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Olbmchts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 7
origin and diffusion, influence from missionary activities, from the
white mountaineers, or even from the negro slaves of the region.
The Writer of the Manuscript
cc''yo'^"fni',i. e., "he is swimming (habitually)", "he is a swimmer,"
(pi. 4), is the writer, or as might be more fit to state it, the compilator
of the present manuscript. (On the Cherokee method of compilating
manuscripts of this description, see pp. 157-159.)
He died in 1899, at 65 years of age. He was Mooney's main informant
on the liistory, mythology, and later especially on the medicine
and botany of the Cherokee. On his personality, see what
Mooney says a})0ut him in his Myths, pp. 236-237. The lucky chance
by which Mooney got scent of the existence of the manuscript, and
how he ultimately obtained it, are related by him in his SFC, pages
310-312.
The son, t*a'mi (i. e., Tom), and a grandson, altocsofski (Dancer),
of Ay. are still living on the reservation, but neither of them has
succeeded him in his medical practice.
The memory of Ay. is still treasured by the Cherokee of the present
generation. He is looked upon as one of the last old, wise men,
such as there are now none left.
General Background— Informants Used
The territory of the Cherokee that once covered the better part of
three States (see map in Mooney Myths, pp. 22-23) has been reduced
to a small reserve that can bo crossed from end to end in a day's
walk.
For ample details regarding the historic past of the Cherokee, and
especially of the present reservation of the Eastern Band, the reader
is referred to the excellent historical sketch by James Mooney in his
Myths, pages 14-228.
Of the seven villages of the reserve, k^o'^laUQ-yi' (i. e. "the Raven's
place," generally called Big Cove or Swayney by the whites) was
selected for our stay. There were many reasons that all but enforced
this choice: Lying in a secluded cove, of difficult and at some times
of the year of impossible access, with a population of far more conservative
people than that of the villages lying nearer the boarding
school and the Government offices, tribal fife has conserved much of
its aboriginal flavor in Big Cove. Especially the beliefs and prac-
tices relating to medicine are still rampant in this community to such
an extent that of the 15 families that constituted the population of
the cove 10 people were avowed medical practitioners, whereas three
or four more occasionally took up the practice of medicine as a side
fine.