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Vol.10. The Kwakiutl.{view image of page i} The North American Indian {view image of page ii} Cfthid Oritiatn i timritet ta 4ibe Vuntlretr *et# of thitc thid id umbr..S..S {view image of Frontispiece} Tenaktak wedding guests [photogravure plate] {view image of page iii} THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN BEING A SERIES OF VOLUMES PICTURING AND DESCRIBING THE INDIANS OF THE UNITED STATES, THE DOMINION OF CANADA, AND ALASKA WRITTEN, ILLUSTRATED, AND PUBLISHED BYEDWARD S. CURTIS EDITED BY FREDERICK WEBB HODGE FOREWORD BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT FIELD RESEARCH CONDUCTED UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF J. PIERPONT MORGAN IN TWENTY VOLUMES THIS, THE TENTH VOLUME, PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR NINETEEN HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN {view image of page iv} 1 As ) n COPYRIGHT I9I5 BY EDWARD S. CURTIS THE PLIMPTON PRESS NORWOOD 'MASS *U S -A {view image of page v} Contents of Volume Ten ALPHABET USED IN RECORDING INDIAN TERMS. ILLUSTRATIONS INTRODUCTION THE KWAKIUTL General Description Sorcerers, Medicine-men, and Herb-doctors PAGE ~... vi *.... vii xi ~... ~ 3 3 * * 63.... 98 ~.... I24 *.. 'I55 *... I55.... 1I65... 24I70.... 243 Warriors and Warfare. Social Organization Ceremonial Organization and Rites Ceremonial Divisions of the Tribe Myth of Paihpaqalan6hsiwi The Winter Dance. Other Ceremonies. Mythology Raven Creates Salmon The Transformer, and Origin of the Koskimo Beaver Causes a Flood The Deluge The Adventures of Hantliquinuf.... The Adventures of Gyamalagilaq. Magic Power from the Mountain-goats The Brothers Who Were Carried to Sea The Girl Who Married Grizzly-bear and Acquired the Dance Tlu'wuila.... The Magician Who Was Killed by his Brothers The First Whaler Dance Obtained from the Wolves. Origin of the Tsfinukwa Images. The Children Who Killed a Tsunukwa The First Tsunukwa Dance Acquisition of the Octopus Mask. 245 245 247 253 254 255 262 266 268 271 279 283 288 293 295 296 298 {view image of page vi} vi CONTENTS APPENDIX PAGE TRIBAL SUMMARY..... 303 Kwakiutl Tribes.......... 305 Certain Customs Relating to Childbirth.... 309 KWAKIUTL SONGS 311 Hamatsa Song of Motana... 311 Hamatsa Song...... 313 K6minalka Song...35 K6mina.ka Song of the Bellabella.. 315 Nunhflfistalahl Song....... 316 Kyenkalatlulu Dancing Song.... 317 Yakes Song... 318 Paqusilahl Song.19 Nane Song... 320 Tsfinukwalahl Song. 320 Awilotlilahl Song.320 Maitum Song..323 Pahala Song.. 323 Pahila Song ~ ~... 324 Love Song.. 324 Nursery Song.. 325 VOCABULARIES.. 329 INDEX TO VOLUME TEN...... 341 Alphabet Used in Recording Indian Terms [The consonants are as in English except when otherwise noted] a as in father as in cat aas in awl ai as in aisle e as in they as in net ias in machine as in sit o as in old as in how u as in ruin as in nut ii as in German Hiitte u as in push oi as in oil dh between d and t; a lingual r gh as in Arabic ghain h always aspirated hl fused h and I i as ch in German Bach k a non-aspirated k k explosive n nasal, as in French dans p a non-aspirated p q as qu in quick sh as in shall fh as in thin th as in thee fs as in hits t a non-aspirated t zh as z in azure a pause {view image of page vii} Illustrations Tenaktak Wedding Guests Frontispiece Sailing - Qagyuhl Facing page 4 Nimkish Village at Alert Bay 8 A House-front - Awaitlala 10 A "Begged-from" Cedar 12 A Fair Breeze 14 Preparing Cedar-bark - Nakoaktok 16 A Tsawatenok House-front 18 A Koskimo House 20 A Koskimo Dandy 22 Front Interior Posts of a Koskimo House 24 At Kwaustums Village 26 The Octopus Catcher - Qa'gyuhl 28 Ready for the Cast - Qa'gyuhl 30 Tenaktak Canoes 32 Tenaktak House, Harbledown Island 34 At Memkumlis 36 Kwaustums Village, Gilford Island 38 A Kwakiutl Canoe 44 The Hand-game - Qagyuhl 48 A Mamalelekala Chief's Mortuary House 52 Tsawatenok Tree Burial 54 Mamalelekala Cemetery on Village Island 56 Kekuhtlala - Koeksotenok 62 Naemahlpunkfuma - Hahuamis 66 Lagyus - Tsawatenok 70 Tlahleelis - Koprino 74 Gyalkum - Koskimo 78 Nultsi - Lekwiltok 82 {view image of page viii} viii ILLUSTRATIONS Yumqas - Mamalelekala Facing page 86 Tsawatenok Girl 90 Twin Child Healer - Koskimo (a) 92 Twin Child Healer (b) 94 Nakoaktok Warrior 98 Crossing the Strait 104 Embarking 108 Crests of a Nimkish Family 138 Tenaktak Crest Posts, Harbledown Island 140 Nakoaktok Chief and Copper 146 PaqusilaIh Emerging from the Woods - Qagyuhl 158 Kaloqutsuis - Koskimo 160 Kaloqutsuis - Qagyuhl 162 Nu'nalalahl - Qagyuhl 164 Paqusilahl - Qagyuhl 166 Hamatsa Emerging from the Woods - Koskimo 172 A Nakoaktok Mawihl 174 A Nakoaktok Mawihl 176 Nunhltsistalahl - Qagyuhl 178 Hamatsa - Qagyuhl 182 Nane - Qagyuhl 184 Tsunukwalah - Qagyuhl 186 A Hamatsa Costume - Nakoaktok 194 Grizzly-bear Dancer - Qagyuhl 202 An Incident of the Winter Dance - Nakoaktok 210 Sisiutl Dancer - Qagyuhl 212 Sisiutl - Qagyuhl 214 Nuhlimahla - Qagyuhl 216 Hamasilahl - Qagyuhl 228 Tawihyilahl - Qagyuhl 230 Qunhulahl - Qagyuhl 232 Kwahwumhl - Koskimo 234 Hami - Koskimo 236 Atlumhl - Koskimo 238 Nuhltmkilaka - Koskimo 240 {view image of page ix} ILLUSTRATION S ix A Tlu'wulahu Mask - Tsawatenok Facing page 242 A Tlu'wulahu Costume - Qagyuhl 244 Mask of Octopus Hunter - Qagyuhl 246 Waswaslikyi - Qagyuhl 248 Thunderbirds and Whales 250 Pgwis - Qagyuhl 262 A Koeksotenok House-front 264 Komuqi - Qagyuhl 276 A Tsunukwa at Kwaustums 296 The Octopus Hunter - Qagyuhl 298 Photogravures by John Andrew & Son, Boston {view image of page x} {view image of page xi} Introduction THE people and the region treated in this volume are unusual material for the ethnologist and the artist. Ethnologically the natives of North America are usually placed in broad, and somewhat loose, cultural groups, one of which comprises the seafaring tribes of the North Pacific coast from the Columbia river to Eskimoan territory in Alaska. The inhabitants of this thousandmile coast belonged to several linguistic stocks and spoke a very large number of dialects; and while their culture is broadly of a type, there are in details such great differences as to set each linguistic group in clear relief before the student. Many tribes were squalid hoveldwellers, as poor in tradition and ceremony as in material wealth; others were comparatively rich in property, powerful and aggressive in warfare, and possessed of an abundant mythology and an intricate ceremonial system. Of all these coast-dwellers the Kwakiutl tribes were one of the most important groups, and at the present time theirs are the only villages where primitive life can still be observed. Their ceremonies are developed to a point which fully justifies the term dramatic. They are rich in mythology and tradition. Their sea-going canoes possess the most beautiful lines, and few tribes have built canoes approaching theirs in size. Their houses are large, and skilfully constructed. Their heraldic columns evidence considerable skill in carving, though not equalling those of the Haida and Tsimshian, from whom this phase of their art probably was borrowed. In their development of ceremonial masks and costumes they are far in advance of any other group of North American Indians. An unusual amount of time has been devoted to the collection of material for this volume, a portion of each field season from 191o to 1914 having been spent among the Kwakiutl tribes; and so much of the data is of exceptional interest that it has been found necessary to increase materially the number of pages. To meet this need, and yet keep the volume of uniform thickness with its predecessors, a somewhat thinner paper has been used. {view image of page xii} xii INTRODUCTION Not the least value of this collection of data lies in the exceptionally intimate glimpses into certain phases of primitive life and thought which usually are concealed by Indian informants and interpreters. This value is due largely to the assistance of George Hunt, the interpreter, and in many subjects the informant, in the greater part of the work. The son of a Scotch employe of the Hudson's Bay Company and a Tsimshian woman, George Hunt was born and has lived his sixty years among the Kwakiutl, particularly at Fort Rupert. Inherently curious and acquisitive, and possessed of an excellent memory, he has so thoroughly learned the intricate ceremonial and shamanistic practices of these people, as well as their mythologic and economic lore, that today our best authority on the Kwakiutl Indians is this man, who, without a single day's schooling, minutely records Indian customs in the native language and translates it word by word into intelligible English. The research for this volume was greatly simplified and made more effective by the very complete work of Dr. Franz Boas on "The Social Organization of the Kwakiutl Indians." Indian words in the text, not specifically excepted, are in the dialect of the Qagyuhl (the Fort Rupert Kwakiutl). Translations are given on the sometimes uncertain authority of interpreters. Not every statement made in the text can be applied to all the Kwakiutl tribes, but unless its application is definitely localized, it can be regarded as characteristic of the group. The primitive garments shown in the illustrations were prepared by Kwakiutl men and women for the author, and are correct in all respects. Such costumes, of course, are not now used. Mr. W. E. Myers, who has been so long identified with TheNorth American Indian, has done his best work here, and to his valuable collaboration much of the success of this volume is due. Mr. Henry F. Gilbert, who transcribed phonographic records of Indian songs for Volumes VI-IX, prepared for this volume the songs on pages 187, 195, 311, 313, 315, and 325, and Mr. Carl A. Weber transcribed the others. Thanks are due Professor Theodore C. Frye, of the University of Washington, for the identification of botanical specimens. Death has again entered the ranks of those who have labored on this publication. This time the call came to Mr. A. F. Muhr, who for so many years gave his excellent services in the photographic laboratory. EDWARD S. CURTIS {view image of page 1} The Kwakiutl {view image of page 2} I {view image of page 3} THE KWAKIUTL General Description IN its broadest application the term Kwakiutl is used to designate a large number of cognate tribes on the coast of British Columbia between the fiftieth and the fifty-fourth parallels, the most northerly being the Haisla at the head of Douglas channel, and the most southerly the Lekwiltok at Cape Mudge and Campbell river. Properly speaking, it is the name of a group now resident at Fort Rupert, and, more specifically, of a sub-tribe of that group.' These tribes compose one branch of the so-called Wakashan linguistic family; the other consisting of the Nootka tribes on the western coast of Vancouver island south of Cape Cook, and about Cape Flattery in the State of Washington. In the south the Kwakiutl come in contact with the Salish of Vancouver island and the mainland north of Fraser river, while farther north an isolated Salish group, the Bellacoola, juts down to salt water in the midst of Kwakiutl territory, occupying Dean channel and Bentinck arm. In the extreme north the Kwakiutl are neighbors of the Tsimshian tribes and of the Haida of Queen Charlotte islands. Intercourse with the inland Athapascan tribes is prevented by mountain barriers. The physical characteristics of the region are remarkable. Innumerable fiords cut deeply into the mainland. For the greater part their shores are steep and rocky, even mountainous; but here and there, usually at the mouth of a stream, is enough low, level land for a village site. In the fiords and off the mainland coast are countless islands, all rocky and clothed in evergreen forests, and separated by narrow, intricate channels of deep, clear water. On such islands are many of the Kwakiutl villages. Close to the mainland, from northwest to southeast, Vancouver island stretches its two-hundred-mile length, protecting the smaller islands from heavy 1 The Anglicized form Kwakiutl will be used in the broader sense, referring to all the tribes of this family, and the native form Qagyuhl will apply to the Fort Rupert tribe, or, as occasion requires, to the sept. {view image of page 4} 4 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN storms and rendering the channels safe for canoes. North of this sheltering land mass the winds from the open Pacific sweep unchecked into Queen Charlotte sound and up into Hecate strait, but the natives find safe passage in the narrow waterways behind the small islands that skirt the shore. Less fortunate are those about the unsheltered northern end of Vancouver island, who in rough weather must either remain ashore or restrict their movements to the quiet waters of their home bay or inlet. On the mainland, as on Vancouver island, the mountains come close to the sea, and with few exceptions the inhabitants are inevitably marine people. It is an inhospitable country, with its forbidding, rock-bound coasts, its dark, tangled, mysterious forests, its beetling mountains, its long, gloomy season of rains and fogs. No less inhospitable, mysterious, and gloomy, to the casual observer, is the character of the inhabitants. They seem constantly lost in dark broodings, and it is only after long acquaintance and the rather tedious process of gaining their confidence that one discovers an uncertain thread of cheerfulness interwoven in the sombre fabric of their nature. Even then one is impelled to question their knowledge of any such thing as spiritual exaltation or mental pleasure except such as may be aroused by the gratification of savage passions or purely physical instincts. Chastity, genuine, self-sacrificing friendship, even the inviolability of a guest, - a cardinal principle among most Indian tribes, - are unknown. It is scarcely exaggeration to say that no single noble trait redeems the Kwakiutl character. Of medium stature, the Kwakiutl are as a rule well formed and strongly built. The face is very characteristic, being usually high and with a prominent, frequently hooked, nose not found among any other North Pacific tribes. Head-flattening was an invariable practice, and most of the elderly people now living have artificially lengthened heads. Until comparatively recent times the universal garment for both sexes was a scarcely ankle-length robe of woven cedar-bark or of fur, worn as a rule about both shoulders and tied at the throat, the edges hanging unconfined. Men sometimes carried the robe in a roll thrown across the shoulder, or wore it wrapped about the waist with the upper corners tucked in under the roll. At work, men and women fastened the robe at one side so as to leave either shoulder and arm free, while a girdle of cedar withes or woven goat-hair yarn held it at the waist. Still in use, though its significance, once literal, long ago became figurative, is the expression wusitiyitaikya ("gird {view image of facing page 4} Sailing - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 5} THE KWAKIUTL 5 yourself"-get ready for work). Not infrequently men worked stark naked on the beach or in the village streets. Women however, outside the comparative privacy of the family, were never seen without the robe, except in performing certain dances of the winter ceremony. Furthermore they always wore a narrow, knee-length apron of cedar-bark fringe or goat-hair cords pendent from a girdle of the same material. Fur robes, which were used only by the upper class, were made of the skins of such animals as mink, marten, raccoon, marmot, beaver, sea-otter, and black bear. Sea-otter skins, which were reserved for persons of the very highest rank, were the only fur used by women. Only in exceptionally cold weather was the fur worn next the body. A garment of marten-skin was expensive, and could not be purchased without a partial payment of a slave. The minkskin or marten-skin robe consisted of three rows of pelts, each row containing seven or eight skins arranged side by side. The four skins at the neck of the garment were unsplit, so that they formed a ruff with fur on both sides, and the tails hung free. Marmotskins were highly valued because the fur is full and soft, and, though the animals were numerous in the mountains, the season of prime fur is short. A seamless, waterproof cape of woven cedar-bark with a furedged opening for the head was worn in rainy weather; and as a shield from rain and excessive heat both sexes still sometimes use a hat woven from twisted strips of cedar-bark. The cylindrical crown and the broad, drooping rim lack the painted designs of the "chief's hat" (gyikumil), which is covered with conventional figures of the wearer's ancestral crest and, perhaps, of his personal vision spirits. This finely woven, spruce-root hat was borrowed from the Haida about the year I860. Moccasins were worn only in very cold weather. They were made of single pieces of deerskin or mountain-goat skin, and worn with the hair inside. Hip-length leggings of woven cedar-bark were worn by men of the Haisla and the Bellabella when travelling through deep snow in the woods. Men had the hair thrown back from the forehead and hanging down the back. At the nape of the neck it was tied, sometimes with a braid of a sweet-smelling grass, and below this it hung loosely. The present custom is to cut it short. Some remove the beard, others permit it to grow. Most men have little hair on the face, but not a few have a considerable growth. As a bit of ornamental dress the {view image of page 6} 6 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN entire unslit skin of a mink or a marten was worn as a head-band, the tail and the head meeting behind. The hair of women, parted in the middle down to the nape of the neck, hangs in two braids in front of the shoulders, the ends being tied with fragrant grass or with goat-hair yarn. Young dandies of the Quatsino Sound tribes brought the hair around from the sides, tied the two strands over the forehead, put a sprig of cedar through the nasal septum, and turned the cedarbark robe with the opening at the back; and so, holding the edges together with the hands behind the back, they would strut about, singing love-songs in order to excite the admiration of the girls. The most valued ornaments of the wealthy class were ear-pendants and nose-rings of abalone-shell. The former varied in size from a small, square bit no larger than a thumbnail to a great piece as broad as a man's hand; while the nasal ornament was a circular ring with a narrow opening that permitted it to pass over the septum of the nose, which was not always pierced. The largest pendants, too heavy to be supported by the ears, were tied to the hair-braids. As the abalone-shells, of British Columbia are thin, fragile, and of inferior lustre, they are not suitable for this use. Respecting the source of these comparatively rare ornaments, it is related that about I840 a Tsimshian man1 sailed to Oahu, Hawaii, aboard a trading ship on which he frequently had served as pilot. When he returned he brought several boxes of large abalone-shells, which he sold among the northern tribes, whence many of them were obtained by the Kwakiutl. Bracelets, anklets, and necklaces consisted of rows of dentalium shells sewn on deerskin. Bands woven from mountain-goat hair by means of a set of interlacing teeth cut into two pieces of yew were worn by females from infancy, in order to keep the feet small. Woollen strips are now generally used for this purpose. Tattooing was not general. It was performed usually on the arm in memory of one's lover, and commonly took the form of one's family crest. A bone splinter and charcoal of tules were used in the operation. The superstructure of a Kwakiutl house is supported by heavy 1 Father-in-law of a subsequent Hudson's Bay Company employe at Fort Rupert, and grandfather of the informant. *A NAKOAKTOK CHIEF'S DAUGHTER. The eldest daughter of the Nakoaktok head chief is thus enthroned at a potlatch given by him, but not at a winter-dance potlatch. The carved figures represent slaves. A Mamalelekala chief has a similar privilege, but the heads of the figures are bent over on the shoulders. See folio plate 334. {view image of page 7} THE KWAKIUTL 7 cedar posts. In the notched tops of the hewn side posts, usually six in number, rest two eaves-timbers extending from the rear to the front. Another hewn post supports the ends of the gable timbers in the rear wall, and two others perform a similar service at the sides of the door in the front wall. The eaves-timbers are a handbreadth in thickness and about twenty inches in width. The front end of the ridge-timber rests on a heavy' cross-piece connecting the tops of two massive columns, while the rear end is supported directly by a single post. These three interior posts stand well inside the front and rear lines of the house. From ridge to eaves extend numerous rafters, which are crossed by a series of battens. The roof-boards extend in the direction of the rafters, and formerly were slightly guttered and applied like tile. They are held down only by their own weight, or, in stormy weather, by the addition of heavy stones; being left unfastened in order that they may easily be removed by means of a pole to permit the escape of smoke. Far less common than the type just described is that in which two ridge-timbers a considerable distance apart are supported on two cross-timbers, each of which rests on two interior posts, one pair at the back, the other at the front of the structure. In I865 an informant saw this type among the Koeksotenok, but not elsewhere. The two ridge-timbers sometimes rest directly on the upright columns. The same man saw two houses in which the ridge-timber was supported by two columns. In one house, which came in marriage from the Bellabella to the Kueha gens Yaaihhyakami, the rear post was carved in the likeness of a man, and the front post was a thunderbird, between whose legs was the door. The other house, which belonged to the Kueha gens Haaiyalikyfwi, was similar, but the door-post was a raven. The ridge-pole is probably of recent introduction, as the engravings in Vancouver's journal depict all the houses with roof sloping from front to back, and with horizontal wall-boards. Some of the Quatsino Sound houses have stringers extending from one eaves-timber to the other, on which are short posts helping to support the ridge. The lower ends of the perpendicular wall-boards are set in a trench, the tops in a groove in the lower edge of the eaves-timber. Formerly they were rived from large cedar logs, and it is still easy to find houses consisting almost entirely of native-made boards. They are now held in place by nails, but the primitive means were cedar withes passing through holes in the boards and binding them to horizontal battens. {view image of page 8} 8 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN The poorer class laid the wall-boards horizontally and secured them with cedar withes between pairs of upright poles. Not a few houses are now constructed throughout of mill lumber. A striking feature of almost every building of the old style is the grotesque carving of the interior posts to represent mythical beasts and birds. As late as I865 houses with carved posts were by no means numerous, and the original of each was believed to have been given by some supernatural being to an ancient ancestor of the family. Carved posts have become increasingly common, the authority to make use of some certain house-frame being one of the most valued rights transferred in marriage. Many of the modern houses of primitive type have huge dimensions, considering the status of the builders. In the unfinished house of Nuikapnkyim at Fort Rupert the corner posts are forty inches thick, twenty feet high, twenty-one feet apart laterally, and seventyseven feet from front to rear. The eaves-timbers are three feet thick at the butts, which rest on the rear posts, and eighty-five feet long, projecting considerably beyond the corner posts. Until the middle of the nineteenth century Kwakiutl houses were very much smaller than this, the largest not exceeding perhaps thirty feet in depth and width, six or seven feet in height at the eaves, and nine feet at the ridge; while the seven upright posts were not more than twelve inches in diameter. The ponderous roof-timbers of today are raised by means of a cribwork of logs gradually built up beneath the balanced beam. The principal door is in the middle of the front wall, a smaller one opening through the rear directly upon the adjacent forest. All about the room extends a low platform of earth covered with boards, on which the guests sit. The house is apportioned among several related families, each of which maintains its own fire and kitchen devices. Beside each fire is a massive settee resting flat on the earthen floor, its sloping back bearing carved representations of fabulous creatures. The position of honor, as in the Plains tipi, is at the back of the room behind the principal fire. In the fantastically figurative thought of the Kwakiutl the house is represented as a face with the door a great mouth ready to swallow the guests of the master.l 1 In this volume all references to right and left in the house are made to conform with this conception. * NIMKISH VILLAGE AT ALERT BAY. The column in the foreground shows the eagle crest of the owner's father, and his mother's crest of the grizzly-bear crushing the head of a rival chief. The second column is almost identical, and no reason is assigned for the duplication. {view image of facing page 8} Nimkish village at Alert Bay [photogravure plate] {view image of page 9} TH E KWAKIUTL 9 When a man is about to build a new house, he reveals his intention at some public gathering,'and requests certain gentile chiefs to bring the timbers which, by inherited custom, it is their exclusive right to provide. Every step in the undertaking is accompanied by a feast and a distribution of presents to workers and spectators. When the materials are brought in, when they are moved from beach to building site, when a post or one end of a timber is raised, in short, whenever any single portion of the work is accomplished, there follows a feast, and no more labor is performed on that day. He must be a very rich man who can finish a house within four years. When at length the house is complete, the tribe is invited to a feast and distribution, an occasion which, in allusion to the great blazing fire in the centre of the room, is figuratively called "drying the house." Later there may occur a second drying of the house, to which all the tribes are invited. Only a man of very high rank can erect a dwelling in this ostentatious manner, and generally he finds himself overwhelmed with debts. On account of the great additional expense a winter dance very seldom celebrates the completion of a house. The members of the household commonly sleep on the floor near the fire, or on the platform. In some of the Kwakiutl tribes the homes of the upper class had a number of small private bedrooms, exactly like a fairly commodious kennel, raised on scaffolds above the floor. These were most frequently the possessions of young men and young women. Other tribes had, and still have, such bedrooms resting on the floor, so that in cold weather they may be carried close to the fire. Not infrequently the eldest daughter of a family of rank, especially before marriage, had in one of the rear corners a private room walled off from the common quarters. Here she would spend much of her time in proud seclusion. Most of the Kwakiutl villages stand on the grassy terrace just above the beach gravel of some sheltered cove, with the tangled forest directly behind. Overlooking the water, the inhabitants were with difficulty surprised by an enemy; but if perchance a sudden attack were made, they could flee through the rear of the houses into the thicket and lie hidden while the raiders pillaged and burned. Nearly every village had a fortified refuge at the top of an inaccessible, rocky hill (in many cases an islet), where the inhabitants could dwell in comparative security during the "fighting season," that is, from about the middle of August until the first of October, when, the water being smooth and the weather usually foggy, conditions were {view image of page 10} IO THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN most favorable for war-parties. These forts were occupied only when there was reason to be apprehensive of attack. Thus, a stranger in the village was usually regarded as a spy, and his departure was apt to be followed by a movement to the fort. Conspicuous in every village are the platforms that overlook the beach, with the back resting on a log bulkhead at the edge of the terrace, and the front and sides supported on a framework of posts. Here, especially in the late winter morning after breakfast, the blanketed men lazily sun and air themselves, reclining against the sloping back-rest that surrounds the platform, occasionally conversing in low tones but for the greater part brooding in silence. Of all the arts and industries practised by the Kwakiutl tribes none reached a higher development than the art of working in wood. The principal phase of this work - the riving of cedar planks - has become obsolete because the necessity that mothered the art no longer exists; but splendid canoes, serviceable, water-tight chests, ponderous feasting dishes, ingenious masks, and a host of indispensable utensils are daily manufactured with the most elementary tools. In primitive times, and indeed for many years after axes were available, the tree was felled by making two very gradually converging cuts about thirty inches apart and splitting off a succession of slabs, or heavy chips, as the cutting progressed. The tools were a spool-shaped stone maul which fitted the hand, and a stone-edged (later iron-edged) chisel of tough yew protected at the head by a wrapping of cedar withe. To prevent its breaking, the stone cutting-edge was dipped frequently in water. Fire was often used to aid in this work, but even so a man required eight to twelve days to fell a large tree, that is, one of a diameter of at least three feet. If boards were to be made, a log three fathoms and three spans (about fifteen feet) in length was cut off squarely by means of fire and chisel. A span and four finger-breadths below the upper edge a horizontal line was marked across the squared face, and along this line a rather blunt-edged instrument of horn or bone was used to * A HOUSE-FRONT. At the top is h6oihuq, a mythic bird, perched on the man's head of a sisutl. The upper figure on each of the four posts is a tiunukwa. According to a myth Tesum-.kit ("stone body") was a male tfinukwa who obtained power from sisiutl by finding one of its scales and rubbing his body therewith, and thus becoming stone, all except a small spot beneath his Adam's-apple. His canoe was a sisiutl. Qikahsanuh, a Nimkish man, also received the power of sisiutl by finding a scale and rubbing it on his arrow-point, and with this weapon he killed Tesimkit. The house-front belongs to the descendants of the mythical Tesftmkit. {view image of facing page 10} A housefront - Awaitlala [photogravure plate] {view image of page 11} THE KWAKIUTL II start the cleavage. Seven yew wedges, graduated in length from about nine to twenty-four inches, were now carefully driven in, the longest wedge being near the left edge of the log and all pointing to the left at an angle of forty-five degrees. Then the workman gave each successive wedge a tap, slowly forcing them in and splitting off a two-inch plank. The heart of the log was seldom sound enough to be used. The board was then smoothed on both sides by means of the adze, an instrument consisting of a trapeziform handle of maple or apple wood to which was lashed on one of the parallel sides the blunt end of a strip of bone (later iron), the cutting edge projecting forward beyond the handle. As mentioned above, roofboards were slightly hollowed out on one side, like roof-tile. In localities where the cedar was good, boards were made for sale to people less fortunately situated. Very rarely one finds in the dense forest a standing cedar from which generations ago boards have been split up to the heart, leaving only half the trunk. This was accomplished by two artisans, one who made the cut at the bottom. and another who worked above the ground, supported by a climbing apparatus. This device is still used by gatherers of hemlock bast. Two strong ropes encircle tree and climber, one of them passing beneath his armpits and the other about his thighs, while a third holds against the rough bark a stout stick. His feet resting on the stick, the climber slowly works the ropes upward with a short pole and lifts himself to any desired height beneath the first branch. When he is ready to descend, he throws over the lowest branch the end of the rope by which he has drawn up his implements, lowers it to his companion, ties the other end beneath his arms, casts loose the other ropes, and is then lowered to the ground. Probably the Kwakiutl resorted to this method of obtaining boards when only a few were required, and a large portion of the labor of felling a tree and cutting off a log would have been wasted. A standing tree from which boards have been split is called keto6q ("begged from"), and it is said that, since trees are believed to have sentient life, the ancients before obtaining boards in this way would look upward to the tree and say: "We have come to beg a piece of you today. Please! We hope you will let us have a piece of you." The same request was made of a yew tree before cutting off a piece for making tools. But when a tree was to be cut down, it was "killed" without words. Sometimes one sees a great cedar with a circular hole about ten inches in diameter chiselled straight into {view image of page 12} 12 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the heart. This was done in order to test the soundness of the tree. Apparently little labor could have been saved by this procedure, and the purpose may have been to spare the tree, if it was unfit for boards, and let it stand to continue making bark. The average width of boards was about two feet. An informant has seen a plank in his uncle's house having a width of one fathom and two spans (more than five feet), and the standard length of three fathoms and three spans. When a neighboring chief heard of this, he sent for it, paying a single Hudson's Bay blanket now worth fifty cents, then one dollar. Four men carried it by means of ropes passing through holes at the sides. So wide was it that the ends were reenforced with strips so that it would not be split by sagging. Boards for the front wall of a chief's house were made with extreme care, being adzed to a thickness of three-eighths of an inch, and so nicely finished at the edges and sewn together with cedar withes as to seem a single piece. A section about eight feet square formed half of the front wall. As in everything else, there was considerable rivalry among the chiefs of various tribes in possessing the widest possible board. An ingenious but incredibly laborious method was to trim off the sap wood of a half log, hew it out carefully to the required thinness, invert the curving board over a pit filled with hot stones, and allow it to steam until its own weight flattened it. Battens were then sewn across the ends to prevent warping and splitting. Canoe making is still a flourishing industry of the Kwakiutl, but no description of the process is here needed, inasmuch as it has been thoroughly treated in a previous volume.' In a certain myth we find evidence that the first canoe was a log very slightly hollowed with fire and rudely tapered at the ends. But so unstable was it that a cedar-bark canoe was invented. A large sheet of bark was spread on the ground, and at each end for the width of three fingers the rough outer bark was scraped off. The sheet was then steamed over hot stones until it was pliable, and at each end the edge was puckered and tied. Thus was formed a craft with the rough bark inside. The next form evolved was a dugout with a low prow and a perpendicular cutwater. Some traditionists say that the stern of this model was cut square, others that it was like the prow. Among the tribes of Quatsino sound there was in use as late as I865 the munka, a long, narrow craft, the shell of which was so thick 1 See Volume IX, page 60. {view image of facing page 12} A "begged-from" cedar [photogravure plate] {view image of page 13} THE KWAKIUTL I3 that it could not be spread by heated water and steam. The stern was cut square and was very wide at the top, so that two men could sit on it side by side. The prow rose in some cases to a height of eight feet, spreading at the tip into two horn-like projections with a hooked beak at the front to represent an eagle. Sometimes the beak was omitted, and eagle-tails were carved on the sides of the prow. This prow piece, which was a heavy burden for two men, was laced to the hull, and against a head wind the rope stitches were cut and the prow was hauled aboard. The largest craft of this kind held twenty-five men, two on a thwart. This form of vessel was used by war-parties, and the high, wide prow afforded good protection. When a canoe builder works steadily during the summer in order to finish, let us say, four canoes before the winter dance begins, he becomes very thin. It is said that the strong odor of the cedar, especially noticeable in a log that is moist inside, "fills him up," so that he eats only once a day, after returning home in the evening from the woods. Sometimes the exhalations arising from the heart of a moist cedar log make the eyes exude moisture. In the frequent migrations of the people in pursuit of their seasonal occupations they transported not only a considerable cargo of food, clothing, and household utensils, but even a large portion of the house-timbers. The battens which cross the rafters were laid across the gunwales of two canoes placed side by side about ten feet apart, the ends of these timbers extending some four feet beyond the two outer gunwales. In many cases false gunwales five or six inches high were lashed to the canoes in order to raise the deck above the reach of ordinary waves. On the timbers were laid the wall-boards, running forward and aft and forming a commodious deck. A stone hearth was carried on exten'ded voyages. All around the edge was built a wall of cedar storage chests, one tier high forward and at the sides, and two tiers high aft, and on these walls rested the roofboards of the house. Usually the material of a single dwelling was used in making about four catamarans, which were managed by the different families occupying the house. Directly over each canoe, forward and aft, was left an opening in the wall in order to facilitate the passage of the crew in working the craft. A wealthy man would have, lying on the roof, a wooden "sail" about eight feet square, consisting of very thin cedar boards quite closely fitted and sewn together with cedar withes. Ordinarily this formed half of the front of his house. When the wind was fair, the "sail" was raised and propped up at an angle depending on the strength of the wind. {view image of page 14} 14 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Poor people used either mat sails or small spruce or maple trees set upright between the deck-boards. The trees are said to have been more effective than the mats. The double-canoe craft (ma'wa, "carry all ") made very good headway with a fair breeze. In the absence of a favoring wind recourse was had to what is claimed as a native device: an oarlock fashioned from a short section of a young cedar, hemlock, or yew, from which a stout branch extended at an acute angle. The end of the branch piece and the upper end of the main section were connected by stout cedar withes, and then the main section was lashed to the gunwale. A pair of oarlocks were provided forward and another aft in each canoe. With four men at the oars in each of the two canoes, good progress was made in calm weather. Against a head wind everybody lent a hand either at the oars or with paddles. The catamaran was steered by means of a long oar with a heavy, long cross-piece on the handle, held either in one of the after oarlocks or in a hole cut in the side at the stern. It carried two cedar-withe anchor-lines (taztuwitohl, "all cedar-withe rope") thirty fathoms long. The anchor (ktulftum) was a long, rounded stone as heavy as one man could easily lift, and around the middle a groove was pecked so deep that the rope could not rub on the bottom and wear through. When a heavy sea was encountered between anchorages or when they ran into tide-rips, it was necessary quickly to move the chests and take up the decking between the two canoes, in order that the choppy waves between the two keels might have free play; otherwise they would beat up against the boards, wash into the canoes, and soon fill them. Wrecks were frequent, the usual cause being the wearing out of the lashings of the deck supports. When this occurred, one end of a cross-timber would drop into the bottom of a canoe, and the sudden shift of weight would list the vessel until it shipped water. For such emergencies each craft had at least one small canoe as a consort, which usually was paddled by one of the women. In fair weather it was taken in tow. In such places as were annually visited it was customary to have the usual substantial house-frame, and the work of setting up the walls and laying the roof was finished in less than a day. In other cases rude penthouses were thrown up. Cedar chests are still made for various purposes, the edges being joined either with wooden pegs, or with a lacing of cedar-bark rope or of cedar withes passing through holes bored with a drill. Three {view image of facing page 14} A fair breeze [photogravure plate] {view image of page 15} THE KWAKIUTL I5 of the angles present no seam, as the board out of which the four sides of the chest are made is simply scored across at the proper lines, steamed, and bent square; the ends being then laced together in a tight joint. In obtaining a close joint for the bottom of such boxes, the bottom edges of the sides are dusted with charcoal, and the bottom is pressed on. Any places where the charcoal shows on the bottom piece are too high, and are shaved down. When a perfect fit has been obtained, the edges of the bottom piece are smeared with tallow, eagle-down is dusted on the tallow, and the bottom is pressed into place. Then holes, slanting outward, are drilled from the bottom across through the sides, and fir pins wet in the mouth are driven in. Boxes for the storing of blankets were sometimes made with dovetailed joints, and usually were carved and painted. But the Kwakiutl never produced carvings in the number nor of the quality of those fashioned by the more northerly tribes. Of the same form as the storage chest is the "grease tank," which until very recently was used for rendering and then for storing fish oil. Similar tanks were utilized in boiling food by means of heated stones. The water-pail and the drinking cup were made in the same manner as the chests, except that they had no cover. Heavy feasting dishes, which sometimes attain huge dimensions, are fashioned out of solid alder in the likeness of some animal or creature of the imagination. More commonly such dishes are canoeshaped, but many are round or square. Another wooden utensil is the vessel formerly used in bathing infants. It was carved from a single piece of alder, and consisted of two round bowls side by side at the broader end of a canoe-shaped compartment. The child was washed first with diluted urine contained in one of the bowls, then was rinsed off with clear water from the other, and finally was dipped bodily in the large compartment. The principal woodworking implements were these: the maul, a six-inch piece of stone pecked down until it fitted the hand, the shape being that of a spool; the wedge, made of yew wood with the head protected from splitting by a wrapping of withes; the chisel, consisting of a sharp sliver of stone (or iron, even in very early times) inserted in the end of a piece of yew; the adze, a bone (iron) cutting edge lashed on one side of a trapeziform wooden handle; the musselshell knife, which is ten to twelve inches long and four inches wide, with yellow-cedar bark gummed along the hinge edge, by which it is held; the bone knife, made by splitting out and sharpening a wide sliver from a leg-bone of a bear; the wood-carving knife, {view image of page 16} I6 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN consisting of a mussel-shell worked into a curving point for the cutting of curved lines; the drill, a tapering bone point on the end of a wooden spindle, which is twirled between the palms. The maul, wedge, adze, and drill are still used. The weaving of robes, mats, and baskets was, and, excepting robes, still is, a very important industry. Even the art of making robes is not yet forgotten, though the necessity long ago ceased. The material is prepared as follows: About the month of July the women collect very long, three-inch strips of yellow-cedar bark, which are then laid in the water of some quiet harbor, to remain until they sink. The bark is then soft enough to be worked, and is taken out and wrung. This removes the water and loosens the useless epidermis. Still in a great twist from the wringing, the bark is beaten with a maple stick to soften it, and is then opened out and worked between the hands like a skin in the process of tanning. When the bark has become thoroughly dry, the worker, keeping her hands moist with fish oil in order to preserve its pliancy, tears it into strips a quarter of an inch wide, her only implements being her fingers and her thumbnail. These strips become the warp of the robe, and yarn spun from mountain-goat hair forms the weft. The bottom of the robe is rounded at the corners, and the opposite margin, or that which encircles the neck and shoulders, is edged with a strip of fur, usually mink. For the width of three or four inches the entire margin, at the bottom and at the two sides which become the front when the garment is worn, is all wool, both warp and weft. Mats are of several kinds, but all are alike in being made of redcedar bark (tenas). The commonest and the best, h7lwi, is a twill weave of quarter-inch strips, while tagwihl is a checker weave. YTpu fiuwaq is a rougher mat used for such purposes as cleaning fish, and is a wrapped weave, the weft cords being several inches apart. In mawakuq the bark is twisted and plaited, forming a very strong fabric. Mats are made for various purposes and in varying sizes, from the smaller pieces used as sails, as carpet in the bottom of the canoe, or a cushion under the paddler's knees, as covering for canoes on the beach to prevent cracking in the heat of the sun, and as roof and walls of temporary shelters, up to the large sheets once used to cover the inside walls of the better houses and the long, yard-wide strips that extend before the feasters in a house of the upper class. Tule mats, so common among the coast Salish south of the Kwakiutl, were obtained by the latter from the most northerly of the Vancouver Island Salish, either by purchase or by spoliation. They were highly {view image of facing page 16} Preparing cedar-bark - Nakoaktok [photogravure plate] {view image of page 17} TH E KWAKIUTL I7 prized as mattresses, but could not be made for lack of the material, which is not found in the Kwakiutl country. When yellow-cedar bark is to be used for such purposes as the padding of a baby's cradle, wadding for guns, or tinder, the strip is drawn lengthwise across a paddle set on edge and is struck with a whale-bone implement at every point of its length, the blow falling just off the edge of the paddle. This implement, which is about three-eighths of an inch thick and three and a half inches wide at one end and five at the other, diminishes to a dull edge at the lower margin, while midway in the upper edge is an elongate hole to serve as a hand-hold. This beating leaves the bark very pliable, and after it has been shredded and rubbed between the hands it becomes quite soft, almost flossy. Baskets of many shapes and sizes are made. In general they may be divided into two classes: those that are more or less flexible, being made of checker-woven or twill-woven red-cedar bark; and those that are rigid, being made of branches and roots of the yellow cedar and roots of the spruce. One of the commonest bark baskets is the tlapat, a cylindrical, flat-bottomed, storage receptacle about three feet deep and of equal diameter. It is supplied with eyelets at the edge so that the top may be laced together, and is used for containing blankets, clothing, smoked fish, or a woman's materials for weaving. The "spoon container" (kyayafAi) is twill-woven, with geometrical designs effected by the use of black strips of bark as well as by openwork. This vessel is about ten inches long, equally deep, and four inches wide, and all faces are rectangular. The wallet is a flat bag for containing one's trinkets. Of the rigid baskets the burden-basket is the commonest. This is a wrapped-twined receptacle, the perpendicular and the horizontal splints being strips of cedar branch, which at their intersections are wrapped with a continuous ribbon of split spruce- or cedarroot. There is no attempt to make it water-tight, in fact the mesh is rather open. The vessel is rectangular at the top, and the sides slope inward to a somewhat rounded, oblong bottom. It is much the shape of a thick, blunt wedge, and the average size is about thirty by twenty-four inches at the top. It is carried on the back, supported by a tumpline. The principal weapons of the primitive Kwakiutl were the bow and arrow, the sling, the war-club, and the spear. The shaft of the war-arrow was a rod of yellow cedar the length of the forearm from VOL. X-2 {view image of page 18} THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN elbow to fingertip. The point was of bear-bone or elk-horn, four finger-breadths long, with serrate edges, and at the base a socket like a pair of jaws, into which the shaft fitted. When the projectile struck its mark, the shaft leaped back with the impact and left the point embedded beyond reach in the flesh. Such a point the Lekwiltok call tatawitlaiyu ("jumper in"). The bow, which was about four feet long, was of yellow cedar or maple. When yellow cedar was to be used for a bow it was steamed and bent to increase its elasticity. Slings were of two kinds: a long one, which was whirled several times to gain momentum before releasing the missile, and a shorter one intended for use at closer range without preliminary swinging. In using the latter kind, the thrower held the stone in the pocket out in front of the body with the left hand, while the right was raised behind and at the side with the elbow bent. Then with a quick backward jerk and a forward fling the missile was released. A reliable informant declares that he has many times seen an especially skilful slinger kill ducks out of a flock at two hundred yards. The stones used in slings were rather larger than hens' eggs. The typical war-club was a curving piece of whale-bone about fourteen inches long, two inches wide, and swelling from a quarter of an inch in thickness at the edges to more than half an inch in the middle. The convex edge was rudely sharpened, and the tip of the handle was carved to represent some mythological creature. The short spear sometimes had a large, fixed point of bone; but more commonly the tip of the yew shaft was sharpened and charred. Defensive armor was limited to sleeveless jackets of tanned skin or cedar-bark rope. Skins of grizzly-bears and cougars were highly favored, these animals being the most ferocious of the local fauna. Stiff and cumbersome as a medieval corselet was the jacket made by sewing tightly together ascending coils of braided, three-quarterinch, cedar-bark rope. Fire was obtained by means of the drill, of which the spindle was fashioned from a fir branch that had hardened by lying long in water, and the base from very old, dry cedar wood. The spark was caught in yellow-cedar bark floss. While twisting the spindle between his palms the fire-maker looked not at the wood but upward, and kept repeating, "Please come, fire!" The drill was seldom used, as fire was constantly burning in some house of a village, and moving parties * A TSAWATENOK HOUSE-FRONT. The plate presents the painting that formerly adorned the house of Ky6ti, chief of the Raven gens of the Tsawatenok at Kwaustums. The upper figure is sisiutl, the double-headed sea-serpent; the lower is qiqis ("sea-eagle"), a crest derived by marriage from the Guauaenok. {view image of facing page 18} A Tsawatenok house-front [photogravure plate] {view image of page 19} THE KWAKIUTL I9 carried fire by coiling in a box a long twisted rope of old matting or of cedar-bark and letting the smouldering end hang over the edge of the receptacle. Among the miscellaneous implements of the Kwakiutl was the basket-maker's root-splitter, a flat-pointed piece of deer-bone abruptly widening out above the point. Needles were of two forms, one with an eye, the other eyeless. One of the first kind was made of a hemlock twig terminating in a pliable fork, the two branches of which were bound together to form an eye. Sometimes an end of the twig was beaten and frayed, and the fibres were tied in such a way as to form the eye. Eye-needles of bone were not unknown. The eyeless needle was made ready for use by beating out the end of a slender, new shoot of hemlock or of a sliver taken from the heart of a rotted hemlock log, and twisting an end of the thread with the pitchy fibres of the needle. The comb was a strip of yew about five inches long and two inches wide, the grain running transversely. The teeth were produced by scoring the wood on opposite sides with a sharp bone point. The numerous implements and appliances used in fishing and hunting are most appropriately mentioned in connection with the description of the methods followed in these industries. Fishing is still of prime importance to the Kwakiutl. The various devices employed in this occupation in former times are evidence of considerable ingenuity, and they were used with much skill. The earliest spring fishing is for herring and herring roe. This occupies approximately the second half of March, at which time those tribes that have no herring grounds near their villages move in a body to the nearest fishery. Thus the Lekwiltok migrate from Cape Mudge to Comox, a distance of about thirty-five miles, to fish in Salish waters. When the tremendous shoals of herring appear, the people swarm out in their canoes, herring-rake in hand. This implement (hlutaiyu) is a flat strip of wood eight feet long and three inches wide, one edge for a space of some thirty inches at one end being set with a row of bone (now iron) teeth pointing slightly upward. The fisherman, standing in the bow while his wife or other companion paddles, whips the rake through the water and shakes the impaled fish into the canoe. A short time suffices to obtain a large quantity. After the water has become milky with the deposit of spawn, the rake is superseded by the dip-net, which in clear water is so conspicuous as to frighten the fish. This is a bag-like device, formerly made of nettle {view image of page 20} 20 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN fibre, spread upon the prongs of a forked pole in such manner that the releasing of a cord which extends up the handle permits the meshes to slip down along the forks and thus close the opening upon the captive fishes. As soon as a load of herring is brought ashore, the women of the family begin to string them on slender fir shoots about five and a half feet long. Twigs and needles are not stripped off, but do not show after the shoots are crowded with fish. The last herring at the butt of the withe is tied fast by the gills and the jaw, and the tips of two shoots are knotted together. This pair is now ready to be hung on the drying frame, which is made as follows: A row of several spars (usually hemlock) about twenty-two feet long are driven into the ground at an angle of about sixty degrees from the horizontal, with a space of twelve feet between each two. Under each pole are driven five supporting, upright posts, equidistant and, of course, of varying length. Then across the face of the spars five horizontal courses of poles are laid the full length of the frame and bound at the points of intersection with the supporting upright posts. On the long horizontal poles are hung the strings of herring. To keep off the troublesome crows there is erected at each end of each frame a kyakya'ma ("raven frightener"), consisting of a post and a cross-bar with a hat on the top of the post and (formerly) a bow and an arrow at the ends of the bar. The drying frames are always placed not only where the sun will strike them, but where the wind, especially the southeast wind, has access. About ten days of fine weather are required for the drying. When the fish are thoroughly dry, the strings are taken down and the herring torn off the shoots, packed into cedar chests, and trodden down. Close watch is kept on the water at the spawning ground, and when it turns milky it is known that spawning has begun. Then all the men gather small hemlock saplings, six to ten feet in height and with vigorous branches covered with needles quite up to the stem, severing each at the base with a single blow, so that the end is sharp. Iaden with these saplings, the canoes put out to the spawning ground, and after the tide has ebbed and left them resting on the bottom, each head of a family proceeds to set up his trees in a long, straight row with the branches just clearing one another. The rows are sufficiently separated to permit one to walk between them. In * A KOSKIMO HOUSE. The painting represents hatasa (thunderbird) capturing a whale. The eagles on the pole are the watchmen of the chief, and the human figures are his speakers. {view image of facing page 20} A Koskimo house [photogravure plate] {view image of page 21} THE KWAKIUTL 2I setting the saplings a stout, pointed stake is driven into the ground for about eighteen inches, and into the hole thus made a tree is planted so firmly that the waves cannot overthrow it. The number of trees set out depends on the size of the worker's family, on his own industry, and on that of his wife. Thus, a man himself may be very energetic, but if the woman is lazy it is useless, to gather a great quantity of roe, because she will not cure all of it. The minimum is about forty trees. After all his trees are placed, the worker masticates some dry salmon spawn and sprays it on them as he walks along the row. This is believed to attract the herring. Finally he thrusts into the bottom at the end of his row a long pole with a few twigs on the tip. This tuft, remaining above the water at high tide, enables him to find the end of his row, and watch the spawning. There is no attempt to place identifying marks on these poles, but each man remembers the relative position of his row. As soon as the rising tide covers the saplings, the herring can be seen depositing their spawn on the green twigs. Usually the trees become well covered, but not full, on the first day. Nevertheless they are left four days in the water, in order that the waves may wash off some of the slimy milt with which the roe is thickly covered. There is an element of luck in this work, inasmuch as some rows, for no apparent reason, fail to receive a heavy deposit. After four days have passed, the fishermen take their canoes to the spawning ground. The trees are now snow-white and bent low with the weight of the spawn. At ebb tide the men lop off the branches, wash them, and pile them in the canoes. On the rising tide they come ashore, and the boughs are placed on the upper poles of the drying frame by a man who stands on the rack and hauls them up with a rope, on the lower end of which is tied a forked stick to serve as a grab-hook. Another method of securing roe is sometimes practised by young men, or women more than usually fastidious. Desiring spawn free of hemlock needles and twigs, they take a long cedar pole about four inches in diameter and anchor it at both ends in water where low tide cannot leave it stranded. Over it they hang branches of smooth-leaved shrubs such as salal, or long wisps of eel-grass, each double string having a small weight attached at the ends in order to keep them perpendicular in the water. The float rises and falls with the tides, and the green shoots, being constantly submerged, collect a heavier deposit than the trees. Spawn so gathered is free of leaves {view image of page 22} 22 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN and trash. Some tribes, as those of Rivers inlet, do not set trees in the bottom, but tie long, green boughs to floating timbers. The drying sacs flatten and turn yellow-white. Two days of fine weather with a good wind will dry the spawn. Care is exercised that it may not become hard, for then it would crumble. When it has reached the proper degree of desiccation, it is stripped from the branches, and all the needles come with it. Spread on mats, it is turned and stirred at intervals, so that wind and sun may dry it more thoroughly. This is accomplished in less than a day. Finally it is placed in baskets, trodden down tightly, and covered with a piece of matting, and the basket is laced shut and stored in a place where water cannot reach it. The dry roe is thus prepared for eating: A quantity is soaked in a large wooden dish, and before it has become quite soft it is rubbed between the hands and broken up. The hemlock needles and twigs float on the water and are thrown out, and the cleansed roe is placed in the cooking vessel. After boiling, it is covered with oulachon oil, or, in lieu of that, with whale oil. In hot weather the cleansed and softened roe is covered with cold water and eaten uncooked. Sometimes the dry roe, uncleaned, is dipped in oil and eaten, the hemlock twigs counteracting the salty taste. In some localities, as at Cape Mudge, herring roe is never eaten at night, lest it induce nightmare and swelling of the eyes. The Wikeno, and probably other tribes, have preserved an ancient custom in the practice observed by the person who in spring finds the first dead herring or oulachon on the beach. He holds it in his hand and addresses it, "Oh, grandchild, you have come!" Then he makes a smacking sound with his lips, and, still gazing at it, continues, "May you increase instead of decreasing, and so always!" Then he lays it down. When the first of any species of salmon is found, a similar prayer is offered, and the finder bites its fin. About the first of April begins the fishing for oulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus), smelt-like fish which ascend certain mainland rivers in immense shoals. *As the oulachon streams are limited in number, and the fish cannot be taken for its oil above tidal water, not all the Kwakiutl tribes can engage in this pursuit. Kingcome river, at the head of Kingcome inlet, is an oulachon stream, where besides the resident Tsawatenok several tribes have fishery rights. These are the Nimkish of Nimkish river, opposite Alert Bay; the Koeksotenok of Gilford island; the Guauaenok of Drury inlet; the Hahuamis of Wakeman sound; and the Komkyutis, formerly of {view image of facing page 22} A Koskimo dandy [photogravure plate] {view image of page 23} THE KWAKIUTL 23 Thompson sound, now a sept of the Qagyuh- at Fort Rupert. At the head of Knight inlet oulachon fishing rights are possessed by the Qagyuh- of Fort Rupert; the Mamalelekala of Village island; the Tlauitsis and the Matilpe of Tumour island; the Tenaktak at the head of Knight inlet; and the Awaitlala on Knight inlet at Glendale cove. At Rivers inlet the Wikeno and others had oulachon streams. Members of all these tribes still fish for oulachon, but not in the number they once did, when practically every family moved its goods and its house-boards and established a temporary home at the fishery. Fishing stations are family property, and the rights are jealously guarded. At each station, the location of which is fixed by ancient custom, the stream is dammed either with a wicker weir or, if the water is shallow, with a line of stones. In the former case the fish are taken by men in canoes above the weir, each of whom holds a dip-net over an opening in the obstruction. In the latter case the fish are diverted from the channel by stone barriers extending from the back into the channel and pointing down stream, to be scooped up and poured into burden-baskets at the edge of the stream; or they are taken in dip-nets at the ends of the barriers as they swim between two opposite and nearly touching dams. The oulachon are at once piled in great rounded heaps six feet in diameter, and are covered with mats, boards, and sticks to protect them from flies and birds. Such a heap is called a "hole," a circumstance that points to the probable former use of excavations for this purpose. A "hole" is the equivalent of two loads of fish from a thirty-five-foot canoe. A single family used to provide ten or twelve "holes." The fishing continues little more than a week, and the next few days are busily passed in gathering enormous quantities of fuel. After the fish have been rotting for perhaps twelve days, the work of rendering begins. Large cedar boxes three to four feet in depth (the so-called "grease tanks") are partially filled with water, which is brought to the boiling point by means of heated stones dropped into a submerged basket. The basket full of stones is then removed, and the half-rotted fish are scooped up and poured into the tanks. The water is kept at or near boiling point, and the mass is frequently stirred. After a certain time the fish rise to the surface. Then cold water is added, and with split-cedar tongs the man removes the stones one by one, while the woman pours cold water over them to wash and cool them, and then, taking them from the tongs in her {view image of page 24} 24 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN hands, throws them aside. By the time all the stones have been removed, the remnants of the fish have settled and the oil has risen, and it is now dipped out with a wooden cup and poured into a pail. There it remains until the water has separated out, when the oil is carefully poured off into the cedar chest in which it is to be stored. Families resident in the vicinity of the fishery sink the storage tanks in excavations until the top is flush with the ground, and cover them with boards and earth. "Grease feasts," at which oulachon oil, the only food provided, is gulped down from great bowls, are commonly held soon after the oulachon season, for the oil is difficult to transport and with age it acquires an odor none too delicate even for a coast Indian. The surplus, amounting formerly to considerable quantities, was exchanged for salmon with those tribes which, having no oulachon fisheries, had spent the corresponding season in salmon fishing. Five gallons, or a little more, are obtained from a single rendering tank, or more than seventy-five gallons to the "hole." The average storage chest contains twenty-five to thirty gallons; those of larger size hold forty, and a few very large ones seventy-five. In former times bladder-kelp (Nereocystis Luetkeana) was prepared for containing oil by drying in the sun, soaking in salt water, and working in the hands as in softening a tanned skin. It was then blown up tightly and oiled, and finally was rolled into a small wad. When oil was to be transported, unless in great quantities in the "grease tanks," it was poured into these kelp receptacles, which were then coiled with the head in the centre and laid in the canoe. In this usage originated the occasional name of "bottle seaweed." The foregoing description applies to present methods, with the exception that the oil is now rendered in metal boilers and for the greater part stored in five-gallon tins. Previous to I908 the oil sold at the rate of seventy-five cents to one dollar per tin, but since that time the price has advanced to two dollars. The annual combined product at Knight inlet and Kingcome inlet is said to be some fifteen hundred gallons. In I9IO, however, the people lingered so long at the potlatches that they lost the first and best run of the oulachon, and the entire output was only a few hundred gallons. Halibut fishing is followed by the tribes at the northwest end of Vancouver island and the mainland fronting on Queen Charlotte sound. These are the four tribes of Quatsino sound, the two tribes (one now extinct) at Cape Scott, the Nawiti of Hope island, the Goasila of Smith inlet, the Nakoaktok of Seymour inlet (now of {view image of facing page 24} Front interior posts of a Koskimo house [photogravure plate] {view image of page 25} THE KWAKIUTL 25 Blunden harbor), and the Wikeno of Rivers inlet. Others occasionally fished for halibut, but these formerly made it a business. The principal halibut banks are near Hope island, Galiano island, the Gordon group, and certain islands of the larger inlets. The fishing began about the first of May, simultaneously with the appearance of a small bird (ahialwuni) locally called the salmonberry bird. As the villages were not far from the banks there was no migration during the halibut season. The halibut hook consists of a piece of the upper half (said to be always stronger than the under half) of a balsam branch, steamed and bent in the shape of the letter U, with a bone (now steel) barb tied at one end and pointing in toward the concavity. Its length is four to five inches. The line is attached to the middle of the arm opposite the barb. Such hooks are still occasionally used. Formerly the usual practice was to suspend one of these hooks from each end of a wooden arm made by binding together two stout, short pieces of cedar or balsam branch so curved that the resultant device resembled the inverted keel line of a canoe. In such cases the line was attached to the middle of this arm, and from the same point was suspended a stone sinker. The hook is baited with a small rockcod, which completely covers the barbed arm, and the halibut, thrusting the tip of its upper jaw into the opening, is hooked firmly. The fishing is done from small canoes scarcely larger than some of the fish taken. The best fishline was made of bladder-kelp (Nereocystis Luetkeana), but cedar-bark and nettle-fibre also were used. Kelp for this purpose was always obtained in places where the tide runs swiftly, because there the stalks attain the greatest length.1 Only the very largest, those with heads six or seven inches in diameter, were taken. At the lowest tide the alga was pulled in slowly; if its roots clung fast to the rocks, the worker tied a knife crosswise on the end of a long pole and by this means cut off the stalk at the root. The upper end was severed at a point where the diameter began to increase perceptibly. Each piece was coiled, and the coil was bound with cedar-bark at two opposite points. The coils were then weighted down with stones in a stream above the reach of tidal water, and after a period of two to six days the brown, shiny appearance disappeared, the stalks becoming white and swollen to twice their original thickness. In a place well exposed to sun and wind they were 1 Forty to fifty feet is the usual length of the longer stems, although seventy feet is not rare; and a stem one hundred feet long has been reported at Port Renfrew, British Columbia. {view image of page 26} 26 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN stretched as taut as possible on a frame consisting of two pairs of posts, each pair joined by a narrow board to which the ends of the kelp were tied with cedar-bark cords. Thus the kelp remained ten to twelve days, until the stalks had shrunken to about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, when they were taken off by holding a stone under them at the point to be cut and striking from above with another stone. They were dragged by one end to salt water, and, as they were hard and brittle, great care was observed to make no abrupt turns in the course, lest the kelp be broken. After the stalks had been in the water a few minutes, the worker grasped the bunch in his left hand and rubbed them lengthwise with a handful of fresh rockweed (Fucus). They soon began to soften, and after perhaps an hour of this process he coiled the pieces one by one, and proceeded to tie them together in a long line by making a simple knot in the end of one piece over the end of a second piece, and then casting a simple knot in the end of the second over the knot first made. He then drew the two pieces apart so as to bring the two knots together tightly, cut off the two free ends, and passed on to the next piece. At the end of the whole line he made a single knot, where the fathom-long leader of plaited hair was to be fastened. The line was now coiled and hung in the house above the fire in the smoke, in order to become blackened and less conspicuous in the water. Before use it was thrown into salt water, and in a few minutes, by the time the fisherman had his canoe ready, it absorbed sufficient water to render it flexible. It made a very light trolling line, much easier to pull than one of our twisted or platted lines. It did not twist, and it coiled naturally without kinks. A whole coil of it could be thrown overboard at once, and it would straighten without snarls. The kelp line was used not only in halibut fishing but also in trolling for silverside salmon and in sea-otter hunting. The trolling line was eight fathoms (forty feet) long. The flesh of the halibut is cut off in pieces about eighteen inches long and as thick as the wrist. With a broad mussel-shell knife (now a steel implement of the same shape) the workwoman slits each strip down the middle, almost severing it; and then working out from the middle line, just as if opening a roll of paper, she slices each half into a thin, continuous sheet. These sheets are hung on poles in the sun until they are thoroughly dry. The flesh is neither smoked nor cooked, and is eaten without further preparation than breaking into pieces and dipping in oulachon oil. The oulachon-fishing tribes traded off their oil for dried halibut {view image of facing page 26} A Kwaustums village [photogravure plate] {view image of page 27} THE KWAKIUTL 27 steaks. In I890 the rate of exchange was a hundred pieces of halibut for one dollar; in 1905 it was thirty; and in I9I0, twenty. It has been known to sell at eight for a dollar. Silverside salmon and occasionally spring (Chinook, or quinnat) salmon are taken on the trolling hook, the primitive form of which was a double-pointed bone four inches long. It was attached not quite at the middle, and was inserted into the gullet of a herring with one point just protruding. Spring salmon, however, are more commonly caught by means of a long spear with a double-pointed head set on the shaft by a socket, a stout line running from the head up the shaft to the spearsman's hand. In streams, when salmon are not present in large numbers, the dip-net (ih6taiyu) is used. Dog salmon, which run in September and October, are the species taken in greatest numbers. One of the means formerly employed was a bag-like, nettle-fibre net (kitlum), the largest of which were forty fathoms long and ten fathoms wide at the opening. The lower edge of the mouth was kept submerged by means of stone sinkers, and three men in a canoe dragged the net downstream. The fish were removed at the small end of the net, where provision was made for opening it. In good fishing, the very largest canoe was filled by a single draft. Of greatest importance in salmon fishing is, or was, the weir, all the various forms of which are based on the principle of a fence obstructing the river, with openings leading upstream into wicker compartments from which there is no escape. One of the most effective weirs is constructed in the following manner: From each bank to the deeper water of the stream is built a fairly close fence consisting of slender poles driven into the bottom and bound together by a line of long poles on the upstream side at their tops. At deep water each lateral fence turns at a right angle and is continued against the current for about four feet, these last two sections being then connected by a line of fence that spans the channel. Thus the river is completely obstructed. At each of the two corners where the lateral wings of the fence turn upstream is bound the open end of a long, tubular, wicker basket, which extends downstream with its closed end in such shallow water that it is only partially submerged. This part of the structure is about twelve feet long and tapers gradually to a diameter of some fifteen inches at the lower end. From the deep-water side of the open ends of these tubular traps two converging lines of fence are led upstream to a point about two feet from the transverse section of fence that obstructs the channel. Between {view image of page 28} 28 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the ends of the converging lines there is just space for a salmon to pass. Swimming up the river toward the spawning grounds, the fish push through this narrow opening, find themselves checked by the fence, and turning back pursue the line of least resistance into the long, tubular traps, in which they cannot turn about. At the lower end is a sliding door, through which they are removed, usually dead because of the crowding salmon behind them. In some cases the space enclosed by the lines of fencing is provided with a flooring of poles, which can be raised at any edge so as to pour the salmon down into the traps, if they fail to turn into them of their own accord. The building of a weir is a communal undertaking. The chief of the small, local group controlling it has the first right to take fish from it; after him the others of rank, and finally the common people, have their turn. The construction of weirs being now illegal, these devices are rarely seen. Dog salmon to be cured for winter consumption are caught in October, when they have become lean, an excess of fat being objectionable because it makes the flesh difficult to preserve in a damp climate. This is one of the reasons why, as a rule, no other species is cured; the other reason being that at the time when winter supplies are being secured the other species of salmon are far inland at their spawning grounds in the lakes and at the head waters of small streams, while the dog salmon spawn in the lower courses of the streams. But among the Wikeno, favorably situated at the head of Rivers inlet and a very short distance from a large lake fed by many short streams, it is customary for the head of an average family to take, at the beginning of October, two canoe loads of sockeye (one hundred fish constituting a load), then an equal number of spring salmon, and lastly the same number of dog salmon. In preparation for curing, the fish is opened at one side of the backbone, which is then removed with the head and laid aside. The roe is thrown into another heap, the entrails and gills are rejected, and the flesh, inside and outside, is rubbed off with a handful of green leaves. The strip along each side of the back is cut off and sliced into a thin sheet, leaving the fish itself of the uniform thickness of the flesh at the belly. Held open by skewers, this is hung up to dry, first in the sun, then in the smoke of the house-fire. The thin sheets are hung on poles to become partially dry in the sun; and then skewers are inserted to prevent curling as they thoroughly dry out in the smoke. Above the fire are five tiers of racks, and each lot of salmon spends a day on each of the first four, beginning on the {view image of facing page 28} The octopus catcher - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 29} THE KWAKIUTL 29 lowest. After five days on the topmost tier the cured flesh is packed in large bag-like baskets or in cedar chests, which are kept in a dry place. In I895 the price of dried salmon was one hundred for a dollar; in I9IO it was about twenty for a dollar. Each head, with the backbone attached, is inserted between the jaws of a split cedar stick, the end of which is thrust obliquely into the ground so that the head and backbone are held over a small, smoky fire. This part of the fish is used in making soup. Some of the salmon, after the dressing, are placed in the cedar tongs, the edges of the fish being held apart by small slivers, and are thus very slowly roasted, with frequent turning, after which they are hung above the house-fire to smoke. Rock-cod, mostly for bait in halibut fishing, are taken in a wicker trap (tlftmkum), almost cylindrical but flat-bottomed. In the top is a small opening set with splints converging inward so as to permit ingress but prevent egress. The material of the trap is long, split cedar branches and spruce-roots, and the usual diameter is eighteen to twenty-four inches. It is baited with crushed sea-urchins and sunk by means of stones. A cigar-shaped wicker trap (lihsit) is set in shallow sloughs where the oulachon run, and when full is rolled ashore. The octopus is a delicacy. The hunter, finding a den, inserts the end of a sharp stick under the rock, feels about until he touches the hard part of the body, and pushes the stick into it. The octopus, mortally wounded, comes out, and the hunter drags it ashore or into his canoe. It is not permitted to linger, but is beaten to death against the rocks, in order that the flesh may be edible. The color almost immediately changes to pink, whereas if the creature dies slowly it is said to remain purplish. Porpoises are still harpooned on moonlight nights as they sport in the calm, enclosed waters. Whaling was not practised by the Kwakiutl tribes in the historic period. A tradition declares that a certain man of the Hoyalas, a now extinct tribe of Quatsino sound, was a whaler, and the presence of quantities of whale-bone on the beach at an old village site gives color to the statement.1 Quantities of clams are dried by the tribes situated near clambeds, such as the Fort Rupert group, the Mamalelekala, and the Wikeno. The shellfish are opened on the beach and strung on three parallel unbarked raspberry shoots about two feet in length, two passing through the ends of the clam and one through the middle. They are left hanging in the sun until the entire lot is ready. In the 1 But see page 288, footnote. {view image of page 30} 30 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN morning a steaming pit is prepared; the clams are laid on the green leaves that cover the heated stones, and are covered with mats. But little water is poured on, as the clams contain enough moisture to create the necessary steam. When, toward evening, steam ceases to rise, the mass is uncovered and the sticks are carried into the house to be stood up, side by side near a great fire, on a long board with their tops resting against a horizontal pole supported on two upright forked sticks. Here they bake on both sides, and then they are placed on a rack in the smoke. After about two weeks they are taken down, hard and thoroughly dry, and are laid between two mats, and a woman treads on them to flatten them. Still between the mats, the entire lot is bent over in such a way as to crack the sticks at the middle; and in this condition the clams are stored in baskets. A stick of clams now sells for twenty-five cents. Abalones are secured by means of a two-tined spear, which is thrust into the shell and given a quick twist before the gastropod can exert its powerful suction and fasten itself immovably to the rock. The flesh is usually dried and strung on cords. Many marine mammals were hunted with the harpoon. Such were the sea-otter, the hair-seal, the fur-seal, the sea-lion, and the porpoise. Sea-otters and fur-seals were approached while sleeping on the surface of the water. Hair-seals and sea-lions are still attacked while basking on the rocks. Hair-seals formerly were taken also in strong nettle-fibre nets (tianatfaiyu) as much as thirty fathoms (one hundred and fifty feet) long and five fathoms in diameter at the mouth, tapering to the closed end, where they were just large enough to permit the seal to swim quite to the end but not to turn about. Such nets were set in the mouths of turbid rivers at high tide, that portion of the channel not occupied by the mouth of the net being obstructed with poles. When the tide fell, the salmon returned to the sea, and the seals following them found themselves entangled in the net. The season for hunting sea-otters began about the month of September, and continued as long as the weather was fine. The following customs of the Koskimo were observed by an informant about the year I865. Sea-otter hunters preparing for the chase bathed and rubbed their bodies with hemlock sprigs morning and evening for four days, each captain apart by himself in the woods, and his two paddlers together. They slept apart from their wives on beds of hemlock and spruce, believing that the fragrance would help to rid them of human {view image of facing page 30} Ready for the cast - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 31} THE KWAKIUTL 3I odor and enable them to approach the otters with less likelihood of untimely discovery. They slept as little as possible, in order that their sleepiness might enter the bodies of the sea-otters. Herring roe, dry salmon, grease of all kinds, were taboo, and other foods were eaten in moderation. At each meal the captain of a canoe put the first morsel to his mouth and then, tossing it into the fire, said: "Now, may Kwahtlale help me!" 1 Some of the captains secretly rubbed their bodies with strips of fat cut from a corpse. On the fourth morning after the beginning of their purification, the weather being favorable, the hunters came out of the woods ready for the departure. They wore cedar-bark blankets pinned around the shoulders rather loosely, so that an arm could easily be thrust out. A lock of hair was brought forward from each side, and the two were tied above the forehead. The bases of two hemlock sprigs were bound together and tied into the knot of hair, so that the green sprigs extended across and above the forehead and about ten inches beyond the temples. On the beach were the canoes, raised on blocks and containing paddles and weapons. The keel of these hunting canoes was cut away forward so that they made no noise as they slipped through the water; and consequently they were easily capsized. Generally about forty canoes engaged in a hunt. The hunters lifted their craft bodily, placed them in the water rather closely together, and embarked. Then one called in a high voice, "Ta".....!" while all the others beat rapidly on the thwarts with their paddle handles. "J e!" shouted the leader, and the men gave a single beat, and all shouted, "Ya!" Thus they thought to frighten the sea-otter spirit. After this had been done four times, they began to sing, beating with their paddles. This ancient song, which contained no mention of the sea-otter, was rendered four times, and the men began then to paddle, all in unison, raising the paddles with a quick forward fling so that the drip was scattered in a thin stream with a minimum of sound. The paddlers strained every muscle in an effort to take the lead, for the first canoe to draw away from the others became the leader of the hunt. When the leadership had been thus determined, the others began to diverge in a wedge-shaped formation. Captain, as well as crew, paddled, sitting on the forward thwart with one foot back under it and the other advanced, and using a stroke somewhat different from that of the men. The leader laid his course for 1 <"W [an ejaculation]! Rwailtlale [Sitter-on-the-fire] laams [now] watiettle [may help] gyatin [me]!" Kwahitlale is the spirit residing in the fire, who causes the flames to rise. {view image of page 32} 32 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN a patch of kelp, for sea-otters, it is said, sleep on the top of matted kelp. As soon as an otter was discovered, the leader indicated the place with raised paddle, and as a signal that they had noted his action, the other captains pointed their blades. The leader held back while the others sped forward and formed a circle about him and the otter. Then he loosed an arrow, and the otter, if struck, rolled and struggled on the surface, trying to break or dislodge the arrow. The leader was not permitted to spear the animal, but must leave that to some other one of the captains, all of whom now dashed in. If one of them got his spear into the animal, the rules compelled him to leave the actual recovery of the prey to one of his fellows. If the otter was not struck by the first arrow, or if it dislodged the missile before it was speared, it dived, and the leader's canoe followed the wake of rising bubbles. Meanwhile the other canoes had to preserve the circle, closing in on the side behind the otter's course and giving way on the other side. All the men kept up a fearful noise of shouting and beating the gunwales in order to frighten the animal. When large bubbles began to rise rather far apart, the leader shouted a warning to the others to be ready. Soon the otter rose, and as it propelled itself on its back 1 arrows rained down about it. If it remained alive, it dived again, and the pursuit continued. An otter never remained long under water after the second dive, but during the first two dives the hunters had difficulty in preserving the circle. Unless unfavorable weather interfered, an otter was seldom lost. The skin belonged to the man whose arrow struck the animal. If more than one arrow found the mark, no matter by how narrow a margin, the skin was the joint property of the owners of the arrows. Each hunter had a distinctive mark for his weapons. The successful captains paid a single Hudson's Bay Company blanket, valued at a dollar and a quarter, to each of their paddlers, to the man who speared the otter, and to the man who dragged it in. The leader of the hunt retained leadership during the day, but unless his arrow struck the otter he received nothing. On the return each successful captain thrust an arrow through his forelock alongside the green sprig. On the following day the owner of the skin laid the animal on a new mat, and after three preliminary motions he cut the skin from chin to throat, at the same time emitting a smacking sound from 1 Old sea-otter hunters assert that this animal never swims on its belly. {view image of facing page 32} Tenaktak canoes [photogravure plate] {view image of page 33} THE KWAKIUTL 33 his lips and saying, "I have hit it! "1 The flesh of the sea-otter, always fat, was kept for food. The skin was suspended on a cedar withe in a slit in the nose, and a heavy stone was attached to another withe tied about the flippers. While it was stretching over night, the owner prepared a stretcher consisting of four strong bars lashed into a rectangle about eight feet long and half as wide. In the morning the skin was sewed loosely along each side to a stiff hemlock rod, the cord of bark or split spruce-roots passing through holes in the skin half an inch apart. A withe wrapped about each flipper was attached to the bottom of the frame, and a long withe was passed through the slit in the nose, over the upper bar, and back through the slit. On this rope the workman hauled vigorously, with feet braced against the bar, and when he had stretched the skin as far as possible, he made the rope fast. Then a kelp fishing line, well moistened, was wrapped spirally about each side rod and the corresponding side of the frame, and by this means the skin was stretched sidewise as far as possible. Then the frame was raised from the floor on two boxes, one under each end, heavy stones were laid along the median line of the skin, and water was poured into the depression. The next morning the workman loosened the kelp fishing lines and stretched the skin lengthwise, made fast the end rope, and tautened the side lines. Then after sprinkling water on the skin he carefully fleshed it with a cockle-shell, and stretched it again. The standard size for large sea-otter skins was six feet seven inches by two feet nine inches, though the animal itself is only about three feet six inches in length. The skins were always perfectly straight along the sides up to the neck. When finally the desired size was attained, the workman stood the frame upright, and scraped out all the moisture with a clam-shell, then laid the frame on the drying racks above the fire, with the fur side up, and covered it with a mat. Thirty double trade blankets, which in later days of the trade was equivalent to sixty dollars, was the standard price for a prime skin. The deadfall (kyipiyu) is used for bear, wolves, and cougars, and in a smaller size (kwetlayu) for mink, marten, raccoon, beaver, and otter. A third kind is occasionally set for deer, but the favorite method of killing deer is by "shining." The hunter crouches in the bow of his canoe, screened by a mat from the light of the fire that burns on a stone hearth amidships. A companion, steering in the stern, is also 1 kapantla. It was a very common custom, when an arrow or a bullet went true, to smack the lips and exclaim, "I have hit it!" VOL. X-3 {view image of page 34} 34 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN thrown into shadow by a screen. As the canoe slips silently through the water close to the shore, the reflection of the firelight in a deer's eyes presents the hunter with an easy mark. A Wikeno deer hunter is expected to practise continence for seven days prior to the hunt. On the seventh night his wife walks into the water up to her knees, the hunter following. The woman places a bit of charcoal on the water, and both return to the house. In the morning the hunter gets into the bow of his canoe, and with another man (never a woman) paddling in the stern, proceeds along the shore. It is confidently believed that because of the charm that has been practised he will soon find a deer standing in the water up to its knees. Failure is ascribed to his supposed neglect of the rule of continence. This charm is used also for the amphibians, such as mink, otter, and beaver, and for all the larger land animals that are frequently seen at the water's edge. Pitfalls are not employed, nor are nets stretched across the runways of deer and elk. Mountain-goats formerly were taken by the mainland tribes in the following manner: Strong hoops two feet or more in diameter, made of intertwined cedar withes, were distributed along a trail used by the animals in coming down the mountain to feed, being suspended at the level of a goat's head and attached by a strong rope to a tree growing out from the brink of the precipice. When the goats came down single file, the leader would get his head into a ring, and feeling it on his neck would give his head an impatient fling, when the short rope would bring him up with a jerk and drag him over the edge. There he would hang in midair, held in the ring of withes by his horns. Mullifiis of the Tsawatenok, who died about I905 at the age of sixty-five, once made three hundred rings and placed them in the goat trails. During the season he caught seventy goats. While he was making the rings he would not permit any one to see or approach him; he worked in solitude. After setting his snares (mogwaiyu) he would not go to examine them until he dreamed that the snares in a certain place had caught a goat. The Wikeno in parties of two or three hunted goats with dogs trained to drive the game into a cul de sac, where the hunters easily disposed of them with spears. Ceremonial purification in the water was not practised in preparation for hunting mountain-goats, because these animals belong not to the water but to the mountains. Continence for six days preceding the hunt was obligatory. If, starting upon the hunt, a man should forget his spear or anything else, he {view image of facing page 34} Tenaktak house, Harbledown Island [photogravure plate] {view image of page 35} THE KWAKIUTL 35 dared not return for it, but his wife must bring it to him, lest the goats, after coming out from their inaccessible retreats to graze, should flee back into their concealment. This tribe lived much of the time on Owekano lake, and even in the short season they spent on salt water at the head of Rivers inlet, they were out of the usual routes of the fur traders. Guns apparently were not obtained by them earlier than perhaps 1875, although in I792 Vancouver observed firearms in the possession of Kwakiutl tribes on the islands between Vancouver island and the mainland. A Wikeno informant born about 1854 has himself hunted mountaingoats with spear and dog. He has even seen a grizzly-bear killed with a spear, and declares that this was not a rare feat for some men, though few could accomplish it. Elk were killed with bow and arrow by ambushed hunters past whom the herd was directed by beaters. The duck snare (ydihwaiyu) was a right-angled lattice-work of split vine maple with the half of an eagle-feather tied by both ends to each interval of those sticks that ran in one direction, the feather thus forming a circle which stood out from the sticks. The snare was sunk with stones in the water near shore, and the ducks in diving for food got their heads fast in the loops. Ducks were captured also by hand when two men in a canoe screened by boughs drifted among the flock, and like other birds they were taken in hair nooses. Still another method was with a net wielded by a man in a canoe, screened from the firelight that dazzled the waterfowl. In the herring spawning season innumerable waterfowl gathered to feed on the roe. Diving, they would come up blinded with the slimy milt, and could be taken easily from canoes. Attempting to fly away, they sometimes struck trees or rocks, and were picked up maimed or dead. Hair-seals also, lying on the bottom and feeding on the roe, became temporarily blinded with the slime and fell an easy prey to hunters. After finishing the work of gathering herring roe, the Lekwiltok men used to engage in a contest with slings, standing on the shore and hurling stones at the wheeling gulls and ducks. There was some danger lest a stone, slipping out of the pocket before the proper time, fly off to the right and inflict serious damage. Hence arose the custom of building stalls with drift logs interlaced like the walls of a log house, and open toward the water. These were about a man's height and ten to fifteen feet deep. In them the men would stand waiting in the early morning for the ducks, ready to greet the incom {view image of page 36} 36 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN ing flocks with a volley, and again at evening they would assail the departing fowl. Typical of the course of events at such times is the following incident: One evening, the men stood throwing at the fowl. A man at the end of the row let a stone slip, and it flew among the others, narrowly missing one of them. The latter cried, "Don't throw your stones this way!" He hurled a stone at the offender, who angrily retaliated, but almost struck another man. Thus a general broil ensued, the several gentes hurriedly banding together. One man was struck in the hip as he stooped to select a missile, and a stone was sent through the cheek of another, lodging in his mouth. The quarrel ceased without other casualties. Such disturbances were common, for the contest of throwing at the fowl was really a test of endurance, and each, no matter how weary and hungry, was loath to propose stopping for food and rest. So some one would purposely let a stone fly in the direction of the others, and thus cause a row that would break up the game. Another form of diversion at the herring fisheries was to shoot at ducks from canoes. Two men manned a canoe, the one in the prow having a bow, ten pointed arrows, and one blunt arrow. The blunt missile was used to shoot at the duck when it came up to breathe and send it quickly below again without a full supply of fresh air. The canoe then quickly dashing up, the arrow was recovered and again used for the same purpose. Finally the fowl would become so short of breath that it was forced to come up close to the canoe, an easy mark for one of the pointed arrows. At the start each crew selected a certain duck for pursuit, and it was not permissible to give up the chase of that particular one when another chanced to present itself near at hand. The eagle snare (kwafialas) is a hut of branches just large enough to contain two crouching men, and cleverly disguised with moss and twigs into the likeness of a rock. On the roof a salmon is fastened. When an eagle alights, the men are not to look up at once, but wait until, having eaten for a while, it is heard to breathe hard. Then a man reaches out, drags the bird in, and passes it quickly to his companion, who wrings off its head before it can scream. In the same manner other birds such as hawks and sea-gulls are captured. At the conclusion of this description of hunting methods it may be not inappropriate to mention some of the distinctive beliefs and quasi-religious practices of hunters. It is believed that the spirits of all hunters of the sea, that is, those {view image of facing page 36} At Memkumlis [photogravure plate] {view image of page 37} THE KWAKIUTL 37 who wield the spear, become killerwhales (Orca pacifica), hence nobody in his senses would think of killing one of these mammals. The spirits of land hunters become wolves, hence no wolf is killed. When anybody chances to find a dead wolf in the woods, he sits down and pretends to cry, scratching his face and praying. An informant with his steersman once came upon the body of a wolf. We sat down, one on each side of the wolf, and pretended to cry and scratch our faces, not by moving the hands but by moving the head up and down with the elbows propped on the knees. My steersman said, "We must bury our friend." I, being a young man and ignorant of these matters, asked, "Who is going to put a blanket about him?" "You, of course," he answered. "You are the spearsman." I objected: "If you do the praying, you will get the luck from him and I will be out of it." "Oh, no," he replied, "I will pray for both of us." I took my blanket, the one I wore around my legs in the canoe, and spread it on the ground. He went to the tail of the animal and I to the head, and we pretended to lift it, and the fourth time we really picked it up and laid it on the blanket. "Now," said my steersman, "we will say the prayer. We-kaste ['real friend'], now you have seen how kind we are to you when we find you with the spirit gone out of you. Now that the living spirit is out of you, we want that lucky part of your body to come to us, in return for what we give you. We are going to bury you. We want you to leave with us the hwela [a quartz crystal found in the mountains, a piece of which every wolf is believed to carry in his right foreshoulder and which is, in reality, his life]. Leave it with us so that we may have long life [tatamui, a term very rarely used except on such an occasion, or when on'e sees a killerwhale and prays to it]. Wa, kast ['done, friend']!" Then we lifted the wolf and put it under a rock and covered it with the blanket and with stones. The same informant related the following experience: In my youth I once shot a killerwhale. He was badly wounded, but in reloading I broke my ramrod, so I paddled close to him and drove a sharp stake into him near the head. Then bracing myself in the bow of the canoe, I held the end of the stake in the crook of my legs. His spout-hole was just opposite my face, and his body stretched behind along the canoe. He spouted continually, and the stench was terrible. He drove straight toward the shore and beached himself in shallow water, and my brother came up and shot him. When the next tide floated the body I towed it down in front of the village, thinking I had done a great deed; but the old men were much {view image of page 38} 38 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN excited, and scolded me angrily. They all came to the shore and prayed over the body, imploring the spirit of the killerwhale not to be angry with them, for they had not done it. Only one, they reminded him, had done it, and they mentioned my name so that there might be no misunderstanding. It used to be the custom that when the first bear of the season was killed, the hunter would bring it to the village, and while yet a short distance away he would call, "I have a visitor!" Then all the people very solemnly and quietly would assemble in his house. The bear was placed in a sitting posture in the place of honor at the middle of the back part of the room, with a ring of cedar-bark about its neck and eagle-down on its head. Food was then given to each person, and a portion was placed before the bear. Great solemnity prevailed. The bear was treated as the honored guest, and was so addressed in the speeches. The people, one by one, would advance and take its paws in their hands as if uttering a supplication.1 After the ceremonial meal was over, the bear was skinned and prepared for food. On a certain night in the month of July when the tide will be at its lowest for that moon, spearsmen take their spears and watch throughout the night, waiting for a streak of light to shoot up from a star of the constellation "spearsman of heaven" to one of the "seven star" group. Then they hurl their spears at some object, in order to have good luck in their hunting. If a man finds himself threatened by drowsiness, he sets his wife to watch, and she arouses him when the flash comes. In summer and autumn the women (and formerly their slaves) are principally occupied in gathering for the gloomy, rainy winter plentiful stores of berries and other vegetal foods. In the beginning of June those tribes that prepare hemlock bast for food (such as the Rivers Inlet group) scatter in small bands among the forest-girt lakes. The work begins about the middle of June at the time when salmonberry shoots have become too woody to be eaten and skunkcabbage leaves have attained their full size. By means of a climbing apparatus of cedar-withe ropes and a yew block supporting the feet, a man slowly climbs spirally up a hemlock tree eighteen inches to three feet in diameter, attaining a height of as much as forty-five 1 Shaking hands was not a custom before the white people introduced it, though a man meeting a friend might grasp his hand in order to detain him. Men who had been long separated embraced each other, and women did the same; but only when there was close relationship did men embrace women, as a brother his sister, or an uncle his niece. Kissing was not a custom, but in extraordinary circumstances, as when a child had been saved from death, a parent in an ecstasy of emotion would caress it in a manner suggestive of kissing. {view image of facing page 38} Kwaustums village, Gilford Island [photogravure plate] {view image of page 39} THE KWAKIUTL 39 feet if the trunk is free of branches to that height. Then leaning out on the rope that supports the back, he cuts through the bark from the rope to a point about three feet above it. At the latter level he then scores the bark clear around the trunk, and after loosening this section he breaks it off at the level of his rope, drops it to the ground, and descends three feet to repeat the operation. A piece of whale-rib with sharpened end was the primitive tool for this work. At the foot of the tree a woman gathers up the sections of bark, and with a mussel-shell she scrapes off the bast in shavings four or five inches long and two or three finger-breadths wide. As she works these shavings are thrown into an uncovered cedar box twelve by fourteen inches, by eighteen inches in depth, and from time to time the mass is compressed by treading on a superimposed square of scraped bark. An industrious man and woman used to prepare as much as ten boxes of bast, others as little as two boxes. When all the bark has been scraped, a hole fourteen inches deep and three and a half feet wide, and long enough to contain the shavings, is dug. For ten boxes the pit would be perhaps five and a half feet long. Stones are heated in the excavation, and when they are white hot all cinders are carefully removed. Moist, dead fern-fronds are spread over the stones to the depth of four finger-breadths, and a double layer of skunk-cabbage leaves is carefully arranged over the fronds. A section of scraped bark is rolled into a hollow cylinder, which is inserted at the middle of one side of the pit into the moist mould, the open bottom resting on the stones. Another bark pipe is thus placed at the opposite side, the bast is deposited on the leaves, and another double layer of leaves is spread over it. Next a mat is thrown over the mass, and a covering of earth is added. About five gallons of boiling water is poured into each bark pipe, and the upper ends are quickly stopped. All this is done early in the morning, and the mass is not again touched until noon. The man of the family then takes his place at the side of the pit, while his wife sits at the opposite side and the children are between them. Each has a flat, rough piece of sandstone. The cover is raised, one after another quickly removes a great handful of bast, and the cover is dropped. Then each kneads his handful on the sandstone, turning and re-turning it, tearing it apart and opening it up, until after a while it becomes smooth and pasty. It is then rolled into a ball and laid in one of the boxes, and another handful is taken from the pit. When after a week or two of this labor the family returns to the {view image of page 40} 40 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN permanent wintering village, the woman cuts a mat down to exactly the shape and size of the box into which she is going to place the bast. She removes the balls one by one, lays each in turn on the mat, and beats it out with her knuckles into a loaf just the size and shape of the mat, which is then lifted and overturned on the drying frame, leaving the loaf on the frame. When the frame is filled it is placed on the drying rack just above the fireplace. The loaves are about the width of two spans (twelve inches) and the length of three, and in thickness one finger-breadth. The contents of a single box make ten loaves. During the night the fire is kept burning, and late the next day the frame is taken down and the loaves are stored in boxes made of cedar-bark scored and bent and sewed at the seams. There they are kept until the winter dance begins, when they are eaten with oulachon oil. Red elderberries are gathered in July before they are thoroughly mature. Near each of the berry-patches there used to be a "work house," which was used in common by all the berry-pickers in the neighborhood. At the present time few parties go so far from home that they cannot return for the night. Elderberries are plucked in clusters, and when a sufficient quantity has been secured they are poured into a small canoe and heated stones are thrown in among them. No water is added, the juice of the berries being sufficient to boil them without burning. As they are stirred, the stems are loosened and thrown to the surface, and are removed. After the boiling, chests are brought alongside the canoe and the contents are bailed into them. When the berries have settled to the bottom, the liquor is skimmed off and poured into other chests, leaving only the moist berries. Or the clusters are steamed in pits, removed to a cedar chest, and there stirred and crushed. Then everybody eagerly crowds up to drink the juice down to the last drop, and soon all are apparently completely intoxicated, though there can be little if any alcohol in the beverage. These Indians assert that lupin-roots eaten raw produce a strong contraction of the eyelids, as if one were gazing at the sun, which continues until the taste of the roots has passed away. It is also averred that one who eats steamed black chitons (C. Katherina tunicata) and immediately thereafter smokes tobacco loses control of his locomotor muscles and, powerless to check himself, walks straight ahead, always toward the sea, and into the water until some one restrains him or the shock of cold water brings him to his senses. Many white men have been curious enough to experiment on themselves with elderberry {view image of page 41} THE KWAKIUTL 41 juice, lupin-roots, and black chitons, but none has succeeded in producing the expected result. Yet there is ample testimony that the Indians are so affected, and the only explanation of the phenomenon is that their susceptible imagination induces a state of autohypnosis. The next morning, having slept off their "intoxication," the women gather skunk-cabbage leaves, warm them so as to reduce their brittleness, and shave down the midribs to about the thickness of the lamina itself. On the ground are spread the drying frames, which are two feet wide and eight to ten feet long, consisting of flat, lengthwise, cedar strips bound at regular intervals to cross-pieces and with side strips two inches high. The frames are covered with the leaves, and four squared sticks about the thickness of a finger are arranged tip to tip in a square at the end of a frame. Berries are poured into this enclosed space, and with a shell the worker spreads them out and smooths them down into a cake uniformly as thick as the four sticks. The end stick and the two side ones are then shifted to enclose a new space, which is filled with berries; and so the work continues until the frame is occupied by a uniformly thick layer of berries in neat squares. It is then placed on the rack over the fire. After two days it is inverted over another frame; the leaves, now uppermost, are stripped off, and the second frame, containing the half-dried cakes, is left over the fire for four days, until the cakes are quite dry and brittle. They are then piled in a cedar-bark box, to be used in the winter dance. Some of the mainland tribes, notably those on Kingcome inlet, harvest considerable quantities of crabapples, which they sell as a rare, but to a high-born man necessary, delicacy. The green fruit is picked in bunches, with the two accompanying leaves attached. The spruce-root baskets are emptied into the waiting canoe, and when the craft is laden, the party returns home. The apples are carried into the house and poured on a mat, and the entire family pluck them from the stems, each worker with a basket at his side. Then a cooking chest is partially filled with water enough barely to cover the apples, and a loosely woven basket is set in to receive the heated stones. When the water boils violently, the basket with its stones is lifted out, and the apples are poured in rapidly, so that all may be immersed an equal length of time and be equally cooked. The addition of the apples stops the boiling, but there is just sufficient heat left to cook the apples without breaking the skin. A grill of cedar sticks, just large enough to fit inside the box, is laid on the top of the {view image of page 42} 42 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN fruit and weighted down, so as to keep immersed those which, being unsound, would otherwise float. In this condition the box remains until the winter festivities. Every box of food prepared for the winter feasting is added at the end of the row of its predecessors. Sometimes as many as five boxes of crabapples are gathered by one family, each containing about twenty-five gallons. The apple harvest is finished at the time when all the sockeye salmon have gone up the rivers, that is, approximately the first of August. About a month later, before they are too ripe to be easily handled, salalberries are gathered, the worker picking them into a small spruceroot basket suspended on the breast by a cord around the neck and pouring them upon a mat, not into a larger basket; for salalberries are too easily crushed. When a sufficient quantity has been gathered, the berries are plucked from the stems into a large basket and emptied into a low-sided cooking chest between alternate layers of heated stones. After cooking they are spread in a solid cake on a drying frame over a layer of skunk-cabbage leaves and dried above the fire. After two days the cake is turned and the leaves are stripped off, and two days later it is folded up and stored in a box. A common practice is to dry the cooked elderberries to a crisp, crush them with a stone maul on a hide, and mix the resultant meal with cooked salalberries in order to impart piquancy to what otherwise is an insipid, sweetish food. The mixture is dried on the frames in thin sheets, which are folded up like paper and stored in boxes. This is a staple article of food and exchange. It is moistened and kneaded until it becomes a jam, which with a final touch of oulachon oil is eaten with clam-shell or wooden spoons. Blueberries and red huckleberries (Vaccinium parvifolium) are obtained in September and October by shaking the branches over a large basket. The Wikeno clean them by the awkward method of repeatedly dipping the hand into water, thrusting it down among the berries, and shaking off the leaves that adhere to it. The Qagyuhl set a board at an inclined angle and wet it. Then the berries are poured down the board, to fall upon a mat at the bottom; but the leaves and twigs adhere to the board. When the wind is strong enough the berries are winnowed. After pouring the berries into a cooking box, the women mash them in their hands and throw in hot stones. These berries are never preserved, because the excess of juice renders them difficult to dry. Wild cherries, gathered in September, are cooked in the same manner as crabapples and are left for preservation in the water and {view image of page 43} THE KWAKIUTL 43 juice in which they were cooked. Or sometimes they are well covered with oil, which, solidifying with cold, protects the cherries with a layer of grease. The falling leaves announce the season of clover-roots. At the mouth of various streams in the moist meadows that are submerged by the spring tides a species of clover (Trifolium fimbriatum) grows in profusion, its roots attaining the thickness of a pencil. In such places the women own plots of ground, which have been in the family for many generations. These hereditary possessions cannot be sold nor given away; to do so would be to rob unborn descendants. If an owner does not choose to harvest her clover-roots, nobody else would touch the ground; but since roots of more than a year's growth are not tender, the ground is never idle but is either used or leased by the owner. Clover land is very valuable, because the roots, which are limited in quantity, are regarded as indispensable to good health and hence can readily be sold at a high price. For this reason the land is well cared for. The main root stocks are never taken, and such pieces as are not deemed good for food are put back into the ground. This is the nearest the Kwakiutl ever approached agriculture. Clover-roots are dug about the end of September when the vines are withered. The primitive implement was a yew dibble two and a half to four and a half feet long with a cross-piece for the handle, upon which pressure could be applied with the abdomen. First the worker goes over the ground with a large clam-shell and cuts off the foliage and the exposed portions of the roots, for these are bitter like sunburned potatoes. After digging the roots she washes, cleans, and dries them, places the smaller, fibrous ones in boxes, and ties the larger ones in bundles to be sold at a higher price than the others. There is no attempt to preserve clover-roots through the winter, but as soon as cold weather arrives any that are on hand are eaten, lest they spoil by freezing. When a clover-root feast is to be given, the woman carefully washes the roots while her husband heats stones. These are put into an empty cooking chest, and when the wood catches fire the blaze is stopped with a dash of water. Meanwhile the woman has cut an old bark basket in halves, one of which she soaks in water and lays on the stones, with the edges near the upper edges of the box. On this the wet roots are piled high and covered with a mat. Water is poured through the mat, which after a quarter of an hour of steaming sags down to a level and is thrown off. The edges of the piece of basket are grasped, and the roots are lifted out and placed on the mat. After cooling, they are served in wooden {view image of page 44} 44 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN dishes, oil is poured on, and the long, fibrous roots, doubled and redoubled into a ball, are conveyed to the mouth with the fingers. At the same season as clover-roots and in similar localitiesare dug the roots of silverweed (Potentilla anserina). These are broken into short sections, steamed, mashed, and served with a copious dressing of oil. Or the pieces are eaten without mashing, but not until they have so far cooled as to lose a slow, wormlike twisting. Considerable quantities of "wild rice" - the white, fleshy, scalelike bulbs of the wild tiger-lily (Lilium parvifolium) -used to be gathered in the autumn. These were steamed, mixed with hemlock bast to counteract the bitterness, and covered with oulachon oil. Since traders have made rice available at the cost of much less exertion, the lily bulbs are no longer used. In the springtime quantities of laver of the species Porphyra miniata are collected from the rocks at low-tide line. Leaf by leaf the thick, heavy seaweeds are spread in a cedar box one upon another in layers about two inches thick. The layers are separated from one another with skunk-cabbage leaves and a heavy weight is placed on the entire mass. After a few days the leaves are found to be firmly compressed into cakes, which after thoroughly drying in the sun are very like a plug of tobacco in appearance, except that they are prune-colored. They are kept over winter, and even longer, and are prepared for eating by being finely cut and boiled into a viscous soup. Other common vegetal foods are blackberries, salmonberries, raspberries, strawberries, salmonberry sprouts, eel-grass, and the roots of lupin, wood-fern (Dryopteris spinulosa), and bracken (Pteris aquilina). Dried and smoked salmon and halibut, clover-roots, silverweedroots, salalberries mixed with elderberries, purple laver, and oulachon oil are the staple foods without which no self-respecting family would attempt to do. An ingenious device was that of the Quatsino Sound tribes for obtaining the valued dentalium shells at Winter harbor. A threeinch yew pole about forty-five feet long was first secured. A sound piece of spirea (S. opulifolia) fifteen inches long and two inches thick was then, by bending, split into a great many thin, resilient splinters, about five hundred in number, so that when finished it resembled a great stiff brush six inches in diameter. Next were prepared several thin yew blades, equal in length to the spirea splints and three and a half inches broad, and with the corners of the lower end cut off so that it terminated in a fairly acute point. The splints were now {view image of facing page 44} A Kwakiutl canoe [photogravure plate] {view image of page 45} THE KWAKIUTL 45 fastened securely about one end of the pole, the yew blades were bound by the upper ends about the bundle of splints, so as to form a continuous shield of a single thickness, and near the pointed lower ends a cedar withe encircled the bundle with sufficient tightness to hold the blades and the splints firmly together. Two oblong stones, each weighing thirty-five to forty pounds, were secured on the shoulder, or upper end, of the bundle of splints, on opposite sides of the pole. When this mechanism was put into the water, the stones just counterbalanced the buoyancy of the wood, and the pole stood upright with the bundle of splints resting not too heavily on the bottom. The fisherman, alone in his small canoe, seized the pole by the tip, raised it a few feet, and let it drop, the weight of the stones causing it to strike the bottom without too great force. The shells, fastened to the rocks by the base and with the pointed end upward, were forced among the splints, and when the pole was lifted again they were torn from the rocks. At the next plunge of the mechanism, more shells were forced in, and those of the first catch were pushed up farther. Thus it went until the resilient splints, held together by the yew blades, were distended at the bottom to a diameter of eighteen inches. The cedar-withe binding gradually slipped upward as the splints were distended. When the "feel" of the plunger indicated that the splints were filled, the pole was hauled up and the lower end was rolled into the canoe. The shells were combed out with a stick, and the fisherman leaned back and stirred them about with his feet, washing the mud from them. When a sufficient number had been taken, he went ashore to clean them. He placed a row between the first and the second finger of the left hand with the points upward, and then pushed a wooden needle into the small ends with a slight twist, when the contents were expelled. The aboriginal paints of the Kwakiutl were green, red, black, and yellow. Unfortunately it has not been possible to identify the materials from which the pigments were obtained. The native description of them follows. In the streams flowing from certain mountains were found small quantities of a hard, heavy, green substance which was pulverized by rubbing on a stone. This perhaps was metallic copper covered with rust (carbonate of copper). Mixed with the mud of certain rivers was a red powder, which, with mud and water, was scooped up and dumped into a box. A hole in one side near the bottom permitted the water and the lighter {view image of page 46} 46 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN solids to flow off, while the heavier red substance remained. On a fire of alder sticks a hearth of clean, flat stones was laid, and the material left in the box was spread on it. The alder burned so evenly and sank so gradually as not to disturb the stones, and after the substance had roasted for some time it was found to be in lumps, which were then pulverized. This probably was iron oxide. Black paint was obtained by pulverizing a rather soft, black substance, which sometimes was found in large quantities where it had broken off from the mountain. Apparently this was coal or lignite. Another black, moist substance, rarely found, was rolled into balls, roasted, and suddenly cooled with water, when it became a fine, white powder. This, like the other three mineral paints, was prepared for application by the admixture of a suitable quantity of moistened powder of salmon roe, which gave it adhesiveness. A user of paint kept a flat piece of limestone containing four small, round depressions, in which were his pigments. In a few rare localities a certain fluid exudes from the rocks and collects in depressions. The surface of the little pool resembles mica, but at the bottom is a bright yellow substance, which gives a very permanent color. When black roots or bark for weaving are required, the material is soaked in water for some months, and it is then found to have become black. For the same purpose there used to be obtained from the northern tribes a black substance, probably graphite, which imparted a duller shade than the soaking process. Commercial dyes are now commonly used. Apparently the only native dyestuff is what is still used in coloring cedar-bark red. This is done by immersing it in a vessel of urine containing a quantity of masticated alder-bark. There is another use for this ammoniacal liquid. In former years, and even now at certain places on the western coast of Vancouver island, every house had just inside the door a large cedar chest about three feet square and the height of a man's hips. This was a urinal for the use of male and female members of the household and their visitors, as well as any chance passer-by. Girls and young women of good birth, however, were too modest to avail themselves of this convenience. Its presence was believed to be efficacious in keeping away ghosts, and the contents were never removed until the odor became actually unbearable. When any one wished to take a thorough, cleansing bath, he would dip up a small vessel of the liquid, first stirring up the sediment, and wade into shallow water. It was used {view image of page 47} THE KWAKIUTL 47 as we use soap, the body being rubbed vigorously with the ball of the hand. Face and scalp were washed in the same way, care being taken to keep the liquid out of the eyes.1 The common unit of linear measurement is the pa'kl, the reach of the two arms, which, as the Indians measure, is approximately five feet. Other units are the distance from the fingertips of one outstretched arm to the crooked elbow of the other; the handbreadth taken at the broadest part, including the thumb; the breadth of the knuckles; the breadth of one, two, three, or four fingers; the span, or the distance between the tips of the outspread thumb and forefinger; and the distance between the tip of the thumb and the second joint of the forefinger. The longer distances can be indicated only comparatively by referring to some visible object or known landmark, or by the use of such expressions as two days' voyage, a winter day's voyage. Although the numerous aboriginal games of the Kwakiutl are largely in disuse, they will be described in the present tense. Gambling was a feature of many of them. Lipa resembles a simple game of cards. The requisites are forty (in some tribes fifty) polished rods approximately the size of a pencil. Among them are four sets of four each, which are variously marked with rings of red, white, blue, and black. Thus in the whole pack there are sixteen colored sticks of four kinds. Mats are spread on a floor of boards stretching along the whole side of the room and raised at the edge nearest the fire so as to present a sloping surface. The players sit at the lower side of this long platform, between it and the wall, arranging themselves in sets of four, each of which is provided with a pack of rods and plays independently of the others. Four sticks, including one of each colored suit, are thrown down upon the mat, and each player in the group of four selects one, which indicates what suit shall be his during the game. Then one player, holding the entire pack of forty in his hand, draws a rod from the centre and throws it against the mat. If it be one of a colored suit, a point is scored for the man playing that suit; and as soon as a point is counted for any other than the dealer, the deal passes to him. When the pack is exhausted, it is made up again, shuffled, and dealt, until one player has scored ten. The first two deals, necessarily resulting in four points for each player, are merely preparatory to the real contest. 