DANCE FOR SALMON—HUNTING. 31 
cation to the spirits, and occasionally they all unite in a fixed choral which 
is meaningless, and repeated over and over ad libitum. Both in the recita- 
tive where each singer makes an entirely independent invocation, and in 
the choral, they keep time wonderfully well, and that without beating time. 
The dancers in the line merely lift and lower one foot, in slow and regular 
accord. The ceremony continues about two hours, during which profound 
stillness and decorum prevail among the spectators. 
When this dance of religion is ended, all gravity vanishes forthwith; 
wild and hilarious shouts resound throughout the camp; the gayest dances 
are resumed, in which both sexes unite, and in the evening there ensues a 
grossly obscene debauch. 
The fire has now been kindled for the rainy season, and once the flame 
is set going in the several assembly chambers, it must not be suffered to 
expire during the winter. 
In the vernal season, when the winds blow soft from the south, and 
the salmon begin to run up the Klamath, there is another dies fastus, the 
dance for salmon, of equal moment with the other. They celebrate it to 
insure a good catch of salmon. ‘The Kareya Indian retires into the mount- 
ains and fasts the same length of time as in autumn. On his return the 
people flee, while he repairs to the river, takes the first salmon of the catch, 
eats a portion of the same, and with the residue kindles the sacred smoke 
in the sudatory. No Indian may take a salmon before this dance is held, 
nor for ten days after it, even if his family are starving. 
Before going out on a chase the Karok hunter must abstain three days 
from touching any woman, else he will miss the quarry. Mr. A. Somes relates 
an incident which happened to himself when hunting once in company 
with a venerable Indian. They set out betimes and scoured the mountains 
with diligence all day, and were like to return home empty-handed, when 
the old savage declared roundly that the white man was trifling with him, 
and that he must have touched some woman. No ridicule could shake his 
belief, so he withdrew a few paces, fell on his knees, turned his face 
devoutly toward heaven, and prayed fluently and fervently for the space 
of full twenty minutes. Somes was so much impressed with the old 
savage’s earnestness that he did not disturb him. Although able to speak 
the language well, he understood nothing the white-haired petitioner uttered. 
