All the knowledge which the Midē' have, and more, Minabō'sho received from the spirits. Then he built a long lodge, as he had been directed, and now even at this day he is present at the Sacred Medicine lodge when the Grand Medicine rite is performed.
In the rite is incorporated most that is ancient amongst them, songs and traditions that have descended, not orally alone, but by pictographs, for a long line of generations. In this rite is also perpetuated the purest and most ancient idioms of their language, which differs somewhat from that of the common, every-day use.
It is desirable to explain the mode of using the Midē' and other bark records of the Ojibwa and also those of other tribes mentioned in this paper. A comparison made by Dr. Tyler of the pictorial alphabet to teach children, “A was an archer,” etc., is not strictly appropriate in this case. The devices are not only mnemonic, but are also ideographic and descriptive. They are not merely invented to express or memorize the subject, but are evolved therefrom. To persons acquainted with secret societies a good comparison for the charts or rolls is what is called the trestle board of the Masonic order, which is printed and published and publicly exposed without exhibiting any of the secrets of the order, yet through its ideography it is practically useful to the esoteric members by assisting memory in details of ceremony and it also prevents deviation from the established ritual.
Fig. 690.—Ojibwa Midē' wigwam.
Fig. 690, from Copway (d), gives the Ojibway character for Grand Medicine lodge.
Fig. [171], supra, is a reproduction, with description, of a birch-bark record illustrating the alleged power of a Jĕssakkī'd, one who is also a Midē' of the four degrees of the Medicine Society.
Fig. [172], supra, represents, with explanations, a Jĕssakkī'd named Niwi'kki, curing a sick woman by sucking the demon through a bone tube.
When the method of procedure of a Midē' goes beyond the ordinary ceremonies, such as chanting prayers and drumming, the use of the rattle, and the administration of magic medicines and exorcisms, it overlaps the prescribed formulæ of the Midē'win and partakes of the rites of the Jĕssakkī'd or “Juggler.”
