ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS 2:4

SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM BY ISABEL T. KELLY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 1939 SOUTHERN PAJUTE SHAMANISM BY ISABEL T. KELLY

ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Vol. 2, No. 4 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS EDITORS: A. L. KROEBER, R. H. LowlE, R. L. OLSON Volume 2, No. 4, pp. I5 I-'67 Transmitted May 10, I937 Issued November IS, 1939 Price, $.25

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, ENGLAND

The University of California publications dealing with anthro- pological subjects are now issued in two series. The series in American Archaeology and Ethnology, which was established in 1903, continues unchanged in format, but is restricted to papers in which the interpretative element outweighs the factual or which otherwise are of general interest. The new series, known as Anthropological Records, is issued in photolithography in a larger size. It consists of monographs which are documentary, of record nature, or devoted to the presen- tation primarily of new data.

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SOUTHERN PAJUTE SHAMANISM BY ISABEL T. KELLY

INTRODUCTION Shamanism is still a vital institution among Reservation; interpreter, James Yellowjacket. the Southern Paiute and consequently it is dis- Paranigat: Bill China, Moapa Indian Reservation, cussed by informants with some reluctance, al- Moapa, Nevada, with a few additional data from though with less reserve than might be expected his wife, Maude, now deceased; no interpreter. from a Basin Shoshonean people.' Although the Moapa: Dave, Moapa Indian Reservation, now de- data below are by no means complete, they are ceased; interpreter, Grace Henry. Las Vegas: sufficiently full to permit formulation of what Daisy Smith, Colorado Indian Reservation, Parker, appears to be a characteristic Paiute pattern Arizona; interpreter, Stella Smith. Additional and, at the same time, to bring out certain local material from Tom Painter and Mata'vium (see be- specializations. This is best accomplished by a low); interpreters, Kate Paddock and Eliza Sacket, separate treatment of each band. Seven of the respectively. Mata"vium (known also as Charlie original fifteen bands of Southern Paiute are in- Pete), of Las Vegas, Nevada, is referred to be- cluded here;2 an outline of the shamanistic be- low as the joint Las Vegas-Chemehuevi informant. liefs and practices of an eighth, the Chemehuevi, Interpreter, Eliza Sacket. has been published.3 The two most westerly groups-the Chemehuevi and the Las Vegas-are noticeably divergent from the others, probably KAIBAB because of their Yuman and southern Californian The first group to be considered is the Kaibab, contacts. who formerly occupied the area between the south- Game shamans, individuals who by virtue of ern tip of the High Plateaus of Utah and the Grand supernatural power control the movements of game Canyon. At present the only shaman among them is a animals, are not included in the present paper. Southern Ute, originally from the Henry Mountain In native terminology they are distinguished as district. Upon occasion patients are taken for dreamers (nono'si) in contrast to regular shamans treatment to the Shivwits Reservation or to the (puaxanti). They were known to a number of South- Ute at Richfield or Koosharem (Utah), but in the ern Paiute groups, at least to those from the old days only Kaibab practitioners were employed. Shivwits and Saint George westward, and were par- It is said that the shaman was "usually an old ticularly well developed among the Las Vegas and man, sometimes a young one, but never a young Chemehuevi. woman." Theoretically women were the equal of men in doctoring, yet in a list of twenty shamans, only Informants and interpreters.-Kaibab: Captain two were women.4 One of these, however, seems to have George and Sarah Frank, Kaibab Indian Reservation, been highly successful. Moccasin, Arizona; interpreter, Katie Craig. Shivwits: Little Jim, Shivwits Indian Reservation, Santa Clara, Utah; interpreters, Big George and These were: (1) totsiats (gray hair), at James Yellowjacket. Saint George: Peter Hender- Axla'vats (black-ant water), and (2) Tcantuya son, Shivwits Indian Reservation; interpreter, (slashed forehead), at Kana diuipy (willow carn- James Yellowjacket. Gunlock: Shivwits yon; Kanab Creek). Male shamans included: (1) Kenu, Indian Tca xavakitcim (thin waist), at the juncture of North Creek and the Virgin; possibly Cedar band Material for this paper was obtained inci- rather than Kaibab. (2) Tcana (bull lizard) and dental to an ethnogeographic investigation of (3) ML'mitana'bi (head bent back), both of the Southern Paiute, made when the author was S3'vinokwint (cottonwood stream; Short Creek). a National Research Council Fellow in the Biologi- (4) Waba'napun (alkali man), of Wabats (alkali cal Sciences. Eleven months, between July, 1932, water). (5) T3mpa'tsjad3ts, a rattlesnake shaman and June, 1934, were spent in the field. of Pa tspikain (water bubbling up; Moccasin The identity and territorial extent of these Spring). (6) Yinimu' (bald head), of Tinka"nivats fifteen bands have been outlined in AA 36: 548- (cave water). (7) Yinlnapuni (bald man), and (8) 560, 1934. his son, Takwasy (eagle tail), both of Parwab) (water ?-grass, the district around Alton). 3Kroeber anniversary volume (Bssays in Anthro- (9) Skuttimpaiya (from skump', Chrysothamnus pology), published in 1936 by University of Cali- nauseosus), in the White Cliff country, above fornia Press. The larger part of the present Johnson Canyon. (10) Tuku'nimpi (wildcat feet), paper, from the Kaibab to the Moapa, was prepared a rattlesnake shaman of Epa (old water; Navajo as part of a typescript anniversary volume pre- Well). (11) P3ronapun (walking stick man), of sented to R. H. Lowie by his students, in 1933. Panwi abats (mud water), at the southwest base Material obtained the following year from the Las of Paunsaugunt Plateau. (12) Tanu'u (bunion) Vegas band has been added to the original nucleus and (13) K3'y3i'bi (one eye), of Paxa'mpats' to form the present study. (cane water, at the north end of Houserock Val- [151] 152 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS Power came unsought, through dreams, and might giving general directions, the guardian spirit be rejected if so desired. Dreams per se were dan- imposed individual rules of conduct. Thus, one gerous: for to forget them was fatal; and to arouse doctor habitually "danced" with a hand clapped to a dreamer might frighten him to death and bring his ear, presumably at the behest of the super- sickness to the person who disturbed him. A novice natural. Probably, too, a cane or staff was pre- dreamed at home, for perhaps a month before trying scribed by the spirit. No other equipment was men- to practice. tioned except white eagle feathers, whose use the Treatment ordinarily took place at night in a informant attributed to recent borrowing from the circular brush enclosure, in the center of which Ute.5 A shaman smoked, but not with the idea of was a fire. If no improvement was noted after curing by this means. three or four nights, another shaman was engaged. A shaman asked to treat did not leave his camp A dangerously ill patient might be treated by two before the arrival of his familiar. By pressing or three doctors in turn in the course of one the body of the patient with his hands he located night. The Kaibab claim not to have killed unsuc- the seat of the ailment. Staff in hand, he danced cessful shamans, who were allowed to continue back and forth; he sang, accompanied by the gath- practice "and sometimes they cured." Formerly, ering; and he sucked, lying on his back with the payment was not demanded, but, generally, a small sick person face dewn upon him, usually across his gift of seeds or the like was offered. Today the chest. From the breast or ailing part he removed economic aspect is stressed, five dollars a treat- a small foreign body: a pebble, a length of twine, ment being the usual fee. a piece of meat, a worm, a miniature coyote, or In his dreams, the novice acquired a super-5 the like. Sapir's informant described a colorless natural spirit (utu'xuxuar; Sapir, tut.uyua'), round object "like a glass marble." This he dis- the source of his healing power. This being took played, then swallowed. Informants say that the the form of a man, woman, or child; but, more actual sucking was always done by the familiar frequently, of an animal such as a bear, coyote, spirit, lodged in the doctor's throat. wildcat, lion, eagle, and so forth. According to In extreme illnesses, when the shaman doubted one informant, the spirit was not visible to the his ability to cure, he inserted his spirit helper dreamer immediately, but he "saw it later, not in into the body of the sick person. Removing the a dream, but in the daytime, when alone." Several familiar from his own mouth, he held it between such spirits might be acquired in the course of a his palms and, singing and blowing, put it into lifetime. They were visible to the shaman only, the breast of the patient. Here it remained for and although his professional colleagues might a day or a night, then left of its own accord. know of their identity, the layman ordinarily did Object intrusion seems to have been the result of not. shamanistic malice: "it happened at night, like The tutelary provided the shaman with a song being shot with an arrow." A shaman who diagnosed or songs to be used in curing; these became known a case as owing to witchcraft accused a colleague generally, and persons attending a treatment cus- of having instructed his tutelary to shoot the tomarily joined in the singing. The novice was victim with its bow. If the sorcerer admitted his instructed also in sucking and "dancing." Although guilt and withdrew the "poison," recovery was ef- each individual supposedly learned "dancing" from fected; otherwise death was inevitable. Sometimes his familiar, there was no variation in the sha- the victim, on the point of death, named the per- man's "step,1' a simple stamping backward and for- son he suspected of having bewitched him. But in- ward from the prone body of the patient. Besides formants maintain that in no case was a sorcerer punished. ley. (14) Keno (crooked elbow), of Ka'nkwi or Soul loss is called muxu'a-uru'xwar) (soul-gone- Ka'nkwLts (singing water; Houserock Spring). (15) away). There was disagreement about cause, one Niwa'r'impl (snow heel, a regular shaman as well attributing it to shamanistic bewitchment, another as a rattlesnake specialist, of Tuma'ranpaxantS to the action of fnYpLts (ghost). For treatment, (from the plant timad1, Stanleya), between House- rock Spring and Jacobs Pools. (16) Saitimpy the shaman pressed his hands on the chest of the (white spot mouth), who was "not a very good patient and dispatched his tutelary in search of doctor," and (17) his brother, Kwiu'in'impi the missing soul, which was thought to have "gone (crooked feet), both of Paxa'mpiaxantl (from above." I could not discover whether the medicine- paxa mpl, cane), at the present Kane Ranch. man became (18) Nada'xwnts1 (tattooed?), of Sina'vats (coy- unconscious at this time, but it seems ote water), a spring at the western base of Kai- unlikely, as trances of any nature are foreign to bab Plateau. Southern Paiute shamanism. According to a Shivwits 5Southern Paiute Dictionary, AAAS-P 65: 696, 1931. According to Sapir (MS), a shaman sometimes eSapir's informant (MS) told of a shaman who sang alone and sometimes accompanied. He might used an eagle-feather fan with which he scattered give his songs to others, but lost in efficacy ashes on his patients. This shaman began his if he thus "divided" his power too much. This and treatment by calling on Wolf, evidently his tute- succeeding references pertain to Sapir's unpub- lary: "Our father, who made heaven and earth." lished notes on the Kaibab, the use of which he This was, according to the informant, the only has very kindly permitted. time he had ever heard this prayer. KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM 153 informant, a Kaibab doctor actually ran about in Specialists.