786 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



sweat, so that a stranger would think he was runnmg mad, now and then 

 sucking the patient, and so, at times, keeps sucking, till he has got a great 

 quantity of very ill colored matter out of the belly, arms, breast, forehead, 

 temples, neck, and most parts, still continuing his gi-imaces, and antic postures, 

 which are not to be matched in Bedlam. At last you will see the doctor all 

 over of a dripping sweat, and scarce able to utter one word, having quite 

 spent himself; then he will cease for a while, and so begin again till he comes 

 in the same pitch of raving and seeming madness, as before, all this time the 

 sick body never so much as moves, although, doubtless, the lancing and sucking 

 must be a great punishment to them, but they certainly are the patientist and 

 most steady people under any burden that I ever saw in my life. At last, 

 the conjurer makes an end, and tells the patient's friends, whether the person 

 will live or die; and then one that waits at this ceremony, takes the blood 

 away, which remains in a lump, in the middle of the water, and buries it In 

 the ground, in a place unknown to any one, but he that inters it. Now, I believe 

 a great deal of imposture in these fellows; yet I never knew their judgment 

 fail, though I have seen them give their opinion after this manner, several 

 times. (Lawson, 1860, pp. 347-349.) 



Lawson then goes on to narrate how an Indian conjurer was able 

 to detect a thief, ostensibly by occult processes (see pp. 753-754), 

 and continues: 



One of the Tuskemro kings had brought in a slave to the same governor 

 (Seth Southwell, Gov. of North Carolina), to whom he had sold him ; and before 

 he returned fell sick at the governor's house; upon which the doctor that 

 belonged to this king's nation was sent for, being a man that was held to be 

 the greatest conjurer amongst them. It was three days before he could arrive, 

 and he appeared, when he came, to be a very little man, and so old, that his 

 hair was as white as ever was seen. When he approached the sick king, he 

 ordered a bowl of water to be brought him and three chunks of wood, which 

 was immediately done. Then he took the water and set it by him, and spurted 

 a little on him, and with the three pieces of wood he made a place to stand on, 

 whereby he was raised higher ; he being a very low statured man ; then he 

 took a string of ronoak, which is the same as a string of small beads ; this he 

 held by one end between his fingers ; the other end touched the king's stomach, 

 as he stood on the logs. Then he began to talk, and, at length, the bystanders 

 thought really that they heard somebody talk to him, but saw no more than 

 what first came in. At last, this string of beads, which hung thus perpendicular, 

 turned up as an eel would do, and without any motion of his, they came all up, 

 in a lump, under his hand, and hung so for a considerable time, he never 

 closing his hand, and at length returned to their pristine length and shape, at 

 which the spectators were much frightened. Then he told the company that 

 he would recover, and that his distemper would remove into his leg, all which 

 happened to be exactly as the Indian doctor had told. These are matters of 

 fact, and, I can, at this day, prove the truth thereof by several substantial 

 evidences that are men of reputation, there being more than a dozen people 

 present when this was performed ; most of whom are now alive. . . . 



The cures I have seen performed by the Indians, are too many to repeat here ; 

 so I shall only mention some few, and their method. They cure scald heads 

 infallibly, and never miss. Their chief remedy, as I have seen them make use 

 of, is, the oil of acorns, but from which sort of oak I am not certain. They 

 cure bums beyond credit. I have seen a man burnt in such a manner, when 

 drunk, by falling Into a fire, that I did not think he could recover; yet they 



