swA.NTOxl POTLATCHES 435 



tion and aclvanoe his .staiidiiij;-. The ideii of fiiviiiff propertA' to a nioiii- 

 l)er of Olio's own phratryor of eniployiiii;' him in piittinjj; npthc house 

 was alto<;etli('r abhorrent to Tlinyit notions of propriety. A Tlinyit 

 employed his opposites to do everything — to put up his house and pole, 

 pieree the lips and ears of his and his friends' ciiildren, initiate them 

 into the set'ret societies, ete. If he did not "sHow respect" to his 

 opposites by doing so, with the intent of not being obliged to pay nnidi 

 ])roperty. he was looked down u])on by everybody. The same thing 

 might happen if not enough property was received by the ])liratry 

 invited. Once the LiuklnaxA'di did not give away enougli food to 

 satisf V some of their guests, so the latter took thr(M> or four high names 

 fn)m them by way of retaliation. 



When the people were assembled for a feast, the feast giver and his 

 friends stood at the inner end of the house, which was the i)lace of 

 hon<n-, and also around the door, and his guests ranged themselves in 

 two parties facing eacii other at the sides. The division of the guest 

 phratry at this feast was evidently based on supposed consanguinity. 

 If people were invited from another town they formed one party and 

 the town people the other; if only the town people were invited, they, 

 of course, liad to divide into two bands. At Sitka this division was as 

 follows: If a Raven chief gave the feast, the Box-house people danced 

 on one side of the tire and the Wolf-house and Eagle's-Nest-house 

 people over against them, all being Ka'gwAntfm. If a Wolf chief 

 invited the Ravens, the KiksA'di danced against the LlilklnaxA'di and 

 QlAtkaa'yT. At Wrangell the Qa'tcAdi, KiksA'di and Tl hit tan stood 

 on one side when Ravens were called and the Kas<i!ague'di and 

 Talqoe'di on the other. When Wolves were summoned, the Nanyaa'yi 

 and SliknaxA'di stood on one side; the Xoqie'di Kaya'ckidetan and 

 later probably the Xel qoan opposite. The visitors paid for their 

 entertaiinnent, so to speak, by a.ssuaging the host's grief through 

 their songs and dances. Great rivalry was always exhibited b\' the 

 two parties, however, and their endeavors to outdo each other some- 

 times almost resulted in bloodshed. Each side attended carefully to 

 the slightest remark made by an opponent, especiall}^ l)y the two song 

 leaders with which each was provided, and the least slight, though 

 couched in the most metaphorical language, was at once seized upon 

 and might precipitate a riot. The actions of each dancer were also 

 scrutinized with great care, and any little mistake noted and remem- 

 bered. The strain uj)on a dancer was consecjuently so great that, if a 

 tine dancer died soon after the feast, it was said, '"The people's looks 

 have killed him.'' 



Crests were a favorite subject for repre.sentation in the dances, the 

 dancers appearing clad in api)ropriate clothing, nia.iks, etc., and giving 

 imitations of the actions of the crest animal or object. Even crests dif- 

 ticult of representation, as the mountain TsAlxa'n and the rock TA'naku 



