C6e Hiftrarp
of tlje
([Injt3£t0itp of Jl3ortJ) Carolina
Collection of iRort^ Caroliniana
C^nro.03
UNIVERSITY OF N.C, AT CHAPEL HILL
00030748709
FOR USE ONLY IN THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION
oim No. A -368
tA*^^^^
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99
THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT
CHEROKEE SACRED FORMULAS AND MEDICINAL PRESCRIPTIONS
BY
JAMES MOONEY
REVISED, COMPLETED, AND EDITED BY
FRANS M. OLBRECHTS
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 1932
FOR SALE BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS. WASHINGTON. D. C.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology,
Washington, D. C, May 29, 1929. Sir: I have the honor to submit the accompanying manuscript, entitled "The Swimmer Manuscript: Cherokee Sacred Formulas and Medicinal Prescriptions," by James Mooney, revised, completed, and edited by Frans M. Olbrechts, and to recommend its pub- Hcation, subject to your approval, as a bulletin of this bureau. Respectfully,
M. W. Stirling, Chief. Dr. C. G. Abbot,
Secretary oj the Smithsonian Institution.
m
bo
CONTENTS
Page
Bibliography xiii
Acknowledgments xv
In memoriam — James Mooney xvii
Introduction 1
Material and method 1
The writer of the manuscript 7
General background — Informants used 7
Linguistic notes 10
Phonetic symbols and abbreviations 11
Disease, its nature and its causes : 14
Nature of disease 14
General semeiology IG
Disease causes 17
Natural causes 17
Supernaturajl causes 18
Spirits 19
The Sun 19
The Fire 21
The Moon 22
The River 22
Thunder— Red Man— Two Little Red Men 23
Purple Man, Blue Man, Black Man, etc 24
Various Little People 25
Animal Spirits 25
Ghosts 26
Human ghosts 26
Animal ghosts 26
Preternatural causes 29
Witches 29
"Man-killers" •_':':_'l'j_-Lr'_ 33
aye^*liGo"Gi diseases 33
"Mulier menstruans" 34
Dreams 35
Omens 37
Neglected taboos; disregarded injunctions 38
Causes of contagious disease 39
Disease and its treatment 39
Diagnosis and prognosis 39
List of spirits 42
Color symbolism — Sacred numbers 51
Materia medica 52
Paraphernalia used in the treatment 58
Curing methods 60
Prescriptions as to diet, taboos, etc 64
A typical curing procedure 67
Surgery --- 68
V
Yi CONTENTS
Disease and its treatments-Continued. ^ae«
Prophylaxis
Change from within— Influence from without 77
Attitude of the community toward the sick 80
Efficacy of treatment ^J
The medicine man
Different classes
Scope of knowledge
Social status
Professional ethics ^^
The medicine man's fee ^^
Mutual relations
I nitiation
Diffusion of knowledge |"^
Succession and inheritance 1^*^
Skepticism
Attitude toward white culture '■^'
Personalities — Individual differences 109
Birth \\l
Sexual life
Conception
Abortus — Contraceptives ^^
During pregnancy
Pregnant woman's taboos l-^"
Husband's taboos ]^}-
„ , . 122
Partus - J26
Afterbirth
Care for child— Child life 1^°
Raising the child to become a witch— Twins 129
Death and afterlife J^J
Death
Between death and burial |^^
Burial
After burial
Afterlife
The soul III
Survival of the soul ^^*
Suicide
Tragical deaths J;*
144
The formulas
XT . _ 144
Name ^^^
Origin ^^g
Kinds
Prayers . J49
For protection
For long life ^^^
For gathering medicine ^^"
Conj urations
For curing
For using tobacco
For examining with the beads
Against witches
Agricultural ^^^
For hunting and fishing 1^^
CONTENTS Vn
The formulas — Continued.
Kinds — Continued. Page
Incantations 153
"To change" _. 153
To kill 154
For love attraction 154
For making unattractive 155
For separating 155
How the formulas are recited or sung 155
How the formulas are considered by the laity and by the medicine
men 156
Technique of writing the formulas 157
Structure of the formulas 159
The ritual language 160
Cherokee Texts
1. (For) the big chill this is the medicine 167
2. And this is (for) when their heads are ill 170
3. This is the medicine when they are sick with sharp pains 171
4. This is to cure with, when they have them itching 173
5. If snakes have bitten them, this is the medicine 175
6. This is to cure with, to give it to them to drink when they are sick
with "eaters" 178
7. This is when they are sick with the "yellow" 180
8. This is the medicine for their navel 182
9. This (is for) when they have them drooping 184
10. When they have them drooping, this is the medicine 185
11. (For) their navel, this is the medicine 186
12. This is the medicine (if) simulators have made it resemble it (i. e., a
real sickness) 187
13. This (is for) when they have their heads aching 188
14. Their navel, this is the medicine (for) 189
15. This is the medicine for their navel 190
16. This is to treat (them) with if the raccoon causes them to be ill 192
17. And another one if the little ones have diarrhea 193
18. This is to take people to the water with 193
19. This is to treat (them) with (when) he habitually breaks them (i. e.,
rheumatism) 196
20. This (is) to treat (them) with when they have dreamed of snakes;
(what) to give them to drink, and (how) it is to be said 196
21. This (is) to cure (them) with whenever they have lost their voice 198
22. And this (is) for the purpose (of treating them) when they urinate
(like) milk 199
23. This (is) to blow their heads with; the medicinq (which is) to be used
with it is told below 200
This (is) the treatment for their breast 201
This (is) for using the snake tooth at the scratching of them 202
This is the treatment whenever they are ill with the "yellow" 204
This (is) for when they become ill suddenly 205
This is to scratch them; a brier should be used with it 205
This is the medicine (for) when their breast swells 208
This is to treat them with when they have blisters 210
(This is) for the purpose of scratching people, using the snake tooth
with it _ 212
Vni CONTENTS
Page
32. This (is) to treat them with (for) worms.. 213
33. This (is) the medicine, if they have (pains) appearing about in dif-
ferent places 215
34. This (is) to make them vomit bile 217
35. (This is) the treatment when they have them drooping 219
36. This (is) for the purpose of it, whenever they have pain in different
places 219
37. This tells (about) what to treat (them) with if they urinate yellow.. 221
38. (This is) to treat (them) with, if they have their urinary passages
stopped up 222
39. This (is) the medicine (for) the black "yellow" 222
40. This (is) the medicine whenever they have them shaking 225
41. This is the medicine for the chill 226
42. This is the medicine when they attack him suddenly 229
43. This is to take those that have been left (alive) to the water with 232
44. When they have pains appearing about in different places 235
45. This is the medicine for their sides 236
46. This (is) to treat (them) with when "it affects them in such a way," as
they usually call it 239
47. This is the medicine if snakes have bitten them 240
48. This is the medicine when they have it hot 241
49. This (is) when they are ill (by) those living in the forest 243
50. This (is) to treat (them) with (when) they have inhaled bad (odors) _ . 245
51. And (this is for) when they are under restrictions (and) they dream
of all sorts (of things) 246
52. This is the medicine for worms 247
53. This is the medicine when they have blisters 250
54. This is the medicine for their breast, when the terrapin affects them
as they go about 251
55. This is to cure (them) with, if what they urinate is yellowish 253
56. This is the medicine for their throat 254
57. This (for) their head (is) the medicine 255
58. This is the medicine when they have become as though (they were
really ill) 256
59. This, whenever their feet are frost bitten, (is) the treatment 257
60. This is the medicine when their feet are frost bitten 258
61. This is the medicine when their mouths are sore 259
62. This is the medicine for the insects living in the water 260
63. This is the medicine when their teeth ache 262
64. This is «the medicine when their breast aches 263
65. This is the medicine for their navel 264
66. This is the medicine when they have pains (shifting) about 265
67. This is the medicine whey they have it along both sides 267
68. This is the medicine whenever their breast aches 269
69. To cure them with, when they have been shot 271
70. This is to make (the) little ones jump down from them, for their
(mothers) 273
71. And this (is for) when they discharge slimy (matter) from their
bowels 274
72. (This is) the medicine when they discharge blood from their bowels-. 275
73. Also a medicine when they discharge blood from their bowels 275
74. Also a medicine when they discharge pale blood (and) slimy matter
from their bowels 276
CONTENTS IX
Page
75. To cure the chill with 276
76. This is to make the small ones jump down from them for their
(mothers) 277
77. This is the medicine when their food is changed 279
78. This is to cure (them) with, when they let tliem down from their
stomach, (and) they do not recover 28 1
79. This is for the purpose of (curing) children when they constantly cry__ 283
80. This is the medicine when they have the itching 285
81. This is the medicine to give them to drink when they urinate yellowish
(urine) 287
82. This is the medicine (for) their head 288
83. This is to examine with the beads 289
84. This is the medicine (when) it breaks them 291
85. This is for the purpose of (curing) the "yellow" of their navel 294
86. This is (for) when they are sick with a swelling 297
87. To cure them when they have their feet frost bitten 298
88. This is the medicine (for) what they call "cocoons" 299
89. This is the medicine for their head 300
90. This is the medicine for a beanlike (boil) 300
91. This is (for) what they call "it causes them to be broken" 301
92. This is (for) when they have bad dreams 302
93. This is to take oneself to the water with, to help oneself 305
94. This is the medicine when they urinate white (matter) 307
95. This is the medicine when they urinate milky (substance) 307
96. This is, when a tooth comes out, to throw it away with 308
Index 311
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE8
1. James Mooney xvii
2. Facsimile page of the reconstituted text 2
3. Facsimile page of the Q;''yo°'i-'ni manuscript 2
4. a"yo°'t"'ni ("Swimmer"), the writer of the manuscript 8
5. W., main informant and interpreter 8
6. a, The root of an inverted raspberry branch, b, Bark from the
sunny side of a tree, c, He then wraps the simples in his white
cloth 54
7. a-h, Surgical instruments, i, The "lj:'ani;'Ga" scarification instru-
ment 54
8. a, Ts., the oldest of the medicine men. 6, se"'Uye''ni a medicine
woman 84
9. a, Og., two days before he died. 6, The corpse is put down on
wooden boards 84
10. a, Jud., the Cherokee Rabelais, b, The chief of the coflBn makers.
c, T., the unofficial chief medicine man 114
11. o, J., One of the lesser stars, b, Del., descendant of an old lineage
of medicine men 114
12. a, Je., a prominent midwife. 6, O., Del. 's mother; midwife 116
13. Cherokee dance mask 116
1 Plate 4 is from a photograph taken by James Mooney in 1888. Plates 1, 2, 3, and 7, i, are from the collections of the Bureau of American Ethnology. The other illustrations are from photographs taken in the field by the editor (1926-27).
XL
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adair, James. The history of the American Indians. London, 1775. Administrative Report. Thirty-seventh Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp.
1-31. Washington, 1923. Bergen. Fanny D. Current superstititions. Mem. Amer. Folk-Lore Soc,
vol. IV. Boston and New York, 1896.
Animal and plant lore. Ibid., vol. vii, 1899.
Chamberlain, A. F. Disease and medicine (American). Hastings' Encyclo-
psedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iv, pp. 731-741. New York and Edin- burgh, 1914. CuLiN, Stewart. Games of the North American Indians. Twenty-foui'th
Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn. Washington, 1907. DoDONAEUS, Rembertus. Cruydt-Boeck. Leyden, 1608. Haywood, John. The natural and aboriginal history of Tennessee. Nashville,
1823. Kleiweg de Zwaan, J. P. Die Heilkunde der Niasser. Haag, 1913. Lemery, Nicolas. Dictionnaire ou Traits Universel des Drogues simples.
Amsterdam, 1716. LuDEWiG, Hermann E. The literature of American aboriginal languages.
London, 1858. (Triibner's Bibliotheca Glottica. I.) MacCauley', Clay. The Seminole Indians of Florida. Fifth Ann. Rept. Bur.
Ethn., pp. 469-531. Washington, 1887. MacGowan, D. J. Indian secret societies. A paper read before the American
Ethnological Society, March, 1866. Historical Magazine and Notes and
Queries, vol. x, pp. 139-141. Morrisania, N. Y., 1866. MooNEY, James. The sacred formulas of the Cherokee. * Seventh Ann. Rept.
Bur. Ethn., pp. 301-397. Washington, 1891.
Myths of the Cherokee. Nineteenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn.,
pt. 1. Washington, 1900.
The Cherokee River cult. Journ. Amer. Folk-Lore, vol. xiii, pp. 1-10.
Boston and New York, 1900.
The Cherokee ball play. Amer. Anthrop., vol. iii, pp. 105-132.
Washington, 1890. Pickering, John. A grammar of the Cherokee language. [Boston, 1830.]
(Four printed sheets only; n. p., n. d.) Pilling, James C. Bibliography of the Iroquoian languages. Bull. 6, Bur.
Ethn. Washington, 1888. PucKETT, Newbell Niles. Folk beliefs of the southern Negro. Chapel
Hill, N. C. 1926. Roth, Walter E. An inquiry into the animism and folk-lore of the Guiana
Indians. Thirtieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn.. pp. 103-386. Wash- ington, 1915. Stevens, W. B. A history of Georgia. Vol. i. New York, 1857. Timberlake, Henry. Memoirs of Lieut. Henry Timberlake. London, 1765. Von der Gabelentz, Hans Georg Connor. Kurze Grammatik der Tschero-
kesischen Sprache. In Zeitschrift fur die Wissenschaft der Sprache, III
(1852), 257-300. VoN HovoRKA and Kronfeld. Verglcichende Volksmedizin, ii vol, Stuttgart,
1908. Wood, George B., and Bache, Franklin. The Dispensatory of the United
States. Nineteenth Edition. Philadelphia, 1907.
« Usually cited as SFC.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to those who have in many ways assisted me in completing this task.
To Dr. Franz Boas, of Columbia University, to whom I am not only indebted for my ethnological training and for many personal favors, but who has been directly responsible for my being intrusted with the editing of the present manuscript.
To the late and the present chiefs of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Dr. J. Walter Fewkes and Mr. M. W. Stirling; to the ethnologists of the bureau, especially to Dr. John R. Swanton; and to the officers of the Smithsonian Institution.
To the C. R. B. Educational Foundation (Inc.), New York, to whom I owe the great benefit of two years' study and research in the United States. I want to thank especially Dr. P. C. Galpin, secretary, and Mr. Millard K. Shaler, the foundation's representative in Brussels.
To Mrs. Allan Watson, of the Office of Indian Affairs, Washington, D. C, and to Mr. J. Henderson, superintendent of the Yellowhill Government Boarding School, as well as to the members of his staff, especially to Mr. tlessie Lambert.
More than to any other of the white residents in the Cherokee country I feel indebted to Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Edmunds, jr., teachers of Big Cove Day School, Ravensford, N. C, who by their cordial hospitality of the first two weeks and by their repeated proofs of sympathy during the rest of our stay have greatly facilitated the field work.
To Mr. Paul C. Standley, of the United States National Museum, Washington, D. C, I am greatly obUged for the identification of the botanical specimens, as well as for valuable hints and instructions.
Thanks are due also to Mr. F. W. Hodge, of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, and to Dr. Frank G. Speck, of the University of Pennsylvania, who both gave me valuable informa- tion and advice before I started on the trip.
To all of the Cherokee informants with whom I worked I feel a great debt of gratitude. I especially want to remember W., Del., and Og., since deceased.
To Margriet Olbrechts, my wife, who cheerfully shared all the joys and troubles of the trip with me, much credit is due for invaluable assistance in practical as well as in ethnological matters.
F. M. O.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99 PLATE 1
James Mooney
[N MEMORIAM— JAMES MOONEY
(PL 1)
I consider it an obvious act of piety to dedicate this paper to the memory of the scientist who devoted so much of his erudition and enthusiasm to the ethnological study of the North American Indians, and particularly of the Cherokee; to a man wdthout whose previous intelUgent research and pubHcations the following pages could not now be offered to the pubHc.
The glowing tribute paid to him in the name of his colleagues and friends by Dr. Jolm R. Swanton in the American Anthropologist, volume 24, No. 2, April- June, 1922, pages 209-214, has done him justice from one quarter only. Doctor Swanton was the eloquent spokesman of James Mooney's white friends. When I went to live with the Cherokee of the Great Smoky Mountains to continue the work of Mooney I found that his departure had been felt as cruelly by his Indian friends as by his white colleagues. The mere statement that I came to stay with them with the same purpose in view as had n9*°Do' (Mooney's Cherokee name, meaning "moon") served as the best introduction I could have desired. People who looked askance, and medicine men who looked sullen when first approached, changed as if touched by a magic wand as they heard his name and as I explained my connection with his work.
From all that I heard I concluded that his life and his dealings with our mutual friends, the Cherokee, were a stimulating example for me, and I was well satisfied whenever I heard my conduct and my person not too unfavorably compared with that of my sympathetic predecessor.
The line of research which Mooney had started in the Cherokee field was too interesting not to be followed up ; the results he had obtained demanded still a considerable amount of further study, both in the field and at the desk. It is sad indeed that he did not have the satis- faction of seeing this manuscript pubhshed before he passed away from his beloved Cherokee studies. But the fife of a scientist and a pioneer like Mooney is not of threescore and ten only. He continues to live for generations in his splendid and altruistic work, in monu- ments more durable than stone.
I consider it a great honor and an enviable privilege to link my name with his, and at the same time to be able to contribute something more to the memory of James Alooney, by offering to the public the results of our joint work contained in the following pages.
Frans M. Olbrechts.
Kessel-Loo, Belgium, Christmas, 1928. 7548°— 32 2 xvii
THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT
CHEROKEE SACRED FORMULAS AND MEDICINAL PRESCRIPTIONS
By James Mooney
revised, completed, and edited by
Frans M. Olbrechts
INTRODUCTION Material and Method
Cherokee manuscripts and material on the Cherokee language have a most uncanny propensity to get lost.
The "dictionary" of Christian Priber has never been heard of since it reached Fred erica, Ga., probably in 1741.^
The bulky material of the Rev. S. A. Worcester, including a gram- mar and a dictionary, went down on the Arkansas about 1830.^
The manuscript contributions to Cherokee linguistics by Col. W. H. Thomas have ''unfortunately (been) mislaid."^
The manuscript of John Pickering's grammar of the Cherokee lan- guage, the printing of which was interfered with, or was thought to have been interfered vrith, by the invention of the Sequoya syllabary.^ has never been found.
To reach a climax: The manuscript which is edited in the following paper has been true to the tradition, and has disappeared without leaving a clue. The manuscript is described by Mooney, who dis- covered it and brought it to Washington, as "a small daybook of about 240 pages, . . . about half filled with writing in the Cherokee char- acters,"^ and elsewhere as "an unpaged blank book of 242 pages, SJj by 12 inches, only partially filled; 137 (formulas) in all."^
Mooney started work on it in 1888; he transliterated and translated the formulas with the assistance of native informants, a*yo"t'ni', the writer, himself taldng a conspicuous part in the work.
' Stevens, Hist, of Georgia, vol. i, p. 165; Adair, Hist. Amer. Inds., p. 243.
2 Pilling, Bibliography of the Iroquoian Languages, p. 174.
3 Mooney, Myths of the Cherokee, p. 162, note.
* Ludewig, Literature of Amer. Aboriginal Languages, p. 38.
5 Seventh Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn., p. 312.
^ Thirty-seventh Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 8.
1
2 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Of the 137 formulas, Moonej' edited 14 in vSFC/ Four only of these 14 fonnulas he intended to incorporate in the final edition of the Ay. book,* viz, Nos. 1, 3, 29, and 70 of the present collection, which were tentatively edited in SFC, pages 359, 366, 365, and 363, respec- tively. I have respected Mr. Mooney's intention and conserved these four formulas in the present paper.
Of three more formulas, Nos. 43, 83, and 93 of the present paper, a translation without the Cherokee text was published by Mooney in The Cherokee River Cult; the phonetic texts have now been incor- porated in this paper, as Mooney intended. The manuscript as Mooney planned to hand it to the printer consisted of the texts and translations, together with explanatory notes, of 96 formulas, includ- ing, as just stated, the 4 formulas published with texts, translations, and notes in the SFC, and the 3 formulas of wiiich a translation and the accompanying notes w^ere published in The Cherokee River Cult. The remaining formulas that are left unaccounted for were not included by Jklooney in those intended for publication, possibly on aqcount of their being incomplete, or because they were for some reason deemed unfit for publication.' The explanation which seems most probable is that Mooney intended to edit in this paper only the formulas that were of a strictly medicinal character, and that he withheld all other formulas, such as love-attraction formulas, incantations, hunting songs, etc., for pubUcation at some future time.
Indeed, not one of the many Cherokee manuscripts that I have seen contained such a homogeneous collection as is here presented, so much so that this homogeneity can only be explained by its being artificial. The true character of a Cherokee book of formulas and prescriptions does not therefore appear from the manuscript now published to the same extent as it will from the other manuscripts, the publication of which is under consideration.
The 96 formulas here published had furthermore been arranged by Mooney in a S3^stematic sequence, in a logical order, ''logical" from the white man's point of view, classifying the various formulas as those "against genito-urinary disorders," "against indigestion," "against bow^el troubles," etc. This classification is qidte foreign to Cherokee knowledge and use, and I have considered that it diminished the value of the manuscript as an aboriginal document.
The original of the manuscript not being available for comparison, I went through a tedious process of comparing various notes and cross references found in Mooney's manuscript notes. By so doing I have been able to reconstitute the original sequence of the manuscript as faithfully as this could be done by the means available ®; it is, of
' Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees, Seventh Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn.
* For the abbreviations of the names of medicine men as Ay., W., etc., see p. 9.
« The sequence as given by Mooney is shown in the Appendix, p. 167.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 99 PLATE 2
^ ■ )
1
tC ck^/^-'o'::^. o-^fi^n zr^rs^s ofn^z. 9- oz^cr '"}
?v
Facsimile page of the Reconstituted Text
i|
i
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 99 PLATE 3
^^^
27 c:^^^.^ ^^^'^^^^ -^-^^^^^^^ '^Ix^^^^S' '^^^.'^^■^^ '
j i
^^ *
Ill iiianii^cript
Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 3
course, not possible to say which place was taken in this sequence by the formulas which had been discarded by Mooney.
Another fact to which attention should be called is that this manu- script contains 13 fonnulas wldch were obtained by Ay. from another medicine man, i;'tlanQ-'"Do, who had died when Mooney started worldng on tlie manuscript. Ay. himself was unable to give Mr. Mooney much information on these formulas and the data we have on them have mainly to be gathered by analogy with what we loiow of the other formulas. Tliis u'tlang-'^oa must have been rather generous mth liis loiowledge, as tlds collection of formulas is also found in the compilation of wJno'ti' (Ms. II) /° another of the reputed medicine men of Ay.'s time.
So as to be able to complete the w^ork on the manuscript with the best results possible the following method was adopted:
The original manuscript having been lost, Mooney's transliteration was taken along when I went on the Cherokee field trip. After con- tacts were made with the people, and especially with some of the more prominent medicine men, efforts w^ere made to acquire a sound knowledge of Cherokee phonetics, as well as pronunciative facilities. The transliteration of Mooney was then read aloud to a medicine man, who wrote the text in the Sequoya syllabary. This text was then read aloud bj^ the medicine man and was taken down phoneti- cally by me. On this latter text the work was done.
This may seem to be a very artificial way of reconstituting the text but I can vouch for its accuracy. Until the original manuscript comes to Ught again — which I sincerely hope it wiU— there is only one proof to test the acciu'acy of the texts acquired in this way: Mooney, in his SFC, gives an illustration (PL xxvi) of a page of the Ay. manuscript (Formula 29) ; with this illustration the text obtained by me was compared after I came back to Washington and it was found that there were no real discrepancies. The two texts are given on opposite pages. (Pis. 2 and 3.)
From a careful investigation of them, and after due allowance is made for the variants residting from the difference between the magistral, calligraphic wiiting of Ay. in the one, and the current, ahnost stenographic scribble of my informant (W.) in the other, it appears that there is really no discrepancy that coidd in any way interfere with the meaning. Such differences as there seemingly are, are merely matters of orthography, or show that one indi^ddual is more slave to "sandhi" laws than the other. The words that
'" In the course of this paper the manuscript here edited will usually be referred to by an abbreviation: the Ay. Ms. By Ms. II, I refer to WJno'ti's manuscript, which will soon be ready for publication; and by Ms. Ill to a manuscript by the latter's father, Ga'DtGwana*'sti.
4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
differ in the two versions are listed below, followed by an explanation of each fact:^'
Ay. W.
Line 1. vu'a-.a'i (written twice) Line 1. vu'a-.a'i (wTitten three times)
(1)
Line 2, 8. 9'-"Dalt-Gwy'Ji. Line 3, 9. y-'°Dali e-Gwo'!i (2)
Line 4. dunu''3''tam'le".i' Line 5. dynu'-j-'tantU'' (3)
Line 12. nQ-"dadu'-gta'9-''sti' Line 12. nQ-^tadu'-kta'Q-nsti' (4)
Line 14. de'-du-do-neli'se'sti' Line 14. de^'du'dg-ne-lidrse-sti' (5)
Line 14. g9-'>tsaM(o)tagfya' Line 14. gg-^tsa'tagfya' (6)
Line 16. widisti)tl(i)tadinQtaniga Line 16. widistotl(a)tadi ... (7)
Line 20. atsflo"' Line 21. atsila' (8)
(1) Whereas Ay. has written the song-word twice, W. writes it three times; neither of them is right, since, strictly speaking, it should be written seven times; but it is very rare that tliis is done; often we even find these song-words written only once, since every medicine man knows that they are to be repeated four or seven times anyhow.
(2) It is customary for the Cherokee who ^vrite a great deal in the Sequoya syllabary to adhere to a "sandhi"-law of the spoken language, and to drop a final vowel before a word beginning with a vowel, linking the consonant of the first word with the vowel of the second as in this case: (Q'na) li + e'(gwo)^-le"-
It will be noticed that Ay. conforms to this use in every one of the three cases where the word occurs (Ay. lines 2, 8, 16), whereas W. does it only in the last case (W. line 16). This discrepancy is to be explained by the fact that I read out the text in slow tempo, and by so doing no *'sandhi" phenomenon was heard by my informant.
(3) In the written as well as in the spoken language the -i, at the end of the -\ei, -ne'i, -se'i and similar tense-suffixes is written and pronounced when the sentence is considered as finished ; if more words follow in the sentence, however, it is generally dropped. It is a mere matter of euphony, to which W. has in this case not con- formed, probably because I may have led him to believe by the intonation of my voice that the sentence was not finished.
(4) In the Cherokee syUabaiy the system of the surd and sonant velars and dentals is very imperfectly worked out. As a result, the Cherokee themselves are quite inconsistent in using the symbols for g, k and d, t. The matter is made more complicated by the actual existence of the so-called "intermediates" in their phonetics. This discrepancy is an illustration of this state of affairs.
(5) Ay. omitted the symbol for the -di- syllable here, mthout which the word has no meaning. W. consequently interpolated it.
(6) Although such phonetic phenomena as breath, stops, etc., are quite frequent in Cherokee linguistics, the syllabary very imper-
" The figures in parentheses following the words as written by W. refer to the explanations in the following paragraphs.
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 5
fectly pro\'ides for the representation of the former; the latter are disregarded completely. In the written docmnents they are there- fore left to the reader to discover, as in W.'s text here; or else they are represented by various very clever but inadequate, and especially quite uncoordinated, de\aces, as in Ay.'s text, where the stop follow- ing tiie t is indicated by \viiting the -d(o)- syllable for it.
(7) The -tl- phonem, which is so common in Cherokee, has no specific symbol. It is usually represented by the complex: -(d)a-l(i)-, as by Ay,; more rarely by: -(d)a-l(a)-, the symbols used in this in- stance by W. (W. line 16). In lines 17 and 19, however, W. conforms to the general usage.
(8) The word as written by Ay. is the nearest approach to the spoken language; it is, however, commonly written as in W.'s version.
It appears from the foregoing notes that, as I said, the few and slight differences that can be found are mainly phonetic. These are not of a nature to invite skepticism as to the accuracy of the texts. Moreover, since writing them, it has been possible, by further re- search, to discover additional texts and to obtain from other medicine men copies of separate formulas. Some of these are identical with those in the Ay. manuscript. They must be either later copies or earher predecessors, if not the actual originals, from which some of the Ay. formulas were copied.
Comparing two versions wherever this was possible has again proved that the method used in reconstituting the texts is flawless.
In order not to commit Mr. Mooney's name, and to take my own responsibility, I have thought it advisable to make a definite state- ment as to what part of this paper is Mooney's and how much of it is my work.
As has already been clearly stated, the credit for the discovery of the manuscript and for the first work on it is Mooney's. I am also very much indebted to his former pubHcations on the Cherokee tribe and to many items of interest found in his manuscript notes. \^Tier- ever I have made use of this material this has been exphcitly stated.
Mooney transUterated and translated the formulas (free transla- tions) and wrote explanatory comments, some of them quite lengthy, to accompany them. It should be borne in mind that this work was done by Mooney about 40 years ago, at a time when methods for studying the native languages and the phonetic notations to record them had not attained the same degree of perfection they now boast of. That is the reason why it has been deemed expedient to take down the texts anew, as has already been explained in detail.
I have, moreover, considered that the value of the texts would be considerably enhanced by an interlinear translation, which I have con- sequently added. The accurate analysis and the grammatical work necessary to obtain the data for these iaterhnear translations have in
6 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
some cases considerably influenced the free translations, so that, in the second part of this paper, viz, the texts, all responsibility for the phonetic texts, and tlie interUnear and free translations rests with the editor.
As for the explanatory notes and comments wliich Mooney had written for eveiy formula, these could not possibly be improved upon. In some cases, however, I was able to collect items of information that cast an additional Ught on the subject; sometimes I was able to actually catch a belief or a practice in the process of change and evolu- tion ; or again, I got the individual point of view of different medicine men. All tliis was carefully noted and is added to Mr. Mooney's explanations, inclosed in brackets.
I have furthermore collected all the botanical specimens of which mention is made in the manuscript. For the identification of these I am obhged to Air. Paul C. Standley of the United States National Museum.
Finally I wrote an introduction which gives as extensive a survey of Cherokee beliefs and practices with regard to disease and medicine as is necessary to fully imderstand the formulas and prescriptions of the Ay. manuscript. Although every formula contains a few ele- ments that inlierently belong to it, and may not be met with in any of the others, yet there is in all of the formulas an underljdng complex of ideas that is basically the same. Whereas those elements that specifically belong to a given formida are better explained in a short note commenting on them, and affixed to that particular formula, it has been thought advisable, in order to avoid constant repetitions, and also in order to present a more synthetic picture of the whole, to give a broadly sketched and general outHne of the subjects treated: Disease, its nature and its causes; the means by which disease is diagnosed and cured; the materia medica and the curing methods; of the person who is constantly associated with all of this, the medicine man. Short chapters on birth and death have been added, as well as a general introduction to the formulas.
Lengthy as these introductory notes may seem, yet they have been strictly limited to the subject matter contained m the Ay. manuscript. I have modified my first intention, which was to append in copious notes any parallels with which I am acquainted. However, the time for a comparative work of wdde scope on primitive medicine has not yet come, our special loiowledge being far too inadequate to justify generalizations. I have therefore considered that it would be better to give as exhaustive a survey as possible of Cherokee medical lore and custom; a collection of monographs of this kind will be the mate- rial from which once a comparative study of the medicine and of the science of " primitive " peoples, will be compiled. The only parallels I have drawn attention to are such as may shed light on questions of
Oi°B°R^CHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 7
origin and diffusion, influence from missionary activities, from the white mountaineers, or even from the negro slaves of the region.
The Writer of the Manuscript
a'^yo^'^rni', i. e., "he is swimming (l^abitually) ", "he is a swimmer," (pi. 4), is the writer, or as might be more fit to state it, the compilator of the present manuscript. (On the Cherokee method of compilating manuscripts of this description, see pp. 157-159.)
He died m 1899, at 65 years of age. He was Mooney's main in- formant on the history, mythology, and later especially on the medi- cine and botany of the Cherokee. On his personality, see what Mooney says about him in his Myths, pp. 236-237. The lucky chance by which Mooney got scent of the existence of the manuscript, and how he ultimately obtained it, are related by him in his SFC, pages 310-312.
The son, t'a'mi (i. e., Tom), and a grandson, ocltascfski (Dancer), of Ay. are still living on the reservation, but neither of them has succeeded him in his medical practice.
The memory of Ay. is still treasured by the Cherokee of the pres- ent generation. He is looked upon as one of the last old, wise men, such as there are now none left.
General Background — Informants Used
The territory of the Cherokee that once covered the better part of three States (see map in Mooney Myths, pp. 22-23) has been reduced to a small reserve that can be crossed from end to end in a day's walk.
For ample details regarding the historic past of the Cherokee, and especially of the present reservation of the Eastern Band, the reader is referred to the excellent liistorical sketch by James Mooney in his Myths, pages 14-228.
Of the seven villages of the reserve, k^o'^lang^yi' (i. e. "the Raven's place," generally called Big Cove or Swayney by the whites) was selected for our stay. There were many reasons that all but enforced this choice: Lying in a secluded cove, of difficult and at some times of the year of impossible access, with a population of far more con- servative people than that of the villages lying nearer the boarding school and the Government offices, tribal life has conserved much of its aboriginal flavor in Big Cove. Especially the beliefs and prac- tices relating to medicine are still rampant in this community to such an extent that of the 15 families that constituted the population of the cove 10 people were avowed medical practitioners, whereas three or four more occasionally took up the practice of medicine as a side line.
8 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
The people are mostly agriculturists, and very primitive tillers of the soil, and turn to fisliing and to what Uttle hunting there is still to be done as the seasons and the white man's law allows! They live as a rule in 1-room log cabins, covered with hewn boards, although five or SLX famihes hve in frame houses built by natives or half bloods that have learned the art in the Government schools. The cabins are scattered about the two slopes of the cove, at least 500 to 600 yards, often a mile and more, from each other. This does not prevent the inmates from loiowing all that happens in the valley. Even if Cherokee eyes are no longer trained on the warpath, they are still annojdngly keen!
There is quite a remarkable spirit of tribal and social solidarity reigning among the people (cf. pp. 80-81); against a white intruder, whether he be a Government official or not, a glacial reserve is ob- served, and it takes weeks and months in some cases to break down this inhibition against the whites. These people have known abom- inable treatment and tyrannic oppression at our hands, and they know how to remember. Their only word by which they can refer to a white man is identical with their expression for " (he is) a mean feUow."
