full.

The southern Atlantic coast of the United States was principally
occupied by the Muskokee or Creek tribe, who occupied the territory as
far west as the Mississippi. Their language was first reduced to writing
in the Greek alphabet, by the Moravian missionaries, about 1733; but at
present a modified form of the English alphabet is in use. They had a
very definite and curious tribal history, full of strange metaphors and
obscure references. It was, according to old authorities, "written in
red and black characters, on the skin of a young buffalo," and was read
off from this symbolic script by their head-chief, Chekilli, to the
English, in 1735, and skin and translation were both sent to London, and
both lost there. But, luckily, the Moravian missionaries preserved a
faithful translation of it, and this, some years ago, I brought to the
notice of students of these matters.[19]

Its authenticity is beyond question, and to this day the chiefs of the
Creeks recollect many of the points it contains, and have repeated it to
the eminent linguist, Mr. A.S. Gatschet, who has taken it down afresh
from their lips, and is preparing it for publication. Collateral
evidence is also furnished by "General" Milfort, a French adventurer,
who lived among the Creeks several years, toward the close of the last
century, and testifies that they preserved, "by beads and belts," the
memory of the adventures of their ancestors, and recited to him a long
account of them, which he repeats with that negligence which everywhere
marks his carelessly prepared volume.[20]

Their northern neighbors, the Cherokees, use an alphabet invented by
Sequoyah, one of themselves, in 1824. It is syllabic, of eighty-five
characters, and is used for printing. Sequoyah had no intention of