Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/214

of amulet-wearing among those people, and had worn it about his neck! No matter how precious it was, it would then have been left untouched. The dead of battle may be stripped of every garment or ornament but that about the neck. No doubt the priceless talisman of centuries is now the choicest decoration in some neck ornament of claws and teeth and feathers. The most interesting charm of the American Indians is the "medicine." This may be almost anything to which the superstitious barbarian attributes some supernatural power. Commonly it is the skin of some animal. In many tribes, the boy who is approaching manhood withdraws to the woods or to some lonely place, where he undergoes a long fast. Weakened by his abstinence, he falls into a slumber, in which he dreams of some animal. With recovered consciousness he hunts for an individual of this species, kills it, and with great care removes the skin. This is his "medicine," and to increase its power various articles may be inclosed within it. To part with his medicine would be most unlucky; worn or carried upon the person, it serves as a powerful protector. We once purchased a medicine-bag Fig. 9—Terra-cotta Head. Mexico. from a Fox Indian. Its original owner was dead. It was kept in a small pouch of worsted, and consisted of the skin of a mole, carefully tied up and containing five different kinds of roots and barks. One of the most intelligent Indians in the tribe refused to look at the contents, assuring us that it would cause him bad luck, and was disrespect to the man whose protector it had formerly been. Among many Mohammedans we find amulets worn which consist of little pouches containing strips of parchment, on which are written passages from the Koran. This suggests certain practices of the Jews, both ancient and modern. One evening we had occasion to have a little Russian Jew boy try on some garments. Several of his young friends came with him. When he had removed his jacket and shirt, one of the boys eagerly called our attention to a queer little knitted garment worn over the undershirt. At its four corners hung bits of blue worsted twisted into a sort of tassel. The garment had little corner pockets into which these blue twists might be tucked. "Did you ever see that