THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 407 



aud washed themselves. Then they made war on the ho'Xhok". ]S"ow 

 they went to where the women had been. They i)nt whale meat on the 

 fire. At once many owls came there and the ho'Xhok" aligiited on 

 the tree. jSTow he came downward, iiecking the tree. When he came 

 to the foot of the tree, he jnmped. His beak stuck in a crack of the 

 tree. Then (^o'mg-nstals and Waxalalaa ran up to him and broke off 

 his nose and pushed him into tlie tire. He was dead. That is the end. 



The following tradition of the Awl'k-'enox referring to the ho'Xhok" 

 is of interest because it indicates the ceremonial or dance performed 

 by every novice initiated by this being: 



A young man named Q-'o'mkilig-a went into the woods to fetch cedar 

 bark. There the ho'Xhok" scented him. He found that the youth was 

 clean, and therefore rushed down upon him in order to abduct him. 

 When Q'*o'mkilig"a heard the spirit coming, lie trembled with fear. He 

 hoped to master his fears by smoking, but he failed. He fainted and 

 lay like one dead. The ho'Xhok" came down to him and imbued him 

 with his powers. 



When the yonth did not return, his friends went into the woods to 

 search for him. They found him lying in a deep swoon. They sprin- 

 kled him with cold water, but he did not awake. They carried him 

 back to the village. When his father saw him, his heart was sad. But 

 soon he noticed that he was still alive. He called a shaman and bade 

 him heal his son. The shaman ordered the house to be swept and the 

 floor to be strewn with sand. He took the youth into the woods and 

 stayed there for four days. Then he returned. After four days more 

 Q'o'mkilig-a also returned. He had received the name QoaLqoa'oe. 



He sang of the hd'Xhok", and suddenly he jumped up in order to 

 devour his father, wlio was sitting on the opposite side of the fire. He 

 had the cedar-bark ornaments of the ha'mats'a around his neck and head. 

 His head ring slid down and fell right over his mouth, so that instead 

 of biting his father he bit a piece out of his ring. Plis grandfather took 

 a large blaclv blanket which he wound around the youth's head. He 

 tore it with his teeth. Then the people wound a rope over his mouth ; he 

 tore it. Xobody was able to subdue him. All the people fled out of 

 the door for fear. They heard him singing in the house and looked 

 through the chinks and through the knot holes to see what he was 

 doing. They vsaw him climbing the posts and pushing the roof boards 

 aside. He wanted to pursne the people. Then the^^ stationed two 

 men at the doors, and others held the roof down so that he should not 

 escape. Others entered and threw a bearskin over him. But he crept 

 about in the house and his skin was so slii^pery that nobody could 

 hold him. In the evening he quieted down and lay so still that the 

 people thought he miglit be asleep. They made a jacket of cedar bark 

 in which they tried to catch him. But as soon as they approached he 

 jumi)ed up and ran out of the house. On the island Xalkuitxoi'as there 

 were a number of women engaged splitting salmon. He scented them 

 and jumped into the water to devour them. They escaped in their 

 canoe when they saw him coming. 



