disorders." Such a high degree of cultivation of an art or
science, in which each professor occupies himself especially
with a particular branch in order to achieve the utmost
possible perfection in it, is known at the present day only
among the most civilized nations.
If, therefore, we desire to obtain an accurate idea of the
primitive treatment of diseases by means of music, a
reference to the usages of some rude tribes in uncivilized
lands will be the proper step for acquiring the information.
Considering that the mystery-men alluded to are, as a
rule, mentally the most gifted and the most crafty personages
of the tribe to which they belong, and that they are
especially familiar with the views, inclinations, customs, and
weaknesses of their people, a detailed account of the social
position and doings of these extraordinary individuals in
different parts of the world might be very interesting. It
would, however, be out of place here to describe them
further than as they appear in their medical and musical
capacities.
The mystery-men of the North American Indians, or
the " medicine-men," as they are more usually called, are
acquainted with the medicinal virtues of a great many
different kinds of roots and herbs, of which they make
use in their prescriptions, and for which they are paid.
MUSIC AND MEDICINE. 87
Some of them enjoy a high reputation on account of
their skill ; and in general the medicine-man takes a
high position among the people. Only when the common
remedies of roots and herbs have proved unsuccess-
ful does he resort to " medicine " or mystery. He arrays
himself in a most grotesque dress, and provides himself with
a rattle, commonly made of a gourd, which is hollowed and
partly filled with pebbles. Thus equipped, he approaches
his dying patient to cure him by a charm. He dances about
him, singing songs of incantation, and producing a frightful
noise by shaking his rattle. Catlin records a scene of an
attempted cure of this description which he himself
witnessed, as follows : " Several hundred spectators, includ-
ing Indians and traders, were assembled round the dying
man, when it was announced that the medicine-man was
coming. We were required to form a ring, leaving a space
of some thirty or forty feet in diameter around the dying
man, in which the doctor would perform his wonderful
operations ; and a space was also opened to allow him free
room to pass through the crowd without touching any
one. .... He approached the ring with his body in
a crouching position, with a slow and tilting step. His body
and head were entirely covered with the skin of a yellow
bear, the head of which his own head being inside of it
served as a mask ; the huge claws of which also were
dangling on his wrists and ankles. In one hand he shook a
frightful rattle, and in the other he brandished his medicine-
spear, or magic wand ; to the rattling din and discord of all
of which he added the wild and startling jumps and yelps of
the Indian, and the horrid and appalling grunts, snarls, and
growls of the grizzly bear, in ejaculatory and gutteral
incantations to the Good and Bad Spirits, in behalf of his
patient, who was rolling and groaning in the agonies of
death, whilst he was dancing around him, jumping over
him, and pawing him about, and rolling him in every
direction. In this wise the strange operation proceeded for
half an hour to the surprise of a numerous and death-like
silent audience, until the man died ; and the medicine-man
danced off to his quarters, and packed up, tied and secured
88 MUSIC AND MEDICINE.
from the sight of the world his mystery dress and equip-
ments."* Should the exhausted patient unaccountably
recover after such a ceremony, the lucky medicine-man will
be seen for several days after the event on the top of a wig-
wam, extending his right arm, waving it to the gaping
multitude, and boasting of his skill.
With the Indian tribes in Columbia and Vancouver
Island the medicine-man, although he may become of great
importance if he is clever, is liable to be put to death if he
fails to cure his patient ; it being presumed that he
possesses the power, but not the wish, to cure. A strange
procedure of one of these fellows in trying to cure a female
who lay dangerously ill, was witnessed by an English-
man, who has given a circumstantial description of it, from
which the following extract will suffice :
" Towards night the doctor came, bringing with him his
own and another family to assist in the ceremony. After
they had eaten supper, the centre of the lodge was cleared
and fresh sand strewed upon it. A bright fire of dry wood
was then kindled, and a brilliant light kept up by occasion-
ally throwing oil upon it. I considered this a species of
incense offered, as the same light would have been pro-
duced, if desired, by a quantity of pitch-knots which were
lying in the corner. The patient, well wrapped in blankets,
was laid on her back, with her head a little elevated, and
her hands crossed on her breast. The doctor knelt at her
feet, and commenced singing a song, the subject of which
was an address to the dead, asking them why they had
come to take his friend and mother, and begged them to go
away and leave her. The rest of the people then sung the
chorus in a low, mournful chant, keeping time by knocking
on the roof with long wands they held As the
performance proceeded, the doctor became more and more
excited, singing loudly and violently, with great gesti-
culation, and occasionally making passes with his hand
* ' Illustrations of the Manners, Customs and Condition of the
North American Indians, by G. Catlin.' London, 1848 ; Volume I.,
p. 40.
