428 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
or chief tun-ghak, a name which has undoubtedly been introduced with 
the ideas of the white man’s religion. Some of these tunghdt are more 
powerful than others, just as some men are more skilful and shrewd 
than others. Their ideas of the invisible world are based on conditions 
of the present life with which they are familiar. 
They have great faith in the power and wisdom of the shamans, who 
are the highest authority, to whom all questions of religion and the 
mysteries of the invisible world are referred. 
Among the Unalit and adjacent people of the Bering seacoast the 
shaman is known as the tun'-gha-lik; at Point Barrow he is called 
an-alh'-kok. 
A man first becomes aware of possessing shamanic powers by having 
his attention drawn to some remarkable circumstance or event in his 
life. Having noticed this, he secures the aid of some old shaman, or 
practices in secret, to secure control of sufficient power to warrant 
announcing himself to the people. 
A noted shaman of the lower Yukon said that he was first led to 
become such by having strange dreams and by frequently finding him- 
self when he awoke at a different place from that in which he went to 
sleep. From this he beiieved that the invisible powers wished him to 
become a shaman, so he began to practice and soon succeeded in 
becoming one. 
Every tun’-gha-lik, as the name implies, is the owner or controller of 
shades or supernatural beings called tun/-ghak, dual tun’-ghik, plural 
tun'-ghit. These beings possess supernatural power, and the more 
of them the shaman subjects to his will the more powerful he becomes. 
Tun'-ghit are believed to be the personifications of various objects and 
natural forces, or may be wandering shades of men and animals, and 
are invisible to all except shamans or people possessing clairvoyant 
powers, unless they become visible to ordinary pecple in order to 
accomplish some particular purpose. They have various strange forms, 
usually manlike, with grotesque or monstrous faces, such as are shown 
on many of the masks obtained in this region. They have the power of 
changing their form; in many instances becoming animals or assuming 
very terrifying shapes. At such times if they render themselves visible 
to ordinary people the latter may be killed merely by the sight of them. 
By their influence over these mysteries the shamans may avert or 
drive away evil influences of all kinds. If the evil has been produced 
by some very powerful influence, through the magic of a bad shaman 
or some wickedly disposed tun’-ghak, the shaman must enlist the aid of 
others until, by their united power, they finally overcome the possessing 
tun’-ghak and drive it away. 
Among other exercises of their power the shamans claim to make 
journeys to the land of the dead, and upon their return relate to the 
people what they have seen in that region, and from this have arisen the 
ideas commonly diffused among them on this subject. .In addition to 
