Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

oIbrecIts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 21
have caused headache (insolation?). No one could give the reason
why the sun causes disease. An explanation is found in a myth
where it is stated that the sun causes fever because she hates to see
her grandchildren (the human beings) screw up their faces when
they look up at her. (Mooney, Myths, p. 252.)
As une*'ttanori the sun is often called upon to cure disease,
however, and she is invariably addressed in the prayers that are
recited to ask permission to gather plants and simples.
The Fire.—We find the fire so closely associated with the sun that
their identity could plausibly be surmised, even if there were no actual
and definite proof of it.
The fire but rarely sends disease, and then only because of our
disrespectful conduct; throwing the offal of anything we have chewed
into the fire results in our being visited with toothache; urinating on
the ashes that have been thrown outside exposes us to a disease as
the one referred to in Formula No. 4.
It is often addressed as "our grandparent," opening bis (her?)
sheltering arms in affection, and surrounded by us, his (her?) grand-
children. Epithets, as "Ancient white," "Ancient red," are often
bestowed upon it. The hunter, when returning from a successful
trip, never neglected to offer a particle of meat, usually the liver of the
animal, to it, but this custom is now well-nigh obsolete. It is unfor-
tunately not now possible to ascertain whether this offer was intended
for the fire, in its capacity as emanation of une-'tlano'i, or simply as
a recompense for the fire's divinatory offices, as the hunter usually
consults the fire prior to his departure as to where he will be able to
locate and kill game.
There is only one instance of the fire curing an ailment by its own
virtue, viz, where burns and scalds caused by flames are exposed to
the fire, "so that the fire should take the pain back," but there are a
great many instances where the curing virtue of the fire is relied
upon as an additional element in the cure. In all the cases, viz, where
the patient has "to be hit" (see p. 62), the medicine man, prior to
this operation, warms his hands near the fire. Usually a few live
coals are taken from the hearth on a shovel, in a dish, or a flat vessel,
and put near the patient; the medicine man warms his hands over these
coals before he starts "rubbing the disease away."
The fire is also generally invoked against all disease caused by
"cold-blooded" animals, as the terrapin, snakes, fish, etc. (Mooney,
Notes), and also often against complaints caused by Frost, Cold,
the Blue Man, etc.
Another case where the curing virtue of the fire is resorted to
is when an infusion, prior to being drunk by the patient, or to being
rubbed on his body, is "strengthened" by dropping four or seven live
coals into it.