1This seems to justify the coupling of the words qeu'fi ("urinal") and qeusi ("to wash the head"). {view image of page 48} 48 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN An unusual form of the well-known hand-game is alahwa. Each player holds a wooden marker, and as the two opposing lines sit facing each other, those on one side place their hands beneath their blankets and shift the marker to whichever hand the individual elects, accompanying their actions by a wild, shrill song. At the end of the song each player of the opposing party guesses which hand of the man directly facing him holds the marker. Those who are correctly guessed are "killed," and drop out of the game for the rest of the inning, but for each of the others the guessing side must pay one of their tally-sticks. They continue to hold their inning until they have "killed" all their opponents or have lost all their tallysticks. When either contingency occurs, the markers pass to them and the other side has an inning. Boys play a game of similar principle called mzukwa. One of the two leaders passes along the line of his companions, pausing a few seconds before each one. It is then the duty of the other side to guess which one has the stone maul secreted by the leader beneath the robe of one of them. If the guess is correct, the player indicated by the guesser throws up his empty hands and cries fgiq! (the sound uttered by Stone in mythology). A correct guess is rewarded by a tally-stick, and the winners then conceal the stone. But by far the most of the Kwakiutl games were athletic. Thus, tlumqa is a form of amusement in which a flat cedar strip two inches wide and thick enough to be firm, yet vibrant, is thrust upright into the ground, so as to stand about a foot above the surface. The players stand some twelve to fifteen feet distant and launch at it a four-foot wooden missile consisting of a round shaft that terminates in a head six inches long and one inch square. The head just overbalances the shaft. The first player casts his club, endeavoring to strike the mark full in the face in such a way that the missile will come flying back toward him. If he catches it, he scores a point. If he fails either to strike the mark or to catch the flying club, there is no score and the play passes to one of his partners. When a missile falls beside the mark with its handle resting on the top of the upright and its head on the ground, the count is ten. Each player continues to throw until his club either fails of the mark or flies back without being caught, and then one of his partners begins. When all the missiles of this party lie beside the mark, or elsewhere on the ground, their opponents begin, first drawing out the target and setting one of their own in the same hole. Ten points constitute a game, but there are no wagers. {view image of facing page 48} The hand-game - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 49} THE KWAKIUTL 49 In preparation for saikyakus (" contestants with spears out-ofdoors") a very large bladder-kelp is laid under a large number of smaller ones in a shallow excavation, and the heap is thinly strewn with earth. At one end of the hole is set a small image. The youthful contestants sit twenty feet distant, and one by one rise to throw at the image sharp, hardened withes. Usually the missile goes beyond and buries its point among the kelps, when two boys waiting near at hand pull it out and throw it back to its owner, along with the kelp which it has transfixed. But if it neither strikes the image nor transfixes a seaweed, it is not thrown back and its owner is out of the game. Next to striking the image the greatest applause is won by getting the "chief" kelp. Haiyuhuyu ("ball") is played either in the house or in a field of similar space. A ball about the size of a football and made by simply doubling up and wrapping with cords some suitable material, such as a small robe, is thrown into the air at the middle of the playground. The opposing sides stand grouped together, and all leap to get the ball as it falls; then follows an indiscriminate struggle to force it to the end of the course and into a hole. Kylnhya is played between two opposing parties, each of which has one or several hoops made of roots bound with cedar-bark tape. The rings are ten inches in diameter, and the periphery is two inches wide and one inch thick. As the parties stand facing each other seventy-five yards apart, each with a leader in advance of the others, one of these two throws a hoop toward the other side, whose players rush forward and attempt to catch it on their short sticks. The one who catches it immediately runs toward the other side, whose members scatter and flee, hotly pursued by the man with the hoop, who endeavors to strike one of them with it by throwing it after him. As it flies through the air, his opponents try to catch it on their sticks. In the meantime other players may have returned to their lines, and another hoop is started out to follow a similar course. The game is exceedingly disorderly and rough, the object being to make somebody cry with pain. Wrestling is a common pastime, and so is the tug-of-war, in which the two principals hold a stout cudgel while each of their companions grasps with his arms the waist of the man in front of him. There are many outdoor games for men to the accompaniment of songs, the procedure closely corresponding to many of our garden games for children. A form of amusement practised by girls is kutmhla, which resembles VOL. X-4 {view image of page 50} 50o THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN battledore and shuttlecock. The shuttlecock is a bit of elderberry stalk an inch in diameter and three inches in length, with three or four feathers thrust into the pith at one end. The battledore is a paddle with a blade six inches square made of cedar splints interwoven with cedar-bark cord. The object is to keep the shuttlecock in the air, and while one girl plays the others stand by and keep the tally. This is the most active game permitted to girls; indeed, unmarried girls of high birth were formerly seldom seen outside the house except when travelling. The worst thing that could be said of a girl was that she was mannish. A pastime of young boys is mayuqahla, which is performed with the purpose of terminating a long season of rain. In the evening a dozen or more boys strip off their clothing and paint a white circle about each eye. Then with thumb in mouth, palms forward, and forefingers at the side of the head in front of the ears, they go in single file, dancing in a crouching manner into one house after another. Behind them walks a man, the elder brother of one of the boys, with their robes in a bundle on his back and under his own robe. He wears an old hat. The boys constantly go through the motion of picking something from their cheeks and putting it into their mouths. On entering a house they sit down and sing, "Coming in is the hunchback." Then all of them leap upon the hunchback and pretend to tear him to pieces, and in the confusion he disappears, leaving the clothing lying in disorder. The boys now sing: "You will not be rough when you change. Do not be rough, old grandmother West Wind, when you pull aside the hair." (By the hair they mean the clouds, and their action in tearing the robes from the manwho plays hunchback symbolizes the driving away of the clouds by the wind.) At the end of the song they fall to and pull one another's hair, and then proceed to the next house. At the end of the village all put on their robes and march to the chief's house, where they knock on the door, and then stand outside and shout, in separated syllables, "We are teasing for," here naming the chief's youngest daughter, or, if he have none, his pet dog. The people inside sit listening, and the boys continue, "Now I think it is time for you to turn about and see what is in your box." And so they proceed, calling out whatever occurs to their leaders as a hint that they desire food, and at length the people yield and invite them in. Whatever is given must be eaten, and the opportunity of a practical joke is frequentlyimproved. A lump of suet is a favorite gift with the jesters, and occasionally a bottle of whiskey is given with disastrous results. If in spite {view image of page 51} THE KWAKIUTL 51 of their importunities the chief's household is not inclined to feed the boys, they finally go on through the village, singing, "They do not love their daughter!" All personal names used by the nobility spring from earlier generations, the only newly invented ones being nicknames.1 Prior to the ear-piercing rite and the bestowal of one of these family names, the child is known by the name of the locality of its tribe's permanent residence. Thus the village at Fort Rupert is Tsahes, and every male child born of Fort Rupert parents is known as Tsahes, while every female infant is Tsaheska (-ka being the feminine suffix). The common people have only nicknames based on some peculiar characteristic or circumstance. Not infrequently names applicable to either sex are bestowed upon unborn infants. In any case, however, the child bears the local place-name until on the fourth (formerly, when head-flattening was practised, the eighth) day there occurs the ceremony of piercing the ears and formally bestowing a personal name belonging to the father's family. Usually this is one that has been left available by death, but occasionally a grandparent, or even a father, confers one of his unused names on the infant. When this ceremony (6ta, earpiercing) is to be held, heralds pass through the village, entering each house and summoning each person by name: "Come, let us go to see the ear-piercing!" When all have assembled, a woman, whose profession this is, pierces the lobes of the child's ears with a bone point, a course which is believed to ward off sickness. Then the father announces the child's name and distributes gifts among all those present, the usual amount being the equivalent of twenty-five cents, although fifty cents or even a dollar may be given to each person if the giver is very rich. The ear-piercer of course receives a more considerable reward. Within a week or two after the ear-piercing the father may declare his intention of giving his child a new name, by arising at some feast and announcing, "I am going to give my child a covering!" Then his clansmen rise and join him in one of his songs. Within a few days he assembles the people and distributes gifts of the value of 1 Exception must be made of those cases in which a man assumes a name taken from some wonderful object or unusual event encountered by him. Thus in I860 a man of the Walas Qigyuhl, while ceremonially bathing, met a white man at a small stream near the village and asked who he was. The white man answered, "Le prete," and the Indian paddled home with all speed and gave away blankets in honor of his new name, "Lupulet," which has remained hereditary in that family. In a similar manner the first Nawiti man who met Captain Cook appropriated the explorer's name. {view image of page 52} 52 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN about fifty cents to each, while the paternal grandfather brings out the infant and puts it through the motions of a dance, the chief of the gens having announced the new name and recited the story of its origin and the great deeds associated with it. Generally, however, the first name is retained until the age of ten months, when, on the occasion known as hehluqila, all the young people of the child's sex are invited to the house to observe the father or an uncle singe its hair in order to cause a luxuriant growth. Its head and face are then dusted with powdered red paint, and the father distributes gifts and announces the new name. Then the guests cover their faces with red paint, and one by one sing their love-songs, all aiding each singer. The child is now regarded simply as the son or the daughter of its father, and not as a tribesman. The manner of its reception into the tribal organization will be described later.' Until about the middle of the nineteenth century artificial deforming of the head was general among the Kwakiutl, while the tribes of Quatsino sound carried the practice to the greatest extremes. On the fourth day after a child's birth came a woman whose profession was that of head-binder. After anointing the infant's head with silver-perch oil, she wrapped tightly about it a two-inch strip of deerskin or of thin, dry kelp. The baby was then laid in the cedarbox cradle on a grill of cedar splints covered with soft, silky, cedar-bark floss. A pad of floss was bound tightly over the forehead, and other pads were stuffed into the space between the temples and the sides of the cradle, the purpose being to produce a straight line from the tip of the nose to the crown of the head. It was regarded as little less than disgraceful for any one, especially a woman, to have a depression where nose meets forehead. The baby remained almost constantly in the cradle with bandage and pad in place. Infants, it was thought, should not be taken out-of-doors lest they acquire a wild, roving disposition. So a cedar sapling with a straight, resilient branch was planted inside the house, and, suspended from the limb by two ropes, the cradle was kept swinging incessantly. After about See page I38. * A MAMALELEKALA CHIEF'S MORTUARY HOUSE. In the centre among the brush are two mounds of stones on cribwork, commemorating as many "grease" feasts given by the chief. (At a "grease" feast a cribwork of logs is built in the fireplace, stones are heaped on it, and a chest of oulachon oil is set on the stones. Pails of oil are poured on the fire, which soon consumes the chest and its contents.) The wooden images along the fence at the left represent coppers sold by him, and on the tall pole are nailed miniature canoes, one for each canoe given away by him. The thunderbird crest was inherited from his mother and the tfinukwa from his father. The paintings on the house represent large, valuable coppers. {view image of facing page 52} A Mamalelekala chief's mortuary house [photogravure plate] {view image of page 53} THE KWAKIUTL 53 two weeks the head-binder removed the bandage, oiled the skin, which, especially if the bandage had been too long in place, was apt to be raw, and adjusted a wider binding. Thus the process continued for about four months, the width of the bandage being gradually increased as the head grew longer. The growing skull had a tendency to bulge out over the binding, and whenever this became noticeable the head-binder placed cedar-bark floss beneath the bandage and the depression filled out. At the end of four months the head swelled large and round above the place of binding, but the irregularities gradually vanished and the skull assumed a rounded, elongate shape considerably different from the deformed skulls of the Salish and other southerly tribes, who used only the pad and not the bandage. While no diminution of intellect is observable in those whose heads are deformed, it is said that infants just released from the bandage and pad were as helpless as month-old babies now are. The mortuary customs of the Kwakiutl and their beliefs concerning the dead are full of interest. The wooden box containing the corpse is placed either in one of the group of small huts (the so-called "grave houses"), in a canoe, in a dry and inaccessible cave, or high up in a spruce tree. Exposed thus to the air, corpses rarely undergo putrefaction, but slowly mummify. The houses and trees used for this purpose are always near the village, frequently on a small and otherwise unused island, and invariably facing the water. Burial in one of the tribal cemeteries used to be regarded as almost indispensable, and even if a hunter met death on a remote mountaintop his relatives would recover the body. The coffin is so placed that the head of the corpse is toward the west. One whose death is expected is carried out of the house and kept in a temporary hut of boards and mats, in order that the rest of the household may not be exposed to the evil consequences of contact with the dying. This course, which is promptly resorted to when any apparently serious malady refuses to yield to the usual treatment, is in itself practically a death sentence, so susceptible to suggestion is the primitive mind. Rarely indeed does a patient leave on his own legs one of these miserable kennels. The coffin is a cedar-board box three and a half feet long, two feet wide, and three deep. For one whose death is awaited, the coffin is made in advance by a man who has lost a wife by death; and at the same time a cedar-bark rope for binding the coffin is prepared by a woman who is, or has been, a widow. It is thought that if a rope {view image of page 54} 54 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN made by a woman who has never been a widow were to be used for this purpose, she would "bind the life of her husband in the coffin." But there is no such misfortune in store for the husband of a former widow. A similar conception causes the use of a coffin manufactured by a widower. The articles must be new. Thus, if a rope that has been employed in fishing were to be bound about the coffin, the next season's catch of that particular species of fish would prove a failure. When death occurs unexpectedly, a new storage chest serves the purpose of a coffin. If life passes in the night, the knowledge is confined to the members of the family until the first streak of dawn, when their lamentations apprise the villagers that death is among them, and everybody hurriedly arises; for it would be inviting death to sleep in daylight with a corpse in the village. At any other time than night, however, preparations for burial are begun without a moment's delay. Even if it is so late in the afternoon that the rites cannot be completed before the fall of darkness, the body is hurriedly wrapped and bound in a robe, placed in the coffin, and carried beyond the end of the village, to be left until morning on the beach above the line of high tide. One shudders to reflect how many people among these tribes have been buried alive, or at least hastened to their end, stuffed into the coffins as they are, frequently with broken necks, as soon as consciousness leaves them. As soon as the death wail is heard, a number of aaphila ("caretakers"), whose services have previously been engaged by the family, assemble at the hut in which lies the corpse. These are unmarried persons (at least temporarily so) of the same sex as the deceased, and their number varies from two to eight, depending on the wealth of the family employing them. In the case of very poor families their work is performed as an act of charity. As the body has been bathed just before death ensued, the first act of the aaphila is to blacken its face with charcoal and to cover its head with a small blanket, which they fasten with wooden pins. They wrap the body in a new robe, and adorn it with the best of the decedent's finery. To employ a used robe would be equivalent, figuratively, to burying with the corpse any one who has worn it. The practical result would probably be little different, for the threatened victim would almost certainly worry himself into an early grave. The last act of any attendant who finds it necessary to come in contact with the skin of a corpse is to brush gently over the touched parts of the body with a bunch of cedar-bark floss, in order to rub off the touch of his own hands; lest, {view image of facing page 54} Tsawatenok tree burial [photogravure plate] {view image of page 55} THE KWAKIUTL 55 if this be permitted to remain and be buried with the dead, it decay as the body decays, and the attendant himself soon die. Fully clothed and wrapped in the robe, the body is lifted by the aaphila and with three preliminary motions is placed in the coffin on the small of its back, the knees being drawn up to the chin and the hands to the breast below the shoulders. Some of the decedent's more valuable personal possessions are placed in the chest, and the unoccupied space is packed tight with blankets. If there has been time to make a special coffin, the body may fit in without the head being pressed down, but frequently the head has to be pushed sharply down and forward, until the spine cracks and the head hangs forward on the breast. The lid is then adjusted, and two men working at each corner busily lace it down with cedar withes. But if darkness is approaching, four men work at each corner in order to finish the task before night. At a funeral everything is carried forward with great haste. While the body is being prepared, all the people gather outside the hut, and as they sit there in groups commenting on the proceedings, some of them in even, unemotional tones offer advice to the aaphiila, reminding them of anything omitted. The coffin stands outside the hut, and the process of putting the body into it goes on in full sight of the people. The closer relatives of the deceased weep and wail, and pay no attention to what is being done. After the coffin is laced shut, the aaphila invert it and crack the bottom, in order that the ghost may have exit. Then they place two boards across the gunwales of a canoe and on them the chest. Many, sometimes nearly all, of the men embark in their canoes and accompany the aaphila, in order, ostensibly, to lend assistance, but women never go. If the coffin is to be hung in a tree, two men in a small canoe have gone in advance and selected the tree, and thinned the branches by means of an adze, so as to make an opening for the passage of the chest upward to the boughs on which it is to rest. A young man with a stout rope now climbs to two branches on the same level and fairly close together, and if the old men below approve his selection, he cuts off the ends of the boughs, leaving the stubs somewhat longer than the width of the coffin. Another youth climbs into the tree and by means of the rope these two draw up one of the two boards brought in the canoe with the coffin, and they lay it across the two branches and bind it to them. Then the two, one above and one below the platform, leaning forward across stout branches, draw up the chest and place it on the platform. The second board is then bound on the top of the coffin, and a skin is draped over the {view image of page 56} 56 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN whole and lashed down. Formerly, when coffins were painted with conventional figures, the skin was not used. Finally the chest itself is secured to the tree. After finishing their work the two men descend, carefully cutting off every branch close to the trunk, so as to protect the body from violence or robbery at the hands of hostile people. These elaborate precautions are observed only in the burial of persons of rank. If the decedent was a high chief, everybody then moves to a distance of a hundred yards from the tree and sits down, while songmakers compose memorial songs celebrating the life and deeds of the dead man, and after learning them, all embark and return to the village, singing the songs and comporting themselves like invited guests from another tribe. They find the chief's house alight with a huge fire, and prepared for their reception. The canoes draw up to the beach, and the older chiefs who did not accompany the funeral party stand in front of the house and address the returning band as if they were guests from some other village. These reply: "We have brought the chief. We knew he would not stay long." The reference is to the son who will succeed his father, although he has not accompanied them, but with the other members of the family has remained at home weeping. Those drawn up on shore express their satisfaction with the news, and invite the returning party into the house. Inside they repeat the memorial songs, which number either four or eight. One song records the names of the coppers the dead chief owned; another mentions all the potlatches he had given; a third all the great feasts he had made and the canoes he had then broken up and used for fuel; another names the winter dances he had held and the amount of property he had on such occasions received from his fathers-in-law, and how many times he had given property to his own son-in-law in order to enable him to hold a winter dance. These are the usual four songs, and they are sung in this order. But if the chief was a very great man, eight songs are composed, the additional ones telling the history of his family crest and mentioning the names of former great chiefs of his line. The singing of eight songs of this character occupies a long time and is very fatiguing. The leader chants a line, and the assembly repeat it, beating with batons on a roof-board which lies before them and maintaining a peculiar rhythm of two quick beats followed by a long rest. A few of the women come in and sit by, but they do not sing; most of them remain outside wailing. Rarely, when a woman of very high rank has died, the women are invited to sing a song by {view image of facing page 56} Mamalelekala cemetery on Village Island [photogravure plate] {view image of page 57} THE KWAKIUTL 57 themselves. If there is abundance of food in the village, the people bring modest quantities and eat in great solemnity. On four successive days the men assemble in the house of the deceased chief and repeat the memorial songs. On the final day the singing is followed by a distribution of gifts on the part of the heir. Having called in all credits due his father, the young man (or if the heir has not yet arrived at puberty, a relative representing him) has the blankets and other articles that comprise the estate ostentatiously piled up where all may behold them. At the conclusion of the singing four chiefs arise, and one by one repeat the formula: "We would like to ascertain what has become of our chief. We would like to know into what he has been transformed." A chief among those sitting replies, "Proceed; try to find out!" One of the four shakes a rattle, while the other three stand beside him, and he says, "I am going to try to have our chief show himself for a moment." "Proceed!" shout the crowd. Then, shaking the rattle and gazing upward, he sings: "Come back; come down to us for a while!" At the fourth repetition of the words there is heard far back in the woods a sound like the call of a trumpet. One of the three cries: "Our chief [the singer] has caught what he wanted! I told you he was wonderful!" The audience respond: "We know it! He has supernatural power!" The sound approaches until it seems to be at the end of the house. Then the leader begins a supposedly extemporaneous song running somewhat in this strain: "Now we will shake off our grief; we will drop our sorrow." At the same time a curtain at the rear of the room is raised, and a masked figure representing the mythical ancestor of the family is seen dancing. The mask is one that is kept in the family for such occasions as this, as well as for winter dances, and it is worn by a man hired by the heir. When the masked figure is revealed, all the people rise, feeling that sorrow is gone, and they gird up their robes as an indication of their intention to resume their normal activities. With the ending of the song the dancer disappears. Then the young chief, standing in front of the house, announces in a loud voice that with the blankets and other property inside he will now buy his father's rank and seat in the tribal organization. {view image of page 58} 58 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Inside, the people join in singing the dead chief's potlatch songs, and then the takumi (the official distributor) of the gens holds up in the sight of all the first blanket to be given away to the principal personage of the tribe, while the speaker, standing beside him, recites the history of the family and finally declares that the young man has taken the place of his father. Then follows the distribution of the presents. On the morning of the fourth day after her husband's death, a widow goes to live in a little hovel in the woods a short distance from the village. The hut is prepared on the evening before by men who have lost wives by death, although they are not necessarily unmarried at this time. It is made of boards taken from the hut in which the husband died, and is walled in with old mats. No attempt is made to render it comfortable, and there is barely space for her to lie down. Before the crows begin to caw the widow retires to her isolated shelter in company with a female attendant, whose profession this service is, and her mother or other nearest female relation. They repair at once to a near place where water can be had, and the attendant builds a fire and heats four stones. These she drops into a pail of water, and when it is warm she places on the widow's head four handfuls of water. The widow then bathes with the warm water. On the preceding day the attendant has prepared a hoop by braiding green hemlock boughs, and this she now holds while the widow puts first her right arm and right leg through it, then the left arm and left leg, thus passing her body entirely through the hoop. The attendant, still holding it, pivots to the left so as not to bring the hoop between them, and then holds it again in front of the widow, who as before passes her body through the hoop. Twice more these acts are repeated. They remain there until the woman's hair is dry, and she then follows her attendant to the hovel, in which she sits on a pile of white-pine boughs. She is left there alone with a second attendant, the oldest woman in the village. She is not permitted to cry, to grieve, to speak, except that when it is absolutely necessary to communicate she may whisper to the old woman. She eats only when it is to be supposed that all the people of the village have finished their meal. The old woman then kindles a tiny fire and prepares a little food, giving her charge four mouthfuls of food and four swallows of water morning and evening. Every fourth day the bath and the use of the hoop are repeated, and on the other days the widow remains in the hut. This {view image of page 59} THE KWAKIUTL 59 continues until she has had four baths, and at the end of this period the few utensils that have been used are left there, and the hovel itself is demolished and left in ruins. The hemlock hoop is hung on a branch; the hat which she has been wearing to prevent subsequent soreness of the eyes is hung on the top of a stump; and the robe is wrapped about the same stump. On the last day of the purification the attendant brings new garments, so that when the widow returns to the people she will have on nothing which has been in the hut of purification. If the hovel were not broken down and left on the ground, some relative of the woman would soon die. Why the hat and the robe are placed on a stump is not certainly known. It seems plausible that this was done to deceive the husband's ghost, which, should it return for the woman, would mistake the stump for her. When the widow returns to the village, a board is removed from the house, and by this way she enters the little bedroom she is to occupy. A robe is hung up before her, and there she remains, eating the same food as the others but not in the common room with them. On the eighth day she goes out to some convenient place and bathes in fresh water, and this is repeated thrice more at intervals of eight days. Always she leaves and enters by way of the removed board. At the end of this period she can come and go like others, and she is permitted to weep for her husband; but another marriage is not (or formerly was not) to be considered within less time than a year. For a full year after the death of her husband, she may not eat fresh fish nor fresh meat, for such a course would cause skin disease. The same process of purification is prescribed for widowers. But either widows or widowers without children are permitted to observe a shorter ceremony, in which they bathe and pass through the hemlock hoop but do not live in the woods nor remain secluded in the house at the end of sixteen days. The longer course is called sumsila, the shorter kwakwahisala. Quite generally women scarify the cheeks by pressing against them the tips of the fingers (not the nails), with elbows on knees, and slowly moving the head up and down. Friction gradually rubs off the skin. But on Quatsino sound the cheeks are cut with bits of clam-shell, and at Rivers inlet the only outward manifestation of mourning is the shortened hair. The Kwakiutl share the common Pacific Coast belief in a world where the spirits live in villages like those of earth, and engage in the same pursuits as human beings, save that things are shadowy and unreal, and day is night. This world, which does not seem to be {view image of page 60} 6o THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN definitely located, is reached on the fourth day, when the soul is initiated into the tribe in a great dance of the spirits. The Nimkish tribe, and probably others, believe that each person has a guardian spirit inhabiting the body of an owl, and that if an owl be killed some one, left unprotected, will soon die. The following dream experience of a young Lekwiltok who, seriously ill, became unconscious just after sunset and therefore too late to be buried until morning, illustrates some phases of the conception of the spirit world. While the body of Yahniquilius lay there dead, his spirit sat on the riverbank and observed a canoe coming upstream. It touched the shore, and one of the men in it said: "Come! You are the one for whom we have come." The young man embarked, and the canoe, unpaddled, moved toward Tekya, his native village. He saw all the familiar places he had known. He had forgotten none. It was a fine day. In the spirit world the light is not like sunlight, but more resembles the flash from a shining surface. As the canoe passed through the narrows [Seymour narrows], two men sitting on the precipitous rocks on the western side hailed them, "Come and take us in!" But the canoe turned to the right, and one of the spirit men explained, "Those are drowned men, and with such we have nothing to do." Near Bear river two other men on shore asked to be taken aboard, and the canoe turned toward them and took them in. Yaihniqiluis recognized one of them as Quinhwulah-l, but the other, who had a blackened face, he did not know. Near Tekya he saw many houses, but no smoke issued from them; for in this village of the dead all the spirits were in the dance house. They went ashore and into the dance house, which was filled with a cloud of eagle-down, like fog, and some of this the young man breathed into his throat, which caused him to strangle. Though it was a very large house, it was nearly filled with people, some of the men carrying children but unaccompanied by wives, and some of the women being without husbands. To Yahniquluis his companion Quinhwulahl said, "Pivot on your right foot, and then walk around the fire; but when you come behind the fire pivot again on the right and then go on around the fire." As soon as they came inside, the ghosts began to strike their batons on the sounding boards, and the noise was deafening. Qunhwulahil said to his friend, "The third time they beat, go around the fire and turn as before, but when you come again to the door, run out and I will keep them from catching you." So this the young man did, and he was followed out of the door by the black-faced man and by Quinhwulahl. These two, when the pursuing ghosts came close, would turn and block the narrow trail. {view image of page 61} THE KWAKIUTL 6i Yahniqilius at last found himself alone on a promontory. He sat down beside a large stone, and, thinking of his parents, he wept. He heard something whistling through the air, but he would not look up. After a while he raised his eyes and saw a great white bird perched there gazing at him. Something put it into his mind to go and lay himself on the bird's back, clasping his arms around its neck, and it ran forward on the ground, then rose slowly and heavily. Higher and higher it went in a great ascending spiral, and at last it perched on the top of a mountain. When Yahniquilus got off, the bird flew upward until it was out of sight, and he wept and wept. Then he looked about. He could see his people's camp, but there was no way to cross the water. As he wept, he heard the same whistling noise, and soon the same bird alighted. Quickly he got on its back, and it flew away with him across the water to the top of another mountain, where it left him. The young man looked down a great straight road leading to the camp. He ran down it, and soon passed two trees close together, bent with the weight of owls, which were the spirits of the dead. Then he saw a small house straight ahead, but a long distance away. Nevertheless he soon reached it. There was a small stream, and a man was walking along the bank. Said the man: "Be very careful! When you jump, be sure to leap clear across, for if you fall into the water you will never go back. That is why I am here, to warn people about this. Here is where they fail, those who die and never come back." Yaihniquilus drew back, ran forward, and leaped far across. Then he went straight on to the camp. He entered the house and went to bed. At dawn he awoke and heard a woman weeping. His body was wrapped and bound as if for burial. Said he: "Tell my mother not to weep. Give me some water; I am thirsty." Some one brought water and he drank. He was alive again. He beheld his mother and his father. Then he related his experience in the spirit world, and not long thereafter the two men who had helped him escape died. Most of the religious conceptions and practices of the Kwakiutl are so inextricably bound up with the daily routine of their ceremonies, their hunting, fishing, and sorcery, that they may best be understood through a study of these various activities. The Kwakiutl seem to have no conception of a personified, supreme power; rather, there are many spirits - some inhabiting animal bodies, others purely spiritual - which can and do impart supernatural power to men who obtain their pity by austere bodily purification. Kekala ("giving up"), as the rite of purification is called, is almost obsolete. It was practised by young men desiring to obtain supernatural power in hunting or in any other profession, as well as by hunters themselves just before going out for game. Contrary to {view image of page 62} 62 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the custom of many Indian tribes, not all young men of the Kwakiutl observed this rite, because of its severity. The most rigid observance of the rules demanded continence for ten months, partial fasting, and standing in icy water morning and evening while rubbing the body vigorously with four bunches of hemlock tips until the skin became sticky with the exudation from the exposed dermis. This last act could not of course be performed every night and morning, because sometimes the skin would be too sore to touch, but as soon as possible the rubbing was resumed. All this was done in order to remove the human odor, which is extremely offensive to the spirits. For the same reason many foods were absolutely taboo; such were seaweed, spawn, berries, and the roots of silverweed and wild tigerlily. Copper was not to be touched, nor were the dead to be approached. Little sleep was the rule, and little speech. Necessary conversation was carried on in a whisper.. The hair was tied at the nape of the neck, and below that it fell in a bushy mass down the back. Most of the time was spent in the woods, only occasional visits being made to the house, because exposure to tobacco smoke gives the body a strongly human taint. Usually the period of purification was four months. Spirits sometimes appeared ocularly, but usually only the voice was heard by the sleeping devotee. Whatever happened, he kept it a secret. Verbal supplication addressed to a definitely personified deity is very rare. When the waves threaten to capsize a canoe the steersman prays to the sun: "Look down on us, Chief! I beg that you be with us and take us across!" Then he answers himself, "Ho!" and assures the people, "He answers that we will cross in safety." When they land successfully, he says, "Thank you, Chief, that now we reach shore alive!" If among tide-rips the canoe has difficulty in rising, the steersman prays to a certain small duck which in flying skims over the water, and now and then touching the surface seems to rebound from it: " Dive under us, Summer-bringing Woman, for there is nothing in this canoe you want." Then he answers himself with Ho! or Wo! or Wa! and assures the people that he has received a favorable reply from the duck. The steersman, always an old man of long experience, carries a small box containing charms, prominent among which are a piece of false hellebore (Veratrum viride) and a bunch of shredded cedarbark containing menstrual blood. In bad weather he lets either one or the other float astern in order to ward off danger and especially the sea monster yakyim ("evil thing"), a quasi-mythological shark {view image of facing page 62} Kekuhtlala - Koeksotenok [photogravure plate] {view image of page 63} - -.'.. ^; %'.w THE KWAKIUTL 63 which is always following a canoe in stormy weather, waiting hungrily for it to capsize. Places where a precipitous rock overhangs the water are called numas ("old man"), and, being especially dangerous in rough weather, they are always supplicated by the steersman, when it is necessary to pass one of them, with such words as, "Numas, put your hands on the sea and press it down!" Thus he continues to pray, standing in the stern, until the place is safely passed; then he turns his head and says, "Thank you, Numas, that we passed safely." No prayers are addressed to the moon. An eclipse, which is called ndkuzq ("swallowed"), in the belief that some creature swallows the moon or the sun and then disgorges it, causes great excitement. About the year 900o 1 an eclipse of the moon was visible at Fort Rupert, and Pawili, the oldest man of the village, was aroused. "Is it all swallowed?" he inquired. They said it was not, and he declared, "Then I will make him vomit it!" He ran outside where all the people had assembled, ordered them to build a fire, and each person to throw into it some portion of his clothing or hair. Then he began to sing over and over, while the people,, as they caught the air, joined in: "Vomit it, vomit it, or else you will be the younger brother of Pawili!" The old man danced slowly around the fire. After a while he called, "Is he vomiting it?" When the moon reappeared, he said proudly: "I made him vomit it! Now he is still my elder brother." A great quantity of old clothing, such as cedarbark blankets, was burned, the purpose being to make such a great smoke as would rise to the heavens and coming there into the nostrils of the creature which was swallowing the moon would cause it to sneeze and disgorge the luminary. Many years ago when there was a total eclipse of the sun the same thing was done, but there were three men who danced and sang, commanding the creature, under pain of becoming their younger brother, to disgorge the sun. Sorcerers, Medicine-men, and Herb-doctors Those who have to do with the causing and the curing of sickness fall into four classes. One who by eka (sorcery effected by "sympathetic magic") encompasses the illness and finally the death of an enemy is called ekenoh (plural, ekenoi), that is, one skilled in 1 Total eclipses of the moon were visible at Fort Rupert, December 27, 1898; December I6, I899; October I6, I902. {view image of page 64} 64 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN sorcery. Such a one has also the power to counteract the evil works of his colleagues. The medicine-man, or shaman, expels or induces occult sickness by the direct exertion of his preternatural power upon the body of the patient or the victim. He is called pahala (plural, pepahala), a term which is applied also to all members of the winter-dance fraternity, who though shamans during the winter season do not perform the functions of the medicine-man. In causing disease by magic a medicine-man generally pretends to cast it from his hands into the distant body of his enemy, and in such a case he is called mamaaka, or "thrower." Those who by the operation of "sympathetic magic," but without any alleged direct connection with supernatural beings, obtain good results in healing are pepespatenuh (singular, pespatenuh). Pespata is explained as the endeavor to cure by medicine, though as a matter of fact these do not employ medicines. The healer who treats understood ailments and employs no means other than vegetal or animal remedies is called patennuh (plural, pepatenuh), or "medicine givers" (pata, to give medicine). Rivalry between chiefs is a fruitful cause of sorcery. When a man realizes that his rival is too far surpassing him in the honors of rank, he may summon his ekeI ("sorcerer of the house"), and say, "I want you to give short life to my enemy!" Then the sorcerer orders two or three circumspect young men, his pupils in the art, to collect secretly some hair from the combings of that man, mucus wiped from the mouthpiece of his pipe on a wad of cedar-bark floss, spittle, moisture breathed upon a bit of floss by the sleeping victim, urine passed on the grass, and faces adhering to a bit of stick. Several years may be required for this task, since the prominent men are exceedingly careful of exposing themselves to danger, and leave nothing of their excretions where they can be secured by an enemy. They commonly spit on a fold of their blankets, or on their hands and rub them dry against each other. If every other means fails, the plotters send a woman to their victim, and after she has gained his confidence by talking against his enemies and by much caressing, she finds an opportunity, when he sleeps, to take hair, sputum, and breath-moisture. Each sorcerer pursues his own method of disposing of these excretions, but all practices are alike in principle, the articles being always placed in some decaying animal body, in order that, as it decomposes, the body of their intended victim may be similarly affected. {view image of page 65} THE KWAKIUTL 65 Sorcerers obtain their power solely by practice from childhood under the tutelage of an expert, usually the father or an uncle. There is no such thing as becoming ekenoh through vigils and fastings. How firmly convinced of their power are Indian sorcerers and medicine-men is a question. Desire of profit, glory, and awe is the mainspring of their conduct, yet undoubtedly they have considerable confidence in the actual potency of their charms. At the same time, even a primitive man is not altogether foolish; and the Kwakiutl sorcerer usually selects for his victim one whose days are apparently numbered. When a man dies by alleged magic, the report that such was the cause becomes known either by some one betraying confidence, or by the chief instigator boasting of it, or by the simple process of guessing. Many deaths are attributed to sorcery which really were unaccompanied by such practices. Revenge is always planned, and recourse is had to the same means. Even now a dead body is carefully watched before burial, not only by the friends of the dead person but more especially by the enemies, who fear lest his relatives, left alone, may put into the corpse something obtained from the body of one of the rivals. It is not uncommon for a sick person to learn in a dream that he is being victimized by a sorcerer, and in what corpse his excretions have been deposited. Then he summons his clansmen and relates the dream, and they immediately proceed to the coffin of the person mentioned in the dream, to pour a pail of salt water over the corpse and thus destroy the power of the charm. It used to be a very common thing that when a man of high rank became ill, all his private enemies would try to ensure his death by throwing cedar-bark containing menstrual blood into his hut, or by burying it outside. Hence he would have his people strew spruce boughs thickly around the hut for a distance of perhaps twenty feet, in order that no one might approach without a sound. From George Hunt, the half-blood interpreter, has been secured the relation of a considerable number of his personal experiences with sorcerers and medicine-men. Rarely is it possible to obtain such frank accounts dealing with a phase of their life which most Indians are very reluctant to discuss. Accordingly, at the risk of seeming to devote too much space to them, a number of these experiences will be quoted in full, as affording more vivid and intimate glimpses of certain native customs than a briefer and indirect description could give. VOL. X-5 {view image of page 66} 66 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN In the year I868 there was a great deal of eka. I was hunting geese one day, and in crossing a brook near Fort Rupert I saw something coming down the hill among the salal. At first I thought it was a bear, and sat down ready to shoot when it should be close enough. When it came out from the bushes I saw that it was Tlihiun [" sea-lion"], a very old man, half blind, lame, and weak. He walked with a staff. I stood there behind a stump watching him, and saw him remove his clothing and turn about on his left foot. He looked upward and said: "Our Chief, I am going to bathe my body in order to wash away all the unluckiness of my body. For I have never yet failed in my work. And that work you know." Then he dipped up a double handful of water, took a mouthful of it, blew it out in a stream, and proceeded to wash his body. When I had seen enough of this I went around and picked up his trail, which I followed back through the brush to an open, sunny place where stood a single tree. From a branch hung a headless body not very old. A skewer had been pushed through the flesh above the knees, which were still drawn up as when the body was laid in the coffin. There were some geese near the shore, and I wanted to have a shot at them before going home, but I reflected that if I fired, the old man would know some one was about. So I came out to the beach and returned home. Now the head of all the Qagyuhl was Awahuilagyilis ["always giving away great coppers"], for he was chief of the Maamtagyila, the first gens of the principal sub-tribe, this gens being composed of the descendants of the eldest brother among the original ancestors of the sub-tribe. But he was a mild-mannered man without great force of character, and in effect Nuikapnkyim, chief of the third gens, the Quiqakum, was the head of the tribe. Nobody could stand against Nuikapnkyim. If any chief dared oppose him, or refused to obey him, he would bring out a copper and break it against that man,' and if his opponent retaliated in the same manner he would continue breaking coppers until his rival was defeated and humiliated in the eyes of the people. When Nikapnkyim required a copper to break, he would go to a man who had one and say that he wished to buy it, offering a small number of blankets to "anchor the copper." If the owner showed reluctance, Nuikapnkyim would speak sharply to him, and utter dark hints as to what might happen if he were refused. He had a sharp, raucous voice which seemed to go right through a man, and when with a scalp or two tied to his blanket he approached and addressed a man, there were few who could stand against him. At his death half the coppers he had broken in retaining his rank were not paid for. Now Nuikapnkyim was my particular friend, and I went at once to his house and asked if he had an ekenot at work. "No," he answered, "have you seen one?" 1 See pages 148, 153. {view image of facing page 66} Naemahlpunkuma - Hahuamis [photogravure plate] {view image of page 67} THE KWAKIUTL 67 I told him what I had seen, and he asked, "Why did you not shoot him? He is working against me. I know that his brother Oqila is my bitterest enemy. Now I will call my cousin Hamfrit, and you must show him where the body is." He summoned his cousin and told him to kill the old man at sight, but I objected and said, "If that is coming, I will not go at all." So Nuikapnkyim withdrew the order, and I led Hamfiit to the place. The old man was sitting on this side of the stream sunning himself, and I told Hamfiit to speak to him while I remained unseen. He called out, "What are you doing here?" "Oh," said Tlihuin, "I am just taking a walk." "You cannot walk in this direction," said Hamftit. "You must have come in a canoe." "Oh, I can walk. I am on the way home now." "But what are you doing away back here in the woods?" "Oh, I am just walking," insisted the old man. "But you must be doing something, to come this far." "Well," asked the old fellow, "what do you think I am doing here? I am just taking a walk. What are you doing here yourself?" "Oh, I am hunting geese," said Hamftit, who had a gun. Tlihuin remarked, "Oh, there are many geese." So we went on, and the old man had not observed me. Looking back I saw him turning his head after us, but he could not see far. We went upstream to the body, and Hamfgit cut the stitches which closed the seams of an incision in the abdomen. We found the cut filled with a mass of crawling beetles and several tightly wrapped packets. He removed all the packets, cut down the body, and rolled it to the edge of the stream. When we reached the village, Nuikapnkyim had all the people sitting in front of his house. Tlihuin was among them. We made our report, and Nuikapnkyim repeated it to the people, concluding: "This thing must be stopped, or the next man found in this kind of work will be shot. If it is my own brother that is working at it, I will have him shot!" He turned to me and said, "Fiawi ['loon'], the next time you see an ekenoh working, shoot him!" All the people expressed their approval. The brother of Tlihiun stood up and asked, "What did you see him do?" I told my experience, and then the packets were unwrapped, everybody waiting in fear and trembling lest the contents should prove to be something taken from his person; but no one was able to recognize them. All were very angry, and many proposed to kill Tlihuin, but I restrained them. The contents of the packets were washed in a pail of salt water, and two men were sent in a canoe for the body, which was brought, and the incision was carefully washed. Then the corpse was sunk in the bay. It was many days before Tlihiin was seen again. He kept himself locked up in his little house. {view image of page 68} 68 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Not long after this I one day took my gun and wandered into the woods, barefoot and bareheaded. Some men were just putting a corpse into a box preparatory to carrying it in a canoe to the island. I walked a long time, and suddenly realized that I was lost. I ran this way and that, looking for landmarks, but could find nothing familiar. Finally I came upon a trail, which I followed. Suddenly it led into a clearing. Smoke was rising. I crept up. At the edge of the clearing a big log lay prostrate, and on it many small trees were growing. I crept up to this thicket and peered through. Two men with their faces blackened, very large men, were there. A corpse lay near. They had pieces of leather on their palms, and they handled everything by means of tongs. One of them had a gun at his side. I was a little nervous. If I turned my back to get away, I might be shot. One of them was saying, "He ought to be dead today, or at least tomorrow." This made me curious to hear the name of the one they were working against, and I made up my mind to stay: if they discovered me, and reached for that gun, I would be the first one to shoot. I held my rifle ready. The other one said, "We had better cry." They were very serious. He began to cry as the women do in mourning, and he chanted, "Our Chiefs will bump up against his highness, and he will fall!" Then the other said, "I had better make more fire, and heat it well." He who had been crying then moved away from the gun, and I thought that was my chance. I was excited, but I was young and strong, and reckless. If I could get the gun I was in no danger, but if I missed it, I might lose my life. I sprang from the log through the thicket of hemlock saplings, seized the gun, and threw it behind me. Then I turned, holding my gun toward them. They said not a word. After what seemed a long time the elder brother spoke: "Now you have found something great. We will not harm one another, though it is a great thing that you have done against us. Come and sit down, and learn the things that made us rich. We are not laborers, yet we have twice given away blankets to the tribes, through what we gain by this work." "I will stay here," I replied. They were large, powerful men. I said to them, "Now you have said that much, tell me who it is you are killing by eka." The elder answered: "There is no secret between us now. You have found out our secret work, and we will tell you. It is Nikyef'i ['big mountain']." This was their own uncle. I laughed. They became angry, and if they had had the gun they surely would have shot me. One of them spoke: "Is that why you have come, to laugh and make our work a failure?" "Your work is no failure," I replied. "Coming down the beach before I entered the woods, I saw the body of Nikyef6i taken in a canoe to the island." Immediately the elder man cried: "U....! I have never yet {view image of page 69} THE KWAKIUTL 69 failed!"1 Then he went on: "Now come and sit down. We are friends." But I did not trust them, though the elder brother was the fatherin-law of my friend Nuikapnkyim. He said: "Now, we will pay you to keep this thing a secret. I have a daughter, who is the wife of Nuikapnkylm. If you want to take her for your wife, you shall have her, and if you wish to take her in the secret way, let it be so. We are paid two hundred blankets for this work, to kill NikyetSi, and we will give you fifty of them to keep the secret." All this time I kept my gun pointed toward them. The younger one, Luipuilet [French, le prete], asked, "Is it true that this man is dead?" I answered: "It is true. They were taking him across to the island." "U.... My work never fails!" Then the elder remarked, "We had better take it out." So they took one of numerous pairs of tongs which lay about, stirred the ashes, and brought up four sticks about two spans long and four fingerbreadths thick. Each had been split down the middle, and the two halves were bound together. When they laid them on a sheet of cedar-bark and cut the strings, the halves fell open, showing that they were hollow and filled with various articles. Everything was steaming. I saw now that they had no weapon but the gun, which was far away and in the water, and I asked, "Have you an axe?" "Yes, do you want it?" "Throw it here." They tossed the axe to me, and I threw it away. One of them laughed, and remarked happily, "We can laugh now! Our man is dead." Then I went a little closer, but still I would not sit with them. When the sticks were all opened, they removed some little packets with the tongs, telling me: "These are tied with a man's sinews. The wrapper is a man's skin." They removed the wrapping of one and showed me that it contained hair. They opened another and showed me cedar-bark. "That held the breath of Nikyefti," they said. "How can you get his breath without his knowledge?" "Oh, that is easy enough. When he sleeps, make a little pair of tongs, place the cedar-bark in them and hold it over his mouth, and his breath goes into it." They opened another pouch wrapped in human skin and tied with human sinew. It contained dead leaves. "This held his urine," they said. Another contained bark which they said had held his sputum. They had also various bits of his clothing. When they had finished, they said: "You have gained more than one thousand blankets in learning this. The only bad 1 Questioning revealed the fact that NIkye6fi was a consumptive whose death had long been expected. {view image of page 70} 70 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN thing about you is that it would be a failure if you tried it, because you laugh too much." After they had untied all the packets and had everything lying on the sheet of bark, one of them took from under another log a cedarbark basket full of eagle-down, which they spread over everything. In the side of an adjacent cedar was a row of wedges, one below another. On each of these, except a few near the bottom, was a sheet of cedar-bark containing a mass of such things as they had just taken out of the packets. They laid the sheet of bark containing the things used in killing Nikyefti on the next unoccupied wedge, explaining: "Each one of these is a man we have killed. There has never been a failure." I was too busily watching them, lest they take advantage of me, to count the wedges, but my son recently happened upon this tree and told me there were more than twenty. "Now," said they, "we are done." "Then I will go," I remarked. "No! Wait, and we will show you everything. There is that dead man. If ever you do this kind of thing, always take the skin from the right side of the body." I noticed that a strip of skin had been removed from the right side of the corpse, and asked, "Did you carry that all the way from the beach?" They assured me that they had done so, and then I inquired, "Which way is the beach from here? I am a lost man." They directed me, and I got their gun from the swamp into which I had thrown it, and took it along, telling them I would leave it in the trail a little farther on. They laughed: "We would not harm you now. But it is well for you that we did not see you first, for we would have shot you. That gun is loaded with a man-load. It is not meant for ducks and geese. A charge and a half of powder and two bullets are a man-load." "Well," I repeated, "if I carry it a little farther I will feel safe." Again they laughed: as long as they had killed their man they cared for nothing. They had no fear that I would tell their secret, because I had agreed to accept their offer of pay. I hurried back to the village and into the house where the elder brother's daughter lived, the house of my friend Nikapnkyim. She was making a mat. "Where have you been, that you are so wet?" she asked. "I have been in the woods," I replied. "I have bad news for you. She seemed to know at once what I meant, for she dropped her work and looked at me. Then she said, "Great is your word, lord! Did they give me to you? " "You belong to me," I answered. "Come, we will have a talk about this." She led the way into her room and sat on the bed, while I sat on the floor. "I am under you now," she said. Just then Nikapnkyim came into the house. It was his habit, when entering, to clear his throat violently, and thus I knew him. {view image of facing page 70} Lagyus - Tsawatenok [photogravure plate] {view image of page 71} THE KWAKIUTL 71 I heard him ask his two slaves where his wife was, and their answer, "She has gone into the bedroom with your friend Hfiwi." He came and stood outside the bedroom door and called, " Friend, may I come in?" He knew there was something unusual. "Yes, you fool, come in!" "Great is your word, lord!" His heart went down when I called him fool. "Sit there where I can look straight into your face, so that I can see right through you! Nikapnkyim, you told me that you share with me all your secrets, even to the bottom of your heart." "Great is your word, lord! Did they give my wife to you?" "Your wife, and fifty blankets out of the two hundred they receive for pay." "Well, if you have won my wife, it is well. You and I are one. If she bears you a child, I will take it and pay you for it." For he was childless, and greatly desired a child. "Niikapnkyim," I replied, "I will not take it that way. You have a niece; I have been wanting to find a wife, and I think it best to arrange it so. I will take your niece." "It is well," he said; "we will put it that way." Now the cause of the killing of Nikyefti was this: He was about to die, and was intending to give his rank and its rights to his nephew, a cousin of Nuikapnkyim's wife. But she determined to have the old man killed before he could thus transfer his seat, and then by the aid of her powerful husband she herself would assume the rank, her cousin having nobody of very high position to help him in a dispute. And this she did. Nobody heard how Nikyefti had been killed by the ekenoh, and Nikapnkyim repeated his order to me that I should shoot any one detected at sorcery - excepting his father-in-law. A few months later I married his niece, and when my first child was born he came and looked long at it. Then he slowly shook his head and said, "Oh, friend, if you had shared my wife with me, that would have been my child!" It was not long before I once more caught old Tlihuin, brother of Nukapnkyim's rival, at his work of trying to cause the death of Nukapnkyim. At a meeting of the principal men it was decided to kill him, but I declared that if they did so I never again would report the discovery of a sorcerer. I feared that if they killed him, some of his numerous brothers would kill me. Now the prevention of this sorcery was a great thing, and it was by this that I, a young man and half white, had a good name among the people. They called me a life saver. Therefore they consented to let Tlihuin off with threats of death if he should ever be discovered behind the houses on his way to the woods. After this all was quiet for about two years, and during this time "King George," a brother of Tlihuin, was making friends with me. One Sunday I was walking along, whistling and singing, a happy, {view image of page 72} 72 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN proud young man. In the middle of the village I met "King George," who accosted me: "Friend, my daughter wishes to see you. She is in the house. Go in, she wishes to say something to you." His daughter was a pretty girl, and I foolishly went in. From her little, private room she called, "Hawi, is that you? Come in." I entered her bedroom. She shut the door, locked it, laid the key away, and said: "I had a dream about you last night. I dreamed that we were lovers." It was a trap for me, but I was too foolish to see it. "You know, a dream is a dream," said she, "and we must go by dreams." So I returned her caresses. Suddenly she ceased her laughing, happy ways, and began to weep. I asked if she was sick, but she made no reply. After a while she stopped crying, and whispered hotly, "Hafwi, you are a fool!" I looked at her. I could not understand this. A moment before she had been laughing gayly, and now she was weeping, and calling me fool. She repeated, "You are a fool!" Finally she explained. "Do you not know that you have been pushing against my father? Do you not know that my six fathers [her father and his five brothers, including Tlihuin] are working against you? I am the bait. I thought I would play false love to you, but now I find I really love you, and I cannot do it. I cannot give your hair and your spittle to them. Now we must work together to defeat them in some way. When you go, they will ask me what I got from you." So by means of stones we marked some small sticks, as if theyhad been bitten by my teeth. She found a bit of moss, which she rolled up like hair, and some cedar-bark floss, which she rubbed on the floor, as if she had wiped up spittle on it. When I went out through the village, "King George" saw me and laughed, "Now I have shown you that I am your friend!" Afterward the girl told me that she had seen her fathers at their work. They decided that it was best not to make me sick, but to let me drop down suddenly, that is, to send me a sudden death. They had a stick, the two halves of which were hollowed out and bound together. Inside were the supposed hair and sputum, which they had wrapped in human skin and tied with sinew from the same corpse. This they buried under the fire, where it remained three nights and two days. On the fourth night I was expected to die suddenly. They unearthed the hollow stick, opened the crack a trifle, poured in some water, and bound the pieces quickly together to confine the steam. Then they tied a cord to it and swung it back and forth, jerking it violently. The girl was secretly watching, and laughing to herself. One of the brothers was outside, waiting to hear the announcement of my death, but even while he stood there I came whistling through the street. When he reported that I seemed to be well, they decided that the girl must have been laughing when she secured the hair and the sputum. They went {view image of page 73} THE KWAKIUTL 73 to her room and asked her, but she declared she had not laughed. After close questioning they decided that there were too many of them in the secret, and they had not worked in harmony. It was about this time that my friend Yakotlus, a young chief of the Walas Qagyuh1, fell ill, and as his sickness grew worse he saw things that were hidden from others. He would close his eyes and mutter to himself, then opening them he would say, "Toqulun tlai Tlizhun eka kyahzun ['I see Tlihiin practising sorcery on me']." Everybody had believed that he was the victim of eka, and now he named the man. This made it certain, and they asked me to examine the house of Tlihuin; for it was believed that he had not been in the woods. I found him sitting in a corner of his hut. As I walked around the fire he asked me what I wished, and I replied that I was sent by the tribe to examine his house. "What is the matter?" he asked. "That dying man was half sleeping and he saw you working against him." "You may look around and see what you can find," he remarked. A good fire was burning. After I had given up looking into the many small boxes he had, I sat down at the back of the hut and pondered. Bright sunbeams poured through the cracks between the boards, and in them I saw thin steam rising from the ground between me and the fire. As I rose to go, he bade me farewell, but I replied, "I might return." I went to the house of the sick man, where many of the people were, and asked that some one help me search Tlihiin's house. Instead of sending one man, about half of them accompanied me. I led Nikapnkyim back of the fire and told him to sit on the ground. He never wore either shoes or trousers, only a woollen or a cedar-bark blanket about his shoulders. In a little while he whispered, "Friend, where I am sitting it is warm!" "I was just going to ask if you could see the steam rising. You are sitting on it." "I am going to dig a little," he said. He scratched the earth and soon uncovered a board, which was hot. Then he leaped up and cried, "Children, dig the floor!" All busied themselves and soon uncovered seven tunnels radiating from the fire. These were about eight inches wide and equally deep, and were lined with boards. From the fire a bent gun-barrel led into each tunnel, and it was supposed that the old man poured water into the ends of the gun-barrels, and this, running through them, formed steam in the tunnels. Although nothing was found in them to prove that he was practising eka, the people felt sure that he was guilty and hurried out of the hut, which they tore to pieces and burned., In this affair Awati, a prominent and well-liked chief, defended {view image of page 74} 74 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Tlihiin, and this caused some to think that he was paying the old man for his work. The sick man died, and a short time later Nuikapnkylm one day whispered to me, "Awati will be the next chief to die!" He explained that to avenge the death of Yakotlus, his mother's people the Nimkish were going to eka Awati on the Seal rock; that they had secured some of his urine and would kill him in a way of their own, different from the Qagyuhl ways., It was not long after this that Awati fell sick with stoppage of the urine, and in four days he died. I asked Nikapnkyim how this kind of eka was performed, and he answered that Tlikotlas, the Nimkish chief who had done the work, had, explained it thus: "After Yakotluis died, his widow made love to Awati, and he, foolish man, yielded to her pretty face, although he had two wives. By order of Tlakotlas she secretly soaked a piece of cedar-bark in his urine, and Nuhni'mis, whose mother was Nimkish, took it to that village, carrying it in a little box in the bow of the canoe. Such things are never carried in the stern. Tlakotlas placed the bark in the hands of a seal hunter, who by his command put it in a crack where the seals were fond of lying, and with a yew calking wedge and a stone he drove it down firmly. When the seals lie on any part or excretion of a man, it either stops his bladder or causes boils or some other eruption of the skin." Hmasaka, the present chief at Fort Rupert, was in the plot to kill Awati, and as a reward he took one of Awati's widows. This woman, when she heard a rumor that Hamasaka had taken a hand in the death of her former husband, whom she had loved, many times threatened to kill him. Many eka practices have to do with securing the love of a woman or retaliation for the refusal of her favors. Wishing to win the love of a woman, a man obtains first a portion of her hair. Having a bunch of long hair in his hand, he goes into the house about the time he knows she is combing, sits near the woman, and when she lays her comb down with some of her hair clinging between the teeth, he picks it up as if to comb his own. Secretly he takes her hair from the comb and substitutes the tuft which he brought with him. Then after an interval long enough to avert suspicion he goes out, to obtain next klutayu-s (the root of an orchid, Corallorhiza multiflora), which always grows forked and with hairy filaments near the crotch. He separates the long hairs obtained from the comb, and with each one places one of his own, pulled from the right side of the head. He rolls them up carefully and inserts the ball in the crotch of the root, presses the two parts together, combs out the hairy filaments, and with a shred of bark he binds the part {view image of facing page 74} Tlahleelis - Koprino [photogravure plate] {view image of page 75} THE KWAKIUTL 75 into which the hair has been pushed. Then with a cord he secures it under his left arm, where it remains constantly until he has either won the woman or given up. Another method of stimulating love in a woman is to chew a certain parasitic plant which grows on hemlock trees, and rub it well over the body. It leaves no odor, but when the lovers are together it passes by contact into her body, carrying something from his into her own and thus making them one. Women when bathing sometimes rub nzsnilau (the root of an orchid, Limnorchis stricta) on the body in order to create greater love in the heart of an admirer. There are various ways by which a man may take revenge on a woman who rejects him. He may obtain something from her body and place it in the crack of a rock at the head of an otter-slide. In their leaping and tumbling the otters fall on this object and thus cause convulsions in the woman, who is said to be hiumttiumta (hiumti, otter). I once saw a man swinging a stuffed toad-skin in the air behind a certain woman who had refused him. The toad-skin was first emptied by running a three-pronged stick into the throat, twisting it around, and' withdrawing it with whatever adhered to it. In the skin was placed whatever he had been able to secure from the body of the woman, the mouth was sewn up, and a cord tied to one leg. Whenever the woman came in sight he swung this charm in the air, in order to drive away her senses, when, he hoped, she would yield to him. When a young man found a sloughed snake-skin, he usually hid it in a dry place. If ever he discovered that his lover was false, he rubbed off the scales by means of a stone or a stick, and secretly placed them in her bed, taking great care not to touch them with his hands. This was to cause scrofula or some other eruption of the skin, the scales working into the skin of the girl when she lay on them and thus poisoning her. These broken scales were once found in the bed of a girl, and the young man who had put them there was compelled to flee from the village. On another occasion I saw a woollen string about the right hindleg of a female dog that was running with a pack of dogs. I caught her, took off the string, and went from house to house swinging it in my hand and asking the women if they recognized it. Finally I came into the house of Tsuihftaes, whose daughter Kwumhyuti, a very large woman of about three hundred pounds weight, asked me what I had. I showed her, and told her how I had found it. She drew up her skirt (the women wore calico skirts at that time) and pulled out her apron, crying, "The string comes from my apron!" There {view image of page 76} 76 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN was a great commotion, and everybody in the village flocked into and about the house. Her father demanded who had been near her since she had begun to wear that apron, and the woman pondered and replied: "Some days ago I took off this apron and loused it. Tlamu came and sat beside me, and when I refused what he asked and gave him a short answer, because his brother is my husband, he snatched the apron and took it away with him." Then her father called his son-in-law and berated him soundly for the act of his brother. "It would be a fine thing to have your wife running around after the men like that dog!" And though the husband had had no part in his brother's act, Tsiuhfaes dismissed him from the house, and a few days later Kwumhyuti was the wife of another. When one sorcerer works against another and saves a man's life, this treatment is called tetkynt. I had been suffering for some time with pains in the side, and headaches. I think they came from the stomach. My wife said we must send for the ekenoh, and I gave my son the names of all of them. When they came I told them about my sickness, and one said: "I think I can tell how the work has been done. They have him on a tree. How do you feel now?" "I feel very well now." "How do you feel in the night?" "Pretty well, only sometimes fainting spells come on me." "Do you feel sweaty?" "No, I feel cold." "Do you see anything before you go to sleep, when you shut your eyes?" "No," I said. "Well, they have you on a tree. Whoever is doing it has your hair. Do you ever let any one except your children cut your hair?" My wife answered, "Yes!" "Then," said the ekenoh, "that is the man who took your hair. Do you ever quarrel with anybody?" "Yes, I had a quarrel with Missiq," and I pointed to him. They looked at him and said: "That is the way he works on people, in trees. His way is very simple. He gets a dead man's skin, wraps it around the hair tightly, and folds it in a snake-skin. He hangs it on a tree in a windy place, where it will continually be shaken. Every time the wind blows on it, you have a fainting spell." A Lekwiltok man was present. He looked at the one who had been speaking and said, "That is the way the Comox do their eka. It is easy enough to tekyint that. I will do it. Nor will I keep it secret. You may all sit here and watch me." He cut out a round piece of pitchy spruce four finger-breadths long and the thickness of the wrist. He split it down the middle and hollowed out the two halves, so that when placed together they were {view image of page 77} THE KWAKIUTL 77 like a box. He said, "Now I do not want any of you to use this. You have your ways and this is mine." "No, we will not take that," they all said, "because we have no power in doing that. What belongs to you is yours, and what belongs to us is ours." He split out five pieces a span long and as thick as the finger, and then cut a lock of hair from each of my temples, from the forehead, and from the back. He put them all together, and with shredded cedar-bark he rubbed my temples, forehead, face, and breast very hard, so that the hair seemed to be pulling out. After I had breathed on the bark, he divided it into six parts, and holding a bit on the pointed end of one of his sticks, he twirled the spindle until the bark was stuck fast all around the point. Thus he did with the other four sticks, and the sixth portion of bark he placed in, one half of the hollowed wood. The other half he held over the fire until it was hot, then clapped it quickly on the first, and the pitch, hardening, held them firmly together. He wrapped strips of calico closely about the little box, and tied the five sticks together. These he placed beneath my pillow, to remain there four days, but the box he put in a vessel of water under the stove. "Keep a strong heart for four days," he told me, "and then if you do not feel worse, I shall feel badly. If you feel worse, then I shall be a happy man." To Mussiq he said: "Tell the wind to blow hard on your charm, if you are the one; and I think you are the one, for you had a quarrel with him." Muissiq still did not speak. After a while he sat up and said: "It is not my fault that I have done this. It is the fault of Haiyiustisuilus. He is the man who told me to do it." In some manner the news of this confession got about, and soon Hamasaka entered and spoke harshly to Muissiq: "You call me uncle, and yet you are poisoning my friend!" Then Haiyustisulus was summoned, but he denied that he had told Muissiq to eka me. They began to dispute, and the Lekwiltok said to me, "This talking is good for my charm, but it will weaken his." When I asked what his price was, he laughed and said: "Any one else I would charge one hundred blankets for that little work. That is always my price. My lover wants a silk handkerchief: I will take one and be satisfied." On the third day he looked at me and said: "Oh, I am happy to see you are worse! I struck the marrow of that eka." He took the vessel from under the stove and poured off half the water. "I was drowning you," he said. "Now you will get better." The next day he poured off more water, and the following day a little more, and on the fourth day the last of it. Then he put the vessel under the stove and removed the five sticks from my pillow. Accompanied by my son he went to a dry stump and pushed them into the ground under it. The hollow stick he left with me, telling me, if I became sick again, to pour water into the vessel. {view image of page 78} 78 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Sometimes a sorcerer, called to cure a patient who is sick of eka, goes, or sends a man, to cut off the right breast of a mummy. This he brings to the little hut in which the sick man lies, and after roasting it he makes the patient swallow four small pieces of the skin. The remainder is placed in a dish and covered with water, which from time to time the sick man drinks. It becomes soft, and the water slimy, but he gets no other liquid to satisfy his thirst. Each morning he cuts off four bits of the soaking skin and swallows them. The shaman, or medicine-man (pahaala), combats occult disease by removing it, a tangible object, through the medium of his hands or his lips. He is'credited with a supernatural power obtained from some spirit which appeared or spoke to him either while he lay supposedly dead by some catastrophe, or while he was actually searching for it in woods or mountains. In general it is acquired only by one who constantly fixes his mind on the single thought of becoming pahaila. This power of the shaman is called tlugwi ("treasure"), or naewalaq ("magic"), and the act of acquisition is tlugwala ("to find a treasure," hence "to obtain supernatural power"). But to say that a man has tlugwi or nawalaq does not necessarily mean that he is a medicine-man; for this may be said of any one who is possessed of the right and the ability to perform magic (sleight-of-hand tricks) in the winter dance, or indeed of any one who has been initiated into the winter-dance fraternity and hence is supposedly under the guardianship of a spirit. All such are pepahala, but the term is applied to them only as members of the fraternity, while a medicine-man is paihala in a sense entirely unconnected with the ceremony. Furthermore, some even of those who are pepahala in the more specific sense have nothing to do with disease: their power is given them only for the purpose of guarding their own lives, and for prophesying by means of dreams, or, if their nawalaq comes from the sun, by singing and gazing toward the sun while slightly moving the right hand, palm upward, from side to side, and then announcing what they have seen. This supernatural power of the shaman is conferred by the spirits of certain animals and inanimate objects, and by a few purely spiritual beings not associated with any natural object. In the sea are killerwhale (Orca pacifica), oulachon (Thaleichthys pacificus), and silverside salmon. On land are wolf, toad, and mouse. There are also nawalakwuis ("ground magic"), which resides in the ground in the vicinity of hemlock trees; nunwalaqi'kilis ("riverside magic"), {view image of facing page 78} Gyakum - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 79} THE KWAKIUTL 79 which issues from a spirit that causes a whistling sound beside rivers (probably the vibration of shoots standing in rushing water); and nahinawalaqa ("magic of rocks"), which comes from a spirit that is heard as a mingled whistling, guttural sound when the tide comes over the rocks. Among the spirits that make medicine-men are the kyahlkyotenuli ("unseen people"), who resemble human beings except that they have fiery eyes and are seen for the merest fraction of an instant. Most of the Tsawatenok (Knight inlet) pepahala have their power from these "unseen people." The kyahlmuhlitanak ("dust shaken from a mat upon the floor"), or muznakeh7 ("picking up objects in the house"), are the echo spirits, and resemble minute men four finger-breadths high. At night when all are sleeping they come with baskets on their backs and pick up from the floor tiny specks of copper, the hairs from woollen or fur blankets, dust from canoes and chests, or any small particles representing property. The echo spirits are very rich, and he who meets one of them, takes his basket, and keeps its possession a secret, will become exceedingly wealthy. Haiyahlilakuis ("benefactor") is in constant strife with Winalagyilis, a being who is always making war on human beings, taking their spirits captive and leaving the bodies dead in the house. Quick as lightning Haiyahlilakuis tries to seize the human spirit from the canoe of Winalagyilis, who is represented as very slow, and having gotten hold of it he carries it back to the body. Winalagylis also confers the nawalaq that makes a medicineman. Regarding this spirit the following incident is illuminative. "At Nawiti I was visiting in a house one evening, and we were talking and laughing, when suddenly an old man exclaimed: 'Stop! I hear a canoe! Did not you hear it?' Nobody else had heard anything. He took his rattle to the doorway and stood in the attitude of a pahiala, muttering words in a strange language. After a while he returned. Jokingly I said, 'Why did you not let that canoe come, so we could see who was in it?' He answered: 'Do not laugh. They were hunting, and had I not spoken to them, one of us would have been taken.' The next day I asked him what language it was that he spoke, and he answered: 'It was the language of Winalagylis; I can speak it only when I am pahaala. I was begging the spirit in the canoe not to harm this humble house.'" The following narratives illustrate various ways of becoming a shaman and of exerting shamanistic power. {view image of page 80} 80 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Siwit, a strong, middle-aged Nawiti, fell ill and wasted away until there was little of him but skin and bones. Finally he seemed to be dead. His limbs were cold. Some favored burying him; but one man, looking closely at his face, saw a muscle below the eye twitching. They left him lying in the little hut, and there he remained two nights and a day. On the second morning he began to sing brokenly, and from his vague words it seemed that some spirit had appeared to him and he was paihala. After he recovered his strength, he went into the woods and remained there a number of days. The people heard him singing most of the time, and the song-makers, listening, caught the songs. His father's house was made ready by cleaning it out and piling the fuel ready to light as soon as the new pahiala should come. Toward evening he approached very slowly, singing, and every few steps turning about. The song-makers could not distinguish his words: they seemed to be in a different language. As soon as Siwit appeared on the edge of the woods the people all went into his father's house and took up their batons, and when he reached the edge of the village they beat a rapid tattoo, then with intervals of silence they struck more slowly three times. He was coming closer and closer. The fire was lighted. Not a sound was made in the house. If any one felt a desire to cough or sneeze, he carefully suppressed it, for the spirit that inspires a paihala is said to be like the salmon: the slightest disturbance frightens it away. As soon as Siwit reached the door, the people struck the boards the fourth time, and he came in with his eyes shut. As he stood inside the door, the beating stopped and they waited to hear what he would say. Pointing to a woman, he said: "You have been with a man. Go out!" So he picked out men and women here and there and sent them forth, for he could not work in the presence of these unclean ones. The chiefs saw that his orders were obeyed. Then Siwit walked about, and pointing out a man, said: "You are sick. Go and sit apart from the others." Coming to another, he stared long at him and said: "I shall have to tell you: you are not curable." He went on, until he had four sick men selected and segregated. Then some one cried out: "Do not tell him where the sickness is; let him find it!" This meant that the new paihala was to prove himself. He called for a rattle, and told the people to beat the boards, and rising he shook the rattle and sang, but nobody knew the words. The songmakers sang after him as best they could. He placed some redcolored cedar-bark fibre on that part of the body which he said concealed the illness, and when he pulled it off, the skin was lifted up with it.1 He held it there for a while, and the skin seemed to be released from something in the bark which had been holding it. Then he took the sickness out of the bark and held it up clinging 1 A common trick performed by means of a minute, concealed hook. {view image of page 81} THE KWAKIUTL to his palm, which was turned downward. It was like a worm. After telling what the sickness was and how it had been gotten, he put his palms together, threw them apart, and cast the worm-like object away. He did the same with the other three patients, but each time he showed a different object. Next the patiala went about pointing out one after another and declaring that their spirits were gone; and they begged him to find them, for this was a free night. There is no payment when the pahiala is proving himself. Whenever he passed one of the incurables, he seemed unable to refrain from addressing them roughly, as, "You are speaking now, but you are a dead man!" In fact his every word was harsh. To a young woman he said, "Your spirit has gone travelling." And he explained to the people, "When we dream about a place far away, our spirits are in that place." By his order the girl's mother brought four dishes of her best food, and some clothing, and he cast them into the fire. He told the singers to sing one of his songs as well as they could, while he danced, and at the end of the song he stood still and prayed for help. Then he stood listening. "I can hear it!" he said. He went out, quickly returned with something in his hand, and made the girl sit on a new mat. He placed his closed hand on her head, blew on it, and said, "Now your spirit has returned." Next he found a man whose spirit was not straight [that is, the spirit and the body were not symmetrically placed], and set him on a new mat. He made a kanaiyu [an oval of intertwined hemlock boughs representing a human being and used in purifying the initiates in the winter dance, as well as widows and widowers], and after dancing four times round the fire and each time in passing sweeping the kanaiyu over the patient's head, he stopped and began to press the man's body here and there, as if modelling it. Then he placed the kanaiyu over the man's head and worked it gradually downward over his body, all the time pressing on this side and on that. Finally he sprayed a mouthful of cold water over the man, and said, "Now you are all right." Then Siwit rinsed out his mouth, and still holding the dipper walked around the room, spraying water over the people. When it struck a pahala who remained sitting quietly, Siwit would say to him: "You are a false pahaila. Go out! You will have short life." And every man so addressed went out. But when the water struck a paihala who at once tore off his clothing, shook his rattle, and sang, Siwit muttered, "You are a true pahiala!" There was present a young man who claimed that he had been living under the water all the time he was absent getting his supernatural power, and who just before his return to the village had shown himself on a neighboring point, dripping with water after in some way making his voice appear to be sounding from the water. To him Siwit said: "You are false! You are pretending to be pathala in order to find out the pahiala secrets. Your falseness will VOL. X-6 {view image of page 82} 82 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN kill you! You will not see the next winter!" The young man left the room. Three months later he died after an illness of a few days. This test is always applied to a paihala in proving his power for the first time. He does not pick out his enemies and brand them as impostors, but abides by the result of the test, even if his own brother is thus indicated as a false medicine-man. The paliala puts nawalaq into the water, and when it touches another paliala it causes his nawalaq to respond by boiling up and producing sudden action on the part of the one in whom it dwells; but in a false pahaala it causes no reaction, because there is no nawalaq present.1 After spraying the people, Siwit called out: "All the sick come forth and sit here! This night is free! There is no price!" When the sick came out, he said to one of the medicine-men, "You heal that one," and to another, "You take this one." And so they began to treat the patients, each in his own way. When this was finished, Siwit said, "Now I have shown you my power. This house must be cleaned out and my wife must go away for four months, else it will be short life for me." So his wife brought in fresh hemlock branches, with which she made a bed for him by spreading a new mat over them. Then all went out and left him alone in the house. Every night thereafter he would wake up and sing. He seemed to be governed wholly by dreams, for each morning he would announce a dream and interpret it. Thus he might say, "Last night I dreamed that such and such a man was sick, and I was doctoring him." Always this man very soon found himself ill, and Siwit, or Quiilnftis ["coming again to life"] as he was now called, was summoned to treat him. His pay was never less than fifty blankets, and was frequently a hundred, and not seldom two hundred. So he accumulated a great deal of property. Many years after this he laid aside his pahala rattle, explaining to the people: "I made a mistake and let my wife come to me too soon. My nawalaq has told me to lay my rattle aside." But after a time he resumed his rattle, and again treated the sick. Then in I908 he put it away once more, lay down, and refused food. To those friends who asked why he did not cure himself with the rattle, he replied, "I was told never to use that rattle again." He refused to say how he had disobeyed his nawalaq. From a weight of about two hundred and fifty pounds he was reduced almost to a skeleton, and eventually he starved himself to death. 