LA FLESCHB] TRIBAL RITES FREE TRANSLATION 71 



and ill a bend where the water was sheltereil from the winds by a high 

 bank he saw, on the water's edge, a white pehcan so oki that he couhl 

 not move. In this bird the chief recognized his visitor of the night 

 before. From the right wing of the bird the chief pUicked seven 

 feathers and started for home. As he was approaching a brook he 

 met an eagle, who gave him a downy feather as a symbol of old age. 

 When he was nearing home he beheld lying on the grounil a piece of 

 black metal, which he also took as a symbol of old age. 



Lines 121 to 127 of the Wi'-gi-e of the Vigil and lines 39 to 46 

 of that of The Aged Eagle refer to healing by scarification and cup- 

 ping as revealed by the two birds to the chief and the material to be 

 used as instruments. The Wi'-gi-e of the Metal indicates the aban- 

 donment of the use of the wing bones of the pelican and the eagle 

 and the adoption of metal upon its introduction by Europeans for 

 the making of the instruments required for scarifying. 



From the-^e storie=; it would seem that the two chiefs tlirected their 

 efforts toward the undei-standing of bocUly ailments and the fuiding 

 of suitable remedies. The chiefs thus sought by combating disease 

 to maintain the numerical strength of the tribe. The people on their 

 part put faith ami confidence in the healing powers of the chiefs, 

 which led to the adoption of " Wa-stse'-e-do°," The Good Doctor, by 

 the two Wa-shta'-ge gentes for a gentile personal name. 



On his return to the village the chief assembled the people of both 

 great divisions, to whom he told the storj'- of his vigil. The people 

 were well pleased and formally consecrated the Pelican to be thence- 

 forth their sacred symbol of old age, and it thus became wa-xo'-be. 

 The portable shrine which held the sacred symbols and the symbols 

 themselves are spoken of collectively as wa-xo'-be. 



The Wa-xo'-be To^-ga, The Great Portable Shrine 



The portable shrine, called Wa-xo'-be 'To'^-ga, held not only the 

 sacred object, the s^-mbol of the older rite, the skin of the cormorant, 

 but in it wa^ placed the sacred object antl sj-mbols of the newer rite 

 which wa; born of the visions of the chief — namely, the skin of the 

 pelican, seven feathers of that bird, a downy feather of the eagle, 

 and a piece of black metal. This composite shrine, called the 

 Wa-xo'-be To°-ga, when completed was consecrated in the same man- 

 ner a- was the portable shrine of the older rite, by the simultaneous 

 re ital by each of the gente^ of the tribe of the wi'-gi-e which related 

 to certain life symbols called Wa-zho'-i-ga-the, a term which, freely 

 translated, means the object of which they made their bodie-;. At 

 each initiation and transfer of a Wa-xo'-be fo'^-ga the shrine was in 

 like manner reconsecrated. The wi'-gi-es used at such a ceremony will 

 be given in the order in which thev are recited at the ritual of the 



