TLINGIT SHAMANISM AND SORCERY

Ronald L. Qlson

The data which follow were gathered during the years 1933, 1934, and

195h. I spent the summers of those years in southeast Alaska, working mainly
at trying to unravel the tangled web of Tlingit social structure. Probably

every field worker has experienced times when his informant has become utterly
fatigued with the endless questions hammered at him. So it was now and then
with m Tlingit friends. On such occasions I would switch to other topics,

among them, medicinemen. The sketch which follows is the result of several of
these detours. Tlingit shamans are almost a thing of the past; in 1933 there

were only two practitioners, a half-breed at Hoona and a woman living in Angoon.

My material is largely anecdotal, the accounts nearly verbatim in the
words of my informants.

Shamans constituted a special group among the Tlingit and were as impor-
tant in the realm of the supernatural as chiefs were in the social life. It
was considered a misfortune if each clan in a town or tribe did not have its

own shaman. There was always a hope that the spirit helpers of a deceased sha-
man would "choose" a successor within the clan. There were rituals to bring
this about.

The chief functions of the shaman were the curing of disease, detection

of practitioners of black magic, curing of disease caused by black magic, spying
on enemies and making predictions in time of war. Shamans seldom or never prac-
ticed black magic themselves except in their struggles with other shamans. A

shaman accompanied each war party; his powers enabled him to tell where the en-
emy was hidden, who and how many would be killed. In these revelations he usu-
ally spoke in metaphoric or Delphic terms.

Swanton's statement that "taking the people of the north Pacific coast as
a whole, shamanism reached its climax among the Tlingit" should be qualified to
some extent. One informant claimed that about 1850 there were 30 shamans among
the Tantakwan tribe, but this is probably an unintentional exaggeration or rep-
resents a very exceptional condition. My impression, gained in a number of

ways, is that from five to ten shamans per tribe of a thousand or so would rep-
resent an average. A few are reputed to have had fantastic powers, some con-

trolling several spirits which they were able to send on errands at supersonic
speeds as they carried on their feuds with each other or spied on the enemy in
war

Shamanistic power comes to the individual by the spirit entering (posses-

sing) the shaman. In some cases this is without the volition of the novice, and
even may be against his wish.  In other cases the power is sought, and the quest
involves such procedures as fasting, drinking sea water, cutting the tongues of
animals, and other practices described below. When there is but one shaman in a
clan his death is the signal for the clan chief or some other person to call on

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the spirit helper or helpers of the deceased to enter some other person of the
clan, lest the clan be without such supernatural aid. While persons of either
sex could be shamans, female practitioners are rare.

If a man falls ill, it may be that the spirit which once belonged to a

clan ancestor wishes to find a new "home," having nowhere to go. So the spirit
causes the illness. When a slaman is called to treat the sickness he may know
that the said spirit is causing it and gives advice accordingly. The power may
then be acquired in the manner described below. Or it may be that the spirit

makes himself known by entering a man while he sleeps, causing him to dream cer-
tain things or to cry out. The dreamer's housemates may recognize that it is

the voice of a spirit. In this event a clan council is called and the dreamer
is asked if he is willing to become a shaman. If soj the whole clan begins a

period of sexual continence and partial fasting. No one may eat things derived
from the salt -water which are not motile. This seems to be a category of

things called Tlene di and includes seaweed, clams, mussels, and the like, but
does not include fish or sea mammals.

The shaman-to-be, accompanied by one or more "helpers,t' then goes to a

retreat, a camp in the woods or on the beach. They fast and drink salt water,
but no fresh water, for eight days. During this time the spirit will tell the
novice what- creatures must be found and their tongues cut. These may be of

birds, beasts, or fish, and the animal (or animals) is to be killed or will be
found dead. The spirits of these animals will (or may) come to the man and
give him their own or other powers. As each tongue is cut the novice names

what he wishes. He might say, e.g., "1May hot iron be to me like an icicle," or
"Let me be able to cut human flesh." One novice took a moose-skin robe, tied

eagle talons i nto it, tied the robe to the roots of a tree, and, as his helpers
pulled at it, said, "Let it be that no one will be able to pull off my robe.t'

During this eight-day nov'itiate the principal spirit will also give the
novice songs, usually the magic number four. His helpers join him in singing

these. In some cases the spirit orders him to go (in spirit) to another shaman
and "kill" him.  The spirit thrives on the fat from the body of such "killed"
shamans, who will lose their health and waste away as the spirit eats at them.

Also during this novitiate the shaman-to-be and his helpers pile up such things

as stones to represent the property the shaman will accumulate. It is said that
one shaman piled up snow and as a result was always poor, for snow melts away.

However, persons may become shamans in other ways, as the following ac-
count indicates.

