.MTM1OA.MTE1MDQx
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272
legend. Chapter IV "Heaven" is not held by the Ojibway
The Dakota hold the belief: at least such was the belief in the days when scalping was the prevailing custom. that by scalping an enemy the soul was totally destroyed and could never reach the "Hunting Ground". and therefore they were anxious to destroy the soul of their enemy and scalped the head. A contradiction of the dogma that the soul in the Happy Hunting Ground was free is found in the belief. that if a warrior killed an enemy and did not scalp him. he made him his servant in the future state and as he had conquered him in this life he would have no trouble with him in the future life. If a Dakota is hung or meets death by strangulation. that Spirit is excluded from the Happy Hunting Ground and has to dwell in "hell" it does not matter how the strangulation occurs either by hanging or otherwise. The Dakota [?tribe?] designate his communion with the Great Spirit as "Medecine" [sic] in fact medecine is a generic term applied to all natural or supernatural manifestations occurring in the existance [sic] of the indian. Should he contemplate a venture of any kind, he will go apart and "Make Medecine". that is consult the "oracle." He does not go to "Delphi" but he goes to a place apart from the camp and there [?muses?] and waits to see what will turn up. like Mrs. Macawber. If an eagle or hawk sail by and swoop upon and catch its prey it will be good mecine. Should a rattle snake turn and show fight and the indian not kill him it is "bad medicine.: and so forth. there is no formula or scheme by which to determine what is or what is not good or bad medicine before hand. Every Dakota adult male has his individual "Medecine". which is sacred to him and him alone It is not of necessity a medecine as the white man understands medecene It is something revealed to him by the 'Great Spirit' at the time of his initiation as his medicine. and this he always has with him. In the "lodge" or "teepee" is to be found a mystic bundle suspended where no human can reach it. and this bundle contains the sacred articles of the individual indian among them his "medicine." The same idea prevails among the Ojibway and did we believe among the ancient. people. Opening a mound the last resting place of one [?Adougesues?] indian we came to a skeleton and among the bones of the chest was a nugget of Copper carefully wrapped in birch bark and buckskin. evidently the "Medecine"