566 REPORT — 1895. 



it his or her name ; and since by this act the former owner has relinquished 

 his place, he also loses the name belonging to the place, and consequently 

 adopts that of the father, mother, or aunt of the owner of the place, thus 

 indicating that he owned the place formerly. 



When a woman is about to give birth to a child a separate hut is built 

 for her. When the child is being born two other women hold a stick 

 horizontally in front of the mother. She takes hold of it, standing in a 

 bent position. A third woman takes hold of the child, covering its mouth 

 until it is born. The navel-string is tied with sinews, placed on a stick, 

 and then cut. The mother rests for a day, then she takes up her usual 

 occupation. After a boy is born the father must not cut oft' the legs of 

 any kind of male game ; after a girl is born he must not cut off those of 

 female game, else the private parts of the child would swell. 



A girl when reaching maturity wears a neck-ring of crabapple twigs 

 (k'!ase'l), earrings of bone, and a piece of a rib around the neck, as amulets 

 to secure good luck and a long life. She also wears a large skin hat 

 which comes down over her face, and prevents the sun from striking 

 it. If she should expose her face to the sun or to the sky, it would 

 rain. The hat protects her face also against the fire, which must not 

 strike her skin. For this purpose she also weai'S skin mittens. She 

 wears the tooth of an animal in her mouth to prevent her teeth from 

 getting hollow. For a whole year she must not see blood unless her face 

 is blackened, else she would grow blind. For two years she wears the hat 

 and lives in a hut by herself, although she is permitted to see others. 

 After that period a man takes the hat oft" from her head and throws it 

 away. 



When a young man desires to marry a girl he asks her parents, to 

 whom he gives presents of meat at intervals during a year. Then the bride's 

 parents invite him and his clan to a feast at which the marriage is cele- 

 brated. When a man dies and leaves a widow his brother marries her. He 

 provides for her during the period of her widowhood. He must not marry 

 her before the lapse of a certain time, as her husband's ghost stays with 

 her and as the ghost would do him harm. The widow and also the 

 widower eat out of a stone dish. She or he carries a pebble in the mouth, 

 and a straight crabapple stick is placed along the back, inside the jacket. 

 She sits upright day and night. The meaning of this custom is that her 

 back shall remain as straight as the crabapple stick even in her old age. 

 The deceased husband's brother must take care that everything is quiet 

 in the widow's house. Any person who crosses the hut in front of her 

 dies. She fasts for two or three days after the death of her husband. 

 After that she is allowed to eat what she pleases. When a woman dies 

 and her husband survives, he marries her sister. 



Men must not cut their hair, else they would grow old quickly. Men 

 and women do not eat the heads of mountain goats, else their hair would 

 turn grey early. 



In cases of sickness the shaman is called. He sings certain songs. 

 He does not use a rattle, but only a feather wand, generally an eagle's tail. 

 His hands and his face are painted red. He fans and blows the patient 

 or blows water on to him. Then he takes the disease out of him with 

 'both hands, acting as though he dipped it out, and blows it into the air. 

 He uses a square drum consisting of a frame over which a skin is 

 stretched. The four corners of the frame are connected by thongs. Here 

 is a shr. man's song : — • 



