450 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1952 



person is in danger of departing." He says that when he sings this 

 song, "a young buffalo stands in the way and tries to keep the spirit 

 from going away." After recording the song he made a sound of 

 violent blowing in imitation of the buffalo ; he always does this after 

 singing the song for a sick person. 



The Omaha treatment of a boy wounded by a pistol shot was wit- 

 nessed by Francis La Flesche in his own boyhood. 8 The "buffalo doc- 

 tors" were summoned, and four leading doctors in succession sang 

 their personal songs and administered their personal remedies. About 

 20 doctors, including 2 women, then joined in the songs. The 

 treatment continued over a period of 4 days and was followed by a 

 ceremony of recovery and the distribution of many gifts. It is said 

 that the boy recovered in about a month. Two of the songs used on 

 this occasion were published by La Flesche in musical notation. 



Mention has been made of the Indian belief that spirit-animals cause 

 various illnesses. This belief was found in a particularly interesting 

 form among the Papago of southern Arizona, who included among 

 causes of sickness the spirits of dead Papago and of Apache slain in 

 war. About 50 healing songs were recorded in this tribe. The bird, 

 animal, or spirit which causes a disease is thought to impart songs 

 and instruction for its cure to a certain doctor. It is the duty of a 

 sia'ticum, or diagnostician, to decide the cause of the illness and refer 

 the patient to the proper doctor. Songs are so closely connected with 

 the illness that the diagnostician may say to a man with sore eyes, 

 "Your trouble is caused by the quail. You had better go to So-and-so 

 who knows the quail songs." If the patient does not improve, the 

 diagnostician is held responsible and sends the sick man to another 

 doctor. Sixteen diseases and ailments attributed to birds and animals 

 were described, and songs used in the treatment of five were recorded, 

 these being songs of the deer, badger, horned toad, rattlesnake, and 

 brown lizard. 



A Papago doctor, Owl Woman, was living at San Xavier in 1921 

 and treating sickness caused by Papago spirits. She used songs which 

 they imparted to her and she believed that the spirits with whom she 

 communed were spirits of dead Papago who followed the old customs. 

 These spirits stayed near their graves during the day but went to the 

 spirit land at night, traveling a road over which they had even taken 

 her to that mysterious country. Many spirits had appeared to her, de- 

 scribed their experiences, and given her songs. These songs were sung 

 by an assistant while Owl Woman herself was engaged in the treat- 

 ment of her patient. Several persons knew her songs, but she depend- 

 ed on Sivariano Garcia, also a doctor, who lived near her and could 



•Fletcher, Alice C, and La Flesche, Francis, The Omaha tribe, 27th Ann. Rep. Bur. 

 Amer. Ethnol., pp. 17-672, 1911. 



