Chapter III (1)

THE IZZE-KLOTH OR MEDICINE CORD OF THE APACHE.

There is probably no more mysterious or interesting portion of the religious or "medicinal" equipment of the Apache Indian, whether he be medicine-man or simply a member of the laity, than the "izze-kloth" or medicine cord, illustrations of which accompany this text. Less, perhaps, is known concerning it than any other article upon which he relies in his distress.

I regret very much to say that I am unable to afford the slightest clew to the meaning of any of the parts or appendages of the cords which I have seen or which I have procured. Some excuse for this is to be found in the fact that the Apache look upon these cords as so sacred that strangers are not allowed to see them, much less handle them or talk about them. I made particular effort to cultivate the most friendly and, when possible, intimate relations with such of the Apache and other medicine-men as seemed to offer the best chance for obtaining information in regard to this and other matters, but I am compelled to say with no success at all.

I did advance so far in my schemes that Na-a-cha, a prominent medicine-man of the Tonto Apache, promised to let me have his cord, but as an eruption of hostility on the part of the tribe called me away from the San Carlos Agency, the opportunity was lost. Ramon, one of the principal medicine-men of the Chiricahua Apache, made me the same promise concerning the cord which he wore and which figures in these plates. It was, unfortunately, sent me by mail, and, although the best in the series and really one of the best I have ever been fortunate enough to see on either living or dead, it was not accompanied by a description of the symbolism of the different articles attached. Ramon also gave me the head-dress which he wore in the spirit or ghost dance, and explained everything thereon, and I am satisfied that he would also, while in the same frame of mind, have given me all the information in his power in regard to the sacred or medicine cord as well, had I been near him.

There are some things belonging to these cords which I understand from having had them explained at other times, but there are others about which I am in extreme doubt and ignorance. There are four specimens of medicine cords represented and it is worth while to observe that they were used as one, two, three, and four strand cords, but whether this fact means that they belonged to medicine-men or to warriors of different degrees I did not learn nor do I venture to conjecture.

The single-strand medicine cord with the thirteen olivella shells belonged to a Zuñi chief, one of the priests of the sacred order of the bow, upon whose wrist it was worn as a sign of his exalted rank in the tribe. I obtained it as a proof of his sincerest friendship and with injunctions to say nothing about it to his own people, but no explanation was made at the moment of the signification of the wristlet or cord itself or of the reason for using the olivella shells of that particular number or for placing them as they were placed.

One of the four-strand cords was obtained from Ramon and is the most beautiful and the most valuable of the lot. Ramon called my attention to the important fact that it was composed of four strands and that originally each had been stained a different color. These colors were probably yellow, blue, white, and black, although the only ones still discernible at this time are the yellow and the blue.

The three-strand cord was sent to me at Washington by my old friend, Al. Seiber, a scout who has been living among the Apache for twenty-five years. No explanation accompanied it and it was probably procured from the body of some dead warrior during one of the innumerable scouts and skirmishes which Seiber has had with this warlike race during his long term of service against them. The two strand cord was obtained by myself so long ago that the circumstances connected with it have escaped my memory. These cords, in their perfection, are decorated with beads and shells strung along at intervals, with pieces of the sacred green chalchihuitl, which has had such a mysterious ascendancy over the minds of the American Indians--Aztec, Peruvian, Quiche, as well as the more savage tribes, like the Apache and Navajo; with petrified wood, rock crystal, eagle down, claws of the hawk or eaglet, claws of the bear, rattle of the rattlesnake, buckskin bags of hoddentin, circles of buckskin in which are inclosed pieces of twigs and branches of trees which have been struck by lightning, small fragments of the abalone shell from the Pacific coast, and much other sacred paraphernalia of a similar kind.

That the use of these cords was reserved for the most sacred and important occasions, I soon learned; they were not to be seen on occasions of no moment, but the dances for war, medicine, and summoning the spirits at once brought them out, and every medicine-man of any consequence would appear with one hanging from his right shoulder over his left hip.

Only the chief medicine-men can make them, and after being made and before being assumed by the new owner they must be sprinkled, Ramon told me, with "heap hoddentin," a term meaning that there is a great deal of attendant ceremony of a religious character.

These cords will protect a man while on the warpath, and many of the Apache believe firmly that a bullet will have no effect upon the warrior wearing one of them. This is not their only virtue by any means; the wearer can tell who has stolen ponies or other property from him or from his friends, can help the crops, and cure the sick. If the circle attached to one of these cords (see Fig. 436) is placed upon the head it will at once relieve any ache, while the cross attached to another (see Fig. 439) prevents the wearer from going astray, no matter where he may be; in other words, it has some connection with cross-trails and the four cardinal points to which the Apache pay the strictest attention. The Apache assured me that these cords were not mnemonic and that the beads, feathers, knots, etc., attached to them were not for the purpose of recalling to mind some duty to be performed or prayer to be recited.

I was at first inclined to associate these cords with the quipus of the Peruvians, and also with the wampum of the aborigines of the Atlantic coast, and investigation only confirms this first suspicion. It is true that both the wampum and the quipu seem to have advanced from their primitive position as "medicine" and attained, ethnologically speaking, the higher plane of a medium for facilitating exchange or disseminating information, and for that reason their incorporation in this chapter might be objected to by the hypercritical; but a careful perusal of all the notes upon the subject can not fail to convince the reader that the use of just such medicine cords prevailed all over the world, under one form or another, and has survived to our own times.

