The seven Indian Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation attending as they had been desir'd with their Interpreter, Col. Johnson, Govr of South Carolina Sir William Keith and several other gentlemen Their Lords explained to them by their Interpreter (who was sworn) the Form of a Treaty with them agreed at the last meeting in the words following
Whereas you Scay-agusta Oukah Chief of the Town of Tassetsa You Scalilasken Ket-agusta, You Tethtowe, You Clogoittah (Family line of Chief Jimmie W. Kersh, Chief Richard Botts, and Chief, Dr. Christopher Spruell), You Colannah, You Unnaconoy, You Oucounacon have been deputed by the whole nation of the Cherokee Indians to come to Great Britain where you have seen the great King George and in token of your obedience have laid the Crown of your Nation with the scalps of your enemies and feathers of peace at his Maj. feet Now the King of Great Britain bearing love in his heart to the powerful and great nation of the Cherokee Indians His good friends and allies His Maj. has empowered us to treat with you here and accordingly we now speak to you as if the whole Nation of the Cherokees their old men, young men wives and children were all present And you are to understand the words we speak as the words of the Great King our Master whom you have seen And we shall understand the words which you speak to us as the words of all your people with open and true hearts to the Great King And thereupon we give four pieces of striped duffles.
Hear then the words of the Great King whom you have seen and who has commanded us to tell you
That the English everywhere on all sides of the Great Mountains and Lakes are his people and his children whom he loves That their Friends are his Friends and their Enemies are his Enemies That he takes it kindly that the Great Nation of Cherokees have you sent you hither a great way to brighten the chain of friendship between him and them & between your people and his people That the chain of friendship between him & the Cherokee Indians is like the sun which both shines here and also upon the great Mountains where they live and equally warms the hearts of the Indians and of the English That as there are no spots or blackness in the sun so is there not any rust or foulness in this chain and as the Great King has fastened one end of it to his own breast he desires you will carry the other end of the chain and fasten it well to the breast of your Nation and to the breasts of your old wise men your Captains and all your people never more to be broken or made loose And hereupon we give four pieces of white cloth to be dyed blue.
The Great King and the Cherokee Indians being thus fastened together by the chain of friendship he has ordered his people and children the English in Carolina to trade with the Indians and to furnish them with all manner of goods that they want and to make haste to build houses and to plant corn from Charles Town towards the Town of the Cherokees behind the great Mountains for he desires that the English and the Indians may live together as the children of one Family whereof the Great King is a kind & loving Father And as the King has given his land on both sides of the Great Mountains to his own children the English so he now gives to the Cherokee Indians the privilege of living where they please and he has order'd his Governor to forbid the English from building houses or planting corn near any Indian Town for fear that your young people should kill the cattle and young lambs and so quarrel with the English and hurt them And hereupon we give two other pieces of white cloth to be dyed red.
The Great Nation of the Cherokees being now the children of the Great King of Great Britain and he their Father the Cherokees must treat the English as brethren of the same family and must be always ready at the Governor's command to fight against any Nation whether they be white men or Indians who shall dare to molest or hurt the English and hereupon we give Twenty guns. The Nation of The Cherokees shall on their part take care to keep the trading path clean and that there be no blood in the path where the English white men tread even though they should be accompanied by any other people with whom the Cherokees are at war Whereupon we give four hundred pounds weight of gunpowder.
That the Cherokees shall not suffer their people to trade with the white men of any other Nation but the English nor permit white men of any other Nation to build any Forts Cabins or plant corn amongst them or near to any of the Indian Towns or upon the land which belong to the Great King and if any such attempt should be made you must acquaint the English Governor therewith and do whatever he directs in order to maintain & defend the Great King's right to the Country of Carolina Whereupon we give five hundred pounds weight of swan shot and five hundred pounds weight of bullets.
That if any Negro slaves shall run away into the woods from their English masters the Cherokee Indians shall endeavour to apprehend them and either bring them back to the Plantation from whence they run away or to the Governor and for every Negro so apprehended and brought back the Indian who brings him shall receive a gun and a match coat Whereupon we give a box of vermillion ten thousand of gun flints and six dozen of hatchets.
That if by any accidental misfortune it should happen that an Englishman should kill an Indian The King or Great Man of the Cherokees shall first complain to the English Governor and the man who did it shall be punished by the English laws as if he had killed an Englishman and in like manner if an Indian kills an Englishman the Indian who did it shall be delivered up to the Governor & be punished by the same English law as if he was an Englishman Whereupon we give twelve dozen of spring knives four dozen of brass kettles and ten dozen of belts.
You are to understand all we have now said to be the words of the Great King whom you have seen and as a token that his heart is open and true to his children and friends the Cherokees & to all their people he gives his hand in this Belt which he desires may be kept and shown to all your people and to their children and children's children to confirm what is now spoken and to bind this Treaty of Peace and Friendship betwixt the English and the Cherokees as long as the Mountains and Rivers shall last or the sun shine Whereupon we give this Belt of Wampum And their Lordships desired they would give their Answers thereto on Wednesday morning next Their Lordships then showed them the samples of the above-mentioned presents and the chief of the Indians said to the Board by his
Interpreter that they were not come hither as enemies but as friends That altho' they did not expect to see the King yet they had seen him And that they would give their Answer to the said Treaty on Wednesday morning next.
Wednesday Sept. 9. 1730.
The seven Indian Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation attending as they had been desired with their Interpreter as likewise Col. Johnson & Sir William Keith Their Lordships told them they were ready to hear what the said Indian Chiefs had to say in answer to the propositions made to them in behalf of his Majesty on Monday last
Whereupon Scalilosken Ket-agusta being directed by Sky-agusta Oukah and the rest of the said Indians to speak in their behalf deliver'd himself in the following terms—
We are come hither from a dark mountainous place where nothing but darkness is to be found but are now in a place where there is light. There was a person in our Country with us he gave us a yellow token of warlike Honour that is left with Moyitchoy of Telloqua And as Warriors we received it He came to us like a Warrior from you a Man he was his talk was upright and the token he left preserves his memory amongst us.
We look upon you as if the Great King George was present and we love you as representing the Great King and shall dye in the same way of thinking.
The Crown of our Nation is different from that which the Great King George wears and from that which we saw in the Tower Butto us it is all one and the chain of friendship shall be carried to our people
We look upon the Great King George as the Sun and as our Father and upon ourselves as his children For tho' we are red and you white yet our hands and hearts are join'd together.
When we shall have acquainted our people with what we have seen our children from generation to generation will always remember it.
In war we shall always be as one with you The Great King George's enemies shall be our enemies his people and ours shall be always one and dye together.
We came hither naked and poor as the worm out of the earth but you have everything and we that have nothing must love you and can never break the chain of friendship that is between us.
Here stands the Govr of Carolina whom we know This small rope which we show you is all we have to bind our slaves with and may be broken but you have iron chains for yours However if we catch your slaves we shall bind them as well as we can and deliver them to our friends again and have no pay for it
We have look'd round for the person that was in our Country he is not here however we must say that he talk'd uprightly to us & we shall never forget him
Your white people may very safely build houses near us We shall hurt nothing that belongs to them for we are the children of one Father the Great King and shall live and dye together.
Then laying down his Feathers upon the table headed This is our way of talking which is the same to us as your letters in the Book are to you And to you Beloved Men we deliver these feathers in confirmation of all we have said and of our Agreement to your Articles.
After which their Lordships told them they were well pleased with the consent they had expressed to the articles proposed to them in his Majesty's behalf.