{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_53375/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_53375","id":"gutenberg_53375","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53375","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Category: Poetry","Cherokee Indians -- Folklore","Cherokee language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.","Folklore","Poetry"],"text":"OCCONEECHEE\n                      THE MAID OF THE MYSTIC LAKE\n\n\n                                   BY\n                          ROBERT FRANK JARRETT\n                 Author of \"Back Home and Other Poems\"\n\n\n                         THE SHAKESPEARE PRESS\n                           410 E. 32d Street\n                                New York\n                                  1916\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                           Copyrighted, 1916\n                            By R. F. Jarrett\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nRealizing that the memory of a nation is best kept aglow by its\nsongs and the writings of its poets, I have been inspired to write\nOCCONEECHEE, in order that the once powerful nation known as the\nCherokee may be preserved in mind, and that their myths, their legends\nand their traditions may linger and be transmitted to the nations\nyet to come.\n\nTrusting that a generous people may hail with delight the advent\nof this new work, I now dedicate its pages to all lovers of music,\npoetry and fine art.\n\n\n    When you've read its pages give or lend\n    This volume to some good old friend.\n\n\nThe Author.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR.\n\n\nRobert Frank Jarrett was born in Asheville, N. C., on July 21st, 1864,\nand while having resided in other states and cities and visited many of\nthe most important sections of the South, yet has made his principal\nhome within the shadows of the rugged mountain peaks of his native\nand picturesque home land, the Old North State.\n\nHe was educated in the field and forest, by rippling stream and\nrolling rill, studied in the open book of Nature and recited to the\nMaster of Destinies where the shadows of the everlasting hills lock\nhands with the sunshine of the valley.\n\nHe is a reader and student of the ancient writers and poets of all\nages, singer of the old songs, lover of the new;\n\nServant in official capacity for many years of National, State and\nCivic governments; humble worker with the busy toilers, and writer\nof prose and verse from earliest childhood;\n\nAuthor of \"Back Home and Other Poems,\" published in 1911, and many\nother manuscripts not yet published.\n\nMarried to Sallie C. Wild, of Franklin, N. C., on Dec. 25th, 1892. For\ntwenty years a resident of Dillsboro, N. C., where orchard and field\nand dense deep forests have inspired and impelled him on.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n                                                Page\n\n    Part   I. The Cherokee,                        7\n    Part  II. Occoneechee,                        21\n    Part III. Myths of the Cherokee,             127\n    Part  IV. Glossary of Cherokee Words,        197\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n    Portrait of Robert Frank Jarrett,   Frontispiece\n    Tuckaseigee Falls, above Dillsboro,            9\n    Along Scott's Creek, below Balsam,            21\n    Sunset from Mt. Junaluska,                    26\n    Lake Junaluska, near Waynesville,             26\n    A Glimpse of the Craggies,                    37\n    From Top of Chimney Rock,                     37\n    Graybeard Mountain,                           37\n    Chimney Top,                                  37\n    Upper Catawba Falls, Esmeralda,               43\n    Occoneechee Falls, Jackson County,            43\n    In the Cherokee Country,                      43\n    Whitewater Falls,                             43\n    The Balsam Mountains in Jackson Co.,          51\n    North from Sunset Rock, Tryon Mt.,            51\n    Balsam Mountains,                             67\n    From Bald Rock,                               67\n    Lower Cullasaja Falls,                        73\n    Mount Pisgah,                                 77\n    Indian Mound, Franklin, N. C.,                77\n    Tallulah Falls, Ga.,                          81\n    Whiteside Mountain,                           91\n    Tennessee River, above Franklin,              99\n    Lake Toxaway,                                 99\n    Tomb of Junaluska, Robbinsville,             107\n    Where the Serpent Coiled,                    107\n    Harvesting at Cullowhee, N. C.,              117\n    Craggy Mountains from near Asheville,        117\n    Sequoya,                                     129\n    John Ax, the Great Story Teller,             129\n    Everglades of Florida,                       129\n    Tuckaseigee River,                           139\n    Kanuga Lake,                                 153\n    Lake Fairfield,                              153\n    Pacolet River, Hendersonville,               153\n    A Cherokee Indian Ball Team,                 171\n    The Pools, Chimney Rock,                     171\n    French Broad River,                          185\n    Broad River,                                 185\n    From the Toxaway,                            191\n    Chimney Top Gap,                             191\n    Chimney Rock,                                197\n    Occonestee Falls,                            237\n    Linville Falls,                              237\n    Triple Falls, Buck Forest,                   237\n    High Falls, Buck Forest,                     284\n    Melrose Falls, Tryon, N. C.,                 284\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPART I\n\nTHE CHEROKEE\n\n\n    \"I know not how the truth may be,\n    I tell the tale as 'twas told to me.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHEROKEE.\n\nA brief history of the Cherokee Nation or tribe.\n\n\nThis history has been gleaned from the works of Ethnology by James\nMooney and from word of mouth, as related to the author during the\npast thirty years.\n\nIn the beginning of historical events, we hear of man in his\nparadisaical home, located somewhere within the boundaries known\nas ancient Egypt or Chaldea. His home was far away and his former\nhistory shrouded in the darkness of countless centuries of the past,\nand when we contemplate the remoteness of his ancestry, we become\nlost in the midst of our own research.\n\nWhen historical light began to flash from the Orient, we find man\nemerging with some degree of civilization from a barbaric state into\nthe advanced degrees of civilized and enlightened tribes.\n\nWhen the maritime navigator, full of visions and dreams, dared to sail\nfor those hitherto undiscovered shores, now known as America, there\nlived within the realm a wandering, happy, yet untutored, race of men\nwhom we afterwards called Indians, who dwelt in great numbers along the\nwhole distance from Penobscot Bay south to the everglades of Florida.\n\nAmong the more noted tribes were the Abnaki, Mohawk, Mohican, Huron,\nIroquois, Munsi, Erie, Seneca, Susquehanna, Mamrahoac, Powhatan,\nMonacan, Nollaway, Tuscarora, Pamlico, Catawba, Santee, Uchee, Yamasee,\nCreek, Choctaw, Seminole, Showano and Cherokee, but of all of these\nit is left for us to speak alone of the valiant Cherokee, the most\nnoble of all Red Men, who inhabited that picturesque country in\nthe Appalachian chain of mountains in East Tennessee, Western North\nCarolina, Northern Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, and part of\nVirginia, Kentucky and West Virginia.\n\nThese are the people of whom little has been said and less written\nthan most of the children of men. Yet of all of the native Americans\nthe Cherokee tribe was the most noble, humane and intelligent.\n\nSomewhere in the annals of the Aborigines of America, the Cherokee\nseparated from the great Northern tribe, the Iroquois, and by\npreference inhabited the hills of the Appalachian range, and here\nwe find them early in the dawn of American history, occupying a\ncountry which affords ample environment for the artist, the poet\nand the painter. Had Homer seen and Michelangelo traveled among the\ntowering hills of the happiest land of earth, the song and the chisel,\ninstead of being draped with the vail of blood, would have inspired\nthe world to look forward to the time when there will be no death\nserenely sitting upon the throne of war.\n\nAt one time the Cherokee tribe was the largest and most learned in\nart and literature of any tribe in the United States, having perhaps\nas many as twenty-five thousand people, and attained, under Sequoya,\nwhose photograph is herein reproduced, that degree of learning, that\nmany of the tribe became quite familiar with letters and literature,\nprinted from the alphabet invented by this noted man, inventor and\ndevout preacher of the Christian gospel.\n\nSequoya was himself an untutored half-breed, yet to him are we indebted\nfor an alphabet of 76 characters which stands third among the alphabets\nwhich have been invented among men, and by which a Cherokee child\nlearns to read as fluently in six months of study as does the average\nEnglish child in three years of study under our system.\n\nThe name Cherokee, so far as research reveals, has no meaning or the\nmeaning has been lost or perhaps Anglicized, but we have authority\nfor its use, for the past 375 years.\n\nWhen De Soto's expedition was made through the Appalachian mountains,\nin 1540, he encountered this great and friendly nation living\npeacefully in their paradise among the hills and mountains, who\nreceived him as they were wont to receive a friendly tribe; so did\nthey ever receive and treat the white neighbor until treaty after\ntreaty had been broken and their homes had been destroyed and every\ncompact violated.\n\nHostilities were in most cases caused by encroaching whites and broken\npromises and intrigues of the foreigners, who were gradually drawing\nthe cordon around the diminishing tribe.\n\nThe battle of Horseshoe Bend, which took place in the Tallapoosa\nriver, in Alabama, on the 27th day of March, 1814, was one of the\nnotable events in Cherokee history, where Junaluska, in conjunction\nwith General Jackson, slaughtered or massacred nearly one thousand\nCreeks, which ended the Creek war and brought much honor to Junaluska\nand his valiant Cherokee army of more than 500 men.\n\nFor the terrors which followed the battle of Horseshoe Bend, we\nhave only to refer to history to be able to ascertain the facts\nconcerning the bloody atrocities which were perpetrated upon an\noppressed people. Then came the end, which occurred in the year 1838,\nwhich culminated in the removal of the band to the Indian Territory,\nwhich is now called Oklahoma, (a Choctaw word meaning red people,\nOkla, people; homa, red).\n\nThis removal was the most luckless and recreant of all the abuses\nthat had been heaped upon the brave but helpless band of Cherokee.\n\nJunaluska, who witnessed the removal, but was permitted to remain with\nthe residue, remarked that had he known that General Jackson (who\nbecame President), would have removed the Cherokee in such a brutal\nmanner, he would have killed him at the battle of Horseshoe Bend.\n\nThe history of the removal of the Cherokee, as told by James Mooney\nof the Department of American Ethnology, gleaned by him from eye\nwitnesses and actors in the tragedy, may well exceed in weight of\ngrief and pathos any other act in American history. Even the much\nsung song of the exile of the Arcadians falls far behind it in the\nsum of death and misery.\n\nUnder General Winfield Scott, an army of 5,000 volunteers and regular\ntroops were concentrated in the Cherokee country, and by instruction\nfrom Washington, D. C., he was directed and gave orders to soldiers to\ngather all Indians to the various stockades, which had been previously\nprepared for their reception. From these posts, squads of soldiers\nwere sent to search out, with rifle and bayonet, every small cabin\nwhich could be found within the ramifications and deep recesses of the\ngreat Appalachian range of mountains, and bring to the forts every man,\nwoman and child to be found within the gates of the granite hills.\n\nFamilies, while sitting peacefully at the noon-day meal; others\nwhile performing the matutinal ablution, were suddenly startled by\nthe gleam of bayonets and with blows, curses and oaths from the men\ncalled soldiers, the Indians were driven like cattle from their humble\nhomes down the rugged mountain paths, and their houses in many cases\nwere burned and their small possessions destroyed, as the brave but\ndefenceless Cherokee people looked on with that wonderful stoicism\nwhich no other race of men ever possessed.\n\nMen were seized in the fields, women torn from the wheel and the\ndistaff, and children frightened from the pleasures of play. The\nvandals who followed in the wake of the soldiery, looting and\npillaging, burning and destroying, yet calling themselves civilized\nChristians, were such a band of outlaws as is seldom seen even among\nthe most savage and barbaric races.\n\nEven Indian graves were robbed of the silver pendants and other\nvaluables which had been deposited with the dead. Women who were not\nable to go, were actually forced at the point of a bayonet to march\nwith the same speed as men.\n\nUpon one occasion the soldiers surrounded the house of an old Christian\npatriot, who when informed as to what was to take place, called his\nwife, children and grandchildren around him, kneeling down among them\noffered a last prayer in the sanctuary of his home, in his native\ntongue, while the soldiers stood astonished, looking on in silence.\n\nWhen his devotions were finished, he arose, bade the household follow\nhim, and he led them into exile, with that becoming Christian fortitude\nwhich is seldom witnessed among men.\n\nOne woman, on finding the house surrounded, went to the door and called\nup the chickens, fed them for the last time, bade them farewell,\nthen taking her baby upon her back, she extended her hands to her\nother two small children, then followed her husband into exile,\nfrom whence she never returned.\n\nA Georgia volunteer, who afterwards became a Colonel in the Confederate\nservice, said, \"I have fought through the Civil War and have seen\nmen shot to pieces and slaughtered by the thousands, but the Cherokee\nremoval was the most cruel work I ever witnessed.\"\n\nAll were not thus so submissive. One old man named Tsali, \"Charlie,\"\nwas seized, with his wife, his brother, his three sons and their\nfamilies; exasperated at the brutality accorded his wife, who being\nunable to travel fast, was prodded with the bayonets to hasten her\nsteps, he urged the other men to join him in a dash for liberty, and\nas he spoke in Cherokee, the soldiers, although they heard, understood\nnothing until each warrior suddenly sprang upon the soldier nearest\nand endeavored to wrench his gun from him. The attack was so sudden\nand unexpected that one soldier was killed and the rest fled, while\nthe Indians escaped to the mountains. Hundreds of others, some of\nthem from the various stockades, managed also to escape to the hills\nand mountains from time to time, where those who did not die from\nstarvation subsisted on roots and wild berries until the hunt was over.\n\nFinding that it was impossible to secure these fugitives, General Scott\nfinally tendered them a proposition, through Colonel W. H. Thomas,\nknown as Wil-Usdi in Cherokee, their trusted friend and chief, that\nif they would bring Charlie and his party for punishment, the rest\nwould be allowed to remain until their case could be adjusted by\nthe Government.\n\nOn hearing of the proposition, Charlie voluntarily came in with his\nsons, offering himself as a sacrifice for his people.\n\nBy command of General Scott, Charlie, his brother and the two elder\nsons were shot, near the mouth of Tuckaseigee river, a detachment\nof Cherokee prisoners being compelled to do the shooting in order to\nimpress upon the Indians the fact of their utter helplessness.\n\nFrom those fugitives thus permitted to remain, originated the present\neastern band of Cherokee.\n\nWhen nearly 17,000 Cherokee had been gathered into the stockades,\nthe removal began.\n\nEarly in June several parties, aggregating about five thousand persons,\nwere brought down by the troops to the old agency on Hiwassee river,\nat the present Calhoun, Tenn., and to Ross landing (now Chattanooga,\nTenn.) and to Gunter's landing (now Guntersville, Ala.) lower down on\nthe Tennessee, where they were put upon steamers and transported down\nthe Tennessee and Ohio to the farther side of the Mississippi, whence\ntheir journey was continued by land to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).\n\nThe removal in the the hottest part of the year was attended with so\ngreat sickness and mortality that, by resolution of the Cherokee\nNational Council, John Ross and the other chiefs submitted to\nGeneral Scott a proposition that the Cherokee be allowed to remove\nthemselves in the fall, after the sickly season ended. This was\ngranted on condition that all should have started by the 20th of\nOctober, except the sick and aged, who might not be able to move so\nrapidly. Accordingly, officers were appointed by the Cherokee council\nto take charge of the emigration; the Indians being organized into\ndetachments averaging one thousand each, with two leaders in charge\nof each department, and a sufficient number of wagons and horses for\nthe purpose.\n\nIn this way the remainder, enrolled at about 13,000, (including\na few negro slaves), started on the long march overland late in\nthe fall. Those who thus emigrated under the management of their\nown officers, assembled at Rattlesnake Springs, near the present\nCharleston, Tenn., where a final council was held, in which it was\ndecided to continue their old constitution and laws in their new\nhome. Then, in October, 1838, the long procession of exiles was\nset in motion. A few went by the river route, but nearly all went\noverland. Crossing, to the north side of the Hiwassee river, at a\nferry above Gunter's Creek, they proceeded down along the river,\nthe sick, aged and children, together with their belongings, being\nhauled in wagons, the rest on foot or on horses.\n\nIt was like an army, 645 wagons, regiment after regiment, the wagons\nin the center, the officers along the line, and the horsemen on the\nflank and at the rear.\n\nTennessee river was crossed at Tucker's ferry, a short distance\nabove Jolly's Island, at the mouth of Hiwassee; thence the route\nlay south of Pikeville, through McMinnville, and on to Nashville,\nwhere the Cumberland was crossed.\n\nThey then went on to Hopkinsville, where the noted chief White Path, in\ncharge of a detachment, sickened and died. His people buried him by the\nroadside, with a box over the grave and poles with streamers around it,\nthat the others coming on behind might note the spot and remember him.\n\nSomewhere along that march of death--for the exiles died by tens and\ntwenties every day of the journey--the devoted wife of the noted chief,\nJohn Ross, sank down and died, leaving him to go on with bitter pain\nof bereavement added to the heartbreak at the ruin and desolation of\nhis nation.\n\nThe Ohio was crossed at a ferry near the mouth of the Cumberland,\nand the army passed on through southern Illinois until the great\nMississippi was reached, opposite Cape Girardean, Missouri. It\nwas now the middle of winter, with the river running full of ice,\nso that several detachments were obliged to wait some time on the\neastern bank for the channel to become clear.\n\nInformation furnished by old men at Tahlequah after the lapse of\nfifty years showed that time had not sufficed to wipe out the memory\nof the miseries of that halt beside the frozen river, with hundreds\nof sick and dying penned up in wagons or stretched upon the ground,\nwith only a blanket overhead to keep out the January blast.\n\nThe crossing was at last made, in two divisions, at Cape Girardean and\nGreen's ferry, a short distance below, whence the march was continued\non through Missouri to Indian Territory, the later detachment making\na northerly circuit by Springfield, because those who had gone before\nhad killed off all the game along the direct route.\n\nThey had started in October, 1838, and it was now March, 1839, the\njourney having occupied nearly six months of the hardest part of\nthe year.\n\nIt is difficult to state positively as to the mortality and loss by\nreason of the removal of this once happy nation, but as near as can\nbe ascertained, more than four thousand persons perished along the\ngreat highway of death.\n\nOn the arrival in Indian Territory, the exiles at once set about\nbuilding houses and planting crops, the government having agreed under\ntreaty to furnish them rations for one year after arrival. They were\nwelcomed by their kindred, the \"Old Settlers,\" who held the country\nunder previous treaties of 1828 and 1833. These, however, being\nalready regularly organized under a government and chiefs of their\nown, were by no means disposed to be swallowed by the governmental\nauthority of the newcomers.\n\nJealousies developed, in which the minority or treaty party of the\nemigrants, headed by Major Ridge, took sides with the old settlers\nagainst John Ross of the National party, which outnumbered the others\nnearly 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,\nJohn Ridge, and Elias Boudinot--all leaders of the treaty party--had\nbeen killed by adherents of the National party, immediately after\nthe adjournment of a general council, which had adjourned after\nnearly two weeks of debate without having been able to bring about\nharmonious action. Major Ridge was waylaid and shot near the Arkansas\nline, his son was taken from bed and cut to pieces with hatchets,\nwhile Boudinot was treacherously killed at his home at Park Hill,\nIndian Territory, all three being killed upon the same day, June 22,\n1839, which date marks the decline and fall of a once great and happy\npeople. For fifty years which followed this luckless day in June,\nIndian Territory became a veritable theater of crime and disorder.\n\nFrom the South meridian of the sunflower state, to the cypress\nbanks of the Red river, and from Fort Smith to the shifting sands of\nthe great plains, for half a century sheltered a coterie of actors\nthat would have made Robin Hood or Kit Carson blush with envy. The\nsoil of the five tribes has been moistened with human blood when\nthere was none to answer the cry for vengeance; when no sound save\nthe deadly snap of the Winchester and the pit-pat of the bronchos'\nhoofs were there to bear testimony. Now, those who incited intrigue\nand murder are gone, the desperado is a thing of the past, the brave\nmen who enlisted in the hazardous governmental service to give them\nbattle have disappeared, and the sound of the firing Winchester used\nin deadly conflict, has been replaced by the reaper and the mower,\nand toilers in the field of commerce and industry.\n\nThe Indian tribe has been supplanted by the American Government;\nand the school and church have taken the place of the chase and the\nfeud. Where the wild flowers nodded far out on the lonely plain,\nvast fields of wheat and corn whisper the great name of Oklahoma.\n\nAt this writing the eastern band of Cherokee is about to be dissolved,\ntheir lands allotted, and in a few more decades the Cherokee will\nhave passed, and the name will be presented only in old records and\nin the hearts of their descendants.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPART II\n\nOCCONEECHEE\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nOCCONEECHEE,\n\nThe Maid of the Mystic Lake,\n\nby Robert Frank Jarrett.\n\n\n\nI.\n\nFar away beneath the shadows\nOf the towering Smoky range,\nIn the Western North Carolina,\nComes a story true, but strange;\nOf a maiden and her lover,\nOf the tribe of Cherokee,\nAnd she lived far up the mountain,\nNear the hills of Tennessee.\n\nFar above the habitation\nOf the white man, and the plain,\nLived the dark-eyed Indian maiden,\nOf the Junaluska strain;\nJunaluska, chief, her father,\nOcconeechee was his pride,\nIn the lonely little wigwam,\nHigh upon the mountain side.\n\nThere the stream Oconaluftee\nHides its source far from the eye,\nOf the white man in his rovings,\nFar upon the mountain high;\nAnd the forest land primeval,\nRoamed by doe and wandering bear,\nAnd the hissing, coiling serpent,\nWas no stranger to them there.\n\nCatamount and mountain-boomer\nSprang from cliff-side into trees,\nAnd the eagle, hawk and vulture\nWinged their course on every breeze.\nAt the footfall of this maiden\nSped the gobbler wild and free,\nFrom the maiden Occoneechee\nFlitted butterfly and bee.\n\nOcconeechee, forest dweller,\nLived amid the scene so wild;\nIn the simple Indian manner\nLived old Junaluska's child.\nStreams of purest limpid water\nGushed forth o'er the rock below,\nAnd the trout and silver minnow\nDwelt in water, cold as snow.\n\nOcconeechee's Mother Qualla\nPassed away from earth to God,\nWhen this maiden was a baby\nAnd was covered by the sod.\nHigh upon the rugged mountain,\nFar above the haunts of men,\nWith their burdens and their sorrows,\nAnd their load of care and sin.\n\nThus the maiden knew no mother,\nKnew no love as most maids know,\nHeard no song, as sung by mother,\nSoftly, sweetly, plaintive, slow.\nWhen the twilight came at evening,\nAnd the wigwam fire was lit,\nAnd the bearskin robe was spread out\nUpon which they were to sit,\n\nJunaluska wept his Qualla,\nWept the lover who had flown,\nFor she was the only lover\nThat this chieftain's heart had known;\nAnd at night, there was no lover\nTo sit by him on the rug,\nMade of skins of bear and woodchuck,\nIn the wigwam, crude but snug.\n\nAnd at times he'd stand at evening,\nWhen the sun was setting low,\nAnd would watch with adoration\nShifting clouds and scenes below;\nAnd his soul would want to wander\nWhere the clime of setting sun\nWould reveal his long lost Qualla,\nWhen his work of life was done.\n\nAnd the tears would fill his eyelids,\nAnd emotion shake his frame,\nWhen he thought of her departed,\nOr some friend would speak her name.\nAnd he'd call on God the spirit,\nWhen he'd see the golden glow\nOf the radiant splendid sunset,\nWhere he ever longed to go.\n\nThen he'd think of Occoneechee,\nIn her adolescent years,\nHow she needed his protection\nThere to drive away her fears.\nThen he'd cease his deep repining,\nAnd his wailing and his grief,\nFor her future and her beauty\nBrought the chieftain's heart relief.\n\nThough the life of Occoneechee\nWas one lonely strange career,\nAnd the solitude and silence\nMade the romance of it drear,\nWhile the wildness of the forest,\nWith the animals that roam,\nAnd the birds in great profusion\nCheered her little wigwam home,\n\nYet her spirit, like the eagle's,\nLonged to soar off and be free\nFrom the wilds of gorge and mountain,\nStream and cliff and crag and tree.\nAnd one day there came a red man\nWandering up the mountain side,\nFrom the vale Oconaluftee\nWhich was every Indian's pride.\n\nTall and handsome, agile runner,\nAnd the keenness of his eye\nDid betray his quick perception\nTo the casual passer-by.\nHair hung down in long black tresses,\nFar below his shoulder-blade,\nAnd the brilliant painted feathers\nBy the passing winds were swayed.\n\nAnd the arrows in his quiver\nTipped with variegated stone,\nAnd the tomahawk and war knife,\nAll the weapons he had known;\nYet he knew all of their uses,\nNone could wield with greater skill\nTomahawk or knife or arrow,\nThan this wandering Whippoorwill.\n\nOcconeechee, sitting lonely,\nIn a shady little nook,\nNear the opening, by the wigwam,\nAnd the babbling crystal brook;\nShe was bathing feet and ankles,\nArms and hands she did refresh,\nIn the iridescent splendor\nOf the fountain cool and fresh.\n\nWhippoorwill, the wandering warrior,\nSpied the maiden by the pool,\n'Neath the spreading tree above her,\nBy the limpid stream so cool;\nThen he ventured there to tarry,\nWatch and linger in the wild,\nNear the maiden and the fountain,\nWatch this forest-dwelling child.\n\nThough a warrior, brave, undaunted\nBy the fiercest, wildest foe,\nIn the battle's hardest struggle,\nChasing bear and buck and doe;\nFor his life was used to hardships,\nScaling mountains in the chase,\nYet he ne'er was known to falter\n'Mid the hottest of the race.\n\nBut he now was moved by caution\nTo approach, with greatest care,\nThe unknown maid, there before him,\nAnd the scene so rich and rare;\nAnd his brave heart almost failed him\nAs he comes up to her side,\nAnd obeisance makes he to her,\nE'er the chieftain she espied.\n\nOcconeechee sprang up quickly\nFrom the rock moss-covered seat,\nAll abashed, but lithe and nimble\nWere her ankles and her feet.\n\"O-I-see-you,\" were the greetings\nThey exchanged spontaneously,\nAs they moved off together.\nOcconeechee leads the way,\n\nTo the quiet little wigwam,\nWhere old Junaluska dwells\nWith the maiden Occoneechee,\nAnd for whom his heart up-wells.\nSpreading out the flowing doe-skin\nFlat upon the earthen floor,\nOcconeechee and the warrior\nSat and talked the chases o'er.\n\nSat and talked of bear and venison,\nSat and smoked the calumet.\nThese the greetings of the warrior,\nWhen the maiden first he met.\nWhippoorwill, the wandering warrior,\nTarried for a night and day,\nTarried long within the wigwam,\nAnd was loath to go away,\n\nFor the maid and Junaluska\nTo the warrior were so kind,\nThat 'twere hard among the tribesmen\nSuch a generous clan to find.\nBut at dawn upon the morrow,\nWhippoorwill must wend his way\nFrom old Junaluska's wigwam,\nFor too long had been his stay.\n\nKind affection, Junaluska\nGave to parting Whippoorwill,\nAs he sauntered from the wigwam,\nWandering toward the rugged rill.\nNow the silence so unbroken\nStarts a tear-drop in each eye,\nAnd the gentle passing zephyr\nGathered up the lover's sigh,\n\nAnd the sighs were borne to heaven,\nLike as lovers' sighs ascend,\nAs the good angelic zephyrs\nBear the message, friend to friend.\nNow each heart was sore and lonely,\nSad the parting lovers feel,\nYet the hopes of love's devotion\nDeep into each life did steal.\n\nAnd when Whippoorwill had left them,\nGood old Junaluska said\nTo his daughter Occoneechee,\n\"Would you like this brave to wed?\"\nOcconeechee, timid maiden,\nNever thought of love before,\nFor she ne'er had spread the doe-skin\nWide upon the earthen floor,\n\nFor a warrior, brave as he was,\nOne possessed of skill so rare,\nWith his tomahawk and war knife,\nAnd such long black raven hair;\nAnd she knew not how to answer,\nThough she felt as lovers do,\nWhen they plight their deep devotion\nTo each other to be true.\n\n\"Occoneechee! child of wild woods,\nI am growing old and gray,\nAnd I feel I soon must leave you,\nThough I grieve to go away.\nI can feel the hand of time, child,\nPressing down upon my head,\nAnd I know it won't be long now\nTill I'm resting with the dead.\n\n\"I can hear your mother calling,\nSweetly, gently, calling me,\nBeckoning from the golden sunset,\nAnd she calls also for thee.\n'Twas just last night she stood beside me,\nWhile you lay there sound asleep,\nAnd she called me, 'Junaluska!'\nAnd her voice caused me to weep.\n\n\"And she said, 'Dear Junaluska,\nI have come to tell you where\nYou will find me at the portals\nOf the Lord's house over there.\nI will be among the blessed,\nBe with angels up on high.\nHave no fears of Death's dark river,\nBe courageous till you die.'\n\n\"Then she stood and sang a message\nO'er you in your lonely bed,\nFor a moment, then departed;\nAnd I called, but she had fled.\nYet I daily hear her sweet voice,\nAnd I see her image there,\nAs she calls us unto heaven,\n'Mid the pleasures, O, so rare.\n\n\"And I soon shall cross the river,\nAnd will join her on the strand,\nWith immortals long departed,\nIn the fair, blest, happy land.\nWhen I'm gone you'll need protection,\nBy a brave who knows no fear,\nAnd when sorrows overflow you,\nOne to wipe away the tear.\n\n\"Then I'll watch and wait with Qualla,\nWith the chiefs and warriors brave,\nWho have joined the tribe eternal,\nConquered death, hell and the grave.\nI shall watch then for your coming,\nAnd I'll tell the mighty throng\nThat you're coming in the future,\nAnd we'll greet you with the song,\n\n\"That the seraphs sing in glory,\nCasting gem crowns at the feet,\nPraising Him who reigns forever\nOn the grand tribunal seat.\"\nAs he talked his voice grew weaker,\nAnd his hand grew very chill,\nThen the moisture crowned his forehead,\nAnd his pulse was deathly still.\n\nThen she knew that her dear mother\nAnd the great chiefs that had been\nHad op'ed the gate of heaven wide\nTo let another brave chief in.\nThen she sobbed out for her father,\nAs a broken-hearted child\nWill for loved ones just departed,\nLeft so lonely in the wild.\n\nBut the dead, too soon forgotten,\nNow lies buried by the side\nOf his much lamented Qualla,\nOnce his sweet and lovely bride,\nWhile their spirits dwell together,\nFree from care and want and pain,\nWhere the tempest full of sorrow\nNe'er can reach their souls again.\n\nYears had flown since Occoneechee\nSaw her loving Whippoorwill,\nHigh upon the Smoky Mountain,\nNear the crystal rippling rill;\nFor the white man had transported\nBrave and squaw and little child\nFar away to Oklahoma,\nTo the western hills so wild.\n\nSome had gone to the Dakotas,\nSome had gone to Mexico,\nSome had joined the tribe eternal;\nAll were going, sure but slow.\nFor the white man's occupation,\nCherokee must give their land,\nAnd must give up all possessions,\nGo and join some other band.\n\nYet a residue of tribesmen\nWere allowed here to remain,\n'Mid the mountains and the forest,\nAnd the meadows and the plain,\nBut the strong men and the warriors,\nMost of them had gone away,\nFar across the mighty mountains\nToward the closing of the day.\n\nGeneral Jackson's men in blue coats\nCame and took away the braves,\nTook away the squaw and papoose,\nBuried many in their graves,\nYet the residue triumphant,\nRoamed out in the forest wild,\nWithout shelter, food or comfort,\nFor decrepid chief and child.\n\nSad and weary, long and dreary,\nMoved the Cherokee out West,\nWith their store of skins and venison,\nAnd the trinkets they possessed.\nUp across the Smoky Mountains,\nRough and rugged trail and road,\nLined by rhododendron blossoms,\nClose beside where Lufty flowed.\n\nWhen they down the gorge descended,\nWinding toward the Tennessee,\nBranch and bough o'erhead were bending\nAnd no landscape could they see,\nAnd the labyrinthian footway\nLed through forests dense and dark\nAnd the air was sweetly laden\nWith the bruised birchen bark;\n\nHemlocks tall and swaying gently\nIn the sighing passing breeze,\nAnd the fir and spreading balsam\nJoined the cadence of the trees.\nAt the base of birch and hemlock\nFlowed the Pigeon fierce and bold,\nWith its water clear as crystal,\nAnd its fountains icy cold;\n\nFlowed the dauntless rapid waters,\nFresh and pure and ever free,\nRushed o'er cataract and cascade,\nEver onward toward the sea.\nWhippoorwill, the wandering warrior,\nShorn of power and of pride,\nMarched in single file and lonely,\nWith his hands behind him tied.\n\nHands were bound with thongs and fetters--\nThongs and fetters could not hold\nBrave so gallant young and noble\nAs this valiant warrior bold.\nFor his thoughts of Occoneechee,\nWho was left far, far behind,\nWith the residue of women,\nStirred his brave heart and his mind.\n\nOn and on for days they traveled\nBy the stream whose silver flow,\nFrom the great high Smoky Mountains,\nBecame silent now and slow;\nFor the rocks and rising ridges,\nOnce their progress did impede,\nNow were fading in the distance,\nCould not now retard their speed.\n\nAnd the journey, long and tedious,\nWore the women, wore the brave,\nAnd they sore and much lamented,\nTo be bound as serf or slave;\nFor their free-born spirits never\nHad been bound by man before,\nTill the blue-coat Jackson soldier\nCame and dragged them from their door.\n\nCorn was blooming on the lowlands\nWhen the journey they betook,\nAnd the grass gave much aroma,\nBy the laughing Soco brook;\nBut the suns and moons oft waning\nBrought the moon of ripening corn\nTo a nation, broken-hearted,\nWith a doubting hope forlorn.\n\nLevel lands brought no enchantment\nTo a people who had known\nNaught but freedom till the present,\nWhose utopian dream had flown;\nFlown as flows the radiant river,\nFlown as flows the hopes of youth,\nFrom the red man of the forest.\nThey were no more free, forsooth.\n\nBy and by the Father Waters\nCame in view of brave and squaw,\nAnd the skiff and side-wheel steamer\nWere the shifting scenes they saw,\nPlying fast the Father Waters,\nWith a current slow and still,\nAnd reverberating whistles\nShrieked a medley loud and shrill.