-A rattlesnake shaman (toxo'- the hills in pursuit of the fleeing soul.7 buaxanti; snake-doctor) was one who dreamed of Datura appears to have had no shamanistic a rattlesnake and cured bites by virtue of the associations: "It was taken just for fun. To eat power so derived. Informants remembered three the fruit or drink a tea of the leaves makes a Kaibab snake shamans, one of whom was also a person drunk. He sees all kinds of things-snakes, general practitioner, that is, had an additional coyotes, horses-just like a moving picture show." tutelary. A snake shaman touched his cane to the breast of a victim, and upon removing it, dis- played a small rattlesnake on the This he 7The foregoing causes of illness are purely tip. magical and ap such require shamanistic treat- deposited on a near-by stone, from which it soon ment. A number of practical remedies may be o$ in- disappeared. With the removal of the snake, the terest. Colds: drank tea of leaves of sanwa'bl swelling began to subside. The doctor then sucked, (Artemisia tridentata) or of paxwa'nanimpy not from the bite but from the chest and stomach, (Mentha canadensis)-although this usually a bev- erage rather than medicine; or a tea of the roots either blood or yellow-green matter. This he of pawa ma'animpy-tinab (Cycladenia). Or chewed sometimes swallowed, sometimes spat out.8 (roots of ?) Mahonia repens. Coughs: drank tea This is the only instance of specialization from leaves of sanwa'b (Artemisia tridentata) or mentioned by Kaibab informants, who denied all of 3L'tsikwasipy (squirrel tail, an Achillea). Or smoked tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata), mixed shamanistic function save curing. Sapir's inform- with leaves of sig'lmwiap (Salvia carnosa Dougl.) ant, Tony Tillohash, however, mentioned a Kaibab or of tontsaby (Angelica ?). Root of mimip (Da- doctor who claimed to be able to bring rain. tura meteloides) sometimes chewed to relieve chronic cough. Fever: leaves of toxo'-awatsip CPentstemon palmeri) pounded and applied externally, SHIVWITS also drunk as tea. Headache: slashed forehead to let blood, took emetic (see below). If severe and West of the Kaibab were the Uinkaret, now ex- continuous, shaman might be asked to treat; "he clapped both hands to the patient's head." Tooth- tinct, and west of them, the Shivwits, who occu- ache: root of paxu'rani(m?)p (probably a Ligusti- pied Shivwits Plateau, a broad upland stretch be- cum) said to give relief. Nosebleed: nostril tween the Hurricane Fault ledge and Grand Wash stuffed with soft bark to stop flow..Sore eyes: cliffs.9 Although all the Shivwits material comes washed with tea of leaves of sanwa'bl (Artemisia tridentata) or of tobacco (Nicotiana attenuata). from a single informant, it is conflicting in Juice of latter, warmed, dropped into eyes. Now- several respects. It was garbled at the outset adays said to squeeze milkweed juice into eyes. For by an incompetent interpreter, who insisted upon granulations, lid turned back and scraped with translating spirit, ghost, toul, and supernatural lizard's tail. Swellings: applied the pounded as and soaked roots of pawa' -ma'animpy-thnab (swell- helper "devil," for whose native equivalent he ing-rub-on-roots; Cycladenia), or applied pounded would admit only inYpLts, the ordinary term for tobacco leaves, to which water added. Root of un- ghost. Later I was able to check most of the data identified plant, t'iwa"baxantip', rubbed on with a somewhat better interpreter, after which swellings. Boils: the cactus ova'xoby (Echino- they appeared to be reasonably consistent within cereus coccineus Engelm.) peeled and sticky base applied directly. Fractures: set by any skillful themselves and with the shamanistic patterns of person, wrapped with buckskin between juniper related Southern Paiute bands. splints. Bites: coyote, dog bites unheard of; bee sting not treated. Measles: body rubbed with crushed leaves of ya'ta'mpy (creosote bush, 8The plant paxu'rani(m?)p (Ligusticum?) some- Larrea glutinosa), to which water added. Usually times was applied to snake bite, perhaps only an external application, but one informant rec- when a shaman was not available. Bits of the ommended tea of this plant. Latter said to be root, wrapped in buckskin, were tied to the moc- good for "everything," although recommended ex- casin to prevent snake bite-a practice shared plicitly only for measles. According to inform- by the Cedar band, who used the root of Ligus- ants, creosote bush found within Kaibab terri- ticum pringlei. tory only at Moccasin Spring. Unspecified in- gThe following shamans are remembered: (1) ternal ailments: drank tea of ina pi (Purshea U'a'tsat1 (sticking out), a "half-Shivwit" glandulosa Curran). Stomachache: drank tea of (Shivwit-Moapa?), of PaYa tso (head water; whole boiled plant anka'silnti (Gilia aggre- Hidden Spring). (2) T'itsikim (bird blind), of gata). Emetic and laxative usually prescribed, IuL ntirinava (pine tree above spring). (3) former a tea of leaves of sanwa 'b (Artemisia Sumpa' si (blossom), (4) Wita'tsi (?), and tridentata) (mixed with salt, according to one (5) Ta virlwawits (side hill), a Uinkaret woman informant), or tea of roots and stalk-base of married to a Shivwits; all of Tinka'nivats (cave tixu sl taxantip (called also tixu'itcaxantip; water). (6) Kapinwaity, an unmarried Uinkaret t'ikoitc'ixantipY; Wyethia scabra Hook; cathartic living with Shivwit relatives at T;nka'nivats. as well as emetic). Venereal disease (pipl p): (7) Tuksats (black legging), of So'vLnokwLntl last-mentioned remedy used, as well as tea made (cottonwood stream), who had a badger tutelary. from stem-root juncture of anokwLmp, arlkamp1 (8) Niraxa'nkwe (right hand), originally of Pats (Ourcubita foetidissima); venereal complaints (water)., but after marriage a resident of So vL- usually given shamanistic treatment. "Heart nokwLnt'. (9) Ka xababuats, who dreamed little trouble": unknown formerly; now, treated by and was not a fullfledged shaman, of Kto' ki'mpats shaman. Rheumatism: also unknown formerly (?); (brown earth water). (10) Onto tats, of the boiled leaves of ada'dimpipy (Arctostaphylos) spring of the same name. (11) Wiyuts1(awl), a said to be effective remedy (taken internally?y. Datura shaman, of Pakwa'navats (jump water). 154 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS A novice dreamea for about ten nights before hide, or the like. Once my informant was treated considering himself a shaman (pua'xant'). A famil- by a native doctor, but did not pay "because he iar appeared to him from the east; it was usually had nothing." an animal such as a wildcat, owl, eagle, badger, To the Shivwits disease is caused by intru- mountain sheep, porcupine, or coyote. The spirit sion, either of a disease object or of a ghost; addressed the sleeper thus: "You like me; you and perhaps occasionally by soul loss.11 The want to become a doctor." At this point the following account treats of sickness caused by dreamer might either reject or accept the visi- an evil spirit: tation. In the latter event the familiar told him, "I want you to cure people." It then pro- There is a little man, 3 or 4 inches tall, ceeded to sing and taught him to suck, dance, who lives 'way under the mountain. He is called and sing. The instruction lasted all night; in a xadirop'.12 I have never seen him, but the the morning the dreamer told his camp-mates of old people say that he comes around at night his call. At first the novice received only one and hides in the juniper trees. He has medicines song; later, three or four additional In which he makes into a bundle, like a small ball ones. of bark. He tosses this into camp, and if it the beginning he sang alone, but as he added to hits a person, he sickens the next morning. A his repertoire he taught his songs to others. Thus doctor has to sing and suck the pain from the my informant, although not a shaman, claimed to man's chest. Then he throws the pain away. The remember snatches of a rattlesnake-doctor's cur- old doctors used to tell a person who was trav- ing song. In the course of time a "big" doctor eling alone to sleep where the junipers grew might obtain as many as three tutelary spirits, thickly. The branches spoiled the aim of with songs from each. a 'xadorop' and caught part of the bad "medi- Nowadays a sick person remains within the cine." dwelling, but formerly he was moved into a cir- cular brush enclosure. Persons came from near-by Ghosts were responsible for two kinds of springs to witness the s6ance and seated them- sickness, object intrusion and ghost intrusion. selves about the fire within the enclosure. The With the former a "pain" (paka'nkli) entered the shaman remained at his own camp until he received victim; with the latter, the ghost itself. The instructions from his guardian spirit, who came Vain, resembling a small stick covered with "like the wind" when needed, the shaman being light-colored blood," could be sucked out by able to follow its progress toward him. Having a shaman. Although invisible to a "common man," been directed by the spirit to remove the cause it oas exhibited before being held up and blown of illness quickly, "before the man died," the away. doctor placed himself on the ground with the pa- When a ghost invaded a person it descended tient face down atop him, and proceeded to suck. whistling into the ground, then emerged beneath My informant seemed not to incline to the belief the victim and entered his body. The following that the spirit, lodged in the doctor's mouth, anecdote is illustrative: did the actual but of this I am sucking; not "Once, when it was snowing on top of the positive.10 mountain, a man went for rabbits. He caught a A shaman carried a staff "so as not to tire." few. He made camp in a rock shelter and built One doctor stood white eagle feathers tipped with a fire under the trees. With his knife in his black in the ground beside a patient, but the mouth he began to skin the rabbits. As he cut Shivwits "did not know much about these feathers." the skin he heard a noise; it sounded like It was a technique used, my informant said, by footsteps. The man stopped and listened. Saint Thomas (Moapa band) shamans, although I ob- "Then an inYpLts (ghost) woman with a small tained no such account from the Moapa. Surpris- baby came close to the fire and stopped. The man ingly enough, it is said that a Shivwits shaman was frightened and gave her rabbit meat. This did not smoke during a seance. she did not roast but ate raw. The man was more Sometimes a doctor danced alone, stamping his frightened. He said, 'I am thirsty. Will you get right foot; sometimes with a volunteer. water for me?' The host answered, 'All right. Singing You mind the baby. I am leaving it here by the and dancing continued until midnight or even fire.' She dawn. Treatment ordinarily lasted two nights, left. After some time the man put the but if there was no improvement, it was continued .1A few practical remedies for minor, non- a third night. magical afflictions may be inserted here. Sore If the shaman had to travel some distance, the eyes: wash made by boiling tava' -namu'ob1 (Euphor- sick die in the Then the bia albomarginata) or (leaves of) pa'sinipl (Erio- person might interim. doc- dictyon angustifolium). Sores: rubbed with muru- tor would say, "I have lost my patient"; but every- niby (Atriplex canescens). Internal ailments: one would assure him that he was not to blame. If sprays of ya'tampi (Larrea glutinosa) boiled and the patient died, no payment was expected; for a liquid drunk. Unspecified ailment: treated by ex- cure there was a of a ternal applications of mua'buipi (Thamnosa mon- gift arrows, mountain-sheep tanum); leaves crushed with a stone, mixed with water. l°But compare page 162, where the shaman removes from his mouth what is presumably his guardian 12My informant had not heard that this spirit spirit. had a tail. Cf. Gunlock belief, p. 158. KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM 155 baby in the fire and covered it with hot ashes. He medicine." The result was a slow poison requiring then picked up his rabbits and started for camp. for a cure the same treatment as a ghost-sent 'It was evening when he reached home. He disease object. Because this mode of poisoning called the doctors and told them that he had could be cured, most evil shamans preferred to killed a ghost child. 