It was quite difficult to coax the only man who had a spare room — a dilapidated attic, used as a storeroom for all nondescript scraps and heaps of filth and rubbish — into allowing us to live in it. Finally, the almightj^ dollar scored a victory over his patriotic tribal feelings, and we were indifferently, if not reluctantly, admitted to share his leaky roof. This attic was the best post of observation one could have wished for: not only did it from three sides command a view" of the most important section of the valley, but also the "baU ground" near the river, and the five main trails of the cove could be leisurely observed without any one suspecting it. But the facilities these quarters afforded us for studying the home fife of the family we fived with w^ere an even greater advantage; the floor of rough-hewn rafters had cracks in different places; this exposed our landlord underneath us to a shower of boiling coffee whenever our primitive stove toppled over, but also afforded us the immense pleasure of listening at nights to the conversation, the songs, and the other manifestations of family life going on round the hearth fire.
The very fact that we had come from so far, and from the east (the direction of favor, luck, and fortune), "to learn their language, and to Hsten to their beautiful stories," that we fived wuth one of their own people in his house, that we cut our owti wood, carried our owTi suppfies, etc., gradually smoothed the frown from many faces and softened the scowling look in many eyes. Soon we had pro- gressed so far that we knew the joy of being looked upon, if not as one of them, at least as congenial neighbors.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 90 PLATE A
a^'yii^'t'Di (■"owimmer"), the writer of the manuscript
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99 PLATE 5
W.. Maiij lr>il cjRMANT AND INTERPRETER
ol°BRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 9
On account of the special nature of the work it was not easy to find the right sort of informants. As a whole only medicine men could be used. Some of these, even if they were good practitioners were but poor informants; others as a matter of principle refused for many months to give information. Some of them, however, were ideal collaborators, and for such of them as W., Del., and Og., one is at a loss what to praise most in them — their immense fund of knowledge or the keenness and the interest they manifested in the work.
The following is a list of the informants and medicine men cited in these pages. Those the names of whom are preceded by two asterisks are the medicine men who worked with Mooney and who died be- tween his visits and inine; the names preceded by one asterisk are those of the medicine men I worked with, but who died during or since my stay; the medicine men whose names are not preceded by an asterisk are those I worked with, and who are, so far as I know, still alive at the time of wTiting. Since some of the latter are depicted in these pages in terms that are not always complimentary, and also because much of their activity as described in this paper might bring upon them the wrath of people who beheve it their duty to stamp out all vestiges of aboriginal belief and practice, it is deemed best to cite them by their initials only. I have deposited a detailed list in the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology by which these individuals can be identified by any ethnologist who may desire to make investigations in that quarter of the world in the future.
Abbreviation used Refers to—
**Ay o'yo°"'-ni', writer of the manuscript (cf. p. 7).
**A}^o Avosta, W.'s mother (see Mooney Myths, PI. xiv) (cf.
'p. 67).
Del See this paper, pi. 11, b; cf. also pp. 115-116.
**Gad GaDiGwana'sti, the writer of manuscript III (cf. SFC,
312).
*J Jukias (pi. 11, a), died 1928 (cf. p. 115).
*Je W.'s lialf-sister; medicine woman and midwife (see
pi. 12, a; cf. p. 116).
Jo Cf . p. 1 13 et seq.
Jud See pi. 10, a; cf. p. 114 et seq.
O _ Del.'s mother. Climbing Bear's widow, W.'s and Og.'s
sister-in-law (see pi. 12, 6; cf. p. 116).
*0g Died spring 1927; W.'s half-brother, Del.'s uncle (see
pi. 9, a; cf. p. 1 12 et seq.).
T Del.'s brother-in-law (see pi. 10, c; cf. p. 111).
*Ts J.'s father (see pi. 8, a; cf. p. 115).
**Ut Cf. p. 3.
W My main informant and interpreter (see pi. 5; cf. p. 109
et seq.). **Wa Thewriterof manuscript II. Gad.'s son (cf. SFC, p. 312).
10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Linguistic Notes
The Cherokee language (Iroqiioian stock) has often been studied, but through various vicissitudes only very few of the residts have been published. But two attempts to publish a grammar of it have been made — one by J. Pickering (cf. p. 1), another by Von der Gabelentz. (See Bibliography.)
Pickering's attempt was not any better than could be expected at a time when so little of American Indian Unguistics was known, and Von der Gabelentz's sketch, though interesting, is based on material gleaned from very inadequate sources. Neither of the two have found, for example, the typical Iroquoian system of pronominal prefixes in the Cherokee verbal series, nor the difference between the static and active verbs.
There are still two Cherokee dialects extant — the Western (often called "Upper") dialect, spoken by the majority of the Cherokee in Oklahoma and by a few families in Graham County, N. C, and the Central (often called "Middle") dialect, spoken by the Cherokee on the Qualla Reservation, where these investigations were made. There is historic evidence of a third dialect, wliich may be called the Eastern (it has sometimes been referred to as the "Lower") dialect; the last Indian, as far as we know, who spoke this dialect died in the beginning of this century.
There is a possibility that one (or two?) more dialects existed in the past, but there is very scant and inadequate evidence of this.
The differences existing between the two dialects that are still spoken are small indeed, nor does the extinct dialect seem to have diverged much from the two others. Allowing for such phonetic sliifts as West. Dial. -tl-> Cent. D. -ts-; W. D. aGi-> C. D. €-; C. D. -W. D. -l-> East. D. -r-, the vocabulary is practically the same; in the morphology there do not seem to be other differences than can be explained by these phonetic shifts; the syntaxis can not yet be compared as our knowledge of the Eastern dialect is so scanty; nor has the Western dialect been adequately studied.
The formulas as written in the Ay. manuscript and in the majority of the other manuscripts that have since been collected are mostly written in the Central dialect. Still, a lot of Western dialect forms are to be found in them and there are also a great many archaic, ritualistic expressions the meaning of which is rapidly disappearing. (Cf. Ritual Language, p. 160 et seq.)
I have given in the interlinear analysis a translation as correct and conveying the Cherokee meaning as faithfully as was found possible. Rather than speculate on probabilities or advance conjectures that can not be proved, I have indicated by a query mark those elements that can not be satisfactorily analyzed. If query marks are met with
m-BRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 11
more often than either the reader or the editor Hkes, it should be borne in mind that the language in which the formulas are couched is a ritiuilistic idiom, often very different from the ordinary language, both as regards vocabulary and grammar, and abounding in expres- sions wliich even the initiated do not always understand.
As for this analysis, I have always given in the interlinear translation the original meaning as far as this could be ascertained, giving the semasiological evolution in footnotes to the free translation. Thus, Ga^ni' will be rendered by "arrow" in the interlinear translation, as this was its original meaning. In the free translation it will be rendered by "bullet," which is its meaning in the context, a footnote explaining the evolution in meaning: "arrow" > "bullet" > "lead." The same applies to such words as: aDe-'lo° that has gone through the following evolution in meaning: "seed(?)" > "bead" ^ "money" > "dollar"; or to: kVlo'GWe-'kt'i "locust tree" > "bow" (because locust wood was used to make bows) > "gun" (the modem successor of the bow).
It is hoped that a paper on Cherokee linguistics, on which the pres- ent wiiter is working, will soon be ready for publication.
Phonetic Symbols and Abbreviations
The following list ^viIl serve the double purpose of explaining the phonetic symbols and the abbreviations used in the texts, and of presenting a summary description of the Cherokee phonetic system as I heard it.
Phonetics Vowels — Oral : Long or short — Open —
a, as in Engl, far, Gm. Band. 0, as in Engl, not, nought; Gm. Gott. V, as in Engl, spoon, you.
e, as in Engl, air; Gm. Wahlen; French scene. i, as in Engl. seat. Closed —
a, as in Gm. einmal; Gm. wahl. u, as in Engl. nook.
e, as in Engl, baby, stain (this sound is very rarely heard in Cherokee, and then always finally; where it occurs at all it seems to be a contraction of f- (nasalized long e)+i). o, only occurs in songs. i, as in Engl. pin. Short—
0, as in Engl, bird, but very short; Gm. Cotter. u, a sound between a and o.
9, vowel of indefinite quality, as in Engl, father, believe. Parasitical —
Phonems that are scarcely audible and occur frequently as weakly articulated vowels are indicated by small superior characters: o"", e*', "w, 'y, etc.
12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Vowels — Oral — Continued. Voiceless — A, I, u, o—
Voiceless vowels, as they are paradoxically called, are phonems produced by lips and tongue taking the position to pronounce a vowel (a, i, u, or o, as the case may be) ; there may be — and there usually is — a strong emission of breath, but as the vocal cords are not brought in action, the phonem is voiceless. Nasalized —
;i, £v, but more commonly with less pronounced nasalization, thus: a", a°. 9', (usually long) as in Fr. bon; as in Engl, don, but longer and nasalized, f , (usually long) as in Fr. pain, dessin. 9', (usually long) as in Fr. un.
0", (very short) as in Engl, bird, Gm. Gotter, Fr. boeuf, but always short and nasalized. When only a slight degree of nasalization is heard, this is shown by writing a small -° after the vowel, instead of writing a hook under it, as is done in cases where nasalization is more pronounced. Semiconsonants :
y, w, may be strongly aspirated, when they are written y', w*; may also be voiceless, when they are rendered y, w. The w is often preceded by a barelj' audible u sound; in this case the phonem is written "w. Consonants: Stops — Dental —
d, voiced, as in Engl. dawn.
D, intermediate sound between voiced and unvoiced dental, t, unvoiced, as in Engl. hit.
t', unvoiced and aspirated, as in Engl, tin, tan, but with aspiration more emphatic. Velar —
g, voiced, as in Engl, go, dog.
G, intermediate sound between voiced and unvoiced velar, k, unvoiced, as in Engl. back.
]f., unvoiced, but pronounced farther back than previous sound. k', unvoiced and aspirated, as in Engl, come, can, but with more emphatic aspiration. Nasals — Dental —
n, voiced nasal, as in Engl, can, near.
^n, the same nasal, but preceded by a hardly audible d. The tongue takes the dental position as if about to pronounce d (implosion), but immediately the uvula is lowered and the breath escapes by the nose passage, without having occasioned the explosion usually accompanying the d phonem. N, voiceless nasal; always followed by a strong nasal aspiration Bilabial —
m, voiced as in Engl, mother. Velar —
q, voiced, as in Engl, sing, rang. Spirants — Dental —
s, unvoiced fricative as in Engl, race, sing. z, voiced fricative as in Engl, gaze, doze.
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 13
Consonants — Continued, Prepalatal —
c, unvoiced, as in Engl, shut, fish.
j, voiced, as in Fr. jambe, genou. Palatal —
X, unvoiced, as in Gm. ich, nicht. Laterals —
1, voiced, as in Engl, lid, rill.
^1, the same voiced sound, but preceded by the dental element described
s. v. Nasals, ^n. \, unvoiced 1. Affricatives — Dental —
dz, voiced, as in Engl, hands up.
ts, unvoiced, as in Engl, bits, ants. Prepalatal —
dj, voiced, as in Engl. George.
tc, unvoiced, as in Engl. China. Lateral —
tl, unvoiced 1, preceded by unvoiced dental stop.
Diacritical Marks
-*-, the Greek "spiritus asper" indicates breath, aspiration.
-'-, the Greek "spiritus lenis" indicates glottalization. .
Q, a hook, turned to the right, under a vowel indicates nasalization.
-1-, a combination of the "spiritus asper" with the nasalization hook indicates a
strong nasal aspiration. -°-, a small superior n indicates slight nasalization.
-•, a dot after a vowel, above the line, indicates long quantity of the vowel. -:, a colon after a vowel indicates very long quantity. -''-, a breve over a vowel indicates abnormally short duration. -., a dot after a vowel or consonant on the line indicates a very slight pause. -', the "acute accent," following a phonem, indicates primary stress. -*, the "grave accent," following a phonem, indicates secondary stress. ', the "acute accent" printed over a vowel indicates rising pitch. \ the *'grave accent" printed over a vowel indicates falling pitch.
The two latter can be combined to ", i. e., "falling-rising," or to '\ i. e., "rising- faUing" pitch.
Abbreviations Used in the Texts (Interlinear Translation)
App. — apparently. l. = liquid.
Dir. = direction. L. = limitative.
(2) = dual. L. ( = E.) = limitative, used as emphatic.
E.=emphatic. Loc. = locative.
Excl. = exclamation. On. = onomatop.
H., Hab. = habitually. 6ol. = solid.
kn.-=kneadable. T. L. = temporal-locative.
Words or parts of words between brackets [ ] in the texts were written by the native compilator of the manuscript by mistake.
Words or parts of words between parentheses ( ) had been omitted by him but have been interpolated by J. Mooney, by W., my inter-
14 BUHEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
preter, or by myself. In every case the interpolation is accounted for in a footnote.
Words or sentences between brackets, in the explanatory notes foUow-ing every one of the formulas, are by the editor. All the rest in these explanatory notes is the work of James Mooney.
DISEASE— ITS NATURE AND ITS CAUSES Nature of Disease
Many of the facts contained in this paper are bound to remain unintelligible if no sound understanding is gained into the Cherokee conceptions of disease.
These are not by any means so simple or uniform as many theorists are wont to ascribe to peoples at this stage of ciilture.
Disease in general is commonly referred to by the v%-ord: u'3'u'Gi, which is no doubt related with the stem V-yuG- "resentment" (cf. Gpyu'ca — "I have resentment toward thee.")
In the ritualistic language of the formulas, however, this expression never occurs, vlsce-'no^ always being used in its stead. The original meaning of this word has now been lost, even by the medicine men, who always claim it merely means ''the disease present in the body," and Mooney accordingly invariably translated it as "the intruder." Although this way of translating it conveys its general meaning, there is cause to discuss it somewhat further. It appears from various expressions that can be compared with the one under discussion that the meaning would be "that which is important." Although this concept is usually rendered Galo''°kw'tt*yu' in the ordinary language, yet such expressions as the following are still in constant use:
i;lsGe''Do'' dzt'lu^Gi', "I came on important business."
(Ga)Do*'iyi;lsG€"'Do° *Q'li;*Gi', "What on earth didst thou come in here for?" (implied: It must be very important, else thou wouldst not have come).
fG9-'wi;lsGe''Do° "of but trivial worth; not important."
These expressions clearly prove what the true meaning of the term is. It would thus appear that it is one of the many "euphemistic terms" which the Cherokee, as so many other tribes and peoples, use, and the object of which is to allude to a dreaded concept by a (respect- ful) circumlocution, so as not to offend it, or so as not to bring about its appearance, its "materiaUzation," we might say, by calling it by its common name.
The i;lsGe'Do° is the disease as it is present in the body of the suf- ferer. Although it is invisible, intangible, and in all other respects immaterial, it very often may manifest its presence by material means, as swellings, protuberances, or even by worms and insects.
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 15
It does not as a rule torment a person of its own free will; it is inert of itself, but is subdued to the will of more powerful agents, spirits, ghosts, or even human beings, who may cause it to enter the body of those persons whom they wish to harm.
The idioms of the formulas seem to imply that the i;lsGe*'Do° is not so much put into the ^actim, as under him; the expression: Dunu'^yHamle'^i' "he (the disease causer) has put it (the disease) under him, it appears," always being used. How the disease then finally enters the victhn under whom it has been put is not clear. There is a consensus of opinion among the medicine men that it enters the body somehow, but on the question as to whether this in- troduction takes place by way of a natural orifice or whether it is possible for a disease to enter the body anywhere, not one of the medicine men cared to commit himself.
From the fact that an ylsGe*'Do° is present in a person's body it by no means follows that an illness is the instantaneous result: the disease may be present in a dormant, latent condition, and often months, or even years after the revengeful animal-ghost or spirit has "moculated" the person the malady may become "virulent." It is easy to see how powerful a means this conception must be toward consohdatmg the prestige of the medicine man, enabling him as it does to explain many diseases, for which there is no evident cause, by events and dreams of many months or years ago, and to explain how it is that certain acts and infractions of taboos that, according to the general belief ought to be followed by the contraction of a disease, apparently remain \^dthout any immediate results.
The presence of an i;lsGe"'Do°, however, does not account for all the cases of sickness. There are, for example, the ailments due to "our sahva being spoiled." The Cherokee believes that the saliva is located in the throat and that it is of capital importance in human physiology; as a matter of fact, the physiologic role they ascribe to the saUva would lead us to believe that they consider it as important as the blood and the gall. When the saliva is "spoiled" the patient becomes despondent, withers av/ay, and dies.
The most frequent causes of this state of affairs are dreams, es- pecially the dreams caused by the ghost people (see p. 26), but also those caused by snakes and fish. The belief is based no doubt on the feeling of oppression and anguish that accompanies many dreams, especially those of the "nightmare" variety.
A state of iU health very much akin to the one just mentioned, and where no ulsGe-'no'' is believed to be present, is caused by an enemy of ours feeling u-'ya UDa''N*to, "of a different mind" toward us, "different" here again being a euphemistic term for "bad" or "worse."
7548°— 32 3
16 BTIREATJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bill. 99
This is usually ascribed to the activities of a human enemy and refers to a psychopatholo2:ical state rather than to any other disorders. The victim is utterly despondent and dejected and seems to be the victim of a severe case of chronic melancholy.
Another explanation that is offered in some cases, and one which is more apt to cause surprise, as it is not common to the Indians of the eastern United States, is that the illness is caused by the action of a human being who has ravished the soul of the patient. The fact that one's soul has been buried does not result in instant death : one may live without it for six or eight months, or even for a year. But if the party working on behalf of the victim is not successful in ultimately remo\dng the ban, death is incAa table. The symptoms ascribed to an illness of this order do not differ materially from those belonging to "having one's saliva spoiled" or to the illness caused by some one "having his mind different toward us." Tliis makes it the easier for a medicine man who does not succeed in curing a patient to make a new diagnosis, and to change his treatment from one, the object of which was to dislodge the spoiled sahva, to a new one aiming at removing the ban from the buried soul of the patient.
The way in which the medicine man finds out what is actually the cause of a given disease will be discussed under the caption of Diagnosis (p. 39). Sometimes, however, a diagnosis, however ac- curate, will fail to disclose the actual cause of the ailment. A favorite explanation in such a case is to ascribe the evil to the fact that the patient "has dreamed of different things." It is implicitly under- stood that this means "different, or all sorts of bad tilings." Since in this case the causes are complex, it is considered that the treat- ment must be the same, and a medicine is prescribed consisting of a decoction of as many as 24 different plants.
Nobody ever becomes ill without a cause. And with very few exceptions every individual is responsible and blamable for the dis- eases he contracts.
A distinction is made between dangerous and less serious diseases, but even the latter have to be adequately cared for and attended to ; for disease senders and causers, whether human or nonhuman, have a predilection for sending disease to a person when he is already in a weakened condition; they know that then they stand a far better chance to be successful and attain their ends.
General Semeiology
Although very little value is attached to what might be called a scientific symptomatology by the Cherokee, a few remarks about the subject are not out of place here.
As will soon appear from a glance at the titles of the formulas, the different ailments themselves are usually called by names that refer
IMOOKEY
Olbrechts.
] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 17
to one or to several of the more striking symptoms; as "when they have a headache," "when their eyes droop," "when they have a dry cough," "when they discharge shmy matter from their bowels," etc.
As a rule, only the main symptom — that is, the phenomenon which the patient or the medicine man considers as the main symptom — is considered to be of any importance, and as a result of this many ail- ments that are of an entirely different pathological nature are classed as one and the same disease, because headache, for example, is the most unpressive symptom.
Yellowness of the skin, black rings round the eyes, headache, swellings, and the nature of the feces and of the m'ine are practically the only general signs which the medicine men consider as being of any importance.
Some may be impressed by the rationality of this symptomatology ; but it should be borne in mind that the deductions made from it, and the treatment followed as a result of it, are by no means as rational as we are led to expect.
Headache is not so much a symptom as a proof that a group of birds have invaded the patient's head, and are there carrying on in a way which is not conducive to the rest of the victim. A swelling or a dilatation of the stomach in no waj' indicates a trouble of the diges- tive tract, but is merely the outward evidence of the ulsGe-no^. Diarrhea in children is evidenced by the nature of the feces, but is explained by the fact that two rival teams of "Little People" are playing a ball game in the child's stomach.
More of the symptoms that are known and that are occasionally mentioned and taken into consideration will be discussed with the relevant formulas.
Disease Causes
natural causes
However primitive and unsophisticated may be the views of a tribe on disease and its causes, and however great may be the share of mysticism and occultism in its explanation of the events of daily life, yet there is almost everywhere a recognition of natural agency if not for some of the ailments, at least for some accidents.
A Cherokee, wounded by falling with his hand on the cutting edge of his ax, or breaking his leg when sliding off a foot log when crossing the river, may, if he has a turn of mind given to the mysterious and the occult, explain those accidents by the machinations of an enem}'', but the chances are that he will look upon them in a very fatalistic way, and will search for no hidden cause to explain so obvious a fact.
But one should never be too sure. If the same Cherokee slides down a precipice through a lump of rock crumbling away beneath his foot, or if he is wounded by a stray arrow, or by a tree branch falling
18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 09
on his head, his imagination forthwith finds cause for speculation, and he may come to the conchision that the "Little People," or the "Mountain People" have become angry at him and have taken vengeance by the means just stated.
SUPERNATURAL CAUSES
If even in cases where the natural course and cause of events seems evident and obvious, a mythologic explanation may be ad- vanced, what are we to expect when it becomes necessary to account for such mysterious, unexplainable, insidious changes of condition to which disease subjects our body and mind?
The man who but two or three daj^s ago was a living image of both Hercules and Adonis, and who came home from the mountain carry- ing on his shoulder a tree trunk of formidable weight and dimension as lightly as if it were but a bark canoe, to-day lies prostrate, pain and terror stricken, with haggard looks and sallow complexion, suffering, pantiag, and gasping. . . .
The buxom woman, from w'hom last week a chubby, healthy baby boy "jumped down," as the Cherokee express it, is now suffer- ing more than ever she did, and feels herself as being burned by a scorching internal fire . . .
The sprightly baby, which ever since it moved was as alert and busthng as a young chipmunk or a scampering squirrel, suddenly lapses into spasmodic convulsions, or lies motionless vdtb haggard eyes wide open, as those of a terror-stricken rabbit . . .
Why? For what reason?
When we think of how, in a civilized community, as soon as any- thing uncanny happens, as soon as the Awful Incomprehensible makes its presence felt, even the sophisticated lose their reasoning faculties and grasp at ridiculous explanations and at impossible hopes, how can we scoff at the conclusions these poor people reach?
The man who became ill so suddenly has had a quarrel a week or so ago wdth an ill-reputed medicine man, who told him, as they separated, that he would hear about him again. The wizard has shot an invisible flint arrowhead into his bowels.
The woman who had known the joys of such a happy delivery had not heeded the su})sequent taboo, prohibiting all warm food to any one in her condition. That is why she is now being consumed by an internal fire.
The baby is now paying the penalty of his mother having partaken of rabbit meat during her pregnancy, six months or so ago. And that is why it is now assuming the cramped position, so reminiscent of the hunchback position of a squatting rabbit, or why its eyeballs are so dilated.
MOONEY
Olbrechts.
;] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 19
These are but some instances taken at random; but let us in a systematic and methodical way make a survey of the different disease causes and we will be the better prepared to comprehend the Cherokee way of treating them.
Spirits
As will readily be seen from the "List of spirits" on pages 44-50, the Cherokee believe in ciuite a remarkable collection of beings whose major occupation seems to be to pester the inhabitants of this planet ^\'ith all possible and impossible varieties of ailments.
The motives of these spirits, whether they be of an anthropomorphic or of a zoomorphic type, are mostly very human and justifiable — they take revenge for slights, lack of respect, abuses, etc., of which they have been the subject at the hands of the human beings. This holds especially for the animal spirits, the Little Deer, the White Bear, etc., who are all the tireless and valiant defenders of their particular animal clan and who mete out justice and take vengeance for the conduct of neglectful and disrespectful hunters.
There are hardly any spirits that are, per se, benevolent or ne- farious; they may be one or another, according to circumstances. One spirit may send a disease as a punishment, and yet may on another occasion help the same individual to overcome another spirit.
As a rule the spirit who has caused a disease is never prevailed upon to take the disease away; the office of another, rival, spirit is called upon to do this.
Spirits do not merely send disease of their own initiative; they may be prevailed upon to do so by human agency, by witches (see p. 29) or by man killers (see p. 33), for instance.
According to some informants it would seem that spirits may exercise their nefarious power quite arbitrarily; the sun may cause a headache without any apparent reason, or without any plausible cause. This is, however, so exceedingly rare that it is quite possible that this view is foreign to earher Cherokee conceptions, and that such an allegation is now made simply because the earlier explana- tion has been lost.
Let us now pass in review the more important of these anthro- pomorpliic spirits. By far the most important is
The Sun. — In everyday language there is no distinct word for "sun" or "moon." This is a common feature of all the Iroquoian dialects and of many other North American Indian languages; ng-^Do' conveys the meaning of "luminary"; if the distinction has to be expressed the locutions used are:
UQ-^Do' f'ca e'!i "The luminary that is (that lives) in the day- time," viz, the sun.
20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bill. 9d
riQ-^Do' sgno''}'! e'U "The luminary that is (that Uves) in the nighttime," viz, the moon.
In the rituaUstic language, however, the sun is always referred to either as une'^tlano^i or Ge''yaGi;''Ga.
The first of these expressions means: "He has apportioned, allotted, di\-ided into equal parts," doubtlessly referring to the time-dividing role of the sim. The same stem is used to express the allotting of the tribal territory to the individuals that are entitled to a part, "an allotment," of it.
Since this un€'"tlano*'i has always been looked upon as their most powerful spirit by the Cherokee, the missionaries have read into his name the meaning of "Great Spirit," "Creator," and hence the verb-stem y-ne*tl- is now gradually acquiring the meaning of "to create," a concept absolutely foreign to its piimary meaning.
It is now well-nigh impossible to gain a clear conception of the part which this spirit must have once played in Cherokee reUgion. Only a very few of the older people can shed any Ught on his true nature. Some who have been missionized to some extent identify this spirit with the God of the Christians; others, even if they do not go qiute so far, have absolutely forgotten that une-'tlano'Ji is identical with the sun, and have even no idea of the sex of this spirit.
Although tliis spirit was not considered responsible for the origin of things (see Mooney, Myths, pp. 239, 248), yet he must once have had the reputation of a most eminent spirit, if not of the preeminent deity. When such very important tribal or ritualistic events take place as the ball game, or the search for medicine, he is always invoked in a very humble and propitiating way. He and the Fire (they are stUl by a few of the oldest informants felt to be one and the same person) are the only spirits to which prayers, in the true meaning of the term, are ever offered ; of them things are asked, while other spirits are merely commanded to do things.
If it were not for the fortunate fact that another ritualistic name of this important spirit has been preserved it might not now be possible to definitely identify the sex of this spirit; the name G€''yaGu*'G8, however, makes it clear that a femmine person is m.eant (aGe*'ya "woman"); -gu'go can not be identified with certainty; probablj'- it is a dialectical variant of the suffix -GO'Ga "very impor- tant"; "primus inter pares"; "par excellence" (cf. *tDa-'"vv€'t'GO'Ga' "thou most powerful wizard"; ayo°'Go*Ga' "but I myself indeed").
Another proof is found in the etiological myth explaining the black spots on the "face" of the moon as a result of the love affair of the moon with the sun, his sister. (See Mooney, Myths, pp. 256- 257.)
Only rarely do we find evidence that the sun sends disease, although a couple of cases have come to my attention where she is alleged to
oScHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT • 21
have caused headache (insolation?). No one could give the reason why the sun causes disease. An explanation is found in a myth where it is stated that the sun causes fever because she hates to see her grandchildren (the human beings) screw up their faces when they look up at her. (Mooney, Myths, p. 252.)
As une*'tlano!'i the sun is often called upon to cure disease, however, and she is invariably addressed in the prayers that are recited to ask pennission to gather plants and simples.
The Fire. — We find the fire so closely associated with the sun that their identity could plausibly be surmised, even if there were no actual and definite proof of it.
The fire but rarely sends disease, and then only because of our disrespectful conduct; thro\\'ing the offal of anything we have chewed into the fire results in our being visited ^dth toothache; urinating on the ashes that have been thrown outside exposes us to a disease as the one referred to in Formula No. 4.
It is often addressed as "our grandparent," opening his (her?) sheltering arms in affection, and surrounded by us, his (her?) grand- children. Epithets, as "Ancient white," "Ancient red," are often bestowed upon it. The hunter, when returning from a successful trip, never neglected to offer a particle of meat, usually the liver of the animal, to it, but this custom is now well-nigh obsolete. It is unfor- tunatei}" not now possible to ascertain whether this offer was intended for the fire, in its capacity as emanation of une"'tlan5!i, or simply as a recompense for the fire's divinatory offices, as the hunter usually consults the fire prior to his departure as to where he will be able to locate and kill game.
There is only one instance of the fire curing an ailment by its own virtue, viz, where burns and scalds caused by flames are exposed to the fire, "so that the fire should take the pain back," but there are a great many instances where the curing virtue of the fire is relied upon as an additional element in the cure. In all the cases, viz, where the patient has "to be hit" (see p. 62), the medicine man, prior to this operation, warms his hands near the fire. Usually a few live coals are taken from the hearth on a shovel, in a dish, or a flat vessel, and put near the patient; the medicine man warms his hands over these coals before he starts "rubbing the disease away."
The fire is also generally invoked against all disease caused by "cold-blooded" animals, as the terrapin, snakes, fish, etc. (Mooney, Notes), and also often against complaints caused by Frost, Cold, the Blue Man, etc.
Another case where the curing virtue of the fire is resorted to is when an infusion, prior to being dnmk by the patient, or to being rubbed on his body, is "strengthened" by dropping four or seven live coals into it.
22 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. '.
The considerable role the fire plaj's in divination ceremonies is retained for discussion in a future paper deahng with that subject, when also the use made of the fire in a "man-ldlHng" ceremony will be amply described.
Ihe Moon. — The moon, although he is the brother of the sun (see p. 20), is not very prominent in the tribal mythology, nor does he play a part of any importance in the folklore.
It would appear, however, that this loss of popularity is of rather recent date, since very old customs, such as the "going to water" (see p. 150), with every new moon seem to indicate that the moon cult must once have been of far greater importance than it is now.
The diseases held to be caused by the moon are very scarce; blind- ness is one of them. It is furthermore believed that if, at new moon, a person sees the luminary for the first time through the trees he ^\-ill be ill all the following month. It may be that originally this illness was considered to be caused by the moon, but such a belief does not exist now; it is now merely looked upon as an omen. (See p. 37.)
The moon is never appealed to vdih. a view to dispelling disease. This offers the more cause for surprise, as the moon must once have been the object of great respect. It is still occasionally addressed as "grandparent," the only spirit to share this honor with the Sun and the Fire.
The Cherokee believe that when a person sees the new moon of the month the first time he must look at him and s&y:
G9"yo*'lfGa' €Di;-'du e'ti skt'^nu.stc'sti'
I greet thee maternal grandfather long time this like it will be
i-yQ-nj)9 k'Ja"!i'' Dt'GmdaGo"wa.t3°.ti' 'tGe^'se'sti'
over there continually thou and I to be seeing one it will be
another
("How do. Grandpa! At the time when it uill be like this again (i. e., next month) we wiU still be seeing each other." (i. e., I will still be alive.)
Pronouncing this salutation formula is a sure means of safeguarding against all sickness or accidents throughout the ensuing month.
The River. — The River cult of the Cherokee has formed the object of a paper read by James Mooney before the Columbus meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in August, 1899, and which has been reprinted.'^ This paper is practically exhaustive, and what small additional points of information have been obtained subsequently by Mooney or by me will be found in their relevant places in these pages.
12 The Cherokee River Cult, in JAFL., January- March, 1900, pp. 1-10.
oIbrecIts] the swiimmer manusceipt 23
The river, usually addressed in the ritualistic language as —
yQ""wi' Ga'n9^-'Do" ''Long Human Being," a'sku'ya Ga'no'f'Do" ''Long Man," I'na'Do" Ga'na'f'Do" "Long Snake,"
continues to enjoy a great deal of credit and is still an object of sincere respect to the more traditionalist of the Cherokee. The rite of going to water, however, is rapidly disappearing from the tribal life, and after another couple of generations all that will probably subsist of the river cult will be a few survivals, unintelligible even to those who practice them.
The river sends disease to those who insult it by such actions as throwing rubbish into it, by urinating into it, etc. As a vengeance for the latter act it causes a disease from a description of the symptoms of which it appears that enuresis is meant.
The use of river water in the preparation of medicine is discussed under Materia Medica (p. 52 et seq.).
Apart from the rites that are performed at the river's edge in such ceremonies as "going to water," "for long Hfe," in divination and incantation ceremonies, which are all described in the notes appended to the relevant formulas, attention should here be called to the custom of vomiting into the river to get rid of diseases, especially of those in which the patient's "saliva has been spoiled." (See p. 63.)
The patient drinks the emetic at home, while still fasting, and then hurries to the river's edge, where he vomits into the water, thereby "throwing off the spoiled saliva," and, with it, the disease. If the emetic itself does not have the desired result mechanical means are resorted to (irritating the uvula with finger, grass stalk, etc.). A for- mula is usually recited at the same time by the medicine man accom- panying the patient, by which the water is commanded to carry the disease down the stream, "to the settlements where (other) people live." "In every case where a ceremony is performed at the water side, either by a number of persons or by a single individual, it must be at daybreak, while the participants are stiU fasting, and the spot chosen for the performance of the rite is at a bend of the river where the supplicants can face the east while looking upstream." (Mooney, Notes.)
ThuTider — Red Man — Two Little Red Men. — The Thunder is referred to by these three different names. The two fonner refer to the Thunder himself; the latter to his two sons. Often in the formulas the Thunder is spoken of as surrounded by a host of Little Red Men, all Thunderers.
The heavy roUing crashes of thunder are said to be the voice of Thunder himself, whereas the hghter, metalhc peals of thunder are ascribed to the Little Red Men.
24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Hull. 99
The Cherokee pretend that the Thunder is the friend of all Indians, and that he never kills one; not one case can be cited, they say, of a Cherokee having been "struck by the Thunder," whereas white people have frequently been killed on the reservation, and scores of trees are struck every year.
The Thunder's role is that of a disease expeller rather than that of a disease causer. He and his two sons are the enemies of the Black Man and of anything and anybody having his abode in the "Black Land," in the "Evening Land," in the "Dark Land," or in the West.
