It was either smoked in the pipe or sprinkled upon the fire, never rolled into cigarettes, as among the tribes of the Southwest, neither was it ever smoked for the mere pleasure of the sensation.
Of late years white neighbors have taught the Indians to chew it, but the habit is not aboriginal.
It is called tsâlû , a name which has lost its meaning in the Cherokee language, but is explained from the cognate Tuscarora, in which charhû′ , “tobacco,” can still be analyzed as “fire to hold in the mouth,” showing that the use is as old as the knowledge of the plant.
The tobacco originally in use among the Cherokee, Iroquois, and other eastern tribes was not the common tobacco of commerce ( Nicotiana tabacum ), which has been introduced from the West Indies, but the Nicotiana rustica , or wild tobacco, now distinguished by the Cherokee as tsâl-agăyûñ′li , “old tobacco,” and by the Iroquois as “real tobacco.” Its various uses in ritual and medicine are better described under other headings.
For the myth of its loss and recovery see number 6 , “How They Brought Back the Tobacco.” The cardinal flower ( Lobelia ), mullein ( Verbascum ), and one or two related species are called tsâliyu′stĭ , “like tobacco,” on account of their general resemblance to it in appearance, but they were never used in the same way.
The poisonous wild parsnip ( Peucedanum ?) bears an unpleasant reputation on account of its frequent use in evil spells, especially those intended to destroy the life of the victim.
In one of these conjurations seven pieces of the root are laid upon one hand and rubbed gently with the other, the omen being taken from the position of the pieces when the hand is removed.
It is said also that poisoners mix it secretly with the food of their intended victim, when, if he eats, he soon becomes drowsy, and, unless kept in motion until the effect wears off, falls asleep, never to wake again.
Suicides are said to eat it to procure death.
Before starting on a journey a small piece of the root is sometimes chewed and blown upon the body to prevent sickness, but the remedy is almost as bad as the disease, for the snakes are said to resent the offensive smell by biting the one who carries it.
In spite of its poisonous qualities, a decoction of the root is much used for steaming patients in the sweat bath, the idea seeming to be that the smell drives away the disease spirits.
The poison oak or poison ivy ( Rhus radicans ), so abundant in the damp eastern forests, is feared as much by Indians as by whites.
When obliged to approach it or work in its vicinity, the Cherokee strives to conciliate it by addressing it as “My friend” ( hi′gĭnaliĭ ).
If poisoned by it, he rubs upon the affected part the beaten flesh of a crawfish.
One variety of brier ( Smilax ) is called diʻnû′skĭ , “the breeder,” from a belief that a thorn of it, if allowed to remain in the flesh, will breed others in a day or two.
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The passage is a central example of animism, describing plants (tobacco, poison oak) and natural phenomena as possessing spirits, personalities, and agency that require human interaction, such as addressing poison oak as 'My friend' or fearing the resentment of snakes.
The passage mentions sprinkling tobacco upon the fire as a traditional practice, indicating the use of fire as a medium for ritual action, though it is not the central theme.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The text describes specific verbal and physical rituals, such as addressing poison oak as 'My friend' to conciliate it or using the smell of wild parsnip to drive away disease spirits, implying that words and actions have direct causal power over spiritual forces.