664 ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS. 



potlatcli already described, but some were dug out of wood, were 5 or 

 G feet long, 2 or 3 iuclies deep, and about 10 inches wide. There was 

 one which was dug out roughly, about 24 feet long and the same width 

 as tlie others. Whatever food was not eaten was carried away, and 

 after the feast was over crackers were given the guests on purpose to 

 be carried off. 



For napkins they used small bundles of beaten cedar bark about 2 

 feet long, which are very desirable, as in these feasts they eat with their 

 hands. As soon as the meal was finished there was to be some kind 

 of performance by the medicine men, and no other persons were allowed 

 to remain. In the afternoon, as I returned from my dinner, I saw a 

 maslced Indian, the same I suppose that was masked the night before, 

 and three others similar to the two half-naked men of the previous 

 night, dancing backward and forward for a distance of about 100 yards 

 on the beach in front of the houses. The masked dancer went through 

 some performances not fit to be described. Their dance consisted 

 chiefly in running around with ropes encircling them, held by others, as 

 on the previous night. This dance continued until about 2 o'clock 

 P. M., when they danced off into the woods, followed by forty or fifty 

 of their friends, with the singing, etc. They all formed a large circle 

 as they moved oft", and did not return until 5 o'clock, when they reached 

 the beach a quarter of a mile from where they left it. Some three of 

 them, apparently tired out, were each jerked up by six men wrapped in 

 blankets and carried into the potlatch house. One walked in supported 

 by attendants. I have inquired frequently the meaning of this cere- 

 mony, and could get only the answer, " It is their tamanous." I infer 

 it was an initiatory custom with the black tamanous. Some of them, 

 I heard, were starved a part or all of the time. One young Klallam half- 

 breed, it was said, was told that he would be obliged to go through 

 some such initiatory ordeal at this potlatch, and he delared he would 

 rather run away and hide until it was over, but the Port Discovery 

 Indians took him some time before the festival, guarded him closely, 

 and compelled him to submit. I suppose this was true, as he was not 

 seen anywhere until the ceremony was over. While these scenes were 

 being enacted the women met and sang in their usual way, and when 

 I asked why they did so I was told that they were tamanousing in order 

 to get strong minds towards the men. 



Towards evening the Indians of Elkwa, Pisht, and Klallam Bay 

 arrived, and landed with considerable ceremony-, dancing, drumming, 

 rattling, singing, and making presents. The i)resents were generally a 

 blanket or a few dollars to each one making the potlatch. One man 

 gave the head potlatches eight or ten small sticks about 3 feet long, a 

 promise, it was said, that he would, after reaching the house, give his 

 host $150 in money. There were also a few more large presents given 

 to the same man, which were kept, and returned to the givers at the 

 close of the potlatch, so that the presenting was a mere form. 



