NELSON] CONCEPTION OF NATURAL PHENOMENA 449 



grasping it about the haunches. It is a spirited carving, illustrating 

 an incident in one of the Eskimo tales. 



Figure 165 is copied from a figure painted on the bottom of a wooden 

 tray (number 38642) obtained at Xulukhtulogumut, and represents a 

 mythical creature described in the tales of that region. 



In the Kaven tale are described reindeer which came from the sky 

 and which had teeth like dogs. These are said still to exist, but are 

 invisible except to shamans, who see them on the plains and describe 

 them as having a large hole through the body, back of the shoulders. 

 People supposed to be gifted with clairvoyant powers sometimes see 

 and shoot at them, believing them to be like other deer, but no ordi- 

 nary weapon can kill them. Carvings of these animals were seen among 

 the people south of the Yukon mouth. 



In the far north there are said to be men having tails and two faces — 

 one in front and one behind. 



CONCEPTION OF NATURAL PHENOIVTENA 



The aurora is believed to be a group of boys playing football, some- 

 times using a walrus skull as the ball. The swaying movement of the 

 lights back and forth represents the struggles of the players. When 

 the light fades away the Eskimo utter a low whistle, which they say 

 will call the boys back. 



The galaxy is said to be the track made by Eaven's snowshoes when 

 he walked across the sky during one of his journeys while creating the 

 inhabitants of the earth. 



The Pleiades are called the " Little foxes," and are said to be a litter 

 of fox cubs. 



The stars of Orion's belt are called the "Great stretchers," being 

 regarded as posts on which rawhide lines are being stretched. 



The vertical bar in a parhelion is called the " Sun's walking stick," 

 and shooting stars are termed star dung. 



Sirius is the '* Moon-dog," which makes high winds when it is near 

 the moon. 



TRADITIONAL SHOWERS OF ASHES 



The Eskimo have various traditions of occurrences long past. One 

 very old woman on the lower Yukon told me she had heard related by 

 old people when she was a girl that showers of matter like ashes fell 

 there very long ago. The first shower of ashes she heard of was quite 

 deep, killing fish in the rivers and causing the death of many people 

 by starvation. 



At St Michael an old man related that before the Russians came to 

 the country he knew of one fall of a strange substance like ashes 

 which covered the ground like a slight fall of snow and adhered to what- 

 ever it fell upon so that when rubbed off from wood it left a polished 

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