BULL.. 30] 



MAGNUS MAGUIAQUI 



785 



their bodies daubed with a white infu- 

 sorial clay, run at high speed around a 

 fire, holding in their hands great fagots of 

 flaming cedar bark which they apply to 

 the bare backs of tliose in front of them 

 and to their own persons. Their wild 

 race around the fire is continued until the 

 fagots are nearly all consumed, but they 

 are never injured by the flame. This 

 immunity may be accounted for by sup- 

 posing that the cedar tiark does not make 

 a very hot fire, and that the clay coating 

 protects the body. INIenominee shamans 

 are said to handle fire, as also are the 

 female sorcerers of Honduras. 



Indians know well how to handle ven- 

 omous serpents with impunity. If they 

 can not avoid being bitten, as they usu- 

 allj' can, they seem to be able to avert 

 the fatal consequences of the bite. The 

 wonderful acts performed m the Snake 

 dance (q. v. ) of the Hojii have often been 

 described. 



A trick of Navaho dancers, in the cere- 

 mony of the Mountain chant, is to pre- 

 tend to thrust an arrow far down the 

 throat. In this feat an arrow with a tele- 

 scopic shaft is used; the point is held be- 

 tween the teeth; the hollow part of the 

 handle, covered with plumes, is forced 

 down toward the lips, and thus the arrow 

 appears to be swallowed. There is an 

 account of an arrow of similar construc- 

 tion used early in the 18tli century by 

 Indians of Canada who pretended a man 

 was wounded by it and healed instantly. 

 The Navaho also pretend to swallow 

 sticks, which their neighbors of the 

 pueblo of Zuni actually do in sacred rites, 

 occasionally rupturing the esophagus in 

 the ordeal of forcing a stick into the stom- 

 ach. Special societies which practise mag- 

 ic, having for their chief oVjject rain making 

 and the cure of disease, exist among the 

 southwestern tribes. Swallowing sticks, 

 arrows, etc., eating and walking on fire, 

 and trampling on cactus are performe<l 

 by members of the same fraternity. 



Magicians are usually men; but among 

 the aborigines of the Mosquito coast in 

 Central America they are often women, 

 who are called sulias, and are said to ex- 

 ercise great power. According to Hewitt 

 Iroquois women are reportecl tradition- 

 ally to have been magicians. 



A trick of the juggler among many 

 tribes of the n. was to cause himself to 

 be bound hand and foot and then, with- 

 out visible assistance or effort on his jiart, 

 to release liimself from the bonds. Civ- 

 ilized conjurers who perform a similar 

 trick are hidden in a cal)inet and claim 

 supernatural aid; but some Indian jug- 

 glers performed this feat under ol)serva- 

 tion. It was common fur Indian magi- 

 cians to pretend they could bring rain, 

 but the trick consisted simply of keeping 



up ceremonies until rain fell, the last cere- 

 mony being the one credited with suc- 

 cess. Catlin describes this among the 

 Mandan in 1832, and the practice is still 

 connnon among the Pueblo tribes of the 

 arid region. The rain maker was a spe- 

 cial functionary among the ^lenominee. 



To cause a large plant to grow to ma- 

 turity in a few moments and out of season 

 is another Indian trick. The Navaho 

 plant the root stalk of a yucca in the 

 ground in the middle of winter and appar- 

 ently cause it to grow, l)lossom, and bear 

 fruit in a few moments. This is done by 

 the use of artilirial flowers and fruit car- 

 ried under the blankets of the perform- 

 ers; the dimness of the firelight and the 

 motion of the surrounding dancers hide 

 from the spectators the operations of the 

 shaman when he exchanges one artificial 

 object for another. In this way the Ilopi 

 grow beans, and the Zuni corn, the latter 

 using a large cooking pot to cover the 

 growing plant. See Dramatic representa- 

 tion, Medicine and Medicine-men, Orenda. 



Consult the works of H. H. Bancroft, 

 Carver, Catlin, Fewkes, Fletcher, Hoff- 

 man, Peter Jones, Lummis, Matthews, 

 INIooney, M. C. Stevenson, and others, in 

 the Bibliography. (w. m. ) 



Magnus. A woman chief of the Nar- 

 raganset, sister of Ninigret, one of the six 

 sachems of their country in 1675 (Drake, 

 Abor. Races, 248, 1880). She was killed 

 by the English after her capture in a 

 swamp fight near Warwick, R. I., in 1676. 

 She was also known as Matantuck, of 

 which INIagnus is probably a corruption, 

 and as Quaiapen . Her husband was a son 

 of Canonicus. (a. f. c. ) 



Magtok. A former Aleut village on 

 Agattu id., Alaska, one of the Near id. 

 group of the Aleutians, now iminhabited. 



Maguaga. A Huron village on Ma- 

 guagacr., ]\Iich., 14 m. s. w. of Detroit, on 

 a tract reserved for the use of the Indians 

 by act of Feb. 28, 180H, and ceded to the 

 United States by treaty of St Marys, O., 

 Sept. 20, 1818. 



Magaugo.— Drake, Bk. Inds., v, 125, 184S. Ma- 

 guaga. — Brown, W. (iaz., 1(H. Isi7. Maguago. — 

 Drake, Iml. Cliron., lyii, ls:_i6. Maguagua.— Rovce 

 in 18th Rep. H. A.E., Mieh. map, l.S',»9. Maguawgo.— 

 Doe. of 1809 in Am. St. Pap., Ind.AfT., 1,796,1832. 

 Maugaugon. — Miami Rapids treaty (1S19) in U. S. 

 Ind. Treaties, 201, 1873. Menquagon. — Wyandot 

 petition (1812) in Am. State Papers, op. c'it., 795. 

 Monguagon.— Howe, Hist. Coll. ,262, 18.51. 



Maguhleloo ( ' caribou ') . A gens of the 

 Abnaki, q. v. 



Magalibo.— J. D. Prince, inf'n, 190.5 (modern St 

 Francis Abnaki form). Ma-guK-le-loo'. — Morgan, 

 Ane.Soc, 174, 1877. 



Maguiaqui. A division of the Varohio, 

 in s. Sonora, Mexico, on the w. bank of 

 Rio Mayo, x. of Alamos, lat. 27° 25', Ion. 

 109° 20^ They occupied a village of the 

 same name, and some of them lived with 

 the Chinipas at San Andres Chinipas. — 

 Orozco y Berra, Ceog., 58,324,1864. 



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