HU MYTHS OF THE CHEKoKKE [eth.a.nn.19 



vi\('s, and is the liist consorv'ator of th(^ potter's art aiiioiitjf tlie East 

 Cherokee.' 



Yoiiaguska had succeeded in authorit}' to Yane'gwa. "Big-bear," 

 who appeal's to have been of considerable lot'al prominence in his time, 

 but whose name, even with the oldest of the band, is now but a mem- 

 ory. He was among the signers of the treaties of 1798 and 1805, and 

 by the treaty of 1819 was confirmed in a reservation of 640 acres as 

 one of those living within the ceded territory who were "belic^'ed to 

 be persons of industry and capable of managing their property with 

 discretion,"' and who had made considerable improvements on the 

 tracts reserved. This reservation, still known as the Big-bear farm, 

 was on the western bank of Oconaluftee, a few miles above its mouth, 

 and appears to have Iteen th(> same afterward occupied by Yonaguska.'^ 



Another of the old notables among the East Cherokee was Tsunu'la- 

 huii'ski, corrupted by the whites to Junaluska, a great warrior, from 

 whom the ridge west of Waynesville takes its name. In early life he 

 was known as CtuT kala'ski.^ On the outbreak of the Creek war 

 in 1813 he raised a party of warriors to go down, as he boasted, "to 

 e.vterminate the Creeks." Not meeting with complete success, he 

 announced the result, according to the Cherokee custom, at the next 

 dance after his return in a single woi'd, detsinu'ldhungu! , "I tried, but 

 could not," given out as a cue to the song leader, who at once took it 

 as the burden of his song. Thenceforth the disappointed warrior was 

 known asTsunu'lahuii'ski, "One who tries, butfails." He distinguished 

 himself at the Horseshoe bend, where the action of the Cherokee 

 decided the battle in favor of Jackson's army, and was often heard to 

 say after the removal: "If I had known that Jackson would drive us 

 from our homes, I would have killed him that day at the Horseshoe." 

 He accompanied the exiles of 1838, liut afterward returned to his old 

 home; he was allowed to remain, and in recognition of his serv- 

 ices the state legislature, by special act, in 1817 conferred upon 

 him the right of citizenship and granted to him a tract of land in fee 

 simple, but without power of alienation.* This reservation was in the 

 Cheowa Indian settlement, near the present Robbinsville, in Graham 

 county, where he died about the year 1858. His grave is still to be 

 seen just outside of Robbinsville. 



1 The facts concerning Yoniigiiska are based on the author's personal information obtained from 

 Colonel Thomas, supplemented from conversations with old Indians. The date of his death and liis 

 approximate age are taken from the Terrell roll. He is also noticed at lengf h in Lanman's Letters from 

 the Alleghany Motnitains. 1848, and in Zeigler and Grosscup's Heart of the Alleghanies, 18.S3. The 

 trance which, according to Thomas and Lanman, lasted about one day, is stretched by the last-named 

 authors to fifteen days, with the whole 1,200 Indians marching and countermarching around the 

 sleeping body ! 



- The name in the treaties occurs as Yonahequab (1798), Yohanaqua (180.t), and Y'onah (1819).— 

 Indian Treaties, pp. 82, 123, 268; Washington, 1837. 



^ The name refers to something habitually falling from a leaning position. 



* Act quoted in Report of Indian Commissioner for 1895, p. 636, 1896. 



