180 Inasmuch 



visitors having been seated according to rank, 

 their entertainers entered arrayed in their dancing 

 costume, of which the most attractive objects 

 were the dudjung, or dancing head-dress, and the 

 shikeed, or dancing robe. The crowned-shaped 

 receptacle on the top of each of the dancing head 

 dresses was well filled with the swan and eagle s 

 down, and, as they danced in and around before 

 their guests, they bowed before each, causing 

 a shower of the down to fall on each guest, a most 

 significant mark of both peace and honour. The 

 dance was accompanied by the music of the chant 

 and drum, whilst the words of the chant expressed 

 their pleasure and the rank and record of their 

 guests. When the Ithadanua, or down, had thus 

 been scattered, their feasting began.&quot; 



Into the midst of this liberty loving, piratic, 

 and murderous people, we are to trace as our 

 last illustration of the triumphs of the Gospel on 

 the Pacific coast the footsteps of the first 

 bearer of the Good News. 



Mr. coiiison The invitation to Mr, Collison came through a 



Queen ^har- young chief Seegay, whom he had met on one of 



lotte islands ^ jj a ^ a expeditions to the mainland, and who, 



stricken with tuberculosis, was now on his death 



bed. 



1876 &quot;On Tuesday, 6th June, I embarked,&quot; he says, 



&quot;in a Haida built canoe, with a Tsimshean crew, 

 to make my first journey of some 100 miles to 

 Masse tt, the principal Haida encampment, situate 

 on the north of Graham Island, which is the most 

 northerly of the Queen Charlotte Islands. My 



