Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

O^LBRECHTsl THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 81
all it contains by fire all the people will help him to rebuild his home,
and, what is more, to refurnish it. One will be able to spare a blan-
ket, another will donate a chair, someone else a cooking vessel, etc.,
untU the family is fitted out again, sometimes better than before the
accident.
During my stay the following rather amusing thing happened; it
is a good example of the good heartedness and the generosity of these
people:
On the outskirts of k^o'^lang-yi', in an adjacent cove was a clus-
ter of seven houses, one of which was inhabited by a half-blood, a
very bad character, with his wife and two children.
Once while he was serving a sentence for his ''moonshine" activi-
ties, and when his wife and children had crossed the mountain to
spend the night at her parents', the neighbors by concerted and premeditated
efforts set fire to the house, thinking that by so doing
they would prevail upon the annoying family to move to some other
settlement. The house burned down to the ground; not a basket
was saved. But when the next day the culprits saw the despair of
the poor woman they forthwith agreed that all the able-bodied neighbors
(who were all directly or indirectly guUty of the arson) would
rebuild her cabin on the very spot where it had stood before. Within
a week the building was under construction.
Efficacy of Treatment
There are many statements in the descriptions and relations of
early travelers on the American continent of the amazing skill of the
native doctors and on the extraordinary results obtained by them.
In many instances they are even compared to the contemporary
European practitioners, and not always to the advantage of the
latter.
We should, however, bear in mind that in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries European medical practice, with its belief in
such drogues and remedies as scrapings of unicorn, in mummy,
human fat ("adeps hominis"), Digby's powder of sympathy, etc.,*^
in the most revolting and disgusting ingredients, ^° was still nearer the
era of Plinius than that of Pasteur.
As regards the efficacy of Cherokee medical treatment the facts
amply speak for themselves. In a very interesting survey Mooney
has discussed this subject (SFC, p. 324 seq.), and comes to the
« Cf. Van Andel, Dr. M. A.: "Klassieke Wondermiddelen," Gorinchem, 1928.
Cf. also, Lemery, Nicolas: " Dictionnaire ou Traits Universel des Drogues
simples," 3d. edit., Amsterdam, 1716.
^ Cf. PauUini, K. F.: "Heilsame Dreclf-Apotheke, wie nehmlich mit Koth
und Urin die meisten Kranlcheiten und Schaden gliiclilich geheilet worden,"
II, Franckf. 1699, but still reprinted in Stuttgart, 1847.