'Help me,' he told them. direct their to "shoot the Three or four doctors went out from camp, wait- Iniptts13 victim in ing for the ghost to come. the heart with an inipLts arrow." Death ensued "The ghost woman was far off. She smelled immediately, for the soul left too quickly to something and knew that her child had been killed. permit of recapture. She went into the earth and traveled under the Sometimes a person engaged a shaman, without ground. She came out beside the man and entered pay, to dispose of an enemy. The shaman, if sus- his body. No one, not even the doctors, saw her. pected, stood to suffer at the hands of the vic- The man sickened right away. All the doctors tim's relatives, but the instigator escaped pun- worked on himfA but they could not help him. He ishment. It is said that in the old days, when died quickly. a person died, one of the family-usually a brother, sister, father, or spouse-was selected But ghost intrusion was curable: to accompany the deceased. Either the victim was actually shot, or a shaman was induced to "shoot" "Once I was nearly dead. They 3ent to Tinka'- him For nivats (cave spring) for Witatsi, who was a doc- magically. this service, likewise, a tor. I was lying do-wn when he came. As he neared shaman expected no payment because "it was bad." camp he started to sing and dance. He told me A doctor might be summoned to treat the very there was a ghost in my belly but that he could person he had bewitched, in which case he felt get it out and that I should be well by morning. obliged to refuse. Naturally this directed sus- By sundown I felt better. He sang and danced all picion upon him, and if the man died, the sup- night, and in the morning he left. He took out posed sorcerer might be shot by the brother of the ghost and killed it. I could see nothing, as the deceased. A different shaman, with the guid- common men do not see ghosts." ance of his spiritual assistant, might be able to cure the victim. The following is an account A shaman knew from his guardian spirit when a of such a procedure: ghost had entered a victim. He sucked and, making a noise in his chest, extracted the intruder. The "The second doctor sang as he came toward the latter was very small, invisible to all except sick man. He took his iniplts`' from his mouth doctors, but could be heard to whistle when with- and held it between his hands. He sang and put drawn. The shaman took the ghost from his mouth it into the sick man. It would not stay. He had and carried it away, acting as though he were to catch it and put it in again. He sang until he dragging a heavy load along the ground. Some dis- was sure that the fnipLts was well in. then he tance from camp he released the ghost, threaten- spoke to it, telling it to stay, to look around ing it with death should it return. and find the cause of the sickness, and to cure Sometimes, in cases of ghost intrusion, the the sick man. Then the inipLts found the 'medi- shaman his cine' in the belly. It took out that medicine and used staff, thus: gave it to the bad doctor who had put it there." "When the doctor thinks that the ghost is un- der the patient, he stands his cane in the ground At death the iniplts (ghost?)15 of a good per- beside the sick man. This helps to pry loose the son traveled upward, that of an evil person down- ghost. The doctor thinks [asks] that his spirit ward, carrying with it the soul (muxuab1). A helper send the cane into the ground so as to shaman might be able to prevent the departure of raise the man more easily. The cane finds the the soul by the insertion of his inYpLts (guar- ghost under the patient, and the spirit helper dian spirit)16 into the body of the patient; or, takes it away. Some doctors kill a ghost by even after the soul had left, he might be able spearing it tothe ground with a wooden knife to restore the "dead" person by overtaking the (wil'ts, awl, dagger). This is a straight stick departing soul. The latter he held between his about 8 inches long, of any kind of hard wood, palms and, pressing his fingertips against the usually ash." patient's breast, sang until it entered the body. Evil shamans could cause sickness and death Frequently the soul escaped and had to be recap- through the intrusion of a "medicine" or of a spirit arrow, possibly also through soul loss. But the latter 13This is undoubtedly due to the confusion of seems to have been the natural terms mentioned above. Here iniplts certainly harbinger of death as a result of the disease ob- refers to the guardian spirit. Cf. Kaibab, p. 152. ject rather than the active cause. It is said 34In this case lnYptts clearly refers to the that most "Shivwits doctors were friendly but that guardian spirit. the Moapa people had doctors who wanted to kill." 15Here again the term inlpLts is unfortunate; Among the Shivwits a shaman suspected of sorcery it appears in this instance to refer was beaten or even murdered by the bereaved rela- to ghost. 15Comparable practices from other bands indi- tives. cate that the supernatural spirit is referred to A sorcerer dreamed of giving his victim "bad here. 156 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS

tured. Then the shaman asked two laymen to stand The particular function of the arrow doctor one on either side of the patient and shout, "Hi, (ubu'axanti) was to treat wounds. He dreamed of hi, hi," after which the soul was able to remain. an arrow which gave him curative powers, saying, The shaman motioned the bystanders back, while he "If someone is shot, do not sing; but suck out watched over the patient for a time. the blood." Consequently he danced and sucked When ordinary shamans failed, recourse was had but had no song. Once during a rabbit hunt my to the Datura doctor, who supposedly possessed informant was shot accidentally in the ankle. It stronger power. A prospective Datura shaman17 began to swell, and that evening an arrow shaman first drank a liquid in which he had soaked the sucked blood from the wound and the sole of the seeds, after 4hich he gathered those roots of the foot. Even though an arrow had been poisoned with plant which grew eastward from the stalk. These the dried heart of mountain sheep, a shaman could also he soaked, then drank the fluid from a small cure if suimmoned in time. Koi'o'itc1 (Shoshone), basket painted white around the rim. The double of Tuma'ranponkwtnti (green brush [Stanleya]) dose of seeds and roots was potent, affecting him (stream?) is remembered as an arrow shaman. "like strong whisky.? The weather shaman (unadimpi-puaxa'nti; rain- doctor) dreamed of rain and other weather phe- "He goes off alone. He takes off his clothes nomena, including thunder and lightning. When and climbs a tree. He yells and shrieks. Later continued rain curtailed he thinks someone is following him and he calls, economic activities, he 'Here comes that man.'18 This is when he becomes announced, "I'll stop the rain; tomorrow will be a doctor. He lies down and dreams of Datura. It clear," after which he dreamed of rain and of gives him a song and tells him that he will be- stopping it. When the ground was parched and food come a doctor." plants were withering, the shaman sang night and day, accompanied at times by the people. He Spciaists.-With the Shivwits comes the first dreamed and told the rain 'We need moisture so indi ontion o- any considerable specialization in that the seeds will grow. During a thunderstorm shamanistic function, for besides the Datura he directed the lightning to strike far from shaman, who was really a general practitioner, camp. six kinds of specialists were mentioned: rattle- One Shivwits shaman, Mapi'tcab1 (palm), snake, spider, rock, arrow, weather, and lost- specialized in locating stolen property, inci- object doctors. But for these specialists the dentally detecting the thief. He concentrated on Shivwits appear to have depended almost entirely the quest without singing, while his YnYpLts19 upon the adjacent Moapa. guided him to the place where the goods were con- The rattlesnake shaman dreamed of a snake from cealed. which he obtained a curing song; handling the snake; being bitten; and curing himself by press- ing with his hands above the wound, singing, and SAINT GEORGE sucking out a snake. However, he is said not to have sucked in actual practice. If the swelling Immediately north of the Shivwits were the tended to Saint George, on the lower waters of Santa-Clara spread, several men assisted him in Creek pressing above the wound. A rattlesnake shaman and along the Virgin River in the vicinity named Panku'ts, who lived near Saint Thomas of Saint George, Utah. This group is now repre- sented a (Mo.apa band), ordinarily ministered to the Shiv- by lone survivor living among the Shiv- wits. wits. The material obtained from him agrees in a with The spider doctor, Tutu'sibi by name, also was general way the preceding but shows at the from Saint Thomas. He dreamed of a black spider same time some rather marked differences. (kwampl) and of curing its bite by sucking and The generic term for shaman is puayanty; a'a'- singing. tim-puayantO is "a good doctor, who cures"; The rock shaman (tYmpi'-puaxant0; timpi', Yiwi'-puayant', an evil shaman "who sings without rock) dreamed of climbing steep cliffs. As indi- curing." Doctors of both sexes derived their cated by the name, a rock was the source of his powers and songs from dreams. A shaman might have power which, incidentally, was considered "not several distinct sources of power with a corres- very strong." Such a shaman treated injuries re- ponding multiplicity of songs. His power (tu'xub'; ceived in falls from cliffs, trees, and so forth, cf. Kaibab, tut-uyuas, supernatural helper) was by pressing with his hands and only rarely by "what he saw in his dreams." It wvas thought to sucking. One such shaman was mentioned by name, reside "far away in the mountains," the strongest a man called Tcaka'i'S, who, like the specialists and best power being the most remote. Strangely mentioned above, was from Saint Thomas. enough, with two specific exceptions mentioned below, my informant failed to associate this power with any form, animal or human, and in- 17Women did not take Datura. Boys sometimes sisted that "only a doctor could tell how his chewed the seeds "for fun," but avoided the roots. power looked." 