440 THE TLINOIT INDIANS [eth.ann.2G 



He was trying to catch a man in front of him with his (.'laws, and thoy 

 had also set up a tree for him. After that a person entered acting 

 like an old Athapascan woman catching a tish under the ice with a 

 fish rake. 



Those who had invited the people said, "All the people shall not 

 eat to-day. A day shall pass before they eat." This is an old saying 

 which means exactlj' the revexse. The people who were invited weve 

 called by different names, those from Sitka being called '"Man-of- 

 war's guests.''" After they had gotten all of the guests ready to eat, 

 they served roasted salmon first, because the chief for whom this feast 

 was held had been very fond of it. There was still plenty of salmon 

 at Chilkat, although it was cold. After the next dance a still larger 

 feast was given. Then one of the chiefs announced, " The people 

 that I invited as guests are going to eat out of Wu'tcxtaga (a dish). 

 The people that stay at home (i. e., the Klukwan people) are going 

 to eat out of Mother-basket (kAk" La)." Then all the guests seated 

 themselves on opposite sides, wearing their valual)le hats, and the 

 empty dishes lay in front of them turned over. After a while one got 

 up and said to the host, " Your opposites are going to try to drive 

 your sorrow away." They said this becau.se they were going to dance 

 with the dishes in front of them. When people dance in this way, if 

 one side makes a song more than the other, it precipitates a fight, and 

 that is why the givers of the feast hiive to stand at the rear of the 

 house and at the side close to the door, with crests, so that there will be 

 no trouble. The contesting sides indicate that they want to dance in 

 peace by saying to each other, "1 am holding your daughter's hand."* 



The song leaders on the Sitka side were Na'sk!i-Tc and TA'k!a-Ic, 

 and, when they started the songs, the latter said, "A well-made hali- 

 but hook will be taken out into the water.'' This meant that he knew 

 every kind of song, and the opposite people were good for nothing. 

 As soon as he heard this, a Klukwan man named Qaucte' turned 

 round and asked his wife for his knife, and a fight was imminent. 

 The Sitka people, however, asked the man wearing the Raven hat to 

 call like a raven, and when he said "ga" the disturbance ceased. 



After that a dish was brought out as long as the lower arm and 

 hand above the knuckles. The food in this was divided through 

 the center and was to be eaten by two young men of Sitka named 

 CanukAsayi' and Katclati', who had prepared themselves by fasting 

 all that dav and the night previous. Disagreeable things and things 

 such as a person liked were mixed together in these dishes. After the 

 people had all seated themselves, they took this dish, called out the 

 names of the two men, and set the dish before them. When CfmukAsayi' 

 was named, he rose and said to the host, "Am I to eat this dishful?" 



nThi' word for raan-of-vvar, y^'nawfi. is sirapjly ii corruption of the English term. 

 b The daughter of one Wolf man being the wife of another, and vice versa. 



