You may remember having met here a Navaho friend of ours, one of the silver-smiths, whom we familiarly called “John the Jeweler.” Early this year he went over to the Kohonino Ca?on and stayed there four days. The day after leaving the Ca?on he was taken with ague, and every day for twenty days he had a chill followed by fever and delirium1. The strangeness of the disease had an extraordinarily2 depressing effect on him and during these twenty days he was in a state of utter collapse3.
John the Jeweler is a medicine man, a minor4 priest, of considerable repute, and numbers of his friends came to see him, but none of them knew anything about his disease. The priests and the patient were inclined to attribute it to “a bad smell emanating5 from the Kohonino,” but as there was also a band of wandering Paiutes there during the time of the patient’s visit, they were not sure but that the bad smell may have originated with the Paiutes.
It was concluded in this emergency to call in the best mediciners of the region. The first to officiate was Ojkai yo?na. His rites6 and song-prayers were directed to the Yè who dwells at the mouth of the pit through which all people came up to this world, and through which the spirits of the dead return to the lower world.
This pit is in the summit of that mountain in the north called Tjoli?. Between the patient and the mouth of the pit the priest made a fire with certain woods, and beside this fire he sang prayers to the Yè who sits on “this side” the mouth of the pit. He beseeched the Yè not to call the patient to descend7 the ladder leading to the regions of the dead. He rubbed the ashes and pulverized8 charcoal9 of his medicine-fire all over the body of the patient, first having rubbed him with a mixture obtained by melting the fat of the bison, mountain sheep, elk10 and deer, with a small portion of the fat of the domestic sheep. This grease was to make stick to the skin the charcoal and 154 ashes of the medicine-fire. After the anointment the songs were sung again beside the patient.
The rites of Ojkai yo?na lasted two days and nights and his fee was one horse, say fifty dollars.
The next shaman was Kuma byge. In the sick man’s hut, a little hollow mound11 of clay was made, and within the hollow three stones were set; on these were laid splinters of pi?on and cedar12 which were set afire. When they had burned to embers, the shaman shook his rattle13 and sang to the Yès of his father. He then laid upon the embers five herbs. The patient was laid naked upon the sand, close to the fireplace, and a blanket was spread over the fireplace, and the patient thus inhaled14 the fumes15 of the herbs, while the shaman sat alongside, shaking his rattle and continuing his song.
The treatment was performed at sunrise and sunset, and should last four days, with songs, dances and other ceremonies at night. But in this instance, at the close of the second day, an embarrassing circumstance occurred: the patient’s wife’s menstrual flow began. This at once put a stop to all further treatment. Kuma byge’s fee was one horse, say fifty dollars.
After the wife got well, Ets?di b?k?s was summoned. To the leader of the four winds sang the shaman, the white wind of the East, the blue wind of the South, the yellow wind of the West, and the black wind of the North. Before the people emerged from the lower world the winds were taken up the pit at Tjoli? by the “Leader” and their directions assigned them. He caused them to blow upon the muddy surface of the earth while this upper surface was yet new and damp, until the world became dry enough for habitation. The winds expelled the evil influence of the bad Yès, and the new world became beautiful. So it was to this Leader that Ets?di b?k?s sang, asking him to bring the winds together, and expel the evil influence that threatened the patient.
The ceremonies lasted four days and nights and consisted of song-prayers, exhibiting fetiches, shaking the rattle, blowing the whistle, and swinging the tsin boosni (which is like swinging the Thunder prayer stick of the Hopi). The fee of Ets?di b?k?s was a large horse, say sixty dollars.
The next shaman was called Hostin b?kan. He administered herb roots, both raw and in infusions16. The raw root of the Jamestown 155 weed was given the patient at sunrise, noon and sunset. Each dose was something less than half an ounce of the recently dry root. This was chewed and swallowed. Closely following each of these doses, he was given a piece of the stalk of the Golden Alexander, about six inches long and as thick as the thumb. This he chewed, swallowing the saliva17, but not the fiber18. Between the songs, during the day and night, infusions were given the patient to drink, in quantities never to exceed half a pint19 at once. There were separate infusions of herbs known as: aze kloh?, laughing medicine, aze b?ni, bad or dreaded20 talk medicine, thajuhu?tso, great chief of water medicines, that is of medicinal herbs growing in marshes21, all, I surmise22, species of nightshade. Hostin b?kan’s ceremonies lasted a day and a night. His fee was a horse, say fifty dollars.
The last and most potent23 of the shamans was Kuma. He is chief of the clan24 to which the patient belongs. He lives about thirty miles southwest from our Ca?on.
Kuma’s prayers were directed to Hosdjoqun (the Killer) and Hos-(dje) Yelti (the Talker), guardian25 deities26 of Tjoli?. But all these prayers were more immediately addressed to the Yès who dwell in the Half-white-house, asking their mediation27, that the “Killer” might withhold28 his hand, that the “Talker” might withhold the word of death. I presume you know that there is a mythic region in the north. It extends from nadir29 to zenith and has no horizon. It is a land of vertical30 strata31 of various colors, each stratum32 reaching from The Below to The Above. At each stratification is the house of a Yè, half in one stratum, half in the next.[5]
A sweat house is decorated on the outside with a rainbow in colored sands; a singing-house is built for the occasion; sand pictures (altars) are made on the floor of the singing-house; and there are dances of the masked participants.
Kuma’s ceremonies lasted five days and nights. Every morning at sunrise, the patient was placed in the sweat house for about twenty minutes, say ten minutes in each. Nothing of special significance was done during the day, but from sunset to dawn the maskers danced before the singing-house, while within the singing-house, the 156 priests sang their prayers, made their sand pictures, and placed the proper fetiches before and upon them. For a fee, Kuma received a fine horse and colt, worth one hundred dollars.
Aside from all these fees, sheep were killed to provide mutton, and other provisions were purchased to feed the shamans and their assistants, the dancers, and the numerous spectators who flock around when any of these religious ceremonies are in progress. In these expenses the patient was assisted by all his relatives.
In these ceremonies, three weeks went by, with every day an ague. At the end of that time, the patient said that he was “looking down the descending33 ladder.”
His friends then cinched him upon a saddle, and brought him here, muffled34 in a blanket, just like a bag of bones. We had him dumped in the wool room. This was four days ago. We had no calomel, so we gave him a generous dose of blue mass, about thirty grains. On the following morning we administered a liberal draught35 of castor oil, and then we gave him about thirty grains of quinine, in four doses, daily. Two days ago his ague left him. This morning he and his friends left for home. Just as he was leaving, John the Jeweler told me he was feeling so well, he thought that by to-morrow night he could resume the performance of his marital36 duties.
A. M. Stephen
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1
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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2
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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3
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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4
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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5
emanating
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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6
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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7
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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8
pulverized
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| adj.[医]雾化的，粉末状的v.将…弄碎( pulverize的过去式和过去分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎 | |
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9
charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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10
elk
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| n.麋鹿 | |
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11
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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12
cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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13
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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14
inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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16
infusions
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| n.沏或泡成的浸液（如茶等）( infusion的名词复数 )；注入，注入物 | |
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17
saliva
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| n.唾液，口水 | |
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18
fiber
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| n.纤维，纤维质 | |
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19
pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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20
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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21
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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22
surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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23
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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24
clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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25
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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26
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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27
mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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28
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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29
nadir
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| n.最低点，无底 | |
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30
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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31
strata
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| n.地层（复数）；社会阶层 | |
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32
stratum
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| n.地层，社会阶层 | |
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33
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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34
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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35
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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36
marital
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| adj.婚姻的，夫妻的 | |
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