THE ALKATCHO CARRIER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 365

grave. Some individuals have accepted the Bella Coola tradi-
tion which conceives of the ghost as going to a land of the dead.

Cosmogonic theory was very weakly developed, and at present
individuals show no interest in the problem. As one informant
put it, “My father never talked to me about such things. He
talked to me only about potlatching.” And that is probably the
best characterization of Carrier relations with the supernatural.

A fuller account was obtained of shamanistic concepts. The
general term for illness is nEdeta’; but to be afflicted with an
illness which may make one a shaman is called nettcEn. The
shamanistic cure for such an illness is nettcan. The shaman him-
self is called neticEn, “causing to sing.” The general character-
istic of a neticEn illness was a dream in which some spirit ap-
peared and gave the subject a song. Unless shamanistic aid was
brought, the patient died. The illness was marked by the gush-
ing of blood from the mouth and a comatose state. The shaman,
whose guardian spirit resided in the palm of his hand, was en-
abled to draw out the foreign spirit from the patient’s body.
First the shaman determined the source of the “infection.” He
therefore projected himself to “‘bad places” where beaver or
otter have played, and “cleaned them up.” Through his spirit
songs he utilized the power of his spirits, or rather the shaman
acted as the corporeal agent of the spirits.

Shamanistic power was acquired voluntarily in more or less
the same way as a guardian spirit came upon one involuntarily,
or was inherited. Shamans sought constantly to increase their
powers through more visions.

At Alkatcho where rank concepts were more highly developed
than in the eastern Carrier villages, shamanistic practice was
geared to the potlatch-rank system. Not only did the shaman
make use of his special powers for greater success in trapping,
gambling, and in general for the accumulation of wealth, but he
signalized the completion of his novitiate by giving a potlatch.
In fact, a shaman who had not been cured by other shamans
and had not yet completed the potlatch was only half a shaman,
who could cure only at his own risk. For example, one old man,
an incompleted shaman, lost his life in a cure. His grandson,
while whittling a stick, accidentally plunged the knife into his