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                                                          Brainerd May 10 1837                                                             205

Mr John Howard Payne

N. York

Dear Sir

 Yours of March 17th was duly received; and I am happy in embracing the first opportunity of answering your enquiries.

A Cherokee by the name of A ska lo ti gi ski or DadS G A Yody. + says that not long ago some Cherokees wore a long beard and others pulled out their beard with a wire. wound in a coil and when wire could not be obtained, they put turpentine on the beard, which enabled them to take hold of the beard & pull it out. All had beard, unless by repeatedly pulling it, they had prevented its growing.

 Another Cherokee, by the name of A tsa ta wie or fish, probably about 80 years of age, says that formerly many Cherokees wore a long beard, yet some others considered it unbecoming, and pulled their beard out. On being asked if he ever knew Cherokees without beard, he replied that he thought there were a few, whose beard had been prevented by means of something their parents rubbed on their faces when boys.
The Raven, a blind man, supposed to be considerably over a hundred years old, says that anciently the Cherokee men universally wore a long beard, and considered it peculiarly ornamental. It was considered an unpardonable offense almost to seize a man by his beard, so much so, that the offender was generally killed by witchcraft before another morning.
 The beard grew from four to six inches long, and was sometimes platted but generally hung loose. That on the upper lip was sometimes pulled out, but more commonly kept cut about half an inch long, just so as not to hang down over the mouth. In this manner the ancient Cherokees always wore their beard.
 The Raven says that when he was a youth, hearing he should not have a thick & heavy beard, resorted to artificial means to make it grow. Taking a piece of skin from the underside of a Buffalo's jaw, with the longhair on it, and chestnut burrs, he burnt them, and mixed the ashes with bears oil. This he rubbed wherever he wished the beard to grow. Wishing to excell all others with regard to beard, he concluded to rub the above ointment all over his face, except a small space about his eyes. He accordingly did so, but was disappointed in his expectations and had only a common beard.
That the Cherokees anciently wore a long beard appears also from other circumstances. For instance, when a priest
+ English Thomas Smith