No. 8 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I913 63 
ancient rites of the Green Corn dance, the “ going to water ”’ at every 
new moon, the fishing and hunting charms, the medicine man, and 
the native ball game. Many of the women are expert in basket 
making, in a variety of patterns, but the pottery art, which flourished 
a few years ago, is now virtually extinct. The blow-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 preserve 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. Asa 
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 
