SWAXTOX] TLTNGTT MYTHS AND TEXTS 153 



die." There was so much respect for shamans in those days that 

 people obeyed everything that they told them to do. By and by his 

 spirit said to the shaman, "You will be asked to go somewhere, my 

 master. My masters, the people of the village, do you go away with 

 me?" And the village people kept saying to him, "Yes, we are 

 going along with you." Then the spirit said, "The persons that are 

 going to invite me from here are not human beings. They are already 

 getting ready to come." 



By and by the canoe came after him. He seemed to know that 

 there was something about to happen, and said, "Somehow or other 

 you people look strange." He put all of his things into small boxes 

 ready to depart. Then he got in and they covered him with a mat 

 until they reached their village, when he got up and saw some fine 

 houses. The fronts were beautifully painted. Among these houses 

 was one with a crowd of people in front which they tried to make him 

 believe was that where the sick person lay. His rattle and belt, 

 however, ran up on the shore ahead of him and entered the proper 

 house, which was in another part of the town. These people were 

 land otters, and they called him by name, "S lawA'n, S lawA'n." They 

 said to him, "All the shamans among us have been doctoring him, 

 and they can not do a thing. They can not see what is killing him. 

 That is why we have asked you to come." 



Then the shaman thought within himself, "Wlio will sing my songs 

 for me?" but the land otters spoke out, saying, "We can sing your 

 songs. Don't be worried." Inside of this house there hung a breast- 

 plate made out of carved bones, such as a shaman used in his spiritual 

 combats. The land otters saw that he wanted it and said, "We will 

 pay you that for curing him." Then the shaman began to perform. 

 He could see that the land otter was made sick by an arrow point 

 sticking in its side, but this was invisible to the land otters. After 

 he had pulled it out, the sick otter, who belonged to the high-caste 

 people, sat up immediately and asked for something to eat. The 

 shaman kept the arrow point, however, because it was made of cop- 

 per, and copper was very expensive in those days. 



Then one of the land-otter shamans said to him, "I will show you 

 something about my spirits." And so he did. He saw some very 

 strange things. When he was shown one kind of spirit, the land 

 otter said, "You see that. That is Sickness (Nik!). What he called 

 Sickness was the spirit of a clam. These clams look to the spirits 

 like human beings. That is why the spirits are so strong." He also 

 showed him the Spirit of the Sea (Deki'na yek), the Spirit of the 

 Land (Da'qna-yek), the Spirit from Above (Klye'gi), and the Spirit 

 from Below (Hayi'nAq-yek). All these became the man's spirits 

 afterward. 



