IIG BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. M 



over, that his praotical turn of mind and liis active teniporanicnt 

 have also something to do with this; thus it would be explained why, 

 altlH)U}i:li i)ra('ti('infj; very lilthi hinisoll", he is the only medicine man 

 who is still able and willing to make such "surgical" instruments as 

 are still in use — comb scratchers, sucking horns, etc. 



Je. (pi. 12, a), widow, 72, and (). (pi. 12, 6), Del.'s mother. Climbing 

 Bear's widow, 73, the two medicine women during my stay, do not 

 call for any discussion here. Their position was devoid of any impor- 

 tance, and their role was almost limited to that of midwives, O. is 

 far more universally loved than Je. is, which feeling I nuist heartily 

 commend and sympathetically indorse. 



BIRTH 



Sexual Life 



Since the manuscript, to which this discussion is an introduction, 

 does not contain any formulas dealing with love matters, such as 

 conjuraticMi to gain the alVec-tion of a woman, to destroy in a particular 

 wojnan the promiscuous tendencies she has shown, incantations to 

 take vengeance on a woman who has scoffed at sympathies proffered, 

 to sow discord between a couple of lovers, etc., it has not been con- 

 sidered necessary to go into such minute details on this score as has 

 been done with matters pertaining to purely medical lore, which 

 constitutes the bulk of the nuiterial offered in this manuscript. 



Two nu)re numuscripts, on which some work has already been done, 

 and of which the publication is contemplated, will afford a far better 

 opportunity to treat at length such topics as sense of shame, puberty, 

 se.xual life, adultery, sexmd pathology, etc. 



Conception 



It would seem that Cherokee ideas on this subject had been con- 

 siderably induenced by the views of their white neighbors. This 

 need not, however, be the case. There are less civilized peoples 

 whose conceptions about disease and medicine are not any more 

 reasonable than those of the Cherokee, and whose explanation of the 

 process of conception is even more rational (cf. Kleiweg de Zwaan, 

 pp. 158-150). 



Male and female alike "produce the matter which becomes mixed 

 and goes to form the child in (the womb of) the mother. In some 

 cases this nuitter is mixed right away, in which case they will have 

 a baby soon; in other cases it may take several months, or even a 

 couple of years." 



"She is pregnant" is rendered Gane-'ldo", also 'ta'lu'li' (lit. "she 

 carries it"?). 



