Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1895-07-25
AERloAn MEnlolnE MEn.
rhey Have shm In Healing, aud Are versed
In tho nrrnlf. 4

pie IL represented In the witch doctor,
who Is the repository for knowledge Of
all kinds. They also have very extra
ordinary ability in occult tricks, in
Guiding feats Of levitation. Mr.. Kuno
saw something remarkable In this line.
A young boy was brought TO him for
treatment, complaining of a general
debility. lie could find nothing the
matter with him, and he finally went
10 the village witch doctor. The latter
called the people together and went
through various lamentations and pro
cesses 10 secure his cure. The only re-
markable one was this: lie sat down
Of the ground and placing the fat side
Of his forearm upwards put on IL a
round piece OF lead tapering to a point
on top, like a carpenters plummet In
this little peak was a bright red par.
rot's feather. After the ball had rested
there a minute IL suddenly began 10
move upwards on the inclined plane OF
the arm with the wabbling motion OF
a dying" top. IL passed up the fore
arm and the steep incline Of the upper
arm almost to the shoulder, when the
witch doctor threw Il off and went into
commissions. The man was practically
naked and sat so near Mr.. Kuno that
he could have reached out and touched
him Mr.. Kuno asked the man II he
would show him how to do that and he
said he would II he would come out into
the woods with him. Mr.. Kuno pre-
ferred, however, not TO 20 out into the
woods with him. There was too much
competition In this medicine business
TO take little trips into lonely spots
with such people. Another strange
trick Mr.. Kuno saw In the trial of a
woman for unchastity. The test Is 70
put the woman under the influence of a
drug and pass n white hot iron over the
flesh of the arm. II a mark Is left the
person Is guilty. In this case Mr.. Kuno
saw the medicine man heat the knife
70 a white heat and pass IL railways
three times down the whole length OF
the bare arm and yet not o mark was
TO be seen. Mr.. Kuno accounts for both
these tricks by the Wholesale hypnotism
OF the audience, but, Of course, that Is
only theory.
But in any case the medicine men are
very intelligent persons. In medicine,
for example, they have extraordinary
powers, n disease at least being
known which they can treat with sue
cess when our doctors have found no
sure cure for H. They use herbs en-
tirely, and make splendid lotions, Mr..
Kuno having a sand blindness, which
followed the Zambesi fever, cured by a
native doctor after all other means had
failed. They are also very successful
In such operations as removing tape
worms. In the smallpox and African
fever they can do nothing. IL Is merely
the hand OF God, and the victim can
only lie down and die unless, in the
former disease, he chances to get a
little satisfaction out Of his last hours
by going frantic and seeking and tear
ing up the man who bewitched him
into H. There are some exceedingly
peculiar diseases which are developed
in Africa, the most horrible in ppea
ance being she elcphantiasis, n form of
dropsy, in which q limb swells up 10 be
as large as the body, the flesh becom-
ing soft and spongy and the member
practically useless. Another still
stranger is the sleeping disease, which
is thought TO be first contracted by the
eating Of improperly prepared men.
d.oca- II is this trouble which carried
of so many of Stanley's men, and al
though eminent European specialists
have studied IL carefully II is as vet
very imperfectly understood. The vic
tim at first becomes abnormally dull
and sleepy, and then is troubled with
sudden doing spells which, recurring
with greater and greater frequency
and lasting for longer and longer
periods, finally end in the victims
sleeping to death. Apparently there
Is no cure for this when once con-
tracted. Mr.. Kuno tells Of n case where
he stood by a friend when he sent a
negro boy across a village yard, only n
few hundred feet wide. When the boy
reached the center he stopped sud
denly and sat down. Look at that
boy" said Mr.. Kuno. Poor fellow
said his friend, she can't help IL; he
has the sleeping disease" Mr.. Kuno
went over and shook the man violently.
but could make no impression. Twenty
minutes later the man got up, shook
himself and proceeded on his journey
as II nothing had happened.
II is the African fever, however. that
can be relied upon to do the real drudg-
cry in the way Of the necessary thin
ming out Of the human race. IL Is
really a cross between malaria and In.
~fiuenza, and IL carries OFF more men In
tw~enty-four hours than anything else
there Is. Your head splits, you shiyer
and roast by turns, and when Il Is
through with you. you are SO weak
that you generally die as a matter of
preference. The doctors claim that
you can't have IL In n temperature less
than SO degrees, but Mr.. Kuno saws he
knows better. lie has had IL this week.
Moreover, he goes further, and ad-
vances a new theory for scientific con
alteration. The grip, he says, as far as
he can learn, is nothing more than the
African fever In u mild form. What is
more, the disease started a few years
ago, just after a lot Of African mission.
aries returned home, and he IA person.
ally convinced that African fever was
among their baggage. The African
disease, he says, the doctors know
nothing about, and he thinks we treat
the grip too mildly, being too much
afraid Of quinine. The dose for Afri-
can fever In the medical books Is two
grains at a time, but In Africa the old
hands take as much as one hundred and
twenty grains at a crisis, putting II
down literally In handfuls. lie himself
has taken so much that IL has perma.
nently affected his hearing, q continu.
Gus buzzing going on in his head like a
spluttering telephone. HUT worst OF
all, when that disease or any other
peculiar 10 Africa gets into your blood.
you can't get II ont any way, no matter
how big your doses Springfield Re-