First, let me say a word about rosaries, the invention of which has been attributed to St. Dominick, in Spain, and to St. Bridget, in Ireland. Neither of these saints had anything to do with the invention or introduction of the rosary, although each in his or her own province may have adapted to new and better uses a cord already in general service among all the peoples of Europe. The rosary, as such, was in general use in parts of the world long before the time of Christ. Again, the cords of the various religious orders were looked upon as medicine cords and employed in that manner by the ignorant peasantry.

In this chapter I will insert notes showing the use of such cords by other tribes, and follow with descriptions of the uses to which the cords of St. Francis and others were put, and with references to the rosaries of different races or different creeds; finally, I will remark upon the superstitions connected with cords, belts, and strings, knotted or unknotted, made of serpent skin, human skin, or human hair. The strangest thing about it all is that observers have, with scarcely an exception, contented themselves with noting the existence of such cords without making the slightest effort to determine why they were used.

There are certain cords with medicine bags attached to be seen in the figures of medicine-men in the drawings of the sacred altars given by Matthews in his account of the Navajo medicine-men.

Cushing also has noted the existence of such cords in Zuñi, and there is no doubt that some at least of the so-called "fishing lines" found in the Rio Verde cliff dwellings in Arizona were used for the same purposes.

Describing the tribes met on the Rio Colorado, in 1540-1541, Alarcon says: "Likewise on the brawne of their armes they weare a streit string, which they wind so often about that it becommeth as broad as one's hand."[533] It must be remembered that the Indians thought that Alarcon was a god, that they offered sacrifice to him, and that they wore all the "medicine" they possessed.

In 1680, the Pueblos, under the leadership of Popé, of the pueblo of San Juan, were successful in their attempt to throw off the Spanish yoke. He made them believe that he was in league with the spirits, and "that they directed him to make a rope of the palm leaf and tie in it a number of knots to represent the number of days before the rebellion was to take place; that he must send this rope to all the Pueblos in the kingdom, when each should signify its approval of, and union with, the conspiracy by untying one of the knots."[534]

I suspect that this may have been an izze-kloth. We know nothing about this rebellion excepting what has been derived through Spanish sources; the conquerors despised the natives, and, with a very few notable exceptions among the Franciscans, made no effort to study their peculiarities. The discontent of the natives was aggravated by this fact; they saw their idols pulled down, their ceremonial chambers closed, their dances prohibited, and numbers of their people tried and executed for witchcraft.[535] Fray Geronimo de Zarate Salmeron was a striking example of the good to be effected by missionaries who are not above studying their people; he acquired a complete mastery of the language of the pueblo of Jemez, "and preached to the inhabitants in their native tongue." He is represented as exercising great influence over the people of Jemez, Sia, Santa Ana, and Acoma. In this rebellion of 1680 the Pueblos expected to be joined by the Apache.[536]

The izze-kloth of the Apache seems to have had its prototype in the sacred string of beans with which Tecumseh's brother, the Shawnee prophet, traveled among the Indian tribes, inciting them to war. Every young warrior who agreed to go upon the warpath touched this "sacred string of beans" in token of his solemn pledge.[537]

Tanner says in the narrative of his captivity among the Ojibwa: "He [the medicine-man] then gave me a small hoop of wood to wear on my head like a cap. On one-half of this hoop was marked the figure of a snake, whose office, as the chief told me, was to take care of the water."[538] The "small hoop of wood" of which Tanner speaks, to be worn on the head, seems to be analogous to the small hoop attached to the izze-kloth, to be worn or applied in cases of headache (Fig. 436). Reference to something very much like the izze-kloth is made by Harmon as in use among the Carriers of British North America. He says: "The lads, as soon as they come to the age of puberty, tie cords, wound with swan's-down, around each leg a little below the knee, which they wear during one year, and then they are considered as men."[539] Catlin speaks of "mystery-beads" in use among the Mandan.[540] "The negro suspends all about his person cords with most complicated knots."[541]

The female inhabitants of Alaska, Unalaska, and the Fox Islands were represented by the Russian explorers of 1768 (Captain Krenitzin) to "wear chequered strings around the arms and legs."[542] These cords bear a striking resemblance to the "wresting cords" of the peasantry of Europe. Some of the Australians preserve the hair of a dead man. "It is spun into a cord and fastened around the head of a warrior."[543] "A cord of opossum hair around the neck, the ends drooping down on the back and fastened to the belt," is one of the parts of the costume assumed by those attaining manhood in the initiation ceremonies of the Australians.[544] Again, on pages 72 and 74, he calls it "the belt of manhood." "The use of amulets was common among the Greeks and Romans, whose amulets were principally formed of gems, crowns of pearls, necklaces of coral, shells, etc."[545]

