640 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



performance enacted. ' * * The masks are made principally by tlio Clyoqnot 

 and Kittiuat Indians, and sold to the Makahs, who paint them to suit their own 

 fancies. They are inado of alder, maple, and cottouwood ; some are very ingeniously 

 executed, having the eyes and lower jaw movable. By means of a string the per- 

 former can make the eyes roll about, and the jaws gnash together with a fearfnl 

 clatter. As these masks are kept strictly concealed until the time of the perform- 

 ances, and as they are generally produced at night, they are viewed Avith awe by the 

 spectators ; and certainly the scene in one of these lodges, dimly lighted by the fires 

 which show the faces of the assembled spectators and illuminate the performers, 

 presents a most weird and savage spectacle when the masked dancers issue forth 

 from behind a screen of mats, and go through their barbarous pantomimes. The 

 Indians themselves, even accustomed as they are to these masks, feel very much 

 afraid of them, and a white man, viewing the scene for the first time, can only liken 

 it to a carnival of demons. 



Among the masquerade performances that I have seen was a representation of 

 mice. This was performed by a dozen or more young men who wert entirely 

 naked. Their bodies, limbs, and faces were painted with stripes of red, blue, and 

 black; red bark wreaths were twisted around their heads, and bows and arrows in 

 their hands. They made a squealing noise, but otherwise they did nothing that 

 reminded me of mice in the least. Another party was composed of naked boys, 

 with bark fringes, like veils, covering their faces, and armed with sticks having 

 needles in one end ; they made a buzzing noise and stuck the needles into any of the 

 spectators who came in their way. This was a representation of hornets. These 

 processions followed each other at an interv.al of half an hour, and c ich made a 

 circuit round the lodge, performed some antics, sang some songs, shouted, and left. 

 Another party then came in, composed of men with frightful masks, bearskins on 

 their backs, and heads covered with down. They had clubs in their hands, and as 

 they danced around a big fire blazing in the center of the lodge, they struck wildly 

 with them, caring little whom or what they hit. One of their number was naked, 

 with a rope round his waist, a knife in each hand, and. making a fearful howling. 

 Two others had hold of the end of the rope, as if to keep him from doing any harm. 

 This was the most ferocious exhibition I had seen, and the spectators got out of 

 their reach as far as they could. They did no harm, however, excepting that one 

 with his club knocked a hole through a brass kettle ; after which they left and went 

 to the other lodges, where I learned that they smashed boxes and did much mischief. 

 After they had gone, the owner examined his kettle, and quaintly remarked that it 

 was worth more to hini than the jileasure he had experienced T)y their visit, and he 

 should look to the man who broke it for remuneration. 



On a subsequent evening I was present at another performance. This consisted of 

 dancing, jumping, firing of gnus, etc. A large fire was iirst built in the center of 

 the lodge, and the })erformers, with painted faces, and many with masks resembling 

 owls, wolves, and bears, crouched down with their arms clasped about their knees, 

 their blankets trailing on the ground, and. fastened around the neck with a single 

 pin. After forming in a circle with their faces toward the fire, they commenced 

 jumping sideways round the blaze, their arms still about their knees. In this man- 

 ner they whirled around for several minutes, producing a most remarkable appear- 

 ance. These performers, who were male, were succeeded by some thirty women with 

 blackened faces, their heads covered with down, and a girdle around their blankets. 

 drawing them in tight at the waist. These danced around the fire with a shutitHng, 

 ungainly gait, singing a song as loud as they could scream, which was accompanied 

 by evei'youein the lodge, and beating time Avith sticks on boards placed before them 

 for the purpose. When the dance was over, some iive or six men, with Avreathsof 

 seaweed aronnd their heads, blackened faces, and bearskins over their shoulders, 

 rushed in and fired a volley of musketry through the roof. One of them then made a 

 speech, the purport of which was that the cereniouies had progressed favorably thus 

 far; that their hearts had become strong, and that they felt ready to attack their 



