INDIAN MEDICINE. 655 



relief, or death intervenes and claims his victim ! If a fatal issue re- 

 sults, numberless excuses, always most reasonable, are at hand. There 

 may have been a new spirit, or the Supreme Power may have inter- 

 fered in behalf of the old, decreeing that it should work its full will, 

 probably in retaliation for some vow made in the remote past and neg- 

 lected or forgotten hence, a just punishment ! Under any circum- 

 stances nothing remains to be said, and the philosophy proves most 

 satisfactory and comforting all around. One thing, the Indian never 

 changes" doctors" ; and, if another conjurer is summoned, it is always 

 by or in consonance with the wish of the one in attendance. 



One " powwow " that I witnessed among the Ojibways my first ex- 

 perience by the way engaged the talent of no less than a dozen "medi- 

 cine-men " and nearly double the number of tyros still in their novi- 

 tiate. Gathered from remote distances and points wide apart, some 

 coming more than two hundred miles, thev rallied under the leader- 

 ship of one most famous in his day, so much so that his reputation 

 traveled far beyond the precincts of his tribe ; and, when gathered to- 

 gether, a more grewsome and spookish crew it would be difficult to 

 imagine outside of Pluto's especial domain. 



The leader or " great man " certainly deserved the distinction ac- 

 corded him, if for no other reason than size and stature, he being a 

 veritable son of Anak, considerably more than a " Saul among his peo- 

 ple," and above thirty stone in weight. He was gorgeously figged 

 out, and presented all the extremes of savage grandeur and frippery. 

 From his shoulders hung a massive robe of black bears' skins lined and 

 elaborately trimmed with scarlet ; fringed blue-cloth leggins, a miracle 

 of beaded work, and moccasins of caribou-skin ornamented with the 

 same and with the dyed quills of the porcupine, clothed his nether ex- 

 tremities ; ornaments of metal, of glass, of wampum, along with little 

 bells, were artistically draped and hung from every available point ; 

 an elegantly wrought "medicine-bag " of mink-skin, and a large silver 

 medallion of " her Most Gracious Majesty " jiung suspended from 

 broad ribbons about his neck ; paints of various colors, green and ver- 

 milion predominating, daubed with no sparing hand, hid the natural 

 hues of flesh wherever exposed ; and, to cap all, his crown supported 

 the head of a wapiti stag or Canadian elk, prepared in life-like man- 

 ner as a helmet, and surmounted by immense antlers more than five 

 feet, high. Gurth's "Visions in Dreamland " ne'er produced so wild a 

 " huntsman," or figure more Satanic ; and, all in all, the costume was 

 as striking and bizarre as one could ask to see. 



His following were in a general way his humble imitators, but less 

 grand and imposing. All displayed marked originality and taste in 

 producing the hideous and striking. There was, of course, a profu- 

 sion of unique ornaments and of paint, distributed with a view to the 

 effect that might be produced upon patient and audience, and varying 

 and bewildering results were obtained. One had his face completely 