18Presumably this applies to the tutelary and Treatment took place where most suggests that it had human form, although spoken convenient, of in the next line as the plant. 19Presumably his spirit helper. KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM 157 either within the dwelling or in the open. If the tionship, but it is reasonably prominent among seance were at night it lasted until sun-up; if certain Paiute bands to the west. My Saint George in the daytime, a few minutes only. Medicine-men informant had heard that a person desirous of be- smoked, but not to assist in curing. They carried coming a shaman might drink an infusion of Datura an eagle-tail feather of undetermined function. root in order to obtain the necessary dreams. Anything at hand served as payment; but such was Only men, he thought, did this; a woman would have expected only for a cure. Shamans suspected of choked to death. But Datura-taking did not always malpractice were killed. make one a shaman. At an early age my informant When summoned, a shaman did not await the arri- had been persuaded by his companions to drink a val of his "power," but proceeded at once to the tea of the roots. "Everything looked different." side of his patient. He began to sing, accompanied He saw people passing; he saw men with burden by the onlookers, and to dance, "tramping back baskets, and a man setting up a rabbit net. It and forth." Meanwhile the power had posted itself took him two nights and a day to recover; he did on a near-by hill, from which vantage point it not become a shaman after this experience because supervised the treatment. At its direction the he received no power. Men occasionally ate Datura shaman lay beneath the patient and sucked, then seeds "when no one was watching; they walked all danced and sang with the extracted "pain" (paka - the time and acted as though drunk." nk'ii) in his closed fist. The low fire within the circle of onlookers was then made to flare. The Specialists.--The victim of a snake bite was shaman exhibited the disease-object in his open moved into a separate camp, to be treated by a palm, low down, close to the blaze. It was so rattlesnake shaman (toyo'a-buaxanti) who had re- small that only one or two of the eager specta- ceived his curing song from a snake. The doctor tors claimed to be able to detect it. Following arrested the swelling by pressing above the wound, this display, he stretched his arm toward the and from it removed with his hands a wriggling east as he sang, then opened his hand to show snake several inches long. This he held up for that the object had disappeared. Sometimes, when inspection, then tossed it away with his cane a patient was extremely ill, the shaman inserted (por). He did not suck the wound or cause it to his supernatural power, similar to Kaibab prac- discharge. tice. A second specialist seems to have been recog- A tiny male spirit (na' 'yadarop'), invisible nized by the Saint George band, a man or woman who to all but medicine men, was responsible for much through dreaming of babies had power to assist in sickness. This spirit, an evil shaman, or a ghost difficult confinement cases. For a normal delivery (in4pLts) might steal a man's soul. "A good doc- no shaman was required. Although among the Kaibab tor could look into the patient's heart 20 and a doctor sang, either inside or outside the par- see whether the soul were missing. By singing all turition hut, there were no birth specialists. night he might be able to retrieve it and avert Saint George shamans neither located lost ob- death. The shaman did not become unconscious at jects nor controlled the weather. From his Shiv- any time during the procedure. When he attributed wits wife my informant had heard of persons who soul theft to bewitchment, he sent for the doctor dreamed of rain and could produce it by singing; he considered guilty and, pointing his staff at but this, he said, was foreign to his people. him, obtained a confession. He then held the re- Bruises and injuries received in falls were not turned soul between his palms and replaced it in treated by a shaman, but the person was placed the body of the victim. Ordinarily it refused to upon a "hot bed." stay and, reaching a hand into space, he retrieved it a second time. Not until after the third res- GUNLOCK toration was the soul content to remain. A good shaman likewise was able to restore a While the lower waters of Santa Clara Creek soul stolen by a ghost. It is said that ghosts were held by the Saint George people, the upper were intent upon killing people and could cause drainage was occupied by another band, conveniently still another kind of sickness; the latter by in- designated as Gunlock, from the Mormon settlement trusion, not of a material object, but of the of that name. The one survivor of this group was ghost itself. Bloating resulted, and death usually born near Gunlock, of Moapa parents, and now occurred within the day. If a doctor were near by lives among the Shivwits. He himself is an active he was summoned hastily, and by singing and sucking shaman and incidentally regarded as a malevolent might be able to remove the intruder. Nothing was one.21 I took pains not to press him upon the sub- visible, but as the ghost escaped, it was heard to ject, and the brief account below was given un- whistle. No effort was made to destroy the malevo- grudgingly. As its resemblances are with the Saint lent ghost. George rather than the Moapa material, the data The first suggestion of an association between evidently have not been warped seriously by the Datura (m3mu pi) and shamanism appears among the informant's Moapa affiliations. Saint George band. The Kaibab deny any such rela- 2'Several times he has been brought from the Shivwits to the Moapa Reservation to admit and 2°The soul (mugu'ab') is translated as heart; retract his sorcery; in fact, "this is the only heart, the organ, is called piu'py. way he has ever cured." 158 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS "Some doctors did not know much and had little PARANIGAT power. Men and women were equally good; young women and middle-aged men were best but young West of the Gunlock were the men were good also. A doctor carried a cane tied Panaca, for whom at the top with eagle-tail feathers."' I have no shamanistic data. West of them, and ad- joining the Moapa on the northwest, lived the Power and songs were obtained in dreams from Paranigat, centering in Paranigat Valley, Nevada, a diminutive supernatural helper (tu'xub1) in whose sparse remnants now live among the Moapa. human form. Such spirits came from far to the A prospective shaman (puayanti) might begin east, the best ones from due east. When a shaman to dream in early youth. When confident of his sang over a patient his familiar came to assist, ability, he announced his calling and was given communicating with him "like a telephone." The an opportunity to test his power (mutsu'nim) by "pain" was sucked out by the doctor, exhibited, treating someone. A person who dreamed but did then taken by the supernatural helper, who put not desire shamanistic office arose early in the it in a small bag and buried it at a distance. morning and, holding his hands to his mouth, blew Sickness was caused by male spirits (a' 'xada- away the spirit which had come to him. Thereafter rapl) about 2 feet tall and having long tails. he was not molested. Formerly they were plentiful but are no longer to The guardian spirits (tugu'bi) acquired in be found. They used to walk about at night shoot- dreams (nono's i) were either human or animal. ing people who talked too much." The intrusive They "stayed some place in the mountains; many body thus projected into the victim was a green, of them lived toward the east." Doctors might red, or white needle-shaped object, which could have several, each specializing in a different be removed by sucking. At this point a reference, kind of treatment. Only regular shamans had gen- unfortunately obscure, was made to a sickness uine tutelary spirits, among which my informant caused by Coyote. This was in some way associated did not include the rattlesnake and arrow dreamed with a' 'xadarapl sickness, but no material disease of by the respective specialists. The basis of his object Nas said to be visible. distinction is not clear. As with the Saint George band, the Gunlock be- Sometimes the tutelary spirit turned against a lieved that a ghost might enter the body of a per- shaman, possibly for violating instructions. The son, causing bloating and a speedy death unless spirit not only caused him to sicken, but also thwarted by a good shaman. If the ghost were refused aid, depriving him of ability to cure. A sucked out, the supernatural helper dispatched it shaman also lost his power through contact with with a wooden knife. menstrual blood. Women shamans avoided doctoring When a person was very ill, his soul left the during their periods; but normally their curing body: power was as strong as their male confreres'. The Paranigat shaman smoked, but "not to "When the sick man lies down his heart [soul] cure." His cane (paulboron, doctor-cane) was made umps out. Then the doctor sends his tu'xubi from a length of serviceberry, knobbed on the [spirit helper] to fetch it. The doctor holds the end, which he heated, straightened, and decorated heart between his palms and blows it into the with feathers. Magical powers were ascribed to sick man. It will not stay. The doctor must keep this staff, which "was a doctor itself. It stood catching and replacing it. Sometimes when it re- and but the doctor fuses to stay the doctor puts his tu'xubi in the up talked, only could hear it. sick man. It stays there overnight, and in the It was put on top or underneath a patient to take morning the man is better. When a person dies, his the sickness away." Some, but not all, shamans soul goes to a high mountain to the east." shook white tail feathers of an eagle over a pa- tient as though sprinkling him. These feathers, Datura (m3mupy) was taken by some to induce carefully kept in a container, were seen only dreams. The seeds were not used, but a root grow- when in use. A few doctors wore belts decorated ing due east was selected and soaked in water. vvith eagle down, but these are said to have been The liquid was drunk in the early morning to ob- purely ornamental. tain "good dreams" in which a familiar spirit in A shaman went directly to the patient and be- human form taught the novice to suck while lying gan to sing in order to summon his supernatural beneath a patient. However, the power of a sha- assistant. The latter sang as it approached, and man dependent upon Datura was said to be short- the doctor re eated the song. But sometimes the lived. familiar was wild" and did not come promptly. Specialists. -Weather shamans were lacking Then the shaman had to travel in search of his among the Gunlock, but there was a rattlesnake patron and bring it to camp pressed between his specialist who derived his power in dreams from a palms. snake. Able to cause as well as to cure bites, The doctor was little more than a passive agent such a shaman was feared and treated with such in curing. Not only did the spirit diagnose the deference that even his peremptory demands for case and pronounce whether it was curable, but food were met. "it told the doctor what to do and what to say". and did the actual sucking for him. In sucking, KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM 159 the Paranigat adhered to the usual Southern Paiute used in some way to kill an enemy, but was not position, with the shaman on the ground beneath sure of the exact procedure. He had always avoided the patient. the plant because it was a bad habit." The Paranigat shared another common Southern Paiute practice, that of blowing the familiar Specialists.