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MOONEY j
OlbrechtsJ THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 51
Color Symbolism— Sacred Numbers
There is but little to be added to what Mooney (SFC, p. 342)
says about the Cherokee color symbolism, unless it be this, that the
distinction is not always made quite so definitely as would appear
from Mooney's tabulation. It is, of course, possible that 40 to 50
years ago the people's ideas were stUl less vague and fleeting on this
score than they are now, but the formulas' evidence does not indicate
that even quite a few generations back the color symbolism was
much more definite. This will readily appear upon consulting the
analytical table, Disease spirits (pp. 44-50).
A couple of facts are established beyond doubt—red and white
can not possibly be associated with the west, nor with anything un-
successful; black can only be associated w.dth the west, and blue with
the west or the north ; neither of these latter colors can under any circumstances
be symbolic of success. Apart from this it is not possible
to be dogmatic: Red may be used in connection with the south as
well as with the east and the zenith, whereas white is no more the
inalienable color of the south than red is the one of the east.
Whether this phenomenon has any correlation with the defective
power of discrimination between colors of the Cherokee I hesitate to
say. However that may be, it is a fact that even the Cherokee who
have known the joys of a Government school education do not score
much better, according to our standards, when it comes to discriminating
between colors than did the Seminoles of MacCauley.^^
To gain some more definite data on this I asked the informant
who was the least hopeless in this respect (W.) to pick out from a
color chart, showing 95 colors in all possible shades and nuances,
those "which the Cherokee know and have a name for." The follow-
ing is the result of this experiment:
Usual name of color