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THE MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE.


BY


JOHN G. BOURKE,

_Captain, Third Cavalry, U. S. Army._




CONTENTS.


                                                              Page.

    CHAPTER I. The medicine-men, their modes of treating
    disease, their superstitions, paraphernalia, etc.           451

        Medicine-women                                          468

        Remedies and modes of treatment                         471

        Hair and wigs                                           474

        Mudheads                                                475

        Scalp shirts                                            476

        The rhombus, or bull roarer                             476

        The cross                                               479

        Necklaces of human fingers                              480

        Necklaces of human teeth                                487

        The scratch stick                                       490

        The drinking reed                                       493


    CHAPTER II. Hoddentin, the pollen of the tule, the
    sacrificial powder of the Apache; with remarks upon
    sacred powders and offerings in general                     499

        The "kunque" of the Zuñi and others                     507

        Use of the pollen by the Israelites and Egyptians       517

        Hoddentin a prehistoric food                            518

        Hoddentin the yiauhtli of the Aztecs                    521

        "Bledos" of ancient writers--its meaning                522

        Tzoalli                                                 523

        General use of the powder among Indians                 528

        Analogues of hoddentin                                  530

        The down of birds in ceremonial observances             533

        Hair powder                                             535

        Dust from churches--its use                             537

        Clay-eating                                             537

        Prehistoric foods used in covenants                     540

        Sacred breads and cakes                                 541

        Unleavened bread                                        543

        The hot cross buns of Good Friday                       544

        Galena                                                  548


    CHAPTER III. The izze-kloth or medicine cord of the
    Apache                                                      550

        Analogues to be found among the Aztecs, Peruvians,
        and others                                              558

        The magic wind-knotted cords of the Lapps and others    560

        Rosaries and other mnemonic cords                       561

        The sacred cords of the Parsis and Brahmans             563

        Use of cords and knots and girdles in parturition       570

        "Medidas," "measuring cords," "wresting threads," etc.  572

        Unclassified superstitions upon this subject            575

        The medicine hat                                        580

        The spirit or ghost dance headdress                     585

        Amulets and talismans                                   587

            The "tzi-daltai"                                    587

            Chalchihuitl                                        588

        Phylacteries                                            591


    Bibliography                                                596




ILLUSTRATIONS.


    PLATE                                                     Page.

     III. Scalp shirt of Little Big Man                         476

      IV. Necklace of human fingers                             480

       V. Apache medicine hat used in ghost or spirit dance     586

      VI. Apache medicine shirt                                 588

     VII. Apache medicine shirt                                 590

    VIII. Apache medicine shirt                                 592


    FIG.

     429. Medicine arrow used by Apache and Pueblo women        468

     430. Rhombus of the Apache                                 477

     431. Rhombus of the Apache                                 478

     432. The scratch stick and drinking reed                   494

     433. Bag containing hoddentin                              500

     434. Nan-ta-do-tash's medicine hat                         503

     435. Single-strand medicine cord (Zuñi)                    550

     436. Four-strand medicine cord (Apache)                    551

     437. Three-strand medicine cord (Apache)                   552

     438. Two-strand medicine cord                              553

     439. Four-strand medicine cord (Apache)                    554

     440. Apache war bonnet                                     581

     441. Ghost dance headdress                                 582

     442. Apache kan or gods (Drawn by Apache)                 586

     443. Tzi-daltai amulets (Apache)                           587

     444. Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache)                            588

     445. Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache)                            589

     446. Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache)                            589

     447. Phylacteries                                          592

     448. Apache medicine sash                                  593




LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.


                            WASHINGTON, D. C., _February 27, 1891_.

SIR: Herewith I have the honor to submit a paper upon the
paraphernalia of the medicine-men of the Apache and other tribes.

Analogues have been pointed out, wherever possible, especially in the
case of the hoddentin and the izze-kloth, which have never to my
knowledge previously received treatment.

Accompanying the paper is a bibliography of the principal works cited.

    I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

                                           JOHN G. BOURKE,
                              _Captain, Third Cavalry, U. S. Army_.

  Hon. J. W. POWELL,
          _Director Bureau of Ethnology_.




THE MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE.


BY JOHN G. BOURKE.




CHAPTER I.

THE MEDICINE-MEN, THEIR MODES OF TREATING DISEASE, THEIR
SUPERSTITIONS, PARAPHERNALIA, ETC.


The Caucasian population of the United States has been in intimate
contact with the aborigines for a period of not less than two hundred
and fifty years. In certain sections, as in Florida and New Mexico,
this contact has been for a still greater period; but claiming no
earlier date than the settlement of New England, it will be seen that
the white race has been slow to learn or the red man has been skillful
in withholding knowledge which, if imparted, would have lessened
friction and done much to preserve and assimilate a race that, in
spite of some serious defects of character, will for all time to come
be looked upon as "the noble savage."

Recent deplorable occurrences in the country of the Dakotas have
emphasized our ignorance and made clear to the minds of all thinking
people that, notwithstanding the acceptance by the native tribes of
many of the improvements in living introduced by civilization, the
savage has remained a savage, and is still under the control of an
influence antagonistic to the rapid absorption of new ideas and the
adoption of new customs.

This influence is the "medicine-man."

Who, and what are the medicine-men (or medicine-women), of the
American Indians? What powers do they possess in time of peace or war?
How is this power obtained, how renewed, how exercised? What is the
character of the remedies employed? Are they pharmaceutical, as we
employ the term, or are they the superstitious efforts of empirics and
charlatans, seeking to deceive and to misguide by pretended
consultations with spiritual powers and by reliance upon mysterious
and occult influences?

Such a discussion will be attempted in this paper, which will be
restricted to a description of the personality of the medicine-men,
the regalia worn, and the powers possessed and claimed. To go
farther, and enter into a treatment of the religious ideas, the
superstitions, omens, and prayers of these spiritual leaders, would be
to open a road without end.

As the subject of the paraphernalia of the medicine-men has never, to
my knowledge, been comprehensively treated by any writer, I venture to
submit what I have learned during the twenty-two years of my
acquaintance with our savage tribes, and the studies and conclusions
to which my observations have led. While treating in the main of the
medicine-men of the Apache, I do not intend to omit any point of
importance noted among other tribes or peoples.

First, in regard to the organization of the medicine-men of the
Apache, it should be premised that most of my observations were made
while the tribe was still actively engaged in hostilities with the
whites, and they cannot be regarded as, and are not claimed to be,
conclusive upon all points. The Apache are not so surely divided into
medicine lodges or secret societies as is the case with the Ojibwa, as
shown by Dr. W. J. Hoffman; the Siouan tribes, as related by Mr. J.
Owen Dorsey; the Zuñi, according to Mr. F. H. Cushing; the Tusayan, as
shown by myself, and other tribes described by other authorities.

The Navajo, who are the full brothers of the Apache, seem to have well
defined divisions among their medicine-men, as demonstrated by Dr.
Washington Matthews, U. S. Army; and I myself have seen great medicine
lodges, which must have contained at least a dozen Apache
medicine-men, engaged in some of their incantations. I have also been
taken to several of the sacred caves, in which solemn religious dances
and other ceremonies were conducted under the same superintendence,
but never have I witnessed among the Apache any rite of religious
significance in which more than four or five, or at the most six, of
the medicine-men took part.

The difficulty of making an accurate determination was increased by
the nomadic character of the Apache, who would always prefer to live
in small villages containing only a few brush shelters, and not
needing the care of more than one or two of their "doctors." These
people show an unusual secretiveness and taciturnity in all that
relates to their inner selves, and, living as they do in a region
filled with caves and secluded nooks, on cliffs, and in deep canyons,
have not been compelled to celebrate their sacred offices in
"estufas," or "plazas," open to the inspection of the profane, as has
been the case with so many of the Pueblo tribes.

Diligent and persistent inquiry of medicine-men whose confidence I had
succeeded in gaining, convinced me that any young man can become a
"doctor" ("diyi" in the Apache language, which is translated "sabio"
by the Mexican captives). It is necessary to convince his friends that
he "has the gift," as one of my informants expressed it; that is, he
must show that he is a dreamer of dreams, given to long fasts and
vigils, able to interpret omens in a satisfactory manner, and do other
things of that general nature to demonstrate the possession of an
intense spirituality. Then he will begin to withdraw, at least
temporarily, from the society of his fellows and devote himself to
long absences, especially by night, in the "high places" which were
interdicted to the Israelites. Such sacred fanes, perched in dangerous
and hidden retreats, can be, or until lately could be, found in many
parts in our remote western territory. In my own experiences I have
found them not only in the country of the Apache, but two-thirds of
the way up the vertical face of the dizzy precipice of Tâaiyalana,
close to Zuñi, where there is a shrine much resorted to by the young
men who seek to divine the result of a contemplated enterprise by
shooting arrows into a long cleft in the smooth surface of the
sandstone; I have seen them in the Wolf Mountains, Montana; in the Big
Horn range, Wyoming; on the lofty sides of Cloud Peak, and elsewhere.
Maj. W.S. Stanton, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, ascended the Cloud
Peak twice, and, reaching the summit on the second attempt, he found
that beyond the position first attained and seeming then to be the
limit of possible ascent, some wandering Indian had climbed and made
his "medicine."

While it is regarded as a surer mode of learning how to be a
medicine-man to seek the tuition of some one who has already gained
power and influence as such, and pay him liberally in presents of all
kinds for a course of instruction lasting a year or longer, I could
learn of nothing to prohibit a man from assuming the rôle of a prophet
or healer of the sick, if so disposed, beyond the dread of punishment
for failure to cure or alleviate sickness or infirmity. Neither is
there such a thing as settled dogma among these medicine-men. Each
follows the dictates of his own inclinations, consulting such spirits
and powers as are most amenable to his supplications and charms; but
no two seem to rely upon identically the same influences. Even in the
spirit dance, which is possibly the most solemn function in which the
Apache medicine-men can engage, the head-dresses and kilts adhered
closely enough to the one pattern, but the symbolism employed by each
medicine-man was entirely different from that adopted by his
neighbors.

Schultze, Perrin du Lac, Adair, and others allude to "houses of
mercy," the "right of asylum" in certain lodges and buildings, or even
whole villages, to which if the pursued of the tribe or even an enemy
could obtain admission his life was secure. Frank Gruard and others
who have lived for years among the Sioux, the Cheyenne, and other
tribes of the plains have assured me that the same right of asylum
obtains among them for the fugitive who takes shelter in the medicine
lodge or the council lodge, and almost parallel notions prevail among
the Apache. I have heard that the first American who came into one of
their villages, tired and hungry, was not molested in the slightest
degree.

It is stated by Kelly[1] that all warriors who go through the sun
dance of the Sioux rank thereafter as medicine-men. This statement
seems to me to be overdrawn. Nothing of the kind was learned by me at
the sun dance of the Sioux which I noted in 1881, and in any event the
remark would scarcely apply to the medicine-men of the Apache, who
have nothing clearly identifiable with the sun dance, and who do not
cut, gash, or in any manner mutilate themselves, as did the principal
participants in the sun dance, or as was done in still earlier ages by
the galli (the priests of Cybele) or the priests of Mexico.

Herodotus tells us that the priests of Egypt, or rather the doctors,
who were at one time identified with them, were separated into
classes; some cured the eyes, some the ears, others the head or the
belly. Such a differentiation is to be observed among the Apache,
Mohave, and other tribes; there are some doctors who enjoy great fame
as the bringers of rain, some who claim special power over snakes, and
some who profess to consult the spirits only, and do not treat the
sick except when no other practitioner may be available. Among the
Mohave, the relatives of a dead man will consult one of these
spirit-doctors and get him to interview the ghosts who respond to his
call and learn from them whether the patient died from ignorance or
neglect on the part of the doctor who had charge of the case. If the
spirits assert that he did, then the culprit doctor must either flee
for his life or throw the onus of the crime upon some witch. This
differentiation is not carried so far that a medicine-man, no matter
what his class, would decline a large fee.

The right of sanctuary was conceded to all criminals who sought
shelter in the vanquech or temple of Chinigchinich.[2]

The castration of the galli, or priests of Cybele, is described by
Dupuis.[3]

Diego Duran asserts that the Mexican priests "se endian por medio los
miembros viriles y se hacian mil cosas para volverse impotentes por no
ofender á sus Dioses."[4]

The hierophants at Athens drank of the hemlock to render themselves
impotent, that when they came to the pontificate they might cease to
be men.[5]

One class of the Peruvian priests, the Huachus, made auguries from
grains of corn or the excrement of animals.[6]

Balboa tells us[6] that the Peruvian priesthood was divided into
classes, each with its appropriate functions--the Guacos made the
idols for the temples, or rather, they made the idols speak; the
others were necromancers and spoke only with the dead; the Huecheoc
divined by means of tobacco and coco; the Caviocac became drunk before
they attempted to divine, and after them came the Rumatinguis and the
Huachus already mentioned.

The Oregon tribes have spirit doctors and medicine doctors.[7]

The Chinese historians relate that the shamans of the Huns possessed
the power "to bring down snow, hail, rain, and wind."[8]

In all nations in the infancy of growth, social or mental, the power
to coax from reluctant clouds the fructifying rain has been regarded
with highest approval and will always be found confided to the most
important hierophants or devolving upon some of the most prominent
deities; almighty Jove was a deified rain-maker or cloud-compeller.
Rain-makers flourished in Europe down to the time of Charlemagne, who
prohibited these "tempestiarii" from plying their trade.

One of the first requests made of Vaca and his comrades by the people
living in fixed habitations near the Rio Grande was "to tell the sky
to rain," and also to pray for it.[9]

The prophet Samuel has been alluded to as a rain-maker.[10]

There does not seem to have been any inheritance of priestly functions
among the Apache or any setting apart of a particular clan or family
for the priestly duties.

Francis Parkman is quoted as describing a certain family among the
Miami who were reserved for the sacred ritualistic cannibalism
perpetrated by that tribe upon captives taken in war. Such families
devoted more or less completely to sacred uses are to be noted among
the Hebrews (in the line of Levi) and others; but they do not occur in
the tribes of the Southwest.

One of the ceremonies connected with the initiation, as with every
exercise of spiritual functions by the medicine-man, is the
"ta-a-chi," or sweat-bath, in which, if he be physically able, the
patient must participate.

The Apache do not, to my knowledge, indulge in any poisonous
intoxicants during their medicine ceremonies; but in this they differ
to a perceptible degree from other tribes of America. The "black
drink" of the Creeks and the "wisoccan" of the Virginians may be cited
as cases in point; and the Walapai of Arizona, the near neighbors of
the Apache, make use of the juice, or a decoction of the leaves,
roots, and flowers of the _Datura stramonium_ to induce frenzy and
exhilaration. The laurel grows wild on all the mountain tops of Sonora
and Arizona, and the Apache credit it with the power of setting men
crazy, but they deny that they have ever made use of it in their
medicine or religion. Picart[11] speaks of the drink (wisoccan) which
took away the brains of the young men undergoing initiation as
medicine-men among the tribes of Virginia, but he does not say what
this "wisoccan" was.

In Guiana,[12] the candidate for the office of medicine-man must,
among other ordeals, "drink fearfully large drafts of tobacco juice,
mixed with water." The medicine-men of Guiana are called peaiman.

I have never seen tobacco juice drank by medicine-men or others, but I
remember seeing Shunca-Luta (Sorrel Horse), a medicine-man of the
Dakota, chewing and swallowing a piece of tobacco and then going into
what seemed to be a trance, all the while emitting deep grunts or
groans. When he revived he insisted that those sounds had been made by
a spirit which he kept down in his stomach. He also pretended to
extract the quid of tobacco from underneath his ribs, and was full of
petty tricks of legerdemain and other means of mystifying women and
children.

All medicine-men claim the power of swallowing spear heads or arrows
and fire, and there are at times many really wonderful things done by
them which have the effect of strengthening their hold upon the
people.

The medicine-men of the Ojibwa thrust arrows and similar instruments
down their throats. They also allow themselves to be shot at with
marked bullets.[13]

While I was among the Tusayan, in 1881, I learned of a young boy,
quite a child, who was looked up to by the other Indians, and on
special occasions made his appearance decked out in much native finery
of beads and gewgaws, but the exact nature of his duties and supposed
responsibilities could not be ascertained.

Diego Duran[14] thought that the priesthood among the Mexicans was to
a great extent hereditary, much like the right of primogeniture among
the people of Spain. Speaking of the five assistants who held down the
human victim at the moment of sacrifice, he says:

     Los nombres de los cinco eran Chachalmeca, que en nuestra
     Lengua quiere tanto decir como Levita ó ministro de cosa
     divina ó sagrada. Era esta dignidad entre ellos muy suprema y
     en mucha tenida, la cual se heredaba de hijos á padres como
     cosa de mayorazgo, sucediendo los hijos á los Padres en
     aquella sangrienta Dignidad endemoniada y cruel.

Concerning the medicine-men of Peru, Dorman[15] says:

     The priestly office among the Peruvians appears to have been
     hereditary; some attained it by election; a man struck by
     lightning was considered as chosen by heaven; also those who
     became suddenly insane. Mr. Southey says that among the Moxos
     of Brazil, who worshiped the tiger, a man who was rescued
     from but marked by the claws of the animal, was set apart for
     the priesthood, and none other.

I shall have occasion to introduce a medicine-woman of the Apache,
Tze-go-juni, or "Pretty-mouth," whose claims to preeminence among her
people would seem to have had no better foundation than her escape
from lightning stroke and from the bites of a mountain lion, which had
seized her during the night and had not killed her.

I remember the case of an old Navajo medicine-man who was killed by
lightning. The whole tribe participated in the singing, drumming, and
dancing incident to so important an event, but no white men were
allowed to be present. My information was derived from the dead man's
young nephew, while I was among that tribe.

Among the Arawak of South America there are hereditary conjurers who
profess to find out the enemy who by the agency of an evil spirit has
killed the deceased.[16]

Picart says of the medicine-men of the tribes along Rio de la Plata:
"Pour être Prêtre ou Médecin parmi eux, il faut avoir jeûné longtems &
souvent. Il faut avoir combatu plusieurs fois contre les bêtes
Sauvages, principalement contre les Tigres, & tout au moins en avoir
été mordu ou égratigné. Après cela on peut obtenir l'Ordre, de
Prêtrise; car le Tigre est chez eux un animal presque divin."[17]

The medicine-men of the Apache are not confined to one gens or clan,
as among the Shawnee and Cherokee, according to Brinton,[18] neither
do they believe, as the Cherokee do, according to the same authority,
that the seventh son is a natural-born prophet with the gift of
healing by touch, but upon this latter point I must be discreet, as I
have never known an Apache seventh son.

The Cherokee still preserve the custom of consecrating a family of
their tribe to the priesthood, as the family of Levi was consecrated
among the Jews.[19]

The neophytes of the isthmus of Darien were boys from ten to twelve
years "selected for the natural inclination or the peculiar aptitude
and intelligence which they displayed for the service."[20]

Peter Martyr says of the Chiribchis of South America: "Out of the
multitude of children they chuse some of 10 or 12 yeeres old, whom
they know by conjecture to be naturally inclined to that service."[21]

The peculiarity of the Moxos was that they thought none designated for
the office of medicine-man but such as had escaped from the claws of
the South American tiger which, indeed, it is said they worshiped as a
god.[22]

Contrary to what Spencer says, the chiefs of the tribes of the
Southwest, at least, are not ipso facto medicine-men; but among the
Tonto Apache the brother of the head chief, Cha-ut-lip-un, was the
great medicine-man, and generally the medicine-men are related closely
to the prominent chiefs, which would seem to imply either a formal
deputation of priestly functions from the chiefs to relatives, or what
may be practically the same thing, the exercise of family influence to
bring about a recognition of the necromantic powers of some aspirant;
but among the Apache there is no priest caste; the same man may be
priest, warrior, etc.[23]

"The juice of the Datura seed is employed by the Portuguese women of
Goa: they mix it, says Linschott, in the liquor drank by their
husbands, who fall, for twenty-four hours at least, into a stupor
accompanied by continued laughing; but so deep is the sleep that
nothing passing before them affects them; and when they recover their
senses, they have no recollection of what has taken place."[24]

"The Darien Indians used the seeds of the _Datura sanguinea_ to bring
on in children prophetic delirium, in which they revealed hidden
treasure. In Peru the priests who talked with the 'huaca' or fetishes
used to throw themselves into an ecstatic condition by a narcotic
drink called 'tonca,' made from the same plant."[25]

The medicine-men of the Walapai, according to Charlie Spencer, who
married one of their women and lived among them for years, were in the
habit of casting bullets in molds which contained a small piece of
paper. They would allow these bullets to be fired at them, and of
course the missile would split in two parts and do no injury. Again,
they would roll a ball of sinew and attach one end to a small twig,
which was inserted between the teeth. They would then swallow the ball
of sinew, excepting the end thus attached to the teeth, and after the
heat and moisture of the stomach had softened and expanded the sinew
they would begin to draw it out yard after yard, saying to the
frightened squaws that they had no need of intestines and were going
to pull them all out. Others among the Apache have claimed the power
to shoot off guns without touching the triggers or going near the
weapons; to be able to kill or otherwise harm their enemies at a
distance of 100 miles. In nearly every boast made there is some sort
of a saving clause, to the effect that no witchcraft must be made or
the spell will not work, no women should be near in a delicate state
from any cause, etc.

Mickey Free has assured me that he has seen an Apache medicine-man
light a pipe without doing anything but hold his hands up toward the
sun. This story is credible enough if we could aver that the
medicine-man was supplied, as I suspect he was, with a burning glass.

That the medicine-man has the faculty of transforming himself into a
coyote and other animals at pleasure and then resuming the human form
is as implicitly believed in by the American Indians as it was by our
own forefathers in Europe. This former prevalence of lycanthropy all
over Europe can be indicated in no more forcible manner than by
stating that until the reign of Louis XIV, in France, the fact of
being a were-wolf was a crime upon which one could be arraigned before
a court; but with the discontinuance of the crime the were-wolves
themselves seem to have retired from business.[26] In Abyssinia, at
the present day, blacksmiths are considered to be were-wolves,
according to Winstanley. The Apache look upon blacksmiths as being
allied to the spirits and call them "pesh-chidin"--the witch, spirit,
or ghost, of the iron. The priestly powers conceded to the blacksmith
of Gretna Green need no allusion here.

According to Sir Walter Scott,[27] trials for lycanthropy were
abolished in France by an edict of Louis XIV.

Parkman[28] describes, from the Relations of Pére Le Jeune, how the
Algonkin medicine-man announced that he was going to kill a rival
medicine-man who lived at Gaspé, 100 leagues distant.

The Abipones of Paraguay, according to Father Dobrizhoffer, "credit
their medicine-men with power to inflict disease and death, to cure
all disorders, to make known distant and future events; to cause rain,
hail, and tempest; to call up the shades of the dead and consult them
concerning hidden matters; to put on the form of a tiger; to handle
every kind of serpent without danger, etc.; which powers they imagine
are not obtained by art, but imparted to certain persons by their
grandfather, the devil."

The medicine-men of Honduras claimed the power of turning themselves
into lions and tigers and of wandering in the mountains.[29]

"Grandes Hechiceros i Bruxos, porque se hacian Perros, Puercos i
Ximios."[30]

Gomara also calls attention to the fact that the medicine-men,
"hechiceros" and "brujos," as he calls them, of the Nicaraguans,
possessed the power of lycanthropy; "segun ellos mismos decian, se
hacen perros, puercos y gimias."[31]

Great as are the powers claimed by the medicine-men, it is admitted
that baleful influences may be at work to counteract and nullify them.
As has already been shown, among these are the efforts of witches, the
presence of women who are sometimes supposed to be so "antimedicinal,"
if such a term may be applied, that the mere stepping over a warrior's
gun will destroy its value.

There may be other medicine-men at work with countercharms, and there
may be certain neglects on the part of the person applying for aid
which will invalidate all that the medicine-man can do for him. For
example, while the "hoop-me-koff" was raging among the Mohave the
fathers of families afflicted with it were forbidden to touch coffee
or salt, and were directed to bathe themselves in the current of the
Colorado. But the whooping cough ran its course in spite of all that
the medicine-men could do to check its progress. When the Walapai
were about to engage in a great hunt continence was enjoined upon the
warriors for a certain period.

Besides all these accidental impairments of the vigor of the
medicine-men, there seems to be a gradual decadence of their abilities
which can be rejuvenated only by rubbing the back against a sacred
stone projecting from the ground in the country of the Walapai, not
many miles from the present town of Kingman, on the Atlantic and
Pacific Railroad. Another stone of the same kind was formerly used for
the same purpose by the medicine-men of the pueblos of Laguna and
Acoma, as I have been informed by them. I am unable to state whether
or not such recuperative properties were ever ascribed to the medicine
stone at the Sioux agency near Standing Rock, S. Dak., or to the great
stone around which the medicine-men of Tusayan marched in solemn
procession in their snake dance, but I can say that in the face of the
latter, each time that I saw it (at different dates between 1874 and
1881), there was a niche which was filled with votive offerings.

Regnard, a traveler in Lapland, makes the statement that when the
shamans of that country began to lose their teeth they retired from
practice. There is nothing of this kind to be noted among the Apache
or other tribes of North America with which I am in any degree
familiar. On the contrary, some of the most influential of those whom
I have known have been old and decrepit men, with thin, gray hair and
teeth gone or loose in their heads. In a description given by
Corbusier of a great "medicine" ceremony of the Apache-Yuma at Camp
Verde, it is stated that the principal officer was a "toothless,
gray-haired man."[32]

Among many savage or barbarous peoples of the world albinos have been
reserved for the priestly office. There are many well marked examples
of albinism among the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona, especially
among the Zuñi and Tusayan; but in no case did I learn that the
individuals thus distinguished were accredited with power not
ascribable to them under ordinary circumstances. Among the Cheyenne I
saw one family, all of whose members had the crown lock white. They
were not medicine-men, neither were any of the members of the single
albino family among the Navajo in 1881.

It is a well known fact that among the Romans epilepsy was looked upon
as a disease sent direct from the gods, and that it was designated the
"sacred disease"--morbus sacer. Mahomet is believed to have been an
epileptic. The nations of the East regard epileptics and the insane as
inspired from on high.

Our native tribes do not exactly believe that the mildly insane are
gifted with medical or spiritual powers; but they regard them with a
feeling of superstitious awe, akin to reverence. I have personally
known several cases of this kind, though not within late years, and am
not able to say whether or not the education of the younger generation
in our schools has as yet exercised an influence in eradicating this
sentiment.

Strange to say, I was unable to find any observance of lucky or
unlucky days among the Apache. The Romans in the period of their
greatest enlightenment had their days, both "fasti" and "nefasti."
Neither was I able to determine the selection of auspicious days for
marriage; indeed, it was stated that the medicine-men had nothing to
do with marriage. Among the Zapotecs the wedding day was fixed by the
priests.[33] In this the Apache again stands above the Roman who would
not marry in the month dedicated to the goddess Maia (May), because
human sacrifice used to be offered in that month. This superstition
survived in Europe until a comparatively recent period. According to
Picart the Hebrew rabbis designated the days upon which weddings
should take place.

Herbert Spencer[34] says that the medicine-men of the Arawaks claimed
the "jus primæ noctis." There is no such privilege claimed or conceded
among the North American tribes, to my knowledge, and the Arawaks
would seem to be alone among the natives of the whole continent in
this respect.

In the town of Cumaná, in Amaracapanna, apparently close to
Carthagena, in the present republic of Colombia, South America, the
medicine-men, according to Girolamo Benzoni, exercised the "jus primæ
noctis."[35]

To recover stolen or lost property, especially ponies, is one of the
principal tasks imposed upon the medicine-men. They rely greatly upon
the aid of pieces of crystal in effecting this. I made a friend of an
Apache medicine-man by presenting him with a large crystal of
denticulated spar, much larger than the one of whose mystical
properties he had just been boasting to me. I can not say how this
property of the crystal is manifested. Na-a-cha, the medicine-man
alluded to, could give no explanation, except that by looking into it
he could see everything he wanted to see.

The name of an American Indian is a sacred thing, not to be divulged
by the owner himself without due consideration. One may ask a warrior
of any tribe to give his name and the question will be met with either
a point-blank refusal or the more diplomatic evasion that he can not
understand what is wanted of him. The moment a friend approaches, the
warrior first interrogated will whisper what is wanted, and the friend
can tell the name, receiving a reciprocation of the courtesy from the
other. The giving of names to children is a solemn matter, and one in
which the medicine-men should always be consulted. Among the Plains
tribes the children were formerly named at the moment of piercing
their ears, which should occur at the first sun dance after their
birth, or rather as near their first year as possible. The wailing of
the children at the sun dance as their ears were slit will always be
to me a most distressing memory.

The warriors of the Plains tribes used to assume agnomens or battle
names, and I have known some of them who had enjoyed as many as four
or five; but the Apache name once conferred seems to remain through
life, except in the case of the medicine-men, who, I have always
suspected, change their names upon assuming their profession, much as
a professor of learning in China is said to do.

The names of mothers-in-law are never mentioned and it would be highly
improper to ask for them by name; neither are the names of the dead,
at least not for a long period of time. But it often happens that the
child will bear the name of its grandfather or some other relative who
was a distinguished warrior.

All charms, idols, talismans, medicine hats, and other sacred regalia
should be made, or at least blessed, by the medicine-men. They assume
charge of all ceremonial feasts and dances--such as the nubile dance,
which occurs when any maiden attains marriageable age, and war dances
preceding battle. Nearly all preparations for the warpath are under
their control, and when on the trail of the enemy their power is
almost supreme. Not a night passes but that the medicine-men get into
the "ta-a-chi," or sweat bath, if such a thing be possible, and there
remain for some minutes, singing and making "medicine" for the good of
the party. After dark they sit around the fire and sing and talk with
the spirits and predict the results of the campaign. I have alluded
quite fully to these points in a previous work.

When a man is taken sick the medicine-men are in the zenith of their
glory. One or two will assume charge of the case, and the clansmen and
friends of the patient are called upon to supply the fire and help out
in the chorus. On such occasions the Apache use no music except a drum
or a rawhide. The drum is nearly always improvised from an iron camp
kettle, partially filled with water and covered with a piece of cloth,
well soaped and drawn as tight as possible. The drumstick does not
terminate in a ball, as with us, but is curved into a circle, and the
stroke is not perpendicular to the surface, but is often given from
one side to the other. The American Indian's theory of disease is the
theory of the Chaldean, the Assyrian, the Hebrew, the Greek, the
Roman--all bodily disorders and ailments are attributed to the
maleficence of spirits who must be expelled or placated. Where there
is only one person sick, the exercises consist of singing and drumming
exclusively, but dancing is added in all cases when an epidemic is
raging in the tribe. The medicine-men lead off in the singing, to
which the assistants reply with a refrain which at times has appeared
to me to be antiphonal. Then the chorus is swelled by the voices of
the women and larger children and rises and falls with monotonous
cadence. Prayers are recited, several of which have been repeated to
me and transcribed; but very frequently the words are ejaculatory and
confined to such expressions as "ugashe" (go away), and again there is
to be noted the same mumbling of incoherent phrases which has been
the stock in trade of medicine-men in all ages and places. This use of
gibberish was admitted by the medicine-men, who claimed that the words
employed and known only to themselves (each individual seemed to have
his own vocabulary) were mysteriously effective in dispelling sickness
of any kind. Gibberish was believed to be more potential in magic than
was language which the practitioner or his dupes could comprehend. In
Saxon Leechdoms, compiled by Cockayne, will be seen a text of
gibberish to be recited by those wishing to stanch the flow of blood.
(See p. 464.)

In the following citations it will be observed that Adair and Catlin
were grievously in error in their respective statements. Adair denies
that Indians on the warpath or elsewhere depend upon their "augurs"
for instruction and guidance.[36] Gomara is authority for the
statement that the natives of Hispaniola never made war without
consulting their medicine-men--"no sin respuesta de los ídolos ó sin
la de los sacerdotes, que adevinan."[37]

The medicine-men of Chicora (our present South Carolina) sprinkled the
warriors with the juice of a certain herb as they were about to engage
in battle.[38]

In Chicora "Mascaban los Sacerdotes una Ierva, i con el çumo de ella
rociaban los Soldados, quando querian dar batalla, que era
bendecirlos."[39]

"Among the Abipones [of Paraguay] the medicine-man teaches them the
place, time, and manner proper for attacking wild beasts or the
enemy."[40]

"The North American Indians are nowhere idolaters."[41]

Idols were always carried to war by the natives of Hispaniola: "Atanse
á la frente ídolos chiquitos cuando quieren pelear."[42]

"Among the primitive Germans * * * the maintenance of discipline in
the field as in the council was left in great measure to the priests;
they took the auguries and gave the signal for onset."[43]

"In New Caledonia * * * the priests go to battle, but sit in the
distance, _fasting_ and praying for victory."[44]

Our hunting songs and war songs may be a survival of the incantations
of Celtic or Teutonic medicine-men.

The adoption or retention of obsolete phraseology as a hieratic
language which has been noted among many nations of the highest
comparative development is a manifestation of the same mental process.

Gibberish was so invariable an accompaniment of the sacred antics of
the medicine-men of Mexico that Fray Diego Duran warns his readers
that if they see any Indian dancing and singing, "ó diciendo algunas
palabras que no son inteligibles, pues es de saber que aquellos
representaban Dioses."[45]

Henry Youle Hind says:

     The Dakotahs have a common and a sacred language. The
     conjurer, the war prophet, and the dreamer employ a language
     in which words are borrowed from other Indian tongues and
     dialects; they make much use of descriptive expressions, and
     use words apart from the ordinary signification. The Ojibways
     abbreviate their sentences and employ many elliptical forms
     of expression, so much so that half-breeds, quite familiar
     with the colloquial language, fail to comprehend a
     medicine-man when in the full flow of excited oratory.[46]

"Blood may be stanched by the words sicycuma, cucuma, ucuma, cuma,
uma, ma, a."[47] There are numbers of these gibberish formulæ given,
but one is sufficient.

"The third part of the magic[48] of the Chaldeans belonged entirely to
that description of charlatanism which consists in the use of
gestures, postures, and mysterious speeches, as byplay, and which
formed an accompaniment to the proceedings of the thaumaturgist well
calculated to mislead."[49]

Sahagun[50] calls attention to the fact that the Aztec hymns were in
language known only to the initiated.

It must be conceded that the monotonous intonation of the medicine-men
is not without good results, especially in such ailments as can be
benefited by the sleep which such singing induces. On the same
principle that petulant babies are lulled to slumber by the crooning
of their nurses, the sick will frequently be composed to a sound and
beneficial slumber, from which they awake refreshed and ameliorated. I
can recall, among many other cases, those of Chaundezi ("Long Ear,"
or "Mule") and Chemihuevi-Sal, both chiefs of the Apache, who
recovered under the treatment of their own medicine-men after our
surgeons had abandoned the case. This recovery could be attributed
only to the sedative effects of the chanting.

Music of a gentle, monotonous kind has been prescribed in the medical
treatment of Romans, Greeks, and even of comparatively modern
Europeans. John Mason Goode, in his translation of Lucretius' De
Natura Rerum, mentions among others Galen, Theophrastus, and Aulus
Gellius. An anonymous writer in the Press of Philadelphia, Pa., under
date of December 23, 1888, takes the ground that its use should be
resumed.

The noise made by medicine-men around the couch of the sick is no
better, no worse, than the clangor of bells in Europe. Bells, we are
told, were rung on every possible occasion. Brand is full of quaint
information on this head. According to him they were rung in Spain
when women were in labor,[51] at weddings,[52] to dispel thunder,
drive away bad spirits, and frustrate the deviltry of witches;[53]
throughout Europe on the arrival of emperors, kings, the higher
nobility, bishops, etc.,[54] to ease pain of the dead,[55] were
solemnly baptized, receiving names,[56] and became the objects of
superstition, various powers being ascribed to them.[57]

Adair, who was gifted with an excellent imagination, alludes to the
possession of an "ark" by the medicine-men of the Creeks and other
tribes of the Mississippi country, among whom he lived for so many
years as a trader. The Apache have no such things; but I did see a
sacred bundle or package, which I was allowed to feel, but not to
open, and which I learned contained some of the lightning-riven twigs
upon which they place such dependence. This was carried by a young
medicine-man, scarcely out of his teens, during Gen. Crook's
expedition into the Sierra Madre, Mexico, in 1883, in pursuit of the
hostile Chiricahua Apache. Maj. Frank North also told me that the
Pawnee had a sacred package which contained, among other objects of
veneration, the skin of an albino buffalo calf.

There are allusions by several authorities to the necessity of
confession by the patient before the efforts of the medicine-men can
prove efficacious.[58]

This confession, granting that it really existed, could well be
compared to the warpath secret, which imposed upon all the warriors
engaged the duty of making a clean breast of all delinquencies and
secured them immunity from punishment for the same, even if they had
been offenses against some of the other warriors present.

The Sioux and others had a custom of "striking the post" in their
dances, especially the sun dance, and there was then an obligation
upon the striker to tell the truth. I was told that the medicine-men
were wont to strike with a club the stalagmites in the sacred caves of
the Apache, but what else they did I was not able to ascertain.

Under the title of "hoddentin" will be found the statement made by one
of the Apache as to the means employed to secure the presence of a
medicine-man at the bedside of the sick. I give it for what it is
worth, merely stating that Kohl, in his Kitchi-Gami, if I remember
correctly, refers to something of the same kind where the medicine-man
is represented as being obliged to respond to every summons made
unless he can catch the messenger within a given distance and kick
him.

There is very little discrepancy of statement as to what would happen
to a medicine-man in case of failure to cure; but many conflicting
stories have been in circulation as to the number of patients he would
be allowed to kill before incurring risk of punishment. My own
conclusions are that there is no truth whatever in the numbers
alleged, either three or seven, but that a medicine-man would be in
danger, under certain circumstances, if he let only one patient die on
his hands. These circumstances would be the verdict of the spirit
doctors that he was culpably negligent or ignorant. He could evade
death at the hands of the patient's kinsfolk only by flight or by
demonstrating that a witch had been at the bottom of the mischief.[59]

Medicine-men, called "wizards" by Falkner, sometimes were killed by
the Patagonians, when unsuccessful in their treatment, and were also
obliged to wear women's clothing. They were selected in youth for
supposed qualifications, especially if epileptic.[60]

In Hispaniola we are told that when a man died his friends resorted to
necromancy to learn whether he had died through the neglect of the
attending medicine-man to observe the prescribed fasts. If they found
the medicine-man guilty, they killed him and broke all his bones. In
spite of this the medicine-man often returned to life and had to be
killed again, and mutilated by castration and otherwise.[61]

Herrera repeats the story about a patient who died and whose relatives
felt dissatisfied with the medicine-man:

     Para saber si la muerte fue por su culpa, tomaban el çumo de
     cierta Ierva, i cortaban las vñas del muerto, i los cabellos
     de encima de la frente, i los hacian polvos, i mezclados con
     el çumo, se lo daban à beber al muerto por la boca, i las
     narices, i luego le preguntaban muchas veces, si el Medico
     guardò dieta, hasta que hablando el demonio, respondia tan
     claro, como si fuera vivo, i decia, que el Medico no hiço
     dieta, i luego le bolvian à la sepultura.

Then the relatives attacked the medicine-man: "I le daban tantos
palos, que le quebraban los braços, i las piernas, i à otros sacaban
los ojos, i los cortaban sus miembros genitales."[62]

Alexander the Great expressed his sorrow at the death of his friend
Hephæstion by crucifying the poor physicians who had attended the
deceased.[63]

The medicine-men of the Natchez were put to death when they failed to
cure.[64]

The Apache attach as much importance to the necessity of "laying the
manes" of their dead as the Romans did. They have not localized the
site of the future world as the Mohave have, but believe that the dead
remain for a few days or nights in the neighborhood of the place where
they departed from this life, and that they try to communicate with
their living friends through the voice of the owl. If a relative hears
this sound by night, or, as often happens, he imagines that he has
seen the ghost itself, he hurries to the nearest medicine-man, relates
his story, and carries out to the smallest detail the prescription of
feast, singing, dancing, and other means of keeping the spirit in good
humor on the journey which it will now undertake to the "house of
spirits," the "chidin-bi-kungua." Nearly all medicine-men claim the
power of going there at will, and not a few who are not medicine-men
claim the same faculty.

The medicine-men of the Apache are paid by each patient or by his
friends at the time they are consulted. There is no such thing as a
maintenance fund, no system of tithes, nor any other burden for their
support, although I can recall having seen while among the Zuñi one of
the medicine-men who was making cane holders for the tobacco to be
smoked at a coming festival, and whose fields were attended and his
herds guarded by the other members of the tribe.

Among the Eskimo "the priest receives fees beforehand."[65]

"Tous ces sorciers ne réfusaient leurs secours à personne, pourvu
qu'on les payait."[66]

"Among other customs was that of those who came to be cured, giving
their bow and arrows, shoes, and beads to the Indians who accompanied
Vaca and his companions."[67] (But we must remember that Vaca and his
comrades traveled across the continent as medicine-men.)

"Las sementeras que hacen los Assenais son tambien de comunidad y
comienzan la primera en la casa de su Chemisi que es su sacerdote
principal y el que cuida de la Casa del Fuego."[68] The Asinai
extended as far east as the present city of Natchitoches
(Nacogdoches).

Spencer quotes Bernan and Hilhouse to the effect that the poor among
the Arawaks of South America (Guiana) have no names because they can
not pay the medicine-men.[69]

As a general rule, the medicine-men do not attend to their own
families, neither do they assist in cases of childbirth unless
specially needed. To both these rules there are exceptions
innumerable. While I was at San Carlos Agency, Surgeon Davis was sent
for to help in a case of uterine inertia, and I myself have been asked
in the pueblo of Nambé, New Mexico, to give advice in a case of
puerperal fever.

The medicine-men are accused of administering poisons to their
enemies. Among the Navajo I was told that they would put finely
pounded glass in food.


MEDICINE-WOMEN.

  [Illustration: FIG. 429.--Medicine arrow used by Apache and Pueblo
  women.]

There are medicine-women as well as medicine-men among the Apache,
with two of whom I was personally acquainted. One named "Captain Jack"
was well advanced in years and physically quite feeble, but bright in
intellect and said to be well versed in the lore of her people. She
was fond of instructing her grandchildren, whom she supported, in the
prayers and invocations to the gods worshiped by her fathers, and I
have several times listened carefully and unobserved to these
recitations and determined that the prayers were the same as those
which had already been given to myself as those of the tribe. The
other was named Tze-go-juni, a Chiricahua, and a woman with a most
romantic history. She had passed five years in captivity among the
Mexicans in Sonora and had learned to speak Spanish with facility. A
mountain lion had severely mangled her in the shoulder and knee, and
once she had been struck by lightning; so that whether by reason of
superior attainments or by an appeal to the superstitious reverence of
her comrades, she wielded considerable influence. These medicine-women
devote their attention principally to obstetrics, and have many
peculiar stories to relate concerning pre-natal influences and matters
of that sort. Tze-go-juni wore at her neck the stone amulet, shaped
like a spear, which is figured in the illustrations of this paper. The
material was the silex from the top of a mountain, taken from a ledge
at the foot of a tree which had been struck by lightning. The fact
that siliceous rock will emit sparks when struck by another hard body
appeals to the reasoning powers of the savage as a proof that the fire
must have been originally deposited therein by the bolt of lightning.
A tiny piece of this arrow or lance was broken off and ground into
the finest powder, and then administered in water to women during time
of gestation. I have found the same kind of arrows in use among the
women of Laguna and other pueblos. This matter will receive more
extended treatment in my coming monograph on "Stone Worship."

Mendieta is authority for the statement that the Mexicans had both
medicine-men and medicine-women. The former attended to the sick men
and the latter to the sick women. "Á las mujeres siempre las curaban
otras mujeres, y á los hombres otros hombres."[70] Some of the
medicine-women seem to have made an illicit use of the knowledge they
had acquired, in which case both the medicine-woman and the woman
concerned were put to death. "La mujer preñada que tomaba con que
abortar y echar la criatura, ella y la física que le habia dado con
que la lanzase, ambas morian."[71]

Gomara asserts that they were to be found among the Indians of Chicora
(South Carolina).[72] He calls them "viejas" (old women).

"Los Medicos eran Mugeres viejas, i no havia otras."[73] In Nicaragua,
"Las Viejas curaban los Enfermos."[74]

There were medicine-women in Goazacoalco: "Tienen Medicos para curar
las enfermedades, i los mas eran Mugeres, grandes Herbolarias, que
hacian todas las curas con Iervas."[75]

Bernal Diaz, in 1568, speaks of having, on a certain occasion, at the
summit of a high mountain, found "an Indian woman, very fat, and
having with her a dog of that species, which they breed in order to
eat, and which do not bark. This Indian was a witch; she was in the
act of sacrificing the dog, which is a signal of hostility."[76]

"The office of medicine-man though generally usurped by males does not
appertain to them exclusively, and at the time of our visit the one
most extensively known was a black (or meztizo) woman, who had
acquired the most unbounded influence by shrewdness, joined to a
hideous personal appearance, and a certain mystery with which she was
invested."[77] Creeks have medicine-women as well as medicine-men. The
Eskimo have medicine-men and medicine-women.[78] The medicine-men and
women of the Dakota "can cause ghosts to appear on occasion."[79]

Speaking of the Chippewa, Spencer says: "Women may practice
soothsaying, but the higher religious functions are performed only by
men."[80]

The medicine-men of the Apache do not assume to live upon food
different from that used by the laity. There are such things as sacred
feasts among the tribes of North America--as, for example, the feast
of stewed puppy at the sun dance of the Sioux--but in these all people
share.

In the mortuary ceremonies of the medicine-men there is a difference
of degree, but not of kind. The Mohave, however, believe that the
medicine-men go to a heaven of their own. They also believe vaguely in
four different lives after this one.

Cabeza de Vaca says that the Floridians buried their ordinary dead,
but burned their medicine-men, whose incinerated bones they preserved
and drank in water.[81] "After they [the medicine-men and women of the
Dakota] have four times run their career in human shape they are
annihilated."[82] Schultze says that the medicine-men of the Sioux and
the medicine-women also, after death "may be transformed into wild
beasts."[82]

Surgeon Smart shows that among other offices entrusted to the
medicine-men of the Apache was the reception of distinguished
strangers.[83] Long asserts that the medicine-men of the Otoe, Omaha,
and others along the Missouri pretended to be able to converse with
the fetus in utero and predict the sex.[84] Nothing of that kind has
ever come under my notice. Adair says that the medicine-men of the
Cherokee would not allow snakes to be killed.[85] The Apache will not
let snakes be killed within the limits of the camp by one of their own
people, but they will not only allow a stranger to kill them, but
request him to do so. They made this request of me on three occasions.

Several of the most influential medicine-men whom I have known were
blind, among others old Na-ta-do-tash, whose medicine hat figures in
these pages. Whether this blindness was the result of old age or due
to the frenzy of dancing until exhausted in all seasons I am unable to
conjecture. Schultze says of the shamans of Siberia: "This artificial
frenzy has such a serious effect upon the body, and more particularly
the eyes, that many of the shamans become blind; a circumstance which
enhances the esteem in which they are held."[86] Some of the
medicine-men of Peru went blind from overexertion in their dances,
although Gomara assigns as a reason that it was from fear of the demon
with whom they talked. "Y aun algunos se quiebran los ojos para
semejante hablar [i.e., talk with the devil]; y creo que lo hacian de
miedo, porque todos ellos se atapan los ojos cuando hablan con
el."[87]

Dunbar tells us that the medicine-men of the Pawnee swallowed arrows
and knives, and had also the trick of apparently killing a man and
bringing him back to life. The same power was claimed by the
medicine-men of the Zuñi, and the story told me by old Pedro Pino of
the young men whom they used to kill and restore to life, will be
found in "The Snake Dance of the Moquis."


REMEDIES AND MODES OF TREATMENT.

The materia medica of the Apache is at best limited and comprehends
scarcely anything more than roots, leaves, and other vegetable matter.
In gathering these remedies they resort to no superstitious ceremonies
that I have been able to detect, although I have not often seen them
collecting. They prefer incantation to pharmacy at all times, although
the squaws of the Walapai living near old Camp Beale Springs in 1873,
were extremely fond of castor oil, for which they would beg each day.

The main reliance for nearly all disorders is the sweat bath, which is
generally conducive of sound repose. All Indians know the benefit to
be derived from relieving an overloaded stomach, and resort to the
titillation of the fauces with a feather to induce nausea. I have seen
the Zuñi take great drafts of lukewarm water and then practice the
above as a remedy in dyspepsia.

When a pain has become localized and deep seated, the medicine-men
resort to suction of the part affected, and raise blisters in that
way. I was once asked by the Walapai chief, Sequanya, to look at his
back and sides. He was covered with cicatrices due to such treatment,
the medicine-men thinking thus to alleviate the progressive paralysis
from which he had been long a sufferer, and from which he shortly
afterwards died. After a long march, I have seen Indians of different
bands expose the small of the back uncovered to the fierce heat of a
pile of embers to produce a rubefacient effect and stimulate what is
known as a weak back. They drink freely of hot teas or infusions of
herbs and grasses for the cure of chills. They are all dextrous in the
manufacture of splints out of willow twigs, and seem to meet with much
success in their treatment of gunshot wounds, which they do not dress
as often as white practitioners, alleging that the latter, by so
frequently removing the bandages, unduly irritate the wounds. I have
known them to apply moxa, and I remember to have seen two deep scars
upon the left hand of the great Apache chief Cochise, due to this
cause.

It should not be forgotten that the world owes a large debt to the
medicine-men of America, who first discovered the virtues of coca,
sarsaparilla, jalap, cinchona, and guiacum. They understand the
administration of enemata, and have an apparatus made of the paunch of
a sheep and the hollow leg bone.

Scarification is quite common, and is used for a singular purpose. The
Apache scouts when tired were in the habit of sitting down and lashing
their legs with bunches of nettles until the blood flowed. This,
according to their belief, relieved the exhaustion.

The medicine-men of the Floridians, according to Vaca, sucked and blew
on the patient, and put hot stones on his abdomen to take away pain;
they also scarified, and they seemed to have used moxas. "Ils
cautérisent aussi avec le feu."[88]

The medicine-men of Hispaniola cured by suction, and when they had
extracted a stone or other alleged cause of sickness it was preserved
as a sacred relic, especially by the women, who looked upon it as of
great aid in parturition.[89] Venegas speaks of a tube called the
"chacuaco," formed out of a very hard black stone, used by the
medicine-men of California in sucking such parts of the patient's body
as were grievously afflicted with pains. In these tubes they sometimes
placed lighted tobacco and blew down upon the part affected after the
manner of a moxa, I suppose.[90]

The men of Panuco were so addicted to drunkenness that we are told:
"Lorsqu'ils sont fatigués de boire leur vin par la bouche, ils se
couchent, élèvent les jambes en l'air, et s'en font introduire dans le
fondement au moyen d'une canule, taut que le corps peut en
contenir."[91] The administration of wine in this manner may have been
as a medicine, and the Aztecs of Panuco may have known that nutriment
could be assimilated in this way. It shows at least that the Aztecs
were acquainted with enemata.

