SWANT..N] POTLATOHES 487 



drink so "freat a quantity of grease that he usually throws it up, and is 

 vei'y much ashamed in consoiiucnce. The sufferer is paid ;i double 

 amount, however, in the distril)ution of property. 



On tiie other hand, the stream where ex-Governor Brady's sawmill is 

 situated, called Killer-whale's-dorsal-tin river (Klt-gu'ci hin), })eloii<red 

 to the Kri'i>\vAntrin. When they were al)out to have a feast those 

 people sail!, " Killer-wiiale's-dorsal-tin rivei' is running over (Klt- 

 gu'ei-hln yenawA'i.!), and then one had to he careful, for if he spoke 

 ahout that creek he was called out and treated as in the other case. 

 Nowadays, however, the river is made fun of, because it is so small. 

 The big C'hilkat tray, to be spoken of later, was used in a similar sort 

 of merrymaking. 



A feast was prefaced i)y considerable fasting, in order to bring good 

 luck to tlie various persons concerned. When a house was l)eing put 

 up the owner fasted and after it was erected he had water-soaked 

 animal stomachs thrown about among the people in the house, at the 

 same time wishing for wealth. Before her lip was pierced for the 

 lal)ret a woman fasted, for otherwise she thought that the hole would 

 spread and take her mouth entirely away. The broad labrets are said 

 to have been made by old women, l)Ut the long ones by men to give to 

 the women they were in lo\e with. When he was about to undertake 

 an}' task a man who had eight house posts in his house had to fast 

 eigiit days, one for cacli post. Slaves were always killed and their 

 bodies thrown into the holes in which the house posts were to be 

 inserted. 



The copper plates used all along this coast changed hands in jiotlatch 

 time. Anciently they are all said to have come from (.'opper ri\er, 

 and when tirst made they were valued according to their height, some 

 at four slaves, some at six. 



Many of the potlatch songs were naturally in memory of the dead, 

 and according to Katishau the most valued of these were composed at 

 the time of the flood and record the sad events that hapiiened then, 

 such as the finding of bodies when the waters went down and the part- 

 ing of the clans on that occasion. These were ver}' solen)n songs and 

 the people thought tliat they received strength througli them. They 

 were never sung on ordinary occasions. 



There were plenty of modern .songs, however, to record any event, 

 trifling or important, and couiijoschI with every sort of motive. If 

 a man's near relative, such as his mother, died, it is said that a song 

 was made up inside of him, where it worked until it came out. " It is 

 not through a man's own will, t)ut the way that Kaven made people 

 that brings forth a new song when people are called together after one 

 has died."' These songs often dealt with the place whither they thought 

 their friend had gone. ThereMs a Krrg«Antan song called cri'(|Iacivi'. 

 sung almost as a woman sings, which was used only at potlatclies. 



