206 BULLETIN, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. 19 



dedicated to the spirits by the doctor who then relates part of his fasting 

 dream and enlists the aid of one or more of his spirits to help him in this 

 curing. A song to the assisting spirit is sung by the doctor while shakmg 

 his rattle and to the drumming of the assistant. During the song the spirit 

 enters the body of the doctor. One of the tubes is "swallowed" and re- 

 gurgitated by the doctor who kneels over the patient, locates the origin of 

 the sickness, sucks it out through the tube, and spits it into the shallow dish 

 along with the tube. At this point the drumming stops abruptly to indicate 

 the end of this phase, the dish is passed around for inspection, and if 

 foreign matter has been forthcoming, the contents of the dish are thrown 

 into the fire. There may be several such suckings before any matter shows 

 up in the dish, and in the case of several failures the patient may be asked 

 to return the following evening when another spirit will be tried. A curing 

 ritual may last anywhere from a half hour to two hours depending upon 

 the wishes and successes of the doctor. The patient rewards the doctor 

 with gifts such as clothing, blankets, whiskey, guns, etc. The following is a 

 detailed account of a curing witnessed in 1941 in which two patients 

 were treated. 



"We arrived at the patient's house about 7:15 P.M. and the ceremony began 

 shortly thereafter. The doctor was wasegi'zik, a man over eighty, nearly blind, and 

 from the nearby Bad River Reservation. He has been livingl at the patient's house, 

 treating her at various times. A blanket and pillow had already been laid out on the 

 floor and on a cloth nearby was a pie tin, a cup of sugared tea, and a piece ot 

 buttered bread. Shortly after our arrival the doctor took two brass tubes (made from 

 cartridge cases) that had been wrapped in a blue handkerchief and tied with string, 

 and put them into the pie tin. The first patient lay down on the blanket and wrapped 

 a thin cloth around the lower part of her body. The assistant passed tobacco to each 

 person present after which the doctor made a speech dedicating the tobacco to the 

 ma'nidog and asking for their help. Patient number two, in whose house this was 

 being held, gave a shot of whiskey to each person (including the five spectators). 

 The whiskey was dedicated to the ma'nidog by the doctor, and some was poured in 

 the pie tin on the floor after which each person, except the doctor, got down on his 

 knees and took a sip. It was later explained that we had to drink like a bear because 

 the doctor was using the bear ma'nido to assist him. The doctor began shaking his 

 tin can rattle and singing while the assistant beat the tambourine drum. During this 

 song one of the spectators was selected to eat the food on the cloth, and at the end 

 of the song another shot of whiskey was passed around. The doctor sang another 

 song during which he hiccoughed and slightly convulsed indicating that the bear 

 spirit had entered his body. At the conclusion of the song the doctor got down on 

 his knees and crawled the few feet to the patient who had meanwhile turned over 

 on her stomach. He still held the rattle, and the drumming continued. He swallowed 

 the tube, blowing into it first, with great swallowing gestures and convulsing move- 

 ments. He shook the rattle under his left armpit whenever he swallowed the tube 

 and intermittently during the sucking. He then blew through the tube over the 

 patient's left leg at the thigh downward toward the foot. As he reached the foot he 

 swallowed and regurgitated the tube and sucked. He did this twice more and bent 

 over the pie tin with the tube projecting from his mouth, blowing saliva into the 



