.MTA1MQ.NzAzOTU

205

    Thomas Nu tsa wi was a full Cherokee, born and brought up among the unenlightened Indians of his country. He had an uncle who was a pries to offer the sacrifices of the town, and perform the various duties of the priestly office, as attended to in his day. While Nutsawi was scratched out young his uncle selected him scratched out set him apart, and instructed him as his right hand man. He of course became learned in the ancient religious customs and principles of their fathers. He continued second or assistant priest till he was of probably about fifty years old. Having occasion to purchase some articles at a mission station, he paid for them in labour and thus came under the influence of set Christian instruction. In his youth he was married and had two children, but as his wife died scratched out during the boyhood of her youngest son, he never married again, but scratched out: lived in remained single to honour the wife of his youth, & to mourn for her. His general appearance was that of a mourner. To become acquainted with the doctrines and duties of the Bible, and the great salvation of the gospel, his attention was immediately enlisted, and in the course of a few months he became a firm believer in Christ. When he made this known to his aged uncle  his grief & mortification was so great, that he left the place where he had long resided, and went back into the mountains, to avoid the sight of those objects and plans which would remind him of his loss. Nutsawi also left his residence and made his home at the mission station, where he laboured for his support. At length he was seized with an oD family complaint, & viz. blowing at the lungs with which a number of his connexions had died. At first he thought of applying to the same means for relief that his predecessors had that is a certain root, and the charms of an Indian doctor words scratched out But on a second thought he determined to have no conjuring about him, and therefore resolved to apply to no doctor, but get the roots and prepare them as usual