Listen! Ha! Now you have drawn near to hearken and are resting
directly overhead. O Black Raven, you never fail in anything. Ha! Now
you are brought down. Ha! There shall be left no more than a trace
upon the ground where you have been. It is an evolute ghost. You have
now put it into a crevice in Sanigalagi, that it may never find the
way back. You have put it to rest in the Darkening Land, so that it
may never return. Let relief come.
Listen! Ha! Now you have drawn near to hearken, O Red Raven, most
powerful ada´wehi. Ha! You never fail in anything, for so it was
ordained of you. Ha! You are resting directly overhead. Ha! Now you
are brought down. There shall remain but a trace upon the ground where
you have been. It is an evolute ghost. Ha! You have put the Intruder
into a crevice of Sanigalagi and now the relief shall come. It (the
Intruder) is sent to the Darkening Land. You have put it to rest in
the Darkening Land. Let the relief come.
Listen! Ha! Now you have drawn near to hearken, O Blue Raven; you are
resting directly overhead, ada´wehi. You never fail in anything, for
so it was ordained of you. Ha! Now you are brought down. There shall
be left but a trace upon the ground where you have been. You have put
the Intruder into a crevice in Sanigalagi, that it may never find the
way back. You have put it to rest in the Darkening Land, so that it
may never return. Let the relief come.
Listen! Ha! Now you have drawn near to hearken; you repose on high on
Wa´hĭlĭ, O White Raven, ada´wehi. You never fail in anything. Ha!
Now you are brought down. There shall be left but a trace upon the
ground where you have been. Ha! Now you have taken it up. You have put
the Intruder into a crevice in Sanigalagi, that it may never find
the way back. You have put it to rest in the Darkening Land, never to
return. Let the relief come.
(Directions)--This is to treat them for a painful sickness. One must
suck. Use Tsâ´lagayûⁿ´-li (“Old Tobacco”--Nicotiana rustica),
blossoms, and just have them in the mouth, and Kanasâ´la (Wild
Parsnip), goes with it, and four red beads also must lie there,
and Tsâliyu´sti Usdi´ga (“Little (plant) Like Tobacco”--Indian
Tobacco--Lobelia inflata.) And if there should be anything mixed with
it (i.e., after sucking the place), just put it about a hand’s-length
into the mud.
_Explanation._
The Cherokee name for this disease gives no idea whatever of its
serious nature. The technical term, Tsundaye´liga´ktanû´hĭ,
really refers to the enthusiastic outburst of sociability that ensues
when two old friends meet. In this instance it might be rendered
“an ordeal.” The application of such a name to what is considered a
serious illness is in accordance with the regular formulistic practice
of making light of a dangerous malady in order to convey to the
disease spirit the impression that the shaman is not afraid of him.
A‛yûⁿinĭ, from whom the formula was obtained, states also that the
disease is sometimes sent to a man by a friend or even by his parents,
in order to test his endurance and knowledge of counter spells.
As with most diseases, the name simply indicates the shaman’s theory
of the occult cause of the trouble, and is no clue to the symptoms,
which may be those usually attendant upon fevers, indigestion, or
almost any other ailment.
In some cases the disease is caused by the conjurations of an enemy,
through which the patient becomes subject to an inordinate appetite,
causing him to eat until his abdomen is unnaturally distended. By the
same magic spells tobacco may be conveyed into the man’s body, causing
him to be affected by faintness and languor. The enemy, if bitterly
revengeful, may even put into the body of his victim a worm or insect
(tsgâya), or a sharpened stick of black locust or “fat” pine, which
will result in death if not removed by a good doctor. Sometimes a weed
stalk is in some occult manner conveyed into the patient’s stomach,
where it is transformed into a worm. As this disease is very common,
owing to constant quarrels and rival jealousies, there are a number of
specialists who devote their attention to it.
The prayer is addressed to the Black, Red, Blue, and White Ravens,
their location at the four cardinal points not being specified,
excepting in the case of the white raven of Wa´hilĭ, which, as
already stated, is said to be a mountain in the south, and hence
is used figuratively to mean the south. The ravens are each in turn
declared to have put the disease into a crevice in Sanigala´gi--the
Cherokee name of Whiteside Mountain, at the head of Tuckasegee River,
in North Carolina, and used figuratively for any high precipitous
mountain--and to have left no more than a trace upon the ground where
it has been. The adjective translated “evolute” (udanûhĭ) is of
frequent occurrence in the formulas, but has no exact equivalent in
English. It signifies springing into being or life from an embryonic
condition. In this instance it would imply that whatever object the
enemy has put into the body of the sick man has there developed into a
ghost to trouble him.
The directions are expressed in a rather vague manner, as is the
case with most of A‛yûⁿini’s attempts at original composition. The
disease is here called by another name, agi‛li´ya unitlûⁿgû´ⁿĭ,
signifying “when they are painfully sick.” The treatment consists in
sucking the part most affected, the doctor having in his mouth during
the operation the blossoms of Tsâ´l-agayû´ⁿlĭ (Nicotiana rustica),
Kanasâ´la (wild parsnip,) and Tsâliyusti Usdiga (Lobelia inflata.) The
first and last of these names signify “tobacco” and “tobacco-like,”
while the other seems to contain the same word, tsâ´la, and the
original idea may have been to counteract the witchcraft by the use of
the various species of “tobacco,” the herb commonly used to drive away
a witch or wizard. During the sucking process four red beads lie near
upon a piece of (white) cloth, which afterward becomes the perquisite
of the doctor. Though not explicitly stated, it is probable that the
doctor holds in his mouth a decoction of the blossoms named, rather
than the blossoms themselves. On withdrawing his mouth from the spot
and ejecting the liquid into a bowl, it is expected that there will be
found “mixed” with it a small stick, a pebble, an insect, or something
of the kind, and this the shaman then holds up to view as the
cause of the disease. It is afterward buried a “hand’s length”
(awâ´hilû)[12] deep in the mud. No directions were given as to diet
or tabu.
[Footnote 12: This word, like the expression “seven days,”
frequently has a figurative meaning. Thus the sun is said to be
seven awâ´hilû above the earth.]