oScHTs] THE SWIMMEK MANUSCRIPT 139 



the rest of their lives; i. e., if they attend only to the real necessities of 

 life they will forever after be dutiful and reliable in whatever their 

 occupation may be. The men will be smart, well-providing sons and 

 husbands; the women alert and solicitous wives and mothers; whereas, 

 were any of them to go out and gossip, or otherwise join in " unneces- 

 sary " phases of social life he would for the rest of his life be a fickle 

 rake or a heedless hussy. 



As soon as the family gets home from the burial, or from the subse- 

 quent ceremony at the river's edge, the new fire is started, after all the 

 old ashes have been taken outside and scattered about the yard. In 

 olden time this fire was no doubt kindled from the sacred communal 

 fire of the council house; now the more modern match is used, although 

 I have known cases where flint and punk were still resorted to. 



The cabin is smoked with pine branches, burned in a cooking vessel ; 

 pine branches are also thrown on the rekindled hearth fire ; according 

 to some of the people, "the smell of the pine takes all away that has 

 been left of death and disease." Pines, as all evergreens, are con- 

 sidered by the Cherokee to have eternal lives, and are therefore most 

 fit to avert death and destruction. 



Originally, not only the house where the death occurred had to be 

 smoked in this fashion, but each and every house of the settlement. 

 This custom is now rapidly falling into oblivion, but I still noticed, 

 during my stay, that all those who had been taking any part in the 

 care of the deceased, before and after his death, went through this 

 purification rite with scrupulous care. 



Old traditions and references to it in myths and tales establish 

 beyond doubt that long ago, seven days after the burial a dance took 

 place at which every member of the deceased's household and all the 

 people of the settlement were present. This dance seems to have 

 served the double purpose of speeding the spirit on its journey ^^ and 

 of diverting the sorrowing relatives. Such a dance is referred to in 

 " The Daughter of the Sun " myth (Mooney, Myths, p. 254) and also 

 in a tale collected by me, but yet unpublished. 



It can not now be stated whether at these dances any special songs 

 were sung, but if we can trust tradition on this point it would appear 

 that those dances and songs were selected which would best suit the 

 purpose of amusing the mourners present; it was thought that if they 

 reaUy enjoyed themselves on this occasion there was no fear that they 

 would pine away with grief; but if the entertainers failed in their pur- 

 pose the future looked gloomy and threatening for the mourners. 



There is no visiting of graves after the burial; to do so would 

 bring bad luck. This is easy to understand, if we recall the Cherokee 



"* The ghost of the deceased lingers 7 days around the settlement before pro- 

 ceeding on its journey "out west" (see p. 142). 



