272 Expedition to the 



They are so entirely habituated to practising the'arts of 

 deception, that it would seem, they sometimes persuade them- 

 selves that what was at first only feigned, is in truth reality, 

 and that their magic absolutely possesses its attributed heal- 

 ing virtue. One of these men being on a visit to the Pawnee 

 villages, was present at a kind of grand incantation, during 

 which many extraordinary feats were exhibited. He there 

 saw for the first time the mountebank trick, of appearing to 

 cut off the tongue, and afterwards replacing the severed por- 

 tions without a wound. " There," said Katterfelto, " your 

 medicine is not strong enough, to enable you to perform this 

 operation." The stranger, jealous of his national honour, and 

 unwilling to be exceeded, unhesitatingly drew forth his knife, 

 and actually cut off nearly the whole of his tongue, and bled 

 to death before their eyes. 



In the country of the Crow Indians, (Up-sa-ro-ka,) Mr. 

 Dougherty saw a singular arrangement of the magi. The upper 

 portion of a cotton-wood tree was implanted with its base in 

 the earth, and around it was a sweat house, the upper part 

 of the top of the tree arising through the roof, A grav bison 

 skin, extended with ozierson the inside so as to exhibit a na- 

 tural appearance, was suspended above the house, and on the 

 branches were attached several pairs of children's mockasins 

 and leggings, and from one of the limbs of the tree, a very 

 large fan made of war eagle's feathers was dependent. 



The Missouri Indians believe earthquakes to be the effect 

 of supernatural agency, connected, like the thunder, with the 

 immediate operations of the Master of Life. The earthquakes 

 which, in the year 1811, almost destroyed the town of New- 

 Madrid of the Mississippi, were verv sensibly felt on the 

 upper portion of the Missouri country, and occasioned much 

 superstitious dread amongst the Indians. During that period, 

 a citizen of the United States resided in the village of the 

 Otoes, trading for the produce of their hunts. One day he was 

 surprised by a visit of a number of Otoes in anger. They said 