The only case, it seems, where the Thunder gets angry is when we do not observe thejaimo relating to him, and which prohibits refer- ring to him as "Red" in the everyday language. The epithet "Red" should only be bestowed on him in the ceremonial language, whereas in everyday speech he is to be referred to as "White."
The Two Little Red Men (the Cherokee never explicitly call them "Thunder Boys") always rove about together; they are reputed to be about 60 centimeters high and to wear a cap, half red, half purple, surmounted by a peak, the w^hole looldng "like a German military helmet," wliich some of the Cherokee have seen or have heard described. s"we*'Gi and tsa^'ni (John), both now dead, claim to have seen the Thunder Boys; they looked exactly as they had always heard them described; which does not surprise us.
According to Og., the Two Little Red Men are to be identified with the two sons of k'Q:na*'ti (cf. Mooncy, Myths, p. 242); k^ana'ti himself being no one else than the Thunder in person.
Purple Man, Blue Man, Black Man, etc. — There is not much defi- nite information to be gathered about these spirits, neither from the texts themselves nor from oral information.
Possibly they owe their existence merely to the desire to oppose to the Red Man corresponding men of the different colors, to con- form to the color symbolism.
The Black Man, living in the West, seems in many cases to be identical with a ghost. (See p. 26 et seq.). The diseases they cause, the nature of their activities, their opponents and antagonists, all this supports this impression, and many informants expUcitly and spontaneously state that this identity exists.
The Purple Man is generally called upon to assist in nefarious machinations, such as incantations, love conjurations, etc. That purple is the color of witchcraft will appear from other facts listed in these pages.
The Blue Man, living in the North, is called upon to act as an antagonist in diseases sent by the scorching sun (insolation, blisters, etc.). He himself causes such pains and ailments as usually follow in the wake of severe frost.
oIbkechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 25
Dawi'skulo°\ or Flint, does not play so important a part in Chero- kee medicine as he does in the mythology. To his reputation of being an ogrelike being he owes the appeal made to him to come and frighten the Httle girls at birth, thus enticing them "to jump down" from their mothers. (See texts, p. 277.)
Various Little People. — Finally there are to be mentioned the vari- ous kinds of "Little People," y^-'^wi tsu'nsti'' fairylike beings of either sex, very small (about 40 cm. high, informants say) with long hair falling down to their heels.
They very seldom are mentioned as individuals, and usually act as a group. There are colonies of Little People in the mountains, in the rocks, in the water, and in the forests. They live in settlements just as usual human beings, have clans, town houses, hold dances and councils, etc., and frequently their music and dancing can be heard at night by lonely travelers. As a rule they are in^dsible, but there are a few cases on record where some rarely gifted individuals (e. g., tA\'ins that are being brought up to be witches, cf. p. 129) can see them and talk mth them. They can speak Cherokee.
They are as a rule Idndly inclined toward mankind and may help a hunter to find his arrows, or they may care for and feed, a lost and spent traveler. But they are also feared as disease causers and are believed to especially choose children as their victims.
Animal Spirits
The animal spirits so frequently mentioned in the Cherokee for- mulas are by no means to be thought of as identical with the speci- mens of our earthly fauna. They are the prototypes of our common animals and are far more considerable in size, power, swiftness, and all other qualities than their earthly successors. They can not be seen or heard, nor can 'their presence be felt by any of our senses; yet we know what they are hke, and how they behave; we know even of what color they are, "WTiite, Red, Blue, etc., "because the old people have always addressed them by those epithets."
It is needless to say that these colors are mainly imaginary; there is not only a Brown Otter, but also a Red one, a Blue one, etc. The same applies to all other animal spirits, as Deer, Bear, Dog, Weasel, Raven, Eagle, Frog, Leech, etc. The same remarks we made with regard to the colors of the Purple, Blue, etc.. Men (p. 24) no doubt also hold here; we have only the color symbolism (p. 51) to blame — or to thank — for the existence of this multicolored spirit fauna.
The motives of these animal spirits in sending disease are mainly dictated by considerations of self-defense, or in a spirit of vengeance for the wrong done and the relentless warfare waged against them and their species by the human race. This is lucidly shown by the myth
26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY IBull. 99
explaining the "Origin of Disease," collected by Mooney (Myths, pp. 250-252). Mooney has also described the role of such animal spirits as Little Deer, \\Tiite Bear, etc., so thoroughly that it is super- fluous to duplicate those descriptions here.
For further details regarding the animal spirits the reader is refer- red to the "List of Spirits," pages 44-50.
For a discussion of the animal ghosts, as distinct from anhnal
spirits, see pages 26-28.
Ghosts
To the spirits and animal spirits as discussed in the preceding paragraphs should be added "ghosts," i. e., according to the Cherokee views, the immaterial, spiritual, immortal part of hiunan beings and animals that have lived the Ufe and died the death of commonplace creatures.
The motives that entice human ghosts, a'msGt''na (sgl. asor'na) and animal ghosts '5°Ha'U (sing, and pi.) to visit mankind %\-ith disease and death are quite different and wall be treated separately.
Human ghosts (a'msGf'na). — When people who have died go to tsii'sGino'ci " (the place) where the (himian) ghosts (are) " (see p. 142), the place out West where they stay, they feel lonesome and homesick and want the company of their friends and relatives. They therefore make them sick and suffering, so that they may die and come and join them in the Ghost Land.
It was emphatically stated to me by informants that there is not a shadow of malignity or jealousy about this activity of the ghosts of the departed ; they act out of pure love, devotion, affection, and all other commendable motives. Yet the living are not quite bent on this mode the ghosts indulge in of showing their affection, and they leave no means untried to escape from the ghosts' influence. I have been able to observe real poignant cases, where filial affection forced a person's attention again and again on the memory of a dearly beloved parent, so much so that he would brood and pine away and languish, but at the same time he felt that he must at all costs make efforts to forget and to make merry, as thinldng and dreaming about the departed ones is the very first symptom of a disease sent by the a'niSGi*'na.
Animal ghosts ('5'^*ta'li). — With the diminishing curve the impor- tance of hunting has made mth the Cherokee, they are not now ascrib- ing so much power to the animal ghosts as they once did. The references to them have to be gleaned chiefly from the formulas, as there is now no Cherokee medicine man living who can give any satisfactory infonnation on the subject. Mooney had already to cope with the same difficulty, and translated 'o^'ta'H as "after-ghost," or "secondary ghost," basing his conclusion on the following facts:
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 27
"Most diseases are ascribed to the influence of ghosts, usually the revengeful ghosts of slain animals. But there are two classes of these ghosts, the 'antsgi'na' (singular 'asgi'na') and the '""tali" (the ti°- being an ahnost inaudible grunt), and it was only after long inquiry that it was possible to learn the distinction between them. It is held by the shaman that an animal killed by the hunter or otherwise is again revived in the same form, and enters upon a new lease of Ufe, to be again killed, or to die naturally, as the case may be. This may recur an indefinite number of times, probably four or seven, the shamans questioned not being able to state. At the final death, the animal ceases to exist in the body, and its ghost goes to join its com- rades in Usuhi'yi, the night land. One doctor (Ayu^'ini) stated that the deer had seven fives or successive animations, each in the same deer shape, after which came anniliilation. He was unable to say whether other animals were reanimated in the same way, bat such seems to be the belief from the evidence afforded by the formulas. An example of this reincarnation occurs in the story of the 'Bear Man'.^^ The belief differs from the ordinary doctrine of metempsy- chosis in that the animal is reincarnated in its original form, instead of becoming an animal of another kind.
"'Asgi'na' is the name applied to the ghost of the original animal (or person) after the first death, while the '*^°tafi" is the ghost of the successive reincarnations, or as the doctor explained, 'the ghost of an animal that has been killed more than once,' the '*^°tali" being the more dreaded of the two.
"The old religion of the Cherokees is now so beclouded and cor- rupted by the influence of missionary ideas that it is extremely dif- ficult to get an intelligent statement of such points, but it seems pos- sible that the original belief assigned to every animal a definite fife period, which could not be curtailed by violent means. When an animal Hved out this allotted period it died and its body decayed, while its spirit became an 'asgi'na' and went to join the other ghosts in the night land. If killed before the expiration of the allotted time, the death was only temporary, the body took shape again from the blood drops (see the story of the "Bear Man") and was reanimated by the spirit, now called '"°tali'.' This new existence continued, unless again interrupted and again renewed, until the end of the pre- destined period, when the body was finally dissolved and the liberated spirit took up its journey to the night land, there to remain with its kindred shades." (Mooney, Notes.)
Moreover, Mooney based his conclusions on a beHef of his according to which 'o°*ta'fi was etymologically related with t'a^li' "two" (his transcription being, respectively, ^^^tafi' and tali')-
13 See Mooney, Myths, pp. 327-329.
28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
This is, however, not the case, as will appear from my texts, there being two important phonetic differences:
(1) The surd dental is not aspirated in '5°'ta'li whereas it is most decidedly so in t'a^Ii'.
(2) In '5"Ha'li the liquid is not preceded by a dental implosion as it is in t'a^Ii'.
As for the successive incarnations of the animals, according to Og., the only one of my informants who had ever heard of it, this was only the case for the bears (as is indeed confirmed by Mooney's story of the "Bear Man" (Mooney, Myths, pp. 327-329) and by several stories collected by me) ; neither the deer nor any other animals, Og. states, had the benefit of a second or of any subsequent lives after having once been killed.
I have found evidence, moreover, that the term 'o^'ta'li was also used by the hunter, referring to the particle of meat of a killed animal which he offered to the fire to return thanks for his luck. (See p. 21.)
Finally, by several medicine men still living, 'o°'ta'li is felt to mean "the decayed thing," i. e., the offal of a piece of game. The dis- respectful treatment extended to their bones and bowels, now, is exactly what makes the animals so revengeful toward the neglectful hunter.
From all this I am inclined to beheve that 'o°'ta'li does not mean "after-ghost" or "secondary ghost," nor that it specifically refers to the ghost of an animal that has been killed before its "lease of life" had been completed. Nor did I find the term asGf'na ever used mth reference to animal ghosts.
To come to a conclusion, I think that I am entitled to adhere to my explanation, and to my distinction between o:sGt"na "hmnan ghost" and '5°'ta'li "animal ghost."
The diseases sent by these human and by the animal ghosts are so multifarious as to include practically the whole of known illnesses and ailments.
Commonly, however, the human ghosts act by "spoiling the saliva" of the victhn, whereas the activity of the animal ghosts results in troubles that are not so much of a psychopathological order. Rheu- matism and dysentery, swellings in the cheek, and violent headaches may all be caused in difi'erent patients by one and the same animal ghost, e. g., a deer's. On the other hand, several different kinds of animal ghosts may all manifest their ill will and take vengeance on the human race by inflicting one and the same disease, as rheumatism which can be caused by the measuring worm, the rabbit, or the buffalo.
A species of animal ghosts to which many ailments are ascribed are the various kinds of tcsGO'^ya or insects.
Olbkechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 29
"'Tsgaj'a' is a generic term for all small insects, larvae, and wornas, excepting intestinal worms. These 'tsgaya' are veiy numerous, hav- ing colonies in the water, in the earth, on the fohage of trees, and in every decaying log, and as they are constantly being crushed, burned, or otherwise destroyed by the hmnan race, they are constantly actuated by a spirit of revenge. To accomplish their purpose the ghosts of the slain 'tsgaya' 'fonn settlements' in the bodies of their victims, usually just under the sldn, and thus cause malignant ulcers, watery blisters and swellings, all of which are generally ascribed to the 'tsgaya.' The 'tsgaya' doctrine of the Indian practitioner is thus the equivalent of the microbe theory of the white physician." (Mooney, Notes.)
PRETERNATURAL CAUSES
Not only natural and supernatural causes are active night and day to shower disease and death on the poor humans; as many, if not more, of the calamities of life are to be laid at the door of fellow human beings, who through preternatural means have the powder of sending mysterious diseases into the bodies and limbs of their neighbors.
Witches
The most dreaded of these human disease causers are the watches. Not that their activities and the results of these are very much differ- ent from those of the "man-killers" (see p. 33); the latter, however, only "work against us" for very sound and obvious reasons, e. g., because we have insulted them, poked fun at them, quarreled with them, or have given them offense in one way or another; at worst, when trying to kill us, they may act as agents of some enemy of ours, but at any rate there is usually this "comforting" consideration about it, that we are aware and conscious of the motives of their activities, and that usually we have only ourselves and our conduct to blame. Being careful and courteous in our dealings with "man-killers" may considerably diminish the risk of being harmed from their quarter. Moreover, counteracting their evil machinations is not so hopeless a task as to fight witchcraft.
The witches are usually referred to as tsiktli' or as so-no-'yi a'ne-Do-''i "they walk about during the night." The meaning of tsiktli' is Kterally "hooting owl," but since this night bird is considered as a bird of HI omen, and because of the mysterious occult power ascribed to it, moreover because it indulges in its activities only during the night as the witches do, the word has been extended to mean "witch."
A witch is held to be a human being, male or female, who is a "powerful wizard " (aDa"'"w€!i', aDa"'"w€a'yu') such as a medicine man may become who has "got the utmost" (see p. 87), but the semantic,
30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
and especially the emotional value given to the word, always convej^s concepts expressing baseness, meanness, slyness, an activit}" of an insidious, nefarious, deleterious nature.
These activities are not subject to the same "reasonable" motives as are those of the "man-killers"; whereas the latter hann to take (just) revenge for some (uncalled-for) offense, the witch liarms simply because it is an inherent trait of his or her wicked nature.
Moreover, whatever the ^vitch can steal of the life, and therefore of the vital principle, of the animus, the power, the "orenda" of Ms victim, he adds to his own, and this is the reason why witches are always hovering about the sick, the feeble, the moribund people; invisible as they can make themselves, they put their mouths over those of the victims, and steal their breath; according to some inform- ants "because they like the taste of sick people's breath; it is so sweet"(!); according to others, because stealing their breath comes to the same as securing for themselves the victim's vitality, which they add to their own. At the time the moribund expires, especiall}^, the witch is careful not to miss his chance.
Although, as a rule, to become a witch one has to be "brought up" for the profession (see p. 129), it is possible to become one, even if one's parents neglected to go through the necessary ritual and prescrip- tions. A peculiar root, that of the scarce a'o-'tliye'o°'sld "it (the root) has it (the stalk) growing from its mouth" (Sagittaria latrfolia Willd.?),'^ looks like a beetlelike insect, with the stem of the plant growing from its mouth. It has to be steeped and drunk, the usual fast being observed . If the infusion is drunk and the fasting prolonged for four days, you will be able to metamorphose yourself into any person or animal living on the surface of the ground; i. e., a man can take the shape of a woman, and vice versa; they can also take the form of a dog, a deer, an opossum, etc.
If, however, the treatment is prolonged for seven days you will have power to take the shape of animals flying in the air or living under the ground ; you will be able to fly in the air or to dive under a mountain ; you can at will put on the appearance of an eagle, an owi, a raven, a mole, an earthw^orm, etc.
The metamorphosis into a raven is one of the most common, and a witch traveling about in this garb is referred to as k'o-'lano'^ a'j^eit'ski "he (is) a raven imitator."
When traveling about at night a witch of this "degree" veiy fre- quentl}^ travels through the air as a flame, a spark, or a light. Some informants pretend to have seen that the "medicine" previously re- ferred to, and which the witches have to drink, has at certain times of the year — some say in spring and early summer — a purplish fire droop-
'■• This same medicine is given to a dog to make it a sure tracker of game. The animal must drink the infusion for four consecutive mornings. It must not fast.
Ol°brechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 31
ing from its stem. I have not been able to ascertain whether this behef is a mere phantasy or whether it might have its base in the phosphorescent qualities of certain plants. Be that as it may, a purple flame, a reddish-bkie spark is usually associated with witch- craft, so much so that even sporadic flames of that color in the hearth fire are believed to forebode the visit of a witch.
The visit of a witch to a house where one of the imnates is ill is countenanced with frantic fright. That is why a number of relatives and friends are always watcliing through the night, "guarding (the patient) against witchcraft." While a couple of them may be asleep two or three more keep awake, "working" near the fire. This work consists in smoothing a small heap of ashes, about 20-25 centimeters in diameter, aside from the hearth, and occasionally dropping a tiny pinch of finely crushed tso''laGa3^9*'°li ("old tobacco," Nicotiana rustica L.) on it; the center of the hot ashes are thought of as representing the patient's cabin; any particle of the tobacco dust catching fire, to the right or to the left of the center, indicates the position from where the ^\•itch is approaching. If the dust alights on the center of the ashes it is a sign that the witch is right overhead, and should the tobacco, as it drops on the center, take fire with a crack or a burst, it shows that the witch has already entered the room. In this case the burst will cause the death of the witch within four days, if she is one of the land that has fasted for four days to attain her occult power; within seven days if she is one of the kind that "has got the utmost."
Another method to prevent the witch from approaching is to direct the smoke of "old tobacco" against the several points of the compass, as will be found described on page 75.
But the most drastic means of all is to simply shoot the witch with a gun; a certain medicine, obtained from a plant (not one of the informants could tell me exactly from which plant), has to be mixed with the powder, and a hair taken from the crown of the head has to be wound round the bullet (many of the Cherokee still use muzzle- loading guns); in this practice we find, no doubt, the behefs of the Cherokee blended with those of the white mountaineers.
In order to shoot the witch, however, we must be able to see him in his regular human form. This can be attained by fasting until sunset for seven days, drinldng an infusion of the same root to which the Nvitches owe their power: a*o''thye*5°'ski (see p. 30).
There are dozens of anecdotes on this subject circulating on the reservation, three of which will here be inserted as illustrations.
I. A long time ago somebody was ill. The people came and sat up with him, guarding against witchcraft. They built a fire outdoors, and when some of them became sleepy they went outside, and stood by the fire, while others continued to watch inside. 7548°— 32 4
32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Those who were standing by the fire outside all of a sudden saw a purple fire up in the air; it went toward a house; after a few minutes it rose up again, and came back, and dropped on the house of the sick person; as soon as the fire fell inside, the person died. This fire was a tsiktli'.
II. Once a man was very ill, caused by -vsatchcraft. Two friends of his decided to fast and drink the medicine by which they could see witches. ^^ The seventh day they hid themselves outside the house. They heard the witch coming,^^ and he aUghted in the yard, and there took his human shape and walked toward the house. These two men had a gun with them, loaded for the purpose of killing a \\'itch; ^^ they fired and hit him, but instead of blood, fire spouted forth from the wound. The witch disappeared.
III. About 25 or 26 years ago ^* T. (pi. 10, c; see p. Ill) was ill. His friends were summoned to guard against witchcraft, as he ^^ had found out that he was iU by aye-'ltGo-'ci .^
yo*'no°Ga^le*'Gi^^ examined by putting tobacco on the fire, but he found out that the witch was stronger than he, as the tobacco sparkled like a star, but no burst was heard. The next day he tried again, but again he found that the witch was stronger than he. So he in- structed all the attendants as well as the patient to fast and to drink the medicine by which you can see witches. He himself did the same. At night he told the attendants to stay inside; he took a burning branch from the fire and went out.
Outside, he saw a man standing near the chimney; he was intently gazing at T. through the wall. Climbing Bear could see him be- (iause he had drunk the medicine. He passed near by the man, and as he passed him, touched the witch with his burning switch. When he looked back the witch had disappeared.
Now, since the witch had been recognized, he was sure to die within four or seven days. T. told W., from whom I have the account, that the mtch was J. B. of a near-by settlement. And sure enough, the third day after the event here related, J. B. died. T. recovered.
Powerful though witches are, they evidently beHeve in obtaining the greatest results with the smallest exertions, and that is why they make it a point to attack individuals that are feeble and decrepit, as they know that these will far more readily fall a prey to their activities than would the more healthy and robust individuals of
15 Vide supra.
" In the shape of some bird.
" Cf. p. 31.
>8 This was told me in the spring of 1927.
1* T. being a medicine man could discover this for himself.
20 Cf. p. 33.
21 Climbing Bear, now deceased; O.'s husband, Del.'s father, W. and Og.'s half-brother.
oisRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 33
the tribe. This also explains the exertions of witches against women in labor and newly bom infants. (See p. 123.)
Although witches are most strenuously active when death is imminent, they are constantly on the lookout to cast a spell, a disease, on an unsuspecting individual, and particulariy to aggravate the complaints of the stricken. This reputation they share with those other human disease causers, the "man-killers."
"Man-Killers"
This knack which witches and "man-killers," Dt''Da'n€^'saGt'"ski, have to aggravate disease, explains the generic name given to com- plaints for the origin of which these disease causers are held respon- sible. These names can all be shown to be related with the stems -y/-yakt*- "change," and y-ye'l- "likeness." (If a thing, a disease, etc., is made to look like another, its original condition is changed.)
Whereas the process by which a witch manages to "change the condition" of a victim for the worse is rather obscure, and can not be definitely elucidated, the means by which a "man-killer" attains this object is well known and vividly described. He may, by his occult power, "change the food" in the victim's stomach, or "cause the food to sprout." He may "change our mind to a different con- dition," or make a given disease we are afflicted with "as if it were like" a more serious ailment. But above all, he may use the most orthodox manner of disposing of an enemy, viz, by shooting an invisible arrowhead into his body. In a forthcoming paper, in which Cherokee incantations and man-killing ceremonies will be described, this subject w411 be dealt with in detail.
aye^'ltGo-'ci Diseases
Under this name is known a group of diseases that are held to be caused by the machinations of a human agent. They are the most dreaded of the many complaints the Cherokee knows.
The term, which is strictly ceremonial, can not be analyzed but has -y-ye-1- "likeness" as its root. Mooney has usually translated it as "simulators," and this translation is correct in so far as the term refers to the action of deluding the vigilance of the patient and medi- cine man by sending a disease which looks like another one which it really is not. For example, the victim falls ill with indigestion; the medicine man ascribed it, according to the current views, to the insects, or to animal ghosts, or to some similar cause. But he is wrong. He is led astray by the sorcerer who sent the disease, and who "made it resemble some such ailment as found by the medicine man in his diagnosis"; but the disease is of a totally different nature.
Even now there are often cases where two parties are waging a battle, often lasting weeks and months, pestering each other with various aye''liGO''Gi-diseases.
34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bvll. 99
According to information collected by Mooney, these diseases were even sent to each other by friends and relations "as a joke", to mutually test their knowledge and aptitude to ward oS such attacks. I did not find this view confirmed. 1
"MULIER MeNSTRUANs" 22
Again and again in these pages proofs will be found of the nefarious influence ascribed to a woman during her catamenial period. This influence she exercises involuntarily; it is inherent to her condition at that time.
Eating the food she has prepared, touching whatever object she has used, even walking along a trail by which she has traveled, may cause a painful and obstinate malady. Up to two or three genera- tions ago this belief was far more pronounced, and practices ^-ith regard to it were obsei-ved much more strictly than is the case now. As soon as the first signs of her condition manifested themselves, the woman repaired to the o-'si, a small low hut set apart for people "under restrictions," as menstruating women, women in labor, and probably also for patients suffering from certain diseases; the o''si was also reserved for certain acts of a ceremonial nature, as the instruc- tion of aspirant medicine men, the recitation of certain myths, etc.
There is not one o''si left on the reservation, and not even the oldest persons remember ever having seen one. The women, therefore, nowadays no longer leave the common dwelling place during their periods, but abstain from cooldng meals, or from any other duties pertaining to the household. The meals are cooked by other female members of the household or prepared by the men.
The Cherokee medicine men are considerably at odds as to the actual way in which menstruating women exercise their disease- causing influence. According to the view that commonly prevails, the mere presence of such a person is sufficient to cause disease, and this I consider to be the primary form of the belief. Others, Og. among them, held that especially the look of her was nefarious; this would indicate a belief that is intimately related with the "evil eye" super- stition, and may possibly be of foreign (white?) origin, as the Cherokee do not seem to attach any importance to this mode of bewitching. The only other instance that can be cited is that of the fascinating look of the vkt'e-'na: "if he even looked at a man, this man's family would die." (Mooney, Myths, p. 253.)
It is of import to note that not only the presence of the woman is held to be dangerous, but even that of her husband. I have myself
22 Tjnder this caption onh' the "disease-causing" influence of a mulier men- struans is considered. The taboos slue has to observe herself are mentioned (p. 120) and will be discussed at greater length in a forthcoming paper, in which the sexual life of the Cherokee will be more adequately described.
Olbreotts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 35
had the experience that when I visited sick members of the tribe I was not granted admission to the cabin until I had been subjected from inside, by the patient himself, to a very meticulous and an anno^angly intimate cross-examination. (See p. 66.)
Not only in the domain of siclviiess does a woman in this condition exert tliis unfortunate influence, but even on growing plants and crops her presence is equally pernicious, whereas if she were to wade thi'ough a river where a fish trap is set she would spoil the catch.
Pregnant women are considered only slightly less dangerous, and the harm and havoc they may cause is combated by the same means asthatof themenstruantes. (Seep. 120; alsoMooney, Myths, p.442.)
For further facts relating to these subjects, the reader is referred to Childbirth, page 116 et seq.
Dreams
The importance the Cherokee ascribe to dreams as causes of disease is cpiite remarkable.
Whereas it appears from the more archaic data available that some dreams are the actual cause of many diseases, there is now in this ver}^ generation an evolution to be observed from ''dream = disease- cause"; to " dream = omen of disease." ^^ In either of those two cases it is still possible for the dream to play an active part as symptom.
The Cherokee, especially those that have kept intact their alle- giance to the aboriginal gastronomical ways and manners, dream fre- quently, and theii' dreams are often of the "nightmare" variety. Hearing them relate a dream of this sort, and their comments upon it, makes one more than ever inclined to accept Hofler's theory ac- cording to which the conception and the visualization of disease- demons have their origin in nightmare dreams.
Dreams, as a rule, affect the dreamer only, but in a few cases the person dreamed about may be the future sufferer. Certain types of dreams may occm' more frequently at a certain time than at another; a woman during her catamenial period often dreams of "all sorts of things" (i. e., of unnatural intercourse, of givuig birth to animals, etc.). Dreams may vary also according to the sphere of interest of the individual: dza*'dzi (George), a powerful Nimrod before the Lord, dreamed of negroes more than W. did, the latter being given to dreams of the medicine man's type: Thunder, train, burning house, etc. Attention should also be called to the psychological shi'ewdness of considering "rheumatism" a result of dreams with sexual contents.
One individual had to some extent formed his own exegesis: If he dreams during winter of a nice summer day, it is going to be
'" "Fish dreams is a sign our appetite is going to be spoiled," an informant told me. From the older texts, however, it appears that it is the very fact of dream- ing of fish that causes the disease.
36 BimEATJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
bitterly cold, he says; if in summer he dreams of a cold winter day, it is going to be a nice day.
As a whole there is a definite rule as to which diseases are caused by certain dreams. It is even very probable that at a time when their culture was stUl uncontaminated there was a very elaborate and definite dream-exegesis.
I have found it most advisable to list the dreams under three headings:
1. Dreams that cause definite aUments or death.
2. Dreams that cause complaints that are not specifically indicated.
3. Dreams that do not belong to the domain of medicine.
1. — Dreams Causing Definite Ailments or Death Dreams about— Cause
"Little People" (see p. 25) "Our mind is going to be
changed" (i. e., insan- ity) .
All kinds of birds Do.
Sun Fever.
Moon Do.
Meat ("lean meat," some say) Toothache.
Being in deep water Do.
Rattlesnake or copperhead Toothache; also swelling of
the body and cancer.
Persons of opposite sex; sexual intercourse Rheumatism.
To wrestle with fat person of opposite sex Do.
Sexual-pathological (incest, vice, etc.) Do.
Bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and similar insects Blindness.
To burn foot, hand, or finger Snake bite.
A ball game; the dreamer's team wins A member of the dream- er's settlement will die soon.
A train rushing to a cabin One of the inmates will die
within 6-12 months.
A train journey with a companion The companion will die
within 6-12 months.
A cabin of the settlement burns completely One of the inmates will die
soon.
A member of the family is leaving The one who leaves will
die after 2-3 years.
2. — Dreams th.-vt Cause Complaints that Are Not Specifically Indicated Dreams about— Cause
Fish Illness.
Snakes Do.
"Impure water" (i. e., rapids bringing snow from the Do.
mountains; the river flooding the country, etc.). "Inverted dreams" (when a man dreams about wom- Do.
en's utensils (mortar, pestle, sieve, etc.), or a woman
about men's utensils (bow, ax, etc.). Many people gathering ,,, — Do.
oIbrIcIts] the swimmer manxjscript 37
Breams about— Cause
Many visitors at a house (not necessarily the dream- Illness, er's house).
"Invisible people" Do,
To lose small personal belonging (coat, ax, kerchief, Do.
etc.).
Drowning Do.
Eagle Do.
"tcGo-'ya" (see p. 28) Do.
To walk with a deceased person Do.
A deceased person is calling us or beckoning Do.
A cabin of the settlement is on fire (but does not burn One of the inmates will fall completely). ill; if we dream that the
fire is extinguished by somebody, this person is the one who will be able to cure the case.
"Little Men" (Thunder Boys) ay£"'ltGo-'Gi
Thunder Do.
A dog approaching from distance Witchcraft.
A mad bull rushing wildly all over the settlement An epidemic.
A windstorm rushing wildly all over the settlement.. Do.
3. — Dreams Without Relation to Medicine
Dreams Cause
About white people It is going to snow.
About Indians It is going to rain.
About negroes We will kill game.
Omens ^*
If the family dog howls all the time and acts "as if he were home- sick" somebody of the family is going to fall ill. The dog should be killed "so as to make an exchange." Ayo., W.'s mother, told him many years ago that the dog should be addressed and commanded to die itself, instead of the member of the household whose death the dog's howling announced. (See p. 62.)
A hen that crows like a rooster should be killed forthwith; else disease will befall the household. If the hen is killed the misfortune is averted. (See p. 78.)
When the "thunder" strikes a tree near the cabin, there is some trouble in store for the inmates.
If a fox (tsy'la) howls near a cabin one of the household is going to be ill; the same result follows the hooting of the night owl. The cry of the whippoorwill is believed to forebode not only disease but even death.
If we see a shooting star we are going to be ill.
" All the following "omens" are in a stage where it is not possible to class them definitely as disease causes or as signs of future illness.
38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Neglected Taboos; Disuegakded Injunctions
As if the formidable force of disease causes which we have now passed in review were not sufficient to soon rob the earth in general and the Cherokee country particularly of eveiy li\'ing mortal, there is yet a complex of causes arrayed against the unsuspecting creature who has successfully run the gantlet of spirits, ghosts, witches, and dreams: the neglected taboos and the disregarded injunctions.
In a way these work in an even more insidious and surreptitious way than any of those that have until now come to our attention. For in a good many instances we may avoid diseases if only we adhere strictly to certain rules of conduct: carefully ask the bear's pardon after having killed it, making a point of burning the entrails of a slain deer, not spit into the fire, not urinate into the river, not oflend "man-killers," etc. We can avoid violating these taboos; but others there are which we may violate how^ever carefully we try to avoid doing so, and however honest our intentions are. It makes no difference whether we violate them purposely or inadvertently, the results are the same.
Some of these taboos that now seem unintelligible, not only to us but to the Cherokee themselves, are undoubtedlj^ survivals of an earlier age, where certain phenomena were the object of a cult which has in later days been neglected and forgotten, such as is illustrated in "One must not point at the rainbow, or one's finger wiU swell at the lower joint." (IVIooney, Myths, p. 257.)
"Sourwood ... is never burned, from an idea that the lye made from its ashes will bring sickness to those who use it in preparing food." a. c, p. 422.)
Others of these taboos are very probably (unconscious?) attempts at laying down rules for moral and even hygienic conduct. For example, one should never do one's needs in the yard or in a trail, i. e., in public; this would result in diseases of the urinary system. It may be mentioned in this place how extremely carefully and con- siderately the Cherokee observe this taboo. Likewise, the entrails and offal of all small game, tlie water in which it is washed and with which some of its blood may be mixed, and the blood itself, should never be disposed of by throwing or pouring it away in the yard or in a trail, etc., but should be carefully taken to a secluded place and disposed of.
The diseases that may result from the neglect of these taboos are varied and multifarious; they may in fact be almost anything. If toothache "results" it will be blamed on the "animal's insects"; if rheumatism, the explanation may be found in the fact that the particular piece of game was a rabbit; if Dyle"'dzi because it was a turkey, etc.
Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 39
CAUSERS OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASE
To close this review of disease causers, there is a last category to be oriefly mentioned, viz, the white people, and especially the white physicians. These cause one kind of disease only, but they are the very diseases the Cherokee stand in most frantic fear of — epidemics.
A. F. Chamberlain, in his article on Disease and Aledicine — Ameri- can, in Hastings's Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, III, page 732, draws attention to the fact that many North American Indian tribes ascribe epidemics to the evil influence or activities of the white people, and has illustrated his statement by an interesting citation from Winslow's Good News from New England (1624); cf. also Dr. H. U. WilHams, The Epidemic of the Indians of New England, 1616-1620, with Remarks on Native American Infections, in Johns Hopldns Hospital Bulletin (Baltmiore), XX (1909), pages 340-349.
The Cherokee medicine men are at odds when it comes to state wliich motives drive white physicians when they let loose epidemics to ravage the Cherokee settlements. According to some informants, they do it simply because they hate the Indians; according to others, in order to enrich themselves at the expense of their victims.
It is not known exactly in what ways and by what methods the white physician attains his ends, but at least one case is known, the Cherokee claim, where it is clearly shown what means were used.
"Toward the close of the Civil War two Cherokee (one of them was called Isaac) were captured by Union troops and kept prisoners of war at KnoxviUe, Term. When, after the war, they were released they were called into a room and shown a red fish (swimming in a bowl). After they had looked at it the fish was put away again. They came back to where they lived, and three or four days after they got home they became feverish, and their whole body became covered vrith. sores; they had smallpox." (W., Og., T.)
In this case it is emphatically stated by present informants that it was the mere looking at the fish that caused the disease and that it was purposely shown them by the white people to bring affliction and death on the two Cherokee and their people.
There is a generic name for contagious disease: a'"y€'lf'Do"!a' i. e. "he (the disease causer?) drives it (the disease) about."
As for the means used to cure or prevent it, see "Prophylaxis," p. 73 et seq.
DISEASE AND ITS TREATMENT Diagnosis and Prognosis
We now have a pretty sound and tolerably complete idea of the Cherokee views on disease and are equipped with the indispensable elements to understand their practices mth regard to the treatment of diseases.
