496 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
sent the outspread wings of the Raven father who made the world. 
Over the entrance to the room hung another pair of these sticks simi- 
larly ornamented. 
From the roof hung two great hoops extending entirely around the 
room, one of which was a little below the other, and both were about 
midway between the roof aud the floor. Extending from the roof hole 
down to the upper hoop were many slender rods, the lower ends of 
which were fastened to the hoop at regular intervals. Fastened to the 
hoops and rods in many places were tufts of feathers and down. These 
hoops and rods represented the heavens arching over the earth, and 
the tufts of feathers were the stars mingled with snowflakes. The cord 
suspending the rings passed through a loop fastened to the roof, and 
the end passed down and was held by a man sitting near the lamp. 
This man raised and lowered the rings slowly by drawing in and letting 
out the cord in time to the beating of a drum by another man sitting 
on the opposite side of the lamp. [This movement of the rings was 
symbolical of the apparent approach and retreat of the heavens accord- 
ing to the condition of the atmosphere. | 
The shaman had just time to notice this much when he saw a woman 
come in with a dish of food which seemed like freshly-boiled meat. 
Looking about, she asked, ‘‘ Where is the guest?”—to which he replied, 
“Here Iam,” and she handed him the dish. As soon as the steam 
cleared away a little the shaman saw lying in the dish a new-born 
boy who was wriggling about. The shaman was so startled by the 
sight that he did not know what to do and let the dish turn toward 
the floor so that the child slipped out and fell. At this moment 
the shaman felt himself driven head foremost from his seat down 
through the exit hole in the floor. Starting up, he looked about and 
found himself reclining upon the mountain top near his village, aud 
day was just breaking in the east. Rising, he hastened down to the 
village and told his friend, the other shaman, what lad occurred to 
him, and the latter advised that they should unite in working their 
strongest charms to learn the meaning of this vision. Then they called 
the shaman’s wife and went with her into the kashim where they worked 
their spells, and it was revealed to them that during the February 
moon in each year the people of the earth should hold a great festival. 
They were directed to decorate the kashim just as the shaman had seen 
it in the sky house, and by the two shamans the people were taught 
all the necessary observances and ceremonies, during which food and 
drink offerings were made to the inuas of the sky house and songs 
were sung in their honor. If these instructions were properly followed, 
game and food would be plentiful on the earth, for the people in the 
sky house were the shades or inuas controlling all kinds of birds and 
fish and other game animals on the earth, and from the small images 
of the various kinds which the shaman had seen lying beside the sky 
people was the supply of each kind replenished on earth. When the 
