88 
toner's address. 
lashed to cross-pieces by means of bark and then 
woven or filled in with strips of bark to form a web or 
mat upon which the wounded are placed and carried 
by four persons. A method somewhat similar for 
carrying the disabled is mentioned by Father Jacob 
Baegert as resorted to by the Southern California In- 
dians. They placed," he says, their sick or 
wounded on a rude litter made of crooked pieces of 
wood, which would constitute a rack to any but Indian 
bones ;" but adds, the carriers were in the habit of 
running with their charge."* An incident recorded by 
Alexander Henry evinces the ability of the hunter to 
arrest hemorrhage from an artery by compression. 
An Indian on his wintering ground trapping beaver, 
when at a distance from his lodge slipped on the ice 
and, falling on his hatchet, nearly severed his hand at 
the wrist. Taking off his shirt, he tore it into strips 
and bound it tightly around the arm above the 
wound, thus stopping the flow of blood, and walked 
three miles to his cabin. The hand was then de- 
tached, thus completing the amputation, and the 
stump dressed, which healed rapidly.f 
When necessary to cleanse deep wounds Indian phy- 
sicians made use of expedients, some of which are 
worthy of mention. For instance, they constructed a 
■^Smithsonian Report, 1874, p. 387. The same or nearly similar 
methods are mentioned by Schoolcraft, vol. i, p. 254, and by other 
authors. See also Surgeon G. A. Olis's report on the removal or the 
transportation of sick and wounded by pack-animals to the Surgeon- 
General, U. S. A., 1877. 
•j- Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territory, by 
Alex. Henry, pp. 122, 123. 
