NELSON] BLADDER FESTIVAL 385 
sky land; then he stamped on the floor two or three times and the peo- 
ple came in, bringing food, of which he partook. 
No further ceremonies were conducted until the middle of the night, 
when the lights were suddenly extinguished and the shaman uttered, 
from the roof, a long series of unintelligible words ending with a loud 
shout, followed by his entry into the kashim. Then the lights were 
renewed and a bucket of water was placed on the floor under the blad- 
ders, A man and three boys then stripped, and one of the boys was 
placed astride the man’s back, where he hung by his arms and legs 
twined about the man’s body; the other two boys stood in a stooping 
posture in front of the bucket of water, and the man carrying the boy 
on his back stood beside them. 
This man dipped up some water with his hand and tossed it up 
toward the bladders, so that it fell back in a shower upon the two 
boys and himself. After doing this for some time he carried the bucket 
around the room, continually flirting the water up toward the roof with 
one hand as a libation to the tunghdt of the air. The boys then knelt 
in the middle of the room with bowed heads and rounded shoulders 
while the cold water in the buckets was dashed over them. Shortly 
after a growling noise was heard under the floor, and a man with the 
hood of his fur coat over his head and a kaiak paddle in his hand 
entered and stood in one corner of the room. He was soon followed 
by another, also carrying a paddle, who went to the corner oceupied 
by the first comer, while the latter went on to the next corner; then 
a third man came in, and the preceding ones advanced each to the 
next corner, and the first corner was occupied by the third man; a 
fourth entered, and the changing of places was continued so that each 
of the four corners was occupied. These men then marched around 
the room several times, lifting the bladders with their paddle blades as 
they passed and knocking down the spears that were stuck up on the 
walls of the room. 
After this they filed out, and the people gathered up the fallen spears, 
removing their points. The bunch of wild-parsnip stalks was fast- 
ened to the stake at the back of the room, and the bundle of spears, to 
which the bladders were hung, was lowered to a level with the sleeping 
benches, between three and four feet above the floor. When the four 
men went outside they planted their paddles, blade downward, in front 
of the kashim, forming a rowacross the entrance. To the top of each the 
owner fastened his wooden hunting helmet, which had been worn under 
his fur hood when inthe kashim. To each helmet was fastened a bunch 
of straw or grass similar to that used to form the ring on the floor, rep- 
resenting seaweed. To the heads of this grass were fastened a few 
small, downy gull feathers. 
Early on the following morning the old men told us that we must not 
stamp our feet in the kashim during that day, for fear of alarming the 
shades of the animals that were expected to be present. The bunch of 
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