40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
We maj^ at first be shocked by the "unreasonable," the "preposter- ous," etc.,in these practices. If,however,on second thought, we endeav- or to make an honest effort to understand them, we will soon see how remarkably logical they are, if only we bear the premises in mind. For whatever there has been said about "the primitive mind," there is at least this tribute to be paid to it, that it invariably gives proof of a most rigorous congruency and a perfect harmony in its reasoning.
The first thing the medicine man endeavors to find out, when he calls on a patient, is the seat of the pain. Since Cherokee medical art does not aim so much at "curing a disease" or "allaying pain" as at removing the cause of the ailment, of the agent causing the pain, the medicine man forthwith sets out upon his quest after the cause of the ailment. In this he is actively seconded by the patient, whose aid may prove the more efficacious the more he is versed in the traditional lore.
If we are not dealing with one of the very few cases where a natural cause is accepted (see p. 17) the medicine man inquires whether the patient has by any chance infringed upon a taboo (see p. 38) or whether the patient has had any dreams or omens (see p. 36). The patient is, of course, but rarely sufficiently versed in this body of lore to be able to answer in a satisfactory maimer, and the medicine man usually has to go over with the patient the very extensive collection of dreams and omens that may affect the particular situation. The patient, being only too anxious to find rehef, woidd not think of with- holding any information of a nature to help the final discovery of "the important thing."
The dreams investigated may go back several months, or even as much as two or three years; there is no definite rule as to this, and it rests with the personal opinion of every individual medicine man how deeply into the past he chooses to probe to find the dream that would plausibly explain the "case." Similarly, the very emphasis on dreams as diagnostic means varies more or less with individual conceptions. It appears, for example, from Mr. Mooney's notes that Ay. held dreams of secondary importance, and that he gave primary attention to such symptoms as headache, Hvidness in the face, blue-black rings round the eyes, etc. This point of view does not seem to predominate \vith the average Cherokee medicine man, as, indeed, it hardly could, if we bear in mind this very important axiom of Cherokee medical practice, that whatever the ailment in question may seem to be, we must be sure to hit upon the real disease causer, so as to be able to "work" against him, and to force him "to let go his hold" on the patient. The identity of the disease causer is foimd out much more readily and far more accurately by the patient's dreams and experi- ences than by such symptoms as described above, which the Cherokee medicine men, as well as Mr. Mooney and I, have noticed are identi- cally the same for a score and more of radically different diseases.
oiSIts] the swimmer manuscript 41
As soon as the medicine man, by this pseudo "psychoanalytical" method has found out which dream has caused the ailment he is able to prescribe the treatment and to go on his quest for herbs and roots.
There are cases, however, where by this method no result is ob- tained, and the medicine man's exertions remain imre warded. One individual dreams less frequently than another and the few dreams he can recall may not contain sufficient elements to form a conclusion. In these cases there is still the ever-useful and never-failing method of "examining with the beads" to resort to; the procedure is virtually the same as described (p. 132), only changing in this respect, that the medicine man names a disease or a disease causer and asks of the bead whether his statement is right. The brisk movements of the right- hand bead gives an affirmative answer; its sluggish movements, or its remaining motionless, a negative answer.
A couple of unusual facts on the score of diagnosis have come to my attention. When in the smnmer of 1926 W. was suffering from a severe attack of toothache, that could not be cured by any of the "usual" means, he was soon convinced that it could not be "just a usual toothache" he was suffering from., but that it must have been sent to him by a witch. One evening as he was sitting by the fire and gazing into the fantastically leaping flames, he suddenly saw, grinning at him from the glowing embers, the face of an old woman ; the face of a woman he knew. She was hving in another settlement, and had the reputation of being a witch. So W. forthwith concluded that she was the one who had "worked" against him and who had sent him the toothache. According to the rules of the art, at which he was a full-fledged adept, he did not lose time in launching his counterattack as a result of which the witch died before the sun had set seven times.
As far as I could find out, W. is the only individual who ever had experiences in this domain that emerged from the banal, the everyday, and the common conceptions. I am quite confident that he was quite sincere and honest about them, and I am anxious to point out that, even if they are unknown to other members of the tribes, or of the profession for that matter, still they absolutely conform in form and in content to the pattern and the structure of the more common Cherokee beliefs.
The Cherokee do not pay much attention to prognosis. A patient should officially show signs of improvement after four or seven days of treatment. If the ailment refuses to be impressed by the Cherokee beHef in sacred numbers, and the seventh day brings no relief, an expectant attitude may be taken by the patient, his medicine man and his friends for two or three days, during which there are animated discussions as to what might have been wrong with the treatment or with the diagnosis. Maybe the diagnosis was not absolutely wrong, but was not sufficiently right; the patient may have been suffering
42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
from more than one disease; he may have infracted more than one taboo; he may have offended more than one animal spirit. At the time of the diagnosis the medicine man was satisfied when he had found one cause, whereas there were two. Hence repetition of the diagnosis and beginning of another treatment. There may be yet other explanations — a complication may have set in, in that the ailment was due to a mere breach of taboo at its outset, but has since been aggravated by the machinations of an enemy or a witch. Or, again, maybe the patient has not paid heed to the taboos while under treatment. Maybe a change of medicine man would do no harm?
It is possible that the changes that are expected in the patient's condition after a set number of days (ofTicially four or seven, accord- ing to the Cherokee sacred number) coincide with the crisis of certain ailments. Some such facts the Cherokee have not been slow to observe, although their explanation of them is, of course, always in keeping with the general trend of their beliefs. I feel sure, for in- stance, that it is the phenomenon of the rising temperature of certain patients toward nightfall that has contributed considerably toward the clever explanation of the "witches wallving round at night," tormenting the sick and the feeble. Hence the special care with which a patient is surrounded after dusk by his friends and relatives.
The favorite phrase used when prognosticating is that the patient "win soon be able to walk about"; but "soon" and "walk about" as used by the Cherokee medicine man are both very vague and elastic expressions. Occasionally the death of a patient may be pre- dicted, but this in no way influences the treatment. Even in the face of a losing battle the medicine man bravely and pluckily sticks to the job.
After aU, the most common and the most "efficacious" means of prognosis is the one by the beads, the beads being the instruments "par excellence" for discovering the truth, in prognosis as in diag- nosis, as they are, indeed, in all ceremonies of a divinatory nature. (See p. 132.)
List of Spirits
The Cherokee pantheon of disease-causing spirits is quite consider- able and the number of spirits that are called upon to eat, pull out, carry away, destroy, or in any other way eliminate disease is even greater.
Since in the aboriginal belief as well as in the formulas these spirits always appear and behave according to most rigidly circumscribed patterns, a complete survey can best be given in an index, in which the particular traits of each of these beings are listed analytically.
As for the method of finding out which particular spirit or what agent has caused the disease, see Diagnosis, p. 139.
S-brecIts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 43
As will be noticed in the formulas, the same spirit that causes a given disease is never appealed to to eliminate it; Cherokee medicine men constantly put into practice a "policy of equilibrium" as did the European diplomats of pre-war days, and according to which every spirit has one or more antagonists that are appealed to in order to undo the work and to combat the nefarious activities of their oppo- nents. The application of this theory is best studied in the formulas. A glance at the following table will also be found instructive in this regard. If a disease is held to be caused by worms, various kinds of birds that are known as worm eaters are called upon to wage the fight. If the disease is thought to be of an unusually tenacious and obstinate nature, such animals as beavers, rats, weasels, the dogged stubborn- ness of which is proverbial, are commanded to gnaw and tug at it until no trace of it is left. Should the most striking feature of the *' important thing" be its cunning, its evasiveness, such a sly and wary individual as the otter is commandeered to effect the relief.
It has been deemed expedient to use some abbreviations in the fol- lowing table, the meanings of wliich are given below. The analysis of the traits of each spirit has been effected under eight headings.
Under the hrst the name is given. These names have been put into alphabetical sequence, in order to make the list the more service- able. The Cherokee names of the spirits will be found without dif- ficulty by looking up the formula in which they occur. This formula is referred to in the last column, under the caption "Reference."
The second column mentions the color of the spirit. Abbreviations used : W White. I P Purple.
R Red.
Y Yellow.
E In the east.
N In the north.
S In the south.
Br Brown.
Bl Blue.
B Black.
The third column lists the location, the place of residence, of the spirits. Abbreviations used:
H On high.
C In the center.
Ab Above.
W In the west.
The fourth column lists the diseases caused; the fifth, the ailments cured by the spirit. It is obvious that a spirit who is hsted under the fourth caption will be found wanting under the fifth, and vice versa.
The sixth column lists eventual helpers or collaborators of the spirit and the seventh his eventual antagonists.
Only rarely is a spirit appealed to who is not sufficiently described in the formulas to make his identification possible; such is the case in the formulas Nos. 26 and 39.
44
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
tBuLL. 99
is
00
s
n
g
g
o
cr
tr.
oc
<£
(C
00
t-
t-
s
c-
!2
^
S§
s§
S
o
CO
1
3 a
<
c
B
■o
P5
o is
Eh
t4
a X3
i
a
B
Ph
_2 O
> a
a
S n
•- t; -5 CQ
^ E n is- "
X t- ® t! ?■
2 a S §- ft '^
O hJ PC
. o
■B a
c
; . . a ;
; « rt o ;
; s = tf -o
■ - ~ 2 n
3 ^ ^ - tJ
0 -2 ^ a o' c^ ^- #
^- -O o -o g ° XJ
?: p; pq p; pq
I 'S "m .2 "ho 1 a; ® ^ ®
i ^' fj >■ «
s « « - »"
^ « S g »
pa S C3 p; f5
h" <u ® o' «" g § « g S
p: « n 5 m
i
a
1
life
t:
o g
X
o
o
«
pa
c
E
C
.a
1
"a
a
m
.5 •
3 E'
c
a 1
■s
u
a
a
J3
i i-i
'S
g -c
c •c
c
* § ?■
^ " ?
>i « Q ■*-
5 2 S c
g 3 S! c f E £ -S
o
C3 ft
a
.9 c
.9"=
a
PL,
c
o •c
IS
0)
a
n
CO
3
1
X
E
a
£
a
1
a
1
•a
S
J3 >i
Is
g|
•a £ ^P
1 ;
;
1
c
EC
S
"c
1
2
c
1
5
C
i2
"c a
ol 2
is
[I.
f2
<
C
^
tr
=
£
E-
c
c
c
o
O
1 p n
^ S tQ Ph' >!
PO PQ pqpSPQp^ P9P5P5P3;S
^
1.
1
1-
1
c
c
IT
c
c
[5
c
a
i (X
c
p
»-
«
1
p:
«
£
1
bi
c
c 0 P
c
p
c 6
S
c
p
) bi c
p
c
0^
c P 1
c
p
c P
o R
>
• C
P
i
I^IOONEY l
OlbrechtsJ
THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT
45
-H Oi
GO b- CD
<0 C^ CO oocp^^o
l^ lO t^ co^«o »OCO
a cu
a)
as
S -,
a do
^ S
s >: 'I
"5 — "
■ a>
5 T3
2^
«
^ I^ '*-' 7^ =5 O y S
«-S
:= o o o
O >- O
« S 2 g
"^ 2 a
a tm M a, — "" p a ■Si
3 . 5 S S
a
S ■«
g
«
ti
K
.a
«
^
B
«
m >< 5 3 CO
03
a
a
x;
_^
a
..
^ ^
S
^
ta
<o
"3
o
><
o
e
H
H
S
2 B
2 t" — « w
a |g a I
5 w^ w
o s
<D -^
x3 5
>- o «
w >< n
(^ p>^ n
s ^
mO
J CI
Ph O
46
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[Bull. 99
»- o o
o —
t^ TJ' OO t^ M O —*
■•r «o -^ *o »c i^ OS
o ^ *; £
? .£ "" — ^
S 3 o pq t;
i E> . f-<
1 H (1< CQ
K M
^ J3
&: n
.S E
*-.S «
BO . is ®
S-P
?? B=
.S c g
■2 6
& a
a 3 s g •«
« O X! M
^ .S o
s - p
a a
03
^ g OJ «
c! rt fe ^ £ S g o
3 S S <«
K :?:
fi; £ >h' >h" ^ ^
«■ S ^ «" m
IS ■<
H rt n n
C
C3
^1
.a
fi-S
S c a o o
Sj c! <a 03 C3
3 s ;s 2 s
"MOONKY
Oldrechts.
;ky 1
SCHTsJ
C^ -^ CD '^_ ^
o ^ -< ^ C-J
THE SWIIVEMER MANUSCRIPT
47
CC CN C^ -— '
c5 CN ?J CO
o »^ >o >c o to
c
d B
3
o
§
»«'
o
be
a 'S.
a a
u
o ft
a
c
E u
c s
s
^
b» a S
a
o
1
A
o
bH
S
a o a
c c
s
P3 c
0
E
E
n B Pi
c E p:
S
5 B
■ ■
_2
o &
p"
i
© n o — ■
_c
x:
? £
i
c
£
c a.
E P- c
c E p. c " E
E 5
a "
O 0
& &
5 tf
_2 a *^ Z
o c B 1 a c
oj d
a E
« Pi
■
Bl. otter Bl. fish hawk, W.
kingfisher. R. ottter, terrible otter, wea- sel, Bl. leech.
0 o
<D ,
S s
rt a S E O.2.
2
c
c ■c
When tliey attack him
suddenly. Their sides
o
d o "3
>
s
a 'a
c
Si
o B
o
i d s
-II
o
a
a a> t4
•o
> a
X3
>»
o .
S S £ ^ p:
c ■c
1 £
.c
c a: x:
Purpose of scratching,
using the snake tooth. Thftv havft them shakin2_
1 a
T.
u
x:
c
When they have drooping. Pains (shifting about)
i i
1 s
1 o
c
1
(L
c i
c
k
E
0.
x;
-t^
M
c;
£
x: C
0.
'o '
n 1
^
«
1 p
w
2
cc
a '3 a d o
E
o
OT ft;
^
;z
&i
pL
w
w
z
tc
di ri ^ H «■ S ^
«■
Ph P< P5
P5
S P5
pi pj
P3 S
^' «■ i «
e P
C
c C
o 0
c
o C
c
3
c
E
o
3
■*.
o &
r
e
o
c
p
o n
□
3
o n
o
a
, o
o
n
o
a
"a o n
, o
0
o 0
c
■^
§ S-: SS S
s ;ss
s§ ss
ss
75-48°— 32-
48
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
V a
TtS 0" 000005 n •o 00 CO CD CO c:
•^ CO »o
[Bull. 99
■^ O O Q Q CD ■-. 00 CO S 3 .-(
!> ^- a.
— - u c a
. p. c a
P- H M "
^ o
- S3
g9 (2 el
« pi fe ^
P5 H
o o
o «
o o
S
a a. ■■"
.S "5
a « « g
ai
>.-S ft
a o -3 Tj
V C3 C7 o
5K 13 "^ 'O
03 tf
a -
CO
taO ca
a te o a
a rt ^
CJ ^ s> Ui ^ 1^
O O O
- ,2
g g c a n S
>- « PQ pq
^ ^
>-i >H ea p5 p5
O 3
c 2 O O
O O O O
O ^ Q Q P
MOON'ET I
OlbrechtsJ
THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT
49
S 3 £
Ci « ro cs
JO O lO ic
S5 JS
.2
.5 c
S 5 ^
^- > -2
'^ _« o
:^ •=> "S
° w ^
H S
S si
a a
p; O S « pi d 3 Ah'
hJ o
& a
^ .°
«£
-^ 33
^<
<1 w w S
B .-q erf C
o n
qO o a ooCf-i -3
5QQ fe!-^ Q
2 0-2
en ^
50
BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[BCLL. 09
is
Is
z
■5
CO
a
<5
"" So^^gJtr S 12
c
P
3
Br. dog, Bl. dog, B. dog,
two little R. dogs. B. raven, B. buzzard, Br.
eagle. Y. goldfinch, Y. pigeon,
long human being, W.
kingfisher, R. fish hawk.
2 0
c
X
t
1 "^ 'i
, E s
c c
J
i
0
1
C
c
x: S
3 U
c
a 8
1
1 c
■£ ■c
C
'S
Si
E-
1
0)
>
ca
a 0
1
3
0
c a
"a
E w
0
0 .H ca '3
.Q p 0 3 '
11 I
3 M 1
i 0 1
M 1
w
0
e ;
0 B
'A
e
c
■3
c
0
is
0
Q
c
B 0
is
2
0
B
0
is
0
3:
0 0
i
MOONEY j
OlbrechtsJ
THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT
51
Color Symbolism — Sacred Numbers
There is but little to be added to what Mooney (SFC, p. 342) says about the Cherokee color symbolism, unless it be this, that the distinction is not always made quite so definitely as would appear from Mooney's tabulation. It is, of course, possible that 40 to 50 years ago the people's ideas were still less vague and fleeting on this score than they are now, but the formulas' evidence does not indi- cate that even quite a few generations back the color symbolism was much more definite. This will readily appear upon consulting the analytical table. Disease spirits (pp. 44-50).
A couple of facts are established beyond doubt — red and white can not possibly be associated with the west, nor with anything un- successful; black can only be associated with the west, and blue with the west or the north; neither of these latter colors can under any cir- cumstances be symbolic of success. Apart from this it is not possible to be dogmatic: Red may be used in connection with the south as well as with the east and the zenith, whereas white is no more the inalienable color of the south than red is the one of the east.
Whether this phenomenon has any correlation with the defective power of discrimination between colors of the Cherokee I hesitate to say. However that may be, it is a fact that even the Cherokee who have known the joys of a Government school education do not score much better, according to our standards, when it comes to dis- criminating between colors than did the Seminoles of AlacCauley.^^
To gain some more definite data on this I asked the informant who was the least hopeless in tliis respect (W.) to pick out from a color chart, showing 95 colors in all possible shades and nuances, those "which the Cherokee know and have a name for." The follow- ing is the result of this experiment:
Usual name of color
Cherokee name
Translation
Canary
Pea green
Maroon
Myrtle green
Oxide red
Buff
Maroon
Ivory
Lead color... Holland blue Tuscan red. . Light gray..
Dark blue
Dalo"^m'Gs-°'
itse'i iyu"sti
ii"'ntGwu'tIi
itse"!
WO-'oiGe- °'
u''dzat'i^ Dalo''ni
V^lo'SO^'st Gt'^GaGe' "'
Ga'yo"'tH Dalo'ntGe""'
u'Wf'tiGe'"'
Sa'k'o"'niGe' °'
Gi"' GaGf °'
Ga"yo"'t}i i;nf'Gii° f3'u"sti sa
k'a"'ntGe-°'. De'a'lvGe- "''.
Yellowish.
Like green.
(Like) clotted blood.
Green.
Like hematite.
Extremely yellow.
Beyond red.
Feebly yellowish.
(Dusty gray.)
Bluish.
Bloody (i. e., "red").
Feebly white like bluish.
Purple.
=» Cf. Fifth Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn., p. 525.
52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
As with the majority of the North American Indians, color sym- bohsm is intimately associated with, the rite of circumambulation, of which further mention is made (p. 03).
Sacred numbers. — Four is the fundamental sacred number in Cherokee ritual and seems always to have been. Although seven is also frequently met with, it would seem that this number has no claim to as venerable an age as has four.
Seven may have grown in importance by such outside and acci- dental influences as the 7-day week and by the reduction to seven of the number of Cherokee clans.
There are traces of the significance of another number, viz, 12 (and also of its multiple 24) as evidenced by —
The 12 runs in the ball game.
The 24 days' taboo of a woman after her delivery (this 24 days can be reduced to 12 by using an appropriate medicine).
The 24 different plants used against amsGfna diseases.
The formulas and the notes appended to them simply teem with illustrations of the importance of the sacred numbers, especially of 4 and 7. I therefore considered it superfluous to multiply the examples here. Attention has been called on page 122 to the interesting proc- ess of rationalization by which a sanction of the use of the number 4 is alleged to be found in a (nonexisting) North Carolina State law.
Materia AIedica
In this section I endeavor to give a summary description of Chero- kee materia medica. I would have very much preferred to incor- porate in this paper a detailed Cherokee "pharmacopoeia," but the Cherokee botanical materia medica is so extensive as to command separate treatment. It is considered best to withhold tliis material, and to publish it, probably in the form of a paper on Cherokee ethnobotany, in the near future.
A's a general and preliminary consideration it may be stated that although the Cherokee believe to a limited extent in the therapeutic value of certain matters of animal and vegetal origin, their materia medica consist primaril}' of botanical elements. It is happily ignorant of any human ingredients, the use of which is so conspicuous in the primitive medicine of numerous tribes, nay, in the folk medicine of so many civilized countries; even the belief in the curative power of saliva (cf. our "fasting spittle") is found wanting; stercoraria are never used, and as a whole, their materia medica is very much cleaner than, for instance, that of the rural communities of Europe.
The generic nam.e for any particle possessing medicinal properties is n9"Vo"t'i', the meaning of which is literally "to treat with," but the emotional value of which had better be rendered "to cure with."
Olbrecuts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 53
Altlioiigh Cherokee possesses words to express such concepts as "herbs (in general) " or that refer to certain definite famihes of plants ("famihes" to betaken here from the Cherokee point of view, as "those that grow in the mountains," "those that are ever green," "those that grow near the river," etc.), these are but rarel}^ heard, and as a rule the specific names of the plant are used.
Although some of the simples used are undeniably of officinal value, this would seem in the majority of cases to be a mere matter of acci- dent, rather than evidence of conscious experiment or even of fortunate experience. The rule underlying the choice of a certain plant as an antidote against a given ailment is of a mythological and an occult rather than of a natural nature.
The chemical properties of the herbs, roots, barks, etc., used may in some cases happen to be appropriate to the result to be obtained, but that this is merely a matter of coincidence and chance is proved by many practices, a few of which are:
The outer appearance of the plants is of tremendous value in deter- mining their efficacy against certain given diseases, as, "a thimble- berry shrub growing high up (in the cavity) of a hollow (tree) " is used against "painful remembrance of the dead" (see p. 233), because the medicine man said, "when we tear away the roots, deeply buried and stubbornly clinging to the tree, we "v^-ill, when we drink a decoction of the roots, also be able to pull the remembrance out of our mind that makes us sick."
Plants that have a pungent smell are great favorites in many ail- ments. The Cherokee have no explanation to offer. The same fact, observed times without number elsewhere, has usually been explained, "the pvmgent smell puts the disease demon to rout."
Trees and plants, the sap and the juice of which are of a mucilaginous nature, as that of Da"'"wadzf'la (Ulmvsfulra Michx., "slippery elm") are used in cases where something is to be ejected out of the body, as in childbirth — "the inside is to be made slippery."
Plants that show certain peculiar characteristics, identical to those shown by the disease, are used as antidote: the "mUky discharge" common to certain maladies of the urinary system is thought to be efficacioush^ combated by adininistering plants that contain a mUky juice; as if, by showing to the ailment that there is plenty of the mUky, juicy matter at hand, there is hope of convincing it of the futility of staying.
Or the contrary may be the case: Plants and fruits that contain great quantities of juice must by no means be used by the patient when he is suffering from a complaint, one of the symptoms of which is the presence of a lot of "juicy matter," as in blisters, boils, etc.
Mooney in his notes has left us a typical illustration of this mode of reasoning; against rheumatism ' 'the plants used in the preparation are
54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
all ferns , . . Tho doctor explained that the fronds of the young fern arc coiled up, but unroll and straighten out as the plant grows; ergo, a decoction of ferns will give to the rheumatic patient the power to straighten out the contracted muscles of his limb."
Not onl}' is there great importance attached to this sj-mbolism of the outward appearance, also due regard is to be paid to the sacred numbers; in scores of cases the medicine is only effective if four or seven of the plants (usually of the same "family"') are used, and thus it often happens that the actual ofhcinal value of one plant is abso- lutely neutralized, to sa}^ the least, by throe or five others.
Another consideration that is not of a nature to stimulate our faith in the efficacy of Cherokee materia medica is the tremendous impor- tance laid on the use of certain plants that are not held to have any inherent curative properties but that arc considered to possess remark- able power in virtue of a mysterious way of behavior — an uncommon way of growing, a quaint inclination of their branches, grotesque parasitical excrescences, or that show any other evidence of so-called freaks of nature, as the roots of an "inverted raspberiy branch," i. e., the branch of a raspberry shrub that has come back to the soil and taken roots again (pi. 6, a) is often used in cases where the Cher- okee consider the roots of the "parent plant" as being destitute of any curative properties. Or it will be specified that the roots used must be those of a plant that has onh^^ one stalk, even if the plant named has usually several stalks. Or again, it will be prescribed that the bark has to be stripped from a "crippled" tree, i. e., a tree that has been broken by some accident while it was still young, but that has nevertheless continued its growth in its "crippled" condition.
The curious, the unusual, that which is rare and difficult to find, have always and everywhere played a considerable role in the materia medica of all times and of all peoples, and we here find ourselves con- fronted with these same considerations.
The same trend of thought is no doubt also responsible for the remarkable properties ascribed to lightning-struck wood, especially of a tree that has continued to live after the accident, although this belief may have to be explained partly by an additional element, the respect for thunder and its "emissary," lightning. (Cf. Mooney, Myths, p. 422.) Also the mj^sterious power ascribed to the root that looks like an insect, "that has (a stalk) growing from its mouth" (see p. 30) is no doubt to be explained by this belief in the uncanny properties of the unusual.
Finally, such prescriptions as are made with regard to the time of collecting a plant (during a storm), or the mode of selecting a par- ticular part of it (the bark on the "sunny side" of trees (pi. 6, h) the roots running out to the east, etc.), prove again to what an extent the materia medica of the tribe is influenced by mythological conceptions.
q: X
UJ u
- X
z CQ
0 X
UJ
h IB
3
0
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99 PLATE 7
a-h. Surgical instruments, i. The "K'unuGa" scariOcutiou instrument
oisRKHTs] THE SWIMMEH MANUSCRIPT 55
Collection. — As a rule simples are never collected and kept ready for emergency in a dried or prepared state. Only those needed in case of childbirth are gathered during the summer, so as to be available in wintertime (see p . 9 1 ) . It is just as rare to find medicine men endowed with enough foresight to lay out a garden of medicinal plants as did the European monks in the Middle Ages. (See p. 90.)
The rules for collecting the plants are as follows: As soon as the medicine man has made his diagnosis he tells the patient and the latter's household that he will have to go and collect simples. He usually does not tell him what kinds he will need, but if he is a greedy and a " businesslike " individual, he may tell them how great a trouble it will mean to him, how far he will have to walk through the pouring rain or the scorching sun; to how many places he may have to go in vain; how often he will probably have to retrace his steps and start the search all over again, etc.; all this to induce the people to give him a considerable fee. (See p. 95.) He invariably tells them what kind of cloth (what color, and dimensions) he will need to gather the plants in. This is given to him; if the people do not have the cloth available they have to borrow it from neighbors or buy it from the trader. Then the medicine man starts on his quest for the simples.
He usually knows where to find the specimens he needs — in the woods, along the mountain side, near the river, on marshy ground, etc. He also knows that some plants have a tendency to grow near certain trees, as oaks, in apple orchards, on moist, shady rocks, etc.
To gather certain plants, such as ginseng, he must first recite a prayer asking vne-'tlano'Ii (see p. 20) for permission to pluck them. Or he is not allowed to pluck them without dropping a bead in the earth where they stood.
Sometimes (in times gone by this was probably a strict and general rule) when his bundle is complete he takes it to the river and puts it in the water; if it floats it is a sign that all the prescriptions have been duly followed and that the eventual taboos have not been violated ; it is a sign, moreover, that the bundle of medicine is all right, and that its use will be followed by the results that are expected of it.
He then wraps up the simples in the cloth (pi. 6, c) and returns to the cabin of the patient, where he hands the bundle to one of the household. The roots are unwrapped and the cloth is handed back to the medicine man as his fee. The medicine is then steeped, boiled, or prepared as the medicine man directs and in due course of time is administered to the patient, either by a relative or by the medicine man himself, again according to the prescription of the formula.
Preparation. — There are three major modes of preparing the medi- cine; it is either: (a) pounded and steeped in cold or warm water, (6) boiled, or (c) boiled down.
56 BXJEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bill. 99
Pounding the roots and barks is still occasionally done with a stone, but a hammer is now more generally used. Leaves that are to be steeped are, prior to being put into the infusion vessel, crushed or crumpled in the hand. The different ingredients that are to be boiled or steeped are usually tied together in a bundle, by means of a strip of hickory bark.
" Boiling down" is a mode of preparing the medicine which is pre- scribed with man}'^ formulas. It consists in boiling the m.edicine and drinking part of it the first day, boiling the same decoction over again and drinking another part of it the second day, and so on, usually, for four consecutive days. The fourth day the decoction is often a thick treaclish sirup. Sometmies, however, water from the river is added every day to the decoction.
Occasionally poultices are made of large leaves of mullein and held by the hand against the affected part for a few minutes.
Black pine wax (a*tsa') is used, and also the use of bear grease (yo*'nD° Go.i') and eel oil (t9'°te"'Ga Go.i') is occasionally met with.
In some cases, w^hen the decoction is so bitter as to be very disagree- able to swallow, it is sweetened by adding honey or the pods of honey locust to it. This procedure is especially frequent when the decoction is to be administered to children. The custom of adding whisky to certain decoctions has been taken over from the white mountaineers.
Mode oj administering. — This is as a rule fairly simple. Usually a member of the patient's household gives him the medicine to drink; in a few cases it is specified that an aboriginal gourd dipper be used for this purpose. These dippers are not used so extensively as household utensils now as they used to be, metal spoons and ladles having grad- ually replaced them, but it is an often observed fact that in primitive and folk medicine, as in ritual, objects are retained that have passed out of existence as everyday utensils hundreds of years ago. (See p. 58.)
In some cases, however (all this is invariably and minutely laid down in the prescriptions appended to the formulas, p. 158), the medi- cine has to be administered by the medicine man himself. In doing this he observes certain ceremonies, as standing with his back toward the east, so that the patient opposite him faces the "sun land," lifting the dipper containing the medicine high up, and bringing it down in a spiral or swooping movement, imitating by so doing certain birds of prey that may have been mentioned in the formulas he has recited prior to giving the patient his medicine to drink.
Not the slightest attention is paid to dosing the patient nor, it is superfluous to state, to his idiosyncrasy. If any question is asked, as to the amount of the decoction or of the infusion to be taken, the answer is invariably "Just asmuchashe canhold." Thislfoundupon observation is very elastic and fluctuating from one individual to
Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 57
another; it may mean anything; from a minimum of 2 to a maximum of 6 to 7 litci-s a da}^ This appalling amount of liquid by itself is often sufRcient to account for the emetic results the Cherokee obtain by the use of simples that are devoid of emetic properties.
A few words remain to be said about the animal and mineral materia medica in use in Cherokee therapeutics.
Against rheumatism and stiiTness in the joints eel oil (tQ"°t€"'Ga Go.i') is used. The oil is fried out of the animal in a frying pan. The eel owes the honor of thus being admitted into the Cherokee pharmacopoeia to its considerable suppleness and lithencss.
Bear grease (yo-'no" Go.i'), known to most of the North American Indian tribes and extensively used in the Southeast, is likewise known to the Cherokee. The rapidly progressing extinction of the bear in the Great Smokies will, however, soon account for the untmiely end of this popular article.
A prescription against a disease that can only be identified as tuberculosis specifies among other ingredients the brains of an otter, mixed with "rock treacle," i. e., the moisture oozing out of the natural fissures of a mossy rock.
Stones, especially worked and fashioned arrowheads, may be added to the water in which roots and stems are put to boil, but they owe their therapeutic value chiefly to the belief that "they will cut the disease to pieces" in the patient's body. The stones and flints are, of course, removed before the decoction is drunk.
Water enters into practically every remedy, in so far as it is used to boil the other ingredients in. It usually has to be dipped oat of the river, to where, in some cases, it has to be taken back after use. (See p. 68.) There are no specific instructions as to whether the water has to be dipped 'S\'ith the stream" or "against the stream" as is so frequent in primitive medicine. One instance has come to my knowledge vv'here the water has to be taken from a cataract.
The use of snow water and of ice is coinmon in treating cases of frostbite.
"Stumpwater " is but rarely referred to, and its use, together vnth the belief in its marvelous properties, may have been borrowed from the whites.
Disposing of used ingredients. — As a rule proper care is taken to dispose of the materia medica after its use ; it is never carelessly thrown away, but is usually kept on outside shelves, with at least two of which every cabin is provided. It is quite likely that formerly there was a proper ceremony to dispose of these decocted barks and herbs, bat although this has been lost, enough of the custom is remembered to prevent the used ingredients from being thrown away as refuse. A few formulas have directions appended to them, which direct that the medicine, after its use, has to be "stored in a dry place," or has to be placed in a rock fissure with an appropriate formula.
58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Paraphernalia Used in the Treatment
The list of paraphernalia used by the Cherokee medicine man is not extensive; it may be conveniently classed under three headings:
(1) Objects used in divinatory ceremonies. These \nll be amply described when the formulas relating to divination are published.
(2) The instruments used in surgical or pseudosiirgical operations; a description of these will be found under the caption of surgery (p. 68)._
(3) Finally there are the objects used in treating disease. These include blowing tube, gourd dipper, terrapin shell, persimmon stamper, beads, rattle.
The blowing tube (pi. 7, h) is a portion of the stem of a'maDi"to.'ti' i;"'t'ano°', Eupatorium purpureiim L., joe-pye-weed, trumpet weed. Usually it is about 20-25 centimeters long, with an outside diameter of about 15 milUmeters and an inside diameter of 10-12 milHmeters.
It is used to blow or spray the medicine, which the medicine man has pre\aously sipped from a dipper, over the patient's temples, the crown of his head, his breast, or whatever part of his body is "under treatment."
Only in one case did I find a much longer blowing tube of the same provenance used. It measures 50-60 centimeters and is the means by which a decoction has to be sprayed on the body of a parturient woman; the medicine man, while doing this, for propriety's sake stands 3 or 4 yards behind the semireclined woman (see p. 125) and blows the medicine in a jet over her head. This procedure makes it imperative that the blowing reed be of the length described so as to be the better able to direct the jet of medicine.
There is a faint indication that until about 40 years ago occasionally a grass stalk was used to blow a decoction of plants into the urethra, but nothing more definite could be learned about the procedure, which is now completely discontinued and almost forgotten, even by the oldest of the medicine men.
Although gourd dippers are still used to some extent in the Cherokee household they tend to disappear and to be replaced by more modern utensils introduced by the whites, metal spoons, ladles, etc.
For use in medicine, however, it is always implicitly understood and often explicitly stated that the dipper used to administer the medicine must be the good old aboriginal gourd dipper Ga'^lune''- Gwo°; so much so that this object is gradually becoming, from a com- mon kitchen utensil which it still was one or two generations ago, a true component of the medicine man's paraphernalia.
