Читать книгу Picture-Writing of the American Indians - Garrick Mallery - Страница 14

On July 5 Mr. James Mooney started on a second trip to the territory of the Cherokee in North Carolina, returning after an absence of about four months. During this time he made considerable additions to the linguistic material already obtained by him, and was able to demonstrate the former existence of a fourth, and perhaps even of a fifth, well-marked Cherokee dialect in addition to the upper, lower, and middle dialects already known. The invention of a Cherokee syllabary which was adapted to the sounds of the upper dialect has tended to make that dialect universal. A number of myths were collected, together with a large amount of miscellaneous material relating to the Cherokee tribe, and the great tribal game of ball play, with its attendant ceremonies of dancing, conjuring, scratching the bodies of the players, and going to water, was witnessed. A camera was utilized to secure characteristic pictures of the players. Special attention was given to the subject of Indian medicine, theoretic, ceremonial, and therapeutic. The most noted doctors of the tribe were employed as informants, and nearly five hundred specimens of medicinal and food plants were collected and their Indian names and uses ascertained. The general result of this investigation shows that the medical and botanical knowledge of the Indians has been greatly overrated. A study was made of Cherokee personal names, about five hundred of which were translated, being all the names of Indian origin now remaining in that region. The most important results of Mr. Mooney’s investigations were the discovery of a large number of manuscripts containing the sacred formulas of the tribe, written in Cherokee characters by the shamans for their own secret use, and jealously guarded from the knowledge of all but the initiated. The existence of such manuscripts had been ascertained during a visit in 1887, and several of them had been procured. This discovery of genuine aboriginal material, written in an Indian language by shamans for their own use, is believed to be unique in the history of aboriginal investigation, and was only made possible through the invention of the Cherokee syllabary by Sequoia in 1821. Every effort was made by Mr. Mooney to obtain all the existing manuscripts, with the result of securing all of that material which was in the possession of the tribe. The whole number of formulas obtained is about six hundred. They consist of prayers and sacred songs, explanations of ceremonies, directions for medical treatment, and underlying theories. They relate to medicine, love, war, hunting, fishing, self-protection, witchcraft, agriculture, the ball play, and other similar subjects, thus forming a complete exposition of an aboriginal religion as set forth by its priests in their own language.