Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

o?BREOTTs] "fHE SWIMMER Manuscript ^
On account of the special nature of the work it was not easy to
find the right sort of informants. As a whole only medicine men could
be used. Some of these, even if they were good practitioners were
but poor informants; others as a matter of principle refused for many
months to give information. Some of them, however, were ideal
collaborators, and for such of them as W., Del., and Og., one is at a
loss what to praise most in them—their immense fund of knowledge
or the keenness and the interest they manifested in the work.
The following is a Hst of the informants and medicine men cited in
these pages. Those the names of whom are preceded by two asterisks
are the medicine men who worked with Mooney and who died between
his visits and mine; the names preceded by one asterisk are
those of the medicine men I worked with, but who died during or
since my stay; the medicine men whose names are not preceded by
an asterisk are those I worked with, and who are, so far as I know,
still alive at the time of writing. Since some of the latter are depicted
in these pages in terms that are not always complimentary, and also
because much of their activity as described in this paper might bring
upon them the wrath of people who believe it their duty to stamp
out all vestiges of aboriginal belief and practice, it is deemed best to
cite them by their initials only. I have deposited a detailed list in
the archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology by which these
individuals can be identified by any ethnologist who may desire to
make investigations in that quarter of the world in the future.
Abbreviation used Refers to
**Ay a'yo°"fiii', writer of the manuscript (cf. p. 7).
**Ayo Ayosta, W.'s motlier (see Mooney Myths, PI. xiv) (cf.
p. 67).
Del See this paper, pi. 11, b; cf. also pp. 115-116.
**Gad GaDtGwana'sti, the writer of manuscript III (cf. SFC,
312).
*J Jukias (pi. 11, a), died 1928 (cf. p. 115).
*Je W.'s half-sister; medicine woman and midwife (see
pi. 12, o; cf. p. 116).
Jo Cf. p. 113 et seq.
Jud See pi. 10, a; cf. p. 114 et seq.
O Del.'s mother, Climbing Bear's widow, W.'s and Og.'s
sister-in-law (see pi. 12, b; cf. p. 116).
*0g Died spring 1927; W.'s half-brother, Del.'s uncle (see
pi. 9, a; cf. p. 112 et seq.).
T Del.'s brother-in-law (see pi. 10, c; cf. p. 111).
*Ts J.'s father (see pi. 8, a; cf. p. 115).
**Ut Cf. p. 3.
W My main informant and interpreter (see pi. 5; cf . p. 109
et seq.).
**Wil Thewriterof manuscript II, Gad. 's son (cf. SFC, p. 312).
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