1. Small quantities of powdered root are swallowed to relieve stomachic pains.

2. A person complaining with acute pains in any specific part of the body is given that part of the root corresponding to the part affected; e.g., for pleurisy, the side of the root is cut out, and an infusion given to relieve such pains; if one has pains in the lower extremities, the bifurcations of the root are employed; should the pains be in the thorax, the upper part of the root—corresponding to the chest—is used in a similar manner.

[ INITIATION OF CANDIDATE.]

As the candidate for promotion has acquired from his Midē´ friends such new information as they choose to impart, and from his instructor all that was practicable, he has only to await the day of ceremony to be publicly acknowledged as a third-degree Midē´. As this time approaches the invitation sticks are sent to the various members and to such non-resident Midē´ as the officiating priests may wish to honor. On or before the fifth day previous to the meeting the candidate moves to the vicinity of the Midē´wigân. On that day the first sweat bath is taken, and one also upon each succeeding day until four baths, as a ceremony of purification, have been indulged in. On the evening of the day before the meeting his preceptor visits him at his own wig´iwam when, with the assistance of friends, the presents are collected and carried to the Midē´-wigân and suspended from the transverse poles near the roof. The officiating priests may subsequently join him, when smoking and singing form the chief entertainment of the evening.

By this time numerous visitors have gathered together and are encamped throughout the adjacent timber, and the sound of the drum, where dancing is going on, may be heard far into the night.

Early on the morning of the day of the ceremonies the candidate goes to the sudatory where he first awaits the coming of his preceptor and later the arrival of the Midē´ priests by whom he is escorted to the Midē´wigân. With the assistance of the preceptor he arranges his gift of tobacco which he takes with him to the sacred inclosure, after which a smoke offering is made, and later Midē´ songs are chanted. These may be of his own composition as he has been a professor of magic a sufficient lapse of time to have composed them, but to give evidence of superior powers the chief, or some other of the officiating priests, will perhaps be sufficiently inspired to sing. The following was prepared and chanted by one of the Midē´ priests at the third-degree meeting at White Earth, Minnesota, and the illustration in Pl. XIV, A, is a reproduction of the original. The words, with translation, are as follows:

Plate XIVa. Mnemonic Song.

Ni-ka´-ni-naman´-do-na-mō´-a.
My friend I am shootinginto you in trying to hit the mark.

[The two arms are grasping the mī´gis, which he the Midē´ is going toshoot into the body of the candidate. The last word means, literally,trying to hit the mark at random.]

Me-kwa´-me-sha-kwak´,mi-tē´-wi-da´.
While it is clear let us have it,the “grand medicine.”

The Midē´ arm, signified by the magic zigzag lines at the lower end ofthe picture, reaches up into the sky to keep it clear; the rain isdescending elsewhere as indicated by the lines descending from the skyat the right and left.

Rest.
During this interval a smoke offering is made.

Mi-sha´-kwi-tō-nĭmī´-gĭs-sĭm´.
As clear as the sky[is] my mī´gis.

The figure represents the sacred mī´gis, as indicated by the short linesradiating from the periphery. The mī´gis is white and the clear sky iscompared to it.

Sōn´-gi-mi-dē´ wi-ka´-ne, hē´,
Wi-nō´-a man´-i-dō´-wi-dzhī´-id-e´-zhi-wât.

Take the “grand medicine” strong, as they, together with the “GreatSpirit,” tell me.

[The candidate is enjoined to persevere in his purpose. The associateMidē´ are alluded to, as also Ki´tshi Man´idō, who urge his continuanceand advancement in the sacred society. The arm reaches down to searchfor the sacred mī´gis of the fourth degree—designated by fourvertical lines—which is, as yet, hidden from the personaddressed.]

Hwa´-ba-mi-dē´, hwa´-ba-mi-dē´,
Na´-wa-kin-tē´.

He who sees me, he who sees me, stands on the middle of the earth.

[The human figure symbolizes Ki´tshi Man´idō; the magic lines cross hisbody, while his legs rest upon the outline of the Midē´wigân. His realm,the sky, reaches from the zenith to the earth, and he beholds the Midē´while chanting and conducting the Midē´wiwin.]

Man´-i-dō´wi´-ka-ni´ni-mi-dē´.
To the spiritbe a friend,my Midē´.

The speaker enjoins the candidate to be faithful to his charge, and thusa friend to Ki´tshi Man´idō, who in return will always assist him. Thefigure holds a mī´gis in its right hand, and the Midē´ drum in itsleft.