.MTM1OA.MTE1MDEy

247

method of calling the physician is a little peculiar as viewed by the regular orthodox practices of the white man. It is stated on good authority that when a Dakota has become so ill that the herbs and combined howl of the squaws of the lodge and village fail to drive out the evil spirit the medecine [sic] man is sent for. for this purpose a swift runner is selected as a messenger and he proceeds with a present to the lodge of he medecine man enters it and states the object of his visit and deposits the present. he then roughly Jostles the medecine man with his foot and and starts off at a run for the lodge of the sick man followed by the medecine man. if the latter can over take the messenger and kick him he goes no further. if not he follows to the lodge of the sick man and is bound to heal him if he is able. Colonel Dodge states that the Medecine man is paid only in case the patient recovers.. Our experience has been that nothing is gotten from an indian without pay. first and with no contingencies. The medecine man is a thing of spontaneous growth. the office is not one of heredity but is acquired and granted by common consent. any one may aspire to the dignity. and each has an equal chance to maintain the right to the office. From time to time the aspirant proclaims that he has made medecine which is potent. and will effect the cure he claims for it. He is put to the test and must expose himself to the greatest danger and the most trying circumstances to put his "Medecine" to the trial. if injury befall him his medecine is "not good" and he fails. if he succeed he is given confidence. The Late "Sitting Bull" was a medecine man of experience and was at the same time a chief which circumstances made him a very influential personage among his people. He at the same time being turbulent and cross grained excited the Dakota to incessant attacks and incursions upon the whites and since his death there has been peace. The Dakota method of curing a patient is very [?] and alike for all classes of disease Some writers say that "consumption" as well as other diseases are [?] in the same way. so far as the native treatment goes that is true.. But we would just say that the "Phthisis" or "consumption" is a disease of civilization and unknown to the indian in his normal aboriginal condition. It is only when the wild animal: indian. is taken from his teepee and cooped up in a house made by the white man which is air tight. in a measure. and in which the indian several families deep some times. lie huddled together that the disease makes its appearance. The houses made for the indian are totally unfit for their occupancy from the fact that they admit of no ventillation. They are usually of one room. by analogy equivalent to the teepee. but when we have stated that they have no [?] the analogy to the teepee ceases.. the house has usually a door and a window both of