THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 609 



been restored by tlie efforts of the sluim;iiis. This continues until the 

 mil'maq'a rises and sings liis song, dancing around the lire. He is con- 

 sidered more powerful than the ha/mats'a, and l)y his song compels 

 liim to leave the liouse. 



Then all the people go to their houses and have their breakfast. In 

 tlie evening the ye'wix-ila invites the tribe to his house. Then they 

 begin to sing the song of the ghosts, as follows: " Lo ho ho il, lo ho 

 ho u, Id ho ho a hu oinama.'' This song is repeated four times. As 

 soon as they stop, the master of ceremonies addresses the people, saying 

 that they will try to restore the youth ayIio had been taken away by 

 the ghosts. While he is talking, somebody is heard to cry " hamama- 

 mama" outside the house. They look about as though they were fright- 

 ened, and ask each other what may be the cause of the noise. The 

 sound is heard fonr times; then an old man jumps into the door and 

 informs the people that the lolo'LalaL are approaching, and requests 

 the people to have their batons ready to beat time. As soon as he has 

 finished speaking, the door opens and the lOlo'i.alaL enter crying 

 "hamamamama." The i)eople repeat the cry and begin to beat time. 

 The ghost dancers enter and dance in a stooping position. They wear 

 rings of cedar bark on their heads, from which a veil of split white 

 bark is hanging down over their faces. They go around the fire until 

 they come to the left-hand corner of the house. Here they sit down in 

 a circle crying again "hamamamama." When they become silent, the 

 master of ceremonies a.sks La/liLqotsastala to see if the ghosts have 

 come with the dancers. As soon as he approaches them, they begin to 

 cry again " hamamamama," but he does not stop. He stex)s up to them, 

 sits down among them and looks for the ghosts. After a short while, 

 he returns to the master of ceremonies and says that he has seen some 

 of his dead relatives in a hole in the ground, and that the lolo'LalaL 

 were sitting around the hole and talking to the ghosts. He asks the 

 master of ceremonies for a strong rope. The latter calls a man whose 

 name is Tsaksta/lacjoals to get the rope which his grandfather left 

 him. This means that this oftice is hereditary. Tsaksta/laqoals goes 

 and brings the rope into the house. He also brings twenty blankets, 

 which are called the weight of the rope of the ghosts. The master of 

 ceremonies gives one end of the rope to one of the lolo'LalaL. The 

 latter pretends to tie the end of the rope arouud the waist of the new 

 lolo'LalaL in order to prevent his being taken away by the ghosts. 



As soon as this is done, the tribe divide into two groups, the clan 

 of the ye'wix-ila and their rivals. The latter sit close to the door. 

 Then the master of ceremonies gives the twenty blankets to the rivals. 

 After this he calls up all the ba'akwas — i. e., those who belong to 

 the clan of the y«"''wix'ila. As soon as they take hold of the rope, the 

 ye'wix-ila distributes blankets among his rival clan. Then he calls 

 upon the i)eople of his clan to touch the rope. They come one after tlie 

 other and distribute blankets anu)ng the other clan. Last of all the 

 NAT MUS 05 31) 



