242 KEPOET— 1888. 



religious ideas, particularly the dance Tlok'oala (:= something unexpected 

 coming from above), which, in course of time, has pai'tly been adopted by 

 all their neighbours. There are a great number of spirits of this dance, 

 each of which has his own class of shamans, the duties and prerogatives 

 of whom vary according to the character of their genii. The Kwakiutl 

 bury their dead in boxes, which are placed in small houses or on trees. 

 Posts, carved according to the crest of the deceased, are placed in front 

 of the graves. Food is burnt for the dead on the beach. Their mourning 

 ceremonies are very complicated and rigorous. 



The Coast Salish worship the sun. They pray to him and are nofc 

 allowed to take their morning meal until the day is well advanced. The 

 wanderer, called Kumsno'otl by the Comox, Qiils by the Cowitchin and 

 Lkungen, and Qais by the Skqomish, is also worshipped. They believe 

 *hat he lives in heaven and loves the good, but punishes the bad. The 

 art of shamanism was bestowed by him upon the first man, who brought 

 it down from heaven. 



The Kutonaqa are also sun- worshippers, even more decidedly so tban 

 any of the other tribes. They pi'ay to the sun. They offer him a smoke 

 from their pipe before smoking themselves, and sacrifice their eldest 

 children in order to secure prosperity to their families. They believe 

 that the souls of the deceased go towards the east, and will return in 

 course of time with the sun. Occasionally they have great festivals, 

 during which they expect the return of the dead. They have also the 

 custom of cutting off the first joints of the fingers as a sacrifice to the 

 sun. They pierce their breasts and arms with sharp needles and cut off 

 pieces of flesh, which they offer to the sun. It is doubtful whether 

 they practise the sun-dance of their eastern neighbours. The dead are 

 buried, their heads facing the east. It is of interest that the positions of 

 the body after death are considered to be prophetic of future events. 

 The mourners cut their hair and bury it with the deceased. Warriors 

 are buried among trees which are peeled and painted red. Each shaman 

 has his own genius, generally a bird or another animal, which he acquires 

 by fasting in the woods or on the mountains. The shamans are able to 

 speak with the souls of absent or deceased persons, and are skilful 

 jugglers. 



Report on the Sarcee Indians, hy the Eev. E. F. Wilson. 



The Sarcee Indians belong to the great Athabascan or Tinneh stock, 

 to which the Chipewyans, Beavers, Hares, and others in the North- West 

 and, it is said, the Navajoes, in New Mexico, also belong. They were 

 formerly a powerful nation, but are now reduced to a few hundreds. 

 Their reserve, which consists of a fine tract of prairie land, about a 

 hundred square miles in extent, adjoins that of the Blackfeet, in Alberta, 

 a little south of the Canadian Pacific Railway line, and seventy or eighty 

 miles east of the Rocky Mountains. Although friendly and formerly 

 confederate with the Blackfeet, they bear no affinity to that people ; they 

 belong to a distinct stock and speak an altogether different language. 

 They are divided into two bands — the Blood Sarcees and the Real 

 Sarcees. 



During my visit, which lasted seven days, I had several interviews 

 with their chief, ' Bull's Head,' a tall, powerful man, about sixty years of 

 age ; and it was from him and one or two of his leading men that I 



