30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



and especially the emotional value given to the word, always conveys 

 concepts expressing baseness, meanness, slyness, an activity of an 

 insidious, nefarious, deleterious nature. 



These activities are not subject to the same "reasonable" motives 

 as are those of the *'man-ldllers"; whereas the latter harm to take 

 (just) revenge for some (uncalled-for) offense, the witch harms simply 

 because it is an inherent trait of his or her wicked nature. 



Moreover, whatever the witch can steal of the Ufe, and therefore of 

 the vital principle, of the animus, the power, the "orenda" of his 

 victim, he adds to his own, and this is the reason why witches are 

 always hovering about the sick, the feeble, the moribimd people; 

 invisible as they can make themselves, they put their mouths over 

 those of the victims, and steal their breath; according to some inform- 

 ants "because they hke the taste of sick people's breath; it is so 

 sweet "(!); according to others, because stealing their breath comes to 

 the same as securing for themselves the victim's vitality, which they 

 add to their own. At the time the moribund expires, especially, the 

 witch is careful not to miss his chance. 



Although, as a rule, to become a witch one has to be "brought up " 

 for the profession (see p. 129), it is possible to become one, even if one's 

 parents neglected to go through the necessary ritual and prescrip- 

 tions. A peculiar root, that of the scarce a'o-'thye'o'^'ski "it (the root) 

 has it (the stalk) growing from its mouth" {Sagittaria latifolia 

 Willd.?),^^ looks like a beetlelike insect, with the stem of the plant 

 growing from its mouth. It has to be steeped and drunk, the usual 

 fast being observed . If the infusion is drunk and the fasting prolonged 

 for four days, you will be able to metamorphose yourself into any 

 person or animal living on the surface of the ground; i. e., a man can 

 take the shape of a woman, and vice versa; they can also take the 

 form of a dog, a deer, an opossum, etc. 



If, however, the treatment is prolonged for seven days you will have 

 power to take the shape of animals flying in the air or living under the 

 ground ; you will be able to fly in the air or to dive under a mountain ; 

 you can at will put on the appearance of an eagle, an owl, a raven, a 

 mole, an earthworm, etc. 



The metamorphosis into a raven is one of the most common, and a 

 witch traveling about in this garb is referred to as k'o"'lano° a'ye'lt'ski 

 "he (is) a raven unitator." 



When traveling about at night a witch of this "degree" very fre- 

 quently travels through the air as a flame, a spark, or a light. Some 

 informants pretend to have seen that the "medicine" previously re- 

 ferred to, and which the witches have to drink, has at certain times of 

 the year — some say in spring and early summer — a purplish fire droop- 



" This same medicine is given to a dog to make it a sure tracker of game. The 

 animal must di-ink the infusion for four consecutive mornings. It must not fast. 



