MooNEY] THK FOURFOOTKD TKIRES '263 



grouiul squirrol {kii/>('\/a) ;U(' the mark of scniti-hos iiuulc l)y the aiigry 

 aiiiiiiuls at a nioiiKirable council in wliicli he took it upon himself to 

 say a good word for the archenemy. Man (.see "Origin of Disease and 

 Medicine"). The peculiarities of the mink (stlFtf/i) are accounted for t)v 

 another story. 



The buffalo, the largest game animal of America, was iuuited in the 

 southern Allegheny region until almost the close of the last centurj', 

 the particular species being proliably that known in the West as the 

 wood or mountain buffalo. The name in use among the princijjal gulf 

 tribes was practically the same, and can not be analyzed, viz, Cherokee, 

 yiinxCt'; Hichitee, y^/'«rt.s'/; Creek, yt?ia'*'«; ChoctaM', yrtw^.v/. Although 

 the flesh of the buffalo was eaten, its skin dressed for blankets and bed 

 coverings, its long hair woven into belts, and its horns carved into 

 spoons, it is yet strangely absent from Cherokee folklore. So far as 

 is known it is mentioned in but a single one of the sacred fornmlas, in 

 which a person under treatment for rheumatism is for))idden to eat 

 the meat, touch the skin, or use a spoon made from the horn of the 

 buffalo, upon the ground of an occult connection between the habitual 

 cramped attitude of a rheumatic and the natural ""hump" of that 

 animal. 



The elk is known, probably bj- report, under the name of a icl' 

 e'gwa, ""great deer", but there is no myth or folklore in connection 

 with it. 



The deer, a an', which is still common in the mountains, was the 

 principal dependence of the Cherokee hunter, and Is consequently 

 prominent in myth, folklore, and ceremonial. One of the seven 

 gentes of the tribe is named from it (Ani'-Kawi'. "Deer People"). 

 According to a myth given elsewhere, the deer won his horns in a suc- 

 cessful race with the rabbit. Rheumatism is usually ascribed to the 

 work of revengeful deer ghosts, which the hunter has neglected to 

 placate, Avhile ou the other hand the aid of the deer is invoked against 

 frostbite, as its feet are believed to be inuuune from injury by frost. 

 The wolf, the fox, and the opossum are also invoked for this purpose, 

 and for the same reason. When the redroot {Ceanuthux amerir(in)t.i) 

 puts forth its leaves the people say the young fawns are then in the 

 mountains. On killing a deer the hunter always cuts out the ham- 

 string from the hind quarter and throws it away, for fear that if 

 he ate it he would thereafter tire easily in traxcling. 



The powerful chief of the deer tribe is tiie A wf L'sdi'. or "Little 

 Deer," who is invisible to :dl excejit the greatest mastei's of the 

 hunting secrets, and can l>c wounded only by the huiitci- wlio lias sup- 

 pleiuented yeai's of occult study with freciucnt fasts and lonely vigils. 

 The Little Deer kcn'ps constant protecting watch over his sul)jects. and 

 sees well to it that not one is ever killed in wantonness. W'iicn a deer 

 is shot bv till' luuiter the Little Deer knows it at once and i> instaiillv 



