Beatty—The St. George, or Mummers', Flays. 319 
“A blanket was spread on the ground on the north of the 
lire, near where the man in evergreens was concealed. [Thi§ 
man was previously described.] At the last appearance of 
the man in evergreens the woman fell back apparently par¬ 
alyzed and suffering from a difficulty of breathing, all of 
which was probably feigned, but was supposed to be a sign that 
the right remedy for her ailment had been found and that 
none other need be tried. The medicine man now proceeded 
to restore her to consciousness by drawing zig-zag lines from 
her body east and west and straight lines north and south, like 
their symbols for the chain and sheet lightnings, by stepping 
over her in different directions, and by rattling.” 1 She then 
c ‘recovered consciousness. J? 
A hunting ceremony with similar import is celebrated by 
the Eskimo. They kill the evil spirit of the deer, which 
would prevent good hunting. The main performer is the 
medicine man. “He goes through a number of gyrations and 
contortions, constantly hallooing and calling, till suddenly the 
imaginary deer is among them!. EfW begins a lively time. 
Elvery one is screaming, running, jumping, ' jspearing and 
stabbing at the imaginary deer, till one would think a whole 
madhouse was let loose. Often this deer proves very agile, 
and must be hard to kill, for I have known them' to- keep- this 
performance up for days, in fact till they were completely ex¬ 
hausted. 
“During one of these performances:, an old m!an speared the 
deer, another knocked out an eye:, a third stabbed him, and 
so on till he was dead. One who is able or fortunate enough 
to inflict some injury on this bad deer, especially he who in¬ 
flicts the death blow', is considered extremely lucky, as he will 
have no difficulty in procuring as miany deer as he wants, for 
there is no longer an evil spirit to turn his bullets or arrows 
from their course.” 2 
Somewhat the same result is aimed at among the Zuni In¬ 
dians in one of their ceremonies-, by means of a mimic contest. 
1 Matthews, 1. c., pp. 423-424. 
2 Franz Boas; “The Central Eskimo.” 5th Report, Bureau of Eth¬ 
nology (1888), pp. 399-669 (p. 607, cited from Kumlien). 
