Lucy Lowrey Hoyt Keys

Lucy Lowrey Hoyt Keys was the daughter of Milo Ard Hoyt & Lydia Lowrey.  She married Monroe Calvin Keys.  They were the parents of 2 of my great aunts by marriage – Frances “Fannie” Myrtle Keys LeForce & Sarah “Sallie” Ann Keys LeForce.  She was also the sister of my ggg-grandma Dorothy “Dollie” Eunice Hoyt Chamberlin.

All I’ve ever heard of her was that she didn’t want her daughters marrying white cowboys.  She wanted them to marry religious men like she had.  After Fannie married my great uncle James Andrew, Lucy sent Sallie away to school.  Unfortunately for Lucy my great uncle John “Sam” Samuel went after Sallie & they eloped.

The main reason I’m including her here is because she wrote a book I just stumbled across.  It’s called The Wahnenauhi Manuscript: Historical Sketches of the Cherokees Together With Some of Their Customs, Traditions & Superstitions.  It starts out:

Introduction

In Sept of 1889 Wahnenauhi, a Cherokee woman whose English name was Mrs. Lucy L. Keys, sent from her home in Vinita, Indian Territory, a 70 page manuscript of her authorship to the Bureau of American Ethnology.  “Please examine,” she wrote, “& if of value to you, remit what you consider an equivalent.”  After some negotiation the manuscript, entitled “Historical Sketches of the Cherokees: Together with Some of Their Customs, Traditions and Superstitions,” was purchased in November of the same year for $10.00.

In a letter to the Bureau of American Ethnology, dated November 8, 1889, the author stated:

The name, ‘Wahnenaulii,’ signed to the Manuscript, is my own Cherokee name.  You are at liberty to use either Cherokee, or English name in connection with the Manuscript. Major George Lowrey was my Grandfather and I was at his house when George Guess (Sequoyah) left for the West, also when his companions returned without him.

The above-stated relationship to Major Lowrey provided the editor with the strong suspicion that the author was born Lucy Lowrey Hoyt, a mixblood of distinguished ancestry, connected by blood and marriage to many of the most prominent families in the Cherokee Nation.  Subsequent communication with Clun D. Keys, of Vinita, Okla., grandson of Lucy Lowrey Hoyt, removed all doubt as to the identity of Wahnenauhi.

Maj. George Lowrey (1770?-1852), of whom Wahnenauhi writes with obvious affection, was her maternal grandfather.  Pilling (1888, p. 186), quoting Rev. Samuel A. Worcester (1798-1859) whose missionary endeavors were strongly supported by Lowrey, states:

He [Lowrey] was one of the Cherokee delegation, headed by the distinguished John Watts, who visited President Washington at Philadelphia in 1791 or 1792.  He was one of the captains of light horse companies that were appointed to enforce the laws of the nation in 1808 and 1810.  He was a member of the national committee, organized in 1814.  He was one of the delegation who negotiated the treaty of 1819 at Washington City.  He was a member of the convention that framed the constitution of the nation in 1827; and also that of 1839.  He was elected assistant principal chief under the constitution in 1828; which office he filled many years.  At the time of his death he was a member of the executive council.

He always took a lively interest in the translation of the scriptures into the Cherokee language, in which work he rendered important aid.  One of his written addresses on temperance has been for several years [prior to 1852] in circulation as a tract in the Cherokee language.

Major Lowrey collaborated with the brilliant young Cherokee classical scholar, David Brown (?-1829), the husband of his third daughter, Rachel, in making what has been stated as being the first translation of the New Testament into Cherokee, but what was very probably a translation of the Four Gospels only.  This accomplishment was completed on September 27, 1825.  Chapters 2-27 of the Gospel of St. Matthew from this pioneer translation were published in the “Cherokee Phoenix” (April 3 to July 29, 1829) (Pilling, 1888, p. 111).  At least a part of the definitive translation of the New Testament was based on the Brown-Lowrey version.

Major Lowrey served as head of the temperance organization among the Cherokee in Georgia.  The tract, referred to above, was issued at Park Hill in two editions, 1842 and 1855 (Hargrett, 1951, pp. 18, 60).