In Butterfly House at Klukwan lived a shaman named Skitlakah. One day

his little son, Yikhas, started imitating his fIther's shamanizing. The father
asked him if he wished to become a shaman, The boy said he did. The father

then shook him and the boy became rigid and remained in a trance for two hours.
He covered the boy with a blanket. People thought he was dead.   The father got
his tambourine, started his shaman's songs, and danced. Finally the boy came

to himself. But for eight days he fasted and drank only a little water. Later
he became a well-known shaman. But he did not marry until he was 30 years old.

Then a potential shaman is going through his novitiate he has a helper
called ikthankau ("shaman's helper"). Both remain continent for the whole

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period. At intervals they fast for eight days. This is done before each time

the tongue of an animal is cut.  If a man were to cut off the tongue of an ani-
ma1 without the purification ritual, he would become insane and soon die.

During the novitiate a novice shaman never touches his penis. 'When urin-
ating he holds his penis with a pair of tongs made of devil club. Should he
touch his penis, he might seize it, in his trances, and try to pull it off.

Some persons "are born to be shamans."  Usually they have curly hair.
This must never be cut lest they lose the gift.

The following specific accounts give further data and some illustrate
obscure concepts regarding shamanism and supernatural powers:

The Shaman of Cat Island

At the time the Tantakwan tribe li-ved in the village of Dasahuk on Cat
Island there was a shaman among them by the name of Kushkan. He was of the

Tekwedih clan and of Thunderbird House. His spirit told him to cut the tongue
from a red snapper. Kushkan's first spirit was named Latsi'n ("power").   The

spirit told Kushkan to go (i.e., his soul to go) to the Tsimshian and "kill" a
certain famous shaman there. He did this and the "dead" shaman's spirit came

into him and gave him four songs. His helpers joined him in singing them. At

the end of the eight days' vigil they returned to Dasahuk. People were anxious
to see what Kushkan would do. They came together in Mountain House (Canahit).
Kushkan sat at the head of the house, his helpers at his side. Most of his

paraphernalia he had taken from the graves of shamans. First he showed what

spirits he had acquired. The first spirit to enter him was the Tsimshian power.
Kushkan told his helpers to give him a shaket (dance headdress), but he spoke

this in Tsimshian and the helpers did not understand. Then Kushkan became con-
scious and told his helpers what he wanted.  Then the spirit entered him again.

He put on the headdress but did not tie it. As his helpers sang, Kushkan danced.
The headdress moved from his head down his back, then onto his right shoulder,
then to his left shoulder. Then it moved again to his head and he came out of
his trance.

Next the red snapper spirit entered him and he acted like a red snapper.
His helpers took a short pole and line with a steel hook for "bait." (Durin
the noovitiate they bad done this but had used a piece of stick for a "hook.")
This gear was then given to any doubters in the audience. Kushkan would then
swallow the hook and the holder of the rod would jerk the line. But the hook

would come out without hurting Kushkan. Then his spirit named "Strong" came to
him. A line of men held a pole, but Kushkan would need only nudge the pole to
bowl them over. Then another of his spirit powers entered him. His helpers

put a red-hot iron down his throat without harm. His fourth spirit entered him.
He took his wolf knife, cut a man's face from scalp to chin, then threw his

knife away and pressed the sides of the cut together. He sang his four spirit
songs and all four spirits entered himO Then he called for feathers, put them
on the cut. Next he painted the man's face. Only a slight scar from the cut
remained. This ended his performance. Still another magical trick was that
when he put on a robe of dressed moose hide, no one could pull it off, even
though it was not tied.

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On one occasion a jealous woman had her adolescent daughter (who was in
isolation) look through a crack in the wall as Kushkan swallowed the fishhook.
As it was jerked out it caught in his mouth. But his spirit told him that the
girl had looked on him.

On one occasion Kushkan was away from the village. A lad ramed Yashut
fell ill and in a few days became abnormally thin. This was because he and

another lad had gone to a nearby island and shot a sea gull. The bird's tongue
stuck out and the boys cut it off and threw it away in play. A few days later
Yashut fell ill. When Kushkan returned he was offered a large sum to attempt a

cure. His sirit came into him. Vhen he came out of the trance he asked, "Were
you playing with a sea gull and did you cut off its tongue?"' When the boy re-

plied that he had, Kushkan said, "Your ancestpr's spirit helpers wish to come to
you." He aggreed to train the boy in shamanizing. He and the lad fasted for
four days and in a few days the illness was gone.

Then the whole Garahadi clan went on a strict diet and were continent
while the boy went through his novitiate. Yashut and the helpers went from
place to place. The chief helper (ikthankau) would cut off the tongues of

various animals. On the point at Port Chester were many shamans' graves and

the party stayed in a cave there.  One grave was that of Kahwan  who was Yashut's
great-grandfather. Iahwan's spirits came and asked for leaf tobacco for their
master (Kahwan). Yashut told his helpers to bring eight pieces of the tobacco
wrapped in cedar bark. They placed this at the grave. The spirits thanked the
giver and told him to stay there four days so that all Kahwan's spirits would

come to him. Four times they gave tobacco and each time it was gone in the morn-
ing.

