The two following, are the legends concerning the principal medicines used among the Iroquois. The ancient manner of administering them, was to take a small wooden goblet, and go to a running stream, and dipping towards the way which the stream ran, fill the goblet and return to set it by the fire, with some tobacco near it. A prayer is offered, while tobacco is thrown upon the fire, that the words may ascend upon the smoke. The medicine is placed upon a piece of skin near the goblet, and being very finely pounded, is taken up with a wooden spoon and dusted upon the water in three places, in spots in the form of a triangle, thus—⁂ The medicine man then looks at it critically, and if it spreads itself over the surface of the water and whirls about, it is a sign that the invalid will be healed. If it sinks directly in the places where it is placed—there is no hope—the sick person will die, and they throw the whole away. Once in six months there is a great feast made, at the hunting season in the fall and spring. On the night of the feast, as soon as it is dark, all who are present assemble in one room, where no light or fire is allowed to burn, and placing the medicine near the covered embers, and the tobacco by its side, they commence singing something which proclaims that the crow is coming to their feast, and also many other birds, and various animals, the brains of whose species form part of the medicine. At the end of the song, some one imitates the caw of the crow, and the songs of the birds, and howl of the wolf, &c., as if the animals were present. Three times in the course of the night they offer a prayer, while throwing tobacco upon the smothered flames, asking that the people may be protected from all harm, and if they receive wounds that the medicine may be effectual in healing them. At the commencement of the ceremonies the doors are locked, and no one is allowed to enter or leave the house while they continue. Neither is any one allowed to sleep, as this would spoil the medicine. The feast begins just before dawn of day. The master of ceremonies first takes a deer’s head, and biting off a piece, imitates the cry of the crow, and passes the head of the animal to another, who does the same, till all have tasted, and imitated the peculiar note of some bird or animal. As soon as it begins to be light, the presiding officer takes a duck’s bill, and dipping it full of the medicine, gives it to each one present, who puts it in a bit of skin, and wrapping it in several coverings, keeps it carefully till the next semi-annual feast. The skin of a panther is preferred for the first envelope, if it can be obtained. Those who take a part in the ceremonies are MEDICINE MEN; Chiefs are allowed to be present, and any others who have been cured of any disease by the medicine. Without the building, the young people gather for merriment, and the fragments of the feast are given to them when it is finished.