NELSON] ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS—SUPERNATURAL POWERS 427 
Near St Michael is an island which the Eskimo say was made from 
the straw pad from a boot which Raven Father once threw into the sea. 
In the Raven tales it is made a point to describe the Raven as dressed 
in dogskin or other miserable garments, and he always occupies a place 
by the entrance of the kashim where the poor people are seated. 
Curious transformations of people into beasts are also believed to 
have taken place. Among these may be mentioned the one given in 
the tale of Ta-ku'-ka, where a woman became transformed into a red 
bear, and which also accounts for the manner in which these animals 
became ferocious. 
In another tale the red bears originated from an image made by an 
old woman near the Yukon. All animals are believed to have changed 
from the original human-like being, taking throughout life their present 
form, but the inuwa or shade is still similar to its former appearance. 
SUPERNATURAL POWERS 
Among the Unalit, who form a typical Eskimo group of this region, 
the belief exists that there are different ways in which the person may 
be gifted with supernatural power. Those who are able to foretell are 
called '-hlu-kai'-lin-uk, ‘the one who knows everything.” There are 
also people who are clairvoyant, besides wizards or witches who control 
supernatural beings or tunghdt, and conjure by means of magic words 
and in other ways, and know the hidden properties of things. 
There are also people who possess the secret of making amulets which 
serve for various purposes. Occurrences out of the usual order of 
events are thought to be the work of some supernatural influence. 
Those possessing power over the invisible world are usually men, but 
this power is sometimes held hy women. 
In connection with the belief in supernatural powers is an apparent 
mystic virtue contained in the number four. Inthe creation legend the 
Raven waved his wing four times over the clay images to endow them 
with life. The first man in the same legend slept four years at the bot- 
tom of the sea. The Raven was absent four days in the sky-land when 
he went to bring berries to the earth. The Whale in which the Raven 
entered, in another tale, was four days in dying. In the tale of the 
Strange Boy, fromthe Yukon, the hero slept in the kashim every fourth 
night. The woman in the tale of the Land of Darkness, from Sledge 
island, was told to take four steps, and these transported her to her 
home from a great distance. In the Bladder festival, witnessed south 
of the Yukon mouth, four men, representing four gentes, took a promi- 
nent part. 
Jn their original beliefs the Eskimo have no conception of a single 
supreme being or deity, but their spirit world is made up of shades 
and tunghit, which have an existence quite independent of any central 
authority. At Ikogmut, on the lower Yukon, where the Russians have 
had a mission for many years, the Eskimo call God Tun/-rin-ai/-yuk, 
