364 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
beneath the floor, entering and possessing the bodies of their name- 
sakes in the kashim, and thus obtaining for themselves the offerings 
of food, drink, or clothing which are made to these namesakes for the 
benefit of the deceased. It is by means of such offerings that the 
shade is believed to obtain the supplies necessary for its wants in the 
land of the dead. 
When the offerings have been made and the songs concluded, the 
shades are sent back to their abiding place by stamping upon the 
floor. On the day of the feast no one is permitted to do any work 
about the village, and all work with sharp-edged or pointed tools is 
prohibited for fear that some shade may be about, and, being injured, 
become angry and do harm to the people. All are supposed to take 
part in this festival whose nearest relatives have died, and in propor- 
tion to the care and generosity exercised on these occasions the shade 
is made happy and comfortable. 
These Eskimo fear to die unless they have someone to make offer- 
ings to their memory, and childless persons generally adopt a child so 
that their shade may not be forgotten at the festivals, as people who 
have no one to make offerings for them are supposed to suffer great 
destitution in the other world. For this reason it is regarded as the 
severest punishment possible for a shade to have these rites neglected 
by its relatives. When a person has been very much disliked, his shade 
is Sometimes purposely ignored. 
At St Michael and the lower Yukon, when this feast is held, each of 
those who have dead friends to honor takes an oil lamp into the kashim 
at midday, where the lamps are lighted and arranged around the room 
a yard or two from the wall on supports about two feet high. If the 
shade of a man is to be honored a lamp is placed in front of the place 
he formerly occupied in the room. These lamps are kept burning until 
the festival is ended, and in this way the shades are supposed to be 
lighted on their way back to the earth and to receive in the land of the 
dead the light which they used in their houses. After this an old man 
takes a drum, and sitting in front of the main lamp in the middle of 
the room, beats it in slow, regular time, while singing the invitation to 
the shades, accompanied by all the villagers. This is quite a long song, 
of which the following few words are given: 
Ti-ko'-miil-ti-g’i'-d, tai'-kin-d; A-la'-ai-ya’  mi-klig'-é-mik 
Dead ones, come here ; (Chorus) sealskins (for a) 
kéin-tikh'-kiin-tim'-kin. A-la‘-ai-ya'.  Tai'-kin-a'-ka; — tun-tw'-mik 
tent you will get. (Chorus.) Come here,do; reindeer skins 
cho-g’okh'-kiin-tim'-kin. A-la'-ai-ya'. Tai'-kin-a'-ka'. 
for a bed you will get. (Chorus.) Come here, do. 
When this is completed the persons who are making the feast rise, 
and going to the food they have prepared and placed at the doorway, 
take a small portion from every dish and cast it down on the floor as 
an offering; then each takes a ladle of water and pours a little on the 
floor so that it runs through the cracks. In this way they believe that 
