THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 



455 



Fig. 89. 



NECK RING WORN BY XA'NIATS'AMQ-ILAK" 



IN FEASTS. 



Cat. :No. 1-5508, U. S. N. M. Collected by F. Boas. 



to tradition, KoniasE'nxelis, an ancestor of tlie Naqo'mg-ilisala liad 

 a son named LExx-a/lix-ilagfi (p. 335), who obtained liis dances from 

 the sI'siaL and from the wolves. His first head ring (fig. 92) shows six 

 crosspieces in front. These are the death bringers, and the npright 

 piece on toj) is the fire bringer, while the square behind represents the 



bucket containing the water of life. 

 In his second head ring (fig. 93) 

 only four death bringers are shown. 

 This ring is worn in his second 

 dance. As will be described below, 

 the Naqo'mg'ilisala and La'Lasi- 

 qoala take off some of the symbols 

 which designate the supernatural 

 powers of the dancer after each 

 dance. The ring shown in fig. 94 

 is stripped of all these crosspieces 

 and is worn by the dancer in feasts. 

 The dancing neck ring (fig. 95) has 

 two crosspieces on the sides. These 

 symbolize the gifts of the sI'siuL, 

 while the gifts of the wolves are 

 symbolized by the attachments in 

 front and in the back. 

 Another ha'mats'a of the La'Lasiqoala, on returning from the woods, 

 dances four nights with wreaths of hemlock branches; the following 

 four nights (the fifth to the eighth) without any ornaments; then 

 four nights (the ninth to the twelfth) with ornaments of red cedar 

 bark. He wears eight bundles over his forehead, which are called 

 k''a'siwe, and four on 

 each side. The next 

 night, after he has fin- 

 ished dancing, one of the 

 k-'a'siwe is taken off, 

 which is publicly an- 

 nounced the following 

 morning. The four- 

 teenth night two more 

 of these bundles are 

 taken away; the next, 

 two more; and finally, 

 the sixteenth, one more, 

 which is also publicly an- 

 nounced each morning. 

 The seventeenth night 

 a black line is drawn over his face from the left side of his forehead 

 to the right side of his chin, and then he rises to bite people. Later 

 on he is excited by mistakes and by songs of the ghost dancer. The 

 head ring is meant to symbolize the moon, and the decrease in the 



Fig. 90. 

 HEAD RING OF XA'NIATS'AMGMLAKf . 



Cat. No. 175492, U. S. N. M. Collected by F. Boas. 



