SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 413 



for tooth-ache the root of the Gerardria is not unfrequently 

 applied. Hydrophobia is prevented by cutting out the 

 wounded part. Dysentery is not common ; it is cured by 

 the free use of sassafras. Deafness is rare, and deaf and 

 dumb cases are exceedingly scarce. Their most prevalent 

 disease is hepatitis, which is hereditary and very frequent. 

 They use for its cure the oil of rattlesnakes and of other 

 serpents, they say with some benefit ; but Renville informed 

 us that he had never seen a person affected with it, that 

 was cured. Frozen limbs are common, and are sometimes 

 lost. They have been cured by the use of a plant known 

 by the traders under the name of the Vinaigrier, or Vinegar 

 Plant The Dacotas resist cold much better than white 

 men. Hypochondriasis is very common ; it affects them 

 as it does white men ; they attempt no other remedy but 

 songs and dances. A woman, that was once affected with 

 it, imagined that nothing would relieve her but cold water; 

 she jumped into a stream where the water was only two 

 feet deep, and she was drowned. Hernia is known, but 

 not cured. Hysteria is also known. For dropsy they 

 have no remedy. Diseases of the breast are very common, 

 and are attributed to their constant smoking. Rickets occur 

 in children, in which case they receive a great deal of 

 nursing. Syphilis appears to have been communicated 

 to the Dacotas by white men, and through the women 

 who had intercourse with them ; this disease was to- 

 tally unknown to those residing on the St. Peter, previ- 

 ous to the establishment of the garrison at Fort St. An- 

 thony ; and it is generally believed, that the first case 

 among them was that of Tommo, (our guide,) who was in- 

 fected with it at Prairie du Chien. The small-pox was 

 in like manner originally unknoAvn to them, but it has 



