on account of the chestnut diet. 1 In Sevier's expedition
against the towns on Coosa river, in 1793, the army killed three hun-
dred beeves at Etowah and left their carcasses rotting on the ground.
While crossing the Cherokee country in 1796 Hawkins met an Indian
woman on horseback driving ten very fat cattle to the settlements for
sale. Peach trees and potatoes, as well as the native corn and beans,
were abundant in their fields, and some had bees and honey and did a
considerable trade in beeswax. They seem to have quickly recovered
from the repeated ravages of war. and there was a general air of pros-
perity throughout the nation. The native arts () f pottery and basket-
making were still the principal employment of the women, and the
warriors hunted with such success that aparty of traders brought
down thirty wagon loads of skins on one trip." In dress and house-
building the Indian style was practically unchanged.
In pursuance of a civilizing policy, the government had agreed, by
the treaty of 17U1, to furnish the Cherokee gratuitously with farming
tools and similar assistance. This policy was continued and broadened
to such an extent that in L801 Hawkins reports that "in the Cherokee
agency, the wheel, the loom, and the plough is [sic] in pretty general
use. farming, manufactures, and stock raising the topic of conversation
among the men and women." At a conference held this year we find
the chiefs of the mountain towns complaining that the people of the
more western and southwestern settlements had received more than
their share of spinning wheels and cards, and were consequently more
advanced in making their