West of the council house, a few feet from it, the Cherokees used to have what I will call a treasure house. There the hunters deposited the meat they procured for the feast and there people, through the country, stored away their first fruits, till they were called for, either to eat or to cook. There also the people deposited the provision for the priest. The meat and skin of every deer killed for sacrifice belonged to the priest, as only a small piece of the tongue was sacrificed. The skins also of all the deer killed for religious feasts, belonged to the priests.
It is said by some, that the Cherokees, after this feast were purer then at any period in the year. But such persons have probably united in their own mind the feast of first fruits, with that of purification, which was celebrated about the first of the first autumnal new moon, tudnding? to the Cherokees, the world was created the first of autumn, with the fruits ripe. That new moon is therefore, with them, the great moon & begins the year, at or near the commencement, therefore, of this moon, they celebrate the feast of purification. They call it the medicine feast, or feast for boiling medicine. Yet by medicine they comprehend, not only what heals the body, but also whatever purifies the body or soul from any moral defilement. The stated season for celebrating this feast was about the first of the September new moon, or rather, the first of Autumn. Their Autumn, evidently, did not commence so soon as our September, and therefore the great moon, is now, by some, to be their October, & by then the November new moon.
Seven days previous to the above feast, the seven counsellors called an all night dance, and then gave notice that the medicine feast would commence on the seventh day from that time. The priests right hand man then sibrtnd seven cunsellors one from each clan, to assist on the occasion, and to fast, and also seven men to cleanse the council house, repair the altar, - now whitewash all the white seats, benches and vessels used on the occasion, and also all the beams, joists &c of the council house, and to whip all the houses in the town (drive away the evil spirits) He then selected seven men to hunt and others to provide articles for purification & others to wait on the whippers, and the singer of the yawa.
The next morning, the priest, - his right hand man, and seven counsellors, (newly appointed) and the seven women,