THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 565 



everybody expected that the ha'mats'a would get excited, and looked 

 at him anxiously, but everything remained quiet. X*I'x*eqala continued: 

 "That is the strength of my clan. !!fone among all the other Kwakiutl 

 clans ever broke as many expensive coppers as we did." With every 

 copper that he named he put his staff down violently, bending his knees 

 at the same time. Then he turned to the G'O/xsEm and said: "I thank 

 you for the button blankets and for the 2,000 bracelets," and promised 

 at once to distribute the blankets among the Na/q'oaqtoq. 



After he had spoken, Le/Leliilak" asked his brother-in-law, "What 

 became of the 40 blankets which I gave you at the time of my mar- 

 riage to your sister? If you do not want to pay them, say so; but if 

 you do intend to pay them, let me know. Do as you have a mind to; 

 I do not care." Then his brother-in-law replied that he was going to pay 

 in course of time. Le'Lelalak" then promised to give the 40 blankets 

 to the Koskimo. 



Now Ho'LElite arose and said : "You have finished. Now let us take 

 up the object of our convention." The blankets were put aside. As 

 was stated before, the festival was to be a kue'xalak" — that means the 

 initiation into one of the lower ranks of the secret societies. The per- 

 son to be initiated was the son of Se'g-ag'ila, who had arranged this 

 feast. He gave his membershij) in the fool dancer society to his young- 

 son. The people began to sing a fool dancer's song. Then suddenly 

 a fool dancer rushed out of the right hand rear corner of the house 

 carrying his young son in his arms and crying, " wie', wie/." At the 

 same time he cleaned his nose and put the mucus on the boy's face. 

 This is done because it is supposed that the power of the fool dancer 

 is seated in the mucus. After he had run around the fire once he dis- 

 appeared again behind the curtain which was drawn in the rear of the 

 house. Ho'LElite arose again and said: "This is NuLt'aqa/lag-ilis," 

 thus naming tlie place which the boy was to occupy. The people sang 

 again, and a woman wearing the headdress of the Nri'naqaualiL came 

 out. Another woman danced backward in front of her. A man carry- 

 ing a rattle accompanied her. This dance was not an initiation, but 

 only a representation of the dance which X-I'x*eqala had obtained from 

 his wife by marriage. After this dance was finished, a young boy was 

 to perform another Na'naqaualiL dance. He came out and danced once 

 around the fire, accompanied by one man carrying a rattle and three 

 others who watched him. He wore a head ornament witli four horns. 

 After this dance he disappeared l»ehind the curtain, and when the 

 second song commenced, a large mask representing the sunrise Na'x- 

 naik-emL appeared in the rear of the house, coming from behind the 

 curtain. It was a double mask, wliich in the course of the dance was 

 to open. When the wearer of the mask opened it, one side of the 

 cover broke. Although the attendants rushed up to the mask imme 

 diately, trying to cover it, the ha'mats'a had seen what had happened 



