112 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



sent to her, in order to learn from her own lips her desires and what 

 was necessary for her recovery. Shortly, two men and two girls 

 went loaded with all that the sick woman had desired, and they im- 

 mediately returned, naked except for their clouts; all they had car- 

 ried had been left with the sick woman. They repeated the desires 

 whose fulfillment would bring about her recovery. She desired 22 

 presents be given her: one was 6 dogs of a certain form and color; 

 another was 50 cakes of tobacco ; another, a large canoe ; another, a blue 

 blanket that belonged to a Frenchman. The report having been 

 made by the deputies, the chiefs began to exhort every one to satisfy 

 promptly the desires of the sick woman. All the presents having been 

 furnished and carried to the patient, the public announcement was 

 made that in all the houses all the families should keep their fires 

 lighted, and the places on both sides ready for the first visit which the 

 sick woman was to make in the evening. The chiefs made another 

 amiouncement after the sun had set, and all stirred up their fires and 

 maintained them with great care. (The patient had said that these 

 fires should be made as large and bright as possible.) The time hav- 

 ing come when she was to set out, her muscles relaxed and she could 

 walk, even better than before. Two people walked beside her, each 

 one holding up one of her hands; thus supported she went through 

 all the houses of the village. She walked with bare legs and feet 

 through the middle of the houses and consequently through the mid- 

 dle of the fires, a total of 200 or 300 fires, without doing herself any 

 harm. She even complained constantly of how little heat she sensed 

 and how it did not relieve the cold she felt in her feet and legs. Those 

 who held up her hands passed on either side of the fires. Having 

 led her through all the houses, they took her back to the house where 

 she was staying. Then all except perhaps a few old men painted 

 themselves and, vying with one another in the frightful contortions 

 of their faces, ran through the houses where the sick woman had 

 passed. On all the three nights that the ceremony lasted, they had 

 liberty to do anything; no one dared say a word to them. They 

 upset kettles found over the fire, broke earthen pots, knocked down 

 dogs, and threw fire and ashes everywhere so thoroughly that often 

 in such ceremonies the houses and entire villages burned down. The 

 more noise and uproar they made, the greater the relief of the patient. 

 The next day everyone prepared to revisit all the houses where the 

 sick woman had passed and particularly the one in which she was 

 staying. At each fire each person told of his own desire {ondinonc) 

 in a riddle. For example, one said, "What I desire and what I am 

 seeking is that which bears a lake within itself," meaning a pumpkin 

 or calabash. Another said, "What I ask for is seen in my eyes and 

 will be marked with various colors" and as the Huron word that 

 meant 'eye' also meant 'glass bead' what he desired was some type 



