560 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



looked iit her and said: "Oh, that is Mrs. Nu'R"'." Tliey led her to the 

 rear of the house aud asked her if she carried anything in her pocket. 

 She produced a roll of silver quarter dollars, which the speaker took 

 and distributed among the people. By this time it was near midnight. 



Now the speaker said: "Let us take up the object of our conven- 

 tion." The festival was to be the initiation of a new q'o'minaqa. 

 About a fortnight before the festival the host's daughter, who was a 

 q'o'minaqa, had died, and he wanted to let his niece take her place. 

 The festival was to be her initiation. She had been hidden in a. secret 

 room in the rear of the house, and when the singers began the songs of 

 the dead girl she appeared wearing a blanket, dancing apron, a round 

 neck ring, and a high head ring which was covered all over with down. 

 She danced very slowly around the fire, accompanied by two attendants. 

 Her hands trembled. They were held horizontally forward, lightly 

 bent, her elbows resting on her sides. When she appeared, three 

 women began to dance in the rear of the house in order to appease her. 

 After four circuits she disappeared in her room, followed by her two 

 attendants and the three dancers. When the second song was struck 

 up, she reappeared and danced in the same manner as before. At the 

 end of the song she went back to her room. During the third and 

 fourth songs she grew quiet and danced like other women. When 

 she appeared for the fourth time, she wore a huge round head ring. She 

 was accompanied by an old woman, the aunt of the deceased girl, who 

 wore no ornaments, and whose disheveled hair hung loosely over her 

 face. This indicated that she was in deep mourning. 



Soon after the end of the ceremony the song of a man was heard in 

 front of the house. He approached slowly. Now the door opened and 

 a naked person, wearing only an apron, and a head ring of red cedar 

 bark, arm rings, and anklets of the same material, ai)peared. He 

 stayed in the doorway for a long time, singing his secret song. Then 

 he came forward, looking upward, his hands laid Hat to the back side of 

 his thighs. With short quick steps he ran around the lire. The audi- 

 ence became restless, because they feared him, the ma/maq'a, the 

 thrower of sickness. When he entered, all the hfi'mats'a had to leave 

 the house. As soon as he began his circuit, a man holding a rattle ran 

 up to him and followed all his movements. As soon as the ma'maq'a 

 came to the rear of the house he gave a high jump. The drummer beat 

 the drum rapidly and all of a sudden the ma'maq'a had caught his mag- 

 ical stick, which he held between his palms, drawing it out long and 

 shortening it again. Suddenly he threw it into himself. The staff had 

 disappeared and he fell backward in frightful contortions. Blood came 

 pouring out of his mouth and out of his chest. After some time, he 

 pulled the stick out of his mouth, recovered, and continued his dance. 

 He tried to (;atch the stick again, looking upward and holding his 

 hands close to his thighs. As soon as he had caught it all the people 

 arose, and when he threw it, they stooped down, hiding in their 

 blankets and crying, " wa." The lirst time he threw his stick it did not 



