TSULAKEES. 



687 



bama. This tract probably contained more than 

 55,000,000 acres. Between the close of the revo- 

 lutionary war and the year 1820, the Cherokees 

 sold to the United States, at different times, more 

 than three quarters of their possessions, and now 

 retain less than 8,000,000 acres, of which Georgia 

 claims 5,000,000 acres as falling within that state, 

 and Alabama nearly 1,000,000 of the residue. The 

 remainder, if a division takes place, will go to Ten- 

 nessee and North Carolina. Their population is 

 increasing. In eighteen years, ending in 1825, their 

 numbers, including those who emigrated to the 

 Arkansas, had increased more than 7000, or sixty 

 per cent., which varies little from the common rate 

 of increase among the white inhabitants of the 

 Southern States. The number of native Cherokees 

 of pure and mixed blood, east of the Mississippi, 

 was at that time 13,563, and 147 white men and 

 seventy-three white women had intermarried with 

 them, and resided among them. The number of 

 African slaves was 1277. The population in 1832 

 was 15,060, of whom above 1200 are African slaves. 

 Agriculture and many of the arts of civilized life 

 have been introduced among them, and their pro- 

 gress in civilization has been very considerable. In 

 1825, they possessed 79,842 domestic animals 

 (horses, cattle, swine and sheep), 762 looms, 2486 

 spinning-wheels, 172 waggons, 2943 ploughs, ten 

 saw-mills, thirty-one grist-mills, sixty-two black- 

 smiths' shops, eight cotton gins, eighteen schools, 

 nine turnpike roads, eighteen ferries, and twenty 

 public roads, being a great increase above the re- 

 turns of 1809. 



A well-organized system of government has been 

 established. The executive consists of a principal 

 chief and assistant, with three executive counsel- 

 lors, all elected by the legislative body. The legis- 

 lature consists of two bodies, a national committee, 

 and a national council, the former containing six- 

 teen members, the latter twenty-four. The mem- 

 bers are chosen for the term of two years, by the 

 qualified electors in their several districts. These 

 electors include all free male citizens who have at- 

 tained the age of eighteen years, except, persons of 

 African origin. The rules respecting the nature 

 and powers of the legislature in general, are similar 

 to those of the several states in the Union. Each 

 of the two bodies has a negative on the other, and 

 together they are styled the general council of the 

 Cherokee nation. The chief and his assistant hold 

 their offices for four years. The executive coun- 

 sellors are chosen annually. The judiciary consists 

 of a supreme court, and of circuit and inferior courts. 

 The members of the supreme court hold their of- 

 fices for four years. There is also a public treasury, 

 a printing-office, and a newspaper, the Cherokee 

 Phoenix, commenced in February, 1828, and edited 

 by a Cherokee. This newspaper is printed partly 

 in the Cherokee character, invented by Guess.* 



* The inventor and the invention are thus described in the 

 Cherokee Phoenix : Mr Guess is, in appearance ami habits, a 

 full C herokee, though his grandfather on his father's side was 

 a white man. He has no knowledge of any language but 

 the Cherokee. He was led to think on the subject of writing 

 the Cherokee language by the conversation of some ynmi- 

 men, who said that the whites could put a talk on paper, and 

 send it to any distance, and it would be understood. In at- 

 tempting to invent a Cherokee character, heat first could think 

 of no way hut that of giving each word a particular sign. I In 

 panned this plan for about a year, and made several thousand 

 characters. He then became convinced that this was not the 

 right mode, and, after trying several other methods, at length 

 conceived the idea of dividing the words into parts. He nou- 

 oon found that the same characters would apply in different 

 words, so that their number would be comparatively small, 



The press is owned and directed by the Cherokee 

 government. They have founts of types in the 

 Cherokee character. The Gospel of Matthew and 

 a collection of hymns, translated by Mr Worcester, 

 one of the missionaries, have been printed in this 

 character. Intermarriages have in many instances 

 taken place between the Cherokees and the whites 

 in the neighbourhood, and many of the half breeds 

 have large plantations, and carry on agriculture with 

 more spirit than the full-blooded Cherokees. There 

 are very different degrees of improvement among 

 the members of the tribe. Some families have risen 

 to a level with the white population of the United 

 States, while the improvement of others has just 

 commenced. In general, those of mixed blood are 

 in advance of the full-blooded Indians. Not less 

 than a quarter of the people are probably in a greater 

 or less degree of mixed blood. The dress of most 

 of the Cherokees is substantially the same as that 

 of the whites around them. A great part of their 

 clothing is manufactured by themselves, though not 

 a little is of the fabrics of New England and foreign 

 countries calico, broadcloths, silk. The greater 

 part are clothed principally in cotton, and many 

 families raise their own cotton, out of which the 

 women make substantial cloth. Cultivation by the 

 plough is almost universal. Most families raise 

 enough to supply their own wants, and many have 

 considerable quantities of corn for sale. Suffering 

 for want of food is said to be as rare among the 

 Cherokees as in any part of the civilized world. 

 None of them depend, in any considerable degree, 

 on game for a support. The Cherokees live chiefly 

 in villages, and their dwellings are mostly comfort- 

 able log cabins, with chimneys, and generally 

 floored. Many of the houses in the nation are de- 

 cent buildings of two stories, and some are even 

 handsome dwellings of painted wood or brick. 

 Polygamy is becoming rare, and women are no 

 longer treated as servants, but are allowed their 

 proper place. Superstition is rapidly declining, and 

 the ancient traditions are fading from memory, so 

 that it is difficult to collect them. Conjuring, 

 however, is still practised to a considerable extent. 

 In regard to intemperance, the Cherokees would 

 not suffer by a comparison with the white popula- 

 tion around them. The laws rigorously exclude 

 intoxicating liquors from all public assemblies, 

 and otherwise restrict their use. They have 

 among them temperance societies on the prin- 

 ciple of entire abstinence. The civil officers en- 

 force the laws against the introduction of ardent 

 spirits, and fine transgressors. In regard to educa- 

 tion, the missionaries, in a report dated Dec. 29, 

 1830 (see Missionary Herald for March, 1831), 

 state that they have the names of 200 Cherokee 

 men and youths whom they believe to have attained 

 an English education sufficient for the transaction 

 of ordinary business. This number does not in- 

 clude females, and many men and youths who can 

 barely read and write. An increasing anxiety 

 among the people for the education of their chil- 



After putting down and learning all the syllables that he could 

 think of, he would listen to speeches and the conversation of 

 strangers, and whenever a word occurred which had a part or 

 syllable in it which was not on his list he would bear it in mind 

 till he had made a character for it. In this way he soon dis- 

 covered all the syllables in the language. In forming his chnr- 

 acterSj he made some use of the English letters, as he found 

 them in a spelling-book in his possession. After commencing 

 upon the last mentioned plan, he is said to have completed his 

 system in about a month, having reduced all the sounds in the 

 language to eighty-five characters. Mr Ciuess was consider* 

 bly advanced in bfc when he made this invention. 



