NO. 8 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, iyi3 63 



ancient rites of the Green Corn dance, the " going to water " at every 

 new moon, the fishing and hunting charms, the mecHcine man, and 

 the native hall game. Many of the women are ex]XM-t in hasket 

 making, in a variety of patterns, hut the i:)Ottery art, which nourished 

 a few years ago, is now virtually extinct. The hlow-gun, formerly 

 used for shooting small game, is now almost a thing of the past, 

 together with the head turban and the moccasin. 



Although the outer life and semblance are thus altered, the pos- 

 session of a native alphabet or syllabary, invented by a mixed blood 

 of the tribe nearly a century ago, has enabled their priests and doctors 

 to i)reserve their ancient ritual prayers and formulas without change 

 and apparently almost without diminution from the remote past. 

 By good fortune some twenty-five years ago Mr. Mooney was en- 

 abled to obtain some hundreds of these Cherokee manuscript for- 

 mulas, the secret possession of their leading priests. Many others 

 have been obtained on later visits, in addition to much miscellaneous 

 ethnologic material, until the collection now numbers approximately 

 600 formulas, perhaps the equivalent of as many printed quarto 

 pages, covering every occasion of Indian life, war, love, hunting, fish- 

 ing, agriculture, medicine, games and ceremonials. This collection of 

 aboriginal American literature is unique and without parallel. As a 

 revelation of primitive psychology it is invaluable. The antiquity of 

 the formulas is sufficiently indicated by the abundance of archaic 

 forms and references, many of which cannot now be explained even 

 by the priests, who simply say, " This is the way it was given to us." 

 Many of these formulas are highly poetic. 



The explanation of those originally obtained, almost one-half the 

 whole collection, was procured from the principal recognized priests 

 of that time, all of whom are now dead. At the same time, all the 

 words of the formulas were glossarized, and all the plants mentioned 

 in the medical prescriptions collected, and labeled with their Indian 

 names, and later identified botanically by experts of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. Other formulas have been translated and explained 

 during subsequent visits. During the last summer the number was 

 considerably enlarged by the best known teachers. All those then un- 

 translated were translated and glossarized, and the additional plants 

 named therein collected. The whole body was then revised from the 

 beginning, so that nearly every formula has now had the interpreta- 

 tion of at least three recognized authorities. There is still a paucity in 

 certain classes as compared with others, notably in the formulas re- 

 lating to war and to the ball play, as compared with those relating 



