THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 359 



before that many privileges of the clau descend only througli marriage 

 upon tbe son-in-law of the possessor, who, however, does not use them 

 himself, but acquires them for the use of his successor. These privi- 

 leges are, of course, not given as a present to the son-in-law, but he 

 becomes entitled to them by paying a certain amount of property for 

 his wife. The wife is given to him as a first installment of the return 

 payment. The crest of the clan, its privileges, and a considerable 

 amount of other property besides, are given later on, when the couple 

 have children, and the rate of iuterest is the higher the greater the num- 

 ber of children. For one child, 200 per cent of interest is paid; for 

 two or more cliildren, 300 i^er cent. After this payment the marriage 

 is annulled, because the wife's father has redeemed his daughter. If 

 she continues to stay with her husband, she does so of her own free 

 will (wulc'L, staying in the house for nothing). In order to avoid this 

 state of affairs, the husband often makes a new payment to his father- 

 in-law in order to have a claim to his wife. 



The law of descent through marriage is so rigid that methods have 

 developed to prevent the extinction of a name when its bearer has no 

 daughter. In such a case a man who desires to acquire the use of the 

 crest and the other privileges connected with the name performs a 

 sham marriage with the son of the bearer of the name (Xue/sa; Xew- 

 ettee dialect : d;VxsitsEnt=taking hold of the foot). The ceremony is 

 performed in the same manner as a real marriage. In case the bearer 

 of the name has no children at all, a sham marriage with a part of his 

 body is performed, with his right or left side, a leg or an arm, and the 

 privileges are conveyed in the same manner as in the case of a real 

 marriage. 



It is not necessary that the crest and privileges should be accjuired 

 for the sou of the i)erson who married the girl, but they may be trans- 

 ferred to his successor, whoever that may happen to be. 



As the acquisition of the crest and privileges connected with it 

 play so important a part in the management of marriages, references 

 to the clan traditions and dramatic performances of portions of the 

 myth are of frequent occurrence, as may be seen from the following 

 descriptions: 



I will describe first the marriage of a Ma'maleleqala Chief. 



jSTEmd'kulag-ilists'c called all the young men of all the tribes to 

 come to his house. After a second call all the young men came. Then 

 he arose and spoke: "Thank you, my brothers, for coming to my 

 house. You know what is in my mind — that I want to marry to day. 

 You know that I wanted you to come that I might ask my brothers to 

 invite all the people. Xow dress yourselves; there is the paint and 

 the eagl(5 down." 



The La'g-us arose and spoke: -'Yes, NEmo'kulag-ilists'c, these are 

 your words. 1 and my friends will go now to make war upon the daugh- 

 ters of all the chiefs all over the world. Now take care, my friends! 