1 Why does not every pretended shaman respond to the touch of the water, instead of sitting quietly? It is said, in explanation, that the "small" medicine-men, who merely imitate the real shamans, are ignorant of the meaning of this rite of spraying, though they must have performed it themselves when they first came in from the woods and by their singing professed themselves to be pepahala. They merely imitate, it is said, what they have seen done, without knowing what it really signifies. Perhaps this is the case, but probably there is another factor, namely, the inability of a conscious imitator of only ordinary courage and audacity to carry through his deception in a trying situation. {view image of facing page 82} Nultsi - Lekwiltok [photogravure plate] {view image of page 83} THE KWAKIUTL 83 Sisaha'lis, a Goasila canoe-maker, having finished a canoe was bringing it out of the woods down a hillside, which broke abruptly into a bluff. It was his plan to stop at the edge, and then lower the craft down the bluff by means of ropes; but before coming to the brink it gathered way and slid over, carrying him with it. His assistant, hurrying down, found him with his head under the stern, and after lifting the canoe off he hurried home with the news. The wounded man's parents accompanied him to the scene, and found that their son had regained consciousness. Said he: "Do not cry. Take me to some place where no people walk. Build me a little hut." So they went back into the woods and erected a small shelter, and there they left him. While he lay in the hut, as he afterward related, a man came down, bright like the sun, and said, "I am Santospfle [a corruption of Sanctus Spiritus]." The spirit man spoke kindly, telling the canoe-maker to learn the songs which he was about to sing. Then he repeated four songs, which the man learned. The visitor then said: "Do not be afraid. I will be with you all the time, and I will make you the richest man in the village. First of all I will fix your head." He began pressing the sick man's head with his hands, and then his body. "All these songs," he said, "you will sing as pahaila. When you get home, you will have boxes made and place them in your room, after having it cleaned out, for I am going to send you gold and property. You must however be careful of one thing: that is, to keep away from women for four years, and to let no woman come near you who is unclean with the touch of man." "How can I know them?" asked Sisaha'lis. "I will put power in you to know all these things. You must sing always to Santospfle, and then I shall know you are thinking of me. For I am the one that put this life back in you. You were dead, and I put life in you. Tomorrow I will be here again." Then he disappeared, and the young man began to sing like pahala, and to ponder over the making of the boxes. The next day the spirit returned, suddenly appearing right before him, and gave ten more songs in addition to the first ten. He said: "You will not be pahacla to heal the sick; you will be pahalla to yourself. But be careful of the women. The least thing of that kind will bring trouble to you. If you go on in the way I have said, you will find that your boxes will be constantly filling without work on your part. The only thing you will have to do is to make the boxes." On the third day he returned with ten new songs, and a repetition of his warning about women, and on the fourth day he stood before the man and said: "This time I have come to put something in you." He vomited something into his hand and pressed it on the young man's abdomen. "That which I have put into you is part of me. It is a serious thing I have done to you. That which have put into you will make you think of me always, and it will {view image of page 84} 84 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN always tell you that it is in you. But make the least mistake, and that thing will come back to me, and you will never again think of me. Then I will take back all my promises. So be careful!" After singing ten more songs, he said: "This is the last time you will see me. Go home and use these songs." Then he disappeared, and the young man got up and began to sing. He did not know how he got to the village. When the people heard him singing on the point opposite the village, they knew by the sound that he was pahala, and the house was cleaned out. His uncle, a song-maker, listened carefully to the songs, which spoke constantly of Santospile and of the property that was coming from above. The words came out plainly, not indistinctly like the songs of most pepahiala. Dressed like an ordinary man, and not in hemlock boughs like other pepahala, he entered the house and called for red cedar-bark. Some of this had been laid by in readiness, and they put it around his head and neck, and placed eagle-down on his head. They gave him a rattle, and he said: "You should all be glad to see me come back out of my grave. You all know that the canoe fell on me, and that I was a dead man. Santospile came and gave me life." Then he told them everything that had happened to him, and what the spirit had given him and promised him. This was not the custom, that the pahiala should relate what had happened to him, but Sisaha'lis explained everything. In conclusion he said: "It is for you to say, my people, whether these things shall come to me. If you do not want them to come, you will find a way to go against the words of Santospile, but for my part I will try to do what he told me." Then looking upward he began to sing, and the song-makers sang after him. All the time he held his left hand partially extended upward as if to receive a gift from above, while with his right he used the rattle. His songs were all very long, many of them being six or seven times repeated. When at the end of the forty songs he was asked if he was paihala to heal, he answered, "No, I am pahala for myself." So they had to abandon their plan of putting out the sick ones for him to heal. He went into his room, and his uncle and his mother left the house to lodge elsewhere, that he might be alone. He sang almost constantly, and seemed not to eat. Sometimes he talked and laughed as if he had a companion, and the enemies of his family said: "There is something wrong. He is crazy!" The new pahaila had his uncle make a great many boxes, and pile them in the house, waiting for the gold and the property from above. Thus things went on for four months. Frequently he would announce a dream that the gold would be there the next morning, but it never came, and the people finally gave up all belief in him. He accounted for the failure by saying that some one had plotted his ruin by some means, such as placing in the house bark containing menstrual blood. {view image of page 85} THE KWAKIUTL 85 Kaahstalis ["breakfast giver"] not many years ago was crossing from the Nakoaktok village to Hope island in a heavy winter gale, when in spite of his protests and warnings one of his five companions fired at a killerwhale.1 In the open sound the canoe capsized, and two men sank. One of the others by diving thrice under the craft succeeded in cutting away the stays and pulling out the mast, and they were able to right her. Half full of water as she was, Breakfast Giver began to paddle with the wind. Presently the man who had done the diving muttered a few unintelligible words and collapsed under a thwart, where he lay with his head in the water. Soon another went the same way. Breakfast Giver paddled doggedly on. He could not afterward remember clearly how he landed, but in some way the canoe grounded on a good beach between two walls of surfbeaten rock. When he became conscious, he heard himself singing, and he remembered that a man with blackened chin, mouth, and forehead had appeared to him and said: "You are my friend. When that man was shooting at me, I heard you try to stop him, and I heard him laugh at you. That is what saved your life, for I am Mahenoh [killerwhale]. You have done well by me, and I will do well by you. You have just sung the song that I gave you. It will come to you again, but now I have taken it back for a while from you. You will hereafter be the paihala to benefit your people by healing the sick." That was all he could remember, and it seemed like a dream. When he came fully to his senses, Breakfast Giver heard voices on the beach and saw a canoe, and people approaching. The Nawiti friends who had thus found him tried to bail out the canoe, but finding it leaking they carried the two dead men and then the two survivors to their own canoe and crossed to the Nawiti village. After two days Breakfast Giver and his friend went home. The first night at home he was visited by Killerwhale, who told him to go into the woods and purify himself with water and hemlock twigs. So the next day he did this, and just before he finished the spirit appeared and told him how to cure the sick. Breakfast Giver seemed to be half out of his senses, like a drunken man. Vaguely he knew he was going homeward. He got into his house, scarcely realizing it, and heard the beating on the boards, for the eople had assembled in order to sing and let him show his nawalaq. hen he found himself in the house, his brain seemed to clear, and he knew what had happened. All the songs given by Killerwhale came back to his mind, though he did not know when it was they had been given to him. He had now to show what he could do. There appeared to be something within him telling him what to do, and at times it was as if Killerwhale, invisible, was standing beside him, pointing out what should be done. 1 A most impious act. See page 37. {view image of page 86} 86 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN In treating sickness this pahiala pulled it out of the patient's body, and holding up his hands, palms downward, he showed the people a worm-like object clinging to each palm. He walked around the room, exhibiting it to everybody but forbidding them to rise in order to see it more closely. Then putting both palms together, he opened them again with a slight outward flinging, and they were empty. This is called maka ["throwing"]. On this first night he had to exhibit everything he could do, and treat all the sick without payment. He had other pepalala to help him, whom he first tested by spraying them with water and dismissing from the house those whom he declared to be false. Then a wolf pahaala said: "Last night I dreamed that a great sickness is about to come on all our people. My nawalaq came and put his kanaiyu in my hands and said, 'Kahyai all the people!"' [Kahya' is the act of passing the kanazyu, or oval of hemlock boughs conventionally representing the human figure, over the body in order to avert sickness.] All the pepahala who had not been dismissed seated themselves on new mats in a small circle to the left of the fire and slightly behind it. They held their heads together and spoke in whispers. On such occasions the time-beaters are young men subject to fainting spells or to fits, who, coming out of such spells, utter a long u... followed by several forcible expulsions of breath. This is taken as a sign that they are marked to become medicine-men, and the people talk secretly about it. These young time-beaters now seated themselves on new mats behind the fire and made a kanaiyu for each pahaila, after which they resumed their places at the sounding boards. On the mat behind each kanaiyu one of the spectators now sat down, all naked, except that the women wore a short skirt [formerly a small, cedar-bark apron]. Before each one a medicine-man took his place, squatting on one heel with the other foot slightly advanced. Each one held his kanaiyu with its "head" in his left hand and its "tail" in his right. His whole body shook violently. At a secret signal they all suddenly extended their arms upward to the left, the beaters let their batons fall heavily on the boards, and the medicine-men began to intone, each one his own secret song. At the end of the songs they rose, still shaking violently, and slowly lowered the kanaiyu over the heads of their patients, gradually bringing them downward to the waist and at the same time gradually resuming their squatting posture. The patients then rose and the kanaiyu were brought down to the feet and permitted to rest on the ground, when the patients slowly lifted the right foot and placed it outside the ring, then lifted the left, pivoted on the right, and sat down. The medicine-men, still squatting, pivoted on one foot, rose again, and repeated the operation with the kanaiyu. Thus they passed the rings four times over each person, all the time singing vigorously and shaking violently. When the first set of patients was finished, others took their places and so it went until {view image of facing page 86} Yumqas - Mamalelekala [photogravure plate] {view image of page 87} THE KWAKIUTL 87 all in the house were treated.1 Sometimes two children, or husband and wife, or brother and sister, would come clasped together, breast to breast, to have the kanaiyu passed over them both at once in order to make their love the stronger. At the conclusion of this rite the people departed to their homes. The informant previously quoted on the subject of sorcerers related the following from his personal experience as a paihala: One day the steamer anchored off Fort Rupert, and Kesina, greatest of the Bellabella pepahala, came ashore with a young man. "Friend," he said to me in the Chinook jargon, "I have heard that you are a great paihala." I laughed and answered, "You said it!" [You, not I, take the responsibility of making the statement.] "I have brought my brother," he continued, "and he is very sick. Nobody can cure him. I myself am sick." "You know what is the time for doing this work," I reminded him. "It is always at night." I took them to my house, and after eating very little for supper, I removed my shirt and felt the young man's body. At the right side I stopped and said, "That is the place." "Yes, that is the place," said the youth. "Well, it is a great thing, this work, and I must have the people here, and the young men to beat time. If it were an easy case I would not do that." "I understand, I am pahiala," said Kesina. I sent my son for his friends, and they assembled quickly, eager to see. Many of the old people came and one by one made speeches, saying that in former times the Qagyuhl had to go to the Bellabella for medicine-men, but now the latter were coming to us. To each speaker Kesina presented a dollar. As soon as this was finished, all began to urge me to try hard, for the Bellabella had come a long distance. Knowing what to do, the young men began to use their batons, while I slowly put my red cedar-bark rings on my wrists and ankles. When I was ready I put my hand on the boy, shook my rattle, and sang, and the young men began to beat the fourth time. They took the song away from me, and I put down my rattle, placed my mouth on the affected spot, and sucked. Kesina lay on his back carefully watching me. When I raised my head, 1 When a certain informant was proving himself a pahila he had to perform kahya without assistance, because a woman professed to have had a dream in which he did so. A hundred and twenty people were present, and he passed a sixteen-pound ring of green hemlock boughs four times over the bodies of about a third of them and once over the remainder. This occupied the night almost until daylight. All this time he was squatting near the blazing fire, rising, shaking his body, and singing, while handling the heavy ring. The next day he found his calves were severely blistered by the heat, and his loins and thighs swollen and stiff, so that he could not walk. {view image of page 88} 88 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN he quickly cried, "Give it to me!" and held out his hand. One of the beaters raised his hand, protesting, and called in jargon, "Wait! You shall see!" What I sucked out I put in my left hand, and then felt the sick youth again, and found something a little lower. I went at that, and when I raised my head I put what I had got into my right hand. Then the young men began to beat violently, very proud of me, and after washing the blood from my hands in a dish of water I commenced another song, dancing around the fire and showing what I had in my hands. The sick one sat up, watching, and spoke to Kesina, who also sat up. When I reached Kesina, holding my hands outstretched above his head, he raised his rapidly shaking hands with the palms upward, brought them beneath mine, and began to sing like a pahalla. His voice was tremendous, and seemed to be tearing his throat. As soon as I saw what he intended, I stopped. The spirit had left me, and I was now a common man instead of palhala. I ordered the young men to beat the boards vigorously. Then Kesina rose, wearing only a shirt, his wristlets, and anklets. He must have been preparing himself while I was at work. He sang his song, and turned about again and again in his place, stretching out his hands and trying to draw to him what was in mine. Though I was now a common man I turned every time he did, four times in all, and then a man came and whispered, "The chief said, do not let him have it." I answered: "I will keep my eyes on it. Wherever he throws it I will see it." Kesina raised his hands under mine until our palms touched, trying to get the objects to fall into his, but they would not go. Then I turned my palms on edge, and the two objects slipped off into his. He stopped suddenly, seeming to come out of a trance, and he spoke to the people: "This is what we have been trying to get out of the boy, and could not. This is not sickness, but makayu!"1 While I was working I did not know whether it was sickness or makayu. He raked a red-hot stone from the fire, called for the dish of water in which I had washed my hands, and produced the right foot of an eagle. "Get ready to pour," he said. He laid the makayu on the stone and quickly placed over it the eagle-claws, which curled up with the heat. He kept repeating, "Ahi, aha, aha! That man's hands are curling up, curling up!" The claws drew up close together, and Kesina said, "Pour the water!" I poured, and steam rose. When he lifted the eagle foot, the stone came up with it, for the claws had curled tightly around it. "That man will never maka again," he said. "Now I want you to find mine. I have something in me, but I cannot get it." A pahala is expected to vomit makayu when it is thrown into him. So Kesina took the place of the sick youth, and I felt his 1 Makayu ("something thrown") is an object thrown from a distance by means of magic into one's body in order to cause death, not by disease, but by magic. A pahiala who can use or extract this object is a mamaka. {view image of page 89} THE KWAKIUTL 89 body; but he would not let me touch the middle of his abdomen, where the power of a pahiala is supposed to be. "If you will not let me feel wherever I want to feel," I said, "there is no good in going on." "You are a rough-speaking pahaila," he protested. "You have come far to see me," I said, "and now you will not let me feel where I want to feel. It might be there. I will not have anything to do with you. I have got what you wanted me to take out of your brother, and that is enough." He begged me to go on, but I sat with the old people and talked a little with them. They were very proud of me. Kesina gave another dollar to each person, and then said, "Tomorrow night let all come back, and I will ask our friend to look at me." After all the people had gone and I lay in a corner of the house, thinking of what had happened, Kesina came to me. I asked him, "Are you pahalla any more?" "Yes, there is just a little of it left. The bear took it back." "When you took those things out of my hands, you must have been a strong pahaala to do that." "Oh, I was strong then," he said. "What made you pahaila; what kind of thing?" I asked. Then he told me that he was a great hunter of bears. One day he found a bear in one of his traps, and he was about to club it, when the bear spoke in a human voice: "Do not kill me! If you spare my life, I will make you the greatest pahiala among all the people. You will be the taker of sickness out of a man's body, and I will give you the short life giver, makaiyu. Through these you will be well paid. One way you will save life, the other way you will take life. If you release me from this trap, I will show you what to do." So Kesina removed the weights from his trap, and the bear taught him the secrets and the songs. That is what Kesina told me as we lay there in my house after the healing of his brother. The next night when the people reassembled, Kesina made a speech telling what a great paha/la he was, how there was none like him. Then all united in urging me not to cure him: if he was such a great doctor, he could heal himself. Kesina died not long after that. He was a "Christian Indian." Few of these charlatans suffered the ignominious exposure that closed the career of Tesum, a young Nimkish who in 1864 announced that he had nawalaq, which had promised to send him vast stores of blankets. He therefore had each box-maker construct a chest for him, and these were all piled in tiers in his house. One morning he summoned the people and pointed out the stacks of boxes. All were securely bound with ropes in the usual manner, but the edges {view image of page 90} 9o THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN of red, green, and blue blankets could be seen under the lids, as if the chests were bursting with their fulness. The people rejoiced, and Tesuim ordered that messengers be sent to the tribes, inviting them to the greatest potlatch ever held. In the invitations were included instructions to certain chiefs that they should bring their daughters, for the new pahiala must have them for his wives. These handsome young women were brought, though in all cases they were already married. When the invitation came to Fort Rupert, one of the chiefs said, "I will not be deceived." He took down a blunderbuss, loaded it, and discharged it. Then when the people came running, he said: "You may all go if you wish. I will not be a fool. When you go and find yourselves deceived, bring back the Nimkish and I will give a potlatch. I have no nawalaq, but I have property!" The tribes assembled and waited for the potlatch. Four days were the longest period for a potlatch, and at the end of that time it was proposed by the chiefs that the distribution should begin. But Tesum said: "No. I had a dream last night, and the spirit ordered me to wait four days more." So they waited, and each day Tesum sent for a new wife, dismissing her on the following day in favor of another. In the night of the eighth day he disappeared, and the next morning there was much discussion as to what should be done. Some said that Tesum had gone away to get more power. Others were for opening the boxes. An old, white-haired woman spoke: "If you will take my advice you will open the chests. In the night when these boxes were being filled, I heard Tesuim coming frequently in through the back door and working with them. I heard him tearing blankets into strips." When the chests were hurriedly opened they were found to be filled with moss, while under the edge of each cover was a narrow strip of blanket. Tesum's brother insisted that by opening the chests the people had changed the contents from blankets into moss, but no one believed him. The whole tribe was brought back to Fort Rupert by the Qagyuhl, and the wise chief who had not been deceived gave them a potlatch, which completed their humiliation. This thing is still a disgrace to the Nimkish tribe. Tesum was never again seen. He had his day of glory, and paid the price. In the narratives previously quoted to illustrate the methods of the pepahala there is evidence that these medicine-men act in collusion, an inference which is confirmed by direct statements. {view image of facing page 90} Tsawatenok girl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 91} THE KWAKIUTL 9I The pepahala sometimes held secret meetings, each one wearing his red cedar-bark head-band (of which each had his own peculiar kind), with a straight sprig of green hemlock at the forehead. When I was yet new in the pepahala secrets, I was accosted one evening by another pahcila, who whispered, "Our friends are having a meeting in yonder house." I accompanied him and found there all those who were regarded as possessing true power. I noticed that they were arranged in four rows. In the first sat four men who had their power from the killerwhale or the wolf. These were the head men of all the Qagyuh-I pepahala. Medicine-men of the wolf and the killerwhale held their secrets in common, because the wolf is the killerwhale of the woods and the killerwhale is the wolf of the sea. But they did not reveal their secrets to any one whose nawalaq was derived from any other source than these two animals. A new medicine-man having nawalaq of one of these animals, as I did, was gradually admitted to the secrets of the leaders. In the second group were those who had either "riverside nawalaq" or "ground nawalaq" or the na'walaq of echo spirits. The third class included those whose power came from the toad, the silverside salmon, or the rocks. In the fourth class were the sun and squirrel pepaiala, but these did not treat sickness. One of the four leaders rose and began to speak. I could not understand him, for the words, while individually clear, made no sense. Thus, as I afterward learned, when he actually meant man he would say woman; instead of stick he would say stone.' Only the elder medicine-men knew the purport of his speech. I asked the one nearest me what he was saying, and I was told that it was about man-killing. Then the other three head men addressed us in a similar manner, each speech being followed by a period of silence, while everybody sat quietly pondering. Frequently one would utter a growling sound by forcibly expelling his breath. Finally the first speaker said plainly to all of us: "This is a great thing we are in. Anybody who has a weak heart may go out now." Of course everybody was eager to remain and see what was going to be done. The leader took something from between the rolls at the back of his head-band (the place where medicine-men always carry small secret things), looked at it carefully, and said, "That would be too quick." He took something else from another place in the head-band, examined it, and said, "That would be too slow." Of a third object he remarked, "This would be four or five days." Then he addressed the other old men in the first row: "How do you wish it to be, quick, or dragging?" Some were for quick death and some for a lingering one, but it was decided that it should be a slow 1 A similar thing is seen in the custom of people going for eggs to Triangle island, an exposed place very dangerous because of the storms, which are not only formidable in themselves but are believed to cause stones to fly through the air. When visiting this island, people never attach the ordinary meaning to phrases. Thus, meaning "I will gather eggs," one says, "I will gather wood." {view image of page 92} 92 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN death. The old man took something from the head-band and said, "This will be the slow death." To one of his great friends, the men in the front row, he said, "Are your hands clean? When did you last touch a woman?" The other counted on his fingers and replied, "Three washings," meaning three periods of four days each, on each day of which he had washed and rubbed his body with hemlock. "Then you are clean. Take it. You know whom it is for." The one to whom it was given rose and blackened his face. To the other three leaders he said, "Come with me." Whoever is called in such a case must go, willingly or no. They stood up, but one of them said, "There should be one more." So they chose me to go with them. It was now past midnight when we five went out, and the order was given to go by different routes to a place at the end of the village, where a certain chief was lying in a little hut with mats for the walls and a sail for the roof, caring for his sick wife. His name had not been mentioned in the meeting, and the other pepahala of the lower classes did not know who was to be killed. This was the man who had been contending with Nikapnkyim in breaking coppers, and since neither would yield, Nuikapnkyim had arranged with the medicine-men that they should kill his rival. One by one we arrived at the place. In some way it had been learned just where he was accustomed to lie in the little hut, and the man who held the death-giver in his hand motioned us around to the other side, for that was the side on which the chief was sleeping. One patiala parted the mats a little, and the leader slipped both his hands inside and blew twice, hoarsely but gently. As we withdrew, the sick woman stirred and called to her husband, "Something is moving outside!" We hurried away and back to the house where the others were waiting, and the one who had carried the charm said to them: "It is gone. We will look for some one to cry in forty days. A certain man will die, but it will save his wife's life." By this he was expressing a wish that the man should die even before his sick wife. The meeting broke up, and we went to our homes to sleep. The Mamalelekala chief against whom this was done died some time after this, but it was more than forty days. * TWIN CHILD HEALER. Twins are believed to come from the salmon, and when a twin child has a pain in the head it is thought that the salmon are the cause. The face and the body are dusted with dry, black powder of roasted punk taken from a black pine, or with pulverized iron oxide. A flat band of reddened cedar-bark is placed around the head, and white tail-feathers of the eagle are thrust upright in it. Some tribes cover the crown of the head with eagle-down, others with cormorant-down. Then all the older people who were born twins dress themselves in the same manner, and shake rattles and sing, while the mother of the sick child dances, holding it in her arms; or if the child is old enough, it dances. The songs are filled with the word haiy6, which is the shout uttered when one sees a salmon leap. The illustration shows a twin child healer treating a twin child patient in a spruce booth in the forest. White eagle-feathers are suspended from the line, and sharp sticks thrust through the baskets are for the purpose of destroying the life of the evil things that are persecuting the patient. It is possible that this use of sharp sticks has been borrowed from Asiatics within recent years. {view image of facing page 92} Twin child healer - a - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 93} THE KWAKIUTL 93 The pepahala met also when a person of high rank and great wealth fell sick. But on such occasions they assembled by classes in different places, and a messenger was sent from the second class to the first, in order to inquire what would be the price for treating this patient. The answer being given, -the price in such cases was usually a hundred blankets, - the messenger reported it to his companions, and then went on to the third class with the order. Then no matter what medicine-man was summoned by the family of the sick person, the price demanded was the same. In this manner also it was frequently arranged which class of medicine-men would receive the case. Thus if a pahaala of the third group were summoned, he would feel the body of the patient and then say: "I have not the power to cure this. You had better call another man"-naming one of the second class. When this one was called, he would ask the other if he had found the sickness, and the answer would be, "Yes, but I have not the strength to take it out." The newcomer then would examine the patient, and if it had been previously determined that the case should be reserved for one of the head men (as was generally done when the family was wealthy and the illness severe), he would say: "This is hard! You will have to call in a stronger pahiala." So the family was forced to summon the one who had been selected for the case by the medicinemen's fraternity. The one who finally treated the patient received the reward and did not divide it with the others. Poor people were permitted to call an inferior medicine-man, and the payment for each treatment was a large dish and a blanket ornamented with numerous shell buttons. So few have the medicine-men become that organization is no longer possible. Treatment was given each evening for three or four days. In the important cases for which a chief medicine-man was called he might assure the family, even if the price previously agreed upon in the meeting were one hundred blankets: "I cannot do this for a hundred blankets. It is a dangerous thing. The sickness might get into my body, if I make a mistake." They then begged him to try, and finally he consented; but after four attempts he announced his failure, gathered up the blankets, and departed. On the next evening the house again was cleared, and a messenger sent to apprise the pahiala that all was in readiness; but he refused to come unless they agreed to another payment, usually of fifty blankets. And they were forced to yield. This second payment secured his services for {view image of page 94} 94 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the four treatments, but if by that time the patient was not well the medicine-man secretly returned and gave other treatment without the usual accompaniment of beating and singing. Medicine-men sing with a low-pitched voice, and with a very rapid, upward and downward vibration of the lower jaw, which imparts a most peculiar quality to the tones. They are able without apparent effort to produce a whistling sound deep in their throats, which they do in throwing or blowing sickness out of their hands. In the house nobody ever intentionally walks in front of or behind a pahaila. If any one by chance comes behind a medicine-man in the act of eating, the pahaala shuts his mouth lest unluckiness from that person enter through his mouth and destroy his power. The power of a paihala, always greatest at the beginning, gradually wanes until he is once more an ordinary man. The pepespatenui, or workers of pespata, possess the secrets of many supposedly beneficial charms. Thus, soreness of the eyes, and boils or other eruptions, may be treated by tightly enfolding in separate pieces of thin sheet-copper four tufts of cedar-bark fibre containing the mattery secretion, and pushing the bits of copper down into four of the circular holes found in the beach mud, from which water spurts on a rising tide. Or each piece of folded copper may be embedded in crevices made by driving wedges into separate crab trees, and the sores will heal when the wounded bark is renewed. One day I asked Hamasaka how it was that the chiefs were always large, fat men, when they did not eat much, and his reply was: "Well, it is because they have been pespatuq [a passive form signifying 'worked upon by a pespatenuh']. I am going to tell you this secret; for you have been made a chief and you have a right to know. If you wish to become a stout man, you first bring yourself into a perspiration and then with four pieces of cedar-bark fibre you rub your body until they are wet. Then go back into the woods with a chisel and a maul. Find a very large cedar with good bark, so that rain never gets beneath the bark, and drive your chisel in as far as it will go. Make a piece of yew into a calking wedge, pull out the chisel, place one bunch of fibre in the crevice, and drive it in with the wedge. Drive your chisel in again four finger-breadths to the right, and place the second bunch of fibre there. Keep on thus until you have buried the four bunches, then come away, and at the first fresh water you reach, bathe yourself. Then it is done, and you will become stout as the cedar. This is a secret of the chiefs, and poor people are not permitted to know it." {view image of facing page 94} Twin child healer - b - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 95} TH E KWAKIUTL 95 Remarkable powers are ascribed to copper. Thus, in order to produce sterility a woman may make a small copper knife and with it sever the umbilical cord of her newly born child. A halibut fisher is careful to avoid the touch of this metal during the fishing period, and at the beginning of the season he thoroughly washes his hands and scours them with sand, in order to remove any lingering trace of copper. If he fails to catch a halibut, he comes ashore and washes again. Many pespata practices have to do with the disposal of the umbilical cord, in order that the child may develop special skill in some particular calling. When my first son was born, and the old people came to look at him, they said to me: "What do you want your son to become? You are a great hunter, and you had better make him one." "I do not know how to do it," I replied. "That is very easy," they assured me. "When the navel cord comes off, we will prepare it for you." On the fourth day they came and wrapped it tightly in a bit of cloth and placed it in a small cloth bag, which contained four shavings of a bear-claw, four of a mink-claw, and others from whatever claws they had been able to obtain. They doubled the bag, placed the ends of a stout string of sea-lion intestine between the two folds, and wrapped another cord about it so that the gut string was held firmly. They hung this about my neck, and brought the spear from my canoe. With soft cedar-bark they wiped the baby's face and right hand, and after removing the wrappings from the socket of the spear-point they placed the bit of bark fibre in the base. They replaced the wrappings and said, "Now tonight, if the weather is clear, go spearing." That evening I used the spear on two hair-seals, and the old men exclaimed: "Good luck! He will be a great spearsman." I wore the bag until the boy, old enough to hunt by himself, put it on his own neck. He is now a good hunter and spearsman, but I had him for steersman so long that he ought to have learned without any pespata. Frequently when he comes home with a good load of game, the people say, "Well, it is no wonder! He has been pespatuq!" Similar methods are pursued to make a halibut fisherman. A raven's beak is sometimes bound under the barb of the hook, in order that the "hunger of the raven's beak may go into the halibut, and make him seize the hook as a raven seizes food." If the fisherman desires his infant son to become a halibut fisherman, he rubs cedar-bark fibre over the baby's body and ties it to the hook along with the raven's beak. {view image of page 96} 96 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN The song-maker seals his son's umbilical cord in a small hole drilled in the end of his baton, and the builder of canoes utilizes the handle of his adze. Thus every man tries to make his son efficient in whatever he himself excels in, and women endeavor to cause their daughters to become good workers in the various fields of feminine industry, from clam digging to basketry and blanket weaving. Parents sometimes beg an excellent female dancer to wear their daughter's navel cord. If she is in good health she will do so, but if there is any sickness in her she will refuse, because of the belief that sick persons are greatly endangered by blood of the menses or of childbirth. If she grants their request, the dancer tucks the bag under her anklet, so that when she dances the child figuratively dances with her throughout the long winter ceremony. Only occasionally is payment given for such services. To give a child keenness of vision its eyes are wiped with bark fibre, which is then stuffed into the eye-sockets of a fishhawk or an eagle. The bird's eyes are then wrapped in soft bark and laid at the right side of the baby's face, tucked in between the face and the pillow, and the bird itself hangs inside or outside the house. If a fretful baby gives its mother no rest, she sends her husband to secure a bat, which they reduce to charcoal and rub on the baby's face in order to make it sleep like a bat. Or the bat is wrapped and tucked in between the baby's face and the pillow at the right side. Spruce buds found at the mouth of streams down which they have rolled until the black scales have been rubbed off are used in the same manner and for the same purpose as the bat. All these practices are classed as pespata. Most of the remedies employed by the pepatenui, or "medicine givers," possess curative properties, but the virtue of others is wholly imaginary. The bark of hemlock-roots and spruce-roots, the rhizome of licorice-fern (Polypodium occidentale), the root of deer-fern (Struthiopteris spicant), and juniper leaves are the constituents of a remedy for dysentery. Six or seven strips of hemlock-root bark a span long and two finger-breadths wide, the same amount of spruce-root bark, a handful of licorice-fern root, six deer-fern roots, and four small bunches of juniper leaves, are boiled for a day in a gallon of water. The decoction is strained, and a cupful is administered night and morning. The first dose "kills the pain." False hellebore (Veratrum viride), which they call athsuli, has a variety of uses. The leaves are plaited and hung in a ring around {view image of page 97} THE KWAKIUTL 97 the neck of children as a preventive of disease, and cut up finely they are rubbed on women's hair to cure dandruff. For extreme constipation a very small quantity of the dry root is rubbed on sandstone and steeped in cold water, a small dose of which almost immediately causes vomiting, followed quickly by a movement of the bowels and by further vomiting. An overdose causes hemorrhages and death. To counteract severe local pain the part is beaten with a stiff brush of spruce needles dipped in cold water, and when blood begins to exude, powdered alisuli root is rubbed in. Violent galvanic twitching of the muscles ensues. The root of false hellebore is employed also in blistering to counteract headache and neuralgia. A depression half an inch in diameter is cut into a cedar stick, and therein is packed a mixture of very dry cedar-bark and powdered adisuli root. The stick is laid on the affected part with a thin layer of the wood between the mixture and the skin, and the burning of the cedar-bark produces a blister. Another blistering mixture, used in the same way, consists of nettle-bark, powder of an unidentified pungent seed, and a bit of cedar-bark containing menstrual blood. Blistering is accomplished also by the application of Pyrola chlorantha, which the natives call aakala ("open mouth") in allusion to the fact that its flowers open in the morning and close at night. The green plants are chewed and the wet mass is bound beneath a piece of cedar-bark on the part to be blistered. After about fifteen minutes it is removed, and soon a blister forms. The skin is at once cut away, and the spot is covered with silver-perch oil. The root of yellow dock (Rumex crispus), which the Kwakiutl call ko6isawani, is boiled and eaten as a laxative, and the bark of f[itaeko'ma (Spircea opulifolia) furnishes a decoction for the same purpose. Yet another laxative is water in which dried beaver's castor has been stirred. To counteract rheumatic pains a piece of the rootstock of the pond-lily, or spatter-dock (Nymphcea advena), is cut into slices one fourth of an inch thick, which one by one are heated in ashes and rubbed vigorously over the affected part. Rheumatism is treated also by rubbing with bear's gall. For a cough silver-perch oil is taken, or alder-bark is chewed and the juice swallowed, and hemlock-bark is chewed for tuberculosis. Scrofulous sores are believed to be caused by a certain invisible, magic slime of salmon, which has worked into the skin and will not let them heal. Charcoal of a salmon of the species believed to be VOL. X-7 {view image of page 98} 98 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN responsible for the malady is dusted on the sores, or the juice of partially chewed alder-bark is dropped on them. It is thought that washing in a basin which has contained fresh fish will cause scrofula, no matter how thoroughly it may have been scoured. Warriors and Warfare The weapons - arrow, spear, sling, and club - and the armor of the aboriginal Kwakiutl have been previously mentioned.1 Some of the tribes, remote from the posts and rendezvous of traders, had few guns until as late as I875. Most of them, however, were well supplied by I846,2 and in some places firearms were quite common at the close of the eighteenth century. On July 20, I792, Captain Vancouver visited the Nimkish village at the northern side of the mouth of Nimkish river, and recorded the following: "In most of the houses were two or three muskets, which, by their locks and mounting, appeared to be Spanish. Cheslakees had no less than eight in his house, all kept in excellent order: these, together with a great variety of other European commodities, I presumed, were procured immediately from Nootka, as, on pointing to many of them, they gave us to understand they had come from thence... We refused them fire arms and ammunition, which humanity, prudence, and policy directed to be with-held."3 The Kwakiutl, like other North Pacific tribes, were head-hunters, and the winning of gory trophies was a prime object of war expeditions. Once embarked with this object in view, they were peculiarly savage, recognizing neither friend nor tribesman. The embarkation of a war-party therefore was the signal for all to remain in the village until it had passed beyond local waters; for it was a rule generally observed that the fighting men must take the heads of the first people encountered. Hostile movements were begun not always in the single desire for the renown and wealth to be won by taking heads and booty; frequently there was concerned the exaction of blood for blood, or the grim determination to alleviate sorrow over the 1 See pages I7-I8. 2 See Work's census, page 303. 3 Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World, London, 1798, Volume I, pages 348-349. Master James Johnstone, one of Vancouver's subordinates, had visited the village on July 8, 1792. This is our earliest account of any Kwakiutl village; for although many fur traders had worked in these waters, their written accounts deal only with the Nootkan tribes, as does also the journal of Captain Cook. {view image of facing page 98} Nakoaktok warrior [photogravure plate] {view image of page 99} Jn 5-r tt THE KWAKIUTL 99 death of a favorite child or a high chief by causing some other tribe to mourn for its dead. Warfare was conducted with the least risk, and therefore consisted of ambush, the surprise of a lonely fisherman, the sudden assault under guise of friendship, the enslavement of female berrypickers, the nocturnal burning of a village and plunder of its houses when the panic-stricken inhabitants took to the woods. A sustained, pitched battle was a great rarity, and almost every engagement in which many lives were lost was a mere slaughter of a throng unable to defend itself. By no means every man was a warrior (papaqa, merciless man). For war was a profession, exactly as was the hewing of canoes or the spearing of seals. If a warrior had a son whom he wished to become a fighting man, he went, about the time the boy began to eat solid foods, to some one who had killed a grizzly-bear, and obtained the heart of the animal. He then took the child to the house where the bear's body lay, placed its palms on the bear's fore paws, and prayed: "Now that you are dead, we beg the fierceness of your paws, that it may be in the hands of this boy." He then cut four bits from the heart and made the child swallow them in order to inspire ferocity and hardness of heart. If it was particularly desired that the boy become a stealthy warrior, the father killed, or had some one kill, a wolf, although ordinarily it was not right to kill this animal. Placing the child's hands on the wolf's fore paws, he prayed, "We have come to beg the slyness of your paws, that it may be in this boy's hands." Then the child swallowed four pieces of the wolf's heart, which gave him the ability to creep unheard into a house, as a wolf creeps through a thicket. Similar use of a squirrel was reputed to impart the ability to dash with lightning rapidity from one place to another. A boy destined for the warrior's profession never touched warm water. Every day he was sent into salt water, even if the waves breaking on the rocks were turned to ice, and when he emerged his father would thrash him with a huckleberry besom. Numb as he was, he was insensible to blows that were starting the blood through his veins. Boys rarely became warriors through visions. Every warrior had a small box containing a neck-ring of false hellebore from which were suspended dried toads, lizards, and snakes. These he himself had killed (at least professedly) by choking them between his teeth, thus demonstrating his fearlessness and inspiring fear of himself in others; for these creatures are objects of great {view image of page 100} I00 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN dread to ordinary people. (For example, it is believed that contact with snakes and lizards, or even with their skins, is the cause of scrofula, while toads are thought to steal the spirit out of one's body, the people thus accounting for the thrill of horror inspired by the unexpected touch or sight of a toad.) These rings were worn about the necks of the departing fighters, or at home as a part of the ceremonial dress. Warriors kept their faces constantly blackened, each morning softening a lump of tallow by mastication, spitting it then into the hands, and pressing (not rubbing) them on the face. Then they powdered charcoal in the hands and pressed them again on the face, holding the eyes tightly shut, so that where the skin was wrinkled there were left comparatively white lines radiating about the eyes. Their hair was tied in a mass on the top of the head and flowed down on all sides, and a stick of hemlock was thrust sidewise through the hair, to show that they had been bathing ceremonially in the woods. For warriors were supposed to bathe ceremonially on every fourth day. They were men of few words, who usually replied to a question with "yes" or "no" and walked on without further conversation. They took very little food in public, but probably ate in secret, for they were always burly men, and hard-muscled. In going about the village the fighting men walked proudly with quick, nervous steps, constantly shifting the head and glancing from side to side, winking the eyes, all very much in the manner of an eagle. Their reputation of surliness, their manner of dressing, and their masterful, almost threatening, carriage, combined to make them objects of fear to others. The war-party was not composed entirely of fighting men, for in fact these were decidedly in the minority, numbering perhaps one in eight or ten. There were, besides the "merciless man," the "watcher" (kaka'la),l the "burner" (humtenoh), the "plunderer" (Ithinu'mi), or "rapacious one" (awulki), and the "canoe guard" (sakyayu), each of whom had his special duty in an attack. The "merciless man" was the fighter, whose sole endeavor was to obtain heads and slaves. His share of the booty was claimed from the plunderers at the end of the fight. Each warrior on leaving home carried about his neck a small bundle of cedar withes - his "slave ropes" - on which to hang by the lower jaw the heads he hoped to secure, or by means of which to bind the slaves he might capture. In severing heads the experienced warriors are said to have been very skilful, accomplishing the act sometimes with a single 1 Excepting iumtenoh ("burner"), these words are in the Lekwiltok dialect. {view image of page 101} THE KWAKIUTL IOI circling stroke of the knife and without any twisting with the hands. They cut close to the skull, usually leaving a small patch of hair on the back of the neck. Inexperienced men usually slashed too low, and then with great difficulty twisted off the head. Each warrior had a helper, or "watcher," usually a younger brother or other relative, who in the fight carried the "slave ropes" and stood behind his superior. If the warrior found himself hardpressed, his watcher came to his assistance; otherwise the younger man stood off, ready to employ his withes for either of their uses. An important duty of the watcher arose when a warrior was killed. He then quickly seized the body and dragged it to the canoe, in order that the enemy might not take the head and thus render the expedition a failure, no matter how many heads were secured by the attacking party. But regardless of the number of invaders killed, if they lost no heads they were not discredited. In every war-party were two "burners," each of whom had charge of a box containing strips of pitchwood and provided with many small holes in top and bottom. It was the duty of the "burner" to steal into the village, light the pitchwood, and place his box where it would ignite the houses. By far the larger number of the war-party were plunderers,, who, when the inhabitants of the attacked village had been killed or routed, rushed into the houses and carried the booty down to the canoes. Boxes, blankets, dance costumes, utensils, food - everything was taken, even such of the children as did not fall victim to the blood lust. The "canoe guards" were those who, while the fighters, watchers, burners, and plunderers were ashore, remained with the canoes in order to keep them afloat and ready for instant service. It was their privilege to take from the plunderers what they desired, and they delayed not to avail themselves of the right, appropriating what they wished even while the plunderers were still at work. In their preparation for war the fighting men of the warlike Lekwiltok engaged in a game called takes. First of course they bathed ceremonially, in order to gain supernatural strength not only for the contemplated expedition but for the rough and dangerous game. Their bathing was done at the side of a river, that the devotee might secure the strength of the spirit that held the river in its bounds. Furthermore the water at the side is believed to be colder than that in the middle. Sitting in the stream the fighting man would cry: "O...! You will have pity on me and give {view image of page 102} 102 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN me the head of my enemy! " - here mentioning the name of a particular warrior of the tribe against which the expedition was to be directed. For all the fighting men of a tribe were known by name to all the other tribes. Then he would cut gashes in his thighs and calves that the running blood might bring the fat with it. He would lean his back against the jagged rocks and rub crosswise and up and down, until the blood ran. Next he used, one after another, four bunches of hemlock, rubbing his entire body until the skin was almost raw, and when all the needles had been rubbed off he placed the bunches of bare twigs on the limb of a tree, never on the ground. At the conclusion of his purificatory rite he would exclaim, "I have him!" The contestants in the game of takes stripped themselves absolutely naked and stood in a crowd at the middle of a course about fifty yards long, at each end of which was a small hole. A wooden ball was tossed into the air, and each player leaped up to catch it. He who succeeded grasped it firmly in one hand and attempted to run to his goal and put it into the hole, while his opponents endeavored by whatsoever means to obtain possession of the ball. They were permitted to kick, hold with the hands or arms, beat with the fists, or throw dust into the eyes. That party which first secured ten points won the wager. Usually not much effort was made for the first five points, but after that the contestants balked at nothing. Men have been killed at this game. Such casualties generally occurred as the result of a man with the ball stumbling, and the others throwing themselves upon him, when, if any player held a private grudge against him, only good luck could save the unfortunate fellow. Frequently a man would propose this game with the sole intention of seizing the first opportunity to satisfy his private hatred. The betting between individual players, not between the two sides, was heavy, the most valued possessions, such as slaves, canoes, and abalone-shells, being risked. Preparatory to an expedition against an enemy, the war-canoes were drawn up and placed on blocks, and long strips split from old roof-boards were bound into bundles, which were used as torches in charring the sides and bottoms of the craft. A ball of wet clay was held ready in the hand for extinguishing fire that might start in some tiny crevice. The unburned portions of the torches were always thrown into the water, never on the beach. Then the canoes were carefully turned, and the bottoms and sides were smoothed and polished with dry dogfish-skin, or with old matting and goat or deer tallow. Finally they were righted and left on the blocks, shored up {view image of page 103} THE KWAKIUTL I03 on both sides. All this was done that the canoe might slip through the water easily and noiselessly. The paddles were newly pointed, so as to "make the tasting sound" (tsk) when dipped into the water. Paddles used in war-canoes were of resilient wood and therefore made even less noise than those of stiffer material. The start was made at daylight. The members of the expedition, each bringing no more than he could carry in one load, deposited their effects in their respective canoes, lifted the craft from the blocks, and walked into the water. At such a distance from shore that their weight would not cause the canoes to touch bottom (which would have portended very bad luck), they set them on the water and stepped in without looking back toward the shore. Each man had round his neck a ring of dried and softened bladder-kelp, which had been distended by his own breath until it became two or three inches in cross-section. They were followed to the beach by an equal number of women - their wives or sisters. After embarking, the men faced the shore, while the women stood there, spread somewhat apart and watching the men carefully. The latter tossed the kelp rings, and each woman caught on her head the one thrown by her husband or brother, and took it home to hang it over the head of her bed. Every fourth morning thereafter she bathed herself ceremonially in order to insure the safety of her absent one. If for any reason the kelp burst, that was regarded as a sign that the man whose breath was thus released had been either killed or wounded - that his breath had been let out of his body. After tossing the rings of kelp the members of the expedition paddled swiftly away in a friendly race to determine which craft was the fastest, and at the same time the "speaker" in each canoe arose to exhort his companions in metaphorical language to spare none whom they might meet. Thus, if the crew were of the Thunderbird gens he might cry, "When we see a canoe, let the Thunderbird's lightning strike them!" Twenty canoes, manned each by at least fifteen men, made a war-party of not unusual size. Each crew was composed of clansmen. If there were more than one crew of a single gens, their craft usually kept together and the warriors in them banded together in the attack, for there was suspicion and fear lest some one might take the opportunity afforded in the confusion of fighting to put a rival chief out of the way. The fleet was always preceded by a small, swift, scouting canoe manned by seven or nine men; that is, six or eight paddlers sitting in pairs on the thwarts, and a steersman. {view image of page 104} 104 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN After leaving the waters in the immediate vicinity of their own village, it became the duty of the scouts to kill the occupants of the first canoe they fell in with, even though they might be tribesmen and relatives, lest subsequent disaster befall the party. The watchman in the bow of each war-canoe was called qio6w (a kind of duck). After the first day they travelled only by night, stopping at daybreak to carry the canoes into the woods and lie concealed until dusk. They carried little food and ate very lightly, usually holding a morsel of food in the mouth all the day long. When they drank, it was only four sips. Salmon-belly was not eaten, for it is believed to cause shortness of breath. All conversation was in whispers. They approached the village of their enemies with the greatest caution, and the "ducks" were charged with the duty of seeing that no cause for alarm was given. If a canoe scraped on a rock or a log, the lookout at once uttered the cry of a duck, and a few others skilled in imitation took it up, and then made the swishing sound of a flock of fowl settling on the water. The usual plan of attack was to surround the village before dawn and set fire to the houses. Then the war-cry was raised, and the inhabitants, running out toward the beach and seeing there the shouting, gesticulating plunderers, would rush back through the houses, intending to escape into the woods, only to fall into the hands of the fighting men. When the dead had been decapitated and carefully scalped, when booty and trembling slaves had been piled promiscuously in the craft, the victorious, homeward voyage was begun. The head of the most important man killed was placed on a staff, which was fastened upright in the canoe like an ensign, and the song-maker (one was always included in the expedition) composed songs celebrating the exploits of the fighting men. Those who had taken heads or slaves sang their new songs, boasting of their deeds, reviling the enemy, and ridiculing their companions who had won neither heads nor slaves. These unfortunate men sat with downcast eyes, shamed in the presence of the successful ones. Approaching their own village after a victorious raid, the party ceased their singing, and those who had secured heads stood up. Close to the landing one of the speakers rose in the stern of a canoe and uttered a shrill shout, "Yi...!" Those who had secured heads were already standing. The paddlers responded with a lowpitched Yi...! beating on the gunwales with their paddles, and at the same time the standing warriors reached down and suddenly {view image of facing page 104} Crossing the strait [photogravure plate] {view image of page 105} THE KWAKIUTL I05 lifted the heads, shaking them at arm's length, and uttering the cries peculiar to their respective roles in the winter dance. On shore the women who beheld their husbands standing in the canoes and knew thereby that they had taken trophies, quickly retired to don their ceremonial costumes, and came down to the beach dancing with exultation. The scalps, carefully stretched and dried, were preserved as trophies to be used in dancing, while the skulls were exposed on tall stakes along the beach. While the Kwakiutl had nothing corresponding to the coups or graduated war honors of the Plains Indians, they nevertheless possessed a custom very like that of "counting coups," or boasting of one's war exploits. A certain feature of the winter dance was called puhiwtialihl ("warriors in the house") or aluIitaliEl ("blood in the house"). Each warrior went into the woods and there made and placed on his arm a wreath of hemlock for each person he had slain. Some men used thus to cover both arms. Then all assembled in the dance house, and one by one took seats behind the fire. One of them arose and recounted his bloody deeds, and as each slain person was named he removed a wreath and cast it to the floor. This particular part of the procedure was called tlasispuqutifuyi ("count men killed"). In the end the principal chief said to the winner: "You are the best. You have killed the most." To the men with the poorest record the chief said, "You are the smallest." They were quite ashamed, and in their chagrin they were likely to murder any defenceless, unsuspecting person in order to better their record. Other men, and even warriors as well, contended in a similar manner in tlapa ("count against one another"), one rival boasting of a potlatch he had given and the other following suit, until one or the other was silenced. The most warlike of the Kwakiutl were the Lekwiltok, who, situated at the southern extreme of Kwakiutl territory, had frequent encounters with the Salish. Through their waters furthermore passed many fleets of northern canoes bound for Fort Victoria, and in later days small trading schooners insufficiently manned; and heavy was the toll they exacted. They still enjoy a reputation for great ferocity, and as one old man expressed it, "they were like a great mouth, always open to swallow whatever attempted to pass." After about the year i860, when they established villages at Campbell river and near Cape Mudge, on opposite shores of the narrow Discovery passage, other tribes seldom attempted to navigate the strait in daylight, and many craft were wrecked in trying to run the strange and danger {view image of page 106} Io6 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN ous currents in darkness. It was not a rare occurrence for the Lekwiltok to find dead men and wreckage on the beach. To this day the name of Lekwiltok is hated by the survivors of the Salish tribes of Puget sound. A certain old Lekwiltok said recently that if one had a diver's suit and were to search the little bays between Cape Mudge and Salmon river, the charred remains of a surprising number of schooners would be found. And he was not boasting. The heavy hand of the law has so recently been felt by this tribe, and it is so nearly impossible to induce them to admit the deeds they are known to have committed, that one cannot imagine them claiming undeserved piratical honors. A single instance must suffice to show their method of warring upon white men. In I889 or thereabouts the schooner Seabird, laden with whiskey, anchored in Blinkinsop bay, which is north of the western end of Hardwicke island. A young woman, boarding the vessel for whiskey and becoming partially intoxicated, was forced below and locked up for immoral purposes. The woman's screams brought her husband aboard, but the three white men refused to release her. The Indian hurried ashore and returned with his brother. Still the white men would not lift the hatch, and the husband began to attack it with an axe, when the pilot shot him in the side. The two Indians then attacked and killed the crew, and with the assistance of others removed the cargo in four days and burned the schooner. The character of Kwakiutl warfare is aptly portrayed in the following narratives. A few years after the founding of Fort Rupert in I849, a southward bound expedition of Lekwiltok left the village Tekya [on Jackson bay, north of Hardwicke island]. They had just made the narrow passage between Fidalgo island and the mainland, when a Lekwiltok slave woman called from the shore: "You foolish people, to be travelling this way when warriors have already gone to attack you! I suppose they have taken all your women by this time!" They took her aboard and then turned for home, paddling kitiapala ["slow stroke behind"], that is, giving either two, three, or four rapid strokes followed by a slight feint over the water without touching it. This feint affords a brief rest, and the pace can be maintained longer than in the usual manner of paddling. The stroke is adopted when some one in the canoe cries, "Kifiapala!" and the steersman then calls the signal, "We!" At the end of each false stroke he repeats, " We ['go ahead']!" They arrived at Teikya before dawn, and none too soon; for just as day was breaking, the village was confronted by a fleet manned {view image of page 107} THE KWAKIUTL 107 by warriors of all the Salish tribes from Comox to Fort Victoria. It was the intention to kill all the Lekwiltok, even their dogs, and then "after we swallow them we will go on to the Qagyuhl." The immediate cause of the expedition was the capture of the wife of the Songish chief by the Lekwiltok. The Salish canoes approached the beach in unbroken line, and the Songish chief, standing up, made his demand: "Lekwiltok, I want you to send back my wife! Send her back quickly! If you do not, I will sink you in the bottom of the sea!" He spoke in his own language, and the speech was interpreted by slaves in the village. Then the chief put on a long shirt of elk rawhide, which covered him from head to foot, leaving only an opening for the face. He was put ashore, while the others remained ready in their canoes, and looking toward the fortified hill he cried, "Bring my wife!" Within the fort Huimti, a warrior, was laughing, while he cut a hole in the stockade. While the chief stood below, demanding his wife, Humti thrust the muzzle of a gun through the hole and fired. The bullet struck the chief in the forehead and killed him, and the Lekwiltok women began to dance and chant: "%a! Hawuazlumlisa, wuailumlisi ['you came unexpectedly']!" The Songish and their allies remained motionless in. their canoes, and soon they were joined by another party consisting of men of the mainland tribes from Fraser river to the head of Puget sound. These had just been repulsed in their assault on a village not far from Tekya. One of their chiefs reproached the Songish: "What is the matter? They are only a handful. Why do you not take them?" Then another chief stood up, holding out an elk-skin shirt, and called on all the fighting men by name: "Do not be afraid! I want you to get our chief's body! The one who brings it shall have this shirt!" For a while there was no answer. Then the principal fighting man of the Nanoose began to shake his body and to chant like a patiala. He put on the shirt, and while the others beat on the gunwales with their paddles he leaped ashore. It was ebb tide. He ran zigzag up the beach, and his companions chanted, "Alamata, alamata, alamata!" warning him to watch the hole in the stockade, so that when the muzzle of the gun appeared, he might dodge. With his eyes on the hole he ran to the dead man and reached down to grasp the head. The moment he became motionless, Hu.mti fired and killed him, and once more the Lekwiltok women danced and chanted. Now the Lekwiltok, watching the canoes in the water, thought themselves in safety, unaware that behind them many men were climbing the trees to shoot down on them. By accident the movement was discovered, and then all the defenders turned on them with their guns and picked them off. Without firing a shot the invaders fled northward. The victors decapitated the slain, removed the scalps, dusted {view image of page 108} io8 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN eagle-down on the bleeding skulls, and impaled the heads on the tops of a row of seven-foot stakes along the beach. The next day all loaded their canoes and moved to Hwussam [Salmon river, on Vancouver island], in order to unite their forces with the Lekwiltok of that place. The defeated southerners proceeded to the village Halihum [on an island in Port Neville], where a part of the Kueha sept of Lekwiltok lived. But warning had been sent from Tekya, and the Salish found them prepared. One of the chiefs donned his thunderbird mask and danced on the housetop, while his people sang, in order to show the Salish that they did not take the matter to heart. He was not afraid, but would dance and play even in the face of battle. While the enemy sat in their canoes and watched him, their craft drifted close to the shore, and as the dance ended the Kueha began shooting. They killed several, and the canoes withdrew southward. When the Salish approached Hwfissam, the people there manned their fastest canoe with the strongest paddlers and sent them out to simulate fishermen. The southern people fell into the trap, for a number of vessels turned and made for the decoy. The single canoe put for shore, and keeping just ahead led their pursuers close in to a point from which the Lekwiltok, in ambush, fired and killed several men. Nearly all the Lekwiltok septs were now assembled at Hwuissam, and when the Salish were thrown into confusion by the unexpected fire they leaped into their canoes and gave chase. The enemy were driven into a small bay opposite the river, where many of them ran on a reef and were wrecked. The other canoes succeeded in picking up many of them, but thus overburdened they could not be worked to advantage and offered an easy mark for the Lekwiltok guns. Finally the allies made their last blunder by running ashore, leaving their canoes, and escaping into the woods, under the impression that this was mainland when in fact it was an island [Hardwicke]. The fighting men of the Lekwiltok followed them and hunted them down like deer. They loaded themselves with heads. Every day for several "Sundays" [weeks] the fighting men from Hwussam would cross to the island and hunt for heads, and usually they were successful. Not a man of the Lekwiltok was killed. The Salish had very few guns, although in Fort Vancouver they had had a source of supply for some years longer than the Lekwiltok, who obtained their firearms at Fort Rupert. In the spring of the following year the Lekwiltok as usual moved to Comox harbor for the herring season. Half a mile distant was the fishing village of the Comox, whose permanent winter settlement was at Campbell river. One day came Helkwutn, who was half Lekwiltok and half Comox, and he said: "I have some news for you. I have heard that all the people from Victoria and the other tribes of that country are coming to kill all the Lekwiltok." {view image of facing page 108} Embarking [photogravure plate] {view image of page 109} THE KWAKIUTL Iog When the people heard this they only laughed at him and said: "Oh, that is the way Hekwuitn talks! He wants us to hurry away and leave all our house-timbers for him. We will not go." Others of the Comox came and said, "It is true, what Helkwutn said to you." Then the Lekwiltok began to be afraid, and the next morning they decked their canoes over in pairs, loaded them, and set out for the north. It was so hot that they moved slowly and lazily. They drifted with the tide to Oyster river, and then headed for Cape Mudge. Although the afternoon was drawing to an end, it was so sultry and the sun beat so fiercely from the boards of the catamarans and from the water, that they could not paddle strongly. The Wiweakam were behind the others, and before they made Cape Mudge the tide turned and carried them out so far that they could not gain the shore. They drifted close in toward Nfimas ["old man," now Egg island], a small island off the cape. Now it was on this very island that all the southern fighting men were waiting. They had for their pilot a Lekwiltok slave, who afterward told his people that when the craft came drifting along, the fighting men said: "Now we have a chance, we had better go and fight them now!" But the pilot objected: "No, if you want to get the worst of it, go out to them. Those catamarans are like forts. While you, in the open, could easily be killed, you could not touch them." The sun sank behind the trees, and the tide slackened. The Wiweakam paddled ashore at Tlahmtifihipalis, just north of Oyster bay, and built fires, and decided to wait there until the tide was favorable. The other three septs had passed Cape Mudge, and were making for the beach where the village now stands. No village was there at that time. The Wiweakam watched them, and decided that when the tide turned they would cross to them. This they did, beaching their craft stern first, and soon the shore was lined with fires. There were more than a thousand people. The Wiwekae camped at the north end of the three groups who first arrived, but the tide carried the Wiweakam still farther north, some little distance from the others. As soon as they came ashore they lay down to sleep, covering themselves with mats. There seemed to be no spirit in them. There was a man whose period of purification after the death of his wife was not completed, and therefore he slept alone under a tree away from the others. Scouts came upon him, cut off his head, and went back. All the southern people now landed, went northward through the brush, came down to the beach between the three groups and the Wiweakam, and began to slaughter the sleeping Wiwekae. A man awoke and gave the alarm, and the Wiweakam from the north and the Kueha and Walitsum from the south came to the rescue. The sky was beginning to gray. When the Lekwiltok rushed in on the attacking party, the latter, having killed some, ran {view image of page 110} IIO THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN down to the Lekwiltok catamarans, intending to escape with all the canoes and cargoes. They knew the tide was running southward, but were ignorant of the fact that a strong eddy sets north just in front of that spot. This eddy carried them at once among the canoes of the Wiweakam, who were hastening toward the scene of conflict, and nearly all of those who had taken to the catamarans were killed. In the meanwhile another party of the invaders had been attacking the Kueha at the southern end of the camp, and after the fighting there was over, it was discovered that nearly all of that sept - men, women, and children - had been killed and beheaded. None of the Walitsum or of the Wiweakam lost their lives. Blood was trickling down the beach into the water. The fighting men of the Lekwiltok decided to unload the canoes and give chase, and leaving the women and children concealed in the woods, they began the pursuit. They came up with the enemy at Oyster bay, and began to shoot from a distance; for they had a few guns, while the Salish had none. Suddenly the Salish turned, and the Lekwiltok, unwilling to meet them at close quarters, wasted no time in turning their canoes but reversed their positions and paddled for the camp, stern foremost. They landed above the cape, scrambled into the woods just ahead of the enemy, and hurried back to the camp. Some of the southern warriors were still ashore, and, catching sight of the fleeing Lekwiltok, lay in wait for them. One man, a very swift runner, was in advance of the others, and when he passed, the invaders hurled their spears at him but missed, and so he escaped; and the others, warned of the ambush, made a detour through the woods. Then the allies took their men in and went on their way. The Lekwiltok dug graves beside the corpses of the Kueha and buried them, man and wife together, all along the beach. Then they returned to Tekya. "This great misfortune," says the narrator, "fell upon the Kueha because a man of that sept had been killed by the southern people and beheaded with a copper knife, which was very unlucky for the others, as copper exerts an evil influence." About the year I850 a large party of Lekwiltok with a few Comox suffered a disastrous defeat at the hands of the allied Salish tribes, and the handful of survivors were forced to take to the woods and make their way northward along the coast of Vancouver island.' A few Lekwiltok, arriving at Campbell river, sought shelter with Helkwitn, of the Comox. They were well received, but some by mistake entered the house of Keftis, a ruffian who stationed a man outside his house to entice them in. As soon as one entered, he For the Salish account of these events, see Volume IX, pages 33-35. {view image of page 111} THE KWAKIUTL III struck down the unfortunate man, dragged the body aside, and waited for the next victim. Grieved and incensed by the act of Keftis, Helkwuitn sent a messenger to the Lekwiltok at Tekya, inviting them to come and kill all the Comox. Unaware of this action, but expecting retaliation, the Comox crossed to Qeqakyulis, a small, rocky, elevated islet not far north of Quathiaski cove, and built their houses on the top of the hill. But Heiwuitn placed his dwelling apart from the others, for he had informed the Lekwiltok that when they came he would be singing at daylight, and by that they would know his house. The Lekwiltok landed at night in a bay near the fort, left the canoes and walked across the divide, stopping at the top until day broke. During the night it rained, and just before dawn they crept up to the breastwork of logs that protected the houses on the two accessible sides. Now the canoe guards, instead of waiting where they were, paddled around the islet into the cove, and a watchman in the breastwork saw them. He shouted, and leaped over the barricade to escape, but the warriors below killed him. Then Keftis called out to the Lekwiltok leader, "Spare my life, and I will give you my daughter!" They all laughed derisively, and ridiculed him, for an offer to "kill" one's daughter by giving her as a slave was a greater disgrace than losing one's head. The chief so addressed answered, "Is it fair that one chief should receive his daughter, and not the others?" He called upon the other fighting men by name: "You are all chiefs, and should have something, as well as I!" They all cried out, "No, it is not fair!" But the daughter of Keftis, dressed in her finery, came out to beg for her father's life. One of the Lekwiltok selected an arrow and shot. The missile struck her just above her belt, and she bent slowly forward. Then the Comox said to one another, "There is no mercy among those people!" And they started to jump over the cliff, hoping to escape by sliding down the steep declivity; but they reached the bottom bruised and maimed, and the waiting enemy killed and beheaded them. KetSis was the last to attempt the escape. Then the Lekwiltok rushed into the undefended houses and killed all the women and children, except one Lekwiltok woman who had married a Comox man. She, it was afterward learned, placed her husband in a storage basket, and when the attacking party entered, she told them who she was, and, seating herself on the basket, begged that they leave her this store of food. So she and her husband escaped. Homeward bound, the Lekwiltok stopped at Rock bay, and on a long drift-log they laid the scalped heads in a row, in order to identify them and gloat over them. The leader, still in his canoe, inquired, "Have you found the one whom we came to fight?" And some one answered, "No, Keftis is not here." PgwIanmkhio1la, the man who had taken the head of the chief and now had it concealed {view image of page 112} I12 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN in his shirt, sat there and said nothing. He had waited at the bottom of the hill for Kefsis, and when that chief had come tumbling down he had cut off the head and then gone to sit in the canoe; and some had chided him for not participating in the fight. Now the leader said: "We have failed! The one for whose head we came has escaped." Then PgwIanimkhlila, the principal fighting man of this chief, leaped to his feet, uttered the nfihlimahla cry,1 and shook the gory head over one shoulder and then over the other. The chief pretended to spray water over his warrior, as it is done in the winter dance to tame the nfilimahla dancer, and cried: "Tame yourself, Pgwanuimlkohila! You are the only fighter, you great one, the only warrior!" Heklwutn and his relatives were spared, and soon they moved to Kawifgn [a long beach at Seymour narrows], where they were joined by the Salish inhabitants of an upstream village at Campbell river. In the same year they decided that it was unsafe for them to remain near the Lekwiltok, and they removed to Comox, joining the Salish villagers already established there. Since that time the Lekwiltok have possessed the territory southward to Cape Mudge. A few years before the founding of Fort Rupert [in 1849] Qunhwafti ["big thunder"], a chief of the Haiihlifaq [Bellabella] was travelling southward to Victoria with his family and his slaves. He made a camp on Hardwicke island, and Lalihyllifialahl, a Lekwiltok fighting man of the Kueha, saw the smoke of his fire, and, true to the name of the Kueha ["murderers," or "strikers"], went ashore and killed all except one, who ran into the woods. In some way this survivor escaped from the island and made his way to his people, to whom he reported what had occurred. Then the Bellabella hauled up their war-canoes and charred and scraped the bottoms. In the meantime Lalihlihylitalaml had been hunting near Salmon river, and now with his son and a steersman was bound for the village Saai'yaq [on Stuart island at the mouth of Bute inlet]. He had a foreboding that some evil was impending: he had had a bad sign. Perhaps he had sneezed on the left side of his nose. They made camp for the night, and he said to his son and his steersman: "Do not call me Lalihyiliftalah:: that name is well known. It is known that I killed the Haiihfitaq chief. Give me some other name." The three lay down to sleep, each covering himself with a blanket and a mat. Contrary to the custom of fighting men, Lalihyilifalahl was a heavy sleeper. He was awakened by a weight on the four corners of his mat. He could not rise. A voice said: " Do not fear! We are Haiihlftaq, and we are looking for the Kueha. We know not where to find them, and we will take you for pilot." So the three Lekwiltok were taken into one of ten Bellabella warcanoes. 1 See page 215. {view image of page 113} THE KWAKIUTL II3 "To what tribe do you belong?" asked the leader. "Wiweakam are we, paddling around looking for seal." "Where do the Kueha live?" "They dwell at the mouth of the narrows," said Lalihyilifaflail, pointing to Bute inlet. But it was the Tlaaluis who lived there with the Wiweakam, while the Kueha lived at Nufeinoh [at the head of Loughborough inlet]. In the night the war-party landed on that side of the bay opposite Saai'yaq; for their Kueha pilot advised: "We had better stop here and go on foot around the bay, so as to come upon them from behind. I will show you the houses." The Bellabella hauled out their canoes, but instead of taking the three slaves with them, they bound them to the thwarts with arms outstretched. They left no canoe guards, and as soon as they were gone Lalihyiliftalahl began to work himself loose. He quickly freed himself, and then released the others, and the three ran into the woods. He made no attempt to warn the villagers, perhaps because of the presence of his son; for if both he and his son were killed, his "seat" in the tribe would be extinguished, and that would be an ineffaceable disgrace for the tribe. If he himself were killed, but his son were left to take his place, the matter could be mended, but "if both tree and root were killed," there was no mending. The Bellabella attacked the village and killed almost every inhabitant, taking few if any slaves. This was the end of the Tlaaluis sept. The few survivors joined the Kueha and then all of these moved to the village Tekya. It was at this time that the Bellabella appropriated the hereditary names, crests, and dances of the slain Lekwiltok; for the victor always became possessed of such rights. About the year I860 a large fleet of Haida canoes, coming northward from Fort Victoria, where they had been trading, were forced by the turning of the tide to land in front of the village of the Walitsum, just north of Cape Mudge. The Haida thought themselves too numerous to be molested, and went into the village to buy clams. Muqula, chief of the Walitsum, invited them into his house, and sent a message to the Wiwekae village, which was on the site of the present Cape Mudge settlement: "Let your fighting men come! I have invited the Haida, and instead of food I will give them lead!" There was rejoicing among the Wiwekae. "We are going to have a game!" they said. They ran into the houses for their weapons, and then went through the woods toward the cape. Children and youths were running along the beach, having heard that there was to be killing, but unaware that they were in danger. Kwawina ["raven"], a fighting man of the Walitsum, could not restrain himself until all the visitors were in the house, and seeing the son of a great Haida chief, he shot him. Immediately all the Haida within the house rushed to the door and choked the entrance, VOL. X-8 {view image of page 114} 114 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN and the Lekwiltok inside and outside on the beach and among the bushes poured their shots into the struggling mass. The Haida rushed for their canoes, while the Lekwiltok kept up their fire. Many canoes were capsized, and the tide carried the others southward, close to the shore of Vancouver island, but they succeeded in turning homeward. The Wiweakam were living at Ka'nis [Cahnish bay], and Kalapa, a member of that sept who happened to be present, seeing the Haida making in that direction, embarked in a small canoe and carried the news to his people. Their warriors manned a number of small craft instead of large war-canoes, so that they might easily carry them into the woods, and followed the Haida, who made camp in a little bay [Otter cove, just south of Chatham point]. The Wiweakam, unobserved, landed south of them and crept up behind them. Kwawis ["sea raven"] and Qayuqiilagyilis were appointed leaders. The Wiweakam remained for a while watching the Haida drink whiskey and sing mourning songs for their dead. Women were caring for the wounded, and the men had their guns at their sides. Then the Wiweakam raised their guns, each covering one of the enemy. The Haida were so little surprised by the volley that they immediately answered, but without effect. Many of them fell, and the others made off in their canoes, after which the Wiweakam returned with their trophies. The Haida had imbibed just enough whiskey to make them angry and courageous, and turning back to secure revenge they gave chase to the Wiweakam, who, however, kept close to shore in slack water, while the Haida, farther out in the current, lost ground. But' opposite Ka'nis they caught up with the fugitives, who at once took to the woods, walked back to a point opposite Cape Mudge, and were brought across to the village. Later their small canoes were found demolished. The Haida, proceeding northward, were attacked by the Matilpe, and many were killed. Few of them reached home. The four warrior chiefs of the Qagyuhl Kueha summoned the tribal chiefs and thus addressed them: "We are thirsty. We are really thirsty for blood. We wish to make war on some tribe that has a high name, and take away their name." Ni' lis inquired, "Which tribe do you think we had better deprive of its name?" Hehosmis answered: "We will go to Hekuims [a village in Drury inlet] and try to get their chief, Likyimahot. If we can kill him, then we will take away his power and rank." For the Guauaenok were then the greatest tribe. "That chief is becoming too strong," agreed Ni'lis. "Now I have heard that the Haiiflfaq [Bellabella] have a makayu [magical death-dealing instrument] that makes a noise and throws a ball through a man. Let us get this." The price of this weapon Ni'lis knew to be one slave for a single charge of powder, one slave for a {view image of page 115} THE KWAKIUTL I"5 single ball, one slave for the priming powder, and one slave for the use of the gun. So Hehosmis went northward, taking many of the slaves of Nu'lis. He bought one charge and then asked: "How am I going to know how to use this makayu?" The owner of the gun had a canoe with a hole cut through the gunwale at the bow, and he showed HIehosmis how to place the end of the barrel through the hole, point it at the enemy, and pull the trigger, and made him practise until FIehosmis thought he understood. The Bellabella man then loaded the gun and told him to keep it dry. The party returned to the Kueha village Tlihfiwi [nine miles north of Alert Bay, on Bainbridge island]. In some manner the Guauaenok chief learned that they were preparing for war against him, but he said: "My beach is dry now. For a long time there has been no blood here to wet it. So I hope the Kueha will come and wet it with their blood!" One evening the Kueha landed a few hundred yards from Hekuims and camped, and the Guauaenok, seeing them, prepared for the battle. The next morning the Kueha waited for the ebb tide. Their canoes were bound together by means of stringers, which supported a deck, and on this platform the warriors were to stand beside the heaps of stones for their slings. In the middle of the line, but not bound to the other canoes, was a very large one with a hole bored through the bow, and in it sat FIehosmis with the gun. On the platform stood the slingers and the spearsmen, and the paddlers propelled the craft to the beach in front of the village. Some of the Guauaenok were outside waiting for their chief, who within was preparing himself. He sent a message: "Tell them that the stones in front of my house are very dry! Tell them to bring their canoes in front of my house: the stones are thirsty for their blood!" When the Kueha heard this speech of defiance they brought their canoes in front of the chief's house, and then he came out. He shouted, "We will not fight with slings, but man to man with spears!" So the Kueha laid down their slings, and the Guauaenok advanced toward them with war-cries. The chief made for the large canoe, which the Kueha had pushed a little forward of the others, as a tempting bait. He reached it, thrust his spear forward against the bow, and made a smacking sound with his lips, as a man does when he has speared a salmon. At that instant the gunner fired, and the Guauaenok chief fell dead. His people ran back in great fright, and the Kueha leaped out, threw his body into the canoe, and pushed off. Then they stopped and called out a challenge to fight with slings, but there was no response. Since that time the Guauaenok have been last among the tribes, whereas they formerly were first. In July, I860, one of a party of Nakoaktok camping on a small island in Blunden harbor was captured and carried off by a canoe {view image of page 116} ii6 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN of some unknown northern tribe. The man's brother, Mahua, determined to go fighting, and to attack whomever he should meet. Twelve canoes were drawn up to have their bottoms charred and scraped, while Mahua crossed the sound to exchange thirty martenskins and sixty otter-skins for guns and ammunition at Fort Rupert. When the canoes were ready the members of the expedition divided into two parties for a sham fight, and after gathering bladder-kelp they cut the larger parts into sections about six inches long, which they threw at one another. Some of the contestants became angry, and the mock battle gave way to a real fight with stones and warclubs. In the end some refused to go on the expedition, and only five canoes made the start. Their pilot was one of their own number who had been a slave among the Tsimshian, and also they had a Bellabella who spoke Tsimshian. The second day brought them almost to the Bellabella country, and thereafter they travelled only at night. On the fourth day, as they lay hidden on shore, a canoe came in sight. The man who could speak Tsimshian went to the beach and shouted: "Come ashore and pick me up! I have lost my canoe. I came from Victoria and have great news for you!" The canoe changed her course, and the fighting men behind the trees began to creep down closer to get a good shot. Suddenly the men in the canoe turned and paddled swiftly away. The Bellabella reproved his companions: "You do not know how to fight! You must not come down too close. They saw you. I myself can see you. Now when another canoe comes, wait until I say ' Waikos [a Tsimshian word]!' and then come down." He pondered a moment and said: "Put a canoe into the water, and let us go out to see if you could be observed where you are." So they brought one from the brush, but just at that instant they saw another large canoe approaching, and they dragged their craft back and concealed themselves among the trees. Some of the younger men put on women's clothing and arranged themselves about a fire as if drying themselves. The canoe passed, the Bellabella called as before, and the strangers turned toward the shore. One of them was standing in order to see the better. At the word "waikos" Mahua fired, and as the bullet went skipping across the water, the Bellabella cried, "You have made a bad shot!" But the ball had passed through the man's body and struck the water beyond, while the man went down as if intentionally seating himself. So for a moment it was thought that the shot had missed. A volley followed immediately, and the people in the canoe threw themselves to the side and careened it for protection. All were now out of sight, but one of the men, wielding his paddle, exposed his hand above the gunwale, and a Nakoaktok warrior said, "All stop, and let me shoot!" He aimed at the spot where he thought the paddler's body should be, and fired. The paddling ceased. Another man seized a paddle, sat boldly upright, and {view image of page 117} THE KWAKIUTL II7 sent the canoe ashore at a place which the Nakoaktok could not reach by land. The Tsimshian leaped out and scattered, while the Nakoaktok pushed off in their canoes and fired after the fugitives. Tsunukwafti ["big futnukwa"] ran back inland, to go around the head of the gulch that separated them from the Tsimshian, and while the canoes were still in the water a shot was heard and a body came tumbling down the bluff. The Nakoaktok were saying to one another, "Now we have lost Tsunukwaffi!" when there came the shout "U... " -the ftunukwa call, -and they knew that he had killed a man. The canoes were racing to reach the Tsimshian craft first for plunder, and while the spoilers were at work the fighters were scrambling for the heads of those who had been shot down. Seven trophies were secured, and the party returned home on the seventh day. Potlit, a nephew of Mahua's rival Tlalilitl, was about to become hamatsa, and in order to obtain food for the occasion a war expedition was planned by Tlalilitl. All the Nakoaktok were away fishing, except Tlalilitl, his family, and his followers. Two small canoes were prepared, for there were to be only twelve men. They started northward, and at every camp they bathed ceremonially. Now Potlit had once found an animal which he called "sea dog," and had taken some organ from its body and kept it for a charm against vulnerability. On the fourth day he discovered that at the last place where he had washed he had left the necklace on which this tlugwi hung. So they returned to find it, but it was gone, and thinking that some one in the party had it, Potlit offered to give the first slave he should take to the man who would return the necklace and his charm. But it was not forthcoming. They approached the place where they expected to find the Kitunst, who call themselves Kitifiu [a Tsimshian group], and came in sight of some houses and some tents of sails. Immediately they hauled out their canoes and lay hidden, and as night fell they began to make their preparations, wrapping blankets about their chests for protection and arranging their signals. Their principal fighting man, Nanfti ["big grizzly-bear"], told them to wait quietly while he ascertained if the people were asleep, and how the beds were arranged. He tied the thong of his small axe to his wrist and crept down to the village and into a house. The fire was smouldering. He thrust one end of a drying rack into the coals, and with this blazing torch he peered about the room, counting the people and observing the location of the beds. Then he withdrew. But in one corner there was a woman with a child, who was not sleeping, and she hurriedly roused the family: "Wake up! A stranger with a blackened face came in!" There were eight men, and they stationed themselves at the door, four on each side, ready for the enemy. Nanfti returned to his men and said, "I have found a house with a fine lot of people! But first we will take yonder tent. Do {view image of page 118} 118 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN not shoot until I cry U...ha... like a grizzly-bear. That will be the sign that I have killed all in that tent." So they crept down. Nanfti crawled into the tent, and one after another he cut off with his axe the heads of the nine inmates. Not one had a chance to cry out. Then, eager to accomplish his work alone, he entered the house, but the instant he passed the doorway he was seized and held helpless. He struggled, but the custom of fighting men forbade him to call for help, and with his own axe the men of the house cut off his head. Outside lay the raiders awaiting the signal. Not a sound was heard, and after a time they whispered, "He must be killed!" So they rushed into the house, and the fighting began. Potlit seized a woman and dragged her down toward the canoes. But this was the sister of Ame'hs, the greatest fighting man of the tribe, and she called his name, imploring him to save her. He ran out, but hesitated to shoot lest he kill her; yet she begged him to fire. He shot. The bullet struck and killed her, and broke the leg of P6tlit, who dropped the body and tried to drag himself to the canoes. The other Nakoaktok were now in flight, one having been killed and another shot through the body. They pushed off, leaving P6tlit, who was quickly beheaded. One slave, a woman, they had captured, and on the way home they killed her in order to have one head to exhibit. Though they had killed ten and lost only three, they had suffered a defeat because one of their dead was their leader and they had failed to bring away his body. The loss of Nanfti, "the fighting hill of the Nakoaktok, on which they stood for safety," bred quarrels, because some blamed Tlalilitl for having arranged the expedition without the knowledge of all. Then Tsuiheti, the father of Potlit, said: "The best way is to stop quarrelling and wage another war to make it even. I will get help from the Qagyuhl (he was half Qagyuhl) and from the Tlauitsis. So he secured the assistance of these tribes, and the next summer twenty canoes started northward with a Bellabella pilot. They stopped near the Haeihaes [China Hat] village to conceal themselves and rest two days. Early the next morning they saw a catamaran approaching, a man sitting on a high pile of chests. Evidently he was a great chief, and they began to make wishes for the craft to come close. But it kept far out, for doubtless the steersman had caught sight of some foolish young men who, gathering shellfish on the beach, had attempted to conceal themselves among the seaweeds. Later in the day a large canoe hove in sight, the chief sitting in a conspicuous position, and many people paddling. The Bellabella pilot informed his masters that this was Yislos, chief of a Tsimshian tribe, and some of the warriors crept to a wooded point and measured the distance with their eyes. Some declared it was too far, but Tsunulwaffi said he would try it. He fired. Yfslos gave a start, almost leaping into the air, and fell overboard. All {view image of page 119} THE KWAKIUTL II9 the Nakoaktok and the others fired, and quickly pushed off in their canoes. One man of the Tsimshian had two guns, and while the others labored at the paddles he from time to time would raise one of the weapons and point it at the pursuers, who would then crouch down and cease paddling until he laid the gun aside. They did not know that he had no ammunition. At length a Nakoaktok who knew this man shouted, "Throw those guns overboard and we will spare your life!" The Tsimshian quickly tossed them into the sea, and the Nakoaktok paddled up and leaped aboard, each striving to be the first to secure heads and plunder. In the excitement the craft was capsized. One of the attackers dived after a Tsimshian, and the two struggled together under the water. The Tsimshian had a knife but could not use it, and he tried to bite his enemy in the abdomen. But he weakened, and his antagonist snatched the knife away, cut his throat, and still in the water took off the head. All were killed, even the man whom they had promised to spare, and twenty heads were taken. When the party returned home, they set up two stakes supporting a horizontal pole on which they hung the scalped heads by means of a withe passing through each lower jaw, and in the ensuing dance the warriors brandished the scalps. In the following year the nephew of the Tsimshian chief Yislos led an expedition against the Nakoaktok, and at a fishing station in the narrows they killed four men; but as they turned homeward they were seen by the Nakoaktok, who gave chase in vain. Later in the same summer twelve canoes of the Nakoaktok prepared to retaliate. But in the Bellabella country they saw a canoe with two men, and the fighting men said, "We will have fun with them!" They separated, and came up to the canoe from both sides. The leader spoke: "We are glad to see you. We will take you for pilots." But the two answered: "No, you can kill us as soon as you wish! You are looking for fighting, and you should not spare anybody. Kill us!" Without ado they were seized by the hair and dragged into a Nakoaktok canoe. "Now," said the leader, "you will either pilot us or be killed!" And they agreed to be pilots. They directed the warriors into a narrow bay where they said was a berry-patch which some one would surely visit soon. So the canoes went in, and, advised by the pilots, the men scattered on both sides and waited under the bushes. A raven came flapping up and turned this way and that. Warriors read omens in the actions of this bird, and in this case they decided that some one was coming. Sure enough, soon a canoe with two men turned slowly into the cove, and the pilots whispered that here was the very one who had killed the four Nakoaktok. A breeze sprang up and raised the bushes so that the warriors were for a moment without concealment, but the men in the boat did not see them. A raven circled {view image of page 120} I20 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN overhead, and the newcomers seemed to feel that this was an omen of evil, for the man in the bow picked up his gun and looked about, but still he saw nothing unusual. When the canoe was close to the shore, a volley was fired and the men collapsed. The one in the stern, it was afterward found, was not struck, but died of fright. Tsinukwaffi leaped into shallow water, seized the dead chief, and dragged him ashore, and then arose a quarrel as to who should have the head. Tsfinukwafti claimed it because he had first touched the body, but the leader of the expedition also wanted it. There the body lay on the beach with the two factions facing each other while the controversy raged. At last they begged Tsunukwafti to give the head to the chief, and he said to them: "Well, I will give it to you, and you may give it to him; but I will not give it to him." So they dragged the corpse before the leader, and unbeheaded it was brought home, where it was slashed and cut into small bits with a copper knife, and the pieces were distributed among the people so that each one had a piece with which to dance. [The use of the copper knife was intended to cause death by magic among the tribe of the dead man, and to this circumstance is attributed its practical extinction.] The two pilots were released at the place where their canoe had been left in concealment. About the year I850, when Fort Rupert was being completed, the people living in ce.dar-bark huts and the white men in tents, the virgin daughter of Ewakalis, head man of the Nimkish, sickened and died. She was an only daughter, and the chief and his wife wept until the people feared they would die. Some came to him and said: "Do not take it so hard. Let some other people mourn. Your wife is showing her own blood by scratching her face, but there is much blood all around us. Let the blood of some other tribe flow." Even while mourning, twakalis had observed the rejoicing of his rival Kyoti, whose mother was of the Mooachaht [a tribe on Nootka sound, western coast of Vancouver island]. So he answered, "We will make war upstream." With one canoe all the best warriors proceeded up the river, through Nimkish lake into the stream Ninilkes, and into another lake. At the foot of the divide they stopped, not far from the head of the stream on the other side. With wedges they split the canoe into three long pieces, being careful not to crack the bottom. They carried the strips through a narrow gap over the divide, lowered them with a rope down a steep place, and at the head of the stream on the western side they sewed the pieces together with cedar withes. That same evening they were near the mouth of the stream [Tahsis river]. A scout found some houses, a fishing camp, and after it was dark they crept upon the village and killed nearly all the people. A man begged for mercy, saying he was Nimkish, but they answered {view image of page 121} THE KWAKIUTL I21 that their chief had told them to take no slaves. He said, "I will show you where to kill many." So they spared him, and the following evening they paddled on toward salt water. They met another canoe with two men, one of whom, perceiving that they were from the other side of the island, raised his bow and asked what they wished. They said they came as friends, but he replied, "I have dreamed that enemies were coming!" He let fly an arrow, which struck the brother of Ewakalis in the chest and killed him instantly. With three other arrows he wounded three more before he was killed. Then they killed their pilot and turned back home with their dead companion. They portaged their canoe in pieces back over the divide, and paddled down Nimkish lake and river to their village. Much of the so-called warfare of the North Pacific Indians was little more than personal brawls and family blood-feuds, as witness the two following incidents. In recent times, when warfare had all but ceased and it was considered comparatively safe to visit the territory of other tribes, Sakala, the principal fighting man of the Seechelt [a Salish tribe], came north to hunt goats near Nuifenoh [at the head of Loughborough inlet, in Lekwiltok territory]. He was a very large, strong man, and his body was covered with the scars of gashes made by his own hand in ceremonial bathing. He was accompanied by his wife, a Lekwiltok woman of the Kueha sept. In a canoe three youths, sons of a Kueha chief, came down with a great pile of meat and skins. At the lower end of the lake they saw a camp-fire, and one proposed that they go ashore to have a smoke; for they had been long in the mountains and had exhausted their supply of tobacco. So they went ashore, and recognizing the woman as a Kueha, they left their guns in the canoe. When they finished their smoke they returned toward the canoe, and as they went, Saklala raised his gun and shot one of them dead. He seized a second gun and shot another through the arm. The wounded youth raised his gun, but blood spurted into the pan. The third brother, To6fa, dived into the water, and aided by the tide he swam a long way before coming out. He heard another shot, this time in the woods, and rightly surmised that his brother had run into the woods and had been killed there. Immediately after killing the two young men Salikla transferred the meat and skins from their canoe to his own and pushed off. Passing a small camp he enslaved two unprotected women and a child, and continued down the inlet, keeping to the side opposite the village. The people there noticed the canoe, all white with the piles of goatskins. When To6a reported what had happened, fanus, a young Kueha, had just returned from Bute inlet, where many of the See {view image of page 122} 122 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN chelt were hunting goats. There he had made friends with one of them, a man of high position. As soon as he heard about Sakaila, he said to his uncle Yakahlanala, who was a fighting man and was training Fafnus to be a warrior, "Come in the canoe with me." Then he got another man to accompany them, but he would not tell them what he intended. They paddled rapidly, for he desired to reach the end of the inlet that night, and they arrived just before darkness fell. He said: "We will land. I will go straight up the beach to the house, enter, and do what I like with him." That was the first intimation his companions had of his intention to kill. The dogs, of which there were several, did not bark. Fafnus entered the house, and found embers in the fireplace. He lighted a torch and went about the room peering in the corners for his Seechelt friend. Finding the man's wife asleep, he shook her, asking, "Where is my friend?" "He has gone spearing hair-seals on the rocks," she answered. A man got up and kindled the fire, and the woman inquired what had brought Hanus back so quickly. "Oh, beaver-skins have gone up in price, and I hurried back to hunt beaver," he said. She urged him to eat before going on, and he went to the door and called to his uncle: "Come! They are going to feed us, and we will fix our anchor-line." His uncle came in and sat beside him, but the third man remained hidden in the canoe. "We had better not stop to eat," advised the elder man, "but take the food in our canoe and go on to the beaver ground." The people of the house agreed that it would be best so. Hanus knew where the seal rocks were, and the three pushed off, while from the doorway the woman called: "Take care! My husband is reckless. If he sees a canoe coming, he might shoot into it. Say something before you come to him." As they paddled, Hanus said to his uncle, "I want you to shoot him." Soon they were near the place. The hunter was crouching on the rocks at a narrow channel through which the seals swam with the tide. "Yo!" he called gruffly. "Who are you, and what do you here?" The young man answered, "I am Hanus. We are after beaver. The price of beaver-skins has gone up." "Going after beaver, going after beaver!" muttered the hunter several times. He was angry, and mocked them. Hanus was lying in the middle of the canoe on his back, waiting for his uncle to shoot. But as he looked up against the sky, he could plainly see his Seechelt friend taking up his gun, and quickly he seized his own weapon and fired, striking the hunter in the forehead. The man fell forward, and his brains spattered the canoe. Something leaped off the rocks into the water - the hunter had a companion! The older warrior sprang ashore and returned with {view image of page 123} THE KWAKIUTL 123 the seal-spear, and waited for the diver to rise. A dark spot appeared on the water, and he hurled the spear, which struck the Seechelt, the prong catching his neck with a point on each side. He was not wounded at all, but the force of the blow stunned him, and they dragged him to the canoe, clubbed him, and left his body floating there. They did not take the heads, because this was nkik6qila, the taking of blood for blood. Also in secret assassination for money [ha'yaki] the body is not beheaded, but is concealed. Among the Kueha [a sept of the Lekwiltok] there was a "truly bad man." He was "all threats," and was constantly trying to bring all the other chiefs below him (though some by heredity were above him) by forcing them to give him slaves, wives, and blankets in order to secure immunity. Seeing a chief accumulating much property, he would say: "I am going to kill you by maka [a form of magic]! You are walking too fast." And that chief would answer, "Spare my life, and I will give you my canoe and my slave." So Kesina collected much property. Again, on his travels he would meet a chief whom he knew to be the father of a pretty daughter, and against him he would make his threat and so secure the woman freely. He bore a staff pointed with iron. At Niftenoh [at the head of Loughborough inlet], where lived the Tlaaluis and the Kueha, Kesina killed a man of the Tlaaluis, and they immediately moved up the river to a "fighting hill." The mamaka followed them, against the advice of the Kueha, who warned him that he would be killed. When he was seen approaching the fortified hill, a chief assembled the people in his house at a feast, and soon Kesina entered and, with his spear beside him, reclined in his accustomed position. Men were bringing in boards on which to beat while they sang for the man he had killed. In the course of the song the leader introduced the words, "The very man we were wishing for has come!" But Kesina made no attempt to escape. At the end of the song one of the men spoke: "Look at him! There is his spear. Many of you have been saying that it is long. I am right. I said it is just above his head in length. I am going to look at it." He crossed over to Kesina and said, "Friend, I want to see your spear." He pretended to examine it carefully and admiringly, and remarked: "I was right. It is just over my head as I sit. No wonder it kills people! See the point!" Others crowded about, and it was passed from one to another until it reached the hands of a fighting man at the door. Outside sat a powerful man with his long, double-pointed sealing spear, sulking because the others had overruled his plan to attack Kesina before he entered the house. "Do you think you will kill him in there?" he had cried. "I say he will jump into the water. You will not strike him in the house. I will stay outside and have my fun with him!" When Kesina's spear came to the fighting man at the door, some {view image of page 124} 124 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN one said to him, "Take back our friend's spear." He walked over to Kesina and thrust the spear at him, but instead of piercing the murderer's breast it passed between his side and his arm into the heavy, wooden back-rest. Kesina leaped to his feet and rushed out, pushing the people right and left. He made for the beach and leaped into the water, but the old man hurled his sealing spear and struck. He pulled on the line, and Kesina tried to shake himself free, but the barbs were well fast. So the man-killer was dragged to the beach, and the people came down and clubbed him to death. Now it was the desire of all tribes to win the most terrible name for bloodthirstiness, and after Kesina was dead it was debated how they should dispose of his body so as to give themselves a great name. One proposed that they roast him, and the smoke, spreading over the earth, would carry their name with it; but the objection was offered that this would not go far enough. In the end it was decided to tie a rope around his neck and leave him lying in the water like a common salmon being kept alive for food. It was then that they adopted the name Tlaaluis ["the angry ones"]. Social Organization Among the poor, marriage is unaccompanied by formal rites, but people of rank are betrothed and wedded with considerable ceremony. Each tribe, and in many cases each gens, has certain wedding customs peculiar to itself- customs obtained, supposedly, by its first ancestor from some supernatural source. In their general aspects, however, these ceremonies are very similar, and the preliminary negotiations and arrangements are almost identical among the tribes. The usage of the Tsawatenok is typical. Considering how he may arrange a desirable marriage for his son, a man assembles his family and other relatives, makes known his desire, and asks their advice. Various names may be proposed, and when one has been selected, the most persuasive speaker available, whether man or woman, is secretly sent to the parents of the girl to ascertain their attitude. After the match has thus been discussed in secret, the girl is called, and the proposal is made known to her. As a rule she has the privilege of refusing, while the young man has little or no choice. The envoy usually remains until some definite answer is given. If he reports a favorable reply, the father sends his younger brother or his son to the four head men of the gens, or, if the marriage is intertribal, to the chiefs of the tribe, inviting them to a council. {view image of page 125} THE KWAKIUTL I25 When the villagers see four chiefs making their way to the house of a marriageable girl, they know what is in the air. Arriving at their destination the four stand in the middle of the living room, while one addresses his companions: "Proceed, and tell them why we have come. We have found that for which we have been looking in at the doors." He pretends that they have been searching the houses for a bride, when as a matter of fact they have come straight to this dwelling. Immediately after these words the four begin to shout with all their strength to the girl's parents, and to the girl, and to one another: "We have come to take your daughter for our relative! Do not send us away! We are the best of our tribe, and have been chosen to come to you!" Not a word is spoken by the others in the house, and the four chiefs depart. All this is simply a public announcement for the benefit of the people outside. Returning to their principal the chiefs report, "We have been there, and of course nobody can refuse us!" Then a head man of the family is sent to the girl's house to notify her family that the betrothal will occur on the following day, to arrange with them the amount of property that will change hands, and to fix the wedding day, which may be a day or a year after the betrothal. On the next morning the clansmen of the bridegroom assemble and carry to the girl's house the goods which have been promised for the betrothal. As they count out the blankets and make speeches appropriate to the occasion, the men of the bride's family carefully note the number. Her parents make no comment, and the bridegroom's party soon withdraws. The blankets are now distributed among the girl's uncles and elder brothers, for they are to be paid back to the bridegroom's people with one hundred per cent interest, and her father alone cannot raise the necessary amount. Early in the morning of the wedding day a war-canoe is taken to some point invisible from the village, and there the young men of the girl's gens dress as if for war. Soon they paddle swiftly toward the village, singing and shouting. They land before the house of the chief of the principal gens, march up to it, and shout: "We come to hire you" -here naming the gens; "we have work to do this day, and we need your help!" They return to the canoe and paddle about, but soon land again, pretending that they have made a journey since leaving the first house, and go to the house of the second gens. Thus they invite the aid of each gens, even including their own. After breakfast all the men, excepting only {view image of page 126} I26 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the infirm and the father of the bride, embark in canoes or on catamarans, one of which latter craft has been prepared for each gens. The Guauaenok always use a war-canoe, in the forward part of which stands a wooden effigy of the thunderbird. The leader of the party, sitting just behind the man in the bow, wears a headdress representing the same creature, and a robe with scattered, white tail-feathers of an eagle sewn applique. By gesture and cry he imitates the thunderbird. The Koeksotenok have the prow of their wedding canoe to represent sisiutl, the double-headed serpent, and a great wooden tongue in the mouth simulates the darting tongue of the serpent. Long ago a war-party of Guauaenok met a returning war-party of Koeksotenok. As the canoes passed, a paddle was struck and split. A dispute ensued, and they almost came to blows; but cooler heads convinced the wranglers that it would be folly for friends and relatives to fight. This encounter is always represented when the two tribes meet at a wedding. A Tsawatenok wedding party of the gens Kekatilikalla embark on a catamaran, and when they approach the village each man rises and with a tall, feather-tipped, red-and-white staff of cedar thumps the deck rhythmically while chanting the inherited wedding song of the gens. In the middle of the craft is the gentile chief, wearing an enormous head-dress that consists of several graduated hats superimposed, the smaller upon the larger. His personal crest is painted on the hats. In the stern is a man who holds a cedar staff bearing on its tip a wooden effigy which wears a copy of the chief's multiple hat. This peculiar head-dress is an inherited crest used only at weddings, and with the rest of the wedding catamaran was obtained in a supernatural way by the founder of the gens.1 Across the middle of the craft lies a cylinder of basketry partially filled with stones, which is constantly tipped from end to end, so that the stones produce a crashing, rolling sound in imitation of a landslide on the mountain. Canoes and catamarans halt a short distance from shore just in front of the bride's house, and each gens (or if it is a wedding to which other tribes have been invited, each tribe) sings, dances, makes speeches, and otherwise performs in its own peculiar manner, the reasons for which are recited in myths that relate how the marriage ceremony was instituted among them in the beginning. When this portion of the festivities has been finished, the chief who represents the founder of the bridegroom's tribe cries out to the 1 See pages 135-136. {view image of page 127} THE KWAKIUTL I27 bride's father: "You who hold the world, we have come to get some treasures from you!" By treasures he means the personal crests and privileges (dances and names) of her father. The family crest and name (that is, the founder's) cannot pass out of the direct male line unless male issue fails. A landing is made, and the four chiefs who conducted the preliminary negotiations go again to the girl's home and address her parents in loud tones, acting as if they were endeavoring to persuade the parents to do something against their will. No verbal reply is made to them, but the father throws a new robe about the shoulders of each one, and they return to the beach with the report: "We have prepared the way. We have persuaded them and have placed the woman safely in the middle of the house." After various speeches in which the visitors insist that they will take the bride home and not leave their man to live with his fatherin-law, a man rushes into the house with a huge wooden hand, saying, "I will lift her!" He comes out and announces, "I barely lifted her." Then raising the piles of blankets with which they are to purchase the bride, they cry, "Let us take our real weapon!" So they carry the blankets into the house, ten by ten, each time saying, "We will carry this, our paddle." The father of the girl keeps account of the number of tens. Finally the speaker of the bridegroom's party announces in a loud voice: "Now we will see what they will do! We will wait here ten days, if it is necessary!" Soon the speaker of the bride's father emerges and says: "You have what you wish. Come and get your wife." But the speaker of the visiting party answers: "Wait! Go not too fast! We will add more." They bring more blankets, sometimes as many as two hundred. "With these we lift her," says the speaker. So the last load is carried in, and the chiefs of the groom's party enter the house, where the speaker of the bridal party announces what amount of property and privileges the bride will take with her. "This is her mat," he says, indicating a pile of blankets that constitute the initial payment toward her dowry. These the husband will distribute within a few days at a potlatch. But if it is intended that he give this property away at the marriage feast, the speaker says, "This is her basket." Three hundred blankets, or their equivalent in other goods, are the average amount of the "mat" or the "basket." Now the groom's men surround the bride, and, preceded by others carrying the "mat," they depart, thus symbolically carrying the bride. They proceed at once to the husband's house, where they remain on the outside with the blankets, singing the family's {view image of page 128} 128 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN potlatch songs, while all of his family and his other relations come out to dance with joy. Either now or on the next morning all the women of the village assemble in the house for the marriage feast, the young wife occupying the position of honor. Formerly the marriage feast was not given until some days after the wedding, and in the meantime the young wife was not permitted to eat. After the food has been distributed, the principal women, one by one, rise and offer advice to the bride, citing the evil example of other young women present and calling attention to the virtues of the speaker. Little food is eaten, the greater part being carried away by the guests. Sometimes the bride's parents obstinately refuse to let her accompany her husband. Then in the evening the young companions of the groom lead him from house to house, singing and shouting immoderately. At bedtime they come to the bride's house and shove him within, laughing, and ridiculing the girl's family. In order to avoid this embarrassing attention the girl usually accompanies the marriage party to her husband's house, even if she intends to return to her parents at night or within a few days. Among the tribes of Koskimo sound the husband of an eldest daughter of a noble family, provided she has no elder brother, takes up his residence with her people, and "the house is given to him as a part of the marriage portion." The former head of the family retains quarters in the house, but he is now "only the speaker of his son-in-law." In short the son-in-law by virtue of his relationship to the eldest daughter of the family assumes the place that should be filled by an eldest son. So sure is his position that the fatherin-law has been known to move out of the house into a small hut as the result of disagreement with his successor. For the sake of comparison with the previously described customs of the Tsawatenok, the practice of a gens of one of these west coast tribes - the Wuihwa'mis of the Koskimo - is here outlined.' The father of a youth sends his confidential messenger to the girl's father with a brief statement that his son wishes to marry her. The only reply vouchsafed is, "I will see what my heart says about it." Two days later another man is sent with the first messenger, and they receive the answer that the marriage is favorably regarded. When this reply is brought, the father of the young man summons to his house the twelve head men of the tribe, and they soon assemble. 