There are a number of ceremonies and regulations observed in
connection with the gathering of the herbs, roots, and barks, which
can not be given in detail within the limits of this paper. In
searching for his medicinal plants the shaman goes provided with a
number of white and red beads, and approaches the plant from a certain
direction, going round it from right to left one or four times,
reciting certain prayers the while. He then pulls up the plant by the
roots and drops one of the beads into the hole and covers it up with
the loose earth. In one of the formulas for hunting ginseng the hunter
addresses the mountain as the “Great Man” and assures it that he comes
only to take a small piece of flesh (the ginseng) from its side, so
that it seems probable that the bead is intended as a compensation to
the earth for the plant thus torn from her bosom. In some cases the
doctor must pass by the first three plants met until he comes to the
fourth, which he takes and may then return for the others. The bark
is always taken from the east side of the tree, and when the root or
branch is used it must also be one which runs out toward the east, the
reason given being that these have imbibed more medical potency from
the rays of the sun.
When the roots, herbs, and barks which enter into the prescription
have been thus gathered the doctor ties them up into a convenient
package, which he takes to a running stream and casts into the water
with appropriate prayers. Should the package float, as it generally
does, he accepts the fact as an omen that his treatment will be
successful. On the other hand, should it sink, he concludes that some
part of the preceding ceremony has been improperly carried out and
at once sets about procuring a new package, going over the whole
performance from the beginning. Herb-gathering by moonlight, so
important a feature in European folk medicine, seems to be no part
of Cherokee ceremonial. There are fixed regulations in regard to
the preparing of the decoction, the care of the medicine during
the continuance of the treatment, and the disposal of what remains
after the treatment is at an end. In the arrangement of details the
shaman frequently employs the services of a lay assistant. In these
degenerate days a number of upstart pretenders to the healing art have
arisen in the tribe and endeavor to impose upon the ignorance of their
fellows by posing as doctors, although knowing next to nothing of the
prayers and ceremonies, without which there can be no virtue in the
application. These impostors are sternly frowned down and regarded
with the utmost contempt by the real professors, both men and women,
who have been initiated into the sacred mysteries and proudly look
upon themselves as conservators of the ancient ritual of the past.