ing the greater the pay, the more
efficacious the treatment.

At a far more recent day it was discovered that a certain Puneunau had
a great admiration for his neighbor's dogs, he considering them a
toothsome dish. The chief banished him from the tribe, with the warning
that if he returned, the death penalty would be inflicted. In his
wanderings Puneunau led quite a checkered career with its accompanying
hardships. Several times starvation seemed to stare him in the face. It
was during one of these latter occasions that he discovered the art of
running a small slim stick down his throat without injury or great
discomfort.

After the death of the chief, Puneunau returned to the village,
claiming he could perform a marvelous feat, and in proof of the
assertion he ran the stick down his throat, then went around uttering
guttural sounds. The thing seemed wonderful in the eyes of the
villagers, gaining for him the reputation of being an "Ongootkoot."

One thing troubled Puneunau, however: he was still a widower, much
against his will, not for any lack of perseverance in offering himself
to all the neighboring widows, but because none of them would accept
his offer. At last that slight difficulty was removed. A widow
belonging to another tribe came to the village with her children, and
her son being ill, Puneunau offered his services to cure the lad. Day
after day he would go to the iglo, run the stick down his throat, then
walk around uttering gutteral sounds, but the boy refused to be cured
and finally died. This, however, did not relieve the widow of her
obligation to pay the "Ongootkoot" for his valuable services, and as
she was very poor and had nothing with which to meet it, Puneunau took
the widow herself for his fee.

The Inupash believe there are spirits wandering through space.
Occasionally one of them, becoming discontented, desires to enter the
world as a human being. It looks around, then selects some young woman
about ready to enter womanhood, one that is noted for her virtue and
other good qualities, to become its mother. Having made the selection,
it awaits the opportunity and uses her as the medium for gaining its
desire. In due course of time a child is born, which on maturity
becomes an "Ongootkoot" of the first grade. Such births of spirits,
desirous of entering the world as human beings, it is said, have
continued down until comparatively recent times. These earth-born
spirits had the reputation of b