6 s 6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



hidden with transverse bars of yellow and vermilion, and a ring of 

 black about the eye ; a second had daubed his countenance with black, 

 painting the orbits white ; another employed white and black in alter- 

 nate horizontal bars, with eyes set in a deep border of bright vermilion ; 

 still another hid his face behind a mask of ochre ; and a fifth wore a 

 wolf-skin robe, the head of which supplied a covering for his own. 

 The acolytes, or assistants, save for the instruments they bore, and the 

 medicine-bags suspended from their necks, differed little from their 

 brethren of the laity. 



The scene was night, close upon the " witching hour " ; the place 

 a natural opening, less than thirty yards in diameter, in the midst of 

 spruces, cedars, and towering Norway pines ; a bright moon threw but 

 fitful gleams of light, the rays straggling in here and there only serv- 

 ing to render " darkness visible " ; even a small fire kindled near the 

 center in no way tended to disperse the gloom of the surroundings, 

 its beams but magnifying all within their radius into ghastly shades 

 and shadows that danced fitfully and spectrally over the dark ever- 

 green background, giving the solemn and weird character demanded 

 in such proceedings, aiding to impress the beholders with the idea of 

 the mysterious and supernatural. 



The unfortunate in whose behalf the medicine * council was insti- 

 tuted was a man just past the prime of life, who but a short time 

 before had been stricken with paralysis that involved in varying de- 

 grees the entire right half of the body ; the hand and arm were en- 

 tirely dead to sensation, and no way amenable to the will. He had 

 for some time been under the care of local conjurers, who, failing to 

 relieve by their incantations, demanded a great powpow that should 

 embrace the most noted of the fraternity ; they assumed that their 

 failure was due to insufficient power , since a half-dozen or more of ma- 

 levolent spirits were implicated in the production of the malady. 



The poor fellow was finally introduced into our midst, when he was 

 submitted to a searching cross-examination as to forgotten or unful- 

 filled vows ; then, after a few uneventful preliminaries, such as look- 

 ing into amulets in order to determine the number and character of 

 the demons involved, he was placed in the center of the circle of con- 

 jurers who had thus ranged themselves to the left of the fire. 



Pou-?ii-ka-ma-ta, the " Medicine Elk," he of the antlered head, led 

 the jig, circling round and round the invalid, followed by the entire 

 conjuring crew in single file chanting a refrain that ever ended with a 

 line indicative of the unity of purpose and power of the Supreme 

 Manitou on earth, giving a peculiar inflection and intonation to the final 

 word. This was repeated over and over and over again, with unvary- 

 ing monotony, only to be replaced after a measured period by another 

 higher in key, and more emphatic in enunciation and movement ; and 



* " Medicine," in its savage sense, admits of no change in orthography, whether used 

 in the singular or plural, or as a verb, adverb, noun, or adjective. 



