of his reappearance. At its close he crawls into his tent, or falling
down exhausted is carried there by those who are watching him. A series
of ceremonials, observances, and long incantations follows, lasting for
two or three days, and he then assumes the functions and privileges of
his office. I have seen three or four medicine men made at a time among
the Indians near Victoria, while twenty or thirty others stood, with
loaded muskets, keeping guard all round the place to prevent them doing
any mischief. Although a clever medicine man becomes of great
importance in his tribe, his post is no sinecure either before or after
his initiation. If he should be seen by anyone while he is communing
with the spirits in the woods, he is killed or commits suicide, while
if he fails in the cure of any man he is liable to be put to death, on
the assumption that he did not wish to cure his patient. This penalty
is not always inflicted, but, if he fails in his first attempt, the
life of a medicine man is not, as a rule, worth much. The people who
are bitten by these maniacs when they come in from the woods consider
themselves highly favoured."

Mr. Duncan, in 1857, gave the following painfully curious description
of the medicine men--

"The superstitions connected with this fearful system are deeply
rooted here, and it is the admitting and initiating of fresh pupils
into these arts that employ numbers, and excite and interest all,
during the winter months. This year I think there must have been eight
or ten parties of them, but each party seldom has more than one pupil
at once. In relating their proceedings I can give but a faint
conception of the system as a whole, but still a little will show the
dense darkness that rests on this place.