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NILES' REGISTER- SUP.TO VOL.XVI. INDIAN NATIONS.

October 13, 1818
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE CHEROKEES.
(From the Raleigh Register.)

Mr. Gales -The articles of intelligence I gave you some weeks ago respecting the Cherokee Indians seem to have been so well received by the public, that I am led to expect a further account of that nation would not now be unacceptable. The interest which appears to have been excited bears honorable testimony to the liberal and charitable feelings of our countrymen. I now send you a notice of some of the peculiar manners and customs of the Cherokees, drawn up a few months ago by Charles Hicks, a chief of the nation, at the request of My. [Mr.] Hoyt, the missionary, and by me copied., in
June last, from the mission diary. The original was the diction and hand writing of the chief, and was recorded nearly in his own words. Charles Hicks is a half blooded Cherokee, has a tolerable education, is a man of intelligence and piety, and has long filled the office next in rank to the king. The latter is a full blooded Indian, who has no acquaintance with our language. At a late national council, it was enacted that no order of the king should take effect until approved and concurred in by Charles Hicks. This virtually makes him equal to the king, but in in [deleted text: g ] [added text (appears to be different ink): f ] luence and real authority he is greatly his superior. He is a staunch friend to the whites, a zealous promoter of the measures now in progress to educate and civilize his nation, and at this moment has a son in publi [deleted text: l ] [added text (appears to be different ink): c ] school in Connecticut. The insured


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co-operation of a chief so endowed and so influential should strengthen the hands and animate the exertions of those benevolent and liberal minded men who are laboring to enlighten and humanize an unhappy but very interesting portion of our species. The Indians will become at once civilized whenever the numbers of the educated shall be so considerable as to give respect and confidence to each other and a fashion to manners. Mr. Boudinot, in a late work has undertaken to show that the American Indians are a remnant of the ten lost tribed [tribes] of Israel. One of their customs, it will be seen, shows some analogy to those of the ancient Israelites, as recorded in the books of the Old Testament.

[Signed] Calvin Jones

Raleigh,
Oct. 13, 1818.



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MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &c [et cetera],

"The Cherokee people are divided into seven different classes, each having a distinct name.* No one is permitted to marry within his own clan. The children are always considered as belonging to the clan of the mother. Murder committed by a person of one clan on one of another is always punished with death; but if both belong to the same clan, it frequently happens that the clan intercedes with the chief head of the nation, and obtains a pardon, which pardon is published in the national council when convened.
"The national council is composed of chiefs from each clan, some sending more some less, regard being had to the population of each- though the number is not very definitely fixed. Each clan has its separate portion of land, which it holds in common right- the poorest men having the same right as the greatest.
"Before eating the green corn when in the milk, the people collect in different towns and villages at night, and when the ------+ comes, the conjurer takes some of seven ears of corn and feeds the fire with them, i.e. burns them, [ Note: * The Powhatan nation of Indians in Virginia, according to Mr. Jefferson, was divided into seven tribes, or clans. This Hebrew cabalistic number appears to have been in common use among the Indians. ] [ Note: + This word not understood in Mr. Hick's original. ]


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after this each family is allowed to cook and eat their roasting ears, but not before they drink a tea of wild horehound. In like manner they observe the same custom before eating the bean when it fills in the hull.
"The green corn dance, so called, has been highly esteemed formerly. This is held when the corn is getting hard and lasts four days, and when the national council site- a quantity of venison being procured to supply the dance. It is said that that [that] a person was formerly chosen to speak to the people on each day in a language that is partly lost- at least there is very little of it known now. At such times as the above, a piece of ground is laid off and persons appointed to occupy it- no others being allowed to use it while the feast continues.
"There is a custom, which still prevails, of making a new fire every year, generally in the month of March. The fire is made by drilling in a dried grape vine, which begins in the morning after an all night dance. Seven persons are appointed to perform this with the conjurer. After the fire is made, each family in the town comes and procures the new fire, putting out all the old fires in their houses.


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"The physic dance was very much in use formerly, but partly neglected now. This belongs to the women in particular, except seven men who are chosen, one out of each clan, [deleted text: to carry ] to carry the water to boil the physic, and when boiled to carry it to the people, for old and young to drink. But they never drink of it until the singer has proclaimed with his song, on the top of the Town House, "Ha-yan-wah, Yauth-caunu" (repeating the same several times) and painted all the posts of the house white with clay, and danced two of the nights in seven, and in the morning after the last night bathed themselves in the water.
"The [They] have a similar plan of choosing one or two men to represent the clans in what is called making rain.
"In making rain, seven men or women are chosen to represent the clan, who keeps a fast during the time the conjurer is about to obtain rain, and when the rain comes he sacrifices the tongue of a deer that is procured for that purpose. The conjurer himself observes a strict fast with frequent bathings during the time he is making rain. On such occasions the conjurer speaks a language different from the present language of the nation, and which few understand. They who design to follow the practices are taught by those who understand it.
"The Eagle-tail dance is still in use among the Cherokees. The design of this dance is to stimulate in the minds of the young growing people the spirit of war. The


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old warriors rehearsing in the dance the dangers they have passed through in attacking their enemies, the distance they have travelled, the time they have been out, &c, &c [et cetera, et cetera] . Some victuals are usually set apart for the boys to eat at day break, and when the boys have eaten they go out of the town house and are met in the entry by the young men, who have a battle with mud collected for the purpose.
"It is also customary to give Eagle feathers as pledges of friendship in making peace among red people.
"The doctors among the Cherokees suppose that cures are to be made in seven nights of the different disorders which the human body is subject to. During these cures the doctors are remarkably strict to keep out of the house where the patient lies such persons as have handled a dead body, women, &c [et cetera], for it is held among the Cherokees that these persons are impure until bathing in the water of the seventh night in the morning. Some changes have of late taken place- instead of seven, four nights are now deemed sufficient."