546 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [ETH. an.n. 31 



central rod near its tip. The man who roasts the fish on this instru- 

 ment must wear his traveling-attire — mittens, cape, etc. While it 

 is roasting, they pray for plenty of fish, and ask that they may come 

 to their fishing-ground. When the fish is turned round, all cry, 

 "Lawa'!" The fire must not be blown up. In eating the fish, they 

 must not cool it by blowing, nor break a single bone. Everything 

 must be kept neat and clean. The rakes for catching the fish must 

 be hidden in the house. The fish must not be left outside, but stored 

 in boxes. The first fish that they give as a present to their neighbors 

 must be covered with a new mat. When the fish become more plen- 

 tiful, they are doubled up and roasted on the point of a spit. After 

 that they are treated without any further ceremonies. 1 



Secret Societies 



I have treated the secret societies, in so far as my knowledge allows, 

 in a general discussion of this subject; 2 but I will give here a few 

 additional notes that were sent to me by Mr. Tate, and which cor- 

 roborate and expand some of the notes previously published. It will 

 be remembered that there are four of these societies— the Cannibal 

 Society (O'lala), the Dog-Eater Society (NS'tem), the Destroyer 

 Society (Wl'nanal), and the Fire-Thrower Society (Me'°la). It seems 

 to my mind that there is clear evidence that these societies were 

 introduced from the south, particularly by intermarriage with the 

 Bellabella. The names of the various societies are of Bellabclla 

 origin, and the traditions relating to their acquisition state that they 

 were acquired through intermarriage with the Bellabella tribes, and 

 introduced among the Tsimshian, and later on among the Haida and 

 TTingit, particularly through the family of Dzeba'sa. 



Mr. Tate writes in regard to Dzeba'sa' s society as follows: 

 "Dzeba'sa and some of his own tribe belong to the Cannibal So- 

 ciety, whose supernatural protector is Haialilaqs. (Hai'alila means 

 literally ' ' making well," and is the term used for the spirit of pestilence 

 among the Kwakiutl tribes. This spirit occurs also in the tradition 

 told on p. 1S5. The ending -qs is the Bellabella form indicating a 

 female of a certain tribe or people. The whole may therefore be 

 translated as 'pestilence- woman.') When the supernatural power of 

 the society is tin-own into a young man, he disappears, and stays for 

 eight days in the graveyard, where his whistle is heard. Before this 

 period of seclusion is ended, he appears suddenly on the top of some 

 house, on the street, or in some other place near the viDage, and takes 

 another person to the graveyard to make him a dancer. When the 

 eight daj's are over, early in the morning, he comes down from the 

 graveyard, carrying a body in his arms, and eats of it in sight of all 



i Further details will be found on pp. 448 ct siq. - Boas 5, pp. 651-600. 



