CHEROKEES OF NORTH CAROLINA — GILBERT 545 



The magical formulas consist of prayers or conjurations for curing 

 disease, for securing game and fish, for prognostication, for protection 

 against supernatural influences, for long life, for weather control, and 

 for attracting the affections of a woman. Most of the formulas are 

 composed of two parts, one part dealing with actual technique and a 

 second part dealing with the incantation to secure the desired result. 

 It is doubtful whether the native practitioner of the magical arts ever 

 made any distinction between the two different elements or between 

 the formulas devoted to one purpose and those devoted to another. 

 For to him the fundamental pattern of events and the means of con- 

 trolling the events is the same, namely, the merging on a temporary 

 basis of the suppliant's personality with some stronger personality in 

 the universe which has the magical powers to accomplish the end de- 

 sired. The undesirable things are magically separated from the desir- 

 able and the latter are then assimilated to the self. 



The philosophy of the formulas may best be understood by taking 

 an example from Mooney's published Cherokee love charms (1891, 

 pp. 376-3 77) . The following is the text of the formula. 



Concerning Living Humanity {Love) 



Ku ! Listen ! In Alahi' yi you repose, O Terrible Woman, O you have drawn 

 near to hearken. There in Elahiyi you are at rest, O White Woman. No one is 

 ever lonely when with you. You are most beautiful. Instantly and at once you 

 have rendered me a white man. No one is ever lonely when with me. Now you 

 have made the path white for me. It shall never be dreary. Now you have put 

 me into it. It shall never become blue. You have brought down to me from 

 above the white road. There in mid-earth (mid-surface) you have placed me. I 

 shall stand erect upon the earth. No one is ever lonely when with me. I am 

 very handsome. You have put me into the white house. I shall be in as it 

 moves about and no one with me shall ever be lonely. Verily I shall never be- 

 come blue. Instantly you have caused it to be so with me. 



And now there in Elahiyi you have rendered the woman blue. Now you have 

 made the path blue for her. Let her be completely veiled in loneliness. Put her 

 upon the blue road. And now bring her down. Place her standing upon the 

 earth. Where her feet are now and wherever she may go, let loneliness leave its 

 mark upon her. Let her be marked out for loneliness where she stands. 



Ha! I belong to the (Wolf) Clan, that one alone which was allotted into for 

 you. No one is ever lonely with me. I am handsome. Let her put her soul 

 (into) the very center of my soul, never to turn away. Grant that in the midst 

 of men she shall never think of them. I belong to the one clan alone which was 

 allotted for you when the seven clans were established. 



Where (other) men live it is lonely. They are very loathesome. The com- 

 mon polecat has made them so like himself that they are fit only to be with 

 him. They are very loathesome. Even the crow has made them so like himself 

 that they are fit only for his company. They are very loathesome. The miser- 

 able rain-crow has made them so like himself that they are fit only to be with 

 him. 



The seven clans all alike make one feel very lonely in their company. They 

 are not even good looking. They go about clothed with mere refuse. They even 

 go about covered with dung. But I — I was ordained to be a white man. I stand 



