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Show 420 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE Irn- M imt. 18 126. PLANT LORE The Cherokee have always been an agricultural people, and their old country is a region of luxuriant flora, with tall trees and tangled undergrowth on the slopes and ridges, and myriad bright- tinted bloeBtUBB and sweet wild fruits along the running streams. The vegetable kingdom consequently holds a far more important place in the mythology and ceremonial of the tribe than it does among the Indians of the treeli- ss plains and arid sage deserts of the West, most of the beliefs and customs in this connection centering around the practice of medic i n e as expounded by the priests and doctors in every settlement. In general it is held that the plant world is friendly to the human species, and constantly at the willing service of the doctors to counteract the jealous hostility of the animals. The sacred formulas contain many curious instructions for the gathering and preparation of the medicinal root- and barks, which are selected chiefly in accordance with the theory of correspondences. The Indians are close observers, and some of their plant name- uro peculiarly apt. Thus the mistletoe, which never grows alone, but is found always with its roots fixed in the bark of some supporting tree or shrub from which it draws its sustenance, is called by a name which signifies " it is married" (> itf< i''/ l). The violet is still called by a plural name, dinda'skwatfi'dl. •' they pull each other's heads off," showing 1 hai the Cherokee children have discovered a game not unknown among our own. The bear- grass ( Kri/ in/ iinii), with its long, slender leaves like diminutive blades of corn, is called SdZiktO&' yi, " greensnakc," and ilie larger grass known as Job's tears, on account of its glossy, rounded grains, which the Indian children use for necklaces, is called x. lntsi'. " t h e mother of corn." The black- eyed Susan ( liudbeokia) of our children is the k* deer- eye" ( avA'- akto?) of the Cherokee, and our lady-slip] icr ((' i/ jn- i/ ii- iliiiiii) is their "' partridge moccasin'" ( i/ in/ ir, 1 - uLixn'lu). The May- apple (/'•>,/,,/,/,_;/// » //<). with its umbrella- shaped top. is called ii'/ u'xkir, In' i/ i, meaning " it wears a h a t . " while the white puff ball fungus is iitlkirisi'- iixill', " the little s t a r . " and the common rock lichen b e an the musical, if rather unpoetic. name of n/ x, t/-' ta, " pot scrapings." Some plants arc named from their real or supposed place in the animal economy, as the wild rose. txint,- wni'gUltl, " t h e rabbits eat i t " referring to the seed berries and the shield fern ( Agpidwtn), >/< i/ i- i'tx,' x/ i), " t h e bear lies on it." Others, again, arc named from 1 heir domestic or ceremonial uses, as the llcabane ( ISrigt /•" » cantuU >/•>•). called 1 / txi7'-* ii,\ ti. " t i r e maker." because its dried stalk was anciently employed in producing lire by friction, and the bugle weed ( Lycopus virgmictu), known as miiini, i/' x/,- i. " talkers." because the chewed root, given to children to Swallow, or rubbed upon their lips, is supposed to endow them willi the gift, of eloquence. Some few, in addition to the ordinary term in use among the common people, have a sacred or symbolic name, used |
