,\nprobably in Floyd county, Georgia. Pickett (1851), followed in turn\nby Irving, Jones, and Shea, locates it at \"the site of the modern\nRome.\" The \"island\" is interpreted to mean the space between the two\nstreams above the confluence.\n\nPickett, as has been stated, bases his statements chiefly or entirely\nupon Indian traditions as obtained from half breeds or traders. How\nmuch information can be gathered from such sources in regard to events\nthat transpired three centuries before may be estimated by considering\nhow much an illiterate mountaineer of the same region might be able to\ntell concerning the founding of the Georgia colony. Pickett himself\nseems to have been entirely unaware of the later Spanish expeditions\nof Pardo and De Luna through the same country, as he makes no mention\nof them in his history of Alabama, but ascribes everything to De\nSoto. Concerning Chiaha he says:\n\n\"The most ancient Cherokee Indians, whose tradition has been handed\ndown to us through old Indian traders, disagree as to the precise\nplace [!] where De Soto crossed the Oostanaula to get over into the\ntown of Chiaha--some asserting that he passed over that river seven\nmiles above its junction with the Etowah, and that he marched from\nthence down to Chiaha, which, all contend, lay immediately at the\nconfluence of the two rivers; while other ancient Indians asserted\nthat he crossed, with his army, immediately opposite the town. But\nthis is not very important. Coupling the Indian traditions with\nthe account by Garcellasso and that by the Portuguese eyewitness,\nwe are inclined to believe the latter tradition that the expedition\ncontinued to advance down the western side of the Oostanaula until they\nhalted in view of the mouth of the Etowah. De Soto, having arrived\nimmediately opposite the great town of Chiaha, now the site of Rome,\ncrossed the Oostanaula,\" etc. (History of Alabama, p. 23, reprint,\n1896). He overlooks the fact that Chiaha was not a Cherokee town,\nbut belonged to the province of Co\u00e7a--i. e., the territory of the\nCreek Indians.\n\nA careful study of the four original narratives makes it plain that\nthe expedition did not descend either the Oostanaula or the Etowah,\nand that consequently Chiaha could not have been at their junction, the\npresent site of Rome. On the other hand the conclusion is irresistible\nthat the march was down the Chattahoochee from its extreme head springs\nin the mountains, and that the Chiaha of the narrative was the Lower\nCreek town of the same name, more commonly known as Chehaw, formerly\non this river in the neighborhood of the modern city of Columbus,\nGeorgia, while Coste, in the narrative the next adjacent town,\nwas Kasi`ta, or Cusseta, of the same group of villages. The falls\nat this point mark the geologic break line where the river changes\nfrom a clear, swift current to a broad, slow-moving stream of the\nlower country. Attracted by the fisheries and the fertile bottom\nlands the Lower Creeks established here their settlement nucleus,\nand here, up to the beginning of the present century, they had within\neasy distance of each other on both sides of the river some fifteen\ntowns, among which were Chiaha (Chehaw), Chiahudshi (Little Chehaw),\nand Kasi`ta (Cusseta). Most of these settlements were within what\nare now Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties, Georgia, and Lee and\nRussell counties, Alabama (see town list and map in Gatschet, Creek\nMigration Legend). Large mounds and other earthworks on both sides of\nthe river in the vicinity of Columbus attest the importance of the site\nin ancient days, while the general appearance indicates that at times\nthe adjacent low grounds were submerged or cut off by overflows from\nthe main stream. A principal trail crossed here from the Ocmulgee,\npassing by Tuskegee to the Upper Creek towns about the junction of\nthe Coosa and Tallapoosa in Alabama. At the beginning of the present\ncentury this trail was known to the traders as \"De Soto's trace\"\n(Woodward, Reminiscences, p. 76). As the Indian towns frequently\nshift their position within a limited range on account of epidemics,\nfreshets, or impoverishment of the soil, it is not necessary to assume\nthat they occupied exactly the same sites in 1540 as in 1800, but only\nthat as a group they were in the same general vicinity. Thus Kasi`ta\nitself was at one period above the falls and at a later period some\neight miles below them. Both Kasi`ta and Chiaha were principal towns,\nwith several branch villages.\n\nThe time given as occupied on the march from Canasagua to Chiaha\nwould seem too little for the actual distance, but as we have seen,\nthe chroniclers do not agree among themselves. We can easily believe\nthat the Spaniards, buoyed up by the certainty of finding food and rest\nat their next halting place, made better progress along the smooth\nriver trail than while blundering helplessly through the mountains\nat the direction of a most unwilling guide. If Canasagua was anywhere\nin the neighborhood of Kenesaw, in Cobb county, the time mentioned in\nthe Elvas or Garcilaso narrative would probably have been sufficient\nfor reaching Chiaha at the falls. The uninhabited country between the\ntwo towns was the neutral ground between the two hostile tribes, the\nCherokee and the Creeks, and it is worth noting that Kenesaw mountain\nwas made a point on the boundary line afterward established between\nthe two tribes through the mediation of the United States government.\n\nThere is no large island in either the Coosa or the Chattahoochee,\nand we are forced to the conclusion that what the chronicle describes\nas an island was really a portion of the bottom land temporarily cut\noff by back water from a freshet. In a similar way \"The Slue,\" east\nof Flint river in Mitchell county, may have been formed by a shifting\nof the river channel. Two months later, in Alabama, the Spaniards\nreached a river so swollen by rains that they were obliged to wait\nsix days before they could cross (Elvas). Lederer, while crossing\nSouth Carolina in 1670, found his farther progress barred by a \"great\nlake,\" which he puts on his map as \"Ushery lake,\" although there is\nno such lake in the state; but the mystery is explained by Lawson,\nwho, in going over the same ground thirty years later, found all the\nbottom lands under water from a great flood, the Santee in particular\nbeing 36 feet above its normal level. As Lawson was a surveyor his\nfigures may be considered reliable. The \"Ushery lake\" of Lederer was\nsimply an overflow of Catawba river. Flood water in the streams of\nupper Georgia and Alabama would quickly be carried off, but would be\napt to remain for some time on the more level country below the falls.\n\nAccording to information supplied by Mr Thomas Robinson, an expert\nengineering authority familiar with the lower Chattahoochee, there\nwas formerly a large mound, now almost entirely washed away, on the\neastern bank of the river, about nine miles below Columbus, while\non the western or Alabama bank, a mile or two farther down, there is\nstill to be seen another of nearly equal size. \"At extreme freshets\nboth of these mounds were partly submerged. To the east of the former,\nknown as the Indian mound, the flood plain is a mile or two wide,\nand along the eastern side of the plain stretches a series of swamps\nor wooded sloughs, indicating an old river bed. All the plain between\nthe present river and the sloughs is river-made land. The river bluff\nalong by the mound on the Georgia side is from twenty to thirty feet\nabove the present low-water surface of the stream. About a mile above\nthe mound are the remains of what was known as Jennies island. At\nordinary stages of the river no island is there. The eastern channel\nwas blocked by government works some years ago, and the whole is filled\nup and now used as a cornfield. The island remains can be traced now,\nI think, for a length of half a mile, with a possible extreme width\nof 300 feet.... This whole country, on both sides of the river, is\nfull of Indian lore. I have mentioned both mounds simply to indicate\nthat this portion of the river was an Indian locality, and have also\nstated the facts about the remains of Jennies island in order to give\na possible clew to a professional who might study the ground.\"--Letter,\nApril 22, 1900.\n\nChiaha was the first town of the \"province of Co\u00e7a,\" the territory\nof the Coosa or Creek Indians. The next town mentioned, Coste (Elvas\nand Ranjel), Costehe (Biedma) or Acoste (Garcilaso), was Kasi`ta,\nor Cusseta, as it was afterward known to the whites. While Garcilaso\nputs it at the lower end of the same island upon which Chiaha was\nsituated, the Elvas narrative makes it seven days distant! The modern\ntowns of Chehaw and Cusseta were within a few miles of each other on\nthe Chattahoochee, the former being on the western or Alabama side,\nwhile Cusseta, in 1799, was on the east or Georgia side about eight\nmiles below the falls at Columbus, and in Chattahoochee county, which\nhas given its capital the same name, Cusseta. From the general tone\nof the narrative it is evident that the two towns were near together\nin De Soto's time, and it may be that the Elvas chronicle confounded\nKasi`ta with Koasati, a principal Upper Creek town, a short distance\nbelow the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa. At Coste they crossed\nthe river and continued westward \"through many towns subject to the\ncacique of Co\u00e7a\" (Elvas) until they came to the great town of Co\u00e7a\nitself. This was Kusa or Coosa, the ancient capital of the Upper\nCreeks. There were two towns of this name at different periods. One,\ndescribed by Adair in 1775 as \"the great and old beloved town of\nrefuge, Koosah,\" was on the east bank of Coosa river, a few miles\nsouthwest of the present Talladega, Alabama. The other, known as\n\"Old Coosa,\" and probably of more ancient origin, was on the west\nside of Alabama river, near the present site of Montgomery (see\nGatschet, Creek Migration Legend). It was probably the latter which\nwas visited by De Soto, and later on by De Luna, in 1559. Beyond\nCoca they passed through another Creek town, apparently lower down\non the Alabama, the name of which is variously spelled Ytaua (Elvas,\nForce translation), Ytava (Elvas, Hakluyt Society translation), or\nItaba (Ranjel), and which may be connected with I'tawa', Etowah or\n\"Hightower,\" the name of a former Cherokee settlement near the head of\nEtowah river in Georgia. The Cherokee regard this as a foreign name,\nand its occurrence in upper Georgia, as well as in central Alabama,\nmay help to support the tradition that the southern Cherokee border\nwas formerly held by the Creeks.\n\nDe Soto's route beyond the Cherokee country does not concern us except\nas it throws light upon his previous progress. In the seventeenth\nchapter the Elvas narrative summarizes that portion from the landing\nat Tampa bay to a point in southern Alabama as follows: \"From the Port\nde Spirito Santo to Apalache, which is about an hundred leagues, the\ngovernor went from east to west; and from Apalache to Cutifachiqui,\nwhich are 430 leagues, from the southwest to the northeast; and from\nCutifachiqui to Xualla, which are about 250 leagues, from the south to\nthe north; and from Xualla to Tascaluca, which are 250 leagues more,\nan hundred and ninety of them he traveled from east to west, to wit,\nto the province of Co\u00e7a; and the other 60, from Co\u00e7a to Tascaluca,\nfrom the north to the south.\"\n\nChisca (Elvas and Ranjel), the mountainous northern region in search\nof which men were sent from Chiaha to look for copper and gold, was\nsomewhere in the Cherokee country of upper Georgia or Alabama. The\nprecise location is not material, as it is now known that native\ncopper, in such condition as to have been easily workable by the\nIndians, occurs throughout the whole southern Allegheny region from\nabout Anniston, Alabama, into Virginia. Notable finds of native copper\nhave been made on the upper Tallapoosa, in Cleburne county, Alabama;\nabout Ducktown, in Polk county, Tennessee, and in southwestern\nVirginia, one nugget from Virginia weighing several pounds. From\nthe appearance of ancient soapstone vessels which have been found\nin the same region there is even a possibility that the Indians had\nsome knowledge of smelting, as the Spanish explorers surmised (oral\ninformation from Mr W. H. Weed, U. S. Geological Survey). We hear\nagain of this \"province\" after De Soto had reached the Mississippi,\nand in one place Garcilaso seems to confound it with another province\ncalled Quizqui (Ranjel) or Quizquiz (Elvas and Biedma). The name has\nsome resemblance to the Cherokee word tsiskwa, \"bird.\"\n\n(9) De Luna and Rogel (p. 27): Jones, in his De Soto's March\nthrough Georgia, incorrectly ascribes certain traces of ancient\nmining operations in the Cherokee country, particularly on Valley\nriver in North Carolina, to the followers of De Luna, \"who, in 1560\n... came with 300 Spanish soldiers into this region, and spent the\nsummer in eager and laborious search for gold.\" Don Tristan de Luna,\nwith fifteen hundred men, landed somewhere about Mobile bay in 1559\nwith the design of establishing a permanent Spanish settlement in\nthe interior, but owing to a succession of unfortunate happenings the\nattempt was abandoned the next year. In the course of his wanderings\nhe traversed the country of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Upper Creeks,\nas is shown by the names and other data in the narrative, but returned\nwithout entering the mountains or doing any digging (see Barcia,\nEnsayo Cronologico, pp. 32-41, 1723; Winsor, Narrative and Critical\nHistory, II, pp. 257-259).\n\nIn 1569 the Jesuit Rogel--called Father John Roger by Shea--began\nmission work among the South Carolina tribes inland from Santa Elena\n(about Port Royal). The mission, which at first promised well, was\nabandoned next year, owing to the unwillingness of the Indians to give\nup their old habits and beliefs. Shea, in his \"Catholic Missions,\"\nsupposes that these Indians were probably a part of the Cherokee,\nbut a study of the Spanish record in Barcia (Ensayo, pp. 138-141)\nshows that Rogel penetrated only a short distance from the coast.\n\n(10) Davies' History of the Carribby Islands (p. 29): The fraudulent\ncharacter of this work, which is itself an altered translation of a\nfictitious history by Rochefort, is noted by Buckingham Smith (Letter\nof Hernando de Soto, p. 36, 1854), Winsor (Narrative and Critical\nHistory, II, p. 289), and Field (Indian Bibliography, p. 95). Says\nField: \"This book is an example of the most unblushing effrontery. The\npseudo author assumes the credit of the performance, with but\nthe faintest allusion to its previous existence. It is a nearly\nfaithful translation of Rochefort's 'Histoire des Antilles.' There is,\nhowever, a gratifying retribution in Davies' treatment of Rochefort,\nfor the work of the latter was fictitious in every part which was not\npurloined from authors whose knowledge furnished him with all in his\ntreatise which was true.\"\n\n(11) Ancient Spanish Mines (pp. 29, 31): As the existence of the\nprecious metals in the southern Alleghenies was known to the Spaniards\nfrom a very early period, it is probable that more thorough exploration\nof that region will bring to light many evidences of their mining\noperations. In his \"Antiquities of the Southern Indians,\" Jones\ndescribes a sort of subterranean village discovered in 1834 on Dukes\ncreek, White county, Georgia, consisting of a row of small log cabins\nextending along the creek, but imbedded several feet below the surface\nof the ground, upon which large trees were growing, the inference being\nthat the houses had been thus covered by successive freshets. The\nlogs had been notched and shaped apparently with sharp metallic\ntools. Shafts have been discovered on \"Valley river, North Carolina,\nat the bottom of one of which was found, in 1854, a well-preserved\nwindlass of hewn oak timbers, showing traces of having once been banded\nwith iron. Another shaft, passing through hard rock, showed the marks\nof sharp tools used in the boring. The casing and other timbers were\nstill sound (Jones, pp. 48, 49). Similar ancient shafts have been\nfound in other places in upper Georgia and western North Carolina,\ntogether with some remarkable stone-built fortifications or corrals,\nnotably at Fort mountain, in Murray county, Georgia, and on Silver\ncreek, a few miles from Rome, Georgia.\n\nVery recently remains of an early white settlement, traditionally\nascribed to the Spaniards, have been reported from Lincolnton, North\nCarolina, on the edge of the ancient country of the Sara, among whom\nthe Spaniards built a fort in 1566. The works include a dam of cut\nstone, a series of low pillars of cut stone, arranged in squares\nas though intended for foundations, a stone-walled well, a quarry\nfrom which the stone had been procured, a fire pit, and a series\nof sinks, extending along the stream, in which were found remains\nof timbers suggesting the subterranean cabins on Dukes creek. All\nthese antedated the first settlement of that region, about the year\n1750. Ancient mining indications are also reported from Kings mountain,\nabout twenty miles distant (Reinhardt MS, 1900, in Bureau of American\nEthnology archives). The Spanish miners of whom Lederer heard in 1670\nand Moore in 1690 were probably at work in this neighborhood.\n\n(12) Sir William Johnson (p. 38): This great soldier, whose history\nis so inseparably connected with that of the Six Nations, was born\nin the county Meath, Ireland, in 1715, and died at Johnstown, New\nYork, in 1774. The younger son of an Irish gentleman, he left his\nnative country in 1738 in consequence of a disappointment in love,\nand emigrated to America, where he undertook the settlement of a\nlarge tract of wild land belonging to his uncle, which lay along the\nsouth side of the Mohawk river in what was then the wilderness of\nNew York. This brought him into close contact with the Six Nations,\nparticularly the Mohawks, in whom he became so much interested as to\nlearn their language and in some degree to accommodate himself to their\ncustoms, sometimes even to the wearing of the native costume. This\ninterest, together with his natural kindness and dignity, completely\nwon the hearts of the Six Nations, over whom he acquired a greater\ninfluence than has ever been exercised by any other white man before\nor since. He was formally adopted as a chief by the Mohawk tribe. In\n1744, being still a very young man, he was placed in charge of British\naffairs with the Six Nations, and in 1755 was regularly commissioned\nat their own urgent request as superintendent for the Six Nations\nand their dependent and allied tribes, a position which he held for\nthe rest of his life. In 1748 he was also placed in command of the\nNew York colonial forces, and two years later was appointed to the\ngovernor's council. At the beginning of the French and Indian war he\nwas commissioned a major-general. He defeated Dieskau at the battle\nof Lake George, where he was severely wounded early in the action,\nbut refused to leave the field. For this service he received the\nthanks of Parliament, a grant of \u00a35,000, and a baronetcy. He also\ndistinguished himself at Ticonderoga and Fort Niagara, taking the\nlatter after routing the French army sent to its relief. At the head\nof his Indian and colonial forces he took part in other actions and\nexpeditions, and was present at the surrender of Montreal. For his\nservices throughout the war he received a grant of 100,000 acres of\nland north of the Mohawk river. Here he built \"Johnson Hall,\" which\nstill stands, near the village of Johnstown, which was laid out by\nhim with stores, church, and other buildings, at his own expense. At\nJohnson Hall he lived in the style of an old country baron, dividing\nhis attention between Indian affairs and the raising of blooded stock,\nand dispensing a princely hospitality to all comers. His influence\nalone prevented the Six Nations joining Pontiac's great confederacy\nagainst the English. In 1768 he concluded the treaty of Fort Stanwix,\nwhich fixed the Ohio as the boundary between the northern colonies\nand the western tribes, the boundary for which the Indians afterward\ncontended against the Americans until 1795. In 1739 he married a\nGerman girl of the Mohawk valley, who died after bearing him three\nchildren. Later in life he formed a connection with the sister of\nBrant, the Mohawk chief. He died from over-exertion at an Indian\ncouncil. His son, Sir John Johnson, succeeded to his title and estates,\nand on the breaking out of the Revolution espoused the British side,\ndrawing with him the Mohawks and a great part of the other Six Nations,\nwho abandoned their homes and fled with him to Canada (see W. L. Stone,\nLife of Sir William Johnson).\n\n(13) Captain John Stuart (p. 44): This distinguished officer was\ncontemporaneous with Sir William Johnson, and sprang from the same\nadventurous Keltic stock which has furnished so many men conspicuous\nin our early Indian history. Born in Scotland about the year 1700, he\ncame to America in 1733, was appointed to a subordinate command in the\nBritish service, and soon became a favorite with the Indians. When Fort\nLoudon was taken by the Cherokee in 1760, he was second in command,\nand his rescue by Ata-kullakulla is one of the romantic episodes of\nthat period. In 1763 he was appointed superintendent for the southern\ntribes, a position which he continued to hold until his death. In 1768\nhe negotiated with the Cherokee the treaty of Hard Labor by which the\nKanawha was fixed as the western boundary of Virginia, Sir William\nJohnson at the same time concluding a treaty with the northern tribes\nby which the boundary was continued northward along the Ohio. At\nthe outbreak of the Revolution he organized the Cherokee and other\nsouthern tribes, with the white loyalists, against the Americans, and\nwas largely responsible for the Indian outrages along the southern\nborder. He planned a general invasion by the southern tribes along\nthe whole frontier, in cooperation with a British force to be landed\nin western Florida, while a British fleet should occupy the attention\nof the Americans on the coast side and the Tories should rise in the\ninterior. On the discovery of the plot and the subsequent defeat of\nthe Cherokee by the Americans, he fled to Florida and soon afterward\nsailed for England, where he died in 1779.\n\n(14) Nancy Ward (p. 47): A noted halfbreed Cherokee woman, the date\nand place of whose birth and death are alike unknown. It is said that\nher father was a British officer named Ward and her mother a sister of\nAta-kullakulla, principal chief of the Nation at the time of the first\nCherokee war. She was probably related to Brian Ward, an oldtime trader\namong the Cherokee, mentioned elsewhere in connection with the battle\nof Tali'wa. During the Revolutionary period she resided at Echota,\nthe national capital, where she held the office of \"Beloved Woman,\"\nor \"Pretty Woman,\" by virtue of which she was entitled to speak in\ncouncils and to decide the fate of captives. She distinguished herself\nby her constant friendship for the Americans, always using her best\neffort to bring about peace between them and her own people, and\nfrequently giving timely warning of projected Indian raids, notably\non the occasion of the great invasion of the Watauga and Holston\nsettlements in 1776. A Mrs Bean, captured during this incursion, was\nsaved by her interposition after having been condemned to death and\nalready bound to the stake. In 1780, on occasion of another Cherokee\noutbreak, she assisted a number of traders to escape, and the next\nyear was sent by the chiefs to make peace with Sevier and Campbell,\nwho were advancing against the Cherokee towns. Campbell speaks of\nher in his report as \"the famous Indian woman, Nancy Ward.\" Although\npeace was not then granted, her relatives, when brought in later with\nother prisoners, were treated with the consideration due in return\nfor her good offices. She is described by Robertson, who visited her\nabout this time, as \"queenly and commanding\" in appearance and manner,\nand her house as furnished in accordance with her high dignity. When\namong the Arkansas Cherokee in 1819, Nuttall was told that she had\nintroduced the first cows into the Nation, and that by her own and her\nchildren's influence the condition of the Cherokee had been greatly\nelevated. He was told also that her advice and counsel bordered on\nsupreme, and that her interference was allowed to be decisive even\nin affairs of life and death. Although he speaks in the present\ntense, it is hardly probable that she was then still alive, and he\ndoes not claim to have met her. Her descendants are still found in\nthe Nation. See Haywood, Natural and Aboriginal Tennessee; Ramsey,\nTennessee; Nuttall, Travels, p. 130, 1821; Campbell letter, 1781,\nand Springstone deposition, 1781, in Virginia State Papers I, pp. 435,\n436, 447, 1875; Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography.\n\n(15) General James Robertson (p. 48): This distinguished pioneer and\nfounder of Nashville was born in Brunswick county, Virginia, in 1742,\nand died at the Chickasaw agency in west Tennessee in 1814. Like\nmost of the men prominent in the early history of Tennessee, he was\nof Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father having removed about 1750 to\nwestern North Carolina, the boy grew up without education, but with\na strong love for adventure, which he gratified by making exploring\nexpeditions across the mountains. After his marriage his wife taught\nhim to read and write. In 1771 he led a colony to the Watauga river\nand established the settlement which became the nucleus of the future\nstate of Tennessee. He took a leading part in the organization of\nthe Watauga Association, the earliest organized government within\nthe state, and afterward served in Dunmore's war, taking part in the\nbloody battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. He participated in the earlier\nRevolutionary campaigns against the Cherokee, and in 1777 was appointed\nagent to reside at their capital, Echota, and act as a medium in their\ncorrespondence with the state governments of North Carolina (including\nTennessee) and Virginia. In this capacity he gave timely warning of\na contemplated invasion by the hostile portion of the tribe early in\n1779. Soon after in the same year he led a preliminary exploration\nfrom Watauga to the Cumberland. He brought out a larger party late\nin the fall, and in the spring of 1780 built the first stockades on\nthe site which he named Nashborough, now Nashville. Only his force of\ncharacter was able to hold the infant settlement together in the face\nof hardships and Indian hostilities, but by his tact and firmness\nhe was finally able to make peace with the surrounding tribes, and\nestablished the Cumberland settlement upon a secure basis. The Spanish\ngovernment at one time unsuccessfully attempted to engage him in a\nplot to cut off the western territory from the United States, but met\na patriotic refusal. Having been commissioned a brigadier-general\nin 1790, he continued to organize campaigns, resist invasions,\nand negotiate treaties until the final close of the Indian wars in\nTennessee. He afterward held the appointment of Indian commissioner\nto the Chickasaw and Choctaw. See Ramsey, Tennessee; Roosevelt,\nWinning of the West; Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography.\n\n(16) General Griffith Rutherford (p. 48): Although this Revolutionary\nofficer commanded the greatest expedition ever sent against the\nCherokee, with such distinguished success that both North Carolina\nand Tennessee have named counties in his honor, little appears to\nbe definitely known of his history. He was born in Ireland about\n1731, and, emigrating to America, settled near Salisbury, North\nCarolina. On the opening of the Revolutionary struggle he became a\nmember of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety. In June, 1776,\nhe was commissioned a brigadier-general in the American army, and a\nfew months later led his celebrated expedition against the Cherokee,\nas elsewhere narrated. He rendered other important service in the\nRevolution, in one battle being taken prisoner by the British and held\nby them nearly a year. He afterward served in the state senate of North\nCarolina, and, subsequently removing to Tennessee, was for some time\na member of its territorial council. He died in Tennessee about 1800.\n\n(17) Rutherford's route (p. 49): The various North Carolina detachments\nwhich combined to form Rutherford's expedition against the Cherokee\nin the autumn of 1776 organized at different points about the upper\nCatawba and probably concentrated at Davidson's fort, now Old fort, in\nMcDowell county. Thence, advancing westward closely upon the line of\nthe present Southern railroad and its Western North Carolina branch,\nthe army crossed the Blue ridge over the Swannanoa gap and went down\nthe Swannanoa to its junction with the French Broad, crossing the\nlatter at the Warrior ford, below the present Asheville; thence up\nHominy creek and across the ridge to Pigeon river, crossing it a few\nmiles below the junction of the East and West forks; thence to Richland\ncreek, crossing it just above the present Waynesville; and over the\ndividing ridge between the present Haywood and Jackson counties to\nthe head of Scott's creek; thence down that creek by \"a blind path\nthrough a very mountainous bad way,\" as Moore's old narrative has\nit, to its junction with the Tuckasegee river just below the present\nWebster; thence, crossing to the west (south) side of the river, the\ntroops followed a main trail down the stream for a few miles until\nthey came to the first Cherokee town, Stekoa, on the site of the farm\nformerly owned by Colonel William H. Thomas, just above the present\nrailroad village of Whittier, Swain county, North Carolina. After\ndestroying the town a detachment left the main body and pursued the\nfugitives northward on the other side of the river to Oconaluftee\nriver and Soco creek, getting back afterward to the settlements by\nsteering an easterly course across the mountains to Richland creek\n(Moore narrative). The main army, under Rutherford, crossed the\ndividing ridge to the southward of Whittier and descended Cowee creek\nto the waters of Little Tennessee, in the present Macon county. After\ndestroying the towns in this vicinity the army ascended Cartoogaja\ncreek, west from the present Franklin, and crossed the Nantahala\nmountains at Waya gap--where a fight took place--to Nantahala river,\nprobably at the town of the same name, about the present Jarretts\nstation. From here the march was west across the mountain into the\npresent Cherokee county and down Valley river to its junction with\nthe Hiwassee, at the present Murphy. Authorities: Moore narrative\nand Wilson letter in North Carolina University Magazine, February,\n1888; Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 164; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I,\npp. 300-302; Royce, Cherokee map; personal information from Colonel\nWilliam H. Thomas, Major James Bryson, whose grandfather was with\nRutherford, and Cherokee informants.\n\n(18) Colonel William Christian (p. 50): Colonel William Christian,\nsometimes incorrectly called Christy, was born in Berkeley county,\nVirginia, in 1732. Accustomed to frontier warfare almost from boyhood,\nhe served in the French and Indian war with the rank of captain, and\nwas afterward in command of the Tennessee and North Carolina forces\nwhich participated in the great battle of Point Pleasant in 1774,\nalthough he himself arrived too late for the fight. He organized a\nregiment at the opening of the Revolutionary war, and in 1776 led\nan expedition from Virginia against the Upper Cherokee and compelled\nthem to sue for peace. In 1782, while upon an expedition against the\nOhio tribes, he was captured and burned at the stake.\n\n(19) The great Indian war path (p. 50): This noted Indian thoroughfare\nfrom Virginia through Kentucky and Tennessee to the Creek country in\nAlabama and Georgia is frequently mentioned in the early narrative\nof that section, and is indicated on the maps accompanying Ramsey's\nAnnals of Tennessee and Royce's Cherokee Nation, in the Fifth Annual\nReport of the Bureau of Ethnology. Royce's map shows it in more\ncorrect detail. It was the great trading and war path between the\nnorthern and southern tribes, and along the same path Christian,\nSevier, and others of the old Indian fighters led their men to the\ndestruction of the towns on Little Tennessee, Hiwassee, and southward.\n\nAccording to Ramsey (p. 88), one branch of it ran nearly on the line of\nthe later stage road from Harpers ferry to Knoxville, passing the Big\nlick in Botetourt county, Virginia, crossing New river near old Fort\nChiswell (which stood on the south bank of Reed creek of New river,\nabout nine miles east from Wytheville, Virginia) crossing Holston at\nthe Seven-mile ford, thence to the left of the stage road near the\nriver to the north fork of Holston, \"crossing as at present\"; thence to\nBig creek, and, crossing the Holston at Dodson's ford, to the Grassy\nsprings near the former residence of Micajah Lea; thence down the\nNolichucky to Long creek, up it to its head, and down Dumplin creek\nnearly to its mouth, where the path bent to the left and crossed French\nBroad near Buckinghams island. Here a branch left it and went up the\nWest fork of Little Pigeon and across the mountains to the Middle towns\non Tuckasegee and the upper Little Tennessee. The main trail continued\nup Boyd's creek to its head, and down Ellejoy creek to Little river,\ncrossing near Henry's place; thence by the present Maryville to the\nmouth of Tellico, and, passing through the Cherokee towns of Tellico,\nEchota, and Hiwassee, down the Coosa, connecting with the great war\npath of the Creeks. Near the Wolf hills, now Abingdon, Virginia,\nanother path came in from Kentucky, passing through the Cumberland\ngap. It was along this latter road that the early explorers entered\nKentucky, and along it also the Shawano and other Ohio tribes often\npenetrated to raid upon the Holston and New river settlements.\n\nOn Royce's map the trail is indicated from Virginia southward. Starting\nfrom the junction of Moccasin creek with the North fork of Holston,\njust above the Tennessee state line, it crosses the latter river from\nthe east side at its mouth or junction with the South fork, just below\nKingsport or the Long island; then follows down along the west side\nof the Holston, crossing Big creek at its mouth, and crossing to the\nsouth (east) side of Holston at Dodson's creek; thence up along the\neast side of Dodson's creek and across Big Gap creek, following it for\na short distance and continuing southwest, just touching Nolichucky,\npassing up the west side of Long creek of that stream and down the\nsame side of Dumplin creek, and crossing French Broad just below the\nmouth of the creek; thence up along the west side of Boyd's creek to\nits head and down the west side of Ellejoy creek to and across Little\nriver; thence through the present Maryville to cross Little Tennessee\nat the entrance of Tellico river, where old Fort Loudon was built;\nthence turning up along the south side of Little Tennessee river to\nEchota, the ancient capital, and then southwest across Tellico river\nalong the ridge between Chestua and Canasauga creeks, and crossing\nthe latter near its mouth to strike Hiwassee river at the town of\nthe same name; thence southwest, crossing Ocoee river near its mouth,\npassing south of Cleveland, through the present Ooltewah and across\nChickamauga creek into Georgia and Alabama.\n\nAccording to Timberlake (Memoirs, with map, 1765), the trail crossed\nLittle Tennessee from Echota, northward, in two places, just above and\nbelow Four-mile creek, the first camping place being at the junction\nof Ellejoy creek and Little river, at the old town site. It crossed\nHolston within a mile of Fort Robinson.\n\nAccording to Hutching (Topographical Description of America, p. 24,\n1778), the road which went through Cumberland gap was the one taken by\nthe northern Indians in their incursions into the \"Cuttawa\" country,\nand went from Sandusky, on Lake Erie, by a direct path to the mouth of\nScioto (where Portsmouth now is) and thence across Kentucky to the gap.\n\n(20) Peace towns and towns of refuge (p. 51): Towns of refuge existed\namong the Cherokee, the Creeks, and probably other Indian tribes, as\nwell as among the ancient Hebrews, the institution being a merciful\nprovision for softening the harshness of the primitive law, which\nrequired a life for a life. We learn from Deuteronomy that Moses\nappointed three cities on the east side of Jordan \"that the slayer\nmight flee thither which should kill his neighbor unawares and hated\nhim not in times past, and that fleeing into one of these cities he\nmight live.\" It was also ordained that as more territory was conquered\nfrom the heathen three additional cities should be thus set aside as\nhavens of refuge for those who should accidentally take human life,\nand where they should be safe until the matter could be adjusted. The\nwilful murderer, however, was not to be sheltered, but delivered up\nto punishment without pity (Deut. IV, 41-43, and XIX, 1-11).\n\nEchota, the ancient Cherokee capital near the mouth of Little\nTennessee, was the Cherokee town of refuge, commonly designated as the\n\"white town\" or \"peace town.\" According to Adair, the Cherokee in his\ntime, although extremely degenerate in other things, still observed\nthe law so strictly in this regard that even a wilful murderer who\nmight succeed in making his escape to that town was safe so long\nas he remained there, although, unless the matter was compounded in\nthe meantime, the friends of the slain person would seldom allow him\nto reach home alive after leaving it. He tells how a trader who had\nkilled an Indian to protect his own property took refuge in Echota,\nand after having been there for some months prepared to return to\nhis trading store, which was but a short distance away, but was\nassured by the chiefs that he would be killed if he ventured outside\nthe town. He was accordingly obliged to stay a longer time until the\ntears of the bereaved relatives had been wiped away with presents. In\nanother place the same author tells how a Cherokee, having killed a\ntrader, was pursued and attempted to take refuge in the town, but\nwas driven off into the river as soon as he came in sight by the\ninhabitants, who feared either to have their town polluted by the\nshedding of blood or to provoke the English by giving him sanctuary\n(Adair, American Indians, p. 158, 1775). In 1768 Oconostota, speaking\non behalf of the Cherokee delegates who had come to Johnson Hall to\nmake peace with the Iroquois, said: \"We come from Chotte, where the\nwise [white?] house, the house of peace is erected\" (treaty record,\n1768, New York Colonial Documents, VIII, p. 42, 1857). In 1786 the\nfriendly Cherokee made \"Chota\" the watchword by which the Americans\nmight be able to distinguish them from the hostile Creeks (Ramsey,\nTennessee, p. 343). From conversation with old Cherokee it seems\nprobable that in cases where no satisfaction was made by the relatives\nof the man-slayer he continued to reside close within the limits of\nthe town until the next recurrence of the annual Green-corn dance,\nwhen a general amnesty was proclaimed.\n\nAmong the Creeks the ancient town of Kusa or Coosa, on Coosa river in\nAlabama, was a town of refuge. In Adair's time, although then almost\ndeserted and in ruins, it was still a place of safety for one who\nhad taken human life without design. Certain towns were also known\nas peace towns, from their prominence in peace ceremonials and treaty\nmaking. Upon this Adair says: \"In almost every Indian nation there are\nseveral peaceable towns, which are called 'old beloved, ancient, holy,\nor white towns.' They seem to have been formerly towns of refuge, for\nit is not in the memory of their oldest people that ever human blood\nwas shed in them, although they often force persons from thence and\nput them to death elsewhere.\"--Adair, American Indians, 159. A closely\nparallel institution seems to have existed among the Seneca. \"The\nSeneca nation, ever the largest, and guarding the western door of\nthe 'long house,' which was threatened alike from the north, west,\nand south, had traditions peculiarly their own, besides those common\nto the other members of the confederacy. The stronghold or fort,\nGau-stra-yea, on the mountain ridge, four miles east of Lewiston,\nhad a peculiar character as the residence of a virgin queen known as\nthe 'Peacemaker.' When the Iroquois confederacy was first formed the\nprime factors were mutual protection and domestic peace, and this fort\nwas designed to afford comfort and relieve the distress incident to\nwar. It was a true 'city of refuge,' to which fugitives from battle,\nwhatever their nationality, might flee for safety and find generous\nentertainment. Curtains of deerskin separated pursuer and pursued\nwhile they were being lodged and fed. At parting, the curtains were\nwithdrawn, and the hostile parties, having shared the hospitality\nof the queen, could neither renew hostility or pursuit without the\nqueen's consent. According to tradition, no virgin had for many\ngenerations been counted worthy to fill the place or possessed the\ngenius and gifts to honor the position. In 1878 the Tonawanda band\nproposed to revive the office and conferred upon Caroline Parker\nthe title.\"--Carrington, in Six Nations of New York, Extra Bulletin\nEleventh Census, p. 73, 1892.\n\n(21) Scalping by whites (p. 53): To the student, aware how easily the\ncivilized man reverts to his original savagery when brought in close\ncontact with its conditions, it will be no surprise to learn that\nevery barbarous practice of Indian warfare was quickly adopted by the\nwhite pioneer and soldier and frequently legalized and encouraged by\nlocal authority. Scalping, while the most common, was probably the\nleast savage and cruel of them all, being usually performed after\nthe victim was already dead, with the primary purpose of securing\na trophy of the victory. The tortures, mutilations, and nameless\ndeviltries inflicted upon Indians by their white conquerors in the\nearly days could hardly be paralleled even in civilized Europe, when\nburning at the stake was the punishment for holding original opinions\nand sawing into two pieces the penalty for desertion. Actual torture\nof Indians by legal sanction was rare within the English colonies,\nbut mutilation was common and scalping was the rule down to the end\nof the war of 1812, and has been practiced more or less in almost\nevery Indian war down to the latest. Captain Church, who commanded\nin King Philip's war in 1676, states that his men received thirty\nshillings a head for every Indian killed or taken, and Philip's head,\nafter it was cut off, \"went at the same price.\" When the chief was\nkilled one of his hands was cut off and given to his Indian slayer,\n\"to show to such gentlemen as would bestow gratuities upon him, and\naccordingly he got many a penny by it.\" His other hand was chopped off\nand sent to Boston for exhibition, his head was sent to Plymouth and\nexposed upon a scaffold there for twenty years, while the rest of his\nbody was quartered and the pieces left hanging upon four trees. Fifty\nyears later Massachusetts offered a bounty of one hundred pounds for\nevery Indian scalp, and scalp hunting thus became a regular and usually\na profitable business. On one occasion a certain Lovewell, having\nrecruited a company of forty men for this purpose, discovered ten\nIndians lying asleep by their fire and killed the whole party. After\nscalping them they stretched the scalps upon hoops and marched thus\ninto Boston, where the scalps were paraded and the bounty of one\nthousand pounds paid for them. By a few other scalps sold from time\nto time at the regular market rate, Lovewell was gradually acquiring a\ncompetency when in May, 1725, his company met disaster. He discovered\nand shot a solitary hunter, who was afterward scalped by the chaplain\nof the party, but the Indian managed to kill Lovewell before being\noverpowered, on which the whites withdrew, but were pursued by the\ntribesmen of the slain hunter, with the result that but sixteen of\nthem got home alive. A famous old ballad of the time tells how\n\n\n \"Our worthy Captain Lovewell among them there did die.\n They killed Lieutenant Robbins and wounded good young Frye,\n Who was our English chaplain; he many Indians slew,\n And some of them he scalped when bullets round him flew.\"\n\n\nWhen the mission village of Norridgewock was attacked by the New\nEngland men about the same time, women and children were made to\nsuffer the fate of the warriors. The scholarly missionary, Rasles,\nauthor of the Abnaki Dictionary, was shot down at the foot of the\ncross, where he was afterward found with his body riddled with balls,\nhis skull crushed and scalped, his mouth and eyes filled with earth,\nhis limbs broken, and all his members mutilated--and this by white\nmen. The border men of the Revolutionary period and later invariably\nscalped slain Indians as often as opportunity permitted, and, as has\nalready been shown, both British and American officials encouraged the\npractice by offers of bounties and rewards, even, in the case of the\nformer, when the scalps were those of white people. Our difficulties\nwith the Apache date from a treacherous massacre of them in 1836\nby a party of American scalp hunters in the pay of the governor of\nSonora. The bounty offered was one ounce of gold per scalp. In 1864\nthe Colorado militia under Colonel Chivington attacked a party of\nCheyennes camped under the protection of the United States flag,\nand killed, mutilated, and scalped 170 men, women, and children,\nbringing the scalps into Denver, where they were paraded in a public\nhall. One Lieutenant Richmond killed and scalped three women and\nfive children. Scalps were taken by American troops in the Modoc\nwar of 1873, and there is now living in the Comanche tribe a woman\nwho was scalped, though not mortally wounded, by white soldiers in\none of the later Indian encounters in Texas. Authorities: Drake,\nIndians (for New England wars); Roosevelt, Virginia State Papers,\netc. (Revolution, etc.); Bancroft, Pacific States (Apache); Official\nReport on the Condition of the Indian Tribes, 1867 (for Chivington\nepisode); author's personal information.\n\n(22) Lower Cherokee refugees (p. 55): \"In every hut I have visited I\nfind the children exceedingly alarmed at the sight of white men, and\nhere [at Willstown] a little boy of eight years old was excessively\nalarmed and could not be kept from screaming out until he got out\nof the door, and then he ran and hid himself; but as soon as I can\nconverse with them and they are informed who I am they execute any\norder I give them with eagerness. I inquired particularly of the\nmothers what could be the reason for this. They said, this town was\nthe remains of several towns who [sic] formerly resided on Tugalo and\nKeowee, and had been much harassed by the whites; that the old people\nremembered their former situation and suffering, and frequently spoke\nof them; that these tales were listened to by the children, and made\nan impression which showed itself in the manner I had observed. The\nwomen told me, who I saw gathering nuts, that they had sensations\nupon my coming to the camp, in the highest degree alarming to them,\nand when I lit from my horse, took them by the hand, and spoke to\nthem, they at first could not reply, although one of them understood\nand spoke English very well.\"--Hawkins, manuscript journal, 1796,\nin library of Georgia Historical Society.\n\n(23) General Alexander McGillivray (p. 56): This famous Creek\nchieftain, like so many distinguished men of the southern tribes, was\nof mixed blood, being the son of a Scotch trader, Lachlan McGillivray,\nby a halfbreed woman of influential family, whose father was a French\nofficer of Fort Toulouse. The future chief was born in the Creek Nation\nabout 1740, and died at Pensacola, Florida, in 1793. He was educated\nat Charleston, studying Latin in addition to the ordinary branches,\nand after leaving school was placed by his father with a mercantile\nfirm in Savannah. He remained but a short time, when he returned to\nthe Creek country, where he soon began to attract attention, becoming\na partner in the firm of Panton, Forbes & Leslie, of Pensacola,\nwhich had almost a monopoly of the Creek trade. He succeeded to the\nchieftainship on the death of his mother, who came of ruling stock,\nbut refused to accept the position until called to it by a formal\ncouncil, when he assumed the title of emperor of the Creek Nation. His\npaternal estates having been confiscated by Georgia at the outbreak of\nthe Revolution, he joined the British side with all his warriors, and\ncontinued to be a leading instigator in the border hostilities until\n1790, when he visited New York with a large retinue and made a treaty\nof peace with the United States on behalf of his people. President\nWashington's instructions to the treaty commissioners, in anticipation\nof this visit, state that he was said to possess great abilities\nand an unlimited influence over the Creeks and part of the Cherokee,\nand that it was an object worthy of considerable effort to attach him\nwarmly to the United States. In pursuance of this policy the Creek\nchiefs were entertained by the Tammany society, all the members being\nin full Indian dress, at which the visitors were much delighted and\nresponded with an Indian dance, while McGillivray was induced to resign\nhis commission as colonel in the Spanish service for a commission of\nhigher grade in the service of the United States. Soon afterward, on\naccount of some opposition, excited by Bowles, a renegade white man,\nhe absented himself from his tribe for a time, but was soon recalled,\nand continued to rule over the Nation until his death.\n\nMcGillivray appears to have had a curious mixture of Scotch shrewdness,\nFrench love of display, and Indian secretiveness. He fixed his\nresidence at Little Talassee, on the Coosa, a few miles above the\npresent Wetumpka, Alabama, where he lived in a handsome house with\nextensive quarters for his negro slaves, so that his place had\nthe appearance of a small town. He entertained with magnificence\nand traveled always in state, as became one who styled himself\nemperor. Throughout the Indian wars he strove, so far as possible,\nto prevent unnecessary cruelties, being noted for his kindness\nto captives; and his last years were spent in an effort to bring\nteachers among his people. On the other hand, he conformed much to\nthe Indian customs; and he managed his negotiations with England,\nSpain, and the United States with such adroitness that he was able\nto play off one against the other, holding commissions by turn in the\nservice of all three. Woodward, who knew of him by later reputation,\nasserts positively that McGillivray's mother was of pure Indian\nblood and that he himself was without education, his letters having\nbeen written for him by Leslie, of the trading firm with which he\nwas connected. The balance of testimony, however, seems to leave\nno doubt that he was an educated as well as an able man, whatever\nmay have been his origin. Authorities: Drake, American Indians;\ndocuments in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 1832; Pickett,\nAlabama, 1896; Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography; Woodward,\nReminiscences, p. 59 et passim, 1859.\n\n(24) Governor John Sevier (p. 57): This noted leader and statesman\nin the pioneer history of Tennessee was born in Rockingham county,\nVirginia, in 1745, and died at the Creek town of Tukabatchee, in\nAlabama, in 1815. His father was a French immigrant of good birth\nand education, the original name of the family being Xavier. The son\nreceived a good education, and being naturally remarkably handsome\nand of polished manner, fine courage, and generous temperament,\nsoon acquired a remarkable influence over the rough border men with\nwhom his lot was cast and among whom he was afterward affectionately\nknown as \"Chucky Jack.\" To the Cherokee he was known as Tsan-usdi',\n\"Little John.\" After some service against the Indians on the Virginia\nfrontier he removed to the new Watauga settlement in Tennessee, in\n1772, and at once became prominently identified with its affairs. He\ntook part in Dunmore's war in 1774 and, afterward, from the opening\nof the Revolution in 1775 until the close of the Indian wars in\nTennessee--a period extending over nearly twenty years--was the\nacknowledged leader or organizer in every important Indian campaign\nalong the Tennessee border. His services in this connection have been\nalready noted. He also commanded one wing of the American forces\nat the battle of King's mountain in 1780, and in 1783 led a body\nof mountain men to the assistance of the patriots under Marion. At\none time during the Revolution a Tory plot to assassinate him was\nrevealed by the wife of the principal conspirator. In 1779 he had been\ncommissioned as commander of the militia of Washington county, North\nCarolina--the nucleus of the present state of Tennessee--a position\nwhich he had already held by common consent. Shortly after the close of\nthe Revolution he held for a short time the office of governor of the\nseceding \"state of Franklin,\" for which he was arrested and brought\nto trial by the government of North Carolina, but made his escape,\nwhen the matter was allowed to drop. The question of jurisdiction\nwas finally settled in 1790, when North Carolina ceded the disputed\nterritory to the general government. Before this Sevier had been\ncommissioned as brigadier-general. When Tennessee was admitted as a\nstate in 1796 he was elected its first (state) governor, serving three\nterms, or six years. In 1803 he was again reelected, serving three more\nterms. In 1811 he was elected to Congress, where he served two terms\nand was reelected to a third, but died before he could take his seat,\nhaving contracted a fever while on duty as a boundary commissioner\namong the Creeks, being then in his seventy-first year. For more than\nforty years he had been continuously in the service of his country,\nand no man of his state was ever more loved and respected. In the\nprime of his manhood he was reputed the handsomest man and the best\nIndian fighter in Tennessee.\n\n(25) Hopewell, South Carolina (p. 61): This place, designated in\nearly treaties and also in Hawkins's manuscript journal as \"Hopewell\non the Keowee,\" was the plantation seat of General Andrew Pickens,\nwho resided there from the close of the Revolution until his death\nin 1817. It was situated on the northern edge of the present Anderson\ncounty, on the east side of Keowee river, opposite and a short distance\nbelow the entrance of Little river, and about three miles from the\npresent Pendleton. In sight of it, on the opposite side of Keowee,\nwas the old Cherokee town of Seneca, destroyed by the Americans in\n1776. Important treaties were made here with the Cherokee in 1785,\nand with the Chickasaw in 1786.\n\n(26) Colonel Benjamin Hawkins (p. 61): This distinguished soldier,\nstatesman, and author, was born in Warren county, North Carolina,\nin 1754, and died at Hawkinsville, Georgia, in 1816. His father,\nColonel Philemon Hawkins, organized and commanded a regiment in the\nRevolutionary war, and was a member of the convention that ratified\nthe national constitution. At the outbreak of the Revolution young\nHawkins was a student at Princeton, but offered his services to the\nAmerican cause, and on account of his knowledge of French and other\nmodern languages was appointed by Washington his staff interpreter for\ncommunicating with the French officers cooperating with the American\narmy. He took part in several engagements and was afterward appointed\ncommissioner for procuring war supplies abroad. After the close\nof the war he was elected to Congress, and in 1785 was appointed\non the commission which negotiated at Hopewell the first federal\ntreaty with the Cherokee. He served a second term in the House and\nanother in the Senate, and in 1796 was appointed superintendent for\nall the Indians south of the Ohio. He thereupon removed to the Creek\ncountry and established himself in the wilderness at what is now\nHawkinsville, Georgia, where he remained in the continuance of his\noffice until his death. As Senator he signed the deed by which North\nCarolina ceded Tennessee to the United States in 1790, and as Indian\nsuperintendent helped to negotiate seven different treaties with\nthe southern tribes. He had an extensive knowledge of the customs\nand language of the Creeks, and his \"Sketch of the Creek Country,\"\nwritten in 1799 and published by the Historical Society of Georgia\nin 1848, remains a standard. His journal and other manuscripts\nare in possession of the same society, while a manuscript Cherokee\nvocabulary is in possession of the American Philosophical Society\nin Philadelphia. Authorities: Hawkins's manuscripts, with Georgia\nHistorical Society; Indian Treaties, 1837; American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I, 1832; II, 1834; Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend;\nAppleton, Cyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography.\n\n(27) Governor William Blount (p. 68): William Blount, territorial\ngovernor of Tennessee, was born in North Carolina in 1744 and died\nat Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1800. He held several important offices\nin his native state, including two terms in the assembly and two\nothers as delegate to the old congress, in which latter capacity\nhe was one of the signers of the Federal constitution in 1787. On\nthe organization of a territorial government for Tennessee in 1790,\nhe was appointed territorial governor and also superintendent for\nthe southern tribes, fixing his headquarters at Knoxville. In 1791\nhe negotiated an important treaty with the Cherokee, and had much\nto do with directing the operations against the Indians until the\nclose of the Indian war. He was president of the convention which\norganized the state of Tennessee in 1796, and was elected to the\nnational senate, but was expelled on the charge of having entered\ninto a treasonable conspiracy to assist the British in conquering\nLouisiana from Spain. A United States officer was sent to arrest\nhim, but returned without executing his mission on being warned by\nBlount's friends that they would not allow him to be taken from the\nstate. The impeachment proceedings against him were afterward dismissed\non technical grounds. In the meantime the people of his own state had\nshown their confidence in him by electing him to the state senate, of\nwhich he was chosen president. He died at the early age of fifty-three,\nthe most popular man in the state next to Sevier. His younger brother,\nWillie Blount, who had been his secretary, was afterward governor of\nTennessee, 1809-1815.\n\n(28) St Clair's defeat, 1791 (p. 72): Early in 1791 Major-General\nArthur St Clair, a veteran officer in two wars and governor of the\nNorthwestern Territory, was appointed to the chief command of the\narmy operating against the Ohio tribes. On November 4 of that year,\nwhile advancing upon the Miami villages with an army of 1,400 men,\nhe was surprised by an Indian force of about the same number under\nLittle-turtle, the Miami chief, in what is now southwestern Mercer\ncounty, Ohio, adjoining the Indiana line. Because of the cowardly\nconduct of the militia he was totally defeated, with the loss of\n632 officers and men killed and missing, and 263 wounded, many of\nwhom afterward died. The artillery was abandoned, not a horse being\nleft alive to draw it off, and so great was the panic that the men\nthrew away their arms and fled for miles, even after the pursuit had\nceased. It was afterward learned that the Indians lost 150 killed,\nbesides many wounded. Two years later General Wayne built Fort Recovery\nupon the same spot. The detachment sent to do the work found within\na space of 350 yards 500 skulls, while for several miles along the\nline of pursuit the woods were strewn with skeletons and muskets. The\ntwo cannon lost were found in the adjacent stream. Authorities: St\nClair's report and related documents, 1791; American State Papers,\nIndian Affairs, I, 1832; Drake, Indians 570, 571, 1880; Appleton's\nCyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography.\n\n(29) Cherokee clans, (p. 74): The Cherokee have seven clans, viz:\nAni'-Wa'`ya, Wolf; Ani'-Kawi', Deer; Ani'-Tsi'skwa, Bird; Ani'-W\u00e2'di,\nPaint; Ani'-Sah\u00e2'ni; Ani'-Ga't\u00e2ge'wi; Ani'-Gil\u00e2'hi. The names of the\nlast three can not be translated with certainty. The Wolf clan is\nthe largest and most important in the tribe. It is probable that,\nin accordance with the general system in other tribes, each clan\nhad formerly certain hereditary duties and privileges, but no trace\nof these now remains. Children belong to the clan of the mother,\nand the law forbidding marriage between persons of the same clan is\nstill enforced among the conservative full-bloods. The \"seven clans\"\nare frequently mentioned in the sacred formulas, and even in some of\nthe tribal laws promulgated within the century. There is evidence that\noriginally there were fourteen, which by extinction or absorption have\nbeen reduced to seven; thus, the ancient Turtle-dove and Raven clans\nnow constitute a single Bird clan. The subject will be discussed more\nfully in a future Cherokee paper.\n\n(30) Wayne's victory, 1794 (p. 78): After the successive failures\nof Harmar and St Clair in their efforts against the Ohio tribes the\nchief command was assigned, in 1793, to Major-General Anthony Wayne,\nwho had already distinguished himself by his fighting qualities during\nthe Revolution. Having built Fort Recovery on the site of St Clair's\ndefeat, he made that post his headquarters through the winter of\n1793-94. In the summer of 1794 he advanced down the Maumee with an\narmy of 3,000 men, two-thirds of whom were regulars. On August 20 he\nencountered the confederated Indian forces near the head of the Maumee\nrapids at a point known as the Fallen Timbers and defeated them with\ngreat slaughter, the pursuit being followed up by the cavalry until\nthe Indians took refuge under the guns of the British garrison at\nFort Miami, just below the rapids. His own loss was only 33 killed\nand 100 wounded, of whom 11 afterward died of their wounds. The loss\nof the Indians and their white auxiliaries was believed to be more\nthan double this. The Indian force was supposed to number 2,000,\nwhile, on account of the impetuosity of Wayne's charge, the number\nof his troops actually engaged did not exceed 900. On account of this\ndefeat and the subsequent devastation of their towns and fields by the\nvictorious army the Indians were compelled to sue for peace, which\nwas granted by the treaty concluded at Greenville, Ohio, August 3,\n1795, by which the tribes represented ceded away nearly their whole\nterritory in Ohio. Authorities: Wayne's report and related documents,\n1794, American State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, 1832; Drake, Indians,\n571-577, 1880; Greenville treaty, in Indian Treaties, 1837; Appleton's\nCyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography.\n\n(31) First things of civilization (p. 83): We usually find that\nthe first things adopted by the Indian from his white neighbor are\nimproved weapons and cutting tools, with trinkets and articles of\npersonal adornment. After a regular trade has been established certain\ntraders marry Indian wives, and, taking up their permanent residence\nin the Indian country, engage in farming and stock raising according\nto civilized methods, thus, even without intention, constituting\nthemselves industrial teachers for the tribe.\n\nFrom data furnished by Haywood, guns appear to have been first\nintroduced among the Cherokee about the year 1700 or 1710, although\nhe himself puts the date much earlier. Horses were probably not owned\nin any great number before the marking out of the horse-path for\ntraders from Augusta about 1740. The Cherokee, however, took kindly\nto the animal, and before the beginning of the war of 1760 had a\n\"prodigious number.\" In spite of their great losses at that time they\nhad so far recovered in 1775 that almost every man then had from two\nto a dozen (Adair, p. 231). In the border wars following the Revolution\ncompanies of hundreds of mounted Cherokee and Creeks sometimes invaded\nthe settlements. The cow is called wa'ka by the Cherokee and waga by\nthe Creeks, indicating that their first knowledge of it came through\nthe Spaniards. Nuttall states that it was first introduced among the\nCherokee by the celebrated Nancy Ward (Travels, p. 130). It was not\nin such favor as the horse, being valuable chiefly for food, of which\nat that time there was an abundant supply from the wild game. A potent\nreason for its avoidance was the Indian belief that the eating of the\nflesh of a slow-moving animal breeds a corresponding sluggishness in\nthe eater. The same argument applied even more strongly to the hog,\nand to this day a few of the old conservatives among the East Cherokee\nwill have nothing to do with beef, pork, milk, or butter. Nevertheless,\nBartram tells of a trader in the Cherokee country as early as 1775\nwho had a stock of cattle, and whose Indian wife had learned to\nmake butter and cheese (Travels, p. 347). In 1796 Hawkins mentions\nmeeting two Cherokee women driving ten very fat cattle to market in\nthe white settlements (manuscript journal, 1796). Bees, if not native,\nas the Indians claim, were introduced at so early a period that the\nIndians have forgotten their foreign origin. The De Soto narrative\nmentions the finding of a pot of honey in an Indian village in Georgia\nin 1540. The peach was cultivated in orchards a century before the\nRevolution, and one variety, known as early as 1700 as the Indian\npeach, the Indians claimed as their own, asserting that they had\nhad it before the whites came to America (Lawson, Carolina, p. 182,\ned. 1860). Potatoes were introduced early and were so much esteemed\nthat, according to one old informant, the Indians in Georgia, before\nthe Removal, \"lived on them.\" Coffee came later, and the same informant\nremembered when the full-bloods still considered it poison, in spite\nof the efforts of the chief, Charles Hicks, to introduce it among them.\n\nSpinning wheels and looms were introduced shortly before the\nRevolution. According to the Wahnenauhi manuscript the first among\nthe Cherokee were brought over from England by an Englishman named\nEdward Graves, who taught his Cherokee wife to spin and weave. The\nanonymous writer may have confounded this early civilizer with a young\nEnglishman who was employed by Agent Hawkins in 1801 to make wheels\nand looms for the Creeks (Hawkins, 1801, in American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I, p. 647). Wafford, in his boyhood, say about 1815,\nknew an old man named Tsi'nawi on Young-cane creek of Nottely river, in\nupper Georgia, who was known as a wheelwright and was reputed to have\nmade the first spinning wheel and loom ever made among the mountain\nCherokee, or perhaps in the Nation, long before Wafford's time, or\n\"about the time the Cherokee began to drop their silver ornaments\nand go to work.\" In 1785 the commissioners for the Hopewell treaty\nreported that some of the Cherokee women had lately learned to spin,\nand many were very desirous of instruction in the raising, spinning,\nand weaving of flax, cotton, and wool (Hopewell Commissioners'\nReport, 1785, American State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, p. 39). In\naccordance with their recommendation the next treaty made with the\ntribe, in 1791, contained a provision for supplying the Cherokee with\nfarming tools (Holston treaty, 1791, Indian Treaties, p. 36, 1837),\nand this civilizing policy was continued and broadened until, in 1801,\ntheir agent reported that at the Cherokee agency the wheel, the loom,\nand the plow were in pretty general use, and farming, manufacturing,\nand stock raising were the principal topics of conversation among\nmen and women (Hawkins manuscripts, Treaty Commission of 1801).\n\n(32) Colonel Return J. Meigs (p. 84): Return Jonathan Meigs was born\nin Middletown, Connecticut, December 17, 1734, and died at the Cherokee\nagency in Tennessee, January 28, 1823. He was the first-born son of his\nparents, who gave him the somewhat peculiar name of Return Jonathan\nto commemorate a romantic incident in their own courtship, when his\nmother, a young Quakeress, called back her lover as he was mounting\nhis horse to leave the house forever after what he had supposed was a\nfinal refusal. The name has been handed down through five generations,\nevery one of which has produced some man distinguished in the public\nservice. The subject of this sketch volunteered immediately after the\nopening engagement of the Revolution at Lexington, and was assigned\nto duty under Arnold, with rank of major. He accompanied Arnold in\nthe disastrous march through the wilderness against Quebec, and was\ncaptured in the assault upon the citadel and held until exchanged\nthe next year. In 1777 he raised a regiment and was promoted to the\nrank of colonel. For a gallant and successful attack upon the enemy\nat Sag harbor, Long island, he received a sword and a vote of thanks\nfrom Congress, and by his conduct at the head of his regiment at Stony\npoint won the favorable notice of Washington. After the close of the\nRevolution he removed to Ohio, where, as a member of the territorial\nlegislature, he drew up the earliest code of regulations for the\npioneer settlers. In 1801 he was appointed agent for the Cherokee\nand took up his residence at the agency at Tellico blockhouse,\nopposite the mouth of Tellico river, in Tennessee, continuing to\nserve in that capacity until his death. He was succeeded as agent by\nGovernor McMinn, of Tennessee. In the course of twenty-two years he\nnegotiated several treaties with the Cherokee and did much to further\nthe work of civilization among them and to defend them against unjust\naggression. He also wrote a journal of the expedition to Quebec. His\ngrandson of the same name was special agent for the Cherokee and Creeks\nin 1834, afterward achieving a reputation in the legal profession both\nin Tennessee and in the District of Columbia. Authorities: Appleton,\nCyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography, 1894; Royce, Cherokee Nation, in\nFifth Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology, 1888; documents in American\nState Papers, Indian Affairs, I and II.\n\n(33) Tecumtha (p. 87): This great chief of the Shawano and commander\nof the allied northern tribes in the British service was born near\nthe present Chillicothe, in western Ohio, about 1770, and fell in the\nbattle of the Thames, in Ontario, October 5, 1813. His name signifies\na \"flying panther\"--i. e., a meteor. He came of fighting stock good\neven in a tribe distinguished for its warlike qualities, his father\nand elder brother having been killed in battle with the whites. His\nmother is said to have died among the Cherokee. Tecumtha is first\nheard of as taking part in an engagement with the Kentuckians when\nabout twenty years old, and in a few years he had secured recognition\nas the ablest leader among the allied tribes. It is said that he\ntook part in every important engagement with the Americans from the\ntime of Harmar's defeat in 1790 until the battle in which he lost his\nlife. When about thirty years of age he conceived the idea of uniting\nthe tribes northwest of the Ohio, as Pontiac had united them before,\nin a great confederacy to resist the further advance of the Americans,\ntaking the stand that the whole territory between the Ohio and the\nMississippi belonged to all these tribes in common and that no one\ntribe had the right to sell any portion of it without the consent\nof the others. The refusal of the government to admit this principle\nled him to take active steps to unite the tribes upon that basis, in\nwhich he was seconded by his brother, the Prophet, who supplemented\nTecumtha's eloquence with his own claims to supernatural revelation. In\nthe summer of 1810 Tecumtha held a conference with Governor Harrison\nat Vincennes to protest against a recent treaty cession, and finding\nafter exhausting his arguments that the effort was fruitless, he\nclosed the debate with the words: \"The President is far off and\nmay sit in his town and drink his wine, but you and I will have to\nfight it out.\" Both sides at once prepared for war, Tecumtha going\nsouth to enlist the aid of the Creek, Choctaw, and other southern\ntribes, while Harrison took advantage of his absence to force the\nissue by marching against the Prophet's town on the Tippecanoe river,\nwhere the hostile warriors from a dozen tribes had gathered. A battle\nfought before daybreak of November 6, 1811, resulted in the defeat of\nthe Indians and the scattering of their forces. Tecumtha returned to\nfind his plans brought to naught for the time, but the opening of the\nwar between the United States and England a few months later enabled\nhim to rally the confederated tribes once more to the support of the\nBritish against the Americans. As a commissioned brigadier-general in\nthe British service he commanded 2,000 warriors in the war of 1812,\ndistinguishing himself no less by his bravery than by his humanity in\npreventing outrages and protecting prisoners from massacre, at one time\nsaving the lives of four hundred American prisoners who had been taken\nin ambush near Fort Meigs and were unable to make longer resistance. He\nwas wounded at Maguagua, where nearly four hundred were killed and\nwounded on both sides. He covered the British retreat after the battle\nof Lake Erie, and, refusing to retreat farther, compelled the British\nGeneral Proctor to make a stand at the Thames river. Almost the whole\nforce of the American attack fell on Tecumtha's division. Early in\nthe engagement he was shot through the arm, but continued to fight\ndesperately until he received a bullet in the head and fell dead,\nsurrounded by the bodies of 120 of his slain warriors. The services\nof Tecumtha and his Indians to the British cause have been recognized\nby an English historian, who says, \"but for them it is probable we\nshould not now have a Canada.\" Authorities: Drake, Indians, ed. 1880;\nAppleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography, 1894; Eggleston, Tecumseh\nand the Shawnee Prophet.\n\n(34) Fort Mims Massacre, 1813 (p. 89): Fort Mims, so called from an\nold Indian trader on whose lands it was built, was a stockade fort\nerected in the summer of 1813 for the protection of the settlers in\nwhat was known as the Tensaw district, and was situated on Tensaw\nlake, Alabama, one mile east of Alabama river and about forty miles\nabove Mobile. It was garrisoned by about 200 volunteer troops under\nMajor Daniel Beasley, with refugees from the neighboring settlement,\nmaking a total at the time of its destruction of 553 men, women, and\nchildren. Being carelessly guarded, it was surprised on the morning of\nAugust 30 by about 1,000 Creek warriors led by the mixed-blood chief,\nWilliam Weatherford, who rushed in at the open gate, and, after a stout\nbut hopeless resistance by the garrison, massacred all within, with\nthe exception of the few negroes and halfbreeds, whom they spared, and\nabout a dozen whites who made their escape. The Indian loss is unknown,\nbut was very heavy, as the fight continued at close quarters until the\nbuildings were fired over the heads of the defenders. The unfortunate\ntragedy was due entirely to the carelessness of the commanding officer,\nwho had been repeatedly warned that the Indians were about, and at the\nvery moment of the attack a negro was tied up waiting to be flogged for\nreporting that he had the day before seen a number of painted warriors\nlurking a short distance outside the stockade. Authorities: Pickett,\nAlabama, ed. 1896; Hamilton and Owen, note, p. 170, in Transactions\nAlabama Historical Society, II, 1898; Agent Hawkins's report, 1813,\nAmerican State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, p. 853; Drake, Indians,\ned. 1880. The figures given are those of Pickett, which in this\ninstance seem most correct, while Drake's are evidently exaggerated.\n\n(35) General William McIntosh (p. 98): This noted halfbreed chief\nof the Lower Creeks was the son of a Scotch officer in the British\narmy by an Indian mother, and was born at the Creek town of Coweta\nin Alabama, on the lower Chattahoochee, nearly opposite the present\ncity of Columbus, Georgia, and killed at the same place by order\nof the Creek national council on April 30, 1825. Having sufficient\neducation to keep up an official correspondence, he brought himself\nto public notice and came to be regarded as the principal chief of\nthe Lower Creeks. In the Creek war of 1813-14 he led his warriors to\nthe support of the Americans against his brethren of the Upper towns,\nand acted a leading part in the terrible slaughters at Autossee and the\nHorseshoe bend. In 1817 he again headed his warriors on the government\nside against the Seminole and was commissioned as major. His common\ntitle of general belonged to him only by courtesy. In 1821 he was\nthe principal supporter of the treaty of Indian springs, by which a\nlarge tract between the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers was ceded. The\ntreaty was repudiated by the Creek Nation as being the act of a small\nfaction. Two other attempts were made to carry through the treaty,\nin which the interested motives of McIntosh became so apparent that\nhe was branded as a traitor to his Nation and condemned to death,\ntogether with his principal underlings, in accordance with a Creek\nlaw making death the penalty for undertaking to sell lands without the\nconsent of the national council. About the same time he was publicly\nexposed and denounced in the Cherokee council for an attempt to bribe\nJohn Ross and other chiefs of the Cherokee in the same fashion. At\ndaylight of April 30, 1825, a hundred or more warriors sent by the\nCreek national council surrounded his house and, after allowing the\nwomen and children to come out, set fire to it and shot McIntosh\nand another chief as they tried to escape. He left three wives,\none of whom was a Cherokee. Authorities: Drake, Indians, ed. 1880;\nLetters from McIntosh's son and widows, 1825, in American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, II, pp. 764 and 768.\n\n(36) William Weatherford (p. 89): This leader of the hostiles in\nthe Creek war was the son of a white father and a halfbreed woman\nof Tuskegee town whose father had been a Scotchman. Weatherford\nwas born in the Creek Nation about 1780 and died on Little river,\nin Monroe county, Alabama, in 1826. He came first into prominence by\nleading the attack upon Fort Mims, August 30, 1813, which resulted\nin the destruction of the fort and the massacre of over five hundred\ninmates. It is maintained, with apparent truth, that he did his\nbest to prevent the excesses which followed the victory, and left\nthe scene rather than witness the atrocities when he found that he\ncould not restrain his followers. The fact that Jackson allowed him\nto go home unmolested after the final surrender is evidence that he\nbelieved Weatherford guiltless. At the battle of the Holy Ground,\nin the following December, he was defeated and narrowly escaped\ncapture by the troops under General Claiborne. When the last hope\nof the Creeks had been destroyed and their power of resistance\nbroken by the bloody battle of the Horseshoe bend, March 27, 1814,\nWeatherford voluntarily walked into General Jackson's headquarters\nand surrendered, creating such an impression by his straightforward\nand fearless manner that the general, after a friendly interview,\nallowed him to go back alone to gather up his people preliminary to\narranging terms of peace. After the treaty he retired to a plantation\nin Monroe county, where he lived in comfort and was greatly respected\nby his white neighbors until his death. As an illustration of his\ncourage it is told how he once, single-handed, arrested two murderers\nimmediately after the crime, when the local justice and a large crowd\nof bystanders were afraid to approach them. Jackson declared him to\nbe as high toned and fearless as any man he had ever met. In person\nhe was tall, straight, and well proportioned, with features indicating\nintelligence, bravery, and enterprise. Authorities: Pickett, Alabama,\ned. 1896; Drake, Indians, ed. 1880; Woodward, Reminiscences, 1859.\n\n(37) Reverend David Brainerd (p. 104): The pioneer American missionary\nfrom whom the noted Cherokee mission took its name was born at Haddam,\nConnecticut, April 20, 1718, and died at Northampton, Massachusetts,\nOctober 9, 1747. He entered Yale college in 1739, but was expelled\non account of his religious opinions. In 1742 he was licensed as a\npreacher and the next year began work as missionary to the Mahican\nIndians of the village of Kaunameek, twenty miles from Stockbridge,\nMassachusetts. He persuaded them to remove to Stockbridge, where\nhe put them in charge of a resident minister, after which he took\nup work with good result among the Delaware and other tribes on\nthe Delaware and Susquehanna rivers. In 1747 his health failed and\nhe was forced to retire to Northampton, where he died a few months\nlater. He wrote a journal and an account of his missionary labors at\nKaunameek. His later mission work was taken up and continued by his\nbrother. Authority: Appleton's Cyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography, 1894.\n\n(38) Reverend Samuel Austin Worcester (p. 105): This noted missionary\nand philologist, the son of a Congregational minister who was\nalso a printer, was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, January 19,\n1798, and died at Park Hill, in the Cherokee Nation west, April 20,\n1859. Having removed to Vermont with his father while still a child,\nhe graduated with the honors of his class at the state university at\nBurlington in 1819, and after finishing a course at the theological\nseminary at Andover was ordained to the ministry in 1825. A week\nlater, with his newly wedded bride, he left Boston to begin mission\nwork among the Cherokee, and arrived in October at the mission of\nthe American board, at Brainerd, Tennessee, where he remained until\nthe end of 1827. He then, with his wife, removed to New Echota,\nin Georgia, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, where he was the\nprincipal worker in the establishment of the Cherokee Phoenix, the\nfirst newspaper printed in the Cherokee language and alphabet. In\nthis labor his inherited printer's instinct came into play, for he\nhimself supervised the casting of the new types and the systematic\narrangement of them in the case. In March, 1831, he was arrested by the\nGeorgia authorities for refusing to take a special oath of allegiance\nto the state. He was released, but was rearrested soon afterward,\nconfined in the state penitentiary, and forced to wear prison garb,\nuntil January, 1833, notwithstanding a decision by the Supreme Court\nof the United States, nearly a year before, that his imprisonment\nwas a violation of the law of the land. The Cherokee Phoenix having\nbeen suspended and the Cherokee Nation brought into disorder by the\nextension over it of the state laws, he then returned to Brainerd,\nwhich was beyond the limits of Georgia. In 1835 he removed to the\nIndian Territory, whither the Arkansas Cherokee had already gone, and\nafter short sojourns at Dwight and Union missions took up his final\nresidence at Park Hill in December, 1836. He had already set up his\nmission press at Union, printing both in the Cherokee and the Creek\nlanguages, and on establishing himself at Park Hill he began a regular\nseries of publications in the Cherokee language. In 1843 he states\nthat \"at Park Hill, besides the preaching of the gospel, a leading\nobject of attention is the preparation and publication of books in the\nCherokee language\" (Letter in Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 356,\n1843). The list of his Cherokee publications (first editions) under\nhis own name in Pilling's Bibliography comprises about twenty titles,\nincluding the Bible, hymn books, tracts, and almanacs in addition\nto the Phoenix and large number of anonymous works. Says Pilling:\n\"It is very probable that he was the translator of a number of books\nfor which he is not given credit here, especially those portions of\nthe Scripture which are herein not assigned to any name. Indeed it\nis safe to say that during the thirty-four years of his connection\nwith the Cherokee but little was done in the way of translating in\nwhich he had not a share.\" He also began a Cherokee geography and\nhad both a grammar and a dictionary of the language under way when\nhis work was interrupted by his arrest. The manuscripts, with all\nhis personal effects, afterward went down with a sinking steamer\non the Arkansas. His daughter, Mrs A. E. W. Robertson, became a\nmissionary among the Creeks and has published a number of works in\ntheir language. Authorities: Pilling, Bibliography of the Iroquoian\nlanguages (articles Worcester, Cherokee Phoenix, etc.), 1888; Drake,\nIndians, ed. 1880: Report of Indian Commissioner, 1843 (Worcester\nletter).\n\n(39) Death penalty for selling lands (p. 107): In 1820 the Cherokee\nNation enacted a law making it treason punishable with death to enter\ninto any negotiation for the sale of tribal lands without the consent\nof the national council. A similar law was enacted by the Creeks at\nabout the same time. It was for violating these laws that McIntosh\nand Ridge suffered death in their respective tribes. The principal\nparts of the Cherokee law, as reenacted by the united Nation in the\nWest in 1842, appear as follows in the compilation authorized in 1866:\n\n\"An act against sale of land, etc.: Whereas, The peace and prosperity\nof Indian nations are frequently sacrificed or placed in jeopardy\nby the unrestrained cupidity of their own individual citizens;\nand whereas, we ourselves are liable to suffer from the same cause,\nand be subjected to future removal and disturbances: Therefore, ...\n\n\"Be it further enacted, That any person or persons who shall, contrary\nto the will and consent of the legislative council of this nation, in\ngeneral council convened, enter into a treaty with any commissioner\nor commissioners of the United States, or any officer or officers\ninstructed for the purpose, and agree to cede, exchange, or dispose\nin any way any part or portion of the lands belonging to or claimed\nby the Cherokees, west of the Mississippi, he or they so offending,\nupon conviction before any judge of the circuit or supreme courts,\nshall suffer death, and any of the aforesaid judges are authorized to\ncall a court for the trial of any person or persons so transgressing.\n\n\"Be it further enacted, That any person or persons who shall violate\nthe provisions of the second section of this act, and shall resist or\nrefuse to appear at the place designated for trial, or abscond, are\nhereby declared to be outlaws; and any person or persons, citizens\nof this nation, may kill him or them so offending at any time and\nin any manner most convenient, within the limits of this nation,\nand shall not be held accountable to the laws for the same....\n\n\"Be it further enacted, That no treaty shall be binding upon this\nnation which shall not be ratified by the general council, and approved\nby the principal chief of the nation. December 2, 1842.\"--Laws of\nthe Cherokee Nation, 1868.\n\n(40) The Cherokee syllabary (p. 110): In the various schemes of\nsymbolic thought representation, from the simple pictograph of the\nprimitive man to the finished alphabet of the civilized nations,\nour own system, although not yet perfect, stands at the head of the\nlist, the result of three thousand years of development by Egyptian,\nPhoenician, and Greek. Sequoya's syllabary, the unaided work of an\nuneducated Indian reared amid semisavage surroundings, stands second.\n\nTwelve years of his life are said to have been given to his great\nwork. Being entirely without instruction and having no knowledge of\nthe philosophy of language, being not even acquainted with English,\nhis first attempts were naturally enough in the direction of the crude\nIndian pictograph. He set out to devise a symbol for each word of\nthe language, and after several years of experiment, finding this an\nutterly hopeless task, he threw aside the thousands of characters which\nhe had carved or scratched upon pieces of bark, and started in anew to\nstudy the construction of the language itself. By attentive observation\nfor another long period he finally discovered that the sounds in the\nwords used by the Cherokee in their daily conversation and their public\nspeeches could be analyzed and classified, and that the thousands of\npossible words were all formed from varying combinations of hardly\nmore than a hundred distinct syllables. Having thoroughly tested his\ndiscovery until satisfied of its correctness, he next proceeded to\nformulate a symbol for each syllable. For this purpose he made use of\na number of characters which he found in an old English spelling book,\npicking out capitals, lower-case, italics, and figures, and placing\nthem right side up or upside down, without any idea of their sound or\nsignificance as used in English (see plate v). Having thus utilized\nsome thirty-five ready-made characters, to which must be added a dozen\nor more produced by modification of the same originals, he designed\nfrom his own imagination as many more as were necessary to his purpose,\nmaking eighty-five in all. The complete syllabary, as first elaborated,\nwould have required some one hundred and fifteen characters, but after\nmuch hard study over the hissing sound in its various combinations,\nhe hit upon the expedient of representing the sound by means of a\ndistinct character--the exact equivalent of our letter s--whenever\nit formed the initial of a syllable. Says Gallatin, \"It wanted but\none step more, and to have also given a distinct character to each\nconsonant, to reduce the whole number to sixteen, and to have had an\nalphabet similar to ours. In practice, however, and as applied to\nhis own language, the superiority of Guess's alphabet is manifest,\nand has been fully proved by experience. You must indeed learn and\nremember eighty-five characters instead of twenty-five [sic]. But\nthis once accomplished, the education of the pupil is completed;\nhe can read and he is perfect in his orthography without making\nit the subject of a distinct study. The boy learns in a few weeks\nthat which occupies two years of the time of ours.\" Says Phillips:\n\"In my own observation Indian children will take one or two, at times\nseveral, years to master the English printed and written language,\nbut in a few days can read and write in Cherokee. They do the latter,\nin fact, as soon as they learn to shape letters. As soon as they\nmaster the alphabet they have got rid of all the perplexing questions\nin orthography that puzzle the brains of our children. It is not too\nmuch to say that a child will learn in a month, by the same effort,\nas thoroughly in the language of Sequoyah, that which in ours consumes\nthe time of our children for at least two years.\"\n\nAlthough in theory the written Cherokee word has one letter for\neach syllable, the rule does not always hold good in practice,\nowing to the frequent elision of vowel sounds. Thus the word for\n\"soul\" is written with four letters as a-da-n\u00fb\u00f1-ta, but pronounced\nin three syllables, adanta. In the same way ts\u00e2-l\u00fb\u00f1-i-yu-sti (\"like\ntobacco,\" the cardinal flower) is pronounced ts\u00e2liyusti. There are\nalso, as in other languages, a number of minute sound variations not\nindicated in the written word, so that it is necessary to have heard\nthe language spoken in order to read with correct pronunciation. The\nold Upper dialect is the standard to which the alphabet has been\nadapted. There is no provision for the r of the Lower or the sh of the\nMiddle dialect, each speaker usually making his own dialectic change in\nthe reading. The letters of a word are not connected, and there is no\ndifference between the written and the printed character. Authorities:\nGallatin, Synopsis of the Indian Tribes, in Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc,\nII, 1836; Phillips, Sequoyah, in Harper's Magazine, September, 1870;\nPilling, Bibliography of Iroquoian Languages (article on Guess and\nplate of syllabary), 1888; author's personal information.\n\n(41) Southern gold fields (p. 116): Almost every valuable mineral\nand crystal known to the manufacturer or the lapidary is found in\nthe southern Alleghenies, although, so far as present knowledge goes,\nbut few of these occur in paying quantities. It is probable, however,\nthat this estimate may change with improved methods and enlarged\nrailroad facilities. Leaving out of account the earlier operations\nby the Spanish, French, and English adventurers, of which mention has\nalready been made, the first authentic account of gold finding in any\nof the states south of Mason and Dixon's line within what maybe called\nthe American period appears to be that given by Jefferson, writing\nin 1781, of a lump of ore found in Virginia, which yielded seventeen\npennyweights of gold. This was probably not the earliest, however,\nas we find doubtful references to gold discoveries in both Carolinas\nbefore the Revolution. The first mint returns of gold were made from\nNorth Carolina in 1793, and from South Carolina in 1829, although gold\nis certainly known to have been found in the latter state some years\nearlier. The earliest gold records for the other southern states are,\napproximately, Georgia (near Dahlonega), 1815-1820; Alabama, 1830;\nTennessee (Coco creek, Monroe county), 1831; Maryland (Montgomery\ncounty), 1849. Systematic tracing of gold belts southward from\nNorth Carolina began in 1829, and speedily resulted in the forcible\neviction of the Cherokee from the gold-bearing region. Most of the\nprecious metal was procured from placers or alluvial deposits by\na simple process of digging and washing. Very little quartz mining\nhas yet been attempted, and that usually by the crudest methods. In\nfact, for a long period gold working was followed as a sort of side\nissue to farming between crop seasons. In North Carolina prospectors\nobtained permission from the owners of the land to wash or dig on\nshares, varying from one-fourth to one-half, and the proprietor was\naccustomed to put his slaves to work in the same way along the creek\nbottoms after the crops had been safely gathered. \"The dust became\na considerable medium of circulation, and miners were accustomed\nto carry about with them quills filled with gold, and a pair of\nsmall hand scales, on which they weighed out gold at regular rates;\nfor instance, 3-1/2 grains of gold was the customary equivalent of a\npint of whisky.\" For a number of years, about 1830 and later, a man\nnamed Bechtler coined gold on his own account in North Carolina, and\nthese coins, with Mexican silver, are said to have constituted the\nchief currency over a large region. A regular mint was established\nat Dahlonega in 1838 and maintained for some years. From 1804 to 1827\nall the gold produced in the United States came from North Carolina,\nalthough the total amounted to but $110,000. The discovery of the\nrich deposits in California checked mining operations in the south,\nand the civil war brought about an almost complete suspension, from\nwhich there is hardly yet a revival. According to the best official\nestimates the gold production of the southern Allegheny region for\nthe century from 1799 to 1898, inclusive, has been something over\n$46,000,000, distributed as follows:\n\n\n North Carolina $21,926,376\n Georgia 16,658,630\n South Carolina 3,961,863\n Virginia, slightly in excess of 3,216,343\n Alabama, slightly in excess of 437,927\n Tennessee, slightly in excess of 167,405\n Maryland 47,068\n ----------\n Total, slightly in excess of 46,415,612\n\n\nAuthorities: Becker, Gold Fields of the Southern Appalachians, in the\nSixteenth Annual Report United States Geological Survey, 1895; Day,\nMineral Resources of the United States, Seventeenth Annual Report\nUnited States Geological Survey, part 3, 1896; Nitze, Gold Mining\nand Metallurgy in the Southern States, in North Carolina Geological\nSurvey Report, republished in Mineral Resources of the United States,\nTwentieth Annual Report United States Geological Survey, part 6,\n1899; Lanman, Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, 1849.\n\n(42) Extension of Georgia laws, 1830 (p. 117): \"It is hereby ordained\nthat all the laws of Georgia are extended over the Cherokee country;\nthat after the first day of June, 1830, all Indians then and at that\ntime residing in said territory, shall be liable and subject to such\nlaws and regulations as the legislature may hereafter prescribe;\nthat all laws, usages, and customs made and established and enforced\nin the said territory, by the said Cherokee Indians, be, and the same\nare hereby, on and after the 1st day of June, 1830, declared null and\nvoid; and no Indian, or descendant of an Indian, residing within the\nCreek or Cherokee nations of Indians, shall be deemed a competent\nwitness or party to any suit in any court where a white man is a\ndefendant.\"--Extract from the act passed by the Georgia legislature\non December 20, 1828, \"to add the territory within this state and\noccupied by the Cherokee Indians to the counties of DeKalb et al.,\nand to extend the laws of this state over the same.\" Authorities:\nDrake, Indians, p. 439, ed. 1880; Royce, Cherokee Nation of Indians,\nin Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, p. 260, 1888.\n\n(43) Removal forts, 1838 (p. 130): For collecting the Cherokee\npreparatory to the Removal, the following stockade forts were built:\nIn North Carolina, Fort Lindsay, on the south side of the Tennessee\nriver at the junction of Nantahala, in Swain county; Fort Scott, at\nAquone, farther up Nantahala river, in Macon county; Fort Montgomery,\nat Robbinsville, in Graham county; Fort Hembrie, at Hayesville, in\nClay county; Fort Delaney, at Valleytown, in Cherokee county; Fort\nButler, at Murphy, in the same county. In Georgia, Fort Scudder, on\nFrogtown creek, north of Dahlonega, in Lumpkin county; Fort Gilmer,\nnear Ellijay, in Gilmer county; Fort Coosawatee, in Murray county;\nFort Talking-rock, near Jasper, in Pickens county; Fort Buffington,\nnear Canton, in Cherokee county. In Tennessee, Fort Cass, at Calhoun,\non Hiwassee river, in McMinn county. In Alabama, Fort Turkeytown,\non Coosa river, at Center, in Cherokee county. Authority: Author's\npersonal information.\n\n(44) McNair's grave, (p. 132): Just inside the Tennessee line, where\nthe Conasauga river bends again into Georgia, is a stone-walled grave,\nwith a slab, on which is an epitaph which tells its own story of the\nRemoval heartbreak. McNair was a white man, prominent in the Cherokee\nNation, whose wife was a daughter of the chief, Vann, who welcomed\nthe Moravian missionaries and gave his own house for their use. The\ndate shows that she died while the Removal was in progress, possibly\nwhile waiting in the stockade camp. The inscription, with details, is\ngiven from information kindly furnished by Mr D. K. Dunn of Conasauga,\nTennessee, in a letter dated August 16, 1890:\n\n\"Sacred to the memory of David and Delilah A. McNair, who departed this\nlife, the former on the 15th of August, 1836, and the latter on the\n30th of November, 1838. Their children, being members of the Cherokee\nNation and having to go with their people to the West, do leave this\nmonument, not only to show their regard for their parents, but to guard\ntheir sacred ashes against the unhallowed intrusion of the white man.\"\n\n(45) President Samuel Houston, (p. 145): This remarkable man was born\nin Rockbridge county, Virginia, March 2, 1793, and died at Huntsville,\nTexas, July 25, 1863. Of strangely versatile, but forceful, character,\nhe occupies a unique position in American history, combining in\na wonderful degree the rough manhood of the pioneer, the eccentric\nvanity of the Indian, the stern dignity of the soldier, the genius of\nthe statesman, and withal the high chivalry of a knight of the olden\ntime. His erratic career has been the subject of much cheap romancing,\nbut the simple facts are of sufficient interest in themselves without\nthe aid of fictitious embellishment. To the Cherokee, whom he loved\nso well, he was known as K\u00e2'lan\u00fb, \"The Raven,\" an old war title in\nthe tribe.\n\nHis father having died when the boy was nine years old, his widowed\nmother removed with him to Tennessee, opposite the territory of the\nCherokee, whose boundary was then the Tennessee river. Here he worked\non the farm, attending school at intervals; but, being of adventurous\ndisposition, he left home when sixteen years old, and, crossing over\nthe river, joined the Cherokee, among whom he soon became a great\nfavorite, being adopted into the family of Chief Jolly, from whom the\nisland at the mouth of Hiwassee takes its name. After three years of\nthis life, during which time he wore the Indian dress and learned the\nIndian language, he returned to civilization and enlisted as a private\nsoldier under Jackson in the Creek war. He soon attracted favorable\nnotice and was promoted to the rank of ensign. By striking bravery at\nthe bloody battle of Horseshoe bend, where he scaled the breastworks\nwith an arrow in his thigh and led his men into the thick of the enemy,\nhe won the lasting friendship of Jackson, who made him a lieutenant,\nalthough he was then barely twenty-one. He continued in the army after\nthe war, serving for a time as subagent for the Cherokee at Jackson's\nrequest, until the summer of 1818, when he resigned on account of some\ncriticism by Calhoun, then Secretary of War. An official investigation,\nheld at his demand, resulted in his exoneration.\n\nRemoving to Nashville, he began the study of law, and, being shortly\nafterward admitted to the bar, set up in practice at Lebanon. Within\nfive years he was successively district attorney and adjutant-general\nand major-general of state troops. In 1823 he was elected to\nCongress, serving two terms, at the end of which, in 1827, he was\nelected governor of Tennessee by an overwhelming majority, being then\nthirty-four years of age. Shortly before this time he had fought and\nwounded General White in a duel. In January, 1829, he married a young\nlady residing near Nashville, but two months later, without a word of\nexplanation to any outsider, he left her, resigned his governorship\nand other official dignities, and left the state forever, to rejoin\nhis old friends, the Cherokee, in the West. For years the reason for\nthis strange conduct was a secret, and Houston himself always refused\nto talk of it, but it is now understood to have been due to the fact\nthat his wife admitted to him that she loved another and had only\nbeen induced to marry him by the over-persuasions of her parents.\n\nFrom Tennessee he went to Indian Territory, whither a large part of\nthe Cherokee had already removed, and once more took up his residence\nnear Chief Jolly, who was now the principal chief of the western\nCherokee. The great disappointment which seemed to have blighted\nhis life at its brightest was heavy at his heart, and he sought\nforgetfulness in drink to such an extent that for a time his manhood\nseemed to have departed, notwithstanding which, such was his force\nof character and his past reputation, he retained his hold upon the\naffections of the Cherokee and his standing with the officers and\ntheir families at the neighboring posts of Fort Smith, Fort Gibson,\nand Fort Coffee. In the meantime his former wife in Tennessee had\nobtained a divorce, and Houston being thus free once more soon after\nmarried Talihina, the youngest daughter of a prominent mixed-blood\nCherokee named Rogers, who resided near Fort Gibson. She was the niece\nof Houston's adopted father, Chief Jolly, and he had known her when\na boy in the old Nation. Being a beautiful girl, and educated above\nher surroundings, she became a welcome guest wherever her husband was\nreceived. He started a trading store near Webbers Falls, but continued\nin his dissipated habits until recalled to his senses by the outcome\nof a drunken affray in which he assaulted his adopted father, the\nold chief, and was himself felled to the ground unconscious. Upon\nrecovery from his injuries he made a public apology for his conduct\nand thenceforward led a sober life.\n\nIn 1832 he visited Washington in the interest of the western Cherokee,\ncalling in Indian costume upon President Jackson, who received him\nwith old-time friendship. Being accused while there of connection\nwith a fraudulent Indian contract, he administered a severe beating\nto his accuser, a member of Congress. For this he was fined $500\nand reprimanded by the bar of the House, but Jackson remitted the\nfine. Soon after his return to the West he removed to Texas to take\npart in the agitation just started against Mexican rule. He was a\nmember of the convention which adopted a separate constitution for\nTexas in 1833, and two years later aided in forming a provisional\ngovernment, and was elected commander-in-chief to organize the new\nmilitia. In 1836 he was a member of the convention which declared the\nindependence of Texas. At the battle of San Jacinto in April of that\nyear he defeated with 750 men Santa Ana's army of 1,800, inflicting\nupon the Mexicans the terrible loss of 630 killed and 730 prisoners,\namong whom was Santa Ana himself. Houston received a severe wound in\nthe engagement. In the autumn of the same year he was elected first\npresident of the republic of Texas, receiving more than four-fifths\nof the votes cast. He served two years and retired at the end of\nhis term, leaving the country on good terms with both Mexico and the\nIndian tribes, and with its notes at par. He was immediately elected\nto the Texas congress and served in that capacity until 1841, when\nhe was reelected president. It was during these years that he made\nhis steadfast fight in behalf of the Texas Cherokee, as is narrated\nelsewhere, supporting their cause without wavering, at the risk of his\nown popularity and position. He frequently declared that no treaty made\nand carried out in good faith had ever been violated by Indians. His\nCherokee wife having died some time before, he was again married\nin 1840, this time to a lady from Alabama, who exercised over him a\nrestraining and ennobling influence through the stormy vicissitudes of\nhis eventful life. In June, 1842, he vetoed a bill making him dictator\nfor the purpose of resisting a threatened invasion from Mexico.\n\nOn December 29, 1845, Texas was admitted to the Union, and in the\nfollowing March Houston was elected to the Senate, where he served\ncontinuously until 1859, when he resigned to take his seat as governor,\nto which position he had just been elected. From 1852 to 1860 his name\nwas three times presented before national presidential nominating\nconventions, the last time receiving 57 votes. He had taken issue\nwith the Democratic majority throughout his term in the Senate, and\nwhen Texas passed the secession ordinance in February, 1861, being an\nuncompromising Union man, he refused to take the oath of allegiance\nto the Confederacy and was accordingly deposed from the office of\ngovernor, declining the proffered aid of federal troops to keep him\nin his seat. Unwilling either to fight against the Union or to take\nsides against his friends, he held aloof from the great struggle, and\nremained in silent retirement until his death, two years later. No\nother man in American history has left such a record of continuous\nelection to high office while steadily holding to his own convictions\nin the face of strong popular opposition. Authorities: Appleton's\nCyclop\u00e6dia of American Biography, 1894; Bonnell, Texas, 1840; Thrall,\nTexas, 1876; Lossing, Field Book of the War of 1812, 1869; author's\npersonal information; various periodical and newspaper articles.\n\n(46) Chief John Ross (p. 151): This great chief of the Cherokee, whose\nname is inseparable from their history, was himself but one-eighth\nof Indian blood and showed little of the Indian features, his father,\nDaniel Ross, having emigrated from Scotland before the Revolution and\nmarried a quarter-blood Cherokee woman whose father, John McDonald,\nwas also from Scotland. He was born at or near the family residence\nat Rossville, Georgia, just across the line from Chattanooga,\nTennessee. As a boy, he was known among the Cherokee as Tsan-usdi',\n\"Little John,\" but after arriving at manhood was called Guwi'sguwi',\nthe name of a rare migratory bird, of large size and white or grayish\nplumage, said to have appeared formerly at long intervals in the old\nCherokee country. It may have been the egret or the swan. He was\neducated at Kingston, Tennessee, and began his public career when\nbarely nineteen years of age. His first wife, a full-blood Cherokee\nwoman, died in consequence of the hardships of the Removal while on\nthe western march and was buried at Little Rock, Arkansas. Some years\nlater he married again, this time to a Miss Stapler of Wilmington,\nDelaware, the marriage taking place in Philadelphia (author's personal\ninformation from Mr Allen Ross, son of John Ross; see also Meredith,\n\"The Cherokees,\" in the Five Civilized Tribes, Extra Bulletin Eleventh\nCensus, 1894.) Cooweescoowee district of the Cherokee Nation west has\nbeen named in his honor. The following biographic facts are taken\nfrom the panegyric in his honor, passed by the national council of\nthe Cherokee, on hearing of his death, \"as feebly expressive of the\nloss they have sustained.\"\n\nJohn Ross was born October 3, 1790, and died in the city of Washington,\nAugust 1, 1866, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His official\ncareer began in 1809, when he was intrusted by Agent Return Meigs\nwith an important mission to the Arkansas Cherokee. From that time\nuntil the close of his life, with the exception of two or three years\nin the earlier part, he was in the constant service of his people,\n\"furnishing an instance of confidence on their part and fidelity on his\nwhich has never been surpassed in the annals of history.\" In the war\nof 1813-14 against the Creeks he was adjutant of the Cherokee regiment\nwhich cooperated with General Jackson, and was present at the battle of\nthe Horseshoe, where the Cherokee, under Colonel Morgan, of Tennessee,\nrendered distinguished service. In 1817 he was elected a member of the\nnational committee of the Cherokee council. The first duty assigned\nhim was to prepare a reply to the United States commissioners who were\npresent for the purpose of negotiating with the Cherokee for their\nlands east of the Mississippi, in firm resistance to which he was\ndestined, a few years later, to test the power of truth and to attain\na reputation of no ordinary character. In 1819, October 26, his name\nfirst appears on the statute book of the Cherokee Nation as president\nof the national committee, and is attached to an ordinance which\nlooked to the improvement of the Cherokee people, providing for the\nintroduction into the Nation of schoolmasters, blacksmiths, mechanics,\nand others. He continued to occupy that position till 1826. In 1827 he\nwas associate chief with William Hicks, and president of the convention\nwhich adopted the constitution of that year. That constitution, it is\nbelieved, is the first effort at a regular government, with distinct\nbranches and powers defined, ever made and carried into effect by any\nof the Indians of North America. From 1828 until the removal west,\nhe was principal chief of the eastern Cherokee, and from 1839 to the\ntime of his death, principal chief of the united Cherokee Nation.\n\nIn regard to the long contest which culminated in the Removal, the\nresolutions declare that \"The Cherokees, with John Ross at their head,\nalone with their treaties, achieved a recognition of their rights,\nbut they were powerless to enforce them. They were compelled to yield,\nbut not until the struggle had developed the highest qualities of\npatience, fortitude, and tenacity of right and purpose on their part,\nas well as that of their chief. The same may be said of their course\nafter their removal to this country, and which resulted in the reunion\nof the eastern and western Cherokees as one people and in the adoption\nof the present constitution.\"\n\nConcerning the events of the civil war and the official attempt to\ndepose Ross from his authority, they state that these occurrences,\nwith many others in their trying history as a people, are confidently\ncommitted to the future page of the historian. \"It is enough to\nknow that the treaty negotiated at Washington in 1866 bore the full\nand just recognition of John Ross' name as principal chief of the\nCherokee nation.\"\n\nThe summing up of the panegyric is a splendid tribute to a splendid\nmanhood:\n\n\"Blessed with a fine constitution and a vigorous mind, John Ross had\nthe physical ability to follow the path of duty wherever it led. No\ndanger appalled him. He never faltered in supporting what he believed\nto be right, but clung to it with a steadiness of purpose which alone\ncould have sprung from the clearest convictions of rectitude. He never\nsacrificed the interests of his nation to expediency. He never lost\nsight of the welfare of the people. For them he labored daily for a\nlong life, and upon them he bestowed his last expressed thoughts. A\nfriend of law, he obeyed it; a friend of education, he faithfully\nencouraged schools throughout the country, and spent liberally his\nmeans in conferring it upon others. Given to hospitality, none ever\nhungered around his door. A professor of the Christian religion, he\npracticed its precepts. His works are inseparable from the history of\nthe Cherokee people for nearly half a century, while his example in\nthe daily walks of life will linger in the future and whisper words\nof hope, temperance, and charity in the years of posterity.\"\n\nResolutions were also passed for bringing his body from Washington\nat the expense of the Cherokee Nation and providing for suitable\nobsequies, in order \"that his remains should rest among those he\nso long served\" (Resolutions in honor of John Ross, in Laws of the\nCherokee Nation, 1869).\n\n(47) The Ketoowah Society (p. 156): This Cherokee secret society, which\nhas recently achieved some newspaper prominence by its championship of\nCherokee autonomy, derives its name--properly Kitu'hwa, but commonly\nspelled Ketoowah in English print--from the ancient town in the old\nNation which formed the nucleus of the most conservative element\nof the tribe and sometimes gave a name to the Nation itself (see\nKitu'hwagi, under Tribal Synonyms). A strong band of comradeship,\nif not a regular society organization, appears to have existed\namong the warriors and leading men of the various settlements of\nthe Kituhwa district from a remote period, so that the name is even\nnow used in councils as indicative of genuine Cherokee feeling in\nits highest patriotic form. When, some years ago, delegates from\nthe western Nation visited the East Cherokee to invite them to join\ntheir more prosperous brethren beyond the Mississippi, the speaker for\nthe delegates expressed their fraternal feeling for their separated\nkinsmen by saying in his opening speech, \"We are all Kituhwa people\"\n(Ani'-Kitu'hwagi). The Ketoowah society in the Cherokee Nation west\nwas organized shortly before the civil war by John B. Jones, son of\nthe missionary, Evan Jones, and an adopted citizen of the Nation,\nas a secret society for the ostensible purpose of cultivating\na national feeling among the full-bloods, in opposition to the\ninnovating tendencies of the mixed-blood element. The real purpose\nwas to counteract the influence of the \"Blue Lodge\" and other secret\nsecessionist organizations among the wealthier slave-holding classes,\nmade up chiefly of mixed-bloods and whites. It extended to the Creeks,\nand its members in both tribes rendered good service to the Union\ncause throughout the war. They were frequently known as \"Pin Indians,\"\nfor a reason explained below. Since the close of the great struggle\nthe society has distinguished itself by its determined opposition to\nevery scheme looking to the curtailment or destruction of Cherokee\nnational self-government.\n\nThe following account of the society was written shortly after the\nclose of the civil war:\n\n\"Those Cherokees who were loyal to the Union combined in a secret\norganization for self-protection, assuming the designation of the\nKetoowha society, which name was soon merged in that of \"Pins.\" The\nPins were so styled because of a peculiar manner they adopted of\nwearing a pin. The symbol was discovered by their enemies, who\napplied the term in derision; but it was accepted by this loyal\nleague, and has almost superseded the designation which its members\nfirst assumed. The Pin organization originated among the members\nof the Baptist congregation at Peavine, Going-snake district, in\nthe Cherokee nation. In a short time the society counted nearly\nthree thousand members, and had commenced proselytizing the Creeks,\nwhen the rebellion, against which it was arming, preventing its\nfurther extension, the poor Creeks having been driven into Kansas by\nthe rebels of the Golden Circle. During the war the Pins rendered\nservices to the Union cause in many bloody encounters, as has been\nacknowledged by our generals. It was distinctly an anti-slavery\norganization. The slave-holding Cherokees, who constituted the wealthy\nand more intelligent class, naturally allied themselves with the South,\nwhile loyal Cherokees became more and more opposed to slavery. This\nwas shown very clearly when the loyalists first met in convention,\nin February, 1863. They not only abolished slavery unconditionally and\nforever, before any slave state made a movement toward emancipation,\nbut made any attempts at enslaving a grave misdemeanor.\n\nThe secret signs of the Pins were a peculiar way of touching the hat as\na salutation, particularly when they were too far apart for recognition\nin other ways. They had a peculiar mode of taking hold of the lapel\nof the coat, first drawing it away from the body, and then giving it a\nmotion as though wrapping it around the heart. During the war a portion\nof them were forced into the rebellion, but quickly rebelled against\nGeneral Cooper, who was placed over them, and when they fought against\nthat general, at Bird Creek, they wore a bit of corn-husk, split into\nstrips, tied in their hair. In the night when two Pins met, and one\nasked the other, 'Who are you?' the reply or pass was, 'Tahlequah--who\nare you?' The response was, 'I am Ketoowha's son.'\"--Dr D. J. MacGowan,\nIndian Secret Societies, in Historical Magazine, X, 1866.\n\n(48) Farewell address of Lloyd Welch (p. 175): In the sad and eventful\nhistory of the Cherokee their gifted leaders, frequently of white\nancestry, have oftentimes spoken to the world with eloquent words of\nappeal, of protest, or of acknowledgment, but never more eloquently\nthan in the last farewell of Chief Lloyd Welch to the eastern band,\nas he felt the end draw near (leaflet, MacGowan, Chattanooga [n. d.,\n1880]):\n\n\n \"To the Chairman and Council of the Eastern Band of Cherokees:\n\n \"My Brothers: It becomes my imperative duty to bid you an\n affectionate farewell, and resign into your hands the trust\n you so generously confided to my keeping, principal chief of\n the Eastern Band. It is with great solicitude and anxiety for\n your welfare that I am constrained to take this course. But the\n inexorable laws of nature, and the rapid decline of my health,\n admonish me that soon, very soon, I will have passed from earth, my\n body consigned to the tomb, my spirit to God who gave it, in that\n happy home in the beyond, where there is no sickness, no sorrow,\n no pain, no death, but one eternal joy and happiness forever more.\n\n \"The only regret that I feel for thus being so soon called from\n among you, at the meridian of manhood, when hope is sweet, is\n the great anxiety I have to serve and benefit my race. For this\n I have studied and labored for the past ten years of my life,\n to secure to my brothers equal justice from their brothers of\n the west and the United States, and that you would no longer\n be hewers of wood and drawers of water, but assume that proud\n position among the civilized nations of the earth intended by\n the Creator that we should occupy, and which in the near future\n you will take or be exterminated. When you become educated, as\n a natural consequence you will become more intelligent, sober,\n industrious, and prosperous.\n\n \"It has been the aim of my life, the chief object, to serve my\n race faithfully, honestly, and to the best of my ability. How well\n I have succeeded I will leave to history and your magnanimity to\n decide, trusting an all-wise and just God to guide and protect\n you in the future, as He will do all things well. We may fail\n when on earth to see the goodness and wisdom of God in removing\n from us our best and most useful men, but when we have crossed\n over on the other shore to our happy and eternal home in the far\n beyond then our eyes will be opened and we will be enabled to see\n and realize the goodness and mercy of God in thus afflicting us\n while here on earth, and will be enabled more fully to praise God,\n from whom all blessings come.\n\n \"I hope that when you come to select one from among you to take\n the responsible position of principal chief of your band you will\n lay aside all personal considerations and select one in every\n respect competent, without stain on his fair fame, a pure, noble,\n honest, man--one who loves God and all that is pure--with intellect\n sufficient to know your rights, independence and nerve to defend\n them. Should you be thus fortunate in making your choice, all will\n be well. It has been truthfully said that 'when the righteous rule\n the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule the people mourn.'\n\n \"I am satisfied that you have among you many who are fully\n competent of the task. If I was satisfied it was your wish\n and for the good of my brothers I might mention some of them,\n but think it best to leave you in the hands of an all-wise God,\n who does all things right, to guide and direct you aright.\n\n \"And now, my brothers, in taking perhaps my last farewell on earth\n I do pray God that you may so conduct yourselves while here on\n earth that when the last sad rite is performed by loved friends\n we may compose one unbroken family above in that celestial city\n from whose bourne no traveler has ever returned to describe the\n beauty, grandeur, and happiness of the heaven prepared for the\n faithful by God himself beyond the sky. And again, my brothers,\n permit me to bid you a fond, but perhaps a last, farewell on earth,\n until we meet again where parting is never known and friends meet\n to part no more forever.\n\n \"L. R. Welch,\n\n \"Principal Chief Eastern Band Cherokee Indians.\n\n \"Witness:\n\n \"Samuel W. Davidson.\n\n \"B. B. Merony.\"\n\n\n(49) Status of eastern band (p. 180): For some reason all authorities\nwho have hitherto discussed the status of the eastern band of\nCherokee seem to have been entirely unaware of the enactment of the\nsupplementary articles to the treaty of New Echota, by which all\npreemption and reservation rights granted under the twelfth article\nwere canceled. Thus, in the Cherokee case of \"The United States\net al against D. T. Boyd et al,\" we find the United States circuit\njudge quoting the twelfth article in its original form as a basis for\nargument, while his associate judge says: \"Their forefathers availed\nthemselves of a provision in the treaty of New Echota and remained\nin the state of North Carolina,\" etc. (Report of Indian Commissioner\nfor 1895, pp. 633-635, 1896). The truth is that the treaty as ratified\nwith its supplementary articles canceled the residence right of every\nCherokee east of the Mississippi, and it was not until thirty years\nafterwards that North Carolina finally gave assurance that the eastern\nband would be permitted to remain within her borders.\n\nThe twelfth article of the new Echota treaty of December 29, 1835,\nprovides for a pro rata apportionment to such Cherokee as desire to\nremain in the East, and continues: \"Such heads of Cherokee families\nas are desirous to reside within the states of North Carolina,\nTennessee, and Alabama, subject to the laws of the same, and who are\nqualified or calculated to become useful citizens, shall be entitled,\non the certificate of the commissioners, to a preemption right to\none hundred and sixty acres of land, or one quarter section, at the\nminimum Congress price, so as to include the present buildings or\nimprovements of those who now reside there; and such as do not live\nthere at present shall be permitted to locate within two years any\nlands not already occupied by persons entitled to preemption privilege\nunder this treaty,\" etc. Article 13 defines terms with reference to\nindividual reservations granted under former treaties. The preamble\nto the supplementary articles agreed upon on March 1, 1836, recites\nthat, \"Whereas the President of the United States has expressed\nhis determination not to allow any preemptions or reservations, his\ndesire being that the whole Cherokee people should remove together\nand establish themselves in the country provided for them west of\nthe Mississippi river (article 1): It is therefore agreed that all\npreemption rights and reservations provided for in articles 12 and 13\nshall be, and are hereby, relinquished and declared void.\" The treaty,\nin this shape, was ratified on May 23, 1836 (see Indian Treaties,\npp. 633-648, 1837).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIV--STORIES AND STORY TELLERS\n\n\nCherokee myths may be roughly classified as sacred myths, animal\nstories, local legends, and historical traditions. To the first\nclass belong the genesis stories, dealing with the creation of the\nworld, the nature of the heavenly bodies and elemental forces, the\norigin of life and death, the spirit world and the invisible beings,\nthe ancient monsters, and the hero-gods. It is almost certain that\nmost of the myths of this class are but disjointed fragments of an\noriginal complete genesis and migration legend, which is now lost. With\nnearly every tribe that has been studied we find such a sacred legend,\npreserved by the priests of the tradition, who alone are privileged to\nrecite and explain it, and dealing with the origin and wanderings of\nthe people from the beginning of the world to the final settlement\nof the tribe in its home territory. Among the best examples of\nsuch genesis traditions are those recorded in the Walam Olum of the\nDelawares and Matthews' Navaho Origin Legend. Others may be found in\nCusick's History of the Six Nations, Gatschet's Creek Migration Legend,\nand the author's Jicarilla Genesis. [463] The Cheyenne, Arapaho,\nand other plains tribes are known to have similar genesis myths.\n\nThe former existence of such a national legend among the Cherokee\nis confirmed by Haywood, writing in 1823, who states on information\nobtained from a principal man in the tribe that they had once a long\noration, then nearly forgotten, which recounted the history of their\nwanderings from the time when they had been first placed upon the earth\nby some superior power from above. Up to about the middle of the last\ncentury this tradition was still recited at the annual Green-corn\ndance. [464] Unlike most Indians the Cherokee are not conservative,\nand even before the Revolution had so far lost their primitive customs\nfrom contact with the whites that Adair, in 1775, calls them a nest\nof apostate hornets who for more than thirty years had been fast\ndegenerating. [465] Whatever it may have been, their national legend\nis now lost forever. The secret organizations that must have existed\nformerly among the priesthood have also disappeared, and each man now\nworks independently according to his individual gifts and knowledge.\n\nThe sacred myths were not for every one, but only those might hear who\nobserved the proper form and ceremony. When John Ax and other old men\nwere boys, now some eighty years ago, the myth-keepers and priests\nwere accustomed to meet together at night in the \u00e2si, or low-built\nlog sleeping house, to recite the traditions and discuss their secret\nknowledge. At times those who desired instruction from an adept in\nthe sacred lore of the tribe met him by appointment in the \u00e2si, where\nthey sat up all night talking, with only the light of a small fire\nburning in the middle of the floor. At daybreak the whole party went\ndown to the running stream, where the pupils or hearers of the myths\nstripped themselves, and were scratched upon their naked skin with\na bone-tooth comb in the hands of the priest, after which they waded\nout, facing the rising sun, and dipped seven times under the water,\nwhile the priest recited prayers upon the bank. This purificatory\nrite, observed more than a century ago by Adair, is also a part of the\nceremonial of the ballplay, the Green-corn dance, and, in fact, every\nimportant ritual performance. Before beginning one of the stories of\nthe sacred class the informant would sometimes suggest jokingly that\nthe author first submit to being scratched and \"go to water.\"\n\nAs a special privilege a boy was sometimes admitted to the \u00e2si on such\noccasions, to tend the fire, and thus had the opportunity to listen to\nthe stories and learn something of the secret rites. In this way John\nAx gained much of his knowledge, although he does not claim to be an\nadept. As he describes it, the fire intended to heat the room--for the\nnights are cold in the Cherokee mountains--was built upon the ground\nin the center of the small house, which was not high enough to permit\na standing position, while the occupants sat in a circle around it. In\nfront of the fire was placed a large flat rock, and near it a pile of\npine knots or splints. When the fire had burned down to a bed of coals,\nthe boy lighted one or two of the pine knots and laid them upon the\nrock, where they blazed with a bright light until nearly consumed,\nwhen others were laid upon them, and so on until daybreak.\n\nSometimes the pine splints were set up crosswise, thus, \u00d7\u00d7\u00d7\u00d7, in a\ncircle around the fire, with a break at the eastern side. They were\nthen lighted from one end and burned gradually around the circle, fresh\nsplints being set up behind as those in front were consumed. Lawson\ndescribes this identical custom as witnessed at a dance among the\nWaxhaw, on Catawba river, in 1701:\n\n\n Now, to return to our state house, whither we were invited\n by the grandees. As soon as we came into it, they placed our\n Englishmen near the king, it being my fortune to sit next him,\n having his great general or war captain on my other hand. The\n house is as dark as a dungeon, and as hot as one of the Dutch\n stoves in Holland. They had made a circular fire of split canes\n in the middle of the house, it was one man's employment to add\n more split reeds to the one end as it consumed at the other,\n there being a small vacancy left to supply it with fuel. [466]\n\n\nTo the second class belong the shorter animal myths, which have lost\nwhatever sacred character they may once have had, and are told now\nmerely as humorous explanations of certain animal peculiarities. While\nthe sacred myths have a constant bearing upon formulistic prayers and\nobservances, it is only in rare instances that any rite or custom\nis based upon an animal myth. Moreover, the sacred myths are known\nas a rule only to the professional priests or conjurers, while the\nshorter animal stories are more or less familiar to nearly everyone\nand are found in almost identical form among Cherokee, Creeks, and\nother southern tribes.\n\nThe animals of the Cherokee myths, like the traditional\nhero-gods, were larger and of more perfect type than their present\nrepresentatives. They had chiefs, councils, and townhouses, mingled\nwith human kind upon terms of perfect equality and spoke the same\nlanguage. In some unexplained manner they finally left this lower\nworld and ascended to Gal\u00fb\u00f1'lati, the world above, where they still\nexist. The removal was not simultaneous, but each animal chose\nhis own time. The animals that we know, small in size and poor in\nintellect, came upon the earth later, and are not the descendants of\nthe mythic animals, but only weak imitations. In one or two special\ncases, however, the present creature is the descendant of a former\nmonster. Trees and plants also were alive and could talk in the old\ndays, and had their place in council, but do not figure prominently\nin the myths.\n\nEach animal had his appointed station and duty. Thus, the Wal\u00e2'si\nfrog was the marshal and leader in the council, while the Rabbit was\nthe messenger to carry all public announcements, and usually led the\ndance besides. He was also the great trickster and mischief maker, a\ncharacter which he bears in eastern and southern Indian myth generally,\nas well as in the southern negro stories. The bear figures as having\nbeen originally a man, with human form and nature.\n\nAs with other tribes and countries, almost every prominent rock and\nmountain, every deep bend in the river, in the old Cherokee country\nhas its accompanying legend. It may be a little story that can be\ntold in a paragraph, to account for some natural feature, or it\nmay be one chapter of a myth that has its sequel in a mountain a\nhundred miles away. As is usual when a people has lived for a long\ntime in the same country, nearly every important myth is localized,\nthus assuming more definite character.\n\nThere is the usual number of anecdotes and stories of personal\nadventure, some of them irredeemably vulgar, but historical traditions\nare strangely wanting. The authentic records of unlettered peoples\nare short at best, seldom going back much farther than the memories\nof their oldest men; and although the Cherokee have been the most\nimportant of the southern tribes, making wars and treaties for three\ncenturies with Spanish, English, French, and Americans, Iroquois,\nShawano, Catawba, and Creeks, there is little evidence of the fact in\ntheir traditions. This condition may be due in part to the temper of\nthe Cherokee mind, which, as has been already stated, is accustomed\nto look forward to new things rather than to dwell upon the past. The\nfirst Cherokee war, with its stories of \u00c2ganst\u00e2'ta and Ata-g\u00fbl'kal\u00fb',\nis absolutely forgotten. Of the long Revolutionary struggle they\nhave hardly a recollection, although they were constantly fighting\nthroughout the whole period and for several years after, and at one\ntime were brought to the verge of ruin by four concerted expeditions,\nwhich ravaged their country simultaneously from different directions\nand destroyed almost every one of their towns. Even the Creek war,\nin which many of their warriors took a prominent part, was already\nnearly forgotten some years ago. Beyond a few stories of encounters\nwith the Shawano and Iroquois there is hardly anything that can be\ncalled history until well within the present century.\n\nWith some tribes the winter season and the night are the time for\ntelling stories, but to the Cherokee all times are alike. As our\ngrandmothers begin, \"Once upon a time,\" so the Cherokee story-teller\nintroduces his narrative by saying: \"This is what the old men told\nme when I was a boy.\"\n\nNot all tell the same stories, for in tribal lore, as in all other\nsorts of knowledge, we find specialists. Some common minds take note\nonly of common things--little stories of the rabbit, the terrapin,\nand the others, told to point a joke or amuse a child. Others dwell\nupon the wonderful and supernatural--Tsul`kal\u00fb', Tsuwe'nahi, and\nthe Thunderers--and those sacred things to be told only with prayer\nand purification. Then, again, there are still a few old warriors\nwho live in the memory of heroic days when there were wars with the\nSeneca and the Shawano, and these men are the historians of the tribe\nand the conservators of its antiquities.\n\nThe question of the origin of myths is one which affords abundant\nopportunity for ingenious theories in the absence of any possibility\nof proof. Those of the Cherokee are too far broken down ever to be\nwoven together again into any long-connected origin legend, such as\nwe find with some tribes, although a few still exhibit a certain\nsequence which indicates that they once formed component parts of\na cycle. From the prominence of the rabbit in the animal stories,\nas well as in those found among the southern negroes, an effort has\nbeen made to establish for them a negro origin, regardless of the fact\nthat the rabbit--the Great White Rabbit--is the hero-god, trickster,\nand wonder-worker of all the tribes east of the Mississippi from Hudson\nbay to the Gulf. In European folklore also the rabbit is regarded as\nsomething uncanny and half-supernatural, and even in far-off Korea\nhe is the central figure in the animal myths. Just why this should\nbe so is a question that may be left to the theorist to decide. Among\nthe Algonquian tribes the name, wabos, seems to have been confounded\nwith that of the dawn, waban, so that the Great White Rabbit is really\nthe incarnation of the eastern dawn that brings light and life and\ndrives away the dark shadows which have held the world in chains. The\nanimal itself seems to be regarded by the Indians as the fitting\ntype of defenseless weakness protected and made safe by constantly\nalert vigilance, and with a disposition, moreover, for turning up at\nunexpected moments. The same characteristics would appeal as strongly\nto the primitive mind of the negro. The very expression which Harris\nputs into the mouth of Uncle Remus, \"In dem days Brer Rabbit en his\nfambly wuz at the head er de gang w'en enny racket wus en hand,\" [467]\nwas paraphrased in the Cherokee language by Suyeta in introducing his\nfirst rabbit story: \"Tsi'stu wuliga'nat\u00fbt\u00fb\u00f1' une'gutsat\u00fb' gese'i--the\nRabbit was the leader of them all in mischief.\" The expression struck\nthe author so forcibly that the words were recorded as spoken.\n\nIn regard to the contact between the two races, by which such stories\ncould be borrowed from one by the other, it is not commonly known\nthat in all the southern colonies Indian slaves were bought and\nsold and kept in servitude and worked in the fields side by side\nwith negroes up to the time of the Revolution. Not to go back to the\nSpanish period, when such things were the order of the day, we find\nthe Cherokee as early as 1693 complaining that their people were being\nkidnaped by slave hunters. Hundreds of captured Tuscarora and nearly\nthe whole tribe of the Appalachee were distributed as slaves among\nthe Carolina colonists in the early part of the eighteenth century,\nwhile the Natchez and others shared a similar fate in Louisiana,\nand as late at least as 1776 Cherokee prisoners of war were still\nsold to the highest bidder for the same purpose. At one time it was\ncharged against the governor of South Carolina that he was provoking a\ngeneral Indian war by his encouragement of slave hunts. Furthermore,\nas the coast tribes dwindled they were compelled to associate and\nintermarry with the negroes until they finally lost their identity\nand were classed with that race, so that a considerable proportion\nof the blood of the southern negroes is unquestionably Indian.\n\nThe negro, with his genius for imitation and his love for stories,\nespecially of the comic variety, must undoubtedly have absorbed much\nfrom the Indian in this way, while on the other hand the Indian,\nwith his pride of conservatism and his contempt for a subject race,\nwould have taken but little from the negro, and that little could\nnot easily have found its way back to the free tribes. Some of these\nanimal stories are common to widely separated tribes among whom there\ncan be no suspicion of negro influences. Thus the famous \"tar baby\"\nstory has variants, not only among the Cherokee, but also in New\nMexico, Washington, and southern Alaska--wherever, in fact, the pi\u00f1on\nor the pine supplies enough gum to be molded into a ball for Indian\nuses--while the incident of the Rabbit dining the Bear is found with\nnearly every tribe from Nova Scotia to the Pacific. The idea that\nsuch stories are necessarily of negro origin is due largely to the\ncommon but mistaken notion that the Indian has no sense of humor.\n\nIn many cases it is not necessary to assume borrowing from either\nside, the myths being such as would naturally spring up in any\npart of the world among primitive people accustomed to observe the\ncharacteristics of animals, which their religious system regarded\nas differing in no essential from human kind, save only in outward\nform. Thus in Europe and America the terrapin has been accepted as\nthe type of plodding slowness, while the rabbit, with his sudden dash,\nor the deer with his bounding stride, is the type of speed. What more\nnatural than that the story-teller should set one to race against the\nother, with the victory in favor of the patient striver against the\nself-confident boaster? The idea of a hungry wolf or other beast of\nprey luring his victims by the promise of a new song or dance, during\nwhich they must close their eyes, is also one that would easily occur\namong any primitive people whose chief pastime is dancing. [468]\n\nOn the other hand, such a conception as that of Flint and the Rabbit\ncould only be the outgrowth of a special cosmogonic theology, though\nnow indeed broken and degraded, and it is probable that many myths\ntold now only for amusement are really worn down fragments of ancient\nsacred traditions. Thus the story just noted appears in a different\ndress among the Iroquois as a part of their great creation myth. The\nCherokee being a detached tribe of the Iroquois, we may expect to\nfind among the latter, if it be not already too late, the explanation\nand more perfect statement of some things which are obscure in the\nCherokee myths. It must not be forgotten, however, that the Indian,\nlike other men, does some things for simple amusement, and it is\nuseless to look for occult meanings where none exist.\n\nExcept as to the local traditions and a few others which are obviously\nthe direct outgrowth of Cherokee conditions, it is impossible to\nfix a definite starting point for the myths. It would be unwise to\nassert that even the majority of them originated within the tribe. The\nCherokee have strains of Creek, Catawba, Uchee, Natchez, Iroquois,\nOsage, and Shawano blood, and such admixture implies contact more\nor less intimate and continued. Indians are great wanderers, and a\nmyth can travel as far as a redstone pipe or a string of wampum. It\nwas customary, as it still is to a limited extent in the West, for\nlarge parties, sometimes even a whole band or village, to make long\nvisits to other tribes, dancing, feasting, trading, and exchanging\nstories with their friends for weeks or months at a time, with the\nexpectation that their hosts would return the visit within the next\nsummer. Regular trade routes crossed the continent from east to\nwest and from north to south, and when the subject has been fully\ninvestigated it will be found that this intertribal commerce was as\nconstant and well recognized a part of Indian life as is our own\nrailroad traffic today. The very existence of a trade jargon or a\nsign language is proof of intertribal relations over wide areas. Their\npolitical alliances also were often far-reaching, for Pontiac welded\ninto a warlike confederacy all the tribes from the Atlantic border\nto the head of the Mississippi, while the emissaries of the Shawano\nprophet carried the story of his revelations throughout the whole\nregion from the Florida coast to the Saskatchewan.\n\nIn view of these facts it is as useless to attempt to trace the origin\nof every myth as to claim a Cherokee authorship for them all. From\nwhat we know of the character of the Shawano, their tendency toward\nthe ceremonial and the mystic, and their close relations with the\nCherokee, it may be inferred that some of the myths originated\nwith that tribe. We should naturally expect also to find close\ncorrespondence with the myths of the Creeks and other southern\ntribes within the former area of the Mobilian trade language. The\nlocalization at home of all the more important myths indicates a long\nresidence in the country. As the majority of those here given belong\nto the half dozen counties still familiar to the East Cherokee, we\nmay guess how many attached to the ancient territory of the tribe\nare now irrecoverably lost.\n\nContact with the white race seems to have produced very little\nimpression on the tribal mythology, and not more than three or four\nstories current among the Cherokee can be assigned to a Caucasian\nsource. These have not been reproduced here, for the reason that they\nare plainly European, and the author has chosen not to follow the\nexample of some collectors who have assumed that every tale told in\nan Indian language is necessarily an Indian story. Scores recorded in\ncollections from the North and West are nothing more than variants from\nthe celebrated Hausm\u00e4rchen, as told by French trappers and voyageurs\nto their Indian campmates and halfbreed children. It might perhaps\nbe thought that missionary influence would be evident in the genesis\ntradition, but such is not the case. The Bible story kills the Indian\ntradition, and there is no amalgamation. It is hardly necessary to say\nthat stories of a great fish which swallows a man and of a great flood\nwhich destroys a people are found the world over. The supposed Cherokee\nhero-god, W\u00e2si, described by one writer as so remarkably resembling\nthe great Hebrew lawgiver is in fact that great teacher himself, W\u00e2si\nbeing the Cherokee approximate for Moses, and the good missionary who\nfirst recorded the story was simply listening to a chapter taken by\nhis convert from the Cherokee testament. The whole primitive pantheon\nof the Cherokee is still preserved in their sacred formulas.\n\nAs compared with those from some other tribes the Cherokee myths are\nclean. For picturesque imagination and wealth of detail they rank\nhigh, and some of the wonder stories may challenge those of Europe\nand India. The numerous parallels furnished will serve to indicate\ntheir relation to the general Indian system. Unless otherwise noted,\nevery myth here given has been obtained directly from the Indians,\nand in nearly every case has been verified from several sources.\n\n\n \"I know not how the truth may be,\n I tell the tale as 'twas told to me.\"\n\n\nFirst and chief in the list of story tellers comes A`y\u00fb\u00f1'ini,\n\"Swimmer,\" from whom nearly three-fourths of the whole number were\noriginally obtained, together with nearly as large a proportion of the\nwhole body of Cherokee material now in possession of the author. The\ncollection could not have been made without his help, and now that he\nis gone it can never be duplicated. Born about 1835, shortly before\nthe Removal, he grew up under the instruction of masters to be a\npriest, doctor, and keeper of tradition, so that he was recognized as\nan authority throughout the band and by such a competent outside judge\nas Colonel Thomas. He served through the war as second sergeant of the\nCherokee Company A, Sixty-ninth North Carolina Confederate Infantry,\nThomas Legion. He was prominent in the local affairs of the band,\nand no Green-corn dance, ballplay, or other tribal function was ever\nconsidered complete without his presence and active assistance. A\ngenuine aboriginal antiquarian and patriot, proud of his people and\ntheir ancient system, he took delight in recording in his native\nalphabet the songs and sacred formulas of priests and dancers and the\nnames of medicinal plants and the prescriptions with which they were\ncompounded, while his mind was a storehouse of Indian tradition. To\na happy descriptive style he added a musical voice for the songs and\na peculiar faculty for imitating the characteristic cry of bird or\nbeast, so that to listen to one of his recitals was often a pleasure\nin itself, even to one who understood not a word of the language. He\nspoke no English, and to the day of his death clung to the moccasin and\nturban, together with the rattle, his badge of authority. He died in\nMarch, 1899, aged about sixty-five, and was buried like a true Cherokee\non the slope of a forest-clad mountain. Peace to his ashes and sorrow\nfor his going, for with him perished half the tradition of a people.\n\nNext in order comes the name of Itag\u00fb'nahi, better known as John Ax,\nborn about 1800 and now consequently just touching the century mark,\nbeing the oldest man of the band. He has a distinct recollection of\nthe Creek war, at which time he was about twelve years of age, and\nwas already married and a father when the lands east of Nantahala\nwere sold by the treaty of 1819. Although not a professional priest\nor doctor, he was recognized, before age had dulled his faculties, as\nan authority upon all relating to tribal custom, and was an expert in\nthe making of rattles, wands, and other ceremonial paraphernalia. Of\na poetic and imaginative temperament, he cared most for the wonder\nstories, of the giant Tsul`kal\u00fb', of the great Uktena or of the\ninvisible spirit people, but he had also a keen appreciation of the\nhumorous animal stories. He speaks no English, and with his erect\nspare figure and piercing eye is a fine specimen of the old-time\nIndian. Notwithstanding his great age he walked without other\nassistance than his stick to the last ball game, where he watched\nevery run with the closest interest, and would have attended the\ndance the night before but for the interposition of friends.\n\nSuyeta, \"The Chosen One,\" who preaches regularly as a Baptist\nminister to an Indian congregation, does not deal much with the Indian\nsupernatural, perhaps through deference to his clerical obligations,\nbut has a good memory and liking for rabbit stories and others of\nthe same class. He served in the Confederate army during the war as\nfourth sergeant in Company A, of the Sixty-ninth North Carolina,\nand is now a well-preserved man of about sixty-two. He speaks no\nEnglish, but by an ingenious system of his own has learned to use\na concordance for verifying references in his Cherokee bible. He is\nalso a first-class carpenter and mason.\n\nAnother principal informant was Ta'gwadihi', \"Catawba-killer,\" of\nCheowa, who died a few years ago, aged about seventy. He was a doctor\nand made no claim to special knowledge of myths or ceremonials, but\nwas able to furnish several valuable stories, besides confirmatory\nevidence for a large number obtained from other sources.\n\nBesides these may be named, among the East Cherokee, the late Chief\nN. J. Smith; Sal\u00e2'li, mentioned elsewhere, who died about 1895;\nTsesa'ni or Jessan, who also served in the war; Ay\u00e2'sta, one of the\nprincipal conservatives among the women; and James and David Blythe,\nyounger men of mixed blood, with an English education, but inheritors\nof a large share of Indian lore from their father, who was a recognized\nleader of ceremony.\n\nAmong informants in the western Cherokee Nation the principal was\nJames D. Wafford, known to the Indians as Tsuskwan\u00fb\u00f1'nawa'ta,\n\"Worn-out-blanket,\" a mixed-blood speaking and writing both\nlanguages, born in the old Cherokee Nation near the site of the\npresent Clarkesville, Georgia, in 1806, and dying when about ninety\nyears of age at his home in the eastern part of the Cherokee Nation,\nadjoining the Seneca reservation. The name figures prominently in\nthe early history of North Carolina and Georgia. His grandfather,\nColonel Wafford, was an officer in the American Revolutionary army,\nand shortly after the treaty of Hopewell, in 1785, established a colony\nknown as \"Wafford's settlement,\" in upper Georgia, on territory which\nwas afterward found to be within the Indian boundary and was acquired\nby special treaty purchase in 1804. His name is appended, as witness\nfor the state of Georgia, to the treaty of Holston, in 1794. [469]\nOn his mother's side Mr Wafford was of mixed Cherokee, Natchez,\nand white blood, she being a cousin of Sequoya. He was also remotely\nconnected with Cornelius Dougherty, the first trader established among\nthe Cherokee. In the course of his long life he filled many positions\nof trust and honor among his people. In his youth he attended the\nmission school at Valleytown under Reverend Evan Jones, and just before\nthe adoption of the Cherokee alphabet he finished the translation\ninto phonetic Cherokee spelling of a Sunday school speller noted in\nPilling's Iroquoian Bibliography. In 1824 he was the census enumerator\nfor that district of the Cherokee Nation embracing upper Hiwassee\nriver, in North Carolina, with Nottely and Toccoa in the adjoining\nportion of Georgia. His fund of Cherokee geographic information thus\nacquired was found to be invaluable. He was one of the two commanders\nof the largest detachment of emigrants at the time of the removal, and\nhis name appears as a councilor for the western Nation in the Cherokee\nAlmanac for 1846. When employed by the author at Tahlequah in 1891 his\nmind was still clear and his memory keen. Being of practical bent, he\nwas concerned chiefly with tribal history, geography, linguistics, and\nevery-day life and custom, on all of which subjects his knowledge was\nexact and detailed, but there were few myths for which he was not able\nto furnish confirmatory testimony. Despite his education he was a firm\nbeliever in the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi, and several of the best legends connected\nwith them were obtained from him. His death takes from the Cherokee\none of the last connecting links between the present and the past.