-All kinds of venomous bites were into the breast of an unusually sick patient. treated by the rattlesnake shaman (t3xwa-buaxatlti), The spirit remained there overnight, gathered who obtained his curing song from a snake. He pre- together all served the "teeth" which he sucked from the vic- the illness and in the morning de- tim in it was parted of its own accord, accompanied by the as- order, thought, to return them to sembled "sickness." the snake. My informant remembered several such one of an old man "Sickness (aWyadiwipi) was flying around every- shamans, whom was named Paru' - where and might get into a person";22 then it was avLtcnap'. There no sucked from the breast in the form of a pebble were "rock shamans," although a person who could climb to eagle nests "had some kind of or small animal. Frequently, however, illness was which attributed to the intrusion of a ghost instead of power he dreamed." a material disease object. If treated promptly, The arrow shaman (ubuaxanti) dreamed of an ar- the ghost could be sucked out, after which it row, and treated by singing and sucking. was taken to the east by the tutelary spirit and Tne weather shaman (pa'buaxantP, water doctor; ua' dTmpuaxanti, rain doctor) dreamed of rain and sometimes killed. An extracted ghost was not ex- thunder. hibited like a concrete disease object, for that When the Paranigat were in the mountains would gathering pine nuts and were short of water, they have jeopardized the shaman's power. to Formerly the Paranigat killed shamans who appealed the weather shaman. He warned them to failed to cure. An evilly disposed take refuge in a cave; then he sang, causing doctor (titsi'- clouds to and rain to fall. puaYant:) could make a person ill merely by con- gather My informant centrating. Another shaman, after tracing the remembered one such ocoasion: source of the malevolent influence through sing- "We were thirsty and asked an old weather doc- ing, sent one or two men to fetch the sorcerer. tor to make rain. He held his bow and arrows [said The latter he accused, saying, "This is your to have been part of his povser] in his hand and muyu'abb [translated as mind] working on this ointed to a small cloud. He sang something like man; take it back." After repeated denials, the this: 'Timpi'kadid3 uabi wvitu'a; umpa'nitug offender admitted his guilt and, 'weeping, with- noyu'kwaigig; TYmpi kadid, uabi wita, umpa'ni- drew the evil influence. tug noyu'kwaigig.'23 He was asking the clouds to A malevolent shaman was able to make a man's move into the valley. The rain came. There waS soul (muyu'aby) leave, resulting in the victim's so much that everything washed away, even the unconsciousness. A second pine nuts that were in baskets. The people asked shaman, by means of him to stop the rain, so he said, 'That is singing, determined the direction taken by the enough.' He held up his arms and blew; then it soul and, if it were not too distant, was able cleared." to overtake it. Death caused the soul to turn MOAPA black, but by fondling it, a shaman could restore life and its original red color. The revivified South of the Paranigat and west of the Shiv- soul was inserted in the breast by the usual wits were the Moapa, in the desert country method, from between the palms of the minister- drained by the Muddy River and the lower Virgin. ing doctor. The patient then revived, but as Concerning their shamanistic customs I have rela- noise was thought to frighten a soul, he was tively little material because my informant con- obliged to remain quiet the following day lest sidered himself something of a doctor, although the soul escape a second time. Even then, it could not generally recognized as such, and spoke with be restored by a shaman. noticeable restraint.24 Some "strong doctors" might foretell sickness; but prophecy apparently was limited to disease 23 Timpi'kadid, Rock-knoll} the name of the visitation. mountain; uab'i, valley; witu a, come in; umpa'- nitug, slow; noyu kwaigYg, move. Datura (momipy), not being plentiful in Para- nigat country, was obtained chiefly from the 2 Today the Moapa have one shaman of fair neighboring Moapa. A person who took Datura was reputation, Charlie Chemehuevi, and several sup- posed sorcerers, among whom are Xaka ntakwLt not considered a shaman. He neither dreamed nor (large buttocks) and a woman, Koru (meaningless). cured, but was able to locate lost objects. After Of the latter, who is ostracized by her people, he had taken a tea of Datura, he was watched a Vegas acquaintance remarked, "She has had bad closely, because drinking water would have caused luck with herself but it really is not her death. The Datura "told" him the location of the fault. Most of her relatives have died. When the people tried to make her confess she would pre- missing article and augmented his sight so that tend that she felt sick and would go off alone." he could see the object clearly. Two shamans of an older generation are remem- My informant has heard that Datura could be bered, both of whom lived just below the junc- tion of Moapa Creek and Meadow Valley wash. These were: Ta muntsup' (slender toes), below "the 2""Evidently the equivalent of nay'adaroph, Nar- the evil rows," near Wells Siding; and Aiya iyaxobl (tur- spirit of the Saint George, Gunlock, tle copulate), called also Tiw; axob (earth and Shivwits bands; but by the Paranigat it was copu- not late), near the site of present Wiser Ranch. Sev- personified. eral shamanistic specialists will be named later. 160 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS A novice dreamed repeatedly of an animal with ic.27 It was attributed to an evil shaman, angered which he straggled until he overcame it. This because a dog had eaten the caterpillars he had animal gave him his power and taught him to sing, spread (presumably to dry). The complaint, charac- dance, and suck. If he did not want to become a terized by diarrhea and passage of blood, started shaman, he could reject his dream by arising be- at the camps near the present Wiser Ranch (just fore dawn and blowing (presumably the spirit) below Glendale, Nevada), and spread down the val- toward the sunrise. Although never rattlesnake ley as far as Saint Thomas. There were so many shamans, women doctors were generally on a par deaths that instead of receiving regular burial, with men. They were not banned from practice dur- the corpses were dumped into a near-by gully. The ing menstruation. family of my informant was visiting near Wiser A shaman (pu'axanti) alternately smoked and Ranch and left hastily for the hills. My inform- sang while treating.25 To strengthen his power ant's brother died; he himself, then a small child and aid his spirit helper, he wore on his back or had a light case but recovered without medicine hung, either from his belt or his staff, a thong or treatment. of mountain-sheep hide wrapped with white down The shaman who was considered responsible was from eagle tail feathers. The patient lay on top put to death: of him, with his chest in contact with the doc- tor's lips. The shaman sucked first "over the "The doctor who sent the sickness came from heart, looking all through the sick person," and Bunkerville (Nevada) to Saint Thomas to treat his extracted blood or grandchild, who was sick. An Indian traveled up a small insect. and down the valley, telling the people that this Besides object intrusion, the Moapa people be- man had come. One night when he was singing over lieved that a ghost might enter the body. This was his grandchild, many people gathered and hid in incurable: muscular contraction and death followed the brush around the camp. The doctor heard them inevitably. Although I have no details, there was sneaking around and said, "Why is this country evidently some notion of soul loss, for the spirit so full of rats?" Before daybreak the moon set, assistant is said to have caught a fleeing soul, and it was dark. Then someone shot an arrow. It which the shaman, from between his palms, re- hit the doctor but did not make a bad wound. Now stored to the patient's chest. the doctor became angry and said that he would A cure warranted the payment of a mountain- kill too. His wife and daughter tried to hold sheep hide. Shamans who failed consistently might him but he broke away and fought. He ran after be asked to discontinue practice, while some of the people. A man who was coming toward those the camp hid in the brush and shot the doctor suspected of sorcery might be killed.26 If a doc- as he ran tor admired a person's possessions and the obrner past." refused for a third time to relinquish them, the A man or woman might become a Datura (momipy) shaman would make him ill. My informant refused shaman by chewing "a root that grew toward the to commit himself as to how this was accomplished. sunrise.' The individual addressed the root, A disinterested doctor sang over the bewitched asking for good dreams and saying that he wanted person and accused the sorcerer. If the latter to become a doctor. A person seldom tampered with admitted his guilt, there was a chance of recov- Datura unless aeeking a vision. My interpreter ery. Sometimes the removal of an insect effected remembered having seen an old Moapa woman grind a cure, indicating that shamanistic "poisoning" Datura roots and feed them to her subnormal niece was at least sometimes a matter of intrusion. in a peach pie. She did this twice, talking to Shortly before the Mormons came into the Muddy the roots and asking that they give the girl a Valley (ca. 1860) there had been a serious epidem- sound mind. Specialists.