[ PREPARATION OF CANDIDATE.]

It is customary for the period of one year to elapse before a second-degree Midē´ can be promoted, even if he be provided with enough presents for such advancement. As the exacted fee consists of goods and tobacco thrice the value of the fee for the first degree, few present themselves. This degree is not held in as high estimation, relatively, as the preceding one; but it is alleged that a Midē´’s powers are intensified by again subjecting himself to the ceremony of being “shot with the sacred mī´gis,” and he is also elevated to that rank by means of which he may be enabled the better to invoke the assistance of the tutelary guardian of this degree.

A Midē´ who has in all respects complied with the preliminaries of announcing to the chief Midē´ his purpose, gaining satisfactory evidence of his resources and ability to present the necessary presents, and of his proficiency in the practice of medical magic, etc., selects a preceptor of at least the third degree and one who is held in high repute and influence in the Midē´wiwin. After procuring the services of such a person and making a satisfactory agreement with him, he may be enabled to purchase from him some special formulæ for which he is distinguished. The instruction embraces a résumé of the traditions previously given, the various uses and properties of magic plants and compounds with which the preceptor is familiar, and conversations relative to exploits performed in medication, incantation, and exorcism. Sometimes the candidate is enabled to acquire new “medicines” to add to his list, and the following is a translation of the tradition relating to the origin of ginseng (Aralia quinquefolia, Gr.), the so-called “man root,” held in high estimation as of divine origin. In [Fig. 3] is presented a pictorial representation of the story, made by Ojibwa, a Midē´ priest of White Earth, Minnesota. The tradition purports to be an account of a visit of the spirit of a boy to the abode of Dzhibai´Man´idō, “the chief spirit of the place of souls,” called Ne´-ba-gi´-zis, “the land of the sleeping sun.”

Fig. 3.—Origin of Ginseng.

[Larger Figure]

There appears to be some similarity between this tradition and that given in connection with [Pl. V], in which the Sun Spirit restored to life a boy, by which act he exemplified a portion of the ritual of the Midē´wiwin. It is probable therefore that the following tradition is a corruption of the former and made to account for the origin of “man root,” as ginseng is designated, this root, or certain portions of it, being so extensively employed in various painful complaints.

Once an old Midē´, with his wife and son, started out on a hunting trip, and, as the autumn was changing into winter, the three erected a substantial wig´iwam. The snow began to fall and the cold increased, so they decided to remain and eat of their stores, game having been abundant and a good supply having been procured. The son died; whereupon his mother immediately set out for the village to obtain help to restore him to life, as she believed her father, the chief priest of the Midē´-wiwin, able to accomplish this.