The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-12-21

bounding stag. 1t is said that more
than 500 of them lost their lives in
the war Of the Revolution.
Ravaged by Smallpox.
Just a short while after the Rev.
olution their number was reduced
to less than one-half by smallpox.
There is tradition that the dreaded
plague was INTRODUCED among them
through the ayarice of some white
men in order that they might be en-
abled more easily to get possession
of the rich lands of the Indians. In
all probability this is true. The
fatality of the dreaded plague among
them was something terrible. Scores
died each day according to tradition,
and it appeared as though every man,
woman and child of the tribe must
fall before the ravages of the dis
ease
Catawba Indian doctors treated all
diseases in the same manner and
their method was to administer a
corn sweat The mode of giving this
sweat was to boil ears of corn, slip
shucked, take them steaming out of
the pot, and pack them closely
around the patient, and as soon as it
produced a profuse sweat the patients
were taken up and thrown int the
Catawba river. 1t was more fire.
quently a dead Indian than living
one that was taken out of the
stream. Experience proved no teach
er to Catawba Indian physicians, and
often as many as twenty-five dead
bodies were taken from the stream
each day during the prevalence of
the scourge.
A Disastrous Move.
The older Indians Of the tribal
remnant still tell the story told them
by their parents of the time when
the fathers of the tribe agreed to the
proposition of the State of South
Carolina to sell them what little
lands they had left and join the
Cherokee nation in the vicinity of
Haywood, North Carolina. 1t was
seventy years or more ago that the
State persuaded them to sell their
lands and move. Most of the In
dians were opposed to the step, but
through various forms of intimida-
tion and other means they were at
last persuaded to move out. 1t was
a sad day among them when they
went to join the Cherokees. When
they arrived there North Carolina
refused to let them stay. They were
in a terrible plight since they had
nowhere to go. Finally they wan
dered back to their former haunts,
and there they have since remained
on the few acres allotted them; the
women engaged in the manufacture
of rude pottery, pans and pipes
which they peddle throughout York
and adjoining counties for provisions
and old clothes, and the men, most
of whom are too proud and worth
less to work, living in worthless dig
nifty upon the mere pittance appro-
priated by the State, and from wages
paid for doing odd jobs when they
are absolutely compelled to work.
A striking characteristic of this
fast dying tribe is their contempt for
and adherence of negroes. Even
back before the war they are said
to have held the negroes in disdatn
and the privations and changes in
their condition during recent years
have not changed their feeling of
antipathy for the blacks. Most of
the white people, in fact all of them,
living in the vicinity of the Catawba
reservation consider the Indians their
interiors socially and otherwise, and
have as little to do with them as pos
sible except in business way. Since,
therefore, the whites will have little
to do with them and they refuse to
mingle with the negroes, they are
forced to live almost wholly unto
themselves.
Education and Religion.
Most of the Catawbas can read and
write, several of them have been stu
dents in the Carlisle Indian School,
and all of the young Indians attend
the school which is conducted on the
reservation several months each year.
Up until the past few years most of
them have been members of the Nor
mon church and until a short while
ago they practiced polygamy. A
Baptist church has recently been
built on the reservation, and quite
number of the Indians have con-