\n\nAnd the ferryboat was busy,\nPlying fast the liquid wave\nOf the Father Water's current,\nBearing squaw and chief and brave,\nTill the last brave Indian warrior\nCrossed the Father Waters' tide,\nCrossed the gentle flowing river,\nWith its current deep and wide.\n\nThen they rested from their journey,\nRested for a little while,\nOn the bluff above the river,\nWhere they saw her laughing smile.\nThey could see the sun at morning\nRise up quickly from his rest,\nSee him hasting to his zenith,\nSoon to go down in the west.\n\nThen the winter came on quickly,\nKilling corn and grass and cane,\nAnd the wind brought cloudy weather,\nWith its snow and mist and rain,\nAnd the tribe within the barracks\nWere disheartened, one and all.\nAnd they longed now for their Lufty,\nWith its cascade and its fall.\n\nBut at last the genial sunshine\nTook away the ice that froze\nThe corn of hope, from the tribesmen,\nAnd the chilly wind that blows,\nAlong the valley, of the river,\nOver bog and prairie, too;\nAnd an order came with springtime,\n\"You the journey must renew.\"\n\nThen they rose up in the morning,\nRose before the dawn of day,\nRolled and tied the tents together,\nAnd were quickly on their way,\nOn their way to Oklahoma,\nOut across Missouri land,\nChief and squaw and wary warrior,\nMarched the Cherokee brave band.\n\nTo the western reservation,\nWhere the bison and the owl,\nAnd the she-wolf, fox and serpent\nWrithe and roam and nightly prowl;\nThis the country where they took them,\nThis the country that they gave\nIn exchange for their own country,\nTo the chief and squaw and brave.\n\nLeaving all they loved behind them,\nLeaving all to them most dear,\nAnd they settled there so lonely,\nIn a country dry and drear;\nThere to pine away in sorrow,\nAnd repining, die of grief;\nFrom the solitude and silence\nOf this land there's no relief.\n\n\n\n\n\nII.\n\nAmid the hills of Carolina,\nHills impregnant with rich bliss,\nWith their grots and groves and fountains,\nHills that love-beams love to kiss;\nRoamed the dark, but pretty maiden,\nOcconeechee, lovely child,\nRoamed she far out in the mountains,\n'Mid their solitude so wild.\n\nDreamed she oft here, as she rambled,\nOf her warrior Whippoorwill,\nOf her lover, long her lover,\nWhom she first met near the rill,\nHigh upon the Smoky Mountains,\nWhere the sunset's afterglow\nHolds the secrets of Dame Nature\nFrom the sons of men below.\n\nOcconeechee sought her lover,\nDown Oconaluftee's vale,\nThrough the brush and tangled wildwood,\nWithout compass, chart or trail,\nWhere the river Tuckaseigee\nDashes down its rocky bed,\nNear a trail long since deserted,\nOver which a tribe once sped.\n\nThen she wandered down the river,\nOn and on, as on it flows,\nWades the river, wades its branches,\nFollows it where'er it goes\nThrough the laurel brush and ivy,\nOver spreading beds of fern,\nOver rock moss-covered ledges,\nFollows every winding turn,\n\nTill it flows into the river,\nCalled the Little Tennessee,\nHere she lingers long and tarries,\nAnd she strains her eyes to see\nIf her vision will reveal him,\nAnd abates her breath to hear\nThe voice of Whippoorwill, her lover,\nOne of all to her most dear.\n\nYet no sound came to relieve her,\nAnd no vision came to please,\nAnd it never dawned upon her,\nHere among the virgin trees,\nThat her lover was transported,\nWith the brave and chief and child\nTo the land of Oklahoma,\nLand so lonely, weird and wild.\n\nUp the stream she then ascended,\nSlowly, surely did she march,\n'Neath the spreading oak and hemlock,\nResting oft beneath their arch.\nWalls of solid spar and granite\nRoared their heads up toward the blue,\nBut no wall or hill or river\nCould impede the maiden true.\n\nShe now reached the Nantahala,\nPicturesque in every way,\nAnd she rested 'neath the shadow\nOf the mountain tall and gray;\nHigh the mountain, clear the water,\nThat comes rushing down the side\nOf the mountain from the forest\nWith its unpolluted tide.\n\nSpeckled beauties swam the water,\nSwam as only they can do;\nDeer in herds roamed all the forest,\nOnly Cherokees were few.\nEagles, swift upon their pinions,\nSoared aloft upon the air,\nThey would turn their eyes to heaven,\nThen down on the maiden fair,\n\nAs to guard her in her roaming,\nFor she had no other guide,\nSave one squaw and constellation,\nAnd the racing river tide.\nBirds had ceased their long migration,\nNot a cloud disturbed the blue\nOf the canopy of heaven,\nAnd the country they passed through.\n\nNightingale and thrush and robin\nMated, sang and dwelt serene,\nIn the forest, by the river,\nWith its banks so fresh and green,\nAnd each spoke to Occoneechee,\nIn the language Nature gives,\nOf the flora and the fauna,\nWhere the child of Nature lives.\n\nThen she rambled through the mountains,\nTo the summit, grand and high,\nWhere Tusquittee's bald and forest\nPenetrates the cloudless sky.\nUnobstructed vision reaches\n'Cross the Valley River, wide,\nTo the Hiawassee river,\nFlowing in its lordly pride.\n\nHere the panorama rises\nIn its beauty grand and gay,\nAs you linger on the summit,\nAs you hesitating stay;\nVisions long out in the distance;\nHaunt you with enchanted smile,\nAnd the reverie of Nature\nDoth the wanderer beguile.\n\nValleytown, the Indian village,\nAnd Aquone, the camping ground,\nCheoas vale within the distance,\nOnce where Cherokee were found,\nCame within the easy focus\nOf the trained observant eye\nOf the maiden on the mountain,\nNear the clearest vaulted sky.\n\nOcconeechee looked and wondered,\nScanned the mountain, scanned the vale,\nAnd she lifted up her voice there,\nAnd began to weep and wail;\nFor her lover, long departed,\nFor her lover brave and true,\nAnd she wondered if he tarried\nIn the reaches of her view.\n\nStill no sight or sound revealed him,\nBeauty smiled and smiled again,\nAs she sighed and prayed to Nature,\nYet her anxious thoughts were vain.\nFor the valley and the mountain,\nAnd the river and the rill,\nSeparated Occoneechee\nFrom her lover Whippoorwill.\n\nThen she to the Hiawassee,\nWound the mountain-side and vale,\nAnd she made a boat of hemlock,\nAnd she left the mountain trail,\nAnd she launched the boat of hemlock\nOn the Hiawassee tide,\nLaunched the boat and went within it,\nDown the silver stream to glide.\n\nDown the river set with forest,\nNottely joins the quickened pace\nOf the river and the maiden,\nIn their onward rapid race,\nAnd she passes through the narrows,\nThrough the narrows quick she flew,\nThrough the spray and foaming current,\nWith her long hemlock canoe.\n\nFaster sped the boat of hemlock,\nPast the mountains and the shoal,\nPast the inlet Conasauga,\nWhere Okoee waters roll;\nHere she stopped to make inquiry\nOf a relegated brave.\nIf he'd seen her wandering lover,\nIn the forest, by the wave.\n\nThen she left the boat of hemlock,\nRoamed the forest far and wide,\nCrossed the mountain streams and fountains,\nWith their cliff and foaming tide,\nFollowed far Okoee river,\nToccoa laves her weary feet,\nEllijay and Coogawattee\nDo the pretty maiden greet.\n\nNot a word in all her wanderings\nDid she hear of Whippoorwill,\nThough she roamed through leagues of forest,\nAnd by many a rippling rill.\nCandy creek and Oostanula,\nBoth were followed to their source,\nWith their winding current flowing\nIn their ever onward course.\n\nWhere the brave had traveled with her,\nAnd had told her many tales\nOf the wars he'd been engaged in,\nAnd the windings of the trails,\nOver which the tribe had traveled\nIn the years that long had flown,\nAnd the land now held by strangers,\nWhich his tribe once called their own.\n\nAnd at evening in the autumn,\nWhen the leaves turn brown and red,\nAnd the hickory and the maple\nGild with yellow as they shed,\nAnd the poplar and the chestnut,\nAnd the beech and chinquapin,\nHide the squirrel and the pheasant\nFrom the sight of selfish men;\n\nWhere the grapevine climbs the alder,\nClings with tendril to the pine,\nAnd the air is sweetly laden\nWith rich odors from the vine;\nAnd the walnut and the dogwood\nFurnish dainties rich and rare,\nFor the chipmunk and the partridge,\nWhich perchance do wander there.\n\nWhere the otter slide is slickened,\nAnd the weasel and the mink\nDo come creeping down the river,\nThere to bathe and fish and drink,\nAnd the red fox roams the forest,\nAnd defies the fleetest hound,\nAnd the panther in the forest\nMakes a hideous screaming sound.\n\nHere the brave would sit and tell them\nTales and myths told oft before,\nTales of war and of adventure,\nBy great chiefs now known no more;\nAnd one night they heard the shrieking\nOf a wildcat near the stream,\nThat awakened them from slumber\nAnd disturbed their peaceful dream;\n\nFor a panther, fierce and fearless,\nHad come creeping down the side\nOf the cliffs far up the mountain,\nNear the Hiawassee tide,\nAnd they met down near the river,\nAnd they fought down near the stream,\nAnd they made the night grow hideous\nWith their awful shrieks and scream.\n\nThen she took her boat of hemlock,\nAnd they launched it on the wave,\nAnd they sat upon its gunnels,\nOcconeechee squaw and brave,\nAnd they pushed out in the current,\nWhere the waves were rolling high,\nAnd the boat sped through the rapids,\nFast as flocks of pigeons fly.\n\nPushed they down and ever onward\nToward the placid Tennessee,\nTo the island and the inlet\nOf the rolling Hiawassee.\nHere they camped o'er night and rested,\nTold they tales of long ago,\nWith their memories and sorrows\nBreathed they out their care and woe.\n\nThen they floated down the river,\nOn its smooth, unrippled tide.\nTo the creek of Chicamauga,\nWhere so many braves had died.\nAnd they tented near the river,\nTied their boat up to the bank,\nWhere John Ross had crossed the river,\nWhere his ferryboat once sank.\n\nWandered through the vale of dryness,\nChattanooga's pretty flow,\nClear as crystal, pure as sunbeams,\nWinding hither too and fro.\nDrank the waters, bathed they in it,\nFished and hunted stream and plain,\nWhere the buffalo once wandered,\nBut where none now doth remain.\n\nLike a serpent that is crawling,\nWriggling, writhing, resting not,\nFleeing from a strange invader\nTo some lone secluded spot,\nWinds and curves and turns forever,\nIn its course that has no end,\nSwings to starboard and to larboard,\nRound the Moccasin's great bend.\n\nFlows the river on forever,\nBy the nodding flowering tree,\nShedding fragrance like a censer,\nFlows the pretty Tennessee;\nOn her bosom's crest is carried\nPrecious burdens, rich and rare,\nFrom the fertile fields about her,\nAnd the ozone-laden air.\n\nOcconeechee squaw and warrior\nRode the silver-flowing tide,\nin the boat made out of hemlock,\nWhich so long had been their pride;\nBut the time now came for parting,\nAs must come in every life,\nThat is heir to human nature,\nWith its toil and woe and strife.\n\nHere Sequatchie's fertile valley,\nThey approached and must ascend,\nLike the cloud before the sunbeam,\nDriven by the fiercest wind;\nThen they hid the boat of hemlock,\nSure and safe, then bade adieu,\nTo the boat upon the river,\nWhich had been their friend so true.\n\nThen they mounted little ponies,\nFresh and sleek and fat and fast,\nAnd they sped along the valley,\nLike the birds upon the blast,\nLooking for the handsome warrior,\nLooking hither, glancing there,\nAnd quite often on the journey,\nThey would stop to offer prayer;\n\nBut the valley held the secret;\nNot a living man could wrest,\nFrom the valley rich and fertile,\nSecrets buried in its breast;\nThough the tribe had ceased to own it,\nThough the tribe had passed away,\nFrom the valley of Sequatchie,\nLike the fading of the day,\n\nStill the signs and many tokens\nTold a tale of war and strife,\nWhere the whites had used the rifle,\nAnd the braves had used the knife,\nFor the bleaching bones of warriors\nWere discovered everywhere,\nAnd the hideous sight brought sorrow,\nTo this maiden now so fair,\n\nBirds were singing in the forest,\nMerrily and full of glee,\nAnd a symphony unrivaled\nFlooded forestland and lea;\nWith the mellow tones from singers,\nVaried, versatile and sweet,\nCame from forest and from meadow,\nCame the attuned ear to greet.\n\nAnd when evening shade would settle,\nAnd the moon full rose to view,\nAnd the zephyrs filled the valley,\nAnd the flowers suffused with dew,\nThen the nightingale would lure them\nOr the mockingbird hold sway,\nFrom the advent of Orion,\nTill the dawning of the day.\n\nStretching meadows lay before them,\nRich with fragrance, rare with flowers,\nVariegated blending colors\nLent a rapture to its bowers,\nThat outstripped the fields elysian,\nDecked with Nature's rarest guise,\nPleasure-house for wisest sages,\nSuch as only fools despise.\n\nSuch the scenes within the valley,\nAs they joyous sped along,\nFilled with rapture, filled with pleasure,\nAt the scenery and the song.\nNature clapped her hands exultant,\nIn the sylvan groves so green,\nWhere the Goddess Proserpina\nWas enthroned majestic queen.\n\nMighty warriors red with passion,\nOnce had trod this virgin soil,\nAnd had rested in the valley,\nWhen o'ercome by heat and toil;\nSportive maidens once delighted\nTo engage in dance and song,\nWith the warriors in the valley,\nWith the chieftains brave and strong.\n\nBut the mighty men and maidens\nLong since ceased this land to roam,\nSince the pale face armed with power,\nKilled the braves and burned the home,\nTook the land and burned the wigwam,\nBound the chief and drove away,\nAll the warriors, squaws and maidens,\nToward the golden close of day.\n\nHappy children, wild with rapture,\nLaughed with ecstasy and glee,\nOnce had filled the vale with echoes,\nAnd had sported lithe and free,\nAll along the hill-locked valley,\nPlayed lacrosse and strung the bow,\nRan the races, caught the squirrel,\nIn the distant long ago.\n\nSped they like the rolling torrent,\nThru the Appalachian chain,\nWith its towering peaks and gorges,\n'Mid its sunshine and its rain,\nSped along the flowing Chuckey,\nWith its reddened banks of clay,\nWere delighted by its beauty,\nWere enticed with it to stay;\n\nSaw the rushing, rolling waters\nFall and foam and seeth below,\nSaw the cascade of Watauga\nSurging hither to and fro;\nLooked with tireless vision upward,\nViewed from summits high and proud,\nLandscapes grander than Olympus,\nWith their crags above the cloud.\n\n\"Occoneechee,\" said the warrior,\nIn a gentle tone, and mild,\n\"I remember all this grandeur,\nSince I was a little child,\nI have traveled trail and mountain,\nChased Showono, deer and bear,\nCrossed Kentucky in the chases,\nSeen the blue-grass state so fair.\n\nOnce while hotly, I pursuing,\nBuck with antlers fierce and strong,\nCame upon a band of white men,\nWith their rifles black and long,\nCame a flash of rifle powder,\nQuick as lightning came the sounds,\nFrom reverberating rifles,\nAnd the bark of baying hounds.\n\nThey had slain the buck with antlers,\nAnd would be upon me soon,\nIf discovered by their captain,\nBy their captain, Daniel Boone;\nHe the hunter, Indian hater,\nChief and captain, pioneer,\nKnown to every tribe and tribesman,\nTo be destitute of fear.\n\nQuick I back into the forest,\nWithout noise or slightest sound,\nLest perchance I draw attention,\nFrom the hunter or his hound.\n'Twas a wilderness of wildness,\nTransylvania was its name,\nHome of coon and hare and turkey,\nAnd all sorts of kindred game.\n\nOnce the noble chiefs and warriors\nRoamed Kentucky far and wide,\nFar along the broad Ohio,\nStrode the Indians by her tide;\nAnd they camped and roamed the forest,\nDense and dark, supremely grand,\nDominated vale and forest,\nDominated all the land;\n\nChased the scouting bands of warriors,\nWho would dare to camp and die,\nOn the soil of old Kentucky,\nWhere the meadow grass grew high;\nHiding 'neath the waving grasses,\nWhere the muskrat and the snake,\nAnd the hedge hog and the weasel,\nLurked in shade of vine and brake.\n\nI was with good Junaluska,\nIn the battles and the raids,\nWhere the Creek and the Showano\nLent each other all their aids,\nWhen upon the Tallapoosa\nRiver, at the Horseshoe bend,\nWe joined hands with General Jackson,\nAnd by death we made an end,\n\nOf the Creeks and all their allies,\nWho assembled, one and all.\nTo resist our mighty forces,\nThey had built their mighty wall,\nBuilt it strong and reinforced it,\nNot a single spot was weak,\nFor 'twas built by master workmen,\nBy the tribesmen of the Creek.\n\nWhen the work was strong and finished,\nAll the warriors came to dwell\nIn the fortress, by the river,\nCame they tales of war to tell;\nCame a thousand of the warriors,\nWith their weapons and their wives,\nCame and lodged within the fortress,\nLike the swarming bees in hives;\n\nBrought their children and their chattels,\nBrought they gun, and club and spear,\nFor they thought once in the fortress,\nThat they'd have no harm to fear,\nBut the Cherokee and Jackson\nBrought out cannon great and small,\nAnd they raised the siege of Horseshoe,\nThrowing many a shell and ball;\n\nInto fortress, into village,\nFlew the missiles thick and fast,\nLike the rain, among the rigging,\nOf the sailor's spar and mast,\nCrushing, crashing stone of fortress,\nMaking splinters of the wall,\nOf the fortress by the river,\nWith the heavy cannon ball.\n\nBut it fell not in the fury\nOf the battle's hottest fray,\nStood the test like old Gibraltar,\nAll the night and all the day,\nAnd the progress was so slowly,\nThat the battle must be lost,\nTo the Cherokee and Jackson,\nAnd so great would be the cost,\n\nIf some means were not discovered,\nTo dislodge the valiant Creek,\nNow entrenched within the fortress,\nGrowing strong instead of weak.\nJunaluska said to Jackson,\n'Choose ye this day man or men,\nWho can breast the tide before you,\nWho will try to enter in;\n\nWho can swim the Tallapoosa,\nWho can stem the flowing tide,\nWho are noble, strong and fearless,\nAnd have God upon their side.\nIf you have such men among you,\nLet them come forth one and all,\nLet them dare to do their duty,\nLet them dare to stand or fall.'\n\nNot one man of all the white men\nCould be found who dared to try\nTo o'ercome the Tallapoosa,\nOr would risk his life to die.\nSo your guide whom God has given,\nVolunteered to risk the wave,\nWith your father, Junaluska,\nVolunteered, his tribe to save.\n\nThen we sought our God in silence,\nAnd became resigned to death,\nThat lay out upon the current\nOf the river's silent breath.\nUnder cover of the darkness,\nAnd the solitude of night,\nWe betook the awful peril,\nWith a tremor of delight.\n\nSilently we now descended\nTo the deathlike river tide,\nFollowing a star's reflection,\nFor a signboard and a guide;\nTo point out the right direction,\nAnd to bring us into port,\nWhere the canoes lay at anchor,\nNear the stolid silent fort.\n\nQuick we loosed them from their moorings\nEach man lashed beside his boat--\nQuite a dozen, swift as arrows,\nAnd we set them all afloat;\nShot them straight across the river,\nLike a flash at lightning speed,\nFaster than the fleetest greyhound,\nBounding like a blooded steed.\n\nWhen we reached the army's landing,\nQuick the boats were filled with men;\nLike a thunderbolt from heaven,\nDid the deadly work begin.\nTransports glided o'er the current,\nLike a shuttle to and fro,\nMoving Cherokee and white men,\nTo confront a worthy foe.\n\nScaled the ramparts of the fortress,\nStormed the inner citadel,\nAnd we massacred the inmates!\nHow? No human tongue can tell.\nNot a woman, child or human\nMade escape, but all were slain\nIn the fort or in the river,\nOr upon the gory plain.\n\nWhen the massacre and slaughter\nHad abated, all the slain\nNumbered more than a thousand,\nIn the fort or on the plain.\nMany floated in the river,\nMany died out in the woods,\nAnd were buried in the forest,\nBy erosion or the floods.\n\nSad and silent stood the fortress,\nAll deserted and alone;\nNot a man or child or matron,\nNow was left to claim their own.\nAll the warriors and the chieftains\nDied in conflict true and brave;\nNone were left to tell the story,\nOr to mark some lonely grave.\n\nCruel man! O God, forgive them!\nPity such a cruel race.\nIn their stead, O God of nations,\nSend some one to take their place,\nWho is humane, who is human,\nWho is honest, kind and true,\nWho when given strength and power,\nDestroys not, but spares a few.\n\nIn the lore of ancient nations,\nIn the tales of modern times,\nIn the prose that now remaineth,\nNor the poet's splendid rhymes,\nIs a story told more cruel\nThan the slaughter of the Creeks,\nBy the Persians, Jews or Romans,\nMacedonians or Greeks;\n\nWhere a nation, like a shadow,\nVanished quickly and was not,\nLike a vapor in the valley\nPasses and is soon forgot.\nPasses like a fleeing phantom,\nLike a mist before the sun,\nCame and tarried for a moment,\nAnd forever was undone.\n\nOcconeechee, come and travel,\nTo the distant mountains high,\nWhere the summit of the mountains,\nTower upward toward the sky.\nDelectable the splendid mountains,\nRich in ferns forever green,\nAnd the galaxy of the mountains\nAre the rarest ever seen.\n\nMortal eyes have never witnessed,\nMortal tongue can never tell\nOf the grandeur and the beauty\nOf the ravine and the dell.\nStrange declivities confront you,\nThen a sudden upright wall\nRises like a mystic figure,\nWith a splendid waterfall.\n\nI will take you to the summit\nOf the mountains white with age,\nAnd will show you where the tempests\nRush and roar with ceaseless rage,\nWhere phenomena electric\nMakes mysterious display\nOf their power and their beauty\nIn the distance far away;\n\nYou can see the flash of lightning,\nAnd can hear the thunders roll,\nWith reverberating echoes,\nThat o'erwhelm your very soul,\nMake you sigh and shake and shudder,\nMake you tremble like a leaf,\nMake you crouch in soul and body,\nLike the life o'ercome with grief.\n\nYet you stand and gaze in wonder,\nWatch the elements grown dark;\nAdoration turns to terror,\nAt the least electric spark;\nVivid flashes light the heavens,\nKeep them in perpetual glow,\nLike aurora borealis\nFrom beyond eternal snow.\n\nGod eternal sends the sunshine,\nMelts the vapor, chains the cloud,\nCages up the lightning flashes,\nStops the peels of thunder loud.\nChanges discord into music,\nAnd the soul with it He thrills,\nFrom the music on the mountains,\nMade by leaping, laughing rills.\n\nLook! behold the ray that cometh,\nFills the earth with hope again,\nDissipates the clouds and vapor,\nWith their shadows and their rain.\nSee the sunburst full of glory,\nShoot forth rays of gilt and gold,\nSung by bards, portrayed by artists\nYet its glory ne'er was told.\n\nPainters fail to give description,\nFail on canvas to portray,\nRising sun within the mountains,\nAnd the glorious dawn of day;\nSages, bards and humble poets,\nAll are pigmies in the eyes\nOf the one who stands and watches\nSunshine from its sleep arise.\n\nPicturesque! O scenes eternal!\nFrom the dizzy, dizzy heights\nOf Grandfather, Rone and Linville,\nFrom which rivers take their flights.\nYadkin, Broad and the Catawbas,\nWhere the Indians used to roam,\nAre the habitation only\nOf the white man and his home.\n\nHigh upon the Linville mountains\nCreeps a silent silver stream,\nFrom the shadows of the forest,\nLike the splendor of a dream,\nThen it runs amid the boulders,\nJoins with many sparkling rills,\nThat comes rushing from the forest,\nOf those high eternal hills,\n\nTill its speed becomes augmented,\nTill you hear the rushing sounds,\nOf the Linville river raging,\nAs it leaps and falls and bounds,\nAs it dashes through the granite,\nFalls into the natural pool,\nBuilt by nature in the chasm,\nWith its water clear and cool.\n\nIn the Blue Ridge range of mountains\nStand a thousand spires and domes,\nBuilt of adamant eternal,\nFrom whose base the river roams,\nLike the maiden Occoneechee,\nWanders out replete with tears,\nInto strange lands, unto strangers,\nThru the lapse of passing years,\n\nLonging to be reunited,\nWith her fiance forever,\nFrom his presence and his wooing,\nTo be separated never.\nThus the river and the maiden\nRambled through the mountains wild,\nSeeking for a long lost lover,\nAs a mother seeks her child.\n\nClimbs the black dome of the mountain,\nRichest pinnacle e'er seen;\nAnd the landscape lay before her,\nWith its mounds and vales between.\nLends enchantment grand and gorgeous,\nGives a new lease unto life,\nAnd you soon forget you're living\nIn a world of care and strife.\n\nThus Mount Mitchell in the Blue Ridge,\nZenith hill among the hills,\nSends forth life anew forever,\nAnd a thousand rippling rills.\nIn the distance the Savannah's\nFlows a stream of pure delight,\nFlows she on, and on forever,\nNever stopping day or night.\n\nFor her mission is a true one,\nAnd the river ever true,\nRolls along the grandest valley,\nThat a river e'er rolled through;\nPeopled by a population\nRich in soul and thought divine,\nFrom her source up in the mountains,\nTill her soul the sea entwines.\n\nTurning to the sun that's setting,\nSetting far beyond the rim,\nOf the horizon of vision,\nWhere the eyes grow weak and dim,\nYou behold the Swannanoa,\nNaiad, pure and fresh and sweet,\nCrystalline, and cool and limpid,\nStrays some other stream to greet.\n\nFrom the cliffside in the mountains\nRoll a thousand little streams,\nLaughing as they greet each other,\nWhere the sunshine never beams;\nRippling, idling, swirling slowly,\nLeaping down a waterfall,\nYou can hear the drops of water,\nSweetly to their compeers call.\n\nDown the valley glides the river,\nMurmuring a sad farewell,\nTo the birds and bees and people,\nWho along its highway dwell;\nWishing them a happy future,\nWishing them prosperity,\nWhile it fills its many missions\n'Twixt the mountains and the sea.\n\nBathing rocks, refreshing people,\nCasting up its silver spray,\nAs it glides along the valley,\nFlows forever and for aye.\nMen may move their tents and chattels,\nOthers die or go astray,\nStill the stream flows fresh forever,\nNever resting night or day.\n\nGiving life unto the flowers,\nBlooming on its verdant side,\nAs it travels, as it journeys,\nAs its ripples make their stride.\nIn the gloaming of the twilight,\nWhen the birds had ceased to fly,\nAnd the dazzling dome of heaven\nGave resplendence to the sky.\n\nOcconeechee, squaw and warrior,\nWatched the stream, as on it sped,\nRippling o'er the pebbly bottom,\nLying on its rocky bed;\nGrasses waving green around them,\nNodding boughs bid them adieu,\nAnd it wafted them caresses,\nLike the sunbeams sparkling dew.\n\nPrecious fragrance filled the valley,\nFrom the sweet shrub and the pine,\nLuscious fruits and ripening melons\nLade the apple tree and vine.\nAll along the pretty valley,\nHarvest fields and curing hay\nMake the white man rich and happy,\nWhere the warriors used to stray.\n\nAt the juncture of the river,\nWhere the Indians used to dwell,\nWhere they made their pots of red clay,\nMade them crude but made them well,\nHere they tented long and hunted,\nFished the Tah-kee-os-tee stream,\nStrolled along the racing river,\nWhere its rippling waters gleam.\n\nMoons passed on, and yet no greetings\nCame to cheer the wandering maid,\nWho so long had sought her lover,\nTill her hopes began to fade,\nAnd she felt that she must hasten,\nQuickly hasten thru the wild,\nBy the rapid river racing,\nShe the nature-loving child.\n\nThen they took their little ponies,\nGirt them with a roebuck hide,\nSeated on the nimble ponies,\nStarted swiftly on the ride,\nOn to Toxaway the river,\nOn to Toxaway the lake,\nWhere the leaf of vine and alder,\nHide the muskrat and the snake.\n\nAll along the racing river,\nGorgeous forest trees are seen,\nAnd the wild deer in the forest\nDwells beneath the coat of green.\nHere the beaver, hare and turkey\nShare their food and come to drink,\nIn the splendid spreading forest,\nNear the Tah-kee-os-tee's brink.\n\nHere they fished and caught the rainbow,\nCaught the little mountain trout,\nIn the lake and in the river,\nWith their poles both crude and stout;\nCaught the squirrel and the pheasant,\nChased the turkey, deer and bear,\nCaught a-plenty, all they needed,\nYet they had not one to spare.\n\nIn the sapphire land they lingered\nMany days and many nights,\nOn the mountains, 'mid the laurel,\nLooking at the wondrous sights,\nThat will greet you in the mountains,\nThat you see in vales below,\nAs you tread the paths untrodden,\nAs you wander to and fro.\n\nIn the forest land primeval\nWhere the fountains form their heads,\nLies the famous vale of flowers,\nSplendid valley of pink beds.\nEvery tribe and every hunter\nKnows this lone secluded spot,\nFrom the other vales so famous;\nWhen once seen is ne'er forgot.\n\nIn this vale of flowers and sunshine,\nLies the Aidenn, most tranquil,\nWhere the sore and heavy-laden,\nGambol peacefully at will;\nHear the trill of distant music,\nPlayed on Nature's vibrant chime,\nResonant with sweetest concord\nAll attuned to perfect time.\n\nHere the weary, heavy-laden\nSoul, may lose his load of care,\nAnd the body, sick and wounded,\nFind an answer to his prayer.\nPrecious incense here arises,\nFrom the brasier of the vale\nThat ascends the lofty mountains,\nBy an unseen, trackless trail.\n\nPisgah stands, the peer and rival\nOf Olympus, famed of old,\nWhere the gods met in their councils,\nAnd their consultations held.\nLooking far across the valleys,\nThey behold on either side,\nRivers, vales and gushing fountains,\nWhich forever shall abide.\n\nIn the distance stands eternal,\nJunaluska's pretty mound,\nWhich in beauty of the landscape\nIs the grandest ever found.\nRushing streams of purest water,\nGiving off their silver spray,\nAdd a beauty to the forest,\nIn a new and novel way.\n\nAnd the balsam peaks of fir tree\nLooks like midnight in the day,\nLooks like shadows in the sunshine,\nIn the fading far away.\nDense and dark and much foreboding\nApprehensions do declare,\nTo the one who sleeps beneath them\nWith its flood of balmy air.\n\n\"Occoneechee, forest dweller,\nWe have traveled many miles,\nThrough the mountains, o'er the valleys,\nWhere the face of Nature smiled;\nWe have tasted of the fountains,\nWhence breaks forth the Keowee,\nNymph of beauty, joy and pleasure,\nOnce the home of Cherokee.\n\nWe have rested near the water,\nSeen the fleck and shimmering flow,\nOf the waters kissed by Nature,\nLovely river Tugaloo,\nWhere the Cherokee once rambled,\nSpoiled 'mid the scenes so wild,\nWhere the forest and the river\nHave the wood-gods oft beguiled.\n\nWandered o'er the sapphire country,\nLand which doth the soul delight,\nWith its mounds and vales and rivers;\nGod ne'er made a holier site\nFor the human race to dwell in,\nWhere the human soul can rise,\nHigher in its aspirations\nToward the rich Utopian skies\"\n\nHere the lyrics sung by Nature,\nPlayed upon its strings of gold,\nFloat out on the evening breezes,\nAnd its music ne'er grows old,\nTo the soul and life and spirit,\nWhich is bent and bowed with care.\nThis the sweetest land Elysian,\nTo the one who wanders there.\n\nConvolutions of the lilies,\nTranquil bloom and curve and die,\nNear the river, 'neath the shadows\nOf the white pine, smooth and high.\nSparkling, gleaming in the sunlight\nBursts the water, pure and free,\nFrom the rocks high on the mountains,\nOnce the home of Cherokee.\n\nDancing, rippling, roaring, rushing,\nComes Tallulah in its rage,\nLike an eagle bounding forward,\nFrom an exit in a cage.\nIn the distance, you behold it\nRise and babble, laugh and smile;\nThen amid the reeds and rushes,\nTurns and loiters for awhile.\n\nThen it curves among the eddies,\nHastens on to meet the bend,\nIn the meadows, like the fragrance\nBorne aloft upon the wind;\nSilently reflecting sunbeams\nTo the distant verdant hill\nFrom its surface calm and placid,\nSmooth, untarnished little rill;\n\nGleams and glides accelerated,\nAs it gathers, as it grows,\nAs the brook becomes a river,\nAs it ever onward flows;\nSwirls and turns and dashes downward,\nHeaves and moans and dashes wild,\nFor a chasm down the canyon,\nLike a lost, demented child;\n\nFurious, frantic, leaps and lashes\nDown into the great abyss,\nFalls and foams and seethes forever\nWhere the rocks and river kiss.\nTallulah Falls, the work and wonder\nOf the cycles and the age,\nPours its deluge down the ravine,\nUnobstructed in its rage.\n\nFlying fowls of evil omen,\nDare not stop it in its flight,\nLest the river overwhelm them\nWith its power of strength and might--\nLest the river dash to pieces\nBird or beast that would impede\nSuch a torrent as confronts you\nWith its force of fearful speed.\n\nThen it rushes fast and furious\nInto mist and fog and spray,\nRises like the ghost of Banquo,\nWill not linger, stop nor stay.\nO'er the precipice it plunges,\nBounds and surges down the steep,\nAs it gushes forth forever,\nToward the blue and boundless deep.\n\nIn the Appalachian mountains\nStands Satulah, high and proud,\nWith its base upon the Blue Ridge,\nAnd its head above the cloud.\nFrom its top the panorama\nRises grandly into view,\nAnd presents a thousand landscapes,\nEvery one to Nature true.\n\nRound by round the mountains rise up,\nRound on round, and tier on tier,\nYou behold them in their beauty,\nThrough a vista, bright and clear.\nLike concentric circles floating,\nEbbing on a crystal bay\nTo the distance they're receding,\nFading like declining day.\n\nHardby stands the Whiteside Mountain,\nLike an athlete, strong and tall,\nPerpendicularly rising\nAs a mighty granite wall;\nTowering o'er the Cashier's valley,\nStretching calmly at its base,\nLike a bouquet of rich roses\nBeautifying Nature's vase.\n\nHigh above the other mountains,\nWhiteside stands in bold relief,\nWith its court house and its cavern\nRefuge for the soul with grief;\nLike a monolith it rises\nTo a grand majestic height,\nTill its crest becomes a mirror,\nTo refract the rays of light.\n\nFrom its summit grand and gorgeous\nLike a splendid stereoscope,\nComes a view yet undiscovered\nFull of awe, and life and hope.\nSmiling vales and nodding forests\nGreet you like a loving child,\nFrom the zenith of the mountain,\nComes the landscape undefiled.\n\nFlying clouds pour forth their shadows,\nAs the curious mystic maze\nShrouds the mountains from the vision,\nWith its dark and lowering haze.\nFog so dense come stealing o'er you\nThat you know not day from night,\nTill the rifting of the shadows\nMakes room for the golden light.\n\nIn the Blue Ridge, near the headland\nIn the Hamburg scenic mountains,\nComes a silver flow of water\nFrom a score of dancing fountains,\nTripping lightly, leaping gently,\nSlipping 'neath the underbrush\nWithout noise it creepeth slowly\nToward the place of onward rush.\n\nFloats along beneath the hemlock,\nNods to swaying spruce and pine,\nMurmurs in its pebbly bottom\nHolds converse with tree and vine.\nWinds around the jutting ledges\nOf translucent spar and flint,\nWith effulgence like the jasper\nWith its glare and gleam and glint.\n\nMoving onward, moving ever,\nIn its course o'er amber bed,\nWhile the bluejay and the robin\nPerch in tree top overhead;\nPerch and sing of joy and freedom,\nFill the glen with pleasure's song,\nAs the waters, fresh and sparkling,\nRippling, gliding, pass along.\n\nThus the Tuckaseigee river\nRises far back in the dell,\nWhere the dank marsh of the mountain\nRise and fall, assuage and swell,\nTill its flow becomes augmented\nBy a thousand little streams\nComing from the rocky highlands\nThrough their fissures and their seams.\n\nFills the valley, passes quickly,\nTrips and falls a hundred feet,\nSwirls a moment, makes a struggle,\nDoth the same rash act repeat.\nRushes, rages, fumes and surges,\nDashes into mist and spray,\nHeaves and sighs, foments and lashes,\nAs it turns to rush away;\n\nRoars and fills the earth and heaven\nWith the pean of its rage,\nPlunges down deep in the gulches,\nWhere the rocks are worn with age.\nMaddened by the sudden conflict,\nStarts anew to rend the wall\nThat confines its turbid waters\nTo the defile and the fall.\n\nOnce again it leaps and rushes\nToward the towering granite wall,\nAnd it bounds full many a fathom\nIn its final furious fall.\nMuch it moans and seethes and surges,\nStarts again at rapid speed,\nO'er the rocky pot-hole gushes\nLike a gaited blooded steed.\n\nThus the Tuckaseigee river\nFalls into the great abyss\nDown the canyon, rough and rugged,\nWhere the spar and granite kiss.\nThen it flows still fast and faster,\nWith its flood both bright and clear,\nThrough the cycles ripe with ages\nMonth on month and year on year.\n\nNear the apex of the mountains,\nIn the silence of the dale,\nWhere no human foot has trodden\nPath or road or warrior's trail,\nFrom the tarn or seep there drippeth\nCrystal water bright and free,\nThat becomes a nymph of beauty,\nPretty vale of Cullowhee.\n\nIn the spreading vale the townhouse,\nAnd the Indian village stood;\nIn the alcove, well secluded,\nIn the grove of walnut wood.\nAncient chiefs held many councils,\nSung the war-song, kept the dance,\nWhile the squaws and pretty maidens\nVie each other in the prance.\n\nCullowhee, thou stream and valley,\nOnce the domicile and home,\nOf a people free and happy,\nFree from tribal fear and gloom,\nWhere, O where, are thy great warriors--\nWhere thy chiefs and warriors bold--\nWho once held in strict abeyance\nThose who plundered you of old?