Although at first glance it might be thought that the name Tallige-wi
is but a corruption of Tsalagi, a closer study leads to the opinion
that it is a true Delaware word, in all probability connected with
waloh or walok, signifying a cave or hole (Zeisberger), whence we
find in the Walam Olum the word oligonunk rendered as "at the place
of caves." It would thus be an exact Delaware rendering of the same
name, "people of the cave country," by which, as we have seen, the
Cherokee were commonly known among the tribes. Whatever may be the
origin of the name itself, there can be no reasonable doubt as to
its application. "Name, location, and legends combine to identify the
Cherokees or Tsalaki with the Tallike; and this is as much evidence
as we can expect to produce in such researches." [4]
The Wyandot confirm the Delaware story and fix the identification
of the expelled tribe. According to their tradition, as narrated in
1802, the ancient fortifications in the Ohio valley had been erected
in the course of a long war between themselves and the Cherokee,
which resulted finally in the defeat of the latter. [5]
The traditions of the Cherokee, so far as they have been preserved,
supplement and corroborate those of the northern tribes, thus bringing
the story down to their final settlement upon the headwaters of the
Tennessee in the rich valleys of the southern Alleghenies. Owing to
the Cherokee predilection for new gods, contrasting strongly with
the conservatism of the Iroquois, their ritual forms and national
epics had fallen into decay even before the Revolution, as we learn
from Adair. Some vestiges of their migration legend still existed in
Haywood's time, but it is now completely forgotten both in the East
and in the West.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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