104. The eastern tribes (p. 378): Delaware--The Delawares derive
their popular name from the river upon which, in the earliest
colonial period, they had their principal settlements. They call
themselves Lena'pe or Leni-lena'pe, a term apparently signifying
"real, or original men," or "men of our kind." To the cognate tribes
of the Ohio valley and the lakes they were known as Wapanaq'ki,
"easterners," the name being extended to include the closely related
tribes, the Mahican, Wappinger (i. e. Wapanaq'ki), Nanticoke, and
Conoy. By all the widespread tribes of kindred Algonquian stock, as
well as by the Winnebago, Wyandot, and Cherokee, they were addressed
under the respectful title of "grandfather," the domineering Iroquois
alone refusing to them any higher designation than "nephew."
Their various bands and subtribes seem originally to have occupied
the whole basin of Delaware river, together with all of New
Jersey, extending north to the watershed of the Hudson and west
and southwest to the ridge separating the waters of the Delaware
and Susquehanna. Immediately north of them, along the lower Hudson
and extending into Massachusetts and Connecticut, were the closely
affiliated Mahican and Wappinger, while to the south were their
friends and kindred, the Nanticoke and Conoy, the former in Delaware
and on the eastern shore of Maryland, the latter between Chesapeake
bay and the lower Potomac. All of these, although speaking different
languages of the common Algonquian stock, asserted their traditional
origin from the Delawares, with whom, in their declining days, most of
them were again merged. The Delawares proper were organized into three
divisions, which, according to Brinton, were subtribes and not clans,
although each of the three had a totemic animal by whose name it was
commonly known. These three subtribes were: (1) The Minsi or Munsee
(people of the "stony country"?), otherwise known as the Wolf tribe,
occupying the hill country about the head of the Delaware; (2) the
Unami (people "downstream"), or Turtle tribe, on the middle Delaware,
and (3) the Unalachtgo (people "near the ocean"?), or Turkey tribe,
in the southern part of the common territory. Of these the Turtle
tribe assumed precedence in the council, while to the Wolf tribe
belonged the leadership in war. Each of these three was divided into
twelve families, or embryonic clans, bearing female names. In this
connection it may be mentioned that the Delawares now residing with
the Wichita, in Oklahoma, still use the figure of a turtle as their
distinctive cattle brand.
Of the history of the Delawares it is only possible to say a very few
words here. Their earliest European relations were with the Dutch and
Swedes. In 1682 they made the famous treaty with William Penn, which
was faithfully observed on both sides for sixty years. Gradually forced
backward by the whites, they retired first to the Susquehanna, then to
the upper Ohio, where, on the breaking out of the French and Indian
war in 1754, they ranged themselves on the side of the French. They
fought against the Americans in the Revolution, and in the war of
1812, having by that time been driven as far west as Indiana. In
1818 they ceded all their lands in that State and were assigned to a
reservation in Kansas, where they were joined by a considerable body
that had emigrated to Missouri, in company with a band of Shawano,
some years before, by permission of the Spanish government. About the
close of the Revolution another portion of the tribe, including most
of those who had been Christianized by Moravian missionaries, had fled
from Ohio and taken up a permanent abode on Canadian soil. In 1867 the
main body of those in Kansas removed to Indian Territory and became
incorporated with the Cherokee Nation. A smaller band settled on the
Wichita reservation in Oklahoma. The present number of Delawares is,
approximately, 1,600, viz: "Moravians and Munsees of the Thames,"
Ontario, 475; incorporated in Cherokee Nation, 870 (in 1898); on
Wichita reservation, 95; Munsee in Kansas and incorporated with
Stockbridges in Wisconsin, perhaps 100; Delawares, etc., with Six
Nations, in New York, 50.
Of their former allies, the Wappinger and Conoy have long since
disappeared through absorption into other tribes; the Mahican are
represented by a band of about 530 Stockbridge Indians, including
a number of Munsee, in Wisconsin, while about 70 mixed bloods still
keep up the Nanticoke name in southern Delaware.
