THE USE OF THE CHIICAT BLANKET 69 
return to whisper words of comfort and assurance to the sick, he is care- 
fully dressed for the final journey, and occupies the place of honor oppo- 
site to the doorway, while around him are laid the family head-dresses, 
robes and totemic emblems and nearby the blankets. 
After death, during the four-day period of mourning, when the corpse 
is seated in state, the blanket serves the purpose of a shroud. When 
cremation has been accomplished and the ashes have been collected and 
deposited in the grave house, the blanket may be hung on the outside 
as a token of honor to his memory; and here, the sport of the ele- 
ments, it finally disintegrates and disappears. 
The photographs used in illustrating this brief note require more 
explanation than can be placed beneath the figures. All were taken 
by the author in the early eighties, while the blankets and shirts were 
still in common use among the Chileat. The figure at the left on page 
67 is of Yehlh Gou-ou, chief of the Kon-nah-ta-tee family, in his family 
blanket which bears a totemic design. ‘The weaver having no knowledge 
of perspective, the representation of the emblematic animal is much 
conventionalized. All the parts of the animal are represented, though 
the members have been separated from their fellows and so distorted 
in order to meet the demands of the pattern that they are recognizable 
only by an expert. he right hand figure shows the daughter of Char- 
trich, the chief of the Kar-qwan-ton family of the Chilcat tribe, dressed 
in the family robe bearing the brown bear as its emblem. She wears a 
hat made of spruce root and has around her shoulders the rope girdle 
made of the inner bark of the red cedar which is often used to keep the 
blanket in place. 
Page 68 presents at the left a group of three Chilcat chiefs of the 
Kar-qwan-ton family who were met at Kluck-wan village. All wear 
the cedar-bark girdles around their shoulders and have on their heads 
hats of ceremonial significance. The other figure on page 68 is of 
Joe-Kennel-Ku, chief of the Da-she-ton family of the Hootz-ah-tar 
tribe, dressed in the rare sleeveless shirt of blanket work which was 
worn only by men. The emblem is the beaver. ‘The chief’s totemic 
hat is particulariy noteworthy. 
Page 71 is devoted to pictures of Kitch-Kook and Cou-de-nah-haw. 
Kitch-Kook is the chief of the Kuse-ka-dee or more properly the Kharse- 
ka-dee or Kharse-hit-ton family of the Sitka tribe. He is shown in his 
family sleeveless shirt of elaborate blanket work bearing the family 
