294 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



The patient is forbidden to taste of the sun perch or the buffalo 

 fish, because both of these have rounded backs which convey the 

 impression as if they were drawn up or cramped, as though [afflicted 

 with] rheumatism. The squirrel is tabooed on account of its habit of 

 "humping" itself at times, and in anotlier rheumatism formula from 

 a different medicine man the patient is forbidden to stroke or to 

 touch a dog or a cat for the same reason. 



The buffalo is tabooed because of its hump, and the rheumatic must 

 not even touch a buffalo hide or a comb made of buffalo horn. 

 Neither medicine man coidd say why the trout is forbidden, as it 

 is also in the other formida just referred to, but the reason doubt- 

 lessly lies in some similar peculiarity of shape or movement. 



The mention of the bufl'alo in this connection possesses a special 

 interest for the fight it throws upon the age and traditional character 

 of the formulas. The bufl'alo was probably never very numerous 

 in the southern Alleghanies, the old country of the Cherokee, and 

 according to a tradition still current on the reservation, was last seen 

 on Buffalo Creek, in western North Carolina, about the beginning 

 of the Revolution. Neither of the medicine men who commended 

 this formula had ever seen a buffalo, or even a picture of one, and had 

 no idea at all of its shape. They were consequently unable to state 

 why the animal was so strictly tabooed, even to its hide and horns, 

 but simply said that thus the rule had been handed down to them 

 along with the rest of the formula. When shown a picture of a 

 bufl'alo they saw at once the reason for the prohibition. It is safe to 

 assert, therefore, that this formula at least dates back to a time long 

 prior to the Revolution when the buffalo was comparatively common 

 in the mountain valleys and in the lower regions occasionally visited 

 by the Cherokees. In a cofiection of over 100 Cherokee myths 

 obtained [by Mr. Mooney] the buffalo is introduced but once [Mooney, 

 Myths, p. 293]. 



85 

 Dalo"'ni i)''ndty9''Dali' uGQ-'wutli' ^t'a' 



it yellow their navol it for the purpose this 



SGe" I Dalo"'ni Ga'*ta-Gf'.i aDo''nfGa' I Dalo"'ni Ge*'sf.i' 

 now, then! it yellow clay-ish it has been saici it yellow it is, App 



sGe" I k'o-'lano"' o°''naGe-°' y'sonu-'li 'a't'9r)a-'nfGa' | 



now, then! Raven black quickly thou hast come to listen 



vsol-i o'ttso'tlt'o'i'sti 'tDa*'"we!t'-Dt*n8' | Dalo*'ni Ga'ta-Gf'.i 



night, Loc tliou art staying thou wizard, E it yellow clay-ish 



y'Do'no'a-GWo"^' Ge*'sf.i'. | i;'soni;*'li 'o"'t''a'sgso'tGa' | 

 It has been said, L it is, App quickly again, thou hast come to 



pull it out 



tsotlsta-'y'tt-GWo"' Ge-'sf.i' | ntGg-'waDQ-'mGWa'^lo.e-'stt-Gwo"' 



it what thou eatest, L it is, App it will be trampled down continually, L 



