Every warrior feels that his success, both on the battle-field and in the chase, depends entirely upon the strictness, promptness and constancy with which he adheres to the rules which are imposed upon him by the wakan war leader. The influence of the medicine-man in this capacity, permeates the whole community, and it is hardly possible to over-estimate it. Those who are led by him will be murderers, it is their trade. They are commissioned for this. Those who are bound to these war-prophets, by such rites, _will be led by him unless they renounce their religion_. The Indian, if he can, will kill a foe, whoever he be, as long as he is a pagan. He is as apt to do it as a duck is to swim. The favor of the gods, and even his very manhood, depends upon it. He is not a man till he has killed a foe. Till their hands have been dipped in blood they are liable to be abused and insulted in the most outrageous manner. Young men, in sight of St. Paul, have been obliged to assume the petticoat and exhibit themselves as women in the public dance, because they had not killed a foe. The _pagan_ Indian, in a sense, is obliged to be a murderer. THE MEDICINE MAN A DOCTOR. The power of the Doctor “caps the climax.” In him all the powers of the gods meet, as the colors blend in the rain-bow. The doctor is revered as much, perhaps, as the superior gods themselves. The subordinate gods dwell in them and confer on them the power to _suck out disease_ from the human body. If long without practice, it is said that the gods in them become restless, and subject them to much inconvenience. To pacify them it is represented that they sometimes obtain and drink considerable quantities of human blood.