"Quando la enfermedad les parecia que tenia necesidad de evacuacion,
usaban del aiuda ò clister [clyster], con cocimientos de Iervas, i
polvos, en Agua, i tomandola en la boca, con yn canuto de hueso de
pierna de Garça, la hechaban, i obraba copiosamente: i en esto pudo
esta Gente ser industriada de la Cigueña, que con su largo pico se
cura, como escriven los Naturales."[92] Smith says that the
medicine-men of the Araucanians "are well acquainted with the proper
use of emetics, cathartics, and sudorifics. For the purpose of
injection they make use of a bladder, as is still commonly practiced
among the Chilenos."[93] Oviedo says of the medicine-men: "Conoçian
muchas hiervas de que usaban y eran apropiadas á diversas
enfermedades."[94] One of the most curious remedies presented in
Bancroft's first volume is the use of a poultice of mashed poison-ivy
leaves as a remedy for ringworm by the Indians of Lower California.

The Indians of Topia (in the Sierra Madre, near Sinaloa), were in the
habit of scarifying their tired legs and aching temples.[95] The
Arawaks, of Guiana, also scarified, according to Spencer.[96] The
inhabitants of Kamchatka use enemata much in the same way as the
Navajo and Apache do.[97] They also use moxa made of a fungus.[98]

It has never been my good fortune to notice an example of trephining
among our savage tribes, although I have seen a good many wounded,
some of them in the head. Trephining has been practiced by the
aborigines of America, and the whole subject as noted among the
primitive peoples of all parts of the globe has been treated in a
monograph by Dr. Robert Fletcher, U. S. Army.[99]

Dr. Fordyce Grinnell, who was for some years attached to the Wichita
Agency as resident physician, has published the results of his
observations in a monograph, entitled "The healing art as practiced by
the Indians of the Plains," in which he says: "Wet cupping is resorted
to quite frequently. The surface is scarified by a sharp stone or
knife, and a buffalo horn is used as the cupping glass. Cauterizing
with red-hot irons is not infrequently employed." A cautery of
"burning pith" was used by the Araucanians.[100]

"It may be safely affirmed that a majority of the nation [Choctaw]
prefer to receive the attentions of a white physician when one can be
obtained. * * * When the doctor is called to his patient he commences
operations by excluding all white men and all who disbelieve in the
efficacy of his incantations."[101] "The [Apache] scouts seem to
prefer their own medicine-men when seriously ill, and believe the
weird singing and praying around the couch is more effective than the
medicine dealt out by our camp 'sawbones.'"[102] The promptness with
which the American Indian recovers from severe wounds has been
commented upon by many authorities. From my personal observation I
could, were it necessary, adduce many examples. The natives of
Australia seem to be endowed with the same recuperative powers.[103]

After all other means have failed the medicine-men of the Southwest
devote themselves to making altars in the sand and clay near the couch
of the dying, because, as Antonio Besias explained, this act was all
the same as extreme unction. They portray the figures of various
animals, and then take a pinch of the dust or ashes from each one and
rub upon the person of the sick man as well as upon themselves.
Similar altars or tracings were made by the medicine-men of Guatemala
when they were casting the horoscope of a child and seeking to
determine what was to be its medicine in life. This matter of sand
altars has been fully treated by Matthews in the report of the Bureau
of Ethnology for 1883-'84, and there are several representations to be
found in my Snake Dance of the Moquis. "Writing on sand" is a mode of
divination among the Chinese.[104] Padre Boscana represents the
"puplem" or medicine-men of the Indians of California as making or
sketching "a most uncouth and ridiculous figure of an animal on the
ground," and presumably of sands, clays, and other such
materials.[105]


HAIR AND WIGS.

The medicine-men of the Apache were, at least while young, extremely
careful of their hair, and I have often seen those who were very
properly proud of their long and glossy chevelure. Particularly do I
recall to mind the "doctor" at San Carlos in 1885, who would never
allow his flowing black tresses to be touched. But they do not roach
their hair, as I have seen the Pawnee do; they do not add false hair
to their own, as I have seen among the Crow of Montana and the Mohave
of the Rio Colorado; they do not apply plasters of mud as do their
neighbors the Yuma, Cocopa, Mohave and Pima, and in such a manner as
to convince spectators that the intent was ceremonial; and they do not
use wigs in their dances. Wigs made of black wool may still be found
occasionally among the Pueblos, but the Apache do not use them, and
there is no reference to such a thing in their myths.

It is to be understood that these paragraphs are not treating upon the
superstitions concerning the human hair, as such, but simply of the
employment of wigs, which would seem in former days among some of the
tribes of the Southwest to have been made of human hair presented by
patients who had recovered from sickness or by mourners whose
relatives had died.[106] Wigs with masks attached were worn by the
Costa Ricans, according to Gabb.[107]

Some of the Apache-Yuma men wear long rolls of matted hair behind,
which are the thickness of a finger, and two feet or more in length,
and composed of old hair mixed with that growing on the head, or are
in the form of a wig, made of hair that has been cut off when mourning
the dead, to be worn on occasions of ceremony.[108]

Observations of the same kind have been made by Speke upon the customs
of the people of Africa in his Nile,[109] concerning the Kidi people
at the head of the Nile; by Cook, in Hawkesworth's Voyages,[110]
speaking of Tahiti, and by Barcia,[111] speaking of Greenland. Sir
Samuel Baker describes the peculiar wigs worn by the tribes on Lake
Albert Nyanza, formed of the owner's hair and contributions from all
sources plastered with clay into a stiff mass.[112]

Melchior Diaz reported that the people of Cibola "élèvent dans leurs
maisons des animaux velus, grands comme des chiens d'Espagne. Ils les
tondent, ils en font des perruques de couleurs." This report was sent
by the Viceroy Mendoza to the Emperor Charles V. Exactly what these
domesticated animals were, it would be hard to say; they may possibly
have been Rocky Mountain sheep,[113] though Mr. Cushing, who has
studied the question somewhat extensively, is of the opinion that they
may have been a variety of the llama.

The Assinaboine used to wear false hair, and also had the custom of
dividing their hair into "joints" of an inch or more, marked by a sort
of paste of red earth and glue;[114] The Mandan did the same.[115] In
this they both resemble the Mohave of the Rio Colorado. "The
Algonquins believed also in a malignant Maniton. * * * She wore a robe
made of the hair of her victims, for she was the cause of death."[116]

The Apache, until within the last twenty years, plucked out the
eyelashes and often the eyebrows, but only a few of them still persist
in the practice. Kane says that the Winnebagoes "have the custom of
pulling out their eyebrows."[117] Herrera says that among the signs by
which the Tlascaltecs recognized their gods when they saw them in
visions, were "vianle sin cejas, i sin pestañas."[118]


MUDHEADS.

Reference has been made to a ceremonial plastering of mud upon the
heads of Indians. When General Crook was returning from his expedition
into the Sierra Madre, Mexico, in 1883, in which expedition a few of
the enemy had been killed, the scouts upon reaching the San Bernardino
River made a free use of the sweat bath, with much singing and other
formulas, the whole being part of the lustration which all warriors
must undergo as soon as possible after being engaged in battle. The
Apache proper did not apply mud to their heads, but the Apache-Yuma
did.

Capt. Grossman, U. S. Army,[119] says of the Pima method of
purification after killing an Apache, that the isolation of the
warrior lasts for sixteen days, during which period no one speaks to
him, not even the old woman who brings him his food. The first day he
touches neither food nor drink, and he eats sparingly for the whole
time, touching neither meat nor salt; he bathes frequently in the
Gila River and nearly the whole time keeps his head covered with a
plaster of mud and mesquite.

"The boyes [of the Massagueyes] of seven or eight yeeres weare clay
fastned on the hayre of the head, and still renewed with new clay,
weighing sometimes five or six pounds. Nor may they be free hereof
till in warre or lawfull fight hee hath killed a man."[120]

According to Padre Geronimo Boscana, the traditions of the Indians of
California show that they "fed upon a kind of clay."[121] But this
clay was often plastered upon their heads "as a kind of ornament."
These were the Indians of San Juan Capistrano, who strongly resembled
the Mohave. After all, the "mudheads" of the Mohave are no worse than
those people in India who still bedaub their heads with "the holy mud
of the Ganges." Up to this time the mud has been the "blue mud" of the
Colorado and other rivers, but when we find Herbert Spencer mentioning
that the heads of the Comanche are "besmeared with a dull red clay" we
may suspect that we have stumbled upon an analogue of the custom of
the Aztec priests, who bedaubed their heads with the coagulating
lifeblood of their human victims. We know that there has been such a
substitution practiced among the Indians of the Pueblo of Jemez, who
apply red ocher to the mouth of the stone mountain lion, in whose
honor human blood was once freely shed. The practice of so many of the
Plains tribes of painting the median line of the head with vermilion
seems to be traceable back to a similar custom.


SCALP SHIRTS.

The shirt depicted on Pl. III, made of buckskin and trimmed with human
scalps, would seem to belong to the same category with the mantles
made of votive hair, mentioned as being in use among the California
tribe a little more than a century ago. It was presented to me by
Little Big Man, who led me to believe that it had once belonged to the
great chief of the Sioux, Crazy Horse, or had at least been worn by
him. Of its symbolism I am unable to find the explanation. The colors
yellow and blue would seem to represent the earth and water or sky,
the feathers attached would refer to the birds, and the round circle
on the breast is undoubtedly the sun. There is a cocoon affixed to one
shoulder, the significance of which I do not know.

  [Illustration: SCALP SHIRT OF "LITTLE BIG MAN" (SIOUX). Plate III.]


THE RHOMBUS, OR BULL ROARER.

The rhombus was first seen by me at the snake dance of the Tusayan, in
the village of Walpi, Ariz., in the month of August, 1881. Previous to
that date I had heard of it vaguely, but had never been able to see it
in actual use. The medicine-men twirled it rapidly, and with a uniform
motion, about the head and from front to rear, and succeeded in
faithfully imitating the sound of a gust of rain-laden wind. As
explained to me by one of the medicine-men, by making this sound they
compelled the wind and rain to come to the aid of the crops. At a
later date I found it in use among the Apache, and for the same
purpose. The season near the San Carlos Agency during the year 1884
had been unusually dry, and the crops were parched. The medicine-men
arranged a procession, two of the features of which were the rhombus
and a long handled cross, upon which various figures were depicted. Of
the latter, I will speak at another time.

  [Illustration: FIG. 430.--Rhombus of the Apache.]

Again, while examining certain ruins in the Verde Valley, in central
Arizona, I found that the "Cliff Dwellers," as it has become customary
to call the prehistoric inhabitants, had employed the same weapon of
persuasion in their intercourse with their gods. I found the rhombus
also among the Rio Grande Pueblo tribes and the Zuñi. Dr. Washington
Matthews has described it as existing among the Navajo and Maj. J. W.
Powell has observed it in use among the Utes of Nevada and Utah. As
will be shown, its use in all parts of the world seems to have been as
general as that of any sacred implement known to primitive man, not
even excepting the sacred cords or rosaries discussed in this paper.
Three forms of the rhombus have come under my own observation, each
and all apparently connected in symbolism with the lightning. The
first terminates in a triangular point, and the general shape is
either that of a long, narrow, parallelogram, capped with an
equilateral triangle, or else the whole figure is that of a slender
isosceles triangle. Where the former shape was used, as at the Tusayan
snake dance, the tracing of a snake or lightning in blue or yellow
followed down the length of the rhombus and terminated in the small
triangle, which did duty as the snake's head. The second pattern was
found by Dr. Matthews among the Navajo, and by myself in the old cliff
dwellings. The one which I found was somewhat decayed, and the
extremity of the triangle was broken off. There was no vestige of
painting left. The second form was serrated on both edges to simulate
the form of the snake or lightning. The third form, in use among the
Apache, is an oblong of 7 or 8 inches in length, one and a quarter
inches in width by a quarter in thickness. One extremity, that through
which the cord passes, is rounded to rudely represent a human head,
and the whole bears a close resemblance to the drawings of schoolboys
which are intended for the human figure. The Apache explained that the
lines on the front side of the rhombus were the entrails and those on
the rear side the hair of their wind god. The hair is of several
colors, and represents the lightning. I did not ascertain positively
that such was the case, but was led to believe that the rhombus of the
Apache was made by the medicine-men from wood, generally pine or fir,
which had been struck by lightning on the mountain tops. Such wood is
held in the highest estimation among them, and is used for the
manufacture of amulets of especial efficacy. The Apache name for the
rhombus is tzi-ditindi, the "sounding wood." The identification of the
rhombus or "bull roarer" of the ancient Greeks with that used by the
Tusayan in their snake dance was first made by E. B. Tylor in the
Saturday Review in a criticism upon "The Snake Dance of the Moquis of
Arizona."

  [Illustration: FIG. 431.--Rhombus of the Apache.]

The Kaffirs have the rhombus among their playthings:

     The nodiwu is a piece of wood about 6 or 8 inches long, and
     an inch and a half or 2 inches wide, and an eighth or a
     quarter of an inch thick in the middle. Towards the edges it
     is beveled off, so that the surface is convex, or consists of
     two inclined planes. At one end it has a thong attached to it
     by which it is whirled rapidly round. * * * There is a kind
     of superstition connected with the nodiwu, that playing with
     it invites a gale of wind. Men will, on this account, often
     prevent boys from using it when they desire calm weather for
     any purpose. This superstition is identical with that which
     prevents many sailors from whistling at sea.[122]

Of the Peruvians we are informed that "their belief was that there was
a man in the sky with a sling and a stick, and that in his power were
the rain, the hail, the thunder, and all else that appertains to the
regions of the air, where clouds are formed."[123]

The sacred twirler of the snake dance is found in Greece, America,
Africa and New Zealand. It survives as a toy in England and the United
States.[124] The same peculiar instrument has been noticed in the
religious ceremonials of the Australians, especially in the initiatory
rites of the "bora." It is called the "tirricoty."[125] The twirling
of the tzi-ditindi in medicine or prayer corresponds to the revolution
of the prayer wheel of the Lamas.


THE CROSS.

The sign of the cross appears in many places in Apache symbolism. The
general subject of the connection of the cross with the religion of
the aborigines of the American continent has been so fully traversed
by previous authors that I do not care to add much more to the subject
beyond saying that my own observation has assured me that it is
related to the cardinal points and the four winds, and is painted by
warriors upon their moccasins upon going into a strange district in
the hope of keeping them from getting on a wrong trail.

In October, 1884, I saw a procession of Apache men and women, led by
the medicine-men bearing two crosses, made as follows: The vertical
arm was 4 feet 10 inches long, and the transverse between 10 and 12
inches, and each was made of slats about 1½ inches wide, which looked
as if they had been long in use. They were decorated with blue polka
dots upon the unpainted surface. A blue snake meandered down the
longer arm. There was a circle of small willow twigs at top; next
below that, a small zinc-cased mirror, a bell, and eagle feathers.
Nosey, the Apache whom I induced to bring it to me after the ceremony,
said that they carried it in honor of Guzanutli to induce her to send
rain, at that time much needed for their crops. It is quite likely
that this particular case represents a composite idea; that the
original beliefs of the Apache have been modified to some extent by
the crude ideas of the Mexican captives among them, who still remember
much that was taught them in the churches of the hamlets in northern
Mexico, from which they were kidnapped years ago; but, on the other
hand, it is to be remembered that the cross has always formed a part
of the Apache symbolism; that the snake does not belong to the
Christian faith, and that it has never been allowed to appear upon the
cross since the time of the Gnostics in the second and third
centuries. Therefore, we must regard that as a Pagan symbol, and so
must we regard the circle of willow twigs, which is exactly the same
as the circle we have seen attached to the sacred cords for the cure
of headache.[126]

The cross was found in full vogue as a religious emblem among the
aborigines all over America. Father Le Clercq[127] speaks of its very
general employment by the Gaspesians: "Ils ont parmi eux, tout
infideles qu'ils soient, la Croix en singuliere veneration, qu'ils la
portent figurée sur leurs habits & sur leur chair; qu'ils la tiennent
à la main dans tous leurs voïages, soit par mer, soit par terre; &
qu'enfin ils la posent au dehors & au dedans de leurs Cabannes, comme
la marque d'honneur qui les distingue des autres Nations du Canada."
He narrates[128] that the Gaspé tradition or myth was, that the whole
tribe being ravaged by a plague, the medicine-men had recourse to the
Sun, who ordered them to make use of the cross in every extremity.

Herrera relates that the followers of Hernandez de Cordoba found at
Cape Catoche "unos Adoratorios ... i Cruces pintadas que les causò
gran admiracion."[129] He also says that Juan de Grijalva on the
island of Cozumel found a number of oratories and temples, but one in
particular was made in the form of a square tower, with four openings.
Inside this tower was a cross made of lime, which the natives
reverenced as the god of the rain; "una Cruz de Cal, de tres varas en
alto, à la qual tenian por el Dios de la lluvia."[130]


NECKLACES OF HUMAN FINGERS.

The necklace of human fingers, an illustration of which accompanies
this text (Pl. IV), belonged to the foremost of the medicine-men of a
brave tribe--the Cheyenne of Montana and Wyoming. They were the
backbone of the hostility to the whites, and during the long and
arduous campaign conducted against them by the late Maj. Gen. George
Crook, which terminated so successfully in the surrender of 4,500 of
the allied Sioux and Cheyenne, at Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies,
in the early spring of 1877, it was a noted fact that wherever a band
of the Cheyenne was to be found there the fighting was most
desperate. It is a matter now well established that the Cheyenne are
an offshoot of the Algonquian family, speaking a dialect closely
resembling that of the Cree, of British America.

  [Illustration: NECKLACE OF HUMAN FINGERS. Plate IV.]

It may interest some readers to listen to a few words descriptive of
the manner in which such a ghastly relic of savagery came into my
possession. On the morning of the 25th of November, 1876, the cavalry
and Indian scouts (Sioux, Shoshoni, Arapaho, Pawnee, and a few of the
Cheyenne themselves), of Gen. Crook's command, under the leadership of
the late Brig. Gen. Ranald S. Mackenzie, then colonel of the Fourth
Cavalry, surprised and destroyed the main village of the Cheyenne, on
the headwaters of the Powder River, in the Big Horn Mountains,
Wyoming. The onslaught was irresistible, the destruction complete, and
the discomfited savages were forced to flee from their beds, half
naked and with nothing save their arms and ammunition. More than half
of the great herd of ponies belonging to the savages were killed,
captured, or so badly wounded as to be of no use to the owners. The
cold became so intense that on the night after the fight eleven
papooses froze to death in their mothers' arms, and the succeeding
night, three others. This blow, the most grievous ever inflicted upon
the plains tribes, resulted in the surrender, first of the Cheyenne,
and later on of the principal chief of the Sioux, the renowned Crazy
Horse; after which the Sioux troubles were minimized into the hunt for
scattered bands. Undoubtedly, among the bitterest losses of valuable
property suffered by the Cheyenne on this occasion were the two
necklaces of human fingers which came into my possession, together
with the small buckskin bag filled with the right hands of papooses
belonging to the tribe of their deadly enemies, the Shoshoni. These
were found in the village by one of our scouts--Baptiste Pourrier,
who, with Mr. Frank Gruard, was holding an important and responsible
position in connection with the care of the great body of Indian
scouts already spoken of. From these two gentlemen I afterwards
obtained all the information that is here to be found regarding the
Cheyenne necklace.

The second necklace, consisting of four fingers, was buried, as Gen.
Crook did not wish to have kept more than one specimen, and that only
for scientific purposes. Accordingly, the necklace here depicted was
sent first to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and
later to the National Museum in Washington, where it was believed it
could better fulfill its mission of educating students in a knowledge
of the manners and customs of our aborigines.

The buckskin bag, with the papooses' hands, was claimed by the
Shoshoni scouts, who danced and wailed all night, and then burned the
fearful evidence of the loss sustained by their people.

The necklace is made of a round collar of buckskin, incrusted with the
small blue and white beads purchased from the traders, these being
arranged in alternate spaces of an inch or more in length. There are
also attached numbers of the perforated wampum shell beads of native
manufacture. Pendant from this collar are five medicine arrows, the
exact nature of which, it was, of course, impossible to determine from
the owner himself. Both Frank and Baptiste agreed that an arrow might
become "medicine" either from having been shot into the person of the
owner himself or into the body of an enemy, or even from having been
picked up under peculiar circumstances. The owner, High Wolf or Tall
Wolf, admitted as much after he had surrendered at the Red Cloud
Agency and had made every effort to obtain the return of his medicine,
which was this necklace.

The four medicine bags to be seen in the picture are worthy of
attention. They were carefully examined under a powerful glass by Dr.
H. C. Yarrow, U. S. Army, in the city of Washington, and pronounced to
be human scrota. The first of these contained a vegetable powder,
somewhat decomposed, having a resemblance to hoddentin; the second was
filled with killikinnick; the third with small garnet-colored seeds
like the chia in use among the Apache, and the fourth with a yellow,
clayey-white vegetable matter not identified. The fifth, also,
remained unidentified.

Besides the above, there are artificial teeth, resembling those of the
fossil animals abundant in the Bad Lands of South Dakota, but cut out
of soft stone.

The fingers--eight altogether--are the left-hand middle fingers of
Indians of hostile tribes, killed by High Wolf. I obtained the list
and could insert it here were it worthwhile to do so. The fingers have
not been left in the natural state, but have been subjected to very
careful and elaborate antiseptic treatment in order thoroughly to
desiccate them. They were split longitudinally on the inner side and
after the bone had been extracted the surface of the skin, both inside
and out, received a treatment with a wash or paint of ocherous earth,
the same as is used for the face. I was told that the bones were not
replaced but that sticks were inserted to maintain the fingers in
proper shape.

Of the reason for making use of such a trophy or relic, there is not
much to be said; even the savages know little and say less. From the
best information that I have been able to gather, it would seem to be
based partly upon a vainglorious desire to display the proofs of
personal prowess, and partly upon the vague and ill defined, but
deeply rooted, belief in the talismanic or "medicinal" potency
possessed by all parts of the human body, especially after death. It
was such a belief which impelled the Mandan, Aztecs, and others of the
American tribes to preserve the skulls of their dead as well as (among
the Aztecs) those of the victims sacrificed in honor of their gods. As
has been shown in another place, the Zuñi and others take care to
offer food at stated periods to the scalps of their enemies.

The use of necklaces of human fingers or of human teeth is to be found
in many parts of the world, and besides the fingers themselves, we
find the whole arm, or in other cases only the nails. The Cheyenne did
not always restrict themselves to fingers; they generally made use of
the whole hand, or the arm of the slaughtered enemy. In a colored
picture drawn and painted by one of themselves I have a representation
of a scalp dance, in which the squaws may be seen dressed in their
best, carrying the arms of enemies elevated on high poles and lances.
There is no doubt in my mind that this custom of the Cheyenne of
cutting off the arm or hand gave rise to their name in the sign
language of the "Slashers," or "Wrist Cutters," much as the
corresponding tribal peculiarity of the Dakota occasioned their name
of the "Coupe Gorge" or "Throat Cutters."

The necklace of human fingers is found among other tribes. A necklace
of four human fingers was seen by the members of the Lewis and Clarke
expedition among the Shoshoni at the headwaters of the Columbia, in
the early years of the present century. Early in the spring of 1858
Henry Youle Hind refers to the allies of the Ojibwa on Red River as
having "two fingers severed from the hands of the unfortunate
Sioux."[131] In Eastman's "Legends of the Sioux," we read of
"Harpsthinah, one of the Sioux women, who wore as long as she could
endure it, a necklace made of the hands and feet of Chippewah
children."[132] We read that in New Zealand, "Several rows of human
teeth, drawn on a thread, hung on their breasts."[133] Capt. Cook
speaks of seeing fifteen human jaw bones attached to a semicircular
board at the end of a long house on the island of Tahiti. "They
appeared to be fresh, and there was not one of them that wanted a
single tooth;"[134] and also, "the model of a canoe, about three feet
long, to which were tied eight human jaw bones; we had already learnt
that these were trophies of war."[135] Capt. Byron, R. N., saw in the
Society Islands, in 1765, a chief who "had a string of human teeth
about his waist, which was probably a trophy of his military
prowess."[136]

"The wild Andamanese, who live only on the fruits of their forests and
on fish, so far revere their progenitors that they adorn their women
and children with necklaces and such like, formed out of the finger
and toe-nails of their ancestors."[137]

Bancroft says[138] that the Californians did not generally scalp, but
they did cut off and keep the arms and legs of a slain enemy or,
rather, the hands and feet and head. They also had the habit of
plucking out and preserving the eyes.

Kohl assures us that he has been informed that the Ojibwa will
frequently cut fingers, arms, and limbs from their enemies and
preserve these ghastly relics for use in their dances. Sometimes the
warriors will become so excited that they will break off and swallow a
finger.[139]

Tanner says of the Ojibwa: "Sometimes they use sacks of human skin to
contain their medicines, and they fancy that something is thus added
to their efficacy."[140]

Of the savages of Virginia we read: "Mais d'autres portent pour plus
glorieuse parure une main seiche de quelqu'un de leurs ennemis."[141]

Of the Algonkin we read: "Il y en a qui ont une partie du bras et la
main de quelque Hiroquois qu'ils ont tué; cela est si bien vuidée que
les ongles restent toutes entieres."[142]

The Mohawk "place their foe against a tree or stake and first tear all
the nails from his fingers and run them on a string, which they wear
the same as we do gold chains. It is considered to the honor of any
chief who has vanquished or overcome his enemies if he bite off or cut
off some of their members, as whole fingers."[143]

The Cenis (Asinai) of Texas, were seen by La Salle's expedition in
1687-1690, torturing a captive squaw. "They then tore out her hair,
and cut off her fingers."[144]

In volume 2 of Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, in the plates of
the Vatican manuscript, is to be seen a representation of an Aztec
priest or other dignitary holding out in his hands two human arms. In
plate 76 of the same is a priest offering up a human sacrifice, the
virile member of the victim cut off.

Teoyamaqui, the wife of Huitzlipochtli, the Aztec god of war, was
depicted with a necklace of human hands.[145] Squier also says that
Darga or Kali, the Hindu goddess, who corresponds very closely to her,
was represented with "a necklace of skulls" and "a girdle of
dissevered human hands."

The Hindu goddess Kali was decorated with a necklace of human
skulls.[146] In the Propaganda collection, given in Kingsborough,[147]
are to be seen human arms and legs.

"On the death of any of the great officers of state, the finger bones
and hair are also preserved; or if they have died shaven, as sometimes
occurs, a bit of their mbŭgŭ dress will be preserved in place of the
hair."[148] "Their families guard their tombs."[149]

The principal war fetiches of Uganda "consist of dead lizards, bits
of wood, hide, nails of dead people, claws of animals, and beaks of
birds." Stanley saw them displayed before King Mtesa.[150]

"Some of the women in Gippsland wear round the neck human hands,
which, Mr. Hull says, were beautifully prepared. He moreover informs
me that they sometimes wear the parts of which the 'Lingam' and
'Priapus' were the emblems."[151] "The Gippsland people keep the
relics of the departed. They will cut off the hands to keep as a
remembrance, and these they will attach to the string that is tied
round the neck."[152]

Smyth also relates that the women of some of the Australian tribes
preserve "the hands of some defunct member of the tribe--that of some
friend of the woman's, or perhaps one belonging to a former husband.
This she keeps as the only remembrance of one she once loved; and,
though years may have passed, even now, when she has nothing else to
do, she will sit and moan over this relic of humanity. Sometimes a
mother will carry about with her the remains of a beloved child, whose
death she mourns."[153] The Australians also use the skulls of their
"nearest and dearest relatives" for drinking vessels; thus, a daughter
would use her mother's skull, etc.[154]

"One of the most extraordinary of their laws is that a widow, for
every husband she marries after the first, is obliged to cut off a
joint of a finger, which she presents to her husband on the wedding
day, beginning at one of the little fingers."[155]

In the Army and Navy Journal, New York, June 23, 1888, is mentioned a
battle between the Crow of Montana and the Piegan, in which the former
obtained some of the hands and feet of dead warriors of the
first-named tribe and used them in their dances.

Catlin shows that the young Sioux warriors, after going through the
ordeal of the sun dance, placed the little finger of the left hand on
the skull of a sacred buffalo and had it chopped off.[156]

"The sacrifices [of American Indians] at the fasts at puberty
sometimes consist of finger joints."[157]

In Dodge's Wild Indians is represented (Pl. vi, 13) a Cheyenne
necklace of the bones of the first joint of the human fingers,
stripped of skin and flesh. I have never seen or heard of anything of
the kind, although I have served with the Cheyenne a great deal and
have spoken about their customs. My necklace is of human fingers
mummified, not of bones.

Fanny Kelly says of a Sioux chief: "He showed me a puzzle or game he
had made from the finger bones of some of the victims that had fallen
beneath his own tomahawk. The bones had been freed from the flesh by
boiling, and, being placed upon a string, were used for playing some
kind of Indian game."[158]

Strabo recounts in his third book that the Lusitanians sacrificed
prisoners and cut off their right hands to consecrate them to their
gods.

Dulaure says that the Germans attached the heads and the right hands
of their human victims to sacred trees.[159]

Adoni-bezek cut off the thumbs and great toes of seventy kings of
Syria.[160]

The necklace of human fingers is not a particle more horrible than the
ornaments of human bones to be seen in the cemetery of the Capuchins
in Rome at the present day. I have personally known of two or three
cases where American Indians cut their enemies limb from limb. The
idea upon which the practice is based seems to be the analogue of the
old English custom of sentencing a criminal to be "hanged, drawn, and
quartered."

Brand gives a detailed description of the "hand of glory," the
possession of which was believed by the peasantry of Great Britain and
France to enable a man to enter a house invisible to the occupants. It
was made of the hand of an executed (hanged) murderer, carefully
desiccated and prepared with a great amount of superstitious mummery.
With this holding a candle of "the fat of a hanged man" burglars felt
perfectly secure while engaged in their predatory work.[161] The
belief was that a candle placed in a dead man's hand will not be seen
by any but those by whom it is used. Such a candle introduced into a
house kept those who were asleep from awakening.

The superstition in regard to the "hand of glory" was widely diffused
throughout France, Germany, Spain, and Great Britain. As late as the
year 1831 it was used by Irish burglars in the county Meath.

Dr. Frank Baker delivered before the Anthropological Society of
Washington, D. C., a lecture upon these superstitions as related to
the "hand of glory," to which the student is respectfully
referred.[162]

An Aztec warrior always tried to procure the middle finger of the left
hand of a woman who had died in childbirth. This he fastened to his
shield as a talisman.[163] The great weapon of the Aztec witches was
the left arm of a woman who had died in her first childbirth.[164]
Pliny mentions "still-born infants cut up limb by limb for the most
abominable practices, not only by midwives, but by harlots even as
well!"[165]

The opinions entertained in Pliny's time descended to that of the
Reformation--

    Finger of birth-strangled babe,
    Ditch-deliver'd by a drab.[166]

"Scrofula, imposthumes of the parotid glands, and throat diseases,
they say, may be cured by the contact of the hand of a person who has
been carried off by an early death;" but, he goes on to say, any dead
hand will do, "provided it is of the same sex as the patient and that
the part affected is touched with the back of the left hand."[167] A
footnote adds that this superstition still prevails in England in
regard to the hand of a man who has been hanged.

The use of dead men's toes, fingers, spinal vertebræ, etc., in magical
ceremonies, especially the fabrication of magical lamps and candles,
is referred to by Frommann.[168]

Grimm is authority for the statement that in both France and Germany
the belief was prevalent that the fingers of an unborn babe were
"available for magic."[169]

In England witches were believed to "open graves for the purpose of
taking out the joints of the fingers and toes of dead bodies ... in
order to prepare a powder for their magical purposes."[170]

"Saint Athanase dit même, que ces parties du corps humain [i.e.,
hands, feet, toes, fingers, etc.] étoient adorées comme des dieux
particuliers."[171]

According to the sacred lore of the Brahmans "the Tirtha sacred to the
Gods lies at the root of the little finger, that sacred to the Rishis
in the middle of the fingers, that sacred to Men at the tips of the
fingers, that sacred to Agni (fire) in the middle of the hand."[172]

In the Island of Ceylon "debauchees and desperate people often play
away the ends of their fingers."[173]

Hone shows that "every joint of each finger was appropriated to some
saint."[174]


NECKLACES OF HUMAN TEETH.

A number of examples are to be found of the employment of necklaces of
human teeth. In my own experience I have never come across any
specimens, and my belief is that among the Indians south of the
Isthmus such things are to be found almost exclusively. I have found
no reference to such ornamentation or "medicine" among the tribes of
North America, but there are many to show the very general
dissemination of the custom in Africa and in the islands of the South
Sea. Gomara says that the Indians of Santa Marta wore at their necks,
like dentists, the teeth of the enemies they had killed in
battle.[175] Many of the Carib, we are told by a Spanish writer,
ostentatiously wear necklaces made of strings of the teeth of the
enemies whom they have slain.[176] Padre Fray Alonzo Fernandez says of
the Carib: "Traen los dientes con los cabellos de los que mataron por
collares, como hazian antiguamente los Scitas."[177] The people of New
Granada "traen al cuello dientes de los que matavan."[178] Picart says
that the natives of New Granada and Cumana "portent au col les dents
des ennemis qu'ils ont massacrez."[179] The Spaniards found in the
temple of the Itzaes, on the island of Peten, an idol made of "yesso,"
which is plaster, and in the head, which was shaped like the sun, were
imbedded the teeth of the Castilians whom they had captured and
killed.[180]

"They strung together the teeth of such of their enemies as they had
slain in battle and wore them on their legs and arms as trophies of
successful cruelty."[181]

Stanley says, referring to the natives of the Lower Congo country:
"Their necklaces consisted of human, gorilla, and crocodile teeth, in
such quantity, in many cases, that little or nothing could be seen of
the neck."[182]

"The necklaces of human teeth which they [Urangi and Rubunga, of the
Lower Congo] wore."[183] Again, "human teeth were popular ornaments
for the neck."[184] When a king dies they [the Wahŭma, of the head of
the Nile] cut out his lower jaw and preserve it covered with
beads.[185]

Schweinfurth[186] speaks of having seen piles of "lower jawbones from
which the teeth had been extracted to serve as ornaments for the neck"
by the Monbuttoo of Africa. "A slaughtered foe was devoured from
actual bloodthirstiness and hatred by the Niam-Niams of Central
Africa.... They make no secret of their savage craving, but
ostentatiously string the teeth of their victims round their necks,
adorning the stakes erected beside their dwellings for the habitation
of the trophies with the skulls of the men they have devoured. Human
fat is universally sold."[187]

The four front teeth were extracted by the men and women of the
Latooka and other tribes of the White Nile, but no explanation is
given of the custom.[188]

In Dahomey, strings of human teeth are worn.[189]

Freycinet saw in Timor, Straits of Malacca, "a score of human
jawbones, which we wished to purchase; but all our offers were met by
the word 'pamali,' meaning sacred."[190]

In one of the "morais" or temples entered by Kotzebue in 1818, on the
Sandwich Islands, there were two great and ugly idols, one
representing a man, the other a woman. "The priests made me notice
that both statues, which had their mouths wide open, were furnished
with a row of human teeth."[191]

The Sandwich Islanders kept the jaw bones of their enemies as
trophies.[192] King Tamaahmaah had a "spitbox which was set round with
human teeth, and had belonged to several of his predecessors."[193]

Among some of the Australian tribes the women wear about their necks
the teeth which have been knocked out of the mouths of the boys at a
certain age.[194] This custom of the Australians does not obtain among
the North American tribes, by whom the teeth, as they fall out, are
carefully hidden or buried under some tree or rock. At least, I have
been so informed by several persons, among others by Chato, one of the
principal men of the Chiricahua Apache.

Molina speaks of the customs of the Araucanians, who, after torturing
their captives to death, made war flutes out of their bones and used
the skulls for drinking vessels.[195] The Abipones of Paraguay make
the bones of their enemies into musical instruments.[196]

The preceding practice is strictly in line with the "medicinal" and
"magical" values attached in Europe to human teeth, human skin, etc.
The curious reader may find much on this subject in the works of
Frommann, Beckherius, Etmüller, Samuel Augustus Flemming, and others
of the seventeenth century, where it will be shown that the ideas of
the people of Europe of that period were only in name superior to
those of the savages of America, the islands of the South Seas, and of
Central Africa. In my work upon "The Scatalogic Rites of all Nations"
I have treated this matter more in extenso, but what is here adduced
will be sufficient for the present article.

The skin of Ziska, the Bohemian reformer, was made into a "medicine
drum" by his followers.


THE SCRATCH STICK.

When Gen. Crook's expedition against the Chiricahua Apache reached the
heart of the Sierra Madre, Mexico, in 1883, it was my good fortune to
find on the ground in Geronimo's rancheria two insignificant looking
articles of personal equipment, to which I learned the Apache attached
the greatest importance. One of these was a very small piece of hard
wood, cedar, or pine, about two and a half to three inches long and
half a finger in thickness, and the other a small section of the cane
indigenous to the Southwest and of about the same dimensions. The
first was the scratch stick and the second the drinking reed.

The rule enjoined among the Apache is that for the first four times
one of their young men goes out on the warpath he must refrain from
scratching his head with his fingers or letting water touch his lips.
How to keep this vow and at the same time avoid unnecessary personal
discomfort and suffering is the story told by these petty fragments
from the Apache's ritual. He does not scratch his head with his
fingers; he makes use of this scratch stick. He will not let water
touch his lips, but sucks it into his throat through this tiny tube. A
long leather cord attached both stick and reed to the warrior's belt
and to each other. This was all the information I was able to obtain
of a definite character. Whether these things had to be prepared by
the medicine-men or by the young warrior himself; with what
ceremonial, if any, they had to be manufactured, and under what
circumstances of time and place, I was unable to ascertain to my own
satisfaction, and therefore will not extend my remarks or burden the
student's patience with incoherent statements from sources not
absolutely reliable. That the use of the scratch stick and the
drinking reed was once very general in America and elsewhere, and that
it was not altogether dissociated from ritualistic or ceremonial
ideas, may be gathered from the citations appended.

In her chapter entitled "Preparatory ceremony of the young warrior"
Mrs. Emerson says: "He does not touch his ears or head with his hand,"
explaining in a footnote, "the head was sometimes made a sacrificial
offering to the sun."[197] Tanner relates that the young Ojibwa
warrior for the "three first times" that he accompanies a war party
"must never scratch his head or any other part of his body with his
fingers, but if he is compelled to scratch he must use a small
stick."[198] Kohl states that the Ojibwa, while on the warpath, "will
never sit down in the shade of a tree or scratch their heads; at
least, not with their fingers. The warriors, however, are permitted to
scratch themselves with a piece of wood or a comb."[199] Mackenzie
states regarding the Indians whom he met on the Columbia, in 52°
38′, N. lat., "instead of a comb they [the men] have a small stick
hanging by a string from one of the locks [of hair], which they employ
to alleviate any itching or irritation in the head."[200]

The Tlinkit of British North America use these scratchers made of
basalt or other stone.

"The pipe-stem carrier (i.e., the carrier of the sacred or 'medicine'
pipe) of the Crees, of British North America, dares not scratch his
own head, without compromising his own dignity, without the
intervention of a stick, which he always carries for that
purpose."[201]

Bancroft[202] quotes Walker as saying that "a Pima never touches his
skin with his nails, but always with a small stick for that purpose,
which he renews every fourth day and wears in his hair."

As part of the ceremony of "initiating youth into manhood" among the
Creeks, the young neophyte "during the twelve moons ... is also
forbidden to pick his ears or scratch his head with his fingers, but
must use a small splinter to perform these operations."[203] The
Apache-Yuma men carry in their hair "a slender stick or bone about 8
inches long, which serves them as a comb."[204]

The idea that these scratch sticks replace combs is an erroneous one;
Indians make combs in a peculiar way of separate pieces of wood, and
they are also very fond of brushing their long locks with the coarse
brushes, which they make of sacaton or other grass.

"One other regulation, mentioned by Schomburgk, is certainly quaint;
the interesting father may not scratch himself with his finger nails,
but may use for this purpose a splinter, especially provided, from the
mid-rib of a cokerite palm."[205]

When a Greenlander is about to enter into conversation with the
spirits "no one must stir, not so much as to scratch his head."[206]

In the New Hebrides most of the natives "wear a thin stick or reed,
about 9 inches long, in their hair, with which they occasionally
disturb the vermin that abound in their heads."[207]

Alarcon, describing the tribes met on the Rio Colorado, in 1541, says:
"They weare certaine pieces of Deeres bones fastened to their armes,
wherewith they strike off the sweate."[208]

In German folk-lore there are many references to the practice in which
the giants indulged frequently in scratching themselves, sometimes as
a signal to each other. Just what significance to attach to these
stories I can not presume to say, as Grimm merely relates the fact
without comment.[209]

Of the Abyssinians, Bruce says: "Their hair is short and curled like
that of a negro's in the west part of Africa, but this is done by art
not by nature, each man having a wooden stick with which he lays hold
of the lock and twists it round like a screw till it curls in the form
he desires."[210] In a footnote, he adds: "I apprehend this is the
same instrument used by the ancients, and censured by the prophets,
which in our translation is rendered crisping-pins."

Possibly the constant use of the scratch stick in countries without
wood suggested that it should be carried in the hair, and hence it
would originate the fashion of wearing the hair crimped round it, and
after a while it would itself be used as a crimping-pin.

Thus far, the suggestion of a religious or ceremonial idea attaching
to the custom of scratching has not been apparent, unless we bear in
mind that the warrior setting out on the warpath never neglects to
surround himself with all the safeguards which the most potent
incantations and "medicine" of every kind can supply. But Herbert
Spencer tells us in two places that the Creeks attach the idea of a
ceremonial observance to the custom. He says that "the warriors have a
ceremony of scratching each other as a sign of friendship;"[211] and
again, "scratching is practiced among young warriors as a ceremony or
token of friendship. When they have exchanged promises of inviolable
attachment, they proceed to scratch each other before they part."[212]

Dr. J. Hampden Porter remarks that this ceremonial scratching may be a
"survival" of the blood covenant, and that in earlier times the young
warriors, instead of merely scratching each other's arms, may have cut
the flesh and exchanged the blood. The idea seems to be a very
sensible one.

Father Alegre describes a ceremonial scratching which may have been
superseded by the scratch stick, to which the medicine-men of certain
tribes subjected the young men before they set out on the warpath.
Among the Pima and Opata the medicine-men drew from their quivers the
claws of eagles, and with these gashed the young man along the arms
from the shoulders to the wrists.[213]

This last paragraph suggests so strongly certain of the practices at
the sun dance of the tribes farther to the north that it may be well
to compare it with the other allusions in this paper to that dance.

It will be noticed that the use of the scratch-stick, at least among
the tribes of America, seems to be confined to the male sex; but the
information is supplied by Mr. Henshaw, of the Bureau of Ethnology,
that the Indians of Santa Barbara, Cal., made their maidens at the
time of attaining womanhood wear pendant from the neck a scratcher of
abalone shell, which they had to use for an indefinite period when the
scalp became irritable.

Prof. Otis T. Mason, of the National Museum, informs me that there is
a superstition in Virginia to the effect that a young woman enciente
for the first time must, under no circumstances, scratch her head with
her fingers, at least while uncovered; she must either put on gloves
or use a small stick.

The Parsi have a festival at which they serve a peculiar cake or bread
called "draona," which is marked by scratches from the finger nails of
the woman who has baked it.[214]

No stress has been laid upon the appearance in all parts of the world
of "back scratchers" or "scratch my backs," made of ivory, bone, or
wood, and which were used for toilet purposes to remove irritation
from between the shoulder blades or along the spine where the hand
itself could not reach. They are to the present day in use among the
Chinese and Japanese, were once to be found among the Romans and other
nations of Europe, and instances of their occasional employment until
a very recent date might be supplied.


THE DRINKING REED.

Exactly what origin to ascribe to the drinking reed is now an
impossibility, neither is it probable that the explanations which the
medicine-men might choose to make would have the slightest value in
dispelling the gloom which surrounds the subject. That the earliest
conditions of the Apache tribe found them without many of the comforts
which have for generations been necessaries, and obliged to resort to
all sorts of expedients in cooking, carrying, or serving their food is
the most plausible presumption, but it is submitted merely as a
presumption and in no sense as a fact. It can readily be shown that in
a not very remote past the Apache and other tribes were compelled to
use bladders and reeds for carrying water, or for conveying water,
broth, and other liquid food to the lips. The conservative nature of
man in all that involves his religion would supply whatever might be
needed to make the use of such reeds obligatory in ceremonial
observances wherein there might be the slightest suggestion of
religious impulse. We can readily imagine that among a people not well
provided with forks and spoons, which are known to have been of a much
later introduction than knives, there would be a very decided danger
of burning the lips with broth, or of taking into the mouth much
earthy and vegetable matter or ice from springs and streams at which
men or women might wish to drink, so the use of the drinking reed
would obviate no small amount of danger and discomfort.

Water was carried in reeds by the Dyaks of Borneo, according to
Bock.[215] The manner in which the natives of the New Hebrides and
other islands of the South Pacific Ocean carry water in bamboo joints
recalls the Zuñi method of preserving the sacred water of the ocean in
hollow reeds.[216]

  [Illustration: FIG. 432.--The scratch stick and drinking reed.]

Mr. F. H. Cushing shows that "so far as language indicates the
character of the earliest water vessels which to any extent met the
requirements of the Zuñi ancestry, they were tubes of wood or sections
of canes."[217] Long after these reeds had disappeared from common
use, the priests still persisted in their use for carrying the water
for the sacred ceremonies. The mother of the king of Uganda gave to
Speke "a beautifully-worked pombé sucking-pipe."[218] For ordinary
purposes these people have "drinking gourds." In Ujiji, Cameron saw an
old chief sucking pombé, the native beer, through a reed;[219] and,
later on in his narrative, we learn that the reed is generally used
for the purposes of drinking. "The Malabars reckoned it insolent to
touch the vessel with their lips when drinking."[220] They made use of
vessels with a spout, which were no more and no less than the small
hollow-handled soup ladles of the Zuñi and Tusayan, through which they
sipped their hot broth.

In an ancient grave excavated not far from Salem, Massachusetts, in
1873, were found five skeletons, one of which was supposed to be that
of the chief Nanephasemet, who was killed in 1605 or 1606. He was the
king of Namkeak. On the breast of this skeleton were discovered
"several small copper tubes ... from 4 to 8 inches in length, and from
one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in diameter, made of copper rolled
up, with the edges lapped."[221]

Alarcon relates that the tribes seen on the Rio Colorado by him in
1541, wore on one arm "certain small pipes of cane." But the object or
purpose of wearing these is not indicated.[222]

The natives of the Friendly Islands carried in their ears little
cylinders of reed, although we learn that these were "filled with a
red solid substance."[223] Among the Narrinyeri of Australia, when
young men are to be initiated into the rank of warriors, during the
ceremonies "they are allowed to drink water, but only by sucking it up
through a reed."[224] Admiral von Wrangel says of the Tchuktchi of
Siberia: "They suck their broth through a small tube of reindeer
bone," which "each individual carries about with him."[225] Padre
Sahagun says that the human victim whom the Aztecs offered up in
sacrifice was not allowed to touch water with his lips, but had to
"suck it through a reed."[226]

"The Mexicans had a forty-days' fast in memory of one of their sacred
persons who was tempted _forty_ days on a mountain. He drinks through
a reed. He is called the Morning Star."[227] The Mexicans, according
to Fray Diego Duran, placed before the statues of their dead bowls of
"vino," with "rosas," tobacco (this seems to be the proper translation
of the word "humazos," smokes), and a reed called the "drinker of the
sun," through which the spirit could imbibe.[228]

"The suction pipes of steatite," mentioned by Schoolcraft, as found in
the mounds, may have been the equivalents of our drinking reeds, and
made of steatite to be the more readily preserved in the ritual of
which they formed part.

Copper cylinders 1¼ inches long and ⅜ of an inch in diameter were
found in the mounds of the Mississippi Valley by Squier and Davis. The
conjecture that they had been used "for ornaments" does not seem
warranted.[229]

We should not forget that there was a semideification of the reed
itself by the Aztec in their assignment of it to a place in their
calendar under the name of "acatl."[230]

Mrs. Ellen Russell Emerson speaks of the custom the warriors of the
northern tribes had which suggests that she had heard of the drinking
reed without exactly understanding what it meant. She says that
warriors carry bowls of birch bark "from one side of which the warrior
drinks in going to battle--from the other, on his return. These bowls
are not carried home, but left on the prairie, or suspended from trees
within a day's journey of his village."[231]

Among the Brahmans practices based upon somewhat similar ideas are to
be found: every morning, upon rising, "ils prennent trois fois de
l'eau dans la main, & en jettent trois fois dans leur bouche, évitant
d'y toucher avec la main."[232]

The fundamental reason upon which the use of the drinking reed is based
is that the warrior or devotee shall not let water touch his lips. It
is strange to find among the regulations with regard to taking water by
the warrior caste: "He shall not sip water while walking, standing,
lying down, or bending forward."[233]

The Dharma-sûtra, traditionally connected with the Rishi-Vasishtha, of
the Seventh Mandala of the Rig-Veda, is a relic of a Vedic school of
the highest antiquity. Its seat was in the present northwestern
provinces of India, and, like the Dharmasâstra of Gautama, it is the
sole surviving record from this source.[234]

There was another service performed by reeds or tubes in the domestic
economy of nations around the north pole. As the Apache are derived
from an Arctic ancestry it does not seem amiss to allude to it. Lord
Lonsdale, in describing the capture of a whale which he witnessed,
says that the Eskimo women "first of all gathered up the harpoons and
then pulled out all the spears. As each spear was withdrawn a
blow-pipe was pushed into the wound and the men blew into it, after
which the opening was tied up. When every wound had been treated in
this manner the whale resembled a great windbag and floated high in
the water."

In the National Museum at Washington, D. C., there are many pipes made
of the bones of birds, which were used by the Inuit as drinking tubes
when water had to be taken into the mouth from holes cut in the ice.
These drinking tubes seem to be directly related to our subject,
although they may also have been used as Lonsdale describes the pipes
for blowing the dead whale full of air. Another point to be mentioned
is that the eagle pipe kept in the mouth of the young warrior
undergoing the torture of the sun dance among the Sioux and other
tribes on the plains is apparently connected with the "bebedero del
Sol" of the peoples to the south.[235]

The use of this drinking reed, shown to have been once so intimately
associated with human sacrifice, may have disappeared upon the
introduction of labrets, which seem, in certain cases at least, to be
associated with the memory of enemies killed in battle, which would be
only another form of human sacrifice. This suggestion is advanced with
some misgivings, and only as a hypothesis to assist in determining for
what purpose labrets and drinking tubes have been employed. The Apache
have discontinued the use of the labret, which still is to be found
among their congeners along the Lower Yukon, but not among those
living along the lower river.[236] According to Dall the custom was
probably adopted from the Inuit; he also shows that whenever labrets
are worn in a tribe they are worn by both sexes, and that the women
assume them at the first appearance of the catamenia.

