ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA.

a kas - tic : tak - yu ho - a.

During the conjuration they frequently wash their hands and warm
them ata fire. It is told asa feat of a female conjurer that she gave her
husband something to eat which she promised to extract again from out
of his belly ; a feat which she is believed to have actually accomplished.

Other shamans are said to be able to suck out arrows, bullets, and the
like. In cases of fractures of bones they give the patient a mixture of
ground human bones to drink, or spread it over the fractured place.
They treat abscesses by massage or kneading, and open them and take
out the matter. If the fish do not come in time, and the Indians are in
want of food, a shaman makes an image representing a swimming fish,
and puts it into the water in the direction in which the fish used to come,
and it is believed that this means will induce them to come at once. He
prays at the same time for the fish to come, and calls them.

Every man, upon reaching maturity, may obtain a charm by continued
fasting and bathing in ponds. When trying to ascertain how far back
historical tradition extends, I was told the following by Tlutisim, a man
about thirty years old, belonging to the Netcimi’asath sept: His great-
grandfather’s grandfather—i.e., five generations back—sat one night on
his bed resting, but not sleeping, as hunters will do. At midnight he
heard someone singing on the beach. He went out to see who was there,
and discovered a number of Ya/é—a fabulous people living in the woods—
landing a sea-lion which they had caught. It is always a foreboding of
good luck to see those people. The man ran down to the beach, cried
‘hé,’ and the Ya’é were transformed into sea-foam. He gathered it care-
fully, and hid it. It became his charm, and henceforth he was a great
and successful hunter.

After death the soul becomes a ghost, which is called Tci’ha. The
world of the souls is in the earth (Hita/kutla) ; but chiefs and good men
who always prayed to the sun and moon go up to heaven (Hina’yitl).
Those who are killed in war and have had their heads cut off have in
after life their faces on their breasts. Drowned persons become spirits
called Pu’/kmis. They are generally invisible, and linger on the beach.
Whenever they appear to men they are seen to shiver for cold. Ghosts
have no bones; they produce nightmare by appearing in sleep; to see
them causes sickness.

In connection with these beliefs I may mention the following facts
which throw some light upon the ideas of the Nootka regarding the rela-
tion of soul and body. About twenty years ago a man lost his senses,

ors

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RAS SF Le