Fig. 697.—Making medicine.
Fig. 697. Buffalo is scarce; an Indian makes medicine and brings a herd to the suffering. The-Flame’s Winter Count, 1843-’44.
Here the incantation is shown by a tipi with the buffalo head drawn upon it. It is the “medicine” or sacred tipi where the rites are held.
A curious variant of divination with regard to the use of songs in the removal of disease was found among the Choctaws. Each of the songs of this class bore reference to some herb or form of treatment, each of which was represented objectively or pictorially and produced simultaneously with the chanting of the appropriate song by the shaman. The remedy or treatment to be adopted was decided upon by the degree of pleasure or relief afforded to the patient by the respective songs.
Fig. 698.—Magic Killing.
Fig. 698. Cat-Owner was killed with a spider-web thrown at him by a Dakota. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1824-’25. The spider-web is shown reaching to the heart of the victim from the hand of the man who threw it and two spiral wakan lines are also shown. Blood issuing from his nose, colored red in the original, indicates that he bled to death. It is a common belief among Indians that certain “medicine men” possess the power of taking life by shooting needles, straws, spider-webs, bullets, and other objects, however distant the person may be against whom they are directed.
It may be noted that the union line connecting the two figures at the base signifies that they belong to the same tribe which the hair on the figure of the left shows to be Dakota. The victim is not scalped, but has no hair or other designation, being shown only in outline.
