The person whom the whites term "medicine man" is called by the Blackfeet
_Ni-namp'-skan_. Mr. Schultz believes this word to be compounded of
_nin'nah_, man, and _namp'-ski_, horned toad (_Phrynosoma_), and in this he
is supported by Mr. Thomas Bird, a very intelligent half-breed, who has
translated a part of the Bible into the Blackfoot language for the
Rev. S. Trivett, a Church of England missionary. These gentlemen conclude
that the word means "all-face man." The horned toad is called _namp'-ski_,
all-face; and as the medicine man, with his hair done up in a huge topknot,
bore a certain resemblance to this creature, he was so named. No one among
the Blackfeet appears to have any idea as to what the word means.
The medicine pipes are really only pipe stems, very long, and beautifully
decorated with bright-colored feathers and the fur of the weasel and other
animals. It is claimed that these stems were given to the people long, long
ago, by the Sun, and that those who own them are regarded by him with
special favor.
Formerly these stems were valued at from fifteen to thirty head of horses,
and were bought and sold like any other property. When not in use, they
were kept rolled up in many thicknesses of fine tanned fur, and with them
were invariably a quantity of tobacco, a sacred whistle, two sacred
rattles, and some dried sweet grass, and sweet pine needles.
In the daytime, in pleasant weather, these sacred bundles were hung out of
doors behind the owners' lodges, on tripods. At night they were suspended
within, above the owners' seat It was said that if at any time a person
should walk completely around the lodge of a medicine man, some bad luck
would befall him. Inside the lodge, no one was allowed to pass between the
fireplace and the pipe stem. No one but a medicine man and his head wife
could move or unroll the bundle. The man and his wife were obliged always
to keep their faces, hands, and clothing painted with _nits'-i-san,_ a dull
red paint, made by burning a certain clay found in the bad lands.
The _Ni-namp'-skan_ appears to be a priest of the Sun, and prayers offered
through him are thought to be specially favored. So the sacred stem is
frequently unrolled for the benefit of the sick, for those who are about to
undertake a dangerous expedition, such as a party departing to war, for
prayers for the general health and prosperity of the people, and for a
bountiful supply of food. At the present time these ancient ceremonies have
largely fallen into disuse. In fact, since the disappearance of the
buffalo, most of the old customs are dying out.
The thunder is believed to bring the rain in spring, and the rain makes the
berries grow. It is a rule that after the first thunder is heard in the
spring, every medicine man must give a feast and offer prayers for a large
berry crop. I have never seen this ceremony, but Mr. Schultz was once
permitted to attend one, and has given me the following account of it. He
said: "When I entered the lodge with the other guests, the pipe stem had
already been unrolled. Before the fire were two huge kettles of cooked
sarvis berries, a large bowlful of which was soon set before each guest.
Each one, before eating, took a few of the berries and rubbed them into the
ground, saying, 'Take pity on us, all Above People, and give us good.'
"When all had finished eating, a large black stone pipe bowl was filled and
fitted to the medicine stem, and the medicine man held it aloft and said:
'Listen, Sun! Listen, Thunder! Listen, Old Man! All Above Animals, all
Above People, listen. Pity us! You will smoke. We fill the sacred pipe. Let
us not starve. Give us rain during this summer. Make the berries large and
sweet. Cover the bushes with them. Look down on us all and pity us. Look
at the women and the little children; look at us all. Let us reach old
age. Let our lives be complete. Let us destroy our enemies. Help the young
men in battle. Man, woman, child, we all pray to you; pity us and give us
good. Let us survive.'
"He then danced the pipe dance, to be described further on. At this time,
another storm had come up, and the thunder crashed directly over our heads.
"'Listen,' said the medicine man. 'It hears us. We are not doing this
uselessly'; and he raised his face, animated with enthusiasm, toward the
sky, his whole body trembling with excitement; and, holding the pipe aloft,
repeated his prayer. All the rest of the people were excited, and
repeatedly clasped their arms over their breasts, saying: 'Pity us; good
give us; good give us. Let us survive.'
"After this, the pipe was handed to a man on the right of the
semi-circle. Another warrior took a lighted brand from the fire, and
counted four _coups_, at the end of each _coup_ touching the pipe bowl with
the brand. When he had counted the fourth _coup_, the pipe was lighted. It
was then smoked in turn around the circle, each one, as he received it,
repeating a short prayer before he put the stem to his lips. When it was
smoked out, a hole was dug in the ground, the ashes were knocked into it
and carefully covered over, and the thunder ceremony was ended."
