MOO.VEY] NOTES AND PARALLELS 459 



nortlaTU Al>;onquiaii tribes, and it- si>iiu'wluit analogcms to the ZL'inu'gu'ani or Great 

 Horned Alligator of the Kiowa. Myths of a jewel in the head of a s-erjient or of a 

 toad are so common to all Aryan nations as to have become jiroverbial. Talismanic 

 and prophetic stones, which are carefully guarded, and ti> which prayer and sacrifice 

 are offered, are kept in many tribes (see Dorsey, Teton Folklore, in American Anthro- 

 pologist, April, 1889). The name of the serpent is derived from i(klu, "eye," an<l 

 may be rendered "strong looker," i.e., "keen eyed," beci.use nothing within the 

 range of its vision can escape discovery. From the same root is derived akta't), "to 

 look into," "to examine clo.sely," the Cherokee name for a fiel<l glass or telescope. 

 By the English-speaking Indians the serpent is sometimes called the diamond rattle- 

 snake. The mythic diamond crest, when in its proper place upon the snake's head, 

 is called ulstltlii', literally, "it is on his head," but when detached and in the hands 

 of the conjurer it becomes the Ulufisu'tl, "Transparent," the great talisman of the 

 tribe. On accomit of its glittering brightness it is sometimes called IgSgu'ti, "Day- 

 light." Inferior magic crystals are believed to be the scales from the same seriienf, 

 and are sometimes also called ulunsiVtl. 



The earliest notice of the riiiiisiVtl is given by the young Virginian officer, Tim- 

 berlake, who was sent upon a peace mi.ssion to the Cherokee in 17(j2, shortly after 

 the close of their first war with the whites. He says (M-emoirs, pp. 47-49): 



"They have many beautiful stones of different colours, many of which, I am ajit 

 to believe, are of great value; but their superstition has always prevented their dis- 

 posing of them to the traders, who have made many attempts to that purpose; but 

 as they use them in their conjuring ceremonies, they believe their parting with them 

 or bringing them from home, would prejudice their health or affairs. Among others 

 there is one in the possession of a conjurer, remarkable for its lirilliancy and beauty, 

 but more so for the extraordinary maimer in which it was found. It grew, if we 

 may credit the Indians, on the head of a monstrous serpent, who.se retreat was, by 

 its brilliancy, discovered; but a great number of snakes attending him, he being, as 1 

 suppose by his diadem, of a superior rank among the serpents, made it dangerous to 

 attack him. Many were the attempts made by the Indians, but all frustrated, till a 

 fellow more bold than the rest, casing himself in leather, impenetrable to the bite 

 of the serpent or his guards, and watching a convenient oiiportuuity, surprised and 

 killed him, tearing his jewel from his head, which the conjurer has kept hid for 

 many years, in some place unknown to all but two women, who have been offered 

 large presents to betray it, l>ut steadily refused, lest some signal judgment or mis- 

 chance should follow. That such a stone exists, I believe, having seen many of 

 great beauty; but 1 cannot think it would answer all the encomimns the Indians 

 bestow upon it. The conjurer, I suppose, hatched the account of its discovery; I 

 have however given it to the reader, as a specimen of an Indian story, many of which 

 are much more surprising." 



A few years later Adair gives us an account of tlu' .serpent and the stone. .Vi-cord- 

 ing to his statement the uktenas had their home in a deep valley between the heads 

 of the Tucka-segee and the "northern branch of the lower Cheerake river" (i. e., the 

 Little Tennessee), the valley being the deep defile of Xantahala, where, by reason 

 of its gloomy and forbidding aspect, Cherokee tradition locates more than one leg- 

 endary terror. \\'ith pardonable error he confounds the Uktena with the Chief of 

 the Rattlesnakes. The two, however, are distinct, the latter being simply the head of 

 the rattlesnake trilie, without the blazing carlmncle or the immense size attriliuted 

 to the I'ktena. 



"Between two high mountains, nearly covered with old mossy rocks, lofty cedars 

 and jiines, in the valleys of which the beams of the sun refiect a powerful heat, there 

 are, as the natives affirm, some bright old inhal)itants or rattlesnakes, of a more enor- 

 mous size than is mentioned in history. They are so large and miwieldy, that they 

 take a circle almost as wide as their length to crawl around in their shortest orbit; 

 but bountiful nature compensates the heavy motion of their l)odies, for, a-J they say. 



