162 EXPEDITION TO THE 



affects them between the ages of thirty and forty ; they 

 linger under its influence for a year or two, but always fall 

 victims to it. Having no remedy of any efficacy against it, 

 they resort to a number of plants, in which, however, they 

 place but little reliance, unless accompanied by charms and 

 incantations. Many of them die of a bowel complaint, 

 which prevails every year, and which is produced by an 

 excessive use of berries and unripe vegetahles. This dis- 

 ease does not partake, however, of the nature of a dy- 

 sentery. 



It is about thirty or forty years since the small-pox over- 

 ran the country, and the terror which it inspired is still to 

 be traced among them. 



All the Chippewas attend more or less to medicine, and 

 are acquainted with some plants which afford salutary re- 

 medies; but there are some men who make a particular 

 study of the subject, and who are supposed to excel in it; 

 these are consulted in all dangerous cases, and are paid for 

 their attendance : the fees are very high. Harmon informs 

 us that among the Carriers, the physicians receive high 

 fees, but that it is usual for them to return the amount paid 

 when the patient dies. The Chippewa physician resembles 

 that of civilized nations more, in this respect that whenever 

 the patient dies, his death is ascribed, not to the impotency 

 of the physician's prescription, but to the fault of nature, 

 so the fee is kept. Their mode of treatment depends more 

 upon the adoption of proper spells than the prescription of 

 remedies. Every dose which is administered, is accompa- 

 nied by certain songs, in which the efficacy of the remedy 

 is supposed to reside. The medicines are always pulveriz- 

 ed and compounded, to prevent their nature from being 

 detected. Those who are skilled in medicine, will instruct 

 others in their secrets, whenever a sufficiently large fee 



