traps or their
stock. Like the eagle killer (see "'The BirdTi'ibes"), the professional
wolf killer, after killing one of these animals, addresses to it a prayer
in which he seeks to turn aside the vengeance of the tribe by laying
the burden of blame upon the people of some other settlement. lie
then unscrews the barrel of his gun and inserts into it seven small sour-
wood rods heated over the fire, and allows it to remain thus overnight
in the running stream; in the morning the rods are taken out and the
barrel is thoroughly dried and cleaned.
The dog (gili'), although as much a part of Indian life among the
Cherokee as in other tribes, hardly appears in folklore. One myth
makes him responsible for the milky way: another represents him as
driving the wolf from the comfortablehouse lire and taking the place
for himself. He figures also in connection with the deluge. There is
no tradition of the introduction of the horse (sd'gwdli, iromasd 1 'gwdlihu' ',
"a pack or burden") or of the cow (wa''ka, from the Spanish, vaca).
The hog is called sikiod, this being originally the name of the opossum,
which somewhat resembles it in expression, and which is now distin
guished as sikwd utse'tsti, "grinning sikwa." In the same wa\ the
-hce p. another introduced animal, is called a "•/' unddt 'net," woolly deer";
the goat, dwi' alianu'l&M, "bearded deer," and the mule, " sd'gwd'li
digu'landhi'ta, "long-eared horse." The cat, also obtained from the
whites, is called wesd, an attempt at the English "pussy." When it
purrs by the fireside, the children say it is counting in Cherokee,
" ta'ladvl ', in'iu'iji.