§ 65. In 1872 Big Grizzly Bear, a subordinate Ponka chief, told the following to the author: “One day Whip, a head chief, said, ‘I am going to make the sun blue.’ And he did so. Then he said, ‘I am going to pull out some of the hair of the man in the moon.’ He held up his hands to show that they had no hair in them. Then he began to sing. Suddenly he had some bloody hair in each hand. Ga-ʇi-de maⁿ-ȼiⁿ and a great many others were witnesses. Once, when the Ponka were destitute of food, Buffalo Bull, the father of Grizzly Bear’s Ear, said, ‘I will use magic.’ His wife replied, ‘Please do so.’ So he made a pile of earth about 2 feet high and shot four arrows into it. A large deer was slain, furnishing them with plenty to eat.”
In 1871 the author saw an exhibition of the skill of Cramped Hand and Bent Horn, two Ponka shamans. One afternoon, near sunset, about two hundred persons, mostly Indians, stood in a large circle around a tent in which sat the shamans and their assistants. Presently the shamans and the aged chief, Antoine Primeau, came out of the tent and stood within the circle. One of the shamans, Cramped Hand, danced along the inner side of the circle, exhibiting a revolver (Allen’s patent), one chamber of which he seemed to load as the people looked on. After he had put on the cap, he handed the weapon to the chief, who fired at the shaman. Cramped Hand fell immediately, as if badly wounded. Bent Horn rushed to his relief and began to manipulate him. It was not long before Cramped Hand was able to crawl around on his hands and knees, though the bullet had apparently hit him in the mouth. He groaned and coughed incessantly, and after a tin basin was put down before him he coughed up a bullet which fell in the basin, and was shown in triumph to the crowd. This is told merely to show how the Indian juggler has adopted some of the tricks of his white brother. In a few moments Bent Horn danced around, showing to each of us an object which appeared to be a stone as large as a man’s fist, and too large to be forced into the mouth of the average man. Cramped Hand stood about 10 or 15 feet away and threw this stone toward Bent Horn, hitting the latter in the mouth and disappearing. Bent Horn fell and appeared in great pain, groaning and foaming at the mouth. When the basin was put down before him, there fell into it, not one large stone, but at least four small ones. We were told that the chief, Antoine, had to give a horse for the privilege of shooting at the shaman.
It is probable that some of the Omaha shamans performed similar tricks, though the author has been unable to obtain any accounts of them.
§ 66. He was fortunate, however, in making the acquaintance of the chief “wakandagi,” or shaman of the Kansa, when at Kaw Agency, in the winter of 1882. This man, Nixüdje-yiñge, was very communicative. He said that there used to be ten shamans in the tribe, and all had round pebbles which they blew from their mouths against the persons whom they “ʞilŭⁿxe” or “shot in a mysterious manner.” The arrow of the shamans was called “Mi-pa-ha,” which is a name of the Buffalo gens. This missile was made of part of the red-breasted turtle.
A woman named Saⁿ-si-le had two “makaⁿ” (medicines, fetiches?) which she used for “ickade” or “wakandagi wagaxe” (magic, shamanistic legerdemain). She could swallow a knife; and when she swallowed a certain kind of grass she drew a green snake from her mouth. John Kickapoo’s father had a red medicine, which was used for women who desired to become enciente, for horses, and for causing good dreams. Nixüdje-yiñge’s mother, who was a shaman, has a small pebble and a clam shell, which she used in her mystery acts.
Pagani had a “sika-hyuka” or “needle” (so represented by Nixüdje-yiñge, but it may not have been a steel needle), which he swallowed and voided through the urethra. Gahige-wadayiñga used to stab himself with a “mahiⁿsü” or arrow-point, about 6 inches long, causing the blood to spurt from his left shoulder as he danced. The other shamans used to spurt water on his back from their mouths, while he held his arms horizontally from his body, with the forearms pointing upward. When they finished no wound could be found. One shaman had a fish called “hu blaska” or flat fish, to which he talked. He made a necklace of the skin, and he used it for “ʞilŭⁿxe.”
Wakanda-zi had the skin of a small black bear as his sacred bag. As he danced he held it by the tail and shook the skin. After shooting the round pebble from his mouth at a person he thrust the bear skin at the wounded man, drawing it back very quickly. The round pebble was drawn into the mouth of the bear and dropped on the ground when the skin bag was held with the tail up.
He who wished to be shot at handed a gun to some one, who shot him in the side, much blood escaping. He seemed to be dead; but the shamans assembled and manipulated him. One put the mouth of the otter (of the otterskin sacred bag) to the mouth of the patient in order to perform the act called “lüpayiⁿ” (to raise up or resuscitate his own). Then, “Zü´be aká eyaú tuhnañ´ge aká,” i.e., when the bag was drawn away rapidly, the otter made the sound “zübe,” as when one draws in the breath, and the bullet was in its mouth. On the patient’s recovery he gave a horse to the man who shot at him.
Mañge-zi had a clam shell and a snake that he used in his sleight-of-hand acts. He also swallowed “mahiⁿ-tu,” a kind of green grass about a foot long and as thick as a pencil. Before swallowing this, he warmed it at a fire. He rubbed himself on his chest after swallowing it, saying, “Let all look at me!” Then he called to him a man to act as his assistant. He coughed and in the assistant’s hand there was a snake, which he took around the circle of spectators, showing it to every one, though no one handled it. On his returning the snake to Mañge-zi, the latter swallowed it and coughed up the long grass.