61 
possession, the chief of the band might summon a meeting of all the 
medicine-men; but instead of selecting one special man to discover the 
lost article he passed a pipe around and asked, “ Is there any one here 
who can help the woman? ” On certain days the pipe circulated around 
unsmoked, because each medicine-man knew that his powers were for the 
time being inoperative. Only the man whose manido happened to be 
functioning on that day would venture to smoke the pipe and volunteer 
his services. 
Many Indians acquired a reputation for great skill in the cure of 
diseases by the use of herbal remedies. They were known as mashkikike- 
wanini : “ medicine-workmen or herbalists ”; but in the eyes of their fellow- 
tribesmen they were not true medicine-men because they derived their 
powers from a purely human knowledge of the effects of various plants, 
not from a vision and blessing conferred by the supernatural world. For 
the same reason the majority of the Parry Islanders do not regard as 
genuine medicine-men the members ( mede ) of the Midewiwin or Grand 
Medicine Society. 1 This society never succeeded in establishing itself on 
the island, at least within the memory of its present inhabitants; but the 
natives know of its existence in other bands, and that it numbers two 
ex-members even among themselves. They believe that wherever it exists 
most medicine-men join it in order to use their knowledge and powers as 
mede during the intervals when their true medicine-powers are quiescent, 
because it enables a djiskiu or a kusabindugeyu to prescribe herbal remedies 
for which his real profession gives him no authority. As currently used 
on Parry island, however, the term mede carries an evil connotation, and 
is practically synonymous with sorcerer or witch. 
From a natural magnification of things distant and unknown, the 
Parry Islanders entertain considerable awe of foreign medicine-men. Some 
of them who know of the Blackfoot and Assiniboine tribes to the westward 
assert that the shadow ( udjibbom ) of every Blackfoot keeps guard over 
his kinsmen, so that however scattered a family may be, each member 
enjoys the protection of all the rest. The Assiniboine ( Sin-e-buan : “ stone 
medicine-men ”) are even more dangerous. Originally they were a group 
of medicine-men so powerful that they separated off from other people 
and became a distinct tribe. Today their medicine-men, buan, who use a 
water-drum ( buankik ) like the members of the Grand Medicine Society, 
are more powerful than any other; they can read a man's thoughts at a 
single glance, and hear the cry of a drowning friend and save him even 
though he may be 100 miles away. But no one can become a buan except 
through the help of the Sinebuan or Assiniboine, who first kill him, then 
restore him to life again. 
“ My foster-fatlier’s brother, Buankins, once went west, encountered the Sinebuan 
and became a buan. He could sense the needs of strangers the moment he entered 
their camp. People used to visit him continually to ask his advice in sickness. He 
did not undertake to cure them, but advised them to gather some herb or other and 
use it” (Pegahmagabow) . 
If we exclude the mede , however, only the three classes of medicine- 
men previously mentioned played any important role in the lives of the 
Parry Island Ojibwa. We may describe the wabeno first. 
1 Yet the med6 who employs hiB knowledge for sorcery receives aid from evil manidos. Ses p. 85. 
4294 — 5J 