1 Incidents of an intertribal wedding among the Quatsino Sound tribes, the Tlatlasikoala and Nakomgilisala, the Nakoaktok, and the Goasila, are illustrated in folio pl. 337, 344, 357, 36I. {view image of page 129} THE KWAKIUTL I29 After the feast he tells what arrangements have been made, and four of the guests are despatched to the house of the prospective bride to see if all is well as respects the proposed match. They return with the news that the girl's father wishes the marriage to be consummated as quickly as possible. Now one of the oldest men among the chiefs goes out to announce to all the villagers that the young man will be married on the next day, and that no one is to be absent from the village for any reason whatsoever. On the following morning everybody rises early, and quickly finishes the morning meal. Then all the bridegroom's clansmen, even the common people, and children as well as adults (except the girl's relations, if she happens to belong to the same gens, as occasionally she does), assemble in his house, while the nearest relatives of the bride meet in her house. The ordinary garments are worn. The speaker now informs the bridegroom's party that they must ascertain if the girl's father is still willing, and all repair to his house. This is called "falling on" him. When they have crowded into the house, the speaker tells the purpose of their visit, and the bride's father answers: "It is well. I am willing that my daughter shall marry. Go and prepare yourselves." So the party of the bridegroom return to their homes and bind together as many pairs of canoes as are necessary, and then carry down the blankets (formerly skins) which form the marriage gift. Each person has a staff seven feet long with a ribbon of cedar-bark tied near the tip, the ends hanging free. These are used for beating on the deck while they sing their three marriage songs. Four men now don masks, two representing women and two men, and the double canoes are paddled to the beach before the girl's house, the party singing the wedding songs and beating with their poles. When the craft stop the speaker shouts, "I have come!" He then delivers a long speech recounting the marriages of the traditional ancestors of his clan. "And so," he concludes, "we have paddled this catamaran here to marry your daughter." He lifts a pile of blankets and counts them off in lots of five pairs, each of which is carried up the beach by a man and placed in the house. At the end he says, "That is all," and sits down. Now the speaker of the girl's father appears. "Come ashore!" he calls. "Get your wife!" They land and enter the house, where they file past a man who wears a thunderbird mask, his extended arms being draped with the blankets provided by the girl's relatives. These are the bride's "mat." When the bridegroom himself passes, VOL. X-9 {view image of page 130} 130 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the masker hands him the blankets, thus symbolizing the giving up of its wing-feathers by the thunderbird. Accompanied by the wife, the party reembark and return to the bridegroom's home, where he distributes the "mat." If, however, the young man is to take the rank of his father-in-law, the bride does not accompany him, and in the evening he himself returns to her house. Sometimes there is serious fighting between the two parties under the guise of play. It rests with the bride's people to decide whether this shall be the case. If they wish to engage in this form of sport they await the moment when the canoes, nearing the shore, are still in deep water. Then they utter a certain cry indicating their intention to fight. The visitors immediately paddle with might and main to bring their canoes into shallow water, while the bride's party swim out and try to capsize them. The endeavor of the bride's people is to drag one of the visitors into their house and thus symbolically enslave him, while the others on their part try to lift one of the attacking party into the canoe. If either succeeds, it becomes a standing joke and disgrace against the vanquished party. The sport is very rough, and usually develops into a rather heated battle. Not infrequently severe injuries are sustained, and few come out with whole skin. Women of course have no part in this phase of the wedding festivities. It is a matter of pride that a woman be thus fought for. Frequently is heard the reproach and the boast: "There was no blood in your marriage. I was fought for. When I was married, blood was shed!" If for any reason a Kwakiutl couple disagree, no matter where the fault lies the wife returns to the house of her father; but he still must pay the residue of the promised dowry, that is, at least double the amount given by the bridegroom's family. Like the "mat," or initial payment, the entire amount of the tangible portion of the dowry is distributed among the people by the husband in honor of himself, his wife, or his children; while the names, crests, and ceremonial privileges are retained for the use of his children.l When 1 Kyawafti ("carver's-knife container") is a box about twenty inches long, fourteen wide, and fourteen deep. It contains bits of costume or other paraphernalia employed in all the dances owned by the individual, and hence theoretically the dances themselves with the appurtenant names. When a man gives a dance to his son-in-law, the box goes with it, and the fatherin-law must make a new kyawafli to contain the remainder of his ceremonial names. The kyawafi is the most important part of the marriage portion. TsefSehtlinafti ("winter-dance container") is the cedar chest that contains all of a man's ceremonial paraphernalia. It stands at the head of the house. The owner himself never opens it, but sends one of his men to obtain from it whatever is desired. It is into these boxes that the spirits exorcised from initiates are supposed to pass. {view image of page 131} THE KWAKIUTL I3I the marriage debt is fully discharged, the terms of the contract have been carried out and the wife is free, but not obliged, to take a new husband. There is especial honor in being many times married and released by payment of the marriage debt. Thus, a woman who has been four times wedded, whether to the same man or to different men, and freed by the payment of property, bears the honorable title 6'ma, and she alone is permitted to wear a painted hat and abaloneshell ear-rings. The dowry is paid whether or not the couple have children. But the more children they have the more crests, ceremonial privileges, names, and property will be given by the wife's family; for the birth of a child involves various distributions among the people, and the means of the young couple are of course inadequate. Furthermore the husband is constantly turning over to his father-in-law property which he expects to be returned in the course of a few years with one hundred per cent interest and some additional ceremonial right. These goods the father-in-law proceeds to lend at interest in order to protect himself. The dowry sometimes assumes relatively huge proportions. A few years ago a Fort Rupert man married a Nakoaktok woman of high rank, paying four hundred and eighty blankets (two hundred and forty dollars) and promising five hundred and twenty more. As the bride's "mat" he received the value of two hundred blankets in banknotes. At the time his son by a former wife was initiated as hamatsa he received two hundred blankets, one hundred and fifty button blankets, fourteen sewing machines, four Japanese boxes, five hundred pots and pans, thirty-five shawls, two hundred bars of soap, and six dozen towels, all of which he gave away to the assembled tribes. The total value was about thirteen hundred dollars. Later, at the instance of his brothers-in-law he invited his wife's tribe to the Fort Rupert village, and they gave him for distribution eleven hundred blankets, forty hand-knitted sweaters, forty shawls, a quantity of calico, three sloops, and four gold bracelets, the total value being eleven hundred dollars. Furthermore, one of the brothers-in-law, a worker in gold and silver, promised goods to the value of twelve thousand dollars: namely, a copper valued at nine thousand blankets, which he had announced his intention to purchase, five hundred button blankets, five hundred pots and pans, eleven sloops, fifty sewing machines, twenty-five phonographs, fifty gold bracelets, fifty gold ear-rings, seven hundred silver bracelets, a quantity of {view image of page 132} I32 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN silver finger-rings and brooches, and many fathoms of beads. The goldsmith's brother, a popular medicine-man whose fee is rarely less than two hundred blankets, promised property worth about twenty-two hundred dollars, consisting of three coppers valued respectively at three thousand, nine hundred, and three hundred blankets, and a considerable number of blankets due him as the marriage portion of a wife who had already left him. These blankets he intended to give in order to "break her highness," as if he had sold a slave for a price; had she not left him he would have distributed the marriage portion among his and her people in her honor. The purpose of the brothers in planning to pay a marriage portion far beyond the usual amount was to raise their sister's name above that of a certain rival, whose family was pursuing a similar course. As a matter of cold fact their final payment on the dowry dwindled to actually disgraceful proportions, consisting, as it did, of two hundred button blankets, seventy-five camphorwood chests, seven dressers, fifteen sewing machines, and twelve boats and canoes. About I860 the usual marriage gift among the Quatsino Sound tribes consisted of one to four blankets, and, as a consequence, weddings were amazingly frequent. Almost every day in the Koskimo village, says a reliable informant, several marriages were celebrated, and the great majority of them continued in force only a few days. In preparation for the discussion of the Kwakiutl social system it is desirable to quote a few of the legends that account for the origin of the gentes. One of the principal conclusions reached by a study of these legends a conclusion so definitely and uniformly indicated by each and every one of them that it can scarcely be questioned -is that the unit of primitive society in this region was a patriarchal family or village community, all the members of which were supposedly the descendants of one man. In time two or more groups coalesced and formed a tribe, each component part becoming an exogamic gens. In some cases tribes combined, the units becoming what we term septs or sub-tribes, each of which retained its system of gentes. But Kwakiutl society has not reached its present condition by a uniform process of combination: in some instances new tribes have been created by a process of separation resulting from intratribal quarrels or the operation of economic necessity. The first man of the Tsawatenok was Kawatilikalla, but before he was a man he was a wolf, and his wife was a wolf. They lived {view image of page 133} THE KWAKIUTL I33 on the upper course of Kingcome river [at the head of Kingcome inlet]. One day a heavy rain was falling, and he said: "I do not see why we should remain animals. We had better leave off these skins and use them only in dancing. Why should we wander about and have no home? If we had a house to live in when it rains, it would be well." His wife agreed, so they put off their skins and laid them away. The first thing to be done was to build a house, which he did without help; for he was very strong anfd very wise, much more so than the men of today. The four posts which supported the two ridge-beams were made in the form of men, and were endowed by Kawatilikalla with power to speak certain words. Whenever in aftertimes a visitor entered the house, the image at the right of the door would call to the two in the rear, "Welcome him!" And the one at the left of the door would say, "Feed him!" The two at the rear would cry, "Prepare meat!" and "Prepare the back-rest!" So the visitor was welcomed. The ridge-timbers projected beyond the front and the back wall, and ended in the heads of sisiutl, with the tongues thrust out, and in the middle above the fireplace were the human heads of sisiutl. On the front gable perched a great thunderbird grasping in his talons the head of a sisiutl. In all this work Kawatilikalla used no tools, but modelled the faces and forms by a touch of the fingers. [The modern successor to this legendary house stands at Kwaustums, on Gilford island, a place inhabited in the summer by remnants of various tribes. The house of the chief of the Kekatilikalla gens is always made like this mythical structure, and at potlatches and feasts men stand behind the posts and speak through the open mouths of the figures carved on the front of them.] Kawatilikalla had a dog, and in some manner he secured fire. His first son was Tlawifta, his second Kulili, and his third Na'nuwalaq ["miracles"]. Tlawifia and his father were sad because they had no companions, and one day as they sat outside the house talking about it, they heard a crying sound in a large rock. They arose hurriedly and broke it open, and revealed a youth. "Welcome!" said the old man. "I am glad to see you. We want some one to come and live with us." "That is why I have come," said the youth. "I heard your wish, and decided to come and be a man with you. I am Tapuint ['helper']. Now that I have come, you may have all my names. My name is Stone, my name is Mountain, my name is Big Mountain, my name is Increasing Mountain." He repeated many other names of this kind, and concluded, "All these you may have and use when you need them." His descendants formed the gens which was formerly called Ninulkinuh ["people of the head of the river"], but which now is called Wioqumi ["irresistible"]. Again, Kawatilikalla saw a Raven strutting along the beach. All he could think of was how to get tribesmen. He said to the Raven: "I wish you were a man, so that you could come and be {view image of page 134} I34 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN my tribesman." The Raven threw back his feather dress and replied: "What am I, after all? You see I am a man when I wish to be." Said Kawatilikalla, "Well, you had better put that feather coat away. Come and be a man, and use this feather dress only when we dance. That is what I have done." This the Raven agreed to do. "Tell me your name," said Kawatilikalla. And the Raven replied: "My name is Luwaigyila, and my name is Kyakyamutlalasu ['folded up']." "Well, then," said Kawatilikalla, "you shall be the rival chief of my son Tlawiffa, and your children shall be the rivals of the Kekatilikalla [abbreviated form of Kekawatilikalla, the plural of Kawatilikalla]." So the Raven man was the first of the gens Liluwagyila [plural of Luwagyila]. On another day Kawatilikalla and the others heard thunder. He said, "It is a strange time of the year for thunder! Perhaps he too wants to be a man with us." Now this noise was not caused by the thunderbird, but by the Sun, who had borrowed the wings of k6lus, a great bird. Leaying his wings in the mountains he came down in the form of a man, and Kawatilikalla was glad to have another tribesman. Said the Sun: "You may have my names. I have brought many with me. My names are Kehtlala ['much wood in the fire'], Kehtlalafti ['much wood in the big fire']" - and he named many others, all having to do with fire. He built a house, and above the smoke-hole he made a wooden chimney so that when a great fire was burning the flames shot up to the sky. This house he called Kyilfipstala. [A chimney is still added to the house when the Gyigyikiimi ("chiefs") gens give a feast or a potlatch.] This gens formerly was called Kelkuihtlala [plural of the founder's name]. One day all the people embarked in their canoes and descended the river to see what was at its mouth. On the way they found a man living alone with his mother. His name was Halhapui ["looking out from under a shadow" such as the rim of a hat might cast]. He had much to tell them, how he had been captured by the wolves and had received from them the living water and the magic deathdealer. After listening to his story Kawatilikalla took Halhapui and his mother and proceeded to the mouth of the river, where the people built houses. Halhapui founded the gens Gyagyikyilagya ["those who always wish to kill"]. While the men were taking salmon, some children at play caught a number of oulachon, the first that had been seen. The next spring when the oulachon came, some were roasted and fed to the dog, and seeing that no ill resulted, the people themselves began to eat them. Thus they commenced to use oulachon oil instead of suet of the deer and the mountain-goat. One fine summer day Tlawifaf went walking up the river to see what was the nature of the place in which they were living. He came to a small stream, and, the day being hot, he threw his bearskin robe on the bank and went in to bathe. Happening to look {view image of page 135} THE KWAKIUTL I35 up, he saw a black bear running away, and he noticed that his robe was gone. It flashed upon him that this was his robe making its escape. When he caught up with it, the bear dropped down and was once more a skin lying on the ground. In order to fathom this mystery, he left it again on the bank while he bathed. Four times he tested it - for all things must be tried four times in order to make certain - and each time the robe ran away like a living bear. When he caught it the fourth time, he thought something would happen, for now the perfect number had been reached. But nothing occurred. He dried his body, shook out the robe, and sat down with his back to a rock, pondering. "It seemed to be frightened," he thought. "I will remain four days and see what happens." So he continued to sit there, and he was still pondering when he heard a noise like low, distant thunder. There was the sound of the falling, rushing water that poured through a narrow place in the creek-bed, and he knew the cause of this; but above that sound he heard something else. He said: "That is what is going to happen! The bear heard that noise and was frightened." Waiting to see what it would be, he covered himself completely with his robe, and peering out he saw a catamaran on which stood many people, each holding a cedar staff tipped with feathers. With these they beat on the boards and sang, "Upper world, life!" In the stern was an old man holding a staff which terminated in an image wearing a succession of wooden hats, and a man in the middle wore a similar head-dress consisting of several huge hats, one on another. Across the craft lay a great, cylindrical basket, from which, as one of the men alternately raised its ends, came the low, rumbling sound Tliwifia had heard. He watched them and listened carefully to the song, catching the air and the words. The craft stopped in front of him. He waited, motionless. The chief began to speak: "Listen to our song!" And they sang again: Yiyahe! Kisonuqe, talatlla, kyasla! Kydsla alalatlila hoskiso gimayakos, Yiyahe! Crest owner, hold fast, do! Do cleave to your crest on your face, kisonuqe! Limhituti alati kyas yanzm, kyasa! 6misuh tihiwatlila kyas crest owner! It has been narrowly very obtained, truly! Only it saw truly hoskisoguma, yak6s kisonuqe! your crest face, you crest owner! Tlawifta sat without a movement or a sound, for he wished to obtain all the spirits would give him. At the end of the song all sat down except the man in the stern holding the pole with the great hat, who spoke in a loud voice: "You who own the upper world, you who own the life!" Tlawitaf made no answer. Again the old man called: "I have come seeking life from your lives, you who possess life!" Still there was no answer. Then he called, "Great 1 The thought is that the bear had perceived the canoe coming downstream, and, wishing to obtain the crest offered by these supernaturals, had run away in order to anticipate Tliwifa. {view image of page 136} I36 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Tlawifta, great Kawatilikalla!" Tlawifia crept through the sloughgrass toward the canoe, looking to see which one had the nawalaq. He saw sitting amidships a man with a deformity of some kind, as if the flesh was'raised in a straight line up and down his face and body, and extending even above his skull. When Tlawifia was near the craft, he leaped up and ran, and tried to grasp this flesh, but the man shrank back, crying: "Do not, friend! That is not what we have brought you! Do not touch me! I am not a treasure!" This person was Rottenness. Had Tlawitaf touched him he would have got something bad. Now Tlawifia stood on the deck, waiting to see what they would do. The chief said: "Go slowly, and we will tell you what we have come to give you. You heard the song. You see this catamaran, as it is. You shall have it all. When there is a wedding, you shall do thus and bring your wife away in this craft." He collected the staffs and gave them to the young man, along with the head-dress of many hats and the staff bearing the effigy. After carrying his gifts ashore, Tlawifsa returned and reached for the basketry cylinder; but just as he touched it the whole craft and all its contents sank. The young man carried his treasure home and related his experience to his father. Thus were the secondary crests of the gens obtained; for the principal crest was the house of Kawatilikalla, the house with the speaking posts and the sisiutl ridge-timbers. One day Tlawifia said to his younger brother Kulili: "This river is not large enough for all. I think you had better go and find a river for yourself." So Kulili went forth and found the river Ahlahlho [which empties into Wakeman sound]. He remained there for a long time, washing and purifying himself, to see what kinds of salmon were there. Learning that all the species went up that stream at different seasons, he made his home there and founded the Hahuamis tribe. The above legend of Kawatilikalla is the only one discovered in a careful search in which the founders of gentes are represented as transformed animals or inanimate objects. In all others they are men who, at the time of the story, are found living in their several localities, or who are represented as descending from the sky or ascending from ocean or lower world in order to dwell on the earth. We should expect the crest, or emblem, of the descendants of the Wolf man to be the wolf; on the contrary, it consists of a house patterned after the one he built, with images of the double-headed serpent ssisutl and of thunderbird. As to the manner in which Kawatilikalla obtained the protection of these spirits the tale is silent. Greater consistency is found in the case of the gentes founded by the Raven man and the Sun, their emblems being respectively the effigy of the raven and a hat encircled by a serrated line repre {view image of page 137} THE KWAKIUTL I37 senting the rays of the sun. The more usual method of obtaining crests, names, songs, and ceremonial privileges is illustrated by the incident of Tlawifta and the wedding party. In an isolated place the individual encounters some supernatural beings, who grant these boons; as in the following legend of the gens Walas of the Lekwiltok sept Wiweakam: Yakayalitnuh- was walking near Tekya, when he saw sitting on a rock a very large bird covered with soft down of dazzling whiteness. The tip of its hooked beak could just be seen in the midst of the thick down. He cried out, "Whatever you are, I tlugwala you!" The bird threw back the feathers and skin from its head, revealing the head of a man, and spoke: "I am k6lus, yet I am a man. My name is Toqatlasaqiaq ['born to be admired']." His face was steaming with heat, because of the thick covering of feathers. Soon the entire coat fell away and he stood forth with the full figure of a man. The bird man accompanied Yakayalitnuh- to his home, and told him: "Give a winter dance, and you shall have these dances from me: sunqunhulikiyu [thunderbird], hohhuq [a fabulous bird], nu'ndlalahl ['embodiment of the personation of weather'], ha'maa [a large, fabulous bird], hamasilahl ['wasp-embodiment'], and k6lus." All these dances came from creatures of the sky. Yakayalitnuil founded the Walas gens, this word ["big"] being another name of the bird k6lus. It is believed that members of this gens are easily thrown into perspiration, as was the bird man by his feather garment. As elsewhere on the North Pacific coast, society was divided by closely drawn lines into three classes: the nobility, the common people, and slaves taken in war. Slavery has been abolished by law, and the depletion of the population has practically eliminated the common people by reducing the number of tribesmen below the number of hereditary titles. The principle of inherited rank is much more evident in Kwakiutl life than in the life of the coast Salish. Scarcely a phase of their activities can be discussed without reference to this idea, and in fact their entire existence is an endless scheming and striving to enhance their individual standing in the tribe and the tribe's standing among all the Kwakiutl tribes. In each gens is a definite number of "seats," which closely correspond to the hereditary peerages of civilized society in that they were constituted in ancient times, and that to each pertain 1 Tlugwala, to find a treasure; specifically, to obtain special powers and privileges from a spirit. {view image of page 138} I38 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN certain names, crests, special ceremonial privileges, and territorial rights as to fishing and gathering vegetal food. The seats of the aristocracy were created (so the legends relate) at the time of the founding of the gens, since when none others have been created. That nobility can be attained by personal prowess or that new ranks can be constituted by any agency, is to the Kwakiutl quite unthinkable. For these tribes have high regard for precedent and the customs established by their ancestors. Succession is strictly hereditary, and the eldest son succeeds to the father's rank. In it3 earliest years the child has no part in the tribal life; technically he is not a member of the tribe. When he has arrived at what the father considers a fit age (from six to fifteen years), the latter at a feast announces that on a certain day he will make his son his heir, and give him such and such a name. On that day the people assemble in his house, each having been invited by name, and after the feast the younger brothers and sisters of the new heir dance before the visitors. Blankets are distributed in the boy's honor, and then the father rises and with the boy standing beside him announces: "This my son is now my heir. His name is [for example] Great Copper. At the next feast let him be invited." The boy now has a "feast name" by which he will be personally invited to every public assembly; in other words he is now a member of the tribe and the tribal council: for all public business is transacted at feasts. Common people of course had no part in the feasts and ceremonies, except as spectators. Ordinarily a man does not transfer his most important name to his heir and step aside in his favor, but retains his own place until death; but he may give his principal seat to his son when the young man has reached an age of about thirty-five years, and himself step down to a position "at the tail." Legends indicate that this was once a common procedure; but in these days of depleted population the head of a family usually has more seats at his disposal than he has children and grandchildren on whom to confer them. So it is that at the proper age each younger son and each daughter is honored by a distribution of property and the bestowal of a feast name. Formerly, when there were fewer seats in proportion to the population, several sons and daughters of the same parents might * CRESTS OF A NIMKISH FAMILY. The owner of this column is chief of the gens Sisintlae, which has the sun for its principal crest. From his mother's family he obtained the bear crest at the base of the post. Above the bear is the fabulous grizzly-bear of the sea (nanis), and next the killerwhale, both of which are conspicuous in the legendary history of the family. {view image of facing page 138} Crests of a Nimkish family [photogravure plate] {view image of page 139} THE KWAKIUTL 139 receive the same name. This becomes strikingly like a true family name. Descent, then, is ordinarily reckoned directly through the male line from father to eldest son;' but a childless man may transfer his rank to a younger brother by adopting him as a son. More commonly, if he has a daughter his seat goes to her eldest son, or to her in trust for her infant or expected son. Less important names, along with ceremonial privileges, are regularly given to the son-inlaw as a part of the dowry, in trust for his children; in fact, the acquisition of titles and privileges for children yet unborn is the most important consideration in arranging a union. But the principal name and rank never thus pass out of the direct line of succession unless there is no direct male heir. If a man dies while his eldest son is too young for a man's responsibilities, the seat may be given in trust to an elder sister of the boy, or to an uncle. Various titles of address are in use among the nobility. Ate is a title of respect and reverence, and is best translated "sir" or "lord." Tluwuilkami ("eldest son of a chief") is equivalent to "prince," and the corresponding feminine title is kitil. In many cases the chief of a gens refers to his eldest son by a special, hereditary epithet, such as tlugwi ("treasure"). Kii is a term of endearment applied to the eldest child by the parents and the other children, as well as by one lover to another. Any one of noble rank is gylkumi ("chief"), and the head chief of a tribe or a sept is hamakumi gykaumi ("leader chief"), while a war chief with four heads to his credit is wawahskumgilaq gyikumi ("born to be a double-faced chief"). A person of humble birth, or one who wishes to humble himself for the time being, addresses a noble with the deprecatory word kaqiti ("slave owner," that is, "I am your slave"), or waifti ("dog owner"). Wyftiti is the title commonly applied to the eldest member of a family by all the other members. So strong is the sense of hereditary rank and privilege that each family has an hereditary name for its dog. In this connection it may be added that the many childless couples of the present day, being unable to give the customary potlatches in honor of children, set their dog in the place that should be occupied by their offspring and proceed with the ceremony of naming their "child" and distributing property in its honor. Even those who have children refer habitually to themselves as the father or 1 The Wikeno are the northernmost Kwakiutl tribe in which father-right prevails. The Bellabella, China Hat, and Haisla resemble the Tsimshian in tracing descent through the ma ternal line. {view image of page 140} 140 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the mother of their family dog, without the slightest feeling of having said anything ridiculous. The hereditary crest of a gens consists of an object symbolical of the original ancestor's place of origin (sky, sea, or lower world), or, more commonly, representing the creature from which he obtained some certain supernatural power or special privilege by reason of his having seen or conquered or killed that creature. It may be a mere mask, a painting on the house-front, a set of carved houseposts, a pole bearing a carved figure at the top. These posts and poles bearing carved images on their front or their top are the socalled totem poles, the totem being simply the supernatural being which, since the days of the first ancestor, has been the tutelary genius of his descendants. Whatever may be the system elsewhere, among the Kwakiutl the totem is never an animal from which the gens claims descent. The crest of the gens is the exclusive possession of the head of its leading family, and it descends in the male line so long as there is a direct male heir. Every noble family has at least one crest of its own, representing, usually, the tutelary spirit of an ancestor, but there can be only one pole bearing the gentile totem. In many cases the figure of the mythical creature surmounts that of a man, - the founder of the gens, -and not infrequently an image at the base shows the crest of the mother's gens, which because of a want of male heirs has passed out of the male line. The constant tendency is to a multiplication of figures on the post, and many of them are merely significant of proud deeds in the career of the present or a recent possessor, such, for example, as the killing of a slave at the winter dance or the breaking of a copper; -others depict mere legendary events in the life of some more or less remote ancestor. Not a few of the newer carved poles cannot be satisfactorily explained by their owners, and the only conclusion is that the younger generation is willing to court distinction without strict regard to the significance of the images or their right to possess them. The carving of a post is attended by considerable payments to every participant: the men who cut the tree and bring in the log, the carver, and those who erect the post. * TENAKTAK CREST POSTS, HARBLEDOWN ISLAND. The grizzly-bear is the crest of the chief of the gens Gyigyllkum ("crawlers" -from gylla, an epithet of the grizzly-bear). The upper figures were irregularly appropriated as an alleged gift from a Bellacoola wife. The tall pole at the right is a ship's mast. {view image of facing page 140} Tenaktak crest posts, Harbledown Island [photogravure plate] {view image of page 141} THE KWAKIUTL I4I The totem pole was probably a comparatively recent innovation among the Kwakiutl. Certainly there were few even so late as 1865, and these few were nearly all house-posts. It is worthy of note that in Vancouver's journal an engraving of a drawing based on a sketch of the Nimkish village made on the spot shows a number of painted house-fronts, but only a single carved post.1 This represented a man, and probably was not a totem, but a "marriage post," that is, a figure representing a chief's speaker or slave watching for wedding parties with dowries for him. The head of the principal gens is the head of the tribe, and as such is called qiq ("eagle"), or tla'humi ("standing before" his people). The head of the second gens is known as Upsikyis (" rival"), and between these two exists a constant rivalry in the honors to be gained by the distribution and destruction of property in potlatches, feasts, breaking of coppers, demolition of canoes, payment of dowries, and giving of winter dances. Thus also all the other gentes of the tribe are paired, and within the gens exists the same rivalry between chiefs, while many of the tribes are paired in a similar manner. In general there is no feeling of personal animosity, although the taunting, insulting speeches at a feast would lead one to credit the speakers with deadly hatred. The rivalry of chiefs is an inherited custom, and while it probably originated in the desire to exalt one's rank, it is continued mainly because their ancestors practised it. To be sure a chief must be prominent in social activities in order that the lustre of his name be not dimmed; but the comparative rank is so firmly fixed that the people rarely consent to a change in the relative position of any two chiefs. In some instances a gens low in the scale has usurped the place of a higher one, but this has always resulted in long-continued strife and dispute throughout the tribe; in other words, the procedure does not meet with undivided public approval and hence is to be regarded as an exception to the rule. At the base of the whole social system lies the potlatch, or distribution of property among the assembled people. Together with the practice of lending at interest, it provides for a communistic life. No individual can starve or be in serious want so long as there is any property in the possession of the tribe; for there are frequent distributions of goods, and if the individual becomes needy in the meantime, he can always borrow at interest. If, when the principal and interest fall due, fortune still refuses to smile on him, he simply 1 Vancouver, A Voyage of Discovery, etc., London, 1798, Volume I, plate v. {view image of page 142} 142 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN borrows another amount sufficient to pay. Thus debts may accumulate until payment is hopeless, a condition said to be particularly frequent in the case of women. On the other hand many a woman is the business manager of the family, and a very canny one too, able to repeat without an error and without ocular aids to memory the names of her scores of debtors and creditors and the respective amounts of the miscellaneous accounts, which include everything from pots to canoes. The potlatch is intimately bound up with the life of the family. Distributions of property are made whenever a name is changed, a marriage contracted, a dance given, a copper sold, or, failing any such occasion, whenever a man accumulates a considerable amount of property and wishes to do something for the honor of his name and position. There is no word in the language of the Kwakiutl corresponding to our adopted word potlatch; but instead the various forms of the distribution have specific names. Making the promise to give a potlatch is pdqinuq (pdqum, having an angry, determined face), the word referring to the feeling, and consequent facial expression, which a man wears when he has determined to "make his name high." The giving of a single blanket (that is, half of a double blanket), or its value of twenty-five cents, to each person is called tlipa ("spread open"), because the blanket is spread out and held up as the name of each recipient is announced. It should here be explained that the unit of value is the white woollen blanket with blue bars at the ends, originally obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company at seven dollars and fifty cents a pair. The value has steadily declined, until now a double blanket is worth one dollar; but values are always given in terms of single blankets at fifty cents each, even though the amount be paid in double blankets, in other commodities, or in money. From former times has been inherited a quantity of blankets torn in halves, which now pass current at twenty-five cents each. The giving of one or two double blankets to each person is pasa ("to flatten a basket"). Mahwa is the distribution of ten double blankets to each chief and smaller amounts to the others. W/alas sila ("great around" the world) is the name of the great potlatch to which all the Kwakiutl tribes of a given district are invited. In each gens is an hereditary official called taku-mi ("holding the upper part"), who holds up each blanket or other gift before the assembly and presents it to the proper person. This is a position of great honor and responsibility, for as the gifts are distributed in {view image of page 143} THE KWAKIUTL I43 the order of the comparative rank of the recipients, the decision of the takuami in cases of disputed rank may swing the balance of favor one way or the other. Quarrels and fights are of frequent occurrence at such times, when a man or his wife may snatch the blanket from the hands of the takumi in order to prevent the rival from obtaining it. It has been said of the potlatch that "the underlying principle is that of the interest-bearing investment of property." This is impossible. A Kwakiutl would subject himself to ridicule by demanding interest when he received a gift in requital of one of like amount made by him. Not infrequently at a potlatch a guest calls attention to the fact that he is not receiving-as much as he in his last potlatch gave the present host; and he refuses to accept anything less than the proper amount. Even this action is likened to "cutting off one's own head," and results in loss of prestige; for the exhibition of greed for property is not the part of a chief: on the contrary he must show his utter disregard for it. But to demand interest on a potlatch gift is unheard of. Furthermore, a man can never receive through the potlatch as much as he disburses, for the simple reason that many to whom he gives will die before they have a potlatch, and others are too poor to return what he gives them. Thus, only a chief of great wealth can make a distribution in which all the tribes participate and every person receives something; but all except a very few of these members of other tribes will never hold an intertribal potlatch, and consequently the man who gives presents to them cannot possibly receive any return from them. As to those who die, it may be said that theoretically a man's heir assumes his obligations, but he cannot be forced to do so, and if they far exceed the credits he is likely to repudiate them. The potlatch and the lending of property at interest are two entirely distinct proceedings. Property distributed in a potlatch is freely given, bears no interest, cannot be collected on demand, and need not be repaid at all if the one who received it does not for any reason wish to requite the gift. When the recipient holds a potlatch he may return an equal amount, or a slightly larger amount, or a smaller amount with perhaps the promise to give more at a future time. The feeling at the bottom of the potlatch is one of pride, rather than greed. Occasionally men have tried to accumulate wealth by means of the potlatch and by lending at interest, but the peculiar economic system has always engulfed them, simply because a man can never draw out all his credits and keep the property thus acquired. {view image of page 144} I44 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Before his debtors will pay, he must first call the people together and inaugurate a potlatch, thus ensuring an immediate redistribution. There are several rates of interest. Five pairs of blankets lent for about six months are repaid with six pairs, and this is called tlhkyoyu ("lend with"). Tita is interest at one hundred per cent on any amount from one pair to twenty, to be repaid in not less than one year, and perhaps- as when the debt is to be discharged at the time the lender must give a marriage dowry -not before the expiration of four or five years. TaIhsif(unt (" take hold of the foot"), or kadqahot ("sell a slave"), is interest at two hundred per cent on a loan for an indefinite period of four or five years. A man requesting the loan of more than twenty pairs of blankets says, "I wish you to take hold of the foot of my daughter"; or, "I wish you to buy my daughter's name to be your slave." The daughter of course is married, but her name is to be placed in pawn for the loan. If the prospective lender acquiesces he bids the other summon the people to witness the loan. The borrower takes a piece of cedar, and with his teeth splits off strips about the thickness of a match, which he breaks into lengths equal to the breadth of four fingers. Of these he makes three times as many as the blankets he is borrowing, ties them into a bunch, and gives it to the lender. A speaker cries out, "Is that all you wish him to pay?" And the lender answers, "That is all." Thus the people take note of the contract. There is constant borrowing at these exorbitant rates of interest. The explanation of the fact that the mass of the people have never found themselves bankrupt and the wealth of the tribe accumulated in the hands of a few men is that no one can compel payment of a debt without first showing good cause for the demand, and such cause can be found only in the expressed determination to perform some kind of public ceremony at which the property will be redistributed. Thus any property paid as principal and interest will revert quickly to the people; in fact, debts are paid only on the day of the distribution, so that practically no time elapses with the bulk of the tribal property in the hands of one man. A description of the economic system of the Kwakiutl must take account of the highly prized coppers. These are keystone-shaped sheets of copper with the upper portion (the "face") hammered slightly convex, and with a raised T (the "cross") occupying the lower half. The convex surface is coated with graphite, which serves as a background for the conventionalized engraving of some fabulous creature. As to the origin of the first coppers there is {view image of page 145} THE KWAKIUTL I45 some doubt. Some writers have said that they were hammered out of native metal, and it may be that more northerly tribes did this. Certainly the Kwakiutl lay no claim to having done so, but admit that their first coppers were purchased from the northern tribes, notably the Haida. It would be more in accord with what we know of other Indians of the north Pacific to suppose that these northern tribes secured their sheet copper from the Russians and the idea of engraving them from Russian icons. It may be noted that in I792 Vancouver found the Nimkish eager to trade for large sheets of copper, while "iron was become a mere drug." The price of a copper is not based on its intrinsic value but on the number of times it has been sold; for with every sale the price rises, the greatest rate of increase being one hundred per cent. A copper usually changes hands at indefinite intervals of a few years. In I864 a Haida chief brought to Fort Rupert a copper which he had made, and sold it for seventy blankets. The purchaser later disposed of it for one hundred and forty, and its next sale brought two hundred and eighty. In I893 it was worth six thousand blankets, and in I9I0 this same copper Tlaholamuis (every copper has a name) was stored in a house of the village pending its purchase by two brothers at the price of sixteen thousand blankets. Probably the greatest price ever paid for a copper was twenty thousand blankets, which amount, in the form of blankets, canoes, sloops, and cheaper coppers, was paid in the spring of I909 for the copper Ma'mu'quili'la ("taking property out of the house"). The canoes, sloops, coppers, and coin were worth nine thousand blankets, and of the eleven thousand actual blankets which should have been in evidence there were only two thousand, the remaining nine thousand being represented by the transfer of debts in this primitive clearing house. The purchaser, a Mamalelekala chief, had taken the copper from its Qagyuhl owner several years before without the payment of a single blanket. In the following year he paid five hundred dollars (one thousand blankets), which the Qagyuhl, a thrifty young man, lent among his people at the Rivers Inlet canneries, demanding one hundred per cent for a period of four months, a very high rate which he could secure only because it was the spring season, when the people are most needy. The Mamalelekala, a successful fisherman, lent the proceeds of his labor, and thus when the time for buying the copper arrived, he had not only a considerable amount of property on hand but many outstanding credits. VOL. X —IO {view image of page 146} I46 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN The tribes assembled at Fort Rupert for the ceremony, and a first payment of one thousand blankets was laid out on the ground with a great deal of talk to the effect that this was all the Mamalelekala could afford to pay. The Qagyuh- chiefs told one of their leaders to reply and demand more, and this chief proceeded to remind the people that all knew the price of this copper, and one thousand blankets were nothing. He was therefore going to ask that they give more. This speaker was highly regarded by the purchasers, and therefore they added five hundred blankets to the pile; but had they looked upon him as unfriendly to them they would not have added more than a hundred. Then one after another the other Qagyuhl chiefs demanded still more, all making practically the same speech. The price had not previously been agreed upon, but was set by the seller at as high a level as he thought the purchasers would stand. When, however, he grew too insistent, the Mamalelekala chief rose and cried: "You are a smart young man! Do you not know that my five hundred dollars have been working for you at Rivers inlet? I know it, and all the people know it. If you press me too much, I will charge you five hundred per cent interest for that five hundred dollars!" The people expressed their approval with shouts of Waa! Wa! About two thousand comprising the entire stock of potlatch blankets among the tribes present, it was necessary to transfer credits. Thus, when the purchaser had no more property, he would say to some man to whom he had made a loan during the last five years, "You must pay me what you owe." But the debtor, unwilling to give up tangible property, if he had any, would approach the seller with the request, "Now give out my share." The seller then directed that a certain amount be taken from the pile and given to him, and the latter transferred it to the purchaser, by whom it was again added to the pile which represented the purchase price. This process is called f6owelsu ("giving out of the door"), the pile of blankets symbolizing a house. When the distribution of the purchase price among the tribes takes place, the amount advanced in this manner is reckoned against him who receives it. The seller sometimes comforts the man who thus draws on the future, by saying that when the distribution takes place he shall receive something in addition to the advance payment; but such good fortune was never * NAKOAKTOK CHIEF AND COPPER. Hakalahi ("over all"), the head chief, is holding the copper Winistakila ("takes everything out of the house"). The name of the copper refers to the great expense of purchasing it. The copper is valued at five thousand blankets. {view image of facing page 146} Nakoaktok chief and copper [photogravure plate] {view image of page 147} THE KWAKIUTL I47 known to happen. Sometimes the would-be borrower has difficulty in persuading the seller to honor his draft to the full amount of his debt to the purchaser, and he must then make up the deficiency by drawing on his other resources. This custom of fo6welsu and the cognate one of borrowing at interest are the well of evil in the communistic form of Kwakiutl society. By these two practices the people tend to become indolent and mendacious. They are constantly looking forward to the time when they can draw on their expectations, exactly as does a goodfor-nothing prospective heir. After the winter dance a large majority of the people have no means of sustenance, for they have just spent six months in idleness, the supplies of food are exhausted, and blankets are pawned with the traders. They therefore borrow from the half-bloods who happen to have money or ability to get it, promising to pay when at the end of the fishing season they receive their wages at the canneries. If the lender is in a position to intercept their wages on its way from the packers' hands, he makes not less than fifty per cent interest in four months, otherwise he is apt to be left in the lurch; for the majority of the Indians immediately spend their money on finery, and for potlatch blankets to be used in the winter dance, promising their conscience, "I will pay my debt with fi6welsu." The distribution of the proceeds from the sale of this twentythousand-blanket copper occupied a week after the end of the purchasing ceremony, which itself consumed six days. All the tribes were still present, with the exception of those individuals who had already drawn out their share in the form of to6welsui. In this particular instance the seller had banked the considerable amount of money which had been received in addition to chattels, and this caused much unfavorable comment, as well as loss of prestige to the Qagyuh- tribe. For the selling of a copper to another tribe is a tribal affair, in that while the purchase price is made up altogether by the individual buyer from his own resources derived from loans at interest and from sums borrowed by him at interest, the purchase is always followed by a distribution of all the property involved. This is in fact the only reason for buying and selling coppers. There is supposed to be no pecuniary advantage to the principals in the transaction, but a man cannot acquire a name for greatness without having bought many coppers, and sold them in order to distribute the proceeds among his people. The giving away of property acquired in any other way than by selling a copper is regarded as {view image of page 148} I48 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN comparatively small honor, for "there is nothing to give the occasion a name. It frequently happens that when a man is preparing to buy a copper, another secretly comes to him at night and pays him in advance a considerable amount (a thousand blankets perhaps), which is in reality earnest money, an optional payment made to secure for himself the opportunity to be the next purchaser of the copper. This is called takililum ("take hold of it"), or kulim ("to anchor"). At a feast of the Mamalelekala in the spring of I9IO the rival of the chief who had "taken hold" of the twenty-thousand-blanket copper delivered a boasting speech in which he cast reflections on his hereditary enemy. The latter made a bitter reply and sent his son for the copper which he had "taken hold of"; and there in the presence of the assembled people he ostentatiously thrust his spear through it. Such an act means that one will "break" the copper so punctured (after buying it, if one does not already own it): a procedure intended to raise one's name far above that of one's rival, as indicating the possession of greater wealth and a consequently greater contempt for property. In order to preserve his honor, it was necessary for the rival to do something of the same kind, so he went to Alert Bay, and finding there a copper for sale he agreed to pay for it the same amount that had been given for the high-priced one, although in reality it was of much less value. Having paid his earnest money, he immediately transfixed the copper with his spear. To "break" a copper is to cut off a portion of it for the purpose of presenting the fragment to one's rival, in order thus to prove oneself indifferent to the destruction of valuable property. The rival must then break a copper of equal value and give both pieces to his enemy. The contest continues until one or the other has exhausted his resources and is obliged, with great loss of prestige, to admit defeat. It is not permitted to redeem one's reputation by paying a rival the value of his broken copper; one must respond by breaking a copper. When a copper has been reduced to the raised T, which is valued at two-thirds of the whole copper, this remnant may be given away just as is any other fragment. The person who receives the "cross" may then buy the other pieces, rivet them together, and sell the whole renovated copper, which is now worth more than ever. This however is attended with loss of standing both to the individual who does it and to his tribe; but no disgrace falls upon the,purchaser. {view image of page 149} THE KWAKIUTL 149 A rather unusual copper-breaking is described in the following narration. When I was a boy of fifteen [in 1865], Awati, the head man of the village at Fort Rupert, came to me one day and said, "Come, Hawi ['loon'], we will walk in the woods." With him were his brother and a cousin, He'mafiu'lis, and we four went back into the woods. We scattered,,and soon the cousin called, "Here is a toad, a good, big one!" Awati said, "Hawi, take him by the feet, and keep him alive." I picked up the toad and carried it with me. It was not long before the chief found a very large one, and he said, "How are we going to pick up this one?" I wentand took it, for I knew his meaning. When we had four toads, Awati said they were enough, and he led us deeper into the woods. From a hole under a log the cousin drew a cedar stick about six feet long, which he split at one end into a pair of tongs. There was no laughing nor joking. I was sent for some long, slender cedar withes, and then was told to sit down with my back to the men. " Do not look around to see what we are doing," they said, "or it will be short life to you!" But now and then I would take a sly backward glance, and saw that while one held the mouth of a toad open, another stuffed into it something which they took from the hole under the log. The chief prayed to the toad: "Friend, I have come to you for help, to take away the life of Nuikapnkyim." Then they opened the cleft of the cedar stick, put the toad's lips between the two edges, and bound the stick tightly at each side of the toad's mouth. At once the toad began to swell. Thus the four toads were used, and the stick was pushed under the log. He'mafui'lus came to me and spoke gruffly: "If you say a word about this, I will some night cut your throat!" He held a knife before me. I looked up at him and said: "I do not know what you have been doing. What can I say?" "Well, be careful! Do not say a word about it. You know what I am." He had killed a man with strychnine. Again he exhibited the knife. Then I felt that he was going too far, and I said: "The thing you have been doing must be very bad, if you threaten me in this way." He made no answer, and we returned to the village by different routes. In the house I sat down to ponder over what I had seen. The more I thought of it, the less I liked the threats of He'mafru'lus. But Nuikapnkyim was my best friend, and he was the one who had been named in this thing. If I warned him, my throat would be cut, but I thought it better to have the throat cut than to lose a friend. While I was thinking this over and over, Nuikapnkyim himself entered. He sat down and said:" I had a spy on you today. When I saw you going to walk with Awati, my enemy, and his brother and cousin, {view image of page 150} i50 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN I sent a man to watch. After you picked up the first toad he lost you. What did you do after that?" I laughed: "I had to pick up that toad, and some others." He tried to find out what we had done, but at first I would not tell. At last he said, "I thought you were my friend, but you refuse me this favor." "I am your friend," said I, "but when it comes to a thing of hard talking [the threats of death] it is different. In matters of your affairs with women I am your friend, but when it comes to death talk our friendship has nothing to do with that!" [Nukapnkyim made use of the narrator in his clandestine dealings with women.] "I know Awati is my enemy," he repeated. "He told you to pick up that toad. That is sorcery against me. I sneezed on the left side of my nose today: something is wrong. What did he do with the toads; where did he put them? Come, my friend, I trust everything to you, and now you will not tell me this secret." Then I laughed and answered: "It was only that you were in too much of a hurry. I will tell you." So I told Nikapnkyim all that had occurred, and then led his cousin to the log, from which he drew out the stick. One toad was missing. I quickly ran back to my room, entering unseen through the rear door, and as I sat there I heard the report of a small cannon which Nuikapnkyim kept in front of his house. I hurried out, and on my way to the place found Awati going in the same direction. "I wonder what is the matter with Nuikapnkyim?" he said. And I answered, "I do not know. I heard his cannon, and I am going to see." When we reached the house, out came Nuikapnkyim with the stick and the three toads. In his lefthand was a copper, and the stick he held like a speaker's staff. Awati looked at me and whispered, "He has that stick with our toads!" Nukapnkyim cried aloud: "Qagyuhl! Assemble before my house and listen to me! I am going to tell you great news!" Everybody crowded up, and he began: "My nawalaq [tutelary supernatural being] is flying over me all the time, my long-life giver. He came and told me there was something going on in the woods, and I put out a spy. That spy saw what was going on, heard what was said against me by three men while these toads were filled up and put into these tongs as you see them now. Poor men! Because they cannot defeat me in fighting with property, they try to take my life by the help of these toads! Awati was the head man, and with him were his brother Ama'hyokyila and the dog that Awati always leads with,him, I mean He'mafiu'lis." The face of Awati was twitching convulsively. He looked down at me and muttered: "He must have had a spy out. I will see if he mentions you." Nukapnkyim continued: "They had Fawi also, but they put him in a place where he could not see. So it is useless to ask him {view image of page 151} THE KWAKIUTL I51 about it, for he was threatened that his throat would be cut if he said a word about what happened there in the woods, and besides that, poor boy could not see a thing through his back!" Awati whispered, "That shows he had a spy on us! Take care! It they question you, lie for us." I said: "No, I will not say a word. I have gone far enough in this." Then we two parted, and I sat down where I could see what occurred. Some of the old people seemed to favor Awati, and one of them said, "Take the toads out of that stick and see if there is anything in them." So the toads were opened, and in them were found small bits of cedar-bark fibre and a piece of the shirt of Niukapnkyim. As soon as he recognized the bit of calico he became like a madman. He was always armed, even in his sleep, and now had his pistol in a belt under his shirt. He drew the weapon, fired a bullet into the air, and shouted: "Neighbors, this is my blood-drinker! But I cannot make it drink the blood of Awati and his brother right now. For love of you, my neighbors, I will do it^,another way!" He put the pistol back in his belt, and addressed Awati: "Friend, come and sit here, and we will have a plain talk. Do not be afraid, for I have already fired the bullet!" His rival went to him with a slinking, guilty appearance. I was sitting between his two accomplices. Nuikapnkyim laughed and said: "Why do you not do these things the way I do? There was a man who came into my house. I did not look for toads with which to kill that man! I told my wife to feed him, and when his belly was full, I took my gun and shot him right in my house. Outside my house it is running streams of blood from the men I have killed! A Wikeno chief came into my house. I told my wife to feed him, and when he had finished I shot him. The inside of my house is overflowing with the blood of men! To get a toad with which to kill another man is the secret method of a coward. Now I will take it the other way. You wanted to kill me, and I will take it in the way of property. I will kill you with property!" He set down the copper and said to his cousin, "Come and break it up." His cousin cut it into three pieces. "Now," said Nuikapnkyim, "put them in the place of these toads." After the three pieces of copper were placed between the jaws of the tongs and tied there, Nuikapnkyim took up the stick and said: "These are my toads! This is my short-life,giver! That piece on the upper end is the short-life giver to you, Awati. This will be you. The next piece is the short-life giver to your brother. The third piece is the short-life giver to your dog, He'mafi'lis." Then he gave the stick to his rival, who, as he took it and arose, looked at Nuikapnkyim and inquired, "Chief, who is your spy?" "You will have to go and find my nawalaq," answered Nuikapnkyim. {view image of page 152} I52 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN "All right," said Awati. "We will have it out. I am a chief and you are a chief. We shall see who will be broken first." Said Nuikapnkyim, "That is the way to do it, not by killing with, toads." Awati sent for his copper, and at the same time Nuikapnkyim called me to him and said: "Go to my wife's father and tell him to get coppers ready. We aregoing to fight it out." I bore the message and returned to my seat. Awati broke his copper into three fragments, and removed the pieces from the tongs. On one of them he laid a piece of his copper, and holding them both up, he said, "Nuikapnkyim, he!" [He is the ejaculation used in presenting a potlatch gift.] He gave them to Nikapnkylm, and then handed the second pair to the cousin and the third pair to the speaker of his rival. "Oh, this is sweet, better than toads!" exclaimed Nuikapnkyim. His father-in-law now rose and said: "I see that you are having trouble, my son-in-law. I have brought you a copper with which to play." Nukapnkyim took it and uttered a derisively laughing "Ea...!" He broke it into two pieces, and cried: "Now we are going to play the right way." He placed onehalf on the two pieces he had received from Awati, and called out: "Awati, ie!" Then he threw them to the ground. He wished to take the two pieces away from his cousin, but the latter said: "No! Fight your own! I also am going to be in it." Nevertheless Nuikapnkyim took them, and breaking the remaining half of his copper in twain he laid one fragment on the two pieces, taken from his cousin and threw them down for the brother of Awati. He took the two pieces from his old speaker, added another piece of his father-in-law's copper to them, and cast them down "for the dog of Awati." Then Nuikapnkylm's cousin, unsatisfied, brought^,out a copper. He took from the heap the two pieces given to him by Awati, doubled his own copper, placed the two pieces,between the folds, and cast the whole upon the ground, crying, "Awati, lie!" That chief responded by stepping forward with another copper, which he broke and gave to Nukapnkyim, who at once sent to his father-in-law for another copper. When it was brought he held it up and said to his rival: "Have you any more coppers? Ifyou have not, speak up like a man and say so!" He knew that Awati had no more, and his rival made no reply. Nuikapnkyim called on his cousin to bring a board. On it he piled the pieces of copper, with the last copper, unbroken, on the top. His cousin bound them tothe board, and the chief said: "Now go and feed this to the fish. Awati, your name is in this! You will go with it, but you will not be lonely: your dog will be with you!" His cousin and some others launched a canoe, took the board and the coppers, and sunk them in the deepest partk, of the bay. Awati was beaten, and it was many years before he could rise {view image of page 153} THE KWAKIUTL I53 again; for without property no man could have a place of importance. While coppers representing a great deal of wealth were absolutely lost in this contest, Nikapnkyim himself lost little, since the coppers represented mainly a marriage debt, which, had it been paid to him in the usual way, would have been distributed among the people and left him with no more property than before. The destruction of canoes and the less common burning of blankets are other methods of showing disregard of the value of property with the aim of reflecting glory upon one's name. In the same category may be classed those feasts at which the prime endeavor is to squander more food than one's rival can equal in the feast which he must soon give in order to preserve his self-respect - to set before the guests so much that all cannot possibly be eaten, and the chiefs of the rival gens (or tribe), in their efforts to avoid the disgrace of leaving food and thus acknowledging the wealth and power of their host, may incur lasting disgrace by vomiting in the feast. The greatest, because the most costly, of all feasts is the so-called "grease" feast, in which a dish of oulachon oil is served to each guest, while huge quantities are thrown upon the fire with the purpose not only to destroy property but in so doing to cause such an intense heat that the host's rivals may be made to shrink from his fire. They on their part must not show any sign of discomfort, lest he at once compose a song of ridicule which would live into future generations to the dishonor of their descendants. In every feast involving rivalry, the host has two objects in view: to destroy a great quantity of food, and to find or create some circumstance on which to base a taunting song. For example, in traditionary times a chief of the Gyihsuim gens of the Lekwiltok sept Wiwekae gave a tribal feast, in the beginning of which his servants distributed large balls of dried salalberries soaked in oulachon oil. One of the servitors, a fighting man, offered food to a chief of the sept Hahamatses, who for some reason defiantly threw back his head and refused the food. "Do you think you are the only man here?" cried the warrior, as he hurled the oil-soaked ball into the guest's face. To this day a disputatious Hahamatses is silenced, at least temporarily, when a Gyihsuim remarks: "Why do you talk? You were born from a throwing of grease in the face!" An extreme method was that of Tlinanaghunihl, a Gyihsum chief who, according to tradition, shot an arrow through the Hahamatses chief Ama'yais, one of his guests. The man fell dead, and {view image of page 154} I54 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN blood trickled into his feasting dish. It was the intention of the host to frighten his rivals away from the feast, and their duty was to "sit heavily," as if immovable. And though they sat there without visible perturbation, nevertheless a Gyihsuim now reproves a Hahamatses with the reminder, "I am your kum'it ['cause of ridicule ']." A parallel occurred at Fort Rupert about the year I864, when Nuikapnkyim in the midst of his feast climbed upon the roof of his bedroom and shot one of his guests. He cried: "That will be one of them in my song!" and he began forthwith to sing: "That blood on the floor horrifies everybody in the house of the double-faced chief!" (He referred to his position as both a chief in the social system and a leader among the fighting men, the Indians representing this idea figuratively by the conception that such a man has a face in front and a face behind.) The dead man's friends went on with their eating, and said nothing. Even after the feast they did not remove the body. Yet, such is the curious logic of the Kwakiutl, which no white man can comprehend, to this day it is a reproach to them and their descendants that they had the courage to sit still in the house of a murderer who might shoot any one of them the next moment. But had they fled, or even stirred uneasily, their ignominy would have been much greater. Each gentile chief has a servant whom the Qagyuhl call alq ("blood"), the Nawiti kyillzm ("tongue"), the Nakoaktok ta'k ("belly"). This is his speaker and herald, whose principal duty is to make all his public announcements. Formerly even at feasts and potlatches all the chief's speeches were delivered by his herald, who received instructions in general terms. During feasts and on other public occasions the speaker stands at the right of his master's seat, leaning on his qespek, a tall staff which is his symbol of office. He never sits. At a "grease" feast when the dish of oil is offered, the chief only tastes it, and his speaker then squats on the ground facing the dish, saying, "I am the one to do this." Then he drinks it down, or if he cannot take it all he smears the remainder on his body, remarking, "If I cannot eat it, my body will eat it." When the feast consists of solid food he takes the dish from his chief and devours the contents, in a very swinish manner in order to waste as much as possible, lest his capacity be too greatly taxed. The speaker is of the common people, and the office, though it does not elevate him above his class, is one of honor and importance. It is hereditary, and the new incumbent serves his father's master, {view image of page 155} THE KWAKIUTL I55 or at least the successor to that chief. The speaker's family lives in the master's house, either in the corner at the left of the chief's place or in the corresponding front corner. A child destined by birth for the position of speaker is trained to be a huge eater, being constantly stuffed with food until his stomach attains a remarkable capacity. Some of the exploits attributed to these trenchermen are incredible. When two speakers become involved in an argument, their masters take up the quarrel, and distribute and destroy propertythe inevitable outcome of any dispute. Ceremonial Organization and Rites Cermonial Divisions of the Tribe The ceremonial life of the Kwakiutl finds expression principally in the winter season, which is devoted exclusively to a series of quasireligious performances constituting the so-called winter dance. The right to be initiated into one of the many degrees of the secret society that controls this ceremony is bequeathed, either directly to one's children or other heirs, or, as a part of the dowry, indirectly to one's grandchildren through the medium of the son-in-law. The sonin-law himself may be initiated and then initiate his son, or he may pass the privilege directly to his heir. A man can only once bequeath his membership in a given degree, but the transfer does not otherwise affect his status in the society. Membership in one of these orders may also be acquired by killing a man of another tribe who possesses it. For ceremonial purposes the entire tribe is divided, regardless of gentes, rank, sex, and age, into two classes: the pa.hus ("uninitiated"), who take no part in the winter dance, except as spectators, and the pepatiala ("shamans"),' who compose the secret society. In I865 out of a population of about one thousand at Fort Rupert not fewer than four hundred were uninitiated. Again, the pepahala, exclusive of novitiates, comprise two divisions: the meu-mqat (singular, miqat), or seals, and the qequfia (singular, qefa), or sparrows; seals and sparrows being those who by dance and song have become "tamed," that is, freed from the domination of the supernatural beings from whom their respective dances were learned. 1 This use of the word must be distinguished from the primary use, in which it means one who by magic means cures magically induced disease. See page 64. {view image of page 156} 156 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN In the order of their importance the dancers who constitute the membership of the society among the Qagyuhl are as follows. Except in the case of a very few at the head of the list, the comparative importance of these dances is vaguely defined. I. Hima'fi (ha'map, to eat). Men. The hamatsas are supposed to eat human flesh as a ceremonial rite. See pages 220-243. 2. K6minaka ("rich woman"). Women, occasionally men. See pages I60, I78. 3. Nunh-lfistilahi ("embodiment of senselessness"). Men. This dancer is fascinated by fire, and is believed to handle it without danger. See pages 178-I79, and illustration facing page I78. 4. Kyenkalatlulu ("leaning against"). Men or women. This dancer always accompanies hamatsa. See pages I60, I74-I75. (By marriage the Qagyuh- in 1864 obtained the above group from two sources: the Wikeno and the Bellabella.) 5. Hams'hamftis ("eater on the ground"). Men or women. Prior to the acquisition of the hamatsa dance, ceremonial cannibalism is said to have been practised by the hims'hamfsls. 6. Nanstalih1-Pahpaqalan6hsiwi ("grizzly-bear in the door of Paihpaqalan6hsiwi"). Men. See page I60. 7. Yikes ("evil thing in the belly"). Women, rarely men. 8. Mitla ("tease"). Men. 9. Paiqtislah ("man-of-the-ground embodiment"). Men. This character represents paiqs, a wild man of the woods. See illustrations facing pages I58, I66. Io. Sisiutlllahi ("embodiment of sisiutl," the double-headed snake). Men. See page 213, and illustrations facing pages 212, 214. ii. Hawfahhlahl1 ("embodiment of the personation of otter"). Men. An initiate for this role appears at the edge of the woods dressed in skins and a mask. 12. kwikwascilah- ("embodiment of begging"). Men. See pages 214-215. I3. Himasilahl ("wasp embodiment"). Men. See illustration facing page 228. 14. Tiwihyilah- ("mountain-climber [i.e., mountain-goat] embodiment"). Men. See illustration facing page 230. 15. Mamaka ("thrower"). Men. The mimaka is believed to have power to throw magic disease into one. See page 213. i6. GyikUmi-k6hllla ("chief transcendent"). Women. 17. Si'lis ("snake in belly"). Men. The dancer is believed to have a snake in his stomach. In his mouth is a section of soft, thin bladder-kelp, which he inflates so that it protrudes like the tail of a snake. i8. Hwihwilikya (ihwilikyYt, to swing a long-bodied object over the shoulder and upon the back). Men. See page 215. 19. Am'lala ("sound of playing at games"). Men. The am'lala pretends to inflict selftorture, hence the name signifies how lightly he regards the pain. See page 2I4. 20. Nan-k6hllla ("grizzly-bear unrestrained"). Men. 21. Hawiyatalahl ("embodiment of mercilessness"). Men. This dancer practises selftorture. See page 214. 1 The prefix ha, as in several of the following words, indicates acting or pretending; while the suffix lahi signifies the embodiment of the quality suggested by the word to which it is appended. In many cases, as for example the forty-fourth, forty-sixth, and forty-ninth names below, the prefix ha becomes, for euphony, a reduplicative syllable. {view image of page 157} THE KWAKIUTL I57 22. Hi'maa ("just about to eat"). Men. Hi'maa is a fabulous, long-jawed monster. The initiate appears at the edge of the woods clad in a skin costume and mask, and in his dance he snaps at people. 23. Haiyikantalahl ("embodiment of the personation of speaking"). Men or women. 24. Yyaikyatilahl ("embodiment of the destructive one," i.e., yakytm, a fabulous seamonster). Men. 25. Quinhulah ("thunder embodiment"). Men. The initiate is caught arrayed in a suit and a mask representing the fabulous thunderbird. See illustration facing page 232. 26. K6lusilahi ("kolus embodiment"). Men. The initiate wears the costume and mask of k6lus (kosa, eagle-down; lus, covering), a mythic bird with sharply curving beak and very thin coat of soft, white down. 27. H6hhukulahl ("ho6huq embodiment"). Men. The initiate wears the costume and mask of ho6ihuq, a monstrous, crane-like bird of mythology, so powerful that it can thrust its bill through great trees, and said to be named from its hoarse cry, ho, ho, ho! See folio pl. 336. 28. kwaikwahulahl ("raven embodiment"). Men. The initiate wears a costume and mask representing the raven. 29. Nine ("grizzly-bear"). Men. The initiate imitates the bear in dress and action. It is the duty of bear dancers to guard the dance house and to punish those who fail to observe the rules governing the privileges of the hamatsas. In former times, it is said, such a lapse was not seldom punished with death. See illustrations facing pages I84, 202. 30. Wiswaslikyi ("dog again and again," therefore, chief dog), or a'wisllahl ("dog embodiment"). Men. The initiate wears the dog costume and mask. See illustration facing page 248. 3I. Winilagyllis ("making war over the earth"). Men. The dancer personates the war spirit, Winilagyllis. 32. Tsunukwalahl (" ffinukwa embodiment"). Men or women. The initiate wears the costume and mask of the mythical being 2fiunukwa. See pages I84-I85, 293-298, and illustrations facing pages I86, 296. 33. Hawinalahl ("embodiment of the personation of war"). Men, rarely women. This dancer undergoes severe torture. See pages 201-204. 34. Nuilmah-la ("embodiment of foolishness"). Men. The nih]lmahla pretends to be crazy, and assists the grizzly-bears in protecting the hamatsas. See pages 215-216, and illustration facing page 216. 35. Kimhulahl ("embodiment of eagle-down"). Men or women. (The following dancers, mostly women, automatically become sparrows at the beginning of the winter following their initiation, unless in the meanwhile they have found an opportunity to be initiated into one of the other orders. In other words, their period of activity as personators of mythological beings is limited to a single season.) 36. LUluhillahl ("embodiment of ghosts"). Women. The initiate performs in a manner suggestive of a visit to the lower world and the return through the ground. See page I6I. 37. Awilotlilahl ("embodiment of great gain"). Women. This dancer uses a song composed of the songs of four other dancers: t6hwit, hims'hamfsts, winilagyllis, and haiyalikyilahl. To this fact the name refers. See page 320. 38. Tligwala ("to find supernatural power"). Men and women. This dancer personates a wolf. See page 215. 39. Wilas-ihaaq ("great thing, completed, come down"). Men and women. Those who perform in this dance personate wolves in the manner of the Nootka wolf dancers. It is said to have come down in its present form from above, hence the name. {view image of page 158} 158 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN 40. Mitla ("tease"). Women. See page 213. 41. Himiyalahi ("embodiment of the personation of salmon"). Women. As twins are thought to "come from the salmon," a twin child takes this dance whether or not the right is inherited. Others obtain it by inheritance. 42. Matfim (mata, to fly unseen). Men or women. The dancer personates the spirit Matuim, from whom, says a myth, a young man in ancient times obtained magic power to fly through the air. As the symbol of this power the spirit gave him quartz crystals, hence the dancer wears a row of five crystals (or pieces of wood covered with shining mica) along the crown of his head. See pages I6I, 214. 43. Haiyalikyilahi ("embodiment of the personation of healing"). Men or women. 44. Tutahillahl ("embodiment of the personation of laughter"). Women. 45. T6hwit (in the Wikeno dialect the word means "to walk," a figurative expression for going to war). Women. See pages 205-212. 46. Nu'nalalahi ("embodiment of the personation of weather"). Men or women. See illustration facing page 164. 47. Mumfsalah1 ("embodiment of the personation of mink"). Men. 48. Tlistlinilah ("embodiment of black gnats"). Women. 49. Yayuhwiuka ("personation of flood-tide woman"). Women. 50. koohkulisilahi ("embodiment of kohikulis," cylindrical holes in the beach from which, as the tide rises, water spurts). Women. 5I. Ao'malah- ("embodiment of the personation of a chieftainess"). Women. 52. Tlitliikulahi ("embodiment of the supporter of the world"; tlualhlu, to hold the hands motionless, palms upward, with the elbows at the sides, the action signifying the supporting of the world). Women. 53. Nfnakawalihi. The word refers to the middle portion of the house, the significance lying in the fact that this dancer in his song uses alternately the words of a hims'hamfis and those of a haiyalikyilahl, being thus midway between the two. Men or women. 54. KI6milahl ("embodiment of abundance"). Men. 55. Nhillmista ("foolish in a circle"). Men, rarely women. 56. Am'holah- ("embodiment of a mute"). Men. 57. Nlnuhillah-1 ("embodiment of a fool"). Men. 58. Himahilahil ("embodiment of the personation of killerwhale"). Women. This dancer has on her back a wooden effigy of the killerwhale. 59. Iwiqe6kilah1 ("embodiment of the personation of whale"). Women. This dancer has on her back a wooden effigy of the whale. 60. ku'ma ("sculpin"). Women. This dancer has on her back a wooden effigy of the sculpin. 6I. Tsunukwis (" f~inukwa of the sea"). Women. This initiate uses a face mask. 62. Nanis ("grizzly-bear of the sea"). Men. The nanis uses a face mask. 63. Numhyalikyu ("one chief one," a monster halibut). Men. This initiate uses a face mask. (Initiates into the last six orders are caught on the beach instead of at the edge of the woods, for they pretend to have come up from the sea.) Many of these orders, especially those near the bottom of the list, are evidently of quite recent origin, the dancers merely imitating {view image of facing page 158} Paqusilahl emerging from the woods - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 159} THE KWAKIUTL I59 in costume and gesture some mythic or real creature,1 and not presenting, as do the performers of the more important roles, a dramatic portrayal of a myth. There is of course little doubt that most of the dances originated in the same manner, that is, by the invention of individuals, the myths being supplied to explain the dances. Before a man becomes hamatsa, the most important of all, he must have been initiated successively as nihlimahla, nane, quinhulahll, kolusilahl, h6hhukulahl, haiyalikyilahl, and hams'hamfiis. One who has been initiated into these eight orders is laihsa ("go through"), because at each initiation he has worn (that is, "gone through") a new neck-ring of red cedar-bark, the symbol of the winter ceremony. One who starts on this course but stops before its completion is witsa ("not through").2 Recent practice permits one to start as nihlimahla and omit any or all of the other degrees, and then be initiated as hamatsa. But only the ladisa can participate in the socalled mummy feast. Another recent custom is that which permits a man to give a winter dance and a potlatch for the purpose of initiating an unborn child. He himself dances, holding in his arms a doll which represents the child. A chief has been known thus to initiate his unborn child successively into three degrees. Usually, but not necessarily, nuhlimahla is the first step taken. Furthermore, many poor boys without hope of inheriting membership in the higher orders are initiated as nihlimahla in return for services rendered the chiefs. There are consequently many members of this order. A prospective initiate "disappears," either at the beginning of autumn or a short time before the opening of the ceremony at which he is to be initiated, and during the interim he remains either actually or supposedly in the woods. During this absence (or concealment about the house) he is supposed to be with the spirit from whom a mythical ancestor obtained the supernatural power which the new initiate is now to receive. After acquiring this power the ancestor returned to his people and performed a dance portraying his experience and extolling in song the power he had gained. The initiate supposedly remains with that same spirit and receives from him that same power, and on his return to the village he performs the 1 A similar process of invention is seen among the Pueblo tribes of Arizona and New Mexico, where at the present time new kachinas (deities represented in dances) are being constantly added to the list of ancient gods. 2 No confirmation of the statement of Boas connecting these words with the conception of "going through the house of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi" could be obtained. {view image of page 160} i6o THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN same dance. The principal spirits supposed to be visited by the initiates are these: I. Paihpaqalanohsiwi,1 who is seen by one about to become hamatsa, hams'hamffis, nanstalihl-Palhpiaqalanohsiwi, k6minaka, nunhlfistalah1, kyenkalatlulu, h6hhukulahl, or nanakawalihi. (But a nanakawalihil initiate sees also the spirit Haiyalikyawi (helikya, to heal), who is the sponsor of the haiyalikyilahl.) Pahpaqalan6hsiwi is described as a man-eating being who comes like the wind - swift, irresistible, unseen, perceptible only to the ear by the whistling sound produced by the innumerable holes with which his body is dotted. He carries away the body of a man as the tornado snatches up the bodies of its victims. The hamatsa initiate during his four months of absence is supposed to be travelling about the world with this spirit. In every way Pahpaqalan6hsiwi seems to be the personification of the ravaging wind. Thus, just before the hamatsa initiate is to be caught, confederates secretly stationed at different points in the woods about the village blow their whistles here and there, so that Paihpaqalanohsiwi appears to be flitting instantaneously, like the wind, from place to place. In the house of Pahpaqalanohsiwi live his servants: Kwaihqaqalan6hsiwi ("raven of Pahpaqalanohsiwi"), who sits at the door and performs the duty of "food taster" for his master by pecking out the eyes of his prey; Kyenkalatluilu, a woman who procures human bodies for him and who, when there is no food, offers him her arm to bite; H6hhuq, the monster bird who crushes their skulls; Nanstalih1-Palhpaqalan6hsiwi ("grizzly-bear of Paihpaqalanohsiwi"), who tears up the bodies and gives the flesh to his master; and Kaloquftuis ("curved beak of the upper world"), a huge bird. In the Bellabella version of the myth describing Pahpaqalan6hsiwi, the part of Raven is played by K6minaka, a very large woman who cries ha... ai, ai, ai, ai, ai! The Wikeno, and other tribes who base their hamatsa dance on their version of the myth, have adopted this character, and the action has caused bad blood with the Bellabella. In the Bellabella myth Pahpaqalanohsiwi has still another servant, Nfnhlftasta, whose antipathy for fire is such that the sight of it throws him into a frenzy, and only his destruction of the fire by scattering the brands can appease him. The probable etymology is: piihpaq, to eat human flesh, whence plhp akwala, the sound of eating human flesh; noh, owner; otisiwi, mouth of a river; therefore, "owner of the mouth of the river where there is the sound of man-eating." The form Pahpaqalan6hsiwa is used when the spirit is represented as distant, not present. {view image of facing page 160} Kaloqutsuis - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 161} THE KWAKIUTL I6I 2. Winalagylis ("making war over the earth"), who is seen by one about to become t6hwit, si'lis, or mamala. Some say that he is sponsor for the hawinalahl, others that a candidate for this dance visits the ghosts of dead warriors. Winalagyilis constantly travels about the earth in his swift, silent canoe, and those whose souls he takes soon die. In his silent warfare he is opposed by Haiyahlilakuis.1 3. Matuim, the tutelary spirit of matim and ltkmulahl. This being dwells among inaccessible mountain fastnesses, and is closely identified with quartz crystal, which is regarded as the symbol, or perhaps the source, of his ability to fly with lightning rapidity and without effort or movement. 4. Lulalinuh, the ghosts, spirits of the dead, who are visited in the other world by those about to become luiluhlilahl. 5. Haiyaflilakuis, who appears to those about to be initiated into certain women's dances. This being is very vaguely conceived. The other beings on whom initiates into the fraternity of the winter ceremony depend for their supposed magic power are for the greater part preternatural animals or fabulous creatures of animal form, and as a rule the dancer mimics his tutelary being. Among the most important of these creatures of the fancy are sisiutl, a great serpent with a head at each end and a human head in the middle, and tufnukwa, a woodland monster of human form, with huge, pendent breasts and protruding, rounded mouth. In general the candidates for hamatsa, ltkminaka, nunhlf'istalahl, and nanstalihl-Palhplaqalan6hsiwi are the only ones who actually endure a period of solitude in the woods; and even they by no means always do so. Others remain in hiding in a secret room of the house, and on the first day of the ceremony they go stealthily into the woods in order to follow the hamatsa and others when these emerge to be caught by the other members of the fraternity. The hamatsa spends four months in seclusion; on the other hand nuhlimahla and many others disappear only on the night before the ceremony. Various artifices of considerable ingenuity are practised in order to account for the absence of the initiates. Thus when Tlaqafti ("big copper") was to become hamatsa, the villagers who happened one day to be looking out upon the water saw what appeared to be two men in a canoe. Suddenly the one in the bow turned and shot, the canoe capsized, and only one man rose to the surface. The news was spread that Tlaqafi had been killed and his body had sunk. 1 See page 79. VOL. X — II {view image of page 162} I62 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN In reality the figure in the stern of the canoe was a log dressed like a man, and the whole affair was planned and carried out merely to account for the disappearance of Tlaqafsi and to make his subsequent reappearance mysterious to the uninitiated. When it was time for Nuimuiqis to go into hiding he was invited into the woods to play alahwa (the hand-game). As the game progressed, he was given the markers, and holding both in one hand, he cleverly threw one of them into the other at the moment when his opponent successfully guessed where they were. But the guesser, by a prearranged plan, cried fraud, leaped upon him, and precipitated what looked like a general scuffle, although in reality only a few who were in the secret participated. A number of these crowded about, completely hiding Nuimuqis from the sight of the others. Suddenly they leaped up, and nothing was to be seen of Nuimuqis. He had disappeared, leaving behind him his blanket, blood-soaked and full of cuts. Everybody except the conspirators and the wise ones who knew how such things were done believed that the young man had been killed, and miraculously carried away by a spirit. In truth an excavation had been covered with a sliding board, which was concealed by a layer of loose earth. On this sat Nuimiuqis, and when the players leaped upon him a man in the pit drew the board aside, and Nuimuiqis fell into the hole. The board was quickly pushed back, and the men above, in their apparent struggles, spread the loose earth over it. In the winter of I909 a man at Cape Mudge, having a son of eleven or twelve years and wishing him to be initiated into the winter dance, was ignorant how to proceed. All the neighboring tribes had been invited to the village for the winter ceremony. Learning of his desire, the Qagyuhl chief secretly instructed a man who had just become hamatsa that when he was running about the village in one of his frenzies he should collide with this boy; and he told the boy that he should fall and lie motionless, as if dead. Absolute secrecy was enjoined. So the boy was apparently struck down, and there he lay limply across a log. The report quickly was spread that the boy had been killed by the hamatsa, and everybody except the few in the secret believed it was so. The father of the boy, playing his part, went about with a gun, looking for the hamatsa, while women screamed and scratched their faces. Then the chief came and said: " Pahpaqalan6h1siwi has taken his life. Bury the body in the woods." Confederates carried the boy into the woods, and almost immediately the whistles were heard, and the people knew that he {view image of facing page 162} Kaloqutsuis - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 163} THE KWAKIUTL i63 had disappeared to become hamatsa; but many of the uninitiated actually believed, in such cases, that Pahpaqalan6hsiwi had really snatched away a victim. In the present case the initiate was so young that he could not exist in the woods in winter; hence he was secretly brought back and kept in the house during the time that intervened between his disappearance and the initiation. Sometimes it happens that a young man or a young woman, dancing as a new initiate, drops down in the midst of the other performers and again disappears. A few days later he reappears and is initiated into some other dance. In this manner a person of high birth has been known to receive three degrees in rapid succession. A dancer may many times perform like a new initiate. That is, whenever a chief calls upon him to perform his dance in the ceremony which the chief is about to give, the dancer again becomes, to all appearances, an initiate and proceeds exactly as when he was really being initiated. There is no prescribed rule respecting the length of time that must elapse before an initiate may give up his role as an initiate possessed by the spirit in order to join the seals or the sparrows. Some of the most important, including hamatsa, nunhlftistalahl, nanstaliI-Pahpaqalan6hsiwi, kwikwasulahl, yakes, mamaka, male k6minaka, and hams'hamfius, are expected to dance in four consecutive seasons. In other cases an initiate may become a seal or a sparrow whenever he can successfully endure the tormenting of the other seals and sparrows and thus demonstrate that he is no longer possessed by the spirit which hitherto caused him to act like that spirit. Whenever a man bequeaths his membership in the highest order he has attained, he then becomes a seal or a sparrow until such time as he shall be initiated into a higher order. Nevertheless he is not debarred from all participation with the active dancers of that order, although he never again resumes his role as one possessed by the spirit. As an example of this temporary emergence from the ranks of the seals may be cited the participation of old hamatsas in the mummy feast. During the initiate's first season he is called tilh7h-ala (tihzl, salmon cut up ready for drying), but recently the hamatsa initiate has acquired a special epithet, alhwuhltala ("new from the back," that is, newly come from the woods). To repeat, the entire fraternity of the winter ceremony, exclusive of the novitiates, is divided into seals and sparrows. The seals {view image of page 164} I64 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN include those who have become "tamed" after dancing as hamatsa,1 k6minaka, nunhlftistalahl, hams'hamfgus, nanstalihl-Paihpaqalanohsiwi, mitla, paqusllah-1, sisiutlilahl, kwikwasulahl, hamasilahl, hawayatalahl, ha'maa, qunhulahl, kolusilahl, h6hhukulail, kwakwahulahi, nane, hawinalahl, waswaslikyi, nfihlimahla, or hwahwilikya. The sparrows are subdivided into several groups, which bear some slight resemblance to the age-societies of the Plains Indians. The rules governing membership in these groups are very indefinite, and more often ignored than observed. There are several factors, including age, rank, personal preference, the status of one's companions, and the kind of dance one is giving up. The following are the Qagyuhl subdivisions of sparrows: I. Hyihyitpa ("sea-parrots"). The youngest boys. 2. HlihliThlkyu ("mallards"), now called kikakao ("chickens"). Young boys of thirteen to fifteen. 3. Hehaesla (plural of Haessla [Haisla], a tribal name). Youths of about sixteen. The name commemorates the killing of a party of Haisla by the Qagyuhl. 4. Tototopa ("rock-cods"). Active, quick-footed young men. 5. Maimhenoh ("killerwhales"). Strong young men. 6. Qequisa ("sparrows"). Men of thirty-five to forty. 7. K6quskimuh (plural of Koskimuh [Koskimo], a tribal name). Men of about fifty. 8. Qequylm ("whales"). The oldest men. 9. Wilhwahwahhuli (plural of waiwatihuli, a small bird). Women of eighteen to twentytwo years. io. Kyakyehiulaka. Women of about thirty years. ii. K6qifsahsium ("Koskimo women"). Women of forty to forty-five years. I2. Hehaefsahsum ("Haisla women "). Women of about fifty years. These were mostly women temporarily without husbands, ready for any prank, such as thrusting their bare legs down between the roof-boards of the dance house. 