IM THE MEDICnCE-MAlf . 



** So saying, he entered his lodge alone, nor suffered any to come new 

 during the long fast that followed. Darkness had closed four times upon 

 the prairie, and the sun again hastened to hide behind the mountam peaks, 

 when, calling the young men to him, the medicine-man said : 



«* Fetch me now meat and water, with a new robe, and bid my people 

 come near, that they may know the words that I would speak.' 



" The obedient braves made haste and did as bidden. Folding the robe, 

 he sat upon it and partook of the refreshments placed before him. After 

 eating he arose, and six large snakes, crawling from tlie robe one after 

 another, sprang to his shoulder, and, whispering in his ear, vanished from 

 eight. The last snake had just told his message v/hen the chief began : 



"* The Good Spirit wills it, that we remove from hence. Three moons 

 being dead, let three hundred warriors return, and their hearts shall be 

 made glad with medicine-dogs and the scalps of enemies.' 



"The village left, and, at the time appointed, the warriors returned. They 

 met the enemy, — fought, and were victorious. Sixty-three scalps and one 

 hundred medicine-dogs wore the fruits of their success." 



Before dismissing tiie subject, many other particulars were cited in proof 

 of the extraordinary abilities of different medicine-men, but the above being 

 the most remarkable, I have thought proper to pass over the remainder in 

 silence. 



Note. — A.n account, still more wonderful than either of the foregoing, was eubao- 

 quently narrated in my Jiearing, while among the Arapaho Indians; and, without 

 vouching for the truth of all its pariicuJars, i am unwilling to withhold it from th« 

 reader. 



The performance aUudcd to is said to have occurred, some three years since, in the 

 presence of the whole Arapaho village, mcredible as it may seem. Tlie actor was a 

 kiccaree by nation, and is well known to the mountain traders. 



In the centre of a large circle of men, women, and children, stood the subject of 

 the appended sketch, stripped to the waist, as the gunner's mark. A shot perforated 

 Ms body with a bullet, whic h entered at the chest and emerged from the opposite side. 

 He instantly fell, and tlie blood flowing in streams dyed the grass where he lay, and 

 everything seemed to prefigure the reality of death. 



While in this condition, Ms wife approached and besprinkled Ms face with water; 

 Boon after which he arose, as from a slumber — the blood still pouring from Mm. 

 Beplastering his wound with mud before and behind, the blood ceaiped to flow, when 

 he commenced yawmng and stretching ; in a few nunuies the plaster was removed by 

 a pass of the hand, and neither blood, nor womid, nor the sign of a scratch or scai 

 appeared ! 'iliere stood the self- restored medicine-man, before the wondering throng 

 alive and well, and in all the pride of his strength! 



He then brought Ms naked son into the ring, a lad of some eight years, and, stand 

 ing at a distance of several yards, bow in hand, he pierced him through and through, 

 firom diaphragm to vertebrae, at three successive shots'. 



The boy fell dead, to every appearance, and the tMck blood freely coursed from hi» 

 wounds. 



The performer then clasped the body in Ids anns and bore it around the ring for 

 the inspection of all, three times in succession. Upon this he breathed into Ms mouth 

 and nostrils, and, aft( r suffusing his face witii water and covering his wounds with a 

 mud piaster, he commenced brief manipulations upon his stomach, which soon ended 

 in a complete recovery, nor left a f^ingle trace of injuiy about him. 



Both of these ftiats, if performed as said, can scarcely admit the possibility of trick 

 •r Blight of hand, and must stand as the most astoMshing instances of iugglery en 

 rMord. 