"This is to be noted, that how many men these Savages [Brazilians]
doe kill, so many holes they will have in their visage, beginning
first in their nether lippe, then in their cheekes, thirdly, in both
their eye-browes, and lastly in their eares."[237]

Cabeza de Vaca speaks of the Indians near Malhado Island, "They
likewise have the nether lippe bored, and within the same they carrie
a piece of thin Cane about halfe a finger thicke."[238] Herrera
relates very nearly the same of the men of "Florida": "Traìan una
tetilla oradada, metido por el agujero un pedaço de Caña, i el labio
baxero tambien agujereado, con otra caña en èl."[239] But Herrera
probably obtained his data from the narrative of Vaca.

In looking into this matter of labrets as connected or suspected as
being in some way connected with the drinking reed, we should not
expect to find the labret adhering very closely to the primitive form,
because the labret, coming to be regarded more and more as an
ornament, would allow greater and greater play to the fancy of the
wearer or manufacturer, much the same as the crosses now worn by
ladies, purely as matter of decoration, have become so thoroughly
examples of dexterity in filagree work as to have lost the original
form and significance as a declaration of faith. But it is a subject
of surprise to find that the earlier writers persistently allude to
the labrets in the lips of the Mexican deities, which probably were
most tenacious of primitive forms, as being shaped like little
reeds--"cañutillos."

Herrera says of Tescatlipoca: "Que era el Dios de la Penitencia, i de
los Jubileos ... Tenia Çarcillo de Oro, i Plata en el labio baxo, con
un cañutillo cristalino, de un geme de largo."[240] The high priest,
he says, was called topilçin, and in sacrificing human victims he wore
"debaxo del labio, junto al medio de la barba, una pieça como
cañutillo, de una piedra açul."[241]

Father Acosta also speaks of the tube (canon) of crystal worn by
Tezcatlipoca in the lower lip: "En la leure d'embas un petit canon de
crystal, de la longueur d'un xeme ou demy pied."[242]

Speaking of Quetzalcoatl Clavigero says: "From the under lip hung a
crystal tube."[243] From Diego Duran's account of this "bezote" or
labret it must have been hollow, as he says it contained a feather:
"En el labio bajo tenia un bezote de un veril cristalino y en el
estaba metida una pluma verde y otras veces azul."[244]

In the Popul Vuh is to be found a myth which gives an account of the
origin of labrets. It relates that two night watchers over the flowers
in the garden of Xibalba had in some manner proved derelict in duty,
and had their lips split as a punishment.[245]

In Paraguay a tribe called the Chiriguanes, "se percent la levre
inférieure & ils y attachent un petit Cilindre d'étain ou d'argent, ou
de Resine transparente. Ce prétendu ornement s'appelle _Tembeta_."[246]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Narrative of Captivity, Cincinnati, 1871, p. 141.

[2] Padre Boscana, Chinigchinich, in Robinson's California, p. 261.

[3] Origine de tous les Cultes, vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 87, 88.

[4] Diego Duran, vol. 3, pp. 237, 238.

[5] Higgins, Anacalypsia, lib. 2, p. 77.

[6] Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., vol. 15.

[7] Ross, Fur Hunters, quoted by Spencer, Desc. Soc.

[8] Max Müller, Science of Religion, p. 88.

[9] Davis, Spanish Conq. of N. M., p. 98.

[10] I Samuel, XII, 17, 18.

[11] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, vol. 6, p. 75.

[12] Everard im Thurn, Indians of Guiana, London, 1883, p. 334.

[13] Tanner's Narrative, p. 390.

[14] Diego Duran, lib. 3, cap. 3, p. 201.

[15] Dorman, Primitive Superstitions, p. 384.

[16] Spencer, Desc. Sociology.

[17] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes Religieuses, Amsterdam, 1735, vol.
6, p. 122.

[18] Myths of the New World, p. 281.

[19] Domenech, Deserts, vol. 2, p. 392.

[20] Bancroft, Nat. Races, vol. 1, p. 777.

[21] Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. 5, p. 462.

[22] Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 281.

[23] Spencer, Ecclesiastical Institutions, cap. V.

[24] Salverte, Philosophy of Magic, vol. 2, pp. 6-7.

[25] Tylor, Primitive Culture, London, 1871, vol. 2, p. 377.

[26] "St. Patrick, we are told, floated to Ireland on an altar stone.
Among other wonderful things, he converted a marauder into a wolf and
lighted a fire with icicles."--James A. Froude, Reminiscences of the
High Church Revival. (Letter V.)

[27] Demonology and Witchcraft, p. 184.

[28] Jesuits in North America, pp. 34, 35.

[29] Herrera, dec. 4, lib. 8, cap. 5, 159.

[30] Ibid., dec. 3, lib. 4, p. 121.

[31] Hist. de las Indias, p. 283.

[32] American Antiquarian, November, 1886, p. 334.

[33] Dorman, Primitive Superstitions, p. 380, quoting Herrera, dec. 3,
p. 262.

[34] Descriptive Sociology.

[35] Admiral Smyth's translation in Hakluyt Society, London, 1857,
vol. 21, p. 9.

[36] American Indians, p. 26.

[37] Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, p. 173.

[38] "Estos mascan cierta yerba, y con el zumo rocian las soldados
estando para dar batalla." Gomara, ibid., p. 179.

[39] Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 10, p. 260.

[40] Father Dobrizhoffer, quoted by Spencer, Eccles. Institutions,
cap. 10, sec. 630.

[41] Catlin, N. A. Indians, London, 1845, vol. 2, p. 232.

[42] Gomara, op. cit., p. 173.

[43] Spencer, Eccles. Institutions, cap. 10, pp. 780, 781, quoting
Stubb's Constitutional History of England.

[44] Ibid., sec. 630, p. 781, quoting Turner (Geo.), Nineteen Years in
Polynesia.

[45] Vol. 3, p. 176.

"In every part of the globe fragments of primitive languages are
preserved in religious rites." Humboldt, Researches, London, 1814,
vol. 1, p. 97.

"Et même Jean P. C., Prince de la Mirande, escrit que les mots
barbares & non entendus ont plus de puissance en la Magie que ceux qui
sont entendus." Picart, vol. 10, p. 45.

The medicine-men of Cumana (now the United States of Colombia, South
America) cured their patients "con palabras muy revesadas y que aun el
mismo médico no las entiende." Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, p. 208.

The Tlascaltecs had "oradores" who employed gibberish--"hablaban
Gerigonça." Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 6, p. 163.

In Peru, if the fields were afflicted with drought, the priests, among
other things, "chantaient un cantique dont le sens était inconnu du
vulgaire." Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, p. 128, in Ternaux-Compans, vol.
15.

[46] Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Exped., London, 1860, vol. 2, p.
155.

[47] Cockayne, Leechdoms, vol. 1, p. xxx.

[48] "The belief in the magic power of sacred words, whether religious
formulas or the name of gods, was also acknowledged [i.e., in Egypt]
and was the source of a frightful amount of superstition.... The
superstitious repetition of names (many of which perhaps never had any
meaning at all) is particularly conspicuous in numerous documents much
more recent than the Book of the Dead."--Hibbert, Lectures, 1879, pp.
192, 193.

[49] Salverte, Philosophy of Magic, vol. 1, p. 134.

[50] Kingsborough, lib. 2, vol. 7, p. 102.

[51] Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, p. 70.

[52] Ibid., p. 160.

[53] Ibid., p. 217.

[54] Ibid., p. 218.

[55] Ibid., p. 219.

[56] Ibid., pp. 214, 215.

[57] Ibid., p. 216.

[58] "When the Carriers are severely sick, they often think that they
shall not recover, unless they divulge to a priest or magician, every
crime which they may have committed, which has hitherto been kept
secret."--Harmon's Journal, p. 300. The Carriers or Ta-kully are
Tinneh.

[59] For identical notions among the Arawaks of Guiana, Tupis of
Brazil, Creeks, Patagonians, Kaffirs, Chiqnitos, and others, see the
works of Schoolcraft, Herbert Spencer, Schultze, and others.

[60] Extract from the Jesuit Falkner's account of Patagonia, in
Voyages of the _Adventure_ and _Beagle_, London, 1839, vol. 2, p. 163.

[61] "Nul de ces médecins ne peut mourir si'ls ne lui enlevent les
testicules." Brasseur de Bourbourg, Trans. of Fra Roman Pane, Des
Antiquités des Indiens, Paris, 1864, p. 451.

[62] Hist. Gen., dec. 1, lib. 3, p. 69.

[63] Madden, Shrines and Sepulchres, vol. 1, p. 14.

[64] Gayarre, Louisiana; its Colonial History, p. 355.

[65] Spencer, Desc. Sociology.

[66] Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, Ternaux-Compans, vol. 15.

[67] Davis, Conq. of New Mexico, p. 86.

[68] Crónica Seráfica y Apostolica, Espinosa, Mexico, 1746, p. 421.

[69] Desc. Sociology.

[70] Mendieta, Hist. Eclesiástica Indiana, p. 136.

[71] Ibid., p. 136.

[72] Hist. de las Indias, p. 179.

[73] Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 10, p. 260.

[74] Ibid., dec. 3, lib. 4, p. 121.

[75] Ibid., dec. 4, lib. 9, cap. 7, p. 188.

[76] Keating's translation, p. 352, quoted by Samuel Farmar Jarvis,
Religion of the Indian Tribes, in Coll. New York Historical Soc., vol.
3, 1819, p. 262.

[77] Smith, Araucanians, pp. 238, 239.

[78] Richardson, Arctic Searching Expedition, vol. 1, p. 366.

[79] Schultze, Fetichism, New York, 1885, p. 49.

[80] Spencer, Desc. Sociology.

[81] Ternaux-Compans, vol. 7, p. 110.

[82] Schultze, Fetichism, New York, 1885, p. 49.

[83] Smithsonian Report for 1867.

[84] Long's Expedition, Philadelphia, 1823, p. 238.

[85] Hist. of the American Indians, p. 238.

[86] Schultze, Fetichism, New York, 1885, p. 52.

[87] Hist. de las Indias, p. 232.

[88] Ternaux-Compans, vol. 7, pp. 114, 115.

[89] Notes from Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, pp. 172-173.

[90] History of California, vol. 1, p. 97.

[91] Ternaux-Compans, vol. 10, p. 85.

[92] Herrera, dec. 4, lib. 9, cap. 8, p. 188.

[93] Smith, Araucanians, p. 234.

[94] Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 1, p. 779.

[95] Alegre, Historia de la Compañía de Jesus en Nueva-España, vol. 1,
p. 401.

[96] Desc. Sociology.

[97] Kraskenninikoff, History of Kamtchatka and the Kurilski Islands,
Grieve's translation, p. 219.

[98] Ibid., p. 220.

[99] Contributions to North American Ethnology, vol. 5.

[100] Smith, Araucanians, p. 233.

[101] Dr. Edwin G. Meek, Toner Collection, Library of Congress.

[102] Lieut. Pettit in Jour. U. S. Mil. Serv. Instit., 1886, pp.
336-337.

[103] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, p. 155.

[104] Dennys, Folk Lore of China, p. 57.

[105] "Chinigchinich" in Robinson's California, pp. 271, 272.

[106] The reader interested in this matter may find something bearing
upon it in Diego Duran, lib. 1, cap. 36, p. 387; Torquemada, Mon.
Indiana, lib. 9, cap. 3; Venegas, History of California, vol. 1, p.
105; Gomara, Conq. de Mexico, p. 443; Herrera, dec. 4, lib. 8, p. 158;
Maximilian of Wied, p. 431, and others; The "pelucas" mentioned of the
Orinoco tribes by Padre Gumilla would seem to be nothing more than
feather head-dresses; p. 66.

[107] Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc.,
Philadelphia, 1875, p. 503.

[108] Corbusier, in American Antiquarian, Sept., 1886, p. 279.

[109] Source of the Nile, p. 567.

[110] Vol. 2, p. 193.

[111] Ensayo Cronologico, p. 139.

[112] For the Shamans of Kodiak, see Lisiansky, Voyage, London, 1814,
p. 208; for the Mexicans, Padre José Acosta, Paris, 1600, cap. 26, p.
256; Society Islands, Malte-Brun, Univ. Geography, vol. 3, lib. 58, p.
634, Boston, 1825. Sir Samuel Baker, The Albert N'yanza, vol. 1, p.
211.

[113] Ternaux-Compans, vol. 9, p. 294.

[114] Catlin, North American Indians, London. 1845, vol. 1, p. 55.

[115] Ibid., p. 95.

[116] Parkman, Jesuits in North America, p. lxxxiv.

[117] Wanderings of an Artist in North America, p. 40.

[118] Dec. 2, lib. 6, p. 161.

[119] Smithsonian Report for 1871.

[120] Purchas, lib. 9, cap. 12, sec. 4, p. 1555, edition of 1622.

[121] Chinigchinich, p. 253.

[122] Theal, Kaffir Folk-lore, pp. 209-210.

[123] Clements R. Markham, Note on Garcilasso de la Vega, in Hakluyt
Soc., vol. 41, p. 183, quoting Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 4.

[124] Andrew Lang, Custom and Myth, New York, 1885, chapter entitled
"The bull roarer," pp. 29-44.

[125] John Fraser, The Aborigines of Australia; their Ethnic Position
and Relations, pp. 161-162.

[126] "When the rain-maker of the Lenni Lennape would exert his power,
he retired to some secluded spot and drew upon the earth the figure of
a cross (its arms toward the cardinal points?), placed upon it a piece
of tobacco, a gourd, a bit of some red stuff, and commenced to cry
aloud to the spirits of the rains."--Brinton, Myths of the New World,
New York, 1868, p. 96 (after Loskiel).

[127] Père Chrestien Le Clercq, Gaspesie, Paris, 1691, p. 170.

[128] Ibid., cap. x, pp. 172-199.

[129] Dec. 2, lib. 2, p. 48.

[130] Ibid., p. 59.

[131] Assinniboine and Saskatchewan Expedition, vol. 2, p. 123.

[132] New York, 1819, pp. x, xxix, 47.

[133] Forster, Voyage Round the World, vol. 1, pp. 219, 519.

[134] Hawkesworth, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 161.

[135] Ibid., p. 257.

[136] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 113.

[137] Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, pp. 541, 542.

[138] Nat. Races, vol. 1, p. 380.

[139] Kohl, Kitchi-gami, pp. 345, 346.

[140] Tanner's Narrative, p. 372.

[141] John de Laet, lib. 3, cap. 18, p. 90, quoting Capt. John Smith.

[142] Le Jeune in Jesuit Relations, 1633, vol. 1, Quebec, 1858.

[143] Third Voyage of David Peter De Vries to New Amsterdam, in Trans.
N. Y. Hist. Soc., vol. 3, p. 91.

[144] Charlevoix, New France, New York, 1866, vol. 4, p. 105.

[145] Squier, Serpent Symbol, p. 197.

[146] Coleman, Mythology of the Hindus, London, 1832, p. 63.

[147] Vol. 3.

[148] Speke, Source of the Nile, London, 1863, p. 500.

[149] Ibid.

[150] Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, vol. 1, p. 327.

[151] Miles, Demigods and Dæmonia, in Jour. Ethnol. Soc., London, vol.
3, p. 28, 1854.

[152] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, p. 30.

[153] Ibid., p. 131.

[154] Ibid., p. 348.

[155] Peter Kolben, speaking of the Hottentots, in Knox, vol. 2, p.
394.

[156] O-kee-pa, pp. 28-29.

[157] Frazer, Totemism, Edinburgh, 1887, pp. 54, 55; after Maximilian.

[158] Kelly, Narrative of Captivity, Cincinnati, 1871, p. 143.

[159] Différens Cultes, vol. 1, p. 57.

[160] Judges, I, 7.

[161] Brand, Pop. Ant., London, 1882, vol. 3, p. 278.

[162] American Anthropologist, Washington, D. C., January, 1888.

[163] Kingsborough, vol. 8, p. 70. The Aztec believed that the woman
who died in childbirth was equal to the warrior who died in battle and
she went to the same heaven. The middle finger of the left hand is the
finger used in the necklace of human fingers.

[164] Sahagun, in Kingsborough, vol. 7, p. 147.

[165] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 28, cap. 20. Holland's translation.

[166] Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 4, scene 1.

[167] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 28, cap. 11.

[168] Tractatus de Fascinatione, Nuremberg, 1675, p. 681.

[169] Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1073.

[170] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 3, p. 10.

[171] Montfaucon, l'Antiquité expliquée, vol. 2, liv. 4, cap. 6, p.
249.

[172] Vâsish_th_a, cap. 3, pars. 64-68, p. 25 (Sacred Books of the
East, Oxford, 1882, Max Müller's edition).

[173] Travels of Two Mohammedans through India and China, in
Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 7, p. 218.

[174] Every-Day Book, vol. 2, col. 95.

[175] "Traen los dientes al cuello (como sacamuelas) por
bravosidad."--Gomara, Historia de las Indias, p. 201.

[176] "Los Caberres y muchos Caribes, usan por gala muchas sartas de
dientes y muelas de gente para dar á entender que son muy valientes
por los despojos que alli ostentan ser de sus enemigos que
mataron."--Gumilla, Orinoco, Madrid, 1741, p. 65.

[177] Padre Fray Alonzo Fernandez, Historia Eclesiastica, Toledo,
1611, p. 17.

[178] Ibid., p. 161.

[179] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, Amsterdam, 1735, vol. 6, p. 114.

[180] "Formada la cara como de Sol, con rayos de Nacar al rededor, y
perfilada de lo mismo; y en la boca embutidos los dientes, que
quitaron à los Españoles, que avian muerto."--Villaguitierre, Hist. de
la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza, Madrid, 1701, p. 500. (Itza
seems to have been the country of the Lacandones.)

[181] Edwards, speaking of the Carib, quoted by Spencer, Desc.
Sociology. The same custom is ascribed to the Tupinambi of Brazil.
Ibid, quoting from Southey.

[182] Through the Dark Continent, vol. 2, p. 286.

[183] Ibid., p. 288.

[184] Ibid., p. 290.

[185] Speke, Source of the Nile, London, 1863, p. 500.

[186] Heart of Africa, vol. 2, p. 54.

[187] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 285.

[188] Sir Samuel Baker, The Albert N'yanza, Philadelphia, 1869, p. 154
et seq.

[189] Burton, Mission to Gelele, vol. 1, p. 135 et seq.

[190] Voyage Round the World, London, 1823, pp. 209, 210.

[191] Kotzebue, Voyage, London, 1821, vol. 2, p. 202. See also
Villaguitierre, cited above.

[192] Capt. Cook's First Voyage, in Pinkerton's Voyages, London, 1812,
vol. 11, pp. 513, 515.

[193] Campbell, Voyage Round the World, N. Y., 1819, p. 153.

[194] Frazer, Totemism, Edinburgh, 1887, p. 28.

[195] Historia de Chile, Madrid, 1795, vol. 2, p. 80.

[196] Spencer, Desc. Sociology.

[197] Indian Myths, Boston, 1884, p. 256.

[198] Tanner's Narrative, p. 122.

[199] Kitchi-gami, p. 344.

[200] Voyages, p. 323.

[201] Kane, Wanderings of an Artist in North America, p. 399.

[202] Native Races, vol. 1, p. 553.

[203] Hawkins, quoted by Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creeks,
Philadelphia, 1884, vol. 1, p. 185.

[204] Corbusier, in American Antiquarian, September, 1886, p. 279.

[205] Everard F. im Thurn, Indians of Guiana, p. 218.

[206] Crantz, History of Greenland, London, 1767, vol. 1, pp. 210-211.

[207] Forster, Voyage Round the World, vol. 2, pp. 275, 288.

[208] Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. 3, p. 508.

[209] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 2, p. 544.

[210] Travels to discover the source of the Nile in the years 1768,
etc., Dublin, 1791, vol. 3, p. 410.

[211] Desc. Sociology.

[212] Ibid., quoting Schoolcraft.

[213] "Saca de su carcax algunos pies y unas de águila secos y
endurecidos, con los cuales, comienza á sajarle desde los hombros
hasta las muñecas."--Historia de la Compañía de Jesus en Nueva España,
Mexico, 1842, vol. 2, pp. 218, 219.

[214] Shâyast lâ-shâyast, cap. 3, par. 32, p. 284 (Max Müller edition,
Oxford, 1880). When the "drôn" has been marked with three rows of
finger-nail scratches it is called a "frasast."

[215] Head-Hunters of Borneo, London, 1881, p. 139.

[216] See, for the New Hebrides, Forster, Voyage Round the World, vol.
2, p. 255.

[217] Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1882-'83, p. 482.

[218] Speke, Source of the Nile, London, 1863, pp. 306, 310.

[219] Cameron, Across Africa, London, 1877, vol. 1, p. 276.

[220] De Gama's Discovery of the East Indies, in Knox, Voyages,
London, 1767, vol. 2, p. 324.

[221] Andrew K. Ober, in the Salem Gazette, Salem, Mass.

[222] Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. 3, p. 508; also, Ternaux-Compans, Voy.,
vol. 9, pp. 307, 308.

[223] Forster, Voyage Round the World, vol. 1, p. 435

[224] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, p. 66.

[225] English edition, New York, 1842, p. 271.

[226] Kingsborough, vol. 6, p. 100.

[227] Godfrey Higgins, Anacalypsis, vol. 2, book 1, cap. 4, sec. 9, p.
81.

[228] Y ponía delante un canuto grande y queso [grueso?] para con que
bebiese: este canuto llamaban "bebedero del Sol."--Diego Duran, vol.
1, cap. 38, p. 386.

[229] Smithsonian Contributions, vol. 1, p. 151.

[230] The reed, which is the proper meaning of the word "acatl," is
the hieroglyphic of the element water. Veytia, quoted by Thomas, in
3rd Ann. Rep., Bu. Eth., 1881-1882, p. 42 et seq.

[231] Indian Myths, Boston, 1884, p. 260.

[232] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples
du Monde, Amsterdam, 1735, vol. 6, part 2, p. 103.

[233] Vâsish_th_a, cap. 3, pars. 26-30, pp. 20-21. Sacred Books of the
East, Oxford, 1882, vol. 14, edition of Max Müller.

[234] Ibid.

[235] Diego Duran, loc. cit.

[236] See Dall, Masks and Labrets, p. 151.

[237] Peter Carder, an Englishman captive among the Brazilians,
1578-1586, in Purchas, vol. 4, lib. 6, cap. 5, p. 1189.

[238] Purchas, vol. 4, lib. 8, cap. 1, sec. 2, p. 1508.

[239] Dec. 4, lib. 4, p. 69.

[240] Dec. 3, lib. 2, p. 67.

[241] Ibid., p. 70.

[242] Histoire Naturelle des Indes, Paris, 1600, lib. 5, cap. 9, p.
224.

[243] History of Mexico, Philadelphia, 1817, vol. 2, p. 6.

[244] Duran, op. cit., vol. 3, cap. 4, p. 211.

[245] Brasseur de Bourbourg's translation, cap. 12, p. 175.

[246] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples
du Monde, Amsterdam, 1743, vol. 8, p. 287.




CHAPTER II.

HODDENTIN, THE POLLEN OF THE TULE, THE SACRIFICIAL POWDER OF THE
APACHE; WITH REMARKS UPON SACRED POWDERS AND BREAD OFFERINGS IN
GENERAL.


"Trifles not infrequently lead to important results. In every walk of
science a trifle disregarded by incurious thousands has repaid the
inquisitiveness of a single observer with unhoped-for knowledge."[247]

The taciturnity of the Apache in regard to all that concerns their
religious ideas is a very marked feature of their character; probably
no tribe with which our people have come in contact has succeeded more
thoroughly in preserving from profane inquiry a complete knowledge of
matters relating to their beliefs and ceremonials. How much of this
ignorance is to be attributed to interpreters upon whom reliance has
necessarily been placed, and how much to the indisposition of the
Apache to reveal anything concerning himself, it would be fruitless to
inquire, but, in my own experience, when I first went among them in
New Mexico and Arizona twenty-three years ago, I was foolish enough to
depend greatly upon the Mexican captives who had lived among the
Apache since boyhood, and who might be supposed to know exactly what
explanation to give of every ceremony in which the Apache might
engage. Nearly every one of these captives, or escaped captives, had
married among the Apache, and had raised families of half-breed
children, and several of them had become more Apache than the Apache
themselves. Yet I was time and again assured by several of these
interpreters that the Apache had no religion, and even after I had
made some progress in my investigations, at every turn I was met by
the most contradictory statements, due to the interpreter's desire to
inject his own views and not to give a frank exposition of those
submitted by the Apache. Thus, an Apache god would be transmuted into
either a "santo" or a "diablo," according to the personal bias of the
Mexican who happened to be assisting me. "Assanutlije" assumed the
disguise of "Maria Santissima," while ceremonies especially sacred and
beneficent in the eyes of the savages were stigmatized as "brujeria"
and "hechiceria" (witchcraft) in open defiance of the fact that the
Apache have as much horror and dread of witches as the more
enlightened of their brethren who in past ages suffered from their
machinations in Europe and America. The interpreters had no intention
to deceive; they were simply unable to disengage themselves from their
own prejudices and their own ignorance; they could not, and they would
not, credit the existence of any such thing as religion, save and
excepting that taught them at their mothers' knees in the petty
hamlets of Sonora and of which they still preserved hazy and distorted
recollections. One of the first things to be noticed among the Apache,
in this connection, was the very general appearance of little bags of
buckskin, sometimes ornamented, sometimes plain, which were ordinarily
attached to the belts of the warriors, and of which they seemed to be
especially careful.[248]

  [Illustration: FIG. 433.--Bag containing hoddentin.]

What follows in this chapter was not learned in an hour or a day, but
after a long course of examination and a comparison of statements
extracted from different authorities.

The bags spoken of revealed when opened a quantity of yellow colored
flour or powder, resembling cornmeal, to which the Apache gave the
name of "hoddentin," or "hadntin," the meaning of which word is "the
powder or pollen of the tule," a variety of the cat-tail rush, growing
in all the little ponds and cienegas of the Southwest.

I made it the touchstone of friendship that every scout or other Apache
who wished for a favor at my hands should relate something concerning
his religious belief. I did not care much what topic he selected; it
might be myths, clan laws, war customs, medicine--anything he pleased,
but it had to be something and it had to be accurate. Hoddentin having
first attracted my attention, I very naturally made many of my first
inquiries about it, and, while neglecting no opportunity for
independent observation, drew about me the most responsible men and
women, heard what each had to say, carefully compared and contrasted it
with the statements of the others, and now give the result.

I noticed that in the dances for the benefit of the sick the
medicine-men in the intervals between chants applied this yellow
powder to the forehead of the patient, then in form of a cross upon
his breast, then in a circle around his couch, then upon the heads of
the chanters and of sympathizing friends, and lastly upon their own
heads and into their own mouths. There is a considerable difference in
method, as medicine-men allow themselves great latitude, or a large
"personal equation," in all their dealings with the supernatural. No
Apache would, if it could be avoided, go on the warpath without a bag
of this precious powder somewhere upon his person, generally, as I
have said, attached to his ammunition belt. Whenever one was wounded,
hurt, or taken sick while on a scout, the medicine-man of the party
would walk in front of the horse or mule ridden by the patient and
scatter at intervals little pinches of hoddentin, that his path might
be made easier. As was said to me: "When we Apache go on the warpath,
hunt, or plant, we always throw a pinch of hoddentin to the sun,
saying 'with the favor of the sun, or permission of the sun, I am
going out to fight, hunt, or plant,' as the case may be, 'and I want
the sun to help me.'"

I have noticed that the Apache, when worn out with marching, put a
pinch of hoddentin on their tongues as a restorative.

"Hoddentin is eaten by sick people as a remedy."[249]

"Before starting out on the warpath, they take a pinch of hoddentin,
throw it to the sun, and also put a pinch on their tongues and one on
the crown of the head.... When they return, they hold a dance, and on
the morning of that day throw pinches of hoddentin to the rising sun,
and then to the east, south, west, and north, to the four winds."[250]

I am unable to assert that hoddentin is used in any way at the birth
of a child; but I know that as late as 1886 there was not a babe upon
the San Carlos reservation, no matter how tender its age, that did not
have a small bag of hoddentin attached to its neck or dangling from
its cradle. Neither can I assert anything about its use at time of
marriage, because, among the Apache, marriage is by purchase, and
attended with little, if any, ceremony. But when an Apache girl
attains the age of puberty, among other ceremonies performed upon her,
they throw hoddentin to the sun and strew it about her and drop on her
head flour of the piñon, which flour is called by the Chiricahua
Apache "nostchi," and by the Sierra Blanca Apache "opé."[251]

"Upon attaining the age of puberty, girls fast one whole day, pray,
and throw hoddentin to the sun."[252] When an Apache dies, if a
medicine-man be near, hoddentin is sprinkled upon the corpse. The
Apache buried in the clefts of rocks, but the Apache-Mohave cremated.
"Before lighting the fire the medicine-men of the Apache-Mohave put
hoddentin on the dead person's breast in the form of a cross, on the
forehead, shoulders, and scattered a little about."[253]

The very first thing an Apache does in the morning is to blow a little
pinch of hoddentin to the dawn. The Apache worship both dawn and
darkness, as well as the sun, moon, and several of the planets.

"When the sun rises we cast a pinch of hoddentin toward him, and we
do the same thing to the moon, but not to the stars, saying
'Gun-ju-le, chigo-na-ay, si-chi-zi, gun-ju-le, inzayu, ijanale,'
meaning 'Be good, O Sun, be good.' 'Dawn, long time let me live'; or,
'Don't let me die for a long time,' and at night, 'Gun-ju-le,
chil-jilt, si-chi-zi, gun-ju-le, inzayu, ijanale,' meaning 'Be good, O
Night; Twilight, be good; do not let me die.'" "In going on a hunt an
Apache throws hoddentin and says 'Gun-ju-le, chigo-na-ay, cha-ut-si,
ping, kladitza,' meaning 'Be good, O Sun, make me succeed deer to
kill.'"[254]

The name of the full moon in the Apache language is "klego-na-ay," but
the crescent moon is called "tzontzose" and hoddentin is always
offered to it.[255]

"Hoddentin is thrown to the sun, moon (at times), the morning star,
and occasionally to the wagon."[256] "The Apache offer much hoddentin
to 'Na-u-kuzze,' the Great Bear."[257] "Our custom is to throw a very
small pinch of hoddentin at dawn to the rising sun."[258] "The women
of the Chiricahua throw no hoddentin to the moon, but pray to it,
saying: 'Gun-ju-le, klego-na-ay,' (be good, O Moon)."[259]

When the Apache plant corn the medicine-men bury eagle-plume sticks in
the fields, scatter hoddentin, and sing. When the corn is partially
grown they scatter pinches of hoddentin over it.[260]

The "eagle-plume sticks" mentioned in the preceding paragraph suggests
the "ke-thawn" mentioned by Matthews in "The Mountain Chant."[261]

"When a person is very sick the Apache make a great fire, place the
patient near it, and dance in a circle around him and the fire, at the
same time singing and sprinkling him with hoddentin in the form of a
cross on head, breast, arms, and legs."[262]

In November, 1885, while at the San Carlos agency, I had an interview
with Nantadotash, an old blind medicine-man of the Akañe or Willow
gens, who had with him a very valuable medicine-hat which he refused
to sell, and only with great reluctance permitted me to touch. Taking
advantage of his infirmity, I soon had a picture drawn in my notebook,
and the text added giving the symbolism of all the ornamentation
attached. Upon discovering this, the old man became much excited, and
insisted upon putting a pinch of hoddentin upon the drawing, and then
recited a prayer, which I afterwards succeeded in getting verbatim.
After the prayer was finished, the old man arose and marked with
hoddentin the breast of his wife, of Moses, of Antonio, of other
Apache present, and then of myself, putting a large pinch over my
heart and upon each shoulder, and then placed the rest upon his own
tongue. He explained that I had taken the "life" out of his medicine
hat, and, notwithstanding the powers of his medicine, returned in less
than a month with a demand for $30 as damages. His hat never was the
same after I drew it. My suggestion that the application of a little
soap might wash away the clots of grease, soot, and earth adhering to
the hat, and restore its pristine efficacy were received with the
scorn due to the sneers of the scoffer.

"In time of much lightning, the Apache throw hoddentin and say:
'Gun-ju-le, ittindi,' be good, Lightning."[263]

  [Illustration: FIG. 434.--Nan-ta-do-tash's medicine hat.]

Tzit-jizinde, "the Man who likes Everybody," who said he belonged to
the Inoschujochin--Manzanita or Bearberry clan--showed me how to pray
with hoddentin in time of lightning or storm or danger of any kind.
Taking a small pinch in his fingers, he held it out at arm's length,
standing up, and repeated his prayer, and then blew his breath hard. I
was once with a party of Apache while a comet was visible. I called
their attention to it, but they did not seem to care. On the other
hand, Antonio told me that the "biggest dance" the Apache ever had was
during the time that "the stars all fell out of the sky" (1833).

"The only act of a religious character which I observed ... was
shortly after crossing the river they [i.e., the American officers]
were met by a small party of the Indians, one of whom chalked a cross
on the breast of each, with a yellow earth, which he carried in a
satchel at his belt. Previous to doing so he muttered some words very
solemnly with his hands uplifted and eyes thrown upwards. Again, on
arriving at the camp of the people, the chief and others in greeting
them took a similar vow, touching thereafter the yellow chalked cross.
Sonora may have furnished them with some of their notions of a
Deity."[264]

"The yellow earth," seen by Dr. Smart was, undoubtedly, hoddentin,
carried in a medicine bag at the belt of a medicine-man. Some years
ago I went out with Al. Seiber and a small party of Apache to examine
three of their "sacred caves" in the Sierra Pinal and Sierra Ancha. No
better opportunity could have been presented for noting what they did.
The very last thing at night they intoned a "medicine" song, and at
early dawn they were up to throw a pinch of hoddentin to the east.

Moses and John, two of the Apache mentioned above, requested
permission to go off in the mountains after deer and bear, supposed to
be plentiful in the higher altitudes. Before leaving camp, Moses blew
a pinch of hoddentin toward the sun, repeating his prayer for success,
and ending it with a sharp, snappy "ek," as if to call attention. In
one of the sacred caves visited on this trip, the Apache medicine-men
assembled for the purpose of holding their snake dance. This I have
never seen among the Apache, but that they celebrate it and that it is
fully the equal of the repulsive rite which I have witnessed and noted
among the Tusayan[265] I am fully assured. I may make reference to
some of its features in the chapter upon animal worship and ophic
rites.

From a multiplicity of statements, the following are taken: Concepcion
had seen the snake dance over on the Carrizo, near Camp Apache; the
medicine-men threw hoddentin upon the snakes. He said: "After getting
through with the snake, the medicine-man suffered it to glide off,
covered with the hoddentin, thrown by admiring devotees."

Mike Burns had no remembrance of seeing hoddentin thrown to the sun.
He had seen it thrown to the snake, "in a kind of worship."

Nott and Antonio stated that "when they find that a snake has wriggled
across the trail, especially the trail to be followed by a war party,
they throw hoddentin upon the trail." Nott took a pinch of hoddentin,
showed how to throw it upon the snake, and repeated the prayer, which
I recorded.

Corbusier instances a remedy in use among the Tonto Apache. This
consisted in applying a rattlesnake to the head or other part
suffering from pain. He continues: "After a time the medicine-man
rested the snake on the ground again, and, still retaining his hold of
it with his right hand, put a pinch of yellow pollen into its mouth
with his left, and rubbed some along its belly."[266]

"He then held his hand out to a man, who took a pinch of the powder
and rubbed it on the crown of a boy's head. Yellow pollen treated in
this manner is a common remedy for headache, and may frequently be
seen on the crowns of the heads of men and boys."[267]

Hoddentin is used in the same manner as a remedy for headache among
the San Carlos Apache, but the medicine-men apply a snake to the
person of a patient only when their "diagnosis" has satisfied them
that he has been guilty of some unkindness to a snake, such as
stepping upon it, in which case they pretend that they can cure the
man by applying to the part affected the portion of the reptile's body
upon which he trampled.

The Apache state that when their medicine-men go out to catch snakes
for their snake dance, they recite a prayer and lay their left hand,
in which is some hoddentin, at the opening of the snake's den, through
which the reptile must crawl, and, after a short time the snake will
come out and allow himself to be handled.

Hoddentin is also offered to other animals, especially the bear, of
which the Apache, like their congeners the Navajo, stand in great awe
and reverence. When a bear is killed, the dance which is held becomes
frenzied; the skin is donned by all the men, and much hoddentin is
thrown, if it can be obtained. One of these dances which I saw in the
Sierra Madre, Mexico, in 1883, lasted all night, without a moment's
cessation in the singing and prancing of the participants.

A great deal of hoddentin is offered to the "ka-chu" (great or jack
rabbit).[268]

The Apache medicine-man, Nakay-do-klunni, called by the whites
"Bobbydoklinny," exercised great influence over his people at Camp
Apache, in 1881. He boasted of his power to raise the dead, and
predicted that the whites should soon be driven from the land. He also
drilled the savages in a peculiar dance, the like of which had never
been seen among them. The participants, men and women, arranged
themselves in files, facing a common center, like the spokes of a
wheel, and while thus dancing hoddentin was thrown upon them in
profusion. This prophet or "doctor" was killed in the engagement in
the Cibicu canyon, August 30, 1881.

In a description of the "altars" made by the medicine-men of the
Apache-Yuma at or near Camp Verde, Arizona, it is shown that this
sacred powder is freely used. Figures were drawn upon the ground to
represent the deities of the tribe, and the medicine-men dropped on
all, except three of them, a pinch of yellow powder (hoddentin) which
was taken from a small buckskin bag. This powder was put upon the
head, chest, or other part of the body of the patient.

Surgeon Corbusier, U. S. Army,[269] says that the ceremony just
described was "a most sacred one and entered into for the purpose of
averting the diseases with which the Apache at Camp Verde had been
afflicted the summer previous."

I am not sure that the Apache-Yuma have not borrowed the use of
hoddentin from the Apache. My reason for expressing this opinion is
that I have never seen an Apache without a little bag of hoddentin
when it was possible for him to get it, whereas I have never seen an
Apache-Yuma with it except when he was about to start out on the
warpath. The "altars" referred to by Corbusier are made also by the
Apache, Navajo, Zuñi, and Tusayan. Those of the Apache, as might be
inferred from their nomadic state, were the crudest; those of the
Navajo, Zuñi, and Tusayan display a wonderful degree of artistic
excellence. The altars of the Navajo have been described and
illustrated by Dr. Washington Matthews,[270] and those of the Tusayan
by myself.[271]

Moses Henderson, wishing me to have a profitable interview with his
father, who was a great snake doctor among the Apache, told me that
when he brought him to see me I should draw two lines across each
other on his right foot, and at their junction place a bead of the
chalchihuitl, the cross to be drawn with hoddentin. The old man would
then tell me all he knew.

The Apache, I learned, at times offer hoddentin to fire, an example of
pyrodulia for which I had been on the lookout, knowing that the Navajo
have fire dances, the Zuñi the Feast of the Little God of Fire, and
the Apache themselves are not ignorant of the fire dance.

Hoddentin seems to be used to strengthen all solemn compacts and to
bind faith. I had great trouble with a very bright medicine-man named
Na-a-cha, who obstinately refused to let me look at the contents of a
phylactery which he constantly wore until I let him know that I, too,
was a medicine-man of eminence. The room in which we had our
conversation was the quarters of the post surgeon, at that time absent
on scout. The chimney piece was loaded with bottles containing all
kinds of drugs and medicines. I remarked carelessly to Na-a-cha that
if he doubted my powers I would gladly burn a hole through his tongue
with a drop of fluid from the vial marked "Acid, nitric," but he
concluded that my word was sufficient, and after the door was locked
to secure us from intrusion he consented to let me open and examine
the phylactery and make a sketch of its contents. To guard against all
possible trouble, he put a pinch of hoddentin on each of my shoulders,
on the crown of my head, and on my chest and back. The same
performance was gone through with in his own case. He explained that
hoddentin was good for men to eat, that it was good medicine for the
bear, and that the bear liked to eat it. I thought that herein might
be one clew to the reason why the Apache used it as a medicine. The
bear loves the tule swamp, from which, in days primeval, he sallied
out to attack the squaws and children gathering the tule powder or
tule bulb. Poorly armed, as they then were, the Apache must have had
great trouble in resisting him; hence they hope to appease him by
offering a sacrifice acceptable to his palate. If acceptable to the
chief animal god, as the bear seems to have been, as he certainly was
the most dangerous, then it would have been also acceptable to the
minor deities like the puma, snake, eagle, etc., and, by an easy
transition, to the sun, moon, and other celestial powers. This opinion
did not last long, as will be shown. From its constant association
with all sacrifices and all acts of worship, hoddentin would naturally
become itself sanctified and an object of worship, just as rattles,
drums, standards, holy grails, etc., in different parts of the world
have become fetichistic. I was not in the least surprised when I heard
Moses Henderson reciting a prayer, part of which ran thus: "Hoddentin
eshkin, bi hoddentin ashi" ("Hoddentin child, you hoddentin I offer"),
and to learn that it was a personification of hoddentin.

The fact that the myths of the Apache relate that Assanut-li-je
spilled hoddentin over the surface of the sky to make the Milky Way
may be looked upon as an inchoate form of a calendar, just as the
Aztecs transferred to their calendar the reed, rabbit, etc.

So constant is the appearance of hoddentin in ceremonies of a
religious nature among the Apache that the expression "hoddentin
schlawn" (plenty of hoddentin) has come to mean that a particular
performance or place is sacred. Yet, strange to say, this sacred
pollen of the tule is gathered without any special ceremony; at least,
I noticed none when I saw it gathered, although I should not fail to
record that at the time of which I speak the Apache and the
Apache-Yuma were returning from an arduous campaign, in which blood
had been shed, and everything they did--the bathing in the sweat
lodges and the singing of the Apache and the plastering of mud upon
their heads by the Apache-Yuma--had a reference to the lustration or
purgation necessary under such circumstances. Not only men but women
may gather the pollen. When the tule is not within reach our cat-tail
rush is used. Thus, the Chiricahua, confined at Fort Pickens, Florida,
gathered the pollen of the cat-tail rush, some of which was given me
by one of the women who gathered it.

Before making an examination into the meaning to be attached to the
use of hoddentin, it is well to determine whether or not such a powder
or anything analogous to it is to be found among the tribes adjacent.


THE "KUNQUE" OF THE ZUÑI AND OTHERS.

The term "kunque" as it appears in this chapter is one of convenience
only. Each pueblo, or rather each set of pueblos, has its own name in
its own language, as, for example, the people of Laguna and Acoma, who
employ it in all their ceremonies as freely as do the Zuñi, call it in
their tongue "hinawa." In every pueblo which I visited--and I visited
them all, from Oraibi of Tusayan, on the extreme west, to Picuris, on
the extreme east; from Taos, in the far north, to Isleta del Sur, in
Texas--I came upon this kunque, and generally in such quantities and
so openly exposed and so freely used that I was both astonished and
gratified; astonished that after centuries of contact with the
Caucasian the natives should still adhere with such tenacity to the
ideas of a religion supposed to have been extirpated, and gratified to
discover a lever which I could employ in prying into the meaning of
other usages and ceremonials.

Behind the main door in the houses at Santa Clara, San Ildefonso,
Picuris, Laguna, Acoma, San Felipe, Jemez, and other towns, there is a
niche containing a bowl or saucer filled with this sacred meal, of
which the good housewife is careful to throw a pinch to the sun at
early dawn and to the twilight at eventide. In every ceremony among
the Pueblos naturally enough, more particularly among those who have
been living farthest from the Mexicans, the lavish scattering of
sacred meal is the marked feature of the occasion. At the snake dance
of the Tusayan, in 1881, the altars were surrounded with baskets of
pottery and with flat plaques of reeds, which were heaped high with
kunque. When the procession moved out from under the arcade and began
to make the round of the sacred stone the air was white with meal, and
in my imagination I could see that it was a procession of Druids
circling about a "sacred stone" in Ireland previous to the coming of
St. Patrick. When the priests threw the snakes down upon the ground it
was within a circle traced with kunque, and soon the snakes were
covered with the same meal flung upon them by the squaws. There was
only one scalp left among the Tusayan in 1881, but there were several
among the Zuñi, and one or two each at Acoma and Laguna. In every one
of these towns kunque was offered to the scalps.

At the feast of the Little God of Fire among the Zuñi, in 1881, my
personal notes relate that "the moment the head of the procession
touched the knoll upon which the pueblo is built the mass of people
began throwing kunque upon the Little God and those with him as well
as on the ground in front of, beside, and behind them. This kunque was
contained in sacred basket-shaped bowls of earthenware. The spectators
kept the air fairly misty with clouds of the sacred kunque. This
procession passed around the boundaries of the pueblo of Zuñi,
stopping at eight holes in the ground for the purpose of enacting a
ceremonial of consecration suggestive of the 'terminalia' of the
Romans. They visited each of the holes, which were 18 inches deep and
12 inches square, with a sandstone slab to serve as a cover. Each hole
was filled with kunque and sacrificial plumes. * * * 'Every morning of
the year, when the sky is clear, at the rising of Lucero [the morning
star], at the crowing of the cock, we throw corn flour [kunque] to the
sun. I am never without my bag of kunque; here it is [drawing it from
his belt]. Every Zuñi has one. We offer it to the sun for good rain
and good crops.'"[272]

Subsequently Pedro went on to describe in detail a phallic dance and
ceremony, in which there was a sort of divination. The young maiden
who made the lucky guess was richly rewarded, while her less fortunate
companions were presented with a handful of kunque, which they kept
during the ensuing year. This dance is called "ky'áklu," and is
independent of the great phallic dance occurring in the month of
December. Pedro also stated that until very recently the Zuñi were in
the habit of celebrating a fire dance at Noche Buena (Christmas).
There were four piles of wood gathered for the occasion, and upon each
the medicine-men threw kunque in profusion. This dance, as Pedro
described it, closely resembled one mentioned by Landa in his Cosas de
Yucatan. High up on the vertical face of the precipice of Tâaiyalana
there is a phallic shrine of the Zuñi to which I climbed with Mr.
Frank Cushing. We found that the place had been visited by young
brides who were desirous of becoming mothers. The offerings in every
case included kunque.

In the account given in the National Tribune, Washington, District of
Columbia, May 20, 1886, of the mode of life of the Zuñi woman Wehwa
while in the national capital, and while engaged in the kirmes, we
read:

     She also strewed sacred corn meal along on her way to the
     theater to bring good luck to her and the other dancers. * * *
     She has gone from her comfortable room to pray in the street
     at daylight every morning, whatever the weather has been.
     * * * At such times she strews corn meal all around her
     until the front-door steps and the sidewalk are much daubed
     with dough. But this is not the corn meal in common use in
     the United States, but is sacred meal ground in Zuñi with
     sacred stones.[273]

So long a time has elapsed since any of the Pueblos have been on the
warpath that no man can describe their actual war customs except from
the dramatic ceremonial of their dances or from the stories told him
by the "old men." The following from an eyewitness will therefore be
of interest: "Before the Pueblos reached the heights they were ordered
to scale they halted on the way to receive from their chiefs some
medicine from the medicine bags which each of them carried about his
person. This they rubbed upon their heart, as they said, to make it
big and brave, and they also rubbed it upon other parts of their
bodies and upon their rifles for the same purpose."[274]

The constant use of kunque by the different Pueblo tribes has been
noticed from the first days of European contact. In the relation of
Don Antonio de Espejo (1583) we are told that upon the approach of the
Spaniards to the town of Zaguato, lying 28 leagues west of Zuñi, "a
great multitude of Indians came forth to meete them, and among the
rest their Caçiques, with so great demonstration of joy and gladnes,
that they cast much meale of Maiz upon the ground for the horses to
tread upon."[275]

I am under the impression that the ruins of this village are those
near the ranch of Mr. Thomas V. Keam, at Keam's Canyon, Arizona,
called by the Navajo "Talla-hogandi," meaning "singing house," in
reference to the Spanish mission which formerly existed there. This
village is, as I have hitherto shown, the ruin of the early pueblo of
Awátubi.

In his poem descriptive of the conquest of New Mexico, entitled "Nueva
Mejico," Alcala de Henares, 1610, Villagrá uses the following
language:[276]

    Passando à Mohoçe, Zibola, y Zuni,
    Por cuias nobles tierras descubrimos,
    Una gran tropa de Indios que venia,
    Con cantidad harina que esparcian,
    Sobre la gente toda muy apriessa,
    Y entrando assi en los pueblos las mugeres
    Dieron en arrojarnos tantá della,
    Que dimos en tomarles los costales,
    De donde resultò tener con ellas,
    Unas carnestolendas bien reñidas.

It is gratifying to observe that the Spanish writer in the remote
wilds of America struck upon an important fact in ethnology: that the
throwing of "harina" or flour by the people of Tusayan (Mohoçe or
Moqui), Cibola, and Zuñi (observe the odd separation of "Zibola" from
either Moqui or Zuñi) was identical with the "carnestolendas" of
Spain, in which, on Shrove Tuesday, the women and girls cover all the
men they meet with flour. The men are not at all backward in returning
the compliment, and the streets are at times filled with the
farinaceous dust.

"Harina de maiz azul" is used by Mexicans in their religious
ceremonies, especially those connected with the water deities.[277]
The Peruvians, when they bathed and sacrificed to cure themselves of
sickness, "untandose primero con Harina de Maiz, i con otras cosas,
con muchas, i diversas ceremonias, i lo mismo hacen en los
Baños."[278] The kunque of the Peruvians very closely resembled that
of the Zuñi. We read that it was a compound of different-colored maize
ground up with sea shells.[279] The Peruvians had a Priapic idol
called Hua-can-qui, of which we read: "On offre à cette idole une
corbeille ornée de plumes de diverses couleurs et remplie d'herbes
odoriférantes; on y met aussi de _la farine de maïs_ que l'on
renouvelle tous les mois, et les femmes se lavent la figure avec
celle que l'on ôte, en accompagnant cette ablution de plusieurs
cérémonies superstitieuses."[280]

The tribes seen on the Rio Colorado in 1540 by Alarcon "carry also
certaine little long bagges about an hand broade tyed to their left
arme, which serve them also instead of brasers for their bowes, full
of the powder of a certaine herbe, whereof they make a certaine
beverage."[281] We are at a loss to know what this powder was, unless
hoddentin. The Indians came down to receive the son of the sun, as
Alarcon led them to believe him to be, in full gala attire, and no
doubt neglected nothing that would add to their safety.

