boas] TSIMSHIAN SOCIETY 549 



"After four days more, very early in the morning, the members of 

 the company sing for nearly two hours. At the end of the songs 

 they continue to beat their drums and planks for a little while. 

 Then they pause and beat again. This is repeated four times. The 

 fourth time they beat a little longer, and end with four sharp raps. 

 Then the novice comes out of his room, wearing his grizzly-bear 

 blanket and his cedar-bark rings. This time his head-ring is mixed 

 with white cedar bark. He goes down to the beach accompanied 

 by ten princes; and they sit down there, their faces turned towards 

 the village. They sit there for half a day, although it is winter. 

 When they arrive, all the people go in, each into his own house, 

 and the members of the society go back to their own house. They 

 take away the pole, and the novice is hidden in his room. There he 

 stays for nearly a month. Then the other people ma}- re-enter 

 the house. When those who live there and do not belong to the 

 society eat food, they always throw a spoonful on the fire, saying, 

 'Now, great supernatural power, eat this food first!' If they do 

 not do so, the supernatural power of the novice becomes angry, 

 and the whistle begins to blow, and the voice of the novice is heard. 

 Then all his attendants assemble around him. He comes out of his 

 room and goes about from house to house, as before. 



"He also becomes excited if any one mentions the word 'ghost.' 

 Then he will go back into the woods and come back, as before. 

 Therefore the common people do not use the term 'ghost' or 'dead 

 people,' but speak of them as 'ripe salmonberries,' so that the 

 supernatural power may not get excited. 



"After a month the novice invites the members of his society, and 

 they announce that the screen shall be removed. Then he sits 

 among the people. His wife sits beside him; but he never utters a 

 word, and must not talk to his wife. He just looks into the fire 

 the whole day long. He wears neither shirt nor moccasins, only a 

 grizzly-bear skin. After twenty days more he invites all the members 

 of his society. Then they announce that he may whisper to his 

 wife and to other people, and it is also announced that his cedar-bark 

 rings are to be made smaller. After another twenty days he invites 

 the members of his society, and gives them much food and property. 

 It is announced that his red cedar-bark rings are to be made still 

 smaller, and that he may wear shirt and moccasins, and that he may 

 ►talk louder to the people. 



"At the end of the winter months they say that he is free of all 

 taboos. In the springtime he invites all the members of his society, 

 throws away all his cedar-bark rings, then the common people are 

 free to talk to him and to mention the word 'ghost,' and to dance 

 freely." 



