MOONEY] • LOCAL LEGENDS OF OKOKOIA 419 



liunttTs f(ir their own aimiscnieiit wliili^ ivstiiiy in tiio s^iip. Another 

 tnidition is tliiit they were made while the surface of the newly cre- 

 ated earth was still soft hy a groat army of l)irds and animal.s fleeing 

 through the gap to escape some (jursuing danger from the west — some 

 say a great "drive himt" of the Indians. Haywood I'onfounds them 

 with other petrogl^'iilis in North Carolina connected with the story of 

 the giant TsuTkalu' (see nuniher SI). 



The following tlorid account of the carvings and ostensihh' Indian 

 tradition of their origin is from AYhite, on the authority of Stevenson: 



The nunilifi- visi))le or ilefiiicil i.-< 136, «)me of tlioin quite natural and ])frlect, and 

 othei's ratlier rude iniitatioM.>i, and most of them from tlie effects of time have Ijecome 

 more or less obIiterate<i. They comprise liuman feet from those 4 inches in length 

 to those of great warriors which measure 174 inches in length and 7f in breadth 

 across the toes. What is a little curious, all the human feet are natural except this, 

 which has t> toes, proving him to have been a descendant of Titan. There are 26 of 

 these impressions, all bare except one, which has the appearance of having worn 

 moccasins. A line turned hand, rather delicate, occupied a place near the great 

 warrior, and probably the impression of his wife's hand, who no doubt accompanied 

 her husband in all his excursions, sharing his toils and soothing his c^xres away. 

 j\Iany horse tracks are to be seen. One seems to have been shod, some are very 

 small, and one measures 124 inches by 94 inches. This the Cherokee say was the 

 footprint of the great war horse which their chieftain rode. The tracks of a great 

 many turkeys, turtles, terrapins, a large bear's paw, a snake's trail, and the foot- 

 prints of two deer are to be seen. The ti'adition respecting these impressions varies. 

 One asserts that the world was once deluged with water, and men with all animated 

 beings were destroyed, except one family, together with various animals necessary 

 to replenish the earth: that the Great Spirit before the floods came connnanded 

 them to embark in a big canoe, which after long sailing was diawn to this spot l)y a 

 bevy of swans and rested there, and here the whole troop of animals was disem- 

 barked, leaving the impressions as they passed over the rock, which being softened 

 by reason of long submersion kindly received and preserved them. 



War Woman's creek: Eutei's Chattooga river iu Rabun county, 

 northeastern Georgia, in the heart of the old Lower Cherokee country. 

 The name seems to be of Indian origin, although the Cherokee name 

 is lost and the story has perished. A wiiter quoted bv White (His- 

 torical Collections of Georgia, p. 444) attempts to show its origin from 

 the exploit of a certain Revolutionary amazon, in capturing a party 

 of Tories, but the name occurs in Adair (note, p. 18.5) as early as 1775. 

 There is some reason for believing that it refers to a former female 

 dignitary among the Cherokee, described by Haywood under the title 

 of the "Pretty Woman" as having authority to di'cide the fate of 

 prisoners of war. Watford once knew an old woman whose name was 

 Da na-ga'sta. an al)))reviated form for Da'nawa-gasta'ya. "Sharp 

 war," understood to mean " Sharp (i., e., Fierce) warrior." Seveial 

 cases of women acting the part of warriors are on record among tlie 

 Cherokee. 