"Ils mirent dans leur bouche du maïs et d'autres semences, et les
lancèrent vers moi en disant que c'était la manière dont ils faisaient
les sacrifices au soleil."[282]

Kohl speaks of seeing inside the medicine wigwam, during the great
medicine ceremonies of the Ojibwa, "a snow-white powder."[283] In an
address delivered by Dr. W. J. Hoffman before the Anthropological
Society of Washington, D. C., May 2, 1888, upon the symbolism of the
Midēᐟ, Jesᐟsakkid, and Wâbeno of the Ojibwa of Minnesota, he
stated in reply to a question from me that he had not been able to
find any of the "snow-white powder" alluded to by Kohl in
Kitchi-gami.[284]

In Yucatan, when children were baptized, one of the ceremonies was
that the chac, or priest in charge, should give the youngster a pinch
of corn meal, which the boy threw in the fire. These chacs were
priests of the god who presided over baptism and over hunting.[285]

At the coronation of their kings the Aztecs had a sacred unction, and
a holy water, drawn from a sacred spring, and "about his neck is tied
a small gourd, containing a certain powder, which is esteemed a strong
preservative against disease, sorcery, and treason."[286]

"At the entrance to one of the narrow defiles of the Cordilleras ... a
large mass of rock with small cavities upon its surface, into which
the Indians, when about to enter the pass, generally deposit a few
glass beads, a handful of meal, or some other propitiatory offering to
the 'genius' supposed to preside over the spot and rule the storm."

Again, "on receiving a plate of broth, an Indian, before eating,
spills a little upon the ground; he scatters broadcast a few pinches
of the meal that is given him, and pours out a libation before raising
the wine cup to his lips, as acts of thanksgiving for the blessings he
receives."[287]

When Capt. John Smith was captured by the Pamunkey tribe of Virginia
in 1607 he was taken to "a long house," where, on the morning
following "a great grim fellow" came skipping in, "all painted over
with coale, mingled with oyle. With most strange gestures and passions
he began his invocation, and environed the fire with a circle of
meale." This priest was followed by six others, who "with their
rattles began a song, which ended, the chiefe priest layd downe five
wheat cornes." This ceremony was apparently continued during the day
and repeated on the following two days.[288] Capt. Smith's reception
by the medicine-men of the Virginians is described by Picart.[289]
These medicine-men are called "prêtres," and we are informed that they
sang "des chants magiques." The grains of wheat ("grains de blé") were
"rangez cinq à cinq."

Gomara tells us that in the religious festivals of Nicaragua there
were used certain "taleguillas con polvos," but he does not tell what
these "polvos" were; he only says that when the priests sacrifice
themselves they cured the wounds, "curan las heridas con polvo de
herbas ó carbon."[290]

While the Baron de Graffenreid was a prisoner in the hands of the
Tuscarora, on the Neuse River, in 1711, the conjurer or high priest
("the priests are generally magicians and even conjure up the devil")
"made two white rounds, whether of flour or white sand, I do not know,
just in front of us."[291]

Lafitau says of one of the medicine-women of America: "Elle commença
d'abord par préparer un espace de terrain qu'elle nétoya bien &
qu'elle couvrit de farine, ou de cendre très-bien bluttée (je ne me
souviens pas exactement laquelle des deux)."[292]

In a description of the ceremonial connected with the first appearance
of the catamenia in a Navajo squaw, there is no reference to a use of
anything like hoddentin, unless it may be the corn which was ground
into meal for a grand feast, presided over by a medicine-man.[293]

When a woman is grinding corn or cooking, and frequently when any of
the Navajo, male or female, are eating, a handful of corn meal is put
in the fire as an offering (to the sun).[294]

The Pueblos of New Mexico are described as offering sacrifices of food
to their idols. "Los Indios del Norte tienan multitud de Idolos, en
pequeños Adoratorios, donde los ponen de comer."[295]

Maj. Backus, U. S. Army, describes certain ceremonies which he saw
performed by the Navajo at a sacred spring near Fort Defiance,
Arizona, which seems to have once been a geyser:

     I once visited it with three other persons and an Indian
     doctor, who carried with him five small bags, each containing
     some vegetable or mineral substance, all differing in color.
     At the spring each bag was opened and a small quantity of its
     contents was put into the right hand of each person present.
     Each visitor, in succession, was then required to kneel down
     by the spring side, to place his closed hand in the water up
     to his elbow, and after a brief interval to open his hand and
     let fall its contents into the spring. The hand was then
     slowly withdrawn and each one was then permitted to drink and
     retire.[296]

Columbus in his fourth voyage touched the mainland, going down near
Brazil. He says:

     In Cariay and the neighboring country there are great
     enchanters of a very fearful character. They would have given
     the world to prevent my remaining there an hour. When I
     arrived they sent me immediately two girls very showily
     dressed; the eldest could not be more than eleven years of
     age and the other seven, and both exhibited so much immodesty
     that more could not be expected from public women. They
     carried concealed about them a magic powder.[297]

The expedition of La Salle noticed, among the Indians on the
Mississippi, the Natchez, and others, "todos los dias, que se
detuvieren en aquel Pueblo, ponia la Cacica, encima de la Sepultura de
Marle [i.e., a Frenchman who had been drowned], una Cestilla llena de
Espigas de Maíz, tostado."[298]

"He showed me, as a special favor, that which give him his power--a
bag with some reddish powder in it. He allowed me to handle it and
smell this mysterious stuff, and pointed out two little dolls or
images, which, he said, gave him authority over the souls of others;
it was for their support that flour and water were placed in small
birch-rind saucers in front."[299]

On page 286, narrative of the Jeannette Arctic expedition, Dr. Newcomb
says: "One day, soon after New Year's, I was out walking with one of
the Indians. Noticing the new moon, he stopped, faced it, and, blowing
out his breath, he spoke to it, invoking success in hunting. The moon,
he said, was 'Tyunne,' or ruler of deers, bears, seals, and walrus."
The ceremony herein described I have no doubt was analogous in every
respect to hoddentin-throwing. As the Indians mentioned were
undoubtedly Tinneh, my surmise seems all the more reasonable.[300]

Tanner relates that among the Ojibwa the two best hunters of the band
had "each a little leather sack of medicine, consisting of certain
roots pounded fine and mixed with red paint, to be applied to the
little images or figures of the animals we wish to kill."[301]

"In the parish of Walsingham, in Surrey, there is or was a custom
which seems to refer to the rites performed in honor of Pomona. Early
in the spring the boys go round to the several orchards in the parish
and whip the apple trees.... The good woman gives them some
meal."[302]

Among the rustics of Great Britain down to a very recent period there
were in use certain "love powders," the composition of which is not
known, a small quantity of which had to be sprinkled upon the food of
the one beloved.[303]

Attached to the necklace of human fingers before described, captured
from one of the chief medicine-men of the Cheyenne Indians, is a bag
containing a powder very closely resembling hoddentin, if not
hoddentin itself.

It is said that the Asinai made sacrifice to the scalps of their
enemies, as did the Zuñi as late as 1881. "Ofrecen á las calaveras
pinole molido y de otras cosas comestibles."[304]

Perrot says the Indians of Canada had large medicine bags, which he
calls "pindikossan," which, among other things, contained "des racines
ou des poudres pour leur servir de médecines."[305]

In an article on the myth of Manibozho, by Squier, in American
Historical Magazine Review, 1848, may be found an account of the
adventures of two young heroes, one of whom is transferred to the list
of gods. He commissioned his comrade to bring him offerings of a white
wolf, a polecat, some pounded maize, and eagles' tails.

Laplanders sprinkle cow and calf with flour.[306]

Cameron met an old chief on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, of whom he
says: "His forehead and hair were daubed with vermilion, yellow, and
white powder, the pollen of flowers."[307]

In the incantations made by the medicine-men of Africa, near the head
of the Congo, to preserve his expedition from fire, Cameron saw the
sacrifice of a goat and a hen, and among other features a use of
powdered bark closely resembling hoddentin: "Scraping the bark off the
roots and sticks, they placed it in the wooden bowl and reduced it to
powder." The head medicine-man soon after "took up a handful of the
powdered bark and blew some toward the sun and the remainder in the
opposite direction."[308]

The magic powder, called "uganga," used as the great weapon of
divination of the mganga, or medicine-men of some of the African
tribes, as mentioned by Speke,[309] must be identical with the powder
spoken of by Cameron.

Near the village of Kapéka, Cameron was traveling with a caravan in
which the principal man was a half-breed Portuguese named Alvez. "On
Alvez making his entry he was mobbed by women, who shrieked and yelled
in honor of the event and pelted him with flour." This was Alvez's own
home and all this was a sign of welcome.[310]

Speke describes a young chief wearing on his forehead "antelope horns,
stuffed with magic powder to keep off the evil eye."[311]

After describing an idol, in the form of a man, in a small temple on
the Lower Congo, Stanley says: "The people appear to have considerable
faith in a whitewash of cassava meal, with which they had sprinkled
the fences, posts, and lintels of doors."[312]

"According to Consul Hutchinson (in his interesting work 'Impressions
of Western Africa'), the Botikaimon [a medicine-man], previous to the
ceremony of coronation, retires into a deep cavern, and there, through
the intermediary of a 'rukaruka' (snake demon), consults the demon
Maon. He brings back to the king the message he receives, sprinkles
him with a yellow powder called 'tsheoka,' and puts upon his head the
hat his father wore."[313] In a note, it is stated that: "Tsheoka is a
vegetable product, obtained, according to Hutchinson, by collecting a
creamy coat that is found on the waters at the mouth of some small
rivers, evaporating the water, and forming a chalky mass of the
residue."[314] Schultze says[315] that the Congo negroes "appease the
hurricane" by "casting meal into the air."

The voudoo ceremonies of the negroes of New Orleans, which would seem
to have been transplanted from Africa, include a sprinkling of the
congregation with a meal which has been blessed by the head
medicine-man or conjurer.

At the feast of Huli, at the vernal equinox (our April fool's day),
the Hindu throw a purple powder (abir) upon each other with much
sportive pleasantry. A writer in "Asiatick Researches"[316] says they
have the idea of representing the return of spring, which the Romans
called "purple."

During the month of Phalgoonu, there is a festival in honor of
Krishna, when the "Hindus spend the night in singing and dancing and
wandering about the streets besmeared with the dolu (a red) powder, in
the daytime carrying a quantity of the same powder about with them,
which, with much noise and rejoicing, they throw over the different
passengers they may meet in their rambles. Music, dancing, fireworks,
singing, and many obscenities take place on this occasion."[317]

On pages 434-435 of my work, "Scatalogic Rites of all Nations," are to
be found extracts from various authorities in regard to the Hindu
feast of Holi or Hulica, in which this statement occurs: "Troops of
men and women, wreathed with flowers and drunk with bang, crowd the
streets, carrying sacks full of bright-red vegetable powder. With this
they assail the passers-by, covering them with clouds of dust, which
soon dyes their clothes a startling color."

"Red powder (gulál) is a sign of a bad design of an adulterous
character. During the Holi holidays, the Maháráj throws gulál on the
breasts of female and male devotees."[318]

"In India, the devotees throw red powder on one another at the
festival of the Huli, or vernal equinox. This red powder, the Hindoos
say, is the imitation of the pollen of plants, the principle of
fructification, the flower of the plant."[319]

The women of the East Indies (Brahmins), on the 18th of January,
celebrate a feast in honor of the goddess Parvati: "Leur but est
d'obtenir une longue vie pour leurs maris, & qu'elles ne deviennent
jamais veuves. Elles font une Image de Parvati avec de la farine de
riz & du grain rouge qu'elles y mêlent; elles l'ornent d'habits & de
fleurs & après l'avoir ainsi servie pendant neuf jours, elles la
portent le dixiéme dans un Palenquin hors de la Ville. Une foule de
femmes mariées la suivent, on la jette ensuite dans un des étangs
sacrez, où on la laisse, & chacune s'en retourne chez elle."[320]

Speaking of the methods in use among the Lamas for curing disease,
Rev. James Gilmour says: "Throwing about small pinches of millet seed
is a usual part of such a service."[321]

Dr. W. W. Rockhill described to me a Tibetan festival, which includes
a procession of the God of Mercy, in which procession there are masked
priests, holding blacksnake whips in their hands, and carrying bags of
flour which they throw upon the people.

The use of these sacred powders during so many different religious
festivals and ceremonies would seem to resemble closely that made by
the Apache of hoddentin and the employment of kunque by the Zuñi and
others; and from Asia it would seem that practices very similar in
character found their way into Europe. Of the Spanish witches it is
related:

     When they entered people's houses they threw a powder on the
     faces of the inmates, who were thrown thereby into so deep a
     slumber that nothing could wake them, until the witches were
     gone.... Sometimes they threw these powders on the fruits of
     the field and produced hail which destroyed them. On these
     occasions the demon accompanied them in the form of a
     husbandman, and when they threw the powders they said:

         "Polvos, polvos,
         Pierda se tado,
         Queden los nuestros,
         Y abrasense otros."[322]

Higgins says: "The flour of wheat was the sacrifice offered to the
Χρης or Ceres in the Εὐχᾰριστία."[323]

What relation these powders have had to the "carnestolendas" of the
Spanish and Portuguese, already alluded to, and the throwing of
"confetti" by the Italians, which is a modification, it would be hard
to say. Some relation would appear to be suggested.


USE OF POLLEN BY THE ISRAELITES AND EGYPTIANS.

There are some suggestions of a former use of pollen among the
Israelites and Egyptians.

Manna, which we are assured was at one time a source of food to the
Hebrews, was afterward retained as an offering in the temples.
Forlong, however, denies that it ever could have entered into general
consumption. He says:

     Manna, as food, is an absurdity, but we have the well-known
     produce of the desert oak or ash--Fraxinus.... An omer of
     this was precious, and in this quantity, at the spring
     season, not difficult to get; it was a specially fit tribute
     to be "laid up" before any Phallic Jah, as it was the pollen
     of the tree of Jove and of Life, and in this sense the tribe
     lived spiritually on such "spiritual manna" as this god
     supplied or was supplied with.[324]

The detestation in which the bean was held by the high-caste people of
Egypt does not demonstrate that the bean was not an article of food to
a large part of the population, any more than the equal detestation of
the occupation of swineherd would prove that none of the poor made use
of swine's flesh. The priesthood of Egypt were evidently exerting
themselves to stamp out the use of a food once very common among their
people, and to supersede it with wheat or some other cereal. They held
a man accursed who in passing through a field planted with beans had
his clothing soiled with their pollen. Speke must have encountered a
survival of this idea when he observed in equatorial Africa, near the
sources of the Nile, and among people whose features proclaimed their
Abyssinian origin, the very same aversion. He was unable to buy food,
simply because he and some of his followers had eaten "the bean called
maharagŭé." Such a man, the natives believed, "if he tasted the
products of their cows, would destroy their cattle."[325]

One other point should be dwelt upon in describing the kunque of the
Zuñi, Tusayan, and other Pueblos. It is placed upon one of the sacred
flat baskets and packed down in such a manner that it takes the form
of one of the old-fashioned elongated cylindro-conical cheeses. It
should be noted also that by something more than a coincidence this
form was adhered to by the peoples farther to the south when they
arranged their sacred meal upon baskets.

At the festival of the god Teutleco the Aztecs made "de harina de
maiz un montecillo muy tupido de la forma de un queso."[326] This
closely resembles the corn meal heaps seen at the snake dance of the
Tusayan.

The Zuñi, in preparing kunque or sacred meal for their religious
festivals, invariably made it in the form of a pyramid resting upon
one of their flat baskets. It then bore a striking resemblance to the
pyramids or phalli which the Egyptians offered to their deities, and
which Forlong thinks must have been "just such Lingham-like
sweet-bread as we still see in Indian Sivaic temples."[327] Again,
"the orthodox Hislop, in his Two Babylons, tells us that 'bouns,'
buns, or bread offered to the gods from the most ancient times were
similar to our 'hotcross' buns of Good Friday, that ... the buns known
by that identical name were used in the worship of the Queen of
Heaven, the goddess Easter (Ishtar or Astarti) as early as the days of
Kekrops, the founder of Athens, 1500 years B. C."[328]

Forlong[329] quotes Capt. Wilford in Asiatick Researches, vol. 8, p.
365, as follows:

     When the people of Syracuse were sacrificing to goddesses,
     they offered cakes called _mulloi_, shaped like the female
     organ; and Dulare tells us that the male organ was similarly
     symbolised in pyramidal cakes at Easter by the pious
     Christians of Saintogne, near Rochelle, and handed about from
     house to house; that even in his day the festival of Palm
     Sunday was called _La Fête des Pinnes_, showing that this
     fête was held to be on account of both organs, although, of
     course, principally because the day was sacred to the palm,
     the ancient tree Phallus.... We may believe that the Jewish
     cakes and show bread were also emblematic.

Mr. Frank H. Cushing informs me that there is an annual feast among
the Zuñi in which are to be seen cakes answering essentially to the
preceding description.


HODDENTIN A PREHISTORIC FOOD.

The peculiar manner in which the medicine-men of the Apache use the
hoddentin (that is, by putting a pinch upon their own tongues); the
fact that men and women make use of it in the same way, as a
restorative when exhausted; its appearance in myth in connection with
Assanutlije, the goddess who supplied the Apache and Navajo with so
many material benefits, all combine to awaken the suspicion that in
hoddentin we have stumbled upon a prehistoric food now reserved for
sacrificial purposes only. That the underlying idea of sacrifice is a
food offered to some god is a proposition in which Herbert Spencer and
W. Robertson Smith concur. In my opinion, this definition is
incomplete; a perfect sacrifice is that in which a _prehistoric_ food
is offered to a god, and, although in the family oblations of everyday
life we meet with the food of the present generation, it would not be
difficult to show that where the whole community unites in a function
of exceptional importance the propitiation of the deities will be
effected by foods whose use has long since faded away from the memory
of the laity.

The sacred feast of stewed puppy and wild turnips forms a prominent
part of the sun dance of the Sioux, and had its parallel in a
collation of boiled puppy (catullus), of which the highest civic and
ecclesiastical dignitaries of pagan Rome partook at stated intervals.

The reversion of the Apache to the food of his ancestors--the
hoddentin--as a religious offering has its analogue in the unleavened
bread and other obsolete farinaceous products which the ceremonial of
more enlightened races has preserved from oblivion. Careful
consideration of the narrative of Cabeza de Vaca sustains this
conclusion. In the western portion of his wanderings we learn that for
from thirty to forty days he and his comrades passed through tribes
which for one-third of the year had to live on "the powder of straw"
(on the powder of bledos), and that afterwards the Spaniards came
among people who raised corn. At that time, Vaca, whether we believe
that he ascended the Rio Concho or kept on up the Rio Grande, was in a
region where he would certainly have encountered the ancestors of our
Apache tribe and their brothers the Navajo. The following is Herrera's
account of that part of Vaca's wanderings: "Padeciendo mucha hambre en
treinta i quatro Jornadas, pasando por una Gente que la tercera parte
del Año comen polvos de paja, i los huvieron de comer, por haver
llegado en tal ocasion."[330]

This powder (polvo) of paja or grass might at first sight seem to be
grass seeds; but why not say "flour," as on other occasions? The
phrase is an obscure one, but not more obscure than the description of
the whole journey. In the earlier writings of the Spaniards there is
ambiguity because the new arrivals endeavored to apply the names of
their own plants and animals to all that they saw in the western
continent. Neither Castañeda nor Cabeza de Vaca makes mention of
hoddentin, but Vaca does say that when he had almost ended his
journey: "La côte ne possède pas de maïs; on n'y mange que de la
poudre de paille de blette." "Blette" is the same as the Spanish
"bledos."[331] "Nous parvînmes chez une peuplade qui, pendant le tiers
de l'année, ne vit que de poudre de paille." "We met with a people,
who the third part of the yeere eate no other thing save the powder of
straw."[332]

Davis, who seems to have followed Herrera, says: "These Indians lived
one-third of the year on the powder of a certain straw.... After
leaving this people they again arrived in a country of permanent
habitations, where they found an abundance of maize.... The
inhabitants gave them maize both in grain and flour."[333]

The Tusayan Indians were formerly in the habit of adding a trifle of
chopped straw to their bread, but more as our own bakers would use
bran than as a regular article of diet.

Barcia[334] makes no allusion to anything resembling hoddentin or
"polvos de bledos" in his brief account of Vaca's journey. But
Buckingham Smith, in his excellent translation of Vaca's narrative,
renders "polvos de paja" thus: "It was probably the seed of grass
which they ate. I am told by a distinguished explorer that the Indians
to the west collect it of different kinds and from the powder make
bread, some of which is quite palatable." And for "polvos de bledos":
"The only explanation I can offer for these words is little
satisfactory. It was the practice of the Indians of both New Spain and
New Mexico to beat the ear of young maize, while in the milk, to a
thin paste, hang it in festoons in the sun, and, being thus dried, was
preserved for winter use."

This explanation is very unsatisfactory. Would not Vaca have known it
was corn and have said so? On the contrary, he remarks in that very
line in Smith's own translation: "There is no maize on the coast."

The appearance of all kinds of grass seeds in the food of nearly all
the aborigines of our southwestern territory is a fact well known, but
what is to be demonstrated is the extensive use of the "powder" of the
tule or cat-tail rush. Down to our day, the Apache have used not only
the seeds of various grasses, but the bulb of the wild hyacinth and
the bulb of the tule. The former can be eaten either raw or cooked,
but the tule bulb is always roasted between hot stones. The taste of
the hyacinth bulb is somewhat like that of raw chestnuts. That of the
roasted tule bulb is sweet and not at all disagreeable.[335]

Father Jacob Baegert[336] enumerates among the foods of the Indians of
southern California "the roots of the common reed" (i.e., of the
tule).

Father Alegre, speaking of the tribes living near the Laguna San
Pedro,[337] in latitude 28° north--two hundred leagues north of the
City of Mexico--says that they make their bread of the root, which is
very frequent in their lakes, and which is like the plant called the
"anea" or rush in Spain. "Forman el pan de una raiz muy frecuente en
sus lagunas, semejante á las que llaman aneas en España."[338]

The Indians of the Atlantic Slope made bread of the bulb of a plant
which Capt. John Smith[339] says "grew like a flag in marshes." It was
roasted and made into loaves called "tuckahoe."[340]

Kalm, in his Travels in North America,[341] says of the tuckahoe:

     It grows in several swamps and marshes and is commonly
     plentiful. The hogs greedily dig up its roots with their
     noses in such places, and the Indians of Carolina likewise
     gather it in their rambles in the woods, dry it in the sun,
     grind, and make bread of it. Whilst the root is fresh it is
     harsh and acrid, but, being dried, it loses the greater part
     of its acrimony. To judge by these qualities, the tuckahoe
     may very likely be the Arum virginianum.

The Shoshoni and Bannock of Idaho and Montana eat the tule bulb.[342]

Something analogous to hoddentin is mentioned by the chronicler of
Drake's voyage along the California coast about A. D. 1540. Speaking
of the decorations of the chiefs of the Indians seen near where San
Francisco now stands, he says another mark of distinction was "a
certain downe, which groweth up in the countrey upon an herbe much
like our lectuce, which exceeds any other downe in the world for
finenesse and beeing layed upon their cawles, by no winds can be
removed. Of such estimation is this herbe amongst them that the downe
thereof is not lawfull to be worne, but of such persons as are about
the king, ... and the seeds are not used but onely in sacrifice to
their gods."[343]

Mr. Cushing informs me that hoddentin is mentioned as a food in the
myths of the Zuñi under the name of oneya, from oellu, "food."

In Kamtchatka the people dig and cook the bulbs of the Kamtchatka
lily, which seems to be some sort of a tuber very similar to that of
the tule.

"Bread is now made of rye, which the Kamtchadals raise and grind for
themselves; but previous to the settlement of the country by the
Russians the only native substitute for bread was a sort of baked
paste, consisting chiefly of the grated tubers of the purple
Kamtchatkan lily."[344]


HODDENTIN THE YIAUHTLI OF THE AZTECS.

There would seem to be the best of reason for an identification of
hoddentin with the "yiauhtli" which Sahagun and Torquemada tell us was
thrown by the Aztecs in the faces of victims preparatory to
sacrificing them to the God of Fire, but the explanation given by
those authors is not at all satisfactory. The Aztecs did not care much
whether the victim suffered or not; he was sprinkled with this sacred
powder because he had assumed a sacred character.

Padre Sahagun[345] says that the Aztecs, when about to offer human
sacrifice, threw "a powder named 'yiauhtli' on the faces of those whom
they were about to sacrifice, that they might become deprived of
sensation and not suffer much pain in dying."

In sacrificing slaves to the God of Fire, the Aztec priests "tomaban
ciertos polvos de una semilla, llamada Yauhtli, y polvoreaban las
caras con ellas, para que perdiesen el sentido, y no sintiesen tanto
la muerte cruel, que las daban."[346]

Guautli, generally spelled "yuautli," one of the foods paid to
Montezuma as tribute, may have been tule pollen. Gallatin says: "I can
not discover what is meant by the guautli. It is interpreted as being
_semilla de Bledo_; but I am not aware of any other native grain than
maize having been, before the introduction of European cereales, an
article of food of such general use, as the quantity mentioned seems
to indicate."[347]

Among the articles which the king of Atzapotzalco compelled the Aztecs
to raise for tribute is mentioned "ahuauhtli (que es como
bledos)."[348]


"BLEDOS" OF ANCIENT WRITERS--ITS MEANING.

Lafitau[349] gives a description of the Iroquois mode of preparing for
the warpath. He says that the Iroquois and Huron called war
"n'ondoutagette" and "gaskenragette." "Le terme _Ondouta_ signifie le
duvet qu'on tire de l'épy des Roseaux de Marais & signifie aussi la
plante toute entiere, dont ils se servent pour faire les nattes sur
quoi ils couchent, de sorte qu'il y a apparence qu'ils avoient affecté
ce terme pour la Guerre, parce que chaque Guerrier portoit avec soy sa
natte dans ces sortes d'expeditions."

This does not seem to be the correct explanation. Rather, it was
because they undoubtedly made some sacrificial meal of this "duvet,"
or pollen, and used it as much as the Apache do hoddentin, their
sacred meal made of the pollen of the tule, which is surely a species
of "roseaux de marais."

The great scarcity of corn among the people passed while en route to
Cibola is commented upon in an account of Coronado's expedition to
Cibola, in Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos, relativos al
descubrimiento, conquista y colonizacion de las posesiones Españolas
de América y Oceanía.[350]

We are also informed[351] that the people of Cibola offered to their
idols "polbos amarillos de flores."

Castañeda speaks of the people beyond Chichilticale making a bread of
the mesquite which kept good for a whole year. He seems to have been
well informed regarding the vegetable foods of the tribes passed
through by Coronado's expedition.[352]

That the "blettes" or "bledos" did not mean the same as grass is a
certainty after we have examined the old writers, who each and all
show that the bledos meant a definite kind of plant, although exactly
what this plant was they fail to inform us. It can not be intended for
the sunflower, which is mentioned distinctly by a number of writers as
an article of diet among the Indians of the Southwest.[353]


TZOALLI.

An examination of the Spanish writers who most carefully transmitted
their observations upon the religious ceremonies of the Aztecs and
other nations in Mexico and South America brings out two most
interesting features in this connection. The first is that there were
commemorative feasts of prehistoric foods, and the second that one or
more of these foods has played an important part in the religion of
tribes farther north. The first of these foods is the "tzoalli," which
was the same as "bledos," which latter would seem beyond question to
have been hoddentin or yiauhtli. Brasseur de Bourbourg's definition
simply states that the tzoalli was a compound of leguminous grains
peculiar to Mexico and eaten in different ways: "Le Tzohualli était un
composé de graines légumineuses particulières au Mexique, qu'on
mangeait de diverses manières."[354]

In the month called Tepeilhuitl the Aztecs made snakes of twigs and
covered them with dough of bledos (a kind of grain or hay seed). Upon
these they placed figures, representing mountains, but shaped like
young children.[355] This month was the thirteenth on the Mexican
calendar, which began on our February 1. This would put it October 1,
or thereabout.

Squier cites Torquemada's description of the sacrifices called
Ecatotontin, offered to the mountains by the Mexicans. In these they
made figures of serpents and children and covered them with "dough,"
named by them tzoalli, composed of the seeds of bledos.[356]

A dramatic representation strongly resembling those described in the
two preceding paragraphs was noted among the Tusayan of Arizona by Mr.
Taylor, a missionary, in 1881, and has been mentioned at length in The
Snake Dance of the Moquis. Clavigero relates that the Mexican priests
"all eat a certain kind of gruel which they call _Etzalli_."[357]

Torquemada relates that the Mexicans once each year made an idol or
statue of Huitzlipotchli of many grains and the seeds of bledos and
other vegetables which they kneaded with the blood of boys who were
sacrificed for the purpose. "Juntaban muchos granos y semilla de
Bledos, y otras legumbres, y molianlas con mucha devocion, y recato,
y de ellas amasaban, y formaban la dicha Estatua, del tamaño y
estatura de un Hombre. El licor, con que se resolbian y desleian
aquellas harinas era sangre de Niños, que para este fin se
sacrificaban."[358]

It is remarkable the word "maiz" does not occur in this paragraph.
Huitzlipotchli being the God of War, it was natural that the ritual
devoted to his service should conserve some, if not all, of the foods,
grains, and seeds used by the Mexicans when on the warpath in the
earliest days of their history; and that this food should be made into
a dough with the blood of children sacrificed as a preliminary to
success is also perfectly in accordance with all that we know of the
mode of reasoning of this and other primitive peoples. Torquemada goes
on to say that this statue was carried in solemn procession to the
temple and idol of Huitzlipotchli and there adorned with precious
jewels (chalchihuitl), embedded in the soft mass. Afterward it was
carried to the temple of the god Paynalton, preceded by a priest
carrying a snake in the manner that the priests in Spain carried the
cross in the processions of the church. "Con una Culebra mui grande, y
gruesa en las manos, tortuosa, y con muchas bueltas, que iba delante,
levantada en alto, á manera de Cruz, en nuestras Procesiones."[359]
This dough idol, he says, was afterwards broken into "migajas"
(crumbs) and distributed among the males only, boys as well as men,
and by them eaten after the manner of communion; "este era su manera
de comunion."[360] Herrera, speaking of this same idol of
Vitzliputzli, as he calls him, says it was made by the young women of
the temple, of the flour of bledos and of toasted maize, with honey,
and that the eyes were of green, white, or blue beads, and the teeth
of grains of corn. After the feast was over, the idol was broken up
and distributed to the faithful, "á manera de comunion." "Las
Doncellas recogidas en el templo, dos Dias antes de la Fiesta,
amasaban harina de Bledos, i de Maiz tostado, con miel, y de la masa
hacian un Idolo grande, con los ojos de cuentas grandes, verdes,
açules, ò blancas; i por dientes granos de maiz."[361]

H. H. Bancroft speaks of the festival in honor of Huitzilopochtli,
"the festival of the wafer or cake." He says: "They made a cake of the
meal of bledos, which is called tzoalli," which was afterward divided
in a sort of communion.[362] Diego Duran remarks that at this feast
the chief priest carried an idol of dough called "tzoally," which is
made of the seeds of bledos and corn made into a mass with honey.[363]
"Un ydolo de masa, de una masa que llaman tzoally, la cual se hace de
semilla de bledos y maiz amasado con miel." This shows that "bledos"
and "maiz" were different things.[364] A few lines farther on Duran
tells us that this cake, or bread, was made by the nuns of the temple,
"las mozas del recogimiento de este templo," and that they ground up a
great quantity of the seed of bledos, which they call huauhtly,
together with toasted maize. "Molian mucha cantidad de semilla de
bledos que ellos llaman huauhtly juntamente con maiz tostado."[365] He
then shows that the "honey" (miel) spoken of by the other writers was
the thick juice of the maguey. "Despues de molido, amasabanlo con miel
negra de los magueis."

Acosta describes a Mexican feast, held in our month of May, in which
appeared an idol called Huitzlipotchli, made of "mays rosty," "semence
de blettes," and "amassoient avec du miel."[366]

In the above citations it will be seen that huauhtly or yuauhtli and
tzoally were one and the same. We also find some of the earliest if
not the very earliest references to the American popped corn.

That the Mexicans should have had such festivals or feasts in honor of
their god of battles is no more extraordinary than that in our own
country all military reunions make it a point to revert to the "hard
tack" issued during the campaigns in Virginia and Tennessee. Many
other references to the constant use as a food, or at least as a
sacrificial food, of the bledos might be supplied if needed. Thus
Diego Duran devotes the twelfth chapter of his third book to an
obscure account of a festival among the Tepanecs, in which appeared
animal gods made of "masa de semilla de bledos," which were afterwards
broken and eaten.

Torquemada speaks of such idols employed in the worship of snakes and
mountains.[367] In still another place this authority tells us that
similar figures were made and eaten by bride and groom at the Aztec
marriage ceremony.[368]

The ceremonial manner in which these seeds were ground recalls the
fact that the Zuñi regard the stones used for grinding kunque as
sacred and will not employ them for any other purpose.

Idols made of dough much after the fashion of the Aztecs are to be
found among the Mongols. Meignan speaks of seeing "an idol, quite open
to the sky and to the desert, representing the deity of travelers. It
was made of compressed bread, covered over with some bituminous
substance, and perched on a horse of the same material, and held in
its hand a lance in Don Quixote attitude. Its horrible features were
surmounted with a shaggy tuft of natural hair. A great number of
offerings of all kinds were scattered on the ground all around. Five
or six images, formed also of bread, were bending in an attitude of
prayer before the deity."[369]

Dr. Edwin James, the editor of Tanner's Narrative,[370] cites the
"Calica Puran" to show that medicinal images are employed by the
people of the East Indies when revenge is sought upon an enemy; "water
must be sprinkled on the meal or earthen victim which represents the
sacrificer's enemy."

In those parts of India where human sacrifice had been abolished, a
substitutive ceremony was practiced "by forming a human figure of
flour-paste, or clay, which they carry into the temples, and there cut
off its head or mutilate it, in various ways, in presence of the
idols."[371]

Gomara describes the festival in honor of the Mexican God of Fire,
called "Xocothuecl," when an idol was used made of every kind of seed
and was then enwrapped in sacred blankets to keep it from breaking.
"Hacian aquella noche un ídolo de toda suerte de semillas, envolvíanlo
en mantas benditas, y liábanlo, porque no se deshiciese."[372]

These blessed blankets are also to be seen at the Zuñi feast of the
Little God of Fire, which occurs in the month of December. It is a
curious thing that the blessed blankets of the Zuñi are decorated with
the butterfly, which appeared upon the royal robes of Montezuma.

What other seeds were used in the fabrication of these idols is not
very essential to our purpose, but it may be pointed out that one of
them was the seed of the "agenjo," which was the "chenopodium" or
"artemisia," known to us as the "sagebrush."

Of the Mexicans we learn from a trustworthy author: "Tambien usaban
alguna manera de comunion ó recepcion del sacramento, y es que hacian
unos idolitos chiquitos de semilla de bledos ó cenizos, ó de otras
yerbas, y ellos mismos se los recibian, como cuerpo ó memoria de sus
dioses."[373]

Mendieta wrote his Historia Eclesiástica Indiana in 1596, "al tiempo
que esto escribo (que es por Abril del año de noventa y seis)"[374]
and again,[375] "al tiempo que yo esto escribo."

The Mexicans, in the month of November, had a festival in honor of
Tezcatlipuca. "Hacian unos bollos de masa de maíz y semejante de
agenjos, aunque son de otra suerte que los de acá, y echábanlos á
cocer en ollas con agua sola. Entre tanto que hervian y se cocian los
bollos, tañian los muchachos un atabal ... y después comíanselos con
gran devocion."[376]

Gomara's statement, that while these cakes of maize and wormwood seed
were cooking the young men were beating on drums, would find its
parallel in any account that might be written of the behavior of the
Zuñi, while preparing for their sacred feasts. The squaws grind the
meal to be used on these occasions to the accompaniment of singing by
the medicine-men and much drumming by a band of assistants selected
from among the young men and boys.

Mr. Francis La Flèche, a nearly full-blood Omaha Indian, read before
the Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C., in 1888, a paper
descriptive of the funeral customs of his people, in which he related
that when an Indian was supposed to be threatened with death the
medicine-men would go in a lodge sweat-bath with him and sing, and at
the same time "pronouncing certain incantations and sprinkling the
body of the client with the powder of the artemisia, supposed to be
the food of the ghosts."[377]

To say that a certain powder is the food of the ghosts of a tribe is
to say indirectly that the same powder was once the food of the
tribe's ancestors.

The Peruvians seem to have made use of the same kind of sacrificial
cakes kneaded with the blood of the human victim. We are told that in
the month of January no strangers were allowed to enter the city of
Cuzco, and that there was then a distribution of corn cakes made with
the blood of the victim, which were to be eaten as a mark of alliance
with the Inca. "Les daban unos Bollos de Maíz, con sangre de el
sacrificio, que comian, en señal de confederacion con el Inga."[378]

Balboa says that the Peruvians had a festival intended to signalize
the arrival of their young men at manhood, in which occurred a sort of
communion consisting of bread kneaded by the young virgins of the sun
with the blood of victims. This same kind of communion was also noted
at another festival occurring in our month of September of each year.
("Un festin composé de pain pétri par les jeunes vierges du Soleil
avec le sang des victimes."[379]) There were other ceremonial usages
among the Aztecs, in which the tule rush itself, "espadaña," was
employed, as at childbirth, marriage, the festivals in honor of
Tlaloc, and in the rough games played by boys. It is possible that
from being a prehistoric food the pollen of the tule, or the plant
which furnished it, became associated with the idea of sustenance,
fertility, reproduction, and therefore very properly formed part of
the ritual necessary in weddings or connected with the earliest hours
of a child's life, much as rice has been used so freely in other parts
of the world.[380]

Among the Aztecs the newly born babe was laid upon fresh green tule
rushes, with great ceremony, while its name was given to it.[380]

Gomara says that the mats used in the marriage ceremonies of the
Aztecs were made of tules. "Esteras verdes de espadañas."[381]

"They both sat down upon a new and curiously wrought mat, which was
spread in the middle of the chamber close to the fire." The marriage
bed was made "of mats of rushes, covered with small sheets, with
certain feathers, and a gem of chalchihuitl in the middle of
them."[382]

The third festival of Tlaloc was celebrated in the sixth month, which
would about correspond to our 6th of June.[383] But there was another
festival in honor of the Tlaloc, which seems very hard to understand.
A full description is given by Bancroft.[384] To celebrate this it was
incumbent upon the priests to cut and carry to the temples bundles of
the tule, which were woven into a sacred mat, after which there was a
ceremonial procession to a tule swamp in which all bathed.

The Aztecs, like the Apache, had myths showing that they sprang
originally from a reed swamp. There was an Aztec god, Napatecutli, who
was the god of the tule and of the mat-makers.[385] This rush was also
strewn as part of several of their religious ceremonies.

Fosbrooke[386] has this to say about certain ceremonies in connection
with the churches in Europe: "At certain seasons the Choir was strewed
with hay, at others with sand. On Easter sabbath with ivy-leaves; at
other times with rushes." He shows that hay was used at Christmas and
the vigil of All Saints, at Pentecost, Athelwold's Day, Assumption of
the Blessed Virgin, and Ascension, etc.

The Mexican populace played a game closely resembling our "blind man's
buff" in their seventeenth month, which was called Tititl and
corresponded to the winter solstice. In this game, called
"nechichiquavilo," men and boys ran through the streets hitting every
one whom they met with small bags or nets ("taleguillas ó redecillas")
filled with tule powder or fine paper ("llenas de flor de las
espadañas ó de algunos papeles rotos").[387]

The same thing is narrated by other early Spanish writers upon Mexico.

In the myths of Guatemala it is related that there were several
distinct generations of men. The first were made of wood, without
heart or brains, with worm-eaten feet and hands. The second generation
was an improvement upon this, and the women are represented as made of
tule. "Las mugeres fueron hechas de corazon de espadaña."[388]

Picart, enumerating the tree gods of the Romans, says that they had
deified "les Roseaux pour les Rivieres."[389]


GENERAL USE OF THE POWDER AMONG INDIANS.

This very general dissemination among the Indians of the American
continent of the sacred use of the powder of the tule, of images,
idols, or sacrificial cakes made of such prehistoric foods, certainly
suggests that the Apache and the Aztecs, among whom they seem to have
been most freely used on ceremonial occasions, were invaders in the
country they respectively occupied, comparatively recent in their
arrival among the contiguous tribes like the Zuñi and Tusayan who on
corresponding occasions offered to their gods a cultivated food like
corn. The Tlascaltec were known in Mexico as the "bread people,"
possibly because they had been acquainted with the cultivation of the
cereals long before the Aztecs. Similarly, there was a differentiation
of the Apache from the sedentary Pueblos. The Apache were known to all
the villages of the Pueblos as a "corn-buying tribe," as will
presently be shown. It is true that in isolated cases and in widely
separated sections the Apache have for nearly two centuries been a
corn-planting people, because we find accounts in the Spanish
chronicles of the discovery and destruction by their military
expeditions of "trojes" or magazines of Apache corn near the San
Francisco (or Verde) River, in the present Territory of Arizona, as
early as the middle of the last century. But the general practice of
the tribe was to purchase its bread or meal from the Pueblos at such
times as hostilities were not an obstacle to free trade. There was
this difference to be noted between the Apache and the Aztecs: The
latter had been long enough in the valley of Anahuac to learn and
adopt many new foods, as we learn from Duran, who relates that at
their festivals in honor of Tezcatlipoca, or those made in pursuance
of some vow, the women cooked an astonishing variety of bread, just
as, at the festivals of the Zuñi, Tusayan, and other Pueblos in our
own time, thirty different kinds of preparations of corn may be
found.[390] I was personally informed by old Indians in the pueblos
along the Rio Grande that they had been in the habit of trading with
the Apache and Comanche of the Staked Plains of Texas until within
very recent years; in fact, I remember seeing such a party of Pueblos
on its return from Texas in 1869, as it reached Fort Craig, New
Mexico, where I was then stationed. I bought a buffalo robe from them.
The principal article of sale on the side of the Pueblos was cornmeal.
The Zuñi also carried on this mixed trade and hunting, as I was
informed by the old chief Pedro Pino and others. The Tusayan denied
that they had ever traded with the Apache so far to the east as the
buffalo country, but asserted that the Comanche had once sent a large
body of their people over to Walpi to trade with the Tusayan, among
whom they remained for two years. There was one buffalo robe among the
Tusayan at their snake dance in 1881, possibly obtained from the Ute
to the north of them.

The trade carried on by the "buffalo" Indians with the Pueblos was
noticed by Don Juan de Oñate as early as 1599. He describes them as
"dressed in skins, which they also carried into the settled provinces
to sell, and brought back in return cornmeal."[391]

Gregg[392] speaks of the "Comancheros" or Mexicans and Pueblos who
ventured out on the plains to trade with the Comanche, the principal
article of traffic being bread. Whipple[393] refers to this trade as
carried on with all the nomadic tribes of the Llano Estacado, one of
which we know to have been the eastern division of the Apache. The
principal article bartered with the wild tribes was flour, i.e.,
cornmeal.

In another place he tells us of "Pueblo Indians from Santo Domingo,
with flour and bread to barter with the Kái-ò-wàs and Comanches for
buffalo robes and horses."[394] Again, Mexicans were seen with flour,
bread, and tobacco, "bound for Comanche land to trade. We had no
previous idea of the extent of this Indian trade."[395] Only one other
reference to this intertribal commerce will be introduced.

Vetancurt[396] mentions that the Franciscan friars, between 1630 and
1680, had erected a magnificent "temple" to "Our Lady of the Angels of
Porciúncula," and that the walls were so thick that offices were
established in their concavities. On each side of this temple, which
was erected in the pueblo of Pecos (situated at or near the head of
the Pecos River, about 30 miles southeast of Santa Fé, New Mexico, on
the eastern rim of the Llano Estacado), were three towers. At the foot
of the hill was a plain about one league in circumference, to which
the Apache resorted for trade. These were the Apache living on the
plains of Texas. They brought with them buffalo robes, deer skins and
other things to exchange for corn. They came with their dog-trains
loaded, and there were more than five hundred traders arriving each
year.

Observe that here we have the first and only reference to the use of
dog trains by the Apache who in every other case make their women
carry all plunder in baskets on their backs. In this same extract from
Vetancurt there is a valuable remark about Quivira: "Este es el paso
para los reinos de la Quivira."


ANALOGUES OF HODDENTIN.

In the citation from the Spanish poet Villagrá, already given, the
suggestion occurs that some relationship existed between the powder
scattered so freely during the Spanish "carnestolendas" and the
"kunque" thrown by the people of Tusayan upon the Spaniards and their
horses when the Spaniards first entered that country. This analogy is
a very striking one, even though the Spaniards have long since lost
all idea of the meaning of the practice which they still follow. It is
to be noted, however, that one of the occasions when this flour is
most freely used is the Eve of All Saints (Hallowe'en), when the
ghosts or ancestors of the community were to be the recipients of
every attention.[397]

In the East, the use of the reddish or purple powder called the
"gulál" is widely prevalent, but it is used at the feast of Huli,
which occurs at the time of the vernal equinox.

There seems to have been used in Japan in very ancient days a powder
identical with the hoddentin, and, like it, credited with the power to
cure and rejuvenate.

In the mythical period, from the most ancient times to about B. C.
200, being the period of the so-called pure Japanese "medicine," it is
related that Ona-muchi-no-mikoko gave these directions to a hare which
had been flayed by a crocodile: "Go quickly now to the river mouth,
wash thy body with fresh water, then take the pollen of the sedges and
spread it about, and roll about upon it; whereupon thy body will
certainly be restored to its original state."[398]

There is no indication that in the above case the "pollen of the
sedges" had ever occupied a place in the list of foods. It would
appear that its magical effects were strictly dependent upon the fact
that it was recognized as the reproductive agent in the life of the
plant.

No allusion has yet been made to the hoddentin of the Navajo, who are
the brothers of the Apache. Surgeon Matthews[399] has referred to it
under the name of tqa-di-tinᐟ, or ta-di-tinᐟ, "the pollen, especially
the pollen of corn."

This appears to me to be a very interesting case of a compromise
between the religious ideas of two entirely different systems or
sects. The Navajo, as now known to us, are the offspring of the
original Apache or Tinneh invaders and the refugees from the Rio
Grande and Zuñi Pueblos, who fled to the fierce and cruel Apache to
seek safety from the fiercer and more cruel Spanish.

The Apache, we have shown, offer up in sacrifice their traditional
food, the pollen of the tule. The Zuñi, as we have also shown, offer
up their traditional food, the meal of corn, to which there have since
been added sea shells and other components with a symbolical
significance. The Navajo, the progeny of both, naturally seek to
effect a combination or compromise of the two systems and make use of
the pollen of the corn. Kohl narrates an Ojibwa legend to the effect
that their god Menaboju, returning from the warpath, painted his face
with "pleasant yellow stripes ... of the yellow foam that covers the
water in spring," and he adds that this is "probably the yellow pollen
that falls from the pine." He quotes[400] another legend of the magic
red powder for curing diseases once given by the snake spirit of the
waters to an Ojibwa.

Godfrey Higgins[401] has this to say of the use of pollen by the
ancients which he recognizes as connected with the principle of
fertility:

    Αρωμα, the sweet smell, means also a flower, that is Pushpa or
    Pushto. This was the language of the followers of the Phasah
    or the Lamb--it was the language of the Flower, of the Natzir,
    of the Flos-floris of Flora, of the Arouma, and of the flour
    of Ceres, or the Eucharistia. It was the language of the
    pollen, the pollen of plants, the principle of generation, of
    the Pole or Phallus.

Again he says:

    Buddha was a flower, because as flour or pollen he was the
    principle of fructification or generation. He was flour
    because flour was the fine or valuable part of the plant of
    Ceres, or wheat, the pollen which, I am told, in this plant,
    and in this plant alone, renews itself when destroyed. When
    the flour, pollen, is killed, it grows again several times.
    This is a very beautiful type or symbol of the resurrection.
    On this account the flour of wheat was the sacrifice offered
    to the Χρης or Ceres in the Εὐχαριστια. In this pollen we have
    the name of pall or pallium and of Pallas, in the first
    language meaning _wisdom_.... When the devotee ate the bread
    he ate the pollen, and thus ate the body of the God of
    generation; hence might come transubstantiation.

Lupton,[402] in 1660, describes a "powder of the flowers [pollen?] of
elder, gathered on a midsummer day," which was taken to restore lost
youth. Brand, it may be as well to say, traces back the custom of
throwing flour into the faces of women and others on the streets at
Shrovetide, in Minorca and elsewhere, to the time of the Romans.[403]

In writing the description of the Snake Dance of the Moquis of
Arizona, I ventured to advance the surmise that the corn flour with
which the sacred snakes were covered, and with which the air was
whitened, would be found upon investigation to be closely related to
the crithomancy or divination by grains of the cereals, as practiced
among the ancient Greeks. Crithomancy, strictly speaking, meant a
divination by grains of corn. The expression which I should have
employed was alphitomancy, a divination "by meal, flower, or
branne."[404] But both methods of divination have been noticed among
the aborigines of America.

In Peru the medicine-men were divided into classes, as were those of
ancient Egypt. These medicine-men "made the various means of
divination specialities." Some of them predicted by "the shapes of
grains of maize taken at random."[405] In Guatemala grains of corn or
of chile were used indiscriminately, and in Guazacualco the
medicine-women used grains of frijoles or black beans. In Guatemala
they had what they called "ahquij." "Este modo de adivinar se llama
ahquij, malol-tzitè, malol-ixim, esto es: el que adivina por el sol,
ó por granos de maiz ó chile."[406]

In Guazacualco the medicine-women "hechaban suertes con granos de
Frisoles, a manera de Dados, i hacian sus invocaciones, porque eran
Hechiceros: i si el Dado decia bien, proseguian en la cura, diciendo
que sanaria: i si mal, no bolvian al enfermo."[407]

Herrera in the preceding paragraph recognizes the close similarity
between this sacred ceremony of casting lots or divining, and the more
orthodox method of gambling, pure and simple, which has in every case
been derived from a sacred origin.

"Les Hachus [one class of Peruvian priests] consultaient l'avenir au
moyen de grains de maïs ou des excréments des animaux."[408]

The Mexicans "para saber si los enfermos habian de morir, ó sanar de
la enfermedad que tenian, echaban un puñado de maiz lo mas grueso que
podian haber, y lanzábanlo siete ó ocho veces, como lanzan los dados
los que los juegan, y si algun grano quedaba enhiesto, decian que era
señal de muerte."[409]

Father Brebœuf relates that at the Huron feast of the dead, which
occurred every 8 or 10 years and which he saw at Ossossane, "a few
grains of Indian corn were thrown by the women upon the sacred
relics."[410]


THE DOWN OF BIRDS IN CEREMONIAL OBSERVANCES.

No exhaustive and accurate examination of the subject of hoddentin
could be made without bringing the investigator face to face with the
curious analogue of "down" throwing and sprinkling which seemingly
obtains with tribes which at some period of their history have been
compelled to rely upon birds as a main component of their diet.
Examples of this are to be met with on both sides of the Pacific as
well as in remote Australia, and were the matter more fully examined
there is no doubt that some other identifications might be made in
very unexpected quarters. The down used by the Tchuktchi on occasions
of ceremony had a suggestion of religion about it.[411] "On leaving
the shore, they sung and danced. One who stood at the head of the boat
was employed in plucking out the feathers of a bird's skin and blowing
them in the air."

