NELSON] POWERS OF SHAMANS 4.33 



Que curious method of learning the causes of disease is practiced by 

 the shamans on the plain south of the Yukon mouth. If a man becomes 

 ill they determine the character of his malady by tying a cord attached 

 to the end of a stick to his head or a limb as he lies outstretched, and 

 lifting it by the stick find from the weight of the part the character of 

 the disease. If seriously affected the i)art is supposed to be very heavy, 

 but becomes lighter or easier to raise as the malady passes away. 



In the summer of 18S1 my interi^reter refused, at the last moment, to 

 go on the Coricin with me during our Arctic cruise, saying that the 

 shamans had told him that we would never come back. 



One of the greatest feats attributed to the shamans is to visit the 

 land of the dead and come back again ; in every district one hears of 

 those who, apparently dead, have been to the land of the shades and 

 returned. 



An old shaman from Selawik lake, near Kotzebue sound, told me that 

 a shaman, living there many years ago, died and made such a journey. 

 When he returned he told the people that after his death his shade 

 traveled for two days along the hard, beaten i)ath formed by those who 

 had gone before. During all this time he heard crying and wailing 

 which he knew to be the voices of people on earth mourning for their 

 dead. Tlieu he came to a great village, like those upon the earth, 

 and was met by the shades of two men who led him into a house. 

 In the middle of the room a fire was burning, in front of which were 

 roasting some pieces of meat, stuck on shar]) sticks; in this flesh were 

 living eyes which rolled about and watched his movements. His com- 

 panions told him not to eat any of the meat, as it would be bad for him. 

 After stopping here for a short time he went on and came to the milky 

 way, which he followed for a long distance, finally returning by it to 

 his grave box. When the shade entered the box his body became 

 alive, and rising, he went back to the village and told his friends of 

 his experience. 



The old shaman who related the foregoing said that once he himself 

 had died and gone to the land of shades, remaining there until he 

 became tired, when he returned to the earth and entering the body of 

 an unborn child, was born again. 



Another method the shamans claim to possess for visiting the land of 

 the dead is practiced in the region south of the lower Yukon as well 

 as about Norton sound. They pretend to be burned to death and after- 

 ward to return to life. 



At the head of Norton sound my Eskimo guide pointed out the grave 

 of a shaman who had tried to do this, and said that after being burned to 

 death he had failed to return. The man in telling of it seemed to have 

 perfect faith that such a thing was possible, and said that many sha- 

 mans caused themselves to be burned to ashes and then returned to life, 

 not even their clothing showing a trace of fire. He added that the 

 shaman buried in the grave which we passed had made a mistake in 

 18 ETH 28 



