422 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH.ANN.IS 



the Yukon mouth has supplied terms by which the natives speak of the 

 Greek church and its services among themselves. When they saw 

 the Russian priests in embroidered robes performing the complicated 

 offices of the church it was believed that they were witnessing the white 

 man s method of celebrating a mask festival similar to their own. 



WITCHCRAFT 



The Eskimo believe that persons dealing in witchcraft have the power 

 of stealing a person s inua or shade, so that it will cause him to pine away 

 and die. This I saw illustrated at a village on the lower Yukon, where 

 I had set up my camera to obtain a picture of the people as they were 

 moving about among the houses. When I was focusing the instrument 

 the headman of the village came up and insisted on looking under 

 the cloth. When I permitted him to do this he gazed intently for 

 a minute at the moving figures on the ground glass and then suddenly 

 withdrew his head and shouted at the top of his voice to the surround 

 ing people, &quot;He has all of your shades in this box,&quot; whereupon a panic 

 ensued among the group and iii au instant they disappeared in their 

 houses. 



SHADES OF THE DEAD 



A ghost or visible shade is called a-lhi-ukh -tok, and is a form that an 

 invisible shade may sometimes assume. My inquiries among the people 

 developed the fact that they believe in the existence of two or three 

 distinct forms of the spiritual essence or soul. The td-ghdn -u-g dJc, or 

 | / invisible shade, is formed exactly in the shape of the body, is sentient, 

 and destined for a future life. Another is the po-klthm ta-ghnn -u-g a, 

 which has a form exactly like that of the body and is the life-giving 

 warmth. It is without sense and takes flight into the air when a per 

 son dies. 



From the people with whom I talked I obtained a suggestion of a third 

 kind of shade, which is supposed to retnain with the body and to pos 

 sess evil powers which,&quot; however, seem to be limited, but I could 

 I not obtain more definite information about it. The shades of the dead 

 are believed to linger for some time in the vicinity of their life scenes, 

 and on the northern shore of Norton sound I learned that for three 

 months after the death of a son the father must not drink from an 

 uncovered vessel, for if he does he may swallow some impurity from 

 the shade that may be present, and die. 



During one of my sledge journeys I had an Eskimo with me from 

 the head of Norton sound to Sledge island. During the journey I 

 noticed for some days that whenever he drank he inserted a small dip 

 per beneath his fur coat, and then lowering his face under the collar 

 drank from beneath. On inquiry I was told that this was because his 

 son had died a short time before and he dared not drink from au 

 uncovered vessel, fearing that some emanation from his son s shade 

 might get into the water and, being swallowed, do him harm. 