The mother of Wahnenauhi, Lydia, the second daughter of Major Lowrey and his wife, Lucy Benge, has passed into the folklore of the Cherokee people.  At the age of 16, while a student at Brainerd Mission, she was converted to Christianity and baptized on January 3, 1819.  “Soon afterwards she had a dream in which the words [of an original hymn] came to her so impressively that on arising in the morning she wrote them out as the first hymn written by a Cherokee” (Starr, 1921, p. 249).  Since the Sequoyah syllabary was not perfected until 1821, one wonders whether Lydia’s hymn were in English or in some phonetic system.  In either event, it is still sung by her tribesmen.  It is to be found on pages 17-18 of the American Baptist Publication Society’s issues of the “Cherokee Hymn Book” (on pp. 14-15 of the 1909 Dwight Mission Press edition) and it is called “Une:hlanv:hi o:ginali:i (‘The Lord and I Are Friends’).”

Wahnenauhi’s paternal grandfather was the Connecticut-born Rev. Ard Hoyt (1770-1829), superintendent of Brainerd Mission from 1818 until 1824, and subsequently associated with Willstown Mission in Alabama until his death.  His wife, nee Esther Booth (d. 1841), was also a native of Connecticut (Walker, 1931, p. 43).

Wahnenauhi’s father, Dr. Milo Hoyt, the son of Rev. Ard Hoyt, was also a missionary (ibid., pp. 134-135), as were two of her brothers-in-law: Rev. Amory Nelson Chamberlin (1821-94), sometime superintendent of both the Cherokee Male and Female Seminaries (Starr, 1921, p. 555), and Rev. Hamilton Balentine, who served as superintendent of the Cherokee Female Seminary and whose wife, Nancy, Wahnenauhi’s sister, was a member of the faculty (Foreman, C. T., 1948, p. 150).  Wahnenauhi’s mother’s sister, Susan, was the wife of Andrew, the brother of Principal Chief John Ross (ibid., p. 161).

Lucy Lowrey Hoyt was one of the 12 in the first class that graduated from the Cherokee Female Seminary.  In the same month, February of 1855, the Cherokee Male Seminary graduated its first class, also 12 in number, and in it was Monroe Calvin Keys, Lucy Lowrey Hoyt’s future husband.  One of the classmates of Keys was Joel Bryan Mayes (1833-91), Principal Chief of the Cherokee from 1887 until his death.

In Wahnenauhi’s day her planter class of mixbloods—wealthy, educated, and receptive to all the Victorian attitudes of the corresponding stratum in Southern White society — was set apart from its full-blood tribesmen by formidable barriers.  English was its first language, evangelical Christianity its religion, and acculturation its code.  The surprising thing is not how much of the old Cherokee culture Wahnenauhi and those of her social class had forgotten, but how much of it they remembered.

The Christian missionaries — for the most part men of great force and sagacity — swiftly drove most of the aboriginal culture underground; the ruling mixblood class, engaged in a desperate struggle for national survival, in the belief that its cause was strengthened in direct ratio to rate of acculturation, seconded missionary efforts with fervor.  What with illustrious missionary blood in her lineage and daily environment, one would expect Wahnenauhi’s backward view over her people to have a decided Christian bias. Although she was actually but a couple of generations removed from the full flower of the old culture, much of it must have seemed to her as remote as does Beowulf to a citizen of present-day London.

And yet, some things of much significance to us she actually saw with her own eyes; her report on Cherokee dress and coiffure, for example, is quite valuable.  The myths that she retells, despite much probable loss of details, have the ring of the authenticity of the family fireside of her grandparents.  Cherokee curing rites she doubtlessly witnessed, even if she was unable to interpret them fully.

The information that Wahnenauhi has to give us on Lowrey and Sequoyah is not extensive, but nevertheless priceless.  If we had been fortunate enough for there to have been competent guidance of the author in preparing her sketch, much data of enormous value might have been saved from limbo.  For example, she could have filled in some of the disturbing gaps in our record of Sequoyah (pi. 3).  She could have settled for us the question of his parentage; she could have completed the picture of his personal appearance.  The glimpses of her grandfather are valuable; but we would also have deeply appreciated a word-picture of John Ross (pi. 4), whom she doubtlessly knew, and of Stand Watie, under whose command her husband fought in the Civil War.  Wahnenauhi could have supplied us with fascinating details of plantation life in the Cherokee Nation, of the routine at the Cherokee Female Seminary, of the personality of Rev. Samuel A. Worcester, and of the impact of the Civil War upon her people.