In the year 1885, I was present at the unwrapping of the medicine pipe by
Red Eagle, an aged _Ni-namp'-skan_ since dead. On this occasion prayers
were made for the success of a party of Piegans who had started in pursuit
of some Crows who had taken a large band of horses from the Piegans the day
before. The ceremony was a very impressive one, and prayers were offered
not only for the success of this war party, but also for the general good,
as well as for the welfare of special individuals, who were mentioned by
name. The concluding words of the general prayer were as follows: "May all
people have full life. Give to all heavy bodies. Let the young people grow;
increase their flesh. Let all men, women, and children have full life.
Harden the bodies of the old people so that they may reach great age."
In 1879, Mr. Schultz saw a sacred pipe unwrapped for the benefit of a sick
woman, and on various occasions since he has been present at this
ceremony. All accounts of what takes place agree so closely with what I saw
that I give only one of them. Mr. Schultz wrote me of the first occasion:
"When I entered the lodge, it was already well filled with men who had been
invited to participate in the ceremony. The medicine man was aged and
gray-headed, and his feeble limbs could scarcely support his body. Between
him and his wife was the bundle which contained the medicine pipe, as yet
unwrapped, lying on a carefully folded buffalo robe. Plates of food were
placed before each guest, and after all had finished eating, and a common
pipe had been lighted to be smoked around the circle, the ceremony began.
"With wooden tongs, the woman took a large coal from the fire, and laid it
on the ground in front of the sacred stem. Then, while every one joined in
singing a chant, a song of the buffalo (without words), she took a bunch of
dried sweet grass, and, raising and lowering her hand in time to the music,
finally placed the grass on the burning coals. As the thin column of
perfumed smoke rose from the burning herb, both she and the medicine man
grasped handfuls of it and rubbed it over their persons, to purify
themselves before touching the sacred roll. They also took each a small
piece of some root from a little pouch, and ate it, signifying that they
purified themselves without and within.
"The man and woman now faced each other and again began the buffalo song,
keeping time by touching with the clenched hands--the right and left
alternately--the wrappings of the pipe, occasionally making the sign for
buffalo. Now, too, one could occasionally hear the word _Nai-ai'_[1] in
the song. After singing this song for about ten minutes, it was changed to
the antelope song, and, instead of touching the roll with the clenched
hands, which represented the heavy tread of buffalo, they closed the hands,
leaving the index finger extended and the thumbs partly open, and in time
to the music, as in the previous song, alternately touched the wrappers
with the tips of the left and right forefinger, the motions being quick and
firm, and occasionally brought the hands to the side of the head, making
the sign for antelope, and at the same time uttering a loud '_Kuh'_ to
represent the whistling or snorting of that animal.
[Footnote 1: My shelter; my covering; my robe.]
"At the conclusion of this song, the woman put another bunch of sweet grass
on a coal, and carefully undid the wrappings of the pipe, holding each one
over the smoke to keep it pure. When the last wrapping was removed, the man
gently grasped the stem and, every one beginning the pipe song, he raised
and lowered it several times, shaking it as he did so, until every feather
and bit of fur and scalp hung loose and could be plainly seen.
"At this moment the sick woman entered the lodge, and with great
difficulty, for she was very weak, walked over to the medicine woman and
knelt down before her. The medicine woman then produced a small bag of red
paint, and painted a broad band across the sick woman's forehead, a stripe
down the nose, and a number of round dots on each cheek. Then picking up
the pipe stem, which the man had laid down, she held it up toward the sky
and prayed, saying, 'Listen, Sun, pity us! Listen, Old Man, pity us! Above
People, pity us! Under Water People, pity us! Listen, Sun! Listen, Sun! Let
us survive, pity us! Let us survive. Look down on our sick daughter this
day. Pity her and give her a complete life.' At the conclusion of this
short prayer, all the people uttered a loud _m-m-m-h_, signifying that they
took the words to their hearts. Every one now commenced the pipe song, and
the medicine woman passed the stem over different parts of the sick woman's
body, after which she rose and left the lodge.
"The medicine man now took a common pipe which had been lighted, and blew
four whiffs of smoke toward the sky, four toward the ground, and four on
the medicine pipe stem, and prayed to the Sun, Old Man, and all medicine
animals, to pity the people and give them long life. The drums were then
produced, the war song commenced, and the old man, with a rattle in each
hand, danced four times to the door-way and back. He stooped slightly, kept
all his limbs very rigid, extending his arms like one giving a benediction,
and danced in time to the drumming and singing with quick, sudden
steps. This is the medicine pipe dance, which no one but a pipe-owner is
allowed to perform. Afterward, he picked up the pipe stem, and, holding it
aloft in front of him, went through the same performance. At the
conclusion of the dance, the pipe stem was passed from one to another of
the guests, and each one in turn held it aloft and repeated a short
prayer. The man on my right prayed for the health of his children, the one
on my left for success in a proposed war expedition. This concluded the
ceremony."
