The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1914-06-25
CHEROKEEs UNIQUE RACE
Were Called Mountaineers of North
America.

= Were Called Mountaineers of NORTH
i America.
The Cherokee tribe of North
American Indians was in the days
! of long ago d unique race in many
essential respects ard they were an
exclusive and isolated people. being
called the mountaineers of North
America by the earliest white people
who came to know them. This
great tribe at all times proved
themselves we'll able to hold their
own against any number of confede-
rate tribes living north of them
and with whom they at different
times, clashed in warfare. Taking
all in the Cherokees when this con-
/ tinent was first visited by the white
man, were the most powerful and
the most advanced body of Indians
north of the Rio Grande
Anciently the Cherokees lived in
what they called toWns-that is, in
neighborhoods or settlements con-
sisting of a large, common, field or
farm, surrounded by the dwellings
or "teepees' of the families in the
village separated from each other
by miles of open, generally unin-
habited, country devoted to natural
game.
The great tribe or nation was,
in the early days of its history, d.
vided into seven Clans each clan
being composed of persons of both
sexes, related to each other on tie
maternal side and comprising one
great " family entire tribe thus
consisting of but seven of these So
called families, Members of each
clan or family were forbidden by a
strict law of the natural from mar
rying within the same clan under
penalty of death, the clan relation
ship being the first thing taught to
the young members, of the tribe;
and always perfectly known to
the individual himself. /
The children La boy and a girl,
for example, born to couple, the
father of one clan and the mother
of another, became members of the
mothers clan; when the girl grew
up and was married, her children
belonged to the same clan as her
self, but the children of the son. by
the daughter of a mother of another,
became members of the clan to
which the woman he had married
belonged, which was always different
from his own.
When a man married the second
time and had children by both wives,
members of separate clans. the
youngsters always became members
of the clan of their mother. although
they were half brothers and sisters.
A stringent tribal regulation for
babe marriage between blood re-
lation OH the fathers side within
a certain degree, with as absolute
severity between members of the
same clan. 1t was in this strict
manner that the Cherokees avoided
the disastrous results that always
followed the habit or custom of in
breeding, and for this reason mostly
they developed into healthy, active
and intelligent race of Indians.
However; this great tribe owned
its superiority not alone to the clan
system" of marriage and descent, as
the high regard paid to the feminine
portion of the race was another re-
markable and beneficial feature of
their success. The women of the
tribe were held equal with men in
personal rights and considered far
superior as respected the principle
of heredity and transmission of
qualities, always vitality important
to the Cherokees. This infexible
rule pertaining to marriage, requiring
the infusion of new blood at every
union, was the cause of another be-
ing added to the seven then existing
clans of the tribe.
In one Of the early years of the
18th century, party of some Is or
20 warriors, members of the Chero-
kee Nation. reached the vast wilder
ness known formerly as the dark
and bloody ground" returning from
a foray of revenge against a hostile
Northern tribe.
In the center of this section, an
immense solitude far from the hab-
ltations of any body of red men, a
region rarely visited by members of
any tribe, a tract upon which, the
braves were 10th is tread, this small