TCHIKILLI'S KASI'HTA LEGEND.
The Kasi'hta migration legend, in its detailed form as now before us, has been transmitted in the following manner:
After Tchikilli had delivered it in the year 1735 at Savannah, in the presence of Governor Oglethorpe, of the colonial authorities and people, and of over sixty of his Indian followers (cf. p. [193], the interpreter handed it over, written upon a buffalo skin, to the British, and in the same year it was brought to England. To these statements, the American Gazetteer[152] adds the following particulars, which seem to be founded on authentic information: "This speech was curiously written in red and black characters, on the skin of a young buffalo, and translated into English, as soon as delivered in the Indian language.... The said skin was set in a frame, and hung up in the Georgia Office, in Westminster. It contained the Indians' grateful acknowledgments for the honors and civilities paid to Tomochichi, etc."
Upon the request of Dr. Brinton, Mr. Nicholas Trübner made researches in the London offices for this pictured skin, but did not succeed in finding it. He discovered, however, a letter written by Tchikilli, dated March, 1734, which is deposited in the Public Record Office, Chancery Lane.[153]
The chances of rediscovering the English original of the legend are therefore almost as slim as those of recovering the lost books of Livy's History. But a translation from the English has been preserved in a German book of the period, and the style of this piece shows it to be an authentic and comparatively accurate rendering of the original. The German book referred to is a collection of pamphlets treating of colonial affairs, and published from 1735 to 1741; its first volume bears the title: Ausfuehrliche Nachricht von den Saltzburgischen Emigranten, die sich in America niedergelassen haben. Worin, etc. etc., Herausgegeben von Samuel Urlsperger, Halle, MDCCXXXV. The legend occupies pp. 869 to 876 of this first volume, and forms chapter six of the "Journal" of von Reck, the title of which is as follows: Herrn Philipp Georg Friederichs von Reck Diarium von Seiner Reise nach Georgien im Jahr 1735. F. von Reck was the commissary of those German-Protestant emigrants whom religious persecution had expelled from Salzburg, in Styria, their native city.