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and after putting on his paskie [[??]] and announcing his intention to be burned and then to return to them, he ordered a kind of crib made by piling logs up in a square with an open space in the center large enough for him to stand in, he then named two men who were to attend to the fire &c. He was then bound and his large mask, reaching from above his head to his waist and entirely concealing his body, was put on, he was then carried out and stood up on the centre of the pyre and it was set on fire then the assistants called out that any one who did not think he was burning could come and see. Some natives looked out of the Cashine but the mask of the shaman was facing the Cashine concealing the upper part  and the wood hid the lower part of his length but the natives were satisfied and returned after which no one was allowed to come out during the rest of the night.

The modus operandi behind the scenes is that the shamans pay their assistants a large bribe to keep silent about what he sees - then he arranges that as soon as the natives return to the Cashine after he is brought out he is to be released and a log of wood substituted for him and then he stands behind his mask until the fire is lighted in front and the natives are called out and as soon as they return he secretes himself in the vicinity until the early morning when he returns and taking two boards from the still burning fire he mounts quietly to the top of the Cashine and sitting down close to the gut skin window