The fourth night Yashut's spirit entered him and his helpers heard him
babbling. He told his men to be sure not to drink fresh water; and that they
were to get some things from the grave of Kahwan. In the grave house were two
carvings of the head and shoulders of men-spirits called iktdAkye gi ("spirits
which sit at the door"). When the helpers tried to take these the grave house
shook, for the dead man's spirit did not wish to part with these. That night

Yashut' s spirit told him to get the tongues of a dog, a mink, and a deer. But
they did wrong and kept the whole deer to eat. Then they started home.

At the village Kushkan was sitting in front of his house. When the canoe
came near he called on a spirit called aniggagayeggi (a spirit which lived under
the water out from the village). Kushkan "poured water into the mouth of this
spirit" which caused an invisible whirlpool. He wished to see if Yashut would

"see" this whirlpool. Yashut was lying in the bottom of the canoe, covered with
a blanket. But as they came to the "'whirlpool" he told his men to back water

and to go sunwise (counterclockwise) around the spot four times. Then Kushkian
saw this he laughed and said, "My grandson is a real shaman." As the canoe was
beached Yashut's father killed two slaves in honor of his son's becoming a sha-
man.

Yashut performed his tricks to show his power. Afterward there was a

feast. The deer they had killed was eaten. That night Yashut's spirit told
him he had done wrong and said, "Now one by one your clansmen will die, until
none are left." (And so it came to pass, for now only a few Ganahadi remain.)

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Most shamans when called on in a case of witchcraft use obscure language
in naming the guilty party; but Kushkan would name the offender directly, and
this nude enemies. So all those practicing witchcraft joined together to kill
him. One summer Kushkan was in camp at a salmon stream at Anette Point. He
fell ill and his spirits told him that the sorcerers had joined together to

kill him. He tried to cure himself, but could not. 'When he was near death his
spirit came and told him that his own uncle Kanatlgidjl, with whom he lived,

was the leader of the sorcerers. The young people of the camp brought berries
which Kushkan ate. For a time he felt better, but that midnight he cried out
"thi!" in a loud voice, then said, "The berries I ate were bewitched."  (His
uncle had worked the sorcery.)

In the morning his spirit told him that if he ate snow, he would recover.
Snow was brought to him and he ate it mixed with oil, But at midnight he

again cried out and said, "They have seized on what I ate."  One man told him
to find who had done it and the culprit would be killed. But Kushkan's spirit
could not name the culprit, saying the sorcerers had "bound his eyes" so he

could not see. The next day Kushkan called all his clan (the Tekwedih) together
and told them they were to bury him- on the islet off Cape Fox, called Kadesutl-
gi 'tc. He said that if they did so, there would be four shamans among the Tek-

wedih. He also said that the leader of the sorcerers was of their own clan. He
went on to say that unless he was buried where he wished he would give no luck
to those offering tobacco and food offshore from his grave. Before he died he

told his nephew that his (Kushkan's) mother's brother was the leader of the sor-
cerers. The nephew told others.

In a few days Kushkan died. But instead of burying him off Cape Fox they
buried him on the northern tip of Dog Island. The body was left on an offshore
rock the night before the funeral and all that night flickering flames rose

from the spot. The reason he was not buried at Cape Fox was that his clan would
have had to pay very heavily to have the body taken so far. (Burial rites are
in the hands of a clan of the opposite moiety and heavy payments are involved.)

When Kushkan died there were the usual observances for a great shaman.

The whole clan fasted for eight days and were continent for a year. On each of
the four days after the funeral the following was done: the clan gathered out-
of-doors and the clan chief would shout four times, naming a spirit of the de-
ceased. This was done for each of his spirits, in the hope that at least one

of them would enter the body of someone present. Each time the chief would cry,
"Don't give up staying with your masters," thus asking the spirit to enter some
survivor within the clan. Songs followed this. This was kept up for four suc-
cessive days. No spirit came because they had violated Kushkan's instructions.
The clan mourned on this account.

The Shaman Nuwat

In the Hashittan clan was a famous shaman named Nuwat who had a camp in
the north arm of Moira Sound. On the south shore of Miller Lake he fixed up a

tree as a house. He caused (with his power) a rock slide to come so berry bush-
es would grow. And he caused salmon berries to grow in three valleys. These

things he did to demonstrate that he was a real shaman. One of his spirits was
Hagigu nih ("spring water under the earth").

