THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 567 



kimo, you have a hard task; you must kick against a high moun- 

 tain.^ Wina'hig-ilis or Hai'aLihxqas has killed this boy, the son of 

 XExua'nElq'ala, the pa'xala. The supernatural i>ower came and took 

 him away. He is dead. We will try to resuscitate him." 



As soon as he said so, the ma/maq'a tried to throw the body into 

 the fire.^ T'e't'esumx-tsaiia and T'o'pewa pushed them back and 

 asked for assistance. Now they put the body down on top of a box 

 and T'o'pewa asked the highest pa'xala of the tribe to try to resusci- 

 tate the boy. Lo'Xoaxstaak" came and sang his secret soug. Then 

 he spoke to the Kwakiutl: "Friends, if you have a mask for the 

 winter ceremonial which you want to show, do not let a stranger use 

 it; teach your own people to show it, that no mistake may occur. 

 Only because a stranger showed your mask a mistake happened and 

 brought about our great difficulty. I say so, T'o'pewa."^ Then he went 

 around the tire singing. After he had made one circuit, the women 

 joined his song and a deep sounding whistle was heard, which repre- 

 sents the breath of the pa'xala. He sang four songs, and after every 

 song the whistles A^ere heard. Every time it sounded the Kwakiutl 

 beat time and cried "hii, ha, hii, hJi." Then the boy began to move 

 again and pretended to come to life. This was the end of the festival. 



When all was over, the ha'mats'a of the Koskimo appeared once 

 more and ran around the fire, followed by his assistants. Then he dis- 

 appeared again. 



November :23. — Early in the morning the Koskimo dressed themselves 

 to meet their novice. Two messengers went through the village and 

 asked the people to clear the floors of the houses and to sweep them- 

 They arranged themselves in two groups — first the wi'xsA, then the 

 la'xsa. One of the former carried a skin drum. The men walked 

 first. They were followed by the women, among whom was the new 

 wa'tanEm, who was initiated the i)receding night. The men were 

 singing while the women were dancing. The wa'tanEm danced, raising 

 her hands alternately, her elbows close to her sides, the i)alms of the 

 han<ls upward. She had four feathers on her head ring. She did not 

 dance with the first soug, but joined the dance during the second, third, 

 and fourth songs. The la'xsa followed the wi'xsa, at a short distance. 

 The men were singing, a woman beat a skin drum, and others, among 

 them another wa'tauEni, were dancing. Thus they walked from one 

 house to the other. A few hours after this the ha'mats'a was heard all of a 



'Meauing that tliey had to strive against the Kwakiutl. 



^As all of this was quite unprepared, the ceremony was not carried out as it is in 

 other cases. If the performance has been planned beforehand, the mfi'maq'as would 

 have provided themselves with a skeleton, which they would have carried iu their 

 arms in.stead of the child. They would have thrown the bones into the fire, and 

 after the charred remains had been seen by the people they would have made them 

 disappear in a ditch made for the occ;;sion, and the boy would have risen at the 

 place where the charred bones had been seen before. 



'He spoke iu behalf of the latter and therefore used his name. 



