652 



REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1895. 



is added that the G'itxa'La, after having acquired the ceremonial from 



tlie Hr'/iltsiKj, transmitted it to the Nisqa'. This report is corroborated 



by linguistic evidence. All the names of the societies, witli the sole 



exception of the first, are of Kwakiutl derivation. (meiLa', teasing; 



htLE'm, Kwakiutl no'uLEm; olala', name of a Kwakiutl dance; 



nanesta't, Kwakiutl nontsistil'laL; lionana', 



dance of ). The cry of the olala', 



"hnp," is also a Kwakiutl word meaning 

 eating, and is the same as the cry of the 

 hil/mats'a. The original tradition mentions 

 three societies only — the second, third, and 

 fourth. This shows that the first one is not 

 a secret society, properly speaking, and that 

 the fifth and sixth are later importations. 

 The ISTisqa' state that with the ceremonies 

 came the use of large whistles. I will give 

 the ISTisqa' tradition of the origin of the secret 

 societies : 



A Wutsda' (He'iltsuq), named Sagaitlfi'ben 

 (a Nisqa' or Tsimshian name), went hunting. 

 He saw a bear, which he pursued. He shot 

 it several times, but was unable to kill it. 

 Finally the bear 

 reached a steep cliff, 

 which opened and let 

 him in. When the 



rock opened, the hunter heard the voices of the 



olala' crying '^nlp," and he fainted. Then his 



soul was taken into the house. In the rear of 



the house he saw a large room partitioned off. 



The partition was hung with red cedar bark. 



It was the secret room of the olala'. To the 



right of the door, on entering, was a secret room 



for the meiLa', and to the left of the door one 



for the loLE'm. The chief, who was sitting in 



the rear of the house, ordered a fire to be made, 



and spoke: "Those here are the meiLa'; they 



did not bring you here. Those are the loLe'm; 



they eat dogs ; they did not bring you here. But 



these are the dlala' ; they eat men ; they brought 



you here. You shall imitate what they are 



doing." The chief had a heavy ring of red cedar bark around his neck, 



a ring of tlie same material on his head, and wore a bearskin. He 



said: "You must use the same ornaments when you return to your 



people." He took a whistle out of his own mouth and gave it to 



SaSaitla'bEn. He gave him his small neck ring of cedar bark, which 



Fig. 202. 



PART OF A HEADDKESS REPRESENT 

 INO THE OLALA'. 



Haida. 



Cat. No. 89072, U. S. N. M. Collccte.i by 

 J. G. Swan. 



Fig. 203. 



PART OF A HEADDRES.S REPRE- 

 SENTINQ THE OI.ALA'. 



Haiila. 



C:it. No. 89073, U.S. N. M. rull«tB.l by 



