boas] DESCRIPTION OF THE TSIMSHIAN 473 



made beautiful in the house of Chief Pestilence; while the girl was 

 maimed by him, and finally died (188-191). Girls are not allowed 

 to go alone into the woods, because a princess who did so was carried 

 away by an otter (172). loung people are not allowed to go out 

 alone, because a number of young people made fun of a ghost and 

 were killed by it (336 et seq.). Evidently these last two explanations 

 are merely a special expression of the idea that young people should 

 be accompanied by older people, who may protect them against 

 supernatural beings, strangers, and against their own inclinations to 

 act improperly. 



Shamanism' 



Shamans may be initiated by various kinds of supernatural beings. 

 One shaman is initiated by the Squirrels, who take him to their home 

 in a tree, where his skeleton is finally found hanging. The body is 

 spread on a mat covered with another mat, which is painted red and 

 covered with bird's down, sacrifices are brought, while the young 

 man's parents leave the house. When the people sing over the body, 

 the man revives and becomes a powerful shaman (N 213). Another 

 shaman is initiated by a supernatural being that lives in a deep cave 

 called the Cave Of Fear, which only shamans are able to enter. He is 

 let down by means of a cedar-bark rope, and on his way down is 

 stung by great swarms of insects. At the bottom he finds a hairy 

 young man, who leads him through a door shining like the sun, into 

 a cave where the supernatural being that gives him power is seated. 

 From the east side of the house a supernatural being enters, accom- 

 panied by attendants. They take their supernatural powers out of 

 their mouths, and put them into the mouth of the visitor. Finally 

 the chief of the house lays his hands on the visitor and rubs his eyes 

 (331 et seq.). Still another shaman receives his power by gaining a 

 victory over the Ghosts (327). Another one is initiated in the 

 bottom of the great Lake Of The Beginning, near Prairie Town. In 

 the lake he finds a large house, and a fire burning in it. There 

 are four flashes of lightning accompanied by thunder-claps. Next 

 a Grizzly Bear appears, who is transformed into a carved box; then, 

 a Thunderbird, who, at his own request, is put into the box and 

 becomes a drum, the red ocher on the drum being the lightning; 

 next a being called Living Ice, which is the hail ; and finally a large 

 animal called Mouth At Each End, and a Codfish, appear. All these 

 are put into the box, and the Grizzly Bear gives the shaman his name, 

 Mouth At Each End. He has then obtained shamanistic powers. 

 This man's brother is waiting for him on the banks of the lake. 

 He dies there of starvation, is eaten by martens, until only the bones 

 are left. The shaman restores him to life by rubbing earth with his 

 hands over the bones, by putting in new sinews made of roots, and 

 rubbing moss over the whole. Then his brother revives, and becomes 



