414 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



Pig.:!6. 



POST OK LE'LAXA IX XDMTA'SPE. 



From a sketch by the author. 



Never will lie return to ns." When they 

 were thus singing-, their niece passed by 

 them, and they told her that they had 

 seen Me'iLa playing in front of the moon's 

 house. Their niece said, " Let us make 

 him appear in our dances." The parents 

 of the boy agreed and let their nier^e 

 Q'oqome'tsEmqa perform the Me'iLa 

 dance. They gave her his name. 



In a number of cases the dance or the 

 powers obtained by the ancestor are also 

 represented on the totem carvings. I will 

 give a few examples of this kind: 



There were the fi rst of the Qoe'xsot'euox 

 at He'qams. LaliliLax came to be their 

 chief. Now, he said he wanted to go to 

 the river of Ga/ynx to see if the sockey- 

 salmon went up the river. He went far 

 up, but did not lind a single salmon. 

 Then he forgot why he had gone up the 

 river. He felt dizzy. All of a sudden he 

 saw a pretty man sitting on a stone. His 

 face was like that of a bird. The man did 

 not see Lfi'liliLax. The latter went up 

 to him and stood behind him while the 

 other was not turning his head. He said, 

 "Friend, Avhat are you doing here"?" 

 Now the man turned his head and spoke: 

 ^^ Thank you, friend, that you came so 

 that I could see you. 1 am the one who 

 thunders from the one end to the other 

 end of the world." La/liliLax replied: 

 "(), master, 1 came here for your sake. 

 Now give me a magic treasure." Then 

 the man spoke: "Make a house and in- 

 vite all the tribes." He showed him the 

 carving of the thunder bird, with two 

 spread legs. They say it was as long as 

 a forefinger. The man spoke: " Its legs 

 are the door of the house. This is my 

 ornament of red cedar bark around its 

 head. The heads on it were given tome 

 by my father that I should eat them. 

 This image of a man you shall place in 

 the rear of your house. It is the image 

 of my father. (Plate 22.) In the coming 



