The Arizona sentinel., 1878-09-28

charms of the native physicians (macke)
| fail to produce a cure, then the sick infant
/ is taken to some American or Mexican
and even Papago when he is known to
! have embraced the Christian faith. Gen
orally Mexican women perform the cere-
mony.\ If the child RECEIVERS il receives a
| Spanish name, by which it is known ever
after, but these names are so much chang
ed IN pronunciation that strangers would
hardly recognise them. Pedro, for ms
| talice, becomes Pi-va-lo Emanuel, Manorl {;
Ckristobal, Kis-to, Ignacio, I-mas; Maria,
Mar-lee, etc. 1t is certain that their reli-
gion does n5t teach them morality, nor
does it point out a certain mode OF con-
duct. Each Pima if he troubles himself
about his religion, construes it to suit
himself, and all care little or nothing for
their life hereafter, for their creed neither
promises rewards III the future for life
well spent, nor does it threaten punish
ment after death to those who in this life
act badly. They have no priest to counsel
themj and the influence of their chiefs is
insufficient to restrain those who are evil
dispose,l.I The whole nation lives but for
to-day, never thinks of the wants of the
future, and is guided solely by desires and
passions. They believe in witches and
ghosts, aid their doctors claim to know
how to find witches and destroy them.
= bnl; 70 l. -.
Usually it is small piece of wood, to
which is tied piece of red flannel cloth,
or calico by means of a ahOrse-hair. Should
one Of these he found In or near one of the
Pima huts, the inhabitants thereof would
at once abandon it and move elsewhere.
They believe that all sickness, death and
therefore, IL Pima is taken sick or loses his
horse or COW, he sends for one of the me-
dicine men, whose duty it becomes to find
and destroy the evil spirit who has caused
the mischief The medicine-man on these
occasions masks his face and disguises
himself as much as possible. He then
be infested, widening his circles as he
runs, until, at last, he Processes to have
found the outer limits of the space of
ground supposed To be under the intiu-
ence of the witch Then he and his a6sis-
tunt (the latter also masked) drive painted
stakes into the ground all about the be-
u-it cti he h
certain colors found in the mountains, are
said to possess the power of preventing
the escape Of the witch.
Now begins the search for the witch;
everything is looked into, huts are ex-
amined, fences removed, bushes cut down,
until, at last, the medicine man processes
to find the witch, which usually is the
above described stick; horse hair and red
cloth. Of course, this so called witch has
been hidden previous to the search, by
some Of the assistants Of the medicine man.
1t is burned at once, and the uninitiated |
iondly believe that, for time at least, |
they will be free from the evil influences |
of the witch thus destroyco.V OF course,
this mode of treatment seldom produces |
ture of sick people, but the Pimas know
nothing whatever of medicines; their me-
dIcine-men never administer anything in
ternally, and the above ceremony is the
attempt made to cure the sick.
for instance, in case Of pains
IN the chest or stomach, they scarify the
patient with sharp stones Or place burning
Goals upon the skin, and in rare instances
he patient. is placed upon the ground, his
mead to the west and then the medicine
nan gently passes Il brush, made of eagle
Gathers, from his heart to his feet after
which he runs several PAGES, shakes the
,rush violently and then returns to the
patient to repeat again and again the same
They believe that, by this
'peration, the sickness is drawn first into
he brush and thence shaken to the winds
nd bystanderS keep respectful distance
or fear OF inhaling the disease when it is
haken from the brush. Some doctors
retend to distroy sickness by shooting
ainted arrows from painted bows at ina
mary evil spirits supposed to be lowering
4 the vicinity of the patient.
The Plmas know many herbs which they
Sc as food at times when wheat is scarce,
ut they have no knowledge of medical
roperties of herbs or minerals, with the
lily exception of q small weed, called go
,ndrina" by the Mexicans, which, applied
5 poultice, is certain remedy for the
ite of rattlesnake.
1t is believed that all efforts to chistian: =.
,e the Pimas would fail, not because
ny of them would oppose such attempts,
ut because they all would be entirely
different to the new teachings.
(ro be continued)
SIXTY TWO bars of base bullion from
lie Aqua Fria furnace, the product of q
velve tons of Silver Bell ore, are lying at q
e Bank of Arizona awaiting shipment