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One autumn he and his family were returning to the winter village.  Half-
way home 'his little daughter asked for a drink but they had no water with them.-
His wife said, "Where is that spring water you are always talking about?"  But

he did not'answer. The child cried for water. Again his wife twitted him. So

he signalled his helper to hand him his spirit box. Then he put on his shaman's
shirt. He told the people to dash for shore as soon as water came up. As he

sang his song a sand bar appeared alongside the canoe and in the middle of it a
spring boiled up. Nuwat came out of his- trance and ordered a man to fill a

bucket with the'spring water.  Then Nuwat stepped onto the sand bar and warned
them to hurry on. They headed for shore, but a sudden storm came up and all

were drowned save one nan. At Adams Point is a fissure in the rock where Nuwat
came up out of the water. But he never returned to the winter village.

The Shaman Gaanisten-Gakkahwan

About 1850 one of the shamans among the Tanktakwan was Gaanisten of the
HIshittan clan. He wished to acquire all the spirits which the famed shaman
Nuwat had had. When all these had come to him a nale land otter appeared to

him in a dream and told him to cut off its tongue. The spirit told him in this
dream that Land Otter would meet him. One day they (his helper and he) saw

three land otters following their canoe, diving like porpoises. One of these
came to,rest and floated up, dead. They took this one to a cave and cut off

its tongue. That night its spirit came to Gaanisten, gave him a song, and told
him the otter's name, Gakkahwan ("face of frost"). He was usually called by
this name afterward. Even today the Hashittan have this for a personal name.
The two men returned to their camp and fasted four days, drinking salt water

during this time. (This was to make the shaman pure, so that the spirit would
remain with him.)

Among, other spirits which Gakkahwan (Gaanisten) had was one from his

uncle's uncle. But only three spirits were strong in him: gautuye keh ("spirit
in the drum"), kusawuka h ("skinny man," mink), and gakahwan ("face of frost,"
otter).  But these three were so strong that when one of them entered him he
nearly fell down.

At the mouth of Copper River far to the north lived a shaman of the

Kluknahadih clan named Karaktih. A spirit owned by this one came down and

watched Gakkahwan. He (the spirit) returned to his master and told him that

Gakkahwan was indeed a powerful shaman. So the shaman sent his spirit to "kill"
Gakkahwan. But the latter knew he was coming and hid in a cave where the power
house'now stands at New Metlakatla. The northern spirit found him, dragged him
down the cliff, and clubbed him to "death."  (The white streak where he dragged
him can still be seen on the cliff.)  Then the spirit "ate" his human victim,
for the victim seemed fat. The victorious spirit and his master both became
fat.

Not until after he was "dead" did Gakkahwan discover what had happened,
for the enemy spirit had blinded him. The enemy spirit carried the victim's
spirit (as if he were game) to his master at Copper River. At midnight that

night his otter spirit said to Gakkahwan, "They have killed you already." Then
the spirit came into him and at that instant Gakkahwan awoke. He sent for all
the other shamans.  They all, and many nonshamans, came to Gakkahwan's house.

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He told them that he had been "eaten," that his "bones" were in a gulch at

Copper River. (When a shaman has been "killed" in this manner his life is in
dan-ger and he may die easily.) So he stayed in his house and the other sha-
mans doctored him.

A deadly struggle now began between the two shamans and their spirits.
arnaktih ordered one of his spirit helpers to guard the bones of the victim
where the other helper spirit had left them. But this guarding spirit made

the mistake of not staying with the bones every instant. Kanaktih hid himself
on an island in the delta of the Copper River for he knew that he was in dan-

ger. Gakkahwan now ordered his spirits to take up posts, one on Gravina Island,
one at the mouth of the Stikine, one at the mouth of the Taku, one at the mouth
of the Chilkat, and one on a mountain east of the Copper River (probably Mt.

St. Elias). The mink spirit ranged up and down the coast. Finally Mink Spirit
hung a line from the sky above the bones, getting another spirit to hold its

upper end, and tying a bag to its lower end. Then Mink caused fog to form and
told his aide to lower the line. He watched the spirit guarding the bones, and
the instant this spirit was off his guard Mink seized the bones and put them in
the bag. The bag and its bones were passed as in a relay from spirit to spirit.
There was a terrific race between the two "teams" of spirits, for Kanaktih soon
discovered the loss of the bones. As each spirit passed on the bones to the
next he turned himself into pebbles or dust so that the pursuing spirits saw
nothing.

Now Kanaktih collapsed and was near death. Mink Spirit had told the home
shamans to be ready, and the instant the bones were returned they sent their
spirits in pursuit of the enemy spirits.  The latter were outnumbered and

forced to fall back. The contest over the "bones" went on for several years.

