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220 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



ney to the land of spirits. To all these, and to the descriptions of the 

 Medicine Lodge, he gave the best of his knowledge and experience. 



David Amab', a singer and informant of former years, was near to 

 death from cancer but was able to answer a few questions and to 

 impart certain information which he " had on his mind," hoping that 

 I would return to receive it. He died ten days after I left the 

 reservation. 



Valuable information was also received from Rattlesnake, a leader 

 in the " drum religion," and from Henry Valentine Satterlee, who 

 acted as my interpreter in 1925 and is a recognized authority on the 

 Menominee. 



The principal subject of inquiry on this trip was the manner of 

 treating the sick, both by herbs and by means of the " juggler's tipi " 

 or divination lodge. This structure resembled an ordinary tipi but 

 was smaller in diameter. The medicine man. or juggler, was tied 

 with thongs and placed in this tipi, which he then caused to shake as 

 though in a tempest. He summoned the spirits, who talked with him, 

 revealing the cause of the patient's illness and the manner of his 

 cure, n the person was being "bewitched" he called the evil spirits 

 into the tipi. where he wrestled with them and conquered them, after 

 which he assured the sufferer that no further difficulty need be antici- 

 pated. Friends of the sick person, seated outside the tipi, heard the 

 " voices of the spirits," Init only the juggler could understand them. 

 Dift'erent spirits had dift'erent voices, for example the mud turtle 

 gave a whinnying sound. Mitchell Beaupre said he had heard that the 

 juggler held in his mouth something with which he produced the 

 sound, but was not certain about it. Several informants stated that the 

 poles of this structure were pointed, but from David Amab' it was 

 learned that the poles were blunt at the lower end. A heavy pointed 

 pole was used in making the holes in which the permanent poles were 

 placed, giving the impression that the frame of the tipi was of pointed 

 poles. The swaying and bending of the tipi could be more easily ac- 

 complished with blunt poles, moving in sockets. These observations 

 do not, however, deny the hypnotic phase of a juggler's demonstration. 



Information concerning the Menominee use of herbs in treating 

 the sick was obtained from Mrs. Harriet Longley of Keshena, whose 

 mother, known as Sophie Pete'ta, was a prominent medicine woman 

 of the tribe. Her mother's Menominee name was Nata'wika, mean- 

 ing " the whip-poor-will finds a place and dances " (fig. 200). Mrs. 

 Longley learned the use of herbs from her mother but makes no 

 practical use of that knowledge. She gathered for me 58 specimens of 

 medicinal plants and trees, representing a wide variety of environ- 



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