. Bulletin. Ethnology. 618 SOULIGNY [b. a. e. souls separate from the body, often in human form, and continuing to exist after death. The lack of tangibility of the soul has led everywhere among Indians to the be- lief that it is visible to shamans only, or at least that it is like a shadow (Algon- quian;, like an unsubstantial image (Es- kimo), or that its trail and footprints only can be seen (Shasta), or that it glides through the air without touching the earth (Omaha). Peculiar is the no- tion of the soul as a butterfly or a bird (Tsimshian, Bellacoola), which, however, is not so common in
. Bulletin. Ethnology. 618 SOULIGNY [b. a. e. souls separate from the body, often in human form, and continuing to exist after death. The lack of tangibility of the soul has led everywhere among Indians to the be- lief that it is visible to shamans only, or at least that it is like a shadow (Algon- quian;, like an unsubstantial image (Es- kimo), or that its trail and footprints only can be seen (Shasta), or that it glides through the air without touching the earth (Omaha). Peculiar is the no- tion of the soul as a butterfly or a bird (Tsimshian, Bellacoola), which, however, is not so common in America as in other parts of the world. This idea is probably derived from independent psychological sources. The same is probably the case with the my th ic notion of the " life" which is kept outside of the body, in a box, a hat, in the form of a thread, etc., and the destruction of which terminates the lift' of its owner (N. W. coast, California); and of the identification of the soul of the dead with the owl, which is of almost universal occurrence. Perhaps the flit- ting motions of the owl, combined with its human likeness, have associated them- selves with the idea of the unsubstantial soul. Among the Eskimo the memory image attached to the name is so strong that the name has a separate entity and is considered a soul which enters the person who is given the name of the deceased. The beliefs relating to the soul's exist- ence after death are very uniform, not only in North America, but all over the world. The souls live in the land of the dead in the form that they had in life, and continue their former occupations. Detailed descriptions of the land of the dead are found among almost all Ameri- can tribes. Often the physical condi- tions in the land of the dead are the reverse of those in our world: when it is night here, it is day there; when it is summer here it is winter there. The Eskimo tribes believe in several worlds of this kind. Those who suffer vio- l
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