The consideration which the doctor receives for his services is called
ugista´‛tĭ, a word of doubtful etymology, but probably derived from
the verb tsĭ´giû, “I take” or “I eat.” In former times this was
generally a deer-skin or a pair of moccasins, but is now a certain
quantity of cloth, a garment, or a handkerchief. The shamans disclaim
the idea that the ugistâ´‛tĭ is pay, in our sense of the word, but
assert that it is one of the agencies in the removal and banishment
of the disease spirit. Their explanation is somewhat obscure, but
the cloth seems to be intended either as an offering to the disease
spirit, as a ransom to procure the release of his intended victim, or
as a covering to protect the hand of a shaman while engaged in pulling
the disease from the body of the patient. The first theory, which
includes also the idea of vicarious atonement, is common to many
primitive peoples. Whichever may be the true explanation, the evil
influence of the disease is believed to enter into the cloth, which
must therefore be sold or given away by the doctor, as otherwise
it will cause his death when the pile thus accumulating reaches the
height of his head. No evil results seem to follow its transfer from
the shaman to a third party. The doctor can not bestow anything thus
received upon a member of his own family unless that individual gives
him something in return. If the consideration thus received, however,
be anything eatable, the doctor may partake along with the rest of the
family. As a general rule the doctor makes no charge for his services,
and the consideration is regarded as a free-will offering. This remark
applies only to the medical practice, as the shaman always demands
and receives a fixed remuneration for performing love charms, hunting
ceremonials, and other conjurations of a miscellaneous character.
Moreover, whenever the beads are used the patient must furnish a
certain quantity of new cloth upon which to place them, and at the
close of the ceremony the doctor rolls up the cloth, beads and all,
and takes them away with him. The cloth thus received by the doctor
for working with the beads must not be used by him, but must be sold.
In one instance a doctor kept a handkerchief which he received for his
services, but instead sold a better one of his own. Additional cloth
is thus given each time the ceremony is repeated, each time a second
four days’ course of treatment is begun, and as often as the doctor
sees fit to change his method of procedure. Thus, when he begins
to treat a sick man for a disease caused by rabbits, he expects to
receive a certain ugista´‛tĭ; but, should he decide after a time
that the terrapin or the red bird is responsible for the trouble, he
adopts a different course of treatment, for which another ugista´‛tĭ
is necessary. Should the sickness not yield readily to his efforts, it
is because the disease animal requires a greater ugista´‛tĭ, and the
quantity of cloth must be doubled, so that on the whole the doctrine
is a very convenient one for the shaman. In many of the formulas
explicit directions are given as to the pay which the shaman is
to receive for performing the ceremony. In one of the Gatigwanasti
formulas, after specifying the amount of cloth to be paid, the writer
of it makes the additional proviso that it must be “pretty good cloth,
too,” asserting as a clincher that “this is what the old folks said a
long time ago.”
The ugista´‛tĭ can not be paid by either one of a married couple to
the other, and, as it is considered a necessary accompaniment of the
application, it follows that a shaman can not treat his own wife in
sickness, and vice versa. Neither can the husband or wife of the sick
person send for the doctor, but the call must come from some one
of the blood relatives of the patient. In one instance within the
writer’s knowledge a woman complained that her husband was very sick
and needed a doctor’s attention, but his relatives were taking no
steps in the matter and it was not permissible for her to do so.