DOBSEY JUGGLERY. 417 



JUGGLERY. 



§ 64. Ickade or sleight of baud exi.sts not only in the secret societies 

 but also along with tlie practice of medicine, government, and religion. 

 Some of the Omaha and Ponka doctors of the first class (the wazecfe, 

 not the maka" afi^ma or root doctors) pretend to draw sticks from the 

 bodies of their patients, or worms from aching teeth, saying that those 

 things are the causes of the diseases. Every disease is a "nie" or 

 ''pain," and there must be a cause for that pain. 



§ 65. In 1872 Big Grizzly Bear, a subordinate Ponka chief, told the 

 following to the author: "One day Whip, a head chief, said, 'I am 

 going to make the sun blue.' And he did so. Then he said, 'I am 

 going to pull out some of the hair of the man in the moon.' He held 

 up his hands to show that they had no hair in them. Then he. began 

 to sing. Suddenly he had some bloody hair in each hand. Ga-^i-de 

 ma"-^-i" aud a great many others were witnesses. Once, when the Ponka 

 were destitute of food, Buffalo Bull, the father of Grizzly Bear's Bar, 

 said, 'I will use magic' His wife replied, 'Please do so.' So he made 

 a pile of earth about 2 feet high and shot four arrows into it. A large 

 deer was slain, furnishing them with plenty to eat." 



In 1871 the author saw an exhibition of the skill of Cramped Hand 

 and Bent Horn, two Ponka shamans. One afternoon, near sunset, about 

 two huiulred persons, mostly Indians, stood in a large circle around a 

 tent in which sat the shamans and their assistants. Presently the 

 shamans and the aged chief, Antoine Primeau, came out of the tent 

 and stood within the circle. One of the shamans. Cramped Hand, 

 danced along the inner side of the circle, exhibiting a revolver (Allen's 

 patent), one chamber of which he seemed to load as the people looked 

 on. After he had put on the cap, he handed the weapon to the chief, 

 who fired at the shaman. Cramped Hand fell iiumediately, as if badly 

 wounded. Bent Horn rushed to his relief and began to manipulate 

 him. It was not long before Cramped Hand was able to crawl arouud 

 on his hands and knees, though the bullet had apparently hit Iiim iu 

 the mouth. He groaned and coughed incessantly, and after a tin basin 

 was put down before him he coughed up a bullet which fell in the ba- 

 sin, aud was shown in triumph to the crowd. This is told merely to 

 show how the Indian juggler has adopted some of the tricks of his 

 white brother. In a few moments Bent Horn danced around, showing 

 to each of us an object which appeared to be a stone as large as a man's 

 fist, and too large to be forced into the mouth of the average man. 

 Cramped Hand stood about 10 or 15 feet away aud threw this stone 

 toward Bent Horn, hitting the latter in the mouth and disappearing. 

 Bent Horn fell and appeared in great pain, groaning aud foaming at 

 the mouth. When the basin was put down before him, there fell into 

 it, not one large stone, but at least four small ones. We were told that 

 the chief, Antoine, had to give a horse for the privilege of shooting at 

 the shaman. 



11 ETII 27 