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nV--THE MYTHS\n\n\nCosmogonic Myths\n\n\n1. HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE\n\nThe earth is a great island floating in a sea of water, and suspended\nat each of the four cardinal points by a cord hanging down from the\nsky vault, which is of solid rock. When the world grows old and worn\nout, the people will die and the cords will break and let the earth\nsink down into the ocean, and all will be water again. The Indians\nare afraid of this.\n\nWhen all was water, the animals were above in Gal\u00fb\u00f1'lati, beyond\nthe arch; but it was very much crowded, and they were wanting more\nroom. They wondered what was below the water, and at last D\u00e2yuni'si,\n\"Beaver's Grandchild,\" the little Water-beetle, offered to go and\nsee if it could learn. It darted in every direction over the surface\nof the water, but could find no firm place to rest. Then it dived\nto the bottom and came up with some soft mud, which began to grow\nand spread on every side until it became the island which we call\nthe earth. It was afterward fastened to the sky with four cords,\nbut no one remembers who did this.\n\nAt first the earth was flat and very soft and wet. The animals\nwere anxious to get down, and sent out different birds to see if it\nwas yet dry, but they found no place to alight and came back again\nto Gal\u00fb\u00f1'lati. At last it seemed to be time, and they sent out the\nBuzzard and told him to go and make ready for them. This was the Great\nBuzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see now. He flew all over\nthe earth, low down near the ground, and it was still soft. When\nhe reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired, and his wings\nbegan to flap and strike the ground, and wherever they struck the\nearth there was a valley, and where they turned up again there was\na mountain. When the animals above saw this, they were afraid that\nthe whole world would be mountains, so they called him back, but the\nCherokee country remains full of mountains to this day.\n\nWhen the earth was dry and the animals came down, it was still dark,\nso they got the sun and set it in a track to go every day across the\nisland from east to west, just overhead. It was too hot this way, and\nTsiska'gili', the Red Crawfish, had his shell scorched a bright red,\nso that his meat was spoiled; and the Cherokee do not eat it. The\nconjurers put the sun another hand-breadth higher in the air, but it\nwas still too hot. They raised it another time, and another, until\nit was seven handbreadths high and just under the sky arch. Then it\nwas right, and they left it so. This is why the conjurers call the\nhighest place G\u00fblkw\u00e2'gine Di'gal\u00fb\u00f1'latiy\u00fb\u00f1', \"the seventh height,\"\nbecause it is seven hand-breadths above the earth. Every day the sun\ngoes along under this arch, and returns at night on the upper side\nto the starting place.\n\nThere is another world under this, and it is like ours in\neverything--animals, plants, and people--save that the seasons are\ndifferent. The streams that come down from the mountains are the\ntrails by which we reach this underworld, and the springs at their\nheads are the doorways by which we enter it, but to do this one must\nfast and go to water and have one of the underground people for a\nguide. We know that the seasons in the underworld are different from\nours, because the water in the springs is always warmer in winter\nand cooler in summer than the outer air.\n\nWhen the animals and plants were first made--we do not know by\nwhom--they were told to watch and keep awake for seven nights,\njust as young men now fast and keep awake when they pray to their\nmedicine. They tried to do this, and nearly all were awake through\nthe first night, but the next night several dropped off to sleep,\nand the third night others were asleep, and then others, until,\non the seventh night, of all the animals only the owl, the panther,\nand one or two more were still awake. To these were given the power\nto see and to go about in the dark, and to make prey of the birds\nand animals which must sleep at night. Of the trees only the cedar,\nthe pine, the spruce, the holly, and the laurel were awake to the\nend, and to them it was given to be always green and to be greatest\nfor medicine, but to the others it was said: \"Because you have not\nendured to the end you shall lose your hair every winter.\"\n\nMen came after the animals and plants. At first there were only a\nbrother and sister until he struck her with a fish and told her to\nmultiply, and so it was. In seven days a child was born to her, and\nthereafter every seven days another, and they increased very fast\nuntil there was danger that the world could not keep them. Then it\nwas made that a woman should have only one child in a year, and it\nhas been so ever since.\n\n\n\n\n2. THE FIRST FIRE\n\nIn the beginning there was no fire, and the world was cold, until\nthe Thunders (Ani'-Hy\u00fb\u00f1'tikwal\u00e2'ski), who lived up in Gal\u00fb\u00f1'lati,\nsent their lightning and put fire into the bottom of a hollow sycamore\ntree which grew on an island. The animals knew it was there, because\nthey could see the smoke coming out at the top, but they could not\nget to it on account of the water, so they held a council to decide\nwhat to do. This was a long time ago.\n\nEvery animal that could fly or swim was anxious to go after the\nfire. The Raven offered, and because he was so large and strong they\nthought he could surely do the work, so he was sent first. He flew\nhigh and far across the water and alighted on the sycamore tree,\nbut while he was wondering what to do next, the heat had scorched all\nhis feathers black, and he was frightened and came back without the\nfire. The little Screech-owl (Wa'huhu') volunteered to go, and reached\nthe place safely, but while he was looking down into the hollow tree\na blast of hot air came up and nearly burned out his eyes. He managed\nto fly home as best he could, but it was a long time before he could\nsee well, and his eyes are red to this day. Then the Hooting Owl\n(U'guku') and the Horned Owl (Tskili') went, but by the time they got\nto the hollow tree the fire was burning so fiercely that the smoke\nnearly blinded them, and the ashes carried up by the wind made white\nrings about their eyes. They had to come home again without the fire,\nbut with all their rubbing they were never able to get rid of the\nwhite rings.\n\nNow no more of the birds would venture, and so the little Uksu'hi\nsnake, the black racer, said he would go through the water and bring\nback some fire. He swam across to the island and crawled through the\ngrass to the tree, and went in by a small hole at the bottom. The\nheat and smoke were too much for him, too, and after dodging about\nblindly over the hot ashes until he was almost on fire himself he\nmanaged by good luck to get out again at the same hole, but his\nbody had been scorched black, and he has ever since had the habit\nof darting and doubling on his track as if trying to escape from\nclose quarters. He came back, and the great blacksnake, G\u00fble'gi,\n\"The Climber,\" offered to go for fire. He swam over to the island and\nclimbed up the tree on the outside, as the blacksnake always does,\nbut when he put his head down into the hole the smoke choked him so\nthat he fell into the burning stump, and before he could climb out\nagain he was as black as the Uksu'hi.\n\nNow they held another council, for still there was no fire, and the\nworld was cold, but birds, snakes, and four-footed animals, all had\nsome excuse for not going, because they were all afraid to venture\nnear the burning sycamore, until at last Kanane'ski Amai'yehi (the\nWater Spider) said she would go. This is not the water spider that\nlooks like a mosquito, but the other one, with black downy hair and\nred stripes on her body. She can run on top of the water or dive to\nthe bottom, so there would be no trouble to get over to the island,\nbut the question was, How could she bring back the fire? \"I'll manage\nthat,\" said the Water Spider; so she spun a thread from her body and\nwove it into a tusti bowl, which she fastened on her back. Then she\ncrossed over to the island and through the grass to where the fire\nwas still burning. She put one little coal of fire into her bowl,\nand came back with it, and ever since we have had fire, and the Water\nSpider still keeps her tusti bowl.\n\n\n\n\n3. KANA'TI AND SELU: THE ORIGIN OF GAME AND CORN\n\nWhen I was a boy this is what the old men told me they had heard when\nthey were boys.\n\nLong years ago, soon after the world was made, a hunter and his wife\nlived at Pilot knob with their only child, a little boy. The father's\nname was Kana'ti (The Lucky Hunter), and his wife was called Selu\n(Corn). No matter when Kana'ti went into the wood, he never failed to\nbring back a load of game, which his wife would cut up and prepare,\nwashing off the blood from the meat in the river near the house. The\nlittle boy used to play down by the river every day, and one morning\nthe old people thought they heard laughing and talking in the bushes\nas though there were two children there. When the boy came home at\nnight his parents asked him who had been playing with him all day. \"He\ncomes out of the water,\" said the boy, \"and he calls himself my elder\nbrother. He says his mother was cruel to him and threw him into the\nriver.\" Then they knew that the strange boy had sprung from the blood\nof the game which Selu had washed off at the river's edge.\n\nEvery day when the little boy went out to play the other would join\nhim, but as he always went back again into the water the old people\nnever had a chance to see him. At last one evening Kana'ti said\nto his son, \"Tomorrow, when the other boy comes to play, get him\nto wrestle with you, and when you have your arms around him hold\non to him and call for us.\" The boy promised to do as he was told,\nso the next day as soon as his playmate appeared he challenged him\nto a wrestling match. The other agreed at once, but as soon as they\nhad their arms around each other, Kana'ti's boy began to scream for\nhis father. The old folks at once came running down, and as soon as\nthe Wild Boy saw them he struggled to free himself and cried out,\n\"Let me go; you threw me away!\" but his brother held on until the\nparents reached the spot, when they seized the Wild Boy and took him\nhome with them. They kept him in the house until they had tamed him,\nbut he was always wild and artful in his disposition, and was the\nleader of his brother in every mischief. It was not long until the\nold people discovered that he had magic powers, and they called him\nI'nage-utas\u00fb\u00f1'hi (He-who-grew-up-wild).\n\nWhenever Kana'ti went into the mountains he always brought back a fat\nbuck or doe, or maybe a couple of turkeys. One day the Wild Boy said\nto his brother, \"I wonder where our father gets all that game; let's\nfollow him next time and find out.\" A few days afterward Kana'ti took a\nbow and some feathers in his hand and started off toward the west. The\nboys waited a little while and then went after him, keeping out of\nsight until they saw him go into a swamp where there were a great\nmany of the small reeds that hunters use to make arrowshafts. Then\nthe Wild Boy changed himself into a puff of bird's down, which the\nwind took up and carried until it alighted upon Kana'ti's shoulder\njust as he entered the swamp, but Kana'ti knew nothing about it. The\nold man cut reeds, fitted the feathers to them and made some arrows,\nand the Wild Boy--in his other shape--thought, \"I wonder what those\nthings are for?\" When Kana'ti had his arrows finished he came out of\nthe swamp and went on again. The wind blew the down from his shoulder,\nand it fell in the woods, when the Wild Boy took his right shape\nagain and went back and told his brother what he had seen. Keeping\nout of sight of their father, they followed him up the mountain\nuntil he stopped at a certain place and lifted a large rock. At\nonce there ran out a buck, which Kana'ti shot, and then lifting it\nupon his back he started for home again. \"Oho!\" exclaimed the boys,\n\"he keeps all the deer shut up in that hole, and whenever he wants\nmeat he just lets one out and kills it with those things he made in\nthe swamp.\" They hurried and reached home before their father, who\nhad the heavy deer to carry, and he never knew that they had followed.\n\nA few days later the boys went back to the swamp, cut some reeds, and\nmade seven arrows, and then started up the mountain to where their\nfather kept the game. When they got to the place, they raised the\nrock and a deer came running out. Just as they drew back to shoot it,\nanother came out, and then another and another, until the boys got\nconfused and forgot what they were about. In those days all the deer\nhad their tails hanging down like other animals, but as a buck was\nrunning past the Wild Boy struck its tail with his arrow so that it\npointed upward. The boys thought this good sport, and when the next\none ran past the Wild Boy struck its tail so that it stood straight\nup, and his brother struck the next one so hard with his arrow that\nthe deer's tail was almost curled over his back. The deer carries his\ntail this way ever since. The deer came running past until the last one\nhad come out of the hole and escaped into the forest. Then came droves\nof raccoons, rabbits, and all the other four-footed animals--all but\nthe bear, because there was no bear then. Last came great flocks of\nturkeys, pigeons, and partridges that darkened the air like a cloud\nand made such a noise with their wings that Kana'ti, sitting at home,\nheard the sound like distant thunder on the mountains and said to\nhimself, \"My bad boys have got into trouble; I must go and see what\nthey are doing.\"\n\nSo he went up the mountain, and when he came to the place where he\nkept the game he found the two boys standing by the rock, and all the\nbirds and animals were gone. Kana'ti was furious, but without saying\na word he went down into the cave and kicked the covers off four jars\nin one corner, when out swarmed bedbugs, fleas, lice, and gnats, and\ngot all over the boys. They screamed with pain and fright and tried to\nbeat off the insects, but the thousands of vermin crawled over them\nand bit and stung them until both dropped down nearly dead. Kana'ti\nstood looking on until he thought they had been punished enough, when\nhe knocked off the vermin and made the boys a talk. \"Now, you rascals,\"\nsaid he, \"you have always had plenty to eat and never had to work for\nit. Whenever you were hungry all I had to do was to come up here and\nget a deer or a turkey and bring it home for your mother to cook;\nbut now you have let out all the animals, and after this when you\nwant a deer to eat you will have to hunt all over the woods for it,\nand then maybe not find one. Go home now to your mother, while I see\nif I can find something to eat for supper.\"\n\nWhen the boys got home again they were very tired and hungry and asked\ntheir mother for something to eat. \"There is no meat,\" said Selu,\n\"but wait a little while and I'll get you something.\" So she took a\nbasket and started out to the storehouse. This storehouse was built\nupon poles high up from the ground, to keep it out of the reach of\nanimals, and there was a ladder to climb up by, and one door, but no\nother opening. Every day when Selu got ready to cook the dinner she\nwould go out to the storehouse with a basket and bring it back full\nof corn and beans. The boys had never been inside the storehouse,\nso wondered where all the corn and beans could come from, as the\nhouse was not a very large one; so as soon as Selu went out of the\ndoor the Wild Boy said to his brother, \"Let's go and see what she\ndoes.\" They ran around and climbed up at the back of the storehouse\nand pulled out a piece of clay from between the logs, so that they\ncould look in. There they saw Selu standing in the middle of the\nroom with the basket in front of her on the floor. Leaning over the\nbasket, she rubbed her stomach--so--and the basket was half full\nof corn. Then she rubbed under her armpits--so--and the basket was\nfull to the top with beans. The boys looked at each other and said,\n\"This will never do; our mother is a witch. If we eat any of that it\nwill poison us. We must kill her.\"\n\nWhen the boys came back into the house, she knew their thoughts before\nthey spoke. \"So you are going to kill me?\" said Selu. \"Yes,\" said the\nboys, \"you are a witch.\" \"Well,\" said their mother, \"when you have\nkilled me, clear a large piece of ground in front of the house and\ndrag my body seven times around the circle. Then drag me seven times\nover the ground inside the circle, and stay up all night and watch,\nand in the morning you will have plenty of corn.\" The boys killed her\nwith their clubs, and cut off her head and put it up on the roof of\nthe house with her face turned to the west, and told her to look for\nher husband. Then they set to work to clear the ground in front of\nthe house, but instead of clearing the whole piece they cleared only\nseven little spots. This is why corn now grows only in a few places\ninstead of over the whole world. They dragged the body of Selu around\nthe circle, and wherever her blood fell on the ground the corn sprang\nup. But instead of dragging her body seven times across the ground\nthey dragged it over only twice, which is the reason the Indians still\nwork their crop but twice. The two brothers sat up and watched their\ncorn all night, and in the morning it was full grown and ripe.\n\nWhen Kana'ti came home at last, he looked around, but could not see\nSelu anywhere, and asked the boys where was their mother. \"She was\na witch, and we killed her,\" said the boys; \"there is her head up\nthere on top of the house.\" When he saw his wife's head on the roof,\nhe was very angry, and said, \"I won't stay with you any longer; I am\ngoing to the Wolf people.\" So he started off, but before he had gone\nfar the Wild Boy changed himself again to a tuft of down, which fell\non Kana'ti's shoulder. When Kana'ti reached the settlement of the\nWolf people, they were holding a council in the townhouse. He went\nin and sat down with the tuft of bird's down on his shoulder, but he\nnever noticed it. When the Wolf chief asked him his business, he said:\n\"I have two bad boys at home, and I want you to go in seven days from\nnow and play ball against them.\" Although Kana'ti spoke as though he\nwanted them to play a game of ball, the Wolves knew that he meant for\nthem to go and kill the two boys. They promised to go. Then the bird's\ndown blew off from Kana'ti's shoulder, and the smoke carried it up\nthrough the hole in the roof of the townhouse. When it came down on\nthe ground outside, the Wild Boy took his right shape again and went\nhome and told his brother all that he had heard in the townhouse. But\nwhen Kana'ti left the Wolf people he did not return home, but went\non farther.\n\nThe boys then began to get ready for the Wolves, and the Wild Boy--the\nmagician--told his brother what to do. They ran around the house in\na wide circle until they had made a trail all around it excepting on\nthe side from which the Wolves would come, where they left a small\nopen space. Then they made four large bundles of arrows and placed\nthem at four different points on the outside of the circle, after\nwhich they hid themselves in the woods and waited for the Wolves. In\na day or two a whole party of Wolves came and surrounded the house to\nkill the boys. The Wolves did not notice the trail around the house,\nbecause they came in where the boys had left the opening, but the\nmoment they went inside the circle the trail changed to a high brush\nfence and shut them in. Then the boys on the outside took their arrows\nand began shooting them down, and as the Wolves could not jump over the\nfence they were all killed, excepting a few that escaped through the\nopening into a great swamp close by. The boys ran around the swamp,\nand a circle of fire sprang up in their tracks and set fire to the\ngrass and bushes and burned up nearly all the other Wolves. Only two\nor three got away, and from these have come all the wolves that are\nnow in the world.\n\nSoon afterward some strangers from a distance, who had heard that\nthe brothers had a wonderful grain from which they made bread, came\nto ask for some, for none but Selu and her family had ever known corn\nbefore. The boys gave them seven grains of corn, which they told them\nto plant the next night on their way home, sitting up all night to\nwatch the corn, which would have seven ripe ears in the morning. These\nthey were to plant the next night and watch in the same way, and so\non every night until they reached home, when they would have corn\nenough to supply the whole people. The strangers lived seven days'\njourney away. They took the seven grains and watched all through\nthe darkness until morning, when they saw seven tall stalks, each\nstalk bearing a ripened ear. They gathered the ears and went on their\nway. The next night they planted all their corn, and guarded it as\nbefore until daybreak, when they found an abundant increase. But the\nway was long and the sun was hot, and the people grew tired. On the\nlast night before reaching home they fell asleep, and in the morning\nthe corn they had planted had not even sprouted. They brought with\nthem to their settlement what corn they had left and planted it,\nand with care and attention were able to raise a crop. But ever\nsince the corn must be watched and tended through half the year,\nwhich before would grow and ripen in a night.\n\nAs Kana'ti did not return, the boys at last concluded to go and\nfind him. The Wild Boy took a gaming wheel and rolled it toward the\nDarkening land. In a little while the wheel came rolling back, and\nthe boys knew their father was not there. He rolled it to the south\nand to the north, and each time the wheel came back to him, and they\nknew their father was not there. Then he rolled it toward the Sunland,\nand it did not return. \"Our father is there,\" said the Wild Boy,\n\"let us go and find him.\" So the two brothers set off toward the east,\nand after traveling a long time they came upon Kana'ti walking along\nwith a little dog by his side. \"You bad boys,\" said their father,\n\"have you come here?\" \"Yes,\" they answered, \"we always accomplish what\nwe start out to do--we are men.\" \"This dog overtook me four days ago,\"\nthen said Kana'ti, but the boys knew that the dog was the wheel which\nthey had sent after him to find him. \"Well,\" said Kana'ti, \"as you have\nfound me, we may as well travel together, but I shall take the lead.\"\n\nSoon they came to a swamp, and Kana'ti told them there was something\ndangerous there and they must keep away from it. He went on ahead,\nbut as soon as he was out of sight the Wild Boy said to his brother,\n\"Come and let us see what is in the swamp.\" They went in together, and\nin the middle of the swamp they found a large panther asleep. The Wild\nBoy got out an arrow and shot the panther in the side of the head. The\npanther turned his head and the other boy shot him on that side. He\nturned his head away again and the two brothers shot together--tust,\ntust, tust! But the panther was not hurt by the arrows and paid no more\nattention to the boys. They came out of the swamp and soon overtook\nKana'ti, waiting for them. \"Did you find it?\" asked Kana'ti. \"Yes,\"\nsaid the boys, \"we found it, but it never hurt us. We are men.\" Kana'ti\nwas surprised, but said nothing, and they went on again.\n\nAfter a while he turned to them and said, \"Now you must be careful. We\nare coming to a tribe called the Anada'd\u00fb\u00f1taski (\"Roasters,\" i. e.,\ncannibals), and if they get you they will put you into a pot and feast\non you.\" Then he went on ahead. Soon the boys came to a tree which\nhad been struck by lightning, and the Wild Boy directed his brother to\ngather some of the splinters from the tree and told him what to do with\nthem. In a little while they came to the settlement of the cannibals,\nwho, as soon as they saw the boys, came running out, crying, \"Good,\nhere are two nice fat strangers. Now we'll have a grand feast!\" They\ncaught the boys and dragged them into the townhouse, and sent word\nto all the people of the settlement to come to the feast. They made\nup a great fire, put water into a large pot and set it to boiling,\nand then seized the Wild Boy and put him down into it. His brother\nwas not in the least frightened and made no attempt to escape, but\nquietly knelt down and began putting the splinters into the fire,\nas if to make it burn better. When the cannibals thought the meat\nwas about ready they lifted the pot from the fire, and that instant\na blinding light filled the townhouse, and the lightning began to\ndart from one side to the other, striking down the cannibals until\nnot one of them was left alive. Then the lightning went up through\nthe smoke-hole, and the next moment there were the two boys standing\noutside the townhouse as though nothing had happened. They went on and\nsoon met Kana'ti, who seemed much surprised to see them, and said,\n\"What! are you here again?\" \"O, yes, we never give up. We are great\nmen!\" \"What did the cannibals do to you?\" \"We met them and they brought\nus to their townhouse, but they never hurt us.\" Kana'ti said nothing\nmore, and they went on.\n\n\n\nHe soon got out of sight of the boys, but they kept on until they\ncame to the end of the world, where the sun comes out. The sky was\njust coming down when they got there, but they waited until it went\nup again, and then they went through and climbed up on the other\nside. There they found Kana'ti and Selu sitting together. The old\nfolk received them kindly and were glad to see them, telling them\nthey might stay there a while, but then they must go to live where\nthe sun goes down. The boys stayed with their parents seven days and\nthen went on toward the Darkening land, where they are now. We call\nthem Anisga'ya Tsunsdi' (The Little Men), and when they talk to each\nother we hear low rolling thunder in the west.\n\n\n\nAfter Kana'ti's boys had let the deer out from the cave where their\nfather used to keep them, the hunters tramped about in the woods for\na long time without finding any game, so that the people were very\nhungry. At last they heard that the Thunder Boys were now living in\nthe far west, beyond the sun door, and that if they were sent for\nthey could bring back the game. So they sent messengers for them,\nand the boys came and sat down in the middle of the townhouse and\nbegan to sing.\n\nAt the first song there was a roaring sound like a strong wind in\nthe northwest, and it grew louder and nearer as the boys sang on,\nuntil at the seventh song a whole herd of deer, led by a large buck,\ncame out from the woods. The boys had told the people to be ready with\ntheir bows and arrows, and when the song was ended and all the deer\nwere close around the townhouse, the hunters shot into them and killed\nas many as they needed before the herd could get back into the timber.\n\nThen the Thunder Boys went back to the Darkening land, but before they\nleft they taught the people the seven songs with which to call up the\ndeer. It all happened so long ago that the songs are now forgotten--all\nbut two, which the hunters still sing whenever they go after deer.\n\n\n\nWAHNENAUHI VERSION\n\nAfter the world had been brought up from under the water, \"They then\nmade a man and a woman and led them around the edge of the island. On\narriving at the starting place they planted some corn, and then told\nthe man and woman to go around the way they had been led. This they\ndid, and on returning they found the corn up and growing nicely. They\nwere then told to continue the circuit. Each trip consumed more\ntime. At last the corn was ripe and ready for use.\"\n\n\n\nAnother story is told of how sin came into the world. A man and a\nwoman reared a large family of children in comfort and plenty, with\nvery little trouble about providing food for them. Every morning the\nfather went forth and very soon returned bringing with him a deer,\nor a turkey, or some other animal or fowl. At the same time the mother\nwent out and soon returned with a large basket filled with ears of corn\nwhich she shelled and pounded in a mortar, thus making meal for bread.\n\nWhen the children grew up, seeing with what apparent ease food was\nprovided for them, they talked to each other about it, wondering that\nthey never saw such things as their parents brought in. At last one\nproposed to watch when their parents went out and to follow them.\n\nAccordingly next morning the plan was carried out. Those who followed\nthe father saw him stop at a short distance from the cabin and turn\nover a large stone that appeared to be carelessly leaned against\nanother. On looking closely they saw an entrance to a large cave,\nand in it were many different kinds of animals and birds, such as\ntheir father had sometimes brought in for food. The man standing at\nthe entrance called a deer, which was lying at some distance and back\nof some other animals. It rose immediately as it heard the call and\ncame close up to him. He picked it up, closed the mouth of the cave,\nand returned, not once seeming to suspect what his sons had done.\n\nWhen the old man was fairly out of sight, his sons, rejoicing how\nthey had outwitted him, left their hiding place and went to the cave,\nsaying they would show the old folks that they, too, could bring in\nsomething. They moved the stone away, though it was very heavy and\nthey were obliged to use all their united strength. When the cave\nwas opened, the animals, instead of waiting to be picked up, all\nmade a rush for the entrance, and leaping past the frightened and\nbewildered boys, scattered in all directions and disappeared in the\nwilderness, while the guilty offenders could do nothing but gaze in\nstupefied amazement as they saw them escape. There were animals of\nall kinds, large and small--buffalo, deer, elk, antelope, raccoons,\nand squirrels; even catamounts and panthers, wolves and foxes,\nand many others, all fleeing together. At the same time birds of\nevery kind were seen emerging from the opening, all in the same wild\nconfusion as the quadrupeds--turkeys, geese, swans, ducks, quails,\neagles, hawks, and owls.\n\nThose who followed the mother saw her enter a small cabin, which\nthey had never seen before, and close the door. The culprits found a\nsmall crack through which they could peer. They saw the woman place\na basket on the ground and standing over it shake herself vigorously,\njumping up and down, when lo and behold! large ears of corn began to\nfall into the basket. When it was well filled she took it up and,\nplacing it on her head, came out, fastened the door, and prepared\ntheir breakfast as usual. When the meal had been finished in silence\nthe man spoke to his children, telling them that he was aware of\nwhat they had done; that now he must die and they would be obliged\nto provide for themselves. He made bows and arrows for them, then\nsent them to hunt for the animals which they had turned loose.\n\nThen the mother told them that as they had found out her secret she\ncould do nothing more for them; that she would die, and they must drag\nher body around over the ground; that wherever her body was dragged\ncorn would come up. Of this they were to make their bread. She told\nthem that they must always save some for seed and plant every year.\n\n\n\n\n4. ORIGIN OF DISEASE AND MEDICINE\n\nIn the old days the beasts, birds, fishes, insects, and plants\ncould all talk, and they and the people lived together in peace and\nfriendship. But as time went on the people increased so rapidly that\ntheir settlements spread over the whole earth, and the poor animals\nfound themselves beginning to be cramped for room. This was bad enough,\nbut to make it worse Man invented bows, knives, blowguns, spears,\nand hooks, and began to slaughter the larger animals, birds, and\nfishes for their flesh or their skins, while the smaller creatures,\nsuch as the frogs and worms, were crushed and trodden upon without\nthought, out of pure carelessness or contempt. So the animals resolved\nto consult upon measures for their common safety.\n\nThe Bears were the first to meet in council in their townhouse under\nKuw\u00e2'hi mountain, the \"Mulberry place,\" and the old White Bear chief\npresided. After each in turn had complained of the way in which Man\nkilled their friends, ate their flesh, and used their skins for his\nown purposes, it was decided to begin war at once against him. Some\none asked what weapons Man used to destroy them. \"Bows and arrows,\nof course,\" cried all the Bears in chorus. \"And what are they made\nof?\" was the next question. \"The bow of wood, and the string of our\nentrails,\" replied one of the Bears. It was then proposed that they\nmake a bow and some arrows and see if they could not use the same\nweapons against Man himself. So one Bear got a nice piece of locust\nwood and another sacrificed himself for the good of the rest in order\nto furnish a piece of his entrails for the string. But when everything\nwas ready and the first Bear stepped up to make the trial, it was\nfound that in letting the arrow fly after drawing back the bow, his\nlong claws caught the string and spoiled the shot. This was annoying,\nbut some one suggested that they might trim his claws, which was\naccordingly done, and on a second trial it was found that the arrow\nwent straight to the mark. But here the chief, the old White Bear,\nobjected, saying it was necessary that they should have long claws in\norder to be able to climb trees. \"One of us has already died to furnish\nthe bow-string, and if we now cut off our claws we must all starve\ntogether. It is better to trust to the teeth and claws that nature\ngave us, for it is plain that man's weapons were not intended for us.\"\n\nNo one could think of any better plan, so the old chief dismissed\nthe council and the Bears dispersed to the woods and thickets without\nhaving concerted any way to prevent the increase of the human race. Had\nthe result of the council been otherwise, we should now be at war\nwith the Bears, but as it is, the hunter does not even ask the Bear's\npardon when he kills one.\n\nThe Deer next held a council under their chief, the Little Deer,\nand after some talk decided to send rheumatism to every hunter who\nshould kill one of them unless he took care to ask their pardon\nfor the offense. They sent notice of their decision to the nearest\nsettlement of Indians and told them at the same time what to do when\nnecessity forced them to kill one of the Deer tribe. Now, whenever the\nhunter shoots a Deer, the Little Deer, who is swift as the wind and\ncan not be wounded, runs quickly up to the spot and, bending over the\nblood-stains, asks the spirit of the Deer if it has heard the prayer\nof the hunter for pardon. If the reply be \"Yes,\" all is well, and the\nLittle Deer goes on his way; but if the reply be \"No,\" he follows on\nthe trail of the hunter, guided by the drops of blood on the ground,\nuntil he arrives at his cabin in the settlement, when the Little Deer\nenters invisibly and strikes the hunter with rheumatism, so that he\nbecomes at once a helpless cripple. No hunter who has regard for his\nhealth ever fails to ask pardon of the Deer for killing it, although\nsome hunters who have not learned the prayer may try to turn aside\nthe Little Deer from his pursuit by building a fire behind them in\nthe trail.\n\nNext came the Fishes and Reptiles, who had their own complaints\nagainst Man. They held their council together and determined to make\ntheir victims dream of snakes twining about them in slimy folds and\nblowing foul breath in their faces, or to make them dream of eating\nraw or decaying fish, so that they would lose appetite, sicken,\nand die. This is why people dream about snakes and fish.\n\nFinally the Birds, Insects, and smaller animals came together for\nthe same purpose, and the Grubworm was chief of the council. It was\ndecided that each in turn should give an opinion, and then they would\nvote on the question as to whether or not Man was guilty. Seven votes\nshould be enough to condemn him. One after another denounced Man's\ncruelty and injustice toward the other animals and voted in favor\nof his death. The Frog spoke first, saying: \"We must do something\nto check the increase of the race, or people will become so numerous\nthat we shall be crowded from off the earth. See how they have kicked\nme about because I'm ugly, as they say, until my back is covered\nwith sores;\" and here he showed the spots on his skin. Next came\nthe Bird--no one remembers now which one it was--who condemned Man\n\"because he burns my feet off,\" meaning the way in which the hunter\nbarbecues birds by impaling them on a stick set over the fire, so\nthat their feathers and tender feet are singed off. Others followed\nin the same strain. The Ground-squirrel alone ventured to say a good\nword for Man, who seldom hurt him because he was so small, but this\nmade the others so angry that they fell upon the Ground-squirrel and\ntore him with their claws, and the stripes are on his back to this day.\n\nThey began then to devise and name so many new diseases, one after\nanother, that had not their invention at last failed them, no one\nof the human race would have been able to survive. The Grubworm grew\nconstantly more pleased as the name of each disease was called off,\nuntil at last they reached the end of the list, when some one proposed\nto make menstruation sometimes fatal to women. On this he rose up in\nhis place and cried: \"Wad\u00e2\u00f1'! [Thanks!] I'm glad some more of them\nwill die, for they are getting so thick that they tread on me.\" The\nthought fairly made him shake with joy, so that he fell over backward\nand could not get on his feet again, but had to wriggle off on his\nback, as the Grubworm has done ever since.\n\nWhen the Plants, who were friendly to Man, heard what had been done by\nthe animals, they determined to defeat the latters' evil designs. Each\nTree, Shrub, and Herb, down even to the Grasses and Mosses, agreed\nto furnish a cure for some one of the diseases named, and each said:\n\"I shall appear to help Man when he calls upon me in his need.\" Thus\ncame medicine; and the plants, every one of which has its use if we\nonly knew it, furnish the remedy to counteract the evil wrought by\nthe revengeful animals. Even weeds were made for some good purpose,\nwhich we must find out for ourselves. When the doctor does not know\nwhat medicine to use for a sick man the spirit of the plant tells him.\n\n\n\n\n5. THE DAUGHTER OF THE SUN\n\nThe Sun lived on the other side of the sky vault, but her daughter\nlived in the middle of the sky, directly above the earth, and every\nday as the Sun was climbing along the sky arch to the west she used\nto stop at her daughter's house for dinner.\n\nNow, the Sun hated the people on the earth, because they could\nnever look straight at her without screwing up their faces. She\nsaid to her brother, the Moon, \"My grandchildren are ugly; they\ngrin all over their faces when they look at me.\" But the Moon said,\n\"I like my younger brothers; I think they are very handsome\"--because\nthey always smiled pleasantly when they saw him in the sky at night,\nfor his rays were milder.\n\nThe Sun was jealous and planned to kill all the people, so every\nday when she got near her daughter's house she sent down such sultry\nrays that there was a great fever and the people died by hundreds,\nuntil everyone had lost some friend and there was fear that no one\nwould be left. They went for help to the Little Men, who said the\nonly way to save themselves was to kill the Sun.\n\nThe Little Men made medicine and changed two men to snakes, the\nSpreading-adder and the Copperhead, and sent them to watch near the\ndoor of the daughter of the Sun to bite the old Sun when she came next\nday. They went together and hid near the house until the Sun came,\nbut when the Spreading-adder was about to spring, the bright light\nblinded him and he could only spit out yellow slime, as he does to\nthis day when he tries to bite. She called him a nasty thing and went\nby into the house, and the Copperhead crawled off without trying to\ndo anything.\n\nSo the people still died from the heat, and they went to the Little Men\na second time for help. The Little Men made medicine again and changed\none man into the great Uktena and another into the Rattlesnake and sent\nthem to watch near the house and kill the old Sun when she came for\ndinner. They made the Uktena very large, with horns on his head, and\neveryone thought he would be sure to do the work, but the Rattlesnake\nwas so quick and eager that he got ahead and coiled up just outside the\nhouse, and when the Sun's daughter opened the door to look out for her\nmother, he sprang up and bit her and she fell dead in the doorway. He\nforgot to wait for the old Sun, but went back to the people, and the\nUktena was so very angry that he went back, too. Since then we pray\nto the rattlesnake and do not kill him, because he is kind and never\ntries to bite if we do not disturb him. The Uktena grew angrier all\nthe time and very dangerous, so that if he even looked at a man, that\nman's family would die. After a long time the people held a council\nand decided that he was too dangerous to be with them, so they sent\nhim up to Gal\u00fb\u00f1'lati, and he is there now. The Spreading-adder,\nthe Copperhead, the Rattlesnake, and the Uktena were all men.\n\nWhen the Sun found her daughter dead, she went into the house and\ngrieved, and the people did not die any more, but now the world was\ndark all the time, because the Sun would not come out. They went again\nto the Little Men, and these told them that if they wanted the Sun\nto come out again they must bring back her daughter from Ts\u00fbsgin\u00e2'i,\nthe Ghost country, in Us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi, the Darkening land in the west. They\nchose seven men to go, and gave each a sourwood rod a hand-breadth\nlong. The Little Men told them they must take a box with them,\nand when they got to Ts\u00fbsgin\u00e2'i they would find all the ghosts at a\ndance. They must stand outside the circle, and when the young woman\npassed in the dance they must strike her with the rods and she would\nfall to the ground. Then they must put her into the box and bring her\nback to her mother, but they must be very sure not to open the box,\neven a little way, until they were home again.\n\nThey took the rods and a box and traveled seven days to the west\nuntil they came to the Darkening land. There were a great many people\nthere, and they were having a dance just as if they were at home in\nthe settlements. The young woman was in the outside circle, and as\nshe swung around to where the seven men were standing, one struck her\nwith his rod and she turned her head and saw him. As she came around\nthe second time another touched her with his rod, and then another\nand another, until at the seventh round she fell out of the ring,\nand they put her into the box and closed the lid fast. The other\nghosts seemed never to notice what had happened.\n\nThey took up the box and started home toward the east. In a little\nwhile the girl came to life again and begged to be let out of the\nbox, but they made no answer and went on. Soon she called again and\nsaid she was hungry, but still they made no answer and went on. After\nanother while she spoke again and called for a drink and pleaded so\nthat it was very hard to listen to her, but the men who carried the\nbox said nothing and still went on. When at last they were very near\nhome, she called again and begged them to raise the lid just a little,\nbecause she was smothering. They were afraid she was really dying now,\nso they lifted the lid a little to give her air, but as they did so\nthere was a fluttering sound inside and something flew past them into\nthe thicket and they heard a redbird cry, \"kwish! kwish! kwish!\" in the\nbushes. They shut down the lid and went on again to the settlements,\nbut when they got there and opened the box it was empty.\n\nSo we know the Redbird is the daughter of the Sun, and if the men had\nkept the box closed, as the Little Men told them to do, they would\nhave brought her home safely, and we could bring back our other\nfriends also from the Ghost country, but now when they die we can\nnever bring them back.\n\nThe Sun had been glad when they started to the Ghost country, but\nwhen they came back without her daughter she grieved and cried, \"My\ndaughter, my daughter,\" and wept until her tears made a flood upon the\nearth, and the people were afraid the world would be drowned. They\nheld another council, and sent their handsomest young men and women\nto amuse her so that she would stop crying. They danced before the\nSun and sang their best songs, but for a long time she kept her face\ncovered and paid no attention, until at last the drummer suddenly\nchanged the song, when she lifted up her face, and was so pleased at\nthe sight that she forgot her grief and smiled.\n\n\n\n\n6. HOW THEY BROUGHT BACK THE TOBACCO\n\nIn the beginning of the world, when people and animals were all the\nsame, there was only one tobacco plant, to which they all came for\ntheir tobacco until the Dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb geese stole it and carried it far\naway to the south. The people were suffering without it, and there\nwas one old woman who grew so thin and weak that everybody said she\nwould soon die unless she could get tobacco to keep her alive.\n\nDifferent animals offered to go for it, one after another, the\nlarger ones first and then the smaller ones, but the Dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb saw\nand killed every one before he could get to the plant. After the\nothers the little Mole tried to reach it by going under the ground,\nbut the Dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb saw his track and killed him as he came out.\n\nAt last the Hummingbird offered, but the others said he was entirely\ntoo small and might as well stay at home. He begged them to let him\ntry, so they showed him a plant in a field and told him to let them\nsee how he would go about it. The next moment he was gone and they\nsaw him sitting on the plant, and then in a moment he was back again,\nbut no one had seen him going or coming, because he was so swift. \"This\nis the way I'll do,\" said the Hummingbird, so they let him try.\n\nHe flew off to the east, and when he came in sight of the tobacco\nthe Dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb were watching all about it, but they could not see him\nbecause he was so small and flew so swiftly. He darted down on the\nplant--tsa!--and snatched off the top with the leaves and seeds, and\nwas off again before the Dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb knew what had happened. Before he got\nhome with the tobacco the old woman had fainted and they thought she\nwas dead, but he blew the smoke into her nostrils, and with a cry of\n\"Ts\u00e2'l\u00fb! [Tobacco!]\" she opened her eyes and was alive again.\n\n\n\nSECOND VERSION\n\nThe people had tobacco in the beginning, but they had used it all, and\nthere was great suffering for want of it. There was one old man so old\nthat he had to be kept alive by smoking, and as his son did not want\nto see him die he decided to go himself to try and get some more. The\ntobacco country was far in the south, with high mountains all around\nit, and the passes were guarded, so that it was very hard to get into\nit, but the young man was a conjurer and was not afraid. He traveled\nsouthward until he came to the mountains on the border of the tobacco\ncountry. Then he opened his medicine bag and took out a hummingbird\nskin and put it over himself like a dress. Now he was a hummingbird\nand flew over the mountains to the tobacco field and pulled some of\nthe leaves and seed and put them into his medicine bag. He was so\nsmall and swift that the guards, whoever they were, did not see him,\nand when he had taken as much as he could carry he flew back over the\nmountains in the same way. Then he took off the hummingbird skin and\nput it into his medicine bag, and was a man again. He started home,\nand on his way came to a tree that had a hole in the trunk, like a\ndoor, near the first branches, and a very pretty woman was looking\nout from it. He stopped and tried to climb the tree, but although he\nwas a good climber he found that he always slipped back. He put on\na pair of medicine moccasins from his pouch, and then he could climb\nthe tree, but when he reached the first branches he looked up and the\nhole was still as far away as before. He climbed higher and higher,\nbut every time he looked up the hole seemed to be farther than before,\nuntil at last he was tired and came down again. When he reached home\nhe found his father very weak, but still alive, and one draw at the\npipe made him strong again. The people planted the seed and have had\ntobacco ever since.\n\n\n\n\n7. THE JOURNEY TO THE SUNRISE\n\nA long time ago several young men made up their minds to find the\nplace where the Sun lives and see what the Sun is like. They got\nready their bows and arrows, their parched corn and extra moccasins,\nand started out toward the east. At first they met tribes they knew,\nthen they came to tribes they had only heard about, and at last to\nothers of which they had never heard.\n\nThere was a tribe of root eaters and another of acorn eaters, with\ngreat piles of acorn shells near their houses. In one tribe they\nfound a sick man dying, and were told it was the custom there when\na man died to bury his wife in the same grave with him. They waited\nuntil he was dead, when they saw his friends lower the body into a\ngreat pit, so deep and dark that from the top they could not see the\nbottom. Then a rope was tied around the woman's body, together with\na bundle of pine knots, a lighted pine knot was put into her hand,\nand she was lowered into the pit to die there in the darkness after\nthe last pine knot was burned.\n\nThe young men traveled on until they came at last to the sunrise\nplace where the sky reaches down to the ground. They found that the\nsky was an arch or vault of solid rock hung above the earth and was\nalways swinging up and down, so that when it went up there was an\nopen place like a door between the sky and ground, and when it swung\nback the door was shut. The Sun came out of this door from the east\nand climbed along on the inside of the arch. It had a human figure,\nbut was too bright for them to see clearly and too hot to come very\nnear. They waited until the Sun had come out and then tried to get\nthrough while the door was still open, but just as the first one was\nin the doorway the rock came down and crushed him. The other six were\nafraid to try it, and as they were now at the end of the world they\nturned around and started back again, but they had traveled so far\nthat they were old men when they reached home.\n\n\n\n\n8. THE MOON AND THE THUNDERS.\n\nThe Sun was a young woman and lived in the East, while her brother,\nthe Moon, lived in the West. The girl had a lover who used to come\nevery month in the dark of the moon to court her. He would come at\nnight, and leave before daylight, and although she talked with him\nshe could not see his face in the dark, and he would not tell her his\nname, until she was wondering all the time who it could be. At last\nshe hit upon a plan to find out, so the next time he came, as they were\nsitting together in the dark of the \u00e2si, she slyly dipped her hand into\nthe cinders and ashes of the fireplace and rubbed it over his face,\nsaying, \"Your face is cold; you must have suffered from the wind,\"\nand pretending to be very sorry for him, but he did not know that she\nhad ashes on her hand. After a while he left her and went away again.\n\nThe next night when the Moon came up in the sky his face was covered\nwith spots, and then his sister knew he was the one who had been\ncoming to see her. He was so much ashamed to have her know it that\nhe kept as far away as he could at the other end of the sky all the\nnight. Ever since he tries to keep a long way behind the Sun, and\nwhen he does sometimes have to come near her in the west he makes\nhimself as thin as a ribbon so that he can hardly be seen.\n\nSome old people say that the moon is a ball which was thrown up\nagainst the sky in a game a long time ago. They say that two towns were\nplaying against each other, but one of them had the best runners and\nhad almost won the game, when the leader of the other side picked up\nthe ball with his hand--a thing that is not allowed in the game--and\ntried to throw it to the goal, but it struck against the solid sky\nvault and was fastened there, to remind players never to cheat. When\nthe moon looks small and pale it is because some one has handled the\nball unfairly, and for this reason they formerly played only at the\ntime of a full moon.\n\nWhen the sun or moon is eclipsed it is because a great frog up in the\nsky is trying to swallow it. Everybody knows this, even the Creeks\nand the other tribes, and in the olden times, eighty or a hundred\nyears ago, before the great medicine men were all dead, whenever they\nsaw the sun grow dark the people would come together and fire guns\nand beat the drum, and in a little while this would frighten off the\ngreat frog and the sun would be all right again.\n\nThe common people call both Sun and Moon N\u00fb\u00f1da, one being \"N\u00fb\u00f1da that\ndwells in the day\" and the other \"N\u00fb\u00f1da that dwells in the night,\"\nbut the priests call the Sun Su'talidihi', \"Six-killer,\" and the\nMoon Ge'`yagu'ga, though nobody knows now what this word means, or\nwhy they use these names. Sometimes people ask the Moon not to let\nit rain or snow.\n\nThe great Thunder and his sons, the two Thunder boys, live far in the\nwest above the sky vault. The lightning and the rainbow are their\nbeautiful dress. The priests pray to the Thunder and call him the\nRed Man, because that is the brightest color of his dress. There are\nother Thunders that live lower down, in the cliffs and mountains,\nand under waterfalls, and travel on invisible bridges from one high\npeak to another where they have their town houses. The great Thunders\nabove the sky are kind and helpful when we pray to them, but these\nothers are always plotting mischief. One must not point at the rainbow,\nor one's finger will swell at the lower joint.\n\n\n\n\n9. WHAT THE STARS ARE LIKE\n\nThere are different opinions about the stars. Some say they are balls\nof light, others say they are human, but most people say they are\nliving creatures covered with luminous fur or feathers.\n\nOne night a hunting party camping in the mountains noticed two lights\nlike large stars moving along the top of a distant ridge. They wondered\nand watched until the light disappeared on the other side. The next\nnight, and the next, they saw the lights again moving along the ridge,\nand after talking over the matter decided to go on the morrow and try\nto learn the cause. In the morning they started out and went until they\ncame to the ridge, where, after searching some time, they found two\nstrange creatures about so large (making a circle with outstretched\narms), with round bodies covered with fine fur or downy feathers,\nfrom which small heads stuck out like the heads of terrapins. As the\nbreeze played upon these feathers showers of sparks flew out.\n\nThe hunters carried the strange creatures back to the camp, intending\nto take them home to the settlements on their return. They kept them\nseveral days and noticed that every night they would grow bright and\nshine like great stars, although by day they were only balls of gray\nfur, except when the wind stirred and made the sparks fly out. They\nkept very quiet, and no one thought of their trying to escape, when,\non the seventh night, they suddenly rose from the ground like balls\nof fire and were soon above the tops of the trees. Higher and higher\nthey went, while the wondering hunters watched, until at last they\nwere only two bright points of light in the dark sky, and then the\nhunters knew that they were stars.\n\n\n\n\n10. ORIGIN OF THE PLEIADES AND THE PINE\n\nLong ago, when the world was new, there were seven boys who used to\nspend all their time down by the townhouse playing the gatay\u00fb'sti game,\nrolling a stone wheel along the ground and sliding a curved stick\nafter it to strike it. Their mothers scolded, but it did no good,\nso one day they collected some gatay\u00fb'sti stones and boiled them in\nthe pot with the corn for dinner. When the boys came home hungry their\nmothers dipped out the stones and said, \"Since you like the gatay\u00fb'sti\nbetter than the cornfield, take the stones now for your dinner.\"\n\nThe boys were very angry, and went down to the townhouse, saying,\n\"As our mothers treat us this way, let us go where we shall never\ntrouble them any more.\" They began a dance--some say it was the Feather\ndance--and went round and round the townhouse, praying to the spirits\nto help them. At last their mothers were afraid something was wrong\nand went out to look for them. They saw the boys still dancing around\nthe townhouse, and as they watched they noticed that their feet were\noff the earth, and that with every round they rose higher and higher\nin the air. They ran to get their children, but it was too late,\nfor they were already above the roof of the townhouse--all but one,\nwhose mother managed to pull him down with the gatay\u00fb'sti pole,\nbut he struck the ground with such force that he sank into it and\nthe earth closed over him.\n\nThe other six circled higher and higher until they went up to the sky,\nwhere we see them now as the Pleiades, which the Cherokee still call\nAni'tsutsa (The Boys). The people grieved long after them, but the\nmother whose boy had gone into the ground came every morning and\nevery evening to cry over the spot until the earth was damp with\nher tears. At last a little green shoot sprouted up and grew day by\nday until it became the tall tree that we call now the pine, and the\npine is of the same nature as the stars and holds in itself the same\nbright light.\n\n\n\n\n11. THE MILKY WAY\n\nSome people in the south had a corn mill, in which they pounded the\ncorn into meal, and several mornings when they came to fill it they\nnoticed that some of the meal had been stolen during the night. They\nexamined the ground and found the tracks of a dog, so the next night\nthey watched, and when the dog came from the north and began to eat\nthe meal out of the bowl they sprang out and whipped him. He ran off\nhowling to his home in the north, with the meal dropping from his\nmouth as he ran, and leaving behind a white trail where now we see the\nMilky Way, which the Cherokee call to this day Gi`li'-uts\u00fb\u00f1'stan\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\n\"Where the dog ran.\"\n\n\n\n\n12. ORIGIN OF STRAWBERRIES\n\nWhen the first man was created and a mate was given to him, they lived\ntogether very happily for a time, but then began to quarrel, until at\nlast the woman left her husband and started off toward N\u00fb\u00f1d\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\nthe Sun land, in the east. The man followed alone and grieving,\nbut the woman kept on steadily ahead and never looked behind, until\nUne'`lan\u00fb\u00f1'hi, the great Apportioner (the Sun), took pity on him and\nasked him if he was still angry with his wife. He said he was not,\nand Une'`lan\u00fb\u00f1'hi then asked him if he would like to have her back\nagain, to which he eagerly answered yes.\n\nSo Une'`lan\u00fb\u00f1'hi caused a patch of the finest ripe huckleberries to\nspring up along the path in front of the woman, but she passed by\nwithout paying any attention to them. Farther on he put a clump of\nblackberries, but these also she refused to notice. Other fruits,\none, two, and three, and then some trees covered with beautiful red\nservice berries, were placed beside the path to tempt her, but she\nstill went on until suddenly she saw in front a patch of large ripe\nstrawberries, the first ever known. She stooped to gather a few to\neat, and as she picked them she chanced to turn her face to the west,\nand at once the memory of her husband came back to her and she found\nherself unable to go on. She sat down, but the longer she waited the\nstronger became her desire for her husband, and at last she gathered\na bunch of the finest berries and started back along the path to give\nthem to him. He met her kindly and they went home together.\n\n\n\n\n13. THE GREAT YELLOW-JACKET: ORIGIN OF FISH AND FROGS\n\nA long time ago the people of the old town of Kanu'ga`l\u00e2'yi (\"Brier\nplace,\" or Briertown), on Nantahala river, in the present Macon county,\nNorth Carolina, were much annoyed by a great insect called U'la`g\u00fb',\nas large as a house, which used to come from some secret hiding place,\nand darting swiftly through the air, would snap up children from their\nplay and carry them away. It was unlike any other insect ever known,\nand the people tried many times to track it to its home, but it was\ntoo swift to be followed.\n\nThey killed a squirrel and tied a white string to it, so that its\ncourse could be followed with the eye, as bee hunters follow the flight\nof a bee to its tree. The U'la`g\u00fb' came and carried off the squirrel\nwith the string hanging to it, but darted away so swiftly through the\nair that it was out of sight in a moment. They killed a turkey and\nput a longer white string to it, and the U'la`g\u00fb' came and took the\nturkey, but was gone again before they could see in what direction it\nflew. They took a deer ham and tied a white string to it, and again\nthe U'la`g\u00fb' swooped down and bore it off so swiftly that it could\nnot be followed. At last they killed a yearling deer and tied a very\nlong white string to it. The U'la`g\u00fb' came again and seized the deer,\nbut this time the load was so heavy that it had to fly slowly and so\nlow down that the string could be plainly seen.\n\nThe hunters got together for the pursuit. They followed it along a\nridge to the east until they came near where Franklin now is, when,\non looking across the valley to the other side, they saw the nest of\nthe U'la`g\u00fb' in a large cave in the rocks. On this they raised a great\nshout and made their way rapidly down the mountain and across to the\ncave. The nest had the entrance below with tiers of cells built up one\nabove another to the roof of the cave. The great U'la`g\u00fb' was there,\nwith thousands of smaller ones, that we now call yellow-jackets. The\nhunters built fires around the hole, so that the smoke filled the cave\nand smothered the great insect and multitudes of the smaller ones,\nbut others which were outside the cave were not killed, and these\nescaped and increased until now the yellow-jackets, which before were\nunknown, are all over the world. The people called the cave Tsg\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\n\"Where the yellow-jacket was,\" and the place from which they first\nsaw the nest they called A`tahi'ta, \"Where they shouted,\" and these\nare their names today.\n\nThey say also that all the fish and frogs came from a great monster\nfish and frog which did much damage until at last they were killed by\nthe people, who cut them up into little pieces which were thrown into\nthe water and afterward took shape as the smaller fishes and frogs.\n\n\n\n\n14. THE DELUGE\n\nA long time ago a man had a dog, which began to go down to the river\nevery day and look at the water and howl. At last the man was angry\nand scolded the dog, which then spoke to him and said: \"Very soon\nthere is going to be a great freshet and the water will come so high\nthat everybody will be drowned; but if you will make a raft to get\nupon when the rain comes you can be saved, but you must first throw\nme into the water.\" The man did not believe it, and the dog said,\n\"If you want a sign that I speak the truth, look at the back of my\nneck.\" He looked and saw that the dog's neck had the skin worn off\nso that the bones stuck out.\n\nThen he believed the dog, and began to build a raft. Soon the rain\ncame and he took his family, with plenty of provisions, and they\nall got upon it. It rained for a long time, and the water rose\nuntil the mountains were covered and all the people in the world\nwere drowned. Then the rain stopped and the waters went down again,\nuntil at last it was safe to come off the raft. Now there was no one\nalive but the man and his family, but one day they heard a sound of\ndancing and shouting on the other side of the ridge. The man climbed\nto the top and looked over; everything was still, but all along the\nvalley he saw great piles of bones of the people who had been drowned,\nand then he knew that the ghosts had been dancing.\n\n\n\n\n\nQuadruped Myths\n\n\n15. THE FOURFOOTED TRIBES\n\nIn Cherokee mythology, as in that of Indian tribes generally, there\nis no essential difference between men and animals. In the primal\ngenesis period they seem to be completely undifferentiated, and we\nfind all creatures alike living and working together in harmony and\nmutual helpfulness until man, by his aggressiveness and disregard for\nthe rights of the others, provokes their hostility, when insects,\nbirds, fishes, reptiles, and fourfooted beasts join forces against\nhim (see story, \"Origin of Disease and Medicine\"). Henceforth their\nlives are apart, but the difference is always one of degree only. The\nanimals, like the people, are organized into tribes and have like\nthem their chiefs and townhouses, their councils and ballplays,\nand the same hereafter in the Darkening land of Us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi. Man is\nstill the paramount power, and hunts and slaughters the others as\nhis own necessities compel, but is obliged to satisfy the animal\ntribes in every instance, very much as a murder is compounded for,\naccording to the Indian system, by \"covering the bones of the dead\"\nwith presents for the bereaved relatives.\n\nThis pardon to the hunter is made the easier through a peculiar\ndoctrine of reincarnation, according to which, as explained by the\nshamans, there is assigned to every animal a definite life term\nwhich can not be curtailed by violent means. If it is killed before\nthe expiration of the allotted time the death is only temporary and\nthe body is immediately resurrected in its proper shape from the\nblood drops, and the animal continues its existence until the end\nof the predestined period, when the body is finally dissolved and\nthe liberated spirit goes to join its kindred shades in the Darkening\nland. This idea appears in the story of the bear man and in the belief\nconcerning the Little Deer. Death is thus but a temporary accident\nand the killing a mere minor crime. By some priests it is held that\nthere are seven successive reanimations before the final end.\n\nCertain supernatural personages, Kana'ti and Tsul`kal\u00fb' (see the\nmyths), have dominion over the animals, and are therefore regarded\nas the distinctive gods of the hunter. Kana'ti at one time kept\nthe game animals, as well as the pestiferous insects, shut up in a\ncave under ground, from which they were released by his undutiful\nsons. The primeval animals--the actors in the animal myths and the\npredecessors of the existing species--are believed to have been\nmuch larger, stronger, and cleverer than their successors of the\npresent day. In these myths we find the Indian explanation of certain\npeculiarities of form, color, or habit, and the various animals are\nalways consistently represented as acting in accordance with their\nwell-known characteristics.\n\nFirst and most prominent in the animal myths is the Rabbit (Tsistu),\nwho figures always as a trickster and deceiver, generally malicious,\nbut often beaten at his own game by those whom he had intended\nto victimize. The connection of the rabbit with the dawn god and\nthe relation of the Indian myths to the stories current among the\nsouthern negroes are discussed in another place. Ball players while\nin training are forbidden to eat the flesh of the rabbit, because\nthis animal so easily becomes confused in running. On the other hand,\ntheir spies seek opportunity to strew along the path which must be\ntaken by their rivals a soup made of rabbit hamstrings, with the\npurpose Of rendering them timorous in action.\n\nIn a ball game between the birds and the fourfooted animals (see\nstory) the Bat, which took sides with the birds, is said to have won\nthe victory for his party by his superior dodging abilities. For\nthis reason the wings or sometimes the stuffed skin of the bat\nare tied to the implements used in the game to insure success for\nthe players. According to the same myth the Flying Squirrel (Tewa)\nalso aided in securing the victory, and hence both these animals\nare still invoked by the ball player. The meat of the common gray\nsquirrel (sal\u00e2'li) is forbidden to rheumatic patients, on account of\nthe squirrel's habit of assuming a cramped position when eating. The\nstripes upon the back of the ground squirrel (kiyu'`ga) are the mark\nof scratches made by the angry animals at a memorable council in\nwhich he took it upon himself to say a good word for the archenemy,\nMan (see \"Origin of Disease and Medicine\"). The peculiarities of the\nmink (s\u00fb\u00f1gi) are accounted for by another story.\n\nThe buffalo, the largest game animal of America, was hunted in the\nsouthern Allegheny region until almost the close of the last century,\nthe particular species being probably that known in the West as\nthe wood or mountain buffalo. The name in use among the principal\ngulf tribes was practically the same, and can not be analyzed,\nviz, Cherokee, y\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'; Hichitee, ya'nasi; Creek, yena'sa; Choctaw,\nyanash. Although the flesh of the buffalo was eaten, its skin dressed\nfor blankets and bed coverings, its long hair woven into belts, and\nits horns carved into spoons, it is yet strangely absent from Cherokee\nfolklore. So far as is known it is mentioned in but a single one of\nthe sacred formulas, in which a person under treatment for rheumatism\nis forbidden to eat the meat, touch the skin, or use a spoon made\nfrom the horn of the buffalo, upon the ground of an occult connection\nbetween the habitual cramped attitude of a rheumatic and the natural\n\"hump\" of that animal.\n\nThe elk is known, probably by report, under the name of a`wi' e'gwa,\n\"great deer\", but there is no myth or folklore in connection with it.\n\nThe deer, a`wi', which is still common in the mountains, was the\nprincipal dependence of the Cherokee hunter, and is consequently\nprominent in myth, folklore, and ceremonial. One of the seven gentes of\nthe tribe is named from it (Ani'-Kawi', \"Deer People\"). According to a\nmyth given elsewhere, the deer won his horns in a successful race with\nthe rabbit. Rheumatism is usually ascribed to the work of revengeful\ndeer ghosts, which the hunter has neglected to placate, while on\nthe other hand the aid of the deer is invoked against frostbite,\nas its feet are believed to be immune from injury by frost. The\nwolf, the fox, and the opossum are also invoked for this purpose,\nand for the same reason. When the redroot (Ceanothus americanus)\nputs forth its leaves the people say the young fawns are then in the\nmountains. On killing a deer the hunter always cuts out the hamstring\nfrom the hind quarter and throws it away, for fear that if he ate it\nhe would thereafter tire easily in traveling.\n\nThe powerful chief of the deer tribe is the A[`]wi' Usdi', or\n\"Little Deer,\" who is invisible to all except the greatest masters\nof the hunting secrets, and can be wounded only by the hunter who\nhas supplemented years of occult study with frequent fasts and\nlonely vigils. The Little Deer keeps constant protecting watch over\nhis subjects, and sees well to it that not one is ever killed in\nwantonness. When a deer is shot by the hunter the Little Deer knows\nit at once and is instantly at the spot. Bending low his head he\nasks of the blood stains upon the ground if they have heard--i. e.,\nif the hunter has asked pardon for the life that he has taken. If the\nformulistic prayer has been made, all is well, because the necessary\nsacrifice has been atoned for; but if otherwise, the Little Deer tracks\nthe hunter to his house by the blood drops along the trail, and, unseen\nand unsuspected, puts into his body the spirit of rheumatism that shall\nrack him with aches and pains from that time henceforth. As seen at\nrare intervals--perhaps once in a long lifetime--the Little Deer is\npure white and about the size of a small dog, has branching antlers,\nand is always in company with a large herd of deer. Even though shot\nby the master-hunter, he comes to life again, being immortal, but the\nfortunate huntsman who can thus make prize of his antlers has in them\nan unfailing talisman that brings him success in the chase forever\nafter. The smallest portion of one of those horns of the Little Deer,\nwhen properly consecrated, attracts the deer to the hunter, and when\nexposed from the wrapping dazes them so that they forget to run and\nthus become an easy prey. Like the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti stone (see number 50),\nit is a dangerous prize when not treated with proper respect, and\nis--or was--kept always in a secret place away from the house to\nguard against sacrilegious handling.\n\nSomewhat similar talismanic power attached to the down from the young\nantler of the deer when properly consecrated. So firm was the belief\nthat it had influence over \"anything about a deer\" that eighty and a\nhundred years ago even white traders used to bargain with the Indians\nfor such charms in order to increase their store of deerskins by\ndrawing the trade to themselves. The faith in the existence of the\nmiraculous Little Deer is almost as strong and universal to-day among\nthe older Cherokee as is the belief in a future life.\n\nThe bears (y\u00e2n\u00fb) are transformed Cherokee of the old clan of the\nAni'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi (see story, \"Origin of the Bear\"). Their chief is\nthe White Bear, who lives at Kuw\u00e2'hi, \"Mulberry place,\" one of the\nhigh peaks of the Great Smoky mountains, near to the enchanted lake\nof Atag\u00e2'hi (see number 69), to which the wounded bears go to be\ncured of their hurts. Under Kuw\u00e2'hi and each of three other peaks\nin the same mountain region the bears have townhouses, where they\ncongregate and hold dances every fall before retiring to their dens\nfor the winter. Being really human, they can talk if they only would,\nand once a mother bear was heard singing to her cub in words which the\nhunter understood. There is one variety known as kal\u00e2s'-g\u00fbnahi'ta,\n\"long hams,\" described as a large black bear with long legs and\nsmall feet, which is always lean, and which the hunter does not care\nto shoot, possibly on account of its leanness. It is believed that\nnew-born cubs are hairless, like mice.\n\nThe wolf (wa'`ya) is revered as the hunter and watchdog of Kana'ti,\nand the largest gens in the tribe bears the name of Ani'-wa'`ya,\n\"Wolf people.\" The ordinary Cherokee will never kill one if he can\npossibly avoid it, but will let the animal go by unharmed, believing\nthat the kindred of a slain wolf will surely revenge his death,\nand that the weapon with which the deed is done will be rendered\nworthless for further shooting until cleaned and exorcised by a\nmedicine man. Certain persons, however, having knowledge of the proper\natonement rites, may kill wolves with impunity, and are hired for\nthis purpose by others who have suffered from raids upon their fish\ntraps or their stock. Like the eagle killer (see \"The Bird Tribes\"),\nthe professional wolf killer, after killing one of these animals,\naddresses to it a prayer in which he seeks to turn aside the vengeance\nof the tribe by laying the burden of blame upon the people of some\nother settlement. He then unscrews the barrel of his gun and inserts\ninto it seven small sourwood rods heated over the fire, and allows\nit to remain thus overnight in the running stream; in the morning\nthe rods are taken out and the barrel is thoroughly dried and cleaned.\n\nThe dog (gi`li'), although as much a part of Indian life among the\nCherokee as in other tribes, hardly appears in folklore. One myth makes\nhim responsible for the milky way; another represents him as driving\nthe wolf from the comfortable house fire and taking the place for\nhimself. He figures also in connection with the deluge. There is no\ntradition of the introduction of the horse (s\u00e2'gwali, as\u00e2'gwalih\u00fb',\n\"a pack or burden\") or of the cow (wa'`ka, from the Spanish,\nvaca). The hog is called sikwa, this being originally the name of\nthe opossum, which somewhat resembles it in expression, and which is\nnow distinguished as sikwa utse'tsti, \"grinning sikwa.\" In the same\nway the sheep, another introduced animal, is called a`wi' unade'na,\n\"woolly deer\"; the goat, a`wi' ahanu'lahi, \"bearded deer,\" and the\nmule, s\u00e2'gwa'li dig\u00fb'lanahi'ta, \"long-eared horse.\" The cat, also\nobtained from the whites, is called wesa, an attempt at the English\n\"pussy.\" When it purrs by the fireside, the children say it is counting\nin Cherokee, \"ta'ladu', n\u00fb\u00f1'gi, ta'ladu', n\u00fb\u00f1'gi,\" \"sixteen, four,\nsixteen, four.\" The elephant, which a few of the Cherokee have seen\nin shows, is called by them kama'ma u'tan\u00fb, \"great butterfly,\" from\nthe supposed resemblance of its long trunk and flapping ears to the\nproboscis and wings of that insect. The anatomical peculiarities\nof the opossum, of both sexes, are the subject of much curious\nspeculation among the Indians, many of whom believe that its young\nare produced without any help from the male. It occurs in one or two\nof the minor myths.\n\nThe fox (tsu'`la) is mentioned in one of the formulas, but does not\nappear in the tribal folklore. The black fox is known by a different\nname (in\u00e2'li). The odor of the skunk (dila') is believed to keep off\ncontagious diseases, and the scent bag is therefore taken out and hung\nover the doorway, a small hole being pierced in it in order that the\ncontents may ooze out upon the timbers. At times, as in the smallpox\nepidemic of 1866, the entire body of the animal was thus hung up,\nand in some cases, as an additional safeguard, the meat was cooked and\neaten and the oil rubbed over the skin of the person. The underlying\nidea is that the fetid smell repels the disease spirit, and upon the\nsame principle the buzzard, which is so evidently superior to carrion\nsmells, is held to be powerful against the same diseases.\n\nThe beaver (d\u00e2'yi), by reason of its well-known gnawing ability,\nagainst which even the hardest wood is not proof, is invoked on behalf\nof young children just getting their permanent teeth. According to the\nlittle formula which is familiar to nearly every mother in the tribe,\nwhen the loosened milk tooth is pulled out or drops out of itself,\nthe child runs with it around the house, repeating four times, \"D\u00e2'yi,\nskinta' (Beaver, put a new tooth into my jaw)\" after which he throws\nthe tooth upon the roof of the house.\n\nIn a characteristic song formula to prevent frostbite the traveler,\nbefore starting out on a cold winter morning, rubs his feet in the\nashes of the fire and sings a song of four verses, by means of which,\naccording to the Indian idea, he acquires in turn the cold-defying\npowers of the wolf, deer, fox, and opossum, four animals whose feet,\nit is held, are never frostbitten. After each verse he imitates the\ncry and the action of the animal. The words used are archaic in form\nand may be rendered \"I become a real wolf,\" etc. The song runs:\n\n\n Ts\u00fb\u00f1'wa'`ya-ya' (repeated four times), wa + a! (prolonged\n howl). (Imitates a wolf pawing the ground with his feet.)\n Ts\u00fb\u00f1'-ka'wi-ye' (repeated four times),\n sauh! sauh! sauh! sauh! (Imitates call and jumping of a deer.)\n Ts\u00fb\u00f1'-tsu'`la-ya' (repeated four times),\n gaih! gaih! gaih! gaih! (Imitates barking and scratching of a fox.)\n Ts\u00fb\u00f1'-si'kwa-ya' (repeated four times), ki +. (Imitates the cry of\n an opossum when cornered, and throws his head back as that animal\n does when feigning death.)\n\n\n\n\n16. THE RABBIT GOES DUCK HUNTING\n\nThe Rabbit was so boastful that he would claim to do whatever he saw\nanyone else do, and so tricky that he could usually make the other\nanimals believe it all. Once he pretended that he could swim in the\nwater and eat fish just as the Otter did, and when the others told him\nto prove it he fixed up a plan so that the Otter himself was deceived.\n\nSoon afterward they met again and the Otter said, \"I eat ducks\nsometimes.\" Said the Rabbit, \"Well, I eat ducks too.\" The Otter\nchallenged him to try it; so they went up along the river until they\nsaw several ducks in the water and managed to get near without being\nseen. The Rabbit told the Otter to go first. The Otter never hesitated,\nbut dived from the bank and swam under water until he reached the\nducks, when he pulled one down without being noticed by the others,\nand came back in the same way.\n\nWhile the Otter had been under the water the Rabbit had peeled\nsome bark from a sapling and made himself a noose. \"Now,\" he said,\n\"Just watch me;\" and he dived in and swam a little way under the\nwater until he was nearly choking and had to come up to the top to\nbreathe. He went under again and came up again a little nearer to\nthe ducks. He took another breath and dived under, and this time he\ncame up among the ducks and threw the noose over the head of one and\ncaught it. The duck struggled hard and finally spread its wings and\nflew up from the water with the Rabbit hanging on to the noose.\n\nIt flew on and on until at last the Rabbit could not hold on any\nlonger, but had to let go and drop. As it happened, he fell into a\ntall, hollow sycamore stump without any hole at the bottom to get out\nfrom, and there he stayed until he was so hungry that he had to eat\nhis own fur, as the rabbit does ever since when he is starving. After\nseveral days, when he was very weak with hunger, he heard children\nplaying outside around the trees. He began to sing:\n\n\n Cut a door and look at me;\n I'm the prettiest thing you ever did see.\n\n\nThe children ran home and told their father, who came and began to cut\na hole in the tree. As he chopped away the Rabbit inside kept singing,\n\"Cut it larger, so you can see me better; I'm so pretty.\" They made\nthe hole larger, and then the Rabbit told them to stand back so that\nthey could take a good look as he came out. They stood away back,\nand the Rabbit watched his chance and jumped out and got away.\n\n\n\n\n17. HOW THE RABBIT STOLE THE OTTER'S COAT\n\nThe animals were of different sizes and wore coats of various colors\nand patterns. Some wore long fur and others wore short. Some had rings\non their tails, and some had no tails at all. Some had coats of brown,\nothers of black or yellow. They were always disputing about their\ngood looks, so at last they agreed to hold a council to decide who\nhad the finest coat.\n\nThey had heard a great deal about the Otter, who lived so far up the\ncreek that he seldom came down to visit the other animals. It was said\nthat he had the finest coat of all, but no one knew just what it was\nlike, because it was a long time since anyone had seen him. They did\nnot even know exactly where he lived--only the general direction;\nbut they knew he would come to the council when the word got out.\n\nNow the Rabbit wanted the verdict for himself, so when it began to look\nas if it might go to the Otter he studied up a plan to cheat him out of\nit. He asked a few sly questions until he learned what trail the Otter\nwould take to get to the council place. Then, without saying anything,\nhe went on ahead and after four days' travel he met the Otter and\nknew him at once by his beautiful coat of soft dark-brown fur. The\nOtter was glad to see him and asked him where he was going. \"O,\"\nsaid the Rabbit, \"the animals sent me to bring you to the council;\nbecause you live so far away they were afraid you mightn't know the\nroad.\" The Otter thanked him, and they went on together.\n\nThey traveled all day toward the council ground, and at night the\nRabbit selected the camping place, because the Otter was a stranger\nin that part of the country, and cut down bushes for beds and fixed\neverything in good shape. The next morning they started on again. In\nthe afternoon the Rabbit began to pick up wood and bark as they went\nalong and to load it on his back. When the Otter asked what this was\nfor the Rabbit said it was that they might be warm and comfortable\nat night. After a while, when it was near sunset, they stopped and\nmade their camp.\n\nWhen supper was over the Rabbit got a stick and shaved it down to a\npaddle. The Otter wondered and asked again what that was for.\n\n\"I have good dreams when I sleep with a paddle under my head,\" said\nthe Rabbit.\n\nWhen the paddle was finished the Rabbit began to cut away the bushes\nso as to make a clean trail down to the river. The Otter wondered\nmore and more and wanted to know what this meant.\n\nSaid the Rabbit, \"This place is called Di'tatl\u00e2ski'yi [The Place\nWhere it Rains Fire]. Sometimes it rains fire here, and the sky\nlooks a little that way to-night. You go to sleep and I'll sit up\nand watch, and if the fire does come, as soon as you hear me shout,\nyou run and jump into the river. Better hang your coat on a limb over\nthere, so it won't get burnt.\"\n\nThe Otter did as he was told, and they both doubled up to go to sleep,\nbut the Rabbit kept awake. After a while the fire burned down to red\ncoals. The Rabbit called, but the Otter was fast asleep and made\nno answer. In a little while he called again, but the Otter never\nstirred. Then the Rabbit filled the paddle with hot coals and threw\nthem up into the air and shouted, \"It's raining fire! It's raining\nfire!\"\n\nThe hot coals fell all around the Otter and he jumped up. \"To the\nwater!\" cried the Rabbit, and the Otter ran and jumped into the river,\nand he has lived in the water ever since.\n\nThe Rabbit took the Otter's coat and put it on, leaving his own\ninstead, and went on to the council. All the animals were there, every\none looking out for the Otter. At last they saw him in the distance,\nand they said one to the other, \"The Otter is coming!\" and sent one\nof the small animals to show him the best seat. They were all glad to\nsee him and went up in turn to welcome him, but the Otter kept his\nhead down, with one paw over his face. They wondered that he was so\nbashful, until the Bear came up and pulled the paw away, and there\nwas the Rabbit with his split nose. He sprang up and started to run,\nwhen the Bear struck at him and pulled his tail off, but the Rabbit\nwas too quick for them and got away.\n\n\n\n\n18. WHY THE POSSUM'S TAIL IS BARE\n\nThe Possum used to have a long, bushy tail, and was so proud of it\nthat he combed it out every morning and sang about it at the dance,\nuntil the Rabbit, who had had no tail since the Bear pulled it out,\nbecame very jealous and made up his mind to play the Possum a trick.\n\nThere was to be a great council and a dance at which all the animals\nwere to be present. It was the Rabbit's business to send out the news,\nso as he was passing the Possum's place he stopped to ask him if he\nintended to be there. The Possum said he would come if he could have\na special seat, \"because I have such a handsome tail that I ought to\nsit where everybody can see me.\" The Rabbit promised to attend to it\nand to send some one besides to comb and dress the Possum's tail for\nthe dance, so the Possum was very much pleased and agreed to come.\n\nThen the Rabbit went over to the Cricket, who is such an expert hair\ncutter that the Indians call him the barber, and told him to go next\nmorning and dress the Possum's tail for the dance that night. He told\nthe Cricket just what to do and then went on about some other mischief.\n\nIn the morning the Cricket went to the Possum's house and said he\nhad come to get him ready for the dance. So the Possum stretched\nhimself out and shut his eyes while the Cricket combed out his tail\nand wrapped a red string around it to keep it smooth until night. But\nall this time, as he wound the string around, he was clipping off\nthe hair close to the roots, and the Possum never knew it.\n\nWhen it was night the Possum went to the townhouse where the dance\nwas to be and found the best seat ready for him, just as the Rabbit\nhad promised. When his turn came in the dance he loosened the\nstring from his tail and stepped into the middle of the floor. The\ndrummers began to drum and the Possum began to sing, \"See my\nbeautiful tail.\" Everybody shouted and he danced around the circle\nand sang again, \"See what a fine color it has.\" They shouted again\nand he danced around another time, singing, \"See how it sweeps the\nground.\" The animals shouted more loudly than ever, and the Possum\nwas delighted. He danced around again and sang, \"See how fine the\nfur is.\" Then everybody laughed so long that the Possum wondered what\nthey meant. He looked around the circle of animals and they were all\nlaughing at him. Then he looked down at his beautiful tail and saw\nthat there was not a hair left upon it, but that it was as bare as the\ntail of a lizard. He was so much astonished and ashamed that he could\nnot say a word, but rolled over helpless on the ground and grinned,\nas the Possum does to this day when taken by surprise.\n\n\n\n\n19. HOW THE WILDCAT CAUGHT THE GOBBLER\n\nThe Wildcat once caught the Rabbit and was about to kill him, when\nthe Rabbit begged for his life, saying: \"I'm so small I would make\nonly a mouthful for you, but if you let me go I'll show you where you\ncan get a whole drove of Turkeys.\" So the Wildcat let him up and went\nwith him to where the Turkeys were.\n\nWhen they came near the place the Rabbit said to the Wildcat, \"Now,\nyou must do just as I say. Lie down as if you were dead and don't move,\neven if I kick you, but when I give the word jump up and catch the\nlargest one there.\" The Wildcat agreed and stretched out as if dead,\nwhile the Rabbit gathered some rotten wood and crumbled it over his\neyes and nose to make them look flyblown, so that the Turkeys would\nthink he had been dead some time.\n\nThen the Rabbit went over to the Turkeys and said, in a sociable\nway, \"Here, I've found our old enemy, the Wildcat, lying dead in the\ntrail. Let's have a dance over him.\" The Turkeys were very doubtful,\nbut finally went with him to where the Wildcat was lying in the\nroad as if dead. Now, the Rabbit had a good voice and was a great\ndance leader, so he said, \"I'll lead the song and you dance around\nhim.\" The Turkeys thought that fine, so the Rabbit took a stick to\nbeat time and began to sing: \"Galagi'na hasuyak', Galagi'na hasuyak'\n(pick out the Gobbler, pick out the Gobbler).\"\n\n\"Why do you say that?\" said the old Turkey. \"O, that's all right,\"\nsaid the Rabbit, \"that's just the way he does, and we sing about\nit.\" He started the song again and the Turkeys began to dance around\nthe Wildcat. When they had gone around several times the Rabbit said,\n\"Now go up and hit him, as we do in the war dance.\" So the Turkeys,\nthinking the Wildcat surely dead, crowded in close around him and\nthe old gobbler kicked him. Then the Rabbit drummed hard and sang\nhis loudest, \"Pick out the Gobbler, pick out the Gobbler,\" and the\nWildcat jumped up and caught the Gobbler.\n\n\n\n\n20. HOW THE TERRAPIN BEAT THE RABBIT\n\nThe Rabbit was a great runner, and everybody knew it. No one thought\nthe Terrapin anything but a slow traveler, but he was a great warrior\nand very boastful, and the two were always disputing about their\nspeed. At last they agreed to decide the matter by a race. They fixed\nthe day and the starting place and arranged to run across four mountain\nridges, and the one who came in first at the end was to be the winner.\n\nThe Rabbit felt so sure of it that he said to the Terrapin, \"You know\nyou can't run. You can never win the race, so I'll give you the first\nridge and then you'll have only three to cross while I go over four.\"\n\nThe Terrapin said that would be all right, but that night when he went\nhome to his family he sent for his Terrapin friends and told them he\nwanted their help. He said he knew he could not outrun the Rabbit,\nbut he wanted to stop the Rabbit's boasting. He explained his plan\nto his friends and they agreed to help him.\n\nWhen the day came all the animals were there to see the race. The\nRabbit was with them, but the Terrapin was gone ahead toward the\nfirst ridge, as they had arranged, and they could hardly see him on\naccount of the long grass. The word was given and the Rabbit started\noff with long jumps up the mountain, expecting to win the race before\nthe Terrapin could get down the other side. But before he got up the\nmountain he saw the Terrapin go over the ridge ahead of him. He ran on,\nand when he reached the top he looked all around, but could not see\nthe Terrapin on account of the long grass. He kept on down the mountain\nand began to climb the second ridge, but when he looked up again there\nwas the Terrapin just going over the top. Now he was surprised and\nmade his longest jumps to catch up, but when he got to the top there\nwas the Terrapin away in front going over the third ridge. The Rabbit\nwas getting tired now and nearly out of breath, but he kept on down\nthe mountain and up the other ridge until he got to the top just in\ntime to see the Terrapin cross the fourth ridge and thus win the race.\n\nThe Rabbit could not make another jump, but fell over on the ground,\ncrying mi, mi, mi, mi, as the Rabbit does ever since when he is too\ntired to run any more. The race was given to the Terrapin and all the\nanimals wondered how he could win against the Rabbit, but he kept still\nand never told. It was easy enough, however, because all the Terrapin's\nfriends looked just alike, and he had simply posted one near the top\nof each ridge to wait until the Rabbit came in sight and then climb\nover and hide in the long grass. When the Rabbit came on he could not\nfind the Terrapin and so thought the Terrapin was ahead, and if he\nhad met one of the other terrapins he would have thought it the same\none because they looked so much alike. The real Terrapin had posted\nhimself on the fourth ridge, so as to come in at the end of the race\nand be ready to answer questions if the animals suspected anything.\n\nBecause the Rabbit had to lie down and lose the race the conjurer now,\nwhen preparing his young men for the ball play, boils a lot of rabbit\nhamstrings into a soup, and sends some one at night to pour it across\nthe path along which the other players are to come in the morning,\nso that they may become tired in the same way and lose the game. It\nis not always easy to do this, because the other party is expecting\nit and has watchers ahead to prevent it.\n\n\n\n\n21. THE RABBIT AND THE TAR WOLF\n\nOnce there was such a long spell of dry weather that there was no more\nwater in the creeks and springs, and the animals held a council to\nsee what to do about it. They decided to dig a well, and all agreed to\nhelp except the Rabbit, who was a lazy fellow, and said, \"I don't need\nto dig for water. The dew on the grass is enough for me.\" The others\ndid not like this, but they went to work together and dug their well.\n\nThey noticed that the Rabbit kept sleek and lively, although it was\nstill dry weather and the water was getting low in the well. They said,\n\"That tricky Rabbit steals our water at night,\" so they made a wolf of\npine gum and tar and set it up by the well to scare the thief. That\nnight the Rabbit came, as he had been coming every night, to drink\nenough to last him all next day. He saw the queer black thing by\nthe well and said, \"Who's there?\" but the tar wolf said nothing. He\ncame nearer, but the wolf never moved, so he grew braver and said,\n\"Get out of my way or I'll strike you.\" Still the wolf never moved\nand the Rabbit came up and struck it with his paw, but the gum held\nhis foot and it stuck fast. Now he was angry and said, \"Let me go or\nI'll kick you.\" Still the wolf said nothing. Then the Rabbit struck\nagain with his hind foot, so hard that it was caught in the gum and he\ncould not move, and there he stuck until the animals came for water in\nthe morning. When they found who the thief was they had great sport\nover him for a while and then got ready to kill him, but as soon as\nhe was unfastened from the tar wolf he managed to get away.--Wafford.\n\n\n\nSECOND VERSION\n\n\"Once upon a time there was such a severe drought that all streams\nof water and all lakes were dried up. In this emergency the beasts\nassembled together to devise means to procure water. It was proposed by\none to dig a well. All agreed to do so except the hare. She refused\nbecause it would soil her tiny paws. The rest, however, dug their\nwell and were fortunate enough to find water. The hare beginning\nto suffer and thirst, and having no right to the well, was thrown\nupon her wits to procure water. She determined, as the easiest way,\nto steal from the public well. The rest of the animals, surprised to\nfind that the hare was so well supplied with water, asked her where\nshe got it. She replied that she arose betimes in the morning and\ngathered the dewdrops. However the wolf and the fox suspected her of\ntheft and hit on the following plan to detect her:\n\nThey made a wolf of tar and placed it near the well. On the following\nnight the hare came as usual after her supply of water. On seeing\nthe tar wolf she demanded who was there. Receiving no answer she\nrepeated the demand, threatening to kick the wolf if he did not\nreply. She receiving no reply kicked the wolf, and by this means\nadhered to the tar and was caught. When the fox and wolf got hold\nof her they consulted what it was best to do with her. One proposed\ncutting her head off. This the hare protested would be useless, as it\nhad often been tried without hurting her. Other methods were proposed\nfor dispatching her, all of which she said would be useless. At last\nit was proposed to let her loose to perish in a thicket. Upon this the\nhare affected great uneasiness and pleaded hard for life. Her enemies,\nhowever, refused to listen and she was accordingly let loose. As soon,\nhowever, as she was out of reach of her enemies she gave a whoop,\nand bounding away she exclaimed: 'This is where I live.'\"--Cherokee\nAdvocate, December 18, 1845.\n\n\n\n\n22. THE RABBIT AND THE POSSUM AFTER A WIFE\n\nThe Rabbit and the Possum each wanted a wife, but no one would marry\neither of them. They talked over the matter and the Rabbit said,\n\"We can't get wives here; let's go to the next settlement. I'm the\nmessenger for the council, and I'll tell the people that I bring an\norder that everybody must take a mate at once, and then we'll be sure\nto get our wives.\"\n\nThe Possum thought this a fine plan, so they started off together to\nthe next town. As the Rabbit traveled faster he got there first and\nwaited outside until the people noticed him and took him into the\ntownhouse. When the chief came to ask his business the Rabbit said\nhe brought an important order from the council that everybody must\nget married without delay. So the chief called the people together\nand told them the message from the council. Every animal took a mate\nat once, and the Rabbit got a wife.\n\nThe Possum traveled so slowly that he got there after all the animals\nhad mated, leaving him still without a wife. The Rabbit pretended to\nfeel sorry for him and said, \"Never mind, I'll carry the message to\nthe people in the next settlement, and you hurry on as fast as you can,\nand this time you will get your wife.\"\n\nSo he went on to the next town, and the Possum followed close after\nhim. But when the Rabbit got to the townhouse he sent out the word\nthat, as there had been peace so long that everybody was getting lazy\nthe council had ordered that there must be war at once and they must\nbegin right in the townhouse. So they all began fighting, but the\nRabbit made four great leaps and got away just as the Possum came\nin. Everybody jumped on the Possum, who had not thought of bringing\nhis weapons on a wedding trip, and so could not defend himself. They\nhad nearly beaten the life out of him when he fell over and pretended\nto be dead until he saw a good chance to jump up and get away. The\nPossum never got a wife, but he remembers the lesson, and ever since\nhe shuts his eyes and pretends to be dead when the hunter has him in\na close corner.\n\n\n\n\n23. THE RABBIT DINES THE BEAR\n\nThe Bear invited the Rabbit to dine with him. They had beans in\nthe pot, but there was no grease for them, so the Bear cut a slit\nin his side and let the oil run out until they had enough to cook\nthe dinner. The Rabbit looked surprised, and thought to himself,\n\"That's a handy way. I think I'll try that.\" When he started home he\ninvited the Bear to come and take dinner with him four days later.\n\nWhen the Bear came the Rabbit said, \"I have beans for dinner, too. Now\nI'll get the grease for them.\" So he took a knife and drove it into his\nside, but instead of oil, a stream of blood gushed out and he fell over\nnearly dead. The Bear picked him up and had hard work to tie up the\nwound and stop the bleeding. Then he scolded him, \"You little fool,\nI'm large and strong and lined with fat all over; the knife don't\nhurt me; but you're small and lean, and you can't do such things.\"\n\n\n\n\n24. THE RABBIT ESCAPES FROM THE WOLVES\n\nSome Wolves once caught the Rabbit and were going to eat him when he\nasked leave to show them a new dance he was practicing. They knew that\nthe Rabbit was a great song leader, and they wanted to learn the latest\ndance, so they agreed and made a ring about him while he got ready. He\npatted his feet and began to dance around in a circle, singing:\n\n\n Tl\u00e2ge'sit\u00fb\u00f1' gali'sgi'sid\u00e2'ha--\n Ha'nia lil! lil! Ha'nia lil! lil!\n\n On the edge of the field I dance about--\n Ha'nia lil! lil! Ha'nia lil! lil!\n\n\n\"Now,\" said the Rabbit, \"when I sing 'on the edge of the field,' I\ndance that way\"--and he danced over in that direction--\"and when I sing\n'lil! lil!' you must all stamp your feet hard.\" The Wolves thought it\nfine. He began another round singing the same song, and danced a little\nnearer to the field, while the Wolves all stamped their feet. He sang\nlouder and louder and danced nearer and nearer to the field until at\nthe fourth song, when the Wolves were stamping as hard as they could\nand thinking only of the song, he made one jump and was off through\nthe long grass. They were after him at once, but he ran for a hollow\nstump and climbed up on the inside. When the the Wolves got there\none of them put his head inside to look up, but the Rabbit spit into\nhis eye, so that he had to pull his head out again. The others were\nafraid to try, and they went away, with the Rabbit still in the stump.\n\n\n\n\n25. FLINT VISITS THE RABBIT\n\nIn the old days Tawi'skala (Flint) lived up in the mountains, and\nall the animals hated him because he had helped to kill so many of\nthem. They used to get together to talk over means to put him out of\nthe way, but everybody was afraid to venture near his house until\nthe Rabbit, who was the boldest leader among them, offered to go\nafter Flint and try to kill him. They told him where to find him,\nand the Rabbit set out and at last came to Flint's house.\n\nFlint was standing at his door when the Rabbit came up and said,\nsneeringly, \"Siyu'! Hello! Are you the fellow they call Flint?\" \"Yes;\nthat's what they call me,\" answered Flint. \"Is this where you\nlive?\" \"Yes; this is where I live.\" All this time the Rabbit was\nlooking about the place trying to study out some plan to take Flint\noff his guard. He had expected Flint to invite him into the house,\nso he waited a little while, but when Flint made no move, he said,\n\"Well, my name is Rabbit; I've heard a good deal about you, so I came\nto invite you to come and see me.\"\n\nFlint wanted to know where the Rabbit's house was, and he told him it\nwas down in the broom-grass field near the river. So Flint promised\nto make him a visit in a few days. \"Why not come now and have supper\nwith me?\" said the Rabbit, and after a little coaxing Flint agreed\nand the two started down the mountain together.\n\nWhen they came near the Rabbit's hole the Rabbit said, \"There\nis my house, but in summer I generally stay outside here where\nit is cooler.\" So he made a fire, and they had their supper on the\ngrass. When it was over, Flint stretched out to rest and the Rabbit got\nsome heavy sticks and his knife and cut out a mallet and wedge. Flint\nlooked up and asked what that was for. \"Oh,\" said the Rabbit, \"I\nlike to be doing something, and they may come handy.\" So Flint lay\ndown again, and pretty soon he was sound asleep. The Rabbit spoke to\nhim once or twice to make sure, but there was no answer. Then he came\nover to Flint and with one good blow of the mallet he drove the sharp\nstake into his body and ran with all his might for his own hole; but\nbefore he reached it there was a loud explosion, and pieces of flint\nflew all about. That is why we find flint in so many places now. One\npiece struck the Rabbit from behind and cut him just as he dived into\nhis hole. He sat listening until everything seemed quiet again. Then\nhe put his head out to look around, but just at that moment another\npiece fell and struck him on the lip and split it, as we still see it.\n\n\n\n\n26. HOW THE DEER GOT HIS HORNS\n\nIn the beginning the Deer had no horns, but his head was smooth just\nlike a doe's. He was a great runner and the Rabbit was a great jumper,\nand the animals were all curious to know which could go farther in\nthe same time. They talked about it a good deal, and at last arranged\na match between the two, and made a nice large pair of antlers for a\nprize to the winner. They were to start together from one side of a\nthicket and go through it, then turn and come back, and the one who\ncame out first was to get the horns.\n\nOn the day fixed all the animals were there, with the antlers put\ndown on the ground at the edge of the thicket to mark the starting\npoint. While everybody was admiring the horns the Rabbit said: \"I\ndon't know this part of the country; I want to take a look through\nthe bushes where I am to run.\" They thought that all right, so the\nRabbit went into the thicket, but he was gone so long that at last\nthe animals suspected he must be up to one of his tricks. They sent\na messenger to look for him, and away in the middle of the thicket\nhe found the Rabbit gnawing down the bushes and pulling them away\nuntil he had a road cleared nearly to the other side.\n\nThe messenger turned around quietly and came back and told the\nother animals. When the Rabbit came out at last they accused him of\ncheating, but he denied it until they went into the thicket and found\nthe cleared road. They agreed that such a trickster had no right to\nenter the race at all, so they gave the horns to the Deer, who was\nadmitted to be the best runner, and he has worn them ever since. They\ntold the Rabbit that as he was so fond of cutting down bushes he\nmight do that for a living hereafter, and so he does to this day.\n\n\n\n\n27. WHY THE DEER'S TEETH ARE BLUNT\n\nThe Rabbit felt sore because the Deer had won the horns (see the\nlast story), and resolved to get even. One day soon after the race\nhe stretched a large grapevine across the trail and gnawed it nearly\nin two in the middle. Then he went back a piece, took a good run,\nand jumped up at the vine. He kept on running and jumping up at the\nvine until the Deer came along and asked him what he was doing?\n\n\"Don't you see?\" says the Rabbit. \"I'm so strong that I can bite\nthrough that grapevine at one jump.\"\n\nThe Deer could hardly believe this, and wanted to see it done. So the\nRabbit ran back, made a tremendous spring, and bit through the vine\nwhere he had gnawed it before. The Deer, when he saw that, said,\n\"Well, I can do it if you can.\" So the Rabbit stretched a larger\ngrapevine across the trail, but without gnawing it in the middle. The\nDeer ran back as he had seen the Rabbit do, made a spring, and struck\nthe grapevine right in the center, but it only flew back and threw\nhim over on his head. He tried again and again, until he was all\nbruised and bleeding.\n\n\"Let me see your teeth,\" at last said the Rabbit. So the Deer showed\nhim his teeth, which were long like a wolf's teeth, but not very sharp.\n\n\"No wonder you can't do it,\" says the Rabbit; \"your teeth are too blunt\nto bite anything. Let me sharpen them for you like mine. My teeth\nare so sharp that I can cut through a stick just like a knife.\" And\nhe showed him a black locust twig, of which rabbits gnaw the young\nshoots, which he had shaved off as well as a knife could do it, in\nregular rabbit fashion. The Deer thought that just the thing. So the\nRabbit got a hard stone with rough edges and filed and filed away at\nthe Deer's teeth until they were worn down almost to the gums.\n\n\"It hurts,\" said the Deer; but the Rabbit said it always hurt a little\nwhen they began to get sharp; so the Deer kept quiet.\n\n\"Now try it,\" at last said the Rabbit. So the Deer tried again,\nbut this time he could not bite at all.\n\n\"Now you've paid for your horns,\" said the Rabbit, as he jumped away\nthrough the bushes. Ever since then the Deer's teeth are so blunt\nthat he can not chew anything but grass and leaves.\n\n\n\n\n28. WHAT BECAME OF THE RABBIT\n\nThe Deer was very angry at the Rabbit for filing his teeth and\ndetermined to be revenged, but he kept still and pretended to be\nfriendly until the Rabbit was off his guard. Then one day, as they\nwere going along together talking, he challenged the Rabbit to jump\nagainst him. Now the Rabbit is a great jumper, as every one knows,\nso he agreed at once. There was a small stream beside the path,\nas there generally is in that country, and the Deer said:\n\n\"Let's see if you can jump across this branch. We'll go back a piece,\nand then when I say K\u00fb! then both run and jump.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the Rabbit. So they went back to get a good start,\nand when the Deer gave the word K\u00fb! they ran for the stream, and the\nRabbit made one jump and landed on the other side. But the Deer had\nstopped on the bank, and when the Rabbit looked back the Deer had\nconjured the stream so that it was a large river. The Rabbit was\nnever able to get back again and is still on the other side. The\nrabbit that we know is only a little thing that came afterwards.\n\n\n\n\n29. WHY THE MINK SMELLS\n\nThe Mink was such a great thief that at last the animals held a council\nabout the matter. It was decided to burn him, so they caught the Mink,\nbuilt a great fire, and threw him into it. As the blaze went up and\nthey smelt the roasted flesh, they began to think he was punished\nenough and would probably do better in the future, so they took him\nout of the fire. But the Mink was already burned black and is black\never since, and whenever he is attacked or excited he smells again\nlike roasted meat. The lesson did no good, however, and he is still\nas great a thief as ever.\n\n\n\n\n30. WHY THE MOLE LIVES UNDERGROUND\n\nA man was in love with a woman who disliked him and would have nothing\nto do with him. He tried every way to win her favor, but to no purpose,\nuntil at last he grew discouraged and made himself sick thinking over\nit. The Mole came along, and finding him in such low condition asked\nwhat was the trouble. The man told him the whole story, and when he\nhad finished the Mole said: \"I can help you, so that she will not\nonly like you, but will come to you of her own will.\" So that night\nthe Mole burrowed his way underground to where the girl was in bed\nasleep and took out her heart. He came back by the same way and gave\nthe heart to the man, who could not see it even when it was put into\nhis hand. \"There,\" said the Mole, \"swallow it, and she will be drawn\nto come to you and can not keep away.\" The man swallowed the heart,\nand when the girl woke up she somehow thought at once of him, and\nfelt a strange desire to be with him, as though she must go to him at\nonce. She wondered and could not understand it, because she had always\ndisliked him before, but at last the feeling grew so strong that she\nwas compelled to go herself to the man and tell him she loved him and\nwanted to be his wife. And so they were married, but all the magicians\nwho had known them both were surprised and wondered how it had come\nabout. When they found that it was the work of the Mole, whom they\nhad always before thought too insignificant for their notice, they\nwere very jealous and threatened to kill him, so that he hid himself\nunder the ground and has never since dared to come up to the surface.\n\n\n\n\n31. THE TERRAPIN'S ESCAPE FROM THE WOLVES\n\nThe Possum and the Terrapin went out together to hunt persimmons,\nand found a tree full of ripe fruit. The Possum climbed it and was\nthrowing down the persimmons to the Terrapin when a wolf came up and\nbegan to snap at the persimmons as they fell, before the Terrapin\ncould reach them. The Possum waited his chance, and at last managed to\nthrow down a large one (some say a bone which he carried with him),\nso that it lodged in the wolf's throat as he jumped up at it and\nchoked him to death. \"I'll take his ears for hominy spoons,\" said the\nTerrapin, and cut off the wolf's ears and started home with them,\nleaving the Possum still eating persimmons up in the tree. After\na while he came to a house and was invited to have some kanahe'na\ngruel from the jar that is set always outside the door. He sat down\nbeside the jar and dipped up the gruel with one of the wolf's ears\nfor a spoon. The people noticed and wondered. When he was satisfied\nhe went on, but soon came to another house and was asked to have some\nmore kanahe'na. He dipped it up again with the wolf's ear and went\non when he had enough. Soon the news went around that the Terrapin\nhad killed the Wolf and was using his ears for spoons. All the Wolves\ngot together and followed the Terrapin's trail until they came up with\nhim and made him prisoner. Then they held a council to decide what to\ndo with him, and agreed to boil him in a clay pot. They brought in a\npot, but the Terrapin only laughed at it and said that if they put\nhim into that thing he would kick it all to pieces. They said they\nwould burn him in the fire, but the Terrapin laughed again and said\nhe would put it out. Then they decided to throw him into the deepest\nhole in the river and drown him. The Terrapin begged and prayed them\nnot to do that, but they paid no attention, and dragged him over to\nthe river and threw him in. That was just what the Terrapin had been\nwaiting for all the time, and he dived under the water and came up\non the other side and got away.\n\nSome say that when he was thrown into the river he struck against a\nrock, which broke his back in a dozen places. He sang a medicine song:\n\n\n G\u00fb'daye'w\u00fb, G\u00fb'daye'w\u00fb,\n I have sewed myself together, I have sewed myself together,\n\n\nand the pieces came together, but the scars remain on his shell to\nthis day.\n\n\n\n\n32. ORIGIN OF THE GROUNDHOG DANCE: THE GROUNDHOG'S HEAD\n\nSeven wolves once caught a Groundhog and said, \"Now we'll kill you and\nhave something good to eat.\" But the Groundhog said, \"When we find good\nfood we must rejoice over it, as people do in the Green-corn dance. I\nknow you mean to kill me and I can't help myself, but if you want to\ndance I'll sing for you. This is a new dance entirely. I'll lean up\nagainst seven trees in turn and you will dance out and then turn and\ncome back, as I give the signal, and at the last turn you may kill me.\"\n\nThe wolves were very hungry, but they wanted to learn the new dance,\nso they told him to go ahead. The Groundhog leaned up against a\ntree and began the song, Ha'wiye'ehi', and all the wolves danced out\nin front, until he gave the signal, Yu! and began with Hi'yagu'we,\nwhen they turned and danced back in line. \"That's fine,\" said the\nGroundhog, and went over to the next tree and started the second\nsong. The wolves danced out and then turned at the signal and danced\nback again. \"That's very fine,\" said the Groundhog, and went over\nto another tree and started the third song. The wolves danced their\nbest and the Groundhog encouraged them, but at each song he took\nanother tree, and each tree was a little nearer to his hole under\na stump. At the seventh song he said, \"Now, this is the last dance,\nand when I say Yu! you will all turn and come after me, and the one\nwho gets me may have me.\" So he began the seventh song and kept it\nup until the wolves were away out in front. Then he gave the signal,\nYu! and made a jump for his hole. The wolves turned and were after him,\nbut he reached the hole first and dived in. Just as he got inside,\nthe foremost wolf caught him by the tail and gave it such a pull that\nit broke off, and the Groundhog's tail has been short ever since.\n\n\n\nThe unpleasant smell of the Groundhog's head was given it by the other\nanimals to punish an insulting remark made by him in council. The\nstory is a vulgar one, without wit enough to make it worth recording.\n\n\n\n\n33. THE MIGRATION OF THE ANIMALS\n\nIn the old times when the animals used to talk and hold councils,\nand the Grubworm and Woodchuck used to marry people, there was once a\ngreat famine of mast in the mountains, and all the animals and birds\nwhich lived upon it met together and sent the Pigeon out to the low\ncountry to see if any food could be found there. After a time she\ncame back and reported that she had found a country where the mast was\n\"up to our ankles\" on the ground. So they got together and moved down\ninto the low country in a great army.\n\n\n\n\n34. THE WOLF'S REVENGE--THE WOLF AND THE DOG\n\nKana'ti had wolves to hunt for him, because they are good hunters\nand never fail. He once sent out two wolves at once. One went to the\neast and did not return. The other went to the north, and when he\nreturned at night and did not find his fellow he knew he must be in\ntrouble and started after him. After traveling on some time he found\nhis brother lying nearly dead beside a great greensnake (salikw\u00e2'yi)\nwhich had attacked him. The snake itself was too badly wounded to\ncrawl away, and the angry wolf, who had magic powers, taking out\nseveral hairs from his own whiskers, shot them into the body of\nthe snake and killed it. He then hurried back to Kana'ti, who sent\nthe Terrapin after a great doctor who lived in the west to save the\nwounded wolf. The wolf went back to help his brother and by his magic\npowers he had him cured long before the doctor came from the west,\nbecause the Terrapin was such a slow traveler and the doctor had to\nprepare his roots before he started.\n\n\n\nIn the beginning, the people say, the Dog was put on the mountain\nand the Wolf beside the fire. When the winter came the Dog could not\nstand the cold, so he came down to the settlement and drove the Wolf\nfrom the fire. The Wolf ran to the mountains, where it suited him so\nwell that he prospered and increased, until after a while he ventured\ndown again and killed some animals in the settlements. The people got\ntogether and followed and killed him, but his brothers came from the\nmountains and took such revenge that ever since the people have been\nafraid to hurt a wolf.\n\n\n\n\n\nBird Myths\n\n\n35. THE BIRD TRIBES\n\nWinged creatures of all kinds are classed under the generic term of\nanin\u00e2'hilid\u00e2'hi (flyers). Birds are called, alike in the singular\nand plural, tsi'skwa, the term being generally held to exclude the\ndomestic fowls introduced by the whites. When it is necessary to\nmake the distinction they are mentioned, respectively, as inagehi\n(living in the woods), and ulu\u00f1ni'ta (tame). The robin is called\ntsiskwa'gwa, a name which can not be analyzed, while the little\nsparrow is called tsiskw\u00e2'ya (the real or principal bird), perhaps,\nin accord with a principle in Indian nomenclature, on account of its\nwide distribution. As in other languages, many of the bird names are\nonomatopes, as wa`huhu' (the screech owl), u'guku' (the hooting owl),\nwaguli' (the whippoorwill), k\u00e2g\u00fb (the crow), gugwe' (the quail),\nhuhu (the yellow mocking-bird), tsi'kilili' (the chickadee), sa'sa'\n(the goose). The turtledove is called gule'-diska`nihi' (it cries\nfor acorns), on account of the resemblance of its cry to the sound\nof the word for acorn (gule'). The meadow lark is called nakwisi'\n(star), on account of the appearance of its tail when spread out\nas it soars. The nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) is called tsulie'na\n(deaf), and is supposed to be without hearing, possibly on account\nof its fearless disregard for man's presence. Certain diseases are\ndiagnosed by the doctors as due to birds, either revengeful bird\nghosts, bird feathers about the house, or bird shadows falling upon\nthe patient from overhead.\n\nThe eagle (aw\u00e2'hili) is the great sacred bird of the Cherokee, as\nof nearly all our native tribes, and figures prominently in their\nceremonial ritual, especially in all things relating to war. The\nparticular species prized was the golden or war eagle (Aquila\nchrys\u00e6tus), called by the Cherokee the \"pretty-feathered eagle,\"\non account of its beautiful tail feathers, white, tipped with black,\nwhich were in such great demand for decorative and ceremonial purposes\nthat among the western tribes a single tail was often rated as equal in\nvalue to a horse. Among the Cherokee in the old times the killing of\nan eagle was an event which concerned the whole settlement, and could\nbe undertaken only by the professional eagle killer, regularly chosen\nfor the purpose on account of his knowledge of the prescribed forms\nand the prayers to be said afterwards in order to obtain pardon for the\nnecessary sacrilege, and thus ward off vengeance from the tribe. It is\ntold of one man upon the reservation that having deliberately killed\nan eagle in defiance of the ordinances he was constantly haunted by\ndreams of fierce eagles swooping down upon him, until the nightmare was\nfinally exorcised after a long course of priestly treatment. In 1890\nthere was but one eagle killer remaining among the East Cherokee. It\ndoes not appear that the eagle was ever captured alive as among the\nplains tribes.\n\nThe eagle must be killed only in the winter or late fall after the\ncrops were gathered and the snakes had retired to their dens. If killed\nin the summertime a frost would come to destroy the corn, while the\nsongs of the Eagle dance, when the feathers were brought home, would so\nanger the snakes that they would become doubly dangerous. Consequently\nthe Eagle songs were never sung until after the snakes had gone to\nsleep for the winter.\n\nWhen the people of a town had decided upon an Eagle dance the eagle\nkiller was called in, frequently from a distant settlement, to\nprocure the feathers for the occasion. He was paid for his services\nfrom offerings made later at the dance, and as the few professionals\nguarded their secrets carefully from outsiders their business was a\nquite profitable one. After some preliminary preparation the eagle\nkiller sets out alone for the mountains, taking with him his gun\nor bow and arrows. Having reached the mountains, he goes through a\nvigil of prayer and fasting, possibly lasting four days, after which\nhe hunts until he succeeds in killing a deer. Then, placing the body\nin a convenient exposed situation upon one of the highest cliffs, he\nconceals himself near by and begins to sing in a low undertone the\nsongs to call down the eagles from the sky. When the eagle alights\nupon the carcass, which will be almost immediately if the singer\nunderstands his business, he shoots it, and then standing over the\ndead bird, he addresses to it a prayer in which he begs it not to\nseek vengeance upon his tribe, because it is not a Cherokee, but a\nSpaniard (Askwa'ni) that has done the deed. The selection of such a\nvicarious victim of revenge is evidence at once of the antiquity of\nthe prayer in its present form and of the enduring impression which\nthe cruelties of the early Spanish adventurers made upon the natives.\n\nThe prayer ended, he leaves the dead eagle where it fell and makes all\nhaste to the settlement, where the people are anxiously expecting his\nreturn. On meeting the first warriors he says simply, \"A snowbird has\ndied,\" and passes on at once to his own quarters, his work being now\nfinished. The announcement is made in this form in order to insure\nagainst the vengeance of any eagles that might overhear, the little\nsnowbird being considered too insignificant a creature to be dreaded.\n\nHaving waited four days to allow time for the insect parasites to\nleave the body, the hunters delegated for the purpose go out to bring\nin the feathers. On arriving at the place they strip the body of the\nlarge tail and wing feathers, which they wrap in a fresh deerskin\nbrought with them, and then return to the settlement, leaving the\nbody of the dead eagle upon the ground, together with that of the\nslain deer, the latter being intended as a sacrifice to the eagle\nspirits. On reaching the settlement, the feathers, still wrapped in\nthe deerskin, are hung up in a small, round hut built for this special\npurpose near the edge of the dance ground (detsan\u00fb\u00f1'li) and known\nas the place \"where the feathers are kept,\" or feather house. Some\nsettlements had two such feather houses, one at each end of the dance\nground. The Eagle dance was held on the night of the same day on which\nthe feathers were brought in, all the necessary arrangements having\nbeen made beforehand. In the meantime, as the feathers were supposed\nto be hungry after their journey, a dish of venison and corn was set\nupon the ground below them and they were invited to eat. The body of\na flaxbird or scarlet tanager (Piranga rubra) was also hung up with\nthe feathers for the same purpose. The food thus given to the feathers\nwas disposed of after the dance, as described in another place.\n\nThe eagle being regarded as a great ada'wehi, only the greatest\nwarriors and those versed in the sacred ordinances would dare to\nwear the feathers or to carry them in the dance. Should any person\nin the settlement dream of eagles or eagle feathers he must arrange\nfor an Eagle dance, with the usual vigil and fasting, at the first\nopportunity; otherwise some one of his family will die. Should the\ninsect parasites which infest the feathers of the bird in life get\nupon a man they will breed a skin disease which is sure to develop,\neven though it may be latent for years. It is for this reason that\nthe body of the eagle is allowed to remain four days upon the ground\nbefore being brought into the settlement.\n\nThe raven (k\u00e2'lan\u00fb) is occasionally seen in the mountains, but is\nnot prominent in folk belief, excepting in connection with the\ngrewsome tales of the Raven Mocker (q. v.). In former times its\nname was sometimes assumed as a war title. The crow, so prominent\nin other tribal mythologies, does not seem to appear in that of\nthe Cherokee. Three varieties of owls are recognized, each under a\ndifferent name, viz: tskili', the dusky horned owl (Bubo virginianus\nsaturatus); u'guku', the barred or hooting owl (Syrnium nebulosum),\nand wa`huhu', the screech owl (Megascops asio). The first of these\nnames signifies a witch, the others being onomatopes. Owls and other\nnight-crying birds are believed to be embodied ghosts or disguised\nwitches, and their cry is dreaded as a sound of evil omen. If the\neyes of a child be bathed with water in which one of the long wing\nor tail feathers of an owl has been soaked, the child will be able\nto keep awake all night. The feather must be found by chance, and\nnot procured intentionally for the purpose. On the other hand, an\napplication of water in which the feather of a blue jay, procured in\nthe same way, has been soaked will make the child an early riser.\n\nThe buzzard (suli') is said to have had a part in shaping the earth,\nas was narrated in the genesis myth. It is reputed to be a doctor among\nbirds, and is respected accordingly, although its feathers are never\nworn by ball players, for fear of becoming bald. Its own baldness is\naccounted for by a vulgar story. As it thrives upon carrion and decay,\nit is held to be immune from sickness, especially of a contagious\ncharacter, and a small quantity of its flesh eaten, or of the soup\nused as a wash, is believed to be a sure preventive of smallpox,\nand was used for this purpose during the smallpox epidemic among\nthe East Cherokee in 1866. According to the Wahnenauhi manuscript,\nit is said also that a buzzard feather placed over the cabin door\nwill keep out witches. In treating gunshot wounds, the medicine is\nblown into the wound through a tube cut from a buzzard quill and some\nof the buzzard's down is afterwards laid over the spot.\n\nThere is very little concerning hawks, excepting as regards the\ngreat mythic hawk, the Tla'nuwa'. The tla'nuwa' usdi', or \"little\ntla'nuwa,\" is described as a bird about as large as a turkey and of a\ngrayish blue color, which used to follow the flocks of wild pigeons,\nflying overhead and darting down occasionally upon a victim, which\nit struck and killed with its sharp breast and ate upon the wing,\nwithout alighting. It is probably the goshawk (Astur atricapillus).\n\nThe common swamp gallinule, locally known as mudhen or didapper\n(Gallinula galeata), is called diga'gwani' (lame or crippled), on\naccount of its habit of flying only for a very short distance at a\ntime. In the Diga'gwani' dance the performers sing the name of the\nbird and endeavor to imitate its halting movements. The dag\u00fbl'k\u00fb,\nor white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons), appears in connection with\nthe myth of the origin of tobacco. The feathers of the tskw\u00e2yi, the\ngreat white heron or American egret (Herodias egretta), are worn by\nball players, and this bird probably the \"swan\" whose white wing was\nused as a peace emblem in ancient times.\n\nA rare bird said to have been seen occasionally upon the reservation\nmany years ago was called by the curious name of n\u00fb\u00f1da-dikani',\n\"it looks at the sun,\" \"sun-gazer.\" It is described as resembling a\nblue crane, and may possibly have been the Floridus cerulea, or little\nblue heron. Another infrequent visitor, which sometimes passed over\nthe mountain country in company with flocks of wild geese, was the\ngu'wisguwi', so called from its cry. It is described as resembling\na large snipe, with yellow legs and feet unwebbed, and is thought\nto visit Indian Territory at intervals. It is chiefly notable from\nthe fact that the celebrated chief John Ross derives his Indian\nname, Gu'wisguwi', from this bird, the name being perpetuated in\nCooweescoowee district of the Cherokee Nation in the West.\n\nAnother chance visitant, concerning which there is much curious\nspeculation among the older men of the East Cherokee, was called\ntsun'digw\u00fbntsu'`gi or tsun'digw\u00fbn'tski, \"forked,\" referring to the\ntail. It appeared but once, for a short season, about forty years\nago, and has not been seen since. It is said to have been pale blue,\nwith red in places, and nearly the size of a crow, and to have had\na long forked tail like that of a fish. It preyed upon hornets,\nwhich it took upon the wing, and also feasted upon the larv\u00e6 in the\nnests. Appearing unexpectedly and as suddenly disappearing, it was\nbelieved to be not a bird but a transformed red-horse fish (Moxostoma,\nCherokee \u00e2liga'), a theory borne out by the red spots and the long,\nforked tail. It is even maintained that about the time those birds\nfirst appeared some hunters on Oconaluftee saw seven of them sitting\non the limb of a tree and they were still shaped like a red-horse,\nalthough they already had wings and feathers. It was undoubtedly\nthe scissor-tail or swallow-tailed flycatcher (Milvulus forficatus),\nwhich belongs properly in Texas and the adjacent region, but strays\noccasionally into the eastern states.\n\nOn account of the red throat appendage of the turkey, somewhat\nresembling the goitrous growth known in the South as \"kernels\"\n(Cherokee, dule'tsi), the feathers of this bird are not worn by\nball players, neither is the neck allowed to be eaten by children or\nsick persons, under the fear that a growth of \"kernels\" would be the\nresult. The meat of the ruffed grouse, locally known as the pheasant\n(Bonasa umbellus), is tabued to a pregnant woman, because this bird\nhatches a large brood, but loses most of them before maturity. Under\na stricter construction of the theory this meat is forbidden to a\nwoman until she is past child bearing.\n\nThe redbird, tatsu'hwa, is believed to have been originally the\ndaughter of the Sun (see the story). The huhu, or yellow mocking-bird,\noccurs in several stories. It is regarded as something supernatural,\npossibly on account of its imitative powers, and its heart is given\nto children to make them quick to learn.\n\nThe chickadee (Parus carolinensis), tsikilili', and the tufted\ntitmouse, (Parus bicolor), utsu'`gi, or u'st\u00fbti, are both regarded as\nnews bringers, but the one is venerated as a truth teller while the\nother is scoffed at as a lying messenger, for reasons which appear\nin the story of N\u00fb\u00f1yunu'wi (q. v.). When the tsikilili' perches\non a branch near the house and chirps its song it is taken as an\nomen that an absent friend will soon be heard from or that a secret\nenemy is plotting mischief. Many stories are told in confirmation of\nthis belief, among which may be instanced that of Tom Starr, a former\nnoted outlaw of the Cherokee Nation of the West, who, on one occasion,\nwas about to walk unwittingly into an ambush prepared for him along\na narrow trail, when he heard the warning note of the tsikilili',\nand, turning abruptly, ran up the side of the ridge and succeeded in\nescaping with his life, although hotly pursued by his enemies.\n\n\n\n\n36. THE BALL GAME OF THE BIRDS AND ANIMALS\n\nOnce the animals challenged the birds to a great ballplay, and the\nbirds accepted. The leaders made the arrangements and fixed the day,\nand when the time came both parties met at the place for the ball\ndance, the animals on a smooth grassy bottom near the river and the\nbirds in the treetops over by the ridge. The captain of the animals\nwas the Bear, who was so strong and heavy that he could pull down\nanyone who got in his way. All along the road to the ball ground he\nwas tossing up great logs to show his strength and boasting of what\nhe would do to the birds when the game began. The Terrapin, too--not\nthe little one we have now, but the great original Terrapin--was with\nthe animals. His shell was so hard that the heaviest blows could not\nhurt him, and he kept rising up on his hind legs and dropping heavily\nagain to the ground, bragging that this was the way he would crush any\nbird that tried to take the ball from him. Then there was the Deer,\nwho could outrun every other animal. Altogether it was a fine company.\n\nThe birds had the Eagle for their captain, with the Hawk and the great\nTla'nuwa, all swift and strong of flight, but still they were a little\nafraid of the animals. The dance was over and they were all pruning\ntheir feathers up in the trees and waiting for the captain to give\nthe word when here came two little things hardly larger than field\nmice climbing up the tree in which sat perched the bird captain. At\nlast they reached the top, and creeping along the limb to where the\nEagle captain sat they asked to be allowed to join in the game. The\ncaptain looked at them, and seeing that they were four-footed, he\nasked why they did not go to the animals, where they belonged. The\nlittle things said that they had, but the animals had made fun of\nthem and driven them off because they were so small. Then the bird\ncaptain pitied them and wanted to take them.\n\nBut how could they join the birds when they had no wings? The Eagle,\nthe Hawk, and the others consulted, and at last it was decided to make\nsome wings for the little fellows. They tried for a long time to think\nof something that might do, until someone happened to remember the\ndrum they had used in the dance. The head was of ground-hog skin and\nmaybe they could cut off a corner and make wings of it. So they took\ntwo pieces of leather from the drumhead and cut them into shape for\nwings, and stretched them with cane splints and fastened them on to the\nforelegs of one of the small animals, and in this way came Tla'meha,\nthe Bat. They threw the ball to him and told him to catch it, and by\nthe way he dodged and circled about, keeping the ball always in the\nair and never letting it fall to the ground, the birds soon saw that\nhe would be one of their best men.\n\nNow they wanted to fix the other little animal, but they had used up\nall their leather to make wings for the Bat, and there was no time to\nsend for more. Somebody said that they might do it by stretching his\nskin, so two large birds took hold from opposite sides with their\nstrong bills, and by pulling at his fur for several minutes they\nmanaged to stretch the skin on each side between the fore and hind\nfeet, until they had Tewa, the Flying Squirrel. To try him the bird\ncaptain threw up the ball, when the Flying Squirrel sprang off the\nlimb after it, caught it in his teeth and carried it through the air\nto another tree nearly across the bottom.\n\nWhen they were all ready the signal was given and the game began,\nbut almost at the first toss the Flying Squirrel caught the ball and\ncarried it up a tree, from which he threw it to the birds, who kept\nit in the air for some time until it dropped. The Bear rushed to get\nit, but the Martin darted after it and threw it to the Bat, who was\nflying near the ground, and by his dodging and doubling kept it out\nof the way of even the Deer, until he finally threw it in between\nthe posts and won the game for the birds.\n\nThe Bear and the Terrapin, who had boasted so of what they would do,\nnever got a chance even to touch the ball. For saving the ball when\nit dropped, the birds afterwards gave the Martin a gourd in which to\nbuild his nest, and he still has it.\n\n\n\n\n37. HOW THE TURKEY GOT HIS BEARD\n\nWhen the Terrapin won the race from the Rabbit (see the story) all\nthe animals wondered and talked about it a great deal, because they\nhad always thought the Terrapin slow, although they knew that he\nwas a warrior and had many conjuring secrets beside. But the Turkey\nwas not satisfied and told the others there must be some trick about\nit. Said he, \"I know the Terrapin can't run--he can hardly crawl--and\nI'm going to try him.\"\n\nSo one day the Turkey met the Terrapin coming home from war with\na fresh scalp hanging from his neck and dragging on the ground as\nhe traveled. The Turkey laughed at the sight and said: \"That scalp\ndon't look right on you. Your neck is too short and low down to wear\nit that way. Let me show you.\"\n\nThe Terrapin agreed and gave the scalp to the Turkey, who fastened\nit around his neck. \"Now,\" said the Turkey, \"I'll walk a little way\nand you can see how it looks.\" So he walked ahead a short distance and\nthen turned and asked the Terrapin how he liked it. Said the Terrapin,\n\"It looks very nice; it becomes you.\"\n\n\"Now I'll fix it in a different way and let you see how it looks,\"\nsaid the Turkey. So he gave the string another pull and walked\nahead again. \"O, that looks very nice,\" said the Terrapin. But the\nTurkey kept on walking, and when the Terrapin called to him to bring\nback the scalp he only walked faster and broke into a run. Then the\nTerrapin got out his bow and by his conjuring art shot a number of\ncane splints into the Turkey's leg to cripple him so that he could not\nrun, which accounts for all the many small bones in the Turkey's leg,\nthat are of no use whatever; but the Terrapin never caught the Turkey,\nwho still wears the scalp from his neck.\n\n\n\n\n38. WHY THE TURKEY GOBBLES\n\nThe Grouse used to have a fine voice and a good halloo in the\nballplay. All the animals and birds used to play ball in those\ndays and were just as proud of a loud halloo as the ball players\nof to-day. The Turkey had not a good voice, so he asked the Grouse\nto give him lessons. The Grouse agreed to teach him, but wanted pay\nfor his trouble, and the Turkey promised to give him some feathers\nto make himself a collar. That is how the Grouse got his collar of\nturkey feathers. They began the lessons and the Turkey learned very\nfast until the Grouse thought it was time to try his voice. \"Now,\"\nsaid the Grouse, \"I'll stand on this hollow log, and when I give the\nsignal by tapping on it, you must halloo as loudly as you can.\" So\nhe got upon the log ready to tap on it, as a Grouse does, but when\nhe gave the signal the Turkey was so eager and excited that he could\nnot raise his voice for a shout, but only gobbled, and ever since\nthen he gobbles whenever he hears a noise.\n\n\n\n\n39. HOW THE KINGFISHER GOT HIS BILL\n\nSome old men say that the Kingfisher was meant in the beginning to be\na water bird, but as he had not been given either web feet or a good\nbill he could not make a living. The animals held a council over it\nand decided to make him a bill like a long sharp awl for a fish-gig\n(fish-spear). So they made him a fish-gig and fastened it on in front\nof his mouth. He flew to the top of a tree, sailed out and darted\ndown into the water, and came up with a fish on his gig. And he has\nbeen the best gigger ever since.\n\nSome others say it was this way: A Blacksnake found a Yellowhammer's\nnest in a hollow tree, and after swallowing the young birds, coiled up\nto sleep in the nest, where the mother bird found him when she came\nhome. She went for help to the Little People, who sent her to the\nKingfisher. He came, and after flying back and forth past the hole a\nfew times, made one dart at the snake and pulled him out dead. When\nthey looked they found a hole in the snake's head where the Kingfisher\nhad pierced it with a slender tugal\u00fb'na fish, which he carried in\nhis bill like a lance. From this the Little People concluded that\nhe would make a first-class gigger if he only had the right spear,\nso they gave him his long bill as a reward.\n\n\n\n\n40. HOW THE PARTRIDGE GOT HIS WHISTLE\n\nIn the old days the Terrapin had a fine whistle, but the Partridge had\nnone. The Terrapin was constantly going about whistling and showing\nhis whistle to the other animals until the Partridge became jealous,\nso one day when they met the Partridge asked leave to try it. The\nTerrapin was afraid to risk it at first, suspecting some trick, but\nthe Partridge said, \"I'll give it back right away, and if you are\nafraid you can stay with me while I practice.\" So the Terrapin let\nhim have the whistle and the Partridge walked around blowing on it in\nfine fashion. \"How does it sound with me?\" asked the Partridge. \"O,\nyou do very well,\" said the Terrapin, walking alongside. \"Now, how do\nyou like it,\" said the Partridge, running ahead and whistling a little\nfaster. \"That's fine,\" answered the Terrapin, hurrying to keep up,\n\"but don't run so fast.\" \"And now, how do you like this?\" called the\nPartridge, and with that he spread his wings, gave one long whistle,\nand flew to the top of a tree, leaving the poor Terrapin to look\nafter him from the ground. The Terrapin never recovered his whistle,\nand from that, and the loss of his scalp, which the Turkey stole from\nhim, he grew ashamed to be seen, and ever since he shuts himself up\nin his box when anyone comes near him.\n\n\n\n\n41. HOW THE REDBIRD GOT HIS COLOR\n\nA Raccoon passing a Wolf one day made several insulting remarks, until\nat last the Wolf became angry and turned and chased him. The Raccoon\nran his best and managed to reach a tree by the river side before\nthe Wolf came up. He climbed the tree and stretched out on a limb\noverhanging the water. When the Wolf arrived he saw the reflection\nin the water, and thinking it was the Raccoon he jumped at it and\nwas nearly drowned before he could scramble out again, all wet and\ndripping. He lay down on the bank to dry and fell asleep, and while\nhe was sleeping the Raccoon came down the tree and plastered his eyes\nwith dung. When the Wolf awoke he found he could not open his eyes,\nand began to whine. Along came a little brown bird through the bushes\nand heard the Wolf crying and asked what was the matter. The Wolf\ntold his story and said, \"If you will get my eyes open, I will show\nyou where to find some nice red paint to paint yourself.\" \"All right,\"\nsaid the brown bird; so he pecked at the Wolf's eyes until he got off\nall the plaster. Then the Wolf took him to a rock that had streaks\nof bright red paint running through it, and the little bird painted\nhimself with it, and has ever since been a Redbird.\n\n\n\n\n42. THE PHEASANT BEATING CORN; ORIGIN OF THE PHEASANT DANCE\n\nThe Pheasant once saw a woman beating corn in a wooden mortar in front\nof the house. \"I can do that, too,\" said he, but the woman would not\nbelieve it, so the Pheasant went into the woods and got upon a hollow\nlog and \"drummed\" with his wings as a pheasant does, until the people\nin the house heard him and thought he was really beating corn.\n\n\n\nIn the Pheasant dance, a part of the Green-corn dance, the instrument\nused is the drum, and the dancers beat the ground with their feet in\nimitation of the drumming sound made by the pheasant. They form two\nconcentric circles, the men being on the inside, facing the women\nin the outer circle, each in turn advancing and retreating at the\nsignal of the drummer, who sits at one side and sings the Pheasant\nsongs. According to the story, there was once a winter famine among\nthe birds and animals. No mast (fallen nuts) could be found in the\nwoods, and they were near starvation when a Pheasant discovered a\nholly tree, loaded with red berries, of which the Pheasant is said to\nbe particularly fond. He called his companion birds, and they formed\na circle about the tree, singing, dancing, and drumming with their\nwings in token of their joy, and thus originated the Pheasant dance.\n\n\n\n\n43. THE RACE BETWEEN THE CRANE AND THE HUMMINGBIRD\n\nThe Hummingbird and the Crane were both in love with a pretty\nwoman. She preferred the Hummingbird, who was as handsome as the Crane\nwas awkward, but the Crane was so persistent that in order to get rid\nof him she finally told him he must challenge the other to a race and\nshe would marry the winner. The Hummingbird was so swift--almost like\na flash of lightning--and the Crane so slow and heavy, that she felt\nsure the Hummingbird would win. She did not know the Crane could fly\nall night.\n\nThey agreed to start from her house and fly around the circle of the\nworld to the beginning, and the one who came in first would marry the\nwoman. At the word the Hummingbird darted off like an arrow and was out\nof sight in a moment, leaving his rival to follow heavily behind. He\nflew all day, and when evening came and he stopped to roost for the\nnight he was far ahead. But the Crane flew steadily all night long,\npassing the Hummingbird soon after midnight and going on until he\ncame to a creek and stopped to rest about daylight. The Hummingbird\nwoke up in the morning and flew on again, thinking how easily he\nwould win the race, until he reached the creek and there found the\nCrane spearing tadpoles, with his long bill, for breakfast. He was\nvery much surprised and wondered how this could have happened, but\nhe flew swiftly by and soon left the Crane out of sight again.\n\nThe Crane finished his breakfast and started on, and when evening came\nhe kept on as before. This time it was hardly midnight when he passed\nthe Hummingbird asleep on a limb, and in the morning he had finished\nhis breakfast before the other came up. The next day he gained a little\nmore, and on the fourth day he was spearing tadpoles for dinner when\nthe Hummingbird passed him. On the fifth and sixth days it was late\nin the afternoon before the Hummingbird came up, and on the morning\nof the seventh day the Crane was a whole night's travel ahead. He took\nhis time at breakfast and then fixed himself up as nicely as he could\nat the creek and came in at the starting place where the woman lived,\nearly in the morning. When the Hummingbird arrived in the afternoon he\nfound he had lost the race, but the woman declared she would never have\nsuch an ugly fellow as the Crane for a husband, so she stayed single.\n\n\n\n\n44. THE OWL GETS MARRIED\n\nA widow with one daughter was always warning the girl that she must be\nsure to get a good hunter for a husband when she married. The young\nwoman listened and promised to do as her mother advised. At last a\nsuitor came to ask the mother for the girl, but the widow told him\nthat only a good hunter could have her daughter. \"I'm just that kind,\"\nsaid the lover, and again asked her to speak for him to the young\nwoman. So the mother went to the girl and told her a young man had\ncome a-courting, and as he said he was a good hunter she advised her\ndaughter to take him. \"Just as you say,\" said the girl. So when he came\nagain the matter was all arranged, and he went to live with the girl.\n\nThe next morning he got ready and said he would go out hunting, but\nbefore starting he changed his mind and said he would go fishing. He\nwas gone all day and came home late at night, bringing only three small\nfish, saying that he had had no luck, but would have better success\nto-morrow. The next morning he started off again to fish and was gone\nall day, but came home at night with only two worthless spring lizards\n(duwe'ga) and the same excuse. Next day he said he would go hunting\nthis time. He was gone again until night, and returned at last with\nonly a handful of scraps that he had found where some hunters had\ncut up a deer.\n\nBy this time the old woman was suspicious. So next morning when he\nstarted off again, as he said, to fish, she told her daughter to follow\nhim secretly and see how he set to work. The girl followed through\nthe woods and kept him in sight until he came down to the river, where\nshe saw her husband change to a hooting owl (uguku') and fly over to a\npile of driftwood in the water and cry, \"U-gu-ku! hu! hu! u! u!\" She\nwas surprised and very angry and said to herself, \"I thought I had\nmarried a man, but my husband is only an owl.\" She watched and saw\nthe owl look into the water for a long time and at last swoop down\nand bring up in his claws a handful of sand, from which he picked out\na crawfish. Then he flew across to the bank, took the form of a man\nagain, and started home with the crawfish. His wife hurried on ahead\nthrough the woods and got there before him. When he came in with the\ncrawfish in his hand, she asked him where were all the fish he had\ncaught. He said he had none, because an owl had frightened them all\naway. \"I think you are the owl,\" said his wife, and drove him out of\nthe house. The owl went into the woods and there he pined away with\ngrief and love until there was no flesh left on any part of his body\nexcept his head.\n\n\n\n\n45. THE HUHU GETS MARRIED\n\nA widow who had an only a daughter, but no son, found it very hard to\nmake a living and was constantly urging upon the young woman that they\nought to have a man in the family, who would be a good hunter and able\nto help in the field. One evening a stranger lover came courting to the\nhouse, and when the girl told him that she could marry only one who\nwas a good worker, he declared that he was exactly that sort of man;\nso the girl talked to her mother, and on her advice they were married.\n\nThe next morning the widow gave her new son-in-law a hoe and sent\nhim out to the cornfield. When breakfast was ready she went to call\nhim, following a sound as of some one hoeing on stony soil, but when\nshe came to the spot she found only a small circle of hoed ground\nand no sign of her son-in-law. Away over in the thicket she heard a\nhuhu calling.\n\nHe did not come in for dinner, either, and when he returned home in\nthe evening the old woman asked him where he had been all day. \"Hard\nat work,\" said he. \"But I didn't see you when I came to call you to\nbreakfast.\" \"I was down in the thicket cutting sticks to mark off\nthe field,\" said he. \"But why didn't you come in to dinner?\" \"I was\ntoo busy working,\" said he. So the old woman was satisfied, and they\nhad their supper together.\n\nEarly next morning he started off with his hoe over his\nshoulder. When breakfast was ready the old woman went again to\ncall him, but found no sign of him, only the hoe lying there and\nno work done. And away over in the thicket a huhu was calling,\n\"Sau-h! sau-h! sau-h! hu! hu! hu! hu! hu! hu! chi! chi! chi!--whew!\"\n\nShe went back to the house, and when at last he came home in the\nevening she asked him again what he had been doing all day. \"Working\nhard,\" said he. \"But you were not there when I came after you.\" \"O,\nI just went over in the thicket a while to see some of my kinsfolk,\"\nsaid he. Then the old woman said, \"I have lived here a long time and\nthere is nothing living in the swamp but huhus. My daughter wants a\nhusband that can work and not a lazy huhu; so you may go.\" And she\ndrove him from the house.\n\n\n\n\n46. WHY THE BUZZARD'S HEAD IS BARE\n\nThe buzzard used to have a fine topknot, of which he was so proud that\nhe refused to eat carrion, and while the other birds were pecking\nat the body of a deer or other animal which they had found he would\nstrut around and say: \"You may have it all, it is not good enough for\nme.\" They resolved to punish him, and with the help of the buffalo\ncarried out a plot by which the buzzard lost not his topknot alone,\nbut nearly all the other feathers on his head. He lost his pride at\nthe same time, so that he is willing enough now to eat carrion for\na living.\n\n\n\n\n47. THE EAGLE'S REVENGE\n\nOnce a hunter in the mountains heard a noise at night like a rushing\nwind outside the cabin, and on going out he found that an eagle had\njust alighted on the drying pole and was tearing at the body of a deer\nhanging there. Without thinking of the danger, he shot the eagle. In\nthe morning he took the deer and started back to the settlement,\nwhere he told what he had done, and the chief sent out some men to\nbring in the eagle and arrange for an Eagle dance. They brought back\nthe dead eagle, everything was made ready, and that night they started\nthe dance in the townhouse.