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70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
All kinds of briars, especially those of blackberry shrubs, nyco'tlo"
(pi. 7, e), are also used to slightly scarify the skin. By what poor
means I had at my disposal I used to treat Jud. (see p. 114; pi. 10, a)
for rheumatism in his knee. Whenever I. went to see him in his
cabin he stubbornly refused to be rubbed with the embrocation I
used, before he had gone out, cut a thorny branch off some shrub,
and scratched his knee. Wlien he came to my quarters to be rubbed
he never forgot to bring his briars!
A few leaves of the laurel (Kahnia latifolia L.) are also used for the
same purpose. Ten or twelve leaves (originally probably seven) are
plucked, kept together between thumb and forefinger (pi. 7,/), and a
few strokes with the bristly edges are given over the skin. I was surprised
to find, when I had this scarification practiced on me as an
experiment, that the marks were visible and the irritation of the skin
sensible for over a week.
Finally there is to be mentioned the tooth of the rattlesnake as a
scarifying instrument. Wlien used for the preparation of the members
of the ball-game team it was customary untU 50 years or so ago
to use two of these teeth, tied together. Why this was done, and how
the instrument was made, informants were unable to tell me. The
scratching with one tooth, as practiced in the treatment of disease,
is described by Mooney in his notes as follows: "Beginning wdth the
right hand (the medicine man) draws the tooth from the end of the
first finger *^ along the back of the band, up the arm, across the breast,
and down the left leg and foot, maldng one long gash. He then repeats
the operation in the same way, beginning with the left hand
and ending with the right foot. Next he begins at the end of the
right thumb, dramng the tooth up along the arm, around the back of
the neck to the left shoulder, and down again in front along the left
leg and foot. Then he reverses the operation, beginning \vith the
left thumb and ending with the right foot. He then scratches the
skin at random over the affected part, or over the limbs and the body
according to the nature of the sickness. . . . These scratches are not
deep, being intended not to draw blood but to enable the liquid ap-
plication to take a better hold upon the skin. In scratching small
children, the . . . (medicine man) uses the back of the tooth." In
some cases children are scratched over the tongue.
This mode of scarification seems to have died out, however; not a
single instance of it came to my attention during my stay; nor was
there one medicine man of the many I knew having such an instrument
in his possession.
As for the scarification with such objects as flint arrowheads, briars,
laurel leaves, the scratches are usually only inflicted locally—on the
" Also of the middle finger.—F. M. 0.