13. Musmus (Chinook jargon, "cows"). The oldest women. In I908 this society, which had been obsolete for some years, was succeeded by one obtained in marriage from the Nawiti -the pipatla.2 It has been explained that a man (or woman) becomes miqat or qefga (qefii'sta, "he changes into a sparrow") whenever, through his dancing and the people's singing and his subsequent purification by bathing, the spirit's control over him has been overcome. In 1 Until about I892 the hamatsas were not included among the seals, but stood apart under the name f2afiukumftin ("cedar-bark boxes"), the significance of the name being that as a box of pliable bark can be stretched to contain more after it seemingly is full, so the stomach of the hamatsa is never quite full. 2 The list does not include some groups peculiar to the septs Walas Qagyuhl and Kueha. The "sea-lions" and the "eaters" of Boas belong to the Walas Qagyuhl, the former being equivalent to the "whales" of the Qagyuhl. His naanE'Xsoku (naaniuhsoq) are the qeqesilis (see page I65) under a different name. {view image of facing page 164} Nunalalahl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 165} THE KWAKIUTL I65 the ceremony the sparrows, even more than the seals, pretend to be desirous that none shall join their ranks unless he has been completely tamed. To test the newcomer they utter all the words which formerly excited him, and do all the things which formerly he could not permit to be done without going into a frenzy. On leaving the ranks of the novitiate, he joins whatever group of sparrows is appropriate to his age, and there he remains until his increasing age brings him into another class. There is no initiation into these societies: before the winter dancing begins, the sparrows hold a meeting and informally arrange themselves according to age and sex. If a leader sees in the group above him one who appears too young for it, he calls that one back into his own group; and vice versa. In the dance house all these societies sit near one another, in order that if the novitiates, especially the hamatsas, become frenzied, they may lend mutual protection and assistance. Qesilis ("sparrow from the beginning") is a sparrow who has never been initiated into any degree. If a man desires to initiate his eldest son and the youth refuses, the father may then at a feast lay the case before the chiefs, saying, "My eldest son will not take this dance, and what shall I do?" The chiefs reply, "Kaihhyumt ['put the head-band on him']," meaning that he is to give away property at a winter dance and place the red cedar-bark head-band on the young man, who thus will become a member of the fraternity, though he has never been initiated into any dance, not even the lowest. He will belong to the qequifka, and specifically he will be called qesilis. No man who has been initiated into any dance, no matter how low in degree, can be qesilis. The qeqesilis (plural of qesilis) take the lead in the tormenting of the new qequiifa, trying to throw them into a frenzy such as they exhibited before they left the ranks of the novitiates.1 They are the ones who lead the sparrows in the funmaking of the winter dance. Women also may be qeqesilis and qequifa; as the latter they are designated qequifahsim (singular, qeftiahsim), or sparrow women. Myth of Pahpaqalanohsiwi The most important and striking feature of the entire winter ceremony is the performance of the hamatsa, the origin of which is accounted for in a myth. The Wikeno version follows. In the tribe Nihwu. nfitoh [living on Neechantz river (Nihwunft), Rivers inlet] was the chief Nunwakawi. He had three sons and a 1 See pages I83-I85, 205-207. {view image of page 166} I66 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN daughter. One summer berry-pickers began to disappear in a strange manner, and at last the daughter of Nunwakawi was missing. Her three brothers determined to search for their sister, and each took his bow and four arrows. As they travelled toward the mountains they saw an old woman in a little house. She called them in and asked where they were going. "We are going to hunt mountain-goats," they told her. "Take care!" said she. "When you see the foggy smoke, go to that place, for there is the home of the mountain-goats. If you see black smoke rising from a house, that will be the home of the bears. Do not go there! And if you see rainbow-colored smoke, do not go there, because that would be short life for you! That is the house of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. Lest you happen to go near that house, I am going to give you these things." And to the eldest brother she gave a small stick, a bit of stone, a piece of bladderkelp filled with oil, and a wooden comb. "If you happen to go to the house of Paihpaqalan6hsiwi," she continued, "as soon as he sees you he will try to eat you. When you run, he will pursue. Now when he comes too close, throw this piece of stone behind you, and the next time the oil, then the comb, then the cedar stick." They thanked her and went on, and it was not long before they saw fog-like smoke. They decided to go farther in search of their sister, and so likewise they passed by the black smoke of the bears. On they went toward the mountain until they saw smoke like the colors of the rainbow, and the eldest said, "That is the house of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi." The youngest answered, "We will have to be careful!" They proceeded slowly to a small house at the foot of the almost perpendicular mountain, and inside was their sister rocking a little boy in a cradle. As soon as the three brothers entered, the child began to cry loudly; for the second brother had torn his leg on the thorns as they journeyed, and the child was crying for the dripping blood. Said the young woman, "Scrape off that blood, please." So he scraped off the blood on a stick and handed it to her. She gave it to the child, who greedily licked off the blood. This act somewhat frightened the three brothers. One of them noticed that in a corner at the rear of the house was a hole through the roof, and he said, "Let us shoot at that hole, to see who is the best marksman." The youngest shot first, and his arrow went through the hole. The second was equally successful, and so was the eldest. "Now," said the eldest, "we shall have to go out and get our arrows." No sooner were they out of the door than they ran off swiftly. Without seeing them the woman knew they were running, and she hurried out and called: "Pahpaqalan6hsiwi, there was flesh in the house and it went out!" Immediately the brothers heard a whistle begin to sound on the top of the mountain, and it came down rapidly, as if flying. A hoarse voice crying hap! hap! hap! seemed to accompany the whistle. When they reached the top of a hill the sound was not far behind, and at the foot on the {view image of facing page 166} Paqusilahl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 167} THE KWAKIUTL I67 opposite side it was coming close. The eldest, who followed the others, now threw the piece of stone behind him, and it immediately grew into a great mountain between them and the pursuer. So on they ran, but before long Pahpaqalanohsiwi was close behind them. This time the comb was thrown down, and it became a tangled undergrowth. This too he passed, and then the oil, tossed behind, became a long lake in his path. When he again approached, the stick turned into a great cedar, which, no matter in what direction he dodged in order to pass it, always stood directly before him. By this time the brothers were near home, and the tree enabled them to bind long ropes about the house, and to bar the door. Even while they were telling their father how they had found their sister the wife of this man-eating being who was now pursuing them, Pahpaqalanohsiwi leaped upon the roof, where he ran up and down, whistling, and crying hap! hap! hap! Now Ninwakawi, as his name indicates, was very quick, resourceful, and decisive, and he shouted at once: "Paihpaqalan6hsiwi, be not so angry with my sons! I want you to come early tomorrow with your wife and your son. I will kill my sons and feed them to you!" Pahpaqalanohsiwi said nothing, but went away, and soon his whistle and his voice were heard in the distance. Then Nunwakawi had his sons dig a deep hole in front of the place of honor in the rear of the house, and in it they built a great fire, in which they laid a quantity of stones. When the fire had burned out and the stones were red-hot, they dragged the great back-rest directly over the hole. Finally they killed their three dogs and threw away every part except the intestines. Early in the morning they heard Paihpaqalan6hsiwi coming. Now, the body of this being was covered with holes, which were his mouths, and as he went, these mouths whistled constantly. As soon as Nunwakawi heard the whistles, he had three new mats spread out. "Now, my sons," said he, "come and lie down. Remain quiet, as if you were dead." They lay down on the mats, and Nunwakawi coiled the intestines of the dogs on the abdomens of his sons, so that they appeared to have been disemboweled. The daughter of Nunwakawi entered first, and he gave her a place on the back-rest, on which two new mats had been spread. Then Paihpaqalanohsiwi came in, and, discovering the bodies, made quickly toward them; but Nunwakawi restrained him: "Not so with us! We always have something to do before we feast." So Paihpaqalanohsiwi sat at the left of his wife, and Nunwakawi said: "Recline against the end of the back-rest. According to our custom, we are not to feed the guest as soon as he enters the house. The rule is, to tell four stories before we eat." For the first time the visitor spoke: "Tell the stories, then!" So Nuinwakawi began, and he related the story of what had happened to his sons in the search for their sister. When he reached the end, he saw that the eyes of his guest were growing heavy, and {view image of page 168} i68 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN he began at once to tell about the disappearance of his people. Next he made a story about the customs of the people of his village, and by this time Pahpaqalanohsiwi, his wife, and the child were sleeping. Nunwakawi pinched the toe of Paihpaqalanohsiwi, but the maneater did not move. Still he thought he had better tell the fourth story to make the number complete, and after a brief narrative about himself, he moved and sat as if by accident on the foot of Pahpaqalanohsiwi. There was no movement, and he whispered to his sons: "Get up! I have put him to sleep!" Then carefully they moved the back-rest, lifted the mat on which Paihpaqalanohsiwi and his child were lying, threw them into the pit on the red-hot stones, and quickly replaced the heavy back-rest over the hole. From the pit they heard him crying hap! hap! hap! and the whistling of his many mouths. Now the wife of Nunwakawi came out of the secret room at the rear of the house, and finding a whistle fallen out of one of the mouths she secreted it in her garment. The whistling in the pit continued four days and four nights, and during all that time the young woman slept. When the daughter of Nunwakawi awoke, she asked, "Where is my husband, and where is my son?" The eldest brother answered, "We have killed them." "Oh, you cannot kill him!" she exclaimed. "Death cannot hold him. Where is his body?" Nunwakawi spoke: "It is best to show her and ease her mind." So they removed the back-rest and pointed to the bones. She looked, and taking the mat on which she had been lying, she folded it into four thicknesses and fanned the ashes, which flew upward and turned into mosquitoes, sandflies, and deerflies. "You shall be man-eaters forever!" she said. "You will constantly be seeking man's blood." Then her mother took out the whistle and asked what it was. The daughter seized it, saying: "Oh, I thought all these were burned! Now we can have fie'fehka [the winter dance]." She hid the whistle and would not let them examine it. Now the family prepared to follow her to the house of Paihpaqalanohsiwi, which, she told them, was called tuwinati ["mountain-goat hunter's house"]. They found it full of drying mountain-goat flesh and of human bodies with their abdomens cut open lying across scaffolds in the smoke. She said: "Do you want those bodies to have life? If you do, we can get the living water." Nunwakawi answered: "We will pick out our nearest relations. Get this living water." She explained that it was in te'ftehkafti ["winter-dance house"], and directed them to lay the bodies of their nearest relations in a row. Then she invited them to accompany her to fe'f3ehkaf2i. So they went along the foot of the precipice, and around a corner they found a cave, into which she conducted them. Here she called her father aside to the right-hand corner of {view image of page 169} THE KWAKIUTL I69 the front of the cave, where in the very corner they found a door, and she led him in. Here were three great masks representing three of the servants of Paihpaqalan6hsiwi: Kwahqaqalan6hsiwi, Hohhuq, and Kaloquifuis. In a second secret room the woman showed her father the dance costume of K6minaka, in a third the costume of Nunhlfkistalahl, and in a fourth that of Kyenkalatlulu. All these she gave him in addition to the meat and the skins, and finally at the left of the door in a hollow rock she showed him the living water, directing him to sprinkle it on whatever corpse he wished to revive. He carried some of it in his hand to the house of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi and sprinkled it on the dead, who at once sat up and rubbed their eyes, saying, "We have had a long sleep!" Then they were made to carry to the house of Nunwakawi the mountaingoat flesh and skins, the masks and dance costumes. Before returning home the young woman said to her eldest brother: "You will be Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. All the flesh of the mountain-goats which he killed was for me. He himself ate only human flesh, dead bodies. So you shall eat these dead bodies. When we go, you will remain behind and eat them." So the eldest brother lived in the house with the dead and ate their dry flesh. Now the young woman knew not only the sixteen songs of Paihpaqalan6hsiwi, but the four songs of K6minaka, the four of Nunhfltistalahl, and the two of Kyenkalatluilu. Therefore after Nuinwakawi had cleared his house and arranged it exactly like the fle'fehkafi of Pahpaqalanohsiwi, and the secret rooms were ready, the second brother disappeared at her command, and four days later the youngest likewise. They went straight to the house of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi, and except the young woman and her father none knew where they had gone nor what had happened to them. Their sister had ordered them to eat nothing but dry human flesh. This was in the moon when salalberries ripen [September]. Four moons later Nunwakawi called his people together, and spoke thus: "My sons have disappeared. Of course you do not know why they have disappeared. Now I will tell you the secret. My daughter was taken from me by Paihpaqalan6hsiwi, and many of our people disappeared; yet we did not know whither they had gone, until my sons found what had killed them. They learned that Pafhpaqalan6hsiwi had taken their sister. He it was who was killing our people, taking them for his food. Now, since we have killed him, my sons have disappeared to take the place of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. By killing him I obtained this tiefehka, the dance of Pahpaqalanohsiwi, which I am going to show you. Tomorrow this house will be l6puq ['cleared out for a ceremony']. Tomorrow all of your names will be changed. The winter dance will begin tomorrow, and no summer names will be used. No summer songs will be sung, and instead of red paint only charcoal will be used. Instead of white cedar-bark only that which is red with alder juice {view image of page 170} I70 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN will be worn on your heads. If any of you use these forbidden things, his life will be short. Tonight my daughter will disappear. My eldest son will be hamatsa in the place of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. And when he comes, he may eat some of you. My daughter will be K6minaka. My second son will be Nunh1fitstalaIl, and my youngest will be Kyenkalatllul. Before my daughter disappears, she will teach us the songs." So that night certain men went into the house and learned the songs, and the young woman disappeared. In the morning the people washed themselves in order to wash off the summer names, and while they were so engaged they heard in the woods the whistles of Pahpaqalanohsiwi. Thus was the first winter dance begun. The Winter Dance The winter ceremony is called e'fltehka (" secrets," or "tricks of legerdemain"), a name which aptly characterizes the great majority of the component performances.1 There are many points of difference in the procedure observed by the tribes, but in the main the variations are unessential. During a period of about four months, beginning usually in the middle of November, the members of the secret society devote themselves exclusively to the winter dances and the accompanying feasts, potlatches, payment of marriage debts, and other festivities. No work not absolutely essential to existence or to the progress of the ceremony is performed. The ordinary or summer name, as well as the feast name, of each member is now rigidly taboo, and his ceremonial or winter name is adopted. Among the Wikeno the winter names of all males refer to the female organs, and vice versa, which indicates the admitted fact that the winter is a- season of uncommon sexual promiscuity. Summer songs are taboo, and constant merriment and good feeling are urged. The symbol of the winter dance is cedar-bark dyed red with alder-bark juice and fashioned into variously shaped rings for the head, neck, elbows, wrists, knees, and ankles, each degree in the society being distinguished by the peculiarities of its bark rings. The norm of the winter dance we may consider to be a performance in which a hamatsa and his three companions - k6minaka, nunhlti~stalahl, and kyenkalatluilu - are initiated. As a matter of fact such an occasion is of rare occurrence. One or all of the three companions of hamatsa may be missing, because of the fact that 1 In order to preserve the fiction of miraculous power, this telltale name is not used before the uninitiated. Qeqiftohi ("they are playing sparrows" - qeqaifa) is substituted. {view image of page 171} THE KWAKIUTL I7I the man giving the dance has no membership in these orders to confer, and either lacks the means to hire a recent initiate, or can find none willing, to repeat the initiation dance for him.1 The following is an account of the procedure observed by the Qagyuhl when a hamatsa and his three companions are being initiated.2 A man who is about to transfer his membership in a certain dance calls to his house a song-maker (ndkati, man of understanding), whose profession is musical composition and the leading of singers on ceremonial occasions, and a "word-passer" (tlikotalu), who sets words to music and on public occasions stands and chants each line in advance of the singers in order to prompt them. These two are requested to make the necessary number of songs, the number depending on the dance in question. For the hamatsa it is sixteen. So the composers go into the woods, sometimes accompanied by a kwanutlhmi ("sitting close beside the head"), who is a novice in the art of composition. The song-maker draws inspiration chiefly from the sounds of running or dropping water, and from the notes of birds. Sitting beside a rill of falling water, he listens intently, catches the music, and hums it to himself, using not words but the vocables hamamama. This is his theme. Then he carries the theme further, making variations, and at last he adds a finale which he calls the "tail." After a while he goes to the word-passer, constantly humming the tune, and the word-passer, catching the air, joins in, and then sets a single word to it. This is called "tying the song," so that it may not "drift away" like an unmoored canoe. Then gradually other words are added, until the song is complete. The novice sits a little apart from the master, and if he "finds" a melody, he "carries" it at once to the song-maker, who quickly catches the theme and proceeds to develop it. Many songs are obtained from the robin, some from a waterfowl which whistles 1 A peculiar pantomime in which none of the regular dancers appears is called h6hsamlilhla, and is conducted as follows: On the first night the giver of the ceremony announces, "We will show our hdohtlYn." This refers to all the masks owned by his family, which have been arranged in rows behind a curtain stretched across the rear of the room. While the people strike with their batons without singing, the curtain is raised with three ropes passing over a roof-beam, and every mask suddenly rises and moves about in its place. In a few minutes the curtain is lowered, and with brief intervals the spectacle is repeated three times more. The maskers are supposed to be carried away by the spirits which they represent, and hence they remain hidden during the next three days. On the second and the third night there is no dancing, but a feast is given, and on the fourth night the dancing with masks is repeated in order to recover the maskers from the spirits that have captured them. 2 The greatest liberty is taken with the rules supposed to govern the ceremony, so that a presentation of the rites might materially differ from this description, both in the sequence of events and in the conduct of the participants. {view image of page 172} I72 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN before diving, and from other birds. An informant has seen a songmaker, after employing various themes, coil a rope and then compose a song representing it. On a certain occasion when the singers were practising the new songs in the woods, the song-maker lacked one to complete the number, and he asked the others if any had a song. The other composers present said they had none. One of them looked across at a visiting woman nakati and said to the presiding song-maker, "I will ask her." She heard the phrase, caught the inflection of the rising and falling syllables, and began to sing hamamama. As the sound left her lips, those on the opposite side of the circle heard it and at once began to hum, and together they composed the necessary song. This manner of catching a melody is called "scooping it up in the hands." Payment is insisted upon before the songs are used. Winterdance songs for men sell at five dollars each, and for women at one dollar. Some bring fifteen dollars each, because they are very long and contain a great many words, reciting the deeds and names of the man for whom they are made. At the conclusion of the ceremony the dancer or his father may condemn some of the songs, and these are discarded, although they have been paid for and no others are composed without additional payment. It is the duty of the songmaker and the word-passer to hold in memory from year to year the air and the words of every song they have sold, and, whenever there is occasion for the use of these songs, to sing them, their remuneration for this service being included in the original payment.' On the day before the initiates are to reappear, the song-maker, the word-passer, and a number of singers go into the woods to a certain cleared space called nakas, where the song-maker sits behind a board that lies on the ground, and beats upon it with a stick while the songs are learned. On the morning following the practising of the songs, the hamatsa initiate conceals himself near another clearing (not far from the nakas), within which sit the three who are to be initiated respectively as k6minaka, nu.nhlftistalahl, and kyenkalatluilu, and hither come the singers. First they sing the hamatsa songs, and the young man in his concealment carefully listens, noting the rhythm and the words, and practising appropriate gestures, so that when he dances in the 1 Winter-dance songs are rendered in the lower register with resonant tones, the tongue being thrown back and the notes expelled with a strong vibratory effect. Love-songs, on the contrary, are sung in a falsetto, and the songs of the tlu'wulahiu ceremony are rendered in the natural tone. {view image of facing page 172} Hamatsa emerging from the woods - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 173} THE KWAKIUTL I73 house he may not be at a loss. Then the other three initiates rise and dance while their songs are practised, endeavoring to make themselves proficient. All this time a substitute, whom the pihus (uninitiated) believe to be the real hamatsa initiate, is running back and forth on the beach in the sight of the villagers, and the attendants are whistling in the woods, running along in a course parallel with his, and using their whistles in such a way that the sounds seem to come from him. Those who use the whistles are either hamatsas or hehams'hamfius (plural of hams'hamfuiis). The whistles are of cedar, but of various kinds, some broad and flat, others cylindrical, some having two pipes joined with one mouthpiece. All produce mournful notes reminiscent of the sighing wind. The practice singing is soft, so as not to be heard in the village; nevertheless on a calm day it can be heard, and causes much talk both among the palius and among those pepahala who are in the village, and some one quickly comes to caution the singers. For the paihus people are always listening and hoping to hear something go wrong. They are constantly in opposition to the pepahala, not from any feeling of personal or class enmity, but as a part of the play. Thus, a father of many children may be unable to initiate all of them into the society, on account of the great expense, and when the dancing season begins, those who are not initiated are barred from entering their own house. Their brothers and sisters have something that they themselves have not, and this fact creates in them a spirit of opposition and the hope, not malicious so much as mischievous, that things will go wrong. On both sides great care is taken that the uninitiated discover none of the secrets. It is said that in ancient times one who was so unfortunate as to do so, whether by accident or design, was put to death. More recently he is compelled to undergo initiation. It is for this reason that during the progress of a winter dance pathus children may be seen walking at the very margin of the beach, or even in the water, until they have passed the dance house. One winter day about the year 1865, when the singers and the initiates were assembled in the clearing for practice, a pdius man happened upon them. They seized and bound him, and told him he must be initiated. He replied that on account of his poverty he could not, but they confined him. The other pdhius in some manner learned of this mischance, and at once the men and many of the women girded up their robes and pinned them at the shoulder so as to leave the right arm free, in the manner of warriors, and painted their faces. With clubs and sticks they {view image of page 174} 174 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN set out secretly through the woods, and fell upon the initiated, beating them vigorously and driving them down to the beach. Then they stormed back into the village and broke into the houses until they found the prisoner and released him. They destroyed a great deal of property, both canoes on the beach and dishes and boxes in the houses. This has happened twice at Fort Rupert and once at Nawiti. It is called waaiahstu ("dogs going through the village"); for the padhus are nicknamed "dogs" and "ghosts" (in the winter speech, wasfie and yayilamiliw). While the singers are practising in the woods, the members of the society have been summoned to the dance house, and Nuhni'mis, the master of ceremonies (an hereditary official), has ordered them to "save our great friend," - in other words, to rescue the hamatsa initiate from Pahpaqalanohsiwi by catching him and exorcising the supernatural madness that possesses him. All wear their red cedarbark rings and have their faces variously painted with charcoal applied on tallow, while their hair is covered with white eagle-down. The seals, arranged in classes, precede the sparrows, and the party moves slowly toward the sound of the hamatsa whistles. On the way they stop while several youths provide them with green hemlock twigs which they weave into neck-wreaths, thrusting a single sprig upright inside their head-bands. They advance toward the substitute hamatsa, who is running wildly near the edge of the woods, and suddenly they surround him. In order to mystify the village spectators he quickly substitutes red bark ornaments for his green hemlock rings, and when the crowd opens he has apparently disappeared, quickly to reappear at a considerable distance in the person of a second substitute dressed exactly like him; and this one is surrounded and lost in the same manner. After several repetitions of this trick the members join hands and, singing, approach the real hamatsa. A naked man is placed in advance of all the others, as a bait, and suddenly the hamatsa rushes out, seizes the man, and bites his forearm. While he is thus engaged the people take him and lead him to the dance house. The kyenkalatlului, naked except for hemlock wreaths, accompanies the hamatsa, while the lkminaka and nfnlilftistalahl remain somewhat apart. During the return with the captives the people sing the songs of these initiates. Kyenkalatluilui, walking backward, enters the house and tries to entice hamatsa, but he warily remains in the doorway. * A NAKOAKTOK MAWIH-. The painting represents the thunderbird catching a whale. The chief stands on a sisiutl feasting-dish, which has been dragged in on its wheels. {view image of facing page 174} A Nakoaktok mawihl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 175} THE KWAKIUTL 175 During this play between kyenkalatlulu and hamatsa the people erect the mawihl and the hams'pek ("eating pole"). The mawihI is a seven- or eight-foot square of thin, smooth, closely joined boards, having a symbolical painting. It stands in front of the secret room in the rear of the dance house, and represents the front of the house of Paihpaqalanohsiwi. A new mawihil is made for each ceremony and burned at its conclusion. Just behind the ma'wiR rises the hams'pek, a heavy pole extending through the roof. At its top is a cross-piece from which hangs a triangular sheet of cedar-bark bearing the painted face of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. Now hamatsa enters, turns to the right, and runs to the mawihl, squatting and never standing upright. He disappears behind the mawihI and then is seen climbing the hams'pek to the roof. Soon he descends, rushes round the fire, seizes a spectator's arm and bites it, and again mounts to the roof by way of the pole.' Four times he descends from the roof and bites the arm of a spectator. The biting occurs when the song, which in every case suggests the act of eating human flesh, reaches its most exciting phrase. He never actually bites out a piece of flesh -a feat which is said to be impossible. He simply takes the skin between his teeth and pulls vigorously, stretching the skin away from the forearm, and a practised attendant swiftly and furtively severs it with a small knife. The act is so quick that it is undetected, and spectators not in the secret believe that hamatsa has bitten out the piece. All the while the people are singing the new hamatsa's songs, and various women rise and perform the characteristic gestures of their respective dances. Singing and dancing cease when he retires to the roof or to the secret room, but his whistles, blown by confederates, continue to sound. After a distribution of presents by the giver of the ceremony the people repair to their homes in time for a late breakfast. Then the giver of the dance brings out a pile of blankets, never fewer than a hundred for the hamatsa and a lesser number for the other initiates. These are the yutiu ("something flat on which to 1 Some hamatsa initiates, unable to climb the pole, pay no attention to it, but after each circuit of the fire withdraw into the secret room for a few minutes. In exceptional cases the hamatsa enacts the myth of Pihpaqalan6hsiwi more literally by climbing to the top of the pole and, while sitting on the cross-piece, making characteristic gestures. The Awaitlala hams'pek is a hollowed half of a log set on end, its length carved into five huge faces with enormous mouths opening into the interior of the column. When the hamatsa initiate climbs to the top, he crawls over the edge and emerges from the uppermost mouth, then descends, head first, to the next mouth, through which he creeps to the inside of the tree; and so he winds his way down, in and out of the five mouths, all in conformity with the Awaitlala myth of Pihpaqalan6hsiwi. The Bellabella hams'pek stands in front of the house. {view image of page 176} 176 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN dance"). Figuratively they are taken to be the eagle-down that falls from the head of the giver of the dance and makes the ground soft for the feet of the dancers. This is omitted only in rare instances when a man unwisely neglects to prepare for it. The people then say of the hamatsa, in ridicule: "He is dancing on the hard floor! He has no eagle-down!" As soon as the spectators have departed, the official speaker rises to make known the ceremonial names of the initiates. He forcibly thrusts his speaker's staff upon the ground, making an indentation, and repeats the name of the hamatsa, saying, "This will be the name of the hamatsa." Then he relates the mythical or legendary history of the name, and in the same manner confers names on the other initiates. Four men carefully note these names, because it is their duty to announce them in the street. Finally the giver of the dance thanks the speaker: "That is what I have been wishing, to get these new names." The yuitu blankets are then removed. Sometimes the hamatsa, especially one who has spent the prescribed four months in the woods, is caught absolutely naked, without even a head-band, and all the other hamatsas, regardless of age, at once prepare for a mummy feast. The initiate, after dancing to one song, rushes out of the house and soon returns carrying a mummy wrapped in hemlock branches. Immediately all the hamatsas utter their cry, and, quite naked, go squatting to meet the corpse. One of them places the great box-drum behind the fire, and another - the corpse-cutter - takes the body and lays it on the drum. He severs the head and gives it to the initiate, dismembers the body and distributes the parts among the others. All the hamatsas then squat on the floor with the legs, arms, and ribs across their knees, and begin to eat. At the conclusion of the feast the bones are dropped into a box, and by an attendant are thrown into deep water, in order that they may not decay and so cause corresponding corruption of those whose touch lingers on them. Then the strongest men of the tribe are called upon to wash the hamatsas. They grasp them by the hair and with simulated roughness drag them out of the house, down the beach, and into the water. All 1Or an imitation. See pages 221-222. * A NAKOAKTOK MAWIHL. The plate depicts Raven and the man into which Raven changes himself at will. That the man is merely a transformed raven is indicated by the feathers hanging from his head. In the abdomen appears the mouth that is inside the Raven, giving him his insatiable appetite. This crest, inherited from his mother's Nakoaktok family, is painted on the mawihl of Siwit, chief of the Kyekykyenok gens of the Awaitlala. {view image of facing page 176} A Nakoaktok mawihl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 177} THE KWAKIUTL 177 face eastward, the hamatsas cry out hap! hap! hap! and the strong men force them under the water and turn them around until they again face the east. The hamatsas come up, take a breath, and again utter their cry. This is done four times, and then the hamatsas are taken into the secret room. Specific instances of alleged cannibalism will be cited later. The initiates and the attendants of hamatsa spend the day in the secret room, some of the latter whistling almost constantly. The people devote the day to preparations for the dance, which will begin at dark and continue until after midnight. At dusk (about four o'clock) the giver of the dance sends four heralds with their speaker's staffs through the village with a request for the people to come and tame the initiates. At the first house they stand on the threshold, one behind the other, and the leader calls the winter name of each inmate, adding: "Lamans yohlatlai, pepahale, lahi N6htanafii1 ['we now will tame Great One-man Eater, shamans']!" Before he has well finished, the second begins: "Lamans nanokamatlai, pepahale, lahi kya tlugwala 2 gyai, pepahale ['now, shamans, we will restore to his senses this present tlugwala, shamans']!" Even while his voice still echoes in the house, the third cries: "Halagydill tluns, hai! pepahale ['quickly we rise, hai! shamans']!" Immediately the fourth adds: "Wila etla tlunsai tla wuns ftetake hai! tla wuns papapahium hai ['all we will follow inside, and these our women, hai! and these our children of shamans, hai']!" These formulas they repeat at each house. A little later three of the heralds, leaving the leader, return to each house and one of them shouts, "We have walked back after you!" The people now begin to stir. The third call is brought by two men, and finally a single man passes through the village crying, "I am the last one to call!" Now the people stream toward the house of the man giving the dance, and the herald, returning, looks into each house, or tries the door, to see that no one remains behind. The speaker thanks the people for their presence, after which three other men speak to the singers, bidding them take up their batons, and to the people, urging them to refrain from laughter and from speech, lest they say words that excite the hamatsa. Then is heard the cry of the four male attendants of k6minaka: hai, ai, hai, hai, hai! But the batons are silent, and the giver of the dance, aware of the significance of the situation, directs his servants to bring 1 Or whatever may be the new name of the hamatsa. 2 Tlugwala ("to find something," hence to obtain magic power from a spirit) is here an epithet of the hamatsa initiate. VOL. X-12 {view image of page 178} I78 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN out the blankets that pay for the songs. Then the singers, who sit in a row at the rear of the room, begin to sing rapidly, beating on boards with their batons, while k6minaka and her four attendants come out from behind the mawihzl, she dancing while the attendants keep crying holp! in order to tame her. When she emerged from the woods in the morning she wore only a scanty girdle of hemlock twigs with a wreath and arm- and leg-rings of the same material.' Now, however, as an indication that she has become partially human instead of a forest spirit, red cedar-bark has replaced the hemlock, and she wears an apron and sometimes a blanket. After dancing for a while on her yut'u, she moves slowly round the room, counterclockwise, and when for the second time she reaches the rear, she dances back and forth between the fire and the place of honor. Her dancing consists of slow steps taken with a little spring at the knees, while the palms are held upward, the arms being half extended, first at one side then at the other. This is suggestive of the carrying of a dead body for the hamatsa. Usually there are two songs in rapid and two in slow tempo. After each of the first three songs there is a pause of ten or fifteen minutes, during which the four attendants surround the woman, who sits or stands, sheltered by their blankets. Just before the last song ends she walks into the secret room, the attendants with her and still crying hopp! One of them now comes out and calls: "All you pepahala, I have good news for you! The spirit is out of our great friend!" Next there is heard in the secret room the cry of nfnhilfilstalail: hwi, hwi, hwi! and the singers start a song of this initiate in rapid tempo. Then nunhltfi3stalaml and his four attendants appear. When this initiate came out of the woods he wore rings of hemlock around neck, arms, and legs, and a mass of hemlock was bound on the top of his head, sloping backward. During the day the hemlock has been exchanged for red cedar-bark, and he is further clothed with a blanket. His bark neck-ring passes over one shoulder and under the other; his unbraided hair is brought forward at the sides, and the two parts are bound together with bark so that his hair hangs down over his face in a tangled mass. As he dances he shakes his head and flings the hair back over his forehead. Two of his attendants have long whistles concealed beneath their blankets, and constantly blow long, shrill notes. Nunnhiltistalah squats with one foot directly beneath him and with only the ball touching the ground, 1 When there is to be a mummy feast, k6minaka sometimes brings the body, wrapped in hemlock, from the woods. {view image of facing page 178} Nunhltsistalahl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 179} THE KWAKIUTL 179 and the other foot flat and a little advanced before him. He first dances on his yutiu blankets. He shakes his body up and down, at intervals moving forward by thrusting first one foot then the other in front of him, and pivoting as he goes. He constantly stares at the fire, and occasionally he stretches out his hands toward it and draws them up to his open mouth as though he were grasping and eating it. His attendants keep between him and the fire, but as the songs proceed he works his way in closer and closer, until the attendants' blankets are scorched. Toward the end of the fourth song he begins to seize the burning sticks by the end and throw them promiscuously over his shoulder, and when the sticks are gone he scoops up the burning coals and hot ashes and scatters them about, often burning the spectators rather severely. He is able to do this because his attendants, after the throwing of the brands, have crowded about him under the pretence of restraining him, and have placed on his palms a sheet of thin wood covered with leather. Each person who is burned afterward receives pay from the initiator of ninhulftstalahl. Now from the secret room comes the sound of many whistles of different pitch, high and low, blowing notes short and long, and through all rings the hoarse, thrilling cry of hamatsa: hap! hap! hap! Six or eight attendants appear with their backs to the people. Their robes are fastened at the neck and tied back at the waist, so that only the back and the chest are covered, and beneath the robe each has a whistle so placed that by bending the neck he can reach it with his mouth. They keep the hamatsa hidden as long as they can, but usually he soon breaks through their line, and they run after him, trying to keep around him, and some holding him by the hemlock neck-ring as if they were restraining a wild beast. After dancing for a moment on his yutdu blankets he moves along stooping, sliding ahead one foot then the other. When he comes to the rear, as also when he reaches the front of the room, he always pivots on the left foot, but seldom does this elsewhere. He extends one arm, palm upward, then the other. He advances on certain lines which have been secretly marked out on the floor, and those who have been previously warned by the initiator that hamatsa will bite them sit where these lines touch the edge of the open space, so that hamatsa can easily reach them. Generally they sit out in front of the others, but with a few spectators scattered near and perhaps even in front of them, so as not to be too conspicuous. As the hamatsa dances, his attendants occasionally whisper to him the position {view image of page 180} I80 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN of the next person to be bitten. It is necessary to restrict the number of those bitten, since each one must be paid. Usually a large canoe or two hundred blankets is the price, the amount depending on the rank of the bitten one. The hamatsa usually bites two or three men as soon as he comes out of the secret room. At the end of the first four songs, while the singers beat on the boards, the hamatsa, still stooping low, runs rapidly around the room with his arms outstretched on either side, palms downward and hands trembling slightly, as he simulates great strength. The attendants run behind, two holding his upper arms and the others grasping the hemlock neck-ring. After encircling the fire twice, he suddenly throws off the hemlock ring, wristlets, and anklets, and runs about the fire twice and still more rapidly, and finally he dashes behind the mawiil at the left side, while the attendants go around at the right. As soon as he has disappeared, the cry of hap! hap! hap! ceases, and the people hear the cry of the raven, k6! ko! k6! and the sound of raven's mandibles clapping together. Two of the singers begin to chant slowly, and there appears a man - supposedly hamatsa - wearing kwadwiwi hamsiwi, the mask of Kwahqaqaln6hsiwi. He faces the mawi/l, and dances by stepping high without moving from his place. At the end of the song he leaps suddenly into the air and squats down simultaneously with the ending of the song. The singers abruptly accelerate their beating to a rapid tempo, and the raven masker goes through various motions, while squatting on the floor and holding in his hands the strings that control the beak. Thus he is unable to aid his movements with his hands, and as his performance at times amounts almost to contortions while he squats or actually sits flat on the floor with a ponderous, unwieldy mask on his head and his hands occupied with the strings, his task is not a light one. Only a very strong man can undertake it. As the singing proceeds, he leaps to his feet, the beak flies open and claps shut, and he cries hap! hap! hap! k! ko! ko!! to indicate that he is both hamatsa and raven. Then begins another song with the slow, measured beating, and the raven masker moves toward the door of the house, stepping high and timing his arrival at the front of the room with the end of this song, so that just after arriving there he again leaps into the air and drops to the floor as the song ends. Again the tempo becomes rapid, and the raven repeats his dance. When the next song is begun, he returns to the right, rear corner and dances. At the end of this fourth song he rushes behind the mavuih, and {view image of page 181} THE KWAKIUTL simultaneously out dashes the hamatsa from the other side, with his hap! hap! hap! k k6!! k6! while the attendants pursue him. He crouches and runs rapidly round the fire four times, while the singers beat rapidly without singing. He constantly utters his cries, and his attendants hold him as before, as if to restrain him with great effort. After the fourth circuit they dash again behind the mawihl. Immediately is heard the cry, hap, hap, hap! hawuwuwuwuwuwuuwuwu! and there is the noise of a great beak clapping shut. Then comes out another man wearing the mask of Kalo6qufuis (kal6qiwi hamsiwi) and performs to the same songs and in the same manner as the raven masker. After this masker has withdrawn, hamatsa comes again, this time with hap! hap! hap! h6! ho! ho! and again he runs four times about the fire and then back into the secret room. At the same time a man wearing the mask of H6hhuq (h6hhuqiwi hamsiwi) comes out clapping his bill and crying hap! hap! hap! ho! ho! ho! He performs just like the other two maskers. When he retires, hamatsa comes out, stark naked since throwing off the hemlock, and runs stooping around the fire four times, while the initiator rises and calls to the attendants, "Hold him down!" They leap upon him and bring him to the ground, making a great show of having to exert strength, and hamatsa acts like a wild animal. When finally they have mastered him, they hold him there, and an old hamatsa, stark naked, takes a five-foot staff and calls for an old cedar-bark blanket, which he rolls and ties to one end of the rod, like a mop. This staff is the "tamer of the man-eater with fire." He brings the roll close to the fire, and the singers begin to beat without singing. He swings slowly about, counter-clockwise, and when his back is to the fire the singers give a loud, abrupt stroke and he leaps into the air. He turns on around and again holds the mat near the fire. This act is repeated four times, and the last time the roll is actually put into the fire and lighted. It burns slowly, and he walks with it around the room. When he approaches hamatsa, the strokes of the batons become more violent. He waves the blazing mat four times over hamatsa and the attendants, continuing the fourth motion in a swing completely around the circle, and when his back is turned to hamatsa the singers give a loud rap and he leaps into the air. He turns on around, and repeats his motions. 1 This resembles the sound made when one shivers and utters the exclamation expressive of coldness. {view image of page 182} I82 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Every time the blazing mat is waved over him and the sparks fall on his bare back, hamatsa cries hap! hap! hap! The attendants crouch around him with bowed heads. When for the fourth time the old hamatsa turns away from the group, and the singers beat loudly, he throws the staff with its burning mat carelessly toward the door. Any one who happens to be struck receives something for the damage, usually a large canoe, from the man giving the ceremony. Sometimes the initiate still wears his hemlock rings, in which case the old hamatsa tears them off and casts them into the fire. The initiator now calls again to the attendants to hold the hamatsa down, and a woman of high rank brings a robe, usually a bearskin and preferably that of a grizzly-bear, which she belts around the initiate's waist. Then she puts on him the red cedar-bark ornaments: the wristlets (f2ti/h7lftani) and the anklets ({tfithlfiifiee), consisting of four superimposed rings, the ends of the bands flowing free; the neck-ring (y6hawi), a large, thick rope of cedar splints wrapped spirally with reddened cedar-bark cord; and the head-band (yi5hwuhi), consisting of three rings, one above the other, each succeeding one being slightly larger and hence jutting out beyond the one below it. Then tallow is rubbed on his face, and one of the attendants crushes charcoal in his palms and powders the hamatsa's face until it is black. Another announces, "It is finished." The hamatsa seems now very weak. All the supernatural strength is apparently gone from him. The singers begin to sing in slow tempo, and he rises and dances quietly. Women engaged by the initiator rise in their places and perform their gesture dances. When the song ends he crouches while the attendants stand about him. Another song is begun, and hamatsa rises again and dances very quietly, while the attendants whistle less loudly. Twelve songs are repeated in this way, and each time hamatsa becomes more tranquil and the whistles more subdued. As the last song nears the end, he walks into the secret room. Then the speaker, for the giver of the dance, distributes miscellaneous gifts, such as canoes and guns, but not blankets, to the singers and those who have been engaged to perform in various capacities, and the people depart. On the second and the third day there is feasting in the dance house until about dark. Ordinarily nothing is done at night, except * HAMATSA. This costume is worn after the exorcising of the spirit of Pahpaqalan6hsiwi by means of dancing and fire. {view image of facing page 182} Hamatsa - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 183} THE KWAKIUTL I83 that the sparrows hold feasts in various houses and play in their usual manner. But if the giver of the ceremony is a man of great wealth, the second and the third night are spent in dancing. Early in the morning after the taming of the hamatsa, four speakers ceremonially dressed in blankets and eagle-down stand in the doorway of the dance house and call hamatsa and the other initiates to the feast. They go through the village and stop before each house, while three of them shout, one after another, "Lfmunuti tlilalaal ['now we call']!" The fourth concludes, "Halakili tlinsai ['we go quickly']!" After two or three hours they return and shout in concert, inside the doors, "Efiestaai ['walk back again']!" Shortly after noon they bring the third summons, shouting hurriedly and simultaneously, but not in unison, "Lfmunuti ka'iistaai ['now we walk back again']!" The fourth summons is delivered shortly before dusk, about three o'clock. With their speaker's staffs they enter each house, beat downward upon boards, and cry: "Wi, wi, wi, wi! Lfmunuhi laqaai ['now we truly talk']! We! Kyahwanahlitali ['now get ready']!" At the last house they continue pounding with their staffs until all the initiated inmates have departed. If there is to be dancing, these members are only the sparrows and the seals; for the active dancers are assembled in some secret place, painting and dressing themselves for their parts. Returning along the street the speakers enter each house in order to make certain that no members linger behind; and whatever food they find on the floor they eat. For these callers are always hehams'hamfuiis who have become seals, and the nature of a hams'hamfius is to devour everything edible. If a herald approaches a paius by mistake, as if to drive him out to the feast, the latter slaps his thighs and cries haImamamamama (the language of the ghosts), and the herald withdraws. Thus also when a hamatsa, running in a frenzy, makes for a patius person, the latter gives the ghost cry and the hamatsa drops his head and runs away. After the people have come in, one of the heralds goes around the room looking carefully into their faces without saying a word. If any one is missing, as usually is the case, he announces the fact and adds, "We will go and find his face!" Then the four rush out and do not cease their search until they find the man. His absence is generally caused by a secret meeting with a woman, and when he comes in all the people significantly call hm...! An occasion such as this assembly is a favorite time for the sparrows to indulge in their play. For example, they approach a {view image of page 184} 184 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN nfilimahla who has recently given up his dance to join their band, and seize him, saying: "Why do you sit there so still? I suppose you are thinking of your old ways!" They pull his nose, an act which no nuihlimahla can endure. One of them takes him by the hair and draws back his head while another strikes his nose several times with a stick. Then they release him, and if as he stands there he looks the least bit out of humor, they thrust their fingers at him and shout: "Look at him, look at him! It is coming back on him!" Then he looks rather dazed and asks: "What is it? What is the matter?" And off he goes into the fit of the nfih-lmahla. This of course is all planned. On such occasions, if there is present a bear dancer who has decided to become a sparrow, the play is even more rough. The sparrows are always laughing merrily, and if they perceive that the former bear dancer is laughing not quite so lightheartedly as the rest, but perhaps a little gruffly or with an effort, they stop before him, point their fingers, and say: "What is the matter with you? You laugh angrily. It must be coming back on you!" He denies that he is any longer a bear, and asserts that he is truly a sparrow. "Then why are you hiding your hands?" they demand. They pull his hands out from the folds of his blanket and hold them up, but he quickly thrusts them again beneath his robe. "He is a bear!" they cry. "His hands are hairy; he tries to hide them!" Then as he sits there, they ask, "Why do you tuck your blanket so closely under you?" They pull out the edges, and he tries to prevent them; for the grizzly-bear is supposed to have something about his buttocks which he carefully hides from view. The sparrows seize the bear man, pull his robe up above his waist, and drag him to the fire, where they hold him with his bare buttocks toward the heat and exposed to the view of the people. He begins, very naturally, to growl, and they let him go. He may then start raving like a bear; but if he does not, they seize his hands and hold the palms to the heat. This invariably sends him into a fury, and he goes about raving and growling, and acting as much like a bear as possible, while his tormentors shout: "It has come back on him! He is a bear! He is no sparrow; he is a bear!" A man who has been initiated as a ~funukwa dancer and tries to become a sparrow never quite succeeds. He associates with the sparrows, but is never able to laugh properly. He always appears to be sleepy and dazed, like a fuznukwa, and when any one points a finger at him and moves it slowly in a circle before him, he lies down and falls asleep, no matter where he may be. This is a sign {view image of facing page 184} Nane - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 185} THE KWAKIUTL i85 that the spirit has not quite left him. When the sparrows are walking in a body, he wanders off in another direction until some of them come running after him and seize him by the arm. Then he comes to his senses with a jerk, as if awaking from sleep. At a feast he always sits close to the fire, and while the others feast he sits there nodding as if he can remain awake only by the greatest effort. Some of the sparrows then come to him and inquire what is the matter. And the ftinukwalah- jerks his head up with an apparent effort and replies: "Oh, what is it? I suppose I was sleeping." The sparrow responds, "Well, if you are so sleepy, you can sleep." Then he points a forefinger at ftinukwalah1, moves the tip in a circle several times, and soon the other nods and nods and then drops with his head on the floor. The sparrows then cry, "See, it has come to him!" The sleeper lies there, while the others feast. If sparks from the fire burn his blanket, he makes no movement. Rather than incur ridicule for coming out of his pretended sleep, he endures the burning until some sparrow runs to him and puts out the fire. On the fourth night of the ceremony (the third after the taming of hamatsa) the people assemble and repeat exactly the dances and songs of the first night, except that hamatsa does not dance so wildly, and there is no taming by fire. All the pauts people go out after the dancing is ended. Then Hotluliti ("obeyed by all"), the official, hereditary speaker of the master of ceremonies, standing beside his superior at one side of the room, commands the clansmen of the giver of the dance to bring out the dishes and the mats that are to be given away. Like the people themselves, these articles have special names for ceremonial occasions. After they are heaped up, everybody sits silent for fifteen to thirty minutes. Then haqalkis ("stone-picker") goes to the beach to secure four rounded stones. Tlfimkenuh ("wedge-splitter") stands forth with stone maul and yew wedge, saying, "I am ready." Tsesilaenuh ("tongs-splitter") rises and procures a cedar stick about four feet long, four fingers wide, and two fingers thick. He stands beside the wedge-splitter and announces, "I am ready." Then k6yaenuti ("cedar-bark worker"), a woman with a long bundle of cedar-bark, and t6ofenuh ("cutter") with his knife take their places beside the others. All these are hereditary officials. By this time the stone-picker has returned, and the giver of the dance spreads one of the mats and the cedar-bark worker stands on it. She opens her bundle and begins to soften the bark by rubbing and twisting, while the cutter sits at her right. {view image of page 186} I86 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN The tongs-splitter lays the stick with one end on a piece of firewood, the wedge-splitter sets his tool in place and commands the singers to beat rapid time. He must split the stick with one blow: to do otherwise would be unlucky for the giver of the dance. The tattoo of the batons continues for a few minutes, then the wedgesplitter slowly raises his maul. When it reaches the highest point, the beating ceases, and the singers hold their batons ready, poised in air, while they closely watch the splitter. As the maul descends on the wedge, the batons also fall in a loud crash, and then continue beating rapidly. With his hands the wedge-splitter splits the stick down to about eighteen inches from the opposite end, and the beating ceases. The stone-picker now orders the singers to continue, and he walks round the fire carrying the stones, pivoting in front of the door, then behind the fire, and again at the door. Then he places the stones in the fire. The woman has now finished rubbing the bark, and she measures off one fathom and doubles it. The cutter orders the beaters to strike their batons, raises his knife, and with three preliminary motions at the bark which the woman holds out, severs it with the fourth, while with an inhalation he sounds a whistle concealed in his mouth. At this sound the beating ceases. The woman lays the strip of bark on the mat, with the ends overlapping, in the form of an oval just large enough to slip easily over the body of a man. Then with a piece of the remaining bark she binds the intersection, and two longer pieces she ties at opposite points to the sides of the oval. This kanaiyu represents a man, the overlapping ends being the legs, the added pieces at the sides the arms. The woman hangs it on a pole of the drying rack. The wedge-splitter now takes from her a piece of uncolored cedar-bark four spans long and binds it about the tongs one span from the unsplit end, to prevent the stick from splitting further. Now H6tliliti, the speaker, shouts, "Call our great friend and his friends!" Any one of the attendants of hamatsa who by chance is present - the others being in the secret room - goes behind the mawihl, and the hamatsa comes out, walking erect and without cedar-bark ornaments. He is accompanied by his attendants and followed by the three men who danced with masks. All wear robes. Hamatsa sits on a mat with k6minaka on his right, nun.Miltstalahl on his left, and kyenkalatlulu on either side. The attendants sit apart from the initiates, for they have now nothing to do. The speaker calls for hflalotisilaenuti ("dish-carrier"), who goes to a {view image of facing page 186} Tsunukwalahl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 187} THE KWAKIUTL I87 wooden dish, pivots on the left foot, then with three preliminary motions stoops and takes the dish and carries it to the left round the fire to the hamatsa, where he again pivots on the left foot and with three motions sets it down before him. Then the speaker calls for tiuenuh ("water-carrier"), who goes to the household water-pail, lifts it with the same ceremonious motions, carries it round the fire to the hamatsa, and with the customary motion fills the dish. The speaker summons kipstalikts (the word describes the act of picking up stones with tongs and dropping them into water), who with the usual pivoting and preliminary motions takes the tongs. While the batons sound a tattoo he pivots in front of hamatsa and passes on to the side of the fire at hamatsa's right, where he stops and makes the movement of taking up a stone. Four times he goes slowly round the fire, each time repeating these acts, and after the fourth circuit he picks up a stone and with four preliminary movements drops it into the dish. The others he handles without further ceremony. When the water is hot, hamatsa throws off his robe, rises, pivots on his left foot, and squats on a folded mat behind the dish. The speaker lays down his staff of office, takes up a rattle, and sings the following song, which is used only on this occasion: "You be the one to do it, my friend, you." M. M. = 144 is { - --- ->- _ _- _I Ad I_ _ I~ We - las, kas - ta - ya; Let it be my friend, you you r r r r - r r' r r r r r r r r r r r r we - las kas-ta- ye. Ya hya ya hya 91rvf rv r rr- r r - f- |: r R r I l ' ya hya ya hye ya. OP r ri r r r a Ir r r o r-l {view image of page 188} I88 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN 8. hya ya hya. Su - las, kas-taMay you do it I)1r r r 2r r f r ltrr~rflll1i I I I rr ya; su- las kas-ta- ye. Ya hya OFl1111111!.lle i.lt lf rlrrIrmlrInl.f~ ~~ - 1 i i.. ya hya ya hya ya hye 0 I I I i i i i i i i i As he sings, Hotluliti shakes his rattle and walks four times round the fire, while the batons fall softly. He stops in front of the dish and thrice pretends to take up water in both hands; with the fourth motion he wets his hands and places them on the head, shoulders, arms, and chest of hamatsa, thus symbolically washing him. Four times this is done, and hamatsa rises, pivots, and sits down on his mat. Next lkminaka throws off her robe and rises, having only a small apron of either mountain-goat hair cords hanging in a fringe or woven cedar-bark, and sits on the folded mat. Hotluliti then washes her, and she returns to her seat and puts on her blanket. After nu.nhlftstalah- and kyenkalatlulu have been washed, the dish is carried away by a servant, and the speaker takes his rattle and calls to the master of ceremonies: "I want help! Come and help me!" Nuhni'mis comes with a rattle and stands beside him, and both sing together, but each a different song, and after one verse they start walking round the fire, the speaker in advance. The song of the speaker follows: "He came downstream after me." i That is, the guardian spirit of the singer. {view image of page 189} THE KWAKIUTL I89 Allo moderato A. Imf - _LL.u _ -I* _I I 1I I - I - M; y g| ~i AIp 1- $-do Gya- haih - tih gya - ha - twe ftu- ya. Ha a hu ya He came down stream after me. 9:C _G ai,,- t g e.-.... _ - 1 i i - 01 O F0 2 g2 —0 —: -- I hya hi h ya ha ya hya hu ya h ya a. The song of Nuhni'mis is the following: "I am falling down before the weight of it.1 I am afraid of it." Moderato ~r4mf _ IL "-r.,,.- a- -~ ---+ Ha-lan-wi- we- tli-ka- le, yi i ye he; ha-lan-wi- weI am falling down before the weight of it o- ~ I F!!, -.. _ o /._-_ I.=-. _._ -_ 3 'I. V l 0000^ 4oo * v oo That is, before the weight (awfulness) of the winter dance. {view image of page 190} I9O THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN The speaker pivots in front of the door and walks on, and Nuhni'mis does likewise. When they come to the kanaiyu (the cedar-bark oval), both pause and look up at it, singing and shaking their rattles. At the end of the song, the speaker gives his rattle to his companion and takes hold of the kanaiyu at the top, draws it off the pole on which it hangs, and grasps the lower part with his right hand. Nuhni'mis begins to shake both rattles and the speaker goes toward hamatsa, Nuhni'mis following. In front of hamatsa Hotluliti pivots and Nuhni'mis bids hamatsa sit on the folded mat. The two proceed round the fire, the singers beating loudly and rapidly as a signal for the people to assemble. When the two come again to hamatsa, the speaker swings the kanaiyu above the initiate's head with a sweeping motion, allowing the free ends of the bark to graze the head, and then makes a motion with the ring as if to throw it skyward. He turns round again and sweeps the ring a little lower over the hamatsa, and again pretends to throw it upward. The third time he brings it still lower, and the fourth time, while the singers beat yet more violently, he places it over hamatsa's head and draws it back and forth as if rubbing him in a bath. Thus he gradually works the ring downward. When it reaches the shoulders, hamatsa thrusts his right arm upward through the ring, and then the left arm. When it comes to the waist, he slowly rises, and when it is at his feet he pivots, still inside the ring, lifts the right foot and sets it outside, and the speaker draws the ring out from under the raised left foot. Hamatsa turns and takes one step backward with his left, which brings him in front of the folded mat, where he pivots and sits down. The rubbing with the kanaiyu is done four times in this manner, and then hamatsa turns and sits down in his customary place. Nuhni'mis then calls k6minaka, who submits to the same procedure, and nu'nhlfitstalal and kyenkalatluilu follow. The speaker hangs the kanaiyu on the tongs, which have been thrust into a crack in the wall. The initiates stand side by side, and the singers begin to beat, and sing: "I was taken round the world by the supernatural ones!" 1The meaning of nuimiye in the song is unknown. An informant thinks it is the name of a spirit, and would translate: "We were taken round the world by Ndmiye, and are supernatural ones." {view image of page 191} THE KWAKIUTL I9I Allo moderato f) ^. ] I -^ - - - -.I I ~~of,,}| | l z | ' ~' V/ ' I i__l - / ~ i- _ nu- mi-ye, nu-mi-ye, nu-mi-ye, nu-mi-ye, nu- mi- yo. ~ ~._y J ~.___. -_ __ —_ tNu-mi-ye, nu-mi- ye, nu- mi-ye nu-mi-ye, nu- mi sta - sla - yuh-tuhs ' ^, -- m. * -,- - -'- -;,- _- - I 1 I I I This song, uttered as loudly as the singers are able to shout, is the signal for the people to enter, and when they begin to assemble, Hotliliti takes down the kanaiyu and the tongs, while Nuhni'mis remains standing beside the fire. The speaker holds the closed end of the tongs in his right hand, and the open end, with the ring hanging on it, in his left. He starts walking round the fire, pivoting in front of hamatsa and in front of the door, and at the latter place making a motion of tossing the ring upward and to the left. Four times he encircles the fire in this manner, and then after passing hamatsa the last time he holds the ring in the fire until it is consumed, when the tongs also are dropped into the flames. While the singing continues, hamatsa and the other three walk round the fire in rhythm with the batons, and disappear behind the maw ihl. Now the speaker announces, " I have done my work!" To Nuhni'mis he says, "Do what you wish to do." The latter then rises and tells the clansmen of the giver of the dance to distribute the mats and the dishes among all the people. One dish and one mat are given {view image of page 192} I92 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN to each person, but one of each is first taken behind the mawilI to hamatsa. After the distribution it is just becoming daylight, and everybody goes out, except the singers, the four initiates with their attendants, and the members of the household, the last of whom now retire to their bedrooms, while the dancers and their attendants lie down to sleep in the secret room behind the mawihl. One of the singers has been carefully watching every act during the performance with the kanaiyu, as well as during the dancing, and has noted the mistakes made. The singers now go to the door of the room occupied by the dancers and cry out, for example: "We name you for stepping out of the kanaiyu with the left foot! We name you for turning round the wrong way!" And so they go on, applying a nickname suggestive of each mistake made, and at the end they utter the proper winter name of the initiate, to show whom they have been addressing. Next they name the mistakes of the others. The singers then go home, after keeping the inmates of the house awake as long as possible. It is now about daylight, and the household falls asleep. Nothing of a ceremonial nature occurs here during the coming day, but in various other houses men will be announcing feasts. The hamatsa and the other three dancers, with their attendants, all occupy the same bedroom, and remain there all the time, except that the attendants may take turns in walking about the village. They have a fire in their room and plenty of food, and are quite comfortable. The people suppose that hamatsa is sitting in his room tormented by the spirit which possesses him still, not yet quite tamed by the dancing. If he should happen to be outside at the back of the house taking exercise, and anything happens in the house which is supposed to excite him, such as the overturning of a kettle of food, his attendants blow their whistles, and if he is near he runs in and begins to cry hap! hap! hap! If he is not at hand, one of the attendants who somewhat resembles him in stature and voice quickly blackens his face and rushes out into the living room. Surrounded as he is by the other attendants, he is not recognized. The attendants are not at all irked by having to spend much of their time in the secret room, for at intervals one or two of them go out and make requisition on the people for dainties, ostensibly for the initiates, who however see little of them. If any request for favors of this kind be refused, the attendants are careful to see that the next time hamatsa is running wild his course shall take him into the house of that unkind person, and everything breakable is destroyed. {view image of page 193} THE KWAKIUTL I93 While hamatsa is not permitted to appear in the village for mere recreation, he does go out whenever his simulated fit of madness comes on. Each hamatsa is excited and thrown into a frenzy by some particular word which calls to his mind the eating of human flesh. This word may be maggots, raven, mummy-eating, or any other word suggesting in any way the eating of human flesh. Or if a boiling kettle on the fire is overturned, he becomes mad; for the mere sight of food excites him. He drops suddenly on his heels as if senseless, throws back his head, and begins to sound his concealed whistle or to cry hap! hap! hap! He must always eat before anybody else in the company touches food, else he becomes especially wild. If a canoe carrying a hamatsa comes to the beach in front of a village, some one, knowing what word excites him, is likely to speak this word, as for instance: "Oh, I wondered why I saw those maggots on the shore! It was this hamatsa coming!" Then the hamatsa begins to utter his cry and to whistle, and stooping he runs wildly about. Quickly from the village there run down to the canoe the salatlulu ("cleaving to"), his attendants both in the dance and later whenever he is in a frenzy. They whistle and pretend to restrain him as he runs about the village in his squatting posture, biting people on the left forearm, and destroying property. All this property and the damage done by biting must be paid for later by the hamatsa's initiator. In some cases this madness comes on the hamatsa every four or five days, occasionally even twice a day; in others long periods of calmness intervene. Recently there was initiated a young man who could not stand the enforced solitude, and nearly every day he would place a kettle on the fire, overturn it, and then rush out into the street. A certain informant made his son hamatsa, having obtained the right from his brother-in-law, who was old and childless. Giving the dance cost him fourteen hundred dollars, but ultimately he spent five thousand, because every time his son ran wild, it was necessary to have him tamed, and this involved a feast, as well as payments to the numerous officials. In the spring after the dance of initiation the young man kept going into a frenzy on the slightest provocation, as when food was upset or the wrong word was spoken. His father and his mother begged him to desist and to pay no attention when such words were uttered, but he only answered: "You put me to it. It was your doing, not mine. I cannot help it." One day the informant, about to visit his traps, took the young man along. From the canoe he could see that one of his deadfalls was sprung, and VOL. X-13 {view image of page 194} I94 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN he asked his son to examine it. He thought there was an otter in it. The young man stepped ashore and looked at the trap up on the hillside. He stepped carefully and slowly, peering from side to side. He went a little closer, then suddenly dropped to his haunches with a smothered ha...! as the hamatsas do when overpowered by their spirit. Then off he went through the woods with his hap! hap! hap! In the village a mile distant the people heard it and knew that something had happened. The father returned in the canoe, but the young hamatsa, running through the woods, reached the village first, and dashed into the houses, biting people and gnashing his teeth. Other hamatsas, alone with their fathers, paid no attention to what in the presence of others would have thrown them into a fit, and when it was known that this man, far from the village, in the woods with only his father present, had gone into a frenzy over the sight of a raven in a deadfall, he was raised very high in the estimation of the people. For this meant to them that he was truly possessed by the spirit of Paihpaqalan6hsiwi. Asked if the young man was really overcome at the sight of the raven, the informant answered that "his hamatsa was new, and it was just like a person having a phonograph for the first time: the boy was such a wonderfully fine dancer that the people often spoke of his ability, and besides being fond of dancing he was proud of the attention he attracted." Before he was tamed out of this fit, his father had spent another hundred dollars. Nuinhflfistalahl also is subject to these fits of simulated madness, but in his case they are caused by mention or sight of fire. He rushes out alone, and is quickly joined by all the other ninunhltfistalahl who are still active dancers and not yet retired to become seals, and in a howling mob they roam about with stones and clubs, rushing into houses and hurling their missiles at breakable objects. On the fourth, the eighth, and the twelfth morning after the dance of initiation, just before the ravens begin to croak, the hamatsa must bathe (at least symbolically) in his room. On the sixteenth morning his initiator passes through the village bidding the people clean out their houses, for the initiates are going to wklika ("walk zigzag"). At once arises the question, who is going to feed them; for the initiates must be fed in four houses. One family offers to do so, then another, and another, and a fourth. These four houses are prepared for a feast, with firewood piled ready for lighting and the mats spread. Every house in the village is cleaned out. The initiates now dress themselves. Hamatsa puts his dance-ring around his neck, and adjusts his head-band, his wristlets, and his anklets. {view image of facing page 194} A Hamatsa costume - Nakoaktok [photogravure plate] {view image of page 195} THE KWAKIUTL I95 A bear-skin is tied about his neck, and on his head he puts eagle-down, some of which falls down and dots his bear-skin. K6minaka, nufinhltistalahl, and kyenkalatlulu put on their dancerings, wristlets, anklets, and cedar-bark robes, and eagle-down on the head and the robe. Shoulder to shoulder the four walk slowly to the house-door and for a moment stand motionless, then they go slowly round the fire and, again reaching the door, step out backward, followed by the attendants and any people who wish to attend the four feasts. Sometimes nearly the whole of the winterdance people follow. They enter the first house reached, march about the fire, back out of the door, and proceed to the next house. When they reach the first of the houses that are to feast them, they stand in the doorway until the host says, "Walk along, friends, and take your seats." Kyenkalatlulu then begins to sing his secret song, as, for example: "You went to exorcise disease, to make it subside by your magic power." M. M. d= 152 e -!4. |si~ j- a1 ' -Hi T 6'-. -6' -I A E 6' Ha ma ma ye, ha ma. t~ t T t t t T T t t T v r, ~ c T T 4 I -^- - t-~ - -Il' -^ -~- -1- --- ma ye, ha ma ma ye! ~ T I t t t T1, t T v T 1/ I o? -4 -13-_ — _ -_ 4 _ __ _ - _- ---— 4 Kas -lah - tya hai- ya You went exorcise o 3_,t__ u_' at___ t_ t E t u~_,_,_uo__ tlt-_ -' 4i~~l~ 4 l~~ 1111 iil 4(i~i 4f l i~l1 4I 9 4 - 1 1 4 I i i i i I I i I, { 4 I i 4- 1 1 1 1 1 ___ _______ _S_ --- F__ li - II I kyd-maha-li - sa suh- tu ha - disease subside by you I -^ t T T tT 1', T t I I fo t I I It f I J. 4 1 1 I I 4i i I I ' 1 i 1 1 1 1 4 I {view image of page 196} I96 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN A1,,...-e. l T-K ' _ -- i _ - -1111i -- H4 I -:t i '~ -r -h-" ^-a -= II~ H - ----- -= - 1- - 'f 1; ~ ~li I kytl-ma ha-li- sa suh- tu tlu - magic I - t f It t t H f t It I \^ ft t- t -, l 1 t, _,,,, -?* F T STT 44 4iii 4iiii 4 -1 - -. -10- -- x I gwa - la gi - lo. Ha ma power your r t - i- I t r rI t t t t t 4 t t t t t t t? 9 _- - ' _-9 -_- ____ f_ _ - - ma ye, ha ma ma t190 r r & i-f r r r I t -X1 fi t r 1 1M4 -- F: power i i i i 4 i i i -r i r i i 1 i i 4 ye, ha ma ma ye! Hoip! A T T T t T t t t t t t T T T T t T T T 9 ---- -- rt ft ft, --- —— r —m \,, - - - - ~ ^ -J 4 i i 1 i I i i 1 i I I I I I I i i J i At the conclusion of the song hamatsa goes to the back of the room and takes the seat of honor, with k6minaka as usual on his right, nu'nhltlistalahl on his left, and kyenkalatlulu at either end of the row. The attendants sit on both sides of the four. Many of the people follow them into the house, and are therefore called hamanufSaisti ("eating food that falls from hamatsa's mouth"). Hamatsa eats very little, knowing there are three more feasts. Four kinds of food are served. First water is offered, and hamatsa takes a sip and passes the cup to the others. Next, dried salmon is given them, and more water, then any three kinds of food are served. Since hamatsa is supposed to be insatiable, he must leave none of the food placed before him; therefore two, three, or four of his attendants are tekya ("stomach"). The "stomachs" have a receptacle, the bladder of a porpoise or a seal, under their blankets, and as {view image of page 197} THE KWAKIUTL I97 soon as hamatsa has taken four bites from his dish, they seat themselves in front of him and begin to eat with their backs toward the fire and facing hamatsa. They eat very rapidly, but mostly the operation is only pretence, for the greater part of the food goes into the hidden receptacles. The "stomachs" are usually men who have been nunhlftistalahl, and after emptying their dishes they act like ninuinhlfkistalail by throwing them violently and promiscuously aside. At the end of the feast hamatsa rises, the others do likewise, and all proceed to the adjacent house and on until they reach the next feasting house. Here, as well as in the next two houses of feasting, the procedure observed in the first feast is followed. The sparrows are ever hostile to the active dancers, and especially to the hamatsas. As soon therefore as the initiates start on their way through the village, the sparrows meet and decide how far they will permit hamatsa to go in his course of feasting. They are dressed in robes belted at the waist and tied at the neck, and headbands of red and of undyed cedar-bark with an upright wisp of bark in the front. If they decide to stop hamatsa at the third feast house, thither they go after the initiates have entered, and carry in a pail of salt water; for hamatsa is afraid of salt water, lest, touching it, he have scabby legs. While the salmon is being eaten, the sparrows dash the pail of water on the fire and upset the pots. The hamatsa immediately utters his cry, leaps up, and makes for the sparrows, as if to bite them; but they at once run to the beach and take refuge in the water, while hamatsa stands on the shore, raving and crying hap! The sparrows at length divide into two bands, and thus succeed in getting out of the icy water and escaping from hamatsa. They now don wooden masks which sit on the back outside the robe, representing the dorsal fin of the killerwhale, and thus transform themselves into killerwhales. They return to the water, cold as it is, and come trooping through it parallel to the shore at a depth of four feet, diving and blowing. The hamatsa now is in trouble, for if he comes near the edge they spray water on him, and if he is touched by salt water he comes away defeated. In such contests as this, hamatsa is naked, having in his extreme madness thrown off his bear-skin. In his most violent state he does not utter a succession of short cries, but one long-drawn haaaap! When he retires from the water's edge, the killerwhales come out and go to their homes to remove their wet blankets and secure dry ones. {view image of page 198} I98 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN If the initiates are thus stopped before reaching the fourth feast, they do not go on to the remaining ones, but are taken back to the secret room by their attendants, and the people are again summoned to tame the hamatsa. The same procedure is observed as before, except that the purification with the kanaiyu and water is omitted. Then again hamatsa begins to take his baths, but this time every eighth day until he has bathed four times. The former restriction of his appearing in public is somewhat relaxed, so that he may now occasionally sit in the doorway. If at the end of the sixteenth day after the first taming the initiates, unhampered by the sparrows, visited the four feast houses, there is no feasting at the end of the thirty-two days, but if they were stopped by the sparrows they must now feast at whatever house or houses of the four they then missed. Hamatsa now bathes every twelfth day, and after four baths he takes four more at intervals of sixteen days. If after beginning this purification he participates in a mummy feast he must begin the purification all over. As soon as any chief decides to give the winter ceremony, the disappearance of his son, or other relative, whom he is to initiate, becomes known to his rival. It is necessary then that the latter give the ceremony in order to keep his standing, so he sends his son, or other relative, into the woods, to prepare for the initiation. Thus there is a series of successive performances, so that almost every night during the entire winter is taken up with dancing or feasting. But other conditions are partly responsible for the frequency of the celebrations throughout the winter. One of these is the fact that some of the higher dances require the initiate to repeat his initiatory performance in several successive winters. Thus a hamatsa is active about four years, and must disappear each winter, although after the first time he is not expected to spend four months in the woods, but disappears a short time, perhaps only a day, before the dance in which he is to perform. It is during these four years that hamatsa is expected to become frenzied in hearing the forbidden word or seeing a kettle overturned. Two new songs are made for him each year after the first. Another of these conditions is the obligation of hamatsa and some of the other dancers to simulate a frenzy over certain words or actions, a madness which can be cured only by the repetition of the taming dance. Not infrequently mistakes in singing or errors of procedure are deliberately made in order to cause all the dancers present to run wild. The sparrows may hold a meeting {view image of page 199} THE KWAKIUTL 199 and say: "Tomorrow will be a fine, sunny day [though in reality the temperature is below freezing point, and they will have to be long in the water], and we will have some fun." So they arrange with a poor man that he shall announce a feast. The seals and the sparrows are in the secret, but the uninitiated do not know but that it is to be a real feast. The supposed food is placed in the sight of the public in the usual boxes. In reality it is merely dried seaweed covered with dry grass in the manner in which "wild rice" (scale-like bulbs of the wild tiger-lily) is stored. After the singing has continued for a while, some sparrows go to the fire, and, apparently by an accident, overturn a kettle. At once the hamatsas cry hap! hap! hap! the other dancers respond characteristically, and everything is in an uproar. The sparrows rush out of doors to the beach, in order to take refuge in salt water from the hamatsas, and the hamatsas push out parts of the side walls and run out that way, never through the door, and pursue the sparrows, while the bears, nuinuimimaFla, and other seals, follow, each acting in the manner peculiar to his kind. The hosts in the winter dance feed the people of the village, as well as any invited tribes. Nobody pretends to work, unless unforeseen exhaustion of the huge stores of fuel provided in the fall makes it necessary to gather firewood. Nobody cooks in his own house, but all when hungry go to the house of him who at the time happens to be giving the dance, where food is free and the receptacles are open to all. Each person on taking food gives a bit to hamatsa, if he is present, or sends it to him in the secret room by kyenkalatluili, who remains in the living room for this purpose. The dancing continues until the last man who started giving his dance has brought his supply of food down to the point where there is enough left for just one more feast. Then the people are assembled. After the feast the speaker makes a brief speech, telling them that this is the end of the winter dancing and they are now going to sing the parting song, in order to "sing off the red cedarbark and the fe'kumRl ['winter-dance face']." He means by this last expression that although during the winter dance there is no sense of shame, in that women freely dance nude and there is much freedom in the sexual relations, now they are to "sing off" this something which has covered the face and prevented shame, and become once more bashful and retiring. Then the speaker calls Nuhni'mis, who has two small sticks about fifteen inches long, like {view image of page 200} 200 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN two held by the speaker himself. Nuhni'mis begins to strike them together and to sing: "Tame him, ha! ha! Tame him with our long-time tamer, our magic power, uhu! Press down the madness, aha! Press down the madness with our long-time presser-down, with our magic power, uhu!" Allo moderato zgjizLzzz||v- i ZZ Z II. Z i i M" -?-"- ' = -::: —i_- ' ----- -.~ _t A t *.,_0. i~ -, V_ Q *.: ---..... -<. ---- -- ----. -.7 ' i i-ll#l i '1 1 l > * rue- -1t-:t^l:l -m C | e _ _ e --- m /-= — ^. 4: w f LLIvI TV | -' l I ~ ' 'i llJi tr1 - 4 -...' - 4^. * i z — _ -i' - - rd- >. When Nuhni'mis reaches the end of the song, everybody takes up the air, and when they have finished, all remove their cedarbark head-bands and begin to address one another by their summer names, to laugh and joke and sing summer songs. Then they depart. {view image of page 201} THE KWAKIUTL 20I If at the winter ceremony any one is to be initiated as hawinalahl, or war dancer, he sits in the clearing where the new compositions of the song-makers are being practised. Usually he is very pale and perturbed. As a rule no one enters this dance except in a moment of pique arising from a falling-out with his lover or with a member of his immediate family. His assistants procure a quantity of cedar withes and a number of three-inch poles - four eight-foot and ten four-foot lengths. After flattening one end of the longer and both ends of the shorter pieces, they proceed to bind them together in a framework or scaffold eight feet high and four feet square. Four of the short pieces tie the legs about two feet below the top; four others serve the same purpose at the top; and the remaining two are laid across a pair of these upper tie-rods. This is the kakekii ("back-supporter"). On a specific occasion described by an informant the initiate sat watching the preparations, his face constantly growing paler. He was stark naked except for a head-band of hemlock. He held a small, sharp knife and a carved sisiutl about four feet long, jointed in the middle by a hinge so that both of the terminal heads could be pointed to the front or one to either side. This is called kantlaiyu ("prying instrument"). Some of his friends, sent by his parents with the ostensible aim of dissuading him from his purpose, asked him: "Have you made up your mind to be hawinalahl? Do you not think you had better give it up?" But in spite of his terror, which was very apparent, fear of ridicule prevented him from withdrawing. One man ostentatiously sharpened an awl on a stone, another a knife. After the scaffold was ready, they suspended from its two cross-bars a device consisting of two wooden sisiutl, forty inches long, placed parallel two feet apart and firmly held together by a pair of mortised cross-bars in front and another pair behind. This is the "warrior's travelling canoe." The song-maker struck with his baton and called, "Wina hi... ['war coming']!" And all the people present responded with the same cry. The young man got up, uttered his cry, haiai, haihai, haihai! and made a step toward the scaffold. The man with the knife stood near one side of the structure, another with a coil of rope on the other side, and between them a man busily twisting cedar withes. Four times the calls were uttered, and with the fourth step the initiate reached the scaffold and extended his hands toward the top of it. Without waiting for the man with the awl to do his duty, the initiate snatched the implement from his hand and raising the skin at the front of his left {view image of page 202} 202 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN thigh about six inches above the knee, he thrust the awl through. While it still remained in the wound another assistant placed one end of a withe against the projecting point of the awl and drew the implement back through the wound, at the same time pushing the withe through. He tied the two ends together. Then the wielder of the awl pierced the right leg and the skin below the shoulderblades; withes were inserted; and to each loop was fastened a tenfathom rope. On a box placed under the scaffold the initiate now took a squatting position. The cutter threw the ends of the ropes over the two cross-bars, drew them taut, made them fast, and called for the other assistants to carry the scaffold. Four pairs of men grasped the four legs, shouted in concert, "Wina hi...!" and lifted the structure. The dancer was raised from the box and hung, still in a squatting position, just below the suspended ssisutl. They proceeded to the beach and into the village - a distance of half a mile, - those who had supposedly caught the wild initiate in the woods following the scaffold-bearers, and the singers, striking their batons on a long board which they carried and chanting the hawinalahl songs, coming last. As soon as the procession had come in sight, the nihlimahla dancers ran to meet it, each armed with some sharp instrument. Three halts were made on the way, and a fourth on the beach in front of the dance house, at which time the dancer began to stab his forehead so that blood ran down over his face and dripped upon his breast. He laughed, and shook his body as if dancing. His parents at sight of the blood forthwith stabbed their own scalps, and all the women in the throng wailed. On the roof were two men, who, having fastened two long ropes to stakes in the ground in front of the house, were now making the other ends fast to the ridge-timbers. The taut, parallel ropes were three or four feet apart. As soon as the singers ceased, the winterdance speaker addressed the chiefs, saying that the new hawinalahl had a road of his own, and that road was the two taut ropes stretched from the ground to the roof. Then the initiate was taken down from the scaffold, and was set, squatting, between the two stakes; the double sisiutl was placed lengthwise on his back, and his four withes were securely lashed to its cross-bars. The lower ends of the ropes leading to the roof were passed between the two forward and the two hinder cross-bars and again made fast to the stakes, and another rope was attached to a front bar and thrown to the men on the housetop, who drew in the {view image of facing page 202} Grizzly-bear dancer - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 203} THE KWAKIUTL 203 slack. At this instant there suddenly appeared at the edge of the roof all the hamatsas, ferocious and ravenous, apparently eager to leap upon the initiate's body should an accident occur. Their attendants were grouped behind them. All this time the new hamatsa had been running on the beach, as yet uncaught. The niunufilimahla took their stand under the ropes, holding their sharp weapons upward and themselves looking downward or straight ahead with grim, relentless faces. This was a case of possible death if the withes holding the weight of the young man should tear out of the wounds as he was being drawn up to the roof, for he would then be precipitated upon their weapons. Two bear dancers now rushed to the front of the roof, and at the same time the hamatsas threw off their robes and put their right arms through their neck-rings, so that these hung under one arm.1 The hinged sisiutl was put into the initiate's hands. Now the speaker shouted, " Wina hi...!" and all the winter-dance people responded; but the dancer's ha'ai, haihai, haihai! was more like a hoarse whisper than the fierce shout of a warrior. The two men at the peak of the roof, standing behind the bears, began to haul on the rope fastened to the "warrior's travelling canoe" and thus to draw up the dancer, suspended in his squatting position beneath the double ssisutl. As soon as he reached the roof, the two bears seized him and lifted him up. He was then taken through the roof into the house, where, after he had danced briefly, the flesh was cut so that the withes could be removed. While the war dancer was performing in the house, the hamatsas rushed out to the beach where the hamatsa initiate was running to and fro. The winter-dance people followed, and the initiate was at length enticed into the house and placed in the secret room, after which they went to catch the other initiates at the edge of the woods. That night when hamatsa had finished his dance and had retired into the secret room after the spirit had been tamed by the burning mat,2 the speaker H6tliliti shouted, "Wina hi...!" In his left hand was his speaker's staff, and his right, extending upward, held a small baton which he shook, as it were, over the people. The last syllable of his cry he held as long as his breath permitted, and at 1 This is the manner of wearing the ring when the hamatsa rushes about in a frenzy, for if the ring hung simply around the neck it might easily be thrown off in his violent and eccentric movements; and that would portend very ill fortune, even short life. 2 See page I8i. {view image of page 204} 204 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the end all the singers struck the boards with two deliberate but vigorous beats, and then continued beating rapidly while all, including the people, repeated the cry in unison. Every woman in the house now stood up, and with sad, anxious face directed toward the mawihl, raised her right hand to the left shoulder, the fingers pointing up, the palm forward and trembling, while singers and people kept uttering the shout of the war dancer. Four who had been hams'hamftuis came out of the secret room and with highpitched voices cried ho7p! hoip! ho7p! They took their places, two on each side of the door of the secret room. Then hawinalahl came out carrying his jointed sisiutl before him at the level of his waist, and working the hinge from time to time so as to make the heads point forward. He had hemlock rings around the head, neck, knees, and ankles. In one hand he had his pointed knife. The blood which ran from the wounds made in his scalp during the morning torture was now clotted on his face, chest, and shoulders. He raised his hand, pointing with his knife to the upper, rear, right corner of the room, and cried haia..., hai, hai, hail He took up the skin of his thighs at the place where they had been pierced as if to cut himself again, and the people shouted, "Do not do it!" But the sparrows, always in opposition to the seals, clamored: "Let him cut! We will hang him up!" Hawinalahl turned, still directing his knife to the corner of the room. The four lengths of rope were coiled round his neck with the hemlock ring, and four cedar withes waved over his head, their butts thrust down inside his head-ring. After he had turned four times, the singers struck the boards and began to sing, and at the end of the song shouted, " ina hi...!" The dancer, who had been moving slowly round the fire with one foot slightly in advance, as if he were dragging at ropes fastened in his back, now quickly turned, throwing his head, as it were, under his left arm, as if the ropes were still fast to his back and he were dodging under them, while his attendants behind him ran quickly in the same direction, as if they were holding the ropes and were carrying the ends about as the dancer turned. The second song began. Although these songs are always new ones made for the initiate of the night, the one used at this particular time always contains reference to blood and man-killing. When they reached this phrase the dancer stabbed his scalp, laughing wildly and standing with one foot slightly advanced. His parents also cut their scalps. The remaining two songs were sung without further torture, and then he returned behind the mawii. {view image of page 205} THE KWAKIUTL 205 There was to be a performance by a t6hwit, or woman war dancer, and now in the secret room she began to cry hyo, hyo, hyo...! we, we, we...! op op, op op! She sang her secret song: "It is said that long ago this, our great friend,1 was burned to ashes." The singers took up the words and repeated the song, and the young woman came out, wearing only a kirtle, a head-band, wristlets, and anklets, of hemlock sprigs. She entered with her back to the room, then turned slowly on her left foot until she faced the spectators, and advanced slowly, thrusting the left foot forward two inches with a slight flexing of the knee and a dipping movement of the body, and following with the right foot. The arms were bent at the elbow, the forearms horizontal and the palms turned upward and held a little in front of the body. Rhythmically with the dipping of the body and the stroke of the batons the palms were slightly raised, the tips of the fingers continuing the motion after the palms had stopped. This is the gesture signifying the paddling of a canoe, in this case the war-canoe of Winalagyilis, the spirit of war. She wore no paint. Her face was grim. At the end of the song she stood beside the fire, unwilling to leave. Now and then she cried ep ep, ep ep! or, op 6p, op op! The sparrows, who sat squatting about the room, now began to call: "Well, ask her what she is going to do. If she is going to do anything, hurry and have it over! If she wants us to do something for her, say so and let us get about it!" Some little distance from the singers sat h6tlakus (" quick hearer"), who holds his position by inheritance. The winter-dance speaker rose, saying, "I will ask what she wants." He went to the woman and appeared to whisper to her, but she made no reply. The hotlakus in his place bent forward as if listening intently, and exclaimed: "I know what she wants! She says she wishes to be burned in the fire!" The sparrows at once began to shout their willingness to perform whatever duties were necessary in carrying out the torture, but the woman turned and walked characteristically here and there in the space between the people and the fire, with gestures indicative of throwing magic power from her palms into the floor, and constantly crying op op, op 6p! Each utterance was accompanied by 1 T6hwit songs generally contain references to supernatural deeds of war and to travels about the world in the magic canoe of the guardian spirit Winilagyflis, who is the "great friend" here mentioned. {view image of page 206} 206 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN soft beating of the batons. Then she went to the fire and repeated her cry. Immediately the sparrows set up a babel of shouts: "She wants to. go into the fire! Build up the fire! Push her into the fire, friends!" She moved round the fire, which was at the rear and somewhat to the left of the room, and the sparrows continued to make disparaging remarks about her: "Ha! Dancers of that kind are full of lies! They pretend to have been round the world!" The woman stood there for a while, then started again turning round and round and going over the entire floor, putting magic into it. Some of the sparrows followed her, imitating her motions and cries, and saying, "I can do the same thing!" Their leader, the qesilis, was particularly active. He now called to some of his companions, "Come, stand close to me and burn me up, instead of this liar!" After the woman had encircled the fire the second time and stood at the rear of the room, the qesilis went to her, broke off a few twigs from her kirtle, and put them on his head, saying to his men, "How do I look?" The sparrows gathered round him in the right rear corner of the house, while the tohwit went to the left rear and on round the fire for the third time. At once qesilis started after her, imitating her. After the third circuit, some of the sparrows cried to the speaker Htluiliti: "Well, are we going to stay here all night watching this woman go round the fire? Ask her what she is going to do!" "It is true," answered the speaker. "I am growing weary." Then h6tlakas spoke up, "I hear her say that you are to bring a box." Obeying the outspoken demands of the people, the speaker went to her and asked if this was in her mind. He whispered to her and laughed out, saying: "Great is your word! It is true, she wants a box to be brought." A man, sent out behind the mawill, brought a box, saying to the speaker, "Ask her if this will do." The speaker whispered to her, and h6tlakas answered, "No, she says this will not do." "Bring that box to me!" shouted qesilis. "I also want a box." But the man took it away, and qesilis said: "We had better go. She does not mean anything. All her talking is false. She called for a box, the box was brought, and then she did not want it. I called for the box, and you would not give it to me." He threw his robe about his shoulders and called to his companions, "Come, friends, let us go!" But one of them objected, with sarcasm directed toward tohwit: "It is you who are tohwit now! You have hemlock on your head, and now you are trying to run away from it!" {view image of page 207} THE KWAKIUTL 207 The speaker now asked t6hwit: "What kind of box do you wish?" And hotlakus answered, "Bring another box, she says, and we will get the right kind after a while." So another was brought, a somewhat smaller one, and h6tlakus declared, "She says this is too small." Then qesilis shouted, "Bring that box to me, and I will squeeze myself into it!" But it was removed, and again the speaker asked in a loud tone, "What kind of box do you wish?" "She says, bring a large box," answered hotlakzis. The speaker turned to him: "It is you speaking from your own heart! You are a liar! How can you in that corner see into this our great friend's mind?" Then a very large box was brought, but it proved too big, and again qesilis asked for it, only to see it carried out. Now the speaker asked the woman: "What are we going to do? We have had three boxes, and have not got the right one yet." Then hotlakus declared that in her mind she wanted a certain hams'hamfiis to bring a box belonging to Hotluliti. The old hams'hamfius, rising in his place among the spectators, went to the fire, pulverized charcoal and rubbed the powder on his face. "If that man can go, why cannot I?" said qesilis, stepping out and blacking his face. "Keep quiet!" urged some of the people. "You are the man who has been keeping the nawalaq [magic power] away from us." They dragged him back and compelled him to sit down. After the hams'hamfius had blackened his face, he spoke in a low voice: "I used to be hams'hamftis and it is gone out of me, but there might be some of it yet left in me, enough to have the power to get the nawalaq box which our great friend wishes." He walked somewhat stooping, holding his arms partly extended at the sides, and with forcible expulsion of his breath exclaiming again and again, ha...! ha...! thus indicating that he was still partly hams'hamftfis. Qesilis rose and imitated him in a grotesque manner. The hams'hamffis turned, cried ho7p! ho7p! and everybody called, "He will be all right!" Then he went out. Qesilis reached the door, but some of his companions pulled him back. They all were laughing. Soon the old man returned carrying on his shoulders a burial box with the cover firmly lashed down. He stood inside the door and bade the speaker, "Ask our great friend if this is the right size." While the speaker pretended to whisper to her, she turned and, catching sight of the chest, raised her hands and cried op 6p, op op! signifying her approval. As usual, qesilis imitated her. The hams'hamfiis carried the box slowly round the fire and set it at the rear, {view image of page 208} 208 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the speaker untied the lashing, and the woman turned around beside the box. All were very quiet, except for the occasional utterances of tohwit. Two old hamatsas came from the secret room and took charge of the house-door, which they shut and guarded, one on each side. All the seals stood behind the singers. The woman turned a second time, the hams'hamfius still standing there, and a third and a fourth time. She raised one foot and set it in the box, then the other. She forced herself down into the coffin, and the hams'hamfiis adjusted the cover and lashed it down. Then he roughly inverted the chest. During the summer while nearly all the people were absent at the fishing stations there had been secretly dug a tunnel extending from a point just behind the fire to the rear house-posts. It was three and a half feet deep and equally wide. Near the top all along both sides the earth was cut away so as to leave a narrow shelf on which rested several wooden cross-bars to support the board that formed the roof of the tunnel. At the end near the fire a square sash with an opening about the size of the box-lid was laid horizontally across the excavation, and the roof-board was so arranged that it could be slid in one direction just far enough to close the square opening of the sash, and in the other direction far enough to open it completely. That part of the board which covered the sash was smeared on the upper surface with sticky, half-dried salmon spawn, and on this was spread a coating of earth, which, held in place by the glue, effectually concealed the board. Over the board for the remainder of the distance were spread earth-covered mats which were not affected by the sliding of the board. In overturning the box the hams'hamfuis was careful to place it exactly with reference to certain marks on the floor, so that it was directly above the sliding panel and the sash. Then he went busily about the room on the pretext of searching for something with which to crack the bottom and provide the usual exit for the ghost. While he was thus engaged, two men in the tunnel pushed back the panel, loosed the lashings, and, while the woman removed her weight from the lid of the box by supporting herself on two cleats fastened to the sides, they slipped aside the cover and lowered the tohwit into the pit. Quickly substituting a mummy wrapped in hemlock boughs, they replaced the cover, lashings, and panel. The hams'hamfuis now returned with a stone hammer, cracked the bottom, and turned the coffin back. Three other hehams'hamf"uis joined him and the four carried it round the fire, pivoting at each {view image of page 209} THE KWAKIUTL 209 cardinal point. After completing the circuit, they set the coffin on the fire, and while it burned, the woman's voice, singing her secret song, was heard in the midst of the fire. Still lying in the tunnel she was singing through a long piece of bladder-kelp concealed under ground with its trumpet-like end beneath the fire. When the box fell apart there was seen a bundle of hemlock boughs, like those she had worn, and later appeared partially consumed bones. Now the woman's father stepped forward and spoke very low: "Whose fault is it that my daughter has been burned, you foolish people? I give this dance to entertain you, and now I have lost my daughter through trying to please you. Do one good thing for me: take the tongs and pick out her bones from the fire, that I may bury them." "We did not want to do it," protested the hams'hamfius. "It is of her own saying, for when she went into the box she whispered to me: 'I will come to life again!' And that is why I was not in two minds about it, for I believed what she said. Therefore we will take those bones and put them into a box, as she bade me do." "I hope it is true," the father replied. One hams'hamfius went for a coffin, another for long fire-tongs, and the bones were picked out one by one and dropped into the box. Then the leader of the four said: "Now I want help from all you tohwit women. We will bury our dead friend's bones." All the tohwit women rose and began to sing their secret songs, each different from the others. They marched round the fire single-file, and then stood about the coffin, and some of them lifted it and carried it round the fire, still singing. They stopped beside the fire, and the hams'hamfius addressed them: "What are you going to do? You are tohwit people, and know what to do." The eldest woman replied: "The tohwit people should never be buried outside when they are killed in the dance. It should be done in the house." All the people expressed approval: "You have been through it and must know what you are saying." The box was carried into the room at the rear corner of the house, where all the tohwit women began once more to sing. By this time the initiate had emerged from the tunnel and had come into the secret room by a rear door, and after they had sung, each her own secret song, the initiate's voice was faintly heard singing hers. This ended the performance of the tohwit for the night. On the next night the tohwit women assembled in the secret room and sang, and the initiate's voice was heard by the people in the main room a little more distinctly than before. On the third VOL. X-14 {view image of page 210} 210 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN night they sang again and the initiate's voice was still stronger, and on the fourth night she sang loudly. Her parents sat together in the main room, and one said to the other: "Is that my daughter singing? It sounds like her voice." After the song, the eldest tohwit came from the secret room and announced, "We have brought her to life, and the song-makers will have to sing again to make her dance." So the singers sang the initiate's secret song and the women came out single-file, with the initiate, dressed as before, midway in the line, and all cried hwe, hwe, hwe! hya, hya, hya! They danced round the fire once, and then retired into the secret room. Then the yuftu blankets which had been counted out for her by the giver of the dance were distributed among the people. The tohwit trick of removing the entrails consists in laying the intestines of a seal on the woman's abdomen and covering them with a piece of seal-skin colored to the light-brown tint of her body. The seal-skin is then cut and the seal's intestines are removed, and the uninitiated believe that they are beholding a miracle. Another trick is to have a red-hot stone placed on the head, which is protected by a circular piece of wood covered with well-soaked cedar-bark fibre, the whole being concealed by the tohwit head-band. An informant once saw a tohwit of a visiting tribe begin to dance and utter her cries the moment the canoe grounded, indicating her desire to have her head struck with a stone hammer. So a hammer was produced, and the woman stood in the canoe. A man raised the stone and seemed to strike her on the forehead with all his strength, and there was heard a resounding thud caused by a simultaneous blow on a heavy timber. The woman fell overboard backward and lay face downward in the water, and she remained in that situation more than an hour. The informant afterward asked the chief of that tribe how it was done, and received the explanation that pieces of bladder-kelp had been joined into a long tube, one end of which was held in the woman's mouth while the other was concealed among the beach stones. Other ingenious feats of the tohwit involve apparent decapitation, transfixing with a spear, splitting of the shoulder with a paddle, and driving a wedge into the temple. * AN INCIDENT OF THE WINTER DANCE. This feature is called yailAhtiyo, a word which is said to signify "killer of any man who sees it." YalhAfiyo is an underground spirit pertaining to the t6hwit dance, and the carved, painted boards in the illustration, which are raised slowly into sight and then lowered behind the mass of performers, represent the spirits that protect t6hwit. Tribes of the Nakoaktok-Quatsino group present this spectacle as a part of the ndnhilm ceremony, four days before ftefsehka. {view image of facing page 210} An incident of the winter dance - Nakoaktok [photogravure plate] {view image of page 211} THE KWAKIUTL 211 If the tohwit initiate is timid, or is not regarded as capable of accomplishing one of these tricks, she nevertheless makes the appropriate gestures indicating her desire to have some form of torture inflicted; but it is refused her. Then the singers say, "Let us beat the boards and see if she can bring something." While they beat, the initiate moves with gestures suggestive of calling something from above. She pretends to catch something in her hands, and at the end of the fourth song is heard a squeaking sound, which seems to come from her hands. She throws them apart toward the back of the fire, and the horns of sisiutl appear. Gradually the whole image rises to view, and a white bird, flying down from the roof, alights on the horns. The wooden bird is guided by strings held by four men at different points in the room and by one man on the roof. The sisiutl is raised out of a pit by men below. Another trick of this kind is to have a wooden image of a man rise from the ground and an eagle descend from the roof and carry it away. Still another is that in which a box stands behind the singers, just high enough to be seen by the spectators. Water is poured into it, the initiate makes gestures toward it, uttering her cries, and presently a wooden loon bobs to the surface. It dives, and reappears. This happens four times. Then the woman calls for an eagle-tail, and with it she makes motions over the box, when a cloud of eagle-down flies upward. This is managed by a man who, concealed behind the singers, controls the wooden loon with strings running through the bottom of the box. After the loon trick is performed, he draws a plug, and the water runs into a pit and sinks into the ground. Through a hole in the side of the box is inserted the neck of a seal-bladder filled with eagle-down. He presses the bladder between his knees and the feathers fly upward. The uninitiated believe that they issue from the water. In I846 at Kalokwis on Tumour island, the home at that time of the Qagyuh-, there were two tohwit initiates at a dance given by Nuimuiqis, chief of the gens Sintliim. After the bear dancers had performed, the two young women appeared. They kept making signs and sounds to the interpreter, signifying their wish to be burned, and a quantity of logs which were there in readiness was built up into a high, square crib in the middle of the house. Outside in secret two young female slaves had been bound on two long boards. They were told: "All the time you are in the fire, you must say we, we, we! and we will bring you to life, if you keep this up. If you do not say we, we, we! and if you scream, you will remain dead!" {view image of page 212} 212 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN While this was being done, the attendants in the house tied the two tohwit to boards in the same manner, and took them outside, ostensibly to carry them to the roof and thence lower them into the fire. But outside the door they were released and the two slaves were hauled to the roof, constantly uttering their cry. They were bound to the boards at full length, and they moved their hands upward with the characteristic motion of the t6hwit. In this position they were pushed down through an opening in the roof until the ends of the boards rested inside the roaring crib of logs. The slaves continued to utter the cry of the tohwit until they were dead. There was not a scream, so great was their dependence on the promise that they would be brought to life. The boards burned in twain, and the remains disappeared among the blazing logs.1 After the fire was burned out, the attendants gathered up the charred bones and placed them in two boxes, which were set in the corner of the house. All the tohwit women gathered round them, singing their secret songs, and soon was heard the sound of faint singing inside the boxes and the two tohwit came out. Many of the dancers practise these sleight-of-hand tricks, which pass for magic. Kyenkalatliilu, for example, may walk about the house making restless motions with his hands and uttering his cries. A noise of something dropping on the housetop is heard, then a wooden kingfisher appears under the roof, and while the dancer continues his mystic motions, the bird descends. Whatever way the man goes, the bird follows, and when it reaches his level it darts at him and seemingly thrusts its long bill through his wrist. He resumes his gestures, and the bird mounts and disappears through the roof. There is an accomplice on the roof to release and draw up the bird, but its movements are also controlled by the dancer himself, who while apparently making the gestures by which he exerts magic power is really winding or unwinding on his wrists a pair of strings, which lower or raise the bird. At the same time a k6minaka may be performing similar gestures. Suddenly a big hand comes up from the ground behind the singers, and a great rattle descends from the roof. The hand grasps and shakes it, and the sound of the rattle is heard. The hand releases it, and both disappear. Strings managed from the roof control these movements. This may well have been an ingenious trick involving the substitution of stuffed figures. * SISIUTL DANCER. In this costume the dancer appears at the door of the house where the winter dance is in progress. He goes into the secret room at the rear, dons the sisiutl mask (see plate facing page 214), and reappears to perform his dance. {view image of facing page 212} Sisiutl dancer - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 213} THE KWAKIUTL 213 One raises the hand, another lowers the rattle; others close the fingers of the hand, and still another, passing through the handle of the rattle, lifts a weight which holds down the pebbles therein and prevents them from making a noise inopportunely. The mitla performs the trick of producing salmonberries out of season. While she dances, her four masked female attendants dance around her, and salmonberry shoots are let down from the roof. The shoots bear artificial berries made by covering pebbles with gum which has been colored with iron oxide. The attendants of mitla pick them in their baskets and distribute them among certain confederates among the spectators, who pretend to eat them and immediately to fall dead; for the mitla is supposed to have put some magic power in the berries. The life of these unfortunates is ransomed by the initiator of the dancer, who distributes property among the spectators. The sisiutlilahl makes his