Disease among the Blackfeet is supposed to be caused by evil spirits,
usually the spirits or ghosts of enemies slain in battle. These spirits are
said to wander about at night, and whenever opportunity offers, they shoot
invisible arrows into persons. These cause various internal troubles, such
as consumption, hemorrhages, and diseases of the digestive organs. Mice,
frogs, snakes, and tailed batrachians are said to cause much disease among
women, and hence should be shunned, and on no account handled.
Less important external ailments and hurts, such as ulcers, boils, sprains,
and so on, are treated by applying various lotions or poultices, compounded
by boiling or macerating certain roots or herbs, known only to the person
supplying them. Rheumatic pains are treated in several ways. Sometimes the
sweat lodge is used, or hot rocks are applied over the place where the pain
is most severe, or actual cautery is practised, by inserting prickly pear
thorns in the flesh, and setting fire to them, when they burn to the very
point.
The sweat lodge, so often referred to, is used as a curative agent, as well
as in religious ceremonies, and is considered very beneficial in illness of
all kinds. The sweat lodge is built in the shape of a rough hemisphere,
three or four feet high and six or eight in diameter. The frame is usually
of willow branches, and is covered with cow-skins and robes. In the centre
of the floor, a small hole is dug out, in which are to be placed red hot
stones. Everything being ready, those who are to take the sweat remove
their clothing and crowd into the lodge. The hot rocks are then handed in
from the fire outside, and the cowskins pulled down to the ground to
exclude any cold air. If a medicine pipe man is not at hand, the oldest
person present begins to pray to the Sun, and at the same time sprinkles
water on the hot rocks, and a dense steam rises, making the perspiration
fairly drip from the body. Occasionally, if the heat becomes too intense,
the covering is raised for a few minutes to admit a little air. The sweat
bath lasts for a long time, often an hour or more, during which many
prayers are offered, religious songs chanted, and several pipes smoked to
the Sun. As has been said, the sweat lodge is built to represent the Sun's
own lodge or home, that is, the world. The ground inside the lodge stands
for its surface, which, according to Blackfoot philosophy, is flat and
round. The framework represents the sky, which far off, on the horizon,
reaches down to and touches the world.
As soon as the sweat is over, the men rush out, and plunge into the stream
to cool off. This is invariably done, even in winter, when the ice has to
be broken to make a hole large enough to bathe in. It is said that, when
the small-pox was raging among these Indians, they used the sweat lodge
daily, and that hundreds of them, sick with the disease, were unable to get
out of the river, after taking the bath succeeding a sweat, and were
carried down stream by the current and drowned.
It is said that wolves, which in former days were extremely numerous,
sometimes went crazy, and bit every animal they met with, sometimes even
coming into camps and biting dogs, horses, and people. Persons bitten by a
mad wolf generally went mad, too. They trembled and their limbs jerked,
they made their jaws work and foamed at the mouth, often trying to bite
other people. When any one acted in this way, his relations tied him hand
and foot with ropes, and, having killed a buffalo, they rolled him up in
the green hide, and then built a fire on and around him, leaving him in the
fire until the hide began to dry and burn. Then they pulled him out and
removed the buffalo hide, and he was cured. While in the fire, the great
heat caused him to sweat profusely, so much water coming out of his body
that none was left in it, and with the water the disease went out, too.
All the old people tell me that they have seen individuals cured in this
manner of a mad wolf's bite.
Whenever a person is really sick, a doctor is sent for. Custom requires
that he shall be paid for his services before rendering them. So when he is
called, the messenger says to him, "A---- presents to you a horse, and
asks you to come and doctor him." Sometimes the fee may be several horses,
and sometimes a gun, saddle, or some article of wearing-apparel. This fee
pays only for one visit, but the duration of the visit is seldom less than
twelve hours, and sometimes exceeds forty-eight. If, after the expiration
of the visit, the patient feels that he has been benefited, he will
probably send for the doctor again, but if, on the other hand, he continues
to grow worse, he is likely to send for another. Not infrequently two or
more doctors may be present at the same time, taking turns with the
patient. In early days, if a man fell sick, and remained so for three weeks
or a month, he had to start anew in life when he recovered; for, unless
very wealthy, all his possessions had gone to pay doctor's fees. Often the
last horse, and even the lodge, weapons, and extra clothing were so parted
with. Of late years, however, since the disappearance of the buffalo, the
doctors' fees are much more moderate.