This tendency of less civilized communities to cling not only to their archaic practices but also to retain certain material objects associated with them, is very frequent and common, and parallels of it could be cited by the dozen. To give a couple of instances only:
oicRE^HTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 59
In tho folk medicine of many rural communities of western Europe it is often specified that the medicine be prepared, steeped, or boiled in an earthen vessel; this in spite of the fact that the use of earthen vessels for everyday purposes was dropped centuries ago.^®
Some of the Morocco Mohammedans who have known and used for centuries metal daggers and knives that are the pride of museum collections still use a stone knife for such a delicate, but ritual and archaic operation as circumcision,"
A consideration of the same order as the one commented upon under gourd dippers is no doubt partly responsible for the use of a terrapin shell (tu'ksi u'ya'ska) to keep the medicine in. (Cf. Mooney, SFC, p. 345.)
The persimmon-wood stamper is an object that has fallen into complete desuetude. It was used in certain manipulations closely related to, if not identical with, massage. Mooney, as appears from his notes, found it mentioned during his first visit, but even then the object was no longer in actual use; after repeated vain efforts he was able to locate a man who was still able to nake a specimen, which now forms part of the collections of the Di\dsion of Medicine, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.
If I had not found the reference to this object in Mooney's notes I would not have suspected that it was ever in use, as only a couple of the oldest medicine men could painstaldngly recall it — its name is completely lost— but no one could be found who was able to carve a specimen. Neither of the two medicine men who vaguely remem- bered its having been in use could describe the procedure ; they could not tell me whether it was used to rub, to stamp, or to press the sore spot.
The beads (aD€''l5°) belong, properly speaking, not so much to the medicine man's paraphernalia as to those of the di^dnator. Since, however, these two arts are very often pursued by one and the same individual, and especially since the divination with the beads is so often inextricably fused with a curing procedure, they can not very well be left outside of this enumeration.
Finally the rattle calls for a few comments in this connection. Nowadays there is no medicine man, as far as I know, who still uses the rattle (i. e., the gourd rattle, Ga,ndze"ti) when singing medicine songs; its use is entirely restricted to the accompanying of dance songs. The terrapin -shell rattles were apparently never used in medicine.
There are some indications, however, that would lead us to believe that the gourd rattle must once have been extensively used in medicine and must once have been practically the emblem of the medicine man's profession.
-' "Troost der Armen" Gent (n. d.), p. 9.
2^ Rohlfs, "Mein erster Aufenthalt in Marokko," ap. von Hovorka and Kron- feld, vol. II, p. 492.
60 • BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Curing Methods
As we have seen in our paragraph on materia medica, the Cherokee do not only attach officinal value to the intrinsic properties of the simples used, but they expect as much, if not more, curing power from observing and complying with sundry regulations when selecting, picking, preparing, and administering them.
We are again faced with conceptions of the same order, when it comes to the actual use of the plants or of the other materia medica — not only the object used is of importance, but the method of using it is of great consequence. A short description of these modes and methods \d\\ form the object of the following paragraphs.
"VMiatever be the method used, the act of treating a patient is usually referred to as Dt'calo"'* wtsta'N^ti' "to work for him " (Dactlo'"'- wtsta'ne'a' "I work for him ") . This expression is also frequently used when referring to "examining with the beads" or to the nefarious machinations of an enemy. It is also used by the people in everyday language to render "to work for (someone)," i. e., to do manual labor, and only when it is used in the medical jargon does it have this restricted meaning of "treating a patient."
It will be superfluous to state that the enmneration as well as the description of the different methods as they appear in the following pages are the result of patient observation and of information from man}'- different sources, both oral and as written in the sundry manu- scripts; not one Cherokee medicine man realizes that his science can boast of such a wealth of curing methods.
Some of the methods have no specific name in Cherokee. The names of those that do have one ^vall be found in the relevant formulas.
Administering the medicine. — A given disease may be cured by merely administering the decoction or the infusion of the medicine prescribed. This procedure has been amply described on page 56 and does not here call for any further comment.
Often the root or the bark of the simple prescribed is chewed by the patient, instead of being dnmk by hmi in a decoction or in an infusion.
Bloiving the medicine. — In certain diseases, even if the ailment is held to be of an internal order, the medicine is not taken internally at all, but is sprayed over the patient, either over the whole of liis body or only over parts of it (e. g., over his head, his breast, etc.). This is usually done by means of the blowing tube (p. 58). The medicine man takes a long draught of medicine, without swallowing it, and then blows it with one continued jet over the patient.
Often, instead of blowing the medicine over the patient the medicine man merely blows his breath. This may be done again by means of the blowing tube, but this instrument is often dispensed with. It could not be ascertained whether the use of the blowng tube is of
oIbkecuts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 61
any particular ritualistic meaning. The general feeling among the medicine men is that the blowing tube is used so as to be better able to direct the liquid or the aii*. If one feels that this effect is attained without the aid of the tube the latter is not used.
As is customary when he is having medicine administered to him, the patient shoidcl face the east when the liquid or the medicine man's breath is being blown over hmi.
Again, instead of being blown over the patient the medicine may be sprinkled over hun; a small pine branch is used for this purpose.
In a few cases the cure is expected from an inunction with the liquid of the parts affected. This procedure is especially frequently associated with the "scratching" of the patient. (See p. 68.)
Another method which can boast of all but intertribal reputation is to spray or pour the decoction on previously heated stones and to expose the patient to the vapors thus obtained.
A practice which is verj' much related to the one just mentioned is the sweat bath, hardly less popular with the majority of the North American aborigines. The difference between the sweat bath and the vapor bath described seems to be that in the latter the curing power is expected from the ingredients of the decoction sprinkled on the stones, whereas in the sweat bath the object is primarily to cause the patient to profusely perspire.
This custom is another one that has been discontinued, and it would not be possible now to obtain such a vivid description of it as Mooney has left us in his notes: "The operation was formerly per- formed in the a'st or 'hothouse,' a small low hut, intended for sleeping purposes, in which a fire was ahvays kept burning. It has but one small door, wliich was closed during the operation, in order to confine the steam. The patient divested himself of all clothing, and entered the a'st, when the doctor poured the hquid over the heated stones already placed inside, then retired and closed the door, leaving the patient to remain inside until in a profuse perspiration from the steam which filled the hothouse. The door was then opened and the man came out, naked as he was, and plunged into the neighboring stream. The sweat bath, with the accompanying cold plunge bath, was a favorite part of Indian medical practice as far north as Alaska, so much so that it was even adopted in cases of smallpox epidemics, when it almost invariably resulted fatally. The East Cherokee lost 300 souls in consequence of pursuing this course of treatment for smallpox in 1865. The sweat bath is still in use among them,-^ but as the a'st is no longer built, the patient is steamed in his own house, and afterwards plunges into the nearest stream, or is placed in the open doorway and drenched with cold water over his naked body."
2^ This was written by Mooney about 40 years ago.
62 BUEEAr OF AMElllCAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Massage plays a considerable part in Cherokee curing methods and is frequently mentioned. Although they use it in some cases where it is unquestionably of a nature to bring rehef, as in painful menstrua- tion, spraining, etc., it is resorted to in many other cases — as a rule as soon as there is evidence of any kind of swelling, whether of the stom- ach or of the knee — where it lacks the least degree of efficacy. The underlying principle is invariabl}^ that the swelling is the material evidence of an immaterial agent (the "important thing," the disease) and that this can be eliminated, expelled, ejected out of the affected part of the body by pressing and rubbing.
Previous to starting the massaging, the medicine man always warms his hands near some Hve coals taken by his assistant — who is usually a member of the patient's household — from the hearth, and that are put do^vn near the medicine man on a shovel, on the lid of a pot, a fiat pan, or some other such receptacle. The medicine man warms his hands while he recites the first part of the formula, and then rubs the affected part, eventually under the clothes of the sufferer. The massage is done by the whole right hand, the palm effecting most of the pressure, and a circle of 6-7 centimeters from the center being described. Starting from the right, he moves upward, comes down to the left, continuing the motion for a few minutes, from 2 to 3 or 6 to 7 times, as he sees fit.
He then warms his hands again, reciting meanwhile the second part of the formula, and the whole treatment is continued until the (usually) four parts of the formula have been recited and followed by the rubbing.
Mooney, SFC, p. 335, has drawn attention to the rubbing for treating snake bites. In this case the "operator is told to rub in a direction contrary to that in which the snake coils itself, because 'this is just the same as uncoiHng it'."
A practice that was still faintly remembered when Mooney visited the tribe is the massage by means of a stamper made of the wood of persimmon. (See p. 59.)
I have been surprised to find that the Cherokee all but ignore the elsewhere so popular and common method of transferring disease to other creatures — to fellow human beings, dead or ahve, to animals, to trees even, and to rocks, rivers, etc.
Of the two only instances of this kind which I found — and I am pretty sure that no other varieties exist — one has very piobably been borrowed from the whites, if not in its actual form, at least in certain of its aspects. I am referring to the following practice on which only one informant (W.) could give me full particulars: A howling dog fore- bodes illness or death; the only way to avoid its prophecy being ful- filled is to command it to die itself, instead of the person, or the member of the household who is the object of its evil warning. (See p. 37.)
oiBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT G3
The claim to aboriginality of the other mstance, however, rests on a sound and soUd basis: In some DaIo"'ni diseases (see p. 63) the sufferer goes to the river and there vomits. The formula recited on this occasion sends the illness, along with the vomit, floating down the river, to "the settlements where (other) people hve," and transfers the ailment to them (see p. 23).
This practice is so reminiscent of other Cherokee incantation cere- monies that there is no doubt about its being indigenous.
Vomiting into the river is also very common with merely the object in mind to get rid of the disease, without the intention being explicitly present of transferring it to the people living in other settlements along the river. Whether this intention ever imphcitly belonged to this practice it is not now possible to ascertain.
A method that is again very frequently met with in various countries and among different tribes is one based on the beUef that the ailment can be banished, the pain diminished, by symbolic means, as by gradually diminisliing the number of ingredients in a decoction, by calling the disease by a series of names or objects of diminishing size, etc. (Compare German "abzahlen.")
This practice is found in the Cherokee custom of curing certain ailments by drinking medicine all day long the first day, until noon the second day, until about 10 a. m. the third day, and until breakfast the"^ fourth day.
Scratching, sucking, and burying the disease are methods that are being discussed with reference to the "chirurgical" methods of curing. (See p. 68.)
If none of the multifarious methods described above brings any relief to the patient, and if it is deemed that no chances for his re- covery exist, a last effort is made: The patient, called, let us say. Climbing Bear, is abandoned to the disease, but a new name is bestowed upon the sufferer; henceforth, he >\ill be called, let us say, Cutting Ax; and, while the disease spirit may temporarily be deluded and gloat over his success in bringing Climbing Bear to his doom, a new series of treatments is inaugurated by the concerted action of the medicine man and the patient's relatives to save Cutting Ax. A man who owes his name, Alick, to such a procedure is now living on the reservation, not far from Big Cove. (See the description of the event by W., p. 67.)
A mode of curing is to be mentioned finally which may not effect a cure by its sole power, yet is found associated so often with other curing methods that it should not be passed over in silence; I mean the circumambulation, so prominent in primitive rites in general, and in American Indian ceremonialism particularly.
In many cases, before administering the medicine, the medicine man circumambulates the patient. The rite is, moreover, practiced
7548°— 32 6
64 BLTIEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
as a preventive measure against the machinations of witches (see p. 13), and, with a view to faciUtating dehverj^, at the time of parturi- tion (see p. 123).
The dextral circuit (sunwise) seems to be the most common and original one; the sinistral circuit is, however, not unlaiown, and may have its origin in the symbolical reversion of that which is customary. (Compare Germ. "Riickzauber.")
To cjose this survey, which to the best of my knowledge is complete, it may be well to state that all of tliese methods are only practiced by tlie medicine men; all a layman may venture to do is to give a patient his medicine to drink, or to give him an additional inunction of his decoction, but all this only under the explicit direction of the worthy practitioner. (See p. 56.)
Prescriptions as to Diet, Taboos, Etc.
As will be seen in the chapter dealing with the formulas (p. 144), almost eveiy one of these is, or should be, accompanied by an often quite extensive explanation, listing the symptoms of the ailment against which the formula should be used, its cause, the simples to be gathered, with their mode of preparation, and finall}^ the restrictions to be observed. These restrictions, or taboos, are the object of the following lines.
Roughly speaking they may be divided into two classes: Those referring to the diet of the patient; those referring to the care of the patient and to his behavior.
As to the former, ample illustrations will be found of them in almost every formula or prescription, and I merely want to draw attention to them here, at the same time contributing a few notes toward making this custom more intelligible.
For here again, as with almost every phase in the Cherokee treat- ment of disease, we are dealing with entities of a purely mythological nature. Every observant reader when looking over the formulas will be struck with the so often repeated prohibition of hot food and salt. The reason for this, as for many of these restrictions, can not be given, not even by the most erudite of the Cherokee medicine men. Mr. Mooney repeatedly in Ids notes expresses the opinion that salt and hot food are tabooed because they have been introduced by the whites, and are therefore thought to interfere with the action of the Indian medicine. I do not quite share this opinion. Even if the use of mineral salt had not spread among the Cherokee to the same extent as it did after the advent of the whites, yet they did know lye, and lye is prohibited by the medicine men in every case where salt is forbidden.
I noticed, furthermore, that now that the food introduced by the white people, such as canned goods, coifee, sugar, etc., is easily
i
OL"B°REraTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 65
obtainable by the Clierokec, they never abstain from these articles when under medical treatment.
It seems to me that the reason for these restrictions are to be sought in another direction: The smarting; of salt in open wounds and the scalding effect of hot food have probably given the people the notion that these two articles of diet are of a pain-aggravating nature.
One disease, g^'gd" a'naldzi'skwskQ'M ("when they spit blood"), is actually caused by "eating too much salt," Del. told me.
It also struck me that these two restrictions always most rigorously apply in cases of hemorrhage (woands, menstruation, partus, etc.) or when there are smarting pains, even if these be internal, as in gonorrhea, pneumonia, tuberculosis, etc.
Another significant fact that I ^\dsh to present to substantiate the view here defended is that a prescription of Ms. Ill, the object of which is to cure a sldn eruption, prescribes go. tN*o° a'ma' i;''tlotso'!i nt'Ges9''na ("and also grease witli which (however) no salt has been mixed").
Roth, pages 348, 352, mentions two facts which of course could not prove my point of view, but which are nevertheless interesting paral- lels. "The Piache's (medicine man's) first prescription is to impose a general fast on the patient and his kinsfolk; the majority of the Piaches demand that no one belonging to the house should eat any- thing hot, anything cooked, or peppers" (p. 352).
Apart from salt and hot food, which are prohibited in the greater majority of diseases, there are some other taboos that are to be observed when suffering from some particular ailments.
So will the patient under treatment for rheumatism have to abstain from eating squirrel or rabbit meat, because of the hunchback position that is so characteristic of these animals; the one suffering from diarrhea should not eat fish or chicken, because the feces of these animals would seem to indicate that they are chronically afflicted with this very disease; the one ^dsited with watery blisters should abstain from all juicy fruit and vegetables, etc.
Some of the taboos are to be observed during the course of the treatment only (usually four days), others "for a veiy long time," or "as long as possible," which may mean anything from a month to a year; others again for lifetime.
In very rare cases, not only the patient, but also the medicine man treating him, as well as the assistant of the latter, who is usuall}^ a member of the patient's household, have to abstain from certain articles; e. g., when treating anj^one who has been wounded by a bullet or an arrow, the medicine man should not chew tobacco for four days; this same taboo has to be observed by the patient.
66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Moreover, "in all cases of sickness, the doctor abstains from all food until he is done treating the patient for the day. This usually means until about noon, but in serious cases the doctor sometimes fasts until nearly sundo^^'n. He must not cat in the house of the patient but ma}" eat in the yard outside." (Mooney, Notes.) There is a marked tendency nowadays to abolish this custom stipulating that the treating medicine man should also observe the taboos.
Fasting is a restriction that is rather frequently imposed upon the patients, but weshould have no misgivings. The proof that no sanitary consideration is to blame is obvious; the patient conscientiousl}" fasts until sunset, or in some cases until noon, when he is allowed to gorge himself with food as if he were the most robust and healthy individual on earth.
With regard to the second group of taboos, those referring to the care of the patient and to his behavior, the most important one is the segregation of the patient. There is nothing to be added to the excellent account given of this custom b^^ Mooney, SFC, pages 330- 332. It is still alive and thriving. It more than once happened to me when I went to call on a sick member of the tribe that I was only admitted after having sustained a rigorous cross-examination as to the "conditio physiologica uxoris meae," etc. (See p. 35.)
In some cases (documentary evidence of all this will be found in the formulas themselves) there are various injunctions to be observed such as the following:
If the disease is caused by birds, all feathers are to be removed from the cabin. (Feathers and quills are usually kept in the house to feather the arrows.)
Nor should the children made lU by the birds be taken outside, lest the shadow of a bird, flj'ing overhead, might fall on it and aggravate the ailment.
In diseases associated with the buffalo no spoon or comb made of buffalo horn, nor a hide of that animal, was to be touched. This taboo has been gleaned from a very old prescription, the age of which is shown by its contents; the buffalo has been extinct in the Cherokee country so long that the present Cherokee do not even remember what the animal looks like.
The numerous injunctions and restrictions to be observed by a pregnant woman have been listed together. (See p. 120.)
In some diseases, especially in those of the urinary passages, sexual intercourse is prohibited. It is possible that a long time ago the medicine man himself had to observe injunctions of continence as long as he had a patient of this kind under treatment, but I have not been able to gather definite information on this score.
Attention should be drawn, finallj^, to the fact that the taboo may depend on the number of simples used, as in Formula No. 55, or again,
OLBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 67
on the mode of collecting them. In Ms. II a formula occurs in which the medicine man, when he goes out to gather the plants needed, states in an appropriate formula how long a period of restrictions he is going to prescribe to his patient.
A Typical Curing Procedure
We have now anal3^zed the difTerent and multifarious elements and concepts which we find entangled in Cherokee ideas on disease, its causes, and its treatment. Needless to say, neither the native patient nor the medicine man ever look at the problem in such a scrutinizing and analytical way. We will therefore now present a synthetic pic- ture of the w^hole as it is presented to the mind of the native. The following lines contain the account of a case of illness and of the treatment and curing of the same. The account was given me quite spontaneously and unsolicited by one (W.) who was an interested party. Apart from correcting the more flagrant grammatical lapses in it I have not changed it in any way and wall give in footnotes what little supplementary information may be necessary to make it intelligible.
" Man}^ years ago ^^ my cousin, Charlie, Je.'s ^° son, was very ill ; he was very poorly; he was just about to die.^' My mother ^^ was very sorry for her daughter and for her grandson, and she sent after Doctor Mink,^^ asking him to come down to see what he could do. An evening, soon after. Doctor Mink came to our house and said he would spend the night.^* But my mother was anxious to know some- thing about her grandson's illness and prepared the cloth and the beads.^^ Mink examined with the beads, but he found that nothing could be done. My mother cried and was sorry because of her grand- son; she got some more white cloth and two more white beads, and asked the medicine man to try again. He did, but again he said the boy could not recover. And again my mother put some more cloth and two more beads down, but still there w^as no hope. A fourth time she got cloth and beads and the medicine man examined once more; but again he found that the boy was very poor, and that he would have to die.
"I then proposed to go over the mountain to where the sick boy lived, and to go and see him anyway. We all went, and when we got there we found the boy unconscious.
29 Thirteen years ago (information given November, 1926).
30 W.'s half-sister; cf. pp. 9, 116 and pi. 12, a.
31 He was ill with GQ'°wani'Gtstg°'.i, cf. p. 120.
32 Ayo., herself a reputed medicine woman during her lifetime. (Cf. p. 9.)
33 Alias Wil., son of cad. (cf. p. 9); two medicine men (now both deceased) from whom James Mooney obtained the Mss. II and III.
" Cf. p. 97. 85 Cf. p. 132.
68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
"I asked the doctor if he would come to the river with me; we took a dipper ^° which we filled with water, and when we got back to the house, we sprinkled some of it on the boy's face; I then went back to the river and poured the rest of the contents of the dipper away exactly where we dipped the water from. When I came back, I asked Doctor Mink if he would examine with the beads again to see if the boy could be cured : I prepared cloth and the beads ^^ and I went ^\ith Mink to the edge of the river. He examined with the beads, but found there was no hope. I put down some more cloth and beads, but again the doctor found there was no help. I then suggested to change the boy 's name. CharUe could die, but we would give him a new name; we would call him Alick.^^ Mink then again examined with the beads, and he found that Alick was going to get better. They tried a fourth time, and again there was hope. I then got Mink to examine to see if he would be able to cure him ; but he found he couldn't. Then he examined for another medicine man, and then for another, and another, and finally he found that Og.^^ could cure him. We then sent for Og. to cure hun. In the sick boy's house nobody was allowed to sleep that night.'"' Doctor Mink kept busy about the fire, working against the wdtches.
"Og. came down every morning and every night; he did the curing, and Doctor Mink did the examining with the beads. Four days afterwards I went down to the river once more with Doctor Mink, and we found that in seven days Alick would be about, hunting. And so it was."
Surgery
As compared with the rest of their medical practice, surgery is but scantily represented in Cherokee curing methods. However, what little there is, is of sufficient interest and importance to be en- titled to a short sjmthetic description.
As the first in importance the different methods of scarification de- serve to be mentioned. Scarification is still practiced extensively, and I may add intensively, not merely by the medicine men but also by the uninitiated. The ball players are still subjected to it, as has been minutely described by IMooney.'*^ The "scratching" of the ball players is usually practiced by means of the k^any^'ca instru-
38 Cf. p. 58.
*^ W. here plays the role of medicine man's assistant as his mother did in the previous ceremony (cf. p. 62).
" I. e., Alexander.
8B Cf. p. 112; pi. 9, a.
*o Cf. p. 31.
" "The Cherokee BaU Play," Amer. Anthrop., Ill (1890), pp. 105 seq.; cf. also Culin, "Games of the North American Indians," Twenty-fourth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1907, pp. 575-587.
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 69
ment. This Is a comblike device and is quite a remarkable specimen of primitive inventive spirit. (PI. 7, d, i.)
It is made of seven splinters of bone of a turkey leg, set into a frame of a turkey quill; the quill is folded over in four parts of pretty equal dimensions, so as to form a rectangular frame 5 centimeters by 4 centimeters; where the two extremities meet they are tied together, and the seven bone splinters (about 5 cm. long and 3 mm. broad at the top; sharpened to a keen point at the bottom) are then stuck through the upper part of the quill frame, with intervals of not more than 1 or 2 millimeters; they are then also stuck thi'ough the bottom part of the frame, 1 or 2 milluneters of their cutting extremity piercing the frame at the bottom. With these seven sharp points the scratches are inflicted; and the ingenious way in which they are mounted pre- vents them from piercing so deep into the flesh as to inflict serious wounds.
Although only the ball players are now being scratched by this instrument there are good reasons to believe that formerly it was also used in the treatment of certain ailments, where now such objects as flint arrowheads, briars, and laurel leaves (see infra) are used.
Moreover, there seems to be a tendency nowadays for scarification to develop from a mythico-surgical operation as Mooney still found it 40 years ago in a rite of a purely symbolic nature. In many instances I observed that not only no "gashes" were inflicted, but that not even a particle of blood was drawn during the operation.
Dt'DQ-^le'ski (rheumatism; cf. p. 292) and ailments which from a Cherokee point of view are related to this disease, are universally treated by this "scratching" method. The scarifying is here done by means of a flint arrowhead (oawi'skula'), preferably of the black variety. Old medicine men assert that this is the only variety (pi. 7, a) that should be used, but as this kind of arrowhead is getting scarce there is a tendency to use any other kind (pi. 7, 6). A still more curious shifting to a new position is shown in the custom which is rapidly gaining ground and according to which scratching is simply neglected, but an unworked piece of flint (also called Dawt'skiila', pi. 7, c) is merely held against the sore joint, the formula for scratching being recited at the same time.
Schematically this evolution could be represented as follows:
Black flint arrowhead to scratch with
i i
Any arrowhead to scratch Any piece of hlack jiint held
with. against aching spot
I did not find that any articles imported by the whites, such as knives, nails, glass, etc., were in use as scratching instruments.
70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
[Bull.
All kinds of briars, especially those of blackberry shrubs, nvGo'tlo" (pi. 7, e), are also used to slightly scarifj^ the skin. By what poor means I had at my disposal I used to treat Jud. (see p. 114; pi. 10, a) for rheumatism in his knee. Whenever I went to see him in his cabin he stubbornly refused to be rubbed \\'ith the embrocation I used, before he had gone out, cut a thorny branch off some shrub, and scratched his knee. When he came to my quarters to be rubbed I he never forgot to bring his briars!
A few leaves of the laurel {Kalmia latifolia L.) are also used for the same purpose. Ten or twelve leaves (originally probably seven) are plucked, kept together between thumb and forefinger (pi, 7,f), and a i few strokes with the bristly edges are given over the skin. I was sur- 1 prised to find, when I had this scarification practiced on me as an experiment, that the marks were visible and the irritation of the skin sensible for over a week.
Finally there is to be mentioned the tooth of the rattlesnake as a scarifying instrument. When used for the preparation of the mem- j bers of the ball-game team it was customary until 50 years or so ago . to use two of these teeth, tied together. Why this was done, and how the instrument was made, informants were unable to tell me. The scratching with one tooth, as practiced in the treatment of disease, is described by Mooney in his notes as follows: "Beginning with the I right hand (the medicine man) draws the tooth from the end of the first finger *^ along the back of the hand, up the arm, across the breast, and down the left leg and foot, making one long gash. He then re- peats the operation in the same way, beginning with the left hand i and ending wdth the right foot. Next he begins at the end of the f right thumb, drawing the tooth up along the arm, around the back of the neck to the left shoulder, and down again in front along the left leg and foot. Then he reverses the operation, beginning with the left thumb and ending with the right foot. He then scratches the skin at random over the affected part, or over the limbs and the body according to the nature of the sickness. . . . These scratches are not deep, being intended not to draw blood but to enable the liquid ap- plication to take a better hold upon the skin. In scratching small children, the . . . (medicine man) uses the back of the tooth." In some cases children are scratched over the tongue.
This mode of scarification seems to have died out, however; not a single instance of it came to my attention during my stay; nor was there one medicine man of the many I knew having such an instrument in his possession.
As for the scarification with such objects as flint arrowheads, briars, laurel leaves, the scratches are usually only inflicted locallj'" — on the
*2 Also of the middle finger. — F. M. 0.
oiBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 71
knee, the wrist, the elbow, etc. — and are not more than 5 to 6 centi- meters long. From sLx to a dozen of them may be applied, usually parallel, but in some cases half of them may be scratched from left to right, the other half up and down, so that the whole presents a network.
After any scarification, whatever "instruments" may have been used, an infusion of very pungent plants (see p. 53) is rubbed over the scarified area; it is undeniable that this treatment is often effica- cious to allay the pains caused by neuralgia, nervous headache, and similar complaints. Similar observations have been made by W. E. Koth*^ and by Prof. J. P. Kleiweg de Zwaan.^*
Generally spealdng, scarification is performed to cure such diseases as are not permanently located in a definite part of the body, as rheumatism, which may be more pronounced in the knee joints one day and in the hip the next; or "pains moving about" (neuralgia), for neuralgia of the teeth, for "pains appearing in different places," etc.
Fractures. — The knowledge and the professional skill of the medicine men with regard to fractures is scanty indeed. The fractured mem- ber is fitted together as nicely as can be managed and one or more sticks are tied alongside of it; as soon as the patient reaches home two boards are hewn, of which a casing is made, and that takes the place of the sticks. Complete rest is prescribed and a decoction of tsfyu' {Liriodendron tulipifera L., tulip tree, poplar, whitewood) is blown, by means of the blowing tube (see p. 58), on the fractured limb. As the medicine men put it themselves: "If everything has been fixed nicely the bones will grow together again and heal; but often they don't and then the man will not have the use of his Hmb again."
If a lower lunb has been broken or disjointed and has failed to heal sticks and simple crutches, not different from the simpler forms known to the rural whites, are used.
A fracture which is fairly common is that of the collar bone; the rough way in which Cherokee ball players handle each other during the game often results in a player being tossed clear up into the air and falling down headforemost. To avoid falling on his head, or breaking an ann, the head is held on one side, and the arms are held horizontally extended. A broken collar bone is often the result.
Here again no other method of curing is attempted than blowing a decoction of poplar bark on the shoulder and breast. The patient is ordered to keep his arm at an angle of 45° in front of his breast, i. e., to take the position which in our hospitals is enforced by the suspen- sion bandage. Most cases heal successfully.
*^ "An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians," Thirtieth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn. (1915), p. 280. ""Die Heilkunde der Niasser," den Haag 1913, p. 135.
72 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (Bull. 99
Dislocation. — Cases of dislocation are treated as efRcaciously as one can expect. Three or four friends get hold of the patient and simply pull long and frantically until they believe the rebellious joint has resumed its original position. As to the ultimate outcome, tho same fatalistic view is taken as with regard to fractures.
Dentistry. — The art of the stomatologist is in its very piime among the Cherokee. If neuralgia is felt, it may be treated as —
(1) Dt'DQ-le'ski (see p. 292); in this case the jaw, the cheek, or the temple may be scratched by arrowhead, briars, or laurel leaves. (See p. 70.)
(2) Else the medicine man may proclahn that the pain is caused by insects. (See p. 28.) This is especially the explanation if there is any visible swelling or inflammation. If such is the case a treatment is adopted the main object of which is the sucking out of the insect. (See p. 73.)
If a tooth shows visible signs of decay the actual causes of pain are not so much believed to be of a mythical nature. The pain is com- bated as long as possible, by thrusting in the cavity of the aching tooth a small quid of ordinarj^ chewing tobacoo; eventually, in a fit of raging pain, the tooth is knocked out with a stone or a hammer.
A half-blood, whose scientific progress had attained the point where he pulled teeth by means of a pair of tongs, did a thriving business, people from miles around walking to his house to be "oper- ated upon."
Wounds, boils, etc. — Wounds caused by a cutting instrument, such as an ax, a knife, a strong splinter of wood, are always treated by the recitation of a song (see p. 271) by the medicine man, or, if the case is urgent, by the patient himself or by a member of his household, if they know the formula. The infusion of tsf'yu bark (see p. 71) is usually blown over the wound afterwards.
Nowadays the woimd is usually bandaged in a very summary way with some stray bit of rag. It would^appear that no surgical dressing, of botanical matter or of skins, was practiced before the introduction of cloth.
Severe hemorrhage, especially resulting from wounds inflicted by arrows or bullets, is stopped by a plaster of buzzard's do%vn. The use of birds' down for this purpose is practiced by several American Indian tribes.
Contusions and internal wounds caused by falling or by being hit by heavy, blunt instruments, as by a club, a tree branch, etc., are treated by the panacea: the infusion of tsf'yu bark, blown over the aching spot; no formula is recited, however.
Use of the sucking horn. — The discussion of the following practice under the caption of "Surgery" might be challenged with some reason, but the practice is undeniably of a surgical nature according
Olbkechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 73
to Cherokee standards. The instrument used (u'yo'*no° "horn" when off the anmial; cf. ytluca', "horn," when still attached) used to be made out of a buffalo horn: yansa' i»'yo''no° it is still often called in the medicinal prescriptions. Nowadays a cow horn provides the raw material.
The top and the base of the horn are cut off, leaving a slightly tapering tube about 4 centimeters long which is shaved off on the out- side and on the inside. The top opening, which is the narrower, is covered by the tight]}'" stretched skin of a turkey's gizzard. The whole has the appearance of a small liqueur goblet. (PI. 7, g.)
This contrivance is used very much as the cupping glass of the white physician is used, with this difference, that the oxygen-absorbing role of combustion being unknown, the air is eliminated by sucking. The horn is placed on the part of the body that is to be operated upon, and by setting it slightly at an angle, the medicine man manages to eliminate the air out of the cavity by sucking at the bottom of the horn. Although the cupping glass and the sucking horn have a very wide distribution, this is, as far as I am avrare, a unique waj'" of using this instrument.
It often happened that at the end of the operation some small object, a small pebble, a worm, an insect, was found in the horn. This the medicine man claimed had been extracted from the body and was the disease agent. The horn was used especially in ailments where a swelling was noticeable, such as toothache, boils, etc. Nowadays it is seldom used. As a matter of fact there was not one specimen to be found while I stayed v/ith the Cherokee, and I had to have one made by Del. (see j). 115; pi. 7, g), one of the few medicme men who still remembered their use and who knew how^ to make them.
Whenever there is now any sucking to be done the horn is simply dispensed with, the medicine man merely applying his lips to the swelling.
Prophylaxis
Neither the utter neglect of hygienic precautions nor the total ignorance of measures to prevent and avert disease which we find prevailing in primitive communities should cause us any surprise.
These conditions are to be explained by the proverbial lack of fore- sight which seems to be the appanage of all less civilized groups. The problem of the day is enough for the mind of these happy-go- lucky people, "Let us enjoy health while we have it, and if anything goes wTong there is the medicine man to look after it. "
It is explained also by the existence of a kind of prophylaxis which by ethnologists is not generally considered as such; it might be called a "mythological prophylaxis," viz, the careful observance of all in- junctions and restrictions governing tribal life. If a Cherokee does not expectorate into the fire, he consciously or unconsciously observes
74 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
this taboo simply that he may not be visited with toothache. If his wife is careful not to leave any offal of dressed game about the yard this again is done in order that none of the household may contract a disease.
Similarly, amulets and charms are, usually worn with the definite object of averting evil under all its multifarious forms, of which disease is by no means the least important.
Another reason for the lack of prophylactic measures among these peoples may be that the thought of a sporadic illness or ailment is not of so serious a nature as to impress their minds enough to set them to actively thinking of an expedient to avert the calamity. In this respect it is interesting to note how thoro uglily and generally "pro- phylaxis" is practiced against all contagious diseases and epidemics, such as primus inter pares, smallpox, that terrible scourge of American Indians in general and of the Cherokee in particular.
Yet, with the Cherokee, beliefs and practice ^\dth regard to proph}'^- laxis in disease are not quite so hopeless as we find them elsewhere; I do not mean to say that they pay such attention to rules of hygiene as we would approve of, nor that they practice certain prophylactic measures that we would consider efficacious, but we are confronted with a more pronounced exertion to forestall sickness and pain than we are wont to find; this has to be accounted for, no doubt, by the tremendous stress which is laid in Cherokee tribal life on the ver}-- problems of disease and curing.
