ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 825 



gentes in sacli a way that raven and eagle on one side, wolf and bear on 

 the other, are amalgamated. 



The Heiltsuk- of Milbank Sound are also in the maternal stage, and 

 are divided into clans having animal totems. There are three of them : — 



1. Kointenoq (=raven people), raven, starfish, sun, gog-amfi't.se 

 (box in which the snn was kept before the raven liberated it). Their 

 honse is painted all black. 



2. Wik'oakHtenoq (=eagle people). Thunder-bird (Kani'sltsaa), an 

 enormous dancing-liat. 



3. Ha'lq'aiHtenoq (=killer people). Delphinus orca, K'omo'k'oa. 

 A huge mouth is painted on the house-front, the posts are killers, two 

 fish named MEliiani'gun are painted ar both sides of the door. Sea- 

 lions (which are considered the dog of K'omo'koa) are the crossbeams. 



The most southern tribe which belongs to this group are the 

 Awiky'e'noq of Rivers Inlet. Further south, and among the Bilqula, 

 patriarchate prevails. The social organisation of these tribes differs 

 fundamentally from that of the northern group. We do not find a single 

 clan that has, properly speaking, an animal for its totem ; neither do the 

 clans take their names from their crest, nor are there phratries. It seems 

 as though the members of each gens were really kindred. The ' first ' of 

 each gens is said to have been sent by the deity, or to have risen from 

 the depth of the ocean or the earth to a certain place which became his 

 home. 



I shall give abstracts of a few of these legends, which will explain the 

 character of the clans of the Kwakiutl. 



He'likilikila mid Ldtlemftk'a. — He'likilikila descended from heaven in 

 the shape of a bird carrying a neck-ring of red cedar-bark.' He built a 

 house and made a large fire. Then a woman called Lotlemaka rose 

 from under the earth. He spoke to her: 'You shall stay with me and 

 be my sister.' Thenceforth they lived in opposite corners of the house. 

 The Kwats'e'nok" had heard of He'likilikila's neck-ring, and made a 

 futile attempt to steal it. When one of them entered the house where 

 He'likilikila was sleeping, he was stricken with madness. He'likilikila, 

 however, cured him, gave him the ringr, and the Kwats'e'nok" returned 

 home. Since that day they dance the Tgetsa'ek'a, in which rings of red 

 cedar-bark are used. 



Le'laqa.— -Two eagles and their young descended from heaven and 

 alighted at Qu'mqate (Cape Scott). They took ofi" their eagle-skins and 

 became men. The father's name was Na'laqotau ; that of the mother 

 Anka'layukoa ; and the young was called Le'laqa. One day the latter 

 pursued a seal, which, when far away from tho coast, was transformed 

 into a cuttle-fish, and drowned Le'laqa. After a while he awoke to new 

 life, and flew to heaven in the shape of an eagle. Then he returned to 

 his parents, who had mourned for him, for they believed him to be dead. 

 The}- saw an eagle descending from heaven. In his talons he carried a 

 little box, in which he had many whi.stles imitating the voice of the 

 eagle. He wore the double mask Naqnakyak'umtl and a neck-ring of 

 red cedar bark. He became the ancestor of the gens NEe'ntsa. 



SE'iitlac. — SE'ntlao, the sun, descended in the shape of a bird from 

 heaven, assumed the shape of a man, and built a honse in Yik'Ti'men. 

 Then he wandered to Ko'moks, visited the Tlau'itsis, the NEmkic, and 



' It conveys the secrets of the winter dance (see p. 861). 



