MEDICINE-MEN AND PRIESTS. 709 



he tries to frighten them by threats, by grimaces, by horrible 

 noises; or to disgust them by stenches and by things to 

 which they are averse ; or, in cases of disease, to make the 

 body a disagreeable habitat by subjecting it to intolerable 

 heat or violert ill-usage. And the medicine-man, deluding 

 himself as well as others into the belief that spirits have 

 been expelled by him, comes to be thought of as having the 

 ability to coerce them, and so to get supernatural aid: as 

 instance a page of the Uaupes, who is &quot; believed to have 

 power to kill enemies, to bring or send away rain, to destroy 

 dogs or game, to make the fish leave a river, and to afflict 

 with various diseases.&quot; 



The early predominance of the medicine-man as dis 

 tinguished from the priest, has a further cause. At first the 

 only ghosts regarded as friendly are those of relatives, and 

 more especially of parents. The result is that propitiatory 

 acts, mostly performed by descendants, are relatively private. 

 But the functions of the medicine-man are not thus limited 

 in area. As a driver away of malicious ghosts, he is called 

 upon now by this family and now by that ; and so comes to 

 be a public agent, having duties co-extensive with the tribe. 

 Such priestly character as he occasionally acquires by the 

 use of propitiatory measures, qualifies but little his original 

 character. He remains essentially an exorcist. 



It should be added that the medicine-man proper, has some 

 capacity for higher development as a social factor, though he 

 cannot in this respect compare with the priest. Already in 

 474, instances have been given showing that repute as a 

 soicerer sometimes conduces to the attainment and main 

 tenance of political power ; and here is another. 



&quot; The King of Great Cassan [Gambea] call d Magro . . . was well 

 skill d in N ecromantick Arts. . . . One time to shew his Art, he 

 caused a strong Wind to blow. . . . Anotlier time desiring to be 

 resolved of some questioned particular, after his Charms a snioke and 

 fiaine aro3C out of the Earth, by which he gathered the answer to ^i* 

 demand.&quot; 



