Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

oisRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 153
a day's journey distant. And as with the Christians, "the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of all wisdom," it may be said of the Cherokee,
and of many tribes on the same level, that "the fear of drought is
the beginning of a conjuration for rain."
These formulas are only known to specialists, of which there is
still one living.
There is no formula of this land in the present manuscript, but
James Mooney has edited one, obtained also from Ay., in his SFC,
p. 387.
For Hunting and Fishing
a'mno'''liD9-''i i»-ntse*'ltGa'; aGa'^jif^Q''! uGQ-'wutH^
they hunt all over (it is) theirs fish traps for the purpose of
By these names a variety of conjurations and songs are meant
that aim at bringing success in hunting and fishing. Some of the
hunting formulas are also used in divination practices, which are reputed
to advise the hunter as to whether the time he has chosen to
go on a hunting expedition is propitious, in which direction he has
to depart, what he will kill, and when.
There is no doubt but that ahnost all the men Icnew a couple or
more of these specimens some generations ago, when hunting, and
even big-game hunting, were events of almost daily occurrence.
The hunters bought the knowledge of these songs and formulas
from the medicinemen (see p. 147), as much as $5 being paid for a
bear-hunting song some 50 years ago. Now, as hunting is reduced to
shooting rabbits and other small game, and with the advent of shotguns,
there no longer seems to be so much call for this magic ammuni-
tion, and the formulas have therefore reverted to the custody of the
medicine men.
Closely aldn to the hunting formulas are those used for fishing,
either by line or by trap. For reasons above stated, these also are
getting scarcer from year to year, and they will undoubtedly be
among the first to disappear.
No specimen of either is represented in this manuscript.
INCANTATIONS
"To Change"
With this class of formulas we enter the field of incantation.
This particular kind is used by a medicine man on his own initiative,
or at the invitation of a client, "to change" an enemy to a different
condition with. This is only a euphemistic way of saying to change
him to a bad condition with, and the worse the better.
This is the kind of incantation which, if successful, results in one
of the dreaded ayc'ltGO'^Gi diseases.