Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

, Waf
300 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 09
89
a ntsko''li aDa^ n^'Vo't'l"
this their head to cure anyone
with
u^sony'li i;tst"-nawa
(a) GalQ*'ldi Dant'la*"wt.a' |
above they are assembling
'a'-no'Gwo"
ha, now quickly beyond it,
stretched
aDo'^m-Ga' |
'ya"
it has been said Sharply!
!
(b) e-'bor Dant'la'"wi.a' (etc.).
below they are assembling
This is the Medicine for Their Head
FREE TRANSLATION
On high they are assembling; ha, now relief has quickly been
caused . Sharply
Below they are assembling; ha, now relief has quicldy been caused.
Sharply!
explanation
The medicine man from whom this fomiula was obtained had in
turn procured it from a medicine woman, and was unable to tell much
about it. It is therefore impossible to say what spirits are referred
to as being assembled, or whether they are the disease curers or the
remedial agents. In many formulas the spirits are represented as
having assembled as in council, sometimes under the couch of the
patient, sometimes even in his body.
No medicine is used, the treatment merely consisting in rubbing
the forehead of the patient after every paragraph, and afterwards
blowing the breath four times over the aching part. This, repeated a
number of times—[no rigid rule is followed]—is said to be effective.
90
Ii'a' t'v'yA-sti' aDa'*n9*'wo*tT
this beans, (like) to cure anyone
with
EXPLANATION
The formula bearing the heading "This is the medicine (for) a
beanlike (boil) " is too evidently incomplete in the original to be given
here, but deserves notice for the spirits invoked and the treatment
prescribed.
The former are the Rattlesnake and the Puffing (Spreading) Adder,
and the fragmentary expression of the formula seems to imply that
the festering boil is the result of a bite from some disease snake,
which must be driven out by the more powerful snakes invoked.
The rattlesnake is mentioned under its proper name, VDZO*'N!ti,