70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



All kinds of briars, especially those of blackberry shrubs, nyco'tlo" 

 (pi. 7, e), are also used to slightly scarify the skin. By what poor 

 means I had at my disposal I used to treat Jud. (see p. 114; pi. 10, a) 

 for rheumatism in his knee. Whenever I. went to see him in his 

 cabin he stubbornly refused to be rubbed with the embrocation I 

 used, before he had gone out, cut a thorny branch off some shrub, 

 and scratched his knee. Wlien he came to my quarters to be rubbed 

 he never forgot to bring his briars! 



A few leaves of the laurel (Kahnia latifolia L.) are also used for the 

 same purpose. Ten or twelve leaves (originally probably seven) are 

 plucked, kept together between thumb and forefinger (pi. 7,/), and a 

 few strokes with the bristly edges are given over the skin. I was sur- 

 prised to find, when I had this scarification practiced on me as an 

 experiment, that the marks were visible and the irritation of the skin 

 sensible for over a week. 



Finally there is to be mentioned the tooth of the rattlesnake as a 

 scarifying instrument. Wlien used for the preparation of the mem- 

 bers of the ball-game team it was customary untU 50 years or so ago 

 to use two of these teeth, tied together. Why this was done, and how 

 the instrument was made, informants were unable to tell me. The 

 scratching with one tooth, as practiced in the treatment of disease, 

 is described by Mooney in his notes as follows: "Beginning wdth the 

 right hand (the medicine man) draws the tooth from the end of the 

 first finger *^ along the back of the band, up the arm, across the breast, 

 and down the left leg and foot, maldng one long gash. He then re- 

 peats the operation in the same way, beginning with the left hand 

 and ending with the right foot. Next he begins at the end of the 

 right thumb, dramng the tooth up along the arm, around the back of 

 the neck to the left shoulder, and down again in front along the left 

 leg and foot. Then he reverses the operation, beginning \vith the 

 left thumb and ending with the right foot. He then scratches the 

 skin at random over the affected part, or over the limbs and the body 

 according to the nature of the sickness. . . . These scratches are not 

 deep, being intended not to draw blood but to enable the liquid ap- 

 plication to take a better hold upon the skin. In scratching small 

 children, the . . . (medicine man) uses the back of the tooth." In 

 some cases children are scratched over the tongue. 



This mode of scarification seems to have died out, however; not a 

 single instance of it came to my attention during my stay; nor was 

 there one medicine man of the many I knew having such an instrument 

 in his possession. 



As for the scarification with such objects as flint arrowheads, briars, 

 laurel leaves, the scratches are usually only inflicted locally — on the 



" Also of the middle finger. — F. M. 0. 