entrance with a club in his hand after striking the door with the weapon. He walks round the fire and goes behind the singers, crying ai he i...! The singers begin to use their batons, and behind them a man's head with horns slowly rises far enough to show itself to the people. The two hinged arms representing the body and heads of the double-headed snake sisiutl are at first folded together, extending straight back behind the man's head, but they are now unfolded and spread out on both sides. The apparatus is manipulated by a man concealed behind the singers. The mamaka wears only hemlock rings about head, neck, wrists, legs, and waist, and the upper part of his face to the level of his mouth is painted black. In his right hand is concealed his "deathbringer," a device consisting of several small telescoping tubes covered with black bark. Fully extended it is about seven inches long. This is believed to be a magic worm which the mamaka can throw into the bodies of others with fatal results. Entering, this dancer stands silently at the door for several minutes, his hands pressed against his thighs. He glances upward from side to side, looking for his death-bringer to be brought by the spirit of the winter dance. Then all the people beat time and he puts up both hands to catch the magic worm. He pretends to cast it at the people, who hide beneath their blankets. Then he throws it down his own throat, and vomits blood which he releases by biting a small bladder concealed in his cheek. He vomits up the death-bringer and then appears to throw it into some of the people, his confederates, who rush toward the fire and fall as if lifeless and bleeding profusely at {view image of page 214} 2I4 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the mouth. They are carried away like corpses, and the mamaka follows in order to restore them to life. The am'lala is naked except for hemlock rings about his head, neck, arms, and legs; the neck-ring passes under the left arm. Held across his breast in his folded arms he carries a two-foot club, the head of which bristles with sharp wooden pins set into drilled holes. While the singers repeat his song he dances four times across the rear of the room. Then, holding the handle of his club in his left, with the right hand just below the knob, he begins apparently to rain blows upon his body, crying hea hea he he! Blood flows from his neck and his head; for concealed in his hemlock rings are bloodfilled tubes of bladder-kelp, and thorns, which, when pressed, puncture the tubes. With blood dripping over him the am'lala rushes from the house. Hawayatalah- practises a similar deception in pretending to cut long gashes in the sides of his neck. The blood he smears over the front of his body. He is naked except for hemlock rings about the head, arms, and legs. The performance of a matuim in the year I868 is thus described by a native informant: "He had hemlock rings around his neck, arms, and legs, and a hemlock head-dress consisting of a band with two cross-pieces over the top of his head. On the cross-pieces were tied ten pieces of crystal about six inches long and half an inch wide. His body was naked, and on his breast were many small cuts just deep enough to draw blood. In his mouth was concealed a squeaking whistle. While he danced, running about and bending his body backward and forward, a long board was leaned against an opening in the roof, and the dancer ran four times up and down it, as if he were flying up and down a mountain." Kwikwasuilahl, the begging dancer, coming from the woods as an initiate, is naked except for hemlock rings around his head, neck, arms, and legs. From the front of the head-ring rises a braid of hemlock twigs, eight inches long and two inches thick. He accompanies his entrances with the loud cry: "Mimasulatla, ye ['hungry am I for food, yes']! Kwikwasulahla, ye ['embodiment of begging, yes']!" Then the song-makers begin his song, and he dances, half stooping with bended knees and one foot in advance of the other. His hands are clenched, with the thumbs standing upright. Four times he crosses the doorway, then he goes to the rear of the room, and at the end of his song he retires to the secret room. In the night performance he has a neck-ring and a head-dress like those he wore {view image of facing page 214} Sisiutl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 215} THE KWAKIUTL 2I5 in the morning, except that the material is cedar-bark partially dyed red. The bands for his arms and legs are of white weasel-skin, and he wears a black bear-skin. His dance is a repetition of the morning dance. Hwahwilikya represents a wolf. The initiate is naked, but has heavy hemlock rings on his head, neck, arms, and legs. In his hand is a six-foot staff with a sliver of quartz crystal, or glass, at the end, which he pretends to employ as a spear against those who come to catch him. His captors tie a long rope about his waist and lead him to the dance house, where he walks four times round the fire, crying ho, ho, ho, ho! Then at the end of his secret song he is taken behind the mawihl. They now remove the hemlock branches and substitute rings of cedar-bark, some of which is dyed red, and clothe him in a suit of wolf-skins and a wooden mask. Soon he reappears, to dance in mimicry of the wolf.1 Tlfigwala is a woman personator of the wolf. In addition to the usual rings she wears a kirtle of hemlock, and the head-dress projects over the forehead in the rude likeness of a wolf's head. After her capture at the edge of the woods, the initiate, entering the house, drops to her knees and her knuckles, and poses with her head and shoulders somewhat higher than the rest of her body. Rhythmically with the rapid tattoo of the batons she swings her head from side to side, like a wolf. After several minutes she rises to her toes and knuckles, turns once, and goes on all-fours to the rear of the room and into the secret room. There she remains until night, when all the people are called in to "tame" her. The singers beat rapidly and call loudly, ye he he, ho...! Then the tlfigwala initiate appears. Projecting from her forehead is the wooden likeness of a wolf's head, and across her eyes from ear to ear is a narrow band of black. Around each wrist is wrapped a wolf's tail, and from waist to knees she is clothed in a kirtle of thick, cedar-bark fringe. The upper part of her body is naked. On toes and knuckles she goes round the fire, crying repeatedly ho, ho, ho! Returning to the rear of the house she lies in front of the singers on her knees and elbows, like a wolf, and bobs her head up and down in time with the batons. At the end of her song she retires. Most numerous of all the dancers are nuinfihlimahla, who personate fools and are characterized by their devotion to filth and disorder. They do not dance, but go about shouting wi..., wi..., 1 Among the Tlauitsis and the Tsawatenok hwiahwilikya wears the wolf costume at the time of his capture. {view image of page 216} 216 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN wi...! They are armed with clubs and stones, which they use upon anything that arouses their repugnance for beauty and order. Excreta are sometimes deposited in the houses, and the "fools" fling nasal mucus on one another. This use of mucus is in fact the salient characteristic of nfihlimaha, in conformity with the myth of the original nihlimahma, who, returning from an encounter with some supernatural beings, would constantly smear the excretion of his nose over his body. In the initiation of a nihlilmahla the older members fling mucus upon him. It is the duty of these dancers to compel the observance of the regulations governing the deportment of people in the presence of hamatsas, and to inflict corporal punishment on offenders. The winter ceremony of the Koskimo and the other tribes of Quatsino sound is opened with the ghost dance, which is here described by a Qagyuhl informant. I was at the village of the Koskimo in October, and was notified that something would happen that night. Near one end of the village were many grave houses, and here at dusk rose an uproar of noises - bellowing, howling, chattering, whistling. The sounds approached behind the houses, then I heard a peculiar noise at the creek behind the village. I think it was made by beating on the bottom of a pan inverted on the surface of the water. Immediately the other noises ceased, then the beating on the pan stopped. With that there arose in the village itself a tremendous noise caused by hyfntaiyu [bullroarers], of which two were being whirled on each housetop. This lasted about five minutes, and the tapping on the pan was resumed. As soon as this ceased, the medley of sounds among the grave houses followed. I asked the chief how these sounds were made, and he said, "Go and see." I found all the middle-aged people among the burial houses, each with a long tube of bladder-kelp round his neck, which he was using as a trumpet. The young people were on the roofs with the bullroarers. This alternation of sounds went on four times, then a man ran through the street, crying: "A child [naming it] has disappeared! The ghosts have taken it! Let everybody rise early in the morning!" Early in the morning the people dressed in button blankets and the best clothing they had, for they said the ghosts are proud and delight in cleanliness. All were called into the house of the man giving the winter dance, and the old ghost dancers sang four secret songs. They now had charge of the ceremony. They said, "We will see if we can hear where the ghosts will bring the child." One of them went out and soon came running back, exclaiming, "It is on yonder point!" The people all donned their red cedar-bark, {view image of facing page 216} Nuhlimahla - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 217} THE KWAKIUTL 2I7 each according to the nature of his dance, and each associating with the others of his kind. The hamatsas went first, even ahead of the ghost dancers, and behind the various classes of seals all the sparrows followed. As soon as the hamamamama of the ghosts came from the point, the hamatsas began to cry hap! hap! hap! and the others gave their cries. The sparrows, men and women, leaped into canoes and paddled toward the point, while the hamatsas and the other seals went on foot. As soon as the people approached the point, the ghosts gibbered hamamamama, and the seals fell on their faces as if dead, while the sparrows threw themselves backward in their canoes and capsized their craft. An old ghost dancer then went in a canoe and towed in the capsized vessels, to which clung the men and women, apparently dead, half floating and half lying on the bottom of the canoes. I think they had some kind of hook which held their clothing to the canoes, for they did not use their hands. Many of the women were floating with their dresses above their waists, but they did not destroy the effect of their acting by putting them down. When they were dragged ashore, they were laid in a row on the beach with their feet in the water, and a man with a vessel of urine then went along sprinkling the liquid from his fingers upon their faces. The old master of ceremonies said to me, "Go and carry them up." I went down and carried them one by one into the dance house, and each one gave me one or two dollars. There were about fifty of them. Next the seals were sprinkled, and I had to carry them into the house, where they began to call faintly in their several ways. The master of ceremonies said, "We will go and get this child." They took a board about twelve feet long and two and a half feet wide, and I followed. Behind the point they found a small child in a cradle-board, and laid it on their board, and so carried it to the village. As soon as they came into the house they cried hacmamamama! and the others uttered their calls. They sang four songs of the ghost dance, without dancing, and after a feast the seals went into a room and the ghost initiate was taken into another. The master of ceremonies now made a speech and called on a certain man to perform his function. There were two men, rivals by inheritance, each of whom had a rope which he used in the ghost dance. The master of ceremonies called on the one to whose faction he himself belonged, and this man brought out his rope and hung it up, and beside the door piled a considerable number of blankets, to which all his friends added. Next the other man hung up his rope, and he and his friends piled blankets on the other side of the door. Then everybody left the house. That evening I was called on to "drive the stakes." I did not know what this meant. In the house I was directed to dig a hole about two and a half feet square and one foot deep, and to drive two stakes into the ground inside the hole, slanting them in opposite directions so that their tops crossed each other at right angles, and {view image of page 218} 2I8 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN sinking them in so far that the tops did not show above the edges of the excavation. Another man bound withes about the intersection of the stakes, to make them firm, and a piece of kelp which had been used as an oil receptacle was split open and fastened on the lower angle of the intersection, so that the rope which was to be used in this device would slip freely as through a pulley. It was now growing dark, and a man was sent to call the people. Men and women, including the paAlus, because the ghost people themselves are regarded as pahius, assembled, and the master of ceremonies arose to thank them for coming, and to say that the initiate wished to go down through the ground, using the rope of Qahyila. This man then stood and said: "Here is the rope. Before you use it, I am going to put strength into it, so that it will stand the strain." Thereupon he began to give away his pile of blankets. The master of ceremonies took the rope and said: "I will put it round the new dancer. He is anxious to go down into the ground." Then he passed the end under the stakes and took it into the room where the initiate was. He came out and said, "It is tied." The other end was on the opposite side of the fire, and the whole rope was in plain sight. At the end in the secret room came a tugging, and the master of ceremonies called on a young man to hold the rope, for the new dancer was trying to go down into the ground. This young man took the rope and pulled against the stakes. Suddenly the strain on the end in the secret room was relieved, and he tumbled on his back. '"Oh," cried the master of ceremonies, "the ghost has thrown you!" The youth then arose and gave away the blankets which he had added to the pile made by the owner of the rope. So one after another the men (as well as any women who happened to occupy a seat in the nobility) in the division sitting on that side of the house were called out, and all were thrown by the ghost. Each gave away property, the usual amount being five to ten blankets, although some gave as many as a hundred. Then the other rope was substituted, and the men sitting on the other side of the house were tried. The whole proceeding was attended with much laughter and joking. The last man with simulated effort pulled in the rope and hauled the little child out of the secret room. He had brought the initiate back from ghost-land, and he gave away more property than any one else. This ended the initiation of the child as a ghost dancer, and the ceremony was continued with the appearance and performance of various other dancers. There are only five principal dancers in the Koskimo winter ceremony: hame'f6, nawaahw, mamaka, si'lis, and ftikwis ["bird in belly"]. The Nakoaktok, Goasila, Wikeno, and Bellabella resemble one another in their observance of the winter ceremony. A brief resume of the Wikeno practice must suffice. When the men return from their fall hunting of mountain-goats, {view image of page 219} THE KWAKIUTL 2I9 they report that one of their number has been killed by falling over a precipice. This is the means taken to account for the absence of the prospective hamatsa initiate. On an evening in early November the hamatsa whistles are heard in the woods, and the head chief sends his speaker to summon the people to his house, as if in the expectation that the spirit Pahpaqalan6hsiwi would come to that dwelling; but when from the roof of another house is heard a hamatsa whistle (blown by a youth secretly stationed there), the people know by this sign that the dance will be performed in that house. All the members at once assemble and each receives a head-band of red cedar-bark, which has been secretly gathered by the man giving the dance and prepared by his wife. Sitting about the walls of the principal room, they paint their faces, put eagle-down on their heads, and dress in the manner peculiar to their respective dances. Then k6minaka begins to dance. Almost immediately all the hamatsas go into a frenzy and in the confusion a young child of the man giving the dance disappears. This act is called lakun ("struck down"), because the child is supposed to have been prostrated and carried away by the spirit which is to initiate him. Now the four gentes congregate in separate corners of the room, and each is addressed by the speaker of its chief with many gestures and much moving of the lips and showing of the teeth, but without an audible word. The import of the "speech" is that Pahpaqalan6hsiwi is about to visit them, and it is the impending approach of this dread spirit that causes the speakers to employ no words. There is no more dancing on this occasion, but the following three nights are devoted to dancing for the purpose of bringing to life the child who has been struck dead. The father, having purchased from the carvers a number of masks (ten to forty, according to his means), hires an equal number of young men to dance with them simultaneously. These masks represent the thereomorphic spirits atlkanum ("beings that live in the woods"). At the end of the third night's dancing all the masks are piled on the floor and burned. It is on this last night that the child initiate, ostensibly restored to life, reappears and dances with a mask. Simultaneously with its entrance comes a messenger with the report that a certain child has been found dead in the street. Immediately the clansmen of the child, pretending not to know who it is, cry out: "Who is it? Go and see!" Some one goes out and brings back the news that it is {view image of page 220} 220 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the child of the chief of that gens, and they at once arrange to have a dance in order to restore it to life. The dancing therefore continues on the following three nights, the child's father buying a new set of masks and hiring new dancers. When on the third night of this second dance the second initiate appears, another child is found apparently dead; and so it goes until a child of each gentile chief has been struck down by the atlkanuim spirits and then restored, each by three nights of dancing. During all this time the hamatsa initiate remains in the woods, either in fact or in pretence. Sometimes after the four children have been brought to life by dancing, the head men arrange that the children of second chiefs shall be initiated, and so this preliminary dancing may continue for a long time. On one occasion it lasted forty days, and the hamatsa, Gwakiils, remained in the woods trapping. The Wikeno and the other tribes mentioned above have the mawiEl, not in the back of the room, but in the front at the left of the door; and the hams'pek, instead of being behind the mawihl, stands in front of the house. From the top of the pole a rope extends through the roof into the secret room behind the mawihl. Along that part which is above the roof are tied strips of copper, which, when the rope is shaken, rattle and cause the uninitiated to believe that the wild hamatsa is bound to the end of it and is trying to escape. The Wikeno have far fewer degrees of dancers than the Qagyuh1, but the procedure following the capture of hamatsa is essentially alike in both tribes. It remains now to speak with greater detail of the hamatsa. This dance originated apparently somewhere north of Vancouver island. Neither the Koskimo, the Nawiti, the Qagyuhl, nor the Nakoaktok, all of whom live near the northern end of the island, claim it as original with them. The Nakoaktok obtained the dance by marriage from the Wikeno about the year 1854, and in 1864 the Qagyuh- first had it, initiating three hamatsas. These were Awati of the Qagyuh- sept, whose father had married a Wikeno woman; Nilis, or Ofi1stalis, of the Kueha sept, whose father had married a Bellabella woman; and Hamasaka of the Walas Qagyuhsept, whose grandfather had married a Bellabella woman and lived among that tribe, but whose father returned to reside among the Qagyuhl, bringing the hamatsa membership for his son. The Koskimo obtained the dance by imitating the Wikeno. {view image of page 221} THE KWAKIUTL 221 The Wikeno and the Bellabella, then, were the sources from which the southern Kwakiutl received the dance, and it is significant that these two tribes possess the clearest myths of Paihpaqalan6hsiwi. But each declares itself the originator of the dance, and in the absence of further evidence it is impossible to say which, if either, is entitled to the distinction. The Kwakiutl declare that the hamatsa eats human flesh, and the assertion has been accepted as true; the more readily because of the testimony of some early arrivals in this region, more than one of whom has reported having observed the killing of slaves, supposedly for ceremonial purposes. But there is grave doubt whether cannibalism ever existed in British Columbia. Some of the reasons for this unbelief are the following: I. All other wonder-workers in the winter dance, with the possible exception of hawinalahl, the war dancer, are admittedly more or less clever tricksters. 2. Feats of such utter impossibility are ascribed to the hamatsas as to reflect doubt on even the more credible ones. It is difficult to believe that the human throat is capable of swallowing numerous long strips of the hard, dry, leathery integument that covers the bones of a mummy. But, granting the possibility, who can believe that one man ever ate the skin of four mummies within a few hours, and lived! 3. A considerable number of old men of more northerly tribes - Haida and Tsimshian- have been questioned on this subject, and with unbroken uniformity they declare the hamatsa's cannibalism a trick, performed by substituting for the corpse a figure covered with, or containing inside of it, the flesh of deer, halibut, or salmon. Several of these men have helped to prepare such figures. 4. Of the Kwakiutl men who can be induced to discuss the subject, all except one say that substitution has been invariably practised in modern times, adding, however, that "long ago" human flesh was eaten. This single professed believer in the existence of cannibalism described many of the winter-dance tricks as if sleightof-hand played no part in them, but, confronted with evidence from another source, he explained the method of procedure. His insistence on the point of cannibalism is therefore open to question. It is quite possible, even probable, that in earlier days slaves were sometimes killed and coffins robbed of their dead for use in the winter dance. It is not unlikely that corpses were dismembered in {view image of page 222} 222 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the sight of spectators. But at that point the genuineness of the performance probably ceased. In the uncertain light of the dance house, with a throng of practiced men ready to shield the operation from too close scrutiny, or on the beach at a considerable distance from the uninitiated, the substitution of an imitation corpse was a simple matter indeed for these tricksters. Even the killing of a slave could easily have been simulated. The following experiences of the informant so frequently quoted in this volume should be taken merely for what they purport to be - substantially verbatim accounts by a native who professes to believe in the recent existence of ceremonial cannibalism in British Columbia. Awati, a hamatsa of long standing, was giving the winter dance at Fort Rupert in the year 1871, and the Wikeno tribe was invited. One day there were seen approaching nine canoes and catamarans, from which came the sound of hamatsa whistles. The Wikeno began to sing, their hamatsa initiate cried hap! hap! hap! and sang his secret songs. Some who knew the ways of the Wikeno hamatsas said, "He has a dead body in that canoe!" When the hamatsa's catamaran came close enough, Awati and his young attendants, of whom I was one, waded out to it. Everybody heard the speaker of the Wikeno asking, 'Have you the food which will tempt our hamatsa ashore?" Awati replied that he had not, and the other went on: "Well, if you do not have food to get him ashore, we will go back..You know our rule, and we do not want to break it. You have to feed our hamatsa first with your food, in order to get him ashore; then his turn will come, for he has mummy food in the canoe." As soon as he heard this, Awati flung out his arms, threw back his head, and cried hap! hap! hap! We attendants caught him by the arms. He ran along the beach toward the burial ground, where nearly every tree contained a coffin, and sent us up different trees, looking for a ^suitable mummy. Soon one was found and thrown to the ground. Awati sprang upon it, examined and smelled it, to see if it was in the proper condition, that is, not mouldy nor rotten, but dry. Then he took it in his arms to an adjacent creek and dipped it several times in the water. At the same time we attendants hurried into the woods, broke off hemlock branches, and brought them^to him. While we were wrapping the mummy in branches, Awati said to us: "I do not know, but I may need help. When we enter the house, if he gives me the body I will pretend to eat the strips of skin, but will let them slip to the ground. You take them and hide them in your blankets." He took the bundle and began to sing. As soon as he came to where the people could see him, he assumed the pose characteristic {view image of page 223} THE KWAKIUTL 223 of the hamatsa and ran along crouching and uttering his cries. Gwakills, the Wikeno hamatsa, was a great, fat man with a huge, brutal face and very thick, long hair, in which he had twisted ribbons of red and white cedar-bark, so that an enormous tangled shock of hair and bark surmounted and surrounded his head. On the edge of the catamaran's deck he squatted, rolling his eyes, thrusting out his lips, raising his hands, and uttering his hoarse cries. He was a terrible sight, even to those accustomed to the hamatsas. He waited until he saw Awati bringing the body, then his attendants carried him ashore, so that he should not touch salt water. They set him on the beach. Awati, carrying his mummy, was moving backward toward the house, showing the body to the Wikeno hamatsa, so as to induce him to follow. Gwakiils moved slowly forward, half sitting, half squatting, and now and then, simultaneously with Awati, pivoting on one foot. Both were crying hapin angry tones. Four times they turned before reaching the house. Awati turned to face the house and entered, and then began to sing one of his songs. All the Qagyuh- winter-dance people were assembled, and as soon as he appeared they began to use their batons. He moved slowly round the fire, and just behind it he stopped and faced the door, watching for Gwakiils and moving the corpse as if playing with something he held in tender regard. a The Wikeno hamatsa came in and crouched by the door, watching Awati, and all the time extending his hands and drawing them back to his face, as if taking the body and eating. At brief intervals Awati pivoted on one foot and then resumed his play with the corpse, and.each time the other turned with him. They did this four times, then Awati moved to his right, and the other in a succession of long, swift leaps on hands and feet covered the space between the door and the rear, going round the. left side of the fire. Behind the fire he stopped again and faced Awati, who was then at the right of the fire. In this relative position they moved slowly round the fire four times. When Awati was behind the fire after the fourth circuit, Gwakiils leaped upon the mummy, took it in his arms, and twisted the head. But the skin was too tough to be twisted off, and one of his attendants came quicklyand cut it. Then Gwakiils tore off the head and tossed it to Awati, and himself carrying the headless body he began to sing: "Do not yet truly eat, do not yet truly eat! By and by you shall truly eat, when you eat with me! The food refuses to go down your throat! I have become Pihpaqalan6hsiwi, I have become the good hamatsa!" 1 1When Gwikills was initiated he came out of the woods with a mummy under each arm. His hereditary rival was already hamatsa, and when they met, Gwikills handed him one of the bodies. Then ensued a contest of man-eating, which Gwikiils won by finishing his mummy first. The words quoted on the next page were at once fitted to the air by the singers. The text is in the Wikeno dialect. {view image of page 224} 224 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN ria 4 wa - las ham - sai- ya. A hm-tlu- su awa- las ham - sai- ya, a$I = I _ I C I v i~. 1 - -- J, 1, -, _ft__ft _.-_ __ m — - noh- su - la ha- ma - sl - w6hl im- tli - l Ht uhw-wi-am - sa - i-V- I _- -I ". --—. - mas; hti Pa- pa - qa-la-noh- si- wa hti te-nai skya- ha s -w w6. 9 '_ -.-.- ' '.___ i_-.__ ---I____ _Lf_ *, Jo' _ _ j v i i' The Wikeno singers took up the words, and then Gwakiils stopped and went through the usual gestures and movements of the hamatsa. He rolled his eyes, held up his palms, rocking the corpse from side to side, thrust out his lips as if with great desire, then laughed hideously. Next he ravenously licked the body from one end to the other, and after a while, as the singing continued, he seized a knife and rapidly cut the dry skin of the arms, legs, and trunk into long narrow strips. One by one he tore them off, raised them at arm's length, threw back his head, lowered one end of the strip into his mouth, and with, a single movement of the throat and tongue he swallowed it. Awati was holding the head, and did not seem to know what to do. He tried to bite out a piece of the skin, but could not; then an attendant gave him a knife, and with it he cut the skin into small squares and began to swallow them hurriedly. He was afraid. Before he had finished, Gwakiils had stripped the bones of the body. I stood just behind Awati and only two steps from Gwakiils, and clearly saw everything. After the Wikeno hamatsa had stripped the bones, separated and licked the joints, and swallowed every particle of the dry integument except that of the palms and the soles, his sister, a kyenkalatlilu, came forward with her robe turned front to back, pinned at the neck and belted at the waist, so that it formed a bag at the bosom. {view image of page 225} THE KWAKIUTL 225 She picked up the bones one by one and thrust them inside her, robe, and then stood there beside him while he seized the skull from Awati's hands. Only a part of one cheek was eaten. Gwakiils put his fingers under the edge of the skin and with a jerk tore off the entire covering of the skull. Then an attendant trimmed off the scalp and cut the rest into strips, which the hamatsa swallowed. All the time he was making inarticulate sounds expressive of the greatest delight. Next he grasped the scalp, nor would he give it up, and the skull he nursed under his armpit. He tore off the lower jaw and licked it, and pretended to pick off bits of flesh, though there could have been none on it. He threw it down, and his sister put it in with the rest of the bones. Then he picked over the skull, and tried to break it on the floor, so as to get at the cavity. An old man, his father, came forward with a small axe, and said: "Qagyuhl, you feed my hamatsa falsely! Why did you not bring two of his food instead of a small child? He is just as hungry as when we came!" He took the skull from his son and laid it carefully on its side. The hamatsa stepped forward, eyeing it eagerly, with trembling, outstretched hands. The old man chopped it into two pieces, one of which Gwakiils quickly seized and placed carefully in one hand, while with the other he as carefully picked small objects from the floor, put them into his mouth, and ate with great delight and much smacking of lips. I think these objects were the thin brown shells left by maggots. Next with his right hand he scooped out from the half of the skull whatever was in it, probably maggot shells, poured them into his open mouth, and ate them with a crunching sound which I could plainly hear. He handed the bone to his father, who took it to the water-pail, poured a cup of water into it, shook it with a rotary motion, and handed it back to Gwakiils, who drank the contents. Then the hamatsa licked the inside of the bone, and with grunts of satisfaction threw it down. The same things were done with the other half of the skull, and the woman thrust both pieces into her blanket. Still Gwakiils was unsatisfied. He did not seem to be hamatsa, for he was not wild and excited. He went slowly about the room, lifting men's blankets and peering under them, as if he suspected that some of them might have food for him. Awati had gone back into a bedroom, and when we asked what Gwakiils was looking for, he answered that the Wikeno feared he might have dropped a piece of flesh which some one was hiding. Awati said his throat felt small and drying up, and he had gone to the bedroom for water. Finding no food, Gwakiils became excited and ran about the room like a hamatsa. Through the doorway he went, and down to the canoe. The Qagyuhl were disturbed, thinking he would go to the burialplace and get one of their dead. When an attendant came to tellAwati that Gwakiils had gone to the canoe, he exclaimed, "That bad man is going to get another one!" VOL. X-15 {view image of page 226} 226 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Soon we heard Gwakiils singing at the door. He entered, singing, and the Wikeno joined in the song. He was bearing a naked mummy. He was a big man, weighing,,probably two hundred and sixty pounds. As soon as he appeared, Awati came out of the secret room. Meanwhile there had been much talking among the Qagyul, and it was decided thatNNulis and Hamasaka, the other two hamatsas, must help him; for Awati was being beaten. So these two came forward, stripped naked like the others except that they wore cedarbark rings about the neck. The three Qagyuhl hamatsas were timid in the presence of this rapid eater of human flesh, for their way was to take it slowly. Gwakiils twisted the head off,quickly (he must have had the skin previously cut) and gave it to Awati. He tore off the right arm for Nilis and the left for Hamasaka. I do not know whether or not these three ate their portions, for I was watching the Wikeno man. The skull and the two arms were picked clean, but I think there was secret work going on; that is, that they cut off the skin and pretended to eat it, but really dropped it on the ground for the attendants to conceal. Gwakiils again, scraped and licked the bones, and wanted to take the skull from Awati, but the latter had finished and thrown it down. Gwakiils examined it, and tucked it under his arm. His sister had gathered up the bones and put them in her blanket, and she now had quite a burden. This second body was that of a woman, the first that of a youth. The second skull was split and rinsed out like the first. Still his father said the hamatsa was not satisfied, and Gwakiils went about once more, looking under the men's blankets. He went to his sister, put his hand in among the bones, drew out a thigh-bone, and gave it to the old man, who chopped off the two ends and handed it back. Gwakiils placed one end in his mouth, and sucked on it. Then the old man poured water into a bowl, and Gwakiils, placing an end of the bone in the bowl, sucked the water up through it, and drank. All the long-bones were treated in this manner, and then were restored to the woman. Gwakiils began to sing, and his people took the words from him, while he hopped about the fire. They sang four songs, and he retired behind the mawihl into a bedroom. His sister, the kyenkalatluilu, still standing there beside the fire, called for a box. Some of the Wikeno brought an old chest, and she took out the bones slowly, one by one, so that everybody could see that all were clean, and dropped them into the chest. She called for the cover and four heavy stones. She placed the latter in the box, adjusted the cover, and tied it down with a long rope which she unwound from her waist. Then she told the men who had brought the,stones to carry it out. At this point I went into the bedroom to Awati, but Captain Alexander W. Mouat[?], the Hudson's Bay Company's representative at Fort Rupert, who was present, later told me that the chest was placed in a canoe and carried to deep water, where it was sunk. {view image of page 227} THE KWAKIUTL 227 I was in the room when the four men returned and reported, "We have been out to bury the dead." The father of Gwakiils asked, "What dead?" "The mummy," they answered. This conversation was prearranged, in order to excite the hamatsa by the utterance of the word mummy, and immediately the four hamatsas began raving and crying hap! hap! hap! There were many attendants holding the Wikeno hamatsa, and two were restraining each of the three Qagyuh1. Four big Wikeno men wearing only shirts now began to roll up their sleeves. These were the haphila ("put a living object into water"). They went to the beach and stood at the water's edge, and Gwakiils went down to one of them. The other three hamatsas followed him, for though he had defeated them by the greatness of his deeds, still they felt it incumbent upon them to follow in his steps and do, or attempt, what he did. The other three big men stood a short distance from the one toward whom Gwakiils was going, and one of them called out to the three Qagyuhl and their attendants, "Come this way!" When we got to him, one of the others called, "Come this way!" So two of the hamatsas and their attendants went to him, and at the fourth man's bidding one of these two with his attendants passed on to him. The breast of Gwakiils was slimy like a snail with handling the mummy; for mummies are always well soaked before being eaten, in order to soften the skin. This slime is believed to have the effect of causing the speedy death of the hamatsa unless it is promptly washed off with salt water. The four men grasped the hamatsas by the hair and dragged them into the water, handling them roughly, as if they were dogs. Each warned his man, "When I dip you in, take a long breath." They went out until the water was breast-deep. It was February, and the weather was severely cold. Each took his man by the hair at the back of the neck and by the thigh, thrusting one hand between the hamatsa's legs from behind and thus grasping the front of one leg. Facing the sun, he pushed him under water and turned slowly on the left foot until he reached the starting position, when he gave the hamatsa a shove, and the latter, staggering to his feet, cried hap! hap! hap! rather feebly for want of breath. This turning about is symbolical of going round the world, and recalls the hamatsa's supposed journey round the world with Paihpaqalan6hsiwi during his period of absence in the woods. Four times this was done, and the last time they turned very slowly. Then all came out of the water, and Gwakiils asked the Qagyuhl hamatsas, "Where is the nearest washing place?" They led the way along the beach up the slope to the terrace, and into the woods a short distance to a place where four logs lined the four sides of a shallow excavation. The upper edge of the logs was level with the ground. The hole was filled with fresh water, for the salt water must be washed off the {view image of page 228} 228 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN hamatsa as quickly as possible. The four sat on the logs, throwing water up over themselves and laughing. There was no more crying of hap, but the attendants kept blowing the whistles for the benefit of the people back in the village. Then we all detoured through the woods to the other end of the village, Gwakiils leading, because of the inexperience of the Qagyuhl. As soon as they reached a point where they could be seen by the people, they again left off their human demeanor and acted like wild creatures. They went through the village street, then back of the houses to the end of the village where they had begun, and so four times they passed in front of and behind the houses. Then Gwakiils led the way inside the dance house. The four began to sing, and the Wikeno singers wielded their batons and took up the song. Gwakiils danced and the other three joined him, and after four songs they retired into the secret room. The Wikeno people,then unloaded their canoes and hauled them up on the beach, and Awati had them invited to a feast, which commenced about dark. During the feast two medicine-men of the Wikeno stood inside the doorway, one on each side. Their faces were blackened, and they wore blankets, and head-bands of cedarbark with several pieces of quartz crystal set on the front. They constantly bore an expression of great austerity. Nobody dared laugh in their presence. One man inadvertently laughed, and they both directed their black looks at him until he dropped his eyes and sat crestfallen and frightened. The Qagyuhl all were afraid of them. What with these awe-inspiring medicine-men and the superiority of the Wikeno hamatsa, the Qagyuh- were quite humble. That night I sat in the secret room with the hamatsas. Gwakills constantly wore a bear-skin, and kept his whistle ready to play his part if any word that was supposed to excite him should be spoken. I noticed him drink copiously from a wooden pail which I had not seen brought in. After a while he went to sleep, leaning against the wall. When he snored, I dipped my finger into the pail and tasted the liquid. It was simply salt water, an emetic [doubtless to wash off from the pieces of human flesh the "touch" of the hamatsa and so prevent him from decaying coincidently with its corruption]. During the night Gwakiils did not sleep much, and frequently he went out through the secret door. The hamatsas do not vomit the pieces of skin. Men have told me that they cannot disgorge them, no matter how much water is drunk and vomited. The number of pieces swallowed is carefully counted, and the excrement is examined to see that the full number is voided. Men say that after swallowing the pieces, there is great pain in defecating. Each piece passes separately, but only after the exertion of the greatest effort, and it is accompanied by blood and the sensation of redhot iron passing through the rectum. While the pieces are in the stomach there is considerable pain, for they lie in a hard, compact mass. {view image of facing page 228} Hamasilahl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 229} THE KWAKIUTL 229 There was no dancing nor other ceremony during the next three days and two nights, but on the night of the fourth day the hamatsas were to be tamed. The songs used on this occasion were not those of Gwakiils, but of some of the other Wikeno hamatsas. For when several hamatsa initiates are being tamed at the same time, the songs are not those of any one of them, lest the others insist that their songs also be used, and thus the ceremony be made too tedious. On the fourth night the Wikeno took charge.<, Far from feeling chagrined over this usurpation of his place, Awati was pleased; for since his hamatsa membership came from the Wikeno by marriage, some of the people would not admit that his right was valid, and now that the Wikeno had come into his house to give the ceremony, as it were, for him, he would have the endorsement of their superior standing. Speakers were sent out just before the dancing was to begin, and almost immediately the people came without waiting for a second summons. When the Qagyuhl entered they saw sitting on boxes, one on each side of the doorway, the two Wikeno medicinemen. Their faces were black and their heads thickly covered with eagle-down, which, falling, spotted their faces and bodies here and there. They were terrifying objects. They sat perfectly motionless, except for their eyes, which turned this way and that, glaring at the people. If any one dared to meet their eyes, they stared at him fixedly until he dropped his head and looked at the ground, unable to stand their gaze. After all the people were inside and the door was closed, the old Wikeno speaker went to the medicine-men and whispered something to each in turn, but apparently they made no response. Then he called out: "Wikeno, you know why our friends are sitting at this door. No one may pass outward through this door until the end of this meeting. If any one tries, he will drop dead! If it is father, brother, sister, or mother, these our two friends will not spare him! Also you, Qagyuhl, if any one of you tries to walk through, he will drop dead!" He returned to his station behind the fire and addressed the singers, "Take hold of the handles of your batons, and get ready!" [This was probably a cue for the hamatsas in the secret room to commence their song.] As soon as the singers grasped their batons, Gwakiils began to sing. The batons beat slow time, but when the singers took up the words they beat rapidly and loudly. The whistles of the hamatsas sounded long, slow notes. Gwakiils wore a very wide head-band, and his hair and entwined cedar-bark ribbons burst out at the top and fell in a tumbled mass at the sides and the back of his head. Pinned around his neck was a grizzly-bear skin bordered with a strip of cedar-bark matting four fingers wide. His neck-ring was so massive that it could not be spanned by a man's two hands. His wristlets consisted of four twisted strands of cedar-bark rope, the frayed ends of which projected, and his anklets were similar. He looked like a great king. He came out squatting and extending his hands upward, and when he was a quarter of the way round the fire, {view image of page 230} 230 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Awati appeared and followed him. At equal intervals came the others. They did not go round and round the fire, but danced back and forth, keeping about equidistant from one another. Gwakiils danced very quietly, and the others, timid and consciously outclassed, for the greater part squatted motionless, surrounded by their attendants. As soon as the first song ended, Gwakiils began another, the singers beating fast and loud. After a brief interval he started a third song in slow time, and when the singers took up the words he danced quietly, and the whistles sounded softly. With scarcely a pause, he began the fourth song in slow time, singing quietly. He uttered a weak hap, and the singers took up the song, while Gwakiils danced, this time with his eyes directed straight before him and not rolling, with his lips normal instead of protruding. The words were of "pressing down the spirit" of the hamatsa. At the end of the song he dropped to his haunches as if exhausted. Two attendants grasped his arms, and followed by the other attendants almost dragged him round the fire. His arms were extended straight behind, his body was bent at the waist and leaning forward, so that the upper part of his body was horizontal. There was no sound. Then they took him into the secret room. The other hamatsas had imitated these acts to the best of their ability. The Wikeno speaker arose and said: "Wikeno, I am going into the room to feel our friends, to see if they are really tamed." All the Wikeno shouted, "Go, go!" Hecame into the secret room and remained a short time, sitting with Awati and telling him of the singing contest they were going to have. When the hamatsas are in their room they lie about talking with one another and with their attendants, indulging principally in indecent conversation about women whom they have seen in the other room, and laughing quietly. The speaker returned to the main room and said: "I have been feeling them, and the mfifls [the ceremonial name of the hamatsa's whistle, the sound of which is supposed to issue from his vitals] is moving [that is, the frenzy is leaving]. Now it is best for you Wikeno to divide into two parts. We will m6ftikya,l and you Qagyuhl, you Kueha, you Walas Qagyuhl, divide also into two parts, each tribe." To each division he assigned a place in the room, and he said, "I will make our friends tame, so that they can walk out tomorrow." Each of the four tribes divided into two parties, and everybody procured a small baton. Each of the eight divisions crowded closely together, the individuals facing one another, and simultaneously each group began to sing a song different from all the others. They sang as loudly as they were able, and carefully 1 M6otikva is performed when any untoward circumstance has occurred to mar the course of the winter dance during the initiation of a hamatsa. Thus, a serious mistake in the singing or in the striking with batons, so that the hamatsa misses his step; the stumbling of a hamatsa; his loss of self-control, so that he becomes really vicious in his biting - any such event is cause for nmotikya, in order to "heal the wound." Usually also, but not always, this is done at the end of the dance in order to "sing off the red cedar-bark." {view image of facing page 230} Tawihyilahl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 231} THE KWAKIUTL 231 watched one another's lips in order to aid their ears and concentrate their attention on their own song, lest they be confused by the sounds of the other seven songs. In the secret room the hamatsas and we attendants also sang. At the end of the singing the speaker said, "I will go back and see how they feel." He came into the secret room and soon returned, half laughing, and announced: "They are now of us, human like us. They are now truly men." This ended the ceremony of taming the hamatsas. The two medicine-men came into,the secret room and relaxed their sternness. One of them asked Awati, "Have all your attendants been kyenkalatlului?" Awati indicated several who had been, but one who had not. The medicine-man pointed his finger at that young man and said sternly, "Go out, and never come back!" So the attendant, though he had been initiated as a bear dancer, was not permitted to be attendant to the hamatsa. The four hamatsas remained that night in the secret room, where they had been since the beginning of the ceremony. Some of the attendants remained, but others went out through a secret door. The people supposed them all there. On the following morning the people were invited to a feast,1 but they did not begin to assemble until dusk. After the sparrows and the spectators had taken their seats there came a pounding on the door, and two nfihlimahla dancers rushed in. One stood in the front of the room at the left of the fire, the other in a corresponding position at the right. Next Gwakiils entered very slowly, his bearskin blanket covered with eagle-down. He wore his great neckring, and on the front of his head-band was a wooden skull. His face was blackened. As soon as he appeared, the two Wikeno medicine-men stood up at the left of the fire. Gwakills proceeded to the right, walking upright, and sat behind the middle of the row of singers. The other three hamatsas came and sat beside him. There were now no attendants, as the hamatsas were tame and required no restraint. Then two bear dancers entered side by side, their faces painted black below the mouth and above the eyes. In the intermediate space were black perpendicular streaks, the spaces between which represented bear's teeth. Their bear-skins were folded lengthwise and tied about the waist so that they extended only to the knees, and on their hands were bound the claws, attached to long strips of fur which covered the outside of the arms to the shoulder. Around their necks were cedar-bark rings. They stood before the fire and glared at the people from side to side, baring their teeth, but uttering no sound. They went to sit on the bench with the hamatsas, and then came other bears two by two, about twenty of them, wearing ordinary blankets. All this time the two nufilimahla dancers stood in their places. Now the others of this degree came one by one. Their faces were 1 As described on page 177. {view image of page 232} 232 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN black, and they wore tattered blankets pinned at the neck and hanging unconfined. They never held the blankets with the hands or arms. Their neck-rings and head-rings were ragged. Some of them carried on their backs baskets of stones, so that if any one displeased them they might have something to throw. In such a case they do not really hurl the stones, but let them fall behind them just before the arm goes forward. In everything they act like fools. Next were the thunderbird dancers. Their faces were black from the nose downward, and just below each temple and level with the eye was a black mark [shaped like an interrogation point with the back toward the eye]. These dancers walked like eagles. Then followed the hohhuq dancers. Their painting was black from the level of the nostrils downward, and two curving black lines on each cheek representing two pairs of horns. There was usually only one hohhuq dancer, but this time there were two. They stood in the doorway and looked this way and that, then stepped slowly, like cranes in the water looking for fish, and so went back to the seat of the seals behind the singers. The war dancer was next. Coiled about his neck and hanging down on his breast were four pieces of cedar-bark rope, each ten fathoms long. In his right hand was a knife and in his left a stick about three feet long. A cedar-bark blanket was doubled and tied round the waist, leaving the upper part of the body bare except for the rope hanging from his neck, and his wristlets and anklets were of cedar-bark. Twisted, red cedar-bark formed the head-ring, and at the top of the head on each side was attached a long cedar withe, stripped and barked, which stood up and out like a plume. This dancer was not painted. He stood looking at the upper left corner in the rear of the room, and pointed his hand toward it. All the people shouted, "No, it is not time!" He pointed again, but they repeated their cry, and he went to sit beside the other dancers. Next appeared the raven, the wasp, and several other dancers. Among the last was the fiunukwalah1, feeling of the door-posts in his pretended blindness. He came to the right corner and trod on the people, who pushed him away, saying, "That is the way, over there." He went to the left corner, and trod on the spectators there, apparently lost, until some one who had been ftfnulwalahl led him to the seat. Last of all was the mamaka, with a doubled blanket tied round his waist. The upper half of his face was black, and he wore no head-ring, but the hair was brought around to the front from both sides and the two halves were tied together with a piece of bark. Inside the door he stood and looked about, then half turned his body, at the same time flexing the knees and straightening them with a jerk. With hushed voices the people implored him: "Do not do it! Do not do it!" He repeated this movement several times, and then went to the seat. {view image of facing page 232} Qunhulahl - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 233} THE KWAKIUTL 233 The two nfihlmahla dancers were still in their places. They now followed the mamaka, and one stood at each end of the seat. Then the two Wikeno medicine-men took their position beside the doorway, the door was closed, and everybody became very quiet. There was not a sound, except that now and then the two medicinemen made their guttural, whistling noise. This period of silence is called aqunikyalihl, a secret word meaning that the weight of the winter-dance spirit is pressing on the people. The speaker rose after a few minutes and went through the pantomime of making a speech, but not a word did he utter aloud. I have asked several speakers what they say in this silent speech, and they all told me nearly the same thing: "Now we are all in this great fiekai [winterdance house] with our great friends [the hamatsas and the other dancers]. Now we will sing. Song-keepers [here he repeats their names to himself], take your batons." Then one of the song-keepers went outside, and there was heard the sound of chopping. Soon he returned with a great number of sticks, one of which he gave to each person - man, woman, and child. A number of long boards, mostly the side boards used for raising the gunwales of canoes in making a catamaran, were laid before the people in such a position that everybody could strike on one of them. Even the seals were so provided. Small sticks were placed under the sounding boards to give them resonance. The speaker, who was still on his feet, said: "There is one of our friends who has not yet come. Hotluliti is not here." This was the winter-dance speaker of the Qagyuhl. Four men were sent to summon him, and soon he came, shaking his rattle and singing his secret song. His face was blackened, and he was covered with eagle-down. Around his neck was a very thick ring of cedar-bark loosely twisted. All grasped their batons in readiness. He walked slowly round the fire, singing, and back of the fire he pivoted on his left foot. Again at the front of the fire he pivoted, and when the second time he reached the back, he turned, still singing, raised his rattle high, and brought it down with a sweep, and simultaneously every baton crashed on the boards. Rapid beating without singing followed for about three minutes, while H6tliiliti shook his rattle. Then he extended his arm and swept the rattle horizontally through a semicircle, and the beating ceased. He stood there silent and motionless for a few moments, during which there was no sound except the whistling of the two Wikeno medicine-men. Then again he brought his rattle down and the beating was resumed. A second time he stopped it with a sweep of his arm, then once more he gave his signal to resume. This time the kyenkalatlulu and the tohwit women began to sing, each her own secret song. When Hotliuliti swept his arm again, the beating ceased but the singing of the women continued. Then the rattle was brought down for the fourth time, the beating commenced, and the singing ceased. When Hotluliti swept his arm again through the semicircle, the beating by {view image of page 234} 234 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the people stopped and the singers struck their board and sang, while all the people joined them in an ancient song. After this was done, the Kueha song-keepers struck their board and started their ancient song for this occasion. Next the Wikeno, singing very low and gruffly, repeated two songs, because they were guests. It was now time for the feast, and the kettles were set upon the fire. When the food was cooked, a kyenkalatluilu came with four spoons, which he filled with rice and bore to the four hamatsas, who still sat behind the singers. As the spoons were passed to them, the sparrows stretched out their hands, crying: "Give it to me! Let me eat first!" This was in keeping with their rule of tormenting the hamatsas. Then the speaker held aloft a great wooden dish filled with rice, crying, "Dish for Gwakiils!" One of the four heralds who had invited the people to the feast carried it to Gwakiils, and then simultaneously a dish was given to each hamatsa. Next they distributed dishes among the seals and the sparrows, one to each three persons, and other dishes were set before the spectators. As soon as the hamatsas began to eat from their dishes, the two nfihimahla dancers sat down, at which signal the other people began to eat, everybody devouring his portion as rapidly as possible. As soon as the seals finished, they threw the dishes roughly over the heads of the singers toward the fire, taking no care to toss them gently, but rather desiring, if possible, to break them. Some of the ninfililmahla [plural of nihlimahla] threw theirs into the fire. After all the dishes had been cleared, the hamatsas walked slowly round to the left of the fire, and the other seals followed them through the doorway. The people then filed out. In the month of October, I904, two young men of the Wikeno tribe went hunting in the mountains. Kaihetasu one evening told his elder companion that in his sleep the previous night he had heard something which he thought must have been the voice of Paihpaqalanohsiwi. The other advised him to bathe ceremonially; and early in the morning and again at evening Kaihetasu went into the stream and rubbed his body vigorously with hemlock tips. The place was close to the hill where, according to the myth, Pahpaqalan6hsiwi was living when Nunwakawi killed his body. On the following morning the young man said: "That thing came near me again last night. It cries somewhat like hamatsa." "You had better continue washing," replied his companion. "It was our people who killed Pahpaqalan6hsiwi, but his spirit yet lives. If it falls to anybody to meet that spirit, it will be you, for your father is hamatsa." So Kaihetasu washed again, morning and evening, and now he rubbed until the blood showed on his skin. Before they fell asleep * KWXAHWUMHL. This "raven mask" is provided with a coat of cormorant-skins, which completely covers the figure of the dancer. It is used in the n6nhlim ceremony. {view image of facing page 234} Kwahwumhl - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 235} THE KWAKIUT1 235 he said: "Last night when that thing came, it made my head feel very strange. I saw strange things." "It might be that pahala is coming to you, if it acts that way," replied his friend. They went off to sleep, and toward daylight the elder man heard his companion singing a pahala song, a new one which the spirit had given him that night. After a while, still singing, he went out and wandered away into the woods. Kahetasu was to have disappeared for initiation as hamatsa in the following month. The elder man returned home and informed the parents of Kahetasu that he had disappeared; and so the news spread that he had been taken by Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. On a very cold day in November, when the lake was frozen, the people heard cries of hap! hap! hap! and then this song, sung in the way of the medicine-men, not the winter-dance people: "Four-man Eater, I! I eat your parents, ha! Magic power! Four-man Eater, I! I eat your children, ha! Magic power! Four-man Eater, I! I eat your parents, ha! Magic power! I eat with the appetite of a raven, he! I eat with the appetite of a raven, heye! I double up the strips of flesh with the appetite of a raven, he! I double up the strips of flesh with the appetite of a raven, he! I eat with the appetite of a raven, he! I swallow skulls with the appetite of a raven, he! I gouge out the eyes of the dead and suck them up with the appetite of a raven, he I eat with the appetite of a raven! Hup! hup! hup!" 1 The sounds came from a burial house on a small island near the larger one on which the village stands. As the people flocked out of doors, they beheld Kaihetasu climb up out of the hut with a mummy on his back, another under one arm, and a recently interred corpse under the other. On the roof he squatted, still singing his song, and began to devour the fresh body. He had a knife concealed in his hand, though hamatsas are not supposed to use a knife. According to eye-witnesses he picked the bones clean and then began on the two mummies, the skin of which had been softened by recent rains dripping through the old roof. The mummies finished, he descended into the hut and brought out another, which he ate, for in his song he had called himself Motana ["four-man eater"]. Once more he went below, and this time he brought out two more dry bodies, with which he disappeared into the woods. Four days later Motana reappeared, ate two mummies on the roof, and carried away two more. The people now began to talk about it, and some who visited the burial house to see what ravages he had committed found that he had been there several times. They advised his father, "The quicker we catch him, the better it will be." At a meeting it was decided to catch the young man in the morning, if he should return on the fourth day following his last visit. When for the third time he was heard singing in the hut, the people surrounded it. The young man came out upon the roof with a mummy under each arm, and began to sing and to dance 1See score, page 31I. {view image of page 236} 236 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN slowly along the ridge. Because of the irregular way in which he had disappeared, there were no other initiates. When he had devoured his corpses, he leaped down and ran among the people, biting here and there, without regard for the rule that the hamatsa must bite only on the left forearm. In his palm was a knife with which to cut off the pieces of skin which he raised with his teeth. He began to sing about his father and his mother, and even his children, how he was going to eat them; and the people saw that he was not the same person, he was strangely changed. He broke through the lines and ran away. Four days later he returned, but again they failed to catch him. Then another meeting was held. The people were becoming frightened, for this man had been biting arms and legs indiscriminately, and taking not only the skin, as the hamatsa should do, but the flesh with it, and not a mere shred, but the full width of his mouth; so that when he cut off with the knife what he had taken between his teeth, the wound spread open to a considerable size. An old man said: "We cannot catch him. But we will try as Nuinwakawi did. That belongs to us. He beat Paihpaqalan6hsiwi by killing dogs, but now we will get mummies for this man, and have four men to carry them and lead him into the house." This plan was tried, and it succeeded. Four mummies were procured, and a strong man to carry each one. The four went close to the hamatsa, who no sooner saw the mummies than he came toward them; and as the men withdrew slowly toward the village, he followed. All the winter-dance people of the Wikeno were assembled in the house of the young man's father, ready to sing. Three of the mummy carriers came into the house, while one remained outside near the door. The hamatsa stood off, undecided. Then he came closer, and followed the mummy carrier into the house, and they barred the door. The young man did not seem to come to himself. His eyes were turned up, so that only the whites showed. That was customary for the hamatsa, but this man never let the iris of his eyes be seen even for an instant. They gave him a mummy, and he sat down and began to eat. After he had devoured it, they gave him another, and when the second was finished, the young man began to turn his head this way and that, and to sing the song about eating his parents and his children. But these had been sent into the back part of the house. As the proper season for the dance had not arrived, the songmakers had no songs ready for him, so they began to sing the hamatsa songs of Gwakiils; but it was evident that the new hamatsa did not approve. He kept singing his own secret song, and the singers soon caught it and began to use it; but this seemed to make him the more violent. So afraid of him were the people that they would not let him bite them, but they held up their forearms to the other hamatsas who were present, and these bit and cut off small pieces * HAM. The mask of hams ("dangerous thing") is used in the ninhillm ceremony. {view image of facing page 236} Hami - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 237} THE KWAKIUTL 237 of skin, which they gave to Motana. Still he was not satisfied, and the old man whose plan they were following sent two men for the other two mummies. The hamatsa was leaping about, crying hap! hap! hap! People were leaving the house by the back door, afraid to remain and afraid to open the front door lest he escape. The mummies were placed where he could see them, and he was then left alone. Soon it became quiet in the house, and a man sent to peer through a crack saw that Motana was devouring the bodies. The old man said: "We had better send men to bring all the coffins from that grave house, and we will tame him with mummies. Singing will not do it. We have tried that, and it made him worse." Soon the boxes from the grave house were brought, some containing mummies, and others bodies not yet thoroughly desiccated, and were taken into the house, where the young man lay sleeping among the bones of the two mummies he had just devoured. At the same time his father removed the bedding and whatever else was needed for the temporary sojourn of his family outside of their home. Eye-witnesses say that the inside of that house looked more like a huge grave than anything else: all about the sleeping hamatsa were piled boxes with the covers open, each containing a corpse, and on the floor were scattered the bones, heads, hands, and feet of the mummies he had already eaten. When Motana awoke he was very quiet. There was no singing nor crying of hap. The watchers said he went from one box to another looking at the bodies and cutting off a small piece here and there, shaking his head and muttering hm...! The old man went into the house through the back door and said to the hamatsa, "Tlfigwala, you have much food that we have brought to you." Motana replied: "This is the only way you could have caught me. Without it you could never have got me." Said the old man, "We will call our people and sing for you tonight." "It is a good thing to have them here to sing," answered the hamatsa, "and to see what true hamatsa is. I have been with Pahpaqalan6hsiwi and have talked to him. This is what he told me to do, to eat this sweet food. So long as you keep me well supplied with this food, I will be quiet, but when it fails I shall have to eat my parents and my children!" In the evening the people were summoned. It was not at all like the winter dance: the people were too afraid for enjoyment. There sat the hamatsa among the bones, and of the people who came in, none could look at him. The slime of the mummies was like glue smeared on his face, arms, and breast, and dried there. Even before all the people had assembled, he began to shake his head and to whistle in his throat like a paiala. Now and then he would appear to remember that he was really hamatsa and not medicine-man, and would come to himself with a start and cry hap! hap! hap! Then he would fall back into the pahiala singing. He went to a coffin and removed the body, holding it in his arms and observing it closely. {view image of page 238} 238 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN He put it back and went to another box. The body in this one seemed to suit his desire, and he deposited it on the floor. So he went from coffin to coffin, rejecting some bodies and selecting two, which he carried in his arms to a place behind the fire. He sat on the ground, laid a mummy across his lap, and began to devour it, tearing off long strips, apparently with his teeth but really with the aid of his small knife, which he kept concealed in his palm. Now and then he would rise and dance a little and sing like a paihala, occasionally uttering his cry. Then he would return to his feast. Again, he would sit there and sing in his natural voice, neither like a paihala nor like a hamatsa. None of his songs mentioned Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. After he had finished singing, while the singers beat on the sounding boards and practised his songs, he was offered food, but he pointed to the boxes and said: "There is my food! That is what I have been living on in the woods. Go yonder and look." When certain men went to the burial house he indicated, they found the coffins empty. At the end of his meal Motana told them to make him a bearskin robe, for all this time he had been naked. It was four days later that the robe and the cedar-bark head-band and neck-ring were finished, and he was now becoming more like a hamatsa. In the meantime the people had been feasting and endeavoring in other ways to carry on the winter dance as it should be, but with poor success. Everybody was afraid. When the robe and the rings were ready, the people assembled and sang, and the hamatsa danced quietly. Four nights later he told the people to come and sing again while he danced, and on the next day he sent for his father, who however said that he had better not as yet live in the house. "I know why you are afraid," said Motana. "You are afraid of my food. But that is going back tomorrow." True to his word, on the following day he sent the coffins back to the burial house, and the people rejoiced. The young man now began to eat the usual kinds of food. He walked about in his bear-skin robe, generally acting normally; but occasionally he would throw back his head and emit a powerful ha! and sometimes he would utter the ululating cry of a pahala. Motana became a great medicine-man, and grew very large in the chest and arms, which the people attributed to his eating of human flesh. A year after his initiation the Wikeno were invited to the winter dance by the Goasila, and Motana said, "If we are going to that winter dance, I want two mummies for food." So the people embarked with two coffins in the bow of the principal canoe, and Motana beside them. The Goasila already were engaged in dancing when the Wikeno arrived, and the hamatsa initiate of the hosts went around behind the house and then reappeared in the front with his mummy. As soon as Motana saw them, he began to * ATLUMTL. This "wolf mask," which is used in the nunhlim ceremony, was probably borrowed from the Qagyuhl, who call the wolf atlanim, while the Koskimo word is wiwao. {view image of facing page 238} Atlumhl - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 239} THE KWAKIUTL 239 perform like a hamatsa. He came out of the canoe, and all his people followed, singing, and advanced shoulder to shoulder, with Motana in front dancing in a squatting posture from side to side. When they reached the door of the dance house the Goasila hamatsa went in first with his mummy, as if leading the visitors. And now Motana found that he had made a mistake: he had counted on the Goasila having two corpses, as he himself had, but there was only one. His song demanded four, since it named him Four-man Eater. The hamatsas went four times round the fire, the Goasila leading, and after the fourth circuit Motana took the body from him, tore off the head and gave it to him, while he himself sat down and began to devour the body. He finished, but the other was intentionally slow, knowing that the Wikeno hamatsa always brought a body, and Motana took the head from him and finished it. Then he broke up the skull, went to his canoe, and brought the two corpses. The Goasila hamatsa took one, and they began to eat. When Motana finished, he took the other mummy from the Goasila man, who had not eaten much; and having finished this he bit some of the people to make up for the lacking fourth corpse. Then began that part of the dance which the Goasila call "dancing it down," and at its conclusion the two hamatsas retired into the secret room while the Wikeno unloaded their canoes.' About the year I875 the Nakoaktok were invited to the winter dance of the Wikeno. It was the custom of these tribes for the visiting hamatsas to bring a corpse for their hosts. Before the start therefore some of the Nakoaktok hamatsas proposed to secure two mummies, so as to outdo the Wikeno, but Yahyekuilagyilis ["constantly eating (that is, destroying and distributing) property"], the principal hamatsa, said: "Let it be. We can get plenty of mummies when we are near the Wikeno." So they went without further preparation, but when they drew near the end of their voyage they could find no mummies. All the coffins seemed to have been emptied, and they reached the village without a corpse. After they had entered the dance house, their hosts brought forth a mummy and it was eaten in the usual way. During the feast Yahyekuilagyilis was evidently revolving something in his mind while he regarded a female slave belonging to one of his companions. Soon he directed one of his attendants, in a whisper, to go and ask the owner if he would take a 1 In I908 M6tana and six others, including two Bellacoola couples, went in a canoe to Virgin rocks to club sea-lions. They never returned. Some believe that the canoe capsized. But there is a report that in the thick fog they landed at Cox island, where were some Bellabella of the Kitamat tribe, whose chief is said to have sworn to kill M6tana because the latter, after curing a Kitamat man of sickness, sent the disease into the chief's daughter and killed her. Rumor says that the Kitamat treated the sea-lion hunters in a friendly way, but attacked them sleeping, shot them all, and laid the bodies in a row under a great rock. The Bellacoola and the Wikeno still offer a considerable reward to the man who will find the bones of the seven and thus prove that the murder was committed by the Kitamat, so that they may be justified in taking revenge. {view image of page 240} 240 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN hundred blankets for his slave. This was a generous price, and was quickly accepted. Nobody knew what was the intention of Yahyekulagyilis when, after the mummy was eaten, he rose and led the other hamatsas in a rapid dance round the fire. Four times round they went, and then suddenly he leaped upon the slave woman, who fell on her back. Quick as a flash he fastened his teeth on her throat. She struggled, and scratched his face, but he kept his hold, and two other hamatsas seized the woman's legs. When she ceased struggling, Yahyekuiilgyilis cut a hole around the navel, severed the intestine, placed an end between his teeth, and ran about the fire dragging out the intestine like a rope. While he was doing this, another hamatsa was cutting the woman's throat and catching the blood in a wooden dish, which was passed among the hamatsas until the blood was drunk. Then the flesh was cut into pieces and distributed, and as there were many hamatsas among the Wikeno, there was no difficulty in consuming all the flesh and leaving only the bare bones. About 1867, when I was seventeen years of age, I had charge of a trading sloop for the Hudson's Bay Company. I was at Nawiti with a crew of four Indians. The trading schooner Nonpareil, Captain William Stevens, was lying off the village. The people were having their winter dance, and the hams'hamfius was still in the woods. At Nawiti the hams'hamfiis is the same as the hamatsa of other tribes. We were told that they were going to catch the initiate, and the next morning all the winter-dance people were called into the house. I was on board packing my goods, when I heard the women singing their secret songs, and at the same time in the woods near the village the cry of the hams'hamfius, hoop! ho7p! ho7p! Then all the hehams'hamfius came out, followed by the mamaka and then by the ulala, as the Nawiti tribes call the t6hwit. Next came gyflkatgi ["first to go into the mouth"], the bait for hams'hamfius, and all the people streamed after her. All went to the beach, where four canoes were joined with strips laid crosswise to support the deck-boards. They embarked and crossed the bay toward the initiate, who could be seen sitting on the narrow strip of beach. As soon as he saw the gyilkatfi sitting on the deck with her left arm bare (the women at that time wore only the cedar-bark apron and blanket, which left one arm and shoulder exposed), he came running, leaped upon the craft, and bit her left arm. As soon as he was aboard, they paddled back to the village and a young slave woman landed first. She had been ordered to make herself ready by bathing her body and combing her hair, which now hung in a thick mass about her shoulders and down to her waist. She * NfJHLiMKILAKA. Ndhllmkila (or Nhiilmkilaka, the feminine form) is a forest spirit that causes one to become confused and to lose one's way. The name means "bringer of confusion." The mask is used in the ndnhllm ceremony. {view image of facing page 240} Nuhlimkilaka - Koskimo [photogravure plate] {view image of page 241} THE KWAKIUTL 241 wore cedar-bark apron and blanket. In rhythm to the beating of the singers, who had hurried into the house, she slowly danced backward up to the house and through the doorway, and the initiate followed, while Nuinkamais, the secondary chief, kept close at her back. Four times they danced thus round the fire, the woman followed by the hams'hamfiis, who faced her, and preceded by the chief, who danced behind her. Sometimes she would bump against the chief and would look around, but he would only say, "Dance on!" Just as the fourth circuit of the fire was completed, and the initiate was pivoting on his left foot, the chief drew a hatchet from under his robe and buried the blade in the back of the woman's head. She fell in a heap without a groan, the hatchet still fast in her skull. Instantly all the hehams'hamfuis screamed hoip! and rushed forward. The body lay on its back. Yumqus, an old hams'hamfuiis, roughly tore the hatchet from the wound. Brains adhered to the blade. Then he opened the abdomen and disembowelled it, and cut off the head, which he gave to the initiate. He dismembered the body and distributed the pieces among the hehams'hamfius, not only those who had not yet given up the dance in order to join the seals, but also any such retired ones as wished to participate in the feast. Others slit the flesh into long ribbons, cutting clear to the bone, and severing the strips at the ends. The hehams'hamfius then dangled the strips one by one above their mouths and swallowed them without chewing. They watched one another and exhibited rivalry, each endeavoring to eat more than the others. When they could eat no more, they took the remnants to their seats and laid them down, and after the dance, so the chief told me, they boiled the meat and ate all. At the beginning of the feast an old hams'hamftis, seizing the skull out of the hands of the initiate, thrust a stick into the cleft made by the hatchet, drew it out, and licked off the adhering blood and brains, saying, "This is how we used to do!" He thrust the stick in again and handed it to the initiate, who licked it and immediately vomited. "Short life to you!" exclaimed the old man, and grasping the skull he plied his stick until he had exhausted the contents. At the end of the feast a chief passed me with blood-smeared face, and smiled as he exclaimed, "Sweet food!" About I892 the Tlauitsis invited all the tribes to their winter dance. There was not the usual spirit of happiness in this dance, and a hamatsa, Tsahahstala ["holding a strip of dry flesh between the teeth and pulling on it with the hand"], called his people into his house, and addressed them: "How is it we are having the winter dance, and there is no happiness? Now we will find out some way to make the place boil up with happiness! I think I will hiwasa [to run about in a frenzy, in the character of hamatsa]. I will get a mummy and we will have all the other hamatsas hiwasa." About a third of VOL. X-I6 {view image of page 242} 242 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the assemblage objected: "We are not old-fashioned people. The hamatsas have different ways now. In the time when the people were poor, it is true they used to eat mummies, but now it is giving away property and breaking coppers." But Tsahlihstala insisted: "No, we are too downhearted. We will get a mummy." He sent a man to get the corpse, telling him to hide it where nobody could find it, lest the feast be stopped by theft of the food. The man secured a mummy and laid it to soak in a small stream. In the evening of the fourth day when the feast was to occur, Tsaha-hstala sent a man for the body, but it had disappeared. Tsahahstala and his attendants went to look, and found it not far from the place where it had been left. They were happy, and sent criers to collect the people. After all had assembled, Tsaihahstala entered, wearing hemlock boughs and carrying the mummy. There were two Nimkish hamatsas, one Mamalelekala, and three Tlauitsis besides Tsahahstala. As soon as the mummy was seen, the hamatsas leaped forward out of the crowd, crying hap! hap! hap! An old man much experienced in cutting mummies now prepared the body and passed the portions among the hamatsas. A Nimkish man was the first to begin eating. No sooner had he swallowed his first piece than his head fell forward and rested on the piece of mummy in his hands. His attendants raised his head to see what was the matter, and he fell back dead. They carried him out at once. A Tlauitsis named Kyemkaluis was stricken next. His head fell forward, and then he himself tumbled backward. They carried him out. Then the other Nimkish, a young man, perceiving what was happening, ran out, got a dish of oil, and drank it. He became very sick, but did not die. Tsaihahstala was just starting to run like a hamatsa round the fire and out, when he too fell dead. The Mamalelekala hamatsa arose, presumably to go out, and dropped in his place, and the other Tlauitsis fell dead. The people sat stunned for an instant, then silently arose and passed out. The dead were disposed of secretly in the night, for the people were ashamed that death had occurred in the very midst of the winter dance. It was reported that Pa'hpaqalan6hsiwi had taken the spirits of these men. I think that those who had so strongly objected to the feast poisoned the body. Hlmasaka, principal hamatsa at Fort Rupert, admitted in 191o that he had participated in thirty-two mummy feasts. When his rival Oftistalis (or Nuilis) gave a feast, Hgmasaka of course had to attend in order to maintain his standing, and for the same reason it was necessary for him in a very short time to give such a feast himself. The contest continued until the death of Oftistalis. * A TLU'WiuLAiH MASK. The mask shows the Loon surmounting the face of the anthropomorphic being into which the bird transforms itself at will. {view image of facing page 242} A Tluwulahu mask - Tswatenok [photogravure plate] {view image of page 243} THE KWAKIUTL 243 With great secrecy the hamatsa feast is still occasionally observed in a few out-of-the-way places. Other Ceremonies Tlu'wulahiu (a Bellabella and Wikeno word meaning "again come down") is a four-day dance occurring just before the winter ceremony. It is a paihus ceremony; that is, it is not limited to the secret society that controls the winter dance, but is open to all. Summer names and summer songs are employed. The tlu'wulaihu was introduced among the southerly Kwakiutl tribes through marriage with the Bellabella and the Wikeno. The Qagyuhl sometimes call it gyaiyahalaq ("dance come down"), because many birds, creatures of the upper regions, are represented in the dance.1 Wishing to give tlu'wulahia, a chief calls a meeting of the principal men and announces his plan. They assent, and at once decide what shall be given to each chief of the visiting tribe; for some tribe is always invited. If the man who gives the dance has property enough to meet the requirements, the time of the dance is set without further ado; but if he has not enough, the principal men in the assembly spread a mat and call upon the others to place thereon something symbolical of a certain amount of property, the leaders naming the amount in each case and leaving nothing to the discretion of the contributor. The son of the man giving the ceremony disappears and remains concealed in the house until the time for the dance, usually a period of a few weeks. When the invited tribe has arrived, the people assemble and the boy comes into the room and dances. He is called helikyilah- (helikya, to heal by magic), no matter what spirit is supposed to have carried him away. Thus the Nakoaktok wife of Hawi brought him as a marriage payment the masks of komuqi, of the octopus, and of the killerwhale. When the canoes of her people were seen approaching, he notified his people that they were bringing the marriage portion, and it was quickly decided that his son must disappear to be helikyilahl, his son's little daughter to dance with the octopus mask, and his daughter's little girl with the killerwhale mask. K6muqi was supposed to have taken away the young man, but in another case some other spirit would play this part. After the initiates have danced, dishes, previously arranged on scaffolds in piles duly apportioned among the people, are distributed. The second and the third night are passed in the same manner, except 1 Some of the masked figures appearing in this dance are portrayed facing pages 234, 236, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 262, 276, 298. {view image of page 244} 244 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN that such articles as button blankets and shawls are given on the second night, and sewing-machines, tables, clocks, and household utensils on the third. On the fourth night various hired dancers exhibit successively all the masks possessed by the family giving the dance. The four tribes of Quatsino sound, the Nawiti tribes, the Goasila, and the Nakoaktok, call this dance nzunhlim. No hamatsa is permitted to enter the house where nunhlim is in progress, nor can the giver of nzinhlhm attend the ensuing winter dance during the initiation of hamatsa. There is a tradition that long ago a rumor was spread among the tribes of Vancouver island and the opposite mainland to the effect that a new dance was coming from "Sahiali-qantlun," 1 which is said to refer to the region of the upper Columbia. In anticipation of its arrival the people cleaned out their houses and kept their persons clean. The dance came first to the tribes at Victoria harbor, then to the Cowichan, the Comox, the Lekwiltok, even to Nass river and Stikeen river, and finally southward again to the northern and western coasts of Vancouver island. The same songs accompanied the dance from tribe to tribe. The following is an example: Allegretto _______ ______ _- I I -e - -I I-I -_- ' We - ni - la, we- ni- la, wo! we- ni - la Gwa-sT Now tell -eg L4L~l - -.- I - -' la,2 he! He ya ha, we- ni - ha, we- ni - la Gwa- si- ya,2 ---- - m1! — ___~ ' - - -..__ he! He ya ha, we-ni - ha, we- ni- la, wo! we-ni- Ma Gwa-si-ya, 1 Sahali is Chinook jargon for "above," or "upper." Qantlun has the unmistakable ring of a Salishan word. 2 Gwisila and Gwasiya are said to be names of the spirit to which the song was addressed. * A TLU'WULAHUi COSTUME. The dancer is a woman wearing a Chilkat blanket, a hamatsa neck-ring, and a mask representing a deceased relative who was hamatsa. {view image of facing page 244} A Tluwulahu costume - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 245} THE KWAKIUTL 245 This is said to have happened before the time of the father of a Nawiti man born about 1814. There were three waves of this religious fervor, the last coming in the boyhood of this Nawiti traditionist, that is, about I820. Old men among the Clayoquot on the west coast say that the first dance reached them seven generations ago. The people in dancing stood in a row shoulder to shoulder, held the palms turned toward the sky, and looked at the sun until they fell in a trance. When any one fell, the others gathered round him in a circle, still dancing, and when he recovered his senses he rose and told what he had seen in his vision. They pretended thus to foretell events. The essential identity of this cult with the hypnotic features of the ghost dance and the sun dance of the Plains tribes is strikingly evident. Mythology Raven Creates Salmon Nuhni'mis [the ancient people who were alternately human and animal] were hungry and without food. Omehl, the Raven,2 leaned against a tree and thought. Then he went to his canoe and paddled along close under a rock, and asked of the dead people, "Is there any twin child among you?" One after another the bodies of the dead answered no, but after a while he came to one who said she was a twin child. He laid the coffin on the ground, removed the bones, and arranged them in their proper relation. Then he sprinkled A Nakoaktok myth. 2 The transformer bears several names in the mythology of the different Kwakiutl tribes. He is Omehi (identified with the raven, kwcwina) in the myths of the group comprising the Quatsino Sound tribes, the Nawiti tribes, the Nakoaktok, and the Goasila. The inhabitants of the northeastern coast of Vancouver island and the adjacent islands and mainland, including the Guauaenok, Hahuamis, Tsawatenok, Koeksotenok, Mamalelekala, Tlauitsis, Matilpe, Tenaktak, Awaitlala, Nimkish, and Qagyuhl, call the transformer Kwikwahawi ("inventor between," referring perhaps to the circumstance that some of his deeds were good and some bad, so that he was "between" good and bad). He is identified with the raven. Quatsino Sound mythology has two other transformers: Kwiihaagytlis ("inventor over the earth"), who is identified with the wren; and Kinikila, a heaven-born person who appears not to be endowed with resemblance to any beast or bird. The Wikeno identify their transformer, Kwikwahawi, with the wren. {view image of page 246} 246 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the living water four times over them, and they became alive. This woman Raven brought to (stou [Eclipse narrows], and then sent all the people in their canoes to bring round stones, which they piled in the rapids at the narrows until the water became shallow. Then Raven said: "Now, young brothers, get split cedar sticks. We will make a salmon trap." In one day they had the necessary sticks, and when the weir was complete they put their basket-traps in place. Deer set his in the middle, but being a fool he did not leave an opening by which the salmon could enter it. When all was ready, Raven commanded his new wife to walk into the water below the weir. As soon as the water reached her waist, the stream was filled with salmon, and the traps were quickly filled. These were the first salmon, and they came from the woman's body. The woman told the people to throw all the bones and the other refuse into the water, so that new salmon would spring from them. It is for this reason that now the refuse of the first catch of salmon is returned to the water. When Raven came home from gathering fuel, the house was filled with fish. He entered the house, but some drying salmon hanging low caught in his hair, and he muttered, "Oh, why do you catch in my hair, you that are from the dead!" The woman asked quickly, "What did you say?" "I said, 'Why do you catch in my hair, you that are drying?"' "No, you said, 'You that are from the dead!"" She looked up at the fish and clapped her hands, and cried, "W e!" And all the salmon fell down and rolled into the water, where they at once became alive and began to jump and swim. The woman disappeared at the same time. Then Raven leaned back and thought. He called his fighting men together and said, "We will prepare to fight with some tribe. Get ready your weapons!" When they were ready, he told them he was going to make war on the Salmon people, in order to recover his wife. On the beach opposite the Salmon village they hauled out their canoes, and Raven crossed secretly to that place, where he came upon the young son of the Salmon chief and abducted him. When the Salmon found that the child was missing, they sent messengers to all the fish people, from the Smelts to the Killerwhales. Now Raven and his paddlers saw the water behind them boiling with the commotion caused by the canoes of the fish people. Soon the pursuers overhauled them, but Raven's son broke their canoes with his stone club, and the fish people, finding themselves in the {view image of facing page 246} Mask of octopus hunter - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 247} THE KWAKIUTL 247 water, had to assume their fish forms in order to escape drowning. Raven, standing in his canoe, was seizing this one and that, and throwing them in every direction, exclaiming, "You will be the salmon for this river! You will be the oulachon for that river!" And so he designated all the places where the salmon and the other fish were destined to be found. The Transformer, and Origin of the Koskimo Kanikila and his brother Niuhlnuhllisuima [" foolish with property," that is, prodigal] came down from the sky at Kyaeihl [the lagoon southeast of Cape Scott, which runs almost through to Fisherman's cove]. They saw smoke rising from a house, in which lived a man Maklwa and his wife Tsaftahwitaka ["oulachon woman"]. Said Kanikila to his brother: "A man and a woman are here. Their appearance is good. Let us become their children." So they made themselves invisible and entered the woman's body, and very soon she gave birth to two children, of whom Kanikila was the elder. They grew rapidly. Now the woman one day said to them: "Give heed! I am going to make for you blankets, before I go to the outer edge of the world to marry one of my own people." She made a number of blankets for them, and departed. Now Makwa married Tlatliinaiihlakus ["red-headed woodpecker woman"], a pretty woman with hair painted red. He made a salmon-trap of sticks, and on the following morning when they went to see it there was a single salmon in it. Makwa took it out, and as they neared their home the woman persuaded him to shout: "Run away, children! Warriors are coming to kill you!" So the children ran into the woods, and the two older people ate the fish. Later in the day when the children were alone in the house the younger picked up a charred bone. "What is this?" he asked. "That is a salmon bone," answered Kainikila, after examining it carefully. On the next day another salmon was caught, and again the father unwillingly uttered his false warning. But both children hid behind boxes in the house, and saw the woman come in with a salmon. "Hurry, and cut up this salmon!" she whispered. Quickly they cooked it with hot stones and began to eat with spoons. Then the brothers stepped out and said: "So that is the way A Koskimo myth. {view image of page 248} 248 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN you have been doing! We did not wish to deprive you of that food." Kanikila sent an arrow through his father, and tore him limb from limb. "Now," he said, "in the future you will be herons!" The pieces flapped away in the form of herons. He killed the woman and tore her to pieces, and said to them, "You will be woodpeckers in the future!" And the pieces flitted away in the form of woodpeckers. Now the brothers were alone. One day they went up the river and built a basket-trap. On their return journey Kanikila rolled up one corner of his blanket and rubbed it in the water. Soon a fish leaped into the canoe: the water was full of sockeye salmon, brought forth from this blanket of the Oulachon Woman. Their trap caught many salmon, which they cut up, roasted, and hung above the fire to smoke. One day they found that something had stolen all the drying fish. This occurred many times, and then instead of going to their trap they concealed themselves in the house. Soon entered a very large woman with huge, hanging breasts, and as she reached up for the fish, Kanikila drew his bow and shot her in the breast. She ran out, and Kanikila said to his brother: "Take care of yourself! I am going to follow her. I must not lose my valuable arrow." Kanikila followed the great tracks of the fiunukwa to a lake, where he sat down beside a spring and watched a house which stood near the forest. Soon appeared a weeping girl. He asked, "Why do you weep?" "My grandmother is ill. She was hurt while fishing for salmon." "Let me go in and I will cure her," he said. The girl went into the house and said to the fiunukwa, "There is a man beside the spring who says he can heal you." "Great is your word!" exclaimed the ftSinukwa. "Call him in to heal me." When Kanikila entered he saw his arrow in the breast of the fitunukwa, who did not know what was hurting her. He sat beside her and pretended to suck her skin like a healer, but he really took the arrow between his teeth and drew it out. "He...!" said the ttfinukwa. "It is as if you had pulled the sickness out of me!" Soon she was quite well, and she said: "Now, you see this house. The carving of it came from my body. You shall have it. You shall dance with the clothing I wear." She meant with her skin, for she wore no clothing. "You shall have the life-giving water. No matter how long your parents or your friends have been dead, this will bring them to life." {view image of facing page 248} Waswaslikyi - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 249} THE KWAKIUTL 249 When Kanikila came home he found his brother lying dead. He threw some of the life-giving water on the body, and immediately Nuhlnuhllisuima sat up, rubbed his eyes, and said: "He! I have been sleeping a long time!" Now the brothers decided to leave that place and go round to the southern side of the island. As they approached the cape [Scott] they heard at the mouth of a creek a sound like the rattling of pebbles in the surf. Said Kanikila: "Sit down. I want to see what this nawaaiw [Qagyuhl dialect, nawalaq] sound is." His brother sat down, and Kainikila himself went toward the stream. In the creek he saw a great sisiutl shaking its body quickly, and causing the rattling of the pebbles. Looking steadily at the sisiutl, he bit his tongue, causing blood to run, and stooping he reached a hand behind him. An alder club was put into it. He made four motions as if striking with it, and with the fourth he struck the human head of the sisiutl and killed it. He took the spines from its back, the skin and the eyes from the man's head: the spines for arrow-points, the eyes for missiles in his sling. The skin he preserved and made into a belt. The two brothers arrived at Kwanee [on Deep bay]. Said Kanikila: "I must leave you here, and use what I got from the sisiutl. I am going to make the world as it should be. Take care of yourself and remain here, while I provide food for you." So he left his brother there and went to the small island Teqiw. He put an eyeball of the sisiutl into his sling, and when a whale came to the surface, he threw. The whale went down, and Kanikila sang: "Shifau-li ['sisiutl cut it up. inside'], shifiuli, SliiSuli, zhifMuli!" The whale rose and beached itself. Then he killed another, and he took one of them by the tail and raised it gradually on its head, growing in height as he raised it, until the whale stood upright on its head. And Kanikila, who was now taller than the whale, threw it toward the cape, and tossed the other after it. Two mounds of sand are the remains of those whales. Kanikila did not know that a man was watching him. This was Yakalagyilis ["always making property"], who lived there in a little house at Kwane6e, and founded the Giiukolqa gens of the Koskimo. Now Kanikila returned to his brother and said: "Take care of yourself. Your name shall be Nuimfiqis ['only one on the ground']. I am going to put the people in the world to rights." He cut out a piece of blubber and said to the whale, "Whenever a piece is cut {view image of page 250} 250 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN from your body, you will grow to be the same size as before." Then he set out eastward on his way round the world [Vancouver island]. As he travelled he threw bits of his various blankets into the water at different places, and thus created salmon, oulachons, and other fish. Everywhere he changed evil things into good creatures or into inanimate and harmless objects. When Kanikila returned to Kwanee after finishing his labors, he found his brother sitting on his heels, dead and covered with moss. The whales were uneaten. But when he sprinkled lifegiving water on the bones, life came into them and then he said: "Brother, we had better think of what our mother told us. She bade us go to the outer edge of the world and marry. We will take all the tribes which I have met, and we will take Omehl [raven] with us in his self-paddling canoe." So all of these embarked in the self-paddling canoe and went seaward for many days to a very large village. But none approached to meet them. Nobody even came out of the houses. The chief of this tribe was Glalakiftiwa ["friendly-to-all at the mouth of the river"], and his daughter Aihfuiimihl ["abalone-shell of the house"] was the girl Kanikila wished to marry. Now Kanikila was angry. He made the sea rise in a great wave and fall upon the village. But the houses were not broken, the smoke of the fires continued to ascend through the water. He turned a stone into a mountain and pushed it over on the houses, but it was broken on them and fell in fragments between them. Now he perceived that this chief had more power than he, and he said to Omehl: "See what you can do. Perhaps you are more mighty than I." * THUNDERBIRDS AND WHALES. The drawing illustrates the following myth. Kwikwahawi ("inventor"), the Raven-Transformer, desired to kill the Thunderbirds, on account of a quarrel that originated in gambling. He made a whale out of poles, covered the form with spruce gum, weighted it with stones, and set it in the tidal current near Kalokwis. As it drifted past the home of the Thunderbirds, the father Thunderbird sent his youngest son, One-whale Killer, to catch it. The boy put on his bird-skin, flew down, and sank his talons into the whale. Inside the form were Deer and Mink and Raven, and many others. Deer cut off the bird's claws, and the wings were held fast by the spruce gum. The whale was made to dive when the animals inside threw their weight forward, and the bird was drowned. Then the father Thunderbird sent his next son, Two-whale Killer, but he also was drowned. Thus the four sons were killed. The mother Thunderbird sent her infant into the sky with instructions to announce the approach of spring and autumn by making the sound of thunder. Then the two old Thunderbirds flew down, and, one at the head and the other at the tail, they carried the whale ashore. But their wings were caught in the gum, and Deer cut off their claws. So the family of Thunderbirds was killed, and the whale remains near Kalokwis in the form of a rock. {view image of facing page 250} Thunderbirds and whales [photogravure plate] {view image of page 251} THE KWAKIUTL 25I Omehl opened his box, and a great wind rushed out and blew against the village, but nothing was moved. Then Kanikila decided to seek assistance from Hatasui [thunderbird], who lived at HFaehl [a place in the Southeast arm of Quatsino sound]. So they came all the way back to Haeh1, and Hatasu joined them. When again they lay in front of the village, Kanikila said, "Hatasui, I want you to do harm to these people." "Early in the morning I will do what I can," promised Hatasui. Just before daylight Hatasui put on his feather coat and flew up into the air in great circles. Soon thunder was rolling and huge hailstones fell, and the houses began to crack. In the evening he flew upward again, and lightning set fire to the houses. Then the people rushed out, turned into salmon, and leaped into the sea. Finally the chief himself appeared and said: "Chief, go home, and wait for your wife. I will bring her to you." So Kanikila returned to Kwanee. He stood several men one upon another and transformed them into a tall wooden column, and he caused two Eagles to perch on the top of the pole and watch for the coming of his wife. Kanikila also called upon two Porpoises to lie near the shore and listen. Now as the Porpoises lay there in the water, one of them cried out: "He! They are coming! Twice we have heard them and said nothing." An Eagle looked down and said scornfully: "You are telling a lie! I can see where the sky meets water, and they are not coming." "I can beat you at this," retorted the Porpoise. "I can hear what you cannot see." Kanikila had an aunt named Saiyuqa, whose husband was Pipuikumlisila ["causes a fearful face," like a warrior whom the people look at with fear in their countenances]. These two he stood on the ground and transformed into posts for the house he was going to build. Then the Eagle spoke: "I see something coming. It is true, what the Porpoise said." Soon appeared a great number of canoes, all bound together side by side. At one end was a kyolis [the largest species of whale] and at the other a qzi'yim [a small whale], both towed by the canoes. In the middle of the row of craft stood a tall pole, on the top of which were carved two eagles and lower down two porpoises. These represented the Eagles and the Porpoises which were watching for the party. The speaker stood up on the deck and shouted: "Your {view image of page 252} 252 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN father-in-law gives you this f~ahsi [carved pole] and this mat!" The mat was nuzmhyedlekum, a great flat fish of the sea which the young woman used for her mat. The speaker continued: "Under the load of our canoes is the painting of the house, which also is given to you." This was another monster fish with a huge mouth. In the canoes were all varieties of berries: for until that time no berries were found in the land. The two whales also were given as part of the marriage feast. When all these things had been given to Kanikila, the young woman came ashore, and the canoes were paddled back over the sea by the Salmon people. Now Kanikila said: "This numhiyelekum we will leave in the water. Let him do what mischief he can." So to this day the monster is in the sea. He brings bad weather, and when he rises to the surface he causes shallows where the tide eddies and the waves break and canoes are wrecked. Kanikila could see into the future. One day he said to his brother, "Watch for a canoe." Very soon Nuimiuqis announced the approach of a canoe, and Kanikila remarked, "We will see what this numhiyelekum will do." The canoe came ashore, and as the great, flat fish lifted itself, waves began suddenly to break. The monster curled its edges upward over the canoe, and capsized it. Soon two men crept out on the beach, and Kanikila said to his men: "Our house is not yet finished. Take them and make them into posts." So his brother transformed the two men into house-posts. One of them was Nuliyustalis and the other Kitohlis. Only two more posts were needed, for there was to be but one central post in the front, with the door at one side of it. Another canoe brought two men, and the great fish overwhelmed it and the men were washed ashore. Nuimuiqis made them into posts, and Kanikila named them T6htowalis and Kahlkapalis. This house of Kanikila was called Yfiyipagyilis ["blowing at both ends"], because it was so long that it extended from the water at Kwanee [Deep bay] along the sandy depression to Kyaeh- [the lagoon], and hence both ends were exposed to the winds while the middle was sheltered behind the high cape. It also was called Qaquikimlilas, because it was so long that one standing in one end was unrecognizable to any one at the other. The wife of Kanikila bore twin boys, Akyufsi'walis ["living at the outside of the world"] and Wetlilisila. Another boy was named Qu.ntoqilahw ["born to be heavy" with property]. The twins grew very rapidly and soon were men, but the other was always crying, {view image of page 253} THE KWAKIUTL 253 and when asked what he wished he would only say, "I am crying for what they call mas ['what']!" Kanikila said to the two elder sons: "Your brother is always crying, and we will let him cry for mas. But I must tell you that I am going to leave you. Now all my names you may use except that of Kanikila. For whoever uses that name will have short life." So Kanikila took his wife and the child that cried for mas and went out upon the sea, and never was he seen again. Akyufti'walis founded the Wuihwa'mis gens and Wetlilisila founded the TsifSee. Nuimfiqis married the daughter of Yakelagyilis, first of the Giukolqa gens, and founded the Giiuhsuims'unahl. Tlahlouilsa ["spouting out of the house"], who lived in the "house facing downstream," founded the Qaquikamal'enuh gens. Beaver Causes a Flood At Qaken [the Salish name of a place on the eastern side of Salmon river, Vancouver island] there were many women in camp digging clover-roots. Among the young men left on the other side of the stream in the village Hwussam [a Salish word] were some who had lovers among the women, and they proposed to one another that they go to see their sweethearts. Tlukuiq [marten] shouted a request to be taken across, and the women said, "He is a pretty young man; we will get him." So they sent a canoe for him. Next Mahaiyis [raccoon] called to them, and because they liked his striped face they took him. Then came another call: "Keletanai ['come and take me']!" "Anqase ['who are you']?" came the response. "Nuq SihTim ['I am Snake']!" "Let us get him," said the women. "He is a pretty little man; he has a small face!" "Keletanai!" came a shout. And the women asked, "Anqase?" "Nuq Humhumtalashsis ['I am Stone-worker-with-the-feet,' an epithet of the land-otter]!" "Go and get him," said the women. "He is a pretty little man. Again came a call across the river, and the women answered with the usual question. The reply was short and gruff: "Nuq Tsawi ['I am Beaver']!" "What Beaver are you?" they asked. 