464 THK TLINGIT INDIANS [eth. ass. 20 



represented subsidiary spirits (3'r'k), and these were frequently sup- 

 posed to strengthen special features or faculties of the shaman. Thus 

 the figures of spirits round the eyes were to strengthen the sight and 

 so enable the shaman to discover hostile spirits; those around the nose 

 sti'engthened the smell; those around the jaws, the jaws, keeping theai 

 firm at all times, etc. Some of these small figures were animals, 

 like land otters, but a favorite was the woodworm, because it can bore 

 through wood and so typifies strong perception. A braided belt might 

 also be used to indicate the woodworm, and this was supposed to go 

 to an enem3''s town and tind out what was passing there. The shaman 

 also let his hair grow and took no care of it. He usually wore a 

 necklace of bones and had a little whetstone hung about his neck, which 

 he employed as a head scratcher. Besides oval rattles, such as Haida 

 shamans always employed, the}' sometimes used the large chiefs' rattles, 

 with figures of a raven and other animals upon them. This may have 

 been because Tlingit shamans were gen(M-ally of higher social rank 

 than those among the Haida. The chief's rattle came to them origi- 

 nally from the south. Besides the mask spirits there were also special 

 spirits to strengthen the rattle. At the command of various spirits 

 bones were worn through incisions in the septum of the nose, and on 

 the head a peculiar hat, often adopted by common people, especially 

 by warriors and by people at feasts. The shaman's body was usually 

 covered with a dancing shirt and a Chilkat blanket, and his legs were 

 encased in dancing leggings. 



The shaman's power, like that of a common person, was increased 

 by obtaining many split animal tongues, especially the tongues of land 

 otters. These were combined with eagle claws and other articles, and 

 carefully treasured. (See fig. 112.) The tongues of land otters, 

 freshly killed, were also cut and their blood caught upon twigs. 



When he came in to operate upon a patient the shaman ran rapidly 

 around the fire in the direction of the sun's course, which was thought 

 of as directly contrary to the course we understand it to take." He 

 cured by blowing or sucking, or by passing over the afi'ected parts carved 

 objects supposed to have power. Sickness was usually attributed 

 to witchcraft and, after pretending to draw a spear or some other 

 foreign object from the sick man, the shaman designated who had sent 

 it into him. Shamans themselves had power to bewitch people. They 

 could put spirits into inanimate objects and send them out to do mis- 

 chief. It would appear from various stories that eagle down and red 

 paint were also used in curing, for they are there employed in restor- 

 ing the dead to life. In one story a shaman pulls a spear from the 

 wound, thrusts it into water, and then l)lows eagle down over it. 



a This was probably because the sun was supposed to return to the east beyond the southern 

 horizon. 



