144 Kansas Academy of Science. 



The Klu-kwal-le ( Black-face) Dance. 



This is the great dance among the Quileutes; and before the 

 government commenced stopping the old customs the Indians kept 

 it in session most all the time, day and night, throughout the win- 

 ter months. It is now only occasionally allowed, and then with 

 the objectionable features removed. It is a secret organization, 

 and to gain admittance to it with all its privileges one must give a 

 potlatcli to its members and their families — one dollar in money or 

 goods to each base person and five dollars to each person of chief- 

 tain stock. In the days when the sealing industry was at its height 

 a give-away feast of the value of $1000 was a common potlatch. 

 Should any one try to get into the dance without first giving the 

 required potlatch, five Klu-kwal-le seize him by the hair, drag him 

 around the central fire in the great hall, and then roughly put him 

 from the building. Also, should anyone but those appointed for 

 any special work or ceremony attempt to perform it, he is severely 

 handled. For instance, Ka-la-dook and Kates- buc-ud are the fire- 

 men, and should anyone else attempt to attend to the fire his 

 clothes are torn from him. Should anyone attempt to pass water 

 from Jhe water barrel in the building except the one appointed for 

 that purpose, the water in the barrel is thrown out and the of- 

 fender is compelled to fill it again. 



The purpose of the dance is to restore departed spirits, whether 

 they have departed on account of sickness or on account of the 

 death of some relative. The Indians believe that sickness is 

 caused by the spirit temporarily leaving the body; also that the 

 spirits of a dead one's relatives remain on his grave with him till 

 they are restored by the Klu-kwal-le. 



The costumes of the actors are many and varied, but the most 

 common costume is that of men dressed and acting to represent 

 wolves, accompanied by other men screened from view with salal 

 bushes. The faces of the actors are always smeared with black. 



"In the Klu-kwal-le dance in the old times the Indians had their 

 faces blackened with charcoal by an old woman appointed to do 

 that work. Should an Indian paint himself he was fined three 

 yards of calico, or some other article of barter, for each member of 

 the Klu-kwal-le organization. Moreover, the men, and sometimes 

 the women, slashed themselves with knives, and some also thrust 

 themselves through on the upper flesh of the arms with arrows and 

 bones. One old man here, used to thrust pointed bones through 

 his lips in a cross shape, the bones penetrating both lips. I my- 

 self went through this ordeal when a young man, and I am marked 



