THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 



483 



circuit he slowly disappears in the ditch near the fire. The people try 

 to hold him by the rope, but a[)pareutly he sinks out of reach. Then 

 many voices are heard coming from out of the tire — actually the voices 

 of people hidden in the bedrooms who speak through the kelp tubes. It 

 is announced that the ghosts have taken the dancer away, who will 

 return alter a certain number of days. When the time of his return is 

 at hand, another dance is held. A 

 carving representing a ghost is seen 

 to rise from out of the ground car- 

 rying the dancer. 



SONG OP THE GHOST DANCER.' 



1. I went down to the under world with 



the chief of the ghosts. Therefore I 

 have snperiiatiiral power. 



2. The chief of the ghosts made lue dance. 



Therefore I have supernatural power. 



3. He put a heautifiil ornament on to my 



forehead. Therefore I have super- 

 natural power. 



The ghost dancer of the La'La- 

 siqoala wears a head ring set with 

 four feathers and a thick veil of 

 ce<lar bark falling over his face 

 (tig. 148, p. 501). 



I have two of his songs : 



Fig. 128. 



HEAD MASK OF NA'NAQAUALIL, REPRESENTING THE 

 HO'XHOK-n 



Length, 19 inches; black, white, red. 



IV A, No. 1330, Royal Ethnograi>hic:il Museum, Berlin. Collected 

 by A. Jacobsen. 



1. I came to see you. Why are you making an uproar, ghosts? you who take away 

 man's reason. You are coming up from the sea and call our names in order to 

 take our senses, you famous ones who take away man's reason.' 



II. 



1. You sent ua everything from out of the under world, ghosts ! who take away man's 



senses. 



2. You heard that we were hungry, ghosts! who take away man's senses. 



3. We shall receive plenty from you, ghosts! who t;ike away man's senses.' 



MA'TEM. 



I have told the legend of the Mfi'tEm in the preceding chapter.- The 

 dancer, when his song is sung, appears tirst on the roof of the house, 

 perfectly naked. Five pieces of wood, which are covered with mica 

 and cut in the form of hexagonal prisms in the shape of quartz crytals, 

 are fastened along the medial line of his head. They are attached to 

 a thin wooden frame, which is shaped according to the curvature of the 

 head and hidden in the hair. The frame consists of a medial piece 

 which is attached to a ring and held by two crosspieces. All of these 



' Appendix, page 714. 



2 Page 411. 



