oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 99 



But others are of a jealous and miserly nature and will pretend to 

 be ignorant and but ill-informed when they are asked for ad^dce or 

 counsel by a competitor. Yet I have not once heard of a case where 

 one of these less obliging fellows purposely led an inquirer astray, or 

 gave him information that might be deleterious to the patient under 

 treatment. Nor has any case of "dishonest competition" come to 

 my loiowledge. 



To combat the influence of the white doctor and his medicine, 

 though, they will go to any pains, and use any means. 



Initiation 



There are still faint recollections of how the medicine men were 

 initiated until thi-ee or four generations ago. The description given 

 to James Mooney by John Ax (born about 1800) of the meetings of the 

 "myth-keepers and priests" in the o-'si (Mooney, Myths, p. 230) 

 contains a very interesting account of the initiation of new adepts 

 more than a century ago. The o-'si is now but a dim memoiy of a 

 hazy past and telling the myths is no longer the appanage of priests 

 and elders; if 50 years ago the scratching and the "going to water" 

 was still joldngly referred to, now it is no longer remembered that this 

 rite was ever performed in this connection. 



At present if a man wants to become a medicine man he goes to one 

 well versed in the lore and skilled in the profession, informs him of his 

 intention, and asks liim if he is willing to teach him what he knows. 

 The answer of the old man depends a good deal on the character of the 

 candidate. 



If he is known as a lazy individual he stands little chance of being 

 accepted as a candidate by a conscientious medicine man, as he would 

 be sure to neglect the care of his patients. 



Nor is he likely to be favorably received if he has a reputation for 

 being quarrelsome and jealous, as in this case he might be too prone 

 to abuse of his occult knowledge to harm the people. 



But even if the character of the candidate is without flaw or speck 

 he is not sure to meet with an enthusiastic welcome at the hand of 

 every medicine man, for some of these do not believe in propagating 

 the sacred and medical lore too much, nor in diffusing it too widely, 

 since according to those among them imbued with an idealistic out- 

 look on the profession, the more of the lore is divulged, the less 

 powerful every one of the adepts becomes; and again, according to 

 others, rather more utilitarian in their views, because, the more 

 practitioners, the less practice. 



So as not to make an inveterate enemy out of an applicant by 

 turning him down, the medicine man "examines with the beads," to 

 find out whether the candidate is likely to make good in the profession; 