\n\nGone forever are thy warriors,\nGone thy chiefs and maidens fair,\nVanished like the mist of summer,\nGone! but none can tell us where.\nFrom their homes were hounded, driven,\nLike the timid hind or deer,\nHerded like the driven cattle,\nForced from home by gun and spear.\n\n\"Tell me, vale or rippling water,\nTell me if ye can or will,\nIf you've seen my long-lost lover\nKnown as wandering Whippoorwill?\"\nBut the water, cool and placid,\nThat comes from the mountain high\nSwirled a moment, then departing\nMade no answer or reply.\n\nThen the maiden's grief grew greater,\nAs she lingered by the stream\nWatching for some sign or token\nOr some vision through a dream;\nBut no dream made revelation,\nOnly sorrow filled her years,\nAnd her eyes lost much of luster\nAs her cheeks suffused with tears.\n\nTurning thence into the forest\nOver hill and brook and mound,\nTo the Cullasaja river\nThrough the forest land they wound;\nThrough the tangled brush and ivy,\nRough and rugged mountainside,\nLed the ponies through the forest,\nFar too steep for them to ride.\n\nThey descended trails deserted,\nWhere the chieftains used to go,\nNear the Cullasaja river,\nNear its rough uneven flow;\nCamped upon its bank at evening,\nHeard at night the roar and splash\nOf the voice of many waters\nDown the fearful cascade dash.\n\nStood at sunrise where the shadow\nOf the cliffs cast darkening shade,\nWhere the rainbows chase the rainbow\nLike as sorrows chased the maid.\nTraveled down the silver current,\nRested often on the way,\nStrolled the banks and fished the current\nOf the crystal Ellijay.\n\nPleasantly the winding current\nEddies, swirls and loiters free\nTill it joins the radiant waters\nOf the little Tennessee;\nWhere the mound stands in the meadow,\nOnce the townhouse capped its crest,\nThere the tribe was wont to gather,\nCouncil, plan and seek for rest.\n\nTo the mound the tribe assembled,\nFrom the regions all around,\nCame from Cowee and Coweeta,\nWhere the Cherokee abound;\nCame from Nantahala mountains,\nSkeenah and Cartoogechaye,\nNickajack and sweet Iola,\nAnd from Choga far away.\n\nAll the great men and the warriors\nBrought the women, and their wives,\nCame by hundreds without number,\nLike the swarms around the hives;\nBut today there is no warrior,\nNot a maiden can be found,\nTenting on the pretty meadow,\nOr upon Nik-wa-sa mound.\n\nIn the Cowee spur of mountains,\nStands the Bald and Sentinel,\nOf the valley and the river,\nOf the moorland and the dell.\nLike a pyramid it rises,\nLayer on layer and flight on flight\nTill its crest ascends the confines\nOf the grand imperial height.\n\nFrom its summit far receding,\nContours of the mountains rise,\nNumerous as the constellations\nIn the arched dome of the skies.\nFar away beyond the valley\nDouble Top confronts the eye,\nBlack Rock rises like a shadow\nOn the blue ethereal sky.\n\nJones' Knob makes its appearance,\nHighest, grandest height of all\nPenetrates the vault of heaven,\nNone so picturesque or tall.\nWayah, Burningtown and Wesser\nRaise their bald heads to the cloud\nHigh and haughty, rich in beauty\nAnd extremely vain and proud.\n\nUna and Yalaka mountains\nStand so near up by the side\nOf the Cowee, that you'd take them\nFor its consort or its bride.\nFestooned, wreathed and decorated\nWith the honeysuckle bloom,\nAnd the lady-slipper blossom,\nThere dispels the hour of gloom.\n\nGinseng and the Indian turnip\nGrow up from their fallow beds\nIn the dark coves of the mountains,\nWith their beaded crimson heads.\nFertile fields and stately meadows\nStretch along the sylvan streams\nAnd surpass the fields Elysian,\nSeen in visionary dreams.\n\nFrom the summit of the Cowee\nIn the season of the fall,\nFog fills all the pretty valley\nSettles like the deathly pall,\nComing from the rill and river,\nTo the isothermal belt,\nWhere the sunbeam meets the fog-line\nAnd the frost and ices melt.\n\nJutting tops of verdant mountains\nPenetrate the fog below,\nAs the islands in the ocean\nForm the archipelago.\nSea of fog stands out before you,\nWith its islands and its reef\nSilent and devoid of murmur\nAs the quivering aspen leaf.\n\n\"Occoneechee, look to Northland,\nSee the Smoky Mountains rise,\nLike a shadow in the valley\nOr a cloud upon the skies.\nMany days since you beheld them\nIn their grand, majestic height;\nMany days from these you've wandered\nFrom their fountains, pure and bright.\n\n\"Hie thee to the Smoky Mountains,\nTarry not upon the plain,\nLinger not upon the border\nOf the fields of golden grain.\nFlee thee as a kite or eagle,\nNot a moment stop or stay,\nHasten to Oconaluftee,\nBe not long upon the way.\n\n\"I have much to speak unto you\nE'er I take my final leave,\nSome will sadden, some will gladden,\nSome bring joy and some will grieve.\nAll our legends, myths and stories\nSoon will fall into decay,\nAnd I must transmit them to you\nE'er I turn to go away.\n\n\"Mount thee, mount thee quick this pony,\nSpryly spring upon its back,\nLeave no vestige, sign or token\nOr the semblance of a track,\nWhereby man may trace or trail thee,\nIn the moorland or morass,\nBy the radiant river flowing\nOr secluded mountain pass.\n\n\"Grasp the reins, hold fast the girdle,\nLike flamingoes make your flight\nTo the great dome of the mountain\nThat now gleams within your sight.\nClingman's Dome, the crowning glory\nOf the high erupted hills,\nThey will shield you and protect you,\nWith its cliffs and rolling rills.\"\n\nSped they like the rolling current,\nSped they like a gleam of light,\nSped they as the flying phantom\nOr a swallow in its flight,\nTo their refuge in the mountain,\nTo the temple of the earth,\nNear the lonely spot secluded,\nThat had known her from her birth.\n\nStanding, gazing, watching, peering,\nThrough the azure atmosphere,\nAt the wilderness before you\nAnd the scene both rich and clear.\nCerulean the gorgeous mountains\nRise and loom up in your sight,\nLike a splendid constellation\nOn a crisp autumnal night.\n\n'Twixt the fall and winter season,\nComes a tinge of milky haze,\nStealing o'er the Smoky Mountains,\nShutting out the solar rays,\nFlooding vales and filling valleys,\nComing, creeping, crawling slow,\nFills the firmament with shadows\nAs with crystal flakes of snow.\n\nThrough the haze and mist and shadows\nYou discern a ball of fire,\nFrom the rim of Nature rising\nAs a knighted funeral pyre;\nYet it moveth slowly upward,\nCreeps aloft along the sky,\nAs a billow on the ocean\nMeets the ship, then passes by.\n\nThis you say is Indian summer,\nTepid season of the year,\nWhen glad harvest songs ascendeth\nFull of hope and love and cheer.\nFrom Penobscot, down the Hudson,\nBy the Susquehanna wild,\nThrough the Shenandoah valley\nRoamed the forest-loving child.\n\nRoamed the Mohawk and the Huron,\nSeneca and Wyandot,\nDelaware and the Mohican,\nLong since perished and forgot.\nPowhattan and Tuscarora,\nAnd the wandering Showano,\nCreek and Seminole and Erie,\nMiami and Pamlico,\n\nChicasaw and the Osages,\nKickapoo and Illinois,\nOttawas and Susquehannas,\nObjibwas and Iroquois,\nOnce enjoyed the Indian summers,\nOnce to all this land was heir,\nSportive, free and lithe and happy,\nChief and maid and matron fair.\n\nAs the blossoms in the forest\nBloom, then fall into decay,\nSo the mighty tribes here mentioned,\nFlourished, so traditions say;\nThen the coming of the white man,\nSpread consternation far and wide;\nThen decay and desolation\nConquered all their manly pride.\n\nTreaties made were quickly broken\nAnd their homes were burned with fire,\nWhich provoked the mighty tribesmen\nAnd aroused their vengeful ire.\nFurious raids on hostile savage\nWith the powder-horn and gun,\nSoon reduced the noble red man\nSlowly, surely, one by one,\n\nTill not one now roams the forest,\nNone are left to tell the tale;\nAll their guns and bows are broken,\nNone now for them weep or wail.\nOnly names of streams and mountains\nKeep the memory aglow,\nOf the noble, brave and fearless\nRed men of the long ago.\n\nCherokee, the seed and offspring\nResidue of Iroquois,\nSilently are disappearing\nWithout pageantry or noise.\nThough more civil and more learned\nAnd much wiser than the rest,\nThey will be amalgamated,\nBy the white man in the West.\n\nOcconeechee and the chieftain\nTalked of all that they had seen,\nOf the flow of pretty rivers\nAnd the matchless mountains green,\nOf the ferns and pretty flowers,\nParterre of rarest hue,\nTint of maroon, white and yellow,\nSaffron, lilac, red and blue.\n\nHeld they converse of their travels,\nOf the wilderness sublime,\nOf the myths and happy legends\nTold through yielding years of time.\nOf the wars and tales forgotten,\nOf the chiefs and warriors brave\nWho long since have run their journey,\nWho now sleep within the grave.\n\nAt those tales the maiden wept loud,\nSought for solace thru a sigh,\nMuch o'ercome by thoughts of loved ones,\nAnd she prayed that she might die\nHigh upon the Smoky Mountains,\nWhere no human soul can trace\nThe seclusions of the forest\nTo her lonely burial place.\n\nBitterly she wailed in sorrow,\nSaying \"Tell me, tell me why\nI am left out here so lonely,\nAnd my tears are never dry?\nWhy he comes not at my calling,\nWhy he roams some lonely way,\nWhy does he not come back to me--\nWhy does he not come and stay?\n\n\"Why and where now does he linger?\nTell me, silver, crescent moon,\nShall our parting be forever--\nShall our hopes all blast at noon?\nWhen love's bright star shines the brightest\nShall it be the sooner set?\nShall we e'er be reunited,\nTell me, while hope lingers yet!\n\n\"Does he linger in the mountains,\nFar up toward the radiant sky?\nTell me, blessed God of Nature,\nTell me, blessed Nunnahi.\nHas some evil spirit seized him,\nHid or carried him away\nFar beyond the gleaming sunset,\nFar out toward the close of day?\n\n\"Will he come back with the morning,\nBorne upon its wings of light,\nFrom the shade that long has lingered,\nFrom the darkness of the night?\nIs there none to bring me answer?\nSpeak, dear Nature, tell me where\nI may find my long lost lover,\nIs my final feeble prayer.\"\n\nThen the chieftain, grand and noble,\nCame and lingered by her side,\nLike a lover in devotion\nLingers near a loving bride.\nThen in accents like a clarion,\nSweet and clear, but gently said,\n\"Whippoorwill, my friend, your lover,\nComes again, he is not dead!\n\n\"I will go and hunt your lover,\nAnd will bring him to your side;\nI will roam the forest ever,\nAnd will cease to be your guide;\nI will find the one you've looked for,\nAnd will tell him that you live;\nI will tell him of your rambles,\nAnd will all my future give,\n\n\"Till I find him in the forest,\nOr upon the flowing brink\nOf the Coosa river flowing,\nWhere he used to often drink.\nIn the everglades may linger,\n'Neath the shade of some cool palm,\nSweetest refuge of the lowlands,\nWith its air of purest balm.\n\n\"Where the Seminole in silence,\nMade their refuge, long ago,\nFrom the fierce onslaught of Jackson,\nAnd exterminating woe.\nHe may listen in the silence\nAnd the solitude of night,\nFor some friendly sign or token\nWhereby he may make his flight.\n\n\"When I've found him we will travel,\nWe will travel night and day,\nWe will hasten on our journey,\nWill not linger nor delay,\nWe will speed along the valley\nLike the wind before the rain,\nWe will neither stop nor tarry,\nNever from our speed refrain.\n\n\"We will rush along the river,\nLike the maddened swollen tide,\nLike a leaf upon the cyclone\nRushing forward in its pride;\nOver winter's snow and ices\nWe will rush with greatest speed,\nLike a herd of frightened cattle\nOr a trained Kentucky steed.\n\n\"I will tell him of your travels\nInto lands he's never seen,\nWith their forests and their flowers,\nAnd their leaves of living green;\nHow for years you've looked and waited,\nWatched the trail and mountainside,\nWatched and hoped long for him coming,\nThat you might become his bride.\n\n\"I am John Ax, Stagu-Nahi!\nMuch I love the mountains wild!\nFriend of those who love the forest,\nFriend of those who love you, child.\nI bespeak a special blessing\nTo attend you while I go\nInto strange lands, unto strangers,\nHither, thither, to and fro.\"\n\nThen he pressed her to his bosom,\nBreathed a silent, parting prayer\nTo the Nunnahi in heaven,\nFor the lovely maid so fair;\nPrayed and blessed her, then departed\nThru primeval forests wild,\nSped he by the rolling waters,\nHeard them laugh and saw them smile.\n\nSped he by the Coosa river,\nWhere great brakes of waving cane,\nBend before the blowing breezes,\nLike the waves of wind and rain.\nTook the trails where once the chieftain\nStrode at will in lordly pride,\nBy the Coosa river flowing\nIn its smooth, unrippled tide.\n\nDownward, onward, free and easy,\nSwirls and turns and travels slow,\nAs it glitters in the sunlight,\nAs its waters onward go.\nSees the trail almost extinguished\nBy the pretty Etawa,\nWhere once dwelt in great profusion,\nChief and maid and tawny squaw.\n\nTraveled far the Tallapoosa\nInto fen and deep morass,\nThrough the wildwood, glade and forest\nDark defile and narrow pass;\nFootsore, lame and often hungry,\nTraveled onward day and night,\nLike the wild goose speeding forward\nIn its semi-annual flight.\n\nO'er the glebes of Alabama,\nCrossed the hill and stream and dale,\nTo the Tuskaloosa flowing\nNear the ancient Indian trail,\nNow deserted and forsaken\nIs the war path and the land,\nBy the Creek and great Muscogas\nWandering, wild, nomadic band.\n\nPensive, lonely and dejected,\nPenetrated he the wild,\nOver fen and bog and prairie,\nInto climates soft and mild.\nBy lagoon and lake and river,\nBy the deep translucent bay,\nFollowed he the sun's direction,\nMany a night and sunlit day.\n\nCrossed the Mississippi delta,\nWound through many moor and fen,\nSaw the shining stars at midnight,\nAnd the dawn of days begin;\nHeard the tramp of bear and bison,\nHeard the wild wolf's dismal howl,\nSaw the glowworm in the rushes,\nHeard the whippoorwill and owl.\n\nHeard the alligator bellow,\nSaw him swim the broad bayou,\nSaw the egret, crane and heron,\nWading stark and tree-cuckoo.\nTrackless miles spread out before him,\nStretching leagues of gama grass\nLay across the course he traveled,\nLay out where he had to pass.\n\nDangling mosses from the tree tops,\nSwung by swaying winds and breeze,\nCling with tendrils to the branches,\nOf the mighty live oak trees.\nSoft as lichens, light as feathers\nWas the tall untrodden grass,\nOn the prairie and the meadow,\nAnd the spreading rich morass.\n\nTranquil, peacefully and quiet\nDid the moons and moments wane,\nTill he came to Oklahoma,\nInto his own tribe's domain;\nHere he rested for a season,\nAte the food and drank for health\nIn the land of Oklahoma,\nLand of perfect natural wealth.\n\nOklahoma, red man's country,\nBlest above all other lands,\nIn her natural soil and climate,\nIn her ore-beds and her sands;\nIn her fertile fields and valleys,\nIn her people, true and great,\nCherokee and Creek and Choctaws\nMake the people of the state.\n\nHere's a land transformed in beauty,\nTouched and tilled by busy toil,\nResponds quickly to the tiller,\nProducts of a generous soil.\nFruits and flowers forever growing,\nFields of gold and snowy white,\nSongs of harvest home and plenty\nSung to every one's delight.\n\nHere with labor, love and patience,\nThere arose an empire great,\nWhich when settled, tilled and treated,\nHas become a powerful state;\nFilled with people true and honest,\nFilled with people thrifty too,\nAnd the land is flat and fertile,\nBest that mortals ever knew.\n\nOnce where roamed the bear and bison,\nWhere the she wolf and the owl\nMade their home and habitation,\nAnd the foxes used to prowl;\nWhere the serpent coiled and waited,\nHid beneath the waving grass\nTo inject his fangs and venom\nIn some human as he'd pass,\n\nNow there thrives the busy city,\nBristling with the throb and thrill\nOf the commerce of a nation,\nGrowing greater, growing still.\nAll her farms and fields and ranches,\nGroan beneath their heavy load\nOf waving grain and lowing cattle;\nAll the land with wealth is strewed.\n\nThen he rose up like the morning,\nFrom his slumber and his rest,\nTo converse there with the chieftains\nAmong whom he'd been a guest.\nThen he spoke of Carolina\nToward the rising of the sun,\nFull of hope and awe and splendor\nWhere his early life begun.\n\nAnd he spoke of Occoneechee\nIn the land of hills and streams,\nIn the land of wooded forests,\nLand of love and fondest dreams;\nLand where myths and mirth commingle,\nWhere aspiring peaks point high,\nTo the dials of the morning\nIn the sweet \"Land of the sky.\"\n\nSpoke he also of a chieftain,\nKnown to her as Whippoorwill,\nWho once dwelt within the forest,\nNear a pleasant little rill,\nIn the dark fens of the mountains,\nBack where oak and birchen grove\nCast their shadows o'er the valley\nO'er the cliffs and deepest cove.\n\nWhere glad song of the nightingale\nIs the sweetest ever heard,\nAnd far exceeds in melody,\nThe trill of the mocking-bird.\nFrom the matutinal dawning\nTill the falling shades of night\nThe songster sings in mellow tones\nTo the auditor's delight.\n\nLong in silence sat the chieftain,\nLong he listened quite intent,\nTo the story of the stranger,\nCatching all he said and meant,\nOf the maiden of the mountains,\nOf the trees and songs of bird,\nAnd the story lingered with him,\nEvery syllable and word.\n\nThen the chieftain made inquiry\nOf the stranger true and bold,\nWho now came to tarry with them,\nWho was growing gray and old,\nOf the health and habitation\nOf the Eastern tribal band\nWho still dwelt amid the Smokies\nIn his own sweet native land;\n\nWhere his heart felt first the wooing,\nWhere his hope of youth ran high,\n'Mid the hills of Carolina\nIn the sweet \"Land of the sky.\"\nIn the land of flowers and sunshine,\nLand of silver-flowing streams,\nLand of promise full of blessings\nAnd of legends, myths and dreams;\n\nLand of pretty maids and matrons,\nHome where generous hearts are true,\nWhere the sunshine chases shadows\nDown the vaults of vaporous blue.\nWhere the wild flight of the eagle\nSoars beyond the keenest eye,\nIn recesses of the heavens,\nIn the blue ethereal sky.\n\nRifting rocks and rolling rivers\nDoth adorn the hill and vale,\nLilting melodies float outward\nOn the vortex of the gale;\nThis the land of Occoneechee,\nLand that Junaluska saw,\nHome of warrior, chief and maiden,\nLand of dauntless brave and squaw.\n\nLet us go back to those mountains,\nOnce more let us view those hills,\nAnd let me hear the voice once more\nOf the laughing streams and rills;\nAnd let me view with raptured eye\nThe blossom of tree and vine,\nOnce more inhale the sweet ozone,\nUnder tulip tree and pine.\n\nThose hills, delectable mountains,\nOutrival the scenes of Greece,\nSurpass in beauty and grandeur\nThe Eagle or Golden Fleece.\nThose shrines and temples of granite,\nGlad sentinels of the free!\nThere let me roam through dell once more,\nLet me glad and happy be.\n\nSome speak of splendid balmy isles,\nFar out in the rolling sea,\nOf spicy groves, and vine-clad hills,\nAnd of things which are to be;\nOf nymphs and naiads of the past,\nOf lands of the brave and free,\nBut none of these can e'er surpass\nThe hills of Cherokee;\n\nThe hills where roamed the dusky maid,\nAnd the home of Whippoorwill,\nWhere Occoneechee dreamed at night,\nBy the gushing stream and rill.\nBy strange enchanted mystic lake\nWhere the wildest beasts are seen,\nFar back in the deep recess\nOf the mountain's verdure green.\n\n\"Let autumn's wind blow swift its gale,\nThe season of summer flee,\nBut I will soon my lover meet,\nIn the 'land of the brave and free,'\nI'll leave Tahlequah in the West,\nWith this warrior at my side.\nWe'll travel as the fleetest winds\nUnless ill fates betide.\n\n\"While the morrow's stars are glowing,\nIn the dials of the morn,\nI will start upon the journey,\nTo the land where I was born.\"\nSo he gathered up his chattels,\nSpringing spryly on his steed,\nMade inquiry of the warrior,\n\"Which of us shall take the lead?\"\n\nThen the warrior to the chieftain\nQuick replied, \"I'll lead the way\nFar across the hill and valley,\nMounted on this splendid bay.\"\nThen they said to friend and neighbor,\nOld-time chief and child and squaw,\n\"At the dawning, we will leave you,\nLeave the town of Tahlequah;\n\n\"Leave the tribe and reservation,\nFor a journey to the East,\nWhere the tribesmen dwell together,\nMeet serenely, drink and feast,\nIn a land where peace and pleasure\nVie each other in the pace,\nWhere the hopes of life are brightest\nTo the fallen human race.\"\n\nJust then came a gleam like lightning,\nShooting forth its silver ray,\nWhich precedes the golden splendor\nOf the fast approaching day.\nThis the advent and the token\nFor the brave to lead the way\nOut across the plain and valley\nToward the coming king of day.\n\nThen they seized the spear and trident,\nBow and tomahawk and knife,\nAnd they left the scenes of conflict,\nWith its turmoil and its strife;\nAnd they journeyed ever eastward,\nDays and many a-waning moon,\nCrossing river, lake and prairie,\nSpreading field and broad lagoon.\n\nSaw the Wabash and Missouri,\nCumberland and Tennessee,\nSaw the Holston in its beauty\nAnd the town of Chilhowee.\nLooked down on the Nolachucky,\nSaw Watauga's crystal flow\nGleam from out the moon's reflection\nFrom the canyon's depths below.\n\nNeptune, who pervades the water,\nNe'er beheld a holier sight\nThan this happy, hopeful chieftain\nDid that crisp autumnal night.\nWhile he looked upon the water\nBright and pure and crystalline,\nFairest land and purest water\nMortal eye had ever seen;\n\nHe beheld there in his vision\nSuch a Naiad divine,\nThat he put forth his endeavors,\nThat he might the maid entwine;\nBut she flew back like a phantom,\nBack into the crescent wave,\nFrom the presence of the chieftain\nAnd the relegated brave;\n\nFlew back from him and departed\nAnd was lost to human eye;\nAll that now lay out before him\nWas the stream and earth and sky.\nFull of disappointing beauty,\nWas the earth and sky and stream,\nWhen divested of the grandeur\nOf the vision and the dream.\n\nThen he rambled through the mountains\nOver crag and rugged steep,\nThrough the laurel bed and ivy\nBy exertion did he creep;\nThrough the hemlock and the balsam\nUnder oak and birchen tree,\nGazing through the heath before him\nIf perchance that he might see\n\nIn the dim, dark, hazel distance,\nFar out on the mountainside\nOcconeechee, pure and lovely,\nWhom he longed to make his bride;\nMake his bride and dwell there with her\n'Mid aspiring peak and dome;\nLonged to have her sit beside him,\nIn his peaceful mountain home.\n\nWandered through the Craggy mountains\nWhere no human foot had trod,\nAnd no eye had yet beheld it,\nSave the eye of Nature's God.\nFor the spreading tree and forest\nGrew from out the virgin soil,\nAnd was free from all intrusions\nOf the white man's skill and toil.\n\nNow their speed was much retarded,\nTrails once plain were now unkept,\nAnd the chief and brave lamenting\nLaid themselves down there and wept;\nWept for chiefs like Uniguski,\nSequoya and Utsala,\nIn the land of Tuckaleechee\nAnd for friends like Wil-Usdi. [1]\n\nTurning from his grief and sorrow\nFor the chiefs of long ago,\nCeasing all his deep repining\nFrom the burden of his woe,\nLooking far o'er hill and valley\nHe beheld the gilded dome\nOf the Smokies in the distance,\nNear old Junaluska's home.\n\nThen the chieftain's hope grew stronger,\nAs he looked upon the scene\nOf that splendid mountain forest\nWith its crest of evergreen;\nLike a black cloud in the winter,\nSpreads upon the mountainside,\nThis the forest land primeval\nThat stands there in lordly pride,\n\nThis the forest land primeval,\nWhere the chieftains used to roam,\nJoined in chase of bear and bison,\nOnce the red deer's winter home.\nBlack and deep and dense the forest,\nSteep and high the cliffside stands,\nWhere the Cherokee once wandered\nIn their wild nomadic bands.\n\nAs they gazed upon the scenery,\nWeird and wild and full of awe,\nThey were filled with consternation\nAt the sight both of them saw.\nPassing high up near the zenith\nLike an eagle in its flight\nCame the sound of wings and voices,\nOn that moonlit autumn night.\n\nVoices like the rolling thunder\nCame resounding far and near,\nAnd the meteoric flashes\nFilled them full of awe and fear;\nTill they trembled like the aspen\n'Mid the tempest fierce and wild,\nTill it passes, then reposes,\nCalmly as a little child.\n\nSaid the brave then to the chieftain,\n\"This my token to depart,\nI must quickly make my exit,\nThough it grieves my soul and heart\nThus to leave you in the forest,\nOut upon the mountainside,\nWithout hope or friend or shelter,\nWith no one to be your guide;\n\n\"These the Nunnahi in heaven,\nCome to lead me far away,\nOver hill and dale and valley,\nToward the final close of day.\nYou will miss me in the morning,\nMiss me at the noon and night,\nWhen I'm mounted on my pinions\nAnd am lost to human sight.\n\n\"Yet a moment I'm allotted\nTo transmit to you my will;\nHigh here on the Smoky Mountains\nNear the bright translucent rill,\nLet me tell you while life lingers\nIn the archives of my breast,\nWhere you'll find sweet Occoneechee\nWhen my soul has flown to rest:\n\n\"She still lingers in the forest,\nNear the sweet enchanted lake,\nNear the spirit land she lingers,\nUnderneath the tangled brake.\nShe holds all our myths and legends,\nTales as told long years ago.\nNow I bid you leave me lonely\nTo my fate of weal or woe.\n\n\"Leave me quick, the spirits call me,\nLinger not within my sight,\nHie thee quickly through the shadows\nOf this crisp autumnal night.\nTell our friend, sweet Occoneechee,\nThat I've gone to join the band\nOf the braves who have departed\nFor the happy hunting land.\"\n\nThen a shadow passed between them,\nLike a cloud upon the sky,\nAnd the chief was separated\nThere upon the mountain high,\nFrom his guide and friend forever,\nSo his eye could never see.\nWhence he traveled, none returneth\nTo explain the mystery.\n\nThus bereft of friend and neighbor,\nWhippoorwill began to wail,\nFor some mystic hand to guide him\nBack into the trodden trail,\nWhere some chief had gone before him\nIn the years that long had flown,\nOut upon the mystic ages,\nNow forgotten and unknown.\n\nBut no spirit, sign or token\nCame from out the vista fair,\nNothing saw, nor nothing heard he,\nSave the earth and scenery fair.\nAs he stood and gazed in silence,\nMotionless and calm as death,\nStillness reigned on hill and valley\nAnd the chieftain held his breath,\n\nWhile he strained his ears and vision,\nListening, looking here and there,\nWaiting, watching, simply trusting\nFor an answer to his prayer.\nSuddenly he heard the calling\nOf a voice so sweet and clear,\nThat he answered, quickly answered,\nThough his heart was filled with fear.\n\nAnd the voice from out the forest,\nCalled as calls the mating bird,\nIn the bower in the springtime,\nSweetest call that e'er was heard,\nResonant comes, softly trilling,\nSweetly to its lingering mate,\nIn the silence of the forest,\nAs they for each other wait.\n\nThen the chieftain bounded forward,\nLike a hound upon the trail,\nThru the forest land primeval\nOver mound and hill and dale;\nOver ridge and rock and river,\nThru the heath and brush and grass,\nThru the land of the Uktena,\nThru it all he had to pass.\n\nTill he reached the mystic region,\nFar back in the darkest glen,\nNear the lake of the enchanted\nOnly known to bravest men.\nHere the bear and owl and panther,\nFind a cure for every ill,\nFind life's sweetest panacea,\nNear the sparkling crystal rill,\n\nHigh upon the Smoky Mountains\nResonant with Nature wild,\nFor the wanderer from the distance,\nAnd the tawny Indian child.\nThis the forest land primeval,\nFull of awe and dread and dreams,\nFull of ghouls and ghosts and goblins,\nFull of rippling crystal streams.\n\nFrom the stream down in the ravine,\nCame another gentle call,\nLike the chirping of the robin,\nIn the hemlocks straight and tall.\nOnce again the call repeated,\nThen a sudden little trill\nFloated out upon the breezes,\nFrom beside the crystal rill.\n\nThen the chieftain whistled keenly\nLike a hawk upon the wing,\nWhen it soars above the mountain,\nOn the balmy air of spring.\nThen another chirping, chirping,\nCame from deep down in the vale,\nAnd it floated up the mountain\nLike a leaf upon the gale.\n\nNow the chieftain, moved by caution,\nWatched and moved with greatest care,\nDown and thru the deepest gulches,\nLooking here, observing there,\nFor the bird or beast or human,\nThat could send out such a call,\nFrom the laurel near the fountain\nAnd a splendid waterfall.\n\nSuddenly his heart beat faster,\nAt the sight which came to view,\nThrough the opening in the laurel\nAs it parts to let him thru.\nShe was bathing feet and ankles,\nArms and hands she did refresh\nIn the iridescent splendor,\nOf the fountain cool and fresh.\n\nThen he bounds forth quick to greet her,\nE'er she sees him by her side,\nShe the maiden true and holy,\nWho was soon to be his bride.\n\"O, I see you, Occoneechee!\"\n\"And I see you, Whippoorwill!\"\nWere the greetings that they whispered\nAs they met there near the rill.\n\nThey were married in the morning,\nHe the groom and she the bride,\nAnd they lived in bliss together,\nMany years before they died;\nNow their spirits dwell together,\nNear the hidden mystic shore,\nOf the lake back in the shadows\nSince their wanderings are o'er.\n\nAnd at night the legends tell us,\nYou can hear a man and bride\nHold converse of trail and travel,\nHigh upon the mountainside;\nAnd the soul of Occoneechee,\nLingers near the rippling rill,\nHigh upon the Smoky Mountains,\nWith her lover Whippoorwill.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPART III\n\nMYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE\n\n    \"I know not how the truth may be,\n    I tell the tale as 'twas told me.\"\n\n\nThe myths related here are from the great story tellers like Ayunini,\nor \"Swimmer,\" who was the greatest of all, but while he ranked\nfirst and lived during the time that tried men's hearts, having been\nborn about 1835, and died in March, 1899, his stories can only be\nperpetuated by putting them in print, and we are indebted to him for\nmany of these beautiful stories, which should be perpetuated at least\nso long as one of the Cherokee tribe shall live.\n\nNext in rank of importance comes Itagunahi, better known among the\nEnglish-speaking people as John Axe, who was born in the year 1800,\nsaw the battle of Horseshoe Bend, witnessed the removal of the Cherokee\ntribe in 1838. He knew its history and almost all of the myths, legends\nand stories, transmitted many of them to the white man for record, and\nwhile he never spoke English, he was a very versatile and interesting\nman of the old type of Indians, and strong to the last days; he lived\nto near 100 years, then passed to the Happy Hunting Grounds.\n\nTo John D. Wofford, of the Western Reservation or tribe, we are\nindebted for much information, which would have been lost except for\nhis wonderful knowledge.\n\nAll the story-tellers prefaced their remarks by saying, \"This is what\nthe old folks used to tell us when we were boys.\"\n\nCherokee myths may be classified as sacred myths, animal stories,\nlocal legends, and historical traditions. The sacred myths were not\nfor every one, but only those might hear who observed the proper form\nand ceremony.\n\nIn the old times the myth-keepers and priests were accustomed to\nmeet together at night in the asi, or low-built log sleeping house,\nto recite the traditions and discuss their secret knowledge. At\ntimes those who desired instruction from an adept in the sacred\nlore of the tribe would meet the priest by appointment in the asi,\nwhere they sat up all night talking, with only the light of a small\nfire burning in the middle of the floor. At daybreak the whole party\nwent down to the running stream, where the pupils or hearers of the\nmyths stripped themselves and were scratched upon the 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. The purificatory rite,\nwhich was observed more than a century ago by Adair, is also a part of\nthe ceremonial of the ball play, the green-corn dance, and, in fact,\nevery important ritual performance. Before beginning one of the stories\nof the sacred class the informant would sometimes suggest jokingly\nthat the author first submit to being scratched and, \"Go to water.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH ONE.\n\nHOW THE WORLD WAS MADE.\n\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 the Galunlati, 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 Dayunisi,\n\"Beaver's Grandchild,\" the little Water-beetle, offered to go and see\nif it could learn. It darted in every direction over the surface of\nthe water, but could find no firm place to rest.\n\nThen it dived to the bottom and came up with some soft mud, which began\nto grow and spread in every direction until it became an island which\nwe call the earth. It was afterwards fastened to the sky, but no one\nremembers who did it.\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 Galunlati. At last it seemed to be time, and they sent out the\nBuzzard and told him to go and make ready for them.\n\nThis was the Great Buzzard, the father of all the buzzards we see\nnow. He flew all over the earth, low down, near the ground, and it was\nstill soft. When he reached the Cherokee country, he was very tired,\nand his wings began to flap and strike the ground, and wherever they\nstruck the earth there was a valley, and where they turned up again,\nthere was a mountain. When the animals above saw this, they were\nafraid the whole earth would be mountains, so they called him back,\nbut the Cherokee 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\nTsiskagili, the Red Crawfish, had his shell scorched red, so that his\nmeat was spoiled; and the Cherokee do not eat it. The conjurers put the\nsun another hand-breadth higher in the air, but it was still too hot.\n\nThey raised it another time, and another, until it was seven\nhand-breadths high, and just under the sky arch. Then it was right,\nand they left it so. This is why the conjurers call the highest place\n\"Gulkwagine Digalunlatiyun,\" \"the seven height,\" because it is seven\nhand-breadths above the earth. Every day the sun goes along under this\narch, and returns at night on the upper side to 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 the people reach the underworld, and the springs\nat their heads are the doorways by which they enter it, but to do\nthis one must fast and go to water and have one of the underground\npeople for a guide. We know that the seasons in the underground are\ndifferent from ours, because the water in the springs is warmer in\nthe winter and cooler in the summer than the outer air.\n\nWhen the animals and the plants were first made--we do not know\nby whom--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, on\nthe seventh night, of all the animals, only the owl, the panther and\none or two more were still awake.\n\nTo these were given the power to see and to go about in the dark, and\nto make prey of the birds and animals which must sleep at night. Of the\ntrees, only the cedar, the pine, the spruce, the holly and the laurel\nwere awake to the end, and to them it was given to be always green and\nto be greatest for medicine, but to the others it was said: \"Because\nyou have not endured 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\n\nMYTH TWO.\n\nTHE FIRST FIRE.\n\n\nIn the beginning there was no fire, and the world was cold, until the\nThunders (Ani-Hyuntikwalaski) who lived up in Galunlati, sent their\nlightning and put fire into the bottom of a hollow sycamore tree,\nwhich grew on an island. The animals knew it was there, because they\ncould see the smoke coming out at the top, but they could not get to\nit on account of the water, so they held a council to decide what to\ndo. 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, but\nwhile he was wondering what to do next, the heat had scorched all his\nfeathers black, and he was frightened and came back without the fire.\n\nThe little Screech-owl (Wahuhu) volunteered to go, and reached the\nplace safely, but while he was looking down in the hollow tree a\nblast 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.\n\nThen the Hooting Owl (Uguku) and the Horned Owl (Tskili) went, but by\nthe time they got to the hollow tree the fire was burning so fiercely\nthat the smoke nearly blinded them, and the ashes carried up by the\nwind made white rings about their eyes. They had to come home again\nwithout the fire, but with all of their rubbing they were never able\nto get rid of the white rings.\n\nNow, no more of the birds would venture, and so the little Uksuhi\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 body\nhad scorched black, and he has ever since had the habit of darting\nand doubling on his track as if trying to escape from close quarters.