THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 385 



staudiug. He discovered au old man sittiug outside the Louse. He 

 wore a bird mask. JSTEmo'gwis spoke : " O, brother ! thank you for meet- 

 iiig- me here. Who are you?" The old man replied: "I am La'laX- 

 sEut'aio." Then NEmo'gwis asked him : '^ Who is living in the house at 

 the river?" LcVlaXsEnt'aio replied: "I do not know him." Then 

 NEmo'gwis walked on and arrived at Tsa'xis. There he beheld a man 

 sitting on the summer seat outside the house, and jSTEmo'gwis spoke to 

 him and said: "O, brother! thank you for meeting me here. Who 

 are youf The man replied at once: "I am Kuax-ilano'kume and my 

 tribe are the G-i'g*ilqam." And he asked NEuiO'gwis : " W^ho are you, 

 brother? Where is your village?" ISTEmd'gwis replied: "I am ISTEmo'- 

 gwis. My younger brother is Bo'nakwala. We and my son, we three, 

 live in my village, Wekawayaas." Then spoke Kuax'ilano'kume: 

 "Thank you, brother, for meeting me here." And XEmo'gwis went 

 home to Wekawayaas. When he arrived there, he told his younger 

 brother and his son what he had seen. 



He spoke to his son : " O, child, see the sea otters, the seals, and the 

 sea lions on Shell Island." Then his son wanted to go there. Bo'na- 

 kwala and lo'qatsa rolled a drift log into the water. The son of NEmo'- 

 ^wis was to use it in place of a canoe. They brought it to the beach in 

 front of NEmo'gwis's bouse and showed it to the young man. He sat 

 on top of it and went to the island in order to club sea otters and seals. 

 When he arrived at the island he began clubbing the sea otters and 

 seals. He finished, and put them on his drift log. Then he went home. 

 Bo'nakwala and T:o'T;atsa met him on the beach and they unloaded the 

 log. NEmo'gwis spoke: "(), child, now your name is O'maxt'a'laLe on 

 account of j^our game." He invited Ts'E'nXqaio and Lii'laXsEut'aio 

 and Kuax-ilano'kume and Ma'tag-ila. The four men came to the house 

 and sat down. Then Bo'nakwala put stones into the fire and singed the 

 seal. When he had done so, he cut it up. He filled the kettle with 

 water and then threw the red-hot stones into the water until it began to 

 boil. Then he put the pieces of seal meat into the boiling water and 

 added more red-hot stones. After a short while the seal was done. 

 Bo'nakwala took the meat out of the water, and XEnio'gwis took the 

 breast piece first. He bit it and gave it to Ts'E'nXqaio, saying: "You 

 shall always be the first one to receive his share, and you shall always 

 have the breast piece." Xext he took the hind leg and gave it to 

 Kuax-ilano'kuine, saying: " You shall always have this piece, and it 

 shall be given to you next to Ts'E'nXqaio." Then he took up the 

 foreleg of the seal, bit it, and gave it to Ma'tag-ila, saying: "You shall 

 always have this piece." Then he gave a whole seal to Ts'EuXqaio, 

 Kuax-iland'kume, and Ma'tag-ila, and told them thename of his sou. He 

 said: "I invited you to show you my son. This is O'maxt'a'laLe." 

 Bo'nakwala now addressed the guests. Therefore the people nowa- 

 days make speeches in their feasts, because NEmd'gwis l)egnn making 

 speeches and distributing blankets and canoes among all the tribes. 

 NAT M us 95 25 



