originally a man, with human form and nature.
As with other tribes and countries, almost every prominent rock and
mountain, every dec]) bend in the river, in the old Cherokee country
has its accompanying legend. It may be a little story that can he
told in a paragraph, to account for some natural feature, or it may be
one chapter of a myth that has its sequel in a mountain a hundred
mile- away. As is usual when a people has lived for a long time in
the same country, nearly every important myth is localized, thus
assuming more definite character.
There is the usual number of anecdotes and stories of personal
adventure, some of them irredeemably vulgar, but historical traditions
are strangely wanting. The authentic records of unlettered peoples
are short at best, seldom going back much farther thanthe memories
of their oldest men; and although the Cherokee have been the most
important of the southern tribes, making wars and treaties for three
centuries with Spanish. English, French, and Americans. Iroquois,
232 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth. ANN. 19
Shawano, Catawba, and Creeks, there is little evidence of the fact in
their traditions. This condition may be due in part to the temper of
the Cherokee mind, which, as has been already stated, is accustomed
to look forward to new things rather than to dwell upon the past.
The lirst Cherokee war, with its stories of Agansta'ta and Ata-gul'kalii',
is absolutely forgotten. Of the long Revolutionary struggle they
have hardly a recollection, although they were constantly fighting
throughout the whole period and for several years after, and at one
time were brought to the verge of ruin by four