swanton] 



FATE OF SOULS 461 



ceived of as in that couiitiy. When a person was unhappy in this world 

 his aunt or uncle would fonic to liini and say, "You ar(> unhappy here. 

 Come to me." Then thi> person died and went to that happy country. 

 There was a house there called Sleep house (tA hit), .vhere people 

 rested, and this seems to have been the name given by someTlingit to 

 the next hi<>her region, otherwise known as ki'waA (•'way up"), 

 whither went those who died by violence. Access to this latter was 

 had by lueansof a single hole called andaijc'n will, reached by a ladder. 

 It was guarded by a being in human shape named l)JA([t'.a'iq!-(ia, who 

 sat by it and cried out "A man is coming up" when a person came up 

 thither, while grizzly bears (andaqe'n qaxu'tsli) watched the spirit 

 road. It' a man died unavenged he could not get up the ladder and 

 drifted by on the wind with the clouds. Below the plane of earth 

 was a third region for those who were drowned, and food sent to 

 them had to be put into the sea. According to Katishan, a l>ad person 

 after death went to Yei qlwaqa'wo ("Raven's home"), where Raven 

 lives. It was not learned whether this belief is due to white intluence 

 or not. 



The Tlingit claim to have learned about all these regions from men 

 who had died and come to life again. One such tale occurs in the 

 Raven story, and the following are similar accounts obtained at Sitka: 



" In olden days a certain person died and thought it was so hard to 

 walk up into the ghosts' country that he came back. Then he said to 

 the people, ' I haven't any moccasins. I haven't any gloves on. That 

 is a very hard place to go up through, for there are lots of devil clubs 

 and other kinds of bushes in the way. You must also sing songs when 

 anybody dies. It is the same as a road for him and will lead him. 

 There are wolves and bears along the way, which one has to protect 

 himself against.' So the people gave him moccasins and gloves and 

 put a knife in his hand so that he could defend himself. He also said 

 that there were many houses there, and told them to dress him up, put 

 red paint on his face, and eagle down on his hair. He had come to life 

 only to explain how the dead should be treated, so after he had told them 

 all those things he passed away again. Just before going he said, 

 ' When the tire crackles at a certain time— for that is the oidy way 

 they can talk to you in this world— it is because the spirits are hungry. 

 You must then put grease, berries, and other kinds of food into the 

 lire.' The tirst time he died the spirits asked, ' What did your people 

 give you to eat when you started on your journey f So, nowadays 

 when anyone dies people always give feasts to feed the spirits. In the 

 places which people reach after death there are many hou.ses in rows, 

 and the spirits assemble in those houses to share the food sent up from 

 this world. All of the grave houses are named by the spirits, who 

 give the same names to their houses in the ghost country. 