Gakkahwan worked at "name magic" on his enemy during this time. This is
called keanatlseg ("naming to death") and can be used by nonshamans also. He

called everything by the name of his enemy. He would say, "Give me a Kanktiht
(drink); "Put more Kanaktih (wood) on the fire," and so on. Gaklahwan also

sent his spirits to the south to "kill" other shamans so that he could feed on
them and grow fat, for his spirits could not enter him so long as he was thin.
Finally,, his spirits had "killed" eight shamans and "fed" them to him so that
he was fat.  Then he set out to cure himself.  Four times he and his clansmen

fasted, were continent, and purified themselves by drinking salt water. Now he
was ready to kill his enemy Kanaktih. He sent his mink spirit through the air
to Copper River.where the spirit located Kanaktih hiding on the island.

But one of Kanaktih's spirits saw Mink and told his master. But Mink

caused himself to disappear and returned to his master. This time Gakkahwan

sent Mink underground, but again the watching spirits saw him and warned their
master. Kanaktih was very careful of what he ate or drank and had his spirits
carefully inspect whatever he took, lest an enemy spirit enter it and thus
enter him.

Mink (who was head spirit) now stationed his fellow spirits at the same

places as when he had recovered his master's "bones."  Then Mink went "sunwise"l
around the world (west to east) and came to Kanaktih's place, looking for a way
to get in. He carried a bag. But again a watching spirit saw him. Then Mink
went under water, but was again discovered.  But now Mink went up Copper River,

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watched how the current ran, then put himself into a hemlock leaf. Karaktih's

spirits were very watchful, stationing themselves with poles and eamining every-
thing'which floated'down.  But Mink in his tiny leaf stayed close to shore and
drifted slowly and carefully down. Thus he passed all the watching spirits.

Then''he'went to midstream and came to the shore of the island. He came upon Kan-
aktih, broke his head with a club, and put him in his bag. Then he called on his
helper to lower the line. This one pulled up the bag and passed it on to the

spirit stationed at Chilkat, and he passed it on until it reached the home vil-
lage. Kanaktih's spirits saw the dripping blood and knew that they had failed,

that their master was "killed." At home all the assembled shamans who were help-
i'ng Gakkahwan admired the "body."  But Mink told them that Kanaktih's fellow sha-
mans in the north had sent their spirits to help. So all the home shamans took
clubs, rushed to the door, and their spirits drove the irnvading spirits back.

The home shamans sharpened their knives, cut the fat from the "body," roas-
ted it and ate it. The watching laymen could see nothing, of course. But the

shamans got eight nonshamans to bring a canoe mast. Over this they hung the re-
maining fat and Its weight nearly broke the mast as it was carried out. Thus
Karaktih was "kkilled.1"

Soon after this some Stick Indians (Gurana) from the interior came down

Copper River, found Kanaktih, killed him, and captured his wife. They took his
shaman's box and went toward home. (But Ranaktih's human helper escaped.) On

the way home the raiders opened the box and asked the wife the rame of each spir-
it represented by the various objects. She told them, and each of the captors

took the name of a spirit. Firally they came to the object called a kinakgatlcu h,
which is the scalp of a dead shaman with the hair knotted and bones stuck in the
hair. She told what this was. One of the captors put this on his head, but as
he did so he fell down as if dead. The others thought he had acquired a spirit.
The others, very anxious to get such a powerful spirit, put it on in turn. But

as each put it on he fell down. 'When only three men remained they saw blood run-
ning from the 'mouths of the fa'llen. The spirit had really killed them. The
raiders ran away from the spot.

Karaktih's helper, ramed Tukeh, had seen all this. He was now all alone

and subsisted on nothing but "gum boot" clams and lived in a brush shelter. The
shells and offal of the clams he left around his fire until the place was filthy.
One day he heard a voice say, "I wonder how it is around Tukeh's fire."   In the
evening he heard the same again. He wondered what it was. Every day he heard

the voice uttering the same query. Finally it occurred to him to clean the place
and put new sand around. He gathered a lot of wood. ihen he had done so he

heard the same voice, but louder now. And as the voice spoke, a seal was thrown
down nearby, blood running from its nose. Thus he had good food, regained his

strength, and went back to his people.  In this way it was learned what had hap-
pened to Kanaktih.

A Tantakwan Woman Shaman

The following was told about a famous woman shaman of several generations
back: There was a Ganahadi girl named Djun who was friendless and poor, for all
her kin were dead. Her mother's brother's wife took care of her. One day the
two went to gather a root called tset which grows in the grassy places at the

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mouths of creeks. The girl found a pile of these roots which had been dug up
by wild geese. The uncle's wife said to her, "You will be lucky and become a
person of high position. So you must be careful what you do." (Evidently

this was said because the finding of these roots already dug was a good omen.)

