, 1885-05-05
PoETIc lNplAN N
The Thankloss Task Performed by the
IcoDocIast-LiteraI TRANSLATION.

NRbpCAAaA -AaNeEAA AEAhaAAAlpus
lcharleston News and courier.I
1t is not that the savage of old times
has changcd-we are only coming to
know him better. Chingachgook and
uncas and Uiawatha and Powhatan,
and all the rest Of them, were the same
as their descendants and representatives
of to-day, only we look at them afar off,
through the cloudy, softening atmos-
phere OF fiction and of history which is
but little better than fiction. The noble
red man of to-day eats g~rasshoppers and
seldom bathes, and there is good reason
to believe that Red Jacket and King
Philip were not insensible TO the attrac-
tons OF roast dog as an article of diet.
The poetry with which the race has been
invested does not pertain TO them. 1t
had its origin and end in the imagination
of those who have ~rhapsodized concern
ing them, and the true, original savage
was ever and remains a heather and
nothing more-until he is civilized.
In no particular, perhaps, is this fact
made palmer than in respect of the
names which these heathens conferred
upon themselves, and have imposed
upon h places where they once dwelt,
u which now happily know them no
more. First, MS regards their own
m When we find that the mel
lifluent, magniloquent and pollysyllabic
titles of to-day arc Transferable into
such nicknames as Scar-Faced Charley,
Hole-in-His Blanket, ~Shacknasty jim.
Young = Man Afraid of His Mother-in-
Law, One-Eyed Blacksnake. and Old
Man. Who Won't-Pay-His Debts, what
confidence, We ask, can be reposed in
the claim that corresponding titles in
ancient times meant Eagle-kye, Heart
of-Stone, The Great Warrior, Swift
Arrow, Boss-in- His own Wigwam, or
other such condensed expressions OF the
recognition Of savage heroic a~ttributesl
1t is no better when we look into the
origin and derivation of names of rivers
and places. Passing by such unpro-
nounceable and outrageous combinations
as Mayaguaduyid, Molechemumk,
Mooseluimaguntic, and Chinquassabam-
took rs being hopelessly and denantly
heathenish in their essential construc-
ton, and possessing little or no interest
except in so far as they indicate nature
Of the soil or the devious course of the
rivers, in the Localities TO which they
have been applied, we arrive at the con
sideration of certain names which con-
Germ us more nearly. .Eufaula,n we
have found, means n liquidated cur,
and not a blooming rose or fragrant
magnolia, or anything of that kind
"Chattahooche," likewise, does not
mean the Silver Path to the Sea, but
rather Very Muddy, as well as we re-
member.
mississippi" has long masquera led
as the Father of Waters; old Indians,
however, told the early settlers that it
mani xrhaf rtatr 10 trartr nanrl.r -
pressed by the general term Big Ugly.
"Cahaba, the mann of one Of the
streams in Alabama, has always been
translated Beautiful River. The full
Indian name, however, was Cahaba- hia,
or Chunk-pile, by which term they in
dictated to their own satisfaction the
fact that its classic shores were always
lined to an unusual extent with drift
wood. "Choccolocco' is the name of an
other Alabama stream, a creek of con-
siderable size which runs through a
famous valley of The same name. 1t
has been claimed by those who have
land to sell in the valley, that the
creek WAS named from the valley, and
that Choccolocco in the
aboriginal v~ernacular, "a val
ley Astounding in rich minerals.
The more literal inhabitants who have
not lands for sale state that the original
name was Choceo Thlocco, or High
Horse, indicating that the stream was
too deep to be forded on a pony. Talla-
poosa was never q synonym for happy
homes, but was simply 'the dog
town" Talledega was @the ~cat-town,p
of course, and the list might be ex-
tended indefinitely.
1t is not necessary or desirable, how
ever TO pursue the painful theme any
further. 1t is not a pleasant task to
undeceive people in regard to their most
cherished beliefs, and the iconoclast is
lot always regarded as a public bene-
factor. Whatever may have been the
original meaning of the names which
we have mentioned, it is plain that the
Interpretation now put upon them is
much more agreeable in every way and
further search might lead to unpleas-
ant discoveries in regard to like names
nearer home.