BULL. 30] 



SEECHELT SEEK S VILLAGE 



497 



part of these societies were the ones in- 

 spired by the cannil)al spirit, the origin of 

 which has been traced by Boas to the 

 Heiltsuk tribe and to customs connected 

 with war. 



From the Kwakiutl and Heiltsuk these 

 secret society dances spread northward 

 and southward. The Nootka are said to 

 have had two {)rincii)al secretsociety per- 

 formances, the Dukwally (i. e. m^koalu), 

 or Thunder-bird ceremony, supposed to 

 have been obtained from the wolves, and 

 the Ts;iye<| (Kwakiutl TsWer/a), or 

 Tsiahk, into which a patient was initiated 

 when the shaman had not succeeded in 

 curing him. According to Swan the latter 

 was performed after the patient had seen 

 a dwarfish spirit with long, yellowish hair 

 and f(.)ur horns on his head who promised 

 relief if the ceremonies were performed. 



The Songish of British Columbia have 

 two societies called Tciyi^wan and Xau- 

 xAui'tAl, obtained from the Nootka. The 

 firi^t is open to anybody and consists of 

 five subordinate societies. That to which 

 a man belongs depends on tlie dream he 

 has after retiring into the woods. Unlike 

 the other, only rich peojde can become 

 members of the XAnxAnl^tAJ, as heavy 

 payments are exacted for initiation. The 

 XAnxAiii'tAlnovicealso obtains his guard- 

 ian spirit in the woods, after which he 

 performs his first dance with masks and 

 cedar- bark ornaments. Among the coast 

 Salish of Fraser valley is found a brother- 

 hood or society called SqoiaqT, which 

 enjoys special prerogatives and possesses 

 certain emblems and dances. Bellacoola 

 secret societies are closely bound up with 

 the festivals and the tribal organization. 

 They are of two varieties, the Sisauk", 

 obtained from a being of that name who 

 resides in the sun, and the Kii^siut, which 

 were derived from a female spirit who 

 lives in a cave in the woods and comes 

 out only in winter when the feasts are 

 about to be held. He who sees her has 

 to invite people to dance the Kii^siut. 

 There are several different societies or 

 degrees of this, however, corresponding 

 to the highest ones among the Kwakiutl. 

 The dances, masks, etc., used at such 

 times, and only then, seem to be the 

 special property of the different clans, but 

 right to wear them has to l)e accjuired by 

 the individuals. 



The Tsimshian societies were all re- 

 ceived from the Heiltsuk through Kit- 

 katla, l)ut according to Niska tradition 

 they were obtained by the former from a 

 man who went to live among the bears. 

 There are said to have been five or six of 

 these societies among the latter people, 

 and the number of places in each was 

 limited. The performances were similar 

 to those seen among the Kwakiutl, except 

 that they were not so elaborate. 



The Haida have had secret societies 

 only during the last 100 or 150 years. The 

 entire performance consisted in the sup- 

 posed possession of the novice by some 

 one of a munber of spirits, who carried the 

 youth away and made liim act tlie way 

 the spirit himself was supposed to act. 

 Some of these ways of acting were intro- 

 duced, while others were in accordance 

 with native conceptions. They were 

 largely the property of certain chiefs who 

 would allow only their own families to 

 use them. Among the Tlingit the socie- 

 ties appear to have been employed in a 

 very similar manner, but with the north- 

 ern Tlingit they had barely made their 

 appearance. 



Consult Boas (1) in Rep. Nat. Mus. for 

 1895, 1897, (2) in Mem. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., II, Anthr. i, 1898; Boas and 

 Hill-Tout in Reps. B. A. A. S.; Boas, 

 Cushing, Fewkes, Hoffman, Dorsej', and 

 Mrs Stevenson in Reps. B. A. F.; IBrin- 

 ton, Lenape Leg., 1885; Curtis, N. Am. 

 Ind., i-v, 1907-09; Cushing in Pop. Sci. 

 Mo., June 1882; Dixon in Bull. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist., xvii, pt. ii, 1902, and 

 pt. Ill, 1905; Powers in Cont. N. A. 

 Ethnol., Ill, 1877; WaiTen in Coll. Minn. 

 Hist. Soc, v, 1885. (j. e. s.) 



Seechelt {SVciatl). A Salish tribe on 

 Jervis and Seechelt inlets, Nelson id., and 

 the s. part of Texada id. , Brit. Col. They 

 speak a distinct dialect and are thought 

 by Hill-Tout on physical grounds to be 

 related to the Lillooet. Anciently there 

 were 4 divisions or septs — Kunechin, 

 Tsonai, Tuwanek, and Skaiakos — but at 

 present all live in one town, called Chate- 

 lech, around the mission founded by 

 Bishop Durieu, who converted them to 

 Roman Catholicism. The Kunechin and 

 Tsonai are said to Ije of Kwakiutl lineage. 

 Pop. 236 in 1902, according to the Cana- 

 dian Department of Indian Affairs, and 

 325 according to Hill-Tout. The former 

 authority gives 244 in 1909. (j. r. s.) 

 Ni'ciatl,— Boas in 5th Rep. N. W. Tribes Can., 

 10, 1SS9 (Comox name). Seashelth. — Brit. Col. 

 map, Ind. AfE., Victoria, 1872. Seehelts.— Mayne, 

 Brit. Col., 144, 1862. Seshal.— Tolmie and Daw- 

 son, Vocabs. Brit. Col., 119b, 1884. She-shell.— Can. 

 Ind. Aff., 308, 1879. Si'catl.— Boas, op. cit. (Nan- 

 aimoname). Si'ciatl.— Ibid, (own name). 



Seechkaberuhpaka ('prairie chicken'). 

 A band of the Hidatsa (q. v.). 



Prairie Chicken.— Morgan, Anc. Soc, 159, 1877. 

 Prairie hen.— Matthews, EthnOK. Hidatsa, 207, 

 1877. Seech-ka-be-ruK-pa'-ka. — Morgan, op. cit. 

 Sitskabinohpaka.— Matthews, inf'n, 1885. Tsi- 

 tska' dfo-qpa'-ka.— Dorsey in l.Sth Rep. B. A. E., 

 242, 1N97. Tsi tska do Hpa-ka.— Matthews, Eth- 

 nog. Hidatsa, op. cit. 



Seeharongoto {See-har-ong^-o-to, 'draw- 

 ing down hill'). A subdivision of the 

 Wolf clan of the Delawares. — IMorgan, 

 Anc. Soc, 172, 1877. 



Seek's Village. A former Miami village, 

 named from the chief, on Eel r., about 

 3 m. from Columbia City, in Whitley co. , 



3456°— Bull. 30, pt 2—07- 



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