﻿PROCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  THE 
  NATIONAL 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  vol, 
  67 
  

  

  Whilst 
  residing 
  in 
  the 
  American 
  Fur 
  Company's 
  factory 
  at 
  the 
  mouth 
  of 
  

   the 
  Yellowstone 
  River, 
  on 
  the 
  upper 
  Missouri, 
  I 
  had 
  the 
  opportunity 
  of 
  wit- 
  

   nessing 
  a 
  Blackfoot 
  doctor's 
  display, 
  in 
  this 
  identical 
  costume, 
  over 
  a 
  dying 
  

   patient 
  who 
  breathed 
  his 
  last 
  under 
  his 
  strange 
  and 
  even 
  frightful 
  gesticula- 
  

   tions 
  and 
  growls 
  and 
  groans 
  under 
  this 
  skin 
  of 
  a 
  yellow 
  hear 
  — 
  hopping 
  over 
  

  

  Fig. 
  

  

  -A 
  Blackfoot 
  pkiest- 
  ;tok 
  

  

  ami 
  over 
  his 
  palient 
  whom 
  he 
  had 
  placed 
  on 
  the 
  ground, 
  and 
  was 
  pawing 
  

  

  aboul 
  wiih 
  his 
  hands 
  and 
  feci, 
  in 
  the 
  manner 
  that 
  a 
  hear 
  might 
  have 
  done. 
  

  

  Each 
  one 
  of 
  these 
  Indian 
  physicians, 
  during 
  his 
  lifetime 
  of 
  practice, 
  conjures 
  

   up 
  and 
  constructs 
  some 
  frightful 
  conception 
  for 
  his 
  medicine 
  dress, 
  strung 
  

  

  with 
  skins 
  of 
  deformed 
  animals, 
  reptiles, 
  ami 
  birds; 
  the 
  1 
  fs 
  of 
  animals, 
  the 
  

  

  claws 
  and 
  toenails 
  of 
  birds, 
  the 
  skins 
  of 
  frogs, 
  of 
  toads, 
  of 
  hats, 
  and 
  every- 
  

  

  