522 



SHALLON SHAMANS AND PRIESTS 



[b. a. e. 



100 persons, first visited by Lewis and 

 Clark in 1805 and described as living on 

 Cataract r., in the present Washington. 

 Mooney regards them as a division of the 

 Pisquows. 



Lower Yakima. — Gibbs in Pac. R. R. Rep., I, 417, 

 1855. Shallates.— Lewis and Clark Exped., Coues 

 ed., 958, 1893. Shallatolos.— Robert.son, Oregon, 

 129, 18-16. Shal-lat-tas.— Lewis and Clark Exped., 

 I, map, 1817. Shallattoos.— Ibid., ll, 595, 1817. 

 Shal-lat-tos. — Ibid., I, map, 1814. Shal-tat-tos,— 

 Lewis and Clark misquoted by Gibbs, op. cit. 

 Wsha'natu.— Moonev in 14th Rep. B. A. E., 736, 

 1896. 



Shallon. A name for the fruit of Gaul- 

 theria sludlon, mentioned tin^t in Allen's 

 History of Lewis and Clark's Expedi- 

 tion, 1814. The name, also spelled shal- 

 lun, ia a corruption of Chinook kl'kwu- 

 sMlla. (w. R. G.) 



Shallyany's Village. A summer camp 

 of a Stikine chief named Calyii^ni, on 

 Stikine r., Alaska; pop. 2-1 in 1880. — 

 Petroff, 10th Census, Alaska, 32, 1882. 



Shamans and Priests. Mediators be- 

 tween the world of spirits and the world 

 of men may be divided into two classes: 

 The shamans, whose authority was en- 

 tirely dependent on their individual abil- 

 ity, and the priests, who acted in some 

 measure for the tribe or nation, or at least 

 for some society. 



Shaman is exj>lained variously as a Per- 

 sian word meaning ' pagan' , or, with more 

 likelihood, as the Tungus equivalent for 

 'medicine-man', and was originally ap- 

 plied to the n)edicine-men or exorcists 

 in Siberian tribes, from which it was ex- 

 tended to similar individuals among the 

 Indian tribes of America. 



Among the Haida and Tlingit, shamans 

 performed practically all religious func- 

 tions, including, as usual, that of physi- 

 cian, and occasionally a shaman united 

 the civil with the religious power by 

 being a town or house chief also. Gen- 

 erally speaking, he obtained his position 

 from an uncle, inheriting his spiritual 

 helpers just as he might his material 

 wealth; but there were also shamans 

 who became such owing to natural titness. 

 In either case the first intimation of his 

 new power was given by the man falling 

 senseless and remaining in that condition 

 for a certain period. Elsewhere in North 

 America, however, the sweat bath was 

 an imjjortant assistant in bringing about 

 the proper psychic state, and certain in- 

 dividuals became shamans after escaping 

 from a stroke of lightning or the jaws of 

 a wild bea.st. When treating a patient or 

 otherwise performing, a N. W. coast sha- 

 man was supposed to be possessed by a 

 supernatural being whose name he bore 

 and whose dress he imitated, and among 

 the Tlingit this spirit was often supported 

 by several minor spirits which were rep- 

 resented upon the shaman's mask and 

 strengthened his eyesight, sense of smell, 



etc. He let his hair grow long, never 

 cutting or dressing it. When performing 

 he ran arounil the fire very rapidly in the 

 direction of the sun, while his assistant 

 beat upon a wooden drum and his friends 

 sang the spirit songs and beat upon nar- 

 row pieces of board. Then the spirit 

 showed him what he was trying to dis- 

 cover, the location of a whale or other 

 food animal, the approach of an enemy, 

 or the cause of the sickness of a patient. 

 In the latter case he removed the object 

 that was causing pain by blowing upon 

 the affected part, sucking at it, or rub- 

 bing a charm upon it. If the soul had 

 wandered, he caj^tured and restored it, 

 and in case the patient had been be- 

 witched he revealed the name of the of- 

 fender and directed how he was to be 

 handled. Payment for his services must 

 always be made in advance, but in case 

 of failure it was usually returned, while 

 among some tribes failure was punished 

 with death. Shamans also performed 

 sleight-of-hand feats to show their power, 

 and two shamans among hostile people 

 would fight each other through the air 

 by means of their spirits, while no war 

 party started off without one. 



The ideas behind shamanistic practices 

 in other American tribes were very much 

 the same as these, but the forms which 

 they took varied considerably. Thus 

 instead of being actually possessed, Iro- 

 quois shamans and probably others con- 

 trolled their spirits objectively as if they 

 were hantlling so many instruments, 

 while Chitimacha shamans consulted 

 their helpers in trances. 



Among the Nootka there were two 

 classes of shamans, the Uciuk-u, or 

 ' workers ' , who cured a person when 

 sickness was thrown upon him by an en- 

 emy or when it entered in the shape of 

 an insect, and the K'ok'od^tsmaah, or 'soul 

 workers', especially employed to restore 

 a wandering soul to its body. 



The Songish of the .southern end of 

 Vancouver id. also had two sorts of sha- 

 mans. Of these the higher, called the 

 sqund^m)), acquired his power in the usual 

 way by intercourse with supernatural 

 beings, while the xVoua, who was usually 

 a woman, received her knowledge from 

 another s'/ona. The former answered 

 more nearly to the common type of sha- 

 man, while the function of the latter was 

 to appease hostile powers, to whom she 

 spoke a sacred language. She was also 

 applied to by women who desired to bear 

 children, and for all kinds of charms. 



Among the interior Salish the initia- 

 tion of shamans and warriors seems to 

 have taken place in one and the same 

 manner, i. e. through animals which be- 

 came the novices' guardian spirits. Ku- 

 tenai shamans had special lodges in the 



