tself from out a
morning mist, and raising their voices but as a thunder-cloud in
summer, they will depart as a spirit departs, noiselessly, and go no
one knows whither.

Between these two lofty and dreaded mountains, there is a deep valley,
or rather a succession of deep valleys, for the occurrence at short
spaces of low hills breaks the continuousness of that with which the
space between those mountains commences. In these valleys the beams of
the sun are concentrated and drawn together, creating at times a heat
so great, that nothing can live in them but those reptiles, which are
ripened and fattened to full growth only by suns which scorch like
fire. In these same valleys have dwelt, ever since the earth was first
placed on the back of the great tortoise, those Kind Old Kings, the
_Bright Old Inhabitants_(1), which are rattlesnakes of a most
prodigious size, possessed of singular properties, and endowed with
tremendous and fearful powers. It is death to venture within their
limits, and equally fatal to displease them. So well convinced are the
people of my nation of their power to inflict an instant and dreadful
death on all, that no temptation can induce them to betray their
secret recesses to the wanton stranger. They well know that, if they
do so, they shall be exposed to the unceasing attacks of all the
inferior species of snakes who love their kings, which are these
Bright Old Inhabitants, and know by instinct those who injure, or
attempt to injure them. They know that, let but those kings issue
their commands, there is not a snake that crawls but will open his
mouth or use his sting to inflict the greatest possible degree of
vengeance in his power on the enemies and oppressors of those whom he
loves and obeys. Hence the place of residence of the Kind Old Kings is
kept a secret by our people. For a long time they did not know it
themselves, and only became acquainted with it when the occurrence
took place which I am about to relate to my brother.

Once upon a time, many years ago, there lived among the Cherokees a
man who was neither a warrior nor a hunter, yet was the most
celebrated man of his nation, and further known than its proudest
warrior or most expert hunter. He was a priest, and knew the secret
ways, and the will, and the wishes, of his master, the Great Spirit.
Not only was he skilled in the wisdom of the land of souls, but he was
learned in matters which affect the dwellers in the body. He knew h