222 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



fifteen or twenty minutes, he is removed, and plunged into cold 

 water. 



Their mode of " making medicine,^'' to use their own term, is, 

 however, very different from this. The sick man is laid upon 

 a bed of mats and blankets, elevated from the ground, and sur- 

 rounded by a raised frame work of hewn boards. Upon this 

 frame two "medicine men" (sorcerers) place themselves, and 

 commence chaunting, in a low voice, a kind of long drawn, 

 sighing song. Each holds a stout stick, of about four feet 

 long, in his hand, with which he. beats upon the frame work, and 

 keeps accurate time with the music. After a few minutes, the 

 song begins to increase in loudness and quickness, (a corres- 

 ponding force and celerity being given to the stick,) until in a 

 short time the noise becomes almost deafening, and may well 

 serve, in many instances, to accelerate the exit of him whom it is 

 their intention to benefit. 



During the administration of the medicine, the relations and 

 friends of the patient are often employed in their usual avoca- 

 tions in the same house with him, and by his bedside ; the wo- 

 men making mats, moccasins, baskets, &c., and the men lolling 

 around, smoking or conversing upon general subjects. No 

 appearance of sorrow or concern is manifested for the brother, 

 husband, or father, expiring beside them, and but for the presence 

 and ear-astounding din of the medicine men, you would not 

 know that any thing unusual had occurred to disturb the tran- 

 quillity of the family circle. 



These medicine men are, of course, all impostors, their object 

 being simply the acquisition of property ; and in case of the re- 

 covery of the patient, they make the most exorbitant demands of 

 his relations ; but when the sick man dies, they are often com- 

 pelled to fly, in order to escape the vengeance of the survivors, 

 who generally attribute the fatal termination to the evil influence 

 of tlie practitioner. 



