428 THE ESKIMO AliOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH.AXN. 18 



or chief tun-glidl; a uame which has undoubtedly been introduced with 

 the ideas of the white man s religion. Some of these tunglint are more 

 powerful than others, just as some men are more skilful and shrewd 

 than others. Their ideas of the invisible world are based on conditions 

 of the present life with which they are familiar. 



They have great faith in the power and wisdom of the shamans, who 

 are the highest authority, to whom all questions of religion and the 

 mysteries of the invisible world are referred. 



Among the Unalit and adjacent people of the Bering seacoast the 

 shaman is known as the tun -gha-ltk; at Point Barrow he is called 

 an-alh -lcok. 



A man first becomes aware of possessing shamanic powers by having 

 his attention drawn to some remarkable circumstance or event in his 

 life. Having noticed this, he secures the aid of some old shaman, or 

 practices in secret, to secure control of sufficient power to warrant 

 announcing himself to the people. 



A noted shaman of the lower Yukon said that he was first led to 

 become such by having strange dreams and by frequently finding him 

 self when he awoke at a different place from that in which he went to 

 sleep. From this he believed that the invisible powers wished him to 

 become a shaman, so he began to practice and soon succeeded in 

 becoming one. 



Every tun -gha-lfJc, as the name implies, is the owner or controller of 

 shades or supernatural beings called tnn -ghak, dual tun -ghuk, plural 

 tun -glint. These beings possess supernatural power, and the more 

 of them the shaman subjects to his will the more powerful he becomes. 

 Tun -glint are believed to be the personifications of various objects and 

 natural forces, or may be wandering shades of men and animals, and 

 are invisible to all except shaman .s or people possessing clairvoyant 

 powers, unless they become visible to ordinary people in order to 

 accomplish some particular purpose. They have various strange forms, 

 usually manlike, with grotesque or monstrous faces, such as are shown 

 on many of the masks obtained in this region. They have the power of 

 changing their form; in many instances becoming animals or assuming 

 very terrifying shapes. At such times if they render themselves visible 

 to ordinary people the latter may be killed merely by the sight of them. 



By their influence over these mysteries the shamans may avert or 

 drive away evil influences of all kinds. If the evil has been produced 

 by some very powerful influence, through the magic of a bad shaman 

 or some wickedly disposed tun -ghdk, the shaman must enlist the aid of 

 others until, by their united power, they finally overcome the possessing 

 tun -f/hnk and drive it away. 



Among other exercises of their power the shamans claim to make 

 journeys to the land of the dead, and upon their return relate to the 

 people what they have seen in that region, and from this have arisen the 

 ideas commonly diffused among them on this subject. In addition to 



