D A"~] MAKAH CEREMONIAL. 109 



They are kept concealed until the performance begins. Many of thein 

 have the eyes, lower jaw, &c, movable by a cord. One such party 

 was composed of men with frightful masks, 1 bear skins on their backs, 

 and heads covered with bird's down. They had clubs in their hands, 

 and as they danced around the fire struck wildly about, caring little 

 what or whom they struck. Oue of the number was naked, a rope 

 around his waist and a knife in each hand, making a fearful howling. 

 Two others held the rope as if to restrain him. Boxes and utensils 

 were smashed and much damage done. 



On another occasion the performers, who were males, with masks 

 resembling owls, wolves, and bears, crouched down with their arms 

 clasped about their knees, their blankets trailing on the ground and 

 fastened around their necks with a single pin. After forming in a circle 

 with their faces toward the fire they commenced jumping sidewise 

 around it, their arms still clasped about the knees. Their exertions 

 were continued several minutes ; they were succeeded by about thirty 

 women with blackened faces, heads covered with down, and a girdle 

 drawing their blankets tightly to the waist. These danced around the 

 tire singing as loud as they could scream, accompanied by the specta- 

 tors, and beating time with sticks on boards placed before them for the 

 purpose. 



During the day performances were going on on the beach. Repre- 

 sentations of all sorts were given. For instance, two naked boys, 

 rubbed with flour, and with white cloths around their heads, symbol- 

 ized cold weather. Others who wore masks resembling a bird's beak, 

 and tufts of feathers in their hair, moved slowly near the water, raising 

 and lowering their heads, and were intended to symbolize cranes. 



At the end of the performance a young girl came out ou the roof of 

 the lodge wearing a mask representing the head of the thunder bird, 

 which was surmounted by a topknot of cedar bark dyed red and stuck 

 full of white feathers from eagles' tails. A smaller girl had a black 

 mask to represent the ha-h^k-to-ak, or lightning fish. The masks did 

 not cover the face, but were ou the forehead, from which they projected 

 like horns. The ceremony closed with a reception, performance, and 

 distribution of presents at the lodge, aud the whole wound up with a 

 feast. This Dukwalli is repeated at one or more villages every wiuter. 



In the T'siark, which is a medical or curative ceremony, no masks are 

 reported as used, but peculiar head-dresses are worn. 



For the Do-h'tlub the. reader is referred to the original, it being of es- 

 sentially the same character as the ceremony of the Dukwalli, though 

 older, and of course differing iu all its details. 



The Makah deuoaiiuate these ceremonial masks hu-kau'-itl-ik. 



From this summary the reader can form a very good idea of the way 

 iu which the dancing masks are used and how multifarious their variety 

 may be. 



1 See Plate XIII, fig. 13. 



