Listen! On high you dwell, On high you dwell--you dwell, you dwell.
Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell, forever you
dwell. Relief has come--has come. Hayĭ!
Listen! On Ûⁿwadâ´hĭ you dwell, On Ûⁿwadâhĭ you dwell--you
dwell, you dwell. Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell,
forever you dwell. Relief has come--has come. Hayĭ!
Listen! In the pines you dwell, In the pines you dwell--you dwell, you
dwell. Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell, forever
you dwell. Relief has come--has come. Hayĭ!
Listen! In the water you dwell, In the water you dwell, you dwell, you
dwell. Forever you dwell, you anida´we, forever you dwell, forever
you dwell. Relief has come--has come. Hayiĭ!
Listen! O now you have drawn near to hearken, O Little Whirlwind,
O ada´wehi, in the leafy shelter of the lower mountain, there you
repose. O ada´wehi, you can never fail in anything. Ha! Now rise up.
A very small portion [of the disease] remains. You have come to sweep
it away into the small swamp on the upland. You have laid down your
paths near the swamp. It is ordained that you shall scatter it as in
play, so that it shall utterly disappear. By you it must be scattered.
So shall there be relief.
Listen! O now again you have drawn near to hearken, O Whirlwind,
surpassingly great. In the leafy shelter of the great mountain there
you repose. O Great Whirlwind, arise quickly. A very small part [of
the disease] remains. You have come to sweep the intruder into the
great swamp on the upland. You have laid down your paths toward the
great swamp. You shall scatter it as in play so that it shall utterly
disappear. And now relief has come. All is done. Yû!
(Prescription.)--(This is to use) when they are sick with the great
chill. Take a decoction of wild cherry to blow upon them. If you have
Tsâ´l-agayû´ⁿlĭ (“old tobacco”--_Nicotiana rustica_) it also is
very effective.
_Explanation._
Unawa´stĭ, “that which chills one,” is a generic name for
intermittent fever, otherwise known as fever and ague. It is much
dreaded by the Indian doctors, who recognize several varieties of
the disease, and have various theories to account for them. The above
formula was obtained from A‛yû´ⁿni (Swimmer), who described the
symptoms of this variety, the “Great Chill,” as blackness in the face,
with alternate high fever and shaking chills. The disease generally
appeared in spring or summer, and might return year after year. In the
first stages the chill usually came on early in the morning, but came
on later in the day as the disease progressed. There might be more
than one chill during the day. There was no rule as to appetite, but
the fever always produced an excessive thirst. In one instance the
patient fainted from the heat and would even lie down in a stream to
cool himself. The doctor believed the disease was caused by malicious
tsgâ´ya, a general name for all small insects and worms, excepting
intestinal worms. These tsgâ´ya--that is, the disease tsgâ´ya, not
the real insects and worms--are held responsible for a large number
of diseases, and in fact the tsgâ´ya doctrine is to the Cherokee
practitioner what the microbe theory is to some modern scientists. The
tsgâ´ya live in the earth, in the water, in the air, in the foliage
of trees, in decaying wood, or wherever else insects lodge, and as
they are constantly being crushed, burned or otherwise destroyed
through the unthinking carelessness of the human race, they are
continually actuated by a spirit of revenge. To accomplish their
vengeance, according to the doctors, they “establish towns” under the
skin of their victims, thus producing an irritation which results in
fevers, boils, scrofula and other diseases.
The formula begins with a song of four verses, in which the doctor
invokes in succession the spirits of the air, of the mountain, of
the forest, and of the water. Galûⁿlatĭ, the word used in the
first verse, signifies, as has been already explained, “on high” or
“above everything,” and has been used by translators to mean heaven.
Ûⁿwadâ´hĭ in the second verse is the name of a bald mountain
east of Webster, North Carolina, and is used figuratively to denote
any mountains of bold outline. The Cherokees have a tradition
to account for the name, which is derived from Ûⁿwadâ´lĭ,
“provision house.” Nâ´tsihĭ´ in the third verse signifies
“pinery,” from nâ´‛tsĭ, “pine,” but is figuratively used to denote
a forest of any kind.
In the recitation which follows the song, but is used only in serious
cases, the doctor prays to the whirlwind, which is considered to
dwell among the trees on the mountain side, where the trembling of the
leaves always gives the first intimation of its presence. He declares
that a small portion of the disease still remains, the spirits
invoked in the song having already taken the rest, and calls upon the
whirlwind to lay down a path for it and sweep it away into the swamp
on the upland, referring to grassy marshes common in the small coves
of the higher mountains, which, being remote from the settlements, are
convenient places to which to banish the disease. Not satisfied with
this, he goes on to direct the whirlwind to scatter the disease as it
scatters the leaves of the forest, so that it shall utterly disappear.
In the Cherokee formula the verb a‛ne´tsâge´ta means literally
“to play,” and is generally understood to refer to the ball play,
a´ne´tsâ, so that to a Cherokee the expression conveys the idea of
catching up the disease and driving it onward as a player seizes
the ball and sends it spinning through the air from between his ball
sticks. Niga´gĭ is a solemn expression about equivalent to the Latin
consummatum est.
The doctor beats up some bark from the trunk of the wild cherry and
puts it into water together with seven coals of fire, the latter
being intended to warm the decoction. The leaves of Tsâl-agayû´ⁿli
(Indian tobacco--Nicotiana rustica) are sometimes used in place of the
wild cherry bark. The patient is placed facing the sunrise, and the
doctor, taking the medicine in his mouth, blows it over the body of
the sick man. First, standing between the patient and the sunrise and
holding the medicine cup in his hand, he sings the first verse in a
low tone. Then, taking some of the liquid in his mouth, he advances
and blows it successively upon the top of the head, the right
shoulder, left shoulder, and breast or back of the patient, making
four blowings in all. He repeats the same ceremony with the second,
third, and fourth verse, returning each time to his original position.
The ceremony takes place in the morning, and if necessary is repeated
in the evening. It is sometimes necessary also to repeat the treatment
for several--generally four--consecutive days.
The recitation is not used excepting in the most serious cases, when,
according to the formula, “a very small portion” of the disease
still lingers. It is accompanied by blowing _of the breath alone_,
without medicine, probably in this case typical of the action of the
whirlwind. After repeating the whole ceremony accompanying the song,
as above described, the doctor returns to his position in front of
the patient and recites in a whisper the first paragraph to the Little
Whirlwind, after which he advances and blows his breath upon the
patient four times as he has already blown the medicine upon him. Then
going around to the north he recites the second paragraph to the Great
Whirlwind, and at its conclusion blows in the same manner. Then moving
around to the west--behind the patient--he again prays to the Little
Whirlwind with the same ceremonies, and finally moving around to the
south side he closes with the prayer to the Great Whirlwind, blowing
four times at its conclusion. The medicine must be prepared anew by
the doctor at the house of the patient at each application morning
or evening. Only as much as will be needed is made at a time, and the
patient always drinks what remains after the blowing. Connected with
the preparation and care of the medicine are a number of ceremonies
which need not be detailed here. The wild cherry bark must always be
procured fresh; but the Tsâl-agayû´ⁿlĭ (“Old Tobacco”) leaves
may be dry. When the latter plant is used four leaves are taken and
steeped in warm water with the fire coals, as above described.