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oIbkechth] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 181
IX'af Dalo*'ni vmtli'yriiy'.i ^^ y-'noDi-yg-'^Dair Dt'k'an^-'wo'tT |
this it yellow whenever tlusy ari! ill their navel to oiirc thern with
aDzf'l')" i)a*7"'i Dt'k'anyVTt'f-jd'
fire they (sol) used to euro
to be lying down them with, fjoc
This is When Tmioy Auk Rfc-k With the "Yellow"
FKKB TRANSLATION
Now then! Rif^ht now, in the middle of the day, the Black Man
has arisen, it seems, from the niglit land. Where the bile is stag-
nant, he has come to wallow in it, it seems. It was merely bile, it
seems. He had put the important thing under him, it seems.
Now then! liight now thou hast come to hear, Yellow Killdee
Bird, and thou, Yellow Small Fish, you two have been caused to
become united to one. You two are stajdng where the great swamp
is. Quickly you two have arisen, facing this way.
It is merely bile. You two have come to wallow there where the
bile is stagnant. It (i. e., the bile) is the very thing you two adorn
yourselves with. As you two go by, you have gone to take it away
to the great swamp for its adornment; you two have come to go and
store the important thing as you go by, at the place where it is to be
stored. Who cares what happens to it? Relief has been caused at
the same time. You two have come to do it for him [the patient].
This is when they are sick with the "yellow," to treat their navel
with. Fire (live coals) should be lying down while treating them.
EXPLANATION
This formula is for treating one of the many varieties of Dalo'ni
or "yellow." (Seep. 182.)
As stated in the introduction, various causes may be held respon-
sible for this disease, the agent in this case being the Black Person, or
the Black Man in the night land. (See p. 24.) The expression
i-'ca aye'^'li" which may mean "in the middle of the sky," as well as
"in the middle of the day," occurs in many of the formulas, especially
in those recited against Dalo'ni and against fever, but the reason is
not obvious. In one case a medicine man told [Mr. Mooney] that the
illness began at noon, and that on this account the disease-spirit
was referred to as arising in the middle of the day.
The animal spirits invoked as curing agents are both yellow like
the disease. [In some cases (see p. 179) they are of opposite colors.]
The amajkt'a [ama'=water; a^:t*a^he is peeping out from] is a
fish hardly an inch in length, appearing in schools in the summer,
and is simply a newly hatched individual of the common varieties.
28 W. D. -tl-=C. D. -ts-.