NELSON] THE LAND OF THE DEAD 489 
Just then someone said, “Where is she? Where is she ?”_and she 
saw her grandfather’s shade coming toward her. Taking her by the 
hand, he led her into a house near by. On the farther side of the room 
she saw an old woman, who gave several grunts and then said, ‘‘Come 
and sit by me.” This old woman was her grandmother, and she asked 
the girl if she wanted a drink, at the same time beginning to weep. 
When the girl became thirsty she looked about and saw some strange 
looking tubs of water, among which only one, nearly empty, was made 
like those in her own village. 
Her grandmother told her to drink water from this tub only, as that 
was their own Yukon water, while the other tubs were all full of water 
from the village of the shades. When she became hungry her grand- 
mother gave her a piece of deer fat, telling her that it had been given 
them by her son, the girl’s father, at one of the festivals of the dead, 
and at the same time he had given them the tub of water from which 
she had just drunk. 
The old woman told the girl that the reason her grandfather had 
become her guide was because when she was dying she had thought 
ofhim. When a dying person thinks of his relatives who are dead the 
thought is heard in the land of shades, and the person thought of by the 
dying one hurries off to show the new shade the road. 
When the season came for the feast of the dead to be given at the 
dead girl’s village, two messengers were sent out, as usual, to invite 
the neighboring villagers to the festival. The messengers traveled a 
long time toward one of the villages, and it became dark before they 
reached it, but at last they heard the drums beat and the sound of the 
dancers’ feet in the kashim. Going in, they delivered to the people 
their invitation to the feast of the dead. 
Sitting invisible on a bench among these people, with the girl between 
them, were the shades of the grandfather and grandmother, and when 
the messengers went back to their own village the next day the three 
-shades followed them, but were still invisible. When the festival had 
nearly been completed, the mother of the dead girl was given water, 
which she drank. Then the shades went outside of the kashim to wait 
for their names to be called for the ceremony of the putting of clothing 
upon namesakes of the dead. 
‘As the shades of the girl and her grandparents went out of the kashim 
the old man gave the girl a push, which caused her to fall and lose her 
senses in the passageway. When she recovered she looked about and 
found herself alone. She arose and stood in the corner of the entrance 
way under a lamp burning there, and waited for the other shades to 
come out that she might join her companions. There she waited until 
all of the living people came out dressed in fine new clothing, but she 
saw none of her companion shades. 
Soon after this an old man with a stick came hobbling into the 
entrance, and as he looked up he saw the shade standing in the corner 
