THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 619 



is what we inherited from our grandfathers; that is our history; that is 

 the great magician; that is x^a'mtalaL, the great magician; the woman 

 is Nau'alagnmqa. That is Ba'Lalag-ilak" ; that is x)a'mtalaL, who gained 

 the victory over Qa'niqilak" at Ts'a'wate, and that is the cause why all 

 the tribes are vanquished by us, wa, wa. That is what I say, friends, 

 for Pa'xala<ts'e. The songs which you have heard are those of jc)a'm- 

 talaL. That is his dance. The secret song of the leader is the secret 

 song of Ba/Lalag-ilak", and the secret song of the woman is that of 

 Nau'alagum(|a. 1 do not use new ways. The other tribes may invent 

 new things, wa, wa. " 



Now the boards of the house front were struck, and the people said: 

 "The cormorants are going to dive!'' Then Xu'gamsila entered the 

 house and said: "Beat the boards, friends." The old men beat the 

 boards, and the young chiefs entered. As soon as they had come in, 

 Xu'ga'msala spoke: "These are tbe cormorants of Ts'a'watc. That is 

 the only place where they eat nothing but oulachon. Therefore they are 

 fat.' Now beat the boards, friends." The old men beat the boards, 

 and, the women came in, spreading their blankets. They had red cedar 

 bark ornaments on their heads, the same as the men. Then Xu'gamsila 

 spoke: "They are the sawbill ducks; they dive for property." Now 

 Ta'mXuak'as spoke: "Friends, what do you think? Shall we discard 

 the use of the red cedar bark which makes us happy"? We shall only 

 be downhearted if we should discard it. We shall be asleep all the time. 

 Now, friends, we will finish this night. We will have the last dance of 

 this season. You, Ta'xalats'e, shall change our names this night. That 

 is what I say, P'alxalasqEm. 



Now Hd'LElite arose and spoke: "This is your speech, Ta'mXuak-as. 

 You said we would finish this night. Did you hear the speech of our 

 friend La'mg-ala ? He says they will take off' the red cedar bark. I 

 will not take it ott". That is what I say, KuLE'm ; that is what I say, 

 Ts'a'lgaxsta. I must accept the words of all our friends.'" 



Then arose Yu'x-yukwamas, chief of the Nimkish : " These are your 

 speeches, friends. You wish to throw away the red cedar bark. Now 

 answer my speech, Ta'mXuak-as." 



Then the latter answered: "It is true. I said so because our friends 

 here do not treat in the right way the cedar bark of which we are afraid, 

 which we inherited from our grandfathers. It is our master, it makes 

 our life short. It is true I said we would finish to-night." 



Then Yu'x*yukwamas spoke again: "Did you hear, friends! Did 

 you hear it, La'qoasqEm? Let them finish now. You finish to-night. 

 But I am waiting for the repayment of the marriage money to my 

 friends. Therefore I do not want to take oft' the cedar bark to-night. 

 You may change your names to-night, wa, wa. I say this, Nu'xnemis; 

 Isay this, Ho'LElite; I say this, La'mg-ala; wa. It is a great thing that 



' That, means that they had each given a grease feast. 



