Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney
50. The Uktena and the Ûlûñsû'ti (p. 297): The belief in the great
1892 words | Chapter 205
Uktena and the magic power of the Ûlûñsû'ti is firmly implanted in the
Cherokee breast. The Uktena has its parallel in the Gitchi-Kenebig
or Great Horned Serpent of the northern Algonquian tribes, and is
somewhat analogous to the Zemo`gu'ani or Great Horned Alligator of the
Kiowa. Myths of a jewel in the head of a serpent or of a toad are so
common to all Aryan nations as to have become proverbial. Talismanic
and prophetic stones, which are carefully guarded, and to which
prayer and sacrifice are offered, are kept in many tribes (see Dorsey,
Teton Folklore, in American Anthropologist, April, 1889). The name of
the serpent is derived from akta, "eye," and may be rendered "strong
looker," i.e., "keen eyed," because nothing within the range of its
vision can escape discovery. From the same root is derived akta'ti,
"to look into," "to examine closely," the Cherokee name for a field
glass or telescope. By the English-speaking Indians the serpent is
sometimes called the diamond rattlesnake. The mythic diamond crest,
when in its proper place upon the snake's head, is called ulstitlû',
literally, "it is on his head," but when detached and in the hands
of the conjurer it becomes the Ulûñsû'ti, "Transparent," the great
talisman of the tribe. On account of its glittering brightness it is
sometimes called Igagû'ti, "Day-light." Inferior magic crystals are
believed to be the scales from the same serpent, and are sometimes
also called ulûñsû'ti.
The earliest notice of the Ulûñsû'ti is given by the young Virginian
officer, Timberlake, who was sent upon a peace mission to the Cherokee
in 1762, shortly after the close of their first war with the whites. He
says (Memoirs, pp. 47-49):
"They have many beautiful stones of different colours, many of which,
I am apt to believe, are of great value; but their superstition has
always prevented their disposing of them to the traders, who have made
many attempts to that purpose; but as they use them in their conjuring
ceremonies, they believe their parting with them or bringing them
from home, would prejudice their health or affairs. Among others
there is one in the possession of a conjurer, remarkable for its
brilliancy and beauty, but more so for the extraordinary manner in
which it was found. It grew, if we may credit the Indians, on the
head of a monstrous serpent, whose retreat was, by its brilliancy,
discovered; but a great number of snakes attending him, he being,
as I suppose by his diadem, of a superior rank among the serpents,
made it dangerous to attack him. Many were the attempts made by the
Indians, but all frustrated, till a fellow more bold than the rest,
casing himself in leather, impenetrable to the bite of the serpent
or his guards, and watching a convenient opportunity, surprised and
killed him, tearing his jewel from his head, which the conjurer has
kept hid for many years, in some place unknown to all but two women,
who have been offered large presents to betray it, but steadily
refused, lest some signal judgment or mischance should follow. That
such a stone exists, I believe, having seen many of great beauty;
but I cannot think it would answer all the encomiums the Indians
bestow upon it. The conjurer, I suppose, hatched the account of its
discovery; I have however given it to the reader, as a specimen of
an Indian story, many of which are much more surprising."
A few years later Adair gives us an account of the serpent and the
stone. According to his statement the uktenas had their home in a
deep valley between the heads of the Tuckasegee and the "northern
branch of the lower Cheerake river" (i. e., the Little Tennessee),
the valley being the deep defile of Nantahala, where, by reason of its
gloomy and forbidding aspect, Cherokee tradition locates more than
one legendary terror. With pardonable error he confounds the Uktena
with the Chief of the Rattlesnakes. The two, however, are distinct,
the latter being simply the head of the rattlesnake tribe, without
the blazing carbuncle or the immense size attributed to the Uktena.
"Between two high mountains, nearly covered with old mossy rocks,
lofty cedars and pines, in the valleys of which the beams of the
sun reflect a powerful heat, there are, as the natives affirm, some
bright old inhabitants or rattlesnakes, of a more enormous size than
is mentioned in history. They are so large and unwieldy, that they
take a circle almost as wide as their length to crawl around in their
shortest orbit; but bountiful nature compensates the heavy motion of
their bodies, for, as they say, no living creature moves within the
reach of their sight, but they can draw it to them....