\n\nHe came back, and the great Blacksnake, Gulegi, \"The Climber,\"\noffered to go for the fire. He swam over to the island and climbed\nup the tree on the outside, as the blacksnake always does, but when\nhe put his head down into the hole the smoke choked him so that he\nfell into the burning stump, and before he could climb out again he\nwas as black as the Uksuhi.\n\nNow, they held another council, for still there was no fire, and\nthe world was cold, but the birds, snakes and four-footed animals\nall had some excuse for not going, because they were all afraid to\nventure near the burning sycamore, until at last Kananeski Amaiyehi\n(the Water Spider) said she would go. This is not the water spider\nthat looks like a mosquito, but the other one, with black downy hair\nand red stripes on her body. She can run on 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?\n\n\"I'll manage that,\" said the spider, so she spun a thread from her body\nand wove it into a tusti bowl, which she fastened on her back. Then\nshe crossed over to the island and through the grass to where the\nfire was 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 spider\nstill keeps her tusti bowl.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THREE.\n\nORIGIN OF THE PLEIADES AND THE PINE.\n\n\nLong ago, when the world was new, there were seven boys who used to\nspend all their time down by the town-house, playing the gatayusti\ngame, rolling a stone wheel along the ground and sliding a curved\nstick after it to strike it. Their mothers scolded but it did no good,\nso one day they collected some gatayusti stones and boiled them in\nthe pot with the corn for dinner.\n\nWhen the boys came home hungry their mothers dipped out the stones\nand said, \"Since you like the gatayusti better than the cornfield,\ntake the stones now for your dinner.\"\n\nThe boys were very angry, and went down to the town-house, 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\nfeather dance--and went round and round the town-house, praying to\nthe spirits to help them. At last their mothers were afraid something\nwas wrong and went out to look for them.\n\nThey saw the boys still dancing around the town-house, and as they\nwatched they noticed that their feet were off the earth, and that\nwith every round they rose higher and higher in the air.\n\nThey ran to get their children, but it was too late, for they were\nalready above the roof of the town-house--all but one, whose mother\nmanaged to pull him down with the gatayusti pole, but he struck the\nground with such force that he sank into it and the earth closed\nover him. The other six children circled higher and higher until they\nwent up to the sky, where we see them now as the pleiades, which the\nCherokee still calls \"Anitsutsa\" (the Boys).\n\nThe people grieved long after them, but the mother whose boy had gone\ninto the ground came every morning and evening to cry over the spot,\nuntil the earth was damp with her tears.\n\nAt last a little green shoot sprouted up and grew day by day until\nit became the tall tree that we now call the pine, and the pine is\nstill of the same nature as the stars and holds in itself the same\nbright light.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH FOUR.\n\nTHE MILKY WAY.\n\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.\n\nThey examined the ground, and found the tracks of a dog; so the next\nnight they watched, and when the dog came from the North, and began to\neat the meal out of the bowl, they sprang out and whipped him. He ran\noff howling 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 calls to this day Gili-utsunstanunyi,\n\"Where the dog ran.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH FIVE.\n\nTHE DELUGE.\n\n\nA long time ago a man had a dog, which began to go down to the\nriver every day and look at the water and howl. At last the man was\nvery angry and scolded the dog, which then spoke to him and said:\n\"Very soon there is going to be a great freshet and the water will\ncome so high that everybody will be drowned; but if you will make\na raft to get upon when the rain comes, you can be saved, but you\nmust first throw me into the water.\" The man did not believe it,\nand the dog said, \"If you want a sign that I speak the truth, look\nat the back of my neck.\" He looked and saw that the dog's neck had\nthe skin worked off so 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 water went down again,\nuntil at last it was safe to come off the raft.\n\nNow, there was no one alive but the man and his family, but one day\nthey heard a sound of dancing and shouting on the other side of the\nridge. The man climbed to the top and looked over; everything was\nstill, but all along the valley he saw great piles of bones of the\npeople who had been drowned, and then he knew that the Ghosts had\nbeen dancing.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH SIX.\n\nHOW THE TERRAPIN BEAT THE RABBIT.\n\n\nThe Rabbit was a great runner and a great boaster of what she could\ndo. No one thought that a Terrapin was anything but a slow traveler,\nbut he was a great warrior and very boastful, and the two were always\ndisputing about their speed. At last they agreed to decide the matter\nby a race.\n\nThey fixed the day and the starting place, and arranged to run across\nfour mountain ridges, and the one who came in first at the end of\nthe race 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 know you can never win the race, so I'll give you\nthe first ridge and then you'll have three to cross while I go over\nfour.\" The Terrapin said that would be all right, but that night when\nhe went home to his family he sent for his Terrapin friends and told\nthem he wanted their help. He said he knew he could not outrun the\nRabbit, but he wanted to stop the Rabbit's boasting. He explained his\nplan to his friends and they agreed to help him. When the day came all\nthe animals were there to see the race. The Rabbit was there with them,\nbut the Terrapin was gone ahead toward the first ridge, as they had\narranged, and they could hardly see him on account of the tall grass.\n\nThe word was given and the Rabbit ran off with long jumps up the\nmountain, expecting to win the race before the Terrapin could get\ndown on the other side. But before he got up the mountain he saw\nthe Terrapin go over the ridge ahead of him. He ran on, and when he\nreached the top he looked all around, but could not see the Terrapin\non account of the long grass. He kept on down the mountain and began\nto climb the second ridge, but when he looked up again there was the\nTerrapin just going over the top.\n\nNow he was very much surprised, and made his longest jumps to catch\nup, but when he got to the top there was the Terrapin away in front\ngoing over the third ridge. The Rabbit was getting tired now and\nnearly out of breath, but he kept on down the mountain and up the\nother ridge until he got to the top just in time to see the Terrapin\ncross the fourth ridge and thus win the race. The Rabbit could not make\nanother jump, but fell over on the ground, crying, \"mi, mi, mi, mi,\"\nas the Rabbit does ever since when he is too tired to run any more.\n\nThe race was given to the Terrapin, and all the animals wondered how\nhe could win against the Rabbit, but he kept still and never told. It\nwas easy enough, however, because all the Terrapin's friends look\njust alike, and he had simply posted one near the top of each ridge\nto wait until the Rabbit came in sight and then climb over and hide\nin the long grass.\n\nWhen the Rabbit came on he could not find the Terrapin and so thought\nthe Terrapin was ahead, and if he had met one of the other Terrapins\nhe would have thought it the same one, because they look so much\nalike. The real Terrapin had posted himself on the fourth ridge, so\nas to come in at the end of the race and be ready to answer questions\nif the animals suspected anything.\n\nBecause the Rabbit had to lie down and lose the race the conjurer\nnow, when preparing his young men for the ball play, boils a lot of\nrabbit hamstrings into soup, and sends some one to pour it across\nthe path along which the other players have 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\n\nMYTH SEVEN.\n\nTHE RABBIT AND THE TAR WOLF.\n\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 the well.\n\nThey noticed by and by that the Rabbit kept sleek and lively,\nalthough it was still dry weather and the water was getting low in\nthe well. They said, \"That tricky Rabbit steals our water at night,\"\nso they made a wolf of pine gum and tar and set it up by the well to\nscare the thief. That night the Rabbit came, as he had been coming\nevery night, to drink enough to last him all next day. He saw the\nqueer black thing by the well and said, \"Who's there?\" but the tar\nwolf said nothing.\n\nHe came nearer, but the wolf never moved, so he grew braver and said,\n\"Get out of my way or I will kick you.\" Still the wolf never moved\nand the Rabbit came up and struck it with its front foot, but the\ntar held it fast. Now he was angry and said: \"Turn my foot loose,\nor I will strike you with my other front foot\"; still the wolf said\nnothing. Then the Rabbit struck the wolf with his other foot, and it\nstuck, and the Rabbit said, \"Turn my foot loose or I will kick you,\"\nand still the wolf was silent, and then the rabbit kicked with his\nright hind foot so hard that it stuck, and still the wolf said nothing;\nand the Rabbit said, \"If you don't turn my foot loose, I will kick\nyou with my left hind foot, which never fails to accomplish what I\nwant it to do\"; yet the wolf was silent, and the Rabbit made his last\nkick and the foot stuck, just as the others had done.\n\nThe Rabbit plead with the wolf to let him go, and yet no response came,\nand, at last, when he found he was stuck fast with his feet, he said:\n\"If you don't turn me loose I will butt you with all my might,\" and\nin his desperation, he struck with all his force, and his head stuck\nfast to the wolf.\n\nIn the morning all the animals came down to the well to drink\nas usual, and found the Rabbit stuck fast to the wolf of tar,\nand they began to discuss what disposition to make of him, so one\nsuggested that they cut his head off, to which the Rabbit replied,\n\"Please do cut my head off, for it is such an easy death to die,\"\nbut this aroused the suspicion of the animals, so that the fox said,\n\"No, we will not do this for he deserves a harsher death than this,\"\nwhereupon they all agreed. Then the Wolf suggested that they burn him\nalive, to which the Rabbit said, \"Please Mr. Wolf, have me burned,\nfor that will be so easy,\" but this did not please the audience, and\nanother suggested that they take him to the briar patch, and throw him\ninto the thickest part of the sharp briars to scratch him to pieces,\nto which the Rabbit said, \"Oh, Mr. Fox, please do not allow me to be\nthrown into the briars for they stick and scratch me so much that I\ncould never stand the pain\"; and they all with one accord exclaimed,\n\"Throw him in,\" and they threw him into the briars, and the Rabbit\nsped away as fast as he could, saying, \"This is where I was reared,\nthis is my home, and this is all that I could desire.\"\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH EIGHT.\n\nTHE RABBIT AND THE POSSUM AFTER A WIFE.\n\n\nThe Rabbit and the Possum each wanted a wife, but no one would marry\neither of them. They talked the matter over 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 wives.\"\n\nThe Possum thought this a fine plan, so they started off together\nto the next town. As the Rabbit traveled faster he got there first\nand waited outside until the people noticed him and took him into the\ntown-house. When the chief came to ask him his business the Rabbit said\nhe brought an important message 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, whereupon every animal\ntook a mate at 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.\n\nThe Rabbit pretended to feel sorry for him and said, \"Never mind, I'll\ncarry the message to the people in the next settlement, and you hurry\non as fast as you can, and this time you will get your wife.\" So he\nwent on to the next town, and the Possum followed close after him. But\nwhen the Rabbit got to the town-house, he sent out the word that, as\nthere had been peace so long there that everybody was getting lazy,\nthe council had ordered that there must be war at once, and they must\nbegin right in the town-house. 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 place.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH NINE.\n\nHOW THE TURKEY GOT HIS BEARD.\n\n\nWhen the Terrapin won the race from the Rabbit (see Myth Six) all\nthe animals wondered and talked about it a great deal, because they\nhad always thought the Terrapin slow, although they knew that he was\na warrior and had many conjuring secrets besides.\n\nBut the Turkey was not satisfied, and told the others that there must\nbe some trick about it. Said he, \"I know the Terrapin can't run--he\ncan hardly crawl--and I'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 ahead\nagain. \"Oh, that looks very nice,\" said the Terrapin. But the Turkey\nkept on walking, and the Terrapin called to him to bring back the\nscalp, but he only walked the faster and broke into a run.\n\nThen the Terrapin got out his bow and by his conjuring art shot a\nnumber of cane splits into the Turkey's legs, to cripple him so he\ncould not run, which accounts for all the many bones in the Turkey's\nlegs, that are of no use whatever; but the Terrapin never caught the\nTurkey, who still wears the scalp from his neck.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TEN.\n\nWHY THE TURKEY GOBBLES.\n\n\nA long time ago the Grouse had a fine voice and a good halloo in\nthe ball play. 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 of\ntoday. The Turkey had a poor voice, so he asked the Grouse to give\nhim lessons. The Grouse agreed to teach him, but wanted pay for\nhis trouble, and the Turkey promised to give him some feathers to\nmake him a collar. This is how the Grouse got his collar of turkey\nfeathers. They began the lessons, and the Turkey learned very fast\nuntil the Grouse thought it was time for the Turkey to try his\nvoice. \"Now,\" said the Grouse, \"I'll stand on this hollow log, and\nwhen I give the signal by tapping on it, you must halloo as loudly as\nyou can.\" So he got upon the log ready to tap on it, as a Grouse does,\nbut when he gave the signal the Turkey was so eager and excited that\nhe could not raise his voice for a shout, but only gobbled, and ever\nsince then he gobbles whenever he hears a noise.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH ELEVEN.\n\nHOW THE KINGFISHER GOT HIS BILL.\n\n\nSome old men tell us that the Kingfisher was meant in the beginning\nto be a water bird, but as he had not been given either web feet or\na good bill he could not make a living.\n\nThe animals held a council over it and decided to make him a bill\nlike a long sharp awl for a fish-gig or spear.\n\nThey made him a fish-gig and fastened it on in front of his mouth. Me\nflew to the top of a tree, sailed out and darted down into the water,\nand came up with a fish on his gig; and he has been the best gigger\never since.\n\nOthers say it was this way: A Blacksnake found a yellow-hammer's nest\nin a hollow tree, and after swallowing the young birds, coiled up in\nthe nest to sleep, and when the mother bird found him there, she went\nfor help to the Little People, who sent her to the Kingfisher. He\ncame, and after flying back and forth past the hole a few times,\nmade one dart at the snake and pulled him out dead.\n\nWhen they looked they found a hole in the snake's head where the\nKingfisher had pierced it with a slender tugaluna fish, which he\ncarried in his bill like a lance. From this the Little People concluded\nthat he would make a first-class gigger if he only had the right spear,\nso they gave him his long bill as a reward, and he has ever since been\nknown among all the fowls and animals as the best fisherman among them.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWELVE.\n\nHOW THE PARTRIDGE GOT HIS WHISTLE.\n\n\nIn the old days, when the world was new, the Terrapin had a fine\nwhistle, but the Partridge had none. The Terrapin was constantly\ngoing about whistling and showing his whistle to the other animals,\nuntil the Partridge became jealous, so one day when they met, the\nPartridge asked leave of the Terrapin to try the whistle.\n\nThe Terrapin was afraid to risk it at first, suspecting some trick,\nbut the 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.\n\nThe Terrapin never recovered his whistle, and from that and the loss\nof his scalp, which was stolen from him by the Turkey, he grew ashamed\nto be seen, and ever since then he shuts himself up in his box when\nanyone comes near him.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTEEN.\n\nHOW THE RED BIRD GOT HIS COLOR.\n\n\nA Raccoon passing a Wolf one day made several insulting remarks,\nuntil at last the Wolf became angry and turned and chased him. The\nRaccoon ran his best, and managed to reach a tree by the river side\nbefore the Wolf came up. He climbed the tree and stretched out on\na limb overhanging the water. When the Wolf arrived, he saw the\nreflection in the water, and, thinking it was the Raccoon, jumped\nat it and was nearly drowned before he could scramble out again,\nall wet and dripping. He lay down on the bank to dry and fell asleep,\nand while he was sleeping the Raccoon came down the tree and got some\nblue-pipe clay and plastered his eyes so that he could not open them\nand he began to howl and make a whining noise.\n\nA little brown bird came along and hearing the Wolf crying, asked\nwhat was the matter. The Wolf told his story and said: \"If you will\nget my eyes open, I will show you where to get some nice red paint\nto paint yourself.\" \"All right,\" said the brown bird; so he began to\npeck at the mud and soon got his eyes open. Then the Wolf took him\nto a rock that had streaks of bright red paint running through it,\nand the little bird painted himself with it, and has ever since been\nknown as the Red-bird.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH FOURTEEN.\n\nTHE PHEASANT BEATING CORN, THE ORIGIN OF THE PHEASANT DANCE.\n\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\nIn the Pheasant dance, a part of the Green-Corn dance, the instrument\nused is a drum, and the dancers beat the ground with their feet in\nimitation of the drumming sound made by the Pheasant.\n\nThey form two concentric circles, the men beginning on the inside,\nfacing the women in the outer circle; each in turn advancing and\nretreating at the signal of the drummer, who sits at one side and\nsings the Pheasant songs. According to the story, there was once a\nwinter famine among the birds and animals. No mast could be found in\nthe woods, and they were near starvation when a Pheasant discovered a\nholly tree, loaded with red berries, which the Pheasant is very fond\nof. He called his companions, and they formed a circle about the tree,\nsinging, dancing and drumming with their wings in token of their joy,\nand thus originated the Pheasant dance.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH FIFTEEN.\n\nTHE RACE BETWEEN THE CRANE AND THE HUMMING-BIRD.\n\n\nThe Humming-Bird and the Crane were both in love with a pretty\nwoman. She preferred the Humming-bird, who was as handsome as the\nCrane was awkward, but the Crane was so persistent that in order\nto get rid of him she finally told him he must challenge the other\nto a race and she would marry the winner. The Humming-bird was so\nswift--almost like a flash of lightning--and the Crane so slow and\nheavy, that she felt sure that the Humming-bird would win. She did\nnot know that the Crane could fly all 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\nthe woman. At the word the Humming-bird darted off like an arrow and\nwas out of sight in a moment, leaving his rival to follow heavily\nbehind. He flew all day, and when evening came and he stopped to\nroost for the night he was far ahead. But the Crane flew steadily\nall night, passing the humming-bird soon after midnight, and going\non until he came to a creek and stopped to rest about daybreak. The\nHumming-bird woke up in the morning and flew on again, thinking how\neasily he would win the race, until he reached the creek, and there\nfound the Crane spearing tadpoles, with his long bill, for breakfast.\n\nHe was very much surprised and wondered how this could have happened,\nbut he flew swiftly by and soon left the Crane out of sight again. The\nCrane finished his breakfast and started on, and when evening came\nhe kept on as before.\n\nThis time it was hardly midnight when he passed the Humming-bird\nasleep on a limb, and in the morning he had finished his breakfast\nbefore the other came up. The next day he gained a little more,\nand on the fourth day he was spearing tadpoles for dinner when the\nHumming-bird passed him. On the fifth and sixth days it was late in\nthe afternoon before the Humming-bird came up, and, on the morning\nof the seventh day the Crane was a whole night's travel ahead.\n\nHe took his time at breakfast and then fixed himself up as nicely\nas he could at the creek and came in at the starting place where the\nwoman lived, early in the morning.\n\nWhen the Humming-bird arrived in the afternoon he found that he had\nlost the race, but the woman declared she would never have such an\nugly fellow for a husband as the Crane.\n\nMoral. Beware of fine feathers.\n\n\n\n\n\nSNAKE, FISH AND INSECT MYTHS.\n\n\nMYTH SIXTEEN.\n\nTHE SNAKE TRIBE.\n\n\nThe generic name for snake is inadu. They are all regarded as\ninaduwehi, \"supernaturals,\" having an intimate connection with the\nrain and the thunder gods, and possessing a certain influence over the\nother animals 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\nby the others. The feeling toward snakes is one mingled with fear\nand reverence, and every precaution is taken to avoid the killing\nor offending one, especially the rattlesnake. He who kills a snake\nwill soon see others; and should he kill a second one, so many will\ncome around him, whichever way he may turn, that he will become dazed\nat the sight of their glistening eyes and darting tongues, and will\ngo wandering about like a crazy man, unable to find his way out of\nthe woods.\n\nTo guard 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 Unikawi or\ntown-house dance, are offensive to the snakes and make them angry. For\nthis reason the Unikawi 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 the actual bite, because it is the 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 briar.\" Most of the\nbeliefs and customs in this connection have more special reference\nto the rattlesnake.\n\nThe rattlesnake is called utsanati, which may be rendered, \"he\nhas a bell,\" alluding to the rattles. According to their myths the\nrattlesnake was once a man, and was transformed to his present shape\nthat he might save the human race from extermination by the Sun,\na mission which he accomplished successfully after others had failed.\n\nBy the old men he is also spoken of as \"The Thunder's Necklace,\"\nand to kill one is to destroy one of the most prized ornaments of\nthe Thunder-god. In one of the formulas addressed to the Little Men,\nthe sons of the Thunder, they are implored to take the disease snake\nto themselves, because, \"It is just what you adorn yourselves with.\"\n\nFor obvious reasons the rattlesnake is regarded as the chief of the\ntribe and is feared and respected accordingly. Few Cherokee will\nventure to kill one except under absolute necessity, and even then\nthe crime must be atoned for by asking pardon of the snake ghost,\neither through the mediation of a priest or in person according to\na set formula.\n\nOtherwise, the relatives of the dead snake will send one of their\nnumber to track up the offender and bite him, so that he will die. The\nonly thing of which it is said that the rattlesnake is afraid is the\nplant known as campion, or \"rattlesnake's master\" (Silene Stella),\nwhich is used by doctors to counteract the effect of the bite, and\nit is believed that a snake will flee in terror from the hunter who\ncarries a small piece of the root about his person.\n\nNotwithstanding the fear of the rattlesnake, his rattles, teeth,\nflesh and oil are greatly prized for occult or medical uses, the\nsnake being killed for this purpose by certain priests who know the\nnecessary rites and formulas for obtaining pardon.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH SEVENTEEN.\n\nTHE UKTENA AND THE ULUNSUTI.\n\n\nLong ago--hilahiyu--when the Sun became angry at the people on earth,\nand sent a sickness to destroy them, the Little Men changed a man\ninto a monster snake, as large as the trunk of a tree, with horns,\nwhich they called the Uktena, \"The Keen-eyed,\" and sent him to kill\nher. He failed to do the work, and the Rattlesnake had to be sent\ninstead, which made the Uktena so jealous and angry that the people\nwere afraid of him and had him taken to Galunlati, to stay with the\nother dangerous things. He left others behind him, though, nearly\nas large and dangerous as himself, and they hide now in the deep\npools in the river and about lonely passes in the high mountains,\nthe places which the Cherokee call, \"Where the Uktena stays.\"\n\nThose who know say that the Uktena with its horns on its head has\na bright blazing crest like a diamond upon its forehead, and scales\nglittering like sparks of fire upon its body. It has rings or spots\nalong its whole length, and cannot be wounded except by shooting in\nthe seventh spot from the head because under this spot are its heart\nand its life.\n\nThe blazing spot is called Ulunsuti, \"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. Of all the daring warriors\nwho have started out in search of Ulunsu'ti only Agan-uni-tsi ever\ncame back successful.\n\nThe East Cherokee still keeps the one that he bought. It is like a\ntransparent crystal, nearly the shape of a cartridge bullet, with\nblood-red streaks running thru the center from top to bottom. The\nowner keeps it wrapped in a whole deerskin, inside an earthen vessel,\nhidden away in a secret cave in the mountains.\n\nEvery seven days he feeds it with the blood of small game, rubbing\nthe blood all over the crystal as soon as the animal has been\nkilled. Twice a year it must have the blood of a deer or some other\nlarge animal. Should he forget to feed it at the proper time it would\ncome out of the cave at night in a shape of fire and fly thru the\nair to slake its thirst with the life blood of the conjurer or some\nof his people.\n\nHe may save himself from this danger by telling it, when he puts it\naway, that he will not need it again for a long time. It will then go\nquietly to sleep and feel no hunger until it is again brought out to\nbe consulted. Then it must be fed again on blood before it is used. No\nwhite man must ever see it, and no person but the owner will venture\nnear it for fear of sudden death.\n\nEven the conjurer who keeps it is afraid of it, and changes its hiding\nplace every once in a while so that it cannot learn the way out. When\nhe dies it will be buried with him. Otherwise, it will come out of\nits cave, like a blazing star, to search for his grave, night after\nnight for seven years, when, if still not able to find him, it will\ngo back to sleep forever where he has placed it.\n\nWhoever owns the Ulunsuti 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 the battle, or whether the youth\nwill live to be old.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH EIGHTEEN.\n\nAGAN-UNI-TSI'S SEARCH FOR THE UKTENA.\n\n\nIn one of their battles with the Showano, who are all magicians, the\nCherokee captured a great medicine-man, whose name was Agan-uni-tsi,\n\"The Ground-Hog's Mother.\" They had tied him ready for the torture\nwhen he begged for his life, and engaged, if they spared him, to find\nfor them the great wonder-worker, the Ulunsuti. Now, the Ulunsuti 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 that this could not be, because it was certain\ndeath to meet the Uktena. They warned him of all this, but he only\nanswered that his medicine was strong and that he was not afraid. So\nthey gave him his 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\nrange on the far northern border of the Cherokee country. He searched\nthere and found 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.\n\nComing southward to the next gap he found there a moccasin snake,\nthe largest ever seen, but when the people wondered he said it was\nnothing. In the next gap he found a green snake and called the people\nto see it, (the pretty salikwaya), but when they found an immense\ngreensnake coiled up in the path they ran away in fear.\n\nComing on to Utawa-gun-ti, the Bald mountain, he found there a great\ndiyahali (lizard) basking, but, although it was large and terrible to\nlook at, it was not what he was looking for and he paid no attention to\nit. Going still further south to Walasi-yi, the Frog place, he found\na great frog squatting in the gap but when the people who came to see\nit were frightened like the others and ran away from the monster he\nmocked at them for being afraid of a frog and went on to the next gap.\n\nHe went on to Duni-skwa-lgun-yi, the Gap of the Forked Antler, and to\nthe enchanted lake of Atagahi, and at each he found monstrous reptiles,\nbut he said they were nothing.\n\nHe thought that the Uktena might be hiding in the deep water at\nTlanusiyi, the Leech place, on Hiwassee, where other strange things\nhad been seen before, and going there he dived far down under the\nsurface. He saw turtles and water snakes, and two immense sun-perches\nrushed at him and retreated again, but that was all.\n\nOther places he tried, going always southward, and at last on Gahuti\nmountain he found the Uktena asleep.\n\nTurning without noise, he ran swiftly down the mountainside as far\nas he could go with one long breath, nearly to the bottom of the\nslope. Then he stopped and piled up a lot of pine-cones, and inside\nof it he dug a deep trench. Then he set fire to the cones and came\nback again up the mountain.\n\nThe Uktena was still asleep, and, putting an arrow to his bow,\nAgan-uni-tsi shot and sent the arrow through its heart, which was\nunder the seventh spot from the serpent's head.\n\nThe great snake raised his head, with the diamond in front flashing\nfire, and came straight at his enemy, but the magician, turning\nquickly, ran at full speed down the mountain, cleared the circle\nof fire and the trench at one bound, and lay down on the ground\ninside. The Uktena tried to follow, but the arrow was thru his heart,\nand in another moment he rolled over in his death struggle, spitting\npoison over all the mountainside. The poison drops could not pass the\ncircle of fire, but only hissed and sputtered in the blaze, and the\nmagician on the inside was untouched except by one small drop which\nstruck upon his head as he lay close to the ground; but he did not\nknow it. The blood, too, as poisonous as the froth, poured from the\nUktena's wound and down the slope in a stream, but it ran into the\ntrench and left him unharmed.\n\nThe dying monster rolled over and over down the mountain, breaking down\nlarge trees in its path until it reached the bottom. Then Agan-uni-tsi\ncalled every bird in all the woods to come to the feast, and so many\ncame that when they were done not even the bones were left. After\nseven days he went by night to the spot.\n\nThe body and the bones of the snake were gone, all eaten by the birds,\nbut he saw a bright light shining in the darkness, and going over\nto it he found, resting on a low-hanging branch, where a raven had\ndropped it, the diamond from the head of Uktena. He wrapped it up\ncarefully and took it with him, and from that time he became the\ngreatest medicine-man in the whole tribe.\n\nWhen he came down again to the settlement the people noticed a small\nsnake hanging from his head where the single drop of poison from the\nUktena had struck him; but so long as he lived he himself never knew\nthat 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\n\nMYTH NINETEEN.\n\nTHE RED MAN AND THE UKTENA.\n\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 thru the brush 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 thru 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 Asgaya Gigagei, the Red Man of\nthe Lightning. He said to the hunter: \"You have helped me, and now I\nwill reward you, and give you a medicine so that you can always find\ngame.\" They waited until it was dark, and then went down the ridge\nto where the dead Uktena had rolled, but by this time the birds and\nthe insects had eaten the body and only the bones were left.\n\nIn one place were flashes of light coming up from the ground, and on\ndigging here, just under the surface, the Red Man found a scale of\nthe Uktena. Next he went over to the tree that had been struck by\nlightning, and gathering a handful of splinters he made a fire and\nburned the scale of the Uktena to a coal. He wrapped this in a piece\nof deerskin and gave it to the hunter, saying: \"As long as you keep\nthis you can always kill game.\"\n\nThen he told the hunter that when he went back to camp he must hang\nup the medicine on a tree outside, because it was very strong and\ndangerous. He told him also that when he went into the cabin he would\nfind his brother lying inside nearly dead on account of the presence\nof the Uktena scale, but he must take a small piece of cane, which\nthe Red Man gave him, and scrape a little of it into water and give\nit to his brother to drink, and he would be well again.\n\nThen the Red Man was gone, and the hunter could not see where he\nwent. 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\n\nMYTH TWENTY.\n\nTHE HUNTER AND THE UKSUHI.\n\n\nA man living down in Georgia came to visit some relatives at\nHickory-log. He was a great hunter, and after resting for some days,\ngot ready to go into the mountains. His friends warned him not to go\ntoward the north, as in that direction, near a certain large uprooted\ntree, there lived a dangerous monster Uksuhi snake.\n\nIt kept constant watch, and whenever it could spring upon an unwary\nhunter it would coil about him and crush out his life in its folds,\nand then drag the dead body down the mountainside into a deep hole in\nHiwassee river. He listened quietly to the warning, but all they said\nonly made him the more anxious to see such a monster, so, without\nsaying anything of his intentions, he left the settlement and took\nhis way directly up the mountain toward the north.\n\nSoon he came to the fallen tree and climbed upon the trunk, and there,\nsure enough, on the other side was the great Uksuhi stretched out in\nthe grass, with its head raised, but looking the other way.\n\nIt was as large as a common trunk of a tree, and at the sight of this\nterrible monster the hunter became so much frightened that he made\nhaste to get down from the log and started to run; but the great snake\nhad heard him approach, and the noise as he started to make his escape,\nwhereupon it turned quickly and pursued him.\n\nUp the ridge the hunter ran, the snake close behind him, then down\nthe other side toward the river, but with all his running the Uksuhi\ngained rapidly, and just as he reached the low ground it caught up\nwith him and wrapped around him, pinning one arm down by his side,\nbut leaving the other free. Now, it gave him a terrible squeeze that\nalmost broke his ribs, and then began to drag him along toward the\nwater. With his free hand the hunter began to clutch at the bushes\nas they passed, but the snake turned his head and blew its sickening\nbreath into his face, until he had to let go his hold.\n\nAgain and again this happened, and all the time they were getting\nnearer and nearer to a deep hole in the river, when, almost at the last\nmoment, a lucky thought came into the hunter's mind. He was sweating\nall over from his run across the mountain, and suddenly remembered to\nhave heard that snakes cannot bear the smell of perspiration. Putting\nhis free hand into his bosom he worked it around under his armpit\nuntil it was covered with perspiration. Then withdrawing it, he\ngrasped at a bush until the snake turned its head, when he quickly\nslapped his sweaty hand on its nose. The Uksuhi gave one gasp almost\nas if it had been wounded, loosened its coil, and glided swiftly\naway thru the bushes, leaving the hunter, bruised but not disabled,\nto make his way home to the Hickory-log.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-ONE.\n\nTHE USTUTLI.\n\n\nThere was once a great serpent, called the Ustutli, that made its\nhaunt upon Cohutta mountain. It was called the Ustutli or \"foot\" snake,\nbecause it did not glide like other snakes, but had feet at each end of\nits body, and moved by strides or jerks, like a great measuring worm.\n\nThese feet were three-cornered and flat and could hold to the ground\nlike suckers. It had no legs, but would raise itself up on its hind\nfeet, with its snaky head high in the air until it found a good place\nto take a fresh hold; then it would bend down and grip its front feet\nto the ground while it drew its body up from behind.