38 Bringier on the Region of the Mississippi, <^c. 



twenty-four miles below the crystal rock. This fortification 

 is tolerably regular, covering an area of about twenty-five 

 acres; the trenches remain about eight feet high, and the 

 ditches which are nearly filled up, seem to have been very 

 deep, and about twenty-five feet wide. There are two 

 gateways, in the inside of which there is a large well, which 

 probably was a covered way ; and in the centre there arc 

 two mounds about eighty feet in height, whose bases are 

 about three hundred feet in diameter, with a truncated sum- 

 mit offering a surface of about ninety feet across. Both 

 are artificial, and perhaps were formed from the dirt out of 

 the ditches. The country around is perfectly leveL 



The Cherokees. 



From this digression we return to the Cherokees, who 

 are divided into seven clans or tribes ; there were twelve 

 tribes, but five of them having been too much reduced, 

 joined the others, and there now remain but seven, viz- 



Tlie Neewalmya — means (he Wolves; they are the most populous. 



The Neekeelawiiay — the Floating hair; next do. 



The Neekavvtaylaway — the Blind in the field; third; 



The Neewawtay — the Pyed or Painted: fourth. 



The Neecaway — the Deer in the field ; fifth. 



The Neeshavvnee — (/ do not know the meaning of this;) sixth 



The Neekoola — feeds upon Acorns ; seventh. 



No Cherokee can take a wife in his own tribe; it would 

 be considered as an incest. Each tribe forms a family, 

 and the individuals call one "another brother and sister, ma- 

 king no difference between their relations of the same blood 

 and those who have not the least affinity with them. They 

 are therefore obliged to marry with other tribes, and the 

 children belong to the tribe of the mother, who protects 

 them as brothers and sisters. The father has no control 

 over his own children ; but the mother, and her own tribe, 

 have power of fife and death ; and no member or members 

 of any other tribe, not even the father, has a right to inter- 

 fere. 



If a member of one tribe assassinates a member of another 

 clan, it is the duty of his nearest blood relation, (" consan- 

 guine,^') belonging to the tribe of the deceased, (for a Cher- 