"The description the Indians give us of their colour is as various
as what we are told of the camelion, that seems to the spectator to
change its colour, by every different position he may view it in; which
proceeds from the piercing rays of the light that blaze from their
foreheads, so as to dazzle the eyes, from whatever quarter they post
themselves--for in each of their heads, there is a large carbuncle,
which not only repels, but they affirm, sullies the meridian beams
of the sun. They reckon it so dangerous to disturb these creatures,
that no temptation can induce them to betray their secret recess
to the prophane. They call them and all of the rattlesnake kind,
kings, or chieftains of the snakes, and they allow one such to every
different species of the brute creation. An old trader of Cheeowhee
told me, that for the reward of two pieces of stroud cloth, he engaged
a couple of young warriors to shew him the place of their resort,
but the head-men would not by any means allow it, on account of a
superstitious tradition--for they fancy the killing of them would
expose them to the danger of being bit by the other inferior species of
that serpentine tribe, who love their chieftains, and know by instinct
those who maliciously killed them, as they fight only in their own
defence and that of their young ones, never biting those who do not
disturb them."--History of the American Indians, pp. 237-238.
In another place (page 87) he tells us of an ulûñsûti owned by a
medicine-man who resided at Tymahse (Tomassee), a former Cherokee
town on the creek of the same name near the present Seneca, South
Carolina. "The above Cheerake prophet had a carbuncle near as big as
an egg, which they said he found where a great rattlesnake lay dead,
and that it sparkled with such surprising lustre as to illuminate his
dark winter house, like strong flashes of continued lightning, to the
great terror of the weak, who durst not upon any account approach
the dreadful fire-darting place, for fear of sudden death. When he
died it was buried along with him, according to custom, in the town
of Tymahse, under the great beloved cabbin [seat], which stood in the
westernmost part of that old fabric, where they who will run the risk
of searching may luckily find it."
Hagar also mentions the "Oolunsade," and says, on the authority of
John Ax: "He who owns a crystal can call one of the Little People to
him at any time and make him do his bidding. Sometimes when people
are ill it is because some evil invisible being has taken possession
of him. Then the Little Man called up by the crystal can be placed
on guard near the ill man to prevent the evil spirit from re-entering
after it has been expelled" (MS Stellar Legends of the Cherokee).
The Southern Alleghenies, the old Cherokee country, abound with
crystals of various kinds, as well as with minerals. The Ulûñsû'ti
is described as a triangular crystal about two inches long, flat on
the bottom, and with slightly convex sides tapering up to a point,
and perfectly transparent with the exception of a single red streak
running through the center from top to bottom. It is evidently a
rare and beautiful specimen of rutile quartz, crystals of which,
found in the region, may be seen in the National Museum at Washington.
Other small stones of various shapes and color are in common use
among the Cherokee conjurers to discover lost articles or for other
occult purposes. These also are frequently called by the same name,
and are said to have been originally the scales of the Uktena, but
the Ulûñsû'ti--the talisman from the forehead of the serpent--is the
crystal here described, and is so exceedingly rare that so far as is
known only one remained among the East Cherokee in 1890. Its owner,
a famous hunter, kept it hidden in a cave, wrapped up in a deerskin,
but refused all inducements to show it, much less to part with it,
stating that if he should expose it to the gaze of a white man he
could kill no more game, even were he permitted to live after such
a sacrilege.
The possession of the talisman insures success in hunting, love,
rain making, and all other undertakings, but its great use is in life
divination, and when it is invoked for this purpose by its owner the
future is mirrored in the transparent crystal as a tree is reflected
in the quiet stream below.
When consulting it the conjurer gazes into the crystal, and after some
little time sees in its transparent depths a picture of the person
or event in question. By the action of the specter, or its position
near the top or bottom of the crystal, he learns not only the event
itself, but also its nearness in time or place.
Many of the East Cherokee who enlisted in the Confederate service
during the late war consulted the Ulûñsû'ti before starting, and
survivors declare that their experiences verified the prediction. One
of these had gone with two others to consult the fates. The conjurer,
placing the three men facing him, took the talisman upon the end of his
outstretched finger and bade them look intently into it. After some
moments they saw their own images at the bottom of the crystal. The
images gradually ascended along the red line. Those of the other two
men rose to the middle and then again descended, but the presentment
of the one who tells the story continued to ascend until it reached the
top before going down again. The conjurer then said that the other two
would die in the second year of the war, but the third would survive
through hardships and narrow escapes and live to return home. As the
prophecy, so the event.
When consulted by the friends of a sick man to know if he will recover;
the conjurer shows them the image of the sick man lying at the bottom
of the Ulûñsû'ti. He then tells them to go home and kill some game (or,
in these latter days, any food animal) and to prepare a feast. On the
appointed day the conjurer, at his own home, looks into the crystal
and sees there the picture of the party at dinner. If the image of the
sick man rises and joins them at the feast the patient will recover;
if otherwise, he is doomed.
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