As we have seen, according to the Cherokee theory of disease and its causes, disease preferably attacks — whether of its own accord or by the activity of a powerful disease causer — those people who are "constitutionally predisposed" as we would put it. Witches especially, and man-killers, evil wizards, attack people that are weak and in poor health, because these will far more easily fall a victim and a prey to their nefarious machmations than would the stronger, healthier, more robust individuals.
As soon, therefore, as anybody is grievously ill, one or more medi- cine men or lay assistants (the latter often relatives of the patient) take turns to watch in his cabin from sunset to sunrise in order to "guard against witchcraft." The smoldering ashes of the hearth are raked to one side and nicely trimmed into a neat little cone-shaped heap. A tiny pinch of crushed "old" tobacco {Nicotiana rustica L.) is dropped over the smoldering ashes. If a particle of the tobacco dust should flare up on any of the sides of the cone of ashes this shows that a witch is on the way to the dwelling of the sick person to aggra- vate his condition; should the worker of evil happen to be right overhead, or should he, though invisible, be inside the room, the sacred tobacco would land right on the top of the heap of ashes, and there flare up with a loud burst; this burst is believed to kill the witch.
oiSnTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 75
Even though this rite be gone through while the person for whose benefit it is performed is already ill, it is none the less a rite which, from a Cherokee point of view, has a decided prophylactic character. It is not expected to cure the patient but to prevent any "worker of evil" taking advantage of his weakened condition to cast another and more deadly illness on the sufferer.
A variant of this rite is the smoking of the same sacred tobacco (blended, on account of its excessive scarcity, with at least 90 per cent of ordinary smoking tobacco) out of a pipe. The medicine man lights the pipe (preferably an old native carved soapstone pipe, although if such a specimen is not available a usual white trader's pipe is reluc- tantly substituted) and slowly walks round the patient's cabin, starting on the east side; after having inhaled a powerful puff of smoke he blows it toward the sky, then straight in front of him, then toward the east, and finally toward the ground.
This is done because some wdtches can not only wallv on the ground (ad libitum in their human shape, or in the shape of any quadruped they choose) but they can also fly through the air, and can even travel under the surface of the earth. The smoke of the sacred tobacco prevents them from approaching in any of these ways.
Continuing his circuit, the medicine man halts at the north side, next at the west, and finally at the south side of the house, blowing the three puffs every time he halts, until the circumambulation is completed.
Contagious diseases. — It is the feeling of those who have made a special study of the problem of epidemics in pre-Columbian times that this scourge was relatively rare on the American continent. In view of this, we can easily follow the mode of reasoning of the natives, when they ascribe the origin of contagious disease to the whites. They often even go so far as to accuse the white people, and especially the white physicians, of purposely letting an epidemic loose among the Indians, in order to wipe them from the face of the continent by a quick and efficacious expedient. (See p. 39.)
With the Cherokee, as soon as there were rumors of an epidemic breaking loose — when it was known that a near-by settlement was affected, or when there was a case of illness which was pronounced by the old people, who had witnessed previous epidemics, to be a case of the disease in question — one of the most reputed medicine men announced his intention to hold a medicine dance, to safeguard the people against the coming evil. The w^hole community turned out at the scheduled time; the medicine dance was danced, the medicine "against all diseases" was prepared by the medicine men and drunk by the people. The medicine dance has not been staged for such a long time now that the only medicine man who knew the songs and the medicine used died during my stay with the tribe, in the spring of 1927.
76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
Other prophylactics. — These are of an individual nature and are used not only against contagious but against any kind of diseases. They are charms prepared from the skunk (Dt'la') and the buzzard (su'h'), "The odour of skunk ... is beheved to keep off contagious diseases, and the scent bag is therefore taken out and hung over the doorway, a small hole being pierced in it, in order that the contents niiiy ooze out upon the timbers. At times, as in the smallpox epidemic of 1866, the entire body of the animal was thus hung up, and in some cases as an additional safeguard the meat was cooked and eaten and the oil rubbed over the sldn of the person." ''^
Buzzard feathers are hung over the doorway, and I have also witnessed a case where the whole carcass was hung up in the room and was allowed to decay there; a measure the prophylactic value of which many of us wdll be prone to doubt.
The buzzard is used in tliis connection because of its habit of preying on decayed carcasses and rubbish; as he is immune from any ill effects, "caused by the bad odors," he is supposed by the Cherokee to be immune from disease-contracting propensities, and therefore to be able to communicate this valuable trait to those who keep his feathers, etc., as a charm.
Another contagious disease the Cherokee are in great dread of is whooping cough. As soon as there is known to be a case in the settle- ment parents prepare a decoction of uwe't'i' {Eryngium yuccijolmm Michx., rattlesnake master, button snakeroot) and administer it to all of their children which they consider susceptible of contracting the ailment.
Various simples are used to help children grow into fine specimens of manhood or womanhood, without their deserving the privilege of being listed under the caption of proph3^]axis. There is one medicine, however, in a decoction of which babies are to be bathed every new moon: k'ane'si' {Orontiuiii aquatlcum L., goldenclub).
Measures to prevent toothache arc numerous. When you see a shooting star you must immediately spit, else you will lose a tooth. If you always hoed this injunction you will keep all your teeth sound as long as you live.
Never throw the remains of anything you have chewed (a quid of tobacco, the skin of an apple in wliich you have bitten, etc.) into the fire; "else the fire will chow your teeth."
Another means, not so simple but even more efficacious: Catch a "green snake" (a snake about 50 cm. long; not poisonous) and hold it horizontally extended by neck and tail; then run it seven times back and forth between the two rows of teeth, after which turn it loose. No food prepared with salt is to be eaten for the first four days follow-
"Mooney, J., Myths of the Cherokee. Nineteenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., Washington, 1900, pp. 2G5-266.
OlTrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 77
ing this operation. It will keep your teeth sound as long as j^ou live. The Tuscarora know exactly the same toothache-preventive practice.
In order not to be afflicted with boils this is the remarkable and unappetizing advice given: Swallow the body of a living daddy-long- legs (Da''kwsuli'), after first having pidled its legs ofl^.
The awe-inspiiing collection of Cherokee sacred and medicinal formulas contain quite a few that are to be recited to avert o\dl and disease; most of them, are prayers of the Idnd which are called in German "Segen"; some of them are believed to insure a safe journey if recited before setting out; others are claimed to make the recitant invulnerable in war or strife, as one in Ms. Ill; others again are held to keep the feet from being frost bitten (cf. Formula No. 60, p. 258), when walking on the snow, etc.
In none of these cases is any material object used, however, and they are therefore not further discussed here.
Change From Within — Influence From Without
In the course of this chapter attention has been called to a couple of instances where the use of "surgical" instruments can actually be caught in the process of an evolution. (See p. 69.)
Also, in the paragraph sketching a few of the leading Cherokee medicine men, there wiU be occasion to point out a change in practice resulting from a modification in conception and outlook.
There are some more instances where Cherokee conceptions and ideas wdth regard to disease can be shown to have undergone, or to be in the act of undergoing, some important changes.
In this respect it has been fortunate indeed that such a keen observer as James IMooney repeatedly visited the tribe, his first visit dating as far back as 1887. At that time it was still possible to obtain information on a great many questions on which no light could now be shed by any of the present medicine men. Moreover, at that time the explanation and exegesis of the older ioiormants was free of skepticism and sopliistication.
I^Iuch of what Mr. ^Mooney collected could now no longer be ob- tained, and this in itself partly illustrates the process of change which the Cherokee, as eveiy other of the American Indian tribes, is under- going. Ha\'ing Mooncy's statements as to what conditions were like in the eighties, and comparing them with the state of things in 1926-27, it is possible to see in what respects ideas have changed, in how far opinions have altered.
Forty-five years seem a short span of time for fundamental changes to occur in the belief and the ritual of a community living so secluded a life as do the Cherokee in their mountains, but it should be borne in mind that they have been exposed to white influence for many gener- ations, and that even more than a hundred years ago there existed.
78 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Buix. 99
besides the traditionalists or conservatives, a lot of "progressive" Cherokee who did not look unfavorably upon the adoption of white culture.
Such being the condition, the death of every old medicine man, of every staunch traditionalist, means a blow to the culture of yore that is truly irremediable : A considerable portion of the aboriginal religion, ritual, and science dies with him; and maybe a score of myths and stories, a song or six, and a couple of dances will never again be heard. If one has had the sad experience to witness such a departure — as Mooney lived to see Ay . die and as I helped to carry Og. to his grave on a Big Cove mountain slope — only then does one realize that, if with one man so much of the aboriginal knowledge dies, how much this tribe must have lost and forgotten during the last few generations.
In spite of all this, however much of their ritual and however many of their tenets of belief they may have lost, it is remarkable how un- contaminated by white or any other influence is the bulk of Cherokee medicinal knowledge.
The follomng are the only beliefs and practices in the domain of medicine that can actually be traced to European influence:
A cromng hen causes a death in the family; the death can be averted by Idlling the animal.
This is a very general common European belief;^® that it actually crossed the Atlantic \^dth the European settlers appears from Bergen, Fanny D., Animal and Plant Lore, nos. 1335-38 and also Notes, p. 160.
A howling dog hkewise "causes" death. (It is interesting to note that what in European folklore is considered as an omen may become a cause in Cherokee belief. (See p. 37 .) ^^ W. told me that his mother, Ayo., used to scold the dog, and command the animal to either stop howling or else to die itself. If the dog died, its evil-foreboding howling had no further effect.
The burning of old shoe soles in a piuificatorj^ rite against contagious disease is another practice which is undoubtedly of Eiu-opean origin; old shoe soles were considered an efficacious means to combat the plague in Shakespeare's time,^® and also the Negro has boiTOwed this remarkable panacea from the white man's pharmacy. (Puckett, pp. 377-379.)
** Tetzncr, Dr. Fr., Deutsches Sprichworterbuch, Leipzig, (n. d.), p. 268. Eckart, R. : Niederdeutsche Sprichworter, Braunschweig, 1893, p. 558. Le Roux de Lincy: Le Livre des proverbes fran^ais, Paris, 1842, Part I, p. 146. De Cock, Alfons, Spreekwoorden en Zegswijzen over de Vrouwen, de Liefde en het Huwelijk, Gent, 1911, p. 32.
*'' Cf. Rolland, Eug., Faune populaire de la France, Paris, 1877-1909, Part IV, pp. 66 seq. De Cock, Alfons, Spreekwoorden, Gezegden en Uitdrukkingen op Volksgeloof berustend, Antwerpen, 1920, Part I, p. 97.
« Cf. Wilson, T. P. The Plague in Shakespeare's London, Oxford, 1907, p. 11.
oIb^ecIts] the SWIMMEK MANUSCRIPT 79
To give a dog water to drink with which cartridges have been rinsed, in order to make it a sure tracker, is another practice which only too eAadently shows its pedigree.
There are, moreover, some beUefs and practices of which it is not possible to saj" whether they have been borrowed from European folklore or whether they have originated independently. Such are to my mind:
The vomiting into the river. (See p. 63.)
The use of spider web as a styptic.
The remarkable properties ascribed to such materia medica as stump water (see p. 57) and lightning-struck wood (see p. 54).
The saying with regard to a shooting star. (See p. 37.) It is to be noted, however, that in European folldore it is believed that when you see a star shooting j^ou should formulate a wish, which will surely be fulfilled. So the two beliefs are not really identical; but one may easily have been transformed into the other after having passed through the oral tradition of several generations.
Not only is there this borrowing from the sources of European folklore, there is also an unmistakable influence of white scientific medical views, which, it is needless to saj^, are very ill digested and pretty badly mutilated.
A medicine man who had been dead some 3^ears, "Standing Deer," had told Del. that i;'*kayo"'Do° u'msiVaskg' (lit., "when they cough in a dry way," the Cherokee equivalent of our tuberculosis) is caused by swallowing dust, which becomes a big ball in our lungs. This view is no doubt a residue of the lessons in hygiene taught at the Government school. At one time T. gave me a similar account. When I asked him in a fitting way his ^dews on the origin of disease he told me he could hardly answer that question — it was too difficult for him. He had heard that "some pretend that all disease is caused by very fine dust, so fine you can hardlj^ see it, flying around in the room. It gets into our body and makes disease there, they say. Maj^be it's true; maj^be it isn't."
Some cases have come to mj notice where these scientific medical principles are not bluntly taken over, but are happily blended with already existing aboriginal opinions. So, e. g., diseases that used to be ascribed to neglect of ritual in killing game (asking pardon, build- ing a fire, etc.) are now often said to be caused by the hunter inhaling "bad odors" of the animal while skinning and dressing it. Another instance of this trend of ideas is the following, where it is easy to see that such explanations of the disease as by "the food having been changed" (see p. 33) has been active:
"Maybe disease results from wbat we eat. Whenever I went up north, to the white people's settlements, I did not like the food; I 7548°— 32 7
80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Blil. 99
ate but little and was hiingiy all the time; still 1 always felt well; but when I came back home for a few months, I again ate aU I liked, just my own business, and as much as I wanted; I suffered from stomach troubles all the time. The food we eat ma}'' have some disease in it. There may be a disease in apples, eggs, potatoes, etc." (W.)
Attitude of the Community Tow^ard the Sick
In a community such as is here described not a thing, of however small import, happens to a member without all the others knowing about it and taking a keen interest in it.
Illness is too fickle a thing and is of too restless and shifting a nature to think or to talk lightly about it, even if it is only our neighbor who happens to be stricken just now. \'V^io can tell whether we our- selves will not be the next to be visited?
The sick man therefore can rely on the sympathy and the commis- eration of his feJlows. If a member of the sufferer's houshold is met, or one of his neighbors, or any one at all who is expected to know how he is, questions as to his condition are always eagerly asked, and you can feel that these are urged by motives of sympathy and pity rather than by civility or inquisitiveness.
Nor do the people give proof of their sympathy b}' mere display of words — the actions are not found wanting. If the head of a family is ill, and is unable to provide for his family, aU the able-bodied members of the settlement turn out on an appointed day and work all day felling trees and sawing and cutting the logs, so that the family may have firewood. If the man is still ill at coni-planting time the whole community will again rise to the occasion, plow his fields and plant his com, etc.; even hoeing the fields of the sick and gathering their harvests is done for them free of charge, and with the most cheerful good will in the w'orld.
This "mutual aid society," as it might aptly be called, has a chief chosen by the members, who holds office for a year. The election is a very informal affair and as a rule merely consists in the nomination of a popular individual by two or three of his friends and the oral assent of the rest; it usually takes place about corn-planting time, when as a rule the members have to meet anyv/ay to work for some sick neighbor. The chief is assisted by a kind of messenger, who, at the former's bidding, has to call out the members w^henever necessary.
This chief is at present looked upon pretty much as the chief of the settlement; it is also his duty, in times of drought, to go, accom- panied by sLx other men, and invite a medicine man, who is expert at rain making, to use his art for the benefit of the people and their crops.
The same fine community spirit is displayed on the occasion of such a calamity as a fire. If a member of the settlement loses his cabin and
oiBREOTTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 81
all it contains by fire all the people will help him to rebuild his home, and, what is more, to refurnish it. One will be able to spare a blan- ket, another will donate a chair, someone else a cooking vessel, etc., until the family is fitted out again, sometimes better than before the accident.
During my stay the following rather amusing thing happened; it is a good example of the good heartedness and the generosity of these people :
On the outskirts of k^o-'lom^'yi', in an adjacent cove was a clus- ter of seven houses, one of which was inhabited by a half-blood, a \cry bad character, with his wife and two children.
Once while he was serving a sentence for his "moonshine" activi- ties, and when his wife and children had crossed the mountain to spend the night at her parents', the neighbors by concerted and pre- meditated efforts set fire to the house, thinking that by so doing they would prevail upon the annoying family to move to some other settlement. The house burned down to the ground; not a basket was saved. But when the next day the culprits saw the despair of the poor woman they forthwith agreed that all the able-bodied neigh- bors (who were all directly or indirectly guilty of the arson) would rebuild her cabin on the veiy spot where it had stood before. Within a week the building was under construction.
Efficacy of Treatment
There are many statements in the descriptions and relations of early travelers on the American continent of the amazing sldll of the native doctors and on the extraordinary results obtained by them. In many instances they are even compared to the contemporaiy European practitioners, and not alwa^^s to the advantage of the latter.
We should, however, bear in mind that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries European medical practice, with its belief in such drogues and remedies as scrapings of unicorn, in mummy, human fat ("adeps hominis"), Digby's powder of sympathy, etc.,"^'' in the most revolting and disgusting ingredients,^^ was still nearer the era of Plinius than that of Pasteur.
As regards the efficacy of Cherokee medical treatment the facts amply speak for themselves. In a very mteresting survey Alooncy has discussed this subject (SFC, p. 324 seq.), and comes to the
■»» Cf. Van Andel, Dr. M. A.: "Klassieke Wondermiddelen," Gorinchem, 192S. Cf. also, Lemerj', Nicolas: " Dictionnaire ou Trait6 Universel des Drogues simples," 3d. edit., Amsterdam, 1716.
'" Cf. PauUini, K. F.: "Heilsame Dreck-Apotheko, wie nehmlich mit Koth und Urin die meisten Krankheiten und Schaden glucklich geheilet worden," II, Franckf. 1699, but still reprinted iu Stuttgart, 1847.
82 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
conclusion that only 25 per cent, or at the most 35 per cent, of the botanical materia medica used bj^ this tribe is in accordance with the rules and principles laid down by the United States Dispensatory (14th ed.), 1877.
With the additional material collected by Mooney and by myself it will be possible to publish a more complete survey in the near future, the results of which already indicate that the tentative esti- mate made, based on the material then available, is altogether too optimistic.
Even the "white people's" medical knowledge has made consider- a])le progress these last 50 years, and in the United States Dispensa- tory, 14th ed., 1877, properties are ascribed to many plants which the 19th edition, 1907, has not cared to reprint. The eliminatory process of reducing the some 8,000 "officinal" plants which western European official therapeutics once knew has played such havoc with these numbers that only about 300 plants are now officially recog- nized as officinal. ^^ Thus several of the Cherokee plants the use of which was sanctioned by the school of half a century ago would now be deemed indifferent.
It should also be stressed that if a simple used by the Cherokee in the treatment of a particular disease happens to be incorporated in a Dispensatory, or listed in a Handbook of Pharmacy, this mere fact in no way confirms the efficacy of the Cherokee mode of using it.
The Cherokee rule of practically always using the bark of the trees and the roots of the weeds and herbs does not always do justice to the actual officinal parts of the simples used. Moreover, the mode of administration of a medicine, which is of such capital importance, is not deemed to be of any import whatsoever by the Cherokee practitioners. Of many simples, the curative value of which are highly extolled by the Dispensatory, if only the product be taken internall}^, the Cherokee medicine man will make an infusion or a decoction, and blow it on the patient sitting 3 or 4 feet distant. Finally, as has already been stated, no attention whatever is paid to dosing the patient, nor to his idiosyncrasy.
The same evaluation applies to such practices as the prescriptions relating to diet, seclusion of the patient, vomiting, etc. At first these strike us as factors that may help considerably to cause or to maintain conditions that help the patient in many cases on the road to recovery.
But here again appearances deceive. As far as diet is concerned, e. g., a particular kind of food is never proscribed because it is thought not to agree with the condition of the patient, but this taboo is simply
51 von Marilaun, A. Kerner: "Das Leben der Pflanzen." Dutch translation by Dr. Vitus Bruinsma, Zutphen, n. d., Pt. IV, p. 361.
Ol'^bbkhts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 83
based on mythological reasons; as, for instance, when rabbit's meat is prohibited because rabbits are believed to be responsible for the disease.
Nor is the injunction of fasting of a nature that could be called hygienic; whereas the patient may stubbornly fast, and refuse to take even a particle of food all day long, immediately after sunset he will eat voraciously and gorge himself with quantities of food that might very well ruin the stomach of a perfectly healthy individual.
As for the so-called seclusion of patients, this is a taboo of the same tragico-comical nature: A visitor coming from the outside v/ill be curtly refused admittance to the patient's bedside, or will only be allowed to enter after a most scrutinizing interrogation as to the condition of his wife, etc.; women when pregnant, or ''under restric- tions" for other reasons (see p. 34) are rigorously excluded. But the peace and the quietness around the patient that might thus be obtained, and that might be of benefit to him, are of no moment at all; inside the children may be carrying on as if bedlam were let loose, and I have witnessed cases of grown-up sons who would practice on a guitar in a most distracting and irritating manner for hours at a stretch within three yards of their very sick father.
Nor is the Cherokee way of purging by vomiting as efficacious a practice as we would at first be inclined to believe. Vomiting is resorted to far too frecjuently, and in eight cases out of ten without any plausible reasoa, and therefore without any beneficial result. In many cases patients take no food all day, yet force themselves to this painful procedure of vomiting several times before sunset, quite an alarming state of exhaustion often being the result.
This should be no cause of surprise to us, since we know that vomiting is practiced not so much to eliminate unwholesome or indigestible foodstuffs, but merely to "throw off our spoiled saliva" (see p. 15), or for similar reasons.
To come to a conclusion: If we marvel at it that ever a Cherokee patient recovers, we feel that we have to give the credit to his strong constitution, to the invigorating mountain aii', and to the simple food he takes — lacking all spices and stimulants — much more than to the medicine man and his simples.
THE MEDICINE MAN
Having devoted the previous chapter to a fairly comprehensive survey of aboriginal beliefs concerning disease and its treatment, we will now give our attention to a most commanding figure in Cherokee hfe; a figure not only dominating the community in cases of disease and death but exercising its influence in almost all aspects of every- day life — the medicine man. (PI. 8, a.)
Medicine men do not have special names, nor are they grouped in any society. Although they are sometimes referred to as aoa^'ngwi'ski,
84 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
plur. Dt*'Da'nowt'sld ("he cures anyone"; "he cures people") it is more customary to call them by a name which is more discriminating and descriptive of tlie specialty to which the medicine man referred to devoted himself.
The overwhelming majority of the practitioners are men; sporadi- cally there is yet a medicine woman to be fomid, but there are indi- cations that lead us to beheve that formerly there were far more of them than is now the case. An informant, wlien asked to account for the fact that there were so few female disease curers, as compared to males, told me that it was "because women do not take so much interest in it (i. e., in the study of plants, of the formulas, etc.) as men do."
Apart from midwives (see p. 122) there are now only two medicine women worth speaking of — an old person of about 80 years old, called aGv'ya (i.e., "it is being taken out of the liquid ") and se"'hye"'ni (Sally-Annie?), the wife of Og. (PL 8, b.)
A couple of the regular midwives will also occasionally go in for some cuiing of ailments that do not quite fall within their compe- tence, but this is not usual.
If a woman practices at all she does not hmit herself to patients of her own sex, nor to any set diseases; nor is the treatment by her of any ailments, even in male patients, considered improper. She exercises her profession on a par with her male congeners, enjoys tlie same rights, and if her knowledge and her skill justifies it, she may in time be lield in the same reputation as one of the leading members of the faculty.
As will be seen again and again in these pages, the medicine men arc the staunchest supporters of aboriginal faith, lore and custom, and with the disintegration of Cherokee material culture and social organization tlie medicine man has obtained a position of leadership which in many instances practically amounts to that of political head in another tribe.
Different Classes
However much the proverbial tooth of time has gnawed at Cherokee organization and tradition, it is still possible to find in the present body of medicine men traces of a differentiation wliich must have existed to an even greater extent at a more remote period.
It might as well be stressed right away that throughout this paper the term "medicine man" is used to cover a rather broad concept; it is used without distinction as to sex, and refers not only to those members of the tribe that treat the sick and cure diseases, but also to those that might be called "priests," "magicians," "di\nnators," etc.
A short discussion of these several varieties follows now, together wath the names given to these practitioners and the practices they
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99 PLATE 8
n, Ts., THE Oldest of the Medicine Men
6, st-'liyf'ni, a mediciue womau
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99 PLATE 9
(/, Og., two Days Before he Died
h. The Corpse is put Down on Wooden Boards
o™cHTs] THE SWIMJVIER MANUSCRIPT 85
specialize in. I want to warn, however, against thinking of tliis divi- sion as quite so rigid as it might appear to be at first: one individual may, at the same time, be a disease curcr and a rain maker; or a disease curer and a divinator; or a divinator and an incantator; etc.
Dt'^Da'ngwt'ski, he cures them (indef. ; habit.); a curer.
This name, as already stated (p. 84), is given first to any person belonging to any of the several groups here discussed, and might therefore be considered as an equivalent of the term "medicine man" as used in this paper.
It is, however, only by a generalization that it has come to be be- stowed also on such people as priests and incantators, as its meaning clearly shows that it must originally have been used to refer to dis- ease curers only.
These are the people, men or women, that are called upon in cases of sickness to diagnose the nature of the disease, prescribe treatment, the injunctions and the restrictions, collect the plants and weeds, or whatever other kind of materia medica is to effect the cure.
Usually they proclaim to be proficient in all ailments, whatever their nature, but in some cases an individual may acquire quite a reputation for his skill in treating some particular disease. There was hardl}^ any such case during my stay with the tribe but the names of two medicine men, lately deceased, were still fresh in everyone's memory— one, Wil., the writer of Ms. II (see p. 9) having been held in high esteem on account of his successful treat- ment of Du"le"'dzi (scrofula), and another, tsanu*'si (Leech), owing his reputation chiefly to bis skill in curing unak'o'N!^ yDmyo't'eva (swollen testicles).
There is one man now, 3^o"'nuGQ''°ski (bear coming out of the water) (see p. 136 and pi. 10, 6), who might in a way be called a specialist, in that he only attends to cutaneous wounds, but this, I found, was merelj^ due to the fact that he had never been able to acquire any further knowledge.
Apart from exercising the profession of disease curer this class of medicine men will often also take patients to the river; they almost invariably perform this rite for their own family, instead of paying a regular priest to do it; they moreover generally claim some di^dna- tory knowledge. These two ciualifications, however, usually pertain to the domain of the "priest".
This class is usually calleid ama''yi Dt'-Dadz5°.stf'sGi, he takes them (indef.) to, and brings them back' from, the water.
The medicine men belonging to this class usually speciaHze in the ritual which consists in taking a client, not necessarily a sick person, to the river or the stream, and there reciting a prayer, conjuration, or incantation for the benefit of the client; for the latter's success in tt).e ball game, in love, in hunting, for bis long Hfe, for his personal
86 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
protortion against disease and witchcraft, etc.; to bring about the happ3^ delivery of a pregnant woman, etc.
The specialty which is most often combined with the one just described is that of "di\inator" (sec infra); more rarely they also claim to be able to command the winds and storms, to cause rain, etc. (see p. 152).
aDD^'nt'ski', he examines and conjures (hab.).
This is the name given to the medicine men that are reputed to foretell future events, to know where hidden things are, how an ab- sent person is getting on, etc., by means of various divinatorj'- pro- ceedings and paraphernalia, as, e. g., the beads, aDe-'l5°, also S9ntkt'a, the brown stone, n5°'ya wo'"DtGe'°', several kinds of grass, the fire, etc.
The name implies not merely examining to find, or to find out the condition of a given object or person, but rather examining how a tiling is, and influencing it by occult power to become as we would have it. It refers, therefore, especially to the ceremony perfonned by a priest, by means of which he tries to find out who our enemy or oiir rival is, and whether we are going to succeed against him; whether our team is going to win or lose in the ball game; whether the woman wiiose favors we crave is well or ill disposed toward us; whether w^e will get the better of a rival in a love affair; whether a relative who is very ill will live or die, etc.
At the same time as he "works" to get an answer he influences the e^'il thing or person against which he is acting, and strives to bring about an evolution into the matter, favoralile to Ms client. The terra "evolution" is pecuharly apt, for usually the proceeding is repeated four or seven times in succession, the pattern being that the first couple of times the chances for the client look pretty scant, but as the experiment is tried over again, and more cloth is put down, the medicine man and his patron gradually get the better of their opponent.
It frequently happens that in certain diseases, where the cause is very occult and hidden (even to the Cherokee mind), a divinator is called upon to assist the disease curer proper with his all-revealing art. Then the part of the work incumbent upon the former is first to "examine," usually with the beads, to find out which particular medicine man of the tribe is the one who will be able to cure the patient. Afterw^ards, while the "discovered" doctor is treating the patient, the services of the divinator are stiU required every day to find out, again by examining with the beads, wiiether the patient is progressing satisfactorily, and recovering, or whether no headway is being made. The facts here succinctly sketched are well brought out in the "Typical curing procedure," described by W. (p. 67).
About divination proper, there is yet a good deal to be said; but it has been thought that the notes relating to it; and not specifically
MOONEY
Olbkechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 87
dealing with medicine or disease, had better be withhold to introduce Ms. II, which contains several divinatory formulas, whereas not one formula of this class occurs in the Ay. Ms.
The medicine men, claiming as theirs the specialty of rainmaking, driving off storms, etc., are on the verge of extinction. The formulas used in their ceremonies are equally scanty. Tlie Ay. manuscript does not contain a single specimen of them. There are some, how- ever, in Mss. II and III, and since the matter does not pertain directly to the subject discussed in this paper, it is deemed advisable to go into details about it in its proper place.
Ga'^ht'aDtn9"'Da"ne!a', she makes it (i. e., the baby) jump down for lior (the parturiens).
This is the way in which a midwife is generally referred to. Since fonnerly there was an injunction that a parturient woman must be assisted by four female attendants, all the women are more or less conversant with the help to be tendered to mother and infant.
Some of them, however, perhaps a daughter of a medicine man or a woman who has married one, become m.ore proficient in the matter, and extend their knowledge so as to be able to attend to complications and to prenatal and puerperal troubles; they may gradually come to be looked upon as regular medicine woftien, in which case, as already described (see p. 84), they will also treat ailments of different nature.
One of these women is usually preferred to a male doctor to assist at partus and to supervise and direct the other women attendants.
O. (pi. 12, b) and Je. (pi. 12, a) were the leading midvvives at Big Cove during our stay there, se-hyfni (pi. 8, b) and my informant, W.'s wife, also enjoying quite an enviable reputation.
Df'Dane"'s8Gf'ski, he kills people by witchcraft (hab.).
This name, which can not be sufficiently analyzed — the stem may have connection with -yZ-ne's- "to droop"; there is, however, no causative element in the expression — is given to the medicine man who has attained the summit of occult power: he can kill a person by reciting an incantation against him, and thus "spoiling his saliva" or "making his soul dispirited." This is also done by obtaining stealth- ily some saliva of the victim and burning it, by shooting invisible arrowheads, sharp sticks, or pebbles into his body, even by stealing his soul. When they exert their powers in this way their activity is hardl}^ different from that of witches. (See p. 129.)
As a rule they only harm people when asked and hired to do so by the victhn's enemies. The ceremony is usually performed near the river, which accounts for the name ama"'yi Df'Dadzo^.stf'sGi (see p. 85) also occasionally being bestowed on these medicine men, but everybody feels that there is a black abyss between their activity and their formulas and those of the "priest."
88 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
When a medicine man has attained an advanced age and has a great reputation the laity often ascribe to him the powers of a Df'na- ne"'s9Gt''ski. To have this title conferred upon oneself is not exactly an honor, as it ascribes to the one to whom it is given not only the highest professional skill and occult power but also a rather jealous, fretful, and vindictive disposition. Yet a medicine man will not pro- test against such rumors circulating about him, nor Nvill he do any- thing to hush them, as most of them do not mind being considered more powerful than they really are, even if it veneers them with a tinge of witchcraft.
It even happens that a self-sufficient medicine man appropriates and assumes the title, so as to make his influence the stronger, and to force his enemies, professional and others, to fear if not to respect him. W. told me that Ay. asserted himself to be a Df'Dane*'s9Gf'ski, but W. did not believe it. To do justice to Ay.'s memory, though, it is only fair to state that I often had the feeling that W. never liked him and was jealous of the high esteem in which Ay. was miiversally held.
Finally, there are several instances of a medicine man, who was an imposing and striking personality during his lifetime, being "canon- ized " a Dt"'Dane-'s8Gf'sld after his death. All sorts of rumors start circulating about his marvelous powers, the wonderful cures he ef- fected, a journey of his during his lifetime to the Ghost Land, his prophesying his death seven days before it happened, his possessing the i;lo'''suDo° stone, etc. Before many years elapse his memory is recalled with the same awe and is embroidered with the same apocry- phal and legendary details as that of a King Arthur or a Napoleon.
Such are, e. g., a woman, o'ltot-'ni, who died about 30 j^ears ago, about 95 years old, and an old medicine man Ga^lu*'y'sti' (Ax), who died about 15 years ago.^^
Scope of Knowledge
The brighter of the medicine men may truly be said to be walking encyclopediae as far as their knowledge of aboriginal culture is con- cerned.
Not only do they know all about disease and curing methods but they are also invariably very competent botanists and naturalists. Such outstanding men among them as Og. and W., and doubtless also Ay., Da'kwaDt'*i (Catawba killer), and Ayo'^sta (she spoils is), who worked with Mr. Mooney, know at least 150 to 200 different plants, with all their peculiarities, their habitat, their time and period of blossoming, their properties and the lore pertaining to them.
They are also the curators of the myths and stories, one of them as a rule knowing more about them than four or five other members of the tribe put together.
^2 It has been possible to obtain the written formulas of the latter.
Ol°brechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 89
Having a knowledge of myths and stories in a primitive community implies being conversant ^\ith tribal liistory, legendary and fictional as well as actual and real, and some of the medicine men have even incorporated short historical notes in their daybooks containing their formulas.
As far as aboriginal religion is concerned, again we find the medicine men — often exercising the profession of priest at the same time as that of disease curer — remaining true to beliefs and traditions which the community at large is gradually losing, or exchanging against a slight and superficial veneer of Baptist or Methodist Christianity.
But not only do the medicine men excel in the higher intellectual, idealistic pursuits, such as those above named, but also as far as material culture is concerned they usually rate a good deal higher than even an intelligent layman. Nobody knows so much about fish traps and the way to build them and the wood to be used by preference ; none knows more about the best periods for hunting different kinds of game, or all the artifices used to decoy them; nor can anybody make rattles, or wooden masks, or feather wands better than they can.
All this knowledge, however, is far from codified. I have often made a point of it to try and find out in how far it was systematized, or as we would call it, rationally ordered in their minds. This has always brought very disappointing though interesting results.
Such a medicine man who was universally acknowledged as being the one "who knew most," as Og. was, when asked to write down all the different diseases he knew, and when given five days to think it over, managed to find only 38 more or less different ones.
