Shamanism 213 



we had all been rather unsuccessful before we left Lake Numikhoin, so Tusayok 

 afterwards would probably have met with little better luck. This appeared 

 to be the answer she wanted. She then said that a man had entered the kila 

 and asked me whether I saw him, but I tried to avoid the question and asked 

 her instead if she had. She said "No, I was the only person who had", an 

 assertion she made on her own account, or possibly judging by some expression 

 on my face. Next she asked whether it was a white man, and I told her to 

 question it; the answer was "yes." One or two other questions were addressed 

 to it, then she turned to me again and asked whether the 'man' had not gone 

 out of the kila; when I said, "There is no one in it" she requested me to put 

 him back in again. I told her to continue her divining, and the kila immediately 

 became heavy again — 'the man' had re-entered. She now wanted to know 

 whether it was a kinsman of mine, and I told her it was not. Again she ques- 

 tioned it about our fortunes, and the answer, as she finally announced it to us, 

 was, "He is going to be friendly towards the people." After addressing a few 

 more remarks to the kila, the meaning of which I could not follow, she found 

 that it had become light again, indicating that the 'man' had left it. Accord- 

 ingly, after requesting my permission, she removed her belt from round it and 

 terminated the ceremony. The theory of the natives seemed to be that as it 

 was my dog that had barked — the dog of a white man — it must be a white 

 man's shade that was trying to do them harm, and I should be able to help 

 them to deal with it; further, that the man, or rather the shade that was conceived 

 to enter the kila, if not a familiar spirit of mine,, was yet to some extent at least 

 under my control. It was for this reason that Higilak had sought my cooper- 

 ation. 



Avranna had a headache one day, and borrowed my belt to tie round his 

 head. It drove the pain, he told us later, from the front to the back of his head, 

 but did not dispel it altogether. Higilak then borrowed my coat to hold a 

 divining performance and discover the cause of her son's malady. As usual 

 she slipped her belt rCund it and enquired who was inside the bundle making 

 it heavy. Through a number of questions she discovered that it was a kins- 

 man of mine. Then she enquired who it was that was threatened with sickness 

 and death, "Was it Avranna ? " "No." "Tusayok ? " "No." "Ikpak- 

 huak ? " "Yes." "From whom ? From a white man ? " "No." " From 

 someone near at hand ? " "No." "Someone afar off ? " "Yes." " The 

 Prince Albert sound natives ? " "Yes." " How ? Through the stone pot she 

 had bought from them and was using for cooking fish ? " "No." "Was it through" 

 (this question I could not understand). "Yes", "Who was causing it ? Was it 

 Nilgak ? " "No." "Kunana ? " "Yes." Here was our answer then; Kunana 

 tried to kill Ikpakhuak at Lake Tahiryuak by some kind of sorcery, but failed. 

 A general conversation among the audience followed this statement, during 

 which Higilak addressed a question now and then to the kila. The upshot was 

 that Avranna's headache did not presage a fatal illness and he would soon be 

 well again. 



When Higilak came to borrow my coat for thite performance I suggested 

 that perhaps the kila might lie to her. She was not in the least offended or 

 disconcerted, but argued quite logically that it had proved true on other occas- 

 sions, for example when it predicted that we should meet with the natives from 

 Prince Albert sound. Ikpakhuak was fishing all the time she divined, but she 

 told him about it when he returned. During the performance itself an incident 

 occurred that is well worth remarking. Higilak had announced that the kila 

 was heavy, and she told Avranna, who was sitting beside her, to take hold of 

 the cord and test it himself. He caught hold of the cord, but told her to take 

 away her own hand, which she had kept on top of the bundle. I imagine that 

 she was not expecting this sudden request, but she kept her countenance very 

 well and removed her hand. Avranna then said, " It's light," the very opposite 