\n\nIt could cross rivers and deep ravines by throwing its head across,\nand getting a grip with its front feet, and then swing its body\nover. Wherever its footprints were found there was danger.\n\nIt used 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\nUstutli'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 awhile that not a hunter about Cohutta would\nventure near the mountain for dread of the Ustutli.\n\nAt last a man from one of the northern settlements came down to visit\nsome relatives in that neighborhood. When he arrived they made a feast\nfor him, but only had corn and beans, and excused themselves for having\nno meat 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\ntomorrow and either bring in a deer or find the Ustutli. They tried\nto dissuade him from it, but as he insisted upon going they warned\nhim that if a fawn bleated in the thicket he must run at once and if\nthe 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 to the\nmountain. Working his way thru the bushes at the base, he suddenly\nheard a fawn bleat in front. He guessed at once that it was the\nUstutli, but he had made up his mind to see it, so he did not\nturn back, but went straight forward, and there, sure enough, was\nthe monster, with its great head in the air, as high as the pine\nbranches, looking in every direction to discover a deer, or maybe\na man, for breakfast. It saw him and came at him at once, moving\nin jerky strides, every one the length of a tree trunk, holding its\nscaly head high above the bushes and bleating as it came. The hunter\nwas so badly frightened that he lost his wits entirely and started\nto run directly up the mountain.\n\nThe great snake came after him, gaining half its length on him\nevery time it took a fresh grip with its fore feet, and would have\ncaught the hunter before he reached the top of the ridge, but that he\nsuddenly remembered the warning and changed his course to run along\nthe side of the mountain. At once the snake began to lose ground,\nfor every time it raised itself up the weight of its body threw it\nout of a straight line and made it fall a little lower down the side\nof the ridge. It tried to recover itself, but now the hunter gained\nand kept on until he turned the end of the ridge and left the snake\nout of sight. Then he cautiously climbed to the top and looked over\nand saw the Ustutli still slowly working its 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.\n\nWhen the great serpent smelled the smoke and saw the flames coming,\nit forgot all about the hunter and turned to make all speed for a\nhigh cliff near the summit. It reached the rock and got upon it,\nbut the fire followed and caught the dead pines about the base of\nthe cliff until the heat made the Ustutli's scales crack.\n\nTaking a close grip of the rock with its hind feet, it raised its\nbody and put forth all its strength in an effort to spring across\nthe wall of fire that surrounded it, but the smoke choked it and its\nhold loosened and it fell among the blazing pine trunks and lay there\nuntil it was burned to ashes.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-TWO.\n\nTHE UWTSUNTA.\n\n\nAt Nundayeli, the wildest spot in 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 Uwtsunta (or bouncer), because it moved by jerks like a\nmeasuring worm, with only one part of its body on the ground at a\ntime. It stayed generally on the east side, where the sun came first\nin the morning, and used to cross by reaching over from the highest\npoint of the cliff until it could get a grip on the other side,\nwhen it would pull over the rest of its body.\n\nIt was so immense that when it was thus stretched across, its shadow\ndarkened the whole valley below.\n\nFor a long time the people did not know it was there, but when at\nlast they found out that such a monster inhabited the country, they\nwere afraid to live in the valley, so that it was deserted long before\nthe Indians were removed from the country.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-THREE.\n\nTHE SNAKE BOY.\n\n\nThere was a boy who used to go bird hunting every day, and all the\nbirds he brought home to give 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 he\nwould leave them all, but that she must not grieve for him.\n\nNext morning he refused to eat any breakfast, but went off hungry to\nthe woods and was gone all day. In the evening he returned, bringing\nwith him a pair of deer horns, and went directly to the hothouse\n(Asi), where his grandmother was waiting for him. He told the old\nwoman that he must be alone that night, so she got up and went into\nthe house where the 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 Asi, with horns on\nits head, but still with two human legs instead of a snake's tail.\n\nIt was all that was left of her boy. He spoke to her and told her to\nleave him, and she went away again from the door. When the sun was\nwell up, the Uktena began slowly to crawl out, but it was full noon\nbefore it was all out of the Asi. It made a terrible hissing noise\nas it came out, and all the people ran from it.\n\nIt crawled on thru the settlement, leaving a broad trail in the ground\nbehind it, until it came to a deep bend in the river, where it plunged\nin and went under the water.\n\nThe grandmother grieved much for the boy, until the others of the\nfamily got angry and told her that she thought so much of him that\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\n\nMYTH TWENTY-FOUR.\n\nTHE SNAKE MAN.\n\n\nTwo hunters, both for some reason under a tabu against the meat of\na squirrel 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.\n\nHis companion warned him that if he broke the tabu and ate squirrel\nmeat he would become a snake, but the other laughed and said that was\nonly a conjurer's story. He went on with the preparation, and when\nthe squirrels were roasted made his supper of them and then lay down\nby the fire to 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 watersnake. The man was still able to speak and\ncall loudly for help, but his companion could do nothing, but only sit\nby and try to comfort him while he watched the arms sink into his body\nand the skin take on a scaly change that mounted gradually toward the\nneck, until at last even the head was a serpent's head and the great\nsnake crawled away from the fire and down the bank into the river,\nand was never seen again.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-FIVE.\n\nTHE RATTLESNAKE'S REVENGE.\n\n\nOne day in the olden times, when we could still talk with other\ncreatures, while some children were playing about the house, their\nmother inside heard them scream. Running outside she found that a\nrattlesnake had crawled from the grass, and taking up a stick she\nkilled it. The father was out hunting in the mountains, and that\nevening when coming home after dark thru the gap, he heard a strange\nwailing sound. Looking about he found that he had come into the midst\nof a whole company of rattlesnakes, all of which 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 spoke\nthe truth that 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 fresh drink of water from the\nspring. That was all. He went home and knew that the Black Rattlesnake\nwas following. It was night when he arrived and very dark, but he found\nhis wife waiting with his supper ready. He sat down and asked for a\ndrink of water. She handed him a gourd full from the jar, but he said\nhe wanted it fresh from the spring, so she took a bowl and went out of\nthe door. The next moment he heard a cry, and going out he found that\nthe Black Rattlesnake had bitten her and that she was already dying.\n\nHe stayed with her until she was dead, when the Black Rattlesnake\ncame out from the grass again and said his tribe was now satisfied.\n\nHe then taught the hunter a prayer song, and said, \"When you meet\nany of us hereafter sing this song and we will not hurt you; but if\nby accident one of us should bite one of your tribe, then sing this\nsong over him and he will recover.\" And the Cherokee have kept this\nsong and sing it until this day.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-SIX.\n\nTHE NEST OF THE TLANUWAS.\n\n\nOn the north bank of Little Tennessee river, in a bend below the\nmouth of Citico creek, in Blount County, Tennessee, is a high cliff\nhanging over the water, and about half way up the face of the rock is\na cave with two openings. The rock projects outward above the cave,\nso that the mouth cannot be seen from above, and it seems impossible\nto reach the cave either from above or below.\n\nThere are white streaks in the rock from the cave down to the\nwater. The Cherokee call it Tlanuwai (the place of the Great Mythic\nHawk).\n\nIn the old time, away back soon after the creation, a pair of Tlanuwas\nhad their nest in this cave. They were immense birds, larger than\nany that live now, and very strong and savage.\n\nThey were forever flying up and down the river, and used to come into\nthe settlements and carry off dogs and even young children playing\nnear the houses. No one could reach the nest to kill them, and when\nthe people tried to shoot them the arrows only glanced off and were\nseized and carried away in the talons of the Tlanuwas.\n\nAt last the people went to a great medicine man, who promised to\nhelp them. Some were afraid that if he failed to kill the Tlanuwas\nthey would take revenge on the people, but the medicine man said he\ncould fix that. He made a long rope of linn bark, just as the Cherokee\nstill do, with loops in it for his feet, and had the people let him\ndown from the top of the cliff at a time when he knew that the old\nbirds were away.\n\nWhen he came opposite the mouth of the cave he still could not reach\nit, because the rocks above hung over, so he swung himself backward\nand forward several times until the rope swung near enough for him\nto pull himself into the cave with a hooked stick that he carried,\nwhich he managed to fasten in some bushes growing at the entrance.\n\nIn the nest he found four young ones, and on the floor of the cave\nwere the bones of all sorts of animals and children that had been\ncarried there by the hawks. He pulled the young ones out of the nest\nand threw them over the cliff into the deep water below, where a\ngreat Uktena serpent that lived there finished them.\n\nJust then he saw the two old ones coming, and had hardly time to\nclimb up again to the top of the rock before they 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 its head from the\nwater. Then they darted straight downward, and while one seized the\nsnake in his talons and flew far up in the sky with it, his mate struck\nat it and bit off piece after piece until nothing was left. They were\nso high up that when the pieces fell they made holes in the rocks,\nwhich are still to be seen there, at the place which we call, \"Where\nthe Tlanuwa cut it up,\" opposite the mouth of Citico. Then the two\nhawks circled up and up until they went out of sight, and they have\nnever been seen any more.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-SEVEN.\n\nTHE HUNTER AND THE TLANUWA.\n\n\nA hunter out in the woods one day saw a Tlanuwa 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\nup into the air. As it flew, the Tlanuwa, 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 awhile with her young ones\nto guard them until they were old enough to leave the nest.\n\nAt last they alighted at the mouth of a cave in the face of a steep\ncliff. Inside, the water was dripping from the roof, and at the\nfarther end was a nest of sticks in which were two young birds.\n\nThe old Tlanuwa set the hunter down and then flew away, returning\nsoon with a fresh-killed deer, which it tore to pieces, giving the\nfirst piece to the hunter and then feeding the two young hawks.\n\nThe hunter stayed in the cave for many days until the young birds\nwere nearly grown, and every day the old mother bird would fly away\nfrom the nest and return in the evening with a deer or a bear, of\nwhich she always gave the first piece to the hunter. He grew very\nanxious to see his home again, but the Tlanuwa kept telling him not\nto be uneasy, but to wait a little while longer. At last he made up\nhis mind to escape from the cave and finally studied out the plan.\n\nThe next morning, after the great hawk had gone, he dragged one of\nthe young birds to the mouth of the cave and tied himself to one of\nits legs with a strap from his hunting pack. Then with the flat side\nof the tomahawk he struck it several times on the head until it was\ndazed and helpless, then pushed the bird and himself together off\nthe shelf of rock into the air. They fell far, far down toward the\nearth, but the air from below held up the bird's wings, so that it\nwas almost as if they were flying. As the Tlanuwa revived it tried\nto fly upward toward the nest, but the hunter struck it again with\nhis hatchet until it was dazed and dropped again.\n\nAt last they came down in the top of a poplar tree, when the hunter\ncut the strap from the leg of the bird and let it fly away, first\npulling out a feather from its wing. He climbed down from the tree\nand went home to the settlement, but when he looked in his pack for\nthe feather, he found that he only had a stone, for the Great Mythic\nHawk had power to turn many objects into whatever it pleased.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-EIGHT.\n\nUTLUNTA, THE SPEAR FINGER.\n\n\nLong, long ago, there lived in the mountains a terrible ogress,\na woman monster, whose food was human livers. She could take on any\nshape that she pleased, or that suited her purpose, but in her right\nform she looked very much like an old woman, excepting that her whole\nbody was covered with a skin as hard as a rock, that no weapon could\nwound or penetrate, and that on her right hand she had a long, stony\nfinger of bone, like an awl or spear-head, with which she stabbed\neveryone to whom she could get near enough. On account of this fact\nshe was called Utlunta, \"Spear Finger,\" and on account of her stony\nskin she was sometimes called Nunyunuwi, \"Stone-dress.\"\n\nThere was another stone-clothed monster that killed people, but that\nis a different story.\n\nSpear-finger had such power over stone that she could easily lift and\ncarry immense rocks, and could cement them together by merely striking\none against another. To get over the rough country more easily she\nundertook to build a great bridge through the air from Nunyutlugunyi,\nthe \"Tree Rock,\" on Hiwassee, over to Sanigilagi (Whiteside Mountain,\nin Jackson County, North Carolina,) on the Blue Ridge, and had it well\nstarted from the top of \"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.\n\nShe used to range all over the mountains about the heads of the streams\nand in the dark passes of Nantahala, always hungry and looking for\nvictims. Her favorite haunt on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky\nMountains was about the gap on the trail where Chilhowee Mountains\ncome down to the river.\n\nSometimes the 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 grand children, come to your\ngranny and let granny dress your hair.\" When some little girl ran up\nand laid her head in the old woman's lap to be petted and combed,\nthe old witch would gently run her fingers thru the child's hair\nuntil it went to sleep, when she would stab the little one thru\nthe heart or back of the neck with the long awl finger, which she\nhad kept hidden under her robe. Then she would take out the liver\nand eat it. She would enter the house by taking the appearance of\none of the family who happened to have gone out for a short time,\nand would watch her chance to stab some one with her long finger\nand take out his liver. She could stab him without being noticed,\nand often the victim did not even know it himself at the time--for it\nleft no wound and caused no pain--but went on about his own affairs,\nuntil all at once he felt weak and began 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,\nto burn 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 she would sneak up and try to surprise one\nalone. So as well as they could they would try to keep together, and\nwere very cautious of allowing any stranger to approach the camp. But\nif one went to the spring for a drink, they never knew but it might\nbe the liver-eater that came back and sat with them. At last a great\ncouncil was held to devise some means to get rid of the old witch\nbefore she should destroy everybody. The people came from all around\nto Nikwasi, (mound now near Franklin, N. C.) and after much talking it\nwas decided that the best way to secure her demise would be to trap her\nin a pitfall where all the warriors could attack her at once. So they\ndug a deep pitfall across the path and covered it over with earth and\ngrass as if the ground had never been disturbed. Then they kindled a\nlarge fire of brush near the trail and hid themselves in the laurels,\nbecause they knew that she would come as soon as she saw the smoke.\n\nSure enough they soon saw an old woman coming along the trail. She\nlooked very much like an old woman that they knew 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 old feeble woman there was\nthe terrible Utlunta 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, the arrows struck the stony\nmail of the witch only to be broken and fall useless at her feet,\nwhile she taunted them and tried to climb out of the pit to get at\nthem. They kept out of her way, but were only wasting their arrows\nwhen a small bird, Utsugi, the titmous, perched on a tree overhead and\nbegan to sing, \"un, un, un.\" They thought it was saying unqhu, heart,\nmeaning that they should aim at the heart of the stone witch. They\ndirected their arrows where the heart should be, but the arrows only\nglanced off with the flint heads broken.\n\nThen they caught the Utsugi and cut off its tongue, so that ever\nsince its tongue is short and everybody knows that it is a liar.\n\nWhen the hunters let it go, it flew straight up into the sky until it\nwas out of sight, and it never came back any more, and the titmouse\nthat we know now is only an image of the other.\n\nThey kept up the fight without result until another bird, little\nTsikilili, the chickadee, flew down from a tree and alighted upon the\nwitch'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\nher hand, which she kept doubled up into a fist, this same awl-hand\nwith which she had stabbed so many people. Now she was frightened\nin earnest, and began to rush furiously at them with her long awl\nfinger, and to jump about in the pit to dodge the arrows, until at\nlast an arrow struck her just where the awl finger joined her wrist\nand she fell down dead. Ever since then the Tsikilili is known as a\ntruth-teller, and when a man is away on a journey, if this bird comes\nand perches near the house and chirps its song, his friends know that\nhe will soon reach his home in safety, and his friends will greet\nhim upon his arrival.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH TWENTY-NINE.\n\nNUNYUNUWI, THE STONE MAN.\n\n\nThis is what the old men used to tell us when we were boys. Once when\nall the people of the settlement were out in the mountains on a great\nhunt, one man who had gone ahead climbed to the top of a high ridge\nand found a large river on the other side.\n\nWhile he was looking across he saw an old man walking about on the\nopposite ridge, with a cane that seemed to be made of some bright,\nshining rock. The hunter watched and saw that every little while the\nold man would point his cane in a certain direction, then draw it\nback and smell the end of it. At last he pointed it in the direction\nof the hunter's camp on the other side of the mountain, and this\ntime when he drew back the staff he sniffed it several times as if\nit smelled very good, and then started along the ridge straight for\nthe camp. He moved very slowly, with the help of the cane, until he\nreached the end of the ridge, when he threw the cane out into the\nair and it became a bridge of shining rock stretching across the river.\n\nAfter he had crossed over upon the bridge it became a cane again\nand the old man picked it up and started over the mountain toward\nthe camp. The hunter was frightened, and felt sure that it meant\nmischief, so he hurried on down the mountain and took the shortest\ntrail back to the camp to get there before the old man. When he got\nthere and told his story the medicine-man said the old man was a\nwicked cannibal monster called Nunyunuwi, \"Dressed in Stone,\" who\nlived in the Nantahala mountains, and was always going about thru\nthe forest looking for some hunter that he might kill and eat him.\n\nIt was very hard to escape from him, because his cane guided him as a\ndog, and it was nearly as hard to kill him, for his body was entirely\ncovered with a skin of solid rock. If he came he would kill and eat\nthem all, and there was only one way to save their lives.\n\nHe could not bear to look upon a woman, and if they could bring to\nthe path seven married women, that the sight of them would kill him,\nand they would rid themselves of him. So they ran swiftly and brought\nquickly as many women as they could find, and placed them along the\ntrail, and when the old man came, he saw one woman standing near the\ntrail and the very sight of her made him sick and he cried out, \"Yu,\nmy grandchild, I hate the sight of woman!\" He hurried past her and in\na moment he saw the second woman standing as he had seen the other,\nand he cried out again, \"Yu! my child; I hate the tribe of women, and\nhe hurried past her, and he continued along the trail until he came\nto the seventh, and by this time he had become so much enraged that\nhe fell down almost dead. Then the medicine-man drove seven sourwood\nswitches through his body and pinned him to the ground, and when night\ncame they piled great logs over him and set fire to them, and all the\npeople gathered around to see. Nunyunuwi was a great adawehi and knew\nmany secrets, and now as the fire came close to him he began to talk,\nand told them the medicine for all kinds of sickness. At midnight\nhe began to sing, and sang the hunting songs for calling up the bear\nand deer and all the animals of the woods and mountains.\n\nAs the blaze grew hotter his voice sank lower and lower, until at\nlast when the daylight came, the logs were a heap of white ashes and\nthe voice was still. Then the medicine-man told them to rake off the\nashes, and where the body had lain they found only a large lump of\nwadi paint and a magic Ulunsuti stone. He kept the stone for himself,\nand calling the people around him he painted them on the face and\nbreast with the red wadi, and whatever each person prayed for while\nthe painting was being done, whether for hunting success, for working\nskill, or for long life--that gift was his.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY.\n\nTHE HUNTER AND DAKWA.\n\n\nIn the old days there was a great fish called the Dakwa, which lived\nin the Tennessee river where Toco creek comes in at Dakwai, 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 on 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\njaws and dived with him to the bottom of the river.\n\nAs soon as the hunter came to his senses he found that he had not been\nhurt, but it was so hot and close inside the Dakwa that he was nearly\nsmothered. As he groped around in the dark his hand struck a lot of\nmussel shells which the fish had swallowed, and taking one of these for\na knife he began to cut his way out, until soon the fish grew uneasy\nat the scraping inside his stomach and came up to the top of the water\nfor air. He kept on cutting until the fish was in such pain that it\nswam this way and that across the stream and thrashed the water into\nfoam with its tail. Finally the hole was so large that he could look\nout, and found that the fish was resting in shallow water near the\nshore. The Dakwa soon became so sick from the wound that it vomited\nthe hunter out of its mouth, and he with the others made their escape\nto Tellico, but the juices in the stomach of the fish made the hair\nfall from the head of the hunter so that he was bald ever after that.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-ONE.\n\nATAGAHI, THE ENCHANTED LAKE.\n\n(This is the scene of the myth upon which the story of Occoneechee\nis founded.)\n\n\nWestward from the headwaters of Oconaluftee river, in the wildest\ndepths of the Great Smoky Mountains, which form the line between North\nCarolina and Tennessee, is the enchanted lake of Atagahi, \"Gall place.\"\n\nAlthough all of the Cherokee know that it is there, no one has ever\nseen it, for the way is so difficult that only the animals know how to\nreach it. Should a stray hunter come near the place he would know of\nit by the whirring sound of the wings of thousands of wild ducks and\npigeons flying about the lake, but on reaching the spot he would find\nonly a dry flat, without bird or animal or blade of grass, unless he\nhad first sharpened his spiritual vision by prayer and fasting and\nan all-night vigil.\n\nBecause the lake is not seen, some people think that the lake is dried\nup long ago, but this is not true. To one that had kept watch and\nfasted all the night it would appear at daybreak as a wide-extending,\nbut shallow sheet of pure 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 of\nducks and pigeons, while all about the shore are bear tracks crossing\nin every direction. It is the medicine lake of the birds and animals,\nand whenever a bear is wounded by the hunter he makes his way thru\nthe woods to this lake and plunges into the water, and when he comes\nout upon the other side his wounds are healed, and for this reason\nthe animals keep the lake invisible to the hunter.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-TWO.\n\nTHE BRIDE FROM THE SOUTH.\n\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 will all freeze to death.\" The North pleaded\nhard, and said if they would let him have their daughter, he would\ntake her back to his own country, so at last they consented.\n\nThey were married and he took his bride back to his own country,\nand when they arrived there she found the people all living in ice\nhouses. The next day, when the sun rose, the houses began to leak,\nand as it climbed higher the houses began to melt, and it grew warmer\nand warmer, until finally the people came to the young husband and told\nhim he must send his wife home again, or the weather would get so warm\nthat the whole settlement would be melted. He loved his wife and so\nheld out as long as he could, but as the sun grew hotter the people\nwere more urgent, and at last he had to send her home to her parents,\nbut they agreed that she might return once a year for a short season,\nbut that she should never come to live in the North again, for as she\nwas reared in the South, that her whole nature was warm and that she\nwas unfit to dwell in the North.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-THREE.\n\nTHE ICE MAN.\n\n\nOnce when the people were burning the woods in the fall, and 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 that 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. At last some one said there was a\nman living in a house of ice far in the north who could put out the\nfire, so messengers were sent, and after traveling a long distance\nthey came to the ice house and found the Ice Man at home. He was\na little fellow with long hair hanging down to the ground in two\nplaits. The messengers told him their errand and he at once said,\n\"O yes, I can help you,\" and began to unplait his hair.\n\nWhen it was once all unbraided he took it up in one hand and struck\nit once across the other hand, and the messengers felt the 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 rain drops,\nand when he struck the fourth time great hailstones fell upon the\nground, as if they had come out from the ends of the hair. \"Go back\nnow,\" said the Ice Man, \"and I shall be there tomorrow.\"\n\nSo the messengers returned to their people, whom they found still\ngathered helplessly about the great burning pit. The next day while\nthey were all gathered about the fire, there came a wind from the\nnorth, and they were afraid, for they knew that it came from the\nIce Man. But the wind only made the fire blaze higher. The light\nrain began to fall, but the drops seemed only to make the fire\nhotter. Then the shower turned to a heavy rain, with sleet and hail\nthat killed the blaze and made clouds of smoke and steam rise from the\nred coals. The people fled to their homes for shelter, and the storm\nrose to a whirlwind that drove the rain into every burning crevice\nand piled great hailstones over the embers, until the fire was dead\nand even the smoke ceased. When at last it was all over, and the\npeople 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\n\nMYTH THIRTY-FOUR.\n\nTHE HUNTER AND SELU.\n\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\nto sleep, tired out and completely discouraged.\n\nAbout the middle of the night he dreamed and seemed to hear the sound\nof beautiful singing, which continued until near daybreak, and then\nappeared to die away in the upper air.\n\nAll the next day he hunted, with the same poor success, and at night\nmade his lonely camp in the woods. He slept, and the same strange\ndream came again, but so vividly that it seemed to him like an actual\nhappening. Rousing himself before daylight, he still heard the same\nsong, and feeling sure now that it was real, he went in the direction\nof the sound and found that it came from a single green stalk of corn\n(selu).\n\nThe plant spoke to him, and told him to cut off some of its roots\nand take them to his home in the settlement, and the next morning\nto chew them and \"go to water\" before anyone else was awake, and\nthen 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.\n\nThe corn plant continued to talk, teaching him hunting secrets and\ntelling him to be always generous with the game he took, until it was\nnoon and the sun was high, when it suddenly took the form of a woman\nand rose gracefully into the air and was gone from sight, leaving\nthe hunter alone in the woods. He returned home and told his story,\nand all the people knew that he had seen Selu, the wife of Kanati. He\ndid as the spirit had directed, and from that time was noted as the\nmost successful of all the hunters in the settlement.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-FIVE.\n\nTHE NUNNEHI AND OTHER SPIRIT FOLKS.\n\n\nThe Nunnehi or Immortals, the \"People who live everywhere,\" were a\nrace of spirit people who lived in the highlands of the old Cherokee\ncountry and had a great many town-houses, and especially on the tops\nof the bald mountains, the high peaks where no timber grows.\n\nThey had large town-houses on Pilot Knob, and in Nik-Wasi mound,\nin what is now Macon County, North Carolina, and another in Blood\nMountain, and at the head of Nottely river in Georgia. They were\ninvisible excepting when they wanted to be seen, and they looked\nand spoke just like other Indians. They were very fond of music and\ndancing, and hunters in the mountains would often hear the dance songs\nand the drum-beating in some invisible town-house, but when they went\ntoward the sound it would shift about and they would hear it behind\nthem or away in some other direction, so that they could never find\nthe place where the dance was.\n\nThey were a friendly people, too, and often brought lost wanderers to\ntheir town-houses under the mountains, and cared for them there until\nthey were rested, and guided them back to their homes. There was a\nman who lived in Nottely town who had been with the Nunnehi, when he\nwas a boy about twelve years old, and this is the story he tells.\n\nOne day, when he was playing near the river, shooting at a mark with\nhis bow and arrows, until he became tired, and started to build a\nfish-trap in the water. While he was piling up the rocks in two long\nwalls, a man came and stood on the bank and asked him what he was\ndoing. The man said, \"Well, that is pretty hard work, and you ought\nto come and rest awhile; come and take a walk up the river.\"\n\nThe boy said, \"No\"; that he was going home to dinner soon. \"Come right\nup to my house,\" said the stranger, \"and I'll give you a good dinner\nthere, and will bring you home again in the morning.\"\n\nSo the boy went with him up the river until they came to a house, when\nthey went in, and the man's wife and the other people there were very\nglad to see him, and gave him a fine dinner, and were very kind to him.\n\nWhile they were eating, another boy that the boy knew very well came\nin and spoke to him, so that he felt very much 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\na peach orchard on the other, until they came to another trail, and\nthe 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,\nand now I'll go back to the house.\"\n\nSo the man went back to the house, and the boy went on along the trail,\nbut when he had gone a little distance he looked back, and there was\nno cornfield or orchard or fence or house; nothing but trees on the\nmountainside. He thought it rather queer, but somehow he was not\nfrightened, and went on until he came to the river trail in sight\nof his house. There were a great many people standing about talking,\nand when they saw him they ran toward him shouting, \"Here he is! He\nis not drowned or killed in the mountains!\" They told him that they\nhad been hunting him ever since yesterday noon, and asked him where he\nhad been. He told them the story of what had happened, and they said\nthere is no house there, and it was the Nunnehi that had you with them.\n\nOnce four Nunnehi women came to dance at Nottely town, and danced half\nof the night with the young men there, and nobody knew that they were\nNunnehi, but thought them visitors from another settlement. About\nmidnight they left to go home, and some men who had come out from\nthe town-house 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 that they\nwere Nunnehi. At another time a man was crossing over from Nottely\nto Hemptown, in Georgia, and heard a drum and the songs of dancers\nin the hills on one side of the trail. He rode 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 him.\n\nA long time ago a man got lost in the mountains near the head of\nOconaluftee river, and it was very cold and his friends thought that\nhe must be frozen to death, but he was taken to a cave by the Nunnehi\nand given something to eat, and when the weather was more pleasant\nthey conducted him to the main trail and sent him on home to the\nneighbors in the valley below.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-FIVE.\n\nTHE REMOVED TOWN-HOUSE.\n\n\nLong ago, before the Cherokee were driven from their homes in 1838, the\npeople on Valley river and Hiwassee heard voices of invisible spirits\ncalling them from the skies, and warning them of wars and misfortunes\nwhich the future held in store, and inviting them to come and live with\nthe Nunnehi, the Immortals, in their homes under the mountains and\nunder the waters. For days the voice hung in the air, and the people\nlistened until they heard the voice say, \"If you would live with us,\ngather every one in your town-house and fast there seven days, and no\none must raise a shout or a warwhoop in all that time. Do this and we\nwill come and you shall see us and we shall 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 of the waters were\nhappy forever, so they counciled in their town-house and decided to\ngo with them. Those of Anisgayayitown came all together into their\ntown-house 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 town-house and\nthey felt the ground shake all around them. Now they were frightened,\nand despite the warning some of them screamed out.\n\nThe Nunnehi, who had already lifted up the town-house with its mound\nto carry it away, were startled by the sound and let a part of it\nfall to the ground, where we now see the mound Setsi.\n\nThey steadied themselves again and bore the rest of the town-house,\nwith all the people in it, to the top of Tsudayelunyi, near the head\nof Cheowa, where we can still see it, changed long ago to solid rock,\nbut the people are invisible and immortal.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-SIX.\n\nTHE SPIRIT DEFENDERS OF NIKWASI.\n\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 of\nLittle Tennessee, gathered their wives and their children into the\ntown-house and kept scouts constantly on the lookout for the presence\nof danger.\n\nOne morning, just before the break of day, 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 the enemy back. From the\ndress and the language of the stranger the Nikwasi people thought him\na chief who had come with reinforcements from Overhill settlements\nin Tennessee. They fell back along the trail, and as they came near\nthe town-house they saw a great company of warriors coming out from\nthe side of the mound as from an open doorway.