THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 



467 



forward when they are ready, to show that tliey have been initiated. 

 They are perhaps the most dreaded helpers of the ha/inats'a, as it is 

 their duty, in conjunction with the nii'LmaL, to punish all transgres- 

 sions of laws referring to privileges of the ha'mats'a, or to the winter 

 ceremonial in general. I stated before that the penalty of some mis- 

 takes was death. The unfortunate ones were killed by the grizzly 

 bears and nfi'LmaL. They are also the watchers of the dancing house, 

 and often witli the other members of the seal society assemble on the 

 roof, and by their wild cries and threatening attitude frighten away 

 everybody. They always, wear bear's claws on their hands, and some- 

 times appear clad in bearskins. Their faces are painted in imitation 

 of an immense mouth of a bear. Their head rings and neck rings are 

 made of red and white cedar bark. Each of these is twisted in a tight 

 rope. Then they are twisted around each other and tied at their ends 



Fig. 102. 



MASK OF HA'MSHAMTSES : OUTER MASK, THE SEA MONSTER lA'KJM ; INNER, THE KILLER WHALE. 



The small figures sho-w the inner sides of the lateral and lower flaps when open. (Height, 17J inches ; 

 outer mask black and white; inner, blue, black, -white, red.) 



IV A, No. 565, Royal Ethnographical Museum, Berlin. Collected by A. Jacobsen. 



(figs. Ill, 112, pp. 473, 474). Their circuit around the fire can hardly 

 be called a dance. In the first and the third dances the dancer wears 

 Ms cedar bark ornaments. The dances consist in violent motions of 

 the body, imitating the actions of a bear who sits on his haunches. 

 Every now and then the dancer' growls and scratches the ground with 

 his paws. In the second and fourth dances he appears clad in a bear- 

 skin, walks on hands and feet, and paws the ground, imitating the 

 motions of an angry bear. 



SONG OV A BEAK BAXCEK NAMED WALAS Na'NE (GREAT BEAR).' 



1. How shall wo liido from tlie bear that is moving all around the world? 



2. Let IIS crawl underground! Let us cover our hacks with dirt that the great ter- 

 rible bear from the north end of our world may not find us. 



' See Plate 32, and Apjjendix, page 705. 



