344 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



A similar proceeding takes place when a canoe is given to a rival. 

 The latter, Avlien the gift is ofiered to him, must put blankets to the 

 amount of half the value of the canoe on to it. This is called da'g-dt, 

 taking hold of the bow of the canoe. These blankets are kept by the 

 first owner of the canoe. Later on, the recipient of the canoe must 

 return another canoe, together with an adequate number of blankets, as 

 an "anchor line'' for the canoe. This giving of a canoe is called sa'k-a. 



Still more complicated is the purchase or the gift, however one 

 chooses to term it, of a "copper." All along the North Pacific Coast, 

 from Yakutat to Comox, curiously shaped cop])er plates are in use, 

 which in olden times were made of native copper, which is found in 

 Alaska and probably also on Nass River, but which nowadays are 

 worked out of imported copper. The typical shape of these copper 

 plates may be seen in figs, li and 3 and I'late 4. The T-shaped i^art 

 (qa'la's), which forms two ridges, is hammered. The top is called "the 

 face" (o'nuxLEme), the lower part the hind end (o'nutsExstc). The 

 front of the copper is covered with black lead, in which a face, repre- 

 senting the crest animal of tlie owner, is graven. These coppers have 

 the same function wliich bank notes of high denominations have with 

 us. The actual value of the piece of copj)er is small, but it is made to 

 represent a large number of blankets and can always be sold for 

 blankets. The value is not arbitrarily set, but depends upon the 

 amount of property given away in the festival at which the copper is 

 sold. On the whole, the oftener a copper is sold the higher its value, 

 as every new buyer tries to invest more blankets in it. Therefore the 

 purchase of a copper also brings distinction, because it proves that the 

 buyer is able to bring together a vast amount of property. 



Each copper has a name of its own, and from the following list of 

 coppers, which were in Fort Rupert in 1893, the values attached to some 

 of them may be seen : 



Ma'xts'olEm (^; all other coppers are ashamed to look at it), 7,500 hlankets." 



L'a'xolamas (= steel-liead salmon, i. e., it glides ont of one's hands like a salmon), 

 6,000 blankets. 



Lo'peiila (= making the house empty of blankets), 5,000 blankets. 



DE'ut'alayo ( = abont whose possession all are quarreling). 



Man'ak-'a (=8ea lion). 



Qau'ld ma (^beaver face). 



Le'ita (=:looking below; namely, in order to find blankets with which to buy it). 



Nfi'se (=moou; its engraviug represents the half moon, in which a man is sitting). 



G"a'waqa(^a spirit. Hc'iltsuq dialect, corresponding to the KwakiutlTs'6'uoqoa, 

 Seep. 372). 



NE'lqEmala (=day face). 



NE'nqEmala (=l)ear face). 



K-'a'na (=:crow; He'ilt8U([ dialect). 



Qoayi'ra (= whale). 



Mil'x'cnox (^killer whale). 



Qoayt'mk-in ( = too great a whale). 



Wl'na (::=war, against the blankets of the purchaser). 



'This copper has two crosspieces. 