When I first saw the medicine cords of the Apache, it occurred to me that perhaps in some way they might be an inheritance from the Franciscans, who, two centuries ago, had endeavored to plant missions among the Apache, and did succeed in doing something for the Navajo part of the tribe. I therefore examined the most convenient authorities and learned that the cord of S. François, like the cord of St. Augustine and the cord of St. Monica, was itself a medicine cord, representing a descent from a condition of thought perfectly parallel to that which has given birth to the izze-kloth. Thus Picart tells us: "On appelle Cordon de S. François la grosse corde qui sert de ceinture aux Religieux qui vivent sous la Regle de ce Saint.... Cette corde ceint le corps du Moine, & pend à peu prés jusqu'aux pieds. Elle lui sert de discipline, & pour cet effet, elle est armée de distance en distance de fort gros nœuds.... La Corde de S. François a souvent gueri les malades, facilité les accouchemens, fortifié la santé, procuré lignée & fait une infinité d'autres miracles édifians."[546] This author says of the girdle of St. Augustine "Elle est de cuir," and adds that the Augustinians have a book which treats of the origin of their order, in which occur these words: "Il est probable que nos premiers Peres, qui vivoient sous la Loi de nature, étant habillés de peau devoient porter une Ceinture de même étoffe."[547] This last assumption is perfectly plausible. For my part it has always seemed to me that monasticism is of very ancient origin, antedating Christianity and representing the most conservative element in the religious part of human nature. It clings obstinately to primitive ideas with which would naturally be associated primitive costume. The girdle of St. Monica had five knots. "The monks [of the Levant] use a girdle with twelve knots, to shew that they are followers of the twelve apostles."[548] Among the "sovereign remedies for the headache" is mentioned "the belt of St. Guthlac."[549] Buckle refers to the fact that English women in labor wore "blessed girdles." He thinks that they may have been Thomas Aquinas's girdles.[550]

And good Saynt Frances gyrdle,
With the hamlet of a hyrdle,
Are wholsom for the pyppe.[551]

Some older charms are to be found in Bale's Interlude concerning the Laws of Nature, Moses, and Christ, 4to, 1562. Idolatry says:

For lampes and for bottes
Take me Saynt Wilfride's knottes.[552]

The "girdle of St. Bridget," mentioned by Mooney[553] and by other writers, through which the sick were passed by their friends, was simply a "survival" of the "Cunni Diaboli" still to be found in the East Indies. This "girdle of St. Bridget" was made of straw and in the form of a collar.

The custom prevailing in Catholic countries of being buried in the habits of the monastic orders, of which we know that the cord was a prominent feature, especially in those of St. Francis or St. Dominick, is alluded to by Brand.[554] This custom seems to have been founded upon a prior superstitious use of magical cords which were, till a comparatively recent period, buried with the dead. The Roman Catholic church anathematized those "qui s'imaginent faire plaisir aux morts ou leur mettant entre les mains, ou en jettant sur leurs fosses, ou dans leurs tombeaux de petites cordes nouées de plusieurs nœuds, & d'autres semblables, ce qui est expressement condamné par le Synode de Ferrare en 1612."[555] Evidently the desire was to be buried with cords or amulets which in life they dared not wear.

We may infer that cords and other articles of monastic raiment can be traced back to a most remote ancestry by reading the views of Godfrey Higgins, in Anacalypsis, to the effect that there was a tradition maintained among the Carmelites that their order had been established by the prophet Elisha and that Jesus Christ himself had been one of its members. Massingberd, speaking of the first arrival of the Carmelites in England (about A. D. 1215), says: "They professed to be newly arrived in Italy, driven out by the Saracens from the Holy Land, where they had remained on Mount Carmel from the time of Elisha the prophet. They assert that 'the sons of the prophets' had continued on Mount Carmel as a poor brotherhood till the time of Christ, soon after which they were miraculously converted, and that the Virgin Mary joined their order and gave them a precious vestment called a scapular."[556]

ANALOGUES TO BE FOUND AMONG THE AZTECS, PERUVIANS, AND OTHERS.

According to the different authorities cited below, it will be seen that the Aztec priests were in the habit of consulting Fate by casting upon the ground a handful of cords tied together; if the cords remained bunched together, the sign was that the patient was to die, but if they stretched out, then it was apparent that the patient was soon to stretch out his legs and recover. Mendieta says: "Tenian unos cordeles, hecho de ellos un manojo como llavero donde las mujeres traen colgadas las llaves, lanzábanlos en el suelo, y si quedaban revueltos, decian que era señal de muerte. Y si alguno ó algunos salian extendidos, teníanlo por señal de vida, diciendo: que ya comenzaba el enfermo á extender los piés y las manos."[557] Diego Duran speaks of the Mexican priests casting lots with knotted cords, "con nudillos de hilo echaban suertes."[558] When the army of Cortes advanced into the interior of Mexico, his soldiers found a forest of pine in which the trees were interlaced with certain cords and papers which the wizards had placed there, telling the Tlascaltecs that they would restrain the advance of the strangers and deprive them of all strength:

Hallaron un Pinar mui espeso, lleno de hilos i papeles, que
enredaban los Arboles, i atravesaban el camino, de que mucho
se rieron los Castellanos; i dixeron graciosos donaires,
quando luego supieron que los Hechiceros havian dado à
entender à los Tlascaltecas que con aquellos hilos, i papeles
havian de tener à los Castellanos, i quitarles sus
fuerças.[559]

Padre Sahagun speaks of the Aztec priests who cast lots with little cords knotted together: "Que hechan suertes con unas cordezuelas que atan unas con otros que llaman Mecatlapouhque."[560] Some such method of divining by casting cords must have existed among the Lettons, as we are informed by Grimm.[561] "Among the Lettons, the bride on her way to church, must throw a bunch of colored threads and a coin into every ditch and pond she sees."[562]

In the religious ceremonies of the Peruvians vague mention is made of "a very long cable," "woven in four colours, black, white, red, and yellow."[563] The Inca wore a "llautu." "This was a red fringe in the fashion of a border, which he wore across his forehead from one temple to the other. The prince, who was heir apparent, wore a yellow fringe, which was smaller than that of his father."[564] In another place, Garcilaso says: "It was of many colours, about a finger in width and a little less in thickness. They twisted this fringe three or four times around the head and let it hang after the manner of a garland."[565] "The Ynca made them believe that they were granted by order of the Sun, according to the merits of each tribe, and for this reason they valued them exceedingly."[566] The investiture was attended with imposing ceremonies. "When the Grounds of the Sun were to be tilled [by the Peruvians], the principal men went about the task wearing white cords stretched across the shoulders after the manner of ministers of the altar"[567] is the vague description to be gathered from Herrera.