\n\nAbout midnight there was a whoop outside and a strange warrior came\ninto the circle and began to recite his exploits. No one knew him, but\nthey thought he had come from one of the farther Cherokee towns. He\ntold how he had killed a man, and at the end of the story he gave\na hoarse yell, Hi! that startled the whole company, and one of the\nseven men with the rattles fell over dead. He sang of another deed,\nand at the end straightened up with another loud yell. A second\nrattler fell dead, and the people were so full of fear that they\ncould not stir from their places. Still he kept on, and at every\npause there came again that terrible scream, until the last of the\nseven rattlers fell dead, and then the stranger went out into the\ndarkness. Long afterward they learned from the eagle killer that it\nwas the brother of the eagle shot by the hunter.\n\n\n\n\n48. THE HUNTER AND THE BUZZARD\n\nA hunter had been all day looking for deer in the mountains without\nsuccess until he was completely tired out and sat down on a log to\nrest and wonder what he should do, when a buzzard--a bird which\nalways has magic powers--came flying overhead and spoke to him,\nasking him what was his trouble. When the hunter had told his story\nthe buzzard said there were plenty of deer on the ridges beyond if\nonly the hunter were high up in the air where he could see them,\nand proposed that they exchange forms for a while, when the buzzard\nwould go home to the hunter's wife while the hunter would go to look\nfor deer. The hunter agreed, and the buzzard became a man and went\nhome to the hunter's wife, who received him as her husband, while the\nhunter became a buzzard and flew off over the mountain to locate the\ndeer. After staying some time with the woman, who thought always it\nwas her real husband, the buzzard excused himself, saying he must go\nagain to look for game or they would have nothing to eat. He came to\nthe place where he had first met the hunter, and found him already\nthere, still in buzzard form, awaiting him. He asked the hunter what\nsuccess he had had, and the hunter replied that he had found several\ndeer over the ridge, as the buzzard had said. Then the buzzard restored\nthe hunter to human shape, and became himself a buzzard again and flew\naway. The hunter went where he had seen the deer and killed several,\nand from that time he never returned empty-handed from the woods.\n\n\n\n\n\nSnake, Fish, and Insect Myths\n\n\n49. THE SNAKE TRIBE\n\nThe generic name for snakes is inad\u00fb'. They are all regarded as\nanida'wehi, \"supernaturals,\" having an intimate connection with the\nrain and thunder gods, and possessing a certain influence over the\nother animal and plant tribes. It is said that the snakes, the deer,\nand the ginseng act as allies, so that an injury to one is avenged by\nall. The feeling toward snakes is one of mingled fear and reverence,\nand every precaution is taken to avoid killing or offending one,\nespecially the rattlesnake. He who kills a snake will soon see\nothers; and should he kill a second one, so many will come around\nhim whichever way he may turn that he will become dazed at the sight\nof their glistening eyes and darting tongues and will go wandering\nabout like a crazy man, unable to find his way out of the woods. To\nguard against this misfortune there are certain prayers which the\ninitiated say in order that a snake may not cross their path, and on\nmeeting the first one of the season the hunter humbly begs of him,\n\"Let us not see each other this summer.\" Certain smells, as that\nof the wild parsnip, and certain songs, as those of the Unika'wi or\nTownhouse dance, are offensive to the snakes and make them angry. For\nthis reason the Unika'wi dance is held only late in the fall, after\nthey have retired to their dens for the winter.\n\nWhen one dreams of being bitten by a snake he must be treated the\nsame as for an actual bite, because it is a snake ghost that has\nbitten him; otherwise the place will swell and ulcerate in the same\nway, even though it be years afterwards. For fear of offending them,\neven in speaking, it is never said that a man has been bitten by a\nsnake, but only that he has been \"scratched by a brier.\" Most of the\nbeliefs and customs in this connection have more special reference\nto the rattlesnake.\n\nThe rattlesnake is called utsa'nati, which may be rendered, \"he has a\nbell,\" alluding to the rattle. According to a myth given elsewhere,\nhe was once a man, and was transformed to his present shape that he\nmight save the human race from extermination by the Sun, a mission\nwhich he accomplished successfully after others had failed. By the\nold men he is also spoken of as \"the Thunder's necklace\" (see the\nstory of \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'), and to kill one is to destroy one of the most\nprized ornaments of the thunder god. In one of the formulas addressed\nto the Little Men, the sons of the Thunder, they are implored to take\nthe disease snake to themselves, because \"it is just what you adorn\nyourselves with.\"\n\nFor obvious reasons the rattlesnake is regarded as the chief of the\nsnake tribe and is feared and respected accordingly. Few Cherokee\nwill venture to kill one except under absolute necessity, and even\nthen the crime must be atoned for by asking pardon of the snake ghost,\neither in person or through the mediation of a priest, according to a\nset formula. Otherwise the relatives of the dead snake will send one of\ntheir number to track up the offender and bite him so that he will die\n(see story, \"The Rattlesnake's Vengeance\"). The only thing of which\nthe rattlesnake is afraid is said to be the plant known as campion, or\n\"rattlesnake's master\" (Silene stellata), which is used by the doctors\nto counteract the effect of the bite, and it is believed that a snake\nwill flee in terror from the hunter who carries a small piece of the\nroot about his person. Chewed linn bark is also applied to the bite,\nperhaps from the supposed occult connection between the snake and the\nthunder, as this tree is said to be immune from the lightning stroke.\n\nNotwithstanding the fear of the rattlesnake, his rattles, teeth, flesh,\nand oil are greatly prized for occult or medical uses, the snakes being\nkilled for this purpose by certain priests who know the necessary rites\nand formulas for obtaining pardon. This device for whipping the devil\naround the stump, and incidentally increasing their own revenues, is a\ncommon trick of Indian medicine men. Outsiders desiring to acquire this\nsecret knowledge are discouraged by being told that it is a dangerous\nthing to learn, for the reason that the new initiate is almost certain\nto be bitten, in order that the snakes may \"try\" him to know if he has\ncorrectly learned the formula. When a rattlesnake is killed the head\nmust be cut off and buried an arm's length deep in the ground and the\nbody carefully hidden away in a hollow log. If it is left exposed to\nthe weather, the angry snakes will send such torrents of rain that\nall the streams will overflow their banks. Moreover, they will tell\ntheir friends, the deer, and the ginseng in the mountains, so that\nthese will hide themselves and the hunters will seek them in vain.\n\nThe tooth of a rattlesnake which has been killed by the priest with\nthe proper ceremonies while the snake was lying stretched out from\neast to west is used to scarify patients preliminary to applying the\nmedicine in certain ailments. Before using it the doctor holds it\nbetween the thumb and finger of his right hand and addresses it in\na prayer, at the end of which the tooth \"becomes alive,\" when it is\nready for the operation. The explanation is that the tense, nervous\ngrasp of the doctor causes his hand to twitch and the tooth to move\nslightly between his fingers. The rattles are worn on the head, and\nsometimes a portion of the flesh is eaten by ball players to make them\nmore terrible to their opponents, but it is said to have the bad effect\nof making them cross to their wives. From the lower half of the body,\nthought to be the fattest portion, the oil is extracted and is in as\ngreat repute among the Indians for rheumatism and sore joints as among\nthe white mountaineers. The doctor who prepares the oil must also\neat the flesh of the snake. In certain seasons of epidemic a roasted\n(barbecued) rattlesnake was kept hanging up in the house, and every\nmorning the father of the family bit off a small piece and chewed it,\nmixing it then with water, which he spit upon the bodies of the others\nto preserve them from the contagion. It was said to be a sure cure,\nbut apt to make the patients hot tempered.\n\nThe copperhead, w\u00e2'dige-ask\u00e2'li, \"brown-head,\" although feared on\naccount of its poisonous bite, is hated, instead of being regarded with\nveneration, as is the rattlesnake. It is believed to be a descendant\nof a great mythic serpent (see number 5) and is said to have \"eyes of\nfire,\" on account of their intense brightness. The blacksnake is called\ng\u00fble'gi, \"the climber.\" Biting its body is said to be a preventive of\ntoothache, and there is also a belief, perhaps derived from the whites,\nthat if the body of one be hung upon a tree it will bring rain within\nthree (four?) days. The small greensnake is called salikw\u00e2'yi, the same\nname being also applied to a certain plant, the Eryngium virginianum,\nor bear grass, whose long, slender leaves bear some resemblance to a\ngreensnake. As with the blacksnake, it is believed that toothache may\nbe prevented and sound teeth insured as long as life lasts by biting\nthe greensnake along its body. It must be held by the head and tail,\nand all the teeth at once pressed down four times along the middle of\nits body, but without biting into the flesh or injuring the snake. Some\ninformants say that the operation must be repeated four times upon as\nmany snakes and that a certain food tabu must also be observed. The\nwater moccasin, kanegw\u00e2'ti, is not specially regarded, but a very\nrare wood snake, said to resemble it except that it has blue eyes,\nis considered to have great supernatural powers, in what way is not\nspecified. The repulsive but harmless spreading adder (Heterodon) is\ncalled daliksta', \"vomiter,\" on account of its habit of spitting, and\nsometimes kwandaya'h\u00fb, a word of uncertain etymology. It was formerly\na man, but was transformed into a snake in order to accomplish the\ndestruction of the Daughter of the Sun (see the story). For its\nfailure on this occasion it is generally despised.\n\nThe Wahnenauhi manuscript mentions a legend of a great serpent called\non account of its color the \"ground snake.\" To see it was an omen of\ndeath to the one who saw it, and if it was seen by several persons\nsome great tribal calamity was expected. For traditions and beliefs\nin regard to the Uktena, the Uksuhi, and other mythic serpents,\nsee under those headings.\n\n\n\n\n50. THE UKTENA AND THE UL\u00db\u00d1S\u00db'TI\n\nLong ago--hilahi'yu--when the Sun became angry at the people on earth\nand sent a sickness to destroy them, the Little Men changed a man into\na monster snake, which they called Uktena, \"The Keen-eyed,\" and sent\nhim to kill her. He failed to do the work, and the Rattlesnake had\nto be sent instead, which made the Uktena so jealous and angry that\nthe people were afraid of him and had him taken up to Gal\u00fb\u00f1'lati,\nto stay with the other dangerous things. [470] He left others behind\nhim, though, nearly as large and dangerous as himself, and they hide\nnow in deep pools in the river and about lonely passes in the high\nmountains, the places which the Cherokee call \"Where the Uktena stays.\"\n\nThose who know say that the Uktena is a great snake, as large around\nas a tree trunk, with horns on its head, and a bright, blazing crest\nlike a diamond upon its forehead, and scales glittering like sparks\nof fire. It has rings or spots of color along its whole length,\nand can not be wounded except by shooting in the seventh spot from\nthe head, because under this spot are its heart and its life. The\nblazing diamond is called Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti, \"Transparent,\" and he who can\nwin it may become the greatest wonder worker of the tribe, but it is\nworth a man's life to attempt it, for whoever is seen by the Uktena\nis so dazed by the bright light that he runs toward the snake instead\nof trying to escape. Even to see the Uktena asleep is death, not to\nthe hunter himself, but to his family.\n\nOf all the daring warriors who have started out in search of the\nUl\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti only \u00c2gan-uni'tsi ever came back successful. [471] The\nEast Cherokee still keep the one which he brought. It is like a large\ntransparent crystal, nearly the shape of a cartridge bullet, with a\nblood-red streak running through the center from top to bottom. The\nowner keeps it wrapped in a whole deerskin, inside an earthen jar\nhidden away in a secret cave in the mountains. Every seven days he\nfeeds it with the blood of small game, rubbing the blood all over the\ncrystal as soon as the animal has been killed. Twice a year it must\nhave the blood of a deer or some other large animal. Should he forget\nto feed it at the proper time it would come out from its cave at night\nin a shape of fire and fly through the air to slake its thirst with\nthe lifeblood of the conjurer or some one of his people. He may save\nhimself from this danger by telling it, when he puts it away, that\nhe will not need it again for a long time. It will then go quietly\nto sleep and feel no hunger until it is again brought out to be\nconsulted. Then it must be fed again with blood before it is used.\n\nNo white man must ever see it and no person but the owner will venture\nnear it for fear of sudden death. Even the conjurer who keeps it is\nafraid of it, and changes its hiding place every once in a while so\nthat it can not learn the way out. When he dies it will be buried with\nhim. Otherwise it will come out of its cave, like a blazing star,\nto search for his grave, night after night for seven years, when,\nif still not able to find him, it will go back to sleep forever where\nhe has placed it.\n\nWhoever owns the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti is sure of success in hunting, love,\nrain-making, and every other business, but its great use is in life\nprophecy. When it is consulted for this purpose the future is seen\nmirrored in the clear crystal as a tree is reflected in the quiet\nstream below, and the conjurer knows whether the sick man will recover,\nwhether the warrior will return from battle, or whether the youth\nwill live to be old.\n\n\n\n\n51. \u00c2GAN-UNI'TSI'S SEARCH FOR THE UKTENA\n\nIn one of their battles with the Shawano, who are all magicians, the\nCherokee captured a great medicine-man whose name was \u00c2gan-uni'tsi,\n\"The Ground-hogs' Mother.\" They had tied him ready for the torture\nwhen he begged for his life and engaged, if spared, to find for\nthem the great wonder worker, the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti. Now, the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti is\nlike a blazing star set in the forehead of the great Uktena serpent,\nand the medicine-man who could possess it might do marvelous things,\nbut everyone knew this could not be, because it was certain death to\nmeet the Uktena. They warned him of all this, but he only answered\nthat his medicine was strong and he was not afraid. So they gave him\nhis life on that condition and he began the search.\n\nThe Uktena used to lie in wait in lonely places to surprise its\nvictims, and especially haunted the dark passes of the Great Smoky\nmountains. Knowing this, the magician went first to a gap in the range\non the far northern border of the Cherokee country. He searched and\nfound there a monster blacksnake, larger than had ever been known\nbefore, but it was not what he was looking for, and he laughed at it\nas something too small for notice. Coming southward to the next gap he\nfound there a great moccasin snake, the largest ever seen, but when\nthe people wondered he said it was nothing. In the next gap he found\na greensnake and called the people to see \"the pretty salikw\u00e2'yi,\"\nbut when they found an immense greensnake coiled up in the path they\nran away in fear. Coming on to U'tawag\u00fbn'ta, the Bald mountain, he\nfound there a great diya'hali (lizard) basking, but, although it was\nlarge and terrible to look at, it was not what he wanted and he paid\nno attention to it. Going still south to Wal\u00e2si'yi, the Frog place,\nhe found a great frog squatting in the gap, but when the people who\ncame to see it were frightened like the others and ran away from the\nmonster he mocked at them for being afraid of a frog and went on to the\nnext gap. He went on to Duniskwa`lg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, the Gap of the Forked Antler,\nand to the enchanted lake of Atag\u00e2'hi, and at each he found monstrous\nreptiles, but he said they were nothing. He thought the Uktena might be\nhiding in the deep water at Tlanusi'yi, the Leech place, on Hiwassee,\nwhere other strange things had been seen before, and going there he\ndived far down under the surface. He saw turtles and water snakes,\nand two immense sun-perches rushed at him and retreated again, but\nthat was all. Other places he tried, going always southward, and at\nlast on Gah\u00fb'ti mountain he found the Uktena asleep.\n\nTurning without noise, he ran swiftly down the mountain side as far\nas he could go with one long breath, nearly to the bottom of the\nslope. There he stopped and piled up a great circle of pine cones,\nand inside of it he dug a deep trench. Then he set fire to the cones\nand came back again up the mountain.\n\nThe Uktena was still asleep, and, putting an arrow to his bow,\n\u00c2gan-uni'tsi shot and sent the arrow through its heart, which was under\nthe seventh spot from the serpent's head. The great snake raised his\nhead, with the diamond in front flashing fire, and came straight at\nhis enemy, but the magician, turning quickly, ran at full speed down\nthe mountain, cleared the circle of fire and the trench at one bound,\nand lay down on the ground inside.\n\nThe Uktena tried to follow, but the arrow was through his heart,\nand in another moment he rolled over in his death struggle, spitting\npoison over all the mountain side. But the poison drops could not\npass the circle of fire, but only hissed and sputtered in the blaze,\nand the magician on the inside was untouched except by one small\ndrop which struck upon his head as he lay close to the ground;\nbut he did not know it. The blood, too, as poisonous as the froth,\npoured from the Uktena's wound and down the slope in a dark stream,\nbut it ran into the trench and left him unharmed. The dying monster\nrolled over and over down the mountain, breaking down large trees\nin its path until it reached the bottom. Then \u00c2gan-uni'tsi called\nevery bird in all the woods to come to the feast, and so many came\nthat when they were done not even the bones were left.\n\nAfter seven days he went by night to the spot. The body and the bones\nof the snake were gone, all eaten by the birds, but he saw a bright\nlight shining in the darkness, and going over to it he found, resting\non a low-hanging branch, where a raven had dropped it, the diamond\nfrom the head of the Uktena. He wrapped it up carefully and took it\nwith him, and from that time he became the greatest medicine-man in\nthe whole tribe.\n\nWhen \u00c2gan-uni'tsi came down again to the settlement the people noticed\na small snake hanging from his head where the single drop of poison\nfrom the Uktena had struck; but so long as he lived he himself never\nknew that it was there.\n\nWhere the blood of the Uktena had filled the trench a lake formed\nafterwards, and the water was black and in this water the women used\nto dye the cane splits for their baskets.\n\n\n\n\n52. THE RED MAN AND THE UKTENA\n\nTwo brothers went hunting together, and when they came to a good\ncamping place in the mountains they made a fire, and while one gathered\nbark to put up a shelter the other started up the creek to look for a\ndeer. Soon he heard a noise on the top of the ridge as if two animals\nwere fighting. He hurried through the bushes to see what it might be,\nand when he came to the spot he found a great uktena coiled around\na man and choking him to death. The man was fighting for his life,\nand called out to the hunter: \"Help me, nephew; he is your enemy as\nwell as mine.\" The hunter took good aim, and, drawing the arrow to\nthe head, sent it through the body of the uktena, so that the blood\nspouted from the hole. The snake loosed its coils with a snapping\nnoise, and went tumbling down the ridge into the valley, tearing up\nthe earth like a water spout as it rolled.\n\nThe stranger stood up, and it was the Asga'ya Gi'gagei, the Red\nMan of the Lightning. He said to the hunter: \"You have helped me,\nand now I will reward you, and give you a medicine so that you can\nalways find game.\" They waited until it was dark, and then went down\nthe ridge to where the dead uktena had rolled, but by this time\nthe birds and insects had eaten the body and only the bones were\nleft. In one place were flashes of light coming up from the ground,\nand on digging here, just under the surface, the Red Man found a scale\nof the uktena. Next he went over to a tree that had been struck by\nlightning, and gathering a handful of splinters he made a fire and\nburned the uktena scale to a coal. He wrapped this in a piece of\ndeerskin and gave it to the hunter, saying: \"As long as you keep this\nyou can always kill game.\" Then he told the hunter that when he went\nback to camp he must hang up the medicine on a tree outside, because\nit was very strong and dangerous. He told him also that when he went\ninto the cabin he would find his brother lying inside nearly dead on\naccount of the presence of the uktena's scale, but he must take a small\npiece of cane, which the Red Man gave him, and scrape a little of it\ninto water and give it to his brother to drink and he would be well\nagain. Then the Red Man was gone, and the hunter could not see where\nhe went. He returned to camp alone, and found his brother very sick,\nbut soon cured him with the medicine from the cane, and that day and\nthe next, and every day after, he found game whenever he went for it.\n\n\n\n\n53. THE HUNTER AND THE UKSU'HI\n\nA man living down in Georgia came to visit some relatives at\nHickory-log. He was a great hunter, and after resting in the house a\nday or two got ready to go into the mountains. His friends warned him\nnot to go toward the north, as in that direction, near a certain large\nuprooted tree, there lived a dangerous monster uksu'hi snake. It kept\nconstant watch, and whenever it could spring upon an unwary hunter\nit would coil about him and crush out his life in its folds and then\ndrag the dead body down the mountain side into a deep hole in Hiwassee.\n\nHe listened quietly to the warning, but all they said only made him\nthe more anxious to see such a monster, so, without saying anything\nof his intention, he left the settlement and took his way directly\nup the mountain toward the north. Soon he came to the fallen tree and\nclimbed upon the trunk, and there, sure enough, on the other side was\nthe great uksu'hi stretched out in the grass, with its head raised,\nbut looking the other way. It was about so large [making a circle\nof a foot in diameter with his hands]. The frightened hunter got\ndown again at once and started to run; but the snake had heard the\nnoise and turned quickly and was after him. Up the ridge the hunter\nran, the snake close behind him, then down the other side toward the\nriver. With all his running the uksu'hi gained rapidly, and just as he\nreached the low ground it caught up with him and wrapped around him,\npinning one arm down by his side, but leaving the other free.\n\nNow it gave him a terrible squeeze that almost broke his ribs, and\nthen began to drag him along toward the water. With his free hand the\nhunter clutched at the bushes as they passed, but the snake turned\nits head and blew its sickening breath into his face until he had to\nlet go his hold. Again and again this happened, and all the time they\nwere getting nearer to a deep hole in the river, when, almost at the\nlast moment, a lucky thought came into the hunter's mind.\n\nHe was sweating all over from his hard run across the mountain, and\nsuddenly remembered to have heard that snakes can not bear the smell\nof perspiration. Putting his free hand into his bosom he worked it\naround under his armpit until it was covered with perspiration. Then\nwithdrawing it he grasped at a bush until the snake turned its head,\nwhen he quickly slapped his sweaty hand on its nose. The uksu'hi\ngave one gasp almost as if it had been wounded, loosened its coil,\nand glided swiftly away through the bushes, leaving the hunter,\nbruised but not disabled, to make his way home to Hickory-log.\n\n\n\n\n54. THE UST\u00db'TLI\n\nThere was once a great serpent called the Ust\u00fb'tli that made its haunt\nupon Cohutta mountain. It was called the Ust\u00fb'tli or \"foot\" snake,\nbecause it did not glide like other snakes, but had feet at each end\nof its body, and moved by strides or jerks, like a great measuring\nworm. These feet were three-cornered and flat and could hold on to\nthe ground like suckers. It had no legs, but would raise itself up\non its hind feet, with its snaky head waving high in the air until\nit found a good place to take a fresh hold; then it would bend down\nand grip its front feet to the ground while it drew its body up from\nbehind. It could cross rivers and deep ravines by throwing its head\nacross and getting a grip with its front feet and then swinging its\nbody over. Wherever its footprints were found there was danger. It\nused to bleat like a young fawn, and when the hunter heard a fawn\nbleat in the woods he never looked for it, but hurried away in the\nother direction. Up the mountain or down, nothing could escape the\nUst\u00fb'tli's pursuit, but along the side of the ridge it could not go,\nbecause the great weight of its swinging head broke its hold on the\nground when it moved sideways.\n\nIt came to pass after a while that not a hunter about Cohutta would\nventure near the mountain for dread of the Ust\u00fb'tli. At last a man\nfrom one of the northern settlements came down to visit some relatives\nin that neighborhood. When he arrived they made a feast for him,\nbut had only corn and beans, and excused themselves for having no\nmeat because the hunters were afraid to go into the mountains. He\nasked the reason, and when they told him he said he would go himself\nto-morrow and either bring in a deer or find the Ust\u00fb'tli. They tried\nto dissuade him from it, but as he insisted upon going they warned him\nthat if he heard a fawn bleat in the thicket he must run at once and\nif the snake came after him he must not try to run down the mountain,\nbut along the side of the ridge.\n\nIn the morning he started out and went directly toward the\nmountain. Working his way through the bushes at the base, he\nsuddenly heard a fawn bleat in front. He guessed at once that it\nwas the Ust\u00fb'tli, but he had made up his mind to see it, so he did\nnot turn back, but went straight forward, and there, sure enough,\nwas the monster, with its great head in the air, as high as the pine\nbranches, looking in every direction to discover a deer, or maybe a\nman, for breakfast. It saw him and came at him at once, moving in\njerky strides, every one the length of a tree trunk, holding its\nscaly head high above the bushes and bleating as it came.\n\nThe hunter was so badly frightened that he lost his wits entirely and\nstarted to run directly up the mountain. The great snake came after\nhim, gaining half its length on him every time it took a fresh grip\nwith its fore feet, and would have caught the hunter before he reached\nthe top of the ridge, but that he suddenly remembered the warning and\nchanged his course to run along the sides of the mountain. At once\nthe snake began to lose ground, for every time it raised itself up the\nweight of its body threw it out of a straight line and made it fall a\nlittle lower down the side of the ridge. It tried to recover itself,\nbut now the hunter gained and kept on until he turned the end of the\nridge and left the snake out of sight. Then he cautiously climbed\nto the top and looked over and saw the Ust\u00fb'tli still slowly working\nits way toward the summit.\n\nHe went down to the base of the mountain, opened his fire pouch,\nand set fire to the grass and leaves. Soon the fire ran all around\nthe mountain and began to climb upward. When the great snake smelled\nthe smoke and saw the flames coming it forgot all about the hunter\nand turned to make all speed for a high cliff near the summit. It\nreached the rock and got upon it, but the fire followed and caught\nthe dead pines about the base of the cliff until the heat made the\nUst\u00fb'tli's scales crack. Taking a close grip of the rock with its\nhind feet it raised its body and put forth all its strength in an\neffort to spring across the wall of fire that surrounded it, but the\nsmoke choked it and its hold loosened and it fell among the blazing\npine trunks and lay there until it was burned to ashes.\n\n\n\n\n55. THE UW'TS\u00db\u00d1'TA\n\nAt N\u00fb\u00f1'daye'`li, the wildest spot on Nantahala river, in what is now\nMacon county, North Carolina, where the overhanging cliff is highest\nand the river far below, there lived in the old time a great snake\ncalled the Uw'ts\u00fb\u00f1'ta or \"bouncer,\" because it moved by jerks like\na measuring worm, with only one part of its body on the ground at\na time. It stayed generally on the east side, where the sun came\nfirst in the morning, and used to cross by reaching over from the\nhighest point of the cliff until it could get a grip on the other\nside, when it would pull over the rest of its body. It was so immense\nthat when it was thus stretched across its shadow darkened the whole\nvalley below. For a long time the people did not know it was there,\nbut when at last they found out about it they were afraid to live in\nthe valley, so that it was deserted even while still Indian country.\n\n\n\n\n56. THE SNAKE BOY\n\nThere was a boy who used to go bird hunting every day, and all the\nbirds he brought home he gave to his grandmother, who was very fond\nof him. This made the rest of the family jealous, and they treated\nhim in such fashion that at last one day he told his grandmother\nhe would leave them all, but that she must not grieve for him. Next\nmorning he refused to eat any breakfast, but went off hungry to the\nwoods and was gone all day. In the evening he returned, bringing with\nhim a pair of deer horns, and went directly to the hothouse (\u00e2si),\nwhere his grandmother was waiting for him. He told the old woman he\nmust be alone that night, so she got up and went into the house where\nthe others were.\n\nAt early daybreak she came again to the hothouse and looked in, and\nthere she saw an immense uktena that filled the \u00e2si, with horns on its\nhead, but still with two human legs instead of a snake tail. It was all\nthat was left of her boy. He spoke to her and told her to leave him,\nand she went away again from the door. When the sun was well up, the\nuktena began slowly to crawl out, but it was full noon before it was\nall out of the \u00e2si. It made a terrible hissing noise as it came out,\nand all the people ran from it. It crawled on through the settlement,\nleaving a broad trail in the ground behind it, until it came to a\ndeep bend in the river, where it plunged in and went under the water.\n\nThe grandmother grieved much for her boy, until the others of the\nfamily got angry and told her that as she thought -so much of him\nshe ought to go and stay with him. So she left them and went along\nthe trail made by the uktena to the river and walked directly into\nthe water and disappeared. Once after that a man fishing near the\nplace saw her sitting on a large rock in the river, looking just as\nshe had always looked, but as soon as she caught sight of him she\njumped into the water and was gone.\n\n\n\n\n57. THE SNAKE MAN\n\nTwo hunters, both for some reason under a tabu against the meat of a\nsquirrel or turkey, had gone into the woods together. When evening\ncame they found a good camping place and lighted a fire to prepare\ntheir supper. One of them had killed several squirrels during the day,\nand now got ready to broil them over the fire. His companion warned\nhim that if he broke the tabu and ate squirrel meat he would become\na snake, but the other laughed and said that was only a conjurer's\nstory. He went on with his preparation, and when the squirrels were\nroasted made his supper of them and then lay down beside the fire\nto sleep.\n\nLate that night his companion was aroused by groaning, and on looking\naround he found the other lying on the ground rolling and twisting in\nagony, and with the lower part of his body already changed to the body\nand tail of a large water snake. The man was still able to speak and\ncalled loudly for help, but his companion could do nothing, but only\nsit by and try to comfort him while he watched the arms sink into\nthe body and the skin take on a scaly change that mounted gradually\ntoward the neck, until at last even the head was a serpent's head\nand the great snake crawled away from the fire and down the bank into\nthe river.\n\n\n\n\n58. THE RATTLESNAKE'S VENGEANCE\n\nOne day in the old times when we could still talk with other creatures,\nwhile some children were playing about the house, their mother inside\nheard them scream. Running out she found that a rattlesnake had\ncrawled from the grass, and taking up a stick she killed it. The\nfather was out hunting in the mountains, and that evening when\ncoming home after dark through the gap he heard a strange wailing\nsound. Looking about he found that he had come into the midst of\na whole company of rattlesnakes, which all had their mouths open\nand seemed to be crying. He asked them the reason of their trouble,\nand they told him that his own wife had that day killed their chief,\nthe Yellow Rattlesnake, and they were just now about to send the\nBlack Rattlesnake to take revenge.\n\nThe hunter said he was very sorry, but they told him that if he\nspoke the truth he must be ready to make satisfaction and give his\nwife as a sacrifice for the life of their chief. Not knowing what\nmight happen otherwise, he consented. They then told him that the\nBlack Rattlesnake would go home with him and coil up just outside\nthe door in the dark. He must go inside, where he would find his wife\nawaiting him, and ask her to get him a drink of fresh water from the\nspring. That was all.\n\nHe went home and knew that the Black Rattlesnake was following. It\nwas night when he arrived and very dark, but he found his wife waiting\nwith his supper ready. He sat down and asked for a drink of water. She\nhanded him a gourd full from the jar, but he said he wanted it fresh\nfrom the spring, so she took a bowl and went out of the door. The\nnext moment he heard a cry, and going out he found that the Black\nRattlesnake had bitten her and that she was already dying. He stayed\nwith her until she was dead, when the Black Rattlesnake came out\nfrom the grass again and said his tribe was now satisfied. He then\ntaught the hunter a prayer song, and said, \"When you meet any of us\nhereafter sing this song and we will not hurt you; but if by accident\none of us should bite one of your people then sing this song over him\nand he will recover.\" And the Cherokee have kept the song to this day.\n\n\n\n\n59. THE SMALLER REPTILES--FISHES AND INSECTS\n\nThere are several varieties of frogs and toads, each with a different\nname, but there is very little folklore in connection with them. The\ncommon green frog is called wal\u00e2'si, and among the Cherokee, as among\nuneducated whites, the handling of it is thought to cause warts,\nwhich for this reason are called by the same name, wal\u00e2'si. A solar\neclipse is believed to be caused by the attempt of a great frog\nto swallow the sun, and in former times it was customary on such\noccasions to fire guns and make other loud noises to frighten away\nthe frog. The smaller varieties are sometimes eaten, and on rare\noccasions the bullfrog also, but the meat is tabued to ball players\nwhile in training, for fear that the brittleness of the frog's bones\nwould be imparted to those of the player.\n\nThe land tortoise (t\u00fbksi') is prominent in the animal myths, and is\nreputed to have been a great warrior in the old times. On account of\nthe stoutness of its legs ball players rub their limbs with them before\ngoing into the contest. The common water turtle (saligu'gi), which\noccupies so important a place in the mythology of the northern tribes,\nis not mentioned in Cherokee myth or folklore, and the same is true\nof the soft-shelled turtle (u`lana'wa), perhaps for the reason that\nboth are rare in the cold mountain streams of the Cherokee country.\n\nThere are perhaps half a dozen varieties of lizard, each with a\ndifferent name. The gray road lizard, or diy\u00e2'hali (alligator lizard,\nSceloporus undulatus), is the most common. On account of its habit of\nalternately puffing out and drawing in its throat as though sucking,\nwhen basking in the sun, it is invoked in the formulas for drawing\nout the poison from snake bites. If one catches the first diy\u00e2'hali\nseen in the spring, and, holding it between his fingers, scratches\nhis legs downward with its claws, he will see no dangerous snakes\nall summer. Also, if one be caught alive at any time and rubbed\nover the head and throat of an infant, scratching the skin very\nslightly at the same time with the claws, the child will never be\nfretful, but will sleep quietly without complaining, even when sick\nor exposed to the rain. This is a somewhat risky experiment, however,\nas the child is liable thereafter to go to sleep wherever it may be\nlaid down for a moment, so that the mother is in constant danger of\nlosing it. According to some authorities this sleep lizard is not\nthe diy\u00e2'hali, but a larger variety akin to the next described.\n\nThe giga-tsuha'`li (\"bloody mouth,\" Pleistodon?) is described as a\nvery large lizard, nearly as large as a water dog, with the throat\nand corners of the mouth red, as though from drinking blood. It is\nbelieved to be not a true lizard but a transformed ug\u00fb\u00f1ste'li fish\n(described below) on account of the similarity of coloring and the\nfact that the fish disappears about the time the giga-tsuha'`li\nbegins to come out. It is ferocious and a hard biter, and pursues\nother lizards. In dry weather it cries or makes a noise like a cicada,\nraising itself up as it cries. It has a habit of approaching near to\nwhere some person is sitting or standing, then halting and looking\nfixedly at him, and constantly puffing out its throat until its head\nassumes a bright red color. It is thought then to be sucking the\nblood of its victim, and is dreaded and shunned accordingly. The small\nscorpion lizard (ts\u00e2ne'ni) is sometimes called also giga-danegi'ski,\n\"blood taker.\" It is a striped lizard which frequents sandy beaches\nand resemble the diy\u00e2'hali, but is of a brown color. It is believed\nalso to be sucking blood in some mysterious way whenever it nods its\nhead, and if its heart be eaten by a dog that animal will be able to\nextract all the nutrient properties from food by simply looking at\nthese who are eating.\n\nThe small spring lizard (duwe'`ga), which lives in springs, is\nsupposed to cause rain whenever it crawls out of the spring. It\nis frequently invoked in the formulas. Another spring (?) lizard,\nred, with black spots, is called dagan'`t\u00fb' or aniganti'ski \"the\nrain maker,\" because its cry is said to bring rain. The water dog\n(tsuwa', mud puppy, Menopoma or Protonopsis) is a very large lizard,\nor rather salamander, frequenting muddy water. It is rarely eaten,\nfrom an unexplained belief that if one who has eaten its meat goes\ninto the field immediately afterward the crop will be ruined. There\nare names for one or two other varieties of lizard as well as for\nthe alligator (tsula'ski), but no folklore in connection with them.\n\nAlthough the Cherokee country abounds in swift-flowing streams well\nstocked with fish, of which the Indians make free use, there is\nbut little fish lore. A number of \"dream\" diseases, really due to\nindigestion, are ascribed to revengeful fish ghosts, and the doctor\nusually tries to effect the cure by invoking some larger fish or\nfish-eating bird to drive out the ghost.\n\nToco creek, in Monroe county, Tennessee, derives its name from a\nmythic monster fish, the Dakwa', considered the father of all the\nfish tribe, which is said to have lived formerly in Little Tennessee\nriver at that point (see story, \"The Hunter and the Dakwa'\"). A fish\ncalled ug\u00fb\u00f1ste'li, \"having horns,\" which appears only in spring,\nis believed to be transformed later into the giga-tsuha'li lizard,\nalready mentioned. The fish is described as having horns or projections\nupon its nose and beautiful red spots upon its head, and as being\nattended or accompanied by many smaller red fish, all of which,\nincluding the ug\u00fb\u00f1ste'li, are accustomed to pile up small stones in\nthe water. As the season advances it disappears and is believed then\nto have turned into a giga-tsuha'li lizard, the change beginning at\nthe head and finishing with the tail. It is probably the Campostoma\nor stone roller, which is conspicuous for its bright coloring in\nearly spring, but loses its tints after spawning. The meat of the\nsluggish hog-sucker is tabued to the ball player, who must necessarily\nbe active in movement. The fresh-water mussel is called dag\u00fb'na,\nand the same name is applied to certain pimples upon the face, on\naccount of a fancied resemblance. The ball player rubs himself with\nan eel skin to make himself slippery and hard to hold, and, according\nto the Wahnenauhi manuscript, women formerly tied up their hair with\nthe dried skin of an eel to make it grow long. A large red crawfish\ncalled tsiska'gili, much resembling a lobster, is used to scratch young\nchildren in order to give them a strong grip, each hand of the child\nbeing lightly scratched once with the pincer of the living animal. A\nmother whose grown son had been thus treated when an infant claimed\nthat he could hold anything with his thumb and finger. It is said,\nhowever, to render the child quarrelsome and disposed to bite.\n\nOf insects there is more to be said. The generic name for all sorts of\nsmall insects and worms is tsg\u00e2ya, and according to the doctors, who\nhad anticipated the microbe theory by several centuries, these tsg\u00e2ya\nare to blame for nearly every human ailment not directly traceable\nto the asgina of the larger animals or to witchcraft. The reason is\nplain. There are such myriads of them everywhere on the earth and\nin the air that mankind is constantly destroying them by wholesale,\nwithout mercy and almost without knowledge, and this is their method\nof taking revenge.\n\nBeetles are classed together under a name which signifies \"insects with\nshells.\" The little water-beetle or mellow-bug (Dineutes discolor)\nis called d\u00e2yuni'si, \"beaver's grandmother,\" and according to the\ngenesis tradition it brought up the first earth from under the water. A\ncertain green-headed beetle with horns (Phan\u00e6us carnifex) is spoken of\nas the dog of the Thunder boys, and the metallic-green luster upon its\nforehead is said to have been caused by striking at the celebrated\nmythic gambler, \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', \"Brass\" (see the story). The June-bug\n(Allorhina nitida), another green beetle, is tag\u00fb, but is frequently\ncalled by the curious name of tu'ya-di'skalaw`sti'ski, \"one who keeps\nfire under the beans.\" Its larva is the grubworm which presided at the\nmeeting held by the insects to compass the destruction of the human\nrace (see the story, \"Origin of Disease and Medicine\"). The large\nhorned beetle (Dynastes tityus?) is called tsist\u00fb'na, \"crawfish,\"\na`wi', \"deer,\" or galagi'na, \"buck,\" on account of its branching\nhorns. The snapping beetle (Alaus oculatus?) is called t\u00fblsku'wa,\n\"one that snaps with his head.\"\n\nWhen the l\u00e2l\u00fb or jar-fly (Cicada auletes) begins to sing in midsummer\nthey say: \"The jar-fly has brought the beans,\" his song being taken\nas the signal that beans are ripe and that green corn is not far\nbehind. When the katydid (tsikiki') is heard a little later they say,\n\"Katydid has brought the roasting-ear bread.\" The cricket (tala'tu')\nis often called \"the barber\" (ditastaye'ski), on account of its habit\nof gnawing hair from furs, and when the Cherokee meet a man with his\nhair clipped unevenly they sometimes ask playfully, \"Did the cricket\ncut your hair?\" (see story, \"Why the Possum's Tail is Bare\"). Certain\npersons are said to drink tea made of crickets in order to become\ngood singers.\n\nThe mole cricket (Gryllotalpa), so called because it tunnels in the\nearth and has hand-like claws fitted for digging, is known to the\nCherokee as g\u00fbl`kw\u00e2gi, a word which literally means \"seven,\" but is\nprobably an onomatope. It is reputed among them to be alert, hard\nto catch, and an excellent singer, who \"never makes mistakes.\" Like\nthe crawfish and the cricket, it plays an important part in preparing\npeople for the duties of life. Infants slow in learning to speak have\ntheir tongues scratched with the claw of a g\u00fbl`kw\u00e2gi, the living\ninsect being held in the hand during the operation, in order that\nthey may soon learn to speak distinctly and be eloquent, wise, and\nshrewd of speech as they grow older, and of such quick intelligence\nas to remember without effort anything once heard. The same desirable\nresult may be accomplished with a grown person, but with much more\ndifficulty, as in that case it is necessary to scratch the inside\nof the throat for four successive mornings, the insect being pushed\ndown with the fingers and again withdrawn, while the regular tabus\nmust be strictly observed for the same period, or the operation will\nbe without effect. In some cases the insect is put into a small bowl\nof water overnight, and if still alive in the morning it is taken\nout and the water given to the patient to drink, after which the\ng\u00fbl`kw\u00e2gi is set at liberty.\n\nBees are kept by many of the Cherokee, in addition to the wild bees\nwhich are hunted in the woods. Although they are said to have come\noriginally from the whites, the Cherokee have no tradition of a time\nwhen they did not know them; there seems, however, to be no folklore\nconnected with them. The cow-ant (Myrmica?), a large, red, stinging\nant, is called properly das\u00fb\u00f1'tali atats\u00fb\u00f1'ski, \"stinging ant,\" but,\non account of its hard body-case, is frequently called n\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi,\n\"stone-dress,\" after a celebrated mythic monster. Strange as it may\nseem, there appears to be no folklore connected with either the\nfirefly or the glowworm, while the spider, so prominent in other\ntribal mythologies, appears in but a single Cherokee myth, where it\nbrings back the fire from across the water. In the formulas it is\nfrequently invoked to entangle in its threads the soul of a victim\nwhom the conjurer desires to bring under his evil spells. From a\nfancied resemblance in appearance the name for spider, ka'nane'ski,\nis applied also to a watch or clock. A small yellowish moth which\nflies about the fire at night is called t\u00fb\u00f1'taw\u00fb, a name implying\nthat it goes into and out of the fire, and when at last it flits too\nnear and falls into the blaze the Cherokee say, \"T\u00fb\u00f1'taw\u00fb is going\nto bed.\" On account of its affinity for the fire it is invoked by\nthe doctor in all \"fire diseases,\" including sore eyes and frostbite.\n\n\n\n\n60. WHY THE BULLFROG'S HEAD IS STRIPED\n\nAccording to one version the Bullfrog was always ridiculing the\ngreat gambler \u00db\u00f1tsai'yi, \"Brass,\" (see the story) until the latter\nat last got angry and dared the Bullfrog to play the gatay\u00fb'sti\n(wheel-and-stick) game with him, whichever lost to be scratched on\nhis forehead. Brass won, as he always did, and the yellow stripes on\nthe Bullfrog's head show where the gambler's fingers scratched him.\n\nAnother story is that the Bullfrog had a conjurer to paint his head\nwith yellow stripes (brass) to make him appear more handsome to a\npretty woman he was courting.\n\n\n\n\n61. THE BULLFROG LOVER\n\nA young man courted a girl, who liked him well enough, but her mother\nwas so much opposed to him that she would not let him come near the\nhouse. At last he made a trumpet from the handle of a gourd and hid\nhimself after night near the spring until the old woman came down\nfor water. While she was dipping up the water he put the trumpet to\nhis lips and grumbled out in a deep voice like a bullfrog's:\n\n\n Ya\u00f1daska'ga h\u00fb\u00f1yahu'ska,\n Ya\u00f1daska'ga h\u00fb\u00f1yahu'ska.\n\n The faultfinder will die,\n The faultfinder will die.\n\n\nThe woman thought it a witch bullfrog, and was so frightened that she\ndropped her dipper and ran back to the house to tell the people They\nall agreed that it was a warning to her to stop interfering with her\ndaughter's affairs, so she gave her consent, and thus the young man\nwon his wife.\n\nThere is another story of a girl who, every day when she went down to\nthe spring for water, heard a voice singing, K\u00fbnu'nu t\u00fb'tsahyesi',\nK\u00fbnu'nu t\u00fb'tsahyesi', \"A bullfrog will marry you, A bullfrog will\nmarry you.\" She wondered much until one day when she came down she\nsaw sitting on a stone by the spring a bullfrog, which suddenly took\nthe form of a young man and asked her to marry him. She consented and\ntook him back with her to the house. But although he had the shape of a\nman there was a queer bullfrog look about his face, so that the girl's\nfamily hated him and at last persuaded her to send him away. She told\nhim and he went away, but when they next went down to the spring they\nheard a voice: Ste'tsi t\u00fbya'husi, Ste'tsi t\u00fbyahusi', \"Your daughter\nwill die, Your daughter will die,\" and so it happened soon after.\n\nAs some tell it, the lover was a tadpole, who took on human shape,\nretaining only his tadpole mouth. To conceal it he constantly refused\nto eat with the family, but stood with his back to the fire and his\nface screwed up, pretending that he had a toothache. At last his wife\ngrew suspicious and turning him suddenly around to the firelight,\nexposed the tadpole mouth, at which they all ridiculed him so much\nthat he left the house forever.\n\n\n\n\n62. THE KATYDID'S WARNING\n\nTwo hunters camping in the woods were preparing supper one night\nwhen a Katydid began singing near them. One of them said sneeringly,\n\"K\u00fb! It sings and don't know that it will die before the season\nends.\" The Katydid answered: \"K\u00fb! niwi (onomatope); O, so you say;\nbut you need not boast. You will die before to-morrow night.\" The\nnext day they were surprised by the enemy and the hunter who had\nsneered at the Katydid was killed.\n\n\n\n\n\nWonder Stories\n\n\n63. \u00db\u00d1TSAIYI', THE GAMBLER\n\nThunder lives in the west, or a little to the south of west, near\nthe place where the sun goes down behind the water. In the old times\nhe sometimes made a journey to the east, and once after he had come\nback from one of these journeys a child was born in the east who, the\npeople said, was his son. As the boy grew up it was found that he had\nscrofula sores all over his body, so one day his mother said to him,\n\"Your father, Thunder, is a great doctor. He lives far in the west,\nbut if you can find him he can cure you.\"\n\nSo the boy set out to find his father and be cured. He traveled long\ntoward the west, asking of every one he met where Thunder lived, until\nat last they began to tell him that it was only a little way ahead. He\nwent on and came to \u00db\u00f1tiguhi', on Tennessee, where lived \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'\n\"Brass.\" Now \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' was a great gambler, and made his living that\nway. It was he who invented the gatay\u00fbsti game that we play with\na stone wheel and a stick. He lived on the south side of the river,\nand everybody who came that way he challenged to play against him. The\nlarge flat rock, with the lines and grooves where they used to roll\nthe wheel, is still there, with the wheels themselves and the stick\nturned to stone. He won almost every time, because he was so tricky, so\nthat he had his house filled with all kinds of fine things. Sometimes\nhe would lose, and then he would bet all that he had, even to his\nown life, but the winner got nothing for his trouble, for \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'\nknew how to take on different shapes, so that he always got away.\n\nAs soon as \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' saw him he asked him to stop and play a while,\nbut the boy said he was looking for his father, Thunder, and had no\ntime to wait. \"Well,\" said \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', \"he lives in the next house;\nyou can hear him grumbling over there all the time\"--he meant the\nThunder--\"so we may as well have a game or two before you go on.\" The\nboy said he had nothing to bet. \"That's all right,\" said the gambler,\n\"we'll play for your pretty spots.\" He said this to make the boy\nangry so that he would play, but still the boy said he must go first\nand find his father, and would come back afterwards.\n\nHe went on, and soon the news came to Thunder that a boy was looking\nfor him who claimed to be his son. Said Thunder, \"I have traveled in\nmany lands and have many children. Bring him here and we shall soon\nknow.\" So they brought in the boy, and Thunder showed him a seat\nand told him to sit down. Under the blanket on the seat were long,\nsharp thorns of the honey locust, with the points all sticking up,\nbut when the boy sat down they did not hurt him, and then Thunder knew\nthat it was his son. He asked the boy why he had come. \"I have sores\nall over my body, and my mother told me you were my father and a great\ndoctor, and if I came here you would cure me.\" \"Yes,\" said his father,\n\"I am a great doctor, and I'll soon fix you.\"\n\nThere was a large pot in the corner and he told his wife to fill it\nwith water and put it over the fire. When it was boiling, he put in\nsome roots, then took the boy and put him in with them. He let it boil\na long time until one would have thought that the flesh was boiled\nfrom the poor boy's bones, and then told his wife to take the pot\nand throw it into the river, boy and all. She did as she was told,\nand threw it into the water, and ever since there is an eddy there\nthat we call \u00db\u00f1'tiguhi', \"Pot-in-the-water.\" A service tree and a\ncalico bush grew on the bank above. A great cloud of steam came up\nand made streaks and blotches on their bark, and it has been so to\nthis day. When the steam cleared away she looked over and saw the\nboy clinging to the roots of the service tree where they hung down\ninto the water, but now his skin was all clean. She helped him up\nthe bank, and they went back to the house. On the way she told him,\n\"When we go in, your father will put a new dress on you, but when he\nopens his box and tells you to pick out your ornaments be sure to\ntake them from the bottom. Then he will send for his other sons to\nplay ball against you. There is a honey-locust tree in front of the\nhouse, and as soon as you begin to get tired strike at that and your\nfather will stop the play, because he does not want to lose the tree.\"\n\nWhen they went into the house, the old man was pleased to see the boy\nlooking so clean, and said, \"I knew I could soon cure those spots. Now\nwe must dress you.\" He brought out a fine suit of buckskin, with belt\nand headdress, and had the boy put them on. Then he opened a box and\nsaid, \"Now pick out your necklace and bracelets.\" The boy looked,\nand the box was full of all kinds of snakes gliding over each other\nwith their heads up. He was not afraid, but remembered what the\nwoman had told him, and plunged his hand to the bottom and drew out\na great rattlesnake and put it around his neck for a necklace. He\nput down his hand again four times and drew up four copperheads and\ntwisted them around his wrists and ankles. Then his father gave him\na war club and said, \"Now you must play a ball game with your two\nelder brothers. They live beyond here in the Darkening land, and\nI have sent for them.\" He said a ball game, but he meant that the\nboy must fight for his life. The young men came, and they were both\nolder and stronger than the boy, but he was not afraid and fought\nagainst them. The thunder rolled and the lightning flashed at every\nstroke, for they were the young Thunders, and the boy himself was\nLightning. At last he was tired from defending himself alone against\ntwo, and pretended to aim a blow at the honey-locust tree. Then his\nfather stopped the fight, because he was afraid the lightning would\nsplit the tree, and he saw that the boy was brave and strong.\n\nThe boy told his father how \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' had dared him to play, and had\neven offered to play for the spots on his skin. \"Yes,\" said Thunder,\n\"he is a great gambler and makes his living that way, but I will see\nthat you win.\" He brought a small cymling gourd with a hole bored\nthrough the neck, and tied it on the boy's wrist. Inside the gourd\nthere was a string of beads, and one end hung out from a hole in the\ntop, but there was no end to the string inside. \"Now,\" said his father,\n\"go back the way you came, and as soon as he sees you he will want to\nplay for the beads. He is very hard to beat, but this time he will\nlose every game. When he cries out for a drink, you will know he is\ngetting discouraged, and then strike the rock with your war club and\nwater will come, so that you can play on without stopping. At last\nhe will bet his life, and lose. Then send at once for your brothers\nto kill him, or he will get away, he is so tricky.\"\n\nThe boy took the gourd and his war club and started east along the road\nby which he had come. As soon as \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' saw him he called to him,\nand when he saw the gourd with the bead string hanging out he wanted\nto play for it. The boy drew out the string, but there seemed to be\nno end to it, and he kept on pulling until enough had come out to\nmake a circle all around the playground. \"I will play one game for\nthis much against your stake,\" said the boy, \"and when that is over\nwe can have another game.\"\n\nThey began the game with the wheel and stick and the boy won. \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'\ndid not know what to think of it, but he put up another stake and\ncalled for a second game. The boy won again, and so they played on\nuntil noon, when \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' had lost nearly everything he had and was\nabout discouraged. It was very hot, and he said, \"I am thirsty,\" and\nwanted to stop long enough to get a drink. \"No,\" said the boy, and\nstruck the rock with his club so that water came out, and they had a\ndrink. They played on until \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' had lost all his buckskins and\nbeaded work, his eagle feathers and ornaments, and at last offered\nto bet his wife. They played and the boy won her. Then \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'\nwas desperate and offered to stake his life. \"If I win I kill you,\nbut if you win you may kill me.\" They played and the boy won.\n\n\"Let me go and tell my wife,\" said \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', \"so that she will receive\nher new husband, and then you may kill me.\" He went into the house,\nbut it had two doors, and although the boy waited long \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' did\nnot come back. When at last he went to look for him he found that\nthe gambler had gone out the back way and was nearly out of sight\ngoing east.\n\nThe boy ran to his father's house and got his brothers to help\nhim. They brought their dog--the Horned Green Beetle--and hurried\nafter the gambler. He ran fast and was soon out of sight, and\nthey followed as fast as they could. After a while they met an old\nwoman making pottery and asked her if she had seen \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' and\nshe said she had not. \"He came this way,\" said the brothers. \"Then\nhe must have passed in the night,\" said the old woman, \"for I have\nbeen here all day.\" They were about to take another road when the\nBeetle, which had been circling about in the air above the old woman,\nmade a dart at her and struck her on the forehead, and it rang like\nbrass--\u00fb\u00f1tsaiyi'! Then they knew it was Brass and sprang at him, but\nhe jumped up in his right shape and was off, running so fast that he\nwas soon out of sight again. The Beetle had struck so hard that some of\nthe brass rubbed off, and we can see it on the beetle's forehead yet.\n\nThey followed and came to an old man sitting by the trail, carving\na stone pipe. They asked him if he had seen Brass pass that way and\nhe said no, but again the Beetle--which could know Brass under any\nshape--struck him on the forehead so that it rang like metal, and the\ngambler jumped up in his right form and was off again before they\ncould hold him. He ran east until he came to the great water; then\nhe ran north until he came to the edge of the world, and had to turn\nagain to the west. He took every shape to throw them off the track,\nbut the Green Beetle always knew him, and the brothers pressed him\nso hard that at last he could go no more and they caught him just as\nhe reached the edge of the great water where the sun goes down.\n\nThey tied his hands and feet with a grapevine and drove a long stake\nthrough his breast, and planted it far out in the deep water. They\nset two crows on the end of the pole to guard it and called the place\nK\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Crow place.\" But Brass never died, and can not die until the\nend of the world, but lies there always with his face up. Sometimes he\nstruggles under the water to get free, and sometimes the beavers, who\nare his friends, come and gnaw at the grapevine to release him. Then\nthe pole shakes and the crows at the top cry Ka! Ka! Ka! and scare\nthe beavers away.\n\n\n\n\n64. THE NEST OF THE TLA'NUWA\n\nOn the north bank of Little Tennessee river, in a bend below the mouth\nof Citico creek, in Blount county, Tennessee, is a high cliff hanging\nover the water, and about halfway up the face of the rock is a cave\nwith two openings. The rock projects outward above the cave, so that\nthe mouth can not be seen from above, and it seems impossible to reach\nthe cave either from above or below. There are white streaks in the\nrock from the cave down to the water. The Cherokee call it Tla'nuw\u00e2'i,\n\"the place of the Tla'nuwa,\" or great mythic hawk.\n\nIn the old time, away back soon after the creation, a pair of Tla'nuwas\nhad their nest in this cave. The streaks in the rock were made by the\ndroppings from the nest. They were immense birds, larger than any that\nlive now, and very strong and savage. They were forever flying up and\ndown the river, and used to come into the settlements and carry off\ndogs and even young children playing near the houses. No one could\nreach the nest to kill them, and when the people tried to shoot them\nthe arrows only glanced off and were seized and carried away in the\ntalons of the Tla'nuwas.\n\nAt last the people went to a great medicine man, who promised to help\nthem. Some were afraid that if he failed to kill the Tla'nuwas they\nwould take revenge on the people, but the medicine man said he could\nfix that. He made a long rope of linn bark, just as the Cherokee still\ndo, with loops in it for his feet, and had the people let him down\nfrom the top of the cliff at a time when he knew that the old birds\nwere away. When he came opposite the mouth of the cave he still could\nnot reach it, because the rock above hung over, so he swung himself\nbackward and forward several times until the rope swung near enough for\nhim to pull himself into the cave with a hooked stick that he carried,\nwhich he managed to fasten in some bushes growing at the entrance. In\nthe nest he found four young ones, and on the floor of the cave were\nthe bones of all sorts of animals that had been carried there by the\nhawks. He pulled the young ones out of the nest and threw them over\nthe cliff into the deep water below, where a great Uktena serpent that\nlived there finished them. Just then he saw the two old ones coming,\nand had hardly time to climb up again to the top of the rock before\nthey reached the nest.\n\nWhen they found the nest empty they were furious, and circled round\nand round in the air until they saw the snake put up its head from\nthe water. Then they darted straight downward, and while one seized\nthe snake in his talons and flew far up in the sky with it, his mate\nstruck at it and bit off piece after piece until nothing was left. They\nwere so high up that when the pieces fell they made holes in the\nrock, which are still to be seen there, at the place which we call\n\"Where the Tla'nuwa cut it up,\" opposite the mouth of Citico. Then\nthe two Tla'nuwas circled up and up until they went out of sight,\nand they have never been seen since.\n\n\n\n\n65. THE HUNTER AND THE TLA'NUWA\n\nA hunter out in the woods one day saw a Tla'nuwa overhead and tried to\nhide from it, but the great bird had already seen him, and sweeping\ndown struck its claws into his hunting pack and carried him far up\ninto the air. As it flew, the Tla'nuwa, which was a mother bird,\nspoke and told the hunter that he need not be afraid, as she would\nnot hurt him, but only wanted him to stay for a while with her\nyoung ones to guard them until they were old enough to leave the\nnest. At last they alighted at the mouth of a cave in the face of a\nsteep cliff. Inside the water was dripping from the roof, and at the\nfarther end was a nest of sticks in which were two young birds. The\nold Tla'nuwa set the hunter down and then flew away, returning soon\nwith a fresh-killed deer, which it tore in pieces, giving the first\npiece to the hunter and then feeding the two young hawks.\n\nThe hunter stayed in the cave many days until the young birds were\nnearly grown, and every day the old mother hawk would fly away from\nthe nest and return in the evening with a deer or a bear, of which she\nalways gave the first piece to the hunter. He grew very anxious to see\nhis home again, but the Tla'nuwa kept telling him not to be uneasy,\nbut to wait a little while longer. At last he made up his mind to\nescape from the cave and finally studied out a plan. The next morning,\nafter the old bird had gone, he dragged one of the young birds to the\nmouth of the cave and tied himself to one of its legs with a strap from\nhis hunting pack. Then with the flat side of his tomahawk he struck it\nseveral times in the head until it was dazed and helpless, and pushed\nthe bird and himself together off the shelf of rock into the air.\n\nThey fell far, far down toward the earth, but the air from below held\nup the bird's wings, so that it was almost as if they were flying. As\nthe Tla'nuwa revived it tried to fly upward toward the nest, but\nthe hunter struck it again with his hatchet until it was dazed and\ndropped again. At last they came down in the top of a poplar tree,\nwhen the hunter untied the strap from the leg of the young bird and\nlet it fly away, first pulling out a feather from its wing. He climbed\ndown from the tree and went to his home in the settlement, but when\nhe looked in his pack for the feather he found a stone instead.\n\n\n\n\n66. U`TL\u00db\u00d1'TA, THE SPEAR-FINGER\n\nLong, long ago--hilahi'yu--there dwelt in the mountains a terrible\nogress, a woman monster, whose food was human livers. She could\ntake on any shape or appearance to suit her purpose, but in her\nright form she looked very much like an old woman, excepting that\nher whole body was covered with a skin as hard as a rock that no\nweapon could wound or penetrate, and that on her right hand she had\na long, stony forefinger of bone, like an awl or spearhead, with\nwhich she stabbed everyone to whom she could get near enough. On\naccount of this fact she was called U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta, \"Spear-finger,\" and\non account of her stony skin she was sometimes called N\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi,\n\"Stone-dress.\" There was another stone-clothed monster that killed\npeople, but that is a different story.\n\nSpear-finger had such powers over stone that she could easily lift\nand carry immense rocks, and could cement them together by merely\nstriking one against another. To get over the rough country more\neasily she undertook to build a great rock bridge through the air from\nN\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-tlu`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, the \"Tree rock,\" on Hiwassee, over to Sanigil\u00e2'gi\n(Whiteside mountain), on the Blue ridge, and had it well started\nfrom the top of the \"Tree rock\" when the lightning struck it and\nscattered the fragments along the whole ridge, where the pieces can\nstill be seen by those who go there. She used to range all over the\nmountains about the heads of the streams and in the dark passes of\nNantahala, always hungry and looking for victims. Her favorite haunt\non the Tennessee side was about the gap on the trail where Chilhowee\nmountain comes down to the river.\n\nSometimes an old woman would approach along the trail where the\nchildren were picking strawberries or playing near the village, and\nwould say to them coaxingly, \"Come, my grandchildren, come to your\ngranny and let granny dress your hair.\" When some little girl ran\nup and laid her head in the old woman's lap to be petted and combed\nthe old witch would gently run her fingers through the child's hair\nuntil it went to sleep, when she would stab the little one through the\nheart or back of the neck with the long awl finger, which she had kept\nhidden under her robe. Then she would take out the liver and eat it.\n\nShe would enter a house by taking the appearance of one of the\nfamily who happened to have gone out for a short time, and would\nwatch her chance to stab some one with her long finger and take out\nhis liver. She could stab him without being noticed, and often the\nvictim did not even know it himself at the time--for it left no wound\nand caused no pain--but went on about his own affairs, until all at\nonce he felt weak and began gradually to pine away, and was always\nsure to die, because Spear-finger had taken his liver.\n\nWhen the Cherokee went out in the fall, according to their custom, to\nburn the leaves off from the mountains in order to get the chestnuts\non the ground, they were never safe, for the old witch was always on\nthe lookout, and as soon as she saw the smoke rise she knew there\nwere Indians there and sneaked up to try to surprise one alone. So\nas well as they could they tried to keep together, and were very\ncautious of allowing any stranger to approach the camp. But if one\nwent down to the spring for a drink they never knew but it might be\nthe liver eater that came back and sat with them.\n\nSometimes she took her proper form, and once or twice, when far out\nfrom the settlements, a solitary hunter had seen an old woman, with\na queer-looking hand, going through the woods singing low to herself:\n\n\n Uwe'la n\u00e1tsik\u00fb'. Su' sa' sai'.\n Liver, I eat it. Su' sa' sai'.\n\n\nIt was rather a pretty song, but it chilled his blood, for he knew\nit was the liver eater, and he hurried away, silently, before she\nmight see him.\n\nAt last a great council was held to devise some means to get rid of\nU'tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta before she should destroy everybody. The people came from\nall around, and after much talk it was decided that the best way would\nbe to trap her in a pitfall where all the warriors could attack her at\nonce. So they dug a deep pitfall across the trail and covered it over\nwith earth and grass as if the ground had never been disturbed. Then\nthey kindled a large fire of brush near the trail and hid themselves\nin the laurels, because they knew she would come as soon as she saw\nthe smoke.\n\nSure enough they soon saw an old woman coming along the trail. She\nlooked like an old woman whom they knew well in the village,\nand although several of the wiser men wanted to shoot at her, the\nothers interfered, because they did not want to hurt one of their\nown people. The old woman came slowly along the trail, with one hand\nunder her blanket, until she stepped upon the pitfall and tumbled\nthrough the brush top into the deep hole below. Then, at once, she\nshowed her true nature, and instead of the feeble old woman there was\nthe terrible U'tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta with her stony skin, and her sharp awl finger\nreaching out in every direction for some one to stab.\n\nThe hunters rushed out from the thicket and surrounded the pit, but\nshoot as true and as often as they could, their arrows struck the\nstony mail of the witch only to be broken and fall useless at her\nfeet, while she taunted them and tried to climb out of the pit to\nget at them. They kept out of her way, but were only wasting their\narrows when a small bird, Utsu'`gi, the titmouse, perched on a tree\noverhead and began to sing \"un, un, un.\" They thought it was saying\nu'nahu', heart, meaning that they should aim at the heart of the\nstone witch. They directed their arrows where the heart should be,\nbut the arrows only glanced off with the flint heads broken.\n\nThen they caught the Utsu'`gi and cut off its tongue, so that ever\nsince its tongue is short and everybody knows it is a liar. When the\nhunters let it go it flew straight up into the sky until it was out\nof sight and never came back again. The titmouse that we know now is\nonly an image of the other.\n\nThey kept up the fight without result until another bird, little\nTsi'kilili', the chickadee, flew down from a tree and alighted upon\nthe witch's right hand. The warriors took this as a sign that they must\naim there, and they were right, for her heart was on the inside of her\nhand, which she kept doubled into a fist, this same awl hand with which\nshe had stabbed so many people. Now she was frightened in earnest,\nand began to rush furiously at them with her long awl finger and to\njump about in the pit to dodge the arrows, until at last a lucky arrow\nstruck just where the awl joined her wrist and she fell down dead.\n\nEver since the tsi'kilili' is known as a truth teller, and when a man\nis away on a journey, if this bird comes and perches near the house\nand chirps its song, his friends know he will soon be safe home.\n\n\n\n\n67. N\u00db\u00d1'YUNU'WI, THE STONE MAN\n\nThis is what the old men told me when I was a boy.\n\nOnce when all the people of the settlement were out in the mountains\non a great hunt one man who had gone on ahead climbed to the top of\na high ridge and found a large river on the other side. While he was\nlooking across he saw an old man walking about on the opposite ridge,\nwith a cane that seemed to be made of some bright, shining rock. The\nhunter watched and saw that every little while the old man would point\nhis cane in a certain direction, then draw it back and smell the end\nof it. At last he pointed it in the direction of the hunting camp on\nthe other side of the mountain, and this time when he drew back the\nstaff he sniffed it several times as if it smelled very good, and then\nstarted along the ridge straight for the camp. He moved very slowly,\nwith the help of the cane, until he reached the end of the ridge,\nwhen he threw the cane out into the air and it became a bridge of\nshining rock stretching across the river. After he had crossed over\nupon the bridge it became a cane again, and the old man picked it up\nand started over the mountain toward the camp.\n\nThe hunter was frightened, and felt sure that it meant mischief, so he\nhurried on down the mountain and took the shortest trail back to the\ncamp to get there before the old man. When he got there and told his\nstory the medicine-man said the old man was a wicked cannibal monster\ncalled N\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi, \"Dressed in Stone,\" who lived in that part of the\ncountry, and was always going about the mountains looking for some\nhunter to kill and eat. It was very hard to escape from him, because\nhis stick guided him like a dog, and it was nearly as hard to kill him,\nbecause his whole body was covered with a skin of solid rock. If he\ncame he would kill and eat them all, and there was only one way to\nsave themselves. He could not bear to look upon a menstrual woman,\nand if they could find seven menstrual women to stand in the path as\nhe came along the sight would kill him.\n\nSo they asked among all the women, and found seven who were sick in\nthat way, and with one of them it had just begun. By the order of the\nmedicine-man they stripped themselves and stood along the path where\nthe old man would come. Soon they heard N\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi coming through\nthe woods, feeling his way with his stone cane. He came along the\ntrail to where the first woman was standing, and as soon as he saw her\nhe started and cried out: \"Yu! my grandchild; you are in a very bad\nstate!\" He hurried past her, but in a moment he met the next woman,\nand cried out again: \"Yu! my child; you are in a terrible way,\" and\nhurried past her, but now he was vomiting blood. He hurried on and\nmet the third and the fourth and the fifth woman, but with each one\nthat he saw his step grew weaker until when he came to the last one,\nwith whom the sickness had just begun, the blood poured from his\nmouth and he fell down on the trail.\n\nThen the medicine-man drove seven sourwood stakes through his body and\npinned him to the ground, and when night came they piled great logs\nover him and set fire to them, and all the people gathered around to\nsee. N\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi was a great ada'wehi and knew many secrets, and now\nas the fire came close to him he began to talk, and told them the\nmedicine for all kinds of sickness. At midnight he began to sing,\nand sang the hunting songs for calling up the bear and the deer and\nall the animals of the woods and mountains. As the blaze grew hotter\nhis voice sank low and lower, until at last when daylight came,\nthe logs were a heap of white ashes and the voice was still.\n\nThen the medicine-man told them to rake off the ashes, and where the\nbody had lain they found only a large lump of red w\u00e2'di paint and a\nmagic u'l\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti stone. He kept the stone for himself, and calling\nthe people around him he painted them, on face and breast, with the\nred w\u00e2'di, and whatever each person prayed for while the painting\nwas being done--whether for hunting success, for working skill,\nor for a long life--that gift was his.\n\n\n\n\n68. THE HUNTER IN THE DAKWA'\n\nIn the old days there was a great fish called the Dakwa', which lived\nin Tennessee river where Toco creek comes in at Dakw\u00e2'i, the \"Dakwa'\nplace,\" above the mouth of Tellico, and which was so large that it\ncould easily swallow a man. Once a canoe filled with warriors was\ncrossing over from the town to the other side of the river, when the\nDakwa' suddenly rose up under the boat and threw them all into the\nair. As they came down it swallowed one with a single snap of its jaws\nand dived with him to the bottom of the river. As soon as the hunter\ncame to his senses he found that he had not been hurt, but it was so\nhot and close inside the Dakwa' that he was nearly smothered. As he\ngroped around in the dark his hand struck a lot of mussel shells which\nthe fish had swallowed, and taking one of these for a knife he began\nto cut his way out, until soon the fish grew uneasy at the scraping\ninside his stomach and came up to the top of the water for air. He\nkept on cutting until the fish was in such pain that it swam this way\nand that across the stream and thrashed the water into foam with its\ntail. Finally the hole was so large that he could look out and saw that\nthe Dakwa' was now resting in shallow water near the shore. Reaching\nup he climbed out from the side of the fish, moving very carefully so\nthat the Dakwa' would not know it, and then waded to shore and got\nback to the settlement, but the juices in the stomach of the great\nfish had scalded all the hair from his head and he was bald ever after.\n\n\n\nWAHNENAUHI VERSION\n\nA boy was sent on an errand by his father, and not wishing to go\nhe ran away to the river. After playing in the sand for a short\ntime some boys of his acquaintance came by in a canoe and invited\nhim to join them. Glad of the opportunity to get away he went with\nthem, but had no sooner got in than the canoe began to tip and rock\nmost unaccountably. The boys became very much frightened, and in\nthe confusion the bad boy fell into the water and was immediately\nswallowed by a large fish. After lying in its stomach for some time\nhe became very hungry, and on looking around he saw the fish's liver\nhanging over his head. Thinking it dried meat, he tried to cut off\na piece with a mussel shell he had been playing with and still held\nin his hand. The operation sickened the fish and it vomited the boy.\n\n\n\n\n69. ATAG\u00c2'HI, THE ENCHANTED LAKE\n\nWestward from the headwaters of Oconaluftee river, in the wildest\ndepths of the Great Smoky mountains, which form the line between\nNorth Carolina and Tennessee, is the enchanted lake of Atag\u00e2'hi, \"Gall\nplace.\" Although all the Cherokee know that it is there, no one has\never seen it, for the way is so difficult that only the animals know\nhow to reach it. Should a stray hunter come near the place he would\nknow of it by the whirring sound of the thousands of wild ducks flying\nabout the lake, but on reaching the spot he would find only a dry flat,\nwithout bird or animal or blade of grass, unless he had first sharpened\nhis spiritual vision by prayer and fasting and an all-night vigil.\n\nBecause it is not seen, some people think the lake has dried up\nlong ago, but this is not true. To one who had kept watch and fast\nthrough the night it would appear at daybreak as a wide-extending\nbut shallow sheet of purple water, fed by springs spouting from the\nhigh cliffs around. In the water are all kinds of fish and reptiles,\nand swimming upon the surface or flying overhead are great flocks\nof ducks and pigeons, while all about the shores are bear tracks\ncrossing in every direction. It is the medicine lake of the birds\nand animals, and whenever a bear is wounded by the hunters he makes\nhis way through the woods to this lake and plunges into the water,\nand when he comes out upon the other side his wounds are healed. For\nthis reason the animals keep the lake invisible to the hunter.\n\n\n\n\n70. THE BRIDE FROM THE SOUTH\n\nThe North went traveling, and after going far and meeting many\ndifferent tribes he finally fell in love with the daughter of the\nSouth and wanted to marry her. The girl was willing, but her parents\nobjected and said, \"Ever since you came the weather has been cold,\nand if you stay here we may all freeze to death.\" The North pleaded\nhard, and said that if they would let him have their daughter he would\ntake her back to his own country, so at last they consented. They\nwere married and he took his bride to his own country, and when she\narrived there she found the people all living in ice houses.\n\nThe next day, when the sun rose, the houses began to leak, and as it\nclimbed higher they began to melt, and it grew warmer and warmer,\nuntil finally the people came to the young husband and told him he\nmust send his wife home again, or the weather would get so warm that\nthe whole settlement would be melted. He loved his wife and so held\nout as long as he could, but as the sun grew hotter the people were\nmore urgent, and at last he had to send her home to her parents.\n\nThe people said that as she had been born in the South, and nourished\nall her life upon food that grew in the same climate, her whole nature\nwas warm and unfit for the North.\n\n\n\n\n71. THE ICE MAN\n\nOnce when the people were burning the woods in the fall the blaze\nset fire to a poplar tree, which continued to burn until the fire\nwent down into the roots and burned a great hole in the ground. It\nburned and burned, and the hole grew constantly larger, until the\npeople became frightened and were afraid it would burn the whole\nworld. They tried to put out the fire, but it had gone too deep,\nand they did not know what to do.\n\nAt last some one said there was a man living in a house of ice far\nin the north who could put out the fire, so messengers were sent, and\nafter traveling a long distance they came to the ice house and found\nthe Ice Man at home. He was a little fellow with long hair hanging\ndown to the ground in two plaits. The messengers told him their errand\nand he at once said, \"O yes, I can help you,\" and began to unplait his\nhair. When it was all unbraided he took it up in one hand and struck\nit once across his other hand, and the messengers felt a wind blow\nagainst their cheeks. A second time he struck his hair across his\nhand, and a light rain began to fall. The third time he struck his\nhair across his open hand there was sleet mixed with the raindrops,\nand when he struck the fourth time great hailstones fell upon the\nground, as if they had come out from the ends of his hair. \"Go back\nnow,\" said the Ice Man, \"and I shall be there to-morrow.\" So the\nmessengers returned to their people, whom they found still gathered\nhelplessly about the great burning pit.\n\nThe next day while they were all watching about the fire there came a\nwind from the north, and they were afraid, for they knew that it came\nfrom the Ice Man. But the wind only made the fire blaze up higher. Then\na light rain began to fall, but the drops seemed only to make the\nfire hotter. Then the shower turned to a heavy rain, with sleet and\nhail that killed the blaze and made clouds of smoke and steam rise\nfrom the red coals. The people fled to their homes for shelter, and\nthe storm rose to a whirlwind that drove the rain into every burning\ncrevice and piled great hailstones over the embers, until the fire\nwas dead and even the smoke ceased. When at last it was all over and\nthe people returned they found a lake where the burning pit had been,\nand from below the water came a sound as of embers still crackling.\n\n\n\n\n72. THE HUNTER AND SELU\n\nA hunter had been tramping over the mountains all day long without\nfinding any game and when the sun went down, he built a fire in a\nhollow stump, swallowed a few mouthfuls of corn gruel and lay down to\nsleep, tired out and completely discouraged. About the middle of the\nnight he dreamed and seemed to hear the sound of beautiful singing,\nwhich continued until near daybreak and then appeared to die away\ninto the upper air.\n\nAll next day he hunted with the same poor success, and at night made\nhis lonely camp again in the woods. He slept and the strange dream\ncame to him again, but so vividly that it seemed to him like an actual\nhappening. Rousing himself before daylight, he still heard the song,\nand feeling sure now that it was real, he went in the direction of\nthe sound and found that it came from a single green stalk of corn\n(selu). The plant spoke to him, and told him to cut off some of\nits roots and take them to his home in the settlement, and the next\nmorning to chew them and \"go to water\" before anyone else was awake,\nand then to go out again into the woods, and he would kill many deer\nand from that time on would always be successful in the hunt. The corn\nplant continued to talk, teaching him hunting secrets and telling\nhim always to be generous with the game he took, until it was noon\nand the sun was high, when it suddenly took the form of a woman and\nrose gracefully into the air and was gone from sight, leaving the\nhunter alone in the woods.\n\nHe returned home and told his story, and all the people knew that he\nhad seen Selu, the wife of Kana'ti. He did as the spirit had directed,\nand from that time was noted as the most successful of all the hunters\nin the settlement.\n\n\n\n\n73. THE UNDERGROUND PANTHERS\n\nA hunter was in the woods one day in winter when suddenly he saw a\npanther coming toward him and at once prepared to defend himself. The\npanther continued to approach, and the hunter was just about to shoot\nwhen the animal spoke, and at once it seemed to the man as if there was\nno difference between them, and they were both of the same nature. The\npanther asked him where he was going, and the man said that he was\nlooking for a deer. \"Well,\" said the panther, \"we are getting ready\nfor a Green-corn dance, and there are seven of us out after a buck,\nso we may as well hunt together.\"\n\nThe hunter agreed and they went on together. They started up one deer\nand another, but the panther made no sign, and said only, \"Those are\ntoo small; we want something better.\" So the hunter did not shoot,\nand they went on. They started up another deer, a larger one, and\nthe panther sprang upon it and tore its throat, and finally killed it\nafter a hard struggle. The hunter got out his knife to skin it, but\nthe panther said the skin was too much torn to be used and they must\ntry again. They started up another large deer, and this the panther\nkilled without trouble, and then, wrapping his tail around it, threw it\nacross his back. \"Now, come to our townhouse,\" he said to the hunter.\n\nThe panther led the way, carrying the captured deer upon his back,\nup a little stream branch until they came to the head spring, when\nit seemed as if a door opened in the side of the hill and they went\nin. Now the hunter found himself in front of a large townhouse, with\nthe finest detsan\u00fb\u00f1'li he had ever seen, and the trees around were\ngreen, and the air was warm, as in summer. There was a great company\nthere getting ready for the dance, and they were all panthers, but\nsomehow it all seemed natural to the hunter. After a while the others\nwho had been out came in with the deer they had taken, and the dance\nbegan. The hunter danced several rounds, and then said it was growing\nlate and he must be getting home. So the panthers opened the door and\nhe went out, and at once found himself alone in the woods again, and\nit was winter and very cold, with snow on the ground and on all the\ntrees. When he reached the settlement he found a party just starting\nout to search for him. They asked him where he had been so long,\nand he told them the story, and then he found that he had been in\nthe panther townhouse several days instead of only a very short time,\nas he had thought.\n\nHe died within seven days after his return, because he had already\nbegun to take on the panther nature, and so could not live again with\nmen. If he had stayed with the panthers he would have lived.\n\n\n\n\n74. THE TSUNDIGE'WI\n\nOnce some young men of the Cherokee set out to see what was in the\nworld and traveled south until they came to a tribe of little people\ncalled Tsundige'wi, with very queer shaped bodies, hardly tall enough\nto reach up to a man's knee, who had no houses, but lived in nests\nscooped in the sand and covered over with dried grass. The little\nfellows were so weak and puny that they could not fight at all, and\nwere in constant terror from the wild geese and other birds that used\nto come in great flocks from the south to make war upon them.\n\nJust at the time that the travelers got there they found the little\nmen in great fear, because there was a strong wind blowing from the\nsouth and it blew white feathers and down along the sand, so that the\nTsundige'wi knew their enemies were coming not far behind. The Cherokee\nasked them why they did not defend themselves, but they said they\ncould not, because they did not know how. There was no time to make\nbows and arrows, but the travelers told them to take sticks for clubs,\nand showed them where to strike the birds on the necks to kill them.\n\nThe wind blew for several days, and at last the birds came, so many\nthat they were like a great cloud in the air, and alighted on the\nsands. The little men ran to their nests, and the birds followed and\nstuck in their long bills to pull them out and eat them. This time,\nthough, the Tsundige'wi had their clubs, and they struck the birds\non the neck, as the Cherokee had shown them, and killed so many that\nat last the others were glad to spread their wings and fly away again\nto the south.\n\nThe little men thanked the Cherokee for their help and gave them the\nbest they had until the travelers went on to see the other tribes. They\nheard afterwards that the birds came again several times, but that\nthe Tsundige'wi always drove them off with their clubs, until a flock\nof sandhill cranes came. They were so tall that the little men could\nnot reach up to strike them on the neck, and so at last the cranes\nkilled them all.\n\n\n\n\n75. ORIGIN OF THE BEAR: THE BEAR SONGS\n\nLong ago there was a Cherokee clan called the Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, and\nin one family of this clan was a boy who used to leave home and be\ngone all day in the mountains. After a while he went oftener and\nstayed longer, until at last he would not eat in the house at all,\nbut started off at daybreak and did not come back until night. His\nparents scolded, but that did no good, and the boy still went every\nday until they noticed that long brown hair was beginning to grow\nout all over his body. Then they wondered and asked him why it was\nthat he wanted to be so much in the woods that he would not even eat\nat home. Said the boy, \"I find plenty to eat there, and it is better\nthan the corn and beans we have in the settlements, and pretty soon\nI am going into the woods to stay all the time.\" His parents were\nworried and begged him not to leave them, but he said, \"It is better\nthere than here, and you see I am beginning to be different already,\nso that I can not live here any longer. If you will come with me,\nthere is plenty for all of us and you will never have to work for it;\nbut if you want to come you must first fast seven days.\"\n\nThe father and mother talked it over and then told the headmen of the\nclan. They held a council about the matter and after everything had\nbeen said they decided: \"Here we must work hard and have not always\nenough. There he says there is always plenty without work. We will go\nwith him.\" So they fasted seven days, and on the seventh morning all\nthe Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi left the settlement and started for the mountains\nas the boy led the way.\n\nWhen the people of the other towns heard of it they were very sorry\nand sent their headmen to persuade the Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi to stay at\nhome and not go into the woods to live. The messengers found them\nalready on the way, and were surprised to notice that their bodies\nwere beginning to be covered with hair like that of animals, because\nfor seven days they had not taken human food and their nature was\nchanging. The Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi would not come back, but said, \"We are\ngoing where there is always plenty to eat. Hereafter we shall be\ncalled y\u00e2n\u00fb (bears), and when you yourselves are hungry come into the\nwoods and call us and we shall come to give you our own flesh. You\nneed not be afraid to kill us, for we shall live always.\" Then they\ntaught the messengers the songs with which to call them, and the bear\nhunters have these songs still. When they had finished the songs the\nAni'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi started on again and the messengers turned back to the\nsettlements, but after going a little way they looked back and saw\na drove of bears going into the woods.\n\n\nFirst Bear Song\n\nHe-e! Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, akwandu'li e'lanti' gin\u00fbn'ti,\n Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, akwandu'li e'lanti' gin\u00fbn'ti--Y\u00fb!\n\nHe-e! The Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, the Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, I want to lay them low\non the ground,\n The Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, the Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi, I want to lay them low\n on the ground--Y\u00fb!\n\n\nThe bear hunter starts out each morning fasting and does not eat\nuntil near evening. He sings this song as he leaves camp, and again\nthe next morning, but never twice the same day.\n\n\nSecond Bear Song\n\nThis song also is sung by the bear hunter, in order to attract the\nbears, while on his way from the camp to the place where he expects\nto hunt during the day. The melody is simple and plaintive.\n\n\nHe-e! Hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa',\n Tsistuyi' nehandu'yan\u00fb', Tsistuyi' nehandu'yan\u00fb'--Yoho-o!\nHe-e! Hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa',\n Kuw\u00e2hi' nehandu'yan\u00fb', Kuw\u00e2hi' nehandu'yan\u00fb'--Yoho-o!\nHe-e! Hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa',\n Uy\u00e2hye' nehandu'yan\u00fb', Uy\u00e2hye' nehandu'yan\u00fb'--Yoho-o!\nHe-e! Hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa', hayuya'haniwa',\n G\u00e2tegw\u00e2' nehandu'yan\u00fb', G\u00e2tegw\u00e2' nehandu'yan\u00fb'--Yoho-o!\n (Recited) \u00dble-`n\u00fb' asehi' tadey\u00e2'statak\u00fbhi' g\u00fb\u00f1'nage ast\u00fb' tsiki'.\n\nHe! Hayuya'haniwa' (four times),\n In Tsistu'yi you were conceived (two times)--Yoho!\nHe! Hayuya'haniwa' (four times),\n In Kuw\u00e2'hi you were conceived (two times)--Yoho!\nHe! Hayuya'haniwa' (four times),\n In Uy\u00e2'hye you were conceived (two times)--Yoho!\nHe! Hayuya'haniwa' (four times),\n In G\u00e2te'gw\u00e2 you were conceived (two times)--Yoho!\nAnd now surely we and the good black things, the best of all, shall\nsee each other.\n\n\n\n\n76. THE BEAR MAN\n\nA man went hunting in the mountains and came across a black bear,\nwhich he wounded with an arrow. The bear turned and started to run the\nother way, and the hunter followed, shooting one arrow after another\ninto it without bringing it down. Now, this was a medicine bear,\nand could talk or read the thoughts of people without their saying a\nword. At last he stopped and pulled the arrows out of his side and gave\nthem to the man, saying, \"It is of no use for you to shoot at me, for\nyou can not kill me. Come to my house and let us live together.\" The\nhunter thought to himself, \"He may kill me;\" but the bear read his\nthoughts and said, \"No, I won't hurt you.\" The man thought again,\n\"How can I get anything to eat?\" but the bear knew his thoughts,\nand said, \"There shall be plenty.\" So the hunter went with the bear.\n\nThey went on together until they came to a hole in the side of the\nmountain, and the bear said, \"This is not where I live, but there is\ngoing to be a council here and we will see what they do.\" They went\nin, and the hole widened as they went, until they came to a large\ncave like a townhouse. It was full of bears--old bears, young bears,\nand cubs, white bears, black bears, and brown bears--and a large\nwhite bear was the chief. They sat down in a corner, but soon the\nbears scented the hunter and began to ask, \"What is it that smells\nbad?\" The chief said, \"Don't talk so; it is only a stranger come to\nsee us. Let him alone.\" Food was getting scarce in the mountains,\nand the council was to decide what to do about it. They had sent out\nmessengers all over, and while they were talking two bears came in\nand reported that they had found a country in the low grounds where\nthere were so many chestnuts and acorns that mast was knee deep. Then\nthey were all pleased, and got ready for a dance, and the dance leader\nwas the one the Indians call Kal\u00e2s'-g\u00fbnahi'ta, \"Long Hams,\" a great\nblack bear that is always lean. After the dance the bears noticed\nthe hunter's bow and arrows, and one said, \"This is what men use to\nkill us. Let us see if we can manage them, and may be we can fight\nman with his own weapons.\" So they took the bow and arrows from the\nhunter to try them. They fitted the arrow and drew back the string,\nbut when they let go it caught in their long claws and the arrows\ndropped to the ground. They saw that they could not use the bow and\narrows and gave them back to the man. When the dance and the council\nwere over, they began to go home, excepting the White Bear chief,\nwho lived there, and at last the hunter and the bear went out together.\n\nThey went on until they came to another hole in the side of the\nmountain, when the bear said, \"This is where I live,\" and they went\nin. By this time the hunter was very hungry and was wondering how he\ncould get something to eat. The other knew his thoughts, and sitting up\non his hind legs he rubbed his stomach with his forepaws--so--and at\nonce he had both paws full of chestnuts and gave them to the man. He\nrubbed his stomach again--so--and had his paws full of huckleberries,\nand gave them to the man. He rubbed again--so--and gave the man both\npaws full of blackberries. He rubbed again--so--and had his paws full\nof acorns, but the man said that he could not eat them, and that he\nhad enough already.\n\nThe hunter lived in the cave with the bear all winter, until long\nhair like that of a bear began to grow all over his body and he began\nto act like a bear; but he still walked like a man. One day in early\nspring the bear said to him, \"Your people down in the settlement are\ngetting ready for a grand hunt in these mountains, and they will come\nto this cave and kill me and take these clothes from me\"--he meant\nhis skin--\"but they will not hurt you and will take you home with\nthem.\" The bear knew what the people were doing down in the settlement\njust as he always knew what the man was thinking about. Some days\npassed and the bear said again, \"This is the day when the Topknots\nwill come to kill me, but the Split-noses will come first and find\nus. When they have killed me they will drag me outside the cave and\ntake off my clothes and cut me in pieces. You must cover the blood\nwith leaves, and when they are taking you away look back after you\nhave gone a piece and you will see something.\"\n\nSoon they heard the hunters coming up the mountain, and then the dogs\nfound the cave and began to bark. The hunters came and looked inside\nand saw the bear and killed him with their arrows. Then they dragged\nhim outside the cave and skinned the body and cut it in quarters to\ncarry home. The dogs kept on barking until the hunters thought there\nmust be another bear in the cave. They looked in again and saw the man\naway at the farther end. At first they thought it was another bear on\naccount of his long hair, but they soon saw it was the hunter who had\nbeen lost the year before, so they went in and brought him out. Then\neach hunter took a load of the bear meat and they started home again,\nbringing the man and the skin with them. Before they left the man\npiled leaves over the spot where they had cut up the bear, and when\nthey had gone a little way he looked behind and saw the bear rise up\nout of the leaves, shake himself, and go back into the woods.\n\nWhen they came near the settlement the man told the hunters that he\nmust be shut up where no one could see him, without anything to eat\nor drink for seven days and nights, until the bear nature had left\nhim and he became like a man again. So they shut him up alone in a\nhouse and tried to keep very still about it, but the news got out and\nhis wife heard of it. She came for her husband, but the people would\nnot let her near him; but she came every day and begged so hard that\nat last after four or five days they let her have him. She took him\nhome with her, but in a short time he died, because he still had a\nbear's nature and could not live like a man. If they had kept him\nshut up and fasting until the end of the seven days he would have\nbecome a man again and would have lived.\n\n\n\n\n77. THE GREAT LEECH OF TLANUSI'YI\n\nThe spot where Valley river joins Hiwassee, at Murphy, in North\nCarolina, is known among the Cherokees as Tlanusi'yi, \"The Leech\nplace,\" and this is the story they tell of it:\n\nJust above the junction is a deep hole in Valley river, and above it\nis a ledge of rock running across the stream, over which people used\nto go as on a bridge. On the south side the trail ascended a high bank,\nfrom which they could look down into the water. One day some men going\nalong the trail saw a great red object, full as large as a house,\nlying on the rock ledge in the middle of the stream below them. As\nthey stood wondering what it could be they saw it unroll--and then\nthey knew it was alive--and stretch itself out along the rock until it\nlooked like a great leech with red and white stripes along its body. It\nrolled up into a ball and again stretched out at full length, and at\nlast crawled down the rock and was out of sight in the deep water. The\nwater began to boil and foam, and a great column of white spray was\nthrown high in the air and came down like a waterspout upon the very\nspot where the men had been standing, and would have swept them all\ninto the water but that they saw it in time and ran from the place.\n\nMore than one person was carried down in this way, and their friends\nwould find the body afterwards lying upon the bank with the ears and\nnose eaten off, until at last the people were afraid to go across the\nledge any more, on account of the great leech, or even to go along\nthat part of the trail. But there was one young fellow who laughed at\nthe whole story, and said that he was not afraid of anything in Valley\nriver, as he would show them. So one day he painted his face and put\non his finest buckskin and started off toward the river, while all\nthe people followed at a distance to see what might happen. Down the\ntrail he went and out upon the ledge of rock, singing in high spirits:\n\n\n Tlanu'si gane'ga digi'gage\n Dakwa'nitlaste'sti.\n I'll tie red leech skins\n On my legs for garters.\n\n\nBut before he was half way across the water began to boil into white\nfoam and a great wave rose and swept over the rock and carried him\ndown, and he was never seen again.\n\nJust before the Removal, sixty years ago, two women went out upon the\nledge to fish. Their friends warned them of the danger, but one woman\nwho had her baby on her back said, \"There are fish there and I'm going\nto have some; I'm tired of this fat meat.\" She laid the child down on\nthe rock and was preparing the line when the water suddenly rose and\nswept over the ledge, and would have carried off the child but that\nthe mother ran in time to save it. The great leech is still there in\nthe deep hole, because when people look down they see something alive\nmoving about on the bottom, and although they can not distinguish its\nshape on account of the ripples on the water, yet they know it is the\nleech. Some say there is an underground waterway across to Nottely\nriver, not far above the mouth, where the river bends over toward\nMurphy, and sometimes the leech goes over there and makes the water\nboil as it used to at the rock ledge. They call this spot on Nottely\n\"The Leech place\" also.\n\n\n\n\n78. THE N\u00db\u00d1NE'HI AND OTHER SPIRIT FOLK\n\nThe N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi or immortals, the \"people who live anywhere,\" were a race\nof spirit people who lived in the highlands of the old Cherokee country\nand had a great many townhouses, especially in the bald mountains, the\nhigh peaks on which no timber ever grows. They had large townhouses\nin Pilot knob and under the old Nikwasi' mound in North Carolina,\nand another under Blood mountain, at the head of Nottely river, in\nGeorgia. They were invisible excepting when they wanted to be seen,\nand then they looked and spoke just like other Indians. They were\nvery fond of music and dancing, and hunters in the mountains would\noften hear the dance songs and the drum beating in some invisible\ntownhouse, but when they went toward the sound it would shift about\nand they would hear it behind them or away in some other direction,\nso that they could never find the place where the dance was. They were\na friendly people, too, and often brought lost wanderers to their\ntownhouses under the mountains and cared for them there until they\nwere rested and then guided them back to their homes. More than once,\nalso, when the Cherokee were hard pressed by the enemy, the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi\nwarriors have come out, as they did at old Nikwasi', and have saved\nthem from defeat. Some people have thought that they are the same\nas the Y\u00fb\u00f1wi Tsunsdi', the \"Little People\"; but these are fairies,\nno larger in size than children.\n\nThere was a man in Nottely town who had been with the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi when\nhe was a boy, and he told Wafford all about it. He was a truthful,\nhard-headed man, and Wafford had heard the story so often from other\npeople that he asked this man to tell it. It was in this way:\n\nWhen he was about 10 or 12 years old he was playing one day near the\nriver, shooting at a mark with his bow and arrows, until he became\ntired, and started to build a fish trap in the water. While he was\npiling up the stones in two long walls a man came and stood on the bank\nand asked him what he was doing. The boy told him, and the man said,\n\"Well, that's pretty hard work and you ought to rest a while. Come\nand take a walk up the river.\" The boy said, \"No\"; that he was going\nhome to dinner soon. \"Come right up to my house,\" said the stranger,\n\"and I'll give you a good dinner there and bring you home again\nin the morning.\" So the boy went with him up the river until they\ncame to a house, when they went in, and the man's wife and the other\npeople there were very glad to see him, and gave him a fine dinner,\nand were very kind to him. While they were eating a man that the boy\nknew very well came in and spoke to him, so that he felt quite at home.\n\nAfter dinner he played with the other children and slept there that\nnight, and in the morning, after breakfast, the man got ready to take\nhim home. They went down a path that had a cornfield on one side and a\npeach orchard fenced in on the other, until they came to another trail,\nand the man said, \"Go along this trail across that ridge and you will\ncome to the river road that will bring you straight to your home, and\nnow I'll go back to the house.\" So the man went back to the house and\nthe boy went on along the trail, but when he had gone a little way he\nlooked back, and there was no cornfield or orchard or fence or house;\nnothing but trees on the mountain side.\n\nHe thought it very queer, but somehow he was not frightened, and went\non until he came to the river trail in sight of his home. There were a\ngreat many people standing about talking, and when they saw him they\nran toward him shouting, \"Here he is! He is not drowned or killed in\nthe mountains!\" They told him they had been hunting him ever since\nyesterday noon, and asked him where he had been. \"A man took me over\nto his house just across the ridge, and I had a fine dinner and a\ngood time with the children,\" said the boy, \"I thought Udsi'skala\nhere\"--that was the name of the man he had seen at dinner--\"would\ntell you where I was.\" But Udsi'skala said, \"I haven't seen you. I\nwas out all day in my canoe hunting you. It was one of the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi\nthat made himself look like me.\" Then his mother said, \"You say you\nhad dinner there?\" \"Yes, and I had plenty, too,\" said the boy; but his\nmother answered, \"There is no house there--only trees and rocks--but\nwe hear a drum sometimes in the big bald above. The people you saw\nwere the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi.\"\n\nOnce four N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi women came to a dance at Nottely town, and danced\nhalf the night with the young men there, and nobody knew that they were\nN\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi, but thought them visitors from another settlement. About\nmidnight they left to go home, and some men who had come out from\nthe townhouse to cool off watched to see which way they went. They\nsaw the women go down the trail to the river ford, but just as they\ncame to the water they disappeared, although it was a plain trail,\nwith no place where they could hide. Then the watchers knew they\nwere N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi women. Several men saw this happen, and one of them was\nWafford's father-in-law, who was known for an honest man. At another\ntime a man named Burnt-tobacco was crossing over the ridge from Nottely\nto Hemptown in Georgia and heard a drum and the songs of dancers in\nthe hills on one side of the trail. He rode over to see who could be\ndancing in such a place, but when he reached the spot the drum and the\nsongs were behind him, and he was so frightened that he hurried back\nto the trail and rode all the way to Hemptown as hard as he could to\ntell the story. He was a truthful man, and they believed what he said.\n\nThere must have been a good many of the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi living in that\nneighborhood, because the drumming was often heard in the high balds\nalmost up to the time of the Removal.\n\nOn a small upper branch of Nottely, running nearly due north from Blood\nmountain, there was also a hole, like a small well or chimney, in the\nground, from which there came up a warm vapor that heated all the air\naround. People said that this was because the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi had a townhouse\nand a fire under the mountain. Sometimes in cold weather hunters would\nstop there to warm themselves, but they were afraid to stay long. This\nwas more than sixty years ago, but the hole is probably there yet.\n\nClose to the old trading path from South Carolina up to the Cherokee\nNation, somewhere near the head of Tugaloo, there was formerly\na noted circular depression about the size of a townhouse, and\nwaist deep. Inside it was always clean as though swept by unknown\nhands. Passing traders would throw logs and rocks into it, but would\nalways, on their return, find them thrown far out from the hole. The\nIndians said it was a N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi townhouse, and never liked to go near\nthe place or even to talk about it, until at last some logs thrown in\nby the traders were allowed to remain there, and then they concluded\nthat the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi, annoyed by the persecution of the white men,\nhad abandoned their townhouse forever.\n\nThere is another race of spirits, the Y\u00fb\u00f1wi Tsunsdi', or \"Little\nPeople,\" who live in rock caves on the mountain side. They are\nlittle fellows, hardly reaching up to a man's knee, but well shaped\nand handsome, with long hair falling almost to the ground. They\nare great wonder workers and are very fond of music, spending half\ntheir time drumming and dancing. They are helpful and kind-hearted,\nand often when people have been lost in the mountains, especially\nchildren who have strayed away from their parents, the Y\u00fb\u00f1wi Tsunsdi'\nhave found them and taken care of them and brought them back to their\nhomes. Sometimes their drum is heard in lonely places in the mountains,\nbut it is not safe to follow it, because the Little People do not like\nto be disturbed at home, and they throw a spell over the stranger so\nthat he is bewildered and loses his way, and even if he does at last\nget back to the settlement he is like one dazed ever after. Sometimes,\nalso, they come near a house at night and the people inside hear them\ntalking, but they must not go out, and in the morning they find the\ncorn gathered or the field cleared as if a whole force of men had\nbeen at work. If anyone should go out to watch, he would die. When\na hunter finds anything in the woods, such as a knife or a trinket,\nhe must say, \"Little People, I want to take this,\" because it may\nbelong to them, and if he does not ask their permission they will\nthrow stones at him as he goes home.\n\nOnce a hunter in winter found tracks in the snow like the tracks\nof little children. He wondered how they could have come there and\nfollowed them until they led him to a cave, which was full of Little\nPeople, young and old, men, women, and children. They brought him\nin and were kind to him, and he was with them some time; but when\nhe left they warned him that he must not tell or he would die. He\nwent back to the settlement and his friends were all anxious to\nknow where he had been. For a long time he refused to say, until at\nlast he could not hold out any longer, but told the story, and in a\nfew days he died. Only a few years ago two hunters from Raventown,\ngoing behind the high fall near the head of Oconaluftee on the East\nCherokee reservation, found there a cave with fresh footprints of\nthe Little People all over the floor.\n\nDuring the smallpox among the East Cherokee just after the war one\nsick man wandered off, and his friends searched, but could not find\nhim. After several weeks he came back and said that the Little People\nhad found him and taken him to one of their caves and tended him\nuntil he was cured.\n\nAbout twenty-five years ago a man named Tsantaw\u00fb' was lost in the\nmountains on the head of Oconaluftee. It was winter time and very\ncold and his friends thought he must be dead, but after sixteen days\nhe came back and said that the Little People had found him and taken\nhim to their cave, where he had been well treated, and given plenty of\neverything to eat except bread. This was in large loaves, but when he\ntook them in his hand to eat they seemed to shrink into small cakes\nso light and crumbly that though he might eat all day he would not\nbe satisfied. After he was well rested they had brought him a part\nof the way home until they came to a small creek, about knee deep,\nwhen they told him to wade across to reach the main trail on the other\nside. He waded across and turned to look back, but the Little People\nwere gone and the creek was a deep river. When he reached home his\nlegs were frozen to the knees and he lived only a few days.\n\nOnce the Y\u00fb\u00f1wi Tsunsdi' had been very kind to the people of a certain\nsettlement, helping them at night with their work and taking good\ncare of any lost children, until something happened to offend them\nand they made up their minds to leave the neighborhood. Those who were\nwatching at the time saw the whole company of Little People come down\nto the ford of the river and cross over and disappear into the mouth\nof a large cave on the other side. They were never heard of near the\nsettlement again.\n\nThere are other fairies, the Y\u00fb\u00f1wi Amai'yine'hi, or Water-dwellers,\nwho live in the water, and fishermen pray to them for help. Other\nfriendly spirits live in people's houses, although no one can see them,\nand so long as they are there to protect the house no witch can come\nnear to do mischief.\n\nTsawa'si and Tsaga'si are the names of two small fairies, who are\nmischievous enough, but yet often help the hunter who prays to\nthem. Tsawa'si, or Tsawa'si Usdi'ga (Little Tsawa'si), is a tiny\nfellow, very handsome, with long hair falling down to his feet, who\nlives in grassy patches on the hillsides and has great power over the\ngame. To the deer hunter who prays to him he gives skill to slip up\non the deer through the long grass without being seen. Tsaga'si is\nanother of the spirits invoked by the hunter and is very helpful,\nbut when someone trips and falls, we know that it is Tsaga'si who\nhas caused it. There are several other of these fairies with names,\nall good-natured, but more or less tricky.\n\nThen there is De'tsata. De'tsata was once a boy who ran away to\nthe woods to avoid a scratching and tries to keep himself invisible\never since. He is a handsome little fellow and spends his whole time\nhunting birds with blowgun and arrow. He has a great many children who\nare all just like him and have the same name. When a flock of birds\nflies up suddenly as if frightened it is because De'tsata is chasing\nthem. He is mischievous and sometimes hides an arrow from the bird\nhunter, who may have shot it off into a perfectly clear space, but\nlooks and looks without finding it. Then the hunter says, \"De'tsata,\nyou have my arrow, and if you don't give it up I'll scratch you,\"\nand when he looks again he finds it.\n\nThere is one spirit that goes about at night with a light. The Cherokee\ncall it Atsil'-dihye'gi, \"The Fire-carrier,\" and they are all afraid\nof it, because they think it dangerous, although they do not know much\nabout it. They do not even know exactly what it looks like, because\nthey are afraid to stop when they see it. It may be a witch instead\nof a spirit. Wafford's mother saw the \"Fire-carrier\" once when she\nwas a young woman, as she was coming home at night from a trading\npost in South Carolina. It seemed to be following her from behind,\nand she was frightened and whipped up her horse until she got away\nfrom it and never saw it again.\n\n\n\n\n79. THE REMOVED TOWNHOUSES\n\nLong ago, long before the Cherokee were driven from their homes\nin 1838, the people on Valley river and Hiwassee heard voices of\ninvisible spirits in the air calling and warning them of wars and\nmisfortunes which the future held in store, and inviting them to\ncome and live with the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi, the Immortals, in their homes under\nthe mountains and under the waters. For days the voices hung in the\nair, and the people listened until they heard the spirits say, \"If\nyou would live with us, gather everyone in your townhouses and fast\nthere for seven days, and no one must raise a shout or a warwhoop in\nall that time. Do this and we shall come and you will see us and we\nshall take you to live with us.\"\n\nThe people were afraid of the evils that were to come, and they\nknew that the Immortals of the mountains and the waters were happy\nforever, so they counciled in their townhouses and decided to go\nwith them. Those of Anisgay\u00e2'yi town came all together into their\ntownhouse and prayed and fasted for six days. On the seventh day\nthere was a sound from the distant mountains, and it came nearer and\ngrew louder until a roar of thunder was all about the townhouse and\nthey felt the ground shake under them. Now they were frightened,\nand despite the warning some of them screamed out. The N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi,\nwho had already lifted up the townhouse with its mound to carry\nit away, were startled by the cry and let a part of it fall to the\nearth, where now we see the mound of Se'tsi. They steadied themselves\nagain and bore the rest of the townhouse, with all the people in it,\nto the top of Tsuda'ye`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi (Lone peak), near the head of Cheowa,\nwhere we can still see it, changed long ago to solid rock, but the\npeople are invisible and immortal.\n\nThe people of another town, on Hiwassee, at the place which we call\nnow Du'stiya`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi, where Shooting creek comes in, also prayed and\nfasted, and at the end of seven days the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi came and took them\naway down under the water. They are there now, and on a warm summer\nday, when the wind ripples the surface, those who listen well can\nhear them talking below. When the Cherokee drag the river for fish\nthe fish-drag always stops and catches there, although the water is\ndeep, and the people know it is being held by their lost kinsmen,\nwho do not want to be forgotten.\n\nWhen the Cherokee were forcibly removed to the West one of the greatest\nregrets of those along Hiwassee and Valley rivers was that they were\ncompelled to leave behind forever their relatives who had gone to\nthe N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi.\n\nIn Tennessee river, near Kingston, 18 miles below Loudon, Tennessee,\nis a place which the Cherokee call Gusti', where there once was a\nsettlement long ago, but one night while the people were gathered\nin the townhouse for a dance the bank caved in and carried them all\ndown into the river. Boatmen passing the spot in their canoes see the\nround dome of the townhouse--now turned to stone--in the water below\nthem and sometimes hear the sound of the drum and dance coming up,\nand they never fail to throw food into the water in return for being\nallowed to cross in safety.\n\n\n\n\n80. THE SPIRIT DEFENDERS OF NIKWASI'\n\nLong ago a powerful unknown tribe invaded the country from the\nsoutheast, killing people and destroying settlements wherever they\nwent. No leader could stand against them, and in a little while\nthey had wasted all the lower settlements and advanced into the\nmountains. The warriors of the old town of Nikwasi', on the head\nof Little Tennessee, gathered their wives and children into the\ntownhouse and kept scouts constantly on the lookout for the presence\nof danger. One morning just before daybreak the spies saw the enemy\napproaching and at once gave the alarm. The Nikwasi' men seized\ntheir arms and rushed out to meet the attack, but after a long,\nhard fight they found themselves overpowered and began to retreat,\nwhen suddenly a stranger stood among them and shouted to the chief to\ncall off his men and he himself would drive back the enemy. From the\ndress and language of the stranger the Nikwasi' people thought him a\nchief who had come with reinforcements from the Overhill settlements\nin Tennessee. They fell back along the trail, and as they came near\nthe townhouse they saw a great company of warriors coming out from\nthe side of the mound as through an open doorway. Then they knew that\ntheir friends were the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi, the Immortals, although no one had\never heard before that they lived under Nikwasi' mound.\n\nThe N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi poured out by hundreds, armed and painted for the fight,\nand the most curious thing about it all was that they became invisible\nas soon as they were fairly outside of the settlement, so that although\nthe enemy saw the glancing arrow or the rushing tomahawk, and felt\nthe stroke, he could not see who sent it. Before such invisible foes\nthe invaders soon had to retreat, going first south along the ridge\nto where joins the main ridge which separates the French Broad from\nthe Tuckasegee, and then turning with it to the northeast. As they\nretreated they tried to shield themselves behind rocks and trees,\nbut the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi arrows went around the rocks and killed them from\nthe other side, and they could find no hiding place. All along the\nridge they fell, until when they reached the head of Tuckasegee not\nmore than half a dozen were left alive, and in despair they sat down\nand cried out for mercy. Ever since then the Cherokee have called the\nplace Day\u00fbls\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where they cried.\" Then the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi chief told\nthem they had deserved their punishment for attacking a peaceful tribe,\nand he spared their lives and told them to go home and take the news\nto their people. This was the Indian custom, always to spare a few\nto carry back the news of defeat. They went home toward the north\nand the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi went back to the mound.\n\nAnd they are still there, because, in the last war, when a strong\nparty of Federal troops came to surprise a handful of Confederates\nposted there they saw so many soldiers guarding the town that they\nwere afraid and went away without making an attack.\n\n\n\nThere is another story, that once while all the warriors of a certain\ntown were off on a hunt, or at a dance in another settlement, one\nold man was chopping wood on the side of the ridge when suddenly\na party of the enemy came upon him--Shawano, Seneca, or some other\ntribe. Throwing his hatchet at the nearest one, he turned and ran for\nthe house to get his gun and make the best defense that he might. On\ncoming out at once with the gun he was surprised to find a large\nbody of strange warriors driving back the enemy. It was no time for\nquestions, and taking his place with the others, they fought hard\nuntil the enemy was pressed back up the creek and finally broke and\nretreated across the mountain. When it was over and there was time\nto breathe again, the old man turned to thank his new friends, but\nfound that he was alone--they had disappeared as though the mountain\nhad swallowed them. Then he knew that they were the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi, who\nhad come to help their friends, the Cherokee.\n\n\n\n\n81. TSUL`KAL\u00db', THE SLANT-EYED GIANT\n\nA long time ago a widow lived with her one daughter at the old town of\nKanuga on Pigeon river. The girl was of age to marry, and her mother\nused to talk with her a good deal, and tell her she must be sure to\ntake no one but a good hunter for a husband, so that they would have\nsome one to take care of them and would always have plenty of meat in\nthe house. The girl said such a man was hard to find, but her mother\nadvised her not to be in a hurry, and to wait until the right one came.\n\nNow the mother slept in the house while the girl slept outside in the\n\u00e2si. One dark night a stranger came to the \u00e2si wanting to court the\ngirl, but she told him her mother would let her marry no one but a\ngood hunter. \"Well,\" said the stranger, \"I am a great hunter,\" so she\nlet him come in, and he stayed all night. Just before day he said he\nmust go back now to his own place, but that he had brought some meat\nfor her mother, and she would find it outside. Then he went away and\nthe girl had not seen him. When day came she went out and found there\na deer, which she brought into the house to her mother, and told her\nit was a present from her new sweetheart. Her mother was pleased,\nand they had deersteaks for breakfast.\n\nHe came again the next night, but again went away before daylight,\nand this time he left two deer outside. The mother was more pleased\nthis time, but said to her daughter, \"I wish your sweetheart would\nbring us some wood.\" Now wherever he might be, the stranger knew\ntheir thoughts, so when he came the next time he said to the girl,\n\"Tell your mother I have brought the wood\"; and when she looked out\nin the morning there were several great trees lying in front of the\ndoor, roots and branches and all. The old woman was angry, and said,\n\"He might have brought us some wood that we could use instead of whole\ntrees that we can't split, to litter up the road with brush.\" The\nhunter knew what she said, and the next time he came he brought\nnothing, and when they looked out in the morning the trees were\ngone and there was no wood at all, so the old woman had to go after\nsome herself.\n\nAlmost every night he came to see the girl, and each time he brought a\ndeer or some other game, but still he always left before daylight. At\nlast her mother said to her, \"Your husband always leaves before\ndaylight. Why don't he wait? I want to see what kind of a son-in-law\nI have.\" When the girl told this to her husband he said he could not\nlet the old woman see him, because the sight would frighten her. \"She\nwants to see you, anyhow,\" said the girl, and began to cry, until at\nlast he had to consent, but warned her that her mother must not say\nthat he looked frightful (usga'se`ti'yu).\n\nThe next morning he did not leave so early, but stayed in the \u00e2si,\nand when it was daylight the girl went out and told her mother. The\nold woman came and looked in, and there she saw a great giant, with\nlong slanting eyes (tsul`kal\u00fb'), lying doubled up on the floor,\nwith his head against the rafters in the left-hand corner at the\nback, and his toes scraping the roof in the right-hand corner by\nthe door. She gave only one look and ran back to the house, crying,\nUsga'se`ti'yu! Usga'se`ti'yu!\n\nTsul`kal\u00fb' was terribly angry. He untwisted himself and came out of\nthe \u00e2si, and said good-bye to the girl, telling her that he would\nnever let her mother see him again, but would go back to his own\ncountry. Then he went off in the direction of Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nSoon after he left the girl had her monthly period. There was a very\ngreat flow of blood, and the mother threw it all into the river. One\nnight after the girl had gone to bed in the \u00e2si her husband came\nagain to the door and said to her, \"It seems you are alone,\" and\nasked where was the child. She said there had been none. Then he asked\nwhere was the blood, and she said that her mother had thrown it into\nthe river. She told just where the place was, and he went there and\nfound a small worm in the water. He took it up and carried it back\nto the \u00e2si, and as he walked it took form and began to grow, until,\nwhen he reached the \u00e2si, it was a baby girl that he was carrying. He\ngave it to his wife and said, \"Your mother does not like me and abuses\nour child, so come and let us go to my home.\" The girl wanted to be\nwith her husband, so, after telling her mother good-bye, she took up\nthe child and they went off together to Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nNow, the girl had an older brother, who lived with his own wife in\nanother settlement, and when he heard that his sister was married he\ncame to pay a visit to her and her new husband, but when he arrived\nat Kanuga his mother told him his sister had taken her child and gone\naway with her husband, nobody knew where. He was sorry to see his\nmother so lonely, so he said he would go after his sister and try to\nfind her and bring her back. It was easy to follow the footprints of\nthe giant, and the young man went along the trail until he came to\na place where they had rested, and there were tracks on the ground\nwhere a child had been lying and other marks as if a baby had been\nborn there. He went on along the trail and came to another place where\nthey had rested, and there were tracks of a baby crawling about and\nanother lying on the ground. He went on and came to where they had\nrested again, and there were tracks of a child walking and another\ncrawling about. He went on until he came where they had rested again,\nand there were tracks of one child running and another walking. Still\nhe followed the trail along the stream into the mountains, and came\nto the place where they had rested again, and this time there were\nfootprints of two children running all about, and the footprints can\nstill be seen in the rock at that place.\n\nTwice again he found where they had rested, and then the trail led up\nthe slope of Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, and he heard the sound of a drum and voices,\nas if people were dancing inside the mountain. Soon he came to a cave\nlike a doorway in the side of the mountain, but the rock was so steep\nand smooth that he could not climb up to it, but could only just look\nover the edge and see the heads and shoulders of a great many people\ndancing inside. He saw his sister dancing among them and called to\nher to come out. She turned when she heard his voice, and as soon\nas the drumming stopped for a while she came out to him, finding no\ntrouble to climb down the rock, and leading her two little children\nby the hand. She was very glad to meet her brother and talked with\nhim a long time, but did not ask him to come inside, and at last he\nwent away without having seen her husband.\n\nSeveral other times her brother came to the mountain, but always his\nsister met him outside, and he could never see her husband. After four\nyears had passed she came one day to her mother's house and said her\nhusband had been hunting in the woods near by, and they were getting\nready to start home to-morrow, and if her mother and brother would\ncome early in the morning they could see her husband. If they came\ntoo late for that, she said, they would find plenty of meat to take\nhome. She went back into the woods, and the mother ran to tell her\nson. They came to the place early the next morning, but Tsul`kal\u00fb'\nand his family were already gone. On the drying poles they found the\nbodies of freshly killed deer hanging, as the girl had promised, and\nthere were so many that they went back and told all their friends to\ncome for them, and there were enough for the whole settlement.\n\nStill the brother wanted to see his sister and her husband, so he\nwent again to the mountain, and she came out to meet him. He asked\nto see her husband, and this time she told him to come inside with\nher. They went in as through a doorway, and inside he found it like a\ngreat townhouse. They seemed to be alone, but his sister called aloud,\n\"He wants to see you,\" and from the air came a voice, \"You can not\nsee me until you put on a new dress, and then you can see me.\" \"I am\nwilling,\" said the young man, speaking to the unseen spirit, and from\nthe air came the voice again, \"Go back, then, and tell your people\nthat to see me they must go into the townhouse and fast seven days,\nand in all that time they must not come out from the townhouse or\nraise the war whoop, and on the seventh day I shall come with new\ndresses for you to put on so that you can all see me.\"\n\nThe young man went back to Kanuga and told the people. They all\nwanted to see Tsul`kal\u00fb', who owned all the game in the mountains,\nso they went into the townhouse and began the fast. They fasted the\nfirst day and the second and every day until the seventh--all but\none man from another settlement, who slipped out every night when\nit was dark to get something to eat and slipped in again when no\none was watching. On the morning of the seventh day the sun was just\ncoming up in the east when they heard a great noise like the thunder\nof rocks rolling down the side of Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi. They were frightened\nand drew near together in the townhouse, and no one whispered. Nearer\nand louder came the sound until it grew into an awful roar, and every\none trembled and held his breath--all but one man, the stranger from\nthe other settlement, who lost his senses from fear and ran out of\nthe townhouse and shouted the war cry.\n\nAt once the roar stopped and for some time there was silence. Then\nthey heard it again, but as if it were going farther away, and then\nfarther and farther, until at last it died away in the direction of\nTsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, and then all was still again. The people came out from\nthe townhouse, but there was silence, and they could see nothing but\nwhat had been seven days before.\n\nStill the brother was not disheartened, but came again to see his\nsister, and she brought him into the mountain. He asked why Tsul`k\u00e2l\u00fb'\nhad not brought the new dresses, as he had promised, and the voice\nfrom the air said, \"I came with them, but you did not obey my word,\nbut broke the fast and raised the war cry.\" The young man answered,\n\"It was not done by our people, but by a stranger. If you will come\nagain, we will surely do as you say.\" But the voice answered, \"Now\nyou can never see me.\" Then the young man could not say any more,\nand he went back to Kanuga.\n\n\n\n\n82. KANA'STA, THE LOST SETTLEMENT\n\nLong ago, while people still lived in the old town of Kana'sta, on\nthe French Broad, two strangers, who looked in no way different from\nother Cherokee, came into the settlement one day and made their way\ninto the chief's house. After the first greetings were over the chief\nasked them from what town they had come, thinking them from one of\nthe western settlements, but they said, \"We are of your people and\nour town is close at hand, but you have never seen it. Here you have\nwars and sickness, with enemies on every side, and after a while a\nstronger enemy will come to take your country from you. We are always\nhappy, and we have come to invite you to live with us in our town\nover there,\" and they pointed toward Tsuwa`tel'da (Pilot knob). \"We\ndo not live forever, and do not always find game when we go for\nit, for the game belongs to Tsul`kal\u00fb', who lives in Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\nbut we have peace always and need not think of danger. We go now,\nbut if your people will live with us let them fast seven days, and\nwe shall come then to take them.\" Then they went away toward the west.\n\nThe chief called his people together into the townhouse and they\nheld a council over the matter and decided at last to go with the\nstrangers. They got all their property ready for moving, and then\nwent again into the townhouse and began their fast. They fasted six\ndays, and on the morning of the seventh, before yet the sun was high,\nthey saw a great company coming along the trail from the west, led\nby the two men who had stopped with the chief. They seemed just like\nCherokee from another settlement, and after a friendly meeting they\ntook up a part of the goods to be carried, and the two parties started\nback together for Tsuwa`tel'da. There was one man from another town\nvisiting at Kana'sta, and he went along with the rest.\n\nWhen they came to the mountain, the two guides led the way into a cave,\nwhich opened out like a great door in the side of the rock. Inside they\nfound an open country and a town, with houses ranged in two long rows\nfrom east to west. The mountain people lived in the houses on the south\nside, and they had made ready the other houses for the new comers,\nbut even after all the people of Kana'sta, with their children and\nbelongings, had moved in, there were still a large number of houses\nwaiting ready for the next who might come. The mountain people told\nthem that there was another town, of a different people, above them\nin the same mountain, and still farther above, at the very top,\nlived the Ani'-Hy\u00fb\u00f1tikwal\u00e2'ski (the Thunders).\n\nNow all the people of Kana'sta were settled in their new homes, but the\nman who had only been visiting with them wanted to go back to his own\nfriends. Some of the mountain people wanted to prevent this, but the\nchief said, \"No; let him go if he will, and when he tells his friends\nthey may want to come, too. There is plenty of room for all.\" Then he\nsaid to the man, \"Go back and tell your friends that if they want to\ncome and live with us and be always happy, there is a place here ready\nand waiting for them. Others of us live in Datsu'nal\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi and in\nthe high mountains all around, and if they would rather go to any of\nthem it is all the same. We see you wherever you go and are with you\nin all your dances, but you can not see us unless you fast. If you\nwant to see us, fast four days, and we will come and talk with you;\nand then if you want to live with us, fast again seven days, and we\nwill come and take you.\" Then the chief led the man through the cave\nto the outside of the mountain and left him there, but when the man\nlooked back he saw no cave, but only the solid rock.\n\n\n\nThe people of the lost settlement were never seen again, and they\nare still living in Tsuwa`tel'da. Strange things happen there, so\nthat the Cherokee know the mountain is haunted and do not like to go\nnear it. Only a few years ago a party of hunters camped there, and as\nthey sat around their fire at supper time they talked of the story\nand made rough jokes about the people of old Kana'sta. That night\nthey were aroused from sleep by a noise as of stones thrown at them\nfrom among the trees, but when they searched they could find nobody,\nand were so frightened that they gathered up their guns and pouches\nand left the place.\n\n\n\n\n83. TSUWE'NAHI: A LEGEND OF PILOT KNOB\n\nIn the old town of Kanuga, on Pigeon river, there was a lazy fellow\nnamed Tsuwe'nahi, who lived from house to house among his relatives\nand never brought home any game, although he used to spend nearly\nall his time in the woods. At last his friends got very tired of\nkeeping him, so he told them to get some parched corn ready for him\nand he would go and bring back a deer or else would never trouble\nthem again. They filled his pouch with parched corn, enough for a\nlong trip, and he started off for the mountains. Day after day passed\nuntil they thought they had really seen the last of him, but before\nthe month was half gone he was back again at Kanuga, with no deer,\nbut with a wonderful story to tell.\n\nHe said that he had hardly turned away from the trail to go up\nthe ridge when he met a stranger, who asked him where he was\ngoing. Tsuwe'nahi answered that his friends in the settlement had\ndriven him out because he was no good hunter, and that if he did not\nfind a deer this time he would never go back again. \"Why not come with\nme?\" said the stranger, \"my town is not far from here, and you have\nrelatives there.\" Tsuwe'nahi was very glad of the chance, because he\nwas ashamed to go back to his own town; so he went with the stranger,\nwho took him to Tsuwa`tel'da (Pilot knob). They came to a cave,\nand the other said, \"Let us go in here;\" but the cave ran clear to\nthe heart of the mountain, and when they were inside the hunter found\nthere an open country like a wide bottom land, with a great settlement\nand hundreds of people. They were all glad to see him, and brought\nhim to their chief, who took him into his own house and showed him\na seat near the fire. Tsuwe'nahi sat down, but he felt it move under\nhim, and when he looked again he saw that it was a turtle, with its\nhead sticking out from the shell. He jumped up, but the chief said,\n\"It won't hurt you; it only wants to see who you are.\" So he sat down\nvery carefully, and the turtle drew in its head again. They brought\nfood, of the same kind that he had been accustomed to at home, and\nwhen he had eaten the chief took him through the settlement until he\nhad seen all the houses and talked with most of the people. When he\nhad seen everything and had rested some days, he was anxious to get\nback to his home, so the chief himself brought him to the mouth of\nthe cave and showed him the trail that led down to the river. Then he\nsaid, \"You are going back to the settlement, but you will never be\nsatisfied there any more. Whenever you want to come to us, you know\nthe way.\" The chief left him, and Tsuwe'nahi went down the mountain\nand along the river until he came to Kanuga.\n\nHe told his story, but no one believed it and the people only laughed\nat him. After that he would go away very often and be gone for several\ndays at a time, and when he came back to the settlement he would say\nhe had been with the mountain people. At last one man said he believed\nthe story and would go with him to see. They went off together to the\nwoods, where they made a camp, and then Tsuwe'nahi went on ahead,\nsaying he would be back soon. The other waited for him, doing a\nlittle hunting near the camp, and two nights afterwards Tsuwe'nahi\nwas back again. He seemed to be alone, but was talking as he came,\nand the other hunter heard girls' voices, although he could see no\none. When he came up to the fire he said, \"I have two friends with me,\nand they say there is to be a dance in their town in two nights, and\nif you want to go they will come for you.\" The hunter agreed at once,\nand Tsuwe'nahi called out, as if to some one close by, \"He says he will\ngo.\" Then he said, \"Our sisters have come for some venison.\" The hunter\nhad killed a deer and had the meat drying over the fire, so he said,\n\"What kind do they want?\" The voices answered, \"Our mother told us to\nask for some of the ribs,\" but still he could see nothing. He took\ndown some rib pieces and gave them to Tsuwe'nahi, who took them and\nsaid, \"In two days we shall come again for you.\" Then he started off,\nand the other heard the voices going through the woods until all was\nstill again.\n\nIn two days Tsuwe'nahi came, and this time he had two girls with\nhim. As they stood near the fire the hunter noticed that their feet\nwere short and round, almost like dogs' paws, but as soon as they saw\nhim looking they sat down so that he could not see their feet. After\nsupper the whole party left the camp and went up along the creek to\nTsuwa`tel'da. They went in through the cave door until they got to\nthe farther end and could see houses beyond, when all at once the\nhunter's legs felt as if they were dead and he staggered and fell to\nthe ground. The others lifted him up, but still he could not stand,\nuntil the medicine-man brought some \"old tobacco\" and rubbed it on\nhis legs and made him smell it until he sneezed. Then he was able to\nstand again and went in with the others. He could not stand at first,\nbecause he had not prepared himself by fasting before he started.\n\nThe dance had not yet begun and Tsuwe'nahi took the hunter into\nthe townhouse and showed him a seat near the fire, but it had long\nthorns of honey locust sticking out from it and he was afraid to sit\ndown. Tsuwe'nahi told him not to be afraid, so he sat down and found\nthat the thorns were as soft as down feathers. Now the drummer came\nin and the dancers, and the dance began. One man followed at the end\nof the line, crying K\u00fb! K\u00fb! all the time, but not dancing. The hunter\nwondered, and they told him, \"This man was lost in the mountains and\nhad been calling all through the woods for his friends until his,\nvoice failed and he was only able to pant K\u00fb! K\u00fb! and then we found\nhim and took him in.\"\n\nWhen it was over Tsuwe'nahi and the hunter went back to the\nsettlement. At the next dance in Kanuga they told all they had seen at\nTsuwa`tel'da, what a large town was there and how kind everybody was,\nand this time--because there were two of them--the people believed\nit. Now others wanted to go, but Tsuwe'nahi told them they must first\nfast seven days, while he went ahead to prepare everything, and then he\nwould come and bring them. He went away and the others fasted, until\nat the end of seven days he came for them and they went with him to\nTsuwa`tel'da, and their friends in the settlement never saw them again.\n\n\n\n\n84. THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE THUNDER'S SISTER\n\nIn the old times the people used to dance often and all night. Once\nthere was a dance at the old town of S\u00e2kwi'yi, on the head of\nChattahoochee, and after it was well started two young women with\nbeautiful long hair came in, but no one knew who they were or whence\nthey had come. They danced with one partner and another, and in the\nmorning slipped away before anyone knew that they were gone; but a\nyoung warrior had fallen in love with one of the sisters on account of\nher beautiful hair, and after the manner of the Cherokee had already\nasked her through an old man if she would marry him and let him live\nwith her. To this the young woman had replied that her brother at home\nmust first be consulted, and they promised to return for the next dance\nseven days later with an answer, but in the meantime if the young man\nreally loved her he must prove his constancy by a rigid fast until\nthen. The eager lover readily agreed and impatiently counted the days.\n\nIn seven nights there was another dance. The young warrior was on hand\nearly, and later in the evening the two sisters appeared as suddenly as\nbefore. They told him their brother was willing, and after the dance\nthey would conduct the young man to their home, but warned him that\nif he told anyone where he went or what he saw he would surely die.\n\nHe danced with them again and about daylight the three came away just\nbefore the dance closed, so as to avoid being followed, and started off\ntogether. The women led the way along a trail through the woods, which\nthe young man had never noticed before, until they came to a small\ncreek, where, without hesitating, they stepped into the water. The\nyoung man paused in surprise on the bank and thought to himself,\n\"They are walking in the water; I don't want to do that.\" The women\nknew his thoughts just as though he had spoken and turned and said\nto him, \"This is not water; this is the road to our house.\" He still\nhesitated, but they urged him on until he stepped into the water and\nfound it was only soft grass that made a fine level trail.\n\nThey went on until the trail came to a large stream which he knew\nfor Tallulah river. The women plunged boldly in, but again the\nwarrior hesitated on the bank, thinking to himself, \"That water is\nvery deep and will drown me; I can't go on.\" They knew his thoughts\nand turned and said, \"This is no water, but the main trail that goes\npast our house, which is now close by.\" He stepped in, and instead\nof water there was tall waving grass that closed above his head as\nhe followed them.\n\nThey went only a short distance and came to a rock cave close under\nUg\u00fb\u00f1'yi (Tallulah falls). The women entered, while the warrior\nstopped at the mouth; but they said, \"This is our house; come in and\nour brother will soon be home; he is coming now.\" They heard low\nthunder in the distance. He went inside and stood up close to the\nentrance. Then the women took off their long hair and hung it up on\na rock, and both their heads were as smooth as a pumpkin. The man\nthought, \"It is not hair at all,\" and he was more frightened than ever.\n\nThe younger woman, the one he was about to marry, then sat down and\ntold him to take a seat beside her. He looked, and it was a large\nturtle, which raised itself up and stretched out its claws as if angry\nat being disturbed. The young man said it was a turtle, and refused\nto sit down, but the woman insisted that it was a seat. Then there\nwas a louder roll of thunder and the woman said, \"Now our brother is\nnearly home.\" While they urged and he still refused to come nearer\nor sit down, suddenly there was a great thunder clap just behind him,\nand turning quickly he saw a man standing in the doorway of the cave.