BDLL. 30] 



SHAMANS AND PRIESTS 



523 



camp larger than the rest, in which they 

 prayed and invoked the spirits. 



Tlie Hupa of Cahfornia recognized two 

 soVts of shamans: the dancing shamans, 

 who determined the cause of disease 

 and the steps necessary for recovery, and 

 other shamans, who after locating the 

 trouble removed it by sucking. Mohave 

 shamans usually receive their powers 

 directly from Mastamho, the chief deity, 

 and acquire them by dreaming rather 

 than the more usual methods of fasting, 

 isolation, petition, etc. Dixon records 

 this latter feature also among the Shasta. 

 The Maidu seem to have presented con- 

 siderable variations within one small 

 area. In some sections heredity played 

 little part in determining who should be- 

 come a shaman, but in the N. e. part of 

 the Maidu country all of a shaman's chil- 

 dren were obliged to take up his pro- 

 fession or the spirits would kill them. 

 There were two sorts of shamans — the 

 shainan proper, whose functions were 

 mainly curative, and the "dreamer," 

 who communicated with spirits and the 

 ghosts of the dead. All shamans were 

 also dreamers, but not the reverse. Dur- 

 ing the winter months the dreamers held 

 meetings in darkened houses, where they 

 spoke with the spirits much like modern 

 spirit mediums. At other times the sha- 

 mans of the foothill region met to see 

 which was most powerful, and danced 

 until all but one had drojiped out. One 

 who had not had a shaman for a parent 

 had to go into the mountains to a place 

 where some s])irit was supposed to reside, 

 fast, and go through certain ceremonies, 

 and when a shaman desired to obtain 

 more powerful helpers than those he 

 possessed he did the same. Shamans in 

 this region always carried cocoon rattles. 



Hoffman enumerates three classes of 

 shamans among the Chippewa, in addi- 

 tion to the herbalist or doctor, properly 

 so considered. These were the vdbhio', 

 who practised medical magic, the jes'- 

 sakkVd, who were seers and prophets 

 deriving their power from the thunder 

 god, and the mide^, who were concerned 

 with the sacred society of the Mlde'wiimn, 

 and should rather be regarded as priests. 



These latter were evidently represented 

 among the Delawares by the medeu, who 

 concerned themselves especially with 

 healing, while there w'as a separate class 

 of diviners called powwow, or 'dreamers.' 



Unlike most shamans, the angakunirn 

 of the Central Eskimo communicated 

 with their spirits while seated. It was 

 their chief duty to find out the breaking 

 of what taboos had caused sickness or 

 storms. 



A8 distinguished from the calling of a 

 shaman, that of a priest was, as has 

 been said, national or tribal rather than 



individual, and if there were consider- 

 able ritual his function might be more 

 that of leader in the ceremonies and 

 keeper of the sacred myths than direct 

 mediator between spirits and men. 

 Sometimes, as on the N. W. coast and 

 among the Eskimo, the functions of 

 priest and shaman might be combined, 

 and the two terms have been used so in- 

 terchangeably by writers, especially when 

 applied to the Eastern tribes, that it is 

 often difficult to tell which is the proper 

 one. 



Even where shamanism flourished most 

 there was a tendency for certain priestly 

 functions to center around the town or 

 tribal chief. This aj^pears among the 

 Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Kwakiutl 

 in the prominent part the chiefs played 

 in secret society performances, and a chief 

 of the Eraser r. coast Salish was even 

 more of a high priest than a civil chief, 

 leadinghispeoplein all religious functions. 



Most of the tribes of the eastern plains 

 contained two classes of men that may be 

 placed in this category. One of these 

 classes consisted of societies which con- 

 cerned themselves with healing and ap- 

 plied definite remedies, though at the 

 same time invoking superior powers, and 

 to be admitted to which a man was 

 obliged to pass through a period of in- 

 struction. The other was made up of the 

 one or the few men who acted as superior 

 officers in the conduct of national rituals, 

 and who transmitted their knowledge 

 concerning it to an equally limited num- 

 ber of successors. Similar to these, per- 

 haps, were the priests of the Mide^wiwin 

 ceremony among the Chippewa, Menom- 

 inee, and other Algonquian tribes. 



According to Bartram, "besides sev- 

 eral juniors or graduates" there was a 

 high priest in every Creek town. These 

 were persona of consecjuence and exer- 

 cised great influence in the state, partic- 

 ularly in military affairs. They would 

 "foretell rain or drought and pretend to 

 bring rain at pleasure, cure diseases, and 

 exorcise witchcraft, invoke or expel evil 

 spirits, and even assume the power of di- 

 recting thunder and lightning." The 

 Natchez state was a theocracy in which 

 the head chief, or "Great Sun," being di- 

 rectly descended from the national law- 

 giver who had come out of the sun, was 

 ex-officio high priest of the nation, al- 

 though the guardian of the temple seems 

 to have relieved him partially of his 

 priestly duties. The rest of the Suns 

 shared in their functioTis to a minor de- 

 gree, they forming a sacred caste. 



Doubtless the moat highly developed 

 priesthood n. of Mexico, however, is 

 among the Pueblos of New Mexico and 

 Arizona, where it controls the civil and 

 military branches of the tribe, transform- 