-There were several rattlesnake shamans (kwia'b-puaxanti) in the vicinity 25 One or two practical remedies were noted of for the Moapa. Colds: Thamnosa stems steeped and Saint Thomas: Mantsu'n (stiff-jointed), the best the liquid drunk. The leaves, chewed or made into of them; RLnkin (Lincoln); and Tso'oikan (beads). a tea, effective as a laxative. Fractures: set Panku'ts, mentioned by the Shivwits, was unknown "by anyone" and tied between splints. Stomachache: to my Moapa informant. A snake shaman sang, and a brew of Mormon tea or of the leaves or roots of creosote bush. After the (post-white) introduc- from the wound sucked a snake which could be heard tion of cottonwood tree, its bark was made into a to rattle. If his treatment were not successful, tea for stomachache. a spider shaman (muka'm-puaxantO) might be called to attempt a cure. From the bite he sucked blood 2 The Report of the Commissioner of Indian and spat it into his hand. Dreaming of a spider Affairs, 1875:337, states that the Moapa killed gave power to treat all venomous bites-spider, a shaman who lost three successive cases. It notes also that medicine men "practice the most, hideous incantations over the sick; frequently 27 Spier (Havasupai Ethnography, AMNH-AP 29: also burning the sufferer in the most inhuman 238, 1928) notes a similar epidemic among Hava- manner." The latter part of the statement is not supai children about 1856. Cited hereafter: Spier, clear, but probably refers to cautery. Havasupai. KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM 161 insect, scorpion, and, upon occasion, snake. tioner did not will his power to anyone, his guar- Mantsu'n and Rlnkin were spider as well as snake dian spirit and songs passed of their own accord to shamans; Tuhu'sibT, who was mentioned by the a younger member of the same family, by which means Shivwits, was not considered a shaman by my Moapa the same tutelary spirit and songs continued within informant. a family from generation to generation. More de- *The rock doctor (timpi'-buxant1) dreamed of tailed data on this situation will be found in the rocks and of scaling heights. He had a song and published Chemehuevi account. This transfer is ex- "strong power" for climbing, which he displayed ceedingly interesting for it really amounts to in- by mounting cliffs to eagle eyries to remove the heritance, the first suggestion of such a tendency young birds. This was his sole function, for which among the Southern Paiute. Although this may have the nest owners paid him. Bruises and like inju- escaped me among the bands treated previously, I ries were treated by a regular shaman. It will be rather doubt it, especially in view of several defi- remembered that the Shivwits rock doctor treated nite statements that noninheritance prevailed. Among injuries received in falls; he may also have been the two westerly groups of Paiute this may well be employed by eagle nest owners, but I was not told a reflection of Mohave influence. of this. All guardian spirits came from the northeast, My Moapa informant did not recognize as such either close at hand or far distant. Apparently one the Saint Thomas arrow doctor mentioned by the near by was not undesirable, as among the Cheme- Shivwits. He could, in fact, recall no such sha- huevi, but was on the contrary advantageous be- man among his own people and thought that they cause more accessible in case of emergency. The sent to the Las Vegas band for a practitioner identity of the guardian spirit seems to have been of this sort. The arrow shaman (u'buaxant!) of peculiar significance in Vegas shamanism. Cer- dreamed of an arrow. He danced and sang but did tain spirits, to be mentioned later, always made not suck. If dancing did not cure, he whipped the for malignant shamans. Only the two or three indi- patient with an arrow as he sang over him. viduals who had Kaini'mpavLts (mountain-spirit) The Moapa had no weather shamans and no weath- for a familiar "could see all kinds of sickness." er control. Among these was a Moapa woman, Ka'ibarigits (moun- tain-gather), who married into the Vegas band. She cured illness when others failed, depending LAS VEGAS for her power on mountain spirit and bat, both of which are said to have cured successfully in the The Las Vegas adjoined the Moapa on the south- legends. Another woman, who lived at Aka'vapi (a west. They centered in Las Vegas Valley, Nevada, spring just northwest of Las Vegas) had a good and extended westward into California to the very and powerful spirit aide, Xutsi'mamapits (ocean- borders of Death Valley and southward to include woman). Tco'pi (meaningless), the brother of the the Old Dad and Providence ranges. Among them, above-mentioned Iua'rinkov, also has the last- shamans (puaxantl) were of either sex, but women mentioned tutelary but has never attempted to cure. shamans were considered almost without exception Ata'pituk (crow-buttocks) was one of the most suc- malevolent.28 A berdache dreamed of changing his cessful shamans, with mountain-sheep and chuck- sex, but my informant did not know if one ever walla familiars. became a shaman. When summoned, a shaman "sat thinking" (i.e., A prospective medicine-man began to dream when concentrating) until his guardian spirit directed a child. If the calling were agreeable he told him to proceed. Sometimes it warned that his ef- no one of his dreams; but if he wished to reject forts would be fruitless; but if the response were it he related his dream experiences abroad, after favorable he proceeded to the camp of the patient, which they ceased. Curing powers were not exhib- singing en route. Once there, he circled the ited until adulthood. Some sought shamanistic house, in either direction, then entered and was dreams in the famous Gypsum Cave, near Las Vegas. feasted. Following this he "sat around thinking" They first made an offering, usually tobacco, to and conferring with his the tutelary. resident spirit, then remained throughout the Treatment began late in the evening. The patient night. The present shaman, Iua'rinkov (rain-face, was placed with his head to the east, inside the because as a child his face was dirty; John house if the weather were chilly, outside in a Stump) thus obtained dreams. He is, however, a brush enclosure if it were warm. Many spectators malevolent shaman, depending upon coyote for his assembled. Seated, the shaman sang songs which A a re- power. cave on small mountain just north of corded the travels of his guardian spirit from a Indian Springs was famous for its mirages, but distant place, presumably its homeland.. After two had no shamanistic potency. or three songs, the shaman rose and danced back If a shaman lost (presumably forgot) his dreams and forth (first toward the east, then toward he died; a jealous colleague might wish" this the west) on either side of the patient. He held misfortune upon him. Although an aging practi- his cane, which was considered the property of the 28A woman shaman did not treat during menstru- spirit aide and capable of speech. At the conclu- ation, but a male shaman was free to practice sion of the dance he stuck the cane deeply in the during his wife's periods. ground at the patient's head, where it remained 162 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS until the next treatment. Other than the staff follow this routine was parading his powers to no no paraphernalia were used. Most shamans smoked good end. while traveling and after dancing because it was Usually a cure was effected in one night, but "restful." One or two, however, are said to have a serious illness required two nights. If there blown smoke first on the patient, then toward the was no improvement after the second treatment, east "to take the sickness away." Not all shamans another shaman was asked to try his skill. Payment smoked, and when one did, he did not ask others preceded treatment but was returned unless a cure to join him, as in the published Chemehuevi ac- was effected. "Anything they had" was acceptable, count. usually eagle feathers, mountain sheep or deer Following the dance, the patient was placed hides, perhaps a bone awl. Nowadays $20 the night atoW the shaman so the latter "could look through is considered more or less standard fee if the him and diagnose.29 The medicine-man sang "hard- doctor has any distance to travel; if close at er and harder," denouncing the sorcerer (Tbh - hand he may charge as little as $5. buaxant1, evil-doctor) he considered responsible Informants repeatedly held evil shamans respon- and urging him to admit his guilt. Formerly those sible for the depletion of the population. Thus, who refused to confess were killed. "Long ago there were many Indians and few doctors; Toward morning the guardian spirit arrived and now there are few Indians and many doctors." All was met by the shaman some distance from camp. serious sickness, it would seem, was attributed to The spirit was not displayed; this would have been bewitchment.30 Contagious magic (masu'tfk), de- "showing off" and would have brought ill luck in scribed in some detail in the published account curing. Holding the spirit tightly between his for the Chemehuevi, my Vegas informant declared palms, the shaman blew it into the seat of the to be a KTima'nu (Cahuilla, or perhaps Southern pain. Then, lying once more beneath the patient, Californian Shoshone generally) and Iu'ta (Bea- his lips on the ailing part, he sucked out the ver Paiute [?], Pavant Ute [?]) practice. It was tutelary, together with the "pain." From this it not used, she thought, by either the Las Vegas or is clear that the Vegas cannot share the notion the Chemehuevi. The "follow-doctor" described by that the spirit, while in the shaman's throat, the Chemehuevi, also was denied by the Vegas in- does the sucking. The spirit was told to carry formant, according to whom a victim had to be ac- away the "pain, after which the latter was tossed tually at hand for sorcery to be effective. How- toward the east. ever, the Chemehuevi mentioned by name a Vegas Generic and diffused pain is called payanyi; man (of Cottonwood Island) as a sorcerer of this acute, localized pain, wYni (from winipi, arrow type; and the Vegas say that a shaman might in- point). It is the latter, in the form of a mate- flict illness on a person just departing on a rial arrow point, which is sucked out by the sha- journey, after which the victim would die at some man. Sometimes when a sorcerer persistently re- distant place. fused to confess, he was confronted with the ar- Data on soul loss are meager. My informant-at row point. Ordinarily, however, the "pain" was first declared it to be unknown, but said later not displayed. This, too, would have been "show- ing off" and would have made other practitioners 30Casual ailments were treated with practical jealous. remedies. Infants and sick persons bathed with If an accused shaman were not at hand to con- water containing pounded leaves of paiab (Hymenoc- lea salsola T. & G.). Sores: washed with tea of fess, the illness always terminated fatally. To siguwiip' (Salvia carnosa Dougl.) or with water retract his evil forces, the accused danced, then containing dried, pulverized leaves of same sucked out the "pain" he had inflicted. There ap- plant. Cuts: tobacco leaves chewed and juice pears to be a logical inconsistency here, as this dropped into deep cut, which was then covered procedure is said to follow the the with tobacco leaves. Sore eyes: bathed with brew sucking by of Hymenatherum pentachaetum D.C. Unspecified curing doctor, who presumably removed the disease internal disorders: drank tea of root of Phace- object previously. Sometimes an accused woman lia palmeri Wats; tutu'pi (Mormorn tea, Ephedra shaman used eagle feathers to extract the poison." viridis Cov.); whole plant kutsa r'lmpl (Erio- Starting at the feet of the prone patient, she dictyon angustifolium Nutt.); whole plant wa'ateyowLmpl (Heliotropium carassavicum L.); brushed him with the feathers, thus directing the Thamnosma montana T. & F. Stomachache (and malignant essence toward the head. Such a perform- headache): tea of pa kwitupip (Porophyllum gra- ance, however, would not restore the individual, cile Benth.). Emetics included naka br'inan'imp and a shaman who directed an accused sorcerer to (Krameria grayi Rose & Painter) and tobacco. Use of latter as emetic believed to be practice in- trusive from PanumLnts (Kawaiisu). To ground to- bacco was added water, Mormon tea, and a soft 29A shaman did not froth saliva, but at some white stone (called tina'bi). Made into a paste unspecified time he stroked the patient's body. and placed in center of circle of ai12iag persons. Further, at an unspecified