MociNKY] THE FALSE WARRIORS OK CHILHOWEE 877 



But MOW the gun.stockcr. who liud hocii Wiiitiiij;' outside with the 

 Cowee men, .stripped otl' his l)reeeheloth and rushed naked into the town- 

 house. Bending- down to the drummer — who was one of the traitors, 

 but failed to reeognize (xuisadihi' — he gave him the words, and tiien 

 straightening- up he beg-an to sing, " /// / Asic who has done this!" 

 wiiile he danced around the circle, making insulting gestures toward 

 everyone there. The song was quick and the drununer heat very fast. 



He made one round and bent down again to the drummer, then 

 straightened up and sang. " Yu ! I have killed a pregnant woman at 

 the ford and thrown her body into the river!" Several men started 

 with surprise, but the chief said, "He is only joking; go on with the 

 dance," and the drummer beat rapidly. 



Another round and he bent down again to tlie drunuutr and then 

 began to sing, "We thought our enemies were from the north, but we 

 have followed them and they are here ! " Now the drummer knew at 

 last what it all meant and he drummed very slowly, and the people 

 grew uneasy. Then, without waiting on the drummer, Gulsadihi' sang, 

 "Cowee will have a ball play with you!" — and everyone knew this 

 was a challenge to battle — and then fiercely: "But if you want to tight 

 now my men are readj' to die here ! " 



With that he M'aved his hand and left the townhouse. The dancers 

 looked at each other uneasily and some of them rose to go. Tlie chief, 

 who could not underst^md it, urged them to go on with the dance, but 

 it was of no avail. They left the townhouse, and as they went out th(>y 

 met the Cowee men standing with their guns ready and theii- hatcliets 

 in their belts. Neither party said anj-thing, because they were still on 

 friendly ground, but everyone knew that trouble was ahead. 



The Cowee men returned home and organized a strong jtartv of 

 warriors from their own and all the neighboring Middle settlements to 

 go and take vengeance on ('hilhowee and on Kuwa'hi, just below, which 

 had also been concerned in the raid. They went dc^wn the Tennessee 

 and crossed over the mountains, but when they came on the otlier side 

 they found that their enemies had abandoned their homes and lied for 

 refuge to the remoter settlements or to the hostil(> Shawano in tlie norl ii. 



103. COWEE TOWN 



Cowee', pi-operly Kawi'yi, a))breviated Kawi', was the name of two 

 Cherokee settlements, one of which existed in 1755 on a branch of 

 Keowee river, in upper South Carolina, while the other and more 

 important was on Little Tennessee river, at the mouth of Cowee creek, 

 about 10 miles })eiow tlie present Fi-anklin, in North Carolina. It 

 was destroyed by the Americans in iSTti, when it contained about 

 a hundred houses, but was rebuilt and contimied to be occupicul 

 until the cession of islit. Tln> name can not be translated, but may 

 possil)ly mean "the pluccof the Deer clan" ( .\ni'-Kawi'). It was one 



