boas] TSIMSHIAN SOCIETY 563 



She taught him her song, which enabled him to make the olachen 

 come in spring, and which is as follows: 



That is, "Behold where the tides meet at G'id-wul-g - ig - a'mk" are 

 many olachen." 



She wanted to have intercourse with him. One night she took 

 him through a fire, and after that time he was able to handle fire with 

 impunity. When she left him, he saw that she had an otter tail. 

 Her name was KsEm-wa'tsq (" Land-Otter Woman"). 



She is a helper of the Eagle group. When he gave a festival, he 

 danced with the mask of this helper. He was covered with otter 

 skins, and wore claws o f copper. He moved around the fire like an 

 otter, crying, "Uhuia'!" This ceremony is called the SEin-halai'd. 

 Later on he saw four other supernatural beings, who had the shape of 

 wild-looking men, who wore bear skins and crowns made of the claws 

 of bears. They taught him to foresee sickness. At one time the 

 G'it-xade'x disbelieved his power over fire. He asked them to build 

 a large fire. He threw an iron hoop into it, moistened his hands, and 

 covered his face, hair, and hands with eagle down. Then he stepped 

 barefooted over the glowing embers, took the red-hot hoop, and car- 

 ried it through the fire without burning his hands or his feet. He 

 added that a few years ago he repeated this experiment; but as he 

 faded and burnt his hands and feet, he gave up his supernatural 

 helper and became a Christian. He also added that many who pre- 

 tend to be shamans have no supernatural helpers at all. They can 

 not cure or foresee disease. When he was called to cure disease, the 

 four supernatural men appeared to him and helped him. They told 

 him to draw the breath of the supernatural beings out of the hotly 

 of the patient. Other shamans suck the disease out of the body. 

 His helpers pointed out witches to him, and enabled him to see 

 ghosts. A few years ago a number of shamans were dancing in a 

 house. When he entered, he saw a ghost dancing among them, and 

 foretold at once the death of one of the shamans. Indeed, after a 

 few hours one of them died. The shaman wears stone and bone 

 amulets, and does not cut his hair. His appearance is the same as 

 that of the Tlingit shaman. 



Distinct from the art of shamanism is witchcraft. I collected tin* 

 following data among the Nass tribe. 



Witchcraft is practiced by people called halda'wit. They steal a 

 portion of a corpse, which they place in a small, long, water-tight 

 box. A stick is placed across tho middle of the box, and thin threads 



