Should the first trial, which takes place at daybreak, prove unsuccessful, the shaman and his client fast until just before sunset. They then eat and remain awake until midnight, when the ceremony is repeated, and if still unsuccessful it may be repeated four times before daybreak (or the following noon?), both men remaining awake and fasting throughout the night. If still unsuccessful, they continue to fast all day until just before sundown. Then they eat again and again remain awake until midnight, when the previous night’s programme is repeated. It has now become a trial of endurance between the revengeful client and his shaman on the one side and the intended victim and his shaman on the other, the latter being supposed to be industriously working countercharms all the while, as each party must subsist upon one meal per day and abstain entirely from sleep until the result has been decided one way or the other. Failure to endure this severe strain, even so much as closing the eyes in sleep for a few moments or partaking of the least nourishment excepting just before sunset, neutralizes all the previous work and places the unfortunate offender at the mercy of his more watchful enemy. If the shaman be still unsuccessful on the fourth day, he acknowledges himself defeated and gives up the contest. Should his spells prove the stronger, his victim will die within seven days, or, as the Cherokees say, seven nights. These “seven nights,” however, are frequently interpreted, figuratively, to mean _seven years_, a rendering which often serves to relieve the shaman from a very embarrassing position. With regard to the oracle of the whole proceeding, the beads do move; but the explanation is simple, although the Indians account for it by saying that the beads become alive by the recitation of the sacred formula. The shaman is laboring under strong, though suppressed, emotion. He stands with his hands stretched out in a constrained position, every muscle tense, his breast heaving and voice trembling from the effort, and the natural result is that before he is done praying his fingers begin to twitch involuntarily and thus cause the beads to move. As before stated, their motion is irregular; but the peculiar delicacy of touch acquired by long practice probably imparts more directness to their movements than would at first seem possible. HIĂ´ A´NE´TS UGÛ´[n]WA´LǏ AM´YǏ DITSÛ´[n]STA´TǏ. Sgĕ! Ha-nâgwa ă´stĭ une´ga aksâ´û[n]tanû´[n] usĭnu´lĭ a‘ne´tsâ unatsâ´nû[n]tse´lahĭ akta´‘tĭ adû[n]ni´ga. Iyu´stĭ utadâ´ta, iyu´stĭ tsunadâ´ita. Nû[n]nâ´hĭ anite´lahĕhû´ ige´skĭ nige´sû[n]na. Dû´ksi-gwu´ dedu´natsgû‘la´wate´gû. Da´‘sû[n] unilâtsi´satû. Sa‘ka´ni unati´satû´.