Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

294 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
The patient is forbidden to taste of the sun perch or the buffalo
fish, because both of these have rounded backs which convey the
impression as if they were drawn up or cramped, as though [afflicted
with] rheumatism. The squirrel is tabooed on account of its habit of
"humping" itself at times, and in anotlier rheumatism formula from
a different medicine man the patient is forbidden to stroke or to
touch a dog or a cat for the same reason.
The buffalo is tabooed because of its hump, and the rheumatic must
not even touch a buffalo hide or a comb made of buffalo horn.
Neither medicine man coidd say why the trout is forbidden, as it
is also in the other formida just referred to, but the reason doubtlessly
lies in some similar peculiarity of shape or movement.
The mention of the bufl'alo in this connection possesses a special
interest for the fight it throws upon the age and traditional character
of the formulas. The bufl'alo was probably never very numerous
in the southern Alleghanies, the old country of the Cherokee, and
according to a tradition still current on the reservation, was last seen
on Buffalo Creek, in western North Carolina, about the beginning
of the Revolution. Neither of the medicine men who commended
this formula had ever seen a buffalo, or even a picture of one, and had
no idea at all of its shape. They were consequently unable to state
why the animal was so strictly tabooed, even to its hide and horns,
but simply said that thus the rule had been handed down to them
along with the rest of the formula. When shown a picture of a
bufl'alo they saw at once the reason for the prohibition. It is safe to
assert, therefore, that this formula at least dates back to a time long
prior to the Revolution when the buffalo was comparatively common
in the mountain valleys and in the lower regions occasionally visited
by the Cherokees. In a cofiection of over 100 Cherokee myths
obtained [by Mr. Mooney] the buffalo is introduced but once [Mooney,
Myths, p. 293].
85
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it yellow their navol it for the purpose this
SGe" Dalo"'ni Ga'*ta-Gf'.i aDo''nfGa' Dalo"'ni Ge*'sf.i'
I I
now, then! it yellow clay-ish it has been saici it yellow it is, App
sGe" I
k'o-'lano"' o°''naGe-°' y'sonu-'li 'a't'9r)a-'nfGa' |
now, then! Raven black quickly thou hast come to listen
vsol-i o'ttso'tlt'o'i'sti 'tDa*'"we!t'-Dt*n8' |
Dalo*'ni
Ga'ta-Gf'.i
night, Loc tliou art staying thou wizard, E it yellow clay-ish
y'Do'no'a-GWo"^' Ge*'sf.i'. |
i;'soni;*'li
'o"'t''a'sgso'tGa' |
It has been said, L it is, App quickly again, thou hast come to
pull it out
tsotlsta-'y'tt-GWo"' Ge-'sf.i' |
ntGg-'waDQ-'mGWa'^lo.e-'stt-Gwo"'
it what thou eatest, L it is, App it will be trampled down continually, L