REVIEWS THE GREAT DESERTS OF NORTH AMERICA. 50 



be, plate 242, with the absurd substitution of a feathered crozier — un- 

 known among [ndian implements, lay or sacerdotal, — in lieu of the 

 simple spear in the hand of the original. So also the " Medicine 

 Man," (vol. ii. p. 286,) produced by the Abbe to illustrate a few of 

 his vague common-places, is a feeble copy of Catlin's spirited sketch 

 accompanying an equally graphic picturing of wild Indian life, 

 which he thus introduces : " Bit still then, until I relate a scene of a 

 tragic, and yet of the most grotesque character, which took place in 

 this Fort, (at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River) and to all of 

 which I was an eye-ivitnessy He accordingly proceeds to narrate 

 a scene of Indian treachery and revenge, in which one of the Chiefs 

 of the Blackfeet was shot by a Knisteneau. We give his account of it 

 in a condensed form : — 



" The Blackfeet returned into the Fort, and then I saw, what I never before 

 saw in my life, — a medicine man performing his mysteries over a dying man. He 

 was lying on the ground in the agonies of death, and no one could indulge the 

 slightest hope of his recovery ; yet the medicine man must needs be called, and 

 hocus pocus applied as the dernier resort, when all drugs and specifics were use- 

 less. Several hundred spectators, including Indians and traders, were assem- 

 bled. We were required to form a ring, leaving a space of some thirty or forty 

 feet in diameter around the dying man, in which the doctor could perform his 

 wonderful operations. This being done, in a few moments his arrival was 

 announced by the death-like ' hush — sh — ' through the crowd ; and nothing was 

 to be heard save the light and casual tinkling of the rattles upon his dress, 

 which was scarcely perceptible to the ear, as he cautiously and slowly moved 

 through the avenue left for him, which at length brought him in view of the 

 pitible object over whom his mysteries were to be performed. He approached 

 in a crouching position with a slow and tilting step ; — his body and head were 

 entirely covered with the skin of a yellow bear, the head of which (his own 

 being inside of it), served as a mask. The huge claws also dangled at his 

 wrists and ankles. In one hand he shook a frightful rattle, and in the other 

 brandishing his medicine-spear or magic wand ; to the rattling din and discord 

 of all which, he added the wild and startling jumps and yelps of the Indian, 

 and the horrid and appalling grunts, and snarls, and growls of the grizzly bear, 

 in ejaculatory and guttural incantations to the Good and Bad Spirits, in behalf of 

 his patient, who was rolling and groaning in the agonies of death, whilst he 

 Was dancing around him, jumping over him, pawing him about, and rolling him 

 in every direction. In this wise, this strange operation proceeded for half an 

 hour, until the man died ; and the medicine man danced off to his quarters, and 

 packed up, tied, and secured from the sight of the world, his mystery dress and 

 equipments." Oatlin adds, " There are some instances, of course, where the 

 exhausted patient unaccountably recovers ; and in such cases this ingenious son 

 of the Indian Esculapius will be seen for several days after, on the top of a wigwam, 



