202 Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



to indicate that the fish were swarming in the river, would prophesy that such 

 and such a person would catch a number of fish. 



"He kept this up for about half an hour, pointing mostly to two or three 

 people who were, by the way, always successful in the contests when there 

 were any fish to be caught. The whole performance had now lasted about 

 three hours, and during that time no one had been keeping a look-out on the 

 creek for fish, except perhaps the children who had been playing about outside. 

 They paid an occasional visit to the door of the tent but did not stay long, 

 as they were evidently not interested in the old man's performance. The 

 shaman's movements began to become normal at last, and although he was still 

 frothing at the mouth, his questions and exclamations became less frequent 

 and finally subsided altogether. There was now a hurried whispered consultation 

 amongst the audience, and the old woman took a copper spear-head and gave 

 the old fellow a smart tap on the right side of the head, and he looked round 

 the audience in a dazed sort of way, as if he had just come out of a hypnotic 

 trance. One of the men near the door gave a shout and, jumping up, ran for 

 his spear and towards the creek, with the others following as fast as they could. 

 None of them were prepared for fishing in the ordinary way by having taken 

 off some of their clothes or put on long water-boots, and as they ran towards 

 the creek, some of them slipped off what clothes they could, while others rushed 

 for the water in what they were dressed in. It was apparent at first sight 

 that there were a number of fish in the trap, and within a few minutes they 

 had caught sixty, a big haul in ordinary times, and now an extraordinary one 

 for it had seemed that the fish had stopped running the day before. Whether 

 the old man's performance had anything to do with it or not the Eskimos fully 

 beheved that it had; but I am rather inclined to think that the success was 

 due to the fact that while they were listening to the shaman they were not 

 outside making a noise and frightening the fish from coming into the trap, 

 and that during the three hours' stance a number of stragglers had collected 

 In the trap. 



"The Eskimos were overjoyed at the success. The ones that the shaman 

 had pointed out had surely caught the most fish, but then they always did 

 when there were any fish to be caught. The man who had caught the most, 

 and in whose house the stance had been held, after making a display of his 

 catch to the people, cut a section from between the ventral fins of the largest 

 fish and gave it to the shaman. He then cut a similar section from the next 

 biggest and gave it to me. As these sections were only about an inch long 

 and half an inch wide and as thick, and I noticed the shaman had swallowed 

 his, I did likewise, to the evident satisfaction of the people. The only explana- 

 tion of this that I could gather through the interpreter was that it was a present 

 for making the fish come into the trap." 



In regard to this stance the interpreter, Patsy — who, by the way, was 

 thoroughly sceptical of all Eskimo shamanism — told me that Igluhuk (or Ighsiak 

 as he should be called) had prophesied that a certain boy Hogaluk would capture 

 three fish, and that Patsy himself would get only two. In both cases his prophesy 

 proved true. 



