NELSON] TALISMANS AND AMULETS 435 



Frequently the virtue is inherent in the object, but sometimes is secured 

 by means of a shaman s power or the aid of one who knows. In addi 

 tion to the ordinary in-g^uM, or fetich, an heirloom, (paitu k} may become 

 a fetich by reason of its extreme age and long possession in one family. 

 Such objects are treasured and are handed down from father to son. 

 They are supposed to be endowed with reason and to be gifted with 

 supernatural powers to aid and protect their owners. 



With these objects may be classed such things as are used for 

 obtaining success in the hunt like the dried bodies of newborn 

 infants already described, and others which are supposed to protect 

 their owners from bodily injury. 



Women wear belts made from the incisors of reindeer taken out with 

 a small fragment of bone, and attached scale-like to a rawhide strap, 

 overlapping each other in a continuous series. When one of these 

 belts has been in the family a long time, it is believed to acquire a cer 

 tain virtue for curing disease. In case of rheumatic or other pains the 

 part affected is struck smartly a number of times with the end of the 

 belt and the difficulty is supposed to be relieved. 



While at St Michael a shaman sent to me on one occasion to borrow 

 the skin of a pine squirrel, brought from the head of the Yukon, which 

 he used in his conjuring to cure a sick man, and claimed to drive into 

 the squirrel the sickness from the person afflicted, after which the skin 

 was returned to me. 



Another method of curing local pain, such as neuralgia, toothache, 

 or similar affections, is for the shaman to suck the skin over the spot 

 vigorously for a time, and then take a small bone or other object out of 

 his mouth, showing it to the patient as the cause of the trouble. 



Dogs are never beaten for biting a person, as it is claimed that should 

 this be done the inua of the dog would become angry and prevent the 

 wound from healing. During my stay at St Michael a little girl four 

 or five years of age was brought to me to dress her face, which had 

 been badly torn by a savage dog. I told the father that he ought to 

 kill such an animal, to which he replied in alarm, &quot;ISTo, no; that would 

 be very bad for the child; the wound would not heal.&quot; 



As a rule, married women are very anxious to have a son, and in case 

 of long continued barrenness they consult a shaman, who commonly 

 makes, or has the husband make, a small, doll-like image over which 

 he performs certain secret rites, and the woman is directed to sleep 

 with it under her pillow. 



A Kaviagmut from Sledge island, who killed two men on Norton 

 sound during my stay at St Michael, once came to have me cure some 

 sores on his back. When he removed his clothing, I saw that he had 

 on a curious harness-like arrangement of round rawhide cords which 

 went loosely about his neck and, dividing on the chest and back, 

 formed a loop under each arm. On inquiring the meaning of this, he 

 replied that it was to protect him from his enemies. This referred to 

 his fear of blood revenge by relatives of the men he had killed. 



