8 King, Folk-lore of the North American Indians. 



what he was doing, but I heard his breath drawn from the depths of his 

 stomach. He beat the tambourine in the child's ears, during which there 

 was great silence among the other savages who were in the same cabin. His 

 medicine having been given, he called me and told me I might then see the 

 child, and that I should give him my opinion ; as to him, he believed that 

 the child had something or other black in his body, and it was that which 

 made him sick. Behold the result of this great noise. I approach, I feel 

 the pulse of the child, I discover a raging fever, and I tell him that he has 

 a sickness which we call fever, that he must be left to rest, and not be killed 

 by this great noise which makes him worse ; that recently I had an attack 

 of fever, and that rest had cured me. The sorcerer replied, " That is very 

 good for you people ; but, for us, it is thus we cure our sick." (v., 235 ff.) 



The blowing over the body spoken of in this extract 

 is often referred to in the ' Relations,' and is possibly 

 identical with the spraying still practised by the North 

 American Indians as a precaution against disease. Water, 

 sweetened with sugar and the juice of berries, is taken 

 into the mouth of the operator and ejected as spray over 

 the bowed head of the patient.* 



The following passage is a further illustration of the 

 use of the drum and other methods of making noise. 



As to this drum, it is the size of a tambourine, and is composed of a 

 circle three or four finger-lengths in diameter and of two skins stretched 

 tightly over it on both sides ; they put inside some little pebbles or stones, 

 in order to make more noise ; the diameter of the largest drums is of the 

 size of two palms or thereabout ; they call it chichigouan, and the verb 

 nipagahiman means, " I make this dium sound." They do not strike it, 

 as do our Europeans ; but they turn and shake it, to make the stones rattle 

 inside ; they strike it upon the ground, sometimes its edge and sometimes 

 its face, while the sorcerer plays a thousand apish tricks with this instrument. 

 Often tlie spectators ha\e sticks in their hands and all strike at once upon 

 pieces of wood, or upon hatchet handles which they have before them, or 

 u pon \ \\it\x oiuagans ; that is to say, upon their bark plates turned upside down. 

 To this din they add their songs and their cries, I might indeed say their 

 howls, so much do they exert themselves at times ; I leave you to imagine 

 this beautiful music. This miserable sorcerer with whom my host and the 

 renegade made me pass the winter, contrary to their promise, almost made 

 me lose my head with his uproar ; for every day — toward nightfall, and 

 very often toward midnight, at other times during the day — he acted like a 

 madman. For quite a long time I was sick among them, and although I 

 begged him to moderate a little and to give me some rest, he acted still 



* ArcJuTological Rfport of Oiitajio for iSg8. 



