138 THE MENOMINI INDIANS 1eth.ann.14 



who have done so; (2) because many of the younger men are attending 

 school, and begin to observe the futility and uselessness of the various 

 (lances; and (3) the old men and women mita'wok are slowly dying off, 

 which makes it difficult to find candidates to till their places. It is 

 evident, therefore, that the life of the society is a question of only a 

 few years more, and that the ceremonials of the Mita'wit, as well as 

 the exhibition of alleged powers, and the dances of the several classes 

 of shamans, will ere long be a matter of tradition only. 



TSIU'SACJKA, OR JUGGLERS 



The greatest powers were always believed to be possessed by the 

 tshi'saqka, though, on account of their greater number, the mita'wok 

 have been treated first. 



The tshi'saqka, or juggler, class of shamans is limited, in the Meno- 

 mini tribe, to very few individuals, probably not more than half a do/en 

 professing the powers usually attributed to them. The jugglers were 

 earlj mentioned by the Jesuits as being their greatest opponents in 

 Christianizing the Indians; and as early as l(>3li the Mpissing Indians 

 of Canada had been designated as the nation of sorcerers. The Span- 

 iards met with similar opposition when attempting to Christianize the 

 .Mexicans; and Father .lose de Acosta's description of one class of 

 their sorcerers corresponds very closely to the accounts of pretensions 

 of some of the Algonquian jugglers. He says: 



There were an infinite number of these witches, divines, enchanters, and other 

 false prophets. There reiuaines yet at this day of this infection, althogh they bo 

 secret, not daring pubiikely to exercise their sacrileges, divelish oeremonies, and 

 superstitions, but their abuses and wiekednes are discovered more at large and 

 particularly in the confessions made by the Prelates of Peru. 



Then- is a kinde of sorcerers amongst the Indians allowed by the Kings Yncas, 

 which arc, as it were, sooth-saiers, they take vpon (hem what forme and figure they 

 please, Hying farre through the aire in a short time, beholding all that was done. 

 They talke with the Divell, who answoreth them in eertaino stones or other things 

 which they reverence much. They serve as coniurers, to tell what hath passed in 

 the farthest partes, before any newes can come. As it. hath chanced since the 

 Spaniardes arrived there, that in the distance of two or three hundred leagues, they 

 have Knowne the mutinies, battailes, rebellions, and deaths, both of tyrants, and 

 those of the King's partie, and of private men, the which have beene knowne the 

 same da v they chanced, or the day after, a tiling impossible by the course of nature. 

 To worke this divination, they shut themselves into a house, and became drunk 

 vntil they lost their sences, a day after they answered to that which was demanded. 

 Some affirme they van certaine vnctions. The Indians say that the old women do 

 commonly vse this office of witchcraft, and specially those of one Province, which 

 they call Coaillo, and of another towne called Manchay, and of the Province of 

 Ilnarochiri. They likewise shew what is become of things stolne and lost. There 

 arc of these kindes of Sorcerers in all partes, to whom commonly doe come the 

 Anaconas, and Chinas, which serve the Spaniardes, and when they have lost any 

 thing of their masters, or when they desire to know the successe of things past or 

 to come, as when they goe to the Spaniardes citties for their private affaires, or for 

 the publike, they demaund if their voyage shall be prosperous, if they shall be 

 sicke, if they shall die, or return safe, if they shall obtaine that which they pretend: 



