SWANTON] COSMOLOoy 451 



ciiiiic a.sliore the scalps were liiinij: out Iti the wind from tlif cikIs of 

 the house stringers toward the sea. 



No regular smoke signals were used iu war, Ijut it' a iiian"s friends 

 had been killed and he was near the town he would light a tire with 

 his flint to let the people know that something was wrong. When an 

 enemy was expected lires were put out very (juickly aft(>r eating, so as 

 not to attract attention. 



When peace was d(>cideil upon, one party visiteil the other, usually 

 bringing their crest with them. Then they danced opposite each other, 

 and a prominent chief, who received the title of "deer" {(lowaka'n)," 

 was selected from either side and carried oti" by the opposites, for whom 

 he danced and whom he entertained in various ways.'' He was very 

 careful in choosing the words he vised, so that no hostik; meaning could 

 be gathered from them in any way. Katlian, at Sitka, has a small 

 piece of jade hang at the end of a hide string, with which the •"(leer"' 

 used to scratch himself. If he used his fingers it was thought that he 

 would (lie. The nisui who l)rought in the "deer" .sang a grizzly-bear 

 song, so that the deer would not be troubled. He likened the "deer" 

 to the bear's head, which is always treated with great respect after the 

 animal has been killed. (See p. 455.) 



COSMOUXiV 



As usual among primitive people, the earth was conceived of as flat 

 and the sky as a solid vault. Inside of and between these everything 

 was alive with spirits called yek, and some also resided upon the sky 

 itself. "■ The stars were towns or houses, and the light the reflection of 



alt is juiid that a bear once met a deer in the woods and expected it to fight him, but it did not. 

 That in wliy the person who is taken up wlien peace is being concluded is called the "deer." 



ft While he acted in this capar-ity his wife was not allowed In Icjokal liim.and certain men watched 

 over him. t<»ok care of his toilet slicks, etc. He carried the tail feathers of eagles in each hand and 

 wore eagle's down and quills in his liair. 



("This statement is iu accordance with the idea first derived by a per.Hf>n of European lineage. Iml if 

 one were to delve deei>er into I lulian philosophy it would probably be found to give a sonu-what erro- 

 neous impression. Most Indian languages, at any rate the Tlingit. do not liave a true plural, but 

 usually adislributive and occasionally a collective. This means that instead of thinking of so many 

 dillerent objects they think (il one diffused into many. Therefore the Tlingil ilo not divide the uni- 

 verse arbitrarily into so many different quarters ruled by so many snjjernatural beings. On the con- 

 trary, supernatural power impresses them as a vast immensity, cue in kind and inqiersfjiial, inseru- 

 tjible as to its nature, but whenever manifesting itself to men taking a personal, and it might be sui'l a 

 human persomil, form in whatever object it displays itself. Thus the sky .spirit is the ocean of super- 

 natural energy as it manifests iiself in tiie sky. the sea spirit as it manifests itself in the sea, the bear 

 spirit as it manifests itself in tlie bear, the rock spirit as it manifests itself in the rock, etc. Il is not 

 meant that the Tlingit consciously rv'asons this out Ihus, or formulates a unily in the supernatural, 

 but such appears to be liis unexpressed feeling. Fi>r Ibis reason there is but one name for this 

 spiritual power, yek, a name which is atli-xed li> any specilic personal manifestalion of it, and it is to 

 this perception or feeling recluced to personahly that the "Greal Spirit" idea seems usually lo have 

 afiixed ilself. Il is true llial. as among some oilier Irilx's. one of Ihe personal manifestalions of this 

 supernatural energy, Nas-cxki-yel, has so far asserted i»r maintained an asi'i-ndeucy over the rest as 

 lo exercise a cerliim control over them, but such authority is far from complete. Il liuds its 

 expression also in the heaven god of the Haida and Tsimshiun. 



This supernalural energy must be carefully diffcreulialed from natural energy and never confused 

 with it. It is true that the former is supposed lo bring about results similar In Ihi" latter, but in the 

 mind of the Tlingit the conceived difference belween lliesc two is as great as with us, \ rock rolling 