Knotted cords were in use among the Carib; "ce qui revient aux Quippos des Péruviens."[568] The accompanying citation from Montfaucon would seem to show that among the Romans were to be found sacred baldrics in use by the war priests; such baldrics are to be seen also among the American aborigines, and correspond very closely to the medicine cords. Montfaucon describes the Saliens, who among the Romans were the priests of Mars, the god of war; these priests in the month of March had a festival which was probably nothing but a war dance, as that month would be most favorable in that climate for getting ready to attack their neighbors and enemies. He says that these Saliens "sont vêtus de robes de diverses couleurs, ceints de baudriers d'airain." These would seem to have been a sort of medicine cord with plates of brass affixed which would rattle when shaken by the dancer.[569]

Captain Cook found that the men of the tribes seen in Australia wore "bracelets of small cord, wound two or three times about the upper part of their arm."[570]

"Whilst their [the Congo natives'] children are young, these people bind them about with certain superstitious cords made by the wizards, who, likewise, teach them to utter a kind of spell while they are binding them."[571] Father Merolla adds that sometimes as many as four of these cords are worn.

Bosman remarks upon the negroes of the Gold Coast as follows: "The child is no sooner born than the priest (here called Feticheer or Consoe) is sent for, who binds a parcel of ropes and coral and other trash about the head, body, arms, and legs of the infant; after which he exorcises, according to their accustomed manner, by which they believe it is armed against all sickness and ill accidents."[572]

In the picture of a native of Uzinza, Speke shows us a man wearing a cord from the right shoulder to the left hip.[573]

In the picture of Lunga Mândi's son, in Cameron's Across Africa,[574] that young chief is represented as wearing a cord across his body from his right shoulder to the left side.

On the Lower Congo, at Stanley Pool, Stanley met a young chief: "From his shoulders depended a long cloth of check pattern, while over one shoulder was a belt, to which was attached a queer medley of small gourds containing snuff and various charms, which he called his Inkisi."[575] This no doubt was a medicine cord. "According to the custom, which seems to belong to all Africa, as a sign of grief the Dinka wear a cord round the neck."[576] "The Mateb, or baptismal cord, is _de rigueur_, and worn when nothing else is. It formed the only clothing of the young at Seramba, but was frequently added to with amulets, sure safeguards against sorcery."[577] The Abyssinian Christians wear a blue cord as a sign of having been baptized, and "baptism and the blue cord are, in the Abyssinian mind, inseparable."[578] "The cord,[579] or mateb, without which nobody can be really said in Abyssinia to be respectable."[580] It further resembles the Apache medicine cord, inasmuch as it is "a blue cord around the neck."[581] The baptismal cords are made of "blue floss silk."[582]

THE MAGIC WIND KNOTTED CORDS OF THE LAPPS AND OTHERS.

"The navigators of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have related many wonderful stories about the magic of the _Finns_ or _Finno Lappes_, who sold wind contained in a cord with three knots. If the first were untied, the wind became favourable, if the second, still more so, but, if the third were loosed, a tempest was the inevitable consequence."[583] The selling of wind knots was ascribed not only to the Lapps and Finns, but to the inhabitants of Greenland also.[584] "The northern shipmasters are such dupes to the delusions of these impostors that they often purchase of them a magic cord which contains a number of knots, by opening of which, according to the magician's directions, they expect to gain any wind they want."[585] "They [Lapland witches] further confessed, that while they fastened three knots on a linen towel in the name of the devil, and had spit on them, &c., they called the name of him they doomed to destruction." They also claimed that, "by some fatal contrivance they could bring on men disorders," ... as "by spitting three times on a knife and anointing the victims with that spittle."[586]

Scheffer describes the Laplanders as having a cord tied with knots for the raising of the wind; Brand says the same of the Finlanders, of Norway, of the priestesses of the island of Sena, on the coast of Gaul, in the time of the Emperor Claudius, the "witches" of the Isle of Man, etc.[587]

Macbeth, speaking to the witches, says:

Though you untie the winds, and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up.[588]

ROSARIES AND OTHER MNEMONIC CORDS.

The rosary being confessedly an aid to memory, it will be proper to include it in a chapter descriptive of the different forms of mnemonic cords which have been noticed in various parts of the world. The use of the rosary is not confined to Roman Catholics; it is in service among Mahometans, Tibetans, and Persians.[589] Picart mentions "chaplets" among the Chinese and Japanese which very strongly suggest the izze-kloth.[590]

Father Grébillon, in his account of Tartary, alludes several times to the importance attached by the Chinese and Tartars to the privilege of being allowed to touch the "string of beads" worn by certain Lamas met on the journey, which corresponds very closely to the rosaries of the Roman Catholics.[591]

"Mr. Astle informs us that the first Chinese letters were knots on cords."[592]

