SKioNKY] NOTES AND PAKALLKLS 439 



naiiii-, but without s^utreediiifr. It was my )siun\ fi>!tuiic, however, toohtaiii a roiuan- 

 tic legend couneeted therewith. I lieard it from the lips of a chief whofrlories in the 

 two names of All-bones and Flying-S(|iiirrel, and, though he oc<'Ui)ied no less than 

 two hours in telling the story. 1 will eiidi'avor to give it to my readers in about live 

 minutes. 



"There was a time when the Cherokees were without the famous t-iii-luiix/h, or 

 tobacco weed, with which they had previously been made aci|uainte(l by a wander- 

 ing stranger from the far east. Having smoked it in their large stone pipes, they 

 became impatient to, obtain it in abundance. They ascertained that I he country 

 where it grew in the greatest iiuantities was situated on the big waters, an. I that the 

 gateway to that country (a mighty gorge among the mountains) was [uM-petually 

 guarded by an immense nundier of little pe(jple or spirits. A council of the bravest 

 men in the nation was called, and, while they were discu.ssing the dangers of visiting 

 the unknown country, and bringing therefrom a large kna])sack of the fragrant 

 tobacco, a young man stepped boldly forward and said that he woul<l undertake the 

 task. The young warrior departed on his mission and never returned. The t'herokee 

 nation was now in great tribulation, and another council was held to decide upon a 

 new measure. At this council a celebrated magician rose and expressed his willing- 

 ness to relieve his people of their difii<'ulties, and informed them that he would visit 

 the tobacco country and see what he could accomplish. He turned himself into a 

 mole, and as such made his appearance eastward of the mountains; but having been 

 pursued by the guardian spirits, he was compelled to return without any 's|)oil. He 

 next turned himself into a hunmung-l)ird, and thus succeeded, to a very limited 

 extent, in obtaining what he needed. On returning to his country he ft)und a num- 

 ber of his friends at the point of death, on account of their intense desire for the 

 fragrant weed; whereupon )ie placed some of it in a pipe, and, having blown the 

 smoke into the nostrils of those who were sick, they all revived and were quite 

 happy. The magician now took into his head that he would revenge the loss of the 

 j'oung warrior, and at the same time become the sole possessor of all the tobacco in 

 the unknown land. He therefore turned himself into a whirlwind, and in passing 

 through the Hickorynut gorge he stripped the mountains of their vegetation, and 

 scattered huge rocks in every part of the narrow valley; whereupon the little jieojile 

 were all frightened away, and he was the only being in the country eastward of the 

 mountains. In the bed of a stream he found the bones of the young warrior, and 

 having brought them to life, and turned himself into a man again, the twain returned 

 to their own country heavily laden with tobacco; and ever since that time it has 

 been very abundant throughout the entire land." 



In the Iroquois story of "The Lad and the Chestnuts," the Cherokee myth is par- 

 alleled with the substitution of a chestimt tree guarded by a white heron for the 

 tobacco plant watched by tlie dagurku geese (see Smith, Myths of the Inxinois, in 

 Second Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology, 1S83). 



Tobacco — Tobacco, as is well known, is of American origin and is sacred among 

 nearly all our tribes, having an important place in almost every deliberative or reli- 

 gious ceremony. The tobacco of connnerce {Ninotiana tahacnm) was introduced from 

 the West Indies. The original tobacco of the Cherokee and other eastern tribes wa.s 

 the "wild tobacco" (NiaAiavariistica), which they <listinguish nu\y a.fi Isdl-tiudi/uil'fi, 

 "old tobacco." By the Iroquois the same species is called the "real tobacco." 



Diigi'ithfi geese. — The dagill'kil is the .Vmerican white-fronted goose {Anxcr <dhifro)is 

 gumbeii). It is said to have been of lilni.sh-white color, and to have been common 

 in the low country toward the coa.st, but very rare in the mountains. .Vbout the 

 end of September it goes soutli, and can be heard at niglit flying far overhea<l and 

 crying dugalu! dngalTi! dugalfi,! Swimmer ha^I lieard them pswsing over, but had 

 never seen one. 