\n\nThen they knew that their friends were the Nunnehi, the Immortals,\nalthough no one had ever heard that they lived under Nikwasi mound. The\nNunnehi poured out by hundreds, armed and painted for the fight,\nand the most curious part of it all was that they became invisible as\nsoon 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.\n\nBefore such an invisible foe the invaders had to retreat, going\nfirst south along the ridge to where joins the main ridge, which\nseparates Tah-kee-os-tee (French Broad) from the Tuckaseigee, and\nthen turning with it to the northeast. As they retreated they tried\nto shield themselves behind rocks and trees, but the Nunnehi arrows\nwent around them and killed them from the other side, and they could\nfind no hiding place.\n\nAll along the ridge they fell, until when they reached the head of\nTuckaseigee not more than half a dozen were left alive, and in their\ndespair they sat down and cried out for mercy. The Nunnehi chief told\nthem that they deserved their punishment for attacking a peaceful\ntribe, and he spared their lives and told them to go home and tell\ntheir people. It was the custom of the Indians to spare some to carry\nthe news of battle and defeat. Then the Nunnehi went back to the mound,\nand have been there ever since.\n\nThey are there now, for when a strong army of Federal troops came\nto surprise a handful of Confederates in the last war, they saw so\nmany soldiers guarding the town that they were afraid and went away\nwithout making an attack.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-SEVEN.\n\nKANASTA, THE LOST SETTLEMENT.\n\n\nLong ago, while the people still lived in the old town of Kanasta,\non Tah-kee-os-tee, (French Broad) two strangers, who looked in no\nway different from the other Cherokee, came into the settlement one\nday and made their way into the chief's house.\n\nAfter the first greetings were over, the chief asked them from what\ntown they came, thinking they were from one of the western settlements,\nbut they said, \"We are of your people and our town is close at hand,\nbut you have never seen it. Here you have wars and sickness, with\nenemies on every side, and after awhile a stronger enemy will come and\ntake your country from you. We are always happy, and we have come to\ninvite you to live with us in our town over there,\" and they pointed\ntoward Tsuwatelda (Pilot Knob). \"We do not live forever, and do not\nalways find game when we go for it, for game belongs to Tsulkalu,\nwho lives in Tsunegunyi, but we have peace always and do not think\nof danger. We go now, but if your people will live with us, let them\nfast seven days and we will come then and take them.\"\n\nThen they went away toward the west. The chief called the people\ntogether into the town-house, and they held a council over the matter\nand decided at last to go with the strangers. They got all of their\nproperty ready for moving, and then went again into the town-house\nand began their fast. They fasted six days and on the morning of the\nseventh, before yet the sun was high, they saw a great company coming\nalong the trail from the west, led by the two men who had stopped with\nthe chief. They seemed just like Cherokee from another settlement,\nand after a friendly meeting they took up a part of the goods to be\ncarried, and the two parties started back together for Tsuwatelda.\n\nThere was one man visiting at Kanasta, and he went along with\nthem. When they came to the mountain the two guides led the way\ninto a cave, which opened out like a great door in the side of the\nrock. Inside they found an open country and a town, with houses\nranged in two long rows from east to west. The mountain people lived\nin the houses on the south side, and they had made ready the other\nhouses for the newcomers, but even after the people of Kanasta,\nwith their children and their belongings, had moved in, there were\nstill a large number of houses waiting ready for the next who might\ncome. The mountain people told them that there was another town of a\ndifferent people, above them in another mountain, and still farther\nabove, at the very top, lived the Ani-Hyuntikwalaski (the Thunders).\n\nNow all the people of Kanasta 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 always be happy, there is a place here ready\nand waiting for them. Others of us live in Datsunalasgunyi and in the\nhigh mountains all around, and if they would rather go to any of them,\nit will be all the same. We see you wherever you go, and are with you\nin all of your dances, but you cannot 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. The people of\nthe Lost Settlement were never seen again and they are still living\nin Tauwatelda. Strange things happen there, so that the Cherokee know\nthat the mountain is haunted and do not like to go near it. Only a\nfew years ago a party of hunters camped there, and as they sat around\ntheir fire at supper time they talked of the story and made rough\njokes of the people of old Kanasta. That night they were aroused from\nsleep by a noise as of stones thrown at them from among the trees,\nbut when they searched they could find nobody, and were so frightened\nthat they gathered up their guns and pouches and left the place.\n\n\n\n\n\nMYTH THIRTY-EIGHT.\n\nHEMP-CARRIER.\n\n\nOn the southern slope of the ridge, along the trail from Robbinsville\nto Valley river, in Cherokee County, North Carolina, are the remains of\na number of stone cairns. The piles are level now, but fifty years ago\nthe stones were still heaped up in pyramids, to which every Cherokee\nwho passed added a stone. According to the tradition these piles\nmarked the graves of a number of women and children of the tribe who\nwere surprised and killed on the spot by a raiding party of Iroquois\nshortly before the final peace between the two nations. As soon\nas the news was brought to the settlement on Hiwassee and Cheowa,\na party was made under Taletanigiski, \"Hemp-Carrier,\" to follow and\ntake vengeance on the enemy.\n\nAmong others of the party was the father of the noted chief,\nTsunulahunski, or Junaluska, who (Junaluska) died in about the year\n1855, who was also the chief and hero of the battle of Horseshoe\nBend. For days they followed the trail of the Iroquois across the\nGreat Smoky Mountains, thru forests and over rivers, until finally\nthey tracked them to their very town in the far Seneca country.\n\nOn the way they met another war party headed for the south, and the\nCherokee killed them all and took their scalps.\n\nWhen they came near the Seneca town it was almost night, and they\nheard shouts in the town-house, where the women were dancing over the\nfresh scalps of the Cherokee. The avengers hid themselves near the\nspring, and as the dancers came down to drink, the Cherokee silently\nkilled one and another until they had counted as many scalps as had\nbeen taken on Cheowa, and still the dancers in the town-house never\nthought that enemies were near. Then said the Cherokee leader, \"We\nhave covered the scalps of our women and children. Shall we go home\nnow like cowards, or shall we raise the warwhoop and let the Seneca\nknow that we are men?\" \"Let them come if they will,\" said the men,\nand they raised the scalp yell of the Cherokees.\n\nAt once there was an answering shout from the town-house, and the\ndance came to a sudden close. The Seneca swarmed out with ready gun\nand hatchet, but the nimble Cherokee were off and away. There was a\nhot pursuit in the darkness, but the Cherokee knew the trails and were\nlight and active runners, and managed to get away with the loss of only\none man. The rest got home safely, and the people were so well pleased\nwith Hemp-Carrier's bravery and success that they gave him seven wives.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPART IV\n\nGLOSSARY OF CHEROKEE WORDS\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGLOSSARY OF CHEROKEE WORDS.\n\n\nThe Cherokee language has the continental vowel sounds a, e, i, and u,\nbut lacks o, which is replaced by a deep a. The obscure or short u\nis frequently nasalized, but the nasal sound is seldom heard at the\nend of a word. The only labial is m, which occurs in probably not\nmore than half a dozen words in the Upper and Middle dialects, and is\nentirely absent from the Lower dialect, in which w takes its place. The\ncharacteristic l of the Upper and Middle dialects becomes r in the\nLower, but no dialect has both sounds of these letters, but g and d are\nmedials, approximating the sounds of k and t respectively. A frequent\ndouble consonant is ts, commonly rendered ch by the old traders.\n\n\n    a    as in far.\n    a    as in what, or obscure as in showman.\n    \u0430    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 1 in Lower dialect.\n    s    as in sin.\n    t    as in top.\n    u    as in rule.\n    \u044b    as in cut.\n    \u044b\u0441   \u044b 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.\n\n\n\n\nada`lanun`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\na`gana--groundhog.\n\nA`gansta`ta--\"groundhog-sausage,\" from a`gana, ground-hog, and\ntsista`u, \"I am pounding it,\" understood to refer to pounding meat,\netc., in 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\nA`gan-uni`tsi--\"Ground-hog's mother,\" from a`gana and uni`tsi, their\nmother, plural of utsi`, his mother (etsi`, agitsi`, my mother). The\nCherokee name of the Shawano captive, who, according to tradition,\nkilled the great Uktena serpent and procured the Ulunsu`ti.\n\nAgawe`la--\"Old Woman,\" a formulistic name for corn or the spirit corn.\n\nagayun`li--for agayunlige, old, ancient.\n\nagida`ta--see eda`ta.\n\nagidutu--see edu`tu.\n\nAgi'li--\"He is rising,\" possibly a contraction of an old personal\nname. Agin`-agi'li, \"Rising-fawn.\" Major George Lawrey, cousin of\nSequoya, and assistant chief of the Cherokee Nation about 1840. Stanley\nincorrectly makes it \"Keeth-la, or Dog\" for gi'li`.\n\nagin`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 tsigitsun`tihu,\n\"I stay up all night.\" A place in the Great Smoky range about the\nhead of Noland creek, in Swain County, N. C.\n\nAguaquiri--see Guaquili.\n\nAhalu`na--\"Ambush,\" Ahalunun`yi, \"Ambush place,\" or Uni`halu`na,\n\"where they ambushed,\" from akalu`ga, \"I am watching.\" Soco gap, at\nthe head of Soco creek, on the line between Swain and Haywood counties,\nN. C. The name is also applied to the lookout station for deer hunters.\n\nahanu`lahi--\"he is bearded,\" from ahanu`lahu, a beard.\n\nAhu`lude`gi--\"He throws away the drum\" (habitual), from ahu`li, drum,\nand akwade`gu, \"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 (-hu,) \"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.\n\nAlarka--see Yalagi.\n\naliga`--the red-horse fish (Moxostoma).\n\nAlkini`--the last woman known to be of Natchez decent 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 ehu`, \"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, Tenn. Timberlake writes\nit Mialaquo, while Bartram spells it Nilaque. Not to be confounded\nwith Long-Island town below Chattanooga.\n\nAmaye'li-gunahi`ta--\"Long-island,\" from amaye'li, island, and\ngunahi`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`duntaski--\"roasters,\" i. e., cannibals; from gun`tasku`. \"I\nam putting it (round) into the fire to roast.\" The regular word for\ncannibals is Yun`wini`giski, q. v.\n\nanagahun`unsku`--the green-corn dance; literally, \"they are having\na green-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`Nun`dawe`gi.\n\na'ne`tsa, or anetsa`gi--the ball-play.\n\na'netsa`unski--a ball-player; literally, \"a lover of the ball-play.\"\n\nani`--a tribal and animate prefix.\n\nani`da`wehi--plural of ada`wehi.\n\na`niganti`ski--see dagan'tu.\n\nAni`Gatage`wi--one of the seven Cherokee clans. The name has now\nno meaning, but has been absurdly rendered \"Blind savana,\" from an\nincorrect idea that it is derived from Iga`ti, a swamp or savanna,\nand dige`wi, blind.\n\nAni-Gila`hi--\"Long-haired people,\" one of the seven Cherokee clans;\nsingular, Agila`hi. The word comes from agila`hi (perhaps connected\nwith afi'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. The name is\nnot 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`-Hyun`tikwala`ski--\"The Thunders,\" 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`-tikwalelunyi, \"rolling\nwater place,\" applied to a cascade where the water falls along\nthe surface of the rock; ahyun`tikwala`stihu`, \"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,\nGa.; 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, N. C., is now known as Coweeta\ncreek.\n\nAni`-Kitu`hwagi--\"Kitu`hwa people,\" from Kitu`hwa (q. v.), an ancient\nCherokee settlement.\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 or Coosa\n(Spanish, Coca, Cossa) their principal ancient town.\n\nAni`-Kuta`ni (also Ani`-Kwata`ni, or incorrectly,\nNicotani)--traditional Cherokee priestly society or clan exterminated\nin a popular uprising.\n\nanina`hilidahi--\"creatures that fly about,\" from tsinai`li, \"I am\nflying,\" tsina`ilida`hu, \"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 name of the Natchez.\n\nAnin`tsi--see Ani`Na'tsi.\n\nAni`Nundawe`gi--singular, Nun`dawe`gi; the Iroquois, more particularly\nthe Seneca, from Nundawao, the name by which the Seneca call\nthemselves. Adair spells it Anantooeah. The tribe was also known\nas Ani`-Se`nika.\n\nAni`-Saha`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`-Sawaha`ni--see Ani`-Sawanu`gi.\n\nAni`-Sawanu`gi (singular Sawanu`gi)--the Shawano Indians. Ani`-sa`ni\nand Ani`-Sawaha`ni may be the same.\n\nAni`-Se`nika--see Ani`Nundawe`gi.\n\nAnisga`ya Tsunsdi` (ga)--\"The Little Men\"; the Thunder Boys in\nCherokee mythology.\n\nAni`-sgayaiyi--\"Men town\" (?), a traditional Cherokee settlement on\nValley river, in Cherokee county, North Carolina.\n\nAni`sgi`na--plural of asgi`na, q. v.\n\nAni`-Skala`li--the Tuscarora Indian; singular, Skala`li or A-Skala`li.\n\nAni`skwa`ni--Spaniards; singular, Askwa`ni.\n\nAni`-Suwa`li--or Ani`-Swqa`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`-Tsa`guhi--the Cherokee clan, transformed to bears according to\ntradition. Swimmer's daughter bears the name Tsaguhi, which is not\nrecognized as distinctively belonging to either sex.\n\nAni`-Tsa`lagi`--the Cherokee.\n\nAni`-Tsa'ta--the Choctaw Indians; singular, Tsa'ta.\n\nAni`-Tsi`ksu--the Chickasaw Indians; singular, Tsi`ksu.\n\nAni`-Tsi`skwa--\"Bird people\"; one of the seven Cherokee clans.\n\nAni`-Tsu`tsa--\"The Boys,\" from atsu`tsa, boy; the Pleiades.\n\nAni`-Wa`di--\"Paint people\"; one of the seven Cherokee clans.\n\nAni`-Wa'dihi`--\"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`-Wa`di or Paint clan.\n\nani`wani`ski--the bugle weed, Lycopus virginicus; literally, \"the\ntalk\" or \"talkers,\" from tsiwa`nihu, \"I am talking,\" awaniski,\n\"he talks habitually.\"\n\nAni`-Wasa`si--the Osage Indians; singular, Wasa`si.\n\nAni`-Wa`ya--\"Wolf people\"; the most important of the seven clans of\nthe Cherokee.\n\nAni`-Yun`wiya`--Indians, particularly Cherokee Indians; literally\n\"principal or real people,\" from yunwi, person, ya, a suffix implying\nprincipal or real, and ani`, the tribal prefix.\n\nAni`-Yu`tsi--the Yuchi or Uchee Indians; singular, Yu`tsi.\n\nAnnie Ax--see Sadayi`.\n\nAquone--a post-office on Nantahala river, in Mason county, North\nCarolina, site of the former Fort Scott. Probably a corruption of\negwani, river.\n\nArch, John--see Atsi.\n\nAsa`gwalihu`--a pack or burden; asa`gwal lu`, or asa`gwi li`, \"there\nis a pack on him.\"\n\nasehi`--surely.\n\nAse`nika--singular of Ani`-Se`nika.\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 Kasdu`yi and Unta`kiyasti`yi.\n\nasi--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\nasiyu` (abbreviated siyu`)--good; the common Cherokee salute; ga`siyu`,\n\"I am good\"; hasiyu`, \"thou art good\"; a`siyu, \"he (it) is good\"; astu,\n\"very good.\"\n\nAskwa`ni--a Spaniard. See Ani`skwa`ni.\n\nastu`--very good; astu tsiki`, very good, best of all.\n\nAstu`gata`ga--A Cherokee lieutenant in the Confederate service killed\nin 1862. The name may be rendered, \"Standing in the doorway,\" but\nimplies that the man himself is the door or shutter; it has no first\nperson; gata`ga, \"he is standing\"; stuti, a door or shutter; stuhu,\na closed door or passage; stugi`sti, a key, i. e., something with\nwhich to open the door.\n\nasun`tli, asuntlun`yu--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\nAta`-gul kalu`--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 gul kalu, 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.\n\nAtahi`ta--abbreviated from Atahitun`yi, \"Place where they shouted,\"\nfrom gata`hiu`, \"I shout,\" and yi, locative. Waya gap, on the ridge\nwest of Franklin, Macon county, North Carolina. The map name is\nprobably from the Cherokee wa ya, wolf.\n\nAta-Kullakulla--see Ata`-gul kalu`.\n\na`tali--mountain; in the Lower dialect a`tari, whence the \"Ottare\" or\nUpper Cherokee of Adair. The form a`tali is used only in composition;\nand mountain in situ is atalunyi or gatu`si.\n\na`tali-guli`--\"it climbs the mountain,\" i. e., \"mountain-climber\"; the\nginseng plant, Ginseng quinquefolium; from a`tali, mountain, and guli`,\n\"it climbs\" (habitually); tsilahi` or tsili`, \"I am climbing.\" Also\ncalled in the sacred formulas, Yun`wi Usdi`, \"Little man.\"\n\nAtala`nuwa`--\"Tla`nuwa hole\"; the Cherokee name of Chattanooga,\nTennessee (see tsatanu`gi); originally applied to a bluff on the south\nside of the Tennessee river, at the foot of the present Market street.\n\na`talulu`--unfinished, premature, unsuccessful; whence utalu`li,\n\"it is not yet time.\"\n\nAta`lunti`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\na precipice.\n\nA`tari--see a`tali.\n\natasi` (or atasa`, in a dialectic form)--a war-club.\n\natatsun`ski--stinging; literally, \"he stings\" (habitually).\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\nAtsi`la-wa`i--\"Fire--\"; a mountain sometimes known as Rattlesnake knob,\nabout two miles northeast of Cherokee, Swain county, N. C.\n\nAtsil`-dihye`gi--\"Fire-Carrier\"; apparently the Cherokee name for the\nwill-of-the-wisp. As is usually the case in the Cherokee compounds,\nthe verbal form is plural (\"it carries fire\"); the singular form\nis ahye`gi.\n\nAtsil`-sunti (abbreviated tsil`-sunti)--fleabane (Erigeron canadense);\nthe name signifies \"material with which to make fire,\" from atsi`la,\nfire, and gasunti, gatsunti or gatlunti, material with which to make\nsomething, from fasun`sku (or gatlun`sku), \"I make it.\" The plant is\nalso called ihya`ga.\n\natsil`-tluntu`tsi--\"fire-panther.\" A meteor or comet.\n\nA`tsina`--cedar.\n\nA`tsina`-k ta`um--\"Hanging cedar place\"; from a`tsina`, cedar, and\nk ta`un, \"where it (long) hangs down\"; a Cherokee name for the old\nTaskigi town on the Little Tennessee river in Monroe county, Tenn.\n\nAtsi`ra--see atsi`la.\n\nAtsun`sta ti`yi (abbreviated Atsun`sta ti)--\"Fire-light place,\"\nreferring to the \"fire-hunting\" method of killing deer in the river\nat night. The proper form for Chestatee river, near Dahlonega, in\nLumpkin county, Ga.\n\nAttakullakulla--see Ata-gul kalu`.\n\nawa`--see ama`.\n\nawa`hili--eagle; particularly Aquila Chrysaetus, distinguished as the\n\"pretty-feathered eagle.\"\n\nawi`--deer; also sometimes written and pronounced ahawi`; the name\nis sometimes applied to the large horned beetle, the flying stag of\nearly writers.\n\nawi`-ahanu`lahi--goat; literally \"bearded deer.\"\n\nawi`-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\nawi`-akta`--\"deer eye\"; the Rudbeckia or black-eyed Susan.\n\nawi`-e`gwa (abbreviated aw-e`gwa)--the elk, literally \"great deer.\"\n\nawi`-unade`na--sheep; literally \"woolly deer.\"\n\nAwi`Usdi`--\"Little Deer,\" the mythic chief of the Deer tribe.\n\nAx, Annie--see Sadayi`.\n\nAx, John--see Itagu`nahi.\n\nawe li--half, middle, in the middle.\n\nAyphwa`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 as\nAyuhwa`si Egwa`hi or Great Hiwassee, was on the north bank of Hiwassee\nriver at the present Savannah ford above Columbus, in Polk county,\nTenn. The other was farther up the same river, at the junction of\nPeachtree creek, above Murphy, in Cherokee county, N. C. Lanman writes\nit Owassa.\n\nAyrate--see e`ladi`.\n\nAys`sta--\"The Spoiler,\" from tsiya`stihu, \"I spoil it\"; cf. uya`i,\nbad. A prominent woman and informant on the East Cherokee reservation.\n\nAyun`ini--\"Swimmer\"; literally, \"he is swimming,\" from gayunini`, \"I\nam swimming.\" A principal priest and informant of the East Cherokee,\ndied in 1899.\n\nAyulsu`--see Dayulsun`yi.\n\n\n\nBeaverdam--see Uy'gila`gi.\n\nBig-Cove--see Ka`lanun`yi.\n\nBig-Island--see Amaye'l-e`gwa.\n\nBig-Witch--see Tskil-e`gwa.\n\nBird-Town--see Tsiskwa`hi.\n\nBloody-Fellow--see Iskagua.\n\nBlythe--see Diskwani.\n\nBlack-fox--see Ina`li.\n\nBoudinot, Elias--see Galagi`na.\n\nBowl, The; Bowles, Colonel--see Diwali.\n\nBrass--see Untsaiyi`.\n\nBrasstown--see Itse`yi.\n\nBreadth, The--see Unli`ta.\n\nBriertown--see Kanu`gula`yi.\n\nBuffalo (creek)--see Yunsa`i.\n\nBull-Head--see Sukwale`na.\n\nButler, John--see Tsan`-uga`sita.\n\n\n\nCade's Cove--see Tsiya`hi.\n\nCanacaught--\"Canacaught, the great Conjurer,\" mentioned as a Lower\nCherokee chief in 1684; possibly kanegwa`ti, the water-moccasin snake.\n\nCanaly--see hi`gina`lii.\n\nCanasagua--see Gansa`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 county, visited by Pardo\nin 1567.\n\nCaunasaita--given as the name of a Lower Chief in 1684; possibly for\nKanunsi`ta, \"dogwood.\"\n\nChalaque--see Tsa`lagi.\n\nChattanooga--see Tsatanu`gi.\n\nChattooga, Chatuga--see Tsatu`gi.\n\nCheeowhee--see Tsiya`hi.\n\nCheerake--see Tsa`lagi.\n\nCheraw--see Ani`-Suwa`li.\n\nCheowa--see Tsiya`hi.\n\nCheowa Maximum--see Schwate`yi.\n\nCheraqui--see Tsa`lagi.\n\nCherokee--see Tsa`lagi.\n\nChestatee--see Atsun`sta ti`yi.\n\nChestua--see Tsistu`yi.\n\nCheucunsene--see Tsi`kama`gi.\n\nChilhowee--see Tsu lun`we.\n\nChimney Tops--see Duni`skwa lgun`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 Tsiskwa`hi, \"Bird place.\"\n\nChoastea--see Tsistu`yi.\n\nChopped Oak--see Digalu`yatun`yi.\n\nChoquata--see Itsa`ti.\n\nCitico--see Si`tiku`.\n\nClear-sky--see Iskagua.\n\nClennuse--see Tlanusi`yi.\n\nCleveland--see Tsistetsi`yi.\n\nCoca--see Ani`-Ku`sa.\n\nCoco--see Kuku`.\n\nCohutta--see Gahu`ti.\n\nColanneh, Colona--see Ka`lanu.\n\nConasauga--see Gansa`gi.\n\nConneross--see Kawan`-ura`sunyi.\n\nCoosawatee--see Ku`saweti`yi.\n\nCooweescoowee--see Gu`wisguwi`.\n\nCoosa--see Ani`-Ku`sa, Kusa.\n\nCorani--see Ka`lanu.\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.\n\nCreek-path--see Ku`sa-nunna`hi.\n\nCrow-town--see Kagun`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 gatun`lati, \"wild hemp.\"\n\nCullasagee--see Kulse`tsi`yi.\n\nCullowhee, Currahee--see Gulahi`yi.\n\nCuttawa--see Kitu`hwa.\n\n\n\nDagan tu--\"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.\n\ndagul ku--the American white-fronted goose. The name may be an\nonomatope.\n\ndagu`na--the fresh-water mussel; also a variety of face pimples.\n\nDagun`hi--\"Mussel place,\" from dagu`na, mussel, and hi, locative. The\nMussel shoals on Tennessee river, in northwestern Alabama. It was\nsometimes called also simply Tsu stanalun`yi, \"Shoal's place.\"\n\nDagu`nawa`lahi--\"Mussel-liver place,\" from dagu`na, mussel, uwe`la,\nliver, and hi, locative; the Cherokee name for the site of Nashville,\nTenn. No reason can now be given for the name.\n\nDahlonega--A town in Lumpkin county, Ga., 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-dala`-nige`i,\n\"yellow money,\" i. e., gold.\n\ndaksawa`ihu--\"he is shedding tears.\"\n\ndakwa`--a mythic great fish; also the whale.\n\nDakwa`i--\"dakwa place,\" from a tradition of a dakwa` in the river\nat that point. A former Cherokee settlement, known to the traders\nas Toqua or Toco, on Little Tennessee river, about the mouth of Toco\ncreek in Monroe county, Tenn. A similar name and tradition attaches\nto a spot on the French Broad river, about six miles above the Warm\nsprings, in Buncombe county, N. C.\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.\n\nda`liksta`--\"vomiter,\" from dagik`stihu`, \"I am vomiting,\" daliksta`,\n\"he vomits\" (habitually); the form is plural. The spreading adder\n(Heterodon), also sometimes called kwandaya`hu, a word of uncertain\netymology.\n\nDa` nagasta--for Da` nawa-gasta`ya, \"Sharp-war,\" i. e.,\n\"Eager-warrior;\" a Cherokee woman's name.\n\nDa` nawa-(a)sa tsun`yi, \"War-ford,\" from da` nawa, war, and asa\ntsun`yi, \"a crossing-place or ford.\" A ford on Cheowa river about\nthree miles below Robbinsville, in Graham county, N. C.\n\nDanda`ganu`--\"Two looking at each other,\" from detsi`ganu`,\n\"I am looking at him.\" A former Cherokee settlement, commonly\nknown as Lookout Mountain town, on Lookout Mountain creek, near the\npresent Trenton, Dade county, Ga. 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 referring\nto some peculiar style of moccasin or leggin. A chief known to the\nwhites as Shoe-boots is mentioned in the Revolutionary records. Chief\nLloyd Welch, of the eastern band, was known in the tribe as Da`si\ngiya`gi, and the same name is now used by the East Cherokee as the\nequivalent of the name Lloyd.\n\nDa`skwitun`yi--\"Rafter's Place,\" from daskwitun`i, rafters, and yi,\nlocative. A former settlement on Tusquittee creek, near Hayesville,\nin Clay county, North Carolina.\n\ndasun`tali--ant; dasun`tali, \"stinging ant,\" the large red cowant\n(Myrmica?), also called sometimes, on account of its hard body-case,\nnun`yunu`wi, \"stone-clad,\" after the fabulous monster.\n\nDatle`yasta`i--\"where they fell down,\" a point on Tuckasegee river,\na short distance above Webster, in Jackson county, North Carolina.\n\ndatsi--a traditional water-monster.\n\nDatsi`yi--\"Datsi place\"; a place on Little Tennessee river, near\njunction of Eagle creek, in Swain county, North Carolina.\n\nDatsu`nalagun`yi--\"where there are tracks or footprints,\"\nfrom uta`sinun`yi or ulasgun`yi, footprint. Track Rock gap, near\nBlairsville, Georgia. Also sometimes called De`gayelun`ha, \"place of\nbranded marks.\"\n\nda`yi--beaver.\n\nDayulsun`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.\n\nda`yuni`si--\"beaver's grandchild,\" from dayi, beaver, and uni`si,\nson's child of either sex. The water beetle or mellow bug.\n\nDegal gun`yi--a cairn, literally \"where they are piled up\"; a series\nof cairns on the south side of Cheowa river, in Graham county, N. C.\n\nDe`gata`ga--The Cherokee name of General Stamd Watie and of a\nprominent early western chief known to the whites as Takatoka. The\nword is derived from tsita`ga, \"I am standing,\" da nita`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`gayelun`ha--see Datsu`nalagun`yi.\n\ndetsanun`li--an enclosure 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 cannot be certainly analyzed.\n\nDe`tsata--a Cherokee sprite.\n\ndetsinu`lahungu`--\"I tried, but failed.\"\n\nDidalaski`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 (afaska, \"it is raining\"); degalasku`, \"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, N. C.\n\ndiga`gwani`--the mud-hen or didapper. The name is plural form and\nimplies \"lame,\" or \"crippled in the legs\" (cf. detsi`nigwa`na, \"I\nam kneeling\"), probably from the bouncing motion of the bird when in\nthe water. It is also the name of a dance.\n\nDiga`kati`yi--see Gakati`yi.\n\ndi`galungun`yi--\"where it rises, or comes up\"; the east. The sacred\nterm is Nunda`yi, q. v.\n\ndigalun`latiyun--a height, one of a series, from galun`lati, \"above.\"\n\nDigalu`yatun`yi--\"where it is gashed (with hatchets)\"; from tsilu`yu,\n\"I am cutting (with a chopping stroke),\" di, plural prefix, and yi,\nlocative. The Chopped Oak, formerly east of Clarkesville, Ga.\n\nDigane`ski--\"he picks them up\" (habitually), from tsine`u, \"I am\npicking it up.\" A Cherokee Union soldier in the Civil War.\n\ndigi`gage`i--the plural of gi`gage`i, red.\n\ndigu`lanahi`ta--for digu`li-anahi`ta, \"having long ears,\" \"long-eared\";\nfrom gule, \"ear\" and gunahi`ta, \"long.\"\n\nDihyun`dula`--\"sheaths,\" or \"scabbards\"; singular ahyun`dula`,\n\"a gun-sheath,\" or other scabbard. The probable correct form of a\nname which appears in Revolutionary documents as \"Untoola, or Gum Rod.\"\n\nDikta`--plural of Akta`, eye.\n\ndila`--skunk.\n\ndilsta`yati--\"scissors\"; the water-spider (Dolomedes).\n\ndinda`skwate`ski--the violet; the name signifies, \"they pull each\nothers' heads off.\"\n\ndine`tlana--the creation.\n\ndi nuski--\"the breeder\"; a variety of smilax brier.\n\nDisga`gisti`yi--\"where they gnaw\"; a place on Cheowa river, in Graham\ncounty, N. C.\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.\n\ndista`sti--a mill (generic).\n\ndita`stayeski--\"a barber,\" literally \"one who cuts things (as with\nscissors), from tsista`yu, \"I cut.\" The cricket (tala`tu) is sometimes\nso-called.\n\nDiwa`li--\"Bowl,\" a prominent chief of the western Cherokee, known to\nthe whites as The Bowl, or Colonel Bowles, killed by the Texans in\n1839. The chief mentioned may have been another of the same name.\n\ndiya`hali (or duya`hali)--the alligator lizard (Sceloporue undulatus).\n\nDiya`hali`yi--\"Lizard's place,\" from diya`hali, lizard, and yi,\nlocative. Joanna Bald, a mountain at the head of Valley river on the\nline between Cherokee and Graham counties, North Carolina.\n\nDouble-Head--see Tal-tsu`ska`.\n\nDragging-Canoe--see Tsi`yu-gunsi`ni.\n\nDudun`leksun`yi--\"where its legs were broken off\"; a place on\nTuckasegee river, a few miles above Webster, in Jackson county, N. C.\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,\nso-called from a former Cherokee settlement of that name situated\nat the junction of Toccoa creek with the main stream, in Habersham\ncounty, Ga. The word is of uncertain etymology; but seems to refer\nto a place at the forks of a stream.\n\nDukas`i, Dukwas`i--The correct form of the name commonly written\nToxaway, applied to a former Cherokee settlement in S. C., and the\ncreek upon which it stood, and extreme headstream of Keowee river\nhaving its source in Jackson county, N. C. The meaning of the name\nis lost, although it has been wrongly interpreted to mean \"place of\nshedding tears.\"\n\nDulastun`yi--\"Potsherd place.\" A former Cherokee settlement on Nottely\nriver in Cherokee county, North Carolina.\n\ndule`tsi--\"kernels,\" a goitrous swelling upon the throat.\n\ndulu`si--a variety of frog found upon the headwaters of Savannah river.\n\nDuniya ta lun`yi--\"where there are shelves, or flat places,\" from aya\nte`ni, flat, whence da`ya tana lun`i, a shelf, and yi, locative. A\ngap on the Great Smoky range, near Clingman's dome, Swain county, N. C.\n\nDunidu`lalun`yi--\"where they made arrows\"; a place on Straight creek,\na headstream of Oconaluftee river, in Swain county, N. C.\n\nDuni`skwa lgun`i--the double peak known as the Chimney Tops, in Great\nSmoky Mountains about the head of Deep creek, in Swain county, N. C. On\nthe north side is the pass known as Indian gap. The name signifies a\n\"forked antler,\" from uskwa lgu, antler, but indicates that the antler\nis attached in place, as though the deer itself were concealed below.\n\nDu`stayalun`yi--\"where it made a noise as of thunder or shooting,\"\napparently referring to a lightning strike (detsistaya`hihu, \"I make\na shooting or thundering noise,\" might be a first person form used\nby the personified Thundergod); a spot on Hiwassee river, about the\njunction of Shooting creek, near Hayesville, in Clay county, N. C. A\nformer settlement along the creek bore the same name.\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--a spring lizard.\n\n\n\nEagle Dance--see Tsugidu`li ulsgi`sti.\n\nEastinaulee--see U`stana`li.\n\nEchota, New--see Gansa`gi.\n\nedata--my father (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower dialect form\nis agida`ta.\n\nEdi`hi--\"He goes about\" (habitually); a masculine name.\n\nedutu--my maternal grandfather (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower\ndialect form is agidu tu; cf. enisi.\n\negwa--great; cf. utanu.\n\negwani--river.\n\nEgwanulti--\"By the river,\" from egwa ni, river, and nulati or nulti,\nnear, beside. The proper form of Oconaluftee, the name of the river\nflowing thru the East Cherokee reservation in Swain and Jackson\nCounties, N. C. The town, Oconaluftee, mentioned by Bartram as\nexisting about 1775, was probably on the lower course of the river\nat the present Birdtown, on the reservation, where was formerly a\nconsiderable mound.\n\nela--earth, ground.\n\neladi--low, below; in the Lower dialect eradi, whence the Ayrata or\nLower Cherokee of Adair, as distinguished from the Ottara (atari,\natali) or Upper Cherokee.\n\nelanti--a song form for eladi, q. v.\n\nElatse`yi, (abbreviated Elatse)--\"Green (verdant) earth,\" from ela,\nearth, 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 S. C.; another was on Ellijay creek\nof Little Tennessee river, near the present Franklin, in Macon Co.,\nN. C.; another was about the present Ellijay in Gilmer Co., Ga.;\nand still another was on Ellijay creek of Little river, near the\npresent Maryville, in Blount Co., Tenn.\n\nElawa diyi (abbreviated Elawa di)--\"Red-earth place,\" from ela, earth,\nwadi, brown-red or red paint, and yi, the locative. 1. The Cherokee\nname of Yellow-Hill settlement, now officially known as Cherokee,\nthe post office and agency headquarters for the East Cherokee, on\nOconaluftee river, in Swain Co., N. C. 2. A former council ground\nknown in history as Red Clay; at the site of the present village of\nthat name in Whitfield Co., Ga., adjoining the Tennessee line.\n\nEllijay--see Elatse`yi.\n\neni si--my paternal grandfather (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower\ndialect form is agani si, cf. edutu.\n\nEskaqua--see Iskagua.\n\nEstanaula, Estinaula--see U`stana`li.\n\nEtawa ha tsistatla`ski--\"Deadwood-lighter,\" a traditional Cherokee\nconjurer.\n\neti--old, long ago.\n\nEtowah--see I`tawa`.\n\nEtsaiyi--see Untsaiyi.\n\netsi--my mother (Upper dialect); the Middle and Lower dialect form\nis agitsi.\n\nEuharlee--see Yuha`li.\n\n\n\nFeather dance--see Tsugidu`li ulsgi`sti.\n\nFightingtown--see Walas`-unulsti yi.\n\nFlax-toter--see Tale`danigi`ski.\n\nFlying-squirrel--see Ka`lahu`.\n\nFrogtown--see Walasi`yi.\n\n\n\nGadalu`la--the proper name of the mountain known to the whites as\nYonah (from yanu, bear); or upper Chattahoochee river, in White Co.,\nGa. The name has no connection with Tallulah (see Talulu) and cannot\nbe translated.\n\nGadalu`tsi--in the corrupted form of Cataluchee this appears on the\nmap as the name of a peak, or rather a ridge, on the line between\nSwain and Haywood counties, N. C., and of a creek running down on\nthe Haywood side into Big Pigeon river. It is properly the name of\nthe 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, gadu`ta,\n\"standing up in a row or series.\"\n\ngahawi`siti--parched corn.\n\nGahuti (Gahu`ta and Gwahu`ti in dialect forms)--Cohutta mountains in\nMurray Co., Ga. The name comes from gahuta`yi, \"ashed roof supported\non poles\", and refers to a fancied resemblance in the summit.\n\nGakati`yi--\"place of setting fire\"; something spoken in the plural\nform, Diga`kati`yi, \"place of the setting free.\" A point on Tuckasegee\nriver, about three miles above Bryson City, in Swain Co., N. C.\n\ngaktun`ta--an injunction, command or rule, more particularly a\nprohibition or ceremonial tabu. Tsiga`te`gu. \"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 sense\nthe name is sometimes used also for the large horned beetle (Dynastes\ntityus). The Indian name of Elias Boudinot, first Cherokee editor.\n\ngali`sgisida`hu--\"I am dancing about\"; from gali`sgia, \"I am dancing,\"\nand edahu, \"I am going about.\"\n\ngalunkw`ti`yo--honored; sacred; used in the bible to mean holy,\nhallowed.\n\ngalun`lati--above, on high.\n\ngane`ga--skin.\n\nganidawa`ski--\"the champion catchfly\" or \"rattlesnake's master\"\n(Silene stellata); the name signifies \"it disjoints itself,\" from\nganidawsku`, \"it is unjointing itself,\" on account of the peculiar\nmanner in which the dried stalk breaks off at the joints.\n\nGansagi (or Gansagiyi)--the name of several former settlements in\nthe old Cherokee country; it cannot be analyzed. One of this name was\nupon Tuckasegee river, a short distance above the present Webster, in\nJackson Co., N. C.; another was on the lower part of Canasauga creek,\nin McMinn Co., Tenn.; a third was at the junction of Conasauga and\nCoosawatee rivers, where afterwards was located the Cherokee capital,\nNew Echota, in Gordon Co., Ga.; a fourth, mentioned in the De Soto\nnarratives as Canasoga or Canasagua, was located in 1540 on the\nupper Chattahoochee river, possibly in the neighborhood of Kennesaw\nmountain, Ga.\n\nGansa`ti`yi--\"robbing place,\" from tsina`sahunsku, \"I am robbing\nhim.\" Vengeance creek of Valley river in Cherokee Co., N. C. The name\nvengeance was originally a white man's nickname for an old Cherokee\nwoman, of forbidding aspect, who lived there before the Removal.