112 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [i:th.ann.19 



rcliyioMs works, there have been printexl in the Cherokee kuio-uage unci 

 •syllahiiry the ('lierohv I'liO'ni.r (journal), Clicrokec Adriiattc (journal), 

 Cherokee Messenger (periodical), Cherokee AIukumc (annual), Cherokee 

 spelling- T)Ooks, arithmetics, and other sehoolhook.s for those unable to 

 read English, several editions of the laws of the Nation, and a large 

 body of tracts and minor publieations. Space forbids even a mention 

 of the names of the devoted workers in this ecjnneetion. Besides this 

 printed literature the syllabary is in constant and daily use among the 

 non- English-speaking element, both in Indian Territory and in North 

 Carolina, for letter writing, council records, personal memoranda, etc. 

 What is perhaps strangest of all in this literary evolution is the fact 

 that the same invention has been seized by the priests and conjurers 

 of the conservative party for the purpose of preserving to their suc- 

 cessors the ancient rituals and secret knowledge of the tribe, whole 

 volumes of such occult literature in manuscript having been obtained 

 among them Ijy the author.' 



In 1819 the whole Cherokee population had been estimated at 15,000, 

 one-third of them being west of the Mississippi. In 1S2.5 a census of 

 the eastern Nation showed: native Cherokee, 1.3,56.3; white men mar- 

 ried into the Nation, 147; white women married into the Nation, 73; 

 negro slaves, 1,277. There were large herds of cattle, horses, hogs, 

 and sheep, with large crops of every staple, including cotton, tol)acco, 

 and wheat, and some cotton was exported by boats as far as New Or- 

 leans. Apple and peach orchards were numerous, butter and cheese 

 were in use to some extent, and both cotton and woolen cloths, espe- 

 cially blankets, were manufactured. Nearly all the merchants were 

 native Cherokee. Mechanical industries flourished, the Nation was out 

 of debt, and the population was increasing." Estimating one-third 

 beyond the Mississippi, the total number of Cherokee, exclusive of 

 adopted white citizens and negro slaves, must then have been about 

 20,000. 



Simultaneously with the decrees establishing a national jaress, the 

 Cherokee Nation, in general convention of delegates held for the pur- 

 pose at New Echota on July 26, 1827, adopted a national constitution, 

 based on the assumption of distinct and independent nationality. John 

 Ross, so celebrated in connection with the history of his tribe, was 

 president of the convention which framed the instrument. Charles R. 

 Hicks, a Moravian convert of mixed blood, and at that time the most 

 influential man in the Nation, was elected principal chief, with John 



1 For extended notice of Cherokue literature and authors see numerous references in Pilling. Bibli- 

 ography of the Iroquoian Languages, 1888; also Foster, Sequoyah, 1885, and Story of the Cherokee 

 Bible, 1899. The largest body of original Cherokee manuscript material in existence, including 

 hundreds of ancient ritual formulas, was obtained by the writer among the East Cherokee, and is 

 now in possession of the Bureau of .\merican Ethnology, to be translated at some future time. 



-Brown letter (unsigned), September 2, 1825, American State Papers: Indian Affairs, ii, pp. 651,652, 

 1834. 



