MooxEY] PRESENT CONDITION 179 



111 189-1: the long-stand in<>; litigation between the East Cherokee 

 and a nuniher of creditors and claimants to Indian lands within and 

 adjoining the Qualla boundary was tinally settled l)v a coniproniise 

 by which the several white tenants and claimants within the boundary 

 agreed to execute a quitclaim and vacate on payment to them by the 

 Indians of sums aggregating ^24, 55:^, while for anotlicr disputed 

 adjoining tract of 33,000 acres the United States agreed to pay, for 

 the Indians, at the rate of $1.25 per acre. The necessary (iovci'nincnt 

 approval having been obtained. Congress appropriated :i suliicient 

 amount for carr3'ing into effect the agreement, thus at last completing 

 a perfect and unincumbered title to all the lands claimed by the 

 Indians, with the exception of a few outlying tracts of comparative 

 unimportance.' 



In 1S95 the Cherokee residing in North Carolina upon the reserva- 

 tion and in the outlying settlements were ofBciallj- reported to luunber 

 1,479.- A 3-ear later an epidemic of grippe spread through the band, 

 with the result that the census of 1897 shows but 1,312,'' among those 

 who died at this time being Big-witch (Tskil-e'gwa), the oldest man of 

 the band, who distincth' remembered the Creek war, and Wadi'yahi, 

 the last old woman who preserved the art of making double-walled 

 baskets. In the next year the population had recovered to 1,351. 

 The description of the mode of living then common to most of the 

 Indians will apply nearly as well to-daj-: 



While they are industrioiLS, these people are not progressive farmers and have 

 learned nothing of modern methods. The same crops are raised continuously imtil 

 the soil will yield no more or is washed away, when new ground is cleared or broken. 

 The value of rotation and fertilizing has not yet been discovered or taught. . . . 



That these people can live at all upon tlie products of tlieir small farms is duo to 

 the extreme simplicity of their food, dress, and manner of living. The typical 

 house is of logs, is about fourteen by sixteen feet, of one room, just high enough for 

 the occupants to stand erect, with perhaps a small loft for the storage of extras. 

 The roof is of split shingles or shakes. There is no window, the open door furnish- 

 ing what light is required. At one end of the house is the fireplace, with outside 

 chimney of stones or sticks chinked with clay. The furniture is simple and cheap. 

 An iron pot, a bake kettle, a coffeepot and mill, small table, and a few cups, knives, 

 and spoons are all that is needed. These, with one or two bedsteails, homemade, a 

 few pillows and quilts, with feather mattresses for winter covering, as well as for the 

 usualpurpo.se, constitute the i)rincipal house possessions. For outdoor work tliere 

 is an ax, hoe, and shov(>l plow. A wagon or (;art may be owned, but is not essen- 

 tial. The outfit is inexpensive and answers every purpose. The usual footl is bean 

 bread, with coffee. In the fall chestnut bread is also used. Beef is seldom eaten, 

 but pork is highly esteemed, and a considerable number of hogs are kept, running 

 wild and untended in summer.* 



By the most recent official count, in 1900. the East Cherokee resid- 

 ing in North Carolina under direct charge of the agent and included 



■ Coinniis.sioner D.M. Browning, Report of Indian Commissioner for 1894. pp. 81-82, 1895; also Agent 

 T. W. Potter, ibid., p. 398. 

 2Agent T. W. Potter. Report of Indian Commissioner for 1895. p. 387. 1896. 

 ^Agent J. C. Hart. Report of Indian Commis.sioner. p. -JOS. 1S97. 

 * Agent J. C. Hart, Report of Indian Commissioner, pp. 218-219, 1898. 



