12 CHEROKEE BANKRUPT LAW. 
a short distance beyond when a Chero- 
kee shop-keeper came up to us with an at- 
tachment for debt against a free mulatto, 
whom we had engaged as teamster. The 
poor fellow had no alternative but to return 
with the importunate creditor, who commit- 
ted him at once to the care of ‘Judge Lynch’ 
for trial. We ascertained afterwards that he 
had been sentenced to ‘take the benefit of 
the bankrupt law’ after the manner of the 
Cherokees of that neighborhood. This is 
done by stripping and tying the victim to a 
tree; when each creditor, with a good cow- 
hide or hickory switch in his hand, scores the 
amount of the bill due upon his bare back. 
One stripe for every dollar due is the usual 
process of ‘whitewashing,’ and as the appli- 
cation of the lash is accompanied by all sorts 
of quaint remarks, the exhibition affords no 
small merriment to those present, with the 
exception, no doubt, of the delinquent him- 
self. After the ordeal is over, the cr fors 
declare themselves perfectly satisfied: nor 
could they, as is said, ever be persuaded ord 
after to receive one red cent of the amount 
due, even if it were offered to them. As the 
poor mulatto was also in our debt, and was 
perhaps apprehensive that we might exact 
payment in the same currency, he never 
showed himself again. 
On the 2d of May we crossed the North 
Fork of the Canadian about a mile from its 
confluence with the main stream. A little 
westward of this there is a small village of 
