646 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



One of tliem must wash his body, one must wash his head, and the 

 two others hokl him. In return they receive one or two blankets each. 

 During" this ceremony the quqq'e/lEu, who are described as wild men, 

 dance around the novice. They have ropes tied around their waists, 

 and are held by other members of the society by these ropes. Then 

 the xEnxanl'tEl lead the novice into the woods, where he remains for a 

 long time, until he meets the spirit that initiates him. It seems that 

 during this time he is secretly led to tlie house in which the xEuxani'tEl 

 continue to celebrate festivals at the expense of the novice's father, 

 and thei'e he is taught the secrets of the society. During this time, 

 until the return of the novice from the woods, the house is tabooed. 

 A watchman is stationed at the entrance, who keeps out uninitiated 

 l^ersons. During the absence of the novice, his mother prepares cedar 

 bark ornaments and weaves mountain goat blankets for his use. One 

 afternoon he returns, and then his father gives a feast to let the people 

 know that his child has returned. The latter performs his first dance, 

 in which he uses masks and cedar bark ornaments. This dance is 

 called luixnEa/mEfi. On this day the father must distribute a great 

 number of blankets among the xEuxanl'tEl. The initiated are per- 

 mitted to take part in the feast, and sit on one side of the house. The 

 new member spends all his nights in the woods, where he bathes. In 

 the spring the new member, if a man, is thrown into the sea, and after 

 that is free from all regulations attending the initiation. One of the 

 principal regulations regarding novices of the xEnxanl'tEl is that they 

 must return from the woods in the direction in which the sun is mov- 

 ing, starting so that the sun is at their backs. Therefore they must 

 sometimes go in roundabout ways. They must go backward through 

 doors, which are sLa/lEqam (supernatural) against them. Frequently 

 the sio'ua (a, female shaman) is called to bespeak the door in their 

 behalf before they pass through it. Before their dance the sio'ua must 

 also address the earth, as it is supposed that else it might open and 

 swallow up the dancer. It is also sLa'lEqam against t]\e novice. The 

 expression used is that the earth would "open its eyes" (k'u'ualasEn); 

 that means, swallow the novice. In order to avert this danger, the 

 sio'ua must " give a name to the earth," and strew red paint and feathers 

 over the place where the novice is to dance. 



THE Bl'LXULA. 



The social organization, festivals, and secret societies of the Bi'lxula 

 are still more closely interrelated than they are among the Kwakiutl, 

 and must be considered in connection. We have to describe here the 

 potlatch, the sisau'k-, and the kfi'siat. The sisau'k* corresponds to 

 the Lao'laxa of the northern Kwakiutl tribes, the ku'siut to the 

 ts'e'ts'aeqa. The Bi'lxula believe that the potlatch has been insti- 

 tuted by ten deities, nine brothers and one sister, the foremost among 

 whom is Xe'mtsioa, to whose care the sunrise is intrusted. He resides 

 with the others in a beautiful house in the far east, and cries "o, o," 