time, he inquired Each of latter dipped finger into mess, taking concerning the patient's recent dreams, which he small taste. Vomiting followed shortly. "Heart then interpreted. Some dreams augured good. Thus trouble": sprays of ka'ninkwap (Garrya mcllis if a young person dreamed of being old and white- Greene) boiled and liquid drunk. Rheumatism and haired, it was a sign of longevity, and if one like pains: treated by cautery. Administered by dreamed of witnessing a battle without partici- any experienced person using the root (called pating, one would go through life without in- pika'xadarimpl) of plant named nayu'tsonanimp jury. This was not exclusively a warrior's dream. (doubtfully identified as a Croton). KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM 163 that it would be possible to make the "mind"'1 Range), was famous for his feats of legerdemain. leave, after which the person "would go crazy An account of some of these follows: and die." Presumably, although not explicitly, this, like other illness, was attributed to an "While this man sang he would pick up some evil shaman. A curing doctor could send his sort of plant, and as he held it in his hand, familiar to retrieve the wandering soul. The it flowered and bore fruit. The latter he gave latter he held between his the patient to eat. Sometimes this doctor cured, clasped hands. Then, but rarely. If he performed these tricks he would with thumbs upturned and pressed to his lips, lose the patient within a few hours. he blew the soul from his hands into the fore- "The same man would suddenly produce the head of the bereaved subject. [amnion?] sack of an unborn calf and turn it Evil shamans were responsible for both object over and over in front of the fire for everyone and ghost intrusion. With the former, the shaman to see. He was able, too, to restore life to in his dreams wished ill to an enemy. He could dead animals-quail, dese-t tortoise, and rab- cause him immediate injury by instructing his bits. He picked up the dead body, gave it life, familiar to shoot him, the arrow point from this and the animal ran over the hill, out of sight. shot being later removed by the curing doctor. But always on the far side of the hill it would The Vegas share with the Chemehuevi the unpala- be found dead. If this man had been able to table notion that in his dreams a sorcerer feasts restore life permanently, his human patients on the flesh of his would have lived. victim. "Some doctors would show their spirit helpers Evil shamans, particularly (exclusively?) those to the people; others would form animals and the who had ghosts for guardian spirits, were able to like to impress the people. But all this was not control ghosts, sending them to frighten a vic- curing; it was like the tricks of white magi- tim or to enter his body (unwa'pakakadits, ghost- cians. A doctor who did such things never lasted go-inside). Perhaps "ghost sickness" always in- long; he overdid. For this reason Yanpa'vinuk did volved ghost intrusion; my notes are not clear. not call himself a real doctor. He himself died A curing shaman sang and sucked out the invading young; his spirit helper was an eagle." ghost, which he blew toward the east. With the usual Vegas avoidance of exhibitionism, the Despite the injunction against parading one's ghost was not displayed. power, certain Vegas shamans vied with the Cahuilla Certain tutelary spirits always were malig- and their neighbors in feats of magic.34 The fol- nant: coyote (which is the familiar of Iua'- lowing relates a contest in which the Vegas partic- rinkov, mentioned previously); bear ("this brought ipated. bad luck to somebody; it always killed"); birds of prey-hawk, and the like;32 ghosts; common "This happened long ago, when WYnYganti [stand- water spirits (pa'inipi, water-ghost); and an- ing] was chief and before the Chemehuevi moved other kind of water spirit (paru'-tutu'xubi; from the desert to the river. The Kima'nu-[Cahuilla] tutu'xubl, guardian spirit), who was "a man with were going to see which doctor had the strongest long white hair, long mustache, and webbed power. Several went from here: some from Ka'iba 3 [mountain; New York Mountains], from TYmpi'saxwats feet." Through the last-mentioned familiar, a [stone-blue; Providence Mountains], and from shaman caused illness by polluting the drinking Ma'upa [meaningless; part of Turtle Range]. Two water. Whirlwind (turu'nier) also was malevolent or three, who were not doctors, went from Wiivats as a familiar. By concealing himself in such a [Apocynum-water; Mescal Spring, on Ivanpah Moun- wind a shaman could approach a victim unnoticed tain]. They all met a certain day at Okwa'i and later escape detection by the doctor. [meaningless; Ivanpah Mountain] and started for The pronounced censure on "showing off" is not the Cahuilla country. Most of the doctors were found elsewhere among the Southern Paiute. Most young and had not tried their power; so they frequently, according to Vegas informants,, "this practiced during the trip. The older doctors would make other doctors jealous" and a jealous waited until they had reached the contest. shaman worked havoc. Although frowned upon, cer- "On the way they hunted desert tortoise and tain chuckwalla wherever they camped. In the party shamans indulged in feats of magic; "that were two young men who hunted together and shared was not good; it fooled the people but did not their food. Between them they had only one chuck- cure." Nevertheless, a certain shaman named walla, whereas the others had many. One of these Yanpa vinuk (runs-like-mockingbird; John Moss), boys built a very large fire to roast the one chuck- of Pa'savanti (spring at the south end of Paiute walla. He heated many stones as though he had much to cook. He threwv the one lizard in the middle of "After the mind [muxuan soul] leaves the the coals and piled the hot stones over it. body it turns into the soul fnayu'ts, butterfly], over it. which has wings and goes into the air." "Everyone was lying around the fires, laugh- ing and talking. One asked him, 'Is it cooked 32A shaman named Tuta, having Kusav (chicken hawk) for a familiar, sponsored the Ghost Dance among the Vegas. 34Such shamanistic contests have been reported for the Cahuilla: Lucile Hooper, The Cahuilla 55This spirit reputedly had been seen twice Indians, UC-PAAE 16:336, 1920; and W. D. Strong, on the bank of the Colorado; mj interpreter Aboriginal Society in Southern California, UC- suggested it might be a seal. PAAE 26:168, 1929. 164 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS yet?' The boy began to dig around the edge of the [Luisefno, who 'lived the other side (i.e., west) ashes, although he knew that his one chuckwalla of A'iyaka (San Jacinto Mountain) and spoke like was in the center. He lifted a stone from the the Cahuilla'- their Mexican name said to be edge of the fire and under it were two chuck- 'San' Luisefiol; the Ma'ringiants [Serrano prop- walla, each with its tail in the mouth of the er]; the Pita'ntf [Vanyume Serrano]; and the other. He lifted all the stones and found two Kwita'namuant [Gitanemuk (?), who 'spoke both chuckwalla beneath each. He put the food in a Spanish and Serrano']. There were no Yuma large pile and asked the others to share with [Kwitca 'an] or Mohave [Aiye't] in the contest." him. "The boy who did this was young and not yet sure of his power. He dreamed of kusiv' [a At this point a word may be said of prophecy, bluish-gray hawk, with sharp points on each which was a nondreaming, nonshamanistic affair, shoulder], who in the legends roasted but one undertaken by a person called muyu'anti (mind, rabbit and later removed many from the ashes. soul), one "with lots of brains." In the even- This boy had the same power as the spirit. ing, around the fire, he foretold the future. "The next evening he tried again, with a des- ert tortoise. And in the fire he found many, in "This man said that some day our land would their shells. He tried rabbits next, and other be taken away. He named all the mountains and animals. said that we should lose them. He prophesied "The evening before the party reached the the coming of the Mormons, whom he called Paru' Cahuilla this boy had his friends build a very iyam [said to mean 'fromacross the ocean'] and large fire. When it burned down he threw him- said that they would own this country. He spoke self on the coals, where they saw him burn to every evening for one or two years. was a ashes. Then he appeared, walking toward camp very old man when the Mormons came. iHe and smiling. The people said, 'We shall win; we have a good one (shaman) among us.' Datura was used as a medicine and as an aid "The party arrived the next day. They were in locating lost objects; my informant doubted the last to come and everyone was waiting. it was ever the source of shamanistic power. Nor After sundown a fire was built and each doctor was it considered a cure for mental derangement. showed his powers. Some competed in smoking, Most people, my informant said, were normal, but making pipe, smoke, and all come out of their she remembered two whom she considered "insane." toes. Others brought black "stink bugs"' out of One, who insisted upon going naked, was the son their ears and toes. Certain mountain-sheep of a woman shaman; "his mother had too much doctors took pieces of sheep fat or meat from nono'si" (dreaming, i.e., supernatural their clothing and threw them on the coals; the contact). pieces looked like fresh kill. The other was a very old woman who repeatedly "They could not decide who was the winner; removed her skirt in the presence of others; the Paiute could equal the tricks of all the "but she was able to work." others. They sang all night, in turn. Toward morning the boy who had burned himself said, For rheumatism a person secretly obtained a 'Make a hot fire; use mesquite wood.' At day- Datura root that grew toward the east. He left a light the fire turned to red coals. The Paiute gift in its place, then addressed the root, ask- boy came close and threw himself in the center. ing for good luck. Then he pounded the root, Everyone was surprised. The Cahuilla said, 'What mixed it with water, and rubbed it over his body. are we doing? We have lost a man!' Then at sun- For finding lost objects a person asked the root rise, when there were only ashes left, they saw for aid, then took (chewed?, drank?) a small the doctor who had been burned walk toward them, portion; to chew it made one thirsty. Under its smiling. influence one "would even go into the water" to "The Cahuilla had fire doctors"" but they retrieve lost objects. According to one Cheme- said, 'You have beaten us; we cannot do that.' huevi the Vegas had "a special woman who dreamed So thig5boy won the prizes; they were a Navaho and found lost [Hopi] blanket, breecholout, and two shirts. objects" without the aid of Da- One shirt was fringed, where it tied on the tura, but this was not mentioned by the Vegas sides; the other had sleeves. These were expen- informants. sive and were provided by the Cahuilla. Specialists.