\n\n\"This is my brother,\" said the woman, and he came in and sat down\nupon the turtle, which again rose up and stretched out its claws. The\nyoung warrior still refused to come in. The brother then said that he\nwas just about to start to a council, and invited the young man to go\nwith him. The hunter said he was willing to go if only he had a horse;\nso the young woman was told to bring one. She went out and soon came\nback leading a great uktena snake, that curled and twisted along the\nwhole length of the cave. Some people say this was a white uktena\nand that the brother himself rode a red one. The hunter was terribly\nfrightened, and said \"That is a snake; I can't ride that.\" The others\ninsisted that it was no snake, but their riding-horse. The brother grew\nimpatient and said to the woman, \"He may like it better if you bring\nhim a saddle, and some bracelets for his wrists and arms.\" So they\nwent out again and brought in a saddle and some arm bands, and the\nsaddle was another turtle, which they fastened on the uktena's back,\nand the bracelets were living slimy snakes, which they got ready to\ntwist around the hunter's wrists.\n\nHe was almost dead with fear, and said, \"What kind of horrible place\nis this? I can never stay here to live with snakes and creeping\nthings.\" The brother got very angry and called him a coward, and then\nit was as if lightening flashed from his eyes and struck the young man,\nand a terrible crash of thunder stretched him senseless.\n\nWhen at last he came to himself again he was standing with his feet\nin the water and both hands grasping a laurel bush that grew out from\nthe bank, and there was no trace of the cave or the Thunder People,\nbut he was alone in the forest. He made his way out and finally reached\nhis own settlement, but found then that he had been gone so very long\nthat all the people had thought him dead, although to him it seemed\nonly the day after the dance. His friends questioned him closely, and,\nforgetting the warning, he told the story; but in seven days he died,\nfor no one can come back from the underworld and tell it and live.\n\n\n\n\n85. THE HAUNTED WHIRLPOOL\n\nAt the mouth of Suck creek, on the Tennessee, about 8 miles below\nChattanooga, is a series of dangerous whirlpools, known as \"The\nSuck,\" and noted among the Cherokee as the place where \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi',\nthe gambler, lived long ago (see the story). They call it \u00db\u00f1'tiguhi',\n\"Pot-in-the-water,\" on account of the appearance of the surging,\ntumbling water, suggesting a boiling pot. They assert that in the old\ntimes the whirlpools were intermittent in character, and the canoemen\nattempting to pass the spot used to hug the bank, keeping constantly\non the alert for signs of a coming eruption, and when they saw the\nwater begin to revolve more rapidly would stop and wait until it\nbecame quiet again before attempting to proceed.\n\nIt happened once that two men, going down the river in a canoe,\nas they came near this place saw the water circling rapidly ahead of\nthem. They pulled up to the bank to wait until it became smooth again,\nbut the whirlpool seemed to approach with wider and wider circles,\nuntil they were drawn into the vortex. They were thrown out of the\ncanoe and carried down under the water, where one man was seized by\na great fish and was never seen again. The other was taken round and\nround down to the very lowest center of the whirlpool, when another\ncircle caught him and bore him outward and upward until he was finally\nthrown up again to the surface and floated out into the shallow water,\nwhence he made his escape to shore. He told afterwards that when he\nreached the narrowest circle of the maelstrom the water seemed to\nopen below him and he could look down as through the roof beams of\na house, and there on the bottom of the river he had seen a great\ncompany of people, who looked up and beckoned to him to join them,\nbut as they put up their hands to seize him the swift current caught\nhim and took him out of their reach.\n\n\n\n\n86. YAHULA\n\nYahoola creek, which flows by Dahlonega, in Lumpkin county, Georgia,\nis called Yahul\u00e2'i (Yahula place) by the Cherokees, and this is the\nstory of the name:\n\nYears ago, long before the Revolution, Yahula was a prosperous stock\ntrader among the Cherokee, and the tinkling of the bells hung around\nthe necks of his ponies could be heard on every mountain trail. Once\nthere was a great hunt and all the warriors were out, but when it\nwas over and they were ready to return to the settlement Yahula was\nnot with them. They waited and searched, but he could not be found,\nand at last they went back without him, and his friends grieved for\nhim as for one dead. Some time after his people were surprised and\ndelighted to have him walk in among them and sit down as they were\nat supper in the evening. To their questions he told them that he had\nbeen lost in the mountains, and that the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi, the Immortals, had\nfound him and brought him to their town, where he had been kept ever\nsince, with the kindest care and treatment, until the longing to see\nhis old friends had brought him back. To the invitation of his friends\nto join them at supper he said that it was now too late--he had tasted\nthe fairy food and could never again eat with human kind, and for the\nsame reason he could not stay with his family, but must go back to\nthe N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi. His wife and children and brother begged him to stay,\nbut he said that he could not; it was either life with the Immortals\nor death with his own people--and after some further talk he rose to\ngo. They saw him as he sat talking to them and as he stood up, but the\nmoment he stepped out the doorway he vanished as if he had never been.\n\nAfter that he came back often to visit his people. They would see him\nfirst as he entered the house, and while he sat and talked he was his\nold self in every way, but the instant he stepped across the threshold\nhe was gone, though a hundred eyes might be watching. He came often,\nbut at last their entreaties grew so urgent that the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi must\nhave been offended, and he came no more. On the mountain at the head\nof the creek, about 10 miles above the present Dahlonega, is a small\nsquare inclosure of uncut stone, without roof or entrance. Here it was\nsaid that he lived, so the Cherokee called it Yahul\u00e2'i and called the\nstream by the same name. Often at night a belated traveler coming along\nthe trail by the creek would hear the voice of Yahula singing certain\nfavorite old songs that he used to like to sing as he drove his pack\nof horses across the mountain, the sound of a voice urging them on,\nand the crack of a whip and the tinkling of bells went with the song,\nbut neither driver nor horses could be seen, although the sounds\npassed close by. The songs and the bells were heard only at night.\n\nThere was one man who had been his friend, who sang the same songs for\na time after Yahula had disappeared, but he died suddenly, and then\nthe Cherokee were afraid to sing these songs any more until it was\nso long since anyone had heard the sounds on the mountain that they\nthought Yahula must be gone away, perhaps to the West, where others\nof the tribe had already gone. It is so long ago now that even the\nstone house may have been destroyed by this time, but more than one\nold man's father saw it and heard the songs and the bells a hundred\nyears ago. When the Cherokee went from Georgia to Indian Territory\nin 1838 some of them said, \"Maybe Yahula has gone there and we shall\nhear him,\" but they have never heard him again.\n\n\n\n\n87. THE WATER CANNIBALS\n\nBesides the friendly N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi of the streams and mountains there is a\nrace of cannibal spirits, who stay at the bottom of the deep rivers\nand live upon human flesh, especially that of little children. They\ncome out just after daybreak and go about unseen from house to house\nuntil they find some one still asleep, when they shoot him with their\ninvisible arrows and carry the dead body down under the water to\nfeast upon it. That no one may know what has happened they leave in\nplace of the body a shade or image of the dead man or little child,\nthat wakes up and talks and goes about just as he did, but there is\nno life in it, and in seven days it withers and dies, and the people\nbury it and think they are burying their dead friend. It was a long\ntime before the people found out about this, but now they always\ntry to be awake at daylight and wake up the children, telling them\n\"The hunters are among you.\"\n\nThis is the way they first knew about the water cannibals: There was\na man in Tikwali'tsi town who became sick and grew worse until the\ndoctors said he could not live, and then his friends went away from\nthe house and left him alone to die. They were not so kind to each\nother in the old times as they are now, because they were afraid of\nthe witches that came to torment dying people.\n\nHe was alone several days, not able to rise from his bed, when one\nmorning an old woman came in at the door. She looked just like the\nother women of the settlement, but he did not know her. She came over\nto the bed and said, \"You are very sick and your friends seem to have\nleft you. Come with me and I will make you well.\" The man was so\nnear death that he could not move, but now her words made him feel\nstronger at once, and he asked her where she wanted him to go. \"We\nlive close by; come with me and I will show you,\" said the woman,\nso he got up from his bed and she led the way down to the water. When\nshe came to the water she stepped in and he followed, and there was\na road under the water, and another country there just like that above.\n\nThey went on until they came to a settlement with a great many houses,\nand women going about their work and children playing. They met a party\nof hunters coming in from a hunt, but instead of deer or bear quarters\nhanging from their shoulders they carried the bodies of dead men and\nchildren, and several of the bodies the man knew for those of his\nown friends in Tikwali'tsi. They came to a house and the woman said\n\"This is where I live,\" and took him in and fixed a bed for him and\nmade him comfortable.\n\nBy this time he was very hungry, but the woman knew his thoughts and\nsaid, \"We must get him something to eat.\" She took one of the bodies\nthat the hunters had just brought in and cut off a slice to roast. The\nman was terribly frightened, but she read his thoughts again and said,\n\"I see you can not eat our food.\" Then she turned away from him and\nheld her hands before her stomach--so--and when she turned around again\nshe had them full of bread and beans such as he used to have at home.\n\nSo it was every day, until soon he was well and strong again. Then\nshe told him he might go home now, but he must be sure not to speak to\nanyone for seven days, and if any of his friends should question him\nhe must make signs as if his throat were sore and keep silent. She\nwent with him along the same trail to the water's edge, and the\nwater closed over her and he went back alone to Tikwali'tsi. When he\ncame there his friends were surprised, because they thought he had\nwandered off and died in the woods. They asked him where he had been,\nbut he only pointed to his throat and said nothing, so they thought\nhe was not yet well and let him alone until the seven days were past,\nwhen he began to talk again and told the whole story.\n\n\n\n\n\nHistorical Traditions\n\n\n88. FIRST CONTACT WITH WHITES\n\nThere are a few stories concerning the first contact of the Cherokee\nwith whites and negroes. They are very modern and have little value\nas myths, but throw some light upon the Indian estimate of the\ndifferent races.\n\nOne story relates how the first whites came from the east and tried to\nenter into friendly relations, but the Indians would have nothing to\ndo with them for a long time. At last the whites left a jug of whisky\nand a dipper near a spring frequented by the Indians. The Indians came\nalong, tasted the liquor, which they had never known before, and liked\nit so well that they ended by all getting comfortably drunk. While they\nwere in this happy frame of mind some white men came up, and this time\nthe Indians shook hands with them and they have been friends after\na fashion ever since. This may possibly be a Cherokee adaptation of\nthe story of Hudson's first landing on the island of Manhattan.\n\n\n\nAt the creation an ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti was given to the white man, and a piece\nof silver to the Indian. But the white man despised the stone and\nthrew it away, while the Indian did the same with the silver. In going\nabout the white man afterward found the silver piece and put it into\nhis pocket and has prized it ever since. The Indian, in like manner,\nfound the ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti where the white man had thrown it. He picked it\nup and has kept it since as his talisman, as money is the talismanic\npower of the white man. This story is quite general and is probably\nolder than others of its class.\n\n\n\nWhen Sequoya, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, was trying to\nintroduce it among his people, about 1822, some of them opposed it\nupon the ground that Indians had no business with reading. They said\nthat when the Indian and the white man were created, the Indian,\nbeing the elder, was given a book, while the white man received a\nbow and arrows. Each was instructed to take good care of his gift\nand make the best use of it, but the Indian was so neglectful of his\nbook that the white man soon stole it from him, leaving the bow in its\nplace, so that books and reading now belong of right to the white man,\nwhile the Indian ought to be satisfied to hunt for a living.--Cherokee\nAdvocate, October 26, 1844.\n\n\n\nThe negro made the first locomotive for a toy and put it on a wooden\ntrack and was having great fun with it when a white man came along,\nwatched until he saw how to run it, and then killed the negro and\ntook the locomotive for himself. This, also, although plainly of very\nrecent origin, was heard from several informants.\n\n\n\n\n89. THE IROQUOIS WARS\n\nLong wars were waged between the Cherokee and their remote northern\nrelatives, the Iroquois, with both of whom the recollection, now\nnearly faded, was a vivid tradition fifty years ago. The (Seneca)\nIroquois know the Cherokee as Oyada'ge`o\u00f1no\u00f1, a name rather freely\nrendered \"cave people.\" The latter call the Iroquois, or rather\ntheir largest and most aggressive tribe, the Seneca, N\u00fbndawe'gi,\nAni'-N\u00fbn-dawe'gi, or Ani'-Se'nika, the first forms being derived from\nN\u00fbndawa'ga or N\u00fbndawa'-ono, \"people of the great hills,\" the name by\nwhich the Seneca know themselves. According to authorities quoted by\nSchoolcraft, the Seneca claim to have at one time had a settlement,\nfrom which they were afterward driven, at Seneca, South Carolina,\nknown in history as one of the principal towns of the Lower Cherokee.\n\nThe league of the Iroquois was probably founded about the middle of\nthe sixteenth century. Before 1680 they had conquered or exterminated\nall the tribes upon their immediate borders and had turned their arms\nagainst the more distant Illinois, Catawba, and Cherokee. According\nto Iroquois tradition, the Cherokee were the aggressors, having\nattacked and plundered a Seneca hunting party somewhere in the west,\nwhile in another story they are represented as having violated a peace\ntreaty by the murder of the Iroquois delegates. Whatever the cause,\nthe war was taken up by all the tribes of the league.\n\nFrom the Iroquois country to the Cherokee frontier was considered a\nfive days' journey for a rapidly traveling war party. As the distance\nwas too great for large expeditions, the war consisted chiefly of a\nseries of individual exploits, a single Cherokee often going hundreds\nof miles to strike a blow, which was sure to be promptly retaliated\nby the warriors from the north, the great object of every Iroquois\nboy being to go against the Cherokee as soon as he was old enough\nto take the war path. Captives were made on both sides, and probably\nin about equal numbers, the two parties being too evenly matched for\neither to gain any permanent advantage, and a compromise was finally\nmade by which the Tennessee river came to be regarded as the boundary\nbetween their rival claims, all south of that stream being claimed by\nthe Cherokee, and being acknowledged by the Iroquois, as the limit\nof their own conquests in that direction. This Indian boundary was\nrecognized by the British government up to the time of the Revolution.\n\nMorgan states that a curious agreement was once made between the two\ntribes, by which this river was also made the limit of pursuit. If\na returning war party of the Cherokee could recross the Tennessee\nbefore they were overtaken by the pursuing Iroquois they were as safe\nfrom attack as though entrenched behind a stockade. The pursuers,\nif they chose, might still invade the territory of the enemy, but\nthey passed by the camp of the retreating Cherokee without offering\nto attack them. A similar agreement existed for a time between the\nSeneca and the Erie.\n\nThe Buffalo dance of the Iroquois is traditionally said to have had\nits origin in an expedition against the Cherokee. When the warriors on\ntheir way to the south reached the Kentucky salt lick they found there\na herd of buffalo, and heard them, for the first time, \"singing their\nfavorite songs,\" i. e., bellowing and snorting. From the bellowing\nand the movements of the animals were derived the music and action\nof the dance.\n\nAccording to Cherokee tradition, as given by the chief Stand Watie,\nthe war was finally brought to an end by the Iroquois, who sent\na delegation to the Cherokee to propose a general alliance of the\nsouthern and western tribes. The Cherokee accepted the proposition,\nand in turn sent out invitations to the other tribes, all of which\nentered into the peace excepting the Osage, of whom it was therefore\nsaid that they should be henceforth like a wild fruit on the prairie,\nat which every bird should pick, and so the Osage have remained\never a predatory tribe without friends or allies. This may be the\nsame treaty described in the story of \"The Seneca Peacemakers.\" A\nformal and final peace between the two tribes was arranged through\nthe efforts of the British agent, Sir William Johnson, in 1768.\n\nIn 1847 there were still living among the Seneca the grandchildren of\nCherokee captives taken in these wars. In 1794 the Seneca pointed out\nto Colonel Pickering a chief who was a native Cherokee, having been\ntaken when a boy and adopted among the Seneca, who afterward made him\nchief. This was probably the same man of whom they told Schoolcraft\nfifty years later. He was a full-blood Cherokee, but had been captured\nwhen too young to have any memory of the event. Years afterward,\nwhen he had grown to manhood and had become a chief in the tribe,\nhe learned of his foreign origin, and was filled at once with an\noverpowering longing to go back to the south to find his people and\nlive and die among them. He journeyed to the Cherokee country, but\non arriving there found to his great disappointment that the story of\nhis capture had been forgotten in the tribe, and that his relatives,\nif any were left, failed to recognize him. Being unable to find his\nkindred, he made only a short visit and returned again to the Seneca.\n\nFrom James Wafford, of Indian Territory, the author obtained a detailed\naccount of the Iroquois peace embassy referred to by Stand Watie,\nand of the wampum belt that accompanied it. Wafford's information\nconcerning the proceedings at Echota was obtained directly from two\neyewitnesses--Sequoya, the inventor of the alphabet, and Gat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li,\n\"Hard-mush,\" who afterward explained the belt at the great council\nnear Tahlequah seventy years later. Sequoya, at the time of the Echota\nconference, was a boy living with his mother at Taskigi town a few\nmiles away, while Gat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li was already a young man.\n\nThe treaty of peace between the Cherokee and Iroquois, made at\nJohnson Hall in New York in 1768, appears from the record to have\nbeen brought about by the Cherokee, who sent for the purpose a\ndelegation of chiefs, headed by \u00c2ganst\u00e2'ta, \"Groundhog-sausage,\"\nof Echota, their great leader in the war of 1760-61 against the\nEnglish. After the treaty had been concluded the Cherokee delegates\ninvited some of the Iroquois chiefs to go home with them for a visit,\nbut the latter declined on the ground that it was not yet safe, and\nin fact some of their warriors were at that very time out against\nthe Cherokee, not yet being aware of the peace negotiations. It is\nprobable, therefore, that the Iroquois delegates did not arrive at\nEchota until some considerable time, perhaps three years, after the\nformal preliminaries had been concluded in the north.\n\nAccording to Sequoya's account, as given to Wafford, there had been\na long war between the Cherokee and the northern Indians, who were\nnever able to conquer the Cherokee or break their spirit, until at\nlast the Iroquois were tired of fighting and sent a delegation to make\npeace. The messengers set out for the south with their wampum belts\nand peace emblems, but lost their way after passing Tennessee river,\nperhaps from the necessity of avoiding the main trail, and instead of\narriving at Its\u00e2'ti or Echota, the ancient peace town and capital of\nthe Cherokee Nation--situated on Little Tennessee river below Citico\ncreek, in the present Monroe county, Tennessee--they found themselves\non the outskirts of Ta'likwa' or Tellico, on Tellico river, some 10\nor 15 miles to the southward.\n\nConcealing themselves in the neighborhood, they sent one of their\nnumber into the town to announce their coming. As it happened the chief\nand his family were at work in their cornfield, and his daughter had\njust gone up to the house for some reason when the Iroquois entered and\nasked for something to eat. Seeing that he was a stranger, she set out\nfood for him according to the old custom of hospitality. While he was\neating her father, the chief, came in to see what was delaying her,\nand was surprised to find there one of the hereditary enemies of his\ntribe. By this time the word had gone out that an Iroquois was in the\nchief's house, and the men of the town had left their work and seized\ntheir guns to kill him, but the chief heard them coming and standing\nin the doorway kept them off, saying: \"This man has come here on a\npeace mission, and before you kill him you must first kill me.\" They\nfinally listened to him, and allowed the messenger to go out and bring\nhis companions to the chief's house, where they were all taken care of.\n\nWhen they were well rested after their long journey the chief\nof Ta'likwa himself went with them to Its\u00e2'ti, the capital, where\nlived the great chief \u00c2ganst\u00e2'ta, who was now the civil ruler of the\nNation. The chiefs of the various towns were summoned and a council was\nheld, at which the speaker for the Iroquois delegation delivered his\nmessage and produced the wampum belts and pipes, which they brought\nas proofs of their mission and had carried all the way in packs upon\ntheir backs.\n\nHe said that for three years his people had been wanting to make\npeace. There was a spring of dark, cloudy water in their country,\nand they had covered it over for one year and then looked, but the\nwater was still cloudy. Again they had covered it over, but when they\nlooked at the end of another year it was still dark and troubled. For\nanother year they had covered the spring, and this time when they\nlooked the water was clear and sparkling. Then they knew the time\nhad come, and they left home with their wampum belts to make peace\nwith their enemies.\n\nThe friendly message was accepted by the Cherokee, and the belts and\nother symbolic peace tokens were delivered over to their keeping. Other\nbelts in turn were probably given to the Iroquois, and after the usual\nround of feasting and dancing the messengers returned to their people\nin the north and the long war was at an end.\n\nFor nearly a century these symbolic records of the peace with the\nIroquois were preserved by the Cherokee, and were carried with them to\nthe western territory when the tribe was finally driven from its old\nhome in 1838. They were then in the keeping of John Ross, principal\nchief at the time of the removal, and were solemnly produced at a great\nintertribal council held near Tahlequah, in the Indian Territory,\nin June, 1843, when they were interpreted by the Cherokee speaker,\nGat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li, \"Hard-mush,\" who had seen them delivered to the chiefs\nof his tribe at old Its\u00e2'ti seventy years before. Wafford was present\non this occasion and describes it.\n\nHolding the belts over his arm while speaking, Hard-mush told of the\noriginal treaty with the Iroquois, and explained the meaning of each\nbelt in turn. According to the best of Wafford's recollection, there\nwas one large belt, to which the smaller belts were fitted. The beads\ndid not seem to be of shell, and may have been of porcelain. There\nwere also red pipes for the warriors, grayish-white pipes for the\nchiefs who were foremost in making the peace, and some fans or other\nornaments of feathers. There were several of the red pipes, resembling\nthe red-stone pipes of the Sioux, but only one, or perhaps two, of\nthe white peace pipes, which may have been only painted, and were\nmuch larger than the others. The pipes were passed around the circle\nat the council, so that each delegate might take a whiff. The objects\naltogether made a considerable package, which was carefully guarded\nby the Cherokee keeper. It is thought that they were destroyed in the\nWar of the Rebellion when the house of John Ross, a few miles south of\nTahlequah, was burned by the Confederate Cherokee under their general,\nStand Watie.\n\n\n\n\n90. HIADEONI, THE SENECA\n\n\"Hiadeoni was the father of the late chief Young-king. He was a Seneca\nwarrior, a man of great prowess, dexterity, and swiftness of foot,\nand had established his reputation for courage and skill on many\noccasions. He resolved while the Seneca were still living on the\nGenesee river to make an incursion alone into the country of the\nCherokee. He plumed himself with the idea that he could distinguish\nhimself in this daring adventure, and he prepared for it, according to\nthe custom of warriors. They never encumber themselves with baggage. He\ntook nothing but his arms and the meal of a little parched and pounded\ncorn. The forest gave him his meat.\n\nHiadeoni reached the confines of the Cherokee country in safety\nand alone. He waited for evening before he entered the precincts of\na village. He found the people engaged in a dance. He watched his\nopportunity, and when one of the dancers went out from the ring into\nthe bushes he dispatched him with his hatchet. In this way he killed\ntwo men that night in the skirts of the woods without exciting alarm,\nand took their scalps and retreated. It was late when he came to a\nlodge, standing remote from the rest, on his course homeward. Watching\nhere, he saw a young man come out, and killed him as he had done the\nothers, and took his scalp. Looking into the lodge cautiously he saw\nit empty, and ventured in with the hope of finding some tobacco and\nammunition to serve him on his way home.\n\nWhile thus busied in searching the lodge he heard footsteps at the\ndoor, and immediately threw himself on the bed from which the young\nman had risen, and covered his face, feigning sleep. They proved to be\nthe footsteps of his last victim's mother. She, supposing him to be her\nson, whom she had a short time before left lying there, said, \"My son,\nI am going to such a place, and will not be back till morning.\" He\nmade a suitable response, and the old woman went out. Insensibly he\nfell asleep, and knew nothing till morning, when the first thing he\nheard was the mother's voice. She, careful for her son, was at the\nfireplace very early, pulling some roasted squashes out of the ashes,\nand after putting them out, and telling him she left them for him to\neat, she went away. He sprang up instantly and fled; but the early\ndawn had revealed his inroad, and he was hotly pursued. Light of\nfoot, and having the start, he succeeded in reaching and concealing\nhimself in a remote piece of woods, where he laid till night, and then\npursued his way toward the Genesee, which, in due time he reached,\nbringing his three Cherokee scalps as trophies of his victory and\nprowess.\"--Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, p. 253, 1847.\n\n\n\n\n91. THE TWO MOHAWKS\n\n\"In the year 1747 a couple of the Mohawk Indians came against\nthe lower towns of the Cheerake, and so cunningly ambuscaded them\nthrough most part of the spring and summer, as to kill above twenty\nin different attacks before they were discovered by any party of\nthe enraged and dejected people. They had a thorough knowledge of\nthe most convenient ground for their purpose, and were extremely\nswift and long-winded. Whenever they killed any and got the scalp\nthey made off to the neighboring mountains, and ran over the broad\nledges of rocks in contrary courses, as occasion offered, so as the\npursuers could by no means trace them. Once, when a large company\nwas in chase of them, they ran round a steep hill at the head of\nthe main eastern branch of Savana river, intercepted, killed, and\nscalped the hindmost of the party, and then made off between them\nand Keeowhee. As this was the town to which the company belonged,\nthey hastened home in a close body, as the proper place of security\nfrom such enemy wizards. In this manner did those two sprightly,\ngallant savages perplex and intimidate their foes for the space of\nfour moons in the greatest security, though they often were forced to\nkill and barbecue what they chiefly lived upon, in the midst of their\nwatchful enemies. Having sufficiently revenged their relations' blood\nand gratified their own ambition with an uncommon number of scalps,\nthey resolved to captivate one and run home with him as a proof of\ntheir having killed none but the enemies of their country. Accordingly,\nthey approached very near to Keeowhee, about half a mile below the\nlate Fort Prince George. Advancing with the usual caution on such an\noccasion, one crawled along under the best cover of the place about\nthe distance of a hundred yards ahead, while the other shifted from\ntree to tree, looking sharply every way. In the evening, however,\nan old, beloved man discovered them from the top of an adjoining\nhill, and knew them to be enemies by the cut of their hair, light\ntrim for running, and their postures. He returned to the town and\ncalled first at the house of one of our traders and informed him of\nthe affair, enjoining him not to mention it to any, lest the people\nshould set off against them without success before their tracks were\nto be discovered and he be charged with having deceived them. But,\ncontrary to the true policy of traders among unforgiving savages,\nthat thoughtless member of the Choktah Sphynx Company busied himself,\nas usual, out of his proper sphere, sent for the headmen, and told\nthem the story. As the Mohawks were allies and not known to molest\nany of the traders in the paths and woods, he ought to have observed a\nstrict neutrality. The youth of the town, by order of their headmen,\ncarried on their noisy public diversions in their usual manner to\nprevent their foes from having any suspicion of their danger, while\nrunners were sent from the town to their neighbors to come silently\nand assist them to secure the prey in its state of security. They\ncame like silent ghosts, concerted their plan of operation, passed\nover the river at the old trading ford opposite to the late fort,\nwhich lay between two contiguous commanding hills, and, proceeding\ndownward over a broad creek, formed a large semicircle from the river\nbank, while the town seemed to be taking its usual rest. They then\nclosed into a narrower compass, and at last discovered the two brave,\nunfortunate men lying close under the tops of some fallen young pine\ntrees. The company gave the war signal, and the Mohawks, bounding up,\nbravely repeated it; but, by their sudden spring from under thick\ncover, their arms were useless. They made desperate efforts, however,\nto kill or be killed, as their situation required. One of the Cheerake,\nthe noted half-breed of Istanare [Ustana'li] town, which lay 2 miles\nfrom thence, was at the first onset knocked down and almost killed\nwith his own cutlass, which was wrested from him, though he was the\nstrongest of the whole nation. But they were overpowered by numbers,\ncaptivated, and put to the most exquisite tortures of fire, amidst\na prodigious crowd of exulting foes.\n\nOne of the present Choktah traders, who was on the spot, told me that\nwhen they were tied to the stake the younger of the two discovered\nour traders on a hill near, addressed them in English, and entreated\nthem to redeem their lives. The elder immediately spoke to him, in his\nown language, to desist. On this, he recollected himself, and became\ncomposed like a stoic, manifesting an indifference to life or death,\npleasure or pain, according to their standard of martial virtue,\nand their dying behaviour did not reflect the least dishonor on\ntheir former gallant actions. All the pangs of fiery torture served\nonly to refine their manly spirits, and as it was out of the power\nof the traders to redeem them they, according to our usual custom,\nretired as soon as the Indians began the diabolical tragedy.\"--Adair,\nAmerican Indians, p. 383, 1775.\n\n\n\n\n92. ESCAPE OF THE SENECA BOYS\n\nSome Seneca warriors were hunting in the woods, and one morning, on\nstarting out for the day, they left two boys behind to take care of\nthe camp. Soon after they had gone, a war party of Cherokee came up,\nand finding the boys alone took them both and started back to the\nsouth, traveling at such a rate that when the hunters returned in\nthe evening they decided that it was of no use to follow them. When\nthe Cherokee reached their own country they gave the boys to an old\nman, whose sons had been killed by the Seneca. He took the boys and\nadopted them for his own, and they grew up with him until they were\nlarge and strong enough to go hunting for themselves.\n\nBut all the time they remembered their own home, and one day the older\none said to his brother, \"Let's kill the old man and run away.\" \"No,\"\nsaid the other, \"we might get lost if we ran away, we are so far from\nhome.\" \"I remember the way,\" said his brother, so they made a plan\nto escape. A few days later the old man took the boys with him and\nthe three set out together for a hunt in the mountains. When they\nwere well away from the settlement the boys killed the old man,\ntook all the meat and parched corn meal they could easily carry,\nand started to make their way back to the north, keeping away from\nthe main trail and following the ridge of the mountains. After many\ndays they came to the end of the mountains and found a trail which\nthe older brother knew as the one along which they had been taken\nwhen they were first captured. They went on bravely now until they\ncame to a wide clearing with houses at the farther end, and the older\nbrother said, \"I believe there is where we used to live.\" It was so\nlong ago that they were not quite sure, and besides they were dressed\nnow like Cherokee, so they thought it safer to wait until dark. They\nsaw a river ahead and went down to it and sat behind a large tree\nto wait. Soon several women came down for water and passed close to\nthe tree without noticing the boys. Said the older brother, \"I know\nthose women. One of them is our mother.\" They waited until the women\nhad filled their buckets and started to the village, when both ran\nout to meet them with the Seneca hailing-shout, \"Gowe'! Gowe'!\" At\nfirst the women were frightened and thought it a party of Cherokee,\nbut when they heard their own language they came nearer. Then the\nmother recognized her two sons, and said, \"Let us go back and dance\nfor the dead come to life,\" and they were all very glad and went into\nthe village together.--Arranged from Curtin, Seneca manuscript.\n\n\n\n\n93. THE UNSEEN HELPERS\n\nGanogwioeo\u00f1, a war chief of the Seneca, led a party against the\nCherokee. When they came near the first town he left his men outside\nand went in alone. At the first house he found an old woman and her\ngranddaughter. They did not see him, and he went into the \u00e2si and\nhid himself under some wood. When darkness came on he heard the old\nwoman say, \"Maybe Ganogwioeo\u00f1 is near; I'll close the door.\" After a\nwhile he heard them going to bed. When he thought they were asleep he\nwent into the house. The fire had burned down low, but the girl was\nstill awake and saw him. She was about to scream, when he said, \"I am\nGanogwioeo\u00f1. If you scream I'll kill you. If you keep quiet I'll not\nhurt you.\" They talked together, and he told her that in the morning\nshe must bring the chief's daughter to him. She promised to do it, and\ntold him where he should wait. Just before daylight he left the house.\n\nIn the morning the girl went to the chief's house and said to his\ndaughter, \"Let's go out together for wood.\" The chief's daughter\ngot ready and went with her, and when they came to the place where\nGanogwioeo\u00f1 was hiding he sprang out and killed her, but did not hurt\nthe other girl. He pulled off the scalp and gave such a loud scalp\nyell that all the warriors in the town heard it and came running out\nafter him. He shook the scalp at them and then turned and ran. He\nkilled the first one that came up, but when he tried to shoot the\nnext one the bow broke and the Cherokee got him.\n\nThey tied him and carried him to the two women of the tribe who had\nthe power to decide what should be done with him. Each of these women\nhad two snakes tattooed on her lips, with their heads opposite each\nother, in such a way that when she opened her mouth the two snakes\nopened their mouths also. They decided to burn the soles of his feet\nuntil they were blistered, then to put grains of corn under the skin\nand to chase him with clubs until they had beaten him to death.\n\nThey stripped him and burnt his feet. Then they tied a bark rope\naround his waist, with an old man to hold the other end, and made him\nrun between two lines of people, and with clubs in their hands. When\nthey gave the word to start Ganogwioeo\u00f1 pulled the rope away from the\nold man and broke through the line and ran until he had left them all\nout of sight. When night came he crawled into a hollow log. He was\nnaked and unarmed, with his feet in a pitiful condition, and thought\nhe could never get away.\n\nHe heard footsteps on the leaves outside and thought his enemies\nwere upon him. The footsteps came up to the log and some one said to\nanother, \"This is our friend.\" Then the stranger said to Ganogwioeo\u00f1,\n\"You think you are the same as dead; but it is not so. We will take\ncare of you. Stick out your feet.\" He put out his feet from the\nlog and felt something licking them. After a while the voice said,\n\"I think we have licked his feet enough. Now we must crawl inside the\nlog and lie on each side of him to keep him warm.\" They crawled in\nbeside him. In the morning they crawled out and told him to stick\nout his feet again. They licked them again and then said to him,\n\"Now we have done all we can do this time. Go on until you come to\nthe place where you made a bark shelter a long time ago, and under\nthe bark you will find something to help you.\" Ganogwioeo\u00f1 crawled\nout of the log, but they were gone. His feet were better now and he\ncould walk comfortably. He went on until about noon, when he came\nto the bark shelter, and under it he found a knife, an awl, and a\nflint, that his men had hidden there two years before. He took them\nand started on again.\n\nToward evening he looked around until he found another hollow tree and\ncrawled into it to sleep. At night he heard the footsteps and voices\nagain. When he put out his feet again, as the strangers told him to\ndo, they licked his feet as before and then crawled in and lay down on\neach side of him to keep him warm. Still he could not see them. In the\nmorning after they went out they licked his feet again and said to him,\n\"At noon you will find food.\" Then they went away.\n\nGanogwioeo\u00f1 crawled out of the tree and went on. At noon he came to\na burning log, and near it was a dead bear, which was still warm,\nas if it had been killed only a short time before. He skinned the\nbear and found it very fat. He cut up the meat and roasted as much as\nhe could eat or carry. While it was roasting he scraped the skin and\nrubbed rotten wood dust on it to clean it until he was tired. When\nnight came he lay down to sleep. He heard the steps and the voices\nagain and one said, \"Well, our friend is lying down. He has plenty\nto eat, and it does not seem as if he is going to die. Let us lick\nhis feet again.\" When they had finished they said to him, \"You need\nnot worry any more now. You will get home all right.\" Before it was\nday they left him.\n\nWhen morning came he put the bearskin around him like a shirt, with\nthe hair outside, and started on again, taking as much of the meat as\nhe could carry. That night his friends came to him again. They said,\n\"Your feet are well, but you will be cold,\" so they lay again on each\nside of him. Before daylight they left, saying, \"About noon you will\nfind something to wear.\" He went on and about midday he came to two\nyoung bears just killed. He skinned them and dressed the skins, then\nroasted as much meat as he wanted and lay down to sleep. In the morning\nhe made leggings of the skins, took some of the meat, and started on.\n\nHis friends came again the next night and told him that in the morning\nhe would come upon something else to wear. As they said, about noon\nhe found two fawns just killed. He turned the skins and made himself\na pair of moccasins, then cut some of the meat, and traveled on until\nevening, when he made a fire and had supper.\n\nThat night again he heard the steps and voices, and one said, \"My\nfriend, very soon now you will reach home safely and find your friends\nall well. Now we will tell you why we have helped you. Whenever you\nwent hunting you always gave the best part of the meat to us and\nkept only the smallest part for yourself. For that we are thankful\nand help you. In the morning you will see us and know who we are.\"\n\nIn the morning when he woke up they were still there--two men as he\nthought--but after he had said the last words to them and started on,\nhe turned again to look, and one was a white wolf and the other a\nblack wolf. That day he reached home.--Arranged from Curtin, Seneca\nmanuscript.\n\n\n\n\n94. HATCINO\u00d1DO\u00d1'S ESCAPE FROM THE CHEROKEE\n\nHatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 was a great warrior, the greatest among the Seneca. Once he\nled a company against the Cherokee. They traveled until they came to\nthe great ridge on the border of the Cherokee country, and then they\nknew their enemies were on the lookout on the other side. Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1\ntold his men to halt where they were while he went ahead to see\nwhat was in front. The enemy discovered and chased him, and he ran\ninto a canebrake, where the canes were in two great patches with a\nnarrow strip of open ground between. They saw him go into the canes,\nso they set fire to the patch and watched at the open place for him to\ncome out, but before they got around to it he had run across into the\nsecond patch and escaped. When the canes had burned down the Cherokee\nlooked for his body in the ashes, but could not find any trace of it,\nso they went home.\n\nWhen Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 got into the second canebrake he was tired out, so he\nlay down and fell asleep. At night while he was asleep two men came\nand took him by the arm, saying: \"We have come for you. Somebody has\nsent for you.\" They took him a long way, above the sky vault, until\nthey came to a house. Then they said: \"This is where the man lives\nwho sent for you.\" He looked, but could see no door. Then a voice\nfrom the inside said \"Come in,\" and something like a door opened of\nitself. He went in and there sat Hawe\u00f1ni'o, the Thunder-god.\n\nHawe\u00f1ni'o said, \"I have sent for you and you are here. Are you\nhungry?\" Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 thought: \"That's a strange way to talk; that's\nnot the way I do--I give food.\" The Thunder knew his thoughts, so he\nlaughed and said, \"I said that only in fun.\" He rose and brought half\na cake of bread, half of a wild apple, and half a pigeon. Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1\nsaid, \"This is very little to fill me,\" but the Thunder replied,\n\"If you eat that, there is more.\" He began eating, but, as he ate,\neverything became whole again, so that he was not able to finish it.\n\nWhile he was sitting he heard some one running outside, and\ndirectly the door was thrown open and the Sun came in, so bright that\nHatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 had to hold his head down. The two beings talked together,\nbut the Seneca could not understand a word, and soon the visitor went\nout again. Then the Thunder said: \"That is the one you call the Sun,\nwho watches in the world below. It is night down there now, and he is\nhurrying to the east. He says there has just been a battle. I love both\nthe Seneca and the Cherokee, and when you get back to your warriors you\nmust tell them to stop fighting and go home.\" Again he brought food,\nhalf of each kind, and when Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 had eaten, the Thunder said,\n\"Now my messengers will take you to your place.\"\n\nThe door opened again of itself, and Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 followed the two\nSky People until they brought him to the place where he had slept,\nand there left him. He found his party and told the warriors what he\nhad seen. They held a council over it and decided to strike the enemy\nonce before going home. Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 led them. They met the Cherokee\nand went home with scalps.\n\nHe led another party against the Cherokee, but this time he was taken\nand carried to the Cherokee town. It was the custom among the Cherokee\nto let two women say what should be done with captives. They decided\nthat he should be tortured with fire, so he was tied to a tree, and\nthe wood was piled around him. Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 gave himself up for lost,\nwhen a rain storm came up and the people concluded to wait until it\nwas over. They went away and left him tied to the tree.\n\nPretty soon an old woman came up to him, and said, \"My grandson,\nyou think you are going to die, but you are not. Try to stir your\nlimbs.\" He struggled and finally got his limbs free. Then she said,\n\"Now you are free. I have come to repay your kindness. You remember\nthat you once found a frog in the middle of a circle of fire and\nthat you picked it up and put it into the water. I was that frog,\nand now I help you. I sent the rain storm, and now you must go down\nto the creek and follow the current.\"\n\nWhen the rain was over the people came back, but Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 was\ngone. They trailed him down to the creek, but he had found a hollow\ntree lying in the water, with a hole on the upper side through which he\ncould breathe, so he crawled into it and they could not find him. Once\ntwo of the Cherokee came and sat on the log and he could hear them\ntalking about him, but they did not know that he was inside. When\nthey were all gone, he came out and kept on down the stream. After\ndark he came to a place where three hunters had made a fire and gone\nto sleep for the night. Their hatchets and arms were hung up on a\ntree. Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 was naked. He listened until he was sure the men\nwere asleep, then he took one of their hatchets and killed all three,\none after another. He dressed himself in the clothes of one, and put\non his belt, with the knife and hatchet. Then he washed himself at\nthe creek and sat down by the fire and cooked his supper. After that\nhe stretched and painted the three scalps and lay down by the fire\nto sleep. In the morning he took what provision he could carry and\ntraveled in a great circle until he found the road by which he and his\nwarriors had come. He found fresh tracks and followed them until he saw\nsmoke ahead. He listened until he heard men speaking Seneca, and knew\nthat it was his party. Then he gave the Seneca shout--Gowe'!--three\ntimes and his friends ran out to meet him. They had been afraid that\nhe was killed, but were glad now that they had waited for him. They\nwent home together. This is their story.--Arranged from Curtin,\nSeneca manuscript.\n\n\n\n\n95. HEMP-CARRIER\n\nOn the southern slope of the ridge, along the trail from Robbinsville\nto Valley river, in Cherokee county, North Carolina, are the remains\nof a number of stone cairns. The piles are leveled now, but thirty\nyears ago the stones were still heaped up into pyramids, to which\nevery Cherokee who passed added a stone. According to the tradition\nthese piles marked the graves of a number of women and children of\nthe tribe who were surprised and killed on the spot by a raiding\nparty of the Iroquois shortly before the final peace between the two\nNations. As soon as the news was brought to the settlements on Hiwassee\nand Cheowa a party was made under T\u00e2le'danigi'ski, \"Hemp-carrier,\"\nto follow and take vengeance on the enemy. Among others of the party\nwas the father of the noted chief Tsunu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'ski, or Junaluska, who\n(Junaluska) died on Cheowa about 1855.\n\nFor days they followed the trail of the Iroquois across the Great Smoky\nmountains, through forests and over rivers, until they finally tracked\nthem to their very town in the far northern Seneca country. On the\nway they met another war party headed for the south, and the Cherokee\nkilled them all and took their scalps. When they came near the Seneca\ntown it was almost night, and they heard shouts in the townhouse,\nwhere the women were dancing over the fresh Cherokee scalps. The\navengers hid themselves near the spring, and as the dancers came down\nto drink the Cherokee silently killed one and another until they had\ncounted as many scalps as had been taken on Cheowa, and still the\ndancers in the townhouse never thought that enemies were near. Then\nsaid the Cherokee leader, \"We have covered the scalps of our women and\nchildren. Shall we go home now like cowards, or shall we raise the\nwar whoop and let the Seneca know that we are men?\" \"Let them come,\nif they will,\" said his men; and they raised the scalp yell of the\nCherokee. At once there was an answering shout from the townhouse,\nand the dance came to a sudden stop. The Seneca warriors swarmed\nout with ready gun and hatchet, but the nimble Cherokee were off and\naway. There was a hot pursuit in the darkness, but the Cherokee knew\nthe trails and were light and active runners, and managed to get\naway with the loss of only a single man. The rest got home safely,\nand the people were so well pleased with Hemp-carrier's bravery and\nsuccess that they gave him seven wives.\n\n\n\n\n96. THE SENECA PEACEMAKERS\n\nIn the course of the long war with the Cherokee it happened once that\neight Seneca determined to undertake a journey to the south to see if\nthey could make a peace with their enemies. On coming near the border\nof the Cherokee country they met some hunters of that tribe to whom\nthey told their purpose. The latter at once hurried ahead with the\nnews, and when the peacemakers arrived they found themselves well\nreceived by the Cherokee chiefs, who called a council to consider\nthe proposition. All but one of the chiefs favored the peace, but\nhe demanded that the eight delegates should first join them in a war\nparty which was just preparing to go against a tribe farther south,\nprobably the Creeks. The Seneca agreed, and set out with the war party\nfor the south; but in the fight which resulted, the Seneca leader,\nThe Owl, was captured. The other seven escaped with the Cherokee.\n\nA council was held in the enemy's camp, and it was decided that\nThe Owl should be burned at the stake. The wood was gathered and\neverything made ready, but as they were about to tie him he claimed\nthe warrior's privilege to sing his death song and strike the post\nas he recited his warlike deeds. The request pleased his enemies,\nwho put a tomahawk into his hands and told him to begin.\n\nHe told first his exploits in the north, and then in the west, giving\ntimes and places and the number of scalps taken, until his enemies\nwere so pleased and interested that they forgot the prisoner in the\nwarrior. It was a long story, but at last he came to the battle in\nwhich he was taken. He told how many relatives he had killed of the\nvery men around him, and then, striking the post with his tomahawk,\n\"So many of your people have I killed, and so many will I yet kill;\"\nand with that he struck down two men, sprang through the circle of\nwarriors, and was away. It was all so sudden that it was some moments\nbefore his enemies could recover from their surprise. Then they seized\ntheir weapons and were after him through the woods, but he had had\na good start and was running for his life, so that he outran the\nchase and finally reached the Cherokee camp in safety and rejoined\nhis seven companions.\n\nOn this proof of good will the Cherokee then concluded the treaty,\nand the peacemakers returned to their own country.--Arranged from\nSchoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, p. 258.\n\n\n\n\n97. ORIGIN OF THE YONTO\u00d1WISAS DANCE\n\nTwo Seneca women who were sisters, with the baby boy of the older one,\nwere in a sugar grove near their home when a war party of Cherokee\ncame upon them and carried them off. When the people of the town\nlearned what had happened, they decided not to go after the enemy\nfor fear they would kill the women, so their made no pursuit.\n\nThe Cherokee carried the women with them until they were within one\nday of the Cherokee towns. The elder sister learned this and made up\nher mind to try to escape. She had a knife without a handle hidden\nunder her belt, and that night when all lay down to sleep by the\nfire she kept awake. When they were sleeping soundly, she looked\naround. She and her sister were tied together, and on each side of\nthem was a Cherokee with the end of the rope under his body on the\nground. Taking out her knife, she cut the rope without waking the men,\nand then rousing her sister quietly she whispered to her to come. They\nwere going to leave the little boy, but he started to cry, so she said,\n\"Let us die together,\" and took him up on her back, and the two women\nhurried away. In a little while they heard an alarm behind them,\nand knew that their escape was discovered, and then they saw the\nblazing pine knots waving through the trees where the Cherokee were\ncoming on looking for them. The women knew the Cherokee would hunt\nfor them toward the north, along the trail to the Seneca country,\nso they made a circuit and went around to the south until they came\nin sight of a fire and saw a man sitting by a tree, shaking a rattle\nand singing in a low voice. They found they had come directly back to\nthe enemy's camp, so the older sister said, \"This will never do; we\nmust try again. Let us go straight ahead to that big tree in front,\nand from that straight on to the next, and the next.\" In this way\nthey kept on a straight course until morning. When the sun came up,\nthey took another direction toward home, and at night they rested in\nthe woods.\n\nThey traveled all the next day, and at night rested again. In the\nnight a voice spoke to the younger woman, \"Is that where you are\nresting?\" and she answered, \"Yes.\" The voice said again, \"Keep on,\nand you will come out at the spot where you were captured. No harm\nwill come to you. To-morrow you will find food.\" She roused her sister\nand told her what the voice had said.\n\nIn the morning they went on and at noon found a buck freshly\nkilled. Near by they found a log on fire, so they roasted some of\nthe meat, had a good meal, and carried away afterwards as much of\nthe meat as they could. They kept on, camping every night, and when\nthe meat was nearly gone they saved the rest for the little boy.\n\nAt last one night the voice spoke again to the younger sister and said,\n\"You are on the right road, and to-morrow you will be on the border\nof the Seneca country. You will find food. That is all.\"\n\nIn the morning she told her older sister. They started on again\nand walked until about noon, when they came to a patch of wild\npotatoes. They dug and found plenty, and as they looked around they\nsaw smoke where there had been a camp fire. They gathered wood, made\nup the fire, and roasted the potatoes. Then they ate as many as they\nwanted and carried the rest with them.\n\nThey traveled on until the potatoes were almost gone. Then at night\nthe voice came again to the younger woman, saying: \"At noon tomorrow\nyou will reach your home, and the first person you will meet will\nbe your uncle. When you get to the town, you must call the people\ntogether and tell them all that has happened. You must go to the long\nhouse and take off your skirt and carry it on your shoulder. Then\nyou must go inside and go around once, singing, 'We have come home;\nwe are here.' This is the Yonto\u00f1wisas song, and it shall be for women\nonly. Know now that we are the Hadionyageono\u00f1, the Sky People, who\nhave watched over you all this time.\"\n\nWhen the girl awoke, she told her sister, and they said, \"We must\ndo all this,\" and they began to sing as they went along. About noon\nthey heard the sound of chopping, and when they went to the place\nthey found it was their uncle cutting blocks to make spoons. He did\nnot see them until they spoke, and at first could hardly believe that\nthey were living women, because he knew that they had been taken by\nthe Cherokee. He was very glad to see them, and as they walked on\nto the town they told him all they had been commanded to do by the\nSky People. When they arrived at the town, he called all the people\ntogether, and they went to the long house. There the two women sang\ntheir song and did everything exactly as they had been told to do,\nand when it was over they said, \"This is all,\" and sat down. This is\nthe same Yonto\u00f1wisas song that is still sung by the women.--Arranged\nfrom Curtin, Seneca manuscript.\n\n\n\n\n98. GA'NA'S ADVENTURES AMONG THE CHEROKEE\n\nGa'na' was a Seneca war chief. He called a council and said, \"We must\ngo to the Cherokee and see if we can't agree to be friendly together\nand live in peace hereafter.\" The people consented, and the chief\nsaid, \"We must go to water first before we start.\" So they went, a\ngreat party of warriors, far away into the deep forest by the river\nside. There were no women with them. For ten days they drank medicine\nevery morning to make them vomit and washed and bathed in the river\neach day.\n\nThen the chief said, \"Now we must get the eagle feathers.\" They went\nto the top of a high hill and dug a trench there the length of a man's\nbody, and put a man into it, with boughs over the top so that he could\nnot be seen, and above that they put the whole body of a deer. Then the\npeople went off out of sight, and said the words to invite Shada'ge'a,\nthe great eagle that lives in the clouds, to come down.\n\nThe man under the brushwood heard a noise, and a common eagle came\nand ate a little and flew away again. Soon it came back, ate a\nlittle more, and flew off in another direction. It told the other\nbirds and they came, but the man scared them away, because he did\nnot want common birds to eat the meat. After a while he heard a great\nnoise coming through the air, and he knew it was Shada'ge'a, the bird\nhe wanted. Shada'ge'a is very cautious, and looked around in every\ndirection for some time before he began to eat the meat. As soon as he\nwas eating the man put his hand up cautiously and caught hold of the\nbird's tail and held on to it. Shada'ge'a rose up and flew away, and\nthe man had pulled out one feather. They had to trap a good many eagles\nin this way, and it was two years before they could get enough feathers\nto make a full tail, and were ready to start for the Cherokee country.\n\nThey were many days on the road, and when they got to the first\nCherokee town they found there was a stockade around it so that no\nenemy could enter. They waited until the gate was open, and then\ntwo Seneca dancers went forward, carrying the eagle feathers and\nshouting the signal yell. When the Cherokee heard the noise they came\nout and saw the two men singing and dancing, and the chief said,\n\"These men must have come upon some errand.\" The Seneca messengers\ncame up and said, \"Call a council; we have come to talk on important\nbusiness.\" All turned and went toward the townhouse, the rest of the\nSeneca following the two who were dancing. The townhouse was crowded,\nand the Seneca sang and danced until they were tired before they\nstopped. The Cherokee did not dance.\n\nAfter the dance the Seneca chief said, \"Now I will tell you why\nwe have come so far through the forest to see you. We have thought\namong ourselves that it is time to stop fighting. Your people and\nours are always on the lookout to kill each other, and we think it\nis time for this to stop. Here is a belt of wampum to show that I\nspeak the truth. If your people are willing to be friendly, take it,\"\nand he held up the belt. The Cherokee chief stepped forward and said,\n\"I will hold it in my hand, and to-morrow we will tell you what we\ndecide.\" He then turned and said to the people, \"Go home and bring\nfood.\" They went and brought so much food that it made a great pile\nacross the house, and all of both tribes ate together, but could not\nfinish it.\n\nNext day they ate together again, and when all were done the Cherokee\nchief said to the Seneca, \"We have decided to be friendly and to bury\nour weapons, these knives and hatchets, so that no man may take them\nup again.\" The Seneca chief replied, \"We are glad you have accepted\nour offer, and now we have all thrown our weapons in a pile together,\nand the white wampum hangs between us, and the belt shall be as long\nas a man and hang down to the ground.\"\n\nThen the Cherokee chief said to his people, \"Now is the time for\nany of you that wishes to adopt a relative from among the Seneca to\ndo so.\" So some Cherokee women went and picked out one man and said,\n\"You shall be our uncle,\" and some more took another for their brother,\nand so on until only Ga'na', the chief, was left, but the Cherokee\nchief said, \"No one must take Ga'na', for a young man is here to claim\nhim as his father.\" Then the young man came up to Ga'na' and said,\n\"Father, I am glad to see you. Father, we will go home,\" and he led\nGa'na' to his own mother's house, the house where Ga'na' had spent\nthe first night. The young man was really his son, and when Ga'na'\ncame to the house he recognized the woman as his wife who had been\ncarried off long ago by the Cherokee.\n\nWhile they were there a messenger came from the Seoqgwageono tribe,\nthat lived near the great salt water in the east, to challenge the\nCherokee to a ball play. He was dressed in skins which were so long\nthat they touched the ground. He said that his people were already\non the way and would arrive in a certain number of days. They came\non the appointed day and the next morning began to make the bets with\nthe Cherokee. The Seneca were still there. The strangers bet two very\nheavy and costly robes, besides other things. They began to play, and\nthe Cherokee lost the game. Then the Seneca said, \"We will try this\ntime.\" Both sides bet heavily again, and the game began, but after a\nlittle running the Seneca carried the ball to their goal and made a\npoint. Before long they made all the points and won the game. Then the\nbets were doubled, and the Seneca won again. When they won a third game\nalso the Seoqgwageono said, \"Let us try a race,\" and the Seneca agreed.\n\nThe course was level, and the open space was very wide. The Cherokee\nselected the Seneca runner, and it was agreed that they would run\nthe first race without betting and then make their bets on the\nsecond race. They ran the first race, and when they reached the\npost the Seneca runner was just the measure of his body behind the\nother. His people asked him if he had done his best, but he said,\n\"No; I have not,\" so they made their bets, and the second race--the\nreal race--began. When they got to the middle the Seneca runner said\nto the other, \"Do your best now, for I am going to do mine,\" and as\nhe said it he pulled out and left the other far behind and won the\nrace. Then the Seoqgwageono said, \"There is one more race yet--the\nlong race,\" and they got ready for it, but the Cherokee chief said\nto his own men, \"We have won everything from these people. I think\nit will be best to let them have one race, for if they lose all,\nthey may make trouble.\" They selected a Cherokee to run, and he was\nbeaten, and the Seoqgwageono went home.\n\nIn a few days they sent a messenger to challenge the Cherokee to meet\nthem halfway for a battle. When the Cherokee heard this they said to\nthe Seneca, \"There are so few of you here that we don't want to have\nyou killed. It is better for you to go home.\" So the Seneca went back\nto their own country.\n\nThree years later they came again to visit the Cherokee, who told them\nthat the Seoqgwageono had won the battle, and that the chief of the\nenemy had said afterward, \"I should like to fight the Seneca, for I\nam a double man.\" Before long the enemy heard that the Seneca were\nthere and sent them a challenge to come and fight. The Seneca said,\n\"We must try to satisfy them,\" so with Cherokee guides they set out\nfor the country of the Seoqgwageono. They went on until they came\nto an opening in the woods within one day's journey of the first\nvillage. Then they stopped and got ready to send two messengers to\nnotify the enemy, but the Cherokee said, \"You must send them so as to\narrive about sundown.\" They did this, and when the messengers arrived\nnear the town they saw all the people out playing ball.\n\nThe two Seneca went around on the other side, and began throwing sumac\ndarts as they approached, so that the others would think they were\nsome of their own men at play. In this way they got near enough to\nkill a man who was standing alone. They scalped him, and then raising\nthe scalp yell they rushed off through the woods, saying to each other\nas they ran, \"Be strong--Be strong.\" Soon they saw the Seoqgwageono\ncoming on horses, but managed to reach a dry creek and to hide under\nthe bank, so that the enemy passed on without seeing them.\n\nThe next morning they came out and started on, but the enemy was still\non the watch, and before long the two men saw the dust of the horses\nbehind them. The others came up until they were almost upon them and\nbegan to shoot arrows at them, but by this time the two Seneca were\nnear the opening where their own friends were hiding, drawn up on each\nside of the pass. As the pursuers dashed in the two lines of the Seneca\nclosed in and every man of the Seoqgwageono was either killed or taken.\n\nThe Seneca went back to the Cherokee country and after about a month\nthey returned to their own homes. Afterward the Cherokee told them,\n\"We hear the Seoqgwageono think you dangerous people. They themselves\nare conjurers and can tell what other people are going to do, but they\ncannot tell what the Seneca are going to do. The Seneca medicine is\nstronger.\"--Arranged from Curtin, Seneca manuscript.\n\n\n\n\n99. THE SHAWANO WARS\n\nAmong the most inveterate foes of the Cherokee were the Shawano, known\nto the Cherokee as Ani'-Sawanu'gi, who in ancient times, probably\nas early as 1680, removed from Savannah (i. e., Shawano) river, in\nSouth Carolina, and occupied the Cumberland river region in middle\nTennessee and Kentucky, from which they were afterward driven by the\nsuperior force of the southern tribes and compelled to take refuge\nnorth of the Ohio. On all old maps we find the Cumberland marked as\nthe \"river of the Shawano.\" Although the two tribes were frequently,\nand perhaps for long periods, on friendly terms, the ordinary condition\nwas one of chronic warfare, from an early traditional period until the\nclose of the Revolution. This hostile feeling was intensified by the\nfact that the Shawano were usually the steady allies of the Creeks,\nthe hereditary southern enemies of the Cherokee. In 1749, however,\nwe find a party of Shawano from the north, accompanied by several\nCherokee, making an inroad into the Creek country, and afterward\ntaking refuge among the Cherokee, thus involving the latter in a new\nwar with their southern neighbors (Adair, Am. Inds., 276, 1775). The\nShawano made themselves respected for their fighting qualities,\ngaining a reputation for valor which they maintained in their later\nwars with the whites, while from their sudden attack and fertility\nof stratagem they came to be regarded as a tribe of magicians. By\ncapture or intermarriage in the old days there is quite an admixture\nof Shawano blood among the Cherokee.\n\nAccording to Haywood, an aged Cherokee chief, named the Little\nCornplanter (Little Carpenter?), stated in 1772 that the Shawano had\nremoved from the Savannah river a long time before in consequence of\na disastrous war with several neighboring tribes, and had settled upon\nthe Cumberland, by permission of his people. A quarrel having afterward\narisen between the two tribes, a strong body of Cherokee invaded the\nterritory of the Shawano, and, treacherously attacking them, killed a\ngreat number. The Shawano fortified themselves and a long war ensued,\nwhich continued until the Chickasaw came to the aid of the Cherokee,\nwhen the Shawano were gradually forced to withdraw north of the Ohio.\n\nAt the time of their final expulsion, about the year 1710, the boy\nCharleville was employed at a French post, established for the Shawano\ntrade, which occupied a mound on the south side of Cumberland river,\nwhere now is the city of Nashville. For a long time the Shawano had\nbeen so hard pressed by their enemies that they had been withdrawing\nto the north in small parties for several years, until only a few\nremained behind, and these also now determined to leave the country\nentirely. In March the trader sent Charleville ahead with several loads\nof skins, intending himself to follow with the Shawano a few months\nlater. In the meantime the Chickasaw, learning of the intended move,\nposted themselves on both sides of Cumberland river, above the mouth\nof Harpeth, with canoes to cut off escape by water, and suddenly\nattacked the retreating Shawano, killing a large part of them,\ntogether with the trader, and taking all their skins, trading goods,\nand other property. Charleville lived to tell the story nearly seventy\nyears later. As the war was never terminated by any formal treaty of\npeace, the hostile warriors continued to attack each other whenever\nthey chanced to meet on the rich hunting grounds of Kentucky, until\nfinally, from mutual dread, the region was abandoned by both parties,\nand continued thus unoccupied until its settlement by the whites. [473]\n\nAccording to Cherokee tradition, a body of Creeks was already\nestablished near the mouth of Hiwassee while the Cherokee still had\ntheir main settlements upon the Little Tennessee. The Creeks, being\nnear neighbors, pretended friendship, while at the same time secretly\naiding the Shawano. Having discovered the treachery, the Cherokee took\nadvantage of the presence of the Creeks at a great dance at Its\u00e2'ti,\nor Echota, the ancient Cherokee capital, to fall suddenly upon them\nand kill nearly the whole party. The consequence was a war, with the\nfinal result that the Creeks were defeated and forced to abandon all\ntheir settlements on the waters of the Tennessee river. [474]\n\nHaywood says that \"Little Cornplanter\" had seen Shawano scalps\nbrought into the Cherokee towns. When he was a boy, his father, who\nwas also a chief, had told him how he had once led a party against\nthe Shawano and was returning with several scalps, when, as they were\ncoming through a pass in the mountains, they ran into another party\nof Cherokee warriors, who, mistaking them for enemies, fired into\nthem and killed several before they discovered their mistake. [475]\n\nSchoolcraft also gives the Cherokee tradition of the war with\nthe Shawano, as obtained indirectly from white informants, but\nincorrectly makes it occur while the latter tribe still lived upon\nthe Savannah. \"The Cherokees prevailed after a long and sanguinary\ncontest and drove the Shawnees north. This event they cherish as\none of their proudest achievements. 'What!' said an aged Cherokee\nchief to Mr Barnwell, who had suggested the final preservation of\nthe race by intermarriage with the whites. 'What! Shall the Cherokees\nperish! Shall the conquerors of the Shawnees perish! Never!'\" [476]\n\nTribal warfare as a rule consisted of a desultory succession of petty\nraids, seldom approaching the dignity of a respectable skirmish and\nhardly worthy of serious consideration except in the final result. The\ntraditions necessarily partake of the same trivial character, being\nrather anecdotes than narratives of historical events which had dates\nand names. Lapse of time renders them also constantly more vague.\n\nOn the Carolina side the Shawano approach was usually made up the\nPigeon river valley, so as to come upon the Cherokee settlements\nfrom behind, and small parties were almost constantly lurking about\nwaiting the favorable opportunity to pick up a stray scalp. On\none occasion some Cherokee hunters were stretched around the camp\nfire at night when they heard the cry of a flying squirrel in the\nwoods--tsu-u! tsu-u! tsu-u! Always on the alert for danger, they\nsuspected it might be the enemy's signal, and all but one hastily\nleft the fire and concealed themselves. That one, however, laughed\nat their fears and, defiantly throwing some heavy logs on the fire,\nstretched himself out on his blanket and began to sing. Soon he heard\na stealthy step coming through the bushes and gradually approaching\nthe fire, until suddenly an enemy sprang out upon him from the\ndarkness and bore him to the earth. But the Cherokee was watchful,\nand putting up his hands he seized the other by the arms, and with a\nmighty effort threw him backward into the fire. The dazed Shawano lay\nthere a moment squirming upon the coals, then bounded to his feet and\nran into the woods, howling with pain. There was an answering laugh\nfrom his comrades hidden in the bush, but although the Cherokee kept\nwatch for some time the enemy made no further attack, probably led\nby the very boldness of the hunter to suspect some ambush.\n\nOn another occasion a small hunting party in the Smoky mountains heard\nthe gobble of a turkey (in telling the story Swimmer gives a good\nimitation). Some eager young hunters were for going at once toward\nthe game, but others, more cautious, suspected a ruse and advised a\nreconnaissance. Accordingly a hunter went around to the back of the\nridge, and on coming up from the other side found a man posted in a\nlarge tree, making the gobble call to decoy the hunters within reach\nof a Shawano war party concealed behind some bushes midway between the\ntree and the camp. Keeping close to the ground, the Cherokee crept up\nwithout being discovered until within gunshot, then springing to his\nfeet he shot the man in the tree, and shouting \"Kill them all,\" rushed\nupon the enemy, who, thinking that a strong force of Cherokee was\nupon them, fled down the mountain without attempting to make a stand.\n\nAnother tradition of these wars is that concerning Tun\u00e2'i, a great\nwarrior and medicine-man of old Its\u00e2'ti, on the Tennessee. In one\nhard fight with the Shawano, near the town, he overpowered his man\nand stabbed him through both arms. Running cords through the holes\nhe tied his prisoner's arms and brought him thus into Its\u00e2'ti, where\nhe was put to death by the women with such tortures that his courage\nbroke and he begged them to kill him at once.\n\nAfter retiring to the upper Ohio the Shawano were received into\nthe protection of the Delawares and their allies, and being thus\nstrengthened felt encouraged to renew the war against the Cherokee\nwith increased vigor. The latter, however, proved themselves more\nthan a match for their enemies, pursuing them even to their towns in\nwestern Pennsylvania, and accidentally killing there some Delawares\nwho occupied the country jointly with the Shawano. This involved the\nCherokee in a war with the powerful Delawares, which continued until\nbrought to an end in 1768 at the request of the Cherokee, who made\nterms of friendship at the same time with the Iroquois. The Shawano\nbeing thus left alone, and being, moreover, roundly condemned by their\nfriends, the Delawares, as the cause of the whole trouble, had no\nheart to continue the war and were obliged to make final peace. [477]\n\n\n\n\n100. THE RAID ON TIKWALI'TSI\n\nThe last noted leader of the Shawano raiding parties was a chief known\nto the Cherokee as Tawa'li-ukwan\u00fb\u00f1'ti, \"Punk-plugged-in,\" on account\nof a red spot on his cheek which looked as though a piece of punk\n(tawa'li) had been driven into the flesh.\n\nThe people of Tikwali'tsi town, on Tuckasegee, heard rumors that a\nwar party under this leader had come in from the north and was lurking\nsomewhere in the neighborhood. The Cherokee conjurer, whose name was\nEtawa'ha-tsistatla'ski, \"Dead-wood-lighter,\" resorted to his magic\narts and found that the Shawano were in ambush along the trail on\nthe north side of the river a short distance above the town. By his\nadvice a party was fitted out to go up on the south side and come\nin upon the enemy's rear. A few foolhardy fellows, however, despised\nhis words and boldly went up the trail on the north side until they\ncame to Deep Creek, where the Shawano in hiding at the ford took them\n\"like fish in a trap\" and killed nearly all of them.\n\nTheir friends on the other side of the river heard the firing, and\ncrossing the river above Deep creek they came in behind the Shawano\nand attacked them, killing a number and forcing the others to retreat\ntoward the Smoky mountains, with the Cherokee in pursuit. The invaders\nhad with them two Cherokee prisoners who were not able to keep up with\nthe rapid flight, so their captors took them, bound as they were,\nand threw them over a cliff. An old conjurer of their own party\nfinding himself unable to keep up deliberately sat down against a\ntree near the same spot to wait for death. The pursuers coming up\nsplit his head with a hatchet and threw his body over the same cliff,\nwhich takes its name from this circumstance. The Shawano continued to\nretreat, with the Cherokee close behind them, until they crossed the\nmain ridge at the gap just below Clingman's dome. Here the Cherokee\ngave up the pursuit and returned to their homes.\n\n\n\n\n101. THE LAST SHAWANO INVASION\n\nPerhaps a year after the raid upon Tikwali'tsi, the Shawano again,\nunder the same leader, came down upon the exposed settlement of Kanuga,\non Pigeon river, and carried off a woman and two children whom they\nfound gathering berries near the town. Without waiting to make an\nattack they hastily retreated with their prisoners. The people of\nKanuga sent for aid to the other settlements farther south, and a\nstrong party was quickly raised to pursue the enemy and recover the\ncaptives. By this time, however, the Shawano had had several days'\nstart and it was necessary for the Cherokee to take a shorter course\nacross the mountains to overtake them. A noted conjurer named K\u00e2'lan\u00fb,\n\"The Raven,\" of Hiwassee town, was called upon to discover by his\nmagic arts what direction the Shawano had taken and how far they had\nalready gone. Calling the chiefs together he told them to fill the\npipe and smoke and he would return with the information before the\npipe was smoked out. They sat down in a circle around the fire and\nlighted the pipe, while he went out into the woods. Soon they heard\nthe cry of an owl, and after some interval they heard it again,\nand the next moment the conjurer walked out from the trees before\nyet the first smoke was finished.\n\nHe reported that he had trailed the Shawano to their camp and that\nthey were seven days ahead. The Cherokee at once followed as The\nRaven guided, and reached the place in seven days and found all the\nmarks of a camp, but the enemy was already gone. Again and once again\nthe conjurer went ahead in his own mysterious fashion to spy out\nthe country, and they followed as he pointed the way. On returning\nthe third time he reported that their enemies had halted beside the\ngreat river (the Ohio), and soon afterward he came in with the news\nthat they were crossing it. The Cherokee hurried on to the river,\nbut by this time the Shawano were on the other side. The pursuers\nhunted up and down until they found a favorable spot in the stream,\nand then waiting until it was dark they prepared to cross, using logs\nas rafts and tacking with the current, and managed it so well that\nthey were over long before daylight without alarming the enemy.\n\nThe trail was now fresh, and following it they soon came upon the\ncamp, which was asleep and all unguarded, the Shawano, thinking\nthemselves now safe in their own country, having neglected to post\nsentinels. Rushing in with their knives and tomahawks, the Cherokee\nfell upon their sleeping foe and killed a number of them before the\nothers could wake and seize their arms to defend themselves. Then\nthere was a short, desperate encounter, but the Shawano were taken at\na disadvantage, their leader himself being among the first killed,\nand in a few moments they broke and ran, every man for himself, to\nescape as best he could. The Cherokee released the captives, whom they\nfound tied to trees, and after taking the scalps from the dead Shawano,\nwith their guns and other equipments, returned to their own country.\n\n\n\n\n102. THE FALSE WARRIORS OF CHILHOWEE\n\nSome warriors of Chilhowee town, on Little Tennessee, organized a\nwar party, as they said, to go against the Shawano. They started\noff north along the great war trail, but when they came to Pigeon\nriver they changed their course, and instead of going on toward the\nShawano country they went up the river and came in at the back of\nCowee, one of the Middle settlements of their own tribe. Here they\nconcealed themselves near the path until a party of three or four\nunsuspecting townspeople came by, when they rushed out and killed them,\ntook their scalps and a gun belonging to a man named G\u00fb\u00f1skali'ski,\nand then hurriedly made their way home by the same roundabout route to\nChilhowee, where they showed the fresh scalps and the gun, and told\nhow they had met the Shawano in the north and defeated them without\nlosing a man.\n\nAccording to custom, preparations were made at once for a great scalp\ndance to celebrate the victory over the Shawano. The dance was held\nin the townhouse and all the people of the settlement were there\nand looked on, while the women danced with the scalps and the gun,\nand the returned warriors boasted of their deeds. As it happened,\namong those looking on was a visitor from Cowee, a gunstocker, who\ntook particular notice of the gun and knew it at once as one he had\nrepaired at home for G\u00fb\u00f1skali'ski. He said nothing, but wondered much\nhow it had come into possession of the Shawano.\n\nThe scalp dance ended, and according to custom a second dance was\nappointed to be held seven days later, to give the other warriors also\na chance to boast of their own war deeds. The gunstocker, whose, name\nwas G\u00fblsadihi', returned home to Cowee, and there heard for the first\ntime how a Shawano war party had surprised some of the town people,\nkilled several, and taken their scalps and a gun. He understood it\nall then, and told the chief that the mischief had been done, not\nby a hostile tribe, but by the false men of Chilhowee. It seemed too\nmuch to believe, and the chief said it could not be possible, until\nthe gunstocker declared that he had recognized the gun as one he had\nhimself repaired for the man who had been killed. At last they were\nconvinced that his story was true, and all Cowee was eager for revenge.\n\nIt was decided to send ten of their bravest warriors, under the\nleadership of the gunstocker, to the next dance at Chilhowee, there to\ntake their own method of reprisal. Volunteers offered at once for the\nservice. They set out at the proper time and arrived at Chilhowee on\nthe night the dance was to begin. As they crossed the stream below the\ntown they met a woman coming for water and took their first revenge by\nkilling her. Men, women, and children were gathered in the townhouse,\nbut the Cowee men concealed themselves outside and waited.\n\nIn this dance it was customary for each warrior in turn to tell\nthe story of some deed against the enemy, putting his words into a\nsong which he first whispered to the drummer, who then sang with\nhim, drumming all the while. Usually it is serious business, but\noccasionally, for a joke, a man will act the clown or sing of some\nextravagant performance that is so clearly impossible that all the\npeople laugh. One man after another stepped into the ring and sang\nof what he had done against the enemies of his tribe. At last one\nof the late war party rose from his seat, and after a whisper to the\ndrummer began to sing of how they had gone to Cowee and taken scalps\nand the gun, which he carried as he danced. The chief and the people,\nwho knew nothing of the treacherous act, laughed heartily at what\nthey thought was a great joke.\n\nBut now the gunstocker, who had been waiting outside with the\nCowee men, stripped off his breechcloth and rushed naked into the\ntownhouse. Bending down to the drummer--who was one of the traitors,\nbut failed to recognize G\u00fblsadihi'--he gave him the words, and then\nstraightening up he began to sing, \"Hi! Ask who has done this!\" while\nhe danced around the circle, making insulting gestures toward everyone\nthere. The song was quick and the drummer beat very fast.\n\nHe made one round and bent down again to the drummer, then straightened\nup and sang, \"Yu! I have killed a pregnant woman at the ford and\nthrown her body into the river!\" Several men started with surprise,\nbut the chief said, \"He is only joking; go on with the dance,\" and\nthe drummer beat rapidly.\n\nAnother round and he bent down again to the drummer and then began to\nsing, \"We thought our enemies were from the north, but we have followed\nthem and they are here!\" Now the drummer knew at last what it all meant\nand he drummed very slowly, and the people grew uneasy. Then, without\nwaiting on the drummer, G\u00fblsadihi' sang, \"Cowee will have a ball play\nwith you!\"--and everyone knew this was a challenge to battle--and then\nfiercely: \"But if you want to fight now my men are ready to die here!\"\n\nWith that he waved his hand and left the townhouse. The dancers looked\nat each other uneasily and some of them rose to go. The chief, who\ncould not understand it, urged them to go on with the dance, but it\nwas of no avail. They left the townhouse, and as they went out they\nmet the Cowee men standing with their guns ready and their hatchets\nin their belts. Neither party said anything, because they were still\non friendly ground, but everyone knew that trouble was ahead.\n\nThe Cowee men returned home and organized a strong party of warriors\nfrom their own and all the neighboring Middle settlements to go and\ntake vengeance on Chilhowee and on Kuw\u00e2'hi, just below, which had also\nbeen concerned in the raid. They went down the Tennessee and crossed\nover the mountains, but when they came on the other side they found\nthat their enemies had abandoned their homes and fled for refuge to\nthe remoter settlements or to the hostile Shawano in the north.\n\n\n\n\n103. COWEE TOWN\n\nCowee', properly Kawi'yi, abbreviated Kawi', was the name of two\nCherokee settlements, one of which existed in 1755 on a branch\nof Keowee river, in upper South Carolina, while the other and more\nimportant was on Little Tennessee river, at the mouth of Cowee creek,\nabout 10 miles below the present Franklin, in North Carolina. It was\ndestroyed by the Americans in 1876, when it contained about a hundred\nhouses, but was rebuilt and continued to be occupied until the cession\nof 1819. The name can not be translated, but may possibly mean \"the\nplace of the Deer clan\" (Ani'-Kawi'). It was one of the oldest and\nlargest of the Cherokee towns, and when Wafford visited it as a boy\nhe found the trail leading to it worn so deep in places that, although\non horseback, he could touch the ground with his feet on each side.\n\nThere is a story, told by Wafford as a fact, of a Shawano who had\nbeen a prisoner there, but had escaped to his people in the north,\nand after the peace between the two tribes wandered back into the\nneighborhood on a hunting trip. While standing on a hill overlooking\nthe valley he saw several Cherokee on an opposite hill, and called\nout to them, \"Do you still own Cowee?\" They shouted in reply, \"Yes;\nwe own it yet.\" Back came the answer from the Shawano, who wanted to\nencourage them not to sell any more of their lands, \"Well, it's the\nbest town of the Cherokee. It's a good country; hold on to it.\"\n\n\n\n\n104. THE EASTERN TRIBES\n\nBesides the Iroquois and Shawano, the Cherokee remember also the\nDelawares, Tuscarora, Catawba, and Cheraw as tribes to the east or\nnorth with which they formerly had relations.\n\nThe Cherokee call the Delawares Anakwan'`ki, in the singular Akwan'`ki,\na derivative formed according to usual Cherokee phonetic modification\nfrom Wapanaq'ki, \"Easterners,\" the generic name by which the Delawares\nand their nearest kindred call themselves.\n\nIn the most ancient tradition of the Delawares the Cherokee are called\nTalega, Tallige, Tallige-wi, etc. [478] In later Delaware tradition\nthey are called Kitu'hwa, and again we find the two tribes at war,\nfor which their neighbors are held responsible. According to the\nDelaware account, the Iroquois, in one of their forays to the south,\nkilled a Cherokee in the woods and purposely left a Delaware war\nclub near the body to make it appear that the work had been done\nby men of that tribe. The Cherokee found the body and the club,\nand naturally supposing that the murder had been committed by the\nDelawares, they suddenly attacked the latter, the result being a long\nand bloody war between the two tribes. [479] At this time, i. e.,\nabout the end of the seventeenth century, it appears that a part at\nleast of the Cherokee lived on the waters of the Upper Ohio, where the\nDelawares made continual inroads upon them, finally driving them from\nthe region and seizing it for themselves about the year 1708. [480]\nA century ago the Delawares used to tell how their warriors would\nsometimes mingle in disguise with the Cherokee at their night dances\nuntil the opportunity came to strike a sudden blow and be off before\ntheir enemies recovered from the surprise.\n\nLater there seems to have been peace until war was again brought on by\nthe action of the Shawano, who had taken refuge with the Delawares,\nafter having been driven from their old home on Cumberland river\nby the Cherokee. Feeling secure in their new alliance, the Shawano\nrenewed their raids upon the Cherokee, who retaliated by pursuing\nthem into the Delaware country, where they killed several Delawares by\nmistake. This inflamed the latter people, already excited by the sight\nof Cherokee scalps and prisoners brought back through their country\nby the Iroquois, and another war was the result, which lasted until\nthe Cherokee, tired of fighting so many enemies, voluntarily made\novertures for peace in 1768, saluting the Delawares as Grandfather,\nan honorary title accorded them by all the Algonquian tribes. The\nDelawares then reprimanded the Shawano, as the cause of the trouble,\nand advised them to keep quiet, which, as they were now left to fight\ntheir battles alone, they were glad enough to do. At the same time\nthe Cherokee made peace with the Iroquois, and the long war with the\nnorthern tribes came to an end. The friendly feeling thus established\nwas emphasized in 1779, when the Cherokee sent a message of condolence\nupon the death of the Delaware chief White-eyes. [481]\n\nThe Tuscarora, formerly the ruling tribe of eastern North Carolina,\nare still remembered under the name Ani'-Skal\u00e2'li, and are thus\nmentioned in the Feather dance of the Cherokee, in which some of the\nactors are supposed to be visiting strangers from other tribes.\n\nAs the majority of the Tuscarora fled from Carolina to the Iroquois\ncountry about 1713, in consequence of their disastrous war with the\nwhites, their memory has nearly faded from the recollection of the\nsouthern Indians. From the scanty light which history throws upon\ntheir mutual relations, the two tribes seem to have been almost\nconstantly at war with each other. When at one time the Cherokee,\nhaving already made peace with some other of their neighbors, were\nurged by the whites to make peace also with the Tuscarora, they\nrefused, on the ground that, as they could not live without war,\nit was better to let matters stand as they were than to make peace\nwith the Tuscarora and be obliged immediately to look about for\nnew enemies with whom to fight. For some years before the outbreak\nof the Tuscarora war in 1711 the Cherokee had ceased their inroads\nupon this tribe, and it was therefore supposed that they were more\nbusily engaged with some other people west of the mountains, these\nbeing probably the Shawano, whom they drove out of Tennessee about\nthis time. [482] In the war of 1711-1713 the Cherokee assisted the\nwhites against the Tuscarora. In 1731 the Cherokee again threatened\nto make war upon the remnant of that tribe still residing in North\nCarolina and the colonial government was compelled to interfere. [483]\n\nThe Cheraw or Sara, ranging at different periods from upper South\nCarolina to the southern frontier of Virginia, are also remembered\nunder the name of Ani'-Suwa'li, or Ani'-Suwa'la, which agrees with\nthe Spanish form Xuala of De Soto's chronicle, and Suala, or Sualy,\nof Lederer. The Cherokee remember them as having lived east of the\nBlue ridge, the trail to their country leading across the gap at\nthe head of Swannanoa river, east from Asheville. The name of the\nstream and gap is a corruption of the Cherokee Suwa'li-N\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi,\n\"Suwa'li trail.\" Being a very warlike tribe, they were finally so\nreduced by conflicts with the colonial governments and the Iroquois\nthat they were obliged to incorporate with the Catawba, among whom\nthey still maintained their distinct language as late as 1743. [484]\n\nThe Catawba are known to the Cherokee as Ani'ta'gwa, singular Ata'gwa,\nor Ta'gwa, the Cherokee attempt at the name by which they are most\ncommonly known. They were the immediate neighbors of the Cherokee on\nthe east and southeast, having their principal settlements on the river\nof their name, just within the limits of South Carolina, and holding\nthe leading place among all the tribes east of the Cherokee country\nwith the exception of the Tuscarora. On the first settlement of South\nCarolina there were estimated to be about 7,000 persons in the tribe,\nbut their decline was rapid, and by war and disease their number\nhad been reduced in 1775 to barely 500, including the incorporated\nremnants of the Cheraw and several smaller tribes. There are now,\nperhaps, 100 still remaining on a small reservation near the site of\ntheir ancient towns. Some local names in the old Cherokee territory\nseem to indicate the former presence of Catawba, although there is\nno tradition of any Catawba settlement within those limits. Among\nsuch names may be mentioned Toccoa creek, in northeastern Georgia,\nand Toccoa river, in north-central Georgia, both names being derived\nfrom the Cherokee Tagw\u00e2'hi, \"Catawba place.\" An old Cherokee personal\nname is Ta'gwadihi', \"Catawba-killer.\"\n\nThe two tribes were hereditary enemies, and the feeling between them\nis nearly as bitter to-day as it was a hundred years ago. Perhaps the\nonly case on record of their acting together was in the war of 1711-13,\nwhen they cooperated with the colonists against the Tuscarora. The\nCherokee, according to the late Colonel Thomas, claim to have formerly\noccupied all the country about the head of the Catawba river, to\nbelow the present Morganton, until the game became scarce, when\nthey retired to the west of the Blue ridge, and afterward \"loaned\"\nthe eastern territory to the Catawba. This agrees pretty well with\na Catawba tradition recorded in Schoolcraft, according to which the\nCatawba--who are incorrectly represented as comparatively recent\nimmigrants from the north--on arriving at Catawba river found their\nprogress disputed by the Cherokee, who claimed original ownership of\nthe country. A battle was fought, with incredible loss on both sides,\nbut with no decisive result, although the advantage was with the\nCatawba, on account of their having guns, while their opponents had\nonly Indian weapons. Preparations were under way to renew the fight\nwhen the Cherokee offered to recognize the river as the boundary,\nallowing the Catawba to settle anywhere to the east. The overture was\naccepted and an agreement was finally made by which the Catawba were\nto occupy the country east of that river and the Cherokee the country\nwest of Broad river, with the region between the two streams to remain\nas neutral territory. Stone piles were heaped up on the battlefield\nto commemorate the treaty, and the Broad river was henceforth called\nEswau Huppeday (Line river), by the Catawba, the country eastward to\nCatawba river being left unoccupied. [485] The fact that one party\nhad guns would bring this event within the early historic period.\n\nThe Catawba assisted the whites against the Cherokee in the war of\n1760 and in the later Revolutionary struggle. About 100 warriors,\nnearly the whole fighting strength of the tribe, took part in the\nfirst-mentioned war, several being killed, and a smaller number\naccompanied Williamson's force in 1776. [486] At the battle fought\nunder Williamson near the present site of Franklin, North Carolina,\nthe Cherokee, according to the tradition related by Wafford, mistook\nthe Catawba allies of the troops for some of their own warriors, and\nwere fighting for some time under this impression before they noticed\nthat the Catawba wore deer tails in their hair so that the whites\nmight not make the same mistake. In this engagement, which was one of\nthe bloodiest Indian encounters of the Revolution, the Cherokee claim\nthat they had actually defeated the troops and their Catawba allies,\nwhen their own ammunition gave out and they were consequently forced to\nretire. The Cherokee leader was a noted war chief named Tsani (John).\n\nAbout 1840 nearly the whole Catawba tribe moved up from South Carolina\nand joined the eastern band of Cherokee, but in consequence of tribal\njealousies they remained but a short time, and afterward returned to\ntheir former home, as is related elsewhere.\n\nOther tribal names (of doubtful authority) are Ani'-Sa'ni and\nAni'-Sawah\u00e2'ni, belonging to people said to have lived toward the\nnorth; both names are perhaps intended for the Shawano or Shawnee,\nproperly Ani'-Sawanu'gi. The Ani'-Gili' are said to have been neighbors\nof the Anin'tsi or Natchez; the name may possibly be a Cherokee form\nfor Congaree.\n\n\n\n\n105. THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN TRIBES\n\nThe nearest neighbors of the Cherokee to the south were the Creeks\nor Muscogee, who found mixed confederacy holding central and southern\nGeorgia and Alabama. They were known to the Cherokee as Ani'-Ku'sa or\nAni'-Gu'sa. from Kusa, the principal town of the Upper Creeks, which\nwas situated on Coosa river, southwest from the present Talladega,\nAlabama. The Lower Creeks, residing chiefly on Chattahoochee river,\nwere formerly always distinguished as Ani-Kawi'ta, from Kawita or\nCoweta, their ancient capital, on the west side of the river, in\nAlabama, nearly opposite the present Columbus, Georgia. In number\nthe Creeks were nearly equal to the Cherokee, but differed in being a\nconfederacy of cognate or incorporated tribes, of which the Muscogee\nproper was the principal. The Cherokee were called by them Tsal-gal'gi\nor Ts\u00fblg\u00fbl'gi, a plural derivative from Tsa'lagi', the proper name\nof the tribe.\n\nThe ordinary condition between the two tribes was one of hostility,\nwith occasional intervals of good will. History, tradition, and\nlinguistic evidence combine to show that the Creeks at one time\noccupied almost the whole of northern Georgia and Alabama, extending\na considerable distance into Tennessee and perhaps North Carolina,\nand were dispossessed by the Cherokee pressing upon them from the\nnorth and northeast. This conquest was accomplished chiefly during the\nfirst half of the eighteenth century, and culminated with the decisive\nengagement of Tali'wa about 1755. In most of their early negotiations\nwith the Government the Creeks demanded that the lands of the various\ntribes be regarded as common property, and that only the boundary\nbetween the Indians and the whites be considered. Failing in that,\nthey claimed as theirs the whole region of the Chattahoochee and Coosa,\nnorth to the dividing ridge between those streams and the Tennessee,\nor even beyond to the Tennessee itself, and asserted that any Cherokee\nsettlements within those limits were only by their own permission. In\n1783 they claimed the Savannah river as the eastern boundary between\nthemselves and the Cherokee, and asserted their own exclusive right\nof sale over all the territory between that river and the Oconee. On\nthe other hand the Cherokee as stoutly claimed all to a point some 70\nmiles south of the present city of Atlanta, on the ground of having\ndriven the Creeks out of it in three successive wars, and asserted\nthat their right had been admitted by the Creeks themselves in a\ncouncil held to decide the question between the two tribes before\nthe Revolution. By mutual agreement, about 1816, members of either\ntribe were allowed to settle within the territory claimed by the\nother. The line as finally established through the mediation of the\ncolonial and Federal governments ran from the mouth of Broad river on\nSavannah nearly due west across Georgia, passing about 10 miles north\nof Atlanta, to Coosa river in Alabama, and thence northwest to strike\nthe west line of Alabama about 20 miles south of the Tennessee. [487]\n\nAmong the names which remain to show the former presence of Creeks\nnorth of this boundary are the following: Coweeta, a small creek\nentering the Little Tennessee above Franklin. North Carolina;\nTomatola (Cherokee. Tama'`li), a former town site on Valley river,\nnear Murphy, North Carolina, the name being that of a former Creek\ntown on Chattahoochee: Tomotley (Cherokee, Tama'`li), a ford at\nanother town site on Little Tennessee, above Tellico mouth, in\nTennessee: Coosa (Cherokee, Kusa'), an upper creek of Nottely river,\nin Union county, Georgia: Chattooga (Cherokee, Tsatu'gi), a river\nin northwest Georgia: Chattooga (Cherokee, Tsatu'gi), another river,\na head-stream of Savannah: Chattahoochee river (Creek, Chatu-huchi,\n\"pictured rocks\"); Coosawatee (Cherokee, Ku'sa-weti'yi, \"Old Creek\nplace\"), a river in northwestern Georgia; Tali'wa, the Cherokee form of\na Creek name for a place on an upper branch of Etowah river in Georgia,\nprobably from the Creek ta'lua or ita'lua, \"town\"; Euharlee (Cherokee,\nYuha'li, said by the Cherokee to be from Yufala or Eufaula, the name\nof several Creek towns), a creek flowing into lower Etowah river;\nSuwanee (Cherokee, Suwa`ni) a small creek on upper Chattahoochee,\nthe site of a former Cherokee town with a name which the Cherokee\nsay is Creek. Several other names within the same territory are said\nby the Cherokee to be of foreign origin, although perhaps not Creek,\nand may be from the Taskigi language.\n\nAccording to Cherokee tradition as given to Haywood nearly eighty\nyears ago the country about the mouth of Hiwassee river, in Tennessee,\nwas held by the Creeks, while the Cherokee still had their main\nsettlements farther to the north, on the Little Tennessee. In the\nShawano war, about the year 1700, the Creeks pretended friendship for\nthe Cherokee while secretly helping their enemies, the Shawano. The\nCherokee discovered the treachery, and took occasion, when a party of\nCreeks was visiting a dance at Its\u00e2'ti (Echota), the Cherokee capital,\nto fall upon them and massacre nearly every man. The consequence was\na war between the two tribes, with the final result that the Creeks\nwere forced to abandon all their settlements upon the waters of the\nTennessee, and to withdraw south to the Coosa and the neighborhood\nof the \"Creek path,\" an old trading trail from South Carolina,\nwhich crossed at the junction of the Oostanaula and Etowah rivers,\nwhere now is the city of Rome, Georgia, and struck the Tennessee at\nthe present Guntersville, Alabama.\n\nAs an incident of this war the same tradition relates how the Cherokee\nonce approached a large Creek settlement \"at the island on the Creek\npath,\" in Tennessee river, opposite Guntersville, and, concealing\ntheir main force, sent a small party ahead to decoy the Creeks to an\nengagement. The Creek warriors at once crossed over in their canoes to\nthe attack, when the Cherokee suddenly rose up from their ambush, and\nsurrounded the Creeks and defeated them after a desperate battle. Then,\ntaking the captured canoes, they went over to the island and destroyed\nall that was there. The great leader of the Cherokee in this war\nwas a chief named Bullhead, renowned in tradition for his bravery\nand skill in strategy. [488] At about the same time, according to\nWafford, the Cherokee claim to have driven the Creeks and Shawano\nfrom a settlement which they occupied jointly near Savannah, Georgia.\n\nThere was a tradition among the few old traders still living in\nupper Georgia in 1890 that a large tract in that part of the State\nhad been won by the Cherokee from the Creeks in a ballplay. [489]\nThere are no Indians now living in that region to substantiate the\nstory. As originally told it may have had a veiled meaning, as among\nthe Cherokee the expression \"to play a ball game\" is frequently used\nfiguratively to denote fighting a battle. There seems to be no good\nground for Bartram's statement that the Cherokee had been dispossessed\nby the Creeks of the region between the Savannah and the Ocmulgee, in\nsouthwestern Georgia, within the historic period. [490] The territory\nis south of any traditional Cherokee claim, and the statement is at\nvariance with what we know through history. He probably had in mind\nthe Uchee, who did actually occupy that country until incorporated\nwith the Creeks.\n\nThe victory was not always on one side, however, for Adair states\nthat toward the end of the last war between the two tribes the Creeks,\nhaving easily defeated the Cherokee in an engagement, contemptuously\nsent against them a number of women and boys. According to this writer,\nthe \"true and sole cause\" of this last war was the killing of some\nadopted relatives of the Creeks in 1749 by a party of northern Shawano,\nwho had been guided and afterward sheltered by the Cherokee. The\nwar, which he represents as a losing game for the Cherokee, was\nfinally brought to an end through the efforts of the governor of\nSouth Carolina, with the unfortunate result to the English that the\nCreeks encouraged the Cherokee in the war of 1760 and rendered them\nvery essential help in the way of men and ammunition. [491]\n\nThe battle of Tali'wa, which decided in favor of the Cherokee the\nlong war between themselves and the Creeks, was fought about 1755 or\na few years later at a spot on Mountain creek or Long-swamp creek,\nwhich enters Etowah river above Canton, Georgia, near where the old\ntrail crossed the river about Long-swamp town. All our information\nconcerning it is traditional, obtained from James Wafford, who heard\nthe story when a boy, about the year 1815, from an old trader named\nBrian Ward, who had witnessed the battle sixty years before. According\nto his account, it was probably the hardest battle ever fought between\nthe two tribes, about five hundred Cherokee and twice that number of\nCreek warriors being engaged. The Cherokee were at first overmatched\nand fell back, but rallied again and returned to the attack, driving\nthe Creeks from cover so that they broke and ran. The victory was\ncomplete and decisive, and the defeated tribe immediately afterward\nabandoned the whole upper portion of Georgia and the adjacent part\nof Alabama to the conquerors. Before this battle the Creeks had\nbeen accustomed to shift about a good deal from place to place,\nbut thereafter they confined themselves more closely to fixed home\nlocations. It was in consequence of this defeat that they abandoned\ntheir town on Nottely river, below Coosa creek, near the present\nBlairsville, Georgia, their old fields being at once occupied by\nCherokee, who moved over from their settlements on the head of Savannah\nriver. As has been already stated, a peace was made about 1759, just\nin time to enable the Creeks to assist the Cherokee in their war with\nSouth Carolina. We hear little more concerning the relations of the two\ntribes until the Creek war of 1813-14, described in detail elsewhere;\nafter this their histories drift apart.\n\nThe Yuchi or Uchee, called Ani'-Yu'tsi by the Cherokee, were a tribe\nof distinct linguistic stock and of considerable importance in early\ndays; their territory bordered Savannah river on both sides immediately\nbelow the Cherokee country, and extended some distance westward into\nGeorgia, where it adjoined that of the Creeks. They were gradually\ndispossessed by the whites, and were incorporated with the Creeks\nabout the year 1740, but retain their separate identity and language\nto this day, their town being now the largest in the Creek Nation in\nIndian Territory.\n\nAccording to the testimony of a Cherokee mixed-blood named Ganse'`ti or\nRattling-gourd, who was born on Hiwassee river in 1820 and came west\nwith his people in 1838, a number of Yuchi lived, before the Removal,\nscattered among the Cherokee near the present Cleveland, Tennessee,\nand on Chickamauga, Cohutta, and Pinelog creeks in the adjacent\nsection of Georgia. They had no separate settlements, but spoke their\nown language, which he described as \"hard and grunting.\" Some of\nthem spoke also Cherokee and Creek. They had probably drifted north\nfrom the Creek country before a boundary had been fixed between the\ntribes. When Tahlequah was established as the capital of the Cherokee\nNation in the West in 1839 a few Yuchi were found already settled\nat the spot, being supposed to have removed from the East with some\nCreeks after the chief McIntosh was killed in 1825. They perished in\nthe smallpox epidemic which ravaged the frontier in 1840, and their\ngraves were still pointed out at Tahlequah in 1891. Shortly before\nthe outbreak of the Civil war there was a large and prosperous Yuchi\nsettlement on Cimarron river, in what was afterward the Cherokee strip.\n\nRamsey states that \"a small tribe of Uchees\" once occupied the\ncountry near the mouth of the Hiwassee, and was nearly exterminated\nin a desperate battle with the Cherokee at the Uchee Old Fields,\nin Rhea (now Meigs) county, Tennessee, the few survivors retreating\nto Florida, where they joined the Seminoles. [492] There seems to be\nno other authority for the statement.\n\nAnother broken tribe incorporated in part with the Creeks and in\npart with the Cherokee was that of the Na'`tsi, or Natchez, who\noriginally occupied the territory around the site of the present\ntown of Natchez in southern Mississippi, and exercised a leading\ninfluence over all the tribes of the region. In consequence of a\ndisastrous war with the French in 1729-31 the tribe was disrupted,\nsome taking refuge with the Chickasaw, others with the Creeks, either\nthen or later, while others, in 1736, applied to the government of\nSouth Carolina for permission to settle on the Savannah river. The\nrequest was evidently granted, and we find the \"Nachee\" mentioned\nas one of the tribes living with the Catawba in 1743, but retaining\ntheir distinct language. In consequence of having killed some of the\nCatawba in a drunken quarrel they were forced to leave this region,\nand seem to have soon afterward joined the Cherokee, as we find them\ntwice mentioned in connection with that tribe in 1755. This appears\nto be the last reference to them in the South Carolina records. [493]\n\nJust here the Cherokee tradition takes them up, under the name of\nAnin'tsi, abbreviated from Ani'-Na'`tsi, the plural of Na'`tsi. From a\nchance coincidence with the word for pine tree, na`tsi', some English\nspeaking Indians have rendered this name as \"Pine Indians.\" The\nCherokee generally agree that the Natchez came to them from South\nCarolina, though some say that they came from the Creek country. It is\nprobable that the first refugees were from Carolina and were joined\nlater by others from the Creeks and the Chickasaw. Bienville states,\nin 1742, that some of them had gone to the Cherokee directly from the\nChickasaw when they found the latter too hard pressed by the French\nto be able to care for them. [494] They seem to have been regarded\nby the Cherokee as a race of wizards and conjurers, a view which was\nprobably due in part to their peculiar religious rites and in part to\nthe interest which belonged to them as the remnant of an extirpated\ntribe. Although we have no direct knowledge on the subject, there\nis every reason to suppose that the two tribes had had communication\nwith each other long before the period of the Natchez war.\n\nAccording to the statement of James Wafford, who was born in 1806\nnear the site of Clarkesville, Ga., when this region was still Indian\ncountry, the \"Notchees\" had their town on the north bank of Hiwassee,\njust above Peachtree creek, on the spot where a Baptist mission was\nestablished by the Rev. Evan Jones in 1821, a few miles above the\npresent Murphy, Cherokee county, North Carolina. On his mother's side\nhe had himself a strain of Natchez blood. His grandmother had told\nhim that when she was a young woman, perhaps about 1755, she once had\noccasion to go to this town on some business, which she was obliged\nto transact through an interpreter, as the Natchez had been there so\nshort a time that only one or two spoke any Cherokee. They were all\nin the one town, which the Cherokee called Gwal`g\u00e2'hi, \"Frog place,\"\nbut he was unable to say whether or not it had a townhouse. In 1824,\nas one of the census takers for the Cherokee Nation, he went over\nthe same section and found the Natchez then living jointly with the\nCherokee in a town called G\u00fb`lani'yi at the junction of Brasstown\nand Gumlog creeks, tributary to Hiwassee, some 6 miles southeast\nof their former location and close to the Georgia line. The removal\nmay have been due to the recent establishment of the mission at the\nold place. It was a large settlement, made up about equally from the\ntwo tribes, but by this time the Natchez were not distinguishable in\ndress or general appearance from the others, and nearly all spoke\nbroken Cherokee, while still retaining their own language. As most\nof the Indians had come under Christian influences so far as to have\nquit dancing, there was no townhouse. Harry Smith, who was born about\n1820, father of the late chief of the East Cherokee, also remembers\nthem as living on Hiwassee and calling themselves Na'`tsi.\n\nGanse'`ti, already mentioned, states that when he was a boy the\nNatchez were scattered among the Cherokee settlements along the\nupper part of Hiwassee, extending down into Tennessee. They had\nthen no separate townhouses. Some of them, at least, had come up\nfrom the Creeks, and spoke Creek and Cherokee, as well as their own\nlanguage, which he could not understand, although familiar with both\nof the others. They were great dance leaders, which agrees with their\ntraditional reputation for ceremonial and secret knowledge. They went\nwest with the Cherokee at the final removal of the tribe to Indian\nTerritory in 1838. In 1890 there was a small settlement on Illinois\nriver a few miles south of Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation, several persons\nin which still spoke their own language. Some of these may have come\nwith the Creeks, as by an agreement between Creeks and Cherokee about\nthe time of the Removal it had been arranged that citizens of either\ntribe living within the boundaries claimed by the other might remain\nwithout question if they so elected. There are still several persons\nclaiming Natchez descent among the East Cherokee, but the last one\nsaid to have been of full Natchez blood, an old woman named Alkini',\ndied about 1895. She was noted for her peculiarities, especially\nfor a drawling tone, said to have been characteristic of her people,\nas old men remembered them years ago.\n\nHaywood, the historian of Tennessee, says that a remnant of the\nNatchez lived within the present limits of the State as late as 1750,\nand were even then numerous. He refers to those with the Cherokee,\nand tells a curious story, which seems somehow to have escaped the\nnotice of other writers. According to his statement, a portion of\nthe Natchez, who had been parceled out as slaves among the French in\nthe vicinity of their old homes after the downfall of their tribe,\ntook advantage of the withdrawal of the troops to the north, in\n1758, to rise and massacre their masters and make their escape to\nthe neighboring tribes. On the return of the troops after the fall\nof Fort Du Quesne they found the settlement at Natchez destroyed\nand their Indian slaves fled. Some time afterward a French deserter\nseeking an asylum among the Cherokee, having made his way to the\nGreat Island town, on the Tennessee, just below the mouth of Tellico\nriver, was surprised to find there some of the same Natchez whom he\nhad formerly driven as slaves. He lost no time in getting away from\nthe place to find safer quarters among the mountain towns. Notchy\ncreek, a lower affluent of Tellico, in Monroe county, Tennessee,\nprobably takes its name from these refugees. Haywood states also that,\nalthough incorporated with the Cherokee, they continued for a long\ntime a separate people, not marrying or mixing with other tribes,\nand having their own chiefs and holding their own councils; but in\n1823 hardly anything was left of them but the name. [495]\n\nAnother refugee tribe incorporated partly with the Cherokee and\npartly with the Creeks was that of the Taskigi, who at an early\nperiod had a large town of the same name on the south side of the\nLittle Tennessee, just above the mouth of Tellico, in Monroe county,\nTennessee. Sequoya, the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, lived here\nin his boyhood, about the time of the Revolution. The land was sold\nin 1819. There was another settlement of the name, and perhaps once\noccupied by the same people, on the north bank of Tennessee river,\nin a bend just below Chattanooga, Tennessee, on land sold also in\n1819. Still another may have existed at one time on Tuskegee creek,\non the south bank of Little Tennessee river, north of Robbinsville,\nin Graham county, North Carolina, on land which was occupied until\nthe Removal in 1838. Taskigi town of the Creek country was on Coosa\nriver, near the junction with the Tallapoosa, some distance above the\npresent Montgomery, Alabama. We find Tasquiqui mentioned as a town\nin the Creek country visited by the Spanish captain, Juan Pardo,\nin 1567. The name is evidently the same, though we can not be sure\nthat the location was identical with that of the later town.\n\nWho or what the Taskigi were is uncertain and can probably never\nbe known, but they were neither Cherokee nor Muscogee proper. It\nwould seem most probable that they were of Muskhogean affinity, but\nthey may have been an immigrant tribe from another section, or may\neven have constituted a distinct linguistic stock, representing all\nthat was left of an ancient people whose occupation of the country\nantedated the coming of the Cherokee and the Creeks. The name may\nbe derived from taska or tasha'ya, meaning \"warrior\" in several of\nthe Muskhogean dialects. It is not a Cherokee word, and Cherokee\ninformants state positively that the Taskigi were a foreign people,\nwith distinct language and customs. They were not Creeks, Natchez,\nUchee, or Shawano, with all of whom the Cherokee were well acquainted\nunder other names. In the townhouse of their settlement at the mouth\nof Tellico they had an upright pole, from the top of which hung their\nprotecting \"medicine,\" the image of a human figure cut from a cedar\nlog. For this reason the Cherokee in derision sometimes called the\nplace Atsina'-k`ta\u00fb\u00f1, \"Hanging-cedar place.\" Before the sale of the\nland in 1819 they were so nearly extinct that the Cherokee had moved\nin and occupied the ground.\n\nAdair, in 1775, mentions the Tae-keo-ge (sic--a double misprint) as\none of several broken tribes which the Creeks had \"artfully decoyed\"\nto incorporate with them in order to strengthen themselves against\nhostile attempts. Milfort, about 1780, states that the Taskigi on\nCoosa river were a foreign people who had been driven by wars to\nseek an asylum among the Creeks, being encouraged thereto by the\nkind reception accorded to another fugitive tribe. Their request was\ngranted by the confederacy, and they were given lands upon which they\nbuilt their town. He puts this event shortly before the incorporation\nof the Yuchi, which would make it early in the eighteenth century. In\n1799, according to Hawkins, the town had but 35 warriors, \"had lost\nits ancient language,\" and spoke Creek. There is still a \"white\" or\npeace town named Taskigi in the Creek Nation in Indian Territory. [496]\n\nThe nearest neighbors of the Cherokee on the west, after the\nexpulsion of the Shawano, were the Chickasaw, known to the Cherokee\nas Ani'-Tsi'ks\u00fb, whose territory lay chiefly between the Mississippi\nand the Tennessee, in what is now western Kentucky and Tennessee\nand the extreme northern portion of Mississippi. By virtue, however,\nof conquest from the Shawano or of ancient occupancy they claimed a\nlarge additional territory to the east of this, including all upon\nthe waters of Duck river and Elk creek. This claim was disputed by\nthe Cherokee. According to Haywood, the two tribes had been friends\nand allies in the expulsion of the Shawano, but afterward, shortly\nbefore the year 1769, the Cherokee, apparently for no sufficient\nreason, picked a quarrel with the Chickasaw and attacked them in\ntheir town at the place afterward known as the Chickasaw Old Fields,\non the north side of Tennessee river, some twenty miles below the\npresent Guntersville, Alabama. The Chickasaw defended themselves so\nwell that the assailants were signally defeated and compelled to\nretreat to their own country. [497] It appears, however, that the\nChickasaw, deeming this settlement too remote from their principal\ntowns, abandoned it after the battle. Although peace was afterward\nmade between the two tribes their rival claim continued to be a\nsubject of dispute throughout the treaty period.\n\nThe Choctaw, a loose confederacy of tribes formerly occupying southern\nMississippi and the adjacent coast region, are called Ani'-Tsa'`ta\nby the Cherokee, who appear to have had but little communication\nwith them, probably because the intermediate territory was held by\nthe Creeks, who were generally at war with one or the other. In 1708\nwe find mention of a powerful expedition by the Cherokee, Creeks,\nand Catawba against the Choctaw living about Mobile bay. [498]\n\nOf the Indians west of the Mississippi those best known to the Cherokee\nwere the Ani'-Wasa'si, or Osage, a powerful predatory tribe formerly\nholding most of the country between the Missouri and Arkansas rivers,\nand extending from the Mississippi far out into the plains. The\nCherokee name is a derivative from Wasash', the name by which the\nOsage call themselves. [499] The relations of the two tribes seem\nto have been almost constantly hostile from the time when the Osage\nrefused to join in the general Indian peace concluded in 1768 (see\n\"The Iroquois Wars\") up to 1822, when the Government interfered to\ncompel an end of the bloodshed. The bitterness was largely due to the\nfact that ever since the first Cherokee treaty with the United States,\nmade at Hopewell, South Carolina, in 1785, small bodies of Cherokee,\nresenting the constant encroachments of the whites, had been removing\nbeyond the Mississippi to form new settlements within the territory\nclaimed by the Osage, where in 1817 they already numbered between\ntwo and three thousand persons. As showing how new is our growth\nas a nation, it is interesting to note that Wafford, when a boy,\nattended near the site of the present Clarkesville, Georgia, almost\non Savannah river, a Cherokee scalp dance, at which the women danced\nover some Osage scalps sent by their relatives in the west as trophies\nof a recent victory.\n\nOther old Cherokee names for western tribes which can not be identified\nare Tay\u00fb\u00f1'ksi, the untranslatable name of a tribe described simply\nas living in the West; Tsuniya'tiga, \"Naked people,\" described as\nliving in the far West; G\u00fbn'-tsuskwa'`li, \"Short-arrows,\" who lived\nin the far West, and were small, but great fighters; Y\u00fb\u00f1'wini'giski,\n\"Man-eaters,\" a hostile tribe west or north, possibly the cannibal\nAtakapa or Tonkawa, of Louisiana or Texas. Their relations with the\ntribes with which they have become acquainted since the removal to\nIndian Territory do not come within the scope of this paper.\n\n\n\n\n106. THE GIANTS FROM THE WEST\n\nJames Wafford, of the western Cherokee, who was born in Georgia in\n1806, says that his grandmother, who must have been born about the\nmiddle of the last century, told him that she had heard from the old\npeople that long before her time a party of giants had come once to\nvisit the Cherokee. They were nearly twice as tall as common men,\nand had their eyes set slanting in their heads, so that the Cherokee\ncalled them Tsunil' kal\u00fb', \"The Slant-eyed people,\" because they\nlooked like the giant hunter Tsul`kal\u00fb' (see the story). They said\nthat these giants lived very far away in the direction in which the\nsun goes down. The Cherokee received them as friends, and they stayed\nsome time, and then returned to their home in the west. The story\nmay be a distorted historical tradition.\n\n\n\n\n107. THE LOST CHEROKEE\n\nWhen the first lands were sold by the Cherokee, in 1721, a part of\nthe tribe bitterly opposed the sale, saying that if the Indians once\nconsented to give up any of their territory the whites would never\nbe satisfied, but would soon want a little more, and a little again,\nuntil at last there would be none left for the Indians. Finding all\nthey could say not enough to prevent the treaty, they determined to\nleave their old homes forever and go far into the West, beyond the\nGreat river, where the white men could never follow them. They gave\nno heed to the entreaties of their friends, but began preparations\nfor the long march, until the others, finding that they could not\nprevent their going, set to work and did their best to fit them out\nwith pack horses loaded with bread, dried venison, and other supplies.\n\nWhen all was ready they started, under the direction of their chief. A\ncompany of picked men was sent with them to help them in crossing\nthe Great river, and every night until they reached it runners were\nsent back to the tribe, and out from the tribe to the marching band,\nto carry messages and keep each party posted as to how the other\nwas getting along. At last they came to the Mississippi, and crossed\nit by the help of those warriors who had been sent with them. These\nthen returned to the tribe, while the others kept on to the west. All\ncommunication was now at an end. No more was heard of the wanderers,\nand in time the story of the lost Cherokee was forgotten or remembered\nonly as an old tale.\n\nStill the white man pressed upon the Cherokee and one piece of land\nafter another was sold, until as years went on the dispossessed people\nbegan to turn their faces toward the west as their final resting place,\nand small bands of hunters crossed the Mississippi to learn what might\nbe beyond. One of these parties pushed on across the plains and there\nat the foot of the great mountains--the Rockies--they found a tribe\nspeaking the old Cherokee language and living still as the Cherokee\nhad lived before they had ever known the white man or his ways.\n\n\n\n\n108. THE MASSACRE OF THE ANI'-KUTA'NI\n\nAmong other perishing traditions is that relating to the Ani'-Kuta'ni\nor Ani'-Kwata'ni, concerning whom the modern Cherokee know so little\nthat their very identity is now a matter of dispute, a few holding\nthat they were an ancient people who preceded the Cherokee and built\nthe mounds, while others, with more authority, claim that they were a\nclan or society in the tribe and were destroyed long ago by pestilence\nor other calamity. Fortunately, we are not left to depend entirely\nupon surmise in the matter, as the tradition was noted by Haywood\nsome seventy years ago, and by another writer some forty years later,\nwhile the connected story could still be obtained from competent\nauthorities. From the various statements it would seem that the\nAni'-Kuta'ni were a priestly clan, having hereditary supervision of\nall religious ceremonies among the Cherokee, until, in consequence\nof having abused their sacred privileges, they were attacked and\ncompletely exterminated by the rest of the tribe, leaving the priestly\nfunctions to be assumed thereafter by individual doctors and conjurers.\n\nHaywood says, without giving name or details, \"The Cherokees\nare addicted to conjuration to ascertain whether a sick person\nwill recover. This custom arose after the destruction of their\npriests. Tradition states that such persons lived among their ancestors\nand were deemed superior to others, and were extirpated long ago, in\nconsequence of the misconduct of one of the priests, who attempted\nto take the wife of a man who was the brother of the leading chief\nof the nation.\" [500]\n\nA more detailed statement, on the authority of Chief John Ross and Dr\nJ. B. Evans, is given in 1866 by a writer who speaks of the massacre\nas having occurred about a century before, although from the dimness\nof the tradition it is evident that it must have been much earlier:\n\n\"The facts, though few, are interesting. The order was hereditary;\nin this respect peculiar, for among Indians seldom, and among the\nCherokees never, does power pertain to any family as a matter of\nright. Yet the family of the Nicotani--for it seems to have been a\nfamily or clan--enjoyed this privilege. The power that they exercised\nwas not, however, political, nor does it appear that chiefs were\nelected from among them.\n\n\"The Nicotani were a mystical, religious body, of whom the people\nstood in great awe, and seem to have been somewhat like the Brahmins of\nIndia. By what means they attained their ascendancy, or how long it was\nmaintained, can never be ascertained. Their extinction by massacre is\nnearly all that can be discovered concerning them. They became haughty,\ninsolent, overbearing, and licentious to an intolerable degree. Relying\non their hereditary privileges and the strange awe which they inspired,\nthey did not hesitate by fraud or violence to rend asunder the tender\nrelations of husband and wife when a beautiful woman excited their\npassions. The people long brooded in silence over the oppressions\nand outrages of this high caste, whom they deeply hated but greatly\nfeared. At length a daring young man, a member of an influential\nfamily, organized a conspiracy among the people for the massacre of\nthe priesthood. The immediate provocation was the abduction of the\nwife of the young leader of the conspiracy. His wife was remarkable\nfor her beauty, and was forcibly abducted and violated by one of the\nNicotani while he was absent on the chase. On his return he found\nno difficulty in exciting in others the resentment which he himself\nexperienced. So many had suffered in the same way, so many feared that\nthey might be made to suffer, that nothing was wanted but a leader. A\nleader appearing in the person of the young brave whom we have named,\nthe people rose under his direction and killed every Nicotani, young\nand old. Thus perished a hereditary secret society, since which time no\nhereditary privileges have been tolerated among the Cherokees.\" [501]\n\n\n\n\n109. THE WAR MEDICINE\n\nSome warriors had medicine to change their shape as they pleased,\nso that they could escape from their enemies. Once one of these\nmedicine warriors who had been away from home came back and found\na strong party of the enemy attacking the settlement while nearly\nall the men were off on a hunt. The town was on the other side of\nthe river, but his grandmother was there, so he made up his mind\nto save her. Going down the stream a little way, he hunted until he\nfound a mussel shell. With his medicine he changed this to a canoe,\nin which he crossed over to his grandmother's house, and found her\nsitting there, waiting for the enemy to come and kill her. Again he\nmade medicine and put her into a small gourd which he fastened to his\nbelt. Then climbing a tree he changed himself to a swamp woodcock,\nand with one cry he spread his wings and flew across to the other\nside of the river, where both took their natural shape again and made\ntheir way through the woods to another settlement.\n\nThere was another great Cherokee warrior, named Dasi`giya'gi, or\nShoe-boots, as the whites called him, who lived on Hightower creek,\nin Georgia. He was so strong that it was said he could throw a corn\nmortar over a house, and with his magic power could clear a river\nat one jump. His war medicine was an uktena scale and a very large\nturtle shell which he got from the Shawano. In the Creek war he put\nthis scale into water and bathed his body with the water, and also\nburned a piece of the turtle shell and drew a black line around his\nmen with the coal, and he was never wounded and never had a man killed.\n\nSome great warriors had a medicine by the aid of which they could\ndive under the ground as under water, come up among the enemy to kill\nand scalp one, then dive under the ground again and come up among\ntheir friends.\n\nSome war captains knew how to put their lives up in the tree tops\nduring a fight, so that even if they were struck by the enemy they\ncould not be killed. Once, in a battle with the Shawano, the Cherokee\nleader stood directly in front of the enemy and let the whole party\nshoot at him, but was not hurt until the Shawano captain, who knew this\nwar medicine himself, ordered his men to shoot into the branches above\nthe head of the other. They did this and the Cherokee leader fell dead.\n\n\n\n\n110. INCIDENTS OF PERSONAL HEROISM\n\nIn the Cherokee war of 1760 when small bodies of the enemy, according\nto Haywood, were pushing their inroads eastward almost to Salisbury,\na party of six or eight warriors was discovered, watched, and followed\nuntil they were seen to enter a deserted cabin to pass the night. The\nalarm was given, and shortly before daylight the whites surrounded the\nhouse, posting themselves behind the fodder stack and some outbuildings\nso as to command both the door and the wide chimney top. They then\nbegan to throw fire upon the roof to drive out the Indians, when, as\nthe blaze caught the dry shingles, and death either by fire or bullet\nseemed certain, one of the besieged warriors called to his companions\nthat it was better that one should be a sacrifice than that all should\ndie, and that if they would follow his directions he would save them,\nbut die himself. He proposed to sally out alone to draw the fire of\nthe besiegers, while his friends stood ready to make for the woods\nas soon as the guns of the whites were empty. They agreed, and the\ndoor was opened, when he suddenly rushed forth, dodging and running\nin a zigzag course, so that every gun was emptied at him before he\nfell dead, covered with wounds. While the whites were reloading,\nthe other warriors ran out and succeeded in reaching the woods before\nthe besiegers could recover from their surprise. The historian adds,\n\"How greatly it is to be regretted that the name of this hero is not\nknown to the writer, that it might be recorded with this specimen\nof Cherokee bravery and patriotism, firmness and presence of mind in\nthe hour of danger.\" [502]\n\nMore than once women seem to have shown the courage of warriors when\nthe occasion demanded. At the beginning of the last century there was\nstill living among the Cherokee a woman who had killed her husband's\nslayer in one of the Revolutionary engagements. For this deed she was\ntreated with so much consideration that she was permitted to join\nthe warriors in the war dance, carrying her gun and tomahawk. The\nWahnenauhi manuscript has a tradition of an attack upon a Cherokee town\nand the killing of the chief by a hostile war party. His wife, whose\nname was Cuhtahlatah (Gat\u00fb\u00f1'lati, \"Wild-hemp\"?), on seeing her husband\nfall, snatched up his tomahawk, shouting, \"Kill! Kill!\" and rushed\nupon the enemy with such fury that the retreating Cherokee rallied\nand renewed the battle with so great courage as to gain a complete\nvictory. This may be a different statement of the same incident.\n\nIn Rutherford's expedition against the Cherokee, in 1776, the\nIndians made a stand near Waya gap, in the Nantahala mountains, and\na hard-fought engagement took place, with a loss to the Americans\nof nineteen men, although the enemy was finally driven from the\nground. After the main body had retreated, an Indian was seen\nlooking out from behind a tree, and was at once shot and killed by\nthe soldiers, who, on going to the spot, found that it was a woman,\npainted and striped like a warrior and armed with bow and arrows. She\nhad already been shot through the thigh, and had therefore been unable\nto flee with the rest.\n\n\n\n\n111. THE MOUNDS AND THE CONSTANT FIRE: THE OLD SACRED THINGS\n\nSome say that the mounds were built by another people. Others say\nthey were built by the ancestors of the old Ani'-Kitu'hwagi for\ntownhouse foundations, so that the townhouses would be safe when\nfreshets came. The townhouse was always built on the level bottom\nlands by the river in order that the people might have smooth ground\nfor their dances and ballplays and might be able to go down to water\nduring the dance.\n\nWhen they were ready to build the mound they began by laying a circle\nof stones on the surface of the ground. Next they made a fire in\nthe center of the circle and put near it the body of some prominent\nchief or priest who had lately died--some say seven chief men from the\ndifferent clans--together with an Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti stone, an uktena scale or\nhorn, a feather from the right wing of an eagle or great tla'nuwa,\nwhich lived in those days, and beads of seven colors, red, white,\nblack, blue, purple, yellow, and gray-blue. The priest then conjured\nall these with disease, so that, if ever an enemy invaded the country,\neven though he should burn and destroy the town and the townhouse,\nhe would never live to return home.\n\nThe mound was then built up with earth, which the women brought in\nbaskets, and as they piled it above the stones, the bodies of their\ngreat men, and the sacred things, they left an open place at the fire\nin the center and let down a hollow cedar trunk, with the bark on,\nwhich fitted around the fire and protected it from the earth. This\ncedar log was cut long enough to reach nearly to the surface inside the\ntownhouse when everything was done. The earth was piled up around it,\nand the whole mound was finished off smoothly, and then the townhouse\nwas built upon it. One man, called the fire keeper, stayed always in\nthe townhouse to feed and tend the fire. When there was to be a dance\nor a council he pushed long stalks of the ihy\u00e2'ga weed, which some\ncall atsil'-s\u00fb\u00f1'ti, \"the fire maker\" (Erigeron canadense or fleabane),\ndown through the opening in the cedar log to the fire at the bottom. He\nleft the ends of the stalks sticking out and piled lichens and punk\naround, after which he prayed, and as he prayed the fire climbed up\nalong the stalks until it caught the punk. Then he put on wood, and by\nthe time the dancers were ready there was a large fire blazing in the\ntownhouse. After the dance he covered the hole over again with ashes,\nbut the fire was always smoldering below. Just before the Green-corn\ndance, in the old times, every fire in the settlement was extinguished\nand all the people came and got new fire from the townhouse. This was\ncalled atsi'la gal\u00fb\u00f1kw'ti'yu, \"the honored or sacred fire.\" Sometimes\nwhen the fire in a house went out, the woman came to the fire keeper,\nwho made a new fire by rubbing an ihy\u00e2'ga stalk against the under\nside of a hard dry fungus that grows upon locust trees.\n\nSome say this everlasting fire was only in the larger mounds at\nNikwasi', Kitu'hwa, and a few other towns, and that when the new fire\nwas thus drawn up for the Green-corn dance it was distributed from them\nto the other settlements. The fire burns yet at the bottom of these\ngreat mounds, and when the Cherokee soldiers were camped near Kitu'hwa\nduring the civil war they saw smoke still rising from the mound.\n\nThe Cherokee once had a wooden box, nearly square and wrapped up\nin buckskin, in which they kept the most sacred things of their old\nreligion. Upon every important expedition two priests carried it in\nturn and watched over it in camp so that nothing could come near to\ndisturb it. The Delawares captured it more than a hundred years ago,\nand after that the old religion was neglected and trouble came to the\nNation. They had also a great peace pipe, carved from white stone,\nwith seven stem-holes, so that seven men could sit around and smoke\nfrom it at once at their peace councils. In the old town of Keowee they\nhad a drum of stone, cut in the shape of a turtle, which was hung up\ninside the townhouse and used at all the town dances. The other towns\nof the Lower Cherokee used to borrow it, too, for their own dances.\n\nAll the old things are gone now and the Indians are different.\n\n\n\n\n\nMiscellaneous Myths and Legends\n\n\n112. THE IGNORANT HOUSEKEEPER\n\nAn old man whose wife had died lived alone with his son. One day he\nsaid to the young man, \"We need a cook here, so you would better get\nmarried.\" So the young man got a wife and brought her home. Then his\nfather said, \"Now we must work together and do all we can to help\nher. You go hunting and bring in the meat and I'll look after the\ncorn and beans, and then she can cook.\" The young man went into the\nwoods to look for a deer and his father went out into the field to\nattend to the corn. When they came home at night they were hungry,\nand the young woman set out a bowl of walnut hominy (kan\u00e2'talu'hi)\nbefore them. It looked queer, somehow, and when the old man examined\nit he found that the walnuts had been put in whole. \"Why didn't you\nshell the walnuts and then beat up the kernels,\" said he to the young\nwoman. \"I didn't know they had to be shelled,\" she replied. Then the\nold man said, \"You think about marrying and you don't know how to\ncook,\" and he sent her away.\n\n\n\n\n113. THE MAN IN THE STUMP\n\nA man who had a field of growing corn went out one day to see how it\nwas ripening and climbed a tall stump to get a better view. The stump\nwas hollow and a bear had a nest of cubs in the bottom. The man slipped\nand fell down upon the cubs, which set up such a squealing that the\nold she-bear heard them and came climbing down into the stump tail\nfirst, in bear fashion, to see what was the matter. The man caught\nhold of her by the hind legs and the old bear was so frightened that\nshe at once climbed out again, dragging the man, who thus got out of\nthe stump, when the bear ran away.\n\n\n\n\n114. TWO LAZY HUNTERS\n\nA party of warriors once started out for a long hunting trip in\nthe mountains. They went on until they came to a good game region,\nwhen they set up their bark hut in a convenient place near the river\nside. Every morning after breakfast they scattered out, each man\nfor himself, to be gone all day, until they returned at night with\nwhatever game they had taken. There was one lazy fellow who went\nout alone every morning like the others, but only until he found\na sunny slope, when he would stretch out by the side of a rock to\nsleep until evening, returning then to camp empty-handed, but with\nhis moccasins torn and a long story of how he had tramped all day and\nfound nothing. This went on until one of the others began to suspect\nthat something was wrong, and made it his business to find it out. The\nnext morning he followed him secretly through the woods until he saw\nhim come out into a sunny opening, where he sat down upon a large rock,\ntook off his moccasins, and began rubbing them against the rocks until\nhe had worn holes in them. Then the lazy fellow loosened his belt,\nlay down beside the rock, and went to sleep. The spy set fire to the\ndry leaves and watched until the flame crept close up to the sleeping\nman, who never opened his eyes.\n\nThe spy went back to camp and told what he had seen. About supper time\nthe lazy fellow came in with the same old story of a long day's hunt\nand no game started. When he had finished the others all laughed and\ncalled him a sleepyhead. He insisted that he had been climbing the\nridges all day, and put out his moccasins to show how worn they were,\nnot knowing that they were scorched from the fire, as he had slept\non until sundown. When they saw the blackened moccasins they laughed\nagain, and he was too much astonished to say a word in his defense;\nso the captain said that such a liar was not fit to stay with them,\nand he was driven from the camp.\n\n\n\nThere was another lazy fellow who courted a pretty girl, but she would\nhave nothing to do with him, telling him that her husband must be\na good hunter or she would remain single all her life. One morning\nhe went into the woods, and by a lucky accident managed to kill a\ndeer. Lifting it upon his back, he carried it into the settlement,\npassing right by the door of the house where the girl and her mother\nlived. As soon as he was out of sight of the house he went by a\nroundabout course into the woods again and waited until evening, when\nhe appeared with the deer on his shoulder and came down the trail past\nthe girl's house as he had in the morning. He did this the next day,\nand the next, until the girl began to think he must be killing all\nthe deer in the woods. So her mother--the old women are usually the\nmatchmakers--got ready and went to the young man's mother to talk\nit over.\n\nWhen she arrived and the greetings were done she said, \"Your son must\nbe a good hunter.\" \"No,\" replied the old woman, \"he seldom kills\nanything.\" \"But he has been killing a great many deer lately.\" \"I\nhaven't seen any,\" said his mother. \"Why, he has been carrying deer\npast our house twice a day for the last three days.\" \"I don't know what\nhe did with them,\" said the young man's mother; \"he never brought them\nhere.\" Then the girl's mother was sure there was something wrong, so\nshe went home and told her husband, who followed up the young man's\ntrail into the woods until it brought him to where the body of the\ndeer was hidden, now so far decayed that it had to be thrown away.\n\n\n\n\n115. THE TWO OLD MEN\n\nTwo old men went hunting. One had an eye drawn down and was called\nUk-kw\u00fbnagi'ta, \"Eye-drawn-down.\" The other had an arm twisted out\nof shape and was called Uk-ku's\u00fb\u00f1ts\u00fbti, \"Bent-bow-shape.\" They\nkilled a deer and cooked the meat in a pot. The second old man\ndipped a piece of bread into the soup and smacked his lips as\nhe ate it. \"Is it good?\" said the first old man. Said the other,\n\"Hay\u00fb'! uk-kw\u00fbnagi'sti--Yes, sir! It will draw down one's eye.\"\n\nThought the first old man to himself, \"He means me.\" So he\ndipped a piece of bread into the pot, and smacked his lips as he\ntasted it. \"Do you find it good?\" said the other old man. Said his\ncomrade, \"Hay\u00fb'! uk-ku's\u00fb\u00f1ts\u00fbteti'--Yes, sir! It will twist up one's\narm.\" Thought the second old man, \"He means me\"; so he got very angry\nand struck the first old man, and then they fought until each killed\nthe other.\n\n\n\n\n116. THE STAR FEATHERS\n\nA long time ago a warrior of roving disposition went down into the\nwhite settlements toward the east, where for the first time he saw\na peacock. The beautiful long feathers surprised and delighted him,\nand by trading some valuable Indian possession of his own he managed\nto buy a few of them, which he took with him to the mountains and hid,\nuntil he was ready to use them, in an old beaver lodge under the river\nbank. To get into the beaver lodge he had to dive under the water.\n\nThen he set to work secretly and made himself a headdress, with the\nlong peacock feathers in the front and trailing out behind and the\nshorter ones at the sides. At the next dance he wore the new headdress,\nand asserted that he had been up to the sky and that these were star\nfeathers (see number 9, \"What the stars are like\"). He made a long\nspeech also, which he pretended was a message he had received from\nthe star spirits to deliver to the people.\n\nEveryone wondered at the beautiful feathers, so different from any\nthey had ever seen before. They made no doubt that he had been up\nto the sky and talked with spirits. He became a great prophet, and\nused to keep himself hidden all day in the beaver hole, and whenever\nthere was a night gathering for a dance or a council he would suddenly\nappear among them wearing his feather headdress and give the people a\nnew message from the sky. Then he would leave them again, pretending\nthat he went up to heaven.\n\nHe grew famous and powerful among all the medicine men, until at\nlast it happened that another Cherokee went down among the white\nsettlements and saw there another peacock, and knew at once that the\nprophet was a fraud. On his return he quietly told some of his friends,\nand they decided to investigate. When the next night dance came around\nthe prophet was on hand as usual with a new message fresh from the\nstars. The people listened reverently, and promised to do all that\nhe commanded. Then he left them, saying that he must return at once\nto the sky, but as he went out from the circle the spies followed him\nin the darkness, and saw him go down to the river and dive under the\nwater. They waited, but he did not come up again, and they went back\nand told the people. The next morning a party went to the spot and\ndiscovered the beaver lodge under the bank. One man dived and came\nup inside, and there he found the prophet sitting with the peacock\nfeathers by his side.\n\n\n\n\n117. THE MOTHER BEAR'S SONG\n\nA hunter in the woods one day heard singing in a cave. He came near\nand peeped in, and it was a mother bear singing to her cubs and\ntelling them what to do when the hunters came after them.\n\nSaid the mother bear to the cubs, \"When you hear the hunters coming\ndown the creek, then--\n\n\n Ts\u00e2'gi, ts\u00e2'gi, hwi'lahi';\n Ts\u00e2'gi, ts\u00e2'gi, hwi'lahi'.\n\n Upstream, upstream, you (must) go;\n Upstream, upstream, you (must) go.\n\n\n\"But if you hear them coming up the creek, children, then--\n\n\n Ge'i, ge'i, hwi'lahi';\n Ge'i, ge'i, hwi'lahi'.\n\n Downstream, downstream, you (must) go;\n Downstream, downstream, you (must) go.\"\n\n\nAnother hunter out in the woods one day thought he heard a woman\nsinging to a baby. He followed the sound up to the head of the branch\nuntil he came to a cave under the bushes, and inside was a mother bear\nrocking her cub in her paws and singing to it this baby song, which\nthe Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi used to know before they were turned into bears:\n\n\n Ha'-mama', ha'-mama', ha'-mama', ha'-mama';\n Ud\u00e2'hale'yi hi'l\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb, hi'l\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb;\n Ud\u00e2'hale'yi hi'l\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb, hi'l\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb.\n\n Let me carry you on my back (four times);\n On the sunny side go to sleep, go to sleep;\n On the sunny side go to sleep, go to sleep.\n\n\n\n\n118. BABY SONG, TO PLEASE THE CHILDREN\n\n\n Ha'wiye'-hyuwe', Ha'wiye'-hyuwe',\n Yu'we-yuwehe', Ha'wiyehyu'-uwe'--\n Y\u00e2'n\u00fb une'guhi' tsana'seh\u00e2';\n E'ti une'guhi' tsana'seh\u00e2';\n Y\u00e2'n\u00fb nud\u00fb\u00f1nel\u00fb' tsa'nadisk\u00e2'.\n\n Ha'wiye'-hyuwe', Ha'wiye'-hyuwe',\n Yu'we-yuwehe', Ha'wiyehyu'-uwe'--\n The Bear is very bad, so they say;\n Long time ago he was very bad, so they say;\n The Bear did so and so, they say.\n\n\n\n\n119. WHEN BABIES ARE BORN: THE WREN AND THE CRICKET\n\nThe little Wren is the messenger of the birds, and pries into\neverything. She gets up early in the morning and goes round to every\nhouse in the settlement to get news for the bird council. When a new\nbaby is born she finds out whether it is a boy or girl and reports\nto the council. If it is a boy the birds sing in mournful chorus:\n\"Alas! the whistle of the arrow! my shins will burn,\" because the\nbirds know that when the boy grows older he will hunt them with his\nblowgun and arrows and roast them on a stick.