M. R. HARRINGTON — SACRED BUNDLES OF THE SAC AND FOX INDIANS. 225

and a little pile made of the resulting dust. Using the tip of the small paddle, which thus serves as a measure, a little of the dust is placed gently on the surface of the water at the east end of the shell, then south, then west, then north, after which, beginning at the east, they stir it four times around clockwise. If the dust sinks they believe the patient cannot live, but if it scatters out over the surface of the water she will recover. Then the patient drinks the preparation. If the dust has sunk, it is given to her but once, for it will do her no good, but if it floats, it is given to her four times, about half an hour or an hour apart. If this brings no result after the fourth time the following song is sung:
Ne the wi ni ne pi a to i ne ni we (Curing medicine I bring to you, man)
I ni wi tea me ko ci no wi no (Now you can come out)
And the following, but slightly different:
Ne the wi ni ne pi a to i kwa w'
(Curing medicine I bring to you, woman)
I ni wi tea me ko ci no wi no (Now you can come out)
They use both verses, addressing the child first as a man and then as a woman, because they have no way of telling whether a man child or a woman child will appear. When not in use the medicine was simply put away with other medi- cines, perhaps in a raw hide trunk. The mastodon’s tooth is called “ma ni to wi pits, ” or mysterious being’s tooth, and the bone, similarly “ma ni to ha ka mm,” or mysterious being’s bones. The shell is “ a'thi,” the little paddle, “pu’' ki tha hi - gun,” and the file, “ka' wi poi.”
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226 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM — ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS VOL. IV.
(B) The second part is contained in a pouch of red trade- cloth, 4§" x 51", provided with a flap and decorated with crude ribbon appliqu6 in dark blue, pale blue and yellow. It may at one time have been slung on a strap or ribbon. The little bundle is known as Ci ca wus kw', and is used to bring success to the hunter. The dried head of an ivory-bill wood- pecker within is supposed to give the man the woodpecker’s power of seeking out and capturing his concealed prey, no matter how well hidden. The bird can by his own efforts cut a hole in the tree where the raccoon is hiding, and the hunter may share this power also. There is also tied on the head a little bag of paint supposed to have magical properties, with which the hunter bedecks himself, and a buckskin pack- age, inside, of herbs and tobacco, burned on the coals as a kind of incense. The woodpecker head is called ma ma wu', the paint, wa ci hon', and the package, no' thi gun’.
The following account of its use was given by Mrs. Carter.
The hunter who wishes to use this medicine must purify himself by taking a sweat-bath every day for four days; then the next morning he goes out to some spot not frequented by women and builds a new fire, upon which he throws some of the compound of tobacco and herbs, fumigating his body, hunting pouch, blankets, bullets, everything he is to use, in the resulting smoke. Then he lays tobacco on the wood- pecker’s head and asks or prays that he may kill a spike buck or a yearling doe, which are said to be the hardest to find and kill. If I understood correctly, each man who is to hunt does all these things, and then the leader, if there is a party, ties the woodpecker head to his scalp lock. They go the first day to their hunting ground and make camp, then at dawn the next day they sally forth, the leader, wearing the wood- pecker, to the east, the others different directions. One of them will kill the spike buck or young doe. because they asked for it. Whoever accomplishes the feat cuts the head off and throws it to the east, then skins and cuts up the carcass, leav-
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