118 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



rocks, in the woods, or in the mountains, but generally in the lakes 

 and rivers. In order to cast a spell, the sorcerer rubbed some object, 

 as a blade of corn, tuft of hair, piece of leather or wood, or animal 

 claw, with a piece of the serpent's flesh. This caused the object to 

 penetrate into a man's entrails and his bones, inducing illness unless 

 removed ( JK 33 : 217) . 



The spells in a sick person could be quite numerous. Ten or twenty 

 spells might be taken from the individual's body and, if he still was 

 not cured, the disease was thought to be caused by some other spell 

 which was yet more concealed and could not be removed (JR 33: 

 201). 



The following is an example of a ceremony to cure a woman ill 

 from witchcraft. Many feasts had been made for the recovery of 

 this sick woman. Then, a medicine man was invited to try to cure 

 her. He took a sweat bath to get knowledge of her disease. After 

 throwing some tobacco into the fire, he saw five men and deduced 

 that she had been witched and that she had five charms in her body. 

 The most dangerous of these charms, and the one that would cause 

 her death, was in her navel. Another man was called in to get the 

 charms out. Such a person usually made three demands. First, 

 the dogs must not bark as his cures could be made only in silence. 

 Second, he cured only in a place apart and so would often have the 

 patient carried into the woods. Third, the sky must be clear. In 

 this instance, however, the patient was not carried out of the house, 

 perhaps because the sky was cloudy. The medicine man did give her 

 something to drink and it should have gone directly to her navel in 

 order to be effective. It went, however, to her ears, which then 

 became swollen, and she died shortly after. The medicine man said 

 she had not been cured because he did not get all he had demanded ; 

 particularly a pipe of red stone and a pouch for his tobacco ( JR 13 : 

 31-33). 



Sorcerers, ohy ontatechiata^ 'those who kill by spells' (JR 33: 

 221), might be put to death for their activities.^^ The witch was 

 ascertained, sometimes, from the dream of the sick man. Occasion- 

 ally a person was seen in the woods or in some out-of-the-way part 

 of the country, and the person seeing him there would think that 

 he was preparing spells. People accused of being sorcerers were 

 killed without trial, for no one would dare undertake their defense 

 or avenge their deaths (JR 8: 121-123; 10: 37, 223; 13: 111; 15: 53; 

 19: 83, 179; 30: 21; 33: 219-221). 



In one instance, a woman accused of being a witch was killed 

 in the followmg manner. The man who thought she was witching 

 him sent for her under the pretext of inviting her to a feast. 



«The Wyandot (Finley 1840 : 63, 66 ; Powell 1881 : 67) and Iroquois (Morgan 1901(1) 

 321-322) also killed witches. 



