434 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



dancers wlio pcrfonus his eeremoiiial dance to fall. In the course of 

 the winter ceremonial quite a hole gradually develops at the two places 

 where the dancers turn, and it is here that they are most likely to 



stumble and fall. 



When a ha'mats'a falls in his dance, he 

 must lie down as though he was dead. 

 Then the master of ceremonies calls a man 

 whose name is E'k'istolis (sand in eyes, 

 i. e., a drowned person), whose office is 

 hereditary. He is a que'qutsa, and as an 

 ofticer he is called ts'a'ts'exsilacnox (doing 

 secretly). He carries a large staft' 

 (k-'e'lag*aiu), which is split like a 

 pair of tongs, and in the interior 

 of which some blood is hidden. 

 With this staff he takes hold of 

 the neck of the ha'mats'a and ap- 

 parently blood is seen to flow from 

 it. Then all the he'lig-a (see j). 

 438) lift the ha'mats'a, put him on 

 their mat, and carry him 

 four times around the 

 fire. After they have 

 gone around the fire 

 four times his whistle 

 is heard in the woods. 

 AMien the mat is put 

 down, it is seen that he 

 has disappeared and 

 that only his blankets 

 and ornaments are left 

 behind. 

 He stays away for four days and his father must 

 make a new festival for him. When the ha/mats'a 

 falls, everybody puts his hand over his eyes and 

 drops his head, crying ha.' As the expense of such 

 a festival is very great, the amount equaling the 

 return of the marriage money, but few persons are 

 able to afford a second initiation. While nowadays 

 every effort is made to enable the ha'mats'a's father 

 to give the new festival, it is said that in former times the unfortu- 

 nate one was killed by the other ha'mats'a, the bear dancers, and The 

 nfi'LmaL, often at the instance of his own father. 



When a ha'mats'a falls in his dance, it is considered an evil omen, 

 indicating that he will die at an early date. 



BATON REPRESENTING A SEA I.ION 

 KILLER WHALE. 



IV A, No. f,S98, Royal Ethnof;raphic-aI Mu> 

 Berlin. Collected liy F. Boas. 



Fi.U. -<0. 

 liATON REl'RESENTINO A 

 SE.\ LION, A ilEAK, AND 

 A KILLER WHALE. 



IV A, No. 1949, Royal Ethlio- 

 l^raphical Museum, Berlin. Col- 



le. te.l I.' 





' With sinking tone. 



