“In each village of the Kuskutchewak (of Alaska) there is a public building named the kashim, in which councils are held and festivals kept, and which must be large enough to contain all the grown men of the village. It has raised platforms around the walls, and a place in the centre for a fire, with an aperture in the roof for the admission of light.”—(Richardson, “Arctic Searching Expedition,” London, 1851, p. 365.)
Those kashima are identical with the estufas of Zuñis, Moquis, and Rio Grande Pueblos. Whymper himself describes them thus: “These buildings may be regarded as the natives’ town hall; orations are made, festivals and feasts are held in them.”
No room is left for doubt after reading the fuller description of these kashima, contained in Bancroft. He says the Eskimo dance in them, “often in puris naturalibus,” and make “burlesque imitations of birds and beasts.” Dog or wolf tails hang to the rear of their garments. A sacred feast of fish and berries accompanies these dances, wherein the actors “elevate the provisions successively to the four cardinal points, and once to the skies above, when all partake of the feast.”—(Bancroft, “Native Races,” vol. i. p. 78.)
There is a description of one of these dances by an American, Mr. W. H. Gilder, an eyewitness. “The kashine (sic) is a sort of town hall for the male members of the tribe.... It is built almost entirely under ground, and with a roof deeply covered with earth. It is lighted through a skylight in the roof, and entered by a passage-way and an opening which can only be passed by crawling on hands and knees.... In the centre of the room is a deep pit, where in winter a fire is built to heat the building, after which it is closed, and the heat retained for an entire day. In this building the men live almost all the time. Here they sleep and eat, and they seldom rest in the bosom of their families.” He further says that there was “a shelf which extends all round the room against the wall.... One young man prepared himself for the dance by stripping off all his clothing, except his trousers, and putting on a pair of reindeer mittens.... The dance had more of the character of Indian performances than any I had ever previously seen among the Esquimaux.”—(“Ice-Pack and Tundra,” pp. 56-58.)
The following information received from Victor Namoff, a Kadiak of mixed blood, relates to a ceremonial dance which he observed among the Aiga-lukamut Eskimo of the southern coast of Alaska. The informant, as his father had been before him, had for a number of years been employed by the Russians to visit the various tribes on the mainland to conduct trade for the collection of furs and peltries. Besides being perfectly familiar with the English and Russian languages, he had acquired considerable familiarity with quite a number of native dialects, and was thus enabled to mingle with the various peoples among whom much of his time was spent. The ceremony was conducted in a large partly underground chamber, of oblong shape, having a continuous platform or shelf, constructed so as to be used either as seats or for sleeping. The only light obtained was from native oil lamps. The participants, numbering about ten dozen, were entirely naked, and after being seated a short time several natives, detailed as musicians, began to sing. Then one of the natives arose, and performed the disgusting operation of urinating over the back and shoulders of the person seated next him, after which he jumped down upon the ground, and began to dance, keeping time with the music. The one who had been subjected to the operation just mentioned, then subjected his nearest neighbor to a similar douche, and he in turn the next in order, and so on until the last person on the bench had been similarly dealt with, he in turn being obliged to accommodate the initiator of the movement, who ceases dancing for that purpose. In the meantime all those who have relieved themselves step down and join in the dance, which is furious and violent, inducing great perspiration and an intolerable stench. No additional information was given further than that the structure may have been used in this instance as a sudatory, the urine and violent movements being deemed sufficient to supply the necessary amount of moisture and heat to supply the participants with a sweat-bath.—(Personal letter from Dr. W. J. Hoffman, Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, D. C., June 16, 1890.)
Elliott describes the “Orgies” in the “Kashgas” as he styles them. “The fire is usually drawn from the hot stones on the hearth.... A kantog of chamber-lye poured over them, which, rising in dense clouds of vapor, gives notice by its presence and its horrible ammoniacal odor to the delighted inmates that the bath is on. The kashga is heated to suffocation; it is full of smoke; and the outside men run in from their huts with wisps of dry grass for towels and bunches of alder twigs to flog their naked bodies.
“They throw off their garments; they shout and dance and whip themselves into profuse perspiration as they caper in the hot vapor. More of their disgusting substitute for soap is rubbed on, and produces a lather, which they rub off with cold water.... This is the most enjoyable occasion of an Indian’s existence, as he solemnly affirms. Nothing else affords a tithe of the infinite pleasure which this orgy gives him. To us, however, there is nothing about him so offensive as that stench which such a performance arouses.”—(Henry W. Elliott, “Our Arctic Province,” New York, 1887, p. 387.)
“Quoique généralement malpropres, ces gens ont, comme les autres Inoits et la plupart des Indiens, la passion des bains de vapeur, pour lesquels le kachim a son installation toujours prête.
“Avec l’urine qu’ils recueillent précieusement pour leurs opérations de tannage, ils se frottent le corps; l’alcali, se mélangeant avec les transpirations et les huiles dont le corps est imprégné, nettoie la peau comme le ferait du savon; l’odeur âcre de cette liqueur putréfiée paraît leur être agréable, mais elle saisit à la gorge les étrangers qui reculent suffoqués, et ont grand’peine à s’y faire. Horreur! horreur! oui, pour ceux qui ont un pain de savon sur leur table à toilette; mais pour ceux qui ne possèdent pas ce détersif?”—(“Les Primitifs,” Réclus, p. 71, “Les Inoits Occidentaux.”)
“Nul s’étonnera que les Ouhabites et les Ougagos de l’Afrique orientale en fassent toujours autant. Mais on a ses préférences. Ainsi Arabes et Bedouines recherchent l’urine des chamelles. Les Banianes de Momba se lavent la figure avec de l’Urine de vache, parceque, disent-ils, la vache est leur mère. Cette dernière substance est aussi employée par les Silésiennes contre les taches de rousseur. Les Chowseures du Caucase la trouvent excellente pour entretenir la santé et développer la luxuriance de la chevelure. A cette fin, ils recueillent soigneusement le purin des étables, mais le liquide encore imprégné de chaleur vitale passe pour le plus énergique. Les trayeuses flattent la bête, lui sifflent un air, chatouillent certain organe et au moment précis, avancent le crâne pour recevoir le flot qui s’épanche; la mère industrieuse fait inonder la tête de son nourrisson en même temps que la sienne.”—(Idem, p. 73.)