100 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



some children who were guarding the crops and chasing the animals and birds 

 away, I resolved to go out. I was no sooner upon the earth than I encountered 

 a woman. I craftily entered her womb and there assumed a little body. I had 

 with me a she-spirit, who did the same thing. As soon as wo were about the 

 size of an ear of corn, this woman wished to be delivered of her fruit, knowing 

 that she had not conceived by human means and fearing that this ocki [ofct] 

 might bring her some misfortune. So she found means of hastening her time. 

 Now it seems to me that in the meantime, being ashamed to see myself followed 

 by a girl and fearing that she might afterward be taken for my wife, I beat her 

 so hard that I left her for dead ; in fact, she came dead into the world. This 

 woman, being delivered, took us both, wrapped us in a beaver skin, carried us 

 into the woods, placed us in the hollow of a tree, and abandoned us. We 

 remained there until, when a man passed by, I began to weep and cry out, that 

 he might hear me. He did, indeed, perceive me and he carried the news to the 

 village. My mother came, took me again, bore me to her house, and brought 

 me up. [ JR 13 : 105-107. ] 



This man also said that when he was young the children ridiculed him 

 as he was very ill-shapen [he was an extremely misshapen little 

 hunchback (JR 13: 101)] and he had caused several of them to die 

 (JR 13: 107). He said that when he died they should bury him 

 in the ground in order that he might return to the place from which 

 he had come. During his sickness, he complained that his twin 

 sister was the cause of his death and had broken his leg because he 

 had tried to treat patients other than those of one house ( JR 13 : 245) . 

 The medicine men were not the only ones who fasted. There is some 

 indication that young men at puberty went on a vision quest : ^^ one 

 man, when he was about 15 or 16 years old, went into the woods and 

 fasted, drinking only water for 16 days. Then he heard a voice from 

 the sky saying that he should end his fast, and he saw an old man of 

 great beauty coming down from the slcy. The man approached and, 

 looking kindly at him, said, "Have courage, I will take care of your 

 life. It is a fortunate thing for you, to have taken me for your master. 

 None of the spirits who haunt these countries shall have any power 

 to harm you. One day you will see your hair as white as mine. You 

 will have four children ; the first two and the last will be males, and 

 the third will be a girl ; after that, your wife will hold tlie relation of 

 a sister to you." Then, he held out a piece of human flesh which the 

 boy refused, and then a piece of bear's fat saying, "Eat this." After 

 the boy had eaten of it, the old man ascended toward the sky. After 

 that he often appeared to the boy and promised to assist him. Nearly 



*» A vision quest at puberty was apparently a part of Iroquoian culture, but Its relatively 

 minor place is attested by the scarcity of data on it in all periods. Barbeau (1915: 10) 

 mentions a puberty seclusion and uki (oki) in the form of animals that appeared to indi- 

 viduals then (and see note 36, p. 78). For the Iroquois, Converse (1908: 107-110) says 

 that during the puberty vision quest, a fast of not less than 7 days, the spirit of the bear 

 would appear if the dreamer was a member of the Bear clan and would show him his future 

 guardian. Hewitt (1910 c: 178), Waugh (1916: 153), Goldenweiser (1913: 470), and 

 Shimony (1961 a : 215-216) also mention puberty rites for boys and girls that included 

 a fast and seclusion. Jesse Cornplanter maintained that visions were associated with prep- 

 aration for war rather than puberty (Quain 1961 : 275 n.). 



