Seventh Annual Report Part 49

[The Good Spirit filling the body of the supplicant with knowledge of secrets of the earth.]

In the following song (Pl. IX, B), the singer relates to the candidate the grat.i.tude which he experiences for the favors derived from the Good Spirit; he has been blessed with knowledge of plants and other sacred objects taken from the ground, which knowledge has been derived by his having himself become a member of the Midewiwin, and hence urges upon the candidate the great need of his also continuing in the course which he has thus far pursued.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Na-witsh-tshi na-k.u.m-i-en a-na-pi-an?

When I am out of hearing, where am I?

[The lines extending from the ears denote hearing; the arms directed toward the right and left, being the gesture of negation, usually made by throwing the hands outward and away from the front of the body.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

We-nen-ne en-da-yan.

In my house, I see.

[Sight is indicated by the lines extending from the eyes; the horns denote superiority of the singer.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Mo-ki-yan-na-a-witsh-i-gum-mi.

When I rise it gives me life, and I take it.

[The arm reaches into the sky to receive the gifts which are handed down by the Good Spirit. The short transverse line across the forearm indicates the arch of the sky, this line being an abbreviation of the curve usually employed to designate the same idea.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Wen-dzhi-ba-pi-an.

The reason why I am happy.

[Asking the Spirit for life, which is granted. The singers body is filled with the heart enlarged, i.e., fullness of heart, the lines from the mouth denoting abundance of voice or grateful utterances-- singing.]

[Ill.u.s.tration (two vertical lines) missing]

Rest.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Zha-zha-bui-ki-bi-nan wig-e-wm.

The Spirit says there is plenty of medicine in the Mide wigiwam.

[Two superior spirits, Kitshi Manido and Dzhe Manido, whose bodies are surrounded by lines of sacredness, tell the Mide where the mysterious remedies are to be found. The vertical waving lines are the lines indicating these communications; the horizontal line, at the bottom, is the earths surface.].

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Ya-ho-hon-ni-yo.

The Spirit placed medicine in the ground, let us take it.

[The arm of Kitshi Manido put into the ground sacred plants, etc., indicated by the spots at different horizons in the earth. The short vertical and waving lines denote sacredness of the objects.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

N-wo-we-ni-nan ki-bi-do-nan.

I am holding this that I bring to you.

[The singer sits in the Midewiwin, and offers the privilege of entrance, by initiation, to the hearer.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Mide ni-ka-nak kish-o-we-ni-mi-ko.

I have found favor in the eyes of my mide friends.

[The Good Spirit has put life into the body of the singer, as indicated by the two mysterious arms reaching towards his body, i.e., the heart, the seat of life.]

In the following song (Pl. IX, C), the preceptor appears to feel satisfied that the candidate is prepared to receive the initiation, and therefore tells him that the Mide Manido announces to him the a.s.surance. The preceptor therefore encourages his pupil with promises of the fulfillment of his highest desires.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Ba-dzhi-ke-o gi-mand ma-bis-in-d-a.

I hear the spirit speaking to us.

[The Mide singer is of superior power, as designated by the horns and apex upon his head. The lines from the ears indicate hearing.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Kwa-yak-in di-sha in-d-yan.

I am going into the medicine lodge.

[The Midewign is shown with a line through it to signify that he is going through it, as in the initiation.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Kwe-tshi-ko-wa-ya ti-na-man.

I am taking (gathering) medicine to make me live.

[The discs indicate sacred objects within reach of the speaker.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

O-wi-yo-in en-do-ma mk-kwin-en-do-ma.

I give you medicine, and a lodge, also.

[The Mide, as the personator of Makwa Manido, is empowered to offer this privilege to the candidate.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

O-we-nen be-mi-set.

I am flying into my lodge.

[Represents the Thunder-Bird, a deity flying into the arch of the sky. The short lines denote the (so-called spirit lines) abode of spirits or Manidos.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Na-ni-ne kwe-we-an.

The Spirit has dropped medicine from the sky where we can get it.

[The line from the sky, diverging to various points, indicates that the sacred objects occur in scattered places.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Ne-wode-e.

I have the medicine in my heart.

[The singers body--i.e., heart--is filled with knowledge relating to sacred medicines from the earth.]

MIDE THERAPEUTICS.

During the period of time in which the candidate is instructed in the foregoing traditions, myths, and songs the subject of Mide plants is also discussed. The information pertaining to the identification and preparation of the various vegetable substances is not imparted in regular order, only one plant or preparation, or perhaps two, being enlarged upon at a specified consultation. It may be that the candidate is taken into the woods where it is known that a specified plant or tree may be found, when a smoke offering is made before the object is pulled out of the soil, and a small pinch of tobacco put into the hole in the ground from which it was taken. This is an offering to Nokomis--the earth, the grandmother of mankind--for the benefits which are derived from her body where they were placed by Kitshi Manido.

In the following list are presented, as far as practicable, the botanical and common names of these, there being a few instances in which the plants were not to be had, as they were foreign to that portion of Minnesota in which the investigations were made; a few of them, also, were not identified by the preceptors, as they were out of season.

It is interesting to note in this list the number of infusions and decoctions which are, from a medical and scientific standpoint, specific remedies for the complaints for which they are recommended. It is probable that the long continued intercourse between the Ojibwa and the Catholic Fathers, who were tolerably well versed in the ruder forms of medication, had much to do with improving an older and purely aboriginal form of practicing medical magic. In some of the remedies mentioned below there may appear to be philosophic reasons for their administration, but upon closer investigation it has been learned that the cure is not attributed to a regulation or restoration of functional derangement, but to the removal or even expulsion of malevolent beings--commonly designated as bad Manidos--supposed to have taken possession of that part of the body in which such derangement appears most conspicuous. Further reference to the mythic properties of some of the plants employed will be made at the proper time.

Although the word Mashki kiwabun--medicine broth--signifies liquid medical preparations, the term is usually employed in a general sense to pertain to the entire materia medica; and in addition to the alleged medicinal virtues extolled by the preceptors, certain parts of the trees and plants enumerated are eaten on account of some mythic reason, or employed in the construction or manufacture of habitations, utensils, and weapons, because of some supposed supernatural origin or property, an explanation of which they have forgotten.

_Pinus strobus_, L. White Pine. Zhingwk.

1. The leaves are crushed and applied to relieve headache; also boiled; after which they are put into a small hole in the ground and hot stones placed therein to cause a vapor to ascend, which is inhaled to cure backache.

The fumes of the leaves heated upon a stone or a hot iron pan are inhaled to cure headache.