The Midewiwin or Grand Medicine Society of the Ojibwa | Page 4

his Distemper is but a Trifle; and in fine, that in order to accelerate the Cure, a�?t will be convenient to send his own and his Relations Slaves to shoot Elks, Deer, &c., to the end they may all eat of that sort of Meat, upon which his Cure does absolutely depend.
Commonly these Quacks bring a�?em some Juices of Plants, which are a sort of Purges, and are called Maskikik.
[Footnote 3: New Voyages to North America, London, 1703, vol. 2, pp. 47, 48.]
Hennepin, in a�?A Continuation of the New Discovery,a� etc.,[4] speaks of the religion and sorcerers of the tribes of the St. Lawrence and those living about the Great Lakes as follows:
We have been all too sadly convinced, that almost all the Salvages in general have no notion of a God, and that they are not able to comprehend the most ordinary Arguments on that Subject; others will have a Spirit that commands, say they, in the Air. Some among a�?em look upon the Skie as a kind of Divinity; others as an Otkon or Manitou, either Good or Evil.
These People admit of some sort of Genius in all things; they all believe there is a Master of Life, as they call him, but hereof they make various applications; some of them have a lean Raven, which they carry always along with them, and which they say is the Master of their Life; others have an Owl, and some again a Bone, a Sea-Shell, or some such thing;
There is no Nation among a�?em which has not a sort of Juglers or Conjuerers, which some look upon to be Wizards, but in my Opinion there is no Great reason to believe a�?em such, or to think that their Practice favours any thing of a Communication with the Devil.
These Impostors cause themselves to be reverenced as Prophets which fore-tell Futurity. They will needs be looka�?d upon to have an unlimited Power. They boast of being able to make it Wet or Dry; to cause a Calm or a Storm; to render Land Fruitful or Barren; and, in a Word to make Hunters Fortunate or Unfortunate. They also pretend to Physick, and to apply Medicines, but which are such, for the most part as have little Virtue at all in a�?em, especially to Cure that Distemper which they pretend to.
It is impossible to imagine, the horrible Howlings and strange Contortions that those Jugglers make of their Bodies, when they are disposing themselves to Conjure, or raise their Enchantments.
[Footnote 4: London, 1689, p. 59, et. seq.]
Marquette, who visited the Miami, Mascontin and Kickapoo Indians in 1673, after referring to the Indian herbalist, mentions also the ceremony of the a�?calumet dance,a� as follows:
They have Physicians amongst them, towards whom they are very liberal when they are sick, thinking that the Operation of the Remedies they take, is proportional to the Presents they make unto those who have prescriba�?d them.
In connection with this, reference is made by Marquette to a certain class of individuals among the Illinois and Dakota, who were compelled to wear womena�?s clothes, and who were debarred many privileges, but were permitted to a�?assist at all the Superstitions of their Juglers, and their solemn Dances in honor of the Calumet, in which they may sing, but it is not lawful for them to dance. They are calla�?d to their Councils, and nothing is determina�?d without their Advice; for, because of their extraordinary way of Living, they are looka�?d upon as Manitous, or at least for great and incomparable Geniusa�?s.a�
That the calumet was brought into requisition upon all occasions of interest is learned from the following statement, in which the same writer declares that it is a�?the most mysterious thing in the World. The Sceptres of our Kings are not so much respected; for the Savages have such a Deference for this Pipe, that one may call it The God of Peace and War, and the Arbiter of Life and Death. Their Calumet of Peace is different from the Calumet of War; They make use of the former to seal their Alliances and Treaties, to travel with safety, and receive Strangers; and the other is to proclaim War.a�
This reverence for the calumet is shown by the manner in which it is used at dances, in the ceremony of smoking, etc., indicating a religious devoutness approaching that recently observed among various Algonkian tribes in connection with the ceremonies of the Mid?��?��wiwin. When the calumet dance was held, the Illinois appear to have resorted to the houses in the winter and to the groves in the summer. The above-named authority continues in this connection:
They chuse for that purpose a set Place among Trees, to shelter themselves against the Heat of the Sun, and lay in the middle a large Matt, as a Carpet, to lay