BULL. 30] 



ORDEALS 



145 



believed that a man had died in conse- 

 quence of being bewitched, the Tsim- 

 shian would take his heart out and put a 

 red-hot stone against it, wishing at the 

 same time that the enemy might die. If 

 the heart burst, they thought that their 

 wish would be fulfilled ; if not, their suspi- 

 cions were believed to be unfounded. 

 A Haida shaman repeated the names of 

 all persons in the village in the presence 

 of a live mouse and determined the guilty 

 party by watching its motions. A Tlin- 

 git suspected of witchcraft was tied up 

 for 8 or 10 days to extort a confession 

 from him, and he was liberated at the 

 end of that period if he were still alive. 

 But as confession secured immediate lib- 

 erty and involved no unpleasant conse- 

 quences except an obligation to remove 

 the spell, few were proltably found inno- 

 cent. This, however, can hardly be con- 

 sidered as a real ordeal, since the guilt 

 of the victim was practically assumed, 

 and the test was in the nature of a tor- 

 ment to extract confession. 



Intimately connected with ordeals of 

 this class were contests between individ- 

 uals and bodies of individuals, for it was 

 supposed that victory was determined 

 more by supernatural than by natural 

 power. A case is recorded among the 

 Comanche where two men whose enmity 

 had become so great as to defy all at- 

 tempts at reconciliation were allowed to 

 tight a duel. Their left arms having 

 been tied together, a knife w-as placed in 

 the right hand of each, and they fought 

 until both fell. A similar duel is re- 

 corded in one of the Teton myths, and it 

 is probable that the custom was almost 

 universal. Resembling these were the 

 contests in vogue among Eskimo tribes. 

 When two bodies of Eskimo met who 

 were strangers to each other, each party 

 selected a champion, and the two struck 

 each other on the side of the head or the 

 bared shoulders until one gave in. An- 

 ciently Netchilirmiut and Aivilirmiut 

 champions contested by pressing the 

 points of their knives against each other's 

 cheeks. Such contests were also forced on 

 persons wandering among strange people 

 and are said to have been matters of life 

 and death. Chinook myths speak of 

 similar tests of endurance between super- 

 natural beings, and perhaps they were 

 shared by men. Differences between 

 towns on the n. Pacific coast were often 

 settled by appointing a day for fighting, 

 when the people of both sides arrayed 

 themselves in their hide and wooden 

 armor and engaged in a pitched battle, 

 the issue being determined by the fall of 

 one or two prominent men. Contests 

 between strangers or representatives of 



3456— Bull. 30, pt 2—07 10 



different towns or social groups were also 

 settled by playing a game. At a feast on 

 the N. Pacific coast one who had used 

 careless or slighting words toward the 

 people of his host was forced to devour 

 a tray full of bad-tasting food, or perhaps 

 to swallow a quantity of urine. Two 

 persons often contested to see which 

 could empty a tray the more expediti- 

 ously. 



Ordeals of the second class would cover 

 the hardships placed upon a growing 

 boy to make him strong, the fasts and 

 regulations to which a girl was subjected 

 at puberty, and those which a youth 

 underwent in order to obtain supernat- 

 ural helpers (see Child life), as well as 

 the solitary fasts of persons who desired 

 to become shamans, or of shamans who 

 desired greater supernatural . power. 

 Finally, it is especially applicable to the 

 fasts and tortures undergone in prepara- 

 tion for ceremonies or by way of initia- 

 tion into a secret society. 



The first of these may best be consid- 

 ered under Education and Puberty cus- 

 toms, but, although some of the cere- 

 monies for the purpose of initiating a 

 youth into the mysteries of the tribe 

 took place about the time of puberty, 

 their connection therewith is not always 

 evident, and they may well be treated 

 here. Thus Pueblo children, when old 

 enough to have the religious mysteries 

 imparted to them, went through a cere- 

 monial Hogging, and it is related of the 

 Alibamu and other Indian tri})es of the 

 Gulf states that at a certain time they 

 caused their children to pass in array 

 and whipped them till they drew blood. 

 The fixskmuiw (q. v.), or huskany, was an 

 ordeal among Virginia Indians under- 

 taken for the i3urpose of preparing youths 

 for the higher duties of manhood. It 

 consisted in solitary confinement and the 

 use of emetics, ' ' whereby remembrance 

 of the past was supposed to be obliterated 

 and the mind left free for the reception 

 of new impressions." Among those 

 tribes in which individuals acquired 

 supernatural helpers a youth was com- 

 pelled to go out alone into the forest or 

 upon the mountains for a long period, 

 fast there, and sometimes take certain 

 medicines to enable him to see his guar- 

 dian spirit. Similar were the ordeals 

 gone through by chiefs among the Haida, 

 Tlingit, Tsimshian, and other n. Pacific 

 coast tribes when they desired to increase 

 their wealth, or success in war, or to 

 obtain long life, as also by shamans who 

 wished increased powers. At such times 

 they chewed certain herbs supposed to 

 aid them in seeing the spirits. The use 

 of the "black drink" (q. v.) by Mus- 



