207 



tenance is invoked by the chant, and noise. Tlie tamahno-iis of the game of 

 hand is called by the Niskwalli, Tso.lk; of the disks, Knmvhli. It would 

 seem that this favor is not merely solicited during the game, but sometimes in 

 advance of it, and perhaps for general or continued fortune. Colonel Sim- 

 mons informed me that he saw an Indian at the Falls of the Fenalquet 

 die from exhaustion and overexcitement while undergoing a performance 

 intended to secure this tamahno-iis. He had lain for several days in a lodge 

 without eating, while his friends shouted and drummed until death himself 

 "jumped the game" on him. 



Of horse racing it is unnecessary to speak. 



MEDICINE AND DISEASES. 



Besides the regular practice of the tamahno-us men, who may be con- 

 sidered the fiiculty, the Indians used a number of plants as medicines, some- 

 what as herb doctors intrude their nostrums in the States. Among these 

 is the root of the Oregon grape {Berheris cEquifolium), a decoction of which 

 serves as a tonic, and is also their remedy for venereal. A decoction 

 of the white-flowering or poisonous Kamas furnishes an emetic, and that of 

 the cucumber vine {Sicyos Oregonus) both an emetic and cathartic. The root 

 of a species of fern growing among the moss which covers the limbs of the 

 maple and other ti-ees in damp situations is chewed as an expectorant, and 

 is made into a tea as a remedy for gonorrhoea. The herbs used to produce 

 abortion or effect sterility, I do not know. A powder made from the tail 

 of the rattlesnake, as first noticed by Dr, George Suckle)^, United States 

 Army, is employed by some tribes for the former purpose, as well as to 

 expedite natural labor ; but violence is oftener resorted to by the women of 

 the coast. Small-pox the coast tribes do not pretend to treat with medicine; 

 but, as mentioned in my report to Captain McClellan, those of the interior 

 claim to have remedies for it. The inside bark of the skunk-wood chewed 

 up serves as a poultice, and the juice of the colt's-foot as a fomentation for 

 bruises and sprains. Women during their periods of menstruation bind the 

 twigs of the hemlock-spruce round their bodies, but this would seem to be 

 a species of charm. These twigs are also used as a bed for the sick. For 

 gonorrhoea, the females also smoke themselves over a fire made of certain 



