boas] TSIMSHIAN SOCIETY 541 



"On the following day all the property was given away by the chief 

 to his guests. Then the sister or the mother of the head chief gave 

 presents to the women of the tribes — marten-skin garments, aba- 

 lone ear-ornaments, scores of carved maple dishes, scores of large 

 horn spoons, and many other things besides. This was to help her 

 brother wearing the crest hat. For this reason the crest hats were 

 called a certain amount. of property, according to the amount given 

 away at the potlatch." 



In potlatches the valuable "coppers" were also bought and sold, 

 or broken to express the chief's lavish disregard of the distinction of 

 values. For the same reason slaves were killed and canoes broken. 



In feasts a fixed order of procedure was adhered to. The people sat 

 in regular order. The hosts would sit on the right-hand side of the 

 house or hi the middle of the house; the guests, on the sides. Women 



Fig. 24. Chiefs rattle. 



sang, accompanying the dancers. They were seated in rows on a 

 platform in the rear of the house. Mr. Tate continues: 



"The women were dressed in beautiful garments, with earrings of 

 costly abalone shells, and faces painted red and black, with eagle 

 down on then heads. The princesses of the chief tainess would sit 

 on the floor; and one particularly capable man, who was the time- 

 keeper, stood in front of the women, his face toward the singers, with 

 his baton in Ms hand. The women would move in swinging motions 

 like the waves rolling on the sea. The people who came in would do 

 all they could to try to make the women on the platform laugh. They 

 kept up the dancing until midnight, and on the following morning 

 food was given to the guests. On the following day only the men 

 would dance, and afterwards women only would dance." l 



Great potlatches are also given after the death of a chief or other 

 persons of high rank. "When a great chief or a chief's mother dies," 

 says Mr. Tate, "the members of his exogamic group from all the 

 tribes gather and help to pay the expenses. They bring coppers and 

 other property to honor their dead relative." 



1 See also pp. 355 el seq., pp. 377 el zeq. 



