Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-12-08
THE MEDICINE MAN.
Who Tries to Brighten Disease Away
from Sick Alaskans.

The Shaman, or medicine man, Is an
omnipresent living conundrum to his
unsophisticated people. He is a mys.
terry which they cannot comprehend,
and terror always, for while he Is a
handy sort of parsonage to have in a
community, and is supposed to have
power to heal the sick, he Is neverthe-
less, believed to be in league with the
devil. The malign influence of his
spells Is constant menace, and no one
can tell when or upon whom it may
momentarIly fall. This Is a hard rep.
utation to have, but the Shaman pro-
notes it. He is self-cOnstituted bug
aboo, having duly qualified himself for
the role by a course of trying ordeals
by fire, water, famine, ana direst tor
ture. 1t is probably his attested abil-
ity to survive infections which in ordi-
nary course would cause death, rather
than absolute immunity from any phys
ical injury. which inspires his people
with a superstitious fear. AT the same
time he is himself in constant appre-
hensiOn Of some clandestine influence
at work to c0unteract his own. Ii his
incantations and mummeries fall of sue
cess, he charges its failure and its blame
to whomsoeyer he chooses. Many an
innocent life has expiated an alleged
interference in days gone by. Happily,
his supremacy is now at an end.
Ii 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 .hakes his rattle at him.
One shake will impoverish any ordi-
nary Siwash, two will clean him out.
1t is the same with bodily ailments. As
musical practitioner he despises the
use OF nOstrumS and diScards all physic.
His method is to frlghten disease away.
When summoned In case of sickness
be rigs himself out in garb that would
scare hobgoblin and increase the pal.
lor of ghost. An invalid must be in
great extremity, indeed, when he will
consent to send for doctor. An ap-
pointment with a nightmare would not
require half the nerve. The patient
knows just what to expect. He has
prepared himself to be frightened by a
long course of mental enervation. and
he feels that 1t is merely 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 enchantment Is kultus-nO
good-and the doctor wlthdraws, a
mortified and disgruntled Shaman.
Such 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
a mask of hideous device, and down his
naked spine row of horns, jet black
and polished, extends in abnormal de-
velopment to. the very base. Long pen
dants made dried skunk skins and
assorted intestineS dangIe from his
head, armlets and anklets equally re-
pulsive encircle 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
postureS and jerks which impressively
emphasize his aggressiveness, over
powering the patient and leaving HIM
limp and paralyZed with terror. II.
however, the disease should prove re-
calcitrant, the Shaman sits himself on
the earth in the centre OF the loom
with his back to tho fire and proceeds
to beat the ground with his stick, shak-
ing his rattle and singing with all his
might. He seems in dead earnest, and
if there is anything in the logic of SYM
pathy the patient ought to get well in
stsnter. But death too often plays the
stronger hand, carrying off the victim
and the malady together, much to the
disgust of the doctor.
On the Alaska coast the reputable
dead are usually cremated, and the
bones collected INTO box and preserv-
ed. The calcined remains are c&sefclly
placed in miniature houses like the
Shlman's; but, instead of being isola-
led from each other, the houses are
grouped in a common cemetery, as in
civilized communities. The sites are
chosen with picturesque attraction on
a grassy island, shapely ridges of land,
and curves of the shore. On burial
island near Methlakatla the Indians
have fashioned 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 fam
ciful totem poles in quaint devices on
the apex of each one of which is bear,
a raven, or an eagle, denoting the clan
to which the deceased belonged. These
houses are seldom more than five or six
cube, with a pyramldal roof, sometimes
surmOunted by carved image, and are
very creditable bits of architecture,
considering that the boards have been
split sith and smoothed with az adzs.
There are cemeteries elsewhere which
are enclosed with neat whitewashed
pallngs, and you often see small jack
staffs with pennants of white and col
ored cotton cloth standing by the graves.
This is where the method of lnterment
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 mod
els of sepulture In Alaska-burial in
tents and canoes raised on saddles out
of reach of animals, aquatic burial be-
meath the waves, and in canoes turned
adrift.