\n\nBut if the baby is a girl, they are glad and sing: \"Thanks! the sound\nof the pestle! At her home I shall surely be able to scratch where\nshe sweeps,\" because they know that after a while they will be able\nto pick up stray grains where she beats the corn into meal.\n\nWhen the Cricket hears that a girl is born, it also is glad, and says,\n\"Thanks, I shall sing in the house where she lives.\" But if it is\na boy the Cricket laments: \"Gwe-he! He will shoot me! He will shoot\nme! He will shoot me!\" because boys make little bows to shoot crickets\nand grasshoppers.\n\nWhen inquiring as to the sex of the new arrival the Cherokee asks,\n\"Is it a bow or a (meal) sifter?\" or, \"Is it ballsticks or bread?\"\n\n\n\n\n120. THE RAVEN MOCKER\n\nOf all the Cherokee wizards or witches the most dreaded is the Raven\nMocker (K\u00e2'lan\u00fb Ahyeli'ski), the one that robs the dying man of\nlife. They are of either sex and there is no sure way to know one,\nthough they usually look withered and old, because they have added\nso many lives to their own.\n\nAt night, when some one is sick or dying in the settlement, the Raven\nMocker goes to the place to take the life. He flies through the air in\nfiery shape, with arms outstretched like wings, and sparks trailing\nbehind, and a rushing sound like the noise of a strong wind. Every\nlittle while as he flies he makes a cry like the cry of a raven when\nit \"dives\" in the air--not like the common raven cry--and those who\nhear are afraid, because they know that some man's life will soon go\nout. When the Raven Mocker comes to the house he finds others of his\nkind waiting there, and unless there is a doctor on guard who knows\nhow to drive them away they go inside, all invisible, and frighten\nand torment the sick man until they kill him. Sometimes to do this\nthey even lift him from the bed and throw him on the floor, but his\nfriends who are with him think he is only struggling for breath.\n\nAfter the witches kill him they take out his heart and eat it, and so\nadd to their own lives as many days or years as they have taken from\nhis. No one in the room can see them, and there is no scar where they\ntake out the heart, but yet there is no heart left in the body. Only\none who has the right medicine can recognize a Raven Mocker, and\nif such a man stays in the room with the sick person these witches\nare afraid to come in, and retreat as soon as they see him, because\nwhen one of them is recognized in his right shape he must die within\nseven days. There was once a man named G\u00fb\u00f1skali'ski, who had this\nmedicine and used to hunt for Raven Mockers, and killed several. When\nthe friends of a dying person know that there is no more hope they\nalways try to have one of these medicine men stay in the house and\nwatch the body until it is buried, because after burial the witches\ndo not steal the heart.\n\nThe other witches are jealous of the Raven Mockers and afraid to come\ninto the same house with one. Once a man who had the witch medicine\nwas watching by a sick man and saw these other witches outside trying\nto get in. All at once they heard a Raven Mocker cry overhead and the\nothers scattered \"like a flock of pigeons when the hawk swoops.\" When\nat last a Raven Mocker dies these other witches sometimes take revenge\nby digging up the body and abusing it.\n\nThe following is told on the reservation as an actual happening:\n\nA young man had been out on a hunting trip and was on his way\nhome when night came on while he was still a long distance from the\nsettlement. He knew of a house not far off the trail where an old man\nand his wife lived, so he turned in that direction to look for a place\nto sleep until morning. When he got to the house there was nobody in\nit. He looked into the \u00e2si and found no one there either. He thought\nmaybe they had gone after water, and so stretched himself out in the\nfarther corner to sleep. Very soon he heard a raven cry outside, and\nin a little while afterwards the old man came into the \u00e2si and sat down\nby the fire without noticing the young man, who kept still in the dark\ncorner. Soon there was another raven cry outside, and the old man said\nto himself, \"Now my wife is coming,\" and sure enough in a little while\nthe old woman came in and sat down by her husband. Then the young man\nknew they were Raven Mockers and he was frightened and kept very quiet.\n\nSaid the old man to his wife, \"Well, what luck did you have?\" \"None,\"\nsaid the old woman, \"there were too many doctors watching. What luck\ndid you have?\" \"I got what I went for,\" said the old man, \"there is\nno reason to fail, but you never have luck. Take this and cook it and\nlet's have something to eat.\" She fixed the fire and then the young\nman smelled meat roasting and thought it smelled sweeter than any\nmeat he had ever tasted. He peeped out from one eye, and it looked\nlike a man's heart roasting on a stick.\n\nSuddenly the old woman said to her husband, \"Who is over in the\ncorner?\" \"Nobody,\" said the old man. \"Yes, there is,\" said the old\nwoman, \"I hear him snoring,\" and she stirred the fire until it blazed\nand lighted up the whole place, and there was the young man lying\nin the corner. He kept quiet and pretended to be asleep. The old\nman made a noise at the fire to wake him, but still he pretended to\nsleep. Then the old man came over and shook him, and he sat up and\nrubbed his eyes as if he had been asleep all the time.\n\nNow it was near daylight and the old woman was out in the other\nhouse getting breakfast ready, but the hunter could hear her crying\nto herself. \"Why is your wife crying?\" he asked the old man. \"Oh,\nshe has lost some of her friends lately and feels lonesome,\" said\nher husband; but the young man knew that she was crying because he\nhad heard them talking.\n\nWhen they came out to breakfast the old man put a bowl of corn mush\nbefore him and said, \"This is all we have--we have had no meat for\na long time.\" After breakfast the young man started on again, but\nwhen he had gone a little way the old man ran after him with a fine\npiece of beadwork and gave it to him, saying, \"Take this, and don't\ntell anybody what you heard last night, because my wife and I are\nalways quarreling that way.\" The young man took the piece, but when\nhe came to the first creek he threw it into the water and then went\non to the settlement. There he told the whole story, and a party of\nwarriors started back with him to kill the Raven Mockers. When they\nreached the place it was seven days after the first night. They found\nthe old man and his wife lying dead in the house, so they set fire\nto it and burned it and the witches together.\n\n\n\n\n121. HERBERT'S SPRING\n\n\"From the head of the southern branch of Savannah river it does not\nexceed half a mile to a head spring of the Missisippi water that runs\nthrough the middle and upper parts of the Cheerake nation about a\nnorthwest course, and, joining other rivers, they empty themselves\ninto the great Missisippi. The above fountain is called 'Herbert's\nspring,' so named from an early commissioner of Indian affairs, and\nit was natural for strangers to drink thereof, to quench thirst,\ngratify their curiosity, and have it to say they had drank of the\nFrench waters. Some of our people, who went only with the view of\nstaying a short time, but by some allurement or other exceeded the\ntime appointed, at their return reported, either through merriment or\nsuperstition, that the spring had such a natural bewitching quality\nthat whosoever drank of it could not possibly quit the nation during\nthe tedious space of seven years. All the debauchees readily fell in\nwith this superstitious notion as an excuse for their bad method of\nliving, when they had no proper call to stay in that country; and in\nprocess of time it became as received a truth as any ever believed\nto have been spoken by the Delphic oracle. One cursed, because its\nenchantment had marred his good fortune; another condemned his weakness\nfor drinking down witchcraft, against his own secret suspicions;\none swore he would never taste another such dangerous poison, even\nthough he should be forced to go down to the Missisippi for water;\nand another comforted himself that so many years out of the seven were\nalready passed, and wished that if ever he tasted it again, though\nunder the greatest necessity, he might be confined to the Stygian\nwaters. Those who had their minds more enlarged diverted themselves\nmuch at their cost, for it was a noted favorite place, on account\nof the name it went by; and, being a well situated and good spring,\nthere all travelers commonly drank a bottle of choice. But now most\nof the pack-horse men, though they be dry, and also matchless sons\nof Bacchus, on the most pressing invitations to drink there, would\nswear to forfeit sacred liquor the better part of their lives rather\nthan basely renew or confirm the loss of their liberty, which that\nexecrable fountain occasions.\"--Adair, American Indians, p. 231, 1775.\n\n\n\n\n122. LOCAL LEGENDS OF NORTH CAROLINA\n\nOwing chiefly to the fact that the Cherokee still occupy western\nNorth Carolina, the existing local legends for that section are\nmore numerous than for all the rest of their ancient territory. For\nthe more important legends see the stories: Ag\u00e2n-unitsi's Search\nfor the Uktena, Atag\u00e2'hi, Hemp-carrier, Herbert's Spring, Kana'sta,\nThe Great Leech of Tlanusi'yi, The Great Yellow-jacket, The N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi,\nThe Raid on Tikwali'tsi, The Removed Townhouses, The Spirit Defenders\nof Nikwasi', The Uw'ts\u00fb\u00f1'ta, Tsul`kal\u00fb', Tsuwe'nahi, The U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta.\n\nAkwe`ti'yi: A spot on Tuckasegee river, in Jackson county, between\nDick's creek and the upper end of Cowee tunnel. According to tradition\nthere was a dangerous water monster in the river there. The meaning\nof the name is lost.\n\nAtsi'la-wa'i: \"Fire's relative,\" a peak, sometimes spoken of\nas Rattlesnake knob, east of Oconaluftee river and about 2 miles\nnortheast of Cherokee or Yellow Hill, in Swain county. So called from\na tradition that a ball of fire was once seen to fly through the air\nfrom the direction of Highlands, in Macon county, and alight upon\nthis mountain. The Indians believe it to have been an ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fbti (see\nnumber 50), which its owner had kept in a hiding place upon the summit,\nfrom which, after his death, it issued nightly to search for him.\n\nBlack rock: A very high bald peak toward the head of Scott's\ncreek, northeast of Webster, on the line of Jackson and Haywood\ncounties. Either this peak or the adjacent Jones knob, of equal\nheight, is known to the Cherokee as \u00db\u00f1'wad\u00e2-tsu`gilas\u00fb\u00f1', \"Where the\nstorehouse was taken off,\" from a large flat rock, supported by four\nother rocks, so as to resemble a storehouse (\u00fb\u00f1wad\u00e2'li) raised on\npoles, which was formerly in prominent view upon the summit until\nthrown down by lightning some fifty years ago.\n\nBuffalo creek, West: A tributary of Cheowa river, in Graham\ncounty. The Cherokee name is Y\u00fbns\u00e2i'i, \"Buffalo place,\" from a\ntradition that a buffalo formerly lived under the water at its mouth\n(see Tsuta'tsinas\u00fb\u00f1'yi).\n\nCheowa Maximum: A bald mountain at the head of Cheowa river, on the\nline between Graham and Macon counties. This and the adjoining peak,\nSwim bald, are together called Sehwate'yi, \"Hornet place,\" from a\nmonster hornet, which, according to tradition, formerly had its nest\nthere, and could be seen flying about the tree tops or sunning itself\non the bald spots, and which was so fierce that it drove away every\none who came near the mountain. It finally disappeared.\n\nDakw\u00e2'i: \"Dakwa' place,\" in French Broad river, about 6 miles above\nWarm Springs, in Madison county, and 30 miles below Asheville. A dakwa'\nor monster fish is said to have lived in the stream at that point.\n\nDa'`nawa-(a) Sa'`ts\u00fb\u00f1yi: \"War crossing,\" a ford in Cheowa river about\n3 miles below Robbinsville, in Graham county. A hostile war party\nfrom the North, probably Shawano or Iroquois, after having killed a\nman on Cheowa, was pursued and crossed the river at this place.\n\nDatle'yasta'i: \"Where they fell down,\" on Tuckasegee river, at the\nbend above Webster, in Jackson county, where was formerly the old\ntown of Gans\u00e2'gi (Conasauga). Two large uktenas, twined about each\nother as though in combat, were once seen to lift themselves from a\ndeep hole in the river there and fall back into the water.\n\nD\u00e2tsi'yi: \"D\u00e2tsi place,\" just above Eagle creek, on Little Tennessee\nriver, between Graham and Swain counties. So called from a traditional\nwater monster of that name, said to have lived in a deep hole in\nthe stream.\n\nDegal`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where they are piled up,\" a series of cairns on both\nsides of the trail down the south side of Cheowa river, in Graham\ncounty. They extend along the trail for several miles, from below\nSanteetla creek nearly to Slick Rock creek, on the Tennessee line\n(the first being just above Disg\u00e2'gisti'yi, q. v.), and probably mark\nthe site of an ancient battle. One at least, nearly off Yellow creek,\nis reputed to be the grave of a Cherokee killed by the enemy. Every\npassing Indian throws an additional stone upon each heap, believing\nthat some misfortune will befall him should he neglect this duty. Other\ncairns are on the west side of Slick Rock creek about a mile from\nLittle Tennessee river, and others south of Robbinsville, near where\nthe trail crosses the ridge to Valleytown, in Cherokee county.\n\nDida'skasti'yi: \"Where they were afraid of each other,\" a spot on the\neast side of Little Tennessee river, near the mouth of Alarka creek,\nin Swain county. A ball game once arranged to take place there,\nbefore the Removal, between rival teams from Qualla and Valleytown,\nwas abandoned on account of the mutual fear of the two parties.\n\nDisg\u00e2'gisti'yi: \"Where they gnaw,\" a spot where the trail down the\nsouth side of Cheowa river crosses a small branch about half way\nbetween Cockram creek and Yellow creek, in Graham county. Indians\npassing gnaw the twigs from the laurel bushes here, in the belief\nthat if they should fail to do so they will encounter some misfortune\nbefore crossing the next ridge. Near by is a cairn to which each also\nadds a stone (see Degal`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi).\n\nDudu\u00f1'leks\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where its legs were broken off,\" a spot on the east\nside of Tuckasegee river, opposite the mouth of Cullowhee river,\na few miles above Webster, in Jackson county. The name suggests a\ntradition, which appears to be lost.\n\nDulast\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Potsherd place,\" a former settlement on Nottely river,\nin Cherokee county, near the Georgia line. A half-breed Cherokee\nball captain who formerly lived there, John Butler or Tsan-uga'sita\n(Sour John), having been defeated in a ball game, said, in contempt\nof his men, that they were of no more use than broken pots.\n\nDunid\u00fb'lal\u00fb\u00f1yi: \"Where they made arrows,\" on Straight creek, a\nhead-stream of Oconaluftee river, near Cataluchee peak, in Swain\ncounty. A Shawano war party coming against the Cherokee, after having\ncrossed the Smoky mountains, halted there to prepare arrows.\n\nFrench Broad river: A magazine writer states that the Indians\ncalled this stream \"the racing river.\" This is only partially\ncorrect. The Cherokee have no name for the river as a whole, but\nthe district through which it flows about Asheville is called by\nthem Un-ta'kiyasti'yi, \"Where they race.\" The name of the city they\ntranslate as K\u00e2sdu'yi, \"Ashes place.\"\n\nGakati'yi: \"Place of setting free,\" a south bend in Tuckasegee river\nabout 3 miles above Bryson City, in Swain county. It is sometimes\nput in the plural form, Diga'katiyi, \"Place of setting them free.\" In\none of their old wars the Cherokee generously released some prisoners\nthere.\n\nGatuti'yi: \"Town-building place,\" near the head of Santeetla creek,\nsouthwest from Robbinsville, in Graham county. High up on the slopes\nof the neighboring mountain, Stratton bald, is a wide \"bench,\" where\nthe people once started to build a settlement, but were frightened\noff by a strange noise, which they thought was made by an uktena.\n\nGi`li'-Dineh\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where the dogs live,\" a deep place in Oconaluftee\nriver, Swain county, a short distance above Yellow Hill (Cherokee)\nand just below the mound. It is so named from a tradition that two\n\"red dogs\" were once seen there playing on the bank. They were supposed\nto live under the water.\n\nGiseh\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where the Female lives,\" on Tuckasegee river, about 2\nmiles above Bryson City, Swain county. There is a tradition that some\nsupernatural \"white people\" were seen there washing clothes in the\nriver and hanging them out upon the bank to dry. They were probably\nsupposed to be the family of the Agis'-e'gwa, or \"Great Female,\"\na spirit invoked by the conjurers.\n\nGregory bald: A high peak of the Great Smoky mountains on the western\nborder of Swain county, adjoining Tennessee. The Cherokee call it\nTsistu'yi, \"Rabbit place.\" Here the rabbits had their townhouse and\nhere lived their chief, the Great Rabbit, and in the old times the\npeople could see him. He was as large as a deer, and all the little\nrabbits were subject to him.\n\nJoanna bald: A bald mountain near the head of Valley river, on the\nline between Graham and Cherokee counties. Called Diy\u00e2'hali'yi,\n\"Lizard place,\" from a traditional great lizard, with glistening\nthroat, which used to haunt the place and was frequently seen sunning\nitself on the rocky slopes.\n\nJutaculla old fields: A bald spot of perhaps a hundred acres on the\nslope of Tennessee bald (Tsul`kal\u00fb' Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi), at the extreme\nhead of Tuckasegee river, in Jackson county, on the ridge from which\nthe lines of Haywood, Jackson, and Transylvania counties diverge. The\ngiant Tsul`kal\u00fb', or Jutaculla, as the name is corrupted by the whites,\nhad his residence in the mountain (see story), and according to local\nlegend among the whites, said to be derived from the Indians, this bald\nspot was a clearing which he made for a farm. Some distance farther\nto the west, on the north bank of Cany fork, about 1 mile above Moses\ncreek and perhaps 10 miles above Webster, in the same county, is the\nJutaculla rock, a large soapstone slab covered with rude carvings,\nwhich, according to the same tradition, are scratches made by the\ngiant in jumping from his farm on the mountain to the creek below.\n\nJutaculla rock: See Jutaculla old fields.\n\nK\u00e2l-Detsi'y\u00fb\u00f1yi: \"Where the bones are,\" a ravine on the north side of\nCheowa river, just above the mouth of East Buffalo creek, in Graham\ncounty. In the old time two Cherokee were killed here by the enemy,\nand their fate was unknown until, long afterward, their friends found\ntheir bones scattered about in the ravine.\n\nNantahala: A river and ridge of very steep mountains in Macon county,\nthe name being a corruption of N\u00fb\u00f1'daye'`li, applied to a former\nsettlement about the mouth of Briertown creek, the townhouse being on\nthe west side of the river, about the present Jarretts. The word means\n\"middle sun,\" i. e., \"midday sun,\" from n\u00fb\u00f1da', \"sun,\" and aye'`li,\n\"middle,\" and refers to the fact that in places along the stream\nthe high cliffs shut out the direct light of the sun until nearly\nnoon. From a false idea that it is derived from un\u00fb\u00f1ti, \"milk,\" it\nhas been fancifully rendered, \"Center of a woman's breast,\" \"Maiden's\nbosom,\" etc. The valley was the legendary haunt of the Uw'ts\u00fb\u00f1'ta\n(see number 45). As illustrating the steepness of the cliffs along\nthe stream it was said of a noted hunter, Tsasta'wi, who lived in the\nold town, that he used to stand on the top of the bluff overlooking\nthe settlement and throw down upon the roof of his house the liver\nof the freshly killed deer, so that his wife would have it cooked\nand waiting for him by the time he got down the mountain.\n\nNugatsa'ni: A ridge below Yellow Hill (Cherokee), on Oconaluftee river,\nin Swain county, said to be a resort of the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi fairies. The word\nis an archaic form denoting a high ridge with a long, gradual slope.\n\nQualla: A post-office and former trading station in Jackson county,\non the border of the present East Cherokee reservation, hence\nsometimes called the Qualla reservation. The Cherokee form is Kwali,\nor Kwal\u00fb\u00f1yi in the locative. According to Captain Terrell, the former\ntrader at that place, it was named from Kwali, i. e., Polly, an old\nIndian woman who lived there some sixty years ago.\n\nSaligu'gi: \"Turtle place,\" a deep hole in Oconaluftee river, about\nhalf a mile below Adams creek, near Whittier, in Swain county, said\nto be the resort of a monster turtle.\n\nSkwan'-dig\u00fb`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi: For Askwan'-dig\u00fb`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where the Spaniard is\nin the water,\" on Soco creek, just above the entrance of Wright's\ncreek, in Jackson county. According to tradition a party of Spaniards\nadvancing into the mountains was attacked here by the Cherokee,\nwho threw one of them (dead?) into the stream.\n\nSoco gap: Ahalu'na, A'halun\u00fb\u00f1'yi, or Uni'halu'na, \"Ambush,\" or \"Where\nthey ambushed\"; at the head of Soco creek, on the line between Swain\nand Haywood counties. The trail from Pigeon river crosses this gap,\nand in the old times the Cherokee were accustomed to keep a lookout\nhere for the approach of enemies from the north. On the occasion\nwhich gave it the name, they ambushed here, just below the gap, on\nthe Haywood side, a large party of invading Shawano, and killed all\nbut one, whose ears they cut off, after which, according to a common\ncustom, they released him to carry the news back to his people.\n\nStanding Indian: A high bald peak at the extreme head of Nantahala\nriver, in Macon county. The name is a rendering of the Cherokee\nname, Y\u00fb\u00f1'wi-tsulen\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where the man stood\" (originally\nY\u00fb'\u00f1wi-dikat\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where the man stands\"), given to it on account\nof a peculiarly shaped rock formerly jutting out from the bald summit,\nbut now broken off. As the old memory faded, a tradition grew up of\na mysterious being once seen standing upon the mountain top.\n\nStekoa: A spot on Tuckasegee river, just above Whittier, in Swain\ncounty, better known as the Thomas farm, from its being the former\nresidence of Colonel W. H. Thomas, for a long time the agent of the\nEast Cherokee. The correct form is Stik\u00e2'yi, the name of an ancient\nsettlement at the place, as also of another on a creek of the same\nname in Rabun county, Georgia. The word has been incorrectly rendered\n\"little grease,\" from usdi'ga or usdi', \"little,\" and ka'i, \"grease\"\nor \"oil,\" but the true meaning is lost.\n\nSwannanoa: A river joining the French Broad at Asheville, and the\ngap in the Blue ridge at its head. A magazine writer has translated\nthis name \"the beautiful.\" The word, however, is a corruption of\nSuwa'li-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'(-hi), \"Suwali trail,\" the Cherokee name, not of the\nstream, but of the trail crossing the gap toward the country of the\nAni'-Suwa'li or Cheraw (see number 104, \"The Eastern Tribes\").\n\nSwim bald or Wolf Creek bald. See Cheowa Maximum.\n\nTsi'skwunsdi'-adsisti'yi: \"Where they killed Little-bird,\" a place\nnear the head of West Buffalo creek, southwest of Robbinsville,\nin Graham county. A trail crosses the ridge near this place, which\ntakes its name from a man who was killed here by a hostile war party\nin the old fighting days.\n\nTsu'din\u00fb\u00f1ti'yi: \"Throwing down place,\" the site of a former settlement\nin a bend on the west side of Nantahala river, just within the limits\nof Macon county. So called from a tradition that a Cherokee pursued\nby the enemy threw away his equipment there.\n\nTsukil\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where he alighted,\" two small bald spots on the side\nof the mountain at the head of Little Snowbird creek, southwest of\nRobbinsville, in Graham county. A mysterious being, having the form of\na giant, with head blazing like the sun, was once seen to fly through\nthe air, alight at this place, and stand for some time looking out over\nthe landscape. It then flew away, and when the people came afterward\nto look, they found the herbage burned from the ground where it had\nstood. They do not know who it was, but some think it may have been\nthe Sun.\n\nTsul\u00e2'sin\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where the footprint is,\" on Tuckasegee river, about\na mile above Deep creek, in Swain county. From a rock now blasted out\nto make way for the railroad, on which were impressions said to have\nbeen the footprints of the giant Tsul`kal\u00fb' (see story) and a deer.\n\nTsunda`nilti'yi: \"Where they demanded the debt from him,\" a fine\ncamping ground, on the north side of Little Santeetla creek, about\nhalfway up, west from Robbinsville, Graham county. Here a hunter once\nkilled a deer, which the others of the party demanded in payment of\na debt due them. The Cherokee commonly give the creek the same name.\n\nTs\u00fbta'ga Uwey\u00fb\u00f1'i: \"Chicken creek,\" an extreme eastern head-stream of\nNantahala river, entering about 4 miles above Clear branch, in Macon\ncounty. So called from a story that some hunters camping there for\nthe night once heard a noise as of chickens constantly crowing upon\na high rock farther up the stream.\n\nTsuta'tsin\u00e2s\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where it eddies,\" a deep hole at the mouth of\nCockram creek of Cheowa river, in Graham county, where is an eddy\nsaid to be caused by a buffalo which lives under the water at this\nspot, and which anciently lived at the mouth of West Buffalo creek,\nfarther up the river.\n\nTusquittee bald: A bald mountain at the head of Tusquittee creek,\neastward from Hayesville, in Clay county. The Cherokee name is\nTsuwa'-uniyets\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where, the water-dogs laughed,\" the water-dog\nof the southern Alleghenies, sometimes also called mud-puppy or\nhell-bender, being a large amphibious lizard or salamander of the genus\nMenopoma, frequenting muddy waters. According to the story, a hunter\nonce crossing over the mountain in a very dry season, heard voices,\nand creeping silently toward the place from which the sound proceeded,\npeeped over a rock and saw two water-dogs walking together on their\nhind legs along the trail and talking as they went. Their pond had\ndried up and they were on the way over to Nantahala river. As he\nlistened one said to the other, \"Where's the water? I'm so thirsty\nthat my apron (gills) hangs down,\" and then both water-dogs laughed.\n\nUkte'na-tsugan\u00fb\u00f1'tats\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where the uktena fastened,\" a spot on\nTuckasegee river, about 2 miles above Deep creek, near Bryson City,\nin Swain county. There is a tradition that an uktena, trying to make\nhis way upstream, became fastened here, and in his struggles pried\nup some large rocks now lying in the bed of the river, and left deep\nscratches upon other rocks along the bank.\n\nUkte'na-utansi'nast\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where the uktena crawled,\" a large rock\non the Hyatt farm, on the north bank of Tuckasegee river, about four\nmiles above Bryson City, in Swain county. In the rock bed of the\nstream and along the rocks on the side are wavy depressions said to\nhave been made by an uktena in going up the river.\n\nUntlasg\u00e2sti'yi: \"Where they scratched,\" at the head of Hyatt creek,\nof Valley river, in Cherokee county. According to hunting tradition,\nevery animal on arriving at this spot was accustomed to scratch the\nground like a turkey.\n\nVengeance creek: A south tributary of Valley river, in Cherokee\ncounty. So called by the first settlers from an old Indian woman who\nlived there and whom they nicknamed \"Vengeance,\" on account of her\ncross looks. The Cherokee call the district Gansa`ti'yi, \"Robbing\nplace,\" from their having robbed a trader there in the Revolution.\n\nWaya gap: A gap in the Nantahala mountains, in Macon county, where\nthe trail crosses from Laurel creek of Nantahala river to Cartoogaja\ncreek of the Little Tennessee. The Cherokee call it A`t\u00e2hi'ta,\n\"Shouting place.\" For the tradition see number 13. It was the scene\nof a stubborn encounter in the Revolution (see page 49). The name\nWaya appears to be from the Cherokee wa'`ya, \"wolf.\"\n\nWebster: The county seat of Jackson county, on Tuckasegee river. Known\nto the Cherokee as Unadanti'yi, \"Where they conjured.\" The name\nproperly belongs to a gap 3 miles east of Webster, on the trail\ngoing up Scotts creek. According to tradition, a war party of\nShawano, coming from the direction of Pigeon river, halted here to\n\"make medicine\" against the Cherokee, but while thus engaged were\nsurprised by the latter, who came up from behind and killed several,\nincluding the conjurer.\n\nY\u00e2'n\u00fb-dineh\u00fb\u00f1'yi: \"Where the bears live,\" on Oconaluftee river,\nabout a mile above its junction with Tuckasegee, in Swain county. A\nfamily of \"water bears\" is said to live at the bottom of the river\nin a deep hole at this point.\n\nY\u00e2'n\u00fb-u'natawasti'yi: \"Where the bears wash,\" a small pond of very\ncold, purple water, which has no outlet and is now nearly dried up,\nin a gap of the Great Smoky mountains, at the extreme head of Raven\nfork of Oconaluftee, in Swain county. It was said to be a favorite\nbear wallow, and according to some accounts its waters had the same\nvirtues ascribed to those of Atag\u00e2'hi (see number 69).\n\nYaw\u00e2'i: \"Yawa place,\" a spot on the south side of Yellow creek of\nCheowa river, in Graham county, about a mile above the trail crossing\nnear the mouth of the creek. The legend is that a mysterious personage,\napparently a human being, formerly haunted a round knob near there,\nand was sometimes seen walking about the top of the knob and crying,\nYawa'! Yawa'! while the sound of invisible guns came from the hill,\nso that the people were afraid to go near it.\n\n\n\n\n123. LOCAL LEGENDS OF SOUTH CAROLINA\n\nAs the Cherokee withdrew from all of South Carolina except a small\nstrip in the extreme west as early as 1777, the memory of the old\nlegends localized within the state has completely faded from the\ntribe. There remain, however, some local names upon which the whites\nwho succeeded to the inheritance have built traditions of more or\nless doubtful authenticity.\n\nIn Pickens and Anderson counties, in the northwest corner of the state,\nis a series of creeks joining Keowee river and named, respectively in\norder, from above downward, Mile, Six-mile, Twelve-mile, Eighteen-mile,\nTwenty-three-mile, and Twenty-six-mile. According to the local story,\nthey were thus christened by a young woman, in one of the early Indian\nwars, as she crossed each ford on a rapid horseback flight to the lower\nsettlements to secure help for the beleaguered garrison of Fort Prince\nGeorge. The names really date back almost to the first establishment\nof the colony, and were intended to indicate roughly the distances\nalong the old trading path from Fort Ninety-six, on Henleys creek\nof Saluda river, to Keowee, at that time the frontier town of the\nCherokee Nation, the two points being considered 96 miles apart as the\ntrail ran. Fort Prince George was on the east bank of Keowee river,\nnear the entrance of Crow creek, and directly opposite the Indian town.\n\nConneross: The name of a creek which enters Keowee (or Seneca) river\nfrom the west, in Anderson county; it is a corruption of the Lower\nCherokee dialectic form, Kaw\u00e2n'-ur\u00e2's\u00fb\u00f1yi or Kaw\u00e2n'-tsur\u00e2'-s\u00fb\u00f1yi,\n\"Where the duck fell off.\" According to the still surviving Cherokee\ntradition, a duck once had her nest upon a cliff overlooking the\nstream in a cave with the mouth so placed that in leaving the nest\nshe appeared to fall from the cliff into the water. There was probably\nan Indian settlement of the same name:\n\nToxaway: The name of a creek and former Cherokee settlement at the\nextreme head of Keowee river; it has been incorrectly rendered \"Place\nof shedding tears,\" from daksawa'ih\u00fb, \"he is shedding tears.\" The\ncorrect Cherokee form of the name is D\u00fbksa'i or D\u00fbkw'sa'i, a word\nwhich can not be analyzed and of which the meaning is now lost.\n\n\n\n\n124. LOCAL LEGENDS OF TENNESSEE\n\nFor the more important legends localized in Tennessee see the stories\nThe Hunter in the Dakwa', The Nest of the Tla'nuwa, The Removed\nTownhouses, The Haunted Whirlpool, \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', and U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta.\n\nBuffalo Track rock: This rock, of which the Indian name is now lost,\nis indefinitely mentioned as located southwest from Cumberland gap,\non the northern border of the state. According to Wafford, it was well\nknown some eighty years ago to the old Cherokee hunters, who described\nit as covered with deep impressions made by buffalo running along the\nrock and then butting their heads, as though in mad fury, against a\nrock wall, leaving the prints of their heads and horns in the stone.\n\nChattanooga: This city, upon Tennessee river, near the entrance of\nthe creek of the same name in Hamilton county, was incorporated in\n1848. So far as is known there was no Cherokee settlement at the place,\nalthough some prominent men of the tribe lived in the vicinity. The\nname originally belonged to some location upon the creek. The Cherokee\npronounce it Tsatanu'gi, but say that it is not a Cherokee word and\nhas no meaning in their language. The best informants express the\nopinion that it was from the Chickasaw (Choctaw) language, which seems\npossible, as the Chickasaw country anciently extended a considerable\ndistance up the Tennessee, the nearest settlement being within 80 miles\nof the present city. The Cherokee sometimes call the city A`tla'nuwa',\n\"Tla'nuwa (Hawk) hole,\" that being their old name for a bluff on the\nsouth side of the river at the foot of the present Market street. From\nthis circumstance probably originated the statement by a magazine\nwriter that the name Chattanooga signifies \"The crow's nest.\"\n\nChickamauga: The name of two creeks in Hamilton county, entering\nTennessee river from opposite sides a few miles above Chattanooga. A\ncreek of the same name is one of the head-streams of Chattahoochee\nriver, in White county, Georgia. The Cherokee pronounce it Tsikama'gi,\napplying the name in Tennessee to the territory about the mouth of\nthe southern, or principal, stream, where they formerly had a town,\nfrom which they removed in 1782. They state, however, that it is not\na Cherokee word and has no meaning in their language. Filson, in 1793,\nerroneously states that it is from the Cherokee language and signifies\n\"Boiling pot,\" referring to a dangerous whirlpool in the river near by,\nand later writers have improved upon this by translating it to mean\n\"Whirlpool.\" The error arises from confounding this place with The\nSuck, a whirlpool in Tennessee river 15 miles farther down and known\nto the Cherokee as \u00db\u00f1tiguhi', \"Pot in the water\" (see number 63,\n\"\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', the Gambler\"). On account of the hard fighting in the\nneighborhood during the Civil war, the stream was sometimes called,\npoetically, \"The River of Death,\" the term being frequently given\nas a translation of the Indian word. It has been suggested that the\nname is derived from an Algonquian word referring to a fishing or\nfish-spearing place, in which case it may have originated with the\nShawano, who formerly occupied middle Tennessee, and some of whom at\na later period resided jointly with the Cherokee in the settlements\nalong this part of the river. If not Shawano it is probably from the\nCreek or Chickasaw.\n\nConcerning \"Chickamauga gulch,\" a canyon on the northern stream of\nthat name, a newspaper writer gives the following so-called legend,\nwhich it is hardly necessary to say is not genuine:\n\n\n The Cherokees were a tribe singularly rich in tradition, and of\n course so wild, gloomy, and remarkable a spot was not without\n its legend. The descendants of the expatriated semi-barbarians\n believe to this day that in ages gone a great serpent made its den\n in the gulch, and that yearly he demanded of the red men ten of\n their most beautiful maidens as a sacrificial offering. Fearful of\n extermination, the demand was always complied with by the tribe,\n amid weeping and wailing by the women. On the day before the\n tribute was due the serpent announced its presence by a demoniacal\n hiss, and the next morning the fair ones who had been chosen to\n save the tribe were taken to the summit of a cliff and left to\n be swallowed by the scaly Moloch.\n\n\nChilhowee: A mountain and station on the north side of Little Tennessee\nriver, in Blount county. The correct Cherokee form is Ts\u00fb`l\u00fb\u00f1we'i,\napplied to the lower part of Abrams creek, which enters the river\nfrom the north just above. The meaning of the word is lost, although\nit may possibly have a connection with ts\u00fb`l\u00fb, \"kingfisher.\" It has\nbeen incorrectly rendered \"fire deer,\" an interpretation founded\non the false assumption that the name is compounded from atsi'la,\n\"fire,\" and a`wi', \"deer,\" whence, Chil-howee. For legends localized\nin this vicinity, see the stories noted above. Chilhowee occurs also\nas the name of a stream in the mountains of southwestern Virginia.\n\nLenoir: On the north bank of the main Tennessee, at the junction of the\nLittle Tennessee, in Loudon county. The Cherokee name is Wa'ginsi',\nof which the meaning is lost, and was applied originally to an eddy\nin the stream, where, it was said, there dwelt a large serpent, to\nsee which was an omen of evil. On one occasion a man crossing the\nriver at this point saw the snake in the water and soon afterward\nlost one of his children.\n\nMorganton: On a rocky hill on the old Indian trail on the west side of\nLittle Tennessee river, above and nearly opposite Morganton, in Loudon\ncounty, are, or were a few years ago, four trees blazed in a peculiar\nmanner, concerning which the Indians had several unsatisfactory\nstories, the most common opinion being that the marks were very old\nand had been made by Indians to indicate the position of hidden mines.\n\nNashville: The state capital, in Davidson county. The Cherokee name\nis Dag\u00fb'nawela'hi, \"Mussel-liver place,\" which would seem to have\noriginated in some now forgotten legend.\n\nNickajack: A creek entering Tennessee river from the south about 15\nmiles below Chattanooga. Near its mouth is a noted cave of the same\nname. The Cherokee form is Nikutse'gi, the name of a former settlement\nof that tribe at the mouth of the creek; but the word has no meaning\nin that language, and is probably of foreign, perhaps Chickasaw,\norigin. The derivation from a certain \"Nigger Jack,\" said to have\nmade the cave his headquarters is purely fanciful.\n\nSavannah: A farm on the north bank of Hiwassee river at a ford of the\nsame name, about 5 miles above Conasauga creek and Columbus, in Polk\ncounty. Here are extensive remains of an ancient settlement, including\nmounds, cemetery, and also, some seventy years ago, a small square\ninclosure or \"fort\" of undressed stone. According to a tradition\ngiven to Wafford, the Cherokee once prepared an ambush here for a\nhostile war party which they were expecting to come up the river,\nbut were themselves defeated by the enemy, who made a detour around\nthe Black mountain and came in upon their rear.\n\nTennessee: The Cherokee form is Tanasi', and was applied to\nseveral localities within the old territory of the tribe. The most\nimportant town of this name was on the south bank of Little Tennessee\nriver, halfway between Citico and Toco creeks, in Monroe county,\nTennessee. Another was on the south side of Hiwassee, just above the\njunction of Ocoee, in Polk county, Tennessee. A third district of\nthe same name was on Tennessee creek, the extreme easterly head of\nTuckasegee river, in Jackson county, North Carolina. The meaning of\nthe name is lost. It was not the Indian name of the river, and does\nnot mean \"Big spoon,\" as has been incorrectly asserted.\n\n\n\n\n125. LOCAL LEGENDS OF GEORGIA\n\nFor more important legends localized in Georgia see the stories Yahula,\nThe N\u00fb\u00f1nehi, The Ust\u00fb'tli, \u00c2gan-uni'tsi's Search for the Uktena,\nand The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister. White's Historical\nCollections of Georgia is responsible for a number of pseudo-myths.\n\nChopped oak: A noted tree, scarred with hundreds of hatchet marks,\nformerly in Habersham county, 6 miles east of Clarkesville, on the\nsummit of Chattahoochee ridge, and on the north side of the road from\nClarkesville to Toccoa creek. The Cherokee name is Digalu'yat\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\n\"Where it is gashed with hatchets.\" It was a favorite assembly place\nfor the Indians, as well as for the early settlers, according to whom\nthe gashes were tally marks by means of which the Indians kept the\nrecord of scalps taken in their forays. The tradition is thus given\nby White (Historical Collections of Georgia, p. 489, 1855) on some\nearlier authority:\n\n\n Among the curiosities of this country was the Chopped Oak,\n a tree famous in Indian history and in the traditions of the\n early settlers. This tree stood about 6 miles southeast of\n Clarkesville, and was noted as being the Law Ground, or place\n of holding company musters and magistrates' courts. According\n to tradition, the Chopped Oak was a celebrated rendezvous of the\n Indians in their predatory excursions, it being at a joint where\n a number of trails met. Here their plans of warfare were laid;\n here the several parties separated; and here, on their return,\n they awaited each other; and then, in their brief language,\n the result of their enterprise was stated, and for every scalp\n taken a gash cut in the tree. If tradition tells the truth, and\n every scar on the blasted oak counts for a scalp, the success of\n their scouting parties must have been great. This tree was alive\n a few years since when a young man, possessing all the prejudices\n of his countrymen, and caring less for the traditions of the\n Indians than his own revenge, killed the tree by girdling it,\n that it might be no longer a living monument of the cruelties of\n the savages. The stump is still standing.\n\n\nDead Man's gap: One mile below Tallulah falls, on the west side of\nthe railroad, in Habersham county. So called from a former reputed\nIndian grave, now almost obliterated. According to the story, it was\nthe grave of an Indian who was killed here while eloping with a white\nwoman, whom he had stolen from her husband.\n\nFrogtown: A creek at the head of Chestatee river, north of Dahlonega,\nin Lumpkin county. The Cherokee name is Wal\u00e2si'yi, \"Frog place.\" The\nname was originally applied to a mountain to the northeast (Rock\nmountain?), from a tradition that a hunter had once seen there a frog\nas large as a house. The Indian settlement along the creek bore the\nsame name.\n\nHiwassee: A river having its source in Towns county, of northern\nGeorgia, and flowing northwestward to join the Tennessee. The\ncorrect Cherokee form, applied to two former settlements on the\nstream, is Ayuhwa'si (meaning \"A savanna\"). Although there is no\nespecial Cherokee story connected with the name, White (Historical\nCollections of Georgia, p. 660) makes it the subject of a long\npseudo-myth, in which Hiwassee, rendered \"The Pretty Fawn,\" is the\nbeautiful daughter of a Catawba chief, and is wooed, and at last won,\nby a young Cherokee warrior named Notley, \"The Daring Horseman,\" who\nfinally becomes the head chief of the Cherokee and succeeds in making\nperpetual peace between the two tribes. The story sounds very pretty,\nbut is a pure invention.\n\nNacoochee: A village on the site of a former Cherokee settlement,\nin a beautiful and fertile valley of the same name at the head of\nChattahoochee river, in White county. The Cherokee form is Nagu`tsi',\nbut the word has no meaning in that language and seems to be of\nforeign, perhaps Creek, origin. About 2 miles above the village, on the\neast bank of the river, is a large mound. White (Historical Collections\nof Georgia, p. 486) quotes a fictitious legend, according to which\nNacoochee, \"The Evening Star,\" was a beautiful Indian princess, who\nunfortunately fell in love with a chieftain of a hostile tribe and was\nkilled, together with her lover, while fleeing from the vengeance of\nan angry father. The two were buried in the same grave and the mound\nwas raised over the spot. The only grain of truth in the story is that\nthe name has a slight resemblance to nakwisi', the Cherokee word for\n\"star.\"\n\nNottely: A river rising in Union county and flowing northwestward\ninto Hiwassee. The Cherokee form is Na'd\u00fb`li', applied to a former\nsettlement on the west side of the river, in Cherokee county, North\nCarolina, about a mile from the Georgia line. Although suggestive of\nna`t\u00fb`li, \"spicewood,\" it is a different word and has no meaning in\nthe Cherokee language, being apparently of foreign, perhaps Creek,\norigin. For a pseudo-myth connected with the name, see the preceding\nnote on Hiwassee.\n\nTalking Rock: A creek in upper Georgia flowing northward to join\nCoosawatee river. The Indian settlements upon it were considered\nas belonging to Sanderstown, on the lower part of the creek, the\ntownhouse being located about a mile above the present Talking Rock\nstation on the west side of the railroad. The name is a translation\nof the Cherokee N\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-g\u00fb\u00f1wani'ski, \"Rock that talks,\" and refers,\naccording to one informant, to an echo rock somewhere upon the\nstream below the present railroad station. An old-time trader among\nthe Cherokee in Georgia says that the name was applied to a rock at\nwhich the Indians formerly held their councils, but the etymology of\nthe word is against this derivation.\n\nTallulah: A river in Rabun county, northeastern Georgia, which flows\ninto the Tugaloo, and has a beautiful fall about 2 miles above its\nmouth. The Cherokee form is Talulu' (Taruri' in the lower Cherokee\ndialect), the name of an ancient settlement some distance above the\nfalls, as also of a creek and district at the head of Cheowa river,\nin Graham county, North Carolina. The name can not be translated. A\nmagazine writer has rendered it \"The Terrible,\" for which there\nis no authority. Schoolcraft, on the authority of a Cherokee lady,\nrenders it \"There lies your child,\" derived from a story of a child\nhaving been carried over the falls. The name, however, was not applied\nto the falls, but to a district on the stream above, as well as to\nanother in North Carolina. The error arises from the fact that a\nword of somewhat similar sound denotes \"having children\" or \"being\npregnant,\" used in speaking of a woman. One informant derives it\nfrom talulu', the cry of a certain species of frog known as dulusi,\nwhich is found in that neighborhood, but not upon the reservation,\nand which was formerly eaten as food. A possible derivation is from\na'talul\u00fb', \"unfinished, premature, unsuccessful.\" The fall was called\nUg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, a name of which the meaning is lost, and which was applied\nalso to a locality on Little Tennessee river near Franklin, North\nCarolina. For a myth localized at Tallulah falls, see number 84,\n\"The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister.\"\n\nIn this connection Lanman gives the following story, which,\nnotwithstanding its white man's dress, appears to be based upon a\ngenuine Cherokee tradition of the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi:\n\n\n During my stay at the Falls of Tallulah I made every effort to\n obtain an Indian legend or two connected with them, and it was\n my good fortune to hear one which has never yet been printed. It\n was originally obtained by the white man who first discovered\n the falls from the Cherokees, who lived in the region at the\n time. It is in substance as follows: Many generations ago it so\n happened that several famous hunters, who had wandered from the\n West toward what is now the Savannah river, in search of game,\n never returned to their camping grounds. In process of time\n the curiosity as well as the fears of the nation were excited,\n and an effort was made to ascertain the cause of their singular\n disappearance, whereupon a party of medicine men were deputed\n to make a pilgrimage toward the great river. They were absent\n a whole moon, and, on returning to their friends, they reported\n that they had discovered a dreadful fissure in an unknown part of\n the country, through which a mountain torrent took its way with a\n deafening noise. They said that it was an exceedingly wild place,\n and that its inhabitants were a species of little men and women,\n who dwelt in the crevices of the rocks and in grottoes under the\n waterfalls. They had attempted by every artifice in their power\n to hold a council with the little people, but all in vain; and,\n from the shrieks they frequently uttered, the medicine men knew\n that they were the enemies of the Indian race, and, therefore,\n it was concluded in the nation at large that the long-lost hunters\n had been decoyed to their death in the dreadful gorge, which they\n called Tallulah. In view of this little legend, it is worthy of\n remark that the Cherokee nation, previous to their departure for\n the distant West, always avoided the Falls of Tallulah, and were\n seldom found hunting or fishing in their vicinity. [503]\n\n\nToccoa: (1) A creek flowing into Tugaloo river, in Habersham county,\nwith a fall upon its upper course, near the village of the same\nname. (2) A river in upper Georgia, flowing northwestward into\nHiwassee. The correct Cherokee form applied to the former settlement\non both streams is Tagw\u00e2'hi, \"Catawba place,\" implying the former\npresence of Indians of that tribe. The lands about Toccoa falls were\nsold by the Cherokee in 1783 and were owned at one time by Wafford's\ngrandfather. According to Wafford, there was a tradition that when the\nwhites first visited the place they saw, as they thought, an Indian\nwoman walking beneath the surface of the water under the falls, and on\nlooking again a moment after they saw her sitting upon an overhanging\nrock 200 feet in the air, with her feet dangling over. Said Wafford,\n\"She must have been one of the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi.\"\n\nTrack Rock gap: A gap about 5 miles east of Blairsville, in Union\ncounty, on the ridge separating Brasstown creek from the waters of\nNottely river. The micaceous soapstone rocks on both sides of the\ntrail are covered with petroglyphs, from which the gap takes its\nname. The Cherokee call the place Datsu'nal\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where there are\ntracks,\" or Degayel\u00fb\u00f1'ha, \"Printed (Branded) place.\" The carvings are\nof many and various patterns, some of them resembling human or animal\nfootprints, while others are squares, crosses, circles, \"bird tracks,\"\netc., disposed without any apparent order. On the authority of a Doctor\nStevenson, writing in 1834, White (Historical Collections of Georgia,\np. 658, 1855), and after him Jones (Antiquities of the Southern\nIndians, 1873), give a misleading and greatly exaggerated account of\nthese carvings, without having taken the trouble to investigate for\nthemselves, although the spot is easily accessible. No effort, either\nstate or local, is made to preserve the pictographs from destruction,\nand many of the finest have been cut out from the rock and carried\noff by vandals, Stevenson himself being among the number, by his own\nconfession. The illustration (plate XX) is from a rough sketch made\nby the author in 1890.\n\nThe Cherokee have various theories to account for the origin of the\ncarvings, the more sensible Indians saying that they were made by\nhunters for their own amusement while resting in the gap. Another\ntradition is that they were made while the surface of the newly created\nearth was still soft by a great army of birds and animals fleeing\nthrough the gap to escape some pursuing danger from the west--some\nsay a great \"drive hunt\" of the Indians. Haywood confounds them with\nother petroglyphs in North Carolina connected with the story of the\ngiant Tsul`kal\u00fb' (see number 81).\n\nThe following florid account of the carvings and ostensible Indian\ntradition of their origin is from White, on the authority of Stevenson:\n\n\n The number visible or defined is 136, some of them quite natural\n and perfect, and others rather rude imitations, and most of them\n from the effects of time have become more or less obliterated. They\n comprise human feet from those 4 inches in length to those of\n great warriors which measure 17-1/2 inches in length and 7-3/4 in\n breadth across the toes. What is a little curious, all the human\n feet are natural except this, which has 6 toes, proving him to have\n been a descendant of Titan. There are 26 of these impressions,\n all bare except one, which has the appearance of having worn\n moccasins. A fine turned hand, rather delicate, occupied a place\n near the great warrior, and probably the impression of his wife's\n hand, who no doubt accompanied her husband in all his excursions,\n sharing his toils and soothing his cares away. Many horse tracks\n are to be seen. One seems to have been shod, some are very small,\n and one measures 12-1/2 inches by 9-1/2 inches. This the Cherokee\n say was the footprint of the great war horse which their chieftain\n rode. The tracks of a great many turkeys, turtles, terrapins,\n a large bear's paw, a snake's trail, and the footprints of two\n deer are to be seen. The tradition respecting these impressions\n varies. One asserts that the world was once deluged with water,\n and men with all animated beings were destroyed, except one family,\n together with various animals necessary to replenish the earth;\n that the Great Spirit before the floods came commanded them\n to embark in a big canoe, which after long sailing was drawn\n to this spot by a bevy of swans and rested there, and here the\n whole troop of animals was disembarked, leaving the impressions\n as they passed over the rock, which being softened by reason of\n long submersion kindly received and preserved them.\n\n\nWar Woman's creek: Enters Chattooga river in Rabun county, northeastern\nGeorgia, in the heart of the old Lower Cherokee country. The name\nseems to be of Indian origin, although the Cherokee name is lost\nand the story has perished. A writer quoted by White (Historical\nCollections of Georgia, p. 444) attempts to show its origin from\nthe exploit of a certain Revolutionary amazon, in capturing a party\nof Tories, but the name occurs in Adair (note, p. 185) as early as\n1775. There is some reason for believing that it refers to a former\nfemale dignitary among the Cherokee, described by Haywood under the\ntitle of the \"Pretty Woman\" as having authority to decide the fate\nof prisoners of war. Wafford once knew an old woman whose name was\nDa`na-g\u00e2'sta, an abbreviated form for Da`nawa-g\u00e2sta'ya, \"Sharp war,\"\nunderstood to mean \"Sharp (i. e., Fierce) warrior.\" Several cases of\nwomen acting the part of warriors are on record among the Cherokee.\n\n\n\n\n126. PLANT LORE\n\nThe Cherokee have always been an agricultural people, and their old\ncountry is a region of luxuriant flora, with tall trees and tangled\nundergrowth on the slopes and ridges, and myriad bright-tinted blossoms\nand sweet wild fruits along the running streams. The vegetable kingdom\nconsequently holds a far more important place in the mythology and\nceremonial of the tribe than it does among the Indians of the treeless\nplains and arid sage deserts of the West, most of the beliefs and\ncustoms in this connection centering around the practice of medicine,\nas expounded by the priests and doctors in every settlement. In general\nit is held that the plant world is friendly to the human species,\nand constantly at the willing service of the doctors to counteract\nthe jealous hostility of the animals. The sacred formulas contain\nmany curious instructions for the gathering and preparation of the\nmedicinal roots and barks, which are selected chiefly in accordance\nwith the theory of correspondences.\n\nThe Indians are close observers, and some of their plant names are\npeculiarly apt. Thus the mistletoe, which never grows alone, but is\nfound always with its roots fixed in the bark of some supporting\ntree or shrub from which it draws its sustenance, is called by a\nname which signifies \"it is married\" (uda'`li). The violet is still\ncalled by a plural name, dinda'skwate'ski, \"they pull each other's\nheads off,\" showing that the Cherokee children have discovered a game\nnot unknown among our own. The bear-grass (Eryngium), with its long,\nslender leaves like diminutive blades of corn, is called salikw\u00e2'yi,\n\"greensnake,\" and the larger grass known as Job's tears, on account\nof its glossy, rounded grains, which the Indian children use for\nnecklaces, is called sel-utsi', \"the mother of corn.\" The black-eyed\nSusan (Rudbeckia) of our children is the \"deer-eye\" (a`wi'-akta')\nof the Cherokee, and our lady-slipper (Cypripedium) is their\n\"partridge moccasin\" (gugwe'-ulasu'la). The May-apple (Podophyllum),\nwith its umbrella-shaped top, is called u'niskwetu'`gi, meaning \"it\nwears a hat,\" while the white puffball fungus is nakwisi'-usdi',\n\"the little star,\" and the common rock lichen bears the musical,\nif rather unpoetic, name of utsale'ta, \"pot scrapings.\" Some plants\nare named from their real or supposed place in the animal economy,\nas the wild rose, tsist-uni'gisti, \"the rabbits eat it\"--referring\nto the seed berries--and the shield fern (Aspidium), y\u00e2n-utse'st\u00fb,\n\"the bear lies on it.\" Others, again, are named from their domestic\nor ceremonial uses, as the fleabane (Erigeron canadense), called\natsil'-s\u00fb\u00f1`ti, \"fire maker,\" because its dried stalk was anciently\nemployed in producing fire by friction, and the bugle weed (Lycopus\nvirginicus), known as aniwani'ski, \"talkers,\" because the chewed\nroot, given to children to swallow, or rubbed upon their lips,\nis supposed to endow them with the gift of eloquence. Some few, in\naddition to the ordinary term in use among the common people, have a\nsacred or symbolic name, used only by the priests and doctors in the\nprayer formulas. Thus ginseng, or \"sang,\" as it is more often called\nby the white mountaineers, is known to the laity as \u00e2'tali-g\u00fbli',\n\"the mountain climber,\" but is addressed in the formulas as Y\u00fb\u00f1wi\nUsdi', \"Little Man,\" while selu (corn) is invoked under the name of\nAgawe'la in myths, as, for instance, that of Prosartes lanuginosa,\nwhich bears the curious name of wal\u00e2s'-un\u00fbl'sti, \"frogs fight with\nit,\" from a story that in the long ago--hilahi'yu--two quarrelsome\nfrogs once fought a duel, using its stalks as lances. In the locative\nform this was the name of a former Cherokee settlement in Georgia,\ncalled by the whites Fighting-town, from a misapprehension of the\nmeaning of the word. Of the white clover, the Cherokee say that\n\"it follows the white man.\"\n\nThe division of trees into evergreen and deciduous is accounted for\nby a myth, related elsewhere, according to which the loss of their\nleaves in winter time is a punishment visited upon the latter for\ntheir failure to endure an ordeal to the end. With the Cherokee, as\nwith nearly all other tribes east and west, the cedar is held sacred\nabove other trees. The reasons for this reverence are easily found in\nits ever-living green, its balsamic fragrance, and the beautiful color\nof its fine-grained wood, unwarping and practically undecaying. The\nsmall green twigs are thrown upon the fire as incense in certain\nceremonies, particularly to counteract the effect of asgina dreams,\nas it is believed that the anisgi'na or malevolent ghosts can not\nendure the smell; but the wood itself is considered too sacred to\nbe used as fuel. In the war dance, the scalp trophies, stretched on\nsmall hoops, were hung upon a cedar sapling trimmed and decorated for\nthe occasion. According to a myth the red color comes originally from\nthe blood of a wicked magician, whose severed head was hung at the\ntop of a tall cedar. The story is now almost forgotten, but it was\nprobably nearly identical with one still existing among the Yuchi,\nformer neighbors of the Cherokee. According to the Yuchi myth,\na malevolent magician disturbed the daily course of the sun until\nat last two brave warriors sought him out and killed him in his\ncave. They cut off his head and brought it home with them to show to\nthe people, but it continued still alive. To make it die they were\nadvised to tie it in the topmost branches of a tree. This they did,\ntrying one tree after another, but each morning the head was found\nat the foot of the tree and still alive. At last they tied it in a\ncedar, and there the head remained until it was dead, while the blood\nslowly trickling down along the trunk gave the wood its red color,\nand henceforth the cedar was a \"medicine\" tree. [504]\n\nThe linn or basswood (Tilia) is believed never to be struck by\nlightning, and the hunter caught in one of the frequent thunderstorms\nof the southern mountains always seeks its shelter. From its stringy\nbark are twisted the hunting belts worn about the waist. Sourwood\n(Oxydendrum) is used by the hunters for barbecue sticks to roast\nmeat before the fire, on account of the acid flavor of the wood,\nwhich they believe to be thus communicated to the meat. Spoons and\ncombs are also carved from the wood, but it is never burned, from\nan idea that lye made from the ashes will bring sickness to those\nwho use it in preparing their food. It is said also that if one\nshould sleep beside a fire containing sourwood sticks the sourwood\n\"will barbecue him,\" which may possibly mean that he will have hot\nor feverish pains thereafter.\n\nThe laurel, in its two varieties, large and small (Rhododendron and\nKalmia, or \"ivy\"), is much used for spoons and combs, on account of\nits close grain, as also in medicine, but is never burned, as it is\nbelieved that this would bring on cold weather, and would furthermore\ndestroy the medicinal virtues of the whole species. The reason given\nis that the leaves, when burning, make a hissing sound suggestive of\nwinter winds and falling snow. When the doctor is making up a compound\nin which any part of the laurel is an ingredient, great precautions are\ntaken to prevent any of the leaves or twigs being swept into the fire,\nas this would render the decoction worthless. Sassafras is tabued\nas fuel among the Cherokee, as also among their white neighbors,\nperhaps for the practical reason that it is apt to pop out of the\nfire when heated and might thus set the house on fire.\n\nPounded walnut bark is thrown into small streams to stupefy the fish,\nso that they may be easily dipped out in baskets as they float on the\nsurface of the water. Should a pregnant woman wade into the stream\nat the time, its effect is nullified, unless she has first taken\nthe precaution to tie a strip of the bark about her toe. A fire\nof post-oak and the wood of the tel\u00fb\u00f1'lati or summer grape (Vitis\n\u00e6stivalis) is believed to bring a spell of warm weather even in the\ncoldest winter season.\n\nMysterious properties attach to the wood of a tree which has been\nstruck by lightning, especially when the tree itself still lives, and\nsuch wood enters largely into the secret compounds of the conjurers. An\nordinary person of the laity will not touch it, for fear of having\ncracks come upon his hands and feet, nor is it burned for fuel, for\nfear that lye made from the ashes will cause consumption. In preparing\nballplayers for the contest, the medicine-man sometimes burns splinters\nof it to coal, which he gives to the players to paint themselves with\nin order that they may be able to strike their opponents with all the\nforce of a thunderbolt. Bark or wood from a tree struck by lightning,\nbut still green, is beaten up and put into the water in which seeds\nare soaked before planting, to insure a good crop, but, on the other\nhand, any lightning-struck wood thrown into the field will cause the\ncrop to wither, and it is believed to have a bad effect even to go\ninto the field immediately after having been near such a tree.\n\nAmong all vegetables the one which holds first place in the\nhousehold economy and ceremonial observance of the tribe is selu,\n\"corn,\" invoked in the sacred formulas under the name of Agawe'la,\n\"The Old Woman,\" in allusion to its mythic origin from the blood of\nan old woman killed by her disobedient sons (see number 3, \"Kana'ti\nand Selu\"). In former times the annual thanksgiving ceremony of the\nGreen-corn dance, preliminary to eating the first new corn, was the\nmost solemn tribal function, a propitiation and expiation for the\nsins of the past year, an amnesty for public criminals, and a prayer\nfor happiness and prosperity for the year to come. Only those who had\nproperly prepared themselves by prayer, fasting, and purification were\nallowed to take part in this ceremony, and no one dared to taste the\nnew corn until then. Seven ears from the last year's crop were always\nput carefully aside, in order to attract the corn until the new crop\nwas ripened and it was time for the dance, when they were eaten with\nthe rest. In eating the first new corn after the Green Corn dance,\ncare was observed not to blow upon it to cool it, for fear of causing\na wind storm to beat down the standing crop in the field.\n\nMuch ceremony accompanied the planting and tending of the crop. Seven\ngrains, the sacred number, were put into each hill, and these were not\nafterward thinned out. After the last working of the crop, the priest\nand an assistant--generally the owner of the field--went into the\nfield and built a small inclosure (detsan\u00fb\u00f1'li) in the center. Then\nentering it, they seated themselves upon the ground, with heads\nbent down, and while the assistant kept perfect silence the priest,\nwith rattle in hand, sang songs of invocation to the spirit of the\ncorn. Soon, according to the orthodox belief, a loud rustling would\nbe heard outside, which they would know was caused by the \"Old Woman\"\nbringing the corn into the field, but neither must look up until\nthe song was finished. This ceremony was repeated on four successive\nnights, after which no one entered the field for seven other nights,\nwhen the priest himself went in, and, if all the sacred regulations\nhad been properly observed, was rewarded by finding young ears upon\nthe stalks. The corn ceremonies could be performed by the owner of the\nfield himself, provided he was willing to pay a sufficient fee to the\npriest in order to learn the songs and ritual. Care was always taken to\nkeep a clean trail from the field to the house, so that the corn might\nbe encouraged to stay at home and not go wandering elsewhere. Most\nof these customs have now fallen into disuse excepting among the old\npeople, by many of whom they are still religiously observed.\n\nAnother curious ceremony, of which even the memory is now almost\nforgotten, was enacted after the first working of the corn, when the\nowner or priest stood in succession at each of the four corners of the\nfield and wept and wailed loudly. Even the priests are now unable to\ngive a reason for this performance, which may have been a lament for\nthe bloody death of Selu, as the women of Byblos were wont to weep\nfor Adonis.\n\nNext to corn, the bean (tuya) is the most important food plant of the\nCherokee and other southern Indians, with whom it is probably native,\nbut there does not appear to be much special ceremony or folklore in\nconnection with it. Beans which crack open in cooking are sometimes\nrubbed by mothers on the lips of their children in order to make\nthem look smiling and good-tempered. The association of ideas seems\nto be the same as that which in Ireland causes a fat mealy potato,\nwhich cracks open in boiling, to be called a \"laughing\" potato. Melons\nand squashes must not be counted or examined too closely, while still\ngrowing upon the vine, or they will cease to thrive; neither must one\nstep over the vine, or it will wither before the fruit ripens. One\nwho has eaten a May-apple must not come near the vines under any\ncircumstances, as this plant withers and dries up very quickly,\nand its presence would make the melons wither in the same way.\n\nTobacco was used as a sacred incense or as the guarantee of a solemn\noath in nearly every important function--in binding the warrior to\ntake up the hatchet against the enemy, in ratifying the treaty of\npeace, in confirming sales or other engagements, in seeking omens for\nthe hunter, in driving away witches or evil spirits, and in regular\nmedical practice. It was either smoked in the pipe or sprinkled upon\nthe fire, never rolled into cigarettes, as among the tribes of the\nSouthwest, neither was it ever smoked for the mere pleasure of the\nsensation. Of late years white neighbors have taught the Indians to\nchew it, but the habit is not aboriginal. It is called ts\u00e2l\u00fb, a name\nwhich has lost its meaning in the Cherokee language, but is explained\nfrom the cognate Tuscarora, in which charh\u00fb', \"tobacco,\" can still be\nanalyzed as \"fire to hold in the mouth,\" showing that the use is as\nold as the knowledge of the plant. The tobacco originally in use among\nthe Cherokee, Iroquois, and other eastern tribes was not the common\ntobacco of commerce (Nicotiana tabacum), which has been introduced\nfrom the West Indies, but the Nicotiana rustica, or wild tobacco,\nnow distinguished by the Cherokee as ts\u00e2l-agay\u00fb\u00f1'li, \"old tobacco,\"\nand by the Iroquois as \"real tobacco.\" Its various uses in ritual\nand medicine are better described under other headings. For the myth\nof its loss and recovery see number 6, \"How They Brought Back the\nTobacco.\" The cardinal flower (Lobelia), mullein (Verbascum), and\none or two related species are called ts\u00e2liyu'sti, \"like tobacco,\"\non account of their general resemblance to it in appearance, but they\nwere never used in the same way.\n\nThe poisonous wild parsnip (Peucedanum?) bears an unpleasant\nreputation on account of its frequent use in evil spells, especially\nthose intended to destroy the life of the victim. In one of these\nconjurations seven pieces of the root are laid upon one hand and rubbed\ngently with the other, the omen being taken from the position of the\npieces when the hand is removed. It is said also that poisoners mix\nit secretly with the food of their intended victim, when, if he eats,\nhe soon becomes drowsy, and, unless kept in motion until the effect\nwears off, falls asleep, never to wake again. Suicides are said to\neat it to procure death. Before starting on a journey a small piece\nof the root is sometimes chewed and blown upon the body to prevent\nsickness, but the remedy is almost as bad as the disease, for the\nsnakes are said to resent the offensive smell by biting the one who\ncarries it. In spite of its poisonous qualities, a decoction of the\nroot is much used for steaming patients in the sweat bath, the idea\nseeming to be that the smell drives away the disease spirits.\n\nThe poison oak or poison ivy (Rhus radicans), so abundant in the\ndamp eastern forests, is feared as much by Indians as by whites. When\nobliged to approach it or work in its vicinity, the Cherokee strives to\nconciliate it by addressing it as \"My friend\" (hi'ginalii). If poisoned\nby it, he rubs upon the affected part the beaten flesh of a crawfish.\n\nOne variety of brier (Smilax) is called di`n\u00fb'ski, \"the breeder,\"\nfrom a belief that a thorn of it, if allowed to remain in the flesh,\nwill breed others in a day or two.\n\nGinseng, which is sold in large quantities to the local traders, as\nwell as used in the native medical practice, is called \u00e2tali-g\u00fbli',\n\"the mountain climber,\" but is addressed by the priests as Y\u00fb\u00f1wi\nUsdi', \"Little Man,\" or Y\u00fb\u00f1wi Usdi'ga Ada'wehi'yu, \"Little Man, Most\nPowerful Magician,\" the Cherokee sacred term, like the Chinese name,\nhaving its origin from the frequent resemblance of the root in shape\nto the body of a man. The beliefs and ceremonies in connection with\nits gathering and preparation are very numerous. The doctor speaks\nconstantly of it as of a sentient being, and it is believed to be able\nto make itself invisible to those unworthy to gather it. In hunting\nit, the first three plants found are passed by. The fourth is taken,\nafter a preliminary prayer, in which the doctor addresses it as the\n\"Great Ada'wehi,\" and humbly asks permission to take a small piece of\nits flesh. On digging it from the ground, he drops into the hole a bead\nand covers it over, leaving it there, by way of payment to the plant\nspirit. After that he takes them as they come without further ceremony.\n\nThe catgut or devil's shoestring (Tephrosia) is called distai'yi,\n\"they are tough,\" in allusion to its stringy roots, from which\nCherokee women prepare a decoction with which to wash their hair\nin order to impart to it the strength and toughness of the plant,\nwhile a preparation of the leaves is used by ballplayers to wash\nthemselves in order to toughen their limbs. To enable them to spring\nquickly to their feet if thrown to the ground, the players bathe\ntheir limbs also with a decoction of the small rush (Juncus tenuis),\nwhich, they say, always recovers its erect position, no matter how\noften trampled down. The white seeds of the viper's bugloss (Echium\nvulgare) were formerly used in many important ceremonies of which the\npurpose was to look into the future, but have now been superseded by\nthe ordinary glass beads of the traders. The culver root (Leptandra)\nis used in love conjurations, the omen being taken from the motion\nof the root when held in the hand. The campion (Silene stellata),\nlocally known as \"rattlesnake's master,\" is called ganidaw\u00e2'ski,\n\"it disjoints itself,\" because the dried stalk is said to break off\nby joints, beginning at the top. As among the white mountaineers,\nthe juice is held to be a sovereign remedy for snake bites, and it is\neven believed that the deadliest snake will flee from one who carries\na small portion of the root in his mouth.\n\nAlmost all varieties of burs, from the Spanish needle up to the\ncocklebur and Jimsonweed, are classed together under the generic name\nof u'nistil\u00fbn'isti, which may be freely rendered as \"stickers.\" From\ntheir habit of holding fast to whatever object they may happen to\ntouch, they are believed to have an occult power for improving the\nmemory and inducing stability of character. Very soon after a child\nis born, one of the smaller species, preferably the Lespedeza repens,\nis beaten up and a portion is put into a bowl of water taken from\na fall or cataract, where the stream makes a constant noise. This\nis given to the child to drink on four successive days, with the\nintention of making him quick to learn and retain in memory anything\nonce heard. The noise of the cataract from which the water is taken\nis believed to be the voice of Y\u00fb\u00f1wi G\u00fbnahi'ta, the \"Long Man,\" or\nriver god, teaching lessons which the child may understand, while\nthe stream itself is revered for its power to seize and hold anything\ncast upon its surface. A somewhat similar ceremony is sometimes used\nfor adults, but in this case the matter is altogether more difficult,\nas there are tabus for four or seven days, and the mind must be kept\nfixed upon the purpose of the rite throughout the whole period, while\nif the subject so far forgets himself as to lose his temper in that\ntime he will remain of a quarrelsome disposition forever after.\n\nA flowering vine, known as nuniyu'sti, \"potato-like,\" which grows\nin cultivated fields, and has a tuberous root somewhat resembling a\npotato, is used in hunting conjurations. The bruised root, from which\na milky juice oozes, is rubbed upon the deer bleat, a`wi'-ahyeli'ski,\nwith which the hunter imitates the bleating of the fawn, under\nthe idea that the doe, hearing it, will think that her offspring\ndesires to suck, and will therefore come the sooner. The putty-root\n(Adam-and-Eve, Aplectrum hiemale), which is of an oily, mucilaginous\nnature, is carried by the deer hunter, who, on shooting a deer,\nputs a small piece of the chewed root into the wound, expecting as a\nnecessary result to find the animal unusually fat when skinned. Infants\nwhich seem to pine and grow thin are bathed with a decoction of the\nsame root in order to fatten them. The root of the rare plant known\nas Venus' flytrap (Dion\u00e6a), which has the remarkable property of\ncatching and digesting insects which alight upon it, is chewed by\nthe fisherman and spit upon the bait that no fish may escape him,\nand the plant is tied upon the fish trap for the same purpose.\n\nThe root of a plant called unatl\u00fb\u00f1we'hit\u00fb, \"having spirals,\" is used\nin conjurations designed to predispose strangers in favor of the\nsubject. The priest \"takes it to water\"--i. e., says certain prayers\nover it while standing close to the running stream, then chews a small\npiece and rubs and blows it upon the body and arms of the patient,\nwho is supposed to be about to start upon a journey, or to take part\nin a council, with the result that all who meet him or listen to his\nwords are at once pleased with his manner and appearance, and disposed\nto give every assistance to his projects.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVI--NOTES AND PARALLELS TO MYTHS\n\n\nIn the preparation of the following notes and parallels the purpose has\nbeen to incorporate every Cherokee variant or pseudomyth obtainable\nfrom any source, and to give some explanation of tribal customs and\nbeliefs touched upon in the myths, particularly among the Southern\ntribes. A certain number of parallels have been incorporated, but\nit must be obvious that this field is too vast for treatment within\nthe limits of a single volume. Moreover, in view of the small number\nof tribes that have yet been studied, in comparison with the great\nnumber still unstudied, it is very doubtful whether the time has\narrived for any extended treatment of Indian mythology. The most\ncomplete index of parallels that has yet appeared is that accompanying\nthe splendid collection by Dr Franz Boas, Indianische Sagen von der\nnordpacifischen K\u00fcste Amerikas. [505] In drawing the line it has been\nfound necessary to restrict comparisons, excepting in a few special\ncases, to the territory of the United States or the immediate border\ncountry, although this compels the omission of several of the best\ncollections, particularly from the northwest coast and the interior\nof British America. Enough has been given to show that our native\ntribes had myths of their own without borrowing from other races,\nand that these were so widely and constantly disseminated by trade\nand travel and interchange of ceremonial over wide areas as to make\nthe Indian myth system as much a unit in this country as was the Aryan\nmyth structure in Europe and Asia. Every additional tribal study may\nbe expected to corroborate this result.\n\nA more special study of Cherokee myths in their connection with\nthe medical and religious ritual of the tribe is reserved for a\nfuture paper, of which preliminary presentation has been given in\nthe author's Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, in the Seventh Annual\nReport of the Bureau of Ethnology.\n\n\n\nStories and story tellers (p. 229): Migration legend--In Buttrick's\nAntiquities [506] we find some notice of this migration legend, which,\nas given by the missionary, is unfortunately so badly mixed up with\nthe Bible story that it is almost impossible to isolate the genuine. He\nstarts them under the leadership of their \"greatest prophet,\" W\u00e2si--who\nis simply Moses--in search of a far distant country where they may be\nsafe from their enemies. Who these enemies are, or in what quarter\nthey live, is not stated. Soon after setting out they come to a\ngreat water, which W\u00e2si strikes with his staff; the water divides\nso that they pass through safely, and then rolls back and prevents\npursuit by their enemies. They then enter a wilderness and come to\na mountain, and we are treated to the Bible story of Sinai and the\ntables of stone. Here also they receive sacred fire from heaven,\nwhich thereafter they carry with them until the house in which it\nis kept is at last destroyed by a hostile invasion. This portion\nof the myth seems to be genuine Indian (see notes to number 111,\n\"The Mounds and the Constant Fire\").\n\nIn this journey \"the tribes marched separately and also the clans. The\nclans were distinguished by having feathers of different colors\nfastened to their ears. They had two great standards, one white and\none red. The white standard was under the control of the priests, and\nused for civil purposes; but the red standard was under the direction\nof the war priests, for purposes of war and alarm. These were carried\nwhen they journeyed, and the white standard erected in front of the\nbuilding above mentioned [the ark or palladium], when they rested.\"\n\nThey cross four rivers in all--which accords with the Indian idea of\nthe sacred four--and sit down at last beyond the fourth, after having\nbeen for many years on the march. \"Their whole journey through this\nwilderness was attended with great distress and danger. At one time\nthey were beset by the most deadly kind of serpents, which destroyed a\ngreat many of the people, but at length their leader shot one with an\narrow and drove them away. Again, they were walking along in single\nfile, when the ground cracked open and a number of people sank down\nand were destroyed by the earth closing upon them. At another time\nthey came nigh perishing for water. Their head men dug with their\nstaves in all the low places, but could find no water. At length\ntheir leader found a most beautiful spring coming out of a rock.\" [507]\n\nAt one point in this migration, according to a tradition given to\nSchoolcraft by Stand Watie, they encountered a large river or other\ngreat body of water, which they crossed upon a bridge made by tying\ngrapevines together. [508] This idea of a vine bridge or ladder occurs\nalso in the traditions of the Iroquois, Mandan, and other tribes.\n\nFarther on the missionary already quoted says: \"Shield-eater once\ninquired if I ever heard of houses with flat roofs, saying that his\nfather's great grandfather used to say that once their people had\na great town, with a high wall about it; that on a certain occasion\ntheir enemies broke down a part of this wall; that the houses in this\ntown had flat roofs--though, he used to say, this was so long ago it\nis not worth talking about now.\" [509]\n\nFire of cane splints--Bartram thus describes the method as witnessed by\nhim at Attasse (Autossee) among the Creeks about 1775. The fire which\nblazed up so mysteriously may have been kept constantly smoldering\nbelow, as described in number 111:\n\n\"As their virgils [sic] and manner of conducting their vespers and\nmystical fire in this rotunda, are extremely singular, and altogether\ndifferent from the customs and usages of any other people, I shall\nproceed to describe them. In the first place, the governor or officer\nwho has the management of this business, with his servants attending,\norders the black drink to be brewed, which is a decoction or infusion\nof the leaves and tender shoots of the cassine. This is done under an\nopen shed or pavilion, at twenty or thirty yards distance, directly\nopposite the door of the council-house. Next he orders bundles of\ndry canes to be brought in: these are previously split and broken\nin pieces to about the length of two feet, and then placed obliquely\ncrossways upon one another on the floor, forming a spiral circle round\nabout the great centre pillar, rising to a foot or eighteen inches\nin height from the ground; and this circle spreading as it proceeds\nround and round, often repeated from right to left, every revolution\nincreases its diameter, and at length extends to the distance of\nten or twelve feet from the centre, more or less, according to the\nlength of time the assembly or meeting is to continue. By the time\nthese preparations are accomplished, it is night, and the assembly\nhave taken their seats in order. The exterior or outer end of the\nspiral circle takes fire and immediately rises into a bright flame\n(but how this is effected I did not plainly apprehend; I saw no person\nset fire to it; there might have been fire left on the earth; however I\nneither saw nor smelt fire or smoke until the blaze instantly ascended\nupwards), which gradually and slowly creeps round the centre pillar,\nwith the course of the sun, feeding on the dry canes, and affords a\ncheerful, gentle and sufficient light until the circle is consumed,\nwhen the council breaks up.\" [510]\n\n\n\n1. How the world was made (p. 239): From decay of the old tradition\nand admixture of Bible ideas the Cherokee genesis myth is too far\nbroken down to be recovered excepting in disjointed fragments. The\ncompleteness of the destruction may be judged by studying the similar\nmyth of the Iroquois or the Ojibwa. What is here preserved was obtained\nchiefly from Swimmer and John Ax, the two most competent authorities of\nthe eastern band. The evergreen story is from Ta'gwadihi'. The incident\nof the brother striking his sister with a fish to make her pregnant\nwas given by Ay\u00e2sta, and may have a phallic meaning. John Ax says the\npregnancy was brought about by the \"Little People,\" Yu\u00f1wi Tsunsdi',\nwho commanded the woman to rub spittle (of the brother?) upon her\nback, and to lie upon her breast, with her body completely covered,\nfor seven days and nights, at the end of which period the child was\nborn, and another thereafter every seven days until the period was\nmade longer. According to Wafford the first man was created blind\nand remained so for some time. The incident of the buzzard shaping\nthe mountains occurs also in the genesis myth of the Creeks [511]\nand Yuchi, [512] southern neighbors of the Cherokee, but by them the\nfirst earth is said to have been brought up from under the water by\nthe crawfish. Among the northern tribes it is commonly the turtle which\ncontinues to support the earth upon its back. The water beetle referred\nto is the Gyrinus, locally known as mellow bug or apple beetle. One\nvariant makes the dilsta'ya`ti, water-spider (\"scissors,\" Dolomedes),\nhelp in the work. Nothing is said as to whence the sun is obtained. By\nsome tribes it is believed to be a gaming wheel stolen from a race\nof superior beings. See also number 7, \"The Journey to the Sunrise.\"\n\nThe missionaries Buttrick and Washburn give versions of the Cherokee\ngenesis, both of which are so badly warped by Bible interpretation as\nto be worthless. No native cosmogonic myth yet recorded goes back to\nthe first act of creation, but all start out with a world and living\ncreatures already in existence, though not in their final form and\ncondition.\n\nHand-breadth--The Cherokee word is utaw\u00e2'hil\u00fb, from uw\u00e2yi, hand. This\nis not to be taken literally, but is a figurative expression much used\nin the sacred formulas to denote a serial interval of space. The idea\nof successive removals of the sun, in order to modify the excessive\nheat, is found with other tribes. Buttrick, already quoted, says\nin his statement of the Cherokee cosmogony: \"When God created the\nworld he made a heaven or firmament about as high as the tops of the\nmountains, but this was too warm. He then created a second, which was\nalso too warm. He thus proceeded till he had created seven heavens\nand in the seventh fixed His abode. During some of their prayers\nthey raise their hands to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth,\nsixth and seventh heaven,\" etc. [513]\n\nIn Hindu cosmogony also we find seven heavens or stages, increasing\nin sanctity as they ascend; the Aztecs had nine, as had also the\nancient Scandinavians. [514] Some Polynesian tribes have ten, each\nbuilt of azure stone, with apertures for intercommunication. The\nlowest originally almost touched the earth and was elevated to its\npresent position by successive pushes from the gods Ru and Matti,\nresting first prostrate upon the ground, then upon their knees, then\nlifting with their shoulders, their hands, and their finger tips,\nuntil a last supreme effort sent it to its present place. [515]\n\nSeven: The sacred numbers--In every tribe and cult throughout the\nworld we find sacred numbers. Christianity and the Christian world\nhave three and seven. The Indian has always four as the principal\nsacred number, with usually another only slightly subordinated. The\ntwo sacred numbers of the Cherokee are four and seven, the latter\nbeing the actual number of the tribal clans, the formulistic number of\nupper worlds or heavens, and the ceremonial number of paragraphs or\nrepetitions in the principal formulas. Thus in the prayers for long\nlife the priest raises his client by successive stages to the first,\nsecond, third, fourth, and finally to the seventh heaven before the\nend is accomplished. The sacred four has direct relation to the four\ncardinal points, while seven, besides these, includes also \"above,\"\n\"below,\" and \"here in the center.\" In many tribal rituals color and\nsometimes sex are assigned to each point of direction. In the sacred\nCherokee formulas the spirits of the East, South, West, and North are,\nrespectively, Red, White, Black, and Blue, and each color has also\nits own symbolic meaning of Power (War), Peace, Death, and Defeat.\n\n\n\n2. The first fire (p. 240): This myth was obtained from Swimmer\nand John Ax. It is noted also in Foster's \"Sequoyah\" [516] and in\nthe Wahnenauhi manuscript. [517] The uksu'hi and the g\u00fble'gi are,\nrespectively, the Coluber obsoletus and Bascanion constrictor. The\nwater-spider is the large hairy species Argyroneta.\n\nIn the version given in the Wahnenauhi manuscript the Possum and the\nBuzzard first make the trial, but come back unsuccessful, one losing\nthe hair from his tail, while the other has the feathers scorched\nfrom his head and neck. In another version the Dragon-fly assists the\nWater-spider by pushing the tusti from behind. In the corresponding\nCreek myth, as given in the Tuggle manuscript, the Rabbit obtains fire\nby the stratagem of touching to the blaze a cap trimmed with sticks\nof rosin, while pretending to bend low in the dance. In the Jicarilla\nmyth the Fox steals fire by wrapping cedar bark around his tail and\nthrusting it into the blaze while dancing around the circle. [518]\n\n\n\n3. Kana'ti and Selu: Origin of corn and game (p. 242): This story\nwas obtained in nearly the same form from Swimmer and John Ax (east)\nand from Wafford (west), and a version is also given in the Wahnenauhi\nmanuscript. Hagar notes it briefly in his manuscript Stellar Legends\nof the Cherokee. So much of belief and custom depend upon the myth\nof Kana'ti that references to the principal incidents are constant\nin the songs and formulas. It is one of those myths held so sacred\nthat in the old days one who wished to hear it from the priest of\nthe tradition must first purify himself by \"going to water,\" i. e.,\nbathing in the running stream before daylight when still fasting,\nwhile the priest performed his mystic ceremonies upon the bank.\n\nIn his Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, written more than fifty\nyears ago, Lanman gives (pp. 136, 137) a very fair synopsis of this\nmyth, locating the game preserve of Kana'ti, whom he makes an old\nCherokee chief, in a (traditional) cave on the north side of the\nBlack mountain, now Mount Mitchell, in Yancey county, North Carolina,\nthe highest peak east of the Rocky mountains. After his father had\ndisappeared, and could not be found by long search, \"The boy fired\nan arrow towards the north, but it returned and fell at his feet,\nand he knew that his father had not travelled in that direction. He\nalso fired one towards the east and the south and the west, but they\nall came back in the same manner. He then thought that he would fire\none directly above his head, and it so happened that this arrow never\nreturned, and so the boy knew that his father had gone to the spirit\nland. The Great Spirit was angry with the Cherokee nation, and to\npunish it for the offense of the foolish boy he tore away the cave\nfrom the side of the Black mountain and left only a large cliff in\nits place, which is now a conspicuous feature, and he then declared\nthat the time would come when another race of men should possess the\nmountains where the Cherokees had flourished for many generations.\"\n\nThe story has numerous parallels in Indian myth, so many in fact that\nalmost every important concept occurring in it is duplicated in the\nNorth, in the South, and on the plains, and will probably be found\nalso west of the mountains when sufficient material of that region\nshall have been collected. The Ojibwa story of \"The Weendigoes,\"\n[519] in particular, has many striking points of resemblance; so,\nalso, the Omaha myth, \"Two-faces and the Twin Brothers,\" as given by\nDorsey. [520]\n\nHis wife was Selu, \"Corn\"--In Cherokee belief, as in the mythologies\nof nearly every eastern tribe, the corn spirit is a woman, and the\nplant itself has sprung originally from the blood drops or the dead\nbody of the Corn Woman. In the Cherokee sacred formulas the corn is\nsometimes invoked as Agawe'la, \"The Old Woman,\" and one myth (number\n72, \"The Hunter and Selu\") tells how a hunter once witnessed the\ntransformation of the growing stalk into a beautiful woman.\n\nIn the Creek myth \"Origin of Indian Corn,\" as given in the Tuggle\nmanuscript, the corn plant appears to be the transformed body of an\nold woman whose only son, endowed with magic powers, has developed\nfrom a single drop of her (menstrual?) blood.\n\nIn Iroquois legend, according to Morgan, the corn plant sprang\nfrom the bosom of the mother of the Great Spirit (sic) after her\nburial. The spirits of corn, bean, and squash are represented as three\nsisters. \"They are supposed to have the forms of beautiful females,\nto be very fond of each other, and to delight to dwell together. This\nlast belief is illustrated by a natural adaptation of the plants\nthemselves to grow up together in the same field and perhaps from\nthe same hill.\" [521]\n\nSprang from blood--This concept of a child born of blood drops\nreappears in the Cherokee story of Tsul`kal\u00fb' (see number 81). Its\noccurrence among the Creeks has just been noted. It is found also\namong the Dakota (Dorsey, \"The Blood-clots Boy,\" in Contributions\nto North American Ethnology, IX, 1893), Omaha (Dorsey, \"The Rabbit\nand the Grizzly Bear,\" Cont. to N. A. Eth., VI, 1890), Blackfeet\n(\"Kutoyis,\" in Grinnell, \"Blackfoot Lodge Tales\"; New York, 1892),\nand other tribes. Usually the child thus born is of wilder and more\nmischievous nature than is common.\n\nDeer shut up in hole--The Indian belief that the game animals were\noriginally shut up in a cave, from which they were afterward released\nby accident or trickery, is very widespread. In the Tuggle version\nof the Creek account of the creation of the earth we find the deer\nthus shut up and afterward set free. The Iroquois \"believed that the\ngame animals were not always free, but were enclosed in a cavern where\nthey had been concealed by Tawiskara'; but that they might increase and\nfill the forest Yoskeha' gave them freedom.\" [522] The same idea occurs\nin the Omaha story of \"Ictinike, the Brothers and Sister\" (Dorsey, in\nContributions to North American Ethnology, VI, 1890). The Kiowa tell\nhow the buffalo were kept thus imprisoned by the Crow until released\nby Sinti when the people were all starving for want of meat. When the\nbuffalo so suddenly and completely disappeared from the plains about\ntwenty-five years ago, the prairie tribes were unable to realize that\nit had been exterminated, but for a long time cherished the belief\nthat it had been again shut up by the superior power of the whites in\nsome underground prison, from which the spells of their own medicine\nmen would yet bring it back (see references in the author's Calendar\nHistory of the Kiowa Indians, in Seventeenth Annual Report of the\nBureau of American Ethnology, part 1, 1901). The Kiowa tradition is\nalmost exactly paralleled among the Jicarilla (Russell, Myths of the\nJicarilla Apaches, in Journal of American Folk-Lore, Oct., 1898).\n\nStorehouse--The unwad\u00e2'li, or storehouse for corn, beans, dried\npumpkins, and other provisions, was a feature of every Cherokee\nhomestead and was probably common to all the southern tribes. Lawson\nthus describes it among the Santee in South Carolina about the\nyear 1700:\n\n\"They make themselves cribs after a very curious manner, wherein\nthey secure their corn from vermin, which are more frequent in these\nwarm climates than in countries more distant from the sun. These\npretty fabrics are commonly supported with eight feet or posts about\nseven feet high from the ground, well daubed within and without upon\nlaths, with loam or clay, which makes them tight and fit to keep\nout the smallest insect, there being a small door at the gable end,\nwhich is made of the same composition and to be removed at pleasure,\nbeing no bigger than that a slender man may creep in at, cementing\nthe door up with the same earth when they take the corn out of the\ncrib and are going from home, always finding their granaries in the\nsame posture they left them--theft to each other being altogether\nunpracticed.\" [523]\n\nRubbed her stomach--This miraculous procuring of provisions by rubbing\nthe body occurs also in number 76, \"The Bear Man.\"\n\nKnew their thoughts--Mind reading is a frequent concept in Indian\nmyth and occurs in more than one Cherokee story.\n\nSeven times--The idea of sacred numbers has already been noted, and\nthe constant recurrence of seven in the present myth exemplifies well\nthe importance of that number in Cherokee ritual.\n\nA tuft of down--In the Omaha story, \"The Corn Woman and the Buffalo\nWoman\" (Dorsey, Contributions to North American Ethnology, VI, 1890),\nthe magician changes himself into a feather and allows himself to be\nblown about by the wind in order to accomplish his purpose. The wolf\ndoes the same in a Thompson River myth. [524] The self-transformation\nof the hero into a tuft of bird's down, a feather, a leaf, or some\nother light object, which is then carried by the wind wherever he\nwishes to go, is very common in Indian myth.\n\nPlay ball against them--This is a Cherokee figurative expression for\na contest of any kind, more particularly a battle.\n\nLeft an open space--When the Cherokee conjurer, by his magic spells,\ncoils the great (invisible) serpent around the house of a sick man\nto keep off the witches, he is always careful to leave a small space\nbetween the head and tail of the snake, so that the members of the\nfamily can go down to the spring to get water.\n\nWolves--The wolf is regarded as the servant and watchdog of\nKana'ti. See number 15, \"The Fourfooted Tribes.\"\n\nFrom these have come all--In nearly every Indian mythology we find the\nidea of certain animal tribes being descended from a single survivor\nof some great slaughter by an early hero god or trickster. Thus the\nKiowa say that all the prairie dogs on the plains are descended from\na single little fellow who was too wary to close his eyes, as his\ncompanions did, when the hungry vagrant Sinti was planning to capture\nthem all for his dinner under pretense of teaching them a new dance.\n\nA gaming wheel--This was the stone wheel or circular disk used in the\nwheel-and-stick game, called by the Cherokee gatay\u00fbsti, and which in\none form or another was practically universal among the tribes. It\nwas the game played by the great mythic gambler \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' (see number\n63). It has sometimes been known in the north as the \"snow-snake,\"\nwhile to the early southern traders it was known as chunki or chungkey,\na corruption of the Creek name. Timberlake (page 77) mentions it\nunder the name of nettecawaw--for which there seems to be no other\nauthority--as he saw it among the Cherokee in 1762. [525] It was\nalso noted among the Carolina tribes by Lederer in 1670 and Lawson\nin 1701. John Ax, the oldest man now living among the East Cherokee,\nis the only one remaining in the tribe who has ever played the game,\nhaving been instructed in it when a small boy by an old man who desired\nto keep up the memory of the ancient things. The sticks used have long\nsince disappeared, but the stones remain, being frequently picked up\nin the plowed fields, especially in the neighborhood of mounds. The\nbest description of the southern game is given by Adair:\n\n\"They have near their state house a square piece of ground well\ncleaned, and fine sand is carefully strewed over it, when requisite,\nto promote a swifter motion to what they throw along the surface. Only\none, or two on a side, play at this ancient game. They have a stone\nabout two fingers broad at the edge and two spans round. Each party\nhas a pole of about eight feet long, smooth, and tapering at each end,\nthe points flat. They set off abreast of each other at 6 yards from the\nend of the playground; then one of them hurls the stone on its edge, in\nas direct a line as he can, a considerable distance toward the middle\nof the other end of the square. When they have ran [sic] a few yards\neach darts his pole, anointed with bear's oil, with a proper force,\nas near as he can guess in proportion to the motion of the stone, that\nthe end may lie close to the stone. When this is the case, the person\ncounts two of the game, and in proportion to the nearness of the poles\nto the mark, one is counted, unless by measuring both are found to be\nat an equal distance from the stone. In this manner the players will\nkeep running most part of the day at half speed, under the violent\nheat of the sun, staking their silver ornaments, their nose, finger\nand ear rings; their breast, arm and wrist plates, and even all their\nwearing apparel except that which barely covers their middle. All the\nAmerican Indians are much addicted to this game, which to us appears\nto be a task of stupid drudgery. It seems, however, to be of early\norigin, when their forefathers used diversions as simple as their\nmanners. The hurling stones they use at present were time immemorial\nrubbed smooth on the rocks, and with prodigious labour. They are kept\nwith the strictest religious care from one generation to another,\nand are exempted from being buried with the dead. They belong to the\ntown where they are used, and are carefully preserved.\" [526]\n\nIn one version of the Kana'ti myth the wheel is an arrow, which the\nwild boy shoots toward the four cardinal points and finally straight\nupward, when it comes back no more. When they get above the sky they\nfind Kana'ti and Selu sitting together, with the arrow sticking in the\nground in front of them. In the Creek story, \"The Lion [Panther?] and\nthe Little Girl,\" of the Tuggle collection, the lion has a wheel\n\"which could find anything that was lost.\"\n\nThe twilight land--Us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi, \"Where it is always growing dark,\"\nthe spirit land in the west. This is the word constantly used in\nthe sacred formulas to denote the west, instead of the ordinary\nword Wude'lig\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where it sets.\" In the same way N\u00fb\u00f1d\u00e2'yi, or\nN\u00fb\u00f1d\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, the \"Sun place, or region,\" is the formulistic name for\nthe east instead of Digal\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where it [i. e., the sun] comes\nup,\" the ordinary term. These archaic expressions give to myths and\nformulas a peculiar beauty which is lost in the translation. As the\ninterpreter once said, \"I love to hear these old words.\"\n\nStruck by lightning--With the American tribes, as in Europe, a\nmysterious potency attaches to the wood of a tree which has been\nstruck by lightning. The Cherokee conjurers claim to do wonderful\nthings by means of such wood. Splinters of it are frequently buried\nin the field to make the corn grow. It must not be forgotten that\nthe boys in this myth are Thunder Boys.\n\nThe end of the world--See notes to number 7, \"The Journey to the\nSunrise.\"\n\nAnisga'ya Tsunsdi'--Abbreviated from Anisga'ya Tsunsdi'ga, \"Little\nMen.\" These two sons of Kana'ti, who are sometimes called Thunder Boys\nand who live in Us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi above the sky vault, must not be confounded\nwith the Y\u00fb\u00f1wi Tsunsdi', or \"Little People,\" who are also Thunderers,\nbut who live in caves of the rocks and cause the short, sharp claps\nof thunder. There is also the Great Thunderer, the thunder of the\nwhirlwind and the hurricane, who seems to be identical with Kana'ti\nhimself.\n\nDeer songs--The Indian hunters of the olden time had many songs\nintended to call up the deer and the bear. Most of these have perished,\nbut a few are still remembered. They were sung by the hunter, with\nsome accompanying ceremony, to a sweetly plaintive tune, either before\nstarting out or on reaching the hunting ground.\n\nOne Cherokee deer song; sung with repetition, may be freely rendered:\n\n\n O Deer, you stand close by the tree,\n You sweeten your saliva with acorns,\n Now you are standing near,\n You have come where your food rests on the ground.\n\n\nGatschet, in his Creek Migration Legend (I, p. 79), gives the following\ntranslation of a Hichitee deer hunting song:\n\n\n Somewhere (the deer) lies on the ground, I think; I walk about.\n Awake, arise, stand up!\n It is raising up its head, I believe; I walk about.\n Awake, arise, stand up!\n It attempts to rise, I believe; I walk about.\n Awake, arise, stand up!\n Slowly it raises its body, I think; I walk about.\n Awake, arise, stand up!\n It has now risen on its feet, I presume; I walk about.\n Awake, arise, stand up!\n\n\n\n4. Origin of disease and medicine (p. 250): This myth was obtained\nfirst from Swimmer, as explaining the theory upon which is based\nthe medical practice of the Cherokee doctor. It was afterward heard,\nwith less detail, from John Ax (east) and James Wafford (west). It was\noriginally published in the author's Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees,\nin the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.\n\nIn the mythology of most Indian tribes, as well as of primitive\npeoples generally, disease is caused by animal spirits, ghosts, or\nwitchcraft, and the doctor's efforts are directed chiefly to driving\nout the malevolent spirit. In Creek belief, according to the Tuggle\nmanuscript, \"all disease is caused by the winds, which are born in\nthe air and then descend to the earth.\" It is doubtful, however,\nif this statement is intended to apply to more than a few classes\nof disease, and another myth in the same collection recites that\n\"once upon a time the beasts, birds, and reptiles held a council to\ndevise means to destroy the enemy, man.\" For an extended discussion\nof the Indian medical theory, see the author's paper mentioned above.\n\nAnimal chiefs and tribes--For an exposition of the Cherokee theory of\nthe tribal organization of the animals, with townhouses and councils,\nunder such chiefs as the White Bear, the Little Deer, etc., see number\n15, \"The Fourfooted Tribes.\"\n\nKuw\u00e2'hi mountain--\"The Mulberry place,\" one of the high peaks in the\nGreat Smoky mountains, on the dividing line between Swain county,\nNorth Carolina, and Sevier county, Tennessee. The bears have a\ntownhouse under it.\n\nAsk the bear's pardon--See number 15, \"The Fourfooted Tribes,\"\nand notes.\n\nThe ground squirrel's stripes--According to a Creek myth in the Tuggle\ncollection the stripes on the back of the ground squirrel were made\nby the bear, who scratched the little fellow in anger at a council\nheld by the animals to decide upon the proper division of day and\nnight. Precisely the same explanation is given by the Iroquois of\nNew York state [527] and by the Thompson River Indians of British\nColumbia. [528]\n\n\n\n5. The Daughter of the Sun: Origin of death (p. 252): This is one\nof the principal myths of the Cherokee, and like most of its class,\nhas several variants. The sequel has an obvious resemblance to the\nmyth of Pandora. It was obtained in whole or in part from Swimmer,\nJohn Ax, James Blythe, and others of the eastern band. The version\nmainly followed is that of Swimmer, which differs in important details\nfrom that of John Ax.\n\nAs told by John Ax, it is the Sun herself, instead of her daughter,\nwho is killed, the daughter having been assigned the duty of lighting\nthe earth after the death of her mother, the original Sun. The only\nsnakes mentioned are the Spreading Adder and the Rattlesnake, the\nfirst being a transformed man, while the other is a stick, upon which\nthe Little Men cut seven rings before throwing it in the pathway of\nthe Sun, where it becomes a rattlesnake. The seven rods or staves of\nthe Swimmer version are with John Ax seven corncobs, which are thrown\nat the girl as she passes in the dance (cf. Hagar variant of number\n8 in notes). The Little Men (see number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu,\" and\nother stories) belong to the John Ax version. The others have only\na conjurer or chief to direct proceedings.\n\nThis myth is noted in the Payne manuscript, of date about 1835, quoted\nin Squier, Serpent Symbol, page 67: \"The Cherokees state that a number\nof beings were engaged in the creation. The Sun was made first. The\nintention of the creators was that men should live always. But the Sun,\nwhen he passed over, told them that there was not land enough and that\npeople had better die. At length the daughter of the Sun, who was\nwith them, was bitten by a snake and died. The Sun, on his return,\ninquired for her and was told that she was dead. He then consented\nthat human beings might live always, and told them to take a box and\ngo where the spirit of his daughter was and bring it back to her body,\ncharging them that when they got her spirit they should not open the\nbox until they had arrived where her body was. However, impelled by\ncuriosity, they opened it, contrary to the injunction of the Sun, and\nthe spirit escaped; and then the fate of all men was decided, that they\nmust die.\" This is copied without credit by Foster, Sequoyah, page 241.\n\nAnother version is thus given by the missionary Buttrick, who died in\n1847, in his Antiquities of the Cherokee Indians, page 3: \"Soon after\nthe creation one of the family was bitten by a serpent and died. All\npossible means were resorted to to bring back life, but in vain. Being\novercome in this first instance, the whole race was doomed to follow,\nnot only to death, but to misery afterwards, as it was supposed that\nthat person went to misery. Another tradition says that soon after\nthe creation a young woman was bitten by a serpent and died, and her\nspirit went to a certain place, and the people were told that if they\nwould get her spirit back to her body that the body would live again,\nand they would prevent the general mortality of the body. Some young\nmen therefore started with a box to catch the spirit. They went to a\nplace and saw it dancing about, and at length caught it in the box and\nshut the lid, so as to confine it, and started back. But the spirit\nkept constantly pleading with them to open the box, so as to afford a\nlittle light, but they hurried on until they arrived near the place\nwhere the body was, and then, on account of her peculiar urgency,\nthey removed the lid a very little, and out flew the spirit and was\ngone, and with it all their hopes of immortality.\"\n\nIn a variant noted by Hagar the messengers carry four staves and\nare seven days traveling to the ghost country. \"They found her\ndancing in the land of spirits. They struck her with the first\n'stick,' it produced no effect--with the second, and she ceased\nto dance--with the third, and she looked around--with the fourth,\nand she came to them. They made a box and placed her in it.\" He was\ntold by one informant: \"Only one man ever returned from the land of\nsouls. He went there in a dream after a snake had struck him in the\nforehead. He, Turkey-head, came back seven days after and described\nit all. The dead go eastward at first, then westward to the Land of\nTwilight. It is in the west in the sky, but not amongst the stars\"\n(Stellar Legends of the Cherokee, MS, 1898).\n\nIn a Shawano myth a girl dies, and, after grieving long for her,\nher brother sets out to bring her back from the land of shadows. He\ntravels west until he reaches the place where the earth and sky meet;\nthen he goes through and climbs up on the other side until he comes to\nthe house of a great beneficent spirit, who is designated, according\nto the Indian system of respect, as grandfather. On learning his errand\nthis helper gives him \"medicine\" by which he will be able to enter the\nspirit world, and instructs him how and in what direction to proceed\nto find his sister. \"He said she would be at a dance, and when she\nrose to join in the movement he must seize and ensconce her in the\nhollow of a reed with which he was furnished, and cover the orifice\nwith the end of his finger.\" He does as directed, secures his sister,\nand returns to the house of his instructor, who transforms both into\nmaterial beings again, and, after giving them sacred rituals to take\nback to their tribe, dismisses them by a shorter route through a\ntrapdoor in the sky. [529]\n\nIn an Algonquian myth of New Brunswick a bereaved father seeks his\nson's soul in the spirit domain of Papkootpawut, the Indian Pluto,\nwho gives it to him in the shape of a nut, which he is told to\ninsert in his son's body, when the boy will come to life. He puts\nit into a pouch, and returns with the friends who had accompanied\nhim. Preparations are made for a dance of rejoicing. \"The father,\nwishing to take part in it, gave his son's soul to the keeping of\na squaw who stood by. Being curious to see it, she opened the bag,\non which it escaped at once and took its flight for the realms of\nPapkootpawut.\" [530] In a myth from British Columbia two brothers go\nupon a similar errand to bring back their mother's soul. After crossing\nover a great lake they approach the shore of the spirit world and hear\nthe sound of singing and dancing in the distance, but are stopped at\nthe landing by a sentinel, who tells them: \"Your mother is here, but\nyou cannot enter alive to see her, neither can you take her away.\" One\nof them said, \"I must see her!\" Then the man took his body or mortal\npart away from him and he entered. The other brother came back. [531]\n\nIn the ancient Egyptian legend of R\u00e2 and Isis, preserved in a Turin\npapyrus dating from the twentieth dynasty, the goddess Isis, wishing\nto force from the great god R\u00e2, the sun, the secret of his power,\nsends a serpent to bite him, with the intention of demanding the\nsecret for herself as the price of assistance. Taking some of her\nspittle, \"Isis with her hand kneaded it together with the earth\nthat was there. She made thereof a sacred serpent unto which she\ngave the form of a spear. She ... cast it on the way which the great\ngod traversed in his double kingdom whenever he would. The venerable\ngod advanced, the gods who served him as their Pharaoh followed him,\nhe went forth as on every day. Then the sacred serpent bit him. The\ndivine god opened his mouth and his cry reached unto heaven.... The\npoison seized on his flesh,\" etc. [532]\n\nThe sky vault--See other references in number 1, \"How the World was\nMade;\" number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu,\" and number 7, \"The Journey to\nthe Sunrise.\"\n\nMy grandchildren--The Sun calls the people ts\u00fb\u00f1gili'si, \"my\ngrandchildren,\" this being the term used by maternal grandparents, the\ncorresponding term used by paternal grandparents being ts\u00fb\u00f1gini'si. The\nMoon calls the people ts\u00fb\u00f1kina'tli, \"my younger brothers,\" the\nterm used by a male speaking, the Moon being personified as a man\nin Cherokee mythology. The corresponding term used by a female is\nts\u00fb\u00f1kita'.\n\nThe Little Men--The Thunder Boys, sons of Kana'ti (see number 3,\n\"Kana'ti and Selu\"). They are always represented as beneficent wonder\nworkers, of great power.\n\nChanged to snakes--The Cherokee names of the rattlesnake (Crotalus),\ncopperhead (Trigonocephalus), and spreading adder (Heterodon) are,\nrespectively, utsa'nati, \"he has a bell\" (?); w\u00e2'dige'i ask\u00e2'li,\n\"red-brown head\"; and da'liksta', \"vomiter,\" from its habit of vomiting\nyellow slime, as is told in the story. For more concerning the Uktena\nsee number 50, \"The Uktena and the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti.\"\n\nHand-breadth--See note to number 1, \"How the World was Made.\"\n\n\n\n6. How they brought back the tobacco (p. 254): The first version of\nthis myth as here given was obtained from Swimmer, and agrees with that\nof John Ax, except that for the humming bird the latter substitutes\nthe wasul\u00fb, or large red-brown moth, which flies about the tobacco\nflower in the evening, and states that it was selected because it\ncould fly so quietly that it would not be noticed. The second version\nwas obtained from Wafford, in the Cherokee Nation west, who heard it\nfrom his great-uncle nearly ninety years ago, and differs so much\nfrom the other that it has seemed best to give it separately. The\nincident of the tree which grows taller as the man climbs it has close\nparallels in the mythology of the Kiowa and other Western tribes, but\nhas no obvious connection with the story, and is probably either one\nof a series of adventures originally belonging to the trip or else\na fragment from some otherwise forgotten myth. It may be mentioned\nthat Wafford was a man of rather practical character, with but little\ninterest or memory for stories, being able to fill in details of but\nfew of the large number which he remembered having heard when a boy.\n\nIn his Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, pages 119-121, Lanman\ngives the story as he obtained it in 1848 from Chief K\u00e2lah\u00fb (see\np. 173), still well remembered by those who knew him as an authority\nupon tribal traditions and ritual. In the K\u00e2lah\u00fb version the story is\nconnected with Hickorynut gap, a remarkable pass in the Blue ridge\nsoutheast from Asheville, North Carolina, and a comparison with\nthe later versions shows clearly how much has been lost in fifty\nyears. The whole body of Cherokee tradition has probably suffered a\nproportionate loss.\n\n\"Before visiting this remarkable passage through the mountains\n[Hickorynut gap], I endeavored to ascertain, from the Cherokees of\nQualla town, its original Indian name, but without succeeding. It\nwas my good fortune, however, to obtain a romantic legend connected\ntherewith. I heard it from the lips of a chief who glories in the\ntwo names of All-bones and Flying-squirrel, and, though he occupied\nno less than two hours in telling the story, I will endeavor to give\nit to my readers in about five minutes.\n\n\"There was a time when the Cherokees were without the famous\ntso-lungh, or tobacco weed, with which they had previously been made\nacquainted by a wandering stranger from the far east. Having smoked\nit in their large stone pipes, they became impatient to obtain it\nin abundance. They ascertained that the country where it grew in\nthe greatest quantities was situated on the big waters, and that\nthe gateway to that country (a mighty gorge among the mountains)\nwas perpetually guarded by an immense number of little people or\nspirits. A council of the bravest men in the nation was called,\nand, while they were discussing the dangers of visiting the unknown\ncountry, and bringing therefrom a large knapsack of the fragrant\ntobacco, a young man stepped boldly forward and said that he would\nundertake the task. The young warrior departed on his mission and\nnever returned. The Cherokee nation was now in great tribulation,\nand another council was held to decide upon a new measure. At this\ncouncil a celebrated magician rose and expressed his willingness to\nrelieve his people of their difficulties, and informed them that he\nwould visit the tobacco country and see what he could accomplish. He\nturned himself into a mole, and as such made his appearance eastward\nof the mountains; but having been pursued by the guardian spirits,\nhe was compelled to return without any spoil. He next turned himself\ninto a humming-bird, and thus succeeded, to a very limited extent,\nin obtaining what he needed. On returning to his country he found\na number of his friends at the point of death, on account of their\nintense desire for the fragrant weed; whereupon he placed some of it\nin a pipe, and, having blown the smoke into the nostrils of those who\nwere sick, they all revived and were quite happy. The magician now took\ninto his head that he would revenge the loss of the young warrior,\nand at the same time become the sole possessor of all the tobacco in\nthe unknown land. He therefore turned himself into a whirlwind, and\nin passing through the Hickorynut gorge he stripped the mountains of\ntheir vegetation, and scattered huge rocks in every part of the narrow\nvalley; whereupon the little people were all frightened away, and he\nwas the only being in the country eastward of the mountains. In the\nbed of a stream he found the bones of the young warrior, and having\nbrought them to life, and turned himself into a man again, the twain\nreturned to their own country heavily laden with tobacco; and ever\nsince that time it has been very abundant throughout the entire land.\"\n\nIn the Iroquois story of \"The Lad and the Chestnuts,\" the Cherokee\nmyth is paralleled with the substitution of a chestnut tree guarded\nby a white heron for the tobacco plant watched by the dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb geese\n(see Smith, Myths of the Iroquois, in Second Annual Report Bureau of\nEthnology, 1883).\n\nTobacco--Tobacco, as is well known, is of American origin and is sacred\namong nearly all our tribes, having an important place in almost\nevery deliberative or religious ceremony. The tobacco of commerce\n(Nicotiana tabacum) was introduced from the West Indies. The original\ntobacco of the Cherokee and other eastern tribes was the \"wild tobacco\"\n(Nicotiana rustica), which they distinguish now as ts\u00e2l-agay\u00fb\u00f1'li,\n\"old tobacco.\" By the Iroquois the same species is called the\n\"real tobacco.\"\n\nDag\u00fbl`k\u00fb geese--The dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb is the American white-fronted goose\n(Anser albifrons gambeli). It is said to have been of bluish-white\ncolor, and to have been common in the low country toward the coast,\nbut very rare in the mountains. About the end of September it goes\nsouth, and can be heard at night flying far overhead and crying\ndugalu! dugalu! dugalu! Swimmer had heard them passing over, but had\nnever seen one.\n\n7. The journey to the sunrise (p. 255): This story, obtained\nfrom John Ax, with additional details by Swimmer and Wafford, has\nparallels in many tribes. Swimmer did not know the burial incident,\nbut said--evidently a more recent interpolation--that when they came\nnear the sunrise they found there a race of black men at work. It is\nsomewhat remarkable that the story has nothing to say of the travelers\nreaching the ocean, as the Cherokee were well aware of its proximity.\n\nWhat the Sun is like--According to the Payne manuscript, already\nquoted, the Cherokee anciently believed that the world, the first\nman and woman, and the sun and moon were all created by a number of\nbeneficent beings who came down for the purpose from an upper world,\nto which they afterward returned, leaving the sun and moon as their\ndeputies to finish and rule the world thus created. \"Hence whenever the\nbelievers in this system offer a prayer to their creator, they mean\nby the creator rather the Sun and Moon. As to which of these two was\nsupreme, there seems to have been a wide difference of opinion. In\nsome of their ancient prayers, they speak of the Sun as male, and\nconsider, of course, the Moon as female. In others, however, they\ninvoke the Moon as male and the Sun as female; because, as they say,\nthe Moon is vigilant and travels by night. But both Sun and Moon,\nas we have before said, are adored as the creator.... The expression,\n'Sun, my creator,' occurs frequently in their ancient prayers. Indeed,\nthe Sun was generally considered the superior in their devotions\"\n(quoted in Squier, Serpent Symbol, p. 68). Haywood, in 1823, says:\n\"The sun they call the day moon or female, and the night moon the\nmale\" (Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 266). According to Swimmer,\nthere is also a tradition that the Sun was of cannibal habit, and in\nhuman form was once seen killing and devouring human beings. Sun and\nMoon are sister and brother. See number 8, \"The Moon and the Thunders.\"\n\nThe Indians of Thompson river, British Columbia, say of the sun that\nformerly \"He was a man and a cannibal, killing people on his travels\nevery day.... He hung up the people whom he had killed during his day's\ntravel when he reached home, taking down the bodies of those whom he\nhad hung up the night before and eating them.\" He was finally induced\nto abandon his cannibal habit (Teit, Thompson River Traditions, p. 53).\n\nIn the same grave--This reminds us of the adventure in the voyage of\nSinbad the Sailor, as narrated in the Arabian Nights. The sacrifice\nof the wife at her husband's funeral was an ancient custom in the\nOrient and in portions of Africa, and still survives in the Hindu\nsuttee. It may once have had a counterpart in America, but so far\nas known to the author the nearest approach to it was found in the\nregion of the lower Columbia and adjacent northwest coast, where a\nslave was frequently buried alive with the corpse.\n\nVault of solid rock--The sky vault which is constantly rising and\nfalling at the horizon and crushes those who try to go beyond occurs in\nthe mythologies of the Iroquois of New York, the Omaha and the Sioux\nof the plains, the Tillamook of Oregon, and other widely separated\ntribes. The Iroquois concept is given by Hewitt, \"Rising and Falling\nof the Sky,\" in Iroquois Legends, in the American Anthropologist\nfor October, 1892. In the Omaha story of \"The Chief's Son and\nthe Thunders\" (Dorsey, Contributions to North American Ethnology,\nVI, 1890), a party of travelers in search of adventures \"came to\nthe end of the sky, and the end of the sky was going down into the\nground.\" They tried to jump across, and all succeeded excepting one,\nwho failed to clear the distance, and \"the end of the sky carried\nhim away under the ground.\" The others go on behind the other world\nand return the same way. In the Tillamook myth six men go traveling\nand reach \"the lightning door, which opened and closed with great\nrapidity and force.\" They get through safely, but one is caught on\nthe return and has his back cut in half by the descending sky (Boas,\nTraditions of the Tillamook Indians, in Journal of American Folk-Lore,\nJan., 1898). See also number 1, \"How the World was Made\" and number 3,\n\"Kana'ti and Selu.\"\n\n\n8. The Moon and the Thunders (p. 256): The story of the sun and the\nmoon, as here given, was obtained first from Swimmer and afterward\nfrom other informants. It is noted by Hagar, in his manuscript\nStellar Legends of the Cherokee, one narrator making the girl\nblacken her brother's face with seven (charred?) corn cobs (cf. John\nAx's version of number 5 in notes). Exactly the same myth is found\nwith the native tribes of Greenland, Panama, Brazil, and Northern\nIndia. Among the Khasias of the Himalaya mountains \"the changes of\nthe moon are accounted for by the theory that this orb, who is a man,\nmonthly falls in love with his wife's mother, who throws ashes in\nhis face. The sun is female.\" On some northern branches of the Amazon\n\"the moon is represented as a maiden who fell in love with her brother\nand visited him at night, but who was finally betrayed by his passing\nhis blackened hand over her face.\" With the Greenland Eskimo the Sun\nand Moon are sister and brother, and were playing in the dark, \"when\nMalina, being teased in a shameful manner by her brother Anninga,\nsmeared her hands with the soot of the lamp and rubbed them over\nthe face and hands of her persecutor, that she might recognize him\nby daylight. Hence arise the spots in the moon (see Timothy Harley,\nMoon Lore, London, 1885, and the story \"The Sun and the Moon,\" in\nHenry Rink's Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, London, 1875). In\nBritish Columbia the same incident occurs in the story of a girl and\nher lover, who was a dog transformed to the likeness of a man (Teit,\nThompson River Traditions, p. 62). A very similar myth occurs among the\nCheyenne, in which the chief personages are human, but the offspring of\nthe connection become the Pleiades (A. L. Kroeber, Cheyenne Tales, in\nJournal of American Folk-Lore, July, 1900). In nearly all mythologies\nthe Sun and Moon are sister and brother, the Moon being generally\nmasculine, while the Sun is feminine (cf. German, Der Mond, Die Sonne).\n\nThe myth connecting the moon with the ballplay is from Haywood\n(Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 285), apparently on\nthe authority of Charles Hicks, a mixed-blood chief.\n\nEclipse--Of the myth of the eclipse monster, which may be frightened\naway by all sorts of horrible noises, it is enough to say that it\nis universal (see Harley, Moon Lore). The Cherokee name for the\nphenomenon is n\u00fb\u00f1da' wal\u00e2'si u'giska', \"the frog is swallowing the\nsun or moon.\" Says Adair (History of the American Indians p. 65):\n\"The first lunar eclipse I saw after I lived with the Indians was among\nthe Cherokee, An. 1736, and during the continuance of it their conduct\nappeared very surprizing to one who had not seen the like before. They\nall ran wild, this way and that way, like lunatics, firing their guns,\nwhooping and hallooing, beating of kettles, ringing horse bells, and\nmaking the most horrid noises that human beings possibly could. This\nwas the effect of their natural philosophy and done to assist the\nsuffering moon.\"\n\nSun and moon names--In probably every tribe both sun and moon are\ncalled by the same name, accompanied by a distinguishing adjective.\n\nThe Thunders--The Cherokee name for Thunder, Ani'-Hy\u00fb\u00f1'tikwal\u00e2'ski,\nis an animate plural form and signifies literally, \"The Thunderers\"\nor \"They who make the Thunder.\" The great Thunderers are Kana'ti and\nhis sons (see the story), but inferior thunder spirits people all the\ncliffs and mountains, and more particularly the great waterfalls, such\nas Tallulah, whose never-ceasing roar is believed to be the voice of\nthe Thunderers speaking to such as can understand. A similar conception\nprevailed among the Iroquois and the eastern tribes generally. Adair\nsays (History of the American Indians, p. 65), speaking of the southern\ntribes: \"I have heard them say, when it rained, thundered, and blew\nsharp for a considerable time, that the beloved or holy people were\nat war above the clouds, and they believe that the war at such times\nis moderate or hot in proportion to the noise and violence of the\nstorm.\" In Portuguese West Africa also the Thunderers are twin brothers\nwho quarreled and went, one to the east, the other to the west, whence\neach answers the other whenever a great storm arises. [533] Among the\nplains tribes both thunder and lightning are caused by a great bird.\n\nRainbow--The conception of the rainbow as the beautiful dress of the\nThunder god occurs also among the South Sea islanders. In Mangaia it\nis the girdle of the god Tangaroa, which he loosens and allows to\nhang down until the end reaches to the earth whenever he wishes to\ndescend (Gill, Myths and Songs of the South Pacific, p. 44). For some\nunexplained reason the dread of pointing at the rainbow, on penalty\nof having the finger wither or become misshapen, is found among most\nof the tribes even to the Pacific coast. The author first heard of\nit from a Puyallup boy of Puget sound, Washington.\n\n\n\n9. What the stars are like (p. 257): This story, told by Swimmer,\nembodies the old tribal belief. By a different informant Hagar was\ntold: \"Stars are birds. We know this because one once shot from\nthe sky to the ground, and some Cherokee who looked for it found a\nlittle bird, about the size of a chicken just hatched, where it fell\"\n(MS Stellar Legends of the Cherokee, 1898).\n\nThe story closely resembles something heard by Lawson among the\nTuscarora in eastern North Carolina about the year 1700. An Indian\nhaving been killed by lightning, the people were assembled for the\nfuneral, and the priest made them a long discourse upon the power of\nlightning over all men, animals, and plants, save only mice and the\nblack-gum tree. \"At last he began to tell the most ridiculous absurd\nparcel of lies about lightning that could be; as that an Indian of\nthat nation had once got lightning in the likeness of a partridge;\nthat no other lightning could harm him whilst he had that about him;\nand that after he had kept it for several years it got away from him,\nso that he then became as liable to be struck with lightning as any\nother person. There was present at the same time an Indian that had\nlived from his youth chiefly in an English house, so I called to him\nand told him what a parcel of lies the conjurer told, not doubting\nbut he thought so as well as I; but I found to the contrary, for he\nreplied that I was much mistaken, for the old man--who, I believe,\nwas upwards of an hundred years old--did never tell lies; and as\nfor what he said, it was very true, for he knew it himself to be\nso. Thereupon seeing the fellow's ignorance, I talked no more about it\n(History of Carolina, page 346).\n\nAccording to Hagar a certain constellation of seven stars, which he\nidentifies as the Hyades, is called by the Cherokee \"The Arm,\" on\naccount of its resemblance to a human arm bent at the elbow, and they\nsay that it is the broken arm of a man who went up to the sky because,\nhaving been thus crippled, he was of no further use upon earth.\n\nA meteor, and probably also a comet, is called Atsil'-Tl\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi\"\n\"Fire-panther,\" the same concept being found among the Shawano,\nembodied in the name of their great chief, Tecumtha (see p. 215).\n\n\n\n10. Origin of the Pleiades and the pine (p. 258): This myth is well\nknown in the tribe, and was told in nearly the same form by Swimmer,\nTa'gwadihi' and Suyeta. The Feather dance, also called the Eagle dance,\nis one of the old favorites, and is the same as the ancient Calumet\ndance of the northern tribes. For a description of the gatay\u00fb'sti game,\nsee note to number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu.\" In a variant recorded by\nStansbury Hagar (MS Stellar Legends of the Cherokee) the boys spend\ntheir time shooting at cornstalks.\n\nAccording to Squier (Serpent Symbol, p. 69), probably on the authority\nof the Payne manuscript, \"The Cherokees paid a kind of veneration\nto the morning star, and also to the seven stars, with which they\nhave connected a variety of legends, all of which, no doubt, are\nallegorical, although their significance is now unknown.\"\n\nThe corresponding Iroquois myth below, as given by Mrs Erminnie\nSmith in her Myths of the Iroquois (Second Annual Report of Bureau\nof Ethnology, p. 80), is practically the same so far as it goes,\nand the myth was probably once common over a wide area in the East:\n\n\"Seven little Indian boys were once accustomed to bring at eve their\ncorn and beans to a little mound, upon the top of which, after their\nfeast, the sweetest of their singers would sit and sing for his mates\nwho danced around the mound. On one occasion they resolved on a more\nsumptuous feast, and each was to contribute towards a savory soup. But\nthe parents refused them the needed supplies, and they met for a\nfeastless dance. Their heads and hearts grew lighter as they flew\naround the mound, until suddenly the whole company whirled off into\nthe air. The inconsolable parents called in vain for them to return,\nbut it was too late. Higher and higher they arose, whirling around\ntheir singer, until, transformed into bright stars, they took their\nplaces in the firmament, where, as the Pleiades, they are dancing\nstill, the brightness of the singer having been dimmed, however,\non account of his desire to return to earth.\"\n\nIn an Eskimo tale a hunter was pursued by enemies, and as he ran he\ngradually rose from the ground and finally reached the sky, where he\nwas turned into a star (Kroeber, Tales of the Smith Sound Eskimo, in\nJournal of American Folk-Lore). This transformation of human beings\ninto stars and constellations is one of the most common incidents of\nprimitive myth.\n\n\n\n11. The Milky Way (p. 259): This story, in slightly different forms,\nis well known among the Cherokee east and west. The generic word\nfor mill is dista'sti, including also the self-acting pound-mill or\n\u00fblskw\u00fblte'gi. In the original version the mill was probably a wooden\nmortar, such as was commonly used by the Cherokee and other eastern\nand southern tribes.\n\nIn a variant recorded in the Hagar Cherokee manuscript there are\ntwo hunters, one living in the north and hunting big game, while the\nother lives in the south and hunts small game. The former, discovering\nthe latter's wife grinding corn, seizes her and carries her far away\nacross the sky to his home in the north. Her dog, after eating what\nmeal is left, follows the pair across the sky, the meal falling from\nhis mouth as he runs, making the Milky Way.\n\nWith the Kiowa, Cheyenne, and other plains tribes the Milky Way is\nthe dusty track along which the Buffalo and the Horse once ran a race\nacross the sky.\n\n\n\n12. Origin of strawberries (p. 259): This myth, as here given, was\nobtained from Ta'gwadihi', who said that all the fruits mentioned\nwere then for the first time created, and added, \"So some good came\nfrom the quarrel, anyhow.\" The Swimmer version has more detail,\nbut seems overdressed.\n\n\n\n13. The Great Yellow-jacket: Origin of fish and frogs (p. 260): This\nstory, obtained from Swimmer, is well known in the tribe, and has\nnumerous parallels in other Indian mythologies. In nearly every tribal\ngenesis we find the primitive world infested by ferocious monster\nanimals, which are finally destroyed or rendered harmless, leaving\nonly their descendants, the present diminutive types. Conspicuous\nexamples are afforded in Matthew's Navaho Legends [534] and in the\nauthor's story of the Jicarilla genesis in the American Anthropologist\nfor July, 1898.\n\nAnother version of the Cherokee legend is given by Lanman in his\nLetters from the Alleghany Mountains, pages 73-74:\n\n\"The Cherokees relate that there once existed among those mountains\n[about Nantahala and Franklin] a very large bird, which resembled in\nappearance the green-winged hornet, and this creature was in the habit\nof carrying off the younger children of the nation who happened to\nwander into the woods. Very many children had mysteriously disappeared\nin this manner, and the entire people declared a warfare against\nthe monster. A variety of means were employed for his destruction,\nbut without success. In process of time it was determined that the\nwise men (or medicine-men) of the nation should try their skill in the\nbusiness. They met in council and agreed that each one should station\nhimself on the summit of a mountain, and that, when the creature was\ndiscovered, the man who made the discovery should utter a loud halloo,\nwhich shout should be taken up by his neighbor on the next mountain,\nand so continued to the end of the line, that all the men might have a\nshot at the strange bird. This experiment was tried, and resulted in\nfinding out the hiding place of the monster, which was a deep cavern\non the eastern side of the Blue ridge and at the fountain-head of the\nriver Too-ge-lah [Tugaloo river, South Carolina]. On arriving at this\nplace, they found the entrance to the cavern entirely inaccessible\nby mortal feet, and they therefore prayed to the Great Spirit that he\nwould bring out the bird from his den, and place him within reach of\ntheir arms. Their petition was granted, for a terrible thunder-storm\nimmediately arose, and a stroke of lightning tore away one half of\na large mountain, and the Indians were successful in slaying their\nenemy. The Great Spirit was pleased with the courage manifested by the\nCherokees during this dangerous fight, and, with a view of rewarding\nthe same, he willed it that all the highest mountains in their land\nshould thereafter be destitute of trees, so that they might always\nhave an opportunity of watching the movements of their enemies.\n\nAs a sequel to this legend, it may be appropriately mentioned, that at\nthe head of the Too-ge-lah is to be found one of the most remarkable\ncuriosities of this mountain-land. It is a granite cliff with a smooth\nsurface or front, half a mile long, and twelve hundred feet high,\nand generally spoken of in this part of the country as the White-side\nmountain, or the Devil's court-house. To think of it is almost enough\nto make one dizzy, but to see it fills one with awe. Near the top of\none part of this cliff is a small cave, which can be reached only by\npassing over a strip of rock about two feet wide. One man only has\never been known to enter it, and when he performed the deed he met\nat the entrance of the cave a large bear, which animal, in making its\nescape, slipped off the rock, fell a distance of near a thousand feet,\nand was of course killed. When the man saw this, he became so excited\nthat it was some hours before he could quiet his nerves sufficiently\nto retrace his dangerous pathway.\"\n\nThe Cherokee myth has a close parallel in the Iroquois story of the\ngreat mosquito, as published by the Tuscarora traditionist, Cusick,\nin 1825, and quoted by Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, V, page 638:\n\n\"About this time a great musqueto invaded the fort Onondaga; the\nmusqueto was mischievous to the people, it flew about the fort\nwith a long stinger, and sucked the blood of a number of lives; the\nwarriors made several oppositions to expel the monster, but failed;\nthe country was invaded until the Holder of the Heavens was pleased to\nvisit the people; while he was visiting the king at the fort Onondaga,\nthe musqueto made appearance as usual and flew about the fort, the\nHolder of the Heavens attacked the monster, it flew so rapidly that\nhe could hardly keep in sight of it, but after a few days chase the\nmonster began to fail, he chased on the borders of the great lakes\ntowards the sun-setting, and round the great country, at last he\novertook the monster and killed it near the salt lake Onondaga,\nand the blood became small musquetos.\"\n\nU'la`g\u00fb'--This is not the name of any particular species, but signifies\na leader, principal, or colloquially, \"boss,\" and in this sense is\napplied to the large queen yellow-jacket seen in spring, or to the\nleader of a working gang. The insect of the story is described as a\nmonster yellow-jacket.\n\n\n\n14. The Deluge (p. 261): This story is given by Schoolcraft in his\nNotes on the Iroquois, page 358, as having been obtained in 1846 from\nthe Cherokee chief, Stand Watie. It was obtained by the author in\nnearly the same form in 1890 from James Wafford, of Indian Territory,\nwho had heard it from his grandmother nearly eighty years before. The\nincident of the dancing skeletons is not given by Schoolcraft,\nand seems to indicate a lost sequel to the story. Haywood (Nat. and\nAborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 161) mentions the Cherokee deluge myth and\nconjectures that the petroglyphs at Track Rock gap in Georgia may\nhave some reference to it. The versions given by the missionaries\nButtrick and Washburn are simply the Bible narrative as told by the\nIndians. Washburn's informant, however, accounted for the phenomenon\nby an upheaval and tilting of the earth, so that the waters for a\ntime overflowed the inhabited parts (Reminiscences, pp. 196-197). In a\nvariant related by Hagar (MS Stellar Legends of the Cherokee) a star\nwith fiery tail falls from heaven and becomes a man with long hair,\nwho warns the people of the coming deluge.\n\nIt is not in place here to enter into a discussion of the meaning\nand universality of the deluge myth, for an explanation of which the\nreader is referred to Bouton's Bible Myths and Bible Folklore. [535]\nSuffice it to say that such a myth appears to have existed with\nevery people and in every age. Among the American tribes with which\nit was found Brinton enumerates the Athapascan, Algonquian, Iroquois,\nCherokee, Chickasaw, Caddo, Natchez, Dakota, Apache, Navaho, Mandan,\nPueblo, Aztec, Mixtec, Zapotec, Tlascalan, Michoacan, Toltec, Maya,\nQuiche, Haitian, Darien, Popayan, Muysca, Quichua, Tupinamba, Achagua,\nAuraucanian, \"and doubtless others.\" [536] It is found also along\nthe Northwest coast, was known about Albemarle sound, and, as has\nbeen said, was probably common to all the tribes.\n\nIn one Creek version the warning is given by wolves; in another by\ncranes (see Bouton, cited above).\n\n\n\n15. The four-footed tribes (p. 261): No essential difference--\"I have\noften reflected on the curious connexion which appears to subsist in\nthe mind of an Indian between man and the brute creation, and found\nmuch matter in it for curious observation. Although they consider\nthemselves superior to all other animals and are very proud of that\nsuperiority; although they believe that the beasts of the forest,\nthe birds of the air, and the fishes of the waters were created\nby the Almighty Being for the use of man; yet it seems as if they\nascribe the difference between themselves and the brute kind, and\nthe dominion which they have over them, more to their superior\nbodily strength and dexterity than to their immortal souls. All\nbeing endowed by the Creator with the power of volition and self\nmotion, they view in a manner as a great society of which they are\nthe head, whom they are appointed, indeed, to govern, but between\nwhom and themselves intimate ties of connexion and relationship may\nexist, or at least did exist in the beginning of time. They are,\nin fact, according to their opinions, only the first among equals,\nthe legitimate hereditary sovereigns of the whole animated race,\nof which they are themselves a constituent part. Hence, in their\nlanguages, these inflections of their nouns, which we call genders,\nare not, as with us, descriptive of the masculine and feminine species,\nbut of the animate and inanimate kinds. Indeed, they go so far as to\ninclude trees, and plants within the first of these descriptions. All\nanimated nature, in whatever degree, is in their eyes a great whole\nfrom which they have not yet ventured to separate themselves. They\ndo not exclude other animals from their world of spirits, the place\nto which they expect to go after death.\" [537]\n\nAccording to the Ojibwa the animals formerly had the faculty of speech,\nuntil it was taken from them by Nanibojou as a punishment for having\nconspired against the human race. [538]\n\nAnimal chiefs and councils--In Pawnee belief, according to Grinnell,\nthe animals, or Nahurac, possess miraculous attributes given them by\nthe great creator, Tirawa. \"The Pawnees know of five places where these\nanimals meet to hold council--five of these Nahurac lodges.\" He gives\na detailed description of each. The fourth is a mound-shaped hill,\non the top of which is a deep well or water hole, into which the\nPawnee throw offerings. The fifth is a rock hill in Kansas, known\nto the whites as Guide rock, and \"in the side of the hill there is\na great hole where the Nahurac hold councils.\" [539]\n\nThe same belief is noted by Chatelain in Angola, West Africa:\n\"In African folk tales the animal world, as also the spirit world,\nis organized and governed just like the human world. In Angola the\nelephant is the supreme king of all animal creation, and the special\nchief of the edible tribe of wild animals. Next to him in rank the lion\nis special chief of the tribe of ferocious beasts and highest vassal\nof the elephant. Chief of the reptile tribe is the python. Chief of\nthe finny tribe is, in the interior, the di-lenda, the largest river\nfish. Chief of the feathery tribe is the kakulu ka humbi, largest of\nthe eagles. Among the domestic animals the sceptre belongs to the\nbull; among the locusts to the one called di-ngundu. Even the ants\nand termites have their kings or queens. Every chief or king has his\ncourt, consisting of the ngolambole, tandala, and other officers,\nhis parliament of ma-kota and his plebeian subjects, just like any\nhuman African saba\" (Folk tales of Angola, p. 22).\n\nAsking pardon of animals--For other Cherokee references see remarks\nupon the Little Deer, the Wolf, and the Rattlesnake; also number 4,\n\"Origin of Disease and Medicine,\" and number 58, \"The Rattlesnake's\nVengeance.\" This custom was doubtless general among the tribes, as\nit is thoroughly in consonance with Indian idea. The trader Henry\nthus relates a characteristic instance among the Ojibwa in 1764 on\nthe occasion of his killing a bear near the winter camp:\n\n\"The bear being dead, all my assistants approached, and all, but\nmore particularly my old mother (as I was wont to call her), took his\nhead in their hands, stroking and kissing it several times; begging a\nthousand pardons for taking away her life; calling her their relation\nand grandmother; and requesting her not to lay the fault upon them,\nsince it was truly an Englishman that had put her to death.\n\n\"This ceremony was not of long duration; and if it was I that killed\ntheir grandmother, they were not themselves behind-hand in what\nremained to be performed. The skin being taken off, we found the\nfat in several places six inches deep. This, being divided into two\nparts, loaded two persons; and the flesh parts were as much as four\npersons could carry. In all, the carcass must have exceeded five\nhundred weight.\n\n\"As soon as we reached the lodge, the bear's head was adorned with all\nthe trinkets in the possession of the family, such as silver arm-bands\nand wrist-bands, and belts of wampum; and then laid upon a scaffold,\nset up for its reception, within the lodge. Near the nose was placed\na large quantity of tobacco.\n\n\"The next morning no sooner appeared, than preparations were made for\na feast to the manes. The lodge was cleaned and swept; and the head of\nthe bear lifted up, and a new stroud of blanket, which had never been\nused before, spread under it. The pipes were now lit; and Wawatam blew\ntobacco smoke into the nostrils of the bear, telling me to do the same,\nand thus appease the anger of the bear on account of my having killed\nher. I endeavored to persuade my benefactor and friendly adviser,\nthat she no longer had any life, and assured him that I was under no\napprehension from her displeasure; but, the first proposition obtained\nno credit, and the second gave but little satisfaction.\n\n\"At length, the feast being ready, Wawatam commenced a speech,\nresembling, in many things, his address to the manes of his relations\nand departed companions; but, having this peculiarity, that he here\ndeplored the necessity under which men labored thus to destroy their\nfriends. He represented, however, that the misfortune was unavoidable,\nsince without doing so, they could by no means subsist. The speech\nended, we all ate heartily of the bear's flesh; and even the head\nitself, after remaining three days on the scaffold, was put into the\nkettle.\"--Travels, pp. 143-145.\n\nThe Rabbit--The part played by the Rabbit or Hare and his symbolic\ncharacter in Indian myth has been already noted (see \"Stories\nand Story Tellers\"). In his purely animal character, as an actor\namong the fourfooted creatures, the same attributes of trickery and\nsurpassing sagacity are assigned him in other parts of the world. In\nthe folktales of Angola, West Africa, \"The Hare seems to surpass the\nfox in shrewdness,\" and \"The Hare has the swiftness and shrewdness of\nthe Monkey, but he is never reckless, as the Monkey sometimes appears\nto be\" (Chatelain, Folktales of Angola, pp. 295, 300). In farthest\nAsia also \"The animals, too, have their stories, and in Korea, as in\nsome other parts of the world, the Rabbit seems to come off best, as\na rule\" (H. N. Allen, Korean Tales, p. 34; New York and London, 1889).\n\nThe buffalo--Timberlake repeatedly remarks upon the abundance of the\nbuffalo in the Cherokee country of East Tennessee in 1762. On one\noccasion, while in camp, they heard rapid firing from their scouts and\n\"in less than a minute seventeen or eighteen buffaloes ran in amongst\nus, before we discovered them, so that several of us had like to\nhave been run over, especially the women, who with some difficulty\nsheltered themselves behind the trees. Most of the men fired, but\nfiring at random, one only was killed, tho' several more wounded\"\n(Memoirs, p. 101). According to a writer in the Historical Magazine,\nvolume VIII, page 71,1864, the last two wild buffalo known in Ohio\nwere killed in Jackson county in 1800.