282 



MYTHS OF THK CHEROKEE 



[ETH. ANN. 19 



eagle killer was called in, frequently from a distant settlement, to 

 procure the feathers for the occasion. He was paid for his services 

 from offerings made later at the dance, and as the few professionals 

 guarded their secrets carefully from outsiders their business was a quite 

 profitable one. After some preliminary preparation the eagle killer 

 sets out alone for the mountains, taking with him his gun or bow and 

 arrows. Having reached the mountains, he goes through a vigil of 

 prayer and fasting, possibly lasting four day.<, after which he hunts 

 until he succeeds in killing a deer. Then, placing the bodj- in a con- 



Fig. 1— Feather wand of Eatcle dance (made by ,Iohn .\x). 



venient exposed situation upon one of the highest cliff's, he conceals 

 hiuiself near by and begins to sing in a low undertone the song.-< to call 

 down the eagles from the sky. When the eagle alights upon the car- 

 cass, which will be almost immediately if the singer understands his 

 business, he shoots it, and then standing over the dead bird, he 

 addresses to it a prayer in which he begs it not to seek vengeance 

 upon his tribe, because it is not a Cherokee, but a Spaniard {Askwa'tii) 

 that has done the deed. The selection of such a vicarious victim 

 of revenge is evidence at once of the antiquity of the prayer in its 

 present form and of the enduring impression which the cruelties of 

 the early Spanish adventurers made upon the natives. 