MUSIC AND MEDICINE. 89
over the face and person of the patient, similar to those
made by mesmeric manipulators." *
Likewise, in a cure effected in the case of a sick lad of
the Wallawalla Indians, Columbia river, which Mr. Drayton
witnessed, there appears to have been a kind of mesmerism
used in combination with music. This case is also note-
worthy inasmuch as it shows that the Indians have
female physicians. The lad was lying on his back in a
lodge and appeared to be in a dying state. Over him stood
an old haggard-looking squaw, who was singing in great
excitement, while about a dozen men and boys were accom-
panying her with their voices in a sort of chorus, the rhyth-
mical effect of which they increased by striking sticks
together at regular intervals. The music thus produced
sounded unearthly to the foreign bystander. The squaw
was all the time very busy about the lad, now bending over
him and making all kinds of grimaces, and now baring his
chest and pretending by her actions to be scooping out his
disease, and now again falling on her knees before him and
striving to draw out the evil spirit with both her hands.
She blew into her hands and then moved them over the
patient in a peculiar manner as if she were tossing the
noxious spirit away into the air. Then again she would
blow with her mouth on his neck downwards, making a
quick sputtering noise ; and at last she began to suck his
neck and chest in different parts. Whatever may be thought
of this operation, the boy certainly soon got better. More-
over, our informant concludes his account of the occurrence
with the statement : " One singular custom prevailing here
(with the Indians of Wallawalla) is that all the convales-
cents are directed to sing for several hours during the day."t
The Indian tribes in Guiana have mystery-men, called
Piatzas, or Piaies, who constitute a powerful priesthood.
In their incantations they use rattles, and also drums and
* ' Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island, by R. C.
Mayne.' London, 1862; p. 261.
f- ' Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition during the
years 1838-42, by Charles Wilkes.' London, 1845 > v l- IV., p. 399.
go MUSIC AND MEDICINE.
bells. When a person suffering from a protracted illness
finds the commonly-used medicines of no avail, his refuge is
to the Piatza, to induce him to drive out the evil spirit that
must be the cause of the mischief. The Piatza carries the
patient into the nearest forest, and having fastened his
hammock to some tree across a pass, he commences the
incantations, which he accompanies with the noise of his
rattle. The rattle consists of a calabash partly filled with
small pebbles. During his incantations no one is permitted
to witness what he is doing, even the patient being enjoined
to close his eyes and to keep them shut until the end of the
ceremony. The Piatza draws a circle round the sick person
and addresses the evil spirit.*
Again, the Manchi, or medicine-man of the Peguenches
and other Indian tribes in the Argentine Provinces, is skilled
in the use of herbs. If remedies of this kind prove
ineffectual, mysterious ceremonies are resorted to. A
sheep and a colt are killed, and are placed with vessels of a
fermented liquor, called chichala, under trees close to a hut ;
the patient is carried out of the hut and laid on the sunny
side of the trees. The Manchi and the women now dance in
a circle round the trees, the animals, and the sick person.
When the dancers are exhausted the Manchi fumigates the
animals and the sick person three times, and then sucks the
diseased part of the man with such force as to draw blood.
After this, he sucks the heart of the colt and anoints the sick
person with the blood of the animal. At the conclusion of
these disgusting ceremonies, in the performance of which
the Manchi affects to be in a trance, dancing is recommenced,
and the patient is forced to join in it, supported by his
friends. A general feast, in which the people consume
the animals, concludes the ceremony, t The Manchi
generally uses a kind of drum in his incantations.
The mystery-men of the Araucanian Indians are called
Gligua, or Dugol, and some of them are distinguished by the
* 'Missionary Labours in British Guiana,'by the Rev. J. H. Bernau ;
London, 1847. p. 55.
f 'Two Thousand Miles' Ride through the Argentine Provinces,' by
William MacCann; London, 1853. Vol. I., p. in.