Speaking of the ancient Japanese, the Chinese chronicles relate: "They have no writing, but merely cut certain marks upon wood and make knots in cord."[593] In the very earliest myths of the Chinese we read of "knotted cords, which they used instead of characters, and to instruct their children."[594] Malte-Brun calls attention to the fact that "the hieroglyphics and little cords in use amongst the ancient Chinese recall in a striking manner the figured writing of the Mexicans and the Quipos of Peru."[595] "Each combination [of the quipu] had, however, a fixed ideographic value in a certain branch of knowledge, and thus the _quipu_ differed essentially from the Catholic rosary, the Jewish phylactery, or the knotted strings of the natives of North America and Siberia, to all of which it has at times been compared."[596]

E. B. Tylor differs in opinion from Brinton. According to Tylor, "the quipu is a near relation of the rosary and the wampum-string."[597]

The use of knotted cords by natives of the Caroline Islands, as a means of preserving a record of time, is noted by Kotzebue in several places. For instance: "Kadu kept his journal by moons, for which he made a knot in a string."[598]

During the years of my service with the late Maj. Gen. Crook in the Southwest, I was surprised to discover that the Apache scouts kept records of the time of their absence on campaign. There were several methods in vogue, the best being that of colored beads, which were strung on a string, six white ones to represent the days of the week and one black or other color to stand for Sundays. This method gave rise to some confusion, because the Indians had been told that there were four weeks, or Sundays ("Domingos"), in each "Luna," or moon, and yet they soon found that their own method of determining time by the appearance of the crescent moon was much the more satisfactory. Among the Zuñi I have seen little tally sticks with the marks for the days and months incised on the narrow edges, and among the Apache another method of indicating the flight of time by marking on a piece of paper along a horizontal line a number of circles or of straight lines across the horizontal datum line to represent the full days which had passed, a heavy straight line for each Sunday, and a small crescent for the beginning of each month.

Farther to the south, in the Mexican state of Sonora, I was shown, some twenty years ago, a piece of buckskin, upon which certain Opata or Yaqui Indians--I forget exactly which tribe, but it matters very little, as they are both industrious and honest--had kept account of the days of their labor. There was a horizontal datum line, as before, with complete circles to indicate full days and half circles to indicate half days, a long heavy black line for Sundays and holidays, and a crescent moon for each new month. These accounts had to be drawn up by the overseer or superintendent of the rancho at which the Indians were employed before the latter left for home each night.

THE SACRED CORDS OF THE PARSIS AND BRAHMANS.

I have already apologized for my own ignorance in regard to the origin and symbolical signification of the izze-kloth of the Apache, and I have now to do the same thing for the writers who have referred to the use by the religious of India of the sacred cords with which, under various names, the young man of the Parsis or Brahmans is invested upon attaining the requisite age. No two accounts seem to agree and, as I have never been in India and cannot presume to decide where so many differ, it is best that I should lay before my readers the exact language of the authorities which seem to be entitled to greatest consideration.

"A sacred thread girdle (kûstîk), should it be made of silk, is not proper; the hair of a hairy goat and a hairy camel is proper, and from other hairy creatures it is proper among the lowly."[599]

Every Parsi wears "a triple coil" of a "white cotton girdle," which serves to remind him of the "three precepts of his morality--'good thoughts,' 'good words,' 'good deeds.'"[600]

Williams describes the sacred girdle of the Pārsīs as made "of seventy-two interwoven woollen threads, to denote the seventy-two chapters of the Yasna, but has the appearance of a long flat cord of pure white wool, which is wound round the body in three coils." The Pārsī must take off this kustī five times daily and replace it with appropriate prayers. It must be wound round the body three times and tied in two peculiar knots, the secret of which is known only to the Pārsīs.[601]

According to Picart, the "sudra," or sacred cord of the Pārsīs, has four knots, each of which represents a precept.[602]

Marco Polo, in speaking of the Brahmans of India, says: "They are known by a cotton thread, which they wear over the shoulders, tied under the arm, crossing the breast."[603]

Picart described the sacred cord of the Brahmans, which he calls the Dsandhem, as made in three colors, each color of nine threads of cotton, which only the Brahmans have the right to make. It is to be worn after the manner of a scarf from the left shoulder to the right side. It must be worn through life, and, as it will wear out, new ones are provided at a feast during the month of August.[604] The Brahman "about the age of seven or nine ... is invested with 'the triple cord,' and a badge which hangs from his left shoulder."[605]

The Upavita or sacred cord, wound round the shoulders of the Brahmans, is mentioned in the Hibbert Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion. "Primarily, the sacred cord was the distinguishing mark of caste among the Aryan inhabitants. It consisted for the Brahmans of three cotton threads; for the Kshatriyas or warriors of three hempen threads; and for the Vaisyas or artisans and tradesmen of woollen threads."[606]

"All coiling roots and fantastic shrubs represent the serpent and are recognized as such all over India. In Bengal we find at the present day the fantastically growing Euphorbia antiquorum regularly worshipped, as the representative of the serpent god. The sacred thread, worn alike by Hindoo and Zoroastrian, is the symbol of that old faith; the Brahman twines it round his body and occasionally around the neck of the sacred bull, the Lingam, and its altar.... With the orthodox, the serpent thread should reach down to its closely allied faith, although this Ophite thread idea is now no more known to Hindoos than the origin of arks, altars, candles, spires, and our church fleur-de-lis to Jews and Christians."[607]

