Further inquiry elicited the names of several others who might be
supposed to have such papers. Before leaving a visit was paid to one
of these, a young man named Wilnoti, whose father, Gatigwanasti, had
been during his lifetime a prominent shaman, regarded as a man of
superior intelligence. Wilnoti, who is a professing Christian, said
that his father had had such papers, and after some explanation from
the chief he consented to show them. He produced a box containing a
lot of miscellaneous papers, testaments, and hymnbooks, all in the
Cherokee alphabet. Among them was his father’s chief treasure, a
manuscript book containing 122 pages of foolscap size, completely
filled with formulas of the same kind as those contained in Swimmer’s
book. There were also a large number of loose sheets, making in all
nearly 200 foolscap pages of sacred formulas.
On offering to buy the papers, he replied that he wanted to keep them
in order to learn and practice these things himself--thus showing
how thin was the veneer of Christianity, in his case at least. On
representing to him that in a few years the new conditions would
render such knowledge valueless with the younger generation, and that
even if he retained the papers he would need some one else to explain
them to him, he again refused, saying that they might fall into
the hands of Swimmer, who, he was determined, should never see his
father’s papers. Thus the negotiations came to an end for the time.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVI
FACSIMILE OF SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT.
Formula for Dalàni Ùⁿnagei (Page 364.)]
On returning to the reservation in July, 1888, another effort was made
to get possession of the Gatigwanasti manuscripts and any others of
the same kind which could be procured. By this time the Indians had
had several months to talk over the matter, and the idea had gradually
dawned upon them that instead of taking their knowledge away from them
and locking it up in a box, the intention was to preserve it to the
world and pay them for it at the same time. In addition the writer
took every opportunity to impress upon them the fact that he was
acquainted with the secret knowledge of other tribes and perhaps could
give them as much as they gave. It was now much easier to approach
them, and on again visiting Wilnoti, in company with the interpreter,
who explained the matter fully to him, he finally consented to lend
the papers for a time, with the same condition that neither Swimmer
nor anyone else but the chief and interpreter should see them, but
he still refused to sell them. However, this allowed the use of
the papers, and after repeated efforts during a period of several
weeks, the matter ended in the purchase of the papers outright,
with unreserved permission to show them for copying or explanation
to anybody who might be selected. Wilnoti was not of a mercenary
disposition, and after the first negotiations the chief difficulty was
to overcome his objection to parting with his father’s handwriting,
but it was an essential point to get the originals, and he was allowed
to copy some of the more important formulas, as he found it utterly
out of the question to copy the whole.
These papers of Gatigwanasti are the most valuable of the whole, and
amount to fully one-half the entire collection, about fifty pages
consisting of love charms. The formulas are beautifully written
in bold Cherokee characters, and the directions and headings are
generally explicit, bearing out the universal testimony that he was a
man of unusual intelligence and ability, characteristics inherited by
his son, who, although a young man and speaking no English, is one of
the most progressive and thoroughly reliable men of the band.