THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 



447 



out of bis body. He now personates tlie slave of BaxbakualauuXsI'- 

 wae. Actually, it is not the same person who is wearing this mask, but 

 somebody else who dances in liis place. He crouches so that the long- 

 beak of tlie bird is close to the ground and turns his head with sudden 

 jerks to the right and to the left. Both his hands are hidden under 

 his blanket and with them he pulls strings which make the jaw of the 

 mask open and shut very rapidly, thus producing a loud clappering 



•noise. As soon as the mask 

 ap])ears, the singers begin 

 the following song: 



\Va! Everybody is afraid of the t'sr t^s'a^■qa mask of 



BaxbaknrilaiinXsl'>tar". 

 Wa! Everybody is afraid of the cannibal mask of 



Qoa'qoaXualannXsl'wat"-. 

 His hooked-beak mask causes Huttering of the 



heart. 

 His ho'Xhok" head mask causes fluttering of the 



heart. • 



After the dancer has moved around the fire 

 four times, he disapijears behind the ma'wiL. 

 Then the ha'mats'a comes forward again out 

 of the mfi/wiL and dances in a squatting 

 liosition as before, but perfectly naked. 

 He disappears, and next a dancer, the same 

 one who wore the first mask, appears, com- 

 ing out backward at the side of the ma'wiL. 

 He wears the mask of BaxbakualauuXsi'wae ™''^"' 

 himself, and dances and moves in the same position as the Qofi/qoa- 

 XualanuXsi'war. (Fig. 77 and Plate 30.) 



It will be noticed that some of these masks are set with skulls carved 

 of wood. These have various meanings. They may indicate that the 

 mask was obtained in war, or that as many slaves were killed for 

 the novice as there are skulls attached to the mask, or finally they may 

 belong traditionally to the particular ha'mats'a. Throughout these 

 ceremonies it must be borne in mind that the different ha/niats'as have 



MASK OF QOA'QOAXUALANOX- 

 Si'WAE, SET WITH FEATHERS 

 AND RED CEDAR BARK. 



Length, 4^ inches; black, 

 green, red, white. 



1\' A, No. S92, Roy.ll EthnDgr.iiilii.al 

 Museum, Berlin. Cdllecte.l by A. J.-<- 



' See Ai»^)eudix, pugc 686. 



