Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/267

262 nights, but will receive some compensation. The death of the patient does not annul the obligation under any circumstances.

In addition to the animals, birds, and reptiles that cause disease, the variety of human ailments and the fertility of the native's imagination necessitated the invention of yet other causes. These were sometimes superhuman, but only too often the tribe merely descended to the level of the African savage, and accused some medicine-man of the crime of causing disease. There would seem to be some reason in this if the medicine-man who had the case in hand were the one accused, but that was not the custom; it was a rival practitioner who bore the onus and frequently paid the penalty with his life, as may be seen from the accompanying annals. It would seem that every epidemic of any extent that ever afflicted the Pimas caused an almost wholesale destruction of medicine-men. In individual cases of malice on the part of the medicine-man the treatment is to sing the medicine song and afterwards to place four magic stones in a cup of water, taking out one at a time and holding it under the nose of the patient, that he may inhale its power; then he must drink the water.

If a person believes that a medicine-man has brought sickness upon his household he calls in another doctor to find the charm. The one consulted takes four assistants and searches day and night until some object is found which they can safely assume was hidden in the vicinity by the malicious medicine-man. When found the object must not be touched, for fear of death, but the mere discovery renders it harmless to the person against whom it was aimed.

Sometimes the medicine-man causes sickness by "shooting" charcoal, made from the burned body of an enemy, into some one who does not notice it at the time, but whose body burns in consequence. If it is sucked out before it is entirely consumed the charcoal loses its power and the patient recovers.

The badger causes a severe throat disease, which, however, is considered to be of rare occurrence. The remedy is to sing the badger song (p. 321) and to press the tail of the badger on the patient's neck.

The bear causes swellings upon the body, headache, and fever. The remedy is to sing the bear songs, of which there are several (p. 318); the singing is sometimes continued throughout the entire day. No part of the animal is used in the treatment. The bear is friendly to the Pimas, Ifa man meets one he must say, "I'm red," and then the bear will not touch him, though he is free to kill the animal.

The black-tailed deer causes diseases of the throat and lungs. The remedy is to sing the deer song (p. 317) and to press the tail of the deer on the affected part.