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Show 46 TEAVELS AND ADVENTUEES IN THE FAE WEST. CHAPTER VII. Delaware Medicine Man-Illness of Capt. "Wolff-Author turns Doctor-Empty Com-missariat- Expedition to Fort Riley for Fresh Supplies-Professor Espy's Theory ol Rain-Indians on Kansas Prairies-Sleet and Snow Storm-Tent Blown Down- Approach of Cold Weather-" Pony Missing." DELAWARE MEDICINE MAN. FOE several days, Capt. Wolff, the chief of our Delawares, had been ailing, this morning I noticed some unusual preparations in their camp, on inquiring I was told that, in the woods, Capt. Wolff, who was very sick, was undergoing the Indian ceremony of " incantation," by one of the tribe, who was " a great medicine man." The ceremony was conducted in secret, but I found out afterwards the place, and from the mode which was explained to me, I understood the rite perfectly. A small lodge, composed of the branches of trees, high enough for a man to sit upright in, was built; in this the patient was placed in a state of perfect nudity. " The Medicine Man," who is outside, takes a " pipe," filled with " kin-nikinick and tobacco," and hands it in to the patient. While the Medicine Man recites the " all powerful words," the patient puffs away until the lodge is filled with smoke ; when the poor devil is almost suffocated, and exhausted, he is taken out, wrapped in his blankets, and conveyed to his own lodge. Feeling anxious about him, I went in to see him |