Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-16
INDIAN MEDICINE FEN.
THEIR PHYsic is MAGIC ANDl THEIR
SYSTEM coNJURiNe.

q
| How the Indian Priests Look anf Dress
when They Are Making MedicI Gus
toms Recalling Some Old Dihi4 stories.
How They Got Their Name.
The fact that Sitting Bull was What IS
called medicine man. has bee1l stated
| in all the notices of his death, b9t II Is a
question whether one in seven on eastern
people know precisely what nieaf1 ne man
Is. To one who does know, nothing IS more
amusing than to read the accountSo OF early
| travellers in the Indian country when they
come to treat of the making of medicine
| and the other doings OF medicine men.
Even Capt. Butler, f. r G. S, arb Lewis
and Clarke were very shaky wnfn they
came to this subject.
Every tribe had, and still hif4 many
| medicine men, some of whom are eiliefs. all
of whom are very important personages.
Nearly al that the writer ever saw have
been old men or men past the middle age,
but that is a mere accident. for a q an may
be made a medicine man while he q young.
No one can visit any Indians at aky festi-
val time or time of general eyt1fcinent
from any cause without seeing medi-
cine man figuring very eonspieS,nsiy in
wl;itever i going on
Sometimes they are merely Beating
drums, or perhaps they are only grooming,
while dance or feast is in progress. At
other times they appear in he most gro
tesque costumes, painted OYER, hung
with feathers and nails and claws rud car
rying some wand or staff, gorgeous with
.olor and smothered with Indian fiuery
HOW THE TERN WAS APPLIED.
The term medicine is white mans
expression which the Indians have adopted
It was applied TO the priests of the tribes
for that is what they really are~becauss
the first white man often found them max
ing their incantations at the side of the
sick. the wounded or the dying L, reality
they We're exercising the evil spirits OF dis
ease or death, but the white travellers, see
ing them in the presence OF the lick, put
two and two together aud cali{d them
medicine men. The term IS two centuries
old, and the Indians have so fully adopted
it that when one of these officials Is at his
offices they say he is making medicine
The medicine man IS a conjnrer, magi-
clan, a dealer in magic, and an intermediary
between the men of this world and the
spirits of the other. He may know some
thing of the rude pharniacopHia of his
fellows, and may prescribe certain leaves
or roots TO allay fever, TO arrest u cold, or
to heal a wound. That is not hl ssiness,
however, and such prescriptions ale more
apt to be offered by the squaws oryby any
member of the patients family.
The medicine mans work comesE n when
medicine fails, and it is pursued uni death
is seen to be certain, when-amondm most of
the tribes-the sick or wounded man Is
abandoned to meet his fate, Ear from
thinking the only good Insh7 a dead
one, the Indians themselves SS title re-
gard for one who is half deaf ms Ger
tain to die
No more weird sight is on the
face of this continent thanI xsf such
a group of medicine men al save a
life. Seen at night the effon dsiesome
They sit in circle, brok fi 4 by the
body of the invalid stret1hvti d ,Tblanket.
at the head of the tent oil psi1 ~ saioor or
tent opening. The waveN - from
q candle stuck ingeniousSy II oor ~
birch bark, fastened tightly - in M.
end of stick that be,S<heenA in the
earth. The medicines 80 3,taa in
their own eolors, green eIradom-
mating. They are in full ~ t,n<h hs;r
hair falls over their hideon EK.U ,fa,,
oend forward to swing to and NJ "a hoo,
their drums lX
All are singing Often I'll ,g or,v
the tunes of ancient songs. I S,yd.- ~
ing forgotten or having STE irss,,,,.,
Now and then one leaps to wav;no
his befeathered rattle anlTEt 1s.,da,
than the others. He sing,&k. ba,
occur TO him as suiting there ua bs.
on no clothing but moccasins hraacb
clout, or "gee string" as theyt j., ,,ar-
ment on the plains
His thin, bony. bare red les I've III.
effect OF their nskedness ing he III,
jumping, dangling tail of fs ,hat
hutters down from his head anal VOC ;,s
colors with the paint stripes d II e.sh
His dancing is rather mors-h -.
something hsreatl. hiH ths In.
call dancing He lifts his rI..'
his knees; lifts them and -.
down monotonOusly, thouI- - ~.
body first to one side anu -
other. When the dancer s,'1
back in his place in the ci -.
moved another to take his o. p.'
QUEER RESEABLAl
The queer reseInb lances he,,
lians and those Hebrew ban ls III
history the Old Testament is sle 1880
often been pointed out, but ID 80
never seen attention called Z. s.a..,aA .'
Ity of certain of the Hebrew
The common practices of Indi
men. In their early history NJ
leaders were continually hold
with the Almighty They weih
their followers up in mountai
ret places and talked with Je- r,s
S precisely what the medicine
lay, or pretend TO do. Ever w "
he Messiah nrnra en-, = n ss,.s sna ing all
Various of the
pared To talk with UItruc-s,n pre-
'ver they happen to call the Gue :, /" nut
In some tribes they built little II oplrie.
If saplings and leaves, and went cA-i-ups
md held conversations that wert no snen
hough not ineligible to the red MI audible,
ng outside. The savages heard / en- iisten-
Inc mans voice and then heard ne nieoi-
u some other person replying TO 'oieo
argon they could not unravel. nm AZ
ribes the medicine NOR 49, 10 other
,avinp hell spch conror.a,;, reported
3 the IsraeIit;sb Is.g,ars IA precisely
Is TO say that the grounds for su not ior
4 the words of the Almight ireports
light in one case as the other.l mere as
rue that the Indians have belid ou. !. Is
heir priests have reoII,- I,al;asad we'd that
creations took place uen con-
ory know that his lin, - BULLS his
$ to his mower Ono c,,,,tin,,a,tis divided
lis ''medicine,, was me-, s,r,sd Sr,r Id that
meant that If no ever md .,a,, 7they
0 converse with spirits that p wer
i'm. This often happens. Med 'ele
ave their day and their decline men
very sagacious Indian who ~ ne y
aith ID his ministrations( eep up
- - Sun.
Her Superior
ullivan, "e opera by