The doctor is named _I-so-kin-[)u]h-kin,_ a word difficult to
translate. The nearest English meaning of the word seems to be "heavy
singer for the sick." As a rule all doctors sing while endeavoring to work
their cures, and, as helpers, a number of women are always present. Disease
being caused by evil spirits, prayers, exhortations, and certain mysterious
methods must be observed to rid the patient of their influence. No two
doctors have the same methods or songs. Herbs are sometimes used, but not
always. One of their medicines is a great yellow fungus which grows on the
pine trees. This is dried and powdered, and administered either dry or in
an infusion. It is a purgative. As a rule, these doctors, while practising
their rites, will not allow any one in the lodge, except the immediate
members of the sick man's family. Mr. Schultz, who on more than one
occasion has been present at a doctoring, gives the following account of
one of the performances.
"The patient was a man in the last stages of consumption. When the doctor
entered the lodge, he handed the sick man a strip of buckskin, and told him
to tie it around his chest. The patient then reclined on a couch, stripped
to the waist, and the doctor kneeled on the floor beside him. Having
cleared a little space of the loose dirt and dust, the doctor took two
coals from the fire, laid them in this place, and put a pinch of dried
sweet grass on each of them. As the smoke arose from the burning grass, he
held his drum over it, turning it from side to side, and round and
round. This was supposed to purify it. Laying aside the drum, he held his
hands in the smoke, and rubbed his arms and body with it. Then, picking up
the drum, he began to tap it rapidly, and prayed, saying: 'Listen, my
dream. This you told me should be done. This you said should be the
way. You said it would cure the sick. Help me now. Do not lie to me. Help
me, Sun person. Help me to cure this sick man.'
"He then began to sing, and as soon as the women had caught the air, he
handed the drum to one of them to beat, and, still singing himself, took an
eagle's wing and dipped the tip of it in a cup of 'medicine.' It was a
clear liquid, and looked as if it might be simply water. Placing the tip of
the wing in his mouth, he seemed to bite off the end of it, and, chewing it
a little, spat it out on the patient's breast. Then, in time to the
singing, he brushed it gently off, beginning at the throat and ending at
the lower ribs. This was repeated three times. Next he took the bandage
from the patient, dipped it in the cup of medicine, and, wringing it out,
placed it on the sick man's chest, and rubbed it up and down, and back and
forth, after which he again brushed the breast with the eagle
wing. Finally, he lighted a pipe, and, placing the bowl in his mouth, blew
the smoke through the stem all over the patient's breast, shoulders, neck,
and arms, and finished the ceremony by again brushing with the wing. At
intervals of two or three hours, the whole ceremony was repeated. The
doctor arrived at the lodge of the sick man about noon, and left the next
morning, having received for his services a saddle and two blankets."
"Listen, my dream--" This is the key to most of the Blackfoot medicine
practices. These doctors for the most part effect their cures by
prayer. Each one has his dream, or secret helper, to whom he prays for aid,
and it is by this help that he expects to restore his patient to health. No
doubt the doctors have the fullest confidence that their practices are
beneficial, and in some cases they undoubtedly do good because of the
implicit confidence felt in them by the patient.
Often, when a person is sick, he will ask some medicine man to unroll his
pipe. If able to dance, he will take part in the ceremony, but if not, the
medicine man paints him with the sacred symbols. In any case a fervent
prayer is offered by the medicine man for the sick person's recovery. The
medicine man administers no remedies; the ceremony is purely
religious. Being a priest of the Sun, it is thought that god will be more
likely to listen to him than he would to an ordinary man.
Although the majority of Blackfoot doctors are men, there are also many
women in the guild, and some of them are quite noted for their
success. Such a woman, named Wood Chief Woman, is now alive on the
Blackfoot reservation. She has effected many wonderful cures. Two Bear
Woman is a good doctor, and there are many others.
In the case of gunshot wounds a man's "dream," or "medicine," often acts
directly and speedily. Many cases are cited in which this charm, often the
stuffed skin of some bird or animal, belonging to the wounded man, becomes
alive, and by its power effects a cure. Many examples of this might be
given but for lack of space. Entirely honest Indians and white men have
seen such cures and believe in them.