Wahnenauhi’s verbiage is replete with young ladies’ finishing school posturing.  The spirit of Scott and Tennyson pervades her pages.  Such would be unworthy of comment in a document penned in Baltimore or Charleston at the time of Wahnenauhi’s writing; what is intriguing is the fact that a scant few miles from her desk her tribesmen were “going to the water” with the same frequency, the same earnestness, and for the same purposes as they did in prehistoric times.  Neither they nor Wahnenauhi could enter, nor did they want to enter, into the respective worlds of each other; yet, they were indissolubly bound together by the only ties that Cherokees ever understood, or still understand — a fierce loyalty to common ancestry.

In the negotiations over purchase of the manuscript, Maj. J. W. Powell, at that time director of the Bureau of Ethnology (the word “American” was not in the title in those days), wrote on November 14, 1889: “You will thus understand that its value to the Bureau is comparatively small.”  In view of its being much consulted since its acquisition.  Major Powell somewhat underestimated it.  But its true value lies not in what it purports to be — a contribution to Cherokee history and ethnology: rather, it is one of the most valuable records available to sociologists in examining the psychological posture of a highly acculturated 19th-century mixblood Cherokee toward the fascinating dichotomy of cultures that was the Cherokee Nation.

HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE CHEROKEES, TOGETHER WITH SOME OF THEIR CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS, AND SUPERSTITIONS

By Wah-ne-nau-hi, a Cherokee Indian

Fifty years ago, if someone had undertaken to write a History of the Cherokee Nation, he would have done so with some hope of success.

At that time Traditions were learned and remembered by those who regarded it worth while to preserve from oblivion the Origin and Customs of the Tribe. I know of only one person who attempted the task of preparing such a work. Major George Lowrey, who was, for many years, a prominent member of the nation, and well-versed in Cherokee Lore.

The Manuscript was written in the Cherokee Language, and is supposed to have been destroyed during the Civil War of the United States. The following Sketches and Incidents are given as I remember to have heard them of older persons; and I trust they will be acceptable to those interested in Indian History.

When the English first came to America, a large tribe of Indians, calling themselves the Ke-too-wha, occupied the South Eastern portion of North America; The Country now comprising the states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Very little is known of them, only as Tradition comes to us.

They have always considered themselves the largest and most powerful Tribe on the Eastern side of the Continent, and have been so acknowledged by the other Tribes.

Holding this place of Supremacy made them self-confident and independent. In disposition they were friendly and generous, though always reserved before strangers. Fearless in danger, intrepid and daring when occasion required, they were slow to take offense at fancied injuries or insults.

They were always on friendly terms with the Delawares, by whom they were called Ke-too-whah-kee. So highly were they esteemed that, at one time, a Ke-too-wha was
chosen and served as Chief of the Delaware Tribe.

The Whites first met with these Indians in one of their towns, on the bank of a small stream, which they named Cherry Creek, from the number of Cherry trees which grew there; the people they called, the “Cherry Creek Indians.” This name, by gradual variations, came to be Cherok, then, Cherokee, as it now is. The Tribe, becoming familiar with their White Brothers, finally renounced their original name, Ke-too-wha, and adopted that of “Cherokee,” by themselves pronounced “Dtsah-lah-gee.”

There were several different Dialects used in the Language of the Cherokees.

In explaining the cause of this, we have recourse only to Tradition:

This tells us that in the “long time ago” there were several Tribes conquered and adopted or “naturalized” by the Ke-too-wha, they retained their own Idiom of Speech, or, used a brogue in trying to learn the Language of their Conquerors. This Story is the generally approved explanation of the difference in the Language of the Cherokees. One dialect is the “Pipestem,” another the “Over-hill,” in this the most noticeable peculiarity is the prominent sound of R instead of “L,” there being no “R,” in the pure Cherokee. The Cherokee Tribe was divided into seven Clans, or, Families. There are some interesting facts in regard to the operation and influence of Clanship.

