440 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895 



hammers (f'late 23). Near this rock carving there are a number of 



others and much older ones (Plates 24-2(5, fig. (51). The Indians have 



no recollection of tlie incidents 

 which they are to commemorate. 

 They say tliat tliey were made 

 at the time before animals were 

 transformed into men. 



I received another report of the 

 killing of a slave. A female slave 

 was asked to dance for the ha'- 

 mats'a. Before she began dan- 

 cing she said : "Do not get hungry, 

 do not eat me."' She had hardly 

 said so when her master, who was 

 standing behind her, split her 

 skull with an ax. She was eaten 

 by the ha'mats'a. This happened 

 in Xewettee, and Q'omEna'kula, 

 who participated in the perform- 

 ance, was living until a couple of 

 years ago. He told me that it 

 is exceedingly hard to eat fresh 

 human flesh, much more so than 

 to eat dried 

 c o r 1) s o s . 

 The bones 

 of the killed 



slaves were kept at the north side of the 



house, where the sun does not shine upon them. 



During the fourth night they were taken out of the 



house, tied up, weighted with a stoue, and thrown 



into deep water, because it is believed 



that if they were buried they would 



come back and take their master's soul. 

 When the ha/mats'a had bitten a j)iece 



out of the arm of one of his enemies, he 



drank hot water after having swallowed 



the flesh. It was believed that this would 



result in the inflammation of the wound. 



Nowadays, when the ceremonies have 



lost much of their former cruelty, they do 



not actually bite the piece of flesh out of 



the arm, but merely pull the skin u^) with 



their teeth, sucking hard so as to remove 



as nuich blood as possible, and then with a small sliarp knife cut off 



secretly a piece of skin. This is not swallowed, but hidden behind 



RATTLK OF HIi'l.IG-A. 



Eeprestntatioii of a being with a 

 hands, and feet, and dorsal fins, 

 inclies; green, LLicls, red. 



lumian head, 

 Length, 14 



IV A, Xo.4i!, R. yal Kthn 



)gr.iphieal Mu 

 .\. J.acobsen. 



Fig. 60. 



EATTLK OF HE'LIQ-A. 



Length, 14i inches; black aud red. 



A, No. 6i2, Roy.'jl Ethnographical Museum, BltIii 

 C'ollecteil hv A. Jacobsen. 



' Qoa'la inE'sala g'a'xEn. 

 Do not be huugrv to me. 



