INDIANS OF WASHINGTON TERRITOKY. 673 



his or her tamaoous. Such a spirit was supposed to guard the man or 

 woman who often communed with it in the dark, when alone in the 

 woods, and, by various incantations, invoked its aid in time of need. 

 These angels were the most useful deities they had. 



Inanimate objects, images, pictures, etc. — They believe that these spirits, 

 both good and bad, may dwell at times in certain sticks or stones, hence 

 these sticks and posts become objects of rex erence. The sticks are gen- 

 erally reverenced at all times, for, although the spirit dwells there only 

 a small portion of the time, yet after it has been given to the spirit by 

 its earthly owner that spirit is supposed to always watch over it and 

 be angry with any one who treats it disrespectfully. 



Tamanous icater. — It was believed that formerly the Klallara Indians 

 of Elkwa possessed a mysterious power over all other Indians ; that if 

 they wished to call a person a long distance off, 20, 30, or 50 miles away, 

 they simply, talking low, called him and he came; that if they talked 

 thus about a person, his heart was in a complete whirl, and that if they 

 talked ill and wished to do evil to any one thus distant, his eyes were 

 made to whirl and the evil wish came to pass. The cause assigned for 

 this was as iollows : Far up in the mountains at the head of the Elkwa 

 Biver are basins in the rocks ; one of these is nearly full of black water 

 and it is always as full whether the weather is wet or dry. In this water, 

 which is thought to be tamanous, the Elkwa Indians washed their hands 

 and arms and thus, it was believed, gained their dreaded power. 



Idols. — The sticks, posts, and the like just described are made by the 

 Indians consecrated to this tamanous, and hence contain the principle 

 of idolatry. 



The sun. — An old Klallam man informed me that before the coming 

 of the whites they knew nothing about God, but worshiped the sun as 

 their God and they prajed to it daily, saying, "Sun, take care of me," 

 and they gave food to it at noon. Another Klallam told me that 

 they also believed the sky to be supreme, and that it was a common 

 saying of the old ones to their children, " You must not do wrong 

 or the sky will see you." Such ideas come to the surface but very little 

 in their intercourse with the whites, yet I think my informant spoke 

 the truth, and I quote the following from Swan's "Indians of Cape 

 Flattery " in corroboration : " Every night we wash and rub ourselves 

 with cedar and every morning talk to the great chief or his represent- 

 ative, the sun, whose name is Kle-seakark-tl," while the following note 

 is added by Mr. Gibbs: "Among the western Selish or Flathead tribes 

 of the Sound I have not detected any direct worship of the sun, though 

 he forms one of their mythological characters. He is by them repre- 

 sented as the younger brother of the moon." According to Father Men- 

 garini he is, however, the principal object of worship among the Flat- 

 heads of the Rocky Mountains or Selish proper, as well as by the 

 Blackfeet. Among botli tribes he was supposed to be the creation of 

 a superior being. 



H. Mis. 600 43 



