1254 ETHNOLOGY OF THE KWAKIUTL [etei. axn. =j 



saw the great chief of the sea sitting in the rear of the house, and there 

 were many seals and sea-lions crawling about inside. These were 

 the servants of the great chief. The hair-seals were the dogs of the 

 house. The great chief asked the food-keeper of the house to feed 

 Ex'sokwi^lak", and they asked him what he would like to eat. The 

 listener of the house said, "He wants to eat a piece of your dog;" for 

 the hstener can hear your thoughts, and Ex" sokwi^lak" wished to eat 

 a piece of seal. So they killed a small seal, cut it up, and cooked it. 

 Then they gave some of it to him; and he began to eat it, for he was 

 very hungry. After he had eaten, the speaker of the chief asked him 

 whether he was a shaman and could cure the head slave of the chief, 

 who had been taken ill when he went out to get food for the great 

 chief. Ex'sokwi^lak" thought, "I will say that I am a shaman;" 

 and the listener of the house said, "He thinks he will say that he is a 

 shaman." Then he was asked to look at the sick one. He saw the 

 bone point of a spear in the man's side. Then he thought, "I wish 

 they would give me that canoe and spear for heahng this sick man!" 

 At once the listener said, " He wishes our great chief to give him that 

 canoe and the spear after he has healed this sick man." Then the 

 great chief spoke, and said, "I value my hunter more highly than 

 canoe and spear. He shall have them, and more than that, if he 

 cures my hunter." Then Ex'sokwi^Iak" sat down by the side of the 

 Sea-Lion, and pretended to feel for the sickness. Now and then he 

 would push in the spear-point, and the sea-lion would groan from 

 pain, and then he would pretend to suck the side in which the spear 

 stuck. The fourth time he bit the spear-point, pushed it in, and then 

 pulled it out. Then the Sea-Lion said, "This is a true shaman, for I 

 felt the sickness leave my body. Now my chief will give him the 

 canoe." When the chief heard that Ex'sokwi^ak" had cured his 

 servant, he gave him the hunting-canoe with the serpent-spear, the 

 paddle, and the food-box that is never empty, and the death-club, the 

 point of which burns hostile villages, and the water of life. The great 

 chief also gave him his house and his name, Chief-of-the-Open-Sea 

 (G' ag' eqeyak' ) . Then the young man, Ex' sokwi^lak", became home- 

 sick, and thought, "How shall I let them know that I am homesick?" 

 Then the hstener of the house said, "The great shaman is homesick." 

 Thereupon the great chief of the house spoke to his slaves, and said, 

 "Take down the hunting-canoe, and put aboard all that I promised 

 to the great shaman, including this house. Let it become as small as 

 a young woman's berrying-basket, and put it aboard. Then let the 

 great shaman go aboard. Cover his face before you let him go to the 

 upper world. One of you shall take him up." The Sea-Lion that he 

 had cured said to him, "Ah, Great-Shaman! go aboard your self- 