\n\nGanse`ti--a rattle; as the Cherokee dance rattle is made from the\ngourd, the masculine name, Ganse`ti, is usually rendered by the whites,\n\"rattling-gourd.\"\n\ngatausti--the wheel and stick of the Southern tribes, incorrectly\ncalled nettecwaw by Timberlake.\n\nGategwa`--for Gategwa`hi, possibly a contraction of Igat(I)-egwa`hi,\n\"Great-swamp, \"thicket place.\" A high peak southeast from Franklin,\nMacon Co., N. C., and perhaps identical with Fodderstack mountain.\n\nga`tsu--see hatlu`.\n\nGatu`gitse`yi (abbreviated Gatu`gitse`)--\"New-settlement place,\"\nfrom gatu`gi or agatu`gi, town, settlement, itsehi, new, especially\napplied to new vegetation, and yi, the locative. A former settlement\non Cartoogaja creek near the present Franklin, in Macon Co., N. C.\n\nGatugi`yi--\"Town building place,\" or \"Settlement place,\" from gatu`gi,\na settlement, and yi, locative. A place on Santeetla creek, near\nRobbinsville, in Graham Co., N. C.\n\nGatun`iti`yi--\"Hemp place,\" from Gatun`lati, \"wild hemp\" (Apocynum\ncannabinum), and yi, locative. A former Cherokee settlement, commonly\nknown as Hemptown, on the creek of the same name, near Morgantown,\nin Fannin Co., Ga.\n\nGatun`wa`li--a noted western Cherokee, about 1842, known to the whites\nas Hardmush or Big-Mush.\n\nGatun`wa`li, from ga`tu`, \"bread,\" and unwa`li, \"made into balls or\nlumps,\" is a sort of mush or parched corn meal, made very thick, so\nthat it can be dipped out in lumps almost of the consistency of bread.\n\nge`i--down stream, down the road, with the current; tsa`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(nun`da`); it cannot be analyzed, but seems to contain the word\nage`hya, \"woman.\" See also nun`da`.\n\ngi`ga--blood; cf. gi`gage`i, red.\n\ngi`ga-danegi`ski--\"blood taker,\" from gi`ga, blood, and ada`negi`ski,\n\"one who takes liquids,\" from tsi`negia` (liquid). Another name for\nthe tsane`ni or scorpion lizard.\n\ngi`gage`i--red, bright red, scarlet; the brown-red of certain animals\nand clays is distinguished as wa`dige`i.\n\ngi`ga-tsuha`li--\"bloody-mouth,\" literally \"having blood on the corners\nof his mouth\"; from gi`ga, blood, and tsuhanunsi`yi, the corners of\nthe mouth (aha`li, his mouth). A large lizard, probably the pleistodon.\n\ngili--dog; the Lower dialect, gi`ri.\n\nGili-dinehun`yi--\"where the dogs live,\" from gili, dog, dinehu`,\n\"they dwell\" (ehu, \"I dwell\"), and yi, locative. A place on Oconaluftee\nriver, a short distance above the present Cherokee in Swain Co., N. C.\n\nGi`li`-utsun`stanun`yi--\"where the dog ran,\" from gili`, dog, and\nUtsun`stanun`yi, \"footprints made by an animal running\"; the Milky way.\n\nginunti--a song form for gunu`tii`, \"to lay him (animate object)\nupon the ground.\"\n\ngiri--see gi`li`.\n\nGisehun`yi--\"where the female lives,\" from agi`si, female, and yi,\nlocative. A place on Tuckasegee river a short distance above Bryson\nCity, in Swain Co., N. C.\n\ngit`lu--hair. (Upper dialect); in Lower and Middle dialects gitsu.\n\nGlass, The--see Ta`gwadihi`.\n\nGohoma--A Lower Cherokee chief in 1684; the form cannot be identified.\n\nGoing-snake--see I`naduna`i.\n\nGorhaleka--a Lower Cherokee chief in 1684; the form cannot be\nidentified.\n\nGreat Island--see Amayel-e`gwa.\n\nGregory Bald--see Tsistu`yi.\n\nGuachoula--see Guaxule.\n\nGuaquila (Waki la)--a town in the Cherokee country, visited by De\nSoto in 1540, and again in 1567 by Pardo, who calls it Aguaquiri,\nand the name may have a connection with waguli, \"Whippoorwill,\"\nor with u`wa`gi`li, \"foam.\"\n\nGuasula--see Guaxule.\n\nGusila--see Guaxule.\n\nGuaxule--a town in Cherokee county, visited in 1540 by De Soto. It\nwas probably about at Nacoochee mound in White Co., Ga.\n\ngu`day`wu--\"I have sewed myself together\"; \"I am sewing,\" tsiye`wia`;\n\"I am sewing myself together.\"\n\ngugwe`--the quail or partridge.\n\ngugwe`ulasu`la--\"partridge moccasin,\" from guewe, partridge, and\nulasula, moccasin or shoe; the lady slipper.\n\nGulahi`yi (abbreviated Gulahi`, or Gurahi`, in the Lower\ndialect)--\"Gula`hi place,\" so-called from the 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 Co.,\nGa., the other on Cullowhee river, an upper branch of Tuckasegee, in\nJackson Co., N. C. Currahee Dick was a noted chief about the year 1820.\n\nGu`lani`yi--a Cherokee and Natchez settlement, formerly about the\njunction of Brasstown creek with Hiwassee river, a short distance above\nMurphy, in Cherokee Co., N. C. The etymology of the word is doubtful.\n\ngule`--acorn.\n\ngule`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 upon\nacorns and its cry somewhat resembles the name, gule.\n\ngule`gi--\"climber,\" from tsilahi, \"I climb\" (second person, hi`lahi;\nthird person, gulahi); the blacksnake.\n\nGul`kala`ski--an earlier name for Tsunu`lahun`ski, q. v.\n\ngul`kwa`gi--seven; also the mole-cricket.\n\ngul`kwa`gine(-i)--seventh; from gul`kwagi, seven.\n\nGulsadihi (or Gultsadihi`?) a masculine name of uncertain etymology.\n\ngunahi`ti--long.\n\nGu`nahitun`yi--Long place (i. e., Long valley), from gunahi`ti,\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 in\nCherokee Co., N. C. The various settlements on Valley river and the\nadjacent part of Hiwassee were known collectively as \"Valley towns.\"\n\nGun`di`gaduhun`yi (abbreviated Gun`-digadu`hun)--\"Turkey settlement\"\n(gu`na, turkey), so-called from the chief, Turkey or Little Turkey. A\nformer settlement, known to the whites as Turkeytown, upon the\nwest bank of Coosa river, opposite the present Center, in Cherokee,\nCo., Ala.\n\ngu`ni--arrow. Cf. Senica, ga`na.\n\ngun`nage`i (or gun`nage) black.\n\nGunne`hi--see Nunne`hi.\n\nGunskali`ski--a masculine personal name of uncertain etymology.\n\nGunters Landing, Guntersville--see Ku`sa-Nunna`hi.\n\nGun-tuskwa`li--\"short arrows,\" from guni, arrow, and tsuskwa`li,\nplural of uska`li, short; a traditional western tribe.\n\nGunun`da`le`gi--see Nunna-hi`dihi.\n\nGusti`--a traditional Cherokee settlement on Tennessee river, near\nKingston, Roane Co., Tenn. The name cannot be analyzed.\n\nGu`wisguwi`--The Cherokee name of 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`ga`hi--\"Frog-place,\" from gwal`gu, a variety of frog, and hi,\nlocative. A place on Hiwassee river, just above the junction of\nPeachtree creek, near Murphy, in Cherokee Co., N. C.; about 1755 the\nsite of a village of refugee Natchez, and later of a Baptist mission.\n\ngwehe`--a cricket's cry.\n\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.\"\n\nHanging-maw--see Uskwa`li-gu`ta.\n\nha`nia-lil`-lil`--an unmeaning dance refrain.\n\nHard-mush--see Gatun`wali.\n\nha`tlu--dialectic form, ga`tsu, \"where?\" (interrogative).\n\nha`wiye`ehi`, ha`wiye`hyuwe`--unmeaning dance refrains.\n\nhayu`--an emphatic affirmative, about equivalent to \"Yes, sir.\"\n\nhayuya`haniwa`--an unmeaning refrain in one of the bear songs.\n\nhe-e!--an unmeaning song introduction.\n\nHemp-carrier--see Tale`danigi`ski.\n\nHemptown--see Gatunlti`yi.\n\nhi!--unmeaning dance exclamation.\n\nHickory-log--see Wane`-asun`tlunyi.\n\nhi`gina`lii--\"(you are) my friend\"; afina`lii, \"(he is) my friend.\" In\nwhite man's jargon, canaly.\n\nHightower--see I`tawa`.\n\nhila`gu?--how many? how much? (Upper dialect); the Middle dialect\nform is hungu`.\n\nhilahi`yu--long ago; the final yu makes it more emphatic.\n\nhi`lunnu--\"(thou) go to sleep\"; from tsi`lihu`, \"I am asleep.\"\n\nhi`ski--five; cf. Mohawk wisk. The Cherokee numerals including 10 are\nas follows: sa`gwu, ta`li, tsa`i, nun`gi, hi`ski, su`tali, gul kwa`gi,\ntsune`la, aska`hi\n\nHiwassee--Ayuhwa`si.\n\nhi`yagu`we--an unmeaning dance refrain.\n\nHouston, Samuel--see Ka`lanu.\n\nhuhu--the yellow-breasted chat, or yellow mocking bird (Icteria\nvirens); the name is an onomatope.\n\nhunyahu`ska--\"he will die.\"\n\nhwi`lahi`--\"thou (must) go.\"\n\n\n\nIau`nigu--an important Cherokee settlement, commonly known to the\nwhites as Seneca, formerly on Keowee river, about the mouth of\nConneross creek, in Oconee county, S. C. Hopewell, the country seat\nof General Pickens, where the famous treaty was made, was near it on\nthe east side of the river. The word cannot be translated, but has\nno connection with the tribal name, Seneca.\n\nigagu`ti--daylight. The name is sometimes applied to the ulunsu`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 blow-guns, fishing rods and basketry.\n\nihya`ga--see atsil`sunti.\n\ninadu`--snake.\n\nI`nadu-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 ehu,\n\"he is dwelling\"; ge`u, \"I am dwelling.\"\n\nI`nage-utasun`hi--\"he who grew up in the wilderness,\" i. e., \"He who\ngrew up wild\"; from i`nage`i, \"wilderness, unoccupied timber land,\" and\nutasun`hi, the third person perfect of the irregular verb ga`tunsku`,\n\"I am growing up.\"\n\nIna`li--Black-fox; the common red fox in tsu`la (in Muscogee,\nchula). Black-fox was principal chief of the Cherokee Nation in 1810.\n\nIskagua--Name for \"Clear Sky,\" formerly \"Nenetooyah or the Bloody\nFellow.\" The name appears thus in a document of 1791 as that of\na Cherokee chief frequently mentioned about that period under the\nname of \"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\" (galun`lahi) or \"blood\"\n(gi`ga). The first may be intended for Ik-e`gwa, \"Great day.\"\n\nIstanare--see Ustana`li.\n\nItaba--see I`tawa`.\n\nItagu`nahi--the Cherokee name of John Ax.\n\nI`tawa`--The name of one or more Cherokee settlements. One,\nwhich existed until the Removal in 1838, was upon Etowah river,\nabout the present Hightower, in Forsyth county, Ga. Another may\nhave been on Hightower creek of Hiwassee river in Towns county,\nGa. The name, commonly written Etowah and corrupted to Hightower,\ncannot be translated and seems not to be of Cherokee origin. A town,\ncalled Itaba, Ytaun or Ytava in the De Soto chronicles, existed in\n1540 among the 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. It was the ancient capital and sacred \"Peace town\"\nof the Nation. Little Echota was on Sautee (i. e., Its`ti) creek,\na head stream of the Chattahoochee, west of Clarksville, Ga. 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 Canasauga rivers, in Gordon county,\nGa. It was sometimes called Newton. The old Macedonia mission on\nSoco creek, of the N. C. reservation, is also known as Itas`ti to\nthe Cherokee, as was also the great Nacoochee mound. See Nagutsi`.\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 untsaiyi`, \"brass.\" One\nsettlement of this name was upon Brasstown creek of Tugaloo river,\nin Oconee county, S. C.; another was on Little Tennessee river near\nthe present Franklin, Macon county, N. C., and probably about the\njunction of Cartoogaja (Gatug-itse`yi) creek; a third, known to the\nwhites as Brasstown, was on upper Brasstown creek of Hiwassee river,\nin Towns county, Ga. In Cherokee, as in most other Indian languages,\nno clear distinction is made between green and blue.\n\ni`ya--pumpkin.\n\ni`ya`-iuy`sti--\"like a pumpkin,\" from i`ya and iyu`sti, like.\n\ni`ya`-tawi`skage--\"of pumpkin smoothness,\" from i`ya, pumpkin, and\ntawi`skage, smooth.\n\n\n\nJackson--see Tsek`sini`.\n\nJessan--see Tsesa`ni.\n\nJesse Reid--see Tse`si-Ska`tsi.\n\nJoanna Bald--see Diya`hali`yi.\n\nJoara, Juada--see Ani`-Sawa`li.\n\nJohn--see Tsa`ni.\n\nJohn Ax--see Itagu`nahi.\n\nJolly, John--see Anu`lude`gi.\n\nJunaluska--see Tsunu`lahun`ski.\n\nJutaculla--see Tsulkalu`.\n\n\n\nka`gu`--crow; the name is an onomatope.\n\nKagun`yi--\"Crow place,\" from ka`gu`, and yi, locative.\n\nka`i--grease, oil.\n\nKala`asun`yi--\"where he fell off,\" from tsila`asku`, \"I am falling\noff,\" and yi, locative. A cliff near Cold Spring knob, in Swain county,\nNorth Carolina.\n\nKa`lahu`--\"All-bones,\" from ka`lu, bone. A former chief of the East\nCherokee, also known in the tribe as Sawanu`gi.\n\nKa`lanu--\"The Raven\"; the name was used as a war title in the tribe\nand appears in the old documents as Corani (Lower dialect, Ka`ranu)\nColonneh, Colona, etc. It is the Cherokee name for General Samuel\nHouston or for any person named Houston.\n\nKa`lanu Ahyeli`ski--the Raven Mocker.\n\nKa`lanun`yi--\"Raven place,\" from ka`lanu, raven, and yi, the\nlocative. The proper name of Big-cove settlement upon the East Cherokee\nreservation, Swain county, N. C., sometimes also called Raventown.\n\nkalas`-gunahi`ta--\"long hams\" (gunahi`ta, \"long\"); a variety of bear.\n\nKal-detsi`yunyi--\"where the bones are,\" from ka`lu, bone, and\ndetsi`yunyi, \"where (yi) they (de--plural prefix) are lying.\" A spot\nnear the junction of East Buffalo Creek with Cheowa river, in Graham\ncounty, N. C.\n\nkama`ma--butterfly.\n\nkama`ma u`tanu--elephant; literally \"great butterfly,\" from the\nresemblance of the trunk and ears to the butterfly's proboscis\nand wings.\n\nkanaha`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\nto a watch or clock.\n\nkanane`ski amaye`hi--the water spider.\n\nKana`sta, Kanastun`yi--a traditional Cherokee settlement, formerly on\nthe head-waters of the French Broad river, near the present Brevard,\nin Transylvania county, North Carolina. The meaning of the first name\nis lost. A settlement called Cannostee or Cannastion is mentioned as\nexisting on Hiwassee river in 1776.\n\nkana`talu`hi--hominy cooked with walnut kernels.\n\nKana`ti--\"Lucky Hunter\"; a masculine name, sometimes abbreviated\nKanat`. The word cannot be analyzed, but is used as a third person\nhabitual verbal form to mean \"he is lucky, or successful, in hunting\";\nthe opposite is ukwa`legu, \"unlucky, or unsuccessful, in hunting.\"\n\nkanegwa`ti--the water-moccasin snake.\n\nKanuga--also written Canuga; a Lower Cherokee settlement, apparently\non the waters of Keowee river, in S. C., destroyed in 1751; also\na traditional settlement on Pigeon river, probably near the present\nWaynesville, in Haywood county, N. C. The name signifies \"a scratcher,\"\na sort of bone-toothed comb with which ball-players are scratched\nupon their naked skin preliminary to applying the conjured medicine;\nde`tsinuga`sku, \"I am scratching it.\"\n\nkanugu` la (abbreviated nungu` la)--\"scratcher,\" a generic term for\nblackberry, raspberry, and other brier bushes.\n\nKanu`gulayi, or Kanu`gulun`yi--\"Brier place,\" from kanugu`la, brier\n(cf. Kanu`ga); a Cherokee settlement formerly on Nantahala river,\nabout the mouth of Briertown creek, in Macon county, N. C.\n\nKanun`nawu`--pipe.\n\nKasdu`yi--\"Ashes place,\" from kasdu, ashes, and yi, the locative. A\nmodern Cherokee name for the town of Asheville, Buncombe county,\nN. C. The ancient name for the same site is Unta`kiyasti`yi, q. v.\n\nKatal`sta--an East Cherokee woman potter, the daughter of the chief\nYanagun`ski. The name conveys the idea of lending, from tsiyatal`sta,\n\"I lend it\"; agatal`sta, \"it is lent to him.\"\n\nKawan`-ura`sunyi--(abbreviated Kawan`-ura`sun in the Lower\ndialect)--\"where the duck fell,\" from kawa`na, duck, ura`sa (ula`sa),\n\"it fell,\" and yi, locative. A point on Conneross creek (from\nKawan`-ura`sun), near Seneca, in Oconee county, S. C.\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,\nN. C. The name may possibly be a contraction of Ani`-Kawi`yi, \"Place\nof the Deer clan.\"\n\nKeeowhee--see Keowee.\n\nKenesaw--see Gansa`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, of S. C. Another, distinguished as New\nKeowee, was on the head-waters of Twelve-mile creek, in Pickens county,\nS. C. According to Wafford the correct form is Kuwahi`yi, abbreviated\nKuwahi`, \"Mulberry-grove place.\" Says Wafford, \"the whites murdered\nthe name as they always do.\" Cf. Kuwa`hi.\n\nKe`si-ka`gamu--a woman's name, a Cherokee corruption of Cassie Cockran;\nka`gamu is also the Cherokee corruption for \"cucumber.\"\n\nKetoowah--see Kilu`hwa.\n\nKittuwa--see Kitu`hwa.\n\nKitu`hwa--an important ancient Cherokee settlement formerly upon\nTuckasegee river, and extending from above the junction of Oconaluftee\ndown nearly to the present Bryson City, in Swain county, N. C. The\nname, which appears also as Kettooah, Kittoa, Kittowa, etc., has lost\nits meaning. The people of this and the subordinate settlements on the\nwaters of the Tuckasegee were known as Ani`-Kitu`hwagi, and the name\nwas frequently extended to include the whole tribe. For this reason\nit was adopted in later times as the name of the Cherokee secret\norganization, commonly known to the whites as the Ketoowah society,\npledged to the defense of Cherokee autonomy.\n\nkiyu ga--ground-squirrel; te`wa, flying squirrel; sala`li, gray\nsquirrel.\n\nKlausuna--see Tlanusi`yi.\n\nKnoxville--see Kuwanda`ta lun`yi.\n\nku!--an introductory explanation, to fix attention, about equivalent to\n\"Now!\"\n\nkuku`--\"cymbling\"; also the \"jigger weed,\" or \"pleurisy root\"\n(Asclepias tuberosa). Coco creek of Hiwassee river, and Coker\npost-office, in Monroe county, Tennessee, derive their name from\nthis word.\n\nKulsetsi`yi (abbreviated Kulse`tsi)--\"Honey-locust place,\" from\nkulse`tsi, honey-locust (Gleditschia) and yi, locative; as the\nsame word, kulse` tsi, is also used for \"sugar,\" the local name has\ncommonly been rendered Sugartown by the traders. The name of several\nformer settlement places in the old Cherokee country. One was upon\nKeowee river, near the present Fall creek, in Oconee county, S. C.;\nanother was on Sugartown or Cullasagee (Kulse`tsi) creek, near the\npresent Franklin, in Macon county, N. C.; a third was on Sugartown\ncreek, near the present Morgantown, in Fannin county, Ga.\n\nKunnesee--see Tsi`yu-gunsi`ni.\n\nKunstutsi`yi--\"Sassafras place,\" from kunstu`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, Tenn.\n\nkunu`nu (abbreviated kunun`)--the bullfrog; the name is probably an\nonomatope; the common green frog is wala`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.\n\nKu`sa-nunna`hi--\"Creek trail,\" from Ku`sa, Creek Indian, and Nunna`hi,\npath, trail; cf. Suwa`li-nunna`hi. A former important Cherokee\nsettlement, including also a number of Creeks and Shawano, where the\ntrail from the Ohio region to the creek country crossed Tennessee\nriver, at the present Guntersville, in Marshall county, Ala. It was\nknown to the traders as Creek-path, and later as Gunter's landing,\nfrom a Cherokee mixed-blood named Gunter.\n\nKu`swati`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, Ga. In one\ndocument the name appears, by error, Tensawattee.\n\nKuwa`hi--\"Mulberry place,\" from ku`wa, mulberry tree, and hi,\nlocative. Clingman's dome, about the head of Deep creek, on the\nGreat Smoky range, between Swain county, N. C., and Sevier county,\nTenn. See also Keowee.\n\nKuwanda`ta lun`yi (abbreviated Kuwanda`ta lun)--\"Mulberry grove,\" from\nku`wa, mulberry; the Cherokee name for the present site of Knoxville,\nin Knox county, Tenn.\n\nKwa`li, Kwalun`yi--Qualla or Quallatown, the former agency for the East\nCherokee and now a post-office 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\"\nKwalun`yi, \"Polly's place.\" The reservation is locally known as the\nQualla boundary.\n\nkwandaya`hu--see da`liksta`.\n\n\n\nla`lu--the jar-fly (Cicada auletes).\n\nLittle Carpenter, Little Cornplanter--see Ata`-gul kalu`.\n\nLong-hair--a Cherokee chief living with his band in Ohio in 1795. The\nliteral Cherokee translation of \"Long-hair\" is Gitlu`gunahi`ta,\nbut it is not certain that the English name is a correct rendering\nof the Indian form. Cf. Ani`-Gila`hi.\n\nLong Island--see Amaye li-gunahi`ta.\n\nLookout Mountain Town--see Danda`ganu`.\n\nLowrey, Major George--see Agili.\n\n\n\nMayes, J. B.--see Tsa`wa Gak`ski.\n\nMemphis--see Tsuda`talesun`yi.\n\nMialaquo--see Amaye l-e`gwa.\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 1793; a boy upon the\nEast Cherokee reservation a few years ago bore the name of Ma`tayi`,\nfor which no meaning can be found or given.\n\nMussel Shoals--see Dagu`nahi.\n\n\n\nNacoochee--see Na`gu tsi.\n\nNa`duli--known to the whites as Nottely. A former Cherokee settlement\non Nottely river, close to the Georgia line, in Cherokee county,\nN. C. The name cannot be translated and has not any connection with\nna tu li, \"spicewood.\"\n\nNa`gu 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, Ga. The meaning of the word is lost and it\nis doubtful if it be of Cherokee origin. It may have some connection\nwith the name of the Uchee Indians. The great mound farther up Sautee\nriver, in White county, was known to the Cherokee as Itsa`ti.\n\nnakwisi` (abbreviated nakusi)--star; also the meadow lark.\n\nnakwisi` usdi`--\"little star\"; the puffball fungus (Lycoperdon?).\n\nNa`na-tlu gun`yi (abbreviated Na`na-tlu gun`, or Na`na-tsu\ngun`)--\"Spruce-tree place,\" from na`na, spruce, tlu gun`i, or tsu\ngun`i, a tree (standing) and yi, locative, 1. A traditional ancient\nCherokee settlement on the site of Jonesboro, Washington county,\nTenn. The name of Nolichucky river is probably a corruption of the\nsame word. 2. Nan-tsu gun, a place on Nottely river, close to its\njunction with Hiwassee, in Cherokee county, N. C.\n\nNanehi--see Nunne`hi.\n\nNantahala--see Nundaye` li.\n\nNashville--see Dagu`nawe`lahi.\n\nNatchez--see Ani`-Na'tsi.\n\nNats-asun`tlunyi (abbreviated Nats-asun`tlun)--\"Pine-footing place,\"\nfrom na'tsi, pine, asun`tli or asun-tlun`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`tsiku`--\"I eat it\" (tsi`kiu`, \"I am eating\").\n\nna tu li--spicewood (Lindera benzoin).\n\nNaye`hi--see Nunne`hi.\n\nNayunuwi--see Nunyunu`wi.\n\nnehanduyanu`--a song form for nehadu`yanu`, an irregular verbal form\ndenoting \"conceived in the womb.\"\n\nNellawgitehi--given as the name of a Lower Cherokee chief in 1684. The\ncorrect form and meaning are both uncertain, but the final part seems\nto be the common suffix didi`, \"killer.\" Cf. Ta`gwadiahi`.\n\nNenetooyah--see Iskagua.\n\nNequassee--see Ki`kwasi`.\n\nNettecawaw--see Gatayu`sti.\n\nNettle-carrier--see Tale`danigi`ski.\n\nNew Echota, Newtown--see Itsa`ti.\n\nNickajack--see Nikutse`gi.\n\nNicotani--see Ani`-Kuta`ni.\n\nNikwasi` (or Nikwsi`)--an important ancient settlement on Little\nTennessee river, where now is the town of Franklin, in Macon county,\nN. C. A large mound marks the site of the town-house. The name appears\nin old documents as Nequassee, Nucassee, etc. Its meaning is lost.\n\nNikutse`gi (also Nukatse`gi, Nikwatse`gi, or abbreviated\nNikutseg`)--Nickajack, an important Cherokee settlement, about 1790,\non the south bank of Tennessee river, at the entrance of Nickajack\ncreek, in Marion county, Tenn. 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 Cullasaja river above Franklin, in Macon county,\nN. C.\n\nNilaque--see Amaye l-e`gwa.\n\nNolichucky--see Na`na-tlugun`yi.\n\nNotchy--a creek entering Tellico river, in Monroe county, Tenn. The\nname evidently refers to Natchez Indian refugees, who formerly lived\nin the vicinity (see Ani`-Na'tsi).\n\nNottely--see Na`duli`.\n\nnu--used as a suffix to denote \"and,\" or \"also\"; u`le-nu, \"and also\"\nna`ski-nu`, \"and that,\" \"that also.\"\n\nNucassee--see Nikwasi`.\n\nnu`dunnelu`--he did so and so: an irregular form apparently connected\nwith the archaic forms adunni`ga, \"it has just become so,\" and udunnu,\n\"it is matured, or finished.\"\n\nNugatsa`ni--a ridge sloping down to Oconaluftee river, below Cherokee,\nin Swain county, N. C. An archaic form denoting a high ridge with a\nlong gradual slope.\n\nnu`na--potato; the name was originally applied to the wild \"pig potato\"\n(Phaseolus), now distinguished as mu`na igatehi, \"swamp-dwelling\npotato.\"\n\nnun`da--the sun or moon, distinguished as unu`da` ige`hi, nun`da`\n\"dwelling in the day,\" and nun`da` sunna`yehi, nun`da \"dwelling in\nthe night.\" In the sacred formulas the moon is sometimes called Ge\nyagu`ga, or Su`talidihi, \"Six-keller,\" names apparently founded upon\nmyths now lost.\n\nnun`da`-dikani--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 nun`da`, sun, and da`ka na` or detsi`ka na, \"I am\nlooking at it.\"\n\nNundawe`gi--see Ani`-Nundawe`gi.\n\nNun`daye li--\"Middle (i. e., Noonday) sun,\" from nunda`, sun and\naye li, middle; a former Cherokee settlement on Nantahala river,\nnear the present Jarrett station, in Macon county, N. C., 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`gu la`yi, \"Briertown,\" q. v.\n\nNun`dagun`yi, Nunda`yi--the Sun land, or east; from nun`da`, sun, and\nyi, locative. Used in the sacred formulas instead of di`galungun`yi,\n\"where it rises,\" the common word.\n\nnun`gi--four. See hi`ski.\n\nnungu la--see kanugu` la.\n\nnunna`hi (abbreviated nunna)--a path, trail or road.\n\nNunna`hi-dihi` (abbreviated Nun`na-dihi`)--\"Path-killer,\" literally,\n\"he kills (habitually) in the path,\" from nun`nahi, path, and ahihi`,\n\"he kills\" (habitually); \"I am killing,\" tsi`ihu`. A principal chief,\nabout the year 1813. Major John Ridge was originally known by the\nsame name, but afterward took the name, Gunun`da le`gi, \"One who\nfollows the ridge,\" which the whites made simply ridge.\n\nNunna`hi-tsune`ga (abbreviated) Nunna-tsune`ga--\"white-path,\"\nfrom nunna`hi, path, and tsune`ga, plural of une`ga, white; the\nform is the plural, as is common in Indian names, and has probably\na symbolic reference to the \"white\" or peaceful paths spoken of in\nthe opening invocation at the green corn dance. A noted chief who\nled the conservative party about 1828.\n\nNunne`hi (also Gunne`hi; singular Naye`hi)--a race of invisible spirit\npeople. The name is derived from the verb e`hu`, \"I dwell, I live,\"\ne`hi`, \"I dwell habitually,\" and may be rendered \"dwellers anywhere,\"\nor \"those who live anywhere,\" but implies having always been there,\ni. 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.\"\n\nNuniyu`sti--\"potato-like,\" from nu`na, potato, and iyu`sti, like. A\nflowering vine with tuberous root somewhat resembling the potato.\n\nNunyu`--rock, stone.\n\nNunyu`-gunwam`ski--\"Rock that talks,\" from nunyu`, rock, and\ntsiwa`nihu, \"I am talking.\" A rock from which Talking-rock creek of\nCoosawatee river, in Georgia, derives its name.\n\nNun`yunu`wi--contracted from Nunyu-unu`wi. \"Stone-clad,\" from nunyu,\nrock, and agwaun`wu, \"I am clothed or covered.\" A mythic monster,\ninvulnerable by reason of his stony skin. The name is also applied\nsometimes to the stinging ant, dasuntali atatsunski, q. v. It has\nalso been spelled Nayunuwi.\n\nNunyu`-tlu guni (or Nunyu-tsu gun`i)--\"Tree-rock,\" a notable rock on\nHiwassee river, just within the N. C. line.\n\nNunyu`-twi`ska--\"Slick rock,\" from nunyu`, rock, and twiska, 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, N. C. 2. A place at the extreme head of Brasstown\ncreek of Hiwassee river, in Towns county, Ga.\n\n\n\nOcoee--see Uwaga`hi.\n\nOconaluftee--see Egwanul ti.\n\nOconee--see Ukwu`nu.\n\nOconostota--see Agansta`ta.\n\nOld Tassel--see Utsi`dsata`.\n\nOoltewah--see Ultiwa`i.\n\nOostinaleh--see U`stana`li.\n\nOothealoga--see Uy`gila`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\natari or atali, mountain, but the rest of the word is doubtful.\n\nOttare--see a`tali.\n\nOwasta--given as the name of a Cherokee chief in 1684; the form cannot\nbe identified.\n\nOugillogy--see Uy`gila`gi.\n\nOutacity--given in documents as the name or title of a prominent\nCherokee chief about 1720. It appears also as Otacite, Ottassite,\nOutassatah, Wootassite and Wrosetasatow (!), but the form cannot\nbe identified, although it seems to contain the personal name suffix\ndiha`, \"killer.\" Timberlake says: \"There are some other honorary titles\namong them, conferred in reward of great actions; the first of which\nis Outacity or \"Man-killer,\" and the second Colona or \"The Raven.\"\n\nOutassatah--see Outacity.\n\nOwassa--see Ayuhwa`si.\n\n\n\nPaint-town--see Ani`-Wa`dihi`.\n\nPath-killer--see Nuna`hi-dihi`.\n\nPhoenix, Cherokee--see Tsule`hisanun`hi.\n\nPigeon River--see Wayi.\n\nPine Indians--see Ani`-Na'tsi.\n\nPinelog--see Na ts-asun`tlunyi.\n\n\n\nQualatchee--a former Cherokee settlement on the headwaters of the\nChattahoochee river in Georgia; another of the same name was upon\nthe waters of Keowee river in S. C. 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.\n\nQuoneashee--see Tlanusi`yi.\n\n\n\nRattlesnake Springs--see Utsanatiyi.\n\nRattling-Gourd--see Ganseti.\n\nRaventown--see Kalanun`yi.\n\nRed Clay--see Elawa`diyi.\n\nReid, Jesse--see Tse`si-Ska`tsi.\n\nRidge, Major John--see Nunna`hi-dihi`.\n\nRoss, John--see Gu`wisguwi`.\n\nRoss' Landing--see Tsatanu`gi.\n\n\n\nSadayi`--a feminine name, the proper name of the woman known to the\nwhites as Annie Ax; it cannot be translated.\n\nSagwa`hi, or Sagwun`yi--\"One place,\" from sa`gwu, one, and hi or\nyi, locative. Soco creek of Oconaluftee river, on the East Cherokee\nreservation, in Jackson county, N. C. No satisfactory reason is given\nfor the name, which has its parallel in Tsaska`hi, \"Thirty place,\"\na local name in Cherokee county, N. C.\n\nsa`gwalt`--horse; from asagwalihu, a pack or burden, asagwal lu`;\n\"there is a pack on him.\"\n\nsa`gwali digu`lanahi`ta--mule; literally \"long-eared horse,\" from\nsa`gwali, horse, and digu`lanahi`ta, q. v.\n\nsaikwa`yi--bear-grass (Erynigium) also the greensnake, on account of\na fancied resemblance; the name of a former Cherokee settlement on\nSallacoa creek of Coosawatee river, in Gordon county, Ga.\n\nSakwi`yi (or Suki`yi; abbreviated Sakwi` or Suki`)--a former settlement\non Soquee river, a head stream of Chattahoochee, near Clarksville,\nHabersham county, Ga. Also written Saukee and Sookee. The name has\nlost its meaning.\n\nsala`li--squirrel; the common gray squirrel; other varieties are kiyu\nga, the ground squirrel, and tewa, the flying squirrel; Sala`li was\nalso the name of an East Cherokee inventor who died a few years ago;\nSala`lani`ta` \"Young-squirrels,\" is a masculine personal name on\nthe reservation.\n\nsaligu`gi--turtle, the common water turtle; soft-shell turtle,\nu`lana`wa; land tortoise or terrapin, tuksi`.\n\nSa`nigila`gi (abbreviated San gila`gi)--Whiteside mountain, a\nprominent peak of the Blue Ridge, southeast from Franklin, Macon\ncounty, N. C. It is connected with the tradition of Utlun`ta.\n\nSanteetla--the present map name of a creek joining Cheiwa river\nin Graham county, N. C., 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 Tsundanilti`yi, q. v.; the modern Santeetla creek is\ncommonly known as Nayu`higeyun`i, \"Sand-place stream,\" from \"Nuyu`hi,\n\"Sand place\" (nayu, 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 Itsa`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`Swanu`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 Isu`nigu or Seneca, q. v.,\nan important former Cherokee settlement upon its upper waters.\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 Ka`lahu`.\n\nSawnook--see Ka`lahu`.\n\nSehwate`yi--\"Hornet place,\" from se`hwatu, hornet, and yi,\nlocative. Cheowa Maximum and Swim Bald, adjoining bald peaks at the\nhead of Cheowa river, Graham county, N. C.\n\nselu--corn; sometimes called in the sacred formulas Agawe`la, \"The\nOld Woman.\"\n\nsel-utsi` (for selu-utsi`)--\"corn's mother,\" from selu, corn, and\nutsi`, his mother (etsi` or agitsi`, my mother); the bead-corn or\nJob's-tears (Coix lacryma).\n\nSeneca--see Ani`-Nun`dawe`gi (Seneca tribe), and Isu`nigu. (Seneca\ntown.)\n\nSequatchee--see Si`gwetsi`.\n\nSequoya--see Sikwayi.\n\nSetsi--a mound and traditional Cherokee settlement on the south side\nof the Valley river, about three miles below Valleytown, in Cherokee\ncounty, N. C.; the name has lost its meaning. A settlement called\nTasetsi (Tassetchie in some old documents) existed on the extreme\nhead of Hiwassee river, in Towns county, Ga.\n\nSevier--see Tsan`-usdi`.\n\nShoe-boots--see Da`si giya`gi.\n\nShooting creek--see Du`stayalun`yi.\n\nSi`gwetsi`--a traditional Cherokee settlement on the south bank of\nFrench Broad river, not far from Knoxville, Knox county, Tenn. Near\nby was the quarry from which it is said the stone for the white\npeace pipes was obtained. Swquatchee, the name of the river below\nChattanooga, in Tenn., is probably a corruption of the same word.\n\nsi`dwa--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).\n\nSikwa`yi--a masculine name, commonly written Sequoya, made famous as\nthat of the inventor of the Cherokee alphabet. The name, which cannot\nbe translated, is still in use upon the East Cherokee reservation.\n\nSikwi`a--a masculine name, the Cherokee corruption for Sevier. See\nalso Tsan-usdi`.\n\nsinnawah--see tla`nuwa.\n\nSi`tiku` (or su`tagu`, in dialectic form)--a former Cherokee settlement\non Little Tennessee river, at the entrance of Citico creek, in Monroe\ncounty, Tenn. The name, which cannot be translated, is commonly\nspelled Citico, but appears also as Sattiquo, Settico, Settacoo,\nSette, Sittiquo, etc.\n\nsiyu`--see a`siyu`.\n\nskinta`--for skin`tagu`, understood to mean \"put a new tooth into my\njaw.\" The word cannot be analyzed, but is derived from gantka` (ganta\nga in a dialectic form) a tooth in place; a tooth detached is kayu ga.\n\nSkwan`-digu gun`yi (for Askwan`-digu gun`yi)--\"where the Spaniard\nis in the water\" (or other liquid). A place on Upper Soco creek,\non the reservation in Jackson county, N. C.\n\nSlick Rock--see Nunyu`tawi`ska.\n\nSmith, N. J.--see Tsaladihi`.\n\nSnowbird--see Tuti`yi.\n\nSoco creek--see Sagwa`hi.\n\nSoco Gap--see Ahalu`na.\n\nSoquee--see Sakwi`yi.\n\nSpray, H. W.--see Wilsini`.\n\nspring-frog--see Du`stu`.\n\nStanding Indian--see Yunwi-tsulenun`yi.\n\nStand Watie--see De`gataga.\n\nStekoa--see Stika`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\nStika`yi (variously spelled Stecoe, Steecoy, Stekoah, Stickoey,\netc.)--the name of several former Cherokee settlements: 1. Sticoa\ncreek, near Clayton, Babun county, Ga.; 2. on Tuckasegee river at\nthe old Thomas homestead just above the present Whittier, in Swain\ncounty, N. C.; 3. on Stekoa creek of Little Tennessee river, a few\nmiles below the junction of Nantahala, in Graham county, N. C.\n\nStringfield--see Tlage`si.\n\nstugi`sti, stui`ski--a key.\n\nSuck, The--see Un`tiguhi`.\n\nSugartown--see Kulse`tsi`yi.\n\nsu`nawa`--see tla`nuwa.\n\nsunestla`ta--\"split noses\"; see tsunu liyu` sunestla`ta.\n\nsungi--mink; also onion; the name seems to refer to a smell; the\nvarious minks are called generically, gaw sun`gi.\n\nSuki`yi--another form of Sakwi`yi, q. v.\n\nsu`li`--buzzard; the Creek name is the same.\n\nSun Land--see Nunda`yi.\n\nsu`sa`-sai`--an unmeaning song refrain.\n\nsu`talidihi`--see nun`da`.\n\nSuwa`li-nunna`hi (abbreviated Suwa`li-nunna`hi)--\"Suwali train,\" the\nproper name for the gap at the head of Swannanoa (from Suwa`li-Nun`na`)\nriver east of Asheville, in Buncombe county, N. C.\n\nSuwa`ni--a former Cherokee settlement on Chattahoochee river, about\nthe present Suwanee, in Gwinnett county, Ga. The name has no meaning\nin the Cherokee language and is said to be of Creek origin.\n\nSuye`ta--\"the Chosen One,\" from asuye`ta, \"he is chosen,\" gasu`yeu,\n\"I am choosing\"; the same form, suye`ta, could also mean mixed, from\ngasu`yahu, \"I am mixing it.\" A masculine name at present borne by a\nprominent ex-chief and informant upon the East Cherokee reservation.\n\nSwannanoa--see Wuwa`li-nunna`hi.\n\nSwim Bald--see Sehwate`yi.\n\nSwimmer--see Ayun`ini.\n\n\n\ntadeya`statakuhi`--\"we shall see each other.\"\n\nTae-keo-ge--see Ta ski`gi.\n\nta`gu--the June-bug (Allorhina nitida), also called tuya-diskalaw\ntsiski, \"one who keeps fire under the beans.\"\n\nTa`gwa--see Ani`ta`gwa.\n\nTa`gwadihi` (abbreviated Ta`gwadi`)--\"Catawba-killer,\" from Ata`gwa or\nTa`gwa, \"Cattawba Indian,\" and dihihi`, \"he kills them\" (habitually),\nfrom tsi`ihu`. \"I kill.\" An old masculine name, still in use upon\nthe East Cherokee reservation. It was the proper name of the chief\nknown to the whites about 1790 as \"The Glass,\" from a confusion of\nthis name with adake`ti, glass, or mirror.\n\nTagwa`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 Clarksville, in Habersham county, Ga.;\nanother was upon Toccoa or Ocoee river, about the present Toccoa,\nin Fannin county, Ga.; a third may have been on Persimmon creek,\nwhich is known to the Cherokee as Tagwa`hi, and enters Hiwassee river\nsome distance below Murphy, in Cherokee county, N. C.\n\nTahkeyostee--see Unta`kiyasti`yi.\n\nTahlequah--see Talikwa`.\n\nTahchee--see Talikwa`.\n\nTakatoka--see De`gata`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 about\nTalassee ford, in Blount county, Tenn. The name has lost its 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\nTale`danigi`ski (Utale`danigi`si in a dialectic form)--variously\nrendered by the whites \"Hemp-carrier,\" \"Nettle-carrier\" or\n\"flax-toter,\" from tale`ta or utale`ta, flax (Linum) or richweed (Pilea\npumila), and danigi`ski, \"he carries them\" (habitually). A former\nprominent chief on Valley river, in Cherokee county, North Carolina.\n\nTalihina--given as the name of the Cherokee wife of Samuel Houston;\nthe form cannot be identified.