380 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.19 



The Cheraw or Sara , rauoing at diflcreiit periods from upper South 

 Carolina to the southern frontier of Virginia, are also remembered 

 under the name of Ani'-Suwa'll, or Ani'-Suwa'la. which agrees with the 

 Spanish form Xuala of De Soto's chronicle, and Suala, or Sualy, of 

 Lederer. The Cherokee remember them as having lived east of the 

 Blue ridge, the trail to their country leading across the gap at the 

 head of Swannanoa river, east from Asheville. The name of the 

 stream and gap is a corruption of the Cherokee Suwa'li-Nunna'hi, 

 "Suwaii trail." Being a very warlike tribe, they were finally so 

 reduced by conflicts with the colonial governments and the Iroquois 

 that they were obliged to incorporate with the Catawba, among whom 

 they still maintained their distinct language as late as 1743.' 



The Catawba are known to the Cherokee as Ani'ta'gwa, singular 

 Ata'gwa, or Ta'gwa, the Cherokee attempt at the name by which they 

 are most commonly known. They were the imnKnliate neighbors of 

 the Cherokee on the east and southeast, having tlieir principal settle- 

 ments on the river of their name, just within the limits of South Caro- 

 lina, and holding the leading place among all the tribes east of the 

 Cherokee countiy with the exception of the Tuscarora. On the tirst 

 settlement of South Carolina there were estimated to be about 7,000 

 persons in the tribe, but their decline was rapid, and by war and disease 

 their number had been reduced in 1775 to l)arely 500, including the 

 incorporated remnants of the Cheraw and several smaller tribes. Thei'e 

 are now, perhaps, 100 still remaining on a small reservation near the 

 site of their ancient towns. Some local names in the old Cherokee 

 territory seem to indicate the fornaer presence of Catawba, although 

 there is no tradition of any Catawba settlement within those limits. 

 Among such names maj' be mentioned Toccoa creek, in northeastei'n 

 Georgia, and Toccoa river, in north-central Georgia, both names being 

 derived from the Cherokee Tagwa'hi, "Catawba place." An old 

 Cherokee personal name is Ta'gwadihi', "Catawba-killer." 



The two tribes were hereditary enemies, and the feeling between 

 them is nearly as bitter to-day as it was a hundred years ago. Per- 

 haps the only case on record of their acting together was in the war 

 of 1711-13, when they cooperated with the colonists against theiTu.sca- 

 rora. The Cherokee, according to the late Colonel Thomas, claim 

 to have formerly occupied all the country about the head of the Ca- 

 tawlja river, to below the present Morganton, until the game became 

 scarce, when they retired to the west of the Blue ridge, and afterward 

 "loaned" the eastern territory to the Catawba. This agrees pretty 

 well with a Catawba tradition recorded in Schoolcraft, according to 

 which the Catawba — who are incorrectly lepresented as comparatively 

 recent immigrants from the north — on arriving at Catawba river found 



1 Mooney, Siouan Tribes of tlie East (bulletin of the Bureau of Ethuology),pp. 56, 61,1894. 



