THE CHEROKEE NATION 233 
Country affords one a plunge into the wilderness in 
more senses than one, for not only does one find 
here wild scenery, but also the original inhabit- 
ants, or at least a very orderly remnant of that 
mysterious and picturesque race that before 
the coming of the white man roamed these soli- 
tudes. 
I The Indians of this region were Cherokees, and 
there seem to have been several tribes, not always 
on amicable terms with one another, judging from 
the number of arrow-heads found in certain fields 
near Asheville. The country about Asheville is be- 
lieved to have been a common hunting-ground with- 
out permanent settlements, which would account 
for the arrow-strewn battle-fields as well as for the 
dearth of Indian names in that section. 
The white man when he came did not enter upon 
the scene in a way to inspire confidence in the red 
man, who finally tried to hold back the hand of des- 
tiny by massacring the invaders. This resulted in an 
armed force entering the mountains in the summer 
of 1779, burning the villages, killing the Indians, and 
destroying their growing crops. 
The treatment of the Cherokees by the white man 
affords no better reading than the treatment of the 
other Indian tribes by their civilized conquerors, 
and finally many of the more restless spirits among 
the Indians went West in search of new hunting- 
grounds. Many, however, stayed at home and made 
the best of the new order of things, until the white 
conqueror finally decided to remove the whole 
