MOHEGAN MEDICINAL PRACTICES, WEATHER-LORE 

 AND SUPERSTITION 



By Gladys Tantaquidgeon 



The following list of pharmacopoeia from the Mohegan embraces 

 matter published in 1915, which has been largely added to and 

 amplified since that time. The material was prepared for a paper 

 read before the American Folk-lore Society, Philadelphia, 1926. 



The administration of the remedies here is the same in general 

 as among the other eastern Algonkian. The practitioners were 

 mostly old women, although sorcerers (moigu'wag) employed herb 

 cures in addition to their magical practices. Several magic plants 

 are mentioned in Mohegan folklore as having been used by former 

 witches. One is "whistling root," a mysterious plant known to some 

 of the shamans, which endowed the finder with supernatural power. 

 When placed upon a rock it is said that the root would whistle and 

 vanish. Other weeds are spoken of which were so potent in the 

 hands of a magician that even the sight of them would frighten away 

 the most savage dogs. 



The remedies are termed a'mbask (derivation of a'mbi, "liquid"). 

 There is a taboo against gathering them for medicine during dog 

 days. 



Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is steeped and used as a 

 blood medicine, and it is also regarded as an emetic. 



Ripe wild cherries {Prunus serotina) are put into a bottle and 

 allowed to ferment as they are, in their own juice, for about a year, 

 when they are thought to become an excellent remedy for dysentery. 

 Wild-cherry leaves and boneset steeped together make a tea beneficial 

 for colds, "to be drunk hot at night, cold at morn." 



White pine (Pinus strohus) bark is steeped and drunk cold to cure a 

 cold. 



Leaves of the wild grape {Vitis labrusca) are bound directly to 

 the head for headache. "In a few hours they are completely dried 

 and crackled by the fever which they absorb." 



"May weed" {Anthemis cotula) (European) is steeped and the 

 liquid drunk cold for fever. 



Sweet fern (Myrica asplemfolia) leaves are steeped and the liquid 

 rubbed on the skin to cure the toxic effect of poison ivy. 



"Canker lettuce," shin leaf (Pyrola elliptica), is steeped and the 

 liquid used as a gargle for sores or cankers in the mouth. 



Tobacco smoke blown into the ear will stop earache. 



Wild nnistard (Brassica nigra) leaves are bound on the skin to 

 relieve toothache or headache. 

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