THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 



525 



j)eople surround him and try to hold him. He runs around the fire 

 four times, but all of a sudden he has disappeared a^iain, having made 

 his exit through the secret door in the rear of the 

 house. Only the hemlock branches with which he 

 was adorned remain in the house. As soon as tbe 

 people see that he has disappeared, they say that 

 somebody has made a mistake which angered tbe 

 ha'mats'aand caused him to leave the house again. 



Not always is the ha'mats'a induced to return in 

 the manner described here. Sometimes the xoa'exoe 

 dances and the earthquake that is thus produced 

 brings him back, or the dance of the t'd'X'uit may 

 bring him back. 



In some instances a particular ofticer, the lcIc'l'- 

 alenox, must try to call tlie novice. He is considered 

 the chief of all the que/qutsa. He wears a rough 

 head ring and neck ring of red cedar bark which is 

 twisted four times. His face is blackened. He enters 

 cariying a baton and stops in front of the fire. If 

 anyone should laugh, he points at him, and the per- 

 son who is -thus singled out must look downward. 

 He goes around the fire singing his secret song, as 

 follows:^ 



Ah, ah, supernatural power! 

 power ! Hoc ! 



Ah, ah, ah, supernatural 



Fig. 182. 



NECK EING OF SHAMAN, 

 MADE OF BED CEDAB 

 BAEK. 



IV A, No. 1(«3, R.iyal Ethno- 

 Kraphical Museum, Berlin 

 Collected by A. Jacobsen. 



In the rear of the house he turns once, cries "hu!" 



and stoops down to listen. Then he continues his 



circuit and repeats this action in front of the house. 



While he is doing so the ha'mats'a appears on 



the roof, in the rear right hand corner of the house, 



runs around the roof, and opens a hole on the left hand front corner 



and looks down into the house. From here he rushes to the rear left 



corner of the house. Then he runs to 

 the rear right corner, and to the front 

 right corner, pushes the boards aside, 

 and looks down into the house. Then 

 the people take a number of blankets, 

 spread them out tight, and hold them 

 under the place where the ha'mats'a is 

 looking down. Finally he jumps down 

 into the blankets in the front right cor- 

 ner of the house. They try to hold him, 



and slowly go around the tire trying to lay their hands upon him, but 



he disappears again. Only his hemlock branches are left in the hands 



of the people. 



Fig. 183. 



HEAD RLNG OF WA'TANEM. 

 IV A, No. 6S-2, Royal Ethnographical Museui 

 Collected bv F. Boas. 



' Appendix, page 724. 



