never again drink whiskey. Whiskey must be banished." He had Will Thomas write out a pledge: "The undersigned Cherokees, belonging to the town of Qualla agree to abandon the use of spirituous liquors." Yonaguska signed it, followed by the council (chiefs of the clans) and town residents. From the signing of the pledge until Yonaguska's death in 1839 at the age of 80, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians refrained from using liquor. On the few occasions when he learned of someone breaking the pledge, Yonaguska had the culprit whipped. Throughout the early 19th century, federal agents tried to persuade Yonaguska to remove his people to lands west of the Mississippi River. He firmly resisted their efforts, declaring that the Cherokee were safer among their rocks and mountains, and belonged in their ancestral homeland. Other chiefs made the Treaty of 1819, by which they sold Cherokee lands along the Tuckasegee River. At the time, Yonaguska was given set aside in a bend of the river between Ela and Bryson City, including the ancient Mississippian culture site of Kituwa, which the Cherokee held sacred. As pressure increased by the federal government for removal of Indians from the Southeast, Yonaguska rejected every offer for land exchange and subsidies. Having seen European-American settlers push westward through North Carolina, he did not believe they would ever be satisfied. He did not want to leave his homeland and face more removal pressure later. He thought the United States government promises of protection were "too often broken; they are like the reeds in yonder river—they are all lies." The missionary Samuel Goodenough worked with Elias Boudinot to translate and print the Gospel of St Matthew in Cherokee. Yonaguska insisted on hearing it read to him before allowing its circulation. He reportedly said about the gospel: Well, it seems a good book - strange that the white people are no better, after having had it so long. Yonaguska approved the distribution of the scriptures to his people. Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians The treaties of 1817 and 1819 with the federal government reduced the territory of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina, as they gave up land to European-American settlers. In 1824 Yonaguska gathered the remaining Cherokee outside the new boundaries. They settled together at Soco Creek on lands purchased for them by his adopted son, Will Thomas, as the Cherokee were not allowed to buy land