Tuscarora--The Tuscarora, a southern tribe of the Iroquoian stock,
formerly occupied an extensive territory upon Neuse river and its
branches, in eastern North Carolina, and, like their northern cousins,
seem to have assumed and exercised a certain degree of authority
over all the smaller tribes about them. As early as 1670 Lederer
described the Tuscarora "emperor" as the haughtiest Indian he had
ever met. About the year 1700 Lawson estimated them at 1,200 warriors
(6,000 souls?) in 15 towns. In 1711 they rose against the whites,
one of their first acts of hostility being the killing of Lawson
himself, who was engaged in surveying lands which they claimed as
their own. In a struggle extending over about two years they were so
terribly decimated that the greater portion fled from Carolina and
took refuge with their kinsmen and friends, the Iroquois of New York,
who were henceforth known as the Six Nations. The so-called "friendly"
party, under Chief Blount, was settled upon a small reservation north
of Roanoke river in what is now Bertie county, North Carolina. Here
they gradually decreased by disease and emigration to the north, until
the few who were left sold their last remaining lands in 1804. The
history of the tribe after the removal to the north is a part of the
history of the Iroquois or Six Nations. They number now about 750,
of whom about 380 are on the Tuscarora reservation in New York,
the others upon the Grand River reservation in Ontario.
Xuala, Suwali, Sara or Cheraw--For the identification and earliest
notices of the Sara see historical note 8, "De Soto's Route." Their
later history is one of almost constant hostility to the whites
until their final incorporation with the Catawba, with whom they were
probably cognate, about the year 1720. In 1743 they still preserved
their distinct language, and appear to be last mentioned in 1768, when
they numbered about 50 souls living among the Catawba. See Mooney,
Siouan Tribes of the East, bulletin of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1894.
Catawba--The origin and meaning of this name, which dates back at
least two centuries, are unknown. It may possibly come from the Choctaw
through the Mobilian trade jargon. They call themselves Nieye, which
means simply "people" or "Indians." The Iroquois call them and other
cognate tribes in their vicinity Toderigh-rono, whence Tutelo. In
the seventeenth century they were often known as Esaw or Ushery,
apparently from iswa', river, in their own language. The Cherokee name
Ata'gwa, plural Ani'ta'gwa, is a corruption of the popular form. Their
linguistic affinity with the Siouan stock was established by Gatschet
in 1881. See Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East.
105. The southern and western tribes (p. 382): The Creek
confederacy--Next in importance to the Cherokee, among the southern
tribes, were the Indians of the Creek confederacy, occupying the
greater portion of Georgia and Alabama, immediately south of the
Cherokee. They are said to have been called Creeks by the early traders
on account of the abundance of small streams in their country. Before
the whites began to press upon them their tribes held nearly all the
territory from the Atlantic westward to about the watershed between
the Tombigby and the Pearl and Pascagoula rivers, being cut off
from the Gulf coast by the Choctaw tribes, and from the Savannah,
except near the mouth, by the Uchee, Shawano, and Cherokee. About
the year 1800 the confederacy comprised 75 towns, the people of 47 of
which were the Upper Creeks, centering about the upper waters of the
Alabama, while those of the remaining 28 were the Lower Creeks, upon
the lower Chattahoochee and its branches (Hawkins). Among them were
represented a number of tribes formerly distinct and speaking distinct
languages. The ruling tribe and language was the Muscogee (plural,
Muscogûlgee), which frequently gave its name to the confederacy. Other
languages were the Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee, Taskigi, Uchee, Natchee,
and Sawanugi or Shawano. The Muscogee, Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee,
and Taskigi (?) belonged to the Muskhogean stock, the Alabama and
Koasati, however, being nearer linguistically to the Choctaw than
to the Muscogee. The Hichitee represent the conquered or otherwise
incorporated Muskhogean tribes of the Georgia coast region. The
Apalachi on Appalachee bay in Florida, who were conquered by the
English about 1705 and afterward incorporated with the Creeks, were
dialectically closely akin to the Hichitee; the Seminole also were
largely an offshoot from this tribe. Of the Taskigi all that is known
has been told elsewhere (see number 105).
The Uchee, Natchee, and Sawanugi were incorporated tribes, differing
radically in language from each other and from the Muskhogean
tribes. The territory of the Uchee included both banks of the middle
Savannah, below the Cherokee, and extended into middle Georgia. They
had a strong race pride, claiming to be older in the country than the
Muscogee, and are probably identical with the people of Cofitachiqui,
mentioned in the early Spanish narratives. According to Hawkins,
their incorporation with the Creeks was brought about in consequence
of intermarriages about the year 1729. The Natchee or Natchez were
an important tribe residing in lower Mississippi, in the vicinity of
the present town of that name, until driven out by the French about
the year 1730, when most of them took refuge with the Creeks, while
others joined the Chickasaw and Cherokee. The Sawanugi were Shawano
who kept their town on Savannah river, near the present Augusta,
after the main body of their tribe had removed to the north about
1692. They probably joined the Creeks about the same time as their
friends, the Uchee. The Uchee still constitute a compact body of about
600 souls in the Creek Nation, keeping up their distinct language
and tribal character. The Natchee are reduced to one or two old men,
while the Sawanugi have probably lost their identity long ago.
