464 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



Gibberish was so invariable an accompaniment of the sacred antics 

 of the medicine-men of Mexico that Pray Diego Duran warns his 

 readers that if they see any Indian dancing and singing, &quot; 6 diciendo 

 algunas palabras (jne no son inteligibles, pues es de saber que aquellos 

 representabau Dioses. &quot; 



Henry Youle Hind says : 



The Dakotahs have a common and a sacred language. The conjurer, the war 

 prophet, and the dreamer employ a language in which words are horrowcd from other 

 Indian tongnes and dialects: they make much use of descriptive expressions, and 

 use words apart from the ordinary .signification. The Ojibways abbreviate their 

 sentences and employ many elliptical forms of expression, so much so that half- 

 breeds, quite familiar with the colloquial language, fail to comprehend a medicine 

 man when in the full flow of excited oratory. 2 



&quot;Blood may be stanched by the words sicycuma, cncmna, ucuma, 

 cuina, uma, ma, a.&quot; 3 There are numbers of these gibberish formulae 

 given, but one is sufficient. 



&quot;The third part of the magic 4 of the Chaldeans belonged entirely to 

 that description of charlatanism which consists in the use of gestures, 

 postures, and mysterious speeches, as byplay, and which formed an 

 accompaniment to the proceedings of the thaumaturgist well calculated 

 to mislead.&quot; 5 



Sahagun 8 calls attention to the fact that the Aztec hymns were in 

 language known only to the initiated. 



It must be conceded that the monotonous intonation of the medicine 

 men is not without good results, especially in such ailments as can be 

 benefited by the sleep which such singing induces. On the same princi 

 ple that petulant babies are lulled to slumber by the crooning of their 

 nurses, the sick will frequently be composed to a sound and beneficial 

 slumber, from which they awake refreshed and ameliorated. I can 



Vol. 3,]). 176. 



&quot;In every part of the globe fragments of primitive languages are preserved in religious rites.&quot; Hum- 

 boldt, Researches, London, 1814, vol. 1, p. !I7. 



&quot; Et ineme Jean P.c, Prince de la Mirande, escrit que les mots barbares & uon entendus ont plus do 

 puissance en la Magie que ceux qui sont entendua.&quot; Picart, vol. 10, p. 45. 



The medicine-men of Cumaua (now the. United States of Colombia. South America) cured their 

 patients &quot;eon palabras muy rcvesadas y que aim el raisino m6dico no las entiende.&quot; Goiuara. Hist, 

 de las ludias, p. 208. 



The Tlascaltecs had &quot; oradores &quot; who employed gibberish &quot;hablaban (.ierigone-a. 1 Herrera, dec. 2, 

 lib. 0, p. 103. 



In Peru, if the fields were afflicted with drought, the priests, among other things, &quot;chantaient 

 un euiitiquo dont le sens etait inconnu du vulgaire.&quot; Balboa, Hist. &amp;lt;lu Perou, p. 128, in Ternaux- 

 Compans, vol. 15. 



2 Assiniboino and Saskatchewan Exped., London, I860, vol. 2, p. 155. 



8 Cockayne, Leechdoms. vol. 1, p. xxx. 



4 &quot;The belief in the magic power of sacred words, whether religious formulas or the name of gods, was 

 also acknowledged [i. e. in Egypt] and was the source of a frightful amountof superstition.&quot; . . . The 

 superstitious repetition of names (many of which perhaps never had any meaning at all) is particularly 

 conspicuous in numerous documents much more recent than the Book of the Dead.&quot; Hibbert, Lec 

 tures. 187!), pp. 102. lit:). 



fi Salverte, Philosophy of Magic, vol. 1, p. 134. 



6 Kiugsborough, lib. 2, vol. 7, p. 102. 



