In the course of further inquiries in regard to the whereabouts of
other manuscripts of this kind we heard a great deal about Inâ´lĭ,
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
FACSIMILE OF GATIGWANASTI MANUSCRIPT.
Yugwilû´ formula. (Page 375.)]
On inquiring of his daughter she stated that her father had left a
great many papers, most of which were still in her possession, and
on receiving from the interpreter an explanation of our purpose she
readily gave permission to examine and make selections from them on
condition that the matter should be kept secret from outsiders. A day
was appointed for visiting her, and on arriving we found her living in
a comfortable log house, built by Inâlĭ himself, with her children
and an ancient female relative, a decrepit old woman with snow-white
hair and vacant countenance. This was the oldest woman of the tribe,
and though now so feeble and childish, she had been a veritable savage
in her young days, having carried a scalp in the scalp dance in the
Creek war 75 years before.
Having placed chairs for us in the shade Inâlĭ’s daughter brought
out a small box filled with papers of various kinds, both Cherokee and
English. The work of examining these was a tedious business, as each
paper had to be opened out and enough of it read to get the general
drift of the contents, after which the several classes were arranged
in separate piles. While in the midst of this work she brought out
another box nearly as large as a small trunk, and on setting it down
there was revealed to the astonished gaze such a mass of material as
it had not seemed possible could exist in the entire tribe.
In addition to papers of the sort already mentioned there were a
number of letters in English from various officials and religious
organizations, and addressed to “Enola,” to “Rev. Black Fox,” and to
“Black Fox, Esq,” with a large number of war letters written to him
by Cherokees who had enlisted in the Confederate service. These latter
are all written in the Cherokee characters, in the usual gossipy style
common among friends, and several of them contain important historic
material in regard to the movements of the two armies in East
Tennessee. Among other things was found his certificate as a Methodist
preacher, dated in 1848. “Know all men by these presents that Black
Fox (Cherokee) is hereby authorized to exercise his Gifts and Graces
as a local preacher in M. E. Church South.”.
There was found a manuscript book in Inâlĭ’s handwriting containing
the records of the old council of Wolftown, of which he had been
secretary for several years down to the beginning of the war. This
also contains some valuable materials.
There were also a number of miscellaneous books, papers, and pictures,
together with various trinkets and a number of conjuring stones.
In fact the box was a regular curiosity shop, and it was with a
feeling akin, to despair that we viewed the piles of manuscript which
had to be waded through and classified. There was a day’s hard work
ahead, and it was already past noon; but the woman was not done yet,
and after rummaging about inside the house for a while longer she
appeared with another armful of papers, which she emptied on top of
the others. This was the last straw; and finding it impossible to
examine in detail such a mass of material we contented ourselves
with picking out the sacred formulas and the two manuscript books
containing the town-house records and scriptural quotations and
departed.
The daughter of Black Fox agreed to fetch down the other papers in
a few days for further examination at our leisure; and she kept her
promise, bringing with her at the same time a number of additional
formulas which she had not been able to obtain before. A large number
of letters and other papers were selected from the miscellaneous lot,
and these, with the others obtained from her, are now deposited also
with the Bureau of Ethnology. Among other things found at this house
were several beads of the old shell wampum, of whose use the Cherokees
have now lost even the recollection. She knew only that they were
very old and different from the common beads, but she prized them as
talismans, and firmly refused to part with them.