422 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT (ETH. ANN. 18 
the Yukon mouth has supplied terms by which the natives speak of the 
Greek church and its services among themselves. When they saw 
the Russian priests in embroidered robes performing the complicated 
offices of the church it was believed that they were witnessing the white 
man’s method of celebrating a mask festival similar to their own. 
WITCHCRAFT 
The Eskimo believe that persons dealing in witchcraft have the power 
of stealing a person’s inua or Shade, so that it will cause him to pine away 
and die. This I saw illustrated at a village on the lower Yukon, where 
I had set up my camera to obtain a picture of the people as they were 
moving about among the houses. When I was focusing the instrument 
the headman of the village came up and insisted on looking under 
the cloth. When I permitted him to do this he gazed intently for 
a minute at the moving figures on the ground glass and then suddenly 
withdrew his head and shouted at the top of his voice to the surround- 
ing people, ‘He has all of your shades in this box,” whereupon a panic 
ensued among the group and in an instant they disappeared in their 
houses. 
SHADES OF THE DEAD 
A ghost or visible shade is called d-lhi-ukh’-tok, and is a form that an 
invisible shade may sometimes assume. My inquiries among the people 
developed the fact that they believe in the existence of two or three 
distinct forms of the spiritual essence or soul. The td-ghiin'-t-y’dk, or 
invisible shade, is formed exactly in the shape of the body, is sentient, 
and destined for a future life. Another is the po-klihm’ td-ghin'-w-’dt, 
which has a form exactly like that of the body and is the life-giving 
warmth. IJtis without sense and takes flight into the air when a per- 
son dies. 
From the people with whom I talked I obtained a suggestion of a third 
kind of shade, which is supposed to remain with the body and to pos- 
sess evil powers which, however, seem to be limited, but I could 
not obtain more definite information about it. The shades of the dead 
are believed to linger for some time in the vicinity of their life scenes, 
and on the northern shore of Norton sound I learned that for three 
months after the death of a son the father must not drink from an 
uncovered vessel, for if he does he may swallow some impurity from 
the shade that may be present, and die. 
During one of my sledge journeys I had an Eskimo with me from 
the head of Norton sound to Sledge island. During the journey I 
noticed for some days that whenever he drank he inserted a small dip- 
per beneath his fur coat, and then lowering his face under the collar 
drank from beneath. On inquiry I was told that this was because his 
son had died a short time before and he dared not drink from an 
uncovered vessel, fearing that some emanation from his son’s shade 
might get into the water and, being swallowed, do him harm. 
