In the course of further inquiries in regard to the whereabouts
of other manuscripts of this kind we heard a great deal about
In[^a][']l[)i], or "Black Fox," who had died a few years before at an
advanced age, and who was universally admitted to have been one of
their most able men and the most prominent literary character among
them, for from what has been said it must be sufficiently evident
that the Cherokees have their native literature and literary men. Like
those already mentioned, he was a full-blood Cherokee, speaking no
English, and in the course of a long lifetime he had filled almost
every position of honor among his people, including those of
councilor, keeper of the townhouse records, Sunday-school leader,
conjurer, officer in the Confederate service, and Methodist preacher,
at last dying, as he was born, in the ancient faith of his forefathers.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVII