254 3UREAU OF AMERICAX ETHNOLOGY fBiLL. ei 



small buckskin packets of herbs, the large supply being in a 

 bundle wiiich was placed outside his lodge during the day and 

 brought inside every night, being treated with great respect. The 

 number of small packets in a medicine-pouch varied according to 

 the man who used them. Thus the medicine-pouch belonging 

 to Sitting Eagle contained seven small packets, which were 

 said to be only part of the remedies used by him. Eagle 

 Shield had four principal remedies, the most important of which 

 was contained in a beaded case. This herb is described in connec- 

 tion with song No. 81. His four medicine -packets, together mth 

 a small spoon of white bone used in giving medicine to children, 

 are shoAVii in plate 36. 



As already stated, an Indian doctor in the old days cUd not pretend 

 to have a remedy for every disease. Thus Eagle Shield said that if 

 an Indian were suffering from a malady he would go to a doctor and 

 say, "Have you a remedy for such and such an ailment?" The 

 doctor had no hesitation in saying he lacked the remedy if such were 

 the case, as he was not expected to have any remedies except such 

 as various animals had revealed to him, unless he may have ac- 

 quired a few from other medicine-men. 



The herb kept by Eagle Shield in the decorated bag (pi. 36) was 

 caUed tad' pi pezu'ta, 'herb for the wounded.' Many remarkable 

 cures are said to have been wrought by Eagle Shield through the use 

 of this remedy. A fresh specimen of the herb was secured and identi- 

 fied as Acliillea lanulosa Nutt. (yarrow). It was said to "grow on 

 hills and in the Bad Lands. " The entire plant was dried, and instead 

 of being prepared as a tea the patient was required to chew it. Eagle 

 Shield said that he had treated men shot through the body and they 

 had recovered. One man thus treated was personally known to 

 the writer. The man had attempted suicide by shooting himself in 

 the left side, the bullet passing through the bod}^ and breaking 

 the edge of the shoulder blade. As a result of the wound his arm 

 was paralyzed, and two doctors of the white race said that it must 

 be amputated. Eagle Shield undertook the treatment of the case 

 and did his work so effectually that the man appears to have as 

 free use of one arm as of the other. For this treatment Eagle-Shield 

 received a fee of SlOO, a new white tent, a revolver, and a steer. 



Eagle Shield said that he sang the following song when treating 

 wounded persons Avith this herb. Between the renditions of all these 

 songs he gave deep groans, like those of a man in extreme distress, 

 frequently interspersing these with a hissing exhalation of the breath. 

 (See Bulletin 53, p. 264; also p. 247 of this work.) 



