296 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



selected to illustrate the extent to which convictions about the nature 

 of things are inherent in Conservative culture. ^^ 



Many of the beliefs are of the type which Frazer (1958, pp. 12-15) 

 calls imitative magic. We heard a mother say, "I don't want this 

 new baby scratched with a bear claw. That other boy was, and it 

 made him too mean. He could be scratched with a turtle: that 

 will make him stout." Another said: 



My mother says if you scratch them over the eye with a lizard they'll go to sleep 

 wherever they are, but it makes them bad to climb. My sister did that, her 

 first one sleeps, but the others didn't do like they told us they would ; but they are 

 bad to climb. Sometimes, I think some of the people catch the little ones and 

 scratch them with something so they will grow up like they think they should, 

 and the parents don't know anything about it. 



The Indian ball teams are scratched with ironwood so that the 

 players will be tough and will not fall as much. Similarly, babies 

 scratched with ironwood are saved from the frequent falls associated 

 with learning to walk. 



Aberrant behavior is frequently imputed to a variant of this prin- 

 ciple. The family of an elderly matron became concerned when she 

 began to wander about the community. Her daughter said : 



Something going to happen to her, like she gonna be crazy. She never stay home. 

 The old people used to say if you didn't stay home 7 days [to become accustomed 

 to the loneliness] after someone died, you'd never stay home again, and she didn't 

 stay home after Daddy died. I believe what the old people say .... She's 

 never stayed home since. 



The Cherokee idea of planned parenthood concludes these illustra- 

 tions. In order to space births, the placenta of the first or second 

 birth is buried a certain number of mountain ridges away. The 

 number of ridges corresponds to the number of years desired between 

 conceptions. Another informant reported that the placenta should 

 be buried according to arms' distances away from the house, covered 

 with seven rocks, and seven corncobs laid "crisscross." "The babies 

 will come every 4 years, then." 



The realm of portents and witches has significance for many 

 people. For some, their belief is strong enough to induce appre- 

 hension and consequent action. In Soco, the fear of whippoorwills 

 is pervasive. As a consequence, many residents of the area take pains 

 to shoot them or otherwise dispatch them. Lizzie, an elderly in- 

 formant, is especially fearful of them. Several of my evening visits 

 with her and her family were interrupted by the quavering call of 



25 For an exhaustive study of these esoteric premises the reader Is referred to Mooney and Olbrechts, 1932. 

 Several of the beliefs which we shall report are found in It; others have been distorted through the years, 

 but they still show aflSnities with material in the manuscript. 