MUSIC AND MEDICINE. gi
epithets Gnenguenu, Genpugni, and Genpuri (i. e. " Master of
the heavens, of epidemic diseases, of worms and insects,")
and are supposed to have the power of curing every
disease, of producing rain, and of preventing the ravages of
worms and insects. The real medicine-men are called
Machi* and their method of curing is similar to that of the
Manchi of the Argentine Provinces just described. The
ceremony is, however, always performed in the night. The
hut in which the patient lies is lighted with a great number
of torches. In a corner of the. room is placed, among
branches of laurel, a large bough of cinnamon, to which is
suspended the magic drum ; and near to it is a sheep which
is to be killed for sacrifice. A number of women sing aloud
and beat upon little drums, while the Machi proceeds, with
frightful gesticulations and horrible contortions of his body,
to exorcise the evil spirit which is supposed to be the cause
of the malady.t Sometimes he will suddenly exhibit in
triumph a spider, a toad, or some other obnoxious animal,
which he pretends to have extracted from the body of the
sufferer. | A more detailed account of these impostors is
unnecessary, especially as the works are mentioned which
contain full descriptions of them.
The largest Indian tribes in Patagonia, the Moluches and
the Puelches, have male and female sorcerers. Boys who
suffer from epileptic fits, or from the St. Vitus's dance, are
selected for this office, and are brought up in it. They have
to adopt female apparel, which they continue to wear when
grown up. These men, dressed like women, are supposed
to have been destined for their profession by the demons
themselves. They, likewise, assume the power of curing
disease by means of incantations accompanied with the
noise of rattles and drums.
* Machi is evidently identical with Manchi.
f ' The Geographical, Natural, and Civic History of Chili,' by the
Abbe Don J. Ignatius Molina; London, 1809. Vol. II., p. 105.
J 'The Araucanians,' by E. R. Smith; London, 1855 ; p. 235.
' A Description of Patagonia and the adjoining parts of South
America,' by Thomas Faulkner; Hereford, 1774; p. 115.
92 MUSIC AND MEDICINE.
The close resemblance of certain practices of the medicine-
men among uncivilized nations in different parts of the globe,
is especially suggestive. Nor are the differences without
interest.
Turning to Africa, we have musical-medical practitioners
with the Negroes and Kafirs, whose art must have originated
quite independently of that of the American medicine-men.
The Negroes in Jamaica have sorcerers and physicians,
called Obeah-men, whose ceremonies are probably of African
origin, although they are in many respects similar to those
of the Indian medicine-men. The Obeah-men, being well
acquainted with the peculiar effects of the different poisonous
plants, it is said, often make bad use of their knowledge.*
When attending a sick person, the Obeah-man generally
commences his cure with a dance, and he administers a
powder, or a liquor, to his victim. t
The Negroes in Western Africa have professional
musicians or minstrels, called in Senegambia, Griots ;
singing men, or bards, called Jillikea ; Fetish priests who
drum and dance as if they themselves were possessed of evil
spirits ; Priestesses of the Serpent worship, which has its
principal temples in Whydah ; Rain-makers ; Wizards,
called Greegree-men ; and other " wise men," who are also
physicians and musicians. The Ganga, in Loango, South
Western Africa, are, according to the Abbe Proyard, priests as
well as physicians : " When they come to a patient, they ask
him where his ailment lies. They blow on the part affected :
after that, they make fomentations, and tie up his limbs in
different places with bandages. These are the preliminaries
used in all diseases. They know nothing either of phle-
botomy, or of medicine. . . . . . They know a very
salutary remedy, in their opinion, for all diseases ; but this
they only employ in favour of those who can afford the
expense. When they are called in to a rich man, they take
with them all the performers on musical instruments they
* 'Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies,'
by M. G. Lewis ; London, 1845 ; p. 158.
f- The word Obcah is probably identical \vithPiaie, mentioned above,
page 89.
