The similarity, approaching identity, of these practices to those common in Europe during the middle ages and continuing in some regions until the present time will be noticed.
The same author, pp. 197, 198, gives an account of Ojibwa divination in the following address of a shaman, illustrated by Fig. 702.
Fig. 702.—Ojibwa divination.
For you, my friends, who have been careful to regard and obey the injunctions of the Great Spirit, as communicated by me, to each of you he has given to live to the full age of man: this long and straight line a is the image of your several lives. For you, Shaw-shaw-wa ne-ba-se, who have turned aside from the right path, and despised the admonitions you have received, this short and crooked line b represents your life. You are to attain only to half of the full age of man. This line, turning off on the other side, is that which shows what is determined in relation to the young wife of Ba-po-wash. As he said this, he showed us the marks he had made on the ground, as below. The long, straight middle line represented, as he said, the life of the Indians, Sha-gwaw-koo-sink, Wau-zhe-gaw-maish-koon, etc. The short, crooked one below showed the irregular course and short continuance of mine; and the abruptly terminating one on the other side showed the life of the favorite wife of Ba-po-wash.
Fig. 703 was copied from a piece of walrus ivory in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company, of San Francisco, California, in 1882, by Dr. Hoffman, and the interpretation is as obtained from a native Alaskan.
Fig. 703.—Shaman exorcising demon. Alaska.
a, b. The shaman’s summer habitations, trees growing in the vicinity. c. The shaman, who is represented in the act of holding one of his “demons.” These are considered as under the control of the shaman, who employs them to drive others out of the bodies of sick men. d. The demon or aid. e. The same shaman exorcising the demons causing the sickness. f, g. Sick men, who have been under treatment, and from whose bodies the “evil beings” or sickness has been expelled. h. Two “evil spirits” which have left the bodies of f and g.