1 A Salish myth borrowed by the Lekwiltok. {view image of page 254} 254 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN "Nuq Helumhstasila ['I am Tree-feller']!" Beaver was becoming angry. " Anqas Helumhstasila?" they asked. "Nuq Amamkyeita ['I am Dam-builder']!" "Anqas Amamkyehta?" "Nuq Haqatosla ['I am Swimmer-down-stream-on-the-belly']!" " Anqas Haqatosla?" " Welatakyalasila ['do you not know the sound of a tree falling on the ground']?" shouted Beaver. Then one of the women called: "Ye...! You had better stay there, and your belly will grow broader on the ground, you great, big-bellied thing!" Now Beaver became very angry. He walked into shallow water, sat down, and threw water into the air, calling with long-drawn words: " r6qus, yoqus, wama-yu ['rain constantly, rain constantly, carry them away by water']!" The women cried derisively, "Te...! We have our mats and our blankets with which to cover ourselves!" Still Beaver splashed the water and called for rain, and soon the sky grew black and the rain fell. The river rose rapidly and carried the women directly across the strait to Qafiilis [Blinkinsop bay], where they became frogs. The Deluge Now, there was to be a flood, and the people by some means knew it. They knew also how high the water would rise, and that whatever person it touched would become stone. Kulili, second son of Kawatilikalla, told his women to make a rope as long and as strong as possible. There were now many people in the tribe. His women and those of the other gentes began to make rope, and the best artisans worked on plans by which the flood might be survived. For many years the preparations continued, the women gathering bark every spring and spending the remainder of the year in twisting and plaiting it. Kulili went to see how his brother was going to save himself, and found that Tlawifta intended to use his wedding catamaran, on the deck of which he had built a house, and the double hold of which he had filled with food. So Kulili returned home and made a catamaran, and every night his family slept aboard, lest the deluge come suddenly in the darkness. The rope was kept coiled on deck, with the end tied to a great tree. One day the rain began, A Tsawatenok myth. {view image of page 255} THE KWAKIUTL 255 and the families of Tlawiia and Kulili went into the cabins on their catamarans, while the other people crept under mat shelters in their canoes, which were moored to the shore. The wife of Kawatilikalla, declaring that it was useless to go aboard before the flood came, sat on the shore, shading her eyes with her hands and looking out toward the mouth of the inlet; for she thought the deluge was coming in the form of a high tide. But the water rose, and before she realized the danger she was beginning to petrify. She may still be seen at that place, gazing seaward for the flood. Soon the rising water covered the shore, and when all the land was submerged except Kahsifi [a high mountain on Kingcome inlet], Tlawitaf said to his father: "Why did you not tell me the flood would rise so high? These ropes are useless without an anchor, for the trees will be uprooted." The old man answered: "That is nothing. Take my copper-box." So all the ropes were made into a single line and tied to the box full of heavy coppers, which then was thrown over, and all the canoes were made fast to the catamaran. The great danger was from the huge trees, which rushed swiftly to the surface and threatened to strike the boats. The flood endured long, and the people who died on board dried up to mummies. These were not thrown overboard, for the touch of water would have turned them to stone. As the flood subsided, they took up the slack of the rope so as to descend where the coppers were, but these they found a mass of stone. The rope, being vegetal, was not affected, nor were the water creatures. Many of the land animals had found safety on great jams of logs and uprooted trees. Descending on the surface of the sinking water, about half-way down the mountain the people saw a lake in which were some sea-lions 1 left by the receding flood, and Kawatilikalla thoughtlessly leaped out to kill one. But the ground was still wet, and so Kawatilikalla still stands there with a great stone hat on his head of stone. The Adventures of Hantliqunuts A youth, chief of the gens Wawikyuim, travelling in the mountains with his bow and arrows, met a strange man. "Who are you?" he asked. "I am the wolf hunter. Who are you?" 1 The narrator insists that in historical times men have seen sea-lions in this lake! 2 A Wikeno myth. {view image of page 256} 256 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN "I am the mountain-goat hunter." Then the stranger proposed that they exchange bows, and so they did. "This bow," he said, "will kill anything. With it I give you the name Hantliquinuft ['shooter']." "Mine is but a poor bow," replied the youth. "I am glad to have this, for it is what I have been desiring." Having such a wonderful bow Hantliquiniif was envied by other men, and by sorcery he was made blind. One day with his wife and two children he was going from the village on the island [at the mouth of Owekano lake] to Tsinisi, the next stream above Nuhwunft [Neechantz river] for salmon. At the mouth of the stream his wife discovered a bear, and as usual he told her to point the arrow while he himself drew the bow. Thus he shot, and the bear groaned. He said: "I have killed him! That is the way a bear groans when he is dying." But the woman lied: "No, you missed him." They went up the river a short distance, and the woman built a small hut of cedar-bark and placed him in it, saying, "Now I will make my house on the other side of the stream." For in those days man and wife did not sleep in the same house. So she took her children with her and made a shelter on the other side, where the bear was lying. She removed the skin and stretched it, then cut off the flesh and dried it. The boy, the elder child, thought: "My father is starving, while we have plenty. I will take some of this meat to him." Secretly he placed a piece of meat in his robe, and later he crossed the river. "Father," he said, "here is a piece of meat. Eat it." "Where is it from?" "From the bear you killed. My mother is stretching the skin, cooking some of the meat, and drying the rest." Hantliquinufit took the meat, felt of it, and gave it back. "You eat it," he said; "I am not hungry." After a pause, he asked, "Could you take me upstream to the lake out of which it flows?" "Yes, I will do it," answered the boy. Hantliquinuift placed an arrow on the string and held the feathered end while the boy took the point and thus led his father. Said the man: "As we go, break the ends of the branches here and there, for you will have to come back alone." Hantliquinuif knew that the slightest mistake in what he was doing would mean his death. They went up a short, steep hill, and down on the other side to the lake. At the bottom they heard the {view image of page 257} THE KWAKIUTL 257 call of a Loon, and Hfntliqiunuif exclaimed: "That is the thing I wished to hear! That will help me. Give me your necklace, and go. The boy gave up his string of dentalium shells and departed. Again the Loon called a...! and Hfntliquinuifi said, "I wish you were a man, for I want to recover my sight in this lake." Said the Loon, "A man I am!" "Come ashore and advise me, then." So the Loon swam to the shore and said: "Come on my back. But first give me your necklace." Hantliquinuft gave up the necklace, and the Loon put it on his own neck. That is why the bird has a ring of spots around its neck. Then he said: "Come on my back, and place your arms round my neck, holding your bow and arrows in your hand. I am going to dive. When you feel your breath growing short, pinch me and I will come up." With a long a...! the Loon dived. Now Hantliquinufi was frightened, and before his breath was becoming short he pinched the Loon, who immediately bobbed to the surface. "Hantliqiunuift," he said, "bend your head." Four times he touched his mouth to the mouth of the man, each time blowing his breath into Hantliquinufi. "Now," he said, "that will give you better breath. Be ready now." Then with his cry he dived and swam forward. Still a little timid, Hantliquinuit, long before his breath was exhausted (for he now had the breath of the Loon), pinched his friend, who at once came up. Again he dived and swam and came up, each time going farther than before, and now he asked, "Can you see?" "I can see faintly. I can see that it is light." A fourth time the Loon dived and swam on round the lake, and this time came up at the source of the river, where he had started. "Now I can see," said the man, but still he kept his eyes shut. The Loon put him ashore, and then transforming himself into a man, he washed the eyes of Hantliquinfit, and they opened. Then the Loon took the arrows and washed each one of them, putting power into them so that Hantliquiniif would be able to kill any kind of animal. Finally he became once more a Loon and returned to the water. There under a tree beside the water Hantliquinuif remained four days, bathing, and rubbing with hemlock twigs morning and evening. After each washing he slept, and various animals and birds VOL. X-17 {view image of page 258} 258 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN and creatures of the sea, all in the form of men, appeared to him and said, for example, "I am the bear that is going to fall before you." After four days he went down the river, and nearing his wife's camp he saw her at work scraping the fat from the bear-skin. He drew an arrow and shot her through the heart, and sent another through the girl. But the boy he spared and took downstream in the canoe. They continued down the lake [Owekano], through Wanuq [Whannock river], and around the inlet [Rivers] to the bay at the mouth of Tsaqala [Chuck Walla river], where Potlius was the chief. His daughter Tlalihililiaqa ["born to be spouting whale woman"] Hantliquinuifi took for his wife. One morning in the season when mountain-goats are in the best condition [October], P6tlus said to his son-in-law: "I wish you would go up this river, for there are many mountain-goats. Take your brothers-in-law with you." Hantliquinuifi made no reply, but the four sons of P6tlus said, "We will go with him." Then he consented. Early in the morning they went, and with his arrows he killed forty goats. His brothers-in-law were the packers. They returned to the village, and the next day he killed forty more. So it was also on the third day and on the fourth. When all the goats were piled up, Potlus said: "True is your name Hantliquinuif! I did not believe it, but now I know that you have a true name." And he despatched messengers to all the people of the inlet, inviting them to his feast. After this Potlus gave many feasts, and all by the help of Hantliquinift, so that some of the chiefs talked about it and said: "Through the arrows of Hantliquinuft Potlus is giving more feasts than we can give. What shall be done to bring them apart? If he is killing all kinds of animals so easily, he can kill us also. We must bring them apart. The only way to do this is to kill the wife of Hantliquinufi by sorcery." This they attempted, and soon the woman sickened and died. Then Hantliqinuiif travelled about, and after a while came to Awikye ["back"-a bay in the south end of Calvert island], where the chief was Manigyiliskyasu ["one on earth, good one"]. His daughter Gwikyileuqa ["born to be whale woman"] Hantliquinift married. One day his four brothers-in-law were examining his arrows, and Hantliquinuif held one of them up and said: "This is the grizzlybear killer. This will go right through a grizzly-bear's head." {view image of page 259} THE KWAKIUTL 259 The eldest of the brothers said, "If it will do that, we had better go to the island and shoot sea-lions." He referred to the island Wawis [Virgin rocks, a few miles south of Calvert island]. So before daylight the five set out, and they reached the rocks at midday. On each side of a narrow passage which must be used lay four aihumait, huge, fierce sea-lions, which nobody dared attack. With one arrow Hantliquinufi killed the four on one side, and then a second brought down the other four. They passed on, and the brothers pointed out sea-lions that were fit for food, and all these he killed. When the game was brought to the village, a great feast was given. Again the chief sent his son-in-law, and this time forty sea-lions were killed, so that four canoes had to be sent for the meat. After this feast he went again and killed forty, and a third feast was given; but when the fourth time he was asked to go for sea-lions, the four brothers began to be displeased. "We must stop this," they said; "for our father loves Hantliqiunuif more than us. We will leave him on the island." Accordingly after the usual forty sea-lions had been killed, and the meat cut up and loaded into the canoe, they hurried aboard while Hantliqiunuif was away from the shore. But the youngest cried out: "Hantliqiunuif, come! They are going to leave you!" Hantliquinufi came running, but the brothers pushed off, and though he begged them to return, even promising them his bow and arrows, they would not. Then he said, "If you are going to leave me, throw my cape ashore." So the youngest brother threw the cape. When they arrived home, their father inquired for his son-in-law, and the eldest answered, "He slipped off a rock into the water." But the youngest whispered to his father, "My brothers left him to die on the island!" Hantliquinuift stood on the rock, watching the canoe until it was out of sight. He cried until night fell, then he dropped off asleep, sitting on his heels under an overhanging ledge of rock, with the cape completely covering him. In the morning he awoke, and again spent the day crying, and so he passed the third day. On the morning of the fourth day he was awakened by some one pushing him, and he heard a voice saying: "Do not remain thus. I came to invite you for Amakitlisilasu ['drop dung on the roof of his house']." Hantliqiunuit looked up, but he could see no one, and he fell asleep again. Soon he was awakened in the same manner, and after the third time he decided to watch. He made a small hole in {view image of page 260} 260 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN his cape and put his eye to it. Soon a little man approached, pushed him, and repeated the same words. It was Askyamikius [mouse]. "I see you!" cried Hantliqiunuit. And Mouse said, "Come, we will go into the house." The wall of rock gave way behind the back of Hantliqiinift, and he almost fell in. This was the door leading into the house of K6muqi, and the rock on which the sea-lions lay was the roof. Mouse led him into the house, and there was K6muqi in the form of a man. Hantliquinuif sat with his knees drawn up, elbows on knees, and head on hands. One of K6muqi's servants came in to look at the visitor, and after examining him on all sides he exclaimed: "A...! So that is Hantliqiunufi! That is the kind of man Hantliquinuif is! Why, he is full of holes!" He thought that the knees and elbows were grown together, and the hands and head together, and that the opening between legs and arms, and between arms and head, were holes in the body of Hantliquinfit. Another said, "I wonder what we will feed our friend with." In his mind Hantliquinufi said, "I wish I could have some of that seal!" Tlahlla [porpoise] announced, "He wants to eat one of our chief's children!" So they killed a small seal, cut it up, placed water in a box, threw in hot stones from the pile that stood ready in the fire of K6muqi's house, and then dropped in the meat. Hfntliquinuif ate, and the people watched him. After his meal he thought, "What shall I do to get home?" The Porpoise spoke: "He is wondering how he will get home." "We will let him have the canoe Tsekinakui [sea-gull]," said the speaker of the house. Hantliquinuif thought, "That is not good, the bow dips down too much." "We will let him have the canoe Yatin [a small waterfowl]." "No, that is too one-sided," thought Hantliquinift. "We will let him have the canoe Tsetataka ['squirter on the rocks' - cormorant]." "That is too low, the sea would wash over it." "Then we will take one of our chief's large canoes, the bladder of Ahumait!" Whenever K6muqi wished a canoe, he would take the bladder out of one of these huge sea-lions, and after his journey he would {view image of page 261} THE KWAKIUTL 26I put it back. The speaker continued, "Before you go, we will put more power into your arrows." So the arrows were passed to K6muqi, who stroked one of them, saying, "You will be the forty-sea-otter killer." To another he said, "You will be the forty-hair-seal killer." The third he made the forty-sea-lion killer, and the fourth was to kill all kinds of animals. To Hantliquinufii he said: "Your name is no longer Hantliqiunuif. I change your name to Qula, for everything shall fall before you." Then Hantliquinuif crept into the great bladder, and they gave him a cord and turned the neck of the bladder in so that he could tie it shut. Then as they had instructed him to do, he said, "Yihis, Yihis, Yihis!" and the bladder started off toward Yihis [a place on Calvert island]. Sometimes a sea-gull would alight on it, and Hantliquinfut would snap his finger against the bird's feet and frighten it away, lest it peck a hole through. He was carried to the shore of the island at Yihis. He untied the mouth of the bladder and came out, and leaving the bladder, which turned into a huge rock that is still there, he returned along the shore to Awikye. He came up behind the house of his father-in-law and sat down. Inside he could hear his wife weeping: "What can have happened to my Hantliqiunifs? He said he was more than a man, and now he is dead from slipping off a rock." Hantliqunuiif arose, withdrew a short distance, and climbed into a tree. He called like an owl. One of his brothers came out and said mockingly, "You must be the tihyumhl ['owl face' - referring to a belief that the dead enter the bodies of owls] of Hantliqiunuii!" The woman continued to weep: "Oh, spirit of Hantliqiunuif, come back to me!" Hantliquiniif came down from the tree, and again sat near the house. Then the woman went on: "Oh, Hantliquinfut, come back to me, either alive or in spirit, for I know you are more than a man." Then he went to the back of the house and knocked on the small door leading into her bedroom, and whispered: "I am here! It is true I am more than a man, and that they cannot kill me, though they have tried. What did your brothers say when they came home?" "They said you slipped off a rock," she said; "but my youngest brother declared they had left you there." "What do you think?" he went on. "I think I had better kill your three brothers and spare the youngest." She agreed, and so he shot the three and killed them. But in time the woman became {view image of page 262} 262 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN sorry for her brothers, and angry with Hantliquinufi for having killed them. And when he discovered this, he left that place and returned to Wanuq. The Adventures of Gyamalagilaq 1 In a cave at the top of a steep slope leading from the sea, and at the foot of a perpendicular wall of rock, lived Gyamalagilaq [" born to be leader"]. The place was Awis [in Belize inlet near the left entrance to Alison sound]. His daughter was Kaiyfiuhlaka ["rich in property woman"], and his sons were Kikiakalagilaq ["born to be frightener of all"] and Patlilagilaq ["born to be flier"]. The canoe of Gyamalagilaq was called Tah-ltah- ["to fold up"]; for he could fold it up and thus turn it into a small canoe, and then unfold it and make a large one. Instead of keeping it in the water, he would drag it up the hill and into the cave. He had two paddles: a large one, which, dipped into the water twice in a day, caused the canoe to go flying over the sea; and an ordinary paddle used when the canoe was small. The large one was called Hailpa ["go and return in one day"], for no matter where he wished to go, he could go and return in the same day. Like the canoe it was nawalaq. Around the neck of Gyamalagilaq was the necklace YayinkyayuhMa ["necklace that strikes in return"], from which hung a knife. When he became angry, he would shake the necklace, and it would give forth a hollow, metallic rattle. In front of the cave was a fine beach, and the children, unable to swim, would play in the shallow water. One day their mother came to the entrance of the cave and called: "Do not so, my children. Your father is in the cave working on his canoe, and there must be no play nor noise while he is at it. Come up!" Just then the little girl was snatched into the water by some unseen thing. The woman cried: "Kaekyu ['slave'],2 something is taking our child! Quick, jump down!" Again the woman shouted: "Slave, you say you are afraid of nothing! You say you are nawalaq! Get ready quickly and we will go to find her!" Then Gyamalagilaq pushed Tailtahl down the hill and put on Yaylnkyayuhdaa. He shoved the canoe into the water and commanded: "Open! You will go fast today!" The canoe opened, and they embarked. He dipped Hailpa into the water, and the canoe 1A Nakoaktok myth. 2 Whenever there is need of quick action or when some unexpected thing happens, the speaker, no matter what his relation to the one addressed, uses the epithet "slave." {view image of facing page 262} Pgwis - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 263} THE KWAKIUTL 263 flew out into the narrows and stopped at the foot of a cliff rising from the water. Gyamalagilaq dived to the bottom, and there on the mud lay Hwulqis [mud-shark], a yakyim ["evil thing"]. With his knife he slashed it in twain across the belly, but his child was not there, and bringing the head of Hwuilqis to the surface, he reembarked. Another stroke of Hailpa brought the canoe to the tide-rips at the entrance of the inlet, and Gyamalagilaq dived to the bottom. There where the water was quiet he found Nanis ["grizzly-bear of the sea"]. He lay down on the back of Nanis, grasped the hair of its head, drew the head back, and severed it. Then he cut into the belly, but the child was not there, and with the head he returned to the surface. He went next to the very entrance of the inlet, where the water was very bad, and dived down to Tsunukwis ["1finukwa of the sea"], whose head he brought up after looking in vain into its belly. Another stroke brought them to Tseqafti ["sea-gull home," a great precipice overhanging the water on the mainland at the entrance of Tribune channel, opposite Gilford island]. Here he dived and found Nuimhyalikyu ["one chief one"], which was like an enormous halibut.' Its back looked like a beach where the wavelets have left the sand in ripples. As he walked along its great back, he could see the edges moving slowly up and down. Coming to its head, which was sluggishly rising and falling, he drew it up and looked beneath it, but his daughter was not there. Then he cut it off and brought it to the canoe. Now Gyamalagilaq turned back past his home to the head of the inlet, where there was an overhanging rock. He dived, and there found Pgwis ["man of the sea"], who had a huge, man-like body and very long hair. He was squatted on the bottom with his hands on his wife's shoulders and his head bent over touching hers, and she was in the same position with her hands on his shoulders. Beneath their arms and heads crouched the little girl. Gyamalagilaq approached and shook his necklace. Their power left them, and he seized them by the hair, one with each hand, and drew their heads 1 This monster is said to make a deep, humming, rumbling sound, which echoing from the rocks and trees so fills the air that sea hunters, who are always on the alert for the monster in order to obtain tllgwi, cannot tell whence the sound comes. The fish does not come quite to the surface, but skims beneath the water so that its outline can be dimly discerned. It has a round, shining spot that gleams like fire, and the hunter who sees this spot must spear it. He will then find that the object comes out on the point of the spear, hard and shining like a crystal. This is tluzgwi. A sophisticated informant says he has heard a skate produce the humming sound attributed to this mythical monster. See page 252 for the Koskimo variant. {view image of page 264} 264 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN apart. He slashed at their necks, and the heads fell off; for the mere motion of this knife would cause a head to fall. With the heads and his daughter he rose to the surface and returned home. Because of these deeds Gyamalagilaq changed his name to Kikyilakifiu, and his daughter's name to Kikyilakifiimka ["striker under the water woman"]. The news of all these deeds came to Kwaustums [on Gilford island], where lived Tesuimkit ["stone body"], or Tlatlahwuis, chief of the Wiumaskum gens of the Koeksotenok; and to Haikuims [on Watson island], where lived Winagilaq ["born to be warrior"], chief of the Ko6kumakiahtae gens of the Guauaenok. Said Winagilaq: "What right has Gyamalagilaq to come and paddle in my water? I will fight him and try my power." He had bow and arrows, the first of such weapons, and a nawalaq canoe. But Gyamalagilaq had the power to know the mind of those who were thinking of him, and he set about his preparations. In his cave hung the skin of an old man, which he now put on. He got into his canoe, the small canoe, with the nawalaq paddle lying in the bottom, took up the small paddle, and started out, imitating the movements of an old man. Soon Winagilaq met him, and took hold of the canoe. He asked, "Is this chief Gyamalagilaq in his cave?" "Yes, he is in his cave. He does not move about. He sends us slaves to get his food." Then suddenly Gyamalagilaq gave the canoe of Winagilaq a shove. "Open!" he exclaimed. Taihltahm opened. He dipped Hailpa into the water, and the canoe flew away. "He! That was the man, you slaves!" cried Winagilaq to his warriors. "We have lost him!" He ordered the paddles to work, and they dipped into the water of themselves, and his canoe started in pursuit. Gyamalagilaq reached the beach at the foot of his cave, folded the canoe and carried it up. He put on his necklace. Then when he saw the canoe of his enemy approaching the shore, and Winagilaq standing with bow and arrow ready to shoot, he commanded his wife and all the utensils and objects in the cave to beat time, and give the war-cry, hi...! This they did, and Gyamalagilaq came * A KOEKSOTENOK HOUSE-FRONT. The circle represents the rainbow, on which is painted the sisiutl which was the canoe of the mythic Tesimkit. The two heads (concealed by brush) flank the door and symbolically swallow the people when they enter for a feast or other ceremonial occasion. The owner of the house is a descendant of Tesumkit. From his mother's gens of the Mamalelekala came the loon crest within the circle. The house is at Kwaustums, Gilford island. {view image of facing page 264} A Koeksotenok house-front [photogravure plate] {view image of page 265} THE KWAKIUTL 265 down the hill. A great stone as large as a house lay in his way, and he kicked it aside. At this exhibition of power, Winagilaq let his bow sink. Gyamalagilaq came down to the water, and the canoe was just ready to touch shore when he grasped the prow with his left hand and pushed it down. Again and again he forced it down, and the third time water splashed over the gunwale. But before he could sink it with a fourth push, Winagilaq cried: "Stop! Do not so, friend! True is your power, and greater than mine! Let us be friends. Now I will give you this baton. This will give you, of all the singers in the world, the best mourning songs for the dead."' Gyamalagilaq accepted the baton, though he was not pleased; for he was proud of his strength, and did not willingly receive gifts. Then with sarcasm and disdain he said: "Wait, friend! I will give you something. Here is a clam-digging stick, which I give to you." And instead of handing it to Winagilaq he tossed it scornfully into the canoe. "You will be clam-eaters in all time to come," he said.2 Winagilaq with his warriors departed, and on the way he met the canoe of Tesuimkit and his men. This canoe also was selfpropelling, for it was nawalaq. They stopped, and Tesuimkit said, "Tell me the news of our friend." "The only news I tell you about him is, 'Do not go!' I fell before him. I am going home a shamed man. He kicked great bowlders, and they rolled before him! So I tell you not to go. I had to beg him to stop. I went there bold, but I had to become humble." Said Tesuimkit: "I would be shamed if I did not go. Everybody would say I was afraid and came back without seeing him. I must go." "Go then, but you will return humble." So Tesuimkit proceeded to the beach of Gyamalagilaq. The chief was in his cave. His wife began to beat with a stick and to cry hi...! and every object in the cave joined her. Gyamalagilaq shook his necklace, and the sound filled earth and sky. He kicked the bowlder back to where it had been and went down to the beach. Tesuimkit and his warriors were shouting their war-cry, when Gyamalagilaq seized the prow. He drew it in and suddenly pushed it back, and thus he jerked the canoe forward and back, time and again. Tesuimkit, standing amidships, fell, and Gyamalagilaq dragged the canoe out, seized the bow-man, and cut off his head. 1 The Nakoaktok are reputed to have the best mourning songs. 2 The Guauaenok are known as clam-eaters. {view image of page 266} 266 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN "Hu...! huhu...!" he cried, as he ran up into his cave and drew a stone over the entrance; and Tesuimkit withdrew, beaten because he had lost a man. Magic Power from the Mountain-goats 1 Tuwihilaq ["born for hunting mountain-goats"] was the son of Taipunt ["helper"], who before he became a man was a Stone. Early one morning Tapuint espied a goat on the mountainside, and at once awakened his son. The young man took a pole at the end of which was a rope with a running noose, and with his dog he crept up to the place; but no goat was there, and returning he reported that the animal had escaped. His father said, "I watched it while you were gone, and it did not go away, but only walked round the tree." "It is strange," said the son, "that I could not see it and the dog could not smell it." The next day Tpiiunt again saw the goat in the same place, and once more the hunter started out. This time he saw a goat above him on a ledge. So he crept to the end of the ledge and waited to see what the animal would do; for it could not escape without passing him. After a while the goat smelled or heard the dog, and instantly a part of the rocky wall slid back like a door, and the animal bounded in. But the young man was quick, and followed upon its heels before the door closed. His staff and his dog, however, were left behind. Inside it was pitch-dark, and he had to feel his way. He wondered if he was to find nawalaq in that place. He passed through a long tunnel and finally saw light, which became stronger. Then he heard singing: "Let him come, this Wawigyustalagyfliftugilaq ['born to be always trying the unclimbable mountain' - an epithet applied by the goats to the young man]!" At the mouth of the tunnel he saw that the sound came from a great number of people in a green valley, lying about on white skins. These were the Mountain-goat people, who for the time had laid aside their skins. They were uncountable. The young man remained in concealment, while they sang and defied him, unaware that he had gained entrance. They sang again, while the goat which he had been following, the son of the chief, danced about among the others, shaking his head with arrogance, so that the long white feather fastened to his horns waved defiantly. As he came before the young man's place of concealment, the hunter reached forth and plucked the feather. Now it is very bad luck for the animals to be 1 A Tsawatenok myth. {view image of page 267} THE KWAKIUTL 267 caught by a human with their skins off, and every one in the vast crowd leaped for his skin and struggled to put it on. But before they had succeeded, the young man stood in plain sight and they were unable to move. They stood there with bowed heads, greatly ashamed, some with one leg in the skin, some with an arm. As they waited to see what he intended, so did the young man await their action. Finally a wrinkled, aged goat cried in a fierce, hoarse voice: "Let somebody say something! We do not want this monster to remain here long!" The chief spoke: "Now you have found a treasure ['laams tlugwala']. Whenever you use this power, do it not roughly. When you wave it over the mountains, do it not quickly nor too violently, for then something bad would happen. Now you may go. When you come to the door, wave the feather and it will open." So the young man went back through the tunnel, opened the door by means of the feather, found his dog and snare, and went homeward. He thought: "I will hide this treasure. If it is so powerful, it might be dangerous in the house." He found a great, hollow cedar, but in placing the feather inside he moved it rather quickly, and the tree was split from top to bottom. Then more carefully he placed it under one of the fallen parts. He went home and to bed. In the morning his father aroused him: "Do not sleep long, the mountain is white with goats. You had better rise and get some of them." So he went to the mountain with his feather, and standing at the foot of a landslide he waved it slowly in a circle toward the mountain. He laid it down, and immediately the goats came rolling down the cliff. He piled up the bodies, returned home, and despatched his mother, his sister, and his brother for the meat. Tapunt, watching the mountain, had seen the goats come tumbling down, and knew that his son had acquired some great power. When winter came Tapuint assembled all the people, and in a great potlatch he distributed the goat-meat, suet, wool, and skins, and Tuwihilaq and his eldest sister sang a song and danced. In each of the succeeding three winters the potlatch was repeated at the naming of one of Tapiunt's daughters. Then Tuwihilaq went again to the mountain with his feather. But he had become so familiar with its use that he was growing careless, and he waved it too quickly over tle mountain, which broke down in an enormous landslide. Stones, earth, and trees came thundering down. He saw a cave before him, and leaped into {view image of page 268} 268 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN it with his dog, but he was smothered by the dust. The dog however lived, and all night it barked. In the village Tapuint heard the barking, and said to himself, "There must be something wrong, or that dog would not bark all night." At daylight the dog came to the village, having found a hole through which he crept out of the cave. Then the people knew something had happened to their hunter, and the younger members of the family followed the dog back to the mountain. They found the body and brought it to the village; but the feather was lost, and none save the father knew the secret of the young man's power over the goats. When Tapunt knew that his son was dead, he put white powder on his forehead and blackened the lower part of his face from the eyes downward, and commanded his children not to touch him until he was dead. Then he sat on the river bank. He prayed to the mountains and to the spirits of the weather, asking that during four years snow might not come down as low as the cave where his son was buried. For Tapiunt had himself been a mountain, and therefore he painted himself in the way he was asking the mountain to paint itself with snow.1 The Brothers Who Were Carried to Sea 2 Tatohmesu and his three sons Mahmagis, Wahsimahasui, and Tlehtla, embarked in their canoe, which was made of hzlukwa'mis ["upper-world wood"], and came down to the earth at Tsuiwinhhas [on Deep bay, at the northwestern end of Vancouver island]. After building a house, they walked eastward to the point of land between this bay and the next [Fisherman's cove], and the eldest said: "This is where I will spear hair-seals and sea-otters. And my name shall be Hanpetligilahw ['born to have something on the end of the spearline']." The others proceeded to the next bay, and the second brother said: "This is where I will spear. And my name shall be Omahtalatligilahw ['born to be chief going out' to sea]." The youngest brother was only a steersman. Now one day they pushed their canoe into the water. The eldest took his place in the bow, the second in the middle, and the youngest in the stern, and they went to the place which the eldest had chosen. As they approached the point they saw something large, and when 1 A dramatization of this myth is performed by members of the family in which it is hereditary. 2 A Koskimo myth. {view image of page 269} THE KWAKIUTL 269 they were close enough Mahmagis threw his spear. The line tautened, and the canoe was dragged seaward. The second brother said: "Ate [lord], something great is on your harpoon! You had better cut your line lest you go under." So Mahmagis cut the line, but instead of disappearing in the water the severed end remained sticking to the gunwale, and the canoe was dragged on. "Ate," said Waihsimahasui, "you see we are nearing Yfitli [Cox island], and we have not seen what is on your line. Reach over and cut it as far from the canoe as you can." And Mahmagis did this; but the end dropped into the water and stuck fast to the forward end of the keel. Then Mafhmagis turned and said: "What can we do? We can do nothing more. We have to go where this will take us." The canoe was running to sea so rapidly that it cut a deep furrow and was hemmed in by high walls of water. Night came, and the next morning they saw ahead what appeared to be a lofty island. But the canoe was borne straight through it, for it was a floating mass of barnacles. On the following morning they saw again something like an island. This was a body of floating sand, and the canoe cut through it. Now the youngest brother, thinking it solid land, leaped out, but he broke through and sank. "Our brother has jumped over and gone down!" exclaimed Wahsimahasui. "Leave him," said Mahmagis. "That is the way this thing always happens. Do not talk about it." All night they were passing through this island of sand, and in the morning there appeared before them a floating island of drift logs. Said Mahmagis: "We had better lie down and cover our heads. We do not know what will happen." The line began to cut through the logs, dragging the canoe after it; and all night it was so. The two brothers were now reckless of what might happen. In the morning they saw large houses on an island ahead, and the line was cleaving its way straight for the doorway of a house, on the front of which was a painted killerwhale. Canoe followed line into the house, and there the brothers saw piles of carved dishes in the form of killerwhales, and posts and beams in the same likeness. Mahmagis said to his brother: "Do not look at this as though you wanted it. This will be my kiso [crest]. I will take it." "Why should I want to take it?" asked the other. "I am only the younger brother, and you shall trust me." {view image of page 270} 270 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Nearly all the day they were passing through the house of the killerwhales, and at evening they saw an island and a village. Presently the canoe grounded on the beach; but still they lay in the bottom, for they were drowsy and slept. When morning came, Mahmagis awoke and saw his harpoon fast in Nfimhyelekum, the monster flat fish, and he said: "What can we do? We are here, a long way from home, and we had better build a house." Wahsimahasui said nothing, but looked at the monster fish. He saw that it was shaped almost like a huge halibut, though much broader, and it had a seal's head. Mahmagis however immediately began building the house, and after a while he called, "What is the matter that you do not come and help with this house?" But his brother made no reply: he was craftily watching Mahmagis while cutting something off the edge of the fish. He was obtaining a love charm. When the house was finished, Mahmagis went in and slept, and a man appeared and said: "Now you have tlugwala from me the seal feasting-dish. Your name shall be Kekahtla, and your dance nimkahl ['personation of numhyelekum']. In this dance your name shall be Nui'numkalahl." Early in the morning Wahsimahasui walked to the other side of the point, and there he saw something emerging from a hole in the rock. He returned to his brother and said: "A great thing have I seen in my walk. From a hole on the other side of the point there is a sea-otter coming out. Let us make a club, and tomorrow morning we will club him." And they,made clubs, and on the following morning they killed many sea-otters as they came out of the rock. They hung the skins to dry without stretching, for there were so many that they had no need to increase the size by stretching. The next day they killed more, and Wahsimahasui killed a very large one, the mother of all the sea-otters. After he had skinned it, he grew sleepy, and all the next day and all night he slept. The great Sea-otter came to him and said: "Wahsimahasiu, you have tltugwala me. I am the mother of all the sea-otters. When you go home, make a bed for me, and put me inside, though I am nothing but skin, and you will see young sea-otters beside me. Never sell me, for when you do that you will become poor." A day later Mahmagis said: "We have many skins. Let us go home. I took note of the sun as we were dragged along, and by the sun I can steer for home." So they piled the skins from end to end of the canoe, leaving a little space at the bow and the stern to sit {view image of page 271} THE KWAKIUTL 271 in, and roped them down. Then they steered for home toward the rising sun. After a long voyage they reached home late in the night. On the beach Mahmagis saw a little house, and he went to see what it was. Close to the fire sat an old man, his father, and Maihmagis spoke: "Father, we have come back." The old man looked up at him angrily, and cried: "You are ghosts! Do not torment me!" And he drove his son away. When Maihmagis rejoined his brother and related what had happened, he asked Wahsimahasui to see if their father would perhaps recognize him. So Wahsimahasui went to the hut and said: " To! We have come home. Mahmagis came to you and you turned him away. We are alive, and have come back!" The old man grasped the fire-tongs and struck him, but Wahsimahasui would not go. He forced his way in and built up the fire. "Look at me," he said. "Do you not know me?" The old man then saw that it was truly his son, and he began to dance with joy. Now the young men carried the sea-otter skins into the house and piled them up. "That is our tlzgwi," they said. "But our younger brother is dead." "Oh," said the father, "what is the youngest son? The eldest is the only son there is. Let him go!" Now there were many people at this place; for all those who had been living between the two capes [Scott and Commerell] had gathered to dwell here. Mahmagis made dishes like the seal and the killerwhale dishes he had seen, had a house built with killerwhale posts, and then gave away the skins in a great potlatch. The two brothers afterward made the attempt to find the island and obtain more sea-otter skins, but they perished and never were seen again. The Girl Who Married Grizzly-bear and Acquired the Dance Tlu'wulahu Tlaqagiluy6qa ["born to be copper-maker woman"], the daughter of a chief of high rank, was so proud that she was unwilling to marry; she refused every suitor. Her wrists and ankles were covered with rings of copper. One day she ordered her two female slaves to accompany her to a berry-patch, and as they gathered the fruit the girl stepped on the droppings of a grizzly-bear. "Oh," 1 A Bellabella myth. {view image of page 272} 272 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN she exclaimed, "that dirty creature comes to walk in this place and leaves that filth for me to step on and soil my feet!" "Do not say so!" cautioned the women. "The spirit of the creature which dropped that is with us all the time." But the girl did not cease to upbraid the bear. They filled their baskets, covered the berries with skunk-cabbage leaves, and laced the tops shut. Then they swung the baskets on their backs and started homeward. Soon the handle of the girl's basket, which had been perfectly sound, broke, and the berries were spilled. She called the slaves, who gathered up the fruit, repaired the handle, and placed the basket again on her back. But it broke again, and this time the slaves did not hear her call and walked right on. The girl stopped and picked up the scattered berries, and just before she was ready to raise the basket to her back, she saw two men. One of them, a very handsome youth, said, "Let me carry your berries." Without inquiring who they were, she gave him the basket and they walked along the trail toward the village. They stepped over a log, and the woman felt changed in some subtle manner. Again a step was taken over another log, and again she experienced the strange feeling. Thus they stepped over four logs, and then she saw ahead a great village, and heard the people cry out, " Here comes our chief with his wife!" Then she realized that she had been stolen by this man. He led her into a very large house, and he seemed to change. He became rough, instead of kind and gentle, and his voice was very harsh. The two men left her there and passed outside. Apparently she was alone. But some one in the corner spoke: "Come hither. I am Tl6pakyahtiilihl ['rooted to the floor'], and since I cannot move, you must come to me." The girl went to that corner and found a very old woman, who said: "You are the woman that stepped on the Grizzly-bear's droppings, and you said some bad words against that Grizzly-bear. The man who left those droppings is the very one who brought you here, and your life is depending on what you do when you first go to the beach to defecate. The best thing'is to go now and practise what you will do. Fear not. Whenever you go to the beach, dig a hole secretly, and if you wish to defecate, you may do so in that hole. But be careful to cover it well, and then take one of your copper rings and leave it there: they will think that was what you dropped. You had better go now, and you will see what they will say to you. The Grizzly-bears are all away fishing, except one who is watching constantly." {view image of page 273} THE KWAKIUTL 273 The girl decided to try it at once, and went to the beach. Immediately the watchman called, and the Grizzly-bears came hurrying back. After digging the hole she sat there for a while, then filled it with sand, and on the top laid one of her copper bracelets. As soon as she got up, the people came, and with a small stick a man lifted the bracelet and looked at it. "It is little wonder she talked so proudly!" he exclaimed. "Her excrement is copper!" And they began to play with the ring, tossing it to one another. Tlaqagiluiyoqa went into the house, and the old woman asked, "Did you do it right?" "Yes, I am here alive." "Whenever you become homesick, tell me. Here is one thing you must know: they are going to put two little children to be with you constantly. Whenever your husband goes fishing, you will have to collect firewood. Go to the woods for it, not to the beach Every day go farther and farther from the house, and always be careful to put the fuel on the backs of the children. Make them lean up against a tree when you put the bundle on their backs. All the women go to the beach for wood, and gather the small sticks that lie on the bottom in the water." So the young woman started out for wood with the two children, whom she loaded with fagots. She piled fuel on the fire, awaiting the return of her husband, and the Grizzly-bear women kindled their fires. But their water-soaked wood made a great deal of steam, while hers burned freely. Then her husband came in, his bear-skin all wet. He threw it off and shook it over the fire, and the blaze was extinguished. Then he beat the girl with the skin. The other Grizzly-bears, coming into their houses, removed their wet skins and shook them over the fires, and the steaming sticks blazed. Day by day the girl's copper rings became fewer. One day her downheartedness was plainly evident on her face and in her demeanor, and the old woman said, "You wish to go home." "Yes," admitted the girl. "Well, tomorrow morning get a stick from a salmonberry bush and bring it to me." The next morning she went into the woods for fuel, and after walking a long distance, she broke off a piece of salmonberry bush and carried it while the children bore the fagots. When the old woman received the stick she measured from it the length of her forearm from elbow to knuckles. Then at equidistant points she gnawed off the bark in four places, and she said: "I think tomorrow VOL. X-i8 {view image of page 274} 274 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN you had better run away. Drop this stick to the ground, and it will point the way to your home." She gave the girl also a cedar stick, a stone, a tube of bladder-kelp containing oil, and a comb, and told her how to use them. "But one thing you must remember," she cautioned. "Tie those two children to trees. When you are putting the bundles on their backs, tie them to the trees so that they cannot escape." Early in the morning Tlaqagiluiyoqa set out with the Grizzly-bear children. Having gathered her fagots she made the children lean back against a tree, as usual, and while tying the packs she wound the rope around the tree and bound them securely. Then she dropped the stick and ran in the direction it indicated. She heard the little Grizzly-bears scream, and she saw a great mountain right ahead. But she remembered no mountains on the road by which she had come, so she dropped the stick again. It fell straight toward the mountain. Then she remembered having stepped over four logs, and knew that in reality they had been mountains. Up the steep she ran, but behind was the growling of her pursuers. She passed the summit, and descended, but soon came to another height. By this time the Grizzly-bears were close, and she threw the comb over her shoulder. It became a tangled brake of thorny bushes, which delayed them. One after another the girl threw behind her the stone, the oil, and the cedar stick, and they became respectively a great mountain, a broad lake, and a tremendous tree that moved from side to side in the path of her pursuers. At length she reached salt water and saw a canoe containing a young man who wore a hat. He did not look around, and she called, "Come and take me in, and you shall have all my father's slaves for doing it!" The man tapped the gunwale with his paddle and it rang, and the canoe moved away from her. She called then, "Come ashore, and you shall have my father's name!" He tapped the gunwale again, and the canoe went out still farther. "Come ashore," she cried anxiously, "and take me in! You shall have everything my father possesses - his slaves, his dances, all!" He struck the canoe, and off it went still farther. Now she saw the Grizzly-bears coming, and in despair she begged him: "Come ashore and take me, and I will have you for my husband!" Then he struck the canoe, and immediately it came up beside her. She saw that his head was all copper, and so were the canoe and the paddle. She got in, he tapped the gunwale, and the craft shot out {view image of page 275} THE KWAKIUTL 275 a little distance. In the bow was a spear, the two points of which kept thrusting themselves in and out, like the tongue of a serpent. Now the Grizzly-bears, clad in their shaggy skins, rushed angrily to the edge of the water, and the chief roared gruffly, "Bring my wife ashore, or we will kill you both!" The man in the canoe simply sat there without moving or speaking, and the girl perceived that he was handsome. To all the threats of the Grizzly-bears he made no response. Finally they plunged in and swam toward the canoe. Then the man spoke: "Spear, jump overboard and kill them!" That spear was a ssisutl. It leaped overboard, swam through the water, and darted through the bodies of the Grizzly-bears, one after another. Then it returned and lay down in the bow. Now the man addressed her: "Wife, be careful! You are in danger, just as with the people I have killed. I will not harm you, but it is my wife who will try to destroy you. When she eats, do not attempt to observe her. If you are behind her, she can see you just as if you were before her. Now we will go to yonder island, and I will kill those seals for her food." He tapped the canoe, and it darted to the island, where the sisiutl slipped out of the canoe and killed the seals. After piling them in the canoe he told Tlaqagiliy6qa to cover her head, and she did so. Then she heard him tap the gunwale and felt the copper canoe dart downward instead of forward. All the time her love for this man was growing, for he always spoke very kindly. Before long she felt the canoe ground on a beach, and heard the man get out in the water. He wrapped her up until she seemed to be only a roll of mats, took her under his arm, carried her into the house, and set her down in a corner. She heard people calling: "The canoe is full of seals! We will go and carry them up." Soon she heard them throwing the seals down from the doorway, and their bodies rolling down the steps; for the floor of this house was ten steps below the bottom of the sea, and it was called Tsfiyakuiq ["ten steps down "]. The wife of the man was crying hap! hap! hap! and Tlaqagiluyo6qa heard her grasp the seals and devour them with a great crunching of bones. Every time a seal came rolling down, she uttered her hoarse cry and devoured it. The next morning the man carried out the roll of mats with the girl inside, and quickly the canoe rose to the surface of the sea. There he removed the wrappings, and they began to converse. After a while she asked, "Why can I not see your other wife?" {view image of page 276} 276 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN "She has something which she would throw at you," he answered, "and it would kill you. So you must not behold her." Then she asked, "Who are you? Who are you that are so kind to me?" "I am K6muqi, and my other name is Tlaqagila [' copper maker']. I know that your name is Tlaqagiluiyoqa." Again he got his load of seals, and on their return placed her in a corner. So things went for a long time. In the company of her husband the girl was content; but in her gloomy corner, with her ears filled by the sound of the old woman devouring seals, she was very unhappy. She determined to see what the other woman was like, and one day when the seals were tumbling down the steps and the old woman was uttering her cries, Tlaqagiluy6qa pulled the mats down at the top and looked out. She saw only the back of a great fat creature holding a seal to her mouth. Instantly the sealeater cried "0!" and threw her hand back over her shoulder; and the young woman fell dead. Aware of all that was happening, K6muqi hurried in and demanded to know what she had done. "You have a stranger in this house," she said. He seized a spear and thrust it repeatedly into her body, but she only laughed. He tried to club her to death, but could not hurt her. Then he pondered how he might kill her, and the next day he made love to her and caressed her. "Where is your heart?" he asked. She laughed, and raised her foot, and showed him where it throbbed. "I do not believe it," he said, "My heart is in my breast. I will not believe yours is in your foot until I cut it out and see it." "Well," she said, "you can cut the foot open, but do not pull the heart out and cut it off." "No, I will only look at it," he promised, "and put the flesh back." He began to cut, but she experienced no pain. He cut deeper and saw the heart, a very small thing. "Do not touch it!" she exclaimed. "I must pull it out a little to see it. It does not look like my heart." He pulled it out, and quickly slashed it off, and she dropped lifeless. Komuqi unrolled the mats, in which was his young wife with blood running down from her mouth. He touched the heart * IOMUQI. This is a fabulous, deep-sea monster prominent in mythology as a beneficent supernatural toward those mortals who were lucky enough to visit him. In his home on the floor of the sea he is represented as living in the form of a human, and chief of those other animalhumans who dwell there. On the top of the mask sits the image of Loon, his watchman. {view image of facing page 276} Komuqi - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 277} THE KWAKIUTL 277 to the mat beside her breast, first on one side then on the other, passing the heart four times directly over her chest. Then she sat up, rubbed her eyes, and said, "I have been sleeping long!" "Yes," he replied, "you have been sleeping soundly. Look at my big wife. I have killed her! This is her heart. I took it out of her, because she killed you." These two lived happily together, and the woman forgot her own people. After a period of only four months a boy was born, and K6muqi washed him in a copper dish. He seemed to handle the infant rather roughly. He made the child stand on the floor, while he held it and stepped on its toes. He pulled it upward by the arms, and it grew visibly. "That is large enough for one day," he said, and permitted her to wrap the child in sea-otter skin. On each of the three succeeding days he bathed and stretched the boy, and at the end of that time his son had become a young man and was given the name Tlaqagila. One day the young woman became lonesome and downhearted, and her husband, perceiving that she wished to see her parents, told her to make four eel-grass baskets small enough to fit over the end of the little finger. When these were ready he put a bit of copper in one of them, pieces of valuable skins in another, a splinter of his copper house in the third, and some of his food in the fourth. "All these you will take in the canoe," he announced. "Our son will accompany you. I will remain, yet I will be with you always. Now I am going to show you how I look." He turned himself into the huge, angry sea-monster, k6muqi. The monster disappeared, and again the man stood before her. "Do you want to carry that with you?" he asked. "Yes," she answered. "When there is dancing, that will belong to my son and to no one else." "I have a slave," he said, "and I will give you some dances." He summoned a strong man and commanded, "Take your place!" The slave lay down and became a Killerwhale. "You will take this too," said K6muqi. The Killerwhale suddenly disappeared, and the strong man stood there. Then the chief called another servant, a man with a great belly, who lay down and became Ku'ma [a fish with spines on the head, a large belly, and small body]. Next was called a man with a long neck, who, the chief said, was the watchman of the place. This man showed himself as Loon.' Next 1 This is the bird which in the mask of k6muqi sits on the monster's head as his watchman. See illustration facing page 276. {view image of page 278} 278 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the chief took a bit of something which his wife and son could not see, and put it into the small basket containing the copper broken from the house. He showed his son how to manage the canoe by tapping the gunwale, and warned his wife to cover herself while going up through the water. The four tiny baskets were placed in the canoe, and the woman in the bow covered herself; then her son in the stern tapped the gunwale. The canoe rose to the surface of the sea. The woman pointed and said: "That is your grandfather's house, the one with the great post before it. There is a stream at the left of the village: land among the salmonberry bushes." It was late evening, but not dark. The youth tapped the canoe, and at once it was among the bushes; and as soon as they stepped out, it vanished. At the same time the tiny baskets became enormous. Leaving them they went through the village and into the chief's house, the mother following her son. Everybody recognized her, for she had not changed. New mats were spread in the place of honor, and the villagers flocked in to see the woman and her son. When they were fed, the people watched to see if she would eat the food, wondering if her nature had been changed. She ate, but the young man did not; for in his mouth he constantly kept a small lump placed there by his father, so that he would never need other food. Then the woman told her father to send boys for the baskets; but the servants, unable to lift them, returned empty-handed. The youth Tlaqagila therefore transformed them into very small objects and carried them to the house in the palm of one hand. Three he placed in different corners of the room, but the fourth he said he would keep until everybody slept. He ordered that all retire early, even his mother, and late in the night he placed this fourth small basket, which contained the piece of copper broken from the house of his father, between the door and the fire. In the night the house of K6muqi came rising up out of the basket and took the place of the house in which it was set. As the roof rose, it lifted the roof of the wooden house, and the expanding walls crowded the wooden walls out. It also was "ten steps down." The small object which K6muqi had deposited in this basket without permitting either his wife or his son to see it was the mask of komuqi. In front of the bedrooms of this copper house was a painted ma'wihZ, and behind it the mask retired. From the first basket issued many coppers; from the second, robes of the skins of sea-otters and other animals of the sea; from the third, dry flesh of the whale and the hair-seal. Tlaqa {view image of page 279} THE KWAKIUTL 279 gila laid a piece of whale-meat on the beach, and it became four great, stranded whales. Then he lay down to sleep. Just at dawn there came from behind the mawih the sound of wooden trumpets. All the people were awakened, and stood about in great astonishment. Even the chief's daughter had never heard this sound: but the spirit of K6muqi was within her and told her always what to do. She ordered her father to invite the people, and when all were assembled they heard voices singing behind the mawikl. The young man Tlaqagila came out wearing a small mask. He danced four songs with it, retiring after each song. Then appeared the great mask of the k6muqi, which danced once and retired. The spirit of Komuqi was dancing with it. Then the young man's mother danced four songs with the same small mask, and the spirit of Killerwhale danced four songs with the killerwhale mask. All the singing was done by the spirits behind the mawiRl. Then the chief himself danced with the small mask, and Ku'ma showed his own mask. The chief gave away the coppers, the robes, and the meat, and told the people to cut up the four whales on the beach. This was the origin of the first coppers and of the dance tlu'wulahiu. The Magician Who Was Killed by his Brothers Nahanagyilis said to his slave one day: "Slave, get into my canoe, for we will go to spear hair-seals." So the slave pushed off the canoe, and they left the village fHwutis. Passing an island, they saw something that seemed to be like fire ploughing its way down the mountainside, carrying trees and bowlders before it, and eating its way through the solid rock. The whole mass plunged into the water with a tremendous hissing. Then said Nahanagyilis, "Slave, that is what I have been looking for!" He drew his knife and began to cut his tongue and spit blood on the water. To the slave he said, "Paddle, for we must catch up with it!" So the slave paddled vigorously after the thing, which was moving through the water across the channel. At the tail of the creature the water was boiling. Gradually the canoe came up behind it, and then went ahead, and Nalanagyilis landed at the place for which the sisiutl was headed. He spit four curving parallel lines of blood about the place where it would land, both ends of the lines touching the water's edge. The sisiutl swiftly rushed out upon the 1 A Koskimo myth. {view image of page 280} 280 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN shore and dashed against the four barriers, but though it broke through three of them it was stopped by the fourth, and there it lay trembling on the rock. Nahlnagyilis stood and thought, "What shall I do?" He knew that he dare not turn his eyes away, for if one sees a sisiutl and turns away, the power of the sisiutl will cause him to remain fixed in that position. When the sisiutl found it impossible to cross the fourth line of blood, it turned itself into a paint-bag, but could do no better. Then it became a great canoe, but still it could not pass. Nahanagyilis stood there and stared. And now the sisiutl assumed the real form of sisiutl with two snake heads at the ends and a man's face in the middle. And this man's face was that of the father of Nahanagyilis. As soon as he saw his dead father's face, it came to his mind what he should do. "Oh," he said, "this is like the song my father used to sing!" He put his hand behind him four times, and the fourth time a club was placed in it. In the distance a voice cried: "FWa! Strike it once!" Four times the voice was heard, and the fourth time Nahianagyilis made a motion as if striking his father's head. Three times he did this, and then he really struck it, and the sisiutl fell into a mass of hwela [quartz crystal]. With his eyes still fastened on the hiwela, he reached for a flat stone, and with another he scraped some of the hiwela upon it. But immediately with a loud report the stone was blown to pieces by the power of the ssisutl. Then he remembered something his father had told him. Still looking intently at the crystal, he made his way backward from the bushes, and feeling about he found a salmonberry bush. He broke off four shoots and returned to the crystal, where he put them into the ground at the four corners of the pile. He tore some bark from his blanket, and tied the strips on the tips of the shoots. This counteracted the power of the iwela, and he was free to look away. He now obtained some bark from a cedar in the woods, wrapped a piece of the crystal in it, and placed it in his bosom. The rest he wrapped in another piece of bark and carried into the woods, where he tied it to the trunk of a strong spruce. But he had not gone far toward the beach when the tree came crashing down. Fearful that his treasure was lost, he went back, but found that though the tree had broken off squarely at the level where he had hung the hiwela, the package still hung on the stump. Then he tied it to a hemlock, but this also was broken off by the power of the hwela; and a fir {view image of page 281} THE KWAKIUTL 28i was no better. But when he hung it on a red cedar, the tree stood firm. Nahanagyilis now returned to the canoe and found the dead body of his slave, fearfully contorted. For a man who sees sisiutl without cutting his tongue and spitting blood dies in convulsions. He drew the crystal from his bosom, held it near the slave's left side, and moved it across the chest to the right side. After he had done this four times, the man came to life. "Go home," said Nahanagyilis, "and tell my brothers what I have found. In four days bring them." When the slave had gone, Nahanagyilis felt drowsy and fell asleep. Suddenly he awoke with a start, to find himself on the side of a steep mountain in a little niche with the rock falling away below him in a perpendicular cliff, while above him it sloped outward and projected over him. He looked about and said to himself, "Now you have made a mess of it!" For he had taken too much of the hwela, and the power of it had flown away with him. Again he became sleepy, and again he awoke suddenly. He found himself carried across the channel to a similar niche on a mountainside. "Oh," he said, "that is the way you are going to be treated by your tlzgwi!" Once more he fell asleep, and now he was carried nearly to the top of another mountain, where he heard trees and rocks rolling down above him. "This is the death of me!" he exclaimed. But he took out his hwela and held it above him, and the rushing mass of trees, earth, and rocks divided and went past him on each side. Then Nahanagyilis came down the mountainside. When he was near the water he saw a canoe containing three men with blackpainted foreheads. The one in the bow carried a long spear. Nahanagyilis remained very quiet, and they paddled past. Just then a great bird appeared from he knew not where. Its wing-feathers were hwela, and so heavy that apparently it could not fly. Intending to catch it, he ran toward it, but it rushed over the ground and kept just ahead of him. When he was so close that he was about to grasp it, a rock wall opened and the bird dashed into it with Nahanagyilis just behind it. Then the bird spoke: "ro! Here he comes!" Nahanagyilis saw the three men who had passed in the canoe, cutting up a seal. One of them said: "Let us talk about the thing for which we invited our friend. We will give him our spear, our hair-seal spear. He will need four canoes to carry what it will kill in a single day." {view image of page 282} 282 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Now to himself NaManagyilis said, "But what is that compared with what I already have?" Wutlakaahlit, one of the three, spoke: "Our friend says, 'What is that compared with what I already have?"' Another said, "We will let him have my canoe-building tools, so that he will put four canoes into the water daily." Again Nahanagyilis thought, "What good is that compared with what I already have?" And Wutlakaahlit read his thoughts as before. Now the man who had been sitting in the bow of the canoe became angry and leaped to his feet. He went to his box and took something out of it, and turning to Nahanagyilis said, "Open your mouth!" Nahanagyilis obeyed, and the man rubbed his finger on the tongue of Nalinagyilis, saying: "That is the life-bringer. Although a man is long dead, your urine will now bring life to him. Go now from this place!" They were rather angry at his persistence. So Nahanagyilis went out from the rock and sat down. He found himself sleepy, and when he awoke he was in the place where he had killed the ssisutl. This was on the fourth day. Now Nahanagyilis saw a canoe approaching with many people, and he was taken to the village and into a house. But he walked straight through the house and back into the woods, and when the next morning the slave followed him, Nahanagyilis said, "Go and bring my brothers, that I may tell them the news." Very soon came the brothers, and Nalfnagyilis directed them where to sit, and said: "I thank you for coming to see me, my brothers. I am going to show you my tlugwi. I will dance for you. I wish one of you would get a rattle and a piece of board, and a wallet basket." When these things were provided, he blew into the wallet, while the others in silence watched him closely. He put it down, and it became a great box. But they sat there thoughtfully, looking rather morose, for they were envious. He shook the box and set it down, and it became a small basket. Then he blew on the edge of the piece of board, and it grew upward into a very long plank. He shook it, and it became a small piece. He shook the rattle, and it split into two pieces, which he continued to shake until each piece took the form of a raven. He put their beaks together and tossed them away, and they fought together on the ground. He pulled them apart and threw them into the air, and they flew over the village, returned and perched before him, and under his touch became once more a rattle. {view image of page 283} THE KWAKIUTL 283 The brothers had watched Nahlnagyilis without a word, speechless with jealous anger. Now one of them spoke: "1o! My brothers, what do you think of this? Do you not think it is too much for one man to carry? Should one man have the power to bring life and death? We had better kill him before he kills us!" So they leaped upon him and killed him, and started home. But Nahanagyilis stood up and called: "Wait, brothers, do not go yet! I have not finished!" Then they returned and killed him again, cutting him limb from limb and scattering the pieces. Such was the end of Nahianagyilis. The First Whaler Wanuqmagilahw ["born to be river owner"] was the son of Tluiwulhwmotuimee ["chief's son across the face"-that is, not chief on one side of his parentage, but on both sides], chief of the Hoyalas. This chief lived at Kohsta [a small creek in a bay across Quatsino narrows from the present Koskimo village], and he owned this stream. The village was on the point of land at the northern side of the bay, and on the small fortified hill in the mouth of the bay was another village of Hoyalas, whose chief was Hliluma ["taker by force"]. One day Hliluma sent a canoe to bring Wanuqmagilahw to a feast. As soon as the canoe brought his guest to the beach, Hliluma said, "Come ashore, and enter my house." When the young man was seated, Hliluima caused to be laid before him three unskinned hair-seals, and said: "These are my feasting dishes. Here are three dishes for you." So the young man went home with the three seals, and there he found that his father had gone out to beg boards from a tree.2 His mother however was sitting there, and to her he said: "I am ashamed. Hliluima has given me these three seals. But I am not going to be beaten. I will invite him and give him my stream. I will call that my feasting dish." "Great is your word!" she replied. "To give away that stream is giving away your rank. That stream is what brings in property to make a feast for you." "Nevertheless," he answered, "I will give him that stream. He cannot beat that!" 1 A Hoyalas myth related by a Koskimo. 2 See page ii. {view image of page 284} 284 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN So he sent for two of his young men and told them to call Hliluma. And they went and called Hlilima. Very soon came the chief, and Wanuqmagilahw said, "Sit there." He poured water into a wooden feasting dish and set it before Hliluima, saying: "This is the stream that made me a chief. I give it to you." And Hliluima poured out the water as a sign that he accepted the gift, and went home. In the evening Tluwuilhwmotuimee returned, and his wife said, "You have been long absent." "Yes, I have been long absent, and I am hungry." She took down some dried salmon and roasted them, and began to feed him. As he ate she said, "It is a great thing your son has done." "What has my son done, then?" "Hliliima invited him to a feast and gave him these three seals. And he was ashamed, and in order to beat Hliluma he invited him and gave away his river." Immediately the chief pushed his food from him and sank back on the floor. He covered his face with his blanket and lay there. He was very angry. All that night and the next day, and until the end of the fourth day Tluiwulhwmotuimee lay with his blanket over his head and the food untouched before him. And his wife dared not speak to him. At the end of the fourth day he rose and took down his bear-skin blanket and his bow, and from the box he took his whale sinew, which had come from dead whales on the beach. Without speaking he twisted four cords of sinew, threw his bear-skin about his shoulders, and fastened it in front at four places with the four cords. Without a word he went through the back door and vanished in the woods. He walked until it was dark, and then sat under a great tree to wait for daylight. At dawn he went forward. As he walked, he thought he saw something red on a hillside, and wondering he went closer, and perceived that it was a large, unfinished bark mat. He thought: "I wonder how came that mat here so far away? Well, I will leave it." And he went on. When night came he sat under a cedar, and early in the morning he walked again. He came to a fine grassy slope, and began to run down it; but near the bottom he slipped and slid swiftly downward. When he got up he found his back and legs covered with gum. The whole slope was gum, which near the bottom of the hill was soft enough to stick. Again he spent the night under a cedar, and in the morning walked farther. {view image of page 285} THE KWAKIUTL 285 Now he came to an open place in the woods and heard the sound of a whale spouting. "Why," he said to himself in surprise, "I thought I was going back into the woods, but now I hear a whale spouting!" He turned aside toward the sound, and soon through an opening in the trees he saw a shimmering light, and again he heard the spouting. And now he could smell the odor of the whale. He passed through the opening in the trees and found himself beside a lake, the source of the small stream which his son had given away. From the end of the lake he saw, far out on the water, a very small whale spouting and diving. It was not twice the length of a man's finger. "I wonder how I can get that!" said Tluwuflhwmotuime to himself. "It is a long distance from here." Then he saw something. Under the bushes at the edge of the water crouched a man dressed in a bear-skin. His hair was gathered in a knot behind his head, and on each side of his head an eagle-feather pointed backward. Immediately Tluiwflhwmotuime thought of a plan. He withdrew quietly into the woods and crept around behind the man, who still crouched under the bushes in the attitude of one trying to shoot or catch the whale. When Tluiwflhwmotuimee was close enough he struck the man with his club and killed him. At the same time he himself fell unconscious. While he lay there he heard as in a dream the dead man speaking: " Now you must take care of this. My name is Alihwals [' spearsman of the ground']. This whale that I spear is gwikyis. Now you are going to have it." Then Tluiwulhwmotuime awoke, and looking to see what had become of the man he had killed, he beheld only a great mass of froth. Quickly he threw off his robe and rubbed his body thoroughly with the froth. Thus he placed in his own body the spirit of Alihwals, and when this was done he knew, by this spirit, just how to act. He was still moist from the froth, and now the little whale was coming close to the shore, still spouting. Tluwuflhwmotumee took a forked salmonberry stick and laid across the prongs a few twigs of salal. Then the whale was quite close, and he slowly put out the end of his forked stick, placed it carefully under the little whale, and lifted his treasure out of the water and put it on the ground. As he lifted it, the spouting and the sound grew gradually weaker, and when it touched the ground the sound died away completely. The whale was dead. He wrapped a piece of thin cedar-bark about it and hid it under a tree. {view image of page 286} 286 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Now Tluwuilhwmotuime began to feel great drowsiness, and he fell into a sleep in which he saw the form of Alihwals, who spoke: "Now you have tlugwala this chief of the whales. Hereafter your name shall be Kwalukwuii, for you shall be the spearer of whales. Now there is another thing. You remember the place where you slipped and got your back covered with gum? I led you to that place so that you will know where to get the gum to fasten your harpoon-point. Also I led you to the place where you saw the mat. You will have made a mat like that, to sit on when you go for whales. You will have your slave dive at the place where the water is always boiling up from below, and break off one of the mussels that are one span and four fingers long, for that shell will be your harpoon-point. And the name of that place shall become Kumkilas. Another thing I want them to do for you is to send some women for good cedar-bark, of which they shall make a strong line for your harpoon; and to send men for a good yew pole for your harpoon." Then the spirit told him also how he was to wash himself morning and evening. When Tluwuilhwmotuime awoke it was morning. He took the little whale in its wrapping of bark and started down the stream. Near its mouth he saw men in a canoe, poling up the creek. They looked at him and asked, "Is that you, Tluwuillhwmotuimee? We thought you were dead!" "No, I am not dead. I have tlugwi. I have tlugwala the whale of the lake. Now I want you to go back and send my slave to that place where the water is constantly boiling up, and let him dive for a mussel-shell to make the point of my whaling spear. Hereafter call me not Tliuwuflhwmotimee. The spirit has changed my name, and now it is Kwaluliwu. My slave's name shall be Kumkila'yu, and the rock to which he shall dive shall be called Kumkilas." So the canoe turned back to the village, and two men took the slave to the place where the large mussels grew. They tied a strong line about a heavy stone and made a loop to which the slave could hold and thus be drawn down. Then they lowered the stone, and the slave, grasping the loop, was taken to the bottom. The tide was at the ebb. Peering down into the green water, the two men could see him twisting and tearing at a great mussel. In a short time he broke it off, released his hold of the stone, and shot to the surface. They returned to the village with the mussel. But mussel-shells in cutting are easily broken, and it was thought best to have more than one. So on the following day they returned to the place and lowered the slave into the water. Again the two men watched him twisting {view image of page 287} THE KWAKIUTL 287 at the mussel. Suddenly they saw him fall over on his side and lie still, and a huge kinihla [sea-anemone] fastened itself upon him. For a long time they waited, but the man did not move: he was drowned. In the meantime women were twisting and plaiting the rope, men were preparing the yew pole, and others were making the whaling canoe. Many people were saying: "Where is he going to get a whale? Whales never come into this inlet; they are in the ocean." But Kwalu'kwui said nothing. When all was ready he chose six men for paddlers, and also a steersman, and early one morning he bade them man the great whaling canoe. They waited until the tide began to ebb, and then he quickly took his place in the bow and his men paddled out. All the people, including those on the fortified hill, came out to observe. Kwalukwui had his hair just as he had seen the hair of Alihwals, and he wore his bear-skin. The little whale, still in the bark wrapping, he had under his left armpit, held there by a string passing over his right shoulder. They had gone not far when a great whale crossed their course, swimming slowly against the tide and spouting. Now he stopped, and the canoe passed round behind him and proceeded in a circle back to its original position on the left side near the whale's head. Then Kwalukwui hurled his harpoon, and the whale threw his head up. He was killed instantly, and they towed the monster ashore near the village. Now every morning Kwalulkwui killed a whale, and the people were kept busy rolling the stones from the beach in order to make room for the carcasses. One morning he killed a tluho [a whale of the largest species], which he towed to the island and gave to Hliluima in exchange for the stream. Now the beach was full of whale-bones. One day Wanuqmagilahw said, "My father, let me go in your place to kill a whale." "Yes," agreed his father, "I think it is time for you to try." Then Wanuqmagilahw was greatly pleased. In the morning he took his place in the bow of the canoe, and the men paddled out, and soon a whale rose near the bow. He ordered them to handle the canoe just as if his father were there, and when they brought the craft back to the left side of the whale's head, Wanuqmagilahw hurled the harpoon. The whale threshed his great tail, trying to strike the canoe, and then dived. Suddenly the paddlers noticed that their spearsman was gone! The whale had carried him below! When they returned to the village with the news, all the people went {view image of page 288} 288 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN to hunt for the chief's son, and on the beach near the village they found him dead, with the little whale under his left arm. They carried him for burial to a small island, and his father secretly cut a slit under the young man's left arm and placed the little whale in it. For that was his only son, and he wished no one else to have this power of hunting whales. Now the news of these events passed to other tribes, and people from the south came to steal this power. They searched in the coffin of the young man, but they could not find the little whale. A second party was no more successful. Then came a third party, and after finding nothing in the coffin, they said, "We will take the whole body with us, and then we will have the power." So they carried the corpse back home, and thus they became whalers. And so it was that the Clayoquot whalers used dead bodies in their ceremonial washing: they found the little whale and took it out, but because it was found in a corpse they carried a mummy on the back in their washing.' Dance Obtained from the Wolves 2 Tlaqagilakiumi ["copper-maker chief"] at Oqi6was on Hanwati ["has humpback salmon"- a small stream emptying into Knight inlet at Grave point] had four sons. One morning they still slept, and he became angry and shouted: "Get up, all of you, and go to wash yourselves! Are we going to our work or not?" Without replying, they went out into the water. One after another they rubbed tallow on their faces, turned the upper part of the paint-bag inside out, and dusted the red powder on their faces. Then the eldest said to his father, "Now let us go." They released the dogs and went upstream to the mountain Kwaes ["sitter"], and climbed upward. Suddenly Tlaqagilakuimi exclaimed, "What is that, adate [lords]? We have never before seen that. To me it does not look like a stone." The brothers took the dogs by the ears and made them look up, and the animals began to growl. They threw off the leashes, and the dogs dashed forward and began to leap about the object, barking loudly. Then the hunters came up and found it to be a 1 Iwiallkwil, says the traditionist, was the only man who ever killed whales in Quatsino sound. This appears to indicate that the myth is an invention to account for the presence of many whale-bones at the place of action. 2 An Awaitlala myth. {view image of page 289} THE KWAKIUTL 289 large goat with one horn in the middle of its forehead. It had been dead for some time. While the young men skinned it and cut off the tallow, Tlaqagilakuimi urged them: "Lords, hurry! There is something up there that looks dangerous. Clouds are beginning to hang on the summit!" Soon they took up their loads and descended the mountain as rapidly as possible, but before they passed a bench on the mountain the snow began to fall in great flakes. When they were half-way down the old man slipped off a precipice and fell down the mountain, and was killed. The four brothers continued their descent, but soon the eldest slipped and fell down the mountain, carrying his dog with him. The other three went on, and the second brother fell to his death. Just before they reached the foot, the third fell and was killed, but his dog escaped. The two dogs now broke the trail for the youngest brother, and he succeeded in reaching a house and dragging himself inside the door. The dogs sat panting on the other side oI the doorway, but soon they began to dig in the fireplace, and from time to time one of them would jump into the hole as if to measure it. When his head barely rose above the level of the floor, he went to the young man and nosed him. "I suppose they wish me to go into that hole," said he to himself. So he sat down in it, and the dogs covered him with earth. Then he grew warmer. When the fourth day passed without the return of the hunters, the brother of Tlaqagilakuimi called the people into his house, and preparations were made to conduct a search. Waihet and TIahwuinala made tieiutloftisula ["knitted on the feet"] out of goat-skin thongs, and went in advance.' Behind them were men with four roof-boards, pushing one ahead of the others and so making a continuous road over the snow. By and by Wahet found a trail made by the dogs in walking to and from the house, and he and his companion soon were peering in through cracks in the walls. Buried in the warm earth and ashes of the fireplace up to his neck, the young man perceived that there were people outside, and with his last breath he cried, "Ya!" "Ya, ate!" they responded, and ran in; but he was dead. Then they returned to the main party, who, when they heard that the 1 This reference to snowshoes is probably without parallel in Kwakiutl tales. Its isolation, combined with the facts that the myth is absolutely silent as to the construction of the appliances, and that it represents only two men of the party as equipped with them, indicates that snowshoes were never used by the Kwakiutl. VOL. x-I9 {view image of page 290} 290 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN youth was dead, declared: "We will stop here and make a fire. You go and bring the body." So the two dug the body out, wrapped it and placed it in a large basket, and thus carried it to the canoe. Now, when they returned to the village there was another council, and the advice of the wisest man was this: "The best thing is not to break down our chief's house [on account of the supposed death of the young man]. We will place this body in the bed, then we will leave this village and go downstream to the mouth. We will make a little house for this chief's wife, so that she may sit in it and look through the doorway at the body." All this was done. For four days the woman kept going down to the river to bathe, some days four times and some days thrice. On the third night she heard something walking about outside her hut, and on the fourth evening just at dusk a wolf howled on the opposite river-bank. When it ceased, another answered on her side of the stream. Then another howled below her, and a fourth above her. The wolves were inviting all the animals to sing and dance in the house where the dead man lay. The woman felt that something good was coming. Though she kept her eyes on the body, the wolves, unknown to her, had taken it away. Still she thought she saw it in the house. It began to grow dark, and dimly she saw people, many of them, going into the house, and a voice in one of the corners of the room said, "Put the fire under!" From another corner came another voice, "Let our fire blaze up!" In the third corner another voice spoke, "Burn, fire!" A fire blazed up, and a fourth voice spoke from the other corner, "All you people of different tribes, make ready!" The first speaker resumed, "Now take hold of your batons!" From the second speaker came the words, "Let the holders of the batons stand up!" The third commanded, "Now beat time rapidly!" Then came the sound of heavy beating, and the house seemed to shake with the dancing. The woman could see the standing baton master shake his baton and then suddenly give a sweep of the arm, and the beating ceased. After this had been done four times, all the people in the house cried out, "Yihi...!" Small whistles sounded, and the chief of the wolves entered, a big white animal. On his back she saw her husband, alive, clasping the wolf's neck with his arms. She seemed to see his dead body lying on the bed, yet there he was alive on the wolf's back. After four songs the wolf men began to dance. {view image of page 291} THE KWAKIUTL 29I The woman could not remain quiet. She moved toward the house, but at the same time the fire began to die, and the speaker cried: " ye, we, we, we! Go and see! Some common man is near the house." "Send no one but me!" cried Mouse. He went out to the woman and she whispered, "Whatever you are, I tlugwala you!" Said Mouse, "Come no closer." She gave him a bracelet to keep her secret, and he returned to the house and reported, "I have been round the world, and there is no one here." The fire blazed up again, and the beating was resumed, and the woman crept closer again, eager to see what was being done. Again the fire sank, and again Mouse was sent, and the woman paid him with an abalone-shell ear-ring. The sky was now beginning to change color, and in order to end the dance they beat four times without singing. At the end the first speaker said, "We have done enough!" The second repeated, "Yes, we have done." The third spoke: "Put away our batons!" The fourth finished: "Put our dance masks in a secret place!" The woman could not see what became of the hundred wolves: they were gone, and the house was empty and the fireplace cold. The young man, her husband, was in the bed where the body had been placed. She returned to her hut and said to herself: "Oh, I do not know what I am going to do with myself! But there is no use trying to hurry things." When the sun rose the woman walked out of her hut and sat a short distance from the house. After a long time she moved a little closer, and next she sat outside the door of the house. Then she sat on the step inside the door. She was watching the bed, uncertain whether her husband was really dead. Now he moved slightly, just enough to show her that he was alive. She made no movement, but sat watching intently. He raised his head, and soon sat upright and spoke: "Come in a little farther." She sat on the right side of the room, and he asked, "Was it long ago that you came?" But she only looked without replying, for she wished him to speak four times and thus assure her that he was actually alive. Then he asked, "Did you come as soon as they started? Did you see all that was done?" Still she said nothing, but nodded her head. "Did you keep in your mind everything that was done?" And now she answered, "Yes, I know it all." "Did you note everything and keep in your mind what was said?" "Yes, all." {view image of page 292} 292 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN "Go to that first corner and try to repeat what was said there." The woman did so, and then likewise in the other corners. "It is true that you heard everything from the very beginning," said her husband. "There are two slaves belonging to your father, and two belonging to my father. We will use them, placing one in each corner, and you will instruct them. Go to your father's house and we will show them how to imitate these things, and after they have learned it we will call all the tribes. Tell your father to burn spruce branches in the house for four days, and to clean it out so that it will smell good." After carrying this message to her father, the woman returned and accompanied her husband up the river to the hut where he had been buried in the fireplace. There he left her and went alone up the mountain. The snow was gone, and soon he found the third brother and sprinkled on the body the living water which the wolves had given him. The young man rubbed his eyes, sat up, and said, "I have been sleeping a long time!" Thus also the other three were saved, and all came down the mountain together. Now the wives of these three brothers had remarried, and because this woman had remained true and had been strong-hearted to go to the mountain with her husband, they regarded her highly, and as they walked they surrounded her as if to protect her from danger. When they reached the place where the young man had been lying dead, they all went in and the woman showed them the secret things that had been done there. Then they crossed the river to the new village, and just at dusk came into the house of her father. A great pile of fuel was there, ready to be kindled. So the ceremony was begun just as the wolves had done, and after the fourth beating of the batons came the great white wolf with the young man on his back. At the same time there were suddenly present around the fire a hundred wolves - not real animals, but wolf-skins stuffed with hemlock twigs and animated by the power of the wolves. After the tribe had thus been instructed, it was decided to show the new dance to all the tribes. The people therefore embarked and went to Taiaquhl, while Tlaqagilakuimi and his four sons went on foot to the shore opposite Taiaqu.fh. Beside them walked the image of the great wolf, carrying on his back all the paraphernalia of the dance: the batons, the masks, and the sisiutl sounding board. The people, expecting them, had arranged four catamarans of four canoes each, and now crossed to them. There did not seem to be {view image of page 293} THE KWAKIUTL 293 much, yet when everything was loaded into the canoes they were filled. On the return voyage the wind rose and two catamarans were wrecked, and all the masks, the batons, and the sisiutl were lost. The wrecks drifted out of the inlet, and Kawatilikalla of the Tsawatenok found them and thus obtained this dance of the wolves. The brothers then made masks and batons and a wooden sisiutl in imitation of those that had been lost, and they gave the first performance of walas-aiaaq. Origin of the Tsunukwa Images Hlahwunala ["criticized disparagingly"], a lazy youth of the Gyigyilkuim gens, lived with his parents at Oqiowas on Hanwati. Salmon becoming scarce, the family followed them up the river to Kawakyas ["true pool"]. Now it began to be noticed that some of the drying fish on the scaffold over the fire were missing, and one day the boy's mother struck him with a stick and chided him: "You lazy boy! Why do you not go and kekuila [wash ceremonially in order to acquire supernatural power], so that you may find out what has been doing mischief to our salmon?" The boy took the reproof hard and was so grieved at being struck by his mother that early in the morning he went to wash himself in the stream, and he continued to do so each day. One morning he remembered a small stream flowing into the river below them, and he went down to it. When he came to a place where the brook tumbled down a hillside, he saw a man standing in the water rubbing himself with hemlock twigs. This was Hliluqekelis ["strong side of the stream"], who stands at the edge of the river, bracing himself against the current and the tide, and holds the river in its place. The boy went toward.the bather, and reached for one of two used bunches of twigs, the one lying farther downstream. But the man exclaimed, "No, no, take the upstream one!" So the youth took it, and the man said, "Scrape your body with it four times." Hlihwuinala sat in the water and rubbed his body, and the man said, "Go and pull down that yew sapling and twist it into a rope." The youth began to twist it, but soon his strength failed. Then the man made him go into the water and rub his body four times with another bunch of twigs; and though Hlahwuinala this time succeeded in twisting the sapling down to the middle, he was sent back to wash a third time. This gave him strength to twist the tree nearly to the 1 An Awaitlala myth. {view image of page 294} 294 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN bottom, and after the fourth washing he was able to twist it down to the very roots. "Go now to the mouth of this stream," said the man, "and there you will find four large rocks. Throw them into the river. Then take four round stones just large enough to fit your hand, and you will be ready for what you wish to do. These stones you shall use on him." All this the youth did, and with the four round stones he walked up the river, went into the house, and lay down in his bed. At evening he sat in the back door and saw a broad trail which he had never before noticed. He followed it for a while, carrying his four stones, and just before darkness fell, as he sat beside the path a fitnukwa came walking along. He threw one of the stones, and it struck her in the forehead and passed through the head. She fell lifeless, but still Hlahwuinala sat there. Soon another came, and this one he killed in like manner. He waited all night, but no more came, and just before dawn he went home and lay down in his bed, waiting for the day. Then he called his father and led him back into the woods to the dead creatures, and explained, "There are the things that have been stealing our food." Farther they went to the house of the tfinukwa, where they found a little fifunukwa sleeping and another sitting in the corner. There were quantities of stolen salmon, with much flesh of mountain-goats and bears, dried berries, and skins of goats, bears, and lynxes. These things, together with the children of the tfinukwa, they carried out to their house, and transported in a canoe down the river and around to the village E'awigyilis. There Hiahwuinala built a great house and invited the different tribes to a dance. He took the dancing name of Tsfinukwa. Four days the people were assembling, and he fed them with the food taken from the house of the fiunukwa. On the fifth day they danced. The two young fiunukwa were kept concealed in the house, and when in the dance Hlihwuinala exhibited them, everybody became as if intoxicated. While they were helpless, the young man murdered many of them, and among the others he distributed the skins before they departed. Having killed the fitnukwa and captured their children, Hlahwuinala celebrated his deed by placing four carved images of fi~nukwa before his house.1 1 The house of which this was the legendary prototype stands in the village on Harbledown island, and is shown in the illustration facing page IO. {view image of page 295} THE KWAKIUTL 295 The Children Who Killed a Tsunukwa Twelve children were playing on the beach and eating mussels, and Tsumkyihsta, a harelipped girl whom all the others despised and hated, came to join them. They exclaimed: "Do not come with us! We do not want you!" Then she began to'sing: "Tsa'stntoqual, fSa's-ntoquzlh fiedi;ekyalakyflslah antlotanalasaskyatus ['oh, I see something, I see something showing its head behind that rock lying on the ground']!" "Te...!" cried the children. "You try only to frighten us so that you may come with us. We do not want you!" "Alamiuntoquhl, alamuntoquhl; awulihaant6quul fie Itekyalakylslah antlotanalasaskyatus ['true is what I saw, true is what I saw; mischief-making I saw, showing its head behind that rock lying on the ground']!" "re...!" they shouted in derision. "You wish only to join us. We do not want you!" \ But while they sat eating their mussels came Awuli [a child's name for the ogress-like ftunukwa] with a great basket on her back and muttering in a low voice, "U...! U...!" Perceiving that she would be the first one taken, Tsumkyihsta stooped and picked up a mussel-shell. Then the fiunukwa seized her and dropped her into the basket, and took the others one by one. Without delay the harelipped girl began with her mussel-shell to cut a hole in the basket, and soon she dropped to the ground. Five others of the smallest followed her. Hearing something fall, Awuli muttered to herself: "Hemlock leaves are falling, hemlock leaves are falling, hemlock leaves are falling." She carried her captives into her house, kindled a fire, and built a crib of huge logs for heating stones. While she was outside getting a mat with which to cover the children in steaming them, they heard a voice calling to them, and now they saw a very pretty woman in one corner of the room. She was Tlo6pakyastulihl ["roots from the buttocks in all directions"], for she was rooted to the ground. "'When those stones are red-hot," she said, "then you will sit down and begin to sing this song." And she gave them a song which mentioned the name of Awuli. "This will make her sleepy, and you can push her into the fire." Just then the ftunukwa returned, and the children gathered in one place and began to sing. She seemed to like the song, for she danced round the fire. Then she sat down, 1 A Nakoaktok myth. {view image of page 296} 296 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN her head drooped, and she slept. Softly the children crept to her, and pushed her into the fire! Then quickly they threw the pail of water on the stones and covered them with the mat, and the woman in the corner said: "Go to yonder corner and hide behind the boxes, and when the children of Awuli come home, I will tell them to remove the mat and eat what their mother has cooked for them." So the children concealed themselves, and soon the four children of the tfunukwa came home and saw the steaming mat. The woman said, "Your mother told me to tell you to uncover what she has cooked for you, and eat it." As they ate, one of the boys behind the boxes called: 'U...! You are eating what was your mother!" Another one added: "U...! You are eating the nipple of your mother's breast!" One after another they repeated such things, and the four children of Awuli left the house and disappeared. The boys then dug out the roots that held Tl6pakyastilihl to the ground and took her to their home. The First Tsunukwa Dance A hunter and his wife one evening went down Hanwati to fish, and landed at the mouth of the stream, where they had a small hut. The next morning the man caught some salmon, and his wife cleaned them and laid them on a scaffold under the smoke-hole. Late in the night she heard something on the roof. Her husband was snoring. She watched the smoke-hole, and seeing a dim shape moving on the roof, she nudged her husband and whispered, "There is a man over the smoke-hole!" He looked up and caught sight of a person moving the boards aside to get at the drying salmon. The hunter's bow lay at his side. He cautiously strung it, put an arrow on the string, and shot with the full strength of the bow. The person fell back and rolled down the roof; there was a crash in the brush, and the noise of something creeping away. Early in the morning the hunter went to see what he had shot, and after following the trail a short distance he found the body of a strange creature with great, hanging breasts and a round, protruding mouth. It was a male ftnukwa. He covered the body and returned to the hut, and said, "I killed that thing. It was a fu~nukwa. 1 A Tenaktak tale. * A TSUNUKWA AT KWAUSTUMS. This figure, more than twenty feet high, was erected by a man in preparation for the occasion when his wife's family would come to pay him the marriage debt. The hands are outstretched to receive the property. {view image of facing page 296} A Tsunukwa at Kwaustums [photogravure plate] {view image of page 297} THE KWAKIUTL 297 We will go home." They paddled up the river to the village, from which they could see their camping place. On the morning after their return a party of men going down the river saw on the top of a rock in the stream a huge female fiunukwa, crying. They at once turned and hurried homeward to report what they had seen, and the hunter whispered to his wife, "This ffinukwa is crying for the one I killed!" Some reckless young men said they would go to see it, but they were warned: "Do not do it! Its eyes are enormous, and there seems to be fire inside them. Its head is as big as a storage box." "Oh," said the young men, "we will go. We are not afraid of it." So they brought their canoe close to the rock and asked the t'unukwa why she was crying. She said, "I have lost my son!" Then they hurried back to the village, for they thought she had come to kill some one out of sorrow for her son. An ugly young man, a very quiet youth who seldom spoke, got up without a word. In some way he knew that the hunter had killed the ffinukwa, and where the body was lying. He took his paddle and poles, and in a small canoe paddled downstream. He let his canoe drift quite close to the rock before he spoke: "What are you crying about, good one?" "I have lost my son, and whoever will show me which way he has gone, I will make him a rich man." He had now backed the canoe right up to the rock, and she took hold of it. "Whoever will show me where my son is, I will take that man to my house," she said. "Go ashore," answered the young man. She made one step to the shore, and he landed and conducted her to the house of the hunter. He entered and looked at the smoke-hole, then came out and followed the trail to the body. The tfinukwa took it up and said, "Come, we will go to my house." She no longer wept. Before long she led him into a great house. "Now," said she, "all these things are yours." She pointed to dressed skins and dried mountain-goat flesh, and a mask which was just like her face. "With this," she said, "you will be ffinukwa dancer. Come, see what I will do with my son. In the corner of the room was a circular hole containing water, some of which she now sprinkled on her son, and he became alive. This was the living water, and she told the young man he should have it. She threw some of it on him, and he became very handsome. {view image of page 298} 298 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Then he said: "My father and my mother have long been dead. That is why I am unhappy." "You can bring them to life if you know where they are," she answered. "I am going to leave this house. I will go now to a safe place where no one can harm my son." So the two tzfnukwa departed. The young man loaded his canoe with skins and meat, and then went home to get his people to help him with larger canoes. Then he gave the first winter dance. While they were singing to bring back the disappeared ones, chief of whom was his cousin, he himself brought in the bodies of his father and mother, sprinkled on them the living water, and saw them sit upright, rub their eyes, and say, "We have slept long!" The next day the disappeared ones were brought in and the ftunukwa dance was performed. The skins and the meat found in the house of the ~uhnukwa were sufficient for the feasting and the presents. Now the hunter disputed with the young man: "I killed the tfinukwa, and this dance should be mine. I got it by blood, but you did not." But the young man retorted: "Tsunukwa gave me this dance. She did not say, 'Take this dance and give it to the one who killed my son.' She gave it to me." And to this day jealousy and enmity exist between the descendants of those two men. Acquisition of the Octopus Mask 1 At a Bellabella village many people who at different times went in canoes to a certain island failed to return, and Lilkiuih, a hunter, proposed to his steersman that they ascertain the cause of this. They paddled out to the island, and there under a ledge of rock they saw the house of tuikwa ["cleaves to a rock"], a monster octopus, and all about were human bones. A man's feet were protruding from beneath the rock. When they hastened home and told what they had found, an old man said he knew the best way to fight such a man-eating, octopus, and the hunter asked what it was. He explained: "It is simple. 1 A Bellabella myth. * THE OCTOPUS HUNTER. This masker performs in the tlt'wulaht ceremony, dramatically presenting a Bellabella myth (see above). Following a person wearing a mask that represents an octopus, the hunter enters the house and goes about peering at the floor, poking his stick here and there as if searching on the beach for an octopus. At last he catches sight of the octopus masker, and thrusts his sharp stick into the "body" of the mask. The legs begin to curl up, indicating that the monster is killed. {view image of facing page 298} The octopus hunter - Qagyuhl [photogravure plate] {view image of page 299} THE KWAKIUTL 299 Our chief's daughter is in her secret room. Get her cedar-bark with the blood on it. Take nfiayu [a straight hemlock stick, barked and pointed, and used in taking small octopi], rub the bloody bark on it, and let it dry. Then go and feel for the monster's body, and push the point into him. If he does not come out, push the bloody bark under the ledge." So the hunter and his steersman followed these directions. They pushed the point of the stick into the monster's body four times, and it came out and died. As soon as its life was gone, a man stood beside the dead body and said: "Now that you have conquered me, you will use me in tlu'wulaihu." He disappeared. Thus it was that tuaqumh7 ["octopus on the face"] began to be used in the tlu'walaldi ceremony with two other masks worn by persons who represent the hunter and the steersman and portray the killing of the maneating octopus. {view image of page 300} I {view image of page 301} Appendix {view image of page 302} --- {view image of page 303} APPENDIX Tribal Summary LANGUAGE - Wakashan. POPULATIoN - John Work's census, made in 1836-i841, gives the following: Kit-ta-muat [Kitamat, a Haisla sept] Kit-lope [Kitlope, a Haisla sept] Onie-le-toch [Oealitk, a Bellabella sept] Weetle-toch [Oetlitk, a Bellabella sept] Kok-wai-y-toch [Kokaitk, a Bellabella sept] Gua-shil-la [Goasila] Wee-ke-moch [Wikeno], Calvert's Island Na-wee-tee [Nawiti] Qua-colth [Qigvuh] Quee-ha-qua-coll [Kueha~ sept of the Qigyuh1] Mar-ma-li-la-cal-la [Mamalelekala] Claw-et-sus [Tlauitsis] Mar-til-par [Matilpe] Nim-kish [Nimkish]' We-wark-ka [Wiwekae sept of the Lekwiltok] We-wark-kum [Wiweakam sept of the Lekwiltok] Clal-lu-i-is [Tlaaluis sept of the Lekwiltok] Cum-que-kis [Komkyutis sept of the QigyuM] Laek-que-libla [Lekwiltok], About Queen Charlotte's slaves canoes guns houses 197 25 172 15 12o6 44 483 I74 46 II7 205 380 1370 1990 1990 2450 2450 1990 i86o i 86o 2300 320 Sound 320 Soi-il-enu [Tsawatenok] 950 Quick-sul-i-nut [Koeksotenok] 950 A-qua-mish [Hahuamis] 950 Cle-li-kit-te [Tlitliiket, a gens of the Komkyutis sept of the Qigyufil] 950 Nar-kock-tau [Nakoaktok] 1990 Qua-i-nu [Guauaenok] 1000 Cex-e-ni-nuth [Kyekvkyenok, a gens of the Awaitlala] I830 Te-nuckt-tau [Tenaktak] 950 Gi-cle-la [Waitlas, a village of the Goasila] 820 Ne-cul-ta [Lekwiltok], Johnson's Stra. [Johnstone strait] i86o Quee-ha-ni-cul-ta [Kueha sept of the Lekwiltok] i86o Quane [Nakomgilisala- winU, a place on Deep bay] 250 Ucle-nu [Yutlenok-Y6tli, a place on Cox island], Scott's Island 75 Kus-ke-mu [Koskimo] I930 Quat-si-nu [Quatsino] I930 Total 39472 6 8 30 100 90 15 50 260 50 30 6o 460 70 40 40 -500 120 40 40 6oo 130 50 40 6oo 120 50 40 460 70 40 110 260 50 30 100 260 501 30 30 500 100 40 20 40 30 10 20 40 30 Io 50 140 100 20 50 140 8o 20 50 140 70 20 50 140 8o 20 40 500 100 40 42 200 70 20 100 260 50 30 40 400 100 20 30 200 8o 20 100 260 50 30 100 260 50 30 10 50 6o Io 30 6 4 100 260 50 30 100 260 50 30 1526 7803 2531 789 I Vancouver in 1792 estimated the population of the village at the mouth of Nimkish river as about five hundred. There may have been a considerable number on the upper course of the stream. The figures of the above census appear exaggerated, implying an average of more than fifty occupants to the house. {view image of page 304} 3o4 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN In I912 the Kwakiutl numbered 1939, of whom II99 were under the Kwawkewlth agency and 740 under the Bella Coola agency, British Columbia. DRESS-Both sexes wore a cedar-bark or fur robe with one or both shoulders covered. Men used no other garment, and frequently not even this. Women had also a narrow, knee-length apron of cedar-bark fringe or goat-hair cords. Water-proof capes and hats were made of bark. Moccasins were rare. Men wore the hair thrown back from the forehead and hanging down the back, and women arranged it in two braids. Ear-pendants and nose-rings of abalone-shell were used by those who could afford them. DWELLINGS -The Kwakiutl house is constructed of cedar boards on a framework of heavy logs. The ridge extends from front to back, the roof-boards run from ridge to eaves, and the wall-boards are perpendicular. Until the middle of the nineteenth century the largest houses were about thirty feet square, six or seven feet high at the eaves, and nine at the ridge. A summer house to be occupied for a considerable time is made by transferring roof and walls to the frame that stands ready. Temporary huts are made of mats and poles. PRIMITIVE FOODS - Dried and smoked salmon and halibut, clover-roots (Trifolium fimbriatum), silverweed roots (Potentilla anserina), salalberries mixed with elderberries, purple laver (Porphyra miniata), and oulachon oil (Thaleichthys pacificus), are the staple foods. (See list in the Vocabulary, pages 332-333.) ARTS AND INDUSTRIES -Woodworking is a distinctive industry, the product being cedar boards, canoes, water-tight chests, feasting dishes, spoons, masks, and numerous smaller devices. The principal industrial occupation of women is the weaving of robes, baskets, and mats from cedar-bark. Fishing and hunting implements are numerous and oftentimes ingenious. GAMES -Games of chance were comparatively few, the most common being an unusual form of the hand-game and a play in which were used forty painted rods divided into four suits. Far more numerous were athletic games involving skill or endurance. Such were the contests of shooting or throwing at a mark, wrestling, the tug-of-war, a form of football, and battledore and shuttlecock. