the wâ'beno, I am rather inclined to the opinion that, as the practice mentioned below was with fire, the performers alluded to were the wâ'beno. The above-named writer says:

It is pretended that all the Algonquins and Abenaquis formerly practiced a kind of pyromancy, the whole mystery of which is as follows: They reduced to a very fine powder some charcoal, made of cedar; they disposed this powder in their own manner, and afterwards set fire to it, and by the form which the fire took whilst it ran along this powder, they pretended to discover what they wanted to know.

The wa'beno'ak were also formerly believed to be familiar with the properties of plants and other substances, which, if properly combined, would prove efficacious in causing the most indifferent man or woman to fall in love with the person wearing it about his person. Such preparations are termed love powders, and have been frequently alluded to by various writers, the statement of only one being here quoted. The Reverend Peter Jones remarks on this preparation:

This is a particular kind of charm which they use when they wish to obtain the object of their affections. It is made of roots and red ochre. With this they paint their faces, believing it to possess a power so irresistible as to cause the object of their desire to love them. But the moment this medicine is taken away, and the charm withdrawn, the person who before was almost frantic with love, hates with a perfect hatred.1

It is doubtful whether the reverend gentleman, although himself an Indian, had any suspicion of the actual composition of the preparation of which he speaks as having been employed by the Misasauga Ojibwa. The Ojibwa of Minnesota are very expert in this line of preparing so-called charm remedies-so much so, in fact, that the lesscultured whites are firm believers in the reputed properties of the substance named, while many of the more intelligent seriously ask if there is truth in the stories related.

While treating of this class of shamans and their alleged powers in the exposition of the ritual and ceremonies of the Mide'wiwin of the Ojibwa Indians,' I had occasion to explain, in the following words, the composition and method of preparation of some remedies which had been, until that time, unknown:

It consists of the following ingredients: Vermilion; powdered snakeroot (Polygala senega, L.); exiguam particulam sanguinis a puella effusi, quum in primis menstruis esset; and a piece of ginseng cut from the bifurcation of the root, and powdered. These are mixed and put into a small buckskin bag. The preparation is undertaken only after an offering to Ki'tshi Ma'nido of tobacco and a Mide' song with rattle accompaniment.

This preparation is not employed as that previously mentioned by Reverend Peter Jones, nor even as that used by the Menomini, as will now be explained.

During a recent visit to one of the reservations in Minnesota, I had occasion to confer with a Catholic missionary regarding some of the

1 History of the Ojebway Indians, London [1861], p. 155.

2 Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, p. 258.

peculiar medical practices of the Indians, and the implements and other accessories employed in connection with their profession. He related the following incident as having, but a short time previously, come under his personal observation:

One of the members of his church, a Norwegian, 62 years of age, and a widower, had for the last preceding year been considered by most of the residents as demented. The missionary himself had observed his erratic and frequently irrational conduct, and was impressed with the probable truth of the prevailing rumor. One morning, however, as the missionary was seated in his study, he was surprised at receiving a very early call, and upon invitation his visitor took a seat and explained the object of his visit. He said that for a year he had been so disturbed in his peace of mind that he now came to seek advice. He was fully aware of the common report respecting his conduct, but was utterly unable to control himself, and attributed the cause of his unfortunate condition to an occurrence of the year before. On waking one morning his thoughts were unwillingly concentrated on an Indian woman with whom he had no personal acquaintance whatever, and, notwithstanding the absurdity of the impression, he was unable to cast it aside. After breakfast he was, by some inexplicable influence, compelled to call upon her, and to introduce himself, and although he expected to be able to avoid repeating the visit, he never had sufficient control over himself to resist lurking in the vicinity of her habitation.

On his return home, after the first visit, he discovered lying upon the floor under his bed a mide' sack, which contained some small parcels with which he was unfamiliar, but was afterward told that one of them consisted of "love powder." He stated that he had grown children, and the idea of marrying again was out of the question, not only on their account but because he was now too old. The missionary reasoned with him and suggested a course of procedure, the result of which had not been learned when the incident was related.

The Menomini love powder, termed takosa'wos, "the powder that causes people to love one another," is composed of vermilion and mica laminæ, ground very fine and put into a thimble which is carried suspended from the neck or from some part of the wearing apparel. It is necessary, however, to secure from the one whose affection is desired a hair, a finger paring, or some small scrap of clothing, which must also be put into the thimble. The thimble has a small orifice at the top through which passes a cord for attaching it to the neck, while the bottom is securely closed by means of a block of wood, some pine resin, or some other substance. Figure 22 represents a charm of this character. It is also decorated with a few hairs of some animal and a small hawk feather. In former times, it is affirmed, the composition of the powder was similar to that made by the Ojibwa of Minnesota, the most desirable ingredient having always to be obtained through the intermediary of some old medicine woman.

The wâ'beno'ak sometimes profess the ability to furnish medicine to aid the hunter in finding and securing game, though such pretensions are made equally by the tshi'saqka. To be able to furnish the desired information, for which a fee as well as part of the game secured are necessary, the wâ'beno familiarizes himself with the topography and characteristics of a wide area, in order to ascertain the best feeding grounds of the various animals and their haunts at various seasons. He keeps himself informed

also by careful inquiry of returning hunters, and thus becomes possessed of a body of valuable information respecting the natural history of the surrounding country, by which means he can with a tolerable amount of certainty direct a hunter to the best localities for such varieties of game as may be particularly desired by him.

It is claimed that in former times the wâ'beno was much more highly regarded than at present, but that now the number of these individuals has been reduced to two or three within the entire tribe, in consequence of which gradual reduction, faith in their pretensions has become weakened, and with apparent good reason. The tshi'saqka is more respected, and consequently more feared, than the wâ'beno, although the mitä wok greatly outrank in numbers these classes of shamans.