In Langsdorff's Travels[412] we learn that some of the dancers of the
Koluschan of Sitka have their heads powdered with the small down
feathers of the white-headed eagle and ornamented with ermine; also,
that the hair and bodies of the Indians at the mission of Saint
Joseph, New California, were powdered with down feathers.[413]

The Indians from the North Pacific coast seen visiting the mission of
San Francisco, by Kotzebue in 1816, "had their long disordered hair
covered with down."[414]

Bancroft says of the Nootka of the northwest coast of British America:
"the hair is powdered plentifully with white feathers, which are
regarded as the crowning ornament for manly dignity in all these
regions."[415]

The bird's down used by the Haida of British North America in their
dances seems very closely related to hoddentin. They not only put it
upon their own persons, but "delight to communicate it to their
partners in bowing," and also "blow it into the air at regular
intervals through a painted tube." They also scattered down as a sign
of welcome to the first European navigators.[416]

In all these dances, ceremonial visits, and receptions of strangers
the religious element can be discerned more or less plainly. The
Indians west of the Mississippi with whom Father Hennepin was a
prisoner in 1680, and who appear to have been a branch of the Sioux
(Issati or Santee and Nadouessan), had a grand dance to signalize the
killing of a bear. On this occasion, which was participated in by the
"principaux chefs et guerriers," we learn that there was this to be
noted in their dress: "ayant même leurs cheveux frottez d'huile d'ours
& parsemez de plumes, rouges & blanches & les têtes chargées de duvet
d'oiseaux."[417]

"Swan's and bustard's down" was used by the Accancess [i.e., the
Arkansas of the Siouan stock] in their religious ceremonies.[418]

Of the war dress of the members of the Five Nations we learn from an
early writer: "Their heads [previously denuded of all hair except that
of the crown] are painted red down to the eye-brows and sprinkled over
with white down."[419]

The Indians of Virginia at their war dances painted themselves to make
them more terrible: "Pour se rendre plus terriblee, ils sément des
plumes, du duvet, ou du poil de quelque bête sur la peinture toute
fraiche."[420] Down was also used by the medicine-men of the
Carib.[421] The down of birds was used in much the same way by the
tribes of Cumaná, a district of South America not far from the mouth
of the Orinoco, in the present territory of Venezuela;[422] by the
Tupinambis, of Brazil, who covered the bodies of their victims with
it;[423] by the Chiribchi, of South America,[424] and by the tribes
of the Isthmus of Darien.[425] This down has also been used by some of
the Australians in their sacred dances.[426] "The hair, or rather the
wool upon their heads, was very abundantly powdered with white
powder.... They powder not only their heads, but their beards
too."[427]

In China "there is a widespread superstition that the feathers of
birds, after undergoing certain incantations, are thrown up into the
air, and being carried away by the wind work blight and destruction
wherever they alight."

The down of birds seems not to have been unknown in Europe. To this
day it is poured upon the heads of the bride and groom in weddings
among the Russian peasantry.[428]

This leads up to the inquiry whether or not the application of tar and
feathers to the person may not at an early period have been an act of
religious significance, perverted into a ridiculous and infamous
punishment by a conquering and unrelenting hostile sect. The subject
certainly seems to have awakened the curiosity of the learned Buckle,
whose remarks may as well be given.

Richard, during his stay in Normandy (1189), made some singular laws
for regulating the conduct of the pilgrims in their passage by sea. "A
robber, convicted of theft, shall be shaved in the manner of a
champion; and boiling pitch poured upon his head, and the feathers of
a pillow shaken over his head to distinguish him; and be landed at the
first port where the ships shall stop."[429]

The circumstances mentioned in the text respecting tarring and
feathering is a fine subject for comment by the searchers into popular
antiquities.[430]


HAIR POWDER.

Speaking of the "duvet" or down, with which many American savage
tribes deck themselves, Picart observes very justly: "Cet ornement est
bizare, mais dans le fond l'est il beaucoup plus que cette poudre d'or
dont les Anciens, se poudroient la tête, ou que cette poudre composée
d'amidon avec laquelle nos petits maitres modernes affectent de
blanchir leurs cheveux ou leurs perruques?"[431]

Picart does not say, and perhaps it would not be wise for us to
surmise, that these modes of powdering had a religious origin.

The custom of powdering the hair seems to be a savage "survival;" at
least, it is still to be found among the Friendly Islanders, among
whom it was observed by Forster.[432] These islanders used a white
lime powder, also one of blue and another of orange made of turmeric.

The Sandwich Islanders plastered their hair over "with a kind of lime
made from burnt shells,"[433] and Dillon speaks of the Friendly
Islanders using lime, as Forster has already informed us.[434] The
Hottentots made a lavish use of the medicinal powder of the buchu,
which they plastered on their heads, threw to their sacred animals,
and used liberally at their funerals.[435] Kolben dispels all doubt by
saying: "These powderings are religious formalities." He also alludes
to the use, in much the same manner, of ashes by the same people.[436]

The use of ashes also occurs among the Zuñi, the Apache (at times),
and the Abipone of Paraguay. Ashes are also "thrown in the way of a
whirlwind to appease it."[437]

In the Witches' Sabbath, in Germany, "it was said that the witches
burned a he goat, and divided its ashes among themselves."[438]

In all the above cases, as well as in that of the use of ashes in the
Christian churches, it is possible that the origin of the custom might
be traced back either to a desire to share in the burnt offering or
else in that of preserving some of the incinerated dust of the dead
friend or relative for whom the tribe or clan was in mourning. Ashes
in the Christian church were not confined to Lent alone; they "were
worn four times a year, as in the beginning of Lent."[439]

Tuphramancy or divination by ashes was one of the methods of forecast
in use among the priests of pagan Rome.[440]

In Northumberland the custom prevailed of making bonfires on the hills
on St. Peter's day. "They made encroachments, on these occasions, upon
the bonfires of the neighbouring towns, of which they took away some
of the ashes by force: This they called 'carrying off the flower
(probably the flour) of the wake.'[441] Moresin thinks this a vestige
of the ancient Cerealia."

The mourning at Iddah, in Guinea, consists in smearing the forehead
"with wood ashes and clay water, which is allowed to dry on. They
likewise powder their hair with wood ashes."[442]


DUST FROM CHURCHES--ITS USE.

The last ceremonial powder to be described is dust from the ground, as
among some of the Australians who smear their heads with pipe-clay as
a sign of mourning.[443]

The French writers mention among the ceremonies of the Natchez one in
which the Great Sun "gathered dust, which he threw back over his head,
and turned successively to the four quarters of the world in repeating
the same act of throwing dust."[444]

Mention is made of "an old woman who acted as beadle" of a church, who
"once brought to the bedside of a dying person some of the sweepings
from the floor of the altar, to ease and shorten a very lingering
death."[445]

Altar dust was a very ancient remedy for disease. Frommann says that,
of the four tablets found in a temple of Esculapius, one bore this
inscription: "Lucio affecto lateris dolore; veniret et ex ara tollerit
cinerem et una cum vino comisceret et poneret supra latus; et
convaluit," etc.[446]

It seems then that the mediæval use of altar dust traces back to the
Roman use of altar ashes.

So hard is it to eradicate from the minds of savages ideas which have
become ingrafted upon their nature that we need not be surprised to
read in the Jesuit relations of affairs in Canada (1696-1702) that, at
the Mission of Saint Francis, where the Indians venerated the memory
of a saintly woman of their own race, Catheraine Tagikoo-ita, "pour
guérir les malades que les rémèdes ordinaires ne soulagent point, on
avale dans l'eau ou dans un bouillon un peu de la poussière de son
tombeau."

A few persons are to be found who endeavor to collect the dust from
the feet of one hundred thousand Brahmins. One way of collecting this
dust is by spreading a cloth before the door of a house where a great
multitude of Brahmins are assembled at a feast, and, as each Brahmin
comes out, he shakes the dust from his feet as he treads upon this
cloth. Many miraculous cures are declared to have been performed upon
persons using this dust.[447]

A widow among the Armenian devil-worshipers is required "to strew dust
on her head and to smear her face with clay."[448]


CLAY-EATING.

The eating of clay would appear to have once prevailed all over the
world. In places the custom has degenerated into ceremonial or is to
be found only in myths. The Aztec devotee picked up a pinch of clay
in the temple of Tezcatlipoca and ate it with the greatest
reverence.[449]

Sahagun is quoted by Squier[450] as saying that the Mexicans swore by
the sun and "by our sovereign mother, the Earth," and ate a piece of
earth.

But the use of clay by the Mexicans was not merely a matter of
ceremony; clay seems to have been an edible in quite common use.

Edible earth was sold openly in the markets of Mexico; "yaun tierra,"
says Gomara in the list of foods given by him.[451]

The eating of clay was forbidden to Mexican women during pregnancy.

Diego Duran describes the ceremonial eating of clay in the temples of
Mexico; "Llegó el dedo al suelo, y cogiendo tierra en él lo metió en
la boca; á la cual ceremonia llamaban comer tierra santa."[452] And
again he says that in their sacrifices the Mexican nobles ate earth
from the feet of the idols. "Comian tierra de la que estaba á los pies
del Ydolo."[453] But the Mexicans did not limit themselves to a
ceremonial clay-eating alone. Thomas Gage relates that "they ate a
kind of earth, for at one season in the yeer they had nets of mayle,
with the which they raked up a certaine dust that is bred upon the
water of the Lake of Mexico, and that is kneaded together like unto
oas of the sea."[454]

Diego Duran[455] mentions the ceremonial clay-eating at the feast of
Tezcatlipoca agreeing with the note already taken from Kingsborough.

There is reference to clay-eating in one of the myths given in the
Popol-Vuh. The Quiche deities Hunahpu and Xbalanqué, desiring to
overcome the god Cabrakan, fed him upon roasted birds, but they took
care to rub one of the birds with "tizate" and to put white powder
around it. The circle of white powder was, no doubt, a circle of
hoddentin or something analogous thereto, intended to prevent any
baleful influence being exercised by Cabrakan. "Mais ils frottèrent
l'un des oiseaux avec du _tizate_ et lui mirent de la poussière
blanche à l'entour."[456]

In a footnote the word "tizate" is explained to be a very friable
whitish earth, used in polishing metals, making cement, etc.: "Terre
blanchâtre fort friable, et dont ils se servent pour polir les métaux,
faire du ciment, etc."

Cabeza de Vaca says that the Indians of Florida ate clay--"de la
terre."[457] He says also[458] that the natives offered him many
mesquite beans, which they ate mixed with earth--"mele avec de la
terre."[459]

The Jaguaces of Florida ate earth (tierra).[460]

At the trial of Vasco Pocallo de Figueroa, in Santiago de Cuba, in
1522, "for cruelty to the natives," he sought to make it appear that
the Indians ate clay as a means of suicide: "el abuso de los Indios en
comer tierra ... seguian matandose de intento comiendo tierra."[461]

The Muiscas had in their language the word "jipetera," a "disease from
eating dirt."[462] Whether the word "dirt" as here employed means
filth, or earth and clay, is not plain; it probably means clay and
earth.

Venegas asserts that the Indians of California ate earth. The
traditions of the Indians of San Juan Capistrano, California, and
vicinity show that "they had fed upon a kind of clay," which they
"often used upon their heads by way of ornament."[463]

The Tátu Indians of California mix "red earth into their acorn bread
... to make the bread sweet and make it go further."[464]

Long[465] relates that when the young warrior of the Oto or Omaha
tribes goes out on his first fast he "rubs his person over with a
whitish clay," but he does not state that he ate it.

Sir John Franklin[466] relates that the banks of the Mackenzie River
in British North America contain layers of a kind of unctuous mud,
probably similar to that found near the Orinoco, which the Tinneh
Indians "use occasionally as food during seasons of famine, and even
at other times chew as an amusement.... It has a milky taste and the
flavour is not disagreeable."

Father de Smet[467] says of the Athapascan: "Many wandering families
of the Carrier tribe ... have their teeth worn to the gums by the
earth and sand they swallow with their nourishment." This does not
seem to have been intentionally eaten.

"Some of the Siberian tribes, when they travel, carry a small bag of
their native earth, the taste of which they suppose will preserve them
from, all the evils of a foreign sky."[468]

We are informed that the Tunguses of Siberia eat a clay called "rock
marrow," which they mix with marrow. "Near the Ural Mountains,
powdered gypsum, commonly called 'rock meal,' is sometimes mixed with
bread, but its effects are pernicious."[469]

"The Jukabiri of northeastern Siberia have an earth of sweetish and
rather astringent taste," to which they "ascribe a variety of sanatory
properties."[470]

There is nothing in the records relating to Victoria respecting the
use of any earth for the purpose of appeasing hunger, but Grey
mentions that one kind of earth, pounded and mixed with the root of
the _Mene_ (a species of Hæmadorum), is eaten by the natives of West
Australia.[471]

The Apache and Navajo branches of the Athapascan family are not
unacquainted with the use of clay as a comestible, although among the
former it is now scarcely ever used and among the latter used only as
a condiment to relieve the bitterness of the taste of the wild potato;
in the same manner it is known to both the Zuñi and Tusayan.

Wallace says that eating dirt was "a very common and destructive habit
among Indians and half-breeds in the houses of the whites."[472]

"Los apassionados à comer tierra son los Indios Otomacos."[473]

"The earth which is eaten by the Ottomacs [of the Rio Orinoco] is fat
and unctuous."[474]

Waitz[475] cites Heusinger as saying that the Ottomacs of the Rio
Orinoco eat large quantities of a fatty clay.

Clay was eaten by the Brazilians generally.[476]

The Romans had a dish called "alica" or "frumenta," made of the grain
zea mixed with chalk from the hills at Puteoli, near Naples.[477]

According to the myths of the Cingalese, their Brahmins once "fed on
it [earth] for the space of 60,000 years."[478]


PREHISTORIC FOODS USED IN COVENANTS.

It has been shown that the Apache, on several occasions, as when going
out to meet strangers, entering into solemn agreements, etc., made use
of the hoddentin. A similar use of food, generally prehistoric, can be
noted in other regions of the world.

It was a kind of superstitious trial used among the Saxons to purge
themselves of any accusation by taking a piece of barley bread and
eating it with solemn oaths and execrations that it might prove
poisonous or their last morsel if what they asserted or denied was not
true.[479] Those pieces of bread were first execrated by the priest,
from which he infers that at a still earlier day sacramental bread may
have been used for the same purpose.

At Rome, in the time of Cicero and Horace, a master who suspected that
his slaves had robbed him conducted them before a priest. They were
each obliged to eat a cake over which the priest had "pronounced some
magical words (_carmine infectum_)."[480]

The people living on the coast of Coramandel have an ordeal
consisting in the chewing of unboiled rice. No harm will attach to him
who tells the truth, but the perjurer is threatened with condign
punishment in this world and in that to come.[481] Bread is bitten
when the Ostaaks of Siberia take a solemn oath, such as one of fealty
to the Czar.[482]


SACRED BREADS AND CAKES.

Since the employment of hoddentin, or tule pollen, as a sacred
commemorative food would seem to have been fairly demonstrated, before
closing this section I wish to add a few paragraphs upon the very
general existence of ritualistic farinaceous foods in all parts of the
world. They can be detected most frequently in the ceremonial
reversion to a grain or seed which has passed or is passing out of
everyday use in some particular form given to the cake or bread or
some circumstance of time, place, and mode of manufacture and
consumption which stamps it as a "survival." So deeply impressed was
Grimm[483] with the wide horizon spreading around the consideration of
this topic that he observed: "Our knowledge of heathen antiquities
will gain both by the study of these drinking usages which have lasted
into later times and also of the shapes given to _baked meats_, which
either retained the actual forms of ancient idols or were accompanied
by sacrificial observances. A history of German cakes and bread rolls
might contain some unexpected disclosures.... Even the shape of cakes
is a reminiscence of the sacrifices of heathenism."

The first bread or cake to be mentioned in this part of the subject is
the pancake, still so frequently used on the evening of Shrove
Tuesday. In antiquity it can be traced back before the Reformation,
before the Crusades were dreamed of, before the Barbarians had
subverted Rome, before Rome itself had fairly taken shape.

There seems to have been a very decided religious significance in the
preparation of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. In Leicestershire, "On
Shrove Tuesday a bell rings at noon, which is meant as a signal for
the people to begin frying their pancakes."[484]

"The Norman _Crispellæ_ (Du Cange) are evidently taken from the
_Fornacalia_, on the 18th of February, in memory of the method of
making bread, before the Goddess _Fornax_ invented ovens."[485]

Under "Crispellæ," Du Cange says: "Rustici apud Normannos vocant
Crespes, ova pauca mixta cum farina, et in sartagine frixa," and says
that they are "ex herba, farina et oleo."[486] These same Crispellæ
are to be seen on the Rio Grande during Christmas week.

In the Greek Church and throughout Russia there is to the present time
a "pancake feast" at Shrovetide.[487]

At one time a custom prevailed of going about from one friend's house
to another, masked, and committing every conceivable prank. "Then the
people feasted on blinnies--a pancake similar to the English
crumpet."[488]

In the pancake we have most probably the earliest form of farinaceous
food known to the nations which derived their civilization from the
basin of the Mediterranean. Among these nations wheat has been in use
from a time far beyond the remotest historical period, and to account
for its introduction myth has been invoked; but this wheat was cooked
without leaven, or was fried in a pan, after the style of the tortilla
still used in Spanish-speaking countries, or of the pancake common
among ourselves. Pliny[489] says that there were no bakers known in
Rome until nearly six hundred years after the foundation of the city,
in the days of the war with Persia; but he perhaps meant the public
bakers authorized by law. The use of wheat and the art of baking
bread, as we understand it to-day, were practically unknown to the
nations of northern Europe until within the recent historical
period.[490]

Nothing would be more in consonance with the mode of reasoning of a
primitive people than that, at certain designated festivals, there
should be a recurrence to the earlier forms of food, a reversion to an
earlier mode of life, as a sort of propitiation of the gods or
goddesses who had cared for the nation in its infancy and to secure
the continuance of their beneficent offices. Primitive man was never
so certain of the power of the gods of the era of his own greatest
development that he could rely upon it implicitly and exclusively and
ignore the deities who had helped him to stand upon his feet. Hence,
the recurrence to pancakes, to unleavened breads of all kinds, among
various peoples. This view of the subject was made plain to me while
among the Zuñi Indians. Mr. Frank H. Cushing showed me that the women,
when baking the "loaves" of bread, were always careful to place in the
adobe ovens a tortilla with each batch of the newer kind, and no doubt
for the reason just given.


UNLEAVENED BREAD.

The unleavened bread of the earliest period of Jewish history has come
down to our own times in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, still observed
by the Hebrews in all parts of the world, in the bread used in the
eucharistic sacrifice by so large a portion of the Christian world,
and apparently in some of the usages connected with the
half-understood fast known as the "Ember Days." Brand quotes from an
old work in regard to the Ember Days: "They were so called 'because
that our elder fathers wolde on these days ete no brede but cakes made
under ashes.'"[491]

The sacred cake or "draona" of the Parsi "is a small round pancake or
wafer of unleavened bread, about the size of the palm of the hand. It
is made of wheaten flour and water, with a little clarified butter,
and is flexible."[492] A variety of the "draona," called a "frasast,"
is marked with the finger nail and set aside for the guardian spirits
of the departed.[493]

Cakes and salt were used in religious rites by the ancients. The Jews
probably adopted their appropriation from the Egyptians.[494] "During
all the Passover week--14th to 21st Nisan, i.e., during this week's
moon--Shemites fast, only eating unleavened bread, and most
diligently--not without reason--cleansing their houses." "And
especially had all leavened matter to be removed, for the new leavener
had now arisen, and prayers with curses were offered up against any
portions which might have escaped observation. The law of their fierce
Jahveh was that, whoever during all this festival tasted leavened
bread, 'that soul should be cut off,' which Godwyn mollifies by urging
that this only meant the offender should die without children; which
was still a pretty considerable punishment for eating a piece of
bread!"[495]

"The great day of Pentecost is the 6th of Sivan, or, say, the 22d of
May, 1874. From the first barley _two loaves_ were then made, 'the
offering of which was the distinguishing rite of the day of
Pentecost.'"[496]

On St. Bridget's Eve every farmer's wife in Ireland makes a cake,
called _bairinbreac_; the neighbors are invited, the madder of ale and
the pipe go round, and the evening concludes with mirth and
festivity.[497] Vallencey identifies this as the same kind of offering
that was made to Ceres, and to "the queen of heaven, to whom the
Jewish women burnt incense, poured out drink offerings, and made cakes
for her with their own hands."[498]


THE HOT CROSS BUNS OF GOOD FRIDAY.

The belief prevailed that these would not mold like ordinary
bread.[499]

"In several counties [in England] a small loaf of bread is annually
baked on the morning of Good Friday and then put by till the same
anniversary in the ensuing year. This bread is not intended to be
eaten, but to be used as a medicine, and the mode of administering it
is by grating a small portion of it into water and forming a sort of
panada. It is believed to be good for many disorders, but particularly
for a diarrhœa, for which it is considered a sovereign remedy. Some
years ago a cottager lamented that her poor neighbour must certainly
die of this complaint, because she had already given her two doses of
Good Friday bread without any benefit. No information could be
obtained from the doctress respecting her nostrum, but that she had
heard old folks say that it was a good thing and that she always made
it."[500]

Brand quotes a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine who shows that they
were "formerly, at least, unleavened," p. 156. They "are constantly
marked with the form of the cross." "It is an old belief that the
observance of the custom of eating buns on Good Friday protects the
house from fire, and several other virtues are attributed to these
buns," p. 156. "Hutchinson, in his History of Northumberland,
following Bryant's Analysis, derives the Good Friday bun from the
sacred cakes which were offered at the Arkite Temples, styled Boun,
and presented every seventh day," p. 155. A very interesting
dissertation upon these sacred cakes as used by the Greeks, Egyptians,
and Jews in the time of their idolatry, is to be found in Brand's
work, pp. 155-156.[501]

Practices analogous to those referred to are to be noted among the
Pueblo Indians. They offer not only the kunque, but bread also in
their sacrifices.

In the sacred rabbit hunt of the Zuñi, which occurs four times a year
and is carried on for the purpose of procuring meat for the sacred
eagles confined in cages, a great fire was made on the crest of a
hill, into which were thrown piles of bread crusts and in the smoke of
which the boomerangs or rabbit sticks were held while the hunter
recited in an audible tone and with downcast head the prayers
prescribed for the occasion. One of the early Spanish writers informs
us that the women of the pueblo of Santo Domingo, on the Rio Grande,
offered bread on bended knees to their idols and then preserved it for
the remainder of the year, and the house which did not have a supply
of such blessed bread was regarded as unfortunate and exposed to
danger.[502]

A prehistoric farinaceous food of the Romans survives in our bridecake
or wedding cake. It is well understood that among the Romans there
were three kinds of marriage: that called "coemptio," that called
"concubitu" or "usu," and the highest form of all, known as
"confarratio," from the fact that bride and groom ate together of a
kind of cake or bread made of the prehistoric flour, the "far." We
have preserved the custom of having bridecake, which is still served
with many superstitious ceremonies: "it must be cut by the bride
herself; it must be broken in pieces (formerly these pieces were cast
over the heads of the bridesmaids), and, after being passed through a
wedding ring a certain number of times, it must be placed under the
pillow of the anxious maiden to serve as a basis for her dreams."[503]

Exactly what this prehistoric food was it is now an impossibility to
determine with exactness. Torquemada shows that long after the Romans
had obtained the use of wheat they persisted in the sacrificial use of
the "nola isla," "farro," and "escanda," forms of wild grain once
roasted and ground and made into bread by their forefathers.[504] A
similar usage prevailed among the Greeks. Pliny speaks of "the bearded
red wheat, named in Latin 'far,'" and tells us that rye was called
"secale" or "farrago."[505] The radical "far" is still to be found all
over Europe in the word for flour, "farina," "farine," or "harina,"
while it is also possible that it may be detected in the
ever-to-be-honored name of Farragut.[506]

In the eight marriage rites described by Baudhâyana, the initiatory
oblation in the fourth (that in which the father gives his daughter
away) consists of "parched grain." This rite is one of the four which
are lawful for a Brahman. The parched grain to be used would seem to
be either sesamum or barley, although this is not clear. Vasish_th_a
says, chapter 27, concerning secret penances: "He who ... uses barley
(for his food) becomes pure."[507]

The pages of Brand[508] are filled with references to various forms of
cake which seem properly to be included under this chapter. In England
there formerly prevailed the custom of preparing "soul cakes" for
distribution among visitors to the family on that day and to bands of
waifs or singers, who expected them as a dole for praying and singing
in the interests of the souls of the dead friends and relatives of the
family. On the island of St. Kilda the soul cake was "a large cake in
the form of a triangle, furrowed round, and which was to be all eaten
that night."[509] In Lancashire and Hertfordshire the cake was made of
oatmeal, but in many other parts it was a "seed cake"[510] and in
Warwickshire, "at the end of barley and bean seed time, there is a
custom there to give the plowmen _froise_, a species of thick
pancake."[511] "All-soul cakes" were distributed at time of All Souls'
Day.

In England and Scotland the old custom[512] was to have a funeral
feast, which all friends and relations were expected to attend. Wine,
currant cake, meat, and other refreshments, varying according to the
fortune of the family, were served liberally. The bread given out was
called "arvil-bread." There is no special reason for believing that
this could be called a hoddentin custom, except that the writer
himself calls attention to the fact that in the earlier times the
bread was in the form of "wafers."[513]

The Romans had a college of priests called the "Fratres Arvales,"
nine, or, as some say, twelve in number, to whose care were committed
the sacrifices in honor of Ceres at the old limits of the city, to
propitiate that goddess and induce her to bestow fertility upon the
fields. These ceremonies, which are believed by the editor of Bohn's
Strabo to survive in the Rogation Day processions of the Roman
Catholic Church, recall the notes already taken upon the subject of
the Arval bread of the Scotch.[514] The sacrifices themselves were
designated "Ambarva" and "Ambarvalia."

In Scotland and England it was customary for bands of singers to go
from door to door on New Year's Eve, singing and receiving reward. In
the latter country "cheese and oaten cakes, which are called _farls_,
are distributed on this occasion among the cryers." In the former
country "there was a custom of distributing sweet cakes and a
particular kind of sugared bread."[515]

A fine kind of wheat bread called "wassail-bread" formed an important
feature of the entertainment on New Year's Day in old England.[516]

Among love divinations may be reckoned the dumb cake, so called
because it was to be made without speaking, and afterwards the parties
were to go backward up the stairs to bed and put the cake under their
pillows, when they were to dream of their lovers.[517]

References to the beal-tine ceremonies of Ireland and Scotland, in
which oatmeal gruel figured as a dish, or cakes made of oatmeal and
carraway seeds, may be found in Brand, Pop. Antiq., vol. 1, p. 226; in
Blount, Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors, London, 1874, p. 131;
and in Pennant's Tour in Scotland, in Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 3, p.
49. In "A Charm for Bewitched Land" we find the mode of making a cake
or loaf with holy water.

The mince pie and plum pudding of Christmas are evidently ancient
preparations, and it is not unlikely that the shape of the former,
which, prior to the Reformation, was that of a child's cradle, had a
reminiscence of the sacrifice of babies at the time of the winter
solstice. Grimm has taught that where human sacrifice had been
abolished the figure of a coffin or a cradle was still used as a
symbol.

There is a wide field of information to be gleaned in the
investigation of the subject of bean foods at certain periods or
festivals of the year, and upon this point I have some notes and
memoranda, but, as my present remarks are limited to prehistoric
_farinaceous_ foods, I do not wish to add to the bulk of the present
chapter.[518]

"Kostia--boiled rice and plums--is the only thing partaken of on
Christmas Eve."[519]


GALENA.

At times one may find in the "medicine" of the more prominent and
influential of the chiefs and medicine-men of the Apache little sacks
which, when opened, are found to contain pounded galena; this they
tell me is a "great medicine," fully equal to hoddentin, but more
difficult to obtain. It is used precisely as hoddentin is used; that
is, both as a face paint and as a powder to be thrown to the sun or
other elements to be propitiated. The Apache are reluctant to part
with it, and from living Apache I have never obtained more than one
small sack of it.

No one seems to understand the reason for its employment. Mr. William
M. Beebe has suggested that perhaps the fact that galena always
crystallizes in cubes, and that it would thus seem to have a
mysterious connection with the cardinal points to which all nomadic
peoples pay great attention as being invested with the power of
keeping wanderers from going astray, would not be without influence
upon the minds of the medicine-men, who are quick to detect and to
profit by all false analogies. The conjecture appears to me to be a
most plausible one, but I can submit it only as a conjecture, for no
explanation of the kind was received from any of the Indians. All that
I can say is that whenever procurable it was always used by the Apache
on occasions of unusual importance and solemnity and presented as a
round disk painted in the center of the forehead.

The significance of all these markings of the face among savage and
half-civilized nations is a subject deserving of the most careful
research; like the sectarial marks of the Hindus, all, or nearly all,
the marks made upon the faces of American Indians have a meaning
beyond the ornamental or the grotesque.

Galena was observed in use among the tribes seen by Cabeza de Vaca.
"Ils nous donnèrent beaucoup de bourses, contenant des sachets de
marcassites et d'antimoine en poudre." ("Taleguillas de margaxita y de
alcohol molido.")[520] This word "margaxita" means iron pyrites. The
Encyclopædia Britannica says that the Peruvians used it for "amulets;"
so also did the Apache. What Vaca took for antimony was pounded galena
no doubt. He was by this time in or near the Rocky Mountains.[521]

On the northwest coast of America we read of the natives: "One,
however, as he came near, took out from his bosom some iron or
lead-colored micaceous earth and drew marks with it across his cheeks
in the shape of two pears, stuffed his nostrils with grass, and thrust
thin pieces of bone through the cartilage of his nose."[522]

It is more than probable that some of the face-painting with "black
earth," "ground charcoal," etc., to which reference is made by the
early writers, may have been galena, which substance makes a
deep-black mark. The natives would be likely to make use of their
most sacred powder upon first meeting with mysterious strangers like
Vaca and his companions. So, when the expedition of La Salle reached
the mouth of the Ohio, in 1680, the Indians are described as fasting
and making superstitious sacrifices; among other things, they marked
themselves with "black earth" and with "ground charcoal." "Se daban
con Tierra Negra o Carbon molido."[523]

From an expression in Burton, I am led to suspect that the application
of kohl or antimony to the eyes of Arabian beauty is not altogether
for ornament. "There are many kinds of kohl used in medicine and
magic."[524]

Corbusier says of the Apache-Yuma: "Galena and burnt mescal are used
on their faces, the former to denote anger or as war paint, being
spread all over the face, except the chin and nose, which are painted
red."[525]

In Coleman's Mythology of the Hindus, London, 1832, page 165, may be
found a brief chapter upon the subject of the sectarial marks of the
Hindus. With these we may fairly compare the marks which the Apache,
on ceremonial occasions, make upon cheeks and forehead. The adherents
of the Brahminical sects, before entering a temple, must mark
themselves upon the forehead with the tiluk. Among the Vishnuites,
this is a longitudinal vermilion line. The Seevites use several
parallel lines in saffron.[526] Maurice adds that the Hindus place the
tiluk upon their idols in twelve places.[527] "Among the Kaffir the
warriors are rendered invulnerable by means of a black cross on their
foreheads and black stripes on the cheeks, both painted by the
Inyanga, or fetich priest."[528]

A piece of galena weighing 7½ pounds was found in a mound near Naples,
Illinois.[529] Occasionally with the bones of the dead are noticed
small cubes of galena; and in our collection is a ball of this ore,
weighing a pound and two ounces, which was taken from a mound, and
which probably did service, enveloped in raw hide, as some form of
weapon.[530] Galena was much prized by the former inhabitants of North
America. "The frequent occurrence of galena on the altars of the
sacrificial mounds proves, at any rate, that the ancient inhabitants
attributed a peculiar value to it, deeming it worthy to be offered as
a sacrificial gift."[531] See also Squier and Davis.[532]

FOOTNOTES:

[247] Deane, Serpent Worship, London, 1833, p. 410.

[248] The medicine sack or bag of the Apache, containing their
"hoddentin," closely resembles the "bullæ" of the Romans--in which "On
y mettait des préservatifs contre les maléfices." Musée de Naples,
London, 1836, p. 4. Copy shown me by Mr. Spofford, of the Library of
Congress.

[249] Information of Tze-go-juni.

[250] Information of Concepcion.

[251] See notes, a few pages farther on, from Kohl; also those from
Godfrey Higgins. The word "opé" suggests the name the Tusayan have for
themselves, Opi, or Opika, "bread people."

[252] Information of Tze-go-juni.

[253] Information of Mike Burns.

[254] Information of Mickey Free.

[255] Information of Alchise, Mike, and others.

[256] Information of Francesca and other captive Chiricahua squaws.

[257] Information of Moses Henderson.

[258] Information of Chato.

[259] Information of Tze-go-juni.

[260] Information of Moses Henderson and other Apache at San Carlos.

[261] Bureau of Ethnology, Report for 1883-'84.

[262] Information of Francesca and others.

[263] Information of Tze-go-juni.

[264] Smart, in Smithsonian Report for 1867, p. 419.

[265] Snake Dance of Moquis of Arizona, New York, 1884.

[266] In the third volume of Kingsborough, on plate 17 (Aztec picture
belonging to M. Pejernavy, Pesth, Hungary), an Aztec, probably a
priest, is shown offering food to a snake, which eats it out of his
hand.

[267] Corbusier, in American Antiquarian, November, 1886, pp. 336-37.

[268] Information of Moses Henderson.

[269] American Antiquarian, Sept. and Nov., 1886.

[270] Ann. Rep. Bu. Eth., 1883-'84.

[271] Snake Dance of the Moquis.

[272] Interview with Pedro Pino.

[273] Kunque has added to the cornmeal the meal of two varieties of
corn, blue and yellow, a small quantity of pulverized sea shells, and
some sand, and when possible a fragment of the blue stone called
"chalchihuitl." In grinding the meal on the metates the squaws are
stimulated by the medicine-men who keep up a constant singing and
drumming.

[274] Simpson, Expedition to the Navajo Country, in Senate Doc. 64,
31st Cong., 1st sess., 1849-'50, p. 95.

[275] Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. 3, p. 470. "Echavan mucha harina de maiz
por el suelo para que la pisassen los caballos."--Padre Fray Juan
Gonzales de Mendoza, De las Cosas de Chino, etc., Madrid, 1586, p.
172. See also the Relacion of Padre Fray Alonso Fernandez, Historia
Eclesiastica de Nuestros Tiempos, Toledo, 1611, pp. 15, 16.

[276] P. 162.

[277] Diego Duran, vol. 2, cap. 49, pp. 506, 507.

[278] Herrera, dec. 5., lib. 4, cap. 5, p. 92.

[279] Padre Christoval de Molina, Fables and Rites of the Yncas,
translated by Markham in Hakluyt Soc. Trans., vol. 48, p. 63, London,
1873.

[280] Montesinos, pp. 161, 162, in Ternaux-Compans, vol. 17, Mémoires
sur l'ancien Pérou.

[281] Relation of the voyage of Don Fernando Alarcon, in Hakluyt
Voyages, vol. 3, p. 508.

[282] Alarcon in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., vol. 9, p. 330. See also in
Hakluyt Voyages, vol. 3, p. 516.

[283] Kitchi-gami, London, 1860, p. 51.

[284] See also on the subject Acosta, Hist. Naturelle des Indes, lib.
5, cap. 19, p. 241.

[285] Landa, Cosas de Yucatan, Paris, 1864, page 148.

[286] Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 2, p. 145. See also Clavigero,
Hist. of Mexico, Philadelphia, 1817, vol. 2, p. 128.

[287] Smith, Araucanians, 1855, pp. 274-275.

[288] Smith, True Travels, Adventures and Observations, Richmond,
1819, vol. 1, p. 161.

[289] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, Amsterdam, 1735, vol. 6, p. 74.

[290] Historia de las Indias, p. 284.

[291] Colonial Records of North Carolina, 1886, vol. 1, p. 930.

[292] Mœurs des Sauvages, Paris, 1724, vol. 1, p. 386.

[293] Personal notes of May 26, 1881; conversation with Chi and Damon
at Fort Defiance. Navajo Agency, Arizona.

[294] Ibid.

[295] Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, p. 160.

[296] Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, vol. 4, p. 213.

[297] Columbus Letters, in Hakluyt Soc. Works, London, 1847, vol. 2,
p. 192.

[298] Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, p. 279.

[299] The medicine-men of the Swampy Crees, as described in Bishop of
Rupert's Land's works, quoted by Henry Youle Hind, Canadian Exploring
Expedition, vol. 1, p. 113.

[300] Personal notes, November 22, 1885, at Baker's ranch, summit of
the Sierra Ancha, Arizona.

[301] Tanner's Narrative, p. 174.

[302] Blount, Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors, London, 1874, p.
355.

[303] Brand, Popular Antiquities, London, 1882, vol. 3, pp. 307 et
seq.

[304] Crónica Seráfica, p. 434.

[305] Nicolas Perrot, Mœurs, Coustumes et Relligion des sauvages de
l'Amérique Septentrionale (Ed. of Rev. P. J. Tailhan, S.J.,) Leipzig,
1864. Perrot was a coureur de bois, interpreter, and donné of the
Jesuit missions among the Ottawa, Sioux, Iowa, etc., from 1665 to
1701.

[306] Leems', Account of Danish Lapland, in Pinkerton's Voyages,
London, 1814, vol. 1, p. 484.

[307] Across Africa, London, 1877, vol. 1, p. 277.

[308] Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 118, 120.

[309] Source of the Nile, London, 1863, introd., p. xxi.

[310] Cameron, Across Africa, London, 1877, vol. 2, p. 201.

[311] Source of the Nile, London, 1863, pp. 130, 259.

[312] Dark Continent, vol. 2, p. 260.

[313] Schultze, Fetichism, New York, 1885, p. 53.

[314] Ibid., footnote, page 53.

[315] Ibid., p. 67.

[316] Asiatick Researches, Calcutta, 1805, vol. 8, p. 78.

[317] Coleman, Mythology of the Hindus, London, 1832, p. 44.

[318] History of the Sect of the Mahárájahs, quoted by Inman, Ancient
Faiths, etc., vol. 1, p. 393.

[319] Higgins, Anacalypsis, vol. 1, p. 261.

[320] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., vol. 6, part 2, p. 119.

[321] Among the Mongols, London, 1883, p. 179.

[322] Wright, Sorcery and Magic, London, 1851, vol. 1, p. 346.

[323] Anacalypsis, vol. 2, p. 244.

[324] Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 161.

[325] Source of the Nile, London, 1863, pp. 205, 208.

[326] Sahagun, vol. 2, in Kingsborough, vol. 6, p. 29.

[327] Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 184.

[328] Ibid., pp. 185, 186.

[329] Ibid., p. 186.

[330] Dec. 6, lib. 1, p. 9.

[331] Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, vol. 7, pp. 242, 250.

[332] Relation of Cabeza de Vaca in Purchas, vol. 4, lib. 8, cap. 1,
sec. 4, p. 1524.

[333] Conquest of New Mexico, p. 100.

[334] Ensayo Cronologico, pp. 12 et seq.

[335] See also on this point Corbusier, in American Antiquarian,
November, 1886.

[336] Rau's translation in Smithsonian Ann. Rep., 1863, p. 364.

[337] Probably the Lake of Parras.

[338] Historia de la Compañía de Jesus en Nueva-España, vol. 1, p.
284.

[339] History of Virginia.

[340] See also article by J. Howard Gore, Smithsonian Report, 1881.

[341] Pinkerton, Voyages, London, 1814, vol. 13, p. 468.

[342] Personal notes, April 5, 1881.

[343] Drake, World Encompassed, pp. 124-126, quoted by H. H. Bancroft,
Native Races, vol. 1, pp. 387-388. (This chaplain stated so many
things ignorantly that nothing is more probable than that he attempted
to describe, without seeing it, the plant from which the Indians told
him that hoddentin (or downe) was obtained. The principal chief or
"king" would, on such an awe-inspiring occasion as meeting with
strange Europeans, naturally want to cover himself and followers with
all the hoddentin the country afforded.)

[344] Kennan, Tent Life in Siberia, p. 66.

[345] Quoted by Kingsborough, vol. 6, p. 100.

[346] Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, vol. 2, lib. 10, cap. 22, p. 274.

[347] Gallatin, in Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc., vol. 1, pp. 117-118.

[348] Vetancurt, Teatro Mexicano, vol. 1, p. 271.

[349] Mœurs des Sauvages, vol. 2, pp. 194, 195.

[350] Madrid, 1870, vol. 14, p. 320.

[351] Ibid.

[352] Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, vol. 9, p. 159.

[353] Among others consult Crónica Seráfica y Apostolica of Espinosa,
Mexico, 1746, p. 419, speaking of the Asinai of Texas in 1700:
"Siembran tambien cantidad de Gyrasoles que se dan muy corpulentos y
la flor muy grande que en el centro tienen la semilla como de piñones
y de ella mixturada con el maiz hacen un bollo que es de mucho sabor y
sustancia."

[354] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nations Civilisées, quoted by
Bancroft, Native Races, vol. 3, p. 421.

[355] Sahagun, in book 7, Kingsborough, p. 71.

[356] Squier, Serpent Symbol, p. 193, quoting Torquemada, lib. 7, cap.
8.

[357] History of Mexico, Philadelphia, 1817, vol. 2, p. 79. See the
additional note from Clavigero, which would seem to show that this
etzalli was related to the espadaña or rush.

[358] Monarchia Indiana, vol. 2, lib. 6, cap. 38, p. 71.

[359] Ibid., p. 72.

[360] Ibid., p. 73.

[361] Dec. 3, lib. 2, pp. 71, 72.

[362] Native Races, vol. 3, p. 323.

[363] Diego Duran, vol. 3, p. 187.

[364] See notes already given from Buckingham Smith's translation of
Vaca.

[365] Diego Duran, vol. 3, p. 195.

[366] José Acosta, Hist. des Indes, ed. of Paris, 1600, liv. 5, cap.
24, p. 250.

[367] Monarchia Indiana, lib. 10, cap. 33.

[368] Ibid., lib. 6, cap. 48.

[369] From Paris to Pekin, London, 1885, pp. 312, 313.

[370] New York, 1830, p. 191.

[371] Dubois, People of India, London, 1817, p. 490.

[372] Gomara, Historia de Méjico, p. 445.

[373] Mendieta, Hist. Eclesiástica Ind., p. 108.

[374] Ibid., p. 402.

[375] Ibid., p. 515.

[376] Gomara, Historia de Méjico, p. 446.

[377] From the account of lecture appearing in the Evening Star,
Washington, D. C., May 19, 1888.

[378] Herrera, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 5, p. 92.

[379] Balboa, Histoire du Pérou, in Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, vol. 15,
pp. 124 and 127.

[380] See the explanatory text to the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough,
vol. 5, p. 90 et seq.

[381] Historia de Méjico, p. 439.

[382] Clavigero, History of Mexico, Philadelphia, 1817, vol. 2, p.
101.

[383] "They strewed the temple in a curious way with rushes."--Ibid.,
p. 78.

[384] Native Races, vol. 3, pp. 334-343.

[385] Sahagun, in Kingsborough, vol. 7, p. 16.

[386] British Monachism, London, 1817, p. 289.

[387] Kingsborough, vol. 7, p. 83, from Sahagun.

[388] Ximenez, Guatemala, Translated by Scherzer, p. 13.

[389] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., vol. 1, p. 27.

[390] "Tanta diferencia de manjares y de géneros de pan que era cosa
estraña."--Diego Duran, vol. 3, cap. 4, p. 219.

[391] Davis, Conquest of New Mexico, p. 273.

[392] Commerce of the Prairies, vol. 2, p. 54.

[393] Pacific R. R. Report, 1856, vol. 3, pt. 1, p. 34.

[394] Ibid., p. 34.

[395] Ibid., p. 38.

[396] "Los Apaches traian pieles de cibolas, gamuzas y otras cosas, á
hacer cambio por maíz." "Venian con sus recuas de perros cargados mas
de quinientos mercaderes cada año."--Teatro Mexicano, vol. 3, p. 323.

[397] In burlesque survivals the use of flour prevails not only all
over Latin Europe, but all such portions of America as are now or have
been under Spanish or Portuguese domination. The breaking of eggshells
over the heads of gentlemen upon entering a Mexican ball room is one
manifestation of it. Formerly the shell was filled with flour.

[398] Dr. W. Norton Whitney, Notes from the History of Medical
Progress in Japan. Yokohama, 1885, p. 248.

[399] The prayer of a Navajo Shaman, in American Anthropologist, vol.
1, No. 2, 1888, p. 169.

[400] Kitchi-gami, pp. 416, 423, 424.

[401] Anacalypsis, London, 1836, vol. 2, pp. 242-244.

[402] Brand, Pop. Antiq., vol. 3, p. 285.

[403] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 69.

[404] Ibid., vol. 3, pp. 329 et seq.

[405] Brinton, Myths of the New World, New York, 1868, pp. 278, 279.

[406] Ximenez, Guatemala, p. 177.

[407] Herrera, dec. 4, lib. 9, cap. 8, p. 188.

[408] Balboa, Hist. du Pérou, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., vol. 15, p.
29.

[409] Mendieta, Hist. Eclesiástica Ind., p. 110.

[410] Henry Youle Hind, Assiniboine and Saskatchewan Exped., vol. 2,
pp. 165, 166.

[411] Lisiansky, Voyage Round the World, London, 1814, pp. 158, 221,
223.

[412] London, 1814, pt. 2, pl. III, p. 113.

[413] Ibid., pl. IV, pp. 194, 195.

[414] Voyage, vol. 1, p. 282.

[415] Native Races, vol. 1, p. 179.

[416] Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 170, 171.

[417] Père Louis Hennepin, Voyage, etc., Amsterdam, 1714, pp. 339-240.
Ibid., translated by B. F. French, in Historical Collections of
Louisiana, pt. 1, 1846.

[418] Joutel's Journal, in Historical Collections of Louisiana, tr. by
B. F. French, pp. 181, 1846.

[419] Maj. Rogers, Account of North America, in Knox's Voyages, vol.
2, London, 1767, p. 167.

[420] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes Religieuses, etc., Amsterdam,
1735, vol. 6, p. 77.

[421] Ibid., p. 89.

[422] John De Laet, lib. 18, cap. 4; Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, p.
203; Padre Gumilla, Orinoco, pp. 68, 96.

[423] Hans Staden, in Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, vol. 3, pp. 269, 299.

[424] Peter Martyr, in Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. 5, p. 460.

[425] Bancroft, Nat. Races of the Pacific Slope, vol. 1, p. 750.

[426] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, p. 73; vol. 2, p. 302.
See also Carteret's description of the natives of the Queen Charlotte
Islands, visited by him in 1767.

[427] Hawkesworth, Voyages, vol. 1, p. 379.

[428] Perry S. Heath, A Hoosier in Russia, New York, 1888, p. 114.

[429] Fosbrooke, British Monachism, p. 442.

[430] See works cited in Buckle's Common place Book, vol. 2, of
"Works," London, 1872, p. 47.

[431] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes Religieuses, vol. 6, p. 20.

[432] Voyage Round the World, London, 1777, pp. 462, 463.

[433] Archibald Campbell, Voyage Round the World, N. Y., 1819, p. 136.

[434] Voyage of La Pérouse, London, 1829, vol. 2, p. 275.

[435] Peter Kolben's Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, in Knox's Voyage
and Travels, London, 1767, vol. 2, pp. 391, 395, 406, 407.

[436] Ibid., p. 406.

[437] Spencer, Desc. Sociology, art. "Abipones."

[438] Gubernatis, Zoological Mythology, London, 1872, vol. 1, p. 423.

[439] Fosbrooke, British Monachism, p. 83.

[440] Gaule, Mag-astromancers Posed and Puzzel'd, p. 165, quoted in
Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, pp. 329 et seq.

[441] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, pp. 337, 338.

[442] Laird and Oldfield's Expedition into the Interior of Africa,
quoted in Buckle's Common place Book, p. 466.

[443] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 2, p. 273.

[444] Gayarre, Louisiana, 1851, p. 308.

[445] Notes and Queries, 4th ser., vol. 8, p. 505.

[446] Tractatus de Fascinatione, Nuremberg, 1675, 197.

[447] Southey, quoting Ward, in Buckle's Common place Book, London,
1849, 2d ser., p. 521.

[448] North American, October 27, 1888.

[449] Kingsborough, vol. 5, p. 198.

[450] Serpent Symbols, p. 55.

[451] Hist. de Méjico, p. 348.

[452] Lib. 2, cap. 47, p. 490.

[453] Lib. 1, cap. 18, p. 208.

[454] New Survey of the West Indies, London, 1648, p. 51.

[455] Op. cit., vol. 3, cap. 4.

[456] Popol-Vuh (Brasseur de Bourbourg), p. 65.

[457] Ternaux-Compans, Voy., vol. 7, p. 143.

[458] Ibid., p. 202.

[459] Purchas, vol. 4, lib. 8, cap. 1, p. 1519; also, Davis, Conquest
of New Mexico, p. 84.

[460] Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, p. 182.

[461] Buckingham Smith, Coleccion de Varios Documentos para la
Historia de Florida, London, 1857, vol. 1, p. 46.

[462] Bollaert, Researches in South America, London, 1860, p. 63.

[463] Boscana, Chinigchinich, pp. 245, 253.

[464] Powers, Contrib. to N. A. Ethnol., vol. 3, p. 140.

[465] Long's Expedition, vol. 1, p. 240.

[466] Second Expedition to the Polar Sea, p. 19.

[467] Oregon Missions, p. 192.

[468] Gmelin, quoted by Southey, in Common place Book, 1st ser.,
London, 1849, p. 239.

[469] Malte-Brun, Univ. Geog., Philadelphia, 1827, vol. 1, lib. 87, p.
483.

[470] Von Wrangel, Polar Expedition, New York, 1842, p. 188.

[471] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, p. xxxiv.

[472] Travels on the Amazon, p. 311.

[473] Gumilla, Orinoco, Madrid, 1741, p. 102; the Guamas, also, ibid.,
pp. 102 and 108.

[474] Malte-Brun, Univ. Geog., Phila., 1827, vol. 3, lib. 87, p. 323.

[475] Anthropology, vol. 1, p. 116.

[476] Spencer, Desc. Sociology.

[477] Pliny, Nat. History, lib. 18, cap. 29.

[478] Asiatick Researches, Calcutta, 1801, vol. 7, p. 440.

[479] Blount, Tenures of Land and Customs of Manors, London, 1874, p.
2233.

[480] Salverte, Philosophy of Magic, vol. 2, p. 140.

[481] Voyage of Capt. Amasa Delano, Boston, 1847, p. 230. Compare with
the ordeal of Scotch conspirators, who ate a fragment of barley bread
together.

[482] Gauthier de la Peyronie, Voyages de Pallas, Paris, 1793, vol. 4,
p. 75.

[483] Teutonic Mythology, vol. 1, p. 63.

[484] Macaulay quoted in Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 1, p. 85.

