85 
The medicine man was the constant adviser of the people, telling 
them the future, curing their diseases, killing their enemies, or protecting 
them from the malign influences of others. In all such cases, payment 
was absolutely necessary. The first recompense was always tobacco, 
for a piece of chewed tobacco was placed in the ground from which a 
curative root was abstracted. When the informant was asked what 
was used before tobacco was supplied by the whites, he blandly replied 
that before that time the Indians were never sick and, consequently, had 
little use for roots. Payment, of course, induced a certain amount of 
rascality in the profession. One old woman at certain periods demanded 
tobacco in the name of the dead, but it was perfectly obvious that her 
requests actually coincided with her personal needs. Keith says (1890, 
II, page 127) that among the Big Arrow band (Hare) when the natives 
were in violent pain or fear of death they would unbosom themselves 
publicly before a medicine man and declare all their evil doings. Previous 
to the confession, a mystical cord ornamented with loon necks, strips of 
skins, claws of the eagle, and birds’ feathers, was stretched across the tipi 
a little above the ground, and the penitent from time to time threw himself 
across it on his stomach, the medicine man enacting his rites during the 
process. 
In the actual care of diseases by herbs, their knowledge seems very 
limited or forgotten. A few unidentified roots are said to have been used 
as emetics and for headache. Keith’s statement to the contrary (1890, 
page 102) is probably an error. An informant at Good Hope said that 
he cured himself of syphilis by a mixture of seven roots taken just before 
sunset. He had not the roots with him, however, for fear some menstru- 
ating woman would spoil their efficacy. Likewise it was stated that bear 
gall and water when drunk was a good remedy for the same disease. Willow 
roots were used for indigestion, and another, unidentified, for fever. Medic- 
inal roots were always gathered in August, as at other times they contained 
too much juice. Moosehair is put on a wound to stop bleeding, and broken 
limbs are mended by the use of splints. Sometimes modern introductions 
are not so successful, as instanced by the case of a girl who was badly 
infected by a salve which turned out to be stovepolish. 
Nakani Belief. The belief in the Nakani or “Bad Indian” was so 
vividly real to the Satudene, and also to the Hare and Dogrib, that the 
people even to this day show considerable fear. They will not venture 
away from the camp at night alone and any unexpected human sound 
such as whistling will scare them if the source is not soon discovered. 
The Nakani to them is a human being, generally an Indian, who has taken 
on certain supernatural qualities. He is described as being dressed either 
in the fashion of an Indian or a white man, but wears tremendously large 
boots which are noted by the tracks he leaves in the mud. The secrecy 
of his actions distinguishes him from a mere stranger. Formerly the 
Nakani travelled in numbers but now alone. They have no boats, which 
gives the people a feeling of safety when camping on islands. The threat 
of the belief that a Nakani is in the vicinity is known to have moved with 
considerable loss of property a whole camp into the protective vicinity 
of a trading establishment. One old man claimed to have shot a Nakani, 
but he did not stop to make certain. 
