Besides the varieties of medicine already alluded to, there are in use charms of almost every kind. When game is scarce, medicine is made to call back the buffalo. The Man in the Sun is invoked for fair weather, for success in war or chase, and for a cure of wounds. The spirits of the dead are appeased by medicine songs and offerings. The curiosity of some may be attracted by the following rude and literal translation of the song of a Blackfoot woman to the spirit of her son, who was killed on his first war-party. The words were written down at the time, and are not in any respect changed or smoothed. "O my son, farewell! You have gone beyond the great river, Your spirit is on the other side of the Sand Buttes; I will not see you for a hundred winters; You will scalp the enemy in the green prairie, Beyond the great river. When the warriors of the Blackfeet meet, When they smoke the medicine-pipe and dance the war-dance, They will ask, 'Where is Isthumaka?-- Where is the bravest of the Mannikappi?' He fell on the war-path. Mai-ram-bo, mai-ram-bo. "Many scalps will be taken for your death; The Crows will lose many horses; Their women will weep for their braves, They will curse the spirit of Isthumaka. O my son! I will come to you And make moccasins for the war-path, As I did when you struck the lodge Of the 'Horse-Guard' with the tomahawk. Farewell, my son! I will see you Beyond the broad river. Mai-ram-bo, mai-ram-bo," etc., etc. Sung in a plaintive minor key, and in a wild, irregular rhythm, the dirge was far more impressive than the words would indicate. It cannot be denied that the whites, who consort much with the ruder tribes of Indians imbibe, to a considerable degree, their veneration for medicine. The old trappers and voyageurs are, almost without exception, observers of omens and dreamers of dreams. They claim that medicine is a faculty which can in some degree be cultivated, and aspire to its possession as eagerly as does the Indian. Sometimes they acquire a reputation that is in many ways beneficial to them.