\n\nTalikwa` (commonly written Tellico, Teliquo or, in the Indian\nTerritory, Tahlequah)--the name of several Cherokee settlements at\ndifferent periods, viz.: 1. Great Tellico, at Tellico Plains, on\nTellico river, in Monroe county, Tenn.; 2. Little Tellico, on Tellico\ncreek of Little Tennessee river, about ten miles below Franklin,\nMacon county, N. C. 3. a town on Valley river, about five miles above\nMurphy, in Cherokee county, N. C.; 4. Tahlequah, established as the\ncapital of the Cherokee Nation, Ind. Ter., in 1839. The meaning of\nthe 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.\n\nTalking-rock--see Nunyu-gunwani`ski.\n\nTallulah--see Talulu`.\n\nTal-tsu`ska`--\"Two-heads,\" from ta`li, two, and tsu`ska`, plural of\nuska`, (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 Tallulah, and appearing in old documents, from the\nLower dialect, as Taruraw, Toruro, Turoree, etc.)--a name occurring in\ntwo or more places in the old Cherokee country, viz.: 1. An ancient\nsettlement on the upper part of Tallulah river, in Rabun county,\nGeorgia; 2. a town on Tallulah creek of Cheowa river, in Graham county,\nN. C. The word is of uncertain etymology. The dulu`si frog is said\nto cry talulu`. The noted falls upon Tallulah river are known to the\nCherokee as Ugun`yi, q. v.\n\nTaluntiski--see Ata`lunti`ski.\n\nTama`li--a name, commonly written Tomotley or Tomatola, occurring in\nat least two places in the old Cherokee country, viz.: 1. On Valley\nriver, a few miles above Murphy, about the present Tomatola, in\nCherokee county, N. C. 2. on Little Tennessee river, about Tomotley\nford, a few miles above Tellico river, in Monroe county, Tenn. The\nname cannot 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 cannot be analyzed, commonly spelled Tennessee,\noccurring in several places in the old Cherokee country, viz.: 1. On\nLittle Tennessee river about half-way between Citico and Toco creeks,\nin Monroe county, Tenn. 2. \"Old Tennessee town,\" on Hiwassee river, a\nshort distance above the junction of Ocoee, in Polk county, Tenn. 3. On\nTennessee creek, a head-stream of Tuckasegee river, in Jackson county,\nN. C. Tanasqui, visited by Pardo in 1567, may have been another place\nof the same name.\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, just\nabove the junction of Tellico, in Monroe county, Tenn.; 2. another\nwas on the north bank of Tennessee river, just below Chattanooga,\nTennessee; 3. another may have been on Tuskegee creek of Little\nTennessee river, near Robbinsville, Graham county, N. C.\n\nTasquiqui--see Ta`ski`gi.\n\nTassel, Old--see Utsi`dsata`.\n\nTatsi`--\"Dutch,\" also written Tahchee, a western Cherokee chief\nabout 1830.\n\nTatsu`hwa--the redbird.\n\ntawa`li--punk.\n\nTawa`li-ukwanun`ti--\"Punk-plugged-in,\" from tawa`li, punk; the Cherokee\nname of a traditional Shawano chief.\n\ntawi`ska, tawi`skage--smooth, slick.\n\nTawi`skala--\"Flint\"; a Cherokee supernatural, the personification\nof the rock flint; tawi`skalun`ti, tawi`skala, flint, from tawi`ska,\nsmooth, slick; cf. Iroquois Tawiskaron.\n\nTayunksi--a traditional western tribe; the name cannot be analyzed.\n\nTellico--see Talikwa`.\n\ntelun`lati--the summer grape (Vitis aestivalis).\n\nTenaswattee--see Ku`saweti`yi.\n\nTerrapin--see Tuksi`.\n\ntewa--a flying squirrel; sala`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,\neast of Clayton, in Rabun county, Ga.; 2. the Tikiwali`tsi of the\nstory, an important town on Tuckasegee river at the present Bryson\nCity, in Swain county, N. C. 3. Tuckalechee cove, on Little river,\nin Blount county, Tenn., 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 cannot be translated.\n\nTimossy--see Tomassee.\n\nTlage`si--\"Field\"; the Cherokee name for Lieutenant-Colonel\nW. W. Stringfield of Waynesville, N. C., one of the officers of\nthe Cherokee contingent in the Thomas Legion. It is an abbreviated\nrendering of his proper name.\n\ntlage`situn`--a song form for tlage`sia-stun`i, \"on the edge of the\nfield,\" from a stream.\n\ntla`meha--bat (dialectic forms, tsa`meha, tsa`weha).\n\ntlanu`si`--leech (dialectic form, tsanu`si`).\n\nTlanusi`yi (abbreviated Tlanusi`)--\"Leech place,\" former important\nsettlement at the junction of Hiwassee and Valley river, the present\nsite of Murphy, in Cherokee county, N. C.; also a point on Nottely\nriver, a few miles distant, in the same county. The name appears also\nas Clennuse, Klausuna, Quoneashee, etc.\n\ntla`nuwa (dialetic forms, tsa`nuwa`, su`nawa`, \"sinnawah\")--a mythic\ngreat hawk.\n\ntla`nuwa`usdi--\"little tla`nuwa`\"; probably the goshawk (Astur\natricapillus).\n\nTla`nuwa`atsi Yelun`isun`yi--\"where the Tla`nuwa cut it up,\"\nfrom tla`nuwa`, q. v., and tsiyelun`isku`, an archaic form for\ntsigunilun`isku`, \"I am cutting it up.\" A place on Little Tennessee\nriver, nearly opposite the entrance of Citico creek, in Blount\ncounty, Tenn.\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, Tenn.\n\ntlayku`--jay (dialectic form, tsayku`).\n\ntlunti`sti--the pheasant (Bonasa umbella), called locally grouse\nor partridge.\n\ntluntu`tsi--panther (dialectic form, tsuntu`ski).\n\ntlutlu`--the martin bird (dialectic form, tsutsu`).\n\nTocax--a place, apparently in the Cherokee country, visited by Pardo\nin 1567. It may possibly have a connection with Toxaway (see Duksa`i)\nor Toccoa (see Tagwa`hi).\n\nToccoa--see Tagwa`hi.\n\nToco--see Dakwa`i.\n\nTollunteeskee--see Ata`lunti`ski.\n\nTomassee (also written Timossy and Tymahse)--the name of two or more\nformer Cherokee settlements, viz.: 1. On Tomassee creek of Keowee\nriver, in Oconee county, S. C.; 2. On Little Tennessee river, near\nthe entrance of Burningtown creek, in Macon county, N. C. The correct\nform and interpretation are unknown.\n\nTomatola, Tomotley--see Tama`li.\n\nTooantuh--see Du`stu`.\n\nToogelah--see Dugilu`yi.\n\nToqua--see Dakwa`i.\n\nToxaway--see Dukas`i.\n\nTrack Rock gap--see Datsu`nalasgun`yi.\n\nTsaga`si--a Cherokee sprite.\n\ntsa`gi--upstream, up the road; the converse of ge`i.\n\nTsaiyi`--see Untsaiyi`.\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 for\nJarrett (Tsaladi`), his middle name, by which he was frequently\naddressed. Cf. Tagwadihi.\n\ntsal-agayun`li--\"old tobacco,\" from tsalu, tobacco, and agayun`li or\nagayun`lige, old, ancient; the Nicotiana rustica or wild tobacco.\n\nTsa`lagi` (Tsa`ragi` in Lower dialect)--the correct form of Cherokee.\n\nTsa`li--Charley; a Cherokee shot for resisting the troops at the time\nof Removal.\n\ntsaliyu`sti--\"tobacco-like,\" from tsalu, tobacco, and iyu`sti, like;\na generic name for the cardinal-flower, mullein and related species.\n\ntsalu or tsalun (in the Lower dialect, tsaru)--tobacco; by comparison\nwith kindred forms the other Iroquoian dialects the meaning \"fire to\nhold in the mouth\" seems to be indicated. Lanman spells it tso-lungh.\n\ntsameha--see tla`meha.\n\ntsa`nadiska`--for tsandiskai`, \"they say.\"\n\ntsana`seha`i`--\"so they say,\" \"they say about him.\"\n\ntsane`ni--the scorpion lizard; also called gi`ga-danegi`ski, q. v.\n\nTsani--John.\n\nTsantawu`--a masculine name which cannot be analyzed.\n\nTsan-uga`sita--\"Sour 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.\n\ntsaru--see tsalu.\n\nTsasta`wi--a noted hunter formerly living upon Nantahala river,\nin Macon county, North Carolina; the meaning of the name is doubtful.\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 Atla`nuwa, q. v. Before the\nestablishment of the town the place was known to the whites as Ross'\nlanding, from a store kept there by Lewis Ross, brother of the chief,\nJohn Ross.\n\nTsatu`gi (commonly written Chattooga or Chatuga)--a name occurring\nin two or three places in the old Cherokee country, but apparently of\nforeign origin. Possible Cherokee derivations are from words signifying\nrespectively \"he drank by sips,\" from gatu`gia`, \"I sip,\" or \"he has\ncrossed the stream and come out upon the other side,\" from gatu`gi,\n\"I have crossed,\" etc. An ancient settlement of this name was on\nChattooga river, a headstream of Savannah river, on the boundary\nbetween South Carolina and Georgia; another appears to have been on\nupper Tellico river, in Monroe county, Tennessee; another may have been\non Chattooga river, a tributary of the Coosa, in northwestern Georgia.\n\nTsa`wa Gakski--Joe Smoker, from Tsawa, \"Joe,\" and gakski, \"smoker,\"\nfrom ga`gisku, \"I am smoking.\" The Cherokee name for Chief Joel\nB. Mayes, of the Cherokee Nation west.\n\nTsawa`si--a Cherokee sprite.\n\ntsa`weha--see tla`meha.\n\ntsay ku`--see tlay ku`.\n\nTsek`sini`--a 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\ntsetsani`li--\"thy two elder brothers\" (male speaking); \"my elder\nbrother\" (male speaking), ungini`li.\n\nTsgagun`yi--\"Insect place,\" from tsgaya, insect, and yi, locative. A\ncave in the ridge eastward from Franklin, in Macon county, N. C.\n\ntsgaya--insect, worm, etc.\n\nTsikama`gi--a name, commonly spelled Chickamauga, occurring in\nat least two places in the old Cherokee country, which has lost\nany meaning in Cherokee and appears to be of foreign origin. It\nis applied to a small creek at the head of Chattahoochee river,\nin White county, Ga., and also to the district about the southern\n(not the northern) Chickamauga creek, coming into Tennessee river,\na few miles above Chattanooga, in Hamilton county, Tenn. In 1777,\nthe more hostile portion of the Cherokee withdrew from the rest of\nthe tribe, and established here a large settlement, from which they\nremoved about five years later to settle lower down the Tennessee,\nin what were known as the Chickamauga towns or Five Lower towns.\n\ntsiki`--a word which renders emphatic that which it follows: as a`stu,\n\"very good,\" astu` tsiki, \"best of all.\"\n\ntsikiki`--the katydid; the name is an onomatope.\n\ntsi`kilili`--the Carolina chickadee (Parus carolinensis); the name\nis an onomatope.\n\nTsiksi`tsi (Tuksi`tsi is dialectic form; commonly written\nTuckasegee)--1. a former Cherokee settlement about the junction of the\ntwo forks of Tuckasegee, above Webster, in Jackson county, N. C. (not\nto be confounded with Tikwali`tsi, q. v.). 2. A former settlement\non a branch of Brasstown creek of Hiwassee river, in Towns county,\nGa. The word has lost its meaning.\n\nTsi`nawi--a Cherokee wheelwright, perhaps the first in the Nation to\nmake a spinning-wheel and loom. The name cannot be analyzed.\n\ntsine`u--\"I am picking it (something long) up\"; in the Lower and\nMiddle dialects, tsinigi`u.\n\ntsinigi`u--see tsine`u.\n\ntsiska`gili--the large red crawfish; the ordinary crawfish is called\ntsistu`na.\n\ntsi`skwa--bird.\n\ntsiskwa`gwa--robin, from tsi`skwa, bird.\n\nTsiskwa`hi--\"Bird place,\" from tsi`skwa, bird, and hi,\nlocative. Birdtown settlement on the East Cherokee reservation,\nin Swain county, N. C.\n\ntsiskwa`ya--sparrow, literally \"principal bird\" (i. e., most widely\ndistributed), from tsi`skwa, bird, and ya, a suffix denoting principal\nor real.\n\nTsiskwunsdi`adsisti`yi--\"where they killed Little-bird,\" from\nTsiskwunsdi, \"little birds\" (plural form.) A place near the head of\nWest Buffalo creek, southeast of Robbinsville, in Graham county, N. C.\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,\nGa. The name is incorrectly rendered Gum-log (creek).\n\nTsistetsi`yi--\"Mouse place,\" from tsistetsi, mouse, and yi, locative. A\nformer settlement on South Mouse creek, of Hiwassee river, in Bradley\ncounty, Tenn. The present town of Cleveland, upon the same creek,\nis known to the Cherokee under the same name.\n\ntsist-imo `gosto--\"rabbit foods\" (plural), from tsi`stu, rabbit,\nand uni`gisti, plural of agi`sti, food, from tsiyi`giu \"I am eating\"\n(soft food). The wild rose.\n\ntsistu--rabbit.\n\ntsistu`na--crawfish; the large-horned beetle is also so called. The\nlarge red crawfish is called tsiska`gili.\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, N. C., and Blount county, Tenn. 2. A former settlement on\nthe north bank of Hiwassee river at the entrance of Chestua creek,\nin Polk county, Tenn, The name of Choastea creek of Tugaloo river, in\nOconee county, S. C., is probably also a corruption from the same word.\n\nTsiya`hi--\"Otter place,\" from tsiyu, otter, and yi, locative; variously\nspelled Cheowa, Cheeowhee, Chewohe, Chewe, etc. 1. A former settlement\non a branch of Keowee river, near the present Cheohee, Oconee county,\nS. C. 2. A former and still existing Cherokee settlement on Cheowa\nriver, about Robbinsville, in Graham county, N. C. 3. A former\nsettlement in Cades Cove, on Cove creek, in Blount county, Tenn.\n\nTsi`yi-gunsi`ni--\"He is dragging a canoe,\" from tsi`yu, canoe\n(cf. tsi`yu) otter, and gunsi`ni, \"he is dragging it.\" \"Dragging\nCanoe,\" a prominent leader of the hostile Cherokee in the\nRevolution. The name appears in documents as Cheucunsene and Kunnesee.\n\nTskil-e`gwa--\"Big-witch,\" from atsikili`, or tskilu`, witch, owl, and\ne`gwa, big; an old man of the East Cherokee, who died in 1896. Although\ntranslated Big-witch by the whites, the name is understood by the\nIndians to mean Big-owl, having been originally applied to a white\nman living on the same clearing, and noted for his large staring eyes.\n\ntskili` (contracted from atskili`)--1. witch; 2. the dusky-horned owl\n(Bubo virginianus saturatus).\n\ntskwa`yi--the great white heron or American egret. (Herodias egretta).\n\nTsolungh--see tsalu.\n\nTsuda`ye lun`yi--\"Isolated place\"; an isolated peak near the head of\nCheowa river, northeast of Robbinsville, in Graham county, N. C. The\nroot of the word signifies detached, or isolated, whence Uda`ye lun`yi,\nthe Cherokee outlet, in Ind. Ter.\n\nTsunda`talesun`yi--\"where pieces fall off,\" i. e., where the banks are\ncaving in; from adatale`i, \"it is falling off,\" ts, distance prefix,\n\"there,\" and yi, locative. The Cherokee name for the present site\nof Memphis, Tenn., overlooking the Mississippi and formerly known as\nthe Chickasaw bluff.\n\nTsu`dinunti`yi--\"Throwing-down place\"; a former settlement on lower\nNantahala river, in Macon county, N. C.\n\nTsugidu`li ulsgi`sti (from tsugidu`li, plural of ugiduli, one of\nthe long wing or tail feathers of a bird, and ulsgi`sti or ulsgi`ta,\na dance)--the feather or eagle dance.\n\nTsukilunnun`yi--\"Where he alighted\"; two bald spots on a mountain at\nthe head of a Little Snowbird creek, near Robbinsville, Graham county,\nN. C.\n\ntsungili`si--plural of ungili`si, q. v.\n\ntsungini`si--plural of ungini`si, q. v.\n\ntsunkina`tli--\"my younger brothers\" (male speaking).\n\ntsunkita`--\"my younger brothers\" (female speaking).\n\ntsula--fox; cf. tsulu, kingfisher and tlutlu` or tsulsu`, martin. The\nblack fox is ina`li. The Creek word for fox is chula.\n\ntsula`ski--alligator; the name is of uncertain etymology.\n\nTsula`sinun`yi--\"Footprint place.\" A place on Tuckasee river, about\na mile above Deep creek, in Swain county, N. C.\n\nTsula`wi--see Tsulunwe`i.\n\nTsule`hisanun`hi--\"Resurrected One,\" from di`gwale`hisanun`hi, \"I\nwas resurrected.\" literally, \"I was down and have risen.\" Tsa`lagi`,\nTsule`hisanunhi, 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 kalu`--\"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\neye (akta`, plural dikta`) is not a part of it. Cf. Ata`-gulkalu. 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.\n\nTsulkalu` tsunegun`yi--see Tsunegun`yi.\n\ntsulie`na--the nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis); the word signifies\nliterally \"deaf\" (a plural form referring to the ear, gule`) although\nno reason is given for such a name.\n\ntsulu--kingfisher. Cf. tsula.\n\nTsulunwe`i--(abbreviated Tsulun`we or Tsula`wi, possibly connected\nwith tsulu, kingfisher)--Chilhowee creek, a north tributary of Little\nTennessee river, in Blount county, Tennessee.\n\nTsundanilti`yi--\"where they demanded the debt from him\"; a place\non Little Santeetal river, west of Robbinsville, in Graham county,\nNorth Carolina. The creek also is commonly known by the same name.\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. Tsulkalu`; also Gulisge`wi, \"Blind,\nor closed, ears,\" an old personal name.\n\nTsun`digwun`tski (contracted from tsun`digwuntsugi, \"they have them\nforked,\" referring to the peculiar forked tail; cf. Tsulkalu`)--a\nmigratory bird which once appeared for a short time upon the East\nCherokee reservation, apparently, from the description, the scissortail\nor swallow-tailed fly-catcher (Milvulus forficatus).\n\nTsunegun`yi (sometimes called Tsulkalu` Tsunegun`yi)--Tennessee Bald,\nat the extreme head of Tuckasegee river, on the east line of Jackson\ncounty, North Carolina. The name seems to mean \"there where it is\nwhite,\" from ts, a prefix indicating distance, une`ga, white, and\nyi, locative.\n\nTsunil` kalu--the plural form for Tsul kalu, q. v., a traditional\ngiant tribe in the west.\n\ntsunis`tsahi--\"(those) having topnots or crests,\" from ustsahu`,\n\"having a topknot,\" ustsahi`, \"he has a topknot\" (habitually).\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.\n\ntsun-ka`wi-ye`, tsun-sikwa-ya`, tsun-tsu`la-ya`, tsun-wa`ya-ya`--\"I\nam (tsun or tsi, verbal prefix) a real (ya, ye, noun suffix) deer\"\n(kawi`, archaic for a wi`); opossum, si`kwa; fox, tsula; wolf,\nwaya. Archaic song forms.\n\ntsunsdi`--contracted from tsunsdi`ga, the plural of usdi`ga or usdi`,\nsmall.\n\nTsunu`lahun`ski--\"He tries, but fails\" (habitually), from\ndetsinu`lahun`ski (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 Gulkala`ski, a name which denotes something\nhabitually falling from a leaning position (cf. Ata-gul kalu` and\nTsul kalu`).\n\ntsunu` liyu`sunestla`ta--\"they have split noses,\" (from agwaliyu`,\n\"I have it,\" and unestlau`, \"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`.\n\nTsusgina`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 Usunhi`yi, the Twilight land, in the west.\n\nTsuta`tsinasun`yi--\"Eddy place.\" A place on Cheowa river at the mouth\nof Cochran creek, in Graham county, N. C.\n\ntsutsu`--see tlutlu`.\n\ntsuntu`tsi--see tluntu`tsi.\n\ntsuwa`--the mud-puppy or water dog (Menopoma or Protonopsis).\n\nTsuwa`tel`da--a contraction of tsuwa`teldun`yi; the name has lost its\nmeaning. Pilot Knob, north from Brevard, in Transylvania county, N. C.\n\nTsuwa`-uniytsun`yi--\"where the water-dog laughed.\" from tsuwa`, q. v.,\n\"water-dog,\" uniye`tsu, \"they laughed\" (agiyet`sku, \"I am laughing\")\nand yi, locative; Tusquittee Bald, near Hayesville, in Clay county,\nN. C.\n\nTsuwe`nahi--A traditional hunter, in communication with the invisible\npeople. The name seems to mean \"He has them in abundance,\" an\nirregular or archaic form for Uwe`nai, \"he has abundance,\" \"he is\nrich,\" from agwe`nai`, \"I am rich.\" As a masculine name it is used\nas the equivalent of Richard.\n\nTuckalechee--see Tikwah`tsi.\n\nTuckasegee--see Tsiksi`tsi.\n\nTugaloo--see Dugilu`yi.\n\ntugalu`--the cry of the dagulku, goose.\n\ntugalu`na--a variety of small fish, about four inches long, frequenting\nthe larger streams (from galu`na, a gourd, on account of its long\nnose).\n\ntuksi`--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\nTuksi`tsi--see Tsiksi`tsi.\n\nTuli-cula--see Tsui`kalu`.\n\ntulsku`wa--\"he snaps with his head,\" from uska`, head; the snapping\nbeetle.\n\nTuna`i--a traditional warrior and medicine man of old Itsa`ti; the\nname cannot be analyzed.\n\nTurkeytown--see Gun-di`gaduhun`yi.\n\nTurniptown--see U`lunyi.\n\nTuskegee--see Ta`ski`gi.\n\nTusquittee Bald--see Tsuwa`-uniyetsun`yi.\n\nTusquittee creek--see Daskwitun`yi.\n\ntu`sti--for tusti`ga, a small bowl; larger jars are called diwa`li\nand unti`ya.\n\ntuti--snowbird.\n\nTuti`yi--\"Snowbird place,\" from tu`ti, snowbird, and yi,\nlocative. Little Snow-bird creek of Cheowa river, in Graham county,\nN. C.\n\ntu`tsahyesi`--\"he will marry you.\"\n\ntu`ya--bean.\n\ntu`ya-diskalaw`sti`ski--see ti`gu.\n\ntu`yahusi`--\"she will die.\"\n\nTymahse--see Tomassee.\n\n\n\nUchee--see Ani`-Yu`tsi.\n\nuda`hale`yi--\"on the sunny side.\"\n\nuda`i--the baneberry or cohosh vine (Actaea?). The name signifies\nthat the 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`dawagun`ta--\"Bald.\" A bald mountain of the Great Smoky range,\nin Yancy county, N. C., not far from Mount Mitchell.\n\nUdsi`skala--a masculine name.\n\nuga`sita--sour.\n\nu`giska`--\"he is swallowing it\"; from tsikiu`, \"I am eating.\"\n\nu`guku`--the hooting or barred owl.\n\nugunste`li (ugunste`lu in dialect form)--the horny-head fish.\n\nUgun`yi--Tallulah falls, on the river of that name, northeast from\nClarksville, in Habersham county, Ga. The meaning of the name is lost.\n\nUilata--see U`tlun`ta.\n\nuk-ku`suntsuteti`--\"it will twist up one's arm.\"\n\nUk-ku`suntsuti`--\"Bent-bow-shape\"; a comic masculine name.\n\nUk-kunagi`sti--\"it will draw down one's eye.\"\n\nUk-kwunagi`ta--\"eye-drawn-down\"; a comic masculine name.\n\nuksu`hi--the mountain blacksnake or black racer (coluber obsoletus);\nthe name seems to refer to some pecularity of the eye, akta`, uksuhha`,\n\"he has something lodged in his eye.\"\n\nUkte`na--\"Keen-eyed (?)\" from akta`, eye, akta`ti, to examine\nclosely. A mythic great-horned serpent, with a talismanic diadem.\n\nUkte`na-tsuganun`yi--\"where the Uktena got fastened.\" A spot on\nTuckasegee river, about two miles above Bryson City, in Swain county,\nN. C.\n\nUkwu`nu (or Ukwu`ni)--a former Cherokee settlement, commonly known\nto the whites as Oconee, on Seneca creek, near the present Walhalla,\nin Oconee county, S. C.\n\nUla`gu`--the mythical original of the yellow-jacket tribe. The word\nsignifies \"leader,\" \"boss,\" or \"principal one,\" and is applied to the\nfirst yellow-jacket (d`ska`i) seen in the spring, to a queen bee and\nto the leader of a working squad.\n\nu`lana`wa--the soft-shell turtle; see also saligu`gi and tuksi`.\n\nulasu`la--moccasin, shoe.\n\nule`--and; ule`-nu, and also.\n\nulskwulte`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 pestles work in\nthe mortar. The generic word for mill is dist`sti.\n\nulstitlu`--literally \"it is on his head.\" The diamond crest on the\nhead of the mythic Uktena serpent. When detached it becomes Ulunsu`ti.\n\nUltiwa`i--a former Cherokee settlement above the present Ooltewah,\non the creek of the same name, in James county, Tenn.\n\nulunni`ta--domesticated, tame; may be used for persons as well as\nanimals, but not for plants; for cultivated or domesticated plants\nthe adjective is gunutlun`i or gunusun`i.\n\nUlunsu`ti--\"Transparent\"; the great talismanic crystal of the Cherokee.\n\nulun`ta--\"it has climbed,\" from tsilahi`, \"I am climbing\"; the poison\noak (Rhus radicans).\n\nU`lun`yi--\"Tuber place,\" from U`li`, a variety of edible tuber, and yi,\nlocative. A former settlement upon Turniptown, (for U`lun`yi) creek,\nabove Ellijay, in Gilmer county, Ga.\n\nUnacala--see Uni`gadihi`.\n\nU`nadanti`yi--\"Place where they conjured,\" the name of a gap about\nthree miles east of Webster, in Jackson county, N. C., and now\ntransferred to the town itself.\n\nunade`na--woolly, downy, (in speaking of animals); uwa`nu, wool,\ndown, fine fur (detached from the animal).\n\nu`nahu`--see unahwi`.\n\nu`nahi`--heart; in Middle and Lower dialects, unahu`.\n\nUnaka--see une`ga and Unicoi.\n\nunatlunwe`hitu--\"it has spirals\"; a plant (unidentified) used in\nconjuration.\n\nune`ga--white.\n\nune`guhi--\"he is (was) mischievous or bad\"; tsune`guhi`yu, \"you are\nvery mischievous\" (said to a child).\n\nune`gutsatu`--\"(he is) mischievous\"; a`gine`gutsatu`, \"I am\nmischievous.\"\n\nUne`lanun`hi--\"The Apportioner\"; \"I am apportioning,\" gane`lasku`;\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`stalun--ice.\n\nUnicoi--the map name of the Unicoi turnpike, of a gap on the watershed\nbetween Chattahoochee and Hiwassee river, in Georgia, and of a county\nin Tennessee. Probably a corruption of une`ga, white, whence comes\nalso Unaka, the present map name of a 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`yatun`i,\nfish trap, and yi, locative; a place on Tuckasegee river, at the\nmouth of Deep creek, near Bryson City, in Swain county, N. C.\n\nUni`haluna--see Ahalu`na.\n\nUnika`wa--the \"Town-house dance,\" so-called because danced inside\nthe town-house.\n\nUne`ga-dihi`--\"White-man-killer\"; from une`ga, \"white,\" for\nyun`wune`ga, \"white person,\" and dihi`, a noun suffix denoting\n\"killer,\" \"he kills them\" (habitually). A Cherokee chief, whose name\nappears on the documents about 1790.\n\nungida`--\"thy two elder brothers\" (male speaking).\n\nungini`li--\"my elder brother.\"\n\nungini`si (plural, tsungini`si)--\"my daughter's child.\"\n\nu`niskwetu`gi--\"they wear a hat,\" ulskwe`tawa`, hat from uska`,\nhead. The May apple (Podophyllum).\n\nunistilun`isti--\"they stick on along their whole length\"; the generic\nname for \"stickers\" and burrs, including the Spanish needle, cockle\nburr, jimson weed, etc.\n\nuni`tsi--her mother; agitsi`, my mother.\n\nUniya`hitun`yi--\"where they shot it,\" from tsiya`ihu`. \"I shot,\"\nand yi, locative. A place on Tuckasegee river a short distance above\nBryson City, in Swain county, N. C.\n\nUnli`ta--\"(He is) long-winded,\" an archaic form for the regular word,\ngunli`ta; an old masculine name. A chief about the year 1790, known\nto the whites as \"The Breath.\"\n\nUntoola--see Dihiyun`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, N. C. The town\nitself is known to the Cherokee as Kasdu`yi, \"Ashes place,\" (from\nkasdu, ashes, and yi, locative), which is intended as a translation\nof its proper name.\n\nUn`tiguhi`--\"Pot in water,\" from or unti`ya, pot, and guli`, \"it is\nin the water\" (or other liquid, habitually). The Suck, a dangerous\nrapid in Tennessee river, at the entrance of Suck creek, about eight\nmiles below Chattanooga, Tenn.\n\nUntlasgasti`yi--\"Where they scratched\"; a place at the head of Hyatt's\ncreek of Valley river, in Cherokee county, N. C.\n\nUntoola--see Dihyun`dula`.\n\nUntsaili` (also Etsaiyi`, or Tsaiyi`, the first syllable being almost\nsilent)--\"Brass.\"\n\nunwada`li--store-house, provision house.\n\nUnwada-tsu`gilasun`--\"Where the storehouse (unwada`li) was taken\noff.\" Either Black Rock or Jones' Knob, northeast of Webster, on the\neast line of Jackson county, N. C.\n\nunun`ti--milk.\n\nusdi`ga (abbreviated usdi`)--small; plural tsunsdi`ga, tsundi`.\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\nUskwa`li-gu`ta--\"His stomach hangs down,\" from uskwa`li, his stomach,\nand gu`ta, \"it hangs down.\" A prominent chief of the Revolutionary\nperiod, known to the whites as Hanging-maw.\n\nU`stana`li (from U`stanala`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, Eastinora, Estanaula, Eustenaree, Istanare, Oostanaula,\nOostinawley, Ustenary, etc.\n\nu`stuti--see utsu`gi.\n\nUstu`tli--a traditional dangerous serpent. The name signifies having\nsomething on the calf of the leg or on the heel, from ustutun`i\n\"(his) calf of the leg (attached).\" It is applied also to the Southern\nhoop-snake.\n\nUsunhi`yi--the \"Darkening land,\" \"where it is always getting dark,\"\nas at twilight. The name used for the west in the myths and the sacred\nformulas; the common word is wude`ligun`yi, \"there where it (the sun)\ngoes down.\"\n\nu`tanu--great, fully developed. Cf. e`gwa.\n\nutawa`hilu--\"hand breadth,\" from uwa`yi, hand. A figurative term used\nin the myths and sacred formulas.\n\nU`tawagun`ta--\"Bald place.\" A high bald peak in the Great Smoky range\non the Tenn.-N. C. line, northeast from Big Pigeon river.\n\nU`tlun`ta--\"He (or she) has it sharp,\" i. e., has some sharp part\nor organ; it might be used of a tooth, a finger-nail, or some other\nattached part of the body.\n\nU`tluntun`yi--\"U`tlun`ta place\"; see U`tlun`ta. A place on Little\nTennessee river, nearly off Citico creek, in Blount county, Tenn.\n\nU`tsala--\"Lichen\"; another form of utsale`ta. A Cherokee chief of\nRemoval period in 1838.\n\nutsale`ta--lichen, literally \"pot scrapings,\" from a fancied\nresemblance.\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 Charlestown, Bradley county, Tenn.\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 of\nRevolutionary times, known as \"Old Tassel.\"\n\nutsu`gi--the tufted titmouse (Parus bicolor); also called u`stuti`,\n\"topnot, or tip,\" on account of its crest.\n\nu`tsuti`--fish. Also, many.\n\nUwaga`hi (commonly written Ocoee)--\"Apricot place,\" from uwa`ga,\nthe \"apricot vines,\" or \"maypop,\" (Passiflora incarnata), and hi,\nlocative. A former important settlement on Ocowe river, near its\njunction with Hiwassee, about the present Benton, in Polk county, Tenn.\n\nuwa`yi--hand, paw, generally used with the possessive suffix, as\nuwaye`ni, \"his hand.\"\n\nuwe`la--liver.\n\nuwe`nahi--rich; used also as a personal name.\n\nUw`tsun`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.\n\nUyahye`--a high peak in the Great Smoky range, probably on the line\nbetween Swain county, N. C., and Sevier county, Tenn.\n\nUy`gila`gi--abbreviated from Tsuyu`gila`gi, \"where there are dams,\"\ni. e., beaver dams; from gu`gilu`unsku`, \"he is damming it.\" 1. A\nformer settlement on Oothcaloga (Ougillogy) creek of Oostanaula river,\nnear the present Calhoun, in Gordon county, Ga.; 2. Beaverdam creek,\nwest of Clarksville, in Habbersham county, Ga.\n\n\n\nValleytown--see Gu`nahitun`yi.\n\nVengeance creek--see Gansa`ti`yi.\n\n\n\nWachesa--see Watsi`su.\n\nwadan`--thanks!\n\nwa`di--paint, especially red paint.\n\nwa`dige-aska`li--\"his head (is) brown,\" i. e., \"brown-head\"; from\nwadige`i, brown, brown-red, and aska`li, head; the 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.\n\nWafford--see Tsuskwanun`ta.\n\nWa`ginsi--the name of an eddy at the junction of Little Tennessee and\nthe main Tennessee rivers at Lenoir, in London county, Tenn. The town\nis now known to the Cherokee by the same name, of which the meaning\nis lost.\n\nwaguli`--whippoorwill; the name is an onomatope; the Delaware name\nis wekolis.\n\nWahnenauhi--see Wani`nahi.\n\nwa`huhu`--the screech-owl.\n\nwa`ka--cow; from the Spanish vaca, as is also the Creek waga and the\nArapaho wakuch.\n\nwala`si--the common green frog.\n\nWalasi`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, Ga. 2. Le Conte and Bullhead Mountains in the\nGreat Smoky range on the N. C.-Tenn. line, together with the ridge\nextending into Sevier county, Tenn., between the Middle and West\nforks of Little Pigeon river.\n\nwalas`-unul`sti--\"it fights frogs,\" from wala`si, frog, and unul`sti,\n\"it fights\" (habitually); gu`lihu`, \"I am fighting.\" The Prosartes\nlanuginosa plant.\n\nWalas`-unulstiyi`--\"Place of the plant,\" walas`-unul`sti, commonly\nknown to the whites as Fightingtown, from a translation of the latter\npart of a name; a former settlement on Fighting creek, near Morgantown,\nin Fannin county, Ga.\n\nWalini`--a feminine name, compounded from Wali, another form of Kwali,\n\"Polly,\" with a suffix added for euphony.\n\nWane`-asun`tlunyi--\"Hickory footlog place,\" from wane`i, hickory,\nasun-tlun`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, Ga.\n\nWani`nahi`--a feminine name of uncertain etymology; the Wahnenauhi\nof the Wahnenauhi manuscript.\n\nWashington--see Wa`situ`na.\n\nWa`si--the Cherokee form for Moses.\n\nWa`situ`na, Wa`suntu`na (different dialect forms)--a Cherokee known to\nthe whites as Washington, the sole survivor of a Removal tragedy. The\nname denotes a hollow log (or other cylindrical object) lying on the\nground at a distance; the root of the word is asi`ta, log, and the\nw prefix indicates distance.\n\nWa`sulu`--a large red-brown moth which flies about blossoming tobacco\nin the evening.\n\nWata`gi (commonly written Watauga, also Wataga, 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, N. C.;\nanother was traditionally located at Watauga Old Fields, about the\npresent Elizabethton on Wateuga river, in Carter county, Tenn. The\nmeaning is lost.\n\nWatau`ga--see Wata`gi.\n\nWatsi`sa--a prominent old Cherokee, known to the whites as Wachesa, a\nname which cannot be translated, who formerly lived on Beaverdam creek\nof Hiwassee river, below Murphy, in Cherokee county, N. C. From the\nfact that the Unicoi turnpike passed near his place, it was locally\nknown as Wachesa trail.\n\nwa`ya--wolf; an onomatope, an imitation of the animal's howl; cf. the\nCreek name, yaha.\n\nWa`ya`hi--\"Wolf place,\" i. e., place of the Wolf clan; the form\nAni`Wa`ya`hi is not used. Wolftown settlement on upper Soco creek,\non the East Cherokee reservation, in Jackson county, N. C.\n\nWaya Gap--see A`tahi`ta.\n\nWayeh--see Wayi.\n\nWayi--\"Pigeon\"; the modern Cherokee name for Big Pigeon river, in\nwestern N. C.; probably a translation of the English name. It appears\nalso as Wayeh.\n\nWelch, Lloyd--see Da`si`giya`gi.\n\nwesa--cat.\n\nWhite-path--see Nunna`hi-tsune`ga.\n\nWillstown--a former important settlement, so-called from the half-breed\nchief known to the whites as Red-headed Will, on Will's creek below\nFort Payne, in Dekalb county, Ala. 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`stia.\n\nWolftown--see Wa`ya`hi.\n\nWootassite--see Outacity.\n\nWrosetasatow--see Outacity.\n\nWude`ligun`yi--the west; literally \"there where it (the sun) goes\ndown,\" (w prefixed implies distance, yi, locative). See also Usunhi`yi\nand wusuhihun`yi.\n\nWuliga`natutun--excelling all others, either good or bad; it may be\nused as equivalent to wastun, \"beyond the limit.\"\n\nwusuhihun`yi--\"there where they stay over night,\" i. e., \"the west.\" An\narchaic term used by the narrator of the story of Untsaiyi`.\n\n\n\nXuala--see Ani-Suwa`li.\n\n\n\nya--a suffix denoting principal or real, as tsiskwa`ya, \"principal\nbird,\" the sparrow; Ani`-Yunwiya`, \"principal or real people,\" Indians.\n\nYahula`li--\"Yahu`la place,\" from Yuhu`la, a Cherokee trader said to\nhave been taken by the spirit people; Yahu`la, seems to be from the\nCreek yoho`lo, a name having reference to the song (yoholo), used in\nthe \"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`lu or yahu`li, the name for a variety\nof hickory, also for the \"doodle-bug\"; Unyahu`la is a feminine name,\nbut cannot be translated. Yahoola creek, near Dahlonega, in Lumpkin\ncounty, Ga.\n\nYala`gi--Alarka creek of Little Tennessee river, above the junction\nof Tuckasegee, in Swain county, N. C.; the meaning of the name is lost.\n\nyandaska`ga--a faultfinder.\n\nYan-e`gwa--\"Big-Bear,\" from yanu, bear, and egwa, great, large. A\nprominent chief about the year 1800; the name occurs in treaties as\nYonah, Yohanaqua and Yonahequah.\n\nya`nu--bear.\n\nYa`nu-dinehun`yi--\"where the bears live,\" from yanu, bear, dinehu`,\n\"they dwell\" (e`hu, \"I dwell, I live\") and yi, locative. A place on\nOconaluftee river, a short distance above the junction with Tuckasegee,\nin Swain county, N. C.\n\nYanugun`ski--\"the bear drowns him\" (habitually), from yanu, bear,\nand tsigun`iska`, \"I am drowning him.\" A noted East Cherokee chief,\nknown to the whites as Yonaguska or Drowning-bear.\n\nyan`-utse`stu--\"The bear lies on it\"; the shield fern (Aspidium).\n\nYa`nu-u`natawasti`yi--\"where the bears wash,\" (from yanu, bear, and\nyi, locative); a former pond in the Great Smoky Mountains, about the\nhead of Raven Fork, in Swain county, N. C.\n\nYawa`i--\"Yawa place\"; a place on Yellow creek of Cheowa river, in\nGraham county, N. C.\n\nYellow-Hill--see Elawa`diyi.\n\nYohanaqua--see Yan-e`gwa.\n\nyoho-o!--an unmeaning song refrain.\n\nYonaguska--see Ya`nugun`ski.\n\nYonah--1. (mountain) see Gadalu`lu. 2. An abbreviated treaty form\nfor the name of the chief Yana`gwa.\n\nYonahequah--see Yan-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,\nGa. The name is said by the Cherokee to be a corruption of Yufala\n(Eufaula), a well known Creek local name.\n\nyunsu`--buffalo; cf. Creek yena`sa, Choctaw yanash, Hichitee ya`nasi.\n\nYunsa`i--\"Buffalo place\"; West Buffalo creek of Cheowa river in Graham\ncounty, N. C.; the site of a former Cherokee settlement.\n\nyun`wi--person, man.\n\nYun`wi Ama`yine`hi--\"Water-dwelling people,\" from yun`wi, person,\nand ama`yine`hi, plural of amaye`hi, q. v.; a race of water fairies.\n\nYun`wi Gunahi`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\nYun`wini`gisgi--\"man-eaters,\" literally, \"They eat people\"\n(habitually), from yun`wi, person, man, and uni, giski, \"they eat\"\n(habitually), from tsikiu`, \"I am eating\"; the Cherokee name for a\ndistant cannibal tribe, possibly the Atakapa or the Tonkawa.\n\nYun`wi-tsulenun`yi--\"where man stood,\" originally yun`wi-dikatagun`yi,\n\"where the man stands,\" from yun`wi, person, man, tsita`ga, \"I am\nstanding,\" and yi, locative; Standing Indian, a high bald mountain\nat the head of Nantahala river, in Macon county, N. C.\n\nYun`wi Tsunsdi`--\"little people,\" from yun`wi, person, people,\nand tsunsdi`ga or tsunsdi, plural of usdi`ga or usdi`, little; the\nCherokee fairies.\n\nYun`wi Usdi`--\"little man.\" A formulistic name for ginseng,\na`tali-guli`, q. v.\n\nYun`wi-usga`se`ti--\"dangerous man, terrible man\"; a traditional leader\nin the westward migration of Cherokee.\n\nYun`wiya`--\"Indian,\" literally, \"principal or real person,\" from\nyun`wi, person, and ya, a suffix denoting principal or real.\n\nyu`we-yuwehe`--an unmeaning song refrain.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTE\n\n[1] Colonel Thomas.","title":"Occoneechee, the Maid of the Mystic Lake","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":54592}