18 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [etii.annM9 



the Deliiwiire tradition of tho expulsion of the Talliucwi from tli(» north, 

 as first noted liv the niissionarv Hcckeweldcr in islli, and ])ul)lislied 

 more fully by BriTiton in tho Walam Oluiu in 1885. According to 

 the first account, the Dcdawares. advancing from the west, found their 

 further pi'ooress opposed ))v a powerf id people called Alligewi or Tal- 

 ligewi, occupying the country upon a river which Heckewelder thinks 

 identical with the Mississippi. ])ut which the sequel shows was more 

 probaldy the upper Ohio. The_v were said to have regularly l)uilt 

 earthen fortifications, in which they defended themselves .so well 

 that at last the Delawares were obliged to .seek the assistance of the 

 " ^lengwe." or Iroquois, with the result that after a warfare extending 

 over many year.s the Alligewi finally received a cinishing defeat, the 

 survivors fleeing down the river and abandoning the country to the 

 invaders, who thereupon parceled it out amongst themselves, the 

 "Mengwe" choosing the portion about the Great lakes while the Dela- 

 wares took possession of that to the south and east. The missic^naiy 

 adds that the Allegheny (and Ohio) river was still called by the Dela- 

 wares the Alligewi Sipu, or river of the xVlligewi. This would seem 

 to indicate it as the true river of the tradition. He speaks also of 

 remarka))le earthworks seen by him in 17N!> in the neighborhood of 

 Lake Erie, which were said l)y the Indians to have been ])uilt by the 

 extirpated tribe as defensive fortifications in the course of this war. 

 Near two of these, in the vicinity of Sandusky, he was shown mounds 

 under which it was said some hundreds of the slain Talligewi were 

 buried.' As is usual in such traditions, the Alligewi were said to have 

 been of giant stature, far exceeding their conquerors in size. 



In the Walam Olum, which Is, it is asserted, a metrical translation of 

 an ancient hieroglyphic bark record discovered in 1S20. the main tra- 

 dition is given in practically the same way, with an appendix which 

 follows the fortunes of the defeated tribe up to the })eginning of the 

 historic period, thus t'ompleting the chain of evidence. (.5) 



In the Walam Oluni also we find the Delawares advancing from the 

 west or northwest until the}' come to "Fish river" — the same which 

 Heckewelder makes the Mississippi (6). On the other side, we are 

 told, ''The Talligewi possessed the East." The Delaware chief 

 "de.sired the eastern land," and some of his people go on, but are 

 killed by the Talligewi. The Delawares decide upon war and call in 

 the help of their northern friends, the "Talamatan,'' i. e., the Wyan- 

 dot and other allied Iroquoian tribes. A war ensues which continues 

 through the terms of four successive chief s, when victory declai-es for the 

 invaders, and '"all the Talega go .south." The country is then divided, 

 the Talamatan taking the northern portion, while the Delawares " stay 

 south of the lakes." The chronicle proceeds to tell how, after eleven 

 more chiefs have ruled, the Nanticoke and Shawano .separate from the 



1 Heckewelder, John, Indian Nations of Pennsylvania, pp. 47-49, ed. 1876. 



