492 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS Ieth. ann. 32 



not be seen by any one for four days except the person who was 

 caring for him. 



When a person who was ill desired to try this medicine, he or 

 some friend was required to give a handful of native tobacco and 

 some other small present to the person who had the medicine. The 

 hochinagen could do what he pleased with the presents. The hochin- 

 agen would cast into the fire a piece of the tobacco, at the same time 

 saying to the medicine, which he then held in his hand, " Take a 

 smell of this tobacco, for I am about to make use of you." Then 

 he would visit the sick man, and taking a small vessel he would 

 go to a running stream, and after making an offering of tobacco to 

 it in the name of the patient, he would dip up the water with the 

 current, not against it. He took what water he could dip up in 

 this manner. 



If the sick man was not very ill, this one dose would cure him; 

 but if he was very ill other hochinagen who have this same kind of 

 medicine must come to assist in the cure. They must cook a kettle 

 of white beans for themselves and the singers who come to sing that 

 night; they would also give strength to the medicine by the burning 

 of tobacco as directed by the birds. 



The first sentence of the song is " Now, this is the medicine to be 

 taken." When the medicine is swallowed the words are, " Now, 

 let it begin to work over all his body." 



If the patient recovered his health he must celebrate the event by 

 preparing a feast, the chief dish of which must be a great kettle of 

 hulled corn seasoned with meat or venison cut into small pieces. 



The hochinagen who gave him the medicine must come to sing and 

 dance in honor of the medicine through whose aid they were enabled 

 to cure the patient. Some of the sentences employed in the songs 

 are: "The spirits have come and they have cured the ill person"; 

 " We now dismiss them with thanksgiving " ; and then they sing 

 the songs employed when preparing the medicine, of which some of 

 the sentences are: "I have been to the place of the plant"; "I 

 have been to the mountain"; "I have been at the falls"; "I have 

 been beyond the clouds " ; etc. After recess they use : '' Now we have 

 assembled where the tobacco is " ; " Now they meet together, say 

 the ducks " ; " Now the deer with two prongs say, ' We have assem- 

 bled,' " and similar lines. Only hochinagen may sing at this feast. 