MUSIC AND MEDICINE. 93
can find in the country. They all enter in silence ; but, at
the first signal which they give, the musical troop begin
their performance. Some are furnished with stringed
instruments, others beat on the trunks of hollow trees
covered with skin, a sort of tabor. All of them uniting
their voices with the sound of the instruments round the
patient's bed, make a terrible uproar and din, which is often
continued for several days and nights in succession." *
The mystery-man in Benguela is called Kimbanda. He
performs his ceremonies in the forest, in the presence of the
people. Before him stands a calabash with a wide opening,
in which are figures rudely carved, of wood or bone, which
represent different kinds of wild animals. A rattle, which
he holds in his hand, consists of a hollow calabash containing
pebbles. He shakes his rattle and addresses the figures in
a recitation, interspersed with questions concerning the
ailments of his patient. An assistant, who is hidden in the
neighbourhood of the figures, answers the questions in a
hollow tone of voice, as if it came from the figures. How-
ever, for the accomplishment of the cure a sacrifice of a cow
is generally demanded by those greedy figures; or even
more, according to the means of the patient. The answers
given by the figures are generally so indistinct that no one
but the Kimbanda can understand them ; and he communi-
cates them to the people.t
The Somali, in Eastern Africa, have similar mystery-
men, called Tawuli ; and the natives of Zanzibar have the
Mganga, who professes to heal the patient by expelling the
demon by means of his singing and the shaking of his rattle.
The mystery-man of the Kafirs of Natal likewise accompanies
his recitations with a rattle. He is an extraordinarily
dangerous and objectionable personage ; for, when the
cattle fall sick, or some other mischief happens, he is apt
to declare that it has been caused by some evil-doer whom
* 'History of Loango,' by the Abb6 Proyard ; Paris, 1776. 'A
General Collection of Voyages and Travels,' by John Pinkerton ; Lon-
don, 1808; Vol. XIV, p. 572.
f ' Reisen in Sud- Africa,' von Ladislaus Magyar ; Pest, 1859 ; Vol. I.,
p. 25.
94 MUSIC AND MEDICINE.
he can find out. He sings and dances towards several
individuals in succession, and affects to examine them by his
olfactory sense. Suddenly he touches one with the gnu's
tail which he carries in his hand. He leaps over the head
of the unhappy man, and points him out as the offender.*
Also the Bechuana, in fact every Kafir tribe, has one or
more of such personages, who are physicians and musicians,
as well as priests, prophets, and rain-makers.
Considering the very low state of civilization of those
natives of Australia who have not come into contact with
the European settlers, it is especially interesting to learn
their notions on the employment of music in the cure of
disease. These aborigines are divided into numerous tribes,
who have no chief, or leader properly speaking, except the
Crodgy, or " wise man," who, besides being a quack, is also
the conductor of their ceremonies. They not unfrequently
suffer from rheumatic pains in their limbs, which they
believe to be caused by some demon. To protect them-
selves against the demons, they cany about them charms
consisting of bits of rock crystal, called " mundy-stones,"
which they value highly. They endeavour to drive away
the demons by whirling round their head an oval-shaped
board, called moor-y-umkarr, which is curiously ornamented,
and is suspended to a string. It produces an unearthly,
humming sound, sometimes soft, sometimes loud and roar-
ing, according to the force with which it is whirled. The
doctor, in curing a sick person, proceeds much in the same
manner as the medicine-man of the North American Indians.
He, however, uses no rattle ; a bunch of green reeds
held in the hand and shaken serves the same purpose.
The small-pox is so greatly feared by the natives that
they possess a special song, called nguitkurra, by the
singing of which the disease is believed to be prevented,
or checked in its progress, t A native from the vicinity
* 'The Kafirs of Natal and the Zulu Country,' by J. Shooter; Lon-
don, 1857 ; p. 173.
f 'Outlines of a Grammar, Vocabulary, and Phraseology of the
Aboriginal Language of South Australia.' By G. C. Teichelmann and
C. W. Schiirmann. Adelaide, 1840; part II.
MUSIC AND MEDICINE. 95
of Port Jackson, whose wife was complaining of a pain
in the stomach, was observed by a European traveller to
cure her in the following manner : " After blowing on his
hand, he warmed it at a fire, and then applied it to the part
affected, beginning at the same time a song which was
probably calculated for the occasion. A piece of flannel
being warmed and applied by a bystander, rendered the
warming his hand unnecessary ; but he continued his song,
always keeping his mouth very near to the part affected,
and frequently stopping to blow on it, making a noise after
blowing, in imitation of the barking of a dog. But, though
he blew several times, he only made that noise once at every
pause, and then continued his song. The woman always
made short responses whenever he ceased to blow and
bark."*
An English missionary in Tanna Island, New Hebrides,
relates that when a native of that Island is taken ill, his
friends believe that his illness is occasioned by some one
burning his nakah (i.e. " rubbish"). They have "disease-
makers " who are believed to have in their hands the power
of life and death, and who are consequently much feared.