If any one was killed, either by accident, or with malicious intention, his death must be revenged by members of his own Clan.

When the murderer could not be found, a Substitute might be taken from his Clan. The Chief Town of the Nation was the only place of safety for the Slayer, should he succeed in reaching this Refuge, he must remain in it until after the Annual Green Corn Dance.

He was then at liberty to leave, his life being no longer in danger.

The marriage of persons belonging to the same Clan, and of the father’s Clan was strictly forbidden; and also marriage was prohibited between relatives by blood. Capital punishment was the penalty for breaking this Law.

Clan-kin was held most sacred.

The mother was the Head of the Family, and the children were called by the name of her Clan. Affectionate regard for kindred was cherished; and old persons were treated with great respect and tenderly cared for. Persons, who had at any time, especially distinguished themselves by deeds of Courage or Bravery were highly esteemed, we give an illustration —

Once, a town was surprised by a band of enemies, and the Chief killed: His wife, whose name was “Cuh-tah-la-tah,” on seeing her husband fall, immediately snatched up his hatchet, shouting, “Hi-lu-ki! Hi-lu-ki!” (Kill! Kill!) rushed forward on the invaders, striking down all who opposed her.

Her bravery so inspired the discouraged warriors with fresh Courage that they hurried on to the fight and gained a complete victory. Many instances could be quoted, of brave deeds and victories won by Cherokee Patriots.

The Cherokees believed in one God, whom they called “Oo-na-hlah-nau-hi,” meaning “Maker of all Things,” and “Cah-luh-luh-ti-a-hi,” or, “The One who lives above.” They acknowledged Him as their Friend, and believed that He made every thing, and possessed unlimited Power.

They also believed in an Evil Spirit, called in their language, “Skee-nah”; to his malicious influence they attributed all trouble, calamity and sickness.

They believed in Familiar Spirits, Witch-craft and Conjurers. Witches were supposed to be able to do much harm, both to persons and to property, they received their power from the familiar spirits, who were emissaries of the Evil one. The more easily to affect their plans, witches were thought, sometimes to assume the form of birds or beasts.

Conjurors were doctors who, besides curing diseases, were thought to have power to counteract the evil doings of Witches, and even to destroy the witches themselves, without ever going near, or, seeing them.

If a person was suddenly taken with a new or uncommon disease, a Conjuror was immediately summoned by the friends of the afflicted one. He first examined the patient, looking intently at him, and asking questions about him.

He then made tea of some kind of roots, giving the sick one to drink, and bathing his face and limbs with it. He then had recourse to incantations, blowing his breath on the patient, making manipulations over his body and all the time muttering or speaking in a low tone as if conversing with some one.

In cases of severe pain, the Conjuror procured bark from a particular kind of tree, and burned it to coals, then after warming his hands over the fire, would press them tightly to the pain, then rub them briskly over the fire, after performing this operation several times, quite often the patient recovered.

If this treatment proved unsuccessful then some one suspected of being a witch was accused as the cause of the trouble.

Various methods, at different times, were resorted to, to find out and punish the offender. One way was, to make a picture representing the accused and shoot it. If
the person died soon after, that fact was proof conclusive of his guilt.

Many medicinal plants and roots were known and used by the people in common diseases. The bark of the Birch Tree was considered a specific for Cancer and malignant ulcers. A leaden-colored, oval-shaped stone, thought, to be solidified lightning, as it was dug from near the roots of a lightning-struck tree, was a cure for Rheumatism.

I think the Cherokees were not more superstitious than some Civilized Nations.

A few birds and some wild animals were said to be messengers of evil tidings.

There is a Legend of a large serpent, called the “Ground snake,” being the color of the ground was said to betoken death to the one who saw it; if it appeared to several persons a National Calamity was apprehended.

A buzzard feather placed over the door prevented the witches from entering their cabins.

The Cherokees had many Traditions. Some are interesting, some appear simply foolish, but hold some hidden meaning; others sound strangely familiar, and are so like the Bible stories that Christian mothers tell their little children, as to make one say, “Where, or, how did they obtain them? Such is the one about the Boy who was swallowed by a fish.

