34 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGICAL PUBLICATION VOL. VI 



must also be provided for their dogs. This is no small item, 

 and often taxes the resources of a village to the utmost. I have 

 known of a village so poor after a period of prolonged hospitality 

 that it was reduced to starvation rations for the rest of the 

 winter. 



Immediately on tying up their dogs, the guests go to the 

 kasgi. On entering each one cries in set phraseology, "Ah-ka- 

 ka- Piatin, Pikeyutum." "Oh, ho! Look here! A trifling 

 present." He throws his present on a common pile in front of 

 the headman, who distributes them among the villagers. It is 

 customary to make the presents appear as large as possible. 

 One fellow has a bolt of calico which he unwinds through the 

 entrance hole, making a great display. It may be thirty yards 

 long. Sometimes they accompany the gift with a short dance. 

 It is considered bad form for one coming from a distance 1 hot to 

 make the usual present, as in this way he purchases the right to 

 join in the festival dances. 



As soon as all are gathered in the kasgi, a feast is brought 

 in for the tired travelers. Kantags of sealmeat, the blackskin 

 of the bowhead, salmon berries swimming in oil, greens from the 

 hillsides, and pot after pot of tea take off the edge of hunger. 

 After gorging themselves, the guests seem incapable of further 

 exertion, and the remainder of the day is spent in .visiting. 



THE FEAST GIVERS 



The feast givers or na'skut assemble in the kasgi the second 

 day, and the ceremony proper begins. They range themselves 

 around the pugyarok or entrance, the chorus and guests occupy- 



1 During the inter-tribal festivals, guests are given seats of honor next to the headman of 

 the village according to the distance from which they have come. The back of the room (kaan), 

 the place of honor, is reserved for this purpose. 



