PLAN - POWERS OF SHAMANS 433 
One curious method of learning the causes of disease is practiced by 
the shamans on the plain south of the Yukon mouth. If aman becomes 
ill they determine the character of his malady by tying a cord attached 
to the end of a stick to his head or a limb as he lies outstretched, and 
lifting it by the stick find from the weight of the part the character of 
the disease. If seriously affected the part is supposed to be very heavy, 
but becomes lighter or easier to raise as the malady passes away. 
In the summer of 1851 my interpreter refused, at the last moment, to 
go on the Corwin with me during our Arctic cruise, saying that the 
shamans had told him that we would never come back. 
One of the greatest feats attributed to the shamans is to visit the 
land of the dead and come back again; in every district one hears of 
those who, apparently dead, have been to the land of the shades and 
returned. 
An old shaman from Selawik lake, near Kotzebue sound, told me that 
a Shaman, living there many years ago, died and made such a journey. 
When he returned he told the people that after his death his shade 
traveled for two days along the hard, beaten path formed by those who 
had gone before. During all this time he heard crying and wailing 
which he knew to be the voices of people on earth mourning for their 
dead. Then he came to a great village, like those upon the earth, 
and was met by the shades of two men who led him into a house. 
In the middle of the room a fire was burning, in front of which were 
roasting some pieces of meat, stuck on sharp sticks; in this flesh were 
living eyes which rolled about and watched his movements. His com- 
panions told him not to eat any of the meat, as it would be bad for him. 
After stopping here for a short time he went on and came to the milky 
way, which he followed for a long distance, finally returning by it to 
his grave box. When the shade entered the box his body became 
alive, and rising, he went back to the village and told his friends of 
his experience. 
The old shaman who related the foregoing said that once he himself 
had died and gone to the land of shades, remaining there until he 
became tired, when he returned to the earth and entering the body of 
an unborn child, was born again. 
Another method the shamaus claim to possess for visiting the land of 
the dead is practiced in the region south of the lower Yukon as well 
as about Norton sound. They pretend to be burned to death and after- 
ward to return to life. 
At the head of Norton sound my Eskimo guide pointed out the grave 
of a shaman who had tried to do this, and said that after being burned to 
death he had failed toreturn. The man in telling of it seemed to have 
perfect faith that such a thing was posséble, and said that many sha- 
mans caused themselves to be burned to ashes and then returned to life, 
not even their clothing showing a trace of fire. He added that the 
shaman buried in the grave which we passed had made a mistake in 
18 ETH —28 