General Forlong alludes to the thigh as the symbol of phallic
worship. "The serpent on head denoted Holiness, Wisdom, and
Power, as it does when placed on gods and great ones of the
East still; but the Hindoo and Zoroastrian very early adopted
a symbolic thread instead of the ophite deity, and the
throwing of this over the head is also a very sacred rite,
which consecrates the man-child to his God; this I should
perhaps have earlier described, and will do so now. The
adoption of the Poita or sacred thread, called also the
_Zenar_, and from the most ancient pre-historic times by
these two great Bactro-Aryan families, points to a period
when both had the same faith, and that faith the Serpent. The
Investiture is the Confirmation or second birth of the Hindoo
boy; until which he can not, of course, be married. After the
worship of the heavenly stone--the Sāligrāma, the youth or
child takes a branch of the Vilwa tree in his right hand,
and a mystic cloth-bag in the left, when a Poita is formed of
three fibres of the Sooroo tree (for the first cord must
always be made of the _genuine living fibres_ of an orthodox
tree), and this is hung to the boy's left shoulder; he then
raises the Vilwa branch over his right shoulder, and so
stands for some time, _a complete figure_ of the old faiths
in Tree and Serpent, until the priest offers up various
prayers and incantations to Soorya, Savitri or Sot, the
Eternal God. The Sooroo-Poita is then removed as not durable
enough, and the permanent thread is put over the neck. It
also is formed of three threads, each 96 cubits or 48 yards
long, folded and twisted together until only so long that,
when thrown over the left shoulder, it extends half-way down
the right thigh, or a little less; for the object appears to
be to unite the Caput, Sol, or Seat of intellect with that of
passion, and so form a perfect man."[608]

All Parsis wear the sacred thread of serpent and phallic
extraction, and the investiture of this is a solemn and
essential rite with both sects [i.e., the Hindus and
Parsis], showing their joint Aryan origin in high Asia, for
the thread is of the very highest antiquity. The Parsi does
not, however, wear his thread across the shoulder, and knows
nothing of the all-but-forgotten origin of its required
length. He wears it next to his skin, tied carefully round
the waist, and used to tie it round his right arm, as is
still the custom with some classes of Brahmins who have lost
purity of caste by intermarriage with lower classes.[609]

At the baptism or investiture of the thread, which takes the
place of the Christian confirmation ceremony, but between the
ages of 7 and 9, Fire and Water are the great sanctifying
elements, and are the _essentials_. The fire is kindled from
the droppings of the sacred cow, then sprinkled over with
holy water and blessed; and when so consecrated by the priest
it is called "Holy Fire."[610]

"The _Brahmans_, the _Rajas_, and the _Merchants_, distinguish themselves from the various casts of Sudras by a narrow belt of thread, which they always wear suspended from the left shoulder to the opposite haunch like a sash."[611] But, as Dubois speaks of the division of all the tribes into "Right-hand and Left-hand," a distinction which Coleman[612] explains as consisting in doing exactly contrariwise of each other, it is not a very violent assumption to imagine that both the present and a former method of wearing the izze-kloth, akin to that now followed by the Apache, may once have obtained in India. The sectaries of the two Hands are bitterly antagonistic and often indulge in fierce quarrels, ending in bloodshed.[613]

"All the Brahmans wear a Cord over the shoulder, consisting of three black twists of cotton, each of them formed of several smaller threads.... The three threads are not twisted together, but separate from one another, and hang from the left shoulder to the right haunch. When a Brahman marries, he mounts nine threads instead of three." Children were invested with these sacred cords at the age of from 7 to 9. The cords had to be made and put on with much ceremony, and only Brahmans could make them. According to Dubois, the material was cotton; he does not allude to buckskin.[614]

Coleman[615] gives a detailed description of the manner in which the sacred thread of the Brahmans is made:

The sacred thread must be made by a Brahman. It consists of
three strings, each ninety-six hands (forty-eight yards),
which are twisted together: it is then folded into three and
again twisted; these are a second time folded into the same
number and tied at each end in knots. It is worn over the
left shoulder (next the skin, extending half way down the
right thigh), by the Brahmans, Ketries and Vaisya castes. The
first are usually invested with it at eight years of age, the
second at eleven, and the Vaisya at twelve.... The Hindus of
the Sutra caste do not receive the poita.

The ceremony of investiture comprehends prayer, sacrifice, fasting, etc., and the wearing of a preliminary poita "of three threads, made of the fibers of the _suru_, to which a piece of deer's skin is fastened."[616] This piece of buckskin was added no doubt in order to let the neophyte know that once buckskin formed an important part of the garment. The Brahmans use three cords, while the Apache employ four; on this subject we shall have more to learn when we take up the subject of numbers.

Maurice says that the "sacred cord of India," which he calls the zennar, is "a cord of three threads in memory and honor of the three great deities of Hindostan."[617] It "can be woven by no profane hand; the Brahmin alone can twine the hallowed threads that compose it and it is done by him with the utmost solemnity, and with the addition of many mystic rites."[618] It corresponds closely to the izze-kloth; the Apache do not want people to touch these cords. The zennar "being put upon the left shoulder passes to the right side and hangs down as low as the fingers can reach."[619] The izze-kloth of the Apache, when possible, is made of twisted antelope skin; they have no cord of hemp; but when the zennar is "put on for the first time, it is accompanied with a piece of the skin of an antelope, three fingers in breadth, but shorter than the zennar."[620]

On p. 128 of Vining's An Inglorious Columbus, there is a figure of worshipers offering gifts to Buddha; from Buddha's left shoulder to his right hip there passes what appears to be a cord, much like the izze-kloth of the Apache.

Examples of the use of such cords are to be found elsewhere.

