A Pacific Coast Vacation

by Mrs. James Edwin Morris

The Tlingit idea of justice is something of a novelty. The code, however, is short; an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, is always strictly demanded. A Tlingit once shot at a decoy duck, but he made the owner pay for the shot used. A young Indian stole a rifle and accidentally killed himself with it. His relatives made the owner pay for the dead thief. If a patient dies under a doctor’s care he pays for him.

Before the advent of the white man shamanism held sway. When a Tlingit fell ill he sent for his medicine man, who by incantations cured him, or failing that, accused some one of bewitching his patient. The wizard or witch was tortured and put to death, after which the sick Indian recovered or died, as the case might be.

Captain E. C. Merriman, of the U. S. Navy, destroyed the power of the shaman by rescuing the accused and punishing the shaman.

The shaman spends the greater part of his life in the forest, fasting and receiving inspiration from his totemic spirits. A concoction of dried frogs’ legs and sea water give him power to perceive a man’s soul—the Tlingit woman had no soul then—escaping from his body and to catch it and restore it to the man.

The Tlingits practiced cremation, but the body of a shaman was never cremated, it would not burn. It was always buried in a little box-like tomb. The body was wrapped in blankets and placed in a sitting posture, surrounded by the masks, wands, rattles, and all the paraphernalia of the office of a shaman, ready for use in the heaven to which he had gone.

The missionaries have destroyed faith in the shaman and broken up the practice of cremation.

CHIEF SHAKE’S HOUSE, FORT WRANGEL.

At Fort Wrangel we called on the chief. He has the tallest and the most handsomely carved pole in the Indian village.

There are three kinds of totem poles. The family totem pole, which is erected in front of the home. On it are carved figures representing the totems of the family, the wife’s totem always surmounting the pole and the husband’s next below. Then appear totems of other members of the family.