Another one, when asked to enimierate them offhand, could not get past a dozen, this in spite of the fact that both of them must have known upward of a hundred, since a compilation made by me from oral information obtained from several individuals, and gleaned from three manuscripts, the Ay., Ms. II, and Ms. Ill, revealed that som.e 230 different ^^ diseases were known.
The same remarks hold for their botanical knowledge, and could even be made to apply to their knowledge of religion and mythology. One prominent medicine man, and at the same time the most promi- nent priest, T., was very anxious toward the end of my stay to act as informant, but was withheld by the fear that he would not be able to tell me anything of interest, as "he did not know much." When I had managed to convince him that anything he told me would be interesting, he came and stayed a week, telling me about fifty stories, and giving me very valuable information on sundry subjects.
Continuing an experiment along the same lines with another medi- cine man, this time \\dth reference to the religion, afterlife, the spirits he invoked in the formulas, I could not get him by this method to tell
^ "Different" from a Cherokee point of view.
90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
me 5 per cent of what he knew on this score; ultimately I extracted all he knew — and a bulky lot it was — by indirect and roundabout questions.
Even a hasty pei-usal of the disease names (cf. the texts) and of the curinj^: methods (see p. 60) will soon sliow that their anatomical knowl- edge is very scanty. It has been said tliat people living in primitive communities, especially those who have to rely on hunting for their sustenance, manage to derive pretty soimd and tolerably accurate ideas about the structure and function of internal organs from analogy of the anatomy of lolled and dressed animals.
This, however, does not follow. The hunter who cuts up the game in the forest, to bring home the better morsels, is not engrossed in anatomical speculation, and his wdfe who disembowels the rabbit or the groimdhog is too ajixious to have the meat bar])ecuing before the fire to be able to afford the time for scientific observation.
Even a people who practiced to such a considerable degree the dissecting of corpses for embalmmg purposes as the Egyptians are known to have long remained sadly ignorant of any anatomical knowledge worthy of such a name; yet they had the advantage of laboratory work all the time.
A medicine man who could write, and whom I asked to draw "the inside of a man" in an outline which I had sketched, put a dot about the throat, and said, "this is where our saliva is"^*; about the height of the sternum, a small circle, with a lozenge on either side of it, which he proclaimed to be the heart with the liver around it, and the kidneys ; he put the navel approximately in the right position, and drew a line above it which was to represent the diaphragm; having drawn another circle under the navel, which he pronounced to be the bowels, he laid down the pencil -with a skt'owo" nt'Ga-.o°' ("this is all there is to it") which sounded as if he were highly satisfied ^^'ith his feat.
Arteries, sinews, and tendons are aU held to be one and the same thing; in fact, there is onl}^ one word to refer to any of these: tsu'waDv'no". Nothing seems to be known about the function of the blood .
A final remark I want to make on this score is, that in spite of their vast amount of erudition, and, in some cases, of their superior intelli- gence, these old fellows do not seem to be any more methodical than their lay congeners. Although a call is made on them three or four times a week, they mil persist in walking, or rather, climbing miles and miles in the mountains each time, hunting for the herbs and roots which they need for their prescriptions, instead of transplanting a specimen near their own cabin, and laying out a garden of "officinal plants" such as Charlemagne ordered the medieval monks to do.
" See p. 15.
OL°BREraTsl THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 91
A poor attempt in this direction is being made by the more progres- sive of the medicine men, whom 1 found cultivating the following medicinal plants:
tso*'laGay9"'°li, Nicotiana rustica L., wild tobacco.
a*''skwan€-'Di)°, Veratrum viride Ait., American white hellebore; Indian poke.
tso*'hyy"sti Gf'GaGe""' a*'dzt'l5°'ski, Lobelia cardinalis L., cardinal flower.
Di;nu*'na, Glycine apios L.
a't'tse"i, Almis rugosa (Du Roi) Spreng., smooth alder.
Gana"'Ga tsy'nt'ono"', Scirpus validus Vahl, great bulrush.
It is equally rare to find medicine men collecting and dr3dng roots or other parts of shnples for use in sudden emergencies. Only three items so treated have come to my attention: Powder (snufF) of the dried leaves of tso*'laGay9-'°li, Nicotiana rustica L., wild tobacco, and the root of o*'Dalioa'''li, Panax trijolium L., dwarf ginseng, and finally the roots needed for prenatal and puerperal care, and that can not be located in wintertime.
Social Status
Even if we no longer find any traces of the individual medicine man or of a body of them exercising any such politic influence as has been ascribed to the a'nd'ti;ta"ni (see p. 97), there is no doubt but that the position of the medicine man must at one time have been one of considerable importance in the tribe.
Such hints as Adair's statement (p. 240) that Priber, forming the Cherokee "into a nominal republican government, crowned their old Archimagus emperor," seem to indicate that the political influence of the medicine men, or at any rate of the chief medicine man, was very considerable at that time.
In many of the tales relating to the war exploits of the Cherokee against the neighboring tribes it is often explicitly stated that a medicine man accompanies the party, and the success of the expedition often depends more on his skill in divination and conjuring than on the prowess and cunning of the warriors. This also must undoubtedly have resulted in strengthening their position socially, as his orders were of greater import than those of the actual leader of the party.
Even now, when two settlements are training for the ball game, a contest which \\-ith the Cherokee is as much of a social as of a sportive nature, the medicine man is exercising his influence and his per- sonality in such a way that the whole affair takes the aspect of a contest between the occult power of the two medicine men conjuring for the teams rather than that of a match between two rival teams of players.
It is he, the medicine man, not the chief of the settlement, who addresses the team before they leave home to meet their opponents.
92 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
It is he who for the last few days has been "worldng to spoil the strength" and the magic power of the medicine man who is conjm-ing for the rival team. And the victory or defeat is laid at the door of the medicine man rather than that the players themselves are con- gratulated or scorned for it.
To have an adequate idea of the social status of the medicine man we should bear in mind that in his person we find cumulated such ])rofessions and pursuits which in our society would correspond to those of the clergy, the educators, the philosophers and the historians, the members of the medical profession in its widest sense, i. e., physicians, surgeons, and chemists; and finally, to a certain degree, even to those of the politicians and of the press.
His constant journeys to and fro, curing the sick, or trj^ng to do so, gatheiing simples, calling on former patrons; on the other hand, his constantly being called upon by the people to assist them in their most intimate needs — a worried man asking him to make his wife's mind forget her former sweethearts, a spiteful woman demanding of him that he spoil the mind of a man she hates, all this contributes immensely toward making him the best informed person about, and nothing happens within a few miles' radius without his being aware of it.
Is it then to be wondered at that a man with such wide connections, walking in and out of so many homes, stajdng often with a family for days at a time, must be a most omniscient and influential individual?
Yet the medicine man should not be vainglorious about his status. All the members of the profession I have iaiown always made a point of declaring, when asked, that they did not feel proud or haughty toward the people; they should not, because, they emphatically declared, the}^ held their power and knowledge from i;n€*'tlano"j, who had given it to them that they might help the people.
This conception is undoubtedly influenced by modern Christian views, for although une'^tlano'^i is a powerful Cherokee deity (see p. 20), nowhere in the rest of tribal lore is he referred to as ever having granted any such gift as curing disease or the power of dispensing medicine to the people. I feel sure, therefore, that the statement here made by the medicine men refers to the Christianized yne'Hlano'M, i. e., God, the Creator.
Whatever the medicine men may say with regard to this, I have often found evidence that their statements are not always corrobo- rated by their actions; they do get a streak of vanity and conceit now and again, and do consider themselves as far more interesting and clever indi^niduals than the common mortals. This, however, rarely manifests itself outwardly; they plant their corn and ply the hoe as everybod}^ else, and do not betray by any article of dress or ornament either their profession or its importance. If this may be called an}'^
Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 93
distinctive trait at all, I found most of them rather less slovenly dressed than the lay members of the tribe. Occasionally, one of them will cling to some archaic bit of garment or other, such as a pair of moccasins, a cloth turban, etc.
As to the attitude of the people toward the medicine men, this wdll to a considerable extent depend on the character of the latter. As a rule they are not feared, unless they profess to be, or are reputed to ])e r)f'Dan€''s8Gt-'ski (see p. 87), these being shunned and avoided as far as possible.
The esteem in which the others are held depends chiefly on their professional sldll, and on their social intercourse. Such medicine men as yo*'no° Ga^le-'ci ("the bear, he is climbing") who was Del.'s father, and Og. and W.'s brother, and who died about a score of years ago, actually managed to be respected and loved by his people, as in our villages an old clergyman or a devoted physician might be. Og. himself was held in no smaller consideration. But there are others I know who are looked upon with very different feelings and whose services would be called upon only in cases of utmost emergency.
Professional Ethics
Under this caption there are to be discussed mainly two aspects of the medicine men's profession — their sincerity, and what miglit be called "their desire to serve."
As to the former, I found them as a whole convinced of what they profess and teach. They practice fervently what they believe and treat themselves and the members of their own family by the same methods and means as they do their patients.
As far as sleight of hand is concerned, there are after all only four ceremonies where tliis is possible: When examining with the beads, when divining mth the browTi rock, when sucldng, when scratching ^nth the snake tooth.
In the first and in the last case I hardly think that the slight movements of the beads (see p. 132) or of the snake tooth ^^ (see p. 70) should be explained by legerdemain. The tension under which the medicine man is laboring, together with a considerable dose of auto- suggestion, are doubtlessly sufficient to bring about the "manifesta- tions of life" they pretend to feel.
As for the divination with the bro\sTi rock, matters seem to be different. This mode of divination is usually resorted to when an object, an animal, or even a person has been lost. A small fragment (about the size of a thimble) of wo-ni' (i. e., "reddish-brown"), hematite, is tied to a thread or a bit of yarn about 30 centimeters
^ The medicine man pretends that the snake tooth, prior to being scratched with, "becomes alive," as is evinced l)y its twitching and trembling between the fingers of the practitioner.
94 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bvll. 99
long. The free end of the twine is held between the thumb and index finger of the right hand, while the left hand, with the fingers stretched out, is placed over the right, ostensibly in a free, easy manner, and without any particular purpose, but actually to shield the function of the middle finger of the right hand, which is to stealthily transmit to the dangling stone its "occult" metion. The direction in which the stone starts swinging is the one in which the search is to be start- ed. By this method often things are found, the whereabouts of wliich are not so completely unknown to the medicine man as he pretends.
A procedure where prestidigitation is hkewdse often met with is when the medicine man sucks the swollen part of a patient's body, and after much exertion usually succeeds in spitting out "the disease," viz, a pebble, an insect, etc., objects, of course, which he held hidden in his cheek before the performance began. I know of a case where Og., as a doctor, and as a man as honest a fellow as you could care to meet, produced a worm after having sucked the jaw of a man suffering with toothache.
Needless to say, just as in any other communities and as in every other professional group, there are also among the Cherokee medicine men individual dift'erences as far as professional ethics are concerned. One of them told me the following story which throws some light on his methods of keeping up his reputation :
He once went to Yellowhill (c'law^o-'ni) and on the way met an acquaintance who told him that he had built a fish trap but could not manage to catch more than two or three fish a day. He asked the medicine man if he did not know a formula to catch fish.
This cunning fellow said "he was sorry, he knew no such formula ; as a matter of fact he would very much like to get one himself."^'' Anyhow the man insisted that the medicine man come to liis house, look at the trap, and spend the night at his house.
Next morning, before breakfast, the owner of the trap went down to the river and came back with a whole washtub full of fish. There must have been more than a hundred of them; and he had to go back again, and fetch a second washtub full. He didn't doubt for an instant that the medicine man had recited a formula, and said so. The medicine man just smiled a mysterious grin, and let liim continue in liis belief.
(The real reason of tliis "prodigious catch" was, the branch by which the fish usually passed had been poisoned by a sawmill near by, letting its sawdust loose in it. This had made the fish come by another branch of the river, the one on wliich the trap had been set.)
Frequently, after having consulted the spirits by means of the fire or of the beads divination, the medicine man wall foretell or prophesy
^^ This in spite of the fact that he did know at least three or four fishing con- jurations.— F. M. O.
oiBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 95
events that are to happen four or seven days afterwards, or within four or seven days. I am quite convinced that they honestly behevo themselves in what they forecast in this manner, e. g., that the patron's enemy, against whom the medicine man had been asked to conjure, will die within seven days; or that a disease has been sent by a plotter, etc.
But it should be borne in mind that four or seven days (or rather four or seven "nights passed") is a ritual expression which may just as well mean the same number of years, so that the margin of error becomes very elastic. Adding to wliich such exegetical com- modities at the command of the Cherokee medicine man as the superior magic power of the opponent, the possible neglect of the medicine man's patron to observe the necessary taboos, and all the difhculties raised by skeptics are explained away.
"A desire to serve." Such might well be the slogan of the pro- fession, summing up its attitude toward the sick and the disabled.
There are, of course, some less worthy members who are only too anxious to convince the suffering party that a treatment of seven days would be more advantageous than one of four, tliinking at the same time of the greater profit in cloth and beads wiiich the former will bring him.
But it deserves emphasis, on the other hand, that any medicine man called upon is willing and ready to undertake the curing of a patient who is utterly destitute; although he quite well knows that he is to expect no reward for his troubles, he wall dispense to him the same care, and will exert the same amount of skill to relieve him, as he would do for the benefit of a well-to-do member of the tribe.
Nor does a personal enemy of a medicine man call on his aid in vain, in his hour of need. Two medicine men told me that their mother, from whom they had inherited a great deal of their knowledge, had told them before she died that they should never make use of their knowledge to harm their enemies; they should never take vengeance of a first slight or insult, nor of a second; but if they had been abused three times (see p. 100) by the same person, then they might react by occult means against him. Should this enemy become ill, however, and call for their help, they should not refuse it, but should extend to him the benefit of their skill and knowledge with the same good will as if he were their best friend.
The Medicine Man's Fee
There is not much left to be added to James Mooney's excellent account of this in his SFC, pages 337-339.
The only main point left at issue, viz, the etymology of the word, has been subjected to a further investigation, with the following 7548°— 32 8
96 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 09
results: uGi'stD.tr, the technical name for what we could call the doctor's fee or honorarium, does not seem to be etymologically con- nected with the verb \/-Gt'- "to eat something solid" ("I eat it, sol,": tsi'Gt'a') but ^\•ith the rather similar sounding vZ-of-, "to take some- thing" ("I take it": tsi'of.a').
The literal and original meaning of uct'sto.ti' would thus seem to be "for him to take it with " (v- 3d sgl. objective pronominal prefix; -Gi- (stem); -st-i- causative-instrumental (cf. aycdsti "knife"; lit. "something to cut with," stem -vZ-yed-); -ot- instrumental sufHx.
The medicine men themselves have now lost this original meaning of the word, and when questioned about it usually render its mean- ing as "reward"; they all emphatically deny that the yGt'stD.ti' is the medicine man's pay; and this is tiiie in so far that the value of it, e. g., the quantity or the quality of the cloth, is no factor in the cure. But they all agree that the uGt'sto.ti' is an indispensable prerequisite to effect the cure.
By some expressions found in the formulas some more light is thrown on the matter. A medicine man, going out to gather simples (see p. 150), recites a formula in one of the first expressions of which he says: "With the white cloth I have come to take away the medicine"
a'N'gwa'Gi vne'cb^ UQ-^^wo'Vi' tstGt'sto.t'a'nfGa'
cloth white medicine I have come to take it away with
A formula for "when the ghosts have changed their food," in Ms. II, starts as follows: "Now then! Ha, qmckly thou hast come to listen, thou red Otter, thou art staying in the Sun Land . . . Now thou hast come to rest on the wliite cloth, and wilt pull the disease away with it."
These two references go a long way toward proving that originally the meaning of the expression here discussed must have been either —
(1) That which is used by him (the medicine man) to take, to gather the medicine with (see p. 55), or else
(2) That which is used by (the curing spirit) to take it (i. e., the disease) away with.
I am inclined to consider the last version as the more probable, as there is still other evidence, yet to be published, which corroborates this feeling.
It is likely that in time, since the medicine man always took the i^Gi'sto.ti' away as his fee, the true meaning of the word got lost, and that it acquired that of "reward." Only after this semantic development, I think, did the use of other articles than buckskin become possible as uGt'sto.ti^ such as (flint) knives, moccasins, etc., since these can be considered as reward, but could hardly be used to be "spread out for the curing spirit to put his feet on, to pull the disease away with."
oScHTsl THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 97
Cloth (since buckskin is no lon^jcr available) and beads are still now the most usual articles used as "fee." The official measure of cloth for one treatment is 1 yard, but this measure is to be taken "cum grano salis." i;'tsflo*'D'3" which may mean "a .yard," "a mile," "a gallon," literally means "it has been measured" (\/-tsfl-) and as used in the fonnulas is a term which is as vague as a period of four or seven days (see p. 95), or as a Dawo'Mo"' (an "overhand"), which may mean a length from 25 centimeters to almost a meter.
The theoretical "yard of cloth" is often a gaudy handkerchief or a bit of rag 25 centimeters square.
It has not been possible to ascertain which rule prevails as to when cloth is used and when it is not. AVith some of the formulas this is mentioned in the directions, and although the medicine men generally know in which cases cloth is a necessary prerequisite, he is unable to state any definite rule. There are some ceremonies where cloth is invariably used : In the treatment of those ailments where the medicine man has had to go and gather medicine; in all the kinds of Dalo*'ni diseases; in all divination ceremonies with the beads; it also seems an indispensable item in all love attraction and incantation cere- monies.
Apart from cloth, the "fee" may be paid in garments, or in minor articles of dress and adornment, as neckerchiefs and handkerchiefs, a hat, a tie, etc. For the treatment of a menstruating woman it is invariably the undergarment of the patient. Such articles as knives or other utensils are but seldom given as "reward."
A custom which may be an innovation is to present the medicine man with eatables, such as meat, lard, salt, chewing tobacco, etc., and in very rare cases even with a nickel or a quarter coin. Some people to keep on good terms yrith. a medicine man may offer him a present (any of the articles just mentioned) from time to time, a custom which sounds amusingly reminiscent of our medical insurance.
Finally, I should mention another method of partially pajTing the medicine man, viz, to have him staying as a guest at the house of the patient for two to three weeks. This is especially frequent with the more highly reputed medicine men, who are asked to go and treat patients in distant settlements.
Mutual Relations
There is no Cherokee living who remembers anything about any medicine men's society, and it is safe to regard the probability of there ever ha\ang existed such an organization with due caution and skepticism.
James Mooney (Myths, pp. 392-393) himself was very careful not to be too positive, when trjang to identify the a'nikuta"ni (clan?) as a society of this description; nothing has been collected, either by
98 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Dull. 99
Mooney or by myself, which coiild in any way substantiate or tlirow any hght on the int<^rcsting but vaguo details given by Adair (p. 240), Haywood (p. 266), MacGowan (p. 139), or Domenech (Vol. II, p. 392).
It must therefore remain an open question whether the Cherokee medicine men were ever organized in a professional body in the past. However that jnay have been, at present there is no such institution, and every medicine man attends to his own pm-suits.
Occasionally two medicine men may work in collaboration, one taking care of the treatment and the curing, the other devoting him- self to the divination proceedings. Or again, they may call on each other's knowledge in some cases where an individual medicine man's professional accomplishments may fall short, but there is nothing organized or laid down in this respect.
Only rarely are two medicine men employed simultaneously for the actual curing, and if this shoidd be the case a second one is never engaged without the first one knowing and approving of it.
It happens, however, that if a practitioner has worked on a case without obtaining any residts, he is dropped altogether, and another medicine man is called in to see what he can do in the matter. The one thus ousted does not resent this in the least and does not consider this act an insult to his knowledge; on the contrary, ho will often himself take the initiative, and if he fails to restore his patient to health in a reasonable time, ^^ill tell the sick man's relatives that evi- dently he is not the one who is to effect the cure and will examine with the beads, to find out which member of the profession will be successful in the matter. (See p. 68.)
If a medicine man becomes iU himself he only calls in the aid of a colleague if circumstances should make this course imperative, e. g., if he is too weak to go and gather himself the simples needed, or if the treatment calls for certain manipulations which he could not very well perform on his own person, such as sucking wdth the horn, blowing medicine on the crown of the head, etc.
Whenever he is taken ill with an aye'-ltGD-'ci disease (see p. 33) he invariably calls in the aid of a professional friend, and this stands to reason; for since a rival medicine man or an enemy has managed to get the better of him, this proves that the victim's power is too weak to grapple with his opponent's, and therefore the alliance of a powerfid colleague is necessary to come out of the contest victorious.
There are medicine men who are always willing to cooperate with others when invited to do so; always willing to obhge with information and advice as to diagnosis, simples to be used, and the locality where these can be found, etc., and who even will volunteer the loan of a particular formula that has proved particularly efiicient in the cure of a given ailment.
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 99
But others are of a jealous and miserly nature and will pretend to be ignorant and but ill-informed wlien thej^ are asked for advice or counsel by a competitor. Yet I have not once heard of a case where one of these less obliging fellows purposely led an inquirer astray, or gave him information that might be deleterious to the patient under treatment. Nor has any case of ''dishonest competition" come to my knowledge.
To combat the influence of the white doctor and his medicine, though, they ^\ill go to any pains, and use any means.
Initiation
There are still faint recollections of how the medicine men were initiated until three or four generations ago. The description given to James Mooney by John Ax (born about 1800) of the meetings of the "myth-keepers and priests" in the o*'si (Mooney, Myths, p. 230) contains a very interesting account of the initiation of new adepts more than a century ago. The o*'si is now but a dim memory of a hazy past and telling the myths is no longer the appanage of priests and elders; if 50 years ago the scratching and the "going to water" was still jokingly referred to, now it is no longer rem.embered that this rite was ever performed in this connection.
At present if a man wants to become a medicine man he goes to one well versed in the lore and sldlled in the profession, informs him of his intention, and asks him if he is willing to teach him what he knows. The answer of the old man depends a good deal on the character of the candidate.
If he is known as a lazy individual he stands little chance of being accepted as a candidate b}'- a conscientious medicine man, as he would be sure to neglect the care of his patients.
Nor is he likely to be favorably received if he has a reputation for being quarrelsome and jealous, as in this case he might be too prone to abuse of his occult knowledge to harm the people.
But even if the character of the candidate is As-ithout flaw or speck he is not sure to meet with an enthusiastic welcome at the hand of excTj medicine man, for some of these do not believe in propagating the sacred and medical lore too much, nor in diffusing it too widely, since according to those among them imbued \nth an idealistic out- look on the profession, the more of the lore is divulged, the less powerfid everj'- one of the adepts becomes; and again, according to others, rather more utilitarian in their views, because, the more practitioners, the less practice.
So as not to make an inveterate enemy out of an applicant by turning him down, the medicine man "examines with the beads," to find out whether the candidate is hkely to make good in the profession;
100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
"whether he has a vocation for it," as we might say. If the bead representing the applicant moves briskly, and gives ample proofs of vitality, the divination is pronounced to be in his favor. If, on the contrary, it behaves in a sluggish, lazy way, or if it does not move at aU, he is dissuaded from taldng up the profession.
But let us suppose that the professor in theology and medicine is willing to coach the student, then the terms and the tuition fee are discussed. He may tempt the vanity of his master by offering him a new overcoat, or a gun, or a trunk, or even a sum of money.
If the candidate comes from a settlement a few miles distant, it may be necessary for him to come and board with his master; or if the latter is able and willing to spare the time he may go and stay with the applicant. There is no rule as to the duration of this stay; it depends solely on the extent of the subject matter to be covered, and on how quickly the candidate masters it.
He may merely w^ant to know how to cure disease; or he may even only intend to specialize in the cure of two or three ailments. On the other hand, he may be so ambitious as to desire to know all about love conjuring, hunting and fishing formulas, and even about man- killing incantations and witchcraft.
If he wants to know all this he usually leaves after 10 days or a fort- night and comes back for a similar period now and again, until he knows all his tutor can teach him.
Whatever his intentions for later life and practice may be, he must start out by mastering all the lore about disease, curing methods, and simples. This is a preliminary course every beginner must go through, even if he intends to later make his specialty in a totally different field. (See p. 84.)
But it was emphatically stressed by all informants that the very last formulas taught are those "with which to harm people," i. e., the incantations. The medicine men are very circimispect in hand- ing out this knowledge, and very few candidates attain this step during the first few years of their "studies." Irascible or hot- tempered individuals are barred from it, as already stated. "Before they let you have that kind (i. e., incantations) they examine you, and if they find that you are a bad character, that you 'get mad' easily, that you are jealous and spiteful, they do not let you have them. A bad character will use these (incantations) even if he is insulted but once, whereas we (considerate old fellows) always wait three times ^^ before we would work against an enemy to kill him." (W.)
" See p. 95. It is probable that four Insults were the limit before white influ- ence made itself felt. When I asked W. (the only one of my informants who had had a partly white education) why it should be three times he said he thought it was "because Christ had been in the grave three days, and Jonah was for three da^s in the fish."
oI-brIchts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 101
Although the o''si has passed out of existence generations ago, even now the instruction is only imparted during the night. The medicine man and the candidate talk until morning, and then go to the river and bathe ritually, sprinkling water on their face, on the crown of their head, and on their breast, "where their soul is." This is done many nights in succession, whether the novice be staying with the medicine man or whether he walks in every night until he knows all his master is able or \\'illing to tell him.
Before the instruction proper is started, however, the applicant has to drink a decoction to enable him to remember all he learns. With this end in view, he may take one or all of the following medi- cines:
A small cluster of leaves, rubbish, and refuse, such as is found occasionally floating on the surface of the water, must be fished out and examined. If it has any small insect, usually a spider, in it, it is cooked, insect and all, and the decoction is drunlc, fasting, for four or seven consecutive days; immediately after having drank it, the candidate must go to the river and vomit.
Another much-extolled and highly esteemed medicine to obtain a never-failing memory is to drink the water found in the leaf of a pitcher plant: yvGwi'^la {Sarracenia purpurea L., sidesaddle flower, pitcher plant, huntsman's cup).
These leaves, as is known, have the peculiar habit of keeping imprisoned anything that has fallen into them (the Cherokee say "anything that flies over them"), insects, spiders, small leaves, etc., and it is easy to see the principle of sympathy, according to which this plant is used in order to "keep the knowledge acquired imprisoned in the mind."
This plant is also called tcsko'"y'k'Q:na''t'i "the successful (or never-failing) insect hunter," or wa'e''°la, possibly a dialectical vari- ant of yu'GWt'^la.
The different kinds of vni'stJi)°.t'sti, all the varieties of "bur plants," are also used, separately or jointly, in a decoction and drunk by the candidate. As the burs stick and cling to anything that comes in contact vdth. them, they will also be of material assistance in keep- ing the acquired knowledge sticldng in the mind.
The candidate has, moreover, to be more careful than ever not to eat any food prepared by a menstrual woman. (See p. 34.) A breach of this taboo is dangerous enough in everyday life and for an average individual; but for a medicine man, and even more so for a candidate medicine man who is in the act of acquiring his knowledge, it would mean a real calamity; not only would he forget all he knows, but he would be spoiled outright.
In order to avert these disasters he must, therefore, whenever he stands in any danger of coming into contact with a woman in this
102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
condition or whenever touching any object that she may have used, chew either the inner bark of atsfrqi' {Betula lenta L. ; cherry birch; sweet birch; black birch), spitting the juice at regular intervals on the "place where his soul is," or even occasionally moistening his fingers and putting his saliva, under his clothes, on his breast.
Also the root of Gane-'ldo° {Zisia aurea (L.) Koch; Golden Alex- ander) is chewed as a preventive. The name of this plant means "it is pregnant." This is no doubt the reason why it is used in this connection; on the other hand, the plant owes its name to the peculiar shape of its fruit.
If then the candidate has used some or all of these potent means to make his hold on the knowledge acquired a permanent one, he ^vill soon be ready for the last and most important communication his master has to make him. Prior to this, however, he must repair to a secluded place in the mountains or in the forest, and there prepare a decoction of all the plants mentioned above, only this time they are to be boiled simultaneously,^^ and the decoction is taken at intervals all day long; no other food or diink whatsoever is to be taken imtil sundo\\Ti.
This is continued for four or seven days, according to the fervor and the intentions of the applicant: if he stays in the wilderness for four consecutive days and nights he ^\^lll be a skillful medicine man and a priest of high repute and capacity. But if he can stand the ordeal for seven days "he will be a most powerful wizard; he ^vill be able to fly in the air and to dive imder the ground."
During this seclusion the solicitant has no dreams or visions that would seem to be specifically related to the ceremony, although this was undoubtedly the object of this four or seven days' fasting and contemplation until a few generations ago.
Before the invention of the Sequoya syllabary the instruction of the candidate must of course have been purely oral, but the possibility of committing to paper their sacred and medicinal literature has un- doubtedly contributed as much to the survival of aboriginal refigion and science as to the propagation of the tracts and books of the American Bible Society and to the veneer of white culture.
A medicine man may sell outright some of his written formulas to a candidate, but this is very rarely done, the usual course being that the latter be allowed to copy them. Even then a pretty high price is charged. Mooney records that Ay. told him that hunters would pay as much as $5 for a hunting song (SFC, p. 311), and W, told me that he once paid for being allowed to copy part of the formulas of Wil. an overcoat and a trunk (total value about $25), and that he sold
*8 In olden times they also added some others, Og. told me, but he did not know which ones.
KtECHTsl THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 103
them again, after having copied them, for a watch, a buckskin, and an overcoat.
When taking this course of instruction particuhir stress is Laid on the explanatory remarks which should accompany each formula (see p. 158), and any ingredients, simples, and paraphernalia mentioned in these are also minutely described and explained by the tutor. This instruction is given in a trul}" Socratic manner, and as I found out myself, information is only dispensed so far as solicited. This is probably the reason why these medicine men are such fine informants, and why working with them is so profitable and remunerative; they have been trained in the technique of asking and giving information, and take so much interest in it, and are so visibly flattered by any one attaching so much importance to the smallest detail of their knowledge that once their initial reserve has been overcome they enjoy the work as much as the ethnologist himself.
When the candidate has learned from his master as much as he wants to know — or, as is often the case, as much as the old man is willing to tell him— he leaves him, and if his cravmg for knowledge and instruction is not jet satisfied, he may go to a second medicine man, and try to persuade him to impart some of his knowledge. It often happens, how^ever, that the particular medicine man he turns to, after having completed his apprenticeship ^^dth the first one, feels slighted because he has not been given precedence and refuses to have anything to do vnth him.
There is no official rite of recognition or of acceptance of a new medicine man. It is soon known that So-and-so is intending to be- come one; that he is being instructed by Old Man X; even while he is acquiring the art, he may be asked to give his advice in matters of sickness, he may be asked to go and collect some simples, and so graduall}^ he steps into the profession and the practice. It may soon be rumored about the settlement how successful he is in his treatment, and gradually he acquires the reputation of a skillful medicine man; in due course of time he may attain the honors of "pow^erful wizard."
Once the medicine man possesses the knowledge and the power it assures him, there are a few things he has to be very careful about in order not to lose these attainments.
First of all he must rigorously observe the taboo with regard to catamenial women. (See p. 34.)
Nor should he ever attend a funeral, or take any active part in any, such as making the coffin, digging the grave, etc.
Finally, he should on no account neglect, if one of his patients should die during treatment, to observe a rite of purification. As wUl be seen (p. 139), this purification is incumbent on every inhabitant of the settlement, but whereas wnth them the nonobservance at worst
104 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
causes an illness, to the attendant medicine man it would mean the irretrievable loss of all power.
There are fortunately several ways of averting this calamity :
(1) All the rubbish that is found about the yard around the cabin is gathered into a heap and burned; sourwood, n9"'Do*Gwe*'ya (Oxy- dendrum arboreum (L.) DC.) twigs are boiled in a pot over this fire, and the hands arc washed in this decoction.
(2) Wil. proceeded in the same way but used ka'na'sD""la° "wild parsnip" instead of sourwood.
(3) Spencer Bird, an old medicine man, now dead, used to rely on the sole purifying power of water. The inforniant who told me this vaguely hinted at the probability of the water being some "special water," such as that scooped out of a stump ("stump water") or even out of the stump of a lightning-struck tree.
Diffusion of Knowledge
We have just seen how an outsider may become an adept and the methods used in imparting to him the sacred and scientific lore.
But even between the medicine men and practitioners who have "graduated" years ago there is going on a constant exchange of formulas and explanations, a continual barter in hints and facts relat- ing to the profession.
Every medicine man has either a notebook or a motley collection of miscellaneous papers of all sizes, colors, and descriptions, containing the formulas invariabl}'' written down in the Sequoya syllabary. Many of the medicine men refrain from writing down the "directions" in their books or papers, and do not write anj'^ caption to the formula, in order that, if by any chance the documents should be lost or stolen, the unlawful proprietor should be at a loss how to use them. The formulas will either want the prescriptions as to plants to be used, injunctions to be followed, the foods that are tabooed, etc., or else the title is lacking, with the result that it is well-nigh impossible to find out exactly against which disease the formula is to be used.
If two medicine men exchange any information, one of them usually gives the other one as many formulas to copy as the latter is willing to impart to his colleague. Some formulas may be rated far more important than others, however; a good love conjuration will easily sell for as much as five or six curing prescriptions. In some cases, even among medicine men, the formulas may be sold for money, or such commodities as coats, watches, etc. (See p. 102.)
In this way there is such an intense interchange of formulas and prescriptions going on that all the medicine men have a stock in trade which is fundamentally the same, only a member of the profession who specializes in a certain field, as in divination, love medicine, etc., has a totally different collection from the one who makes curing his prin-. cipal pursuit.
Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 105
To some extent there is also a diffusion of the medicinal knowledge from the members of the profession to the laity, to outsiders who have no intention of ever becoming medicine men, but who may want a particidar formula or song because they need it so often that they can not be bothered to hire a medicine man to recite it for them on every occasion. They therefore ask a medicine man to sell them such-and- such a formula — say a hunting song or a love conjuration — which will put an end to their being dependent on the medicine man, for this emergency at any rate.
Even to his best friend a medicine man will never give a fornmla,, excusing himself by saying that any information given free loses its power. Their motives seem to be less interested, when they state tliat- formulas should not be propagated too much anyway, since the more they are diffused the less powerful they become. (See p. 99.)
As to the kind of formulas that are most frequently desired by lay- men and communicated to them by the members of the profession,, the reader is referred to the chapter on the Formulas (p. 144 et seq.)..
