1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



19 



dence of these Indians and become their medi- 

 cine man." 



"That was a very simple matter," replied the 

 doctor, "and it all happened through a swarm 

 of bees. For several years ray travels have led 

 me among the different tribes, of Indians all up 

 and down this coast; and in many of them I 

 find the snake recognized as a symbol for either 

 good or evil in their religious rites. When I 

 came here a few years ago I was surprised to 

 find this tribe having traditions much like the 

 Moquis of Arizona, and, like the Moquis, they 

 had a snake-dance. I had learned the Moqul 

 language, and found it easy to converse wiih 

 these people, whose language was similar; and, 

 being a physician, I affiliated as far as possible 

 with the medicine men. With this tribe, in- 



Neo a-ho-a made a valiant defense; but as 

 bees were unknown in this portion of the State 

 up to that time, he was fighting an unknown 

 enemy at a great disadvantage. The whole 

 rancheria was aroused; but every one who ran 

 to the aid of Neo a-ho-a ran back howling with 

 half a dozen bees on his or her face or hair. 

 For a short time it looked as though there 

 would be a complete stampede of all of the 

 occupants of the rancheria. 



" I had been a manager of bees in the East, 

 and, taking in the situation as soon as I heard 

 the commotion, I made a smudge, and, taking 

 a large blanket. I brought the medicine man 

 to a place of safety in the center of one of the 

 large huts. I saw at a glance that the poor 

 fellow could not live. My remedies were few, 



stead of courting the favors of a venomous 

 reptile, as did the Moquis, they performed their 

 rites with the harmless gopher snake, and for 

 this purpose kept half a dozen in as many dif- 

 ferent stone cages in the cliff near the rancheria; 

 and at planting-time their rites required them 

 to be all huddled into one cage or small cave. 

 A few days after my arrival, while the medicine 

 man Neo-a-ho-a was performing some rite over 

 the snakes, with sweet-smelling herbs, an im- 

 mense swarm of bees settled upon the entrance 

 to the little cave where the snakes were kept. 

 As a result, the new comers took possession, 

 and, being no respecters of persons or snakes, 

 even if the latter were pampered as divinities, 

 there were in short order six dead snakes. 



simple, and ineffective. I called the chief and 

 old men into the hut, and informed them of the 

 fact; and while I was bent low chafing the poor 

 fellow's body, in the throes of his last gasp for 

 life, he threw his regalia over me, exclaiming, 

 'Neo-a-ho-a,' which meant that I would be 

 his successor; and while I was all the time 

 fearing that these simple people would lay all 

 of the untoward circumstances to the presence 

 of a white man, strange to say I was accepted 

 by the head men of the tribe without a murmur 

 of dissent. 'There is a providence that shapes 

 our ends, rough hew them as we may,' I ex- 

 claimed, as I arose with my new insignia of 

 office upon my shoulder. After many years' 

 wandering after a beloved object that had 