Every kind of nakah is carefully buried or thrown into the
sea, lest the disease-maker should pick it up, wrap it in a
leaf, and burn it. When a native is taken ill, his friends
blow on a conch trumpet, which signifies a supplication to
the disease-maker to discontinue burning the rubbish. If
the sick man recovers, the disease-man receives a present
for having left off burning. The rubbish generally consists
of some refuse of food.t The New Zealanders had formerly
similar disease-makers, who were supposed to require a lock
of hair r or some nail-parings, of the person whom they
intended to afflict with disease.
Let us now turn to some tribes in cold regions of the
North, to compare their musical ceremonies in the cure
of illness with those in tropical countries.
* ' An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and
Norfolk Islands.' By John Hunter. London, 1793 ; p. 476.
f ' Nineteen Years in Polynesia.' By the Rev. G. Turner. London,
i85i.
g6 MUSIC AND MEDICINE.
The natives of Kamtschatka have persons called Shamans,
who profess to be able to communicate with the spirits by
arraying themselves in a grotesque garment, chanting,
beating a drum, dancing, and working themselves up to
a state of trance. They, on these occasions, drink an
infusion of a species of fungus, which has an intoxicating
power, and which sometimes makes them sleep afterwards
for three or four days without interruption. Its effect must
therefore be similar to that of opium. The Shamans of
the Ostiaks, and of the Samoiedes, in Siberia, suspend
to their dress metal representations of strange birds, fishes,
and quadrupeds, with bones, teeth, and other frightful-
looking things. In their incantations they shake the dress
so that the metallic appendages produce clanging and tink-
ling sounds, the effect of which is increased by the Shaman's
beating a drum, of the tambourine kind. Also the Lap-
landers, about a century ago, had such sorcerers, who used
a drum called rune-bomme, or gobodes, the parchment of
which was marked with mystic signs. The sorcerer was
called Noaaid, or Spagubbe. Besides his magic drum he had
a magic chain, about twelve inches in length, of tin and
copper, which, when shaken, produced a shrill, tinkling
noise. No journey, no business transaction was undertaken
by the Lapp without his having previously consulted the
Noaaid, who by means of a ring placed on the parchment of
his drum, predicted the success of the undertaking. When
he beat the drum, the vibration caused the ring to move to
one or other of the mysterious signs marked upon the
parchment ; and from the position of the ring, he pre-
tended to be able to divine the future. Moreover, he cured
diseases by beating his drum to incantations and wild
dancing. The Lapps believed that the defunct relations of
the sick person attempted to draw him over to them ; it,
therefore, naturally suggested itself to his friends to engage
the interference of the Noaaid, who professed to have inter-
course with the spirits of the dead. The pagan Finns had
the same notion, which is not surprising, considering that
they and the Lapps are of one race. The sorcerers of the
Finns recited songs, called lugut, when they attempted to
MUSIC AND MEDICINE. 97
exorcise the evil spirit of the patient, or to remove the witch-
craft occasioning the mischief. These superstitions the
Finnish races probably brought with them originally from
Asia, where we still meet with them at the present day. It
is remarkable that in time of remote antiquity, the priests of
certain Eastern nations used tinkling instruments for the
purpose of frightening away the demons. The ancient
Egyptians shook the Sistrum ; and the priests of the Copts
and of the Abyssinian Christians observe still this very
ancient custom. The Hebrew priests, at the time of Moses,
had little bells attached to their robes for protection against
evil influences ; at any rate, it is recorded that the sound of
Aaron's bell was to be heard " that he die not." (Exod.
chap, xxviii., v. 35.)
A curious account of the employment of music in the
cure of diseases in Chinese Tartary is given by M. Hue.
He says : " When illness attacks any one his friends run to
the nearest monastery for a Lama, whose first proceeding
upon visiting the patient is to run his fingers over the pulse
of both wrists simultaneously, as the fingers of a musician
run over the strings of an instrument. . . . After due
deliberation the Lama pronounces his opinion as to the
particular nature of the malady. According to the religious