In the conjuration of one of the shamans, "They took a small line made of deers' skins of four fathoms long, and with a small knot the priest made it fast about his neck and under his left arm, and gave it unto two men standing on both sides of him, which held the ends together."[621] It is difficult to say whether this was a cord used on the present occasion only or worn constantly by the shaman. In either case the cord was "medicine."

Hagennaar relates that he "saw men wearing ropes with knots in them, flung over their shoulders, whose eyes turned round in their heads, and who were called Jammaboos, signifying as much as conjurors or exorcists."[622]

The Mahometans believe that at the day of judgment Jesus Christ and Mahomet are to meet outside of Jerusalem holding a tightly-stretched cord between them upon which all souls must walk. This may or may not preserve a trace of a former use of such a cord in their "medicine," but it is well to refer to it.[623]

The sacred thread and garment which were worn by all the perfect among the Cathari, and the use of which by both Zends and Brahmans shows that its origin is to be traced back to a pre-historic period.[624]

"No religious rite can be performed by a (child) before he has been girt with the sacred girdle, since he is on a level with a Sûdra before his (new) birth from the Veda."[625]

In explaining the rules of external purification--that is, purification in which water is the medium--Baudhâyana says:[626]

The sacrificial thread (shall be made) of Kusa grass, or
cotton, (and consist) of thrice three strings.

(It shall hang down) to the navel.

(In putting it on) he shall raise the right arm, lower the
left, and lower the head.

The contrary (is done at sacrifices) to the manes.

(If the thread is) suspended around the neck (it is called)
nivita.

(If it is) suspended below (the navel, it is called)
adhopavita.

A former use of sacred cords would seem to be suggested in the constant appearance of the belief in the mystical properties and the power for good or evil of the knots which constitute the characteristic appendage of these cords. This belief has been confined to no race or people; it springs up in the literature of the whole world and survives with a pertinacity which is remarkable among the peasantry of Europe and among many in both America and Europe who would not hesitate to express resentment were they to be included among the illiterate.

The powers of these knots were recognized especially in strengthening or defeating love, as aiding women in labor, and in other ways which prove them to be cousins-german to the magic knots with which the medicine-men of the Lapps and other nations along the shores of the Baltic were supposed to be able to raise or allay the tempest. "One of the torments with which witchcraft worried men was the Knot by which a man was withheld so that he could not work his will with a woman. It was called in the Latin of the times Nodus and Obligamentum, and appears in the glossaries, translated by the Saxons into lyb, drug." "To make a 'ligatura' is pronounced 'detestable' by Theodoras, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 668. The knot is still known in France, and Nouer l'aiguillette is a resort of ill-will." Then is given the adventure of Hrut, prince of Iceland, and his bride Gunnhilld, princess of Norway, by whom a "knot" was duly tied to preserve his fidelity during his absence.[627] "Traces of this philosophy are to be found elsewhere," (references are given from Pliny and Galens in regard to "nod").[628] "A knot among the ancient northern nations seems to have been the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing out the indissoluble tie of affection and duty. Thus the ancient Runic inscriptions, as we gather from Hickes's Thesaurus, are in the form of a knot. Hence, among the northern English and Scots, who still retain, in a great measure, the language and manners of the ancient Danes, that curious kind of a knot, a mutual present between the lover and his mistress, which, being considered as the emblem of plighted fidelity, is therefore called a true-love knot: a name which is not derived, as one would naturally suppose it to be, from the words 'true' and 'love,' but formed from the Danish verb _Trulofa, fidem do_, I plight my troth, or faith.... Hence, evidently, the bride favors or the top-knots at marriages, which have been considered as emblems of the ties of duty and affection between the bride and her spouse, have been derived."[629]

Sir Thomas Browne, in his Vulgar Errors,[630] says "the true-lover's knot is much magnified, and still retained in presents of love among us; which, though in all points it doth not make out, had, perhaps, its original from Nodus Herculanus, or that which was called Hercules, his knot resembling the snaky complications in the caduceus or rod of Hermes and in which form the zone or woolen girdle of the bride was fastened, as Turnebus observes in his Adversaria." Brand shows[631] that the true-lover's knot had to be tied three times. Another species of knot divination is given in the Connoisseur, No. 56: "Whenever I go to lye in a strange bed, I always tye my garter nine times round the bed-post, and knit nine knots in it, and say to myself: 'this knot I knit, this knot I tye, to see my love as he goes by,' etc. There was also a suggestion of color symbolism in the true-lover's knot, blue being generally accepted as the most appropriate tint. I find among the illiterate Mexican population of the lower Rio Grande a firm belief in the power possessed by a lock of hair tied into knots to retain a maiden's affections.

"I find it stated that headache may be alleviated by tying a woman's fillet round the head.[632] To arrest incontinence of urine, the extremities of the generative organs should be tied with a thread of linen or papyrus, and a binding passed round the middle of the thigh.[633] It is quite surprising how much more speedily wounds will heal if they are bound up and tied with a Hercules' knot; indeed, it is said that if the girdle which we wear every day is tied with a knot of this description, it will be productive of certain beneficial effects, Hercules having been the first to discover the fact."[634] "Healing girdles were already known to Marcellus."[635]

"In our times 'tis a common thing, saith Erastus in his book _de Lamiis_, for witches to take upon them the making of these philters, to force men and women to love and hate whom they will; to cause tempests, diseases, &c., by charms, spels, characters, knots."[636]

Burton[637] alludes to the "inchanted girdle of Venus, in which, saith Natales Comes, ... all witchcraft to enforce love was contained."

