72 THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 



heads, represented cold weather ; others represented cranes, moving slowly at the 

 water s edge, and occasionally dipping their heads down as if seizing a fish. They 

 wore masks resembling a bird s beak, and bunches of eagle s feathers stuck in their 

 hair. During all of these scenes the spectators kept up a continual singing and 

 drumming. Every day during these performances feasts were given at different 

 lodges to those Indians who had come from the other villages, at which great 

 quantities of food were eaten and many cords of wood burned, the giver of the feast 

 being very prodigal of his winter s supply of food and fuel. The latter, however, 

 is procured quite easily from the forest, and only causes a little extra labor to obtain 

 a sufficiency. 



The final exhibition of the ceremonies was the T hlukloots representation, after 

 which the presents were distributed. From daylight in the morning till about eleven 

 o clock in the forenoon was occupied by indoor performances, consisting of singing 

 and drumming, and occasional speeches. When these were over, some twenty 

 performers dressed up in masks and feathers, some with naked bodies, others 

 covered with bear skins, and accompanied by the whole assembly, went down on 

 the beach and danced and howled in the most frightful manner. After making as 

 much uproar as they could, they returned to the lodge, and shortly after every one 

 mounted on the roofs of the houses to see the performance of the T hlukloots. 

 First, a young girl came out upon the roof of a lodge wearing a mask representing 

 the head of the thunder bird, which was surmounted by a top-knot of cedar bark 

 dyed red and stuck full of white feathers from eagles tails. Over her shoulders 

 she wore a red blanket covered with a profusion of white buttons, brass thimbles 

 and blue beads ; her hair hung down her back covered with white down. The 

 upper half of her face was painted black and the lower red. Another girl with a 

 similar headdress, was naked except a skirt about her hips. Her arms and legs 

 had rings of blue beads, and she wore bracelets of brass wire around her wrists ; her 

 face being painted like the other. A smaller girl had a black mask to resemble the 

 ha-hek-to-ak. The masks did not cover the face, but were on the forehead, from 

 which they projected like horns. The last girl s face was also painted black and 

 red. From her ears hung large ornaments made of the haikwa or dcntalium, and 

 blue and red beads, and around her neck was an immense necklace of blue beads. 

 Her skirt was also covered with strings of beads, giving her quite a picturesque 

 appearance. A little boy with a black mask and head-band of red bark, the ends 

 of which hung down over his shoulders, and eagles feathers in a top-knot, was the 

 remaining performer. They moved around in a slow and stately manner, occasionally 

 spreading out their arms to represent flying and uttering a sound to imitate thunder, 

 but which resembled the noise made by the nighthawk when swooping for its prey, 

 the spectators meanwhile beating drums, pounding the roofs with sticks, and rattling 

 with shells. This show lasted half an hour, when all again went into the lodge 

 to witness the distribution of presents and the grand finale. The company all 

 being arranged, the performers at one end of the lodge and the women, children, and 

 spectators at the other, they commenced by putting out the fires and removing the 

 brands and cinders. A quantity of feathers were strewed over the ground floor of 

 the lodge, and a dance and song commenced, every one joining in the latter, each 



