Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1921-03-02

~ NA$A1 ~ Eouldrk In0t ly-
mahse Is one Of the very few Chero-
kee names that have kept almost
exactly the original pronunciation.
The people Of Oconee have always
pronounced the name as IL written
Tomahse; the Is very short and
the Is very broad, while the SO is
scarcely sounded. The earliest set
tiers doubtless learned the pronun-
citation Of the name from the Chero-
KEGS themselves and handed It down
TO their children, perhaps from old
Blac'rbird. the last Indian chief that
lived on the soil of South Caro-
lima. The hill on which Blackbird
dwelled, and which still bears his
name, is in the vicinity OF Tymahse
and closely connected with Catee-
chee, little poem by the writer,
and may throw some light on the
legend Of the heroine who rode from
keeowee to Ninety-Six. Blackbird's
Hill Is more than half the way from
Keeowee to Isaqueena Falls, If the
reader will turn to Book Nv of the
poem and read 1t he will quickly see
the connection between Cateechcc's
escape and ba-nan-as-ka, Logan
says:
I'm a plantation on Cane Creek.
OF Pickens District" (now Oconee
county, "well known as the Moultric
Tract-having been originally grant
cd by the State to that distinguished
officer of the Revolution, but now
the property Of Major Robert Max.
WELLS famous spot still called
Blackbird's Hill, on which, in the
memory of living men, flourish
ing town once stood. Blackbird. the
last Of its chiefs. and man of mark
among his people, bequeathed his
name to the place after it had borne.
perhaps for centuries, the more eu-
phonious Indian name of Ca-nan-as-
ka. If Mr.. Logan had studied more
carefully the evanescent character
istic of the Indian towns, generally
speaking, he would not have fallen
into the very improbable guess that
Cananaska had stood on that spo,
for centuries. We have seen how
easily Blackbird's Hill supplanted
an older name. Such incidents we're
common
Cananaska was in my mind when
wrote the Escape of Allan Francis
and Cateechee. When I translate
the name Cananaska the reader will
readily see the connection, although
the assumption which make in the
use Of the name may be only con-
tributary evidence to the authentic
ity Of the legend.
Cananaska means, literally, The
Lost Mother" Or 1t may mean Just
as truly whence the mother. fled,"
or whence the trail Of the mother
was lost" Cateechee may have hid
den in the vicinity of Cananaska, or
she may have fled from that spot
with her babe bound on her back to
Isaqueena, path or way Of the Deer's
Head. where she leaped down the
falls. to the great disappointment of
the warriors who chased her Just as
described in the legend.
Oconee was to the red men who
loved It's territory "The Land OF
Springs" which fed the rivers In
whose crystal waters they performed
their daily ablutions, and the cool
springs, which made the rivers,
Stacked their thirst. "The Sunlight
OF their Divine Men" guided them
in the ways which they at least
thought virtuous. And now may Oco-
nee's beautiful hills be crowned
with the light Of the real Divine
Man, and may 1t enfold every cove,
glen and every broad valley be-
tween the hills with robe Of trans
parent gold till Jehovah becomes as
dear to every Saxon who breathes
the pure ozone Of her hills as Yo-he-
wah was to the simple children OF
the forest who preceded them in the
possession OF her hills and dales.
There r. more Catarrh In this asctlon
~ ~ ~tAHk kkaA