According to Morgan, the Muscogee proper, and perhaps also their
incorporated tribes, have 22 clans. Of these the Wind appears to be
the leading one, possessing privileges accorded to no other clan,
including the hereditary guardianship of the ancient metal tablets
which constitute the palladium of the tribe. By the treaty of
Washington in 1832, the Creeks sold all of their remaining lands in
their old country and agreed to remove west of the Mississippi to what
is now the Creek Nation in the Indian Territory. The removal extended
over a period of several years and was not finally accomplished until
1845. In 1898 the citizen population of the Creek Nation numbered
14,771, of whom 10,014 were of Indian blood and the remainder were
negroes, their former slaves. It appears that the Indian population
included about 700 from other tribes, chiefly Cherokee. There are also
about 300 Alabama, "Cushatta" (Koasati), and Muscogee in Texas. See
also Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country; Gatschet, Creek Migration
Legend; Adair, History of the American Indians; Bartram, Travels;
The Five Civilized Tribes, Bulletin of the Eleventh Census; Wyman,
in Alabama Historical Society Collections.
Chickasaw--This tribe, of Muskhogean stock, formerly occupied
northern Mississippi and adjacent portions of Alabama and Tennessee,
and at an early period had incorporated also several smaller tribes
on Yazoo river in central Mississippi, chief among which were the
cognate Chokchuma. The name occurs first in the De Soto narrative. The
Chickasaw language was simply a dialect of Choctaw, although the two
tribes were hereditary enemies and differed widely in character, the
former being active and warlike, while the latter were notoriously
sluggish. Throughout the colonial period the Chickasaw were the
constant enemies of the French and friends of the English, but they
remained neutral in the Revolution. By the treaty of Pontotoc in
1832 they sold their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to
remove to Indian Territory, where they are now organized as the
Chickasaw Nation. According to Morgan they have 12 clans grouped
into two phratries. In 1890, the citizen population of the Nation
(under Chickasaw laws) consisted of 3,941 full-blood and mixed-blood
Chickasaw, 681 adopted whites, 131 adopted negroes, and 946 adopted
Indians from other tribes, chiefly Choctaws. Under the present law,
by which citizenship claims are decided by a Government commission,
"Chickasaw by blood" are reported in 1898 to number 4,230, while
"white and negro" citizens are reported at 4,818. See also Gatschet,
Creek Migration Legend; The Five Civilized Tribes, Bulletin of
Eleventh Census.
The Choctaw confederacy--This was a loose alliance of tribes,
chiefly of Muskhogean stock, occupying southern Alabama and
Mississippi, with the adjacent Gulf coast of western Florida and
eastern Louisiana. The Choctaw proper, of Muskhogean stock, occupying
south central Mississippi, was the dominant tribe. Smaller tribes
more or less closely affiliated were the Mobilian, Tohome, Mugulasha,
Pascagoula, Biloxi, Acolapissa, Bayagoula, Houma, with others of less
note. It had been assumed that all of these were of Muskhogean stock
until Gatschet in 1886 established the fact that the Biloxi were of
Siouan affinity, and it is quite probable that the Pascagoula also
were of the same connection. All the smaller tribes excepting the
Biloxi were practically extinct, or had entirely lost their identity,
before the year 1800.
The Choctaw were one of the largest of the eastern tribes, being
exceeded in numbers, if at all, only by the Cherokee; but this apparent
superiority was neutralized by their unwarlike character and lack
of cohesion. According to Morgan, whose statement has, however, been
challenged, they had eight clans grouped into two phratries. There was
also a geographic division into "Long towns," "Potato-eating towns,"
and "Six towns," the last named differing considerably in dialect and
custom from the others. By treaties in 1820 and 1830 the Choctaw sold
all their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remove to Indian
Territory, where they now constitute the Choctaw Nation. A considerable
number of vagrant Choctaw who had drifted into Louisiana and Arkansas
at an early period have since joined their kindred in Indian Territory,
but from 1,000 to 2,000 are still scattered along the swampy Gulf coast
of Mississippi. In 1890 those of pure or mixed Choctaw blood in the
Choctaw Nation were officially reported to number 10,211. In 1899,
under different conditions of citizenship, the "Choctaw by blood"
were put at 14,256, while the adopted whites and negroes numbered
5,150. See also Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend; The Five Civilized
Tribes, Bulletin of Eleventh Census.
