208 



HOUSES OF KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 



plates, and all the people admired their copper boat, the copper pad- 

 dles, ami the copper bailer. They staid for some time with the old 

 man, but then they returned home. Their grandfather gave them 

 costly skins and blankets before they left. 



Later on ganikila [v. infra) transformed Nomase'nqilis into a stone. 

 Tleqyalikila, Nomase/nqilis's son, emigrated at that time to Quspalis, 

 where lie built a new house. His son was Tse'selaso, who had three 

 sons, O'maliqste, Wa'lassjoa, and Kya'ljjamistal. 

 O'maliqste" was angry with the toads that croaked 

 every morning in the woods. He ordered them to be 

 silent, and since that time they do not croak anymore. 

 Kya'ljjamistal carved a human figure out of cedar, to 

 whom he gave life by pointing with his finger toward 

 it. He gave him the name Wa/-tsi5[8ta. A statue 

 representing the man stands in the house (Fig. G) by 

 the side of the bedroom, but has unfortunately been 

 omitted by the draughtsman. 



I can not give the numerous traditions counected 

 wii h these houses, but shall describe the emblems of a 

 few other gentes. The uprights in the rear of the 

 house of the gens Lalaqsint'aio of the Kue'tela tribe 

 represent each a Tsono^ijoa standing on the head of 

 a bear that holds the Tsono'jjoa's feet. The latter 

 carry the beams. In the front of the house the beams 

 rest on a cross-bar representing a sea-lion. The up- 

 rights supporting the latter are seals holding the sea- 

 lion in their mouths. 



The gens Tsinrijjaio of the same tribe has a house 

 with several platforms and a post with two eagles on 

 its top standing in front of the house. 



The house front (see Plate xxxix) and the upright 

 (Fig. 1+) belong to the gens Kya'loyajpime, the moon. 

 The central figure is the moon: the men in the center 

 of the circles representing Kya'loyajiame himself. 

 The gens derives its origin from this man, who is said 

 to have descended from heaven. On the sides of the 

 door are two grizzly bears that another ancestor of 

 the house owner obtained from a Xa'^oarto^ chief. 

 The upright consists of two figures. The lower one 

 is a female Tsono'sjoa holding a child between her legs; the upper one 

 is the moon (Fig. 14). Fig. 15 shows another house frout in Qumta'spe 

 1 lope Island). The owner belongs to another gens in the traditions of 

 which the thunder-bird Kunkunqulikya plays a great part. He is squat- 

 ting over the door. To the right and to the left of the door we see 

 another representation of Kva'loya^ame, to whose gens the mother of 

 the owner belonged. Figs. 10 and 17 are from the house of \ralaite, a 



V 



*! 



Fir. 14. Post in house 

 in Qnmta'spe. showing 



ii. i and l'sono >(<>a. 



