THE INTERIOR OF OREGON. 477 



they had a very confused idea. Their ceremonies were connected 

 with their superstitions, and one of the most remarkable of these 

 was called "huwash." This results from the belief that the spirit 

 within a person may be separated from the body for a short time, 

 without the person being aware of it, or its causing death, pro- 

 vided it be quickly restored to him. This accident of losing the 

 spirit is supposed to become first known to the medicine-man in a 

 dream, who communicates it to the unhappy individual, and who, in 

 return, immediately employs him to recover it. During a whole night 

 the medicine-man will be engaged in hunting it up, passing from one 

 lodge to another, singing and dancing. Towards morning, they retire 

 into a separate lodge, which is closed up and made perfectly dark, 

 when a small hole is made in the top, and the spirits descend throxigh 

 it in the shape of small bits of bone : these are received on a mat, 

 a fire is made, and the spirits belonging to a number of their friends, 

 already dead, are picked out. The medicine-man then selects the 

 particular spirit of each individual present, makes all sit down, takes 

 the bone representing his spirit, and lays it on the head of the indi- 

 vidual, among his hair, with many invocations and grimaces, till it 

 is supposed to descend into the heart of the individual, and resume 

 its former place. When all the spirits are thus restored, the whole 

 party make a contribution of food, and a feast ensues, of which the 

 remainder belongs to the medicine-man. If, perchance, in selecting 

 the spirits of the dead, a living one should be taken up, it is thought 

 that the living person would immediately die. 



Tohua is the name of another ceremony, only performed early in 

 the spring, for the purpose of insuring abundance of deer, fish, berries, 

 and roots. This consists in taking up heated stones, and plunging 

 them in water, out of which they draw them with their hands. 

 It is only performed when they have eaten nothing for a day, or 

 are, according to their acceptation of the terra, " clean." If they 

 have violated this rule, they believe that the hot stones will burn 

 their fingers. This ceremony is said to last several days, and 

 includes singing and dancing, walking barefoot and nearly naked 

 about the village, and many other such like pranks. The medi- 

 cine-men also enact the same kind of mummeries over the sick as 

 have been heretofore described. 



They have, in common with the other tribes, many traditions 

 connected with the rivers and remarkable features of their country. 

 In these the prairie-wolf bears always a conspicuous part. This wolf 



VOL. IV. 120 



