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(19.) From time immemorial they have had possession of the same territory which at present they occupy. They affirm that their forefathers sprung from the ground or descended from the clouds upon those hill. These lands of their ancestors they value above all things in the world. They venerate the places where their bones are interred, & esteem is disgraceful in the highest degree to relinquish their depositories. The man that would refrain to take the filed in defense of these heredity possession, is regarded by them as a coward and treated as an outcast from their nation." [See History of South Carolina & Georgia] Such was the character & situation of the Cherokees at the settlement of South Carolina & Georgia. We need not say any thing of the present condition & character, more than this, that they are here yet on the same ground, and on the same hills excepting that portion