One night as the girl lay sleeping her housemates heard strange noises.
They went to her and saw that she was acting like a shaman. In time she came

to be famed for curing, foretelling the future, finding lost articles, ferret-
ing out cases of witchcraft, and telling when a taboo had been broken.

On one occasion a chief's wife had such a terrible pain in her head that

she screamed in agony. Djun was called in and given many gifts.   In a few days
the woman was well. Later the chief's daughter had a similar illness. Each

night Djun went into a trance and sang songs as she worked over the girl. The
fourth night she came out of her trance at the end of her second song. She

said she must have more payment before she could diagnose what was causing the
illness, Then the father of the girl paid her much more. Again she went into
a trance. She circled the watchers four times, going "sunwise," i.e., counter-
clockwise. She grabbed at the cause of sickness with her hands. Finally she
began as if pulling in a line, the "line of witchcraft."   People watched to
see which one of those present would be pointed out as guilty. In front of
each one present the shaman "pulled on the line" while looking intently into
the person's face. But this time it was not a person who was guilty but a

wren. They were in Raven House, which is always built with double doors. The
shaman came to the doors. She continued to sing and signalled that the doors
be opened. When this was done she continued pulling in the "line," Soon a

wren came hopping in. Then the spirit came out of her and she told the people
to catch the bird. They caught it and, following the shaman's instructions,
tied up its wings and Jegs. She told them to put it at the rear post of the
house and to treat it the same as a human witch or wizard for four or eight
days. Accordingly the bird was given no food and only salt water to drink.
To the water was added the slimy, mossy water from the bilge of canoes.

After four days the shaman told them to let the bird out, tied to a long
string leash. The bird led them back of the vrillage. Everyone in the village
followed. They came to a moss-covered, sloping windfall. The bird indicated
the log. Under it they found a human skull and in this the bird had built a

nest. The bird had intended no harm [sic] but had used some of the girl's hair
in nest building and thus had almost killed her.

They carefully carried the skull to the beach, followed by the bird.

Djun told them to take out the nest a bit at a time and drop it into deep water.
They did this, and also dropped the skull in deep water. They let the bird
free. The following morning the girl was well.

On another occasion Djun was called in to treat a sick person. When she
came out of her trance she said that the sick woman had been bewitched by
Tawasi si, a high chief. His clan (Wolf) was numerous and powerful, while
Djun's clan (the Ganahadi) was relatively weak. The chief said, "I did not

bewitch the woman. Are you going to believe that poor useless girl Djun? Let
the proof be shown in public!1'  Djun agreed to this.

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A small stream ran through the village. The kWlf houses were on one side
of the stream, the Raven (Ganahadi) houses on the other. That night Djun's

spirit gave her a new song which ran, "I wish that the great chief, he who has
the name Tawasisi, would respect this poor child. " The next morning the two

clans lined up on either side of the stream, armed. The Ganahadi sang this new
song. Djun's helpers had dressed her hair in a special way and had put two

pointed bones in it. Now, when a shaman takes such a "pointing bone," points
it at a person and says, "Huh," the person pointed at will, if he is a wiard,
move in whatever direction the bone moves. An innocent person, on the other
hand, will be able to remain still.

The accused chief was dressed in his finery and had on a ceremonial ringed
hat. As her clansmen sang, Djun pointed the bone at the chief, then moved it to
his right. He almost fell over, being jerked by the power. Then she pointed
the bone to his left, and again he was jerked so v'iolently that the hat rings
swayed. Then she pointed the bone upward and the chief bent sharply backward.

She pointed the bone down and he bent forward. His clansmen, seeing this, felt
almost disgraced. For an innocent person would not do this compulsive bending.
The chief's clansmen went home in shame.

Later Djun narried and through her shamanizing became the richest woman

among the Ganahadi. She bore two daughters, named Tlanat and Guglan. These two
became the mothers of all of the Ganahadi among the southern Tlingit.

It is remarkable that Djun had become a shaman and got her spirit power,
though she had never cut the tongue of a living creature.

Sorcery and Black Magic

Although shamanism is a thing of the past among the Tlingit, it is quite

otherwise with sorcery. It has proved as durable a trait as in our own society.
As recently as 1956 one of the Tlingit towns was in an uproar for weeks over
charges and counter-charges of black magic.

Sorcery is a crime against society, horrible and vicious.  It is a greater
crime than murder, theft or adultery.  Black magic is a disgrace to the whole

clan of the practitioner. The stigma remains for generations--"it can never be
washed away." References to it are made (usually by innuendo) in quarrels and,

as with slavery and cases of being taken prisoner in war, the blot on the family
remains to plague the descendants and even thei r relatives.

