The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-15
Eas:arr Sa.3 9: Cherokee indians
il Eor.h Carolina.
Bihlical Recorder.

There are in Western North Carolina
about ,hr>e thousand Chcroscc Indians.
When the United States govcrnmen,
decided In remove the Indian 'ril-,s
west. ln the lnd.ln Territory they
-en: military iorce with transpor.a-
lion wagons to gather them ~ and
take them IL their rescryation. Nany
If them were unwilling a. cp. and hid
themselves In the forests until ihc fc-
moval Was over l. VA a.ceT;sinei l.,
The United States Congress that con
siderable BODY If them We're lef, behind
and they settled upon them re~crva-
tieu o. IS 900 ar >o.oo0 acres of land.
situated III Swain county. y {. They
do not own the lands in ~cvcraliv. but
they are protected in their ownership
50 that they can not be dispoS~e>scd Of
it. Each head Of family can seize; a
sufficient quanty of land for his wants,
and improve il, and the Improvements
give him title TO hold it his life time
and transmit, it 10 his children. But
he can sell his Improvements and
the purchaser has all the rights oi
the former settler The lands Of the
reservation are very good. and much 81
it is in original forest, and Is heavily
timbered with very valuable timber
They have government OF their
own. They elect chief, who serves
four years q think,) and they have a
council consisting Of seven. They make
laws for the regulation OF their own tri-
bal affairs But they are citizens Of
the State, and are entitled to suffrage
and are amenable TO all OF the Laws
of the State. They have churches
and have some native preachers among
them. They are nearly all Baptist-
and have Baptist Association. They
have good school facilities.
The United States government has
established a school al Cherokee dor
merly called yellow HID which is
kept up by the government, and then
there are three other schools (probably
more now scattered through the reser-
vation. The Cherokee school Is de-
signed to be training and industrial
school.
Those Indians are rather averse 10
hard work The men are fond OF hunt
ing, and the squaws are frequently to
be seen sauntering about with little
bag on their shoulders. They dig roots
and gather herbs and barks rather than
till the soil. They have capacity for
learning some things remarkably well.
They can generally learn TO sing, to re-
cite. to draw, &c. They are very fond
of being exhibited. They are very i'm
itative The writer bad twenty OF the
girls in Judson College in Henderson
vile. n c., for three wears, and they
soon learned to initiate the white girls
so perfectly that stranger could hard
ly distinguish between them. They
were quite fond Of playing Jokes In that
direction. A large per cent. Of them
are mixed blooded In some Instance
they are mixed with negro blood. But
most generally with whites. Many in
stances have occurred where white men
have married -quaws To get the bene-
fits of their reservation. Quite "A num-
Der OF cases occur IN which white wom-
en- have married Indians. Their ex-
chief, who died about a year ago, Chici
Smith, married a white woman. Three
Of his daughters were with Us at Jud-
son College. Lottle Smith was consld-
cred beauty.
They do not seem TO increase in
numer owing mainly To emigration 1t
is quite common for them 10 90 TO the
Cherokee tribe in the Indian Territory.
+ r RoaSE