Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

214 nUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Uull. 09
This (is) lo Tuioat Them with (for) Worms
FHlflE TllANSLATION
No\: then! Ha, now tliou hast como to Hstcn, thou Old Wliito
One. The body has been made very painful; it is pregnant with
(weakness?).
(a) Now then! Ha, now thou hast come to listen, thou White
Bittern, thou real wizard, sta3dng on high. Ila, quiclcly they have come
to let thee down to where the marsh is. Quickly they have made thee
look atit, as thouweiitst by. Thouhastcome to stick thy bill undcrit.
The important thing wliicli he has put under liim is merely a worm.
Thou hast come to i)ull it out; it is indeed the very thing thou eatest.
It shall bury itself into thy stomach; they have made thee insatiable
(?). It has happened so; relief has been caused at the same time;
thou hast come and done it for him; *^ only a mere likeness of it "^
will remain.
(b) Now then! Ha, now thou hast come to listoTi, thou White
Sandpiper, etc.
(c) Now then! Ha, now thou hast come to listen, thou Wliite
Mud Snipe, etc.
(And add at end:) Relief lias been caused.
This (is) to treat them with (for) worms. To treat with, Indian
pink, mixed with honey, should be given them to drink. First it
should be given them to drink, then it should merely be rubbed on
them.
EXPLANATION
This formula, which seems to have lost [its fourth paragraph], is
for the treatJiient of intestinal worms. These betray their presence
by the following symi)toms: yellowness of the patient's skin, redness
of the fingertips, fever and diarrhea.
The medicine is a decoction of Gi-'oaGf" a'DZfl5"'ski\ Spigelia
marilandica L., Indian pink, sweetened with honey, to be drunk both
night and morning for four days, or until the wonns are dislodged.
If this result should not follow within that period, the medicine man
tries a difreront jnedicine or concludes that the sickness is due to
some other cause.
In ai)])lying the trealnient, the medicine jiinn first gives the medi-
cine to the patient to drink, thcji warms his hands over the fire, wliilo
addressing "tlie Old Wiiite One," and then rubs the abdomen of tlio
patient with his hands thus warmed, reciting in the meanwhile the
second part of the formula, addressed to the bird. Tiie final rub
witli both hands is in a downward direction, along the abdomen,
ty])ical of the downward passage of the expelled worms. In conclu-
sion, he blows four times upon the stomach of the sick man. TJie
»» The patient. «* The disease.