ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 421 



By laying their Lands on tbe nape of a person they are able to tell 

 whether his soul is present or whether it has left the body. If the soul 

 should become weak they are able to restore it to its former vigour. If 

 a person swoons it is believed that his soul has flown away without 

 breaking its shell. The shaman hears its buzzing wings, which give a 

 sound like those of a mosquito. He may catch and replace it in the nape 

 of its owner. If the soul leaves the body without breaking its shell the 

 owner becomes crazy. 



The art of shamanism is bestowed by Snq. It is impossible to obtain 

 it by means of fasting and praying, as is the case among the neigbbouring 

 tribes, but it is a free gift from the deity. A person who is to become a 

 shaman will fall sick, and, during his illness, Snq will give him a song 

 which must be kept a deep secret. After this he is able to cure diseases. 

 If a person falsely pretends to have received the gift of shamanism, and 

 tries to suck out diseases from a patient, he will fall sick himself. 



When asked more closely about the curious difference between this 

 method of obtaining the power and that of the neighbouring tribes my 

 informant said : ' When an Awiky'e'noq wishes to become a shaman he may 

 go to the mountain where the deity of their shamans resides (probably 

 Ma'tem) who will initiate him. No Bilqula can obtain the art in such a 

 way.' 



Sickness is caused by a disease entering the body or by witchcraft 

 (see p. 417). The shaman is able to extract the disease by sucking. A 

 peculiar method of witchcraft, somewhat similar to the ' ek"'a ' of the 

 Kwakiutl (see Sixth Report of the Committee, p. 612), was described to 

 me as follows : The person who wants to bewitch his enemy endeavours 

 to obtain some of his old clothing, portions soaked by perspiration being 

 considered especially effective. After it is obtained a wolf is killed, and 

 the clothing is put into its mouth, which is then tied up. Then the wolf 

 is placed in a box. This procedure is called simk. Sometimes the 

 clothing or some hair is inclosed in the bone of a wolf or of a dead person. 

 No shaman can counteract these charms. 



If a person has been murdered, and a string is tied firmly around the 

 neck of the corpse, the murderer's neck will become diseased and he will 

 be unable to breathe and will die. If sand is strewn in the corpse's eyes 

 and the lids closed over it the murderer will die. If a person has been 

 killed with a knife or arrow, or another weapon, to which some of his 

 blood adheres, the latter is brought into contact with a wolf's head, dog's 

 hair, or anything else that is bad, and then thrown into the fire or put 

 into a frog's or snake's month ; then the murderer will die. 



I add here a few current beliefs : — 



Sneezing indicates that people are talking about one. 



Slight ringing of the ears indicates rain, loud ringing good weather. 



Twitching of the muscles of the left side of the body is unlucky ; of 

 the right side lucky. Twitching of the skin under the eyes indicates 

 that one will cry. 



If a dog dreams and howls in its sleep its owner will die. 



The breaking of a box without an apparent cause is unlucky. 



Wars. 



When a war party was organised the wai-riors did not paint their 

 feces, but they put on headbands of white cedar-bark and strewed their 