Sorcery or witchcraft is truly a fearsome thing. Those guilty of practic-
ing it or suspected of doing so were formerly sometimes killed. Sometimes even
their ch'ildren were killed lest they pass on ,the stigma. Suspects might be tied
to a stake on the beach at low tide. The beatings at the grave of recent years
are a modern form of such punishment. Sorcery, witchcraft, and black magic are
much practiced even to the present day, despite the fact that nearly all Tlingit
are at least nominal Christians. But it is very 4difficult to secure information
on these topics. Only one among my informants was willing to discuss this near-
taboo subject at any length and nearly all my information is from him, DC.

It is believed that a sorcerer has eight "covers," like skins, inside his
body. These are called duhtuyik ga'tkli, "inside him (or her) clam," "because

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a clam when touched, closes." Only another and stronger sorcerer can make
these open and cure the person of sorceryo

The incident, or rather family history, which follows illustrates the
concept that sorcery is passed on within the family, inherited in the same
way as hereditary traits.

JA young full-blood Russian was captured, made a slave, and given the name
Djawa k. His owner was Tetlnawu of Angoon who was Mrs. DC's father's father.

The slave became a good fisherman.  But when he camte in empty-handed his owner's
nephews would hit him over the head with seal stomach floats to bring him luck.
But this he did not understand and would think he was being punished. The

family owned a large "Canadian" (i.e., pottery) dish which had come from Tsawa'c
(Port Simpson?). One day Djawak broke the dish while washing it.   The nephews
broke the pieces ove'r his head. He ran away, reached Sitka and got to the

Russian stockade.  There he was recognized, cleaned up and considered a Russian.

Later Djawak married a Tlingit girl, a member of the Kiksadi clan. A
descendant (daughter's daughter's son) is one DW. A daughter of DW was be-

witched as a child. A certain man tempted her with a big doll, but when she
came to him he struck her with the carcass of a dog. She fell unconscious.

When she regained consciousness she told what had happenedo Her uncles accused
the man she named. He declared that he was innocent, but they tied him up un-
til he confessed. He was released and not punished because he was of a promi-
nent family of Gutchittan. This bewitching of the girl D has never been

"washed out" and it is thrown up to children who are descended from her that
they come of a line which has been bewitched. D married W. A daughter of

theirs married Cl and they had six children, five daughters and a son.   One of
the girls used to visit DC's daughter so much that she was a pest. During one
such visit she boasted of her high caste, that she had Russian blood as well.

She did not know that the Russian blood was that of a slave, for this had been
a skeleton in the family closet. Actually, everyone knows of it.

If the sorcerer had not confessed, the sorcery would have remained in
the girl and she would have passed it on to her daughters. If the bewitched
girl had not been an only daughter and therefore the only one who could pass
on the family's valued names and prerogatives, she would have been killed to

wipe out the disgrace. But the stigma remains to this day and cannot be wiped
out.

In Sitka there was a widow of the Kiksadi clan living in a house with

some kinsmen. She was working black magic and claimed she did so because she

could not help it; that she had been bewitched by some members of the Kagwantan
clan. They had given her snuff mixed with lime from clam shells. These sor-

cerers came to her in their inhuman guises. She could hear them, for a sorcer-
er as he walks nakes a crackling sound on the ground. This woman wished to
stop her sorcery but had a compulsive urge to carry it on. She asked that

Christian prayers be said for her. In the house next to her a man lay dying.
At the instant of his death the witch cried out, "Save him."   Then she came

out of her trancelike state, The next day she put her images with which she
worked magic in the water and thus prevented the deaths of the persons the
images represented.

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They took the witch to Reverend Austin, the Presbyterian minister, who was
skeptical. He made- a test of her power. He put peanuts in a bowl in the kit-

chen, then asked her to cause some to fly into her hand. She immediately handed
him four. Then they sent for a woman rnamed Laskeh, a powerful witch. This one
worked over her for an hour but could not open the "covers" in her, for a more
powerful witch was working against it. A few days later the poor woman (who
wanted to confess but could not) committed suicide by hanging herself.

Necromancy and Necrophilia

1gic and sorcery linked with the dead, graves, or even the funeral pyre
seem to be specially developed among the Tlingit. Necrophilia in the form of
sexual relations with the spirits of the dead is a related practice. Both are
so feared and dreaded that it is difficult to secure information on them. To

admit much knowledge of black magic or necrophilia might give rise to suspicion
of practicing the same. Neither Krause nor Swanton mentions them. My chief
source of data was DC, who was unusually uninhibited when it came to natters
seldom openly discussed, even among the Tlingit themselves.

Sorcerers who go to the graves of the recent dead to work magic are im-
pelled- by a "feeling" or a spirit within them. It is said that no sorcerers

ever visit the graves of whites. But some whites, bewitched by someone, have
been known to visit rative graves.

