Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

OLBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 101
Although the o*'si has passed out of existence generations ago,
even now the instruction is only imparted during the night. The
medicine man and the candidate talk until morning, and then go
to the river and bathe ritually, sprinkling vi^ater on their face, on the
crown of their head, and on their breast, "where their soul is." This
is done many nights in succession, whether the novice be staying
with the medicine man or whether he walks in eveiy night until he
knows all his master is able or willing to tell Mm.
Before the instruction proper is started, however, the applicant
has to drink a decoction to enable him to remember all he learns.
With this end in view, he may take one or all of the following medi-
cines :
A small cluster of leaves, rubbish, and refuse, such as is found
occasionally floating on the surface of the water, must be fished out
and examined. If it has any small insect, usually a spider, in it, it
is cooked, insect and all, and the decoction is drunl