12 PAWNEES. 



is sick with a fever ; we are whfte men and it is supi)()secl 

 of course by them that we can give medicine to cnve the 

 sick. But our enquiries are now to ascertaiji what tliey 

 wouhl <hj. We have seen many a handbill rcconnnendiu.u- 

 various medicines, because it is said it was iu use by the 

 Indians, wlio are supposed by mauy to understand all 

 medicine and to ])e able to heal all the sicknesses of the 

 people. Nothing coidd be a irreater evidence of quackery. 

 I do not profess to know that all the tribes of Indians were 

 as iirnorant of these thinpfs as were the Pawnees, and yet I 

 know nothinirthat would iudicatcthat auy knew more. If 

 the knowledire which the Pawnees had ac([uired from the 

 whites was taken away. Ilicre would be none left. Their 

 mcdicine'Iike their ivliirion is but a l)undle of superstition 

 consisting of charms and juiriilery. They are easily imposed 

 upon and made to believe in almost anythinir hidden and 

 mysterious. They can he made to Ixdieve that a peculiar 

 medicine is beneficial, as many in civilized life can ; they do 

 not, so far as I could learn, administer any medicine to 

 affect the svstem. It is doubtful whether they know of 

 any thins: that would act as a cathai-tic. For an emetic 

 they seemed to knoAV that tepid or warm water would pro- 

 mote vomiting", but it is doubtful whether they had not 

 learned this from the whites. Some of them could at times 

 produce vomiting by the use of a feather run down the 

 throat. It was not known that the Pawnees ever drew 

 blood intentionally as a remedy. Some of the neighboring 

 tri1)es did. 1)ut it is probable they learned to do so from the 

 whites. Indeed the Pawnees had learned that the whites 

 sometimes did and supposed it to be a panacea, and if they 

 were ever ill when white men were about who would bleed, 

 they were wont to resort to them with the request to be 

 l)led. I frequently saw the manner of cutting themselves 

 practiced ])y two other tribes, the Omahas and Otoes to 

 produce ])lood. They usually bleed somewhere about the 

 head, and to do it shave the hair from the part, often on 

 the temples, sometimes on the top of the head and then 

 take a large knife and hack the skin up in a horrid manner 