Thus a certain white man, X, was narried to a Kiksadi woman. He had been
bewitched by a Hoona woman. They lived on Japonsky Island. The Hoona witch

was able to fly through the air to X's home and enter, even though the door was
locked. She showed him how she had come through the keyhole. The two often
had sexual intercourse. Later he told his wife that the dead in the cemetery
called him to come over, that he was able to fly there and have intercourse
with beautiful girls among the dead.

Two motives compel the sorcerers:  Either they wish to have intercourse

with the dead or to work magic against some person they wish to harm. DC told
of a young woman who tried to persuade him to go with her to the cemetery. She
declared that intercourse with the (spirits of) dead was more pleasurable than
sexual relations with the living.

The first night after the remains (body or bones) are placed in the grave
is the time that a sorcerer may visit the grave for evil purposes. So four or
eight men of the clan of the deceased stand watch to try to catch the prowler.
If he is caught, the watchers may beat or even shoot the sorcerer. Such evil
persons are able to enter the grave house even through a small crack. Once

inside, they assume a nonhuman form such as a dog, a ptarmigan, a duck, or an-
other creature. They may make sounds like this animal or may whistle. At the
grave they go into a magical performance. The following incidents are illus-
trative v

In Sitka there is an Orthodox church cemetery for natives. Two men came
walking past it one night. A small grave house was near the path and inside
they heard a noise like a ptarmigan. One of them hit the house with a sti-ck.
At that instant the witch came out, a girl of eighteen. She tried to escape

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but one of the men caught her skirt. She had on her finest clothes. They
asked what she had been doing. She confessed she had been working sorcery
to harm a certain person. (This is usually done by getting things from the
victim, such as clothing or hair cuttings. An image is made and harmed or

deformed in some manner. It is then placed in the grave house. The victim
will be afflicted in the same way that the image was mutilated.) In this

particular case the girl pleaded with the men not to tell and gave each twen-
ty dollars to keep the secret.

Another instance of the operation of sorcery is the following: A cer-

tain rich man of the Garahtedih of Klukwan married a Sitka woman of Gutchittan.
The couple came to Sitka and were visiting at the house of Yadutski c. They
were treated well and feasted. During their stay there was a death and the

body was cremated. That evening the visiting woman was missing from the house.
The host and his wife went to the beach on an errand of nature. 'hile there
they heard a shot. In a moment they heard someone run up the steps of the
house. The host told his wife to walk slowly while he went to see who had

come in. He saw a trail of blood on the, steps. It was the woman visitor. The
watchers at the grave had seen her blowing on the embers of the cremation fire
and had shot her. She died toward morningo

The people of her clan killed two of her children, a son and a daughter,
so that there would be no children born through the witch. But she had other

daughters who had married into other tribes. The descendants of these to this
day have the disgrace mentioned in quarrels, that so-and-so was shot at the
grave; this despite the fact that they are prominent (high-caste) people.

A certain man died at Angoon. Tour men watched at the grave. A fifth
was an Americanized man, AP, who came along because he was skeptical. The
night was still and moonlit.  There was a light snow on the ground.   Near

morning the watchers heard a sound like wind from wings. At that instant they
saw a person on the grave. He took off one boot. They caught him and kicked
and beat him. The skeptic did not take part in the beating because the de-
ceased was not of his clan. There were no footprints in the snow, showing

that the sorcerer had flown there. After the beating the wizard got up and

walked away as if nothing had happened. The watchers took the boot and put it
up on a stick in the village. The next morning there was news that a certain
man (the sorcerer) was sick. His family sent for the white nurse to examine

him. He was sent to the native hospital in Juneau but nothing helped him, so
he was sent back to Angoon where he died shortly afterO

A man named Tsini c of the Daklawedih clan at Angoon went on a visit to
Juneau. He was (nominally) a Christian, belonging to the S.lvation Army.

While he was in Juneau a young Daklawedih man died. The watchers at the grave
saw someone come and perform incantations over the grave. They rushed him,

caught him and beat him badly. But he was able to get back to his boat. On

the way home he began to spit. blood and died a few days later from the beating.

*    .*   *

A man named Gede h of the lDklawedih clan at Klukwan was shot while work-
ing sorcery at a grave. As usual there were four clansmen of the deceased

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,watching over the new grave. The grave -was narked with a pole, and. a crossp'iece
[a cross?3. Near morning the atchers heard a sound like a diving eagle. "It"
flew past the grave, then turned and came back.  They shot and the "bird" fell.
They seized it and saw that it was one of their own clansmen. He begged them
not to tell and gave fifty blankets to each.

About 1925 a certain high caste husband and wife were seen at a new grave.
He was dressed as an Orthodox priest. He carried a human skull, pierced through
the dome, suspended from a cord. This he was using as a censer, chanting the
Christian litany, his wife giving the replies.

It is said that grave sorcery is on the increase in recent times because
the white nan's law offers protection to the sorcerer and even punishes the
iatchers at the grave.

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