The Osage--The popular name is a corruption of Ouasage, the French
spelling of Wasash, the name used by themselves. The Osage were the
principal southern Siouan tribe, claiming at one time nearly the whole
territory from the Missouri to the Arkansas and from the Mississippi
far out into the plains. Their geographic position brought them equally
into contact with the agricultural and sedentary tribes of the eastern
country and the roving hunters of the prairie, and in tribal habit
and custom they formed a connecting link between the two. Whether or
not they deserved the reputation, they were considered by all their
neighbors as particularly predatory and faithless in character, and
had consequently few friends, but were generally at war with all
tribes alike. They made their first treaty with the Government in
1808. In 1825 they ceded all their claims in Missouri and Arkansas,
together with considerable territory in what is now Kansas. They
have decreased terribly from war and dissipation, and are now, to
the number of about 1,780, gathered upon a reservation in Oklahoma
just west of the Cherokee and south of the Kansas line.
106. The Giants from the west (p. 391): This may be an exaggerated
account of a visit from some warriors of a taller tribe from the
plains, where it is customary to pluck out the eyebrows and to wear
the hair in two long side pendants, wrapped round with otter skin
and reaching to the knees, thus giving a peculiar expression to the
eyes and an appearance of tallness which is sometimes deceptive. The
Osage warriors have, however, long been noted for their height.
With the exception of Tsul`kalû' there seem to be no giants in the
mythology of the Cherokee, although all their woods and waters are
peopled by invisible fairy tribes. This appears to be characteristic
of Indian mythologies generally, the giants being comparatively few in
number while the "little people" are legion. The Iroquois have a story
of an invasion by a race of stony-skinned cannibal giants from the
west (Schoolcraft, Notes on Iroquois, p. 266). Giant races occur also
in the mythologies of the Navaho (Matthews, Navaho Legends), Choctaw
(Gatschet, Creek Migration Legend), and other tribes. According to
the old Spanish chroniclers, Ayllon in 1520 met on the coast of South
Carolina a tribe of Indians whose chiefs were of gigantic size, owing,
as he was told, to a special course of dieting and massage to which
they were subjected in infancy.
107. The lost Cherokee (p. 391): This tradition as here given is taken
chiefly from the Wahnenauhi manuscript. There is a persistent belief
among the Cherokee that a portion of their people once wandered
far to the west or southwest, where they were sometimes heard of
afterward, but were never again reunited with their tribe. It was
the hope of verifying this tradition and restoring his lost kinsmen
to their tribe that led Sequoya to undertake the journey on which he
lost his life. These traditional lost Cherokee are entirely distinct
from the historic emigrants who removed from the East shortly after
the Revolution.
Similar stories are common to nearly all the tribes. Thus the Kiowa
tell of a chief who, many years ago, quarreled over a division of game
and led his people far away across the Rocky mountains, where they
are still living somewhere about the British border and still keeping
their old Kiowa language. The Tonkawa tell of a band of their people
who in some way were cut off from the tribe by a sudden inroad of the
sea on the Texas coast, and, being unable to return, gradually worked
their way far down into Mexico. The Tuscarora tell how, in their early
wanderings, they came to the Mississippi and were crossing over to the
west side by means of a grapevine, when the vine broke, leaving those
on the farther side to wander off until in time they became enemies
to those on the eastern bank. See Mooney, Calendar History of the
Kiowa Indians, Seventeenth Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology,
part 1, and The Last of Our Cannibals, in Harper's Magazine, August,
1901; Cusick, quoted in Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois, p. 478.
108. The massacre of the Ani'-Kuta'ni (p. 392): Swimmer, Ta'gwadihi',
Ayâsta, and Wafford all knew this name, which Ayâsta pronounced
Ani'-Kwata'ni, but none of them could tell anything more definite than
has been stated in the opening sentence. The hereditary transmission
of priestly dignities in a certain clan or band is rather the rule
than the exception Among the tribes, both east and west.
109. The war medicine (p. 393): The first two paragraphs are from
Wafford, the rest from Swimmer. The stories are characteristic of
Indian belief and might be paralleled in any tribe. The great Kiowa
chief, Set-ängya, already mentioned, was--and still is--believed by
his tribe to have possessed a magic knife, which he carried in his
stomach and could produce from his mouth at will. The Kiowa assert
that it was this knife, which of course the soldiers failed to find
when disarming him, with which he attacked the guard in the encounter
that resulted in his death.
