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O^BREraTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 23
The river, usually addressed in the ritualistic language as
y9-"wi' Ga'na't-'no" "Long Human Being,"
a'sku'ya Ga'na't-'Do'' "Long Man,"
t-na'D5° Ga'na'f'Do" "Long Snake,"
continues to enjoy a great deal of credit and is still an object of sincere
respect to the more traditionalist of the Cherokee. The rite of going
to water, however, is rapidly disappearing from the tribal life, and
after another couple of generations all that will probably subsist of
the river cult will be a few survivals, unintelligible even to those who
practice them.
The river sends disease to those who insult it by such actions as
throwing rubbish into it, by urinating into it, etc. As a vengeance for
the latter act it causes a disease from a description of the symptoms of
which it appears that enuresis is meant.
The use of river water in the preparation of medicine is discussed
under Materia Medica (p. 52 et seq.).
Apart from the rites that are performed at the river's edge in such
ceremonies as "going to water," "for long Ufe," in divination and
incantation ceremonies, which are all described in the notes appended
to the relevant formulas, attention should here be called to the custom
of vomiting into the river to get rid of diseases, especially of those in
which the patient's "saliva has been spoiled." (See p. 63.)
The patient drinks the emetic at home, while still fasting, and then
hurries to the river's edge, where he vomits into the water, thereby
''throwing off the spoiled saliva," and, with it, the disease. If the
emetic itself does not have the desired result mechanical means are
resorted to (irritating the uvula with finger, grass stalk, etc.). A formula
is usually recited at the same time by the medicine man accompanying
the patient, by which the water is commanded to carry the
disease down the stream, "to the settlements where (other) people
live." "In every case where a ceremony is performed at the water
side, either by a number of persons or by a single individual, it must
be at daybreak, while the participants are still fasting, and the spot
chosen for the performance of the rite is at a bend of the river where
the supplicants can face the east while looking upstream." (Mooney,
Notes.)
Thunder— Red Man— Two Little Bed Men.—The Thunder is referred
to by these three different names. The two former refer to the
Thunder himself; the latter to his two sons. Often in the formulas the
Thunder is spoken of as surrounded by a host of Little Red Men, all
Thunderers.
The heavy rolling crashes of thunder are said to be the voice of
Thunder himself, whereas the lighter, metallic peals of thunder are
ascribed to the Little Red Men.
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