I am able to call water from above, from beneath, and from around.
Here the medicine man boasts of his power over the elements, and his ability to do injury or benefit. The segment of a circle with dots in it, represents the water, and the two short lines touching the head of the figure, indicate that he can draw it to him.
9. Yah-nah-we nah-gwe-hah-ga e-nai-ne-wah, kin-ne-nah.
Yah-nah-we nah-gwe-hah-ga ma-tai-mo-sah, kin-ne-nah.
Yah-nah-we nah-gwe-hah-ga o-ba-no-sah, kin-ne-nah.
I cause to look like the dead, a man I did.
I cause to look like the dead, a woman I did.
I cause to look like the dead, a child I did.
The lines drawn across the face of this figure, indicate poverty, distress, and sickness; the person is supposed to have suffered from the displeasure of the medicine man. Such is the religion of the Indians! Its boast is to put into the hands of the devout, supernatural means, by which he may wreak vengeance on his enemies, whether weak or powerful, whether they be found among the foes of his tribe, or the people of his own village. This Metai, so much valued and revered by them, seems to be only the instrument, in the hands of the crafty, for keeping in subjection the weak and the credulous, which may readily be supposed to be the greater part of the people.
