THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 575 



beating the boards. G-a'loiL gave another signal, and a second 

 woman, G-a'lg-amqas by name, entered, and danced in the same man- 

 ner. She stepped up to T'e/La, and the singers stopped beating the 

 planks. 



Then Gr-a'sa spoke : " Friends, look at these two women. They are 

 the mothers of my tribe. They carry all the winter dances. Whenever 

 these two appear, we must be on the alert, for they are always followed 

 by other dancers."' When he had finished, LoXoaxstaak" told the 

 I)eople to be careful, becausehe had heard the voice of Q'e'q'anqoala, the 

 Ba/baqoayuL (soul catcher).' 



As soon as he entered, all the dancers stooped down as though they 

 were trying to hide, for fear that Ba/baqoayuL might take their souls. 

 His aunt, Po'sqaas, took a position to the left of the door, and while he 

 was walking around the fire she danced the ha'mshamtsEs dance. 

 When he came back to the place in front of the fire, all the people 

 arose and he lifted his hands, the palms being held close together. 

 This was repeated four times. When he stopped the fourth time in 

 front of the fire, he opened his palms and the "soul" was seen between 

 them. The speaker told the singers to stop beating the boards, and 

 Ma/a went about among the people in order to find whose soul the 

 dancer had caught. After a short while he turned to the people and 

 said: "My friend Q'c/q'anqoala has captured the soul of our chief 

 La'qolag'ilis." Then the latter stepped forward and asked the singers 

 to sing the song of Q'e/q'anqoala and of his aunt Po'sqaas. 



They sang as follows : 



1. I go to obtain your cedar bark ornaments, ba, your cedar bark ornaments, bame 



me, bame, bame, bamc be bama be be bamil. 



2. Now your dance will sbine tbrougbout tbe world wberever a winter dance is beld ; 



Giver of ligbt, bame me, bama. 



During this song the Ba'baqoayuL was dancing on one spot in 

 the rear of the fire in a bent position. Po'sqaas was dancing the 

 ha'mshamtsEs dance to the left of the door, and G*a/sa and G-fi'lolL, 

 the greatest ma'maq'a among the Koskimo, danced around the fire, 

 their elbows held close to their sides, forearms held forward, hands 

 closed, and thumbs stretched upward. 



At the end of the dance La'qolag'ilis spoke to Q'P'q'anqoala: " Come, 

 my son ! I thank you for bringing back my soul, for I am saved now." 

 Then he called the two chief speakers, A'Labala and Lo'Xoaxstaak". 

 They followed his summons, and he gave them a stick about 2 feet 

 long. Lo'Xoaxstaak" held it up and said, " Oh, friends on the other 



'Tbis is a t'o'X'uit dance of tbe G"6'p'en6x. Tbe dancer is supposed to be able to 

 catch tbe absent souls of people. He dances, bis palms beld close to tbe body, like the 

 ma'maq'a. (See p. 560.) A string is fastened to bis middle finger and a small ball of 

 eagledown is fastened to tbe middle of the string. When be opens bis bands, the ball 

 is seen in the middle between them, tbe ends of tbe string being tied to tbe middle 

 fingers. It represents tbe soul that tbe dancer has captured. Tbe details of this 

 dance are described in tlie text. (See also p. 561.) 



