386 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 73 
suckling boys, or who are with child, come and drink this blood, particularly if it is 
that of a strong young man; as it is expected to make their milk better, and to render 
the children who have the benefit of it bolder and more energetic. For those who 
are laid on their faces they prepare fumigations by throwing certain seeds on hot coals; 
the smoke being made to pass through the nose and mouth into all parts of the body, and 
thus to act as an emetic, or to overcome and expel the cause of the disease. They have 
a certain plant, whose name has escaped me, which the Brazilians call petum [petun], 
and the Spaniards tapaco. The leaves of this, carefully dried, they place in the wider 
part of a pipe; and setting them on fire, and putting the other end in their mouths, 
they inhale the smoke so strongly, that it comes out at their mouths and noses, and 
operates powerfully to expel the humors. In particular they are extremely subject 
to the venereal disease, for curing which they have remedies of their own, supplied 
by nature . * 
Ribault mentions among the presents which his people received 
from the Indians "roots like rinbabe [rhubarb], which they hold in 
great estimation, and make use of for medicine. 2 
Pareja sheds a great deal of light on the activities of shamans. 
As we have seen, the shaman prayed over the new corn. He also per- 
formed ceremonies to find a lost object, and he brought on rain and 
tempest. He was asked to pray over a new fishweir so that many 
more fish would enter. When it thundered, in order to keep back 
the rain, he would blow toward the sky and repeat formula?. Pareja 
explains that in cases of sickness the native doctors were accustomed 
to place a kind of cupping glass over the affected part and then 
suck it, afterwards exhibiting a little piece of coal, earth, or " other un- 
clean thing," or something alive or which appeared to be alive. 
This evidently quite impressed the good father, who attributed the 
performance to the devil. The doctor would also place white feath- 
ers, new skins ("chamois"), and the ears of an owl before a sick per- 
son and thrust arrows into the soil there, saying that he would draw 
out the disease as he withdrew the arrows. Sharp practice was 
evidently well known among these primitive physicians. We are 
informed that when a sick person was getting better he prepared 
"food of a sort of cakes or fritters or other things" and shouted out 
after the doctor that he had cured him. Otherwise it was thought 
that the disease would reappear. A shaman was also known to 
threaten that the people would all be killed unless they gave him 
something to avert a calamity which he declared was threatening. 
Sometimes he injured a person whom he considered had not paid 
him enough. He is also accused of having caused delay in childbirth 
at times so that he would be called in and paid well to hasten the de- 
livery ; or, when he had been called, it is alleged that he would make 
the patient suffer more until he was paid what he thought he ought 
to receive. The principle of the "hold up" was thus well recognized 
among Timucua doctors. 
• Le Moyne, Narrative, pp. 8-9 (ill.). » French, Hist. Colls. La., 1875, p. 177. 
