NEH NIGAHNIGAHAH.
The charm medicine is known as the niga‘ni‘gă´a‘ and each member possesses a certain amount of it. The secret of compounding the niga‘ni‘gă´a‘ rested with only one man in a tribe, who, according to the teachings of the society, would be apprised of approaching death and given time to transmit the knowledge to a successor whom he should choose. According to the traditions of the Honohtcinohgah the secret holder always foreknew the hour of his death and frequently referred to it in lodge meetings.
The “small dose” medicine is composed of the brains of various mammals, birds, fish and other animals and the pollen and roots of various plants, trees and vegetables. These ingredients are compounded and pulverized with certain other substances as squash seeds, corn roots, etc., and constitute the base of the niganigaah.
That this medicine actually possesses chemical properties that react on human tissue was proven by Dr. J. H. Salisbury, an eminent physician and a former State chemist, who according to Mrs. H. M. Converse analyzed and experimented with a small quantity that he had secured from a member of the society.
The medicine itself is of a yellowish hue and when opened in the dark sometimes appears luminous, probably from the organic phosphorus that it contains. The utmost caution is employed by the members of the Honohtcinohgäh to preserve the medicine from exposure to the air in unsafe places and from contaminating influences. It is held in a small skin bag[[95]] and wrapped in many coverings of cloth and skin and finally enclosed in a bark, wood or tin case to keep it free from moisture, disease and dirt.
Among the Seneca of modern times John Patterson was the last of the holders of the secret and the secret of the precise method of compounding the medicine died with him, he in some way having failed to instruct a successor. The members thus doubly guard their medicine and are loath to use it except in cases of extreme necessity for when it is exhausted not only will they be unable to secure more but by a legend when the medicine is gone the Senecas will forever lose their identity as Indians.
METHOD OF ADMINISTERING THE CHARMED MEDICINE.
A person who wishes to have the medicine given him for the cure of a wound, broken bone or specific disease, must purge himself and for three days must abstain from the use of salt or grease. His food must be the flesh of white birds or animals and only the white portions. The system of the patient is then ready to receive the medicine. The medicine man comes to his lodge and an assistant searches the house for anything that might destroy the “life” of the medicine such as household animals, vermin, decayed meat, blood, soiled garments, etc. These things removed from the house, the patient is screened off and the guard patrols the premises warning away all infected or obnoxious persons. An attendant who has previously been dispatched to a clear running stream enters with a bowl of water that has been dipped from the crest of the ripples as they “sang their way down the water-road.” Not to antagonize the forces in the water, it was dipped the way the current ran, down stream, and not upward against it.
Everything now being in readiness the medicine man takes a basket of tobacco and as he repeats the ancient formula he casts pinches of the tobacco into the flames that the sacred smoke may lift his words to the Great Spirit. The water is then poured out in a cup and the medicine packet opened. With a miniature ladle that holds as much of the powder as can be held on the tip of the blade of a small penknife, the medicine man dips three times from the medicine and drops the powder on the surface of the water in three spots, the points of a triangle. If the medicine floats the omen is good, if it clouds the water the results are considered doubtful and if it sinks death may be predicted with a degree of certainty and the medicine is thrown away. In the case of severe cuts or contusions and broken bones the medicated water is sprinkled upon the affected part and an amount is taken internally. A medicine song is then chanted by the “doctor” who accompanies himself with a gourd rattle. After the ceremony of healing, the people of the house partake of a feast of fruit, and the medicine man departs with his fee, a pinch of sacred tobacco. The following description of the lodge ceremony from the lips of a Seneca will not be out of place. The story is related exactly as it came from the tongue of the interpreter.
Jesse Hill speaking: “Mother scraped off basswood bark, soaked it in water and wrapped it around my leg. Next day we sent for the medicine man. He came at sun set and sent to the creek for fresh water to be dipped where the current was swift, with a pail not against the current. Poured some in a tea cup and pulled out the medicine bag. Opened it with a charmed shovel not much larger than a pin. Dipped three times. Cup of water. Floated. Go up or down. Understood it was good medicine. Took some in his mouth and sprayed it on my leg. Told mother to put a curtain around my bed so no one could see me. If anyone saw any part of my body, medicine would do no good. Soon came dark. All the animals were put out. Took tin pail and made fire. Put in center of room and all sat around in silence. Medicine man made prayer. Scattered tobacco mother had prepared over fire. Took rattle made of gourd and chanted medicine song loud and louder. Half hour pain had gone. Boiled different fruits together till soft. Put kettle where all could help out with little dipper. Left two doses of medicine. Eat nothing but white things. White of egg of chicken had white feathers and eat chicken if white. Five or six days spoke things. All certain took pain away.”