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SWANTON] CHOCTAW SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL LIFE 231
ball) shot from an invisible rifle in the hands of a witch. At this important
juncture of affairs, it now becomes his duty to find the witch that he, she, or
it may be brought to pay the penalty of the law in all such cases—death. As
a matter of course, the doctor, not very scrupulous in the matter of shifting
the blame from his own shoulders to that of another—so natural to all man
kind—easily found a witch in the person of some attenuated old woman, whom
he designated as the guilty party, and who consequently was immediately slain
by the relatives of the deceased.**"
A white informant of Byington gives the following account of a
native medical attempt that failed
Doctors and Conjurers . . . are a deceitful set of men. Before they commence
their operations they sing a song, which expresses a praj^er. One came
to me once and said he could cure me of my lameness, originating in palsy
in the limbs. I told him if he would cure me I would give him a horse, but
if he failed I would give him nothing. To this he agreed. He then inquired
where the lameness first commenced. I told him that it began in the soles of
my feet. He then examined them, and got down on the floor, spit on them,
and sucked the instep a long time as though he would draw something out.
After a while he got up, and then made a great effort to get something out
of his mouth. At length he took out a small piece of deerskin, as I supposed,
and said he had drawn that out of my foot. I asked him where the hole was.
He said it never makes a hole. I then took the bit of leather and talked
to him and told him that doctors are the greatest liars in the world. " You
never pulled that out of my foot : you cut it off of some deerskin and put it
in your mouth. Now stop telling such lies or some one will injure you." He
looked very much ashamed and walked off."
Sweat bathing is described not only by Cushman but also by our
anonymous French informant and Bossu. The former says:
For this purpose they make a little cabin about four feet in height and
eight in diameter, wliicli they cover with bison skin and blankets. They put
inside five or six red-hot balls, on which from time to time they throw a little
water to stimulate the heat. They enclose in this little space as many as
seven persons, and after they have sweat for about a half or three-quarters of
an hour they get out of this hole quickly and go with precipitation to throw
themselves into the coldest water."
When, on returning from war or a hunt, they are tired and overcome with
fatigue [says Bossu] they restore themselves by sweating in a sudatory."*
For this purpose they boil in the sudatory all sorts of medicinal and fragrant
herbs, the spirits and salts of which carried off by the steam enter by means
of the sick man's lungs and the pores in his body and restore his drooping
forces. This treatment is as good to calm and drive away all kinds of pains.
Besides, gout, gravel, and other infirmities to which we are subject in Europe
are not to be found among them, which may be due in part to their constant
physical exercise. One sees among them none with big bellies such as there
are in Holland nor those big tumors on the throat called goitre such as are
found in Piedmont."