BOUBKE.I THE MEDICINE-MAN IN WAR. 463 



be noted the same mumbling of incoherent phrases which has been the 

 stock in trade of medicine-men in all ages and places. This use of 

 gibberish was admitted by the medicine-men, who claimed that the 

 words employed and known only to themselves (each individual seemed 

 to have his own vocabulary) were mysteriously effective in dispelling 

 sickness of any kind. Gibberish was believed to be more potential in 

 magic than was language which the practitioner or his dupes could 

 comprehend. In Saxon Leechdoms, compiled by Cockayne, will be 

 seen a text of gibberish to be recited by those wishing to stanch the 

 flow of blood. (See p. 404.) 



In the following citations it will be observed that Adair and Catlin 

 were grievously in error in their respective statements. Adair denies 

 that Indians on the warpath or elsewhere depend upon their &quot; augurs&quot; 

 for instruction and guidance. Goinara is authority for the statement 

 that the natives of Hispaniola never made war without consulting their 

 medicine-men &quot; no sin respuesta de los idolos 6 sin la de los sacerdotes, 

 que adevimm.&quot; 2 



The medicine-men of Chicora (our present South Carolina) sprinkled 

 the warriors with the juice of a certain herb as they were about to en 

 gage in battle. 3 



lu Chicora &quot; Mascaban los Sacerdotes una lerva, i con el 5111110 de 

 ella rociabau los Soldados, quando querian dar batalla, que era bende- 

 cirlos.&quot; 4 



&quot;Among the Abipones [of Paraguay] the medicine-man teaches them 

 the place, time, and manner proper for attacking wild beasts or the 

 enemy.&quot; 5 



&quot;The North American Indians are nowhere idolaters.&quot; 11 



Idols were always carried to war by the natives of Hispaniola : &quot;Atanse 

 a la frente idolos chiquitos cuando quiereu pelear.&quot; 7 



&quot;Among the primitive Germans * * * the maintenance of disci 

 pline in the field as in the council was left in great measure to the 

 priests; they took the auguries and gave the signal for onset.&quot; 8 



&quot;In New Caledonia * * * the priests go to battle, but sit in the 

 distance, fasting and praying for victory.&quot; 9 



Our hunting songs and war songs may be a survival of the incanta 

 tions of Celtic or Teutonic medicine-men. 



The adoption or retention of obsolete phraseology as a hieratic lan 

 guage which has been noted among many nations of the highest com 

 parative development is a manifestation of the same mental process. 



1 American Indians, p. 26. 

 *&amp;lt;romara, Hist, de las Indias, p. 173. 



1 &quot;Est8 mascan ciertayerba. y con el zumo rocian la* soldados estando para dar liatall; . (ioinara. 

 ibid., p. 179. 



Herrvra. dec. 2, lib. 10, p. 260. 



Father Dobrizhoffer, quoted by Spencer, Eccles. Institutions, cap. 10, sec. 630. 

 Catlin, N. A. Indians, London, 1845, vol. 2, p. 232. 

 Mionmra, op. cit., p. 173. 



Spencer, Eccles. Institutions, cap. 10, pp. 78(1, 781, quoting Stubb s Constitutional History of England. 

 Ibid., sec. 630, p. 781, quoting Turner (Geo.), Nineteen Years in Polynesia. 



