Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

OLBKECHTs] THE SWIMMER MANUSCRIPT 29
" 'Tsgaya' is a generic term for all small insects, larvae, and worms,
excepting intestinal worms. These 'tsgaya' are very numerous, hav-
ing colonies in the water, in the earth, on the foliage of trees, and in
every decaying log, and as they are constantly being crushed, burned,
or otherwise destroyed by the human race, they are constantly
actuated by a spirit of revenge. To accomplish their purpose the
ghosts of the slain 'tsgaya' 'form settlements' in the bodies of their
victims, usually just imder the sldn, and thus cause malignant ulcers,
watery blisters and swellings, all of which are generally ascribed to the
'tsg^ya.' The 'tsgaya' doctrine of the Indian practitioner is thus the
equivalent of the microbe theory of the white physician." (Mooney,
Notes.)
PRETERNATURAL CAUSES
Not only natural and supernatural causes are active night and day
to shower disease and death on the poor humans; as many, if not more,
of the calamities of life are to be laid at the door of fellow human
beings, who through preternatural means have the power of sending
mysterious diseases into the bodies and limbs of their neighbors.
Witches
The most dreaded of these human disease causers are the witches.
Not that their activities and the results of these are very much different
from those of the "man-killers" (see p. 33); the latter, however,
only "work against us" for very sound and obvious reasons, e. g.,
because we have insulted them, poked fun at them, quarreled with
them, or have given them offense in one way or another; at worst,
when trying to kill us, they may act as agents of some enemy of ours,
but at any rate there is usually this "comforting" consideration about
it, that we are aware and conscious of the motives of their activities,
and that usually we have only ourselves and our conduct to blame.
Being careful and courteous in our dealings with "man-killers" may
considerably diminish the risk of being harmed from their quarter.
Moreover, counteracting their evil machinations is not so hopeless a
task as to fight witchcraft.
The witches are usually referred to as tsiktli' or as sg*no''5d
a'ne-Do-'!i "they walk about during the night." The meaning of
tsiktli' is literally "hooting owl," but since this night bird is considered
as a bird of ill omen, and because of the mysterious occalt power
ascribed to it, moreover because it indulges in its activities only during
the night as the witches do, the word, has been extended to mean
"witch."
A witch is held to be a human being, male or female, who is a
"powerful wizard" (aDa''"w€*i', aDa*'"wea'yu') such as a medicine man
may become who has "got the utmost" (see p. 87), but the semantic,