[485] Fosbrooke, British Monachism, p. 83.

[486] Du Cange, Glossarium, articles "Crispellæ" and "Crespellæ."

[487] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 1, p. 88.

[488] Heath, A Hoosier in Russia, p. 109.

[489] Nat. Hist., lib. 18, cap. 28.

[490] Wheat, which, is now the bread corn of twelve European nations
and is fast supplanting maize in America and several inferior grains
in India, was no doubt widely grown in the prehistoric world. The
Chinese cultivated it 2700 B. C. as a gift direct from Heaven; the
Egyptians attributed its origin to Isis and the Greeks to Ceres. A
classic account of the distribution of wheat over the primeval world
shows that Ceres, having taught her favorite Triptolemus agriculture
and the art of bread-making, gave him her chariot, a celestial vehicle
which he used in useful travels for the purpose of distributing corn
to all nations.

Ancient monuments show that the cultivation of wheat had been
established in Egypt before the invasion of the shepherds, and there
is evidence that more productive varieties of wheat have taken the
place of one, at least, of the ancient sorts. Innumerable varieties
exist of common wheat. Colonel Le Couteur, of Jersey, cultivated 150
varieties; Mr. Darwin mentions a French gentleman who had collected
322 varieties, and the great firm of French seed merchants,
Vilmorin-Andrieux et C^{ie}, cultivate about twice as many in their
trial ground near Paris. In their recent work on Les meilleurs blés M.
Henry L. de Vilmorin has described sixty-eight varieties of best
wheat, which he has classed into seven groups, though these groups can
hardly be called distinct species, since M. Henry L. de Vilmorin has
crossbred three of them, _Triticum vulgare_, _Triticum turgidum_ and
_Triticum durum_, and has found the offspring fertile.

Three small-grained varieties of common wheat were cultivated by the
first lake dwellers of Switzerland (time of Trojan war), as well as by
the less ancient lake dwellers of western Switzerland and of Italy, by
the people of Hungary in the stone age, and by the Egyptians, on
evidence of a brick of a pyramid in which a grain was embedded and to
which the date of 3359 B. C. has been assigned.

The existence of names for wheat in the most ancient languages
confirms this evidence of the antiquity of its culture in all the more
temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, but it seems improbable
that wheat has ever been found growing persistently in a wild state,
although the fact has often been asserted by poets, travelers, and
historians. In the Odyssey, for example, we are told that wheat grew
in Sicily without the aid of man, but a blind poet could not have seen
this himself, and a botanical fact can hardly be accepted from a
writer whose own existence has been contested. Diodorus repeats the
tradition that Osiris found wheat and barley growing promiscuously in
Palestine, but neither this nor other discoveries of persistent wild
wheat seem to us to be credible, seeing that wheat does not appear to
be endowed with a power of persistency except under culture.--Edinburgh
Review.

The origin of baking precedes the period of history and is involved in
the obscurity of the early ages of the human race. Excavations made in
Switzerland gave evidence that the art of making bread was practiced
by our prehistoric ancestors as early as the stone period. From the
shape of loaves it is thought that no ovens were used at that time,
but the dough was rolled into small round cakes and laid on hot
stones, being covered with glowing ashes. Bread is mentioned in the
book of Genesis, where Abraham, wishing to entertain three angels,
offered to "fetch a morsel of bread." Baking is again referred to
where Sarah has instructions to "make ready quickly three measures of
fine meal, knead it and make cakes upon the hearth." Lot entertained
two angels by giving them unleavened bread. The mere mention of
unleavened bread shows that there were two kinds of bread made even at
that time.

The art of baking was carried on to a high perfection among the
Egyptians, who are said to have baked cakes in many fantastic shapes,
using several kinds of flour. The Romans took up the art of baking,
and public bakeries were numerous on the streets of Rome. In England
the business of the baker was considered to be one so closely
affecting the interests of the public that in 1266 an act of
Parliament was passed regulating the price to be charged for bread.
This regulation continued in operation until 1822 in London and until
1836 in the rest of the country. The art of making bread has not yet
reached some countries in Europe and Asia. In the rural parts of
Sweden no bread is made, but rye cakes are baked twice a year and are
as hard as flint. It is less than a century ago that bread was used in
Scotland, the Scotch people of every class living on barley bannocks
and oaten cakes.--Chicago News.

[491] Pop. Antiq., vol. 1, p. 96.

[492] Shâyast lâ-Shâyast, par. 32, note 6, pp. 283, 284 (Max Müller's
ed., Oxford, 1880).

[493] Ibid., p. 315, note 3.

[494] "And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the
oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour" (Levit., II, 4);
"With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt" (Ibid., 13)--Brand,
Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 82.

[495] Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 441.

[496] Ibid., p. 447.

[497] Brand, Pop. Antiq., vol. 1, pp. 345, 346, quoting Gen.
Vallencey's Essay on the Antiquity of the Irish Language.

[498] Ibid., p. 345.

[499] Ibid., p. 154.

[500] Ibid., pp. 155, 156.

[501] See also "Buns" in Inman's Ancient Faiths.

[502] "Ofrecian el pan al ídolo, hincados de rodillas. Bendezianlo los
sacerdotes, y repartian como pan bendito, con lo qual se acabaua la
fiesta. Guardauan aquel pan todo el año, teniendo por desdichada, y
sugeta a muchos peligros la casa que sin el estaua."--Padre Fray
Alonso Fernandez (Dominican). Historia Eclesiastica de Nuestros
Tiempos, Toledo, 1611, p. 16.

[503] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, pp. 100 et seq., quoting
Blount, Moffet, and Moresin.

[504] Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, vol. 2, lib. 7, cap. 9, p. 100.

[505] Nat. Hist., lib. xviii, caps 10 et seq. and 39.

[506] "Var (from the Hebrew word _var frumentum_) Grain. It not only
means a particular kind of grain, between wheat and barley, less
nourishing than the former, but more so than the latter, according to
Vossius; but it means bread corn, grain of any kind. Ætius gives this
application to any kind of frumentaceous grain, decorticated, cleansed
from the husks, and afterwards bruised and dried." London Medical
Dictionary, Bartholomew Parr, M. D., Philadelphia, 1820, article
"Far".

"_Ador_ or _Athor_ was the most sacred wheat, without beard, offered
at adoration of gods. In Latin _Adorea_ was a present of such after a
victory, and _Ad-oro_ is 'I adore,' from _oro_, 'I pray
to.'"--Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 473, footnote, speaking of
both Greeks and Romans.

[507] Sacred Books of the East, edition of Max Müller, vol. 14, pp.
131, 205.

[508] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, pp. 391 et seq., article
"Allhallow even."

[509] Ibid., p. 391.

[510] Ibid., p. 392.

[511] Ibid., p. 393.

[512] Ibid., vol. 2, pp. 237 et seq.

[513] Ibid., p. 244.

[514] Strabo, Geography, Bohn's edition, London, 1854, vol. 1, pp.
341, 342, footnote.

[515] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 460.

[516] Ibid., p. 7.

[517] Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, pp. 3, 180. On the same page: "Dumb
cake, a species of dreaming bread prepared by unmarried females with
ingredients traditionally suggested in witching doggerel. When baked,
it is cut into three divisions; a part of each to be eaten and the
remainder put under the pillow. When the clock strikes twelve, each
votary must go to bed backwards and keep a profound silence, whatever
may appear."

[518] A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1783, inquires:
"May not the _minced pye_, a compound of the choicest productions of
the East, have in view the offerings made by the wise men who came
from afar to worship, bringing _spices_, etc." Quoted in Brand, Pop.
Ant., vol. 1, p. 526. The mince pie was before the Reformation made in
the form of a crib, to represent the manger in which the holy child
lay in the stable. Ibid., p. 178.

[519] Heath, A Hoosier in Russia, p. 109.

[520] Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., vol. 7, p.
220.

[521] See also Davis, Conquest of New Mexico, p. 90.

[522] William Coxe, Russian Discoveries between Asia and America,
London, 1803, p. 57, quoting Steller.

[523] Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, Madrid, 1723.

[524] Arabian Nights, Burton's edition, vol. 8, p. 10, footnote.

[525] American Antiquarian, September, 1886, p. 281.

[526] Maurice, Indian Antiquities, London, 1801, vol. 5, pp. 82 and
83.

[527] Ibid., vol. 5, p. 85.

[528] Schultze, Fetichism, N. Y., 1885, p. 32.

[529] Paper by Dr. John G. Henderson on "Aboriginal remains near
Naples, Ill.," Smith. Rept., 1882.

[530] J. F. Snyder, "Indian remains in Cass County, Illinois," Smith.
Rept., 1881, p. 575.

[531] Rau, in Sm. Rept., 1872, p. 356.

[532] "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi Valley," in Smithsonian
Contributions, vol. 1, p. 160.




CHAPTER III.

THE IZZE-KLOTH OR MEDICINE CORD OF THE APACHE.


There is probably no more mysterious or interesting portion of the
religious or "medicinal" equipment of the Apache Indian, whether he be
medicine-man or simply a member of the laity, than the "izze-kloth" or
medicine cord, illustrations of which accompany this text. Less,
perhaps, is known concerning it than any other article upon which he
relies in his distress.

I regret very much to say that I am unable to afford the slightest
clew to the meaning of any of the parts or appendages of the cords
which I have seen or which I have procured. Some excuse for this is to
be found in the fact that the Apache look upon these cords as so
sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle
them or talk about them. I made particular effort to cultivate the
most friendly and, when possible, intimate relations with such of the
Apache and other medicine-men as seemed to offer the best chance for
obtaining information in regard to this and other matters, but I am
compelled to say with no success at all.

  [Illustration: FIG. 435.--Single-strand medicine cord (Zuñi).]

I did advance so far in my schemes that Na-a-cha, a prominent
medicine-man of the Tonto Apache, promised to let me have his cord,
but as an eruption of hostility on the part of the tribe called me
away from the San Carlos Agency, the opportunity was lost. Ramon, one
of the principal medicine-men of the Chiricahua Apache, made me the
same promise concerning the cord which he wore and which figures in
these plates. It was, unfortunately, sent me by mail, and, although
the best in the series and really one of the best I have ever been
fortunate enough to see on either living or dead, it was not
accompanied by a description of the symbolism of the different
articles attached. Ramon also gave me the head-dress which he wore in
the spirit or ghost dance, and explained everything thereon, and I am
satisfied that he would also, while in the same frame of mind, have
given me all the information in his power in regard to the sacred or
medicine cord as well, had I been near him.

There are some things belonging to these cords which I understand from
having had them explained at other times, but there are others about
which I am in extreme doubt and ignorance. There are four specimens of
medicine cords represented and it is worth while to observe that they
were used as one, two, three, and four strand cords, but whether this
fact means that they belonged to medicine-men or to warriors of
different degrees I did not learn nor do I venture to conjecture.

The single-strand medicine cord with the thirteen olivella shells
belonged to a Zuñi chief, one of the priests of the sacred order of
the bow, upon whose wrist it was worn as a sign of his exalted rank in
the tribe. I obtained it as a proof of his sincerest friendship and
with injunctions to say nothing about it to his own people, but no
explanation was made at the moment of the signification of the
wristlet or cord itself or of the reason for using the olivella shells
of that particular number or for placing them as they were placed.

  [Illustration: FIG. 436.--Four-strand medicine cord (Apache).]

One of the four-strand cords was obtained from Ramon and is the most
beautiful and the most valuable of the lot. Ramon called my attention
to the important fact that it was composed of four strands and that
originally each had been stained a different color. These colors were
probably yellow, blue, white, and black, although the only ones still
discernible at this time are the yellow and the blue.

The three-strand cord was sent to me at Washington by my old friend,
Al. Seiber, a scout who has been living among the Apache for
twenty-five years. No explanation accompanied it and it was probably
procured from the body of some dead warrior during one of the
innumerable scouts and skirmishes which Seiber has had with this
warlike race during his long term of service against them. The two
strand cord was obtained by myself so long ago that the circumstances
connected with it have escaped my memory. These cords, in their
perfection, are decorated with beads and shells strung along at
intervals, with pieces of the sacred green chalchihuitl, which has had
such a mysterious ascendancy over the minds of the American
Indians--Aztec, Peruvian, Quiche, as well as the more savage tribes,
like the Apache and Navajo; with petrified wood, rock crystal, eagle
down, claws of the hawk or eaglet, claws of the bear, rattle of the
rattlesnake, buckskin bags of hoddentin, circles of buckskin in which
are inclosed pieces of twigs and branches of trees which have been
struck by lightning, small fragments of the abalone shell from the
Pacific coast, and much other sacred paraphernalia of a similar kind.

  [Illustration: FIG. 437.--Three-strand medicine cord (Apache).]

That the use of these cords was reserved for the most sacred and
important occasions, I soon learned; they were not to be seen on
occasions of no moment, but the dances for war, medicine, and
summoning the spirits at once brought them out, and every medicine-man
of any consequence would appear with one hanging from his right
shoulder over his left hip.

Only the chief medicine-men can make them, and after being made and
before being assumed by the new owner they must be sprinkled, Ramon
told me, with "heap hoddentin," a term meaning that there is a great
deal of attendant ceremony of a religious character.

These cords will protect a man while on the warpath, and many of the
Apache believe firmly that a bullet will have no effect upon the
warrior wearing one of them. This is not their only virtue by any
means; the wearer can tell who has stolen ponies or other property
from him or from his friends, can help the crops, and cure the sick.
If the circle attached to one of these cords (see Fig. 436) is placed
upon the head it will at once relieve any ache, while the cross
attached to another (see Fig. 439) prevents the wearer from going
astray, no matter where he may be; in other words, it has some
connection with cross-trails and the four cardinal points to which the
Apache pay the strictest attention. The Apache assured me that these
cords were not mnemonic and that the beads, feathers, knots, etc.,
attached to them were not for the purpose of recalling to mind some
duty to be performed or prayer to be recited.

  [Illustration: FIG. 438.--Two-strand medicine cord (Apache).]

I was at first inclined to associate these cords with the quipus of
the Peruvians, and also with the wampum of the aborigines of the
Atlantic coast, and investigation only confirms this first suspicion.
It is true that both the wampum and the quipu seem to have advanced
from their primitive position as "medicine" and attained,
ethnologically speaking, the higher plane of a medium for facilitating
exchange or disseminating information, and for that reason their
incorporation in this chapter might be objected to by the
hypercritical; but a careful perusal of all the notes upon the
subject can not fail to convince the reader that the use of just such
medicine cords prevailed all over the world, under one form or
another, and has survived to our own times.

First, let me say a word about rosaries, the invention of which has
been attributed to St. Dominick, in Spain, and to St. Bridget, in
Ireland. Neither of these saints had anything to do with the invention
or introduction of the rosary, although each in his or her own
province may have adapted to new and better uses a cord already in
general service among all the peoples of Europe. The rosary, as such,
was in general use in parts of the world long before the time of
Christ. Again, the cords of the various religious orders were looked
upon as medicine cords and employed in that manner by the ignorant
peasantry.

  [Illustration: FIG. 439.--Four-strand medicine cord (Apache).]

In this chapter I will insert notes showing the use of such cords by
other tribes, and follow with descriptions of the uses to which the
cords of St. Francis and others were put, and with references to the
rosaries of different races or different creeds; finally, I will
remark upon the superstitions connected with cords, belts, and
strings, knotted or unknotted, made of serpent skin, human skin, or
human hair. The strangest thing about it all is that observers have,
with scarcely an exception, contented themselves with noting the
existence of such cords without making the slightest effort to
determine why they were used.

There are certain cords with medicine bags attached to be seen in the
figures of medicine-men in the drawings of the sacred altars given by
Matthews in his account of the Navajo medicine-men.

Cushing also has noted the existence of such cords in Zuñi, and there
is no doubt that some at least of the so-called "fishing lines" found
in the Rio Verde cliff dwellings in Arizona were used for the same
purposes.

Describing the tribes met on the Rio Colorado, in 1540-1541, Alarcon
says: "Likewise on the brawne of their armes they weare a streit
string, which they wind so often about that it becommeth as broad as
one's hand."[533] It must be remembered that the Indians thought that
Alarcon was a god, that they offered sacrifice to him, and that they
wore all the "medicine" they possessed.

In 1680, the Pueblos, under the leadership of Popé, of the pueblo of
San Juan, were successful in their attempt to throw off the Spanish
yoke. He made them believe that he was in league with the spirits, and
"that they directed him to make a rope of the palm leaf and tie in it
a number of knots to represent the number of days before the rebellion
was to take place; that he must send this rope to all the Pueblos in
the kingdom, when each should signify its approval of, and union with,
the conspiracy by untying one of the knots."[534]

I suspect that this may have been an izze-kloth. We know nothing about
this rebellion excepting what has been derived through Spanish
sources; the conquerors despised the natives, and, with a very few
notable exceptions among the Franciscans, made no effort to study
their peculiarities. The discontent of the natives was aggravated by
this fact; they saw their idols pulled down, their ceremonial chambers
closed, their dances prohibited, and numbers of their people tried and
executed for witchcraft.[535] Fray Geronimo de Zarate Salmeron was a
striking example of the good to be effected by missionaries who are
not above studying their people; he acquired a complete mastery of the
language of the pueblo of Jemez, "and preached to the inhabitants in
their native tongue." He is represented as exercising great influence
over the people of Jemez, Sia, Santa Ana, and Acoma. In this rebellion
of 1680 the Pueblos expected to be joined by the Apache.[536]

The izze-kloth of the Apache seems to have had its prototype in the
sacred string of beans with which Tecumseh's brother, the Shawnee
prophet, traveled among the Indian tribes, inciting them to war. Every
young warrior who agreed to go upon the warpath touched this "sacred
string of beans" in token of his solemn pledge.[537]

Tanner says in the narrative of his captivity among the Ojibwa: "He
[the medicine-man] then gave me a small hoop of wood to wear on my
head like a cap. On one-half of this hoop was marked the figure of a
snake, whose office, as the chief told me, was to take care of the
water."[538] The "small hoop of wood" of which Tanner speaks, to be
worn on the head, seems to be analogous to the small hoop attached to
the izze-kloth, to be worn or applied in cases of headache (Fig. 436).
Reference to something very much like the izze-kloth is made by Harmon
as in use among the Carriers of British North America. He says: "The
lads, as soon as they come to the age of puberty, tie cords, wound
with swan's-down, around each leg a little below the knee, which they
wear during one year, and then they are considered as men."[539]
Catlin speaks of "mystery-beads" in use among the Mandan.[540] "The
negro suspends all about his person cords with most complicated
knots."[541]

The female inhabitants of Alaska, Unalaska, and the Fox Islands were
represented by the Russian explorers of 1768 (Captain Krenitzin) to
"wear chequered strings around the arms and legs."[542] These cords
bear a striking resemblance to the "wresting cords" of the peasantry
of Europe. Some of the Australians preserve the hair of a dead man.
"It is spun into a cord and fastened around the head of a
warrior."[543] "A cord of opossum hair around the neck, the ends
drooping down on the back and fastened to the belt," is one of the
parts of the costume assumed by those attaining manhood in the
initiation ceremonies of the Australians.[544] Again, on pages 72 and
74, he calls it "the belt of manhood." "The use of amulets was common
among the Greeks and Romans, whose amulets were principally formed of
gems, crowns of pearls, necklaces of coral, shells, etc."[545]

When I first saw the medicine cords of the Apache, it occurred to me
that perhaps in some way they might be an inheritance from the
Franciscans, who, two centuries ago, had endeavored to plant missions
among the Apache, and did succeed in doing something for the Navajo
part of the tribe. I therefore examined the most convenient
authorities and learned that the cord of S. François, like the cord of
St. Augustine and the cord of St. Monica, was itself a medicine cord,
representing a descent from a condition of thought perfectly parallel
to that which has given birth to the izze-kloth. Thus Picart tells us:
"On appelle Cordon de S. François la grosse corde qui sert de ceinture
aux Religieux qui vivent sous la Regle de ce Saint.... Cette corde
ceint le corps du Moine, & pend à peu prés jusqu'aux pieds. Elle lui
sert de discipline, & pour cet effet, elle est armée de distance en
distance de fort gros nœuds.... La Corde de S. François a souvent
gueri les malades, facilité les accouchemens, fortifié la santé,
procuré lignée & fait une infinité d'autres miracles édifians."[546]
This author says of the girdle of St. Augustine "Elle est de cuir,"
and adds that the Augustinians have a book which treats of the origin
of their order, in which occur these words: "Il est probable que nos
premiers Peres, qui vivoient sous la Loi de nature, étant habillés de
peau devoient porter une Ceinture de même étoffe."[547] This last
assumption is perfectly plausible. For my part it has always seemed to
me that monasticism is of very ancient origin, antedating Christianity
and representing the most conservative element in the religious part
of human nature. It clings obstinately to primitive ideas with which
would naturally be associated primitive costume. The girdle of St.
Monica had five knots. "The monks [of the Levant] use a girdle with
twelve knots, to shew that they are followers of the twelve
apostles."[548] Among the "sovereign remedies for the headache" is
mentioned "the belt of St. Guthlac."[549] Buckle refers to the fact
that English women in labor wore "blessed girdles." He thinks that
they may have been Thomas Aquinas's girdles.[550]

    And good Saynt Frances gyrdle,
    With the hamlet of a hyrdle,
    Are wholsom for the pyppe.[551]

Some older charms are to be found in Bale's Interlude concerning the
Laws of Nature, Moses, and Christ, 4to, 1562. Idolatry says:

    For lampes and for bottes
    Take me Saynt Wilfride's knottes.[552]

The "girdle of St. Bridget," mentioned by Mooney[553] and by other
writers, through which the sick were passed by their friends, was
simply a "survival" of the "Cunni Diaboli" still to be found in the
East Indies. This "girdle of St. Bridget" was made of straw and in the
form of a collar.

The custom prevailing in Catholic countries of being buried in the
habits of the monastic orders, of which we know that the cord was a
prominent feature, especially in those of St. Francis or St. Dominick,
is alluded to by Brand.[554] This custom seems to have been founded
upon a prior superstitious use of magical cords which were, till a
comparatively recent period, buried with the dead. The Roman Catholic
church anathematized those "qui s'imaginent faire plaisir aux morts ou
leur mettant entre les mains, ou en jettant sur leurs fosses, ou dans
leurs tombeaux de petites cordes nouées de plusieurs nœuds, &
d'autres semblables, ce qui est expressement condamné par le Synode
de Ferrare en 1612."[555] Evidently the desire was to be buried with
cords or amulets which in life they dared not wear.

We may infer that cords and other articles of monastic raiment can be
traced back to a most remote ancestry by reading the views of Godfrey
Higgins, in Anacalypsis, to the effect that there was a tradition
maintained among the Carmelites that their order had been established
by the prophet Elisha and that Jesus Christ himself had been one of
its members. Massingberd, speaking of the first arrival of the
Carmelites in England (about A. D. 1215), says: "They professed to be
newly arrived in Italy, driven out by the Saracens from the Holy Land,
where they had remained on Mount Carmel from the time of Elisha the
prophet. They assert that 'the sons of the prophets' had continued on
Mount Carmel as a poor brotherhood till the time of Christ, soon after
which they were miraculously converted, and that the Virgin Mary
joined their order and gave them a precious vestment called a
scapular."[556]


ANALOGUES TO BE FOUND AMONG THE AZTECS, PERUVIANS, AND OTHERS.

According to the different authorities cited below, it will be seen
that the Aztec priests were in the habit of consulting Fate by casting
upon the ground a handful of cords tied together; if the cords
remained bunched together, the sign was that the patient was to die,
but if they stretched out, then it was apparent that the patient was
soon to stretch out his legs and recover. Mendieta says: "Tenian unos
cordeles, hecho de ellos un manojo como llavero donde las mujeres
traen colgadas las llaves, lanzábanlos en el suelo, y si quedaban
revueltos, decian que era señal de muerte. Y si alguno ó algunos
salian extendidos, teníanlo por señal de vida, diciendo: que ya
comenzaba el enfermo á extender los piés y las manos."[557] Diego
Duran speaks of the Mexican priests casting lots with knotted cords,
"con nudillos de hilo echaban suertes."[558] When the army of Cortes
advanced into the interior of Mexico, his soldiers found a forest of
pine in which the trees were interlaced with certain cords and papers
which the wizards had placed there, telling the Tlascaltecs that they
would restrain the advance of the strangers and deprive them of all
strength:

     Hallaron un Pinar mui espeso, lleno de hilos i papeles, que
     enredaban los Arboles, i atravesaban el camino, de que mucho
     se rieron los Castellanos; i dixeron graciosos donaires,
     quando luego supieron que los Hechiceros havian dado à
     entender à los Tlascaltecas que con aquellos hilos, i papeles
     havian de tener à los Castellanos, i quitarles sus
     fuerças.[559]

Padre Sahagun speaks of the Aztec priests who cast lots with little
cords knotted together: "Que hechan suertes con unas cordezuelas que
atan unas con otros que llaman Mecatlapouhque."[560] Some such method
of divining by casting cords must have existed among the Lettons, as
we are informed by Grimm.[561] "Among the Lettons, the bride on her
way to church, must throw a bunch of colored threads and a coin into
every ditch and pond she sees."[562]

In the religious ceremonies of the Peruvians vague mention is made of
"a very long cable," "woven in four colours, black, white, red, and
yellow."[563] The Inca wore a "llautu." "This was a red fringe in the
fashion of a border, which he wore across his forehead from one temple
to the other. The prince, who was heir apparent, wore a yellow fringe,
which was smaller than that of his father."[564] In another place,
Garcilaso says: "It was of many colours, about a finger in width and a
little less in thickness. They twisted this fringe three or four times
around the head and let it hang after the manner of a garland."[565]
"The Ynca made them believe that they were granted by order of the
Sun, according to the merits of each tribe, and for this reason they
valued them exceedingly."[566] The investiture was attended with
imposing ceremonies. "When the Grounds of the Sun were to be tilled
[by the Peruvians], the principal men went about the task wearing
white cords stretched across the shoulders after the manner of
ministers of the altar"[567] is the vague description to be gathered
from Herrera.

Knotted cords were in use among the Carib; "ce qui revient aux Quippos
des Péruviens."[568] The accompanying citation from Montfaucon would
seem to show that among the Romans were to be found sacred baldrics in
use by the war priests; such baldrics are to be seen also among the
American aborigines, and correspond very closely to the medicine
cords. Montfaucon describes the Saliens, who among the Romans were the
priests of Mars, the god of war; these priests in the month of March
had a festival which was probably nothing but a war dance, as that
month would be most favorable in that climate for getting ready to
attack their neighbors and enemies. He says that these Saliens "sont
vêtus de robes de diverses couleurs, ceints de baudriers d'airain."
These would seem to have been a sort of medicine cord with plates of
brass affixed which would rattle when shaken by the dancer.[569]

Captain Cook found that the men of the tribes seen in Australia wore
"bracelets of small cord, wound two or three times about the upper
part of their arm."[570]

"Whilst their [the Congo natives'] children are young, these people
bind them about with certain superstitious cords made by the wizards,
who, likewise, teach them to utter a kind of spell while they are
binding them."[571] Father Merolla adds that sometimes as many as four
of these cords are worn.

Bosman remarks upon the negroes of the Gold Coast as follows: "The
child is no sooner born than the priest (here called Feticheer or
Consoe) is sent for, who binds a parcel of ropes and coral and other
trash about the head, body, arms, and legs of the infant; after which
he exorcises, according to their accustomed manner, by which they
believe it is armed against all sickness and ill accidents."[572]

In the picture of a native of Uzinza, Speke shows us a man wearing a
cord from the right shoulder to the left hip.[573]

In the picture of Lunga Mândi's son, in Cameron's Across Africa,[574]
that young chief is represented as wearing a cord across his body from
his right shoulder to the left side.

On the Lower Congo, at Stanley Pool, Stanley met a young chief: "From
his shoulders depended a long cloth of check pattern, while over one
shoulder was a belt, to which was attached a queer medley of small
gourds containing snuff and various charms, which he called his
Inkisi."[575] This no doubt was a medicine cord. "According to the
custom, which seems to belong to all Africa, as a sign of grief the
Dinka wear a cord round the neck."[576] "The Mateb, or baptismal cord,
is _de rigueur_, and worn when nothing else is. It formed the only
clothing of the young at Seramba, but was frequently added to with
amulets, sure safeguards against sorcery."[577] The Abyssinian
Christians wear a blue cord as a sign of having been baptized, and
"baptism and the blue cord are, in the Abyssinian mind,
inseparable."[578] "The cord,[579] or mateb, without which nobody can
be really said in Abyssinia to be respectable."[580] It further
resembles the Apache medicine cord, inasmuch as it is "a blue cord
around the neck."[581] The baptismal cords are made of "blue floss
silk."[582]


THE MAGIC WIND KNOTTED CORDS OF THE LAPPS AND OTHERS.

"The navigators of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have
related many wonderful stories about the magic of the _Finns_ or
_Finno Lappes_, who sold wind contained in a cord with three knots.
If the first were untied, the wind became favourable, if the second,
still more so, but, if the third were loosed, a tempest was the
inevitable consequence."[583] The selling of wind knots was ascribed
not only to the Lapps and Finns, but to the inhabitants of Greenland
also.[584] "The northern shipmasters are such dupes to the delusions
of these impostors that they often purchase of them a magic cord which
contains a number of knots, by opening of which, according to the
magician's directions, they expect to gain any wind they want."[585]
"They [Lapland witches] further confessed, that while they fastened
three knots on a linen towel in the name of the devil, and had spit on
them, &c., they called the name of him they doomed to destruction."
They also claimed that, "by some fatal contrivance they could bring on
men disorders," ... as "by spitting three times on a knife and
anointing the victims with that spittle."[586]

Scheffer describes the Laplanders as having a cord tied with knots for
the raising of the wind; Brand says the same of the Finlanders, of
Norway, of the priestesses of the island of Sena, on the coast of
Gaul, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, the "witches" of the Isle
of Man, etc.[587]

Macbeth, speaking to the witches, says:

    Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
    Against the churches; though the yesty waves
    Confound and swallow navigation up.[588]


ROSARIES AND OTHER MNEMONIC CORDS.

The rosary being confessedly an aid to memory, it will be proper to
include it in a chapter descriptive of the different forms of mnemonic
cords which have been noticed in various parts of the world. The use
of the rosary is not confined to Roman Catholics; it is in service
among Mahometans, Tibetans, and Persians.[589] Picart mentions
"chaplets" among the Chinese and Japanese which very strongly suggest
the izze-kloth.[590]

Father Grébillon, in his account of Tartary, alludes several times to
the importance attached by the Chinese and Tartars to the privilege of
being allowed to touch the "string of beads" worn by certain Lamas met
on the journey, which corresponds very closely to the rosaries of the
Roman Catholics.[591]

"Mr. Astle informs us that the first Chinese letters were knots on
cords."[592]

Speaking of the ancient Japanese, the Chinese chronicles relate: "They
have no writing, but merely cut certain marks upon wood and make knots
in cord."[593] In the very earliest myths of the Chinese we read of
"knotted cords, which they used instead of characters, and to instruct
their children."[594] Malte-Brun calls attention to the fact that "the
hieroglyphics and little cords in use amongst the ancient Chinese
recall in a striking manner the figured writing of the Mexicans and
the Quipos of Peru."[595] "Each combination [of the quipu] had,
however, a fixed ideographic value in a certain branch of knowledge,
and thus the _quipu_ differed essentially from the Catholic rosary,
the Jewish phylactery, or the knotted strings of the natives of North
America and Siberia, to all of which it has at times been
compared."[596]

E. B. Tylor differs in opinion from Brinton. According to Tylor, "the
quipu is a near relation of the rosary and the wampum-string."[597]

The use of knotted cords by natives of the Caroline Islands, as a
means of preserving a record of time, is noted by Kotzebue in several
places. For instance: "Kadu kept his journal by moons, for which he
made a knot in a string."[598]

During the years of my service with the late Maj. Gen. Crook in the
Southwest, I was surprised to discover that the Apache scouts kept
records of the time of their absence on campaign. There were several
methods in vogue, the best being that of colored beads, which were
strung on a string, six white ones to represent the days of the week
and one black or other color to stand for Sundays. This method gave
rise to some confusion, because the Indians had been told that there
were four weeks, or Sundays ("Domingos"), in each "Luna," or moon, and
yet they soon found that their own method of determining time by the
appearance of the crescent moon was much the more satisfactory. Among
the Zuñi I have seen little tally sticks with the marks for the days
and months incised on the narrow edges, and among the Apache another
method of indicating the flight of time by marking on a piece of paper
along a horizontal line a number of circles or of straight lines
across the horizontal datum line to represent the full days which had
passed, a heavy straight line for each Sunday, and a small crescent
for the beginning of each month.

Farther to the south, in the Mexican state of Sonora, I was shown,
some twenty years ago, a piece of buckskin, upon which certain Opata
or Yaqui Indians--I forget exactly which tribe, but it matters very
little, as they are both industrious and honest--had kept account of
the days of their labor. There was a horizontal datum line, as before,
with complete circles to indicate full days and half circles to
indicate half days, a long heavy black line for Sundays and holidays,
and a crescent moon for each new month. These accounts had to be drawn
up by the overseer or superintendent of the rancho at which the
Indians were employed before the latter left for home each night.


THE SACRED CORDS OF THE PARSIS AND BRAHMANS.

I have already apologized for my own ignorance in regard to the origin
and symbolical signification of the izze-kloth of the Apache, and I
have now to do the same thing for the writers who have referred to the
use by the religious of India of the sacred cords with which, under
various names, the young man of the Parsis or Brahmans is invested
upon attaining the requisite age. No two accounts seem to agree and,
as I have never been in India and cannot presume to decide where so
many differ, it is best that I should lay before my readers the exact
language of the authorities which seem to be entitled to greatest
consideration.

"A sacred thread girdle (kûstîk), should it be made of silk, is not
proper; the hair of a hairy goat and a hairy camel is proper, and from
other hairy creatures it is proper among the lowly."[599]

Every Parsi wears "a triple coil" of a "white cotton girdle," which
serves to remind him of the "three precepts of his morality--'good
thoughts,' 'good words,' 'good deeds.'"[600]

Williams describes the sacred girdle of the Pārsīs as made "of
seventy-two interwoven woollen threads, to denote the seventy-two
chapters of the Yasna, but has the appearance of a long flat cord of
pure white wool, which is wound round the body in three coils." The
Pārsī must take off this kustī five times daily and replace it with
appropriate prayers. It must be wound round the body three times and
tied in two peculiar knots, the secret of which is known only to the
Pārsīs.[601]

According to Picart, the "sudra," or sacred cord of the Pārsīs, has
four knots, each of which represents a precept.[602]

Marco Polo, in speaking of the Brahmans of India, says: "They are
known by a cotton thread, which they wear over the shoulders, tied
under the arm, crossing the breast."[603]

Picart described the sacred cord of the Brahmans, which he calls the
Dsandhem, as made in three colors, each color of nine threads of
cotton, which only the Brahmans have the right to make. It is to be
worn after the manner of a scarf from the left shoulder to the right
side. It must be worn through life, and, as it will wear out, new ones
are provided at a feast during the month of August.[604] The Brahman
"about the age of seven or nine ... is invested with 'the triple
cord,' and a badge which hangs from his left shoulder."[605]

The Upavita or sacred cord, wound round the shoulders of the Brahmans,
is mentioned in the Hibbert Lectures on the Origin and Growth of
Religion. "Primarily, the sacred cord was the distinguishing mark of
caste among the Aryan inhabitants. It consisted for the Brahmans of
three cotton threads; for the Kshatriyas or warriors of three hempen
threads; and for the Vaisyas or artisans and tradesmen of woollen
threads."[606]

"All coiling roots and fantastic shrubs represent the serpent and are
recognized as such all over India. In Bengal we find at the present
day the fantastically growing Euphorbia antiquorum regularly
worshipped, as the representative of the serpent god. The sacred
thread, worn alike by Hindoo and Zoroastrian, is the symbol of that
old faith; the Brahman twines it round his body and occasionally
around the neck of the sacred bull, the Lingam, and its altar.... With
the orthodox, the serpent thread should reach down to its closely
allied faith, although this Ophite thread idea is now no more known to
Hindoos than the origin of arks, altars, candles, spires, and our
church fleur-de-lis to Jews and Christians."[607]

     General Forlong alludes to the thigh as the symbol of phallic
     worship. "The serpent on head denoted Holiness, Wisdom, and
     Power, as it does when placed on gods and great ones of the
     East still; but the Hindoo and Zoroastrian very early adopted
     a symbolic thread instead of the ophite deity, and the
     throwing of this over the head is also a very sacred rite,
     which consecrates the man-child to his God; this I should
     perhaps have earlier described, and will do so now. The
     adoption of the Poita or sacred thread, called also the
     _Zenar_, and from the most ancient pre-historic times by
     these two great Bactro-Aryan families, points to a period
     when both had the same faith, and that faith the Serpent. The
     Investiture is the Confirmation or second birth of the Hindoo
     boy; until which he can not, of course, be married. After the
     worship of the heavenly stone--the Sāligrāma, the youth or
     child takes a branch of the Vilwa tree in his right hand,
     and a mystic cloth-bag in the left, when a Poita is formed of
     three fibres of the Sooroo tree (for the first cord must
     always be made of the _genuine living fibres_ of an orthodox
     tree), and this is hung to the boy's left shoulder; he then
     raises the Vilwa branch over his right shoulder, and so
     stands for some time, _a complete figure_ of the old faiths
     in Tree and Serpent, until the priest offers up various
     prayers and incantations to Soorya, Savitri or Sot, the
     Eternal God. The Sooroo-Poita is then removed as not durable
     enough, and the permanent thread is put over the neck. It
     also is formed of three threads, each 96 cubits or 48 yards
     long, folded and twisted together until only so long that,
     when thrown over the left shoulder, it extends half-way down
     the right thigh, or a little less; for the object appears to
     be to unite the Caput, Sol, or Seat of intellect with that of
     passion, and so form a perfect man."[608]

     All Parsis wear the sacred thread of serpent and phallic
     extraction, and the investiture of this is a solemn and
     essential rite with both sects [i.e., the Hindus and
     Parsis], showing their joint Aryan origin in high Asia, for
     the thread is of the very highest antiquity. The Parsi does
     not, however, wear his thread across the shoulder, and knows
     nothing of the all-but-forgotten origin of its required
     length. He wears it next to his skin, tied carefully round
     the waist, and used to tie it round his right arm, as is
     still the custom with some classes of Brahmins who have lost
     purity of caste by intermarriage with lower classes.[609]

     At the baptism or investiture of the thread, which takes the
     place of the Christian confirmation ceremony, but between the
     ages of 7 and 9, Fire and Water are the great sanctifying
     elements, and are the _essentials_. The fire is kindled from
     the droppings of the sacred cow, then sprinkled over with
     holy water and blessed; and when so consecrated by the priest
     it is called "Holy Fire."[610]

"The _Brahmans_, the _Rajas_, and the _Merchants_, distinguish
themselves from the various casts of Sudras by a narrow belt of
thread, which they always wear suspended from the left shoulder to the
opposite haunch like a sash."[611] But, as Dubois speaks of the
division of all the tribes into "Right-hand and Left-hand," a
distinction which Coleman[612] explains as consisting in doing exactly
contrariwise of each other, it is not a very violent assumption to
imagine that both the present and a former method of wearing the
izze-kloth, akin to that now followed by the Apache, may once have
obtained in India. The sectaries of the two Hands are bitterly
antagonistic and often indulge in fierce quarrels, ending in
bloodshed.[613]

"All the Brahmans wear a Cord over the shoulder, consisting of three
black twists of cotton, each of them formed of several smaller
threads.... The three threads are not twisted together, but separate
from one another, and hang from the left shoulder to the right haunch.
When a Brahman marries, he mounts nine threads instead of three."
Children were invested with these sacred cords at the age of from 7 to
9. The cords had to be made and put on with much ceremony, and only
Brahmans could make them. According to Dubois, the material was
cotton; he does not allude to buckskin.[614]

Coleman[615] gives a detailed description of the manner in which the
sacred thread of the Brahmans is made:

     The sacred thread must be made by a Brahman. It consists of
     three strings, each ninety-six hands (forty-eight yards),
     which are twisted together: it is then folded into three and
     again twisted; these are a second time folded into the same
     number and tied at each end in knots. It is worn over the
     left shoulder (next the skin, extending half way down the
     right thigh), by the Brahmans, Ketries and Vaisya castes. The
     first are usually invested with it at eight years of age, the
     second at eleven, and the Vaisya at twelve.... The Hindus of
     the Sutra caste do not receive the poita.

The ceremony of investiture comprehends prayer, sacrifice, fasting,
etc., and the wearing of a preliminary poita "of three threads, made
of the fibers of the _suru_, to which a piece of deer's skin is
fastened."[616] This piece of buckskin was added no doubt in order to
let the neophyte know that once buckskin formed an important part of
the garment. The Brahmans use three cords, while the Apache employ
four; on this subject we shall have more to learn when we take up the
subject of numbers.

Maurice says that the "sacred cord of India," which he calls the
zennar, is "a cord of three threads in memory and honor of the three
great deities of Hindostan."[617] It "can be woven by no profane hand;
the Brahmin alone can twine the hallowed threads that compose it and
it is done by him with the utmost solemnity, and with the addition of
many mystic rites."[618] It corresponds closely to the izze-kloth; the
Apache do not want people to touch these cords. The zennar "being put
upon the left shoulder passes to the right side and hangs down as low
as the fingers can reach."[619] The izze-kloth of the Apache, when
possible, is made of twisted antelope skin; they have no cord of hemp;
but when the zennar is "put on for the first time, it is accompanied
with a piece of the skin of an antelope, three fingers in breadth, but
shorter than the zennar."[620]

On p. 128 of Vining's An Inglorious Columbus, there is a figure of
worshipers offering gifts to Buddha; from Buddha's left shoulder to
his right hip there passes what appears to be a cord, much like the
izze-kloth of the Apache.

Examples of the use of such cords are to be found elsewhere.

In the conjuration of one of the shamans, "They took a small line made
of deers' skins of four fathoms long, and with a small knot the priest
made it fast about his neck and under his left arm, and gave it unto
two men standing on both sides of him, which held the ends
together."[621] It is difficult to say whether this was a cord used on
the present occasion only or worn constantly by the shaman. In either
case the cord was "medicine."

Hagennaar relates that he "saw men wearing ropes with knots in them,
flung over their shoulders, whose eyes turned round in their heads,
and who were called Jammaboos, signifying as much as conjurors or
exorcists."[622]

The Mahometans believe that at the day of judgment Jesus Christ and
Mahomet are to meet outside of Jerusalem holding a tightly-stretched
cord between them upon which all souls must walk. This may or may not
preserve a trace of a former use of such a cord in their "medicine,"
but it is well to refer to it.[623]

The sacred thread and garment which were worn by all the perfect
among the Cathari, and the use of which by both Zends and Brahmans
shows that its origin is to be traced back to a pre-historic
period.[624]

"No religious rite can be performed by a (child) before he has been
girt with the sacred girdle, since he is on a level with a Sûdra
before his (new) birth from the Veda."[625]

In explaining the rules of external purification--that is,
purification in which water is the medium--Baudhâyana says:[626]

     The sacrificial thread (shall be made) of Kusa grass, or
     cotton, (and consist) of thrice three strings.

     (It shall hang down) to the navel.

     (In putting it on) he shall raise the right arm, lower the
     left, and lower the head.

     The contrary (is done at sacrifices) to the manes.

     (If the thread is) suspended around the neck (it is called)
     nivita.

     (If it is) suspended below (the navel, it is called)
     adhopavita.

A former use of sacred cords would seem to be suggested in the
constant appearance of the belief in the mystical properties and the
power for good or evil of the knots which constitute the
characteristic appendage of these cords. This belief has been confined
to no race or people; it springs up in the literature of the whole
world and survives with a pertinacity which is remarkable among the
peasantry of Europe and among many in both America and Europe who
would not hesitate to express resentment were they to be included
among the illiterate.

The powers of these knots were recognized especially in strengthening
or defeating love, as aiding women in labor, and in other ways which
prove them to be cousins-german to the magic knots with which the
medicine-men of the Lapps and other nations along the shores of the
Baltic were supposed to be able to raise or allay the tempest. "One of
the torments with which witchcraft worried men was the Knot by which a
man was withheld so that he could not work his will with a woman. It
was called in the Latin of the times Nodus and Obligamentum, and
appears in the glossaries, translated by the Saxons into lyb, drug."
"To make a 'ligatura' is pronounced 'detestable' by Theodoras,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in 668. The knot is still known in France,
and Nouer l'aiguillette is a resort of ill-will." Then is given the
adventure of Hrut, prince of Iceland, and his bride Gunnhilld,
princess of Norway, by whom a "knot" was duly tied to preserve his
fidelity during his absence.[627] "Traces of this philosophy are to be
found elsewhere," (references are given from Pliny and Galens in
regard to "nod").[628] "A knot among the ancient northern nations
seems to have been the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing
out the indissoluble tie of affection and duty. Thus the ancient Runic
inscriptions, as we gather from Hickes's Thesaurus, are in the form of
a knot. Hence, among the northern English and Scots, who still
retain, in a great measure, the language and manners of the ancient
Danes, that curious kind of a knot, a mutual present between the lover
and his mistress, which, being considered as the emblem of plighted
fidelity, is therefore called a true-love knot: a name which is not
derived, as one would naturally suppose it to be, from the words
'true' and 'love,' but formed from the Danish verb _Trulofa, fidem
do_, I plight my troth, or faith.... Hence, evidently, the bride
favors or the top-knots at marriages, which have been considered as
emblems of the ties of duty and affection between the bride and her
spouse, have been derived."[629]

Sir Thomas Browne, in his Vulgar Errors,[630] says "the true-lover's
knot is much magnified, and still retained in presents of love among
us; which, though in all points it doth not make out, had, perhaps,
its original from Nodus Herculanus, or that which was called Hercules,
his knot resembling the snaky complications in the caduceus or rod of
Hermes and in which form the zone or woolen girdle of the bride was
fastened, as Turnebus observes in his Adversaria." Brand shows[631]
that the true-lover's knot had to be tied three times. Another species
of knot divination is given in the Connoisseur, No. 56: "Whenever I go
to lye in a strange bed, I always tye my garter nine times round the
bed-post, and knit nine knots in it, and say to myself: 'this knot I
knit, this knot I tye, to see my love as he goes by,' etc. There was
also a suggestion of color symbolism in the true-lover's knot, blue
being generally accepted as the most appropriate tint. I find among
the illiterate Mexican population of the lower Rio Grande a firm
belief in the power possessed by a lock of hair tied into knots to
retain a maiden's affections.

"I find it stated that headache may be alleviated by tying a woman's
fillet round the head.[632] To arrest incontinence of urine, the
extremities of the generative organs should be tied with a thread of
linen or papyrus, and a binding passed round the middle of the
thigh.[633] It is quite surprising how much more speedily wounds will
heal if they are bound up and tied with a Hercules' knot; indeed, it
is said that if the girdle which we wear every day is tied with a knot
of this description, it will be productive of certain beneficial
effects, Hercules having been the first to discover the fact."[634]
"Healing girdles were already known to Marcellus."[635]

"In our times 'tis a common thing, saith Erastus in his book _de
Lamiis_, for witches to take upon them the making of these philters,
to force men and women to love and hate whom they will; to cause
tempests, diseases, &c., by charms, spels, characters, knots."[636]

Burton[637] alludes to the "inchanted girdle of Venus, in which,
saith Natales Comes, ... all witchcraft to enforce love was
contained."

The first general council of Milan, in 1565, prohibited the use of
what were called phylacteries, ligatures, and reliquaries (of heathen
origin) which people all over Europe were in the habit of wearing at
neck or on arms or knees.[638]

"King James[639] enumerates thus: 'Such kinde of charmes as ...
staying married folkes to have naturally adoe with each other, by
knitting so many knots upon a point at the time of their
marriage.'"[640]

"Tying the point was another fascination, illustrations of which may
be found in Reginald Scott's Discourse Concerning Devils and Spirits,
p. 71; in the Fifteen Comforts of Marriage, p. 225; and in the British
Apollo, vol. 2, No. 35, 1709. In the old play of The Witch of
Edmonton, 1658, Young Banks says, 'Ungirt, unbless'd, says the
proverb.'"[641]

Frommann speaks of the frequent appearance of knots in witchcraft,
but, beyond alluding to the "Nodus Cassioticus" of a certain people
near Pelusia, who seem, like the Laplanders, to have made a business
of fabricating and selling magic knots, he adds nothing to our stock
of information on the subject. He seems to regard the knot of Hercules
and the Gordian knot as magical knots.[642]

Bogle mentions the adoration of the Grand Lama (Teshu Lama). The
Lama's servants "put a bit of silk with a knot upon it, tied, or
supposed to be tied, with the Lama's own hands, about the necks of the
votaries."[643]

A girdle of Venus, "possessing qualities not to be described," was
enumerated among the articles exhibited at a rustic wedding in
England.[644]

In 1519, Torralva, the Spanish magician, was given by his guardian
spirit, Zequiel, a "stick full of knots," with the injunction, "shut
your eyes and fear nothing; take this in your hand, and no harm will
happen to you."[645] Here the idea evidently was that the power
resided in the knots.

"Immediately before the celebration of the marriage ceremony [in
Perthshire, Scotland] every knot about the bride and bridegroom
(garters, shoe-strings, strings of petticoats, &c.), is carefully
loosened."[646]

"The precaution of loosening every knot about the new-joined pair is
strictly observed [in Scotland], for fear of the penalty denounced in
the former volumes. It must be remarked that the custom, is observed
even in France, _nouer l'aiguillette_ being a common phrase for
disappointments of this nature."[647]

In some parts of Germany "a bride will tie a string of flax around
her left leg, in the belief that she will thereby enjoy the full
blessing of the married state."[648]

"There was formerly a custom in the north of England, which will be
thought to have bordered very closely upon indecency ... for the young
men present at a wedding to strive, immediately after the ceremony,
who could first pluck off the bride's garters from her legs. This was
done before the very altar ... I have sometimes thought this a
fragment of the ancient ceremony of loosening the virgin zone, or
girdle, a custom that needs no explanation." "It is the custom in
Normandy for the bride to bestow her garter on some young man as a
favour, or sometimes it is taken from her ... I am of opinion that the
origin of the Order of the Garter is to be traced to this nuptial
custom, anciently common to both court and country."[649]

Grimm quotes from Hincmar of Rheims to show the antiquity of the use
for both good and bad purposes of "ligatures," "cum filulis colorum
multiplicium."[650]

To undo the effects of a "ligature," the following was in high repute:
"Si quem voles per noctem cum fœmina coire non posse, pistillum
coronatum sub lecto illius pone."[651] But a pestle crowned with
flowers could be nothing more or less than a phallus, and, therefore,
an offering to the god Priapus.

"Owing to a supposed connection which the witches knew between the
relations of husband and wife and the mysterious knots, the
bridegroom, formerly in Scotland and to the present day in Ireland,
presents himself occasionally, and in rural districts, before the
clergyman, with all knots and fastenings on his dress loosened, and
the bride, immediately after the ceremony is performed, retires to be
undressed, and so rid of her knots."[652]


USE OF CORDS AND KNOTS AND GIRDLES IN PARTURITION.

