THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 



501 



Fig. 148. 

 HEAD RING OF OHOST DANCER. 



La'Lasiqoala. 



IV A, No.68"4, Royal Ethnographical Museiii 

 Berlin, t'ollecte.l Ipy F. Boas. 



ceremonial is in charge of a master of ceremonies, whose name is 

 IJii'xnemis and LE'mwala, while his profane name is O'mx-'it; the win- 

 ter name of his speaker is Ho'LElite. A number of further officers 

 will be described in the course of this chap- 

 ter. All these officers and the names of the 

 officers derive their origin from a myth telling 

 how the animals held their first winter cere- 

 monial. I shall relate the myth later on (page 

 538). Plate 42 represents the present master 

 of ceremonies and his speaker. 



At the time of marriage the bride's father 

 has promised to transfer his membershiii in 

 one of the secret societies to one of his son- 

 in-law's children. When a son of the latter 

 has reached tlie age of 10 or 13 years, or even 

 earlier, he is initiated in one of the lower 

 secret societies, through which he must 



pass before he 

 can become a 

 m e m b e r (if 

 the hri/mats'a 



society. As soon as he is entitled to 

 1PI\WI U yi become a member of this society, his 



||i|fM: fo y\ father invites the three principal chiefs 



tVwfgj Mm of the tribe to his house and informs 



them that he desires his father-in-law 

 to make his son a member of the secret 

 society. The celebration of this event 

 is exceedingly expensive, and for this 

 reason the three chiefs investigate the 

 debts and the property of the man and 

 of his father-in-law, in or<ler to make 

 sure that they can meet the expenses in- 

 cidental to the ceremonies. If they find 

 the amount of property sufficient, they 

 give permission for the celebration of 

 the festival. In this case they order the 

 father to invite all the chiefs of the tribe 

 to meet on the fourth day. When they 

 assemble, the three head chiefs inform 

 the young chiefs of the plan, and the 

 latter give their consent. 



At this meeting, the man who gives 

 the dance notifies his father-in-law that he desires to have the blankets 

 which he paid for his wife returned, and that he wants to have the box- 

 containing his father-in-law's dance. 



P'ig. 149. 

 CLDB AND NECK RING OF ME'ILA. 

 1 a sketch made at the World's Columbian Expositin 



