On a second visit to the reservation the writer once had a practical
illustration of the gaktû´ⁿta or tabu, which may be of interest as
showing how little sanitary ideas have to do with these precautions.
Having received several urgent invitations from Tsiskwa (Bird), an old
shaman of considerable repute, who was anxious to talk, but confined
to his bed by sickness, it was determined to visit him at his house,
several miles distant. On arriving we found another doctor named
Sû´ⁿkĭ (The Mink) in charge of the patient and were told that he
had just that morning begun a four days’ gaktû´ⁿta which, among
other provisions, excluded all visitors. It was of no use to argue
that we had come by the express request of Tsiskwa. The laws of the
gaktû´ⁿta were as immutable as those of the Medes and Persians,
and neither doctor nor patient could hope for favorable results from
the treatment unless the regulations were enforced to the letter.
But although we might not enter the house, there was no reason why we
should not talk to the old man, so seats were placed for us outside
the door, while Tsiskwa lay stretched out on the bed just inside and
The Mink perched himself on the fence a few yards distant to keep an
eye on the proceedings. As there was a possibility that a white man
might unconsciously affect the operation of the Indian medicine,
the writer deemed it advisable to keep out of sight altogether, and
accordingly took up a position just around the corner of the house,
but within easy hearing distance, while the interpreter sat facing
the doorway within a few feet of the sick man inside. Then began an
animated conversation, Tsiskwa inquiring, through the interpreter,
as to the purpose of the Government in gathering such information,
wanting to know how we had succeeded with other shamans and asking
various questions in regard to other tribes and their customs. The
replies were given in the same manner, an attempt being also made
to draw him out as to the extent of his own knowledge. Thus we
talked until the old man grew weary, but throughout the whole of
this singular interview neither party saw the other, nor was the
gaktû´ⁿta violated by entering the house. From this example it
must be sufficiently evident that the tabu as to visitors is not a
hygienic precaution for securing greater quiet to the patient, or to
prevent the spread of contagion, but that it is simply a religious
observance of the tribe, exactly parallel to many of the regulations
among the ancient Jews, as laid down in the book of Leviticus.