aa pe eee 
— a 
J 
ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 611 
leaves the body. It becomes a Laé/lénoq, the sight of whom is deadly. 
The ‘seer’ sees the soul Jeaving the body, and therefore can predict the 
death of aman. The La/lénog either live in Bébénak‘aua (=the greatest 
depth) underground or roam through the woods. They are not per- 
mitted to enter a house and hover around the villages causing bad 
weather. It is said that the name of Bébénak‘aua was not invented 
until after the advent of the whites, but the idea of the ghosts having 
their abode in the lower world is consistently carried through all tales 
and customs of the Kwakiutl as well as of the Nootka, and must there- 
fore have existed before the whites arrived on the North Pacific coast. 
The soul of a deceased person returns again in the first child born after 
his death. 
These beliefs are well described by the following iale, the events of 
which are believed to have happened comparatively recently. There 
were two chiefs among the Nak‘oartok’, Ank-oa’lagyilis and T's’Eq’n’té. 
The former had given away many blankets and was T's’Eq’r’té’s superior. 
He was one of twins, and used to say that ata, the deity, took special 
care of him, and that he would go to him after death. He had been 
accumulating property for a new festival for four years. When the tribe 
went olachen fishing he hid his property under stones in the woods. His 
wife helped him. Ts’kq’s’té followed them unnoticed and killed them 
with his lance. He loaded the bodies with stones and threw them into 
the sea. Nobody knew what had happened to the chief and to his wife. 
Ank‘oa/lagyilis had a son whom he bad left to the care of one of his 
brothers. When the boy was grown up he married, and his wife had a 
son. It was Ank‘oa/lagyilis who was thus born again. The boy when 
a few years old cried and wanted to have a small boat made, and when 
he had got it asked for a bow and arrows. His father scolded him for 
having so many wishes. Then the boy said, ‘I was at one time your 
father, and have returned from heaven.’ His father did not believe 
him, but then the boy said, ‘ You know that Ank‘oa’lagyilis had gone to 
bury his property, and nobody knows where it is. I will show it to you.’ 
He took his father right to the place where it lay hidden, and bade him 
distribute it. There were two canoe-loads of blankets. Now the people 
knew that Ank‘oa/lagyilis had returned. He said, ‘I was with d’ta, but 
he has sent me back.’ They asked him to tell about heaven, but he 
refused to do so. He became chief and refrained from taking revenge 
upon T’s’Eq’n’'té. 
SHAMANISM AND WITCHCRAFT. 
The shamans of the Kwakiutl are called hé’/ilikya, paga’la, or naw'alak’, 
the latter being the general name, while the first and second are only 
used for the shaman when curing disease. When curing a sick person 
he has a small dish of water standing next to him, and moistens the part 
_of the body in which the pain is seated before beginning his incantations. 
He uses a rattle, dances, and finally sucks the disease out of the body 
(k#’iqoa’) which he shows to the bystanders, the disease being a piece of 
skin, a stick, a piece of bone or of quartz. He also uses whistles and 
blows the disease, which he holds in the hollow of his hands, into the air 
(hé'ilikya or po'qua). He is also able to see the soul, and on account of 
this faculty is called d’d'qts’as, the seer. In his dreams he sees leaving 
the body the souls of those who are to die within a short time. If a 
man feels weak and looks pale the seer is sent for. He feels the head 