The reason that the wâ'beno'ak in former times were admitted to be more powerful than the mitä'wok is explained in the following myth, related to me by Shu'nien, and entitled "The contest between the mitä' and the wâ'beno":

There was a mitä' who considered himself the chief of all the mitä'wok, and was therefore the most powerful man on earth. But the leader of the wâ'beno'ak claimed that he himself was the more powerful of the two; so, after an angry altercation, the mitä' challenged the wâ'beno-morning or daylight-to meet him, in order to see which could destroy the other. So the two agreed to meet in the spring, and during the whole winter each was engaged in preparing for the coming encounter.

Finally, the day was set when this contest of strength and power should be decided, and the mitä" built a long medicine wigwam, or mitä'wiko'mik, extending east-and-west. The mitä" and his friends. were the first to arrive, and, entering the wigwam, the chief mitä' marched in the eastern door and seated his companions at the northern side.

The wâ'beno was the last to arrive, but he was accompanied by his prophet, followed by the Akui'kika—“he who draws out arrows"—and following the latter came the rest of the wâ'beno'ak, friends of the wâ'beno contestant. The mitä'wok were all painted with red paint from the chin up to the top of the forehead, whereas the wâ'beno'ak had their faces covered with red paint from the line of the nostrils downward to the breast.

When the wâ'beno entered the eastern door, at the head of the procession of his friends, he held before him a wâ'beno drum, tapping it and singing, and each time he struck it there issued tiny, magic arrows, which were directed toward the mitä'wok. To ward off these fatal missiles the mitä'wok held out the palms of their hands. The wâ'beno walked around the interior of the mitä'wikomik several times, going westward on the northern side and returning on the side opposite. Finally, the wâ'beno'ak seated themselves, when the mitä" began to drum, saying to the wâ'beno, "You challenged me to a contest of skill and power; now go to work and do your best." To this the wâ'beno replied, "No, you challenged me; you began the trouble; now begin your work." The mitä" then arose and said to the people on the outside, who were at each end of the wigwam, "My friends, go away from the opening of the wigwam, and stand at the sides; you might become the victims of evil ma'nidos by standing in the way." So the people hurried away from the openings at the eastern and western ends of the wigwam, and took places on the northern and southern sides, where they could watch the contest.

The wa'beno, who took his place at the western end of the wigwam, placed his drum before his breast, and said to the mitä": "Now, come and try your power; I shall not resist your attempts, but will show you that any power you may possess and direct at me will fail when it reaches my drum, for nothing can penetrate it." The mitä" then went to the eastern end of the wigwam, and grasping his medicine sack held it as if holding a gun when charging; then he slowly danced forward toward the wa'beno, with the bag directed at his breast, and sang the words ho', ho', ho', ho', in imitation of the sound made by the Bear maʼnido. He next advanced to within a short distance of the wâ'beno, when the mitä" thrust the bag forward, shooting from it his magic konä'pamik, consisting of a bear's claw, which crushed through the drum and into the wâ'beno's breast, striking him senseless.

The wâ'beno lay outstretched on the ground. The prophet, the first of the wa'beno's companions, came forward, and, placing his finger

on the wound, located the konä'pamik. Calling to the second friend of the wâ'beno, the first companion said, "Akui'kika", come, draw out the magic bullet; it will kill the wâ'beno if you do not hasten." Then the arrow drawer approached the body of the wâ'beno, and, stooping over it, reached toward the wound. With a vigorous gesture he pulled out the bear's claw, whereupon the wâ'beno jumped up well as before. The wâ'beno now said to the mitä", "You see, I made no attempt to destroy you, but allowed you to try to kill me. Now, take care, for I am going to exercise my powers." The mitä" went to the eastern end of the wigwam, and the wâ'beno began slowly to approach him, drumming upon the little wâ'beno drum until he got very close to the mitä". The wâ'beno had turned his drum upside down and was drumming upon the bottom, during which time the spirit arrows could be seen to fly from the drum at each stroke. Presently the wâ'beno gave the drum a hard stroke, and magic arrow darted forward striking and entering the mitä''s forehead, when he fell to the ground apparently dead.

The mitä'wok were alarmed, but the wâ'beno called his chief assistant, the prophet, and said, "Place your finger on the wound that he may not die; I want merely to show him that I am more powerful than he." The prophet came and put his finger on the wound in the forehead of the mitä". The wâ'beno then told Akui'kika' to come and extract the mystery arrow. So soon as the arrow was pulled from the wound, the mitä" arose, when the wâ'beno said to him, "You see now that I am more powerful than you; and had I so desired I could have left you lying here dead. I am more powerful, for I am the chief of those who receive their power from Wâ'benona'siě-Mystery of the Dawn!"

The mitä" then admitted that he had been in error, saying, "I had always been led to think that the mitä'wok were the more powerful, but now I know that the wâ'beno'ak are more powerful."

The mitä" then went out to his own wigwam, gathered up all his goods and killed a little dog which he had prized very much, and, returning to the wigwam occupied by the mitä'wok and the wâ'beno'ak, laid upon the ground before the wâ'beno the goods and the carcass of the dog, saying, "Here are gifts for restoring me to life. I wish to retain your friendship, so accept them." The wâ'beno received the gifts, and soon both the mitä" and the wâ'beno left, each going to his respective wigwam.

THE DREAMERS

The fourth class of shamans are termed the Ne'moak, literally "the dance," commonly designated "The Dreamers." This society became known to the Menomini in the autumn of 1880, through the Potawatomi of the Prairie, or those living in Indian territory and Kansas.

It is asserted by the Menomini that Kishä' Ma'nido became angered at the Indians because the old customs and ceremonials of the Mitä'wit