Notes

583, 1. shuákia does not mean to “call on somebody” generally, but only “to call on the conjurer or medicine man”.

583, 2. wán stands for wánam nī´l: the fur or skin of a red or silver fox; kaníta pî´sh stands for kanítana látchash m’nálam: “outside of his lodge or cabin”. The meaning of the sentence is: they raise their voices to call him out. Conjurers are in the habit of fastening a fox-skin outside of their lodges, as a business sign, and to let it dangle from a rod stuck out in an oblique direction.

583, 3. tchélχa. During the treatment of a patient, who stays in a winter house, the lodge is often shut up at the top, and the people sit in a circle inside in utter darkness.

583, 5. liukiámnank. The women and all who take a part in the chorus usually sit in a circle around the conjurer and his assistant; the suffix -mna indicates close proximity. Nadshā´shak qualifies the verb winóta.

583, 5. tchûtchtníshash. The distributive form of tchû´t’na refers to each of the various manipulations performed by the conjurer on the patient.

584, 1. mā´shish, shortened from māshípkash, mā´shipksh, like ḵ’lä´ksh from k’läkápkash.

584, 2. 3. There is a stylistic incongruity in using the distributive form, only in kukuàga (kúe, frog), káhaktok, and in nshendshkáne (nshekáni, npshékani, tsékani, tchékĕni, small), while inserting the absolute form in wishinkága (wíshink, garter-snake) and in ḵáḵo; mû´lkaga is more of a generic term and its distributive form is therefore not in use.

584, 2. káhaktok for ká-akt ak; ká-akt being the transposed distributive form kákat, of kát, which, what (pron. relat.).

584, 4. lgû´m. The application of remedial drugs is very unfrequent in this tribe; and this is one of the reasons why the term “conjurer” or “shaman” will prove to be a better name for the medicine man than that of “Indian doctor”.

584, 4. kû´tash etc. The conjurer introduces a louse into the eye to make it eat up the protruding white portion of the sore eye.