198 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



to adorn himself. On raising the lid, the boy finds the box full of 

 snakes, but, undeterred, plunges his hand to the very bottom, and 

 draws out a huge rattlesnake, which he winds about his neck for a 

 necklace. He then takes out two copperheads, which he twists 

 about his wrists as bracelets. Thus dec^ked out, he takes his brother 

 along, and goes against a celebrated gambler, who had previously 

 insulted him, but who is now conquered by the Two Thunder Boys, 

 and impaled at the bottom of the great lake in the west. In tliis myth 

 we have another instance of the universal primitive idea of a connec- 

 tion between the serpent and Thunder [Lightning]. The scene is 

 laid at The Suck, in Tennessee River, a few miles below Chattanooga. 



[As previously stated, dreaming of snakes results in the patient's 

 saliva becoming "spoiled "] ; this must then be dislodged by an emetic. 

 The medicine in this case consists of a decoction of Gana^'aa y*'t'ono°\ 

 Scirpus validusYalA, great bulrush; Gana*'Ga ustt^'ca, Juncus ejjusus 

 L., common or soft rush; ultso'sta y't'ano", Coronilla varia L. ; 

 ultso'sto i;stt*'Ga, Vicia caroliniana Walt., vetch, to which is added 

 the inner bark of u^Iq-'^dq, Rhus (Toxicodendron) radicans Linn., 

 poison oak, poison ivy, which grows on the east side of a poplar tree. 



The decoction is boiled and drunk on four successive days, the 

 medicine man or his assistant boiling it for but a short time the first 

 day, adding more water and boiling it for a longer time the second 

 day, and so on, until the fourth day, when it is boiled down to a 

 thick sirup. While under treatment, the patient observes a taboo 

 of salt and of hot food. 



21 



Jt'a' nQ'Vo't'i' u"'n9k'f\vaG(/.i [ 



this to cure with whenever they have 



forgotten (their voice) 



u'^nang-'wo'tT | t'a'\ya' | Gyle''-tsi;nstf'Ga | k*a'n9si"ta | 



they to cure with cherry acorns, they are small flowering 



dog-wood 



s5°]j:t'a' um"yo"'sti' | Df'hGali'ski e-'Gwo^ | (a-V,ano'°!i 



apple they are bitter willow big ( it has been 



boiled 



vndt"t'asti')'^« 



they must 

 drinlc it) 



This (is) to Cure (Them) with Whenever They Have Lost 



Their Voice 



FREE TRANSLATION 



These (barks) are to cure (them) with: Cherry, small acorns, 

 flowering dogwood, bitter apples, big willow. They have to be boiled, 

 (and) they must drink it. 



" Interpolation by J. M., apparently based on information given by a*yS'°*ini' 

 himself. 



