EiLssKLL] MEDICINE^MEN 257 



Yet another class of persons, incliiiliuLC lioth men and women, and 

 few in number, mi<j;lit l)e termed medicine-men. The)' are called 

 riai'-itcottani, S()metliin<i given to drink. They are not highly 

 esteemed, however skilled they may become in the use of roots and 

 simple remedies, yet they are the true pliysicians of the Pimas. It 

 may be that among the many empiric remedies which they employ 

 some will he found to possess true therapeutic qualities. 



The traditional history of the tribe tells of many families of medi- 

 cine-men, and the profession was very generally handed down from 

 father to son. Those receiving magic power in this maimer were 

 somewhat more highly regarded than others. A seconii method by 

 whicli a person might secure j)ower was by what might be termed a 

 process of natural selection; anyone who recovered from a rattle- 

 snake bite on the hand or near the heart might become a medicine- 

 man or medicine-woman. A third method was by dreams and 

 trances. Kisatc said tliat during iiis yoifth he had dreamed every 

 night that he was visited by some one who endowed him with magic 

 power. Under the inlluence of these dreams he decided to become a 

 medicine-man, but as soon as he began to practise the dreams ceased. 

 These dreams are not sought by fasting or other unusual conditions, 

 nor does the person to whom the)' come seclude himself from his 

 fellows. 



Several informants declared that "any man who received instruc- 

 tion from a metlicine-man and learned to do some little tricks could 

 become a medicine-man." The process of acquiring power was called 

 va'ikita, "getting power" (literally, "pouring inolla"). The novice 

 was tested, either alone or along with one or more fellow-a.spirants, 

 by the medicine-man, who had the 3'outh kneel before him on all fours, 

 and then threw four sticks, each about S inches long, at him. If 

 the novice fell to the groinid during the throwing he was "shot" with 

 tiie power and could then take tiie next degree. This was admin- 

 istered by the instructor, who "coughed up" tcu'tcaka (word of 

 unknown meaning), wliite balls the size of mistletoe berries, and 

 rubbed them "into" the breast of the novice. Another informant 

 said that the novice swallowed the balls. Four or five balls were thus 

 administered, though the "power began to work" in some ca.ses 

 where only one or two balls were used. One informant thought that 

 the medicine-man had a sort of "nest of power" wherein the balls 

 <leveloped as in the ovary of a hen. No matter how nniny were given 

 off the supply continued undiminished. 



Sometimes the doctor wished to teach the youth, in which case the 

 latter paid nothing for his instruction." But the usual fee was a 



« "The Indians of the nation of Loretto liad schools, whereby these professors instructed their youths 

 in theal>ove opinions, anrl some other needless puerilities: but recommended to them as truths of great 

 importance. In order to this, their pupils jittended them to caves or solitary places, at a distance 

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