_Treaty and purchase of 1721._--The treaty relations between the
Cherokees and the whites began in 1721, when jealousy of French
territorial encroachments persuaded Governor Nicholson of South
Carolina to invite the Cherokees to a general congress, with a view to
the conclusion of a treaty of peace and commerce.
The invitation was accepted, and delegates attended from thirty-seven
towns, with whom, after smoking the pipe of peace and distributing
presents, he agreed upon defined boundaries and appointed an agent to
superintend their affairs.[14]
_Treaty of 1730._--Again, in 1730, the authorities of North Carolina
commissioned Sir Alexander Cumming to conclude a treaty of alliance
with the Cherokees. In April of that year the chiefs and warriors of
the nation met him at Requasse, near the sources of the Hiwassee River,
acknowledged King George as their sovereign, and sent a delegation of
six warriors to carry the crown of the nation (consisting of five eagle
tails and four scalps) to England and do homage to the King, where they
concluded a treaty of peace and commerce at Dover on the 30th of June.
In this treaty they stipulated: