The Bozeman courier., 1927-11-25

baths, accompanied by singing and beat
ing of tom-tOmS.
Noise probably played its part in pro-
ducing a right frame Of mind in the sick
man AS for the sage tea, when Montana
was young, and quinine lacking in the
mining districts, this kind Of tea was
used in its stead to cure mild forms Of
typhoid, then prevalent under the name
Of mountain fever.
I never heard of the weed spoken Of
as a snake cure and doubt if 1T would
have been used, if known, whisky, the
time-honored remedy, being preferred.
The Kansas historical collections for
1919-1922 has the following story taken
from the manuscript notes Of w. M.
BoggS, as given by George Bird Grinnell.
will state it in condensed form:
William Bent had q severe sore throat
which from its description seemed to be
diphtheria, and could take nothing but
soup fed to him through a quill. Fear
ing he was about to die he sent for a
medicine man. On his arrival, the medi-
cine man examined Bents throat
exactly as a white doctor would by de-
pressing the tongue with the handle Of
a large spoon.
''He shook his head, got up and went
out Of the lodge and returned very soon
with handful of small sand burs," says
Boggs. They were about the size Of a
marrowfat pea, with barbS all around
as sharp as fishhooks and turned up
one way. They were so sharp that they
would stick to ones fingers. He called
for a piece Of sinew and lump of mar
row grease. He made five or six threads
Of the Sinew and tied a knot in one end
OF each, took an awl and pierced a hole
through each bur and ran the sinew
through it down to the knot, then rolled
the bur in marrow grease until it COM
pletely covered the barbs Of the bur;
took a flat stick about like a china
| chopStick, cut a notch in one end
wrapped one end of the sinew around
his finger and placed the notched stick
against the bur, made Bent open his
mouth and forced that bur or ball down
Bent's throat the full length Of the stick
and drew it out Of the throat and re-
peated that three or four times, draw
ing out, on the barbs, all the dry and
corrupt matter each time and opened
the throat passage so that Bent could
swallow soup, and in day or two was
well enough to eat food. And he told
me that he certainly would have died if
that Indian had not come to his relief
Indian Doctor Laughs
''The Indian was laughing while he
I performed the operation. He was the
most assuming Indian saw among the
/ CheyenneS, but he was considered by all
the whites that knew him the shrewdest
/ doctor belonging to the tribe. No medi-
cine would have had any effect in re-
movino these distractions in Bent's
thru It had become as dry as the bark
on : .Se, and but TOR this simple remedy
Bent would have died. No one but ar
Indian would have thought Of resortine
to such a remedy
There is no question that these In
dian doctors often deceived their pa
tients but we have heard Of white peo-
pie who took bread pills under the mis-.
taken notion that they contained drugs
General Wheeler says:
"One day heard drumming and sing
ing in the tepee Of White Buffalo anc
asked the cause. He said his wife was
very sick and that the medicine mer
were trying to cure her. A few davl
later 7 asked him how his wife was Get.
ting on and he replied, All right thai
one Of the medicine men had sucked
bone out Of her side as large as hi,
thumbl I tried to convince him tha-
this was impossible but never succeeded. ,
The purpose Of the singing, shaking O.
rattles and beating Of tomtoms is K
drive away the evil spirit or spirits tha.
were supposed to have caused the i'll.
ness. In Biblical times men had th,
same belief that those i'll were possessed
by evil, and I am not sure that It 4
entirely Outgrown at the present day