Listen! Ha! In the Sun Land you repose, O Red Dog, O now you have
swiftly drawn near to hearken. O great ada´wĕhĭ[10], you never
fail in anything. O, appear and draw near running, for your prey never
escapes. You are now come to remove the intruder. Ha! You have settled
a very small part of it far off there at the end of the earth.
Listen! Ha! In the Frigid Land you repose, O Blue Dog. O now you have
swiftly drawn near to hearken, O great ada´wĕhĭ, you never fail
in anything. O, appear and draw near running, for your prey never
escapes. You are now come to remove the intruder. Ha! You have settled
a very small part of it far off there at the end of the earth.
Listen! Ha! In the darkening land you repose, O Black Dog. O, now you
have swiftly drawn near to hearken. O great ada´wĕhĭ, you never
fail in anything. O, appear and draw near running, for your prey never
escapes. You are now come to remove the intruder. Ha! You have settled
a very small part of it far off there at the end of the earth.
Listen! On Wa´hală you repose. O White Dog. Oh, now you have
swiftly drawn near to hearken. O great ada´wĕhĭ, you never fail
in anything. Oh, appear and draw near running, for your prey never
escapes. You are now come to remove the intruder. Ha! You have settled
a very small part of it far off there at the end of the earth.
Listen! On Wa´hală, you repose, O White Terrapin. O, now you have
swiftly drawn near to hearken. O great ada´wĕhĭ, you never fail in
anything. Ha! It is for you to loosen its hold on the bone. Belief is
accomplished.
(Prescription.)--Lay a terrapin shell upon (the spot) and keep it
there while the five kinds (of spirits) listen. On finishing, then
blow once. Repeat four times, beginning each time from the start. On
finishing the fourth time, then blow four times. Have two white beads
lying in the shell, together with a little of the medicine. Don’t
interfere with it, but have a good deal boiling in another vessel--a
bowl will do very well--and rub it on warm while treating by applying
the hands. And this is the medicine: What is called Yâ´na-Utsĕ´sta
(“bear’s bed,” the Aspidium acrostichoides or Christmas fern); and the
other is called Kâ´ga-Asgû´ⁿtagĭ (“crow’s shin,” the Adianthum
pedatum or Maidenhair fern); and the other is the common Egû´ⁿlĭ
(another fern); and the other is the Little Soft (-leaved)
Egû´ⁿlĭ (Osmunda Cinnamonea or cinnamon fern), which grows in the
rocks and resembles Yâna-Utsĕ´sta and is a small and soft (-leaved)
Egû´ⁿlĭ. Another has brown roots and another has black roots. The
roots of all should be (used).
Begin doctoring early in the morning; let the second (application) be
while the sun is still near the horizon; the third when it has risen
to a considerable height (10 a.m.); the fourth when it is above at
noon. This is sufficient. (The doctor) must not eat, and the patient
also must be fasting.
[Footnote 10: _Ada´wĕhĭ_ is a word used to designate one supposed
to have supernatural powers, and is applied alike to human beings
and to the spirits invoked in the formulas. Some of the mythic
heroes famous for their magic deeds are spoken of as _ada´wĕhĭ_
(plural _anida´wĕhĭ_ or _anida´we_), but in its application to
mortals the term is used only of the very greatest shamans. None of
those now belonging to the band are considered worthy of being thus
called, although the term was sometimes applied to one, Usawĭ, who
died some years ago. In speaking of himself as an ada´wĕhĭ, ase
occurs in som of the formulas, the shaman arrogates to himself the
same powers that belong to the gods. Our nearest equivalent is the
word magician, but this falls far short of the idea conveyed by the
Cherokee word. In the bible translation the word is used as the
equivalent of angel or spirit.]
_Explanation._
As this formula is taken from the manuscript of Gahuni, who died
nearly thirty years ago, no definite statement of the theory of the
disease, or its treatment, can be given, beyond what is contained in
the formula itself, which, fortunately, is particularly explicit;
most doctors contenting themselves with giving only the words of the
prayer, without noting the ceremonies or even the medicine used. There
are various theories as to the cause of each disease, the most common
idea in regard to rheumatism being that it is caused by the spirits of
the slain animals, generally the deer, thirsting for vengeance on the
hunter, as has been already explained in the myth of the origin of
disease and medicine.
The measuring-worm (Catharis) is also held to cause rheumatism, from
the resemblance of its motions to those of a rheumatic patient, and
the name of the worm _wahhĭlĭ´_ is frequently applied also to the
disease.
There are formulas to propitiate the slain animals, but these are a
part of the hunting code and can only be noticed here, although it may
be mentioned in passing that the hunter, when about to return to the
settlement, builds a fire in the path behind him, in order that the
deer chief may not be able to follow him to his home.
