﻿318 
  SACKED 
  FORMULAS 
  OF 
  THE 
  (TIEROKEES. 
  

  

  hands 
  of 
  one 
  or 
  two 
  shamans 
  with 
  whom 
  there 
  was 
  no 
  cnance 
  for 
  

   negotiating, 
  but 
  an 
  effort 
  will 
  be 
  made 
  to 
  obtain 
  possession 
  of 
  thcst> 
  

   on 
  some 
  future 
  visit, 
  should 
  opportunity 
  present. 
  Those 
  now 
  in 
  the 
  

   Bureau 
  library 
  comprised 
  by 
  far 
  the 
  greater 
  portion 
  of 
  the 
  whole 
  

   quantity 
  held 
  by 
  the 
  Indians, 
  and 
  as 
  only 
  a 
  small 
  portion 
  of 
  this 
  was 
  

   copied 
  by 
  the 
  owners 
  it 
  can 
  not 
  be 
  duplicated 
  by 
  any 
  future 
  collector. 
  

  

  CHARACTER 
  OF 
  THE 
  FORMULAS— 
  THE 
  CHEROKEE 
  RELIGION. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  impossible 
  to 
  overestimate 
  the 
  ethnologic 
  importance 
  of 
  the 
  

   materials 
  thus 
  obtained. 
  They 
  are 
  invaluable 
  as 
  the 
  genuine 
  pro- 
  

   duction 
  of 
  the 
  Indian 
  mind, 
  setting 
  forth 
  in 
  the 
  clearest 
  light 
  the 
  

   state 
  of 
  the 
  aboriginal 
  religion 
  before 
  its 
  contamination 
  by 
  contact 
  

   with 
  the 
  whites. 
  To 
  the 
  psychologist 
  and 
  the 
  student 
  of 
  myths 
  they 
  

   are 
  equally 
  jirecious. 
  In 
  regard 
  to 
  their 
  linguistic 
  value 
  we 
  may 
  

   quote 
  the 
  language 
  of 
  Brinton, 
  speaking 
  of 
  the 
  sacred 
  books 
  of 
  the 
  

   Mayas, 
  already 
  referred 
  to: 
  

  

  Another 
  value 
  they 
  have, 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  one 
  which 
  will 
  be 
  properly 
  appre- 
  

   ciated 
  by 
  any 
  student 
  of 
  languages. 
  They 
  are, 
  by 
  common 
  consent 
  of 
  all 
  compe- 
  

   tent 
  authorities, 
  the 
  genuine 
  productions 
  of 
  native 
  minds, 
  cast 
  in 
  the 
  idiomatic 
  

   forms 
  of 
  the 
  native 
  tongue 
  by 
  those 
  born 
  to 
  its 
  use. 
  No 
  matter 
  how 
  fluent 
  a 
  

   foreigner 
  becomes 
  in 
  a 
  language 
  not 
  his 
  own, 
  lie 
  can 
  never 
  use 
  it 
  as 
  does 
  one 
  who 
  

   has 
  been 
  familiar 
  with 
  it 
  from 
  childhood. 
  This 
  general 
  maxim 
  is 
  tenfold 
  true 
  when 
  

   we 
  apply 
  it 
  to 
  a 
  European 
  learning 
  an 
  American 
  language. 
  The 
  flow 
  of 
  thought, 
  as 
  

   exhibited 
  in 
  these 
  two 
  linguistic 
  families, 
  is 
  in 
  such 
  different 
  directions 
  that 
  no 
  

   amount 
  of 
  practice 
  can 
  render 
  one 
  equally 
  accurate 
  in 
  both. 
  Hence 
  the 
  importance 
  

   of 
  studying 
  a 
  tongue 
  as 
  it 
  is 
  employed 
  by 
  natives; 
  and 
  hence 
  the 
  very 
  high 
  estimate 
  

   I 
  place 
  on 
  these" 
  Books 
  of 
  Chilan 
  Balam" 
  as 
  linguistic 
  material 
  — 
  an 
  estimate 
  much 
  

   increased 
  by 
  the 
  great 
  rarity 
  of 
  independent 
  compositions 
  in 
  their 
  own 
  tongues 
  by 
  

   members 
  of 
  the 
  native 
  races 
  of 
  this 
  continent. 
  ' 
  

  

  The 
  same 
  author, 
  in 
  speaking 
  of 
  the 
  internal 
  evidences 
  of 
  authen- 
  

   ticity 
  contained 
  in 
  the 
  Popol 
  Vuh, 
  the 
  sacred 
  book 
  of 
  the 
  Kiche"s, 
  

   uses 
  the 
  following 
  words, 
  which 
  apply 
  equally 
  well 
  to 
  these 
  Cherokee 
  

   formulas 
  : 
  

  

  To 
  one 
  familiar 
  with 
  native 
  American 
  myths, 
  this 
  one 
  bears 
  undeniable 
  marks 
  of 
  

   its 
  aboriginal 
  origin. 
  Its 
  frequent 
  puerilities 
  and 
  inanities, 
  its 
  generally 
  low 
  and 
  

   coarse 
  range 
  of 
  thought 
  and 
  expression, 
  its 
  occasional 
  loftiness 
  of 
  both, 
  its 
  strange 
  

   metaphors 
  and 
  the 
  prominence 
  of 
  strictly 
  heathen 
  names 
  and 
  potencies, 
  bring 
  it 
  

   into 
  unmistakable 
  relationship 
  to 
  the 
  true 
  native 
  myth.'' 
  

  

  These 
  formulas 
  furnish 
  a 
  complete 
  refutation 
  of 
  the 
  assertion 
  so 
  

   frequently 
  made 
  by 
  ignorant 
  and 
  prejudiced 
  writers 
  that 
  the 
  Indian 
  

   had 
  no 
  religion 
  excepting 
  what 
  they 
  are 
  pleased 
  to 
  call 
  the 
  meaning 
  

   less 
  mummeries 
  of 
  the 
  medicine 
  man. 
  This 
  is 
  the 
  very 
  reverse 
  of 
  

   the 
  truth. 
  The 
  Indian 
  is 
  essentially 
  religious 
  and 
  contemplative, 
  

  

  1 
  Brinton, 
  D. 
  G.: 
  The 
  books 
  of 
  Chilan 
  Balam 
  10, 
  Philadelphia, 
  n. 
  d., 
  (1882). 
  

   'Brinton, 
  D. 
  G: 
  Names 
  of 
  the 
  Gods 
  in 
  the 
  Kiche 
  Myths, 
  in 
  Proc. 
  Am. 
  Philos. 
  

   Soc., 
  Philadelphia, 
  1881, 
  vol. 
  19, 
  p. 
  613. 
  

  

  