The Cherokee Story is, that the boy was sent on an errand by his father, and not wishing to go, he ran away to the river. After playing in the sand for a short time, some boys of his acquaintance came by in a canoe, who invited him to join them. Glad of the opportunity to get away, he went with them, but had no sooner got in than the canoe began to tip and rock most unaccountably, the boys became very much frightened, and in the confusion the bad boy fell into the water and was immediately swallowed by a large fish. After lying there for some time he became very hungry, and on looking around he saw the fish’s liver hanging over his head. Thinking it was dried meat, he tried to cut off a piece with a mussel shell that he had been playing with and which he still held in his hand the operation sickened the fish and it vomited the boy.

The story of how the world was made is this, — Observe that in telling of the Creation, the plural number “They” is used for the Creator.

It is said. They took a turtle and covered its back with mud. This grew larger and continued to increase until it became quite a large island.

They then made a man and a woman, and led them around the edge of the island. On arriving at the starting place, They planted some corn and then told the man and the woman to go around in the way they had been led, this they did; returning, they found the corn up and growing nicely.

They were then told to continue the circuit; each trip consumed more time, at last the corn was ripe and ready for use. Then fire was wanted.

The animals were called together, and the question asked, “Who will go and bring fire?” The ‘possum first came forward and offered to go; he was sent, but returned with out it; he had tried to carry it with his tail, but had that member so scorched and burned that he made a failure. They then sent the buzzard, he, too, failed, returning with his head and neck badly burned. A little spider then said, “I will go and get fire,” upon which the beasts and birds raised an uproar, ridiculing the spider, but not one was willing to undertake the hazardous journey, and the spider was allowed to go. She made a little bowl of mud and placing it on her back started, spinning a thread as she traced her way over the water on arriving at the fire, she carefully placed some coals in her cup and returned crossing safely on the bridge which she had spun.

Another story is told of how sin came into the world. A man and woman brought up a large family of children in comfort and plenty, with very little trouble about providing food for them. Every morning the father went forth and very soon returned bringing with him a deer, or, turkey or some other animal or fowl. At the same time the mother went out and soon returned with a large basket filled with ears of corn which she shelled and pounded in a mortar, thus making meal for bread.

When the children grew up, seeing with what apparent ease food was provided for them, they talked to each other about it, wondering that they never saw such things as their parents brought in.

At last one proposed to watch when their parents went out and follow them.

Accordingly next morning the plan was carried out. Those who followed the father, at a short distance from the cabin, saw him stop and turn over a large stone that appeared to be carelessly leaned against another.

On looking closely they saw an entrance to a large Cave and in it were many different kinds of animals and birds, such as their father had sometimes brought in for food. The man standing at the entrance called a deer, which was lying at some distance and back of some other animals, it rose immediately, as it heard the call, and came close up to him.

He picked it up, closed the mouth of the cave and returned, not once seeming to suspect what his sons had done.

When the old man was fairly out of sight, his sons, rejoicing how they had outwitted him, left their hiding place, and went to the cave, saying, they would show the old folks that they too could bring in some thing. They moved the stone away — though it was very heavy, and they were obliged to use all their united strength.

When the cave was opened, the animals, instead of waiting to be picked up, all made a rush for the entrance, and leaping past the frightened and bewildered boys, scattered in all directions and disappeared in the wilderness, while the guilty offenders could do nothing but gaze in stupefied amazement as they saw them escape. There were animals of all kinds, large and small — Buffaloes, deer, elks, antelopes, raccoons and squirrels; even catamounts and panthers, wolves and foxes, and many others, all fleeing together; at the same time birds of every kind were seen emerging from the opening, all in the same wild confusion as the quadrupeds: — Turkeys, geese, swans, ducks, quails, eagles, hawks and owls.

Those who followed the mother, saw her enter a small cabin, which they had never seen before, and close the door.

The culprits found a small crack through which they could peer.

