SWANTo.N] INDIAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 179 



favornlile weather: Itiil it is always iiecossary t(» carry iircseiits. It soincrmics 

 liajiiKMis that haviii;: roceivcMl thciii, if tlie sii-k itersoii is iu)t cuftHl or the 

 wi'athiT (Iocs not fhniiKO, tho doctor is Ivillcd as an impostor; a fact which 

 causes the most skillful anions' them only to receive presents when they see an 

 appearance of cure or of change in the weather." 



C'liai-k'\ oix says: 



Tlie jugglers or doctors of th<> Natchez pretty much resemble those of 

 Canada, and treat their patients much after the same manner. They are 

 well paid when the patient recovers; but if he happens to die it often costs 

 them their lives. There is in this nation another set of iugglers, who run 

 no less risk than these doctors. They are certain lazy old fellows, who. to 

 maintain their families without being obIige<l to work, undertake to jirocure 

 rain or tine weather, according as they are wanted. About the springtime 

 they make a collection to buy of these pretended magicians a favorable season 

 for the fruits of the earth. If it is rain they require they fill the mouth with 

 water and with a reed, the end of which is pierced with several holes, like 

 a funnel, they blow into the air, toward the side where they perceive some 

 clouds, while holding their chicliicoii^ '' in one hand, and their manitou ^ in 

 the other, they play upon one. and hold the other up in the air, inviting, by 

 frightful cries, the clouds to water the fields of those who have set them to 

 work. 



If the business is to obtain fine weather, they mount on the roofs of their 

 cabins, make signs to the clouds to pass away, and if the clouds pass away and 

 are dispersed they dance and sing around about their idols; then they swallow 

 the smoke of tobacco and present their calumets to the sky. All the time these 

 operations last they observe a strict fast and do nothing but dance and sing. 

 If they obtain what they have promised they are well rewarded ; if they do 

 not succeed they are put to death without mercy. But they are not the same 

 who undertake to procure rain and fine weather; the genius of one person can 

 not. as thej- say, give both.'* 



This nation, like the others, has its medicine men ; these are generally old 

 men, who without study or any science undertake to cure all complaints. They 

 do not attempt this by simples, or by drugs; all their art consists in different 

 juggleries ; that is to say. that they dance and sing night and day ab(Uit the 

 sick man and smoke without ceasing, swallowing the smoke of the tobacco. 

 These jugglers eat scarcely anything during all the time that they are engaged 

 in the cure of the sick, but their chants and their dances are accompanied by 

 contortions so violent that, although they are entirely naked and should 

 naturally suffer from cold, yet they are always foaming at the mouth. They 

 have a little basket in which they keep what they cali their spirits; that is to 

 say, small roots of different kinds, heads of owls, small parcels of the hair of 

 fallow deer, some teeth of animals, some small stones or pebbles, and other 

 similar trifles. 



It appears that to restore health to the sick, they invoke without ceasing 

 that which they have in their basket. Some of them have there a certain root 

 which by its smell can put serpents to sleep and render them senseless. After 

 having rubbed their hands and body with this root, they take hold of these 

 reptiles without fearing their bite, which is mortal. Sometimes they cut. 



<* M^moire sur La Louisiane, 141-142. 



» Rattle. 



<■ Probably medicine: see succeeding account. 



«' Charlevoix in French, Hist. Coll. La., 168, 1851. 