\n\nThe elk--This animal ranged in eastern Carolina in 1700. \"The elk\nis a monster of the venison sort. His skin is used almost in the\nsame nature as the buffelo's [sic].... His flesh is not so sweet as\nthe lesser deer's. His hams exceed in weight all creatures which the\nnew world affords. They will often resort and feed with the buffelo,\ndelighting in the same range as they do\" (Lawson, Carolina, p. 203).\n\nCuts out the hamstring--No satisfactory reason has been obtained for\nthis custom, which has been noted for more than a century. Buttrick\nsays of the Cherokee: \"The Indians never used to eat a certain sinew\nin the thigh.... Some say that if they eat of the sinew they will\nhave cramp in it on attempting to run. It is said that once a woman\nhad cramp in that sinew and therefore none must eat it\" (Antiquities,\np. 12). Says Adair, speaking of the southern tribes generally: \"When\nin the woods the Indians cut a small piece out of the lower part of\nthe thigh of the deer they kill, length-ways and pretty deep. Among\nthe great number of venison hams they bring to our trading houses\nI do not remember to have observed one without it\" (History of the\nAmerican Indians, pp. 137-138).\n\nWhite animals sacred--According to a formula in the Tuggle manuscript\nfor curing the \"deer sickness,\" the \"White Deer\" is chief of his tribe\nin Creek mythology also. Peculiar sacredness always attaches, in the\nIndian mind, to white and albino animals, partly on account of the\nsymbolic meaning attached to the color itself and partly by reason of\nthe mystery surrounding the phenomenon of albinism. Among the Cherokee\nthe chiefs both of the Deer and of the Bear tribe were white. On\nthe plains the so-called white buffalo was always sacred. Among\nthe Iroquois, according to Morgan (League of the Iroquois, p. 210),\n\"the white deer, white squirrel and other chance animals of the albino\nkind, were regarded as consecrated to the Great Spirit.\" One of their\nmost solemn sacrifices was that of the White Dog.\n\nThe bear--A reverence for the bear and a belief that it is half human\nis very general among the tribes, and is probably based in part upon\nthe ability of the animal to stand upright and the resemblance of its\ntracks to human footprints. According to Grinnell (Blackfoot Lodge\nTales, p. 260), \"The Blackfeet believe it to be part brute and part\nhuman, portions of its body, particularly the ribs and feet, being\nlike those of a man.\" In a note upon a Navaho myth Matthews says\n(Navaho Legends, p. 249): \"The bear is a sacred animal with the\nNavahoes; for this reason the hero did not skin the bears or eat\ntheir flesh. The old man, being a wizard, might do both.\"\n\nThe Ojibwa idea has been noted in connection with the ceremony of\nasking pardon of the slain animal. A curious illustration of the\nreverse side of the picture is given by Heckewelder (Indian Nations,\np. 255):\n\n\"A Delaware hunter once shot a huge bear and broke its backbone. The\nanimal fell and set up a most plaintive cry, something like that\nof the panther when he is hungry. The hunter instead of giving him\nanother shot, stood up close to him, and addressed him in these words:\n'Hark ye! bear; you are a coward and no warrior as you pretend to\nbe. Were you a warrior, you would shew it by your firmness, and not\ncry and whimper like an old woman. You know, bear, that our tribes are\nat war with each other, and that yours was the aggressor [probably\nalluding to a tradition which the Indians have of a very ferocious\nkind of bear, called the naked bear, which they say once existed,\nbut was totally destroyed by their ancestors].... You have found\nthe Indians too powerful for you, and you have gone sneaking about\nin the woods, stealing their hogs; perhaps at this time you have\nhog's flesh in your belly. Had you conquered me, I would have borne\nit with courage and died like a brave warrior; but you, bear, sit\nhere and cry, and disgrace your tribe by your cowardly conduct.' I\nwas present at the delivery of this curious invective. When the\nhunter had despatched the bear, I asked him how he thought that poor\nanimal could understand what he said to it? 'Oh,' said he in answer,\n'the bear understood me very well; did you not observe how ashamed\nhe looked while I was upbraiding him?'\"\n\nThe wolf and wolf killer--Speaking of the Gulf tribes generally,\nAdair says: \"The wolf, indeed, several of them do not care to meddle\nwith, believing it unlucky to kill them, which is the sole reason\nthat few of the Indians shoot at that creature, through a notion of\nspoiling their guns\" (History of the American Indians, p. 16). The\nauthor has heard among the East Cherokee an incident of a man who,\nwhile standing one night upon a fish trap, was scented by a wolf,\nwhich came so near that the man was compelled to shoot it. He at\nonce went home and had the gun exorcised by a conjurer. Wafford,\nwhen a boy in the old Nation, knew a professional wolf killer. It is\nalways permissible to hire a white man to kill a depredating wolf,\nas in that case no guilt attaches to the Indian or his tribe.\n\n\n\n16. The Rabbit goes duck hunting (p. 266): This story was heard from\nSwimmer, John Ax, Suyeta (east), and Wafford (west). Discussions\nbetween animals as to the kind of food eaten are very common in\nIndian myth, the method chosen to decide the dispute being usually\nquite characteristic. The first incident is paralleled in a Creek\nstory of the Rabbit and the Lion (Panther?) in the Tuggle manuscript\ncollection and among the remote Wallawalla of Washington (see\nKane, Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America,\np. 268; London, 1859). In an Omaha myth, Ictinike and the Buzzard,\nthe latter undertakes to carry the trickster across a stream, but\ndrops him into a hollow tree, from which he is chopped out by some\nwomen whom he has persuaded that there are raccoons inside (Dorsey,\nContributions to North American Ethnology, VI). In the Iroquois tale,\n\"A Hunter's Adventures,\" a hunter, endeavoring to trap some geese in\nthe water, is carried up in the air and falls into a hollow stump,\nfrom which he is released by women (Smith, Myths of the Iroquois,\nin Second Annual Report of Bureau of Ethnology). In the Uncle Remus\nstory, \"Mr. Rabbit Meets His Match Again,\" the Buzzard persuades the\nRabbit to get upon his back in order to be carried across a river,\nbut alights with him upon a tree overhanging the water and thus compels\nthe Rabbit, by fear of falling, to confess a piece of trickery. [540]\n\n\n\n17. How the Rabbit stole the Otter's coat (p. 267): This story is well\nknown in the tribe and was heard from several informants, both east\nand west. Nothing is said as to how the Otter recovered his coat. It\nhas exact parallels in the Creek myths of the Tuggle collection, in\none of which the Rabbit tries to personate a boy hero by stealing\nhis coat, while in another he plays a trick on the Lion (Panther)\nby throwing hot coals over him while asleep, at a creek which the\nRabbit says is called \"Throwing-hot-ashes-on-you.\"\n\n\n\n18. Why the Possum's tail is bare (p. 269): This story was heard from\nseveral informants, east and west. In one variant the hair clipping\nwas done by the Moth, and in another by the spells of the Snail, who is\nrepresented as a magician. The version here given is the most common,\nand agrees best with the Cherokee folklore concerning the Cricket\n(see number 59, \"The Smaller Reptiles, Fishes, and Insects\").\n\nIn the Creek myth, as given in the Tuggle collection, the Opossum\nburned the hair from his tail in trying to put rings upon it like\nthose of the Raccoon's tail, and grins from chewing a bitter oak ball\nwhich he mistook for a ripened fruit.\n\nThe anatomical peculiarities of the opossum, of both sexes, have\noccasioned much speculation among the Indians, many of whom believe\nthat the female produces her young without any help from the male. The\nCreeks, according to the Tuggle manuscript, believe that the young\nare born in the pouch, from the breathing of the female against it\nwhen curled up, and even Lawson and Timberlake assert that they are\nborn at the teat, from which they afterward drop off into the pouch.\n\nA council and a dance--In the old days, as to-day among the remote\nWestern tribes, every great council gathering was made the occasion\nof a series of dances, accompanied always by feasting and a general\ngood time.\n\n\n\n19. How the Wildcat caught the Gobbler (p. 269): This story was heard\nfrom John Ax and David Blythe (east) and from Wafford and Boudinot\n(west). The version given below, doctored to suit the white man's\nidea, appears without signature in the Cherokee Advocate of December\n18, 1845:\n\n\"There was once a flock of wild turkeys feeding in a valley. As they\nfed they heard a voice singing. They soon discovered that the musician\nwas a hare, and the burden of his song was that he had a secret in\nhis breast which he would on no account divulge. The curiosity of\nthe turkeys was excited, and they entreated the hare to tell them\nthe secret. This he finally consented to do if they would procure for\nhim the king's daughter for his wife and go with him and dance around\ntheir enemy. They engaged to do all, and the hare led them to where\na wildcat lay apparently dead. The hare prevailed upon them to close\ntheir eyes as they danced. The wildcat meanwhile silently arose and\nkilled several of them before the rest found out what a snare they\nhad been caught in. By this artifice on the part of the wildcat,\nseconded by the hare, the former had a sumptuous repast.\"\n\nThis, with its variants, is one of the most widespread of the animal\nmyths. The same story told by the Cherokee, identical even to the song,\nis given in the Creek collection of Tuggle, with the addition that\nthe Rabbit's tail is afterward bitten off by the enraged Turkeys. In\nanother Creek version, evidently a later invention, the Raccoon plays\na similar trick upon the Deer for the benefit of the Panther. The\nKiowa of the southern plains tell how the hungry trickster, Sinti,\nentices a number of prairie dogs to come near him, under pretense\nof teaching them a new dance, and then kills all but one, while\nthey are dancing around him, according to instruction, with their\neyes shut. With the Omaha the Rabbit himself captures the Turkeys\nwhile they dance around, with closed eyes, to his singing (Dorsey,\n\"The Rabbit and the Turkeys,\" and \"Ictinike, the Turkeys, Turtle,\nand Elk,\" in Contributions to North American Ethnology, VI). The\nsame stratagem, with only a change of names, recurs in another\nOmaha story, \"The Raccoon and the Crabs,\" of the same collection,\nand in a Cheyenne story of White-man (A. L. Kroeber, Cheyenne Tales,\nin Journal of American Folk-Lore, July, 1900), and in the Jicarilla\nstory of \"The Fox and the Wildcat\" (Russell, Myths of the Jicarilla,\nibid., October, 1898). The Southern negro version, which lacks the\nimportant song and dance feature, is given by Harris in his story of\n\"Brother Rabbit and Mr Wildcat.\" [541]\n\n\n\n20. How the Terrapin beat the Rabbit (p. 270): This story was\nobtained from John Ax and Suyeta and is well known in the tribe. It\nis sometimes told with the Deer instead of the Rabbit as the defeated\nrunner, and in this form is given by Lanman, who thus localizes it:\n\"The race was to extend from the Black mountain to the summit of the\nthird pinnacle extending to the eastward\" (Letters, p. 37).\n\nIn the Creek collection of Tuggle the same story is given in\ntwo versions, in one of which the Deer and in the other the Wolf\nis defeated by the stratagem of the Terrapin. The Southern negro\nparallel is given by Harris (Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings)\nin the story, \"Mr Rabbit Finds His Match at Last.\" It seems almost\nsuperfluous to call attention to the European folklore version,\nthe well-known story of the race between the Hare and the Tortoise.\n\n\n\n21. The Rabbit and the tar wolf (p. 271): This story was obtained in\nthe Indian Territory from James Wafford, who said he had repeatedly\nheard it in boyhood about Valley river, in the old Nation, from\nCherokee who spoke no English.\n\nThe second version, from the Cherokee Advocate, December 18, 1845,\nis given, together with the story of \"How the Wildcat caught the\nGobbler,\" with this introduction:\n\n\"Indian Fables. Mr William P. Ross: I have recently stumbled on the\nfollowing Cherokee fables, and perhaps you may think them worth\ninserting in the Advocate for the sake of the curious. I am told\nthat the Cherokees have a great many fables. If I understand the\nfollowing, the intention seems to be to teach cunning and artifice\nin war. \u00c6sop.\" The newspaper paragraph bears the pencil initials of\nS[amuel] W[orcester] B[utler].\n\nOther Indian versions are found with the Jicarilla (\"Fox and\nRabbit,\" Myths of the Jicarilla, by Frank Russell, in Journal of\nAmerican Folk-Lore, October, 1898) and Sioux (S. D. Hinman, cited in\nTransactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington, I, p. 103,\nWashington, 1882). The southern negro variant, \"The Wonderful Tar-Baby\nStory,\" is the introductory tale in Harris's Uncle Remus, His Songs\nand His Sayings. A close parallel occurs in the West African story of\n\"Leopard, Monkey, and Hare\" (Chatelain, Folktales of Angola).\n\n\n\n22. The Rabbit and the Possum after a wife (p. 273): This specimen\nof Indian humor was obtained at different times from Swimmer, John\nAx, Suyeta (east), and Wafford (west), and is well known in the\ntribe. Wafford, in telling the story, remarked that the Rabbit was the\nchief's runner, and according to custom was always well entertained\nwherever he went.\n\n\n\n23. The Rabbit dines the Bear (p. 273): This favorite story with\nthe Cherokee east and west is another of the animal myths of wide\ndistribution, being found with almost every tribe from Maine to the\nPacific. Beans and peas in several varieties were indigenous among\nthe agricultural tribes.\n\nIn the Creek version, in the Tuggle manuscript, \"The Bear invited the\nRabbit to dinner. When he came the Bear called his wife and said,\n'Have peas for dinner: the Rabbit loves peas.' 'But there is no\ngrease,' said the Bear's wife, 'to cook them with.' 'O,' said the Bear,\n'that's no trouble, bring me a knife.' So she brought the knife and\nthe Bear took it and split between his toes, while the Rabbit looked\non in wonder. 'No grease between my toes! Well, I know where there\nis some,' so he cut a gash in his side and out, ran the grease. His\nwife took it and cooked the peas and they had a fine dinner and vowed\nalways to be good friends,\" etc. The wounded Rabbit is put under the\ncare of the Buzzard, who winds up by eating his patient.\n\nIn the Passamaquoddy version, \"The Rabbit's Adventure with Mooin,\nthe Bear,\" the Bear cuts a slice from his foot and puts it into the\npot. The Rabbit invites the Bear to dinner and attempts to do the\nsame thing, but comes to grief. [542] In a Jicarilla myth a somewhat\nsimilar incident is related of the Fox (Coyote?) and the Prairie-dog\n(Russell, Myths of the Jicarilla, in Journal of American Folk-Lore,\nOctober, 1898). In a British Columbian myth, nearly the same thing\nhappens when the Coyote undertakes to return the hospitality of the\nBlack Bear (Teit, Thompson River Indian Traditions, p. 40).\n\n\n\n24. The Rabbit escapes from the wolves (p. 274): This story was\nobtained from James Wafford, in Indian Territory. Compare number 19,\n\"How the Wildcat Caught the Gobbler.\"\n\n\n\n25. Flint visits the Rabbit (p. 274): This story was told in slightly\ndifferent form by John Ax and Swimmer (east) and was confirmed by\nWafford (west). Although among the Cherokee it has degenerated to\na mere humorous tale for the amusement of a winter evening, it was\noriginally a principal part of the great cosmogonic myth common to\nprobably all the Iroquoian and Algonquian tribes, and of which we find\ntraces also in the mythologies of the Aztec and the Maya. Among the\nnorthern Algonquian tribes \"the West was typified as a flint stone,\nand the twin brother of Michabo, the Great Rabbit. The feud between\nthem was bitter, and the contest long and dreadful.... At last Michabo\nmastered his fellow twin and broke him into pieces. He scattered the\nfragments over the earth....\" Among the Iroquoian tribes, cognate\nwith the Cherokee, the name is variously Tawiskaro\u00f1, Tawiskara, and\nsometimes Ohaa, all of which are names both for flint and for hail or\nice. Tawiskara is the evil-working god, in perpetual conflict with\nhis twin brother Yoskeha, the beneficent god, by whom he is finally\noverpowered, when the blood that drops from his wounds is changed\ninto flint stones. Brinton sees in the Great Rabbit and the Flint\nthe opposing forces of day and night, light and darkness, locally\npersonified as East and West, while in the twin gods of the Iroquois\nHewitt sees the conflicting agents of heat and cold, summer and\nwinter. Both conceptions are identical in the final analysis. Hewitt\nderives the Iroquois name from a root denoting \"hail, ice, glass\";\nin Cherokee we have tawiskal\u00fb\u00f1'i, tawi'skala, \"flint,\" tawi'ska,\n\"smooth,\" une'stal\u00fb\u00f1, \"ice.\" (See Brinton, American Hero Myths,\npp. 48, 56, 61; Hewitt, The Cosmogonic Gods of the Iroquois, in\nProc. Am. Ass. Adv. Sci., XLIV, 1895.)\n\nIn one of the Cherokee sacred formulas collected by the author\noccurs the expression: \"The terrible Flint is coming. He has his\npaths laid down in this direction. He is shaking the red switches\nthreateningly. Let us run toward the Sun land.\"\n\nSiyu'--This word, abbreviated from \u00e2siyu', \"good,\" is the regular\nCherokee salutation. With probably all the tribes the common salutation\nis simply the word \"good,\" and in the sign language of the plains the\ngesture conveying that meaning is used in the same way. The ordinary\ngood-bye is usually some equivalent of \"I go now.\"\n\n\n\n26. How the Deer got his horns (p. 275): This story was heard from\nSwimmer, Suyeta, and others, and is well known in the tribe.\n\nIn a parallel Pawnee myth, \"How the Deer Lost His Gall,\" the Deer and\nAntelope wager their galls in a race, which the Antelope wins, but in\nsympathy takes off his own dewclaws and gives them to the Deer. In the\nBlackfoot variant the Deer and the Antelope run two races. The first,\nwhich is over the prairie, the Antelope wins and takes the Deer's\ngall, while in the second, which the Deer stipulates shall be run\nthrough the timber, the Deer wins and takes the Antelope's dewclaws\n(Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Tales, pp. 204, 205).\n\n\n\n27. Why the Deer's teeth are blunt (p. 276): This story follows the\nlast in regular sequence and was told by the same informants.\n\nIn a Jicarilla myth the Fox kills a dangerous Bear monster under\npretense of trimming down his legs so that he can run faster (Russell,\nMyth of the Jicarilla, in Journal of American Folk-Lore, p. 262,\nOctober, 1898).\n\n\n\n28. What became of the Rabbit (p. 277): This version was obtained\nfrom Suyeta, who says the Rabbit never went up, because he was \"too\nmean\" to be with the other animals. Swimmer, however, says that he\ndid afterward go up to Gal\u00fb\u00f1'lati. The belief in a large rabbit still\nexisting beyond a great river may possibly have its origin in indirect\nreports of the jack-rabbit west of the Missouri.\n\nThe myth has close parallel in the southern negro story of \"The Origin\nof the Ocean\" (Harris, Nights with Uncle Remus), in which the Rabbit by\na stratagem persuades the Lion to jump across a creek, when the Rabbit\n\"cut de string w'at hol' de banks togedder.... Co'se wen Brer Rabbit\ntuck'n cut de string, de banks er de creek, de banks dey fall back,\ndey did, en Mr Lion can't jump back. De banks dey keep on fallin'\nback, en de creek keep on gittin' wider en wider, twel bimeby Brer\nRabbit en Mr Lion ain't in sight er one er n'er, en fum dat day to\ndis de big waters bin rollin' 'twix um.\"\n\nK\u00fb!--A Cherokee exclamation used as a starting signal and in\nintroducing the paragraphs of a speech. It might be approximately\nrendered, Now!\n\n\n\n29. Why the Mink smells (p. 277): Obtained from John Ax.\n\n\n\n30. Why the Mole lives underground (p. 277): This story, from John Ax,\nnot only accounts for the Mole's underground habit, but illustrates\na common Cherokee witchcraft belief, which has parallels all over\nthe world.\n\n\n\n31. The Terrapin's escape from the Wolves (p. 278): This story,\nof which the version here given, from Swimmer and John Ax, is\nadmittedly imperfect, is known also among the western Cherokee,\nhaving been mentioned by Wafford and others in the Nation, although\nfor some reason none of them seemed able to fill in the details. A\nsomewhat similar story was given as belonging to her own tribe by a\nCatawba woman married among the East Cherokee. It suggests number 21,\n\"The Rabbit and the tar wolf,\" and has numerous parallels.\n\nIn the Creek version, in the Tuggle manuscript, the Terrapin\nridicules a woman, who retaliates by crushing his shell with a corn\npestle. He repairs the injury by singing a medicine song, but the scars\nremain in the checkered spots on his back. In a variant in the same\ncollection the ants mend his shell with tar, in return for his fat and\nblood. Other parallels are among the Omaha, \"How the Big Turtle went\non the Warpath\" (Dorsey, Contributions to North American Ethnology;\nVI, p. 275), and the Cheyenne, \"The Turtle, the Grasshopper, and the\nSkunk\" (Kroeber, Cheyenne Tales, in Journal of American Folk-Lore,\nJuly, 1900). The myth is recorded also from west Africa by Chatelain\n(\"The Man and the Turtle,\" in Folktales of Angola, 1894).\n\nKanahe'na.--This is a sour corn gruel, the tamfuli or \"Tom Fuller\"\nof the Creeks, which is a favorite food preparation among all the\nsouthern tribes. A large earthern jar of kanahe'na, with a wooden\nspoon upright in it, is always upon a bench just inside the cabin door,\nfor every visitor to help himself.\n\n\n\n32. Origin of the Groundhog dance (p. 279): This story is from\nSwimmer, the supplementary part being added by John Ax. The Groundhog\ndance is one of those belonging to the great thanksgiving ceremony,\nGreen-corn dance. It consists of alternate advances and retreats by\nthe whole line of dancers in obedience to signals by the song leader,\nwho sings to the accompaniment of a rattle. The burden of the song,\nwhich is without meaning, is\n\n\n Ha'wiye'ehi' Yaha'wiye'ehi [twice] Yu-u\n Hi'yagu'we Hahi'yagu'we [twice] Yu-yu.\n\n\n\n33. The migration of the animals (p. 280): This little story is given\njust as related by Ay\u00e2sta, the only woman privileged to speak in\ncouncil among the East Cherokee. A similar incident occurs in number\n76, \"The Bear Man.\" According to one Cherokee myth concerning the noted\nTrack Rock gap, near Blairsville in upper Georgia, the pictographs in\nthe rocks there are the footprints of all sorts of birds and animals\nwhich once crossed over the gap in a great migration toward the south.\n\n\n\n34. The Wolf's revenge: The Wolf and the Dog (p. 280): These short\nstories from Swimmer illustrate the Cherokee belief that if a wolf be\ninjured his fellows will surely revenge the injury. See also note to\nnumber 15, \"The Fourfooted Tribes,\" and number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu.\"\n\nIn a West African tale recorded by Chatelain (Folktales of Angola,\n1894) the dog and the jackal are kinsmen, who live together in the\nbush until the jackal sends the dog to the village for fire. The dog\ngoes, enters a house and is fed by a woman, and thereupon concludes\nto stay in the village, where there is always food.\n\n\n\n35. The bird tribes (p. 280): The eagle killer--Of the Southern\ntribes generally Adair says: \"They use the feathers of the eagle's\ntail in certain friendly and religious dances, but the whole town\nwill contribute, to the value of 200 deerskins, for killing a large\neagle--the bald eagle they do not esteem--and the man also gets an\nhonorable title for the exploit, as if he had brought in the scalp\nof an enemy.\" [543]\n\nTimberlake says that the Cherokee held the tail of an eagle in the\ngreatest esteem, as these tails were sometimes given with the wampum\nin their treaties, and none of their warlike ceremonies could be\nperformed without them (Memoirs, p. 81). The figurative expression,\n\"a snowbird has been killed,\" used to avoid offending the eagle\ntribe, is paralleled in the expression, \"he has been scratched\nby a brier,\" used by the Cherokee to mean, \"he has been bitten\nby a snake.\" Professional eagle killers existed among many tribes,\ntogether with a prescribed ceremonial for securing the eagle. The most\ncommon method was probably that described in a note to number 98,\n\"Gana's Adventures among the Cherokee.\" A detailed account of the\nBlackfoot method is given by Grinnell, in his Blackfoot Lodge Tales,\npp. 236-240. The eagle, being a bird of prey, as well as a sacred bird,\nwas never eaten.\n\nThe shifting of responsibility for the killing to a vicarious victim is\na common feature of Indian formulas for obtaining pardon, especially\nfor offenses against the animal tribe or the spirits of the dead. A\nremarkable parallel to the Cherokee prayer, from the Quichua of Peru,\nis given by Dr G. A. Dorsey. Having started, with a party of Indian\nlaborers and a Spanish gentleman who was well acquainted with the\nnative language, to examine some cave tombs near the ancient city\nof Cuzco, they had arrived at the spot and he was about to give the\norder to begin operations, when the Indians, removing their blankets\nand hats, knelt down and recited in unison in their own language a\nprayer to the spirits of the dead, of which the following translation\nis an extract:\n\n\"Chiefs, sons of the sun, you and we are brothers, sons of the great\nPachacamac. You only know this, but we know that three persons exist,\nthe Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This is the only difference\nbetween you and us.... Chiefs, sons of the sun, we have not come to\ndisturb your tranquil sleep in this, your abode. We come only because\nwe have been compelled by our superiors; toward them may you direct\nyour vengeance and your curses.\"\n\nThen followed sacrifices of coca leaves, aguardiente, and chicha,\nafter which they called upon the snow-capped mountain to witness\ntheir affection for their ancestors, and were then ready to begin work\n(Dorsey, A Ceremony of the Quichuas of Peru, in Journal of American\nFolk-Lore, October, 1894).\n\nNight birds--Says Adair of the Southern tribes (History of the American\nIndians, p. 130, 1775): \"They reckon all birds of prey, and birds of\nnight, to be unclean and unlawful to be eaten.\" The mixed feeling of\nfear and reverence for all night birds is universal among the Western\ntribes. Owls particularly are believed to bring prophetic tidings to\nthe few great conjurers who can interpret their language.\n\nThe hawk--This, being a bird of prey, was never eaten. The following\nincident is related by Adair, probably from the Chickasaw: \"Not\nlong ago when the Indians were making their winter's hunt and the\nold women were without flesh meat at home, I shot a small fat hawk\nand desired one of them to take and dress it; but though I strongly\nimportuned her by way of trial, she as earnestly refused it for fear\nof contracting pollution, which she called the 'accursed sickness,'\nsupposing disease would be the necessary effect of such an impurity\"\n(Hist. Am. Indians, p. 130).\n\nChickadee and titmouse--Adair speaks of having once observed a\nparty of Southern Indians \"to be intimidated at the voice of a small\nuncommon bird, when it pitched and chirped on a tree over their camp\"\n(op. cit., p. 26). At a conference with the Six Nations at Albany in\n1775 the Oneida speaker said: \"We, the Six Nations, have heard the\nvoice of a bird called Tskleleli (Tsikilili'?), a news carrier, that\ncame among us. It has told us that the path at the western connection,\nby Fort Stanwix, would be shut up by either one party or the other.\" In\nreply, the commissioners said: \"We apprehend the bird Tskleleli has\nbeen busy again; he seems to be a mischievous bird and ought not\nto be nourished or entertained\" (New York Colonial Documents, VIII,\npp. 612, 628, 1857). The bird name is in the Oneida dialect. Bruyas\ngives teksereri as the Mohawk name for the tomtit.\n\n\n\n36. The ball game of the birds and animals (p. 286): This is one\nof the best-known animal stories and was heard with more or less\nof detail from John Ax, Swimmer, Suyeta, and A`wani'ta in the east,\nand from Wafford in the Territory.\n\nThe Creeks and the Seminoles also, as we learn from the Tuggle\nmanuscript collection, have stories of ball games by the birds against\nthe fourfooted animals. In one story the bat is rejected by both sides,\nbut is finally accepted by the fourfooted animals on account of his\nhaving teeth, and enables them to win the victory from the birds.\n\nThe ballplay--The ballplay, a`ne'ts\u00e2, is the great athletic game of\nthe Cherokee and the Gulf tribes, as well as with those of the St\nLawrence and Great lakes. It need hardly be stated that it is not\nour own game of base ball, but rather a variety of tennis, the ball\nbeing thrown, not from the hand, but from a netted racket or pair\nof rackets. The goals are two sets of upright poles at either end\nof the ball ground, which is always a level grassy bottom beside a\nsmall stream. There is much accompanying ceremonial and conjuration,\nwith a ball dance, in which the women take part, the night before. It\nis the same game by which the hostile tribes gained entrance to the\nBritish post at Mackinaw in 1763, and under the name of lacrosse has\nbecome the national game of Canada. It has also been adopted by the\nFrench Creoles of Louisiana under the name of raquette. In British\nColumbia it is held to be the favorite amusement of the people of the\nunderworld (Teit, Thompson River Traditions, p. 116). In the southern\nstates the numerous localities bearing the names of \"Ballplay,\"\n\"Ball flat,\" and \"Ball ground,\" bear witness to the Indian fondness\nfor the game. Large sums were staked upon it, and there is even\na tradition that a considerable territory in northern Georgia was\nwon from the Creeks by the Cherokee in a ball game. For an extended\ndescription see the the author's article \"The Cherokee Ball Play,\"\nin the American Anthropologist for April, 1890.\n\nWon the game--On account of their successful work on this occasion\nthe Cherokee ballplayer invokes the aid of the bat and the flying\nsquirrel, and also ties a small piece of the bat's wing to his ball\nstick or fastens it to the frame over which the sticks are hung during\nthe preliminary dance the night before.\n\nGave the martin a gourd--The black house-martin is a favorite with\nthe Cherokee, who attract it by fastening hollow gourds to the tops of\nlong poles set up near their houses so that the birds may build their\nnests in them. In South Carolina, as far back as 1700, according to\nLawson: \"The planters put gourds on standing holes [poles] on purpose\nfor these fowl to build in, because they are a very warlike bird and\nbeat the crows from the plantations\" (History of Carolina, p. 238).\n\n\n\n37. How the Turkey got his beard (p. 287): This story is well known\nin the tribe and was heard from several informants.\n\nAccording to a Creek myth in the Tuggle collection the Turkey was\nonce a warrior and still wears his last scalp from his neck. In\nanother story of the same collection it is a man's scalp which he\nseized from the Terrapin and accidentally swallowed as he ran off,\nso that it grew out from his breast.\n\n\n\n38. Why the Turkey gobbles (p. 288): This story was first heard\nfrom John Ax (east) and afterward from Wafford (west). The grouse is\nlocally called \"partridge\" in the southern Alleghenies.\n\n\n\n39. How the Kingfisher got his bill (p. 288): The first version is\nfrom John Ax, the other from Swimmer.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1wi tsunsdi'--\"Little People,\" another name for the Nu\u00f1ne'hi (see\nnumber 78). These are not to be confounded with the Anisga'ya Tsunsdi',\n\"Little Men,\" or Thunder Boys.\n\nTugal\u00fb'na--A small slender-bodied spotted fish about four inches in\nlength, which likes to lie upon the rocks at the bottom of the larger\nstreams. The name refers to a gourd, from a fancied resemblance of\nthe long nose to the handle of a gourd.\n\n\n\n40. How the Partridge got his whistle (p. 289): This little story is\nwell known in the tribe.\n\nWhistles and flutes or flageolets are in use among nearly all tribes\nfor ceremonial and amusement purposes. The whistle, usually made\nfrom an eagle bone, was worn suspended from the neck. The flute or\nflageolet was commonly made from cedar wood.\n\n\n\n41. How the Redbird got his color (p. 289): This short story was\nobtained from Cornelius Boudinot, a prominent mixed-blood of Tahlequah,\nand differs from the standard Cherokee myth, according to which\nthe redbird is the transformed daughter of the Sun (see number 5,\n\"The Daughter of the Sun\").\n\nRed paint--Much sacredness attaches, in the Indian mind, to\nred paint, the color being symbolic of war, strength, success,\nand spirit protection. The word paint, in any Indian language,\nis generally understood to mean red paint, unless it is otherwise\ndistinctly noted. The Indian red paint is usually a soft hematite ore,\nfound in veins of hard-rock formation, from which it must be dug with\nmuch labor and patience. In the western tribes everyone coming thus\nto procure paint makes a prayer beside the rock and hangs a small\nsacrifice upon a convenient bush or stick before beginning operations.\n\n\n\n42. The Pheasant beating corn: The Pheasant dance (p. 290): The first\nof these little tales is from John Ax, the second from Swimmer. The\npheasant (Bonasa umbella; Cherokee tlu\u00f1ti'sti) is also locally called\ngrouse or partridge.\n\n\n\n43. The race between the Crane and the Hummingbird (p. 290): This story\nis a favorite one in the tribe, and was heard from several informants,\nboth East and West. The sequel may surprise those who have supposed\nthat woman has no rights in Indian society.\n\nIn a Creek story under the same title, in the Tuggle collection, the\nrivals agree to fly from a certain spot on a stream to the spring at\nits head. The humming bird is obliged to follow the windings of the\nstream, but the crane takes a direct course above the trees and thus\nwins the race.\n\nFly around the world--Not around a globe, but around the circumference\nof a disk, according to the Indian idea.\n\n\n\n44. The Owl gets married (p. 291): Told by Swimmer. The three owls\nof the Cherokee country are known, respectively, as tskili' (i. e.,\n\"witch,\" Bubo virginianus saturatus, great, dusky-horned owl),\nwa`huhu' (Megascops asio, screech owl), and uguku' (Syrnium nebulosum,\nhooting or barred owl). There is no generic term. The Cherokee say\nthat there is almost no flesh upon the body of the hooting owl except\nupon the head.\n\n\n\n45. The Huhu gets married (p. 292): This story was heard at different\ntimes from Swimmer, John Ax, and Ta'gwadihi'. The first named always\ngave in the proper place a very good imitation of the huhu call,\ndrawing out the sau-h slowly, giving the hu, hu, hu, hu, hu, hu\nin quick, smothered tones, and ending with three chirps and a long\nwhistle. From this and one or two other stories of similar import\nit would seem that the woman is the ruling partner in the Cherokee\ndomestic establishment. Matches were generally arranged by the mother,\nand were conditional upon the consent of the girl (see notes to number\n84, \"The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister\").\n\nThe huhu of the Cherokee, so called from its cry, is the\nyellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens), also known as the yellow\nmocking bird on account of its wonderful mimic powers.\n\n\n\n46. Why the Buzzard's head is bare (p. 293): This story was told\nby Swimmer and other informants, and is well known. It has an exact\nparallel in the Omaha story of \"Ictinike and the Buzzard\" (Dorsey,\nin Contributions to North American Ethnology, vi).\n\n\n\n47. The Eagle's revenge (p. 293): This story, told by John Ax,\nillustrates the tribal belief and custom in connection with the eagle\nand the eagle dance, as already described in number 35, \"The Bird\nTribes,\" and the accompanying notes.\n\nDrying pole--A pole laid horizontally in the forks of two upright\nstakes, planted firmly in the ground, for the purpose of temporarily\nhanging up game and fresh meat in the hunting camp, to protect it\nfrom wolves and other prey animals or to allow it to dry out before\nthe fire.\n\n\n\n48. The Hunter and the Buzzard (p. 294): Told by Swimmer. The custom\nof lending or exchanging wives in token of hospitality and friendship,\non certain ceremonial occasions, or as the price of obtaining certain\nsecret knowledge, was very general among the tribes, and has been\nnoted by explorers and other observers, east and west, from the\nearliest period.\n\n\n\n49. The snake tribe (p. 294): Rattlesnake--The custom of asking\npardon of slain or offended animals has already been noted under\nnumber 15, \"The Fourfooted Tribes,\" and number 35, \"The Bird Tribes\"\n(eagle). Reverence for the rattlesnake was universal among the Indians,\nand has been repeatedly remarked by travelers in every part of the\ncountry. To go into a dissertation upon the great subject of serpent\nworship is not a part of our purpose.\n\nThe missionary Washburn tells how, among the Cherokee of Arkansas,\nhe was once riding along, accompanied by an Indian on foot, when\nthey discovered a poisonous snake coiled beside the path. \"I observed\nBlanket turned aside to avoid the serpent, but made no signs of attack,\nand I requested the interpreter to get down and kill it. He did so,\nand I then inquired of Blanket why he did not kill the serpent. He\nanswered, 'I never kill snakes and so the snakes never kill me;\nbut I will tell you about it when you next come to see me.'\" He kept\nhis word soon after by relating as a personal experience (probably,\nin fact, an Indian dream) a long story of having once been conducted\nby a rattlesnake to an underground council of the rattlesnake tribe,\nwhere he found all the snakes lamenting over one of their number\nwho had been recently killed by an Indian, and debating the method of\npunishment, which was executed a day or two later by inflicting a fatal\nbite upon the offender while engaged in the ballplay (Reminiscences,\npp. 208-212). As told by the missionary, the story is very much dressed\nup, but strikingly resembles number 58, \"The Rattlesnake's Vengeance.\"\n\nAdair, evidently confusing several Cherokee snake myths, speaks of\nsome reputed gigantic rattlesnakes in the Cherokee mountains, with\nbeautiful changing colors and great power of fascination, by which\nthey drew into their jaws any living creature coming within their\nvision, and continues: \"They call them and all of the rattlesnake\nkind, kings or chieftains of the snakes, and they allow one such\nto every different species of the brute creation. An old trader of\nCheeowhee told me that for the reward of two pieces of stroud cloth\nhe engaged a couple of young warriors to show him the place of their\nresort; but the headmen would not by any means allow it, on account\nof a superstitious tradition--for they fancy the killing of them would\nexpose them to the danger of being bit by the other inferior species of\nthe serpentine tribe, who love their chieftains and know by instinct\nthose who maliciously killed them, as they fight only in their own\ndefense and that of their young ones, never biting those who do not\ndisturb them.\" He mentions also an instance of a Chickasaw priest\nwho, after having applied to his hands the juice of a certain plant,\ntook up a rattlesnake without damage and laid it carefully in a hollow\ntree to prevent Adair's killing it (History of the American Indians,\npp. 237-238).\n\nOf the Carolina tribes generally, Lawson, in 1701, says: \"As for\nkilling of snakes, they avoid it if they lie in their way, because\ntheir opinion is that some of the serpents' kindred would kill some of\nthe savage's relations that should destroy him\" (History of Carolina,\np. 341).\n\nBartram says of the Seminoles, about 1775: \"These people never\nkill the rattlesnake or any other serpent, saying, if they do so,\nthe spirit of the killed snake will excite or influence his living\nkindred or relatives to revenge the injury or violence done to him\nwhen alive.\" He recounts an amusing incident of his own experience\nwhere the Indians sent for him to come and kill a rattlesnake which had\ninvaded their camp ground, and which they were afraid to disturb. Their\nrequest having been complied with, the Indians then insisted upon\nscratching him, according to the Indian custom, in order to let out\nsome of his superabundant blood and courage, but were finally, with\nsome difficulty, dissuaded from their purpose. \"Thus it seemed that\nthe whole was a ludicrous farce to satisfy their people and appease\nthe manes of the dead rattlesnake\" (Travels, pp. 258-261).\n\nThe trader Henry (Travels, pp. 176-179) narrates a most interesting\ninstance from among the Ojibwa of Lake Superior in 1764. While\ngathering wood near the camp he was startled by a sudden rattle,\nand looking down discovered a rattlesnake almost at his feet, with\nbody coiled and head raised to strike.\n\n\"I no sooner saw the snake, than I hastened to the canoe, in order\nto procure my gun; but, the Indians observing what I was doing,\ninquired the occasion, and being informed, begged me to desist. At\nthe same time, they followed me to the spot, with their pipes and\ntobacco-pouches in their hands. On returning, I found the snake\nstill coiled.\n\n\"The Indians, on their part, surrounded it, all addressing it by\nturns, and calling it their grandfather; but yet keeping at some\ndistance. During this part of the ceremony, they filled their pipes;\nand now each blew the smoke toward the snake, who, as it appeared\nto me, really received it with pleasure. In a word, after remaining\ncoiled, and receiving incense, for the space of half an hour, it\nstretched itself along the ground, in visible good humor. Its length\nwas between four and five feet. Having remained outstretched for\nsome time, at last it moved slowly away, the Indians following it,\nand still addressing it by the title of grandfather, beseeching it to\ntake care of their families during their absence, and to be pleased\nto open the heart of Sir William Johnson [the British Indian agent,\nwhom they were about to visit], so that he might show them charity,\nand fill their canoe with rum. One of the chiefs added a petition,\nthat the snake would take no notice of the insult which had been\noffered him by the Englishman, who would even have put him to death,\nbut for the interference of the Indians, to whom it was hoped he would\nimpute no part of the offence. They further requested, that he would\nremain, and inhabit their country, and not return among the English;\nthat is, go eastward.\"\n\nHe adds that the appearance of the rattlesnake so far north was\nregarded as an extraordinary omen, and that very little else was\nspoken of for the rest of the evening. The next day, while steering\nacross Lake Huron in their canoe, a terrible storm came up.\n\n\"The Indians, beginning to be alarmed, frequently called on the\nrattlesnake to come to their assistance. By degrees the waves\ngrew high; and at 11 o'clock it blew a hurricane, and we expected\nevery moment to be swallowed up. From prayers, the Indians now\nproceeded to sacrifices, both alike offered to the god-rattlesnake,\nor manito-kinibic. One of the chiefs took a dog, and after tying its\nforelegs together, threw it overboard, at the same time calling on the\nsnake to preserve us from being drowned, and desiring him to satisfy\nhis hunger with the carcass of the dog. The snake was unpropitious,\nand the wind increased. Another chief sacrificed another dog,\nwith the addition of some tobacco. In the prayer which accompanied\nthese gifts, he besought the snake, as before, not to avenge upon\nthe Indians the insult which he had received from myself, in the\nconception of a design to put him to death. He assured the snake,\nthat I was absolutely an Englishman, and of kin neither to him nor to\nthem. At the conclusion of this speech, an Indian, who sat near me,\nobserved, that if we were drowned it would be for my fault alone, and\nthat I ought myself to be sacrificed, to appease the angry manito,\nnor was I without apprehensions, that in case of extremity, this\nwould be my fate; but, happily for me, the storm at length abated,\nand we reached the island safely.\"\n\nThe Delawares also, according to Heckewelder, called the rattlesnake\ngrandfather and refrained from injuring him. He says: \"One day, as\nI was walking with an elderly Indian on the banks of the Muskingum,\nI saw a large rattlesnake lying across the path, which I was going\nto kill. The Indian immediately forbade my doing so; 'for,' said he,\n'the rattlesnake is grandfather to the Indians, and is placed here\non purpose to guard us, and to give us notice of impending danger\nby his rattle, which is the same as if he were to tell us, 'look\nabout.' 'Now,' added he, 'if we were to kill one of those, the others\nwould soon know it, and the whole race would rise upon us and bite\nus.' I observed to him that the white people were not afraid of this;\nfor they killed all the rattlesnakes that they met with. On this he\nenquired whether any white man had been bitten by these animals, and of\ncourse I answered in the affirmative. 'No wonder, then!' replied he,\n'you have to blame yourselves for that. You did as much as declaring\nwar against them, and you will find them in your country, where they\nwill not fail to make frequent incursions. They are a very dangerous\nenemy; take care you do not irritate them in our country; they and\ntheir grandchildren are on good terms, and neither will hurt the\nother.' These ancient notions have, however in a great measure died\naway with the last generation, and the Indians at present kill their\ngrandfather, the rattlesnake, without ceremony, whenever they meet\nwith him\" (Indian Nations, p. 252).\n\nSalikw\u00e2yi--\"The old Tuscaroras had a custom, which they supposed would\nkeep their teeth white and strong through life. A man caught a snake\nand held it by its head and tail. Then he bit it through, all the\nway from the head to the tail, and this kept the teeth from decay\"\n(W. M. Beauchamp, Iroquois Notes, in Journal of American Folk-Lore,\nJuly, 1892).\n\nSend torrents of rain--The belief in a connection between the serpent\nand the rain-gods is well-nigh universal among primitive peoples,\nand need only be indicated here.\n\n\n\n50. The Uktena and the \u00dbl\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti (p. 297): The belief in the great\nUktena and the magic power of the \u00dbl\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti is firmly implanted in the\nCherokee breast. The Uktena has its parallel in the Gitchi-Kenebig\nor Great Horned Serpent of the northern Algonquian tribes, and is\nsomewhat analogous to the Zemo`gu'ani or Great Horned Alligator of the\nKiowa. Myths of a jewel in the head of a serpent or of a toad are so\ncommon to all Aryan nations as to have become proverbial. Talismanic\nand prophetic stones, which are carefully guarded, and to which\nprayer and sacrifice are offered, are kept in many tribes (see Dorsey,\nTeton Folklore, in American Anthropologist, April, 1889). The name of\nthe serpent is derived from akta, \"eye,\" and may be rendered \"strong\nlooker,\" i.e., \"keen eyed,\" because nothing within the range of its\nvision can escape discovery. From the same root is derived akta'ti,\n\"to look into,\" \"to examine closely,\" the Cherokee name for a field\nglass or telescope. By the English-speaking Indians the serpent is\nsometimes called the diamond rattlesnake. The mythic diamond crest,\nwhen in its proper place upon the snake's head, is called ulstitl\u00fb',\nliterally, \"it is on his head,\" but when detached and in the hands\nof the conjurer it becomes the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti, \"Transparent,\" the great\ntalisman of the tribe. On account of its glittering brightness it is\nsometimes called Igag\u00fb'ti, \"Day-light.\" Inferior magic crystals are\nbelieved to be the scales from the same serpent, and are sometimes\nalso called ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti.\n\nThe earliest notice of the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti is given by the young Virginian\nofficer, Timberlake, who was sent upon a peace mission to the Cherokee\nin 1762, shortly after the close of their first war with the whites. He\nsays (Memoirs, pp. 47-49):\n\n\"They have many beautiful stones of different colours, many of which,\nI am apt to believe, are of great value; but their superstition has\nalways prevented their disposing of them to the traders, who have made\nmany attempts to that purpose; but as they use them in their conjuring\nceremonies, they believe their parting with them or bringing them\nfrom home, would prejudice their health or affairs. Among others\nthere is one in the possession of a conjurer, remarkable for its\nbrilliancy and beauty, but more so for the extraordinary manner in\nwhich it was found. It grew, if we may credit the Indians, on the\nhead of a monstrous serpent, whose retreat was, by its brilliancy,\ndiscovered; but a great number of snakes attending him, he being,\nas I suppose by his diadem, of a superior rank among the serpents,\nmade it dangerous to attack him. Many were the attempts made by the\nIndians, but all frustrated, till a fellow more bold than the rest,\ncasing himself in leather, impenetrable to the bite of the serpent\nor his guards, and watching a convenient opportunity, surprised and\nkilled him, tearing his jewel from his head, which the conjurer has\nkept hid for many years, in some place unknown to all but two women,\nwho have been offered large presents to betray it, but steadily\nrefused, lest some signal judgment or mischance should follow. That\nsuch a stone exists, I believe, having seen many of great beauty;\nbut I cannot think it would answer all the encomiums the Indians\nbestow upon it. The conjurer, I suppose, hatched the account of its\ndiscovery; I have however given it to the reader, as a specimen of\nan Indian story, many of which are much more surprising.\"\n\nA few years later Adair gives us an account of the serpent and the\nstone. According to his statement the uktenas had their home in a\ndeep valley between the heads of the Tuckasegee and the \"northern\nbranch of the lower Cheerake river\" (i. e., the Little Tennessee),\nthe valley being the deep defile of Nantahala, where, by reason of its\ngloomy and forbidding aspect, Cherokee tradition locates more than\none legendary terror. With pardonable error he confounds the Uktena\nwith the Chief of the Rattlesnakes. The two, however, are distinct,\nthe latter being simply the head of the rattlesnake tribe, without\nthe blazing carbuncle or the immense size attributed to the Uktena.\n\n\"Between two high mountains, nearly covered with old mossy rocks,\nlofty cedars and pines, in the valleys of which the beams of the\nsun reflect a powerful heat, there are, as the natives affirm, some\nbright old inhabitants or rattlesnakes, of a more enormous size than\nis mentioned in history. They are so large and unwieldy, that they\ntake a circle almost as wide as their length to crawl around in their\nshortest orbit; but bountiful nature compensates the heavy motion of\ntheir bodies, for, as they say, no living creature moves within the\nreach of their sight, but they can draw it to them....\n\n\"The description the Indians give us of their colour is as various\nas what we are told of the camelion, that seems to the spectator to\nchange its colour, by every different position he may view it in; which\nproceeds from the piercing rays of the light that blaze from their\nforeheads, so as to dazzle the eyes, from whatever quarter they post\nthemselves--for in each of their heads, there is a large carbuncle,\nwhich not only repels, but they affirm, sullies the meridian beams\nof the sun. They reckon it so dangerous to disturb these creatures,\nthat no temptation can induce them to betray their secret recess\nto the prophane. They call them and all of the rattlesnake kind,\nkings, or chieftains of the snakes, and they allow one such to every\ndifferent species of the brute creation. An old trader of Cheeowhee\ntold me, that for the reward of two pieces of stroud cloth, he engaged\na couple of young warriors to shew him the place of their resort,\nbut the head-men would not by any means allow it, on account of a\nsuperstitious tradition--for they fancy the killing of them would\nexpose them to the danger of being bit by the other inferior species of\nthat serpentine tribe, who love their chieftains, and know by instinct\nthose who maliciously killed them, as they fight only in their own\ndefence and that of their young ones, never biting those who do not\ndisturb them.\"--History of the American Indians, pp. 237-238.\n\nIn another place (page 87) he tells us of an ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fbti owned by a\nmedicine-man who resided at Tymahse (Tomassee), a former Cherokee\ntown on the creek of the same name near the present Seneca, South\nCarolina. \"The above Cheerake prophet had a carbuncle near as big as\nan egg, which they said he found where a great rattlesnake lay dead,\nand that it sparkled with such surprising lustre as to illuminate his\ndark winter house, like strong flashes of continued lightning, to the\ngreat terror of the weak, who durst not upon any account approach\nthe dreadful fire-darting place, for fear of sudden death. When he\ndied it was buried along with him, according to custom, in the town\nof Tymahse, under the great beloved cabbin [seat], which stood in the\nwesternmost part of that old fabric, where they who will run the risk\nof searching may luckily find it.\"\n\nHagar also mentions the \"Oolunsade,\" and says, on the authority of\nJohn Ax: \"He who owns a crystal can call one of the Little People to\nhim at any time and make him do his bidding. Sometimes when people\nare ill it is because some evil invisible being has taken possession\nof him. Then the Little Man called up by the crystal can be placed\non guard near the ill man to prevent the evil spirit from re-entering\nafter it has been expelled\" (MS Stellar Legends of the Cherokee).\n\nThe Southern Alleghenies, the old Cherokee country, abound with\ncrystals of various kinds, as well as with minerals. The Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti\nis described as a triangular crystal about two inches long, flat on\nthe bottom, and with slightly convex sides tapering up to a point,\nand perfectly transparent with the exception of a single red streak\nrunning through the center from top to bottom. It is evidently a\nrare and beautiful specimen of rutile quartz, crystals of which,\nfound in the region, may be seen in the National Museum at Washington.\n\nOther small stones of various shapes and color are in common use\namong the Cherokee conjurers to discover lost articles or for other\noccult purposes. These also are frequently called by the same name,\nand are said to have been originally the scales of the Uktena, but\nthe Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti--the talisman from the forehead of the serpent--is the\ncrystal here described, and is so exceedingly rare that so far as is\nknown only one remained among the East Cherokee in 1890. Its owner,\na famous hunter, kept it hidden in a cave, wrapped up in a deerskin,\nbut refused all inducements to show it, much less to part with it,\nstating that if he should expose it to the gaze of a white man he\ncould kill no more game, even were he permitted to live after such\na sacrilege.\n\nThe possession of the talisman insures success in hunting, love,\nrain making, and all other undertakings, but its great use is in life\ndivination, and when it is invoked for this purpose by its owner the\nfuture is mirrored in the transparent crystal as a tree is reflected\nin the quiet stream below.\n\nWhen consulting it the conjurer gazes into the crystal, and after some\nlittle time sees in its transparent depths a picture of the person\nor event in question. By the action of the specter, or its position\nnear the top or bottom of the crystal, he learns not only the event\nitself, but also its nearness in time or place.\n\nMany of the East Cherokee who enlisted in the Confederate service\nduring the late war consulted the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti before starting, and\nsurvivors declare that their experiences verified the prediction. One\nof these had gone with two others to consult the fates. The conjurer,\nplacing the three men facing him, took the talisman upon the end of his\noutstretched finger and bade them look intently into it. After some\nmoments they saw their own images at the bottom of the crystal. The\nimages gradually ascended along the red line. Those of the other two\nmen rose to the middle and then again descended, but the presentment\nof the one who tells the story continued to ascend until it reached the\ntop before going down again. The conjurer then said that the other two\nwould die in the second year of the war, but the third would survive\nthrough hardships and narrow escapes and live to return home. As the\nprophecy, so the event.\n\nWhen consulted by the friends of a sick man to know if he will recover;\nthe conjurer shows them the image of the sick man lying at the bottom\nof the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti. He then tells them to go home and kill some game (or,\nin these latter days, any food animal) and to prepare a feast. On the\nappointed day the conjurer, at his own home, looks into the crystal\nand sees there the picture of the party at dinner. If the image of the\nsick man rises and joins them at the feast the patient will recover;\nif otherwise, he is doomed.\n\n\n\n51. \u00c2gan-uni'tsi's search for the Uktena (p. 248): This is one of\nthe most important of the Cherokee traditions, for the reason that it\ndeals with the mythic monster, the Uktena, and explains the origin of\nthe great talisman, the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti. As here given it was obtained from\nSwimmer (east) with additions and variants from Wafford (west) and\nothers. It is recorded by Ten Kate as obtained by him in the Territory\n(Legends of the Cherokees, in Journal of American Folk-Lore, January,\n1889), and is mentioned in connection with the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti, by Adair,\nin 1775, and by Timberlake as early as 1762 (see notes to number 50,\n\"The Uktena and the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti\"). One variant makes the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti a\nscale from the seventh ring of the serpent.\n\nThe Shawano, who at one time occupied the Cumberland region of\nTennessee immediately adjoining the Cherokee, were regarded as wizards\nby all the southern tribes. Brinton says: \"Among the Algonkins the\nShawnee tribe did more than all others combined to introduce and carry\nabout religious legends and ceremonies. From the earliest times they\nseem to have had peculiar aptitude for the ecstacies, deceits, and\nfancies that make up the spiritual life of their associates. Their\nconstantly roving life brought them in contact with the myths of\nmany nations, and it is extremely probable that they first brought\nthe tale of the horned serpent from the Creeks and Cherokees\" (Myths\nof the New World, p. 137).\n\nLocalities--Utawag\u00fbn'ta mountain, Wal\u00e2si'yi gap, Duniskwa`lg\u00fb\u00f1'yi\ngap and Atag\u00e2'hi (mythic) lake, are all points in the Great Smoky\nrange, which forms the dividing line between North Carolina and\nTennessee. Tlanusi'yi is the native name for the site of Murphy, at\nthe junction of Hiwassee and Valley rivers, North Carolina. Gah\u00fb'ti is\nCohutta mountain in Murray county, Georgia. According to Wafford there\nare on the sides of this mountain several stone inclosures which were\nbuilt by \u00c2gan-uni'tsi for shelter places before attacking the Uktena\n(see also Glossary).\n\n\n\n52. The Red Man and the Uktena (p. 300): This story was obtained from\nJohn Ax. Swimmer had heard it also, but remembered only a part of\nit. For more in regard to the Uktena and the talisman derived from it,\nsee numbers 50 and 51, with notes.\n\nAsga'ya Gi'gage'i--The \"Red Man,\" or lightning spirit, who is\nfrequently invoked in the sacred formulas.\n\nStruck by lightning--As has been explained elsewhere, the wood of\na tree that has been struck by lightning plays an important part in\nCherokee folklore.\n\nStrong and dangerous--It is a common article of Indian belief that the\npresence of a powerful talisman, no matter how beneficent in itself,\nis enervating or positively dangerous to those in its vicinity unless\nthey be fortified by some ceremonial tonic. For this reason every\ngreat \"medicine\" is usually kept apart in a hut or tipi built for\nthe purpose, very much as we are accustomed to store explosives at\nsome distance from the dwelling or business house.\n\n\n\n53. The Hunter and the Uksu'hi (p. 301): This story was told by Swimmer\nand John Ax as an actual fact. The uksu'hi is the mountain blacksnake\nor black racer (Coluber obsoletus). The name seems to refer to some\npeculiarity of the eye, akta (cf. uktena). Hickory-log, properly\nWane'as\u00fb\u00f1'tl\u00fb\u00f1yi, \"Hickory footlog,\" was a Cherokee settlement on\nHiwassee river, near the present Hayesville, Clay county, North\nCarolina. Another of the same name was on Etowah river in Georgia.\n\nPerspiration--The Indian belief may or may not have foundation in fact.\n\n\n\n54. The Ust\u00fb'tli (p. 302): This story was told by Swimmer and John Ax\n(east) and by Wafford (west), and is a common tradition throughout\nthe tribe. The name ust\u00fb'tli refers to the sole of the foot, and was\ngiven to the serpent on account of its peculiar feet or \"suckers.\" The\nsame name is given to the common hoop-snake of the south (Abastor\nerythrogrammus), about which such wonderful tales are told by the\nwhite mountaineers. Cohutta (Gah\u00fb'ti) mountain, in Murray county,\nGeorgia, was also the traditional haunt of the Uktena (see number 51,\n\"\u00c2gan-Uni'tsi's search for the Uktena,\" and compare also number 55,\n\"The Uw`ts\u00fb\u00f1'ta.\")\n\n\n\n55. The Uw`ts\u00fb\u00f1'ta (p. 303): This story was obtained from James\nBlythe. N\u00fb\u00f1daye'`i, whence Nantahala, was on the river of that name\nbelow the present Jarrett's station.\n\n\n\n56. The Snake Boy (p. 304): This myth was told by Swimmer.\n\n\u00c2si--The Cherokee \u00e2si, or \"hot-house,\" as it was called by the\nold traders, is the equivalent of the sweat-house of the western\ntribes. It is a small hut of logs plastered over with clay, with a\nshed roof, and just tall enough to permit a sitting or reclining, but\nnot a standing, position inside. It is used for sweat-bath purposes,\nand as it is tight and warm, and a fire is usually kept smoldering\nwithin, it is a favorite sleeping place for the old people in cold\nweather. It is now nearly obsolete.\n\n\n\n57. The Snake Man (p. 304): This myth, obtained from Chief Smith,\nseems designed to impress upon the laity the importance of a strict\nobservance of the innumerable gakt\u00fb\u00f1'ta, or tabus, which beset the\ndaily life of the Cherokee, whether in health or sickness, hunting,\nwar, or arts of peace (see the author's \"Sacred Formulas of the\nCherokees,\" in the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology).\n\nSimilar transformation myths are found all over the world. One of\nthe most ancient is the story of Cadmus, in Ovid's \"Metamorphoses,\"\nwith the despair of the wife as she sees the snaky change come over\nher husband. \"Cadmus, what means this? Where are thy feet? Where are\nboth thy shoulders and thy hands? Where is thy color? and, while I\nspeak, where all else besides?\"\n\nIn a Pawnee story given by Grinnell two brothers, traveling, camp for\nthe night. The elder eats some tabued food, and wakes from his sleep to\nfind that he is changing into a great rattlesnake, the change beginning\nat his feet. He rouses his brother and gives him his last instructions:\n\n\"When I have changed into a snake, take me in your arms and carry\nme over to that hole. That will be my home, for that is the house of\nthe snakes.\" Having still a man's mind, he continues to talk as the\nmetamorphosis extends upward, until at last his head changes to that of\na snake, when his brother takes him up and carries him to the hole. The\nrelatives make frequent visits to the place to visit the snake, who\nalways comes out when they call, and the brother brings it a share of\nhis war trophies, including a horse and a woman, and receives in return\nthe protection of the snake man (Pawnee Hero Stories, pp. 171-181). A\nclose Omaha variant is given by Dorsey (\"The warriors who were changed\nto snakes,\" in Contributions to North American Ethnology, VI).\n\n\n\n58. The Rattlesnake's vengeance (p. 305): This story, told by Swimmer,\nexemplifies the Indian reverence for the rattlesnake and dread of\noffending it already explained in number 49, \"The Snake Tribe,\"\nand the accompanying notes.\n\nPrayer song--See other references under number 3, \"Kana'ti and\nSelu.\" Many of the Indian ceremonial prayers and invocations are in\nthe form of songs or chants.\n\n\n\n59. The smaller reptiles, fishes, and insects (p. 306):\nGi'ga-tsuha'`li--This lizard is probably the Pleistodon\nerythrocephalus, which is described in Holbrook's \"Herpetology\" as\nbeing about 11 to 13 inches long, with bright red head, olive-brown\nbody and tail, and yellowish-white throat and abdomen. \"The Pleistodon\nerythrocephalus chooses his residence in deep forests, and is commonly\nfound about hollow trees, often at a height of 30 or 40 feet from\nthe ground, sometimes taking up his abode in the last year's nest\nof the woodpecker, out of which he thrusts his bright red head in a\nthreatening manner to those who would disturb his home. He never makes\nhis habitation on or near the ground, and in fact seldom descends\nfrom his elevation unless in search of food or water. Though shy\nand timid, he is very fierce when taken, and bites severely, owing\nto the great strength of his jaws, as well as the size and firmness\nof the teeth. The bite, however, though sharp and painful, is not,\nas is commonly supposed, venomous.\" [544]\n\nLarge horned beetle--This beetle, variously called by the Cherokee\ncrawfish, deer or buck, on account of its branching horns, is probably\nthe \"flying stag\" of early travelers. Says Timberlake: \"Of insects,\nthe flying stag is almost the only one worthy of notice. It is about\nthe shape of a beetle, but has very large, beautiful, branching\nhorns, like those of a stag, from whence it took its name\" (Memoirs\np. 46). Lawson, about 1700, also mentions \"the flying stags, with\nhorns,\" among the insects of eastern Carolina.\n\n\n\n60. Why the Bullfrog's head is striped (p. 310): The first version is\nfrom John Ax, the second from Swimmer, who had forgotten the details.\n\n\n\n61. The Bullfrog lover (p. 310): The first amusing little tale was\nheard from several story-tellers. The warning words are sometimes\ngiven differently, but always in a deep, gruff, singing tone, which\nmakes a very fair imitation of a bullfrog's note. The other stories\nwere told by Tsesa'ni (Jessan) and confirmed by Swimmer.\n\nIn a Creek variant of the first story, in the Tuggle collection,\nit is a pretty girl, who is obdurate until her lover, the Rabbit,\nconceals himself in the same way near the spring, with a blowgun for\na trumpet, and frightens her into consent by singing out: \"The girl\nwho stays single will die, will die, will die.\"\n\n\n\n62. The Katydid's warning (p. 311): Told by Swimmer and James Blythe.\n\n\n\n63. \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', the Gambler (p. 311): This story was obtained from\nSwimmer and John Ax (east), and confirmed also by James Wafford\n(west), who remembered, however, only the main points of the pursuit\nand final capture at K\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi. The two versions corresponded very\nclosely, excepting that Ax sends the boy to the Sunset land to play\nagainst his brothers, while Swimmer brings them to meet him at their\nfather's house. In the Ax version, also, the gambler flees directly\nto the west, and as often as the brothers shoot at him with their\narrows the thunder rolls and the lightning flashes, but he escapes by\nsinking into the earth, which opens for him, to reappear in another\nform somewhere else. Swimmer makes the Little People help in the\nchase. In Cherokee figure an invitation to a ball contest is a\nchallenge to battle. Thunder is always personified in the plural,\nAni'-Hy\u00fb\u00f1'tikwal\u00e2'ski, \"The Thunderers.\" The father and the two\nolder sons seem to be Kana'ti and the Thunder Boys (see number 3,\n\"Kana'ti and Selu\"), although neither informant would positively\nassert this, while the boy hero, who has no other name, is said to\nbe the lightning. Nothing is told of his after career.\n\n\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'--In this name (sometimes E'tsaiyi' or Tsaiyi') the first\nsyllable is almost silent and the vowels are prolonged to imitate the\nringing sound produced by striking a thin sheet of metal. The word\nis now translated \"brass,\" and is applied to any object made of that\nmetal. The mythic gambler, who has his counterpart in the mythologies\nof many tribes, is the traditional inventor of the wheel-and-stick\ngame, so popular among the southern and eastern Indians, and variously\nknown as gatay\u00fbsti, chenco, or ch\u00fbnki (see note under number 3,\n\"Kana'ti and Selu\"). He lived on the south side of Tennessee river,\nat \u00db\u00f1'tiguhi'.\n\n\u00db\u00f1'tiguhi' or The Suck--The noted and dangerous rapid known to the\nwhites as \"The Suck\" and to the Cherokee as \u00db\u00f1'tiguhi', \"Pot in\nthe water,\" is in Tennessee river, near the entrance of Suck creek,\nabout 8 miles below Chattanooga, at a point where the river gathers\nits whole force into a contracted channel to break through the\nCumberland mountain. The popular name, Whirl, or Suck, dates back\nat least to 1780, the upper portion being known at the same time as\n\"The boiling pot\" (Donelson diary, in Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 71),\n[545] a close paraphrase of the Indian name. In the days of pioneer\nsettlement it was a most dangerous menace to navigation, but some of\nthe most serious obstacles in the channel have now been removed by\nblasting and other means. The Cherokee name and legend were probably\nsuggested by the appearance of the rapids at the spot. Close to where\n\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' lived, according to the Indian account, may still be seen\nthe large flat rock upon which he was accustomed to play the gatay\u00fbsti\ngame with all who accepted his challenge, the lines and grooves worn\nby the rolling of the wheels being still plainly marked, and the\nstone wheels themselves now firmly attached to the surface of the\nrock. A similarly grooved or striped rock, where also, it is said,\n\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' used to roll his wheel, is reported to be on the north side\nof Hiwassee, just below Calhoun, Tennessee.\n\nThe Suck is thus described by a traveler in 1818, while the whole\nwas still Indian country and Chattanooga was yet undreamed of:\n\n\"And here, I cannot forbear pausing a moment to call your attention\nto the grand and picturesque scenery which opens to the view of the\nadmiring spectator. The country is still possessed by the aborigines,\nand the hand of civilization has done but little to soften the wild\naspect of nature. The Tennessee river, having concentrated into one\nmass the numerous streams it has received in its course of three or\nfour hundred miles, glides through an extended valley with a rapid\nand overwhelming current, half a mile in width. At this place,\na group of mountains stand ready to dispute its progress. First,\nthe 'Lookout,' an independent range, commencing thirty miles below,\npresents, opposite the river's course, its bold and rocky termination\nof two thousand feet. Around its brow is a pallisade [sic] of naked\nrocks, from seventy to one hundred feet. The river flows upon\nits base, and instantly twines to the right. Passing on for six\nmiles farther it turns again, and is met by the side of the Rackoon\nmountain. Collecting its strength into a channel of seventy yards,\nit severs the mountain, and rushes tumultuously through the rocky\ndefile, wafting the trembling navigator at the rate of a mile in two\nor three minutes. The passage is called 'The Suck.' The summit of the\nLookout mountain overlooks the whole country. And to those who can\nbe delighted with the view of an interminable forest, penetrated by\nthe windings of a bold river, interspersed with hundreds of verdant\nprairies, and broken by many ridges and mountains, furnishes in the\nmonth of May, a landscape, which yields to few others, in extent,\nvariety or beauty.\"--Rev. Elias Cornelius, in (Silliman's) American\nJournal of Science, I, p. 223, 1818.\n\nBet even his life--The Indian was a passionate gambler and there was\nabsolutely no limit to the risks which he was willing to take, even to\nthe loss of liberty, if not of life. Says Lawson (History of Carolina,\np. 287): \"They game very much and often strip one another of all they\nhave in the world; and what is more, I have known several of them\nplay themselves away, so that they have remained the winners' servants\ntill their relations or themselves could pay the money to redeem them.\"\n\nHis skin was clean--The idea of purification or cleansing through\nthe efficacy of the sweat-bath is very common in Indian myth and\nceremonial. In an Omaha story given by Dorsey the hero has been\ntransformed, by witchcraft, into a mangy dog. He builds a sweat lodge,\ngoes into it as a dog and sweats himself until, on his command, the\npeople take off the blankets, when \"Behold, he was not a dog; he was\na very handsome man\" (\"Adventures of Hingpe-agce,\" in Contributions\nto North American Ethnology, VI, p. 175).\n\nFrom the bottom--The choice of the most remote or the most\ninsignificant appearing of several objects, as being really the most\nvaluable, is another common incident in the myths.\n\nHoney-locust tree--The favorite honey-locust tree and the seat with\nthorns of the same species in the home of the Thunder Man may indicate\nthat in Indian as in Aryan thought there was an occult connection\nbetween the pinnated leaves and the lightning, as we know to be the\ncase with regard to the European rowan or mountain ash.\n\nAll kinds of snakes--It will be remembered that the boy's father\nwas a thunder god. The connection between the snake and the rain or\nthunder spirit has already been noted. It appears also in number 84,\n\"The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister.\"\n\nElder brother--My elder brother (male speaking), \u00fb\u00f1gini'li; my elder\nbrother (female speaking), \u00fb\u00f1gida'; thy two elder brothers (male\nspeaking), tsetsani'li.\n\nSunset land--The Cherokee word here used is Wus\u00fbhih\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"there where\nthey stay over night.\" The usual expression in the sacred formula\nis us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi, \"the darkening, or twilight place\"; the common word is\nwude'lig\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"there where it (the sun) goes down.\"\n\nLightning at every stroke--In the Omaha myth of \"The Chief's Son and\nthe Thunders,\" given by Dorsey, some young men traveling to the end\nof the world meet a Thunder Man, who bids the leader to select one\nof four medicine bags. Having been warned in advance, he selects\nthe oldest, but most powerful, and is then given also a club which\ncauses thunder whenever flourished in the air (Contributions to North\nAmerican Ethnology, VI, p. 185).\n\nStrike the rock--This method of procuring water is as old at least\nas the book of Exodus.\n\nThe brass rubbed off--The beautiful metallic luster on the head of\nPhan\u00e6us carnifex is thus accounted for. The common roller beetle\nis called \"dung roller,\" but this species is distinguished as the\n\"horned, brass\" beetle. It is also sometimes spoken of as the dog of\nthe Thunder Boys.\n\nBeavers gnaw at the grapevine--Something like this is found among\nthe Cheyenne: \"The earth rests on a large beam or post. Far in the\nnorth there is a beaver as white as snow who is a great father of all\nmankind. Some day he will gnaw through the support at the bottom. We\nshall be helpless and the earth will fall. This will happen when he\nbecomes angry. The post is already partly eaten through. For this\nreason one band of the Cheyenne never eat beaver or even touch the\nskin. If they do touch it, they become sick\" (Kroeber, Cheyenne Tales,\nin Journal of American Folk-Lore, July, 1900).\n\n\n\n64. The nest of the Tla'nuwa (p. 315): This story was obtained first\nfrom John Ax and Ta'gwadihi', and was afterward heard of frequently\nin connection with the cave at Citico. It is mentioned by Ten Kate in\n\"Legends of the Cherokees,\" obtained in the Indian Territory, in the\nJournal of American Folk-Lore, January, 1889.\n\nTla'nuwa--The Tla'nuwa (Tsa'nuwa or S\u00fb'nawa in the Middle dialect)\nis a mythic bird, described as a great hawk, larger than any bird\nnow existing. There is a small hawk called tla'nuwa usdi', \"little\ntla'nuwa,\" which is described as its smaller counterpart or image,\nand which the Cherokee say accompanies flocks of wild pigeons,\noccasionally when hungry swooping down and killing one by striking\nit with its sharp breast bone. It is probably the goshawk (Astur\natricapillus). The great Tla'nuwa, like the other animals, \"went\nup.\" According to Adair (History of the American Indians, p. 17)\nthe Cherokee used to compare a miserly person to a \"sinnawah.\" When\nJohn Ax first recited the story he insisted that the whites must also\nbelieve it, as they had it pictured on their money, and holding up\na silver coin, he triumphantly pointed out what he claimed was the\nfigure of the Tla'nuwa, holding in its talons the arrows and in its\nbeak the serpent. He was not so far wrong, as it is well known that\nthe Mexican coat of arms, stamped upon the coins of the republic,\nhas its origin in a similar legend handed down from the Aztec. Myths\nof dangerous monster serpents destroyed by great birds were common\nto a number of tribes. The Tuscarora, formerly eastern neighbors\nof the Cherokee, told \"a long tale of a great rattlesnake, which,\na great while ago, lived by a creek in that river, which was Neus,\nand that it killed abundance of Indians; but at last a bald eagle\nkilled it, and they were rid of a serpent that used to devour whole\ncanoes full of Indians at a time\" (Lawson, Carolina, p. 346).\n\nTla'nuwa'i--\"Tla'nuwa place,\" the cliff so called by the Cherokee,\nwith the cave half way up its face, is on the north bank of Little\nTennessee river, a short distance below the entrance of the Citico\ncreek, on land formerly belonging to Colonel John Lowrey, one of the\nCherokee officers at the battle of the Horseshoe bend (Wafford). Just\nabove, but on the opposite side of the river, is U`tl\u00fb\u00f1ti'yi, the\nformer haunt of the cannibal liver eater (see number 66, \"U`tl\u00fb\u00f1ta,\nthe Spear-finger\").\n\nSoon after the creation--As John Ax put it, adopting the Bible\nexpression, Hilahi'yu dine'tlana a'nigwa--\"A long time ago the creation\nsoon after.\"\n\nRope of linn bark--The old Cherokee still do most of their tying\nand packing with ropes twisted from the inner bark of trees. In one\nversion of the story the medicine-man uses a long ud\u00e2'i or cohosh\n(Act\u00e6a?) vine.\n\nHoles are still there--The place which the Cherokee call\nTla'nuwa-a'tsiyel\u00fb\u00f1is\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where the Tla'nuwa cut it up,\" is nearly\nopposite Citico, on Little Tennessee river, just below Talassee ford,\nin Blount county, Tennessee. The surface of the rock bears a series\nof long trenchlike depressions, extending some distance, which,\naccording to the Indians, are the marks where the pieces bitten from\nthe body of the great serpent were dropt by the Tla'nuwa.\n\n\n\n65. The hunter and the Tla'nuwa (p. 316): This myth was told by\nSwimmer.\n\n\n\n66. U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta, the Spear-finger (p. 316): This is one of the most\nnoted among the Cherokee myths, being equally well known both east\nand west. The version here given was obtained from John Ax, with some\ncorrections and additions from Swimmer, Wafford (west) and others. A\nversion of it, \"The Stone-shields,\" in which the tomtit is incorrectly\nmade a jay, is given by Ten Kate, in his \"Legends of the Cherokees,\"\nin the Journal of American Folk-Lore for January, 1889, as obtained\nfrom a mixed-blood informant in Tahlequah. Another version, \"The Demon\nof Consumption,\" by Capt. James W. Terrell, formerly a trader among\nthe East Cherokee, appears in the same journal for April, 1892. Still\nanother variant, apparently condensed from Terrell's information,\nis given by Zeigler and Grosscup, \"Heart of the Alleghanies,\" page 24\n(Raleigh and Cleveland, 1883). In Ten Kate's version the stone coat\nof mail broke in pieces as soon as the monster was killed, and the\nfragments were gathered up and kept as amulets by the people.\n\nThere is some confusion between this story of U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta and that\nof N\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi (number 67). According to some myth tellers the two\nmonsters were husband and wife and lived together, and were both\nalike dressed in stone, had awl fingers and ate human livers, the\nonly difference being that the husband waylaid hunters, while his\nfemale partner gave her attention to children.\n\nThis story has a close parallel in the Creek myth of the Tuggle\ncollection, \"The Big Rock Man,\" in which the people finally kill the\nstony monster by acting upon the advice of the Rabbit to shoot him\nin the ear.\n\nFar away, in British Columbia, the Indians tell how the Coyote\ntransformed himself to an Elk, covering his body with a hard\nshell. \"Now this shell was like an armor, for no arrow could pierce\nit; but being hardly large enough to cover all his body, there was\na small hole left underneath his throat.\" He attacks the people,\nstabbing them with his antlers and trampling them under foot, while\ntheir arrows glance harmlessly from his body, until \"the Meadow-lark,\nwho was a great telltale, appeared and cried out, 'There is just a\nlittle hole at his throat!'\" A hunter directs his arrow to that spot\nand the Elk falls dead (Teit, Thompson River Traditions, pp. 33-34).\n\nU`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta--The word means literally \"he (or she) has it sharp,\" i. e.,\nhas some sharp part or organ. It might be used of a tooth or finger\nnail or some other attached portion of the body, but here refers to the\nawl-like finger. Ten Kate spells the name Uilata. On Little Tennessee\nriver, nearly opposite the entrance of Citico creek, in Blount\ncounty, Tennessee, is a place which the Cherokee call U`tl\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\n\"Sharp-finger place,\" because, they say, U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta used to frequent\nthe spot.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-tlu`g\u00fb\u00f1'i--\"Tree rock,\" so called on account of its resemblance\nto a standing tree trunk; a notable monument-shape rock on the west\nside of Hiwassee river, about four miles above Hayesville, North\nCarolina, and nearly on the Georgia line.\n\nWhiteside mountain--This noted mountain, known to the Cherokee as\nSanigil\u00e2'gi, a name for which they have no meaning, is one of the\nprominent peaks of the Blue ridge, and is situated southeast from\nFranklin and about four miles from Highlands, or the dividing line\nbetween Macon and Jackson counties, North Carolina. It is 4,900 feet\nhigh, being the loftiest elevation on the ridge which forms the\nwatershed between the tributaries of the Little Tennessee and the\nChattooga branch of Savannah. It takes its name from the perpendicular\ncliff on its western exposure, and is also known sometimes as\nthe Devil's courthouse. The Indians compare the appearance of the\ncliff to that of a sheet of ice, and say that the western summit was\nformerly crowned by a projecting rock, since destroyed by lightning,\nwhich formed a part of the great bridge which U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta attempted\nto build across the valley. Lanman's description of this mountain,\nin 1848, has been quoted in the notes to number 13, \"The Great\nYellow-jacket.\" Following is a notice by a later writer:\n\n\"About five miles from Highlands is that huge old cliff, Whitesides,\nwhich forms the advanced guard of all the mountain ranges trending\non the south. It is no higher than the Righi, but, like it, rising\ndirect from the plain, it overpowers the spectator more than its\nloftier brethren. Through all the lowlands of upper Georgia and\nAlabama this dazzling white pillar of rock, uplifting the sky,\nis an emphatic and significant landmark. The ascent can be made on\nhorseback, on the rear side of the mountain, to within a quarter of\na mile of the summit. When the top is reached, after a short stretch\nof nearly perpendicular climbing, the traveler finds himself on the\nedge of a sheer white wall of rock, over which, clinging for life\nto a protecting hand, he can look, if he chooses, two thousand feet\ndown into the dim valley below. A pebble dropped from his hand will\nfall straight as into a well. On the vast plain below he can see\nthe wavelike hills on which the great mountain ranges which have\nstretched from Maine along the continent ebb down finally into the\nsouthern plains\"--Rebecca H. Davis, Bypaths in the Mountains, in\nHarper's Magazine, LXI, p. 544, September, 1880.\n\nPicking strawberries--For more than a hundred years, as readers of\nBartram will remember, the rich bottom lands of the old Cherokee\ncountry have been noted for their abundance of strawberries and other\nwild fruits.\n\nMy grandchildren--As in most Indian languages, Cherokee kinship\nterms are usually specialized, and there is no single term for\ngrandchild. \"My son's child\" is \u00fb\u00f1gini'si, plural ts\u00fb\u00f1gini'si;\n\"my daughter's child\" is \u00fb\u00f1gili'si, plural ts\u00fb\u00f1gili'si. The use of\nkinship terms as expressive of affection or respect is very common\namong Indians.\n\nTaking the appearance--This corresponds closely with the European\nfolk-belief in fairy changelings.\n\nTo burn the leaves--The burning of the fallen leaves in the autumn,\nin order to get at the nuts upon the ground below, is still practiced\nby the white mountaineers of the southern Alleghenies. The line of\nfire slowly creeping up the mountain side upon a dark night is one\nof the picturesque sights of that picturesque country.\n\nThe song--As rendered by Swimmer, the songs seem to be intended for\nan imitation of the mournful notes of some bird, such as the turtle\ndove, hidden in the deep forests.\n\nPitfall--The pitfall trap for large game was known among nearly all\nthe tribes, but seems not to have been in frequent use.\n\nChickadee and tomtit--These two little birds closely resemble each\nother, the Carolina chickadee (Parus carolinensis) or tsikilili\nbeing somewhat smaller than the tufted titmouse (Parus bicolor)\nor utsu`gi, which is also distinguished by a topknot or crest. The\nbelief that the tsikilili foretells the arrival of an absent friend is\ngeneral among the Cherokee, and has even extended to their neighbors,\nthe white mountaineers. See also number 35, \"The Bird Tribes,\" and\naccompanying notes.\n\nHer heart--The conception of a giant or other monster whose heart\nor \"life\" is in some unaccustomed part of the body, or may even be\ntaken out and laid aside at will, so that it is impossible to kill\nthe monster by ordinary means, is common in Indian as well as in\nEuropean and Asiatic folklore.\n\nIn a Navaho myth we are told that the Coyote \"did not, like other\nbeings, keep his vital principle in his chest, where it might easily\nbe destroyed. He kept it in the tip of his nose and in the end of\nhis tail, where no one would expect to find it.\" He meets several\naccidents, any one of which would be sufficient to kill an ordinary\ncreature, but as his nose and tail remain intact he is each time\nresurrected. Finally a girl whom he wishes to marry beats him into\nsmall pieces with a club, grinds the pieces to powder, and scatters\nthe powder to the four winds. \"But again she neglected to crush the\npoint of the nose and the tip of the tail,\" with the result that the\nCoyote again comes to life, when of course they are married and live\nhappily until the next chapter (Matthews, Navaho Legends, pp. 91-94).\n\nIn a tale of the Gaelic highlands the giant's life is in an egg which\nhe keeps concealed in a distant place, and not until the hero finds\nand crushes the egg does the giant die. The monster or hero with\nbut one vulnerable spot, as was the case with Achilles, is also a\ncommon concept.\n\n\n\n67. N\u00fb\u00f1yunu'wi, the Stone Man (p. 319): This myth, although obtained\nfrom Swimmer, the best informant in the eastern band, is but\nfragmentary, for the reason that he confounded it with the somewhat\nsimilar story of U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta (number 66). It was mentioned by Ay\u00e2sta\nand others (east) and by Wafford (west) as a very old and interesting\nstory, although none of these could recall the details in connected\nform. It is noted as one of the stories heard in the Territory by\nTen Kate (Legends of the Cherokees, in Journal of American Folk-Lore,\nJanuary, 1889), who spells the name Nayunu'wi.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1yunu'wi, \"Dressed in stone\"; ad\u00e2'lan\u00fb\u00f1sti, a staff or cane;\nas\u00fb\u00f1'tli, as\u00fb\u00f1'tl\u00fb\u00f1i, a foot log or bridge; ada'wehi, a great magician\nor supernatural wonder-worker; see the glossary.\n\nA very close parallel is found among the Iroquois, who have traditions\nof an invasion by a race of fierce cannibals known as the Stonish\nGiants, who, originally like ordinary humans, had wandered off into\nthe wilderness, where they became addicted to eating raw flesh and\nwallowing in the sand until their bodies grew to gigantic size and were\ncovered with hard scales like stone, which no arrow could penetrate\n(see Cusick, in Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, V, p. 637). One of these,\nwhich preyed particularly upon the Onondaga, was at last taken in\na pitfall and thus killed. Another, in tracking his victims used\n\"something which looked like a finger, but was really a pointer made\nof bone. With this he could find anything he wished.\" The pointer was\nfinally snatched from him by a hunter, on which the giant, unable to\nfind his way without it, begged piteously for its return, promising\nto eat no more men and to send the hunter long life and good luck\nfor himself and all his friends. The hunter thereupon restored it\nand the giant kept his promises (Beauchamp, W. M., Iroquois Notes,\nin Journal of American Folk-Lore, Boston, July, 1892.) As told by\nMrs Smith (\"The Stone Giant's Challenge,\" Myths of the Iroquois,\nin Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1883), the\npointer was a human finger. \"He placed it upright upon his hand,\nand it immediately pointed the way for him to go.\"\n\nMenstrual woman--Among all our native tribes it is believed that\nthere is something dangerous or uncanny in the touch or presence of\na menstrual woman. Hence the universal institution of the \"menstrual\nlodge,\" to which the woman retires at such periods, eating, working,\nand sleeping alone, together with a host of tabus and precautions\nbearing upon the same subject. Nearly the same ideas are held in\nregard to a pregnant woman.\n\nSourwood stakes--Cherokee hunters impale meat upon sourwood\n(Oxydendrum) stakes for roasting, and the wood is believed, also,\nto have power against the spells of witches.\n\nBegan to talk--The revealing of \"medicine\" secrets by a magician when\nin his final agony is a common incident in Indian myths.\n\nWhatever he prayed for--Swimmer gives a detailed statement of the\nparticular petition made by several of those thus painted. Painting\nthe face and body, especially with red paint, is always among Indians\na more or less sacred performance, usually accompanied with prayers.\n\n\n\n68. The hunter in the Dakwa'--This story was told by Swimmer and\nTa'gwadihi' and is well known in the tribe. The version from the\nWahnenauhi manuscript differs considerably from that here given. In\nthe Bible translation the word dakwa' is used as the equivalent of\nwhale. Haywood thus alludes to the story (Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn.,\np. 244): \"One of the ancient traditions of the Cherokees is that once\na whale swallowed a little boy, and after some time spewed him upon\nthe land.\"\n\nIt is pretty certain that the Cherokee formerly had some acquaintance\nwith whales, which, about the year 1700, according to Lawson, were\n\"very numerous\" on the coast of North Carolina, being frequently\nstranded along the shore, so that settlers derived considerable\nprofit from the oil and blubber. He enumerates four species there\nknown, and adds a general statement that \"some Indians in America\"\nhunted them at sea (History of Carolina, pp. 251-252).\n\nIn almost every age and country we find a myth of a great fish\nswallowing a man, who afterward finds his way out alive. Near to the\nCherokee myth are the Bible story of Jonah, and the Greek story of\nHercules, swallowed by a fish and coming out afterward alive, but\nbald. For parallels and theories of the origin and meaning of the\nmyth among the ancient nations, see chapter IX of Bouton's Bible Myths.\n\nIn an Ojibwa story, the great Manabozho is swallowed, canoe and all,\nby the king of the fishes. With his war club he strikes repeated blows\nupon the heart of the fish, which attempts to spew him out. Fearing\nthat he might drown in deep water, Manabozho frustrates the endeavor by\nplacing his canoe crosswise in the throat of the fish, and continues\nstriking at the heart until the monster makes for the shore and there\ndies, when the hero makes his escape through a hole which the gulls\nhave torn in the side of the carcass (Schoolcraft, Algic Researches,\nI, pp. 145-146).\n\n\n\n69. Atag\u00e2'hi, the enchanted lake (p. 321): This story was heard\nfrom Swimmer, Ta'gwadihi', and others, and is a matter of familiar\nknowledge to every hunter among the East Cherokee. If Indian testimony\nbe believed there is actually a large bare flat of this name in\nthe difficult recesses of the Great Smoky mountains on the northern\nboundary of Swain county, North Carolina, somewhere between the heads\nof Bradleys fork and Eagle creek. It appears to be a great resort\nfor bears and ducks, and is perhaps submerged at long intervals,\nwhich would account for the legend.\n\nPrayer, fasting, and vigil--In Indian ritual, as among the Orientals\nand in all ancient religions, these are prime requisites for obtaining\nclearness of spiritual vision. In almost every tribe the young warrior\njust entering manhood voluntarily subjected himself to an ordeal of\nthis kind, of several days' continuance, in order to obtain a vision\nof the \"medicine\" which was to be his guide and protector for the\nrest of his life.\n\n\n\n70. The bride from the south (p. 322): This unique allegory was heard\nfrom both Swimmer and Ta'gwadihi' in nearly the same form. Hagar\nalso (MS Stellar Legends of the Cherokee) heard something of it from\nAy\u00e2sta, who, however, confused it with the Hagar variant of number 11,\n\"The Milky Way\" (see notes to number 11).\n\nIn a myth from British Columbia, \"The Hot and the Cold Winds,\"\nthe cold-wind people of the north wage war with the hot-wind people\nof the south, until the Indians, whose country lay between, and who\nconstantly suffer from both sides, bring about a peace, to be ratified\nby a marriage between the two parties. Accordingly, the people of the\nsouth send their daughter to marry the son of the north. The two are\nmarried and have one child, whom the mother after a time decides to\ntake with her to visit her own people in the north. Her visit ended,\nshe starts on her return, accompanied by her elder brother. \"They\nembarked in a bark canoe for the country of the cold. Her brother\npaddled. After going a long distance, and while crossing a great\nlake, the cold became so intense that her brother could not endure\nit any longer. He took the child from his sister and threw it into\nthe water. Immediately the air turned warm and the child floated on\nthe water as a lump of ice.\"--Teit, Traditions of the Thompson River\nIndians, pp. 55, 56.\n\n\n\n71. The Ice Man (p. 322): This story, told by Swimmer, may be a veiled\ntradition of a burning coal mine in the mountains, accidentally ignited\nin firing the woods in the fall, according to the regular Cherokee\npractice, and finally extinguished by a providential rainstorm. One\nof Buttrick's Cherokee informants told him that \"a great while ago a\npart of the world was burned, though it is not known now how, or by\nwhom, but it is said that other land was formed by washing in from\nthe mountains\" (Antiquities, p. 7).\n\nWhen the French built Fort Caroline, near the present Charleston,\nSouth Carolina, in 1562, an Indian village was in the vicinity,\nbut shortly afterward the chief, with all his people, removed to a\nconsiderable distance in consequence of a strange accident--\"a large\npiece of peat bog [was] kindled by lightning and consumed, which he\nsupposed to be the work of artillery.\" [546]\n\nVolcanic activities, some of very recent date, have left many traces\nin the Carolina mountains. A mountain in Haywood county, near the\nhead of Fines creek, has been noted for its noises and quakings for\nnearly a century, one particular explosion having split solid masses\nof granite as though by a blast of gunpowder. These shocks and noises\nused to recur at intervals of two or three years, but have not now been\nnoticed for some time. In 1829 a violent earthquake on Valley river\nsplit open a mountain, leaving a chasm extending for several hundred\nyards, which is still to be seen. Satoola mountain, near Highlands,\nin Macon county, has crevices from which smoke is said to issue at\nintervals. In Madison county there is a mountain which has been known\nto rumble and smoke, a phenomenon with which the Warm springs in the\nsame county may have some connection. Another peak, known as Shaking\nor Rumbling bald, in Rutherford county, attracted widespread attention\nin 1874 by a succession of shocks extending over a period of six months\n(see Zeigler and Grosscup, Heart of the Alleghanies, pp. 228-229).\n\n\n\n72. The Hunter and Selu (p. 323): The explanation of this story,\ntold by Swimmer, lies in the myth which derives corn from the blood\nof the old woman Selu (see number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu\").\n\nIn Iroquois myth the spirits of Corn, Beans, and Squash are three\nsisters. Corn was originally much more fertile, but was blighted by\nthe jealousy of an evil spirit. \"To this day, when the rustling wind\nwaves the corn leaves with a moaning sound, the pious Indian fancies\nthat he hears the Spirit of Corn, in her compassion for the red man,\nstill bemoaning with unavailing regrets her blighted fruitfulness\"\n(Morgan, League of the Iroquois, p. 162). See number 126, \"Plant Lore,\"\nand accompanying notes.\n\n\n\n73. The Underground Panthers (p. 324): This story was told by John\nAx. For an explanation of the Indian idea concerning animals see\nnumber 15, \"The Four-footed Tribes,\" and number 76, \"The Bear Man.\"\n\nSeveral days--The strange lapse of time, by which a period really\nextending over days or even years seems to the stranger under the\nspell to be only a matter of a few hours, is one of the most common\nincidents of European fairy recitals, and has been made equally\nfamiliar to American readers through Irving's story of Rip Van Winkle.\n\n\n\n74. The Tsundige'wi (p. 325): This curious story was told by Swimmer\nand Ta'gwadihi' (east) and Wafford (west). Swimmer says the dwarfs\nlived in the west, but Ta'gwadihi' and Wafford locate them south from\nthe Cherokee country.\n\nA story which seems to be a variant of the same myth was told to the\nSpanish adventurer Ayllon by the Indians on the South Carolina coast\nin 1520, and is thus given in translation from Peter Martyr's Decades,\nin the Discovery and Conquest of Florida, ninth volume of the Hakluyt\nSociety's publications, pages XV-XVI, London, 1851.\n\n\"Another of Ayllon's strange stories refers to a country called\nInzignanin, ... The inhabitauntes, by report of their ancestors, say,\nthat a people as tall as the length of a man's arme, with tayles\nof a spanne long, sometime arrived there, brought thither by sea,\nwhich tayle was not movable or wavering, as in foure-footed beastes,\nbut solide, broad above, and sharpe beneath, as wee see in fishes\nand crocodiles, and extended into a bony hardness. Wherefore, when\nthey desired to sitt, they used seates with holes through them, or\nwanting them, digged upp the earth a spanne deepe or little more,\nthey must convay their tayle into the hole when they rest them.\"\n\nIt is given thus in Barcia, Ensayo, page 5: \"Tambien llegaron a la\nProvincia de Yncignavin adonde les contaron aquellos Indios, que\nen cierto tiempo, avian aportado \u00e0 ella, unas Gentes, que tenian\nCola ... de una quarta de largo, flexible, que les estorvaba tanto,\nque para sentarse agujereaban los asientos: que el Pellejo era mui\naspero, y como escamoso, y que com\u00ecan solo Peces crudos: y aviendo\nestos muerto, se acab\u00f2 esta Nacion, y la Verdad del Caso, con ella.\"\n\nA close parallel to the Cherokee story is found among the Nisqualli\nof Washington, in a story of three [four?] brothers, who are captured\nby a miraculously strong dwarf who ties them and carries them off in\nhis canoe. \"Having rounded the distant point, where they had first\ndescried him, they came to a village inhabited by a race of people\nas small as their captor, their houses, boats and utensils being\nall in proportion to themselves. The three brothers were then taken\nout and thrown, bound as they were, into a lodge, while a council\nwas convened to decide upon their fate. During the sitting of the\ncouncil an immense flock of birds, resembling geese, but much larger,\npounced down upon the inhabitants and commenced a violent attack. These\nbirds had the power of throwing their sharp quills like the porcupine,\nand although the little warriors fought with great valour, they soon\nbecame covered with the piercing darts and all sunk insensible on\nthe ground. When all resistance has ceased, the birds took to flight\nand disappeared. The brothers had witnessed the conflict from their\nplace of confinement, and with much labour had succeeded in releasing\nthemselves from their bonds, when they went to the battle ground,\nand commenced pulling the quills from the apparently lifeless bodies;\nbut no sooner had they done this, than all instantly returned to\nconsciousness\" (Kane, Wanderings of an Artist, pp. 252-253).\n\n\n\n75. Origin of the Bear (p. 325): This story was told by Swimmer,\nfrom whom were also obtained the hunting songs, and was frequently\nreferred to by other informants. The Ani'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi are said to have\nbeen an actual clan in ancient times. For parallels, see number 76,\n\"The Bear Man.\"\n\nHad not taken human food--The Indian is a thorough believer in the\ndoctrine that \"man is what he eats.\" Says Adair (History of the\nAmerican Indians, p. 133): \"They believe that nature is possessed of\nsuch a property as to transfuse into men and animals the qualities,\neither of the food they use or of those objects that are presented\nto their senses. He who feeds on venison is, according to their\nphysical system, swifter and more sagacious than the man who lives\non the flesh of the clumsy bear or helpless dunghill fowls, the\nslow-footed tame cattle, or the heavy wallowing swine. This is the\nreason that several of their old men recommend and say that formerly\ntheir greatest chieftains observed a constant rule in their diet,\nand seldom ate of any animal of a gross quality or heavy motion of\nbody, fancying it conveyed a dullness through the whole system and\ndisabled them from exerting themselves with proper vigour in their\nmartial, civil, and religious duties.\" A continuous adherence to the\ndiet commonly used by a bear will finally give to the eater the bear\nnature, if not also the bear form and appearance. A certain term of\n\"white man's food\" will give the Indian the white man's nature, so\nthat neither the remedies nor the spells of the Indian doctor will\nhave any effect upon him (see the author's \"Sacred Formulas of the\nCherokees,\" in Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1891).\n\nShall live always--For explanation of the doctrine of animal\nreincarnation, see number 15, \"The Four-footed Tribes.\"\n\nThe songs--These are fair specimens of the hunting songs found in\nevery tribe, and intended to call up the animals or to win the favor\nof the lords of the game (see also deer songs in notes to number 3,\n\"Kana'ti and Selu\"). As usual, the word forms are slightly changed to\nsuit the requirements of the tune. The second song was first published\nby the author in the paper on sacred formulas, noted above. Tsistu'yi,\nKuw\u00e2'hi, Uya'hye, and G\u00e2te'gw\u00e2 (-hi) are four mountains, under\neach of which the bears have a townhouse in which they hold a dance\nbefore retiring to their dens for their winter sleep. At Tsistu'yi,\n\"Rabbit place,\" known to us as Gregory bald, in the Great Smoky range,\ndwells the Great Rabbit, the chief of the rabbit tribe. At Kuw\u00e2'hi,\n\"Mulberry place,\" farther northeast along the same range, resides the\nWhite Bear, the chief of the bear tribe, and near by is the enchanted\nlake of Atag\u00e2'hi, to which wounded bears go to bathe and be cured\n(see number 15, \"The Four-footed Tribes,\" and number 69, \"Atag\u00e2'hi,\nthe Enchanted Lake\"). Uy\u00e2hye is also a peak of the Great Smokies, while\nG\u00e2tegw\u00e2'hi, \"Great swamp or thicket (?),\" is southeast of Franklin,\nNorth Carolina, and is perhaps identical with Fodderstack mountain\n(see also the glossary).\n\n\n\n76. The Bear Man (p. 327): This story was obtained first from\nJohn Ax, and has numerous parallels in other tribes, as well as in\nEuropean and oriental folklore. The classic legend of Romulus and\nRemus and the stories of \"wolf boys\" in India will at once suggest\nthemselves. Swimmer makes the trial of the hunter's weapons by the\nbears a part of his story of the origin of disease and medicine\n(number 4), but says that it may have happened on this occasion (see\nalso number 15, \"The Four-footed Tribes,\" and notes to number 75,\n\"Origin of the Bear\").\n\nIn a strikingly similar Creek myth of the Tuggle collection, \"Origin\nof the Bear Clan,\" a little girl lost in the woods is adopted by a\nshe-bear, with whom she lives for four years, when the bear is killed\nby the hunter and the girl returns to her people to become the mother\nof the Bear clan.\n\nThe Iroquois have several stories of children adopted by bears. In one,\n\"The Man and His Stepson,\" a boy thus cared for is afterward found by\na hunter, who tames him and teaches him to speak, until in time he\nalmost forgets that he had lived like a bear. He marries a daughter\nof the hunter and becomes a hunter himself, but always refrains from\nmolesting the bears, until at last, angered by the taunts of his\nmother-in-law, he shoots one, but is himself killed by an accident\nwhile on his return home (Smith, Myths of the Iroquois, in Second\nAnnual Report Bureau of Ethnology). In line with this is the story of\na hunter who had pursued a bear into its den. \"When some distance in\nhe could no longer see the bear, but he saw a fire and around it sat\nseveral men. The oldest of the three men looked up and asked, 'Why did\nyou try to shoot one of my men. We sent him out to entice you to us'\"\n(Curtin, Seneca MS in Bureau of American Ethnology archives).\n\nIn a Pawnee myth, \"The Bear Man,\" a boy whose father had put him\nunder the protection of the bears grows up with certain bear traits\nand frequently prays and sacrifices to these animals. On a war party\nagainst the Sioux he is killed and cut to pieces, when two bears\nfind and recognize the body, gather up and arrange the pieces and\nrestore him to life, after which they take him to their den, where\nthey care for him and teach him their secret knowledge until he is\nstrong enough to go home (Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories, pp. 121-128).\n\nIn a Jicarilla myth, \"Origin and Destruction of the Bear,\" a boy\nplaying about in animal fashion runs into a cave in the hillside. \"When\nhe came out his feet and hands had been transformed into bear's\npaws.\" Four times this is repeated, the change each time mounting\nhigher, until he finally emerges as a terrible bear monster that\ndevours human beings (Russell, Myths of the Jicarilla, in Journal of\nAmerican Folk-Lore, October, 1898).\n\nRead the thoughts--Thought reading is a very common feature of Indian\nmyths. Certain medicine ceremonies are believed to confer the power\nupon those who fulfil the ordeal conditions.\n\nFood was getting scarce--Several references in the myths indicate that,\nthrough failure of the accustomed wild crops, famine seasons were as\ncommon among the animal tribes as among the Indians (see number 33,\n\"The Migration of the Animals\").\n\nKal\u00e2s'-G\u00fbnahi'ta--See number 15, \"The Four-footed Tribes.\"\n\nRubbed his stomach--This very original method of procuring food occurs\nalso in number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu.\"\n\nTopknots and Splitnoses--Tsuni'stsahi', \"Having topknots\"--i. e.,\nIndians, in allusion to the crests of upright hair formerly worn\nby warriors of the Cherokee and other eastern tribes. Timberlake\nthus describes the Cherokee warrior's headdress in 1762: \"The hair\nof their head is shaved, tho' many of the old people have it plucked\nout by the roots, except a patch on the hinder part of the head about\ntwice the bigness of a crown piece, which is ornamented with beads,\nfeathers, wampum, stained deer's hair, and such like baubles\" (Memoirs,\np. 49). Tsun\u00fb'`liy\u00fb' s\u00fbnestl\u00e2'ta, \"they have split noses\"--i. e., dogs.\n\nCover the blood--The reincarnation of the slain animal from the drops\nof blood spilt upon the ground or from the bones is a regular part\nof Cherokee hunting belief, and the same idea occurs in the folklore\nof many tribes. In the Omaha myth, \"Ictinike and the Four Creators,\"\nthe hero visits the Beaver, who kills and cooks one of his own children\nto furnish the dinner. When the meal was over \"the Beaver gathered the\nbones and put them into a skin, which he plunged beneath the water. In\na moment the youngest beaver came up alive out of the water\" (Dorsey,\nin Contributions to North American Ethnology, VI, p. 557).\n\nLike a man again--It is a regular article of Indian belief, which has\nits parallels in European fairy lore, that one who has eaten the food\nof the spirit people or supernaturals can not afterward return to his\nown people and live, unless at once, and sometimes for a long time,\nput under a rigid course of treatment intended to efface the longing\nfor the spirit food and thus to restore his complete human nature. See\nalso number 73, \"The Underground Panthers.\" In \"A Yankton Legend,\"\nrecorded by Dorsey, a child falls into the water and is taken by the\nwater people. The father hears the child crying under the water and\nemploys two medicine men to bring it back. After preparing themselves\nproperly they go down into the deep water, where they find the child\nsitting beside the water spirit, who, when they declare their message,\ntells them that if they had come before the child had eaten anything\nhe might have lived, but now if taken away \"he will desire the food\nwhich I eat; that being the cause of the trouble, he shall die.\" They\nreturn and report: \"We have seen your child, the wife of the water\ndeity has him. Though we saw him alive, he had eaten part of the food\nwhich the water deity eats, therefore the water deity says that if\nwe bring the child back with us out of the water he shall die,\" and\nso it happened. Some time after the parents lose another child in\nlike manner, but this time \"she did not eat any of the food of the\nwater deity and therefore they took her home alive.\" In each case a\nwhite dog is thrown in to satisfy the water spirits for the loss of\nthe child (Contributions to North American Ethnology, VI, p. 357).\n\n\n\n77. The Great Leech of Tlanusi'yi (p. 329): This legend was heard\nfirst from Swimmer and Chief Smith, the latter of whom was born near\nMurphy; it was confirmed by Wafford (west) and others, being one of\nthe best known myths in the tribe and embodied in the Cherokee name\nfor Murphy. It is apparently founded upon a peculiar appearance, as\nof something alive or moving, at the bottom of a deep hole in Valley\nriver, just below the old Unicoi turnpike ford, at Murphy, in Cherokee\ncounty, North Carolina. It is said that a tinsmith of the town once\nmade a tin bomb which he filled with powder and sank in the stream\nat this spot with the intention of blowing up the strange object to\nsee what it might be, but the contrivance failed to explode. The hole\nis caused by a sudden drop or split in the rock bed of the stream,\nextending across the river. Wafford, who once lived on Nottely river,\nadds the incident of the two women and says that the Leech had wings\nand could fly. He asserts also that he found rich lead ore in the\nhole, but that the swift current prevented working it. About two miles\nabove the mouth of Nottely river a bend of the stream brings it within\nabout the same distance of the Hiwassee at Murphy. This nearest point\nof approach on Nottely is also known to the Cherokee as Tlanusi'yi,\n\"leech place,\" and from certain phenomena common to both streams it\nis a general belief among Indians and whites that they are connected\nhere by a subterranean water way. The legend and the popular belief are\nthus noted in 1848 by Lanman, who incorrectly makes the leech a turtle:\n\n\"The little village of Murphy, whence I date this letter, lies at the\njunction of the Owassa and Valley rivers, and in point of location is\none of the prettiest places in the world. Its Indian name was Klausuna,\nor the Large Turtle. It was so called, says a Cherokee legend, on\naccount of its being the sunning place of an immense turtle which lived\nin its vicinity in ancient times. The turtle was particularly famous\nfor its repelling power, having been known not to be at all injured\nby a stroke of lightning. Nothing on earth had power to annihilate\nthe creature; but, on account of the many attempts made to take its\nlife, when it was known to be a harmless and inoffensive creature,\nit became disgusted with this world, and burrowed its way into the\nmiddle of the earth, where it now lives in peace.\n\n\"In connection with this legend, I may here mention what must be\nconsidered a remarkable fact in geology. Running directly across the\nvillage of Murphy is a belt of marble, composed of the black, grey,\npure white and flesh-colored varieties, which belt also crosses the\nOwassa river. Just above this marble causeway the Owassa, for a space\nof perhaps two hundred feet, is said to be over one hundred feet deep,\nand at one point, in fact, a bottom has never been found. All this\nis simple truth, but I have heard the opinion expressed that there\nis a subterranean communication between this immense hole in Owassa\nand the river Notely, which is some two miles distant. The testimony\nadduced in proof of this theory is, that a certain log was once marked\non the Notely, which log was subsequently found floating in the pool\nof the Deep Hole in the Owassa\" (Letters, pp. 63-64).\n\n\n\n78. The N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi and other spirit folk (p. 330): The belief in fairies\nand kindred spirits, frequently appearing as diminutive beings in\nhuman form, is so universal among all races as to render citation of\nparallels unnecessary. Every Indian tribe has its own spirits of the\nwoods, the cliffs, and the waters, usually benevolent and kindly when\nnot disturbed, but often mischievous, and in rare cases malicious and\nrevengeful. These invisible spirit people are regarded as a sort of\nsupernatural human beings, entirely distinct from ghosts and from the\nanimal and plant spirits, as well as from the godlike beings who rule\nthe sun, the rain, and the thunder. Most of the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi stories here\ngiven were told by Wafford, who believed them all firmly in spite of\nhis white man's blood and education. The others, excepting that of the\noffended spirits (Wahnenauhi MS) and the Fire-carrier (Wafford), were\nheard from various persons upon the reservation. For other N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi\nreferences see the stories of Tsuwe'nahi, Kana'sta, Yahula, etc.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi--This word (g\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi in a dialectic form and naye'hi in\nthe singular) may be rendered \"dwellers anywhere\" or \"those who\nlive anywhere,\" but is understood to mean \"those who live forever,\"\ni. e., Immortals. It is spelled Nanehi by Buttrick and Nuhnayie in\nthe Wahnenauhi manuscript. The singular form, Naye'hi, occurs also\nas a personal name, equivalent to Ed\u00e2'hi, \"One who goes about.\"\n\nSome invisible townhouse--The ancient Creek town of Okmulgee, where\nnow is the city of Macon, in Georgia, was destroyed by the Carolina\npeople about the time of the Yamassee war. Sixty years later Adair\nsays of the Creeks: \"They strenuously aver that when the necessity\nforces them to encamp there, they always hear at the dawn of the\nmorning the usual noise of Indians singing their joyful religious\nnotes and dancing, as if going down to the river to purify themselves,\nand then returning to the old townhouse; with a great deal more to\nthe same effect. Whenever I have been there, however, all hath been\nsilent.... But they say this was 'because I am an obdurate infidel\nthat way'\" (Hist. Am. Indians, p. 36).\n\nNottely town--Properly Na'd\u00fb`li, was on Nottely river, a short\ndistance above Raper creek in Cherokee county, North Carolina. The\nold townhouse was upon a large mound on the west side of the river\nand about five miles below the Georgia line. The town was practically\ndeserted before the removal in 1838 (see glossary).\n\nHemptown--Properly Gat\u00fb\u00f1lti'yi, \"Hemp place,\" existed until the\nRemoval, on Hemptown creek, a branch of Toccoa river, a few miles\nnorth of the present Morganton, in Fannin county, Georgia.\n\nNoted circular depression--This may have been a circular earthwork\nof about thirty feet diameter, described as existing in 1890\na short distance east of Soquee post-office near the head of\nSoquee creek, about ten miles northwest of Clarkesville, Habersham\ncounty, Georgia. There are other circular structures of stone on\nelevated positions within a few miles of Clarkesville (see author's\nmanuscript notes on Cherokee archeology, in Bureau of American\nEthnology archives). The same story about throwing logs and stones\ninto one of these sacred places, only to have them thrown out again\nby invisible hands, is told by Zeigler and Grosscup, in connection\nwith the Jutaculla old fields (see note under number 81, \"Tsul`kal\u00fb'\").\n\nBewildered--\"Crazy persons were supposed to be possessed with the devil\nor afflicted with the Nanehi\" (Buttrick, Antiquities, p. 14). According\nto Hagar's informant: \"The little people cause men to lose their minds\nand run away and wander in the forests. They wear very long hair, down\nto their heels\" (MS Stellar Legends of the Cherokee). In Creek belief,\naccording to the Tuggle manuscript, \"Fairies or little people live\nin hollow trees and on rocky cliffs. They often decoy people from\ntheir homes and lose them in the woods. When a man's mind becomes\nbewildered--not crazy--this is caused by the little people.\"\n\nLoaves seemed to shrink--The deceptive and unsatisfactory character\nof all fairy belongings when the spell is lifted is well known to\nthe European peasantry.\n\nTsawa'si and Tsaga'si--These sprites are frequently named in the\nhunting prayers and other sacred formulas.\n\nScratching--This is a preliminary rite of the ballplay and other\nceremonies, as well as the doctor's method of hypodermic injection. As\nperformed in connection with the ballplay it is a painful operation,\nbeing inflicted upon the naked skin with a seven-toothed comb\nof turkey bone, the scratches being drawn in parallel lines upon\nthe breast, back, arms and legs, until the sufferer is bleeding\nfrom head to foot. In medical practice, in order that the external\napplication may take hold more effectually, the scratching is done\nwith a rattlesnake's tooth, a brier, a flint, or a piece of glass. See\nauthor's Cherokee Ball Play, in American Anthropologist, April, 1890,\nand Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, in Seventh Annual Report Bureau\nof Ethnology, 1891. The practice seems to have been general among the\nsouthern tribes, and was sometimes used as a punishment for certain\ndelinquents. According to Adair the doctor bled patients by scratching\nthem with the teeth of garfish after the skin had been first well\nsoftened by the application of warm water, while any unauthorized\nperson who dared to intrude upon the sacred square during ceremonial\nperformances \"would be dry-scratched with snakes' teeth, fixed in the\nmiddle of a split reed or piece of wood, without the privilege of warm\nwater to supple the stiffened skin\" (Hist. Am. Indians, pp. 46, 120).\n\nThe Fire-carrier--This is probably the gaseous phenomenon known as\nthe will-of-the-wisp, which has been a thing of mystery and fear to\nothers beside Indians.\n\n\n\n79. The removed townhouses (p. 335): The first of these stories\nwas told by John Ax. The second was obtained from Sal\u00e2'li,\n\"Squirrel,\" mentioned elsewhere as a self-taught mechanic of the East\nCherokee. Wafford (west) had also heard it, but confused it with that\nof Tsal`kal\u00fb' (number 81).\n\nExcepting Gusti', the localities are all in western North Carolina. The\nlarge mound of Se`tsi is on the south side of Valley river, about\nthree miles below Valleytown, in Cherokee county. Anisgaya'yi town\nis not definitely located by the story teller, but was probably\nin the same neighborhood. Tsudaye`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi, literally \"where it is\nisolated,\" or \"isolated place,\" is a solitary high peak near Cheowa\nMaximum, a few miles northeast of Robbinsville, in Graham county,\non the summit of which there is said to be a large rock somewhat\nresembling in appearance a circular townhouse with a part wanting\nfrom one side. Du'stiya`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where it was shot,\" i. e., \"Where\nit was struck by lightning,\" is the territory on Hiwassee river,\nabout the mouth of Shooting creek, above Hayesville, in Clay county\n(see also glossary).\n\nNo one must shout--The same injunction occurs in the legend of\nTsul`kal\u00fb' (number 81). The necessity for strict silence while under\nthe conduct of fairy guides is constantly emphasized in European\nfolklore.\n\nTownhouse in the water below--Breton legend tells of a submerged city\nwhich rises out of the sea at long intervals, when it can be seen by\nthose who possess the proper talisman, and we know that in Ireland\n\n\n \"On Lough Neagh's banks as the fisherman strays,\n When the clear cold eve's declining,\n He sees the round towers of other days\n In the wave beneath him shining.\"\n\n\n\n80. The spirit defenders of Nikwasi' (p. 336): This story was obtained\nfrom Swimmer. Nikwasi' or Nikw'si', one of the most ancient settlements\nof the Cherokee, was on the west bank of Little Tennessee river, where\nis now the town of Franklin, in Macon county, North Carolina. The\nmound upon which the townhouse stood, in a field adjoining the river,\nis probably the largest in western Carolina and has never been\nexplored. The Cherokee believe that it is the abode of the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi\nor Immortals (see number 78) and that a perpetual fire burns within\nit. The name, which can not be translated, appears as Nucassee in old\ndocuments. The British agent held a council here with the Cherokee\nas early as 1730. Although twice destroyed, the town was rebuilt and\ncontinued to be occupied probably until the land was sold in 1819.\n\nBring the news home--It was a frequent custom in Indian warfare\nto spare a captive taken in battle in order that he might carry\nback to his people the news of the defeat. After the disastrous\ndefeat of the French under D'Artaguette by the Chickasaw in upper\nMississippi in 1736, D'Artaguette, Lieutenant Vincennes, Father\nSenac, and fifteen others were burned at the stake by the victors,\nbut \"one of the soldiers was spared to carry the news of the triumph\nof the Chickasaws and the death of these unhappy men to the mortified\nBienville\" (Pickett, History of Alabama, p. 298, ed. 1896).\n\n\n\n81. Tsul`kal\u00fb', the slant-eyed giant (p. 337): The story of Tsul`kal\u00fb'\nis one of the finest and best known of the Cherokee legends. It is\nmentioned as early as 1823 by Haywood, who spells the name Tuli-cula,\nand the memory is preserved in the local nomenclature of western\nCarolina. Hagar also alludes briefly to it in his manuscript Stellar\nLegends of the Cherokee. The name signifies literally \"he has them\nslanting,\" being understood to refer to his eyes, although the word\neye (akta', plural dikta') is not a part of it. In the plural form\nit is also the name of a traditional race of giants in the far west\n(see number 106, \"The Giants from the West\"). Tsul`kal\u00fb' lives\nin Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi and is the great lord of the game, and as such is\nfrequently invoked in the hunting formulas. The story was obtained\nfrom Swimmer and John Ax, the Swimmer version being the one here\nfollowed. For parallels to the incident of the child born from blood\nsee notes to number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu.\"\n\nIn the John Ax version it is the girl's father and mother, instead of\nher mother and brother, who try to bring her back. They are told they\nmust fast seven days to succeed. They fast four days before starting,\nand then set out and travel two days, when they come to the mouth of\nthe cave and hear the sound of the drum and the dance within. They are\nable to look over the edge of the rock and see their daughter among the\ndancers, but can not enter until the seventh day is arrived. Unluckily\nthe man is very hungry by this time, and after watching nearly all\nnight he insists that it is so near daylight of the seventh morning\nthat he may safely take a small bite. His wife begs him to wait until\nthe sun appears, but hunger overcomes him and he takes a bite of food\nfrom his pouch. Instantly the cave and the dancers disappear, and the\nman and his wife find themselves alone on the mountain. John Ax was a\nvery old man at the time of the recital, with memory rapidly failing,\nand it is evident that his version is only fragmentary.\n\nHaywood notes the story on the authority of Charles Hicks, an educated\nhalfbreed (Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 280): \"They have a fabulous\ntradition respecting the mounds, which proves that they are beyond\nthe events of their history. The mounds, they say, were caused by\nthe quaking of the earth and great noise with it, a ceremony used\nfor the adoption of their people into the family of Tuli-cula, who\nwas an invisible person and had taken a wife of one of their town's\npeople. And at the time when his first son was born the quaking of the\nearth and noise had commenced, but had ceased at the alarm whoop, which\nhad been raised by two imprudent young men of the town, in consequence\nof which the mounds had been raised by the quaking noise. Whereupon\nthe father took the child and mother and removed to near Brasstown,\nand had made the tracks in the rocks which are to be seen there.\"\n\nFrom Buttrick we get the following version of the tradition, evidently\ntold for the missionary's special benefit: \"God directed the Indians\nto ascend a certain mountain--that is, the warriors--and he would\nthere send them assistance. They started and had ascended far up the\nmountain, when one of the warriors began to talk about women. His\ncompanion immediately reproved him, but instantly a voice like thunder\nissued from the side of the mountain and God spoke and told them to\nreturn, as he could not assist them on account of that sin. They put\nthe man to death, yet the Lord never returned to them afterwards\"\n(Antiquities, p. 14). On the next page he tells it in a somewhat\ndifferent form: \"It is said that before coming to this continent,\nwhile in their own country, they were in great distress from their\nenemies, and God told them to march to the top of a certain mountain\nand He would come down and afford them relief. They ascended far up\nthe mountain and thought they saw something coming down from above,\nwhich they supposed was for their aid. But just then one of the\nwarriors,\" etc.\n\nZeigler and Grosscup give another version, which, although dressed\nup for advertising purposes, makes a fairly good story:\n\n\"But there is another legend of the Balsams more significant than any\nof these. It is the Paradise Gained of Cherokee mythology, and bears\nsome distant resemblance to the Christian doctrine of mediation. The\nIndians believed that they were originally mortal in spirit as well\nas body, but above the blue vault of heaven there was, inhabited by\na celestial race, a forest into which the highest mountains lifted\ntheir dark summits. * * *\n\n\"The mediator, by whom eternal life was secured for the Indian\nmountaineers, was a maiden of their own tribe. Allured by the haunting\nsound and diamond sparkle of a mountain stream, she wandered far\nup into a solitary glen, where the azalea, the kalmia, and the\nrhododendron brilliantly embellished the deep, shaded slopes, and\nfilled the air with their delicate perfume. The crystal stream wound\nits crooked way between moss-covered rocks over which tall ferns bowed\ntheir graceful stems. Enchanted by the scene, she seated herself upon\nthe soft moss, and, overcome by fatigue, was soon asleep. The dream\npicture of a fairyland was presently broken by the soft touch of a\nstrange hand. The spirit of her dream occupied a place at her side,\nand, wooing, won her for his bride.\n\n\"Her supposed abduction caused great excitement among her people, who\nmade diligent search for her recovery in their own villages. Being\nunsuccessful, they made war upon the neighboring tribes in the hope\nof finding the place of her concealment. Grieved because of so much\nbloodshed and sorrow, she besought the great chief of the eternal\nhunting grounds to make retribution. She was accordingly appointed\nto call a council of her people at the forks of the Wayeh (Pigeon)\nriver. She appeared unto the chiefs in a dream, and charged them to\nmeet the spirits of the hunting ground with fear and reverence.\n\n\"At the hour appointed the head men of the Cherokees assembled. The\nhigh Balsam peaks were shaken by thunder and aglare with lightning. The\ncloud, as black as midnight, settled over the valley, then lifted,\nleaving upon a large rock a cluster of strange men, armed and painted\nas for war. An enraged brother of the abducted maiden swung his\ntomahawk and raised the war whoop, but a swift thunderbolt dispatched\nhim before the echo had died in the hills. The chiefs, terror-stricken,\nfled to their towns.\n\n\"The bride, grieved by the death of her brother and the failure of the\ncouncil, prepared to abandon her new home and return to her kindred in\nthe valleys. To reconcile her the promise was granted that all brave\nwarriors and their faithful women should have an eternal home in the\nhappy hunting ground above, after death. The great chief of the forest\nbeyond the clouds became the guardian spirit of the Cherokees. All\ndeaths, either from wounds in battle or disease, were attributed to\nhis desire to make additions to the celestial hunting ground, or,\non the other hand, to his wrath, which might cause their unfortunate\nspirits to be turned over to the disposition of the evil genius of\nthe mountain tops.\"--Heart of the Alleghanies, pp. 22-24.\n\nKanu'ga--An ancient Cherokee town on Pigeon river, in the present\nHaywood county, North Carolina. It was deserted before the beginning\nof the historic period, but may have been located about the junction\nof the two forks of Pigeon river, a few miles east of Waynesville,\nwhere there are still a number of mounds and ancient cemeteries\nextending for some miles down the stream. Being a frontier town, it was\nprobably abandoned early on account of its exposed position. The name,\nsignifying \"scratcher,\" is applied to a comb, used for scratching\nthe ballplayers, and is connected with kanug\u00fb'`la, or nug\u00fb'`la, a\nblackberry bush or brier. There are other mounds on Richland creek,\nin the neighborhood of Waynesville.\n\nTsul`kal\u00fb' Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi--Abbreviated Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi; the mountain in which\nthe giant is supposed to have his residence, is Tennessee bald, in\nNorth Carolina, where the Haywood, Jackson, and Transylvania county\nlines come together, on the ridge separating the waters of Pigeon\nriver from those flowing into Tennessee creek and Cany fork of the\nTuckasegee, southeastward from Waynesville and Webster. The name seems\nto mean, \"at the white place,\" from une'ga, \"white,\" and may refer\nto a bald spot of perhaps a hundred acres on the top, locally known\namong the whites as Jutaculla old fields, from a tradition, said to be\nderived from the Indians, that it was a clearing made by \"Jutaculla\"\n(i. e., Tsul`kal\u00fb') for a farm. Some distance farther west, on the\nnorth side of Cany fork and about ten miles above Webster, in Jackson\ncounty, is a rock known as Jutaculla rock, covered with various rude\ncarvings, which, according to the same tradition, are scratches made\nby the giant in jumping from his farm on the mountain to the creek\nbelow. Zeigler and Grosscup refer to the mountain under the name of\n\"Old Field mountain\" and mention a tradition among the pioneers that it\nwas regarded by the Indians as the special abode of the Indian Satan!\n\n\"On the top of the mountain there is a prairie-like tract, almost\nlevel, reached by steep slopes covered with thickets of balsam and\nrhododendron, which seem to garrison the reputed sacred domain. It was\nunderstood among the Indians to be forbidden territory, but a party\none day permitted their curiosity to tempt them. They forced a way\nthrough the entangled thickets, and with merriment entered the open\nground. Aroused from sleep and enraged by their audacious intrusion,\nthe devil, taking the form of an immense snake, assaulted the party\nand swallowed fifty of them before the thicket could be gained. Among\nthe first whites who settled among the Indians, and traded with them,\nwas a party of hunters who used this superstition to escape punishment\nfor their reprehensible conduct. They reported that they were in\nleague with the great spirit of evil, and to prove that they were,\nfrequented this 'old field.' They described his bed, under a large\noverhanging rock, as a model of neatness. They had frequently thrown\ninto it stones and brushwood during the day, while the master was out,\nbut the place was invariably as clean the next morning 'as if it had\nbeen brushed with a bunch of feathers'\" (Heart of the Alleghanies,\np. 22).\n\nThe footprints can still be seen--Shining rock or Cold mountain,\nbetween the Forks of Pigeon river, in Haywood county, North Carolina,\nis known to the Cherokee as Datsu'nal\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"where their tracks\nare this way,\" on account of a rock at its base, toward Sonoma and\nthree miles south of the trail, upon which are impressions said to\nbe the footprints made by the giant and his children on their way\nto Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi. Within the mountain is also the legendary abode of\ninvisible spirits. Haywood confounds this with Track Rock gap, near\nBlairsville, Georgia, where are other noted petroglyphs (see number\n125, Minor Legends of Georgia).\n\nThe rapid growth of the two children is paralleled in many other\ntribal mythologies. The sequence of growth as indicated by the\nfootprints reminds us of the concluding incident of the Arabian\nNights, when Queen Scheherazade stands before the king to make a last\nrequest: \"And the king answered her, 'Request, thou shalt receive,\nO Scheherazade.' So thereupon she called out to the nurses and the\neunuchs and said to them, 'Bring ye my children.' Accordingly they\nbrought them to her quickly, and they were three male children;\none of them walked, and one crawled, and one was at the breast.\"\n\nMust not raise the war whoop--See note under number 79, \"The Removed\nTownhouses.\"\n\n\n\n82. Kana'sta, the lost settlement (p. 341): This story, obtained\nfrom Swimmer, bears resemblance to those of Tsul`kal\u00fb', Tsuwe'nahi,\nThe Removed Townhouses, and others, in which individuals, or even\nwhole settlements, elect to go with the invisible spirit people in\norder to escape hardships or coming disaster.\n\nKana'sta--Abbreviated from Kanast\u00fb\u00f1'yi, a name which can not be\ntranslated, is described as an ancient Cherokee town on the French\nBroad where the trail from Tennessee creek of the Tuckasegee comes in,\nnear the present Brevard, in Transylvania county, North Carolina. No\nmounds are known there, and we find no notice of the town in history,\nbut another of the same name existed on Hiwassee and was destroyed\nin 1776.\n\nTsuwa`tel'da--Abbreviated from Tsuwa`teld\u00fb\u00f1'yi, and known to the\nwhites as Pilot knob, is a high mountain in Transylvania county, about\neight miles north of Brevard. On account of the peculiar stratified\nappearance of the rocks, the faces of the cliffs are said frequently\nto present a peculiar appearance under the sun's rays, as of shining\nwalls with doors, windows, and shingled roofs.\n\nDatsu'nal\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi--Shining rock. See note under number 81,\n\"Tsul`kal\u00fb'.\"\n\nFast seven days--This injunction of a seven days' fast upon those\nwho would join the spirit people appears in several Cherokee myths,\nthe idea being, as we learn from the priests, to spiritualize the\nhuman nature and quicken the spiritual vision by abstinence from\nearthly food. The doctrine is exemplified in an incident of the\nlegend of Tsuwe'nahi, q. v. In a broader application, the same idea\nis a foundation principle of every ancient religion. In ordinary\nCherokee ceremonial the fast is kept for one day--i. e., from midnight\nto sunset. On occasions of supreme importance it continues four or\neven seven days. Among the plains tribes those who voluntarily enter\nthe Sun dance to make supplication and sacrifice for their people\nabstain entirely from food and drink during the four days and nights\nof the ceremony.\n\nThe Thunders--See number 3, \"Kana'ti and Selu\" and notes, and number 8,\n\"The Moon and the Thunders,\" with notes.\n\n\n\n83. Tsuwe'nahi, a legend of Pilot knob (p. 343): This story, from\nSwimmer, is of the same order as the legends of Tsul`kal\u00fb', Kana'sta,\netc. The people whom the hunter met inside the enchanted mountain\nare evidently the same described in the last-named story (number 82),\nwith the guests from the lost settlement.\n\nThe name Tsuwe'nahi can not be translated, but may possibly have,\na connection with uwe'nahi, \"rich.\"\n\nKanu'ga and Tsuwa`tel'da--See notes under number 81, \"Tsul`kal\u00fb',\"\nand number 82, \"Kana'sta.\"\n\nParched corn--This was the standard provision of the warrior when\non the march among all the tribes east of the Mississippi and\nprobably among all the corn-growing tribes of America. It is the\npinole of the Tarumari and other Mexican tribes. The Cherokee call\nit gahawi'sita. Hawkins thus describes it as seen with his Cherokee\nguides in 1796: \"They are small eaters, use no salt and but little\nbread. They carry their parched corn meal, wissactaw, and mix a\nhandful in a pint of water, which they drink. Although they had plenty\nof corn and fowls, they made no other provision than a small bag of\nthis for the path. I have plenty of provisions and give them some at\nevery meal. I have several times drank of the wissactaw, and am fond\nof it with the addition of some sugar. To make of the best quality,\nI am told the corn should first be boiled, then parched in hot ashes,\nsifted, powdered, and made into flour.\" [547]\n\nThe seat was a turtle--This incident also occurs in number 84,\n\"The Man who Married the Thunder's Sister.\" The species meant is the\nsaligu'gi or common water turtle.\n\nLike dogs' paws--No reason is given for this peculiarity, which is\nnowhere else mentioned as a characteristic of the mountain spirits.\n\nOld tobacco--Ts\u00e2l-agay\u00fb\u00f1'li, \"ancient tobacco,\" the Nicotiana rustica,\nsacred among all the eastern tribes. See number 6, \"How they Brought\nback the Tobacco,\" and number 126, \"Plant Lore.\"\n\nThorns of honey locust--This incident occurs also in number 63,\n\"\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', The Gambler.\"\n\n\n\n84. The man who married the Thunder's sister (p. 345): This story was\nheard first from John Ax, and afterward with additions and variants\nfrom Swimmer and others. It is also briefly noted in Hagar's manuscript\n\"Stellar Legends of the Cherokee.\"\n\nAs explained elsewhere, the Thunder spirits are supposed to have their\nfavorite residence under cataracts, of which Tallulah falls is probably\nthe greatest in the Cherokee country. The connection of Thunder and\nRain spirits with snakes and water animals is a matter of universal\nprimitive belief and has already been noted. One Cherokee informant\ntold Hagar (see above) that \"Thunder is a horned snake (?), and\nlightning its tongue, and it lives with water and rains.\" It is hardly\nnecessary to state that the dance was, and is, among all the tribes,\nnot only the most frequent form of social amusement, but also an\nimportant part of every great religious or other ceremonial function.\n\nS\u00e2kwi'yi--Abbreviated S\u00e2kwi', an ancient town about on the site of\nthe present village of Soquee on the creek of the same name near\nClarkesville, in Habersham county, Georgia.\n\nMarry him--Among nearly all the tribes, with the exception of the\nPueblo, the marriage ceremony was simple, consisting chiefly of\nthe giving, by the lover, of certain presents to the parents of the\nintended bride, by way of compensating them for the loss of their\ndaughter, after she herself had first signified her consent to the\nunion. Although this has been represented as a purchase, it was really\nonly a formal ratification of the contract, which the girl was free to\naccept or reject as she chose. On the other hand, should the presents\nbe insufficient to satisfy the parents, they were refused or returned\nand the marriage could not take place, however willing the girl might\nbe. The young man usually selected a friend to act as go-between\nwith the girl's family, and in all tribes--as now in the West--the\nresult seems to have been largely at the disposal of her brother,\nwho continued to exercise some supervision and claim over her even\nafter her marriage.\n\nLawson's statement concerning the eastern Carolina tribes in 1700 will\nhold almost equally good to-day in any part of the West: \"As for the\nIndian marriages, I have read and heard of a great deal of form and\nceremony used, which I never saw; nor yet could learn in the time I\nhave been amongst them any otherwise than I shall here give you an\naccount of, which is as follows:\n\n\"When any young Indian has a mind for such a girl to his wife, he,\nor some one for him, goes to the young woman's parents, if living;\nif not, to her nearest relations, where they make offers of the match\nbetwixt the couple. The relations reply, they will consider of it;\nwhich serves for a sufficient answer, till there be a second meeting\nabout the marriage, which is generally brought into debate before\nall the relations that are old people, on both sides, and sometimes\nthe king with all his great men give their opinions therein. If it\nbe agreed on and the young woman approve thereof--for these savages\nnever give their children in marriage without their own consent--the\nman pays so much for his wife, and the handsomer she is the greater\nprice she bears\" (History of Carolina, pp. 302-303).\n\nAccording to Adair, who makes it a little more formal among the Gulf\ntribes, \"When an Indian makes his first address to the young woman he\nintends to marry, she is obliged by ancient custom to sit by him till\nhe hath done eating and drinking, whether she likes or dislikes him;\nbut afterward she is at her own choice whether to stay or retire\"\n(Hist. Am. Indians, p. 139).\n\nWould surely die--In Cherokee myth and ritual we frequently meet the\nidea that one who reveals supernatural secrets will die. Sometimes\nthe idea is reversed, as when the discovery of the nefarious doings\nof a wizard or conjurer causes his death. The latter belief has its\nparallel in Europe.\n\nSmooth as a pumpkin--This is the rendering of the peculiar tautologic\nCherokee expression, i'ya iya'-tawi'skage--tawi'skage i'ya-iyu'sti,\nliterally, \"pumpkin, of pumpkin smoothness--smooth like a pumpkin.\" The\nrendering is in line with the repetition in such children's stories\nas that of \"The House that Jack Built,\" but the translation fails to\nconvey the amusing sound effect of the original.\n\nA large turtle--This incident occurs also in number 83, \"Tsuwe'nahi.\"\n\nA horse--Although the reference to the horse must be considered a\nmore modern interpolation it may easily date back two centuries,\nor possibly even to De Soto's expedition in 1540. Among the plains\ntribes the horse quickly became so essential a part of Indian life\nthat it now enters into their whole social and mythic system.\n\nThe bracelets were snakes--The same concept appears also in number 63,\n\"\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi',\" when the hero visits his father, the Thunder god.\n\n\n\n85. The haunted whirlpool (p. 347): This legend was related by an\nEast Cherokee known to the whites as Knotty Tom. For a description\nof the whirlpool rapids known as The Suck, see notes under number 63,\n\"\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', the Gambler.\"\n\n\n\n86. Yahula (p. 347): This fine myth was obtained in the Territory\nfrom Wafford, who had it from his uncle, William Scott, a halfbreed\nwho settled upon Yahoola creek shortly after the close of the\nRevolution. Scott claimed to have heard the bells and the songs,\nand of the story itself Wafford said, \"I've heard it so often and\nso much that I'm inclined to believe it.\" It has its explanation in\nthe beliefs connected with the N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi (see number 78 and notes),\nin whom Wafford had firm faith.\n\nYahula--This is a rather frequent Cherokee personal name, but seems\nto be of Creek origin, having reference to the song used in the\n\"black drink\" or \"busk\" ceremony of that tribe, and the songs which\nthe lost trader used to sing may have been those of that ceremony. See\nthe glossary.\n\nTinkling of the bells--Among the southern tribes in the old days the\napproach of a trader's cavalcade along the trail was always heralded by\nthe jingling of bells hung about the necks of the horses, somewhat in\nthe manner of our own winter sleighing parties. Among the plains tribes\nthe children's ponies are always equipped with collars of sleigh bells.\n\nIn his description of a trader's pack-train before the Revolution,\nBartram says (Travels, p. 439): \"Every horse has a bell on, which being\nstopped, when we start in the morning, with a twist of grass or leaves,\nsoon shakes out, and they are never stopped again during the day. The\nconstant ringing and clattering of the bells, smacking of the whips,\nwhooping and too frequent cursing these miserable quadrupeds, cause\nan incessant uproar and confusion inexpressibly disagreeable.\"\n\n\n\n87. The water cannibals (p. 349): This story was obtained from Swimmer\nand contains several points of resemblance to other Cherokee myths. The\nidea of the spirit changeling is common to European fairy lore.\n\nTikwali'tsi--This town, called by the whites Tuckalechee, was on\nTuckasegee river, at the present Bryson City, in Swain county, North\nCarolina, where traces of the mound can still be seen on the south\nside of the river.\n\nAfraid of the witches--See number 120, \"The Raven Mocker,\" and notes.\n\n\n\n88. First contact with whites (p. 350): The story of the jug of\nwhisky left near a spring was heard first from Swimmer; the ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti\nstory from Wafford; the locomotive story from David Blythe. Each was\nafterward confirmed from other sources.\n\nThe story of the book and the bow, quoted from the Cherokee Advocate of\nOctober 26, 1844, was not heard on the reservation, but is mentioned by\nother authorities. According to an old Cherokee quoted by Buttrick,\n\"God gave the red man a book and a paper and told him to write,\nbut he merely made marks on the paper, and as he could not read or\nwrite, the Lord gave him a bow and arrows, and gave the book to the\nwhite man.\" Boudinot, in \"A Star in the West,\" [548] quoted by the\nsame author, says: \"They have it handed down from their ancestors,\nthat the book which the white people have was once theirs; that while\nthey had it they prospered exceedingly; but that the white people\nbought it of them and learned many things from it, while the Indians\nlost credit, offended the Great Spirit, and suffered exceedingly from\nthe neighboring nations; that the Great Spirit took pity on them and\ndirected them to this country,\" etc. It is simply another version of\nthe common tale of decadent nations, \"We were once as great as you.\"\n\n\n\n89. The Iroquois wars (p. 351): The Iroquois league--The Iroquois\nleague consisted originally of a confederacy of five kindred tribes,\nthe Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, in what is now the\nstate of New York; to these were added the cognate Tuscarora after\ntheir expulsion from Carolina about 1715. The name Iroquois, by\nwhich they were known to the French, is supposed to be a derivative\nfrom some Indian term. To the English they were known as the Five,\nafterward the Six Nations. They called themselves by a name commonly\nspelt Hodenosaunee, and interpreted \"People of the Long House.\" Of\nthis symbolic long house the Mohawk guarded the eastern door, while\nthe Seneca protected the western. Their remarkable governmental\nand clan system is still well preserved, each tribe, except the\nMohawk and Oneida, having eight clans, arranged in two groups or\nphratries. The Mohawk and Oneida are said to have now but three clans\napiece, probably because of their losses by withdrawals to the French\nmissions. The Seneca clans, which are nearly the same for the other\ntribes, are the Wolf, Bear, Turtle, Beaver, Deer, Snipe, Heron,\nand Hawk. The confederacy is supposed to have been formed about\nthe middle of the sixteenth century, and by 1680 the Iroquois had\nconquered and destroyed or incorporated all the surrounding tribes,\nand had asserted a paramount claim over the whole territory from the\nCherokee border to Hudson bay and from southern New England to the\nMississippi. According to a careful estimate in 1677 the Five Nations\nthen numbered 2,150 warriors, or about 10,750 persons. The Tuscarora\nin Carolina were estimated a few years later at 1,200 warriors,\nor 5,000 persons, but this is probably an exaggeration. The league\nafterward lost heavily by wars with the French, and still more by\nwithdrawals of Christianized Indians to the French Catholic mission\ncolonies at Caughnawaga, Saint Regis, and elsewhere, the Mohawk being\nthe chief sufferers. The Revolution brought about another separation,\nwhen about two-fifths of those remaining, including nearly all of the\nMohawk and Cayuga, removed in a body to Canada. A mixed band of Seneca\nand Cayuga, known as the \"Seneca of Sandusky,\" had previously settled\nin Ohio, whence they removed in 1831 to Indian Territory. Between\n1820 and 1826 the greater portion of the Oneida removed from New\nYork to lands in Wisconsin purchased from the Menomini. In spite,\nhowever, of wars and removals the Iroquois have held their own\nwith a tenacity and a virility which mark their whole history,\nand both in this country and in Canada they are fairly prosperous\nand are increasing in population, being apparently more numerous\nto-day than at any former period. Those in New York and Pennsylvania,\nexcept the Saint Regis, and on the Grand River reservation in Canada,\nconstituting together about one-half of the whole number, still keep\nup the forms and ceremonies of the ancient league.