[sapir] GIRL'S PUBERTY CEREMONY 69 



largely in myth, design, and masked ceremonial. Such boards as have 

 just been described are termed qetsdl, literally ''marked thereon," a 

 word that is also used to apply to house boards painted on the outside. 

 They aie not restricted in use to puberty ceremonies, of which, however, 

 they seem to be most characteristic, but may also be employed at other 

 types of potlatch. The boards are the pioperty of definit3 individuals, 

 but, as there are only a very few sets left among the Nootka of Alberni, 

 they have come to be considered as, in a sense, belonging to the tribe 

 as a whole. The designs differ in different sets, but the thunder-bird 

 and whale are nearly always the central subject. 



When I entered the potlatch house, Mrs. Frank, related through 

 her husband to the pubescent girl, was seated last on the woman's side 

 of the house, nearest the door, and was engaged in singing, in a loud 

 and high-pitched voice, a ts\îqa song, while her husband, Big Frank, 

 beat a rapid and unbroken drum accompaniment on the other side 

 of the house. The song was the property of her own family, or rather 

 line of descent, the right to sing it being acquired strictly through 

 inheritance. Each family has its ts\îqa song or stock of tsHqa songs, 

 no outsider being permitted to make use of them, unless deputed to do 

 so by the owner. The melody of these son':s is, as a rule, rather bald, 

 but they have a peculiar chant-like solemnity of their own, consisting, 

 as they do, of long drawn-out tones that tend to end up, at intervals, 

 in half-spoken little turns that are very difficult to render adequately 

 in notes. There are different types of tslîqa songs, some, generally of 

 gi ater length and melodic complexity, being used only in the course 

 of the sacred Wolf Ritual {hôkwâna). Forme.iy the accompaniment 

 to a tslîqa song was executed by a rattle, as is still done in the case of 

 the Wolf Ritual songs of this general type, but the one-sided hand 

 drum or tom-tom has displaced the rattle of late. The purpose of a 

 tsHqa song seems to be primarily that of indicating that an important 

 or noteworthy event is about to take place; thus they are frequently 

 heard in potlatches preliminarily to the performance of a masked dance 

 or other ceremonial activity the right to which the host has gained as 

 a hereditary privilege (topati). Very frequently seveial distinct tslîqa 

 songs can be heard sung at the same timie. Any woman may be hired 

 to sing her tslîqa song at a menstrual potlatch, being paid for her ser- 

 vices by the giver of the ceremony. Mrs. Frank repeated her song at 

 intervals, while the house gradually filled up. Her husband was twice 

 heard to beat the drum accompaniment for her, but towards the end 

 he handed her the drum and she thenceforth accompanied herself. 



As soon as most of the people had come, ten bundles of long 

 sticks were laid on the ground, each bundle tied together, and one 

 end of each was lit by being placed on the fire. These lighted faggots 



