122 B GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



by drowning arc taken possession of by the power of evil, and are turned 



After death, into beings like himself under his chieftainship. Those killed in battle, 

 or even non-combatants accidentally killed during a tight, go at once to 

 the country of Sun-i-a-tlai-dus, which is supposed to be a happy region. 

 The spirits of those who die from disease, or in the course of nature, 

 become latent, or pass to an ill-defined Hades, but are from time to 

 time recovered, returning to the world as the souls of new-born 

 children, generally — or always — in the tribe to which they themselves 



Transmigration formerly belonged. This new birth may occur in each case five succes" 

 sive times, but after this the soul is annihilated, "like earth, knowing 

 nothing." So at least say some of the Haidas. The medicine-men 

 profess, in many cases, to be able by means of dreams or visions to 

 tell in the person of what child such an one formerly dead has 

 returned — hence a considerable part of the influence they exercise. 



The Indian informant, already several times referred to, told me that 

 the medicine-man had assured him that his brother had returned in the 

 form of a child lately born. He was in doubt whether to believe 

 implicitly or not. I have been told also of a case at Masset, where an 

 old chief dying said to those about him that he would return in the 

 form of a child then about to be born from the wife of one of his 

 relatives. He enjoined them to be careful of the child. 



Departure of It would seem also to be believed that before death the soul loosens 

 itself from the body, and finally takes its departure altogether. This, 

 at least, would appear to be implied by the fact that the medicine-men 

 sometimes profess to catch the soul of one about to die. This, however, 

 belongs more strictly to the curative function of the skci-ga. 



Initiation of The office of ska-c/a. shaman or medicine-man is not, like the chief- 



medicine-man- •? ' 



taincy, hereditary, but is either chosen or accepted in consequence of 

 some tendency to dream or see visions, or owing to some omen. The 

 would-be doctor must go through a severe course of initiation. He 

 must abstain from connexion with women, and eat very little ordinary 

 food, and that only once a day, in the evening. He goes into the 

 woods and eats 'medicine,' of which the Moneses uniflwa was pointed 

 out to me as one of the chief constituents. This plant is hot and bitter 

 to the taste. A course of this character continued for some months, 

 or for even a year, causes the body to become thin, and the mind may 

 eventually be somewhat deranged, or at least the skd-ga pretends to see 

 strange things. He speaks mysteriousl3 r , and soon takes an acknow- 

 Curative func- ledged place in the tribe. When sickness occurs he must be in 

 attendance on the patient, and seeks by every means to exorcise the 

 evil spirit which, abiding in the body, may have caused the disease. 

 The greatest effort is to drive out this spirit, and for this purpose he 

 comes armed with his rattle, or with a drum. The house where the 