The disease, figuratively called the intruder (ulsgéta), is regarded
as a living being, and the verbs used in speaking of it show that it
is considered to be long, like a snake or fish. It is brought by the
deer chief and put into the body, generally the limbs, of the hunter,
who at once begins to suffer intense pain. It can be driven out only
by some more powerful animal spirit which is the natural enemy of the
deer, usually the dog or the Wolf. These animal gods live up above
beyond the seventh heaven and are the great prototypes of which the
earthly animals are only diminutive copies. They are commonly located
at the four cardinal points, each of which has a peculiar formulistic
name and a special color which applies to everything in the same
connection. Thus the east, north, west, and south are respectively the
Sun Land, the Frigid Land, the Darkening Land, and Wă´hală´, while
their respective mythologic colors are Red, Blue, Black, and White.
Wáhală is said to be a mountain far to the south. The white or red
spirits are generally invoked for peace, health, and other blessings,
the red alone for the success of an undertaking, the blue spirits to
defeat the schemes of an enemy or bring down troubles upon him, and
the black to compass his death. The white and red spirits are regarded
as the most powerful, and one of these two is generally called upon to
accomplish the final result.
In this case the doctor first invokes the Red Dog in the Sun Land,
calling him a great adáwehi, to whom nothing is impossible and who
never fails to accomplish his purpose. He is addressed as if out of
sight in the distance and is implored to appear running swiftly to the
help of the sick man. Then the supplication changes to an assertion
and the doctor declares that the Red Dog has already arrived to take
the disease and has borne away a small portion of it to the uttermost
ends of the earth. In the second, third, and fourth paragraphs the
Blue Dog of the Frigid Land, the Black Dog of the Darkening Land, and
the White Dog of Wáhală are successively invoked in the same terms
and each bears away a portion of the disease and disposes of it in
the same way. Finally, in the fifth paragraph, the White Terrapin of
Wáhălă is invoked. He bears off the remainder of the disease and
the doctor declares that relief is accomplished. The connection of the
terrapin in this formula is not evident, beyond the fact that he is
regarded as having great influence in disease, and in this case the
beads and a portion of the medicine are kept in a terrapin shell
placed upon the diseased part while the prayer is being recited.
The formulas generally consist of four paragraphs, corresponding to
four steps in the medical ceremony. In this case there are five, the
last being addressed to the terrapin instead of to a dog. The prayers
are recited in an undertone hardly audible at the distance of a few
feet, with the exception of the frequent _ha_, which seems to be used
as an interjection to attract attention and is always uttered in a
louder tone. The beads--which are here white, symbolic of relief--are
of common use in connection with these formulas, and are held between
the thumb and finger, placed upon a cloth on the ground, or, as in
this case, put into a terrapin shell along with a small portion of the
medicine. According to directions, the shell has no other part in the
ceremony.
The blowing is also a regular part of the treatment, the doctor either
holding the medicine in his mouth and blowing it upon the patient, or,
as it seems to be the case here, applying the medicine by rubbing,
and blowing his breath upon the spot afterwards. In some formulas the
simple blowing of the breath constitutes the whole application. In
this instance the doctor probably rubs the medicine upon the affected
part while reciting the first paragraph in a whisper, after which he
blows once upon the spot. The other paragraphs are recited in the
same manner, blowing once after each. In this way the whole formula
is repeated four times, with four blows at the end of the final
repetition. The directions imply that the doctor blows only at the end
of the whole formula, but this is not in accord with the regular mode
of procedure and seems to be a mistake.
The medicine consists of a warm decoction of the roots of four
varieties of fern, rubbed on with the hand. The awkward description
of the species shows how limited is the Indian’s power of botanic
classification. The application is repeated four times during the same
morning, beginning just at daybreak and ending at noon. Four is the
sacred number running through every detail of these formulas, there
being commonly four spirits invoked in four paragraphs, four blowings
with four final blows, four herbs in the decoction, four applications,
and frequently four days’ gaktuⁿ´ta or tabu. In this case no tabu
is specified beyond the fact that both doctor and patient must be
fasting. The tabu generally extends to salt or lye, hot food and
women, while in rheumatism some doctors forbid the patient to eat the
foot or leg of any animal, the reason given being that the limbs are
generally the seat of the disease. For a similar reason the patient is
also forbidden to eat or even to touch a squirrel, a buffalo, a cat,
or any animal which “humps” itself. In the same way a scrofulous
patient must not eat turkey, as that bird seems to have a scrofulous
eruption on its head, while ball players must abstain from eating
frogs, because the bones of that animal are brittle and easily broken.