442 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1952 



to an animal before killing it, saying its flesh was needed for food. 

 The belief in a nature that was friendly to man has always been strong. 

 The Indians did not have the White man's idea of "conquering na- 

 ture." Many offerings have been construed by White men as propi- 

 tiation when, to the Indians, they were simply gifts to a friend. An 

 exchange of gifts is a common custom, and the Indians acknowledged 

 thus the bounty of nature. Careful interpreters have explained to the 

 writer that the native term did not suggest anger on the part of the 

 spirit to whom the gift was offered. This harmony between man 

 and nature may seem apart from our subject, but it is important to 

 an understanding of Indian therapy. It was the desire of the Indian 

 doctor to restore what he believed to be a natural condition of health, 

 strength, and long life, such as he saw in the natural world. The In- 

 dians believed in the existence of evil spirits but also believed that the 

 medicine men had power over them. The laity did not attempt to 

 deal with evil spirits. 



Both the individual and ceremonial methods of treating the sick 

 were studied among the Chippewa (Ojibwa) of Minnesota by Dr. W. 

 J. Hoffman. 6 Singing and the shaking of a rattle or beating of a 

 drum were essential parts of both methods of treatment. The sick 

 man was first treated in his home. A member of the Midewiwin would 

 give him a medicinal broth, singing and shaking his rattle as the 

 patient drank. The songs of the Midewiwin are represented by 

 mnemonics, or song pictures ; 150 of these were collected by Hoffman 

 with translations of the words, and 18 were transcribed in musical 

 notation. Typical of the words are "The spirit saw me and gave me 

 medicine from above" and "It is also on the trees, that from which I 

 take life." If this first treatment was not successful, the sick man 

 would be carried to the lodge of the Midewiwin and treated by a 

 number of its members in a ceremonial manner. If his condition be- 

 came hopeless, the singing was generally continued until life was 

 extinct. Since health and long life, as well as a right mode of living, 

 were among the teachings of the Midewiwin, this extensive use of music 

 is important to our subject. 



The writer began her study of the Midewiwin and its songs in 1907 

 by attending a ceremony at Onigum on Leech Lake, Minn. This 

 ceremony was conducted for Flat Mouth, the last hereditary chief of 

 the Pillager band of Chippewa, who was very ill. His condition had 

 been pronounced hopeless by the government physician, and he had 

 asked that the native treatment be permitted. The request was 

 granted. Eight members of the Midewiwin were summoned and 

 sang in Flat Mouth's wigwam for several days and nights. As he 



8 Hoffman, W. J., The Mide'wlwin or "Grand Medicine Society" of the Ojibwa, 7th Ann. 

 Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol. (1885-86), pp. 143-300, 1892. 



