Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 45.djvu/413

 Rh fail, then as a last rite lie arrays himself in his strange dress and goes through his hocus-pocus over the dying man, with the expectation that his mysterious and magical skill may be invoked at this point to save the patient. In case of an adverse result, however, he easily maintains his self-respect in the community by the explanation that "it was the will of the Good Spirit." An illustration of savage logic is also interesting in this connection, for the medicine man argues by analogy that extraordinary cases demand extraordinary remedies. Dorman relates an incident which seems to substantiate this. "An Indian warrior was brought to camp after a most disastrous encounter with a grizzly bear. The doctor compounded a medicine that ought really to have worked wonders. It was made by boiling together a collection of miscellaneous weeds, a handful of chewing tobacco, the heads of four rattlesnakes, and a select assortment of worn-out moccasins. The decoction thus obtained was seasoned with a little crude petroleum and a larger quantity of red pepper, and the patient was directed to take a pint of the mixture every half hour. He was a brave man, conspicuous for his fortitude under suffering, but after taking his first dose he turned over and died with the utmost expedition."

Savages are very fond of ornaments, and in some respects we resemble them—with this difference, that in savage life it is the men who are the most highly decorated. The incentive of personal adornment was, as it is now, due to the desire to make one's self prominent or conspicuous in the eyes of others. As proud as the schoolboy is of his medal received as a reward of merit, so is the savage of his trophies, which he wears as a mark of his prowess in battle, or in an encounter with some wild beast. Necklaces, bracelets, and earrings made of these trophies were among the earliest ornaments worn. Teeth, claws, shells, pearls, ivory, bone, hair, and feathers were commonly used, while the brass plates for keyholes, sardine boxes, and other metallic objects are said to be especially prized. On the arms circular rings of ivory, iron, or copper were worn, and the savage delights to load himself to the extent of physical endurance with these heavy and useless appendages. Schweinfurth, the African explorer, thus describes the ornaments of the Dinka, a Central African tribe: "The wives of some of the wealthy are often laden with iron to such a degree that, without exaggeration, I may affirm that I have seen several carrying about with them close upon half a hundred weight of these savage ornaments. The heavy rings with which the women load their wrists and ankles clank and resound like the fetters of slaves. . . . The favorite ornaments of the men are massive ivory rings, which they wear round the upper part of the arm; the rich adorn themselves from elbows to wrists with a whole series of rings,