198 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



"Dry herbs were also placed on heated stones and the fumes were inhaled, 

 this treatment being used chiefly for headaches. The stones were somewhat 

 smaller than those used in the sweat lodge being 'about the size of a small 

 bowl.' The patient covered his head and shoulders with a blanket, inclosing 

 the stones and inhaling the fumes. A mixture of many varieties of flowers 

 was said to be an agreeable preparation for this use." 



SHAMANISTIC TECHNIQUES OF CURING 



For more involved illnesses the Chippewa enlisted the services of a 

 shaman. There were two kinds of healing shamans: the conjuror or tent- 

 1 shaker (jiziki'w/"n/"ni), and the sucking doctor (wikwajige'w/n;"ni). Both 

 enjoyed extremely high status in the band, in fact they were generally the 

 most feared and respected persons in the community, for they had the power 

 to do evil as well as good. "Health and long life represented the highest 

 good to the mind of the Chippewa, and he who had knowledge conducive 

 to that end was most highly esteemed among them." (Densmore, 1928, 

 \p. 322.) Shamans were men, with rare exceptions,* and their powers were 

 / secured during their vision quest, but remained latent until the person was 

 ( middle-aged or older before he could actually practice. If he began practicing 

 too young he might lose his power or even his life. Not infrequently a 

 person was both a conjuror and a sucking doctor. Of the two the conjuror 

 had the wider powers, for he not only could magically heal, but also had 

 clairvoyant ability to determine among other things causes of sickness such 

 as sorcery and breach of taboo, and could exercise sorcery himself. The 

 ) sucking doctor worked on the disease-object intrusion theory, and it was his 

 I function to remove the cause of sickness by sucking it out of the patient's 

 body. The tent-shaking technique was perhaps the more dramatic method 

 especially when coupled with skillful ventriloquism, but showmanship was 

 1 not lacking in the sucking doctor. Both doctors were solicited by means of 

 f a gift of tobacco. If the doctor accepted the gift it meant he would under- 

 take a cure at a specified time and receive a fee for his services. Each worked 

 with an assistant who took care of the physical arrangements, and did the 



^Although in theory women cannot practice conjuring, Hallowell reports two 

 instances, Canadian Ojibwa, of women known to have used the technique in excep- 

 tional cases. They could do so, however, only "after menopause when they are con- 

 sidered to be much more like men." We also obtained several reports of women 

 having performed the sucking cure among the Wisconsin Chippewa. 



