ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 571 
taken by the shaman into the woods, where both stay for four days. 
Then he returns, and the same ceremonial is performed that has been 
described before. 
When the shaman has singled out a person whom he declares to be 
sick, he proceeds with the following performance: He carries a small 
bundle of bird’s down hidden under .his upper lip. He lets the sick 
person lie down, and feels his body until he finds the seat of the disease. 
Then he begins to suck at the part where the sickness is supposed to be 
seated, while the people beat the boards and sing his song. Three 
times he endeavours to suck out the disease, but in vain. The fourth 
time, after having sucked, he puts his hands before his face and bites the 
inside of his cheek so that blood flows and gathers in the down that 
he is carrying in his mouth. Then he takes it unnoticed from his mouth, 
and hides it in his hands. Now he begins to suck again, holding his 
hands close to that part of the body where the disease is supposed to be 
seated. Then he removes them, blows on them, and on opening his 
hands the bloody ball of down is seen adhering to the palm of the 
shaman. After a short while he closes his hands again, applies them 
once more, and shows one or four pieces of quartz, which he is supposed 
to have removed from the body of the sick person. Then he closes his 
hands again, and upon a renewed application produces the feathers, which , 
he declares to be the soul of the patient. He turns his hands palm down- 
ward, so that the ball adheres to his hand. If it becomes detached and 
falls down, it signifies that the patient will die an early death. If the 
ball adheres, he will recover. 
For four months the shaman continues to make cures similar to the 
one described here. Every fourth day he must bathe. After this time 
people whom he treats are expected to pay him for his services. 
It is forbidden to pass behind the back of a shaman while he is 
eating, because it is believed that he would then eat the soul of the 
person passing him in this manner. The person as well as the shaman 
would fall in a swoon. Blood flows from the shaman’s mouth, because 
the soul is too large for him and is tearing him. Then the clan of the 
person whose soul he has swallowed must assemble and sing the song of 
the shaman. The latter begins to move, and vomits blood, which he tries 
to hold in his hands. After a short time he opens his palms, and shows 
a small bloody ball, the soul which he had swallowed. Then he rises, 
while the person whose soul he had swallowed is placed on a mat in the 
rear of the house. The shaman goes around the fire, and finally throws 
the soul at its owner. Then he steps up to him, blows upon his 
head, and the person recovers. It is said that the shaman in this 
ease also bites his cheek and hides some bird’s down in his mouth, which 
soaks up the blood and is made to represent the soul. The person whose 
soul was swallowed must pay four or five blankets for the harm he has 
done to the shaman, and for his own cure. 
The protector of a shaman informs him if an epidemic should be 
about to visit the tribe. Then he warns the people, and in order to 
avert the danger lets them go through the following ceremony. He 
resorts to a lonely place in the woods for one day. In the evening the 
people assemble in his house and beat the boards three times. When 
they begin to beat the boards the fourth time, he enters, wearing a large 
ring of hemlock branches. It is believed that the souls of unborn 
children and also those of deceased members of the tribe are hanging 
