Tooker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 93 



dreamed about and had forgotten.^" They could discern the desires of 

 a child in the cradle as well as those of adults ( JR 33 : 191-193) . 



In order to see these hidden desires, they might employ one of a 

 number of methods. Some looked into a basin full of water and saw 

 on its surface a fine wampum collar, a robe of black squirrel skins, a 

 richly painted skin of a wild ass (JR 33: 193-195), a canoe (JR 15: 

 179), or other objects that were the desires of the soul. Some saw 

 these desires while looking into a fire ( JR 8 : 123) or by looking into 

 water or a fire while singing and shaking a turtle rattle (JR 15 : 179; 

 17 : 213) . Some fell into a "frenzy" by singing and saw the desires as 

 if they were in front of their eyes (JR 33: 195). Some fasted in a 

 little house for a number of days (JR 13: 237). Others secluded 

 themselves in a sweat house (JR 10 : 197; 13 : 105) and in the darkness 

 saw the sick person's desires {J^ 33 : 195) . Feasts, dances, and songs 

 were also employed in diagnosing ( JR 8 : 123) .^^ 



On one occasion, when a medicine man wished to find the cause of 

 an epidemic, the sweat house was made of four or five poles 

 set in a ring and crossed, making a sort of little arbor, cov- 

 ered with the bark of a tree. Into it, 12 or 13 men crowded, almost 

 one upon another. In the middle of the sweat house were five or six 

 large red-hot stones. Once inside they covered themselves with robes 

 and skins in order to retain the heat better. The medicine man then 

 began to sing and the others sang with him. A man was stationed out- 

 side to give the medicine man what he requested. After much singing 

 he asked for some tobacco which he threw on the fire, saying io sechong- 

 nac. The whole affair lasted a good half -hour, after which they ate 

 (JR 13: 203). Apparently, sometimes a number of men sweated in 

 order to elf ect a cure. In one such incident, 20 men, including the sick 

 man, sweated (JR 14: 65; see JR 26: 245 for another mention of a 

 sw^eat house). At another time, after the priests had given some 

 medicine to a sick chief, one of his relatives took a sweat bath during 

 which he addressed himself to his spirit to make it effective ( JR 13 : 

 213). While taking a sweat bath the men might sing of dreams and 

 war songs (JR19:259). 



A dog feast, sometimes on the recommendation of an arendiwane 

 (JR 10: 197), might be given to cure a sick person (JR 17:211) or 

 a number of those ill from an epidemic ( JR 13 : 235) . 



«2This description is, in part, a translation of the term saokata (see note 77, p. 91). 



^ Not all these methods of diagnosing are currently used and some new ones have been 

 Introduced among the Iroquois. The common methods now employed are reading tea leaves 

 and cards, dreaming at night after having put herbs (Speck 1949: 124 says a piece of the 

 sick person's clothing) under the pillow, and scrying (Fenton 1953 : 57, 70, 129 ; Shimony 

 1961 a : 271 ; 1961 b : 208). Scrying is usually reserved for the diagnosis of witchcraft 

 suspicions (Shimony 1961 a: 271). 



671-292 — 64 7 