\n\nAccording to a special bulletin of the census of 1890 the total number\nof Indians then belonging to the tribes originally constituting the Six\nNations was 15,833, of whom 8,483 were living in Canada and 7,350 in\nthe United States, excluding from the latter count 37 resident members\nof other tribes. Those in the United States were on six reservations\nin the State of New York, one in Pennsylvania, one in Wisconsin,\nand one in the Indian Territory, and were classed as follows:\n\n\n Mohawk (including Indians of Saint Regis and Caughnawaga):\n in New York 1,162\n Oneida:\n in New York, 212;\n at Green Bay agency, Wisconsin, 1,716 1,928\n Onondaga:\n in New York, 470;\n on Cornplanter reservation, Pennsylvania, 11 481\n Cayuga: in New York 183\n Seneca:\n in New York, 2,680;\n on Cornplanter reservation, Pennsylvania, 87 2,767\n Tuscarora: in New York 408\n Iroquois mixed bloods, separately enumerated, on\n reservations in New York 87\n Iroquois outside reservations in New York, Connecticut,\n and Massachusetts 79\n Mixed Seneca and Cayuga at Quapaw agency, Indian\n Territory 255\n -----\n 7,350\n\n\nThose in Canada were at the same time officially reported thus:\n\n\n Mohawk:\n at Caughnawaga, 1,722;\n at Saint Regis, 1,190;\n on Grand River reservation, 1,344;\n at Bay of Quinte, 1,056 5,312\n Oneida:\n on Thames river, 715;\n on Grand River reservation, 244 959\n Onondaga: on Grand River reservation 325\n Cayuga: on Grand River reservation 865\n Seneca: on Grand River reservation 183\n Tuscarora: on Grand River reservation 327\n Iroquois of Lake of Two Mountains 375\n Iroquois of Gibson 137\n -----\n 8,483\n\n\nA few Algonkin are included among the Iroquois of Caughnawaga and Saint\nRegis, the Iroquois of these two settlements having been originally\nCatholic emigrants from the Mohawk villages in New York, with a few\nOneida and Onondaga. When the boundary line between New York and Canada\nwas run it cut the Saint Regis reservation in two. The report of the\nCommissioner of Indian Affairs for 1900 shows 7,700 Iroquois living\non the reservations in New York, Wisconsin, and Indian Territory, an\nincrease within these limits of 527 in nine years. Assuming the same\nrate of increase in Pennsylvania and on the Canada side, the whole\nnumber of Iroquois to-day would be approximately 17,000. For detailed\ninformation see Colden, History of the Five Nations; Schoolcraft,\nNotes on the Iroquois; Morgan, League of the Hodenosaunee or Iroquois;\nParkman's works; reports of the commissioners of Indian affairs for\nboth the United States and Canada, and the excellent report on \"The\nSix Nations of New York,\" by Donaldson and Carrington, contained in\nan extra bulletin of the Eleventh Census of the United States.\n\nSeneca town, South Carolina--The statement given by Schoolcraft (Notes\non Iroquois, 161), on the authority of Calhoun, that the Seneca once\nlived at Seneca town, in South Carolina, has probably no foundation\nin fact, the story having evidently arisen from a supposed similarity\nof name. The Cherokee call it I`s\u00fb'nig\u00fb', and do not connect it in any\nway with A-Se'nika or Ani'-Se'nika, their name for the northern tribe.\n\nThe Cherokee war--The Iroquois story of the war between themselves and\nthe Cherokee is from Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, pages 252 and 256.\n\nFive days' journey--This statement is on Morgan's authority, but\nthe distance was certainly greater, unless we are to understand only\nthe distance that separated their extreme accustomed hunting ranges,\nnot that between the permanent settlements of the two peoples.\n\nThe Tennessee river boundary--The statement from Morgan (League\nof the Iroquois, p. 337) in regard to the truce line established at\nTennessee river seems to find confirmation in incidental references in\nearly documents. Boundaries beyond which war parties might not go, or\nneutral grounds where hereditary enemies met in peace, were a regular\ninstitution in ancient Indian society, the most notable instance being\nperhaps the famous pipestone quarry in Minnesota. Notwithstanding\nthe claim of the Iroquois, backed by Sir William Johnson, to all the\ncountry north of the Tennessee river, it is very plain from history\nand the treaties that the Cherokee asserted a more or less valid\nclaim as far north as the Ohio. Their actual settlements, however,\nwere all south of the main Tennessee.\n\nThe Buffalo dance--The origin ascribed to the Buffalo dance of the\nIroquois (Morgan, League of the Iroquois, p. 287) is in agreement\nwith the common Indian idea, according to which dances named from\nanimals are performed in imitation of the peculiar actions and cries\nof these animals, or in obedience to supposed commands from the ruling\nspirit animals.\n\nThe peace embassy--The story of the proposed intertribal alliance,\nwith the statements as to Cherokee captives among the Seneca,\nare from Schoolcraft (Notes on Iroquois, pp. 158, 252, 257). The\nrecords of the conference at Johnson Hall in 1768 are published\nin the New York Colonial Documents. The account of the Iroquois\npeace embassy to Echota was given to Wafford by two eyewitnesses,\none of whom was his mother's cousin, Sequoya. As the old man said,\n\"Sequoya told me all about it.\" As stated in the narrative, Wafford\nhimself had also seen the belts brought out and explained in a great\nintertribal council at Tahlequah. By common tribal custom ambassadors\nof peace were secure from molestation, whatever might be the result\nof the negotiations, although, as among more civilized nations, this\nrule was sometimes violated. According to tradition, the ancient\npeace pipe of the Cherokee, and probably of other eastern tribes,\nwas of white stone, white being the universal peace color. The red\nstone pipe of the Sioux was also used in peace ceremonials, from the\npeculiar sacredness attached to it among the western tribes.\n\nThe accuracy of Wafford's statement from memory in 1891 is strikingly\nconfirmed by a contemporary account of the great intertribal council\nat Tahlequah in 1843, by the artist, Stanley, who was present and\npainted a number of portraits on that occasion. The council was\nconvened by John Ross in June and remained in session four weeks,\nsome ten thousand Indians being in attendance, representing seventeen\ntribes. \"During the whole session the utmost good feeling and harmony\nprevailed. The business was brought to a close at sundown, after which\nthe various tribes joined in dancing, which was usually kept up to\na late hour.\" The wampum belt was explained, according to Stanley's\naccount, by Major George Lowrey (Agi`li, \"Rising\"), second chief of the\nNation, who thus recited the tradition of its coming from the Seneca\n[i. e. Iroquois]. The talk abounds in Indian reference and symbolism:\n\n\"You will now hear a talk from our forefathers. You must not think\nhard if we make a few mistakes in describing our wampum. If we do,\nwe will try and rectify them.\n\n\"My Brothers, you will now hear what our forefathers said to us.\n\n\"In the first place, the Senecas, a great many years ago, devised a\nplan for us to become friends. When the plan was first laid, the Seneca\nrose up and said, I fear the Cherokee, because the tomahawk is stuck\nin several parts of his head. The Seneca afterwards remarked, that he\nsaw the tomahawk still sticking in all parts of the Cherokee's head,\nand heard him whooping and hallooing say [sic] that he was too strong\nto die. The Seneca further said, Our warriors in old times used to go\nto war; when they did go, they always went to fight the Cherokees;\nsometimes one or two would return home--sometimes none. He further\nsaid, The Great Spirit must love the Cherokees, and we must be in\nthe wrong, going to war with them. The Seneca then said, Suppose we\nmake friends with the Cherokee, and wash his wounds and cause them\nto heal up, that he may grow larger than he was before. The Seneca,\nafter thus speaking, sat down. The Wyandot then rose and said, You\nhave done right, and let it be. I am your youngest brother, and you\nour oldest. This word was told to the Shawnees; They replied, We are\nglad, let it be; you are our elder brothers. The Senecas then said,\nthey would go about and pray to the Great Spirit for four years to\nassist them in making peace, and that they would set aside a vessel\nof water and cover it, and at the end of every year they would take\nthe cover off, and examine the water, which they did; every time\nthey opened it they found it was changed; at the end of four years\nthey uncovered the vessel and found that the water had changed to a\ncolour that suited them. The Seneca then said, The Great Spirit has\nhad mercy upon us, and the thing has taken place just as we wished it.\n\n\"The Shawnee then said, We will make straight paths; but let us make\npeace among our neighbouring tribes first, before we make this path\nto those afar off.\n\n\"The Seneca then said, Before we make peace, we must give our\nneighboring tribes some fire; for it will not do to make peace without\nit,--they might be traveling about, and run against each other, and\nprobably cause them to hurt each other. These three tribes said,\nbefore making peace, that this fire which was to be given to them\nshould be kindled in order that a big light may be raised, so they\nmay see each other at a long distance; this is to last so long as the\nearth stands; They said further, that this law of peace shall last\nfrom generation to generation--so long as there shall be a red man\nliving on this earth: They also said, that the fire shall continue\namong us and shall never be extinguished as long as one remains. The\nSeneca further said to the Shawnees, I have put a belt around you,\nand have tied up the talk in a bundle, and placed it on your backs;\nwe will now make a path on which we will pass to the Sioux. The Seneca\nsaid further, You shall continue your path until it shall reach the\nlodge of the Osage. When the talk was brought to the Sioux, they\nreplied, we feel thankful to you and will take your talk; we can see\na light through the path you have made for us.\n\n\"When the Shawnees brought the talk to the Osages, they replied,\nBy to-morrow, by the middle of the day, we shall have finished our\nbusiness. The Osage said further, The Great Spirit has been kind\nto me. He has brought something to me, I being fatigued hunting\nfor it. When the Shawnees returned to the lodge of the Osages, they\nwere informed that they were to be killed, and they immediately made\ntheir escape.\n\n\"When the Shawnees returned to their homes whence they came, they\nsaid they had been near being killed.\n\n\"The Seneca then said to the Shawnees, that the Osages must be\nmistaken. The Shawnees went again to see the Osages--they told them\ntheir business. The Osages remarked, The Great Spirit has been good\nto us,--to-morrow by the middle of the day he will give us something\nwithout fatigue. When the Shawnees arrived at the lodge, an old\nman of the Osages told them that they had better make their escape;\nthat if they did not, by the middle of the following day, they were\nall to be destroyed, and directed them to the nearest point of the\nwoods. The Shawnees made their escape about midday. They discovered\nthe Osages following them, and threw away their packs, reserving\nthe bag their talk was in, and arrived at their camp safe. When the\nShawnees arrived home, they said they had come near being killed,\nand the Osages refused to receive their talk. The Seneca then said,\nIf the Osages will not take our talk, let them remain as they are;\nand when the rising generation shall become as one, the Osages shall\nbe like some herb standing alone. The Seneca further said, The Osages\nshall be like a lone cherry-tree, standing in the prairies, where the\nbirds of all kinds shall light upon it at pleasure. The reason this\ntalk was made about the Osages was, that they prided themselves upon\ntheir warriors and manhood, and did not wish to make peace.\n\n\"The Seneca further said, we have succeeded in making peace with all\nthe Northern and neighbouring tribes. The Seneca then said to the\nShawnees, You must now turn your course to the South: you must take\nyour path to the Cherokees, and even make it into their houses. When\nthe Shawnees started at night they took up their camp and sat up all\nnight, praying to the Great Spirit to enable them to arrive in peace\nand safety among the Cherokees. The Shawnees still kept their course,\nuntil they reached a place called Tah-le-quah, where they arrived\nin safety, as they wished, and there met the chiefs and warriors\nof the Cherokees. When they arrived near Tah-le-quah, they went to\na house and sent two men to the head chiefs. The chief's daughter\nwas the only person in the house. As soon as she saw them, she went\nout and met them, and shook them by the hand and asked them into the\nhouse to sit down. The men were all in the field at work--the girl's\nfather was with them. She ran and told him that there were two men\nin the house, and that they were enemies. The chief immediately ran\nto the house and shook them by the hand, and stood at the door. The\nCherokees all assembled around the house, and said, Let us kill them,\nfor they are enemies. Some of the men said, No, the chief's daughter\nhas taken them by the hand; so also has our chief. The men then\nbecame better satisfied. The chief asked the two men if they were\nalone. They answered, No; that there were some more with them. He\ntold them to go after them and bring them to his house. When these two\nmen returned with the rest of their people, the chief asked them what\ntheir business was. They then opened this valuable bundle, and told\nhim that it contained a talk for peace. The chief told them, I cannot\ndo business alone; all the chiefs are assembled at a place called\nCho-qua-ta [for E-cho-ta], where I will attend to your business in\ngeneral council. When the messengers of peace arrived at Cho-qua-ta,\nthey were kindly received by the chiefs, who told them they would\ngladly receive their talk of peace. The messengers of peace then\nsaid to the Cherokees, We will make a path for you to travel in,\nand the rising generation may do the same,--we also will keep it\nswept clean and white, so that the rising generation may travel in\npeace. The Shawnee further said, We will keep the doors of our houses\nopen, so that when the rising generation come among us they shall be\nwelcome. He further said, This talk is intended for all the different\ntribes of our red brothers, and is to last to the end of time. He\nfurther said, I have made a fire out of the dry elm--this fire is\nfor all the different tribes to see by. I have put one chunk toward\nthe rising sun, one toward the north, and one toward the south. This\nfire is not to be extinguished so long as time lasts. I shall stick\nup a stick close by this fire, in order that it may frequently be\nstirred, and raise a light for the rising generation to see by;\nif any one should turn in the dark, you must catch him by the hand,\nand lead him to the light, so that he can see that he was wrong.\n\n\"I have made you a fire-light, I have stripped some white hickory\nbark and set it up against the tree, in order that when you wish to\nremove this fire, you can take it and put it on the bark; when you\nkindle this fire it will be seen rising up toward the heavens. I\nwill see it and know it; I am your oldest brother. The messenger\nof peace further said, I have prepared white benches for you, and\nleaned the white pipe against them, and when you eat you shall have\nbut one dish and one spoon. We have done everything that was good,\nbut our warriors still hold their tomahawks in their hands, as if\nthey wished to fight each other. We will now take their tomahawks\nfrom them and bury them; we must bury them deep under the earth where\nthere is water; and there must be winds, which we wish to blow them\nso far that our warriors may never see them again.\n\n\"The messenger further said, Where there is blood spilt I will wipe\nit up clean--wherever bones have been scattered, I have taken them\nand buried them, and covered them with white hickory bark and a\nwhite cloth--there must be no more blood spilt; our warriors must\nnot recollect it any more. Our warriors said that the Cherokees were\nworking for the rising generation by themselves; we must take hold\nand help them.\n\n\"The messengers then said that you Cherokees are placed now under\nthe centre of the sun; this talk I leave with you for the different\ntribes, and when you talk it, our voice shall be loud enough to be\nheard over this island. This is all I have to say.\" [549]\n\nWampum--The celebrated wampum was a species of bead cut from the shell\nof the clam, conch, or other shell-bearing mollusk of the coast or the\nlarger streams. The common name is derived from an Algonquian word\nsignifying white, and was properly applied only to one variety, the\ngeneric term varying with the tribe. The beads were rather cylindrical\nthan globular, and were of two colors, white and purple or dark. They\nwere rated at definite values. The wampum was manufactured by the\ncoast tribes, being traded by them to those of the interior, and\nwas largely used everywhere east of the Mississippi for necklaces,\ncollars, belts, and other purposes of personal adornment, as well\nas in connection with the noted wampum belts, by means of which the\nmemory of treaties and tribal traditions was handed down. These belts\nwere woven with various designs in wampum, either pictographic or\nsymbolic, the meaning of which was preserved and explained on public\noccasions by an officer appointed to that duty. In ancient times no\ntreaty or covenant was considered binding, and no tribal embassy was\nrecognized as official, without the delivery of a wampum belt as a\nguaranty and memorial. The colonial documents are full of references\nto this custom. Up to the end of the last century the Cherokee still\ntendered such belts in their treaties with the Government, and one\nwas delivered in the same manner so late as the treaty of Prairie des\nChiens in 1825. The Iroquois still preserve several ancient belts,\nof which a good idea is afforded by the illustration and accompanying\ndescription (figure 2, page 354). On account of the high estimation\nin which these shell beads were held they were frequently used in the\nEast as a standard of exchange, as eagle feathers were in the West,\nand among the Cherokee the same word, atela, is used alike for bead\nand for money. On the Pacific coast, shells were more generally\nshaped into pendants and gorgets. For a good eye-witness account\nof the manufacture and use of wampum and gorgets of shell among the\nSouth Atlantic tribes, see Lawson, History of Carolina, 315-316.\n\n\n\n90. Hiadeoni, the Seneca (p. 356): Of this story Schoolcraft says:\n\"The following incident in the verbal annals of Iroquois hardihood\nand heroism was related to me by the intelligent Seneca, Tetoyoah,\nWilliam Jones of Cattaraugus, along with other reminiscences of the\nancient Cherokee wars.\" Hewitt thinks the proper Seneca form of the\nname may be Haia'di'o\u00f1ni, signifying \"His body lies supine.\"\n\n\n\n92. Escape of the Seneca boys (p. 359): The manuscript notes from\nwhich this and several following traditions are arranged are in the\narchives of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and were obtained in\n1886-87 among the Seneca Indians of New York by Mr Jeremiah Curtin,\nsince noted as the author of several standard collections of Indian\nand European myths and the translator of the works of the Polish\nnovelist, Sienkiewicz.\n\nGowe'!--This is along drawn halloo without significance except as a\nsignal to arrest attention. It strikingly resembles the Australian\n\"bush cry\" Coowee'! used for the same purpose.\n\n\n\n93. The Unseen Helpers (p. 359): The meaning of the Seneca name can\nnot be given.\n\nAnimal Protectors--The leading incident of this tale is closely\nparalleled by a Kiowa story, told by the old men as an actual\noccurrence of some fifty years ago, concerning a warrior who, having\nbeen desperately wounded in an engagement with Mexican troops in\nsouthern Texas, was abandoned to die by his retreating comrades. At\nnight, while lying upon the ground awaiting death, and unable to move,\nhe heard a long howl in the distance, which was repeated nearer and\nnearer, until at last he heard the patter of feet in the sand, and\na wolf came up and licked the festering wounds of the warrior with\nsuch soothing effect that he fell asleep. This was repeated several\ntimes until the man was able to sit up, when the wolf left him,\nafter telling him--not in the vision of a dream, but as a companion\nface to face--that he must keep up his courage, and that he would\nget back in safety to his tribe. Soon afterward the wounded warrior\nwas found by a party of Comanche, who restored him to his people. At\nthe next Sun dance he made public thanksgiving for his rescue (see\nthe author's Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians, in Seventeenth\nAnnual Report Bureau of American Ethnology, part 1, 1901). The story\nis not impossible. A wolf may easily have licked the wounded man's\nsores, as a dog might do, and through the relief thus afforded, if\nnot by sympathy of companionship, have enabled him to hold out until\nrescued by friends. The rest is easy to the imagination of an Indian,\nwho believes that there is no essential difference between himself\nand other animals.\n\nThe War Woman--The women described as having power to decide the\nfate of captives, mentioned also in the next story (number 94), are\nevidently the female dignitaries among the ancient Cherokee known to\nearly writers as \"War Women\" or \"Pretty Women.\" Owing to the decay of\nCherokee tradition and custom it is now impossible to gather anything\npositive on the subject from Indian informants, but from documentary\nreferences it is apparent that there existed among the Cherokee a\ncustom analogous to that found among the Iroquois and probably other\nEastern tribes, by which the decision of important questions relating\nto peace and war was left to a vote of the women. Among the Iroquois\nthis privilege was exercised by a council of matrons, the mothers of\nthe tribes. It may have been the same among the Cherokee, with the\n\"Pretty Woman\" to voice the decision of the council, or the final\nrendering may have been according to the will of the \"Pretty Woman\"\nherself. The institution served in a measure to mitigate the evils of\nwar and had its origin in the clan system. Under this system a captive\nenemy was still an enemy until he had been adopted into the tribe,\nwhich could only be done through adoption into a clan and family. As\nclan descent was reckoned through the women it rested with them to\ndecide the question of adoption. If they were favorable all was well,\nand the captive became at once a member of a family and clan and of\nthe tribe at large. Otherwise, as a public enemy, only death remained\nto him, unless he was ransomed by friends. The proper Cherokee title\nof this female arbiter of life and death is unknown. The clan of\nthe Ani'-Gil\u00e2'hi, or \"Long-hairs,\" is sometimes spoken of as the\nPretty-woman clan, and the office may have been hereditary in that\nclan. The Seneca stories imply that there were two of these female\nofficers, but from Haywood's account there would seem to have been\nbut one. An upper tributary of Savannah river in Georgia bears the\nname War-woman creek.\n\nTimberlake says in 1765 (Memoirs, p. 70): \"These chiefs or headmen\nlikewise compose the assemblies of the nation, into which the war\nwomen are admitted, many of the Indian women being as famous in war\nas powerful in the council.\"\n\nAt the Hopewell treaty conference in 1785 the principal chief of\nEchota, after an opening speech, said: \"I have no more to say,\nbut one of our beloved women has, who has borne and raised up\nwarriors.\" After delivering a string of wampum to emphasize the\nimportance of the occasion, \"the war woman of Chota then addressed\nthe commissioners.\" Having expressed her pleasure at the peace,\nshe continued: \"I have a pipe and a little tobacco to give to the\ncommissioners to smoke in friendship. I look on you and the red people\nas my children. Your having determined on peace is most pleasing to\nme, for I have seen much trouble during the late war. I am old, but\nI hope yet to bear children, who will grow up and people our nation,\nas we are now to be under the protection of Congress and shall have\nno more disturbance. The talk I have given is from the young warriors\nI have raised in my town, as well as myself. They rejoice that we\nhave peace, and we hope the chain of friendship will never more be\nbroken.\" Two strings of wampum, a pipe, and some tobacco accompanied\nher words (American State Papers; Indian Affairs, I, p. 41, 1832).\n\nHaywood says in 1823: \"The Cherokees had the law or custom of assigning\nto a certain woman the office of declaring what punishment should\nbe inflicted on great offenders; whether, for instance, burning or\nother death, or whether they should be pardoned. This woman they\ncalled the pretty woman. Mrs Ward exercised this office when Mrs\nBean, about the year 1776, was taken from the white settlements on\nthe upper parts of Holston. Being bound and about to be burned on one\nof the mounds, the pretty woman interfered and pronounced her pardon\"\n(Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 278). See also historical note 20,\n\"Peace Towns and Towns of Refuge.\"\n\nBetween two lines of people--This custom, known to colonial writers as\n\"running the gauntlet,\" was very common among the eastern tribes,\nand was intended not so much to punish the captive as to test\nhis courage and endurance, with a view to adoption if he proved\nworthy. It was practiced only upon warriors, never upon women or\nchildren, and although the blows were severe they were not intended\nto be fatal. The prisoner was usually unbound and made to run along\na cleared space in the center of the village toward a certain goal,\nand was safe for the time being if he succeeded in reaching it.\n\n\n\n94. Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1's escape from the Cherokee (p. 362): The Seneca name\nis not translatable.\n\nCanebrake--The tall cane reed (Arundinaria), called i'hya by the\nCherokee, is common along the southern streams, as such names as Cany\nfork, Cut-cane creek, and Young-cane creek testify. It was greatly\nvalued among the Indians for fishing rods, blowguns, and baskets,\nas well as for fodder for stock. The best canebrakes were famous far\nand wide, and were resorted to from long distances in the gathering\nseason. Most of the cane now used by the East Cherokee for blowguns and\nbaskets is procured by long journeys on foot to the streams of upper\nSouth Carolina, or to points on the French Broad above Knoxville,\nTennessee.\n\nSky vault--See notes to number 1, \"How the World was Made.\"\n\nHawe\u00f1ni'o--The Seneca name for the Thunder god is in the singular\nform. In the Cherokee language Thunder and the Thunder spirits are\nalways spoken of in the plural. The messengers in the story may have\nbeen Thunder spirits.\n\nThought reading--See notes to number 76, \"The Bear Man.\"\n\nWoman arbiters--See the preceding story, number 93, and the note on\n\"The War Woman.\"\n\nMy grandson--Among all the eastern and plains tribes this is a term of\naffectionate address to a dependent or inferior, as \"grandfather\" is a\nrespectful address to one occupying a superior station, or venerable\nby reason of age or dignity, both words being thus used without\nany reference to kinship. In tribal councils nearly all the eastern\ntribes except the Iroquois addressed the Delaware representatives as\n\"grandfather,\" and in an Arapaho song of the Ghost dance the Whirlwind\nis thus addressed.\n\n\n\n95. Hemp-carrier (p. 364): This story of the old wars was obtained\nfrom Colonel William H. Thomas, who says that T\u00e2le'danigi'ski was a\nchief formerly living near Valleytown, in Cherokee county. The name is\nvariously rendered \"Hemp-carrier,\" \"Nettle-carrier,\" or \"Flax-toter,\"\nfrom t\u00e2le'ta, the richweed (Pilea pumila), a plant with a fibrous\nstalk from which the Indians wove thread and cordage. The trail along\nwhich the Seneca came ran from Valley river across the ridge to Cheowa\n(Robbinsville) and thence northwest to connect with the \"great war\npath\" in Tennessee (see historical note 19).\n\nCairns--Stone cairns were formerly very common along the trails\nthroughout the Cherokee country, but are now almost gone, having been\ndemolished by treasure hunters after the occupation of the country\nby the whites. They were usually sepulchral monuments built of large\nstones piled loosely together above the body to a height of sometimes\n6 feet or more, with a corresponding circumference. This method\nof interment was used only when there was a desire to commemorate\nthe death, and every passer-by was accustomed to add a stone to the\nheap. The custom is ancient and world-wide, and is still kept up in\nMexico and in many parts of Europe and Asia. Early references to it\namong the southern tribes occur in Lederer (1670), Travels, page 10,\ned. 1891, and Lawson (1700), History of Carolina, pages 43 and 78,\ned. 1860. The latter mentions meeting one day \"seven heaps of stones,\nbeing the monuments of seven Indians that were slain in that place by\nthe Sinnagers or Troquois [Iroquois]. Our Indian guide added a stone\nto each heap.\" The common name is the Gaelic term, meaning literally\n\"a pile.\"\n\nSeven wives--Polygamy was common among the Cherokee, as among nearly\nall other tribes, although not often to such an exaggerated extent\nas in this instance. The noted chief Y\u00e2n\u00fbg\u00fb\u00f1ski, who died in 1839,\nhad two wives. With the plains tribes, and perhaps with others, the\nman who marries the eldest of several daughters has prior claim upon\nher unmarried sisters.\n\n\n\n96. The Seneca peacemakers (p. 365): This story was told to Schoolcraft\nby the Seneca more than fifty years ago. A somewhat similar story\nis related by Adair (Hist. American Indians, p. 392) of a young\n\"Anantooeah\" (i. e., N\u00fbndawegi or Seneca) warrior taken by the Shawano.\n\nDeath song--It seems to have been a chivalrous custom among the eastern\ntribes to give to the condemned prisoner who requested it a chance to\nrecite his warlike deeds and to sing his death song before proceeding\nto the final torture. He was allowed the widest latitude of boasting,\neven at the expense of his captors and their tribe. The death song\nwas a chant belonging to the warrior himself or to the war society of\nwhich he was a member, the burden being farewell to life and defiance\nto death. When the great Kiowa war chief, Set-\u00e4ngya, burst his shackles\nat Fort Sill and sprang upon the soldiers surrounding him, with the\ndeliberate purpose to sell his life rather than to remain a prisoner,\nhe first sang the war song of his order, the K\u00e2itse\u00f1'ko, of which the\nrefrain is: \"O earth, you remain forever, but we K\u00e2itse\u00f1'ko must die\"\n(see the author's Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians, in Seventeenth\nAnnual Report of the Bureau American Ethnology, part 1, 1901).\n\n\n\n97. Origin of the Yonto\u00f1wisas dance (p. 365): This is evidently the\none called by Morgan (League of Iroquois, p. 290) the Untowesus. He\ndescribes both this and the Oaskanea as a \"shuffle dance\" for women\nonly. The spelling of the Seneca names in the story is that given in\nthe manuscript.\n\nNot to go after--Morgan, in his work quoted above, asserts that the\nIroquois never made any effort to recover those of their people\nwho have been captured by the enemy, choosing to consider them\nthenceforth as lost to their tribe and kindred. This, if true, is\ndoubly remarkable, in view of the wholesale adoption of prisoners\nand subjugated tribes by the Iroquois.\n\nBlazing pine knots--Torches of seasoned pine knots are much in use\namong the Cherokee for lighting up the way on journeys along the\ndifficult mountain trails by night. Owing to the accumulation of\nresin in the knots they burn with a bright and enduring flame, far\nsurpassing the cloudy glow of a lantern.\n\nWild potatoes--As is well known, the potato is indigenous to America,\nand our first knowledge of it came to us from the Indians. Many other\nnative tubers were in use among the tribes, even those which practiced\nno agriculture, but depended almost entirely upon the chase. Favorites\namong the Cherokee are the Cynara scolymus or wild artichoke, and the\nPhaseolus or pig potato, the name of the latter, nuna, being now used\nto designate the cultivated potato.\n\nSky people--These spirit messengers are mentioned also in the story\nof Hatcino\u00f1do\u00f1 (number 94), another Seneca tradition. Every tribe\nhas its own spirit creation.\n\nMust do all this--Every sacred dance and religious rite, as well as\nalmost every important detail of Indian ceremonial, is supposed to\nbe in accordance with direct instruction from the spirit world as\ncommunicated in a vision.\n\n\n\n98. Ga'na's adventures among the Cherokee (p. 367): This story,\nfrom Curtin's Seneca manuscript, is particularly rich in Indian\nallusion. The purificatory rite, the eagle capture, the peace\nceremonial, the ballplay, the foot race, and the battle are all\ndescribed in a way that gives us a vivid picture of the old tribal\nlife. The name of the Seneca hero, Ga'na', signifies, according\nto Hewitt, \"Arrow\" (cf. Cherokee g\u00fbni, \"arrow\"), while the name of\nthe great eagle, Shada'gea, may, according to the same authority, be\nrendered \"Cloud-dweller.\" The Seoqgwageono, living east of the Cherokee\nand near the ocean, can not be identified. They could not have been\nthe Catawba, who were known to the Iroquois as Toderigh-rono, but\nthey may possibly have been the Congaree, Santee, or Sewee, farther\ndown in South Carolina. In the Seneca form, as here given, ge (ge`)\nis a locative, and ono (o\u00f1no\u00f1) a tribal suffix qualifying the root\nof the word, the whole name signifying \"people of, or at, Seoqgwa\"\n(cf. Oyadageono, etc., i. e., Cherokee, p. 186).\n\nGo to water--This rite, as practiced among the Cherokee, has been\nalready noted in the chapter on stories and story tellers. Ceremonial\npurification by water or the sweat bath, accompanied by prayer and\nfasting, is almost universal among the tribes as a preliminary to every\nimportant undertaking. With the Cherokee it precedes the ballplay and\nthe Green-corn dance, and is a part of the ritual for obtaining long\nlife, for winning the affections of a woman, for recovering from a\nwasting sickness, and for calling down prosperity upon the family at\neach return of the new moon.\n\nGet the eagle feathers--The Cherokee ritual for procuring eagle\nfeathers for ceremonial and decorative purposes has been described in\nnumber 35, \"The Bird Tribes.\" The Seneca method, as here described,\nis practically that in use among all the Indians of the plains,\nalthough the hunter is not usually satisfied with a single feather\nat a capture. Among certain western tribes the eagle was sometimes\nstrangled before being stripped of its feathers, but it was essential\nthat the body must not be mangled or any blood be drawn. The Pueblos\nwere sometimes accustomed to take the young eagles from the nest and\nkeep them in cages for their feathers. A full tail contains twelve\nlarge feathers of the kind used for war bonnets and on the wands of\nthe Eagle dance.\n\nStockade--Stockaded villages were common to the Iroquois and most of\nthe tribes along the Atlantic coast. They are mentioned also among the\nCherokee in some of the exaggerated narratives of the early Spanish\nperiod, but were entirely unknown within the later colonial period,\nand it is very doubtful if the nature of the country would permit\nsuch compact mode of settlement.\n\nDancers went forward--The method of ceremonial approach here described\nwas probably more or less general among the eastern tribes. On the\nplains the visitors usually dismount in sight of the other camp and\nadvance on foot in slow procession, chanting the \"visiting song,\"\nwhile the leader holds out the red stone pipe, which is the symbol\nof truce or friendship. For a good description of such a ceremonial,\nreproduced from Battey, see the author's Calendar History of the Kiowa\nIndians, in the Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American\nEthnology. In this instance the visiting Pawnee carried a flag in\nlieu of a pipe.\n\nThe Cherokee ceremonial is thus described by Timberlake as witnessed at\nCitico in 1762: 'About 100 yards from the town-house we were received\nby a body of between three and four hundred Indians, ten or twelve of\nwhich were entirely naked, except a piece of cloth about their middle,\nand painted all over in a hideous manner, six of them with eagles'\ntails in their hands, which they shook and flourished as they advanced,\ndanced in a very uncommon figure, singing in concert with some drums\nof their own make, and those of the late unfortunate Capt. Damere;\nwith several other instruments, uncouth beyond description. Cheulah,\nthe headman of the town, led the procession, painted blood-red, except\nhis face, which was half black, holding an old rusty broad-sword in\nhis right hand, and an eagle's tail in his left. As they approached,\nCheulah, singling himself out from the rest, cut two or three capers,\nas a signal to the other eagle-tails, who instantly followed his\nexample. This violent exercise, accompanied by the band of musick,\nand a loud yell from the mob, lasted about a minute, when the headman,\nwaving his sword over my head, struck it into the ground, about two\ninches from my left foot; then directing himself to me, made a short\ndiscourse (which my interpreter told me was only to bid me a hearty\nwelcome) and presented me with a string of beads. We then proceeded\nto the door, where Cheulah, and one of the beloved men, taking me\nby each arm, led me in, and seated me in one of the first seats;\nit was so dark that nothing was perceptible till a fresh supply\nof canes were brought, which being burnt in the middle of the house\nanswers both purposes of fuel and candle. I then discovered about five\nhundred faces; and Cheulah addressing me a second time, made a speech\nmuch to the same effect as the former, congratulating me on my safe\narrival thro' the numerous parties of northern Indians, that generally\nhaunt the way I came. He then made some professions of friendship,\nconcluding with giving me another string of beads, as a token of\nit. He had scarce finished, when four of those who had exhibited at\nthe procession made their second appearance, painted in milk-white,\ntheir eagle-tails in one hand, and small gourds with beads in them\nin the other, which they rattled in time to the musick. During this\ndance the peace-pipe was prepared.\"--Timberlake, Memoirs, pp. 36-39.\n\nAdair also makes brief mention of the ceremony among the Gulf tribes\n(Hist. Am. Indians, p. 260), but his account is too badly warped by\ntheorizing to have much value.\n\nAdopt a relative--This seems to point to a custom which has escaped\nthe notice of earlier writers on the eastern tribes, but which is well\nknown in Africa and other parts of the world, and is closely analogous\nto a still existing ceremony among the plains Indians by which two\nyoung men of the same tribe formally agree to become brothers, and\nratify the compact by a public exchange of names and gifts.\n\nWhite wampum--As is well known, white was universally typical of\npeace. The traditional peace-pipe of the Cherokee was of white stone\nand the word itself is symbolic of peace and happiness in their oratory\nand sacred formulas. Thus the speaker at the Green-corn dance invites\nthe people to come along the white path and enter the white house of\npeace to partake of the new white food.\n\nHeld up the belt--As already noted, every paragraph of an ambassador's\nspeech was accompanied by the delivery of a string or belt of wampum\nto give authority to his words, and to accept the belt was to accept\nthe condition or compact which it typified. On the plains the red\nstone pipe took the place of the wampum.\n\nTry a race--Public foot races were common among many tribes, more\nparticularly in the West among the Pueblos, the Apache, and the\nWichita, either as simple athletic contests or in connection with\nreligious ceremonials. On the plains the horse race is more in favor\nand is always the occasion of almost unlimited betting.\n\nThrowing sumac darts--The throwing of darts and arrows, either at a\nmark or simply to see who can throw farthest, is a favorite amusement\namong the young men and boys. The arrows used for this purpose are\nusually longer and heavier than the ordinary ones, having carved wooden\nheads and being artistically painted. They are sometimes tipped with\nthe end of a buffalo horn.\n\n\n\n99. The Shawano wars (p. 370): The chief authority as to the expulsion\nof the Shawano from Tennessee is Haywood (Natural and Aboriginal\nHistory of Tennessee, pp. 222-224). The Schoolcraft reference is from\nNotes on the Iroquois, p. 160, and the notice of the Cherokee-Delaware\nwar from Loskiel, Mission of United Brethren, p. 128, and Heckewelder,\nIndian Nations, p. 88. The Tun\u00e2'i story is from Wafford; the other\nincidents from Swimmer.\n\nShawano--The Shawano or Shawnee were one of the most important\nof the Algonquian tribes. Their most noted chief was the great\nTecumtha. The meaning of the name is doubtful. It is commonly\ninterpreted \"Southerners,\" from the Algonquian shawan, \"the south,\"\nbut may have come from another Algonquian word signifying \"salt\"\n(siutagan, sewetagan, etc., from sewan, \"sweet, pungent\"). Unlike\nthe southern Indians generally, the Shawano were great salt users,\nand carried on an extensive salt manufacture by boiling at the salt\nsprings of southwestern Virginia, furnishing the product in trade to\nother tribes. They have thirteen clans--Wolf, Loon, Bear, Buzzard,\nPanther, Owl, Turkey, Deer, Raccoon, Turtle, Snake, Horse, and Rabbit\n(Morgan), the clan of the individual being indicated by his name. They\nare organized also into four divisions or bands, perhaps originally\nindependent allied tribes, viz, Piqua, Mequachake, Kiscopocoke, and\nChilicothe. To the second of these belonged the hereditary priesthood,\nbut the first was most prominent and apparently most numerous. The\nShawano were of very wandering and warlike habit. Their earliest\nhistorical habitat appears to have been on the middle Savannah river,\nwhich takes its name from them, but before the end of the seventeenth\ncentury we find a portion of them, apparently the main body, occupying\nthe basin of the Cumberland river in Tennessee and the adjacent region\nof Kentucky. About the year 1692 most of those remaining in South\nCarolina moved northward and settled upon the upper Delaware river,\nwith their relatives and friends the Delaware and Mahican. These\nemigrants appear to have been of the Piqua division. Up to about the\nyear 1730 the Shawano still had a town on Savannah river, near Augusta,\nfrom which they were finally driven by the Cherokee. From their former\nintimate association with the Uchee, living in the same neighborhood,\nsome early writers have incorrectly supposed the two tribes to be\nthe same. A part of the Shawano joined the Creek confederary, and up\nto the beginning of the last century, and probably until the final\nremoval to the West, occupied a separate town and retained their\ndistinct language. Those settled upon the Cumberland were afterward\nexpelled by the Cherokee and Chickasaw, and retired to the upper waters\nof the Ohio under protection of the Delaware, who had given refuge\nto the original emigrants from South Carolina. With the advance of\nthe white settlements the two tribes moved westward into Ohio, the\nShawano fixing themselves in the vicinity of the present Piqua and\nChillicothe about the year 1750. They took a leading part in the French\nand Indian war, Pontiac's war, the Revolution, and the war of 1812. In\n1793 a considerable band settled in Missouri upon lands granted by\nthe Spanish government. As a result of successive sales and removals\nall that remain of the tribe are now established in Indian Territory,\nabout one-half being incorporated with the Cherokee Nation. In 1900\nthey numbered about 1,580, viz, in Cherokee Nation (in 1898), 790;\nAbsentee Shawnee of Sac and Fox Agency, 509; Absentee Shawnee of Big\nJim's band, special agency, 184; Eastern Shawnee of Quapaw Agency,\n93. There are also a few scattered among other tribes. For detailed\ninformation consult Drake, Life of Tecumseh; Heckewelder, Indian\nNations; Brinton, Len\u00e2p\u00e9 and Their Legends; American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I and II; Annual Reports of the Commissioner of\nIndian Affairs.\n\n\n\n100. The raid on Tikwali'tsi (p. 374): Swimmer, from whom this story\nwas obtained, was of opinion that the event occurred when his mother\nwas a little girl, say about 1795, but it must have been earlier.\n\nThe locations are all in Swain county, North Carolina. Tikwali'tsi\ntown was on Tuckasegee river, at the present Bryson City, immediately\nbelow and adjoining the more important town of Kituhwa. Deep creek\nenters the Tuckasegee from the north, about a mile above Bryson\nCity. The place where the trail crossed is called Uniga'yata`ti'yi,\n\"Where they made a fish trap,\" a name which may have suggested the\nsimile used by the story teller. The place where the Cherokee crossed,\nabove Deep creek, is called Uniy\u00e2'hit\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where they shot it.\" The\ncliff over which the prisoners were thrown is called Kala'as\u00fb\u00f1yi,\n\"Where he fell off,\" near Cold Spring knob, west of Deep creek. The\nCherokee halted for a night at Agitsta`ti'yi, \"Where they staid up\nall night,\" a few miles beyond, on the western head fork of Deep\ncreek. They passed K\u00fbnst\u00fbtsi'yi, \"Sassafras place,\" a gap about\nthe head of Noland creek, near Clingman's dome, and finally gave up\nthe pursuit where the trail crossed into Tennessee, at a gap on the\nmain ridge, just below Clingman's dome, known as Duniya'`t\u00e2`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\n\"Where there are shelves,\" so called from an exposure of flat rock\non the top of the ridge (see the glossary).\n\nMagic arts--It is almost superfluous to state that no Indian war\nparty ever started out without a vast deal of conjuring and \"making\nmedicine\" to discover the whereabouts and strength of the enemy and\nto insure victory and safe return to the departing warriors.\n\nWait for death--The Indian usually meets inevitable fate with\nequanimity, and more than once in our Indian wars an aged warrior or\nhelpless woman, unable to escape, has sat down upon the ground, and,\nwith blanket drawn over the head, calmly awaited the fatal bullet or\nhatchet stroke.\n\n\n\n101. The last Shawano invasion (p. 374): This story also is from\nSwimmer, whose antiquarian interest in the history of these wars\nmay have been heightened by the fact that he had a slight strain of\nShawano blood himself. The descendants of the old chief Sawanu'gi and\nhis brothers, originally of Shawano stock, as the name indicates, have\nbeen prominent in the affairs of the East Cherokee for more than half\na century, and one of them, bearing the ancestral name, is now second\nchief of the band and starter of the game at every large ballplay.\n\nThe cry of an owl--One of the commonest claims put forth by the\nmedicine men is that of ability to understand the language of birds\nand to obtain supernatural knowledge from them, particularly from the\nowl, which is regarded with a species of fear by the laity, as the\nembodiment of a human ghost, on account of its nocturnal habit and\ngenerally uncanny appearance. A medicine man who died a few years ago\namong the Kiowa claimed to derive his powers from that bird. The body\nof an owl, wrapped in red cloth and decorated with various trinkets,\nwas kept constantly suspended from a tall pole set up in front of\nhis tipi, and whenever at night the warning cry sounded from the\nthicket he was accustomed to leave his place at the fire and go out,\nreturning in a short while with a new revelation.\n\nRafts--The Cherokee canoe is hewn from a poplar log and is too heavy\nto be carried about like the bark canoe of the northern tribes. As a\ntemporary expedient they sometimes used a bear or buffalo skin, tying\nthe legs together at each end to fashion a rude boat. Upon this the\nbaggage was loaded, while the owner swam behind, pushing it forward\nthrough the water.\n\n\n\n102. The false warriors of Chilhowee (p. 375): This story was given\nby Swimmer and corroborated by others as that of an actual incident\nof the old times. The middle Cherokee (Kituhwa) settlements, on the\nhead-streams of the Little Tennessee, were separated from the upper\nsettlements, about its junction with the main Tennessee, by many\nmiles of extremely rough mountain country. Dialectic differences\nand local jealousies bred friction, which sometimes brought the two\nsections into collision and rendered possible such an occurrence as\nis here narrated. On account of this jealousy, according to Adair,\nthe first Cherokee war, which began in 1760, concerned for some\ntime only a part of the tribe. \"According to the well-known temper\nof the Cheerake in similar cases it might either have remained so,\nor soon have been changed into a very hot civil war, had we been so\nwise as to have improved the favourable opportunity. There were seven\nnorthern towns, opposite to the middle parts of the Cheerake country,\nwho from the beginning of the unhappy grievances, firmly dissented\nfrom the hostile intentions of their suffering and enraged countrymen,\nand for a considerable time before bore them little good will, on\naccount of some family disputes which occasioned each party to be\nmore favourable to itself than to the other. These would readily have\ngratified their vindictive disposition either by a neutrality or an\noffensive alliance with our colonists against them\" (History of the\nAmerican Indians, page 248).\n\nChilhowee (properly Ts\u00fb`l\u00fb\u00f1'we or Ts\u00fb`la'wi) was a noted settlement\non the south bank of Little Tennessee river, opposite the present\nChilhowee, in Monroe county, Tennessee. Cowee (properly Kawi'yi,\nabbreviated Kawi') was the name of two or more former settlements. The\none here meant was at the junction of Cowee creek with Little Tennessee\nriver, a short distance below the present Franklin, in Macon county,\nNorth Carolina. Neither name can be analyzed. The gunstocker's name,\nG\u00fblsadi'hi or G\u00fbltsadi'hi, and that of the original owner of the gun,\nG\u00fb\u00f1skali'ski, are both of doubtful etymology.\n\nGreat war trail--See historical note 19.\n\nScalp dance--This dance, common to every tribe east of the Rocky\nmountains, was held to celebrate the taking of fresh scalps from\nthe enemy. The scalps, painted red on the fleshy side, decorated and\nstretched in small hoops attached to the ends of poles, were carried\nin the dance by the wives and sweethearts of the warriors, while in\nthe pauses of the song each warrior in turn recited his exploits in\nminute detail. Among the Cherokee it was customary for the warrior as\nhe stepped into the center of the circle to suggest to the drummer an\nimprovised song which summed up in one or two words his own part in\nthe encounter. A new \"war name\" was frequently assumed after the dance\n(see sketch of Tsunu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'ski, page 164). Dances were held over the\nsame scalps on consecutive nights or sometimes at short intervals\nfor weeks together.\n\nComing for water--The getting of water from the neighboring stream\nor spring was a daily duty of the women, and accordingly we find in\nIndian stories constant allusion to ambuscades or lovers' appointments\nat such places.\n\nTo have a ballplay--See note under number 3, Kana'ti and Selu.\n\n\n\n103. Cowee town: See the preceeding note.\n\n\n\n104. The eastern tribes (p. 378): Delaware--The Delawares derive\ntheir popular name from the river upon which, in the earliest\ncolonial period, they had their principal settlements. They call\nthemselves Lena'pe or Leni-lena'pe, a term apparently signifying\n\"real, or original men,\" or \"men of our kind.\" To the cognate tribes\nof the Ohio valley and the lakes they were known as Wapanaq'ki,\n\"easterners,\" the name being extended to include the closely related\ntribes, the Mahican, Wappinger (i. e. Wapanaq'ki), Nanticoke, and\nConoy. By all the widespread tribes of kindred Algonquian stock, as\nwell as by the Winnebago, Wyandot, and Cherokee, they were addressed\nunder the respectful title of \"grandfather,\" the domineering Iroquois\nalone refusing to them any higher designation than \"nephew.\"\n\nTheir various bands and subtribes seem originally to have occupied\nthe whole basin of Delaware river, together with all of New\nJersey, extending north to the watershed of the Hudson and west\nand southwest to the ridge separating the waters of the Delaware\nand Susquehanna. Immediately north of them, along the lower Hudson\nand extending into Massachusetts and Connecticut, were the closely\naffiliated Mahican and Wappinger, while to the south were their\nfriends and kindred, the Nanticoke and Conoy, the former in Delaware\nand on the eastern shore of Maryland, the latter between Chesapeake\nbay and the lower Potomac. All of these, although speaking different\nlanguages of the common Algonquian stock, asserted their traditional\norigin from the Delawares, with whom, in their declining days, most of\nthem were again merged. The Delawares proper were organized into three\ndivisions, which, according to Brinton, were subtribes and not clans,\nalthough each of the three had a totemic animal by whose name it was\ncommonly known. These three subtribes were: (1) The Minsi or Munsee\n(people of the \"stony country\"?), otherwise known as the Wolf tribe,\noccupying the hill country about the head of the Delaware; (2) the\nUnami (people \"downstream\"), or Turtle tribe, on the middle Delaware,\nand (3) the Unalachtgo (people \"near the ocean\"?), or Turkey tribe,\nin the southern part of the common territory. Of these the Turtle\ntribe assumed precedence in the council, while to the Wolf tribe\nbelonged the leadership in war. Each of these three was divided into\ntwelve families, or embryonic clans, bearing female names. In this\nconnection it may be mentioned that the Delawares now residing with\nthe Wichita, in Oklahoma, still use the figure of a turtle as their\ndistinctive cattle brand.\n\nOf the history of the Delawares it is only possible to say a very few\nwords here. Their earliest European relations were with the Dutch and\nSwedes. In 1682 they made the famous treaty with William Penn, which\nwas faithfully observed on both sides for sixty years. Gradually forced\nbackward by the whites, they retired first to the Susquehanna, then to\nthe upper Ohio, where, on the breaking out of the French and Indian\nwar in 1754, they ranged themselves on the side of the French. They\nfought against the Americans in the Revolution, and in the war of\n1812, having by that time been driven as far west as Indiana. In\n1818 they ceded all their lands in that State and were assigned to a\nreservation in Kansas, where they were joined by a considerable body\nthat had emigrated to Missouri, in company with a band of Shawano,\nsome years before, by permission of the Spanish government. About the\nclose of the Revolution another portion of the tribe, including most\nof those who had been Christianized by Moravian missionaries, had fled\nfrom Ohio and taken up a permanent abode on Canadian soil. In 1867 the\nmain body of those in Kansas removed to Indian Territory and became\nincorporated with the Cherokee Nation. A smaller band settled on the\nWichita reservation in Oklahoma. The present number of Delawares is,\napproximately, 1,600, viz: \"Moravians and Munsees of the Thames,\"\nOntario, 475; incorporated in Cherokee Nation, 870 (in 1898); on\nWichita reservation, 95; Munsee in Kansas and incorporated with\nStockbridges in Wisconsin, perhaps 100; Delawares, etc., with Six\nNations, in New York, 50.\n\nOf their former allies, the Wappinger and Conoy have long since\ndisappeared through absorption into other tribes; the Mahican are\nrepresented by a band of about 530 Stockbridge Indians, including\na number of Munsee, in Wisconsin, while about 70 mixed bloods still\nkeep up the Nanticoke name in southern Delaware.\n\nTuscarora--The Tuscarora, a southern tribe of the Iroquoian stock,\nformerly occupied an extensive territory upon Neuse river and its\nbranches, in eastern North Carolina, and, like their northern cousins,\nseem to have assumed and exercised a certain degree of authority\nover all the smaller tribes about them. As early as 1670 Lederer\ndescribed the Tuscarora \"emperor\" as the haughtiest Indian he had\never met. About the year 1700 Lawson estimated them at 1,200 warriors\n(6,000 souls?) in 15 towns. In 1711 they rose against the whites,\none of their first acts of hostility being the killing of Lawson\nhimself, who was engaged in surveying lands which they claimed as\ntheir own. In a struggle extending over about two years they were so\nterribly decimated that the greater portion fled from Carolina and\ntook refuge with their kinsmen and friends, the Iroquois of New York,\nwho were henceforth known as the Six Nations. The so-called \"friendly\"\nparty, under Chief Blount, was settled upon a small reservation north\nof Roanoke river in what is now Bertie county, North Carolina. Here\nthey gradually decreased by disease and emigration to the north, until\nthe few who were left sold their last remaining lands in 1804. The\nhistory of the tribe after the removal to the north is a part of the\nhistory of the Iroquois or Six Nations. They number now about 750,\nof whom about 380 are on the Tuscarora reservation in New York,\nthe others upon the Grand River reservation in Ontario.\n\nXuala, Suwali, Sara or Cheraw--For the identification and earliest\nnotices of the Sara see historical note 8, \"De Soto's Route.\" Their\nlater history is one of almost constant hostility to the whites\nuntil their final incorporation with the Catawba, with whom they were\nprobably cognate, about the year 1720. In 1743 they still preserved\ntheir distinct language, and appear to be last mentioned in 1768, when\nthey numbered about 50 souls living among the Catawba. See Mooney,\nSiouan Tribes of the East, bulletin of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1894.\n\nCatawba--The origin and meaning of this name, which dates back at\nleast two centuries, are unknown. It may possibly come from the Choctaw\nthrough the Mobilian trade jargon. They call themselves Nieye, which\nmeans simply \"people\" or \"Indians.\" The Iroquois call them and other\ncognate tribes in their vicinity Toderigh-rono, whence Tutelo. In\nthe seventeenth century they were often known as Esaw or Ushery,\napparently from iswa', river, in their own language. The Cherokee name\nAta'gwa, plural Ani'ta'gwa, is a corruption of the popular form. Their\nlinguistic affinity with the Siouan stock was established by Gatschet\nin 1881. See Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East.\n\n\n\n105. The southern and western tribes (p. 382): The Creek\nconfederacy--Next in importance to the Cherokee, among the southern\ntribes, were the Indians of the Creek confederacy, occupying the\ngreater portion of Georgia and Alabama, immediately south of the\nCherokee. They are said to have been called Creeks by the early traders\non account of the abundance of small streams in their country. Before\nthe whites began to press upon them their tribes held nearly all the\nterritory from the Atlantic westward to about the watershed between\nthe Tombigby and the Pearl and Pascagoula rivers, being cut off\nfrom the Gulf coast by the Choctaw tribes, and from the Savannah,\nexcept near the mouth, by the Uchee, Shawano, and Cherokee. About\nthe year 1800 the confederacy comprised 75 towns, the people of 47 of\nwhich were the Upper Creeks, centering about the upper waters of the\nAlabama, while those of the remaining 28 were the Lower Creeks, upon\nthe lower Chattahoochee and its branches (Hawkins). Among them were\nrepresented a number of tribes formerly distinct and speaking distinct\nlanguages. The ruling tribe and language was the Muscogee (plural,\nMuscog\u00fblgee), which frequently gave its name to the confederacy. Other\nlanguages were the Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee, Taskigi, Uchee, Natchee,\nand Sawanugi or Shawano. The Muscogee, Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee,\nand Taskigi (?) belonged to the Muskhogean stock, the Alabama and\nKoasati, however, being nearer linguistically to the Choctaw than\nto the Muscogee. The Hichitee represent the conquered or otherwise\nincorporated Muskhogean tribes of the Georgia coast region. The\nApalachi on Appalachee bay in Florida, who were conquered by the\nEnglish about 1705 and afterward incorporated with the Creeks, were\ndialectically closely akin to the Hichitee; the Seminole also were\nlargely an offshoot from this tribe. Of the Taskigi all that is known\nhas been told elsewhere (see number 105).\n\nThe Uchee, Natchee, and Sawanugi were incorporated tribes, differing\nradically in language from each other and from the Muskhogean\ntribes. The territory of the Uchee included both banks of the middle\nSavannah, below the Cherokee, and extended into middle Georgia. They\nhad a strong race pride, claiming to be older in the country than the\nMuscogee, and are probably identical with the people of Cofitachiqui,\nmentioned in the early Spanish narratives. According to Hawkins,\ntheir incorporation with the Creeks was brought about in consequence\nof intermarriages about the year 1729. The Natchee or Natchez were\nan important tribe residing in lower Mississippi, in the vicinity of\nthe present town of that name, until driven out by the French about\nthe year 1730, when most of them took refuge with the Creeks, while\nothers joined the Chickasaw and Cherokee. The Sawanugi were Shawano\nwho kept their town on Savannah river, near the present Augusta,\nafter the main body of their tribe had removed to the north about\n1692. They probably joined the Creeks about the same time as their\nfriends, the Uchee. The Uchee still constitute a compact body of about\n600 souls in the Creek Nation, keeping up their distinct language\nand tribal character. The Natchee are reduced to one or two old men,\nwhile the Sawanugi have probably lost their identity long ago.\n\nAccording to Morgan, the Muscogee proper, and perhaps also their\nincorporated tribes, have 22 clans. Of these the Wind appears to be\nthe leading one, possessing privileges accorded to no other clan,\nincluding the hereditary guardianship of the ancient metal tablets\nwhich constitute the palladium of the tribe. By the treaty of\nWashington in 1832, the Creeks sold all of their remaining lands in\ntheir old country and agreed to remove west of the Mississippi to what\nis now the Creek Nation in the Indian Territory. The removal extended\nover a period of several years and was not finally accomplished until\n1845. In 1898 the citizen population of the Creek Nation numbered\n14,771, of whom 10,014 were of Indian blood and the remainder were\nnegroes, their former slaves. It appears that the Indian population\nincluded about 700 from other tribes, chiefly Cherokee. There are also\nabout 300 Alabama, \"Cushatta\" (Koasati), and Muscogee in Texas. See\nalso Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country; Gatschet, Creek Migration\nLegend; Adair, History of the American Indians; Bartram, Travels;\nThe Five Civilized Tribes, Bulletin of the Eleventh Census; Wyman,\nin Alabama Historical Society Collections.\n\nChickasaw--This tribe, of Muskhogean stock, formerly occupied\nnorthern Mississippi and adjacent portions of Alabama and Tennessee,\nand at an early period had incorporated also several smaller tribes\non Yazoo river in central Mississippi, chief among which were the\ncognate Chokchuma. The name occurs first in the De Soto narrative. The\nChickasaw language was simply a dialect of Choctaw, although the two\ntribes were hereditary enemies and differed widely in character, the\nformer being active and warlike, while the latter were notoriously\nsluggish. Throughout the colonial period the Chickasaw were the\nconstant enemies of the French and friends of the English, but they\nremained neutral in the Revolution. By the treaty of Pontotoc in\n1832 they sold their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to\nremove to Indian Territory, where they are now organized as the\nChickasaw Nation. According to Morgan they have 12 clans grouped\ninto two phratries. In 1890, the citizen population of the Nation\n(under Chickasaw laws) consisted of 3,941 full-blood and mixed-blood\nChickasaw, 681 adopted whites, 131 adopted negroes, and 946 adopted\nIndians from other tribes, chiefly Choctaws. Under the present law,\nby which citizenship claims are decided by a Government commission,\n\"Chickasaw by blood\" are reported in 1898 to number 4,230, while\n\"white and negro\" citizens are reported at 4,818. See also Gatschet,\nCreek Migration Legend; The Five Civilized Tribes, Bulletin of\nEleventh Census.\n\nThe Choctaw confederacy--This was a loose alliance of tribes,\nchiefly of Muskhogean stock, occupying southern Alabama and\nMississippi, with the adjacent Gulf coast of western Florida and\neastern Louisiana. The Choctaw proper, of Muskhogean stock, occupying\nsouth central Mississippi, was the dominant tribe. Smaller tribes\nmore or less closely affiliated were the Mobilian, Tohome, Mugulasha,\nPascagoula, Biloxi, Acolapissa, Bayagoula, Houma, with others of less\nnote. It had been assumed that all of these were of Muskhogean stock\nuntil Gatschet in 1886 established the fact that the Biloxi were of\nSiouan affinity, and it is quite probable that the Pascagoula also\nwere of the same connection. All the smaller tribes excepting the\nBiloxi were practically extinct, or had entirely lost their identity,\nbefore the year 1800.\n\nThe Choctaw were one of the largest of the eastern tribes, being\nexceeded in numbers, if at all, only by the Cherokee; but this apparent\nsuperiority was neutralized by their unwarlike character and lack\nof cohesion. According to Morgan, whose statement has, however, been\nchallenged, they had eight clans grouped into two phratries. There was\nalso a geographic division into \"Long towns,\" \"Potato-eating towns,\"\nand \"Six towns,\" the last named differing considerably in dialect and\ncustom from the others. By treaties in 1820 and 1830 the Choctaw sold\nall their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remove to Indian\nTerritory, where they now constitute the Choctaw Nation. A considerable\nnumber of vagrant Choctaw who had drifted into Louisiana and Arkansas\nat an early period have since joined their kindred in Indian Territory,\nbut from 1,000 to 2,000 are still scattered along the swampy Gulf coast\nof Mississippi. In 1890 those of pure or mixed Choctaw blood in the\nChoctaw Nation were officially reported to number 10,211. In 1899,\nunder different conditions of citizenship, the \"Choctaw by blood\"\nwere put at 14,256, while the adopted whites and negroes numbered\n5,150. See also Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; The Five Civilized\nTribes, Bulletin of Eleventh Census.\n\nThe Osage--The popular name is a corruption of Ouasage, the French\nspelling of Wasash, the name used by themselves. The Osage were the\nprincipal southern Siouan tribe, claiming at one time nearly the whole\nterritory from the Missouri to the Arkansas and from the Mississippi\nfar out into the plains. Their geographic position brought them equally\ninto contact with the agricultural and sedentary tribes of the eastern\ncountry and the roving hunters of the prairie, and in tribal habit\nand custom they formed a connecting link between the two. Whether or\nnot they deserved the reputation, they were considered by all their\nneighbors as particularly predatory and faithless in character, and\nhad consequently few friends, but were generally at war with all\ntribes alike. They made their first treaty with the Government in\n1808. In 1825 they ceded all their claims in Missouri and Arkansas,\ntogether with considerable territory in what is now Kansas. They\nhave decreased terribly from war and dissipation, and are now, to\nthe number of about 1,780, gathered upon a reservation in Oklahoma\njust west of the Cherokee and south of the Kansas line.\n\n\n\n106. The Giants from the west (p. 391): This may be an exaggerated\naccount of a visit from some warriors of a taller tribe from the\nplains, where it is customary to pluck out the eyebrows and to wear\nthe hair in two long side pendants, wrapped round with otter skin\nand reaching to the knees, thus giving a peculiar expression to the\neyes and an appearance of tallness which is sometimes deceptive. The\nOsage warriors have, however, long been noted for their height.\n\nWith the exception of Tsul`kal\u00fb' there seem to be no giants in the\nmythology of the Cherokee, although all their woods and waters are\npeopled by invisible fairy tribes. This appears to be characteristic\nof Indian mythologies generally, the giants being comparatively few in\nnumber while the \"little people\" are legion. The Iroquois have a story\nof an invasion by a race of stony-skinned cannibal giants from the\nwest (Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, p. 266). Giant races occur also\nin the mythologies of the Navaho (Matthews, Navaho Legends), Choctaw\n(Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend), and other tribes. According to\nthe old Spanish chroniclers, Ayllon in 1520 met on the coast of South\nCarolina a tribe of Indians whose chiefs were of gigantic size, owing,\nas he was told, to a special course of dieting and massage to which\nthey were subjected in infancy.\n\n\n\n107. The lost Cherokee (p. 391): This tradition as here given is taken\nchiefly from the Wahnenauhi manuscript. There is a persistent belief\namong the Cherokee that a portion of their people once wandered\nfar to the west or southwest, where they were sometimes heard of\nafterward, but were never again reunited with their tribe. It was\nthe hope of verifying this tradition and restoring his lost kinsmen\nto their tribe that led Sequoya to undertake the journey on which he\nlost his life. These traditional lost Cherokee are entirely distinct\nfrom the historic emigrants who removed from the East shortly after\nthe Revolution.\n\nSimilar stories are common to nearly all the tribes. Thus the Kiowa\ntell of a chief who, many years ago, quarreled over a division of game\nand led his people far away across the Rocky mountains, where they\nare still living somewhere about the British border and still keeping\ntheir old Kiowa language. The Tonkawa tell of a band of their people\nwho in some way were cut off from the tribe by a sudden inroad of the\nsea on the Texas coast, and, being unable to return, gradually worked\ntheir way far down into Mexico. The Tuscarora tell how, in their early\nwanderings, they came to the Mississippi and were crossing over to the\nwest side by means of a grapevine, when the vine broke, leaving those\non the farther side to wander off until in time they became enemies\nto those on the eastern bank. See Mooney, Calendar History of the\nKiowa Indians, Seventeenth Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology,\npart 1, and The Last of Our Cannibals, in Harper's Magazine, August,\n1901; Cusick, quoted in Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois, p. 478.\n\n\n\n108. The massacre of the Ani'-Kuta'ni (p. 392): Swimmer, Ta'gwadihi',\nAy\u00e2sta, and Wafford all knew this name, which Ay\u00e2sta pronounced\nAni'-Kwata'ni, but none of them could tell anything more definite than\nhas been stated in the opening sentence. The hereditary transmission\nof priestly dignities in a certain clan or band is rather the rule\nthan the exception Among the tribes, both east and west.\n\n\n\n109. The war medicine (p. 393): The first two paragraphs are from\nWafford, the rest from Swimmer. The stories are characteristic of\nIndian belief and might be paralleled in any tribe. The great Kiowa\nchief, Set-\u00e4ngya, already mentioned, was--and still is--believed by\nhis tribe to have possessed a magic knife, which he carried in his\nstomach and could produce from his mouth at will. The Kiowa assert\nthat it was this knife, which of course the soldiers failed to find\nwhen disarming him, with which he attacked the guard in the encounter\nthat resulted in his death.\n\n\n\n110. Incidents of personal heroism (p. 394): The incident of the\nfight at Waya gap is on the authority of the late Maj. James Bryson,\nof Dillsboro, North Carolina, born in 1818, who had it from his\ngreat-uncle, Daniel Bryson, a member of Williamson's expedition.\n\nSpeaking of the Cherokee \"War Women,\" who were admitted to the tribal\ncouncils, Timberlake says (Memoirs, p. 70): \"The reader will not be\na little surprised to find the story of Amazons not so great a fable\nas we imagined, many of the Indian women being as famous in war as\npowerful in the Council.\"\n\n\n\n111. The mounds and the constant fire: The old sacred things (p. 395):\nWhat is here said concerning the mounds, based chiefly upon Swimmer's\nrecital, is given solely as a matter of popular belief, shaped by\ntribal custom and ritual. The question of fact is for the archeologist\nto decide. The Indian statement is of value, however, in showing the\nsupposed requirements for the solemn consecration of an important work.\n\nA note by John Howard Payne upon the sacred square of the Creeks, as\nobserved by him in 1835, just before his visit to the Cherokee, may\nthrow further light on the problem: \"In the center of this outer square\nwas a very high circular mound. This, it seems, was formed from the\nearth accumulated yearly by removing the surface of the sacred square\nthither. At every Green-corn festival the sacred square is strewn with\nsoil yet untrodden; the soil of the year preceding being taken away,\nbut preserved as above explained. No stranger's foot is allowed to\npress the new earth of the sacred square until its consecration is\ncomplete\" (Letter of 1835 in Continental Monthly, New York, 1862,\np. 19). See note on the sacred fire.\n\nConjured with disease--The practice of conjuring certain favorite\nspots in order to render them fatal to an invading enemy was common\nto many if not to all tribes. One of the most terrible battles of\nthe Creek war was fought upon the \"Holy ground,\" so called because it\nwas believed by the Indians that in consequence of the mystic rites\nwhich had been performed there for that purpose by their prophets,\nno white troops could set foot upon it and live.\n\nThe sacred fire--The method described for producing fire and keeping\nit constantly smoldering in the townhouse appears to have been that\nactually in use in ancient times, as indicated by the name given to the\nplant (atsil'-s\u00fb\u00f1ti), and corroborated by the unanimous testimony of\nthe old people. All the older East Cherokee believe that the ancient\nfire still burns within the mounds at Franklin and Bryson City, and\nthose men who were stationed for a time near the latter place while\nin the Confederate service, during the Civil war, assert that they\nfrequently saw the smoke rising from the adjacent mound.\n\nThe missionary Buttrick, from old Cherokee authority, says: \"They\nwere obliged to make new fire for sacred purposes by rubbing two\npieces of dry wood together, with a certain weed, called golden rod,\ndry, between them.... When their enemies destroyed the house in which\nthis holy fire was kept, it was said the fire settled down into the\nearth, where it still lives, though unknown to the people. The place\nwhere they lost this holy fire is somewhere in one of the Carolinas\"\n(Antiquities, p. 9).\n\nThe general accuracy of Swimmer's account is strikingly confirmed by\nthe description of the New-fire ceremony given more than half a century\nbefore by John Howard Payne, the poet, who had gone among the Cherokee\nto study their ethnology and was engaged in that work when arrested,\ntogether with John Ross, by the Georgia guard in 1835. He makes the\nkindling of the new fire a part of the annual spring festival. At that\ntime, says Payne, \"the altar in the center of the national heptagon\n[i.e. townhouse] was repaired. It was constructed of a conical shape,\nof fresh earth. A circle was drawn around the top to receive the\nfire of sacrifice. Upon this was laid, ready for use, the inner\nbark of seven different kinds of trees. This bark was carefully\nchosen from the east side of the trees, and was clear and free from\nblemish.\" After some days of preliminary purification, sacrifice,\nand other ceremonial performances, the day appointed for the kindling\nof the new fire arrived.\n\n\"Early in the morning the seven persons who were commissioned to\nkindle the fire commenced their operations. One was the official\nfire-maker; the remaining six his assistants. A hearth was carefully\ncleared and prepared. A round hole being made in a block of wood,\na small quantity of dry golden-rod weed was placed in it. A stick,\nthe end of which just fitted the opening, was whirled rapidly until\nthe weed took fire. The flame was then kindled on the hearth and\nthence taken to every house by the women, who collectively waited for\nthat purpose. The old fires having been everywhere extinguished, and\nthe hearths cleansed, new fires were lighted throughout the country,\nand a sacrifice was made in each one of them of the first meat killed\nafterwards by those to whom they respectively belonged.\"--Payne MS,\nquoted in Squier, Serpent Symbol, pp. 116-118.\n\nSimilar ceremonies were common to many tribes, particularly the\nsouthern tribes and the Pueblos, in connection with the annual kindling\nof the sacred new fire. See Adair, History of the American Indians;\nHawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, quoted by Gatschet, Creek\nMigration Legend; Bartram, Travels; Fewkes, The New-fire Ceremony at\nWalpi, in American Anthropologist for January, 1900; Squier, Serpent\nSymbol. Going beyond our own boundaries it may be said briefly that\nfire worship was probably as ancient as ritual itself and well-nigh\nas universal.\n\nWooden box--The sacred ark of the Cherokee is described by Adair\n(History of the American Indians, pp. 161-162), and its capture by\nthe Delawares is mentioned by Washburn (Reminiscences, pp. 191, 221),\nwho states that to its loss the old priests of the tribe ascribed\nthe later degeneracy of their people. They refused to tell him the\ncontents of the ark. On this subject Adair says:\n\n\"A gentleman who was at the Ohio in the year 1756 assured me he saw\na stranger there very importunate to view the inside of the Cheerake\nark, which was covered with a drest deerskin and placed on a couple of\nshort blocks. An Indian centinel watched it, armed with a hiccory bow\nand brass-pointed barbed arrows; and he was faithful to his trust,\nfor finding the stranger obtruding to pollute the supposed sacred\nvehicle, he drew an arrow to the head, and would have shot him through\nthe body had he not suddenly withdrawn. The interpreter, when asked\nby the gentleman what it contained, told him there was nothing in it\nbut a bundle of conjuring traps. This shews what conjurers our common\ninterpreters are, and how much the learned world have really profited\nby their informations.\"\n\nSuch tribal palladiums or \"medicines,\" upon which the existence and\nprosperity of the tribe are supposed to depend, are still preserved\namong the plains Indians, the sacred receptacle in each case being\nconfided to the keeping of a priest appointed for the purpose, who\nalone is privileged to undo the wrappings or expose the contents. Among\nthese tribal \"medicines\" may be mentioned the sacred arrows of the\nCheyenne, the \"flat pipe\" of the Arapaho, the great shell of the\nOmaha, and the taime image of the Kiowa (see reference in the author's\nGhost-dance Religion and Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians).\n\nWhite peace pipe--This statement concerning the ancient seven-stem\npeace pipe carved from white stone is given on the authority of\nSwimmer, who said that the stone was procured from a quarry near the\npresent town of Knoxville, Tennessee. A certain district of western\nNorth Carolina has recently acquired an unenviable reputation for\nthe manufacture of spurious \"Indian pipes,\" ostensibly taken from the\nmounds, carved from soapstone and having from three to half a dozen\nstem-holes encircling the bowl.\n\nTurtle drum--This statement is on the authority of Wafford, who\nhad talked with men who claimed to have known those who had seen the\ndrum. He was not positive as to the town, but thought it was Keowee. It\nis believed that the drum was hidden by the Indians, in anticipation\nof their speedy return, when the country was invaded by Williamson\nin 1776, but as the country was never recovered by the Cherokee the\ndrum was lost.\n\n\n\n112-115. Short humorous stories (pp. 397, 399): These short stories\nare fairly representative of Cherokee humor. Each was heard repeatedly\nfrom several informants, both east and west.\n\n\n\n116. The star feathers (p. 399): This story was obtained from John\nAx, with additional details from Chief Smith and others, to whom\nit was equally familiar. It is told as an actual happening in the\nearly days, before the Indian had much acquaintance with the whites,\nand is thoroughly characteristic of the methods of medicine-men. The\ndeception was based upon the Cherokee belief that the stars are living\ncreatures with feathers (see number 9, \"What the Stars are Like\").\n\nThe Indian has always been noted for his love of feather decorations,\nand more than any from his native birds he prized the beautiful\nfeathers of the peacock whenever it was possible to procure them from\nthe whites. So far back as 1670 Lederer noted of a South Carolina\ntribe: \"The Ushery delight much in feather ornament, of which they\nhave great variety; but peacocks in most esteem, because rare in\nthese parts\" (Travels, p. 32, ed. 1891).\n\n\n\n117. The mother bear's song (p. 400): The first of these songs was\nobtained from Ay\u00e2sta, and was unknown to Swimmer. The second song was\nobtained also from Ay\u00e2sta, who knew only the verses, while Swimmer\nknew both the verses and the story which gives them their setting.\n\nThe first has an exact parallel among the Creeks, which is thus given\nin the \"Baby Songs\" of the Tuggle manuscript:\n\n\n Ah tan Down the stream\n Ah yah chokese if you hear\n Mah kah cho kofe chase going\n Hoche yoke saw up the stream\n Lit kahts chars, run,\n Lit kahts chars. run.\n \u00a0\n A thle poo Up the stream\n Ahyohchokese if you hear\n Mah kah cho kofe the chase going\n Thorne yoke saw to the high mountain\n Lit karts chars, run,\n Lit karts chars. run.\n\n\n Translation\n\n If you hear the noise of the chase\n Going down the stream\n Then run up the stream.\n\n If you hear the noise of the chase\n Going up the stream\n Then run to the high mountain,\n Then run to the high mountain.\n\n\n\n118. Baby song, to please the children (p. 401): This song is well\nknown to the women and was sung by both Ay\u00e2sta and Swimmer.\n\n\n\n119. When babies are born: The wren and the cricket (p. 401): These\nlittle bits of Indian folklore were obtained from Swimmer, but are\ncommon tribal property.\n\n\n\n120. The Raven Mocker (p. 401): The grewsome belief in the \"Raven\nMocker\" is universal among the Cherokee and has close parallels\nin other tribes. Very near to it is the Iroquois belief in the\nvampire or cannibal ghost, concerning which Schoolcraft relates\nsome blood-curdling stories. He says: \"It is believed that such\ndoomed spirits creep into the lodges of men at night, and during\nsleep suck their blood and eat their flesh. They are invisible\"\n(Notes on the Iroquois, p. 144). On one occasion, while the author\nwas among the Cherokee, a sick man was allowed to die alone because\nhis friends imagined they felt the presence of the Raven Mocker or\nother invisible witches about the house, and were consequently afraid\nto stay with him. The description of the flying terror appears to be\nthat of a great meteor. It is a universal principle of folk belief\nthat discovery or recognition while disguised in another form brings\ndisaster to the witch.\n\nThe \"diving\" of the raven while flying high in air is performed by\nfolding one wing close to the body, when the bird falls to a lower\nplane, apparently turning a somersault in the descent. It seems to\nbe done purely for amusement.\n\n\n\n121. Herbert's spring (p. 403): The subject of this old trader's\nlegend must have been one of the head-springs of Chattooga river,\nan upper branch of Savannah, having its rise in the southern part of\nJackson county, North Carolina, on the eastern slope of the ridge\nfrom which other streams flow in the opposite direction to join\nthe waters of the Tennessee. It was probably in the vicinity of the\npresent highlands in Macon county, where the trail from Chattooga\nriver and the settlements on Keowee crossed the Blue ridge, thence\ndescending Cullasagee to the towns on Little Tennessee.\n\n\n\n126. Plant lore (p. 420): For ceremonies, prayers, and precautions used\nby the doctors in connection with the gathering and preparation of\nmedicinal roots, barks, and herbs, see the author's Sacred Formulas\nof the Cherokees, in the Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of\nEthnology, 1891.\n\nViolet--The Onondaga name signifies \"two heads entangled,\" referring,\nwe are told, to \"the way so often seen where the heads are interlocked\nand pulled apart by the stems\" (W. M. Beauchamp, in Journal of American\nFolk-Lore, October, 1888).\n\nCedar--For references to the sacred character of the cedar among\nthe plains tribes, see the author's Ghost-dance Religion, in the\nFourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, part 2, 1896.\n\nLinn and basswood--The ancient Tuscarora believed that no tree but\nblack gum was immune from lightning, which, they declared, would\nrun round the tree a great many times seeking in vain to effect\nan entrance. Lawson, who records the belief, adds: \"Now, you must\nunderstand that sort of gum will not split or rive: therefore, I\nsuppose the story might arise from thence\" (Carolina, pp. 345-346,\ned. 1860). The Pawnee claim the same immunity for the cedar, and\nthrow sprigs of it as incense upon the fire during storms to turn\naside the lightning stroke (Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories, p. 126).\n\nGinseng--For more concerning this plant see the author's Sacred\nFormulas, above mentioned.\n\n\n\n\n\nGLOSSARY OF CHEROKEE WORDS\n\n\nThe Cherokee language has the continental vowel sounds a, e, i, and\nu, but lacks o, which is replaced by a deep \u00e2. The obscure or short\n\u00fb is frequently nasalized, but the nasal sound is seldom heard at\nthe end of a word. The only labial is m, which occurs in probably\nnot more than half a dozen words in the Upper and Middle dialects,\nand is entirely absent from the Lower dialect, in which w takes its\nplace. The characteristic l of the Upper and Middle dialects becomes\nr in the Lower, but no dialect has both sounds. There is also an\naspirated l; k and t have the ordinary sounds of these letters,\nbut g and d are medials, approximating the sounds of k and t,\nrespectively. A frequent double consonant is ts, commonly rendered\nch by the old traders (see p. 188, \"Dialects\").\n\n\n a as in far.\n a as in what, or obscure as in showman.\n \u00e2 as in law, all.\n d medial (semisonant), approximating t.\n e as in they.\n e as in net.\n g medial (semisonant), approximating k.\n h as in hat.\n i as in pique.\n i as in pick.\n k as in kick.\n l as in lull.\n `l surd l (sometimes written hl), nearly the Welsh ll.\n m as in man.\n n as in not.\n r takes place of l in Lower dialect.\n s as in sin.\n t as in top.\n u as in rule.\n \u00fb as in cut.\n \u00fb\u00f1 \u00fb nasalized.\n w as in wit.\n y as in you.\n ` a slight aspirate, sometimes indicating the omission\n of a vowel.\n\n\nA number of English words, with cross references, have been introduced\ninto the glossary, and these, together with corrupted Cherokee forms,\nare indicated by small capitals.\n\n\n\nad\u00e2'lan\u00fb\u00f1'sti--a staff or cane.\n\nadan'ta--soul.\n\nada'wehi--a magician or supernatural being.\n\nada'wehi'yu--a very great magician; intensive form of ada'wehi.\n\n\u00e2'gana--groundhog.\n\n\u00c2'ganst\u00e2'ta--\"Groundhog-sausage,\" from \u00e2'gana, groundhog, and tsist\u00e2'\u00fb,\n\"I am pounding it,\" understood to refer to pounding meat, etc.,\nin a mortar, after having first crisped it before the fire. A war\nchief noted in the Cherokee war of 1760, and prominent until about\nthe close of the Revolution; known to the whites as Oconostota. Also\nthe Cherokee name for Colonel Gideon Morgan of the war of 1812, for\nWashington Morgan, his son, of the Civil war, and now for a full-blood\nupon the reservation, known to the whites as Morgan Calhoun.\n\n\u00c2'gan-uni'tsi--\"Groundhogs'-mother,\" from \u00e2'gana and uni'tsi, their\nmother, plural of utsi', his mother (etsi', agiti', my mother). The\nCherokee name of a Shawano captive, who, according to tradition,\nkilled the great Uktena serpent and procured the Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti.\n\nAgawe'la--\"Old Woman,\" a formulistic name for corn or the spirit\nof corn.\n\nagay\u00fb\u00f1'li--for agay\u00fb\u00f1'lige, old, ancient.\n\nagid\u00e2'ta--see ed\u00e2'ta.\n\nagidu'tu--see edu'tu.\n\nAgi`li--\"He is rising,\" possibly a contraction of an old personal name,\nAgin'-agi`li, \"Rising-fawn.\" Major George Lowrey, cousin of Sequoya,\nand assistant chief of the Cherokee Nation about 1840. Stanley\nincorrectly makes it \"Keeth-la, or Dog\" (for gi`li'.)\n\nagini'si--see eni'si.\n\nagi'si--female, applied usually to quadrupeds.\n\nAgis'-e'gwa--\"Great Female,\" possibly \"Great Doe.\" A being, probably\nan animal god, invoked in the sacred formulas.\n\nagitsi'--see etsi'.\n\nAgitsta`ti'yi--\"Where they stayed up all night,\" from tsigits\u00fb\u00f1'tih\u00fb',\n\"I stay up all night.\" A place in the Great Smoky range about the\nhead of Noland creek, in Swain county, North Carolina. See notes to\nnumber 100.\n\nAguaquiri--see Guaquili.\n\nAhalu'na--\"Ambush,\" Ahalun\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Ambush place,\" or Uni'halu'na,\n\"Where they ambushed,\" from akalu'ga, \"I am watching\". Soco gap,\nat the head of Soco creek, on the line between Swain and Haywood\ncounties, North Carolina (see number 122). The name is also applied\nto a lookout station for deer hunters.\n\nahanu'lahi--\"he is bearded,\" from ahanu'lah\u00fb, a beard.\n\nAhu'lude'gi--\"He throws away the drum\" (habitual), from ahu'li, drum,\nand akwade'g\u00fb, \"I am throwing it away\" (round object). The Cherokee\nname of John Jolly, a noted chief and adopted father of Samuel Houston,\nabout 1800.\n\nahyeli'ski--a mocker or mimic.\n\nakta'--eye; plural, dikta'.\n\nakta'ti--a telescope or field glass. The name denotes something with\nwhich to examine or look into closely, from akta', eye.\n\nakwandu'li--a song form for akwidu'li(-h\u00fb, \"I want it.\"\n\nAkwan`ki--see Anakwan`ki.\n\nAkwe`ti'yi--a location on Tuckasegee river, in Jackson county, North\nCarolina; the meaning of the name is lost. See number 122.\n\nAlarka--see Yal\u00e2gi.\n\n\n\n\u00e2liga'--the red-horse fish (Moxostoma).\n\nAlkini'--the last woman known to be of Natchez descent and peculiarity\namong the East Cherokee; died about 1890. The name has no apparent\nmeaning.\n\nama'--water; in the Lower dialect, awa'; cf. a'ma, salt.\n\namaye'hi--\"dwelling in the water,\" from ama' (ama'yi, \"in the water\")\nand eh\u00fb', \"I dwell,\" \"I live.\"\n\nAmaye`l-e'gwa--\"Great island,\" from amaye`li, island (from ama',\nwater, and aye`li, \"in the middle\") and e'gwa, great. A former Cherokee\nsettlement on Little Tennessee river, at Big island, a short distance\nbelow the mouth of Tellico, in Monroe county, Tennessee. Timberlake\nwrites it Mialaquo, while Bartram spells it Nilaque. Not to be\nconfounded with Long-island town below Chattanooga.\n\nAmaye`li-g\u00fbnahi'ta--\"Long island,\" from amaye`li, island, and\ng\u00fbnahi'ta, long. A former Cherokee settlement, known to the whites\nas Long Island town, at the Long island in Tennessee river, on\nthe Tennessee-Georgia line. It was one of the Chickamauga towns\n(see Tsikama'gi).\n\nama'yine'hi--\"dwellers in the water,\" plural of amaye'hi.\n\nAnada'd\u00fb\u00f1taski--\"Roasters,\" i. e., Cannibals; from g\u00fb\u00f1'task\u00fb',\n\"I am putting it (round) into the fire to roast.\" The regular word\nfor cannibals is Y\u00fb\u00f1'wini'giski, q. v. See number 3.\n\nanag\u00e2h\u00fb\u00f1'\u00fb\u00f1sk\u00fb'--the Green-corn dance; literally, \"they are having a\nGreen-corn dance\"; anag\u00e2h\u00fb\u00f1'\u00fb\u00f1sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"where they are having the\nGreen-corn dance\"; the popular name is not a translation of the\nCherokee word, which has no reference either to corn or dancing.\n\nAnakwan`ki--the Delaware Indians; singular Akwan`ki, a Cherokee\nattempt at Wapanaqki, \"Easterners,\" the Algonquian name by which,\nin various corrupted forms, the Delawares are commonly known to the\nwestern tribes.\n\nAnantooeah--see Ani'-N\u00fbn'dawe'gi.\n\na`ne'ts\u00e2, or a`nets\u00e2'gi--the ballplay.\n\na`nets\u00e2'\u00fb\u00f1ski--a ballplayer; literally, \"a lover of the ballplay.\"\n\nani'--a tribal and animate prefix.\n\nani'da'wehi--plural of ada'wehi.\n\na'niganti'ski--see dagan`t\u00fb.\n\nAni'-Gatage'wi--one of the seven Cherokee clans; the name has now\nno meaning, but has been absurdly rendered \"Blind savanna,\" from an\nincorrect idea that it is derived from ig\u00e2'ti, a swamp or savanna,\nand dige'wi, blind.\n\nAni'-Gil\u00e2'hi--\"Long-haired people,\" one of the seven Cherokee clans;\nsingular, Agil\u00e2'hi. The word comes from agil\u00e2'hi (perhaps connected\nwith agi`lge-ni, \"the back of (his) neck\"), an archaic term denoting\nwearing the hair long or flowing loosely, and usually recognized as\napplying more particularly to a woman.\n\nAni'-Gili'--a problematic tribe, possibly the Congaree. See page\n381. The name is not connected with gi`li, dog.\n\nAni'-Gusa--see Ani'-Ku'sa.\n\na'nigwa--soon after; dine'tlana a'nigwa, \"soon after the creation.\"\n\nAni'-Hy\u00fb\u00f1'tikwal\u00e2'ski--\"The Thunderers,\" i. e., thunder, which\nin Cherokee belief, is controlled and caused by a family of\nsupernaturals. The word has reference to making a rolling sound;\ncf. tikwale'lu, a wheel, hence a wagon; ama'-tikwalel\u00fb\u00f1yi, \"rolling\nwater place,\" applied to a cascade where the water falls along\nthe surface of the rock; ahy\u00fb\u00f1'tikwal\u00e2'stih\u00fb', \"it is thundering,\"\napplied to the roar of a railroad train or waterfall.\n\nAni'-Kawi'--\"Deer people,\" one of the seven Cherokee clans; the\nregular form for deer is a`wi'.\n\nAni'-Kawi'ta--The Lower Creeks, from Kawi'ta or Coweta, their former\nprincipal town on Chattahoochee river near the present Columbus,\nGeorgia; the Upper Creeks on the head streams of Alabama river were\ndistinguished as Ani'-Ku'sa (q. v.) A small creek of Little Tennessee\nriver above Franklin, in Macon county, North Carolina, is now known\nas Coweeta creek.\n\nAni'-Kitu'hwagi--\"Kitu'hwa people,\" from Kitu'hwa (q. v.), an ancient\nCherokee settlement; for explanation see page 182.\n\nAni'-Ku'sa or Ani'-Gu'sa,--The Creek Indians, particularly the Upper\nCreeks on the waters of Alabama river; singular, A-Ku'sa, from Kusa\nor Coosa (Spanish, Co\u00e7a, Cossa) their principal ancient town.\n\nAni'-Kuta'ni (also Ani'-Kwata'-ni, or, incorrectly, Nicotani)--a\ntraditional Cherokee priestly society or clan, exterminated in a\npopular uprising. See number 108.\n\nanin\u00e2'hilid\u00e2hi--\"creatures that fly about,\" from tsinai'li, \"I am\nflying,\" tsin\u00e2'ilad\u00e2'h\u00fb, \"I am flying about.\" The generic term for\nbirds and flying insects.\n\nAni'-Na`tsi--abbreviated Anintsi, singular A-Na`tsi. The Natchez\nIndians; from coincidence with na`tsi, pine, the name has been\nincorrectly rendered \"Pine Indians,\" whereas it is really a Cherokee\nplural of the proper name of the Natchez.\n\nAnin'tsi--see Ani'-Na`tsi.\n\nAni'-N\u00fbn'dawe'gi--singular, N\u00fbn'dawe'gi; the Iroquois, more\nparticularly the Seneca, from N\u00fbndawao, the name by which the Seneca\ncall themselves. Adair spells it Anantooeah. The tribe was also known\nas Ani'-Se'nika.\n\nAni'-Sah\u00e2'ni--one of the seven Cherokee clans; possibly an archaic\nform for \"Blue people,\" from sa`ka'ni, sa`ka'nige'i, blue.\n\nAni'-Sa'ni, Ani'-Sawah\u00e2'ni--see Ani'-Sawanu'gi.\n\nAni'-Sawanu'gi (singular Sawanu'gi)--the Shawano Indians. Ani'-Sa'ni\nand Ani'-Sawah\u00e2'ni (see page 380) may be the same.\n\nAni'-Se'nika.--see Ani'-N\u00fbndawe'gi.\n\nanisga'ya--plural of asga'ya, man.\n\nAnisga'ya Tsunsdi'(-ga)--\"The Little Men\"; the Thunder Boys in Cherokee\nmythology. See numbers 3 and 8.\n\nAni'sgaya'yi--\"Men town\" (?), a traditional Cherokee settlement on\nValley river, in Cherokee county, North Carolina.\n\nanisgi'na--plural of asgi'na, q. v.\n\nAni'-Skal\u00e2'li--the Tuscarora Indians; singular, Skal\u00e2'li or A-Skal\u00e2'i.\n\nAni'skwa'ni--Spaniards; singular, Askwa'ni.\n\nAni'-Suwa'li, or Ani-'Suwa'la--the Suala, Sara, or Cheraw Indians,\nformerly about the headwaters of Broad river, North Carolina, the\nXuala province of the De Soto chronicle, and Joara or Juada of the\nlater Pardo narrative.\n\nAni'ta'gwa--the Catawba Indians; singular, Ata'gwa, or Tagwa.\n\nAni'-Ts\u00e2'g\u00fbhi--a traditional Cherokee clan, transformed to bears\n(see number 75). Swimmer's daughter bears the name Ts\u00e2g\u00fbhi, which is\nnot recognized as distinctively belonging to either sex.\n\nAni'-Tsa'lagi'--the Cherokee. See \"Tribal Synonymy,\" page 182.\n\nAni'-Tsa`ta--the Choctaw Indians; singular, Tsa`ta.\n\nAni'-Tsi'ks\u00fb--the Chickasaw Indians; singular, Tsi'ks\u00fb.\n\nAni'-Tsi'skwa--\"Bird people;\" one of the seven Cherokee clans.\n\nAni'tsu'tsa--\"The Boys,\" from atsu'tsa, boy; the Pleiades. See\nnumber 10.\n\nAni'-W\u00e2'di--\"Paint people\"; one of the seven Cherokee clans.\n\nAni'-W\u00e2dihi'--\"Place of the Paint people or clan\"; Paint town, a\nCherokee settlement on lower Soco creek, within the reservation in\nJackson and Swain counties, North Carolina. It takes its name from\nthe Ani'-W\u00e2'di or Paint clan.\n\nani'wani'ski--the bugle weed, Lycopus virginicus; literally, \"they\ntalk\" or \"talkers,\" from tsiwa'nih\u00fb, \"I am talking,\" awani'ski,\n\"he talks habitually.\" See number 26.\n\nAni'-Wasa'si--the Osage Indians; singular, Wasa'si.\n\n\n\nAni'-Wa'`ya--\"Wolf people\"; the most important of the seven Cherokee\nclans.\n\nAni'-Yu'tsi--the Yuchi or Uchee Indians; singular Yu'tsi.\n\nAni'-Y\u00fb\u00f1'wiya'--Indians, particularly Cherokee Indians; literally\n\"principal or real people,\" from y\u00fb\u00f1wi, person, ya, a suffix implying\nprincipal or real, and ani', the tribal prefix. See pages 5 and 182.\n\nAnnie Ax--see Sadayi'.\n\nAquone--a post-office on Nantahala river, in Macon county, North\nCarolina, site of the former Fort Scott. Probably a corruption of\negw\u00e2ni, river.\n\nArch, John--see Atsi.\n\nas\u00e2'gwalih\u00fb'--a pack or burden; as\u00e2'gwal`l\u00fb' or as\u00e2'gwi`li, \"there\nis a pack on him.\" Cf s\u00e2'gwali'.\n\nasehi'--surely.\n\nAse'nika--singular of Ani'-Se'nika. See Ani'-N\u00fbndawe'gi.\n\nasga'ya--man.\n\nAsga'ya Gi'gagei--the \"Red Man\"; the Lightning spirit.\n\nasgi'na--a ghost, either human or animal; from the fact that ghosts\nare commonly supposed to be malevolent, the name is frequently rendered\n\"devil.\"\n\nAsheville--see K\u00e2sdu'yi and Unta'kiyasti'yi.\n\n\u00e2si--the sweat lodge and occasional winter sleeping apartment of the\nCherokee and other southern tribes. It was a low-built structure of\nlogs covered with earth, and from its closeness and the fire usually\nkept smoldering within was known to the old traders as the \"hot house.\"\n\n\u00e2'siyu' (abbreviated siyu')--good; the common Cherokee salute;\ng\u00e2'siyu', \"I am good\"; h\u00e2'siyu', \"thou art good\"; \u00e2'siyu, \"he (it)\nis good\"; \u00e2st\u00fb, \"very good\" (intensive).\n\nAskwa'ni--a Spaniard. See Ani'skwa'ni.\n\n\u00e2st\u00fb'--very good; \u00e2st\u00fb tsiki', very good, best of all. Cf \u00e2'siyu'.\n\nAstu'gat\u00e2'ga--A Cherokee lieutenant in the Confederate service,\nkilled in 1862. See page 170. The name may be rendered, \"Standing in\nthe doorway\" but implies that the man himself is the door or shutter;\nit has no first person; gat\u00e2'ga, \"he is standing\"; stu`ti, a door\nor shutter; stuh\u00fb', a closed door or passage; stugi'sti, a key,\ni. e. something with which to open a door.\n\nas\u00fb\u00f1'tli, as\u00fb\u00f1tl\u00fb\u00f1'yi--a footlog or bridge; literally, \"log lying\nacross,\" from asi'ta, log.\n\nata'--wood; ata'ya, \"principal wood,\" i. e. oak; cf. Muscogee iti,\nwood.\n\nAtag\u00e2'hi--\"Gall place,\" from a'tag\u00fb', gall, and hi, locative; a\nmythic lake in the Great Smoky mountains. See number 69. The name is\nalso applied to that part of the Great Smoky range centering about\nThunderhead mountain and Miry ridge, near the boundary between Swain\ncounty, North Carolina, and Blount county, Tennessee.\n\na'tag\u00fb'--gall.\n\nAta'-g\u00fbl`kal\u00fb'--a noted Cherokee chief, recognized by the British\ngovernment as the head chief or \"emperor\" of the Nation, about 1760 and\nlater, and commonly known to the whites as the Little Carpenter (Little\nCornplanter, by mistake, in Haywood). The name is frequently spelled\nAtta-kulla-kulla, Ata-kullakulla or Ata-culculla. It may be rendered\n\"Leaning-wood,\" from ata', \"wood\" and g\u00fbl`kal\u00fb, a verb implying that\nsomething long is leaning, without sufficient support, against some\nother object; it has no first person form. Bartram describes him as\n\"a man of remarkably small stature, slender and of a delicate frame,\nthe only instance I saw in the Nation; but he is a man of superior\nabilities.\"\n\nAta'gwa--a Catawba Indian. See Ani'la'gwa.\n\nA`t\u00e2hi'ta--abbreviated from A`t\u00e2hit\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Place where they shouted,\"\nfrom gat\u00e2'hi\u00fb', \"I shout,\" and yi, locative. Waya gap, on the ridge\nwest of Franklin, Macon county, North. Carolina. See number 13. The\nmap name is probably from the Cherokee wa`ya, wolf.\n\nAta-kullakulla--see Ata'-g\u00fbl`kal\u00fb'.\n\n\u00e2'tali--mountain; in the Lower dialect \u00e2'tari, whence the \"Ottare\" or\nUpper Cherokee of Adair. The form \u00e2'tali is used only in composition;\na mountain in situ is \u00e2tal\u00fb\u00f1yi or gatu'si.\n\n\u00e2'tali-g\u00fbli'--\"it climbs the mountain,\" i. e., \"mountain-climber\";\nthe ginseng plant, Ginseng quinquefolium; from \u00e2'tali, mountain,\nand g\u00fbli', \"it climbs\" (habitually); tsilahi' or tsili', \"I am\nclimbing.\" Also called in the sacred formulas, Y\u00fb\u00f1'wi Usdi', \"Little\nMan.\" See number 126.\n\na'talul\u00fb--unfinished, premature, unsuccessful; whence utalu'li,\n\"it is not yet time.\"\n\nAta'l\u00fb\u00f1ti'ski--a chief of the Arkansas Cherokee about 1818, who\nhad originally emigrated from Tennessee. The name, commonly spelled\nTollunteeskee, Taluntiski, Tallotiskee, Tallotuskee, etc., denotes\none who throws some living object from a place, as an enemy from a\nprecipice. See number 100 for instance.\n\n\u00e2'tari--see \u00e2'tali.\n\natasi' (or atas\u00fb', in a dialectic form)--a war club.\n\natats\u00fb\u00f1'ski--stinging; literally, \"he stings\" (habitually).\n\nA`tla'nuwa'--\"Tla'nuwa hole\"; the Cherokee name of Chattanooga,\nTennessee, (see Tsatanu'gi) originally applied to a bluff on the\nsouth side of the Tennessee river at the foot of the present Market\nstreet. See number 124.\n\nA'tsi--the Cherokee name of John Arch, one of the earliest native\nwriters in the Sequoya characters. The word is simply an attempt at\nthe English name Arch.\n\natsi'la--fire; in the Lower dialect, atsi'ra.\n\nAtsil'-dihye'gi--\"Fire Carrier\"; apparently the Cherokee name\nfor the will-of-the-wisp. See page 335. As is usually the case in\nCherokee compounds, the verbal form is plural (\"it carries fires\");\nthe singular form is ahye'gi.\n\natsil'-s\u00fb\u00f1`ti (abbreviated tsil'-s\u00fb\u00f1`ti)--fleabane (Erigeron\ncanadense); the name signifies \"material with which to make fire,\"\nfrom atsi'la, fire, and gas\u00fb\u00f1`ti, (gats\u00fb\u00f1`ti or gatl\u00fb\u00f1`ti), material\nwith which to make something; from gas\u00fb\u00f1'sk\u00fb (or gatl\u00fb\u00f1'sk\u00fb),\n\"I make it.\" The plant is also called ihy\u00e2'ga. See number 126.\n\nAtsil'-tl\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi--\"Fire panther.\" A meteor or comet. See notes to\nnumber 9.\n\nAtsi'la-wa'i--\"Fire ----\"; a mountain, sometimes known as Rattlesnake\nknob, about two miles northeast of Cherokee, Swain county, North\nCarolina. See number 122.\n\na'tsina'--cedar; cf. Muscogee, achena or auchenau.\n\nA'tsina'-k`ta'\u00fb\u00f1--\"Hanging cedar place\"; from a'tsina', cedar, and\nk`ta\u00fb\u00f1, \"where it (long) hangs down\"; a Cherokee name for the old\nTaskigi town on Little Tennessee river in Monroe county, Tennessee. See\nnumber 105.\n\natsi'ra--see atsi'la.\n\nAts\u00fb\u00f1'sta`ti'yi (abbreviated Ats\u00fb\u00f1'sta`ti')--\"Fire-light place,\"\n(cf. atsil-s\u00fb\u00f1'`ti), referring to the \"fire-hunting\" method of killing\ndeer in the river at night. The proper form for Chestatee river,\nnear Dahlonega, in Lumpkin county, Georgia.\n\nAttakullakulla--see Ata-g\u00fbl`kal\u00fb'.\n\nawa'--see ama'.\n\naw\u00e2'hili--eagle; particularly Aquila chrys\u00e6tus, distinguished as the\n\"pretty-feathered eagle.\"\n\na`wi'--deer; also sometimes written and pronounced, ahawi'; the name\nis sometimes applied to the large horned beetle, the \"flying stag\"\nof early writers.\n\na`wi'-ahanu'lahi--goat; literally, \"bearded deer.\"\n\na`wi'-akta'--\"deer eye\"; the Rudbeckia or black-eyed Susan.\n\na`wi'-ahyeli'ski--\"deer mocker\"; the deer bleat, a sort of whistle\nused by hunters to call the doe by imitating the cry of the fawn.\n\n\n\na`wi'-e'gwa (abbreviated a`w-e'gwa)--the elk, literally \"great deer.\"\n\na`wi'-unade'na--sheep; literally \"woolly deer.\"\n\nA`wi' Usdi'--\"Little Deer\"; the mythic chief of the Deer tribe. See\nnumber 15.\n\nAx, Annie--see Sadayi'.\n\nAx, John--see Itag\u00fb'nahi.\n\nAy\u00e2'sta--\"The Spoiler,\" from tsiy\u00e2'stih\u00fb, \"I spoil it\"; cf. uy\u00e2'i,\nbad. A prominent woman and informant on the East Cherokee reservation.\n\naye`li--half, middle, in the middle.\n\nAyrate--see e'ladi'.\n\nAyuhwa'si--the proper form of the name commonly written Hiwassee. It\nsignifies a savanna or meadow and was applied to two (or more) former\nCherokee settlements. The more important, commonly distinguished\nas Ayuhwa'si Egw\u00e2'hi or Great Hiwassee, was on the north bank of\nHiwassee river at the present Savannah ford above Columbus, in Polk\ncounty, Tennessee. The other was farther up the same river, at the\njunction of Peachtree creek, above Murphy, in Cherokee county, North\nCarolina. Lanman writes it Owassa.\n\nA`y\u00fb\u00f1'ini--\"Swimmer\"; literally, \"he is swimming,\" from gay\u00fb\u00f1ini',\n\"I am swimming.\" A principal priest and informant of the East Cherokee,\ndied in 1899.\n\nAy\u00fbls\u00fb'--see Day\u00fbls\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\n\nBeaverdam--see Uy'gil\u00e2'gi.\n\nBig-island--see Amaye`l-e'gwa.\n\nBig-cove--see K\u00e2'lan\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nBig-mush--see Gat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li.\n\nBig-witch--see Tskil-e'gwa.\n\nBird-town--see Tsiskw\u00e2'hi.\n\nBloody-fellow--see Iskagua.\n\nBlythe--see Diskwa`ni.\n\nBlack-fox--see In\u00e2'li.\n\nBoudinot, Elias--see Galagi'na.\n\nBowl, The; Bowles, Colonel--see Diwa`li.\n\nBrass--see \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'.\n\nBrasstown--see Itse'yi.\n\nBreath, The--see \u00db\u00f1li'ta.\n\nBriertown--see Kanu'ga`l\u00e2'yi.\n\nBuffalo (creek)--see Y\u00fbns\u00e2'i.\n\nBull-head--see Uskwale'na.\n\nButler, John--see Tsan'uga'sita.\n\n\nCade's Cove--see Tsiy\u00e2'hi.\n\nCanacaught--\"Canacaught, the great Conjurer,\" mentioned as a Lower\nCherokee chief in 1684; possibly kanegw\u00e2'ti, the water-moccasin\nsnake. See page 31.\n\nCanaly--see hi'gina'lii.\n\nCanasagua--see Gans\u00e2'gi.\n\nCannastion, Cannostee--see Kana'sta.\n\nCanuga--see Kanu'ga.\n\nCartoogaja--see Gatu'gitse'yi.\n\nCataluchee--see Gadalu'tsi.\n\nCauchi--a place, apparently in the Cherokee country, visited by Pardo\nin 1567 (see page 29). The name may possibly have some connection\nwith Nacoochee or Nagu`tsi', q. v.\n\nCaunasaita--given as the name of a Lower Cherokee chief in 1684;\npossibly for Kan\u00fb\u00f1si'ta, \"dogwood\" (Cornus florida). See page 31.\n\nChalaque--see Tsa'lagi under \"Tribal Synonymy,\" page 182.\n\n\n\nChattanooga--see Tsatanu'gi.\n\nChattooga, Chatuga--see Tsatu'gi.\n\nCheeowhee--see Tsiy\u00e2'hi.\n\nCheerake--see Tsa'lagi, under \"Tribal Synonymy,\" page 182.\n\nCheowa--see Tsiy\u00e2'hi.\n\nCheowa Maximum--see Sehwate'yi.\n\nCheraqui--see Tsa'lagi, under \"Tribal Synonymy,\" page 182.\n\nCheraw--see Ani'-Suwa'li.\n\nCherokee--see Tsa'lagi, under \"Tribal Synonymy,\" page 182; also\nElaw\u00e2'diyi.\n\nChestatee--see Ats\u00fb\u00f1'sta`ti'yi.\n\nChestua--see Tsistu'yi.\n\nCheucunsene--see Tsi'yu-g\u00fbnsi'ni.\n\nCheulah--mentioned by Timberlake as the chief of Settacoo (Si'tik\u00fb)\nin 1762. The name may be intended for Tsu`la, \"Fox.\"\n\nChickamauga--see Tsi'kama'gi.\n\nChilhowee--see Ts\u00fb`l\u00fb\u00f1'we.\n\nChimney Tops--see Duni'skwa`lg\u00fb\u00f1'i.\n\nChisca--mentioned in the De Soto narratives as a mining region in\nthe Cherokee country. The name may have a connection with Tsi'skwa,\n\"bird,\" possibly Tsiskw\u00e2'hi, \"Bird place.\"\n\nChoastea--see Tsistu'yi.\n\nChopped Oak--see Digalu'yat\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nChoquata--see Its\u00e2'ti.\n\nChota, Chotte--see Its\u00e2'ti.\n\nCitico--see Si'tik\u00fb'.\n\nClear-sky--see Iskagua.\n\nClennuse--see Tlanusi'yi.\n\nCleveland--see Tsistetsi'yi.\n\nCo\u00e7a--see Ani'-Ku'sa.\n\nCoco--see Kuk\u00fb'.\n\nCohutta--see Gah\u00fb'ti.\n\nColanneh, Colona--see K\u00e2'lan\u00fb.\n\nConasauga--see Gans\u00e2'gi.\n\nConneross--see Kaw\u00e2n'-ur\u00e2's\u00fb\u00f1yi.\n\nCooweescoowee--see Gu'wisguwi'.\n\nCoosa--see Ani'-Ku'sa and Kusa'.\n\nCoosawatee--see Ku'saweti'yi.\n\nCorani--see K\u00e2'lan\u00fb.\n\nCossa--see Ani'-Ku'sa, Kusa.\n\nCowee'--see Kawi'yi.\n\nCoweeta, Coweta--see Ani'-Kawi'ta.\n\nCoyatee (variously spelled Cawatie, Coiatee, Coytee, Coytoy,\nKai-a-tee)--A former Cherokee settlement on Little Tennessee river,\nsome ten miles below the junction of Tellico, about the present Coytee\npost-office in Loudon county, Tennessee. The correct form and etymology\nare uncertain.\n\nCreek-path--see Ku'sa-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi.\n\nCrow-town--see K\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nCuhtahlatah--a Cherokee woman noted in the Wahnenauhi manuscript as\nhaving distinguished herself by bravery in battle. The proper form\nmay have some connection with gat\u00fb\u00f1'lati, \"wild hemp.\"\n\nCullasagee--see K\u00fblse'tsi'yi.\n\nCullowhee, Currahee--see G\u00fbl\u00e2hi'yi.\n\nCuttawa--see Kitu'hwa.\n\n\n\ndagan`t\u00fb--\"he makes it rain\"; from aga'ska, \"it is raining,\" aga'na,\n\"it has begun to rain\"; a small variety of lizard whose cry is said\nto presage rain. It is also called a'niganti'ski, \"they make it rain\"\n(plural form), or \"rain-maker.\" See number 59.\n\ndag\u00fbl`k\u00fb--the American white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons\ngambeli). The name may be an onomatope. See number 6.\n\ndag\u00fb'na--the fresh water mussel; also a variety of face pimples.\n\nDag\u00fbn\u00e2'hi--\"Mussel place,\" from dag\u00fb'na, mussel, and hi,\nlocative. The Muscle shoals on Tennessee river, in northwestern\nAlabama. It was sometimes called also simply Tsu`stanal\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\n\"Shoals place.\" Cf. U`stana'li.\n\nDag\u00fb'nawe'l\u00e2hi--\"Mussel-liver place,\" from dag\u00fb'na, mussel, uwe'la,\nliver, and hi, locative; the Cherokee name for the site of Nashville,\nTennessee. No reason can now be given for the name.\n\nDahlonega--A town in Lumpkin County, Georgia, near which the first\ngold was mined. A mint was established there in 1838. The name is\nfrom the Cherokee dala'nige'i, yellow, whence ate'la-dal\u00e2'nige'i,\n\"yellow money,\" i. e., gold.\n\ndaksawa'ih\u00fb--\"he is shedding tears.\"\n\ndakwa'--a mythic great fish; also the whale. See number 68.\n\nDakwa'i--\"Dakwa place,\" from a tradition of a dakwa' in the river at\nthat point. A former Cherokee settlement, known to the traders as Toqua\nor Toco, on Little Tennessee river, about the mouth of Toco creek in\nMonroe county, Tennessee. See number 68. A similar name and tradition\nattaches to a spot on the French Broad river, about six miles above\nthe Warm springs, in Buncombe county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\ndakwa'nitlastesti--\"I shall have them on my legs for garters\"; from\nanitla'sti (plural dinitla'sti), garter; d-, initial plural; akwa,\nfirst person particle; and esti, future suffix. See number 77.\n\nda'liksta'--\"vomiter,\" from dagik'stih\u00fb', \"I am vomiting,\" daliksta',\n\"he vomits\" (habitually); the form is plural. The spreading adder\n(Heterodon), also sometimes called kwandaya'h\u00fb, a word of uncertain\netymology.\n\nDa'`nag\u00e2sta--for Da'`nawa-g\u00e2sta'ya, \"Sharp-war,\" i.e. \"Eager-warrior\";\na Cherokee woman's name.\n\nDa'`nawa-(a)sa`ts\u00fb\u00f1'yi \"War ford,\" from da'`nawa, war, and asa`ts\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\na crossing-place or ford. A ford on Cheowa river about three miles\nbelow Robbinsville, in Graham county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nDanda'gan\u00fb'--\"Two looking at each other,\" from detsi'gan\u00fb', \"I am\nlooking at him.\" A former Cherokee settlement, commonly known as\nLookout Mountain town, on Lookout Mountain creek, near the present\nTrenton, Dade county, Georgia. One of the Chickamauga towns (see\nTsi'kama'gi), so called on account of the appearance of the mountains\nfacing each other across the Tennessee river at Chattanooga.\n\nDa'si`giya'gi--an old masculine personal name, of doubtful etymology,\nbut commonly rendered by the traders \"Shoe-boots,\" possibly\nreferring to some peculiar style of moccasin or leggin. A chief\nknown to the whites as Shoe-boots is mentioned in the Revolutionary\nrecords. Chief Lloyd Welch, of the eastern band, was known in the\ntribe as Da'si`giya'gi and the same name is now used by the East\nCherokee as the equivalent of the name Lloyd.\n\nDa'skwit\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Rafters place,\" from daskwit\u00fb\u00f1'i, \"rafters,\" and yi,\nlocative. A former settlement on Tusquittee creek, near Hayesville,\nin Clay county, North Carolina.\n\ndas\u00fb\u00f1'tali--ant; das\u00fb\u00f1'tali atats\u00fb\u00f1'ski, \"stinging ant,\" the large\nred cow-ant (Myrmica?), also called sometimes, on account of its hard\nbody-case, n\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi, \"stone-clad,\" after the fabulous monster. See\nnumber 67.\n\nDatle'yasta'i--\"Where they fell down,\" a point on Tuckasegee river,\na short distance above Webster, in Jackson county, North Carolina. For\ntradition see number 122.\n\nd\u00e2tsi--a traditional water monster. See number 122.\n\nD\u00e2tsi'yi--\"D\u00e2tsi place\"; a place on Little Tennessee river, near\nthe junction of Eagle creek, in Swain county, North Carolina. See\nnumber 122.\n\nDatsu'nal\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"where there are tracks or footprints,\"\nfrom ul\u00e2'sin\u00fb\u00f1'yi or ul\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi, footprint. Track Rock gap, near\nBlairsville, Georgia. Also sometimes called De'gayel\u00fb\u00f1'ha, \"place of\nbranded marks\"; (digaletan\u00fb\u00f1'hi, branded, or printed). See number 125.\n\nd\u00e2'yi--beaver.\n\nDay\u00fbls\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Place where they cried,\" a spot on the ridge at the\nhead of Tuckasegee river, in Jackson county, North Carolina; so called\nfrom an old tradition. See number 80.\n\nd\u00e2'yuni'si--\"beaver's grandchild,\" from d\u00e2'yi, beaver, and uni'si,\nson's child, of either sex (daughter's child, either sex, uli'si). The\nwater beetle or mellow bug (Dineutes discolor).\n\nDegal`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi--a cairn, literally \"Where they are piled up\"; a series\nof cairns on the south side of Cheowa river, in Graham county, North\nCarolina. See number 122.\n\nDe'gat\u00e2'ga--The Cherokee name of General Stand Watie and of a\nprominent early western chief known to the whites as Takatoka. The\nword is derived from tsit\u00e2'ga, \"I am standing,\" da`nit\u00e2'ga, \"they are\nstanding together,\" and conveys the subtle meaning of two persons\nstanding together and so closely united in sympathy as to form but\none human body.\n\nDe'gayel\u00fb\u00f1'ha--see Datsu'nal\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\ndetsan\u00fb\u00f1'li--an inclosure or piece of level ground cleared for\nceremonial purposes; applied more particularly to the Green-corn dance\nground. The word has a plural form, but can not be certainly analyzed.\n\nDe'tsata--a Cherokee sprite. See number 78.\n\ndetsinu'lah\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb'--\"I tried, but failed.\"\n\nDida`l\u00e2ski'yi--\"Showering place.\" In the story (number 17) the name\nis understood to mean \"The place where it rains fire.\" It signifies\nliterally, however, the place where it showers, or comes down, and\nlodges upon something animate, and has no definite reference to fire\n(atsi'la) or rain (agaska, \"it is raining\"); dega`l\u00e2sk\u00fb', \"they are\nshowering down and lodging upon him.\"\n\nDida'skasti'yi--\"Where they were afraid of each other.\" A spot on\nLittle Tennessee river, near the mouth of Alarka creek, in Swain\ncounty, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\ndiga'gwani'--the mud-hen or didapper (Gallinula galeata). The name\nis a plural form and implies \"lame,\" or \"crippled in the legs\"\n(cf. detsi'nigwa'na, \"I am kneeling\"), probably from the bouncing\nmotion of the bird when in the water. It is also the name of a dance.\n\nDiga'kati'yi--see Gakati'yi.\n\ndi'gal\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"where it rises, or comes up\"; the east. The sacred\nterm is N\u00fb\u00f1d\u00e2'yi, q. v.\n\ndigal\u00fb\u00f1'latiy\u00fb\u00f1--a height, one of a series, from gal\u00fbn'lati,\n\"above.\" See number 1.\n\nDigalu'yat\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where it is gashed (with hatchets)\"; from tsilu'y\u00fb,\n\"I am cutting (with a chopping stroke),\" di, plural prefix, and yi,\nlocative. The Chopped Oak, formerly east of Clarkesville, Georgia. See\nnumber 125.\n\nDigane'ski--\"He picks them up\" (habitually), from tsine'\u00fb, \"I am\npicking it up.\" A Cherokee Union soldier in the civil war. See\npage 171.\n\ndigi'gage'i--the plural of gi'gage'i, red.\n\ndig\u00fb'lanahi'ta--for dig\u00fb'li-anahi'ta, \"having long ears,\" \"long-eared\";\nfrom g\u00fble, \"ear\" and g\u00fbnahi'ta, \"long.\"\n\nDihy\u00fb\u00f1'dula'--\"Sheaths,\" or \"Scabbards\"; singular ahy\u00fb\u00f1'dula',\n\"a gun sheath,\" or other scabbard. The probable correct form of a\nname which appears in Revolutionary documents as \"Untoola, or Gun Rod.\"\n\n\n\ndikta'--plural of akta', eye.\n\ndila'--skunk.\n\ndilsta'ya`ti--\"scissors\"; the water-spider (Dolomedes).\n\ndinda'skwate'ski--the violet; the name signifies, \"they pull each\nother's heads off.\"\n\ndine'tlana--the creation.\n\ndi`n\u00fbski--\"the breeder\"; a variety of smilax brier. See number 126.\n\nDisg\u00e2'gisti'yi--\"Where they gnaw\"; a place on Cheowa river, in Graham\ncounty, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\ndiskwa`ni--\"chestnut bread,\" i. e., a variety of bread having chestnuts\nmixed with it. The Cherokee name of James Blythe, interpreter and\nagency clerk.\n\ndistai'yi--\"they are strong,\" plural of astai'yi, \"strong, or\ntough.\" The Tephrosia or devil's-shoestring. See number 126.\n\ndista'sti--a mill (generic).\n\ndita'stayeski--\"a barber,\" literally \"one who cuts things\" (as with a\nscissors), from tsista'y\u00fb, \"I cut,\" (as with a scissors). The cricket\n(tala'tu) is sometimes so called. See number 59.\n\nDiwa'`li--\"Bowl,\" a prominent chief of the western Cherokee, known\nto the whites as The Bowl, or Colonel Bowles, killed by the Texans\nin 1839. The chief mentioned on page 100 may have been another of\nthe same name.\n\ndiy\u00e2'hali (or duy\u00e2'hali)--the alligator lizard (Sceloporue\nundulalus). See number 59.\n\nDiy\u00e2'hali'yi--\"Lizard place,\" from diy\u00e2'hali, lizard, and yi,\nlocative. Joanna bald, a mountain at the head of Valley river, on\nthe line between Cherokee and Graham counties, North Carolina. For\ntradition see number 122; also number 59.\n\nDouble-head--see Tal-tsu'ska'.\n\nDragging-canoe--see Tsi'yu-g\u00fbnsi'ni.\n\nDud\u00fb\u00f1'leks\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where its legs were broken off\"; a place on\nTuckasegee river, a few miles above Webster, in Jackson county,\nNorth Carolina. See number 122.\n\nDugilu'yi (abbreviated Dugilu', and commonly written Tugaloo, or\nsometimes Toogelah or Toogoola)--a name occurring in several places\nin the old Cherokee country, the best known being Tugaloo river, so\ncalled from a former Cherokee settlement of that name situated at the\njunction of Toccoa creek with the main stream, in Habersham county,\nGeorgia. The word is of uncertain etymology, but seems to refer to\na place at the forks of a stream.\n\nD\u00fbksa'i, D\u00fbkw`sa'i--The correct form of the name commonly written\nToxaway, applied to a former Cherokee settlement in South Carolina,\nand the creek upon which it stood, an extreme head-stream of Keowee\nriver having its source in Jackson county, North Carolina. The meaning\nof the name is lost, although it has been wrongly interpreted to mean\n\"Place of shedding tears.\" See number 123.\n\nDulast\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Potsherd place.\" A former Cherokee settlement on Nottely\nriver in Cherokee county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\ndule'tsi--\"kernels,\" a goitrous swelling upon the throat.\n\ndulu'si--a variety of frog found upon the headwaters of Savannah\nriver. See number 125.\n\nDuniya`ta`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where there are shelves, or flat places,\" from\naya`te'ni, flat, whence da'ya`tana`l\u00fb\u00f1'i', a shelf, and yi', the\nlocative. A gap on the Great Smoky range, near Clingman's dome,\nSwain county, North Carolina. See notes to number 100.\n\nDunid\u00fb'lal\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where they made arrows\"; a place on Straight creek, a\nhead-stream of Oconaluftee river, in Swain county, North Carolina. See\nnumber 122.\n\nDuni'skwa`lg\u00fb\u00f1'i--the double peak known as the Chimney Tops, in the\nGreat Smoky mountains about the head of Deep creek, in Swain county,\nNorth Carolina. On the north side is the pass known as Indian gap. The\nname signifies a \"forked antler,\" from uskwa`lg\u00fb, antler, but indicates\nthat the antler is attached in place, as though the deer itself were\nconcealed below.\n\n\n\nDu'stayal\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where it made a noise as of thunder or shooting,\"\napparently referring to a lightning stroke (detsistaya'hih\u00fb, \"I make\na shooting, or thundering, noise,\" might be a first person form used\nby the personified Thunder-god); a spot on Hiwassee river, about\nthe junction of Shooting creek, near Hayesville, in Clay county,\nNorth Carolina. A former settlement along the creek bore the same\nname. See number 79.\n\ndu'stu'--a species of frog, appearing very early in spring; the name\nis intended for an onomatope. It is the correct form of the name of\nthe chief noted by McKenney and Hall as \"Tooantuh or Spring Frog.\"\n\nDutch--see Tatsi'.\n\nduwe`ga--the spring lizard. See number 59.\n\n\nEagle dance--see Tsugid\u00fb`li' \u00dblsgi'sti.\n\nEastinaulee--see U`stana'li.\n\nEchoee--see Itse'yi.\n\nEchota--see Its\u00e2'ti.\n\nEd\u00e2'hi--\"He goes about\" (habitually); a masculine name.\n\nEchota, New--see Gans\u00e2'gi.\n\ned\u00e2'ta--my father (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower dialect form\nis agid\u00e2'ta.\n\nedu'tu--my maternal grandfather (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower\ndialect form is agidu'tu; cf. eni'si.\n\ne'gwa--great; cf. u'tan\u00fb.\n\negw\u00e2'ni--river.\n\nEgw\u00e2nul`ti--\"By the river,\" from egw\u00e2'ni, river, and nu'lati or nul`ti,\nnear, beside. The proper form of Oconaluftee, the name of the river\nflowing through the East Cherokee reservation in Swain and Jackson\ncounties, North Carolina. The Cherokee town, \"Oconalufte,\" mentioned\nby Bartram as existing about 1775, was probably on the lower course\nof the river at the present Birdtown, on the reservation, where was\nformerly a considerable mound.\n\nela--earth, ground.\n\ne'ladi'--low, below; in the Lower dialect e'radi', whence the Ayrate\nor Lower Cherokee of Adair as distinguished from the Ottare (\u00e2'tari,\n\u00e2'tali) or Upper Cherokee.\n\nelanti--a song form for e'ladi, q. v.\n\nElatse'yi (abbreviated Elatse')--possibly \"Green (Verdant) earth,\" from\nela, earth, and itse'yi, green, from fresh-springing vegetation. The\nname of several former Cherokee settlements, commonly known to the\nwhites as Ellijay, Elejoy or Allagae. One of these was upon the\nheadwaters of Keowee river in South Carolina; another was on Ellijay\ncreek of Little Tennessee river, near the present Franklin, in Macon\ncounty, North Carolina; another was about the present Ellijay in\nGilmer county, Georgia; and still another was on Ellejoy creek of\nLittle river near the present Maryville, in Blount county, Tennessee.\n\nElaw\u00e2'diyi (abbreviated Elaw\u00e2'di)--\"Red-earth place\" from ela, earth,\nw\u00e2di, brown-red or red paint, and yi, the locative. 1. The Cherokee\nname of Yellow-hill settlement, now officially known as Cherokee,\nthe postoffice and agency headquarters for the East Cherokee,\non Oconaluftee river in Swain county, North Carolina. 2. A former\ncouncil ground, known in history as Red Clay, at the site of the\npresent village of that name in Whitfield county, Georgia, adjoining\nthe Tennessee line.\n\nEllijay--see Elatse'yi.\n\neni'si--my paternal grandfather (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower\ndialect form is agini'si. Cf. edu'tu.\n\nEskaqua--see Iskagua.\n\nEstanaula, Estinaula--see U`stana'li.\n\n\n\nEtawa'ha-tsistatla'ski--\"Deadwood-lighter,\" a traditional Cherokee\nconjurer. See number 100.\n\ne`ti, or eti--old, long ago.\n\nEtowah--see I'tawa'.\n\nEtsaiyi'--see \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'.\n\netsi'--my mother (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower dialect form\nis agitsi'.\n\nEuharlee--see Yuha'li'.\n\n\nFeather dance--see Tsugid\u00fb`li, \u00dblsgi'sti.\n\nFighting-town--see Wal\u00e2s'-un\u00fblsli'yi.\n\nFlax-toter--see T\u00e2le'danigi'ski.\n\nFlying-squirrel--see K\u00e2'lah\u00fb'.\n\nFrench Broad--see Unta'kiyasti'yi.\n\nFrogtown--see Wal\u00e2si'yi.\n\n\nGadalu'lu--the proper name of the mountain known to the whites as Yonah\n(from y\u00e2n\u00fb, \"bear\"), or upper Chattahoochee river, in White county,\nGeorgia. The name has no connection with Tallulah (see Talulu'),\nand can not be translated.\n\nGadalu'tsi--in the corrupted form of Cataluchee this appears on the map\nas the name of a peak, or rather a ridge, on the line between Swain\nand Haywood counties, in North Carolina, and of a creek running down\non the Haywood side into Big Pigeon river. It is properly the name\nof the ridge only and seems to refer to a \"fringe standing erect,\"\napparently from the appearance of the timber growing in streaks\nalong the side of the mountain; from wadalu'yata, fringe, gad\u00fb'ta,\n\"standing up in a row or series.\"\n\ngahawi'sita--parched corn; improperly spelled wissactaw by Hawkins. See\nnote under number 83.\n\nGah\u00fbti (Gah\u00fb'ta and Gwah\u00fb'ti in dialectic forms)--Cohutta mountain,\nin Murray county, Georgia. The name comes from gah\u00fbt\u00e2'yi, \"a shed roof\nsupported on poles,\" and refers to a fancied resemblance in the summit.\n\nGakati'yi--\"Place of setting free\"; sometimes spoken in the plural\nform, Diga'kati'yi, \"Place of setting them free.\" A point on Tuckasegee\nriver about three miles above Bryson City, in Swain county, North\nCarolina. See number 122.\n\ngakt\u00fb\u00f1'ta--an injunction, command or rule, more particularly a\nprohibition or ceremonial tabu. Tsiga`te'g\u00fb, \"I am observing an\ninjunction, or tabu\"; adakte'gi, \"he is under tabu regulations.\"\n\nGalagi'na--a male deer (buck) or turkey (gobbler); in the first\nsense the name is sometimes used also for the large horned beetle\n(Dynastes tityus?). The Indian name of Elias Boudinot, first Cherokee\neditor. See page 111.\n\ngali'sgisid\u00e2'h\u00fb--I am dancing about; from gali'sgia', \"I am dancing,\"\nand ed\u00e2h\u00fb', \"I am going about.\"\n\ngal\u00fb\u00f1kw'ti'yu--honored, sacred; used in the bible to mean holy,\nhallowed.\n\ngal\u00fb\u00f1'lati--above, on high.\n\ngane'ga--skin.\n\nganidaw\u00e2'ski--the campion, catchfly or \"rattlesnake's master\" (Silene\nstellata); the name signifies \"it disjoints itself,\" from ganidaw\u00e2sk\u00fb',\n\"it is unjointing itself,\" on account of the peculiar manner in which\nthe dried stalk breaks off at the joints.\n\nGans\u00e2'gi (or Gans\u00e2giyi)--the name of several former settlements in\nthe old Cherokee country; it cannot be analyzed. One town of this\nname was upon Tuckasegee river, a short distance above the present\nWebster, in Jackson county, North Carolina; another was on the lower\npart of Canasauga creek, in McMinn county, Tennessee; a third was at\nthe junction of Conasauga and Coosawatee rivers, where afterward was\nlocated the Cherokee capital, New Echota, in Gordon county, Georgia; a\nfourth, mentioned in the De Soto narratives as Canasoga or Canasagua,\nwas located in 1540 on the upper Chattahoochee river, possibly in\nthe neighborhood of Kenesaw mountain, Georgia (see page 197).\n\nGansa`ti'yi--\"Robbing place,\" from tsina'sah\u00fb\u00f1sk\u00fb', \"I am robbing\nhim.\" Vengeance creek of Valley river, in Cherokee county, North\nCarolina. The name Vengeance was originally a white man's nickname\nfor an old Cherokee woman, of forbidding aspect, who lived there\nbefore the Removal. See number 122.\n\nGanse`ti--a rattle; as the Cherokee dance rattle is made from a gourd\nthe masculine name, Ganse`ti, is usually rendered by the whites,\n\"Rattling-gourd.\"\n\ngatay\u00fbsti--the wheel and stick game of the southern tribes, incorrectly\ncalled nettecawaw by Timberlake. See note under number 3.\n\nG\u00e2tegw\u00e2'--for G\u00e2tegw\u00e2'hi, possibly a contraction of Ig\u00e2t(i)-egw\u00e2'hi,\n\"Great-swamp (-thicket) place.\" A high peak southeast from Franklin,\nMacon county, North Carolina, and perhaps identical with Fodderstack\nmountain. See number 75.\n\nga'ts\u00fb--see hatl\u00fb'.\n\nGatu'gitse'yi (abbreviated Gatu'gitse')--\"New-settlement place,\"\nfrom gatu'gi or sgatu'gi, town, settlement, itse'hi, new, especially\napplied to new vegetation, and yi, the locative. A former settlement\non Cartoogaja creek of Little Tennessee river, above Franklin, in\nMacon county, North Carolina.\n\nGatuti'yi--\"Town-building place,\" or \"Settlement place,\" from gatu'gi,\na settlement, and yi, locative. A place on Santeetla creek, near\nRobbinsville, in Graham county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nGat\u00fb\u00f1'lti'yi--\"Hemp place,\" from gat\u00fb\u00f1'lati, \"wild hemp\" (Apocynum\ncannabinum), and yi, locative. A former Cherokee settlement, commonly\nknown as Hemptown, on the creek of the same name, near Morganton,\nin Fannin county, Georgia.\n\nGat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li--a noted western Cherokee about 1842, known to the whites\nas \"Hard-mush\" or \"Big-mush.\" Gat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li, from ga'tu', \"bread,\" and\n\u00fb\u00f1wa'`li, \"made into balls or lumps,\" is a sort of mush of parched\ncorn meal, made very thick, so that it can be dipped out in lumps\nalmost of the consistency of bread.\n\nge'i--down stream, down the road, with the current; ts\u00e2'gi, up stream.\n\ngese'i--was; a separate word which, when used after the verb in the\npresent tense, makes it past tense without change of form; in the\nform hi'gese'i it usually accompanies an emphatic repetition.\n\nGe`yagu'ga (for Age'hya-guga?)--a formulistic name for the moon\n(n\u00fb\u00f1'da'); it cannot be analyzed, but seems to contain the word\nage'hya, \"woman.\" See also n\u00fb\u00f1'da'.\n\ngiga--blood; cf. gi'gage'i, red.\n\ngi'ga-danegi'ski--\"blood taker,\" from giga, blood, and ada'negi'ski,\n\"one who takes liquids,\" from tsi'negia', \"I am taking it\"\n(liquid). Another name for the ts\u00e2ne'ni or scorpion lizard. See\nnumber 59.\n\ngi'gage'i--red, bright red, scarlet; the brown-red of certain animals\nand clays is distinguished as w\u00e2'dige'i.\n\ngi'ga-tsuha'`li--\"bloody-mouth,\" literally, \"having blood on the\ncorners of his mouth\"; from giga, blood, and tsuhan\u00fb\u00f1si'yi, the\ncorners of the mouth (aha'li, his mouth). A large lizard, probably\nthe Pleistodon. See number 59.\n\ngi`li'--dog; in the Lower dialect, gi`ri'.\n\nGi`li'-dineh\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the dogs live,\" from gi`li', dog, dineh\u00fb',\n\"they dwell\" (eh\u00fb, \"I dwell\"), and yi, locative. A place on Oconaluftee\nriver, a short distance above Cherokee, in Swain county, North\nCarolina. See number 122.\n\nGi`li'-uts\u00fb\u00f1'stanu\u00f1'yi--\"Where the dog ran,\" from gi`li', dog, and\nuts\u00fb\u00f1'stan\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"footprints made by an animal running\"; the Milky\nWay. See number 11.\n\ngin\u00fbnti--a song form for gin\u00fb'tii', \"to lay him (animate object)\nupon the ground.\" See number 75.\n\n\n\ngi`ri'--see gi`li'.\n\nGiseh\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the female lives,\" from agi'si, female, and yi,\nthe locative. A place on Tuckasegee river, a short distance above\nBryson City, Swain county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\ngitl\u00fb'--hair (Upper dialect); in the Middle and Lower dialects, gits\u00fb'.\n\ngits\u00fb'--see gitl\u00fb'.\n\nGlass, The--see Ta'gwadihi'.\n\nGohoma--A Lower Cherokee chief in 1684; the form cannot be\nidentified. See page 31.\n\nGoing-snake--see I'nad\u00fbna'i.\n\nGorhaleke--a Lower Cherokee chief in 1684; the form cannot be\nidentified. See page 31.\n\nGreat island--see Amaye`l-e'gwa.\n\nGregory bald--see Tsistu'yi.\n\nGuachoule--see Guaxule.\n\nGuaquili (Wakili)--a town in the Cherokee country, visited by De\nSoto in 1540, and again in 1567 by Pardo, who calls it Aguaquiri\n(see pages 25 and 28). The name may have a connection with waguli',\n\"whippoorwill,\" or with u-)w\u00e2'gi`li, \"foam.\"\n\nGuasula--see Guaxule.\n\nGuasili--see Guaxule.\n\nGuaxule--a town in the Cherokee country, visited by De Soto in 1540;\nvariously spelled in the narratives, Guasili, Guachoule, Guasula,\nGuaxule, Quaxule, etc. It was probably about at Nacoochee mound, in\nWhite county, Georgia. It has been suggested that the Spaniards may\nhave changed the Indian name to resemble that of a town in Spain. See\npages 26 and 194.\n\ng\u00fb'daye'w\u00fb--\"I have sewed myself together\"; \"I am sewing,\" tsiye'wia';\n\"I am sewing myself together,\" g\u00fbdayewi\u00fb. See number 31.\n\ngugwe' (or g`gwe')--the quail or partridge; the name is an onomatope.\n\ngugwe'-ulasu'la--\"partridge moccasin,\" from gugwe' or g`gwe',\npartridge, and ulasula, moccasin or shoe; the ladyslipper\n(Cypripedium).\n\nG\u00fbl\u00e2hi'yi (abbreviated G\u00fbl\u00e2hi', or G\u00fbr\u00e2hi', in the Lower\ndialect)--\"G\u00fbl\u00e2'hi place,\" so called from an unidentified spring plant\neaten as a salad by the Cherokee. The name of two or more places in the\nold Cherokee country; one about Currahee mountain in Habersham county,\nGeorgia, the other on Cullowhee river, an upper branch of Tuckasegee,\nin Jackson county, North Carolina. Currahee Dick was a noted chief\nabout the year 1820.\n\nG\u00fb'lani'yi--a Cherokee and Natchez settlement formerly about the\njunction of Brasstown creek with Hiwassee river, a short distance\nabove Murphy, in Cherokee county, North Carolina. The etymology of\nthe word is doubtful.\n\ngule'--acorn.\n\ng\u00fble'-diska`nihi'--the turtle-dove; literally, \"it cries, or mourns,\nfor acorns,\" from gule', acorn, and diska`nihi', \"it cries for them\"\n(di-, plural prefix, -hi, habitual suffix). The turtle-dove feeds\nupon acorns and its cry somewhat resembles the name, gule'.\n\ng\u00fble'gi--\"climber,\" from tsilahi', \"I climb\" (second person, hi'lahi';\nthird person, g\u00fblahi'); the blacksnake (Bascanion constrictor).\n\nG\u00fbl`kala'ski--An earlier name for Tsunu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'ski, q. v.\n\ng\u00fbl`kw\u00e2'gi--seven; also the mole-cricket (Gryllotalpa). See number 59.\n\ng\u00fbl`kw\u00e2'gine(-i--seventh; from g\u00fbl`kw\u00e2gi, seven.\n\nG\u00fblsadihi' (or G\u00fbltsadihi'?)--a masculine personal name, of uncertain\netymology.\n\nGumlog--see Tsilalu'hi.\n\ng\u00fbnahi'ta--long.\n\n\n\nG\u00fb'nahit\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Long place\" (i.e., Long valley), from g\u00fbnahita,\nlong, and yi, locative. A former settlement, known to the whites as\nValleytown, where now is the town of the same name, on Valley river,\nin Cherokee county, North Carolina. The various settlements on Valley\nriver and the adjacent part of Hiwassee were known collectively as the\n\"Valley towns.\"\n\nG\u00fbn'-di'gaduh\u00fb\u00f1'yi (abbreviated G\u00fbn'-digadu'h\u00fb\u00f1)--\"Turkey settlement\"\n(g\u00fb'na, turkey), so called from the chief, Turkey or Little Turkey. A\nformer settlement, known to the whites as Turkeytown, upon the west\nbank of Coosa river, opposite the present Center, in Cherokee county,\nAlabama.\n\ng\u00fb'n\u00ee'--arrow. Cf. Seneca ga'na'.\n\ng\u00fb\u00f1'nage'i (or g\u00fb\u00f1'nage)--black.\n\nG\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi--see N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi.\n\nG\u00fb\u00f1skali'ski--a masculine personal name of uncertain etymology.\n\nGunters landing, Guntersville--see Ku'sa-N\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi.\n\nG\u00fbn-tsuskwa'`li--\"Short arrows,\" from g\u00fbni', arrow, and tsuskwa'`li,\nplural of uskwa'`li, short; a traditional western tribe. See number\n105.\n\nG\u00fbn\u00fb\u00f1'da`le'gi--see N\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi-dihi'.\n\nGusti'--a traditional Cherokee settlement on Tennessee river, near\nKingston, Roane county, Tennessee. See number 79. The name cannot\nbe analyzed. Wafford thought it a Cherokee attempt at \"Kingston,\"\nbut it seems rather to be aboriginal.\n\nGu'wisguwi'--The Cherokee name for the chief John Ross and for the\ndistrict named in his honor, commonly spelled Cooweescoowee. Properly\nan onomatope for a large bird said to have been seen formerly at\ninfrequent intervals in the old Cherokee country, accompanying the\nmigratory wild geese, and described as resembling a large snipe,\nwith yellow legs and unwebbed feet. In boyhood John Ross was known\nas Tsan'-usdi', \"Little John.\"\n\nGwal`g\u00e2'hi--\"Frog place,\" from gwal`g\u00fb, a variety of frog, and hi,\nlocative. A place on Hiwassee river, just above the junction of\nPeachtree creek, near Murphy, in Cherokee county, North Carolina;\nabout 1755 the site of a village of refugee Natchez, and later of a\nBaptist mission.\n\ngwehe'!--a cricket's cry. See number 119.\n\n\nha!--an introductory exclamation intended to attract attention or\nadd emphasis; about equivalent to Here! Now!\n\nha'-ma'ma'--a song term compounded of ha! an introductory exclamation,\nand mama', a word which has no analysis, but is used in speaking to\nyoung children to mean \"let me carry you on my back.\" See number 117.\n\nHanging-maw--see Uskw\u00e2'li-g\u00fb'ta.\n\nha'nia-lil'-lil'--an unmeaning dance refrain. See number 24.\n\nHard-mush--see Gat\u00fb\u00f1'wa`li.\n\nha'suyak'--a song form for hasuya'gi', \"(thou) pick it out\"\n(imperative); \"I pick it out, or select it,\" ga'suyagi\u00fb'; second\nperson, ha'suyagi\u00fb'. See number 19.\n\nha'tl\u00fb--dialectic form, ga'ts\u00fb, \"where?\" (interrogative).\n\nha'wiye'ehi', ha'wiye'-hyuwe'--unmeaning dance refrains. See numbers\n32 and 118.\n\nhay\u00fb'--an emphatic affirmative, about equivalent to \"Yes, sir!\" See\nnumber 115.\n\nhayuya'haniwa'--an unmeaning refrain in one of the bear songs. See\nnumber 75.\n\nhe-e!--an unmeaning song introduction.\n\nHemp-carrier--see T\u00e2le'danigi'ski.\n\nHemptown--see Gat\u00fb\u00f1lti'yi.\n\nhi!--unmeaning dance exclamation.\n\nhi'gina'lii--\"(you are) my friend\"; agina'lii, \"(he is) my friend.\" In\nwhite man's jargon, canaly.\n\n\n\nHickory-log--see Wane'-as\u00fb\u00f1'tl\u00fb\u00f1yi.\n\nHightower--see I'tawa'.\n\nhila'g\u00fb?--how many? how much? (Upper dialect); the Middle dialect\nform is h\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb'.\n\nhilahi'yu--long ago; the final yu makes it more emphatic.\n\nhi'l\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb--\"(thou) go to sleep\"; from tsi'lih\u00fb', \"I am asleep.\"\n\nhi'ski--five; cf. Mohawk wisk. The Cherokee numerals including 10 are\nas follows: s\u00e2'gw\u00fb, ta'li, ts\u00e2'i, n\u00fb\u00f1'gi, hi'ski, su'tali, g\u00fbl`kw\u00e2'gi,\ntsune'la, sa\u00f1ne'la, ask\u00e2'hi.\n\nHiwassee--see Ayuhwa'si.\n\nhi'yagu'we--an unmeaning dance refrain. See number 32.\n\nHouston, Samuel--see Ka'lan\u00fb.\n\nh\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb--see hila'g\u00fb.\n\nhuhu--the yellow-breasted chat, or yellow mocking bird (Icteria\nvirens); the name is an onomatope. See number 45.\n\nh\u00fb\u00f1yahu'ska--\"he will die.\"\n\nhwi'lahi--\"thou (must) go.\"\n\n\nigag\u00fb'ti--daylight. The name is sometimes applied to the ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti\n(q. v.), and also to the clematis vine.\n\ni'hya--the cane reed (Arundinaria) of the Gulf states, used by the\nIndians for blowguns, fishing rods, and basketry.\n\nihy\u00e2'ga--see atsil's\u00fb\u00f1`ti.\n\ni'nad\u00fb'--snake.\n\nI'nad\u00fb-na'i--\"Going-snake,\" a Cherokee chief prominent about eighty\nyears ago. The name properly signifies that the person is \"going along\nin company with a snake,\" the verbal part being from the irregular\nverb asta'i, \"I am going along with him.\" The name has been given to\na district of the present Cherokee Nation.\n\ni'nage'hi--dwelling in the wilderness, an inhabitant of the wilderness;\nfrom i'nage'i, \"wilderness,\" and ehi, habitual present form of eh\u00fb,\n\"he is dwelling\"; ge'\u00fb, \"I am dwelling.\"\n\nI'nage-utas\u00fb\u00f1'hi--\"He who grew up in the wilderness,\" i. e. \"He who\ngrew up wild\"; from i'nage'i, \"wilderness, unoccupied timber land,\" and\nutas\u00fb\u00f1'hi, the third person perfect of the irregular verb, ga't\u00fb\u00f1sk\u00fb',\n\"I am growing up.\"\n\nIn\u00e2'li--Black-fox; the common red fox is tsu'la (in Muscogee,\nchula). Black-fox was principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in\n1810. See page 86.\n\nIskagua--\"Iakagua or Clear Sky, formerly Nenetooyah or the\nBloody-Fellow.\" The name appears thus in a document of 1791 as that\nof a Cherokee chief frequently mentioned about that period under the\nname of \"the Bloody Fellow.\" In one treaty it is given as \"Eskaqua or\nBloody Fellow.\" Both forms and etymologies are doubtful, neither form\nseeming to have any reference either to \"sky\" (gal\u00fb\u00f1'lahi) or \"blood\"\n(gi'ga). The first may be intended for Ik-e'gwa, \"Great-day.\" See\npage 69.\n\nIstanare--see U`stana'li.\n\nI`s\u00fb'nig\u00fb--an important Cherokee settlement, commonly known to\nthe whites as Seneca, formerly on Keowee river, about the mouth\nof Conneross creek, in Oconee county, South Carolina. Hopewell, the\ncountry seat of General Pickens, where the famous treaty was made, was\nnear it on the east side of the river. The word cannot be translated,\nbut has no connection with the tribal name, Seneca.\n\nItaba--see I'tawa'.\n\nItag\u00fb'nahi--the Cherokee name of John Ax.\n\nI'tawa'--The name of one or more Cherokee settlements. One, which\nexisted until the Removal in 1838, was upon Etowah river, about the\npresent Hightower, in Forsyth county Georgia. Another may have been\non Hightower creek of Hiwassee river in Towns county, Georgia. The\nname, commonly written Etowah and corrupted to Hightower, cannot\nbe translated and seems not to be of Cherokee origin. A town called\nItaba, Ytaua or Ytava in the De Soto chronicles existed in 1540 among\nthe Creeks, apparently on Alabama river.\n\nItsa'ti--commonly spelled Echota, Chota, Chote, Choquata (misprint),\netc; a name occurring in several places in the old Cherokee country:\nthe meaning is lost. The most important settlement of this name,\nfrequently distinguished as Great Echota, was on the south side of\nLittle Tennessee river a short distance below Citico creek in Monroe\ncounty, Tennessee. It was the ancient capital and sacred \"peace town\"\nof the Nation. Little Echota was on Sautee (i. e., Its\u00e2'ti) creek, a\nhead stream of the Chattahoochee, west of Clarkesville, Georgia. New\nEchota, the capital of the Nation for some years before the Removal,\nwas established at a spot originally known as Gansa'gi (q. v.) at the\njunction of the Oostanaula and Conasauga rivers, in Gordon county,\nGeorgia. It was sometimes called Newtown. The old Macedonia mission on\nSoco creek, of the North Carolina reservation, is also known as Its\u00e2'ti\nto the Cherokee, as was also the great Nacoochee mound. See Nagu`tsi'.\n\nItse'yi--\"New green place\" or \"Place of fresh green,\" from itse'hi,\n\"green or unripe vegetation,\" and yi, the locative; applied more\nparticularly to a tract of ground made green by fresh-springing\nvegetation, after having been cleared of timber or burned over. A name\noccurring in several places in the old Cherokee country, variously\nwritten Echia, Echoee, Etchowee, and sometimes also falsely rendered\n\"Brasstown,\" from a confusion of Itse'yi with \u00fb\u00f1tsaiyi', \"brass.\" One\nsettlement of this name was upon Brasstown creek of Tugaloo river,\nin Oconee county, South Carolina; another was on Little Tennessee\nriver near the present Franklin, Macon county, North Carolina, and\nprobably about the junction of Cartoogaja (Gatug-itse'yi) creek;\na third, known to the whites as Brasstown, was on upper Brasstown\ncreek of Hiwassee river, in Towns county, Georgia. In Cherokee as\nin most other Indian languages no clear distinction is made between\ngreen and blue (sa`ka'nige'i).\n\ni'ya--pumpkin.\n\niya'-iyu'sti--\"like a pumpkin,\" from iya and iyu'sti, like.\n\niya'-tawi'skage--\"of pumpkin smoothness,\" from i'ya, pumpkin, and\ntawi'skage, smooth.\n\n\nJackson--see Tsek'sini'.\n\nJessan--see Tsesa'ni.\n\nJesse Reid--see Tse'si-Ska'tsi.\n\nJoanna bald--see Diy\u00e2'hali'yi.\n\nJoara, Juada--see Ani'-Suwa'li.\n\nJohn--see Tsa'ni.\n\nJohn Ax--see Itag\u00fb'nahi.\n\nJolly, John--see Ahu'lude'gi.\n\nJunaluska--see Tsunu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'ski.\n\nJutaculla--see Tsul`kal\u00fb'.\n\n\nk\u00e2'g\u00fb'--crow; the name is an onomatope.\n\nK\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Crow place,\" from k\u00e2'g\u00fb', crow and yi, locative. See\nnumber 63.\n\nka'i--grease, oil.\n\nKala'as\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where he fell off,\" from tsila'ask\u00fb', \"I am falling\noff,\" and yi, locative. A cliff near Cold Spring knob, in Swain county,\nNorth Carolina.\n\nK\u00e2'lah\u00fb'--\"All-bones,\" from k\u00e2'l\u00fb, bone. A former chief of the East\nCherokee, also known in the tribe as Sawanu'gi (Shawano), and to the\nwhites as Sawnook or Flying-squirrel.\n\n\n\nK\u00e2'lan\u00fb--\"The Raven\"; the name was used as a war title in the tribe\nand appears in the old documents as Corani (Lower dialect, K\u00e2'ran\u00fb)\nColanneh, Colona, etc. It is the Cherokee name for General Samuel\nHouston or for any person named Houston.\n\nK\u00e2'lan\u00fb Ahyeli'ski--the Raven Mocker. See number 120.\n\nK\u00e2'lan\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Raven place,\" from k\u00e2'lan\u00fb, raven, and yi, the\nlocative. The proper name of Big-cove settlement upon the East\nCherokee reservation, Swain county, North Carolina, sometimes also\ncalled Raventown.\n\nkal\u00e2s'-g\u00fbnahi'ta--\"long-hams\" (g\u00fbnahi'ta), \"long\"); a variety of\nbear. See number 15.\n\nK\u00e2l-detsi'y\u00fb\u00f1yi--\"Where the bones are,\" from k\u00e2'l\u00fb, bone, and\ndetsi'y\u00fb\u00f1yi, \"where (yi) they (de--plural prefix) are lying.\" A spot\nnear the junction of East Buffalo creek with Cheowa river, in Graham\ncounty, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nkama'ma--butterfly.\n\nkama'ma u'tan\u00fb--elephant; literally \"great butterfly,\" from the\nresemblance of the trunk and ears to the butterfly's proboscis and\nwings. See number 15.\n\nkanahe'na--a sour corn gruel, much in use among the Cherokee and\nother southern tribes; the tamfuli or \"Tom Fuller\" of the Creeks.\n\nkanane'ski--spider; also, from a fancied resemblance in appearance,\na watch or clock; kanane'ski amaye'hi, the water spider.\n\nKana'sta, Kanast\u00fb\u00f1'yi--a traditional Cherokee settlement formerly on\nthe headwaters of the French Broad river near the present Brevard,\nin Transylvania county, North Carolina. The meaning of the name is\nlost. A settlement called Cannostee or Cannastion is mentioned as\nexisting on Hiwassee river in 1776. See number 82 and notes.\n\nkan\u00e2'talu'hi--hominy cooked with walnut kernels.\n\nKana'ti-- \"Lucky Hunter\"; a masculine name, sometimes abbreviated\nKanat'. The word can not be analyzed, but is used as a third person\nhabitual verbal form to mean \"he is lucky, or successful, in hunting\";\nthe opposite is u`kwa'leg\u00fb, \"unlucky, or unsuccessful, in hunting.\" See\nnumber 3.\n\nkanegw\u00e2'ti--the water-moccasin snake.\n\nKanu'ga--also written Canuga; a Lower Cherokee settlement, apparently\non the waters of Keowee river in South Carolina, destroyed in 1761;\nalso a traditional settlement on Pigeon river, probably near the\npresent Waynesville, in Haywood county, North Carolina. See number 81\nand notes. The name signifies \"a scratcher,\" a sort of bone-toothed\ncomb with which ball-players are scratched upon their naked skin\npreliminary to applying the conjured medicine; de'tsinuga'sk\u00fb,\n\"I am scratching it.\"\n\nkanug\u00fb'`la (abbreviated nug\u00fb'`la)--\"scratcher,\" a generic term for\nthe blackberry, raspberry, and other brier bushes. Cf. Kanu'ga.\n\nKanu'g\u00fb`l\u00e2yi, or Kanu'g\u00fb`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Brier place,\" from kanu'g\u00fb'`l\u00e2,\nbrier (cf. Kanu'ga); a Cherokee settlement formerly on Nantahala river,\nabout the mouth of Briertown creek, in Macon county, North Carolina.\n\nkan\u00fb\u00f1'naw\u00fb'--pipe.\n\nK\u00e2sdu'yi--\"Ashes place,\" from k\u00e2sdu, ashes, and yi, the locative. A\nmodern Cherokee name for the town of Asheville, in Buncombe county,\nNorth Carolina. The ancient name for the same site is Unta'kiyasti'yi,\nq.v.\n\nKat\u00e2l'sta--an East Cherokee woman potter, the daughter of the chief\nY\u00e2nag\u00fb\u00f1'ski. The name conveys the idea of lending, from tsiy\u00e2t\u00e2l'sta,\n\"I lend it\"; agat\u00e2l'sta, \"it is lent to him.\"\n\nKaw\u00e2n'-ur\u00e2's\u00fbnyi (abbreviated Kaw\u00e2n'-ur\u00e2's\u00fb\u00f1 in the Lower\ndialect)--\"Where the duck fell\" from kaw\u00e2'na, duck, ur\u00e2'sa (ul\u00e2'sa),\n\"it fell,\" and yi, locative. A point on Conneross creek (from\nKaw\u00e2n'-ur\u00e2's\u00fb\u00f1), near Seneca, in Oconee county, South Carolina. See\nnumber 123.\n\nKawi'yi (abbreviated Kawi')--a former important Cherokee settlement,\ncommonly known as Cowee, about the mouth of Cowee creek of Little\nTennessee river, some 10 miles below Franklin, in Macon county, North\nCarolina. The name may possibly be a contraction of Ani'-Kawi'yi,\n\"Place of the Deer clan.\"\n\nKeeowhee--see Keowee.\n\nKenesaw--see Gans\u00e2'gi.\n\nKeowee--the name of two or more former Cherokee settlements. One,\nsometimes distinguished as \"Old Keowee,\" the principal of the Lower\nCherokee towns, was on the river of the same name, near the present\nFort George, in Oconee county, South Carolina. Another, distinguished\nas New Keowee, was on the headwaters of Twelve-mile creek, in Pickens\ncounty, South Carolina. According to Wafford the correct form is\nKuw\u00e2hi'yi, abbreviated Kuw\u00e2hi', \"Mulberry-grove place\"; says Wafford,\n\"The whites murdered the name, as they always do.\" Cf. Kuw\u00e2'hi.\n\nKe'si-ka'gam\u00fb--a woman's name, a Cherokee corruption of Cassie Cockram;\nka'gam\u00fb is also the Cherokee corruption for \"cucumber.\"\n\nKetoowah--see Kitu'hwa.\n\nKittuwa--see Kitu'hwa.\n\nKitu'hwa--An important ancient Cherokee settlement formerly\nupon Tuckasegee river, and extending from above the junction of\nOconaluftee down nearly to the present Bryson City, in Swain county,\nNorth Carolina. The name, which appears also as Kettooah, Kittoa,\nKittowa, etc., has lost its meaning. The people of this and the\nsubordinate settlements on the waters of the Tuckasegee were known\nas Ani'-Kitu'hwagi and the name was frequently extended to include\nthe whole tribe. For this reason it was adopted in later times as\nthe name of the Cherokee secret organization, commonly known to the\nwhites as the Ketoowah society, pledged to the defense of Cherokee\nautonomy. See also historical notes 1 and 47.\n\nkiyu`ga--ground-squirrel; te'wa, flying squirrel; sal\u00e2'li, gray\nsquirrel.\n\nKlausuna--see Tlanusi'yi.\n\nKnoxville--see Kuwand\u00e2't\u00e2`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nk\u00fb!--an introductory exclamation, to fix attention, about equivalent to\n\"Now!\"\n\nkuk\u00fb'--\"cymling\"; also the \"jigger weed,\" or \"pleurisy root\" (Asclepias\ntuberosa). Coco creek of Hiwassee river, and Coker postoffice, in\nMonroe county Tennessee, derive their name from this word.\n\nK\u00fblsetsi'yi (abbreviated K\u00fblse'tsi)--\"Honey-locust place,\" from\nk\u00fblse'tsi, honey-locust (Gleditschia) and yi locative; as the same\nword, k\u00fblse'tsi, is also used for \"sugar,\" the local name has commonly\nbeen rendered Sugartown by the traders. The name of several former\nsettlement places in the old Cherokee country. One was upon Keowee\nriver, near the present Fall creek, in Oconee county, South Carolina;\nanother was on Sugartown or Cullasagee (K\u00fblse'tsi) creek, near the\npresent Franklin, in Macon county, North Carolina; a third was on\nSugartown creek, near the present Morganton, in Fannin county, Georgia.