SORCERY AND JUGGLERY.
§ 306. As among the Omaha and other Siouan tribes, so among the Dakota do we find traces of the practice of sorcery, and there is a special word in the Dakota dictionary: “ḣmuŋġa, to cause sickness or death, as the Dakotas pretend to be able to do, in a supernatural way—to bewitch—kill by enchantment.” The syllable “ḣmuŋ” seems to convey the idea of humming, buzzing, or muttering.
Jugglery or sleight-of-hand performances are resorted to by the mysterious men and women. (See §§ 64-66, 291-4.) Some of these practitioners claim to possess the art of making love-charms, such potions being sold to women who desire to attract particular men of their acquaintance. When a woman obtains such a medicine, she uses it in one of two ways. Sometimes she touches the man on his blanket with the medicine, at others she persuades the man to give her a piece of chewing gum, which she touches with the medicine. Then she seizes him, and he can not escape from her, even should he wish to leave her. So he is obliged to marry her.
OMENS.
BODILY OMENS.
§ 307. Ringing in one ear signifies one of two things. Some one will come without his family, and he must be entertained, or you will hear news. The direction whence the person or news will come is shown by the ear that is affected.
If the eye twitches involuntarily some one will weep. If any other part of the body twitches involuntarily some one will hit the person there or he will be stabbed or shot there. If the palm of the hand twitches often he will soon strike some one, or else he will become angry. When a woman has a son sick somewhere, or if he has been killed on the way home, her breasts are often very painful.
If one sneezes once his special friend or fellow, his son or his wife has named him; so the sneezer calls out, “My son.” If he sneezes twice he exclaims, “My son and his mother!”