The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-03-17

ever droned from within the "medicine tent" It was the most magnificent specimen of ven- triloquism, if ventriloquism it was, that ever came to my knowledge.
 Finally, when the sounds had all ceased, Wa-au-p poos appeared at the entrance of the tent freed from his bonds, which he declared had been re- moved and borne away by Pa-ah- kuk, the "Great Game Medicine;;" and, though diligent search was made, they could nowhere be found.+
 Reckoning to an Iroquois voyageur, 8 man who had arrived but the day before from the Ottawa region in the province of Ontario, and an utter stranger to every one save our chief factor, he ordered him to proceed to a certain designated tree more than a mile away, across an arm of the lake, and bring what would be found sus- pended from a specified branch.
 When the man returned, he bore what to all appearances were the bonds, handling them much as one might be supposed to do if made up of so many rattlesnakes, which he cast at the feet of the conjurer and no bribe nor persuasion could induce him to touch them again.
 l lifted and examined them care fully and critically; and had I not been convinced of the utter impossi- bility of their being the same with which 1 had bound Wau-au- poos, could have believed every knot and twist to have been the sole product of my own hands.
 At another time, having worked himself into a perfect fever of heat and precipitation while conquering a squaw in the final stage of consump- tion, Wau au-poos suddenly thrust his hands beneath the blanket that cov- cred her emaciated frame, and dragged out the carcass of huge gray wolf.
 This he flung outside into the midst of an assemblage of relatives and friends, by whom it was speedily trampled and beaten into an unrecog- nizable pulp. At the same time he announced that, having caught and scorched the demon who was the cause of the malady, the woman would make a speedy recovery.
 In making this latter assertion, how ever, he was trife at fault, for the poor creature died the same night-a sequel had every reason to anticipate, and of which 1 had previously given him fair warning
 Where or how Wau-au- poos con- cealed his dead wolf up to the instant the climax required it's production, could never imagine. Though l re- peatedly sought an explanation of the affair, the old rogue would afford me no satisfaction other than might be derived from a series of baboonish grins and chuckles and the oft re- peated "Medicine Medicine!"
 At Nipigon House (Moose district) l witnessed pooscoW that engaged the talents of half-a-dozen "medicine men" assembled from various parts of the country, even from Albany and Abittibee districts, and as many again acolytes or assistants in their novi- tiate, their object being the conjura- tion of man in middle life, who had lost the use of the right upper half of his body through paralysis.
 The "great man" most famous for his wonderful medicine" (conjuring abilities), was by long odds the largest Indian have ever seen, being of not less than three hundred and fifty pounds weight, "son of Anak" in point of stature, and of magnificent physical proportions.
 Of naughty mien and austere ways, he was both revered and feared and as he strutted about exhibiting all the extremes of savage frippery and finery, it was evident also that he was no "small beer" in his own estimation.
 A gorgeous robe of black bears' skin lined and elaborately trimmed with scarlet broadcloth hung from his shoulders, his neither extremities en- cased in white leggins and moccasins of tanned caribou hide, a miracle of fringed, beaded, and dyed porcupine- quill work; wampum, little bells, and ornaments of brass and colored glass, fastened at every available point, clinked and jingled as he stepped.
 An elegant medicine bag of mink skin, and huge medallion of her most gracious majesty, depended from a necklace of beavers teeth and claws Paints and pigments of various hues, green and vermillion predominating, and applied with no sparing brush to hands, chest and face, effectually con- cealed the natural hues thereof.
 To crown all, he wore helmet pre- pared from the head of a scapitt stag, surmounted by it's massive antlers five feet in height or more. Gurth's wis., ions in Dreamland ne'er evolved more grewsome or spook "Wild Hunts man" or figure better fitted to strike terror and awe to the savage mind!
 His following in greater or less de-