\n\nKunnesee--see Tsi'yu-g\u00fbnsi'ni.\n\nK\u00fbnst\u00fbtsi'yi--\"Sassafras place,\" from k\u00fbnst\u00fb'tsi, sassafras, and yi,\nlocative. A gap in the Great Smoky range, about the head of Noland\ncreek, on the line between North Carolina and Sevier county, Tennessee.\n\nk\u00fbnu'nu (abbreviated k\u00fbnun')--the bullfrog; the name is probably an\nonomatope; the common green frog is wal\u00e2'si and there are also names\nfor several other varieties of frogs and toads.\n\nKusa'--Coosa creek, an upper tributary of Nottely river, near\nBlairsville, Union county, Georgia. The change of accent from Ku'sa\n(Creek, see Ani'-Ku'sa) makes it locative. See page 383.\n\n\n\nKu'sa-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi--\"Creek trail,\" from Ku'sa, Creek Indian, and\nn\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi, path, trail; cf. Suw\u00e2'li-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi. A former important\nCherokee settlement, including also a number of Creeks and Shawano,\nwhere the trail from the Ohio region to the Creek country crossed\nTennessee river, at the present Guntersville, in Marshall county,\nAlabama. It was known to the traders as Creek-path, and later as\nGunter's landing, from a Cherokee mixed-blood named Gunter.\n\nKu'saweti'yi (abbreviated Ku'saweti')--\"Old Creek place,\" from\nKu'sa, a Creek Indian (plural Ani'-Ku'sa), uwe'ti, old, and yi,\nlocative. Coosawatee, an important Cherokee settlement formerly on\nthe lower part of Coosawatee river, in Gordon county, Georgia. In\none document the name appears, by error, Tensawattee. See page 382.\n\nKuw\u00e2'hi--\"Mulberry place,\" from ku'wa, mulberry tree, and hi, locative;\nClingman's dome, about the head of Deep creek, on the Great Smoky\nrange, between Swain county, North Carolina, and Sevier county,\nTennessee. See also Keowee.\n\nKuwand\u00e2'ta`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi (abbreviated Kuwand\u00e2'ta`l\u00fb\u00f1)--\"Mulberry grove,\" from\nku'wa, mulberry; the Cherokee name for the present site of Knoxville,\nin Knox county, Tennessee.\n\nKwa'li, Kwal\u00fb\u00f1'yi--Qualla or Quallatown, the former agency for the East\nCherokee and now a postoffice station, just outside the reservation,\non a branch of Soco creek, in Jackson county, North Carolina. It is\nthe Cherokee form for \"Polly,\" and the station was so called from an\nold woman of that name who formerly lived near by; Kwa'li, \"Polly,\"\nKwal\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Polly's place.\" The reservation is locally known as the\nQualla boundary.\n\nkwandaya'h\u00fb--see da'liksta'.\n\n\nl\u00e2'l\u00fb--the jar-fly (Cicada auletes). See number 59.\n\nLittle Carpenter, Little Cornplanter--see Ata'-g\u00fbl`kal\u00fb.\n\nLloyd--see Da'si`giya'gi.\n\nLong-hair--a Cherokee chief living with his band in Ohio in\n1795. See page 79. The literal Cherokee translation of \"Long-hair\"\nis Gitl\u00fb'-g\u00fbnahi'ta, but it is not certain that the English name is\na correct rendering of the Indian form. Cf. Ani'-Gil\u00e2'hi.\n\nLong island--see Amaye`li-g\u00fbnahi'ta.\n\nLookout Mountain town--see Danda'gan\u00fb'.\n\nLowrey, Major George--see Agi`li.\n\n\nMayes, J. B.--see Ts\u00e2'wa Gak'ski.\n\nMemphis--see Tsud\u00e2'tales\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nMialaquo--see Amaye`l-e'gwa.\n\nMorgan--see \u00c2ganst\u00e2'ta.\n\nMoses--see Wa'si.\n\nMoytoy--a Cherokee chief recognized by the English as \"emperor\" in\n1730. Both the correct form and the meaning of the name are uncertain;\nthe name occurs again as Moyatoy in a document of 1792; a boy upon the\nEast Cherokee reservation a few years ago bore the name of Ma'tayi',\nfor which no meaning can be given.\n\nMuscle shoals--see Dag\u00fb'n\u00e2hi.\n\n\nNacoochee--see Na'gu`tsi'.\n\nNa'd\u00fb`li'--known to the whites as Nottely. A former Cherokee settlement\non Nottely river, close to the Georgia line, in Cherokee county,\nNorth Carolina. The name cannot be translated and has no connection\nwith na`t\u00fb`li, \"spicewood.\"\n\nNagu`tsi'--a former important settlement about the junction of Soquee\nand Santee rivers, in Nacoochee valley, at the head of Chattahoochee\nriver, in Habersham county, Georgia. The meaning of the word is\nlost and it is doubtful if it be of Cherokee origin. It may have\nsome connection with the name of the Uchee Indians. The great mound\nfarther up Sautee river, in White county, was known to the Cherokee\nas Its\u00e2'ti, q. v.\n\nnakwisi' (abbreviated nakw`si)--star; also the meadow lark.\n\nnakwisi'usdi'--\"little star\"; the puff ball fungus (Lycoperdon?).\n\nN\u00e2'na-tlu`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi (abbreviated N\u00e2'na-tlu`g\u00fb\u00f1', or\nN\u00e2'na-tsu`g\u00fb\u00f1')--\"Spruce-tree place,\" from n\u00e2'na, spruce, tlu`g\u00fb\u00f1'i or\ntsu`g\u00fb\u00f1'i, a tree (standing) and yi, locative. 1. A traditional ancient\nCherokee settlement on the site of Jonesboro, Washington county,\nTennessee. The name of Nolichucky river is probably a corruption of\nthe same word. 2. N\u00e2na-tsu`g\u00fb\u00f1, a place on Nottely river, close to\nits junction with Hiwassee, in Cherokee county, North Carolina.\n\nNanehi--see N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi.\n\nNantahala--see N\u00fb\u00f1daye'`li.\n\nNashville--see Dag\u00fb'nawe'l\u00e2hi.\n\nNatchez--see Ani'-Na`tsi.\n\nNa`ts-as\u00fb\u00f1'tl\u00fb\u00f1yi (abbreviated Na`ts-as\u00fb\u00f1'tl\u00fb\u00f1)--\"Pine-footlog place,\"\nfrom na`tsi, pine, as\u00fb\u00f1'tli or as\u00fb\u00f1tl\u00fb\u00f1'i, footlog, bridge, and yi,\nlocative. A former Cherokee settlement, commonly known as Pinelog,\non the creek of the same name, in Bartow county, Georgia.\n\nna`tsi--pine.\n\nna'tsik\u00fb'--\"I eat it\" (tsi'ki\u00fb', \"I am eating\").\n\nna`t\u00fb`li--spicewood (Lindera benzoin).\n\nNaye'hi--see N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi.\n\nNayunuwi--see N\u00fb\u00f1yunu'wi.\n\nnehanduyan\u00fb'--a song form for nehadu'yan\u00fb', an irregular verbal form\ndenoting \"conceived in the womb.\" See number 75.\n\nNellawgitehi--given as the name of a Lower Cherokee chief in 1684. See\npage 31. The correct form and meaning are both uncertain, but the final\npart seems to be the common suffix dihi'--, \"killer,\" Cf. Ta'gwadihi'.\n\nNenetooyah--see Iskagua.\n\nNequassee--see Ni'kwasi'.\n\nNettecawaw--see gatay\u00fb'sti.\n\nNettle-carrier--see T\u00e2le'danigi'ski.\n\nNew Echota, Newtown--see Its\u00e2'ti.\n\nNickajack--see Nikutse'gi.\n\nNicotani--see Ani'-Kuta'ni.\n\nNikwasi' (or Nikw'si')--an important ancient settlement on Little\nTennessee river, where now is the town of Franklin, in Macon county,\nNorth Carolina. A large mound marks the site of the townhouse. The\nname appears in old documents as Nequassee, Nucassee, etc. Its meaning\nis lost.\n\nNikutse'gi (also N\u00fbkatse'gi, Nikwatse'gi, or abbreviated\nNikutseg')--Nickajack, an important Cherokee settlement about 1790 on\nthe south bank of Tennessee river at the entrance of Nickajack creek,\nin Marion county, Tennessee. One of the five Chickamauga towns (see\nTsikama'gi). The meaning of the word is lost and it is probably not\nof Cherokee origin, although it occurs also in the tribe as a man's\nname. In the corrupted form of \"Nigger Jack,\" it occurs also as the\nname of a creek of Cullasagee river above Franklin, in Macon county,\nNorth Carolina.\n\nNilaque--see Amaye`l-e'gwa.\n\nNolichucky--see N\u00e2'natlu`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nNotchy--a creek entering Tellico river, in Monroe county,\nTennessee. The name evidently refers to Natchez Indian refugees,\nwho formerly lived in the vicinity (see Ani'-Na`tsi).\n\nNottely--see Na'd\u00fb`li'.\n\n\n\nn\u00fb--used as a suffix to denote \"and,\" or \"also\"; \u00fb'le-`n\u00fb, \"and also\";\nna'ski`-n\u00fb', \"and that,\" \"that also.\"\n\nNucassee--see Nikwasi'.\n\nnu'd\u00fb\u00f1nel\u00fb'--he did so and so; an irregular form apparently connected\nwith the archaic forms ad\u00fb\u00f1ni'ga, \"it has just become so,\" and ud\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb',\n\"it is matured, or finished.\" See number 118.\n\nn\u00fb\u00f1'da'--the sun or moon, distinguished as n\u00fb\u00f1'da' ige'hi, \"n\u00fb\u00f1'd\u00e3'\ndwelling in the day,\" and n\u00fb\u00f1'da' s\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'yehi, \"n\u00fb\u00f1'da' dwelling in the\nnight.\" In the sacred formulas the moon is sometimes called Ge`yagu'ga,\nq. v., or Su'talidihi', \"Six-killer,\" names apparently founded upon\nmyths now lost.\n\nn\u00fb\u00f1'da'-dika`ni--a rare bird formerly seen occasionally in the\nold Cherokee country, possibly the little blue heron (Floridus\ncerulea). The name seems to mean \"it looks at the sun,\" i. e.,\n\"sun-gazer,\" from n\u00fb\u00f1'da', sun, and da'ka`na' or detsi'ka`na, \"I am\nlooking at it.\" See number 35.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1'd\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, N\u00fb\u00f1d\u00e2'yi--the Sun land, or east; from n\u00fb\u00f1da', sun, and\nyi, locative. Used in the sacred formulas instead of di'gal\u00fb\u00f1g\u00fb\u00f1'yi,\n\"where it rises,\" the common word.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1'daye`li--\"Middle (i. e. Noonday) sun,\" from n\u00fb\u00f1da', sun and aye`li,\nmiddle; a former Cherokee settlement on Nantahala river, near the\npresent Jarrett station, in Macon county, North Carolina, so called\nfrom the high cliffs which shut out the view of the sun until nearly\nnoon. The name appears also as Nantahala, Nantiyallee, Nuntialla,\netc. It appears to have been applied properly only to the point on the\nriver where the cliffs are most perpendicular, while the settlement\nitself was known as Kanu'g\u00fb`l\u00e2'yi, \"Briertown,\" q. v. See number 122.\n\nNugatsa'ni--a ridge sloping down to Oconaluftee river, below Cherokee,\nin Swain county, North Carolina. The word is an archaic form denoting\na high ridge with a long gradual slope. See number 122.\n\nn\u00fb\u00f1'gi'--four. See hi'ski.\n\nnug\u00fb`la--see kanug\u00fb`la.\n\nNuhnayie--see N\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi.\n\nnu'na--potato; the name was originally applied to the wild \"pig potato\"\n(Phaseolus), now distinguished as nu'na ig\u00e2tehi, \"swamp-dwelling\npotato.\"\n\nN\u00fbndawe'gi--see Ani'-N\u00fbndawe'gi.\n\nn\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi (abbreviated n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2)--a path, trail or road.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi-dihi' (abbreviated N\u00fb\u00f1'n\u00e2-dihi')--\"Path-killer,\" literally,\n\"He kills (habitually) in the path,\" from n\u00fb\u00f1'n\u00e2hi, path, and ahihi,\n\"he kills\" (habitually); \"I am killing,\" tsi'ih\u00fb'. A principal chief,\nabout the year 1813. Major John Ridge was originally known by the\nsame name, but afterward took the name, G\u00fbn\u00fb\u00f1'da`le'gi, \"One who\nfollows the ridge,\" which the whites made simply Ridge.\n\nN\u00fbnn\u00e2'hi-tsune'ga (abbreviated) N\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2-tsune'ga--\"White-path,\" from\nn\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi, path, and tsune'ga, plural of une'ga, white; the form\nis in the plural, as is common in Indian names, and has probably a\nsymbolic reference to the \"white\" or peaceful paths spoken of in the\nopening invocation at the Green corn dance. A noted chief who led\nthe conservative party about 1828. See pages 113, 132.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi (also G\u00fb\u00f1ne'hi; singular Naye'hi)--a race of invisible\nspirit people. The name is derived from the verb e'h\u00fb', \"I dwell,\nI live,\" e'hi', \"I dwell habitually,\" and may be rendered \"dwellers\nanywhere,\" or \"those who live anywhere,\" but implies having always been\nthere, i. e., \"Immortals.\" It has been spelled Nanehi and Nuhnayie by\ndifferent writers. The singular form Naye'hi occurs also as a personal\nname, about equivalent to Eda'hi, \"One who goes about.\" See number 78.\n\nnuniyu'sti--\"potato-like,\" from nu'na, potato, and iyu'sti, like. A\nflowering vine with tuberous root somewhat resembling the potato. See\nnumber 126.\n\n\n\nn\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'--rock, stone. Cf. n\u00e2yu, sand\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-g\u00fb\u00f1wani'ski--\"Rock that talks,\" from n\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb', rock, and\ntsiwa'nih\u00fb, \"I am talking.\" A rock from which Talking-rock creek of\nCoosawatee river in Georgia derives its name. See number 125.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1'yunu'wi--contracted from N\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb-unu'wi. \"Stone-clad,\" from n\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb,\nrock, and agwanu'w\u00fb, \"I am clothed or covered.\" A mythic monster,\ninvulnerable by reason of his stony skin. See number 67. The name\nis also applied sometimes to the stinging ant, das\u00fb\u00f1t\u00e2li atats\u00fb\u00f1ski,\nq. v. It has also been spelled Nayunuwi.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-tlu`g\u00fb\u00f1i (or N\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb-tsu`g\u00fb\u00f1'i)--\"Tree rock.\" A notable rock on\nHiwassee river, just within the North Carolina line. See number 66\nand notes.\n\nN\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-tawi'ska--\"Slick rock,\" from n\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb', rock, and tawiska, smooth,\nslick; the form remains unchanged for the locative. 1. Slick-rock\ncreek, entering Little Tennessee river just within the west line\nof Graham county, North Carolina. 2. A place at the extreme head of\nBrasstown creek of Hiwassee river, in Towns county, Georgia.\n\n\nOcoee--see Uwag\u00e2'hi.\n\nOconaluftee--see Egw\u00e2nul`ti.\n\nOconee--see Ukw\u00fb'n\u00fb.\n\nOconostota--see \u00c2ganst\u00e2'ta.\n\nOld Tassel--see Utsi'dsata'.\n\nOoltewah--see Ultiw\u00e2'i.\n\nOolunsade--see Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti.\n\nOostanaula--see U stana'li.\n\nOostinaleh--see U stana'li.\n\nOothcaloga--see Uy`gil\u00e2'gi.\n\nOtacite, Otassite--see Outacity.\n\nOtari, Otariyatiqui--mentioned as a place, apparently on the Cherokee\nfrontier, visited by Pardo in 1567. Otari seems to be the Cherokee\n\u00e2tari or \u00e2tali, mountain, but the rest of the word is doubtful. See\npage 28.\n\nOttare--see \u00e2'tali.\n\nOwasta--given as the name of a Cherokee chief in 1684; the form cannot\nbe identified. See page 31.\n\nOugillogy--see Uy`gil\u00e2'gi.\n\nOutacity--given in documents as the name or title of a prominent\nCherokee chief about 1720. It appears also as Otacite, Otassite,\nOutassatah, Wootassite and Wrosetasatow (!), but the form cannot be\nidentified, although it seems to contain the personal name suffix\ndihi', \"killer.\" Timberlake says (page 71): \"There are some other\nhonorary titles among them, conferred in reward of great actions;\nthe first of which is Outacity or Man-killer, and the second Colona\nor the Raven.\"\n\nOutassatah--see Outacity.\n\nOwassa--see Ayuhwa'si.\n\n\nPaint-town--see Ani'-W\u00e2'dihi'.\n\nPath-killer--see N\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi-dihi'.\n\nPhoenix, Cherokee--see Tsule'hisan\u00fb\u00f1'hi.\n\nPigeon River--see W\u00e2yi.\n\nPine Indians--see Ani'-Na`tsi.\n\nPinelog--see Na`ts-as\u00fb\u00f1'tl\u00fb\u00f1yi.\n\n\nQualatchee--a former Cherokee settlement on the headwaters of the\nChattahoochee river in Georgia; another of the same name was upon the\nwaters of Keowee river in South Carolina. The correct form is unknown.\n\nQualla--see Kwali.\n\nQuaxule--see Guaxule.\n\nQuinahaqui--a place, possibly in the Cherokee country, visited by\nPardo in 1567. The form cannot be identified. See page 28.\n\nQuoneashee--see Tlanusi'yi.\n\n\nRattlesnake springs--see Utsanatiyi.\n\nRattling-gourd--see Ganse`ti.\n\nRaventown--see K\u00e2lan\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nRed Clay--see Elaw\u00e2'diyi.\n\nReid, Jesse--see Tse'si-Ska'tsi.\n\nRidge, Major John--see N\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi-dihi.\n\nRoss, John--see Gu'wisguwi'.\n\nRoss' landing--see Tsatanu'gi.\n\n\nSadayi'--a feminine name, the proper name of the woman known to the\nwhites as Annie Ax; it cannot be translated.\n\nS\u00e2gw\u00e2'hi, or S\u00e2gw\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"One place,\" from s\u00e2'gw\u00fb, one, and hi or yi,\nlocative. Soco creek of Oconaluftee river, on the East Cherokee\nreservation, in Jackson county, North Carolina. No satisfactory\nreason is given for the name, which has its parallel in Ts\u00e2sk\u00e2'hi,\n\"Thirty place,\" a local name in Cherokee county, in the same state.\n\ns\u00e2'gwali', horse; from as\u00e2gw\u00e2lih\u00fb, a pack or burden, as\u00e2gwull\u00fb';\n\"there is a pack on him.\"\n\ns\u00e2'gwali dig\u00fb'lanahi'ta--mule; literally \"long eared horse,\" from\ns\u00e2'gwali, horse, and dig\u00fb'lanahi'ta, q. v.\n\nS\u00e2kwi'yi (or Suki'yi; abbreviated S\u00e2kwi' or Suki')--a former settlement\non Soquee river, a head-stream of Chattahoochee, near Clarkesville,\nHabersham county, Georgia. Also written Saukee and Sookee. The name\nhas lost its meaning.\n\nsal\u00e2'li--squirrel; the common gray squirrel; other varieties are\nkiyu`ga, the ground squirrel, and tewa, the flying squirrel. Sal\u00e2'li\nwas also the name of an East Cherokee inventor who died a few years\nago; Sal\u00e2'lani'ta, \"Young-squirrels,\" is a masculine personal name\non the reservation.\n\nsaligu'gi--turtle, the common water turtle; soft-shell turtle,\nu`lana'wa; land tortoise or terrapin, t\u00fbksi'.\n\nsalikw\u00e2'yi--bear-grass (Eryngium); also the greensnake, on account\nof a fancied resemblance; the name of a former Cherokee settlement\non Sallacoa creek of Coosawatee river, in Gordon county, Georgia.\n\nSa'nigil\u00e2'gi (abbreviated San`gil\u00e2'gi)--Whiteside mountain, a prominent\npeak of the Blue ridge, southeast from Franklin, Macon county, North\nCarolina. It is connected with the tradition of U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta (see number\n66 and notes).\n\nSanteetla--the present map name of a creek joining Cheowa river in\nGraham county, North Carolina, and of a smaller tributary (Little\nSanteetla). The name is not recognized or understood by the Cherokee,\nwho insist that it was given by the whites. Little Santeetla is known\nto the Cherokee as Tsunda`nilti'yi, q. v.; the main Santeetla creek is\ncommonly known as N\u00e2gu'hi gey\u00fb\u00f1'i, \"Sand-place stream,\" from N\u00fbyu'hii,\n\"Sand place\" (n\u00e2yu, sand), a former settlement just above the junction\nof the two creeks.\n\nSara--see Ani'-Suwa'li.\n\nsa'sa'--goose; an onomatope.\n\nSautee--see Its\u00e2'ti.\n\nSavannah--the popular name of this river is derived from that of the\nShawano Indians, formerly living upon its middle course, and known to\nthe Cherokee as Ani'-Sawanu'gi, q. v., to the Creeks as Savanuka, and\nto some of the coast tribes of Carolina as Savanna. In old documents\nthe river is also called Isundiga, from I`s\u00fb'nig\u00fb or Seneca, q. v.,\nan important former Cherokee settlement upon its upper waters. See\nnumber 99.\n\nSawanu'gi--\"Shawano\" (Indian); a masculine personal name upon the East\nCherokee reservation and prominent in the history of the band. See\nAni'-Sawanu'gi and K\u00e2'lah\u00fb'.\n\nSawnook--see K\u00e2'lah\u00fb'.\n\nSehwate'yi--\"Hornet place,\" from se'hwat\u00fb, hornet, and yi,\nlocative. Cheowa Maximum and Swim bald, adjoining bald peaks at the\nhead of Cheowa river, Graham county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nselu--corn; sometimes called in the sacred formulas Agawe'la, \"The\nOld Woman.\" See number 126.\n\nsel-utsi' (for selu-utsi')--\"corn's mother,\" from selu, corn and utsi',\nhis mother (etsi' or agitsi', my mother); the bead-corn or Job's-tears\n(Coix lacryma). See number 126.\n\nSeneca--see Ani'-N\u00fbn'dawe'gi (Seneca tribe), and I`s\u00fb'nig\u00fb, (Seneca\ntown).\n\nSequatchee--see Si'gwetsi'.\n\nSequoya--see Sikw\u00e2yi.\n\nSe`tsi--a mound and traditional Cherokee settlement on the south\nside of Valley river, about three miles below Valleytown, in Cherokee\ncounty, North Carolina; the name has lost its meaning. See number 79. A\nsettlement called Tase`tsi (Tassetchie in some old documents) existed\non the extreme head of Hiwassee river, in Towns county, Georgia.\n\nSevier--see Tsan'-usdi'.\n\nShoe-boots--see Da'si`giya'gi.\n\nShooting creek--see Du'staya`l\u00fb\u00f1y'yi.\n\nSi'gwetsi'--a traditional Cherokee settlement on the south bank\nof the French Broad river, not far from Knoxville, Knox county,\nTennessee. Near by was the quarry from which it is said the\nstone for the white peace pipes was obtained. See number 111 and\nnotes. Sequatchee, the name of the river below Chattanooga, in\nTennessee, is probably a corruption of the same word.\n\nsi'kwa--hog; originally the name of the opossum, now distinguished\nas si'kwa utset'sti, q. v.\n\nsi'kwa utset'sti--opossum: literally \"grinning hog,\" from si'kwa,\nhog, and utset'sti, \"he grins (habitually).\" Cf. sikwa.\n\nSikw\u00e2'yi--a masculine name, commonly written Sequoya, made famous as\nthat of the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet. See page 108. The name,\nwhich can not be translated, is still in use upon the East Cherokee\nreservation.\n\nSikwi'a--a masculine name, the Cherokee corruption for Sevier. See\nalso Tsan-usdi'.\n\nsinnawah--see tla'nuwa.\n\nSi'tik\u00fb' (or s\u00fb'tag\u00fb', in dialectic form)--a former Cherokee settlement\non Little Tennessee river at the entrance of Citico creek, in Monroe\ncounty, Tennessee. The name, which can not be translated, is commonly\nspelled Citico, but appears also as Sattiquo, Settico, Settacoo,\nSette, Sittiquo, etc.\n\nsiyu'--see \u00e2'siyu'.\n\nskint\u00e2'--for skin't\u00e2g\u00fb', understood to mean \"put a new tooth into\nmy jaw.\" The word can not be analyzed, but is derived from gantka'\n(ganta`ga in a dialectic form) a tooth in place; a tooth detached is\nkayu`ga. See number 15.\n\nSkwan'-dig\u00fb`g\u00fb\u00f1'y\u00ee (for Askwan'-dig\u00fb`g\u00fb\u00f1'yi)--\"Where the Spaniard\nis in the water [or other liquid]\". A place on Upper Soco creek,\non the reservation in Jackson county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nSlick rock--see N\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-tawi'ska.\n\nSmith, N. J.--see Tsaladihi'.\n\nSnowbird--see Tuti'yi.\n\n\n\nSoco creek--see S\u00e2gw\u00e2'hi.\n\nSoco gap--see Ahalu'na.\n\nSoquee--see S\u00e2kwi'yi.\n\nSpray, H. W.--see Wilsini'.\n\nSpring-Frog--see Du'stu'.\n\nStanding Indian--see Y\u00fb\u00f1wi-tsulen\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nStand Watie--see De'gat\u00e2ga.\n\nStekoa--see Stik\u00e2'yi.\n\nste'tsi--your daughter; literally, your offspring; agwe'tsi,\n\"my offspring\"; uwe'tsi, \"his offspring\"; to distinguish sex it is\nnecessary to add asga'ya, \"man\" or age'hya, \"woman.\"\n\nStik\u00e2'yi (variously spelled Stecoe, Steecoy, Stekoah, Stickoey,\netc.)--the name of several former Cherokee settlements: 1. On Sticoa\ncreek, near Clayton, Rabun county, Georgia; 2. on Tuckasegee river\nat the old Thomas homestead just above the present Whittier, in Swain\ncounty, North Carolina; 3. on Stekoa creek of Little Tennessee river,\na few miles below the junction of Nantahala, in Graham county, North\nCarolina. The word has lost its meaning.\n\nStringfield--see Tl\u00e2ge'si.\n\nstugi'sti, stui'sti--a key; see page 187 and under Astu'gat\u00e2'ga.\n\nSuck, The--see \u00db\u00f1'tiguhi'.\n\nSugartown--see K\u00fblse'tsi'yi.\n\ns\u00fb'nawa'--see tla'nuwa.\n\ns\u00fbnestl\u00e2'ta--\"split noses\"; see tsun\u00fb`liy\u00fb' s\u00fbnestl\u00e2'ta.\n\ns\u00fb\u00f1gi--mink; also onion; the name seems to refer to a smell; the\nvarious mints are called generically, gaw`s\u00fb\u00f1'gi. See number 29.\n\nSuki'yi--another form of S\u00e2kwi'yi, q.v.\n\nsu'li'--buzzard; the Creek name is the same.\n\nSun land--see N\u00fb\u00f1'da'yi.\n\nsu'-sa'-sai'--an unmeaning song refrain. See number 66.\n\nsu'talidihi'--see n\u00fb\u00f1'da'.\n\nSuwa'li--see Ani'-Suwa'li.\n\nSuwa'li-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi (abbreviated Suwa'li-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi)--\"Suwali trail,\"\nthe proper name for the gap at the head of Swannanoa (from\nSuwa'li-N\u00fb\u00f1'n\u00e2) river, east of Asheville, in Buncombe county, North\nCarolina. Cf. Ku'sa-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi. See pages 194 and 379, also Ani'-Suwa'li.\n\nSuwa`ni--a former Cherokee settlement on Chattahoochee river,\nabout the present Suwanee, in Gwinnett county, Georgia. The name\nhas no meaning in the Cherokee language and is said to be of Creek\norigin. See page 382.\n\nSuye'ta--\"The Chosen One,\" from asuye'ta, \"he is chosen,\" gasu'ye\u00fb,\n\"I am choosing\"; the same form, suye'ta, could also mean mixed, from\ngasu'yah\u00fb, \"I am mixing it.\" A masculine name, at present borne by\na prominent ex-chief and informant upon the East Cherokee reservation.\n\nSwannanoa--see Suwa'li-n\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi.\n\nSwim bald--see Sehwate'yi.\n\nSwimmer--see A`y\u00fb\u00f1'ini.\n\n\ntadey\u00e2'statak\u00fbhi'--\"we shall see each other.\" See number 75.\n\nTae-keo-ge--see Ta`ski'gi.\n\nta'g\u00fb--the June-bug (Allorhina nitida), also called\ntu'ya-diskalaw'sti'ski, \"one who keeps fire under the beans.\" See\nnumber 59.\n\nTa'gwa--see Ani'ta'gwa.\n\nTa'gwadihi' (abbreviated Ta'gwadi')--\"Catawba-killer,\" from Ata'gwa\nor Ta'gwa, Catawba Indian, and dihihi, \"he kills them\" (habitually)\nfrom tsi'ih\u00fb', \"I kill.\" An old masculine personal name, still in\nuse upon the East Cherokee reservation. It was the proper name of the\nchief known to the whites about 1790 as \"The Glass,\" from a confusion\nof this name with adake'`ti, glass, or mirror.\n\nTagw\u00e2'hi--\"Catawba place,\" from Ata'gwa or Ta'gwa, Catawba Indian, and\nhi, locative. A name occurring in several places in the old Cherokee\ncountry. A settlement of this name, known to the whites as Toccoa,\nwas upon Toccoa creek, east of Clarkesville, in Habersham county,\nGeorgia; another was upon Toccoa or Ocoee river, about the present\nToccoa, in Fannin county, Georgia; a third may have been on Persimmon\ncreek, which is known to the Cherokee as Tagw\u00e2'hi, and enters Hiwassee\nriver some distance below Murphy, in Cherokee county, North Carolina.\n\nTahkeyostee--see Unta'kiyasti'yi.\n\nTahlequah--see Talikwa'.\n\nTahchee--see Tatsi'.\n\nTakatoka--see De'gat\u00e2'ga.\n\nta'ladu' (abbreviated taldu')--twelve, from ta'li, two. Cf. tala'tu,\ncricket.\n\nTa`lasi'--a former Cherokee settlement on Little Tennessee river,\nabout Talassee ford, in Blount county, Tennessee. The name has lost\nits meaning.\n\nTalassee--see Ta`lasi'.\n\ntala'tu--cricket; sometimes also called dita'staye'ski (q. v.),\n\"the barber.\" Cf. ta'ladu', twelve.\n\nT\u00e2le'danigi'ski (Ut\u00e2le'danigi'si, in a dialectic form)--variously\nrendered by the whites \"Hemp-carrier,\" \"Nettle-carrier\" or\n\"Flax-toter,\" from t\u00e2le'ta or ut\u00e2le'ta, flax (Linum) or rich weed\n(Pilea pumila), and danigi'ski, \"he carries them (habitually).\" A\nformer prominent chief on Valley river, in Cherokee county, North\nCarolina. See number 95 and notes.\n\nTalihina--given as the name of the Cherokee wife of Samuel Houston;\nthe form cannot be identified. See page 223.\n\nTalikwa' (commonly written Tellico, Telliquo or, in the Indian\nTerritory, Tahlequah)--the name of several Cherokee settlements\nat different periods, viz: 1. Great Tellico, at Tellico Plains,\non Tellico river, in Monroe county, Tennessee; 2. Little Tellico,\non Tellico creek of Little Tennessee river, about ten miles below\nFranklin, in Macon county, North Carolina; 3. a town on Valley river,\nabout five miles above Murphy, in Cherokee county, North Carolina;\n4. Tahlequah, established as the capital of the Cherokee Nation,\nIndian Territory, in 1839. The meaning of the name is lost.\n\nTali'wa--the site of a traditional battle between the Cherokee and\nCreeks about 1755, on Mountain (?) creek of Etowah river in upper\nGeorgia. Probably not a Cherokee but a Creek name from the Creek\nta'lua or ita'lua, town. See pages 38 and 384-385.\n\nTalking-rock--see N\u00fb\u00f1y\u00fb'-g\u00fb\u00f1wani'ski.\n\nTallulah--see Talulu'.\n\nTal-tsu'ska'-- \"Two-heads,\" from ta'li, two, and tsu'ska', plural\nof uska', (his) head. A Cherokee chief about the year 1800, known to\nthe whites as Doublehead.\n\ntaluli--pregnant; whence aluli', (she is) a mother, said of a woman.\n\nTalulu' (commonly written Tallulah, and appearing in old documents,\nfrom the Lower dialect, as Taruraw, Toruro, Turoree, etc.)--a name\noccurring in two or more places in the old Cherokee country, viz:\n1. An ancient settlement on the upper part of Tallulah river, in\nRabun county, Georgia; 2. a town on Tallulah creek of Cheowa river, in\nGraham county, North Carolina. The word is of uncertain etymology. The\ndulu'si frog is said to cry talulu'. See number 125. The noted falls\nupon Tallulah river are known to the Cherokee as Ug\u00fb\u00f1'yi, q. v.\n\nTaluntiski--see Ata'l\u00fb\u00f1ti'ski.\n\n\n\nTama`li--a name, commonly written Tomotley or Tomatola, occurring in at\nleast two places in the old Cherokee country, viz: 1. On Valley river,\na few miles above Murphy, about the present Tomatola, in Cherokee\ncounty, North Carolina; 2. on Little Tennessee river, about Tomotley\nford, a few miles above Tellico river, in Monroe county, Tennessee. The\nname can not be translated, and may be of Creek origin, as that tribe\nhad a town of the same name upon the lower Chattahoochee river.\n\nTanasi'--a name which can not be analyzed, commonly spelt Tennessee,\noccurring in several places in the old Cherokee country, viz: 1. On\nLittle Tennessee river, about halfway between Citico and Toco creeks,\nin Monroe county, Tennessee; 2. \"Old Tennessee town,\" on Hiwassee\nriver, a short distance above the junction of Ocoee, in Polk county,\nTennessee; 3. on Tennessee creek, a head-stream of Tuckasegee river, in\nJackson county, North Carolina. Tanasqui, visited by Pardo in 1567 (see\npage 29), may have been another place of the same name. See number 124.\n\nTanasqui--see Tanasi.\n\nTa`ski'gi (abbreviated from Ta`skigi'yi or Da`skigi'yi, the locative\nyi being commonly omitted)--a name variously written Tae-keo-ge\n(misprint), Tasquiqui, Teeskege, Tuscagee, Tuskegee, etc. derived from\nthat of a foreign tribe incorporated with the Cherokee, and occurring\nas a local name both in the Cherokee and in the Creek country. 1. The\nprincipal settlement of this name was on Little Tennessee river,\njust above the junction of Tellico, in Monroe county, Tennessee;\n2. another was on the north bank of Tennessee river, just below\nChattanooga, Tennessee; 3. another may have been on Tuskegee creek\nof Little Tennessee river, near Robbinsville, Graham county, North\nCarolina. See page 29 and number 105.\n\nTasquiqui--see Ta`ski'gi.\n\nTassel, Old--see Utsi'dsata'.\n\nTatsi'--\"Dutch,\" also written Tahchee, a western Cherokee chief about\n1830. See page 141.\n\ntatsu'hwa--the redbird.\n\ntawa'li--punk.\n\nTawa'li-ukwan\u00fb\u00f1'ti--\"Punk-plugged-in,\" from tawa'li, punk; the Cherokee\nname of a traditional Shawano chief. See number 100.\n\ntawi'ska, tawi'skage--smooth, slick.\n\nTawi'skala--\"Flint\"; a Cherokee supernatural, the personification\nof the rock flint; tawi'skal\u00fb\u00f1'i, tawi'skala, flint, from tawi'ska,\nsmooth, slick; cf. Iroquois Tawiskaro\u00f1. See number 25 and notes.\n\nTay\u00fbnksi--a traditional western tribe; the name can not be\nanalyzed. See number 105.\n\nTellico--see Talikwa'.\n\ntel\u00fb\u00f1'lati--the summer grape (Vitis \u00e6stivalis).\n\nTensawattee--see Ku'saweti'yi.\n\nTerrapin--see T\u00fbksi'.\n\ntewa--flying squirrel; sal\u00e2'li, gray squirrel; kiyu`ga, ground\nsquirrel.\n\nThomas, W. H.--see Wil-usdi'.\n\nTikwali'tsi--a name occurring in several places in the old Cherokee\ncountry, viz: 1. Tuckalegee creek, a tributary of War-woman creek, east\nof Clayton, in Rabun county, Georgia; 2. the Tikwali'tsi of the story,\nan important town on Tuckasegee river at the present Bryson City, in\nSwain county, North Carolina; 3. Tuckalechee cove, on Little river,\nin Blount county, Tennessee, which probably preserves the aboriginal\nlocal name. The name appears in old documents as Tuckarechee (Lower\ndialect) and Tuckalegee, and must not be confounded with Tsiksi'tsi\nor Tuckasegee. It can not be translated. See number 100 and notes.\n\nTimossy--see Tomassee.\n\n\n\nTl\u00e2ge'si--\"Field\"; the Cherokee name for Lieutenant-Colonel\nW. W. Stringfield of Waynesville, North Carolina, one of the officers\nof the Cherokee contingent in the Thomas Legion. It is an abbreviated\nrendering of his proper name.\n\ntl\u00e2ge'sit\u00fb\u00f1'--a song form for tl\u00e2ge'si a-st\u00fb\u00f1'i, \"on the edge of the\nfield,\" from tl\u00e2ge'si, or ts\u00e2ge'si, field, and ast\u00fb\u00f1'i, edge, border,\netc; ama'yast\u00fb\u00f1', \"the bank of a stream.\" See number 24.\n\ntla'meha--bat (dialectic forms, tsa'meha, tsa'weha). See page 187.\n\ntlanu'si'--leech (dialectic form, tsanu'si'). See page 187.\n\nTlanusi'yi (abbreviated Tlanusi')--\"Leech place,\" a former important\nsettlement at the junction of Hiwassee and Valley rivers, the\npresent site of Murphy, in Cherokee county, North Carolina; also a\npoint on Nottely river, a few miles distant, in the same county. See\nnumber 77 and notes. The name appears also as Clennuse, Klausuna,\nQuoneashee, etc.\n\ntla'nuwa' (dialectic forms, tsanuwa', s\u00fb'nawa', \"sinnawah\"--Adair)--a\nmythic great hawk. See numbers 35, 64, 65, also page 187.\n\ntla'nuwa' usdi'--\"little tla'nuwa'\"; probably the goshawk (Astur\natricapillus). See number 35.\n\nTla'nuwa'-atsiyel\u00fb\u00f1'is\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the Tla'nuwa cut it up,\"\nfrom tla'nuwa', q. v., and tsiyel\u00fb\u00f1'isk\u00fb', an archaic form for\ntsig\u00fb\u00f1il\u00fb\u00f1'isk\u00fb', \"I am cutting it up.\" A place on Little Tennessee\nriver, nearly opposite the entrance of Citico creek, in Blount county,\nTennessee. See number 64 and notes.\n\nTla'nuwa'i--\"Tla'nuwa place,\" a cave on the north side of Tennessee\nriver a short distance below the entrance of Citico creek, in Blount\ncounty, Tennessee. See number 64 and notes.\n\ntlay'k\u00fb'--jay (dialectic form, tsay'k\u00fb'). See page 187.\n\ntl\u00fb\u00f1ti'sti--the pheasant (Bonasa umbella), called locally grouse\nor partridge.\n\ntlutlu'--the martin bird (dialectic form, tsutsu'). See page 187.\n\nts\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi--panther (dialectic form, ts\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi). See page 187.\n\nTocax--a place, apparently in the Cherokee country, visited by Pardo\nin 1567 (see page 29). It may possibly have a connection with Toxaway\n(see D\u00fbksa'i) or Toccoa (see Tagw\u00e2'hi).\n\nToccoa--see Tagw\u00e2'hi.\n\nToco--see Dakw\u00e2'i.\n\nTollunteeskee--see Ata'l\u00fb\u00f1ti'ski.\n\nTomassee (also written Timossy and Tymahse)--the name of two or more\nformer Cherokee settlements, viz: 1. On Tomassee creek of Keowee river,\nin Oconee county, South Carolina; 2. on Little Tennessee river near\nthe entrance of Burningtown creek, in Macon county, South Carolina. The\ncorrect form and interpretation are unknown.\n\nTomatola, Tomotley--see Tama`li.\n\nTooantuh--see Du'stu'.\n\nToogelah--see Dugilu'yi.\n\nToqua--see Dakw\u00e2'i.\n\nToxaway--see D\u00fbksa'i.\n\nTrack Rock gap--see Datsu'nal\u00e2sg\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nTsaga'si--a Cherokee sprite. See number 78.\n\nts\u00e2'gi--upstream, up the road; the converse of ge'i. See number 117.\n\nTsaiyi'--see \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi'.\n\nTsa'ladihi'--Chief N. J. Smith of the East Cherokee. The name might\nbe rendered \"Charley-killer,\" from Tsali, \"Charley,\" and dihi',\n\"killer\" (in composition), but is really a Cherokee equivalent\nfor Jarrett (Tsaladi), his middle name, by which he was frequently\naddressed. Cf. Tagwadihi.\n\nts\u00e2l-agay\u00fb\u00f1'li--\"old tobacco,\" from ts\u00e2l\u00fb, tobacco, and agay\u00fb\u00f1'li, or\nag\u00e2y\u00fb\u00f1'lige, old, ancient; the Nicotiana rustica or wild tobacco. See\nnumber 126.\n\n\n\nTsa'lagi' (Tsa'ragi' in Lower dialect)--the correct form of\nCherokee. See page 182, \"Tribal Synonymy.\"\n\nTsa'li--Charley; a Cherokee shot for resisting the troops at the time\nof the Removal. See page 131.\n\nts\u00e2liyu'sti--\"tobacco-like,\" from ts\u00e2l\u00fb, tobacco, and iyu'sti,\nlike; a generic name for the cardinal-flower, mullein and related\nspecies. See number 126.\n\nts\u00e2l\u00fb or ts\u00e2l\u00fb\u00f1 (in the Lower dialect, ts\u00e2r\u00fb)--tobacco; by comparison\nwith kindred forms in other Iroquoian dialects the meaning \"fire\nto hold in the mouth\" seems to be indicated. Lanman spells it\ntso-lungh. See number 126 and page 187.\n\ntsa'meha--see tla'meha.\n\ntsa'nadisk\u00e2'--for tsandisk\u00e2i, \"they say.\"\n\ntsana'seh\u00e2'i--so they say, they say about him. See number 118.\n\nts\u00e2ne'ni--the scorpion lizard; also called gi'ga-danegi'ski, q. v. See\nnumber 59.\n\nTsani--John.\n\nTsantaw\u00fb'--a masculine name which can not be analyzed.\n\nTsan-uga'sita--\"Sour John\"; John Butler, a halfbreed Cherokee ball\ncaptain, formerly living on Nottely river. See number 122.\n\nTsan-usdi'--\"Little John\"; the Cherokee name for General John Sevier,\nand also the boy name of the chief John Ross, afterward known as\nGu'wisguwi', q. v. Sikwi'a, a Cherokee attempt at \"Sevier,\" is a\nmasculine name upon the East Cherokee reservation.\n\ntsanu'si'--see tlanu'si'.\n\ntsa'nuwa'--see tla'nuwa'.\n\nTsa'ragi'--Cherokee; see page 182, \"Tribal Synonymy.\"\n\nts\u00e2r\u00fb--see ts\u00e2l\u00fb.\n\nTsasta'wi--a noted hunter formerly living upon Nantahala river, in\nMacon county, North Carolina; the meaning of the name is doubtful. See\nnumber 122.\n\nTsatanu'gi (commonly spelled Chattanooga)--the Cherokee name for\nsome point upon the creek entering Tennessee river at the city of\nChattanooga, in Hamilton county, Tennessee. It has no meaning in the\nCherokee language and appears to be of foreign origin. The ancient\nname for the site of the present city is A`tla'nuwa, q. v. See number\n124. Before the establishment of the town the place was known to\nthe whites as Ross' landing, from a store kept there by Lewis Ross,\nbrother of the chief John Ross.\n\nTsatu'gi (commonly written Chattooga or Chatuga)--a name occurring\nin two or more places in the old Cherokee country, but apparently of\nforeign origin (see page 382). Possible Cherokee derivations are from\nwords signifying respectively \"he drank by sips,\" from gatu'gia',\n\"I sip,\" or \"he has crossed the stream and come out upon the other\nside,\" from gatu'gi, \"I have crossed\" etc. An ancient settlement of\nthis name was on Chattooga river, a head-stream of Savannah river,\non the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia; another appears\nto have been on upper Tellico river, in Monroe county, Tennessee;\nanother may have been on Chattooga river, a tributary of the Coosa,\nin northwestern Georgia.\n\nTs\u00e2'wa Gakski--Joe Smoker, from Ts\u00e2wa, \"Joe,\" and gakski, \"smoker,\"\nfrom ga'gisk\u00fb, \"I am smoking.\" The Cherokee name for Chief Joel\nB. Mayes, of the Cherokee Nation west.\n\nTsawa'si--a Cherokee sprite. See number 78.\n\ntsa'weha--see tla'meha.\n\ntsay'k\u00fb'--see tlay'k\u00fb'.\n\nTsek'sini'--the Cherokee form for the name of General Andrew Jackson.\n\nTsesa'ni--Jessan, probably a derivative from Jesse; a masculine name\nupon the East Cherokee reservation.\n\nTse'si-Ska'tsi--\"Scotch Jesse\"; Jesse Reid, present chief of the East\nCherokee, so called because of mixed Scotch ancestry.\n\n\n\ntsetsani'li--\"thy two elder brothers\" (male speaking); my elder brother\n(male speaking), \u00fb\u00f1gini'li. See note to number 63.\n\nTsg\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Insect place,\" from tsg\u00e2ya, insect, and yi, locative. A\ncave in the ridge eastward from Franklin, in Macon county, North\nCarolina. See number 13.\n\ntsg\u00e2ya--insect, worm, etc. See page 308.\n\nTsikama'gi--a name, commonly spelled Chickamauga, occurring in at least\ntwo places in the old Cherokee country, which has lost any meaning in\nCherokee and appears to be of foreign origin. It is applied to a small\ncreek at the head of Chattahoochee river, in White county, Georgia, and\nalso to the district about the southern (not the northern) Chickamauga\ncreek, coming into Tennessee river, a few miles above Chattanooga,\nin Hamilton county, Tennessee. In 1777 the more hostile portion of\nthe Cherokee withdrew from the rest of the tribe and established here\na large settlement, from which they removed about five years later to\nsettle lower down the Tennessee in what were known as the Chickamauga\ntowns or Five Lower towns. See page 54 and number 124.\n\ntsiki'--a word which renders emphatic that which it follows: as \u00e2'st\u00fb,\n\"very good,\" \u00e2st\u00fb' tsiki, \"best of all.\" See number 75.\n\ntsikiki'--the katydid; the name is an onomatope.\n\ntsi'kilili'--the Carolina chickadee (Parus carolinensis); the name\nis an onomatope. See number 35.\n\nTsiksi'tsi (T\u00fbksi'tsi in dialectic form; commonly written\nTuckasegee)--1. a former Cherokee settlement about the junction\nof the two forks of Tuckasegee, above Webster, in Jackson county,\nNorth Carolina (not to be confounded with Tikwali'tsi, q. v.). 2. A\nformer settlement on a branch of Brasstown creek of Hiwassee river,\nin Towns county, Georgia. The word has lost its meaning.\n\nTsi'nawi--a Cherokee wheelwright, perhaps the first in the Nation\nto make a spinning wheel and loom. The name can not be analyzed. See\npage 214.\n\ntsine'\u00fb--I am picking it (something long) up; in the Lower and Middle\ndialects, tsinigi'\u00fb.\n\ntsinigi'\u00fb--see tsine'\u00fb.\n\ntsiska'gili--the large red crawfish; the ordinary crawfish is called\ntsist\u00fb'na. See number 59.\n\ntsi'skwa--bird.\n\ntsiskwa'gwa--robin, from tsi'skwa, bird.\n\nTsiskw\u00e2'hi--\"Bird place,\" from tsi'skwa, bird, and hi,\nlocative. Birdtown settlement on the East Cherokee reservation,\nin Swain county, North Carolina.\n\ntsiskw\u00e2'ya--sparrow, literally \"principal bird\" (i. e., most widely\ndistributed), from tsi'skwa, bird, and y\u00e2, a suffix denoting principal\nor real.\n\nTsilalu'hi--\"Sweet-gum place,\" from tsila'lu', sweet-gum (Liquidambar),\nand hi, locative. A former settlement on a small branch of Brasstown\ncreek of Hiwassee river, just within the line of Towns county,\nGeorgia. The name is incorrectly rendered Gumlog (creek).\n\nTsiskwunsdi'-adsisti'yi--\"Where they killed Little-bird,\" from\nTsiskw-unsdi', \"Little-birds\" (plural form). A place near the head\nof West Buffalo creek, southeast of Robbinsville, in Graham county,\nNorth Carolina. See number 122.\n\nTsistetsi'yi--\"Mouse place,\" from tsistetsi, mouse, and yi, locative;\na former settlement on South Mouse creek, of Hiwassee river, in Bradley\ncounty, Tennessee. The present town of Cleveland, upon the same creek,\nis known to the Cherokee under the same name.\n\ntsistu--rabbit.\n\ntsist\u00fb'na--crawfish; the large horned beetle is also so called. The\nlarge red crawfish is called tsiska'gili.\n\ntsist-uni'gisti--\"rabbit foods\" (plural), from tsi'stu, rabbit,\nand uni'gisti, plural of agi'sti, food, from tsiyi'gi\u00fb \"I am eating\"\n(soft food). The wild rose.\n\n\n\nTsistu'yi--\"Rabbit place,\" from tsistu, rabbit, and yi,\nlocative. 1. Gregory bald, high peak of the Great Smoky range,\neastward from Little Tennessee river, on the boundary between Swain\ncounty, North Carolina and Blount county, Tennessee. See number 75 and\nnotes. 2. A former settlement on the north bank of Hiwassee river at\nthe, entrance of Chestua creek, in Polk county, Tennessee. The name\nof Choastea creek of Tugaloo river, in Oconee county, South Carolina,\nis probably also a corruption from the same word.\n\nTsiy\u00e2'hi--\"Otter place,\" from tsiy\u00fb, otter, and yi, locative;\nvariously spelled Cheowa, Cheeowhee, Chewohe, Chewe, etc. 1. A former\nsettlement on a branch of Keowee river, near the present Cheohee,\nOconee county, South Carolina. 2. A former and still existing Cherokee\nsettlement on Cheowa river, about Robbinsville, in Graham county,\nNorth Carolina. 3. A former settlement in Cades cove, on Cove creek,\nin Blount county, Tennessee.\n\nTsi'yu-g\u00fbnsi'ni--\"He is dragging a canoe,\" from tsi'yu,\ncanoe (cf. tsi'y\u00fb, otter) and g\u00fbnsi'ni, \"he is dragging\nit.\" \"Dragging-canoe,\" a prominent leader of the hostile Cherokee\nin the Revolution. The name appears in documents as Cheucunsene and\nKunnesee. See page 54.\n\nTskil-e'gwa--\"Big-witch,\" from atskili', or tskili', witch, owl, and\ne'gwa, big; an old man of the East Cherokee, who died in 1896. See\npage 179. Although translated Big-witch by the whites, the name is\nunderstood by the Indians to mean Big-owl (see number 35), having\nbeen originally applied to a white man living on the same clearing,\nnoted for his large staring eyes.\n\ntskili' (contracted from atskili')--1. witch; 2. the dusky horned owl\n(Bubo virginianus saturatus). See number 35.\n\nTSOLUNGH--see tsal\u00fb.\n\ntskw\u00e2'yi--the great white heron or American egret (Herodias egretta).\n\nTsud\u00e2'tales\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where pieces fall off,\" i.e. where the banks are\ncaving in; from ad\u00e2tale'\u00fb, \"it is falling off,\" ts, distance prefix,\n\"there,\" and yi, locative. The Cherokee name for the present site of\nMemphis, Tennessee, overlooking the Mississippi, and formerly known\nas the Chickasaw bluff.\n\nTsuda'ye`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Isolated place\"; an isolated peak near the head\nof Cheowa river, northeast of Robbinsville, in Graham county, North\nCarolina. See number 79 and notes. The root of the word signifies\ndetached, or isolated, whence Uda'ye`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi, the Cherokee outlet,\nin the Indian Territory.\n\nTsu'din\u00fb\u00f1ti'yi--\"Throwing-down place\"; a former settlement on lower\nNantahala river, in Macon county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nTsugid\u00fb`li \u00fblsgi'sti (from tsugid\u00fb`li, plural of ugid\u00fb`li, one of\nthe long wing or tail feathers of a bird, and \u00fblsgi'sti or \u00fblsgi'ta,\na dance)--the feather or eagle dance. See number 35.\n\nts\u00fb\u00f1gili'si--plural of \u00fb\u00f1gili'si, q.v.\n\nts\u00fb\u00f1gini'si--plural of \u00fb\u00f1gini'si, q.v.\n\nTsukil\u00fb\u00f1n\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where he alighted\"; two bald spots on a mountain\nat the head of Little Snowbird creek, near Robbinsville, in Graham\ncounty, North Carolina. For tradition, see number 122.\n\nts\u00fb\u00f1kina'tli--\"my younger brothers\" (male speaking).\n\nts\u00fb\u00f1kita'--\"my younger brothers\" (female speaking).\n\ntsu`la--fox; cf. ts\u00fb`l\u00fb, kingfisher and tlutlu' or tsutsu', martin. The\nblack fox is in\u00e2'li. The Creek word for fox is chula.\n\ntsula'ski--alligator: the name is of uncertain etymology.\n\nTsu`la'wi--see Ts\u00fb`l\u00fb\u00f1we'i.\n\nTsul\u00e2'sin\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Footprint place.\" A place on Tuckasegee river, about a\nmile above Deep creek, in Swain county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nTsul`kal\u00fb'--\"Slanting-eyes,\" literally \"He has them slanting\" (or\nleaning up against something); the prefix ts makes it a plural form,\nand the name is understood to refer to the eyes, although the word eye\n(akta', plural dikta') is not a part of it. Cf. Ata'-g\u00fbl`kal\u00fb'. A\nmythic giant and ruler of the game. The name has been corrupted to\nJutaculla and Tuli-cula. Jutaculla rock and Jutaculla old fields\nabout the head of Tuckasegee river, in Jackson, North Carolina,\ntake their name from him. See number 81 and notes.\n\nTsule'hisan\u00fb\u00f1'hi--\"Resurrected One,\" from di'gwale'hisan\u00fb\u00f1'hi, \"I\nwas resurrected,\" literally, \"I was down and have risen.\" Tsa'lagi'\nTsule'hisanu\u00f1hi, the Cherokee title of the newspaper known to the\nwhites as the Cherokee Phoenix. The Cherokee title was devised by\nWorcester and Boudinot as suggesting the idea of the phoenix of\nclassic fable. The Indian name of the recent \"Cherokee Advocate\"\nis Tsa'lagi Asdeli'ski.\n\nTsul`kal\u00fb' tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi--see Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\ntsulie'na--the nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis); the word signifies\nliterally \"deaf\" (a plural form referring to the ear, g\u00fble'), although\nno reason is given for such a name.\n\nts\u00fb`l\u00fb--kingfisher. Cf. tsu`la.\n\nTs\u00fb`l\u00fb\u00f1we'i (abbreviated Ts\u00fb`l\u00fb\u00f1'we or Ts\u00fbla'wi, possibly connected\nwith ts\u00fb`l\u00fb, kingfisher)--Chilhowee creek, a north tributary of Little\nTennessee river, in Blount county, Tennessee.\n\nTsunda`nilti'yi--\"Where they demanded the debt from him\"; a place\non Little Santeetla river, west of Robbinsville, in Graham county,\nNorth Carolina. The creek also is commonly known by the same name. See\nnumber 122.\n\nTsundige'wi--\"Closed anuses,\" literally \"They have them closed,\"\nunderstood to refer to the anus; from dige'wi, plural of ge'wi,\nclosed, stopped up, blind; cf. Tsul`kal\u00fb'; also G\u00fblisge'wi, \"Blind,\nor closed, ears,\" an old personal name. See number 74.\n\ntsun'digw\u00fbn'tski (contracted from tsun'digw\u00fbntsu`gi, \"they have them\nforked,\" referring to the peculiar forked tail; cf. Tsul`kal\u00fb')--a\nmigratory bird which once appeared for a short time upon the East\nCherokee reservation, apparently, from the description, the scissortail\nor swallow-tailed flycatcher (Milvulus forficatus). See number 35.\n\nTsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi (sometimes called Tsul`kal\u00fb' Tsuneg\u00fb\u00f1'yi')--Tennessee\nbald, at the extreme head of Tuckasegee river, on the east line of\nJackson county, North Carolina. The name seems to mean, \"There where\nit is white,\" from ts, a prefix indicating distance, une'ga, white,\nand yi, locative. See number 81 and notes.\n\nTsunil'`kal\u00fb--the plural form for Tsul`kal\u00fb, q. v.; a traditional\ngiant tribe in the west. See number 106.\n\ntsun\u00fb'`liy\u00fb's\u00fbnestl\u00e2'ta--\"they have split noses,\" from agwa`liy\u00fb',\n\"I have it,\" and unestl\u00e2\u00fb', \"it is cracked\" (as a crack made by the\nsun's heat in a log or in the earth); the initial s makes it refer\nto the nose, kayasa'. See number 76 and notes.\n\ntsunis'tsahi'--\"(those) having topknots or crests,\" from ustdah\u00fb',\n\"having a topknot,\" ustsahi', \"he has a topknot\" (habitual). See\nnumber 76 and notes.\n\nTsuniya'tiga--\"Naked People\"; literally \"They are naked there,\" from\nuya'tiga, naked (singular), with the prefix ts, indicating distance. A\ntraditional western tribe. See number 105.\n\ntsunsdi'--contracted from tsunsdi'ga, the plural of usdi'ga or usdi',\nsmall.\n\nTsunu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'ski-- \"He tries, but fails\" (habitually), from\ndetsinu'lah\u00fb\u00f1'g\u00fb' (q. v.), \"I tried, but failed.\" A former noted chief\namong the East Cherokee, commonly known to the whites as Junaluska. In\nearly life he was called G\u00fbl`kala'ski, a name which denotes something\nhabitually falling from a leaning position (cf. Ata-g\u00fbl`kal\u00fb' and\nTsul`kal\u00fb'.) See page 164.\n\nts\u00fb\u00f1-ka'wi-ye', ts\u00fb\u00f1-sikwa-ya', ts\u00fb\u00f1-tsu'la-ya', ts\u00fb\u00f1-wa'`ya-ya'--\"I\nam (ts\u00fb\u00f1 or tsi, verbal prefix) a real (ya, ye, noun suffix) deer\"\n(kawi', archaic for a`wi'); opossum, si'kwa; fox, tsu`la; wolf,\nwa`ya. Archaic song forms. See number 15.\n\nTs\u00fbsgin\u00e2'i--\"the Ghost country,\" from asgi'na, \"ghost,\" i, locative,\nand ts, a prefix denoting distance. The land of the dead; it is\nsituated in Us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi, the Twilight land, in the west. See number 5.\n\ntsuakwa`li--plural of uskwa`li, short.\n\nTsuskwan\u00fb\u00f1'nawa'ta--\"Worn-out blanket,\" from tsuskwan\u00fb\u00f1'ni, blanket\n(the word refers to something having stripes), and uwa'ta, \"worn\nout.\" James D. Wafford, a prominent Cherokee mixed-blood and informant\nin the Western nation, who died about 1896. See page 236.\n\nTs\u00fbta'ga Uwey\u00fb\u00f1'i--\"Chicken creek,\" from ts\u00fbta'ga, chicken, and\nuwey\u00fb\u00f1'i, stream. An extreme eastern head-stream of Nantahala river,\nin Macon county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nTsuta'tsinas\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Eddy place.\" A place on Cheowa river at the mouth\nof Cockram creek, in Graham county, North Carolina. For tradition\nsee number 122.\n\ntsutsu'--see tlutlu'.\n\nts\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi--see tl\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'tsi.\n\ntsuwa'--the mud-puppy or water-dog (Menopoma or Protonopsis). See\nnumber 59.\n\nTsuwa`tel'da--a contraction of Tsuwa`teld\u00fb\u00f1'yi; the name has lost\nits meaning. Pilot knob, north from Brevard, in Transylvania county,\nNorth Carolina. See number 82 and notes.\n\nTsuwa'-uniyets\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the water-dogs laughed,\" from tsuwa'\n(q. v.), \"water-dog,\" uniye'ts\u00fb, \"they laughed\" (agiyet'sk\u00fb, \"I\nam laughing\"), and yi, locative; Tusquittee bald, near Hayesville,\nin Clay county, North Carolina. For story see number 122.\n\nTsuwe'nahi--A traditional hunter, in communication with the\ninvisible people. See number 83. The name seems to mean \"He has them\nin abundance,\" an irregular or archaic form for Uwe'nai, \"he has\nabundance,\" \"he is rich,\" from agwe'nai', \"I am rich.\" As a masculine\nname it is used as the equivalent of Richard. See number 83.\n\nTuckalechee--see Tikwali'si.\n\nTuckasegee--see Tsiksi'tai.\n\nTugaloo--see Dugilu'yi.\n\ntugalu!--the cry of the dag\u00fbl`k\u00fb goose.\n\ntugal\u00fb'na--a variety of small fish, about four inches long, frequenting\nthe larger streams (from gal\u00fb'na, a gourd, on account of its long\nnose). See number 39 and notes.\n\nt\u00fbksi'--the terrapin or land tortoise; also the name of a Cherokee\nchief about the close of the Revolution. Saligu'gi, common turtle;\nsoft-shell turtle, u`lana'wa.\n\nT\u00fbksi'tsi--see Tsiksi'tsi.\n\nTuli-cula--see Tsul`kal\u00fb'.\n\nt\u00fblsku'wa--\"he snaps with his head,\" from uska', head; the snapping\nbeetle.\n\nTun\u00e2'i--a traditional warrior and medicine-man of old Its\u00e2'ti; the\nname can not be analyzed. See number 99.\n\nTurkeytown--see G\u00fbn-di'gaduh\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nTurniptown--see U`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nTuskegee--see Ta`ski'gi.\n\nTusquittee bald--see Tsuwa'-uniyets\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nTusquittee creek--see Daskwit\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\ntu'sti--for tusti'ga, a small bowl; larger jars are called diwa'`li\nand \u00fb\u00f1ti'ya.\n\nt\u00fb\u00f1'taw\u00fb'--a small yellow night-moth. The name comes from ah\u00fb\u00f1't\u00fb,\na word implying that something flits into and out of the blaze. See\nnumber 59.\n\ntu'ti--snowbird.\n\nTuti'yi--\"Snowbird place,\" from tu'ti, snowbird, and yi,\nlocative. Little Snow-bird creek of Cheowa river, in Graham county,\nNorth Carolina.\n\nt\u00fb'tsahyesi'--\"he will marry you.\"\n\n\n\ntu'ya--bean.\n\ntu'ya-diskalaw`sti'ski--see ta'g\u00fb.\n\nt\u00fb'yahusi'--\"she will die.\"\n\nTymahse--see Tomassee.\n\n\nUchee--see Ani'-Yu'tsi.\n\nud\u00e2'hale'yi--\"on the sunny side.\"\n\nud\u00e2'i--the baneberry or cohosh vine (Act\u00e6a?). The name signifies that\nthe plant has something long hanging from it.\n\nuda`li--\"(it is) married\"; the mistletoe, so called on account of\nits parasitic habit.\n\nU'dawag\u00fb\u00f1'ta--\"Bald.\" A bald mountain of the Great Smoky range,\nin Yancey county, North Carolina, not far from Mount Mitchell. See\nnumber 51.\n\nUdsi'skala--a masculine name.\n\nuga'sita--sour.\n\n\u00fb\u00f1gida'--\"thy two elder brothers\" (male speaking). See notes to\nnumber 63.\n\n\u00fb\u00f1gili'si (plural, ts\u00fb\u00f1gili'si)--\"my daughter's child.\" See note to\nnumber 66, and cf. \u00fb\u00f1gini'si.\n\n\u00fb\u00f1gini'li--\"my elder brother\" (female speaking). See notes to\nnumber 63.\n\n\u00fb\u00f1gini'si (plural ts\u00fb\u00f1gini'si)--\"my son's child.\" See note to number\n66, and cf. \u00fb\u00f1gili'si.\n\nu'giska'--\"he is swallowing it\"; from tsiki\u00fb', \"I am eating.\" See\nnumber 8 and notes.\n\nu'guku'--the hooting or barred owl (Syrnium nebulosum); the name is\nan onomatope. See also tskili' and wa'`huhu'.\n\nug\u00fb\u00f1ste'li (ug\u00fb\u00f1ste'l\u00fb in dialectic form)--the hornyhead fish\n(Campostoma, stone roller). The name is said, on doubtful authority,\nto refer to its having horns. See number 59.\n\nUgu\u00f1'yi--Tallulah falls, on the river of that name, northeast from\nClarkesville, in Habersham county, Georgia; the meaning of the name\nis lost. See number 84.\n\nUilata--See U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta.\n\nuk-ku's\u00fb\u00f1ts\u00fbteti'--\"it will twist up one's arm.\" See number 115.\n\nUk-ku's\u00fb\u00f1ts\u00fbti--\"Bent-bow-shape\"; a comic masculine\nname. Cf. g\u00fblts\u00fb'ti, bow. See number 115.\n\nuk-kw\u00fbnagi'sti--\"it will draw down one's eye.\" See number 115.\n\nUk-kw\u00fbnagi'ta--\"Eye-drawn-down\"; a comic masculine name. See number\n115.\n\nuksu'hi--the mountain blacksnake or black racer (Coluber obsoletus);\nthe name seems to refer to some peculiarity of the eye, akta'; uksuha',\n\"he has something lodged in his eye.\" See number 53 and notes.\n\nUkte'na--\"Keen-eyed (?)\" from akta', eye, akta'ti, to examine\nclosely. A mythic great horned serpent, with a talismanic diadem. See\nnumber 50 and notes.\n\nUkte'na-tsugan\u00fb\u00f1'tats\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the Uktena got fastened.\" A spot on\nTuckasegee river, about two miles above Bryson City, in Swain county,\nNorth Carolina. See number 122.\n\nUktena-utansi'nast\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the Uktena crawled.\" A rock on the\nnorth bank of Tuckasegee river, about four miles above Bryson City,\nin Swain county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nUkw\u00fb'n\u00fb (or Ukw\u00fb'ni)--a former Cherokee settlement, commonly known\nto the whites as Oconee, on Seneca creek, near the present Walhalla,\nin Oconee county, South Carolina.\n\nUla`g\u00fb'--the mythic original of the yellow-jacket tribe. See number\n13. The word signifies \"leader,\" \"boss,\" or \"principal one,\" and\nis applied to the first yellow-jacket (d`ska'i) seen in the spring,\nto a queen bee and to the leader of a working squad.\n\nu`lana'wa--the soft-shell turtle; the etymology of the word is\nuncertain. See also saligu'gi and t\u00fbksi'.\n\nulasu'la--moccasin, shoe.\n\n\n\n\u00fble'--and; \u00fble-`n\u00fb', and also.\n\n\u00db\u00f1li'ta--\"(He is) long-winded,\" an archaic form for the regular word,\ng\u00fb\u00f1li'ta; an old masculine name. A chief about the year 1790, known\nto the whites as \"The Breath.\"\n\n\u00fblskw\u00fblte'gi--a \"pound-mill,\" a self-acting water-mill used in the\nCherokee mountains. The name signifies that \"it butts with its head\"\n(uska', head), in allusion to the way in which the pestle works in\nthe mortar. The generic word for mill is dista'sti.\n\nulstitl\u00fb'--literally, \"it is on his head.\" The diamond crest on\nthe head of the mythic Uktena serpent. When detached it becomes\nthe Ul\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti.\n\nUltiw\u00e2'i--a former Cherokee settlement about the present Ooltewah,\non the creek of the same name, in James county, Tennessee. The name\nhas the locative form (i suffix), but cannot be translated.\n\nul\u00fb\u00f1ni'ta--domesticated, tame; may be used for persons as well as\nanimals, but not for plants; for cultivated or domesticated plants\nthe adjective is g\u00fbnutl\u00fb\u00f1'i (or g\u00fbnus\u00fb\u00f1'i).\n\nUl\u00fb\u00f1s\u00fb'ti--\"Transparent\"; the great talismanic crystal of the\nCherokee. Spelled Oolunsade by Hagar. See number 50 and notes.\n\nul\u00fb\u00f1'ta--\"it has climbed,\" from tsilahi', \"I am climbing\"; the poison\noak (Rhus radicans). See number 126.\n\nU`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Tuber place,\" from U`li', a variety of edible tuber, and yi,\nlocative. A former settlement upon Turniptown (for U`l\u00fb\u00f1'yi) creek,\nabove Ellijay, in Gilmer county, Georgia.\n\nUnacala--see Une'gadihi'.\n\nU'nadanti'yi--\"Place where they conjured,\" the name of a gap about\nthree miles east of Webster, in Jackson county, North Carolina,\nand now transferred to the town itself. See number 122.\n\nunade'na--woolly, downy (in speaking of animals); uwa'n\u00fb, wool, down,\nfine fur (detached from the animal).\n\nu'nahu'--see unahwi'.\n\nunahwi'--heart; in Middle and Lower dialects, unahu'. See page 187.\n\nUnaka--see une'ga and Unicoi.\n\nunatl\u00fb\u00f1we'hit\u00fb--\"it has spirals\"; a plant (unidentified) used in\nconjurations. See number 126.\n\nune'ga--white.\n\nune'guhi--\"he is (was) mischievous or bad\"; ts\u00fbne'guhi'yu, \"you are\nvery mischievous\" (said to a child). See number 118.\n\nune'gutsat\u00fb'--\"(he is) mischievous\"; a'gine'gutsat\u00fb', \"I am\nmischievous.\"\n\nUne`lan\u00fb\u00f1'hi--\"The Apportioner\"; \"I am apportioning,\" gane`lask\u00fb';\n\"I apportion\" (habitually), gane`laski. In the sacred formulas a\ntitle of the Sun god; in the Bible the name of God.\n\nune'stal\u00fb\u00f1--ice.\n\nUnicoi--the map name of the old Unicoi turnpike (see page 87), of a\ngap on the watershed between Chattahoochee and Hiwassee rivers, in\nGeorgia, and of a county in eastern Tennessee. Probably a corruption\nof une'ga, white, whence comes also Unaka, the present map name of\na part of the Great Smoky range.\n\nuni'gisti--foods; singular, agi'sti.\n\nUniga'yata`ti'yi--\"Where they made a fish trap,\" from uga'yat\u00fb\u00f1'i,\nfish trap, and yi, locative; a place on Tuckasegee river, at the mouth\nof Deep creek, near Bryson City, in Swain county, North Carolina. See\nnumber 100 and notes.\n\nUni'haluna--see Ahalu'na.\n\nUnika'wi--the \"Townhouse dance,\" so called because danced inside the\ntownhouse; the name does not refer to a townhouse (gati'yi) and can\nnot be analyzed, but may have some connection with the archaic word\nfor deer. Cf. Ani'-Kawi'.\n\n\n\nUne'ga-dihi'--\"White-man-killer\"; from une'ga, \"white,\" for\ny\u00fb\u00f1'wune'ga, \"white person,\" and dihi', a noun suffix denoting\n\"killer\" (\"he kills them\" habitually). A Cherokee chief, whose name\nappears in documents about 1790 as White-man-killer, or, by misprint\nUnacala. It is an old masculine name, existing until recently upon\nthe reservation. Cf. Ta'gwadihi'.\n\nu'niskwetu`gi--\"they wear a hat\"; \u00fblskwe'tawa', hat, from uska',\nhead. The may-apple (Podophyllum). See number 126.\n\nunistil\u00fb\u00f1'isti--\"they stick on along their whole length\"; the generic\nname for \"stickers\" and burs, including the Spanish needle, cockle bur,\njimson weed, etc. See number 126.\n\nuni'tsi--her mother; agitsi', my mother.\n\nUniy\u00e2'hit\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where they shot it,\" from tsiy\u00e2'ih\u00fb, \"I shoot,\"\nand yi, locative. A place on Tuckasegee river a short distance above\nBryson City, in Swain county, North Carolina. See number 100.\n\nUntoola--see Dihy\u00fb\u00f1'dula'.\n\nUnta'kiyasti'yi--\"Where they race,\" from takiya'ta, a race, and yi,\nlocative; locally corrupted to Tahkeyostee. The district on the French\nBroad river, around Asheville, in Buncombe county, North Carolina. The\ntown itself is known to the Cherokee as K\u00e2sdu'yi, \"Ashes place,\" (from\nk\u00e2sdu, ashes, and yi, locative), which is intended as a translation\nof its proper name. See number 122.\n\nUntlasg\u00e2sti'yi--\"Where they scratched\"; a place at the head of\nHyatt creek of Valley river, in Cherokee county, North Carolina. For\ntradition see number 122.\n\nUntoola--see Dihy\u00fb\u00f1'dula'.\n\nun\u00fb\u00f1'ti--milk.\n\nusdi'g\u00e2 (abbreviated usdi'), small; plural tsunsdi'ga, tsunsdi'.\n\nusga'se`ti'yu--very dangerous, very terrible; intensive of usga'se`ti.\n\nUskwale'na--\"Big-head,\" from uska', head; a masculine name, perhaps\nthe original of the \"Bull-head,\" given by Haywood as the name of a\nformer noted Cherokee warrior.\n\nUskw\u00e2'li-g\u00fb'ta--\"His stomach hangs down,\" from uskw\u00e2'li, his stomach,\nand g\u00fb'ta, \"it hangs down.\" A prominent chief of the Revolutionary\nperiod, known to the whites as Hanging-maw.\n\nU`stana'li (from u`stanal\u00e2'hi or uni'stana'la (a plural form), denoting\na natural barrier of rocks (plural) across a stream)--a name occurring\nin several places in the old Cherokee country, and variously spelled\nEastinaulee, Eastanora, Estanaula, Eustenaree, Istanare, Oostanaula,\nOostinawley, Ustenary, etc. One settlement of this name was on Keowee\nriver, below the present Fort George, in Oconee county, South Carolina;\nanother seems to have been somewhere on the waters of Tuckasegee river,\nin western North Carolina; a third, prominent during and after the\nRevolutionary period, was just above the junction of Coosawatee and\nConasauga rivers to form the Oostanaula, in Gordon county, Georgia,\nand adjoining New Echota (see Gans\u00e2'gi). Other settlements of the same\nname may have been on Eastanollee creek of Tugaloo river, in Franklin\ncounty, Georgia, and on Eastaunaula creek, flowing into Hiwassee river,\nin McMinn county, Tennessee. Cf. Tsu`stanal\u00fb\u00f1'yi, under Dagun\u00e2'hi.\n\nu'st\u00fbti--see utsu`gi.\n\nUst\u00fb'tli--a traditional dangerous serpent. The name signifies having\nsomething on the calf of the leg or on the heel, from ust\u00fbt\u00fb\u00f1'i,\n(his) calf of the leg (attached). It is applied also to the southern\nhoop-snake (Abastor erythrogrammus). See number 54.\n\nUs\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi--the \"Darkening land,\" where it is always getting dark,\nas at twilight. The name used for the west in the myths and sacred\nformulas; the common word is wude'lig\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"there where it (the sun)\ngoes down.\" In number 63 the word used is wus\u00fbhih\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"there where\nthey stay over night.\" See also Ts\u00fbsgin\u00e2'i.\n\n\n\nu'tan\u00fb--great, fully developed. Cf. e'gwa.\n\nutaw\u00e2'hil\u00fb--\"hand-breadth,\" from uw\u00e2'yi, hand. A figurative term used\nin the myths and sacred formulas.\n\nU'tawag\u00fbn'ta--\"Bald place.\" A high bald peak of the Great Smoky range\non the Tennessee-North Carolina line, northeastward from Big Pigeon\nriver. See number 51.\n\n\u00db\u00f1'tiguhi'--\"Pot in the water,\" from \u00fb\u00f1ti'ya, or \u00fb\u00f1ti', pot, and\nguhi', \"it is in the water\" (or other liquid--habitually). The Suck,\na dangerous rapid in Tennessee river, at the entrance of Suck creek,\nabout eight miles below Chattanooga, Tennessee. See number 63 and\nnotes.\n\nU`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta--\"He (or she) has it sharp,\" i. e., has some sharp part\nor organ; it might be used of a tooth, finger-nail, or some other\nattached portion of the body, but in the story is understood to refer\nto the awl-like finger. Ten Kate spells it Uilata. A mythic half-human\nmonster. See number 66 and notes.\n\nU`tl\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta place;\" see U`tl\u00fb\u00f1'ta. A place on little\nTennessee river, nearly off Citico creek, in Blount county,\nTennessee. See number 66 and notes and number 124.\n\nU'tsala--\"Lichen\"; another form of utsale'ta. A Cherokee chief of\nthe Removal period. See page 157.\n\nutsale'ta--lichen, literally \"pot scrapings,\" from a fancied\nresemblance.\n\n\u00db\u00f1tsaiyi' (also Etsaiyi' or Tsaiyi', the first syllable being almost\nsilent)--\"Brass.\" A mythic gambler. See number 63 and notes. The\npresent rendering, \"brass,\" is probably a modern application of the\nold myth name, and is based upon the resemblance of the sound to that\nproduced by striking a sheet of metal.\n\nutsa'nati'--rattlesnake; the name is of doubtful etymology, but is\nsaid to refer to the rattle.\n\nUtsa'nati'yi--\"Rattlesnake place.\" Rattlesnake springs, about two\nmiles south from Charleston, Bradley county, Tennessee. See page 132.\n\nutset'sti--\"he grins\" (habitually). See si'kwa utset'sti.\n\nutsi'--her (his) mother; etsi', agitsi', my mother.\n\nUtsi'dsata'--\"Corn-tassel,\" \"Thistle-head,\" etc. It is used as a\nmasculine name and was probably the Cherokee name of the chief known\nduring the Revolutionary period as \"Old Tassel.\"\n\nutsu'`gi--the tufted titmouse (Parus bicolor); also called u'st\u00fbti,\n\"topknot, or tip.\" on account of its crest. See numbers 35 and 66.\n\n\u00fb'ts\u00fbti'--fish. Cf. u'ts\u00fbti, many.\n\n\u00fb\u00f1wad\u00e2'li--store-house, provision house. See number 3 and notes.\n\nU\u00f1'wad\u00e2-tsu`gilas\u00fb\u00f1'--\"Where the storehouse (\u00fb\u00f1w\u00e2d\u00e2'li) was taken\noff.\" Either Black rock or Jones knob, northeast of Webster, on the\neast line of Jackson county, in North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nUwag\u00e2'hi (commonly written Ocoee)--\"Apricot place,\" from uwa'ga,\nthe \"apricot vine,\" or \"maypop,\" (Passiflora incarnata), and hi,\nlocative. A former important settlement on Ocoee river, near its\njunction with Hiwassee, about the present Benton, in Polk county,\nTennessee.\n\nuw\u00e2'yi--hand, paw; generally used with the possessive suffix, as\nuw\u00e2ye'ni, \"his hand.\"\n\nuwe'la--liver.\n\nuwe'nahi--rich; used also as a personal name as the equivalent of\nRichard. Cf. Tsuwe'nahi.\n\nUw'ts\u00fb\u00f1'ta,--\"Bouncer\" (habitual); from k`tsi, \"it is bouncing.\" A\ntraditional serpent described as moving by jerks like a measuring worm,\nto which also the name is applied. See number 55.\n\nUy\u00e2hye'--a high peak in the Great Smoky range, probably on the line\nbetween Swain county, North Carolina, and Sevier or Blount county,\nTennessee. See number 75 and notes.\n\n\n\nUy'gil\u00e2'gi--abbreviated from Tsuyu`gil\u00e2'gi, \"Where there are dams,\"\ni. e., beaver dams; from gu`gil\u00fb'\u00fb\u00f1sk\u00fb', \"he is damming it.\" 1. A\nformer settlement on Oothcaloga (Ougillogy) creek of Oostanaula river,\nnear the present Calhoun, in Gordon county, Georgia; 2. Beaverdam\ncreek, west of Clarkesville, in Habersham county, Georgia.\n\n\nValleytown--see G\u00fb'nahit\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nVengeance creek--see Gansa`ti'yi.\n\n\nWachesa--see Watsi'su.\n\nwad\u00e2\u00f1'--thanks!\n\nw\u00e2'di--paint, especially red paint.\n\nw\u00e2'dige-ask\u00e2'li--\"his head (is) brown,\" i. e., \"brown-head,\" from\nw\u00e2dige'i, brown, brown-red, and ask\u00e2'li, possessive of uska', head;\nthe copperhead snake.\n\nWadi'yahi--A feminine name of doubtful etymology. An expert\nbasket-making woman among the East Cherokee, who died in 1895. She\nwas known to the whites as Mrs Bushyhead. See page 179.\n\nWafford--see Tsuskwan\u00fb\u00f1'nawa'ta.\n\nWa'ginsi'--The name of an eddy at the junction of the Little\nTennessee and main Tennessee rivers, at Lenoir, in Loudon county,\nTennessee. The town is now known to the Cherokee by the same name,\nof which the meaning is lost. See number 124.\n\nwaguli'--whippoorwill; the name is an onomatope; the Delaware name\nis wekolis (Heckewelder).\n\nWahnenauhi--see Wani'nahi.\n\nwa`huhu'--the screech-owl (Megascops asio); see also tskili'\nand uguku'.\n\nwa`ka--cow; from the Spanish vaca, as is also the Creek waga and the\nArapaho wak\u00fbch.\n\nwal\u00e2'si--the common green frog; there are different names for the\nbullfrog (k\u00fbnu'nu, q. v.) and for other varieties; warts are also\ncalled wal\u00e2'si.\n\nWal\u00e2si'yi--\"Frog place.\" 1. A former settlement, known to the whites\nas Frogtown, upon the creek of the same name, north of Dahlonega,\nin Lumpkin county, Georgia. 2. Le Conte and Bullhead mountains in\nthe Great Smoky range on the North Carolina-Tennessee line, together\nwith the ridge extending into Sevier county, Tennessee, between the\nMiddle and West forks of Little Pigeon river. See number 51 and notes.\n\nwal\u00e2s'-un\u00fbl'sti--\"it fights frogs,\" from wal\u00e2'si, frog, and un\u00fbl'sti,\n\"it fights\" (habitually); g\u00fb`lih\u00fb', \"I am fighting.\" The Prosartes\nlanuginosa plant. See number 126.\n\nWal\u00e2s'-un\u00fblsti'yi--\"Place of the plant wal\u00e2s'-un\u00fbl'sti,\" commonly known\nto the whites as Fightingtown, from a translation of the latter part\nof the name; a former settlement on Fightingtown creek, near Morganton,\nin Fannin county, Georgia. See number 125.\n\nWalini'--a feminine name, compounded from Wali, another form of Kwali,\n\"Polly,\" with a suffix added for euphony.\n\nWane'-as\u00fb\u00f1'tl\u00fb\u00f1yi--\"Hickory footlog place,\" from wane'i, hickory,\nas\u00fb\u00f1tl\u00fb\u00f1'i (q. v.), footlog, bridge, and yi, locative. A former\nsettlement, known to the whites as Hickory-log, on Etowah river,\na short distance above Canton, in Cherokee county, Georgia.\n\nWani'nahi'--a feminine name of uncertain etymology; the Wahnenauhi\nof the Wahnenauhi manuscript.\n\nWashington--see Wa'sit\u00fb'na.\n\nW\u00e2'si--the Cherokee form for Moses.\n\n\n\nWa'sit\u00fb'na, Wa's\u00fb\u00f1t\u00fb'na (different dialectic forms)--a Cherokee\nknown to the whites as Washington, the sole survivor of a Removal\ntragedy. See page 158. The name denotes a hollow log (or other\ncylindrical object) lying on the ground at a distance; the root of\nthe word is asi'ta, log, and the w prefixed makes it at a distance.\n\nWa'sul\u00fb'--a large red-brown moth which flies about the blossoming\ntobacco in the evening.\n\nWat\u00e2'gi (commonly written Watauga, also Watoga, Wattoogee, Whatoga,\netc.)--a name occurring in two or more towns in the old Cherokee\ncountry; one was an important settlement on Watauga creek of Little\nTennessee river, a few miles below Franklin, in Macon county,\nTennessee; another was traditionally located at Watauga Old Fields,\nabout the present Elizabethton, on Watauga river, in Carter county,\nTennessee. See page 21. The meaning of the name is lost.\n\nWatauga--see Wat\u00e2'gi.\n\nWatsi'sa--a prominent old Cherokee, known to the whites as Wachesa,\na name which cannot be translated, who formerly lived on lower\nBeaverdam creek of Hiwassee river, below Murphy, in Cherokee county,\nNorth Carolina. From the fact that the Unicoi turnpike passed near\nhis place it was locally known as the Wachesa trail.\n\nwa`ya--wolf; the name is an onomatope, intended as an imitation of\nthe animal's howl; cf. the Creek name, y\u00e4h\u00e4.\n\nWa`y\u00e2'hi--\"Wolf place,\" i. e. place of the Wolf clan; the form\nAni'-Wa`y\u00e2'hi is not used. Wolftown settlement on upper Soco creek,\non the East Cherokee reservation, in Jackson county, North Carolina.\n\nWaya gap--see A`t\u00e2hi'ta.\n\nWayeh--see W\u00e2yi.\n\nW\u00e2y\u00ee--\"Pigeon\"; the modern Cherokee name for Big Pigeon river in\nwestern North Carolina; probably a translation of the English name. It\nappears also as Wayeh.\n\nWelch, Lloyd--see Da'si`giya'gi.\n\nwesa--cat; a corruption of \"pussy.\"\n\nWhite-path--see N\u00fb\u00f1n\u00e2'hi-tsune'ga.\n\nWillstown--a former important settlement, so called from the halfbreed\nchief known to the whites as Red-headed Will, on Will's creek below\nFort Payne, in Dekalb county, Alabama. The settlement was frequently\ncalled from him Wili'yi, \"Will's place,\" but this was not the proper\nlocal name.\n\nWilsini'--the Cherokee name for H. W. Spray, agent and superintendent\nfor the East Cherokee reservation; an adaptation of his middle name,\nWilson.\n\nWil-usdi'--\"Little Will,\" from Wili', Will and usdi'ga or usdi',\nlittle. The Cherokee name for Colonel W. H. Thomas, for many years\nthe recognized chief of the eastern band.\n\nWissactaw--see gahawi'sita.\n\nWolftown--see Wa`y\u00e2'hi.\n\nWootassite, Wrosetasatow--see Outacity.\n\nWude'lig\u00fb\u00f1'yi--the west; literally \"there where it (the sun) goes down\"\n(w prefixed implies distance, yi, locative). See also Us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi and\nwus\u00fbhih\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nWuliga'nat\u00fbt\u00fb\u00f1--excelling all others, either in good or bad; it may\nbe used as equivalent to wast\u00fb\u00f1, \"beyond the limit.\" See page 232.\n\nwus\u00fbhih\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"there where they stay over night,\" i. e. \"the west.\" An\narchaic term used by the narrator of the story of \u00db\u00f1tsaiyi', number\n63. The common word is wude'lig\u00fb\u00f1'yi, q. v., while the term in the\nsacred formulas is Us\u00fb\u00f1hi'yi, q. v.\n\n\nXuala--see Ani-Suwa'li.\n\n\n\n\n-ya--a suffix denoting principal or real, as tsiskwa'ya, \"principal\nbird,\" the sparrow; Ani'-Y\u00fb\u00f1wiya', \"principal or real people,\" Indians.\n\nYahoola--see Yahul\u00e2'i.\n\nYahul\u00e2'i--\"Yahu'la place,\" from Yahu'la, a Cherokee trader said to have\nbeen taken by the spirit people; Yahu'la seems to be from the Creek\nyoho'lo, a name having reference to the song (yoholo), used in the\n\"black drink\" ceremony of the Creeks; thus a'si-yoho'lo, corrupted\ninto Osceola, signified \"the black drink song\"; it may, however,\nbe a true Cherokee word, yahu'l\u00fb, or yahu'li, the name for a variety\nof hickory, also for the \"doodle-bug\"; \u00db\u00f1yahu'la is a feminine name,\nbut can not be translated. Yahoola creek, near Dahlonega, in Lumpkin\ncounty, Georgia. See number 86 and notes.\n\nYal\u00e2'gi--Alarka creek of Little Tennessee river, above the junction\nof Tuckasegee, in Swain county, North Carolina; the meaning of the\nname is lost.\n\nya\u00f1daska'ga--a faultfinder. See number 61.\n\nY\u00e2n-e'gwa--\"Big-bear,\" from y\u00e2n\u00fb, bear, and egwa, great, large. A\nprominent chief about the year 1800; the name occurs in treaties as\nYonah, Yohanaqua and Yonahequah. See page 164.\n\ny\u00e2'n\u00fb--bear.\n\nY\u00e2'n\u00fb-dineh\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the bears live,\" from y\u00e2n\u00fb, bear, dineh\u00fb',\n\"they dwell\" (e'h\u00fb, \"I dwell, I live\"), and yi, locative. A place on\nOconaluftee river, a short distance above the junction with Tuckasegee,\nin Swain county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nY\u00e2n\u00fbg\u00fb\u00f1'ski--\"The bear drowns him\" (habitually), from y\u00e2n\u00fb, bear,\nand tsig\u00fb\u00f1'iska', \"I am drowning him.\" A noted East Cherokee chief,\nknown to the whites as Yonaguska or Drowning-bear. See page 162.\n\nY\u00e2'n\u00fb-u'natawasti'yi--\"Where the bears wash\" (from y\u00e2n\u00fb, bear, and\nyi, locative); a former pond in the Great Smoky mountains, about\nthe extreme head of Raven fork, in Swain county, North Carolina. See\nnumber 122.\n\ny\u00e2n'-utse'st\u00fb--\"the bear lies on it\"; the shield fern (Aspidium). See\nnumber 126.\n\nYaw\u00e2'i--\"Yawa place\"; a place on Yellow creek of Cheowa river, in\nGraham county, North Carolina. See number 122.\n\nYellow-hill--see Elaw\u00e2'diyi.\n\nYohanaqua--see Y\u00e2n-e'gwa.\n\nyoho-o!--an unmeaning song refrain. See number 75.\n\nYonaguska--see Y\u00e2'n\u00fbg\u00fb\u00f1'ski.\n\nYonah--1. (mountain) see Gadalu'lu. 2. An abbreviated treaty form\nfor the name of the chief Y\u00e2n-e'gwa.\n\nYonahequah--see Y\u00e2n-e'gwa.\n\nYtaua, Ytava--see I'tawa'.\n\nYu!--an unmeaning song refrain and interjection.\n\nYuha'li--Euharlee creek, of lower Etowah river, in Bartow county,\nGeorgia. The name is said by the Cherokee to be a corruption of Yufala\n(Eufaula), a well-known Creek local name. See number 105.\n\ny\u00fbns\u00fb'--buffalo; cf. Creek yena'sa, Choctaw yanash, Hichitee ya'nasi.\n\nY\u00fbns\u00e2'i--\"Buffalo place\"; West Buffalo creek of Cheowa river in Graham\ncounty, North Carolina; the site of a former Cherokee settlement. See\nnumber 122.\n\nyu'we-yuwehe'--an unmeaning song refrain. See number 118.\n\ny\u00fb\u00f1'wi--person, man; cf. Mohawk o\u00f1gwe`.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi Ama'yine'hi--\"Water-dwelling People,\" from y\u00fb\u00f1'wi, person, and\nama'yine'hi, plural of amaye'hi, q. v.; a race of water fairies. See\nnumber 78.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi-dikat\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi--see Y\u00fb\u00f1'wi-tsulen\u00fb\u00f1'yi.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi G\u00fbnahi'ta--\"Long Man\"; a formulistic name for the river,\npersonified as a man with his head resting on the mountain and his\nfeet stretching down to the lowlands, who is constantly speaking to\nthose who can understand the message.\n\n\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wini'giski--\"Man-eaters,\" literally, \"They eat people\"\n(habitually), from y\u00fb\u00f1'wi, person, man, and uni'giski, \"they eat\"\n(habitually), from tsiki\u00fb', \"I am eating\"; the Cherokee name for\na distant cannibal tribe, possibly the Atakapa or the Tonkawa. See\nnumber 105. Cf. Anada'd\u00fb\u00f1taski.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi-tsulen\u00fb\u00f1'yi--\"Where the man stood,\" originally\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi-dikat\u00e2g\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Where the man stands,\" from y\u00fb\u00f1'wi, person,\nman, tsit\u00e2'ga, \"I am standing,\" and yi, locative; Standing Indian,\na high bald mountain at the head of Nantahala river, in Macon county,\nNorth Carolina. See number 122.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi Tsunsdi'--\"Little People,\" from y\u00fb\u00f1'wi, person, people,\nand tsunsdi'ga or tsunsdi', plural of usdi'ga, or usdi', little;\nthe Cherokee fairies. See number 78.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi Usdi'--\"Little Man.\" A formulistic name for the ginseng,\n\u00e2'tali-g\u00fbli', q. v.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wi-usga'se`ti--\"Dangerous Man, Terrible Man\"; a traditional leader\nin the westward migration of the Cherokee. See page 99.\n\nY\u00fb\u00f1'wiya'--\"Indian,\" literally, \"principal or real person,\" from\ny\u00fb\u00f1'wi, person and ya, a suffix denoting principal or real. See pages\n15 and 181.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] See the notes to the historical sketch.\n\n[2] Barton, Benj. S., New Views on the Origin of the Tribes and\nNations of America, p. xlv, passim; Phila., 1797; Gallatin, Albert,\nSynopsis of Indian Tribes, Trans. American Antiquarian Society, ii,\np. 91; Cambridge, 1836; Hewitt, J. N. B., The Cherokee an Iroquoian\nLanguage, Washington, 1887 (MS in the archives of the Bureau of\nAmerican Ethnology).\n\n[3] Heckewelder, John, Indian Nations of Pennsylvania, pp. 47-49,\ned. 1876.\n\n[4] Brinton, D. G., Walam Olum, p. 231; Phila., 1885.\n\n[5] Schoolcraft, H. R., Notes on the Iroquois, p. 162; Albany, 1847.\n\n[6] Heckewelder, Indian Nations, p. 47, ed. 1876.\n\n[7] Haywood, John, Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee,\npp. 225-226; Nashville, 1823.\n\n[8] Jefferson, Thomas, Notes on Virginia, pp. 136-137; ed. Boston,\n1802.\n\n[9] Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois, p. 163, 1847.\n\n[10] Haywood, Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, pp. 233,\n236, 269, 1823.\n\n[11] Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tennessee, pp. 226, 234, 1823.\n\n[12] Bartram, Wm., Travels, p. 365; reprint, London, 1792.\n\n[13] Haywood, op. cit., pp. 234-237.\n\n[14] Barton, New Views, p. xliv, 1797.\n\n[15] Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tennessee, pp. 166, 234-235,\n287-289, 1823.\n\n[16] See story, \"The Great Leech of Tlanusi'yi,\" p. 328.\n\n[17] Garcilaso de la Vega, La Florida del Inca, pp. 129, 133-134;\nMadrid, 1723.\n\n[18] Gentleman of Elvas, Publications of the Hakluyt Society, ix,\npp. 52, 58, 64; London, 1851.\n\n[19] Ibid., p. 60.\n\n[20] Garcilaso, La Florida del Inca, p. 136, ed. 1723.\n\n[21] Ranjel, in Oviedo, Historia General y Natural de las Indias, i,\np. 562; Madrid, 1851.\n\n[22] Garcilaso, La Florida del Inca, p.137, 1723.\n\n[23] See note 8, De Soto's route.\n\n[24] Ranjel, op. cit., I, p. 562.\n\n[25] Elvas, Hakluyt Society, IX, p. 61, 1851.\n\n[26] Garcilaso, op. cit., p. 139.\n\n[27] Ranjel, in Oviedo, Historia, I, p. 563, 1861.\n\n[28] Elvas, Biedma, and Ranjel all make special reference to the dogs\ngiven them at this place; they seem to have been of the same small\nbreed (\"perrillos\") which Ranjel says the Indians used for food.\n\n[29] Garcilaso, La Florida del Inca, p. 139, 1723.\n\n[30] See note 8, De Soto's route.\n\n[31] See Elvas, Hakluyt Society, ix, p. 61, 1851; and Ranjel, op. cit.,\np. 563.\n\n[32] See note 8, De Soto's route.\n\n[33] Elvas, op. cit., p.64.\n\n[34] Elvas, Hakluyt Society, IX, p. 66, 1851.\n\n[35] Garcilaso, La Florida del Inca, p. 141, ed. 1723.\n\n[36] Shea, J. G., in Winsor, Justin, Narrative and Critical History\nof America, II, pp. 260, 278; Boston, 1886.\n\n[37] Narrative of Pardo's expedition by Martinez, about 1568, Brooks\nmanuscripts.\n\n[38] Vandera narrative, 1569, in French, B. F., Hist. Colls. of La.,\nnew series, pp. 289-292; New York, 1875.\n\n[39] Shea, J. G., Catholic Missions, p. 72; New York, 1855.\n\n[40] See Brooks manuscripts, in the archives of the Bureau of American\nEthnology.\n\n[41] Burk, John, History of Virginia, II, pp. 104-107; Petersburg,\n1805.\n\n[42] Ramsey, J. G. M., Annals of Tennessee, p. 37; Charleston, 1853\n(quoting Martin, North Carolina, I, p. 115, 1853).\n\n[43] Lederer, John, Discoveries, pp. 15, 26, 27, 29, 33, and map;\nreprint, Charleston, 1891; Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East (Bulletin\nof Bureau of Ethnology), pp. 53-54,1894.\n\n[44] Mooney, op. cit., pp. 34-35.\n\n[45] Document of 1699, quoted in South Carolina Hist. Soc. Colls.,\nI, p. 209; Charleston, 1857.\n\n[46] Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tennessee, p. 233, 1823.\n\n[47] Noted in Cherokee Advocate, Tahlequah, Indian Territory, January\n30, 1845.\n\n[48] Document of 1691, South Carolina Hist. Soc. Colls., I, p. 126.\n\n[49] Hewat, South Carolina and Georgia, I, p. 127, 1778.\n\n[50] Documents of 1705, in North Carolina Colonial Records, II,\np. 904; Raleigh, 1886.\n\n[51] Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Tenn., p. 237, 1823; with the usual\nidea that Indians live to extreme old age, Haywood makes her 110 years\nold at her death, putting back the introduction of firearms to 1677.\n\n[52] Letter of 1708, in Rivers, South Carolina, p. 238, 1856.\n\n[53] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 140, 1888; Hewat, op. cit., p. 216 et passim.\n\n[54] Hewat, South Carolina and Georgia, I, p. 216 et passim, 1778.\n\n[55] See Journal of Colonel George Chicken, 1715-16, with notes,\nin Charleston Yearbook, pp. 313-354, 1894.\n\n[56] Journal of South Carolina Assembly, in North Carolina Colonial\nRecords, II, pp. 225-227, 1886.\n\n[57] For notice, see the glossary.\n\n[58] Hewat, South Carolina and Georgia, I, pp. 297-298, 1778; Royce,\nCherokee Nation, in Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, p. 144 and\nmap, 1888.\n\n[59] Royce, op. cit., p. 142.\n\n[60] Document of 1724, in Fernow, Berthold, Ohio Valley in Colonial\nDays, pp. 273-275; Albany, 1890.\n\n[61] Report of Board of Trade, 1721, in North Carolina Colonial\nRecords, II, p. 422, 1886.\n\n[62] Adair, James, American Indians, p. 227; London, 1775.\n\n[63] Board of Trade report, 1721, North Carolina Colonial Records,\nII, p. 422, 1886.\n\n[64] Pickett, H. A., History of Alabama, pp. 234, 280, 288; reprint,\nSheffield, 1896.\n\n[65] For notice, see the glossary.\n\n[66] Hewat, South Carolina and Georgia, II, pp. 3-11, 1779; treaty\ndocuments of 1730, North Carolina Colonial Records, III, pp. 128-133,\n1886; Jenkinson, Collection of Treaties, II, pp. 315-318; Drake,\nS.G., Early History of Georgia: Cuming's Embassy; Boston, 1872;\nletter of Governor Johnson, December 27, 1730, noted in South Carolina\nHist. Soc. Colls., I, p. 246, 1867.\n\n[67] Documents of 1731 and 1732, North Carolina Colonial Records,\nIII, pp. 153, 202, 345, 369, 393, 1886.\n\n[68] Adair, American Indians, pp. 232-234, 1775.\n\n[69] Meadows(?), State of the Province of Georgia, p. 7, 1742, in\nForce Tracts, I, 1836.\n\n[70] Jones, C.C., History of Georgia, I, pp.327, 328; Boston, 1883.\n\n[71] Adair, American Indians, pp. 240-243, 1775; Stevens, W. B.,\nHistory of Georgia, I, pp. 104-107; Phila., 1847.\n\n[72] Anonymous writer in Carroll, Hist. Colls. of South Carolina,\nII, pp. 97-98, 517, 1836.\n\n[73] Buckle, Journal, 1757, in Rivers, South Carolina, p. 57, 1856.\n\n[74] Barcia, A.G., Ensayo Chronologico para la Historia General de\nla Florida, pp. 335, 336. Madrid, 1723.\n\n[75] For more in regard to these intertribal wars see the historical\ntraditions.\n\n[76] Walker, Thomas, Journal of an Exploration, etc., pp. 8, 35-37;\nBoston, 1888; Monette (Valley of the Miss. I, p. 317; New York, 1848)\nerroneously makes the second date 1758.\n\n[77] Letter of Governor Dobbs, 1755, in North Carolina Colonial\nRecords, V, pp. 320, 321, 1887.\n\n[78] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 50-52, 1853; Royce, Cherokee Nation,\nin Fifth Ann. Rep. Bur. of Ethnology, p. 145, 1888.\n\n[79] Timberlake, Henry, Memoirs, pp. 73, 74; London, 1765.\n\n[80] Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 51, 1853; Royce, Cherokee Nation, in Fifth\nAnn. Kept. Bur. of Ethnology, p. 145, 1888.\n\n[81] For notice see Ata'-g\u00fbl'`kal\u00fb', in the glossary.\n\n[82] Ramsey, op. cit., p. 50.\n\n[83] Letters of Major Andrew Lewis and Governor Dinwiddie, 1756,\nin North Carolina Colonial Records V, pp. 585, 612-614, 635, 637,\n1887; Ramsey, op. cit, pp. 51, 52.\n\n[84] Letter of Governor Dobbs, 1756, in North Carolina Colonial\nRecords, V, p. 604, 1887.\n\n[85] Dinwiddie letter, 1757, ibid., p. 765.\n\n[86] Adair, American Indians, 245-246, 1775; North Carolina Colonial\nRecords, V, p. xlviii, 1887; Hewat, quoted in Ramsey, Tennessee,\np. 54, 1853.\n\n[87] For notices see the glossary.\n\n[88] Timberlake, Memoirs, p. 65, 1765.\n\n[89] Catawba reference from Milligan, 1763, in Carroll, South Carolina\nHistorical Collections, II, p. 519, 1836.\n\n[90] Figures from Adair, American Indians, p. 227, 1775. When not\notherwise noted this sketch of the Cherokee war of 1760-61 is compiled\nchiefly from the contemporary dispatches in the Gentleman's Magazine,\nsupplemented from Hewat's Historical account of South Carolina and\nGeorgia, 1778; with additional details from Adair, American Indians;\nRamsey, Tennessee; Royce, Cherokee Nation; North Carolina Colonial\nRecords, v, documents and introduction; etc.\n\n[91] Timberlake, Memoirs, p. 9 et passim, 1765.\n\n[92] Stevens, Georgia, II, pp. 26-29, 1859.\n\n[93] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 65-70, 1853.\n\n[94] Royce, Cherokee Nation, in Fifth Ann. Rep. Bur. of Ethnology,\npp. 146-149, 1888.\n\n[95] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., p. 149; Ramsey, Tennessee,\np. 71, 1853.\n\n[96] Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 93-122; Royce, op. cit. pp. 146-149.\n\n[97] Ramsey, op. cit., pp, 109-122; Royce, op. cit. p. 146 et passim.\n\n[98] Bartram, Travels, pp. 366-372, 1792.\n\n[99] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 143-150, 1853; Monette, Valley of the\nMississippi, I, pp. 400, 401, 431, 432, and II, pp. 33, 34, 1846;\nRoosevelt, Winning of the West, I, pp. 276-281, and II, pp. 1-6, 1889.\n\n[100] Ramsey, op. cit., p. 143.\n\n[101] Quoted from Stedman, in Ramsey, op. cit., p. 162.\n\n[102] Ramsey, op. cit., p. 162.\n\n[103] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 150-159, 1853.\n\n[104] Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I, pp. 293-297, 1889.\n\n[105] See no. 110, \"Incidents of Personal Heroism.\" For Rutherford's\nexpedition, see Moore, Rutherford's Expedition, in North Carolina\nUniversity Magazine, February, 1888; Swain, Sketch of the Indian War\nin 1776, ibid., May, 1852, reprinted in Historical Magazine, November,\n1867; Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 164, 1853; Roosevelt, Winning of the West,\nI, pp. 294-302, 1889, etc.\n\n[106] For Williamson's expedition, see Ross Journal, with Rockwell's\nnotes, in Historical Magazine, October, 1876; Swain, Sketch of the\nIndian War in 1776, in North Carolina University Magazine for May,\n1852, reprinted in Historical Magazine, November, 1867; Jones,\nGeorgia, II, p. 246 et passim, 1883; Ramsey, Tennessee, 163-164,\n1853; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I, pp. 296-303, 1889.\n\n[107] Jones, op. cit., p. 246; Ramsey, op. cit., p. 163; Roosevelt,\nop. cit., p. 295.\n\n[108] For the Virginia-Tennessee expedition see Roosevelt, Winning of\nthe West, I, pp. 303-305, 1889; Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 165-170, 1853.\n\n[109] Ross Journal, in Historical Magazine, October, 1867.\n\n[110] Swain, Sketch of the Indian War of 1776, in Historical Magazine,\nNovember, 1867.\n\n[111] Moore's narrative, in North Carolina University Magazine,\nFebruary, 1888.\n\n[112] Roosevelt, Winning of the West, I, pp. 285, 290, 303, 1889.\n\n[113] About five hundred sought refuge with Stuart, the British Indian\nsuperintendent in Florida, where they were fed for some time at the\nexpense of the British government (Jones, Georgia, II, p. 246, 1883).\n\n[114] Royce, Cherokee Nation, in Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 150 and map, 1888; Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 172-174, 1853; Stevens,\nGeorgia, II, p. 144, 1859; Roosevelt, \"Winning of the West, I,\np. 306, 1889.\n\n[115] Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 171-177, 185-186, 610 et passim; Royce,\nop. cit., p. 150; Campbell letter, 1782, and other documents in\nVirginia State Papers, III, pp. 271, 571, 599, 1883, and IV, pp. 118,\n286, 1884; Blount letter, January 14, 1793, American State Papers;\nIndian Affairs, I, p. 431, 1832. Campbell says they abandoned their\nfirst location on account of the invasion from Tennessee. Governor\nBlount says they left on account of witches.\n\n[116] Hawkins, manuscript journal, 1796, with Georgia Historical\nSociety.\n\n[117] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 174-178, 1853.\n\n[118] Campbell letter, 1782, Virginia State Papers, III, p. 271, 1883.\n\n[119] Ramsey, op. cit, pp. 186-188; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II,\npp. 236-238, 1889. Ramsey's statements, chiefly on Haywood's authority,\nof the strength of the expedition, the number of warriors killed,\netc., are so evidently overdrawn that they are here omitted.\n\n[120] Heckewelder, Indian Nations, p. 827, reprint of 1876.\n\n[121] Donelson's Journal, etc., in Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 197-208,\n1853; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II, pp. 324-340, 1889.\n\n[122] Ibid., II, p. 337.\n\n[123] Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II, pp. 241-294, 1889; Ramsey,\nTennessee, pp. 208-249, 1853.\n\n[124] Roosevelt, op. cit., p. 256.\n\n[125] Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II, pp. 298-300, 1889; Ramsey,\nTennessee, pp. 261-264, 1853. There is great discrepancy in the various\naccounts of this fight, from the attempts of interested historians to\nmagnify the size of the victory. One writer gives the Indians 1,000\nwarriors. Here, as elsewhere, Roosevelt is a more reliable guide,\nhis statements being usually from official documents.\n\n[126] Roosevelt, op. cit., pp. 300-304; Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 265-268;\nCampbell, report, January 15, 1781, in Virginia State Papers, I,\np. 436. Haywood and others after him make the expedition go as far\nas Chickamauga and Coosa river, but Campbell's report expressly\ndenies this.\n\n[127] Ramsey, op. cit., p. 266.\n\n[128] Roosevelt, op. cit, p. 302.\n\n[129] Campbell, letter, March 28, 1781, in Virginia State Papers,\nI, p. 602, 1875; Martin, letter, March 31, 1781, ibid., p. 613;\nRamsey, Tennessee, p. 268, 1853; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II,\npp. 305-307, 1889.\n\n[130] Campbell, letter, March 28, 1781, in Virginia State Papers, I,\np. 602, 1875.\n\n[131] Ramsey, op. cit., p. 269.\n\n[132] Ibid.; Roosevelt, op. cit., p. 307.\n\n[133] Ibid.; Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 267, 268. The latter authority\nseems to make it 1782, which is evidently a mistake.\n\n[134] Stevens, Georgia, II, pp. 282-285, 1859; Jones, Georgia, II,\np. 503, 1883.\n\n[135] Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II, p. 811, 1889.\n\n[136] Old Tassel's talk, in Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 271, 1853, and in\nRoosevelt, op. cit., p. 315.\n\n[137] Ramsey, op. cit., p. 272; Roosevelt, op. cit., p. 317 et passim.\n\n[138] Stevens, op. cit., pp. 411-415.\n\n[139] Royce, Cherokee Nation, in Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 151, 1888.\n\n[140] See documents in Virginia State Papers, III, pp. 234, 398,\n527, 1883.\n\n[141] Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 280, 1853.\n\n[142] Ibid., p. 276.\n\n[143] See Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., pp. 151, 152; Ramsey,\nop. cit., p. 299 et passim.\n\n[144] Indian Treaties, p. 8 et passim, 1837. For a full discussion\nof the Hopewell treaty, from official documents, see Royce, Cherokee\nNation, in Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 152-158, 1888, with\nmap; Treaty Journal, etc., American State Papers; Indian Affairs, I,\npp. 38-44, 1832; also Stevens, Georgia, II, pp. 417-429, 1859; Ramsey,\nTennessee, pp. 336, 337, 1853; see also the map accompanying this work.\n\n[145] Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 459-461; Agent Martin and Hopewell\ncommissioners, ibid., pp. 318-336; Bledsoe and Robertson letter,\nibid., p. 465; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II, p. 368, 1899.\n\n[146] Roosevelt, Winning of the West, ii, p. 353, 1889.\n\n[147] Ibid., p. 355, 1889; Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 452-454, 1853.\n\n[148] Ibid., pp. 358-366, 1889.\n\n[149] Ibid., p. 341, 1853.\n\n[150] Martin letter of May 11, 1786, ibid., p. 342.\n\n[151] Reports of Tennessee commissioners and replies by Cherokee\nchiefs, etc., 1786, in Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 343-346, 1853.\n\n[152] Martin (?) letter of March 25, 1787, ibid., p. 359.\n\n[153] Ibid., p. 370.\n\n[154] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 393-399, 1853.\n\n[155] Ibid., pp. 417-423, 1853.\n\n[156] Ibid., pp. 517-519, and Brown's narrative, ibid., p. 515.\n\n[157] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 515, 519.\n\n[158] Brown's narrative, etc., ibid., pp. 508-516.\n\n[159] Ibid., pp. 459, 489.\n\n[160] Bledsoe and Robertson letter of June 12, 1787, in Ramsey,\nTennessee, p. 465, 1853.\n\n[161] Ibid., with Robertson letter, pp. 465-476.\n\n[162] Ibid., pp. 479-486.\n\n[163] Monette, Valley of the Mississippi, I, p. 505, 1846.\n\n[164] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 522, 541, 561, 1853.\n\n[165] Washington to the Senate, August 11, 1790, American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I, p. 83, 1832.\n\n[166] Secretary Knox to President Washington, July 7, 1789, ibid.,\np. 53.\n\n[167] Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 550, 551.\n\n[168] Indian Treaties, pp. 34-38, 1837; Secretary of War, report,\nJanuary 5, 1798, in American State Papers, I, pp. 628-631, 1832;\nRamsey, Tennessee, pp. 554-560, 1853; Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth\nAnn. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 158-170, with full discussion and\nmap, 1888.\n\n[169] Indian Treaties, pp. 37, 38, 1837.\n\n[170] Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 557, 1853.\n\n[171] Abel deposition, April 16, 1792, American State Papers: Indian\nAffairs, I, p. 274, 1832.\n\n[172] Henry Knox, Secretary of War, Instructions to Leonard Shaw,\ntemporary agent to the Cherokee Nation of Indians, February 17, 1792,\nin American State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, 247, 1832; also Knox,\nletters to Governor Blount, January 31 and February 16, 1792, ibid.,\npp. 245, 246.\n\n[173] Estanaula conference report, June 26, 1792, ibid., p. 271;\nDeraque, deposition, September 15, 1792, ibid., p. 292; Pickens,\nletter, September 12, 1792, ibid., p. 317.\n\n[174] See letters of Shaw, Casey, Pickens, and Blount, 1792-93, ibid.,\npp. 277, 278, 317, 436, 437, 440.\n\n[175] Knox, instructions to Shaw, February 17, 1792, ibid., p. 247;\nBlount, letter, March 20, 1792, ibid., p. 263; Knox, letters, October\n9, 1792, ibid., pp. 261, 262.\n\n[176] Governor Telfair's letters of November 14 and December 5, with\ninclosure, 1792, American State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, pp. 332,\n336, 337, 1832.\n\n[177] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 562-663, 598, 1853.\n\n[178] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 562-565, 1853.\n\n[179] Blount, letter, October 2, 1792, in American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I, p. 294, 1832; Blount, letter, etc., in Ramsey,\nop. cit., pp. 566, 567, 599-601; see also Brown's narrative, ibid.,\n511, 512; Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 170, 1888.\n\n[180] Ramsey, op. cit., 569-571.\n\n[181] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 571-573, 1853.\n\n[182] Ibid., pp. 574-578, 1853.\n\n[183] Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 579.\n\n[184] Ibid., pp. 580-583, 1853; Smith, letter, September 27, 1793,\nAmerican State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, p. 468, 1832. Ramsey gives\nthe Indian force 1,000 warriors; Smith says that in many places they\nmarched in files of 28 abreast, each file being supposed to number\n40 men.\n\n[185] Ramsey, op. cit., pp. 584-588.\n\n[186] Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 590, 602-605, 1853.\n\n[187] Haywood, Civil and Political History of Tennessee, pp. 300-302;\nKnoxville, 1823.\n\n[188] Ibid., pp. 303-308, 1823; Ramsey, op. cit.,\npp. 591-594. Haywood's history of this period is little more than a\ncontinuous record of killings and petty encounters.\n\n[189] Haywood, Civil and Political History of Tennessee, p. 308,\n1823; Ramsey, Tennessee, p. 594, 1853; see also memorial in Putnam,\nMiddle Tennessee, p. 502, 1859. Haywood calls the leader Unacala,\nwhich should be Une'ga-dihi', \"White-man-killer.\" Compare Haywood's\nstatement with that of Washburn, on page 100.\n\n[190] Indian Treaties, pp. 39, 40, 1837; Royce, Cherokee Nation,\nFifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 171, 172, 1888; Documents\nof 1797-98, American State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, pp. 628-631,\n1832. The treaty is not mentioned by the Tennessee historians.\n\n[191] Haywood, Civil and Political History of Tennessee, pp. 309-311,\n1823; Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 594, 595, 1853.\n\n[192] Haywood, op. cit., pp. 314-316; Ramsey, op. cit., p. 596.\n\n[193] Haywood, Political and Civil History of Tennessee, pp. 392-396,\n1823; Ramsey, Tennessee (with Major Ore's report), pp. 608-618, 1853;\nRoyce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau Ethnology, p. 171,\n1888; Ore, Robertson, and Blount, reports, American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I, pp. 632-634, 1832.\n\n[194] Ramsey, op. cit., p. 618.\n\n[195] Tellico conference, November 7-8, 1794, American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I, pp. 536-538, 1832, Royce, op. cit., p. 173; Ramsey,\nop. cit., p. 596.\n\n[196] Beaver's talk, 1784, Virginia State Papers, III, p. 571, 1883;\nMcDowell, report, 1786, ibid., IV, p. 118, 1884; McDowell, report,\n1787, ibid., p. 286; Todd, letter, 1787, ibid., p. 277; Tellico\nconference, November 7, 1794, American State Papers: Indian Affairs,\nI, p. 538, 1832; Greenville treaty conference, August, 1795, ibid.,\npp. 582-583.\n\n[197] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 173, 1888.\n\n[198] Ibid., pp. 174, 175; Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 679-685, 1853.\n\n[199] Indian Treaties, pp. 78-82, 1837; Ramsey, Tennessee, pp. 692-697,\n1853; Royce, Cherokee Nation (with map and full discussion), Fifth\nAnn. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 174-183, 1888.\n\n[200] See table in Royce, op. cit., p. 378.\n\n[201] Adair, American Indians, pp. 230, 231, 1775.\n\n[202] See Hawkins, MS journal from South Carolina to the Creeks,\n1796, in library of Georgia Historical Society.\n\n[203] Hawkins, Treaty Commission, 1801, manuscript No. 5, in library\nof Georgia Historical Society.\n\n[204] Foote (?), in North Carolina Colonial Records, v, p. 1226, 1887.\n\n[205] North Carolina Colonial Records, v, p. x, 1887.\n\n[206] Reichel, E. H., Historical Sketch of the Church and Missions\nof the United Brethren, pp. 65-81; Bethlehem, Pa., 1848; Holmes,\nJohn, Sketches of the Missions of the United Brethren, pp. 124, 125,\n209-212; Dublin, 1818; Thompson, A. C., Moravian Missions, p. 341;\nNew York, 1890; De Schweinitz, Edmund, Life of Zeisberger, pp. 394,\n663, 696; Phila., 1870.\n\n[207] Morse, American Geography, I, p. 577, 1819.\n\n[208] Indian treaties, pp. 108, 121, 125, 1837; Royce, Cherokee\nNation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 183, 193, 1888\n(map and full discussion).\n\n[209] McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, II, p. 92, 1858.\n\n[210] Indian Treaties, pp. 132-136, 1837; Royce, Cherokee Nation,\nFifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 193-197, 1888.\n\n[211] Meigs, letter, September 28, 1807, American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, I, p. 754, 1832; Royce, op. cit., p. 197.\n\n[212] See treaty, December 2, 1807, and Jefferson's message, with\ninclosures, March 10, 1808, American State Papers: Indian Affairs,\nI, pp. 752-754, 1832; Royce, op. cit., pp. 199-201.\n\n[213] Ibid., pp. 201, 202.\n\n[214] In American State Papers: Indian Affairs, II, p. 283, 1834.\n\n[215] See contract appended to Washington treaty, 1819, Indian\nTreaties, pp. 269-271, 1837; Royce map, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of\nEthnology, 1888.\n\n[216] Author's personal information.\n\n[217] Mooney, Ghost-dance Religion, Fourteenth Ann. Rep. Bureau of\nEthnology, p. 670 et passim, 1896; contemporary documents in American\nState Papers: Indian Affairs, I, pp. 798-801, 845-850, 1832.\n\n[218] See Mooney, Ghost dance Religion, Fourteenth Ann. Rep. Bureau\nof Ethnology, pp. 670-677, 1896; McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, II,\npp. 93-95, 1858; see also contemporary letters (1813, etc.) by Hawkins,\nCornells, and others in American State Papers: Indian Affairs, I, 1832.\n\n[219] Letters of Hawkins, Pinckney, and Cussetah King, July, 1813,\nAmerican State Papers: Indian Affairs, II, pp. 847-849, 1832.\n\n[220] Meigs, letter, May 8, 1812, and Hawkins, letter, May 11, 1812,\nibid., p. 809.\n\n[221] Author's information from James D. Wafford.\n\n[222] McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, II, pp. 96-97, 1858.\n\n[223] Drake, Indians, pp. 395-396, 1880; Pickett, Alabama, p. 556,\nreprint of 1896.\n\n[224] Coffee, report, etc., in Drake, Indians, p. 396, 1880; Lossing,\nField Book of the War of 1812, pp. 762, 763 [n. d. (1869)]; Pickett,\nAlabama, p. 553, reprint of 1896.\n\n[225] Ibid., p. 556.\n\n[226] Drake, Indians, p. 396, 1880; Pickett, op. cit., pp. 554, 555.\n\n[227] White's report, etc., in Fay and Davison, Sketches of the War,\npp. 240, 241; Rutland, Vt., 1815; Low, John, Impartial History of\nthe War, p. 199; New York, 1815; Drake, op. cit., p. 397; Pickett,\nop. cit., p. 557; Lossing, op. cit., p. 767. Low says White had about\n1,100 mounted men, \"including upward of 300 Cherokee Indians.\" Pickett\ngives White 400 Cherokee.\n\n[228] Drake, Indians, pp. 391, 398, 1880; Pickett, Alabama,\npp. 557-559, 572-576, reprint of 1896.\n\n[229] Ibid., p. 579; Lossing, Field Book of the War of 1812, p. 773.\n\n[230] Pay and Davison, Sketches of the War, pp. 247-250, 1815; Pickett,\nAlabama, pp. 579-584, reprint of 1896; Drake, Indians, pp. 398-400,\n1880. Pickett says Jackson had \"767 men, with 200 friendly Indians\";\nDrake says he started with 930 men and was joined at Talladega by\n200 friendly Indians; Jackson himself, as quoted in Fay and Davison,\nsays that he started with 930 men, excluding Indians, and was joined\nat Talladega \"by between 200 and 300 friendly Indians,\" 65 being\nCherokee, the rest Creeks. The inference is that he already had a\nnumber of Indians with him at the start--probably the Cherokee who\nhad been doing garrison duty.\n\n[231] Pickett, op. cit., pp. 584-586.\n\n[232] Jackson's report to Governor Blount, March 31, 1814, in Fay\nand Davison, Sketches of the War, pp. 253, 254, 1815.\n\n[233] General Coffee's report to General Jackson, April 1, 1814,\nibid., p. 257.\n\n[234] Colonel Morgan's report to Governor Blount, in Fay and Davison,\nSketches of the War, pp. 258, 259, 1815.\n\n[235] Coffee's report to Jackson, ibid., pp. 257, 258.\n\n[236] Jackson's report to Governor Blount, ibid., pp. 255, 256.\n\n[237] Jackson's report and Colonel Morgan's report, in Fay and Davison,\nSketches of the War, pp. 255, 256, 259, 1815. Pickett makes the loss\nof the white troops 32 killed and 99 wounded. The Houston reference\nis from Lossing. The battle is described also by Pickett, Alabama,\npp. 588-591, reprint of 1896; Drake, Indians, pp. 391, 400, 1880;\nMcKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, II, pp. 98, 99, 1858.\n\n[238] McKenney and Hall, op. cit., p. 98.\n\n[239] Drake, Indians, p. 401, 1880.\n\n[240] Indian Treaties, p. 187, 1837; Meigs' letter to Secretary of\nWar, August 19, 1816, in American State Papers: Indian Affairs, II,\npp. 113, 114, 1834.\n\n[241] Indian Treaties, pp. 185-187, 1837; Royce, Cherokee Nation,\nFifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 197-209, 1888.\n\n[242] Indian Treaties, pp. 199, 200, 1837; Royce, op. cit.,\npp. 209-211.\n\n[243] Claiborne, letter to Jefferson, November 5, 1808, American\nState Papers, I, p. 755, 1832; Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend, I,\np. 88, 1884.\n\n[244] Hawkins, 1799, quoted in Gatschet, op. cit., p. 89.\n\n[245] See Treaty of St Louis, 1825, and of Castor hill, 1852, in\nIndian Treaties, pp. 388, 539, 1837.\n\n[246] See number 107, \"The Lost Cherokee.\"\n\n[247] See letter of Governor Estevan Miro to Robertson, April 20,\n1783, in Roosevelt, Winning of the West, II, p. 407, 1889.\n\n[248] See pp. 76-77.\n\n[249] Washburn, Reminiscences, pp. 76-79, 1869; see also Royce,\nCherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, p. 204, 1888.\n\n[250] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 202, 203, 1888.\n\n[251] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 202-204,1888; see also Indian Treaties, pp. 209-215,1837. The\npreamble to the treaty of 1817 says that the delegation of 1808 had\ndesired a division of the tribal territory in order that the people\nof the Upper (northern) towns might \"begin the establishment of fixed\nlaws and a regular government,\" while those of the Lower (southern)\ntowns desired to remove to the West. Nothing is said of severalty\nallotments or citizenship.\n\n[252] Indian Treaties, pp. 209-215, 1837; Royce, Cherokee Nation,\nFifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 212-217, 1888; see also maps\nin Royce.\n\n[253] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\n217-218, 1888.\n\n[254] Ibid., pp. 218-219.\n\n[255] Ibid., p. 219.\n\n[256] Morse, Geography, I, p. 577, 1819; and p. 185, 1822.\n\n[257] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 221-222, 1888.\n\n[258] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 222-228, 1888.\n\n[259] Indian Treaties, pp. 265-269, 1837; Royce, op. cit., pp. 219-221\nand table, p. 378.\n\n[260] Laws of the Cherokee Nation (several documents), 1820, American\nState Papers; Indian Affairs, II, pp. 279-283, 1834; letter quoted\nby McKenney, 1825, ibid., pp. 651, 652; Drake, Indians, pp. 437, 438,\ned. 1880.\n\n[261] List or missions and reports of missionaries, etc., American\nState Papers: Indian Affairs, II, pp. 277-279, 459, 1834; personal\ninformation from James D. Wafford concerning Valley-towns mission. For\nnotices of Worcester, Jones, and Wafford, see Pilling, Bibliography\nof the Iroquoian Languages 1888.\n\n[262] G. C., in Cherokee Phoenix; reprinted in Christian Advocate\nand Journal, New York, September 26, 1828.\n\n[263] McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, I, p. 35, et passim, 1858.\n\n[264] Phillips, Sequoyah, in Harper's Magazine, pp. 542-548, September,\n1870.\n\n[265] Manuscript letters by John Mason Brown, January 17, 18, 22,\nand February 4, 1889, in archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology.\n\n[266] McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, I, p. 45, 1858.\n\n[267] See page 43.\n\n[268] See number 89, \"The Iroquois wars.\"\n\n[269] McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, I, p. 46, 1858; Phillips,\nin Harper's Magazine, p. 547, September, 1870.\n\n[270] Indian Treaties, p. 425, 1837.\n\n[271] For details concerning the life and invention of Sequoya,\nsee McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, i, 1858; Phillips, Sequoyah, in\nHarper's Magazine, September 1870; Foster, Sequoyah, 1885, and Story of\nthe Cherokee Bible, 1899, based largely on Phillips' article; G. C.,\nInvention of the Cherokee Alphabet, in Cherokee Phoenix, republished\nIn Christian Advocate and Journal, New York, September 26, 1828:\nPilling, Bibliography of the Iroquoian Languages, 1888.\n\n[272] G. C., Invention of the Cherokee Alphabet, op. cit.\n\n[273] (Unsigned) letter of David Brown, September 2, 1825, quoted in\nAmerican State Papers: Indian Affairs, II, p. 652, 1834.\n\n[274] Foster, Sequoyah, pp. 120, 121, 1885.\n\n[275] Pilling, Iroquoian Bibliography, p. 21, 1888.\n\n[276] Brown letter (unsigned), in American State Papers: Indian\nAffairs, II, p. 652, 1834.\n\n[277] For extended notice of Cherokee literature and authors see\nnumerous references in Pilling, Bibliography of the Iroquoian\nLanguages, 1888; also Foster, Sequoyah, 1885, and Story of the\nCherokee Bible, 1899. The largest body of original Cherokee manuscript\nmaterial in existence, including hundreds of ancient ritual formulas,\nwas obtained by the writer among the East Cherokee, and is now in\npossession of the Bureau of American Ethnology, to be translated at\nsome future time.\n\n[278] Brown letter (unsigned), September 2, 1825, American State\nPapers: Indian Affairs, II, pp. 651, 652, 1834.\n\n[279] See Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 241, 1888; Meredith, in The Five Civilized Tribes, Extra Census\nBulletin, p. 41, 1894; Morse, American Geography, I, p. 577, 1819\n(for Hicks).\n\n[280] Fort Pitt treaty, September 17, 1778, Indian Treaties, p. 3,\n1837.\n\n[281] Cherokee Agency treaty, July 8, 1817, ibid., p. 209; Drake,\nIndians, p. 450, ed. 1880; Johnson in Senate Report on Territories;\nCherokee Memorial, January 18, 1831; see laws of 1808, 1810, and\nlater, in American State Papers: Indian Affairs, II, pp. 279-283,\n1834. The volume of Cherokee laws, compiled in the Cherokee language\nby the Nation, in 1850, begins with the year 1808.\n\n[282] Personal information from James D. Wafford. So far as is known\nthis rebellion of the conservatives has never hitherto been noted\nin print.\n\n[283] See Resolutions of Honor, in Laws of the Cherokee Nation,\npp. 187-140, 1868; Meredith, in The Five Civilized Tribes, Extra Census\nBulletin, p. 41, 1894; Appleton, Cyclopedia of American Biography.\n\n[284] See fourth article of \"Articles of agreement and cession,\"\nApril 24, 1802, in American State Papers: class VIII, Public Lands,\nI, quoted also by Greeley, American Conflict, I, p. 103, 1864.\n\n[285] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 231-233, 1888.\n\n[286] Cherokee correspondence, 1823 and 1824, American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, II, pp. 468-473, 1834; Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth\nAnn. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 236-237, 1888.\n\n[287] Cherokee memorial, February 11, 1824, in American State Papers:\nIndian Affairs, II, pp. 473, 494, 1834; Royce, op. cit., p. 237.\n\n[288] Letters of Governor Troup of Georgia, February 28, 1824, and\nof Georgia delegates, March 10, 1824, American State Papers: Indian\nAffairs, II, pp. 475, 477, 1834; Royce, op. cit., pp. 237, 238.\n\n[289] Monroe, message to the Senate, with Calhoun's report, March 30,\n1824, American State Papers: Indian Affairs, II, pp. 460, 462, 1834.\n\n[290] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 241, 242, 1888.\n\n[291] Personal information from J. D. Wafford.\n\n[292] Nitze, H. B. C., in Twentieth Annual Report United States\nGeological Survey, part 6 (Mineral Resources), p. 112, 1899.\n\n[293] See Butler letter, quoted in Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth\nAnn. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, p. 297, 1888; see also Everett,\nspeech in the House of Representatives on May 31, 1838, pp. 16-17,\n32-33, 1839.\n\n[294] For extracts and synopses of these acts see Royce, op. cit.,\npp. 259-264; Drake, Indians, pp. 438-456, 1880; Greeley, American\nConflict, I, pp. 105, 106, 1864; Edward Everett, speech in the\nHouse of Representatives, February 14, 1831 (lottery law). The gold\nlottery is also noted incidentally by Lanman, Charles, Letters from\nthe Alleghany Mountains, p. 10; New York, 1849, and by Nitze, in his\nreport on the Georgia gold fields, in the Twentieth Annual Report\nof the United States Geological Survey, part 6 (Mineral Resources),\np. 112, 1899. The author has himself seen in a mountain village in\nGeorgia an old book titled \"The Cherokee Land and Gold Lottery,\"\ncontaining maps and plats covering the whole Cherokee country of\nGeorgia, with each lot numbered, and descriptions of the water courses,\nsoil, and supposed mineral veins.\n\n[295] Speech of May 19, 1830, Washington; printed by Gales & Seaton,\n1830.\n\n[296] Speech in the Senate of the United States, April 16, 1830;\nWashington, Peter Force, printer, 1830.\n\n[297] See Cherokee Memorial to Congress, January 18, 1831.\n\n[298] Personal information from Prof. Clinton Duncan, of Tahlequah,\nCherokee Nation, whose father's house was the one thus burned.\n\n[299] Cherokee Memorial to Congress January 18, 1831.\n\n[300] Ibid.; see also speech of Edward Everett in House of\nRepresentatives February 14, 1831; report of the select committee\nof the senate of Massachusetts upon the Georgia resolutions, Boston,\n1831; Greeley, American Conflict, I, p. 106, 1864; Abbott, Cherokee\nIndians in Georgia; Atlanta Constitution, October 27, 1889.\n\n[301] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 261, 262, 1888.\n\n[302] Ibid., p. 262.\n\n[303] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 264-266, 1888; Drake, Indians, pp. 454-457,1880; Greeley, American\nConflict, I, 106, 1864.\n\n[304] Drake, Indians, p. 458, 1880.\n\n[305] Royce, op. cit., pp. 262-264, 272, 273.\n\n[306] Ibid., pp.274, 275.\n\n[307] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Report Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 276, 1888.\n\n[308] Commissioner Elbert Herring, November 25, Report of Indian\nCommissioner, p. 240, 1834; author's personal information from Major\nR. C. Jackson and J. D. Wafford.\n\n[309] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 278-280, 1888; Everett speech in House of Representatives, May\n31, 1838, pp. 28, 29, 1839, in which the Secretary's reply is given\nin full.\n\n[310] Royce, op. cit., pp. 280-281.\n\n[311] Ibid., p. 281.\n\n[312] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit. (Ross arrest), p. 281; Drake,\nIndians (Ross, Payne, Phoenix), p. 459, 1880; see also Everett speech\nof May 31, 1838, op. cit.\n\n[313] Royce, op. cit., pp. 281, 282; see also Everett speech, 1838.\n\n[314] See Fort Gibson treaty, 1833, p. 142.\n\n[315] See New Echota treaty, 1835, and Fort Gibson treaty, 1833, Indian\nTreaties, pp. 633-648 and 561-565, 1837; also, for full discussion\nof both treaties, Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of\nEthnology, pp. 249-298. For a summary of all the measures of pressure\nbrought to bear upon the Cherokee up to the final removal see also\nEverett, speech in the House of Representatives, May 31, 1838;\nthe chapters on \"Expatriation of the Cherokees,\" Drake, Indians,\n1880; and the chapter on \"State Rights--Nullification,\" in Greeley,\nAmerican Conflict, I, 1864. The Georgia side of the controversy is\npresented in E. J. Harden's Life of (Governor) George M. Troup, 1849.\n\n[316] Royce, op. cit., p. 289. The Indian total is also given in the\nReport of the Indian Commissioner, p. 369, 1836.\n\n[317] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., pp. 283, 284; Report of Indian\nCommissioner, pp. 285, 286, 1836.\n\n[318] Quoted by Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., pp. 284-285; quoted\nalso, with some verbal differences, by Everett, speech in House of\nRepresentatives on May 31, 1838.\n\n[319] Quoted in Royce, op. cit., p. 286.\n\n[320] Letter of General Wool, September 10, 1836, in Everett, speech\nin House of Representatives, May 31, 1838.\n\n[321] Letter of June 30, 1836, to President Jackson, in Everett,\nspeech in the House of Representatives, May 31, 1838.\n\n[322] Quoted by Everett, ibid.; also by Royce, Cherokee Nation,\nop. cit., p. 286.\n\n[323] Letter of J. M. Mason, jr., to Secretary of War, September 25,\n1837, in Everett, speech in House of Representatives, May 31, 1838;\nalso quoted in extract by Royce, op. cit., pp. 286-287.\n\n[324] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit. pp. 287, 289.\n\n[325] Ibid., pp. 289, 290.\n\n[326] Ibid., p. 291. The statement of the total number of troops\nemployed is from the speech of Everett in the House of Representatives,\nMay 31, 1838, covering the whole question of the treaty.\n\n[327] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., p. 291.\n\n[328] Ibid, p. 291.\n\n[329] The notes on the Cherokee round-up and Removal are almost\nentirely from author's information as furnished by actors in the\nevents, both Cherokee and white, among whom may be named the late\nColonel W. H. Thomas; the late Colonel Z. A. Zile, of Atlanta,\nof the Georgia volunteers; the late James Bryson, of Dillsboro,\nNorth Carolina, also a volunteer; James D. Wafford, of the western\nCherokee Nation, who commanded one of the emigrant detachments; and\nold Indians, both east and west, who remembered the Removal and had\nheard the story from their parents. Charley's story is a matter of\ncommon note among the East Cherokee, and was heard in full detail\nfrom Colonel Thomas and from Wasit\u00fbna (\"Washington\"), Charley's\nyoungest son, who alone was spared by General Scott on account of\nhis youth. The incident is also noted, with some slight inaccuracies,\nin Lanman, Letters from the Alleghany Mountains. See p. 157.\n\n[330] Author's personal information, as before cited.\n\n[331] As quoted in Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau\nof Ethnology, p. 292, 1888, the disbursing agent makes the number\nunaccounted for 1,428; the receiving agent, who took charge of them\non their arrival, makes it 1,645.\n\n[332] Agent Stokes to Secretary of War, June 24, 1839, in Report\nIndian Commissioner, p. 355, 1839; Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth\nAnn. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, p. 293, 1888; Drake, Indians,\npp. 459-460, 1880; author's personal information. The agent's report\nincorrectly makes the killings occur on three different days.\n\n[333] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., pp. 294, 295.\n\n[334] Council resolutions, August 23, 1839, in Report Indian\nCommissioner, p. 387, 1839; Royce, op. cit., p. 294.\n\n[335] See \"Act of Union\" and \"Constitution\" in Constitution and\nLaws of the Cherokee Nation, 1875; General Arbuckle's letter to the\nSecretary of War, June 28, 1840, in Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. 46, 1840; also Royce, op. cit., pp. 294, 295.\n\n[336] See ante, pp. 105-106; Nuttall, who was on the ground, gives\nthem only 1,500.\n\n[337] Washburn, Cephas, Reminiscences of the Indians, pp. 81, 103;\nRichmond, 1869.\n\n[338] Nuttall, Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory, etc.,\np. 129; Philadelphia, 1821.\n\n[339] Ibid., pp. 123-136. The battle mentioned seems to be the same\nnoted somewhat differently by Washburn, Reminiscences, p. 120; 1869.\n\n[340] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., p. 222.\n\n[341] Washburn, op. cit., p. 160, and personal information from\nJ. D. Wafford.\n\n[342] Royce, op. cit., pp. 242, 243; Washburn, op. cit., pp. 112-122\net passim; see also sketches of Tahchee and Tooantuh or Spring-frog,\nin McKenney and Hall, Indian Tribes, I and II, 1858.\n\n[343] Washburn, Reminiscences, p. 178, 1869; see also ante p. 206.\n\n[344] Ibid, p. 138.\n\n[345] See Treaty of 1817, Indian Treaties, 1837.\n\n[346] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Report Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 243, 244, 1888.\n\n[347] Ibid, p. 243.\n\n[348] Author's personal information; see p. 143.\n\n[349] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., p. 245.\n\n[350] Ibid., pp. 247, 248.\n\n[351] Treaty of Washington, May 6, 1828, Indian Treaties, pp. 423-428,\n1837; treaty of Port Gibson, 1833, ibid., pp. 561-565; see also for\nsynopsis, Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 229, 230, 1888.\n\n[352] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 248, 1888.\n\n[353] For a sketch of Tahchee, with portraits, see McKenney and Hall,\nI, pp. 251-260, 1858; Catlin, North American Indians, II, pp. 121,\n122, 1844. Wash burn also mentions the emigration to Texas consequent\nupon the treaty of 1828 (Reminiscences, p. 217, 1869).\n\n[354] Treaties at Fort Gibson, February 14, 1833, with Creeks and\nCherokee, in Indian Treaties, pp. 561-569, 1837.\n\n[355] Treaty of 1833, Indian Treaties, pp. 561-565, 1837; Royce,\nCherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 249-253,\n1888; see also Treaty of New Echota, 1835, ante, pp. 123-125.\n\n[356] Author's personal information. In 1891 the author opened two\nUchee graves on the grounds of Cornelius Boudinot, at Tahlequah,\nfinding with one body a number of French, Spanish, and American silver\ncoins wrapped in cloth and deposited in two packages on each side of\nthe head. They are now in the National Museum at Washington.\n\n[357] Bonnell, Topographic Description of Texas, p. 141; Austin,\n1840; Thrall, History of Texas, p. 58; New York, 1876.\n\n[358] Author's personal information from J. D. Wafford and other\nold Cherokee residents and from recent Cherokee delegates. Bancroft\nagrees with Bonnell and Thrall that no grant was formally issued,\nbut states that the Cherokee chief established his people in Texas\n\"confiding in promises made to him, and a conditional agreement in\n1822\" with the Spanish governor (History of the North Mexican States\nand Texas, II, p. 103, 1889). It is probable that the paper carried\nby Bowl was the later Houston treaty. See next page.\n\n[359] Thrall, op. cit., p. 58.\n\n[360] Thrall, Texas, p. 46, 1879.\n\n[361] Bonnell, Texas, pp. 142, 143, 1840.\n\n[362] Ibid., p. 143, 1840.\n\n[363] Bonnell, Texas, pp. 143, 144.\n\n[364] Ibid., pp. 144, 146.\n\n[365] Thrall, Texas, pp. 116-168, 1876.\n\n[366] Bonnell, op. cit., pp. 146-150; Thrall, op. cit., pp. 118-120.\n\n[367] Author's personal information from J. D. Wafford and other old\nwestern Cherokee, and recent Cherokee delegates; by some this is said\nto have been a Mexican patent, but it is probably the one given by\nTexas. See ante, p. 143.\n\n[368] Thrall, Texas, p. 120, 1876.\n\n[369] Author's personal information from Mexican and Cherokee sources.\n\n[370] W. A. Phillips, Sequoyah, in Harper's Magazine, September, 1870;\nFoster, Sequoyah, 1885; Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau\nof Ethnology, p. 302, 1888; letter of William P. Ross, former editor of\nCherokee Advocate, March 11, 1889, in archives of Bureau of American\nEthnology; Cherokee Advocate, October 19, 1844, November 2, 1844, and\nMarch 6, 1845; author's personal information. San Fernando seems to\nhave been a small village in Chihuahua, but is not shown on the maps.\n\n[371] For full discussion see Royce, op. cit., pp. 298-312.\n\n[372] Pilling, Bibliography of the Iroquoian Languages (bulletin of\nthe Bureau of Ethnology), p. 174, 1888.\n\n[373] See treaties with Cherokee, October 7, 1861, and with other\ntribes, in Confederate States Statutes at Large, 1864; Royce, op. cit.,\npp. 324-328; Greeley, American Conflict, II, pp. 30-34, 1866; Reports\nof Indian Commissioner for 1860 to 1862.\n\n[374] In this battle the Confederates were assisted by from 4,000\nto 5,000 Indians of the southern tribes, including the Cherokee,\nunder command of General Albert Pike.\n\n[375] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 329, 330, 1888.\n\n[376] Ibid, p. 331.\n\n[377] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., p. 376.\n\n[378] Ibid., p. 376. A census of 1807 gives them 13,566 (ibid.,\np. 351).\n\n[379] See synopsis and full discussion in Royce, op. cit., pp. 334-340.\n\n[380] Act of Citizenship, November 7, 1865, Laws of the Cherokee\nNation, p. 119; St. Louis, 1868.\n\n[381] See Resolutions of Honor, ibid., pp. 137-140.\n\n[382] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\npp. 356-358, 1888; Constitution and Laws of the Cherokee Nation,\npp. 277-284; St. Louis, 1875.\n\n[383] Royce, op. cit., p. 367.\n\n[384] Foster, Sequoyah, pp. 147, 148, 1885; Pilling, Iroquoian\nBibliography, 1888, articles \"Cherokee Advocate\" and \"John\nB. Jones.\" The schoolbook series seems to have ended with the\narithmetic--cause, as the Cherokee national superintendent of schools\nexplained to the author, \"too much white man.\"\n\n[385] Commissioner H. Price, Report of Indian Commissioner, p. lxv,\n1881, and p. lxx, 1882; see also p. 175.\n\n[386] Report of Indian Commissioner, p. lxv, 1883.\n\n[387] Commissioner J. D. C. Atkins, Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. xlv, 1886, and p. lxxvii, 1887.\n\n[388] Agent L. E. Bennett, in Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 93,\n1890.\n\n[389] Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 22, 1889.\n\n[390] See proclamation by President Harrison and order from Indian\nCommissioner in Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. lxxii-lxxiii,\n421-422, 1890. The lease figures are from personal information.\n\n[391] Commissioner T. J. Morgan, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. 79-80, 1892.\n\n[392] Commissioner D. M. Browning, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. 33-34, 1893.\n\n[393] Quotation from act, etc., Report of Indian Commissioner for 1894,\np. 27, 1895.\n\n[394] Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, ibid., p. 141.\n\n[395] Ibid., and statistical table, p. 570.\n\n[396] Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, ibid., p. 145.\n\n[397] Agent D. M. Wisdom, in Report Indian Commissioner for 1895,\np. 155, 1896.\n\n[398] Commissioner D. M. Browning, Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. 81, 1896.\n\n[399] Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, Report of Indian Commissioner\nfor 1895, pp. 159, 160, 1896.\n\n[400] Letter of A. E. Ivy, Secretary of the Board of Education,\nin Report of Indian Commissioner for 1895, p. 161, 1896. The author\ncan add personal testimony as to the completeness of the seminary\nestablishment.\n\n[401] Report of Agent Wisdom, ibid., p. 162.\n\n[402] Letter of Bird Harris, May 31, 1895, in Report of Indian\nCommissioner for 1895, p. 160, 1896.\n\n[403] Synopsis of Curtis act, pp. 75-79, and Curtis act in full,\np. 425 et seq., in Report of Indian Commissioner for 1898; noted also\nin Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 84 et seq., 1899.\n\n[404] Commissioner W. A. Jones, ibid., pp. i, 84 et seq. (Curtis act\nand Dawes commission).\n\n[405] Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. 141-144, 1897.\n\n[406] Author's personal information; see also House bill No. 1165\n\"for the relief of certain Indians in Indian Territory,\" etc.,\nFifty-sixth Congress, first session, 1900.\n\n[407] Report of Agent D. M. Wisdom, Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. 159, 1898.\n\n[408] See page 131.\n\n[409] Charley's story as here given is from the author's personal\ninformation, derived chiefly from conversations with Colonel Thomas and\nwith Wasit\u00fb'na and other old Indians. An ornate but somewhat inaccurate\naccount is given also in Lanman's Letters from the Alleghany Mountains,\nwritten on the ground ten years after the events described. The\nleading facts are noted in General Scott's official dispatches.\n\n[410] See New Echota treaty, December 29, 1835, and supplementary\narticles, March 1, 1836, in Indian Treaties, pp. 633-648, 1837;\nalso full discussion of same treaty in Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth\nAnn. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, 1888.\n\n[411] Royce, op. cit., p. 292.\n\n[412] Ibid., p. 314.\n\n[413] In the Cherokee language Tsiskw\u00e2'hi, \"Bird place,\" Ani'-W\u00e2'dihi,\n\"Paint place,\" Wa`y\u00e2'hi, \"Wolf place,\" E'law\u00e2'di, \"Red earth\" (now\nCherokee post-office and agency), and K\u00e2lan\u00fb\u00f1'yi, \"Raven place.\" There\nwas also, for a time, a \"Pretty-woman town\" (Ani'-Gil\u00e2'hi?).\n\n[414] The facts concerning Colonel Thomas's career are derived chiefly\nfrom the author's conversations with Thomas himself, supplemented\nby information from his former assistant, Capt. James W. Terrell,\nand others who knew him, together with an admirable sketch in the\nNorth Carolina University Magazine for May 1899, by Mrs. A. C. Avery,\nhis daughter. He is also frequently noticed, in connection with East\nCherokee matters, in the annual reports of the Commissioner of Indian\nAffairs; in the North Carolina Confederate Roster; in Lanman's Letters\nfrom the Alleghany Mountains; and in Zeigler and Grosscup's Heart of\nthe Alleghanies, etc. Some manuscript contributions to the library\nof the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah--now unfortunately\nmislaid--show his interest in Cherokee linguistics.\n\n[415] The facts concerning Yonaguska are based on the author's\npersonal information obtained from Colonel Thomas, supplemented\nfrom conversations with old Indians. The date of his death and his\napproximate age are taken from the Terrell roll. He is also noticed\nat length in Lanman's Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, 1848,\nand in Zeigler and Grosscup's Heart of the Alleghanies, 1883. The\ntrance which, according to Thomas and Lanman, lasted about one day,\nis stretched by the last-named authors to fifteen days, with the whole\n1,200 Indians marching and countermarching around the sleeping body!\n\n[416] The name in the treaties occurs as Yonahequah (1798), Yohanaqua\n(1805), and Yonah, (1819).--Indian Treaties, pp. 82, 123, 268;\nWashington, 1837.\n\n[417] The name refers to something habitually falling from a leaning\nposition.\n\n[418] Act quoted in Report of Indian Commissioner for 1895, p. 636,\n1896.\n\n[419] The facts concerning Junaluska are from the author's information\nobtained from Colonel Thomas, Captain James Terrell, and Cherokee\ninformants.\n\n[420] Author's information from Colonel Thomas.\n\n[421] Commissioner Crawford, November 25, Report of Indian\nCommissioner, p. 333, 1839.\n\n[422] Author's information from Colonel Thomas, Captain Terrell, and\nIndian sources; Commissioner W. Medill, Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. 399, 1848; Commissioner Orlando Brown, Report of Indian Commissioner\nfor 1849, p. 14, 1850.\n\n[423] Synopsis of the treaty, etc., in Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth\nAnn. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 300-313, 1888; see also ante,\np. 148.\n\n[424] Lanman, Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, pp. 94-95, 1849.\n\n[425] Lanman, Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, p. 111.\n\n[426] See act quoted in \"The United States of America v. William H,\nThomas et al.\"; also Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau\nof Ethnology, p. 313, 1888. In the earlier notices the terms \"North\nCarolina Cherokee\" and \"Eastern Cherokee\" are used synonymously,\nas the original fugitives were all in North Carolina.\n\n[427] See Royce, op. cit., pp. 313-314; Commissioner H. Price, Report\nof Indian Commissioner, p. li, 1884; Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. 495, 1898; also references by Commissioner W. Medill, Report of\nIndian Commissioner, p. 399, 1848; and Report of Indian Commissioner\nfor 1855, p. 255, 1856.\n\n[428] Royce, Cherokee Nation, op. cit., p. 313 and note.\n\n[429] Report of the Indian Commissioner, pp. 459-460, 1845.\n\n[430] Commissioner Crawford, Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 3, 1842.\n\n[431] Royce, op. cit., p. 314.\n\n[432] The history of the events leading to the organization of the\n\"Thomas Legion\" is chiefly from the author's conversations with Colonel\nThomas himself, corroborated and supplemented from other sources. In\nthe words of Thomas, \"If it had not been for the Indians I would not\nhave been in the war.\"\n\n[433] This is believed to be a correct statement of the strength\nand make-up of the Thomas Legion. Owing to the imperfection of the\nrecords and the absence of reliable memoranda among the surviving\nofficers, no two accounts exactly coincide. The roll given in the\nNorth Carolina Confederate Roster, handed in by Captain Terrell,\nassistant quartermaster, was compiled early in the war and contains\nno notice of the engineer company or of the second infantry regiment;\nwhich included two other Indian companies. The information therein\ncontained is supplemented from conversations and personal letters\nof Captain Terrell, and from letters and newspaper articles by\nLieutenant-Colonel Stringfield of the Sixty-ninth. Another statement\nis given in Mrs Avery's sketch of Colonel Thomas in the North Carolina\nUniversity Magazine for May, 1899.\n\n[434] Personal Information from Colonel W. H. Thomas,\nLieutenant-Colonel W. W. Stringfield, Captain James W. Terrell,\nChief N. J. Smith (first sergeant Company B), and others, with other\ndetails from Moore's (Confederate) Roster of North Carolina Troops,\nIV; Raleigh, 1882; also list of survivors in 1890, by Carrington,\nin Eastern Band of Cherokees, Extra Bulletin of Eleventh Census,\np. 21, 1892.\n\n[435] Thomas-Terrell manuscript East Cherokee roll, with accompanying\nletters, 1864 (Bur. Am. Eth. archives).\n\n[436] Personal information from Colonel W. H. Thomas, Captain\nJ. W. Terrell, Chief N. J. Smith, and others; see also Carrington,\nEastern Band of Cherokees, Extra Bulletin of Eleventh Census, p. 21,\n1892.\n\n[437] Author's information from Colonel Thomas and others. Various\ninformants have magnified the number of deaths to several hundred,\nbut the estimate here given, obtained from Thomas, is probably more\nreliable.\n\n[438] Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology,\np. 314, 1888.\n\n[439] Commissioner F. A. Walker, Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. 26, 1872.\n\n[440] Royce, op. cit., p. 353.\n\n[441] Constitution, etc., quoted in Carrington, Eastern Band of\nCherokees, Extra Bulletin Eleventh Census, pp. 18-20, 1892; author's\npersonal information.\n\n[442] See award of arbitrators, Rufus Barringer, John H. Dillard, and\nT. Ruffin, with full statement, in Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians\nagainst W. T. Thomas et al. H. R. Ex. Doc. 128, 53d Cong., 2d sess.,\n1894; summary in Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of\nEthnology, pp. 315-318, 1888.\n\n[443] See Royce, op. cit., pp. 315-318; Commissioner T. J. Morgan,\nReport of Indian Commissioner, p. xxix, 1890. The final settlement,\nunder the laws of North Carolina, was not completed until 1894.\n\n[444] Royce, op. cit., pp. 315-318; Carrington, Eastern Band of\nCherokees, with map of Temple survey, Extra Bulletin of Eleventh\nCensus, 1892.\n\n[445] Report of Agent W. C. McCarthy, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. 343-344, 1875; and Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. 118-119,\n1876.\n\n[446] Author's personal information; see also Carrington, Eastern\nBand of Cherokees; Zeigler and Grosscup, Heart of the Alleghanies,\npp. 35-36, 1883.\n\n[447] Commissioner H. Price, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. lxiv-lxv, 1881, and Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. lxix-lxx,\n1882; see also ante, p. 151.\n\n[448] See Commissioner T. J. Morgan, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. 141-145, 1892; author's personal information from B. C. Hobbs,\nChief N. J. Smith, and others. For further notice of school growth\nsee also Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. 426-427, 1897.\n\n[449] Zeigler and Grosscup, Heart of the Alleghanies, pp. 36-42, 1883.\n\n[450] Commissioner H. Price, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. lxix-lxx, 1882.\n\n[451] Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. li-lii, 1884.\n\n[452] Commissioner H. Price, Report of Indian Commissioner,\npp. lxix-lxxi, 1882, also \"Indian legislation,\" ibid., p. 214;\nCommissioner H. Price, Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. lxv-lxvi,\n1883.\n\n[453] Commissioner J. D. C. Atkins, Report of Indian Commissioner,\np. lxx, 1885.\n\n[454] Same commissioner, Report of the Indian Commissioner, p. xlv,\n1886; decision quoted by same commissioner, Report of Indian\nCommissioner, p. lxxvii, 1887.\n\n[455] Same commissioner, Report of the Indian Commissioner, p. li,\n1886; reiterated by him in Report for 1887, p. lxxvii.\n\n[456] See act in full, Report of Indian Commissioner, vol. I,\npp. 680-681, 1891.\n\n[457] From author's personal acquaintance; see also Zeigler\nand Grosscup, Heart of the Alleghanies, pp. 38-39, 1883; Agent\nJ. L. Holmes, in Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 160, 1885;\nCommissioner T. J. Morgan, Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 142,\n1892; Moore, Roster of the North Carolina Troops, IV, 1882.\n\n[458] Commissioner D. M. Browning, Report of Indian Commissioner for\n1894, pp. 81-82, 1895; also Agent T. W. Potter, ibid., p. 398.\n\n[459] Agent T. W. Potter, Report of Indian Commissioner for 1895,\np. 387, 1896.\n\n[460] Agent J. C. Hart, Report of Indian Commissioner, p. 208, 1897.\n\n[461] Agent J. C. Hart, Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. 218-219,\n1898.\n\n[462] At the recent election in November, 1900, they were debarred\nby the local polling officers from either registering or voting,\nand the matter is now being contested.\n\n[463] American Anthropologist, vol. XI, July, 1898.\n\n[464] See page 20.\n\n[465] Adair, American Indians, p. 81, 1775.\n\n[466] Lawson, Carolina, 67-68, reprint 1860.\n\n[467] Harris, J. C., Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings, p. 29;\nNew York, 1886.\n\n[468] For a presentation of the African and European argument see\nHarris, Nights with Uncle Remus, introduction, 1883; and Uncle Remus,\nHis Songs and His Sayings, introduction, 1886; Gerber, Uncle Remus\nTraced to the Old World, in Journal of American Folklore, VI, p. 23,\nOctober, 1893. In regard to tribal dissemination of myths see Boas,\nDissemination of Tales among the Natives of North America, in Journal\nof American Folklore, IV, p. 12, January, 1891; The Growth of Indian\nMythologies, in the same journal, IX, p. 32, January 1896; Northern\nElements in the Mythology of the Navaho, in American Anthropologist,\nX, p. 11, November, 1897; introduction to Teit's Traditions of the\nThompson River Indians, 1898. Dr Boas has probably devoted more\nstudy to the subject than any other anthropologist, and his personal\nobservations include tribes from the Arctic regions to the Columbia.\n\n[469] See contemporary notice in the Historical Sketch.\n\n[470] See \"The Daughter of the Sun.\"\n\n[471] See the next story.\n\n[472] \"The Onondagas retain the custody of the wampums of the\nFive Nations, and the keeper of the wampums, Thomas Webster,\nof the Snipe tribe, a consistent, thorough pagan, is their\ninterpreter. Notwithstanding the claims made that the wampums can be\nread as a governing code of law, it is evident that they are simply\nmonumental reminders of preserved traditions, without any literal\ndetails whatever.\n\n\"The first [of this] group from left to right, represents a convention\nof the Six Nations at the adoption of the Tuscaroras into the league;\nthe second, the Five Nations, upon seven strands, illustrates a treaty\nwith seven Canadian tribes before the year 1600; the third signifies\nthe guarded approach of strangers to the councils of the Five Nations\n(a guarded gate, with a long, white path leading to the inner gate,\nwhere the Five Nations are grouped, with the Onondagas in the center\nand a safe council house behind all); the fourth represents a treaty\nwhen but four of the Six Nations were represented, and the fifth\nembodies the pledge of seven Canadian christianized nations to abandon\ntheir crooked ways and keep an honest peace (having a cross for each\ntribe, and with a zigzag line below, to indicate that their ways had\nbeen crooked but would ever after be as sacred as the cross). Above\nthis group is another, claiming to bear date about 1608, when Champlain\njoined the Algonquins against the Iroquois.\"--Carrington, in Six\nNations of New York, Extra Bulletin, Eleventh Census, pp. 33-34, 1892.\n\n[473] Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. of Tennessee, pp. 222-224, 1823.\n\n[474] Ibid, p. 241.\n\n[475] Ibid, p. 222.\n\n[476] Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, p. 160, 1847.\n\n[477] Heckewelder, Indian Nations, p. 88, reprint of 1876.\n\n[478] Brinton, Lenape and Their Legends, p. 130 et passim, 1885;\nSchoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, pp. 147, 305 et passim, 1847;\nHeckewelder, Indian Nations, pp. 47-50, ed. 1876.\n\n[479] Heckewelder, op. cit., p. 54.\n\n[480] Loskiel, History of the [Moravian] Mission, pp. 124-127;\nLondon, 1794.\n\n[481] Heckewelder, Indian Nations, pp. 88-89, 1876.\n\n[482] See Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. of Tennessee, pp. 220, 224,\n237, 1823.\n\n[483] North Carolina Colonial Records, III, pp. 153, 202, 345, 369,\n393, 1886.\n\n[484] Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East (bulletin of the Bureau of\nEthnology), pp. 56, 61, 1894.\n\n[485] Catawba MS from South Carolina official archives. Schoolcraft,\nIndian Tribes, III, pp. 293-4, 1853.\n\n[486] Ibid., p. 294, 1853.\n\n[487] Royce, The Cherokee Nation of Indians, in Fifth Report of Bureau\nof Ethnology. pp. 205-208, 266-272, 1887; also (for 1783) Bartram,\nTravels, p. 483, 1792.\n\n[488] Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 241, 1823. Bullhead\nmay be intended for Doublehead, an old Cherokee name.\n\n[489] Mooney, The Cherokee Ball Play, in The American Anthropologist,\nIII, p. 107, April, 1890.\n\n[490] Bartram, Travels, p. 518, 1791.\n\n[491] Adair, History of American Indians, pp. 227, 247, 252-256, 270,\n276-279, 1775.\n\n[492] Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee, pp. 81, 84, 1853.\n\n[493] Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East (bulletin of the Bureau of\nEthnology), p. 83, 1894.\n\n[494] Bienville, quoted in Gayarr\u00e9, Louisiana.\n\n[495] Haywood, Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee,\npp. 105-107, 1823. For a sketch of the Natchez war and the subsequent\nhistory of the scattered fragments of the tribe, see the author's\npaper, The End of the Natchez, in the American Anthropologist for\nJuly, 1899.\n\n[496] Adair, History of American Indians, p. 257, 1775. The other\nstatements concerning the Taskigi among the Creeks are taken from\nGatschet's valuable study, A Migration Legend of the Creek Indians,\nI, pp. 122, 145, 228, 1884.\n\n[497] Haywood, Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, p. 24,\n1823. From a contemporary reference in Rivers, South Carolina, page\n57, it appears that this war was in full progress in 1757.\n\n[498] Margry, quoted in Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend, I, pp. 16,\n87, 1884.\n\n[499] Wasash, French Ouasage, corrupted by the Americans into Osage.\n\n[500] Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 266.\n\n[501] MacGowan, Dr D. J., Indian Secret Societies, Historical Magazine,\nX, p. 139, 1866. Morrisania, N. Y.\n\n[502] Haywood, Nat. and Aborig. Hist. Tenn., p. 239.\n\n[503] Letters from the Alleghany Mountains, pages 41-42.\n\n[504] Gatschet, Some Mythic Stories of the Yuchi Indians, in American\nAnthropologist, VI, p. 281, July, 1893.\n\n[505] Asher & Co., Berlin, 1895.\n\n[506] Antiquities of the Cherokee Indians, compiled from the collection\nof Reverend Sabin Buttrick, their missionary from 1817 to 1847,\nas presented in the Indian Chieftain; Vinita, Indian Territory, 1884.\n\n[507] Buttrick, Antiquities of the Cherokee Indians, pp. 9-10.\n\n[508] Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois, p. 359, 1847.\n\n[509] Buttrick, op. cit., p. 10.\n\n[510] Travels, pp. 449-450.\n\n[511] W. O. Tuggle, Myths of the Creeks, MS, 1887. Copy in archives\nof the Bureau of American Ethnology.\n\n[512] A. S. Gatschet, Some Mythic Stories of the Yuchi Indians,\nin American Anthropologist, VI, p. 281, July, 1893.\n\n[513] Antiquities.\n\n[514] E. G. Squier, The Serpent Symbol and the Worship of the\nReciprocal Principles of Nature in America (Am. Arch\u00e6ological\nResearches, 1); New York, 1851.\n\n[515] Rev. Wm. W. Gill, Myths and Songs from the South Pacific,\nwith a preface by F. Max M\u00fcller; London, 1876, pp. 18, 21, 58, 71.\n\n[516] G. E. Foster, Sequoyah, the American Cadmus and Modern Moses;\nPhiladelphia, Indian Rights Association, 1885.\n\n[517] Historical Sketches of the Cherokees, together with some\nof their Customs, Traditions, and Superstitions, by Wahnenauhi,\na Cherokee Indian; MS in archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology.\n\n[518] Frank Russell, Myths of the Jicarilla Apaches, in Journal of\nAm. Folklore, October, 1898.\n\n[519] H. R. Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, Comprising Inquiries\nRespecting the Mental Characteristics of the North American Indians;\nfirst series, Indian Tales and Legends (two volumes); New York, 1839.\n\n[520] The Dhegiha Language, in Contributions to North American\nEthnology, VI (Department of the Interior, U. S. Geographical and\nGeological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. J. W. Powell in\ncharge), Washington, D. C.\n\n[521] League of the Iroquois, pp. 161, 102, and 199.\n\n[522] Hewitt, Cosmogonic Gods of the Iroquois, in\nProc. Am. Ass. Adv. Sci., XLIV, 1895.\n\n[523] History of Carolina, ed. 1860, p. 35.\n\n[524] Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia,\ncollected and annotated by James Teit, with introduction by Franz Boas\n(Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, VI); Boston and New York,\n1898, p. 74.\n\n[525] Memoirs, p. 77.\n\n[526] History of the American Indians, p. 401.\n\n[527] Erminnie Smith, Myths of the Iroquois, in Second Annual Report\nof the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 80.\n\n[528] Teit, Thompson River Traditions, p. 61.\n\n[529] Josiah Gregg, The Commerce of the Prairies, or The Journal of\na Santa Fe Trader During Eight Expeditions across the Great Western\nPrairies and a Residence of Nearly Nine Years in Northern Mexico;\nvol. II, pp. 239-240; New York and London, 1844.\n\n[530] Francis Parkman, The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth\nCentury, second edition, p. lxxxiii (quoting Le Clerc); Boston, 1867.\n\n[531] Teit, Thompson River Traditions, p. 85.\n\n[532] Alfred Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians; New York,\n1897, p. 55.\n\n[533] Heli Chatelain, Folktales of Angola: Fifty Tales, with Ki-mbundu\ntext, literal English translation, introduction, and notes (Memoirs\nof the American Folk-Lore Society, I); Boston and New York. 1894.\n\n[534] Memoirs of American Folk-Lore Society, V; Boston and New York,\n1897.\n\n[535] J. W. Bouton, Bible Myths and their Parallels in Other Religions;\n2d ed., New York, 1883; Bible Folklore, A Study in Comparative\nMythology; New York, 1884.\n\n[536] The Myths of the New World, A Treatise on the Symbolism and\nMythology of the Red Race of America; 3d ed., Philadelphia, 1896.\n\n[537] Heckewelder, Indian Nations, p. 254, ed. 1876.\n\n[538] Henry, Travels and Adventures in Canada, etc., pp. 212-213,\nNew York, 1809.\n\n[539] G. B. Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories and Folktales, with Notes\non the Origin, Customs, and Character of the Pawnee People; New York,\n1889, pp. 358-359.\n\n[540] Joel C. Harris, Uncle Remus, His Songs and His Sayings; New\nYork, 1886.\n\n[541] J. C. Harris, Nights with Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of\nthe Old Plantation; Boston, 1883.\n\n[542] C. G. Leland, Algonquin Legends of New England, p. 212;\nBoston, 1884.\n\n[543] History of the American Indians, p. 30.\n\n[544] J. E. Holbrook, North American Herpetology, or a Description\nof the Reptiles inhabiting the United States, II, p. 119; Phila., 1842.\n\n[545] J. G. M. Ramsey, The Annals of Tennessee to the end of the\nEighteenth Century, etc., Philadelphia, 1853.\n\n[546] Buckingham Smith, Letter of Hernando de Soto and Memoir of\nHernando de Escalante, translated from the Spanish; Washington, 1854,\np. 46.\n\n[547] Manuscript Journal, 1796, with Georgia Historical Society,\nSavannah.\n\n[548] Dr Elias Boudinot, A Star in the West, or a Humble Attempt to\nDiscover the Long Lost Ten Tribes of Israel, Preparatory to Their\nReturn to Their Beloved City, Jerusalem; Trenton, N. J., 1816.\n\n[549] J. M. Stanley, Portraits of North American Indians, with\nsketches of scenery, etc., painted by J. M. Stanley, deposited with\nthe Smithsonian Institution. Washington: Smithsonian Institution,\nDecember, 1852; pp. 18-22. The Stanley account was not seen by the\npresent author until after the Wafford tradition was in proofs.","title":"Myths of the Cherokee: Extract from the Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":297574}