given and the route is uncertain,
hut whether or not they met Indians, they must have passed through
Cherokee territory. 2
In L670 the German traveler. John Lederer, went from the falls of
.lames river to the Catawba country in South Carolina, following for
most of the distance the path used by the Virginia traders, who already
had regular dealings with the southern tribes, including probably the
Cherokee, lie speaks in several places of the Riekahoekan, which
seems to he a re correct form than Rechahecrian. and his narrative
and the accompanying map put them in the mountains of North Caro-
lina, back of the Catawba and the Sara and southward from the head
of Roanoke river. They were apparently on hostile terms with the
tribes to the eastward, and while the traveler was stopping at an Indian
i Burk, John,History of Virginia, n. pp 104-107; Petersburg, 1805.
s Ramsey, J. G. M., Annals oi Tennessee, i». 87; Charleston, 1853 (quoting Man in, North euro] in a. r,
p. 115, lv..;,.
mooney] FIRST TREATY WITH SOUTH CAROLINA 1684 31
village on Dan river, about the present Clarksville, Virginia, a delega-
tion of Rickahockan, which had come on tribal business, was barba-
rously murdered at a dance prepared on the night of their arrival by
their treacherous hosts. On reaching the Catawba country he heard
of white men to the southward, and incidentally mentions that the
neighboring mountains were called the Suala mountains by the Span-
iards. 1 In the next year. 1671, a party from Virginia under Thomas
Batts explored the northern branch of Roanoke river and crossed
over the Blue ridge to the headwaters of New river, where they