110. Incidents of personal heroism (p. 394): The incident of the
fight at Waya gap is on the authority of the late Maj. James Bryson,
of Dillsboro, North Carolina, born in 1818, who had it from his
great-uncle, Daniel Bryson, a member of Williamson's expedition.
Speaking of the Cherokee "War Women," who were admitted to the tribal
councils, Timberlake says (Memoirs, p. 70): "The reader will not be
a little surprised to find the story of Amazons not so great a fable
as we imagined, many of the Indian women being as famous in war as
powerful in the Council."
111. The mounds and the constant fire: The old sacred things (p. 395):
What is here said concerning the mounds, based chiefly upon Swimmer's
recital, is given solely as a matter of popular belief, shaped by
tribal custom and ritual. The question of fact is for the archeologist
to decide. The Indian statement is of value, however, in showing the
supposed requirements for the solemn consecration of an important work.
A note by John Howard Payne upon the sacred square of the Creeks, as
observed by him in 1835, just before his visit to the Cherokee, may
throw further light on the problem: "In the center of this outer square
was a very high circular mound. This, it seems, was formed from the
earth accumulated yearly by removing the surface of the sacred square
thither. At every Green-corn festival the sacred square is strewn with
soil yet untrodden; the soil of the year preceding being taken away,
but preserved as above explained. No stranger's foot is allowed to
press the new earth of the sacred square until its consecration is
complete" (Letter of 1835 in Continental Monthly, New York, 1862,
p. 19). See note on the sacred fire.
Conjured with disease--The practice of conjuring certain favorite
spots in order to render them fatal to an invading enemy was common
to many if not to all tribes. One of the most terrible battles of
the Creek war was fought upon the "Holy ground," so called because it
was believed by the Indians that in consequence of the mystic rites
which had been performed there for that purpose by their prophets,
no white troops could set foot upon it and live.
The sacred fire--The method described for producing fire and keeping
it constantly smoldering in the townhouse appears to have been that
actually in use in ancient times, as indicated by the name given to the
plant (atsil'-sûñti), and corroborated by the unanimous testimony of
the old people. All the older East Cherokee believe that the ancient
fire still burns within the mounds at Franklin and Bryson City, and
those men who were stationed for a time near the latter place while
in the Confederate service, during the Civil war, assert that they
frequently saw the smoke rising from the adjacent mound.
The missionary Buttrick, from old Cherokee authority, says: "They
were obliged to make new fire for sacred purposes by rubbing two
pieces of dry wood together, with a certain weed, called golden rod,
dry, between them.... When their enemies destroyed the house in which
this holy fire was kept, it was said the fire settled down into the
earth, where it still lives, though unknown to the people. The place
where they lost this holy fire is somewhere in one of the Carolinas"
(Antiquities, p. 9).
The general accuracy of Swimmer's account is strikingly confirmed by
the description of the New-fire ceremony given more than half a century
before by John Howard Payne, the poet, who had gone among the Cherokee
to study their ethnology and was engaged in that work when arrested,
together with John Ross, by the Georgia guard in 1835. He makes the
kindling of the new fire a part of the annual spring festival. At that
time, says Payne, "the altar in the center of the national heptagon
[i.e. townhouse] was repaired. It was constructed of a conical shape,
of fresh earth. A circle was drawn around the top to receive the
fire of sacrifice. Upon this was laid, ready for use, the inner
bark of seven different kinds of trees. This bark was carefully
chosen from the east side of the trees, and was clear and free from
blemish." After some days of preliminary purification, sacrifice,
and other ceremonial performances, the day appointed for the kindling
of the new fire arrived.
"Early in the morning the seven persons who were commissioned to
kindle the fire commenced their operations. One was the official
fire-maker; the remaining six his assistants. A hearth was carefully
cleared and prepared. A round hole being made in a block of wood,
a small quantity of dry golden-rod weed was placed in it. A stick,
the end of which just fitted the opening, was whirled rapidly until
the weed took fire. The flame was then kindled on the hearth and
thence taken to every house by the women, who collectively waited for
that purpose. The old fires having been everywhere extinguished, and
the hearths cleansed, new fires were lighted throughout the country,
and a sacrifice was made in each one of them of the first meat killed
afterwards by those to whom they respectively belonged."--Payne MS,
quoted in Squier, Serpent Symbol, pp. 116-118.
