^^50 WEATHER MAKING, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 



As to tlie Muskingum, Heckewelder, in Lis Account of the Indians 

 of Pennsylvania (Pbiladeli)liia, 1810, p. 229), says: 



"There are jugglers, generally old men ami women, who get tlieir 

 living by pretending to bring down rain when wanted, and to im[)art 

 good luck to bad hunters. In the summer of 1799 a most uncomuion 

 drought happened in the Muskingum country (Ohio). An old man 

 was applied to by the women to bring (U)wn rain, and, after various 

 ceremonies, declared that they should have rain enough. The sky had 

 been clear for nearly live weeks, and was equally clear when the Indian 

 made this declaration; but about 4 o'clock in the afternoon the horizon 

 became overcast, and, without any thunder or wind, it began to rain, 

 and continued to do so until the ground became thoroughly soaked.'' 



Heckewelder adds that " experience had doubtless taught the jug- 

 gler to observe that certain signs in the sky and in the water were the 

 forerunners of rain." 



Among the Natchez, according to Father Charlevoix,' jugglers not 

 only i)retended to cure the sick, but also professed to procure rain and 

 seasons favorable for the fruits of the earth. Their incantations were 

 often directed to the dispersion of clouds and the expulsion of evil 

 spirits from the bodies of the afflicted. 



In the third report of the Bureau of Ethnology it is stated by J. Owen 

 Dorsey that "when the first thunder is heard in the spring of the year 

 the Elk i^eople (among the Omaha Indians) call to their servants, the 

 Bear i)eopIe, who proceed to the sacred tent of the Elk gens. When 

 the Bear people arrive one of them opens the sacred bag and, after 

 removing the sacred pipe, hands it to one of the Elk men, with some 

 of the tobacco from the elk bladder. Before tlie pipe is smoked it is 

 held toward the sky, and the thunder god is addressed. - - - 'At 

 the conclusion of this ceremony the rain always ceases, and the Bear 

 people return to their homes.' "^ 



Catlin, in his "Life among the Indians" (p. 78), says that he found 

 that the Mandan had "rain makers" and also "rain stoppers," who 

 were respected medicine men "from the astonishing facts of their 

 having made it rain in an extraordinary drought, and for having 

 stopped it raining when the rain was continuing to an inconvenient 

 length." He adds: 



"For this purpose, in a very dry time, the medicine men assembled 

 in the medicine lodge, and sitting around a fire in the center, from day 

 to day smoking and praying to the Great Sj^irit for rain, while a requi- 

 site number of young men volunteered to make it rain. Each one of 

 these, by ballot, takes his turn to mount to the top of the wigwam at 

 sunrise in the morning, with his bow and arrows in his hand and shield 

 on his arm, talking to the clouds and asking for rain, or ranting and 

 threatening the clouds with his bow, conmianding it to rain. After 

 several days of unsuccessful attempts have passed off in this way with 

 a clear sky, someone more lucky than the rest happens to take his 

 stand on a day on which a black cloud will be seen moving up. When 



' Voyage to North America, Dublin, 1776, Vol. II, page 203. 

 * Omaha Sociology, op. cit., 1884, page 227. 



