, 1886-03-12
THE MEDICINE MAN
WHO TRIES TO BRIGHTEN DISEASE
AWAY FROM SICK ALAsKANs.
The Professional Business of Soaring Peo-
ple-wrestiinE with an Alarming Di-
Ismma-Cremstion and Other Methods
of Disposing Of the Dead

The Professional Business of Soaring Pso-
pie-wrestiinE with an Alarming Di-
Ismma-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 a handy sort
OF a parsonage to lave in a community,
and is supposed TO have power to heal the
siok, he is. nevertheless, believed TO be in
league with the devil. The malign infiu-
ence OF his spells Is a constant menace,
and no one can tell when or upon whom
IL may momentsrily fall This is a hard
reputation to have, but the ShamAn pro-
notes II. He Is a self-constituted buga-
boo, having duly qualified himself for the
role by a course OF trying ordeals by fire,
water, famine, and direst torture. 1t is
probably his attested ability to survive in
hictiens which In ordinary course would
cause death, rather than absolute i'm
munity from any physical injury, which
inspires his people with a superstitious
fear. At the same time he is himself In
constant apprehension Of some clandes-
tine influence at work to counterfeit his
own. II his lamentations and mummeries
fail OF success, he charges its failure and
its blame TO whomsoever he chooses.
Many an innocent life has expiated an al
legged interference in days gone by. Hap
PLY, his supremacy Is now at an end.
TIKI MEDICINE MANS RArTLR
II Is the professional business Of the
hannah to scare people and to keep them
scared. It pays. Whenever he wants
money, instead OF @holding a man up" he
shakes his rattle at lin. One shake will
~lmpoverish any ordinary Siwash, two
will clean him out. 1t is the same with
bodily ailments. As a musical prac-
titioner he dispisss 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
n 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 n doctor.
An appointment with a nightmare would
not require half the nerve. The patient
knows Just what to expect. He has pre-
pared himself TO be frightened by a long
course OF mental enervation, and he feels
that II is merely u toss-up which shall
stand the Internal racket the longest,
himself or the ailment. In fact, II hi
should fail TO be frightened at all. the en-
chantment Is kultus-no good-and the
doctor withdraws, a mortified and dis
g~runtled Shsman.
Such a dilemma Is alarming, but the
medicine man is prepared TO wrestle with
1t. He at once dons a frightful headgear
OF mountain goat horns, with = mask OF
hideous device, and down his naked spine
a row OF horns, jet black and polished,
eKte nds in abnormal development to the
vary huaa Tnny nando ~ uaaAa ~ drfa1
skunk skins and assorted intestines bangle
from his head, srmlets and anklets equally
repulsiye e~ncircle his shriyeled limbs, and
his whole body glows with ochre OF green,
yellow and red. Armed with a huge
wooden rattle and coupstick, he advances
into the room with a series Of pastures and
jerks which impressively emphasize his
aggressiyensss, overpowering the patient
and leaving him limp and paralyzed with
terror. II. 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 IN
anything In the logic OF sympathy tn,
patient ought to get we'll 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.
H DISPOSITION Oh THE DEAD.
On the Alaska coast the reputable dead
are usually cremsted, 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 a grassy island, shapely ridges
OF Land, and curves of the shore. On a
burial island near 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 re~ceptacles,
painted In gaudy colors and arranged
in parallel rows, interpreted with
tsnoiful totem poles in quaint
tevices Oh the apex Of zach
enc OF which is a bear. a raven, or an
Eagle, denoting the clan to which the de-
,eased belonged. These houses are sell
iom more than Ave or six cube, with a
pyramidal roof, sometimes rmoun
by a carved image. and are very credit
able bits Of architecture, considering that
the boards have been split with an az and
smoothed with an Adze.
There arc cemeteries elsewhere which
are enclosed with neal whitewashed pal
ings, and you often see small jackstaffs
with ~pennRnts OF white and 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 and carved slabs set
up In lieu OF headstones, There are no
less than three other modes OF sepulture
In Alaska-burial in tents and canoos
raised on saddles out OF reach OF ami
mails, aquatic burial beneath the waves,
and In canoes turned sdrlft-Cor. New
York Sun.