Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

OLBUECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 203
This (is) fok Using the Snake Tooth at the Scratching of
Them
FREE TRANSLATION
Come on!
Yuhahi, hahi (four times).
Now t]ien! Thou on high who hast apportioned them, thou hast
caused the white bones to come down. Where the body is, thou
hast come to stick them into. Relieved! Sharply.
explanation
The scratching operation, for which this and similar formulas are
intended to be used, is a frequent preliminary to the application
of medicine in the treatment of rhemnatism, languor, and kindred
ailments, as well as in preparing contestants for the ball game.
[See p. 68.]
This formula was originally obtained by Ay. from an old man
who must have been born at least as early as 1780. As the heading
states, it is for scratching with tlie snake tooth. It consists of
two parts, the first of which is sung, the second recited.
The song, the words of which are meaningless, is sung by the
medicine man to a simple and pleasing tune, while standing facing
the patient and holding the snake tooth, grasjjed between the thumb
and forefinger of his uplifted right hand. As he sings, the spirit
of the rattlesnake enters into the tooth, which becomes alive and
moves about between the fingers of the medicine man. This is
tlie Indian explanation of the fact, which may be accounted for
on more reasonable grounds. The medicine man, while singing,
labors under suppressed excitement and stands with tense muscles
in a constrained position, the nat\iral result being that before the
song is ended his hand involuntarily begins to tremble and the
muscles of the fingers to twitch. The pecidiar hook shape of the
tooth renders its slightest movement perceptible. On finishing
the song the doctor brings the tooth up to his mouth with a loug
"du!" followed by a staccato "du, du, du, du," as he blows upon
it. He then touches it to his mouth. The song is repeated four
times, after which he proceeds to scratch the patient. [See p. 70.]
The skin is scratched only once, viz, before the first application
of the medicine, but the medicine is applied four times. If, however,
the treatment is continued for four days, the scratching may
be repeated every morning.
The medicine which is rubbed on consists of a warm infusion
of the leaves of fw'si3'!i, Leucothoe catesbaei (Walt.) Gray, gray fetter
bush; Du'su'ca tsu'nstroa, Kalmia latijolia L., mountain laurel,
calico bush, spoon wood; nu's^'ca tsu'nt'ano". Rhododendron maxi-