STEVENSON] "^HLe'wEKWE 471 



the boxes and pray, closing- the prayer by inhaling a breath with their 

 mouths close to their swords. The warrior now returns the six swords 

 to the quiver. The sword swallowers of the Great Fire fraternity 

 complete their dance and sword-swallowing and leave the plaza, and 

 the circle dance is formed before the 'Hlem'mosona and warrior of the 

 *Hle'wekwe fraternity terminate their ceremon}-. As soon as the circle 

 dancers begin to move, the melodious strains of the singers at the 

 boxes are repeated. 



When the *^Hlem'mo8ona and the warrior rea(;h the ceremonial cham- 

 ber, the latter, who is a very aged man, dons a queer-looking mask, 

 entirel}^ unlike those worn by the personators of the gods but similar 

 to our common falseface. He then returns to the plaza, where he 

 causes g-eneral amusement. He is not in the plaza verj^ long when six 

 of the *Hle'wekwe, including two women, come through the eastern 

 covered way, each one carrying a bunch of slender willows 6 feet in 

 length. This is the signal for the novices, who are still standing by 

 the ki'wi'sine, to start on a run through the western street. They first 

 hurriedly pass the right hand ai'ound the head three times and throw 

 a la'showanne, composed of four fluffy eagle plumes, to the ground. 

 The catchers start after them, those carrjnng the switches following. 

 However, several of the latter dela}" long enough to use their switches 

 right and left on those spectators who are not so fortunate as to escape 

 to the house tops. The whipping of the novices ceases as soon as they 

 reach the ladder leading to the hatchway of the ceremonial chamber, 

 where the novices and catchers wait until the others have gone into 

 the chamber, when they descend and take their places at the east end 

 of the chamber. 



The clans of the two fraternity fathers, one being the Dogwood 

 and the other the Badger, and their paternal clans, both being the 

 Turkey, crowd the north, east, and south ledges which extend around 

 the wall. Man}^ are standing for want of room. The fraternity forms 

 vis-a-vis in lines at the west end of the room toward the north side. 



The gifts for the novices lie folded on top of the 'hle'et'tonr', a 

 fluffy eagle plume, dyed red, protruding from the folds of each gift, 

 that for the man being a white cotton embroidered kilt and the 

 woman's a mi'ha (white embroidered blanket). The retired 'Hlem'- 

 mosona and the active one remove the la'showawe from the kilt and 

 mi'ha and dance down between the lines of the fraternity, whose 

 members at the same time gracefully wave the feathered handles of 

 their swords up and down. The two pass on to the novices and tie 

 the feathers to their forelocks. No prayers are offered when the 

 plumes arc attached, and the two return at once to the west end of 

 the room. Each fraternity father taking his gift for his fraternity 

 child holds it spread with both hands, with the right side next to 

 him, and passing on to the novice he ties the upper corners at the 