The first general council of Milan, in 1565, prohibited the use of what were called phylacteries, ligatures, and reliquaries (of heathen origin) which people all over Europe were in the habit of wearing at neck or on arms or knees.[638]

"King James[639] enumerates thus: 'Such kinde of charmes as ... staying married folkes to have naturally adoe with each other, by knitting so many knots upon a point at the time of their marriage.'"[640]

"Tying the point was another fascination, illustrations of which may be found in Reginald Scott's Discourse Concerning Devils and Spirits, p. 71; in the Fifteen Comforts of Marriage, p. 225; and in the British Apollo, vol. 2, No. 35, 1709. In the old play of The Witch of Edmonton, 1658, Young Banks says, 'Ungirt, unbless'd, says the proverb.'"[641]

Frommann speaks of the frequent appearance of knots in witchcraft, but, beyond alluding to the "Nodus Cassioticus" of a certain people near Pelusia, who seem, like the Laplanders, to have made a business of fabricating and selling magic knots, he adds nothing to our stock of information on the subject. He seems to regard the knot of Hercules and the Gordian knot as magical knots.[642]

Bogle mentions the adoration of the Grand Lama (Teshu Lama). The Lama's servants "put a bit of silk with a knot upon it, tied, or supposed to be tied, with the Lama's own hands, about the necks of the votaries."[643]

A girdle of Venus, "possessing qualities not to be described," was enumerated among the articles exhibited at a rustic wedding in England.[644]

In 1519, Torralva, the Spanish magician, was given by his guardian spirit, Zequiel, a "stick full of knots," with the injunction, "shut your eyes and fear nothing; take this in your hand, and no harm will happen to you."[645] Here the idea evidently was that the power resided in the knots.

"Immediately before the celebration of the marriage ceremony [in Perthshire, Scotland] every knot about the bride and bridegroom (garters, shoe-strings, strings of petticoats, &c.), is carefully loosened."[646]

"The precaution of loosening every knot about the new-joined pair is strictly observed [in Scotland], for fear of the penalty denounced in the former volumes. It must be remarked that the custom, is observed even in France, _nouer l'aiguillette_ being a common phrase for disappointments of this nature."[647]

In some parts of Germany "a bride will tie a string of flax around her left leg, in the belief that she will thereby enjoy the full blessing of the married state."[648]

"There was formerly a custom in the north of England, which will be thought to have bordered very closely upon indecency ... for the young men present at a wedding to strive, immediately after the ceremony, who could first pluck off the bride's garters from her legs. This was done before the very altar ... I have sometimes thought this a fragment of the ancient ceremony of loosening the virgin zone, or girdle, a custom that needs no explanation." "It is the custom in Normandy for the bride to bestow her garter on some young man as a favour, or sometimes it is taken from her ... I am of opinion that the origin of the Order of the Garter is to be traced to this nuptial custom, anciently common to both court and country."[649]

Grimm quotes from Hincmar of Rheims to show the antiquity of the use for both good and bad purposes of "ligatures," "cum filulis colorum multiplicium."[650]

To undo the effects of a "ligature," the following was in high repute: "Si quem voles per noctem cum fœmina coire non posse, pistillum coronatum sub lecto illius pone."[651] But a pestle crowned with flowers could be nothing more or less than a phallus, and, therefore, an offering to the god Priapus.

"Owing to a supposed connection which the witches knew between the relations of husband and wife and the mysterious knots, the bridegroom, formerly in Scotland and to the present day in Ireland, presents himself occasionally, and in rural districts, before the clergyman, with all knots and fastenings on his dress loosened, and the bride, immediately after the ceremony is performed, retires to be undressed, and so rid of her knots."[652]

USE OF CORDS AND KNOTS AND GIRDLES IN PARTURITION.

Folk medicine in all regions is still relying upon the potency of mystical cords and girdles to facilitate labor. The following are a few of the many examples which might be presented:

Delivery was facilitated if the man by whom the woman has conceived unties his girdle, and, after tying it round her, unties it, saying: "I have tied it and I will untie it," and then takes his departure.[653]

"Henry, in his History of Britain, vol. 1, p. 459, tells us that 'amongst the ancient Britons, when a birth was attended with any difficulty, they put certain girdles made for that purpose about the women in labour which they imagined gave immediate and effectual relief. Such girdles were kept with care till very lately in many families in the Highlands of Scotland. They were impressed with several mystical figures; and the ceremony of binding them about the woman's waist was accompanied with words and gestures, which showed the custom to have been of great antiquity, and to have come originally from the Druids.'"[654]

"But my girdle shall serve as a riding _knit_, and a fig for all the witches in Christendom."[655] The use of girdles in labor must be ancient.

"Ut mulier concipiat, homo vir si solvat semicinctum suum et eam præcingat."[656] "Certum est quod partum mirabiliter facilirent, siveinstar cinguli circumdentur corpori." These girdles were believed to aid labor and cure dropsy and urinary troubles.[657]

"The following customs of childbirth are noticed in the Traité des Superstitions of M. Thiers, vol. 1, p. 320: 'Lors qu'une femme est preste d'accoucher, prendre _sa ceinture_, aller à l'Eglise, _lier la cloche avec cette ceinture_ et la faire sonner trois coups afin que cette femme accouche heureusement. Martin de Arles, Archidiacre de Pampelonne (Tract. de Superstition) asseure que cette superstition est fort en usage dans tout son pays.'"[658]