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Show M00NE7] STORY- TELLERS 237 buried like a time Cherokee on the slope of a forest- clad mountain. Peace to his ashes and sorrow for his going, for with him perished half the tradition of a people. Next in order comes the name of It& gft'n& hl, better known as John Ax, born about 1800 and now consequently just touching the century mark, being the oldest man of the band. He has a distinct recollection of the Creek war, at which time he was about twelve years of age, and was already married and a father when the lands east of Nantahala were sold by the treaty of 1819. Although not a professional priest or doctor^ he was recognized, before age had dulled his faculties, as an authority upon all relating to tribal custom, and was an expert in the making of rattles, wands, and other ceremonial paraphernalia. Of a poetic and imaginative temperament, he cared most for the wonder stories, of the giant Tsul'l^ Ud', of the great Uktena or of the invisible spirit people, but he had also a keen appreciation of the humorous animal stories. He speaks no English, and with his erect spare figure and piercing eye is a fine specimen of the old- time Indian. Notwithstanding his great age he walked without other assistance than his stick to the last ball game, where he watched every run with the closest interest, and would have attended the dance the night before but for the interposition of friends. Suyeta, " The Chosen One," who preaches regularly as a Baptist minister to an Indian congregation, does not deal much with the Indian supernatural, perhaps through deference to his clerical obligations, but has a good memory and liking for rabbit stories and others of the same class. He served in the Confederate army during the war as fourth sergeant in Company A, of the Sixty- ninth North Carolina, and is now a welUpreserved man of about sixty- two. He speaks no English, but by an ingenious system of his own has learned to use a concordance for verifying references in his Cherokee bible. He is also a first- class carpenter and mason. Another principal informant was Ta'gw& dihf, " Catawba- killer," of Cheowa, who died a few. years ago, aged about seventy. He was a doctor and made no claim to special knowledge of myths or ceremonials, but was able to furnish several valuable stories, besides confirmatory evidence for a large number obtained from other sources. Besides these may be named, among the East Cherokee, the late Chief N. J. Smith; Sal&' li, mentioned elsewhere, who died about 1895; TsSsa'nl or Jessan, who also served in the war; Ay&' sta, one of the principal conservatives among the women; and James and David Blythe, younger men of mixed blood, with an English education, but inheritors of a large share of Indian lore from their father, who- was a recpgnized leader of ceremony. Among inf ormants in the western Cherokee Nation the principal was James D. Wafford, known to the Indians as Tsuskwfinfin'n& wa'tA, |