STEVENSON] 



""hle'wekwe 483 



nity children the swords and swallows them in succession. Finally 

 he runs four swords, one after the other, down his throat, allows the 

 four to remain several seconds and then withdraws them all at the 

 same time. The ceremony in the plaza closes with the ^Hlem'niosona 

 standing before the boxes and praying- while he waves the swords over 

 the boxes and draws the sacred breath (see plate cxiv). After their 

 return from the last plaza dance the *Hle'wekwe form lines vis-a-vis 

 at the west end of the room, running east and west. Each fraternity 

 father, after taking his sword into his mouth, places the end of it in 

 the mouth of his fraternity child that the child may not die, but live 

 to be old, and sleep to awake as a little child in Ko'thluwala'wa. 



The closing outdoor ceremony now occurs which is described in the 

 January ceremonial, except that the two men of the Bear clan wear 

 whit^ buckskins around them instead of the sacred embroidered blan- 

 kets. The male novice, who stood in front of the group of singers in 

 January, now has his place among them and sings, and a different 

 member of the Dogwood clan leads the et'towe and 'hla'we ])earers. 

 The night ceremonial of the *Hle'wekwe and the ceremonies in the 

 house of the et'towe are the same as those described in the account of 

 the January ceremonial. 



The ceremonies observed in January, 1897, corresponded, with few 

 exceptions, to those of former years. Owing to the death of an adopted 

 brother of a prominent member of the fraternity and also of the house 

 where the fraternity holds its meetings, there was no dancing in the 

 plaza, and the only sword-swallowing out of doors was done by the 

 *Hlem'mosona and his warrior. The 'Hlem'mosona first appeared 

 alone and swallowed his swords; afterward, in company with a war- 

 rior, both swallowed their own swords and othei's carried by the war- 

 rior. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon a man who took the place of catcher 

 sat on a chair in the east end of the room, and a novice, who was a 

 young girl, sat on a blaidcet spread on the floor at his feet; he had 

 his hands on her shoulders. The fraternity stood in two opi)osing 

 lines. The ceremony of presenting the nii'ha, corn, and prayer plumes 

 occurred exactly as before described. White embroidered kilts were 

 worn by the men instead of the dark ones. The novice accompanied 

 the group of 'Hle'wekwe who appeared in the plaza at the sunset 

 ceremony. 



ORDER OF THE KIa'la'sILO ^' (SPRUCE TREE) 



The ceremony of the order of the Kiii'la'silo occurs in February in 

 connection witli the one described and for the purpose only of initiat- 

 ing a member. The ceremonial in which the initiation into this order 

 occurs is the same in all particulars as others described excepting the 

 variations here noted. A man is seldom long a member of the 41le'- 



aPseudotsuga douglassii. 



