OCR Text |
Show aio THE INDIANS OF THE their subdivisions, with their chief. At the death of the head of a tribe, the other chiefs select from their number his successor, giving preference to the child- chief, all other qualifications being equal. The medicine- man is probably, next to the chief, the most important and distinguished member of the tribe to which he belongs. He is doctor, sorcerer, priest, and al together a wonderful man. For the cure of disease he re lies principally upon the laying- on of hands ; and I hope, for the benefit of sick savages, he is more successful than the Mormons are in the same practice. These manipula tions are made with many gestures, amidst all kinds of sounds on the part of the persons present looking on, as well as the manipulator. They use also certain herb infusions, the principal virtue of which is supposed to be imparted by the ceremony which goes on during the preparation. Some of the tribe treat their diseases indiscriminately by taking a hot steam- bath, and a cold plunge immediately afterward. They construct a little bath- house with twigs, and throw their blankets over it, or put their blankets over their heads, taking some very hot stones under them, pour on the water, which causes the steam to arise, and the perspiration to pour out upon the skin, when they will come out of their steam-baths, which are taken by a stream, and plunge into the cold water. If the disease can be localized, the most reliable remedy under such circumstances is for the medicine- man to apply his mouth and suck ( imagine the shudder of the writer) the skin or diseased part to remove the morbid humors. If the patient is suffering from a wound, that process is almost certainly gone through with. They not unfrequently prac tice a little chicanery, and work upon the imagination of the patient by producing an insect, or a bit of stone, or al most anything, while they are going through their cantations and manipulations, which they had secreted about their per son, and then present it to the patient with the representa tion that it is the embodiment of the disease that has been extracted from the system. Why isn't this as justifiable |