MEDICINE & FOOD


Miami Indian Medicine Man Remedies

1)  Chills       -     Snake Root
2)  Earache      -     Tobacco Smoke
3)  Jaundice     -     Wild Fruits
4)  Colds        -     Wild Ginger
5)  Sore Eyes    -     Yellow Root
6)  Fever        -     Wahoo Bark
7)  Sore Throat  -     Elm Bark tea
8)  Laxative     -     Seeds of the Bladder Nut
9)  Hiccoughs    -     Wild Cherry Tea
10) Sluggishness -     Any Yellow Flower
11) Broken Bones -     Bones Set
12) Snake Bites  -     Red Elm
13) Boils        -     Wild Grapes
14) Burns        -     Oak Bark
15) Warts        -     Milk Weed
16) Cough        -     Chestnut
17) Asthma       -     Mints
18) Bee Stings   -     Mulkin
19) Tooth Ache   -     Prickly Ash
20) Blood Remedy -     Sassafras
21) Skin Trouble -     Black Willows
22) Sore Mouth   -     Wild Iris

The Indian remedy for asthma was a mixture of raspberry and
blackberry juice in which leaves from the hoarhound and spearmint had
been boiled.

For burns, the remedy was bark from the white oak (Quercus alba)
which had been soaked in water.  This would be Tannic Acid and is
actually our accepted remedy for burns.  We buy Tannic Acid in powder
from drug stores or get it directly from doctors.

The remedy for stomach disorders was May apples (Mandrake roots).

Dried wild grapes were used for boils and skin disorders.  The bark
from the black willow tree (Salix nigra) was also used as a remedy
for skin troubles.

It is common knowledge to most of us that sassafras was used as a
spring tonic and blood thinner.

Spicebush (Lindena benzoin) was also used as a remedy for aches and
sluggishness, much as our vitamin pills at the present time - not
quite as costly, however.

Chestnut leaves were used for coughs, especially whooping cough.

Mulleins leaves were used for bee stings.  Leaves of Pickly ash were
used for mosquito bits and infections.

Red elm leaves were crushed and used as a poultice for rattle snake
bites.  The medicinal value of this remedy would probably be scoffed
at by most present day doctors.  Even they, however, recognize the
psychological effect of such things.  Although the Indian didn't know
about out Bible, aren't we reminded of Revelation 22:2 - And the
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

By Wendell Lamb - Amboy, Indian 1959


Some Of The Food Of The American Indians


*Wild Berries*     *Wild Fruits*        *Meats*        * Fish*
 Blackberries       Wild Cherries        Alligator       Sturgeon
 Blueberries        Wild Grapes          Antelope        White Fish
 Cranberries        Wild Plums           Bear            Salmon
 Gooseberries       Pawpaws              Beaver          Trout
 Hackberries        Persimmons           Bison           Suckers
 Raspberries        Maple Sugar          Caribou         Abalone
 Strawberries                            Chipmunks       Clam/Crabs
 Black Haws        *Vegetables*          Deer            Crawfish
 Red Haws           Artichokes           Elk             Eel
 Elderberries       Gourds               Moose           Frogs
 Yellow Haws        Maize Corn           Rabbits         Oysters
                    Melons               Jack Rabbit     Mussel
*Leaves*            Potatoes             Goats           Salamander
 Beech Leaves       Pumpkins             Sheep           Snails
 Skunk Cabbage      Squash               Squirrel        Turtles
 Water Cress        Tomatoes             Raccoons
 Plant Roots        Sun Flower Seeds     Opossum
                    Wild Rice            Muskrat
*Nuts*              Primrose Seeds
 Acorn              Pig Weed Seeds       *Fowls*
 Beechnuts          Mushrooms             Birds
 Butternuts         Toadstools            Eggs
 Coconuts           Puff Balls            Wild Ducks
 Coffee Tree Seed   Wild Ginger           Wild Geese
 Hazelnuts          Colamus               Wild Turkey
 Hickory Nuts       Water Cress           Partridge
 Peanuts                                  Woodcocks
 Pinon Nuts
 Black Walnuts (White)

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