634 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



seems that there are no separate societies for men and Avomen, but a 

 certain division must exist, as they seem to have separate feasts. When 

 a man, during a Lo'koala, brings in any game, and he does not give half 

 of it to the women, but retains the whole for the use of the men, the 

 former will attack him and wrest the share due to them from the men. 

 In the same way the women must share all they get or cook with the men. 



Originally each dance belonged to one family, and was transmitted 

 from generation to generation. Mother as well as father had the right 

 to transfer their dances to their children. Thus dances which belonged 

 to one tribe were transmitted to others. The dance was given to the 

 novice at the time of his or her initiation, and no more than one dance 

 could be given at a time. At present these restrictions are becoming 

 extinct. Whoever is rich enough to distribute a sufficient amount of 

 property may take any dance he likes. I was eveu told that the chief 

 of the Lo'koala at the beginning of the dancing season distributes the 

 various dances among the members of the order, and that he may 

 redistribute them at the beginning of the following season. 



It is a peculiarity of the dances of the Nootka that two masks of the 

 same kind always dance together. 



Among the dances belonging to the Lo'koala I mention the aai'Lqe 

 (feathers on head). He is supposed to be a being living in the woods. 

 The dancer wears no mask, but a head ornament of cedar bark dyed 

 led, which is the badge of the Lo'koala. His badge consists of a ring 

 from which four feathers wound with red cedar bark rise, three over 

 the forehead, one in the back. The face of the dancer is smeared with 

 tallow and then strewn with down. The ornaments of each dancer of 

 the aai'Lqe, as well as of all others, must bo their personal property. 

 They must not be loaned or borrowed. The song of the aai'Lqe will 

 be found in the Appendix (p. 732). 



Another dance is that of the hi'nEmix*, a fabulous bird-like being. 

 The dancer wears the head mask shown iu Plate -18. In the top of the 

 mask there is a hole in which a stick is fastened, whicn is greased and 

 covered with down. When the dancer moves, the down becomes loose, 

 and whoever among the si^ectators catches a feather receives a blanket 

 from the chief of the Lo'koala. The song of the hi'iiEmix* is given in 

 the Appendix (p. 732). 



The A'Lmaxko is a dance in which two men wearing two human 

 masks appear. The masks are called A'Lmaxko. When they appear, the 

 spectators sing: 



J J 1 J J I .^ J il 



Kwai - as kwai - as A'L-max-k5 



/. e., Back out, back out, A'Lmaxko. 



Then they leave the house and run about in the viilage. The 

 A'Lmaxko is a being living in the woods. The tirst to see him was a 

 Netcumu'asath, and ever since this sept dances the A'Lmaxko dance. 