Folk medicine in all regions is still relying upon the potency of
mystical cords and girdles to facilitate labor. The following are a
few of the many examples which might be presented:

Delivery was facilitated if the man by whom the woman has conceived
unties his girdle, and, after tying it round her, unties it, saying:
"I have tied it and I will untie it," and then takes his
departure.[653]

"Henry, in his History of Britain, vol. 1, p. 459, tells us that
'amongst the ancient Britons, when a birth was attended with any
difficulty, they put certain girdles made for that purpose about the
women in labour which they imagined gave immediate and effectual
relief. Such girdles were kept with care till very lately in many
families in the Highlands of Scotland. They were impressed with
several mystical figures; and the ceremony of binding them about the
woman's waist was accompanied with words and gestures, which showed
the custom to have been of great antiquity, and to have come
originally from the Druids.'"[654]

"But my girdle shall serve as a riding _knit_, and a fig for all the
witches in Christendom."[655] The use of girdles in labor must be
ancient.

"Ut mulier concipiat, homo vir si solvat semicinctum suum et eam
præcingat."[656] "Certum est quod partum mirabiliter facilirent,
siveinstar cinguli circumdentur corpori." These girdles were believed
to aid labor and cure dropsy and urinary troubles.[657]

"The following customs of childbirth are noticed in the Traité des
Superstitions of M. Thiers, vol. 1, p. 320: 'Lors qu'une femme est
preste d'accoucher, prendre _sa ceinture_, aller à l'Eglise, _lier la
cloche avec cette ceinture_ et la faire sonner trois coups afin que
cette femme accouche heureusement. Martin de Arles, Archidiacre de
Pampelonne (Tract. de Superstition) asseure que cette superstition est
fort en usage dans tout son pays.'"[658]

In the next two examples there is to be found corroboration of the
views advanced by Forlong that these cords (granting that the
principle upon which they all rest is the same) had originally some
relation to ophic rites. Brand adds from Levinus Lemnius: "Let the
woman that travels with her child (is in her labour) be girded with
the skin that a serpent or a snake casts off, and then she will
quickly be delivered."[659] A serpent's skin was tied as a belt about
a woman in childbirth. "Inde puerperæ circa collum aut corporem
apposito, victoriam in puerperii conflictu habuerunt, citissimeque
liberatæ fuerunt."[660]

The following examples, illustrative of the foregoing, are taken from
Flemming: The skins of human corpses were drawn off, preferably by
cobblers, tanned, and made into girdles, called "Cingula" or
Chirothecæ, which were bound on the left thigh of a woman in labor to
expedite delivery. The efficacy of these was highly extolled, although
some writers recommended a recourse to tiger's skin for the purposes
indicated. This "caro humano" was euphemistically styled "mummy" or
"mumia" by Von Helmont and others of the early pharmacists, when
treating of it as an internal medicament.

There was a "Cingulum ex corio humano" bound round patients during
epileptic attacks, convulsions, childbirth, etc., and another kind of
belt described as "ex cute humana conficiunt," and used in contraction
of the nerves and rheumatism of the joints,[661] also bound round the
body in cramp.[662]

"The _girdle_ was an essential article of dress, and early ages
ascribe to it other magic influences: e.g., Thôr's divine strength lay
in his girdle."[663] In speaking of the belief in lycanthropy he says:
"The common belief among us is that the transformation is effected by
_tying a strap round the body_; this girth is only three fingers
broad, and is cut out of human skin."[664] Scrofulous tumors were
cured by tying them with a linen thread which had choked a viper to
death.[665] "Filum rubrum seraceum [silk] cum quo strangulata fuit
vipera si circumdatur collo angina laborantes, eundem curare dicitur
propter idem strangulationis et suffocationis."[666]

"Quidam commendant tanquam specificum, ad Anginam filum purpureum cum
quo strangulata fuit vipera, si collo circumdetur."[667]


"MEDIDAS," "MEASURING CORDS," "WRESTING THREADS," ETC.

Black says:[668] "On the banks of the Ale and the Teviot the women
have still a custom of wearing round their necks blue woollen threads
or cords till they wean their children, doing this for the purpose of
averting ephemeral fevers. These cords are handed down from mother to
daughter, and esteemed in proportion to their antiquity. Probably
these cords had originally received some blessing."

Black's surmise is well founded. These cords were, no doubt, the same
as the "medidas" or measurements of the holy images of Spain and other
parts of Continental Europe. "The ribands or serpent symbols [of Our
Lady of Montserrat] are of silk, and exactly the span of the Virgin's
head, and on them is printed '_medida de la cabeza de Nuestra Señora
Maria Santísima de Montserrat_,' i.e., exact head measurement of Our
Lady of Montserrat."[669]

These same "medidas" may be found in full vogue in the outlying
districts of Mexico to-day. Twenty years ago I saw them at the
"funcion" of San Francisco, in the little town of Magdalena, in
Sonora. I watched carefully to see exactly what the women did and
observed that the statue of St. Francis (which, for greater
convenience, was exposed outside of the church, where the devout could
reach it without disturbing the congregation within) was measured from
head to foot with pieces of ribbon, which were then wrapped up and
packed away. In reply to my queries, I learned that the "medida" of
the head was a specific for headache, that of the waist for all
troubles in the abdominal region, those of the legs, arms, and other
parts for the ailments peculiar to each of them respectively. This was
in a community almost, if not absolutely, Roman Catholic; but in the
thoroughly Protestant neighborhood of Carlisle, Pa., the same
superstition exists in full vigor, as I know personally. Three years
ago my second child was suffering from the troubles incident to
retarded dentition and had to be taken to the mountains at Holly
Springs, within sight of Carlisle. I was begged and implored by the
women living in the place to have the child taken to "a wise woman" to
be "measured," and was assured that some of the most intelligent
people in that part of the country were firm believers in the
superstition. When I declined to lend countenance to such nonsense I
was looked upon as a brutal and unnatural parent, caring little for
the welfare of his offspring.

"In John Bale's Comedye concernynge thre Lawes, 1538 ... Hypocrysy is
introduced, mentioning the following charms against barrenness:

    And as for Lyons, there is the length of our Lorde
    In a great pyller. She that will with a coorde
    Be fast bound to it, and _take soche chaunce as fall_
    Shall sure have chylde, for within it is hollowe all."[670]

When a person in Shetland has received a sprain "it is customary to
apply to an individual practiced in casting the 'wrested thread.' This
is a thread spun from black wool, on which are cast nine knots, and
tied round a sprained leg or arm." It is applied by the medicine-man
with the usual amount of gibberish and incantation.[671] These
"wresting or wrested threads" are also to be found among Germans,
Norwegians, Swedes, and Flemings.[672]

Grimm quotes from Chambers's Fireside Stories, Edinburgh, 1842, p. 37:
"During the time the operator is putting the thread round the
afflicted limb he says, but _in such a tone of voice as not to be
heard by the bystanders_, nor even by the person operated upon: "The
_Lord_ rade, and the foal slade; he lighted, and he righted, set joint
to joint, bone to bone, and sinew to sinew. Heal in the Holy Ghost's
name!"[673]

"Eily McGarvey, a Donegal wise woman, employs a green thread in her
work. She measures her patient three times round the waist with a
ribbon, to the outer edge of which is fastened a green thread.... She
next hands the patient nine leaves of 'heart fever grass,' or
dandelion, gathered by herself, directing him to eat three leaves on
successive mornings."[674]

Miss Edna Dean Proctor, the poet, told me, June 9, 1887, that some
years ago, while visiting relations in Illinois, she met a woman who,
having been ill for a long time, had despaired of recovery, and in
hope of amelioration had consulted a man pretending to occult powers,
who prescribed that she wear next the skin a certain knotted red cord
which he gave her.

On a previous page the views of Forlong have been presented, showing
that there were reasons for believing that the sacred cords of the
East Indies could be traced back to an ophic origin, and it has also
been shown that, until the present day, among the peasantry of Europe,
there has obtained the practice of making girdles of snake skin which
have been employed for the cure of disease and as an assistance in
childbirth. The snake itself, while still alive, as has been shown, is
applied to the person of the patient by the medicine-men of the
American Indians.

In connection with the remarks taken from Forlong's Rivers of Life on
this subject, I should like to call attention to the fact that the
long knotted blacksnake whip of the wagoners of Europe and America,
which, when not in use, is worn across the body from shoulder to hip,
has been identified as related to snake worship.

There is another view to take of the origin of these sacred cords
which it is fair to submit before passing final judgment. The
izze-kloth may have been in early times a cord for tying captives who
were taken in war, and as these captives were offered up in sacrifice
to the gods of war and others they were looked upon as sacred, and all
used in connection with them would gradually take on a sacred
character. The same kind of cords seem to have been used in the chase.
This would explain a great deal of the superstition connected with the
whole subject of "hangman's rope" bringing luck, curing disease, and
averting trouble of all sorts, a superstition more widely disseminated
and going back to more ancient times than most people would imagine.
One of the tribes of New Granada, "quando iban à la Guerra llevaban
Cordeles para atar à los Presos."[675] This recalls that the Apache
themselves used to throw lariats from ambush upon travelers, and that
the Thugs who served the goddess Bhowani, in India, strangled with
cords, afterwards with handkerchiefs. The Spaniards in Peru, under
Jorge Robledo, going toward the Rio Magdalena, in 1542, found a large
body of savages "que llevaban Cordeles, para atar à los Castellanos, i
sus Pedernales, para despedaçarlos, i Ollas para cocerlos."[676] The
Australians carried to war a cord, called "Nerum," about 2 feet 6
inches long, made of kangaroo hair, used for strangling an enemy.[677]

The easiest method of taking the hyena "is for the hunter to tie his
girdle with seven knots, and to make as many knots in the whip with
which he guides his horse."[678] Maj. W. Cornwallis Harris[679]
describes a search made for a lost camel. A man was detailed to search
for the animal and provided with the following charm to aid him in his
search: "The rope with which the legs of the lost animal had been
fettered was rolled betwixt his (the Ras el Káfilah's) hands, and
sundry cabalistic words having been muttered whilst the Devil was
dislodged by the process of spitting upon the cord at the termination
of each spell, it was finally delivered over to the Dankáli about to
be sent on the quest." Stanley describes the "lords of the cord" at
the court of Mtesa, king of Uganda, but they seem to be provost
officers and executioners merely.[680] "In cases of quartan fever they
take a fragment of a nail from a cross, or else a piece of a halter
that has been used for crucifixion, and after wrapping it in wool,
attach it to the patient's neck, taking care, the moment he has
recovered, to conceal it in some hole to which the light of the sun
can not penetrate."[681] There is a widespread and deeply rooted
belief that a rope which has hanged a man, either as a felon or
suicide, possesses talismanic powers.[682] Jean Baptiste Thiers[683]
says: "Il y a des gens assez fous pour s'imaginer qu'ils seront
heureux au jeu ... pourvu qu'ils ayent sur eux un morceau de corde de
pendu." Brand says: "I remember once to have seen, at Newcastle upon
Tyne, after a person executed had been cut down, men climb upon the
gallows and contend for that part of the rope which remained, and
which they wished to preserve for some lucky purpose or other. I have
lately made the important discovery that it is reckoned a cure for the
headache."[684] "A halter with which one had been hanged was regarded
within recent times in England as a cure for headache if tied round
the head."[685]

In the long list of articles employed by the ancients for the purpose
of developing affection or hatred between persons of opposite sex,
Burton mentions "funis strangulati hominis."[686] "A remarkable
superstition still prevails among the lowest of our vulgar, that a man
may lawfully sell his wife to another, provided he deliver her over
with a halter about her neck. It is painful to observe that instances
of this frequently occur in our newspapers."[687] While discussing
this branch of the subject, it might be well to peruse what has
already been inserted under the head of the uses to which were put the
threads which had strangled vipers and other serpents.


UNCLASSIFIED SUPERSTITIONS UPON THIS SUBJECT.

In conclusion, I wish to present some of the instances occurring in my
studies which apparently have a claim to be included in a treatise
upon the subject of sacred cords and knots. These examples are
presented without comment, as they are, to all intents and purposes,
"survivals," which have long ago lost their true significance.
Attention is invited to the fact that the very same use seems to be
made by the Irish of hair cords as we have already seen has been made
by the Australians.

The Jewish garment with knots at the corners would appear to have been
a prehistoric garment preserved in religious ceremonial; it would seem
to be very much like the short blanket cloak, with tufts or knots at
the four corners, still made by and in use among the Zuñi, Navajo,
Tusayan, and Rio Grande Pueblos. But magic knots were by no means
unknown to Jews, Assyrians, or other nations of Syria and Mesopotamia.

"In Memorable Things noted in the Description of the World, we read:
About children's necks the wild Irish hung the beginning of St. John's
Gospel, a crooked nail of a horseshoe, or a piece of a wolve's skin,
and both the sucking child and nurse were girt with girdles finely
plaited with woman's hair."[688]

Gainsford, in his Glory of England, speaking of the Irish, p. 150,
says: "They use _incantations_ and _spells_, wearing _girdles of
woman's haire_, and _locks of their lover's_."

Camden, in his Ancient and Modern Manners of the Irish, says that
"they are observed to present their lovers with bracelets of women's
hair, whether in reference to Venus' cestus or not, I know not."[689]
This idea of a resemblance between the girdle of Venus and the use of
the maiden's hair may be worth consideration; on the same page Brand
quotes from Beaumont and Fletcher:

      Bracelets of our lovers' hair,
    Which they on our arms shall twist,

and garters of the women were generally worn by lovers.[690]

"Chaque habit qu'ils [the Jews] portent doit avoir quatre pands, & à
chacun un cordon pendant en forme de houppe, qu'ils nomment Zizit. Ce
cordon est ordinairement de huit fils de laine filée exprès pour cela,
avec cinq nœuds chacun, qui occupent la moitié de la longueur. Ce
qui n'est pas noué étant éfilé acheve de faire une espece de houppe,
qu'ils se fassent, dit la Loi, des cordons aux pands de leurs
habits."[691]

The following is from Black:[692]

     When Marduk [Assyrian god] wishes to comfort a dying man his
     father Hea says: "Go--

         Take a woman's linen kerchief!
         Bind it round thy left hand: loose it from the left hand!
         Knot it with seven knots: do so twice:
         Sprinkle it with bright wine:
         Bind it round the head of the sick man:
         Bind it round his hands and feet, like manacles and fetters.
         Sit round on his bed:
         Sprinkle holy water over him.
         He shall hear the voice of Hea.
         Davkina shall protect him!
         And Marduk, Eldest Son of heaven, shall find him a happy
             habitation."

A variant of the same formula is to be found in François Lenormant's
Chaldean Magic.[693] Lenormant speaks of the Chaldean use of "magic
knots, the efficacy of which was so firmly believed in even up to the
middle ages."

Again, he says that magic cords, with knots, were "still very common
among the Nabathean sorcerers of the Lower Euphrates," in the
fourteenth century, and in his opinion the use of these was derived
from the ancient Chaldeans. In still another place he speaks of the
"magic knots" used by Finnish conjurors in curing diseases.

"The Jewish phylactery was tied in a knot, but more generally knots
are found in use to bring about some enchantment or disenchantment.
Thus in an ancient Babylonian charm we have--

     'Merodach, the Son of Hea, the prince, with his holy hands
     cuts the knots.'

That is to say, he takes off the evil influence of the knots. So, too,
witches sought in Scotland to compass evil by tying knots. Witches, it
was thought, could supply themselves with the milk of any neighbor's
cows if they had a small quantity of hair from the tail of each of the
animals. The hair they would twist into a rope and then a knot would
be tied on the rope for every cow which had contributed hair. Under
the clothes of a witch who was burned at St. Andrews, in 1572, was
discovered 'a white claith, like a collore craig, with stringis,
wheron was mony knottis vpon the stringis of the said collore craig.'
When this was taken from her, with a prescience then wrongly
interpreted, she said: 'Now I have no hope of myself.' 'Belyke scho
thought,' runs the cotemporary account, 'scho suld not have died, that
being vpon her,' but probably she meant that to be discovered with
such an article in her possession was equivalent to the sentence of
death. So lately as the beginning of the last century, two persons
were sentenced to capital punishment for stealing a charm of knots,
made by a woman as a device against the welfare of Spalding of
Ashintilly."[694]

"Charmed belts are commonly worn in Lancashire for the cure of
rheumatism. Elsewhere, a cord round the loins is worn to ward off
toothache. Is it possible that there is any connection between this
belt and the cord which in Burmah is hung round the neck of a
possessed person while he is being thrashed to drive out the spirit
which troubles him? Theoretically the thrashing is given to the
spirit, and not to the man, but to prevent the spirit escaping too
soon a charmed cord is hung round the possessed person's neck. When
the spirit has been sufficiently humbled and has declared its name it
may be allowed to escape, if the doctor does not prefer to trample on
the patient's stomach till he fancies he has killed the demon."[695]

"The numerous notices in the folklore of all countries of magic
stones, holy girdles, and other nurses' specials, attest the common
sympathy of the human race."[696]

This is from Brand:[697] "Devonshire cure for warts. Take a piece of
twine, tie in it as many knots as you have warts, touch each wart with
a knot, and then throw the twine behind your back into some place
where it may soon decay--a pond or a hole in the earth; but tell no
one what you have done. When the twine is decayed your warts will
disappear without any pain or trouble, being in fact charmed away."

"In our time, the anodyne necklace, which consists of beads turned out
of the root of the white Bryony, and which is hung round the necks of
infants, in order to assist their teething, and to ward off the
convulsions sometimes incident to that process, is an amulet."[698]

"Rowan, ash, and red thread," a Scotch rhyme goes, "keep the devils
frae their speed."[699]

For the cure of scrofula, grass was selected. From one, two, or three
stems, as many as nine joints must be removed, which must then be
wrapped in black wool, with the grease in it. The person who gathers
them must do so fasting, and must then go, in the same state, to the
patient's house while he is from home. When the patient comes in, the
other must say to him three times, "I come fasting to bring a remedy
to a fasting man," and must then attach the amulet to his person,
repeating the same ceremony three consecutive days.[700]

Forlong says: "On the 2d [of May], fearing evil spirits and witches,
Scotch farmers used to tie red thread upon their wives as well as
their cows, saying these prevented miscarriages and preserved the
milk."[701]

In Scotland "they hope to preserve the milk of their cows, and their
wives from miscarriage, by tying threads about them."[702]

Brand gives a remedy for epilepsy: "If, in the month of October, a
little before the full moon, you pluck a twig of the elder, and cut
the cane that is betwixt two of its knees, or knots, in nine pieces,
and these pieces, being bound in a piece of linnen, be in a thread so
hung about the neck that they touch the spoon of the heart, or the
sword-formed cartilage."[703]

Black says:[704] "To cure warts a common remedy is to tie as many
knots on a hair as there are warts and throw the hair away. Six knots
of elderwood are used in a Yorkshire incantation to ascertain if
beasts are dying from witchcraft. Marcellus commended for sore eyes
that a man should tie as many knots in unwrought flax as there are
letters in his name, pronouncing each letter as he worked; this he was
to tie round his neck. In the Orkneys, the blue thread was used for an
evil purpose because such a colour savored of Popery and priests; in
the northern counties it was used because a remembrance of its once
preeminent value still survived in the minds of those who wore it,
unconsciously, though still actively, influencing their thoughts. In
perhaps the same way we respect the virtue of red threads, because, as
Conway puts it, 'red is sacred in one direction as symbolising the
blood of Christ.'"[705]

"To cure ague [Hampshire, England] string nine or eleven snails on a
thread, the patient saying, as each is threaded, 'Here I leave my
ague.' When all are threaded they should be frizzled over a fire, and
as the snails disappear so will the ague."[706]

Dr. Joseph Lanzoni scoffed at the idea that a red-silk thread could
avail in erysipelas; "Neque filum sericum chermisinum parti affectæ
circumligatum erysipelata fugat." The word "chermesinum" is not given
in Ainsworth's Latin-English Dictionary, but it so closely resembles
the Spanish "carmesi" that I have made bold to render it as "red" or
"scarlet."[707]

"Red thread is symbolical of lightning," and is consequently laid on
churns in Ireland "to prevent the milk from being bewitched and
yielding no butter." "In Aberdeenshire it is a common practice with
the housewife to tie a piece of red worsted thread round the cows'
tails before turning them out for the first time in the season to
grass. It secured the cattle from the evil-eye, elf-shots, and other
dangers."[708] "It [blue] is the sky color and the Druid's sacred
colour."[709] "In 1635, a man in the Orkney Islands was, we are led to
believe, utterly ruined by nine knots cast on a blue thread and given
to his sister."

"In a curious old book, 12mo., 1554, entitled A Short Description of
Antichrist, is this passage: 'I note all their Popishe traditions of
confirmacion of yonge children with oynting of oyle and creame, and
with _a ragge knitte about the necke of the younge babe_.'"[710]

A New England charm for an obstinate ague. "The patient in this case
is to take a string made of woolen yarn, of three colors, and to go by
himself to an apple-tree; there he is to tie his left hand loosely
with the right to the tree by the tri-colored string, then to slip his
hand out of the knot and run into the house without looking behind
him."[711]

The dust "in which a hawk has bathed itself, tied up in a linen cloth
with a red string, and attached to the body,"[712] was one of the
remedies for fevers. Another cure for fever: "Some inclose a
caterpillar in a piece of linen, with a thread passed three times
round it, and tie as many knots, repeating at each knot why it is that
the patient performs that operation."[713]

"To prevent nose-bleeding people are told to this day to wear a skein
of scarlet silk thread round the neck, tied with nine knots down the
front; if the patient is a man, the silk being put on and the knots
tied by a woman; and if the patient is a woman, then these good
services being rendered by a man."[714]

A cord with nine knots in it, tied round the neck of a child suffering
from whooping cough, was esteemed a sovereign remedy in Worcester,
England, half a century ago.

Again, references will be found to the superstitious use of
"ligatures" down to a comparatively recent period, and "I remember it
was a custom in the north of England for boys that swam to wear an
eel's skin about their naked leg to prevent the cramp."[715]


THE MEDICINE HAT.

The medicine hat of the old and blind Apache medicine-man,
Nan-ta-do-tash, was an antique affair of buckskin, much begrimed with
soot and soiled by long use. Nevertheless, it gave life and strength
to him who wore it, enabled the owner to peer into the future, to tell
who had stolen ponies from other people, to foresee the approach of an
enemy, and to aid in the cure of the sick. This was its owner's own
statement in conversation with me, but it would seem that the power
residing in the helmet or hat was not very permanent, because when the
old man discovered from his wife that I had made a rude drawing of it
he became extremely excited and said that such a delineation would
destroy all the life of the hat. His fears were allayed by presents of
money and tobacco, as well as by some cakes and other food. As a
measure of precaution, he insisted upon sprinkling pinches of
hoddentin over myself, the hat, and the drawing of it, at the same
time muttering various half-articulate prayers. He returned a month
afterwards and demanded the sum of $30 for damage done to the hat by
the drawing, since which time it has ceased to "work" when needed.

This same old man gave me an explanation of all the symbolism depicted
upon the hat and a great deal of valuable information in regard to the
profession of medicine-men, their specialization, the prayers they
recited, etc. The material of the hat, as already stated, was
buckskin. How that was obtained I can not assert positively, but from
an incident occurring under my personal observation in the Sierra
Madre in Mexico in 1883, where our Indian scouts and the medicine-men
with them surrounded a nearly grown fawn and tried to capture it
alive, as well as from other circumstances too long to be here
inserted, I am of the opinion that the buckskin to be used for sacred
purposes among the Apache must, whenever possible, be that of a
strangled animal, as is the case, according to Dr. Matthews, among the
Navajo.

The body of Nan-ta-do-tash's cap (Fig. 434, p. 503) was unpainted, but
the figures upon it were in two colors, a brownish yellow and an
earthy blue, resembling a dirty Prussian blue. The ornamentation was
of the downy feathers and black-tipped plumes of the eagle, pieces of
abalone shell, and chalchihuitl, and a snake's rattle on the apex.

Nan-ta-do-tash explained that the characters on the medicine hat
meant: A, clouds; B, rainbow; C, hail; E, morning-star; F, the God of
Wind, with his lungs; G, the black "kan"; H, great stars or suns.

"Kan" is the name given to their principal gods. The appearance of the
kan himself and of the tail of the hat suggest the centipede, an
important animal god of the Apache. The old man said that the figures
represented the powers to which he appealed for aid in his "medicine"
and the kan upon whom he called for help. There were other doctors
with other medicines, but he used none but those of which he was going
to speak to me.

  [Illustration: FIG. 440.--Apache war bonnet.]

When an Apache or other medicine-man is in full regalia he ceases to
be a man, but becomes, or tries to make his followers believe that he
has become, the power he represents. I once heard this asserted in a
very striking way while I was with a party of Apache young men who had
led me to one of the sacred caves of their people, in which we came
across a great quantity of ritualistic paraphernalia of all sorts.

"We used to stand down here," they said, "and look up to the top of
the mountain and see the kan come down." This is precisely what the
people living farther to the south told the early Spanish
missionaries.

The Mexicans were wont to cry out "Here come our gods!" upon seeing
their priests masked and disguised, and especially when they had
donned the skins of the women offered up in sacrifice.[716]

The headdresses worn by the gods of the American Indians and the
priests or medicine-men who served them were persistently called
"miters" by the early Spanish writers. Thus Quetzalcoatl wore "en la
cabeça una Mitra de papel puntiaguda."[717] When Father Felician Lopez
went to preach to the Indians of Florida, in 1697, among other matters
of record is one to the effect that "the chief medicine man called
himself bishop."[718] Possibly this title was assumed because the
medicine-men wore "miters."

Duran goes further than his fellows. In the headdress used at the
spirit dances he recognizes the tiara. He says that the Mexican
priests at the feast of Tezcatlipoca wore "en las cabezas tiaras
hechas de barillas."[719] The ghost dance headdress illustrated in
this paper (Fig. 441) is known to the Chiricahua Apache as the
"ich-te," a contraction from "chas-a-i-wit-te," according to Ramon,
the old medicine-man from whom I obtained it. He explained all the
symbolism connected with it. The round piece of tin in the center is
the sun; the irregular arch underneath it is the rainbow. Stars and
lightning are depicted on the side slats and under them; the
parallelograms with serrated edges are clouds; the pendant green
sticks are rain drops; there are snakes and snake heads on both
horizontal and vertical slats, the heads in the former case being
representative of hail.

  [Illustration: FIG. 441.--Ghost-dance headdress.]

There are feathers of the eagle to conciliate that powerful bird,
turkey feathers to appeal to the mountain spirits, and white gull
feathers for the spirits of the water. There are also small pieces of
nacreous shells and one or two fragments of the "duklij," or
chalchihuitl, without which no medicine-man would feel competent to
discharge his functions.

The spirit dance itself is called "cha-ja-la." I have seen this dance
a number of times, but will confine my description to one seen at Fort
Marion (St. Augustine, Fla.), in 1887, when the Chiricahua Apache
were confined there as prisoners; although the accompanying figure
represents a ghost dance headdress seen among the Apache in the winter
of 1885. A great many of the band had been suffering from sickness of
one kind or another and twenty-three of the children had died; as a
consequence, the medicine-men were having the Cha-ja-la, which is
entered into only upon the most solemn occasions, such as the setting
out of a war party, the appearance of an epidemic, or something else
of like portent. On the terreplein of the northwest bastion, Ramon,
the old medicine-man, was violently beating upon a drum, which, as
usual, had been improvised of a soaped rag drawn tightly over the
mouth of an iron kettle holding a little water.

Although acting as master of ceremonies, Ramon was not painted or
decorated in any way. Three other medicine-men were having the
finishing touches put to their bodily decoration. They had an
under-coating of greenish brown, and on each arm a yellow snake, the
head toward the shoulder blade. The snake on the arm of one of the
party was double-headed, or rather had a head at each extremity.

Each had insignia in yellow on back and breast, but no two were
exactly alike. One had on his breast a yellow bear, 4 inches long by 3
inches high, and on his back a kan of the same color and dimensions. A
second had the same pattern of bear on his breast, but a zigzag for
lightning on his back. The third had the zigzag on both back and
breast. All wore kilts and moccasins.

While the painting was going on Ramon thumped and sang with vigor to
insure the medicinal potency of the pigments and the designs to which
they were applied. Each held, one in each hand, two wands or swords of
lathlike proportions, ornamented with snake-lightning in blue.

The medicine-men emitted a peculiar whistling noise and bent slowly to
the right, then to the left, then frontward, then backward, until the
head in each case was level with the waist. Quickly they spun round in
full circle on the left foot; back again in a reverse circle to the
right; then they charged around the little group of tents in that
bastion, making cuts and thrusts with their wands to drive the
maleficent spirits away.

It recalled to my mind the old myths of the angel with the flaming
sword guarding the entrance to Eden, or of St. Michael chasing the
discomfited Lucifer down into the depths of Hell.

These preliminaries occupied a few moments only; at the end of that
time the medicine-men advanced to where a squaw was holding up to them
a little baby sick in its cradle. The mother remained kneeling while
the medicine-men frantically struck at, upon, around, and over the
cradle with their wooden weapons.

The baby was held so as successively to occupy each of the cardinal
points and face each point directly opposite; first on the east side,
facing the west; then the north side, facing the south; then the west
side, facing the east; then the south side, facing the north, and
back to the original position. While at each position, each of the
medicine-men in succession, after making all the passes and gestures
described, seized the cradle in his hands, pressed it to his breast,
and afterwards lifted it up to the sky, next to the earth, and lastly
to the four cardinal points, all the time prancing, whistling, and
snorting, the mother and her squaw friends adding to the dismal din by
piercing shrieks and ululations.

That ended the ceremonies for that night so far as the baby personally
was concerned, but the medicine-men retired down to the parade and
resumed their saltation, swinging, bending, and spinning with such
violence that they resembled, in a faint way perhaps, the Dervishes of
the East. The understanding was that the dance had to be kept up as
long as there was any fuel unconsumed of the large pile provided; any
other course would entail bad luck. It was continued for four nights,
the colors and the symbols upon the bodies varying from night to
night. Among the modes of exorcism enumerated by Burton, we find
"cutting the air with swords."[720] Picart speaks of the "flêches ou
les baguettes dont les Arabes Idolâtres se servoient pour deviner par
le sort." He says that the diviner "tenoit à la main" these arrows,
which certainly suggest the swords or wands of the Apache medicine-men
in the spirit dance.[721]

There were four medicine-men, three of whom were dancing and in
conference with the spirits, and the fourth of whom was general
superintendent of the whole dance, and the authority to whom the first
three reported the result of their interviews with the ghostly powers.

The mask and headdress of the first of the dancers, who seemed to be
the leading one, was so elaborate that in the hurry and meager light
supplied by the flickering fires it could not be portrayed. It was
very much like that of number three, but so fully covered with the
plumage of the eagle, hawk, and, apparently, the owl, that it was
difficult to assert this positively. Each of these medicine-men had
pieces of red flannel tied to his elbows and a stick about four feet
long in each hand. Number one's mask was spotted black and white and
shaped in front like the snout of a mountain lion. His back was
painted with large arrowheads in brown and white, which recalled the
protecting arrows tightly bound to the backs of Zuñi fetiches. Number
two had on his back a figure in white ending between the shoulders in
a cross. Number three's back was simply whitened with clay.

All these headdresses were made of slats of the Spanish bayonet,
unpainted, excepting that on number two was a figure in black, which
could not be made out, and that the horizontal crosspieces on number
three were painted blue.

The dominos or masks were of blackened buckskin, for the two fastened
around the neck by garters or sashes; the neckpiece of number three
was painted red; the eyes seemed to be glass knobs or brass buttons.
These three dancers were naked to the waist, and wore beautiful kilts
of fringed buckskin bound on with sashes, and moccasins reaching to
the knees. In this guise they jumped into the center of the great
circle of spectators and singers and began running about the fire
shrieking and muttering, encouraged by the shouts and the singing, and
by the drumming and incantation of the chorus which now swelled forth
at full lung power.


THE SPIRIT OR GHOST DANCE HEADDRESS.

As the volume of music swelled and the cries of the on-lookers became
fiercer, the dancers were encouraged to the enthusiasm of frenzy. They
darted about the circle, going through the motions of looking for an
enemy, all the while muttering, mumbling, and singing, jumping,
swaying, and whirling like the dancing Dervishes of Arabia.

Their actions, at times, bore a very considerable resemblance to the
movements of the Zuñi Shálako at the Feast of Fire. Klashidu told me
that the orchestra was singing to the four willow branches planted
near them. This would indicate a vestige of tree worship, such as is
to be noticed also at the sun dance of the Sioux.

At intervals, the three dancers would dart out of the ring and
disappear in the darkness, to consult with the spirits or with other
medicine-men seated a considerable distance from the throng. Three
several times they appeared and disappeared, always dancing, running,
and whirling about with increased energy. Having attained the degree
of mental or spiritual exaltation necessary for communion with the
spirits, they took their departure and kept away for at least half an
hour, the orchestra during their absence rendering a mournful refrain,
monotonous as a funeral dirge. My patience became exhausted and I
turned to go to my quarters. A thrill of excited expectancy ran
through the throng of Indians, and I saw that they were looking
anxiously at the returning medicine-men. All the orchestra now stood
up, their leader (the principal medicine-man) slightly in advance,
holding a branch of cedar in his left hand. The first advanced and
bending low his head murmured some words of unknown import with which
the chief seemed to be greatly pleased. Then the chief, taking his
stand in front of the orchestra on the east side of the grove or
cluster of trees, awaited the final ceremony, which was as follows:
The three dancers in file and in proper order advanced and receded
three times; then they embraced the chief in such a manner that the
sticks or wands held in their hands came behind his neck, after which
they mumbled and muttered a jumble of sounds which I can not
reproduce, but which sounded for all the world like the chant of the
"hooter" at the Zuñi Feast of Fire. They then pranced or danced
through the grove three times. This was repeated for each point of the
compass, the chief medicine-man, with the orchestra, taking a position
successively on the east, south, west, and north and the three dancers
advancing, receding, and embracing as at first.

  [Illustration: FIG. 442.--Apache kan or gods. (Drawn by Apache.)]

This terminated the "medicine" ceremonies of the evening, the glad
shouts of the Apache testifying that the incantations of their
spiritual leaders or their necromancy, whichever it was, promised a
successful campaign. These dancers were, I believe, dressed up to
represent their gods or kan, but not content with representing them
aspired to be mistaken for them.

  [Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE HAT USED IN GHOST DANCE. Plate V.]


AMULETS AND TALISMANS.

THE "TZI-DALTAI."

The Apache, both men and women, wear amulets, called tzi-daltai, made
of lightning-riven wood, generally pine or cedar or fir from the
mountain tops, which are highly valued and are not to be sold. These
are shaved very thin and rudely cut in the semblance of the human
form. They are in fact the duplicates, on a small scale, of the
rhombus, already described. Like the rhombus, they are decorated with
incised lines representing the lightning. Very often these are to be
found attached to the necks of children or to their cradles. Generally
these amulets are of small size. Below will be found figures of those
which I was permitted to examine and depict in their actual size. They
are all unpainted. The amulet represented was obtained from a
Chiricahua Apache captive. Deguele, an Apache of the Klukaydakaydn
clan, consented to exhibit a kan, or god, which he carried about his
person. He said I could have it for three ponies. It was made of a
flat piece of lath, unpainted, of the size here given, having drawn
upon it this figure in yellow, with a narrow black band, excepting the
three snake heads, _a_, _b_, and _c_, which were black with white
eyes; _a_ was a yellow line and _c_ a black line; flat pearl buttons
were fastened at _m_ and _k_ respectively and small eagle-down
feathers at _k_ on each side of the idol. The rear of the tablet,
amulet, or idol, as one may be pleased to call it, was almost an exact
reproduction of the front.

  [Illustration: FIG. 443.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]

The owner of this inestimable treasure assured me that he prayed to it
at all times when in trouble, that he could learn from it where his
ponies were when stolen and which was the right direction to travel
when lost, and that when drought had parched his crops this would
never fail to bring rain in abundance to revive and strengthen them.
The symbolism is the rain cloud and the serpent lightning, the
rainbow, rain drops, and the cross of the four winds.

These small amulets are also to be found inclosed in the phylacteries
(Fig. 447) which the medicine-men wear suspended from their necks or
waists.

Sir Walter Scott, who was a very good witness in all that related to
prehistoric customs and "survivals" among the Celtic Scots, may be
introduced at this point:

    A heap of wither'd boughs was piled
    Of juniper and rowan wild,
    Mingled with shivers from the oak,
    Rent by the lightning's recent stroke.[722]

  [Illustration: Front view. Rear view.
  FIG. 444.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]

CHALCHIHUITL.

The articles of dress depicted in this paper are believed to represent
all those which exclusively belong to the office of the Apache "diyi"
or "izze-nantan." Of late years it can not be said that every
medicine-man has all these articles, but most of them will be found in
the possession of the man in full practice.

  [Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE SHIRT. Plate VI.]

No matter what the medicine-man may lack, he will, if it be possible,
provide himself with some of the impure malachite known to the whites
of the Southwest as turquoise. In the malachite veins the latter stone
is sometimes found and is often of good quality, but the difference
between the two is apparent upon the slightest examination. The color
of the malachite is a pea green, that of the turquoise a pale sky
blue. The chemical composition of the former is a carbonate of copper,
mixed with earthy impurities; that of the latter, a phosphate of
alumina, colored with the oxide of copper. The use of this malachite
was widespread. Under the name of chalchihuitl or chalchihuite, it
appears with frequency in the old Spanish writings, as we shall
presently see, and was in all places and by all tribes possessing it
revered in much the same manner as by the Apache. The Apache call it
duklij, "blue (or green) stone," these two colors not being
differentiated in their language. A small bead of this mineral affixed
to a gun or bow made the weapon shoot accurately. It had also some
relation to the bringing of rain, and could be found by the man who
would go to the end of a rainbow, after a storm, and hunt diligently
in the damp earth. It was the Apache medicine-man's badge of office,
his medical diploma, so to speak, and without it he could not in olden
times exercise his medical functions.

  [Illustration: Front view. Rear view.
  FIG. 445.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]

In the curious commerce of the Indian tribes, some possessed articles
of greater worth than those belonging to their neighbors. In the
southwest the red paint sold by the tribes living in the Grand Canyon
of the Colorado was held in higher repute than any other, and the
green stone to be purchased from the Rio Grande Pueblos always was in
great demand, as it is to this day. Vetancurt[723] speaks of the
Apache, between the years 1630 and 1680, coming to the pueblo of Pecos
to trade for "chalchihuites." John de Laet speaks of "petites pierres
verdes" worn in the lower lip by the Brazilians.[724]

Among the Mexicans the chalchihuitl seems to have been the
distinguishing mark or badge of the priesthood. Duran, in speaking of
the consecration of a sacrificial stone in Mexico by Montezuma the
elder, and his assistant or coadjutor, Tlacaclel, says: "Echáronse á
las espaldas unas olletas [I do not know what this word means] hechas
de piedras verdes muy ricas, donde significaban que no solamente eran
Reyes, pero juntamente Sacerdotes."[725]

  [Illustration: FIG. 446.--Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache).]

Among the tribes in Central America, a chalchihuitl was placed in the
mouths of the dying to receive their souls: "que era para que
recibiese su ánima."[726]

One of the Mexican myths of the birth of Quetzalcoatl narrates that
his mother, Chimalma, while sweeping, found a chalchihuitl, swallowed
it, and became pregnant: "Andando barriendo la dicha Chimalma halló un
chalchihuitl, (que es una pedrezuela verde) y que la tragó y de esto
se empreñó, y que así parió al dicho Quetzalcoatl."[727] The same
author tells us that the chalchihuitl (which he calls "pedrezuela
verde") are mentioned in the earliest myths of the Mexicans.[728]

In South America the emerald seems to have taken the place of the
chalchihuitl. Bollaert[729] makes frequent mention of the use of the
emerald by the natives of Ecuador and Peru, "a drilled emerald, such
as the Incas wore;" "large emeralds, emblematic of their [the Incas']
sovereignty."

From Torquemada we learn that the Mexicans adorned their idols with
the chalchihuitl, and also that they buried a chalchihuitl with their
dead, saying that it was the dead man's heart.[730]

"Whenever rain comes the Indians [Pima and Maricopa] resort to these
old houses [ruins] to look for trinkets of shells, and a peculiar
green stone."[731] The idols which the people of Yucatan gave to Juan
de Grijalva in 1518 were covered with these stones, "cubierta de
pedrecicas."[732] Among the first presents made to Cortes in Tabasco
were "unas turquesas de poco valor."[733] The fact that the Mexicans
buried a "gem" with the bodies of their dead is mentioned by Squier,
but he says it was when the body was cremated.[734]

The people of Cibola are said to have offered in sacrifice to their
fountains "algunas turquesas que las tienen, aunque ruines."[735]

"Turquesas" were given to the Spaniards under Coronado by the people
of the pueblo of Acoma.[736]

"The Mexicans were accustomed to say that at one time all men have
been stones, and that at last they would all return to stones; and,
acting literally on this conviction, they interred with the bones of
the dead a small green stone, which was called the principle of
life."[737]

The great value set upon the chalchihuitl by the Aztecs is alluded to
by Bernal Diaz, who was with the expedition of Grijalva to Yucatan
before he joined that of Cortes to Mexico.[738] Diaz says that
Montezuma sent to Charles V, as a present "a few chalchihuis of such
enormous value that I would not consent to give them to any one save
to such a powerful emperor as yours."[739] These stones were put "in
the mouth of the distinguished chiefs who died."[740]

  [Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE SHIRT. Plate VII.]

Torquemada[741] repeats the Aztec myth already given from Mendieta. He
says that in 1537 Fray Antonio de Ciudad-Rodrigo, provincial of the
Franciscans, sent friars of his order to various parts of the Indian
country; in 1538 he sent them to the north, to a country where they
heard of a tribe of people wearing clothes and having many
turquoises.[742] The Aztec priesthood adopted green as the sacred
color. The ceremony of their consecration ended thus: "puis on
l'habillait tout en vert."[743]

Maximilian, Prince of Wied, saw some of the Piegans of northwestern
Montana "hang round their necks a green stone, often of various
shapes." He describes it as "a compact talc or steatite which is found
in the Rocky Mountains."[744]


PHYLACTERIES.

The term phylactery, as herein employed, means any piece of buckskin
or other material upon which are inscribed certain characters or
symbols of a religious or "medicine" nature, which slip or phylactery
is to be worn attached to the person seeking to be benefited by it,
and this phylactery differs from the amulet or talisman in being
concealed from the scrutiny of the profane and kept as secret as
possible. This phylactery, itself "medicine," may be employed to
enwrap other "medicine" and thus augment its own potentiality. Indians
in general object to having their "medicine" scrutinized and touched;
in this there is a wide margin of individual opinion; but in regard to
phylacteries there is none that I have been able to discover, and the
rule may be given as antagonistic to the display of these sacred
"relics," as my Mexican captive interpreter persisted in calling them.

The first phylactery which it was my good fortune to be allowed to
examine was one worn by Ta-ul-tzu-je, of the Kaytzentin gens. It was
tightly rolled in at least half a mile of orange-colored saddlers'
silk, obtained from some of the cavalry posts. After being duly
uncovered, it was found to be a small piece of buckskin two inches
square, upon which were drawn red and yellow crooked lines which the
Apache said represented the red and yellow snake. Inside were a piece
of green chalchihuitl and a small cross of lightning-riven twig (pine)
and two very small perforated shells. The cross was called
"intchi-dijin," the black wind.

A second phylactery which I was also allowed to untie and examine
belonged to Na-a-cha and consisted of a piece of buckskin of the same
size as the other, but either on account of age or for some other
reason no characters could be discerned upon it. It, however,
enwrapped a tiny bag of hoddentin, which, in its turn, held a small
but very clear crystal of quartz and four feathers of eagle down.
Na-a-cha took care to explain very earnestly that this phylactery
contained not merely the "medicine" or power of the crystal, the
hoddentin, and the itza-chu, or eagle, but also of the shoz-dijiji, or
black bear, the shoz-lekay, or white bear, the shoz-litzogue, or
yellow bear, and the klij-litzogue or yellow snake, though just in
what manner he could not explain.

  [Illustration: FIG. 447.--Phylacteries.]

It would take up too much time and space to describe the manner in
which it was necessary for me to proceed in order to obtain merely a
glimpse of these and other phylacteries, all of the same general type;
how I had to make it evident that I was myself possessed of great
"medicine" power and able to give presents of great "medicine"
value, as was the case. I had obtained from cliff dwellings, sacred
caves, and other places beads of talc, of chalchihuitl, and of shell,
pieces of crystal and other things, sacred in the eyes of the Apache,
and these I was compelled to barter for the information here given.

  [Illustration: APACHE MEDICINE SHIRT. Plate VIII.]

The medicine shirts of the Apaches, several of which are here
represented, do not require an extended description. The symbolism is
different for each one, but may be generalized as typical of the sun,
moon, stars, rainbow, lightning, snake, clouds, rain, hail, tarantula,
centipede, snake, and some one or more of the "kan" or gods.

The medicine sashes follow closely in pattern the medicine shirts,
being smaller in size only, but with the same symbolic decoration.
Similar ornamentation will be found upon the amulets (ditzi), made of
lightning-struck pine or other wood. All of these are warranted, among
other virtues, to screen the wearer from the arrows, lances, or
bullets of the enemy. In this they strongly resemble the salves and
other means by which people in Europe sought to obtain "magical
impenetrability." The last writer to give receipts for making such
salves, etc., that I can recall, was Etmüller, who wrote in the early
years of the seventeenth century.

  [Illustration: FIG. 448.--Apache medicine sash.]

Such as the reader can imagine the medicine-man to be from this
description of his paraphernalia, such he has been since the white man
first landed in America. Never desirous of winning proselytes to his
own ideas, he has held on to those ideas with a tenacity never
suspected until purposely investigated. The first of the Spanish
writers seem to have employed the native terms for the medicine-men,
and we come across them as cemis or zemis, bohiti, pachuaci, and
others; but soon they were recognized as the emissaries of Satan and
the preachers of witchcraft, and henceforth they appear in the
documents as "hechicheros" and "brujos" almost exclusively. "Tienan
los Apaches profetas ó adivinos que gozan de la mas alta estimacion.
Esos adivinos pratican la medicina lamas rudimental, la aplicacion de
algunas yerbas y esto acompañado de ceremonias y cantos
supersticiosos."[745] Pimentel seems to have derived his information
from Cordero, a Spanish officer who had served against the Apache at
various times between 1770 and 1795, and seemed to understand them
well.

"There was no class of persons who so widely and deeply influenced the
culture and shaped the destiny of the Indian tribes as their priests.
In attempting to gain a true conception of the race's capacities and
history there is no one element of their social life which demands
closer attention than the power of these teachers.... However much we
may deplore the use they made of their skill, we must estimate it
fairly and grant it its due weight in measuring the influence of the
religious sentiment on the history of man."[746]

"Like Old Men of the Sea, they have clung to the neck of their
nations, throttling all attempts at progress, binding them to the
thraldom of superstition and profligacy, dragging them down to
wretchedness and death. Christianity and civilization meet in them
their most determined, most implacable foes."[747]

In spite of all the zeal and vigilance of the Spanish friars,
supported by military power, the Indians of Bogotá clung to their
idolatry. Padre Simon cites several instances and says tersely: "De
manera que no lo hay del Indio que parece mas Cristiano y ladino, de
que no tenga ídolos á quien adore, como nos lo dice cada dia la
experiencia." (So that there is no Indian, no matter how well educated
he may appear in our language and the Christian doctrine, who has not
idols which he adores, as experience teaches us every day.)[748]

"The Indian doctor relied far more on magic than on natural remedies.
Dreams, beating of the drum, songs, magic feasts and dances, and
howling to frighten the female demon from the patient, were his
ordinary methods of cure."[749]

In a very rare work by Padre José de Arriaga, published in Lima, 1621,
it is shown that the Indians among whom this priest was sent on a
special tour of investigation were still practicing their old
idolatrous rites in secret. This work may be found quoted in
Montesinos, Mémoires sur l'Ancien Pérou, in Ternaux-Compans, Voyages,
vol. 17; the title of Arriaga's work is Extirpacion de la Idolatría de
los Indios del Peru. Arriaga also states that the functions of the
priesthood were exercised by both sexes.

It will only be after we have thoroughly routed the medicine-men from
their intrenchments and made them an object of ridicule that we can
hope to bend and train the mind of our Indian wards in the direction
of civilization. In my own opinion, the reduction of the medicine-men
will effect more for the savages than the giving of land in severalty
or instruction in the schools at Carlisle and Hampton; rather, the
latter should be conducted with this great object mainly in view: to
let pupils insensibly absorb such knowledge as may soonest and most
completely convince them of the impotency of the charlatans who hold
the tribes in bondage.

Teach the scholars at Carlisle and Hampton some of the wonders of
electricity, magnetism, chemistry, the spectroscope, magic lantern,
ventriloquism, music, and then, when they return to their own people,
each will despise the fraud of the medicine-men and be a focus of
growing antagonism to their pretensions. Teach them to love their own
people and not to despise them; but impress upon each one that he is
to return as a missionary of civilization. Let them see that the world
is free to the civilized, that law is liberty.

FOOTNOTES:

[533] Relation of the Voyage of Don Fernando Alarcon, in Hakluyt's
Voyages, vol. 3, p. 508.

[534] Davis, Conquest of New Mexico, p. 288.

[535] Davis, ibid., pp. 280, 284, 285.

[536] Ibid., pp. 277, 292.

[537] Catlin, North American Indians, London, 1845, vol. 2, p. 117.

[538] Tanner's Narrative, p. 188.

[539] Journal, p. 289.

[540] North American Indians, London, 1845, vol. 1, p. 135.

[541] Schultze, Fetichism, New York, 1885, p. 32, quoting Bastian.

[542] Coxe, Russian Discoveries between America and Asia, London,
1803, p. 254.

[543] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, pp. xxix, 112.

[544] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 68.

[545] Pettigrew, Medical Superstitions, Philadelphia, 1844, pp. 67,
72, 74.

[546] Cérémonies et Coûtumes Religieuses, Amsterdam, 1739, vol. 2, pp.
28, 29.

[547] Ibid., p. 29.

[548] Higgins, Anacalypsis, vol. 2, book 2, p. 77.

[549] Pettigrew, Medical Superstitions, Philadelphia, 1844, p. 61. See
also Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 93.

[550] Citations, Common place Book, p. 395, London, 1872.

[551] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, pp. 310, 311.

[552] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 310.

[553] Holiday Customs of Ireland, pp. 381 et seq.

[554] Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 325.

[555] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., vol. 10, p. 56.

[556] Massingberd, The English Reformation, London, 1857, p. 105.

[557] Mendieta, p. 110.

[558] Vol. 3, cap. 5, p. 234.

[559] Herrera, dec. 2, lib. 6, p. 141.

