In defit strokes, the shaman was sketching a stick man bent over a tube or rod that touched his head. Lines—feathers, Sam presumed—arched from the stick man’s head The central figure completed, the shaman spun spirals above and below the stick man. To the right and left he placed rows of dots, then stepped back to observe his work. Sam gave in to his curiosity and started to ask the old man what he was doing, but was shushed to silence before he said a word.