hrdlicka] 



PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS 



239 



diameter, coatainiiig on one side an old petroglyph, such as are not 

 uncommon in the neighboring country (see pi. xxviii, h). This, he 

 said, was a very valuable stone, a little of which rubbed ofT and 

 administered to a patient woidd cure almost any disease. The stone 

 was originally much larger, he said, but had already served many 

 sick people, and in this way had become reduced to its present size. 

 The edges of the stone (the specimen is now in the American Museum 

 of Natural History) show, in fact, numerous marks due to rubbing, 

 but as to the great virtues of the stone the shrewd old medicine-man 

 must have known, for he gladly sold it for half a dollar. 



Only a few of the vegetal remedies used in the tribe were obtained 

 by the WTiter. 



E-na i-ze (''white man's medicine": Chrysothamnus greenei) 

 grows to about 1 foot in height. It is found in many parts of Arizona. 

 Some of the Navaho use it in measles and chicken pox. They 

 break up the tops of the plant and put them into lukewarm water; 

 after steeping the mixture somewhat the whole body of the patient 

 is rubbed with the liquor, afterward being well covered. The erup- 

 tion is said to darken rapidly and to dry up, the patient promptly 

 recovering. The writer's informant, a Navaho, cured thus a year 

 ago his own wife and two children. 



Ti-khos i-ze (Ephedra viridis) is used by the Navaho as a remedy 

 for cough. They drink a decoction made from the tops. The 

 Apache, who use the same medicine for the same purpose, call the 

 plant tha-ha-ne-tsa-i. 



Soreness about the point of attachment of the umbilical cord 

 may be healed by the use of two roots; one of these is known as 

 i-ze M-kai and the other as i-ze lia-dje-ny. 



A very elaborate medicine outfit of a Navaho shaman is in the 

 Field Museum of Natural History. According to a check-list kindly 

 furnished to the writer by Dr. Geo. A. Dorsey, the articles contained 

 in this outfit are as follows:" 



4 painted buckskin masks. 



1 bunch of large eagle feathers. 

 12 plume sticks. 



3 bundles of mixed feathers. 

 16 bundles of turkey feathers. 



2 fine old bull-roarers. 

 2 rawhide rattles. 



1 gourd rattle. 



1 rawhide rattle, similar in form to that of 

 the Hopi Snake and Antelope priests. 



1 bone whistle. 



1 stick 7 inches long, wrapped with buck- 

 skin. 



1 stick 5 inches long, wrapped with 

 woolen yarn. 



4 miniature bows. 



2 horn cups 



1 flaked quartzite implement. 



1 clam shell. 



2 chipped flint implements. 



2 chipped jasper miplements. 

 2 flat horn-tipped implements. 

 1 bundle of fire sticks. 

 1 necklace of hawk talons. 

 1 square piece of buckskin. 

 1 goatskin bag. 



a This medicine-man's outfit, collected by A. Montzheimcr among the Navaho in New Mexico, was a 

 gift of Mr. E. E. Ayer to the Field Museum of Natural History. 