-The Vegas had, with one or two "In this contest, besides the Paiute and the minor differences, the already familiar Kima'nu [Cahuilla] were: the TDmpi'mukwiats list of [edge-of-rock; unidentified tribe 'living some- shamanistic specialists. where near the Cahuilla']; the Ka ibaxumpivats Rattlesnake shaman. The Vegas speak of two rattlesnake shamans (kwia'buaxantl), both of whom happen to be women. They are: Na'ntsurigi (a 3"There are several references to Cahuilla kind of bluebird), of Maxa'vuvant shamans who handled fire with impunity. Hooper, (from maxa'vS, op. cit., 331, 335, 336; Strong, op. cit., 169, brush; a spring in Pahrump Valley, south of 177. Manse); and Ma'vaiyun (brush-gather), living south of Ivanpah Mountain. A child who refused "3 The Vegas and Chemehuevi confuse the Navaho and Hopi, calling the former MukO, Muku, and the to bathe was told he would become a snake sha- latter Paya'wItc, names which are reversed by the man; "but there really was nothing to this; it easterly Paiute. The Hopi-Navaho confusion is was just to frighten him." Although snake sha- shared by the Mohave (Kroeber, Shoshonean Dia- mans had "no real spirit helper," they obtained lects, UC-PAAE 4:107-108, 1907). KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANIS1 165 a ouring song through dreaming; and in their Weather shamans. The Vegas were interested in dreams they could turn inanimate objects into weather control, but with one notable exception snakes. They are said to have been able to cause they did not practice it with much success. snakes to bite. Usually, they state, they relied upon the efforts These shamans treated any venomous wound-snake, of the PanumLnts (Kawaiisu)38 about Mohave sta- tarantula, or spider. The treatment lasted four tion and northward from there. or five days and consisted of singing, dancing, and sucking.37 By means of the latter, "poison" "The PanumLnts had some sort of thing which was removed from the wound, but never a miniature they always kept closed, and when they opened snake or other visible object. it, rain came. I do not know what this looked like. We would ask them to make rain, give them A snake-bite victim always was treated outside a buckskin, and they would tell us to return the dwelling. Persons took great care not to ap- home, that it would already be raining there. proach, for unless they had just bathed and were "To stop rain, the Panumints patted a piece meticulously clean, they would have had a pro- of clay very thin and set it out in the rain to nounced ill effect upon the patient. Neighbors, dissolve. Or they gathered rain water from the therefore, remained at their respective camps, leaves of plants and drank it; this also stopped within earshot of the shaman's song, and as long the rain." as the latter continued they kept time to the music, two or three of them standing in line. According to one informant Vegas weather Even children participated in this so-called shamans (Ywa'dim-puaxantl, rain-doctor) dreamed, "snake dance" (kwia'uviawinimiga). sang, and used the bull-roarer (mu'mut) to bring Rock shaman. The Vegas equivalent of the rock rain; "but they were not very successful." Ac- shaman was called tintca'nuant; but "this was cording to another: nothing, only a person who took young eagles from the nest." My informant doubted that he dreamed "Only children used the bull-roarer. We told or had a song. Nor did he treat falls from cliffs. them it would bring rain and thunder and light- As a matter of fact, my informant had "heard of only but it did not. ning,Rain doctors were dangerous; they could cause one person who fell from a cliff, and he was a Mo- lightning to strike people. They dreamed of have; the Paiute used their common sense and did bringing rain. In dry weather they used their not fall." power by smearing black paint around their eyes, Arrow shaman. As usual, the arrow shaman (ubu' - by singing, and by wishing for rain." axant) treated arrow and gunshot wounds. He dreamed of a song and of curing such injuries. Although the Chemehuevi associate mountain- sheep dreamers with rain, apparently the Vegas "He sucked the wound and sang. He danced to the do that the recital of head of the patient (who was not oriented) and not. They say, however, kicked the sand; then to the foot and again kicked the funeral oration (anpa' -uviCv, talk-song) is the sand. After this the patient was able to get attended by wind and a light shower, which cease with the termination of the address. "Once a man was shot through the breast with a Despite the general lack of success which bullet. The doctor sucked it out and threw it to characterized Vegas weather control, they boast the east. He did not press the body with his hands; one famous rain shaman, Avena'ry (meaningless), only real curing doctors did that.' who lived originally at Pa'savant' (spring at the south end of Paiute Range). Most of his life Horse shaman. With the Vegas comes the first was spent among the Chemehuevi at Wia'nekat (from mention of a further specialization, a horse wiab, clay), a site along the Colorado River, be- shaman (wa'a'riv-puaxanti), who treated injuries tween Fort Mohave and Cottonwood Island (Mohave inflicted by horses. These medicine-men dreamed territory in prewhite days). Several anecdotes of a horse. They neither sucked nor used a staff; concerning this shaman follow: but they had one song, and stroked and blew upon the victim. "Avena'ri dreamed for his power. To bring rain he did not sing but used crystals [pi'utov-i "Once a man at Cottonwood Island fell from a which looked like diamonds. These he alone could horse; he was unconscious. A horse doctor was find at a place that had been struck by light- nearly two miles distant hut he knew of the acci- ning. He seldom sang to bring rain, but instead dent. He made sand into a small mound; it became touched one of the crystals to the surface of a hard, like a rock, from which he knew that no bowl of water. Immediately it began to rain. If bones were broken. He came to -treat the man. He tapped him with a small stick, after which he be- 38PanumLnts almost certainly applies to the came conscious. The doctor stroked the man's body, Kawaiisu rather than to the Gitanemuk or other blew upon him, and he recovered." Serrano (cf. Kroeber, op. cit., 108, 134). A Ute-Chemehuevi group clearly is indicated because the language is said to be intelligible to Paiute. 37The snake shaman used no herbs in treating; Furthermore, according to Kroeber (p. 111), "From but if he were not available, a poultice of the the statements of Garces it would appear that the pounded plant taxopui 'bLmp (tax3, snake; Pentste- Iawaiisu held both slopes of the Tehachapi Moun- mon palmeri Gray var. ) was applied. tains.' 166 ANTHROPOLOGICAL RECORDS he used a large crystal the storm continued While sucking, he lies on the ground beneath the many days. patient. Several bands, but not all, hold the "To stop the rain he sang; or he gathered rain actual sucking fhe 4oney the gutardiansLrt, water from the leaves of trees and drank it [simi- lodged in the shaman's throat. The insertion of lar to the reputed Kawaiisu practice]. the tutelary into the body of the patient is men- "Once a party of Mohave were on their way to tioned by all except the Moapa, where its omis- Mohave station [Kawaiisu] for clamshell beads. sion probably is through oversight. Shamans They stopped near the camp of Avena'ri. They usually smoke, either while treating or after- taunted him, saying, 'This man cannot bring rain.' ward, but generally this is thought not to be But before they left Avena'r; brought a rain so for the cane orFV_"staff, heavy that the country was flooded. There was so curative. Save _rieig`a much water that the Mohave said, 'Have we not are conspicuously lacking; but the use of eagle crossed the Colorado River already?' They went feathers appears persistently, if sporadically. on their way but two or three of them were All the bands distinguish between the rattle- drowned. snake shaman and the general practitioner, and "When Avena'r1 was very old he gave his crys- some recognize numerous other specialists. Bear tals to a young man-named WarYv:, or Warivi'tsima shamans are unknown. Weather control and the lo- [meaningless], who was not related to him. He did cation of lost objects appear as shamanistic not want the crystals destroyed and told this functians in scattered cases but are not empha- young man that he would be able to use them, sized, without dreaming. But to do so he must neither K..-North America in contrast huevi, has been described to the relative infrequency of ghost intrusion.P' Uinkaret, is extinct; and among the remaining six the latter is more usual than the records I was not able, for lack of time, to investigate Probably shamanistic aspects. The present data should be show. It may eventually prove to be a common Great useful, however, in indicating the general fea- Basin notion; at least it is reported from the tures of Southern Paiute shamanism and in gauging northern4o and southern extremes. Emphasis on the is reminiscent of cer- the variability among several local units of a guardian spirit in curing of central California, while the single ethnic group. More complete and more in- tain sections tensive information naturally would increase the idea of soul loss calls to mind southern Califor specific resemblances to the significance of the conclusions, but on the basis nia. But the closest seem to lie with the Havasupai. of the material, the outstanding common Southern Paiute foregoing shamanistic tenor features of Southern Paiute shamanism may be out- There is agreement in general and suggestion of agreement in three particular lin ollows: the insertioll To become shamans, persons of either sex de- notions: (a) ghost intrusion; (b) into the patient; and (c) the be rive their power from dreams, which ordinarily of the tutelary come unsolicited. They confer with a familiar lief that the spirit does the actual sucking."1 of HaVal spirit, sometimes human, but more frequently ani- This is consonant with Spier's estimate mal, from which they receive songs and instruc- supai culture as Basin-like.42 tions for curing. Shamans alone have such guar- dian spirits. With the exception of the Las Vegas 39 Forrest E. Clements, Primitive Concepts of and Chemehuevi, neither power, songs, nor shaman- Disease, UC-PAAE 32:193-194, 1932. istic office is inherited. Sickness is attributed 40Lowie (The Northern Shoshone, AMNH-APF to intrusion, usually of a material disease object, 1909) reports ghost intrusion to be the commiofl sometimes of a ghost, or, less commonly, to soul cause of sickness among the Northern Shoshone' loss. The last of these a shaman cures by the pur- 41Spier, Havasupai, 277, 279, 280, 281. wandering soul, whereas suit and restoration of the 42Problems Arising from the Cultural Positiof the two former he treats by song and sucking. of the Havasupai, AA 31:213-222, 1929. KELLY: SOUTHERN PAIUTE SHAMANISM 167 Southern Paiute shamanism, hovwever, is quite harmony with the general tone of Basin culture. evidently thrown into a form of negative relief The difficulty in delimiting Southern Paiute when compared with other areas where shamanism shamanism with respect to surrounding areas is and shamanistic functions are definitely elaborate. perhaps as significant as any other fact in evalu- But the presence of generically fundamental and ating it as characteristically Basin, since it widespread curing concepts as well as the uncrys- partakes of the fundamentals and even some of tallized nature of shamanism seem entirely in the specific features of adjacent regions.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS USED

AA American Anthropologist. AMNH-AP American Museum of Natural History, AAAS-P American Academy Arts and Sciences, Anthropological Papers. Proceedings. UC-PAAE University of California, Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology.