, 1886-03-10


pie-wrestIing with an Alarming Di-
Iemma-Cremation and Other Methods
of Disposing Of the Dead.
The Shaman, or medicine man, is an
omnipresent living conundrum to his un-
sophisticated people. He is a mystery
which they can not comprehend, and a
terror always, for while he is n handy sort
of n parsonage to v In a community,
and is supposed TO have power to heal the
sick, he Is, nevertheless, believed to be In
league with the devil. The mnlign infiu-
ence OF his spells is a constant menace,
and no one car tell when or Upon whom
It may m~omentarily fall. This is n hard
reputation to have, but the Shaman pro-
notes 1t. He Is a self-constituted buga-
boo, havingduly qualified himself for the
role by n course OF trying ordenls by fire,
water. famine, and direst torture. 1t is
probably his attested ability to survive in
f~ictions which in ordinary course would
cause death, rather than absolute i'm
munity from any physical injury, which
inspires his peopls with n superstitious
fear. At the same time he Is himself In
constant apprehension of some clandes-
tine influence at work to counterfeit his
own. IL his nominations and mummeries
fail Of success, he charges its failure and
its blame TO w~homsoever he chooses.
Many an innocent life has expiated an al
legged interference in days gone by. Hop
PLY, his supremacy is now at an end.
THE MEDICINE MANS RATTLE.
IL Is the professional business Of the
Shaman to scare people and TO keep them
scared. 1t pays. Whenever he wants
money, instead OF "holding a man up he
shakes his rattle at him. One shake will
impoyerish any ordinary Siwash, W
will clean him out. 1t is the same with
bodily ailments. AS a musical prac-
titioner he dispises the use of nostrums
and discards all physic. His method is to
Brighten disease away. When summoned
in a case OF sickness he rigs himself out in
a garb that would scare a hobgoblin and
increase the pallor of a ghost. An In
valid must be In great extremity, indeed,
when he will consent to send for a doctor.
An appointment with IA nightmare would
not require half the nerve. TIT patient
knows just what to expect. He has pre-
pared himself to be frightened by n long
course OF mental enervation, and he feels
that It is merely q toss-up which shall
stand the Internal racket the longest,
himself or the ailment In fact, If he
should fail to be frightened at all. the en-
chantment is kultus-no good-and the
doctor w%ithdraws, a mortified and dis
gruntled Shaman.
Such n dilemma is alarming, but the
medicine man is prepared to wrestle with
1t. He at once dons n frightful headgear
Of mountain goat horns, with a mask OF
hideous device, and down his naked spine
n row of horns, Jet black and polished,
extends in abnormal development to the
very base. Long pendants made Of dried
skunk skins and assorted intestines dangle
from his head, nrmlets and anklets equally
repulsive e%ncircle his shriveled limbs, and
his whole body CLOVIS with ochre OF green,
yellow and red. Armed with a huge
wooden rattle and coupstick, he advances
into the room with n series of postures and
jerks which impressiyely emphasize his
aggressiveness, o-verpowering the patient
and leaving him limp and paralyzed with
terror. If, however, the disease should
prove recalcitrant, the Shaman seats him
self on the earth in the center of the room
with his back to the fire and proceeds to
beat the ground with his stick, shaking
his rattle and singing with all his might.
He seems in dead earnest, and II there IL
anything in the logic of sympathy thu
patient ought to get well ~instanter. But
death too often plays the stronger hand,
carrying off the victim and the malady to-
gether, much to the disgust OF the doctor.
THE DEPOSITION OF II DEAD.
On the Alaska coast the reputable dead
are usually cremated, and the bones col
lected into a box and preserved. The
calcined remains are carefully placed In
miniature houses like the Shaman's; but,
instead OF being issolated from each other,
the houses are grouped In a common
cemetery, as In civilized communities.
The sites are chosen with picturesque at
traction on n grassy island, shapoly ridges
OF land, and curves of the shore. On a
burial island neal Methlakatla the
Indians have fashioned a number of fir
trees into very artistic patterns. AT Sitka
there is a long ridge lined with several
score of these mortuary receptacles,
painted in gaudy colors and arranged
in parallel rows, interspersed with
tanciful totem poles in quaint
devices on the apex Of each
enc of which is a bear, a raven, or an
Eagle, denoting the clan to which the de-
,eased belonged. These houses are sell
1om more than five or six cube, with a
pyramidal roof, sometimes surmounted
by n carved image. and are very credit
able bits OF architecture, considering that
the boards have been split with an AK and
smoothed with an adze.
There are cemeteries elsewhere which
are enclosed with neat whitewnshed pal
ings, N YOU often see small jacksstaffs
with remnants Of white n colored cotton
cloth standing by the graves. This is
where the method OF interment has been
adopted from the whites, the bodies being
placed in the earth n carved slabs set
mp In lieu OF headstones. There are no
less han three other modes Of sculpture
In Alaska-burial In tents and canoes
raised on saddles out of reach OF ami
mails, aquatic burial beneath the waves,
and In canoes turned ndrift. Cor. New
York Sun.
origin OF the Fashionable Limp
The fashionable woman this season
1xnna with a linn Hnr mil L. Ia 10 L.