and divide a hair 'twixt south and southwest side,"
between true belief and feigned credence.

The veneration of the ancient Cherokees for the element of fire, in
addition to their name, its careful conservation throughout the year,
their addresses to its spirit, _Higayuli Tsunega, hatu ganiga_ (O
Ancient White, you have drawn near to listen), is farther manifested by
its traces found in the exploration of burial mounds, intimating a
ceremonial introduction of the element at the remote period of
interment,--if, indeed, the construction of these mounds can he ascribed
to the Cherokees. Those on which their town houses were erected at a
later date, the clay-covered rotunda forming a superstructure looking
like a small mountain at a little distance, according to Timberlake,
wherein were held the assemblies, whether for amusement or council or
religious observances, served also as a substitute for the modern
bulletin-board. Two stands of colors were flying, one from the top of
the town house, the other at the door. These ensigns were white for
peace, and exchanged for red when war impended. "The news hollow," as
Timberlake phrases the cry, sounded from the summit of the mound, would
occasion the assembling of all the community in the rotunda to hear the
details from the lips of the chief. How much more the: "death hollow,"
harbinger of woe!

11. _Page_ 323. They are hardly to be regarded as myths perhaps, rather
as dislocated relics of fact. In treating of the "Origin of American
Nations," Dr. Barton says: "These traditions are entitled to much
consideration, for, notwithstanding the rude condition of most of the
tribes, they are often perpetuated in great purity, as I have discovered
by much attention to their history." It is generally accepted that the
first historical mention of the Cherokees occurs under the name of
_Chelaque_ in the chronicles of De Soto's expedition in 1540 when they
already occupied the Great Smoky Mountains and the contiguous region,
but the Indians themselves had a tradition, according to Haywood's
_Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee_, which was recited
annually at the Green Corn Dance, in which they claimed that they were
the earlier mound builders on the upper Ohio, whence they had migrated
at a remote date. They can be identified with the ancient Talega or
Tallegwi if the records of the _Walam Olum_ (painted sticks) may be
believed, the wooden originals of which are said to have been