482 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



also attached numbers of the perforated wampum shell beads of native 

 manufacture. Pendant from this collar are live medicine arrows, the 

 exact nature of which, it was, of course, impossible to determine from 

 the owner himself. Both Frank and Baptiste agreed that an arrow 

 might become medicine &quot; either from having been shot into the person 

 of the owner himself or into the body of an enemy, or even from having 

 been picked up under peculiar circumstances. The owner, High Wolf or 

 Tall Wolf, admitted as much after he had surrendered at the Red Cloud 

 Agency and had made every effort to obtain the return of his medicine, 

 which was this necklace. 



The four medicine bags to be seen in the picture are worthy of atten 

 tion. They were carefully examined under a powerful glass by Dr. II. 

 C. Yarrow, U. S. Army, in the city of Washington, and pronounced to 

 be human scrota. The first of these contained a vegetable powder, 

 somewhat decomposed, having a resemblance to hoddentin; the second 

 was filled with killikinnick; the third with small garnet colored seeds 

 like the chia in use among the Apache, and the fourth with a yellow, 

 clayey-white vegetable matter not identified. The fifth, also, remained 

 unidentified. 



Besides the above, there are artificial teeth, resembling those of the 

 fossil animals abundant in the Bad Lands of South Dakota, but cut out 

 of soft stone. 



The fingers eight altogether are the left-hand middle fingers of 

 Indians of hostile tribes, killed by High Wolf. I obtained the list and 

 could insert it here were it worth while to do so. The fingers have not 

 been left in the natural state, but have been subjected to very careful 

 and elaborate antiseptic treatment in order thoroughly to desiccate them. 

 They were split longitudinally on the inner side and after the bone had 

 been extracted the surface of the skin, both inside and out, received a 

 treatment with a wasli or paint of ocherous earth, the same as is used 

 for the face. I was told that the bones were not replaced but that sticks 

 were inserted to maintain the fingers in proper shape. 



Of the reason for making use of such a trophy or relic, there is not 

 much to be said; even the savages know little and say less. From the 

 best information that I have been able to gather, it would seem to be 

 based partly upon a vainglorious desire to display the proofs of 

 personal prowess, and partly upon the vague and ill defined, but deeply 

 rooted, belief in the talismanic or &quot; medicinal&quot; potency possessed by all 

 parts of the human body, especially after death. It was such a belief 

 which impelled the Maudan, Aztecs, and others of the American tribes 

 to preserve the skulls of their dead as well as (among the Aztecs) those 

 of the victims sacrificed in honor of their gods. As has been shown in 

 another place, the Zufii and others take care to ofler food at stated 

 periods to the scalps of their enemies. 



The use of necklaces of human fingers or of human teeth is to be 

 found in many parts of the world, and besides the lingers themselves, 



