BOCRKE.I THE MAKING OF THE MEDICINE-MAN. 457 



by lightning. The whole tribe participated in the sinking, drumming, 

 and dancing incident to so important an event, but no white men were 

 allowed to be present. My information was derived from the dead 

 man s young nephew, while I was among that tribe. 



Among the Arawak of South America there are hereditary conjurers 

 who profess to find out the, enemy who by the agency of an evil spirit 

 has killed the deceased. 



Picart says of the medicine-men of the tribes along Eio de la Plata: 

 &quot; Pour etre Pretre on Medecin parmi eux, il taut avoir jefme longtems 

 & sonvent. 11 faut avoir combatu plusieurs fois contre les betes Sau- 

 vages, principalement contre les Tigres, & tout an moins en avoir ete 

 inordu ou egratigno. Apres cela on pent obtenir 1 Ordrc, de Pretrise; 

 car le Tigre est die/, eux nn animal presque diviu.&quot; 2 



The medicine-men of the Apache are not confined to one gens or clan, 

 as among the Shawnee and Cherokee, according to Brinton, 3 neither 

 do they believe, as the Cherokee do, according to the same authority, 

 that the seventh son is a natural-born prophet with the gift of healing 

 by touch, but upon this latter point I must be discreet, as I have never 

 known an Apache seventh son. 



The Cherokee still preserve the custom of consecrating a family of 

 their tribe to the priesthood, as the family of Levi was consecrated 

 among the Jews. 4 



The neophytes of the isthmus of I )arien were boys from ten to twelve 

 years &quot; selected for the natural inclination or the peculiar aptitude 

 and intelligence which they displayed for the service.&quot; 5 



Peter Martyr says of the Chiribchis of South America: &quot;Out of the 

 multitude of children they chuse some of 10 or 12 yeeres old, whom they 

 know by conjecture to be naturally inclined to that service.&quot; 6 



The peculiarity of the Moxos was that they thought none designated 

 for the office of medicine-man but such a,s had escaped from the claws 

 of the South American tiger which, indeed, it is said they worshiped as 

 a god. 7 



Contrary to what Spencer says, the chiefs of the tribes of the South 

 west, at least, are not ipso facto medicine-men ; but among the Tonto 

 Apache the brother of the head chief, Cha-ut-lip-un, was the great medi 

 cine-man, and generally the medicine-men are related closely to the 

 prominent chiefs, which would seem to imply either a formal deputation 

 of priestly functions from the chiefs to relatives, or what may be prac 

 tically the same thing, the exercise of family influence to bring about 

 a recognition of the necromantic powers of some aspirant; but among 



1 Spencer, Desc. Sociology. 



* Picart, Ceremonies et Coutnmes Rdigieuses, Amsterdam, 1735, vol. , p. 122. 



3 Mytba of the New World, p. 281. 



4 Domenech, Deserts, vol. 2, p. 392. 



5 Bancroft, Nat. Races, vol, 1, p. 777. 



6 Hakhiyt, Voyages, vol. 5, p. 462. 



Briuton, Myths of the Xew World, p. 281. 



