THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 353 



the price." "Why, Walas NEuio'gwis," said Owaxa'lag'ilis, " you take 

 the price too soon; you must think poorly of rae, Chief! I am a 

 KAvakiutl; I am one of those from whom all your tribes all over the 

 world took their names. !Now you give up before I finished trading 

 with you, Ma'maleleqala. You must always stand beneath us, wa, wa ! 

 Now go, young men; call our chief here, that he may come and see the 

 tribes. Bring Lu/qoag-ilak"'." Then the young men went, and soon 

 they returned. The sister of Owaxa/lag-ilis followed them, carrying 

 200 blankets. Owaxa'lag-ilis spoke: "Ya, tribes, come here! This is 

 Lfi/qoag-ilak". That name comes from the oldest legends. Now, take 

 her clothes and you, INIa'Xua, give them away ! " Now Ma'Xua counted 

 the blankets. There were 200 blankets of the tlfth thousand. There 

 were 4,200. '^Wa, wa! Chiefs of the Ma'maleleqala," said he. Then 

 Wrdas NEmo'gwis spoke: "Thank you, chiefs! Now, Ma'maleleqala, 

 we will divide the iiropert^'to-morrow, wa, wa!" 



It was described above how a boy is introduced into the distributions 

 of property going ou among the tribe. It remains to state how he 

 acquires his first copper. When the young man has acquired a certain 

 number of blankets, one of his older friends invites him to take a share 

 in the purchase of one of the cheaper coppers, which may have a value 

 of, say, noo blankets. The boy contributes 200 blankets as his share 

 and the other man purchases it, announcing the young man as his part- 

 ner in tlie transaction. The copper is delivered to the young man, who 

 becomes a debtor to his partner for the amount of blankets contributed 

 by the latter. He announces at once that he will sell the copper the 

 following year, but that he is willing to deliver the copper on the spot. 

 With these words he lays it down before the tribe. One of the chiefs 

 of a rival tribe takes the copjjer and pays as a first installment 100 

 blankets. Then the boy promises a distribution of blankets (tso'Xua) 

 for the following year and loans out the 100 blankets which he has 

 received. The next year he calls in his outstanding debts and invites all 

 the neighboring tribes to a feast, to which his own tribe contributes food 

 and fuel. In the course of the festival he pays the chief who took his 

 copper 200 blankets, being the value of the 100 blankets received the 

 previous year, together with 100 per cent interest (see p. 311). Then 

 the i:)urchaser pays the sum of 750 blankets for the copper, including 

 boxes and belt, as described above. Of this amount 700 are distributed 

 on the following day in the prescribed fashion among the neighboring 

 tribes. Now the young man proceeds to loan out his blankets until 

 within a few years he is able to repay the share of his partner who first 

 helped him to buy the copper. When the time has come for this trans- 

 action, his partner pays him double the amount of what he (the partner) 

 has contributed, and the young man returns to him double of this 

 amount. 



The rivalry between chiefs and clans finds its strongest exi)ression 

 in the destruction of property. A chief will burn blankets, a canoe, or 

 NAT MTJS 95 23 



