498 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann.IS 



through absorption into other tribes; the JIahican are represented by a band of 

 about 530 Stockbridge Indians, inchiding a number of Munsee, in Wisconsin, while 

 about 71) mixed bloods still keep up the Nanticoke name in southern Delaware. 



Tkiscaroi-K — Tlie Tuscarora, a southern tribe of the Iroquoian stock, formerly occu- 

 pied an extensive tei'ritory upon Xeuse river and its branches, in eastern North 

 Carolina, and, like their northern cousins, seem to have assumed and exercised a 

 certain degree of authority over all the smaller tribes about them. As early as 1&70 

 Lederer described the Tu.scarora "emperor" as the haughtiest Indian he had ever 

 met.- About the year 1700 Lawson estimated them at 1,200 warriors (6,000 souls?) 

 in 15 towns. In 1711 they rose against the whites, one of their first acts of hos- 

 tility being the killing of Lawson himself, who was engaged in surveying lands which 

 they claimed as their own. In a struggle extending over about two years they were 

 so terribly decimated that the greater portion fled from Carolina and took refuge 

 with their kinsmen and friends, the Iroquois of New York, who were henceforth 

 known as the Six Nations. The so-called "friendly" party, under Chief Blount, 

 wa.j settled upon a small reservation n<irth of Roanoke river in what is now Bertie 

 county, North Carolina. Here they gradually decreased Ijy disease and emigration 

 to the north, until the few who were left sold their last remaining lamls in 1804. 

 The history of the tribe after the removal to the north is a part of the history of the 

 Iroquois or Six Nations. They number now about 750, of whom about 380 are on 

 the Tuscarora reservation in New York, the others upon the Grand River reserva- 

 tion in Ontario. 



Xuala, Suwali, Sara or Clierair — For the identification and earliest notices of the 

 Sara see lustorical note 8, " De Soto's Route." Their later history is one of almost 

 constant hostility to the whites until their final incorporation with the Catawba, 

 with whom they were probably cognate, about the year 1720. In 1743 they still pre- 

 served their distinct language, and ajijiear to be last mentioned in 1768, when they 

 numbered about 50 souls living among the Catawba. See Mooney, Siouan Tribes 

 of the East, bulletin of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1894. 



Catawba — The origin and meaning of this name, which dates back at least two 

 centuries, are unknown. It may possibly come from the Choctaw through the 

 Mobilian trade jargon. They call themselves Nieye, which means simply " people" 

 or "Indians." The Iroquois call them and other cognate tribes in their vicinity 

 Toderigh-rono, whence Tutelo. In the seventeenth century they were often known 

 as Esaw or Ushery, apparently from (si«V, river, in their own language. The Chero- 

 kee name Ata'gwa, plural Ani'ta'gwa, is a corruption of the popular form. Their 

 linguistic affinity with the Siouan stock was established by Gatschet in 1881. See 

 Mooney, Siouan Tribes of the East. 



105. The southern and western tribes (p. 382): The Creek confederacy — Next in 

 importance to the Cherokee, among the southern tribes, were the Indians of the Creek 

 confederacy, occupying the greater portion of Georgia and Alabama, immediately 

 south of the Cherokee. They are said to have been called Creeks by the early traders 

 on account of the abundance of small streams in their country. Before the whites 

 began to press upon them their tribes held nearly all the territory from the Atlantic 

 westward to about the watershed between the Tombigby and the Pearl and Pasca- 

 goula rivers, being cut off from the Gulf coast by the Choctaw tribes, and from the 

 Savannah, except near the mouth, by the Uchee, Shawano, and Cherokee. About 

 the year 1800 the confederacy comprised 75 towns, the people of 47 of which were the 

 Upper Creeks, centering about the upper waters of the Alabama, while those of the 

 remaining 28 were the Lower Creeks, upon the lower Chattahoochee and its Ijranches 

 (Hawkins). Among them were represented a numlier of tribes formerly distinct and 

 speaking distinct languages. The ruling tribe and language was the Muscogee (plu- 

 ral, MusoogCilgee), which frequently gave its name to the confederacy. Other lan- 

 guages were the Alabama, Koasati, Hichitee, Taskigi, LTchee, Natchee, and Sawanugi 



