Big Medicine Man
From a Photograph
Many tribes believe that the soul leaves the body when the evil spirit of sickness enters. The Portage Indians of British America hold this belief. Their medicine men try to bring back the wandering soul by [[30]]many curious performances. For one thing, the sick man’s friends are ordered to hang up his buckskin moccasins stuffed with soft feathery down. If the feathers become warm to the touch, they will know that the wandering soul has touched them and perhaps is hiding in them. The moccasins are quickly put upon the feet of the patient that his soul may not escape. If he does not get well, it is because his friends were not quick enough in their work.
The medicine men of many tribes dress themselves in hideous fashion to excite the fear and compel the respect of their people. They do not have to go on the warpath, but will do it sometimes. It seems to be a good chance for the deformed to win respect from the physically perfect. [[31]]
THE INDIAN AT HOME
An Indian in his native costume is a subject artists are glad to paint,—tanned buckskin trousers with the buckskin fringe down the outside seams; buckskin moccasins with colored porcupine quills neatly woven into the leather in regular patterns, and a heavy blanket or buffalo robe over his shoulders, hanging nearly to the ground. But the paint upon his face is his chief pride.
A traveler, in 1835, was taking a trip up the Mississippi. He espied an Indian on the forward deck who was making his toilet, apparently unaware that a paleface was watching the process.