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OLBRECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 177
The medicine men explain that the ghosts of the snakes, or sometimes
of the fish, in order to take vengeance on those who destroy
or offend them, "spoil the saliva" of the offending ones by causing
them to dream of snakes and fishes twining and crawling over them,
biting them and blowing fetid breath into their faces, until the
victims become disgusted with food and lose appetite and strength.
The medicine is then given to induce vomiting, by which the
"spoiled saliva" is dislodged, when the patient recovers. Whatever
may be thought of the theory or of the medicine actually used, the
principle of the application is undoubtedly correct.
The first part of the prayer is addressed to the Black Snake above,
which is evidently expected to drive out the disease snake. The
second paragraph calls upon the Two Little Men—the Thunder
Boys, the sons of k^ana-'ti (see Mooney, Myths, p. 242)—to take
the disease spirit to the Night Land in the West and put it away
in the black boxes or coffins. The reason for invoking these "Two
Little Men" here will be explained in Formula No. 20, page 196.
The sick man finds relief as soon as the Little Men turn round to
come back after accomplishing their task. In one place the medicine
man speaks directly to the patient, who, however, has no chance
to catch the meaning of the whispered words. "Black boxes"
or "coffins" are frequently mentioned in the formulas. They are
sometimes "buried out West in the black mud, with a black stone
on top of them." The "ever-living bones," synonym of the "everliving
teeth," are referred to in most of the formulas concernmg
snakes. The Cherokee, like other Indians, has a great reverence
for snakes in general, but for rattlesnakes in particular, and is
careful never to offend one, even by word. In accordance with
the principle often applied in the formulas of belittfing a serious
ailment, it is customary, when a man has been bitten by a snake,
to announce that he has "been scratched by a brier." [See p. 14.]
The medicine used is a decoction of rattlesnake fern [Botrychium
virginianum (L.), Sv/.] root, boiled down to a sirup. The medicine
man recites the whole formula, then rubs some of the decoction
upon the spot where the patient dreams that he has been bitten,
and finally blows his breath upon it four times. The whole ceremony
is repeated four times, and, in addition, the patient drinks a small
portion of the sirup.
In the absence of the plant named, the medicine man uses a
decoction of poplar bark [Liriodendron tulijnjera L.], the root being
used in the same way; or he sometimes simply chews some poplar
bark or a small portion of the root of u'naste-ts.tt'^Ga [AristolocMa
serpentaria L.; Virginia snakeroot] and blov/s it upon the spot
after reciting the formula. The medicine may be rubbed on at
intervals by some one of the patient's family, but the blowing.