They saw the woman place a basket on the ground, and standing over it shook herself vigorously, jumping up and down when lo! and behold! large ears of corn began to fall into the basket, when it was well filled she took it up, and placing it on her head came out, fastened the door and prepared their breakfast as usual. When the meal was finished in silence, the man spoke to his children, telling them that he was aware of what they had done, that now he must die, and they would be obliged to provide for themselves, he made bows and arrows for them, then sent them to hunt for the animals that they had turned loose.

Then the mother told them that, as they had found out her secret, she could do nothing more for them, that she would die, and they must drag her body around over the ground, that where ever her body was dragged, corn would come up, of this they were to make their bread. She told them that they must always save some for seed and plant every year.

I have heard a story about the “Little People”, or, “Children.” “Nuh-na-yie” is the Cherokee name for them. It was said that in old times they were very numerous; they
were inoffensive, and would often help any persons whom they found in distress, especially children who were lost, if a child were found, the Nuh-na-yie would appoint several of their number to take care of it and supply it with food until it could be restored to its parents or friends, for this reason they [were] very much loved by the Indians who took great care not to offend them, but for all that something happened by which the Nuh-na-yie felt themselves very much insulted, and for which they determined to leave. The Indians were aware of their intention, and exerted all their arts of persuasion to induce them to remain, but without success, there was nothing for them to do but to see the last of them. There was an arm of the sea which the Little People were to cross.

The Indians assembled on the bank near the place of crossing, looking at them sadly as they passed: on they went into the water, the Indians watching all the time until on the opposite side they disappeared in what seemed to be the mouth of a large cave in the margin of the water, nothing more was ever heard of them. In appearance, the little people were described as being well formed, not more than two feet tall, with an abundance of long black hair almost trailing on the ground. It was said that they were very fond of music.

The drum seemed to be their favorite musical instrument, it was used on all occasions; when on a journey they marched to the sound of the drum.

It was often heard by the Indians, before the Nuh-na-yie went away, sometimes in the mountains, or, in lonely situations far from human habitations, sometimes in the night folks were awakened by the sound of a drum very near their cabins, then it was said that the Nuh-na-yie were about, and on going to their work in the early morning, as gathering in their corn, or, clearing off land for a new field, sometimes they were greatly surprised by finding it all finished up, corn all gathered and put away, or, ground made ready for planting, trees and brush all taken off and put up around the sides, making a fence much better than they themselves would have done.

In early times, the clothing of the Cherokees was made entirely of the skins of animals which they killed in hunting. The Cherokee women became quite skillful in making clothes for their families, when very young, girls were instructed in the art of preparing material for, and making clothing. After dressing, the skins were rubbed and polished until they were very smooth and soft, often nicely ornamented, by painting in different colors; for paint, or dye, the juices of plants were used. The men wore a turban on their heads, their other clothing consisted of a hunting-shirt, leggins and moccasins, all deeply fringed.

The hunting-shirt was worn wrapped tightly around and folded over the chest, fastened with a belt around the waist.

Belts, in later years, came to be very much prized, being worn as an ornament.

They were made of bright colored worsted yarn interwoven with white beads, and were several yards in length, so as to fold many times around the body, they were worn tied at the left side, the ends, ornamented with tassels, hung nearly to the knees. Garters, made to match the belt were tied over the leggins below the knees, the tasseled ends left dangling.

The women wore a skirt and short jacket, with leggins and moccasins, the jacket was fastened in front with silver broaches, the skirt was fringed and either painted or embroidered with beads, and the moccasins were trimmed with beads, in many colors. Their hair, they combed smooth and close, then folded into a club at the back of the head, and tied very tight with a piece of dried eel-skin, which was said to make the hair grow long.

The men, in cutting their hair, always left the lock growing on the crown of the head, this was braided and hung down the back. It was called a “coo-tlah.”

Both sexes were fond of wearing ornaments. Some wore broad bands of silver on the arms above the elbows, and on the wrists and ankles, they wore rings on their fingers, and in the nose, and ears; I have seen old men with holes made in their ears from the lower edge to the very top; I never saw them wear more than two pair of ear-rings at one time. They liked very much to wear beads around their necks.

Their dwellings were sometimes made by bending down saplings and tying the tops together and filling in between with poles tied with bark and interwoven with cane or withes, and a space left open for a door, also a small opening near the top for smoke to escape.

