BULL. 30] 



SEQUOYA LEAGUE SERPENT MOUND 



511 



up his permanent abode in 1823. Parts 

 of the Bible were printed in Cherokee in 

 1824, and in 1828 The Cherokee Phccnix, a 

 weekly newspaper in Cherokee and Eng- 

 lish (see Periodicals), began to appear. 

 Sequoya was sent to Washington in 1828 

 as an envoy of the Arkansas band, in 

 whose affairs he bore a conspicuous part, 

 and when the Eastern Cherokee joined the 

 old settlers in the W. his influence and 

 counsel were potent in the organization of 

 the reunited nation in Indian Ter. When, 

 in his declining years, he withdrew from 

 active political life, speculative ideals once 

 again possessed his mind. He visited 

 tribes of various stocks in a fruitless 

 search for the elements of a common 

 speech and grammar. He sought also to 

 trace a lost band of the Cherokee that, ac- 

 cording to tradition, had crossed the Mis- 

 sissippi before the Eevolution and wan- 

 dered to some mountains in the W., and 

 while pursuing this quest in the Mexican 

 sierras he met his death. See Mooney, 

 Myths of the Cherokee, 19th Rep., B. A. 

 E., 108 et seq., 147, 148, 1900, and the au- 

 thorities therein cited. 



Sequoya League. An association incor- 

 porated "to make better Indians;" 

 named in honor of Sequoya, the "Ameri- 

 can Cadmus," and founded as a national 

 organization with headquarters in Los 

 Angeles, Cal., in 1902, by Charles F. 

 Lummis, in consultation with other per- 

 sons throughout the country. The first 

 work of the league was to secure the ap- 

 pointment of the Warner's Ranch Com- 

 mission, which procured a model reserva- 

 tion for 300 Mission Indians evicted from 

 their home under decision of the U. S. 

 Supreme Court. The league also secured 

 revocation, by the President, of the 

 "hair-cut order" and secured several 

 vital reforms in agency administration in 

 the S. W. More recently (1904) the 

 league, through the Los Angeles coun- 

 cil, has supplied clothing, bedding, seed 

 grain, and ten months' rations to the 

 Mission Indians of the five Campo res- 

 ervations in San Diego co., Cal., and has 

 organized a concerted movement for the 

 purchase, by the Government, of ade- 

 quate lands for these Indians, who have 

 been practically destitute for 40 years. 

 It has also carried to head<iuarters the 

 case of the Puel)lo Indians of New Mexico, 

 who were in danger of losing, through a 

 scheme of taxation, the lands given them 

 by the Crown of Spain and respected 

 through all the vicissitudes of Spanish- 

 American rule. The aim of the Sequoya 

 League is to organize public opinion to 

 aid the Department of the Interior; to 

 present relial>le information as to condi- 

 tions in the field ; and by proper influence 

 on legislators to secure legislation with 

 regard to the Indians. ( c. f. l. ) 



Serecoutcha. A village mentioned by 

 Joutel as N. or n. w. of the Maligne (Colo- 

 rado) r., Texas, in 1(>87. The name 

 seems to have been given to him by the 

 Ebahamo Indians, who were probably 

 athliated with theKarankawa. The local- 

 ity was controlled generally by Tonkawan 

 tribes. Possibly the Terocodames of the 

 Spaniards. (a. c. f. ) 



Ferconteha. — Charlevoix, New France, Shea ed., 

 IV, 78, 1870. Fercouteha. — Joutel, Journal, Eng. 

 trans., 90, 1719. Serecoutcha.— Joutel (1687) in 

 Margry, Dt'C., Ill, 289, 1878. Tsepechoen frer- 

 cuteas, — Barcia, Ensayo, 271, 1723 (=Tsepcoen 

 and Serecoutcha). 



Seredka (Russian: 'middle'). A former 

 Aleut village on a bay of that name in 

 Akua id., e. Aleutians, Alaska. Pop. 16 

 in 1834. 



Sayraidneuskoi. — Elliott, Cond. Aff. Alaska, 225, 

 1875. Seredkinskoje. — Holmberg, Ethnog. Skizz., 

 map, 185=). Seredninskoe. — VeniaminoiY, Zapiski, 

 n, 202, 1840. 



Sermiligak. The northernmost known 

 village of the northern group of East 

 Greenland Eskimo, situated on Sermiligak 

 fjord, lat. 65°45^. — Rink in Deutsche Geog. 

 Blatt., VIII, 351, 1885. 



Sermilik. The most southerly village 

 of the northernmost group of East Green- 

 land Eskimo, situated on Sermilik fjord, 

 lat. 65° 40^. — Rink in Deutsche Geog. 

 Bliitt., VIII, 349, 1885. 



Serpent. See S)iake Dance. 



Serpentine. A magnesium silicate, of 

 greatly varying texture and color, much 

 used by the native tribes in the manu- 

 facture of ornaments, tobacco pipes, and 

 ceremonial objects. It is too soft for 

 making effective implements, but in Cali- 

 fornia it was much employed in the 

 manufacture of small vessels. It is 

 usually greenish in color, although red- 

 dish, brownish, and grayish hues and 

 mottled effects are common. The distri- 

 bution is wide and the deposits are ex- 

 tensive, (w. H. H.) 



Serpent Mound. A remarkable earth- 

 work representing a serpent and usually 

 designated the Great Serpent Mound; 

 situated on Brush cr., in the extreme 

 northern part of Adams co., Ohio. For 

 an illustration, see Mounds. Thefirst de- 

 scription and figure of this ancient work 

 were published by Squier and Davis in 

 1848 (Anc. Mon., 96-98, pi. xxxv). It was 

 subsequently repeatedly described and 

 figured after what was given by Squier 

 and Davis, until a new drawing and de- 

 scription by MacLean appeared in 1885 

 (Am. Antiq., vii, 44-47), and by Holmes 

 in 1886 (Science, viii, Dec. 31). The 

 mound is on the middle line of a narrow, 

 crescent-shaped spur, about 100 ft high, 

 flanked on one side by Brush cr. and on 

 the other by East cr. Commencing with 

 the head, which is at the very point of 

 the spur and is partially obliterated, and 

 proceeding toward the tail, one comeg 



