382 MYTHS OF THK CHEROKEE [eth.ann.19 



105 THE SOUTHERN AND WESTERN TRIBES 



The neare.st neighhors of thf Chorukcc to the south were the Creeks 

 or Muscogee, who found mixed confederacy hohling central and south- 

 ern Georgia and Alabama. They were known to the Cherokee as Ani'- 

 Ku'sa or Ani'-Gu'sa, from Kusa, the principal town of the Upper 

 Creeks, which was situated on Coosa river, southwest from the present 

 Talladega, Alabama. The Lower Creeks, residing chiefly on Chatta- 

 hoochee river, were formerly always distinguished as Ani-Kawi'ta, 

 from Kawita or Coweta, their ancient capital, on the west side of 

 the river, in Alabama, nearly opposite the present Columbus, Georgia. 

 In number the Creeks were nearly equal to the Cherokee, but differed 

 in being a confederacy of cognate or incorporated tribes, of which 

 the Muscogee proper was the principal. The Cherokee were called 

 by them Tsal-gal'gi or TsCdgiirgi. a plural derivative from Tsa'lagi', 

 the proper name of the tril>e. 



The ordinary condition between the two tribes was one of hostility, 

 with occasional intervals of good will. History, tradition, and lin- 

 guistic evidence com))ine to show that the Creeks at one time occupied 

 almost the whole of northern Georgia and Alabama, extending a con- 

 siderable distance into Tennessee and perhaps Noi'th Carolina, and 

 were dispossessed by the Cherokee pressing upon them from the north 

 and northeast. This conquest was accomplished chiefly during the first 

 half of the eighteenth century, and culminated with the decisive engage- 

 ment of Tali'wii about 17.5.5. In most of their early negotiations with 

 the Government the Creeks demanded that the lands of the various 

 tribes be regarded as common property, and that only the boundary 

 between the Indians and the whites be considered. Failing in that, 

 they claimed as theirs the whole region of the Chattahoochee and 

 Coosa, north to the dividing ridge between those streams and the Ten- 

 nessee, or even beyond to the Tennessee itself, and asserted that any 

 Cherokee settlements within those limits were only by their own 

 permission. In 1783 they claimed the Savannah river as the eastern 

 boundary 1)etween themselves and the Cherokee, and asserted their 

 own exclusive right of sale over all the territory between that river 

 and the Oconee. On the other hand the Cherokee as stoutly claimed 

 all to a point some 70 miles soutii of the present city of Atlanta, 

 on the ground of having driven the Creeks out of it in three successive 

 wars, and asserted that their right had been admitted by the Creeks 

 themselves in a council held to decide the question between the two 

 tribes before the Revolution. By mutual agreement, about 1816, 

 mem1)ers of either tribe were allowed to settle within the territory 

 claimed by the other. The line as finally estal)lished througli the 

 mediation of the colonial and Federal governments ran from the mouth 

 of Broad river on Savannah nearly due west across Georgia, passing 



