NELSON] ORIGIN OF THE DOLL FESTIVAL 495 
as an amulet, thus having the services of its inua to assist him in his 
ceremonies. His wife and daughter, however, knew what he had done 
with the child. 
The unmarried shaman never took a wife, and after his friend began 
to wear the child about his neck, he frequently saw among the shades 
that came to do his bidding that of a small, new-born child. What it 
was or why it came he could not understand, as it did not come at his 
bidding. This was observed very often, and still he did not know that 
his friend had the body. 
When one of these men was practicing his rites and found it difficult 
to obtain help from the shades, his friend would assist him to accom- 
plish his object. One fine, warm day the unmarried shaman went up 
on the hillside back of the village and sat down. As night came on he 
fell asleep, and as he slept he saw the air filled with falling stars, and 
then that the sky was sinking toward him until finally it rested upon 
the hilltop so close that he had barely enough room to move about 
below it. Looking around, he saw that every star was in reality a 
round hole in the sky through which the light from above was shining. 
Raising himself up, he put his head through the nearest star hole and 
saw another sky with many stars shining above the first one. As he 
looked, this sky sank slowly down until he could. put his head through 
one of the star holes in it, and above this were shining the stars in 
still another sky. This, too, sank slowly down, and standing up he 
found himself breast high above the third sky, and close by was a 
kashim surrounded by.a village like the one in which he lived. 
From familiar signs he saw that the men had just taken a sweat 
bath. A woman was at work covering the air hole in the roof of the 
kashim with the gut-skin covering, while otler women were carrying 
in food. After looking about for a short time he decided to go into the 
kashim and see the people. Then raising himself through the star 
holes he walked to the kashim and entered it through the under- 
ground passageway. When he reached the inside he found the room 
full of people sitting around on the floor and benches. He started to 
cross the room to take a seat in the place of honer opposite the door, 
but a man sitting over the main entrance called to him to sit beside 
him, which he did. 
The women were still bringing in food, and the man who had spoken 
first to the shaman, said, in a low voice, “If you are offered food 
do not eat it, for you will see that it is not fit to eat.” The shaman 
then looked about the room and saw lying at the side of each mana 
small wooden image, all of which represented different kinds of mam- 
mals, birds, and fishes. Over the lamps beside the entrance door were 
two slender sticks of wood more than a fathom in length, joined at the 
lower end and spread apart above like two outspread arms, along 
the sides of which were fastened swan quills, and the upper end of 
each stick bore a tuft of wolf hair. These sticks were designed to repre- 