[560] Kingsborough, vol. 7, chap. 4.

[561] Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1233.

[562] Ibid.

[563] Fables and Rites of the Incas, Padre Christoval de Molina
(Cuzco, 1570-1584), transl. by Clements R. Markham, Hakluyt Society
trans., vol. 48, London, 1873, p. 48.

[564] The common people wore a black "llautu." See Garcilaso,
Comentarios, Markham's transl., Hak. Soc., vol. 41, pp. 88, 89.

[565] Ibid., p. 85.

[566] Ibid., p. 89.

[567] "Quando vàn à sembrar las Tierras del Sol, vàn solos los
Principales à trabajar, i vàn con insignias blancas, i en las espaldas
unos Cordones tendidos blancos, à modo de Ministros del
Altar."--Herrera, dec. 5, lib. 4, cap. 6, pp. 94-95.

[568] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., Amsterdam, 1735, vol. 6,
p. 92.

[569] Montfaucon, L'antiquité expliquée, tome 2, pt. 1, p. 33.

[570] Hawkesworth, Voyages, vol. 3, p. 229.

[571] Voyage to Congo, in Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 16, p. 237.

[572] Pinkerton, Voyages, vol. 16, p. 388.

[573] Speke, Source of the Nile, London, 1863, p. 125.

[574] London, 1877, vol. 2, p. 131.

[575] Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, vol. 2, p. 330.

[576] Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa, London, 1873, vol. 1, p. 154.

[577] Winstanley, Abyssinia, vol. 2, p. 68.

[578] This cord is worn about the neck. Ibid., p. 257.

[579] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 235.

[580] Ibid., vol. 2, p. 132.

[581] Ibid., p. 165.

[582] Ibid., p. 292.

[583] Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, vol. 4, p. 259, Phila., 1832.

[584] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 2, p. 640.

[585] Nightingale, quoted in Madden, Shrines and Sepulchres, vol. 1,
pp. 557, 558.

[586] Leems, Account of Danish Lapland, in Pinkerton, Voyages, London,
1808, vol. 1, p. 471.

[587] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 5. See also John
Scheffer, Lapland, Oxford, 1674, p. 58.

[588] Act IV, scene 1.

[589] Benjamin, Persia, London, 1877, p. 99.

[590] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, vol. 7, p. 320.

[591] Du Halde, History of China, London, 1736, vol. 4, pp. 244, 245,
and elsewhere.

[592] Higgins, Anacalypsis, vol. 2, p. 218.

[593] Vining, An Inglorious Columbus, p. 635.

[594] Du Halde, History of China, London, 1736, vol. 1, p. 270.

[595] Univ. Geog., vol. 3, book 75, p. 144, Phila., 1832.

[596] Brinton, Myths of the New World, N. Y., 1868, p. 15.

[597] Early History of Mankind, London, 1870, p. 156.

[598] Voyages, vol. 3, p. 102.

[599] Shâyast lâ-Shâyast, cap. 4, pp. 285, 286. In Sacred Books of the
East, Max Müller's edition, vol. 5.

[600] Monier Williams, Modern India, p. 56.

[601] Ibid., pp. 179, 180.

[602] Cérémonies et Coûtumes, vol. 7, p. 28.

[603] Marco Polo, Travels, in Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 7, p. 163.

[604] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., vol. 6, pt. 2, p. 99.

[605] Malte-Brun, Univ. Geog., vol. 2, lib. 50, p. 235, Philadelphia,
1832.

[606] Dr. J. L. August Von Eye, The history of culture, in Iconographic
Encyc., Philadelphia, 1886, vol. 2, p. 169.

[607] Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 120.

[608] Ibid., pp. 240-241.

[609] Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 328.

[610] Ibid., p. 323.

[611] Dubois, People of India, p. 9.

[612] Mythology of the Hindus.

[613] Mythology of the Hindus, pp. 9, 10, 11.

[614] Ibid., p. 92.

[615] Ibid., p. 155.

[616] Ibid., pp. 135, 154, 155.

[617] Maurice, Indian Antiquities, London, 1801, vol. 5, p. 205.

[618] Ibid., vol. 4, p. 375, where a description of the mode of
weaving and twining is given.

[619] Ibid., p. 376.

[620] Ibid., vol. 5, p. 206.

[621] Notes of Richard Johnson, Voyages of Sir Hugh Willoughby and
others to the northern part of Russia and Siberia, Pinkerton's
Voyages, vol. 1, p. 63.

[622] Caron's account of Japan in Pinkerton's Voyages, vol. 7, p. 631.

[623] Rev. Father Dandini's Voyage to Mount Libanus, in Pinkerton's
Voyages, vol. 10, p. 286.

[624] Henry Charles Lea, History of the Inquisition in the Middle
Ages, vol. 1, p. 92, New York, 1888.

[625] Müller, Sacred Books of the East, vol. 14, Vasish_th_a, cap. 2,
par 6.

[626] Ibid., Baudhâyana, prasna 1, adhyâya 5, kandikâ 8, pars. 5-10,
p. 165.

[627] Saxon Leechdoms, vol. 1, pp. xli-xliii.

[628] Ibid., p. xliii.

[629] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, pp. 108,109.

[630] Browne, Religio Medici, p. 392.

[631] Brand, op. cit., p. 110.

[632] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 28, cap. 22.

[633] Ibid., lib. 28, cap. 17.

[634] Ibid.

[635] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1169.

[636] Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, London, 1827, vol. 1, p. 91; vol.
2, pp. 288, 290.

[637] Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, London, 1827, vol. 1, p. 91; vol.
2, p. 290.

[638] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., vol. 10, pp. 69-73.

[639] Dæmonology, p. 100.

[640] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 3, p. 299.

[641] Ibid., p. 170.

[642] Frommann, Tractatus de Fascinatione, Nuremberg, 1675, p. 731.

[643] Markham, Bogle's mission to Tibet, London, 1876, p. 85.

[644] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 149.

[645] Thomas Wright, Sorcery and Magic, London, 1851, vol. 2, p. 10.

[646] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 143.

[647] Pennant, in Pinkerton, Voyages, vol. 3, p. 382.

[648] Hoffman, quoting Friend, in Jour. Am. Folk Lore, 1888, p. 134.

[649] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, pp. 127 et seq.

[650] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1174. He also speaks of
the "nouer l'aiguillette", ibid., p. 1175.

[651] Saxon Leechdoms, vol. 1, p. xliv.

[652] Black, Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, pp. 185, 186.

[653] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 28, cap. 9.

[654] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 67.

[655] Ibid., p. 170.

[656] Sextus Placitus, De Medicamentis ex Animalibus, Lyons, 1537,
pages not numbered, article "de Puello et Puellæ Virgine."

[657] Etmüller, Opera Omnia, Lyons, 1690, vol. 2, p. 279, Schroderii
Dilucidati Zoologia.

[658] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 68, footnote.

[659] Ibid., p. 67.

[660] Paracelsus, Chirurgia Minora, in Opera Omnia, Geneva, 1662, vol.
2, p. 70.

[661] Ibid., p. 174.

[662] Beckherius, Medicus Microcosmus, London, 1660, p. 174.

[663] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1094, footnote.

[664] Ibid., p. 1096.

[665] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 30, cap. 12.

[666] Etmüller, Opera Omnia, Lyons, 1690, vol. 2, pp. 282, 283,
Schroderii Dilucidati Zoologia.

[667] Ibid., p. 278a.

[668] Black, Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, p. 113.

[669] Forlong, Rivers of Life, London, 1883, vol. 2, p. 313.

[670] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 69.

[671] Notes and Queries, 1st series, vol. 4, p. 500.

[672] See also Black, Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, p. 79.

[673] Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1233.

[674] Black, Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, p. 114.

[675] Herrera, dec. 6, lib. 8, cap. 1, p. 171.

[676] Ibid., dec. 7, lib. 4, cap. 5, p. 70.

[677] Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, p. 351. See also previous
references to the use of such cords by the Australians.

[678] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 28, cap. 27.

[679] Highlands of Æthiopia, vol. 1, p. 247.

[680] Through the Dark Continent, vol. 1, p. 398.

[681] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 28, cap. 11.

[682] Notes and Queries, 4th series, vol. 5, pp. 295, 390.

[683] Traité des Superstitions, tome 1, chap. 3, paragraph 8.

[684] Pop. Ant., vol. 3, p. 276.

[685] Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 109.

[686] Anatomy of Melancholy, vol. 2, pp. 288, 290.

[687] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 107.

[688] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 78.

[689] Ibid., p. 91.

[690] Ibid., p. 93.

[691] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., vol. 1, p. 41.

[692] Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, pp. 185, 186.

[693] P. 41.

[694] Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 186.

[695] Ibid., (after Tylor) pp. 176, 177.

[696] Ibid., p. 178.

[697] Pop. Ant., vol. 3, p. 276.

[698] Salverte, Philosophy of Magic, vol. 1, p. 195.

[699] Black, Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, p. 197.

[700] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 24, cap. 118.

[701] Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 451.

[702] Pennant, quoted by Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 3, p. 54.

[703] Ibid., p. 285.

[704] Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, pp. 185, 186.

[705] Folk-Medicine, London, 1883, p. 113.

[706] Ibid., p. 57.

[707] Ephemeridum Physico-medicarum, Leipzig, 1694, vol. 1, p. 49.

[708] Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 112.

[709] Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 112.

[710] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 86.

[711] Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 38.

[712] Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 30, cap. 38.

[713] Ibid.

[714] Black, Folk-Medicine, p. 111.

[715] Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 3, pp. 288, 324.

[716] This fact is stated by Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, lib. 10,
cap. 33, and by Gomara, Hist. of the Conq. of Mexico, p. 446; see also
Diego Duran, lib. 1, cap. 20, p. 226.

[717] Herrera, dec. 3, lib. 2, p. 67.

[718] John Gilmary Shea, The Catholic Church in Colonial Days, p. 472.

[719] Diego Duran, vol. 3, cap. 4, p. 217.

[720] Anatomy of Melancholy, London, 1827, vol. 1, p. 337.

[721] Picart, Cérémonies et Coûtumes, etc., Amsterdam, 1729, vol. 5,
p. 50.

[722] Lady of the Lake, canto 3, stanza 4, Sir Rhoderick Dhu,
summoning Clan Alpine against the king.

[723] Teatro Mexicano, vol. 3, p. 323.

[724] Lib. 14, cap. 4, and lib. 16, cap. 16.

[725] Lib. 1, cap. 23, pp. 251-252.

[726] Ximenez, Hist. Orig. Indios, p. 211.

[727] Mendieta, p. 83.

[728] Ibid., p. 78.

[729] Researches in South America, p. 83.

[730] Monarchia Indiana, vol. 2, lib. 13, cap. 45, and elsewhere.

[731] Emory, Reconnoissance, p. 88.

[732] Gomara, Historia de la Conquista de Méjico, Veytia's edition, p.
299.

[733] Ibid., p. 310.

[734] Smithsonian Contributions, "Ancient monuments of New York," vol.
2.

[735] Buckingham Smith, Relacion de la Jornada de Coronado á Cibola,
Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de Florida, London, 1857,
vol. 1, p. 148.

[736] Ibid., vol. 1, p. 150.

[737] Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 253.

[738] London, 1844, vol. 1, pp. 26, 29, 36, 93.

[739] Ibid., p. 278.

[740] Ibid., vol. 2, p. 389.

[741] Monarchia Indiana, lib. 6, cap. 45, p. 80.

[742] Ibid., lib. 19, cap. 22, pp. 357-358.

[743] Ternaux-Compans, vol. 10, p. 240.

[744] London, 1843, p. 248.

[745] Pimentel, Lenguas Indígenas de México, vol. 3, pp. 498, 499.

[746] Brinton, Myths of the New World, pp. 285, 286.

[747] Ibid., p. 264.

[748] Kingsborough, vol. 8, sup., p. 249.

[749] Parkman, Jesuits, introduction, p. lxxxiv.




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=Deane, J. B.=

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=Delano, Amasa.=

     Voyage. Boston: 1847.

=Dennys, N. B.=

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=Diaz del Castillo, Bernal.=

     The memoirs of. Written by himself, containing a true and
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=Dillon, P.=

     Narrative and successful result of a voyage in the south seas
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=Dobrizhoffer, Martin.=

     An account of the Abipones, an equestrian people of Paraguay.
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=Dodge, Richard I.=

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=Domenech, Em.=

     Seven years' residence in the great deserts of North America.
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=Dorman, Rushton M.=

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=Dubois, J. A.=

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=Du Cange, Charles du F.=

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=Du Halde, P.=

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=Dulaure, J. A.=

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=Dupuis.=

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=Eastman, Mary H.=

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=Emerson, Ellen R.=

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=Etmüller, Michael.=

     Opera omnia. Lyons: 1690.

=Eye, J. L. August von.=

     See Iconographic Encyclopædia.

=Fernandez, Alonso.=

     Historia eclesiastica de nuestros tiempos. Toledo: 1611.

=Flemming, Samuel Augustus.=

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=Fletcher, Robert.=

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=Forster, George.=

     A voyage round the world, in his Britannic majesty's sloop
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=Fosbrooke, Thomas Dudley.=

     British monachism; or, manners and customs of the monks and
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=Franklin, John.=

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=Fraser, John.=

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=Frazer, J. G.=

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=French, B. F.=

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=Freycinet, Louis C. D. de.=

     Voyage round the world. London: 1823.

=Frommann, Johannes Christianus.=

     Tractatus de fascinatione. Nuremberg: 1675.

=Gabb, William M.=

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=Gage, Thomas.=

     The English-American, his travail by sea and land: or, a new
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=Gallatin, Albert.=

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=Gatschet, Albert S.=

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=Gayarre, Charles.=

     Louisiana: its colonial history and romance. New York: 1851.

=Gilmour, James.=

     Among the Mongols. London: 1883.

=Gomara, Francisco L. de.=

     Historia general de las Indias. (In Vedin, Historiadores
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=Gomara, Francisco L. de.=

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=Gore, J. Howard.=

     Tuckahoe, or Indian bread. (In Smithsonian Institution Ann.
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=Gregg, Josiah.=

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=Grimm, Jacob.=

     Teutonic mythology. Translated from the fourth edition, with
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=Grinnell, Fordyce.=

     The healing art as practiced by the Indians of the plains.

=Grossman, F. E.=

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=Gubernatis, Angelo de.=

     Zoological mythology or the legends of animals. Vols. I-II.
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=Gumilla, Joseph.=

     El Orinoco ilustrado, historia natural, civil, y geographica,
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=Hakluyt, Richard.=

     Collection of the early voyages, travels, and discoveries of
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=Hakluyt Society.=

     Works. London: Vol. II, 1817; vol. XVI, 1854; vol. XXI, 1857;
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=Harmon, Daniel W.=

     Journal of voyages and travels in the interiour of North
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=Harris, W. Cornwallis.=

     The highlands of Æthiopia. Vols. I-III. London: 1844.

=Hatch, Edwin.=

     See Hibbert Lectures, 1888.

=Hawkesworth, John.=

     An account of the voyages undertaken by the order of his
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=Heath, Perry S.=

     A Hoosier in Russia. New York: 1888.

=Henderson, John G.=

     Aboriginal remains near Naples, Illinois. (In Smithsonian
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=Hennepin, Louis.=

     See French, B. F.

=Herrera, Antonio de.=

     Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las
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=Hibbert Lectures, 1879.=

     On the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by the
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     1880.

=Hibbert Lectures, 1881.=

     On the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by some
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=Hibbert Lectures, 1888.=

     The influence of Greek ideas and usages upon the Christian
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=Higgins, Godfrey.=

     Anacalypsis, an attempt to draw aside the veil of the Saitic
     Isis. Vol. I, II. London: 1836.

=Hind, Henry Youle.=

     Narrative of the Canadian Red River exploring expedition of
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=Hoffman, Walter J.=

     Folk-lore of the Pennsylvania Germans. (In Jour. of Am.
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=Hone, William.=

     Every-day book and table book. Vol. II. London: 1838.

=Humboldt, Alexander de.=

     Researches concerning the institutions and monuments of the
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=Icazbalecta, Joaquin G.=

     See Mendieta, Gerónimo de.

=Iconographic Encyclopædia.=

     Prehistoric archæology by Daniel G. Brinton. History of
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=Inman, Thomas.=

     Ancient faiths embodied in ancient names: or an attempt to
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=James, Edwin.=

     See Tanner, John.

=Jarvis, Samuel F.=

     Discourse on the religion of the Indian tribes of North
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=Joutel.=

     See French, B. F.

=Kane, Paul.=

     Wanderings of an artist among the Indians of North America.
     London: 1859.

=Kelly, Fanny.=

     Narrative of my captivity among the Sioux Indians.
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=Kennon, George.=

     Tent life in Siberia. New York and London: 1883.

=King, Edward= (_Lord Kingsborough_).

     Antiquities of Mexico: comprising facsimiles of ancient
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     1831-'48.

=King, P. P.= (and others).

     Narrative of the surveying voyages of the _Adventure_ and
     _Beagle_, between the years 1826 and 1836. Vols. I-III,
     London: 1839.

=Kingsborough.=

     See King, Edward.

=Knox, J.=

     A new collection of voyages, discoveries, and travels.
     Printed for J. Knox. Vol. II. London: 1767.

=Kohl, J. G.=

     Kitchi-gami. Wanderings around Lake Superior. London: 1860.

=Kotzebue, Otto von.=

     A voyage of discovery into the South Sea and Beering's
     Straits. Vols. I-III. London: 1821.

=Kraskenninikoff, S.=

     History of Kamtschatka, and the Kurilski islands, with the
     countries adjacent. Translated by James Grieve. Glocester:
     1764.

=Laet, Joannes de.=

     L'histoire du nouveau monde ou description des Indes
     Occidentales. Leyde: 1640.

=Lafitau, Joseph François.=

     Mœurs des sauvages Ameriquains, comparées aux mœurs des
     premiers temps. Vols. I-II. Paris: 1724.

=Landa, Diego de.=

     Relation des choses de Yucatan. (Translated and edited by
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     documents dans les langues indigènes, pour servir à l'étude
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     Paris: 1864.

=Lang, Andrew.=

     Custom and myth. New York: 1885.

=Langsdorff, G. H. von.=

     Voyages and travels in various parts of the world during the
     years 1803-'07. Parts I-II. London: 1813-14.

=Lanzoni, Joseph.=

     Ephemeridum physico-medicarum. Vols. I-II. Leipsig: 1694.

=Lea, Henry Charles.=

     History of the inquisition of the middle ages. Vols. I-III.
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=Le Clercq, Chrestien.=

     Nouvelle relation de la Gaspesie. Paris: 1691.

=Le Jeune, Paul.=

     See Relations des Jésuites.

=Lenormant, François.=

     Chaldean magic: its origin and development. London: 1877.

=Lisiansky, Urey.=

     Voyage round the world, in the years 1803-1806. London: 1814.

=Long, Stephen H.=

     Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky
     mountains, performed in the years 1819-'20. Compiled by Edwin
     James. Vol. I. Philadelphia: 1823.

=Mackenzie, Alexander.=

     Voyages from Montreal, on the river St. Laurence, through the
     continent of North America, to the Frozen and Pacific oceans,
     in the years 1789 and 1793. London: 1801.

=Madden, R. R.=

     The shrines and sepulchres of the old and new world. Vols.
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=Malte-Brun.=

     Universal geography, or a description of all the parts of the
     world, on a new plan. Vols. I, II, and III. Philadelphia,
     1817; Ibid., 1827; Ibid., 1832.

=Malte-Brun.=

     Universal geography. Vols. I-V. Boston: 1825-'26.

=Manning, Thomas.=

     See Markham, Clements R.

=Markham, Clements R.=

     First part of the royal commentaries of the Yncas by the Ynca
     Garcilasso de la Vega. (Forms Vol. 41 of "Works issued by the
     Hakluyt Society," London: 1869.)

=Markham, Clements R.=

     Narratives of the rites and laws of the Yncas. Translated
     from the original Spanish manuscripts, and edited by Clements
     R. Markham. (Forms Vol. 48 of Hakluyt's Society's Works,
     London: 1873.)

=Markham, Clements R.=

     Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet, and of
     the journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa. London: 1876.

=Massingberd, Francis C.=

     The English reformation. London: 1842; Ibid., 1857.

=Matthews, Washington.=

     The mountain chant: a Navajo ceremony. (In Ann. Rep. Bu.
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=Matthews, Washington.=

     The prayer of a Navajo shaman. (In the American
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     1888.)

=Maurice, Thomas.=

     Indian antiquities: or, dissertations relative to ...
     Hindostan. Vols. I-V. London: 1800-'01.

=Maximilian Prince of Wied.=

     Travels in the interior of North America. London: 1843.

=Meignan, Victor.=

     From Paris to Pekin. London: 1885.

=Mendieta, Gerónimo de.=

     Historia eclesiástica Indiana; obra escrita á fines del siglo
     XVI. La publica por primera vez Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta.
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=Miles, W. Augustus.=

     How did the natives of Australia become acquainted with the
     demigods and dæmonia and with the superstitions of the
     ancient races? (In Jour. Ethnological Soc. of London, vol.
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=Molina, Christoval de.=

     An account of the fables and rites of the Yncas. Translated
     by C. R. Markham. (In Hakluyt Society's Works, vol. 48,
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=Molina, Ignacio.=

     Compendio de la historia geográfica, natural y civil del
     reyno de Chile. (Translation of Mendoza and Cruz y
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=Montesinos, Fernando.=

     Mémoires historiques sur l'ancien Péron. (Forms Vol. XVII of
     Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, Paris: 1840.)

=Montfaucon, Bernard de.=

     L'antiquité expliquêe et representée en figures. Tom. II,
     pts. 1 and 2. Paris: 1722.

=Mooney, James.=

     Holiday customs of Ireland. Reprinted from the Proceedings of
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=Müller, Max.=

     Lectures on the science of religion. New York: 1872.

=Müller, Max.=

     The sacred books of the East, translated by various oriental
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     (the sacred laws of the Âryas--Vasish_th_a and Baudhâyana),
     Oxford: 1882.

=New York Historical Society.=

     Collections ... for the year 1821. Vol. III. New York: 1821.

=Nightingale, J.=

     The religions and religious ceremonies of all nations.
     London: 1821.

=North Carolina.=

     Colonial records. Vol. I--1662-1712. Raleigh: 1886.

=Notes and Queries.=

     First series. London: Vol. IV, July-December, 1851. Fourth
     series, Vol. V, January-June, 1870; Ibid., Vol. VIII,
     July-December, 1871.

=Pane, Roman.=

     Des antiquités des Indiens. Translation of Brasseur de
     Bourbourg. Paris: 1864.

=Parkman, Francis.=

     The Jesuits in North America in the seventeenth century.
     Boston: 1867.

=Parr, Bartholomew.=

     London medical dictionary. Vol. I. Philadelphia: 1820.

=Pennant, Thomas.=

     A tour in Scotland, 1769. (In Pinkerton, Collection of
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=Perrot, Nicholas.=

     Memoire sur les mœurs, coustumes et relligion des sauvages
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=Pettigrew, Thomas J.=

     On superstitions connected with the history and practice of
     medicine and surgery. Philadelphia: 1844.

=Pettit, James S.=

     Apache campaign notes--'86. (In Jour. Military Service
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=Peyronie, Gauthier de la.=

     Voyages de M. P. S. Pallas. Tome 4. Paris: 1793.

=Picart, Bernard.=

     Ceremonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du
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=Pimentel, Francisco.=

     Cuadro descriptivo y comparativo de las lenguas indígenas de
     México. Vol. III. México: 1875.

=Pinkerton, John.=

     A general collection of the best and most interesting voyages
     and travels in all parts of the world. London: Vol. I, 1808;
     vol. III, 1809; vol. VII, 1811; vol. X, 1811; vol. XI, 1812;
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=Pliny.=

     Natural history. Translation of Bostock and Riley. Vols.
     I-VI. London: 1855-'57, 1887.

=Popol Vuh.=

     Popol Vuh. Le livre sacré et les mythes de l'antiquité
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=Powers, Stephen.=

     Tribes of California. (Contributions to North American
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=Purchas, Samuel.=

     Haklvytvs posthumus or Purchas his pilgrimage. Vols. I-V.
     London: 1825-'26.

=Rau, Charles.=

     Ancient aboriginal trade in North America. (In Smithsonian
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=Relations des Jésuites.=

     Relations des Jésuites contenant ce qui s'est passé de plus
     remarquable dans les missions des pères de la compagnie de
     Jésus dans la Nouvelle-France. Vol. I. Quebec: 1858.

=Renouf, P. Le Page.=

     See Hibbert Lectures, 1879.

=Richardson, John.=

     Arctic searching expedition. Vols. I-II. London: 1851.

=Robinson, A.=

     Life in California. New York: 1846.

=Ross, Alexander.=

     The fur hunters of the far West. Vols. I-II. London: 1855.

=Salverte, Eusche.=

     Philosophy of magic, prodigies, and apparent miracles. With
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     1846.

=Saxon Leechdoms.=

     See Cockayne, Oswald.

=Scheffer, John.=

     The history of Lapland wherein are shewed the original
     manners, habits, marriages, conjurations, etc., of that
     people. Oxford: 1674.

=Schoolcraft, Henry R.=

     Information respecting the history, condition and prospects
     of the Indian tribes of the United States. Part IV.
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=Schultze, Fritz.=

     Fetichism: a contribution to anthropology and the history of
     religion. Translated by J. Fitzgerald. (Forms No. 69 of
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     1885.

=Schweinfurth, Georg.=

     The heart of Africa. Translated by Ellen E. Frewer. Vols.
     I-II. London: 1873.

=Scott, Walter.=

     Letters on demonology and witchcraft. Addressed to J. G.
     Lockhart, esq. New York: 1842.

=Scott, Walter.=

     Lady of the lake.

=Sextus Placitus.=

     De medicamentis ex animalibus. Lyons: 1537.

=Shakespeare, William.=

     Macbeth. Collated with the old and modern editions [by
     Charles Jennens]. London: 1773.

=Shâyast lâ-Shâyast.=

     See Müller, Max.

=Shea, John G.=

     The Catholic church in colonial days. New York: 1886.

=Simpson, J.H.=

     Report of an expedition into the Navajo country in 1849.
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=Smart, Charles.=

     Notes on the "Tonto" Apaches. (In Smithsonian Institution
     Ann. Rep. for 1867, Washington: 1868).

=Smet, P. J. de.=

     Oregon missions and travels over the Rocky mountains in
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=Smith, Buckingham.=

     Coleccion de varios documentos para la historia de la Florida
     y tierras adyacentes. Tom. I. London: 1857.

=Smith, Buckingham.=

     Relation of Alvar Nuñez Cabeça de Vaca translated from the
     Spanish. New York: 1871.

=Smith, Edmund R.=

     The Araucanians; or, notes of a tour among the Indian tribes
     of southern Chili. New York: 1855.

=Smith, John.=

     True travels, adventures and observations. Vol. I. The
     generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer
     Iles, vol. II. Richmond: 1819.

=Smyth, R. Brough.=

     Aborigines of Victoria: with notes relating to the habits of
     the natives of other parts of Australia and Tasmania. Vols.
     I-II. London: 1878.

=Snyder, J. F.=

     Indian remains in Cass County, Illinois. (In Smithsonian
     Institution Ann. Rep. for 1881, pp. 568-579, Washington:
     1883.)

=Speke, John Hanning.=

     Journal of the discovery of the source of the Nile. Edinburgh
     and London: 1863.

=Spencer, Herbert.=

     Descriptive sociology; or, groups of sociological facts,
     classified and arranged. Nos. I-V. New York: 1873-'76.

=Spencer, Herbert.=

     Ecclesiastical institutions: being part VI of the principles
     of sociology. New York: 1886.

=Squier, E. G.=

     The serpent symbol, and the worship of the reciprocal
     principles of nature in America. New York: 1851.

=Squier, E. G.=

     Aboriginal monuments of the state of New York. (In
     Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. II, Washington:
     1851.)

=Squier, E. G., and Davis, E. H.=

     Ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley. (Forms
     Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, vol. I, Washington:
     1848.)

=Staden de Homberg, Hans.=

     Histoire d'un pays dans le Nouveau Monde, nommé Amérique.
     Marbourg, 1557. (Forms Vol. III of Ternaux-Compans, Voyages,
     Paris: 1837.)

=Stanley, H. M.=

     Through the dark continent. Vols. I-II. New York: 1878.

=Strabo.=

     The geography of Strabo. Literally translated by H. C.
     Hamilton and W. Falconer. Vol. I. London: 1854.

=Strutt, Joseph.=

     Sports and pastimes of the people of England. London: 1855.

=Tanner, John.=

     Narrative of the captivity and adventures of John Tanner ...
     during three years' residence among the Indians. Prepared for
     the press by Edwin James. New York: 1830.

=Ternaux-Compans.=

     Voyages, relations et mémoires originaux pour servir à
     l'histoire de la découverte de l'Amérique. Paris: Vols. III,
     VII, 1837; vols. IX, X, 1838; vols. XV, XVII, 1840.

=Theal, George McC.=

     Kaffir folk-lore. London: 1882.

=Thiers, Jean-Baptiste.=

     Traité des superstitions que regardent les sacremens. Vols.
     I-IV. Paris: 1741.

=Thomas, Cyrus.=

     Notes on certain Maya and Mexican manuscripts. (In Ann. Rep.
     Bu. Ethnology for 1881-'82, pp. 1-65, Washington: 1884.)

=Thurn, Everard F. im.=

     Among the Indians of Guiana. London: 1883.

=Torquemada, Juan de.=

     Primera [-tercera] parte de los veinte i un libros rituales i
     monarchia Indiana. Vols. I-III. Madrid: 1723.

=Tylor, Edward B.=

     Researches into the early history of mankind and the
     development of civilization. London: 1870.

=Tylor, Edward B.=

     Primitive culture. Vols. I-II. London: 1871.

=Vaca.=

     See Cabeça de Vaca; Smith, Buckingham.

=Vasishtha and Baudhâyana.=

     See Müller, Max.

=Vedia, Enrique de.=

     Historiadores primitivos de Indias. Vols. I-II. Madrid:
     1852-'53.

=Vega, Garcilasso de la.=

     First part of the royal commentaries of the Yncas by the Ynca
     Garcilasso de la Vega. Translated and edited by Clements R.
     Markham. (Forms vol. XLI of Hakluyt Society's Works, London:
     1869.)

=Venegas, Miguel.=

     A natural and civil history of California. Vols. I-II.
     London: 1759.

=Vetancurt, Agustin de.=

     Teatro Mexicano. Descripcion breve de los sucesos ejemplares,
     historicos, politicos, militares y religiosos del nuevo mundo
     occidental de las Indias. Vols. I-III. Mexico: 1870-'71.

=Villagrá, Gaspar de.=

     Historia de la Nueva Mexico. Alcala: 1610.

=Villagutierre, Juan de.=

     Historia de la conquista de la provincia de el Itza. [Madrid:
     1701.]

=Vining, Edward P.=

     An inglorious Columbus. New York: 1885.

=Waitz, Theodor.=

     Introduction to anthropology. Edited by J. Frederick
     Collingwood. London: 1863.

=Wallace, Alfred R.=

     A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, with an
     account of the native tribes. London: 1853.

=Whipple, A. W.=

     Reports of explorations and surveys to ascertain the most
     practicable and economical route for a railroad from the
     Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean. Vol. III. Washington:
     1856.

=Whitney, W. Norton.=

     Notes from the history of medical progress in Japan.
     Yokohama: 1885.

=Williams, Monier.=

     Modern India and the Indians. London: 1878.

=Winstanley, W.=

     A visit to Abyssinia: an account of travel in modern
     Ethiopia. Vols. I-II. London: 1881.

=Wrangell, Ferdinand P. von.=

     Narrative of an expedition to the Polar Sea. New York: 1841.

=Wright, Thomas.=

     Narratives of sorcery and magic, from the most authentic
     sources. Vols. I-II. London: 1851.

=Ximenez, Francisco.=

     Las historias del origen de los Indios de esta provincia de
     Guatemala. Translated by C. Scherzer. Vienna: 1857.




INDEX.

    A.

    Acosta, José, cited on sacrifices of Indian corn     525
    Alarcon, quoted on Indian customs     491, 494, 511
        quoted on Indian sacred cords     555
    Albinos, not medicine-men among the Apaches     460
    Alegre, Francisco J., cited on Indian remedies     472
        cited on ceremonial scratching among Indians     492
    Amulets of the Apache     587-91
    Arriaga, José de, cited on Indian medicine-men     594
    Ashes, use of, in religious formalities     536
    Asylum, right of, among Apache and other Indians     453-454


    B.

    Backus, E., quoted on magic powder of Indians     513
    Baker, Frank, cited on "hand of glory"     486
    Baker, Samuel, cited on African customs     489
    Baking, origin of     542
    Balboa, Vasco Nuñez, cited on Indian medicine-men     467
        cited on Peruvian festival     527
    Bancroft, H. H., cited on Indian medicine-men     457, 511
        cited on mutilation by Indians     483
        cited on scratching, by Indians     491
        cited on Indian cakes     524
        cited on Indian use of feathers     534, 535
    Barcia, Gabriel de Cardenas, cited on sacred meal of Indians     512
        quoted on magic powder of Indians     549
    Bean, aversion to, by Egyptians and Abyssinians     517
    Beans, string of, used as signal by Tecumseh     555
    Benzoni, Girolamo, cited on Indian medicine-men     461
    Black, William G., cited on magic knots and cords     570, 572, 573,
          575, 576, 577, 579, 580
    Blankets, blessed, used at Zuñi feasts     526
    Bledos, meaning of the term     522
    Blindness among Indian medicine-men     470
    Blount, Thomas, cited on symbolic use of meal     513, 514
    Bock, Carl, cited on Borneo water vessels     494
    Bollaert, William, cited on emeralds of Peruvians     590
    Brand, John, cited on bell-ringing     465
        "hand of glory"     486
        cited on powders     514, 532, 536
        cited on sacred cakes     541, 544, 545, 546, 547
        cited on cords and girdles     557, 561, 568, 569, 570, 571,
              573, 575, 576, 578, 579, 580
    Brasseur de Bourbourg, cited on Indian medicine-men     466
        cited on origin of labrets     498
        cited on tzoalli     523
    Bread, sacred     541-547
        unleavened     543, 544
    Brinton, Daniel G., cited on Indian medicine-men     457, 480, 532
        cited on Peruvian quipu     562
        cited on chalchihuitl among Mexicans     590
        quoted on influence of Indian medicine-men     593, 594
    Bruce, James, quoted on Abyssinian hair dressing     492
    Bull-roarer, use of among Indians     476-479
    Buns, hot cross, of Good Friday     544-545
    Burton, Robert, cited on magic cords and girdles     568, 569, 575
        cited on exorcism     584


    C.

    Cakes, sacred     518, 541-547
    Cameron, V. Lovett, cited on African customs     494, 514, 515
    Castañeda, cited on Indian bread     522
    Castration of Indian priests and medicine-men     454
    Catlin, George, cited on Indian medicine-men     463
        cited on Indian wigs     475
    Chalchihuitl, an Indian amulet     588-591
    Christmas foods     547
    Clavigero, Francisco S., cited on Indian labret     497
        cited on Indian mats of reeds     527-528
        cited on Indian food     523
    Clay-eating     537-540
    Coleman, Charles, cited on Hindu powders     515
        cited on sacred cords     565
    Columbus, Christopher, quoted on magic powder of Indians     513
    Commerce between "Buffalo" Indians and Pueblos     529, 530
    Confessions of patient to Indian medicine-men     465, 466
    Corbusier, Wm. F., quoted on galena among the Indians     549
        cited on use of pollen by Indians     505
        cited on Indian medicine-men     460
        cited on Indian wigs     474
    Cord of St. Francis, the     556-557
    Cords, used in casting lots     558-559
        magic wind, of the Lapps     560-561
        mnemonic     561-563
        sacred, of the Parsis and Brahmins     563-567
        Mahometan belief concerning     566
        measuring     572-573
        sacred, ophic origin of     574
        formerly used in binding prisoners     574-575
        unclassified superstitions concerning     576-580
        superstitions concerning     553-580
    Countercharms to Indian "medicine"     459-460
    Coxe, William, quoted on Indian magic powder     548
    Crantz, David, cited on scratching among Eskimo     491
    Crispellæ     541
    Cross, place of the, in Indian symbolism     479-480
    Cushing, F. H., cited on Zuñi water-vessels     494
        cited on Zuñi Indians     452
        cited on Zuñi drinking tubes     494


    D.

    Dall, William H., cited on Eskimo labrets     496
    Davis, John, cited on Pueblo rebellion     555
    Diaz, Bernal, cited on Indian medicine-women     469
        cited on chalchihuitl among the Mexicans     591, 592
    Diaz, Melchior, cited on Indian wig-making     475
    Disease, method of treating by Indian medicine-men     462-468
    Divination with grains and seeds     454-532, 533
    Dobrizhoffer, Father, quoted on Abipones medicine-men     459-463
    Dorman, Rushton M., cited on Peruvian priests     456
    Dorsey, J. Owen, cited on Siouan medicine     452
    Down of birds in ceremonial observances     533-535
    Drinking reed and tubes, use of among Indians     493-498
    Drinks and drugs used by Indian medicine-men     454, 455-456
    Du Halde, P., cited on cords worn by Lamas     561
    Dupuis, cited on castration of priests of Cybele     454
    Duran, Diego, cited on Mexican priests     454, 456, 464
        cited on Indian drinking tubes     495, 496
        cited on sacred meal of Indians     510
        cited on Indian idol of dough     524, 525, 529
        quoted on clay eating by Mexicans     538
        cited on cords among Mexicans     558
        cited on Mexican headdress     582
    Dust from churches, superstitions concerning     537


    E.

    Earth eating     537-540
    Emerson, Mrs. Ellen Russell, cited on Indian customs     490, 495
    Epileptic and insane, how regarded by Apache     460-461
    Etmüller, Michael, quoted on girdles and cords     571, 572


    F.

    "Far," radical of "farina," etc.     545-546
    Feathers, use of, in ceremonial observances     533-535
        use of, in medicine hat     582
    Fernandez, Alonso, quoted on sacrificial bread of Pueblos     545
    Forlong, J. G. R., quoted on manna     517
        quoted on sacred cakes     518, 544
        cited on sacred cords     564, 565, 578
    Fosbrooke, Thomas D., quoted on use of rushes at Easter     528
        cited on symbolic use of ashes     536
    Franklin, Sir John, cited on earth-eating by Eskimo     539
    Frazer, J. G., cited on Indian customs     485
    Frommann, J. C., on magic knots     569


    G.

    Galena, powdered, ceremonial use of, by Indians     548-549
        pieces of, used in sacrifices     549
    Gibberish always used by Indian medicine-men     464
    Girdles, superstitions concerning     557-558, 570-572, 577
        use of, in parturition     570-571
        of human skin     571
    Gomara cited on Indian medicine-men     459, 463, 464, 470, 472, 512
        cited on Indian medicine-women     469
        cited on Indian necklaces     488
        cited on Indian cakes     526
        cited on Indian mats     527
        cited on clay-eating by Indians     538, 539
        cited on chalchihuitl among Mexicans     590
    Gonzales de Mendoza quoted on Indians throwing meal     510
    Graffenreid, Baron de, cited on magic powder of Indians     512
    Grimm, Jacob, cited on ancient German superstitions     487, 491,
          541, 559, 561, 568, 570, 573
    Grossman, Capt., cited on Apache purification     475


    H.

    Harris, W. Cornwallis, quoted on magic cords     574-575
    Hawkins, ----, cited on scratching among Indians     491
    Hair and wigs, use of, by Indian medicine-men     474-475
    "Hand of glory," superstitions concerning     486
    Hangman's rope, superstitions concerning     574, 575
    Headdresses of Indian gods     582
        of Apache medicine-men     584
    Heath, Perry S., cited on use of down at Russian weddings     535
        cited on Russian cakes     542
        cited on Russian kostia     547
    Hereditary priesthood among Indians     455-456
    Herodotus, cited on Egyptian priests     454
    Herrera, Antonio, quoted on Indian medicine-men     459, 461, 463,
          472, 475, 553
        quoted on Indian medicine-women     469
        quoted on cross among Indians     480
        quoted on Indian labrets     497
        quoted on sacred meal of Indians     510
        quoted on "powder of grass"     519
        cited on Indian cakes     527
        quoted on cords among Indians     558, 559, 574
        cited on Indian headdress     582
    Higgins, Godfrey, cited on hierophants of Athens     454
        cited on Hindu powders     516
        cited on use of flour in sacrifice     517
        cited on use of pollen by the ancients     532
        cited on girdles     557
    Hind, Henry Youle, cited on Indian medicine-men     464, 513
        cited on finger necklace     483
        cited on Indian powder     513
    Hoddentin, employment of, by the Apache     499-507
        bags for carrying     500
        offered to sun, moon, etc.     501-502
        employment in corn culture     502
        employment in sickness     502-505
        employment as an amulet     503-506
        a prehistoric food     518
        the yiauhtli of the Aztecs     521-522
        analogues of     530-532
    Hoffman, W. J., cited on Ojibwa medicine     452, 511
    Hutchinson, consul, cited on African magic powders     515


    I.

    Impotence, self-induced in Indian medicine-men     454
    Indian corn, sacrifice of     525
    Insanity, how regarded in Apache "medicine"     460
    Izze-kloth of the Apache     550-558
    Izze-kloth, analogues of other people     558


    J.

    James, Edwin, cited on Indian sacrifices     526
    Jus primæ noctis claimed by Indian medicine-men     461


    K.

    Kalm, quoted on use of roots of rushes by Indians     520, 521
    Kan or Apache gods     581-582
    Kane, Paul, cited on scratching by Indians     491
    Kelly, Fanny, cited on Sioux medicine-men     453
        quoted on Sioux games with bones     486
    Kennan, Geo., quoted on use of roots by Siberians     521
    Kingsborough, Edward, quoted on Indian medical practice     594
    Knots, magic wind, of the Lapps     560-561
        mnemonic use of     562-563
        magic, preventive of sexual intercourse     567, 569, 570
        true lovers     567, 568-576
        magic, various powers of     568-570
        nuptial     568-570
        use of in parturition     570-571
        used in capturing hyena     574
        used in finding lost animal     574
        in garments     576
        cure for warts, scrofula, epilepsy, etc.     578-579
    Kohl, J. G., cited on mutilation by Indians     483, 484
        cited on Ojibwa customs     490, 511, 531
    Kolben, Peter, cited on Hottentot customs     485, 536
    Kraskenninikoff, cited on Eskimo remedies     472, 473
    Kunque, use of by the Apache and Pueblo      508-511
        analogy of to flour in Spanish carnival      509-510


    L.

    Labrets, tubes used for, by Indians     497-498
    Lafitau, Joseph François, cited on sacred powder of Indians     512
    La Flèche, Francis, cited on Indian ghost food     527
    La Salle, Robert C., quoted on use of corn by Indians in burials
          513
    Lea, Henry Charles, cited on sacred cords     567
    Le Clerq, Chrestien, quoted on cross as an Indian symbol     480
    Lucky days and seasons     461
    Lycanthropy, power of, claimed by Indian medicine-men     458-459


    M.

    Malte-Brun, cited on earth-eating by Siberians     539
        cited on cords and girdles     561, 562, 564
    Mason, Otis T., cited on superstition connected with scratching
          493
    Maurice, Thomas, cited on sacred cords     566
    Meal, sacred, use of, by Apache and Pueblo     508-511
        use of, by other people     510-515
    Measuring cords     572-573
    Meat, sacred, of the Zuñis     545
    Medicine cord of the Apache     550-558
    Medicine hat of the Apache     502-503, 580-581
        symbolism of     582
    Medicine-men of the Indians, who may be     451-457
        no organization of     452
        manner of becoming one     453-454
        powers claimed by     454-459, 462, 470-471
        penalty for failure of, to cure disease     466-467
        food of     470
        disposal of, when dead     470
    Medicine-women of the Indians      468-469
    Medidas     572
    Mendieta, Geronimo, cited on Indian medicine-women     469
        quoted on Indian idols of flour or seeds     526
        quoted on Indian divination with corn     533
    Metamorphosis, power of, claimed by Indian medicine-men     458-459
    Montesinos, Fernando, cited on Peruvian sacred flour     511
    Montfaucon, Bernard de, cited on girdles of Saliens     559
    Mud, plastering the head with, by Indians     475-476
    Müller, Max, cited on scratching among the Parsi     493
        cited on parched grain among the Hindus     546
        cited on Hindu drinking custom     496
        cited on sacred cords of Hindus     563, 567
    Music, use of, by Indian medicine-men     465


    N.

    Name of an American Indian not to be divulged by himself     461
        when given     461-462
        battle or agnomen     462
    Necklaces, of human fingers     480-487
        of various parts of the human body     483-489
        of human teeth     487-489


    P.

    Painting in Apache ceremonies     583
    Pancakes, superstitions concerning     541, 542, 543
    Parkman, Francis, cited on Indian medicine-men     455, 459, 475
    Parturition, use of cords and knots in     570-572
    Payment of Indian medicine-men     467-468
    Pennant, Thomas, quoted on magic knots     569, 578
    Perrot, Nicolas, quoted on magic powder of Indians     514
    Pettit, Lieut., cited on Indian medicine-men     473
    Phylacteries of the Apache     591-592
    Picart, Bernard, cited on Indian medicine-men     457, 512
        cited on Indian necklaces     488
        cited on Indian drinking tubes     495
        cited on Indian labrets     498
        cited on sacred powders of Hindus     516
        cited on reeds among the Romans     528
        quoted on hair powder     535
        quoted on cords     556-557, 558, 559, 561, 563, 564, 576
        cited on Arab divination     584
    Pimentel, Francisco, quoted on Indian medicine-men     593
    Pliny, Caius, cited on Roman superstitions     486, 487, 568, 570,
          572, 574, 575, 578, 579
    Pollen, use of by Israelites and Egyptians     517-518
        use of among Hindus and Romans     532
    Polo, Marco, cited on cords worn by Brahmans     563
    Porter, J. Hampden, cited on ceremonial scratching among Indians
          492
    Powder, sacred, use of, by various peoples     513-517
    Powder of grass and straw used as food     519-520
        sacred, general use of, among Indians     528-529
        hair, use by Indians     535-536
    Prehistoric foods used in covenant     540-541
        sacrificed by Romans     545
    Purchas, Samuel, quoted on Indian "mud-heads"     476


    Q.

    Quipu of the Peruvians     553


    R.

    Rain-making one of the powers ascribed to Indian medicine-men
          455-456
    Rebellion of the Pueblos     555
    Reeds or rushes, superstitious uses of     527-528
    Remedies of the Indian medicine-men     471-474
    Rhombus, or bull-roarer, use of, among Indians     476-479
    Richardson, Sir John, cited on Indian medicine-women     469
    Rockhill, W. W., cited on flour-throwing by Tibetans     516
    Rosary, origin of     554
        used as a mnemonic cord     561


    S.

    Sage, seeds and roots of, used in tzoalli     526-527
    Sahagun cited on Aztec customs     464, 486, 495, 518, 523, 528,
          538, 559, 521
    Salverte, Eusebe, cited on Indian medicine-men     458, 464
        cited on Roman covenant bread     540
        cited on amulets     578
    Sashes, medicine, of the Apache     593
    Scalp shirts in Indian "medicine"      476
    Schultze, Fritz, cited on Indian medicine-men and women     470, 471
    Schweinfurth, Georg A., cited on African customs     488, 560
    Scott, Walter, cited on lycanthropy     459
        quoted on lightning-riven wood     587
    Scratch stick, employment of, among uncivilized peoples     490-493
        not used for combs     491
        origin of     492
    Shirts of scalps in Indian "medicine"     476
    Shirts, medicine, of the Apache     593
    Simon, Padre, quoted on Indian idolatry     594
    Simpson, John, cited on use of magic powder by Indians     509
    Smith, John, cited on sacred meal of Indians     511, 512
    Smyth, Brough, cited on Australian aboriginal customs     485, 535,
          537, 540, 574
    Snake-killing, prohibition of, by Indian medicine-men     470
    Soul cakes     546
    Speke, John H., cited on African customs     488, 494, 514, 515, 560
    Spencer, Charles, cited on Indian medicine-men     458
    Spencer, Herbert, cited on Indian medicine-men     455, 457, 458,
          459, 461, 467, 468, 472
        cited on ancient German priests     463
        cited on Indian customs     492
    Spirit dance of the Apache     582-584, 585-586
    Stanley, Henry M., quoted on African amulets     485, 560
        cited on African customs     515, 575
    Stolen property, power to recover claimed by Indian medicine-men
          461
    Strutt, Joseph, quoted on magic cakes     547
    Stuart, King James, quoted on magic knots     569
    Sweat bath, a necessary part of Indian medicine     455


    T.

    Talismans of the Apache     587-590
    Tanner, John, cited on Indian sacks of human skin     484
        cited on scratching by Indians     490
        cited on Indian powders     513
        cited on Indian headdress     555, 556
    Theal, Geo. M., quoted on rhombus among Kaffirs     479
    Torquemada, Juan de, quoted on Aztec customs     522, 523, 524, 525
        cited on Indian headdresses     582
    Tule or flag, roots used as food     520-521
    Tylor, E. B., cited on Indian medicine-men     458
        cited on bull-roarer     478
    Tzi-daltai of the Apaches     587
    Tzoalli, cakes of, used in Indian sacrifices     523-528
        idols formed of     525-526


    U.

    Unleavened bread     543-544


    V.

    Vaca, Cabeza de, cited on Mexican customs     455
        cited on Floridian medicine-men     470, 472
        cited on clay-eating by Indians     538
        quoted on galena among the Indians     548
    Vetancurt, Augustin de, quoted on Aztec customs     522
        cited on Apache commerce     530
    Villagrá, quoted on throwing meal by Indians     510
    Vining, Edward P., cited on mnemonic knots of Japanese     562


    W.

    Wheat, origin of     542
    Whipple, A. W., cited on Indian commerce     530
    Whitney, W. Norton, cited on Japanese "medicine"     531
    Wigs, use of by Indian medicine-men     474-475
    Winstanley, W., cited on cords worn by Abyssinians     560
    Wounds by wild beasts a qualification for Indian priesthood
          457-458


    X.

    Ximenez, Francisco, cited on myths of Guatemala     528
        Francisco, quoted on divination by Guatemalan Indians     533
        Francisco, quoted on chalchihuitl among the Mexicans   590


       *       *       *       *       *

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious typographical errors have been repaired. Non-standard
spellings, including those in other languages, were retained as in the
original.

Hyphenation and accent variants that could not be clearly resolved,
were retained.

The few cases of ellipses shown as asterisks were also retained.

Latin-1 and UTF-8 texts: Footnote 490, C^{ie} indicates a "C" followed
by a superscript of the characters "ie."

Latin-1 and UTF-8 texts: _Underscores_ enclose italicised content;
=Equal signs= enclose bold content.

p. 579, paragraph beginning "Dr. Joseph Lanzoni": both "chermisinum"
and "chermesinum" occurred in the original as shown.

p. 585, paragraph beginning "At intervals": "Three several times they"
is as in the original.