THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 39$ 



The Indians do not use the word medicine, however, but in each tribe they have a 

 word of their own construction synonymous with mystery or mystery-man. 



The medicine-bag, then, is a mystery-bag, and its meaning and importance neces- 

 sary to be understood, as it may be said to be the key to Indian life and Indian charac- 

 ter. These bags are constructed of the skins of animals, of birds, or of reptiles, and 

 ornamented and preserved in a thousand different ways, as suits the taste or freak of 

 the person who constructs them. These skins are generally attached to some part of 

 the clothing of the Indiau, or carried in his hand; they are oftentimes decorated in 

 such a manner as to be exceedingly ornamental to his person, and always are stuffed 

 with grass or moss, or something of the kind, and generally without drugs or med- 

 icines within them, as they are religiously closed aud sealed, and seldom if ever to 

 be opened. I find that every Indian in his primitive state carries his medicine-bag 

 in some form or other, to which he pays the greatest homage, and to which he looks 

 for safety and protection through life; and, in fact, it might almost be called a species 

 of idolatry, for it would seem in some instances as if he actually worshipped it. 

 Feasts are often made, and dogs and horses sacrificed, to a man's medicine ; and days 

 and even weeks of fasting and pennance of various kinds are often suffered to ap- 

 pease his medicine, which he imagines he has in some way offended. 



This curious custom has principally been done away with along the frontier, where 

 white men laugh at the Indian for the observance of so ridiculous and useless a form ; 

 but in this country it is in full force, and every male in the tribe carries this, his 

 supernatural charm or guardian, to which he looks for the preservation of his life in 

 battle or in other danger, at which times it would be considered ominous of bad luck 

 and an ill fate to be without it. 



The manner in which this curious and important article is instituted is this : A boy, 

 at the age of fourteen or fifteen years, is said to be making or " forming his medicine," 

 when he wanders away from his father's lodge, and absents himself for the space of 

 two or three and sometimes even four or five days, lying on the ground in some re- 

 mote or secluded spot, crying to the Great Spirit, and fasting the whole time. Dur- 

 ing this period of peril and abstinence, when he falls asleep, the first animal, bird, or 

 reptile of which he dreams (or pretends to have dreamed, perhaps), he considers the 

 Great Spirit has designated for his mysterious protector through life. He then re- 

 turns home to his father's lodge and relates his success; and after allaying his thirst 

 and satiating his appetite, he sallies forth with weapons or traps until he can pro- 

 cure the animal or bird the skin of which he preserves entire, and ornaments it ac- 

 cording to his own fancy, and carries it with him through life, for good luck (as he 

 calls it), as his strength in battle, and in death his guardian spirit, that is buried with 

 him, and which is to conduct him safe to the beautiful hunting grounds which lie 

 contemplates in the world to come. 



The value of the medicine-bag to the Indian is beyond all price ; for to sell it or 

 give it away would subject him to such signal disgrace in his tribe that he could 

 never rise above it; and, again, his superstition -would stand in the way of any such 

 disposition of it, for he considers it the gift of the Great Spirit. An Indian carries 

 his medicine-bag into battle, and trusts to it for his protection, and if he loses it thus 

 when fighting ever so bravely for his country, he suffers a disgrace scarcely less than 

 that which occurs in case he sells or gives it away ; his enemy carries it off and dis- 

 plays it to his own people as a trophy, whilst the loser is cut short of the respect that 

 is due to other young men of his tribe, and forever subjected to the degrading epithet 

 of "a man without medicine," or "he who has lost his medicine," until he can re- 

 place it again, which can only be done by rushing into battle and plundering one 

 from an enemy whom he slays with his own hand. This done his medicine is re- 

 stored, and he is reinstated again in the estimation of his tribe, and even higher than 

 before, for such is called the best of medicine, or " medicine honorable." 



It is a singular fact that a man can institute his mystery or medicine but once in 

 his life, and equally singular that he can reinstate himself by the adoption of the 



