162 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



wJiicli lias always been spoken by the majority of the tribe; by 

 that fraction of the tribe, moreover, where civilizing influences during 

 the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries made themselves felt most 

 keenly; by that fraction of the tribe, finally, to which belonged the 

 inventor of the Cherokee syllabary. As a result of all this, the 

 Western dialect soon rose in importance, and in fact acquired pre- 

 cedence over the others, as usually happens with a written dialect. 

 Thus, although theoretically spealdng, the Central and Eastern 

 dialects can be written just as satisfactorily by means of the Sequoya 

 syllabary as the Western dialect, the fact that it was invented by a 

 westerner, that it was applied to writing in the Western dialect, 

 before it was so applied to the others, the fact that portions of biblical 

 as well as of secular literature were translated and printed in this 

 dialect only — all this contributed innnensely toward nialdng of the 

 Western dialect what might aptly be called the literaiy tongue of all 

 the Cherokee. 



Hence the formulas written clown in tliis dialect contained many 

 expressions which the Central-dialect speaking Cherokee either did 

 not understand, or else understood but would have expressed in a 

 different way. 



Since, liowevcr, a formula must be recited as written down, and 

 since tampering with its traditional form is nothing short of sacrilege, 

 these Western dialect expressions have been treasured and handed 

 down ever since; needless to say, many of them have, in the course of 

 this process, been mutilated beyond recognition, and it is quite 

 possible that sojiie of them may never again be satisfactorily recon- 

 structed or explained. 



It will be possible to state exactly to what extent the Western 

 dialect has been drawn upon for tlie ritualistic language of the Central 

 dialect by a thorough study of the Western dialect, which has not yet 

 been made but which will soon be undertaken. 



Finally there is the source which I mentioned first, but which 

 I reserved for discussion until now, because it is the most important 

 and offers more interesting material and more promising results. 

 This source is what I called a substratum of words and expressions 

 illustrating certain processes in the history and growth of the lan- 

 guage. 



As has been described in the previous pages, the Cherokee ritual 

 language is used mainly in prayers, conjurations, and incantations, 

 mostly recited, but sometimes sung, and the greater part of which are 

 expected to prevent, cure, or cause disease; some of them are also 

 recited in order to obtain prosperity, luck in love or in war, in hunting 

 and fishing, and in the various pursuits of tribal life. It also may 

 occur sporadically in songs, even if these do not belong to the ritual, 

 and possibly in certain clan names. 



