OCR Text |
Show PLAINS AND MOUNTAINS. 211 and good a practice, as to make people believe tnat they are cured by little sugar- pills marked aconit., belladonna, nux vomica, chinco., etc., upon the miniature vials that contain them. The medicine- men of the Sioux tribe have a sacred language which is unintelligible to the masses. As I said before, the medicine- man is a great deal thought of by the Indians, and they, like people generally with pale faces, are disposed to attribute a good deal of the work of nature to the doctor's remedies. The tribes I have seen are not the inveterate smokers the nation have the reputation of being, but all seem to in dulge, more or less. Pure tobacco is never smoked by the Indian, and with many no tobacco at all, but the dry bark of the young willow- tree. Their kilikinnik is supposed to consist of a mixture of one- third tobacco and the remainder of willow- bark or dried sumach leaves. I find the addition of these substances in smaller proportions is a great improve ment to the ordinary smoking tobacco, according to my taste. The Indian smokes differently from the white man, and inhales the fumes into his lungs, hence he cannot tolerate the pungency of our tobacco. I have seen three or four coughing and contorting their faces after a puff or two from the pipe of an officer, who passed it to them as an evidence of friendship. The Indian is not named in childhood, but assumes a name as he grows up for some distinguishing feat or peculiar characteristic, and changes it from time to time as more fit ting ones are suggested. Some of their names are very odd and some quite obscene. The wife is sometimes " wooed and won," as if there was something of sentiment in the Indian character, but oft-ener purchased without the wooing. When the desired ob ject is particularly attractive, and of a good family, the court ing and purchasing both may be required. Indians are po-lygamists, and when a brave or chief desires to multiply the number of his wives he often marries several sisters, if they can be had, not because of any particular fancy he may have |