When all is ready, the doctor pops his head out of the wigwam, on his
hands and knees. At this moment the young men fire at the little bark
animal, blowing it to atoms; when the doctor jumps at the bowl,
thrusting his face into the water, grunting, groaning and making a vast
deal of fuss. Suddenly a woman jumps upon his back, then dismounts,
takes the doctor by the hair, and drags him back into the teepee. All
fragments of the bark animal are then collected and burned. The ceremony
there ceases. If the patient does not recover, the doctor says he did
not get the right animal. The reader must be convinced that it is not
for want of the most strenuous exertions on the part of the physician.
These are some of the customs of the Dahcotahs, which, however absurd
they may appear to us, are held in sacred reverence by them. There are
some animals, birds and fishes, that an Indian venerates; and the
creature thus sacred, he dare neither kill nor eat. The selection is
usually a bear, buffalo, deer, otter, eagle, hawk or snake. One will not
eat the right wing of a bird; another dare not eat the left: nor are the
women allowed to eat any part that is considered sacred.
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