1Q23] SKINNER, WYANDOT COK.V FOODH 109 



Also from the Winnebago in a witch medicine (figure 72j of a type 

 commonly heard of, hut rarfly seen, among the C'entral tribes. It 

 is composed of a bandolif;r of blue strouding on which is sewn a nar- 

 row strip of tanned (htcvskiu, bearing claws of the black bear, a lynx 

 paw, }>eards and feathers of the wild turkey, a horned owl's head, a 

 bullfrog skin stuffed with down, and numerous bullets and packets of 

 medicine. 



The witch or wizard (Indians mak(; no distinction in sex, but call 

 all persons suspected of black magic "witches"; strips himself naked 

 and puts on the bandolier. He can then, at will, take the form of 

 any of the animals shown on its circumference, and thus is able to 

 travel at great sp(;ed and noiselessly to the residtince of the person 

 whom he wishes to destroy, and shoot into him a fiendish charm which 

 will cause him to waste away and die. 



He can travel immense distances to do his work, taking first the 

 form of the frog and hopping until tired, then that of the turkey, 

 flying on his way until fatigue causes him to become a horned owl; a 

 bear; a bullet; or a ball of fire, and so on. 



Such medicines have been recorded by the writer as being found 

 among the Sauk, Menomini, Ojibway, Potawatomi, Winnebago, and 

 others, but he has never before been priviligcjd to see one, much less 

 collect a specimen, in spite of offering enormous prices. Should the 

 members of any tribe learn for certain that any Indian possessed such 

 a charm, his life would be in great danger, for even today the b(;lief 

 in the evil powers of witches is firmly established among most Indian 

 peoples. 



SOME WYANDOT CORN FOODS 

 By Alansox Skinnkr" 



The following data were gained during the early spring of 1923 from 

 several individuals of the Wyandot tribe, who now reside at or near 

 Wyandotte, Oklahoma. The modern Wyandot are the descendants of 

 the Tionontati or Tobacco Nation of the great Huron confederacy, and 

 belong to the Iroquoian stock. After the overthrow of the Huron by 

 the Five Nations, the Tionontati, who formed the westernmost 

 division of the group, dwelling in southwestern Ontario, fled first to 

 the islands at the mouth of Green Bay and thence to Chaquamigon 

 point on Lake Superior, whence they were driv^en back to the east- 

 ward by the Sioux. Returning later to the vicinity of their old homes, 



"Curator of Anthropology. Milwaukf^ Public Museum. 



