DOBSEYl SORCERY AND JUGGLERY. 499 



them from all misfortunes. If any accident befalls an idol or charm, if it is broken 

 or lost, it is enough to arrest the most intrepid chief or warrior in his expedition, and 

 make him abandon the most important enterprise in which he may be engaged.' 



We may also reckon amoug the personal fetiches the wohdiize of each 

 warrior (see the Armor god, § § 122-5), and perhap.s the use of the 

 iuitipi or sweat lodge, and the wild sage or Artemisia, by each of which 

 personal purification is supposed to be effected. 



OEDEAL.S OR MODES OF SWEARING. 



§ 305. While there are uo oaths or cur.ses as we have them, the Teton 

 can invoke higher powers. Thus one may say : " The Thunderers hear 

 me" (Wa5[iij'yaij namahurjwe 16, The Flying one really hears me!), and 

 if he is lying the Thunderers or one of their number will be sure to kill 

 him. Sometimes the man will i)ut a kuife in his mouth, and then if he 

 lies he will be stuck by a knife thereafter, and death must follow. Or, 

 he will say, "The horse heard me" (Suij'kawakaij' namahuij we 16), 

 knowing that the penalty for falsehood will be certain death from a horse 

 that will throw him and break his neck. When one says, " The Earth 

 hears me" (Maka kiij le namaliuij we hi), and he lies, he is sure to die 

 miserably in a short time, and his tamily will also be afflicted. 



Smet says:^ 



The objects by which an Assinniboine swears are his gun, the skin of a rattlesnake, 

 a bear's claw, and the wah-kon that the Indian interrogates. These various articles 

 are placed before him, and he says, " In case my declaration prove false, may my gun 

 tire and kill me, may the serpent bite me, may the bears tear and devour my Hesh, 

 and may my wah-kon overwhelm mc with misery."' In extraordinary and very im- 

 portant affairs, which demand formal promises, they call upon the Thunder to wit- 

 ness their resolution of accomplishing the articles proposed and accepted. 



SORCERY AND JUGGLERY. 



§ 306. As among the Omaha and other Siouan tribes, so among the 

 Dakota do wetind traces of the practice of sorcery, and there is a special 

 word in the Dakota dictionary: "hmuijga, to cause sickness or death, 

 as the Dakotas xiretend to be able to do, in a supernatural way — to be- 

 witch — kill by enchantment." The syllable "hmuij" seems to convey 

 the idea of humming, buzzing, or muttering. 



Jugglery or sleight-ofhand performances are resorted to by the mys- 

 terious men and women. (See §§64-66, 291-4.) Some of these practition- 

 ers claim to possess the art of making love-charms, such potions being 

 sold to women who desire to attract particular men of their acquaint- 

 ance. When a woman obtains such a medicine, she uses it in one of 

 two ways. Sometimes she touches the man on his blanket with the 

 medicine, at others she persuades the man to give her a piece of chew- 

 ing gum, which she touches with the medicine. Then she seizes him, 

 and he can not escape from her, even should he wish to leave her. So 

 he is obliged to marry her. 



'Western ilissi'ins and ilission.-iries, p. 141. "^ Ibid., p. 143. 