Similar ceremonies were common to many tribes, particularly the
southern tribes and the Pueblos, in connection with the annual kindling
of the sacred new fire. See Adair, History of the American Indians;
Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, quoted by Gatschet, Creek
Migration Legend; Bartram, Travels; Fewkes, The New-fire Ceremony at
Walpi, in American Anthropologist for January, 1900; Squier, Serpent
Symbol. Going beyond our own boundaries it may be said briefly that
fire worship was probably as ancient as ritual itself and well-nigh
as universal.
Wooden box--The sacred ark of the Cherokee is described by Adair
(History of the American Indians, pp. 161-162), and its capture by
the Delawares is mentioned by Washburn (Reminiscences, pp. 191, 221),
who states that to its loss the old priests of the tribe ascribed
the later degeneracy of their people. They refused to tell him the
contents of the ark. On this subject Adair says:
"A gentleman who was at the Ohio in the year 1756 assured me he saw
a stranger there very importunate to view the inside of the Cheerake
ark, which was covered with a drest deerskin and placed on a couple of
short blocks. An Indian centinel watched it, armed with a hiccory bow
and brass-pointed barbed arrows; and he was faithful to his trust,
for finding the stranger obtruding to pollute the supposed sacred
vehicle, he drew an arrow to the head, and would have shot him through
the body had he not suddenly withdrawn. The interpreter, when asked
by the gentleman what it contained, told him there was nothing in it
but a bundle of conjuring traps. This shews what conjurers our common
interpreters are, and how much the learned world have really profited
by their informations."
Such tribal palladiums or "medicines," upon which the existence and
prosperity of the tribe are supposed to depend, are still preserved
among the plains Indians, the sacred receptacle in each case being
confided to the keeping of a priest appointed for the purpose, who
alone is privileged to undo the wrappings or expose the contents. Among
these tribal "medicines" may be mentioned the sacred arrows of the
Cheyenne, the "flat pipe" of the Arapaho, the great shell of the
Omaha, and the taime image of the Kiowa (see reference in the author's
Ghost-dance Religion and Calendar History of the Kiowa Indians).
White peace pipe--This statement concerning the ancient seven-stem
peace pipe carved from white stone is given on the authority of
Swimmer, who said that the stone was procured from a quarry near the
present town of Knoxville, Tennessee. A certain district of western
North Carolina has recently acquired an unenviable reputation for
the manufacture of spurious "Indian pipes," ostensibly taken from the
mounds, carved from soapstone and having from three to half a dozen
stem-holes encircling the bowl.
Turtle drum--This statement is on the authority of Wafford, who
had talked with men who claimed to have known those who had seen the
drum. He was not positive as to the town, but thought it was Keowee. It
is believed that the drum was hidden by the Indians, in anticipation
of their speedy return, when the country was invaded by Williamson
in 1776, but as the country was never recovered by the Cherokee the
drum was lost.
112-115. Short humorous stories (pp. 397, 399): These short stories
are fairly representative of Cherokee humor. Each was heard repeatedly
from several informants, both east and west.
116. The star feathers (p. 399): This story was obtained from John
Ax, with additional details from Chief Smith and others, to whom
it was equally familiar. It is told as an actual happening in the
early days, before the Indian had much acquaintance with the whites,
and is thoroughly characteristic of the methods of medicine-men. The
deception was based upon the Cherokee belief that the stars are living
creatures with feathers (see number 9, "What the Stars are Like").
The Indian has always been noted for his love of feather decorations,
and more than any from his native birds he prized the beautiful
feathers of the peacock whenever it was possible to procure them from
the whites. So far back as 1670 Lederer noted of a South Carolina
tribe: "The Ushery delight much in feather ornament, of which they
have great variety; but peacocks in most esteem, because rare in
these parts" (Travels, p. 32, ed. 1891).
117. The mother bear's song (p. 400): The first of these songs was
obtained from Ayâsta, and was unknown to Swimmer. The second song was
obtained also from Ayâsta, who knew only the verses, while Swimmer
knew both the verses and the story which gives them their setting.
The first has an exact parallel among the Creeks, which is thus given
in the "Baby Songs" of the Tuggle manuscript:
Ah tan Down the stream
Ah yah chokese if you hear
Mah kah cho kofe chase going
Hoche yoke saw up the stream
Lit kahts chars, run,
Lit kahts chars. run.
A thle poo Up the stream
Ahyohchokese if you hear
Mah kah cho kofe the chase going
Thorne yoke saw to the high mountain
Lit karts chars, run,
Lit karts chars. run.