316 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
When the novices are purified, they act as if they had for¬ 
gotten everything, and hive to learn all anew. 1 
In another Kwakiutl ceremony, Hamaqua is supposed to- 
throw disease into people. Bilood. flows from the performer’s 
mouth and he vomits forth a worm. Then he throws a rope, 
which finally falls among the people. They rush towards the 
fire and fall down lifeless. They are then carried away dead, 
and are brought to life again by Ham aqua. 2 
In an initiation ceremony of the Musquakie Indians the 
initiates die and “awake men.” 3 
One of the most complete studies of initiation ceremonies of 
our savage people is the elaborate paper by Mr. W. J. Hoff¬ 
man, 4 on the Mide win , or “Grand Medicine Society,” of the 
Ojibwa Indians. In this society there are four degrees, each 
with an elaborate ritual. In each the death and revival of the 
candidate is an essential. A brief description of one ceremony 
will suffice for all. After a long series of ritualistic dances 
and songs, the first priest grasps his medicine sack as if hold¬ 
ing a gun, and aims it at the candidate’s left breast, uttering 
a song. This he does three times. This is all repeated by a 
second priest and then by a third. How a fourth priest, who 
is the leader of the ceremony, aims the sack at the candidate’s 
head, who falls forward upon the ground, apparently lifeless. 
Then the four priests lay their sacks on the candidate’s back, 
and a shell drops from his mouth. He begins to revive, but 
the priest puts the shell back into his mouth and he falls upon 
the ground as before. They then pass around the candidate’s 
body, and this causes him to revive. The chief priest then 
says to him, “Get up,” which he does. Then to the drum the 
priest sings a song. 5 
1 J. G. Frazer, 1. c., vol. 3, pp. 425-428. 
2 L. c., pp. 485 if. 
3 Mrs. M. A. Owen, “Folk-Lore of the Musquakie Indians,” 1904, pp. 
68-69. A partial account of what was’ probably an initiation ceremony 
on the Pacific coast is given by J. B. Jewett in his “Narrative . 
Among the Savages’ of Nootka Sound,” Middletown, 1815, p. 98. 
4 7th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (1891), pp. 143-300. 
s Hoffman, 1. c., pp. 210-220. For the ceremonies connected with 
the other degrees see pp. 231-236; 243-251; and 258-274. 
