MouNKV] NOTES AND I'AKAIJ.KLS 491 



W,'/ ranit — Soo iiotos to nuuilHT 1, "llow tin- World \v;is Ahide." 



Hdirri'ui'o — The Seneca name for the Thunder god is in the .sinjjular form. In 

 the Clierokee language Thunder and the Thunder spirits are always spoken of in the 

 ]iluial. Tlie messengers in the story may have been Thunder spirits. 



TliouijIU readiny — See notes to number 7H, "The Bear Man." 



Woman ai-blters — See the preceding story, number 98, and the note on the "The 

 War Woman." 



Ml/ f/rtindsoii — .\mong all the eastern and plains trilies tliis is a t<'riii of affectionate 

 address to a de(iendent or inferior, as "grandfather" is a respectful address to one 

 occupying a superior station, or venerable by reason of age or dignity, both words 

 being thus used without any reference to kinship. In tribal councils nearly all 

 the eastern trit)es excejit the Iroquois addressed the Delaware representatives as 

 "grandfather," and in an Arapaho .song of the Ghost dance the Whirlwind is thus 

 addressed. 



95. Hkmp-c.\kriei{ (p. 364): This story of the old wars was obtained from Colonel 

 William H. Thomas, who says that Tale'danigi'skl was a chief formerly living near 

 Valleytown, in Cherokee county. The name is variously rendered " Hemp-carrier," 

 "Nettle-carrier," or " Flax-toter, " from ktle'la, the richweed (Pilea pimdln), a plant 

 with a fibrous stalk from which the Indians wove thread and cordage. The trail 

 along which the Seneca came ran from Valley river across the ridge to Cheowa 

 ( Robbinsville ) and thence northwest to connect with the "great war jiath" in 

 Tennessee (see historical note 19). 



('(lirim — Stone cairns were formerly very common along the trails throughout the 

 Cherokee country, but are now almost gone, liaving been demolished by treasure 

 hunters after the occupation of the country by the whites. They were usually 

 sepulchral monuments built of large stones piled loosely together above the body to 

 a height of sometimes ti feet or more, with a corresponding circumference. This 

 method of interment was used only when there was a desire to commemorate the 

 death, and every pa-sser-by was accustomed to add a stone to the heap. The cus- 

 tom is ancient and world-wide, and is still kept up in ^Mexico and in many [larts of 

 Europe and Asia. Early references to it among the southern tribes occur in I^ederer 

 (1670), Travels, page 10, ed. 1891, and Lawson (1700), History of Carolina, pages 

 43 and 78, ed. 1860. The latter mentions meeting one day "seven heaps of stones, 

 being the monuments of seven Indians that were slain in that place by theSinnagers 

 or Troquois [Iroquois]. Our Indian guide added a stone to each heap." The com- 

 mon name is the Gaelic term, meaning literally "a pile." 



Seven wives — Polygamy was common among the Cherokee, as among nearly all 

 other tribes, although not often to such an exaggerated extent as in this instance. 

 The noted chief YanugunskT, who died in 1839, had two wives. With the plains 

 tribes, and perhaps with others, the man w'ho marries the eldest of several daughters 

 has prioi' claim upon her unmarried sisters. 



96. The Seneca i'e.vce.makers (p. 365): This story was told to Si-hoolcraft by the 

 Seneca more than fifty years ago. A somewhat similar story is related by Adair 

 (Hist. American Indians, p. 392) of a young "Anantooeah" (i. e., Nundftwegl or 

 Seneca) warrior taken by the Shaw'ano. 



Death son;/ — It seems to have been a chivalrous custom among the eastern tribes to 

 give to the condcnmed prisoner who recjuested it a cliance to recite his warlike deeds 

 and to sing his death song before proceeding to the final torture. He was allowed 

 the wiliest latitude of boasting, even at the expense of his captors and their tribe. 

 The death song was a chant belonging to the warrior himself or to the war society 

 of which he w'as a member, the burden being farewell to life and defiance t<i death. 

 When the great Kiowa war chief, Set-iuigya, burst his shackles at Fort Sill and 

 sprang upon the soldiers surrounding him, with the deliberate purpo.se to sell his 

 life rather than to remain a prisoner, he lirst sang the war .song of his order, the 



