300 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 09 



89 

 , Waf a ntsko''li aDa^ n^'Vo't'l" 



this their head to cure anyone 



with 



(a) GalQ*'ldi Dant'la*"wt.a' | 'a'-no'Gwo" u^sony'li i;tst"-nawa 



above they are assembling ha, now quickly beyond it, 



stretched 



aDo'^m-Ga' | 'ya" 



it has been said Sharply! 



(b) e-'bor Dant'la'"wi.a' (etc.). 



below they are assembling 



This is the Medicine for Their Head 



FREE TRANSLATION 



On high they are assembling; ha, now relief has quickly been 

 caused . Sharply ! 



Below they are assembling; ha, now relief has quicldy been caused. 

 Sharply! 



explanation 



The medicine man from whom this fomiula was obtained had in 

 turn procured it from a medicine woman, and was unable to tell much 

 about it. It is therefore impossible to say what spirits are referred 

 to as being assembled, or whether they are the disease curers or the 

 remedial agents. In many formulas the spirits are represented as 

 having assembled as in council, sometimes under the couch of the 

 patient, sometimes even in his body. 



No medicine is used, the treatment merely consisting in rubbing 

 the forehead of the patient after every paragraph, and afterwards 

 blowing the breath four times over the aching part. This, repeated a 

 number of times — [no rigid rule is followed] — is said to be effective. 



90 

 Ii'a' t'v'yA-sti' aDa'*n9*'wo*tT 



this beans, (like) to cure anyone 



with 



EXPLANATION 



The formula bearing the heading "This is the medicine (for) a 

 beanlike (boil) " is too evidently incomplete in the original to be given 

 here, but deserves notice for the spirits invoked and the treatment 

 prescribed. 



The former are the Rattlesnake and the Puffing (Spreading) Adder, 

 and the fragmentary expression of the formula seems to imply that 

 the festering boil is the result of a bite from some disease snake, 

 which must be driven out by the more powerful snakes invoked. 

 The rattlesnake is mentioned under its proper name, VDZO*'N!ti, 



