Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

m-BRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 93
distinctive trait at all, I found most of them rather less slovenly
dressed than the lay members of the tribe. Occasionally, one of
them will cling to some archaic bit of garment or other, such as a pair
of moccasins, a cloth turban, etc.
As to the attitude of the people toward the medicine men, this ^vill
to a considerable extent depend on the character of the latter. As a
rule they are not feared, unless they profess to be, or are reputed to
be Dt-'Dane-'s8Gf'ski (see p. 87), these being shunned and avoided as
far as possible.
The esteem in which the others are held depends chiefly on their
professional skill, and on their social intercourse. Such medicine
men as yo-'no'' Ga^le-'oi ("the bear, he is clunbing") who was Del.'s
father, and Og. and W.'s brother, and who died about a score of years
ago, actually managed to be respected and loved by his people, as in
our villages an old clergyman or a devoted physician might be. Og.
himself was held in no smaller consideration. But there are others I
know who are looked upon with very different feelings and whose
services would be called upon only in cases of utmost emergency.
Professional Ethics
Under this caption there are to be discussed mainly two aspects of
the medicine men's profession—their sincerity, and what might be
called "their desire to serve."
As to the former, I found them as a whole convinced of what they
profess and teach. They practice fervently what they believe and
treat themselves and the members of their own family by the same
methods and means as they do their patients.
As far as sleight of hand is concerned, there are after all only four
ceremonies where this is possible: When examining with the beads,
when divining with the brown rock, when sucking, when scratching
-with the snake tooth.
In the first and in the last case I hardly think that the slight
movements of the beads (see p. 132) or of the snake tooth ^'^ (see p. 70)
should be explained by legerdemain. The tension under which the
medicine man is laboring, together with a considerable dose of auto-
suggestion, are doubtlessly sufficient to bring about the "manifesta-
tions of life" they pretend to feel.
As for the divination with the brown rock, matters seem to be
different. This mode of divination is usually resorted to when an
object, an animal, or even a person has been lost. A small fragment
(about the size of a thimble) of wo'ni' (i. e., "reddish-brown"),
hematite, is tied to a thread or a bit of yarn about 30 centimeters
^5 The medicine man pretends that the snake tooth, prior to being scratched
with, "becomes alive," as is evinced by its twitching and trembling between the
fingers of the practitioner.