412 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.19 



succeeded to the inheritance have built traditions of more or less 

 doubtful authenticity. 



In Picken.s and Anderson counties, in the northwest corner of the 

 state, is a series of creeks joining Keowee river and named, respectively 

 in order, from above downward, Mile, Six-mile, Twelve-mile, Eighteen- 

 mile, Twenty-three-mile, and Twenty-six-mile. According to the local 

 story, they were thus christened by a young woman, in one of the 

 early Indian wars, as she crossed each ford on a rapid horseback 

 flight to the lower settlements to secure help for the beleaguered gar- 

 rison of Fort Prince George. The names really date back almost to 

 the tirst establishment of the colony, and were intended to indicate 

 roughly the distances along the old trading path from Fort Ninety-six, 

 on Henleys creek of Saluda river, to Keowee, at that time the frontier 

 town of the Cherokee Nation, the two points being considered 96 miles 

 apart as the trail ran. Fort Prince George was on the east bank of 

 Keowee river, near the entrance of Crow ci'eek, and directly opposite 

 the Indian town. 



CoNXEKOSs: The name of a creek which enters Keowee (or Seneca) 

 river from the west, in Anderson county; it is a corruption of the 

 Lower Cherokee dialectic form. Kawan'-ura'svinyi or Kawan'-tsura'- 

 sunvi, "Where the duck fell off." According to the still survivinsr 

 Cherokee tradition, a duck once had her nest upon a clifl' overlooking 

 the stream in a cave with the mouth so placed that in leaving the nest 

 she appeared to fall from the clifl" into the water. There was proba- 

 bly an Indian settlement of the same name. 



ToxAWAY : The name of a creek and former Cherokee settlement at 

 the extreme head of Keowee river; it has been incorrectly rendered 

 "Place of shedding tears," from dakmwa'ihu, "he is shedding tears." 

 The correct Cherokee form of the name is Duksa'i or Dukw'sa'i, a 

 word which can not be analyzed and of which the meaning is now lost. 



124. LOCAL LEGENDS OF TENNESSEE 



For the more important legends localized in Tennessee see the stories 

 The Hunter in the Dakwa'. The Nest of the Tla'nuwa, The Removed 

 Townhouses, The Haunted Whirlpool, Untsaiyi', and U'tluii'ta. 



Buffalo Tkaciv kock: This rock, of which the Indian name is now 

 lost, is indeflnitely mentioned as located southwest from Cumberland 

 gap, on the northern border of the state. According to Wafl'ord, it 

 was well known some eighty years ago to the old Cherokee hunters, 

 who described it as covered with deep impressions made l)y bufi'alo 

 running along the rock and then butting their heads, as though iu 

 mad fury, against a rock wall, leaving the prints of their heads and 

 horns in the stone. 



Chattanooga: This city, upon Tennessee river, near the entrance 



