CHATTOOGA COUNTY. 175 



the alphabet, he had to depend entirely on his own native re- 

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

 Cherokee language, by a conversation which took place one 

 evening at Sauta. Some young men were making remarks 

 on the superior talents of the white people : one said that 

 white men could put a talk on paper, and send it to any dis- 

 tance, and it would be understood by those who received it. 

 They all agreed that this was very strange, and they could not 

 see how it could be done. Mr. Guess, after silently listening 

 to their conversation for a while, raised himself, and putting on 

 an air of importance, said : " You are all fools ; why the thing 

 is very easy ; I can do it myself;" and picking up a flat stone, 

 he commenced scratching on it with a pin, and after a few 

 minutes read to them a sentence which he had written, by 

 making a mark for each word. This produced a laugh, and 

 the conversation on that subject ended. But the inventive 

 powers of Guess's mind were now roused to action, and noth- 

 ing short of being able to write the Cherokee language would 

 satisfy him. He went home, purchased materials, and sat 

 down to paint the Cherokee language on paper. He at first 

 thought of no way but to make a character for each word. 

 He pursued this plan for about a year, in which time he had 

 made several thousand characters. He >vas then convinced 

 that the object was not attainable in that way ; but he was 

 not discouraged. He firmly believed that there was some way 

 in which the Cherokee language could be expressed on paper, 

 as well as the English ; and after trying several other methods, 

 he at length conceived the idea of dividing the words into 

 parts. He had not proceeded far on this plan, before he found, 

 to his great satisfaction, that the same characters would apply 

 in different words, and the number of characters would be 

 comparatively few. 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 oc- 

 curred which had a part or syllable in it which he had not 

 before thought of, he would bear it on his mind until he had 

 made a character for it. In this way he soon discovered all 

 the syllables in the language. In forming his characters, he 

 made some use of the English letters, as he found them in a 



