90 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [PTH. ANN. 33 
for a prognostication of the event. If the powder on touching the 
water started to circle to the right and gradually mixed, it was 
taken as a good omen for the recovery of the patient, but if the 
powder settled quietly to the bottom it was considered an omen of 
his death. A man whom I knew in the Omaha tribe had a very 
bad case of constipation, which was finally given up by the medicine- 
men of his own tribe, as they could not relieve him. A medicine-man 
of the Oto tribe, who was there on a yisit, let it be known that he 
could cure the case, so he was called in and had complete success. 
One of the Omaha medicine-men, White Horse, wondered at the re- 
markable efficacy of the Oto remedy, purchased the secret, paying the 
Oto a horse and $20 in money for knowledge of this remedy, which 
he afterward imparted to me. 
The pulverized bark of the root, if snuffed, causes uncontrollable 
sneezing. On account of this property it was used as a stimulant 
when a person was very sick and seemed near death, as in case of 
coma. If on application of the powder to the nostrils, the patient 
did not sneeze it was thought there was no hope of recovery. A 
Pawnee informed me that the dry pod of the plant, pulverized, was 
used to cause sneezing for the relief of headache. 
The Pawnee roast the seeds and eat them as chestnuts are eaten. 
A Winnebago said the seeds after being pounded in a mortar were 
used for food. 
A Santee Dakota said the root was sometimes used for making 
a black dye, but that it was not very good for the purpose. It was 
used as a dyestuff together with some component unknown to my in- 
formant. He said the root alone was without value. 
The seeds are used by the Winnebago for counters or tally checks 
in gambling. 
FABACEAE 
Baptista BracTeATA Ell. Black Rattle-pod. 
Tdika shande nuga (Omaha-Ponca), male tdika shande; also 
called gasatho, rattle. 
Pira-kari (Pawnee) ; from pirau, children, and kari, many. 
The first Omaha-Ponca name refers to the likeness of this plant 
to Geoprumnon crassicarpum, which is called tdika shande. Baptisia, 
being classed as similar to that but larger, more robust, is considered 
male. The second name refers to its use by small boys as a rattle 
when they play at having a dance. Pawnee boys used it in the same 
way. The Pawnee after pulverizing the seeds mixed the powder 
with buffalo fat as an ointment to be applied for colic by rubbing 
on the abdomen. 