For winter sleeping room, the saplings were bent quite low, making the hut not more than four or five feet high in the centre; after finishing off as the other, it was thickly daubed on the outside with mud, leaving only a small opening near the ground, large enough for a man to creep through; a large fire, of bark and dry sticks, was made, and when burned up, the ashes and embers were taken out, and two persons crawled in, and, with turkey wings, fanned out all the smoke, and closed the entrance by hanging a skin over it.

This hut was called a “hothouse” and it was sometimes used to steam a sick person in this is the way it was done, — The hot-house being made ready, the invalid was given as much cold water as he could drink, then taken in and left upon the ground until he was in a profuse perspiration, when he was taken out and plunged into a cold water bath.

In their intercourse with all, except most intimate friends, the Cherokees were reserved and independent, though very hospitable and often generous; they preferred to give favors rather than to ask them.

All Indians were called by them, “Yuh-wi-yah-i” which means, “The real People,” others were designated by their color, as white people, were, “Yuh-wi-na-kah” and black people, “Yuh-wi-kuh-hna-ka.”

As before mentioned the Cherokees were given to hospitality; On rude side-boards, in their camps or cabins, prepared food was always kept, and any persons coming in, were at liberty to help themselves, food was always offered to visitors or strangers stopping, and a refusal to partake of it was considered an insult.

The women made bowls and cooking vessels of clay, and the men made spoons and bowls of wood, and spoons of buffalo horn, which were really pretty, as they were capable of being highly polished.

The women and girls prepared the food as is customary with other nations. The principal dish, “Con-nau-ha-nah,” was made of Corn, Cuh-whe-si-ta was meal made of parched corn, and was used when on a journey, the hungry and weary traveler on arriving at a spring of water, alights and taking his bag of Cuh-whe-si-ta, puts a few spoonfuls into a cup which he carries for the purpose, mixes it with water and drinks it down, the requirements of Nature are satisfied — and the traveler goes on his way as much refreshed as when he began his journey in the early morning. The Cherokees also used a drink called “Con-nau-su-kah,” it was made of grapes which were boiled, strained and sweetened with maple sugar or honey. Corn was beaten in a mortar to make meal for bread, walnuts, chest-nuts and hickory-nuts were often used in cooking, so were different kinds of berries, of which the huckle-berry was the favorite.

The men provided meat, and when game was plentiful, there was no lack of such food.

Boys were taught when very young, to shoot with bow and arrows, to hunt and to fish. Wrestling, foot-racing, ball-playing and corn-stalk-shooting were continually practiced, not only as a pastime, but as a necessary exercise.

Before starting on an expedition, or, engaging in a contest of any kind, they were obliged to take medicine, scratch and bathe, the scratching was done with a small instrument having six points, some said the points were rattle-snake teeth, but the one I saw was made of a half dozen pins fastened together with two pieces of wood or bone.

This practice was strictly observed by ball-players when preparing for a “big play”— it was thought to make them brave and strong, and, before the Annual Festival of the Green Corn Dance, which lasted seven days, all must be scratched, none might partake of the feast unless he had performed this operation; After this Festival, green corn and all other vegetables were freely eaten.

At the Stomp Dances, terrapin shells enclosing pebbles, were worn, fastened to the ankles, by the dancing women.

When the English came to America they were peaceably received by the Cherokees, who presented them with food in token of their good will. 1730 is the earliest recorded date of a Treaty being made by the Cherokees with the English; in 1755 they ceded territory to the British Colonists, and permitted them to build forts. Prior to any treaty, a band of Cherokees utterly rejecting proposals of Peace, used all their powers of eloquence to prevent the Tribe from making a treaty.

They said that the Foreigners would get possession of a little now, then a little more and would not be satisfied until they had taken all the land, and there would be nothing left for the Indians.

Finding their efforts were unsuccessful, they determined to abandon the Tribe, going far away into the Wilderness, crossing the “Ummie Aquah,” and on to the “Cuh-too-sa Aqua,” they would find a Country for themselves, where the “Yuh-wi-na-kah” could not follow: Possessed by this one wild idea — to retreat from the neighborhood of the Whites, — deaf to the passionate entreaties of their friends, they made hurried preparations for their departure.