THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 643 



Swan ^ lias described the ceremony as follows : 



The other performance is termed Tsiahk, and is a medicine performance, quite as 

 interesting, but not as savage in its detail. It is only occasionally performed, when 

 some person, either a chief or a member of his family, is sick. The Makahs believe 

 in the existence of a supernatural being, who is represented to be an Indian of a 

 dwarfish size, with long hair of a yellowish color flowing down his l)ack and cover- 

 ing his shoulders. From his head grow four perpendicular horns, two at the temple 

 and two back of the ears. When people are sick of any chronic complaint and much 

 debilitated, they imagine they see this being in the night, who promises relief if the 

 ceremonies he prescribes are well performed. The principal performer is a doctor, 

 whose duties are to manipulate the patient, who is first initiated by secret rites into 

 the mysteries of the ceremony. What these secret rites consist of I have not ascer- 

 tained, but there is a continual singing and drumming during the day and evening 

 for three days before spectators are admitted. I'rom the haggard and feeble appear- 

 ance of some patients I have seen, I judge the ordeal must have been severe. The 

 peculiarity of this ceremony consists in the dress worn alike by patients, novitiates, 

 and performers. Both men and women assist, but the proportion of females is greater 

 than of males. On the head of the female performer is worn a sort of coronet made 

 of bark, surmounted by four upright bunches or little i)illars made of bark wound 

 round with the same material, and sometimes threads from red blankets, to give a 

 variety of color. I'rom the top of each of the four pillars, wliich represent the horns 

 of the tsiahk, are bunches of eagles' quills, which have been notched and one side 

 of the feather edge stripped off. In front is a band which is variously decorated, 

 according to the taste of the wearer, with beads, brass buttons, or any trinkets they 

 may have. From each side of this baud i)roject bunches of ({uills similar to those 

 on the top of the head. The long hair of the tsiahk is represented by a heavy and thick 

 fringe of bark, which covers the back and shoulders to the elbow\ Necklaces com- 

 posed of a great many strings of beads of all sizes and colors, and strung in various 

 forms, are also worn, and serve to add to the effect of the costume. The paint for the 

 face is red for the forehead and for the lower part, from the root of the nose to the ears ; 

 the portion between the forehead and the lower part is black, with two or three red 

 marks on each cheek. The dress of the novitiate females is similar, with the excep- 

 tion of there being no feathers or ornaments on the bark headdress, and with the 

 addition of black or blue stripes on the red paint covering the forehead and lower 

 portion of the face. The headdress of the men consists of a circular baud of bark 

 and colored worsted, from the back part of which are two bunches of bark, like 

 horses' tails. Two upright sticks are fastened to tlie band behind the ears, and 

 on top of these "sticks are two white feathers tipped with red; the quill portion is 

 inserted into a piece of elder stick with the pith extracted and then put on the band 

 sticks. These sockets give the feathers the charm of vibrating as the Avearer moves 

 his head; when dancing or moving in procession, the hands are raised as high as the 

 face and the fingers si>read out. 



The doctor or principal performer has on his head a dress of plain bark similar to 

 the female novitiate. He is naked except a piece of blanket about his loins, and 

 his body is covered with stripes of red paint. The outdoor performance consists of 

 a procession which moves from the lodge to the beach; the ])rincipal actor or con- 

 ductor being at the head, followed by all the males in single file, the last one being 

 the doctor. Immediately behind the doctor the patient follows, supported on each 

 side by a female assistant. The females close up the procession. All parties, male 

 and female, have their liands raised as high as their faces, and the motion of the 

 procession is a sort of shuffling dance. They move in a circle which gradually closes 

 around the jjatient, who, with the novitiate, is left seated on the ground in the cen- 

 tre; songs with choruses by the whole of the spectators, drumming, shaking rattles, 

 and firing of guns wind up the performance, and all retire to the lodge, where 



I "The Indians of Cape Flattery," page 73. 