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION - Kwakiutl society consists of nobility, common people, and alien slaves. Descent is reckoned in the paternal line. In each gens is a definite number of "seats," which closely correspond to the hereditary peerages of civilized society in that they were constituted in ancient times, and that to each pertain certain names, crests, special ceremonial privileges, and territorial rights. Succession is strictly hereditary. Ancestor legends uniformly indicate that the unit of primitive society in this region was a patriarchal family or village community, all members of which were supposedly descendants of one man. In time two or more groups coalesced and formed a tribe, each component part becoming an exogamic gens. In some cases tribes combined, the units becoming what we term septs or sub-tribes, each of which retained its system of gentes. The noble class are all-powerful. Relative rank is firmly established, yet there is little that can be called political authority or governmental functions. The subservience of the lower class is rather that of a servant than of a subject. MARRIAGE - Much ceremony attends a wedding of the nobility. Each tribe, and in some cases each gens, has certain customs peculiar to itself, but the general procedure is that the bridegroom's clansmen carry to the bride's home a quantity of goods with which they purchase her, and the bride's clansmen unite in making up the first payment of the dowry. Subsequent payments to the bridegroom are frequent. Separation at any time is optional with either partner. RELIGION AND CEREMONIES - The Kwakiutl have no conception of a personified, supreme power. They believe in many spirits-some inhabiting animal bodies, others purely imaginarywhich can and do impart supernatural power to men who obtain their pity by austere bodily purification. The principal ceremony is a series of quasi-religious performances during about four months of the winter. The ceremony is controlled by a fraternity of men, women, and children, and the active dancers are divided among a large number of degrees. The various performances consist of the dramatization of myths, the personation of mythic creatures, and the practice of legerdemain. The most important dancer is the hamatsa, who is supposed to swallow human flesh in personating the man-eating spirit Pahpaqalan6hsiwi. MORTUARY CUSTOMS -The body, with knees drawn up to chin, is put into a box, which is deposited in a tree, a cave, a canoe, or a "grave house," with the head of the corpse to the west. At the present time the hut is almost always used. Widows and widowers observe a long and elaborate ceremony of purification. The spirits of the dead are believed to inhabit villages like those of this world, and to engage in the same pursuits as the living. {view image of page 305} APPENDIX 305 WARFARE -The Kwakiutl were head-hunters, but war was the profession of comparatively few men, the great majority of the members of an expedition being mere paddlers and plunderers. Pitched battles were rare. Twenty canoes, with an average crew of fifteen, composed a war-party of not unusual size. MEDICINE-MEN - Sorcerers cause illness and death by secret magic. Medicine-men, or shamans, expel or incite occult sickness by direct application of preternatural power. Another class of healers use charms without any alleged connection with the spirits, and still another employ only vegetal or animal remedies. Among all those having to do with sickness only the shaman professes to have obtained his ability directly from a spirit. Sorcerers used to be almost constantly active in the service of chiefs who wished to be rid of their rivals. Kwakiutl Tribes 1 Haisla [Haesla], Douglas channel and Gardiner channel. The present village, Tsim6ftU, is generally known as Kitamat, a Tsimshian name. The tribe consists of five clans: a. Aihstoqiniuh, Eagle. b. K6kuliniuh, Beaver. c. Halaheniuh, Killerwhale. d. Kekikeniuh, Raven. e. Mimiiniuh, Salmon. China Hat [Haehaes], Tolmie channel and Mussel inlet. Bellabella [Haiih-1faq], Milbank (whence the word "Bellabella") sound. The tribe consists of three septs: I. Kokaitk [kokaith]. 2. Oetlitk [Oetlith]. 3. Oealitk [Oealith]. Kyiltalatoh, at the mouth of Kildalla [IKyiltala, "long river"], on Rivers inlet. Tsiqalitoh, at the mouth of Chuck Walla [Tsaqala, "short river"], on Rivers inlet. This and the preceding tribe so intermarried with the Wikeno that in i860 there were only two or three houses on Kildalla bay. Nohuntsitk [NuhwunLtitoh], at Neechantz river [Nihwunft]. They now spend the winter with the Wikeno, but in summer roam along their ancestral stream, which flows into Owekano lake. Somehulitk [Simholitoh], at Sheemahant river [Sumhuhl], Owekano lake. Tsiyuitoh, at Tzee river [Tsiyu], Owekano lake. A remnant of this and of the preceding tribe now live with the Wikeno. Wikeno [Awikyenoh], on Whannock river [Wanuq],2 and Owekano lake [Kosuswanuq, "lake Wanuq "], from its foot almost to the bend. Their winter village is still at Kyetit, on what in periods of high water is an island at the mouth of the lake. The word Awikyenoh is derived from awikyP (" back "), the tribe being so named because it occupied this island " back" of the river Wanuq. The tribe consists of the following gentes: 1 The forms adopted in the Handbook of American Indians are used, and the native pronunciation appears in brackets. The list begins at the northern limits of Kwakiutl territory and extends southward. Distinct dialectic groups are separated by an extra space. It is not to be understood that where no gentes are named the tribe is not subdivided, but merely that the subdivisions were not ascertained. 2 The river is called Winuq (wcnima, dead; nuq, owner; hence, "death owner") in reference to the belief that any one visiting the place and failing to drink of its water before departing would have short life. Hence visitors would raise a handful of water to the mouth, swallow it, and pray for long life. With a second swallow were repeated the words, "This is for the next time I will come." It is said that people having once drunk of the water would return after an interval of years to drink and once more prolong life. VOL. X-20 {view image of page 306} 306 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN a. Wawikyfim ("true Wikeno"). b. Gyigyflkfim ("first to receive presents"). c. Wi6qitimi ("cannot be overstepped"). d. Gwetela. Nakomgilisala [Nak6mgyflisTlf], formerly on the northern side of Cape Scott, now on Hope island. The etymology of the word is: nakfmlis, a bay open to the sea without protection, so that the swell constantly rolls in; gyil, land; hence, "those of the unprotected bay." Tlatlasikoala [Tlitlasiqula], on Hope island. The name is derived from tlisaq, outside or in front of one - on the ocean shore. Yutlenok [Yutlenuh], a tribe, now extinct, at Yitli, on Cox island. The three tribes of this group are generally called the Nawiti [Ni'witi, the name of Cape Commerell]. Klaskino [Tlaskenuh], on Klaskino inlet in the village Tsiwfinhhas. Quatsino [Qaftenuh, "northern people"], at the entrance of Quatsino sound. The present village is at Sippe on Winter harbor. Koprino [Gyiapnuh], on Koprino harbor in the village Tlatekus. Koskimo [K6skimuh], at HwiItis, between Hecate cove and Quatsino narrows.' The tribe consists of the following gentes: a. Nlinshyi ("dirty teeth"). b. Gialhsum ("chiefs"). c. Waihwi'mis. d. Tsifas. e. Qiqakamal'e'nuh ("those of the house facing downstream"). /. Giihsims'finah- ("supporters of chiefs"). g. Gidk6lqa ("all chiefs"). Hoyalas [H6yalas], now extinct, formerly on Quatsino sound. Goasila [GwasTla, "northerners"], on Smith inlet. Nakoaktok [Naikwahtahw], formerly on Seymour inlet, now at Blunden harbor.2 The tribe includes the following gentes: a. Gyihsum ("chiefs"). b. Sisintlae (plural of Sintle, a personal, ancestral name). c. Tumtilmh-lls ("shaking ground"). 1 The Koskimo, who formerly lived at K6siu (on Cape Commerell) and later at Kwan6w (Deep bay), came to their present location in the time of the great-great-grandfather of the informant Tsuilniti, who was five years of age when Fort Rupert was established in 1849. Tsulniti was "just old enough to help bury his grandfather" when the latter died, an old man. Let us say the lad was sixteen years of age, and the grandfather died in I860 at the age of about seventy, having been born about I790. The migration occurred apparently about the middle of the eighteenth century. Quatsino sound had been occupied by the populous Hoyalas, and by the Koprino and Klaskino, the two latter tribes living then where they are now found. An epidemic almost exterminated the Hoyalas, and the remnant scattered among the tribes to the south and on the eastern coast of Vancouver island, wherever they had relatives by marriage. So great was the mortality in this epidemic that it was impossible for the survivors to bury the dead. They simply pulled the houses down over the bodies and left them. It was soon after the epidemic that the Koskimo moved into this region. Two generations later came the Quatsino. Even as late as I890 the tribes of Quatsino sound were a fairly vigorous group, but venereal disease introduced about that time by native sealers who had been ashore at Yokohama wrought havoc among them. There are now about twenty-five men of the Koskimo and a mere handful of children. For some years the birth of a child has been an unusual event. In I860, says a native informant, there were one hundred and eighty men, not including youths or those infirm with age. 2 The original home of the Nakoaktok, says a legend, was Teqflhsta on the southern side of the cape between Belize inlet and Nugent sound. At first they were known as {view image of page 307} APPENDIX 307 d. Wilas ("big"), also called Tsitsimelukala (plural of Tsimelkala, a personal, ancestral name). Boas gives these as two distinct gentes. e. Qiqdgyuh- (plural of Qagyuhl, a tribal name). Guauaenok [Gwiwaenoh, "upstream (northerly) people"], on Drury inlet. Hahuamis [Hahhwamis], on Wakeman sound. Tsawatenok [Tsiwatuenuh], on Kingcome inlet. The winter village of the Tsawatenok formerly was Okwunalis at the mouth of Kwae [Gw'i], or Kingcome river. The summer locations were along the river. They now spend the winter at Kwaustums [Kwiastims] on Gilford island, a former Koeksotenok settlement. Koeksotenok [Qequsotenuh, "opposite shore people"], on Gilford island. Some of the Koeksotenok now live at their ancient seat Kwaustums, on Gilford island, in company with the predominating Tsawatenok, others with the Mamalelekala on Village island. Their summer homes are on Hata, a small stream on the neck of land between Bond sound and Kingcome inlet. Mamalelekala [Mimalelikulu], at Memkumlis, on Village island. The word is the plural of Milelikflu, name of the founder. Tlauitsis [Hliwiftis], at Kalokwis [Kaloqis] on Tumour island. The word is from hlawis, angry. Matilpe [Matihipi], formerly at Etsekin [Efsikyin] on Knight inlet,-now with the Tlauitsis at Kalokwis. Tenaktak [Ti'nihtahw], on Knight inlet, now residing with the Awaitlala. The name is from tu'na, a gray, laminate stone. Awaitlala [Awatluila, "those on the inlet"]. The four gentes used to spend the winter at Kwatsi [Qaifi] on Glendale cove, Knight inlet, but now at Tsifsisnuqumi (" eelgrass on point") on the northern side of Harbledown island. The following are gentes of this tribe: a. Gyigyilkum ("crawlers," that is, grizzly-bears), originally at Haqikin, the mouth of Kakweiken river at the head of Thompson sound. Boas translates "those that receive first." Either interpretation is permissible, but the former is perhaps to be preferred, inasmuch as the grizzly-bear is the crest of the gens. b. Kylkyeenoh, originally at Kiketin, a bay on the western side of Knight inlet, just above Tuscola point. c. Ts6fsena, originally at Hinwati, the mouth of a small stream emptying into Knight inlet at Grave point. d. Hanwatienoh, an extinct tribe, formerly on Hanwati river above the Tsofsena. Nimkish [Numkes], formerly on the river and lake of that name, now at Alert Bay (Yflis), Cormorant island. Kwakiutl [Qagyuhi], formerly at Kalokwis on Tumour island, but, since the establishment of Fort Rupert in I849, at Tsahes, a village surrounding the post. The tribe consists of four septs: I. Qagyuhl, or Gwetela. The latter name was discarded about 1904 in favor of the original term Qagyuhl. The sept includes these gentes: a. Maamtagyila (plural of Matagyila, "dark-colored gull," name of the founder). b. Gyihslm ("chiefs"). c. Qiqikum ("real Qagyuhl"). d. Sintlom. Boas gives Sislntlae, which is the name of the Sun gens among the Nimkish and Tlauitsis. e. Lialahslntaiyu (plural of Lalahsintaiyu, name of the founder). f. Alqdnwi (alq, speaker; literally, "blood").l Nahwahtahw ("the assembled ones"). About the year I894 the head chief and a party were hunting at Pais (Blunden harbor), when his son fell ill, and, about to die, begged them: "Do not bury me at Teqihsta, for there they eat the dead. Bury me here." So they placed his body on a small island, and the chief told the people that he would remain there until he died. But rather than give up their chiefs, the people left Teqtihsta and went to Paas, where they have since maintained their winter residence. The speaker of fOlstalis, chief of the gens Qdqikum, declared that he was going to be {view image of page 308} 308 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN 2. Komoyue [K6muyuwi, "rich in the middle of the village"], or Kueha [Qiha, "murderers"]. There are five gentes: a. Qqaikum ("real Qagyuhl"). b. Hianatlinoh (" shoot at moving objects"). c. Yaaihhyakami ("those who walk fast," that is, crabs). d. Hiaiyalikyiwi ("healers"). e. Gyigyilkum (" crawlers"). 3. Komkyutis [K6mky6tTs], consisting of two gentes: a. K6mky6tis. b. Tlitlaket ("name owners"), or L6lqenuh ("halibut fishermen"). Boas names this, instead of Hemahstu, as the fifth gens of the Walas Kwakiutl. 4. Walas Kwakiutl [Wilas Qagyuhl, "great Qagyuhil"], or Laqilela ("constantly moving camp"). There are five gentes: a. Tsfinfsnhkaiyo ("those who ridicule the sorrowful"). b. Gyihsum ("chiefs"). c. Waulipoe. d. Tlikim. e. Hemahstu ("eaters behind").l Lekwiltok [LqIhiltahw, from Knight inlet to Bute inlet, and the opposite shore of Vancouver island. The name is said to mean "unkillable thing," and is applied also to a large sea worm, which cannot be killed by cutting in pieces, for the separate parts go wriggling off through the water. There are seven septs of the Lekwiltok: I. Walitsum [Wilitfim, "great ones"], formerly called Hahamatses [Hahamafiss, "those who do not deteriorate on the beach"].2 This sept formerly lived at Titaima, at the junction of Phe [Putchay river] with Salmon river. They moved down close to Johnstone strait on the western side of Salmon river, and later to the eastern side, where they now reside in the village Qaken (a Salish word) to the number of about thirty. In I860 they had a village a short distance north of Cape Mudge on Valdez island. There are five gentes: a. Gyihsum (" chiefs"). b. Lahsi ("go through"). c. d. Gyigyllkum ("crawlers"). e. Lakum ("real Lahsi"). 2. Wiwekae [Wiwekae]. The word is a plural of Wekae, name of the founder. This sept lived originally at Tekya, which was at the western end of Jackson bay. They moved to Cahnish bay [Ki'nis], and thence to Tslqilo6tn, the present village near Cape Mudge, where they were established in I860. They have a summer village at Tsaftahesin on Drew harbor. There are four gentes: a. Wiwekum (another plural of Wekae). b. Gyigytlkim ("crawlers"). c. Gyihstim ("chiefs"). d. Awikylm. 3. Wiweakam [Wiwklim]. This sept, said to have been founded by a woman, lived at Tekya at the foot of the precipice Tlikfttn. They moved successively to Tlsisken a chief on his own account, and 6fslstalis said he would not try to prevent it. The speaker founded the gens Alqlnwi. 1 Founded by a chief's speaker, who desired to become a chief. His master said: "Very well, instead of eating in front of me you shall eat behind me." 2 Boas translates: XaxamatsEs, old mats. {view image of page 309} APPENDIX 309 (a Salish word), at the mouth of a small stream flowing into Loughborough inlet on the peninsula between that inlet and Phillips arm; to Matltun, on a small bay in the southern end of this peninsula; and to Tlamitahw, about two miles north of Campbell river, where they now reside to the number of about forty. There are four gentes: a. Wiwekum. b. A gens, formerly distinct, now included with the Wiwektim. c. Walas ("great"). d. Gyigyllkum ("crawlers"). 4. Kueha [Qiha, "murderers"], who lived originally at Kakanufi on Fanny bay, a portion of Phillips arm. They established the village Maiwum at the mouth of the stream flowing from Phillips lake into Phillips arm, where about ten of them still reside. A few years before I849 a part of the numerous Kueha were at Hahilm on an island at Port Neville, and another group at Nufisnoh near the head of Loughborough inlet. After the destruction of the Tlaaluis the survivors joined the Kueha, and subsequently all these moved to Tekya with the Wiwekae. There are three gentes: a. Qih'im ("the Kuehas"). b. Wa6hhwetunuh- ("descended from wulihs ['singing frogs']"). c. Pepuitoqumai. 5. Tlaaluis [Hlialuis, "the angry ones"], formerly known as Qiqahagyila ("born to strike with a rod"). They were originally at Hwihiwi, an islet in Phillips lake. A few years before I849 they were at Saaiyaq on Stuart island, and were almost exterminated by Salish enemies. The remnant joined the Kueha at Nifsenoh and subsequently the Wiwekae at Tekya. Three women are the only living members of this sept. No gentes are known. 6. Komenok [K6minoh, "rich people"], an extinct sept which some informants locate at the head of Loughborough inlet, others at the eastern end of Jackson bay. No gentes are known. 7. Hfifumenoh ("dolphin eaters"), an extinct sept which lived on Beaver inlet. No gentes are known. Certain Customs Relating to Childbirth 1 And now was asked in marriage she, T6qais, by Wikitis, head chief of the Lialahslnttaiyu gens of the Qagyuh-, and soon she was a wife, she, T6qais, to Wikitis. Then she became pregnant, and when she believed that she was so, she, T6qais, they both from that time did nothing wrong.2 And now he never failed to take the blood of every animal he saw that was wounded by a man. And when first he wiped with soft cedar-bark the blood of what he saw, then he brought it to his house, and if his wife was lying down, he asked her to sit on the floor. And then he, Wikitis, started from the back of the head of his wife, holding the bloody cedar-bark as he passed it down to the lower part of the back of his wife, and he would say, "May this do this to you." And he did this four times, passing the bloody bark over her back, and also he four times said to the child inside of his wife, "May this do this to you." And when he finished then he hid the bark in a dry place under a cedar. And these also were taken by Wakitis, the tail of a deer, the ends of the four digger legs of an octopus, the end of the tail of a snake, and the feet of a toad; and all these he kept to be passed over his wife when she was confined. And when she was ten moons pregnant, Wikitis did not walk fast as he went into the house, but when he came out, then he jumped out. And when she felt like delivering the child, then he sent for an old woman. And when she came, the old woman, then she immediately asked T6qais to lie on her back with her knees up. And then she, the old woman, felt her belly, the way the child was lying. And that is when she took the silver-perch oil, and she oiled her hands with much of it, and she rubbed them over the belly of T6qais, to 1 Translated by George Hunt from his own Kwakiutl text. 2 Acted circumspectly, remaining in the house. Wikitis was the illegitimate son of a common man, but his mother was a woman of high rank. His wife proposed, by their circumspectness, to compensate for the stain on his name. {view image of page 310} 3Io THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN the lower end of her breast-bone. And now she waited for what was coming, and now Wakitis truly ran about fast, and when he went into a house he went in very slowly. And he came out very fast when he came out. And now the old woman took the ends of the digger legs of the octopus, the tail of the deer, the tail of the snake, the feet of the toad, and four black chitons. And she laid four clam-shells beside the fire, and with the tongs she picked up the tail of the deer and put it on her fire. And when it began to burn, the hair of it, then she put the burnt hair of it into one of the clam-shells, and then she passed it four times up and down, the tail of the deer, along the back of Toqais as she sat. And also she said four times, "May this do this to you." And when she finished, then she threw it on her fire, and she did this with every one of the other things, and when she had burned all into charcoal, then she poured some water on the burnt tail of the deer and gave it for a drink to Toqai's. And she poured water on the burnt ends of the digger legs of the octopus and gave it to T6qais. And she took the silver-perch oil, and poured very little of it on the burnt tail of the snake, and the same thing to the burnt feet of the toad. And she stirred the powder into paste and rubbed it on the belly of Tqais, first the snake and next the toad. And when she finished, then she took the water and she poured it on the burnt chitons, and stirred it so that it was watery, and when the birth-pains came very often, then the old woman took the chiton water and gave a drink of it to Toqais, and when she, Toqais, drank it all, then she, the old woman, waited to see what would happen. And when the childbirth pains came close together for the child to be born, then she pulled up her skirt, she, the old woman, and stretched her legs on the floor, as she sat down, and she put cedar-bark fibre between her knees; then she called T6qais to come and sit on her knees. Now she, T6qais, had her two feet outside of the two thighs of the old woman, and she, the old woman, put her arm round the back of T6qais. And when she strained for the child to come, she, T6qais, then blew the old woman on each side of the neck of T6qais. And when the child was delivered, but the afterbirth did not come quickly, then she placed a small dish in front of T6qais and put a finger down her throat, and when she, T6qais, vomited, then came the afterbirth. And now they called in Wakitis, and when he came they took a knife and a twisted-into-thread piece of cotton, and that is what they tied on the navel-cord of the child. And when they finished, then they cut it off, and they poured water into the bath dish; and the old woman put into it her left foot, and on the foot she set the child, holding it with her left hand and washing it with her right. And when she finished, she wiped his body with soft cedar-bark, and she put a little red paint into his mouth to move his bowels, for the bad stuff to come out of the stomach of the child. And then she put around him an old blanket, and now his name was Tsahes, for he was born at Tsahes [Fort Rupert village]. And now the afterbirth of the child, when it had been kept four days in the house, then Wakitis took a piece of yew and sharpened one end. And four finger-breadths was the length of it. Then in the evening he took the twisted-into-thread sinew of a black bear, and the afterbirth, and he pushed the point of the yew wood into the hollow end of the afterbirth where it was cut off the navel-cord. And when now the length of three finger-breadths went into it, then he wrapped the twisted-into-thread sinew tightly about the part that contained the end of the stick, and he rolled an old mat round it. And late at night, when all were asleep, the people in the village, then he himself, he, Wikitis, took a clam-digging stick and the bundle containing the afterbirth, and he dug a hole where people all the time walked by, all the men. And now he wished only for the bundle of old mat to fit into the hole he dug. Then he put it in the hole, and now he wished only for it to be one span below the level of the ground. Then he covered it with earth, and when it was all levelled down, the dirt, then he poured a pail of water over it, that it might not show that the dirt had been disturbed. And when he finished, then he came home to his house. And if a father wished his child to understand the different cries of the raven, then he put the afterbirth on the beach, and when it was all eaten by ravens, then the afterbirth owner, the child, when he was a man, understood all the crying of the raven. And this was a great thing for the first men, for it was he, the raven, that brought the news of warriors coming to make a war against them. And when any one saw ravens fighting and croaking in the air, he immediately asked one who understood the raven. And these are the different cries of the raven. This I learned from the old men of the Qigyuhl, as they contradicted one another in a feast when I was a little boy: {view image of page 311} APPENDIX 3II Ga ga ga gae, "Warriors coming to attack the village." Gah gah gah, "Ravens will eat men's flesh from a capsized canoe." kifiso kfifso, "Plenty of meat from the hunter." Hagak hagak, "A woman has died." Ga gak ha ha gad, "A chief has died." Kilmah kimah, "Calm weather will come on the sea." Soh soh soh, "Fine weather without rain or cloud." Kwes kwes kwes, "Rain will pour down." Wah wah wah, "Some stranger will come to visit." Hwo hwo hwo, "Bad season for salmon; there will be none." Hoq hoq, "Bad news." This cry is made by two ravens fighting in the air, and they turn on their backs and drop down. Ytllhwa kwawina, "A man's head will be cut off by some warrior." This cry is made by a raven hanging on the end of a branch. And all of them understand this whose afterbirth has been eaten by ravens. And now there are few of those whose afterbirth has been eaten by ravens. Kwakiutl Songs Hamatsa Song of Motana Allo moderato. mfw _ _ __ _ 0or 8 r rI| rV —C 93 Mo - ta - na su - qui- la si - ta kyls ham- sai - Four - man - eater myself I I eat 8 ' I I ya kyai- yo - yas- kuhl - ti yos, ha! tlu - gwa - progen itors your ha! magic 17.. % P.? la. Mo- ta- na su - qui- la si - ta kyls ham - sai - a- m ha maha ma ma ma ma ya kyl- na-h-lai yos, ha! tlu- gwa- la, Am ha mai ha ma ma ma ma children V*<,___ ___ a * 0__ ^ __ e ^ * _ * ^ _ * ^ ^ ^ J# 1 The words are in the Wikeno dialect. For a free translation see page 235. {view image of page 312} 312 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN -y I M I _ _ I.I I _ I - r I ^. r am ha ma mai. Mo - ta - na su - qi la si- ta kyis fy~ ~ Ir *-__ ^ I^ -. ---^_ ham-sai - ya kyai- yo - yas- kuh- ti yys, ha! ha! tlu -gwa - la, "** m r G i - C | * ' I m ' * * mm am ha mai ha ma ma ma me am ha am. Ham '. 0 - 0 - 0 - * - 0 - 0 'The word hamsam was not understood by the translator. Qahlqawe is thus explained: M6tana told the people there was a raven in his belly which ate the food he swallowed. K6 -samitlli refers to the doubling up of strips of skin cut from a mummy, preparatory to swallowing them. Hlotistawa is an onomatope representing the sound of sucking up a partially liquid food, the thought of the phrase being: "I scoop up the brains and eyes in my hands and take them into my mouth with the sound of h/to." {view image of page 313} APPENDIX33 313 - A - - L - - - - -. 7P- - — f: " — E 7 -P Li SAM s~h si- ta q~ihl-qa - we, he! ye! Hloput hwa- mi-td~h I~n whole skulls L si-. ta ql-l-a-e he! Kyls h5h-sta-wa kai kyi- kyi-yu sa-ha gouge out I (of) the dead for me eyes -.0op 0 Hamatsa Song I went seeking for food on the ground, uneaten by P~ihpaqaIan0'hsiwi, you great supernatural one. I went eating property on the ground, uneaten by Pa'hpaqalan6hsiwi, you great supernatural one. AJ4 - ~ -- -: lah ha - ma - there uneaten by ka - we htis Pah - pa - ( past Pahpaqal tense)' qa -Ila - nolhanohsiwi Si - wi a an a go. Jo {view image of page 314} 3I4 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN a a -1 _ A0 _ _ kyas- ti, yuh(past tense) you a~ el a >.. tlu- gwa- la. supernatural. tlu- ga-a a.. a>. Ha ma ma ma ye _5 a a a -a a a.~> _t *@z z ha ma 1-? v ' v v ' 8" b 5 v -8 ' v v ' u -' -v v v ma ye ha ma ma ha ma ma ye ha ma ma! ':I 1maI I I - U ha ma ma ha ma ma mai ha mamai he ye e! Ha! Lah -- a F OR t- - i t! f o t-f, — it 5 R ^ tus- ha - nu- qa ya - ka -mun-sai- ya gyi-la lah ye - i - ka - we s< ---- P P F P I it-o I FRO1 -Ot it MF 1 t M htis Pah-pa - qa-la - noh si-wi kyas-ti yuHl tlu-gwa-la. Ha ma ma s< ----f ^ ft tt *1 t _ ^ ft m1 t t ft 0 F-fLt- t t.tt dt- 0t 1 V#: Gi I:JR 4'1i Gi IG-ftW->''l~i tI > > LJ >' > > I >: /:' IlK> 8 / ma ye ha ma ma ye ha ma ma ha ma ma ye ' —IGI- -r- - G Gr --- hama ma ha ma ma hamamahai ha ma mai ha ma mai ha ma! - It, ^, ' -,,,:, 'I Ft, ot...1 ft t F: ^ M., t.^ O F - -lYl Y v v v v v v v v v v {view image of page 315} APPENDIX Kominaka Song I was taken around the world by I6minaka. 315. -.X X, I. I I A l! I I t I! " I I i'- d- i' -^. '-, * ' L?, t- V.-a t ' -t Lais tais- la-yuht - nuh skai Ko - mi-nu-a - ka I wa taken around by [omina^ka 4.... a F. hti - a la- ha- wes-tas na - la. Ye he ye he he ye (past tense) there around world 9 P r A: r g r1 r $ i F-.~ |::|fI ~ --- —- ---- he ye hai o hai o hai a he! r F ' I I I i ' Kominaka Song of the Bellabella I was excessively taken into the ground by Ik6minaka, the supernatural one. I=/- dim. dim. __ —<._- - A-a ai ai ai ai ai ai -- ai ai ai! Ya - ta yo qi - na - la kyal - tsum I was excessively taken in the ground htil no - qas Io- mi- nu- a - kai -a kyas - ti tlu- gwa- la. (past tense)I k6minaka magic power,= -.. ' --- H- II I - ' H 7-01 -6~~~~~-. ~- -d -a- -a A ai ai ai ai ai ai ai ai! 1 The words are in the Bellabella dialect. The cry at the beginning and the end is uttered by the dancer at frequent intervals in order to keep away the ghosts of those whose skulls form a part of her dancing costume. {view image of page 316} 316 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Nunhltsistalahl Song I was afraid of it, the cry of Pahpaqalanohsiwi, the great hamatsa. Allo moderato m f rJi lN --- - - - - i- t-,-. = -. ' Kyi - kya- li- ka-lan- tla- ha- si - a, ma ma - maI feared it the mamamamai, etc. _ --- I ' t * i ----- mai h - mai ha - mai ha- m ai Paih- pa - qa -la - qum kyas - (of) Pahpaqalanohsiwi 1 (past:- H 8 I 4 I I o o o i___Il ~JJ^2 i - - -~-A —A? -,- N- N -~ _ _ _ ti qa- la- noh- si- wi kyas- tios ta - na- ais. tense) Paipaqalanotisiwi (past tense) hamatsa (?) 9d t Ot Ot F _ __ i- ' I ~! I ' ~ s - Ha mai ha mai ma ma ma mai ha mai ha mai ha - L. I --,) g.. 1t *-s --- N -N * J-N:1 --- —-xmai ha ma ha mai ha mai. The name of this spirit is divided in the song by an interjected particle. 1The name of this spirit is divided in the song by an interjected particle. {view image of page 317} APPENDIX 317 Kyenkalatlulu Dancing Song Pahpaqalanohsiwi has thrown much sound of whistling into my belly, and has confused me. I have been intimately associated with him, and thus I obtained the supernatural power, this good supernatural power. Allo molto A, **_ Ha ma ha mai ha ha mai em ha I f t 1OP * I2 _, I Il- 1. I, ex - 1 t*4 L d - i -" ma mai ha ha. La - ham - htn - I have been 9 f ' f rxz'^ *f r t1 x L —,-" wi - sn ma - ha- li - sai - ya sus ka - ke- la - qathrown into the belly by much whispering.... I _ L r t _ la hti |nu - hllm gI - li - si- la hti na- wa- la -qa(past tense) becoming confused (past tense) magic i i ii LI '^ --- — '-LLJ'- L —. A./ N______________ r* ___________.________________n ____ la gi - li-ftims o - wfi- k - la - gy- lis tlu Pah - pa - by him intimately associated with iahpaqalanohsiwi p4 ___ -___ -___ -T ~ aSlower_ _ _ _a tempo. _ _ - _.... 11_ 111i. H i i-. qa - la o - si - wi ks - ti ka u - gwa - la ka- qa - la- noh - si-wi kyas - ti ka hoh tlu - gwa - lakya- ma. (past tense) for this magic the good one I: ---- ^ ---- ---- ^ ---- I it (past J or p -- 0 WONT * I-J' I ' I I I ' U 1 1 Nawalaqa, literally "supernatural," is here the secret name for the hamatsa whistles. The meaning of the song is this: " Pahpaqalanohsiwi has thrown much sound of whistling into my belly and has confused me. I have been closely associated with him, and thus I obtained this magic, this good magic." {view image of page 318} 3I8 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Ha ha mai ha ha mai em ha ma e em ha ma. * - ~ G r * 2i 4 _.... Yakes Song Ease pain by your great magic. Ease pain by your great magic, so that I may feel wel. Ease pain by your great magic.1 Allo moderato 0 - ma-ta - hla lah kyahsna- wa- la- qa fi - a - kos. Y~ Ease pain now (by) magic your great your.'8 ' - - I G ___.' _ y6 yt y6 e ya hya e e ye. - Ease 1 The yakes, supposed to have a frog in her stomach, beseeches her magic power to assuage the pain. {view image of page 319} APPENDIX Paqusilahl Song Oh, you wonder, magic power! You great wonder, magic power! Everywhere the great one will select for destruction. His weapon how wonderful! This great Paiqtlslahl, this our great, best one in the world. Allo molto Ui -, 319 A - kyas, na-wa- laq! A - si - kyas-utl, na - wa- laq! Oh, wonder ful one, magic being Great wonder ful one 3 l:: 4 >l _ "8j [L; J ~ kJ ~- ~.' -[ -~ i ' Ho ho ho ho ha ma mai am ha ma mai. Ya - kyl - ko - Select for destruction ta- la gyT -lis i - tl na- na- -pa-yu kyas-wa Pa- qis kya- su gyins every- great one will weapon how won derful great our where Paqqs nu ia kama- lis, f i-ya! 1H ho- ho h.o ha ma eldest in the world great one -y. - ^ * 8 r;J - '* I — mai am ha ma mai h h ho h ha ma mai ma -, bo ~_ ~ | - i 1 -ha ma mai ho ho ho ho ha ma mai am ha ma mai.:.Wa_____ ^r I I if I I/ OF i t -## {view image of page 320} 320 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Nane Song When the great Grizzly-bear cries u! hu! nan! hi! The people will fall in fright as if thrown from a tilted plane. Allo molto I fJ - -- E -tet- tlai-tloh -ti - te la - hai - sa; hla -ka Again it will tilt where it is throw off a flat surface ~gb: by U~s WIG j ii; la - hai - sa hwai - a - hai - tla nun ti - I he will shout grizzly- the great one bear 1 ~ ~ ~ ~ ' - _IL~ e,,0+, - hye- kyas-a. Hu ul Nun! hin! Nun! hin! Tsunukwalahl Song Now again you will pull it over and change the shape of the world. Go ahead, now, fool! Awilotlilahl Song T6hwit I have been taken in a paddled canoe by the wonderful ones who uphold the world. Hams'hamt us Now you push the sky up with your hands, by your supernatural power. Winalagy l is Taken from one canoe to another was I, The ten canoes of Winalagyilis travelling in a row. Haiyalikyilahl Already throughout the world all are overcome by your food, sated with your body.2 Moderato An I i' -1- - -— = 1=~ ^ -- I ~ -^j T = I Lah-tuin si - hwi- tai - yu kya- sa he - ya- la- gyT - lis kyas - I went taken by paddling beautiful (by) those who uphold the (past in a canoe world * 8 L i [ i * _ 1 The fiunukwa is represented as an excessively powerful creature. If there is a weak place in the house-walls the dancer breaks through ("changes the shape of the world"), thrusts out his masked face, and cries, " U.... u! " He is addressed as "fool." 2 These words were substituted impromptu by the "word-passer." The reference is to the fact that the dancer, a young woman, was spreading syphilis. {view image of page 321} APPENDIX 321 Shout ^ -F-J-~^^ ^^'gJ 4 rJJ| 5.| ya hya e yo ho ya hya ya ho yo yo yo. Up up up up! 9: V —" _- —.X l^} r-f -^ G ~' r~ ~ o~ Wi- tl - ki- 16 - ya, a ya a ya, sa-l-his lu- wa - ya kya-sos tlu - Now you push with your this your sk (by) your magi hands 1*: C i T i t GG i _____l _ " _ '~ ------— _ gwi- la, ha, kyas-o~, y6 hy6 ye. Wi-tli-ki- 16 - ya, a ya, sahl-his lu - the good L9i. r8r o r, ol r r llro r r!X wa - ya-sos tlu- gw -la, ha, kyas-o, ye hy6 ye. Ha mai 4 9: - K?_ P,J~-' r ' -t- r W l 'rr ha mai ha mai ha m ha m aia mai y y6 am ha mai ha mai ha mai Shout 1 *L —4' L..-. ha mai ha ma em ha me em ha me. Hoip hoi'phoiphoip A9 I*____ r___ I I If ^~ I- _p p 5. A f - - A- I I VOL. X-21 I I I 4 1 1 {view image of page 322} 322 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN J^.-^ i ^ *... * r! 11 ' 0 _ -. A!! Hai - ya- mo - sa - la- yo hta no - gwe lah haiTaken from one canoe to the other (past tense) I there ten in A.____5 ^ ___ J______ n [t L u ~ V v u ~ v,,~ V,~ ' --- ~ Hlu- a - ka - a- ye-na-s-as Winalagys nakyas- ta. Ye w6 y a row travelling canoes * Win alagyYlis (past tense)............4 r r r r r I accel. 21u, r ~4 I - I r r, |r I I rIK | rJ28l I - — I! we yE yE wE yE wE yE wE yd wE y w yE w y we yE wE yE yE. Qa - ha hti we - ta - ha - si m - man Already (past tense) all are overcome (by) food in you 9~: i r _... la-yu tlos mln- min-la ki - ta yas- wa - hais-tas- na - la. Ye| y| your sated body round the world h| h I a w6 y6 h | y6 h | y6 ha w | ye 3J r!L hr@ ri Y~ I | |r r rm r J | y6 ha we h6 | y ye | y6 hy6 a w | y6 h6 y~. - {view image of page 323} APPENDIX Matum Song Standing at the foot of a mountainous cliff, I was carried away. Falling down constantly.1 Allo moderato 323 Z-'!.I __ h l I I w v?I I I ~-I [IZ - -- I. I - - -. xx I I = I I.. 1 H E s.-.. st; - 1; 'I I -' '' 1^ ^ -A a hi e e! Lah- tan tlah- sits- le- hi fl- me. I went stan ing at the foot taken (by some of a mountainous cliff one) 3: I or in 2! m I L - cy -J —^ --— <-B-^2.7 T "1 - -*; A hi 6 e! Kwim- hya- hu- la gyt- Ie. A hi e e! KwilmFall ing down const antl v ~ — *-' -- -- hya- hi- la gy-8I. A hi e e. (Spoken:)Ham, am, hammm! Pahala Song Alive I make you! You will find treasure, you will find treasure.2 Larghetto tremolo, - -,- ---—, --- 2 ---. 1 K 4.If — - - 7- M --- —-- \A 3 - 1 —14 -- - - I&I — w, - a - - -. -jI 9 9 T — Wa he y6 we ye we ye w6 y6 ye; we6 ye we 1 The reference is to the mythic Nimkish man who found the place where crystals fall down the face of a cliff. The crystals imparted the ability to fly unseen and with the swiftness of light. See pages I6I, 214. 2 These words were spoken by a spirit to the pahiala as he lay unconscious. The spoken words, " Riwula gyiliil gyioI," set to music become " twela kyelaawaihl kyohll." This is a typical example of the manner in which words are pronounced in songs. {view image of page 324} 324 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN y6 w6y y y wa e; wa y6 y6 w6y y y ya I - i _ I -' - I e I- - I~F~ / a w6 w6 w 6 ye w6 y6 w6 y6 e w6. Pahala Song Going round the world I was carried on the water by the long-life giver, with your magic supernatural power. Flitting about on the water, poor I, with your long-life giver, with your magic supernatural power.1 Allo molto,mf ~. gr1> ~~r IraU ]vf Hai- stai - sla yuh- tuhs gil-gil -tu - qi- la - a tla- aih- ty6, we we! kai Going round the world I carried by long life giver on the water na-wa - lai - qe - a y6s tlu-gwa-la, we we! tlu-gwa- la, we we! kai supernatural your power morendo t~ m m J; I X- I /I., I' J l I i lj-I-,,l —i i na-wa-lai-qe - a yos tlu-gwa-la, we we! tlu-gwa-la, we we we we! Love Song Oh, that poor I might go, my dear, to sit down beside you, love of mine, my dear! Oh, that poor I might go, my dear, sitting in the midst of that flying, feathery cloud, my dear! Allo moderato. i —,.aIr q-I. I I _ A_;-I Yi-ya - wa-ha! 2 La- o-nis - tlun, ki-ya hai kyas, kyai-ya-ha-ma- ha- li sai - Would poor I might go dear very come down beside to you _ __- _ -- -- -- -- -— ''P4 Oft. o a, tla-ha-hila- hwi-lai-hdn,ki-ya! A ha ye ya ha a ha ye ya love of min dear ~- -- --- ----- --- ' —^ --- -....- ^ ---- 1The probable meaning is that the killerwhale took the singer round the world and made him pahiala. 2 Yiyawaha is an exclamation expressive of a sigh of longing. {view image of page 325} APPENDIX 32S A;l 4., -r~ I - CA a ha wa. Yi -ya wa - ha! La - o-nis - thin, lkd-ya hai kyas, kwa sitting kwa - ki - kyIn-nai 11Th t- hd n il - qi1-la, pal - ha-la, sAn ki-ya! in the midst truly flying like a cloud moving cloud of my dear Nursery Song "Wisa I am called by those children, I who tease them." "What is the name of him who does mischief to those children?" "Wisa is my name.y "What is the name of him who does mischief to those girls?" "Wisa is my name. Wisa I am called by those children, I who do mischief to them."' M. M. =132 I ~~~ ~~ _I Wi - sa, Wi - sa, Wi -sa-hui-la sa - wi -kya-sa kyln-kyl-na-num Ifisa, _ isa I am called by those children 9*4 i i i ii i i i I- NO ~ ~ - Lw-r-t-f~~- -C -e I_ __ —e-~ t mall -kin, -a- ii-tal - ka- yi kya- ke. Wi -sa-tlunWi-sa-tlin. E ye! there teasin them Wisa my name di 4-~~~~Am-qah-tla- f&a-wi laoh -ta ' - hii - tal-ka - ya boh-ta kyin-kyl-na-num' he? JJhat is name of him doing mischief those ch ildren there fia-ffi-ta-k grn girlsJ fi 0 5 or 11~z 4 j j jI~1 I w '* 1I i I i I i - 1 i i 1 The song represents a conversation between an infant son and the father, who rocks the child in his arms and sings. {view image of page 326} 326 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN.t.. P... II.11., I- - I - -dI 4 -4- -- - I -- -i Wi - sa- tliin,Wi - sa - tln, e! Wi - sa- tln, Wi - sa- tlun. E ye! '9" —f - - - i I i 41 r C r j r Wi -sa, Wi - sa, Wi sa- hi-a wi kya- sa kyi - -ky- nan'm accel. mah - kin, mitI- ka- yi kya - ke? Wi- sa - tln,Wi - sa - tln, e! doing mis chief to Q - A --- ~ --- — 1 OR H -— OR --- — 1 ^ -B - f ----- 01 * -- * -. I I I I I I I A I I I I I {view image of page 327} Vocabularies {view image of page 328} v {view image of page 329} VOCABULARIES ANATOMICAL TERMS English ankle-joint arm bone chest chin ear elbow-joint eye face finger-nail fingers Q~gyufd Koskirno a'-y6-si 6h-hh-e-pi hak hah o-pu-wi piahw-si-mahll oh-tlis-hye-i p~is-pa'-yd pIi-p~Iyi ka-yi-k~ds ka-a'-kfls qi-,qah-f6a-ni qi-qah-fi6-ni gyd-gwa-yu phih1-kah-si-f6-6 a'-y6-su A-ai-sd hyums hyti-mis p~gwa-nflmn-ghl (" man cause") o-q6-hi kap-k6-hi gyui-gwa-yu gyu-qi-yu foot Tiatlasikoala Xi keno hair hand head heart knee leg lip lungs mouth neck nose nostril teeth toe-nail toes tongue qihl-koh a'-yA-sii hak ptlhw-si-mahil; p. qa-li pis-pa-yii tli-qu-ni kai-i-ktis 6-qiimh-f6a-ni kwi-kwah-fi1a-ni gyli-qi-yu a'-yl-sii hyti-mis wa-stum -u gy6i-qi-yu pi-hwri sqms 6-hwi-wa hyiln-(as a-wa-k6-nis-pa-i kai-kyim; l~dky ky~il-lim k6-q a-nutl i'-ya-su hak pu-qu-ni Haisla k6-qa-nah-i hi-e-su hah oh-tlis-si ki-wt'h; oh-tlih (" jaw" pus-pd-yu pus-pil-u tli-qa-ni tli-qa-ni kai-ke-kris kd'-kils k6-kum-mi k6-ku-mi iA-fim -T U f~m'-&Cm kwi-1kwas-kya'-ni hi-hyl-nahs-kya-ni (" hand branches") kti-kwi t6-pril-si-lai-yu ("step on the ground ") si-i si-yu, i'-ya-su hi-e-su tli-k-is i-wah-ti k6-ko-ni hin-fgas a-wak-ke'ni s-pi gi-gyi kwi-kwa-hsi-f6i iy~l-lhuim (" the shaker") pi-hwri scims 6-hwi-wa hy'en-fas a-a-k6-nis-p6-6 1~ai-kyim kyil-llm oh-ti-mu kii-kwi SIMMS k6-ku-ni hui-mak hylin-fgTs 1~yik kum kylllm (" bender") gyii-gwi IStIims k6-qy~-ni hy6-mah tlin-qas giq fidm-acim hi-hyl-nah-si-ja kyylm abalone * barnacles * bat kwi-ta-a pi-kwa-la-wi a -ma -f&i ("tsleepy") ANIMALS1I kwi-li-f6a gwi-lifa tla pill-ha (" blind in daylight") te-'hwa bear, black * tl6 tli-e tli-e The names of animals used for food are indicated by stars. {view image of page 330} 330 English bear, grizzly * beaver * bivalves * THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN brant * chiton (Cry ptochiton stelleri) * chiton (C. Katherina tunicata) cod, ling * cod, rock * crab * crane * crow deer * dog dog-fish duck, mallard * duck, sawbill * eagle (generic) eagle, bald eagle, golden elk * fish * fishhawk goose * grouse * halibut * Q~gyuh7 gy!-li ("crawler"); ni-ne f&aw ("roastables") na-na-ha-k6 kyi-n6t *ki-nas t6-to-pa ("star eater") k6-m~s qi-k~wa-ni kyzih-ha-la-ka k6-was wi-f6i hwiuil-kum hIAhl-kyo qiq mil-miP-pi (white tail") kw6-tafl-6f'm tlfi-wdI'is ma-ma-6-mas ("~swimmers") nfl-hik ku-ki~m-mih pa-wi Koskimo Tlatlasiko ala a '-ma'-h6 lWe -nut ki-nas na-hblm t6-to-pa kyi'-na tii-kyiis waft hwgl-q~im ni-ng-hos-to tltim-ki-yu; qi-q's 2 qi'hw t16-lis 6ih-f6ihw wa-ma-ki pa46 ki-mah mih-e-noh tu"i-kflhw k~s-kas-kin-ni L~6w fLi-fli-kwi-mas nu-qiih-tld sahy kol k6-lun gyi-wi-k~a-niim gyi-wi-kanm Wieno a'-ma'-h6 ki-nas ni-hulm t6-to-p6 kyi-ha-la-kii tii-kyiis wa6 hwa'l-qy~m filih-l-kyu qi..qas 2 qi'hw t16-lis wi-ma-ki ki-mah mih-e-nol' tlUi —kfhw qfl'-n az k~s-kas-kin-ni tlih-ha-6i ki-niis ki-ka-dis kyak ki-mbi-la. wag kwi-kwe-nti niis-nik shflm tlih-ha-6i ki-nas ki-kans kyin-kfls ki-mi-la wa6 qi-qi-na nis-nflh sii-hMm Haisla wiq mb6-mbuh-pa aih-sto-ku-ya ("white ("both ends white") on both ends") wi-dzih mahi-ma-ais mi-gyfilis herring * wi'-ni horse kyu-tin3~ killerwhale mah-6-noh lamprey 6i'm-lkwa ("dig under stones") loon hi-WI lynx wi-las-hye ("big teeth") marmot * qi-qiuh-ti; pi-k~yO marten tli-lkiq mink mfl-Li mountain-goat * miilh-tlii ("white fur") mountain-lion ma -mis muskrat in-kak wu-su-ais p0-i wi -ni kyu-wa-tin 3 hih-l-hai-nuh hi-wi wi-la-si-4i ("big teeth") qii -na 6a'k in-gah my-hyi-li m6-mu-ku-dzut ("white belly") wa-ni kyotn 3 hil-1h6nuh hi-wi mu-d6-yu qi-kuht kin-kyim qiV-nih 6ak mai-as-a-wah-tes wi-Liis-ko-lun ("dog beaver") tii-qi qyl-skai-ah-ta kyt-liq to-kwi hwiim-tu-ma hwiim-tu-ma kwii-hla octopuis * otter * tci-kwa hiiCml-ti 4 1 When these fish rise at night to feed at the surface, it is said that they are trying to catch the reflection of the stars. 2 Respectivelv, male and female. 3 Chinook jargon. 4 Animals valued chieflY' for their fur were eaten only in cases of necessity, lest the hunter lose his luck. {view image of page 331} VOCABULARIES English Qeigyuhl otter, sea- * ki-sa oulachon * ia-hwuin owl tlh-tlh-i-lfihl' porcupine * mi-hy1-ti porpoise * kydi-lu-ta raccoon * mi-yus raven kwi-wi-na1 salmon(generic)*kyu-qia-tqdli salmon, dog * klwih-nis salmon, humpback * ha-nun salmon, silverside * gia'-wi'n3~ salmon,sockeye *mii..hliky salmon, spring (Chinook) * si4gum sea-cucumber * a'-lis sea-gull * seal, fur- * hi-wa seal, hair- * mi-qat sea-lion * tli-hiin sea-urchin * hm-ta-mi:; Koskimo kas l~ydlu-ta mai-yus kwi-wi-na ma-ma-6-mas Tilat!lasiko ala Xi keno l~y6lu-t6 mai-yus kwi-wi-na ma-ma-e&mas ka-siky fgi-hwun tih-tih-hyl-ni miht tli-hll-la ma-yas ko-wi 1 mi -mi gwi-ha-nis kyi-pe fifl-wu~n mahlik a-as tli-nis hi'-wa mi-qat tli-hfin am -tul-mi i; mal mA~-siq 4 shark hwU'l-qid-mah-sa; hwu'l-qis hwi'l-kwes 5 spider ya-ya-k~t-ei-ni-~ka (" always knitting") squirrel t6-mi-nas ti-mi-nas swan * lka-k6q 1 k~a-k.6q trout * k6-la trout, steel-head* gyl-hwi weasel kyy-ky1-li'm a'-lis hi'-wa mi-qat tli-hfln am -tui-ma;;mal hwu'l-la-qis ti-mi-nas ka-k6h k6-la qii'-yim; ky6-lis; a-fga-k 6 si-fgiin nu-qi si-kumma-wa-kya um-tiim; kwi-kwis fgi-min ko-ki'h kyi-lhim qci-yim qai-si-'s 33' Haisla hin-qis-ta ji-hwu~n nu-li-kil-mi tli-hila ma-yas kah' mi-ya qi-hfl-nis I-yi-pi fiu-wuin hai-sin kaps il-las hi-wa Si-gymm tli-hiin im-duim kwi-gwis ka-k6h tli-hu-la-mas gyyllm 1.we-yudm tlis-ya-gu-mih Cy6-lis; i-fga-ki wolf a-tli-niim; o'-li-kyln wolverene ni-tli wu-wti-o ("barker") i'-tla'-ntim na-tlai CARDINAL POINTS northeast wind northwest wind southeast wind southwest wind hi-yuhil; tlis-pa-h-16 yui-ya-la; hi-yuhlI hi'-a-yuhlI ("blows outward") (north wind) (&i-kwa ~ii-kwa fii-kwa i-yuihs-a ("blows tlis-pa-fhla ("blows ydh-sa inward") outward"); niihsi-la gyai-yu-wi-a-la hi-a-yu-hMa mfl-h-lai-a-Ia ki-gyi-la-la 1 An onomatope. 2 Cf. the Qigyuh-i word for fish. 3 Cf. Cowichan sfiwi~n. Locally called cohoe. 4 Respectively a small green, and a large red or blue species. 11 Respectively a species with a long, sharp, dorsal fin, and a short-finned species found only at considerable depth. 6 Icyo6lls is the largest species of whale, btfiaki the smallest and most desirable on account of the whiteness of its blubber. Qai'yim is probably the humpback. Whale flesh and blubber were obtained in trade and from stranded whales. {view image of page 332} 332 332 ~~~THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN COLORS Tiatlasikoala Jffikeno English black blue gray green red white yellow Q6gyuhll ftiu-h-la (gi-sa qkin-hi hlu'n-ha tli-qi mfll-ki Koskimo (66-fla 6i-hii; &f'n-sii 1 g~um fiis-sa 9iis-sa-hsu-qf-la ("nearly blue") flnflh-stu Haisla 96fl1-tu qai-lahs-tu kais-tu 2 t~hs-tu tslihws-tu m6hs-tu t6-ha ("dog urine") 3 tla'q ma'h af-In-fgis-iin (" oranges color")4 Min-nii-ha tli-qa tlaq nu i-la mboq qud-lis-wi~is-tu ("in- tli-qfll-1hl-la fant's excrement")5 ("nearly red") PRIMITIVE FOODS6I blackberries tii-stq~- kwa camas md-tah~-sti carrots ha-tium clover-roots tahw-sds crabapples fti~lhw ("sour") cranberries k6h-kqd-lis elderberries, red fsi-hi-na fern-roots (bracken) sa'-kum fern-roots (wood-fern) fri-lkyus gooseberries tuM-hu-li haws, red ttil's hemlock bast lU herring-roe a-lint huckleberries., blue nii-hwa huckleberries,, red kwa-tiuiM lupin-roots kwa',-ni oulachon oil tli-na parsley kyii-ma-ka partridge-berries raspberries, black 6q-ki-'hil raspberries, red salalberries nq-qiffi salmonberries kam-fruia liilun-nilh k~h-ka-lis 9ri-hi-na si-kum fii-lkyus lih kwi-tuim kwa, -ni lI-ky6 mUfrihw niu-kwahil ko-lia-li t~h-sds lIhn-nah k6h-ka-lis ffil-hi-na si-kum fri-kyus llih ph-pii-tlii m6-ta h-sti ha-tiiim t6h-sos hhinnh ki-pat si-kum tei-pcim lid-wq~k i-ant hi-tflm t6h-sfls chi-hwa ki-bit sa-qtls te-bim tli-tla-nuhlI tflls lu-wih i-ant si-li kwi-tlam kwa,- ni kiim'-kwa-li mi-frihw ko-lfa-li kwa'-ttim kwan' tli-ti kti-kwa-tid lq-kih niikwtit k6-la-li kwa'-~im kwan' tli-ti kais-tiim kihil-kcin n LI-q ilih k6-la-li salmonberry sprouts kwa-h-liim qa'-hlu'mt q a-hliim seaweed (eelgrass) fri-fra-y~m fii-fri'm fii-fra-ylm sa-q ans-wi~nk seaweed (Porphyra) hla-kiis-tuin Mi'-ki~kst hl d-kUst hhi6-ki'st h-laksk Ts zi1n s i is used of liquids.. 2 Kai's, a kind of berry. 3 From the color left on snow. 4 Aifnfsts is the native pronunciation of "oranges." When yellow paint became obtainable, the old men in council decided that it could best be described by this word. 6 See also under the head of Animals. {view image of page 333} VOCABULARIES 333 English silverweed roots strawberries tiger-lily roots Qa~gyuJhl Koskimo Tlatilasiko ala Xikeno tli'h-scim 16-k6 thlh-sU-M 1.roh-qtil's hyii-qym tllh-sUi'M l.6h-qtll's hyii-qym tlih-so~m k6'h-kuls hd-qym' Haisla tllh-sa'm k6h-kuls uyi-kum HANDICRAFT adze ankle-band apron arrow arrow-point arrow-shaft baby-board bailer basket (generic) basket., burden basket, openmesh basket, storage basket, wallet bow canoe (generic) cape chest chisel clam-digger corselet cup dish fire-drill fish-hook fish-line, bark fish-line, kelp fish-weir harpoon hat head-band herring-rake house knife,, Musselshell loom mask, face mask, forehead mat ki-ni-yu tiA'p wa'i-yah hi-na-tliim hin-tLIim qa-k&ky-6 -ha-i-pq~ ki-ni-a-yu wai-yah hin-tliim qa-k6-kya-yi ha-i-pfL kas-kiu'-na wai-y~h in-tdim k6-kaik-si-dza ko-dzi-ge hain-thilm 6'e-la-yu ki-pa-fgi; f~ii-la' yuhw-siim; gili-li 1 6h-tla-a-f26 fsa-e tli-pat qfin-nmA-ha-&i ("dentalium container") tli-pat tki-tda-pa-tilm hla-k~wis lhI-qis hwi-kw6-na hwi-hu-k w~h-sa ha-fhim; ha-ha- gyil-tas tsuim kyl-hiq cun-ntii kwis-ta t-e'nas-fin ("e.dar-bark line") te'n-fi~im hlq-tail-yu gyuq fi'i-ki-yu an-nlhw lci-tli-yu si-na-pat tli-wi-yu ma-sto kBet l~Yuhw hil-q'is hwi-kun-ni' gyil-tas kil-ta-yu dil-pil-fa ~ii-ki-yu in-nlhw si-na-pat tli-wai-yu ma-sto kait l~yuhw hlli'-wi hiqi'fl si-kyl-la wahw-si-wa pi-ke-ya kai-ta-yu tlai-pa-yu ni-kiim-sta medl-ku lli-q'is gil-wa wihw-si-wa pi-ke-a-la ka'-dai-yu tla-pi-yu na-gai-yu sa-na-pat kqh-1-6f-m ("tweave inside frame") yii-hwiimh-l ("dance on face") yllhwil-wi mi-wi; ga'-gwihl; mli-wi mi-wa-klq3 kait iq l~uq kil-lah-tuhlI ket dyuhw ha-tla'i-yu; kti-gudM2 yip-tum-ma hi'il-wi 1 Made respectively of cedar-bark and spruce-roots. 2 Used respectively for carving and for slicing halibut. Sepg 6 3 See page O. {view image of page 334} 334 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Engli'sh maul moccasins needle net, dip Qigyuhl Koskimo piil-pflk t6-pai-yu (" steppers ") ki-nai-yu kin-yu h6-Ltai-yu h6-ti-yu si-wa-yu si-wi-yu Tiatlasiko ala J'Yikeno kw6-6a kai-nah Haisla k-6-fih-si-dza paddle pail ni-ka-fgi rattle yi-tiin; l~wi-ha-tiin' robe, bark kyii-pa-was lwc O-tifil robe, bear-skin robe, marten-skin robe, raccoon-skin robe, sea-otter skin root-digger sail skin, tanned spear, fish- sa. spear, war- WI spindle hy spoon, alder ky spoon, clamshell m; spoon, horn wedge tIl, wrist-band tli mi-tlas-him mi-f6a-pu ki-ka-na-uh-i ki-nai-yu ha-16-f6ai-yu si-wai-yu l~y6pa-was tlai-kyin tli-hi-ma ki-sas-kfim saan-(6u wdhl-pa k 6'-m a k6'-ma ni-kiim ni-gulm yi-tin yi-dfln k6-ti ko-tihil tli-yus ti-ti-hwahlI i-an-fiu Irhi-pa; f&i-gavi-glu~q Pl-pahs-tu ri-fj~j-nak ai-ma-tflm um-gya-yu qri -f6 i ai-ti-yu wih-l-pa th-kyaf-yu yi-yu-wa-glm fi~i-kyln skyi-yu wiis-p&-yik kyi-f6i-dak l~6-ta-yu gli-nut kes-kyi-ni kyl-hihw Mi-kin tlii-hi-giihw wu~s-p6-rik siih-tla kG-dai-yu tli-nut k6-kflk-skya-ni NATURAL PHENOMENA ashes charcoal cloud darkness day ea rth fire ice lake light lightning moon mountain night rain rainbow qi~n-n6i f66h1l-na an-wi mi-la ua-wl-na-gwis hi-fl-ka-la tlohw f~iu-lah1 na-qfi-li tlfl-ni-u-qi mfl-qii-li nT-ky6 ki-nutl yu-gwa wa-ka-1is ("ccurving") q u-na-i f66M-na i-nu-wa f66-pa ni-la ni-la q il-ta tlohw ka-wis ni-ki-a to-hi J~y&la ni-ky6 ni-kyiuh. yii-kwa hlh-qi-fs~i-_60 2 qu-na-i f66h1l-na a-nu-wi na-i-a l-l;66p ni-la qi~l-ta tlohw k6s ni-ki-la tq-hi-la 1.y6-la nl-kye' ni-kv iuh yu-k~wa wi-ka-lus qii-ni a-int-qa ni-la ii-wi-da-gwis hwil-ta-la tlohw k6'-wis lI-pi k6-kus ne'q'q y6-qa mi-si-ku f I I t i I t I I n qqi-ni 66Mh-na in-na-we hwiil-du~h tluh Lti-kil-dzoa wa-wes ki-nuh-i yu-gwa nfl-si-uh wa 3i-biuh ki-ptl-la tllh-si-wa-la 16-ho-li-si-la wap yu-i-la river wa wa wa wa rock t-sflm ha-viIf6 ti sky e&kvi hi-ma-is hi-ma-is k6-is s smoke qai-hvi-la. wi-ha-la k snow nei ni-6 ni-6 kwi-sa sta r t6-to t6-to t6-ti to-to-ii sun tli-st-la. fs qllq tli-'stil-la; 6u'l-qa kw'ui-kci-lfl thunder q I"n-hwa quin-uhw qiin-u-hwii 16-hwfl-lihlI I water wap wap wap wa-am wind v-iyui-a-la 1Respectively, the Kwakiutl rattle of soft wood, and the Haida rattle of hard wood. 2 Cf. bow, page 333. {view image of page 335} English one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve twenty twenty-one thirty forty fifty hundred Tlatlasikoala VOCABULARIES NUMERALS QagyuhIl nflm mahil y6-tuhw mu si-kyfi ka-tli mah-l-gwii-nfihil na-nti-mfi ("one decade almost complete") liis-tii ("end attained") nu-ma-gyu (one more" ma-h-li-gyu mahl-fguim-gyus-ta nai-nd~m-ka-la ("one between") yu-pihw-s~im-gyus-ta lfi-kylnt ("come to a stop") 335 Koskirno nflm ma'hl yd-ttihw mu si-kya ki-tda fi-tlf-pu mahil-ku-nihlI na-nu-ma la~h-tii nu-ma-ki-yu y6-tfihw-sitim-k~yus-ta m6s-kilm-k~yus-ta si-kyfis-kilm-k~yus-ti li-kylnt Wkeno Haisla 1 ntim ma'hl yii-pihw mu si-kya kfi-tla i-tll-pu mah-l-ku-nfihlI ni-nii-ma la~h-t6 nu-ma-k~i-yu nci-ndim-kafl-h m6s-kflm-lkyus-tfl lfi-kylnt ma-fi-luiq yo-tu~q moq skyfi-uq ka-tli-uq titl-pdq mfi-ma-la ai-hliluq mu-ni-ci-ki-yu ma-fi-la-ki-yu y6-tuhw-suq m6h-suq skyfih-suq 6pn-ihStIS 2 noh ma-l61h yu-diih muhl si-ky6h ka-tl6h ma-lilas yu-duh-wa's mu-was kfi-pu nfl-hwii-gi-yu mfi-hilii-gi-yu mi~nsh mtuns-hwti-gi-nfl-hwii-gi-yu ("4twenty eleven") yii-duh-piin-kfl-pu-pii-na mnd-piqn-ki-pu-p~i-na si-kyfi-piin-ki-pu-p6-na si-liy6ks-pii-g f-nm mis-kiim ma-sum y6-duh-sg~m miis-ka~m si-kylis-kflm ma-silmfls yd-duh-sii-m6s mus-km6s kfi-pus-kti~m mis-kiim-ma-gi-yu mfl-stim-ma-gi-yu miin-f96h-sii-ma-gi-yu yiiduh-ptin-kfl-pu-skcim mii-piin-kli-pus-kiim si-liy6ks-pfl-gwfl-niaM 3. PERSONAL TERMS English Qagyuhl Kos kimo Tlatlasikoala Wikeno Haisla aunt, maternal or paternal a-nis a-nis a-n'is a-nis a-biih; a-nils baby wi-L!-ka-mi-lfi kyfi-lo; l~d-nli-nU 6 kyfi-lo; l~d-kfi-nu gyfi-lu-lh-mu ha-fl-huh 1 The first column of Haisla numerals refers to animate objects, the second to inanimate. Said to mean "all tens on the fingers." Cf. certain Salish words for ten, Volume VII.,3 "tFive men"; the fingers and toes of five men number one hundred. 4 But the maternal aunt is addressed as "mother." 5 Respectively, maternal and paternal. 6 Respectively, before and after the age of four days. {view image of page 336} 336 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN English Q ~gyuhil Koskimo Tiatlasiko ala Jf~ikeno nd-laku Haisla boy pa-pa-Ikuim brother, elder (of a man) nd-Ia ("elder") nd-la (of a woman) wa-kwfi nd-la brother, eldest w~i-fgi-ti1 brother, younger fgd-yI' iiY ("iyounger") chief (man) gy'i-k6-mi gyl-kil m6 chief (woman) 6'-ma father (vocative) tat; ta'-ta; ai-ta-f&a (third person) omp omp girl fifi-fga-ta-lkdim g~i-fga-ta-1k'm ("trying to be woman") man pgwi-ntim pii-q6-ma-la medicine-man pa-hfi-la pil-hai mother(vocative) at nd-la gii-y~ gyi-kq-m6 omp pii-gwi-nu'm pa-hi-la A-Pudmp nd-la nd-la nd-la-ki-bi mii-ne's-ut wi-kwa mui-ne's-ut yl -mus 6 -ma-kis a-6mp ha'p'k wis-sum fiai-yua-ka [ 2] i-poq pi-pgw-niim k6mh-si-wa wi-kwa hin-kya mi6-ne's-ut haf-mas md-dzifil op ka-nd'ms-ha-i-buh wf-4huim hi-sa a-bdh bi-bgwa-niuim k6mh-si-wa 6 wi-kwa wi-kwa (third person) a-pudmp: people pi-pgwapeople (Indian) pi-kutim people (white) ma-a-m= sister, elder (of a man) wa-kwi (of a woman) ndi-la sister, eldest (of a man) gyi-i; gy" (of a woman) gyi1-i; gy' sister, younger (of a man) wa-kwai (of a woman) fgi-yCi slave ka-kydt uncle, maternal or paternal kwa-li 7 woman fiqi-tik i; -ta t-nfm 3 4,aff-a 5 A-Pudmp nd-la nd-la I-i wa-kwi,i-i nd-la ki-qit ki-qit f~ia-y,6 fi~i-y6 ki'-ma-tla fiq-tihl fi~i-y6 fian-tihl ka'-ku hwhimp ka'-niim wi-kwa wi- kwa ki-kyu hwii-hla~ip; op 8 ki-nq~m alder aspen balsam fir birch cedar, red cedar, yellow th~h-mis yi-ya-wa-la-aims mu-muh-ti fgi-hyins wilq tihw tli-qi~nt md-tas h-lin-flm wi-luhw ti-wah-i TREES thais md-tas wi-luhw ti-wahl yi-ya-wa-las mb6-tas fii-hlns kwi-kas ti-wils ki-mi-kfls mu-dd-las kwih-tlo qi-na-lfls 1 "Owner of dogs''; the younger children being regarded as his "dogs."~ 2 An abbreviation of the personal name, or some special name invented by the child. Plural of ogw~inr~m, man. 4 A word invented since the advent of white men. It is not in favor with the older Indians, who take it to mean " common people." 5 Perhaps connected with mamalgma, to bathe. Various Hudson's Bay Company factors and captains of schooners bathed daily in sight of the Indians. 6 In explanation of this word it is said that when the Beaver, the first steamer in the Northwest, was at anchor before the village, with her crew lying about the deck, a bell suddenly sounded, and the men immediately tumbled down the hatchway to mess. The people who saw this exclaimed, A[6mh~siwa!" -that is, "They have fallen down inside!" 7 But the paternal uncle is addressed as "father." 8 Respectively, maternal and paternal. {view image of page 337} VOCABULARIES 337 English crab fir *hemlock maple spruce yew Qadgyuhl h6h-mis kwih-as kyd-tlas a-li-was tltim-ka Koskimo hilin-ntih-ti-mls Mo'h-pih qih-as a-ni -was tlU m-k6 Tlatlasikoala Jfikeno Min-nah-il-mis ho~h-mis qih-as a-ni -was tlii-~m-k6 hflin-nitih-mils 16-kwas hili-lu-kwa-lils an-ni-wfls Haisla fsi-wil1s mi-wils 16-kwils fii-wi-kya-lds si-si-kyis tlam'k MISCELLANEOUS breath dream food large shadow small spirit (ghost) spirit (soul) supernatural supernatural power hi'-si'1 mi-he' hi'-me wi-las hi'-si-i mi-ha h6-mi-mas hi-sa-6 mi-ha-yi hai-ma-e-mas gyi-gyu-mas kyi'-kyu-mas hi'-ya-mut; a-me ~~~~~~kyi-kyu-mas h6'-li-nuh ni-wa-laq hi's-pis kyi-hma kai-kyas Mun-na u-waifl-pas-tu phd-na. na-wa-laq tld'-gwi; ni-walaq his-pis l~y d-hillil o-muis haii-ya-mut a-me pri-hu-ni ni-wa-laq tlii-gwi; ni'-wa-laq hd'-li-nuh pci-qi-6 na-wa-ahw hd'-li-nuh ptih-wii'-na ni-wa-lahw tli-gwi; ni'-walahw tlii-gwi ("treas- tld-gwi; ni-qaure"); ni-wa-laq ahw 1 The breath is believed to course through the veins and arteries. VOL. X-22 {view image of page 338} I I {view image of page 339} Index {view image of page 340} I {view image of page 341} INDEX A4balone, how taken, 30, folio pl. 342 mythic woman named for, 250 ornaments of, 6, I31, 29I, 304, folio PIS329, 364 Address, titles Of, I39 A4doption, rank transferred by, 139 Adzes, how made, 1 1,1 A4fterbirth, disposal Of, 3I0, 311 A4ge societies of Plains tribes, 164 Ahlahilho river in myth, I36 A4humait, a mythic creature, 259, 260 A4ihstoqiniuli, a Haisla clan, 305 Ailiaz~mih1; a mythic woman, 250 Jkyufs'i'walis, a mythic person, 252, 253 Al1der, uses for, 15, 46, 97, 98, i69, I70 Al1ert Bay, Nimkish at, 307, folio pis. 330, 350 Al1ihwals, a mythic person, 285-288 Jlqz~nwi, a Qfigyuhl gens, 308 A4ma'hYokyila, a sorcerer, IS AmakitlisYlasu, a mytbic person, 259 A4mi'yails, killing of, 153 A4me~hsl a Tsimshian warrior, II 8 Jm'holah~l, a dance personage, I58 Jm'lala., a dance personage, iS6, 214 A4musement, fighting for, I30 See GAMES,Anatomical terms, 329 Anchors of grooved stones, 14 A4nimals, gentes originate with, 136 in myth, 255-258 names Of, 329 power acquired from, 78, 89, i6i See under the various animal names Anklets of dentalium, 6 woollen, folio Pl. 339 See COSTUME; ORNAMENTS Jo'malah7, a dance personage, I58 Armor of skin and rope, i8, 98 Arrows,' I7, I8, 32, 36, 98, i66, 248, 249, 255, 256, 258, 259, 264., 296 Arts described, 304 See CARVING; HANDICRAFT; INDUSTRIES; WOODWORKING A4skyaimikzas, a mythic person, 260 Atlhapascans, no relations with Kwakiutl, 3 A4tlrimhRl, a wolf mask, 238 pl. 2waliiilbgyYlis, a chief, 66 A4waitl ala, fishing rights of, 23 habitat and gentes, 176, 307 hims'p&k of, 75foip1. 5 house-front of, i0 pl. myths of, 288, 293 portrait of, foIo l3 transformer among, 245 3wati, a sorcerer 73-74, I49-I53, 220-23I A4wikyg, a bay, 258, 261 Awi'kyenohi, derivation of name 30-36 See WIKENO A4wikyYm, a Wiwekae gens, 308 A4wdiotlfahl, a dance personage, 157 song Of, 320-322 Awis, a locality in myth, 262 Awfli, a mnythic person, 295-296 Bag used in magic, 95 Bainbridge island, Kueha on, I1 Balsam used for hooks, 25 Bark, uses for, 17, 46, 96, 254 —255, 284 See ALDER; CEDAR-BARK; HEMLOCKBARK Barnacles., island of, in myth, 269 Basket for storage, 1 7, 22, 29, 30 how made, I17 in myth, 135, 136, 272, 277, 278, 282, 290, 295 used in fishing, 23 used in sorcery, 70 Basket-trap in myth, 246-248 See FISHING Bast. See HEMLOCK-BAST Bat, babies treated with, 96 Bathing associated with whites, 336 by widows, 58, 59 ceremonial, 100, 101, 117, 155, 164, 170, 176, i88, 194, 234, 293 corpses used in, 288 in childbirth, 310 in myth, 135, 257 {view image of page 342} 342 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Bathing, scarification in, 121 See PURIFICATION Batons used in myth, 264, 290-293 See DRUMMING; STAFFS Battledore, game of, 50 Bear, ceremony over, when killed, 38 crests of Nimkish chief, 138 figurehead on canoe, folio pl. 352 gall used in medicine, 97 how taken, 33, 35 in myth, I35, 256 personated in rite, I84, I99, 211, 23I power received from, 89 sinew of, in childbirth, 310 See GRIZZLY-BEAR Bear-claw used in magic, 95 Beards sometimes grown, 5 Bear-skin, clothing of, 5, 195, 197, 215, 228, 229, 238, 284, 285, 287 Beaver, a steamship, 336 Beaver castor used in medicine, 97 how taken, 33-34 in myth, 253-254 Beaver clan of the Haisla, 305 Beaver-fur, clothing of, 5 Beaver inlet, Haitsmenoh on, 309 Beds of the Koskimo, 30 Begging wood from cedar, I I, 12 pl., 283 Begging dancer in winter dance, 214-215 See KWiKWASULAHL Bellabella, dance personages obtained from, i56 descent among the, 139 firearms obtained by, 114-115 habitat and septs, 305 hams'pek of the, 175 leggings of the, 5 medicine-men of the, 87 myths of the, 271, 298 version of raven myth, 160 warfare of the, I12-113, 15-117 winter dance, 218, 221 Bellacoola, habitat of, 3 Bella Coola agency, Kwakiutl at, 304 Bentinck arm, Bellacoola on, 3 Berries in myth, 166, 252, 272 when taboo, 62 See BLUEBERRIES; ELDERBERRIES; FOOD; HUCKLEBERRIES; SALALBERRIES Big Mountain, a mythical personage, 133 Bird dances, origin of, 137 Bird man in Wiweakam myth, 137 Birds personated in dance, 211, 212, 243, folio pl. 336 songs obtained from, 171-172 Birth, unnatural, in myth, 277 See CHILDBIRTH Biting in ceremony, I79-180, 194, 236 Bladder in myth, 260-261 Bladder-kelp, uses for, 24, 25, 33, 49, 103, I66, 216, 218, 274 Blankets a medium of trade, 33, 57, 58, 66, 145-148 as bridal dowry, I25, 127, I29, I31, 132 as fee for healing, 77, 82, 93 as fee in winter dance, 180 a unit of value, 142, 144 button, folio pl. 333 covered with down, 231 given in ceremony, 138, I42-144, 175, 218, 244 in myth, 247 in payment of sorcery, 68, 69, 71 of bear-skin, 284 of cedar-bark, 3I, 63, I8I,232, folio pl. 339 sacrifice of, 153 services paid in, 32 slaves bought with, 239-240 songs paid for with, 177-I78 worn in ghost dance, 216 yufsu, defined, 175-176 Blinkinsop bay mentioned in myth, 254 Blindness caused by sorcery, 256 simulated in dance, 232 Blistering, how effected, 97 Blood, beliefs regarding, 96 in childbirth custom, 309, 310 in myth, 166, 279, 281 menstrual, uses of, 62, 65, 84, 97, 299 produced in winter dance, 214 vomited in winter dance, 213 Blood-revenge practised, 98, 123 Blueberries, how prepared, 42 Blunden harbor, Nakoaktok on, 25, 306-307 Boards. See WOODWORKING Boas, F., Kwakiutl researches of, xii on ceremonial personages, I64 on etymology of Gyigyilkum, 307 on initiation rite, 159 on Kwakiutl gentes, 307-308 on translation of XaxamatsEs, 308 Bone, objects of, o1, II, I5-19, 25, 27 Borrowing at interest, 142-144 Bows described, I8 {view image of page 343} INDEX 343 Bows in myth, I66, 255-256, 264, 296 See ARROWS Box for coppers in myth, 255 for dance paraphernalia, I30 See CHESTS Box-drum in wedding ceremony, folio pl. 361 in winter dance, 176 Boys, game played by, 50-51 how reared, 96 initiated as nuhlImahla, I59 initiated as warriors, 99 Bracelet, gift of, in myth, 29I of dentalium, 6 See ORNAMENTS Breakfast Giver, a shaman, 85-87 Breath, belief regarding, 337 Breath-moisture and sorcery, 64, 69, 77 Bullroarers in winter dance, 216 Burning in ceremony, 208-209, 219 Bute inlet, Lekwiltok on, 308 Cahnish bay, Wiweakam on, 114 Wiwekae on, 308 Campbell river, tribes on, 3, 105, Io8 Cannibalism, allusions to, 221-242 in rite, 78, 156, I59, I75, 176, 193, 198 in myth, 169 regarded as doubtful, 221 songs regarding, 311-313 See CEREMONIES Canoemen, prayers of, 62 Canoes as fees in winter dance, I82 dead deposited in, 53, 304 described, xi, 12 how polished, 102 how portaged, 120-121 illustrated, 32 pl., 44 pi., 104 pl., Io8 pl., folio pls. 337, 340, 344, 35I, 352, 356, 359 in myth, I34, I36, 246-247, 250-252, 258-262, 264, 265, 268-271, 274, 275, 278-290, 294, 297, 298 in song, 320 in warfare, 1oI-105, I09, II5, II7, II9, I20, 303, 305 in winter dance, 222 mats for, I6 of the Koskimo, 31 sacrifice of, 153 symbolized in winter dance, 203, 205 used at wedding, I25-126, 136, folio pls. 337, 344 Canoes used in ghost dance, 217 See CATAMARANS; PADDLING; WARCANOES Cape Commerell in myth, 271 native name of, 306 tribes at, 306 Cape Flattery, Nootka on, 3 Cape Mudge, tribes at, 3, I9, 105, 113, 308 Cape Scott in myth, 249, 271 tribes at, 24, 306 Cardinal points, names of, 331 Carving, character and extent, xi, 15 of canoes, 13, 251 of house-posts, 6-8, folio pl. 341 See WOODWORKING Caste, principle of, I37-I40 See SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Catamarans described, 14 in myth, 135-136, 254-255, 292-293 in winter dance, 222-223 wedding, of Tsawatenok, 126, I29 See CANOES Caves, dead deposited in, 53, 55, 304 Cedar, begging wood from, illustrated, 12 pl. chests made of, 14 dwellings made of, 304 effect on workers of, 13 hunting hoops made of, 34 implements made of, 17-18 mythic stick of, 274 staff of, in myth, 135 tongs made of, 149 used in canoe-building, I2-I4 whistles made of, 173 See WOODWORKING Cedar-bark, armor made of, I8 as charm, 62, 280-281 blankets of, 31, 63, i81, 232, folio pl. 339 body rubbed with, 94 canoes of, 12 ceremonial rings of, 38, 87, I59, 174, I78, 182, 190, 215, 226, 231, 232, folio pls. 333, 358 clothing of, 4-5, 240-241, folio pls. 329, 339 cord and rope of, 14, 25, 26, 53, 286 cradles of, 52 dance ornaments of, I82 dead brushed with floss of, 54-55 for counteracting sorcery, 77 gaming hoops of, 49 {view image of page 344} 344 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Cedar-bark, head-bands of, I65, 219, 228, 229, 238, folio pl. 333 how dyed, 46 how used in myth, 285, 299 objects made of, 304 preparation of, I6 pl. prescribed for ceremony, I69-170 storage boxes of, 40-41 used at wedding, 129 used in childbirth, 309-310 used in healing, 92, 94, 97 used in magic, 95 used in sorcery, 65, 69, 72, 74, 8o, 8I, 84, 9I, IsI used in weaving, 16-17 various uses of, 17-18 worked in winter dance, I85-I86 worn in dance, I99-2oo, 232 worn in hair, 223 See CLOTHING; COSTUME Cedar withes in canoe-building, 14 in house-building, 7 used by warriors, Ioo-1oI used in dance, 204 Cemetery, Mamalelekala, 56 pl. Ceremonies, character of, xi described, I55-245, 304 Ceremony over slain animals, 37-38 Charcoal for face-blackening, Ioo prescribed for ceremony, 169 salmon, used for scrofula, 97-98 See FACE-BLACKENING Charms to counteract sorcery, 76-77 used in healing, 94 used in hunting, 34 used by steersmen, 62 used by warrior, 117 Cherries, how prepared, 42-43 Cheslakees, a Nimkish, 98 Chests described, I3-15 for ceremonial paraphernalia, I30 for storage, 15, 20, 24, 29, 40-41 See Box Chiefs, functions of, at marriage, 125, I27, I29 mortuary rites for, 56 murder of rivals by, 305 portraits of, 146 pl., folio pls. 331, 333, 338 status of, 141 titles of, I39 See SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Childbirth, customs of, 309-3 I Children, how washed, 15, 310 Children initiated in ghost dance, 216-220 property distribution for, 131 status of, 138, 139 taken by warriors, IoI trained for heralds, 155 unborn, ceremonies for, 159 who killed tsinukwa, 295-296 See BOYS; GIRLS; INFANTS; NURSERY SONG ChinaHat, a tribe, 118, 139, 305 Chisels, how made, 15 Chitons, effect of eating, 40-4I in childbirth custom, 310 Chuck Walla river in myth, 258 Tsaqalitoh on, 305 Clam-eaters, Guauaenok known as, 265 Clams, how gathered and prepared, 29-30, folio pl. 339 Clam-shells, uses for, 33, 42, 58, 300 Clans of the Haisla, 305 Claws used in magic, 95 Clayoquot, n6nhilm dance among, 245 Clothing burned by shaman, 8I described, 4, 304 of the dead, 54 of widows, 59 sacrificed to eclipse, 63, folio pl. 355 See COSTUME Clover-roots, how prepared, 43-44 Clubs in myth, 246, 249, 270, 280, 285 used in game, 48 used in winter dance, 214 See WAR-CLUBS Coal, paint made from, 46 Cockle-shell as skin-flesher, 33 Cod. See ROCK-COD Coffins described, 53 See MORTUARY CUSTOMS Colors, names of, 332 Comb, how made, 19 magic, in myth, 166-167, 274 Comox defeated by Salish, IIo hypnotic dance among, 244 sorcery practised by, 76 Comox harbor, a fishing ground, Io8 Constipation, how treated, 97 Continence, ceremonial, 62 observed by hunters, 34 observed by shamans, 82-83 Convulsions, how caused in myth, 281 Cook, Captain, name of, adopted, 5I on Northwest coast, 98 {view image of page 345} INDEX 345 Cooking in myth, 247-248, 295-296 methods of, 15, 39-44 See FOOD Copper broken in rivalry, 66, 92 contest with, 15I-153 evil influence of, IIO how regarded, 144-I53 in myth, 255, 271-272, 277-278 magic effect of, I20, 274-275 of Nakoaktok chief, I46 pi. power derived from, 95 property distributed when sold, 142 strips of, as rattle, 220 symbolized on blanket, folio pl. 333 tabooed in ceremony, 62 used as paint, 45 used in healing, 94 Cords, sinew, in myth, 284 See CEDAR-BARK; LINE; ROPE Cormorant in myth, 260 Cormorant-down used in medicine, 92 Cormorant island, Nimkish on, 307, folio pl. 330 Cormorant-skins on raven mask, 234 Corpses guarded from sorcerers, 65 in myth, I68, 169 in sorcery, 66-70, 78 tabooed in ceremony, 62 used in ceremony, 288 See CANNIBALISM; MUMMIES Costume, character of, xi hamatsa, I94 pl. in cannibal rite, 238 in winter dance, 178, 182, I83, I86, I88, 194, I95, I97, 204, 205, 213-215, 228-232, 240, 241 skulls as part of, 315 See BLANKETS; CLOTHING Cougars taken with deadfall, 33 Cougar-skin, armor of, 18 Coughs, how treated, 97 Coups. See HONORS Cowichan, hypnotic dance among, 244 Cox island, Yutlenok on, 303, 306 Crabapples, how prepared, 41-42 Crab trees, use of, in healing, 94 Cradles of cedar-bark, 52 padded with bark, 17 Crest of chief on head-dress, 126 of the Gyigyflktim, 307 Crest posts of the Tenaktak, 140 pi. Crests, carvings of, 8 Crests defined, I40 descent of, I27, 138 hats ornamented with, 5, folio pl. 329 hereditary, taken by warriors, 113 in myth, 135, 269 of the Nimkish, 138 pl. of the Tsawatenok, 136 on heraldic columns, folio pl. 330 on house-fronts, I8, 264 tattooed, 6 See SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Crystals in myth, 280-281, 323 in winter dance, 158, i6i, 214-215, 228 Dance at naming, 138 at wedding, 126 descent of, 127 hereditary, taken by warriors, 113 in myth, 169, 274, 279, 282, 294 in warfare, Io8, 119 mythic origin of, I37, 271 paraphernalia, boxes for, I30 property distributed at, 142 spirit, 60 spirit control overcome by, 155, I64 to restore eclipsed moon, 63, folio pl. 355 sfinukwa, origin of, 296-298 wolf, origin of, 288-293 See GHOST DANCE; MASKS; WINTER DANCE Deadfall, use of, 33 Dean channel, Bellacoola on, 3 Decapitation by trickery, 2 I See HEAD-HUNTING Deep bay in myth, 249, 268 Deer, how taken, 33-34 in myth, 246, 250 Deer-bone, root-splitter of, 19 Deer-fern used in medicine, 96 Deerflies, mythic origin of, I68 Deerskin, moccasins of, 5 Deer tail in childbirth custom, 309-310 Deformation. See HEAD DEFORMATION Deluge. See FLOOD Dentalium shells, how obtained, 44-45 ornaments of, 6, 257, folio pl. 331 Descent, how reckoned, 138-I39 See HEREDITY; SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Dip-nets in fishing, 19, 23, 27 Disease averted by ear-piercing, 51 introduced, 306 produced by magic, 156 {view image of page 346} 346 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Disease produced by sorcery, 239 skin, how caused, 59 Dish-carrier in winter dance, I86-I87 Dishes distributed at dance, 19I-192, 243 in myth, 269, 271, 277, 283 See UTENSILS Dogs, how regarded, 139-140 in myth, I33, I67, 266, 268, 288-289 used in hunting, 34-35 use of term, 336 Dog salmon, how cured, 28 See SALMON Dolls. See EFFIGIES Douglas channel, Haisla on, 3, 305 Down. See CORMORANT-DOWN; EAGLE-DOWN; FEATHERS Dowry of bride, 125-132 See MARRIAGE Dream experience related, 60-6I Dreams, shamans governed by, 82, 87 sorcery revealed by, 65 spirits transported by, 8I Dress. See CLOTHING; COSTUME Drew harbor, Wiwekae at, 308 Drills, how made, I6 Drum in winter dance, 176 See SOUNDING BOARDS Drumming at wedding, 129 for victim of murder, 123 in ceremony, 86-88, 178, i8o, 183, I86 -i88, I9I, 202, 204-206, 215, 216, 223, 228, 229, 233, 234 in myth, I35, 265, 290 Drury inlet, Guauaenok on, 22, 307 Duck, prayer to, 62 Ducks, how taken, 35-36 See MALLARDS Dwellings. See HOUSES Dysentery, how treated, 96 Eagle carved on canoes, 13, folio pl. 352 clan of the Haisla, 305 depicted on house, 20 foot of, in ceremony, 88 how taken, 36 in myth, 251 simulated in dance, 232 used to increase vision, 96 Eagle crest. See CRESTS Eagle-down in dance costume, I83 in dream, 60 on captives' skulls, IO7-1o8 Eagle-down symbolized in dance, 176 used ceremonially, 38 used in chest making, 15 used in medicine, 92 used in sleight-of-hand, 21I used in sorcery, 70 used on blanket, 231 worn by shaman, 84 worn in dance, 174, 195, 219, 229, 233 Eagle-feathers in myth, 285 on snares, 35 used in medicine, 92 worn by warrior, I26 Eagle-tail used in sleight-of-hand, 211 Ear-pendants of abalone, 6, 131, 291, 304, folio pl. 364 See ORNAMENTS Ear-piercing, ceremony of, 5I Eaters, a ceremonial group, I64 Echo spirits described, 79, 91 Eclipse, belief regarding, 63, folio pl. 355 Eclipse narrows in myth, 246 Effigies in myth, I35, I36, 269, 292 in winter dance, 158, 211, 2I5 of children at initiation, I59 of gentes, 136 on canoes, 13, 126, folio pl. 352 See CRESTS; IMAGE Egg island, Kwakiutl name for, IO9 Eka defined, 63 Ekehl defined, 64 Elderberries prepared for food, 40-42 Elk, how taken, 35 Epidemic among Hoyalas, 306 See DISEASE Etsekin, Matilpe at, 307 Ewakalis, a Nimkish chief, I20, 121 Excreta in myth, 271-273 used in sorcery, 64 used in winter dance, 216 Eyeballs used in myth, 249 Eyes, swelling of, how caused, 22 treatment of, 96 See BLINDNESS Face, how treated in illness, 92 Face-blackening, 54, 68, 92, I00, 174, I82, 192, 207, 213, 228-233, 268, 281 Face-painting, 50, 52, 219, 288 False hellebore, uses of, 62, 96-97, 99 Fanny bay, Kueha village on, 309 Fasting in ceremony, 62 {view image of page 347} INDEX 347 Fat, human, bodies rubbed with, 31 Feasts at house-building, 9 character of, 153-155 grease, 24 importance of, 138 in ghost dance, 217 in myth, 167, 258, 259, 284, 298 in winter dance, 165, 182, 183, I96-I99, 228, 231, 234 wedding, 128, 129 See CANNIBALISM Feathers in myth, 251, 266-268 See DOWN; EAGLE-FEATHERS Fern. See DEER-FERN; LICORICE-FERN Fire, antipathy for, by dance personage, 160 Fire, effect of, on NunhlftIstilahl, 156, 178 -I79, 194 how made, 18 in Tsawatenok legend, I33, I34 used by warriors, 101, 104 used in hunting, 33, 35 used in winter dance, I8I-I82 used in woodworking, 1o See BURNING; TINDER Firearms, 35, 98, IO8, 114-II6, 303 Fire-drill illustrated, folio pl. 349 Fire spirit of the Koskimo, 31 Fish, belief regarding, 330 how cured, 28, 29 mythic origin of, 250 used as "mat" in myth, 252 See HALIBUT; HERRING; OULACHON; ROCK-COD; SALMON Fisherman, halibut, magic treatment for, 95 Fisherman's cove in myth, 268 Fishhawk used in increasing vision, 96 Fishing described, 19-30 rights, how derived, 138 rights of chiefs, 28 Fishlines of bladder-kelp, 25, 33 Fish people in myth, 246 Flies. See DEERFLIES; SANDFLIES Flood, myths concerning, 253-255 Flying. See MATUM Food custom of warriors, 104 described, 38-44, 304 names, 329, 332 of Tsawatenok in myth, 134 sacrifice of, 8, 153 taboo of, 31, 59, 62, 128 various kinds in myth, 294 Food, vegetal, rights to gather, 138 See COOKING; FEASTS; FISH; GLUTTONY; SALMON Food taster. See KWAHIQAQALANOHSIWI Fool in song, 320 personated in dance, I57-158, 215-216, 232 See NUHLIMAHLA; NUH'LIMISTA; NUNUILILAHLA Foot-bands of goat-hair, 6 Forest spirit, 240 pi. Fort Rupert, copper purchased at, 146 eclipses seen at, 63 firearms obtained at, IO8, 116 founded, IO6, 112, 120, 306, 307 Hamasaka chief at, 74 Komkyutis at, 23 Kwakiutl at, xii, 3, I55 winter dance at, 222, 226 See TSAHiES Forts, native, 10 Fort Vancouver, firearms obtained at, 1O8 Four, number, in childbirth custom, 310 the perfect number, I35 Four-man Eater, ceremonial name, 235, 239 See MOTANA Frenzy of winter dancers, I60, I65, 184, 193 -194, I97-200, 219, 230, 241 Fright, death from, 120 Frogs, creation of, in myth, 254 expelled by magic, 318 Frye, Theodore C., acknowledgments to, xii Fur, clothing of, 5 See CLOTHING; SKIN Fur-seal, how hunted, 30 See SEALS Galiano island, halibut fishing of, 25 Gambling in myth, 250 Games and amusements, 47, 48 pl., 49-51, IOI, 102, 162, 304 Gardiner channel, Haisla on, 305 Genesis of the Tsawatenok, 132-136 Gentes in warfare, 103 list of, 305-309 origin of, I32-137 ownership of crests of, 140 participation of, in weddings, 125-126 rivalry between, I4I See SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Ghost dance described, 216-218 Ghosts personated in dance, I57, I6I {view image of page 348} 348 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Ghosts repelled by songs, II5 See SPIRITS Gift of stream in myth, 283-287 Gifts at betrothal, 125 at ear-piercing ceremony, 51 at naming ceremony, 51-52, I38 made at house-building, 9 marriage, I25-129 of ornaments in myth, 29I of property in ceremony, 182, 213, 218, 243-244 on death of chief, 57-58 See DOWRY; POTLATCH; PROPERTY Gilbert, Henry F., songs transcribed by, xii Gilford island, Kwaustums on, 38 pl. tribes on, 22, I33, 307 Girls, game played by, 49-50 how reared, 96 status of, 50 See MARRIAGE Giuhsumm, a Koskimo gens, 306 Giuhsmrs'unahl, a Koskimo gens, 253, 306 Giuk6lqa, a Koskimo gens, 249, 253, 306 Gldlakifsiwa, a mythic chief, 250 Glendale cove, Awaitlala on, 23, 307 Gluttony simulated in dance, 164, 183, 196, I97 Gnats personated in dance, 158 Goasila, habitat of, 306 halibut fishing by, 24 marriage among, 128 ninhllm dance of, 244 population of, 303 transformer in myths of, 245 winter dance of, 218, 238, 239 Goat, one-horned, in myth, 289 See MOUNTAIN-GOAT Goat-hair, apron of cords of, 304 Gordon islands, halibut fishing of, 25 Grass, hair tied with, 5, 6 Grave houses described, 53 Grave point, Ts6sena at, 307 Grease, when taboo, 31 See TALLOW Grease feasts of Mamalelekala, 52 See FEASTS; OULACHON OIL Grizzly-bear crest of Gyigyllkuim, 307 crest on heraldic column, folio pl. 330 dancer, I57, 202 pi., folio pl. 351 in myth, 258, 263, 271-279 in song, 320 invocation to, 99 Grizzly-bear skin, armor of, 18 See BEAR; NANE; NANIS; NAN-k6HLILA Ground, spirits of the, 9I Guauaenok and Kueha warfare, 114-115 fishing rights of, 22 habitat of, 307 known as clam-eaters, 265 marriage custom of, I26 population of, 303 transformer among, 245 Gum, slope covered with, in myth, 284, 286 spruce, in myth, 250 Guns. See FIREARMS Gwai. See KWAE Gwakiyls, a Wikeno hamatsa, 220, 223, 224 song of, 236 GwAisla, a spirit, 244-245 Gwasiya, a spirit, 244 Gwetela, a Qgyuhil sept, 307 a Wikeno gens, 306 Gwikyileuqa, a mythic woman, 258 Gy6gyYkyilagya gens, origin of, 134 Gyalkam, portrait of, 78 Gyamalagilaq, mythic adventures of, 262-266 GyigyYlkum, gentes so called, 293, 306-309 GyigyYkami gens, feast house of, 134 Gyitisam, gentes so called, I53, 306-308 Gyikami-kohlila, a dance personage, 156 Haaiyalikyawi, a Komoyue (Kueha) gens, 7, 308 Haanatlinoh, a Komoyue (Kueha) gens, 308 Habitat of the Kwakiutl, 304, 305-309 Haeihaes. See CHINA HAT Haehl mentioned in myth, 251 Hahamatses, a Lekwiltok sept, 153, 308 See WALITSUM Hahuamis, fishing rights of, 22 habitat of, 307 origin of, 136 population of, 303 portrait of, 66 pl. transformer among, 245 Haihum, a Lekwiltok (Kueha) village, o18, 309 Haida and Kwakiutl hostility, 113-114 and Kwakiutl neighbors, 3 carving borrowed from, xi coppers derived from, 145 hats derived from, 5, folio pl. 329 Haiihlftaq. See BELLABELLA Haikums mentioned in myth, 264 Hair burned during eclipse, 63, folio pl. 355 {view image of page 349} INDEX 349 Hair, cedar-bark worn in, 223 cut in mourning, 59 how treated, 97 singed to induce growth, 52 used in sorcery, 64, 69, 72, 74, 76 See GOAT-HAIR Hairdress described, 5-6, 304 during ceremony, 62 in myth, 285, 287 in winter dance, 232 of hamatsa, 229 of hunters, 31 of shaman, 91 of warriors, I00 Hair-seal, how hunted, 30, 35 in myth, 261, 268, 278, 279, 283 See SEAL Haisla, ceremonial groups named for, 164 descent among, I39 habitat and divisions, 3, 305 leggings of the, 5 party killed by Qagyuhl, i64 vocabulary of, 329-337 Haiyahlilakuis, a mythic being, 79, I6I Haiyakantalahl, a dance personage, I57 Haiyalikyawi, a spirit, I60 Haiyalikyilahl, a dance personage, 158, I59 words of, in Awilotlilahi song, 320 Haiyustisiuls, a sorcerer, 77 Haikalahil, a Nakoaktok chief, 146 Halaheniuh, a Haisla clan, 305 Halliapui, a mythic personage, I34 Halibut, bait used for, 29 importance of, 24-27 See FISHING; FOOD; NUMHYALIKYU Ha'maa, a dance personage, I37, I57, I64 Hamahiiahil, a dance personage, I58 Hamasaka employs sorcerers, 74 initiated as hamatsa, 220, 226 in mummy feasts, 242 on secrets of stoutness, 94 opposes sorcery, 77 portrait of, folio pl. 333 Hamasilahl, a dance personage, I37, I56, I64 illustrated, 228 pl. Hama'fS, definition and function, I56 See HAMATSA Hamatsa, functions of, in winter dance, 159 -I65, I70-243, 304 Koskimo, illustrated, I72 pl. Nakoaktok, costume of, 194 pi. Qagyuhl, illustrated, I82 Hamatsa, songs of, 311-314 Hami illustrated, 236 Hamiyalahl, a dance personage, I58 Hams'hamfsus, a ceremonial personage, 156, I58-I60, I64, 207-209 words of, in Awilotlllahl song, 320 Hams'pek, definition and use, I75 illustrated, folio pl. 358 in winter dance, 220 Hamtsit, participant in sorcery, 67 Hand-game illustrated, 48 pl. See GAMES Handicraft, terms for, 333 Hand-shaking introduced, 38 Hanpttligilahw, a mythic person, 268 Hantliqtnizft, a mythic person, 255-262 Hanus, a Kueha, 121-122 Hanwati, a stream in myth, 288, 293, 296 Ts6fsena at, 307 Hanwatienoti, an Awaitlala gens, 307 Haphila defined, 227 Hagqkin, Gyigyilkum at, 307 Harbledown island, Awaitlala on, 307 crest posts on, I40 pi. house on, 34 pl., 294 Hardwicke island, Bellabella visit, 112 Harpoon in myth, 269, 270, 286, 287 used in hunting, 29-30 Hata, Koeksotenok at, 307 Hatasu, the thunderbird, 251 Hats described, 5, I3I, 304, folio pls. 329, 339 See HEAD-DRESS Hafsumenoi, habitat of, 309 Hawahltlah, a mythic personage, I56, I6i Hawaiian islands. See OAHU Hawayatalail, a dance personage, 156, 164, 214 Hawi, name of George Hunt, 67, 71, 72, I49, 153, 243 Hawinalahl in winter dance, I57, 164, 201-204, 221 Hawks, how captured, 36 Headache, how treated, 97 Head-band of cedar-bark, 9I, I65, 219, 228, 229, 238, folio pls. 333, 358 hemlock, in winter dance, 201, 206' of skin, 6 secret objects in, 91-92 Head deformation practised, 4, 52-53, folio pls. 346, 354 Head-dress in myth, 135, I36 in winter dance, 214 of chief at wedding, 126 {view image of page 350} 350 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Head-dress. See HATS Head-hunting in war, 98, IOO, 104, 105, 107 -112, 117, 119, 120, I23 See WARFARE Head-ring of cedar-bark, 232 Healing. See HAiYALIKYILAHL; MEDICINE-MEN Heart in foot in myth, 276-277 Hehaesla, a ceremonial group, I64 See HAISLA Hehaeftahsam, a ceremonial group, 164 See HAISLA Hehams'hamtfus in ceremony, 240-241 Heliosmis, a Kueha chief, 114, 115 Hekums, a Guauaenok village, I 14, 115 Hekwatn, a Lekwiltok-Comox, IO8 —II2 Hellebore. See FALSE HELLEBORE Hemahstu, a gens, 308 He'mafiu'lus, a sorcerer, 149 Hemlock, beds of sprigs of, 30 bodies rubbed with, 30, 62, 234, 257, 293 boughs used in purification, 8i, 85, 86 " ground magic" near, 78 hoop worn by widow, 58-59 in myth, 295 mummy wrapped in, 176 needles made of, I9 sickness averted with ring of, 86-87 worn in ceremony, I74, I78-180, 201, 204, 213, 214, 242 worn in hair, 31, 91, I00 wreaths of warriors, 105 Hemlock-bark used for coughs, 97 Hemlock-bast, how gathered, I 1 used for food, 38-40 Hemlock-roots used in medicine, 96 Heraldic columns illustrated, folio pls. 330, 353 See HOUSE-POSTS Heralds, gentile, 154 in winter dance, 177 See SPEAKER Herb-doctors, functions of, 64, 96-99 See MEDICINE-MEN Heredity, chiefship by, 113 descent of ceremonies by, 155 descent of heralds by, I54 of winter-dance officials, 185, 205 principle of, 137-140 See SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Herons, creation of, 248 Herring, how caught, 19-21 Herring roe, how prepared, 22 how taken, 19-22 Herring-roe, when taboo, 31 Hlaaluis, habitat of, 309 Hliahltykyu, a ceremonial group, I64 Hlbaiwunala, a mythic person, 293-294 Hlawiftis. See TLAUITSIS Hlilama, a mythic chief, 283-287 Hliluqekelis, a mythic person, 293 Ho6hukulahl, a dance personage, I57, 159, I6o, I64 Hotihuq, a mythic monster, 157, 169, folio pl. 336 dance, origin of, 137 in winter dance, i8I, 232 Honors recounted by warriors, 105 Hook, halibut, 25 trolling, of bone, 27 Hoop, hemlock, worn by widow, 58 Hope island, halibut fishing of, 24-25 tribes on, 306 Horn, tools of, for woodworking, IO Hotliliti in winter dance, I85, I86, I88, 203, 206, 233 House, Koskimo, 20 pl. mortuary, Mamalelekala, 52 pl. mythical, of the Tsawatenok, 133, 136 of Kinikila in myth, 252 of Pihpaqalan6hsiwi, 166-169 Tenaktak, 34 pl. with fiunukwa images, 294 House-frame illustrated, 36 pl., folio pl. 343 House-fronts illustrated, 10, 18,264, folio pl. 350 noted by Vancouver, 141 House-posts, character of, xi described, xi, 6-9, 14 illustrated, 24 pl., folio pls. 34I, 358 mythic origin of, 251-252 of killerwhale design, 269, 271 Houses described, 304 how transported, 13 number of, in 1836-41, 303 razed over dead, 306 use of mats in, I6 Hoyalas, former habitat of, 306 myth of the, 283 whaler of the, 29 Huckleberries, how prepared, 42 Humti, a warrior, 107 Hunchback personated in game, 50 Hunt, George, informant, xii, 65 on childbirth customs, 309 See IHAWI Hunting, implements of, 19 {view image of page 351} INDEX 35' Hunting in myth, i66, 268, 275 See ARROWS; OCTOPUS HUNTER; WHALER H~wbIhwilikya, a wolf personage, 156, i64, 2I5 Hlwih~wi, Tlaaluis at, 309 Hwz —lqis, a mythic person, 263 H~wfissam, a village, 1o8, 253 Hlwritis, a Koskimo village, 279, 306 HyiIhyitpa, a ceremonial group, 164 Hypnotism in dance, 245 Images, ts6nukwa, origin of, 293-294 See CRESTS; EFFIGIES Implements, various, 10, 15, i6, 19, 304 Increasing Mountain, a mythical personage, I33 Industries described, 304 See CANOES; FISHING; HANDICRAFT; HUNTING; WOODWORKING Infants, customs regarding, 51-52-, 159 treatment of, by magic, 95 See CHILDBIRTH; CHILDREN Initiate. See HAMATSA Intoxication from elderberry juice, 40, 41 in myth, 294 Iron oxide used as paint, 46 used in medicine, 92 7ackson bay, tribes on, 308, 309 7ohnstone, fames, of Vancouver's party, 98 funiper used in medicine, 96 Kaeihstafts, shaman, 85 Kdlietasu, a Wikeno, 2-34-235 Kaihikapalis, a mythic personage, 252 Xk~hilsfli, a mountain in myth,25 Kahyb defined, 86 fcaiyz~Ii~aka, a mythic woman, 262 Kadkanafl, Kueha at, 309 Kciketiin, Kyekykyenok at, 307 Kakweiken river., Gy'igyllktlm on, 307 kalbpa, a Wiweakam, I114 Kal6qz~Liuis, a mythic creature., i6o, 162 p1., 169, 181, folio pl. 336 Ka'mhulabR, a dance personage, 157 Kanaiyu defined, 8i in winter dance, i86, 190-192z, 198 Ka'nikila, a transformer, 245, 247-253 Kai'nis. See CAHNISH BAY fkawa-kyas, a pool mentioned in myth, 293 Kaiwatiliktilla, the TsaWatenok progenitor, 132-I36, 254, 255, 293 Kawlit~n, a locality, 112 tlihtl ala, a mythic personage, 134 frehtlalat2l, a mythic personage, 134 Ktekahtla, a mythic personage, 270 Ikek~ikeniuhi, a Haisla clan, 305 keTkala, a purification rite, 61-62 Kikfitilikcilla, a Tsawatenok gens, 126, I34 Ketkawatilikblla, plural of Kiwatilikfilla, I34 ktikz~itltiala, portrait of, 62 pi. k.kikzlitiala gens, origin of, I34 Kelp. See BLADDER-KELP.kisina, a shaman, 87-89, 123-I24 KH~is, a Comox traitor, I I10-11I2 Kikiakahigilaq, a mythic person, 262 kikydlakiflz~, a mythic person, 264 likydlaki(Thmka, a mythic person, 264 Kildalla bay, remnant tribes on, 305 Killerwhale alluded to in song, 324 ceremonial group named for., 164 clan of the Haisla, 305 crest of Nimkish chief, 138 effigies in myth, 269, 270 in myth, 246, 277, 279 invocation to, 3 7-38 masks as marriage payment, 243 not killed, 37, 85 personated in dance, 158, 197 power derived from, 78 8s, 91 Kingcome inlet, oil product of, 24 Tsawatenok on, 132, 133, 307, folio P1. 332 Kingcome river, fishing rights on, 22 Kingfisher effigy in winter dance., 212 King George, brother of Tih116n, 71 Kissing not practised, 38 Kitamat,' a Haisla village, 239, 303, 305 Ktfua Tsimshian group, 117 Kitlope, population Of, 303 IC ytol llis,l a mythic personage, 252 Klaskino, habitat Of, 306 Knight inlet, fishing rights on, 23-24 tribes on, 307-308, folio PL. 335 Knives, Primitive, 15-i66 26 taboo by hamatsa, 235 Koeksotenok, fishing rights of, 22 habitat Of, 307 houses Of, 7, 264 PL. population Of, 303 portrait, 62 PI. transformer among, 245 wedding canoe of, 126 fkohklikusdlaR, a dance personage, 158 R[6lista, a creek in myth, 283 Kokaitk., a Bellabella sept, 305 population Of. 303 {view image of page 352} 352 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Ko-kulinu1n, a Haisla clan, 305 Kb-kumakiihtale gens in myth, 264 K6lus dance, origin of, I37 K6lusYlahRl, a dance personage, 157, 159, 164 Komenok, habitat of, 309 Al6mina'ka, a mythic person, I56, i6o, i6i, 164, 169, 172, I74, 177, 178 in winter dance, i86, 188, 190, 195, 196, 212, 219 songs of, 315 X6mky6fts, a Komkyutis gens, 308 Komkyutis, fishing rights of, 22 gentes of, 308 population of, 303 Komoyue, gentes of, 308 See KUEHA [6mialaRl, a dance personage, 158, i6i J[muqi, a mythic person, 260-262, 276-279 pI. masks of, as marriage payment, 243 Koprino, habitat of the, 306 portrait of, 74 pL., folio pL. 331 Koq'qfahsam, a ceremonial group, 164 Koskimo, ceremonial group named for, 164 ceremonial personages illustrated, i6o, 172, 234-240 pls. fire-drill illustrated, folio pL. 349 habitat and gentes, 306 hamatsa of, 172 pI. houses of, 20 pI., 24 pL., folio pL. 341 marriage among, 128, 132 movements of the, 306 myths of the, 247, 268, 279 origin of the, 247-253 population of, 303 portraits of, 22 pI., 78 pI., folio pls. 354, 363 sea-otter hunting by, 30-33 twin child healer of, 92 pL., 94 pL. vocabulary of, 329-337 winter dance of the, 216, 220 K'sigia, a Koskimo locality, 306 X[6z3uis. See KAL6Q13Suis Kueha, ceremonial groups of the, 164 habitat and gentes, 108, I13, 123, 308, 309 houses of the, 7 in warfare, 109-110, 114-115 in winter dance, 234 joined by Tlaaluis, I 13, 309 meaning of name, 112 population of the, 303 See KOMOYUE Kulili, a legendary person, 133, 254, 255 Jr u' ma, a fish in myth, 277, 279 personated in dance, 158 Xkzmkilas, mythic origin of name, 286 kImkila'yu, a mythic slave, 286 Kwae, name of Kingcome river, 307 kwaes, a mountain in myth, 288 Kwei~stmms. See KwAUSTUMS Kwtila qaqalan6hsiwi, a mythic person, i6o, 169, i8o A'wciltilale, the fire spirit, 3' Kwa'hwamNil illustrated, 234 p1. Kwa'kwahulahl a dance personage, 157, 164.kw6likwig, a mythic person, 286-288 Iwa'n0 in myth, 249-252 Koskimo at, 306 population of, 303 Kwatsi, Awaitlala at, 307 Kwaustums, houses at, i8, 26 pL., 38 pI., 133, 264 mentioned in myth, 264 tribes at, 307 tsdinukwa at, 296 pI. Kwewina, a Walitsum warrior, 113 Kweiwis, a Wiweakam, 114 Kwawkewlth agency, Kwakiutl at, 304 Kwihaagydfis, a transformer, 245 Kwikwaliawi, Raven transformer, 245, 250 Kwikwasrilahl, a dance personage, iS6, 164, 214-21 5 Iwzwimhyuti, attempt to bewitch, 75-76 iwzwqekilahl, a dance personage, iS8 Rya~~hl, a lagoon, 247, 252 Kyakyamlitlalasi', a mythic personage, 134 KyeikyqhAlcka, a ceremonial group, 164 Kyekykyenok, an Awaitlala gens, 176, 303, 307 Kytmkadlzs in winter dance, 242 Kyknkalatliia, a mythic person, I56, i6o, 169, 172, 174, 175, I86, i88, 190, 195, 196, 199, 202, 224, 231-234, 317, 318 ryhitt, Wikeno village at, 305 ICytkyeenoi. See KYEKYKYENOK I~yfltalatol, habitat of, 305 Kyyztpstala, a mythic house, 134 X0y6ti house-front of, i8 Lejalalsb'ntaiyu, a gens, 308, 309 Legyus, portrait of, 70 pL. Lbihsa, an initiation degree, 159 Ldhsi, a Walitsum gens, 308 Lbkum, a Walitsum gens, 308 Lblahlsritaiyu, founder of gens, 308 {view image of page 353} INDEX 353 LalihyYlitialahl, a warrior, I2 Landslide in myth, 266-267 Language, note on, 156 of shamans, 91 See VOCABULARIES Laqilea, a sept, 308 Laughter, personation of, in dance, I58 Laver used as food, 44 Laxative, plants used as, 97 Legends of gentile origins, I32 See MYTHOLOGY Leggings. See CLOTHING; COSTUME Lekwiltok borrow Salish myth, 253 dream experience by a, 60 habitat and septs, 3, 112, 308 ninh-llm dance among, 244 population of, 303 portrait of, 82 pl. spring migration of, 19 warlike character of, 101, 105-113 Licorice-fern used in medicine, 96 Lightning in myth, 251 Lithsi, a Walitsum gens, 308 Lkaiiih, a mythic hunter, 298 LykyYmaliot, a Guauaenok chief, I14 Lililwagyila gens, origin of, I34 Line, harpoon, in myth, 286 See CORD; FISHLINES; ROPE Lizards, scrofula caused by, Ioo used by warrior, 99 Lolqenuh, a Komkyutis gens, 308 Loon crest on hpuse-front, 264 in myth, 257 watchman of monster, 276-277 Loughborough inlet, tribes on, 309 Love ceremonially strengthened, 87 secured by sorcery, 74 stimulated with plants, 75 Love charm in myth, 270 Love songs, 6, 172, 324-325 Lullinuhi, mythic personages, I6i Liauitllahl, a dance personage, I57, I6I Lupin-roots, effect of eating, 40-41 Lapulet, a sorcerer, 69 origin of name, 51 Luwagyila, a mythic personage, 134 MaamAhenoti, a ceremonial group, 164 Maamtagyila, a Qagyuhl gens, 66, 307 Madness. See FRENZY Magic for promoting skill, 95 how practised, 78 VOL. X-23 Magic in myth, 279-283 in songs, 317-321, 324 in winter dance, 205-207 power from mountain-goats, 266 See MAMAKA; MEDICINE-MEN; POWER; SLEIGHT-OF-HAND; SORCERERS Maliaiyis, a mythic personage, 253 Maihmagis, a mythic personage, 268-271 Maliua, a Nakoaktok, II6 Makayu defined, 88 Makwa, a mythic person, 247 Malelikzuli, founder of Mamalelekala, 307 Mallards, ceremonial group named for, I64 See DUCK Mamaka in winter dance, I56, I6I, 213,232,233 Mamalelekala, cemetery of, 56 pl. clams cured by, 29-30 copper purchased by, 145-I46, I48 fishing rights of, 23 habitat of, 307 Koeksotenok with, 307 loon crest of, 264 mortuary house of, 52 pl. population of, 303 portrait of, 87 pl. privileges of chief of, 6 transformer among, 245 ManigyYliskyasu, a mythic chief, 258 Maple, bows made of, I8 See VINE MAPLE Marmot-fur, clothing of, 5 Marriage, customs of, 59, I24-I32, 304, folio pls. 337, 344, 357, 36I debt, relation of tsdnukwa to, 296 payment for, 243 property distributed at, 142 Marten in myth, 253 taken with deadfall, 33 Marten-fur, clothing of, 5 Marten-skin worn as head-band, 6 Mask, octopus, myth of, 298-299 of forest spirit, 240 of hami, 236 of k6muqi, 276, 278, 279 of octopus hunter, 246 pl. of tli'wiuliht dancer, 242 Masks as marriage payment, 243 character of, xi exhibited at dance, 244 illustrated, I58-I66, I84, I86, 202, 212 -216, 228-242, 246, 248, 262, 276, folio pls. 336, 35I, 358, 362 {view image of page 354} 354 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Masks in mortuary rite, 57 in myth, 279, 292, 293, 297 in winter dance, 156-158, 171, I8o, I8I, I86, 197, 212, 219 worn at wedding, I29-130 Matilpe, fishing rights of, 23 habitat of the, 307 Haida attacked by, II4 population of the, 303 transformer among, 245 Matltun, a Wiweakam village, 309 Mats distributed at dance, I9I-192 houses made of, 304 in myth, 167, I68, 252, 275, 276, 278, 284, 286 manufacture and uses, 16-17 used for bedding, 112 used for sails, 13 used in ceremony, 86 used in games, 47 used in preparing bast, 39-40 used in preparing food, 30, 41, 43, 295, 296 used in skinning, 32 Mattresses, mats used as, 17 Matum, a spirit, 158, 16I, 214 song of, 323 Mauls, how made, 15 Mawilh illustrated, 174 pi., 176 pi., folio pl. 358 in myth, 278, 279 in winter dance, I75, I77, I8o, I86, 192, 204, 206, 215, 220 Maweim, a Kueha village, 309 Measurement, units of, 17-I8, 47, 310 See VALUE Medicine-men, character of, 305 functions of, 78-99 Koskimo, portraits, 92 pl., 94 pl. See SORCERERS Memkumlis illustrated, 36 pl., folio pl. 343 Mamalelekala at, 307 Menstruation. See BLOOD Milbank sound, Bellabella on, 305 Mimiiniuh, a Haisla clan, 305 Mink claw used in magic, 95 in myth, 250 personated in dance, 158 skin worn as head-band, 6 taken by charm, 34 taken with deadfall, 33 Mink-fur, clothing of, 5 robes edged with, I6 Miqat, a ceremonial degree, I64 See SEALS Mistakes in winter dance corrected, 230 Mitla, a dance personage, 156, I58, 164, 213 Moccasins. See CLOTHING Monster in myth, 252, 263, 270, 276-277, 298 -299 moon swallowed by, 63, folio pl. 355 See HA'MAA; IKOMUQI; SiSIUTL; TSUNUKWA Mooachaht, reference to the, 120 Moon, rites during eclipse of, 63, folio pl. 355 Mortuary customs described, 53-59, 304 in myth, 290 Mortuary house, Mamalelekala, 52 pl. Mosquitoes, mythic origin of, I68 M6tana, ceremonial name, 235-239 song of, 311-314 Mof6ikya, a rite, 230 Mouat [?], Alexander XY., mentioned, 226 Mountain, a mythical personage, 133 Mountain-goat, clothing of hair of, 4-6 hair of, used in weaving, I6 how taken, 34-35 in myth, I66, 256, 258, 266-268 personated in dance, I56, 230 pl. See GOAT Mountain spirit in myth, 266-268 Mountains created by magic, 274 Mourning, customs of, 56-59, 98-99 in myth, 290 scarification in, 120 songs of Nakoaktok, 265 Mouse in myth, 260, 29I supernatural power from, 78 Mowakiu, portrait of, folio pl. 332 Mucus thrown in winter dance, 216 used in sorcery, 64 See SPUTUM Muhr, A. F., death of, xii Mullit3us, a Tsawatenok, 34 Mummy in winter-dance trick, 208 See CANNIBALISM; CORPSE Mumfialahil, a dance personage, I58 Muqulah, a Walitsum chief, 113 Murder committed, I23, I53-155, 305 Music. See SONG Muismus, a ceremonial group, I64 Mussel inlet, China Hat on, 305 Mussel-shells, implements of, 15, I6, 26, 39, 286, 287 in myth, 295 {view image of page 355} INDEX 355 Mussfq, a sorcerer, 76-77 Myers, AY. E., acknowledgments to, xii Mythology, I65-I70, 245-249 NaanE'Xsoku, application of name, 164 Naemahpuinkima, portrait of, 66 pi. Nahinagyllis, a mythic person, 279-283 Nahwahtahw, the Nakoaktok, 307 Nakoaktok and Tsimshian warfare, I I5-I20 at Wikeno winter dance, 239 cedar-bark prepared by, 16 pi. chief and copper, 146 pi. girl, portrait, folio pls. 334, 363 habitat and gentes, 306-307 halibut fishing by, 24-25 hamatsa costume, 194 pi. hat painting by, folio pl. 329 marriage among, 128 mawihi of, 174 pl., 176 pi. mourning songs of, 265 myths of the, 245, 262, 295 nnhilim dance of, 244 population of, 303 transformer in myths of, 245 warrior, portrait of, 98 pi. winter dance of, 218, 220 Nakomgilisala, habitat of, 306 marriage among, 128 Names conferred on initiates, 176 family, descent of, 127 given at potlatch, 267 hereditary, taken by warriors, 113 how derived, 138-I39 how obtained in myth, I33, 274 of infants, 310 personal, 51-52 property distributed when given, 142 taboo in winter dance, I69, 170 See NICKNAMES Nanakawalihl, a dance personage, 158, i6o Nane, a dance personage, 157, I59, I64, I84 pl. song of, 320 Nanis, a mythic creature, 158, 263 Nan-k6hTlla, a dance personage, I56 Nanoose and Lekwiltok warfare, 107 Nanstalihl-Pa hpiaqalan6Iisiwi, a mythic personage, 156, i6o, I6I, 164 Nanfti, a Nakoaktok warrior, 117 Na'nuwalaq, a legendary personage, I33 Nass river, dance among tribes of, 244 Natural phenomena, terms for, 334 Nawalaq defined, 78, 317 Nawalaq in myth, 249 Nawiti, dance society obtained from, I64 halibut fishing by, 24 nunhflim dance of, 244 population of, 303 transformer in myths of, 245 tribes composing, 306 winter dance of, 220 Necklaces in myth, 257, 262, 263 of dentalium, 6 See ORNAMENTS Neck-rings of warriors, 99, Ioo See CEDAR-BARK Neechantz river in myth, 165, 256 Nohuntsitk on, 305 Needles, how made, 19 Nets for taking hair-seals, 30 used in fishing, 19-20, 27 used in taking birds, 35 Nettle-bark used in medicine, 97 Nettle-fibre, fishlines of, 25 nets of, 19-20, 27, 30 Neuralgia, how treated, 97 Nicknames given in winter dance, I92 See NAMES Nightmare, how caused, 22 NYfnshyi, a Koskimo gens, 306 NYkyefli killed by sorcerers, 68-71 Nimkish belief as to owls, 60 crests of, 138 pl. firearms among, 98 fishing rights of, 22 habitat of, 307 population of, 303 trade with Vancouver, 145 transformer among, 245 village illustrated, 8 pl., folio pl. 350 Nimkish river, Nimkish on, 22 Ninzilkinuh gens, origin of, 133 Niflayu defined, 299 Nohuntsitk, habitat of, 305 in myth, I65 Nonpareil, a schooner, 240 Nootka, firearms obtained at, 98 Nootka tribe, habitat of, 3 wolf dance of the, 157 Nose-ornaments, shell, 6, 304, folio pl. 329, 331 Nui'imahla in winter dance, 112, I57, 159, 164, 184, 202, 203, 215, 216 pl., 231 -234 See NUNU6rHLMAHLA Nufilhmista, a dance personage, I58 {view image of page 356} 356 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Nuihltmkilaka, a forest spirit, 240 pl. Nufilnuhllisuma', a mythic person, 247, 249 Nulini'mis, a sorcerer, 74 a winter-dance official, 174 in mythology, 245, 252 in winter dance, I88-I91, 199-200 Nuiiwunftitoi. See NOHUNTSITK Nuiyustalis, a mythic personage, 252 Neik6pnkyYm, a chief, 66-74, 92 contest with sorcerer, 149-153 house of, 8 murder by, 154 Nulis, a Kueha chief, 114, II5 initiated as hamatsa, 220, 226 See OTfSISTALIS Nulfii, portrait of, 82 pi. Numas, an island, Io9 name defined, 63, folio pl. 359 Numerals in Kwakiutl dialects, 335 NimAiyalikyu, a mythic monster, I58, 263, 270 NumAiyelekum. See NUMHYALIKYU Numiye, meaning of term, 190-191 Numkah- dance, mythic origin of, 270 Nimkes. See NIMKISH Namuqis, a dance initiate, 162 a mythic person, 249, 252, 253 dance given by, 211 Nf'nalalahl, a dance personage, 137, 158, I64 pl. Nuinhflm, a ceremony, 234, 235, 238, 240, 244 See TLU'WUiLAiHU NunhlfYssta, a mythic person, 160 Nuinhilf3stilah7l, a dance personage, 156, I6o, 16I, 164, I69, 172, I74, I78 pl., I79, i86, I88, I90, 194-197, 316 Ninkamais in winter ceremony, 241 Nunzi/hlahl, a dance personage, 158 Nunufihlmah7a in winter dance, 199, 215 See NUHIiMAHLA Nin'ndmkalah-l, mythic dance name, 270 Nufnwakawi, a mythic personage, 165-167, 234, 236 Nursery song, 325-326 Nuaienohi, a Kueha settlement, 113, 121, 123, 309 NM'witi, name of Cape Commerell, 306 Oahu, abalone-shells from, 6 Octopus catcher illustrated, 28 pi. how taken, 29 hunter, mask of, 246 pi., 298 pl. legs in childbirth custom, 309-310 Octopus mask, myth of, 298-299 masks as marriage payment, 243 Oealitk, a Bellabella sept, 303, 305 Oetlitk, a Bellabella sept, 303, 305 Ogress in myth, 295 See MONSTER Oil in myth, I66, 167 kept in bladder-kelp, 274 See OULACHON OIL; SILVER-PERCH OIL; WHALE OIL Okwunalis, Tsawatenok village, 307 Omahtalatligilahw, a mythic person, 268 Omehl, the Raven transformer, 245, 250, 251 Omen, bladder-kelp as an, I03 of sneezing, II2, 150 of the raven, II119-120, 310-311 (qila, brother of Tlihin, 67 Oqi6was, a locality in myth, 288, 293 Ordeal by warriors, 102 in ceremony, 62, 157, 201-204 See SCARIFICATION Orientation of the dead, 53, 304 Ornamentation of hats, 5 of houses, I8, 20 See CARVING Ornaments, gift of, in myth, 291 in winter dance, I82 personal, 6, 304, folio pls. 329, 364 dif1stalls, a chief, 220, 242, 308 Otter in myth, 253 how taken, 33-34 used in love revenge, 75 See HAWAHLILHAHL; SEA-OTTER Oulachon, creation of, 247, 250 how taken, 22-23, 29 importance of, 23-24 in myth, 134 supernatural power from, 78 Oulachon oil as food, 22, 40-44, 153, 304 trade in, 24, 26 Oulachon Woman, a mythic person, 247-248 Owekano lake, scene of myth, 256, 258 tribes on, 35, 305 Owls, beliefs regarding, 60, 261 Pais, Nakoaktok at, 307 Paddles, magic, in myth, 262-264 of war-canoes, I03 Paddling, method of, Io6 See CANOES Paihala defined, 64, 78 in cannibal rite, 235, 237 {view image of page 357} INDEX 357 Pahiala songs, 323-324 See MEDICINE-MEN Paihpaqalanohsiwi, a man-eating spirit, 156, 159-I64, I94, 219, 221, 227, 234-236, 238, 242, 304, 313-3I7 myth of, 165-170 Paihus defined, 155 Paint in mouth of infant, 310 Paint-bag in myth, 280 Painting of canoe, folio pl. 352 of hat, folio pl. 329 symbolic, on house-front, i8 pi., 20 pl., 26 pl., folio pl. 350 symbolic, on mawihl, 174 pi., 176 pl. See FACE-PAINTING; ORNAMENTATION; SYMBOLISM Paints, aboriginal, 45 See COLORS Pantomime in winter dance, I71, 233 Paiputla,,a ceremonial group, 164 Paiqs, a mythic creature, 156 PaiqusYlahl, a dance personage, 156, I64 illustrated, 158 pl., I66 pl. song of, 319 Patenuhi defined, 64 Patllagilaq, a mythic person, 262 Paiwli, a Fort Rupert man, 63 Pepalala defined, 64, 78, I55 Pepatenuhi defined, 64 Pepespatenui defined, 64 Pepiatoqumar, a Kueha gens, 309 Personal terms, vocabularies of, 335 Pespatenuh defined, 64 Pgwanamk6ohldla, Lekwiltok warrior, 111-II2 Pgwis, a mythic creature, 262 pi., 263 Phillips arm, Wiweakam near, 309 Phillips lake, Tlaaluis on, 309 Physical character, 4 Pipuikumlisila, a mythic person, 251 Pitfalls, non-use of, 34 Plants used in medicine, 96-97 Platforms in villages, Io Political organization described, 304 Pond-lily used in medicine, 97 Population, statistics of, 303-304 Porpoise, how hunted, 29-30 in myth, 25I, 260 Port Neville, Kueha near, 309 Potlatch, character of, I4I-I44 chief's daughter enthroned at, 6, folio pl. 334 for unborn child, I59 Potlatch in myth, 267, 271 songs at wedding, 127-128 Potlit, a Nakoaktok warrior, 117, II8 P6tlus, a mythic chief, 258 Power, supernatural, acquired by shaman, 85 acquired by washing, 293 derived from quartz crystal, 280-28I derived from spirits, I37, I59 mentioned in song, 314 of medicine-men, 94 See MAGIC; SUPERNATURAL POWER Prayer in myth, 268 to spirits, 62-63 Pregnancy. See CHILDBIRTH Promiscuity in winter, 170, 199 Property, communistic character of, 141 distributions of, 131, 132, I38, 142-144, 165, 213, 243 placed with dead, 55 sacrifice of, 148-153, I55, 173, 174, I92, 194 taken by warriors, IOI See BLANKETS; CANOES; COPPERS Property-marks on weapons, 32 Property-right in fishing stations, 23 in sea-otters, 32 See FISHING RIGHTS Pueblo kachinas referred to, 159 Punishment of children, 293 Purification by hunters, 31, 34 by ordeal, 102 by shaman, 85 in myth, 136 in winter dance, 227-228 object used in, 8i of the widowed, 58, 59, 304 rite of, 61-62 spruce burned for, 292 See BATHING; WATER SPRAYING; SPRINKLING Qagyuhl, application of term, 3 ceremonial personages illustrated, 158, I62-I66, 178, I82-186, 202, 212-216, 228-232, 244-248, 262, 276, folio pls. 358, 362 chief's party illustrated, folio pl. 338 copper sold by, I45-I47 habitat and septs, 307 hand-game of, 48 pl. in warfare, 118 medicine-men of, 87 {view image of page 358} 358 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Qagyuhi octopus catcher illustrated, 28 pl. population of, 303 sailing illustrated, 4 pi., folio pl. 356 transformer among, 245 village illustrated, folio pl. 353 vocabulary of, 329-337 winter dance of, 156, 220, folio pl. 348 wolf mask borrowed from, 238 Qa'illa, portrait of, folio pl. 331 Qakalisanuh, a Nimkish personage, IO Qaken, a Salish locality, 253, 308 Qaqugyuhl, a Nakoaktok gens, 307 Qaquzkamal'enuh, a Koskimo gens, 253, 306 Qaquklmlilas, a mythic house, 252 Qaifi. See KWATSI Qafiilis, Blinkinsop bay, 254 QayuqulagyYlis, a Wiweakam, 114 Qeqakyulis, an island, I I QeqesYlis, dance personages, I64, 165 Qeqgafa, a ceremonial group, 155, 164, I65 QeqiyYm, a ceremonial group, I64, 165 Qesilis. See QEQESILIS Qefsa. See QEQUTSA; SPARROWS Qtia. See KUEHA Qii'im, a Kueha gens, 309 Qiqaiagyila. See TLAALUIS Quartz crystal, belief regarding, 37 See CRYSTAL Quatsino, habitat of, 306 population of, 303 portraits, folio pls. 346, 347 Quatsino sound, canoes of, 12 fishing by tribes of, 24 hairdressing of natives on, 7 houses of, 7 marriage gifts of tribes of, I32 tribes on, 128, 306, folio pl. 331 view on, folio pl. 345 whales in, 288 Queen Charlotte islands, Haida on, 3 Queen Charlotte sound, halibut fishing on, 24 Qula, a name of Hintliqlnufsi, 26I Qzilinft2s, a shaman, 82 QuRniulahl, a dance personage, I56, I59, I64, 232 pi., folio pl. 337 Qunliwafli, a Bellabella chief, 112 Quntiwulail, a Lekwiltok, 60 Quntoqilahiw, a mythic person, 252 Qfiqakum, a Komoyue gens, 308 a Qigyuhi gens, 66, 307 Raccoon, a mythic personage, 253 clothing of fur of, 5 taken with deadfall, 33 Rain, game for terminating, 50 Rainbow symbolized on house-front, 264 Rain-capes illustrated, folio pls. 329, 339 See CLOTHING Rattle in myth, 282 of copper strips, 220 used by shaman, 80-82,84,87, folio pl. 333 used in medicine, 92 used in mortuary rite, 57 used in winter dance, I87, I88, 212, 213 Raven, beak of, used in magic, 95 carved on door-post, 7 clan of the Haisla, 305 cries of, 310-311 depicted on mawihl, 176 in myth, 133-136, i6o, 245-247 in song, 235 magic creation of, 282 mask in ceremony, I57, 234 omens of the, II9-I20, 310-311 represented on house-front, folio pl. 350 the transformer, 250 Red paint proscribed in ceremony, 169 Religion, 59-63, 155-245, 304 See CEREMONIES; MYTHOLOGY Revenge at ball game, 102 See BLOOD REVENGE Rheumatism, how treated, 97 Rings, copper, in myth, 272, 273 See CEDAR-BARK; COSTUME; NECK-RINGS Rites. See CEREMONIES; RELIGION Rivalry between head men, I41 sacrifice of property in, 148-153 River-magic, belief in, 78-79 River spirits, power derived from, 91, 101 Rivers inlet, fishing rights on, 23 herring roe gathered on, 22 in myth, I65, 258 salmon gathered on, 28 tribes on, 25, 28, 35, 305 Robes, how woven, I6 See CLOTHING; COSTUME Robin, songs obtained from, 171 Rock-cod, ceremonial group named for, I64 how taken, 29 Rock-magic, belief in, 79 Rocks, power derived from, 91 precipitous, supplicated, 63 Roe. See HERRING ROE; SALMON ROE {view image of page 359} INDEX 359 Roots, how blackened for weaving, 46 See CLOVER-ROOTS; HEMLOCK-ROOTS; LUPIN-ROOTS; SILVERWEED-ROOTS Rope, bark, in deluge myth, 254-255 bark, worn in dance, 232 coffin, restrictions as to, 54 of yew in myth, 293 See CORD; LINE Rottenness, a mythic person, 136 Russians, copper derived from, 145 Saai'yaq, a village, 112, 113 Tlaaluis at, 309 Sacrifice of food, 153 of property, 148-153 See POTLATCH; PROPERTY Safiali-qantlun, upper Columbia region, 244 Sails for canoes, I3-i4, I6, folio pl. 352 See CANOES; CATAMARANS Saiyuka, a mythic person, 251 Sakala, a Seechelt warrior, 121-123 Salalberries at feast, 153 how prepared, 42 Salal twigs used in myth, 285 Salish and Kwakiutl relations, 3, I6, 105-107, IIO, 112 caste among, 137 flood myth of, 253 Tlaaluis destroyed by, 309 Salmon affected by raven cry, 311 clan of the Haisla, 305 how prepared, 28-29 how taken, 26-28 in myth, I34, 136, 245, 252, 293, 296 mythic origin of, 246, 248, 250 people transformed into, 251 scrofula caused by, 97-98 supernatural power from, 78, 91 twins derived from, 92, 158 when taboo, 31, I04 See FOOD; HAMIYALAHL Salmonberries produced by magic, 213 Salmonberry bird, appearance of, 25 Salmonberry bush, power derived from, 280 Salmonberry shoots as food, 38 Salmonberry stick, magic, 273, 285 Salmon river, tribes on, Io8, 112, 308 Salmon roe used with paint, 46 Salt water, effect of, on hamatsa, 197 sorcery dispelled by, 65 taboo in winter dance, 223 used in cannibal rite, 227-228 Salt water used in sorcery, 67 Sandflies, mythic origin of, I68 Sdntospfle (Sanctus Spiritus), a spirit, 83 Scalps in war-dance, 119 tied to blanket, 66 treatment of, 104, 105, III See HEAD-HUNTING Scarecrows on herring grounds, 20 Scarification by warriors, 102 in ceremony, 121 in mourning, 59, I20 See ORDEAL; PURIFICATION Scouting, canoes used in, 103-104 Scrofula, how caused, 75, 97-98, Ioo how treated, 97-98 Sculpin. See IU'MA Sea-anemone in myth, 287 Seabird (schooner) burned by Lekwiltok, Io6 Sea-gulls, how captured, 36 in myth, 260, 261 Seal in myth, 260, 275, 276, 281, 284 See FUR-SEAL; HAIR-SEAL; SEALS Sea-lion, how hunted, 30 in myth, 255, 259-261 intestine used in magic, 95 Sea-lions, a ceremonial group, I64 Seals, a ceremonial division, I55-I65 in winter dance, 183, I99, 204, 208, 217, 232-234 Sea monster supplicated, 62-63 See KOMUQI; MONSTER; NUMHYALIKYU; YAKYIM; YEYAKYATAALAHL Sea-otter, clothing of fur of, 5 how taken, 26, 30-33 in myth, 261, 268-271, 277-278 Sea-parrots, a ceremonial group, I64 Sea-serpent. See SISIUTL Seattle, totem-pole at, folio pl. 353, note Sea-urchins used as bait, 29 Seaweed, when taboo, 62 Seechelt hostility, 121-123 Septs of Kwakiutl tribes, 305-309 origin of, 132 Serpent, carved, in winter dance, 201-204, 2II head on feasting-dish, 174 heads in mythical house, I33, 136 symbol on wedding canoe, I26 See SISIUTL; SNAKE Seymour inlet, Nakoaktok on, 24, 306 Seymour narrows, Hekwutn removes to, I12 Shamans, function of, in winter dance, 173 See MEDICINE-MEN; PAHALA {view image of page 360} 360 THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN Shark in myth, 263 Sheemahant river, tribe on, 305 Shell, buttons of, on blanket, 93, folio pl. 333 See ABALONE; CLAM-SHELL; COCKLESHELL; DENTALIUM; MUSSEL-SHELLS Si'lis, a dance personage, 156, i6i Silver-perch oil, head anointed with, 52 used in medicine, 97 used in pregnancy, 310 Silverweed-roots used for food, 44 when taboo, 62 Sinew, human, used by sorcerers, 69, 72 thread in childbirth, 310 Sfntlzim, a Qagyuhl gens, 211, 307 Sipe, a Quatsino village, 306 Sisahi'lts, a shaman, 83-84 SisYntlae, a gens, 306, 307 crests of chief of, 138 Sisiutl dancer illustrated, 212 pi., 214 pl. in myth, 10, 249, 275, 279-282, 292, 293 on canoe, folio pl. 352 on house-front, I8, 264 See SERPENT; SNAKE SisiutlYlahl in ceremony, 156, I6I, 164, 212 pl., 213, 214 pl. See SISIUTL SiwYt, a shaman, 80-82, 176, folio pl. 335 Skate identified with "monster," 263 Skin, human, used by sorcerers, 69, 70, 72, 76 sea-otter, in myth, 277, 278 See COUGAR-SKIN; DEERSKIN; FUR; GRIZZLY-BEAR; MARTEN-SKIN; MINK; SNAKE; TOAD; WEASEL-SKIN Skin-dressing by Koskimo, 33 Skins distributed in mythic dance, 298 doffed by animals in myth, 266, 267, 273 Skull, wooden, worn, 231 Sky creatures, dances from, 137 Slave, use of term, 262 Slaves among Tsimshian, 116 daughters as, I I I in myth, 264, 271, 272, 274, 277, 279-282, 286-292 killed for ceremony, 221 of the Bellabella, 112 owned in 1836-4I, 303 represented in carving, 6 status of, 137 taken in war, 100, 104, I 8, 121 used in trade, 5, 114, 115, 239, 240 used in war, 98 See SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Sleep avoided during ceremony, 62 Sleight-of-hand by shamans, 80, 162, I96-197, 208-215, 221 See CANNIBALISM; CEREMONIES; MAGIC Slings, 17-18, 35-36, II5 Smith inlet, Goasila on, 24, 306 Smoke, colored, in myth, 166 fish cured in, 28-29 tobacco, effect of, 62 Snake in myth, 253 produced by legerdemain, 156 scrofula caused by, 100 skin used in sorcery, 75-76 tail in childbirth custom, 309-310 used by warrior, 99 See SERPENT; SISIUTL Snares, game taken with, 34-36 Sneezing, omen of, 112, 150 Snowshoes mentioned in myth, 289 Social organization, I24-I55, 304 Sockeye. See SALMON Somehulitk, habitat of, 305 Song, cannibal, 235-239 employed by shamans, 80, 83-88 for victim of murder, I23 games accompanied by, 49, 50 given by spirit, 234, 235 hamatsa, 311-314 in myth, I35, 266, 279, 280, 290, 295 love, 324-325 mortuary, 56-58, 114 nursery, 325-326 of Awilotlilah-l, 320-322 of K6minaka, 315 of KylnkalatltlU, 317-318 of Miatm, 323 of medicine-men, 93-94 of mythic personages, 169 of Nfne, 320 of Nikapnkylm, 154 of ndnhllm dance, 244-245 of Nunhilftstalahl, 3I6 of pahala, 323-324 of Paiqtislahl, 319 of ridicule, 153 of sea-otter hunters, 3I of Tsunukwalahl, 320 of warriors, 104 of Yakes, 3I8 spirits controlled by, I55, I64 summer, taboo, I70 used during eclipse, 63 {view image of page 361} INDEX 36i Song used in treatment of twins, 92 used in winter dance, 171-243 wedding, I26-I29 Songish and Lekwiltok hostility, 107 Song-makers in winter dance, I71, I72, 201, 214 Sorcerers, beliefs regarding, 63-78 See MEDICINE-MEN Sorcery, blindness caused by, 256 in myth, 258 threatened for bribery, 123 Sounding boards in dream, 60 in myth, 282, 292 See DRUMMING Sparrows, ceremonial group named for, 164 personated in winter dance, 155-158, I63-I65, 183, 184, 197-I99, 204-206, 217, 23 |