|
French missionaries of the early part of the eighteenth century reported that the Indian wizards of some of the northwestern tribes would take a pebble the size of a pigeon's egg, and mutter over it certain conjurations. This, they assert, caused the formation of a like stone within the body of the person who was to be bewitched. The medicine-men of certain Canadian tribes of this time were not content with muttered conjurations in treating their patients, but would not infrequently resort to the charm supposed to be exerted by dancing and howling before the sick person. The nervous shock produced by a combination of such grotesque movements and discordant cries might well "rouse" the patient, and perhaps had sometimes good effects in restoring vitality.
An interesting use of the Rontgen rays to detect hidden amulets is noted by Stewart Culin. It was conjectured by Mr. Cushing that some pieces of turquoise, conceived to be the hearts of fetichistic birds, were concealed beneath the heavy wrapping of brown yarn that binds the finger-loops of the prehistoric throwing stick in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. This object was too valuable and too fragile to permit of its examination, and therefore the Rontgen rays were used, disclosing the presence of four stone beads, presumably of turquoise, as Mr. Cushing had indicated.
As the Point Barrow Eskimos are so largely dependent on fishing, they especially favor amulets or talismans referring to this, and in many cases the peculiar power of the talisman is accentuated by giving it a specially significant form. Thus, from Utkaivwin was brought a piece of dark crimson jasper two inches long, rudely fashioned by chipping into the form of a whale, and also a similar figure made from a water-worn quartz pebble. Another Point Barrow amulet consisted of three small fragments of amber, carefully wrapped up and placed in a cottonwood box 1 1/2 inches in length. This box was cleverly made of two semicircular pieces of the wood, the flat faces having been hollowed out so as to leave space for the amber. They were then bound together by loosely knotted sinew braid.
A black jade, adze-shaped, that may have served as a fisherman's talisman for the Point Barrow Eskimo, was brought from Utkiavwin. It measured 5.1 inches in length, and was slung with a thong and whalebone, so that it could be suspended. Its weight is so considerable as to make it somewhat burdensome for wear on the person, but as one of these Eskimo wore a stone weighing two pounds suspended from a belt, the jade artefact may really have been worn in this way. The form suggests that of a sinker, as was also the case with the two-pound stone, and it may have earned its repute as a talisman from having been used in former times by some exceptionally fortunate or skilful fisherman, in the belief that it would transmit his good luck to anyone wearing it. An artefact of somewhat similar form, 1.4 inches in length, and made of red jasper, came from the same locality; this was slung in a sinew band for suspension. |
You are here:
JJKent Home >>
Precious Stones Guide Vol 8
>> About Early Canadian Indian Tribes and Their Use of Charms
| <<About the Midewiwin and Stones Used By Medicine Men | History of Greenland's Natives and Animal Amulets>> |