218 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99 



EXPLANATION 



This formula is used for a form of Dalo*'ni in which the whole 

 abdominal region becomes swollen and painful, while the patient 

 loses appetite and becomes unable to retain food in his stomach. 



The medicine man invokes the weasel, called by the Cherokee 

 "yellow rat," tct'ste'Dzi, here abbreviated to tcfste" being the generic 

 name for rats, mice, and weasels. Here again we have the color 

 correspondence between the disease and the curing spirit. 



The medicine man induces vomiting to dislodge the bile, by giving 

 the patient to drink a wann decoction of the inner bark of the four 

 small trees named i;ni"kwa, Nyssa multiflora Wang, black gum; 

 suli^'jalGa, Clethra acuminata IVlichx.,^^ white alder; a't'tse'Ji (or 

 itse'H), Alnus rugosa (Du Roi) Spreng., red alder; D'yu'GtD9\ 

 Corylus americana Walt., hazelnut. 



It will be noted that the inner bark of all these trees has a peculiar 

 yelloA\dsh color, this again carrjdng out the theory of color sym- 

 bolism. 



The medicine man first recites the formula and then gives the 

 patient a drink of the medicine. This is repeated four times, after 

 which he allows the patient to drink as much of the decoction as 

 he can swallow. The whole ceremony and appUcation is performed 

 four times before noon. 



After the patient has drunk the decoction the medicine man 

 'Hakes him to the water"; he gives the sufferer some warm water 

 to drink, which causes him to vomit the bile, after which he finds 

 relief. This vomiting sometmies weakens the patient considerably, 

 so that the medicine man has to give him some sour corn gruel 

 "k'a'no*e''na" to drink, to keep up his strength. Although not 

 noted in the manuscript, it is probable that the medicine man ad- 

 dresses some formula to the "Long Man" (as in No. 15, p. 190) and 

 that the beads mentioned are used only at this part of the ceremony. 

 The beads are deposited on a piece of cloth and the whole is taken 

 after the ceremony by the medicine man as his fee. The yellow 

 bead typifies the disease, the red denotes the powerful spirit which 

 conquers it, the black signifies the great lake in the Night Land 

 into which the disease spirit is cast, and the white is emblematic 

 of the happiness which comes with recovery. 



[It is deemed necessary to draw attention to the fact that as a 

 rule medicine men are unable to explain the symbolism of the beads 

 and of their colors as is here done by Mr. Mooney.] 



*8 Another specimen was identified as Hydrangea acuminata Small. 



