oIbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 147 



many words is unknown to him. This scanty supply of sacred and 

 medicinal formulas nearly always includes the song to cure the 

 results of accidents (mostly cuts and gashes caused by ax or knife) 

 (see p. 85); also some prayer for protection, either to be recited or 

 sung, is usually common property; and two or three of the easier 

 kind of medicinal conjurations may complete the lot. 



There are, however, indications that until recently (15 to 20 years 

 ago) formulas were sold to a layman by a medicine man, if the former 

 were wilhng to pay the price for it. This trade was carried on es- 

 pecially in the domains of hunting and love conjuration, a good formula 

 of any of these kinds commanding $3 to $5. (See p. 105.) 



It is easy to understand why this practice is now on the verge of 

 extinction: There is no gamfe now in the Cherokee country, the kill- 

 ing of which would be worth such an exorbitant sum,''* and as for the 

 love formulas, the younger generation, which must always have sup- 

 plied the main customers for tliis line, are fast losing faith in these 

 practices and are relying on more material means to attract the 

 attention and to obtain the favor of the opposite sex. 



There is no objection on the part of the medicine men to selling 

 also the more ordinary disease-curing formulas and prescriptions to 

 the uninitiated, but there is hardly any demand for these, nor does 

 there seem to have been in the past. A plausible reason for the 

 popularity of the two kinds mentioned before seems to my mind to 

 be that an individual wanted to buy love or hunting formulas mainly 

 so as to be able to go through the necessary ritual and ceremonies 

 without the aid of a medicine man; by acting alone he could keep his 

 intentions and his plans in the domain of hunting and love a secret 

 to eventual competitors. 



There are some formulas, however, which a medicine man will not 

 communicate to an uninitiated member of the tribe at any price. 

 Even to the initiated this kind is only handed on with the utmost 

 discrimination. (See p. 100.) These are the incantations listed 

 below as Nos. 10-14 (pp. 148, 153). 



I might add, finally, that ostensibly there seems to be some reluc- 

 tance on the part of the medicine men to propagate any formulas at 

 all. They pretend that the more the knowledge of a formula, of 

 whatever kind it may be, is diffused, the less powerful it becomes 

 and therefore they should be handed on to "the man in the street" 

 with due care and moderation. This is, however, purely a theoreti- 

 cal, and as a rule a rather hypocritical contention; and m the prac- 

 tice every medicine man thinks that the occult power of the formulas 



" Deer and bear are extinct on the reservation, and rabbit, squirrel, and ground 

 hog are about all there is left on the once so richly purveyed hunting grounds of 

 the Cherokee. 



