﻿318 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



" medicine men," and in this way the word has become common for 

 anything strange or unaccountable. Besides this, every Indian, in 

 his primitive state, must have a " medicine bag," and under all cir- 

 cumstances and at all times, he must carry it about him. They look 

 to these medicine bags for protection from harm through life, and 

 they are always buried with them when they die. It is, as my 

 readers will see, a kind of idolatry. The bags are made of the skins 

 of various kinds of animals, birds, bats, and sometimes toads, or liz- 

 ards. They are obtained in the following manner : 



When an Indian boy is ten or fifteen years of age, he wanders off 

 into the w r oods, and is sometimes gone several days without any food. 

 The first bird, or animal, he dreams of, or pretends to have dreamed 

 of, in his sleep, is to be his medicine ; and on returning to his home, 

 and after satisfying his hunger, he sets off to kill the animal or bird, 

 and of the skin the bag is made. Sometimes they are very neatly 

 trimmed and attached to the dress, so as to become quite ornamen- 

 tal, and at others, they are very small and entirely concealed about 

 the dress. They are never opened, never sold, never given away, 

 as this would bring a lasting disgrace upon them. If an Indian 

 loses his medicine bag while fighting for his tribe, no matter how 

 bravely, the disgrace is the same, and he can never recover his lost 

 honor until he rushes into battle, and, after killing and scalping his 

 adversary, captures Llo medicine bag, and brings it home in triumph. 



My young friends may be inclined to laugh at these foolish fan- 

 cies, and well they may; but they must not forget, in their mirth, 

 the ignorance of these savages. Perhaps, if they had the advantages 

 and the knowledge of those who read my Miscellany and Maga- 

 zine, they would be as free from these laughable superstitions as 

 civilized people are. But their minds are in darkness, and yet I 

 have never seen the slightest reason to doubt, that they were sincere 



o / 



in the belief that their medicine bag contained their Good Spirit, or 

 protector. I have know T n them to go fasting for several days, and to 

 punish themselves in various ways, to appease their medicine bag, 

 which they imagined they had in some way or other offended. 

 But to return to my narrative. 



We had not waited long before a slight and mysterious rattle gave 

 notice that the medicine man was approaching, and presently, an 



