NELSON] SHADES OF THE DEAD 423 
In ancient times the sinews in the arms and legs of a dead person 
who had been of evil repute during life were cut in order to prevent 
the shade from returning to the body and causing it to walk at night as 
a ghoul. 
Nearly every attribute possessed by the shades of people is also 
believed to be possessed equally by the shades of animals, and the 
inua or Shade of every animal is believed to possess semihuman form. 
There are two places to which the shades of the dead may depart. 
Some of the Eskimo told me it was believed that the shades of shamans 
or persons who died by accident, violence, or starvation, go to a land of 
plenty in the sky, where it has light, food, and water in abundance. 
Shades of people who die from natural causes go to the under- 
ground land of thedead. There also go the shades of all dead animals, 
where each kind lives in a village of its own. In this underground 
world the shades of people depend entirely on the offerings of food, 
water, and clothing made to them by their relatives in the festivals 
given to thedead. Even the shades in the land of plenty can be made 
happier by being remembered with presents in these festivals. 
Some few persons are supposed to be uncomfortable after death. 
These are mainly thieves who steal from their fellow villagers, sorcerers 
or bad shamans, witches, and the people who practice certain forbidden 
customs. The shades of evil persons, as well as those of animals, are 
sometimes believed to return and haunt the vicinity of their burial . 
place. In illustration of this belief I saw a curious custom observed at 
the village of Kigiktauik. A hunter entered the kashim bringing a red 
fox which he had just taken from the trap; after skinning it the pelt 
was stretched and placed in his storehouse. Then he returned to the 
kashim and, taking the carcass, carefully cut the tendons of the fore 
and hind legs and a hole at the navel. Carrying the carcass outside 
he took it to the roof and, opening the smoke hole, held the body over 
it. The men sitting in the kashim at once united in shouting, “An-ok/! 
(he goes) An-ok’! An-ok/!” at the top of their voices. The carcass was 
then placed on the top of the hunter’s storehouse, so that no dogs could 
reach it. The people told me that by this ceremony the shade of the 
fox was dismissed either to the land of the dead or back to the tundra, 
where it would be harmless. If this should not be done it might remain 
with the body and go about in that shape, doing evil to the hunters or 
others in the village. The legs must have the tendons cut in order to 
keep the shade from reentering the body and walking about in that 
form. No dog must be permitted to touch or defile the body for fear 
of rendering the shade angry, and thus causing it to bring misfortune 
to the hunter. 
There is considerable difference between the Eskimo of different dis- 
tricts in their manner of regarding the dead. At Razbinsky, on the 
Yukon, the graves are placed so close to the houses that they form a 
part of the village, and become excessively offensive during summer. 
The same custom is observed throughout that section of country. 
