494 MYTHS OF THK CHEROKEE [f.tii. ann.19 



While wampum — As is well known, white was universally typical of i)eafe. The 

 traditional peace-pipe of the Cherokee was of white stone and the word itself is 

 symbolic of peace and happiness in their oratory and sacred formulas. Tims the 

 speaker at the Green-corn dance invites the people to come along the white |iatli and 

 enter the white house of peace to partake of the new white food. 



Ilild up tlie hell — As already noted, every paragraph of an andjassador's speech 

 was accompanied by the delivery of a string or belt of wampum to give authority to 

 his words, and to accept the belt was to accept the condition or compact which it 

 typified. On the |)lains the red stone pipe took the place of the wampum. 



Try a race — Public foot races were common among many tribes, more particularly 

 in the West among the Pueblos, the Apache, and the Wichita, either as simple ath- 

 letic contests or in connection with religious ceremonials. On the plains the horse 

 race is more in favor and is always the occasion of almost unlimited betting. 



Throwing sumac darts — The throwing of darts and arrows, either at a mark or 

 simply to see who can throw farthest, is a favorite amusement among the young 

 men and boys. The arrows used for this purpose are usually longer and heavier' 

 than the ordinary ones, having carved wooden heads and being artistically painted. 

 They are sometimes tijoped with the end of a buffalo horn. 



99. The Shawano w.\KS (p. 370): The chief authority as to the expulsion of the 

 Shawano from Tennessee is Haywood ( Xatuial and Aboriginal History of Tennessee, 

 pp. 222-224). The Schoolcraft reference is from Notes on the Iroquois, p. 160, and the 

 notice of the Cherokee- Delaware war from Loskiel, Mission of United Brethren, 

 p. 128, and Heckewelder, Indian Nations, !>. 88. The Tuna'I story is from Wafford; 

 the other incidents from Swimmer. 



Shawano — The Shawano or Shawnee were one of the most important of the Algon- 

 quian tribes. Their most noted chief was the great Tecumtha. The meaning of the 

 name is doubtful. It is commonly interpreted " Southerners," from the Algon()uian 

 shaman, "the south," but may have come from another Algonquian Mord signifying 

 "salt" (dutagan, sewetagan, etc., from seiean, "sweet, pungent"). Unlike the south- 

 ern Indians generally, the Shawano were great salt users, and carried on an exten- 

 sive salt manufacture by boiling at the salt springs of southwestern Virginia, furnish- 

 ing the product in trade to other tribes. They have thirteen clans— Wolf, Loon, 

 Bear, Buzzard, Panther, Owl, Turkey, Deer, Raccoon, Turtle, Snake, Horse, and 

 Rabbit (^lorgan), the clan of the individual being indicated by his name. They are 

 organized also into four divisions or bands, perhaps originally independent allied 

 tribes, viz, Piqua, Mequachake, Kiscopocoke, and Chilicothe. To the second of these 

 belonsred the hereditary priesthood, but the first was most prominent and appar- 

 ently most numerous. The Shawano were of very wandering and warlike habit. 

 Their earliest historical habitat appears to have been on the middle Savannah 

 river, which takes its name from them, but before the end of the seventeenth century 

 we find a portion of them, apparently the main body, occupying the basin of the Cum- 

 berland river in Tennessee and the adjacent region of Kentucky. About the year 

 lf>92 most of those remaining in South Carolina moved northward and settled upon 

 the upper Delaware river, witli their relatives and friends the Delaware and .Mahican. 

 These emigrants appear to have been of the Piqua division. Up to about the year 

 17.'!0 the Shawano still had a town on Savannah river, near Augusta, from which 

 they were finally driven by the Cherokee. From their former intimate association 

 with the Uchee, living in the same neighborhood, some early writers have incor- 

 rectly supposed the two tribes to be the same. A part of the Shawano joined the Creek 

 confederary, and up to the beginning of the last century, and probably until the 

 final removal to the West, occupied a separate town and retained their distinct 

 language. Those settled upon the Cumljerland were afterward expelled by the 

 Cherokee and Chickasaw, and retired to the upper waters of the Ohio under protec- 

 tion of the Delaware, who had given refuge to the original emigrants from South 



