Tooker] 



ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 85 



wounds, ulcers, and other sores (S 195). A root, like a small carrot 

 or peeled chestnut, known as ooxrat [Indian turnip] was used to 

 purge the phlegm and moisture in the heads of old people and to clear 

 the complexion. In order to get rid of the stinging pain, it was first 

 cooked in hot ashes (S 195-196)." They also used emetics and hot 

 rooms and sweats (S 192).^^ 



In order to become more nimble in running and to purge out swell- 

 ings, the Huron made incisions into the fat of their legs with sharp 

 stones (S 196-197).^^ They also burned themselves on their arms 

 with the pith of the elder tree for the pleasure of it, letting it bum 

 and smoulder on them, so that a scar was made (S 197) . 



Injuries such as wounds caused by a thrust of the javelin or by 

 the bite of a bear were treated by natural remedies. The Huron 

 believed that these natural medicines should always cure if the disease 

 were a purely natural one. Thus, if the sickness continued after it 

 should have been cured, they concluded that there was a supernatural 

 cause ; that a sorcerer had cast a spell on the sick person, or that the 

 soul of the sick person had some desire that troubled it ; as they said, 

 the desire was "killing the patient." Most disease was attributed 

 to these latter two causes ( JK 33 : 201) .^"^ 



Perhaps some of the Huron's medicines had magical power as, 

 for example, the powder that a medicine man ("physician") took 

 out of his bag, put into his mouth, and then spit onto the broth the 

 Jesuits had given a sick woman ( JK. 13 : 257) . 



^ Ooxrat (burning root) probably was the fruit and root of Indian turnip or jack-in- 

 the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum (L.) Scliott) still used by the Iroquois as a snuff for 

 catarrh (Fenton 1941 a : 515). 



^ The use of these emetics and sweats is discussed at greater length below. As do 

 the herbal medicines, they also have magical aspects, and it is difficult to ascertain 

 the actual effects of such procedures in terms of Western medicine. 



^9 Goldenweiser (1913: 470) mentions the scarification of a boy's shins with a stone 

 every morning during his puberty seclusion. The boy also was supposed to run a great 

 deal, bathe in cold water, and eat little. An Iroquois warrior might cut three slits in 

 the back of his neck and rub the cuts with the oil extracted from enemy scalps to guard 

 against sudden attack from behind. Should an enemy approach the scars would quiver 

 and warn him of the danger (Parker 1913 : 30 n. ; cf. above under "Torture of Pris- 

 oners" for a Huron man making a cut in his neck and letting the blood of a tortured 

 prisoner run into it so that he would not be surprised by the enemy). 



*" This logic also appears now in Iroquois attitudes toward White medicine. As 

 Shimony (1961 a : 269) says : 



Longhouse members do talk in terms of "germs" and "high blood pressure," and 

 on that level they understand natural cause-and-effect relationships. However, 

 they continue suspiciously to wonder why they, as particular Individuals, are 

 subjected to the disease. This is especially true if the disease is lingering and 

 hard to cure, or if the hospital is unable to diagnose why the patient "feels bad." 

 Surely, there must then be something causing the disease which white man's 

 medicine cannot understand and does not have the historical perspective to appre- 

 ciate, and it is therefore necessary to find the true etiology of the disease (a typ- 

 ically "Indian" cause) and apply an "Indian" treatment. To determine the true 

 etiology one has recourse to an Indian specialist, namely, the fortuneteller. 