Succession and Inheritance
There is now no definite rule as to who becomes the successor of a. medicine man when he dies, and it is difficult to ascertain if ever such a rule existed.
As we have seen, a great many individuals may inherit of a medicine man's knowledge during his lifetime. The problem of the inheritance of his medicinal and ritual writings must of course be a very modern one, since it could not antedate the invention of the syllabary by Sequo3^a in 1821. But even so, there may have prevailed a rule prior to this, regulating the inheritance of the paraphernalia and especially of the profession, of the office. Be that as it may, there is no trace in the present beliefs or traditions that elucidates this problem.
At the death of a medicine man now, he is succeeded by any one of the members of his household who takes a sufficiently keen inter- est in the profession and "who is not too lazy to be continually on the road, visiting sick people, collecting medicine for them, etc."
From what has been stated (see p. 99), it is evident that anybody who succeeds him must have been officially or unofficially initiated by him, since to an outsider even the most carefully written collec- tion of formulas would be a closed book.
His wife may succeed him, as in the case of Og.,^^ one of his chil- dren may, or again a brother or a sister, who, through having been educated with him, may know some of the ins and outs of the pro- fession.
W. inherited a good deal of his knowledge from his mother, Ayo., and a considerable amount from his half-brother, Climbing Bear.
5" Whose practice was taken over by his wife. (PL 8, b.)
106 BUREAU OF. AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
The knowledge of Og., also W.'s half-brother, came from the same sources.
Del. is indebted for liis ''scientific information" to his father, again the much reputed Climbing Bear, and to his mother, O.
T. is Del.'s brother-in-law, and lives with him; he has been trained by tsi'skwa, his father.
If we bear in mind that both W.'s wife and Del.'s mother are mid- wives, that his half-sister, Je. is a medicine woman, and another half-brother a medicine man in another settlement; furthermore, that Og.'s wife has taken up his succession, we are bound to be struck by the endemic nature of the profession with certain families.
The group of individuals named above makes up roughly more than half of the medicine men of the settlement of which a special study was made, and the remaining number could be genealogically connected in the same way, comprising such individuals as Gad., Wil., J., Ts., and a couple more.
Skepticism
Staunch conservatives and traditionalists to the core as the medi- cine men are, they should not be thought of as a homogeneous body of fellows without any individuality, with nicely agreeing and tally- ing opinions on matters pertaining to religion and science.
Elsewhere will be found a few cases where medicine men have not feared to introduce innovations in the explanation of the cause of diseases, or in its treatment, that from a Cherokee point of view may be called truly daring.
I here want to draw attention to a couple of cases of an even more startUng nature, to what might be called symptoms of skepticism and rationalism on the part of the members of the guild.
Gad., whose writings were secured by Mooney, and which are now deposited in the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology, on two occasions gives vent to a tinge of doubt. Once he writes at the end of a prescription following a formula to attract the affection of a woman:
tSa'ndtSGe-"' e^ti tsa-'n6'e-'"i a'se*' Ge'li' yi)Do"tyi;-GWO''^ they said, App. long time they lived, App. it must it seems it (is) true, Llm.
e'lt'stt-Gwa''' Ge'SQ*'
possible, Lim. it is
I. e., "They said this a long time ago when the (old people) lived; possibly it is true, so at least it seems." And another time in similar circumstances :
ase' Gedi' yi;Do'*tyi;-Gwo"' yt'oi
it must it seems it (is) true, Lim. maybe
I. e., "Possibly this may be true."
OLBKEcnTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 107
The fine shades of meaning expressing doubt and even a tinge of blasphemous irony, which many of these words convey when used in this connection, are ahnost impossible to render in any but a very free and colloquial translation, which would run somewhat like this: "This has never been proved, but the old people, none of whom, by the way, we have ever seen, are reputed to have believed it. Maybe it isn't a joke, after all; anyway, what's the harm of trying it."
Also from personal contacts I have received similar impressions. Once I asked a medicine man whether he was absolutely sure about a particular subject I was discussing with him, and which he ex- plained according to current orthodox and traditional views; I also asked him if he would accept another medicine man's views if they happened to be diametrically opposed to his own opinions and to tradition; he answered: ''Yes, I would, if he could prove that he was right."
Good old Og. once confidentially told me that he had lost all con- fidence in the diviuatory powers of the "brown stone"; as often as he had tried it he had been disappointed. He believed in other modes of divination and practiced them, but for "brown stone" divination he had no use at all.
Some more facts that are related to those discussed in this para- graph will be found on page 113.
Attitude Toward White Culture
Although as a rule the medicine man is strongly opposed to the influence of white culture in his domain, and very hostile to the white physician and his medicine box, this feeling is much less pro- nounced in some localities than in others. The Indians living in the neighborhood of the agency, who know by experience that the "white medicine" is so much superior to theirs, are brealdng loose from their medicine men and their doctrines, and the medicine man feels that he is fighting a desperate and hopeless battle.
Some means he employs in this we would call hardly fair, but I am convinced that the medicine men themselves are quite honest about them, e. g., when they allege that white doctors willfully cause disease (see p. 39) so as to always have clients. "You see," one of them told me once, "your white doctors are out after money. We will treat a sick man for weeks and weeks and cure hhn, even though we know that he has nothing to pay us with. And if he recovers, we are just as glad as if he had been a rich man and could have given us yards and yards of cloth, and beads and money. But your doctors, if they do not get money, they will not cure; and how can they get money if the people do not become ill. So they make healthy people ill on purpose, that they may cure them and get rich."
What is there to be answered to such sound dialectics?
108 BTJEEAtJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
And yet, there are even more arguments. White medicine and Indian medicine are both good; but as Indian medicine is not good for a white man, what is the use of white medicine for an Indian? "We Indians have always used the medicine raw,^° and have gotten used to it. But white medicine is not raw, and it does not agree with us."
Others are less dogmatic about it, and say that there are successful white doctors, just as there are skillful Indian medicine men, and that, if one of the latter has failed to cure a patient, there is no reason why the white doctor should not be given a chance. But the two should never be employed at the same time. The only exception to this rule that has come to my knowledge is a case where a child was ill, and the agency doctor, being summoned, prescribed a medicine to be drunk. The Cherokee medicine man, Wil., since deceased, who had been attending to the case, had ordered a collection of herbs to be cooked and the decoction to be sprinkled over the child. When he heard of the white doctor's prescription he did not oppose himself to the white man's medicine being used simultaneously with his own, as the former was to be used internally, whereas his was for external use only.
One point which even the most inveterate traditionalist will always be found readily 'willing to concede is that there are certain diseases which an Indian medicine man could not possibly cure, viz, those diseases that are of an infectious and contagious nature, and which are reputed to be imported by the white people, and more specifically, caused by the white doctors.
On the other hand, there exist aihnents which even the best white physician could not cure, as the dreaded and uncanny ay€''ltGO''Gi diseases (see p. 33) and in a general way all diseases that are held to be caused by human agency and occult means.
There are quite a few stories circulating, calculated to uphold the prestige of the native medicine men at the expense of the agency doctors. One of them, representative of the kind, follows below, almost textually (Informant W.):
One day my brother-in-law became suddenly ill on the ball field. I carried him home and went after Doctor X ^^ to cure him. Doctor X came twice, but gave him up and said there was no hope of recovery. I then went to Og., who came; he said that if the side man lived until midnight he would recover, but that he was very bad, and might die before then. So I went and warned all the relatives, and they came and stood by his bedside. About half past 10 that night he became very bad, his breath stopped, and we all thought he
^ The point he wants to make here is, that our materia medica is prepared, distilled, extracted, compressed into tablets, etc. There is neither smell, taste, nor trace "of the barks and roots" left.
^* The Government Agency physician.
oLbeechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 109
had died. I straightened his legs out, and his stepmother tied her handkerchief under his chin.
But all of a sudden he breathed, and again, and again. Quickly they took the handkerchief away; he opened his eyes, and asked: "When did I come back?" (It sounded as if he thought he had been away.) His father said: "You have not been away; you have been in bed all the time."
Next day he ate, and soon he became stronger; within a week he walked about the house; he recovered.
Personalities — Individual Differences
Although I have carefully avoided conveying the impression that anything applying to one medicine man likewise holds for every one of his congeners, yet I consider it necessary to specially devote a few lines to a rough sketch of the character of a few of them, bringing out such individual differences in views and behavior as struck and im- pressed me most.
It goes without saying that just as anywhere else, and as in any other profession, some of them are more proficient and skillful than others; that some again are less overawed and fettered by tradition and pat- tern than som^e of their colleagues; that some there are, finally, w^hose honesty and integrity can not be doubted, whereas others are no better than some of the vulgar and mercantile quacks that are not unlvnown even in our communities.
There is W. (57 years old, married; see pi. 5), who acted as my interpreter and main informant during the major part of my stay. He has a very striking personality. His mother, ayo"sta (Mooney, SFC, p. 313; Myths, pi. xiv) was a medicine woman of high repute and a staunch traditionahst. From her W. got a lot of mythological and botanical lore when he was quite young, but after he went to the Government school at Hampton, Ya., he lost, as he says himself, all faith in what the old people believed and taught. He was recon- verted, however, by an experience, a detailed account of which will be given elsewhere, and during which, by some Cherokee talisman, which his half brother. Climbing Bear, had procured for him, he managed to win the affection of a white girl.
In spite of this success, the white people's settlements made him feel hopelessly homesick. He returned to his people, and it did not take him more than a few days to drop into the old life again, and to work out a quaint philosophy and outlook on life of his own, and which he occasionally teaches and advocates, with the result that these views are uttered rather frequently by other medicine men, with more or less conviction as the case may be. According to this system, "white medicine might be good, and Indian medicine might be good. There are some diseases (e. g., aye'ltGO'ci diseases) which a white doctor can
110 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
not cure, and there are some against which an Indian doctor is helpless. But as a rule, a white man's medicine can not help an Indian, just as Indian medicine is of no use to a white man. He (W.) personally experienced this."
Although he expresses himself in such a mUd way with regard to white doctors and their medicine, I know that he secretly holds the aboriginal medicine men with their paraphernalia and simples as far more successful and skilled masters, and whenever any sickness pre- vails in his cabin, W. will only call on the Government physician after weeks of treatment by his own and other medicine men's arts have brought no results.
Again, although he is fully convinced of the fact that a medicine man should never impose on the laymen or brag about his superior knowledge, I know that W. is very conceited, and since the death of his half brother, Climbing Bear, he considers himself second to none.
He is feared by many, despised by a few, loved by none. Yet, because of his accomplishments and his keen intelligence, he has been elected a member of the Cherokee Council so often that he has been in office for upward of a score of years. Few, if any, on the whole reserve have had a better "white education"; hardly one of his people has lived in white communities as long as W. has; 3^et he is the most ardent and most conscious of traditionalists.
He is fully aware of his own worth and accomplishments, and there- fore extremely sensitive to mockery and slight. Unflinciiingly believ- ing in every bit of Cherokee traditional and ritual lore as he does, I am sure that many times he has by occult means tried to remove from his path and from this world, those that were his avowed or secret enemies.
In his practice he never consciously departs from ritual or tradition, and most literally and punctiliously follows and observes injunctions and prescriptions appended to the formulas.
As to his professional honesty, I found several proofs of this being scant indeed; yet I do not think that his motives were whoUy or even mostly selfish. At times one would be inclined to look upon him as one who believes hunself the prophet of a losing cause, and firmly con- vinced that all means are allowable to keep the people at large in the respect and in the awe of the beliefs and the institutions of the past.
His pronounced erotic nature, which is to be discussed later in con- nection with the experience mentioned above, is undoubtedly responsi- ble for many traits in his behavior; his natural disposition for conceit, e. g., is considerably enhanced by it.
An activity and a providence, which the more surprise us as they are totally unknown to his shiftless and happy-go-lucky fellows, he owes, I feel quite sure, to his training as an adolescent in the Government boarding school, and to his subsequent stay with white families as a servant and coachman.
J
oScHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 111
Altogether. W, was by far the most impressive and most important personality in the settlement at the time of my stay. If only so much antipathy had not been rampant against him he would without any doubt have been considered, implicitly if not outspokenly, the leader of the community.
This r6]e, however, it has been given to T. (63 years old, bachelor, pi. 10, c) to fulfill. Vastly inferior to W., both in intelligence and knowledge, his disposition and temperament have secured for him a universal love and a public esteem, to which by the mere accomplish- ments of his mind he could never have attained.
His social intercourse is replete with a distinction and a nobility that would create a sensation in an aristocratic drawing-room. Children that run and scramble away into hiding when W. comes briskly stepping along the trail, approach with glee and hail with joy the person of T. as he leisurely and serenely comes strolling along. There is in the whole of his appearance, in his intercourse, in his deal- ings with young and old alike, a kindly amiability tempered with a dignified reserve that immediately betrays the wisdom of life.
Hmnbly realizmg his importance, he never hurries, speaks but little and then slowly, as if he deliberately chose and weighed the value of his words; he is stoic and calm in illness and adversity as in victory and success. He not only professes to be humble, but actually con- siders his professional knowledge as a loan extended to him for the benefit of his people.
Although he has passed through the various grades of the profession, it speaks for his personality that he now only retains such specialties as divination, praying for long life, love attraction, etc. But anyone appealing to his medical knowledge is never disappointed — at least not by T.'s willingness.
The general consideration in which he is held has brought him the honor of preparing the Big Cove team for the ball game whenever they have been challenged by a rival team of another settlement. The meaning of this appointment has been explained (p. 91).
It will be noticed that after all, the professional aspect of T.'s character is scarcely touched upon here, and this portrays conditions exactly as I found them. To a question, which of the two, W. or T., is the better medicine man, a Cherokee answers that T. is so VDa'N!tt*yu', such a nice fellow.
The contrast between these two men, whose characters I have sketched as objectively as can be done by such a method as here used, is clearly brought out, and goes to prove that with the Cherokee superior knowledge in a medicine man may have to give the right of way to a more human disposition.
If all the remarkable and noteworthy persons here discussed had been born and educated in a white environment I like to think of T. 7548°— 32 9
112 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
as an honorary president of a powerful amalgamation of scientific societies. W. might have built and directed a splendidly equipped and well-paying hospital; but Og. (pi. 9, a), whom we are going to present now, would have been the altruistic and devoted scientist, constantly busy in the laboratory, peering over tables and instru- ments, testing, measuring, and titrating, doggedly in search after methods and devices to improve the health and lengthen the life of this sorely tried and cruelly stricken humanity.
Og. was 64 years old when he died in 1927, while I was working with him. His knowledge was truly encyclopedic, and whenever the rich fund of W.'s information tarried, and no one else could supply the necessaiy elucidation, Og. was the last and usually happy resort.
When there was a diagnosis to be made that baffled everybody his knowledge and experience was never called upon in vain; when plants or roots were needed, the very names of which other medicine men but faintly recollected, he was always able to describe them, to find them, and to identify them.
When hoary origins of institutions and of practices were to be dug up out of the voluminous mythological lore he was the man to do it, when everybody else had failed.
If only he had had 10 per cent as much ambition as he had knowl- edge of tribal, ritual, and medicinal affairs he would have been as celebrated one day as that other "Oconostota" of Fort Loudon fame. But his inherent shyness, which went so far as to actually shun the company even of liis friends, his passion for his profession, his truly philosophic turn of mind, made of this man a personality that in a civilized community and in an educated environment might have become an Edison or an Einstein.
Doting college juniors could not discuss the branch of their predi- lection wdth so much zeal and enthusiasm as Og. could. Hours at a stretch he could not only give information — or rather lecture on Cherokee obstetrics or semeiology, as I would much rather put it — but he could investigate a problem, ask surprisingly keen questions, that often really stimulated thought and provoked solutions.
He was practically the only medicine man of the many I have known who could be said to have a certain perspective in his loiowledge and who was not hopelessly unable to connect two bits of information that came from different branches of his "erudition." If his opinion was asked regarding an obscure text in the formulas, he would of his own accord consult his fund of mythological lore, to see what he could find there that might be of any use to shed some light on the problem.
His professional devotion was edifying, and his honesty was beyond questioning. I have elsewhere drawn attention to the baffling fact that even such a character as Og. used methods which can hardly
OLBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 113
be called by any other name than that of prestidigitation. Yet I remain firmly convinced that he was in unquestionably good faith in this regard.
One of the more sinister persons in the profession is Jo. (70 years old, widower). He is looked upon by all the others not only as an outsider but as an impostor. This opinion I am rather inclined to believe as doing justice to the facts, the more so as I have never been able to induce him to work with me, in spite of his reputed greedy love of money. He is a member of the Cherokee Council and a preacher for one of the two Churches that makeefl'orts to evangelize the people. It is quite a proposition to try to analyze Jo.'s personality, as it is very intricate. Since he is a preacher, which to him is para- mount to being a full-fledged member of the intelligentsia of the white people, he considers it just as necessary to belong to the leading personalities of his own people ; for this reason he becomes a medicine man, or rather pretends to be one. Since, now, being a preacher gives him the right and the authority to expound and explain the hidden and secret meanings of Holy Writ to his congregation, he thinks he also has the privilege of altering Cherokee traditional and medical lore to suit his opinion; that is where he comes in open conflict with the conservatives in general, and most of all with the ensign bearers of conservatism, the medicine men.
To give an instance : Whereas tradition teaches that the future can only be divulged by definitely specified means (beads, "brown stone," etc.), and by an elaborate ritual, Jo. pretends that he can prophecy without any such paraphernalia; that he simply sees the future happenings and events; that he has a revelation, as we would say.
Such a statement, to the mind of those of the medicine men that are sincere, is nothing short of blasphemy, and to those that are not quite so honest, it is even more odious, because when you take away from such a ceremony as dfvination all the mysterious uncanny, awe- inspiring proceedings, such as twisting the beads, intently watching the dangling brown stone, praying to the Ancient Fire prior to drop- ping the sacred tobacco over it — if all this is done away with, what remains to impress the clients?
Yet the influence which Jo. has as a preacher and as a councillor makes it possible for him to be a heretic and not be ostracized, and to be a blasphemer and not to starve.
Knowing as he does the disdain he is held in by the other medicine men, Jo. plays tit for tat, never letting an occasion pass to "make them mad," The primordial quality of a Cherokee medicine man, devotion to his patients, whether from a true moral incentive or from mere love of the fee, is absolutely foreign to Jo., and as I know him, I am honestly convinced that on the rare occasion a patient ascribes
1 14 BTJKEATJ OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
his cure to him, Jo.'s reaction is primarily, if not wholly, one of fiendish glee at the fact that he has humiliated a competing medicine man; the humane satisfaction of having rid a sufferer of his pain, which is never absent with any of the other medicine men, has no part in Jo.'s feelings.
Is it necessary to say which one, of all Cherokee practitioners, is most cordially hated by Jo.? And who most fiercely returns the compliment? W., of course. Both of them councillors and ardent with political ambition and passion, neither of them honest as a practitioner nor as a man ; both of them too well educated to be good Cherokee, and neither of them educated enough to Imow what to take and what to leave of white culture, they often meet on the road to the same objective, and always as competitors. I personally know that drama has come near to bringing a tragic solution to their jealousy.
But all in that motley body of Cherokee medicine men is not dramatic; besides its sinister and gloomy personages, it has its Rabelais: Meet Jud. (married, no children, 63 years old, pi. 10, a), a most captivating and amusing personality.
To begin with, and to be quite honest, Jud, is no medicine man at all; he merely longs, languishes, dies to be one; I am sure that if only he could obtain that ardently craved honor by paying for it with 10 years of his life — if he has so much to his credit, poor old friend — he would gladly do so. If Jud. only knew, even if his com- peers make sport and fun of liis efforts to capture the first principles of practical therapeutics at the age of 60, that I, his adopted son, discuss him this day along with the past masters of the science, how proud he would be, and what a tremendous joke he would con- sider it to be.
Although I am satisfied I can show why Jud. can never be a good medicine man, I must admit my utter inability to explain why he wants to be one. He himself does not know, and considered it a very stupid question when I asked him. "Why, aren't there many people who are medicine men? And look at the old people; aren't they nearly all medicine men? Why shouldn't I become one?" And then, bethinking himself, "he was suffering so much from Dt^Dole-'ski (rheumatism); he needed treatment practically every day; could he afford the time and the money ^^ to have a medicine man come to his house every morning to scratch him with a briar and to mumble a formula which he could learn to recite just as well?" And, finally, with a roguish twinkle in his eye that suddenly and com- pletely seemed to metamorphize him into a lad of 18: "Moreover, if I want love medicine, do you expect me to go and ask one of those guys for it?"
«2 Jud. is very well off, as local standards go.
J z < <
u. u. 0
z
D
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99 PLATE 11
a, J., One of the Lesser Stars
'', Del.. Descendantof an Old Lineage of Medicine Men
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 115
An incorrigible jester, a side-spiitting joker, Jud. is the most per- fect anthropomorphized trickster you could imagine. Once as I was trying to reconstitute the Cherokee rabbit cycle, and was mobihzing all the available sources of information, Jud. came on one of his numerous visits. Brimful of the interesting subject, I asked him eagerly w^hat he loiew of the rabbit? He concentrated his thoughts on the subject, shifted his weight, looked at the ceiling, spat on the floor, and then, as I turned a keen face up from my notebook, he drawled: "All I know about the rabbit is how to eat it."
What an enormous asset this jocular disposition may be to flit through life smiling and contented, it is less desired in a medicine man. Yet, in spite of his stingy wife's protests, and unheeding the jokes and taunts of the people, Jud. goes about his plans, collecting bits of knowledge and scraps of information wherever he can, buying expensive documents, which he can neither read nor interpret. When he afterwards calls in the aid of a medicine man — whom he has to pay— to find out what his latest acquisition is all about, he learns that it is incomplete, that the "directions" are missing, or that it is worthless on account of some other defect. The whole settlement hears about it and roars, but the loudest peal of laughter comes from Jud. Somehow, he considers it a capital joke, and he could not for a moment entertain the idea that the joke is on him.
Since Jud. was politely lacked out of the door by all the members of the profession, I had the questionable privilege of being honored with his visit daily at first, and slightly less frequently afterwards. He proved second to none as far as keenness to discuss the subject was concerned. Alas, his ignorance was so manifest that the exchange of ideas proved not profitable.
There are some more medicine men with whom work was done, but they belonged to what may be called an undergraduate class, both as regards professional accomplishments and individuality.
Ts. (pi. 8, a), widov/er, 73 years old, and J. (pi. 11, a), his son (died 1928, 47 years old), were both very charming individuals, but had a rather narrow conception of things. They looked upon their occupation as a job or a trade rather than as an art or a profession ; to dispose of his "fee" (see p. 95 et seq.;also Mooney, SFC, p. 338) was as important and as awkward a problem for J. as to cure a patient. If the other medicine men were worthy professors, these were mere Sunday-school teachers.
Del. (pi. 11, b), 51 years old, married, could, if he had chosen, have become a bright star in the Cherokee medical constellation. Only slightly less intelligent than Og., he is even more retiring and shy than his uncle was. He is a well-providing father for his family, and considers the medicine man's profession too unstable and pre- carious to support his household. I am inclined to believe, more-
116 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 9d
over, that his practical turn of inind and his active temperament have also something to do with this; thus it would be explained why, although practicing very little himself, he is the only medicine man who is still able and willing to make such "surgical" instruments as are still in use — comb scratchers, sucking horns, etc.
Je. (pi. 12, a), widow, 72, and O. (pi. 12, b), Del.'s mother, Climbing Bear's widow, 73, the two medicine women during my stay, do not call for any discussion here. Their position was devoid of any impor- tance, and their role was almost limited to that of mid wives. O. is far more universally loved than Je. is, which feeling I must heartUy commend and sympathetically indorse.
BIRTH Sexual Life
Since the manuscript, to which this discussion is an introduction, does not contain any formulas dealing with love matters, such as conjuration to gain the affection of a woman, to destroy in a particular woman the promiscuous tendencies she has shown, incantations to take vengeance on a woman who has scoffed at sympathies proffered, to sow discord between a couple of lovers, etc., it has not been con- sidered necessary to go into such minute details on this score as has been done with matters pertaining to purely medical lore, which constitutes the bulk of the material offered in this manuscript.
Two more manuscripts, on which some work has already been done, and of which the publication is contemplated, will afford a far better opportunity to treat at length such topics as sense of shame, puberty, sexual life, adultery, sexual pathology, etc.
Conception
It would seem that Cherokee ideas on this subject had been con- siderably influenced by the views of their white neighbors. This need not, however, be the case. There are less civilized peoples whose conceptions about disease and medicine are not any more reasonable than those of the Cherokee, and whose explanation of the process of conception is even more rational (cf. Kleiweg de Zwaan, pp. 158-159).
Male and female alike ''produce the matter which becomes mixed and goes to form the child in (the womb of) the mother. In some cases this matter is mixed right away, in which case they wiU have a baby soon; in other cases it may take several months, or even a couple of years."
"She is pregnant" is rendered Gane^'ldo", also 'taluii' (lit. "she carries it"?).
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN 99 PLATE 12
(I. Je., a prominent Midwife
^^ >'-""'**^- J
6, o., Del."s Mother; Midwife
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 99 PLATE 13
Cherokee Dance Mask
oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 117
It is held that imsimultaneous detumescence can not produce offspring. *
There is no clear conception as to the origin of the soul of the child. The majority of the informants say that they do not know, "they have never thought of it." The keenest of the medicine men, W., thought that it came along, with what went to form the body of the child, and was therefore secreted by both the individuals concerned in the act.
A woman knows she has conceived by the stopping of her cata- menial flow.
Abortus — Contraceptives
Abortus is totally unknown; even my best informant (a man of 56, prominent medicine man, holding a leading position in the tribal organization, twice married, high school graduate), had never heard of it, and I had a good deal of difficulty in making him understand what I meant. He was horrified at the idea, and I am afraid his esteem for the white people and the ways of some of them was not improved, when he finally grasped the idea.
It does not seem to have dawned on them that the foetus can be tampered with at all, and to do so, W. thought, would be outright murder. As he put it: "You might as well cut a 5-year-old child's head off."
Of contraceptive measures, they do not seem to be quite so ignorant. They know one: t*t'kyi;'*sti {Cicuta maculata L.; spotted cowbane; musquash root; beaver's poison), the roots of which are chewed and swallowed for four days consecutively by the woman who wants to put an end to her conceptive abilities. It is alleged that if a woman uses this she will become sterile forever.
From a point of view of morals, it is considered nothing less than a crime, and none of my informants knew a case where it had been used. One, W. again, said that he never knew it to be used, but that he imagines that it might be used by a woman who can not keep her children alive, or when it is considered that "partus" would endanger her life. But even then, he said, they would not do it, "for a woman will just as lief take the risk of dying with her baby, rather than to live without a child."
There is a vague hint by some of the informants at the possibility of promiscuous women using this drug, especially if they are married, so that there can be no material proof of their misbehavior. But substantial evidence to prove this impression could not be given.
When we consider their total ignorance of abortive measures and the scant and vague knowledge of contraceptives, I am inclined to think that the Cherokee hold the only means known to them from the white settlers. It is said that, at an early period of its growth,
118 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99,
the plant resembles parsley (of. Larousse Medical (Paris, 1922), 226), and parsley {Petroselinum sativum Hoffm.) has been and still is popular in several European countries as an abortive (of. v. Hov. Kr. I 170; Lemery 417; Dodoens 1176). It is still used in official medicine as an emmenagogue (U. S. Dispensatory, p. 1393).
During Pregnancy
As soon as a woman feels she is with child she informs her husband and her friends of it. Soon the whole settlement knows about her condition, and she becomes subjected to the multifarious taboos and injunctions relating to her condition. The most important of the latter is that she be " taken to the water" every new moon.
The ceremony of going to the river to pray, to be prayed for, and to bathe, is the outstanding one of Cherokee ritual. It is now fast disappearing, and only the staunch and conservative old-timers cling to it as to one of the last vestiges of aboriginal religion.
As stated elsewhere (see p. 150), there are sei^eral occasions on which the Cherokee should perform this ceremony ; as a whole, the ceremony is pretty much the same in every case; whether it be merely the monthly rite at the new moon, or whether it be to work against an enemy, or to conjure a disease away, or to "examine with the beads," the individual on whose behalf the ceremony is performed goes to the bank of the river, accompanied by the priest, who recites some prayer, conjuration, or incantation, at the end of which some water is dipped out with the hollow of the hand, and the crown of the head, the bosom ("where our soul is"), and often the face is washed.
The particular ceremony of taking pregnant women to the water is renewed at every new moon, a few months prior to the expected delivery. According to mformation, listed in notes of Mooney, it should be started after the third month of pregnancy; 01. and Del. told me that it was only observed during the last three months preceding delivery, whereas W. maintained the ceremony took place every new moon, starting when the pregnant woman felt for the first time the motion of the child within her, which is said by the Cherokee to happen usually about the fifth month after conception.
The pregnant woman goes down to the river, accompanied by the priest. Two white beads (white being the color emblematic of Ufe), or sometimes two red beads (red being the color symbolizing success), and a white thread, 50 to 60 centimeters long, are put down on the ground on a yard of white calico. All this is to be supplied by the client, and is afterwards taken away by the priest as his fee.
The couple is usually accompanied by an attendant, as a rule the husband, the mother, or some other relative of the woman, who throughout the proceedings acts as assistant, spreading out the cloth,
OLBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 119
arranging the beads and the thread. It is as a rule also the assistant who, at the end of the ceremony, makes a bundle of the paraphernalia and hands it to the priest.
The party standing on the bank of the river, facing the water, the priest recites the prayer (see Texts, Form. No. 18, p. 193), meanwhile holding a red (or white) and a black bead between thumb and index of his right and left hands (see p. 132). The lively movements of the right-hand bead spell success, those of the left-hand bead spell disap- pointment. At the end of the ceremony he strings the beads on the thread, deposes them on the calico, which is then wrapped up by the assistant and given to the priest to take home with him.
This ceremony, though it is understood to be gone through for the benefit of mother and child, often has as its more immediate object an aim of rather a divinatory nature, e. g., whether the child will live or will be stillborn, or again, what will be its sex, etc. The client has the right to stipulate the aim of the divination. Every time at the end of the ceremony the priest tells the woman what are the results and the prospects.
The priest takes the cloth and the two beads home with him, and at the next new moon has to bring the latter back \vith him. At the second ceremony the patron has to supply two more beads, which are finally strung on the same white thread along with the others, and also another yard of white cloth, which again the priest takes home as his fee.
These purely religious ceremonies are only a part of what we might term the prenatal care and treatment with the Cherokee. Even as long before delivery as this, simples are taken to induce an easy par- turition.
Each time, before setting out for this river ceremony, the woman, before she leaves home, drinks a decoction of bark of Da-'"w8dzf'la (Ulmus julva, Michx., red, or slippery elm); stems of "wale-'lu u'^nadzrlaGf'sti {Impatiens hijiora Walt., spotted touch-me-not); roots of Ga'naGwa^k'ski niGo^'ilg*' ttse'!i {Veronica officinalis L., common speedwell); cones of n5.tsi,' {Pinus pungens Lamb., Table Moimtain pine).
The first is used because of the mucilaginous nature of its bark: "It will make the inside of the woman slippery," so that the child wiU have no difficulty in putting in an appearance.
The second plant is alleged to frighten the child, and to entice it "to jmup down" briskly.
The two last plants named are chosen because they are niGo''t'l9*'' itse'^i, i. e., "evergreens," and it is expected of them that they wiU convey theii* properties of longevity and unimpaired health to the infant.
120 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
There is no doubt but there is some symbolic significance attached to the method of selecting the ingredients — roots, barks, stems, tops. No information could be gained to elucidate this, even though all the informants agreed that there must be some cause underlying it. It may point to a symbolic way of presenting hfe from birth to growth, an interpretation which sounds quite orthodox in the Ught of what we know of Cherokee symbolism and beUef.
As stated, this decoction is drunk at home prior to going down to the river; when standing near the water, the woman induces vomit- ing. This medicine is not only thought to be beneficial to parturi- tion, but it also cleanses the woman from all disease germs that may be latent in her, and induces the throwing off of any "spoiled saliva." (See p. 15.)
PREGNANT WOMAN's TABOOS
When with child, a woman not only has to be very careful lest any harm befall her; she herself is extremely dangerous to her relatives, friends, and neighbors. Beliefs relating to the latter conception have been discussed elsewhere. (See p. 35.)
As to the restrictions she herself is subjected to, there are first of all the food taboos:
She should not eat squirrel (sa'lo'li'), because if she does, the child, when about to be born, will not come down, but will "go up," as a squirrel, when frightened, climbs up a tree (Del.; O.); or because squirrels have a hump, and if she eats any squirrel meat the baby would He in the womb in a humped position, which would make delivery very difficult (W.).
Nor should she eat t^Q'^Mi'sti' ("pheasant"; ruffed grouse), as her child would not live (Mooney, Myths, p. 285).
Nor raccoon (k'o^'li'), as this would give the child the gq-" "wantGis'ti disease (see p. 67).
Nor speckled trout (a-t.tsa'.), as the child would have birthmarks, black spots on the face (Del.; O.); or because this would cause undue bloodshed during partus (W.).
Nor rabbit (tcfstu'), as the child would sleep with its eyes open (Del.; O.); or because it would have ridiculously large eyes.
Nor crawfish (tct'stg'na'), which runs backward, as the child would obstinately refuse to come down at the time of deHvery.
No animals are to be eaten that have been shot, either by gun or bow and arrow; in other words, no animals killed with bloodshed. But the same animals that are tabooed if killed by bullet or arrow may be eaten if caught in traps and snares, or if stunned and killed by club or adze.
There are, so to speak, no taboos with reference to plant foods. The only one I could find was the nuts of se'ti' {Juglans nigra L.,
OLBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 121
black walnut). If these nuts are eaten, the child will have a horribly- broad nose.
Salt is to be used as scantily as possible. No reason for this could be given. W. said he thought it was "because salt makes meat (and therefore also flesh) swell." (See p. 65.)
No trace of the belief in the result of unsatisfied picae could be found.
Apart from the food taboos there are quite a number of restrictions and injunctions which a pregnant woman has to observe.
She should not be visited by a menstrual woman.
She should never loiter near the doorway. Whenever she has to go in or out of the cabin she must do so briskly. If she loiters at the doorway "the child will be slow in jumping down."
Every morning she should go to a near-by creek or spring, accom- panied by her husband, and both should wash their faces, hands, and, some say, their feet. This custom has nothing to do with the cere- monial gOLQg to water observed at every new^ moon, and is of a totally different nature. It seems to be practiced solely for hygienic pur- poses, although there is no telling but this might be a mere ration aHzed explanation of an act that had formerly