The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1905-09-08
INTERESTING
CHEROKEE HISTORY

Tie crisis Of dissolution and extinc
tion which at the present time over
hangs the Cherokee people has ten
dency to invest the story Of their pas
existence with something of an unusua
interest. on the fourth day Of mex
March (l9O6l Id is decreed that TIN
tribe shall cease to constitute dis
tinctiTe branch Of the human family
No more an obstruction in the way O.
the white mans ambition, the worlC
can now well afford TO forgive all thcil
Shortcomings. while the historian en-
tertains the Anglo-Saxop fireside with
the details Of their eventful career.
The earliest mention Of the Chero-
KEGS that we meet with in written
history appears under date of Al. d.
1910, just forty-eight years after the
Western hemisphere was sighted By
Columbus. A narrative of De Sotos
famous expedition was published in
1857 in the Portuguese language, and
was translated into English in 1909 by
one Hakiuyt, Of London In this an
cient journal it is stated as fact that
the intrepid Spaniard met with a
powerful tribe Of Indians upon the
ground which is now embraced in the
states Of the two Carolinas, and that
they gave their own tribal title as
"Chalaque." !" That these people were
the ancestors Of the modern Chero-
KEGS, there is no room for possible
question 1t requires only slight
change in the form, not in the sound ]
Of this orthography OF this ancient
name to make it identical with the
correct title Of the present Cherokee
people.
The word Cherokee" is only a cor
ruption in which the English tongue,
according to its well known habit in
dealing with foreign yocabularies.
strives to distort the correct term into
a shape to suit it's own convenience.
The tribe Of Indians known at the
present day among English-speaking
people as sCherokees'' call themselves
"Chalake.
1t may be remarked, however, in
passing, that the form Cherokee, as
popularized upon the English tongue,
may be p1fhsibly accounted for in this
way the Cherokee as all other Ian
guages are apt to be, was anciently
more or less troubled with corrupting
dialects. Among the most pretentious
Of these dialects there was one, (now
wholly extinct called the Over Hill,
which habitually substituted thesound
of ''r'' for that Of ''Ln In this dialect
the name,of the tribe was "Charake, -
a form Of articulation decidedly more
to the English organs Of
speech than the original "Chalake.
From this Oyerhillism to the real
English Cherokee the step is exceed
ingly easy, obvious, and very probable.
The white man, in his ignorance Of
Cherokee classics, may have allowed
himself to adopt the use Of an uncouth
professionalism instead Of the more ap-
proved patrial.
But.a more conclusive proof that the
ancient "Chalaquep Of the Portuguese
journalist is identical with the mod
srn "Cherokee" is found in the fact
that a hundred years after the tran
sient visit Of De Soto, when the Eng
ish began to people the Atlantic coast !
with colonists, they met with the
present tribe known as the Cherokees
then and there occupying the same |
ground upon which the Spanish ex-
pIorer smoked the pipe Of peace with
The "Chalaque" ia 1910.
The history Of the Cherokees prior
10 1540-who they were originally, /
where they arose, when and whence
they came into the garden Of the Caro-
inas -all, all is wrapped in an impen-
strable mystery The laborious re-
searches Of the ethnologist fail to cast
my satisfactory light upon the sub
|ect. The numerous So. called tradi- /
lions in reference to the matter are,
IS usual III such cases. altogether
IancifuI and uninstructiYe.
The century Intervening between /
the yisitof De Soto and the settlement /
lf the Carollnas By the white men is
liso a period in the history Of this
people which Is unrelieved by d single
.ay OF historic light: how they warred
ind held their own against the power
'ul band Of Powhattan, Of Virginia,
ne Six Nations and Shawnees Of the
iorfh and northwest, and the MuskO-
ices and Choctaws on the south, with